This blog is collage of memories and lessons captured from world events and my experiences. I am sharing my thoughts on an array of topics mostly addressing contemporary Muslims in North America. My goal is to connect myself and everything in my life with the Qur'an and the Ahadith, to inspire goodness and closeness to Allah. I do not claim to be an expert in any of the things I write. My opinions are subject to change and open for discussion. I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
Killing, Miserable, Torturing, Cruel, Punishing and unbearable....that's lower back pain for you. One minute you are sitting in class, taking notes on Machiavelli and his thoughts on building a principality, and the next minute you have this stabbing pain in your sacral spine. Its like someone is cutting your lumbar discs (the fourth and fifth part of your vertebra) and ligaments .... its bitter and agonizing.
Pain can greatly incapacitate a person. Like I couldn't walk yesterday at all. The pain in my lower back was so scathing, it paralyzed the left side of my body, waist down. Every time I tried to lift my leg, it felt like my bones were being smashed and crumbled against each other. We all had cavitities when we were kids. If you ever had a tooth pulled out or got braces, you know you can't speak for days. Everything from your gum, your tongue and jaw to your ear and your brain hurts. You can't even open your mouth. Then there is migraine... brittle pain throbbing in the head. It makes you all woozy and nauseous until you pull your hair, throw up and/or pass out.
Pain made me remember how delicate the human body really is. The tiniest thing can disturb your system and destroy your life. Like slouching or sitting for too long, playing intense sports or sleeping on a broken mattress, skipping meals or taking unnecessary stress - all these things seem like nonissues but they add up over time and before you know it, you are in bed, crying and praying to Allah for health. Because if you are sick, you can't go to school or go see your family. You can't offer Salah with khushu or spend time on da'wah. Who wants to live all crippled and dependent?
My advise to everyone is...take care of yourselves. Maintain your health, eat properly and sleep well. No I don't mean cake and coke or twenty minute power nap on the coach. I mean bread, lentils, chicken, milk, salads and fresh fruit juices. Sleep 4-5 hours at night etc. Work out everyday - even if it is a light jog and weight training. Your body is your weapon. You need it to do the work of your dreams, so build it accordingly...
My other advise is...remember Allah. Wallahi when you are in pain, you think of nothing and no one else except for Allah subhana wat3ala. Usely when we need advise, we call our teacher. When we are eating, we miss our family and friends (how does it feel to have iftaar alone? yeah....) But when we are in pain, we want to be as close to Allah as possible. The Prophet (s.a.w) said that Allah has declared that "He is with those who remember Him" -Bukhari. Our hearts find rest and comfort when we remember Allah, الا بذكر الله تطمن القلوب - Qur'an,13:28.
From the deeds that was most beloved to the Prophet (s.a.w) was saying, سبحان الله والحمد لله ولا اله الا الله والله اكبر - Bukhari.
If you want Allah to forgive you, protect you from shaytan... if you want to do a deed that will fill the scales on the Day of Judgment, that will enter you in Jannah and save you from hellfire....then remember Allah :)
The Prophet (s.a.w) said, whoever recites, لا اله الا الله وحده لا شريك له, له الملك وله الحمد, وهو علي كولي شيء قدير a 100 times in a day will receive a reward of a 100 good deeds and forgiveness of 100 sins and protection from shaytan - Bukhari and Muslim .
Prophet (s.a.w) said saying, سبحان الله وبحمده, سبحان الله العظيم will be heavy on the scales (it will fill the scales - Allah knows best) - Bukhari and Muslim.
Saying لاحول ولا قوة الا بالله is from the treasure of Jannah - Tirmidhi.
Saying اللهم اجرني من النار seven times delievers one from hellfire (if one dies the same day as making this supplication). - Abu Dawood, Mishkaat.
We have all this free time walking up and down the stairs, room to room, making the bed, taking out paper, doing the dishes, waiting for lecture to start....we let our mind wander aimlessly during these moments. Remember Allah...talk to Him, thank Him, glorify Him, ask for His forgiveness, ask for His blessings and you will never feel alone or helpless or unhappy inshaAllah. If you take the Handhold of Allah, it will never break.
The pain reminded me that Allah is always with us with His Knowledge. Even when we forget Allah, He Sees us, Hears us and He is aware of everything we do. لا اله الا الله وحده لا شريك له له الملك وله الحمد يحي و يميت وهو حي لا يموت بيده الخير وهو علي كل شيء قدر There is no one worthy of worship except Allah, He is no one like Him. He is the Master with authority and ownership, for Him is all praise. He is the Everliving, the Everlasting. He gives life without dying. In His Hand is goodness and He has power over all.
You will notice some people will break a nail and lamenting, "O Woe is me" while others will go through something a million times more severe and still smile. They'll praise Allah in every condition. الحمد لله علي كل حال,
Why? Because...
حسبنا الله نعم الوكيل Allah is sufficient for me (because) He is the Best of Trustee. بسم الله توكلت علي الله لا حول ولا قوة الا باالله In the Name of Allah I rely and surrender myself. There is no strength besides Allah. No matter what happens, there is no reason to panic or loose your cool because rest assured, it is from permission of Allah. Say, اعوذ بعزة الله و قدرته من شر ما اجد واحاذر - l seek refuge in Allah's Honour and His Authority from the harm that I face and fear. Yes, I admit, there will be times we'll feel bleak and frustrated. Like because of my back pain, I was thinking about this kid who had Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He was in a wheelchair since he was two years old. All sorts of crazy ideas were storming my head. What if I can never walk again you know? From time to time, we might get "what if" thoughts...Again turn to Allah,
يا حي يا قيوم برحمتك استغيث O Everliving, Everlasting, I seek your help with Your Mercy.
Alhamdulillah I am getting better. I am grateful that I had this experience. It helped me realize how much I need Allah; for every second of my existence, I lean entirely on Him.
Indeed, the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and believing women, the obedient men and obedient women, the truthful men and truthful women, the patient men and patient women, the humble men and humble women, the charitable men and charitable women, the fasting men and fasting women, the men who guard their private parts and the women who do so, and the men who remember Allāh often and the women who do so – for them Allāh has prepared forgiveness and a great reward. [Qur'an, 33:35]
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? - from The Shadow (1930–54)
A woman in the doctor’s waiting room natters on facebook over her QWERTY blackberry bold 9930 keyboard with liquid graphics.
A man stands in line at starbucks, gapes at BMW E36 car race on his 3G wireless Motorla Xoom.
A child on the swing in the playground wears Altec Lansing BackBeat 903, listening to Party Rock Anthem by GoonRock.
A girl on the treadmill at the gym runs as fast as she can, as Steve from BBC interviews Imram Khan on the 24-inch Toshiba LCD Television.
And you: maybe your ipad 2 is running out of battery as you scroll over this article while copying your homework assignment from portal.utoronto.ca
Yes, technologically, we have come a long way. Doing research online, command + F beats digging through page after page of books in the library, for sure. Microsoft is better than pen and paper, it can auto spellcheck for you and you don't have to worry about writing your c's and e's clearly. No need for a rule or a protractor either (lol does anyone even remember what that is?) Excel can do your charts and graphs too. We can speak to our friends faster on facebook; read their statuses and laugh at their avatars. Youtube can yield virtually everything you yearn to watch. I don't deny the benefits of the internet but I cannot help but count the disasters. The internet has made us the most procrastinating, time-washing, lazy and lost generation. The internet has taken over our lives. We are prisoners of the world-wide-web. Everyday we are caught in the scrim of endlessly updating facebook images, wiki articles, BBC news and youtube videos. Even when we come online to work - subconsciously, we end up opening twitter, Tripadvisor.com, and iTunes. We are checking news, blogs, games, shopping catalogues, and our emails - ALL THE TIME - in class, on the bus, at the dinner table, while doing homework, right before going to bed, right after waking up. Look around you right now...there are things beeping, buzzing, clicking, ringing or flashing.
Whatever happened to doing homework and cleaning to house? Joining some animal welfare or environmental awareness group? Practicing martial arts? Cooking for your family, getting to know your neighbours, learning a new language? Are we happy with this internet overdose or more comatose? Is the internet making us more creative and productive? Or are we coming online to kill time, to sit around and do nothing?
I wish I could punish myself more than with just words.
Look at the sahaba, awesome in their aqeeda, fierce in their ibadah and magnificent in their manners. They had grandeur in their spirit, strength in their body, vigour in their speech. In comparison, we have so few of these traits We have an abjection and contempt to learning, especially learning the knowledge of Allah's Oneness. Talk about shaykh fulan and peer-baba so-and-so, we will be all ears but whenever Allah alone is praised and singled out for worship - how quickly we take offense, how abruptly we get bored. Our salat are delayed and performed in haste. When was the last time we prayed in congregation or recited something longer than qul hu Allahu ahad in the second rak'ah? Our spirits are easily seduced by the sales, our bodies are filled with bicarbonated coke and speech? Yes our speech is brilliant. We can aggressively make a point, no matter how ill-informed we are on the subject. There are forums after forums of volatile debate on the internet. Each user will offer an intense view, microwave his/dinner, eat and go to sleep. There is no action ... and I am guilty of of this too. Muslims in are enslaved in Somalia and India, servile in Libya and Syria, scattered without a leader in Pakistan, without an organization in Egypt, beaten in Palestine, despoiled in France, ripped apart in Cuba and Iraq, overrun in US and Canada; all in all, Muslims are prey to every sort of catastrophe, even natural disasters....and I am facebooking? I am checking my email? I SUCK! I should have never been born! :( What good have I ever done online? :( You know things are not going to get better if we just live on the internet. I had a chance to work with a wonderful group of brothers this past summer for the Journey of Faith conference. I see a glimmer of hopein these individuals. MashaAllah they are extraordinary, they study full time, have jobs, teach, manage their families .... know what is happening in the world and are working hard to make it better. From them, there were some who invited the scholars (from emailing them, going over their lecture topics and descriptions, picking them up at the airport to doing their hospitality and ushering them to the stage), some who trained the du'aat, others drove to churches, temples...you name it and they went there mashaAllah with invitation letters, set up the table talks room, fed the entire time and still others who gave invited non-Muslims to accept Islam for 8 hours at a stretch, without eating or drinking or even sleeping the night before. It was incredible subhanAllah, to just witness these industrious labour. I am so inspired, I do not have words to say.... I pray that through them Allah will redeem this Ummah. That they can heal the wounds of shirk, put an end to the politics in Masajid, and cure the sores which have been festering the youth in our community for so long. I pray that they can redeem us from our character cruelties and insolence...that they raise the banner of Da'wah for others to follow. May Allah favour them with illustrious abilities and fortune aameen. In the words of Machiavelli, “the sea has opened up, a cloud has shown you the path; the rock pours forth water; it has rained manna here; everything has converged for your greatness. The rest you must do yourself. God does not wish to do everything, in order not to take from us our free will and that part of the glory which is ours” p. 163. Allah has prepared this world for valuable work. Correct your ibadaah and deeds, behave benevolently with people and busy yourself with something beneficial.
For this, you might have to give an obituary online; commit an internet suicide of sorts. No cartoons or car videos on youtube, no facebook, gmail or news. Then what?
You know there aren't as many (or any) Muslim doctors and lawyers? Sure you hear this clique that parents force their kids into med-school or engineering but in the past 10 years, I can't honestly say I came across these professionals. Alhamdulillah, universities are full of Muslim students. Just come to any one of my political science classes, guaranteed you'll find 60% of the lecture hall fully engaged by Muslims. Then were do these Muslims go after they graduate? I have cousins who have degrees in biology, banking and business etc. So where are Muslims in the playing field? Are we just earning to buy a Kensington Palace or Pogani Zonda one day? Is it enough to marry a righteous spouse and send your kids to hifdh school? Khalas after-wards? Why are we satisfied with the bare minimum? Where are the Allama Iqbals, the visionaries for the 21st century? Where are the Muhammad bin Qassims, the liberators of our times? Where are the Quaid-e-Azams, the builders and reformers of nations? Jago Jago Samlon Yaaro ye waqt ney shor machaya...
Why do you educate? We live in a time of high anxiety. Despite the world's unprecedented total wealth in the West, there is vast insecurity, unrest and dissatisfaction at home. In the United States, a large majority of Americans believe that the country is “on the wrong track.” Pessimism has soared. The same is true in many other places. Against this backdrop, one my reconsider going to school. The relentless pursuit of a high school diploma or degree is leading to unprecedented stress rather than greater happiness. Is education worth the pain? Will we ever use it in life?
This is the question we as Muslims need to address on an international scale because it seems that we all have our own approach to education. For some its obvious, its a social obligation. The first thing we say to people after telling them our name, is our qualification - i.e. what we do. I am an undergrad student, I just started grade 9. I am a biochemist, I am graphic designer, I play hockey for the NHL (lol. you wish). No one likes a dummy, someone who knows nothing and does nothing. I think we call those guys hobos or bimbos? Once Umar (r.a) saw a man sitting in the Masjid continuously for a few days, upon asking him the man said that his brother supports him financially while he worships Allah at the Masjid. Umar (r.a) threw him out saying go work for yourself and don't become a burden on anyone.
Another predictable reason is money. No one will hire you if you haven't finished school. So if you don't want to end up in a burger joint covered in grease serving fries and ketchup all your life for $6.00 an hour then I guess you better study something that would pay better and look better. It is not to say that everyone should take business courses in in grade 12 IBT or apply for Osgoode Hall law school. In Islam, every area of study and field of work is respectable so long as it is halal. Restaurant business for example is highly celebrated. The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) said that "the best Islam (the best Muslim) is one who تطعم الطعام feeds others" [Bukhari] and that "غرفا تري ظهورها من بطونها the lofty rooms of Jannah are for those who feed the needy." [Tirmidhi] In Islam even a plumber and a janitor is dignified because "cleanliness is half of faith" [Muslim] and "Allah loves those who purify themselves." [Qur'an, 2:222]
Okay, back to school. We need an alternative, holistic approach to going to school. Sometimes social acceptance and big bucks are not enough motivation. Just imagine your own mental health after three, three hour lectures back to back in one day. You are so brain dead after that, you can't even walk straight. Or the level of your compassion when you are trying to pull an all night-er for an assignment and your mom asks you to help in the kitchen or the local Masjid calls you to volunteer for a food drive. Yeah! Like that's ever going to happen? SubhanAllah, this is exactly why we should be going to school, to grow as persons, to become more cultured and community oriented.
Even some parents don't realize why they are sending their kids to school. Like I heard parents saying, they can't wait for school to start; they can't wait to have some peace and quiet in the house after a long, tiring summer with the kids. Yes, children can be a handful but schools are not babysitters. Firstly kids get out of control when they have nothing to do. A proper schedule and a polite instructor can make a world of a difference. Secondly, we can't just throw our kids in a classroom for some seven or eight hours in a day for twelve to sixteen years of their lives without knowing what they are learning and who they are learning it from. A bad subject, like biology only taught around the theory of evolution, or a bad teacher, like a gay professor - can make an atheist or a homosexual out of your child. In English class last year we read Skim (graphic novel) about a Chinese immgrant girl who had a lesbian teacher. Let's just say things happened between the two and by the end of school year, the teacher was fired and girl turned lesbian.
Now you might be thinking, forget public school, I'll just homeschool my kids. Islamic schools aren't really affordable, they aren't even Islamic to begin with. I'll just keep my kid at home and teach them myself. Sure, that's a great idea but it doesn't really work with everything. Even if your child learns Arabic grammar at the age of eight and the hypotenuse theorem by nine, they not know how to use it in their life. They may not have confidence to reach out to other people and help them with their knowledge. In order for children to be pragmatic with their studies, they need to see practical examples. School is a place where young people learn how to think with each other, how to jointly puzzle over a problem, how to make sense of discordant views, how to arrive at consensus. School is a place where the world can open up -- mine certainly did -- through learning history, geography, and literature, but also through the people you meet and a growing sense of where you fit in the scheme of things. School taught me to self-reflect, to think with words and numbers, become systematic and methodical, edit/improve upon my weaknesses and of those around me, to make friends etc.
Even if kids are homeschooled till grade 12, they won't have the luxury to do the same when it comes to university. At least by university you have to decide why you are going to school and what you are going to do once you are in. Which path are you going to take over the other? Well here is my justification...one of the top schools in the world has created one of the most powerful societies in the world. You see, a society is only as good as the sum of its parts. If you fix, or in our case, educate all the parts (people) of society, together they can build a titanic state.
Take for example the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It is Israel's oldest and best university to date. One of the visions of the Zionist movements was to establish the state of Israel via the Jewish University. So in 1884, the groundwork was laid and in 1918 the facility was opened at a gala ceremony attended by the leaders of the Jewish world, distinguished Jewish scholars and public figures including Earl Balfour, the former UK Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, Viscount Allenby, British soldier and administrator to expeditions lead against Syria, Palestine and Egypt during 1918. The First Board of Governors to the Hebrew University included Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Martin Buber and Chaim Weizmann. I hope you are realizing a trend here? The world's best Jewish men of academia, diplomacy and military opened a haven of courses from communications, analytical chemistry, economics, geography, law, philosophy, to psychology, archaeology, history and computer science to breed a unique brand of progressive Jews. It was this intelligentsia that produced Israel. This university not only prepared the paperwork for the country but it fought in many wars against Arabs to preserve the country.
Do Muslims have any university that can do the same? For every Jew in the world there are a hundred Muslims. There are 57 Muslim countries in the world, with only 500 universities put together. There are over 600 universities, colleges, schools and learning centers in Israel alone. India by itself has over 8,407 universities (Pakistan has only 127 - though both countries were founded just a day apart from each other. Clearly the Indians focused on education, we didn't). 90% of the Western world is literate while only 40% of the Muslim world knows how to read or write in their own language. 40% of the 90% of the Western population attends universities and only 2% of the 40% of literate Muslims go to university. After the military complex, the Western world spends most of its GDP on research and development while the Muslim world only spends 0.2% of that on the same. We also produce the least amount of books, we innovate (and know how to operate) the least amount of technology, or any other product that is of social service. It is not to say that there are no hard working people anywhere in the Muslim world. No there are many exceptions, Dr. Farhat Hashmi, Dr. Zakir Naik and Dr. Bilal Philips have done a lot in the field of education but obviously we cannot let the world's weight rest on their shoulders. More people need to rise and take responsibility. Did you know that the most used language on facebook is Arabic! What are all these Arabs doing on Facebook when we need them to protect Palestine? Pakistan has more than a 100 million cellphone users, 6.2 million Twitter users, 4 million Facebook users and 3 million bloggers. Like WOW! We don't have food or electricity in Pakistan, don't have education or employment but we have all these tech-savvy social-networking outlets for millions of people?
This is what I mean by why go to school when you can get a part time job anywhere to get by and catch the latest gossip on the internet? So long as you look good (and with a credit card, everyone looks good) and know how to say what you want to say in a way that others listen, you are respected in society. You might look at someone with a Yves Saint Laurent New Rive Purple Gauche Handbag and wish you had that and she may look at you in your sugar and spice long layers, dramatically side-swept bangs and chocolate and ginger colored strands and wish she was you.What else is there to life? Let someone else go to school and do all the hard work. Let them build nations and bring peace. You have better things to do?
I hate that the fate of the world rests in corrupt hands. I mean once, there used to be men like Umar (r.a) who he would stay with his people all day and stay with Allah all night. He would say, "If I sleep by day, the subjects might be harmed, and if I sleep at night I might be lost."
One day a young lady followed him from the market place. She said, "O Commander of the faithful! My husband has died and I have small children. I am the daughter of Khifaf bin Ayman Al Ghifari who witnessed Al-Hudaibiyah with Allah's Messenger (s.a.w)." Umar (r.a) welcomed her and loaded her camel with two big sacks of food and clothing. He said, "Take these and Allah will send you another before it ends." Someone near by objected and said to Umar (r.a) that he had given the woman too much. Umar (r.a) said that her father and brother besieged an enemy fortress for a long time until Allah gave them victory and we took their wealth.
It touches your heart, doesn't it? A stray woman with no social backing was able to demand her rights, straight from the Khaleef himself without any political campaigning or propaganda. The Khaleef on the other hand, respected her and honoured her wishes on the spot. There was no long bureaucratic bakwass. He didn't ask her to wait in line, call his secretary, fill out a form, bring proof for her husband's death etc. The best part is that Umar (r.a.) remembered her father and cousin. He ruled over an Empire that stretched from Spain to China. He must meet thousands of people everyday and subhanAllah look at his benevolence, he remembers each and everyone of them. I appreciates the good that they did and extends his kindness to not only them but also their families. What a man, subhanAllah. He didn't even take credit for his altruism, he said to the woman, "Allah will send you more." He encouraged her to trust Allah with all things, He is the One Who provides so don't be impressed by anyone who is helping you, Allah deserves thanks.
At another time, Umar (r.a) was doing hospitality for some out of town folks. At night when he was standing guard outside, he heard a baby cry. He found his mother and said, "Fear Allah and do good to your child." When he returned to his position, the cries lapsed into silence. At Fajr time again he heard the baby cry so before going to the Masjid to lead the prayer, he visited its mother and said, "Aren't you a good mother? What is the matter with your child?"
SubhanAllah! Which President on this planet would tread back and forth in the city to welcome and host refugees or immigrants? I know fathers who don't care if their own son/daughter is crying or dying in the next room but Umar (r.a) was aggrieved for a stranger's baby and he went to his mother twice, beseeching her to be good to him, i.e. nurse him. Even if fathers bother with their kids today, its never to see whether they have eaten. Its only when its report card time will the dads ask why you got a 89 instead of 99. Dude if you are never home to help your kids with homework, don't even except them to pass. And when they are older, they hate you - they can't even stand to look at you, don't wonder then where you went wrong.
Needless to say, we need men like Umar (r.a). Men with his rigid simplicity, utter self-effacement, scrupulous regard for duty, intense devoution to his people, absolute trust and fear in Allah and strength. Ghandi said, "The best thing to happen to India would be to be reigned by a ruler as just and upright as Umar bin Al Khattab". Until a men like him can come along, I guess a radio clown like me should stay in school so I can, only with Allah's help, do a minuscule fraction of what he used to.
You know the sahaba (r.a) would teach their children about the ghazawaat like they would teach them the Qur'an. The ghazawaat gave the children heroes to emulate. One is to read several books on seerah and try to follow the examples as much as you can at a personal level. The other is to go to school inshaAllah to implement the sahaba's principles professionally; use our careers to reenact their lives. Which is more grandiose?
Go open your mind, inflame your heart. Lose some sleep, wander in the libraries. Chase your professors, write essays. You might become something big inshaAllah.
September used to be a beautiful time of year, with a symphony of changing colours, cool, frosty air and wet skies.
The days were soaked in warm sunlight. You could hear the birds tweeting of birds from early morning over trees that stand in solitude, with their branches hanging like yellow and red draperies. The sub-aplpine larch and aspen trees were golden; maple, tamaracks and oak were shades of orange and red. The Bruce Peninsula, the Niagara Parkway river and Agawa Canyon in Ontario transformed into the most spectacular, most romantic and dramatic flora, fauna and water vistas. Whether you went hiking on foot or canoeing on a boat, the fiery reds, oranges, crimsons and golds blanket of leaves amazed and astounded you.
The nights were the loveliest in September. The sky used to be deep pumpkin orange. The icy wind felt like needles on your face. You squinted your eyes, and drew your jacket over your skin, tucking your fingers inside its slevees. You crunched the brittle leaves on the sidewalk as you hurried home from the bus stop. There used to be rakes in your neighbours' backyards, scented candles on their window. You could almost taste the apple pie, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce baking in their kitchen.
The rain was the best part of September. It was breaktaking. It brought the fall foliage to life, it made their colours even more vibrant and exciting. It trickled and tapped in soothing rhythm. It hugged the trees, buildings and people with every drop. It was cleansing and calming. It was passionate and eclipsing.
Once upon a September...
There will be no warmth this September, no rainbow of colours, no rainstorms. No nature gracing us with its paintings; no birds and squirrels flitting and darting. Wipe out all these images and sounds from memory. Because now, September has become an ugly, abhorrent thing. Its a month of hatred and Islamaphobia. Its a month of war against Muslims and the Muslim world. Its this month that charged Churches to burn the Qur'an, mobs to shutdown Mosques, Jews to jab the Shariah. Every day Muslims are harassed in Western schools/shops and humiliated in European offices/airports because of this month. It is this month that caused the maiming and murder of harmless Muslims in the Middle East. It is this month that allows my benign brothers and sisters to be prisoned and punished in Guantanamo Bay. I used to love September but now I wish it came never came.
This all started from Sept. 11, 2001.
I had just turned 13. My grade 8 class was standing against a row of sentinel Brandeis blue lockers, waiting to get into math class. Crumpled pieces of paper, broken pencils, forgotten erasers and discarded gum wrappers buffed the hallway floor instead of the bleach and pine sol from this morning. Mr. Gill, the school principal, made quick, soundless steps towards my math teacher who was ordering us to be silent as we took our seats in class. Mr. Gill pulled Mr. Kerr to the side and broke the news to him in a hollow and weak voice. Two planes had crashed in the Word Trade Center, one at 8:46 am during homeroom and the other at 9:03 am during Language Arts class. Gloom creeped over Mr. Kerr's face as Mr. Gill spoke of a third plane crash just minutes ago in the Pentagon.
What followed were a series of moratoriums in my elementary school. For the most part I didn't understand what was happening. Why suddenly "Osama" became a swear word and why Ms. Debeck told Muslim girls in her science class to take off their hijabs. Why everyone was so tense? Thousands of people die in Palestine, in Bosnia, Kashmir and Moscow every year. They never receive any sympathy from the world then why suddenly the lives of 3000 Americans has woken the champions of justice in one day?
It finally hit me on Sept. 14, 2001 when the US declared war on Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a land of rugged mountains and arid plains, slightly smaller than the size of Taxes. There is no water in Afghanistan, just 652,230sq km of dust and compressed rock. At the time, Afghanistan had just survived 10 years of bloodbath in the Russo-US war. They had no food, electricity, medical care, schools or jobs. 55% of Afghanis were just children under the age of 15, their expected lifespan only 45 years. Of course they were in no shape to take on US's Humvees, M-16A4 rifles, M203 Grenade Launchers and B-2 spirit stealth bombers.
Of course, I knew that, the US knew that but Bush sent 146,000 American troops in 2001 to massacre over 4 million of these heartborken, hungry and homeless people in the coming 10 years. Since 2001, almost every two year, a fresh batch of troops are sent to Afghanistan. In Jan. of 2007, Bush posted 5.000 troops to Afghanistan. Then sent and additional 30,000 more in spring of the same year. This is despite the fact that he had already committed nearly 21,000 troops in 2005. Even Obama deployed 34,000 troops when he became president in 2009.
The media told me that the Afghans deserved this. A group amongst them, the Taliban, bombed the WTC so the US was only attacking them as reprisal. The media told me that attacking Afghanistan was the only way the world will be free of terrorist and become democratic.
Who are the Taliban and what really happened on 9/11? What is the real face of Democracy in the US? InshaAllah this post will answer these questions with some invaluable tangents so maybe one day, I can look back at September and not feel so much dread and paranoia.
The T-men
We have all heard things about the Taliban. Seen videos of them flogging women etc. For a moment i want you to set all that information aside and consider this: if the Taliban were good men, like your fathers and brothers, your favourite uncle an cousins...and you saw videos of them volunteering at hospitals and playing with children at the park, would you still want the US to attack Afghanistan? Yes, there are some negative reports on the Taliban from people who lived in Afghanistan like Sh. Abu Esa and this girl from my high school. But can the actions of a few stray individuals suffice as a death penalty for the entire community? Its like saying BECAUSE a a couple Priests and Pastors abused children hence all of Christianity must be pedophilic. Does that make sense? No. We would never make a preposterous generalization against "them", then why against "our own"?
The Taliban are the T-men and here is their UNBIASED story:
The T-men are a superhero team in Afghanistan. They were created in 1992 by their love for Islam and their love for others to have Islam. The basic concept of the T-men was to remove the cloud of ignorance and anti-peace sentiment from the world, to bring Islamic education, Islamic law and thus harmony. They were called the T-men because they possessed a special talab (strong desire) which was lacking in the average person of their time. Their talab gave them the ability and the power to:
(a) Produce Islamic freedom fighters. L. Carl Brown, Garret, a Professor in Foreign Affairs Emeritus at Princeton University and a historian of the Arab world said in an interview to The Voice of America that, "We are seeing the people who studied in Afghanistan, now belligerently resisting the occupation forces in Chechnya, Kashmir and Palestine. This is a very alarming situation."
(b) Establish an Islam Empire. The T-men were voted by the Afghani people in a fair and democratic election to form the government. With their ingenious planning, conviction and strength from Allah, in less than two and-a-half years, they instituted Islamic law in the land. Idol worship was banned in public places; all statues and sculptures with human/animal carvings were removed. Inappropriate advertising posters and billboards were removed. Magic and astrology were outlawed. It was mandatory to pray Salah on time in the Masjid; it was illegal to conduct any work except ibadaah during Salah time. Interest was abolished. Alcohol and gambling were prohibited; all drug addicts were arrested for rehabilitation. Music was totally pulled out from every shop, restaurant and hotel; no music CD, cassette or video was available anywhere in the market. Women were asked to dress modestly; husbands and fathers were ticketed for allowing their women to wear unethical clothes outside the house. It was discouraged for men to shave the beard etc.
Source: Muhammad Iqbal Kilani, Allamat-e-Qiyamat ka Bayan. If you can read my ramblings, read his entire book, its more worthy of your time.
A lot of people don't know this but when Afghanistan whipped the sorry Russians and American in 1989 with close to zero artillery and without a single aircraft - the superpowers were gobsmacked. They were afraid the entire Muslim world will make an example of Afghanistan and revolt against them. Keep in mind that the US, with UK and France invaded the Muslim Caliphate and annexed it into small colonies after WW1. First they divided the Turks and Arabs until they could not stand each other and contested for separation. (Yes, the seed of nationalism was sown in yes but the West. Allah and His Messenger (s.a.w) recognize the entire Muslim Ummah as one body, as brothers). Second, in 1915, the British De Bunsen Committee pledged itself to recognize and support the independence of the Arabs from the Turks and grant each Arab faction its own territory on condition that they help the British knock down the Ottoman Empire. The Arabs fulfilled their pledge, not only did we foolishly fight alongside the allied forces in WW1 but we also help the British vanish the Ottoman Empire (May Allah forgive us). The British on the other hand, double crossed us and in 1916, under Sykes-Picot Treaty, they divided the Middle East and brought it under their "zones of influence." So Adana, Beirut, Damascus, Aleppo and Mosul became French colonies. While Amman, Baghdad, Basra and Kuwait were named British colonies. Without the protection of the Ottoman Empire, the Arabs had no choice but to accept this stab in the back. If this was not treacherous enough, in 1917 - Balfour Declaration, the British announced Palestine as a national home for the Jewish People!!! For the next 31 years, the Palestinian Arabs were bulldozed out of their homes, their children bombed in school and their shops shut down to make way for the new Jewish settlements. Even today you will see in grocery stores, dates and figs read 'Product of Israel' or 'Product of Jerusalem' labels. Thats BS! The Jews don't grow stuff, the Palestinians do. The Jews just steal it from them and sell it to the world with their name.
Other Arab states like Egypt, Palestine, Sudan and Yemen were going through the same political and economic disasters. Western pawns, Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt, 1952), Yasser Arafat (Palestine, 1950), Omar al-Bashir (Sudan) and Ali Abdullah Saleh (Yemen, 1964) were stamping out Islam from the Middle East and stuffing the people with corruption. Of course the Muslims were upset. We wanted to be free from West's wanton occupation. So when Afghanistan finally clobbered the West after 10 years of brutal war, you bet the Arabs also got courage to fight back. But you see, there was a catch. before Afghanistan became a means of strength and solidarity for Muslims everywhere, the US installed Babrak Karmal, secular leader, as President in Afghanistan. The plan was to pit the Afghanis against each other under Karmal in ruthless civil wars over absurd ethical and territorial disputes. With the best Muslims soldiers fighting amongst themselves, of course they didn't have time to save Muslim World from Western colonization. So for more than thirty years, the Afghanis killed each other; there was an influx of opium and open prostitution among other evil things. After much fermentation of society, the Afghans turned to the Islamic scholars and their students for guidance. The students (Taleban is arabic for students), aka our T-men arrived at the scene and stopped the slaughter. Not only did the T-men turned Afghanistan into a peaceful and pure Islamic Empire but they also sent their men to free other Muslim countries trapped in the secular sack.
The US assumed that since the T-men are young, they can be easily bribed or at least debauched but the T-men never gave up Islam. Furious, the US started calling them extremist, fundamentalists and then finally 'terrorist.' At first the US supported revolts against the T-men by funding Ahmed Shah Masood and his followers. During this period Afghanistan was again tore by violent skirmishes. Second, US placed sanctions on Afghanistan - all food, water and medicinal imports were cut off. The finally, when time was right, on Sept. 11, 2001, they blamed the T-men for blowing up WTC.
What happened on 9/11? We have all heard and seen the traditional story. But think about it now rationally for a bit and question all the details you know... The world’s most powerful air force failed to intercept any of the four hijacked planes, two of which crashed in the WTC, New York, the third in Pentagon, Washington and fourth in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. This is despite the fact that a routine military training exercise happened to be taking place at the same time that day at US air defense command and Air traffic controller Colin Scoggins was in constant contact with the military. Did Scoggin not inform the military that 4 commercial planes were missing and heading for WTC and the Pentagon? Did his transponder suddenly fail? Was the US military equipment so outdated that it could not detect the plans or signals from FAA? Moreover, which building in the history of the world have ever been totally collapsed down to rumble as quickly as WTC after a few fires? It is obvious from the way the building fell in its own framework, bottom floors up, and the way the columns dropped, that explosives were used. It was an act of control demolition, nothing else. Furthermore, why did WTC building 7 collapse symmetrically in 2.25 seconds!!!???? It was not hit by any plane. You know why? Because Thermitic material, which reacts violently when heated, was found in WTC7 and Twin Towers. It was a bomb that destroyed those buildings, not the plane crash. And don't say gallons of oil from the plane crash sparked the fires and burned the towers down. The New York City Fire Department, do you know what they said? They were on the scene, and they said there were bombs! CNN and CBS drummed the same confession LIVE and then took it off air. I wonder why? Suppose the WTC was attacked by terrorists and WTC7 crashed by stroke of fate, how did an illiterate, ill-civilized amateur pilot from Afghanistan fly a commercial plane in a complicated maneaour and crash it into the headquarters of the world’s most powerful military, 78 minutes after the first report of two possible hijackings and leave no trace? There was no blackbox or even plane wreckage found near Pentagon. No plane crew or passenger remains were discovered. Was it a jinn? No, but it could have been a US controlled missile, a small aircraft or an unmanned drone!
All evidence presented by the US on sept 11 is bogus. There is no excuse for the murder of 4 million Afghans. No excuse for torture in Guantanamo Bay or Bagram! No excuse for Airport body scanners or Big Brother camera systems. 9/11 was an inside job. In fact, the media had been professing it long before 2001. This may not hold in the Supreme court but it's something, isn't it? It does and it should raise eye-brows and make us say, "hey wait a minute!"
The Real Face of Democracy George Bush calls the war on Afghanistan, "operation enduring freedom." He thinks if he can free Afghanistan from the T-men, and replace Islam with democracy then the US and the world will be safe. o_0 O mere Allah, how can someone be so full of themselves? URRGGGHHH!!! LOL I donno whether to cry or laugh. But then again subhanAllah some people, even Muslims actually believe his drivel. If you frustrated with the dictators like Saddam, Mubarak, and Zardari then I can relate to this. I also wish things were different. But I don't want democracy.
Dictators in the Middle East and Pakistan are US puppets. The US endorses the dictator's abuse of power because the US world-domination could only thrive on their tyranny. So if we are going to protest against anyone, let it be the US Presidents. If there is going to be overthrowing of any government, let it be the US government first. Henry David Thoreau said, "there are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root" :) Make sense? Thankfully I don't believe in riots or violent revolutions so I am against all forms of anarchy and coups. I want peace on earth and good will for every man and woman. I want to enjoy September instead of feeling scared this time of the year. I want to be 13 again - splash around in puddles, draw cartoons on my arms, jump in a pile of leaves, eat sweet jam tarts and sleep with my window open on starry nights.
But is democracy, the world's only chance to peace? Will I never know happiness without democracy? My professor for POL203 said that the rhetoric around US constitution is almost divine. If you hear the MPs speaking about democracy these days, it seems as if it were a god they worship, they revere democracy, blindly and unconditionally. So why this obsession with democracy? What is democracy? Democracy is when the politicians pretend to be listening to the people when in fact they are taking orders from big businesses because these businesses finance their political parties, organize their election campaign and provide them with public offices. These business also generally shape societal values, particularly through their ownership of the media and market.
Don't believe me? NBC owns and operates American television networks, numerous cable channels, and a group of local stations in the United States, as well as motion picture companies, several television production companies, and branded theme parks. NBC Universal is headquartered in the Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. Rockefeller Plaza is a complex of 19 commercial buildings built by the Rockefeller family. The Rockefeller family owns much of the oil businesses, industries and banks. Now that you know this, tell me what does NBC air? What does any US and Canadian media air anyway? What are the politicians saying? There are roughly 0.9 million Muslims in Canada and Steven Harper has the audacity to call Islam the country's biggest threat? Did he forget democracy at this time? Have some respect Mr. Harper! It is our people who make up your country. It is we who work as laborers and cab drivers to doctors, lawyers, teachers and engineers. But does the Canadian media show Muslims in a positive light? No! The only "Muslim" show that made it do CBC was one that mocked everything Islamic. How does the Canadian government treat us? It banned our scholar, Dr. Zakir. It banned our clothes, the niqab. Oh I love democracy, yey! *rolls eyes*
Want to know how else democracy works?
Bush received $3.8 billion for his 2000 Presidential campaign from Halliburton. At the time Chenney was CEO of Halliburton. Coincidence that Bush won 2000 election and Chenney became his vice-president? Another key staff of the Bush administration, Condoleezza Rice, named National Security Advisor to Bush was the former Manager of Chevron Oil. Wait...it gets better.
In 1997, Halliburton invited the T-men to their corporate headquarters in Texas to discuss an oil pipeline project. Chenney at the time said that "Afghanistan was the most strategically significant region to them." In Feb. 1998, the T-men declined the US oil pipeline offer (remember what I said earlier that the T-men refused to be corrupted and they didn't take any bribes?). Thereupon VP of International Relations clearly urged the replacement of the Taliban government with one that was more acceptable to Halliburton. He argued that creation of a 42 inch oil pipeline across Afghanistan would yield them profit increase of 500% by 2015.
Not long after, in August of 1999, US began to wail to the world that the T-men's were terrorists. The US framed bombing US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In retaliation, Clinton mowed down all of Afghanistan with over 80 missiles. In Oct. of 1999 UN imposed sanctions on Afghanistan demanding the T-men to give up Osama bin Laden, who was supposedly a CIA-operative. Why didn't the UN sanction the US to return their agent?
When Bush became President in 2000 thanks to Halliburton's contributions, Laila Helms, the nice of CIA former CIA agent Richer Helms was the go-between US and Afghanistan. She was sent to negotiate the US pipeline project with the T-men. In May, 2001 US officially gave Afghanistan an ultimatum that "either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs." (Ref: Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie in the Forbidden Truth). We all know what happened in Sept. 2001. The Taliban were removed from government, Hamid Karzai took their place. Interestingly, Karzai was a corporation consultant for UNOCAL (Union Oil Company of California). Under Karzai of course the American dream pipeline was built. Not only did the US profit from the oil but also gained 406,700+ hectares of opium and a pretext to plunder Iraq.
Well, that is democracy for you! Its actually worse than dictatorships. At last Saddam Hussein didn't lie. He said he is going to attack Iran and Kuwait. He was straightforward with his reasons. The democratic governments will give the average person just enough freedom to hang them with. Where do you find the most atheism and anarchic societies in the world? In democracies of course! The phenomena of Satan worship and Satanic Bible originated in democratic countries. Don't believe me? The first Church of Satan was build in California, US. The first Satanic Bible written on donkey skin with blood is preserved as a centerpiece in some museum in Sweden. The highest interest rates, the highest crime rates, the highest depression and suicide rates are found only in democracies. La howla walla quwatta illa bilah. So why do we want Afghanistan to become a democracy again?
O Muslims, read Surah Naml and tell me what did Suleiman (a.s) say when he the bird informed him of the Kingdom of Sheba. Did he say, 'mashaAllah what free people, they worship the sun?' Or did he invite them to submit to Allah? Afghanistan needs Islam, the world needs Islam - not democracy! PS. Islam is submission to Allah whereas Democracy is submission to Shaytan and the desires of the nafs.
I wish there was a nicer way to present these sad truths of September. If everyone could just free ourselves from prejudice, against the T-men and against Islam, maybe we can see again the spectacular symphony of Fall colours. Perhaps if we turned off our TV sets and studied the Qur'an and studied history, we could understand that the events on 9/11 were only a farce and a sham. After this and only after this, September can beautiful again....
