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“We had the Shari’ah implemented in the heart of Europe for 800 years; the Jews, Muslims and Christians lived together under Andalusia. So why can’t we do that again?” Anjem Choudhury on “Press TV” discussing the establishment of the Caliphate.
“If we are going to support his government, it has to be run properly to ensure the levels of corruption decrease, not increase. The levels of corruption are frightening.” A diplomat with knowledge of the White House review on Karzai’s Government.
“Now, that the US military is preparing for withdrawal, these suicide bombing cells have been placed back on operational footing.” Iraqi Officials on the resurgence of the Islamic State of Iraq.
“May Allah not bless wealth without religion.” Al-Qaa’idah leader, Shaykh Usamah bin Ladin, on supporting the Jihad in Somalia.
“We are really out of money and we just can’t do this anymore. The world has to get used to taking care of itself.” Loren Thompson, defense analyst and COO of the Lexington Institute, on feeling the financial crisis in the US military budget.
“Don’t fear for the Jihad in Iraq and feel at ease, for the wave’s intensity was broken.” Leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Shaykh Abu ‘Umar al-Baghdadi.
“You have disobeyed all heaven and earth’s laws of war, to include your own laws.” The 9/11 Shura Council
consisting of 5 members of al-Qaa’idah, on the injustices of the US.
“We would mobilize the entire Muslim world with its mujahideen, and strike against your interests everywhere, until you collapse and become bankrupt, the same way America is collapsing and becoming bankrupt today.” Al-Qaa’idah Commander, Shaykh Mustapha Abu al-Yazid, to India.
“America is foolish because it will only force more people here to stand up against it.” Shaykh Noor Muhammad, a scholar who runs a madrassa in Quetta, said of possible US strikes.
“As of today, the government courts are closed and all judicial decisions are being made by qazi’s.” Amir Izzat Khan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Jama’ah, Tehrike-Nifaaz Shariat Muhammadi.
Soundbytes is a collection of notable short quotations from various people within the last month. Its objective is to keep the readers updated on international and domestic politics, the worldwide economy, social life and religion.
hen spending time in the universities, working alongside the Kuffar, and constantly seeing their behavior and thought patterns on a daily basis, one is sometimes ambushed by the thoughts of seeking out similarities between the followers of Haqq and Batil. It is a type of feeling that urges a comfortable fit and integration into their culture and society as a whole, due to the overwhelming influence that surrounds you from nearly every direction of the compass in measures of worldly success. For some of us, it is this compass that defines how we even implement our religion and this compass which decides how we view the events occurring in the Islamic world, whilst forgetting the constants. As for the rest – who happen to be in the minority – they struggle to limit that compass to their necessary worldly matters, and seek to revitalize the Ghuraba’ model inclusively.
As a resident of one of the most atrocious and egotistical regimes to date, I can attest to the fact that the social atmosphere in the United States is looked at – by both the Kuffar and mistaken Muslims – as something static rather than dynamic. Essentially, the social life of Americans is not supposed to be a prescriptive culture that leaves tangible results on the character or mindset of any individuals. Rather, it’s seen as an all-embracing way of life that allows an assortment of cultures in a complex infrastructure that is fundamentally subtle. This ‘melting pot’ formula is looked upon as the model for all of humanity to espouse in its social milieu. This is exactly where the social myth lies in America. It seeks to represent what is outwardly incredible to the world at large, as if to say “this is the beauty of our Democratic principles in practice”. But what it fails to reveal is how its dominant capitalistic culture, based on the whims of the self, is eating away at the very roots of this ‘enviable’ society.
American culture – which is a vast topic in and of itself – is in actuality rather dynamic. Capitalism is its principles and Democracy is its practice. A religion indeed is made up of both, hence the reason why the book “Democracy: A Religion” was written to alert the masses to such a phenomena. This American Millah seeks to influence without showing the face of influence. It is like Shaykh Imran Hosein’s coining of the term ‘blue jeans Jama’ah’; it is unheard of, yet it is globally influential. Its dynamism is enforced through all forms of media without actually appearing to be enforced at all. This is what the Sociologists call a norm. The normative experience in America leads one to believe that this should be the standard norm all throughout civilized cultures. Thus, shining in the religious identity field department is a counter-culture due to the normative experience. Unfortunately, the Muslim experience in America has a track record of both shying away from this openness in the religious practices, as well as frowning upon what the end results could be. As a result, a type of Islam is formed from these fears which they now proudly champion as moderate. The moderate Islam of these people
– as we know it – is nothing but a mirage in the
the thirsty one thinks it to be water, until desert;
he comes up to it, he finds it to be nothing, but he finds Allah with him, Who will pay him his
(22:39). due
Moreover, the effect of America’s War of Terrorism has left the American Muslim community with an identity crisis that is founded upon their fears of a decline in worldly possessions. The perceptive ones amongst them know that by rising to the challenge, they risk their job, family and citizenship. It is this trinity that has made our Muslim community make the wrong decisions at the most critical moments in its development. Their Islam is limited to the more ‘acceptable’ parts of the Qur’an and Sunnah, whilst they shun Islam’s more controversial or antagonistic teachings. Ironic indeed it is for them to refer to our modern times as being like the ‘Makkan stage’, while in reality the Makki Qur’an is full of countering the plots, plans, religion, and culture of the disbelievers through the traps of the tongue and the steadfastness of the heart. The Qur’anic spirit has already exposed the falseness of the trinity of the American Muslims1, yet their most significant Scholars pick and choose from the words of the Divine to fit the context of their minority struggle. This struggle of theirs attempts to dislodge all forms of Wala’ and Bara’ – which they incorrectly label as fitnah – and replaces it with condemnation of terrorism, participating in the voting process to elect the next American tyrant, and integration into the mixing bowl of America’s culture – which they also incorrectly label as Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat2. This fiqh doctrine asserts that Muslim minorities, especially those residing in the West, deserve a special new legal discipline to address their unique religious needs, which differ from those of Muslims residing in Islamic countries. Dr. Al-Alwani of Virginia coined the term Fiqh al-Aqalliyyat and used it for the first time in 1994 when the Fiqh Council of North America, under his presidency, issued a fatwa allowing American Muslims to vote in
1 Such as ayah 24 of Surah at-Tawbah. 2 Jurisprudence of Muslim Minorities.
American elections.3 Although it is true that Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah discussed this issue in-depth in his Majmu’, he never compromised on the principles of Shari’ah for the minority community. In the American Muslim framework, its goal is to reshape and reinterpret Islamic concepts, such as Dar al-Islam, while not appearing to be a religious reform movement that breaches orthodoxy.4 Unfortunately, through its attempt of refining Shari’ah for the minorities, it has made itself into a movement that betrays the ‘Aqeedah of the Salaf as-Salih.
In the midst of this storm, we find many of our fellow Muslims in America that are absolutely blinded by the inspiring play of American politics, the comfortable practice of ‘moderate’ Islam, and the denunciation of the Islamists. Countless pieces of the puzzle board are missing from the bigger
picture. They are proud of the fact that they helped
elect a leader who will withdraw some troops
from ‘Iraq, but conveniently seem to forget
the fact that the same government will
furiously continue and in fact escalate its
War of Terrorism upon the Muslim nations
of Pakistan and Afghanistan. A reason for
this betrayal in the ideological principles
of Wala’ and Bara’ is because their
disapproval of America’s actions
in ‘Iraq was not due to their desire
for the Mujahideen to smash the
American hegemony, nor was it due
to their love for the Islamic State of ‘Iraq fighting to establish the Shari’ah in ‘Iraq, nor was it even due to America’s massacre of civilians in their cowardly air strikes. It was instead simply due to America being in the wrong country for misleading reasons (of WMD’s), excuses which the Americans later adopted numerous times to justify the continuing occupation. If the American Muslims were so concerned with civilian death tolls, then why are they so openly against their brothers who seek to defend the civilians from the Americans? And if they are truly supporters of Shari’ah, then why are they not shouting a word in protest against Obama’s wishes to throw an American surge into Afghanistan, for the sake of establishing and maintaining a Democracy that is not built upon the pillars of Shari’ah? It is an irony that speaks volumes 3 Shammai Fishman’s Hudson monograph on fiqh al-aqalliyyat
from 2006 , pg. 1 4 Ibid.
in the books of betrayal and ignorance.
Another point of notice is the fear of finger pointing of the media giants that many American Muslims have. When attending a protest in support of the people of Gaza, a few brothers and I arrived to the event with our large black flag that read in Arabic the Shahada. As soon as we came out of the parking lot, we were ambushed by the organizers of the event, and told to put the flag back in the car. After we questioned the brother, he showed his true signs of fear for what the media might say. After seeing our determination to not humiliate the banner of Tawheed, he had no choice but to let us go. Later in the day, another organizer of the event said to us, “Put down this flag! It’s not like anyone here can read Arabic anyways.” He was quickly asked, “Why is it do I see Palestinian flags that have the Shahada banner in Arabic, and you are not approaching them?” After interacting with these types of Muslims, it was difficult to not believe that they have taken the media as an idol besides Allah. This is not an attempt at all to pronounce Takfeer; rather, this is just a musing that amazes the intellect when it sees a believer more afraid of what a Kafir would say rather than worrying about being flung into the Hellfire. It further exposes the American Millah of Islam which is based upon what pleases the Jews and Christians. The antidote to this is to adopt the noble ayah:
pleased with you till you follow their Millah
(2:120). Indeed, their fears even extend to partnering with the FBI to root out suspected Muslims that lean towards Jihad. Recently however, this has backfired on them, as now the truth is coming out that the FBI is using paid informants and agent provocateurs to penetrate the Masajid across America to imprison innocent Muslims.5 This humiliation is the result of siding with those whom Allah hates; a concept absent in the minds of most American Muslims. The American Muslims have to either practice Islam in its entirety and willingly face the difficulties, or just be thrown around by their slave masters and face constant humiliation.
Never will the Jews and the Christians be
When we go back to the origin of this ironic belief system of the Muslim Americans, we find that it is a product of the American Millah or ‘Melting pot.’ Surely, an Islam like this has never existed in our history except with the betraying Shi’a that fought Ahl as-Sunnah. The reason for this fallacy in American Muslims is because they have adopted the mindset of “this is my home and culture because I live here.”This is the type of mentality that should be adopted when living under Islamic law as there is no law worthy of obedience except the law of Allah.
The Ghareeb in America is the one who feels uncomfortable with living under the laws which challenge Allah’s regulation. He is uncomfortable
with living amongst the disbelievers. He is
uncomfortable with paying taxes to the bloodthirsty Government. He is uncomfortable with Muslims who water down the religion for the
sake of their fears. The Ghareeb in this part of the world is defined not by merely being part of a minority Muslim population, but he is defined by his displeasure
with those items that seek to undermine the Shari’ah from both
sides of the fence. It is this existence which is shunned by the majority of American Muslims due to the
difficulties paired with it. Instead of it being treated as an obligation, it is treated as either an option or as ‘extremist tendency.’
I close with the words of al-Ustadh, Sayyid Qutb, may Allah have mercy upon him, when he said in ‘A Muslim’s Nationality and His Belief,’
“The day Islam gave a new concept of values and standards to mankind and showed the way to learn these values and standards, it also provided it with a new concept of human relationships. Islam came to return man to his Sustainer and to make His guidance the only source from which values and standards are to be obtained, as He is the Provider and Originator. All relationships ought to be based through Him, as we came into being through His will and shall return to Him.
Islam came to establish only one relationship which binds men together in the sight of Allah, and if this
As the first news about the most recent in a longline of American crimes against the Islamic nation was published, some Muslims expressed their outrage and shock. The despicable event which took place is the rape of at least two Algerian Muslim women by the Station Chief of the CIA in Algiers.
In reality, that such an incident could take place in the heart of a Muslim homeland, in spite of its proud history and vast deposits of natural resources should come as a surprise to no one. As the story developed it has emerged that the man in question, 41 year old Andrew Warren, has filmed himself raping at least 12 Muslim women1, in a crime spree which stretches back over many years, and involved women in at least one other Muslim country (Egypt) besides Algeria. Warren has also spent time in Afghanistan.
For decades the enemies of Islam have collectively sought to seize the chastity of our women and children. Sexual assault has become a weapon of war, deployed as often as needed by the transgressors against the Muslims. In Bosnia, towns such as Foca became as infamous for the rape of Muslim women and girls as Srebrenica became for the murder of Muslim men and boys. There were Serbian soldiers whose only occupation was
1 CIA official investigated for alleged rape of two Algerian
to rape. They never went out on patrol, the never stood watch at night, they never fired a shot from their rifle, and their only task each day was to rape Muslim women whenever possible.2
Using rape as a strategy effects a broad range of people. Foremost this contemptuous tactic humiliates the women and children who are the principle victims. Secondly this tactic makes the male population feel complicit and guilty, as they were incapable of preventing the crimes from occurring. If the enemies of Islam fail to capture a Mujahid, often their retaliation is the rape of his wife, his sister, his daughter or his mother, in a vain attempt to break his will.
As with the crimes of the occupiers in Abu Ghraib, these sex attacks are not merely manifestations of the perversions of individual occupiers. Rather they are actually part of a broader plan to weaken the resolve of the Muslims, to divide them and to sow the seeds of despair and disunity amongst them. These plans were hatched by the upper echelons of every army to battle the Muslims since the fall of the Khilafah, from the Serbians to the Russians, and most recently the Americans and Ethiopians. The theory seems to be that if they cannot militarily defeat the Mujahideen, and their spirit refuses to be broken, then the enemy will turn on the apparent
‘weakest link’ in the society, the women and children.
In this case there has been a disturbing trend to blame the victims. While there is some evidence that the two Algerian women may have willingly drank alcohol, does this mean that they can legitimately be sexually assaulted? And what about the ten other women who were assaulted and filmed by Warren? How do we know that they also drank alcohol? Warren could have easily spiked tea or coffee with Xanax, and later assaulted the women.
The real criminal in this case is plain to see. The sad fact is that to this date, Andrew Warren has not been dismissed by the CIA. Having escaped Islamic justice, he will now most likely not face any serious legal consequences in America.
When we look closely at the case, we can see four clear lessons for the Muslims:
In September of last year, when the women finally came forward to report what had occurred, Warren was not arrested, but instead in October he was put on a plane and sent back to Washington, before the scandal became widely publicised. This was partly to protect him from the Mujahideen and the altered the Algerian Constitution so that Bouteflika will now be allowed to run for a third term in office in the April 9th elections.3
Had Bouteflika displayed an ounce of courage and demanded Warren to stand trial in Algeria, you can bet the State Department would be heading up an international chorus of condemnation for this power-grab. Bouteflika would be facing an avalanche of pressure to resign.
It is interesting to compare how much criticism Hugo Chavez faced for making almost exactly the same Constitutional change at nearly the same time, and this is despite the fact that Chavez put his Constitutional change to the people in a referendum, whereas Bouteflika forced his change on the Algerian people.
In the same way, when the Egyptian authorities discovered Warren had raped numerous Egyptian Muslim women, he was quietly relocated to Algeria, and Egypt was able to avoid any unpleasantnesses with Washington.
Both of the Algerian women who were raped met Warren at official US embassy functions, and were invited back to his private residence from there. The so-called embassies of Western nations in The covenant issue is an amazing point. All treaties which have signed between the Taghout governments and kuffar nations should be considered null and void, as the kuffar have broken the terms of the agreements on countless occasions. Therefore these covenants should not be binding upon the Muslims.
‘Diplomats’ and ‘embassies’ should likewise not be protected under any arrangement, as they are the principle transgressors against the Muslims in the lands in which they are established.
The rule of law has not existed in Algeria since 1992. That year is significant because on the verge of a massive election victory the Islamic Salvation Front (known by its French initials FIS) was brutally attacked by the secular army (no doubt with CIA backing). Who can forget the widespread atrocities which followed, when whole villages were murdered by government soldiers disguised as Mujahideen. It is little wonder that former FIS leader Abassi Madani has recently called for Algerians to boycott the polls4, as all opposition to Bouteflika has been ruthlessly suppressed in recent years.
The US is quite happy for secular tyrants to rule Islamic countries for decades, provided that they keep their Islamists suppressed. Their goal is simply to pacify the Middle East until its natural resources have been exploited to the point of exhaustion; what happens to the Muslim masses is irrelevant as long as they are kept in check.
HAMAS and their brethren can jump through as many hoops as the Zionists and Christians can think of, and it will all amount to nothing.
Al-Qaa’idah in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb has vowed to take revenge5 for the attack. It should be kept in mind that this is not just an ‘Algerian’ problem, and the responsibility for retaliating
4 Historical Islamist leader urges Algeria vote boycott 5 Al Qaeda Leader attacks Algerian leader over CIA sex case
against the Americans cannot rest with them alone. The Ummah will get nowhere as long as we continue to view crusader oppression and injustice as localised problems.
The kuffar put together coalitions consisting of dozens of different nations to fight the Muslims of Afghanistan and then the Muslims of Iraq. The Muslims must also work together if they hope to repel these assaults.
A crime against any Muslim must be seen as a crime against every Muslim!
magine it’s 2012. Unpopularity of the ‘War on Terror’ is widespread. To offset the unpopularity of the 10 year war that has lost momentum, Obama is replacing the man power with more efficient technologies, with the aim to gain an overwhelming advantage against the Mujahideen. New technology is increasing the already hefty 1.1 trillion dollars military budget, even though the economy is on its last string, and the inflation is increasing every day, this plan is last chance for Obama to win another term in the White House. The recovery package showed no real improvements, and the stock market is at the lowest since the great depression. Iraq is in turmoil and is source of bad publicity. The ‘War on Terror’ has expanded throughout much of Pakistan, where local Taliban movements are gaining popularity and strength. Outside of Kabul there is new scrap yard full of destroyed US equipment. With resources spread out, NATO is stretched thin and according to military analysts is in the worst shape ever. War veteran suicide attempts are in the thousands per month, and along with the unpopularity of the war, the US Military is running short on soldiers.
New strategies of the Mujahideen has decreased the effectiveness of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), therefore NATO is forced into a greater reliance on infantry. The NATO objective, in accordance with the plan, is to equip foot soldiers with the state of the art technology. These Electronic Warfare Soldiers have goggles that integrate GPS alongside of battle field strategic data, upgraded communication systems encryption and improved night vision resolution. Robots are frequently used for fighting with the Taliban to lower casualties. However, Allah the Exalted has answered prayers of the Mu’minoon and helped His soldiers with EMP grenades. The EMP (electromagnetic pulse) is a broadband, high-intensity, short-duration burst of electromagnetic energy which burns out all electrical components it reaches. One EMP grenade can release the “electromagnetic shock” that disrupts and damages electronics-based control systems, sensors, communication systems, protective systems, computers, and similar devices. Since EMP is electromagnetic radiation traveling at the speed of light, all of the area could possibly be affected almost simultaneously. The result can be that all a brigade’s communication is fried, leaving it without air support. To make it more devastating, the Mujahideen have incorporated EMP to RPG launchers and are rapidly destroying the enemy communication centers. With the inability to call in air support, the crusaders will be left to fight the Mujahideen on even terms, resulting in widespread victory over the invaders.
This is no longer a fiction story like that which we see in movies like Star Wars or games like Crysis. It is a reality which is daunting the American military since the 1970s. The EMP was proposed in 1925 by physicist Arthur H. Compton1 and the actual effects of the EMP were still not truly known. It wasn’t until the mid-1960s that the true nature of the EMP was better understood by scientists. The EMP technology that has been a closely guarded secret by the US Military in fear of the catastrophe, can become a major disadvantage, if Allah so wills. What makes it more devastating is that there is no boom, rather a silent electronic wave which creates disruption of electronic devices resulting in panic and confusion. The non-lethal nature of electromagnetic weapons makes their use far less politically damaging than that of conventional munitions, and therefore broadens the range of military options available. The EMP has dangerous capabilities due to its high level of broad spectral energy; this makes it effective where other weapons don’t have any results. The common elements that will suffer from EMP are primarily electronics, incredibly omnipresent in all aspects of the crusader military that is coupled with critical infrastructures. According to a document from the US Army Corps of Engineers published in 1990 “Critical facilities are very vulnerable to EMP damage or upset and, in most cases, these facilities have equipment that processes classified information that could be compromised.”2
As opposed to the traditional EMP bomb which is heavy and large in size, there is a smaller counterpart designed for to affect smaller areas
1 Biography of Arthur H. Compton 2 EMP and tempest protection for facilities(Pamphlet No. 1110 3-2)
know as EMP grenades. Electromagnetic grenades are specialized, non-nuclear tools designed to destroy information systems. These devices are primarily intended for battlefield application, and their effects would be restricted to a relatively small area. According to chief of the new Electronic Warfare Division in the US Army, Laurie Buckhout, “EMP grenade technology is out there, but I’ve never had my hands on one. The Army needs to have its own on-the-ground assets to complement our abilities, to get the enemy first or stop them from getting us on the ground. Electronic warfare is going to be fought on the ground, not just in the air, and you have to have an attack from the ground point of view.”3 As mentioned previously, the US Military is guarding EMP technology even from its own personnel in the fear that it will fall into the hands of Mujahideen.
This kind of equipment is exactly what Mujahideen need. The NATO military has entered the information age and is more dependent on electronic systems that work with components that are very susceptible to excessive electric currents and voltages. Furthermore, many military tasks require information to be communicated over long distances, which requires external antennas, which are extremely susceptible to EMP.
NATO knows that without their battlefield technology they don’t stand a chance against Mujahideen. The crusader’s morale is already low and fear of death is enormous, the results
3 US Army, law enforcement agencies, working on EMP gre nades
Before one can begin any action they must have a pure intention and it must follow the Sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and one must prepare oneself to do that action beforehand so as to perfect it and beautify it for Allah’s sake.
So the one who wants to prepare their own selves for Jihad and raise the banner of La Illaha Illallah, they must make their intentions and prepare themselves spiritually, militarily, financially, and logistically. And from amongst preparing oneself militarily is to exercise the body and to prepare it for war which necessitates that it be able to withstand long journeys and carry heavy equipment and to be fit, generally speaking.
And from among the pure intentions is to train as hard as possible in order to damage the enemies of Allah as much as possible. And we see this from the stories of the Shuhada’, that they would train themselves with the intention of damaging the enemies and striking hard against them. I give you the example of our martyred brother Salman al-Farsi, may Allah have mercy on him, and how the brothers described him in Bosnia:
“Salman Al-Farsi loved training. He loved to train in the cause of Allah, so that he could be as strong in the fighting as he could and do as much damage to Allah’s
enemies as possible. He always used to exert himself in training with this intention of damaging the enemies of Allah.”1
And we see from the speeches of the True Scholars of Jihad that they also placed much importance on this subject. Here is part of the speech which Anwar Sha’baan, may Allah have mercy on him, gave to the Mujahideen in Bosnia just before ‘Operation Miracle’ in July 1995:
“So I congratulate you with the permission of Allah, Glorified is He and exalted, on a near victory, on a conquest from Allah, Glorified is He and exalted, and we ask Allah to make us from amongst those who hurt our enemies time after time. We love martyrdom in the Way of Allah. Its time is when Allah wishes, but we ask our Lord, Glorified is He and exalted, that He makes us from those who damage his enemies and from those who make his enemies taste punishment after punishment.”2
So we see that the Mujahid who gives victory to Allah’s Deen must fulfill the obligation of preparing himself physically for Jihad, and by the permission of Allah I will teach you some exercises to help you strengthen your body and become fit.
1 In the Hearts of Green Birds 2 Ibid.
I mention dhikr as the first method of building strength due to its significance in our time and age, but also because of it being the way of the Salaf foremost among them Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, himself. From Ibn Taymiyyah’s life we see that dhikr was not just a means to gain Iman and gain deeds, but it actually gave their body’s physical strength. Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, narrates for us that among the amazing things which he saw from his teacher Ibn Taymiyyah was that he would sit between Dhuhr and ‘Asr and he would have written a book, and his students saw many great feats from him in the battlefield. So Ibn Taymiyyah’s students were amazed at how he was able to do all this, and wondered where he was getting his strength from! Ibn al-Qayyim continues his narration that Ibn Taymiyyah would sit in his place after Fajr and making dhikr and reading Qur’an until sunrise, then he would turn around and he would say to them “This is my provision and if I do not take my provision, I lose strength.” Subhan’Allah! This is an amazing statement that explains for us that the dhikr and the worship are means of provision and strength. So your first lesson in exercise is dhikr and it might be that without it, you would not gain much result.
The reason we should aim to get into shape without using weights is simply that the use of weights does not bring permanent results, as you only keep the strength you gained by continuing to use those machines and bars. This is of course unrealistic for the Mujahid in the front lines anywhere in the world today. We find that this is a major setback for the Americans and the NATO Crusading army as they cannot go to any battlefront without carrying along with them their bench, squat sets and sometimes even their machines. And we have learned this from the videos released by our brothers in Afghanistan. The Mujahideen found upon capturing enemy bases bars and weights in American barracks and bases. So if this is the case for the enemies then obviously this would not work for the Jihad and due to it being a waste of money and effort as well as not being a realistic option. So the Mujahid must learn to get in shape and build strength and to continue to do so wherever he is with little or no resources and to be able to use his body and the ground alone to keep in shape.
Another reason being that the places which one can go to where weights and gyms are available are not Islamic environments and definitely not fit for the Mujahid in Allah’s cause. We find at these gyms such as 24 Hour Fitna and LA Fitna that they are full of music, semi-naked women, free mixing and the danger of one showing off during a workout which would destroy your intention and action.
Before beginning any workout, one must stretch and warm up for at least 10 minutes before working out to prevent injury and cramps and after working out to cool down with stretches as well. Among these stretches being:
A short description of some of these activities follows:
1 – Sit-up Series
your right elbow and vice versa. Afterwards have a partner hold your legs aloft and do 10 regular situps. Then have your partner put your feet on their knees, so your legs are at a 90 degree angle, and do 10 additional sit-ups.
2 -Throw-downs
4 -Shoulder Bridges
6 -Spinal Floor Twists
Spinal floor twists involve lifting your legs straight up, then putting them to your left or right side while keeping your back straight and both shoulders on the ground.
Building your legs is the most important part of your body to prepare for Jihad, and if you think Jihad is anything but long walks, jogging and running then you are quite mistaken. On top of that you’re going to be carrying weapons and equipment! And among the things which terrorizes the enemy very much is when the Mujahideen strike them with lightning speed and great planning. An example for you is the massive jailbreak in Afghanistan of last year that freed over 1,000 Muslims; it was done with great swiftness that the Murtadeen became dumbfounded. So it is has much benefit for the Mujahid to be quick and be able to carry on with a constant speed for extended periods of time especially during raids on the enemy.
Building your leg strength is not that difficult, but it does require effort and the ability to carry on even when you are tired, and to continue being tired for Allah’s sake, as this exhaustion is in the cause of Allah and carries much reward for the Muslim. If you cannot exhaust your body for this Deen then I can guarantee that you will be exhausting it for a Batil matter which will become a source of regret and much worry for you on the Day of Judgment. I suggest you start with these exercises:
each day of the weekend, starting Friday)
Although leg strength is important, building arm strength is quite necessary as well. One doesn’t need sophisticated exercise for arms but all it takes is to add to duration, length and number of reps for each one. Mainly focus on:
your palms)
The diet of a person working out is just as important as the workout itself, but here I wanted to mention the difference between the Muslim and the Kafir in their diets due to the grace and mercy Allah holds for the Believer.
One should eat right after working out and should postpone eating until after you have worked out. It is recommended to eat a meal high in carbs and protein, but more carbs than protein. Contrary to what many people believe, you really only need about 32 grams of protein, so don’t waste your money on expensive protein milkshakes. A recommended list of foods would be:
One should eat some light food before a workout, like an apple, some dates or some crackers and water.
The Kuffar teach people that you should eat a very large amount before a workout, and that you need something like 3,000 to 4,000 calories for a male who works out at a young age. And they used to teach me that you should eat whenever you are not hungry and gain weight to turn it into muscle. Obviously this is un-Islamic and I learned during my workouts that this is not true for the Muslim.
Nafi’ narrated that Ibn ‘Umar never used to take his meal unless a poor man was called to eat with him. One day I brought a poor man to eat with him, the man ate too much, whereupon Ibn ‘Umar said, “O Nafi’! Don’t let this man enter my house, for I heard the Prophet saying, ‘A believer eats in one intestine (is satisfied with a little food), and a kafir eats in seven intestines (eats much food)’.”3
And I noticed that whether or not I ate a lot, it did not affect my results. Nay! From the strangest of things I found that I gained the most muscle during the month of Ramadan! So I realized that the Believer is not affected by food but rather his strength comes from Allah. During Ramadan it is best to workout after having eaten dates and drank something and having prayed Maghrib then eating more heavily after the workout. This schedule during Ramadan gave me the best results and here it is important to mention the importance of Fasting Mondays and Thursdays not only due to this blessing from Allah but due to its protection from evil and a command from the Messenger of Allah, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to the young men and being from his Sunnah.
Alqama narrated: “While I was with ‘Abdullah, ‘Uthman met him at Mina and said, ‘O Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman! I have something to say to you.’ So both of them went aside and ‘Uthman said, ‘O Abu ‘Abd ar-Rahman! Shall we marry you to a virgin who will make you remember your past days?’When ‘Abdullah felt that he was not in need of that, he beckoned me (to join him) saying, ‘O’ Alqama!’Then I heard him saying (in reply to ‘Uthman), ‘As you have said that, (I tell you that) the Prophet once said to us,
‘O young people! Whoever among you is able to marry, should marry, and whoever is not able to marry, is recommended to fast, as fasting diminishes his sexual power’.” 4
May Allah help you in your efforts in pleasing Him.
3 Sahih Bukhari: Book 7, Vol. 65, #305 4 Ibid., Book 7, Vol. 62, #3
also place in front of the scholars and preachers some proposals in this field, asking them to make every effort to develop and perfect them. Among the most important of these proposals:
first, the drawing up of lists which name the honest scholars, preachers, thinkers and writers who advise their Ummah, along with their most prominent works, and working to spread them among the Ummah’s masses. And the presence of some unintentional errors mustn’t be an obstacle: rather, these errors should be noted and advice given; otherwise, there will be no scholar left for us, not to mention those less than scholars. An effort also must be made to give prominence to honest leaderships which adhere to the methodology of Islam.
Second, the correcting of legal concepts in the thought and life of the Ummah. Some beneficial books towards that include:
1 The English translation can be downloaded here 2 This book can be downloaded here 3 This book can be downloaded here 4 The English translation can be downloaded here 5 This book can be downloaded here
other such names.
And there is talk of calling the unbeliever, apostate, Zindeeq, and hypocrite by the name “the other,” and they shun the use of legal terms. Similar are sophistries like “dialogue of religions,” “freedom of opinion,” “freedom of speech,”“peaceful coexistence,”“friendly states,”and the contracts for the provision of facilities to support the Crusader warships at the same time as the Jews and Christians carry out the murder of our brothers in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Waziristan, Somalia, Kashmir, the Philippines and Chechnya. So sophistry in names and terms is a wide-ranging field which must be watched and the truth about it and those who promote it revealed.
fourth, the drawing up of lists which include our enemies from the hypocrites and their media, especially information media like newspapers, books, magazines, radio stations and satellite channels, of which the most dangerous are the latter two, like the British Broadcasting Corporation and its sisters and the al-Hurrah and al-Arabiyyah channels. Also, and evidence from their statements and actions as proof of that, along with a refutation; and I mention
O ye here the statement of Allah, the Most High,
who believe! Be steadfast in the cause of Allah, bearing witness in equity; and let not the hatred and animosity of a people to you make you transgress and abandon justice. Be just, for that is closer to piety. And fear Allah. Surely, Allah is Aware
(5:8). of what you do
Revealing the truth about the hypocrites is a Qur’anic methodology, and the scholars have agreed on the obligatory nature of revealing the hypocrites and innovators. Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked, “Do you prefer that a man fast, pray and perform ‘Itikaf, or that he speak about the people of innovation?” He replied, “If he prays and performs ‘Itikaf, it’s for himself, but if he speaks about the people of innovation, it’s for the Muslims, so this is better.”
The Ummah is in dire need today – especially after this war against Gaza – of acquainting itself with the hypocrites on all fronts, to beware of them, then perform Jihad against them, as in the statement of
When you look at them, their bodies the Most High,
please you; and when they speak, you listen to their words. It is as if they are pieces of timber propped up. They think that every cry is against them. They are the enemies, so beware of them. Allah curse
them, how they lie! Allah, the Most High,
(63:4), and the statement of
the drawing up of lists of those whose efforts serve
O Prophet! Strive hard
the interests of our enemies without them realizing it, like the rumormongers, deserters and moraledestroyers among the Muslims, in accordance with legal regulations, and disseminating the lists to the Ummah with all available means so that it can warn them, and accompanying those lists with documents
against the disbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be harsh against them. Their abode is Hell, and an evil
6(9:73).destination it is
6 “Practical Steps to Liberate Palestine,” as-Sahab Media
‘Umar bin Khattab went to meet the reinforcement that was coming from Yemen. Armies were coming out from Yemen, fe Sabeelillah, to go and fight and they would pass through Madinah on their way to Iraq and ash-Shaam. So ‘Umar went to greet them and he said, “Is ‘Uwais bin Aamar among you?” So they were directing him and he was getting closer until he reached to this man and he asked him “Are you ‘Uwais bin Aamar?” He said, “Yes I am.”“Are you from Muraad and then from Karn?” So the clan is Muraad and the tribe is Karn. He said “Yes.”‘Umar asked, “Where you suffering from leprosy, and then Allah healed you except for the size of a coin?” “Yes.”“Is your mother alive?” He said, “Yes.”‘Umar bin Khattab said: “I heard Rasoolullah, sallallahu ‘alayhe wassallam, say: ‘Uwais bin Aamar is going to come to you with reinforcements coming from Yemen and he is from Muraad and then from Karn. And he used to suffer from leprosy and then Allah healed him except for the size of a coin. And he is very kind towards his mother. If you ever meet him, ask him to make du’a that Allah forgives you.” This is a man that is not a Sahabi, even though he lived in the time of Rasoolullah, but he could not meet Rasulullah because he had to stay with his mother. And to be a Sahabi, you have to see Rasoolullah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, you can’t just be a contemporary of Rasoolullah, you have to see Rasoolullah. So he lost the opportunity of being a Sahabi. Why? Because of his mother. He wanted to stay with his mother. He lost the opportunity of fighting fe Sabeelillah because he stayed behind with his mother. And this is a Hukm only with fighting that is offensive, not the defensive one obviously. So it is quite strange to hear such a statement: Rasoolullah, sallallahu ‘alayhe wassallam, asking the Sahaba to ask somebody that is not a Sahabi to make du’a for them; to ask Allah to forgive them. This narration is in Sahih Muslim.
So ‘Umar bin Khattab, the Khalifah, the Ameer alMu’mineen, is telling Uwais bin Aamar “Isthaghfirlee.” Ask Allah to forgive me. Subhan’Allah. ‘Umar bin Khattab is asking ‘Uwais bin Aamar to make du’a for him that Allah forgives him. ‘Uwais bin Aamar is one of the Awliya’ of Allah ‘Azza wa Jall. ‘Uwais bin Aamar makes Isthaghfar for ‘Umar bin Khattab. And ‘Umar radiyallahu ‘anhu is the Khalifah. ‘Umar bin Khattab said “So where do you want to go?” ‘Uwais said “I want to go to Al-Kufaa.” Umar said “Let me write a letter to the governor of Kufaa to take good care of you.”The Khalifah, he loves ‘Uwais, he wants to take good care of him. ‘Uwais said, “Please don’t. Because I want to live in obscurity among the laymen. I don’t want to be known. I don’t want any special treatment. I want to be an unknown person. Fe Sabeelillah. And to live with the laymen, with the common people.” This is an example of somebody who is ‘Abd Taqeefafee. Somebody who has Taqwa and is hidden. Nobody knows him. Rasoolullah sallallahu ‘alayhe wassallam says “Innallaaha yuhibbul ‘abd taqi al kafi.”“Allah knows the one who is not known but has Taqwa.”
So he goes to Al-Kufaa. And he settles there. Nobody knows about him for a year. ‘Umar bin Khattab meets with one of the noblemen from the tribe of ‘Uwais al Karnee who are with him in Iraq and Kufaa. Umar meets him in Madinah the following year. And nobody knows this special status of ‘Uwais. So ‘Umar who is now the Khalifah is asking about ‘Uwais al-Karnee. How is he doing? So this man said, “Faraqtuhu Rastil Bayt Khaleelul Afaaf.” I left him in a state of poverty and his house is without furniture. Why are you asking about this man? He is just a poor man and he has no furniture in his house. AllahuAkbar! He wants to live in obscurity. If he had that letter from Ameer alMu’mineen, he would be living a very comfortable life, and Halaal. But he was happy with what Allah ‘Azza wa Jall has destined for him. He was happy. He was happy with what Allah gave him. Content. So now ‘Umar bin Khattab tells the man “If you meet him, tell him to make du’a for you. Because this is what Rasoolullah sallallahu ‘alayhe wassallam said about him.” So the man goes back to ‘Uwais and he says “Uwais, Istaghfirlee! Ask Allah to forgive me!” ‘Uwais said, “You ask Allah for forgiveness. You just came back from traveling and the du’a of the traveler is accepted.” He said, “No, no, I want you to make Istaghfaar for me. ‘Uwais thought about it and then he said, “Did you meet ‘Umar?” He said, “Yes I did.” ‘Uwais made Istaghfaar for him. And the news spread.
Suddenly they tried looking for ‘Uwais al-Karnee; he was nowhere to be found. He disappeared. In order to go and live in obscurity somewhere else. AllahuAkbar! Running away from fame. From recognition. He didn’t want people to know his Taqwa. He didn’t want people to know his status. He just disappeared. To live for the sake of Allah ‘Azza wa Jall. To fight fe Sabeelillah. And to do it for Allah. And Allah ‘Azza wa Jall to recognize what I’ve done. I don’t want recognition from anyone. We ask Allah ‘Azza wa Jall to give us Ikhlaas in everything that we do and everything that we say.1
1 “The Life and Times of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab.”
t is common knowledge that Tawheed is the foundation of our deen. Much like a building, if you remove one part of the foundation the building will instantly, if not soon, crumble into dust. This is because every part of the building’s foundation is crucial and has been put there for specific reason in order to guarantee that the building remains upright and strong. So just like with this example of a building, if you remove a single part of the foundation of this deen then society, the people within it, and the barriers that separate truth from misguidance will surely fall.
All one has to do is look back into our own history. You will see that all of those who decided to remove even one part of the foundation were met with destruction, suffering, and eventually their demise.
This was a fitnah that they had brought upon themselves. By removing the foundation, they allowed themselves to crumble. This is the justice of Allah. In addition, you will notice almost all of these different people throughout history had one thing in common when it came to removing the foundation Tawheed from the society. It all began with them first removing Allah’s legislation from the land and then making themselves the legislator of that society. By doing this they committed the worse of offenses against Allah. They made themselves Taghout and those who followed them became Mushrikeen.
The word ‘deity’ includes any one who makes himself a legislator with Allah, ruler or ruled, a representative in parliament, or the person who selects him, because he exceeded his limits.
So when looking at it in depth, all major downfalls in the history of the Muslim Ummah began with first removing that single part of the foundation. Even though they did not remove Tawheed entirely, but by removing just that single part of it they became taghoot and lead those who willingly followed them into polytheism. This illustrates the extreme importance of Tawheed al-Hakimiyyah, the obligation of believing in Allah and that to He alone belongs the tashree’ (legislation) and the hukm (judgment). It should be known and stressed that all other forms of government, other than that which Allah decreed for the Believers, are not of Islam and should be rejected by the Believers. Those who lead these man-made legislations have made themselves Taghoot and those who follow these legislations as believers in this man-made law, they have made themselves polytheist and have fallen into the worse of sins: Shirk al-Akbar (major polytheism).
Allah, Glorified is He, said regarding those among the Christians and the Jews who rejected His religion,
They took their rabbis and their monks to be (9:31). their lords besides Allah
It was when more were beginning to accept - what the disbelievers first coined as the ‘Salafi Jihadi’ da’wah
- and furthering the education of what was occurring in the Ummah, and recognizing the deviancy in the Saudi regime - much like that which the Ikhwan saw and spoke against - that Tawheed al-Hakimiyyah became a threat.
Afterwards, the screams of “Bid’ah” became the Madkhali slogan every time Tawheed al-Hakimiyyah was brought up to them. They do not deny that Tawheed al-Hakimiyyah exists, but what they do oppose is separating it into a category in order to stress its importance.
One has to ask: What is the big deal? What is wrong with stressing the importance of something that many of the Muslims lack knowledge on?
The reality is that this issue that they have with Tawheed al-Hakimiyyah has nothing to do with the religion of Islam at all. It seems to be more of a power struggle since by eliminating the knowledge of Tawheed al-Hakimiyyah, the people will no longer question the authority of the rulers. By eliminating the knowledge of Tawheed al-Hakimiyyah then they will no longer face a threat like they faced with the Ikhwan.
Due to this, it is my opinion that teaching Tawheed al-Hakimiyyah as a 4th category of Tawheed has now become a necessity so that we may save the foundations of this religion.
Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri said,
“And I call on my Muslim brothers in beloved Somalia, Somalia of patience and Ribat and Jihad, to not be deceived by those who agree to the secularist constitutions which vie with the Shari’ah in its right to rule. And I tell them: why have you sacrificed thousands of martyrs for the Shari’ah, then someone comes to you today wishing to deceive you with a constitution which doesn’t rule by Shari’ah and with his participation in a single government with those who have been combating Shari’ah?
And I tell them: why have you sacrificed thousands of martyrs to purify Muslim Somalia from the American Crusader invasion, then someone comes to you today to attempt to deceive you by saying that America has a positive role in Somalia?
Have we forgotten who America is?
America is the enemy of Islam and Muslims, and is the one who killed tens of thousands in Somalia at the hands of its troops and agents.
Have we forgotten why America entered Somalia the first time, then sent its aircraft and agents the second time?
Didn’t America enter Somalia to eliminate Islam in it, and turn it into a colony spinning in the orbit of the Crusader coalition in its war against Islam which they call the war on
terrorism?
Isn’t America the one who pulverizes the Muslims’ villages and houses in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the one who provides Israel with all sorts of
deadly equipment and
weaponry to tear apart our women,
children and elders in Palestine and resolute Gaza, whose wound continues to bleed?
And isn’t America the one who besieged the Muslims in Iraq, until a million of their children were killed, and is the one who is today besieging the Muslims in Gaza?
So how can we expect from America any good? We only expect from it every evil and corruption.
How can we believe someone who claims that America has a positive role in Somalia?
America’s positive role is in filling the pockets of the traitors with bribes.
And why, O Muslims in Somalia, did you sacrifice thousands of martyrs in order to purify Muslim Somalia from the infidel invaders, then someone comes to you today wanting to deceive you by changing the names and forms of the invaders, but the invasion is the invasion and the occupation is the occupation.
And why did you sacrifice thousands of martyrs to expel the American invasion hiding behind the cloak of the United Nations, then someone comes to you today wishing to deceive you by telling you that you must respect the principles of the United Nations?
Respect for the principles of the United Nations basically means ruling by other than Shari’ah, and also means recognition of Israel’s control of Palestine and Russia’s control of Chechnya and indeed, all of the Muslim Caucasus, and it means recognition of Spain’s control over Ceuta and Melilla and China’s control over East Turkistan, because all these states are members of the United Nations, whose charter calls for respecting the unity and integrity of their territories.”1
Shaykh Nasir bin Hamad al-Fahd, may Allah free him from imprisonment, said:
“And as for its crimes against the Muslims and those who ascribe to Islam it is numerous. If we wanted to go into detail we would depart from our topic
1 ‘From Kabul to Mogadishu,’ transcript of video, p.6-8
(in this book). Nevertheless, we shall point out a few statistics that indicate more:
• More than one million (1,000,000) Iraqi children
have been killed due to the bombardment of the American powers against Iraq as well as its oppressive embargo since the past ten years.
• Thousands of newborn babies in Iraq have been
stricken with blindness due to a lack of insulin.
• The life expectancy rate of Iraqi men has dropped
twenty years and (has dropped) eleven years for Iraqi women due to the American embargo and bombing.
• More than half a million (500,000) people expected
to die as a result of radioactive poisoning [due to American usage of depleted uranium weaponry].
• American weapons have murdered thousands of
Palestinian elderly, women, and children.
• Thousands of Lebanese and Palestinian refugees
have been killed in massacres that were carried out by Israel with American support.
• Between the years: 1412-1414H, the American
“The veil of belief that had so long enveloped the mind of Akbar was now ruthlessly torn asunder by the lovers of the Faith themselves and the sun of intellect began to radiate his luminous horizon. And the Ibadat Khana was no longer confined within the order of Islam.... Amongst the disputants sitting on the ground, some were Muhammadans and some were Hindus… An old man with white flowing
beards and a young Brahmin with beard shaved and hair tied in the Southern Indian fashion [were] rather prominent.”1
It was a “large building,
rectangular in shape, which
could accommodate at least
500 men. It had plenty of rooms
and balconies. There were halls
on all sides and the rooms were
separated from one another by
means of screens, tapestry and
railings.”2 This is a description
of the 16th century Mughal
Emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad
Akbar’s Ibadat Khana or ‘house
of worship’ which he built in
1575 at his palace in Fatehpur
Sikri. ‘Enlightened, moderate
and respectful of all religions,’
Akbar initially opened this house
of worship as a meeting place
to discuss contemporaneous
issues regarding Sunni Muslims.
Within three years (1578), “no longer…satisfied
1 Makhanlal Roychoudhury, The Deen-I-Ilahi Or The Religion of
Akbar, (India: University of Calcutta, 1941), pp 82 & 118 respectively 2 Ibid., pp 71
by the Mulla interpretations of the laws of God”3 he warmly opened the doors of the Ibadat Khana to Christians, Jews, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists. With the influx of ‘rich and diverse’ opinions flowing freely through Akbar’s court, and not able to accommodate one religious group except with the exclusion of the other, Akbar promulgated a set of regulations which culminated
into what is known as Deen-e-Ilahi (Divine Religion) or Akbar’s own religion.
One does not have to go far to understand where this article is going. King ‘Abdullah has honored the footsteps of Akbar by initiating his own Ibadat Khana or interfaith conferences and put into motion his own Deen-e-Ilahi by not only his 2007 decree on reforms but also by issuing a set of other regulations whose effects can be seen most prominently after September 2001. The phenomenon of cowardly compromises or interfaith conferences has been a recent one and one that until recently has been resoundingly rejected by Saudi Arabia’s own religious elite.
Why is it so important to speak about the latter topic rather than for example the regime’s torture of Mujahideen? Because, both are intrinsically interlinked. The aftermath of 9/11 has
3 Ibid., XLIII (Introduction)
really exposed the true colors of the Saudi regime. The very fact that Saudi Arabia has initiated the calls for dialogue with other religions is not only an indication of their disrespect for the religion of Islam but also their audacity in changing the deen to suit their desires. The calls for dialogue would not have taken place unless there was a pertinent threat of ‘terrorism’ in the world. Thus in order to prove their enmity towards the mujahideen such calls have been initiated and propagated. We must also take heed from the examples in our history lest we repeat their mistakes and hence I will attempt to compare the similarities between the Deen-e-Ilahi’s of Akbar and the calls of interfaith of ‘Abdullah.
Before I delve into the points of similarity, let it be emphasized that before 9/11 the Saudi ‘Ulema blatantly rejected any such calls to bring the religions together. In response to “inquiries, opinions and essays propagated in the mass media”4 regarding making peace between the three major religions and building of non-Muslim places of worship on Muslim soil, a famous fatwa titled Fatwa Against the Call for the Unification of the Religions, was issued by The Presidency of Islamic Research and Ifta. This fatwa rejects all the points raised by ‘Abdullah justifying his move to reconcile all the religions. Let’s go through some of the points raised. 4 Fatwa Against the Call for the Unification of the Religions, Is
sued by The Presidency of Islamic Research and Ifta Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Under The General Supervision of the Grand Council of Scholars, Fatwa No: 19402, 25 Muharram 1418H. This fatwa was issued by ‘Abdul ’Aziz Ibn ‘Baz, ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Ibn ‘Abdullah Al-Shaykh ‘Abdullah, Salih Ibn Fawzan Al-Fawzan, and Bakr Ibn ‘Abdullah Abu Zaid. It was issued in 1997, before ‘Abdullah was even in power. I am using this fatwa as a point of reference as the phenomenon being discussed is the same.
Firstly, there is the issue of not only participating in such humiliating conferences but rather calling for it in the first place. In response, the Saudi ‘ulema vociferously forbade such deviations saying “had this (unification) call emanated from a Muslim, it would be considered explicit riddah (apostasy) from Islam, as it is in conflict with the principles of Islamic faith, and accepts disbelief in Allah.”5 Little did they know that eleven years later, the one who would initiate such a call would not only be a so-called Muslim but also one whom without the ‘ulema’s role as authorizers of his tyranny, would not be in power! Yet those very same individuals have refrained from denouncing his actions let alone calling him an apostate.
As if this response by the ‘ulema was not enough to deter ‘Abdullah, he went on to justify his leadership role in interfaith discussions. He claimed at the Madrid World Conference on Dialogue in July 2008 that “we must focus on the common denominators that unite us, namely, deep faith in God, noble principles, and lofty moral values, which constitute the essence of religion.”6 As if written in direct response to this comment, the Grand Council of Scholars in 1418 Hijri (1997) wrote, “The inevitable consequence of such evil calls are: The cancellation of differences between Islam and Kufr, Truth and Falsehood, and complete negation of enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong.”7 Thus the ‘ulema were stressing on the need to bring out our differences rather than succumb to what brings us together. Well, it seems that ‘Abdullah just does not 5 Ibid.
6 King ‘Abdullah, Opening Remarks at World Conference on Dialogue , Madrid, July 16th 2008.
7Fatwa Against the Call for the Unification of the Religions
get it. He equates all religions by saying “human beings are created equals and partners on this planet.”8 ‘Abdullah, by stretching forth his arms in love towards the kuffar has denied that Islam is the purest of all religions. His statement also implies a “serious admission that religions are three and that people on earth may adopt whatever they wish of them, equally, and that Islam has not superseded the religions that preceded it.”9
Going a step further, ‘Abdullah claimed, “We’ll stretch our hands to all those who love peace, justice and tolerance.”10 In effect this means, making peace with those who commit outright shirk (which is the greatest of injustices), those who plunder Muslim territory with no mercy, those who claim, in the words of a 14th century Byzantine emperor, “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,”11 and those who have reviled and mocked our prophet, not once but many times, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him. The ‘ulema exclaimed “debates, meetings, and dialogue held with them in order to enable them in achieving their desires, fulfilling their aims, breaking the bonds of Islam, and bending the Fundamentals of Islamic Faith are all considered as invalid, which is rejected by Allah, His Messenger and all believers. Allah, The Most High,
8 Saudi-US Relations, A Call for Unity: King ‘Abdullah Addresses the UN , November 13, 2008..
9Fatwa Against the Call for the Unification of the Religions 10 Saudi-US Relations, A Call for Unity: King ‘Abdullah Addresses the UN 11 BBC News, Pope’s Speech Stirs Muslim Anger , Thursday, 14 September 2006.
And follow not their vain desires, but Says,
beware of them lest they turn you far away from
some of that which Allah has sent down to you
(5:49).
Why has ‘Abdullah gone to such lengths to appease the kuffar? In his own words, he wants to open a new page in which “concord will replace conflict.”12 Oh I see, he believes in jihad of the nafs only. Perhaps the poor ‘ulema just forgot to teach him the numerous ahadith of jihad as qitaal. The point is that by engaging in such lowly discussions he has broken the “barriers of alienation between Muslims and Kafiroon so that no loyalty nor Jihad nor struggle for the sake of elevating Allah’s Word on Allah’s earth may take place.”13 The main theme of ‘Abdullah’s speeches has been to unify the religions and focus on what brings them together, so in effect the ‘negative’ ayat of the Qur’an and other aspects of Islam can be rid of as they are a ‘shame’ to the ‘moderate’ Muslims. If they cannot get rid of them, they will misconstrue them until the point that is comfortable for the Saudi family. In this light, I would like to highlight some of the similarities between Akbar and ‘Abdullah. I will focus on four general topics namely, their views on appeasing other religions, expulsion of scholars, tampering with Islamic education and promotion of riba (interest).
1) firstly, akbar never publicly expressed his desire
merge the different ‘positive’ aspects of all the 12 King ‘Abdullah, Opening Remarks at World Conference on
Dialogue, Madrid
13 Fatwa Against the Call for the Unification of the Religions
religions in his court so that everyone would be accommodated to a certain degree. While it can be argued that by altering the different aspects of Islam, he in effect created a new religion, the point to be emphasized is that even Akbar, as deviant as he was, never explicitly claimed that he wanted to wipe out Islam from his court, even though by changing just one aspect of Islam he
Then do you disbelieved in all of it as Allah says
believe in a part of the Scripture and reject the rest? Then what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment.
And Allah is not unaware of what you do
(2: 85). Similarly, ‘Abdullah has never said that he hates Islam in clear terms. This would be too easy for his enemies. Rather, he has misinterpreted parts of the deen as he wants to, justifying them by his own interpretation of the ayat of Allah and by
have taken error using his ‘scholars for dollars’ who
in exchange for guidance; and neither has their bargain brought them gain, nor have they found
(2: 16). guidance [elsewhere]
According to the author of The Din-I-Ilahi or the Religion of Akbar, the fact that there was no special mosque for the Ilahians and that they prayed at least three times a day is sufficient evidence that Akbar and his followers were within the fold of Islam and that in particular his Deen was merely a Sufi order.14 However it was not just that he meddled with the allocated prayers in Islam but also adopted a variety of beliefs into his daily life:
“As an inquisitive inquirer endowed with the spirit of reason, he learnt the Hindu alchemy and medicine and cultivated their Yoga system; like his Central Asian ancestor, he believed in astronomy and astrology; and after his association with the Zoroastrian Mobed, he believed that life might be lengthened by lightning fire or by the repetition of a thousand names of the Sun. Following the Buddhist custom, he used to shave the crown of his head thinking that the soul passed through the brain. He turned into a vegetarian later in life.”15
After reading about Akbar’s personal beliefs in this manner, one cannot help but be shocked at how he could be a Muslim at all. He changed the salah, he
14 Makhanlal Roychoudhury, pp 293 15 Ibid., pp 303
imitated the disbelievers in their beliefs, not happy at all with the system that Allah has provided for us. Perhaps he was not convinced when Allah said,
This day I have perfected your religion for The point is that he was attempting to (5: 3). you
put together what was common between all the religions either to pacify the different communities or because he really believed he was doing the right thing by changing Allah’s commandments. Although we may not know much about ‘Abdullah’s private life, we can judge him by his actions. He has proved to the world, that he has no qualms conversing with the pope who made the slanderous comments as mentioned above, nor does he have problems meeting the queen of England who knighted Salman Rushdie, neither does he have a problem with crusader presence on the holy lands of Makkah and Medina.16 He has also proved that while the Muslimeen were being slaughtered in Gaza, he did nothing to fight the Jews and as will be discussed with Allah’s permission, he has imprisoned and tortured the mujahideen fi sabilillah in hordes as if to say ‘don’t you dare fight the poor Jews, they’re my friends!’
Having discussed the fact that the two monarchs never saw their actions as advocating for a new religion; we must now ask, what did their beliefs really entail? Akbar went through three main stages of unification as can be seen through the different stages of the ibadat khana. At first, the house of worship was open strictly to Sunni Muslims. With time and the sticky issue of marriage and Akbar’s displeasure with the views of the Mullah’s, he decided to bring the Shi’as into his court to see what they had to say. By 1578, the Christians appeared on the scene and it was not long before Hindus, Zoroastrians and Buddhists were also involved. ‘Abdullah’s recent interfaith initiatives have also proved that he can sit down with Jews and Christians and water down Islam all in the name of uniting against ‘terror.’
Akbar was not just a talker in terms of his commitment to ‘peace’ within his empire. Throughout his reign he put into motion a set of regulations which aimed to unify the various religions. To begin with in 1577, the slaughtering
16 Craig Unger, House of Bush House of Saud, (United Kingdom: Gibson Square Books Ltd, 2004), pp 144
Arabia, ‘Abdul ‘Aziz ibn Saud asked for the help of the British to rout the Ikhwan. In 1902 ‘Abdul ‘Aziz began his quest to subdue the warring tribes and rise to prominence. He used the Ikhwan to accomplish this goal. By 1926, he and the Ikhwan had captured Mecca and Medina thereby making ‘Abdul ‘Aziz the de facto ruler of Islam’s holy masaajid. In order to stay in power, he had to destroy the Ikhwan and in order to justify fighting against his Muslim brethren, he went to the ‘Ulema who issued a fatwa “which said that the Ikhwan were wrong” and so they were fought against.27 More recently, seeing as ‘Abdullah is desperate to promulgate reforms, he has fired those who were his most vocal supporters namely Ebrahim Al-Gaith who was the head of the Mutawwa’ (religious police),28 and Saleh Al-Luhaydan who was the chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Council. The fact that the head of the judiciary has been dismissed indicates the objective of ‘Abdullah which is “to reduce the influence of the religious establishment over the legal and educational systems.”29 Even the most moderate of religious voices has no mercy from ‘Abdullah who has proven his intolerance of Islam.
not only did he discourage the learning of Arabic but “being infused with a spirit of Renaissance, Akbar desired to substitute a curricula with introduction of philosophy, astronomy, medicine, mathematics, poetry, novels and other cultural subjects in the place of pure literary Arabic.”30 In
27Frontline: House of Saud, Dir. & Prod. Jihan El-Tahri, PBS documentary, Feb 8th 2005 28 Joseph A. Kechichian, Gulf News, Prelude to more reforms in Saudi Arabia , February 18 2009. 29 Statement made by Mustafa Alani at Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre . . 30 Makhanlal Roychoudhury, 254
the case of Saudi Arabia, since 9/11 there has been immense pressure on the Saudi regime to remove those parts of the textbooks which the kuffar deem offensive. For many years prior to 9/11 the same textbooks were being used, and at that time no one raised any concerns about them. If there was anything un-Islamic with these books, the ‘ulema would have been the first ones to be perturbed. However, the ‘ulema themselves have switched their roles post 9/11 and they are now the ones who “have urged teachers not to disseminate extremist views among pupils and warned that any teacher found doing so will be fired.”31
Not only has the tagout tampered with children’s Islamic education but also in an attempt to “rehabilitate” those who have been exposed to extremist views, they have built jihad rehab camps where “jihadis are put through a 12-step program that includes psychological counseling, art therapy, sports and lessons in Islam.”32 Since they cannot remove the verses of the Qur’an which legislate jihad they try their utmost, by using psychological techniques to “to wean them from misconceptions about what the Koran does and doesn’t permit.”33 Psychologists are brought in to get the men thinking in the “right direction.” What would be the result if they actually used the Qur’an and Sunnah to guide these brothers and did not twist the verses? Pretty soon the instructors of the rehab camps would be joining the ranks of the Mujahideen! In addition, if the “beneficiaries” prove they have been successfully brainwashed, upon release they are “given a monthly stipend of $700 to help make ends meet. Some are given cars, and single men are encouraged to get married.”34
31 Mariam Al Hakeem, Saudi Shura studies plan to revamp school curriculums , November 22, 2005. 32 Jihad Rehab Camp, TIME Photos. . 33 Bobby Ghosh, Can Jihadis be rehabilitated? , TIME World, January 27 2009. 34 Ibid.
Everything possible to keep these men away from jihad is done. The aim is to keep them busy with the affairs of the dunya and thus when they are released, they are made to feel indebted to the Saudi regime for taking them out of their ‘darkness’ and being given a ‘better life’.
allowed interest to be freely practiced. It is no secret that Saudi Arabia is infested with interestbanks all over. One example of this is the Saudi- British bank. In their ‘credit card’ user guide, the word ‘interest’ is not mentioned once but the inquisitive reader can read through the lines. In their section on ‘payment and finance charges’ it is said “if the Cardholder fails to pay the Minimum Amount Due in cleared funds by the Payment Due Date, a late payment fee will be charged at a rate to be determined by the Bank and notified to the Cardholder from time to time.”36 ‘Late payment fee’ here means upon not paying the minimum amount due, one has to pay an extra amount on top of what one actually spent and that is ‘interest.’ Little needs to be said about the religiosity of ‘Abdullah when he has brazenly insulted Allah and His prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him.
Both Akbar and ‘Abdullah have never claimed that they wanted to rid their lives of Islam. Rather, they have fooled the masses by misinterpreting verses of the Qur’an and that in fact they are the true adherents of the religion of Allah, and what they do is “inspired from the teachings of Islam.”37 It is not something new to find kings and emperors who have altered the religion of Allah to maintain their power in exchange for guidance. It is the enemy ‘within’ who is more dangerous to the ummah and who are using their scholars, desperate for bucks, in order to legitimize their apostasy. It is our hope that just as Deen-e-Ilahi died with the death of Akbar in 1605, so too will ‘Abdullah’s exploitation of Islam 35“O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and give up what remains of
your demand for usury, if ye are indeed believers. If ye do it not, Take notice of war from Allah and His Messenger: But if ye turn back, ye shall have your capital sums: Deal not unjustly, and ye shall not be dealt with unjustly” (2: 278-9). 36 Saudi-British Bank, SABB Cards User Guide. 37 Saudi-US Relations, A Call for Unity: King ‘Abdullah Addresses the UN
when he faces his Rabb.
The first thing that comes to your mind when you read the words “Night Vision” is probably a spy or action movie that you may have seen on TV in which a team of soldiers strap on their pairs of night vision goggles searching for enemy in a dark moonless night. You can certainly see in the dark with those goggles. In fact, with proper night vision equipment, you can see a person standing over 200 yards (183 metres) away on a dark and cloudy night.
Night vision technology is of two types: image enhancement and thermal imaging.
Image enhancement or light amplification is the technology that is mostly used in the night vision devices that we use such as binoculars and goggles. It collects small amount available visible light, such as moonlight or starlight, from the surrounding area and convert the light energy (photons) into electrical energy (electrons). These electrons then pass through a thin disk that is about the size of a quarter and contains over 10 million channels. After traveling through the disk, these electrons strike the walls of channels as a result of which thousands of more electrons are produced and released. These multiplied electrons hit a screen that is coated with phosphors. They continue to maintain their position in relation to the channels they pass through. This provides a perfect image since the electrons stay in the same alignment as the original photon. The phosphor, due to the powerful energy of electrons, reaches an excited state and starts releasing photons. These phosphors then create the green image on the screen that characterizes the night vision.
[Night visions images are known for their eerie green tint]
However, that is all what they have in common. The night vision technology is further categorized into a number of generations; each generation reflects the level of technology used. The higher the generation, the more sophisticated the night vision technology.
Generation 0 - The earliest night vision products date back to the 1950’s. The technology used at that time was image conversion, rather than intensification. They required a source of invisible infrared (IR) light mounted on or near the device to illuminate the target area.
Generation 1 – Then came the “starlight scopes” of the 1960’s during the Vietnam War. They had three image intensifier tubes that were connected in a series. These systems are larger and heavier than Gen 2 and Gen 3. The Gen 1 image is clear at the center but may be distorted around the edges.
Generation 2 – Some major improvements in the image intensifier tubes were made which resulted in the development of Gen 2 night vision devices in 1970’s. Microchannel plate (MCP) electron multiplier was what made it possible to develop the Gen 2 devices. It provided such an enormous gain that need for back to back tubes was totally eliminated. The image quality and size was also improved. The MCP enabled development of hand held and helmet mounted goggles.
Generation 3 – While there is not much difference in the Gen 2 and 3 devices as far as the technology is concerned; the Gen 3 night vision devices have even better resolution and sensitivity. Two major advancements characterized development of Gen 3 in the late 1970s and early 1980s: the gallium arsenide (GaAs) photocathode and the ion-barrier film on the MCP. The GaAs photocathode enabled detection of objects at greater distances under much darker conditions. The ion-barrier film increased the operational life of the tube from 2000 hours (Gen 2) to 10,000 (Gen 3), as demonstrated by actual testing and not extrapolation.
Generation 4 – The Gen 4 devices show the most significant overall improvement in both low and high level light environments. This is due to the “film less or gated” technology they use. It reduces the background noise thereby enhancing the signal to noise ratio by removing the ion barrier from the Microchannel plate (MCP) that was added in the Gen 3 technology. Removing the ion film actually allows more electrons to reach the level of amplification so that the images are significantly less distorted and brighter.
The second type of night vision technology is thermal imaging. It operates by capturing the upper portion of the infrared light spectrum which is emitted as heat by objects instead of being simply reflected as light. It is also important to note that hotter objects such as warm bodies emit more heat than the cooler ones like trees and buildings. This technology uses the infrared radiation to remotely determine the temperature of objects.
First of all, there is a special lens that focuses the infrared light emitted by all of the objects in its range. This focused light is then scanned by a phased array of infrared detector elements. These detector elements create a very detailed temperature pattern called a thermogram. It only takes about one-thirtieth of a second for the detector array to obtain the temperature information to make the thermogram. This information is obtained from several thousand points in the field of view of the detector array. The thermogram created by the detector elements is translated into electric impulses. The impulses are sent to a signal-processing unit, a circuit board with a dedicated chip that translates the information from the elements into data for the display. The signal-processing unit sends the information to the display, where it appears as various colors depending on the intensity of the infrared emission, then the combination of all the impulses from all of the elements creates the image.
[The basic components of a thermal-imaging system]
Types of Thermal Imaging Devices
Most thermal imaging devices scan at a rate of 30 times per second. They can sense temperatures ranging from -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees Celsius) to 3,600 F (2,000 C), and can normally detect changes in temperature of about 0.4 F (0.2 C).
[It is quite easy to see [...but at night, you can see everything during the day] very little]
[Thermal imaging lets you see again] Thermal imaging devices are of two types:
Un-cooled – The most common type of thermal imaging device is un-cooled. In the un-cooled system, the infrared-detector elements are contained in a unit that operates at room temperature. This type of system is completely quiet, activates immediately and has a built in battery.
Cryogenically cooled – This one is more expensive and more susceptible to damage from rugged use; these systems have the elements sealed inside a container that cools them to below 32 F (zero C). The advantage of such a system is the incredible resolution and sensitivity that result from cooling the elements. Cryogenically-cooled systems can “see” a difference as small as 0.2 F (0.1 C) from more than 1,000 ft (300 m) away, which is enough to tell if a person is holding a gun at that distance!
Night vision is an advantageous technology for military and guerilla operations. We have witnessed over the years the crusaders using this technology to full capacity, and taking advantage of the night to harass the muslimeen. The mujahideen are now fielding such tools to assist them in foiling the crusader advantage and now that the equipment is widely available, both commercially and through war booty, we can expect to see more mujahideen using night vision in their strategies.
The purpose of this article is to help introduce the basics of war and how it’s fought in the most simplest of terms.
Strategy in military terms is defined as the art and science of employing the armed forces of a nation to secure the objectives of national policy by the application of force or the threat of force. If a conflict arises, this can be resolved by diplomatic or militaristic means. Allah, The Exalted, says in Surah al-Anfal, 2) Offensive - Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative.
3) Mass - Concentrate combat power at the decisive place and time.
4) Economy of Force - Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts.
5) Maneuver - Place the enemy in a disadvantageous position through the flexible application of combat power.
6) Unity of Command - For every objective, ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander.
And prepare against them whatever you are able
(8: 60)
of power and of steeds of war…
Military strategy deals with the planning and conduct of campaigns, the movement and disposition of forces, and the deception of the enemy. Imam Bukhari recorded in his Sahih, that Abu Hurayra and Jabir bin ‘Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with them, narrated that Rasoolullah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, said “War is deceit.”
In the United States Army’s Field Manual of Military Operations, nine principles are defined regarding a successful strategy:
1) Objective - Directing every military operation towards a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective.
7) Security - Never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage.
8) Surprise - Strike the enemy at a time, at a place, or in a manner for which he is unprepared.
9) Simplicity - Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding.
According to Sun Tzu, in his historical manual on warfare called ‘The Art of War’ he summarizes the following:
1) Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
2) The highest form of generalship is to obstruct the enemy’s plans; the next is to prevent the junction of
Obama’s rhetorical skill: Mr. Yes we can (continue to loot all the hard-working, ordinary Americans wealth) has started showing his true colors by hastily signing in the $787 billion “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” or economic stimulus package.
This stimulus package has many flaws in it, however, one of the major flaws that comes into spotlight is a “health care” issue hidden in this bill. It has raised concern among critics who have had the chance to read the health care section, including a news gazette journalist who states “What do massive changes in the health care bureaucracy have to do with economic stimulus? A lot more than the government wants you to know.”1 The former Lieutenant Governor of New York, Betsy McCaughey, has written a widely circulated editorial with the analysis “Hiding health legislation in a stimulus bill is intentional.”2
Obama’s new health care reform is crafted by Tom Daschle, the former South Dakota Senator. He outlined his vision for this reform in the 2008 book called “Critical: What We Can Do about the Health-Care Crisis”. According to the book, he suggested doctors to give up autonomy and learn to ‘operate less like solo practitioners’. Daschle’s book explained to slow
1 Stimulus package hiding in health bill ( news-gazette.com) 2 McCaughey Betsy, “Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan: Betsy McCaughey”
down development and the use of new medications and technologies because these things are driving up costs. He further praises Europeans for being more willing to ‘forgo experimental treatments’ and accept the ‘hopeless diagnoses’. Simultaneously Daschle chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system. A provision in this new bill such as Health Information Technology (see below) had also appeared in his book. Barrack Obama was about to nominate Daschle to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, however on February 3rd 2009 he withdrew as the nominee because of his large tax debt, nevertheless his legacy of Health care reform continues to live on.
Obama was hurried into signing the economic stimulus package in order to avoid any public debate over this cunning health care issue and he did it deliberately. It appears to be consistent with Daschle’s suggestion written last year, wherein he suggested that the next president should act quickly before critics mount an opposition, “If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it…The issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol.”3
The final bill was created by a House-Senate conference committee. It was posted on the House Appropriations Committee’s website on late Thursday 12th in two PDF files. The first PDF, as 3 McCaughey Betsy, The Library of Congress, page H1137 posted at 8:20 AM Friday 13th morning, had grown by 72 pages to 496 pages; increasing the length of the total document to 1,071 pages.4
When the Congress passed this bill on February 13th, amazingly, not even one Senator has had the chance to read the entire bill. Senator Frank Lautenberg, Democrat from New Jersey, concluded on Thursday 12th that “I don’t think anyone will have the chance to [read the entire bill]”, referring to the final version submitted before the final $790 billion vote in.
“The Democrats have thrown this at us very last-minute,” said Representative Zach Wamp, Republican from Tennessee. “That’s why the rule of thumb in the United States Congress should be, ‘When in doubt, vote no,’ because the devil is in the details and that’s why this stimulus is not worthy of support.”5
Now for the questionable and important issue which every American should draw their attention to:
Barack Obama will invest $10 billion per year over the next five years to adopt standards-based computerized health records in the health care system throughout the country, on the premise of tentative benefits. “We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year” Obama said.6 This is easier said than done as autonomous research will show
Trying to save billions of dollars wasted in the current inefficient system sounds positive, although practically it could cost substantially more to set up. Independent studies from Harvard, RAND and the Commonwealth Fund have shown that such a plan
4 Rutilus AllecRed Herring, “Something Intended to Divert Attention From the Real Problem”
5 Byrnes Ryan and Mora Edwin, “Democratic Senator Predicts None of His Colleagues ‘Will Have the Chance’ to Read Final Stimulus Bill Before Vote” 6 McClokey Paul “Obama adds health IT to economic stimulus package”, Government Health IT
could cost at least $75 billion to $100 billion over the ten years they think the hospitals would need to implement such program.7
According to American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, section H.R.10318: (2) in subsection (8) The term `health information technology’ means hardware, software, license, right, intellectual property, equipment, or other information technology (including new versions, upgrades, and connectivity) designed or provided primarily for the electronic creation, maintenance or ‘exchange’ of health information, to better coordinate care or improve health care quality, efficiency, or research.’ ‘Exchange’ of health information means your medical treatments history will be available at the fingertips of the Federal government and its alliances. Commentator Mike Adams writes “The bill requires the electronic tracking of the medical records of all Americans. All your private medical data will be stored in a government database, including your history of disease, pharmaceutical treatments, surgeries and even emergency room visits.”9 Adams further describes it as ‘big brother language’ and tantamount to invasion of privacy. An important question emerges here is whether or not they will seek your consent. According to Obama’s website10, he promises to protect patients’ privacy. He left this short statement without further explanation of how he will accomplish his promise. Mike Adams, Natural News11 raised a good point about the character of the new administration, stating that “there is also no reason to believe the
U.S. government will safeguard patient medical data or even respect the privacy of patients. This is the same government, after all, that has been caught routinely spying on its own citizens by tapping phone lines, emails, faxes and internet traffic.” 7 Goldman, David “Obama’s big idea: Digital Health records,
CNNMoney.com 8 The Library of Congress, “Health Information Technology Promotion Act of 2009” 9 Adam Mike, “U.S. Government Seeks Control of All Doctors, Patient, Medical Records in Hidden Provisions of Stimulus bill” 10 Obama Biden, “Barack Obama and Joe Biden ‘s plan to lower health care costs and ensure affordable, accessible health coverage for all”, p.2 11 Adam Mike, “Big Brother Health Care Provisions Slipped Into US Economic Stimulus Bill”
Some provisions of the economic stimulus bill include:
The above provisions stated that the stimulus bill permits Americans’ personal health information to be exchanged and sold, without patients’ consent as for research and public-health purposes. The bill also mandates the plan for each American to have a single electronic health record by 2014, without opt-out or patient consent provisions.
One question may arise here: how do we know that the federal government wants to share our information to others without our permission? The answer is that the bill states sharing individual patient’s information with affiliates in accordance with “applicable law”. Applicable law means the HIPAA Medical Privacy Rule (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996). It is important to know this HIPAA Medical Privacy Act in order to understand that it has many loopholes regarding privacy issue (see below).
Sue Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom commented about HIPAA Medical Privacy Regulation saying “Most Americans have no idea that the so-called HIPAA privacy rule doesn’t give patients the freedom to give or withhold consent before their personal health information can be shared with others for many purposes.”
“President Obama has pledged to advance freedom. Therefore the freedom to choose not to participate in a national electronic health-records system must be upheld,” Blevins said. Referring to the right to privacy she affirmed “Unless people have the right to decide if and when their health information is shared or whether to participate in research studies, they don’t have a true right to privacy.”
Blevins further stated that “This bill is very misleading because while it promises to outlaw the selling of data, the exceptions to the rule are huge and allow Americans’ personal health data to be exchanged and sold for research and public-health purposes without patients’ consent.”
“This is a historical and unbelievable assault on the privacy rights of all Americans. Personal health information should not be exchanged and sold for research and public- health surveillance without patients’ consent,” stresses Twila Brase, president of Citizens’ Council on Health Care. “Patient data belongs to the patient. A pocket full of cash should not undo a patient’s right to protect their medical privacy.”12
12 Blevins Sue and Brase Twila, “ Final Economic Stimulus Bill Permits American’s Personal Health Information to be sold for Research and Public Health Purposes Without Patients’ Consent”, Institution for Health and Freedom
So what is wrong with HIPAA Medical Privacy Rule?
David Brailer, former national coordinator for Health Information Technology said,
“HIPAA was never intended for the digital age, because the 1996 HIPAA law never anticipated the emergence of Web-based records.” 13
The above statement of David Brailer was trying to mislead the Americans about HIPAA law. Richard Sobel, former senior Research Associate in the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at Harvard Medical School, examined this issue in a 2007 Hastings Center Report article “The HIPAA Paradox: The Privacy Rule That’s Not.” Sobel commented that,
“HIPAA is often described as a privacy rule. It is not. In fact, HIPAA is a disclosure rule, and it has effectively dismantled the longstanding moral and legal tradition of patient confidentiality.”14
Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is not the new Obama’s health care reform. In fact many powerful lobby groups including leaders of medical, hospital, insurance and other industries have been working for over a decade to nationalize standards for electronics medical records.
In 1991, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) was established to foster the national electronic medical codes and electronic payment systems.15 WEDI succeeded in getting many of its goals incorporated into the Clinton health care plan. President Clinton’s 1993 Health Security Plan included a provision title “Administrative Simplification”, this section of the plan was to call for establishing a national health information infrastructure. It required including every: 1) individual, 2) employer, 3) health insurer and 4) health care provider. It also called for creating national codes for medical claims, new
13 News Report, “Economic Stimulus Package Could Impinge on American’s Health Privacy, Say Group” 14 Institute for Health Freedom, “Congress Needs to Add Opt out and Consent Provisions to Health IT to Ensure Quality Health Care” 15 Institute for Health Freedom, updated November 2008, “What Every American Needs to know about the HIPAA Medical Privacy Rule”
federal medical privacy rules and unique identifiers assigned to the four categories mentioned for processing medical claims electronically.
The American people rejected the Clinton plan to nationalize health care. Nevertheless the Administrative Simplification provision was tucked away in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which was signed into law on August 21st 1996 (Public Law 104-191). Under the HIPAA law, the following four groups are required to have unique identifiers for tracking medical records and electronic claims processing. The four categories are the same as in 1993: 1) individual, 2) employer, 3) health insurer and 4) health care provider.
Due to public objection, federal funding for assigning every individual a unique health identifier has been put on hold temporarily over the past few years. Legislators included a provision in HIPAA requiring that a medical privacy law be passed by August 21st 1999, or the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would have to draft such a rule. Congress missed its self-imposed deadline and the authority to establish federal regulations for medical privacy shifted to HHS under the Clinton administration.
In November 1999, the Clinton administration proposed federal regulations relating to medical privacy. It proposed prohibiting doctors, hospitals and others from obtaining patients’ consent before releasing their medical information. Conversely the public spoke out against the proposed guideline and removal of consent. HHS received more than 52,000 comments during the public comment period. The issue most discussed was patient control of personal health information.
A final HIPAA regulation was released on December 28th 2000, just before President Clinton departure. In response to public outcry, HHS restored patient consent. That version of the HIPAA regulation required individuals to give their consent before medical records could be used for health care treatment, payment, or “health care operation” (a broad term encompassing many activities). However, many other third parties did not need patients’ consent before obtaining their medical records, including: 1) Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 2) law enforcement, 3) researchers (in some instances), 4) public health officials, 5) federal government and 6) medical licensing boards.
Some industries were strongly opposed to the consent provision as it appeared in the December 28th 2000 final HIPAA regulation. They lobbied the incoming Bush administration to eliminate patient consent. In March 2002, HHS proposed to modify the HIPAA rule so that health care insurers, hospitals and others could transfer medical information ‘without’ patients consent, in order to pay claims, treat patients and do other tasks. The Bush administration published its final modifications to the HIPAA rule on August 14, 2002. The final rule can be found in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (see 45 CFR 160 and 45 CFR 164).
“Consequently, for the first time in our nation’s history, the federal government is now giving the medical industry legal authority to decide for individuals whether personal health information can be released to others without individuals’ consent.”16 Individuals will not get an accounting of when their medical records are disclosed for routine purposes.
Why did Obama rush Congress to pass this economic stimulus bill before the long weekend (February, 14-16th)? Why could not he give members of Congress time to read all this 1,071 pages during these 3 days holiday because he had intention to sign the bill on Tuesday (February 17th) anyway? Why did Obama sneak this major health care reform into the economic stimulus bill without informing the public about these massive changes? Wasn’t he the one who promised to his people to be transparent?
These questions will be left for the respected reader to consider.
Apart from this cunning ‘health information technology’ mentioned above, it was just one tiny aspect among other problems in Obama’s underhanded health care reform plans.
16 Institute for Health Freedom, updated November 2008, “What Every American Needs to know about the HIPAA Medical Privacy Rule”
According to this new health care reform, all American citizens will be tracked electronically by the federal government and its affiliates by 2014. That means your health and personal information can be exchanged and sold without obtaining individual consent (as already mentioned above). Other aspects that will affect American people.
To those Muslims who voted for Obama and were optimistic that he would make a positive change, as the author wants to be honest with you, nothing will change except things can only get worse and only Allah knows how much worse it will get.
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HE rESUrGENCE OF ISLAM came after a declination that continues to permit the near entire occupation and confiscation of religion, life, and resource in the Muslim world. The effects of this occupation are all over today. However, they are withering and the world is on the threshold of an Islamic awakening largely because Usamah bin Ladin and the mujahideen hit the root of the affliction, targeted America on its own lands, and cut off the head of disbelief thereby reviving the jihad that will inevitably lead to the conquest of rome. While much criticism came from several sectors of the Muslim ideological perspective with regard to the 9-11 raids, it is becoming apparent that the actual intention behind the attacks – to lure the United States into an imperialist war that would one day bankrupt the superpower – has been achieved. The strategy was genius. The consequences were, for the most part, positive and the results even better than expected. Today America is a shadow of its former self and the head is suffering from a concussion. Tomorrow the struggle must exploit these results and advance the jihad to a progressive stage.
Shaykh Usamah Bin Ladin set forth his initial justification for cutting off the head of the disbelievers in a lengthy sermon delivered in 1996 that concentrated on highlighting the atrocities committed by the Saudi regime and their role as agent of the US-Israeli Alliance in allowing US troops onto Saudi soil. In it, he utilized the principle of warding off the greater evil as expressed in Ibn Taymiyyah’s elaborate writings on the subject of repelling the tyrant aggressor and called for “concentration on hitting the main enemy who has thrust the nation into whirlpools and labyrinths for decades since dividing it into states and statelets,” and declaring that, “It is no secret that warding off the American enemy is the top duty after faith, and nothing should take priority over it.”1 This sense of direction was the first example of Ibn Ladin emphasizing his belief that the mujahideen were capable of destroying the only empire left standing after their defeat of the USSR only a few years earlier.
1 See “Message from Osama bin Laden to his Muslim Brothers in the Whole World and Especially in the Arabian Peninsula: Declaration of Jihad Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Mosques; Expel the Heretics From the Arabian Peninsula” released by Al-Islah, Sep. 2, 1996
There was much criticism within the Islamic nation during this time and indeed much criticism continues today but efforts were increased to advance this ideology and convince the noble sons and daughters of the ummah that the approach would work. In an interview in 1997 with reporter Gwyn Robert he declared,
“I confirm that all the youth and the whole nation should concentrate their efforts on the Americans and the Zionists because they are the head of the spear that has been pointed at the nation and delivered into the nation’s heart, and that every effort concentrated on the Americans and the Zionists will bring good, direct, and positive results. Therefore, if someone can kill an American soldier, it is better than wasting his energy on other matters.”
On February 23 of 1998, Ibn Ladin and others issued a fatwa claiming that, “to kill the Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim.”2 The attacks on American Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 highlighted an array of operations that documented the seriousness of his adherence to the threats and sent the Clinton Administration into efforts to
2 Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: World Islamic Front State ment .
capture the newest challenge to US dominance while many in the Muslim world either downplayed the seriousness of the threat or criticized his stance as misguidance.
Today the jihad has extended from Afghanistan to Iraq, into Pakistan, Somalia, Palestine, Indochina, the Arabian Peninsula, the Caucuses, and active cells sit in every country on the globe. The Crusade against Islam continues as well. Occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan rages on as the incumbent administration wages a massive propaganda war throughout the Muslim world and sets of carefully contrived proxy governments speaking in terms of Islam, Jewish aggression expands, and international agencies set their eyes on the Sudan and Somalia while US military imperialism expands its presence on Muslim land despite government propaganda. It must be realized that the objectives espoused in the plan to “cut off the head” are advancing toward realization. Usamah described, “Take care not to be pushed into fragmenting your efforts and squandering your resources in marginal battles with the lackeys and parties but concentrate the blows on the head of disbelief until it collapses. Once it collapses, all the other parts will collapse, vanish, and be defeated.”3 Recent statements suggest it is time to shift attention, open new fronts, and attack the hands the head can no longer protect.
The United States was for a long time thought of as a friendly power in the Muslim world. Recent events have completely altered that misconception, but few understand the history of western imperialism in the region. One must understand the history
3 Al-Qaida Issues Statement under Bin Laden’s Name on Afghan 1st War Anniversary. (Internet)
and intervention of western control alongside the exact location and plans of US military presence on Muslim soil if the plan for permanent Western occupation is going to be prevented. It is in only in understanding this actual background that one may gain a deeper appreciation for the past, present and future efforts to resist Western dominance in the Muslim world.
The present day advancement of Western forces in the Middle East did not begin with the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Western advances on the Muslim nation have occurred over a prolonged period of time and recent events are merely a continuation of 400 years of colonialism that followed the conquering of Islamic Spain by Europeans in 1492. The subsequent subjugation of Africa and Latin America was followed by the earliest attempts to invade and occupy terrain in the Middle East. The French invaded Egypt in 1798 only to be repelled two years later. The French annexed Algeria in 1834 and the British took over administrative control of Egypt by 1882. Despite the fact that six European State powers controlled 25% of the world’s land surface between 1876 and 1914,4 little direct rule was capable in the Middle East however due largely to Muslim dignity and the unity attributed by the Islamic Khilafah. Attempts to push the western ideology onto Muslims ended in utter failure. For example, Lord Curzon remarked in 1892, “It is against the impregnable rock-wall of Islam, as a system embracing every sphere and duty, and act of life, that the waves of missionary effort beat and buffet in vain.” Sensing the need to cut the Muslims off from their ideology, Western powers began a
4 E. Hobsbawn. Industry and Empire (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1968)
on May 15, 1914 that gave the Wilayah of Najd to
Ibn Saud and his progeny
afterwards in exchange for
Ottoman control over the
region through military
residency, taxes subject to
Ottoman control, a promise
to defend the region from
foreign occupation, and
an explicit agreement that
Ibn Saud, “is not allowed to
interfere with, or correspond
about foreign affairs and
international treaties, or to
grant concessions.” And so
it should have been that the
Ottoman Empire worked
to regain a foothold in the Arabian Peninsula and reestablished control from the British via the developmental project they had arranged with Germany. This would not be the case as the fate of history and the promise of fitnah from Najd would be fulfilled. Correspondence from that date between Ibn Saud and the British Empire documents an increasing British effort in wooing the Arab leader away from his treaty with the Ottoman Caliphate and as World War I broke out, Ibn Saud declared his allegiance by December 1914 saying, “I accept and acknowledge severance of dealing with any other power in all matter of concession, interference and intercourse, except with reference to the British Government.”6 By 1921 he was the recipient of 5,000₤ Sterling each month and ample munitions to carry out the furthering of British objectives in the region.7 In 1925 he captured Mecca ending 700 years of Hashemite tutelage of the Ka’aba and eventually killing most of the Ikhwan that had fought to gain the territory because they continued to push jihad into Iraq, a British Protectorate. This opposed his now apparent loyalty to the British Queen.
The Saudi alliance with Britain allowed the conclusion of World War I to destroy the Khilafah
6 See Translation of letter to Sayyid Tlaib in King Abdul Aziz Diplomacy and Statecraft 1902-1953, Vol. 1 Archive Eds. Limited, 1998. 7 See Memorandum dated May 4, 1921 from Office of the High Commissioner to His Excellency Sheikh Sir Abdul Aziz bin Abdur Rahman al Faisal al Saud.
careful and gradual attack on the ruling system that eventually led to present conditions.
The strategic location of the Persian Gulf has always made it a center of world trade and thus a region prone to intense confrontation for control. Western intervention there essentially began when the British Empire, in order to secure safe shipping routes to and from their empire in India, turned family run Sheikhdoms into British protectorates. Ultimately, these careful partnerships and the additional support for the House of Saud, established in the late nineteenth century, led to the present age of Western dominance.
It was the Saud family that aligned with the British and betrayed the Ottoman Caliphate. The evidence is clear in the historical record few take the time to read. British Officer S.G. Knox, wrote in April of 1914 in communication with the British Government in colonized India that, “it looks probable that unless something definite can be communicated to him very soon, Bin Saud, will make his own arrangements with the Turkish Government, and such arrangements may very well be hostile to our interests.5”This message found the British suddenly eager in interest to subjugate efforts by the Ottomans to make peace with Ibn Saud. However, a treaty between Ibn Saud and the Turks was signed
5 See Memorandum No. 1171, dated Bushire, April 19, 1914. Major S.G. Knox to the Foreign Secretary of the Government of India in the Foreign and Political Department, Simla.
and Western powers to intensify efforts to colonize the Muslim world. The contradictory promises of the Hussein-McMahon correspondence which funded Arab rebellion against the Ottomans, the Sykes-Picot agreement which carved up the Muslim world between Britain and France, and the Baflour Declaration which established the Jews in Palestine allowed the British Empire to watch the last remnants of the Ottoman Empire vanish. The post-World War I League of Nations mandate system gave the British colonial control over Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq, and France control over Syria and Lebanon. Thus, prior to World War II, the Middle East was mainly the focus of British and French imperialism but the long lasting effects of a forced nationalism and the separation of the Muslims into separate nation states virtually erased the entirety of dignity and autonomous control for the ummah.
America’s role as an imperialist nation started at their very root with the genocide of an entire indigenous population, the American Indians. Alexander Hamilton described the United States as the “embryo of a great empire” as early as 17958, but America’s role as imperialist in the international arena started directly after the Indian population had been subdued and placed on reservations, the taking of Alaska and Hawaii, and the victory of the Spanish-American War toward the end of the 19th century. The US immediately set out to claim the Philippines, an Island in South East Asia with a predominantly Muslim population. Conquering the Philippines established a base from where America could project its power throughout the world and was thus the next logical step in their imperialist expansion. President Theodore Roosevelt stated his views claiming, “in the long run, civilized man finds he can keep the peace only by subduing his barbarian neighbors; for the barbarian will yield only to force.”9 The Philippine issue was never fully resolved until 1946 when they were granted nominal independence, but it served as an initial launching point for future American militarization of Muslim land.
8 Robert Kagan, O ur ‘Messianic Impulse’ . 9 Roosevelt, Theodore. “Expansion and Peace.” 1989. pp. 287-89
In 1890, naval captain Alfred T. Mahan published a book entitled The Influence of Sea Power upon History, in which he argued that a strong nation must use naval power to extend ports and colonies throughout the world. These colonies and foreign ports would also benefit the home country through foreign trade and opportunities for investment. The occupation of the Philippines and domestic growth at home allowed the United States to launch its first real display of power in the Persian Gulf when from December 16, 1907 to February 22, 1909 the Great White Fleet, a collective group of US Navy vessels, circumnavigated the globe by orders from Theodore Roosevelt. These vessels sailed while brandishing the US flag and made their way into the Persian Gulf by early 1909 eventually working their way all the way through to the Suez Canal before passing back through the Islands of the Arab Emirates and setting its eyes on the British controlled island of Bahrain where it would start its program for colonizing the region.
America first made major inroads into the Persian Gulf by way of Saudi Arabia in May of 1933, when Standard Oil Company of California, known as Chevron today, obtained 60-year oil expropriation rights in exchange for 35,000 British pounds. This marked the initiation of American intervention in the region. From 1933 until the conclusion of World War II the intimate relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US was the direct result of this relationship as Aramco (Arabian-American Oil Company) was formed and led to lucrative contracts for many Western firms developing the Saudi state and thus creating the “special relationship” that carries through to this day. By the end of World War II, with Europe destroyed by the Nazis, the United States found itself with a firm and intact domestic society and as the most powerful country in the world. This was recognized immediately by Government officials as the imperialist ambitions of the US now set its eyes, in secular, Western tradition on a bigger piece of the world pie. George Keenan, then Secretary of State, described the Post-World War II scenario,
“We have about half the world’s wealth… but only 5 percent of its population… In this situation… our real job in the coming years is to devise a pattern of relationships which permit us to maintain this position of disparity… To do so we have to dispense with all the sentimentality and day-dreaming, concentrate everywhere on our immediate national
objectives… [And] deal in straight power concepts. The less we are hampered by idealistic slogans the better.”10
In 1944 Franklin Roosevelt announced that, “the defense of Saudi Arabia is vital to the defense of the United States.”11 In 1951 President Truman dispatched a committee to explore the prospect of economic control over the region. However, the banker that he sent to assess the situation quickly identified the risks involved due to a rising sentiment of Arab nationalism.12 By 1952 National Security Council Archives relate that securing the allegiance of Arab countries to the West was tantamount and especially because they control a large portion of the world’s oil reserves
essential in times of “war and peace.” However, they also identify the structural composition of the Arab countries and divided the populace into three groups: the elite, intellectual class, and peasantry. Of course, it was necessary to support the profligate dictators whose every essence ran contradictory to so-called “democratic” ideals. The report concludes that, “In the past the UK has played the major role in the maintenance
10 See United States Department of State Policy Planning Study No. 23, 1948 11 Little, Douglas. American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002). 12 See Paul Krugman, The Ambassador of the Arabs: The Locke Mission and the Unmaking of U.S. Development Diplomacy in the Near East, 1952-53.” In David Lesch, ed. The Middle East and the Unmaking of Development Diplomacy.
and defense of Western interests in the area...” but there is a need for, “a review and restatement of US policy toward the area,” as the US had already taken over for the UK in Greece (where it massacred 160,000 civilians) and “has major military and economic interests, as in the case of Saudi Arabia, US influence has largely replaced the UK interests.”13 The documents conclude that the elite leadership must be supported as, “our principle aim should be to encourage the emergence of competent leaders, relatively well-disposed toward the West” despite the fact that they may not be able to “express any overt good will toward, or to seek any explicit association with the West.”The primary fear was the potential increase in, “anti-American trends of Arab opinion,” which would threaten US interests, namely oil and so it was that America took over from the British in the Middle East.
This new outlook led almost immediately to intervention when in 1953 Dwight Eisenhower ordered the covert operation AJAX that removed democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeqq from power in Iran and installed Reza Shah, a loyal Western puppet until the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The covert operation marked an increasing role for the US especially with regard to control of the oil interests. Prior to the coup, the Anglo-Persian oil company was maintained and controlled solely by the British. Operation AJAX established a 40% share for the Anglo-Persian company, which changed its name to BP, a 14% share to Royal Dutch Shell, and a new 40% reward to a group of American firms for their support of the covert endeavor.
In 1958, in reaction to the Iraqi revolution and efforts to nationalize their oil, the US Chairman of Joint Chief of Staff stated, “be prepared to employ, subject to the President’s approval, whatever means might become necessary to prevent any unfriendly
13 NSC Document 129, United States Objectives and Policies with respect to the Arab States and Israel, April 7, 1952.
forces from moving into Kuwait.”14 It is assumed that here the US meant nuclear weapons. Support for the Israeli State voted into existence by the US in 1948, covert operations in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and across the region, and a careful policy of propping up dictators through the sale of arms and strategic economic infiltration of other Middle East nations gradually led to the US taking over from the UK as the hegemonic power in the Middle East.
The American experiment with the empire drew from lessons learned by British and French colonialism however as they were
very careful not to establish a physical
presence in the region. American expansion has carefully contrived a typical foreign policy in the Middle East of covert
subversion and military and financial
support for loyal dictators. As hatred for the British drew to a height after the 1956, Israeli, French and British attack on Egypt who attempted to stop Jamal ‘Abdul Nasser from nationalizing the Suez Canal, America, by necessity, took over complete reign. America sided with Nasser and repudiated the attack thus earning positive Arab sentiment. In reality, the policies of the United States were essentially controlled by the
oil companies during this era who were gradually expanding their control over the resource and exploiting huge profits from states in the region, the most important of which remained Saudi Arabia, the country’s most valuable asset.
Saudi Arabia has forever been the bastion of US relations in the Middle East and it was there from 1952-1963 that the first major US military presence in the Gulf was established with the placement of nuclear armed bombers at Dhahran Airbase. While King Faisal ordered the removal of American presence there in 1963 for use on a case-by-case basis, the new base, renamed King ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Air Base, served as the launching pad for US strikes during the first Gulf War, where 7,248 aircraft in
14 See William Quandt, “Lebanon, 1958, Jordan 1970.” In Force Without War (1979)
a span of a few months dropped 88,500 tons of bombs and destroyed water-purification plants, electrical grids, schools, hospitals, bridges, roads and other civilian targets. Thousands were killed under the blanket takfir and issuance of the Saudi regime and state’ ulama as the Ba’athist’s attacked proved to be mostly women, children and civilian infrastructure.15 The sanctions that followed would kill 1.5 million children from 1991 until 2003.16
The American military enhanced its presence in 1965 when Diego Garcia, a British colony, was
15 Of course I think Ba’athist’s are kuffar, but this is reference to the fact that while most continue to cry out that the first Gulf War was against Ba’athist’s, they fail to recognize that more bombs were dropped on Iraq than in all of the Second World War and mostly they decimated an entire country. I agree that Ba’athist’s are kuffar, but the King of Saudi Arabia and the Armed Forces and the ‘ulama knew very well that the US was going to destroy an entire country; a ground war would have me accept the typical “balanced” statement that US troops were allowed on the Arabian Peninsula to fight Ba’athist’s and then leave. This was never the case. In fact, in my opinion, I don’t think there was even a threat to even see Iraq attack KSA. The US blew up factories, hospitals, schools, etcetera and I think people need to be aware that when you take the US as partners even against the kuffar, they will only utilize the inch to take a foot. I don’t think the whole country came to be considered kuffar and I hold the ‘ulama accountable for this verdict as well as it is obvious they were attacking by air not by the ground. 16 Former US Attorney General Charges US, British and UN Leaders .
established as a US military base on lease from the UK. This base was used as the main launching pad for attacks into Afghanistan and Iraq over the last few years and housed several prisoners of CIA secret renditions. The base was built after the entire indigenous population was forced off the island through extremely violent sanctions and attacks. A recent court case filed in the UK has rewarded damages to the ex-inhabitants, but the base still serves as a primary protectorate of “US interests,” primarily due to the hidden nature of its location. It is located well over 1,000 miles away from the Gulf in the Indian Ocean.
In August of 1971 Bahrain obtained independence from Britain and the US signed an agreement to maintain its naval presence in the country for a payment of $4 million a year. On December 2, 1971, the six remaining Arab sheikhdoms created the United Arab Emirates and the first Gulf War allowed the United States to establish a military presence in each and every single one of them. The era of Nixon and Ford witnessed little intervention in the Middle East as the Vietnam War embroiled the US in a brutal guerilla affair with the Vietnamese and the domestic population rose to challenge the military regime, thus preventing further expansion. Exploitation of Middle Eastern oil during this era was largely in the hands of seven corporations based in the United States and Europe and they largely influenced policy in a direction that was conducive to their interests. These corporations still rest today among the world’s largest and most powerful financial empires.
On August 15, 1971 the Nixon administration, in the face of a bankrupt international gold benchmark system, altered the entire global monetary scheme and established the post-Bretton Woods fiat system. At this time the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was formed and planned originally to sell oil in its own currencies. However the Anglo-American power structure intervened and spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to guarantee that all crude distributed by OPEC would be sold in dollar denominated terms. In exchange the regime in Saudi Arabia would be protected. Since then the House of Saud has adjusted production almost at the request of their Anglo-American protectors and for the past 30-plus years the oil rentier regimes have been reinvesting the dollars they receive in the domestic US economy or the Federal Reserve through treasury bonds. This “petrodollar recycling” is what keeps the dollar as the fiat currency with supreme value as oil must be bought and sold on the international market in dollar denominated terms. This keeps every country in the world dependent on holding dollars for energy supplies. The 1973 oil embargo by Saudi Arabia against the US, due to American support for Israel, led US government planners like Henry Kissinger and Arthur Schlesinger to identify the oil of the Persian Gulf as a “national interest” as plans were set into motion for the US to take over the oil fields of Saudi Arabia in the event of an emergency.
By the late 1970’s, with increasing reliance on oil imports and the need to protect its carefully structured international monetary scheme, the Carter Administration, proclaimed the Carter Doctrine of Middle East Policy: “Any attempts by any outside force to gain control of the Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.” However the Iranian Revolution sent one of the pillars of US policy apart from US control and the US grew closer and more reliant on its relationship with the Arab Gulf States. Carter organized what would come to be called the Rapid Deployment Force which would provide immediate air attacks in the event a situation arose contrary to US interests. In 1978 the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated that American interests in the Middle East were, “to assure continuous access to petroleum reserves, prevent inimical power or combination of powers from establishing hegemony, and to assure the survival of Israel as an independent state.”17 The Joint Chiefs also recommended expanding basing facilities throughout the Persian Gulf. The
17 See Review of US Strategy Related to the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. (1978)
direct American military presence there remained miniscule however, and during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980’s only seven smaller Navy ships based in Bahrain were able to patrol the waters. The 1987 Iraqi attack on the USS Stark18 allowed the US to use an isolated incident as a pretext for a drastically increased presence and in 1991 the occupation of the Arabian Peninsula with 600,000 American troops, mostly located in Saudi Arabia, moved into the region.
The period between the two Iraq Wars saw a vast expansion of American military presence as the official inner-workings of the petrodollar scheme started to unravel and it became apparent that the Afghan-Arab resistance to Russian aggression had revived a dormant Islamic awareness that served as a direct threat to US interests and the regimes they backed as one prescient ruler of the Gulf remarked in the early 1980’s, “I would rather deal with 10 Communists than with one Muslim fundamentalist.”19 The Clinton era was marked by a pro-Israeli dual containment policy that strongly supported the continuation of the sanctions on Iraq and persuaded similar sanctions on Iran that sought to isolate it from the global community. From 1996 to 2002 construction at Prince Sultan Airbase was continuous and barracks were constructed that resembled permanent housing units. In 2001, the Saudi regime permitted use of the base in coordinating air operations against targets in Afghanistan. To hedge their control over the region, the United States also built Udeid Air Base in Qatar as an alternative in the face of potential Saudi evacuation.
The invasion of Iraq in 2003 marked the onslaught of official occupation as the 9-11 attacks forced the Bush Administration’s neoconservative movement to bear the actuality of its intentions20 and the
18 See Harold Lee Wise. Inside the Danger Zone: The U.S. Military in the Persian Gulf, 1987-1988. (Naval Institute Press, 2007. 19 Interview with advisor to the ruler, Gulf emirate, August 17,
20 For specific details of NeoCon plans see Project of New American Century’s: Rebuilding America’s Defenses and Robert Kagan and William Kristol. Present Dangers: Crisis and Oppor
expansion of military presence became evident. The proclamation that the Middle East would be democratized rang throughout the initial invasion. Today 1.3 million dead Iraqi’s and the failure to effect even the slightest hint of democratic reform in Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Egypt or other feudal monarchies and dictatorships the US support suggests this was never the case. The fact that US troops secured Iraqi oil fields on the first day of the occupation shows that control over Mid-East oil supplies had become the chief objective of the continuing, imperialist foreign occupation of the state. The occupation of Iraq established another front for the mujahideen and today while rhetoric from America proclaims troop withdrawal, 50,000 troops will remain behind as a residual force on
6 permanent military bases
built by billions of US taxpayer
money with the world’s biggest
embassy located in the heart
of Baghdad. It is highly
unlikely the US plans any
serious evacuation.
In fact, the US plan was always
to establish a permanent military
presence from which to control the entire region and the reality is that their objectives have been only half-heartedly realized. The occupation of troops on Saudi soil lasted until 2003 when combat troops were forced to evacuate in the face of the violent reactions by Saudi citizens on Khobar Towers in 1996, thus forcing the overt presence of US military to be concealed. Today the US has transferred its personnel and equipment to Prince Sultan Airbase and runs a very well fortified US compound called Eskan Village on the outskirts of Dhahran. Saudi rhetoric may suggest that there are no US forces in the country but it is illegal to photograph the base or any signification of American presence in the Kingdom. The troops typically train the Saudi Army and officials at Prince Sultan are employed by the Vinnell Corporation where they train the Saudi National Guard.21 There has also been a proliferation of bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, the UAE, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and other places with obvious ambitions to occupy
tunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy. 21 See http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Vinnell_ Corporation
the entire region permanently.
Today the United States controls 800-1,000 military bases across the globe with an increasing presence in the Middle East. Obama’s budget includes $663 billion for Defense, an increase from 200822, but it is an easy lesson learned in history that imperial overreach eventually destroys the domestic currency and leads to the disintegration of an Empire. Knowing this history and the intentions behind it leads one to clearly understand the imperativeness of American evacuation. While public opinion polls suggest large portions of Muslims do not support the attacking of civilians, large majorities agree with Al-Qaa’idah’s goal of pushing the United States to remove its military forces from all Muslim countries and substantial numbers approve of attacks on US troops in Muslim countries.23 The struggle to liberate Muslim land began by attacking the head aggressor on its home soil. The US, stretched now militarily and facing economic turmoil at home, must now alter its perceived role as aggressor in the region. The question then becomes, where do the mujahideen go from here?
The Soviet threat drove Cold War policies that split the world into two camps. The fall of the Soviet Union at the hands of the mujahideen marked the end of the bi-polar world and ushered an age the Americans termed the ‘End of History,’ as they sensed that secular democracy had come to conquer all other ideological counterparties. The
22 Obama Increases Military Budget, Ignoring Frank’s Criti cisms . 23 Muslim Publics Oppose al Qaeda’s Terrorism, but agree with its goal of driving US Forces out
resurrection of the jihad in Afghanistan and the subsequent revival of Islam proved this not to be the case. The attacks of 9-11 highlighted this reality and should have served to initiate awareness that the system the US ships overseas is far from goodintentioned.
Today President Obama’s Foreign Policy approach must at least look peaceful as he has concentrated on the moderates of the Arab world and is essentially begging the people not to overthrow the puppet regimes the US controls. Prince Turki Al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia explained very clearly to Obama that the region faces complete upheaval if the US does not alter its approach and especially with regard to their unconditional support of Israel.24 The administration must now deal with a prospering nuclear-oriented Iran as a shift towards trying to contain the Shiites may open up opportunities for the mujahideen to go after their Arab oppressors and they continue to expand troops in Afghanistan despite an ever-growing insurgency.
The case of Saudi Arabia is telling. The ruling family has long since been in fear that the ideology of Al-Qaa’idah will eventually infiltrate their society. They are also worried their efforts to enter fully into the international riba based system with the establishment of King ‘Abdullah Financial District25 will be affected by “terrorism.” King ‘Abdullah’s recent political restructuring, for example demoting Shaykh Saleh Al-Luhaidan for his stance on liberal media in the kingdom, suggests they still fear the
24Turki al-Faisal, Saudi patience is running out . 25 See http://kingabdullahfinancialdistrict.com
‘ulama. The King’s effort to organize international faith-based conferences marks a series of fears and anxieties that the international community may cease to support them as well. Their meddling in Afghanistan by trying to prop up a counterparty to the Taliban, in Somalia trying to prop up a western imposed puppet, and their inaction with regard to Gaza suggest they are entering into a period of increased angst. In the recent past Saudi Arabia has sold the idea that they have dealt with the domestic threat of jihad by treating it like a behavioral disorder and crime, that they have squashed all rebellion and that no threat presently exists. However, stability in the state may be largely attributed to the boom in the price of oil since the Iraq War that allowed the economy to control the people, but the pacifiers that exist in the society may be removed as this “global recession” starts to prevent American expansion and leaves the regime to fend for itself. This is the case in nearly all Middle Eastern societies and the scenario was described explicitly by Ibn Ladin who said in 1997 with regard to his plan to cut off the head that,
“Russia was the head of the communist bloc. With the disintegration of Russia, communism withered away in the Eastern Europe. Similarly if the United States is beheaded, the Arab kingdoms will wither away.”26
He and the faithful ones with him together said in a tone that shook the pillars of the American he stated, “We, alongside the mujahideen, bled Russia for ten years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat, and all praises and thanks belong to Allah. So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.” Today, a little recognized shift in directives has witnessed the apparent belief of AlQaa’idah that they have indeed succeeded in their primary objective.
The attacks of September 11, 2001 marked a turn in the course of history and the aggressor reared its ugly head and moved toward the initiation of that destruction. Today, the international economic crisis, military overreach, and changing public sentiment worldwide, mandate change and the tools of power and control at the disposal of the United States grows weaker every day. It is time for the mujahideen who cut off the head to cut off the hands. There are indications that we will now see movements against the regimes, but we must also formulate a coherent vision of what the Islamic State may look like and develop and advance the battle for hearts and minds. This is evident in the ideologies espoused by the leaders of the jihad. It is time to advance to another stage of the struggle and loosen the noose of kufr that controls the lands. It is time to begin to think about the necessary next steps that must predicate the conquering of Rome.
hegemony,
How often, by Allah’s will, has a
(2:249)
small force vanquished a big one?!
The War against Islam has taken on new projections and in many ways has retreated from the original belief that simple military might and aggression would be able to subdue the spread of Islam. Today, the resultant 180 degree pendulum shift from hard to soft power is a sure sign that the West is losing the War. They have obviously underestimated the resistance. If anything, the intended results of 9-11 have been realized and the head is starting to wither away or at least showing signs of declination. Usamah bin Ladin announced more on his methodology for chopping off the head in a statement he released on November 1, 2004 coincident to Bush asking for an additional $70 billion to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
26Osama Bin Laden interview in Pakistan, March 18, 1997.
