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Shoe News 31 July, 2002
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Prophet Muhammad said, "When one of you puts on sandals, he should
first put on the right foot " (Hadith Sahih Muslim 877)
He also said, "He who does not obey Muhammad disobeys God." (Hadith
Mishkat 144)
“The Muslim world is hopelessly backward” – Mahatir
20/7/02 Calling the Islamic world “hopelessly backward”,
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamad urged Muslim nations to empower
themselves with modern knowledge and to develop weapons to defend themselves.
Dr. Mahatir criticized Muslims who devoted themselves entirely to religious
studies at the expense of information that would lead to global influence. “Not
a single Muslim country is to be found among the developed nations of the
world” Dr Mahatir said. “The Muslim world of today is hopelessly weak and
backward”.
2/7/02 UN
report criticizes Arab states.
A United Nations report on
development in the Arab world, carried out by Arabs, says the region is not
developing as fully as the rest of the world, with the exception of sub-Saharan
Africa. Lack of democracy and consequent poor governance lies behind all other
problems. Freedom of expression and accountability, a media which is “at best
partly free” squanders the advantage of oil wealth. Oil revenues are not
reinvested productively and Arab unemployment, at 15 per cent, is the highest
in the developing world. The GDP for all Arab countries together is less than
the GDP for Spain.
Women occupy only 3.5 per cent of all seats in Arab parliaments, in countries
where there are parliaments and where women have a vote. In many, women suffer
unequal citizenship and one in every two Arab women can neither read nor
write.. The use of Arab women's capabilities remains the lowest in the world in
quantitative terms. Spending on education has actually fallen in the last seven
years and school enrolments are not keeping up with rapid population growth.
The Arab world has the lowest internet access and usage. The growing army of
young people face an uncertain future with half of adolescents expressing a
desire to emigrate.
12/7/02 Modernity is also a state of mind.
Some Muslims furiously reject modernity and all its works, insisting their
own Islamic culture is superior and self-sufficient. A secular life-style is
needed: someone who contemplates the supernatural and gets his “science”
from the Qur'an is not able to contribute much to an improved world. For a
thousand years in the West, real knowledge stagnated while clerics debated how
many angels could dance on the point of a pin. In Iran, too, the intellectuals
argue that the clergy have failed in their attempt to govern a modern state,
and should now take a back seat. Women are wanting to play a bigger role in
society and youth are impatient for a richer life. The ayatollahs have been
unable to prevent them accessing satellite television and the Internet.
Pakistan, on the other hand, is facing a showdown between fundamentalism and
modernity. It confronts a deadly mix of poverty, patriarchy and religious
extremism. The madrasas, mosque schools, which provided thousands of recruits
for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization and other militant groups, have
been put on notice to provide meaningful education or face closure.
20/7/02 Scientists create artificial life.
Two scientists at the State University of New York have created an
artificial polio virus from non-living amino-acids. Once in a host, viruses can
reproduce and spread. This artificial one multiplied and paralysed the mice
into which it had been injected. We have no doubt that the day is not far off
when more complex living matter can be made from non-living chemicals. The
research is exciting in that amino-acids were formed from the elements carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen in Earth's primordial “soup”, probably by the
action of lightning.
Malaysia
14/7/02 PAS threatens death for
apostasy, hudud and qisas laws for non-muslims.
The PAS (Partai Islam se-Malaysia)
government in Terengganu has passed some terrifying laws which were a backward
step when introduced by Prophet Muhammad in the 7th Century. To kill
someone because they change religion is against freedom of conscience and
against Article 18 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights which states: “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion”. This right obviously includes the ability to
change one's religion and leave the religion into which he or she was born. What
has been described as “Islamo-fascism” expects the right to convert non-muslims
to Islam but not allow “desertion from Islam”.
Sharia cannot be made to apply to non-muslims – is PAS trying to drive
non-muslims out of Terengganu?
Sharia laws such as amputation for theft, stoning to death for adultery,
whipping for fornication, drinking and unsuccessful accusation of rape (e.g.
lack of 4 adult, male, Muslim witnesses) are all barbaric and in contravention
of Article 7 of the UN Declaration “No one shall be subjected to torture or to
cruel, inhuman treatment or punishment”
Fortunately the Federal Constitution of Malaysia would not allow the
punishments to be carried out, but they do show the sickness of PAS.
17/7/02 Six “deviant” religious groups probed in Selangor
The Selangor Islamic Religious Department is investigating six groups
involved in deviant (from the orthodox Sunni sect) teachings. One of them is
the Qadiyani movement which was banned in 1974.
12/7/02 Kylie Minogue censored in Malaysia
The video, “Kylie Live in
Sydney” is among 195 titles to fall foul of Malaysian censors. Other titles to
be blacklisted include Ally McBeal episode “The Queen Bee”, and two editions of
Friends, “The Videotape” and “But I'm a Cheerleader”. Also banned are “The
Prince of Egypt”, “Seven Years in Tibet”, “Schindler's List” and “Zoolander”.
Pakistan
15/7/02 Pearl murderer defiant
after verdict
British-born
Islamic militant, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (above left) reacted defiantly to his
death sentence for abducting and murdering US journalist Daniel Pearl (above
right). He said Americans deserved the September 11 attacks and that “the war
between Islam and the infidels would be decisive”. Three co-defendants who
received life sentences had implicated him in the killing. Daniel Pearl
disappeared after meeting Omar Sheikh in January while researching an article
on militant Islam and a month later a videotape sent to the US consulate in
Karachi showed his throat being cut. Pearl's widow, Mariane was pregnant at the
time of his abduction and has since given birth to a son, Adam, in Paris.
9/7/02 News out on attempted Musharraf assassination.
Three members of the al-Alami offshoot of the banned Muslim extremist
group, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen have been arrested for a failed attempt to set off
a car bomb in Karachi in April as General Musharraf's motorcade drove by.
Inspector Wasim Aktar of the Paramilitary Rangers has been charged with
providing details to them of the president's itinerary.
23/7/02 Four men have been arrested for the attack on a Christian church
last year in which 18 people died. Those arrested are said to be members of the
outlawed Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
8/7/02 A visiting American Muslim objected to the contents of a sermon in
a mosque near Faisalbad. He asked the cleric to confine himself to Islamic
teachings and not carry on about the United States. The cleric, Hafiz Abdul
Lateef responded by calling on a crowd to attack the American. Police dispersed
the crowd and arrested Lateef.
5/7/02 Haziz Ishfaq, a member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has been arrested on
his return from Afghanistan where he had been fighting alongside the Taleban.
He had been wanted for killing a high-ranking police-officer and a provincial
leader of the Shia Tehrik Jafriaq, and 12 Shia muslims in Punjab province.
13/7/02 Attacks on foreigners continue in Pakistan
Nine foreign tourists, mostly Germans and 3 Pakistanis were injured in a
bomb attack in the NW Frontier province. They were part of a tour that had left
Rawalpindi to retrace the old Silk Road to China. 17/7/02 Fourteen men
have appeared in court in the latter matter and charged with attempted murder
and possessing explosives.
There have been several attacks targeting foreigners in Pakistan recently, including
the June 14 blast outside the US consulate in Karachi, which killed 12
Pakistanis, and the May 8 car bomb near the Sheraton Hotel which killed 14
people, including 11 French engineers.
20/7/02 Blasphemy death sentence in Pakistan
Anwar Kenneth, a Pakistani
Christian confessed to writing hundreds of letters claiming to be a
reincarnation of Jesus Christ and so insulting Islam, for whom Jesus is a
Muslim prophet.
Bishop Samuel Azariah said he knew Anwar who should have been given medical
treatment.
Two weeks ago a Muslim man was stoned to death by hundreds of villagers after
being acquitted of blasphemy because he was mentally ill. And last month, a
former army officer sentenced to death for claiming to be a prophet was shot
dead in jail by an inmate while his appeal, was pending.
22/7/02 Rape and “honour killings” common in some parts of Pakistan.
A report from the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
said more than 150 women were sexually assaulted in the first 6 months of this
year in southern Punjab. Also there were about 40 “honour killings” by men who
allege the behavior of a woman brought dishonour to their family. Two years ago
General Musharraf said “killing in the name of honour is murder and will be
treated as such”.
Women's organizations have been incensed by the gang-rape of a woman ordered as
punishment by a local tribal council for what her brother was supposed to have
done. The government is trying the men responsible as terrorists.
July 2002 On his first visit to Bangladesh, Gen Pervez Musharraf
apologized for Pakistani atrocities against Bangladesh during the 1971 war of
independence.
July 2002 Hindus killed in Kashmir attacks.
13/7/02 The militant Islamic group, Lashkar-e-Toiba is held responsible for
a grenade and arms attack on a shanty town near Jammu, Indian Kashmir. Twenty
seven people, mainly women and children were killed and more than 30 injured
23/7/02 A teenage girl was killed and 18 others injured in a grenade
attack on a crowded market in Rajouri, Indian Kashmir.
30/7/02 A Hindu pilgrim and the taxi driver were killed and 3 other
passengers injured when a taxi on its way to the Amarnath shrine was attacked
with a grenade.
Palestine
31/7/02 Chances for peace in
Palestine improve as leading terrorists killed
Hamas and Islamic Jihad planners are
being targeted as those responsible for Palestinian and Israeli deaths alike.
One of the problems is that they use Palestinian non-combatants as human
shields and place their bomb factories in civilian areas.
23/7/02 The military leader of Hamas, Sheikh Salah Shahada was killed in
an Israeli air strike on Gaza. He had been blamed for many dozens of deaths.
Unfortunately civilians, including children, were killed in the raid.
1/7/02 Top bomb-maker of Hamas, Muhanad al-Taher (below)was shot dead
when Israeli special forces raided his hideaway in Nablus on Sunday. This
terrorist was responsible for the deaths of 117 Israelis.
9/7/02 One of the leading members of Islamic Jihad, Moammar Darghne, 30,
was killed in an ambush as he was driving his car near Jenin.
14/7/02 A Hamas bomb factory (above) at Qarara near Khan
Younis, southern Gaza Strip was destroyed by Israeli aircraft.
Suicide bombings by Palestinian terrorists have decreased as Israeli troops
search the West Bank house by house for them. A curfew is also helping reduce
the terror.
31/7/02 Five of the seven students killed in a bomb attack on the
cafeteria at Jerusalem's Hebrew University were foreigners, not Israelis it was
disclosed today
Russia
26/7/02 More than 30 Arab Islamists have been killed in
fighting in Chechnya in the past two weeks. It is estimated that more than 200
Arab terrorists still remain in Chechnya.
22/7/02 Yusuf Said Saoudai, an Algerian, was sentenced to 7 years in
prison for fighting for the Islamists in Chechnya. He had earlier claimed to be
a British national named John Benini from London but the British embassy was
unable to support his claim.
Algeria
5/7/02 A GIA (Armed Islamic Group) bomb killed 35 people in a
crowded market in Larba, 25 km S of Algiers. Two foreigners from Niger were
among the dead.
8/7/02 Two people were shot dead and 3 others seriously injured at a
false road-block in the Batna region.
8/7/02 Militants stabbed to death three brothers in the Annaba region.
The GIA is fighting the secular government with the aim of setting up an
Islamic state.
Iran
27/7/02 Iran jails
opposition members
Thirty-three officials and members of
the Freedom Movement have been given prison terms ranging from four months to
ten years. The movement was accused of conspiring to change the Islamic regime
after its leader, Ebrahim Yazdi (above left) returned from cancer treatment in
the United States. The revolutionary court also banned and dissolved the
movement.
8/7/02 Iran court puts ban on dancer.
Traditional dancer Mohammed Khordadian (above right) who has been living in
Los Angeles visited relatives in Iran. However he was prevented from leaving
and spent several months in prison. He has been put under country arrest and
forbidden from dancing again or attending weddings for three years. Dancing at
weddings is popular in Iran but banned by the Islamic establishment, involving
as it does the mixing of sexes.
Philippines
12/7/02 Bomb plot arrests
Agus Dwirkana, an
Indonesian has been sentenced to 17 years
jail for supplying a ton of explosives to the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah.
A second man, Filipino Hussain Ramos is to stand trial on the same charges.
Indonesian Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir (above) is being sought in
Indonesia for helping to lead the group. Jemaah Islamiah wants to establish an
Islamic state including parts of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Britain
13/7/02 Muslim militants hold UK
meeting
A London conference against
the US was told that President Bush should stand trial as a war criminal.
Yasser al-Sirri, who is facing extradition to the US for sending money to
terrorists in Afghanistan complained about the treatment of prisoners at
Guantanamo Bay. One of the five Britons held there is Feroz Abbasi, 22 (above
right)
Abu Hamza al-Masri (above left) who lost his hands and left eye fighting in
Afghanistan and now preaches at Finsbury Park mosque in London said that Allah
would soon provide victory for Islam. His funds were frozen by the US treasury
for membership in the Islamic Army of Aden, which claimed responsibility for bombing
the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000 during which 17 American sailors were
killed.
Organizers of the meeting included the militant group al-Muhajiroun which has
encouraged members to join armed struggle abroad.
America
5/7/02 Egyptian
limousine driver, Hesham Hadayet, 41, waited in line at the El Al (Israeli)
Airlines counter at Los Angeles International then whipped out a gun and killed
two innocent people there. When police went to his apartment in Irving,
California they found a notice pinned to his front door “Read the Qur'an”.
20/7/02 A Jordanian-born American of Chechen parents, Omar Shishani, 47,
had his name on a security list of people who had trained in Afghanistan. He was
detained at Detroit Airport when he arrived back carrying forged cheques worth
$12 million. It is not known how the cheques were to be used.
16/7/02 US attitude towards Kurdistan is sickening
“Wolfowitz praises Turkey as a model Muslim nation!” – Sick!
US foreign policy is completely opportunistic. It courts fascist countries
such as Turkey for the sake of its global aims. The United States fought for
its own independence from Britain, yet it denies the Kurds this same right. And
the Kurds are far worse off under Turkey than the Americans ever were under the
British. They are not even allowed to use their own language. To listen to
Kurdish they must tune into satellite broadcasts from France.
See Chomsky on Turkey.
Australia
13/7/02 Sydney Muslim gang-rape convictions
Eighteen young Lebanese Muslims who deliberately targeted 11 non-Muslim
teenage girls in a series of gang-rapes in August-September 2000 have been
convicted. The rapists appear to have had a strong religious and ethnic
motivation wanting to dominate the girls whom they called “Aussie pig” and
“Christian shit”. The young Muslims may have to be segregated from other
prisoners as, to date, two of them have been brutally assaulted by Aussie
crims.
13/7/02 According to RAWA, things are not much better even after the
Taliban's defeat. Book reviews