In response to the FBI admission that disappeared Aafia Siddiqui is in custody in Afghanistan, alive but injured, Asim Qureshi, Senior Researcher for Cageprisoners, issued the following statement:

There are many questions that the FBI and the Pakistani government need to answer in light of this admission. Where is Aafia currently held, and in whose custody? Where are her children? How has she been injured and does she have sufficient access to medical care? Why has she never been charged with any crime, and why have the FBI continued to pretend to be seeking her while all the while knowing of her detention in Afghanistan? Is Aafia indeed Prisoner 650 whose screams was heard by former Bagram prisoners?
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I am currently attending the alMaghrib ‘Ilm Summit in Texas Houston and would like to share some of what I have benefited from. Everyday we have 15mins on Adab (Manners) and today Shaikh Yasir Birjis spoke about the importance of good company for the student of knowledge. He said that their are three types of friends:-

1) Companions of convenience - one may meet, greet, and spend time with them when its suits one another but when the convenience of the meeting subsides, so too does the friendship. This relationship is quite selfish in nature as it is based of personal benefit alone so both parties only want to be around each other for a need they have- which is usually only worldly. Generally speaking the student of knowledge will automatically marginalize such friends as his social circles are of a different nature.
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How great is He who created us all, and made inherent within us our weakness, our fragile natures, our emotional lability, our forgetfulness. How great is He who made us like this and despite this is so Merciful to us that He provides us with trials and tests as opportunities for us to try and sift out the evil effects of these traits that we, some more than others, use to indulge ourselves in this life so deeply. So deeply that any human being who has the audacity to take another man as an object of worship is truly seen as an irrational ignoramus by anyone with an atom’s weight of eman in his Lord and Creator.

SubhanAllah. Far exalted is He above that place we consign Him to. That place in many of our hearts, regrettably, which arrogantly considers itself noble just because we care to think of Him when it is convenient for us.
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The recent report by the Center for Social Cohesion is kicking off quite a storm. “Islam on Campus” stands in a line of recent reports that seek to vilify the Muslim population of Britain and place the problem of terrorism almost singularly at their door. But Muslims are giving as good as they get and refusing to be on the back foot. This, then, is the real problem for the vested interests amongst right wing think tanks like CSC and Policy Exchange. Students will not be cowered, and Muslim students are no different as the quick response on the part of FOSIS, other Islamic Societies, and the NUS, whose support is immensely appreciated, shows.

Robed in the appearance of academic objectivity, the report is nothing short of scaremongering. For example, in a list of individuals convicted under Anti-terror laws they mention the case of Anthony Garcia, who is said to have been radicalised after watching a video showing the atrocities committed in Kashmir, allegedly at an Islamic Society (ISOC) meeting. For a paper that wishes to carry out in depth analysis and provide a well-grounded case, such a flimsy point is left without comment. What does an “Islamic Society meeting” mean? No Islamic Society shows videos in its meetings, which are normally always about issues related to services and improvements. If this were an ISOC event, then it would presumably be open and advertised, and if it was a private viewing, then how does this make the Islamic Society culpable?

Instead, the report, like the majority of articles that followed its release, is deeply flawed in its logic. Take for example the list CSC produced to show that ‘in some cases, those behind [terrorist] attacks were also active in their universities’ Islamic Societies’. Firstly there is little contextualisation of what “active” here means. Were they members of the elected committee? Were they helpers? Were they attendees of ISOC events? And even if this was clear, the reasoning followed here seems to be what the American Philosopher Charles Pierce has called abductive reasoning. This works by saying: that:

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I’m sitting in De Santis, a small stylish coffee shop opposite the gallery. The owner (I find out later) has been kind enough to give me a coffee on the house as I was short of change and their minimum cost for card payments is ₤10. I am not, I must confess, in the habit of garnering freebies from people I hardly know, but something compels me to write this review now, almost as if the emotions and the thoughts will suddenly vanish as I board the underground and travel homewards. As if the feelings – right now so intense – will evaporate as the mundane everyday world around me corrodes them and pulls me in once more to the robotic monotony of “normality”. Read the rest of this entry »

I was quite fortunate to attend part of the first maqra’ah whereby al lu’lu wal marjaan was recited, which was quite an experience. However, this time round, I was able to attend the whole reading whereby we read ‘Umdatul Ahkaam in entirety. We started about 10:45am (the start time was meant to be 10am) after waiting for those who had to come from many hundreds of miles away and we ended up finishing around 7.30pm on the same day, taking breaks for dhur and ‘asr.
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Here are just some observations about Channel 4’s Dispatches two weeks ago (“In God’s Name”), featuring a group of fundamentalist Christians, and how it compared to their “Undercover mosques” episode a year ago, which centred on the Muslim community.
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Britain has been overcome by an infestation,

Islamists have infected our once peaceful nation,

The Government is desperate for a counter to this invasion,

The Quilliam Foundation, our hope for salvation?

This extra terrestrial race came from outer space,

They abduct our children and assimilate,

Who will save us from this colonisation?

The Quilliam Foundation, our hope for salvation?

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Controversial Bishop of Rochester Dr Michael Nazir-Ali said the Church lost its influence during the swinging 60s.

The sexual and social revolution led to the destruction of the family – particularly the father’s role – increased alcohol abuse and mindless violence, he said.

And it left a “moral vacuum” into which Muslim extremists can move.

Dr Nazir-Ali added: “The resources to tackle this ideological battle are hardly adequate.”
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Just for today…..think……

Muslim’s aren’t made…. they are in the making.

Allah mightily uses Muslims who stay cool in a hot place, sweet in a sour place and little in a big place.

People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be, not what you nag them to be.
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