Prayer & remembering genocide

While we’re all eating Turkey today and watching the football games (I’m sure the Detroit Lions will get smoked), let’s remember the true importance of today, which is an American national vacation day.

Today is truly a holiday (holy-day) in the sense that it is the 9th day of Dhul-Hijjah, the Day of `Arafat, in which Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) said it is the best day of supplication.  Some commentators say that this day i symbolic of when Adam (AS) recognized (`a – ra – fa) Eve (AS) after their separation in paradise.  The first pilgrimage was in fact the pilgrimage of Adam (AS).

The Day of `Arafat is the day of recognizing our human worth (masculine and feminine characteristics) and the recognition of the equality of the human soul under G’d.

Which brings me to this day being a day of mourning for Native Americans.  As we Americans overeat and enjoy our families, most of us will get lost in the national myth of Thanksgiving.

The fact of the matter is that the settlers who were welcomed with hospitality by the Natives shortly after arrival committed genocide and ethnic cleansing on the original inhabitants.

The first “Day of Thanksgiving” declared by the MA Bay Colony governor was a celebration of the slaughter of 700 men, women, and children of the Pequot tribe in 1637 during their annual Green Corn Festival.  This initial massacre led the way for hundreds of massacres to come, Natives being subjugated (even made to be slaves for a period of time), and bamboozled through broken treaties primarily signed by Uncle Tom Natives who didn’t truly represent their people.

During this day of supplication, pray for the repair of the Native Americans and that we can tell history how it really is instead of re-telling myths.

Man who disappeared from Masjid Al-Haqq

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-26018-SE-Michigan-Islamic-Examiner~y2009m11d24-Please-help-the-Muslim-community-find-a-man-calling-himself-Jabril

Please help the Muslim community find a man calling himself Jabril

November 24, 9:41 PMSE Michigan Islamic ExaminerHeather Laird

Imam Luqman Abdullah and a man who called himself “Jabril”

On October 28, 2009, the FBI  raided a warehouse in Dearborn, Michigan. In the process of their operation, a man known as Imam Luqman Abullah was killed. He was shot no less than 18 times, maybe even more. He was handcuffed and left to die without medical attention.

There is much still unknown to this story. The FBI has been contacted  by a group of civil rights organizations, and asked to answer some questions to clear up inconsistencies, bring relief and to restore the community’s confidence in its institutions. Until now, this request has not been fulfilled.

There is another way in which the community may be able to help itself. If everyone could keep an open-eye for this missing man photographed in these pictures. It is believed by those who were closest to Imam Luqman Abdullah that this picture depicts a man who called himself “Jabril.”

Jabril was supposedly a businessman who employed men trying to re-enter society from prison for one-time jobs.  He did this for approximately two years, community members said. He became a trusted “friend” of the Imam’s for helping employ men who very much needed the work to stay out of unhealthy situations and prevent them from returning to a life that  would ruin all the progress they have made. Men who come out of prison often have great difficulty finding work upon re-entry.  It is alleged that this man on October 28, 2009, asked people to join him in moving some items from a warehouse. And because of his long-standing relationship with these men, they were brotherly in obliging him. Subsequently, when they arrived at the warehouse, they moved taped boxes of things they had no knowledge of the contents inside. They were after all helping a man who claimed to be their brother and a businessman, and who had in the past always seemed to be what he claimed to be. After finishing their task, of what they believed to be helping a brother move some stuff, they were placed under arrest. With one exception, all there that day were arrested. Imam Luqman Abdullah was killed.

The man in the photograph said his name was Jabril.  He is a Caucasian American. He disappeared after the raid, and no one has been able to find or locate him. It is believed that this man has valuable information and insight that could alleviate the sorrow and wonderment of an entire community.  He may have changed his looks, shaved his beard and dyed his hair. He may be assuming another identity. He was believed to be one of the last people to see and speak to Imam Luqman Abdullah before his demise. For the community to be able to speak with him would offer an opportunity for further insight and closure to the death of a beloved man of his community. Short of the FBI answering the request to provide further information, this is another way in which all our brothers and sisters, non-Muslim and Muslim alike can work together to bring the community to a better place.

If you have any information on this man’s whereabouts, please send an e-mail to this Examiner to forward. Together as a community we can work together to bring closure and relief to a neighborhood of concerned citizens in Detroit. Together as an interfaith community we can work together for a common good. Please distribute broadly, so that all may have an opportunity to gain insight into an incomplete understanding of circumstances.

Muslims who observe the Hajj are part of medical study

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091125/LIFESTYLE03/911250325/1041/LIFESTYLE04/Muslims-who-observe-the-Hajj-are-part-of-medical-study

Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News

Dearborn — Hundreds of Metro Detroiters are among an estimated 2.5 million Muslims in Mecca this week observing the Hajj, which officially begins today.

This year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) are conducting a study that looks at the health impact of the annual event on Hajj pilgrims since the outbreak of the H1N1 pandemic.

Four pilgrims to Mecca, the birthplace of Muhammad in Saudi Arabia, have died of the H1N1 flu virus.

Some 200 participants in the study were interviewed before they left for Mecca last week and will be interviewed upon return.

“The outcome of the feedback is going to be helpful to new (health and scientific) techniques to prevent infectious disease, said Dr. Adnan Hammad, senior director of the Community Health & Research Center for ACCESS.

The study will help doctors and epidemiologists track how illnesses and viruses spread, Hammad said.

The Hajj pilgrimage is among Muslim religious duties described in the Five Pillars of Islam.

During the Hajj, Muslims take part in the “tawaf,” which involves circling the cube-shaped Kaaba building seven times.

The annual religious observance brings Muslims in close contact as they begin the six-day observance with the “tawaf” in the center of the Grand Mosque.

Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan (CAIR), said the issue of remaining in good health during the lengthy pilgrimage to Mecca is a concern for family members and friends.

Community organizations like CAIR have encouraged pilgrims to take caution.

“I tell people to make sure they take hand sanitizers and to make sure they clean their hands continuously,” Walid said.

“It’s extremely hard not to become ill while making the pilgrimage,” Walid added.

“You have 2 (million to) 3 million people there with different hygiene practices and bacteria that are foreign to Americans. It’s virtually impossible not to come into contact with some sort of illness or virus.”

On Friday, Muslims will observe Eid Al-Adha, a holiday to mark the end of the Hajj.

Discussion on Neo-COINTELPRO

Imam Luqman Abdullah and mystery man who called himself "Jabril"

Attorney Ron Scott with the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality and the National Lawyers Guild spoke a couple of weeks ago at a townhall regarding the shooting of Imam Luqman Abdullah.

Scott brought some historical background on the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) of the 60’s as a primer for the audience.

 

Click here to watch.

Fundamentalist soldiers refuse demolition of illegal outposts

NPR ran a very interesting piece this morning regarding Israeli soldiers who are products of yeshivas (Jewish equivalent of Islamic madrassahs) that are disobeying orders to assist in the demolition of illegal outposts (settlements) in the occupied territories.

 

As I was listening to this story, the recent tragedy of Ft. Hood came to mind.  The differences in this story are obvious.  One, the soldiers did not shoot their fellow comrades because they had fundamental issues with the lawful orders, which they were given.  Second, service in the Israeli military is compulsory while service in the U.S. military is voluntary.

 

Nonetheless, these Israeli soldiers disobeyed lawful orders in the name of their religious beliefs.  In this case, they believe that illegal occupation is their religious duty to maintain.

 

Wonder why they are not being asked the question that Muslims are being asked of what comes first, their belief in the will of G’d according to their theology or their allegiance to the state?