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UK Election 2010 - To Vote or Not to Vote

As the general election approaches in the UK, so does the debate on the issue of voting amongst the Muslim community, which primarily revolves around the question of - is it haram (unlawful under Islamic law) or halal (permitted) to vote? The opinion is largely divided into two opposing camps of, for and against voting. In Islamic law, different opinions (Ikhtilaf) can exist on a particular issue; this is inevitable when the textual evidences are not precise on the matter. Each faction will argue in favour of their adopted opinion as the strongest, and view other opinions as weak, rather than invalid.

Therefore, on this issue voting, do the opposing factions accept there is legitimate difference of opinion? The pro-voting camp in general tends to accept there is a legitimate difference of opinion, whereas the anti-voting factions do not, they consider the prohibition as categorical. Groups like Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HT) are particularly vocal on promoting this viewpoint in the UK and in other Western countries where there is a significant Muslim population.

This seem strange given that HT has already stated their sole objective is to establish the Caliphate in the Muslim world; therefore, it is difficult to see the connection between voting in the UK election, and their sacred ‘method’ of bringing about change in the distant Muslim countries. Why meddle in the internal politics of UK, if the country is outside your radar?

For Jerusalem: Answer to Elie Wiesel

Dear Mr Wiesel,

Your impassionate For Jerusalem plea in that bible of corporate America, The Wall Street Journal, prompts me to address you. A man of your awesome moral fame – a ‘messenger to mankind’, as the Nobel Prize people termed you – demands proper attention. For that reason, however, the message you bear calls for scrutiny, lest, God forbid, should the bearer himself incur moral censure.

‘For me, the Jew that I am, Jerusalem is above politics’, you declare. As an Anglican priest, a messenger of peace, I could not agree more. But you add that Jerusalem ‘belongs to the Jewish people’. Astonishing. Because that is an exquisitely political statement. To belong to means to be the property of someone. Jerusalem belongs to, is the property of the state of Israel, you therefore must mean – unless some occult, cabbalistic meaning is intended. How can you then say that Jerusalem is above politics? You are contradicting yourself, methinks. Being illogical is not being unethical, no. Just a little intellectually inconsistent. Join the club – but, from a messenger to mankind I would expect a tad more rigour.

Suicide Bombings - Jihad or Terrorism?

UK based writer and political commentator Yamin Zakaria has written a new book entitled Suicide Bombings - Jihad or Terrorism?

cover

The book's promotional blurb reads:

"The primary aim of this book is designed to provoke thought on the subject which is obscured by the propaganda of conflict. It is divided into two parts. The first part analyses the various political arguments around the issue of suicide bombings, and examines corollary subject of terrorism and Jihad. In the second part, it examines the Islamic text with a view to establishing the legality of using suicide bombing as a weapon of conflict. It has been written in a manner that is aimed at Muslims and non-Muslims who are unfamiliar with the mechanism of deriving Islamic opinions. This section makes the book unique. Elaboration in this area has been lacking, the existing material is barely inadequate for Muslims let alone non-Muslims."

Below is an excerpt from Chapter 11

Terrorist or militia member, where is the line?

So let's take a moment and compare Jose Padilla, America's once-notorious "dirty bomber," to David Brian Stone, the "Hutaree" leader now residing in a Michigan jail. Padilla first. He's an American citizen who converted to fundamentalist Islam in his 20s. He's been widely described here in the U.S. as an "Islamic terrorist." The former attorney general himself, John Ashcroft, announced Padilla's arrest in 2002: "We have captured a known terrorist who was exploring a plan to build and explode a radiological dispersion device, or 'dirty bomb,' in the United States," Ashcroft told the nation.

The media went nuts, especially the cable networks. WAR ON TERROR banners crawled across every news alert. Despite his citizenship — he was born in Brooklyn and raised in Chicago — Padilla was designated an "illegal enemy combatant" and held without trial for three and a half years in a military prison, where he says he was tortured.

Tel Aviv's indifference: ‘Let them hate us’

Israel’s belligerent indifference to international opinion is testing the patience of even its staunchest allies, writes Geoffrey Wheatcroft.

Quite unchastened by a meeting with Barack Obama, which had been more tense than any between leaders of their countries for a long time, Benjamin Netanyahu returned to Israel on March 25 to say more of what he’d said before. The previous weeks might have witnessed the sharpest crisis in Israeli-American relations for many years, but the prime minister seemed not to mind, and nor did his ardent supporters, rather the opposite.

American 'soldiers' (Terrorists) Killing Unarmed Civilians

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Unlike the mythical WMDs of Iraq, this is real terrorism by criminals.

So, can we see Dr. Tahir Qadri jump into action in his fatwa suit and say something now? Unlikely, he will wait until there is some kind of respones, and then he will open his fatwa notebook condmening and condemning.

John Pilger: Have A Nice World War, Folks

Here is news of the Third World War. The United States has invaded Africa. US troops have entered Somalia, extending their war front from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen and now the Horn of Africa. In preparation for an attack on Iran, American missiles have been placed in four Persian Gulf states, and “bunker-buster” bombs are said to be arriving at the US base on the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

In Gaza, the sick and abandoned population, mostly children, is being entombed behind underground American-supplied walls in order to reinforce a criminal siege. In Latin America, the Obama administration has secured seven bases in Colombia, from which to wage a war of attrition against the popular democracies in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay. Meanwhile, the secretary of “defence” Robert Gates complains that “the general [European] public and the political class” are so opposed to war they are an “impediment” to peace. Remember this is the month of the March Hare