Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Khilafah: The Need For Political Unity

المتضامنة ايفون ريدلي

غزة- مقابلة خاصة- معا- تفاجئك بأنها فلسطينية أكثر من الفلسطينيين أنفسهم، الأمر غير مرتبط بكون زوجها السابق فلسطيني الجنسية فتحاوي الهوى ولكنه مرتبط أكثر بما تعلمته عن الفلسطينييين ونضالهم وبما تركته كل من ليلى خالد وخلود المغربي والشيخ عبد الله عزام على نفسها التي ترفض الظلم في أي مكان بالعالم.

عندما اشهرت ايفون ريدلي الصحافية البريطانية إسلامها في اعقاب إطلاق سراحها من قبل حركة طالبان الأفغانية هاجمها الاعلام الغربي وصورها على أنها إرهابية رغم أنها أمضت معظم سني حياتها تعتنق الدين المسيحي وتزور الكنيسة مرتين شهرياً، ولكن القرآن الذي أحبته وقرأته باللغة الانجليزية للمترجم حسين علي وجدت انه يتضمن كل معاني التسامح والعدل والعطف والمحبة عدا عن المعاملة الحسنة التي تلقتها من قبل آسريها الطالبانيين لعشرة ايام كانت تظن انها الهدوء الذي يسبق العاصفة او اللطف الذي يسبق قتلها على يد آسريها.

هناك في طالبان قالت لهم:" اطلقوا سراحي وأعدكم أن أقرأ عن دينكم" وكان لها ما أرادت، قبل عملها بالصحافة كانت زوجة لداوود الزارور أحد رجالات حركة فتح، حاول أن يعلمها عن الاسلام فأوصدت الأبواب أمامه، حياتها الزوجية قربتها من نماذج فلسطينية نضالية كثيرة أمثال ليلى خالد التي ترى فيها بطلة مناضلة والشيخ عبد الله عزام وخلود المغربي تقول أنها كانت قبل ثلاثين عاماً مكلفة بقتل أحد رجال القنصلية الاسرائيلية في لندن ولكنها لم توفق.

ايفون ارتدت حجابها المرقط بألوان العلم الفلسطيني بعناية فائقة تقول عن طريقة وضعها الحجاب:" حاولت التعلم كثيرا على طريقة ارتدائه بعد ان اعتنقت الاسلام قبل خمس سنوات جربت طريقة العربيات بدول الخليج والمسلمات الافريقيات إلى أن توصلت لطريقة خاصة بشخصي كوني بريطانية لها بشرة بيضاء فحاولت ألا أكون ملفتة للأنظار".

وعن اسلامها تقول:" ارى بالاسلام منهج حياة كثيرا من المسلمين العلمانيين ينتقدون حجابي فأجد في ذلك أمراً مغضباً، اغضب وأشعر بالغيرة عندما تتنقد مسلمات حجابي".

ايفون لا تشجع العمليات الاستشهادية فهي ترى انها تصيب أبرياء فترفض قتل الابرياء من اي طرف، تضيف:" عندما أسلمت قالت لي شقيقتي انها توقعت اسلامي كونها تمكث بقرب جيران مسلمين في حين اعتقدت شقيقتي الثانية أنني قد اقوم بعملية تفجيرية في لندن بعد اسلامي".

وتؤكد ايفون على أن معظم البريطانيين يشعرون بالعار كون دولتهم بريطانيا العظمى مسئولة عن احتلال فلسطين، وأنهم يودون لو ان بريطانيا تقوم بما يغفر لها ذلك.

وعن تمثيل رئيس الوزراء البريطاني السابق طوني بلير مبعوث سلام للجنة الرباعية تقول:" هذه مأساة حقيقية فكيف يكون بلير مبعوث سلام ورأينا افعاله وتأيديه لأميركا باحتلال العراق" مضيفة:" هم يخادعوننا".

الصحافية البريطانية التي أسلمت تدعو لثورة عارمة بالشرق الأوسط لتطيح بالأنظمة العربية والحكام العرب ولتقيم دولة الخلافة الاسلامية لتكون القدس عاصمة الخلافة
.

أَلَا أُخْبِرُكُمْ بِخَيْرِ جُلَسَائِكُمْ ؟

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

نفائس الثمرات

أَلَا أُخْبِرُكُمْ بِخَيْرِ جُلَسَائِكُمْ ؟







حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ، ذَكَرَ الْفَضْلُ بْنُ سَهْلٍ، نا عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مُوسَى، أنا مُبَارَكُ بْنُ حَسَّانَ، عَنْ عَطَاءٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: " أَلَا أُخْبِرُكُمْ بِخَيْرِ جُلَسَائِكُمْ ؟ مَنْ ذَكَّرَكُمُ اللَّهَ رُؤْيَتُهُ، وَزَادَكُمْ فِي عِلْمِكُمْ مَنْطِقُهُ، وَذَكَّرَكُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَمَلُهُ "

كتاب الأولياء لابن أبي الدنيا

وَصَلِّ اللَّهُمَّ عَلَىْ سَيِّدِنا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىْ آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ
وَالسَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكاتُهُ

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

What kind of sick demented human being would want to have sex with a 10-year-old?

By Suki Falconberg

8/8/08

Miss Iraq 2008, Myra Adel, noticed one of my articles on the Iraqi sex trade and e-mailed me about what she had seen when she visited Syria, a country where Iraqi refugee women and girls, rendered desperate by the war, are being sold for prostitution.


I asked for her permission to use the information, since e-mail correspondence is private; and she urged me to share it with the world, in hopes we will all help. Before I do, though, a little background, from other sources, on what is happening. About 50,000 Iraqi refugee women and girls are being sold for sex. There is a large sex trade in young Iraqi girls in the nightclubs of Damascus. Fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds—literally girls–not even women yet, and even children, are being sold. (MSNBC, CBS, CNN, Reuters, the Associated Press, Salon Magazine, the UK Guardian, the Independent, the New York Times, the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, Human Rights Watch—all have covered the Iraqi prostitution situation due to the war. See “Sources” below for information and for some coverage of the prostitution picture inside Iraq as well.)

Myra Adel, Miss Iraq, adds a valuable eyewitness account and she also explains that her trip to Syria is the reason she is stepping down as Miss Iraq 2008: “They have been great to me but I will no longer be involved with the Pageant, due to the fact that I really couldn’t take it when I saw all those refugees in Syria being mistreated…seeing these people suffer made me ashamed….I don’t deserve to live in a classy apartment while other women are selling themselves.”

Miss Adel is shocked at what she saw in Syria, like the sale of ten-year-old girls. “What kind of sick demented human being would want to have sex with a 10-year-old?” she asks.

Ms. Adel also comments on the ineffectiveness of the UN High Commission for Refugees and on local corruption: “I couldn’t take it seeing the UNHCR just sitting there doing nothing, while governments like the Syrian government and the Jordanian government see this as an opportunity to manipulate the countries of the world to donate millions of dollars to Syria and Jordan and the money goes into the pockets of government officials and the U.N. staff.” She goes on to say that “the Syrian and Jordanian governments are taking advantage of the refugee situation to turn it into a profitable business.” And she thinks that greed and apathy on the part of Iraq and the U.S. are also responsible for the plight of the women. Of course, she could not be more on-target: the terrible sexual exploitation of women as a result of war is always extremely low on all governmental, political, and military agendas. It is important in so far as others can make money off the women’s bodies and use them for male convenience: but it is not an aspect of war where anyone pays attention to female safety, dignity, and well being at all.

It is interesting that Ms. Adel notes the failure of the UN in this matter since I have asked, in my own writings, where the UNHCR funds are going in Syria. The UN is extremely well funded. It would seem that not one single Iraqi teen should be for sale in a Damascus nightclub if all that money is going where it should be going. (For a good summary of the corruption problems at the UN, see Nile Gardiner’s article, “Kofi Annan’s ‘Legacy of Failure’” [11 Dec. 2006] at www.heritage.org). Someone to monitor the UN is one of Ms. Adel’s suggestions.

Ms. Adel also criticizes the current government in Iraq for not implementing social programs to help refugees. The Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (www.equalityiniraq.com), headed by Yanar Mohammed, is a good source for the hardships of women forced into prostitution within the country.

Ms. Adel admits she is not a politician (neither am I, for that matter); but she makes some sensible suggestions for getting help to these girls. She believes that “humanitarian organizations headed by governments that have a…corruption-free status should monitor the money being sent to the refugees and the money should be given to them instead of the Jordanian or Syrian government.” And she would like to see “more NGO’s from Scandinavian countries and other European countries set up offices in Amman and Damascus.” She also thinks that getting people to talk about this issue would be a big step.

She says that the “annual government budget in Iraq exceeds 70 billion US dollars. Where is that money going? Power cuts are long, people get electricity for only an hour or two a day…water is cut off as well.” She would like to see some of the money going to fund the Iraqi women and girls in Syria who are so desperate they must sell themselves to survive. Ms. Adel brings up a great question—to repeat it—where is the money in Iraq going? Is US and Iraqi corruption, combined, so overwhelming that a few are getting enormously rich and the majority of Iraqis are suffering terrible hardships, and in the case of the subject of this article, the women in prostitution, those hardships mean bodies and lives that will be nightmares forever from this degradation.

A story entitled “Iraq’s Oil Profits Huge” by Kevin Hall (McClatchy Newspapers) came out just a few days ago (Aug. 5, 2008), and it reports that “Iraq…racked up $32.9 billion in oil earnings from January through June of this year.” In my view, with those kinds of funds, the Iraqi government could extensively care for all of those 50,000 suffering women and girls whose bodies and lives have been so degraded. It could provide for that 10-year-old Iraqi girl prostitute for the rest of her life and give her the counseling and care and protection and safety she deserves.

In my view, the story of the 10-year-old Iraqi girl, forced to have sex for money, this is war. All the rhetoric of politicians and journalists cannot excuse what has happened to her. All the fancy phrases about a war being “A Right War” or “A Just War” have any meaning for her. Is the woman who must walk the streets of Baghdad and sell her body to feed her children in any way aware of the politicians, sitting in their neat offices, making the decisions that have destroyed her life? Would she consider this ‘a right war’ and ‘a just war’ and a war for her ‘freedom’? What do these men and women–who have endless debates, in their safe offices, about policy and weapons and troop reductions–have to do with her? The thing is: a woman never, ever thinks: what a great war this is—it has given me the ‘freedom’ to sell my body.

War never benefits women. Condi Rice, you are supposedly a woman. Explain to me how Operation Iraqi Freedom works? How does it benefit the 50,000 or more prostituted women and girls you have destroyed?

Miss Iraq mentioned to me that Trump is behind the Miss Universe pageants and that she thinks he might be a possible source of support. She says that “the Miss Iraq organizers are working on creating awareness and they are taking this matter very seriously.”

The most moving part of her e-mail was her description of a visit to prostituted Iraqi girls in a Syrian prison. “I spoke to some of them,” Ms. Adel writes, “and they said they would rather be in prison than have to go back out there and get abused by Saudi, Kuwaiti, and other Gulf States men who still hold grudges against Iraq and find pleasure in abusing Iraqi women to make them pay for Iraq’s war against these Gulf States in 1991.”

It is the same old story of men using women’s bodies as battlefields, and the women have no chance of victory in this kind of war.

“Please help these girls,” says Miss Iraq, in her e-mail. What came through in Ms. Adel’s e-mails to me is how deeply troubled she is by what she has seen. And her passionate commitment to help these women and girls.

I wrote to her that I think she should try to contact Oprah. Airing this topic on Oprah would be a big first step. It is definitely the kind of subject Oprah might cover and she is likely to find the views of Ms. Iraq on the subject timely and profoundly moving. Oprah has done similar shows–one on child prostitution in Asia–and it would certainly be of interest to her viewers to know what is happening in terms of wartime prostitution as a result of our occupation and the corruptions in the UN and in Jordan and Syria.

This writer would welcome suggestions from readers about what all of us can do to help.

I don’t usually append a formal works cited to my articles, since informal, in-text citation seems more the convention of the internet; but here I am adding a list of sources where readers can find information about the prostitution situation of Iraqi women and girls. If a first step is awareness, the information is out there. Once enlightened and informed, people have no excuse but to act—whether it be campaigns to enlighten millions of others, or pressure put upon organizations, politicians, and governments to act.

Sources FYI:

Anwar, Layla. “An Arab Woman Blues” 2006-2008. Blog.

http://www.arabwomanblues.blogspot.com

Caryl, Christian. “Iraqi Vice: Porn, Prostitution and Booze.” Newsweek 22 Dec. 2007

http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Clark-Flory, Tracy. “Iraqi Women Sell Sex for Survival.” Salon 29 May 2007

http://www.salon.com

Davis, Sue. “Sexual Exploitation of Iraqi Women: Another Reason to Bring the Troops Home.” Workers World. 8 Oct. 2007

http://www.workers.org/2007/world/women-1011

“Desperate Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in Syria.” New York Times 29 May 2007

http://www.nytimes.com.2007/05/29/world/middleeast/29syrai.html

Engle, Richard. “In Syria, Girls March as Timebomb Ticks.” 10 July 2007 MSNBC.

Firmo-Fontan, Victoria. “Abducted, Beaten and Sold into Prostitution: A Tale from Iraq.” Independent 26 July 2004

www.countercurrents.org/iraq-fontan260704.htm

Gardiner, Nile, Ph.D., “Kofi Annan’s ‘Legacy of Failure.’” The Heritage Foundation. 11 Dec. 2006

www.heritage.org

Goldenberg, Suzanne. “US Soldiers Accused of Sexual Assaults.” The Guardian 8 Mar. 2005

http://guardian.co.uk/world/2005/mar/08/iraq.suzannegoldenberg

“Iraqi Women: Prostituting Ourselves to Feed Our Children.” Arwa Damon. CNN 15 March 2008

http://edition.cnn/world.com

“Iraqi Refugee Women and Youth in Jordan.” Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children. Sept. 2007

http://www.womenscommission/projects/rh/ending_gbv.php

Jamail, Dahr, and Ali al-Fadhily. “Rape Case Emerges from Shadows.” 3 Mar. 2007

http://www.countercurrents.org/iraq-jamail030307.htm

“Iraqi Women Paying the Price.” 24 Jan. 2005

www.dahrjamailiraq.com

“Johns, Prostitution and Iraq.” Apostate. 28 Aug 2007

http://aspotate.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/john-porsitution-and-iraq/

Lloyd, Carol. “Survival Sex in Iraq.” Salon 7 Dec. 2007

www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2007/07/12/survival_sex/print.html

Lyons, Alistair. “Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in Syria.” Reuters 31 Dec. 2007

http://www.countercurrents.org/lyons311207.htm

Macleod, Hugh. “Despair of Baghdad Turns into a Life of Shame in Damascus: Young Women Fleeing War and Poverty Fall Prey to Sex Traffickers.” The Guardian 24 Oct. 2006

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/oct/24/syria.iraq

McNutt, Debra. “Is the Iraq Occupation Enabling Prostitution?” Psyche, Science, and Society. 11 July 2007

http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org

Morgan, Robin. “Their Bodies as Weapons” Guardian UK 21 Aug. 2006

www.commondreams.org

Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq

www.equalityiniraq.com

Palmer, Elizabeth. “Iraqi Refugees Turn to Prostitution.” CBS News 31 Dec. 2007

http://wwwcbsnews.com

Phillips, Joshua E.S. “Unveiling Iraq’s Teenage Prostitutes.” Salon 24 June 2005

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature.2006/06/24/prostitutes

“The Rape of Iraq.” Women’s Space 8 July 2008

http://womensspace.wordpress.com

Riverbend. Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq. New York: The Feminist Press at the City U of New York, 2005.

Rosen, Ruth. “The Hidden War on Women in Iraq.” Mother Jones 13 July 2006

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2006/07/war_women.html

Ross, Sherwood. “Rape of Iraqi Women Byproduct of Militarism.” OpEd News 10 Apr 2007

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_sherwood_070410_rape_of_Iraqi_women.htm

Sarhan, Afif. “In Iraq, Sex is Traded for Survival.” Arab American News

www.arabamericannews.com

“Sex Traffickers Target Women in War-Torn Iraq.” Organization of Women’s Freedom 1 Nov. 2006

http://www.scapa.lv.org

“Sexual Violence and Abduction of Women and Girls—Iraq.” Human Rights Watch 2003

www.hrw.org

Sinan, Omar. “Iraqi Refugees Turn to Prostitution.” Associated Press 25 Oct. 2007

http://www.countercurrents.org/sinan251007.htm

Wolf, Joerg. “Prostitution in Iraq.” Atlantic Review 26 Aug. 2007

http://atlanticreview.org/archives/803Prostitutition-in-Iraq.html

“Women, Children and Youth in the Iraq Crisis: A Fact Sheet.” Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children Jan 2008

http://www.womenscommission.org

Suki Falconberg is a former prostitute and the author of two novels: Tender Bodies and Whore Stories and its sequel, Comfort the Comfort Women. Both are erotic satires on military prostitution and can be ordered at www.amazon.com, www.barnes&noble.com, and www.borders.com. She has a non-fiction account of military prostitution, The Raped Vagina, coming out in the fall of 2008.

أساسُ الخيرِ الإيمانُ بما شاءه تعالى

أساسُ الخيرِ الإيمانُ بما شاءه تعالى







أساس كل خير أن تعلم أن ما شاء الله كان وما لم يشأ لم يكن، فتتيقن حينئذ أن الحسنات من نعمه فتشكره عليها‏.‏ وتتضرع إليه ألا يقطعان عنك، وأن السيئات من خذلانه وعقوبته، فنبتهل إليه أن يحول بينك وبينها، ولا يكلك في فعل الحسنات وترك السيئات إلى نفسك‏.‏
وقد أجمع العارفون على أن كل خير فأصله بتوفيق الله للعبد‏.‏ وكل شر فأصله خذلانه لعبده‏.‏ وأجمعوا أن التوفيق ألا يكلك الله نفسك وأن الخذلان هو أن يخلي بينك وبين نفسك‏.‏ فإذا كان كل خير فأصله التوفيق وهو بيد العبد فمفتاحه الدعاء والافتقار وصدق اللجئ والرغبة والرهبة إليه، فمتى أعطي العبد هذا المفتاح فقد أراد أن يفتح له، ومتى أضله عن المفتاح بقي باب الخير مُرْتَجًا دونه‏.‏
قال أمير المؤمنين عمر بن الخطاب‏:‏ إني لا أحمل هم الإجابة ولكن هم الدعاء فإن الإجابة معه‏.‏ وعلى قدر نية العبد وهمته ومراده ورغبته في ذلك يكون توفيقه سبحانه وإعانته، فالمعونة من الله تنزل على العباد على قدرهم وثباتهم ورغبتهم ورهبتهم، والخذلان ينزل عليهم على حسب ذلك، فالله سبحانه أحكم الحاكمين وأعلم العالمين، يضع التوفيق في مواضعه اللائقة به والخذلان في مواضعه اللائقة به، وهو العليم الحكيم‏.‏
وما أتي من أتي إلا من قِبَل إضاعة الشكر وإهمال الافتقار والدعاء، ولا ظفر من ظفر بمشيئة الله وعونه إلا بقيامه بالشكر وصدق الافتقار والدعاء‏.‏
وملاك ذلك الصبر فإنه من الإيمان بمنزله الرأس من الجسد، فإذا قطع الرأس فلا بقاء لجسد‏.‏
كتاب الفوائد لابن القيم

وَصَلِّ اللَّهُمَّ عَلَىْ سَيِّدِنا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىْ آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ
وَالسَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكاتُهُ

Monday, August 11, 2008

شعبان بوابة رمضان

شعبان بوابة رمضان
سامح طه قنديل






أرضُ الفطرةِ رحبةٌ قابلةٌ لما يُغرسُ فيها

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

نفائس الثمرات

أرضُ الفطرةِ رحبةٌ قابلةٌ لما يُغرسُ فيها








أرض الفطرة رحبة قابلة لما يغرس فيها، فإن غرست شجرة الإيمان والتقوى أورثت حلاوة الأبدان، وإن غرست شجرة الجهل والهوى فكل الثمر مر‏.‏

ارجع إلى الله واطلبه من عينك وسمعك وقلبك ولسانك، ولا تشرد عنه من هذه الأربعة فما رجع من رجع إليه بتوفيقه إلا منها، وما شرد من شرد عنه بخذلانه إلا منها، فالموفق يسمع ويبصر ويتكلم ويبطش بمولاه، والمخذول يصدر ذلك عنه بنفسه وهواه‏.‏


مثال تولد الطاعة ونموها وتزايدها كمثل نواة غرستها فصارت شجرة ثم أثمرت فأكلت ثمرها وغرست نواها فكلما أثمر منها شيء جنيت ثمره وغرست نواه، وكذلك تداعي المعاصي، فليتدبر اللبيب هذا المثال‏:‏ فمن ثواب الحسنة الحسنة بعدها، ومن عقوبة السيئة السيئة بعدها‏.‏

ليس العجب من مملوك يتذلل لله ويتعبد له ولا يمل من خدمته مع حاجته وفقره إليه، إنما العجب من مالك يتحبب إلى مملوك بصنوف إنعامه ويتودد إليه بأنواع إحسانه مع غناه عنه‏.

كتاب الفوائد لابن القيم

وَصَلِّ اللَّهُمَّ عَلَىْ سَيِّدِنا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىْ آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ
وَالسَّلامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكاتُهُ

Friday, August 1, 2008

VIDEO: Hizb ut-Tahrir women's demonstration, Hebron

On 27 July 2008 the Palestinian Authority banned a conference organised by the women of Hizb ut Tahrir in Hebron. However the women remained undeterred and rallied on the street.