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NewsuslimuslimMMEmail : drhkoya@hotmail.com

PH.: 510-677-4488 MAY, 2010 VOLUME-01 ISSUE-01

IINNSSIIDD

EE PAGE- 11No,that’s notwhat hemeant !

PAGE-14 IslamicArt Exhibitat IslamicCulturalCenter ...

More Asians take to training for Obama’s Oganizing for America

Ground breaking ceremony of new mosque corner of Tully Rd and Ruby Dr. San Jose

The visiting Mufti likened amosque to the powerhousewhere Muslims get together 5times a day to get the lightfrom Allah. He said building ofa mosque serves its true pur-pose if built on Taqwa (righ-teousness). If built for anyother reason then it is a“masjide darrar”

Above the Musti waits leaning on a spade as a fellow Imam recites Quran before the ground-breaking by the Mufti sahib. Earlier an Imam announced that Mufti sahib did not like pictures taken. He hesitated first thenmoved in to do the honors. The new would mosque solve current parking problem faced by the community at the San Jose downtown mosque. The new property will provide a learning center, a mosque anad hallsfor various social activities. Members are donating generously to see a mosque within 18 months, the chapter president explained. The ceremony attracted close to 100 people on a hot Saturday afternoon Feb 18.

O people!Muhammed is notthe father of any ofyour men, but he isthe messenger of Allah, And the sealof the Prophets: AndAllah has full knowl-edge of all things.

- Al Qur'an Surah 33Al Ahzab verse 40

( Abdullah Yousuf Ali )

PAGE- 11Koran in Moari

By Pakistani Muslim

In FocusSyed Rifat Mahmood

NEWARK, CA – In an effort to boostan early start for the 2010 elections,Obama’s national training team isaggressively emgaging grassrootsvolunteers as team managers andleaders to get everyone to get outand cast their votes for a betterAmerica. Team leader Ms ShobanaMoorthy (seated left front row) andher team of orgnizers conducted aleaderhsip training on April 24 hereand appointed four committees tocommence work at city level. FijiSun edited opted to help organize ateam in the City of Hayward. TheOFA – Ogranizing for America teamvows not to leave any stoneunturned to reach out to everyone toget out and vote. They are stronglyplanned to use the strategy thye usein Nevda which led to voctory andmobilize volunteers to double theirefforts. “There’s no room for com-plecancy”, one of leader insisted.

Fiji Hindu pritests appointed Commision to probe the disappointing Diwali Article in Rocky Ali Buksh’s Fiji newsapa-

per plans to take serious legal action. (See report page 4)

Amjad Sabri thrills Indian Pakistani crowd at Indian Culture Center. See Page 8

H. Koya (PhD)Editor/Publisher

The

News

Serving on theNCIC Board

Iam honored and indeed humbled by an invi-tation accorded me by Imam Bilal the currentchair to serve no his Board of Northern

California Islamic Council.I am motivated by the overall mission andobjectives of NCIC that seeks to serve andcoordinate the efforts and resources of ALLMuslim organizations and businesses inNorthern California by no means a small task.In accepting the invitation, I thought it is serviceto our Deen and service to humanity and I feltthat I am able to make some significant contri-bution to help NCICachieves its primary goalkeeping in mind ImamBilal’s call for some newblood as some of thefounding membersmoved out of stateNCIC, I though was cre-ated with good intentionand for a noble courseand as such it needs tobe kept alive boththrough an active Boardas well as effecting pro-grams that would benefitall Muslims of NorthernCalifornia.I have been appointedchair of the Educationand Science committeeof the NCIC Board andas a first step I obtainedapproval of the Boardand successfully moderated the first NCICBoard Training. It was agreed that we need toput our own house in order before we couldoffer services to fix things for others.Managing a non-profit, I impressed uponeveryone as the NCIC Board Training lastmonth, is no different from operating a busi-ness enterprise. In both situations, one man-agers people and resources to achieve theorganization goals using the same manage-ment principles.With the first Board Training accomplished, Ihope and pray Inshah Allah we will all work as aformidable team to set up accomplish NCICgoals for 2010 and beyond.

PO Box 265, Mt. Eden, CA 94557PH 510-677-4488 FAX 510-781-4884

Email: drhkoya@hotmail.com

With the firstBoard Trainingaccomplished,I hope andpray InshahAllah we willall work as aformidableteam to set upaccomplishNCIC goals for2010 andbeyond.

San Jose City Officials observe Eidat Baitul Basir Mosque-Milpitas

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NewsEEDDIITTOORRIIAALL && OOPPIINNIIOONN0022 MAY, 2010

For past several years, local Muslim com-munity leaders have beenstriving to establish a council to promote

coordination and cooperation amongmosques and Muslim non-profit organizations through collective consul-tation. The Northern California Muslim com-munity achieved a milestone on Dec 8, 2007with the formal launch of the NorthernCalifornia Islamic Council (NCIC). The inau-guration event was attended by 250 directors,Imams and members of Masajid and Muslimnon-profits across California. Shura is anArabic word for consultation which is rootedin the central idea that people are equal intheir rights and responsibilities. NorthernCalifornia Islamic Council is a peer-to-peernetwork of advice and support for Muslimnon-profits with an aim to provide a unitedMuslim voice to the community at large. Wehope that the non-binding consultationamong Muslim non-profit organizations willhelp build trust and confidence in the light ofQur’’anic verse, “?those who conduct theiraffairs by counsel” (43:38) The primary goalsand objectives of the council are to:

? Promote collaboration and coopera-tion among Muslim non-profits

? Help build consensus on issues ofcommon interests and concerns

? Improve leadership communicationand management skills

? Strengthen communities througheducation, empowerment and mobiliza-tion

The Mosques and Muslim organizationsin Northern California serve more than half a

million Muslims and Northern CaliforniaIslamic Council aspires to leverage the col-lective wisdom of a truly representative bodywith clergy and lay leaders from a verydiverse Muslim community.

Such a successful model already exists inthe Shura Council of Southern California forover a decade Council to NOT interfere ininternal affairs of Muslim non-profits, nor tooffer conflicting or parallel programs and ser-vices

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NewsMMIIDDDDLLEE EEAASSTT NNEEWWSS06 MAY, 2010

UNITED NATIONS: The UnitedStates introduced a resolutionbacked by all veto-wielding mem-bers of the UN Security Council thatwould impose new sanctionsagainst Iran's powerfulRevolutionary Guard and seek tocurtail military, financial and ship-ping activities linked to its suspectnuclear program.US Ambassador Susan Rice said

the resolution would give "greaterteeth" to existing sanctions and add"strong" new measures to intensifypressure on the Iranian governmentto resolve concerns that its nuclearprogram is peaceful and not aimedat producing nuclear weapons.Russia and China, which have

close ties to Iran, joined fellow per-manent council members Britain,France and the United States aswell as non-member Germany insupporting the sanctions proposal,ignoring a deal that Tehran agreedto a day earlier to try to stave off thepenalties.Rice said the pursuit of new

sanctions has nothing to do with aproposed swap of nuclear materialfor Tehran's research reactor thatIran agreed to on Monday withBrazil and Turkey. She said the pro-posed resolution is targeting theIslamic Republic's refusal to sus-pend its uranium enrichment pro-gram and its plans to build 10 newnuclear facilities. The draft resolu-

tion would target a range of activi-ties related to Iran's nuclear pro-gram including the RevolutionaryGuard, which controls companiesand organizations that have links toweapons proliferation, a senior USofficial said, speaking on conditionof anonymity because the resolutionhas not been released publicly.These companies and individualswould be added to a list of thosesubject to an asset freeze and trav-el ban which is still being compiled.The draft would also ban Iranian

investment in sensitive nuclearactivities abroad such as uraniummining, prohibit the sale of eight cat-egories of heavy weapons to theIslamic Republic including attack

helicopters, warships and missiles,and ban Iran from undertaking anyactivity related to ballistic missilescapable of carrying nuclearweapons, the official said.The last sanctions resolution,

adopted in March 2008, authorizedinspection of cargo suspected ofcontaining banned items on planesand ships owned or operated byIran Air Cargo and Islamic Republicof Iran Shipping Line. The US officialsaid the new proposal would call onstates to cooperate in inspections —which must receive the consent ofthe ship's flag state — and ban ser-vices to Iranian owned or contractedvessels suspected of carrying pro-hibited cargo.

Saudi forces rescuetwo German girlsheld in Yemen

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's securityforces have rescued two youngGerman girls held hostage for nearlya year in neighboring Yemen, Riyadhsaid, but a family spokesman saidtheir toddler brother was likely dead.The girls, reported to be between 3and 6 years old, were members of aGerman family of five who havebeen held by kidnappers the Yemenigovernment believes have links toAl-Qaeda. The pair were said to bein a good condition. "Saudi Arabiahas retrieved two German childrenkidnapped in Yemen," a Saudi interi-or ministry spokesman said. "Thetwo children were in a border areabetween the two countries."

Kingdom committed tofighting corruption’RIYADH: A Saudi delegation has reit-

erated its commitment to fighting corrup-tion at a United Nations meeting on crimeprevention in Vienna. Head of the delega-tion Abdullah Fakhri Al-Ansari, who is alsoacting director of the interior ministry’slegal affairs and international cooperationdepartment, claimed the Kingdom is takingaction against those involved in corruptpractices and is also working with othercountries to tackle such crimes. He wasspeaking at the 19th session of the UNCommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice,which runs until Friday. Al-Ansari addedthe Kingdom has signed a declaration tocombat corruption as well as the UNConvention against TransnationalOrganized Crime.

Thousands ofoffenders held inMakkah Province

JEDDAH: Passport Department offi-cials in Makkah Province arrested 24,387people for employing, sheltering or supply-ing runaway maids this year, according to asenior official from the organization. Thearrested also included forgers of residencepermits. Brig. Misfar Al-Talaily, director forpatrols at the department in MakkahProvince, said the operations were con-ducted in collaboration with the police. “Aremarkable achievement of our patrols inApril was the arrest of an Asian expatriatewho bought stolen passports and iqamasand used the details to forge other pass-ports and residence documents fromscratch so he could sell them on,” he said.

RIYADH: The Council of Ministersis to sign accords with the Philippinesand Poland to avoid cases of doubletaxation and crack down on tax eva-sion, Culture and Information MinisterAbdul Aziz Khoja said.Cabinet meeting, chaired by

Custodian of the Two Holy MosquesKing Abdullah, also approved a mem-orandum of understanding with Brazilthat enables political consultationsbetween the two countries’ foreignministries.Khoja said the Cabinet adopted a

resolution urging owners ofuntouched land to connect it to thepublic sewage network when theydecide to develop it. The Ministry of

Municipal and Rural Affairs was alsoinstructed to set out rules and regula-tions for identifying lands that areunder small ownership within threemonths. Earlier, King Abdullah briefedministers on the outcome of his talkswith Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)leaders during the half-yearly consul-tative summit in Riyadh, as well as hismeetings with former British premierand Quartet Middle East envoy TonyBlair and Luxembourg’s crown princePrince Guillaume. The Cabinetexpressed its admiration forUNESCO after it hosted the KingAbdullah Prize for Translation’s prizedistribution ceremony and said itreflected the award’s global recogni-

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah holds talks with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is Quartet envoy for the

Middle East, at the king's palace in Riyadh.

SAFWAN, Iraq: Kuwait returned to Iraq on Monday the remainsof 55 Iraqi soldiers killed in the Gulf War in 1991, a month after theywere found in a mass grave. Iraqi troops shouldered the remains incoffins draped with Iraqi flags during a ceremony in the town ofSafwan along the border in a sign of cooperation between neighborsthat have had a testy relationship since Saddam Hussein's armyinvaded Kuwait nearly two decades ago. Mahdi Al-Temimi, an officialin Iraq's Human Rights Ministry, said the remains were found togeth-er in a grave in the Mutlaa area in northern Kuwait and 12 of the 55had been identified. "The rest are still unknown and we hope that wewill identify them by using DNA tests and tissue analysis," Temimisaid. "This is the fifth time we have received remains of Iraqi soldiersfrom Kuwait and we have received more than 100 so far." A Kuwaitiembassy official said Iraq had handed over the remains of 280Kuwaitis killed during the Gulf War. More than 360 Kuwaitis and oth-ers who lived in Kuwait when Iraq invaded are still unaccounted for.

West Bank: Noam Chomsky, aleading Jewish-American intellectu-al who is highly critical of Israel'spolicies toward the Palestiniansdelivered a lecture to Palestinianstudents by video link from Jordan. Around 100 students packed

into a room at Bir Zeit Universitynear the West Bank city ofRamallah to watch the lecture,delivered by live-link from theJordanian capital, Amman.Chomsky, 82, told Reuters in a

phone conversation from theJordanian capital, Amman, he hadtraveled to the Allenby Bridgecrossing on the Jordan River whereIsraeli immigration officials refusedto allow him across. "They appar-

ently didn't like the fact that I wasdue to lecture at a Palestinian uni-versity and not in Israel," Chomskysaid. After hours of questioning byborder officials, Chomsky's pass-port was stamped with "Denied

Entry" and he was sent away.Israel's interior ministry insisted

the incident was a "misunderstand-ing" and said the 81-year-old pro-fessor had not been blacklisted,while a senior government sourcedescribed the situation as "a totalcock-up.” Although Israeli officialsinsisted he would be permitted tocross the border, Chomsky discov-ered on Monday there was no "offi-cial" guarantee he would beallowed in, so he decided to givethe lecture by video link, theHaaretz daily reported.Speaking to the paper about his

lengthy interrogation at the border,Chomsky said he was told: "Israeldoes not like what you say."

US academic Noam Chomsky speaksat Jordan's University in Amman

UN powers back new sanctions against Iran

FALLEN COMRADES: Iraqi soldier prepare to carry coffins bearing the remainsof their comrades who were killed during the 1991 Gulf War at Safwan bordercrossing near Basra, 420 km southeast of Baghdad. Iraq on Monday held anofficial ceremony for receiving the remains of 55 soldiers from Kuwait.

A file video grab from Yemen's state television shows a protester displaying pic-tures of German hostages during a protest in the northwestern city of Saada onJune 17, 2009 against the kidnap of nine foreign aid workers and the killing of

three hostages. Two of the hostages were rescued by Saudi forces.

Banned by Israel, Chomsky gives West Bank lecture by video

Riyadh to sign pacts with Warsaw, Manila to avoid double taxation

Kuwait returns remainsof Gulf War Iraqi soldiers

The

News 07MAY, 2010AAFFGGHHAANN UUPPDDAATTEE

KABUL, Afghanistan: ATalebansuicide car bomber struck a NATOconvoy in Kabul Tuesday, killing sixof its service members, five of themAmerican, officials said.Twelve Afghan civilians also died

— many of them in a public bus inrush hour traffic.Forty-seven other people were

wounded in the blast, the first majorattack in the capital since Februarywhen suicide bombers struck twosmall hotels in the city center.That attack killed 16 people and

led Afghan police to pledge that theywould tighten security and surveil-lance. Police have publicized a num-ber of arrests of would-be bombers

since then, but Tuesday's bombingwas a reminder that the city'sdefenses can still be penetrated bydetermined attackers. Talebanspokesman Zabiullah Mujahid toldThe Associated Press in a phonecall from an undisclosed locationthat the bomber was a man fromKabul and his car was packed with1,650 pounds (750 kilograms) ofexplosive. The target of the attackwas the foreign convoy, he said. Thearea around the blast site was lit-tered with debris as US troops andAfghan police held a security cordonaround wrecked cars, the bus andsports utility vehicles. There were noobviously military vehicles but NATO

troops often travel in unmarkedSUVs in the capital. NATO said six ofits service members were killed inthe attack, and US forcesspokesman Col. Wayne Shanksconfirmed that five of those wereAmerican. The nationality of thesixth was not immediately disclosed.It was the deadliest attack for

NATO in the capital since aSeptember suicide bombing thatkilled six Italian soldiers. The attackcomes as NATO readies a majoroffensive in the southern province ofKandahar, a major Talebanstronghold. At least 12 Afghan civil-ians also died and 47 were woundedTuesday — most of them in the

packed city bus, the Interior Ministrysaid. President Hamid Karzai con-demned the attack. "There werecasualties among the NATO forcesas well as among civilians —women, children and schoolchil-dren," Karzai told a news confer-ence. NATO said that five of its vehi-cles were damaged and more than adozen civilian vehicles. The Feb. 26attack against two residential hotelskilled six Indians, along with 10Afghans. Afghan authorities blamedthe attack on Lashkar-e-Taiba, thesame Pakistan-based Islamist militiathat India blames for the 2008Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed166 people.

New York. Iranian PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad haswarned that a fresh round of sanc-tions against Tehran will be moredetrimental to the US than Iran andit will close the door on improvingties between the two nations.The permanent members of the

Security Council and Germany arecurrently in negotiations aboutimposing a fourth round of sanc-tions against Iran for its nuclear pro-gramme. "This is nothing new. For31 years, sanctions have beenplaced on us," Ahmadinejad toldreporters. "We feel that and thinkthat the US government will be

damaged more than us by thosesanctions. It is very clear that if theUnited States starts sanctionsagainst Iran it means that it is theend of (President Barack) Obama'sefforts. It means that no change willoccur," he added.The blunt Iranian leader blasted

the US for imposing sanctions butunderlined that these steps had notweakened the country."The heaviest political pressures

have been placed on us since therevolution (in 1979). Experiencehas proven that sanctions cannotstop the Iranian nation," he said."Iran is far more advanced and

powerful than 40 years ago," hesaid.The Iranian leader was speaking

to reporters in New York, a day afterhe clashed with Secretary of StateHillary Clinton on the opening dayof the four-week United NationsReview Conference on the NuclearNon-Proliferation Treaty.Ahmadinejad slammed

Washington for hounding Tehranover its nuclear programme whilenot pushing Israel, to which hereferred to as a "Zionist regime", forgetting rid of its nuclear weapons.Israel does not confirm or deny

having nuclear arsenal.

Kandahar. Three suicide bomberslaunched a coordinated assault on a policeheadquarters in southern Afghanistanovernight, damaging the compound andsparking a gun battle, officials said.

"The first suicide attacker detonated amotorcycle rigged into a bomb outside theborder police compound in Kandahar city,destroying the outer wall of the compound,"said senior police official MohammadAshraf Gharzai. "Two other suicide attack-ers then ran into the compound after theblast and opened fire on a border police-men in the building," said Gharzai. "After a40-minute gun battle both suicide attackerswere shot and the explosives strapped totheir bodies went off," Gharzai said, addingthat he had been at the compound whenthe attacks took place. "Only four police-men were slightly wounded," he added.

The compound had most of its windowsbroken and was littered with body parts ofthe suicide attackers, bullets and blood, anAFP reporter said. Yousuf Ahmadi, aTaliban spokesman, claimed responsibilityfor the attack but said the motorcycle bombhad been detonated by remote-control. TheAfghan interior ministry confirmed theattack and that three policemen werewounded. Taliban-led militants havestepped up coordinated gun and suicidebomb assaults on the Western-backedAfghan government as part of their nine-year insurgency against the regime and130,000 US-led foreign troops in the coun-try. Bomb attacks and targeted assassina-tions have increased in Kandahar, whereUS-led troops are stepping up operations ina bid to beat back the Taliban and allow UStroops to start withdrawing next year.

Ban Ki-moon toattend Afghan con-

ference in KabulKabul. UN Secretary General Ban

Ki-moon will attend an international con-ference on Afghanistan due to be held inthe capital, Kabul, in July, Afghan offi-cials said. Ban told Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai personally of his plansduring a telephone call, the president'soffice said. The conference is due to beheld on July 20 as a follow up to talks inLondon in January that pledged interna-tional support for Karzai's plans to rein-tegrate moderate Taliban fighters whorenounce violence. US officials said lastmonth that Secretary of State HillaryClinton and other senior officials wouldtake part in the July talks.

Salang : Rescuers were set toresume the search for a plane car-rying 43 people, including threeBritons and an American, whichcrashed in the mountains of north-ern Afghanistan. It was unclearwhether there were any survivorsfrom Monday's crash. The PamirAirways plane had been en routefrom the northern province ofKunduz to Kabul when it camedown over the treacherous HinduKush mountains, shrouded in heavysnow. "I can confirm that a PamirAirways plane has crashed over theSalang mountains with 38 passen-gers and five crew members onboard," interior ministry spokesmanZemarai Bashary told. Dozens ofAfghan police and local residents

had started to climb the snow-capped mountains where the planewas believed to have crashed,Abdul Rehmand Sayeedkhaili,police chief of Parwan province, toldAFP on Monday. A highway taskforce, responsible for clearing snowfrom the Salang mountain pass --the main road from Kabul to north-ern Afghanistan -- reported hearinga blast at around the time the planewent missing, Sayeedkhaili said.Snow, cold weather and the harshterrain made the search operationdifficult, he said, with nightfall forc-ing a halt to their efforts. NATO'sInternational Security AssistanceForce (ISAF), fighting against theTaliban, said it was assisting withthe recovery operation.

WASHINGTON : The war inAfghanistan will get worse before itgets better, President BarackObama warned, but he declared hisplan to begin withdrawing U.S.forces next year remains on track.Standing alongside Afghan

President Hamid Karzai, Obamasaid, “What I’ve tried to emphasizeis the fact that there is going to besome hard fighting over the nextseveral months.” The two leadersspoke at a White House news con-ference as U.S.-led forces in

Afghanistan prepare to push hardinto the Taliban’s birthplace inKandahar province in June. Thecampaign for Kandahar, alreadyunder way in districts outside thecity, is expected to be among thebloodiest of the nearly 9-year-oldwar. “There is no denying theprogress,” Obama said. “Nor, how-ever, can we deny the very seriouschallenges still facing Afghanistan.”Karzai’s warm White House wel-

come followed months of snipingand frustration over management of

the war and about fraud allegationssurrounding Karzai’s re-election lastyear. Both leaders said disagree-ments are normal with so much atstake.“There are moments when we

speak frankly to each other, andthat frankness will only contribute tothe strength of the relationship,”Karzai said with a smile. The UnitedStates has taken “extraordinarymeasures” to avoid civilian deathsin the war, Obama said, a nod toKarzai’s loud complaints last year

that U.S. airstrikes were killing inno-cents and making enemies of thosewho might be friends. “I do not wantcivilians killed,” Obama said, addingthat he is ultimately accountablewhen they are. Heavy restrictionson when U.S. warplanes can fire atsuspected militants are among thechanges to war policy installed bythe general Obama sent last year toturn around the war. Gen. StanleyMcChrystal, facing Obama andKarzai in the front row Wednesday,has said he is willing to let a few

killers slip away if it means savingcivilian lives. Insurgents often hideamong civilians, taking over homesor using refuge provided willingly bysympathizers. Obama acceptedMcChrystal’s argument that eitherway, killing the other people in ahouse only breeds resentment andmakes it harder to argue that theU.S.-backed government in Kabulis on their side. “After all it’s theAfghan people we are working toprotect from the Taliban,” Obamasaid.

Court sentences 6 Somali

pirates to deathSANAA, Yemen: A Yemeni security

court has convicted six Somalis for pira-cy and sentenced them to death forseizing an oil tanker. Six other convict-ed pirates received 10 year prison sen-tences on Tuesday and the pirates theymust together pay $2 million compensa-tion to the Aden refinery company,which owns the tanker.

Yemeni coast guard forces freed theYemeni oil tanker Qana in April last yearshortly after it was attacked andhijacked by the pirates. The tanker wasamong four vessels sailing between thesouthern Yemeni ports of Mukalla andAden under escort by a Yemeni coastguard boat. The other vessels escapedthe attack. Three pirates and two crew-men died and four others were injuredin the operation.

Suicide attackerstarget Afghan police

Karzai, Obama Meeting In The White House To Discuss Afghanistan

Rescuers resume searchfor crashed Afghan plane

Taleban bombing kills 18 in Afghanistan, including 5 US troops

Ahmadinejad warns US against fresh sanctionsA suicide bomb attack in Kabul

overnight claimed the lives of 18 people,including five U.S. servicemen. Thisattack pushed the war effort inAfghanistan past one of those grim mile-stones. The toll of American dead inAfghanistan passed 1,000, after a suicidebomb in Kabul killed at least five UnitedStates service members. Having takennearly seven years to reach the first 500dead, the war killed the second 500 infewer than two. A resurgent Taliban activein almost every province, a weak centralgovernment incapable of protecting its

people and a larger number of Americantroops in harms way all contributed to theaccelerating pace of death. This grimoccasion — and the Times noting of theacceleration in U.S. deaths — reminds methat I’m often left with the impression thatmost observers regard counterinsurgencyas a “soft” form of military engagement,more public relations than warmaking.This isn’t the case. The strategy actuallydemands that countersurgent forcesaccept greater risks. Here’s the relevantmaterial from the U.S. Army/Marine CorpsCounterinsurgency Field Manual.

1,000 American Deaths InAfghanistan: A Sad Milestone

Amjad Sambri Qawal in Red Kurta Dr. Mirza introducing Amjad Jay and partner the Sound system people

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NewsAAMMJJAADD SSHHOOWW08 MAY, 2010

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News 11MAY, 2010IINN FFOOCCUUSS

NEIL DUDDY CROSSING CULTURES:

Shakil Ahmad Monir has translatedthe Qur'an into Maori A localMuslim group is proving that whenit comes to religion, you don't haveto be lost in translation. The Ahmadiyya Muslim commu-

nity has just translated the first halfof the Muslim holy book – theQur'an – into Maori. The publishedbook was launched at a specialceremony on Saturday.

Most of the translation can becredited to Shakil Ahmad Monir, aPakistani teacher who has livedand worked in Africa and Australia. While working in a school in

Nigeria Mr Monir began teaching

himself Maori with a Maori dictio-nary, Maori Bible and a book ofMaori grammar. He then begantranslating the Qur'an into te reo, atask that took him almost 20 years."Not being Maori myself, therehave been some limitations," hesays. Mr Monir insisted on trans-lating the Qur'an from Arabicstraight into Maori because he saysby translating it into English first itlost some of its meaning. He's hadto create some new Maori wordsand sent the translations to NewZealand professors to make surethey were correct. But the final ver-sion of the translation is his own,just to make sure it is "carrying asense of Arabic".

For its centennial celebrationsthe Ahmadiyya Muslim communitywanted to give thanks to God andso set about translating the Qur'aninto 100 languages.They've published more than 60 sofar, including the Qur'an in Thai,Korean, Russian, Greek andTuvalu. "We won't stop at 100 lan-guages, we will go further," MrMonir says. Missionary ShafiqurRehman says the group hopes tointroduce more Maori people totheir religion. "We want to showthem through their language whowe are. "The Qur'an is for allmankind, all people, all races. It istheir right to have it in their own lan-guage."

"Koran in Moari"

THE ISRAELI PrimeMinister, Benjamin(Bibi) Netanyahu is

testing the resolve ofAmerican President BarackObama with the Israelioccupation of thePalestinian land. Despitetheir supposed indiffer-ence, Israelis have devel-oped the habit in the last 50years of taking Americansupport for granted.

On a recent trip toIsrael, Vice President JoeBiden was insulted andhumiliated by the Israeliswhen they made theannouncement to build1,600 new apartments in East Jerusalem.This appeared to be a show of defiance byBibi to intimidate Obama's administration andto challenge him, as well as to show theextent of the Israeli hold on the AmericanCongress. On March 23, Netanyahu wasinvited to Capitol Hill by the members ofCongress. It was a shameful occasion to seethe surrender of American honor and dignityby our congressional leaders of both parties.A smiling face, the leader of the house,Speaker Nancy Pelosi said to Bibi, "We inCongress stand by Israel," and, "InCongress, we speak with one voice on thesubject of Israel." Conversely, Secretary ofState Hillary Rodham Clinton did show somecourage to rebuke the Israeli housing expan-sion policies. In front of a large audience ofJewish Americans, Netanyahu made anotherprovocative statement, "Jews have builthomes in Jerusalem for the last thousandyears and they will continue to build morehouses." However, the American congres-sional leaders did not have the courage orguts to show support for their own president.Netanyahu has no intention to start any seri-ous peace negotiations with Palestine. He isnot honest in his approach. He is simplyusing a delaying tactic and is stalling for timeto grab Palestinian land. He knows that since1967 American administrations have proved

to be ineffective in pursuingIsraelis to move ahead witha meaningful peace pro-cess. His strategy is todrag any peace negotiatingprocess close to theAmerican presidential elec-tion. Therefore, Obama willnot be able to exert anypressure on Israel to makeany concessions. The cha-rade of "confidence build-ing measures" by Israelis isanother political ploy.Palestinians have toleratedIsrael's brutal occupationsince 1967. According tothe U.N. Charter, they havethe right to take every nec-

essary action against an occupation, whichalso includes an arms struggle. The objectiveof the American Revolutionary War was tofight against the tyranny of the British Empire.No confidence building steps were taken byeither side. The issue of an Iranian threat isalso a technique of the Netanyahu govern-ment to divert attention from the real issue ofPalestinian occupation. Time is running outfor Israelis to make an honorable peace set-tlement with the Arabs. America has paid avery high price financially and in human lifefor Israeli security. At present, Israel has onlyHamas and Hezbollah to deal with. In thefuture, it may have to deal with manyunknown factors. Israel should not takeundue advantage of her friend the UnitedStates. One day, Americans are going to lib-erate the U.S. Congress and cut the handsloose from around the neck of the U.S. for-eign policy. One of our Founding Fathers,George Washington, the first president of theUnited States and a wise man, warnedAmerica in his farewell speech not to have apermanent alliance with any country.Perhaps it's time to listen to our elders. Syed R. Mahmood has lived in Fremont,

California more than 30 years. He is pastpresident of UMA and a founder and presi-dent of American Institute of InternationalStudies.

IN FOCUS

Israel is runningout of time

Syed Rifat Mamood

NO, THAT’S NOT WHAT HE MEANT !

Sister Sofia OmariPerson of the month The Muslim News is proud to recognize sister

Sofia Omari- owner-manager of Café Sofiaof Palo Alto for taking a lead role in creating

acute awareness of the growing crisis in Afghan inthe current mad war. She recently helped orga-nizes meetings with her Rotarian friends to screena heart-wrenching documentary on the status ofwomen and children the innocent victims caughtin the middle of this senseless war in Afghanistan.Regrettably, Afghanistan situation has not attract-ed world attention to warrant a total withdrawal ofUS and Allied army from the region.

The

News 13MAY, 2010

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The

NewsNNCCIICC//SSUUBBSSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN FFRROOMM14 MAY, 2010

ISLAMIC ART EXHIBIT AT ISLAMIC CULTURAL CENTEROF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (ICCNC), OAKLAND

ICCNC member Ms Nabila attend-ed to guests at the mosque and

gave guided tour of the Exhibit andfootnote explanations to then. TheExhibition last a week from April 24to May 2nd. Members of the publicwere invited to bring their exhibitand display them. Ms Nabila saidcalligraphic work in Arabic were

depicted in the leave and flowers aspart of the praises they extend Godfor His creative art work of theentire world, the whole cosmos.

IIssllaammiicc LLaaww SSoocciieettyyAAnndd

TThhee MMuusslliimm NNeewwssPresent : Panel Discussion on

“ISLAMIC CRIMINOLOGY”(Phase 1)

Sunday June 20, 201012 Noon to 3 PM

CHANDNI RESTAURANT INVITED PANELISTS:

Imam Bilal, Syed Rifat Mahmood, Dr. WahidSiddiqi, Iftikhar Hai and Yeman Samut

MUSLIM NEWS510-200-6264 or 510-677-4488

Khilafat Day CelebrationSunday May 22, 2010

From 12.30 PM to 4 PMLunch served! All welcome!

AHMADIYYA ISLAMIC LIBRARY449 West Mac Arthur Rd, Oakland, CA 94601

CALL 510-331-8704

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is celebrating its 5th successiveKhilafat since it first started more than 100 years ago. Its founderHazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad foretold his follows of the reemer-

gence of Khilafat in his book The Will. Prophecies contained in the bookcame to pass in exact terms and timeframe. As a result, on his death hewas succeeded by his devote follower Hazrat Maulana Haji Hakim Nur-ud-Din. On his demise Hazrat Mirza Bashir-Ud-Dean Mahmood Ahmadwas elected second khalifa followed by Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad as3rd Khalifa, Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad as the 4th Khalifa and now HazratMirza Masroor Ahmad is the current and the 5th Khalifa. JamatAhmadiyya believes that Muslims are promised Khilafat in Sura NisaVerse 56 and invites all to study the concept and welcomes any ques-tion on the subject. 1-800-why Islam

SPEAKERS NEEDED!!!!MUSLIM FORUMS NEED SPEAKERS! American Islamic Academy, Islamic Interfaith Forum,Muslim Writers Guild and Islamic Interfaith America arelooking for speakers on varied subjects both interfaith andgeneral subjects. Please fill out and return this form.

NAME : _________________________________

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Subjects:Please state the subject area(s) youcomfortable with and would like to speak on:(a)________________ (b)________________(c)________________ (d)________________

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PO Box 265, Mt. Eden, CA 94557Email : drhkoya@hotmail.com

Fax: 510-781-4884

CAIR UPDATE MEET AND GREET

AS SALAAM ALAIKUM

Insha’Allah this reaches you with a smile.First and foremost, jazaka’Allah khair for your con-

tinuous support of CAIR’s work. I am writing tonight toinvite you to a ‘Meet & Greet’ event, with some of theindividuals running for local seats in the upcomingelections, at the CAIR-SFBA office. The purpose of thisevent is to provide community leaders and activistswith an evening in which to meet local candidates in asetting that would allow for personal conversations andnetworking. CAIR’s mission includes the effort to edu-cate and empower American Muslims. Voter mobiliza-tion has been one of the tools that we have used to for-ward this effort, and in an election year it is critical thecommunity’s leadership is informed and involved insuch efforts. We hope that your attendance at thisevent will create an avenue and relationship that willbenefit you as a leader but also the larger community.It is important that these candidates hear fromAmerican Muslims in the Bay Area.

Date: Friday, May 21 Time: 6:00-8:00pmLocation: CAIR-SFBA Office

(3000 Scott Blvd., Suite 101, Santa Clara)

Confirmed candidates for the ‘Meet & Greet’include:

Garrett Yee and Adnan ShahabCandidates for Assembly, 20th District (including

Fremont, Newark, Hayward)

RICH GORDONCandidate for Assembly, 21st District

(including Los Altos, Los Gatos, Palo Alto)

DANIEL SAHAGUNCandidate for Congress, 16th Congressional District

(San Jose)Donald Rocha and Xavier Campos: Candidates for

San Jose City Council Peter Arellano and Forrest Williams: Candidates for

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors

So that we may plan accordingly, please RSVP byThursday, May 20th to zbilloo@cair.com.

We look forward to hearing from you, and seeingyou on the 21st, insha’Allah.

Jazak Allah Khair,

The

News 15MAY, 2010WWOOMMEENN IINN IISSLLAAMM

Hazrat Khadijah, may Allah be pleased with her, came from a noblefamily. Her father Khuwaylid had been one of the most honoredleaders of their tribe until he was killed in battle. Her husband had

also died, leaving her a very wealthy woman. When Muhammad (peacebe upon him) was still a young man, she entrusted him with some of herwealth, asking him to trade with it in Syria on her behalf. He was alreadywell known for his honesty, truthfulness and trustworthiness. He returnedfrom Syria after having made a large profit for Khadijah.After hearing his account of the journey, she decided that he would

make the best of the husbands, even though many of the most importantnobles of the Quraish had already proposed to her and had been refused,and in due course she proposed to him. After the Prophet’s uncle, AbuTalib, had given the proposed marriage his blessing, Muhammad andKhadijah were married. At the time of the marriage, the Prophet was twen-ty-five years old, while Khadijah was forty years old.

For the next fifteen years they lived happily together, and Khadijahbore several children. Their first child, a son whom they named Qasim,died when he was only two years old. Two more sons, called Tayyib andTahir, were also born, but they too died in their infancy. However,Muhammad and Khadijah also had four daughters who survived: Zaynab,Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum and Fatima.No one except Allah of course, knows more about a man than his wife,

both his good and his bad qualities, his strengths and his weaknesses.The more Khadijah came to know about her husband, the more she lovedand respected him. Everyone in Makka called him ‘al-Amin’, which means‘the trustworthy one’, and she, more than anyone else, knew how fittingthis name was. It became Muhammad’s custom each year to spend themonth of Ramadan in seclusion and reflection in a cave on the mountainof Hira, which is on the outskirts of Makka. Khadijah would always makesure that he was provided with food and drink during his retreat. Towardsthe end of one Ramadan, when he was forty and Khadijah fifty-five,Muhammad suddenly appeared at their house in the middle of the night,trembling with fear and saying, “Cover me up, cover me up!”Khadijah was very alarmed to see him in such a state. Quickly she

wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and, when he had calmed down,she asked him to describe exactly what had happened. He told her howa being whom he had never seen before - in fact it was the angel Jibril -had suddenly appeared to him while he was asleep and had said, “Read!”“But I cannot read,” he had replied, for he was unlettered and could

neither read or write. “Read!” the angel had repeated, claspingMuhammad close to his chest. “I cannot read,” he had repeated. “Read!”the angel had repeated, firmly embracing him yet again. “What shall Iread?” he had asked in desperation, and the angel had replied: Read, inthe Name of your Lord who created, created man from a clot, Read, andyour Lord is the Most Gracious, Who taught with the pen, taught man whathe did not know. (Quran 96:1-5)Although Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did

not fully realize it at the time, this was the beginning of the revelation ofthe Qur’an; but in that first encounter with the angel Jibril, Muhammadwas very frightened, for he did not know who the angel Jibril was or whatwas happening. He woke up and ran out of the cave only to find Jibril stillin front of him, and whenever he turned away from him, there Jibril was infront of him yet again, filling the horizon with his mighty yet beautiful form.“Oh Muhammad,” said Jibril eventually, “you are the Messenger of

Allah and I am Jibril,” and with these words he disappeared fromMuhammad’s sight.After the angel had disappeared Muhammad (peace and blessings of

Allah be upon him) had clambered down the mountain as fast as he couldrun, not knowing if he was going mad and imagining things, or if he hadbeen possessed by one of the jinn. As she listened to Muhammad’s words, Khadijah did not share any of

these fears. She realized that something tremendous and awe-inspiringhad happened to her husband, and she was certain, knowing him as shedid, that he was neither mad nor possessed. “Do not worry,” she said, “forby Him who has dominion over Khadijah’s soul, I hope that you are theProphet of this nation. Allah would never humiliate you, for you are goodto your relatives, you are true to your word, you help those who are inneed, you support the weak, you feed the guest and you answer the callof those who are in distress.”When Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as a lit-

tle more relaxed, Khadijah took him to see her cousin, Waraqa ibn Nawfal,for he was a man of knowledge, and she was sure that he would be ableto explain the meaning of what had just happened to her beloved hus-band. Waraqa had studied the books of both the Jews and the Christiansvery closely and he had learned a great deal from many of their wisestpeople. He knew that the coming of another Prophet had been foretold byboth Moses and Jesus, peace be on them, anhe knew many of the signsthat would confirm the identity of this Prophet when he appeared.After listening closely to his story, Waraqa, who was both old and blind,

exclaimed, “This is the same being who brought the revelations of Allah toMoses. I wish I was young and could be alive whyour people will drive youout.”“Will they drive me out?” asked Muhammad.“Yes,” replied Waraqa. “No one has come with what you have been

given without being treated with enmity; and if I were to live until the daywhen you are turned out, then I would support you with all my might. Let

me just feel your back.” So, saying, Waraqa felt between the Prophet’sshoulder-blades and found what he was feeling for: a small round, slight-ly raised irregularity in the skin, about the size of a pigeon’s egg. This wasyet another of the many signs that Waraqa already knew would indicatethe identity of the next Prophet after Jesus, (peace and blessings of Allahbe upon him).“This is the Seal of the Prophethood!” he exclaimed. “Now I am cer-

tain that you are indeed the Prophet whose coming was foretold in theTorah that was revealed to Moses and in the Injil that was revealed toJesus, (pbut) You are indeed the Messenger of Allah, and the being whoappeared to you on the mountain was indeed the angel Jibril!”Khadijah as both overjoyed and awed to find that her understanding of

what had happened on the mountain had been confirmed. Not long afterthis incident, Muhammad was commanded in a subsequent revelationfrom Allah, through the angel Jibril, to call people to worship Allah only,and it was at this point that Khadijah did not hesitate in expressing in pub-lic what she had now known for certain in secret for some time: “ I bearwitness that there is no god except Allah,” she said, “and I bear witnessthat Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”In the years that followed, difficult years in which the leaders of the

Quraish did everything in their power to stop the Prophet spreading hismessage, Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) was a constantsource of help and comfort to Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the dif-ficulties which he had to face. All her wealth was spent in the way of Allah,helping to spread the message of her husband, helping to free slaves whohad embraced Islam, and helping to feed and shelter the community ofMuslims that slowly but surely began to grow in numbers and strength.The Quraish were infuriated by the Prophet’s success and did every-

thing in their power to discourage both him and his followers, often inflict-ing awful tortures on them, but without success. The situation became sobad that the Prophet told some of his followers to go to Abyssinia, wheretheir ruler, the Negus, who was a sincere Christian gave them shelter andprotection. Eventually there came a time when, as Waraqa had foretold,Muhammad and his followers -along with all the members of his tribe, theBanu Hashim were driven out of the city of Mecca and forced to camp outin a small ravine in the mountains nearby. This happened long afterWaraqa had died, and about seven years after that extraordinary night ofpower in which Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)had received the first revelation of Quran through the angel Jibril. There,while their homes lay empty in Mecca, the Muslims were exposed to thebitterly cold nights of winter and the fiery hot days of summer, with very lit-tle food and shelter. No one would buy and sell with the Muslims, or allowtheir sons and daughters to marry any of them. Fortunately those whosecretly sympathized with the Muslims would send what food they couldto them whenever the chance arose, sometimes by loading provisionsonto a camel or a horse and then sending it off at a gallop in the directionof the camp, hoping that the animal would not stop or get lost before itreached its intended destination. For three years the small Muslim com-munity lived a life of hardship and deprivation, but although they sufferedfrom hunger and thirst, and from exposure to heat and cold, this was atime in which the hearts of the first Muslims were both purified and alsofilled with the light of knowledge and wisdom. The Muslims knew that theywere following the truth, and so nothing else mattered. They did not carewhat the Quraish did to them or said about them. Allah and HisMessenger were enough for them!It was during this period that the Muslims who had sought shelter in

Abyssinia returned, only to find the situation even worse than when theyhad left it. Not long after, many of them returned to Abyssinia, their num-bers swelled by those whom the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah beupon him) had told to accompany them. Finally the boycott was lifted andthe Muslims were allowed to re enter the city; but the three years of hard-ship had taken their toll. First of all the Prophet’s uncle, Abu Talib, who wasby then more than eighty years old, died; and then a few months later, dur-ing the month of Ramadan, Khadijah also died, at the age of sixty-five,may Allah be pleased with her. The Prophet Muhammad (peace andblessings of Allah be upon him) mourned her deeply. They had sharedtwenty-five years of marriage together and she had given birth to five ofhis children. Only one of the Prophet’s future wives, Maria the Copt, wouldgive him another child, Ibrahim, and he, like Qasim, was destined to diewhen he was still very young, at the age of eighteen months.Khadijah had been the first to publicly accept Muhammad (peace and

blessings of Allah be upon him) as the Messenger of Allah, and she hadnever stopped doing all she could to help him. Love and mercy had grownbetween them, increasing in quality and depth as the years passed by,and not even death could take this love away. The Prophet Muhammad(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) never stopped lovingKhadijah, and although he married several more wives in later years andloved them all, it is clear that Khadijah always had a special place in hisheart. Indeed whenever ‘Aisha, his third wife, heard the Prophet speak ofKhadijah, or saw him sending food to Khadijah’s old friends and relatives,she could not help feeling jealous of her, because of the love that theProphet still had for her.Once Aisha asked him if Khadijah had been the only woman worthy of

his love. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) replied:“She believed in me when no one else did; she accepted Islam when peo-ple rejected me; and she helped and comforted me when there was noone else to lend me a helping hand.” It had been related by Abu Hurairah(may Allah be pleased with him) that on one occasion, when Khadijah wasstill alive, Jibril came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be uponhim) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, Khadijah is just coming with a bowlof soup (or food or drink) for you. When she comes to you, give her greet-ings of peace from her Lord and from me, and give her the good news ofa palace of jewels in the Garden, where there will be neither any noise norany tiredness.” After the Prophet’s uncle, Abu Talib, and his first wife,Khadijah, had both died in the same year, the Prophet Muhammad (peaceand blessings of Allah be upon him) and his small community of believersendured a time of great hardship and persecution at the hands of theQuraish. Indeed the Prophet, who was now fifty years old, name this year‘the Year of Sorrow.’ In private his dearest wife was no longer present toshare his life; and in public the insults that he received from the Quraishmultiplied, now that he had no longer had the protection of his dead uncle.Even when he journeyed to Ta’if, a small city up in the mountains outsideMecca, to call its people to worship Allah, he was rejected and stoned bythem. It has been related by Aisha that on his way back to Mecca, Jibrilappeared to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) andsaid, “Allah, may He be exalted and glorified, has heard what the peoplehave said to you and how they have responded to your invitation, and hehas sent the angel in charge of the mountains so that you can tell himwhat you want him to with them.” Then the angel in charge of the moun-tains called out to him and greeted him and said, “O Muhammad, Allahhas listened to what your people have said to you. I am the angel incharge of the mountains, and your Lord has sent me so that you can orderme to do whatever you want. If you wish, I can bring the mountain of theoutskirts of Mecca together so that they are crushed between them.” Butthe Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saidto him, “Rather I hope that Allah will make their descendants a people whowill worship Allah alone, without ascribing any partners to him.” It was a while after this that tfollowing Surah was revealed:In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the CompassionateBy the morning hours, and by the night when it is stillest, Your Lord has

not forsake you nor does He hate you, And truly what comes after will bebetter for you than what has come before, And truly your Lord will give toyou so that you will be content. Did he not find you an orphan and protectyou? Did he not find you wandering and guide you? Did he not find youdestitute and enrich you? So do not oppress the orphan, And do not drivethe beggar away, And speak about the blessings of Your Lord. (Quran93:1-11)And so it happened. After three years of constant struggle, a relative

of his, called Khawla, went to him and pointed out that his house wassadly neglected and that his daughters needed a mother to look afterthem. “But who can take the place of Khadijah?” he asked. “Aisha, thedaughter of Abu Bakr, the dearest of people to you,” she answered. AbuBakr (may Allah be pleased with him) had been the first man to acceptIslam and he was the Prophet’s closest companion. Like Khadijah, he haddone all that he could do to help the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allahbe upon him), and had spent all his wealth in the way of Allah. However,while the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)was now fifty-three years old, Aisha as only a little girl of seven. She washardly in a position to look after either the Prophet’s household or children.“She is very young.” Replied the Prophet. Khawla had a solution for every-thing. She suggested that he marry at the same time a lady called Sawda,the widow of Al-Sakran ibn ‘Amr.

Hazrat KHADIJA bint Khuwaylid

The

News16 MAY, 2010