We met Malcolm through the prism of popular culture, and we embraced him as a commodity, to signal our own disbelief in the American dream. On Malcolm X's birthday, those of us who embraced him as a pop icon need to encounter him again. We need to revisit Malcolm, because he has resisted all of our attempts to craft a single, well-packaged, vision of him. We need to unpack the things about him that remain elusive, difficult, messy and challenging. We need to pause to think about him, because he left, for us, important social and political lessons. Though Malcolm's life was short, it was marked by dramatic change. He was born into poverty, madness and racial violence. His youthful arrogance, crime and indulgence led him to jail. But prison was no end for him; through a religious and political awakening, he found freedom in the context of imprisonment. He became an organization man, an orator, a world citizen and a free thinker with a cosmopolitan vision of the world. Malcolm displayed the capacity to learn, to grow, to discern and to change direction. It takes courage to admit that society's approach to old subjects has grown rigid and needs to evolve and change. It is hard for leaders to admit that they have been wrong in the past. His life is a reminder that greatness is not found in arrogant self-righteousness or intellectual hubris, but in the willingness to be open to our own limitations... For more on this article, please click on the following link: Celebrating Malcolm X: Islamicity
"it is only after this deepest darkness that the greatest joy can come; it is only after slavery and prison that the sweetest appreciation of freedom can come. I do believe that I have fought the best that I could, with the shortcomings that I have had. I know that my shortcomings are many."
By: Melissa Harris-Lacewell
theRoot.com* -
I am part of the generation - the post civil-rights generation, post-black power generation - that turned Malcolm X into a T-shirt and cap. He was our symbol of racial discontent and political angst. Though we did not live through the brutal repression of Jim Crow, we knew for ourselves, in our own way, the effects of racial inequality. We saw the systematic destruction of urban communities, the incarceration of our peers, the violence and drugs that ravaged our neighborhoods. We knew that even the new opportunities and unprecedented accomplishments that previous generations made possible for us were often marked by racial isolation and insults.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Celebrating Malcolm X: Islamicity
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Finding my Faith: Islamicity
By: Patricia Dunn
Salon.com* -
I'm not the same woman I was at 27 when I told my mother, "Ma, I can't eat the pasta fagioli." (She'd made it with bacon.) I'm not the same woman who lied when she said, "I didn't become Muslim because of Ahmed."
My mother believes that for women, most problems and solutions begin and end with the man in her life. But back then there was no way this feminist would admit to anyone -- including herself and especially not her mother -- that she had converted because of a man.
But today, at 42, and secure in my faith, I can admit that if it weren't for Ahmed -- though he is now my ex-husband -- the word "Islam" would probably still conjure up images of black-cloaked women and melodramatic Sally Field movies in my head. After all, I am my mother's daughter.
The day I left my Italian-Bronx neighborhood to go to college, I knew my communion and confession days were over. I was never going to let Jesus stick to the roof of my mouth again. There were too many contradictions for me in Catholicism. Why was my never-miss-Sunday-mass father excommunicated after he and my mother divorced -- especially when she was the one having the affair? How could the pope have an Olympic-size swimming pool while millions of his people were starving? And how could I tolerate the church's position on abortion and women's rights?
By the time I transferred from Barnard to UCLA, I was a lapsed Catholic who wanted nothing to do with organized religion. But I needed to believe in something....
For more on this article, please click on the following link: Finding my Faith: Islamicity
Say not even "Fie" to Parents: Islamicity
By: Dr. Ahmad H. Sakr
INTRODUCTION
In America there are many special days set aside to honor and appreciate special people. Some of these are: Father's Day, Mother's Day, Grandfather's Day, Grandmother's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc. We do realize the significance of these occasions and we recognize the ideas, ideals, and philosophies of such days. We appreciate the efforts of those who initiated these occasions for the recognition and appreciation of special people.
As for the appreciation of parents, we admire the efforts of children who remember their parents on such occasions by sending them greeting cards and gifts. However, we hope that the appreciation is not for one single day in a year, but for every day throughout the year.
PARENTS IN QURAN
A child should respect and appreciate his or her parents every day throughout the year. Allah has asked human beings to recognize their parents after recognition of Allah Himself. Throughout the Quran, we notice that parents are mentioned with appreciation and with respect, even if they are senile. In Surah Al-Isra' (Children of Israel) there is a very beautiful description of how parents are to be treated. Allah 
says:
"Your Lord had decreed, that you worship none save Him, and (that you show) kindness to parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age with you, say not "Fie" unto them nor repulse them, but speak unto them a gracious word. And lower unto them the wing of submission through mercy, and say: My Lord! Have mercy on them both, as they did care for me when I was young." [Quran 17:23-24]
The recognition and respect of parents is mentioned in the Quran eleven times; in every instance, Allah reminds children to recognize and to appreciate the care and love they have received from their parents. In the following verse, Allah demands that children recognize their parents:
"We have enjoined on humankind kindness to parents." [Quran 29:8 and 46:15]
1. The demand for recognizing parents is made more emphaticly when Allah says in the Quran:
"And (remember) when We made a covenant with the children of Israel, (saying): worship none save Allah (only), and be good to parents..." [Quran 2:83]
2. In Surah Al-Nisaa' (The Women) Allah emphasizes again that children should be kind to their parents.
"And serve Allah. Ascribe nothing as partner unto Him. (Show) Kindness unto parents... " [Quran 4:36]
3. The same directive is repeated again In Surah Al An'Am (The Cattle), where Allah says:
"Say: Come, I will recite unto you that which your Lord has made a sacred duty for you; that you ascribe nothing as partner unto Him and that you do good to parents..." [Quran 6:151]
For more on this article, please click on the following link: Say not even "Fie" to Parents: Islamicity
Friday, May 9, 2008
Seeking Knowledge an Imperative: Islamicity
When he was on his deathbed, Biruni was visited by a jurisprudent neighbor of his. Abu Rayhan was still conscious, and on seeing the jurisprudent, he asked him a question on inheritance law or some other related issue. The jurisprudent was quite amazed that a dying man should show interest in such matters. Abu Rayhan said, "I should like to ask you: which is better, to die with knowledge or to die without it?" The man said, "Of course, it is better to know and then die." Abu Rayhan said, "That is why I asked my first question." Shortly after the jurisprudent had reached his home, the cries of lamentation told him that Abu Rayhan had died. (Murtaza Motahari: Spiritual Discourses) That was then, nearly a millennium ago, when Muslims were the torchbearers of knowledge in a very dark world. They created an Islamic civilization, driven by inquiry and invention, which was the envy of the rest of the world for many centuries. In the words of Carli Fiorina, the former highly talented and visionary, CEO of Hewlett Packard, "Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration. Its writers created thousands of stories; stories of courage, romance and magic. When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others. While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I'm talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent. Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians." Truly, there is hardly a field that is not indebted to these pioneering children of Islam. Here below is a short list, by no means a comprehensive one, of Muslim scientists from the 8th to the 14th century CE: 1 701 (died) C.E. * Khalid Ibn Yazeed * Alchemy With such a train of Muslim scholars, it is not difficult to understand why George Sarton said, "The main task of mankind was accomplished by Muslims. The greatest philosopher, Al-Farabi was a Muslim; the greatest mathematicians Abul Kamil and Ibrahim Ibn Sinan were Muslims; the greatest geographer and encyclopaedist Al-Masudi was a Muslim; the greatest historian, Al-Tabari was still a Muslim." History before Islam was a jumble of conjectures, myths and rumors. It was left to the Muslim historians who introduced for the first time the method of matn and sanad tracing the authenticity and integrity of the transmitted reports back to eyewitness accounts. According to the historian Buckla "this practice was not adopted in Europe before 1597 AD." Another method: that of historical research and criticism - originated with the celebrated historian Ibn Khaldun. The author of Kashfuz Zunun gives a list of 1300 history books written in Arabic during the first few centuries of Islam. That is no small contribution!
Dr. Habib Siddiqui
Abu Rayhan al-Biruni was a great scientist, physicist, astronomer, sociologist, linguist, historian and mathematician whose true worth may never be known. He is considered the father of unified field theory by Nobel Laureate - late Professor Abdus Salam. He lived nearly a thousand years ago and was a contemporary of Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Sultan Mahmoud of Ghazni.
721-803 * Jabir Ibn Haiyan (Geber) * Alchemy (Great Muslim Alchemist)
740 * Al-Asma'i * Zoology, Botany, Animal Husbandry
780 * Al-Khwarizmi (Algorizm) * Mathematics (Algebra, Calculus), Astronomy
776-868 * Amr ibn Bahr al-Jajiz * Zoology
787 * Al Balkhi, Ja'far Ibn Muhammas (Albumasar) * Astronomy
796 (died) * Al-Fazari,Ibrahim Ibn Habib * Astronomy
800 * Ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi - (Alkindus) * Medicine, Philosophy, Physics, Optics
815 * Al-Dinawari, Abu-Hanifa Ahmed Ibn Dawood * Mathematics, Linguistics
816 * Al Balkhi * Geography (World Map)
836 * Thabit Ibn Qurrah (Thebit) * Astronomy, Mechanics, Geometry, Anatomy
838-870 * Ali Ibn Rabban Al-Tabari * Medicine, Mathematics
852 * Al Battani Abu Abdillah * Mathematics, Astronomy, Engineering
857 * Ibn Masawaih You'hanna * Medicine
858-929 * Abu Abdullah Al-Battani (Albategnius) * Astronomy, Mathematics
860 * Al-Farghani, Abu al-Abbas (Al-Fraganus) * Astronomy, Civil Engineering
864-930 * Al-Razi (Rhazes) * Medicine, Ophthalmology, Chemistry
873 (died) * Al-Kindi * Physics, Optics, Metallurgy, Oceanography, Philosophy
888 (died) * Abbas ibn Firnas * Mechanics, Planetarium, Artificial Crystals
900 (died) * Abu Hamed Al-ustrulabi * Astronomy
903-986 * Al-Sufi (Azophi) * Astronomy
908 * Thabit Ibn Qurrah * Medicine, Engineering
912 (died) * Al-Tamimi Muhammad Ibn Amyal (Attmimi) * Alchemy
923 (died) * Al-Nirizi, AlFadl Ibn Ahmed (Altibrizi) * Mathematics, Astronomy
930 * Ibn Miskawayh, Ahmed Abu-Ali * Medicine, Alchemy
932 * Ahmed Al-Tabari * Medicine
934 * al Istakhr II * Geography (World Map)
936-1013 * Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahravi (Albucasis) * Surgery, Medicine
940-997 * Abu Wafa Muhammad Al-Buzjani * Mathematics, Astronomy, Geometry
943 * Ibn Hawqal * Geography (World Map)
950 * Al Majrett'ti Abu-al Qasim * Astronomy, Alchemy, Mathematics
958 (died) * Abul Hasan Ali al-Mas'udi * Geography, History
960 (died) * Ibn Wahshiyh, Abu Baker * Alchemy, Botany
965-1040 * Ibn Al-Haitham (Alhazen) * Physics, Optics, Mathematics
973-1048 * Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni * Astronomy, Mathematics, History, Linguistics
976 * Ibn Abil Ashath * Medicine
980-1037 * Ibn Sina (Avicenna) * Medicine, Philosophy, Mathematics, Astronomy
983 * Ikhwan A-Safa (Assafa) * (Group of Muslim Scientists)
1001 * Ibn Wardi * Geography (World Map)
1008 (died) * Ibn Yunus * Astronomy, Mathematics.
1019 * Al-Hasib Alkarji * Mathematics
1029-1087 * Al-Zarqali (Arzachel) * Astronomy (Invented Astrolabe)
1044 * Omar Al-Khayyam * Mathematics, Astronomy, Poetry
1060 (died) * Ali Ibn Ridwan Abu'Hassan Ali * Medicine
1077 * Ibn Abi-Sadia Abul Qasim * Medicine
1090-1161 * Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) * Surgery, Medicine
1095 * Ibn Bajah, Mohammed Ibn Yahya (Avenpace) * Astronomy, Medicine
1097 * Ibn Al-Baitar Diauddin (Bitar) * Botany, Medicine, Pharmacology
1099 * Al-Idrisi (Dreses) * Geography, Zoology, World Map (First Globe)
1110-1185 * Ibn Tufayl, Abubacer Al-Qaysi * Philosophy, Medicine
1120 (died) * Al-Tuhra-ee, Al-Husain Ibn Ali * Alchemy, Poem
1128 * Ibn Rushd (Averroe's) * Philosophy, Medicine, Astronomy
1135 * Ibn Maymun, Musa (Maimonides) * Medicine, Philosophy
1140 * Al-Badee Al-Ustralabi * Astronomy, Mathematics
1155 (died) * Abdel-al Rahman Al Khazin * Astronomy
1162 * Al Baghdadi, Abdel-Lateef Muwaffaq * Medicine, Geography
1165 * Ibn A-Rumiyyah Abul'Abbas (Annabati) * Botany
1173 * Rasheed Al-Deen Al-Suri * Botany
1180 * Al-Samawal * Algebra
1184 * Al-Tifashi, Shihabud-Deen (Attifashi) * Metallurgy, Stones
1201-1274 * Nasir Al-Din Al-Tusi * Astronomy, Non-Euclidean Geometry
1203 * Ibn Abi-Usaibi'ah, Muwaffaq Al-Din * Medicine
1204 (died) * Al-Bitruji (Alpetragius) * Astronomy
1213-1288 * Ibn Al-Nafis Damishqui * Anatomy
1236 * Kutb Aldeen Al-Shirazi * Astronomy, Geography
1248 (died) * Ibn Al-Baitar * Pharmacy, Botany
1258 * Ibn Al-Banna (Al Murrakishi), Azdi * Medicine, Mathematics
1262 (died) * Al-Hassan Al-Murarakishi * Mathematics, Astronomy, Geography
1270 * Abu al-Fath Abd al-Rahman al-Khazini * Physics, Astronomy
1273-1331 * Al-Fida (Abdulfeda) * Astronomy, Geography
1306 * Ibn Al-Shater Al Dimashqi * Astronomy, Mathematics
1320 (died) * Al Farisi Kamalud-deen Abul-Hassan * Astronomy, Physics
1341 (died) * Al-Jildaki, Muhammad Ibn Aidamer * Alchemy
1351 * Ibn Al-Majdi, Abu Abbas Ibn Tanbugha * Mathematics, Astronomy
1359 * Ibn Al-Magdi, Shihab-Udden Ibn Tanbugha * Mathematic, Astronomy
1375 (died) * Ibn Shatir * Astronomy
1393-1449 * Ulugh Beg * Astronomy.
1424 * Ghiyath al-Din al Kashani * Numerical Analysis, Computation
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Proper use of the Gift of Speech: Islamicity
"The Most Compassionate, He provided knowledge of the Qur'an; He Created Humankind; He provided human beings with the ability to communicate." Qur'an 55:1-4 "Whosoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let such a person speak good or remain silent." Prophet Muhammad Communication Islamic teachings demand that when we speak we should:
By: Sadullah Khan
Original Link: Proper use of the Gift of Speech: Islamicity
"It is obligatory upon you to control your tongue"
Also remember
"Whosoever speaks much is more prone to err."
It is no wonder that the Prophet Muhammad , when asked about acts loved by Allah, he responded:
"Control of the tongue."
"Silence is wisdom, yet few practice it."
"Whosoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let such a person speak good or remain silent."
"Do not say anything except good"
Think before speaking
Wise are the words of the one who said:
"Think before speaking so that you safeguard yourself from problems."
It is important to engage one's brain before engaging one's mouth. Remember that good old prayer:
"O Lord! Grant me the ability to keep my mouth shut until I know what I am talking about."
"Truthfulness is obligatory upon you for surely truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness leads to paradise"
One of the signs of a hypocrite is " the tendency to lie when speaking."
The Qur'an refers to those who truly believe as those who avoid vain and nonsensical talk
"(Believers) are they who avoid vain talk" (Qur'an 22:3)
"They pass by nonsensical talk with honorable avoidance."
Do not speak of that which you have no knowledge (Qur'an 7:33) and verify facts before speaking (Qur'an 49: 6) and do not pass on everything you hear
"Surely, Allah dislikes your communicating everything you hear from one person to another"
Though we should speak the truth even if it is bitter, we should never be vulgar in the content or the manner of our speech
"The Believer does not taunt nor a curse, neither is he indecent nor abusive."
(honesty, propriety, accuracy)
"The intelligent person considers his understanding and feelings before speaking, the idiot speaks irrespective of understanding and feeling."
"Let your speaking be proper, your deeds will be rectified" (Qur'an 33:70)
Monday, May 5, 2008
Are We Witnessing the Death of Israel by a Thousand Cuts?: Arab News
Jonathan Power, jonatpower@aol.com
Even Jimmy Carter, who single handedly (without much Jewish appreciation) has done more to make Israel secure than any other living person, can’t change the march of demographics. Within the boundaries of the State of Israel and the occupied territories there are 5.4 million Jews and 4.6 million Palestinians. The Palestinian birth rate is almost three times that of the Israeli Jews. If anything the Jewish population is starting to fall as an increasing number of Jews decide that Israel has no future for them and in significant numbers emigrate. The far seeing Richard Nixon, when asked by Patrick Buchanan and his wife, how he saw the future of Israel, turned down his thumb “like a Roman emperor at the gladiators’ arena”.
Perhaps we are witnessing the death of Israel by a thousand cuts, the attrition of conflict and the attrition of population. Maybe after all the rabbis of Vienna who were sent in 1897 on a fact-finding mission to Palestine to investigate whether it was a suitable place for Jewish settlement were right.
They reported back that the “bride was beautiful but married to another man.” The rabbis had been moved to visit Palestine by Theodore Herzl, an Austrian journalist, who had just published his highly influential book, “The Jewish State”, which launched the movement called “political Zionism”.
Herzl, a broad minded man, was happy to think of the new Israel in Argentina which had a considerable Jewish migration in the 19th century and was well away from the clutches of anti-Semitic Europe.
He was also inclined to accept the offer of Joseph Chamberlain, then the British colonial secretary, for a site on the Uasin Gishu plateau near Nairobi in what was then British East Africa. The Zionist Conference overruled him.
But when the British government finally gave in to Zionist lobbying and, in the words, of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, favored “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” the only Jewish member of the Cabinet, Edwin Samuel Montague, denounced the whole project as a reconstruction of the tower of Babel.
“Palestine”, he said, “would become the world’s ghetto”. Lord Curzon, the former viceroy of India, observed that Britain had “a stronger claim to parts of France” than the Jews did to Palestine after two millennia of absence. He denounced it as an act of “sentimental idealism”.
There are few rewards in this life for being farsighted on political questions. The Zionists still have the bit between their teeth on the creation of a permanent Jewish state, even as they face self-destruction.
A few perhaps can see it coming and among the few is the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
In an interview last November he said, “If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories) then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished.”
For the Zionist this would be a terrible end. But need it be for rank and file Jews who just want to bring up their families and live in an atmosphere emptied of violence? (Read Israeli novelist Shifra Horn’s book, “Ode to Joy” if you want to smell the cordite and sense deep in the soul their everyday fear of being blown up.)
But unmistakably this is the direction events and demographics are moving and arguably the best thing that outsiders can now do for Israel is to stop trying to help organize the creation of a two-state solution and let the Israelis themselves look the Palestinians in the eye as the demographics bite. If the white South Africans can do it so can the Israelis. If this were the solution the Israelis would find that the only thing that most Palestinians would now want is a prosperous, capitalist economy that lives in peace with its neighbors.
The Jews would not be driven into the sea. But those who wanted to return to Europe, America or even Russia would be more than welcome. Both Germany and Russia, the great centers of anti-Semitism in the past, have seemed to have flushed that horror away.
Life does move on. Some problems, like apartheid, do get solved, even if not very long ago they seemed intractable.
The Jews should never have tried to turn back the historical clock by returning to Palestine after fleeing in AD 70.
But now they are there in such significant numbers their only solution is to honor the rest of the text of the Balfour Declaration.
“Nothing should be done that may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”, it said. This was the British condition. The Israelis overlook it today at their peril.
Original Link: Israel's Destiny
Media Control: Islamicity
"Let me begin by counter-posing two different conceptions of democracy. One conception of democracy has it that a democratic society is one in which the public has the means to participate in some meaningful way in the management of their own affairs and the means of information are open and free.... An alternative conception of democracy is that the public must be barred from managing of their own affairs and the means of information must be kept narrowly and rigidly controlled. That may sound like an odd conception of democracy, but it's important to understand that it is the prevailing conception.... Early History of Propaganda [The Wilson administration] established a government propaganda commission, called the Creel Commission, which succeeded, within six months, in turning a pacifist population into a hysterical, war-mongering population which wanted to destroy everything German, tear the Germans limb from limb, go to war and save the world. That was a major achievement, and it led to a further achievement. Right at that time and after the war the same techniques were used to whip up a hysterical Red Scare, as it was called, which succeeded pretty much in destroying unions and eliminating such dangerous problems as freedom of the press and freedom of political thought. There was very strong support from the media, from the business establishment, which in fact organized, pushed much of this work, and it was in general a great success. Among those who participated actively and enthusiastically were the progressive intellectuals, people of the John Dewey circle, who took great pride, as you can see from their own writings at the time, in having shown that what they called the "more intelligent members of the community," namely themselves, were able to drive a reluctant population into a war by terrifying them and eliciting jingoist fanaticism. The means that were used were extensive. For example, there was a good deal of fabrication of atrocities by the Huns, Belgian babies with their arms torn off, all sorts of awful things that you still read in history books. They were all invented by the British propaganda ministry, whose own commitment at the time, as they put it in their secret deliberations, was "to control the thought of the world." But more crucially they wanted to control the thought of the more intelligent members of the community in the U.S., who would then disseminate the propaganda that they were concocting and convert the pacifist country to wartime hysteria. That worked. It worked very well. And it taught a lesson: State propaganda, when supported by the educated classes and when no deviation is permitted from it, can have a big effect. It was a lesson learned by Hitler and many others, and it has been pursued to this day. Spectator Democracy Walter Lippman, who was the dean of American journalists, a major foreign and domestic policy critic and also a major theorist of liberal democracy...argued that what he called a "revolution in the art of democracy," could be used to "manufacture consent," that is, to bring about agreement on the part of the public for things that they didn't want by the new techniques of propaganda.... He argued that in a properly-functioning democracy there are classes of citizens. There is first of all the class of citizens who have to take some active role in running general affairs. That's the specialized class. They are the people who analyze, execute, make decisions, and run things in the political, economic, and ideological systems. That's a small percentage of the population... Those others, who are out of the small group, the big majority of the population, they are what Lippman called "the bewildered herd." We have to protect ourselves from the trampling and rage of the bewildered herd... So we need something to tame the bewildered herd, and that something is this new revolution in the art of democracy: the "manufacture of consent." The media, the schools, and popular culture have to be divided. For the political class and the decision makers have to give them some tolerable sense of reality, although they also have to instill the proper beliefs. Just remember, there is an unstated premise here. The unstated premise -- and even the responsible men have to disguise this from themselves -- has to do with the question of how they get into the position where they have the authority to make decisions. The way they do that, of course, is by serving people with real power. The people with real power are the ones who own the society, which is a pretty narrow group. If the specialized class can come along and say, I can serve your interests, then they'll be part of the executive group. You've got to keep that quiet. That means they have to have instilled in them the beliefs and doctrines that will serve the interests of private power. Unless they can master that skill, they're not part of the specialized class. They have to be deeply indoctrinated in the values and interests of private power and the state-corporate nexus that represents it. If they can get through that, then they can be part of the specialized class. The rest of the bewildered herd just have to be basically distracted. Turn their attention to something else.... In what is nowadays called a totalitarian state, then a military state, it's easy. You just hold a bludgeon over their heads, and if they get out of line you smash them over the head. But as society has become more free and democratic, you lose that capacity. Therefore you have to turn to the techniques of propaganda. The logic is clear. Propaganda is to democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.... Public Relations The U.S. pioneered the public relations industry. Its commitment was to "control the public mind," as its leaders put it. They learned a lot from the successes of the Creel Commission and the success in creating the Red Scare and its aftermath. The public relations industry underwent a huge expansion at that time. It succeeded for some time in creating almost total subordination of the public to business rule through the 1920s.... Public relations is a huge industry. They're spending by now something on the order of a billion dollars a year. All along its commitment was to controlling the public mind.... The corporate executive and the guy who cleans the floor all have the same interests. We can all work together and work for Americanism in harmony, liking each other. That was essentially the message. A huge amount of effort was put into presenting it. This is, after all, the business community, so they control the media and have massive resources... Mobilizing community opinion in favor of vapid, empty concepts like Americanism. Who can be against that? Or, to bring it up to date, "Support our troops." Who can be against that? Or yellow ribbons. Who can be against that?... The point of public relations slogans like "Support our troops" is that they don't mean anything. They mean as much as whether you support the people in Iowa. Of course, there was an issue. The issue was, Do you support our policy? But you don't want people to think about the issue. That's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and everybody's going to be for, because nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything, but its crucial value is that it diverts your attention...." For more on this article, please click on the following link: Media Control
An alternative conception of democracy is that the public must be barred from managing of their own affairs and the means of information must be kept narrowly and rigidly controlled.
By: Noam Chomsky
zmag.org*
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Message and Method of the Prophet: Islamicity
By: Abdul Wahid Hamid
"0 King," he said, "We were a people steeped in ignorance, worshipping idols, eating the flesh of dead animals, committing abominations, neglecting our relations and ill-treating our neighbors, and the strong among us would oppress the weak.
"We were in this state when God sent to us a messenger from among us, whose descent and sincerity, truthfulness, trustworthiness and honesty were known to us.
"He summoned us to worship the One True God and to renounce the stones and idols we and our fathers used to worship apart from God.
"He ordered us to speak the truth, to fulfill all that is entrusted to us, to care for our relatives, to be kind to our neighbors, to refrain from what is forbidden and from bloodshed.
"He has forbidden us from engaging in obscene and shameful acts, from speaking falsehoods, from devouring the property of orphans and from vilifying virtuous women.
"He commanded us to worship God alone and to assign no partners unto Him, to pray, to pay the purifying tax and to fast.
"We deemed him truthful and we believed in him, and we followed the message he brought to us from God..."
From Jafar's speech on the mission and method of the Prophet, we see that the first thing he stressed was the worldview of Tawhiid, the worship of the One True God. To be on the straight and natural way, the human being's first duty is to gain or regain a correct knowledge of and belief in God. From this knowledge he will come to accept the wisdom and authority of God. From this will spring correct action.
As an indication of this method of the Prophet in bringing about individual and social transformation, his wife Aaishah is reported as saying that the Prophet did not start by telling people not to drink wine and not to commit fornication and adultery. He started by telling them about God and the Hereafter until they had firm belief in them. It is only then he told them not to drink or commit adultery and they obeyed him. "Had he started by telling them not to drink wine or not commit adultery; they would have said, 'We will never abandon them?"
From Jafar's speech, we learn that the Prophet encouraged all the natural moral virtues such as truthfulness, kindness, generosity, and justice. And he condemned all the naturally repugnant vices such as false speech shamelessness, adultery and fornication, ignorance, and oppression.
There is also the testimony of Jafar on the truthfulness of the Prophet. Both before and after he became a prophet, Muhammad had unchallenged reputation of a person who was always truthful and trustworthy. For this he was known as As-Saadiq and Al-Amiin respectively.
In fact, mission and method fused in the Prophet since we are told by Aaishah, may God be pleased with her: "His character was the Quran." To reject the Prophet is to reject the Quran and to reject the Quran is to reject the human being's only authentic source of Divine guidance.
The importance of the Quran and the example of the Prophet Muhammad plays a vital role in forming a valid and satisfying worldview for the human being in whatever time or place he or she may live. Since the Quran is the final and complete message of God to humanity and since there will be no prophet after Muhammad, it is especially important for people everywhere to discover or rediscover the meaning and relevance of the Quran to their lives. Whether you live in the north or the south, the east or the west, whether you live in the so-called developed and advanced world or the underdeveloped and impoverished world, whether you are a male or female, young or old, the Quran has a message for you. In fact, it is the message for you.
The Quran stresses the Oneness of God and the duty of the human being to acknowledge and worship God alone. If we approach the Quran with sincerity it reveals the age old questions about the nature of the human being, the purpose of his life and the various choices and destinies open to him. In other words: Who are we? What are we doing here on earth? And where do we go from here?
Adapted form the book "ISLAM the natural way" by Abdul Wahid Hamid
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