Iran president slams capitalism

ISTANBUL: Iran’s president said Monday that capitalist excesses caused the global economic meltdown and are un-Islamic, as leaders at a Muslim forum touted their religion’s banking system a way to revive battered economies.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was among heads of state in Istanbul for a one-day meeting of the Organization of The Islamic Conference, a 57-state bloc of Muslim countries that promotes religious solidarity in economic and other matters.

In an address, Ahmadinejad slammed investments that pay interest, deemed usury by Muslims, and said they had contributed to financial and social problems such as homelessness.

Ahmadinejad did not mention Iran’s struggling economy, nor did he refer to its dispute with the West over its nuclear activities. Iran has said it still wants talks with world powers over fuel supplies to a Tehran nuclear reactor — despite the country’s apparent rejection of a UN plan to curb Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile.

The roughly $1 trillion Islamic finance, with high annual growth over the past decade, has faced difficulties during the global financial crisis but was relatively insulated because of Islam’s ban on handling interest-bearing financial instruments.

The Islamic Development Bank, based in Saudi Arabia, comprises member countries of the Islamic Conference group and provides interest-free loans for infrastructure and other projects. Western institutions such as Britain’s HSBC also now offer products such as Shariah-compliant mortgages and bank accounts.

Developing countries have pointed to the origin of the global meltdown in the United States, where American consumers, the traditional pillar of the world economy, were hurt by the collapse of the housing bubble and the fallout from the credit crunch. Turkey has an Islamic-oriented government but a secular constitution introduced by its national founder, and Western-style banking is the norm.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, however, spoke on behalf of developing nations in the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

“To ensure the efficient management of the global economy, developing countries must also keep the right to have a say commensurate with their growing economies,” said Turkish president.

The comment echoed demands by emerging economies for more clout in the IMF and World Bank, which met last month in Istanbul.

A shift in the economic power balance was recognized at a Pittsburgh summit in September where the Group of 20, a forum of rich and developing countries, was declared the world’s main economic decision-making forum, instead of the G-7 group of rich countries.
Source: Arab News

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Unfounded accusations base motive of Ft. Hood shooting on religious extremism

WASHINGTON: Less than one percent of America's 1.4 million troops are Muslims, and the military says the percentage of enlisted Muslims who are outstanding, competent or misfit soldiers is proportional to that of every other ethnic group.

But that logic is increasingly hard to hear in the aftermath of Maj. Nidal Hasan's killing spree at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

Already, without any evidence, many newspapers, TV shows and blogs are coming out against what they have determined are Hasan's "terrorist links" or his "extremist Muslim" religious views.

Federal investigators say they are examining any possible links between the Fort Hood shooter -- who went on a rampage Thursday, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more -- and an American-born imam who US authorities say has become a supporter and leading promoter of Al-Qaeda since leaving a northern Virginia mosque.

Investigators say the real challenge is trying to figure out whether the attack was psychologically, ideologically or religiously motivated. As of yet, investigators report they have found nothing that links Hasan to any terrorist connection.

Investigators say it is important to figure this out before making any link to questionable ties that could damage US outreach to the Muslim world or provoke an overreaction that could divide Americans.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said Sunday that it was important for the country not to get caught up in speculation about Hasan's Muslim faith. The general has instructed his commanders to be on the lookout for anti-Muslim reactions to the killings at the Texas post.

He said focusing on the Islamic roots of the suspected shooter could "heighten the backlash" against all Muslims in the military, adding diversity in the military "gives us strength."

Casey declined to answer questions about the investigation into the shooting, but said evidence to this point showed that Hasan acted alone.

"I think the speculation could potentially heighten a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers, what happened at Fort Hood is a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here."

But even as Gen. Casey warned against guessing at a motive, Independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman called the Fort Hood massacre an act of "Islamist extremism."

"There are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr. Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act," Lieberman said Sunday on Fox News, without elaborating what the "signs" were.

The committee will also examine growing suggestions that the Army might have ignored signs that Major Hasan was under enormous stress caused by his religious beliefs, his views on the war in Iraq and being constantly exposed to people who were mentally damaged by their service in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The FBI and the Army have said they are investigating whether the military psychiatrist suspected in the Ft. Hood shooting rampage had an association with militants at a mosque in Virginia or in cyberspace.

Authorities are still scouring hard drives, e-mail accounts and website trails "to see what's out there, and to see what it all means," said a senior law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. "There's a lot of work being done."

The official said investigators were looking into Hasan's association with the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., in early 2001, about the same time that a radical Islamist prayer leader and two of the Sept. 11 hijackers attended the mosque. The mosque is one of the biggest in the United States and the official cautioned that thousands of people go there for prayer services and other events. The funeral of Hasan's mother was held there on May 31, 2001, the Associated Press reported.

Authorities also are focusing on whether Hasan more recently had been following the fiery online sermons and blog postings of the imam, Anwar Al-Awlaki, the official said.

Investigators are looking for every possible clue about his background - searching his home, talking to the people at his mosque in Killeen, Texas. The FBI and other agencies say they have conducted over 200 interviews so far.

Hasan was allegedly very unhappy about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and was dreading his deployment to Iraq at the end of the month. His boss at Fort Hood said he was a good psychiatrist and a valued member of her team.

What is evolving is that Hasan's behavior in the month and weeks leading up to the shootings shows a troubled man full of ambiguity. He earned over $100,000, yet lived in a one-bedroom flat in a dilapidated apartment building. He was described by neighbors as being polite and kind, yet he complained bitterly to people at his mosque about the oppression of Muslims in the Army.

Too many Americans overlook the heroic efforts of Muslims in uniform, Capt. Eric Rahman, 35, told reporters.

Rahman, an Army reservist, won the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq, cited the example of Petty Officer Michael Monsoor, a Navy Seal, who died after pulling a team member to safety during a firefight in Iraq.

Petty Officer Monsoor, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, a Muslim who died while saving a fellow American, yet he will not be remembered like Major Hasan, said Captain Rahman.

Crime experts and fellow psychiatrists familiar with the military question whether Hasan's actions compare with those of George Sodini, who is accused of shooting 11 women in a Pennsylvania gym this summer, or Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter in the 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre.
Source: Arab News

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Politicized Shari`ah Disappoints Nigerians

NORTHERN NIGERIA – As the northern states commemorate the tenth anniversary for the re-introduction of Shari`ah, many people and Muslim leaders complain that politicians have failed to abide by the true spirit of the Islamic legal code and were not exemplary. "As far as I am concerned, the 10 years of Shari`ah have not been an overwhelming success," Ismail Abidoye, 39, who has lived in Kano state for 30 years, told IslamOnline.

"But it won’t be fair to blame Shari`ah as a legal system. It's a very good legal code which strict implementation promises better condition of living for the people."

Ismail said Shari`ah has succeeded to an extent but a lot more could have been achieved if political leaders are genuinely committed to its ideal and show good examples.

"You are sometimes alarmed to find the so-called leaders where they should not be. You catch them doing the unthinkable."

Ismail also blamed the failings of the system on the masses whom he accused of being neither disciplined nor inclined to follow the guidelines of Shari`ah.

"We should blame its implementers and the people."

Shari`ah was reintroduced in 1999 shortly after Nigeria returned to democracy, which saw the rise of a new political class including former Zamfara State governor Ahmed Sani Yerima whose campaign promise was strict Shari`ah.

Yerima, now a senator, won election and made good on his pledge by declaring Islamic law in the state at an elaborate event.

Eleven other states followed in swift succession, provoking nationwide protest and claims of breaching constitutional provision that no state shall institute state religion.

Nigeria, a multi-religious society with 50 percent of the population Muslims and 40 percent Christians, is officially a secular state.

Shari`ah was first introduced in northern Nigeria by Arab traders around the ninth century.

In 1904 the British colonial administration, under the indirect rule arrangement, allowed it to be practiced but outlawed the punitive aspects of stoning, amputation and flogging.

Little Success

Abdullah Shuaib, coordinator of the Conference of Islamic Organizations (CIO), describes the 10 years of Shari`ah as a tale of the good, the bad and the ugly.

"The re-introduction of the system is a welcomed development for the good of the citizenry and the country at large if only the advocates of the system sincerely propagate it and uphold its true ts," he told IOL.

"The implementation of the system has provided the poor citizenry a platform to actualize their religious obligations with high expectations that it will have positive multiplier effects in the socio-political and economic life. This indeed is what Shari`ah intends for the citizenry and the country, i.e. good governance, social justice, equity and fairness."

Ikechi Agunlana, an electronics dealer in Sokoto, does not believe this has been achieved.

"Nothing has changed in the last 10 years, there is nothing like Shari`ah in all the so-called Shari`ah states," he told IOL.

"Politicians are still corrupt and immorality is everywhere. There are brothels and beer parlors everywhere."

Muhammad Saeed, student of history at Beyero University, Kano, says Shari`ah judges were initially "overzealous" thinking that the rulers were sincere.

"They began dishing out capital punishments," he said, adding they later soft-pedaled.

In the first two years of Shari`ah reintroduction, several death sentences were passed, but none executed.

Greeted by nationwide uproar, four women condemned to death by stoning for adultery had the sentences overturned on appeals.

Out of more than two dozen amputation sentences passed for theft in four states, only two were executed.

One of them was on a peasant in Zamfara, Buba Bello Jangebe, for stealing a cow in 2000.

But Kano State governor’s spokesman Sule Yau Sule countered critics as narrow-minded.

"Some people think Shari`ah is all about stoning to death and amputation, which is a narrow perception," he told IOL.

"Shari`ah is about human development, making a person a better being in all spheres and I believe this is what we are doing," he asserted.

"The government has tried over the years to make life easier for the people as dictated by Shari`ah and fair-minded people will agree."

Political Shari`ah

Shuaib, the CIO coordinator, pinpoints some of the flows in the implementation of the system.

"Those who claimed to have re-introduced the system perhaps did so for political reason. Thus, confirming the statement of former president Olusegun Obasanjo that it was ‘a political Shari`ah’," he charges.

"In my opinion, with the exceptions of Kano State under Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau and the former Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Yerima Sani Ahmed, where the system impacted positively on the poor citizens, the same could not be said about other States."

Shuaib says these two leaders demonstrated practically the principles of the system and brought governance closer to their people.

"They did live above board. Today, the sign-posts of their good leadership and governance are abound for all and sundry to refer to."

He criticized other leaders for their inconsistency, saying they have let the people down.

"Beyond this, many of the political leaders have not only disappointed the masses but have also betrayed the system beyond imagination."

The Muslim leader emphasized that the cornerstones of the Shari`ah system is about zero tolerance for corruption, justice, equity, fairness, selfless service and the rule of law.

"Hardly can we see practically all the aforementioned in most of the States that claim to be Shari`ah compliant. As long as the Shari`ah in place is politically motivated, it will not impact positively as expected in the life of the masses."

Abba Koki, one of the Muslim clerics who in 1999 actively called for Shari`ah in Kano State, agrees.

"People are disillusioned with the insincerity, deception and hypocrisy which characterize the implementation of Shari`ah."

Many say there is little to show that Shari`ah law has had a positive impact in a region still battling graft, moral decay and searing poverty.

"People’s aspirations for a just and decent society were dashed by self-seeking politicians who hide under the Shari`ah to promote their personal political interests," Koki argued.

Five years into the law, Koki quit a Kano State government Shari`ah board in protest at what he called its failure to deliver.

"The clamor for Shari`ah was motivated by the people’s ardent desire to do away with injustices, corruption, impunity, immorality and other social ills bedeviling our society.

"Instead politicians have used this to seek votes and maintain the status quo after winning elections."

Source: IslamOnline

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US Muslim Sues FBI Over Rendition

CAIRO – An American Muslim is suiting FBI agents over involvement in his interrogation and transfer to other countries in violation for his constitutional rights, the first case by a US citizen over the infamous rendition practice. "It is simply unacceptable that an American citizen in desperate conditions overseas should be so deliberately and egregiously deprived of his constitutional rights by US officials," Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement on ACLU’s website.

Born and raised in New Jersey to Egyptian parents, Amir Meshal traveled to Somalia in December 2006 to study Islam.

He fled the country after the flare-up of clashes between the ruling Islamic Courts Union and the US-backed interim government.

Meshal was arrested in neighboring Kenya and detained at the orders of American officials.

"US officials repeatedly threatened Mr. Meshal with torture, forced disappearance, and execution in order to coerce him to confess to wrongdoing in which he had not engaged and to associations that he did not have," the lawsuit reads.

He was threatened to be sent to Egypt, where the Egyptians "had ways of making him talk," or to Israelis who would "make him disappear."

Meshal was secretly flown back to Somalia for some days before being taken to Ethiopia, where he was grilled US agents.

He was never charged with any crime and was finally allowed to return to the US in 2007.

Rights’ Violation

The lawsuit contends that Meshal’s treatment violated his rights as granted by the US constitution.

"The harsh treatment and mental anguish this individual suffered should never be experienced by anyone, let alone an American citizen at the hands of his own government," said Hafetz.

"This violation of basic constitutional rights must be remedied."

"American citizens abroad who are seeking refuge from hostilities deserve the assistance of their government in getting home safely.

"It is inexcusable that US officials instead threatened Mr. Meshal with torture, participated in detaining him in secret and inhumane conditions and denied him the chance to contest his detention or contact his family."

This is the first time a US citizen has sought damages for the controversial practice of rendition, the extrajudicial transfer of suspects to third countries without court approval.

Since 9/11, the CIA has rendered more than 100 people from one country to another, usually with well-documented records of abuse, without legal proceedings.

Last week, an Italian judge convicted 23 CIA agents for the kidnapping of a Muslim imam and sending him to Egypt where he was tortured.

Source: IslamOnline

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"Hijab Martyr" Murderer Gets Life Sentence

DRESDEN – The Dresden state court on Wednesday, November 11, slapped a German racist of Russian origin with a life sentence over his heinous murder of Marwa Sherbini, a pregnant Muslim woman, inside the courtroom in July. "He killed Marwa not of dread or fear but out of revenge," Supreme Judge Birgit Wiegand was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"He deliberately profited from her innocence and her defenselessness."

On July 1, in the same courthouse, Alexander Wiens plunged an 18-centimetre kitchen knife at least 18 times into Sherbini, 32.

The Muslim mother, who was three-months pregnant with her second child, was testifying against him for insulting her hijab.

Her son, three-year-old Mustafa, watched her bleed to death at the scene.

Sherbini's husband, gicist Elwy Okaz, rushed to her aid but was stabbed repeatedly and then shot in the leg by a guard who allegedly mistook him for the attacker.

The court found Wiens guilty of murdering Sherbini, since dubbed the "hijab martyr," and attempted murder against her husband.

Judge Wiegand said the 28-year-old murderer would not be eligible for early release.

On crutches, unsure if he will ever walk again, Okaz gave wrenching testimony during the just over two-week-long trial.

He told the court how Mustafa, who now lives with family in Egypt, misses his mother.

Prosecutors said Wiens, whose face was covered by a hood and his eyes hidden behind dark glasses, was motivated by a "hatred of non-Europeans and Muslims".

Wiens has admitted holding anti-Islamic and xenophobic attitudes.

Egyptian Ambassador Ramzy Ezzeldin welcomed the verdict.

"The judgment says it all. The right sentence was delivered today and justice has been honored," he told AFP.

"Getting the maximum possible sentence, I think that itself says a lot. I think that should satisfy the family and the people."

The gruesome murder and a slow reaction from Germany's politicians and media sparked Muslim protests from Cairo to Tehran.

Outside the courtroom, around 200 people, most of them Muslims, staged a demonstration.

They urged the government to do more to counter racism.

"History, which we Germans should have learned better than anyone, has shown us where propaganda aimed against religious minorities can lead," said Muhamed Ciftci, a spokesman for the organizers.

There are more than 4 million Muslims in Germany, including 220,000 in Berlin, thought to be the second-largest Muslim minority in western Europe after France.

Islam comes third in Germany after Protestant and Catholic Christianity.

Source: IslamOnline

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Fort Hood shooter no hero: Scholars

WASHINGTON – Amid continued speculations about the motives behind the Fort Hood shooting rampage and media reports trying to link the shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, to radicals, prominent scholars insist the attack remains unjustified and un-Islamic regardless of the motives.

"What this Army Major did was against the laws of Islam, even though news accounts say he was an observant Muslim," Feisal Abdul Rauf, a New York imam and Chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, told IslamOnline.net.

Major Hasan, an army psychiatrist, is the sole suspect in last week’s shooting spree at Fort Hood army base in Texas, which killed 13 soldiers and wounded more than 30 others.

Investigators have so far failed to uncover the motives behind the shooting as some reports suggested a link between Hasan and Anwar Al-Awlaki, an American-born imam of Yemeni background said to have radical views.

Al-Awlaki preached in 2001 at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., where Hasan used to pray. Two of the 9/11 attackers reportedly prayed at the same mosque.

Some reports suggested that the imam, who now lives in Yemen, praised what Hasan did and described him as a "hero."

But prominent scholars insist the killing spree is unjustified under Islam.

"We must remember that [Fort Hood] is a camp--this is not war. This is not an act in the middle of a war," explains Akbar Ahmed, a noted Islam scholar.

"Islam is very clear in the rules of war. Our first Caliph Abu Bakr laid down the rules of war--you cannot kill women, you cannot kill priests, you cannot kill or burn down vegetation."

For Imam Zaid Shakir, a prominent imam at the Zaytuna Institute in California, the issue is crystal-clear in the Qur’an.

"Killing innocent humans, the essence of terrorism, is equated with murdering all of humanity," he told IOL.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) repudiated any praise for the Fort Hood tragedy.

"To call the alleged killer a 'hero' makes a mockery of every Islamic principle of justice," CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.

"The twisted and misguided views in al-Awlaki's posting are not those of American Muslims and do not reflect mainstream Islamic beliefs or sentiments."

* Generalization

Ahmed, also the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, said the tragedy had to be seen as a human tragedy, something horrible an individual did because of immense pressure being placed on soldiers involved in a long, drawn-out conflict, and in the context of a suspicious, post 9/11 America.

"Everything these days is seen in terms of terrorism and plots and conspiracy," he told IOL.

"And in that light people are painting Maj. Hasan to be part of a larger conspiracy and part of homegrown terrorism, which is far from the truth."

Ahmed regrets that the American public and politicians are taking emerging details about Hasan and using them to unfairly paint sweeping red flags over the entire Muslim community, estimated at seven millions.

"Muslims by definition are compassionate people."

The FBI has asserted that the shooting spree was not part of a broader terrorist plot and that there was no evidence of any co-conspirators.

Officials said communications between Hasan and Al-Awlaki were investigated in December and found to be explainable by his research.

Imam Rauf, who has worked for years in multi-faith, bridge-building projects, said a rush to judgment against the larger American-Muslim community is not what the media and public should be engaging in right now.

"I am very concerned that this incident is igniting negative reaction from too many Americans against the Islamic faith and Muslim Americans," he said.

"Our fellow Americans should understand that every major American Muslim organization has condemned it in no uncertain terms," Rauf recalled.

"Thousands of American Muslims serve in the US armed forces, and they are essential to the US goal of bringing peace, stability and democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan."
Source: IslamOnline

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