🚀 go-pugleaf

I seek refuge in God.
In the Name of God :

huge@wi.rr.com wrote:
 
> From outside the united states, this is video of palestinians
> celebrating the september 11th attack.
> 
> http://www.itn.co.uk/news/20010911/video/me_reaction17.ram

For some balance :

http://electronicIntifada.net/coveragetrends/rejoicing.html
 
> This is from an editorial that appeared in an egyptian newspaper.
> 
> >>  "for the second time, thanks to Hitler, of blessed memory,
> >>  who on behalf of the Palestinians, revenged in advance,
> >>  against the most vile criminals on the face of the earth.
> >>  Although we do have a complaint against him for his revenge
> >>  on them was not enough."
> >> Al-Akhbar (Egypt), April 25, 2001.
> >
> The quote is not from just an "anti-semite". The quote is from an
> Egyptian state-owned newspaper with a circulation of 1,158,000 - which
> makes it #37 in the world (in comparison, New York Times is #40). This
> is
> not just a marginal, "extreme" opinion.
 
> (data taken from
> http://www.mediainfo.com/ephome/research/researchhtm/world100.htm)

This link is defunct.

Where did you get the information that Al-Akhbar is "state-owned" ?

I received the following data on Al_Akhbar :

Al Akhbar Daily 

          Founded in 1952 by Mustapha and Ali Amin. 
          Editor-in Chief: Galal Dawidar. 
          Address: Akhbar AlYom Foundation, 6 Al Sahafa Street, Cairo. 
          Tel: 578 2600; 578 2500. 
          Fax: 578 2520; 578 2510. 

It's owned by the Akhbar Al-Youm Group, apparently administrated
independently from state control.
 
> The following is from a conversation  by a reporter for the wall
> street journal with Islamic students in egypt.

Oh, yeah.  The Wall Street Journal.  Now THAT's not biased.  <snort>
 
> [Excerpts] Affluent Egyptians in Cairo Gloat Over Attacks While Eating
> Big
> Macs
> By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
> Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
 
> CAIRO, Egypt -- As the Bush administration works to draw moderate Arab
> states into its coalition against terrorism, it must consider the mood
> at a
> gleaming McDonald's outlet here on Arab League Street, a cosmopolitan
> avenue
> in a well-heeled neighborhood of Cairo.
 
> Sandwiched between a Rolex watch store and a BMW car dealership, the
> restaurant is packed with affluent university students dressed in
> American
> garb and aware of the billions of dollars in foreign aid that the U.S.
> has
> pumped into Egypt. It's the sort of place where one would expect to
> find
> sympathy for the American cause.
 
> But listen to what they're saying.
 
> Sitting under a poster advertising "Crispy and Delicious McWings,"
> Radwa Abdallah, an 18-year-old university student, is explaining that
> she
> rejoiced when she learned that thousands of Americans had probably
> died in
> the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
> "Everyone
> celebrated," Ms. Abdallah says, as her girlfriends giggle. "People
> honked in
> the streets, cheering that finally America got what it truly
> deserved."
 
> Fellow student Raghda El Mahrouqi agrees: "I just hope there were a
> lot of Jews in that building," she says. Sherihan Ammar, an aspiring
> doctor
> in elaborate makeup and tight T-shirt, sums up her feelings this way:
> "America was just too full of itself," she says with a dismissive
> gesture.
 
> [rest of article deleted]

Yeah.  Eating the meat which one has no confidence as to how it was
slaughtered.  A girl wearing showy makeup and a tight T-shirt.  That's
representative of Islam for ya.  Uh-huh.  
 
> So I guess the muslim world is tolerant of other religions and people,
> as Iman would lead us to believe. I guess their official beliefs vary
> greatly from practice. Maybe, the world of islam really is rallied
> behind us? YEAH RIGHT.

Let's imagine for a moment that I, as a muslim, represent the muslim
world, and you, as an American, represent America.

Now I have both academically and *experientially* studied Islam for over
ten years, lived abroad in the Middle East for about five, living,
working, breaking bread, crying and laughing among muslims.  If one were
to describe to me the Tuesday Terror long before 9/11, I could have told
you that whoever would perpetrate such an act would have acted anathema
to Islam.

I took a vacation to Turkey last month.  Arrived in Istanbul on 9/8. 
Three days later, Turkish media were inundated with news from America. 
I witnessed first-hand deep pain and sorrow among the muslims of Turkey
for what had happened.  I witnessed muslims who decried the terrorism,
who *knew* it was heinous and unjustified. 

Yes, I am aware of those "muslims" who say otherwise.  And they are
sadly mistaken, their reaction bearing more the influence of dialectic
materialist philosophy than one of Islam.    

Now you have a choice : you can decide which of us is more
representative of Islam and proceed accordingly.  You can decide to
listen and give credence to those -- both muslim AND non-muslim -- who
would love nothing more than to pit muslims vs. Americans and America
vs. Islam.

OR you can decide to resist the temptation to do so and we -- both of
us, right here and now -- can seek to come to common terms.

I am not interested in coverting you.  I not interested in veiling
Carol.  I not interested in destroying the cinema, theater or art
museum.  I am not interested in putting a gun to your head and giving
you a choice of Islam or the grave.

This is not my religion.  This is not my way.

> While I have had many moderate islamic friends,
> most of them have shunned the religions from which they came,
> and many
> refuse to go back to their homelands.

Not surprising.  

http://www.muslimamerica.net/siyasa.htm

> I know that the whole islamic
> world isn't bad,

If you know this -- and I am sure you do -- then let's reason together :

As an American, I know all Americans aren't bad.  In fact, I know *more*
than this.  I know MOST Americans are *good.*  And, notwithstanding alot
of what is going on right here in this thread, I am pleased to see that
one intent of the terrorists -- that is, to pit the world of Islam
against America and vice versa -- has, all praise to ALLAH, been
failing.  Let's take a look at the evidence :  
  
A MOSQUE OPENS ITS DOORS, AND A CONVERSATION
By Mary Wiltenburg, The Christian Science Monitor, 10/23/2001
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1023/p15s1-leca.html

...The Islamic Society of Boston in Cambridge, Mass., has opened its
doors to groups of visitors like these every week since Sept. 11. The
community outreach began with an ISB open house the week of the attacks;
700 locals attended, many of them searching for ways to show support for
Muslims and to learn about Islam.

After this flood of interest, the society decided to offer this
"Introduction to Islam" class, a discussion series, and a display at the
Boston Public Library. Numerous such efforts have sprung up nationwide
in the past six weeks...
____

CURIOUS PACK ISLAMIC CENTER
Volunteers were pleased with the number of visitors who came to learn
about the Muslim faith.
By TOM ALEX, Des Moines Register, 10/22/2001
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c5351764/16252573.html

Volunteers at the Islamic Center of Des Moines were unprepared Sunday
for the crowd that came to learn about Islam.

"I thought maybe 30 to 50 people. We have here hundreds," said Dr.
Sameer Yaseen, one of the volunteers. "The mosque is too small. That's
the problem." He wasn't complaining. The volunteers were pleased with
the turnout although no one at the center kept a head count.

The room where several Muslims were taking questions holds fewer than
100 people. It was packed. Visitors tried to listen from the hall. One
woman asked if it was all right to take notes...

-----

ERIE WOMAN CALLED UPON AS "MUSLIM ANSWER LADY"
By Robin Cuneo, Erie Times-News, 10/23/2001
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2001110200026

She has blond hair, blue eyes and a peaches-and-cream complexion. But
she is covered from head to heel - all but her hands, feet and face - in
the manner of Middle Eastern Muslim women.

Mary Al-Hasnawi, 43, is both as all-American as peach pie and a Muslim.

"It is possible to be both," said Al-Hasnawi, the supervisor of
citizenship programs at International Institute of Erie, 517 E. 26th St.
She's also the assistant supervisor of child care, an immigration
counselor and caseworker for immigrants from Iraq.

Al-Hasnawi converted to Islam six years ago and never had a second
thought, she said. Because of the change, however, she frequently finds
herself called upon by media and the public to be a "Muslim answer
lady." And since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, she has found herself
explaining Islam more than ever.

"We're inundated with calls for speakers." Al-Hasnawi said. "We would go
to schools a couple times a year before. Now, we have requests every
day..."

____

MUSLIM IN AMERICA
What is Islam? In this country, there are many answers to that question
BY JEFFERY L. SHELER, U.S. News & World Report, 10/29/2001
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/011029/ideas/29islam.htm

...Islam embraces the monotheism of Christianity and Judaism, accepts
the Hebrew Bible, and venerates Jesus as a prophet. It is centered on
the Koran-the Islamic scriptures, which Muslims believe were revealed to
the prophet Mohammed-which commands five basic devotional duties, called
the "Five Pillars": a declaration of belief that "there is no God but
Allah [Arabic for "the God"] and Mohammed is his prophet"; prayers
offered five times a day; daytime fasting during the month of Ramadan;
charitable giving; and at least one pilgrimage to Mecca.

Muslims are forbidden to consume alcohol, illicit drugs, pork, or any
meat that is not halal-the Islamic equivalent of kosher. Premarital sex
and extramarital sex are sternly prohibited, as are most forms of
unchaperoned dating. Emphasis on public modesty prompts many Muslims to
cover themselves from the wrists to the ankles. Muslims also may not
gamble or pay or accept interest on loans or savings accounts. It is a
regimen that often runs in conflict with the dominant culture. Most
American Muslims have no choice but to break the prohibition on usury to
buy homes and automobiles, for example.

But if the intense scrutiny focused on world Islam since September 11
has revealed anything, it is that the faith is no monolith. While there
is much that binds the world's 1.2 billion Muslims together, there is no
authoritative hierarchy-no pope, no central group of elders-that speaks
to them or for them. And American Islam, it emerges, is its own special
brand.
____

And then there is the account of a muslim brother in Eugene, Oregon who,
after giving a funeral prayer for the martyrs of 9/11, received a
standing ovation from 1,000 + .  His mosque was guarded by some one
hundred non-muslims, bearing a banner that read "Muslims, we are
protecting you.  Go ahead and pray."

I don't currently have the link to that one, but I'll try getting it
a.s.a.p.

> but there are an awful lot of poorly educated muslim
> extremists, and propaganda believing islamic people.

Eliminate the word "muslim" and "islamic" from your statement and I can
guarantee you that more people will find it more convincing and less
inciteful.

If you're *really* objective and neutral, you'll identify the problem as
a *human* one that cuts across all boundaries.
 
was-salaam,
iman@merr.com