Islamical Ray Guns

The Triple Filter Test - Avoid suspicions and backbiting

During the Abbasid period one of the scholars in Baghdad was greeted by an acquaintance who said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

Scholar: "Hold on a minute, before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

The Man: "Triple Filter Test?"

Scholar: "That's right, before you talk to me about my friend it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

The Man: "No, actually I just heard about it and ..."

Scholar: "All right, so you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

The Man: "No, on the contrary..."

Scholar: "So, you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: The filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

The Man: "No, not really."

Scholar: "Well, if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

Let's pass our intended speech through the triple filter test before we madly utter our every thought. And lets subject others to the triple filter test too before we hear any number of damaging things from them.

The Quran teaches us

: "O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, indeed some suspicions are sins. And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh (meat) of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting). And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is the One Who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful." [Quran 49:12]

The prophet Mohammad-pbuh said: “

Keep away from ill-thinking/suspicions because ill-thinking is the greatest falsehood.” [Sahih Bukhari]

The Effect of Prayer on the Human Body

The Effect of Prayer on the Human Body
By : Dr Noha abo-krysha
Translated By : Nassim Dhaher
Revised By Magdy Abd Al-Shafy

In fact , prayer is a strong connection to God . In prayer , one can find many meanings that beggar description , man can find out the basic reason behind his existence . Allah the Exalted says in the Holy Quran what means :

{ Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah. for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction} Sura Arraadverse28

Establish regular prayers - at the sun's decline till the darkness of the night, and the morning prayer and reading: for the prayer and reading in the morning carry their testimony. 79-And pray in the small watches of the morning: (it would be) an additional prayer (or spiritual profit) for thee: soon will thy Lord raise thee to a Station of Praise and Glory!} Sura Al-israa verses 78,79

Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to say , when somthing distress him : (Oh Bilal(the prayer caller ), call for the prayer, relax us by it) [Sunan Abi Dawud]

The Scientific Study

It has become clear , through the results of several studies, the great effect that prayer and devotion have on brain stability and mode of function, and it has also become clear that several changes occur in the body ;among these is the effect that happens during blood systematization to certain parts in the brain

prayer effect on cerebral activities

This research was carried out by Dr. Newberg, the assistant Professor at X-Ray division of the Pennsylvania University Medical Center, on a group of faithful people who have faith in God , practice their prayers and come from different religious backgrounds.

This as done using Single Photon C.T. scan that shows the flow of blood in the cerebrum using colors which are based on brain activity where the color Red represents high activity and Yellow and Green represent low activity.

The First Image

The image shows the brain before meditation and prayer(on the left) and during prayer (on the right) where we see that during the envolvement in prayers and meditation, blood flow has increased , frontal lobe region is responsible for controlling emotions and agitations in humans and a region also important for the acquisition and practice of complicated percetion-movement abilities.

Terms used in the image

Baseline: normal state without meditation

Meditation: as name implies

The Second Image

The image shows a a blood flow decline in the the Parietal lobe at the region where humans sense their time and space limits. It was concluded from these results that during prayer, contemplation and seeking Allah, the limits of self-conciousness dissapear and a feeling of peace and freedom starts in the person and one feels closer to Allah in a way that no words can describe.

Verses from The Quran

Many are the verses that talked about the importance of prayer (Assalat), devotion and praise Allah the Almighty. The Quran has made a link between patience and prayer to make sure one does not get agitated.

Allah The Exalted Says in the Holy Quran what means:

{Nay, seek (Allah's) help with patient perseverance and prayer: It is indeed hard, except to those who bring a lowly spirit} SuraAl-Baqara verse 45

There are other verses that linked between prayer and tranquility.

Allah The Exalted Says:

{When ye pass (Congregational) prayers, celebrate Allah’s praises, standing, sitting down, or lying down on your sides; but when ye are free from danger, set up Regular Prayers: For such prayers are enjoined on believers at stated times.} Sura An-Nisa verse 103

{Successful indeed are the believers , Who are humble in their prayers} Sura Al Muminun verses 1,2

Source : Answering-Christianity

Truth About Terrorism

By James Corbett

Vermont towns vote to arrest Bush and Cheney

Voters in two Vermont towns on Tuesday approved a measure that would instruct police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for "crimes against our Constitution," local media reported.

The nonbinding, symbolic measure, passed in Brattleboro and Marlboro in a state known for taking liberal positions on national issues, instructs town police to "extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them."

Vermont, home to maple syrup and picture-postcard views, is known for its liberal politics.

State lawmakers have passed nonbinding resolutions to end the war in Iraq and impeach Bush and Cheney, and several towns have also passed resolutions of impeachment. None of them have caught on in Washington.

Bush has never visited the state as president, though he has spent vacations at his family compound in nearby Maine.

Roughly 12,000 people live in Brattleboro, located on the Connecticut River in the state's southeastern corner. Nearby Marlboro has a population of roughly 1,000.

(Writing by Andy Sullivan, editing by David Wiessler)

Source : http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/03/05/us-usa-politics-vermont-idUSN0454699420080305

Robert Fisk in Manama: Bahrain – an uprising on the verge of revolution

ahrain is not Egypt. Bahrain is not Tunisia. And Bahrain is not Libya or Algeria or Yemen. True, the tens of thousands gathering again yesterday at the Pearl roundabout – most of them Shia but some of them Sunni Muslims – dressed themselves in Bahraini flags, just as the Cairo millions wore Egyptian flags in Tahrir Square.

But this miniature sultanist kingdom is not yet experiencing a revolution. The uprising of the country's 70 per cent – or is it 80 per cent? – Shia population is more a civil rights movement than a mass of republican rebels, but Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa had better meet their demands quickly if he doesn't want an insurrection.

Indeed, the calls for an end to the entire 200-year-old Khalifa family rule in Bahrain are growing way ahead of the original aims of this explosion of anger: an elected prime minister, a constitutional monarchy, an end to discrimination. The cries of disgust at the Khalifas are much louder, the slogans more incendiary; and the vast array of supposedly opposition personalities talking to the Crown Prince is far behind the mood of the crowds who were yesterday erecting makeshift homes – tented, fully carpeted, complete with tea stalls and portable lavatories – in the very centre of Manama. The royal family would like them to leave but they have no intention of doing so. Yesterday, thousands of employees of the huge Alba aluminium plant marched to the roundabout to remind King Hamad and the Crown Prince that a powerful industrial and trade union movement now lies behind this sea of largely Shia protesters.

Yet Crown Prince Salman talks more about stability, calm, security and "national cohesion" than serious electoral and constitutional reform. Is he trying to "do a Mubarak" and make promises – genuine ones for the moment, perhaps, but kingly pledges do tend to fade with "stability" and time – which will not be met?

In an interview with CNN, he acknowledged the Belfast parallels, exclaiming that "what we don't want to do, like in Northern Ireland, is to descend into militia warfare or sectarianism". But the crazed shooting of the Bahraini army on Thursday evening – 50 wounded, three critically, one already pronounced brain dead – was a small-size Bloody Sunday and it didn't take long for the original civil rights movement in Northern Ireland to be outrun by a new IRA. Clearly, the royal family has been shocked at the events of the last week. Sultan al-Khalifa's admission that "this is not the Bahrain I know, I never thought I would see the day that something like this would happen" proves as much. But his words suggest that this huge manifestation of public fury was merely provoked by television pictures of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. For the record, the Shia rebellion against the country's Sunni rulers has been going on for years, with hundreds of political prisoners tortured in four prisons in and around Manama, their tormentors often from the Jordanian army – just as many Bahraini soldiers come from the Punjab and Baluchistan in Pakistan. Yesterday, there were repeated demands for the release of political prisoners, banners carrying photographs of young men who are still in jail years after their original sentencing: they run into the hundreds.

Then there are the disturbing stories of the refrigerated trucks which reportedly took dozens of corpses for secret burial, perhaps in Saudi Arabia. These could be part of the carapace of rumour that has settled over the events of the past few days, but now some of the names of the disappeared – men who were present at the shootings near the Pearl roundabout last week – are known.

Twelve of their names have just been released. So where is 14-year-old Ahmed Salah Issa, Hossein Hassan Ali, aged 18, Ahmed Ali Mohsen, 25 and Badria Abda Ali, a woman of unknown age? And where is Hani Mohamed Ali, 27, Mahdi al-Mahousi, 24, Mohamed Abdullah, 18, Hamed Abdullah al-Faraj, 21, Fadel Jassem, 45, and Hossein Salman, 48? English residents of a nearby apartment block were warned before the shooting that if they took photographs of the soldiers, they would be shot.

Matar Ibrahim, one of 18 Bahrain Shia MPs, agrees that there is an increasing gap now between demonstrators and the official political opposition that is being sought out by Crown Prince Salman.

"We are waiting for an initiative from the Crown Prince," he told me. "He has not mentioned reform or constitutional monarchy and a fully elected parliament. If people have a properly elected government, including the prime minister, they will blame their representatives if things go wrong. Now, they blame the King.

"What we are suggesting is a removal of the barriers between the people and the ruling family. When Hillary Clinton came to Bahrain, I told her that we don't want to see the US 5th Fleet in Bahrain [its military headquarters] as an obstacle to change, but currently, Bahrain is the worst strategic ally for the US."

The head of the Alba factory trade union, Ali Bin Ali – who is a Sunni – warned that his members could go on strike if they wanted to. "Now that people have been shot down on the roads, we will be political," he said.

Which, of course, is not what the Crown Prince wants to hear.

High-ranking members of US military part of ‘Knights of Malta,’ ‘Opus Dei,’ reporter claims

Veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh has broken some massive stories in his day, but uncovering secret societies within the highest echelons of America's military would probably be the biggest of his career.

Well, get ready for the media storm, because that's essentially what Hersh told an audience in Doha, Qatar recently, according to a report published earlier this week by Foreign Policy.

Speaking at a campus operated by Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, Hersh said he was working on a new book that details "how eight or nine neoconservative, radicals if you will, overthrew the American government."

"It's not only that the neocons took it over but how easily they did it -- how Congress disappeared, how the press became part of it, how the public acquiesced," he continued, according to the published quotes.

Hersh also lamented President Obama's continuance of the Bush administration's worst abuses.

"Just when we needed an angry black man, we didn't get one," he reportedly said.

The Foreign Policy report added that in 2003, those "in the Cheney shop" were not concerned about the havoc the invasion of Iraq was destined to cause.

"[The] attitude was, 'What's this? What are they all worried about, the politicians and the press, they're all worried about some looting?" Hersh was quoted as saying. "Don't they get it? We're gonna change moseques into cathedrals. And when we get all the oil, nobody's gonna give a damn.' That's the attitude. We're gonna change mosques into cathedrals. That's an attitude that pervades, I'm here to say, a large percentage of the Joint Special Operations Command [JSOC]."

He further claimed that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Vice Admiral William McRaven and others in the JSOC were members of the "Knights of Malta" and "Opus Dei," two little known Catholic orders.

"They do see what they're doing -- and this is not an atypical attitude among some military -- it's a crusade, literally," Hersh reportedly continued. "They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They're protecting them from the Muslims [as in] the 13th century. And this is their function."

He added that members of these societies have developed a secret set of insignias that represent "the whole notion that this is a culture war" between religions.

It was President George W. Bush who first invoked images of a holy war in the Middle East, when he suggested soon after Sept. 11, 2001 that the US was on a "crusade" in the region.

The "Knights of Malta" were a Catholic order founded in 1085 as a group of monks who cared for the wounded. It evolved into a military order that safeguarded Christian pilgrims from Muslims during the nine "Crusades," where Europe's Christian states laid siege to Muslims for control of Jerusalem.

"Opus Dei," popularly depicted in the Hollywood film "The DaVinci Code," was founded in 1928 and officially accepted as part of the Catholic church in 1947. The group's website claimed their principle calling was to bring about a "Christian renewal" around the world.

Doubts, denials and a distinctive trend

Raw Story reached out to Hersh and The New Yorker to confirm the accuracy of his quotes, placing this report on hold until they responded. Both declined to make any further statement, neither confirming nor denying the quotes.

However, one source close to Hersh who spoke to Raw Story off the record, suggested that Foreign Policy's report was indeed correct.

Raw Story followed-up on the quotes due to a widely-reported false claim attributed to Hersh in May 2009, where he'd allegedly said former Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The report, which appeared to have originated in Pakistan, was picked up by The Wall Street Journal and the conservative-leaning American Spectator, but both removed the links after Raw Story published a denial from Hersh. A link to Raw Story's original report was unavailable due to a database malfunction.

Hersh, a Pulitzer-winning author and reporter, has previously reported that the JSOC was set up by former Vice President Cheney as something of an "executive assassination squad" that operated outside of congressional authority.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who resigned after Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings quoted him mocking the US civilian command, led JSOC before taking command of America's war effort in Afghanistan.

In an email to the military's Stars and Stripes publication, McChrystal's spokesman, David Bolger, panned Hersh's claim.

“The allegations recently made by Seymour Hersh relating to General McChrystal’s involvement with an organization called The Knights of Malta are completely false and without basis in fact,” he reportedly wrote. “General McChrystal is not and has never been a member of that organization.”

The religious indoctrination of US soldiers has been in headlines in recent weeks as soldiers who "failed" the "spiritual fitness" portion of the "comprehensive soldier fitness" test claimed they were forced to attend Christian ceremonies and become "born again" by professing love for the Christian deity.

Similarly, GQ magazine uncovered last year a series of top-secret military briefings prepared by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that included passages from the Bible.

Trijicon Inc., a defense contractor, was also discovered last January to have been for years placing scriptural references on gun sights used by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Their actions revealed Trijicon was forced to provide the Pentagon with kits to remove the codes.

Source : http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/21/highranking-members-military-part-knights-malta-opus-dei-reporter-claims/

Libya protests: 140 'massacred' as Gaddafi sends in snipers to crush dissent

Snipers shot protesters, artillery and helicopter gunships were used against crowds of demonstrators, and thugs armed with hammers and swords attacked families in their homes as the Libyan regime sought to crush the uprising.

"Dozens were killed ... We are in the midst of a massacre here," a witness told Reuters. The man said he helped take victims to hospital in Benghazi.

Libyan Muslim leaders told security forces to stop killing civilians, responding to a spiralling death toll from unrest which threatens veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi's authority.

Mourners leaving a funeral for protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi came under fire, killing at least 15 people and wounding many more. A hospital official said one of those who died was apparently struck on the head by an anti-aircraft missile, and many had been shot in the head and chest.

The hospital was overwhelmed and people were streaming to the facility to donate blood. "Many of the dead and the injured are relatives of doctors here," he said. "They are crying and I keep telling them to please stand up and help us."

Saturday's new deaths are in addition to the 84 people believed to have been killed by Friday night, in the brutal government response, with fears that the eventual toll will prove much higher.

The five-day uprising in eastern Libya has been the greatest challenge to the 42-year rule of Col Gaddafi, the world's longest-serving ruler. With internet and phone lines to the outside world disrupted, it was unclear whether the revolt inspired by the revolutions in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt was spreading from the impoverished east of Libya to the capital Tripoli, or whether it was being successfully extinguished.

It was centred on Benghazi, 600 miles east of the capital, where a human rights activist lawyer was arrested on Tuesday. Chanting crowds, tens of thousands strong, filled the streets and police reportedly fled or joined the protesters, as unrest spread to surrounding towns. Fighting also broke out in the cities of Al-Bayda, Ajdabiya, Zawiya, and Darnah, with witnesses reporting piles of dead. Hospitals made frantic appeals for blood to treat wards full of wounded people.

Libyan special forces launched a dawn attack on Saturday against hundreds of protesters, including lawyers and judges, camped in front of the courthouse in Benghazi. "They fired tear gas on protesters in tents and cleared the areas after many fled carrying the dead and the injured," one protester said by phone from the city.

Video clips on the internet showed jubilant crowds at the start of the protest smashing down concrete statues of their ruler's Little Green Book, containing his sayings, and fighting running street battles with security forces. There were smaller protests in Tripoli, a stronghold of the Gaddafi family whose population received a much better share of Libya's oil wealth.

Colonel Gaddafi himself was shown on state-run television driving in a motorcade through Tripoli, surrounded by cheering supporters pumping their fists in the air and chanting slogans of support.

The pro-government Al-Watania newspaper praised Colonel Gaddafi, who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1969, and insisted the people were uniting with the government against "traitors of the West". Foreign media were exaggerating the scale of the violence, it said.

Reports from Benghazi gave a very different picture of the crisis, describing how the city's residents battled brutal security forces sent from the capital. One man, who gave his name only as Mohammed, told the BBC: "The army are joining the people, the people are going out of their homes and fighting street by street and they are winning."

A Benghazi cleric, Abellah al-Warfali, said he had a list of 16 people who had been killed, most with bullet wounds to the head and chest. "I saw with my own eyes a tank crushing two people in a car," he said. "They didn't do any harm to anyone."

Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8335934/Libya-protests-140-massacred-as-Gaddafi-sends-in-snipers-to-crush-dissent.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d6160096b34e051%2C0

Libya ruling dictator has been in power for over 42 years and says he is for the people. The obvious lie is clear and his tactics against the protesters show how much he is there to serve the people.

Sending snipers and ordering to shoot to kill, many of the protesters consider him insane and libya is not the beautiful place Gaddafi wishes to display.

Cairo protesters: 'we're not Muslim Brotherhood'

The Telegraph reports from Tahrir Square in Cairo where, despite the violence this week, Egyptian demonstrators are determined to continue their protest until they see the back of President Hosni Mubarak.

Adrian Bloomfield talks to the demonstrators about the motivations behind their protests to end President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year-rule why they are prepared to put their lives on the line to bring change to their country.

Egypt has now faced from 11 days of unrest and protests, with more than 100,000 anti-government demonstrators filling Cairo's giant Tahrir Square chanting after Friday prayers "today is the last day" for President Hosni Mubarak.

Source

Settlers kill 2 Palestinian teens, soldiers attack funeral

Iraq Burin

An Israeli settler allegedly from the illegal Barkha settlement shot and killed 19-year-old Uday Qadous after they engaged in a verbal altercation, on 27 January in the northern West Bank village of Iraq Burin, near Nablus.

Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq investigated the shooting and stated that Uday and his cousin, Umar, were working in their fields when Uday went looking for some of their sheep that had gone missing ("Updates on the Killing of Udayy Qadoush by a Settler in Iraq Bourin," 1 February 2011).

"Shortly after, Umar became worried about his cousin and went to look for him in the fields," Al Haq stated. "He found Uday standing near an unpaved military road (connecting Barkha settlement and the local military base) and a settler was standing opposite him, about 10 meters away; the two were quarreling verbally."

"As they moved away, Umar could no longer see them but heard a bullet shot and saw the settler running away from the scene of the incident. The settler had a light-complexion, blonde hair and wearing a Kippa, carrying a black backpack and a pistol on the side of his waist," Al Haq reported.

The shooting was caught on Israeli military cameras, and was made public on YouTube (IDF Camera 28-Jan-2011: Israeli Settler Kill a Palestinian (Uday Qadous) in Iraq Burin). The brief video appears to show Uday fall to the ground suddenly as he is moving away from the settler.

Medical officials in the Rafadiya hospital in Nablus confirmed that Qadous was shot at point-blank range in the upper torso, with a bullet ripping through his lung, Ma'an news agency reported ("Autopsy on teen slain by settler completed," 28 January 2011).

Beit Ommar

The next day in the southern West Bank village of Beit Ommar, a large group of Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal Bat Ayn settlement descended on the outskirts of the village and opened fire. Yousef Fakhri Ikhlayl, aged 17, was shot in the head while standing in his family's vineyard.

Another 16-year-old boy from Beit Ommar was shot in the arm, but survived the attack.

Ikhlayl remained brain-dead in a hospital in Hebron before succumbing to his wounds early the next morning, according to Beit Ommar-based activism group Palestine Solidarity Project (PSP). PSP reported that at least 100 settlers took part in Friday's attack, which began when armed members of the group began firing at Palestinian homes in the Saffa area adjacent to Beit Ommar. At the same time, PSP added, other settlers opened fire in the Jodor neighborhood, where Ikhlayl was standing ("Beit Ommar youth killed by Israeli settlers," 28 January 2011).

Dozens of villagers from Beit Ommar and nearby Surif immediately came to the area "to defend their communities," PSP stated, adding that seven Israeli military jeeps arrived and "escorted the settlers back to Bay Ayn [settlement]."

Ikhlayl was recently a participant in a youth photography class sponsored by the village-based Center for Freedom and Justice, and had been active with PSP in educational projects and community service-oriented initiatives.

Bekah Wolf, co-founder of PSP, worked closely with Ikhlayl and stated in the press release that "Yousef was a kid who hoped for a better future for Palestine."

Wolf continued, "His life was ended prematurely by right-wing extremists. People around the world should be outraged by his shooting, and should work to bring his attackers to justice."

Approximately 10,000 people filled the streets of Beit Ommar as residents carried Ikhlayl's body and held Palestinian flags in his funeral on 29 January, PSP reported.

As the crowd marched closer to the Israeli sniper tower at the entrance to the village, on their way to the cemetery, Israeli soldiers attacked the funeral procession with sound grenades and tear gas canisters, while some residents threw stones at the fortified tower ("Funeral of Yousef Ikhlayl attacked by Israeli military, dozens injured," 29 January 2011).

Soon afterwards, Israeli military jeeps arrived and soldiers "began shooting live [ammunition] and rubber bullets," PSP added. "Most of the crowd dispersed at this point, carrying the injured people away. Several residents stayed and continued to confront the occupying army with stones."

Dozens were wounded in the attacks.

PSP reported that Israeli soldiers also fired on a Palestinian ambulance attempting to give medical relief to an injured person.

Days before Ikhlayl's killing, settlers from the same illegal settlement destroyed several hundred olive trees in Beit Ommar, PSP stated ("Settlers destroy more trees in Beit Ommar," 28 January 2011).

Earlier in the week, on 27 January, the Israeli military arrested two young boys from Beit Ommar. PSP reported that 11-year-old Hamza Ahmed Abu Hashem and 12-year-old Bilal Mahmood Awad were arrested while they played soccer near their homes ("Israeli forces arrest two Palestinian boys ages 11 and 12 in Beit Ommar," 27 January 2011).

"Bilal and Hamza were taken to the nearby Israeli settlement of Karmei Tsur and then transferred to the police station in Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron," PSP stated.

Hamza is the son of a community activist with the Beit Ommar-based National Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, a group that organizes weekly unarmed demonstrations against the Israeli occupation and the encroaching settlements.

At press time, PSP said that Hamza was released but Bilal was still being held in Israeli detention.

Bekah Wolf told The Electronic Intifada that on 3 February, another two Palestinian youths were arrested by Israeli soldiers, who detained them at Karmei Tsur settlement. Both of the boys are 17 years-old, according to Wolf.

Family members of one of the youths were badly beaten, she reported, when the soldiers entered their house. PSP members were also assaulted by Israeli soldiers when they attempted to find out information about the two boys. Another 26-year-old man was arrested also on 3 February by Israeli soldiers at the entrance to Beit Ommar, Wolf added.

Nabi Saleh

Israeli soldiers also arrested several Palestinian children in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh last week according to a report from The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC). On Sunday, 23 January, Israeli forces arrested 14-year-old Islam al-Tamimi in a pre-dawn raid, IMEMC reported ("An-Nabi Saleh Popular Committee Leader Beaten, Two Children Arrested," 26 January 2011).

The report added that this was the second time in three weeks that Islam was arrested, and was interrogated for eight hours during his detention last week.

Islam was "denied access to legal counsel for the first five hours, during which he confessed to throwing stones during the weekly protest against the annexation wall," IMEMC reported, "and his parents were denied access to their son during the interrogation; their legal right." Islam's brother, 10-year-old Karim al-Tamini, was arrested on Tuesday, IMEMC reported, but was released after seven hours in custody.

On 26 January, the Israeli military arrested two 15-year-old boys along with Bassem Tamimi, leader of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Nabi Saleh, IMEMC stated.

Joseph Dana, independent journalist, contributor to The Electronic Intifada, and media coordinator for the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, reported that Israeli forces applied torture techniques on Islam al-Tamimi during the interrogation ("Harsh interrogations of children escalate in Nabi Saleh," 31 January 2011).

Jordan Valley

Israeli soldiers beat and arrested a 19-year-old Palestinian farmer in the Hadidiya region of the northern Jordan Valley as he grazed his livestock, the Jordan Valley Solidarity Project (JVSP) reported on 2 February ("A young man beaten and kidnapped by soldiers in Hadidiya").

After being beaten by the soldiers, Ghazi Bsharat was taken to a nearby military detention center and released several hours later.

JVSP also reported that approximately 30 Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement of Maskiyot attacked Palestinians in Ein al Helwe, also in the northern Jordan Valley, on 29 January. A woman and her 11-year-old daughter were beaten and threatened with future violence in what residents say are attempts by settlers to force Palestinians to leave the area ("New settler aggression in Ein Il Hilwe," 29 January 2011).

Silwan, Occupied East Jerusalem

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center (SILWANIC) reported that Israeli forces set a Palestinian home on fire on Friday, 28 January, after they fired rounds of tear gas canisters inside the house, located in the Baten al-Hawa area of Silwan ("Palestinian home set ablaze under volleys of tear gas," 28 January 2011).

Following the destruction of the home, Israeli security services, including police, opened fire on Palestinian residents who protested the presence of the armed forces. SILWANIC reported that a 12-year-old boy was injured when a rubber bullet hit him in his face.

Later on, as protests intensified in the Baten al-Hawa area, SILWANIC reported that Israeli settlers "joined the violence" perpetrated by the Israeli armed forces, while Palestinian youth threw molotov cocktails at soldiers who had occupied the roof of a nearby home. Fire bombs were also hurled at the illegal Beit Yonatan settlement inside the neighborhood ("Youth aim Molotovs at soldiers on occupied roof," 28 January 2011).

Gaza Strip

Israeli snipers stationed along the Gaza boundary opened fire on a 21-year-old Palestinian man on 31 January, The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported (""Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," 27 January - 2 February 2011).

Israeli soldiers inside sniper towers near Beit Lahiya town "fired at a number of Palestinian workers who were collecting scraps of construction materials from a site where the evacuated Israeli settlement of 'Elli Sinai' used to stand," PCHR reported.

"Mohammed Zakaria Halawa, 21, from Jabalya, was wounded by a bullet to the left leg, when he was nearly 150 meters away from the border," PCHR added. Rising poverty and the 4-year-long Israeli blockade in the occupied Gaza Strip has forced many Palestinian laborers to collect raw industrial material and rubble from areas near the "buffer zone," a 300-meter-long militarized area along the northern, eastern and maritime boundaries.

As The Electronic Intifada has reported, Israeli planes hit Gaza tunnels, no casualties," 2 February 2011).

Dhammash

Finally, in the village of Dhammash, near Tel Aviv, Israeli police arrested and severely beat members of the Shaaban family on 22 January, accusing them of "harboring illegal workers," according to a report by independent journalist Max Blumenthal ("'The days of '48 have come again.' 15 minutes from Tel Aviv, Israel creates a new refugee camp," 26 January 2011).

Police in the town of Lydd, "violently arrested Ali, Farida, and five members of [the Shaaban] family," Blumenthal reported, adding that their detention was unknown until the following Monday, two days later. A judge then extended their imprisonment until the following Thursday "on the grounds of secret evidence the Shaaban family's lawyer was not allowed to view -- a tactic familiar to Israel's military courts in the West Bank."

A mobile phone video posted on YouTube showed Israeli police beating members of the Shaaban family.

For more than a year, the Palestinian residents of Dhammash have been living under regular police harassment and constant threat of losing their homes in their village, which has been "unrecognized" by the State of Israel since 1948. Residents of Dhammash are Israeli citizens and pay taxes, but do not receive any services as the state refuses to acknowledge their presence.

The Electronic Intifada has reported on the situation for Palestinians inside Dhammash and the adjacent segregated city of Lydd, where recent demolitions of Palestinian homes have left entire families homeless.

Source : http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11780.shtml

An Islamic view of the return of Jesus (pbuh)

In the Qur'an, there is an explicit reference to the "second coming of the Jesus to the world" which is heralded in a hadith (Prophetic narration).

The realization of some information revealed in the Qur'an about Jesus can only be possible by Jesus' second coming... His return will be a great turning point in history, an act will unite all the believers in God, will give an end to all the pains and turmoil of disbelief and will bring peace and happiness to mankind.

Despite this, however, many people assume that Jesus (as) passed away some thousands of years ago and that thus it is unlikely that he will return. This is a misconception arising from lack of knowledge about the Qur'an and the Sunnah. A careful scrutiny of the Qur'an will render an accurate understanding of the verses about Jesus (pbuh) possible.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) told us that Jesus (as) will be sent back to earth and related that in that time, which is called "the end of time", there may be a period in which the earth will attain unprecedented peace, justice and welfare

In this lecture Maulana Imran Hosein takes us through Prophet Jesus birth, life, apparent death (Prophet Jesus never died) and shows his return in the context of today's world.

We know that Issa/Jesus son of Mary was indeed a very righteous individual accepted as a messenger and the Messiah. Begotten through God's word be and he became a sign for mankind.
We will find that even he was tempted by Satan and with his faith given to him he was among the closest to God.

The picture refers to Satan tempting Jesus in the story it is mentioned that Satan attempts to have Jesus (pbuh) sin against God. Satan told Jesus(pbuh) your faith is strong and if you jump of the cliff for certain God will save you. Jesus(pbuh) in turn said to Satan "God is who tests Man, not man who tests God".

For the believers it's important not to test God for God is the one who is testing us.

Numerical facts in the Quran. The signature -19 and The strength of the believers.

It is very important in the 21st Century to educate our Muslim youth about the miracles of the Quran. Among thousands of miracles in the Quran, if he/she really believes that the Quran and these specific miracles could not have come from our Beloved Prophet (PBUH) alone and it was revealed to him by Allah (SWT), then he would have a firm belief that Allah (SWT) does exist. He/she would believe that the Quran is the revelation by Allah (SWT). He will then follow the Quran for success in this life and salvation in the life after death.

In the computer age of the 21st Century, our youth are very impressed by modern technology and the Internet so the numerical miracle of the Quran is most impressive for them. There are a few books that have been written on numerical miracles of the Quran. We can mention a few items and you may review the books for more detail.

Number 19: Sura 74 – The Hidden Secret (Al-Muddath-thir) Ayat 30 to 35. “We appointed 19 angels to be guardians of hell, to disturb the disbelievers, to convince the Christians and Jews (that this is a divine scripture) to strengthen the faith of the faithful, to remove all traces of doubt from the hearts of Christians, Jews as well as believers.”

Why 19 = Allah (SWT) uses 19 as his signature.

1.Sun, moon and earth become aligned every 19 years.

2.Human bones are 209 pieces (19 x 11)

Quran is the Miracle of the Beloved Prophet (PBUH)

Quran is full of Allah’s (SWT) signature: Number 19

1.Bismillah Al Rahman Alrahim in Arabic contains 19 letters

2.Quran contains 114 Sura (6 x 19)

3.Quran contains 6346 (19 x 334) verses

4.Bismillah occur 114 times (6 x 19) in Quran, although Sura 9 has no Bismillah and Sura 27 has Bismillah at the beginning and middle.

5.First Revelation Sura 96 Ayeh 1-5 consists of 19 words

6.First Revelation Sura 96 Ayeh 1-5 consists of 76 letters (19 x 4).

7.Sura 96 First Revelation has 19 verses

8.The Last Revelation (Sura 110) consists of 19 words.

9.Sura Q (No-50) has 57Q (3 x 19)

10.The word Quran has been repeated in the Quran text 57 times (3 x 19)

11.Total count of Allah in Quran 2698 (19 x 142)

12.Total number of verses wherever the word Allah is mentioned, total added together is 118123 (19 x 6217).

There are many other examples that you may find in the books written on this subject. If you think all of these mathematical relations are just a coincidence, then you will never become a believer. If you believe that these mathematical relations are not just a coincidence but a miracle of Allah (SWT), then you will be able to follow the Quran and use it as your guidance and you will be successful in this life and in the life after death.

Source

Al-Hayat (Life)145/Al-Maout (Death)145

Al-Mala'ikah (Angles)88/Al-Shayateen (Satan)88

Al-Rajul (Man)24/Al-Mar'ha (Woman)24

Al-Salihat (Righteous deeds)167/Al-Sayi'at (Evil deeds)167

Al-Dunya (This World)115/Al-Akhira (The Hereafter)115

Al-Yisr (Facility, Relief)36/Al-'Usr (Difficulty)12

Al-Abraar (The Righteous)6/Al-Fujjaar (The Wicked)3

Al-Jahr (Saying Aloud)16/Al-'Alaniyah (in public)16

Al-Mahabbah (Love)83/Al-Ta'ah (Obedience)83

Al-Huda (Right Guidance)79/Al-Rahma (Mercy)79

Al-Salaam (Peace)50/Al-Tayibaat (Delicacies)50

Al-Shiddah (Hardship)102/Al-Sabr (Patience)102

Al-Musibah (Disaster)75/Al-Shukr (Thank)75

Iblees (Satan/Lucifer)11/Al-Isti'azah Billah (seek God's refugee)11

Al-Jazaa' (Reward)117/Al-Maghfirah (Forgiveness)234 (117*2)

Al-Shahr (Month)12/Al-Yahom (Day)365

Al-bahar (Sea)32/Al-bar (Land)13

Source

"We will show them Our Signs in the universe, and in their ownselves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (Qur'an) is the truth. Is it not sufficient in regard to your Lord that He is a Witness over all things?" (Quran 41:53)

So called Under-wear bomber was set up on the plane

Kurt Haskell Blows Whistle on Underwear Bomber. Government Op

I contend that this story is just the tip of the iceberg into the US government's black operations to further the Patriot Act, funding for Homeland Security and the TSA, and to keep intensity up for the so called War on Terror. Respected lawyer and community leader, Kurt Haskell, has nothing to gain from pointing his finger at the federal government. He witnessed the underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, being whisked past security and led onto NorthWest Airlines flight 253, by a well-dressed man with an American accent- all without the passenger's proper visa and passport documentation. What the news piece doesn't mention is that the State Dept did indeed put Mutallab on the plane, at the behest of "an unnamed US intelligence agency." Undersecretary Patrick F. Kennedy (Detroit news article was removed from web!).

THIS is why we are being groped, molested, and body scanned at the airport by the TSA! Because the government claims the underwear bomber is a real threat! Stand up America- the politicians say our rhetoric is dangerous. Maybe the government itself is terribly dangerous....

These video clips may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

News piece aired January 25, 2011 - FOX 2 WJBK Detroit, Michigan

On November 2, 1917, Lord Arthur Balfour, the then British foreign secretary, promised to create a homeland for the Jews in Palestine. Known as the Balfour Declaration, the document became the first stepping-stone towards the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel.

Palestine was still under Ottoman rule when it was written. But Britain and its allies were making headway in defeating the ailing Ottoman empire and, when Palestine came under British control just a month later, the document suddenly assumed much greater significance. The Balfour Declaration was presented as equal to a land deed that conferred legitimacy on the plans of the international Zionist movement.

Balfour was keenly aware of the presence of an indigenous Arab population, but in an era that preceded international law, the United Nations charter and the Fourth Geneva Convention, a powerful empire had no qualms about granting a land deed for territories it had no legitimate claim to.

The Balfour Declaration did include a stipulation that "nothing shall be done that may prejudice the religious or civil rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine" - a clause that was not exactly heeded by the founders and rulers of Israel. But little more could have been expected as the declaration itself stripped the Arab community in Palestine of its right to land and self-determination.

'Europe's problem'

But the Palestinian Arabs were the last thing on Balfour's mind, or the minds of many other British politicians. He was primarily concerned with solving 'a European problem' and not with addressing the rights of an indigenous people. He also sought to bolster a declining British empire.

Balfour saw the establishment of a homeland for the Jews in Palestine as the best solution to what was commonly referred to as Europe's 'Jewish problem' - a solution that reflected and embodied the central anti-Semitic belief that Jews were an alien body causing problems in Christian Europe.

Balfour was a known anti-Semite who as prime minister supported and pushed for the 1905 Aliens Act that sought to curb Eastern European, particularly Jewish, immigration to Britain.

Over the years, he grew convinced that Zionism - the movement that advocated the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine - offered a convenient solution to the 'Jewish problem'. Like other anti-Semites he did not believe that Jews belonged in Europe and felt that they comprised a separate race and religion that could not live in harmony within their countries of residence.

He expressed these views clearly in an introduction he wrote to a book called ‘History of Zionism’ by Nahum Sokolow. Calling on Europeans to support Zionism, Balfour wrote: "For as I read its meaning it is, among other things, a serious endeavour to mitigate the age-long miseries created for Western civilisation by the presence in its midst of a body which it too long regarded as alien and even hostile, but which it was equally unable to expel or to absorb. Surely, for this if for no other reason it should receive our support."

While many Jews sought assimilation, the Zionist movement established by Theodore Herzl sought a separate entity for the Jews. It did not see the Jewish problem as one of segregation and discrimination that could be addressed through a struggle for universal rights but sought a more radical solution - to take Jews out of Europe.

Jewish opposition

But not all Jews were convinced that this was the answer. In fact there was considerable resistance to Zionism from some European, including British, Jews. Chief among these critics was the British politician Edwin Montagu who forcefully argued that the declaration could produce a backlash against those Jews who chose to remain in Europe. "I wish to place on the record my view that the policy of His Majesty's government is anti-Semitic in result and will prove a rallying ground for anti-Semites in every country of the world," he wrote in an official memorandum.

Historians believe that Montagu's criticism led to important changes and additions being made to the original draft of the declaration - with Balfour's promise to support making Palestine "a Jewish homeland" becoming support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".

The final draft also stipulated that nothing would be done that might prejudice the rights or political status of Jews in any other country - an attempt to allay fears that the establishment of a homeland for Jews would put Jews in Europe at risk by confirming perceptions of them as an "alien" group.

Thus a formula was found to satisfy both anti-Semites and those Jews who preferred assimilation into their country of residence.

But in all of this drama the Palestinians were neither consulted nor seriously considered. It was then much as it is today - except that British imperial power has been replaced by American imperial power.

Lord Balfour was a true representative of the imperial values of his times - an anti-Semitic politician who sought to solve what was then seen as 'Europe's problem' while setting the stage for the creation of a pro-Western entity in the Arab world. His declaration was an embodiment of both imperialism and anti-Semitism, the repercussions of which are still being felt thousands of miles away from where his short policy statement was crafted.

Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian affairs.

Source:
Al Jazeera
Novemeber 6, 2010

RAHM EMANUEL’S FATHER SPECIALIZED IN BUS BOMBINGS IN PALESTINE

Wikipedia deleted the page about Rahm Emanuel’s father in 2008. Makes you wonder.

(WASHINGTON D.C.) – Note from Publisher:Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel held a top position in our country’s leadership and his example of ethics and integrity is of the highest importance. This is not diminished regardless of his aspirations to leave the national spotlight and become the mayor of Chicago.

But, it seems, some secrets must just be harder to share. This revealing article will leave you with a better understanding of why no one wants to talk about Benjamin Emanuel. And why they should.
- Bonnie King

A well-placed British source informed WMR that Rahm Emanuel’s father, Benjamin Emanuel, specialized in the terrorist bombings of buses carrying British troops and policemen during the British Mandate in Palestine.

British MI-6 files contain information on the elder Emanuel’s participation in the terrorist activities of Irgun Zvai Leumi, a Jewish terrorist organization that targeted British forces, UN officials, and Palestinian Arabs in the lead up to Israeli independence in 1948.

Benjamin Emanuel, a Jew from Russia whose real name was Ezekiel Auerbach, was arrested by British police for terrorist activities in the months prior to Israeli independence. Many of the British policemen killed by Emanuel and his Irgun colleagues between 1947 and 1948 had been transferred to Palestine upon Indian and Pakistani independence in 1947. Irgun saw the increase of British policemen from the Indian subcontinent as a major threat.

The Jewish terrorist murders of British troops and policemen resulted in massive anti-Jewish riots in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, and Cardiff in 1947. In 1946, Emanuel’s Irgun bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people, including 28 British soldiers and policemen.

British intelligence also believed that Benjamin Emanuel may have been related to Vladimir Jabotinsky, a Russian Jew from Odessa who founded Irgun. Jabotinksy, who was an admirer of Benito Mussolini and who secretly negotiated for the expatriation of Jews to Palestine with the Nazi government in Germany and Admiral Miklos Horthy’s pro-Nazi regime in Hungary, died of a heart attack in New York in 1940.

Wikipedia deleted Benjamin Emanuel’s entry in 2008*, shortly after Rahm Emanuel was designated as President Obama’s chief of staff. Wikipedia is a favorite device for the perception management goals of Dr. Cass Sunstein, Obama’s director of the White House Office of Regulatory Affairs.

With a record of terrorist acts contained in his MI-6 files, Benjamin Emanuel was permitted by U.S. authorities to emigrate to Chicago from Israel in the 1950s, becoming a citizen. Rahm Emanuel was born in 1959.

Source

Palestine: The Arrival of Zionism

Zionism arrived in Palestine in the late 19th as a colonialist movement motivated by national impulses.

The colonization of Palestine fitted well the interests and policies of the British Empire on the eve of the First World War.

With the backing of Britain, the colonization project expanded, and became a solid presence on the land after the war and with the establishment of the British mandate in Palestine (which lasted between 1918 and 1948).

While this consolidation took place, the indigenous society underwent, like other societies in the rest of the Arab world, a steady process of establishing a national identity.

But with one difference. While the rest of the Arab world was shaping its political identity through the struggle against European colonialism, in Palestine nationalism meant asserting your collective identity against both an exploitative British colonialism and expansionist Zionism.

Thus, the conflict with Zionism was an additional burden. The pro-Zionist policy of the British mandate there naturally strained the relationship between Britain and the local Palestinian society.

This climaxed in a revolt in 1936 against both London and the expanding Zionist colonization project.

The revolt, which lasted for three years, failed to sway the British mandate from a policy it had already decided upon in 1917. The British foreign secretary, Lord Balfour, had promised the Zionist leaders that Britain would help the movement to build a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine.

The number of Jews coming into the country increased by the day - although even at that point, during the 1930s, the Jews were just a quarter of the population, possessing 4 percent of the land.

As resistance to colonialism strengthened, the Zionist leadership became convinced that only through a total expulsion of the Palestinians would they be able to create a state of their own.

From its early inception and up to the 1930s, Zionist thinkers propagated the need to ethnically cleanse the indigenous population of Palestine if the dream of a Jewish state were to come true.

The preparation for implementing these two goals of statehood and ethnic supremacy accelerated after the Second World War.

The Zionist leadership defined 80 percent of Palestine (Israel today without the West Bank) as the space for the future state.

This was an area in which one million Palestinians lived next to 600,000 Jews.

The idea was to uproot as many Palestinians as possible. From March 1948 until the end of that year the plan was implemented despite the attempt by some Arab states to oppose it, which failed. Some 750,000 Palestinians were expelled, 531 villages were destroyed and 11 urban neighbourhoods demolished.

Half of Palestine’s population was uprooted and half of its villages destroyed. The state of Israel was established in over 80 percent of Palestine, turning Palestinian villages into Jewish settlements and recreation parks, but allowing a small number of Palestinian to remain citizens in it.

The June 1967 war allowed Israel to take the remaining 20 percent of Palestine.

This seizure defeated in a way the ethnic ideology of the Zionist movement. Israel encompassed 100 percent of Palestine, but the state incorporated a large number of Palestinians, the people who Zionists made such an effort to expel in 1948.

The fact that Israel was let off easily in 1948, and not condemned for the ethnic cleansing it committed, encouraged it to ethnically cleanse a further 300,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza strip.

Source

'US embassy official Blackwater agent'

Pakistani media say the US embassy official charged with the murder of two Pakistani citizens is an agent for the notorious security firm, Blackwater.

The US official identified by police as Raymond Davis shot dead two men riding on a motorcycle in Lahore on Thursday in what he claimed was self-defense during an attempted robbery.

A third Pakistani was run over and killed in the incident after being hit by a US consulate vehicle rushing to the scene to the American's aid.

The US embassy in Islamabad has confirmed the man involved was a consular official and says it is carrying out an investigation.

Trying to avoid an anti-American reaction, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Thursday that Washington will fully cooperate with Pakistani authorities and will explain about the incident to the Pakistani people.

The issue of American diplomats carrying weapons inside Pakistan was a hot-button subject last year among certain politicians and sections of the media purportedly worried about the country's sovereignty.

Many Pakistanis regard the United States with suspicion or outright enmity because of its occupation of neighboring Afghanistan

http://www.presstv.com/detail/162383.html

Bouazizi has become a Tunisian protest 'symbol'

SIDI BOUZID, TUNISIA // The day started normally for Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, an impoverished vegetable-seller in this rural Tunisian town: shower, prayer and his pushcart. By midday he had doused himself in petrol outside the regional governor's office and set himself alight.

"He was my soul, my life, my heart," said his mother, Mannoubia Bouazizi. "Now he's a symbol."

Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation on December 17 after authorities confiscated his produce triggered a wave of protests over unemployment that is still shaking Tunisia, the worst unrest facing the president, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali since he took power in 1987.

Yesterday Mr Ben Ali fired the interior minister, Rafik Belhaj Kacem, and ordered the release of people arrested so far during protests, save those proven guilty. An evening a curfew was imposed in Tunis, the capital, as soldiers were deployed there and in other areas that have seen clashes between protesters and police.

Tunisia has a growing economy and living standards often on par with western Europe, but has failed to curb 14 per cent official unemployment that is believed to approach double that number among young people.

Jobs are also most scarce in rural towns such as Sidi Bouzid, a strip of low houses and a handful of government offices along a high road in the country's agricultural heartland.

The region lacks key industrial infrastructure, while corrupt officials have long siphoned off state funding meant for development, said Rachid Fetini, a leading businessman in Sidi Bouzid and president of the orientation council at the Centre d'Affaire, a state agency supporting local entrepreneurs.

"For example, milk produced here must be sterilised in Tunis; a local milk factory would double our production," Mr Fetini said. "As for corruption, it's been particularly bad in Sidi Bouzid."

Regional officials could not be reached for comment. Yesterday the prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, said the government would investigate claims of official corruption.

Mohamed Bouazizi grew up in a white stuccoed house down a dirt road near the edge of Sidi Bouzid, one of seven siblings. From the age of 10, he worked selling vegetables in the street to help support his family.

"Mohamed hoped most to buy his own van," said his sister, Samia Bouazizi, 19. "But he wanted it for work, not for himself. Even his private dream was to help his family."

The family was drinking tea at home on Tuesday.

Sidi Bouzid has been under heightened security since the day last month when authorities confiscated Mohamed Bouazizi's vegetables, slapping his face in the process, according to the lawyer, Lotfi Tlili, who is representing the Bouazizi family.

Authorities have said that Mohamed Bouazizi lacked a required permit. However, no permit is needed to sell from a cart, said Hamdi Lazhar, the head of Sidi Bouzid's state office for employment and independent work. Siblings Salem and Samia Bouazizi accused authorities of trying to extort cash from their brother.

After the run-in, Mohamed Bouazizi apparently snapped: he quickly acquired petrol, drenched himself in it, and set himself alight in the town's main street before shocked observers.

"An ambulance took him away, and people starting gathering," said Mr Tlili, who was at the scene. "By the afternoon it was a demonstration, and the police intervened with clubs and tear gas."

Mohamed Bouazizi was later transferred to a hospital in Tunis, where he died last week from his burns. His family has filed a complaint against the Sidi Bouzid municipality for the alleged assault on him by authorities, Mr Tlili said.

Meanwhile, protests have rippled across Tunisia, captivating a generation that is following news of unrest via online networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook.

While few openly blame Mr Ben Ali for Tunisia's woes, the internet has buzzed with anonymous support for the Tunisian rapper, Hamada Ben-Amor, briefly arrested this month after releasing a song seen as an affront to the president.

Authorities say that 23 people have been killed so far as protesters have clashed with police, whom they say have only used force in self-defence or to protect lives and public property. Union officials quoted by wire services have put the death toll as high as 46.

The National

Islam, Islamophobia and The Unbelievers.

What is Islam

"Say: 'Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger: but if ye turn away, he is only responsible for the duty placed on him and ye for that placed on you. If ye obey him, ye shall be on right guidance. The Messenger's duty is only to preach the clear (Message). (The Noble Quran, 24:54)"

"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy handhold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things. (The Noble Quran, 2:256)"

The most important factor to the religious Islam is to believe that there is no god but God(Allah) and Mohammad (peace be with him) is God's final messenger.
Allah translated to English would mean Thee One God.
Islam gives it's follower the complete freedom of thoughts and conquest for knowledge and betterment's to the community and oneself through righteous actions. It addresses specific and major issues in a striving community as well ensures that the poor, elderly and needy are to be taken care of as well establishing a community bank, hospitals, universities and a required donation of 2% of anyone earnings where all people will pay the same amount with no acceptations, as well encourages donations on an everyday basis.
Islam's politics for a society where the leaders served the masses, the money was only a tool to expand a strong, solid community. Knowledge and Education are very important elements were crucial to their everyday life. The quest to figure out how any one can tell the time for prayer by making clocks to tell time as well the very difficult task of establishing GLOBAL POSITIONING, this way anyone can know the direction to Mecca, and impressive enough established both and they simply took off in many other fields of knowledge and great civilizations which none surpass the wonders done in Spain and Alhambra. All these civilizations began with this one man, Mohammad(pbuh)
Mohammad(pbuh) passed away with zero in money and his house was very simple and basic. It's said his bed was made from dried tree leaves, yet he changed his community to seekers of betterments and knowledge.

Taking care of the needy was done on hourly basis by Mohammad(pbuh). He received great deals of gold and money, only to donate it all away and even fasted for days because he donated so much.
Giving is better then receiving according to Islam and the rewards of giving to others here is receiving a far greater compensation that is greater then the entire earth.(Heaven)
Evil and bad actions will only lead to a compensation which no one wishes it on themselves if they knew.(hell)

So Islam pretty much says give give give and pray to God at all moments, have God with you with every action to every word. Always strive to be among the righteous and good doers. Allah rewards far exceed everything on this earth.

Freedom of choice(to belief) according to the Quran

"If it had been thy Lord's will, they would all have believed,- all who are on earth! wilt thou then COMPEL mankind, against their will, to believe! (The Noble Quran, 10:99)"

There is no such thing as forced conversion in Islam. The Quran forbids it

Islamophobia world wide

Beware of all the Islamophobia that is going on across the U.S.A and many other nations across the world. Islam is not a hate based faith, rather a faith that truly encourages love and righteousness.
Islam has been targeted by many and the finger pointing associating radicals with Islam (the faith). It seems as the terror acts done by almost everybody else to being unrelated to their religious believes, but when a Muslim commits such an act then Islam (the faith) is guilty, therefor making all Muslims guilty.

The media among many sources have played a major role in spreading miss-info about Islam. Turning people's attention to something irrelevant (Islam) to being a world threat and ignore major issues like the illegal war against Iraq, the continual occupation of Afghanistan, the collapsing economies, The collapsing education systems, collapsing insurances, fraudulent banking, and much more.

What Islamophobia does is it continues to generalize all Muslims to being somewhat supportive of terrorism or are all terrorist because Islam itself supports terrorism and many spread lies that attempt to justify their claims with Quranic text taken out of context, which are a few and completely ignore the overwhelming text that teach to be peaceful and be moderate.
One of the typical miss-info we find about Islam is that Muslims are supposed to kill all the unbelievers. Which is very far from the truth. Many push That Islam is an ideology that encourages violence and aggression.

"But if the enemy incline towards peace, do thou (also) incline towards peace, and trust in God: for He is One that heareth and knoweth (all things). (The Noble Quran, 8:61)"

"If thou dost stretch thy hand against me, to slay me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against thee to slay thee: for I do fear God, the cherisher of the worlds. (The Noble Quran, 5:28)"

What does the Quran command Muslims to do to the unbeliever

"Again and again will those who disbelieve, wish that they had bowed (to God's will) in Islam. Leave them alone, to enjoy (the good things of this life) and to please themselves: let (false) hope amuse them: soon will knowledge (undeceive them). (The Noble Quran, 15:2-3)"

There you have it
The Quran does not say "kill all those who don't believe in Islam". The Quran commands to LEAVE THEM ALONE. Disbelievers have the free choice to do so and the Quran confirms of this human right. All people are given the freedom of choice as well force is forbidden on any one to accept belief.

"Say, 'The truth is from your Lord': Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it):......(The Noble Quran, 18:29)"

"God does not forbid you from showing kindness and dealing justly with those who have not fought you about religion and have not driven you out of your homes. God loves just dealers. (The Noble Quran, 60:8)"

The Quran command that Muslims show kindness to people who are not fighting them or kicking them out of their home and that GOD loves just dealers.

"And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for God. But if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against wrongdoers. (The Noble Quran 2:193)"

"But if the enemy incline towards peace, do thou (also) incline towards peace, and trust in God: for He is One that heareth and knoweth (all things). (The Noble Quran, 8:61)"

Those who fight the Muslims, the Muslims have a right to fight back until Muslims are victories, but if the enemies stop the fighting then there should be no hostility except against the wrong doers. The innocent are protected.
Muslims are supposed to incline towards peace when peace is offered as well.
It's clear that Islam is a faith that encourages a moderate society that gives people the freedom of choice, a right given by God. That Muslims are not after the none believers and are not on a war against the unbelievers. Islam encourages peace and harmony, productivity and betterment.

It's very important to remember these facts and more important to pass the truth to others.. There are evil forces out there trying to intentionally turn people against each other, but the will of God is stronger then their efforts.

Peace be with you and May you strive in the righteous path from this life to the after.

Police join protests in Tunisia

Thousands of demonstrators, including police officers, lawyers and students, have taken to the streets of Tunisia's capital, Tunis, in another day of unrest in the North African country.

At least 2,000 police officers participated in Saturday's demonstrations, according to the Associated Press news agency. They were joined by members of the national guard and fire departments.

Crowds gathered in front of the office of Mohamed Ghannouchi, the interim prime minister, and on Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the main street of Tunis.

The rally was the latest in a month of turmoil that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's longstanding ruler, sending him into exile in Saudi Arabia on January 14.

While many demonstrators are continuing to demand the dissolution of the interim government, the police officers who have joined the protests are seeking better working conditions and an improvement in what they call unfair media portrayal.

Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Tunis, said that the police officers marched with protesters, wearing red armbands in solidarity with the marching crowds.

"They said they want to be with people now, they want to be part of the revolution," she said.

"They no longer want to be persecuted - they say, 'Please don't blame us for the deaths of the protesters'."

Indeed, the protesters have changed tactics.

At the prime minister's office, Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reported, protesters broke through barricades but no violence occurred.

He reported that the anti-riot squad pleaded with the crowd, saying: 'Do whatever you want to do but please don't storm the office of the prime minister. That is a red line."

But protesters were already starting to break the barricades by late afternoon.

Masoud Romdhani, a trade union activist who was at the demonstration, told Al Jazeera that the protests must continue in order to oust the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), the former ruling party, entirely.

Many Tunisians are angry over the inclusion of several prominent members of Ben Ali's cabinet in the new interim government.

Romdhani said labour activists feel that "nothing is done" until the RCD is removed from the cabinet entirely.

Countering such criticism, Sami Zaoui, the Tunisian secretary for communication technologies, told Al Jazeera that "civil society" and opposition parties account for more than two-thirds of the transitional government.

He also rejected the view that Ghannouchi was "in a difficult situation" and played down the ongoing protests as "very local demonstrations".

"We cannot say that the entire country is currently demonstrating," Zaoui said.

Dissolution demanded

A day earlier, hundreds of protesters took to the streets seeking the dissolution of the interim administration.

In an effort to dampen the anger, interim prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, who is a former ally of Ben Ali, pledged to quit politics after elections that he says will be held as soon as possible.

In an interview on Tunisian television on Friday, Ghannouchi said he would leave power after a transition phase that leads to legislative and presidential elections "in the shortest possible timeframe".

Despite resigning his RCD membership, he has been struggling to restore calm under a new multiparty government that the opposition complains retains too many members of the party.

"My role is to bring my country out of this temporary phase and even if I am nominated I will refuse it and leave politics," Ghannouchi said.

He did not say why he was leaving politics or specify when the elections would be held. He said the elections must be a success "to show the world that our country has a civilisation".

Ghannouchi also said that all of the assets held abroad by Ben Ali's regime had been frozen and would be returned to Tunisia after an investigation.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Tunis, said that Ghannouchi also announced that the state would provide compensation to those who died during the uprising, as well as their families.

The army and the justice department have been ordered to preserve any documents and evidence that can be gathered so the old government can be implicated throughout the investigation, our correspondent said.

The transitional government has also said that it would lift a ban on political groups, including the Ennahda (Renaissance) party.

The leader of the formerly banned party, Rachid al-Ghannouchi, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Ennahda is democratic and should not be feared, and he rejected any comparison between him and Iran's late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

"We are a moderate Islamic movement, a democratic movement based on democratic ideals in ... Islamic culture. Some people pull Khomeini's robe over me, while I am no Khomeini nor a Shia," he said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/2011122133816146515.html