The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) recognizes astronomical calculation as an acceptable Shar’ia method for determining the beginning of lunar months including the months of Ramadan and Shawwal. On the basis of this method the date of Eid ul-Fitr for the year 1431 AH is established on Friday, September 10, 2010.

Hence, we are  celebrating one Eid in GTA. Accept our heartiest greetings on behalf of TheMuslim.ca

TORONTO, ON – Campbell is taking the lead as the first mainstream brand to launch Halal-certified products in the soup aisle.

There’s a great story behind the launch of Campbell Company of Canada’s line of 15 Halal-certified products for Canada’s growing Muslim community.

“Campbell Canada is committed to making a difference and providing products that meet the diverse dietary needs of all Canadians,” said Mark Childs, Campbell Canada’s vice-president of marketing.  “When we challenged our employees to develop new products linked to our vision of Extraordinary, authentic nourishment for all, the ideas they provided reflected the diversity of Canada, including the growing need for accessible, affordable and nourishing Halal-certified foods. With the passion, energy and commitment of the Campbell team we were able to launch our Halal-certified products.”

Canada’s Muslim population now tops one million and is expected to grow significantly over the next 10 years.  Childs adds “With the launch of our Halal-certified soups we recognize Canada as one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world.  We also recognize that not everyone eats the same foods or prepares them the same way.”

Before launching Halal-certified soups, Campbell Canada worked closely with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the largest non-profit, religious, educational and non-political Islamic organization in North America, to review a selection of Campbell products and certify them as Halal under ISNA’s Halal Certification Program.

ISNA’s Halal Certification Program was established in conjunction with professionals in the field of Islamic foods and nutrition and Islamic scholars. The program includes the review of ingredients, formulas, manufacturing and sanitation processes.

Campbell Canada’s 15 Halal-certified products are identifiable by the ISNA logo on their labels. Now available at major Canadian grocery stores, these products include:

Campbell’s® Condensed Soups

Tomato

Tomato Rice

Vegetarian Vegetable

Low Fat Cream of Broccoli

Campbell’s® Gardennay® Soups

Red Pepper Black Bean

Harvest Mushroom with Real Cream

Asparagus with Sweet Basil

Red Lentil and Vegetable

V8® Soups

Vine-Ripened Herbed Tomato

Campbell’s® Broths

Vegetable Broth

Campbell’s® Ready to Enjoy Soups

Cream of Mushroom

Garden Minestrone

Light Cream of Mushroom

Light Garden Minestrone

Campbell’s® Créations Soup

Rustic Spiced Lentil and Vegetable

“Campbell is committed to providing wholesome, nourishing options for all Canadians.  Anyone following a Halal diet can trust that these products are safe to enjoy and share with their own families,” says Childs.  “Our Halal-certified soups are designed not just for the religious needs of Muslims but also to meet the demands of today’s busy lifestyles.”

This year, in recognition of the launch of Halal-certified soups, Campbell Canada donated more than 4000 cans of Halal-certified soup to Food Banks Canada for distribution to Muslims who access local food banks across the country.  The company has also made food donations to a number of mosques for Ramadan when many families go to their mosques to eat their evening meal after sundown.

For more information on Campbell Canada’s Halal-certified products, visit www.campbellsoup.ca/nourishment-for-all

About Campbell Company of Canada

Campbell Soup Company is a global manufacturer and marketer of high-quality foods and simple meals, including soup and sauces, baked snacks and healthy beverages. Founded in 1869, the company has a portfolio of market-leading brands, including “Campbell’s,” “Pepperidge Farm,” “Arnott’s” and “V8.” With a soup plant located in Toronto, ON, Campbell Canada is a subsidiary of Campbell Soup Company. Through its corporate social responsibility program, the company strives to make a positive impact in the workplace, in the marketplace and in the communities in which it operates. Campbell is a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes. For more information, visit www.campbellsoup.ca.

This is not the first time critics of extremist Muslims have resorted to book-burning. Many Islamophobic Canadians, Americans and Europeans even echo Osama bin Laden’s argument that the West is at war with Islam.

But there is a difference among the crises occasioned by Rushdie’s book, the Danish cartoons and the Florida pastor’s plan. In the West, Rev. Terry Jones’ comments and his congregation’s planned Qur’an bonfire have been widely condemned from the start.

Yet he’s not as fringe a figure as we’d like to believe. There’s no shortage of priests, politicians and pundits spouting hate against Muslims. Some do so openly; others use the fig leaf of “political Islam” or “Islamism” to demonize all Muslims. Or, they couch their criticism in the moral language of defending Muslim women, a worthy goal rendered suspect when they selectively ignore similar or worse abuses in other patriarchal religions and cultures.

Islam is not above criticism; but it should not be selectively and disproportionately attacked either. Nor should all Muslims be blamed for terrorism committed by self-described Muslims in the name of Islam. Yet collective guilt is at the core of opposition to an Islamic cultural centre being built in New York City, just two blocks north of Ground Zero -- a protest is also planned against that project for Saturday.

The Florida and New York controversies have helped awaken Americans and the rest of the world to an alarming degree of “anti-Muslim frenzy,” as a coalition of religious leaders of different faiths noted Tuesday. “To attack any religion in the United States is to do violence to the religious freedom of all Americans.”

It’s taken a long time for the principle to sink in -- that Islamophobia, just like anti-Semitism or anti-Catholicism, erodes the foundations of secular democracy.

Jones’s incendiary plan has been a useful wake-up call in other ways.

Hillary Clinton’s lament on Wednesday that the media should not pay too much attention to Jones because he is “aberrational” and not representative of Americans is the mirror image of what Muslims have been pleading for nine years -- that their own most obscure and “aberrational” voices have been paraded as representative of all Muslims.

Gen. David Petraeus’s warning that burning the Qur’an in Florida might endanger American troops in Afghanistan could be read (even if not so intended) as a testament to Muslim irrationality and proclivity to harming Americans.

Or it can be seen as an acknowledgement that the western war of words against Islam, besides confirming bin Laden’s thesis, runs counter to Barack Obama’s considered conclusion that the key to combating terrorism and radicalism abroad and at home is to wind down the failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; to stop demonizing all Muslims and their faith; and to open a dialogue with the Muslim world.

America cannot turn a blind eye to the burning of the Muslim holy book on American soil by a so-called Christian pastor, while President Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are hosting Iftar parties for Muslims on the evening of the breaking of their Ramadan fast, or while CIA director Leon Panetta, addresses Muslims across the U.S., pleading “I need you, the nation needs you,” to ferret out criminals.

The most successful prosecution of potential terrorists has come not from wars but from good police work, as in the case of the “Toronto 18” and convictions in two separate cases in Ottawa and Montreal, plus several in the U.S. and the U.K.

This is a crucial lesson we cannot forget as we remember the 2,752 people murdered on Sept. 11, 2001 – as well as the 125,000 to 1,000,000 Muslims killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and more than 5,000 dead American soldiers.

Canada, saved by the wisdom of Jean Chrétien from the hell of Iraq has not, however, been immune to its share of post-9/11 stresses and excesses.

Our soldiers continue to pay a disproportionate price in Afghanistan, with 152 killed so far in a conflict that has lasted longer than either World War I or World War II and is the longest war in American history.

Ottawa, meanwhile, continues to hide its role in the torture of Afghan detainees. While Maher Arar received an official apology and monetary compensation, our government refuses to accord the same considerations to three other Arab Canadians similarly tortured in Syria. And Stephen Harper continues to refuse to ask for the repatriation of Canadian citizen Omar Khadr from Guantanamo Bay.

We have also had our share of applied Islamophobia -- bans on women wearing their Hijabs in soccer and tae kwon do tournaments under the thinly disguised excuse of safety; Quebec’s proposed denial of all government services, even health care, to taxpayers who wear the niqab veil; the Harper government’s flirtation with banning niqabis from voting; and the hypocritical debate over free speech and human rights commissions, following the publication by Macleans magazine of an anti-Muslim screed that would have never seen the light of day had it been about any other religion or people.

In fighting against evil, we must never forget what it is that we are fighting for.

(http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/858356--siddiqui-the-bloody-legacy-of-9-11-has-anything-been-learned Harpoon Siddiqui's column appears on Thursday and Sunday He can be reached at hsiddiqui@thestar.ca ]]> http://themuslim.ca/2010/09/09/the-bloody-legacy-of-911-has-anything-been-learned/feed/ 0 http://themuslim.ca/2010/09/09/why-i-will-support-the-rally-on-september-11th/ http://themuslim.ca/2010/09/09/why-i-will-support-the-rally-on-september-11th/#comments Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:15:12 +0000 Editor TheMuslim.ca http://themuslim.ca/?p=4523 EL-HAJJ MAURI’ SAALAKHAN

I’ve been in the New York area for much of the past week, and I have been repeatedly asked my opinion (by Muslims and non-Muslims) on two related issues that will come to a head on Saturday, September 11, 2010: (a) my position on the so-called “9/11 Mosque” project; and (b) the question of whether or not Muslims should demonstrate on September 11?”

Insha’Allah, this will constitute both my own personal position, and our organization’s official position, on these two very important questions.

Let me begin by saying, I am aware of the position taken by the Majlis Ashura (leadership council) of New York City on this matter. If I understand the council’s position correctly, it has reportedly decided to respect a request made by 9/11 families to not demonstrate on that day. Does this position comprise the view of ALL 9/11 FAMILIES? I doubt it. A majority? Perhaps (surely ALLAH knows best).

While I respect the decision made by the majlis on a very difficult, deeply emotive and controversial issue, I am compelled by the dictates of my own conscience to respectfully disagree; and this brings me to the reasons why I feel I must support the rally on September 11th.

The reasons are as follows:

Reason # 1.       Because Islam and the Muslim community had NOTHING to do with the attacks of 9/11! That said, the ugly controversy surrounding the proposed Cordoba Center - aka, ”Park 51,” aka the “Ground Zero” or “9/11 Mosque,” aka the “Victory Mosque,” - (and this year's observance of the 9/11 attacks) does bear a silver lining. It provides the Muslim community, and justice-oriented non-Muslim progressives in America, with a unique opportunity to push back on the official 9/11 narrative in a big way. For too long Muslim leaders and organizations in America have been apologizing for the tragedy of 9/11; and this totally unwarranted apologetic stance has been used to help justify the unrelenting persecution of Muslims the world over.

Reason # 2.       Because the Muslim community (both here and abroad) has been the most impacted community as a result of the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001; resulting in a succession of 9/11 type tragedies (often far greater in magnitude and long-term consequence) being carried out in different parts of the Muslim world in the name of a “war on terrorism.”

Reason # 3.       Because of the lies and disinformation surrounding The Cordoba Project controversy; and this brings me to the reason why I favor the use of the original name applied to this project. A prominent, but shameless political chameleon by the name of Newt Gingrich (a self-described non-credentialed historian) has engaged in a pattern of lies and distortions concerning the nature of historic Cordoba of Muslim Spain, leading to the inflammatory label affixed to the Cordoba Project “the victory mosque.”  In the epilogue of my book titled Islam & Terrorism: Myth vs. Reality, I referenced the religious and intellectual freedom that marked this historic period in world history, through the writings of a fully credentialed non-Muslim authority on the matter. In a book titled Moses Maimonides And His Time – edited by Eric L. Ormsby, and published by the Catholic University of America Press – can be found an essay by Professor Norman Roth, with an excerpt that reads as follows:

“In a recently published book on Maimonides, I noted that were he to have been born in another land, France or Germany, for instance, he would at most have become another one of those almost anonymous rabbis who wrote endless commentaries on commentaries, on the Talmud. In that case, he would be of interest to no more than a small handful of Jewish scholars who specialize in such matters. Instead, this man became the greatest genius ever produced by the Jewish people. His productivity and creativity were prodigious.”

Reason # 4.       Because our friends in the non-Muslim community have decided on the need to organize a public response to the multiple manifestations of rabid islamophobia that will unfold on that date (see below). I believe, as a committed Muslim, that it is important to stand with our non-Muslim neighbors when they  attempt, on occasions like this, to stand with us. I also believe that to allow the islamophobes to dominate the public discourse on September 11^th would be a strategic mistake.

Reason # 5. And finally, because of the prophetic admonition: “When you see an evil action you must change it with your hand; if you cannot do so, with your tongue; if you cannot do so, detest it within your heart, that is the weakest degree of faith.”

With this said, I encourage my brothers and sisters (in Islam) who read this commentary to follow their own respective consciences on the matter; but whatever you decide, let the decision be based on what you truly believe in your heart to be the right thing to do. Don’t allow your decision to be motivated by fear of anything other than ALLAH!

And if you decide to participate in a public demonstration on 9/11, don’t allow anyone to encourage, prod or instigate you into the type of public reaction which at the end of the day will do nothing but serve the interests of the opposition. Let us be dignified and disciplined in whatever public statement we make on that day. (Let us remember, a good example is the best dawah, and the best jihad, on the battlefield of propaganda.)

News Release

Stand for Unity and Solidarity on Saturday, September 11

Saturday Sept. 11 in NYC-

1:00 p.m. Assemble and rally at east side of City Hall, then March

Rally at Park Pl. and Church St . (Manhattan)

Why we are marching on September 11^th?

The Emergency Mobilization Against Racism and Anti-Islamic Bigotry is organizing a rally for civil rights and religious freedom on Saturday, September 11th. This rally is a response to the ugly and violent attacks, both verbal and physical, which are happening more and more frequently around the country. It is also a specific response to the hate-filled protest being called by a coalition of racist and anti-Islamic organizations on September 11th.

The wave of Islamophobia being stirred up against the proposed Islamic Center at Park51 in Lower Manhattan and Islamic institutions and people around the country has poisoned our nation’s climate. We feel we cannot remain silent and surrender the streets of New York City to the forces of hate and bigotry on this day. We must offer an antidote to this poison.

We called this rally for unity and respect only after the well-funded rally called by racist groupings on September 11 had become a national outrage. The MTA agreed to their inflammatory bus ads. The mainstream media gave extensive pre-publicity coverage, including program, speakers, websites and interviews for this September 11 rally of the racist forces. Such pre-publicity has never been given to progressive, anti-war or union struggles. In the face of all this we cannot remain silent.

Our Rally will send a message many thousands strong, of unity, respect and solidarity in the face of the increasing climate of racism and bigotry against Muslims, Arabs and South Asians in the US.

These bigots have very consciously chosen the location of their rally – the proposed Islamic Community Center at Park Place and Church St in lower Manhattan (Park51) – in an attempt to intimidate the Center’s sponsors and the Muslim community as a whole. And they chose the date without regard to the feelings of the thousands of survivors, including many Muslim families, of what happened on 9/11.

This hatred and attempt at intimidation is typical of these groups’ actions all around the country, as mosques and community centers have suffered abusive picketing during Ramadan and other times of prayer; shooting attacks – such as the one this week in Carlton, New York; firebombings; desecration; and attempts to get town and city authorities to deny permits for much-needed expansion plans. These actions have already created an atmosphere that led to the horrific slashing of New York City taxi driver Ahmed Sharif, the desecration the very next day of a mosque in Queens, and fear of many more such heinous attacks.

We are rallying on 9/11 in lower Manhattan to let the racists know that we will be there every time they threaten our Muslim sisters and brothers, that we will not stand for abuse, intimidation, or attacks of any kind, anywhere, at any time.

Finally, we take note of and support the vigil that will be held on September 10th, and respect the choice of those who choose to show their solidarity on that day. Our action on the 11th is a supplement to, not a substitute for, that vigil, in keeping with our main emphasis:

Not one attack on Muslims, any day, anywhere!

Please join us on Saturday, September 11th, at 1pm on the east side of City Hall facing Brooklyn Bridge.

After this initial Unity Rally we will march at 2pm to Park Place and Church Street for a second rally.

For more information, flyers, endorsers see:
www.iacenter.org/muslimsolidarity

I wrote this article after visiting the flood-hit areas.

Garhi Khuda Bux (Sind, Pakistan) - Once again, the tide of goodwill in the aftermath of the super-flood favours Pakistan. By himself flying over the affected areas and later giving a graphic description of the devastationthe UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon  persuaded members of his organization to step forward and help Pakistan cope with the consequences of what he described as the “slow-motion tsunami.”

And rightly so. It is indeed a  “slow-motion Tsunami” because it will now amplify the consequences of  a system that rests on a morally bankrupt, intellectually poor, politically self-serving, culturally bigoted and financially corrupt ruling elite comprising politicians, bureaucracy, feudal lords, generals and their apologists in all spheres of life.

And the Garhi Khuda Bux – the ancestral town the Bhuttos – exemplifies the disconnect between this ruling elite and the hapless masses on the one hand, and the misplaced priorities on the other; a huge domed complex now stands over the old graveyard where all the Bhuttos are resting. The three-dombed marble complex is now called the Mazar- the mausoleum, built with public money – drawn from the provincial and the federal kitty. A huge boundary wall, running into hundreds of meters, is being built as the foreyard of  the mausoleum, all with expensive holed-blocs, imported from Karachi.

Both and inside the mausoleum, dozens of half-naked children and elderly locals are idling around. Some barefoot, some without shirts, you can count the rib-cage of these emaciated figures. Their faces betray the story of poverty and the miserable life they live under the shadow of this towering complex. Looking at the physical expense and the financial expense incurred on it, it appears as if poverty , education and health facilities for the thousands living by the mausoleum have been taken care of.

The lay-out of the graves inside offers even more disconcerting and reflects how the quest for personal and undivided glory  precedes human relations; beside the grave of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is the resting place of the daughter i.e. Benazir Bhutto. Behind these two lie the graves of grandparents but where are the two brothers – Murtaza and Shahnawaz – we ask one of the frail care-takers. He points to two graves behind us – several meters away from the two P.M. graves behind a huge column. Rather than being beside their father, the two brothers were buried at the foot-side of senior Bhutto.

We try to ask for the reason and none of the “wretched of Garhi Khuda Bux” dares tell us the truth; they say the mazar committee incharge must have decided where the brothers would be buried. We don’t expect any better explanation from these down-trodden faithful followers of senior Bhutto. We can only infer that the sister was so overwhelmed with power and authority that she decided to put the brothers away from their father, practically in isolation of others.

Once outside the Mausoleum, we witness more scenes of grueling poverty in the village, with men and women toiling in the sweltering humid heat. This place of phenomenal contrasts only a few kilometers away from Rato Panjdero, Rato Dero and Larkana, the town which the Bhuttos used a launching pad for their political careers.

While driving past these poverty-stricken villages, one wonders how these poor farmers and daily wage workers feel when their representatives zoom past them in their land-cruisers or flying over their heads in helicopters. The dividend of empowerment flows to the elected ones and those empowering them remain stuck in perennial poverty.

Larkana itself represents another distressing story of neglect and extremely poor governance. Dusty, broken and tattered roads, choked sewage lines  boiling on to the roads, parts of the town littered with garbage. This is the scene today of the town that gave Pakistan two prime ministers.

Almost a 100,000 displaced from Garhi Khairo and Shahdadkot in particular have taken refuge in Larkana, which is protected by two protective dykes – Nusrat Loop Band and Aqil Aghani Band -. Dozens of heavy machines – tractors, excavators – have been working round the clock to reinforce these dykes to protect Larkana from the wild overflow of the Indus.

One wonders whether other towns currently submerged in water – Kubo Saeed Khan, Shahdadkot, Thattha, Nasirabad, Rojhan Jamali and scores of others also received the same unusual vigilance. Probably not.

Mother Nature played havoc in October 2005. It is wreaking havoc again in August 2010. It has dispossessed the majority of those living along or near the Indus River basin, while those empowered by the majority are once again stuck in their point-scoring, selfish squabbles, eyeing dividends that will flow from the aid for those affected. God save the hapless majority.

ICNA Relief Canada is requesting brothers and sisters to participate in this great cause with their family and friends. Lots of volunteers are required for this project to collect, sort and load goods to containers.

Brothers and Sisters are requested to please contact:

Br. Shukat Hussain at shaukat.hussain@hotmail.com or

Br. Jamal Ahmad at jamalyyz@hotmail.com

For further information please contact Al-Falah Islamic centre at (905) 257-4262

ICNA Canada Media

The calendar includes relaxations on Fridays and next Wednesday besides deal in shutdown from 5:00pm to 7:00am on coming Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The protest calendar was issued after a meeting of APHC.

Among the major decisions, people were urged to boycott the Panchayat elections and continue the ongoing agitation till achievement of right to self-determination. Syed Ali Gilani said that New Delhi was playing a dangerous game by adopting rigid stance on resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

“At a time when Kashmiris have taken to roads and youth are being killed with impunity, the authorities were beating the trumpet of holding Panchayati elections. Such tactics which are aimed to suppress the movement and aspirations of Kashmiris can have serious repercussions,” he said.

Elections were held in the occupied territory umpteen times. “Like in the past, the elections failed to pave way for resolution of the Kashmir dispute neither will they in future help improve the situation in the territory.

Only such elections will be acceptable to Kashmiris, which are held under the observation of the United Nations and where their aspirations are taken into consideration, he added. The Chairman of APHC, Syed Ali Gilani urged the people to celebrate the Shab-e-Qadar and Eid-ul-Fitr with austerity due to the killing of over 60 youth and teenagers by Indian forces.

The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Freedom League (JKPFL), Muhammad Farooq Rehmani has castigated Indian police, paratroopers and special police force for torturing one of the pro-freedom policemen—Abdul Ahad Jan in their custody resulting in his kidney damage, now struggling for life in a Srinagar hospital.

Farooq Rehmani in a statement cautioned that the meeting with the revolutionary policeman by puppet Chief Minister of occupied Kashmir, Omar Abdullah last week, was merely to camouflage the brutal treatment by regime's special troopers with that brave serviceman during his interrogation.

He further said that executing ferocious methods of crackdowns throughout Kashmir, to round up maximum number of people to detention camps and torture centres and using bullets, smoke-guns, teargas shells and stones indiscriminately, to kill young men or deprive them of their eyesight was a great crime of unforgivable nature.

He said curfew, crackdowns, murder and humiliation of women had become hallmark of the Omar regime to protect India's forcible occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. He warned that Indian regime's days were numbered in the occupied territory due to its own hypocrisy and ferocity and moreover the rulers in Delhi were showing obliviousness to the political atmosphere in the wounded land of the Kashmiris.

"India's battle for survival in the occupied territory is like a dying wolf, it's doomed owing to its ethical and popular incapacity to acknowledge the reality, hence better to quit earlier than before, "he remarked.

He also condemned fresh killings of innocent youth in Pattan and other cities of the valley— raising the death toll to 63 in occupied Kashmir.

Kashmir Media Service

CLOSE to 2,000, people have died in Pakistan’s biggest natural disaster since 1929. Millions have lost their homes and run the risk of being infected by deadly water-borne diseases such as cholera. The government’s slow response has been criminally inadequate whereas the magnitude of the devastation was made worse by its failure to make any flood management plans. Zardari’s treachery has been the hallmark of the corruption that characterizes the rulers of the Ummah. It is time we call to and work for a leadership who follows in the footsteps of the Khulafaa’ who feared Allah (swt) and then the accountability towards the people.

The floods in Pakistan began in late July this year after record heavy monsoon rains caused rivers and lakes to burst out of their banks, and dams to be overwhelmed by the sheer weight of water, sending great flash floods which swept away houses, bridges, roads and electrical power lines. Baluchistan, Southern Punjab, Peshawar and Swat are all included among the worst hit areas. Close to 2,000 people have been killed so far and millions were rendered homeless. Estimates from rescue-service officials suggest the death-toll may increase as the threat of water-borne diseases and infections such as cholera are very high. According to a recent estimate of the United Nations, the number of people suffering as a result of these massive floods in Pakistan exceeds 20 million, which is more than the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The extensive damage to infrastructure and crops has also resulted in a major setback to the struggling Pakistani economy.

Where are the Rulers?
While the Muslims in Pakistan are facing this horrific situation, how has the government reacted?

• As the flooding began, President Zardari continued with his plans to visit France and Britain to meet President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Cameron. Furthermore, it was reported that Zardari stayed at the Royal Suites in London which costs 10,000 British pounds per night – the equivalent of which could feed 10,000 people in Pakistan.
• Prime Minister Gilani received strong criticism after staging a visit to a fake flood relief camp with paid actors playing the part of flood victims.
• Local politicians of the ruling party were absent from the affected areas causing anger among the survivors. Furthermore, in Sindh, ministers of the ruling party were accused of using their influence to direct flood waters off their lands towards densely populated areas.
• There has been very little assistance by the military since the majority of the army has been sent to fight America’s war in the tribal areas which has cost billions of dollars.
• Due to the rulers in Pakistan parceling out its sovereignty to America the Shahbaz airbase in Jacobabad (where 500,000-700,000 people have been displaced due to the floods) cannot be used for relief efforts as it is being used by the U.S. for drone attacks in the tribal regions.

The lack of response and the blatant mismanagement of the crisis by the government is a replay of a similar situation in the past. On November 12th, 1970, a devastating tropical cyclone struck East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Bengal in India in which 500,000 people died. The Pakistani government was severely criticized for its handling of the relief operations following the storm, both by local political leaders in East Pakistan and in the international media.

What makes the floods of this year more devastating is not only the government’s weak response (if any) towards helping the survivors; it is also criminal neglect that after more than 60 years, no ruling party has yet instituted flood management plans. The unusually heavy rains during the monsoon season provided ample warnings that flooding may occur. Yet local authorities did nothing to provide advance warnings to give residents enough time to evacuate. Speaking about the floods in Pakistan, the director for the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters said, “The numbers of people killed are very high for a natural event [like a flood], which is among the easier disasters to predict and plan for…Poor communities in Vietnam, Bangladesh, and even Mozambique have put together simple radio-based early warning systems, which help people to be evacuated in time.” Furthermore, the flooding could have been entirely averted – as admitted by Gilani himself – had the proposed Kalabagh Dam been built in 2005. However, the project was cancelled in 2008 by the now ruling PPP party. Any government that was sincerely concerned about its people would have established counter-measures such as ditches and drainage systems to funnel the excess water away from the inhabited areas.

The disregard of safety by the government is not restricted to the region of Pakistan. Rather, it is a common trait among all the agent rulers that have been forced upon the Ummah. It is natural disasters, such as the floods in Pakistan that expose more of the true nature of the Muslim rulers.

In November of last year we saw in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, how a flood caused the death of 500 Muslims. At first the government tried to downplay the number of casualties by claiming that “only” 100 people had died. However, when the figures became impossible to hide, Prince Khalid al-Faisal, the governor of the Meccan region (which includes Jeddah) blamed the deaths on arbitrarily built neighborhoods and not on the fact that the Muslims living in Jeddah do not have an adequate sewage system to deal with the potential flooding.

In 1999 we also witnessed the Izmit earthquake in Turkey with a magnitude of 7.6 in which 40,000-45,000 people died and 600,000 were left homeless. There was widespread anger among the Muslims living in Turkey as the government did not enforce basic building standards in an area that was prone to earthquakes.

Treacherous Rulers
By examining the actions of these Muslim rulers it is clear that these rulers are the oppressors, described in the hadith of RasulAllah (saw):

"... then there will be oppressive kingship for as long as Allah wills…" [Ahmad]
Allah (swt) has warned us of the heavy price of not ruling by the Quran and Sunnah:

"And whoever did not rule by what Allah revealed, those are the disbelievers.”
[TMQ 5:44]

“...oppressors.”
[TMQ 5:45]

“... transgressors."
[TMQ 5:47]
Furthermore, RasulAllah (saw) says about the ruler who betrays the people whom he is supposed to manage:

“Every traitor will have a flag on the Day of Judgement to identify him according to the amount of his treachery; there is no traitor of greater treachery than the leader of the people”
[Bukhari & Muslim]
To Change the Rulers, we need to Change the System
These Muslim rulers who are put in place by the colonial western powers, mainly the U.S. and Britain, operate in a manner so that this great Ummah of Muhammad (saw) remains under the tyranny and injustice of the western-imported man-made system. This is why a simple change in leadership has never done anything to improve the affairs of the Ummah. If anything, it has made the situation worse as we have observed in Pakistan.

The root of the problem does not lie solely with the corrupt rulers but in the system which they are adhering to – the western-imported man-made system. This system, which the rulers implement, is designed only to care for the ruling elite and its entourage. Throughout the world, a select elite hoards the world's important resources, depriving billions of people of their basic needs, leaving them to hunger, thirst and homelessness. In the Muslim lands the system might be disguised with selective rules in order to appear Islamic. But when these few rules are stripped away there is no question that the systems implemented are far from what RasulAllah (saw) implemented and the Khulafaa’ (Caliphs) upheld.

Khilafah: A Model of Disaster Management

When we examine the system which the Prophet (saw) had brought to mankind, we will see that it does not resemble what is currently being implemented in the Muslim lands.

During the Khilafah of Umar ibn Al-Khatab (ra), Madinah had suffered a famine. Abu Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah (ra), his Wali (governor) in Syria, said that he would send a train of camels so long that, "... one end will be here at Syria and the other will be at Madinah."

Moreover, Abu Ubaidah (ra) later paid a personal visit to Madinah and acted as an officer of a disaster management division, which was headed personally by Umar (ra). Tens of
thousands of people from desert towns had already gathered in Madinah and once an adequate supply of ration reached Madinah, Umar (ra) dispatched his men to the routes of Iraq, Palestine and Syria to take the supply caravans to the desert settlements deeper into Arabia, which by the permission of Allah (swt) saved hundreds of thousands from starvation. For the internally displaced people, Umar (ra) hosted a dinner every night in Madinah. If all this could be achieved by Islamic ruling in an age of camels and messengers on horses, what could be achieved by the Khilafah in today’s time?

Even during the period of decline, the Khilafah remained a shining example and a guiding light for all of mankind.

In 1845, the onset of the Great Irish famine resulted in over a million deaths. Khalifah Abdul-Majid declared his intention to send 10,000 pounds sterling to the Irish farmers but Queen Victoria requested that the Khalifah send only 1,000 pounds sterling, because she had sent only 2,000 pounds sterling herself. Sultan Abdul-Majid sent the 1,000 sterling but also secretly sent 3 ships full of food. The English courts tried to block the ships, but the food arrived in Drogheda harbor and was left there by the Uthmani sailors. To bring this into today’s terms the 10,000 pounds dedicated to the Irish from the Sultan would be worth approximately $1,683,280 US Dollars. By the same standard, the Queen had only given the equivalent of 336,656 US Dollars!

Reflecting on those who Died
Many of us may know, or be related to, someone who was personally afflicted by the floods in Pakistan. While it is a tragic time for the grieving families, we should also remember that a believer is never at loss, regardless of the tremendous trials that befall him/her. RasulAllah (saw) said:

"… the one who died due to the stomach is a shaheed and the drowned person is a shaheed." [Muslim]

We ask Allah (swt) to raise the ranks of those who have suffered and for them to be in a more comfortable place.

Just as Allah (swt) is testing our brothers and sisters in Pakistan with hardship, He is testing us with our response. In this time of need and immediate crisis, we should help where we can and give sadaqa to those in Pakistan whom we know personally (i.e. friends and relatives), especially in this blessed month of Ramadhan.

These floods or any other natural disaster that befalls the Muslim Ummah exposes the current despotic rulers. They should be a reminder for us that the work to resume the Islamic way of life, by re-establishing the Khilafah Rashidah in the Muslim lands, needs to be undertaken with urgency so that we may seek the pleasure of Allah (swt).

May Allah (swt) grant us victory in dunya and akhirah.

“And soon will the unjust know what change in circumstance their affairs will take.”
[TMQ 26:227]

By STEPHEN LENDMAN

WITH 20 million or more people affected, about 12% of the population, the equivalent of 37 million Americans, Pakistan’s devastating floods are truly of biblical proportions, described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as worse than anything he’d ever seen, saying:

Thousands of towns and villages have simply been washed away. Roads, buildings, bridges, crops – millions of livelihoods have been lost. People are marooned on tiny islands with the floodwaters all around them (without food, sanitation, medical help, or shelter). They are drinking dirty water. They are living in the mud and ruins of their lives. Many have lost family and friends. Many more are afraid their children and loved ones will not survive in these condition.

One fifth or more of Pakistan is under water, the US equivalent of Texas, California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, and Oregon combined, what’s unimaginable in America and would never be tolerated without massive emergency aid.

Yet the Pakistani-based News reports that:

Hundreds of thousands of people including children, women and aged men have been trapped on the rooftops of their houses as floodwaters with 5-feet depth has blanketed entire districts.

They won’t survive without help. Deadly disease outbreaks are feared. Already, reports of cholera are surfacing, suggesting perhaps a much wider scale problem than verified.

Unknown numbers have perished, perhaps thousands, likely tens or hundreds of thousands before it’s over. Yet aid so far donated has been pathetic, America providing token relief only, hardly enough to matter, Washington’s usual response to great need, even emergencies, the way Haitian earthquake victims were treated, still on their own and out of luck eight months after their disaster.

Pakistan’s government and world leaders have been disturbingly indifferent to the problem, doing far too little when massive amounts of emergency aid are urgently needed quickly.

Addressing the UN on August 19, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington would increase its donation to $150 million, $92 million to the UN, more for security than humanitarian efforts, Senator John Kerry (Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman) underscoring America’s purpose on a visit to Shahbaz Airbase, saying:

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister added: If we cannot deal with (the flood emergency) there are chances of food riots leading to violence being exploited by people who are known,” a thinly veiled reference to “Islamist extremists.

On August 18, US Marine Commandant, General James T. Conway, met Pakistan’s army Chief of Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, in Rawalpindi to discuss security, not relief, Pakistan press reports saying “during the course of the meeting… they discussed issues pertaining to national security, war and terrorism, defense needs, etc. at length.”

The plight of 20 million Pakistanis wasn’t addressed, showing America’s contempt for the needy, even under dire emergency circumstances, victims getting little or no aid, one man speaking for many, saying:

“We left our homes with nothing and now we’re here with no clothes, no food and our children are living beside the road.” So are millions of others, perhaps more than reported.

A Disturbing Asian Human Rights Commission Report

Issued on August 20, it’s headlined, “PAKISTAN: Minister tasked with saving US airbase at the cost of the displacement of thousands,” saying:

Reports say that “the US Air Force has denied the relief agencies use of the Shahbaz Airbase (it controls) for the distribution of aid and assistance. Soldiers of the Pakistan army, a federal minister and the administration of Sindh province are blamed for the incident involving Shahbaz Airbase at Jacobabad district” where flood waters were diverted to save the base.

As a result, 800,000 people were affected, displaced by floods, their homes lost, their condition desperate and worsening like for millions in affected areas.

Mr. Ejaz Jakhrani, Minister of Sports explained that “if the water was not diverted, the Shahbaz Airbase would have been inundated.” He was assigned to protect it, former Prime Minister Mir Zafar Ullah Khan Jamali saying that doing it meant demolishing the Jamali bypass and letting the town of Dera Allahyar drown. He added that “if the airbase was so important, then what priority might be given to the citizens.” He blamed “minister Jakhrani, DPO and DCO Jacobabad for deliberately diverting the course of the floodwaters toward Balochistan.”

Other discussions confirmed that health relief operations aren’t possible because America controls the base, and “there are no airstrips close to” affected areas, including Jacobabad.

Media reports said in 2001, the Musharraf government gave America control of Shahbaz to wage war on terrorism, the presence of army soldiers during the Jamali bypass breach a clear sign “that the Pakistan army (was) ordered to save the airbase.” It meant flooding out hundreds of thousands of people, now stranded on their own without help.

“There can be no doubt that the presence of the Pakistan army personnel at (the Jamali bypass) indicates (that) this was an intentional breach,” ordered by Americans in charge. “This must be investigated to ascertain who gave the orders. Those giving (them) must be prosecuted,” condemning perhaps thousands of victims to death.

“It is a gross contradiction that the United States of America (donates aid, yet) refus(es) permission to use the Shahbaz airbase” to deliver it, the only facility able to do it for a large area affected.

Compare today’s Pakistan to Haiti post-quake. America militarized the country, stressed security, took over the Port-au-Prince airport, obstructed relief supplies, sent in the Marines, and left millions of Haitians on their own, most getting little or no aid, nor are they now eight months later.

The same scenario affects Pakistani victims, America taking over, stressing security, and blocking aid, innocent people left stranded, perhaps to perish while imperial wars get limitless resources, powerful interests profiting at the expense of unwanted, deserted millions on their own and out of luck, the real face of US “democracy,” in name only, not real.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. Contact him at: lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM-1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests.