#arabs should not be killed for living outside of arabia

[mossadspypigeon]

if you believe all “colonizers” should be killed…i hate to tell you this, but arabs are not the indigenous population of the levant. they got there through, guess what, conquering and colonization. so what, by your logic, they should be killed?

i’m not saying it, nor is it my logic. however, a whole lot of you ARE saying it when it comes to groups you happen to hate, like jews, who are the indigenous population of israel and judea. it IS your logic. and why?

none of you even know who the actual colonizers are in this conflict. if you did, you would not be screaming for them to be murdered. you’re already claiming a war is a genocide.

please grow a fucking braincell.

[girlactionfigure]

is Israel really behind ISIS? (Of course not)

FIRST, SOME BASIC DEFINITIONS

Islamism

Islamism is political Islam. In other words, Islamists believe that the doctrines of Islam — such as Sharia Law — should be congruent with those of the state. It’s important to note that not all Muslims — that is, people who follow the religion of Islam — are Islamists.

Jihadism

Jihadists believe that waging armed conflict is the best -- or only -- means to create an Islamist state, ruled under Islamic law.

ISIS

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), or simply as the Islamic State (IS), is an internationally-recognized Islamist and jihadist terrorist group that aims to establish a Sunni Islamic Caliphate (empire) in what it considers rightfully “Islamic” lands. ISIS originated from al-Qaeda in Iraq — though al-Qaeda and ISIS are now at odds — and is notorious for committing a long list of crimes against humanity, including the genocide and sex enslavement of the Yazidi minority in Iraq.

WHAT DOES ISIS THINK OF ISRAEL?

ISIS is an Islamist, jihadist group that aims to establish an Islamic Caliphate (empire) in the Levant — a swathe of territory that includes the State of Israel — and other lands that it considers rightfully “Islamic.” In other words, there is no place for a Jewish state in ISIS’s vision.

Where ISIS differs from some other jihadist groups — such as Hamas — is that it does not consider the “liberation of Al Aqsa” in Jerusalem the most pressing Islamic issue. In 2016, the ISIS weekly newspaper al-Naba explained, “…jihad in Palestine is equal to jihad elsewhere.” Rather, in the same article, ISIS claimed that the most urgent Islamic battle was for the liberation of Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities in Islam, from the “tyranny” of the Saudi royal family.

According to ISIS, once Saudi Arabia and other “infidel” Arab regimes fall, their attention will turn to liberating Palestine from the Jews. This is consistent with ISIS’s belief that the true and final battle against the Jews — or the Jewish state, in this case — will not come until Judgment Day(i.e. end times), as described in the Hadith quoted in the original 1988 Hamas Charter: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him..."

Nevertheless, ISIS also believes that Muslims living among Jews — such as Palestinian Muslims or Israeli Arab Muslims — have a duty to carry out jihad against them.

WHAT DOES ISIS THINK OF JEWS?

Despite ISIS’s lack of “urgency” in destroying Israel, antisemitism plays an enormous role in ISIS propaganda. For instance, a June 2014 official ISIS propaganda video claimed that “wherever our war goes, Jewish rabbis are humiliated.”

ISIS also uses antisemitic rhetoric as a recruiting tactic, both to recruit fighters from the Arab and Muslim worlds and to recruit people in the West to join ISIS. For example, as early as 2014, ISIS carried out social media campaigns on Twitter aimed at recruiting Westerners to their cause; in such campaigns, “death to Jews” was a common underlying theme.

Shortly after ISIS declared itself a Caliphate in 2014, the group’s spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, blamed “the Jews” for the international coalition fighting ISIS.“The jews [sic]! The jews [sic]! Save the jews[sic]! This is the reason they [the U.S.] came,” he wrote (notably, Nazi propaganda during World War II portrayed the Allied powers using the same language. So did the Soviet Union about the west, and so does the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is a prime example of how different groups with different ideologies recycle the same antisemitic rhetoric to mobilize toward their respective causes). Al-Adnani also called then-American president Barack Obama “the mule of the Jews.”

ISIS supporters outside of Israel have carried out a number of terrorist attacks against Jews, such as the May 2014 shooting at the Brussels Jewish Museum, which killed three, and the January 2015 Paris kosher supermarket shooting, which killed four. ISIS itself took responsibility for the kosher supermarket shooting.

WHERE DOES THE ISRAEL = ISIS CONSPIRACY COME FROM?

Historically, propagandists have often relied on the strategy of truth, truth, and a lie. Anti-Israel propagandists often use this very tactic. For example, while Israel did not intervene in the Syrian Civil War until the recent downfall of Bashar al-Assad, it did institute what it called “Operation Good Neighbor,” in which it carried out humanitarian missions to provide injured Syrian civilians with medical treatment in Israel. Proponents of the conspiracy that Israel is behind ISIS now claim that Israel treated ISIS fighters during the Syrian Civil War.

Another thing to consider? The majority of ISIS victims were civilians in Iraq and Syria, where most of the population is, statistically, deeply hostile to Israel and Jews. The way that antisemitism functions is that it turns Jews — or, in recent decades, the Jewish state — into whatever any particular society reviles the most. It’s not a huge jump for those who suffered tremendously under ISIS and were already hostile to Israel to then assume that Israel must somehow be behind ISIS.

A number of Arab and Muslim governments and prominent figures have fanned the flames of this conspiracy theory, including Egyptian state propaganda, Islamic Republic of Iran state propaganda, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, and more. The Islamic Republic, for example, has frequently alleged that ISIS is an Israeli/Western plot to destroy Iran.

Ironically (or not so ironically, if you understand how antisemitism works), ISIS themselves has also accused its enemies, including enemy Muslim and Arab regimes (for example, the Egyptian government), of working on behalf of the Jews and/or Israel.

DOES HAMAS ACTUALLY HAVE TIES TO ISIS?

Since the October 7 massacre, a common pro-Israel slogan has been “Hamas is ISIS.” Though both groups are Islamist jihadist groups that ultimately envision an Islamic Caliphate, and though both have used similarly barbaric tactics, the relationship between Hamas and ISIS is a lot more complicated. 

As mentioned, ISIS does not see the “liberation” of Al Aqsa and Jerusalem from Israel as its most pressing goal, whereas Hamas does. ISIS is opposed to nationalism — including Palestinian nationalism — because it considers anything other than a pure Islamic Caliphate invalid. On the other hand, Hamas combines Palestinian nationalism with its eventual vision for an Islamic Caliphate.

ISIS has historically been hostile to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). While both ISIS and the MB are Sunni Muslims, ISIS also follows Salafism — a revival movement within Sunni Islam — and regards the MB as apostates. Hamas started as the Palestinian branch of the MB.

Nevertheless, the Egyptian branch of ISIS played a major role in smuggling arms to Hamas via the Sinai Peninsula. Many of the Gazans who had joined the Sinai ISIS during Mohamed Morsi’s brief rule of Egypt (2012-2013) later returned to Gaza and became involved with Hamas. Some even may have participated in the October 7 massacre, given ISIS signs, symbols, flags, and gear were found on some of the October 7 terrorists or in the wreckage they left behind.

In 2014, an 11-year-old Yazidi girl was captured by ISIS in Iraq and sold as a sex slave. Eventually she was sold to a member of Hamas in Gaza and languished in captivity until she was rescued last year thanks to the efforts of a Jewish philanthropist and the IDF. Experts expect there may be many more Yazidi sex slaves in captivity in Gaza.

Another concerning factor to pay attention to is the growing support for ISIS in the West Bank, particularly in Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams, a phenomenon that has been documented by Palestinian media outlets. A number of terrorists affiliated with Palestinian groups, namely Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, have been photographed with ISIS paraphernalia in the West Bank.

DID OCTOBER 7 INSPIRE ISIS?

Many pro-Israel commentators have noticed that terrorist attacks like the recent one in New Orleans are unsurprising when we’ve heard pro-Palestine protestors call to “globalize the intifada” for over a year since the October 7 massacre. So is there a direct link between October 7, calls for a global intifada, and the recent ISIS terrorist attacks we are seeing in the west?

ISIS themselves have made statements that seem to at least indirectly imply so. Shortly after the massacre, on October 19, 2023, ISIS wrote an article in its weekly newsletter titled “The Steps of the Operation to Fight the Jews,” in which it referenced the October 7 massacre. Then, on January 4, 2024, ISIS released an audio message titled “And Kill Them Wherever You Overtake Them,” encouraging their followers to attack nearby Jewish and Christian targets, including civilians, to demonstrate “solidarity” with the Muslims in the Gaza Strip.

According to the January 4, 2024 ISIS message, 610 people were killed and wounded in a series of 110 operations that the terrorist group carried out in “solidarity” with Gaza.

ISIS has released a number of videos of their terrorists in the year since the October 7 massacre expressing their solidarity with Gaza. For example, ISIS released a video of one of their own fighters in Mali firing rockets inscribed with the message “Revenge for the Muslims in Gaza.”

For a full bibliography of my sources, please head over to my Instagram and  Patreon. 

rootsmetals

I’ve heard the conspiracy that Israel/the Mossad is behind ISIS on and off for years, but I always thought it was too ridiculous to actually warrant a debunking post.

[thebrightestwitchofherage]

Religion and the conflict- an excuse for antisemitism

Many users seem to use everyone's interest in the conflict to spread misinformation and antisemitic beliefs. Antisemitism today is being rebranded as antizionism.

Zionism is simply the notion that the Jewish people should have a state of their own, in Zion (AKA the historical and religious name for Israel).

Debunking some common musconcepti0ons about Zionism -It's not a new movement- This concept has been around ever since the Jewish people were first expelled from Israel. Jews have tried to immigrate to Israel ever since and were often met with refusal. They were then sent back against their will to nearby territories such as Cyprus.

But I’m not antisemitic, I’m just anti Israeli

-Antisemitic hate crimes rates have gone up globally:

from slurs, genocidal chants and violence in American college campuses, to hate crimes and violence spiking across Europe…

Take London for an example - there’s currently a 1,350% spike in antisemitism.

People are killed for being Jewish. Swastikas are drawn, and the hashtag “Hitler was right” is trending all over social media.

You can’t deny that chanting “gas the Jews” in protests in antisemitic…

It's not like what happened in Canada & the USA -Treatment of Palestinians after the founding of the state of Israel: To better understand the situation, you'll need to understand the difference between Palestinian territories outside of Israel, Palestinian territories inside Israel, and Israeli territories.

-Palestinians living in Palestinian territories Outside of Israel (The Gaza Strip) are governed by Hamas. -Palestinians living in Palestinian territories within Israel are governed by the Palestinian Authority and not Israel. *For further reading, you can read about the differences between A, B, and C zones.

-Arabic Muslims and Arabic Christians living within Israeli territories have the exact same rights as Jewish Israelis. There are many "mixed" cities in which Arabic people and Jewish people live peacefully, it's a nonissue.

Israeli people are European settlers \ white colonizers

Are they all white? I can't believe I have to write this, but contrary to popular belief, not all Jews are white, just like not all Christians are white ... Stop being ignorant: there are Jewish People from Asian, Arab, and African countries. Please stop telling Arabic\African Jews to go back to Europe, You are embarrassing yourself. The reason why there aren't a lot of them in those countries right now is that they were either killed or forced to leave them (often without any of their possessions) after years of discrimination and violence. *Are they collonsiers?

The Jewish people are indigenous to the land of Israel. There is much historical, and archeological evidence for that. There is evidence that supports that the Jewish people have been here for thousands of years. The Jewish people all originated from Israel, and are an Ethnic group that originated from Israel. How can we be colonizers on our own land?

Most of the land of Israel was either given by the British mandate or purchased legally.

Obviously, some land was occupied- but that was during wars that were forced on Israel, after many terror attacks. -Many of the people claiming Israeli people are colonizers, are European, American, or Canadian.... AKA the biggest colonizers in history, who have 0 connection to the land they occupied. While Israel was a British colony until 1948-and Unlike popular belief, the conflict doesn't start there. That's what Hamas wants you to think. Your favorite Maps are a lie

They won't tell you about the Balfour declaration in 1917, the 1936 Peel Commission, or the 1947 UN partition plan which the Palestinian people rejected. Do you know what followed that rejection? Foreign armies from Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia attacked.

Many peace accords including the 1993 Oslo Accords (which since then were violated by the Palestinians)- were all initiated by Israel.

Not one of the wars in Israeli history was initiated by Israel. * Besides the occupation of the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula** Most of the lands that make up Israel were either given by the British after their mandate over the country had ended or purchased legally*. *Besides the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula**. **The Sinai peninsula was returned completely to Egypt in 1982. as part of the 1977 peace accords between Egypt and Israel. Further context and more information:

I suggest you read about the Suez Crisis \ The Sinai War of 1956, The Egypt- Israel Peace Accords, the Oslo Accords, the British mandate over Israel (especially the end of it), and different UN decisions made in the years before the founding of Israel.

[krool-gwooptsoov]

Leftist Tumblr keeps serving up the most absolutely retarded takes

First of all, how do you define indigenous? Is it people who have lived on the land for generations? Cool, plenty of white people are indigenous under that definition

Is it "the first inhabitants on a piece of land"? Cool, no one has any land then because the natives killed, conquered, genocides, and assimilated the previous inhabitants much as the Europeans did. Most native tribes have origin myths I valving this conquering and displacing too. Even tribes commonly thought of as peaceful, like the Lenape, have myths and history involving them comiting acts of great brutality (the Lenape and Iroquois share an origin myth where both tribes teamed up to take down the Mississippi mound maker peoples as they were migrating east)

Is it "people that don't look white"? Well you just excluded the members of native tribes who have European heritage. And also are just being plainly racist.

And the logistics of something as major of that would be insane. "White people don't have to leave the land, they just have to pay taxes to the natives who will own it again"

Why? In what world does that make sense? How far detached from reality, and how privileged do you have to be, to think that taking normal folks homes from them, saying someone else owns it now, and that they're only renting or visiting and can be kicked out on the whim of the "native owners" make any lick of sense whatsoever?

Plus, how do you decide which tribe owns the land when multiple tribes have competing claims?

Or when white people owned the land longer than the tribes did? There's a big hullabaloo about "returning the black hills to the sioux" and things like that, but the US government has owned the black hills longer than the Sioux ever did (the Sioux conquered it from another tribe, who took it from another tribe before them, etc.). How is giving it back to the Sioux more just than leaving it in its current ownership, when the current owners have owned it for longer, and it is just as, if not more, important to the current owners than the previous owners?

Also, does this apply to all colonial settlements in history? Should we find the Native Hispanians and return Spain to them from the Latin colonizers?

What about the Middle East? Its Native people were subjugated, massacred, and forcibly converted and culturally genocided by the Arabs during the Islamic conquests. Should all of the Arabs who now call the Middle East outside of Arabia home now be forced to pay taxes to the Native inhabitants or be forced to leave? Even the ones whose families have called the place home for generations? Or are we being racist again and only considering European colonization even though other peoples have done basically the exact same thing cpuntless times throughout history. Frankly, why should the Native Americans even get the land? Humans are native to Africa, give the Americas back to the indigenous fauna.

And what about mixed people? People who are both Native and European? Do they have to pay for the sins of their ancestors too, or do they get the privilege of identifying as Native? Do they have to pay taxes to themselves?

Does this apply to Europe too? Should all of the non-native non white people in Europe be subject to harsh taxation or removal, regardless of if they feel like Europe is their home?

It's just absolutely insane that anyone can seriously think this is a serious idea

And that's not even getting into the fact that people won't like their land being taken from them. If white people don't give up their homes, will you be the one marching in with a gun to kill them if they resist? Good luck with that, you control freak tyrants.

Go touch some grass

happy PRIDE i’m here i’m queer and i believe the land should be given back to the proper indigenous stewards.

[ahlulbaytnetworks]

Aliyun Al-Akbar ibn Husayn

Born Monday, 11 Sha'ban, 42 A.H/ November 30, 662 A.D

Hijaz Medina

Died Friday, 10 Muharram, 61 A.H/October 10, 680

Aged 18 years Burial Imam Hussain Mosque,Karbala,

Father Hussain ibn Ali(as)

Mother Umme Laila(sa) ,

~~~Ali Akbar(as) Life~~~

Zaynab bint Ali(sa), Husayn ibn Ali's(as) younger sister, raised Ali Al-Akbar(as). His other two brothers were also named Ali: Ali al-Asghar ibn Husayn(as) and Ali Ibn Zayn al-Abidin(as). Abbas ibn Ali(as), Ali Akbar's(as)uncle taught him fencing and archery. He so much resembled to prophet Muhammad(saww) that Husayn ibn Ali(as) often said, "whenever I remember my maternal grandfather I look at Akbar."

Ali Akbar(as) was killed by Murrah ibn Munqidh in the Battle of Karbala

Resembled the Holy Prophet of Islam Muhammad(saww)

It was rumoured that Imam Husain(as) was leaving Medina to arrange the marriage of his son Ali Akbar(as) with some lady of a noble stocks I it in some distant land. Could this rumour be correct?

They all knew that there was not a young lad of marriageable age in Arabia who could be said to be fit to hold a candle before him. His handsome looks were matched by his handsome deeds. His nobility of character, his sense of duty, his generosity, his chivalry, his geniality, his love of justice and fairplay had endeared him to every soul. It was a well-known fact amongst the Arabs throughout Hejaz that Ali Akbar(as) bearing a remarkable resemblance to the Holy Prophet(saww)In looks, in voice, in mannerism, in gait and in every way, he resembled the Holy Prophet(saww).

The resemblance was so marked that people from far and wide were coming to see him, to be reminded of the Holy Prophet(saww)whom they were missing so much. Those who had not had the good fortune to see the Prophet were told by their elders that Ali Akbar(as)was the very image of Muhammad(saww)There could, therefore, be no room for doubt that the noblest families of Arabia would consider it a signal honour if this scion of the Holy Prophet's family were to ask for their daughter in marriage.

Imam Husain's(as) Departure from Medina.

But then, if Husain and his family were leaving Medina for Ali Akbar's(as)marriage, they would not be secretive about it. The Holy Prophet's(saww)grandson would in that case have given out the good tidings to the public.

There was not a living being in that town whose heart would not have been filled with joy to hear about the betrothal of Ali Akbar(as). And if marriage of Ali Akbar(as)was the purpose, surely Husain(as) would not choose this season when outside the oasis of Medina, the scorching heat of summer was baking the desert sands!

After long discussions, by a consensus of opinion, it was decided to approach Husain(as) in a delegation and to dissuade him from undertaking the journey. Some of the venerable companions of the Holy Prophet(saww)undertook to apprise Husain of their forebodings and their recollection of his grandfather's prophecy that, if Husain(as) migrated from Medina with his family, he would not return.

The caravan was almost ready to depart. The horses were neighing with impatience and champing their bits in the oppressive heat of the day. Husain(as) was standing near his horse intently watching the arrangements being made by Abbas(as) and Ali Akbar(as) He was reflectively following their movements as they were helping each lady and each child to mount the camels, as they were lending a helping hand to the ladies with tender care and affection; as the ladies were graciously and profusely thanking them for the excellent arrangements they had made for their comfort and for protecting them from the unbearable heat by holding their own gowns over their heads as a canopy. This sight had some inexplicable effect on Husain[as] for his eyes were glittering with tears. The solicitude displayed by his brother and son for the ladies and children should have filled him with happiness; but instead, the effect on him was just the opposite. Was he beholding the shadows of some coming events?

At this moment came the representatives of the people of Medina. With one voice they entreated Husain(as) to abandon the idea of undertaking this journey. Their leader, with supplication in his faltering voice, besought Husain to tell them why he had decided to leave them and the Prophet's tomb for which he had so much attachment.

O Son of the Prophet(saww), if we have displeased you in any way, please forgive us.

At this display of love and affection Husain(as)was moved to tears. Suppressing his grief he replied:

My dear brethren, believe me that my heart is bleeding at this parting, parting from you and from the graves of my beloved grandfather, my dearest mother and my brother, whom I held dearer than my life. Had it not been for the call of duty, I assure you I would have abandoned the idea of leaving Medina. It grieves me most that I cannot for once grant you your wishes when you all love me so dearly. But Almighty Allah has so willed it and in His divine dispensation ordained that I should undertake this journey. I know what hardships await me; but the Prophet has groomed me from my childhood to face them.

Seeing that the hand of destiny was snatching away Husain(as) from them, they conferred amongst themselves and suggested that, if his decision to go from Medina was final, he should take with him all the able-bodied persons of the town so that they could protect him and his people. They reminded him of the treachery that was pervading the atmosphere in the adjoining regions. Husain(as), obviously moved by their sincere consideration for his safety, thanked them profusely. But he told them that, in accordance with the wishes of the Prophet(saww), he had to fulfill the mission of his fife only with those who were destined to be associated with him in the task confronting him.

When they received this reply to their entreaties, from Husain(as) the representative of the Medinites requested Husain(as) to grant them one wish to leave Ali Akbar (as)behind him in Medina.

O Husain(as)," they said, "we cannot bear the thought of parting with your son Ali Akbar(as), He is the very image of the Holy Prophet(saww). Whenever we feel overcome by the remembrance of Muhammad(saww), we go to Ali Akbar(as)to have a look at him and take comfort. We shall look after him better than we look after our own sons. We promise that we shall treat his every wish as a command. In fair weather and foul we shall stand by him. Even if we die, we shall command our children as our dying wish to attend to all his comforts and needs. His exemplary life has been an object lesson for our sons who are devoted to him as if he were their brother.

These pleading, which had a ring of sincerity and earnestness, rendered Husain(as) quite speechless for a time. How could he tell them what was in store for Ali Akbar(as)who they loved and adored so much?

When his sad reflections had subsided, he replied to them in a tone tinged with pathos,

Alas, I only wish I could entrust my Ali Akbar(as)to your care! In my mission he has to play a role, the importance of which time alone will tell. I cannot accede to your request for reasons which I cannot reveal to you; but rest assured that I shall always remember your kindness to me. I shall carry with me vivid memories of this parting and remember you in my prayers.

When the heavens were glowing with the last rays of day, the caravan left on its long-drawn journey to the unknown destination. Soon darkness descended upon Medina as if symbolic of the darkness and gloom which the departure of Husain(as) had cast on the town, associated with a myriad memories of his childhood.

Meandering through the desert, the caravan had reached its destination, a destination which Allah had willed for it. The march of Husain(as) and his kinsmen in this world had ended; but it was just the beginning of their march toward their real goal. With the dawn of the 10th day of the month of Muharram the events, for which the Prophet(saww) and Ali(as) and Fatima(as) had prepared Husain(as), started unfolding themselves. What a day it was and what fateful events it encompassed!

(A Traditional Account of His Martyrdom at the Battle of Karbala )

He had a loud and beautiful voice, on the morning of the day of Ashura, Husayn ibn Ali(as) asked Ali Akbar(as) to call out the azaan. Husayn ibn Ali, and many women in their tents, began to weep when Ali Akbar(as) began calling out the azaan, knowing that it maybe the last time they are hearing Ali Akbar’s(as) azaan.

Ali Akbar(as) stood in front of Husayn ibn Ali(as) after Zuhr prayers and said, "Father I request for permission to go and fight the enemies of Islam." His father gave him permission and said, "May Allah be with you! But Akbar(as) you know how much your mother, sisters, and aunts love you. Go and say farewell to them." Ali Akbar(as) went into the tent of his mother. Every time he wanted to come out of the tent his mother, aunts, and sisters would pull his cloak and say, "O Akbar, How will we live without you?" Husayn ibn Ali(as) had to plead with all to let Ali Akbar(as)go.

Husayn ibn Ali(as) helped his son mount his horse. As Akbar[as] began to ride towards the battlefield he heard footsteps behind him. He looked back and saw his father. He said, "Father, we have said good-bye. Why are you walking behind me?" Husayn ibn Ali(as)replied, "My son, if you had a son like yourself then you would have surely understood!"

He killed many well-known warriors. No one dared to come close to him in a single combat. Umar-e-Sa'ad ordered his soldiers to kill him, saying, "When he dies, Husayn will not want to live! Ali Akbar(as) is the life of Husayn(as)." While a few soldiers attacked Ali Akbar(as) Murrah ibn Munqad threw a spear through Ali Akbar’s chest. Murrah ibn Munqad then broke the wooden part of the spear and left the blade inside Ali Akbar's(as)chest, to cause him more pain. As Ali Akbar(as)fell from his horse, he said, "O Father, my last salaams to you! Here is my grandfather, the Messenger of Allah, giving me my water. He says yours is here waiting for you". The reason he said this was because after Ali Akbar(as) killed significant members of the enemy forces, he went to Husayn(as)and said he is too thirsty to fight. Husayn(as) was very sad and told his son: 'Do not worry, Akbar(as). After you are martyred your grandfather, the Messenger of Allah, will give you water that is so sweet, that you will never forget the taste'.

Husayn ibn Ali(as) walked towards the battlefield.When Husayn ibn Ali(as)went to Akbar(as), Akbar(as)placed his right hand on his wounded chest and his left arm over the shoulder of his father. Husayn ibn Ali(as), asked, "Akbar(as), why do you embrace me with only one arm?"

Akbar(as) did not reply. Husayn ibn Ali(as)tried to move Akbar's(as) right hand, but Akbar(as)resisted. Husayn ibn Ali(as) forcefully moved the hand. Then he saw the blade of the spear. Husayn ibn Ali laid Ali Akbar(as) on the ground and sat on his knees, he placed both of his hands on the blade of the spear. He looked at Najaf,where his father Imam Ali(as)was buried and said, "Father, I too have come to my Khaybar!" He pulled out the blade, with it came the heart of Ali Akbar(as) Hussain(as)wept and distraught seeing his son in such pain and stress. Ali Akbar(as) sent his last salaam and was released to the heavens.Husain(as) carried the body of his son and reached the camp and laid down Akbar's(as)body on the ground. He called Umme Laila(sa) and Zainab(sa)and Kulsum(sa), Sakina(sa) and Mother Fizza(sa) and the other ladies of the house to see the face of Akbar(as)for the last time. The loving mother came, the loving aunts came, the children came, and surrounded the body of Ali Akbar(as) They looked at Akbar's face and then at Husain's. They knew that their weeping would add to Husain's(as) grief which was already brimful. Ali Akbar's(as)mother went up to her husband, and with stifled sobs and bent head, she said to him:

My master, I am proud of Akbar(sa) for dying such a noble death. He has laid down his life in the noblest cause and this thought will sustain me through the rest of my life. I implore you to pray for me, to pray for all of us, that Almighty Allah may grant us patience and solace.

Saying this she turned to the dead body of her son lying on the ground and put her face on his. Zainab(sa)and Kulsum(sa) Sakina(sa)had all flung themselves on Akbar's body. The tears that were flowing from their eyes were sufficient to wash away the clotted blood from the wounds of Akbar(as)

Husain(as)sat for a few minutes near the dead body of his son; the son whom he had lost in such tragic circumstances; the son who had died craving for a drop of water to quench his thirst. He felt dazed with grief. He was awakened from his stupor by Qasim(as), the son of his brother, who had come to seek his permission to go to the battlefield. He rose from the ground, wiped the tears from his aged eyes and muttered

Verily from God we come, and unto Him is our return.

References =]

. Karbala and Ashura. Ansariyan Publications. karbala vol-1 pg 223,.

when the sky wept blood-vol 1 pg 156 b

Dear friends one post will be for amal of Ali Akbar this amal is to get good life time partner for those sisters,

[politicaltheatre]

Empathy, pt.3

Let’s start with this: Jamal Kashshoggi was a man.

Do you remember him? He was a man, a human being, and like any of us he had hopes and dreams and memories.

He was also a journalist. After years of supporting the Saudi royal family and their authoritarian regime, he was murdered in 2018 for writing and speaking out against their abuses and, eventually, their war in Yemen. That was the version of him who fled Saudi Arabia, and the one who was marked for death by the Saudi crown prince he had once called a friend.

Last fall, the Saudi regime commuted the death sentences of the men it offered up as his murderers. Three months ago, an investigation confirmed that it was the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who had ordered his death.

We’re forgetting him. Even now, reading this, we are already forgetting. We can’t help it. At least, we tell ourselves we can’t.

In many ways, Kashshoggi was a lot like Alexei Novalny. Novalny hasn’t left the news quite yet. Like Kashshoggi, he supported the corrupt, authoritarian regime in his country, Russia, before turning against it. The attempt on his life, by poison, failed. Barely. He’s still alive, locked up in a Russian prison, a cautionary tale for those daring to oppose Vladimir Putin.

How long before we’ve forgotten him, too?

It’s a lot to ask of ourselves, remembering everyone around us. Sure, in some abstract way most of us try, “Good will towards men,” and all that, but we have the luxury of looking away and of not having to commit ourselves to thinking of others the way those two men did.

For each of them, it was an inescapable empathy for the suffering of they saw around them that compelled them to risk their lives to draw attention to it. They did so knowing the cost.

That cost - personal loss, imprisonment, death - is enough to keep most of us looking away. So much of what we do is to enable us to look away, to keep unpleasant reality at a distance. When others are already physically far away, it only makes it that much harder for us to do the right thing.

Looking out past our borders, the world today is filled with men, women, and children suffering, more than a few at the hands of authoritarian regimes, and of them far too many paying that cost for standing up against abuse.

The most present case this past week, because videos on social media have made it impossible to ignore in ways that it has been, has been that of the Palestinians.

The facts of this latest series of abuses against them should not be in doubt. During the last days of Ramadan, Israelis began forcing Palestinians out of their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah district in East Jerusalem. This was followed in quick succession by Israeli troops occupying the Al-Aqsa mosque following a confrontation between Palestinians at the mosque for Friday prayers and Israelis celebrating the capture of the mosque in 1967.

This was all a deliberate provocation, beyond the aggressive offense of what the Israelis were doing. The timing of it, during the Muslim holy month while right wing Benjamin Netanyahu struggles to cling to power, was intended to add insult to injury.

It worked. Clearly.

Hamas, ever eager for an excuse to be violent and to be seen to be violent, gave an ultimatum that would make Netanyahu’s regime look weak if accepted, Netanyahu gratefully rejected it, and Hamas began firing rockets, knowing that Israel would escalate and retaliate with a kind of brutality that can only be described as criminal.

The unpleasant reality is that both political powers rely on perpetuating the conflict between them, doing so at the expense of the people they claim to want to serve and protect. And those people pay the cost of it.

Note, please, how I have avoided referring to those instigating these atrocities as Muslims or Jews. That they use their religions and their histories as justification for violence and abuse should not be taken as representative of either religion. If anything, it should be taken as a kind of cruel irony, or perhaps an insight into how the abused, as individuals or groups, can become abusers themselves.

Zionism is not Judaism. It never was and never will be. It grew out of two things: the technology-driven late 19th century belief by Europeans, and their North American “cousins”, in their right to colonial domination of non-Europeans; and the centuries-old, routine and systematic attacks on Jews - pogroms - especially in Central and Eastern Europe that led millions of Jews to flee for their lives, many of them to the United States.

The establishment of Israel in 1948 followed the same pattern: that same, late 19th century belief in the right to claim or assign ownership of others’ land - no matter that it had once belonged to your ancestors; and the routine and systematic attempted genocide of all Jews in Europe - the Holocaust - by Europeans who chose to believe Jews not to be Europeans but some other, lesser race from West Asia.

That, of course, has been the assigned role for Jews the world over: they are accepted as insiders when times are good and scapegoated as outsiders when times are bad. To be Jewish - I am - is to understand that this never quite goes away. There’s always somebody having a bad day, always a big lie ready for justification.

Technically, it is true that Jews are Asian, in the way that Palestinians are also Asian, and that Egyptians are, too, but also African because different people have had different maps which they used for different purposes at different times.

Also true is that these things are only true due to the arbitrary drawing of continental lines on maps made by Europeans, from the ancient Greeks to those carving up the “New World” in the century after Columbus to the 1885 conference in Berlin carving up Africa for colonial exploitation.

This is not, strictly speaking, a European thing. Every culture has a tendency to see themselves as the center of the world. Just ask those living in China, or as they call it, Zhongguo, the “Middle Kingdom”.

The difference here is that modern day Israel was carved out of Palestine, a colonial “protectorate” which was itself carved out of the Ottoman Empire and awarded to the British following World War I. As a spoil of war, formerly-Ottoman Iraq, with its vast oil reserves, had greater value to the British. Palestine had ports on the Mediterranean - “the center of the world” - but was otherwise an afterthought.

Not, however, to the Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. We must remember that the rest of the world didn’t want them. Jews attempting to flee the atrocity they and everyone else couldn’t help but see coming were turned away by everyone else, including the United States.

This in no way justifies what was done in Palestine in the 1930s and 40s, it’s just to place it in context. By turning Jews away, by attempting to forget them and their suffering, the world gave weight and power to right wing groups within the refugees.

Starting in the 1930s, those groups began to engage in terrorism against Arabs to force their position into Palestine and against the British to force them out. Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization) and later the Stern Gang carried out assassinations and killed hundreds of Arabs and British with bombs.

After what the Nazis did to the Jews in Europe, memorialized in newsreels for all the world to see, who would take the Arabs’ side? Who could? The British were in no position to hold onto their colonial possessions anywhere, so they gave up and pulled out and in 1948 the state of Israel was born. Palestinian Arabs were forced from their homes and stripped of rights they had held under the Ottomans and even the British.

Again, this was not Judaism. As the name “Irgun” suggests, those terrorists were a right wing, nationalist militia doing what right wing, nationalist militias have done before and since, using an ethnic or religious identity to justify committing atrocities to take land and property.

After standing by and allowing the Nazis to do what they did, the world vowed never to forget; part of the price they were willing to pay - that they were willing to allow the Palestinian Arabs to pay - was to forget what Irgun and the Stern Gang had done, and to turn a blind eye to anything the Israelis did going forward.

There was a racist element to it, to be sure. This is part of the pattern of colonial withdrawal, negotiating a partition of land and possessions among the colonized groups, pitting them against each other, and then letting them fend for themselves. Nothing like creating a power vacuum to draw out the worst of us.

The British did the same thing in South Asia in 1947, pitting Muslim and Hindu groups against each other, erupting in spasms of violence before settling into a Cold War, complete with nuclear weapons. Even in their most secular eras, religious nationalism has defined the politics and leadership of each nation.

The result of this, naturally, has been an increasingly corrupt leadership exploiting religious hatred and mistrust to gain more power and wealth for themselves. It should be noted, yet again, that the political entities of Pakistan and India, though led by religious nationalists, do not represent Islam or Hinduism.

Their actions and failures do not represent those religions in any way. They are the actions and failures of men and women seeking power, seeking to acquire it and seeking to hold onto it. They are no different than the Netanyahu regime or Hamas, or our own right wing leaders in the United States.

For all of them, it is in their interest to cling to memory of conflict as a means of manipulation; in Israel and Palestine, nationalist leaders preach as if 1948 or 1967 are now; in India and Pakistan, it’s still 1947; and for America’s white nationalists, it’s either 1865 or 1965, take your pick. For the Serbs slaughtering thousands of Muslims in Srebrenica twenty-six years ago, it was 1389, the year the Ottomans conquered the Balkans.

The wars, cold or hot, can never end because time is never allowed to change. This, again, is a function of proximity. By freezing themselves in the increasingly distant past, the leaders and those choosing to follow them do not have to accept the changes facing them in the present. Their fantasy is to return to that idyllic, earlier time, when they possessed everything and did not have to be accountable to anyone.

And they will all fail for the same reason: in the present or near future, we will have reached a point at which we can no longer allow ourselves to ignore those suffering and in doing so forget them.

That is what we have done to the Palestinians. What has been done and what is being done now is in no small part because we forget them, routinely and systematically and purposefully.

The videos sent from Gaza of children being pulled from rubble should help us remember. They should. Ideally, they will have the same effect as those of last year’s Black Live Matter protests, but the people of Gaza remain far away. For many of us, it will be enough that the missiles and rockets have stopped.

Videos sent from India’s emergency rooms and crematoria should help us remember, but they, too, remain far away. Already, we’re starting to put India’s crisis behind us.

Will we remember either of them a month from now? Two? Or will they fade into the background, as the imprisoned Hong Kong democracy protesters have, or those dying of Covid-19 in Brazil, or those shot down in the streets fighting police brutality in Columbia, or those caught between warring factions in Ethiopia’s Tigray region? Or, for that matter, those half a century ago in Argentina who were simply “disappeared”?

What about the coup in Myanmar? Remember that? How about the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya people, supported by the now-deposed and jailed regime of fallen-hero Aung San Suu Kyi? What was done to them was no different than what was done to the Armenians in what is now eastern Turkey by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. That genocide was recently recognized by President Biden, an act of official, international recognition that took over a century and which itself is already being forgotten. The Rohingya may have to wait as long to be remembered themselves, or longer.

The point of all this isn’t that we forget, try as we might, but that despite it we find ways to remember. That Biden recognized the Armenians came because they did not forget and did not allow that crime to be forgotten. 

If this sounds like what nationalists all claim to do themselves - always demanding that everyone remember this date or that insult - remember that actual justice never seems to be their goal.

Justice requires memory, full memory. For us to remember anything fully, we must take the good with the bad. We must recognize the good and bad in each of us and in each group and in each series of actions. We must understand that for the worst act done by anyone in the name of any group or religion, there remain those within those groups and religions who stand against it.

So, let’s end with this: George Floyd 

George Floyd was a man, a human being, and like any of us he had hopes and dreams and memories. He died one year ago today in no small part because we forgot him. 

We remember now, today especially, because of what was done to him on this date, but we should recognize the role that forgetting him and people like him played in the events that led to his murder. We as a society have looked away from the suffering of minorities in this country, and from the violence done to certain groups within our society.

The easiest thing to say, certainly as we watched that video and the countless videos of police brutalizing non-violent protesters all last summer, was that “all cops are bad”. They aren’t. Hard as it may be to hear, they aren’t.

They are, however, led by men and women who push an adversarial culture, who encourage violence and racism, who are corrupt, and who thrive on the failure of reform. And most of them, far, far too many, stand by in silence as men and women are murdered in that culture’s name. In that silence, they have failed us all.

If we want to change that culture, we need those who would stand for justice to stand up and speak. They are there, just as they are in Israel and Palestine, and in Pakistan and India and elsewhere: intimidated, ostracized, and struggling to be heard.

Of course, May 25th, 2020 wasn’t just any other day in America. It was Memorial Day. That is a cruel irony. Another is how little we do to honor that day. It was created to honor those who died for this country, to remember not only them but what they did and what they supposedly did it for. Instead, we grill meats and drink beer and forget our troubles for just one day.

Few deaths may have the lasting impact on this country that George Floyd’s has had and will have, and he died in no small part because he, too, had been forgotten. This coming Memorial Day, let us take a moment to remember him and all of the others everywhere in this world who have died and deserve to be remembered.

- Daniel Ward

[crazy-lazy-elder-sims]

if you wanna make Muslim sims this is the post for you!

so since the sims added hijabs into the game, i have been  seeing alot of beautiful hijabi sims everywhere! but even still people want to know more about Muslim women so they can play them correctly, and i have never been happier to help. its really not complicated, but ill break it down for everyone ( i want to add I AM MUSLIM AND I HAVE LIVED MY ENTIRE LIFE IN 3 DIFFERENT MUSLIM COUNTRIES UAE-EGYPT-SAUDI ARABIA  so i know what i am talking about)

before we start you must all note that i am talking in general and there are always people who don’t follow the rules thou its not really ok to not follow the basic rules we are all human and adults and our choices are made for us only not made to please people or to avoid peoples judgment even in the religion itself it forbids people from judging others choices and askes them to focus on themselves instead 

there are Muslims girls that don’t wear hijabs, and there are ones who do wear hijab with normal clothing, and some that wear it with long flowey dresses only,  and there are Muslim girls who wear niqab and cover everything i will be discussing the ones who wear it with normal clothes since they are the most common around the world .

about the looks:

for hijabi girls the rule is cover everything but the wrists and foot and face 

it must be worn outside all the time and in front of eligible males meaning you don’t have to wear it around people who cant marry you ( like uncles grandparents brothers etc.. ) 

it doesn't  tell you what kind of clothes to wear but the two rules are it must not be sheer or too tight that you can see the body through it.

 that’s all.

for Muslim girls in general the same rules about clothes apply but its accepted by people for non hijabi to wear short sleeves shirts or wide necklines but nothing to revealing.

again  there are people who don’t follow this and its ok no judging!

everyday life:

Muslim children generally live with parents until they get married or travel abroad .

the family members are extremely close, they almost always have family gatherings once a week and share everything with each other .( i personally and a few other hate this and skip on gatherings and gossip lol  )

they dont eat pork or anything with pork products, or drink alcohol in general .

in general everything must be approved by parents first, or at least the parents must know what is going on, and should be ok with it. for example guys and girls can go out on dates only if their parents say yes, the religion it self stresses that everything must be discussed and proved by family ,this is to encourage closeness, and to prevent people from making mistakes that could be avoided by someone elses experiences or point of view. it goes both way not just form parents to kids btw.  

about relationships :

i know the stereotype about Muslim girls is shy oppressed and don’t have  a say in who they marry but that is far from the truth. we can have relationships as long as there is nothing physical happening before marriage ( meaning no sex or touching ), some say holding hands is ok, some say its not. and some say kissing is ok, and some say its not. this depends on the individual and how much they wanna follow their religion but the general rule is no to getting physical, but girls can date and go out with guys and can have friends that are guys its fine ( with parents permission ofc) .

i don’t want to get into sexuality alot because this has to do with the individual but all i am gonna say is this in Arab countries its (anything but straight relationships) shunned by the older generation... but around the world you can see alot of different examples for lesbian or bi or gay Muslims if it is on tv or in real life.

i personally have gay friends and straight friends, but again this has to do with them and ITS THEIR CHOICE To live bravely in a society that wants to kill them so please don’t argue, let people love who they want ❤

and that’s it basically 

ps.

all the rules apply to males and females all except the covering up males are required to cover up from their waist to their knees with loose shorts nothing tight.

hope this helps if you have more questions dont hesitate to ask just please be respectful , no hate ❤ please reblog this so it could reach all of the simmers who might need these info❤

[mmmmalo]

The reason bottles are being associated with wishes? Genies. When Gamzee quits sopor, Karkat says "the genie is out of the Faygo bottle". The reason genies-in-bottles are being associated with severed heads? Terrorism -- the idea is to invoke severed heads as sensational scare tactic that induces others to bend to your wishes. The genie is elsewhere referred to as an "earth arabian" and Gamzee invokes the word "assassin" as he snaps the bottle's neck for its Arabic etymology. Oh boy!

This isn't exactly new. The caste symbol on characters' foreheads associated the third eye of Indian religion with mindcontrol, and the command arrow ==> associates the horseback archery of Native Americans (ie Indians) with mind control. In the case of decapitation, the colonial subject is "the Middle East": the ominous severed head must be understood against Jake Harley raiding Egyptian tombs, against Dirk suggesting he has crossed a "borderline" maintained by "philistines" (the archaic word for Palestinians). We see Dirk send a robotic head to Jake, with two outcomes: Jake will henceforth be Terrorized whenever he goes outside, and Jake now has a psychic duplicate of Dirk living in his head. These two outcomes intersect under the banner of "psychic colonialism", ie terrorism, violence as a mean of implanting oneself upon another's mind.

Nepeta's emoji :33 < is equivalent to Equius's bow and arrow D -- > as a symbol of coercion: it is a picture of a severed head. Don Corleone and his dead horse would be proud. Perhaps her teapots are magic lamps, furthering the association of unrefusable offers (threats) with Arabia? Perhaps we should take the 'arse' out of 'arsenic' and speak the emoji as 'ass-ass-in', eschewing the ostensible depiction of mouths to draw us back to Gamzee.

Aradia, who decapitated one of those heads in the screencaps, is a "terrorist", yes? Sending ghosts to Vriska (she was terrified!), blowing herself up, blowing the planet up. Perhaps Aradia was placed in ancient ruins along with Indiana Jones artifacts because her name sounds like and looks like Arabia. Perhaps the way she speaks with a "pr0n0unced h0ll0wness" is a joke about Arabic script, which does not depict spoken vowels and thereby makes zeroes of them -- as though even before Damara, the Megido was a representative of foreign speech!

Aradia makes me suspect ghosts in general may be representatives of genies in a capacity linked with "terror"? Psycholonials certainly does this, giving us Zhen who 1. is an actual "terrorist", staging false flag biological attacks to scare off the residents of a land she seeks to conquer and 2. is haunted by "bleeding faces" via her mutilated ghostly father, the red emojis of Joculine, and the "pleading face" emoji of Mizzlebip. The two senses of terror mesh nicely. But in Homestuck no firm impression come to mind outside incidents already listed... the sprites are genie-shaped but wishes are only granted in the process of their creation, generally. Something to ponder

The other big Wish Granter is Jane's trickster lollipop with the Auryn inside, and I'd recently determined that that whole situation was code for fatphobic suicide baiting (in the wake of Caliborn mocking her weight, Calliope and Jake send her candy and Roxy informs her that the Alphas need to kill themselves), so I imagine the figure of the Terrorist is superimposed upon the more grounded figure of the Bully, occasionally. Thus the whole phenomenon of trolling gets a racialized political component that sets the stage for Alternia's other provocations... anyway that's all I have for now.

We cut from Terezi discussing her doomsday visions of babies to Aradia decapitating a (sometimes) symbol of babies… don’t know what that’s about. But the cut from the decapitated in the mud to the Faygo in the sand (effectively declaring the Faygo a severed head, full of delicious red juice) is consistent with comments I made (x)(x) on Jane’s initial tour of LOCAH: that her balloons are an inversion of the “potions” (bottles of blood), and that the wish-emissaries are furthermore consistent with decapitation imagery in Act 6. What’s more, here as with Jane’s wish balloons, the launched bottle began as a prayer.

[trueislamfacts1]

Is Islam a Religion of Peace?

Islam was founded upon principles of peace and harmony to establish love, affection and collective responsibility towards the spiritual, physical, and mental wellbeing of all of society. ‘Islam’ a name given by God Almighty to this religion (Qur’an 5:4), is an Arabic word which literally means obedience and peace. ISLAM is derived from the Arabic root “SALEMA” meaning peace, purity, submission and obedience. So ‘Islam’ means the path of those who are obedient to Allah and who establish peace with Him and His creatures. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) defined a Muslim as one whose word or deed cause no harm to others. ‘Peace’ is the greeting of Muslims and ‘Peace’ shall also be the greeting of the dwellers of Paradise.

Hence, any person that does not adhere to these principles of peace, harmony and collective good, is outside the boundary of this definition.

Deeper Dive – Who speaks for Islam?

So, what about all of the negative media rhetoric against this peaceful image of Islam? Well, first and foremost we have to ask who has an authority to speak about what “Islam” is and what it stands for? Is it Media? Is it ISIS? Is it the president of a ‘Muslim’ country? Or the Muslim down the street from you?

None of these. The truth is that when we desire to know what any organization, company, country etc. stand for, we must look at its constitutional document. What any other person says or thinks is irrelevant, and if any person associates their actions towards this constitution, then cross-examination can easily manifest the truth from falsehood.

So, what is this constitution and basis of Islam? It is the following:

The Holy Qur’an (the perfect revealed word of God) Sunnah (practice of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa)) Passed down through practice, from the time of the Holy Prophet (sa) to present. After a few early decades, some practices were recorded in books. Ahadith (sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa)) Traditions and narrations passed from the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) to his companions, and eventually future generations. These have varying levels of authenticity, for which early Muslim scholars developed an entire science of examination. The most important rule to remember is that a narration should not contradict the Holy Qur’an.

DOES THE QUR’AN TEACH PEACE?

The Holy Qur’an is categorical on its teachings about peace, after all, it is the key text of the religion that literally stands for peace. Let’s examine what it says about any and all sort of violence against an innocent person:

Whosoever killed a person – unless it be for killing a person or for creating disorder in the land – it shall be as if he had killed all mankind. (Al Maidah, Ch.5: v. 33)

Explaining this verse, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community states

‘A person who kills a person unfairly or who kills someone who had neither rebelled, nor became a source of violating peace amongst the people nor created disorder in the land, it is as if he has killed the whole of mankind. In other words, to kill a person without any cause is, according to God Almighty, like the murder of the entire human race. It is obvious from this verse, how big a sin it is to take the life of another person without reason.’ (Lecture Chashma-e-Ma’rifat pp 23-24: Commentary by the Promised Messiah Vol.2: p.405)

In fact, he goes even further to state emphatically the need for peace and kindness:

He who abandons kindness abandons religion. The Holy Qur’an teaches that whosoever kills a person without justifiable cause will be as if he has killed the whole world. In the same way, I say that if someone is not kind unto his brother, it is like he has been unkind to the whole world.’ (Al Hakam Vol. 9 No.15 dated 30 April 1905 p.2: Commentary by the Promised Messiah, Vol.2: p.405)

Freedom of Conscious and Religions

Let us look at another core and fundamental pillar established by the Holy Qur’an regarding religious freedom over 14 centuries ago:

لَاۤ اِکۡرَاہَ فِی الدِّیۡنِ There should be no compulsion in religion (2:257)

The Qur’an has given a clear-cut message of religious tolerance and freedom in this verse. Any person that suggests or acts otherwise steps completely against the command of Allah the Almighty and the practice of His Chosen Prophet (sa)

The Holy Qur’an protects freedom of conscious and religion in an extremely lucid and clear manner while stating:

‘It is the truth from your Lord; wherefore let him who will believe, and let him, who will disbelieve.’ (Ch.18:V.30)

Hence, there exists no injunction on any person to be forced or coerced into following Islam in any manner whatsoever. If force had ever been the desire of God Almighty would it have been difficult for Him to compel all of humanity to believe? Absolutely not. It is to this effect that God states in the Holy Qur’an:

‘And if thy Lord had enforced His Will, surely, all who are in the earth would have believed together. Wilt thou, then, force men to become believers?’ (Ch.10:V.100).

Highlighting this crucial verse, Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih V (aa), Supreme Head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim community, stated in an address:

“This verse clearly states that God, as the Possessor of all Powers, could easily force all people to adopt the same religion; however, He has instead given the people of the world the freedom to choose – to believe or to not believe.” (Address at Houses of Parliament in London, UK on Centenary of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in UK 11 June 2013)

This can clearly be seen in the practice and life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) and his companions. When the Banu Nadir were exiled from Madinah when they failed to fulfil their promise to maintain peace. At that time, they also had many children of the Ansar (Muslim inhabitants of Madinah). These children had begun to live amongst the Jews, because in the pre-Islamic days of ignorance, amongst the Arab tribes of Aus and Khazraj, those who had no male children used to pledge that if the next child were born a male, they would make him a Jew. Thus, there were many boys from the Aus and Khizraj tribes who had been handed over to Jewish families. When the Jews of Banu Nadir were exiled because of their transgression, the Muslims wanted to get back their own descendants from the Jews. The Holy Prophet of Islam (sa) refrained them from their action on the very basis that ‘there is no compulsion in religion’ that once you hand over your own son to someone else and that someone else makes your descendant a follower of Judaism, you cannot take him back: he would have to go with the Banu Nadir.

Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih V (aa) describes another incident relating to a slave of Hazrat Umer (ra):

“Then there is the account of a slave of Hadrat Umar (ra) who narrates that although he was a slave of Hadrat Umar (ra), Hadrat Umar(ra) never forced him to become a Muslim. Hadrat Umar (ra) most certainly used to explain to him with love and affection to become a Muslim but the slave would refuse and Hadrat Umar(ra) would only say: There is no compulsion in faith and fell silent after that. Finally, before his death, he set this slave free. Now who can, therefore, say that there is any room for compulsion or causing a breach of peace in Islam?” (A lecture at the Universite D’Abomey-Calavi Cotonou, Benin. 8 Apr. 2004)

Therefore, there should remain no confusion regarding this aspect of Islamic teaching. Islam is against any and all type of compulsion in religion, and lays the accountability of belief at the behest of God Himself. No other entity, organization, structure, or person has any right to do or say otherwise.

LIFE OF THE HOLY PROPHET MUHAMMAD – THE PARAGON OF PEACE

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) is the primary practical exemplar for all Muslims. His practices and sayings are held sacred, after the Holy Qur’an, perhaps there has never existed any other individual who has ever been emulated to this capacity. So, let’s see what his life tells us about whether Islam is a religion of peace or not.

First and foremost, we have the testimony of the Holy Qur’an regarding the preaching efforts of the Holy Prophet (sa) and his burning agony for the guidance of people while focusing entirely on peace:

‘I swear by his repeated cry “O my Lord!” that these are a people who will not believe. Therefore, turn aside from them, and say, “Peace;” and soon shall they know.’ (Ch.43 Vs 89-90)

This verse also states that in response to the Holy Prophet’s(sa) message of peace, his opponents did not only reject his teachings; they even ridiculed and insulted him. Indeed, they went even further and opposed him with enmity and created disorder and strife. Upon all of this the Holy Prophet(sa) pleaded to God that:

‘I desire to give them peace, but they do not give me peace. Leaving that aside they even strive to inflict pain and agony upon me.’

In response, Allah the Almighty consoled him by saying:

‘Ignore whatever they do and turn away from them. Your only task is to spread and establish peace in the world. You should respond to their hatred and transgressions by simply saying “peace be with you” and tell them that you have brought peace for them.’

The Charter of Medina – the First Constitution based on principles of Peace

Prophet Muhammad (sa) actively promoted peace, tolerance and compassion for all non Muslim minorities living in Arabia. He did not simply demand religious tolerance of his followers; his Sunnah was to provide legal and constitutional protections for religious minorities. This is perhaps best illustrated by two historic documents prepared by Prophet Muhammad (sa). The first document is the Charter of Media written in 622 A.D. – a formal agreement between Prophet Muhammad (sa) and all of the significant tribes and families of Medina, including Muslims, Jews and non-Muslim Arabs. Many scholars refer to this document as the first ever written constitution of a nation-state. The Charter of Medina pre-dated the English Magna Carta by almost six centuries.

The Charter consists of 47 clauses which set forth the formation of a sovereign nation state with a common citizenship for all communities. The Charter protects fundamental human rights for all citizens, including equality, cooperation, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Clause 25 specifically states that Jews and non-Muslim Arabs are entitled to practice their own faith without any restrictions. In short, the Charter of Medina was the first document in history to establish religious freedom as a fundamental constitutional right.

Then, secondly there is the Charter of Privileges that was granted to the Christian monks of Sinai. Western Islamic scholar, Marmaduke Pickthall, comments on this letter as follows:

“The Charter which Muhammad (sa) granted to the Christian monks of Sinai is a living document. If you read it, you will see that it breathes not only goodwill, but also actual love. He gave to the Jews of Medina, so long as they were faithful to him, precisely the same treatment as to any Muslims. He never was aggressive against any man or class of men . . . The story of his reception of Christian and Zoroastrian visitors is on record. There is not a trace of religious intolerance in any of this.”

What About All the Wars (Jihad) of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa)?

So, if the prophet of Islam taught peace, then why did he engage in so many wars? This is often a very naïve question raised against the holy personage of prophet Muhammad (sa), while ignoring the facts of history completely. Let us look at the entire picture.

Makkans, the place of the Holy Prophet’s birth and early preaching, outright rejected the message of the Holy Prophet (sa) to a large extent. The few that followed the prophet of Islam, were heavily persecuted. They were dragged through the streets, starved, cursed, boycotted, and even ripped apart in front of their family members. What was their crime? Simply that they believed in one God, and followed Muhammad (sa).

When the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) had finally established a just and peaceful society in Medinah, the Makkans were furious and vowed to destroy the Muslims. They could not let them live in peace even in Medinah. Hence, God Almighty finally gave permission to the Muslims to fight back in self-defense in the following command:

اُذِنَ لِلَّذِیۡنَ یُقٰتَلُوۡنَ بِاَنَّہُمۡ ظُلِمُوۡا ؕ وَ اِنَّ اللّٰہَ عَلٰی نَصۡرِہِمۡ لَقَدِیۡرُ Permission to fight is given to those against whom war is made, because they have been wronged — and Allah indeed has power to help them

الَّذِیۡنَ اُخۡرِجُوۡا مِنۡ دِیَارِہِمۡ بِغَیۡرِ حَقٍّ اِلَّاۤ اَنۡ یَّقُوۡلُوۡا رَبُّنَا اللّٰہُ ؕ وَ لَوۡ لَا دَفۡعُ اللّٰہِ النَّاسَ بَعۡضَہُمۡ بِبَعۡضٍ لَّہُدِّمَتۡ صَوَامِعُ وَ بِیَعٌ وَّ صَلَوٰتٌ وَّ مَسٰجِدُ یُذۡکَرُ فِیۡہَا اسۡمُ اللّٰہِ کَثِیۡرًا ؕ وَ لَیَنۡصُرَنَّ اللّٰہُ مَنۡ یَّنۡصُرُہٗ ؕ اِنَّ اللّٰہَ لَقَوِیٌّ عَزِیۡزٌ “Those who have been driven out from their homes unjustly only because they said, ‘Our Lord is Allah’ — And if Allah did not repel some men by means of others, there would surely have been pulled down cloisters and churches and synagogues and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is oft commemorated. And Allah will surely help one who helps Him. Allah is indeed Powerful, Mighty” (Ch22:V40-41)

Fair-minded commentators have utterly rejected the false barbaric image of early Islamic wars. De L O’Leary, for example, writes:

“History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.” (Islam at the Crossroads, p.8)

Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih V (aa) states regarding this issue while highlighting the need of the time:

The underlying point to consider is that the use of the sword or force is only permissible when a religious war is waged against Islam. In today’s world no one, be it a country or a religion, is physically waging war and attacking Islam on the basis of religion. Thus, it is not justifiable in any way for Muslims to attack any other party, in the name of religion, because this clearly violates the teachings of the Qur’an. )”   (A lecture at the Universite D’Abomey-Calavi Cotonou, Benin. 8 Apr. 2004)

The fact is that the Islamic wars were in self-defense after the Muslims had been pushed beyond all bounds of reason.

After 10 difficult years of fighting to establish religious freedom and peace, the Holy Prophet (sa) returned triumphant and victorious to Makkah. What did he do at this time? Kill his enemies? Destroy their houses and property? No. He proclaimed:

“There shall be no punishment upon any of you for I have forgiven you all.  I am a messenger of love and peace. I have the greatest knowledge of Allah’s attribute of being a ‘Source of Peace’ – He is the One Who gives peace. Thus, I forgive you of all of your past transgressions and I give you a guarantee of peace and security. You are free to remain in Makkah and to freely practice your religion. No one will be compelled or forced in any way.” (Bukhari)

The Holy Prophet readily granted amnesty to his persecutors, the magnanimity of which softened the hardest of hearts. Bitter enemies of the morning became warm friends by midday. Even the most die-hard enemies of Islam could not resist the healing balm so generously and so effectively applied by the Holy Prophet.

Commenting on this conquest of Makkah, the Rev. Bosworth Smith writes:

“Now would have been the moment to gratify his ambition, to satiate his lust, to glut his revenge. Read the account of the entry of Muhammad into Mecca side by side with that of Marins or Sulla into Rome. Compare all the attendant circumstances, the outrages that preceded, and the use made by each of his recovered power and we shall then be in a better position to appreciate the magnanimity and moderation of the Prophet of Arabia. There were no proscription lists, no plunder, no wanton revenge. From a helpless orphan to the ruler of a big country was a great transition, yet the Prophet retained the nobility of his character under all circumstances.” (Muhammad and Muhammadanism)

PEACE IN ALL ASPECTS

Therefore, Islam promised peace and delivered peace. The later fanatical politically fueled agendas of the extremist ‘Muslims’ that we see today have nothing to with Islam. Islam is a complete code of life, and promises to deliver peace in all aspects of life. From individual to family to social to international. No other religion delivers such a complete teaching without falling short on any matter.

[richincolor]

Review: We Hunt the Flame Author: Hafsah Faizal Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Genre: Fantasy Pages: 472 Review copy: Purchased Availability: On shelves now

Publisher Summary: People lived because she killed. People died because he lived.

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.

Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya—but neither wants to be.

War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the king on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds—and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.

Set in a richly detailed world inspired by ancient Arabia, We Hunt the Flame is a gripping debut of discovery, conquering fear, and taking identity into your own hands.

Review: For several months I haven't been in the mood for fantasy, but a friendly worker at the local bookstore convinced me that this should be my next book . She gushed and I'm glad she did. The cover did a bit of persuading too. The contrast of the darkness with the gold lettering is lovely. Zafira is also staring out at readers with a rather mesmerizing gaze. I couldn't really turn away.

I loved getting to known Zafira. Her hunting abilities impress everyone, but she's burdened by a lot of fear. One of her greatest fears is getting lost in the forest. She's also concerned that others will somehow find out that she is not a man. To accomplish her goals, Zafira hides herself because women are not only valued less than men, they are believed to cause harm. Women are to blame for everything that is wrong in the world. Her loved ones encourage Zafira to show her true self so others will realize that they are mistaken about women, but she is not ready to take that chance. Fear doesn't stop her from setting out on a deadly quest though. She's searching for something outside and inside. She is definitely a force to be reckoned with and I wanted to see if she would break out of her self-imposed cage.

The story begins with Zafira, but in the second chapter, we meet Nasir. From then on, the perspective continues to shift back and forth. Nasir is the tormented Prince of Death. He's a good looking murderer who still has a sliver of compassion his father keeps trying to eradicate. Zafira is all honor and Nasir is the bad boy who may possibly still be redeemable. Yes, it's a familiar storyline, but it's still a fun and exciting tale because there are many mysteries and secrets and of course magic.

The land of Arawaiya is an interesting one as are the people and creatures that live there including those closest to Zafira and Nasir. Deen, the brother of Zafira's best friend, is protective and is more than a little swoon worthy. Altair, a general who hangs around with Nasir, is clever, easy on the eyes, and seems to get much joy from being antagonistic. There are also a few seriously vile players in this book, but that's to be expected with ancient evil rearing its head.

Arabic words are scattered throughout the book and while there isn't a glossary in the book, the author does provide one online. I don't think I ever had to consult the glossary to understand what was going on, but I found it interesting to explore.

Recommendation: There are a few predictable aspects of the story, but the Hafsah Faizal still provides plenty of surprises. Get it now - especially if like me you're looking to jump back into fantasy. In We Hunt the Flame evil abounds, but there is still hope.

Extra: Book Trailer

[darkspellmaster]

Young Justice Theory: So I want to talk about Halo...

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about Halo the character in Young Justice. And, while I’m loathed to throw myself into this discourse, I feel like a lot of misinformation is being bandied about in regard to the character.

Now let me say this much, I am not coming at this from the standpoint of the character being a Muslim girl. Rather I’m coming at this from the standpoint of what and who the character is and why I think a lot of this commentary is…a bit of an issue when it comes to Halo and her role in the series.

So let’s start at the beginning. Who is Halo...?

The original Halo is a girl by the name of Violet Harper who was a troubled teen. She and her then boyfriend stole a drug formula from Tobais Whale (if you watch Black Lighting you will know about this kingpin) and ran off to Markovia where she was killed by an Assassin sent out by Whale. Her body was later found by the the Aurakle, who took it over and revived her. Batman discovered her, and she had no idea who she was. Due to her using Light powers he gave her the code name Halo, so he could at least call her something, and the two helped form the Outsiders to deal with the war in Markovia.

During her time with the Outsiders, Halo takes the name Gabrielle Doe and lives in a penthouse with Katana, becoming Katana’s Legal ward. She attended high school and started to date, making Brion a bit jealous, and the two realized when they spoiled one another’s dates that they loved one another. Eventually Batman found out Halo’s past and she eventually went to live with Violet’s parents, discovered that Violet needed to make amends for her past behavior and then broke things off with Brion.

Tobais Whale came back into Halo’s life seeking out the drug formula, and kidnapped her parents. She had no idea what he was talking about as the memory of the theft was gone, even with the help of her friends Violet’s parents were killed. Her memories were returned when the JL discovered what possessed her body, and the Auakle wanted to split her and their friend, killing her in the process. The outsiders saved her, and was finally left in peace to go find herself.

During this time she got lured into the Kobra cult and had to be saved by the Outsiders once more, rejoined them. However her body was killed during events of an attack on Markovia, where the ex wife of one of the Outsiders allies, and Halo took over the body of Marissa Barron, but went by the name of Violet due to connections to her former body.

In addition the new 52 redid her story to have it where Violet was imprisoned by the Kobra cult in Markovia. During this time Katana, who is on her own mission, frees Violet and steals a police van with the girl, only for the two to be caught when they stop the van to rest, thinking they’re safe.

In the redone story of Halo, the Aurkles have been captured by Kobra, and with the help of a kidnapped Scientist (I think it’s Dr. Jace) Violet is forced to experimented upon and this gives her super powers. The try to mind control her, but the Aurkles breaks free and kills everyone present but shields Violet from harm. Katana threatens to kill them and they back off allowing her and Violet to escape.

When awake from her ordeal Violet uses her powers but Katana and her partner the Entchantress knock her out. Enchantress at the time tries to free Violet from the Aurkles, but the bond is permanent. During this time the Aurkles try to free their friend, but their actions would have killed Halo, so Enchantress has to kill them to keep her alive. Halo saves Katana and Enchantress and Katana takes Halo on as a sister and offers to let her live with her.

Second question…what is Qurac?

Okay so while one can see Qurac as a fake name for Iraq the two nations are not the same and are independent of one another’s history.

Qurac is a gulf nation that runs along the eastern boarder of the Sinai Peninsula from Oman and Rub’al Khali on the south, Saudi Arabia and the Summan on the west and Iraq and Wadi al Batin on the north.

It’s considered an Outlaw nation due to it’s anti-u.s. policies and was a major sponsor of terrorism in the west. Originally, it was ruled by the Ottoman Empire until around the time of WW1 when English and Arab forces defeated the Empire, and the area then held by England until WW2. Now things get interesting…

So during WW2 the Premier of Iraq, one Al-Gailiani, who was a Arab Nationalist, decided to replace the then moderate Iraqi government with a Pro-Axis one. The Brits were having none of that thus the Invasion of Basra in 1941.

Hassan al-Sadr, one of Al-Gailiani’s supporters, fled south and galvanized Arab tribesmen into an army, and, taking the name Sulieman, he was aided by the Germans with materials and funding to establish the nation of Qurac. Because of their alliance Qurac allowed the building of Jotunheim, a giant fortress which was later assaulted by the Suicide Squad when a terrorist organization took hold of it. Jotunheim wrecked the shipping in the Oman and Persian gulfs during this time, and eventually Sulieman’s regime was defeated by the end of the war.

After WW2 Qurac became a republic and that lasted until the 1970s when a military coup led by General Marlo, overthrew the elected government and declared it a military dictatorship, against the will of the people. During his reign Marlo has tested nuclear devices that contaminated the oil supply which is the foremost natural resources. This lead Marlo to attack several international locations, among them Metropolis, causing Superman to come after him and destroy much of his military capability. Marlo eventually was defeated and brought to stand trial thanks to the work of the Suicide squad. Sometime later Cheshire used a nuclear missile on the nation as a means to show she wasn’t afraid of using the weapons she had stolen, causing trouble for aid workers to help survivors.

So that is the comic history of the nation and character…

Question three is…what is a mother box and a New God?

So a New God is a being that is from New Genesis or Apokolips. Respectively you can see them as a heavenly place or a hellish landscape. Batman believes each New God represents something, like Orion is War, Mr. Miracle is Freedom, etc. They live on the Fourth world which is in close proximity to the Source, which is basically a place where most of the powers of the universe come from.

“The Source is the "source" of all that exists and acts as the limitless energy from which all life sprang forth in the Universe. The Source created and was created by the emergence of the Universe approximately 19 billion years ago.[1] Mostly associated with the New Gods, the Source was the supposed origin of the "Godwave" that is believed to have been responsible for creating and empowering the "Gods" with their divine abilities. It also seems to be partially responsible for the ability of certain people to develop super-powers, especially those which defy the laws of physics.

Lying at the edge of the known multiverse is the Source Wall, which protects the Source, and traps all those who attempt to pass beyond it as Promethean Giants.”

So New Gods evolved into almost perfect beings due to their close connection to the source, their technology and other factors. They’re faster, stronger, smarter, etc. than their cousins the humans of earth, even though they look like us.

Another factor about the New Gods is that they are technically immortal, have acceletated healing, and you can’t really kill them with natural means, you need a specific sort of material to use against them, or they just will keep healing up and fixing themselves. Now I don’t know if anyone of them has ever revived directly from death, but near death…yes, several times.

They also obtain powers that are pretty much super depending on who it is.

As for the Mother Box…

So these “living computers” are half sentient being half highly developed machine. The New God Himon, who used Tenth Metal to build the boxes, which is seen as possibly being alive, created them and they can do a number of things. Anything from forming a boom tube, to translating, to energy manipulations to teleportation to, even healing an injury.

According to Metron, one of the smartest New Gods, the Mother box shares a rapport with nature and it’s user, providing unconditional love to the person that owns it and will self destruct should the person that owned it die. Keep in mind the mother box can be woven into just about anything, Scott Free has his in his costume as a part of it.

The list of things they can do is wild:

Change gravity

Transfer energy from one place to another

 Control the mental state of a host

 Communicate with other life forms

 Manipulate the life force of a host to sustain it past fatal injuries,

Open and close boom tubes

Take over and control non-sentient machines

Merge sentient beings into a single more powerful being

Sustain a life form in a hostile environment.

Okay so now about Earth 16 Halo….

So what do we know about Violet? We know that she was named Gabrielle and that she was a citizen of the republic of Qurac, which has been having strife with Queen Bee. We know that she came to Markovia after being chased down by a group of monsters that seems to be attacking. For some reason she agreed to open the door to let assassins in to kill the King and Queen and then was killed herself to install a mother box in her.

It’s clear by now it’s a mother box. But who did it belong to.

This becomes important I think in understanding the character we have here. Gabriella died, and while the Mother box did revive her, much like the original Halo, this is not the same girl that was Gabrielle. This isn’t a case of amnesia, the only thing keeping Violet alive right now is that box inside her, and that box, should the owner die, will destroy itself, unless it sees Gabriella as it’s owner now.

This means that the girl that we have before us isn’t really Gabrielle, she is the Mother box (or New God) taking on a new form, and reading the memories that are storied in Gabrielle’s mind. Because of the fact that the original Gabrielle died, we can then view this person as someone that is, for lack of a better term, wearing Gabrielle’s skin. This also brings up the question of identity and if the being inside her, that being this Mother box, identifies with Gabrielle’s religion or not. Violet at this point clearly feels that continuing to at least wear the hijab is the right thing to do for her, as she says, “it feels right” shows that at least the Mother box is reading the remaining emotions or whatever, inside of Gabrielle’s memories.

A lot of the issues people seem to be having with her centers around if she is her nationality, and honestly I have to say, no, she is not. The moment Gabrielle died and the Mother box activated reviving her, she lost all of that. She became a new person who is learning to be the person that Gabrielle was, but she is not Gabrielle. Thus the taking of the new name. Because of this, you can’t really judge the character on the outfits or actions they put her in based on who Gabrielle was, because this isn’t her anymore, and I don’t think this is ever going to be again. The girl that was Gabrielle died, she is dead, and there is no bringing her back. All we have now is Violet, a person who is learning to be a person, who is experiencing things for the first time inside a person’s body.

Now was it a smart idea to make her a Muslim girl from Qurac, compared to her original form, I don’t know. On the one hand, I can see where the issues regarding her being killed over and over can come off as something horrible. And that her outfit wouldn’t be seen as proper (and compared to M from Marvel this is a pretty fully covered look) compared to say Ms. Marvel’s look. However, on the other side of things, this isn’t Gabrielle anymore and because of that she has to be looked at by a different standard as she has no clue what Gabrielle would and wouldn’t wear. It’s also important to note that their costumes were designed to best suit their powers, and more than likely Fire set Violet up with cloth that would make it easier to use her abilities, much like Geoforce not ripping off all his clothing.

As more and more of Gabrielle’s memories come back, the likelihood is that Violet will have to face a choice to live as Violet or as Gabrielle. There’s also the added issue of the Mother Box and, well, who’s it is and if there is a New God in her or at least, accessing her body.

Keep in mind also that Mother boxes don’t normally create illusions, but New Gods do. Right now there’s some form of confirmation that the Mother box is inside Halo, thus making her what she is. We know that the powers she has seems to mirror that of the Mother boxes, and yet there are a few that don’t.

Halo can fly, while the Mother box can alter gravity it can’t make someone fly. Halo can cast illusions, create beams, Force fields, etc. the Mother box can’t do that –unless that falls under energy manipulation, which it could, but it still leads to the other option that could be happening here.

The Mother box is working in tandem with a New God is one of the other options for this. We’ve heard that the Mother box is inside Halo and keeping her alive. However there is the option for a New God to be using the body as well. New Gods can poessess others, it’s one of the options of their powers, and the one New God that matches a lot of the powers that Violet has right now is Solis, or Light Ray.

Lightray or Solis,  is the best friend of Orion, a powerful New God that can fly, has accelerated healing, Photokinesis or the ability to manipulate light in many ways, including force fields, blasts and casting illusions. The reason I bring him up at all is because of what Bear states in Away Mission. During the episode Bear, says that that the Real Orion is away from New Genesis. Now why could that be?

Originally I thought that this meant that the Mother box could be Orion’s and that they were holding him captive. However, the big thing about this is that you don’t just capture a Mother Box, it’s not easy to get, and the other factor is that Orion’s controls his beast/rage form. Without it he becomes a wild animal. 

Which could explain the monster we see chasing down Halo and the others in her memories.

The other option is that the mother box belonged to Lightray who is being  held prisoner, as with Orion, only he tapped into his connection with his Mother box and is now connected to it allowing Halo to access his powers until help can arrive in the form of Orion.

So we have three options here.

Option 1. Halo’s powers come strictly from the Mother Box and the Mother box has become the person Violet that is now inhabiting the mortal remains of Gabrielle Doe, who was the girl from Qurac that died at the hands of Ecks and the others.

Option 2. Halo’s powers are coming from a mix of the Mother box and Lightray/Solis who is right now incapacitated and is using his mother box inside Halo to keep others from using him for whatever purpose that they will. And that Orion is looking for his best friend, thus why M’comm was able to pretend to be him.

Option 3. Halo’s powers are coming from the Mother box, but the box belongs to a captured Orion. Should Orion be saved this could put a serious issue up in the air for Halo. As the Mother box would belong to Orion this would mean it may have to be removed as it has a connection to Orion and would want to go back with him home, since it helps calm him down. Orion could be a dick about it and want it back as well leading to a fight over Halo and her life, or he could be talked down from it by Bear and the other Forever people, which is also an option here.

Ultimately I feel like a lot of people are viewing Halo in a way that seems to be under the impression that she’s alive. Let me reiterate, she is not. She is not the girl that died, she is a vastly different character, one who’s deaths I think mean something. Each death may be processed by the Mother box for a reason, and probably will be used later in the story. As she understands that pain the box can then probably dish out everything upon someone that is attacking them at some point. That is honestly where I think we are going with this.

I hope this all makes sense.

[bountyofbeads]

‘What Is Going to Happen to Us?’ Inside ISIS Prison, Children Ask Their Fate https://nyti.ms/2W2OEOu

What Is Going to Happen to Us?’ Inside ISIS Prison, Children Ask Their Fate

A rare inside look by New York Times journalists exposes an enormous legal and humanitarian crisis, one that the world has largely chosen to ignore.

By Ben Hubbard

Photographs and Video by Ivor Prickett

Oct. 23, 2019Updated 8:16 a.m. ET

NORTHEASTERN SYRIA — The prisoners cover the floor like a carpet of human despair. Many are missing eyes or limbs, some are bone-thin from sickness, and most wear orange jumpsuits similar to what the Islamic State, the terrorist group they once belonged to, dressed its own captives in before it killed them.

Upstairs, jammed into two cells with little sunlight, are more than 150 children — aged roughly 9 to 14 — from a range of countries. Their parents brought them to Syria and ended up dead or detained. The children have been here for months and have no idea where their relatives are or what the future holds.

“I have a question,” said a boy from Suriname inside his cell. “What is going to happen to us? Are the kids going to come out?”

Rare visits to two prisons for former residents of Islamic State-held territory in northeastern Syria by The New York Times this week laid bare the enormity of a growing legal and humanitarian crisis that the world has largely chosen to ignore.

As the Islamic State's self-declared caliphate collapsed in Syria, tens of thousands of men, women and children who had lived in it ended up in squalid camps and crowded prisons run by the Kurdish-led militia that had partnered with the United States to defeat the jihadists.

But now that a military incursion by Turkey against Kurdish forces has set off a new wave of violence and weakened their control over the area, uncertainty has grown over the fate of the huge population of people who survived the toppling of the Islamic State and have been warehoused since then in prisons and detention camps.

Most of their home countries have refused to take them back, fearing that they harbor extremist thoughts or could carry out attacks. So their governments have instead chosen to leave them in the custody of a Kurdish-led force that lacks the resources to house, feed and protect them, much less to investigate the adults and provide the children with education and rehabilitation.

Little about the minors’ conditions in the Kurdish-run prison appeared to meet international standards that, even for suspected criminals, prioritize children's well-being, consider detention a last resort and require specialized physical and emotional care.

One crowded cell held 86 minors — from Syria, Iraq, Mauritius, Russia and elsewhere. Another held 67 adolescents and a boy who said he was 9 and from Russia.

When asked where his parents were, he shrugged and said, “They got killed.”

Later, he asked of his captors, “Why don’t they bring us fruit?”

The confusion surrounding the detainees has only grown since President Trump started pulling United States forces out of the area, a decision that cleared the way for Turkey to begin its assault on America’s pivotal allies in the war against the Islamic State in Syria.

Prison crowding has increased because Kurdish fighters, who are viewed as a threat by Turkey, moved hundreds of prisoners away from the border to facilities farther from the battle zone, Kurdish officials said. And fighters who worked as prison guards have slipped off to the front lines to fight the Turks, leaving the facilities more vulnerable to prisoner uprisings or attacks by the Islamic State to free its comrades.

“We are 100 percent sure that if they have the opportunity to escape from the prison, it will be very dangerous for us,” said Can Polat, an assistant warden at a prison with more than 5,000 men. “Holding these people here is not only a danger for Syria, it is a danger for the whole world.”

The detention crisis in northeastern Syria is a bleak byproduct of the war against the Islamic State.

As the terrorist group was rolled back, losing its last patch of territory in Syria in March, Kurdish fighters found themselves in charge of about 11,000 men and tens of thousands of women and children. Many of them were foreigners, from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Arab world, and most of their countries refused to take them home, even to put them on trial, much less integrate them into society

So with help from a United States-led international coalition, the Kurds established camps and a prison system, housing detainees in former government prisons they had taken over and in makeshift lock-ups in schools and other facilities.

Mr. Polat’s prison is a converted industrial institute that now holds more than 5,000 people. One-quarter of them are Syrians, the rest hailing from 29 other countries, including Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Afghanistan, the Netherlands and the United States.

The facility opened around the collapse of the Islamic State in Syria, which caused such an influx of prisoners that many were given orange jumpsuits provided by the coalition to replace their old clothes, Mr. Polat said.

Since the Islamic State often dressed its captives in orange before killing them, many of the captives gasped when they saw the new outfits, thinking they were about to be killed, too.

Orange jumpsuits now filled the prison. Most of the 400 men in a vast medical ward wore them. Many of them were sick or wounded. Men with metal braces holding broken bones in place lay on thin mattresses, while others shuffled to the bathroom on crutches or dragged their legs on the ground behind them.

A few were so emaciated that their cheekbones stuck out and their legs were as thin as arms. When one man made the call to prayer, many of the prisoners prayed sitting down because they were too injured or ill to stand.

The Kurdish guards assumed that most of the men had been fighters and still followed the Islamic State’s ideology, but the prisoners themselves played down their roles in the world’s most fearsome terrorist organization.

A Palestinian man with a broken leg said he had come to Syria because he “wanted to help.” A mechanic from Trinidad said he had not fought because he had been too busy fixing cars. A tall, muscular Russian said he had been a cook — in an elementary school.

In dozens of interviews in two prisons, no one admitted to being a fighter.

Most wanted to return to their countries or hoped to get amnesty for renouncing the Islamic State.

“There are some who say, ‘I was a fighter and will continue on that path,’ and others who say, ‘No, I was tricked,’” said Basil Karazoun, who said he had joined the terrorist group for protection after defecting from the Syrian military.

Like most of the prisoners, he feared being handed over to Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, whose forces have been accused of widespread abuse and killings of detainees. After Mr. Trump announced that he was pulling troops out of Syria, the Kurds — worried about being overrun by Turkey once the Americans abandoned them — announced that they had reached an agreement to allow Syrian government forces into the area.

“It’s a fact that if we fall into the regime’s hands, there will be mass executions,” he said. “That is how the regime thinks.”

Another cell in the prison held 99 men, most of whom had lost limbs, including Abdelhamid al-Madioum, who described himself as an American who had lived near Minneapolis.

In an interview, he said he had worked at a Jamba Juice in high school, that his best friends were an atheist and a Christian, and that he had been studying engineering before joining the Islamic State in Syria, where he had hoped to study medicine.

But a few months after he arrived, he said, he was hit by an airstrike that shattered his body and tore off his right arm. Around the time he was captured by Kurdish fighters this year, he said, his wife was shot dead and he lost track his two young sons, aged 2 and 4.

“I made a mistake,” he said. “I’ll admit it. I’ll admit it 1,000 times.”

It was unclear why some minors were put in prison, while most of the children of Islamic State fighters and followers have been taken to detention camps. Their cells were crowded, with no free space between their mattresses and blankets. When a guard swung open a hatch on the cell’s door, the children crowded around to peek outside.

Under United Nations standards for juvenile justice, even minors suspected of crimes should be detained only as “a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible period of time,” pending trial.

While the Islamic State did train boys for combat, it was unclear if that was true of the boys in the prison. None were awaiting trial, because the Syrian Kurdish authorities do not try foreigners.

The United Nations also says detained juveniles should receive “all necessary individual assistance,” including education, medical care and counseling.

The boys in prison said they received almost no services.

“The situation is pretty bad here, so if they could hurry up and decide,” said a 16-year-old boy from Mauritius. “Months like this without knowing what is going to happen, people could start going crazy. They could say these guys were terrorists before with ISIS, but they are still human.”

Ben Hubbard is the Beirut bureau chief who has spent more than a decade in the Arab world, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen.

*********

Turkey Halts Syrian Incursion, Hours After Deal with Russia

The Turkish military said it would advance no further into Syria, after reaching an agreement with Russia on forcing Kurdish fighters from the border region.

By Carlotta Gall and Patrick Kingsley | Published Oct. 23, 2019 Updated 7:37 AM ET | New York Times | Posted October 23, 2019 |

AKCAKALE, Turkey — The Turkish Army halted its incursion into a Kurdish-run area of northern Syria on Wednesday morning, after a deal between the Turkish and Russian governments  promised that Kurdish fighters would retreat from the Turkish-Syrian border.

In a statement, the Turkish defense ministry said it would not advance beyond an area of roughly 900 square miles that Turkish-led forces have seized from Kurdish control since invading the area two weeks ago.

“At this stage, there is no further need to conduct a new operation outside the present operation area,” the statement said.

The announcement followed an agreement on Tuesday night between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir V. Putin, that significantly redrew the battle lines of the eight-year-old Syrian conflict.

The deal calls for Russian and Turkish troops to fill a military vacuum created by the sudden United States withdrawal from northern Syria this month, which left the Kurds, American allies, exposed to the Turkish offensive.

It allows the Syrian government, backed by Moscow, to re-establish dominance over a swath of the country that the Kurds have controlled.

By Wednesday afternoon, Syrian government forces had begun to deploy to parts of the region for the first time in half a decade, Syrian state media reported. Russian troops were also filmed and photographed on the move in the same area.

Under the terms of the deal, Kurdish fighters must retreat more than 20 miles from the Turkish border by Monday night. Turkish troops will be allowed more than six miles inside Syria to conduct joint patrols with Russian forces along the length of the border region, and Turkey will also be allowed to maintain oversight of a deeper pocket of land it has seized, which extends roughly 20 miles inside Syria.

The Kurdish authorities were not involved in the talks between Mr. Putin and Mr. Erdogan, and have yet to respond to the deal. But in an earlier phase of the conflict they agreed to allow Russian and Syrian government troops inside their area of control, and on Tuesday completed a withdrawal from a central stretch of the border area, under the terms of an earlier American-brokered cease-fire.

On Wednesday, the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, portrayed the last week as a huge success for Turkish foreign policy, since it had seen both the United States and Russia agree to a buffer zone in northern Syria.

“Within five days, Turkey reached a deal with the world’s biggest two powers,” said Mr. Cavusoglu. “This deal is really very important for our national security — but also it made history for being a diplomatic and political success.’’

The situation has its roots in the early years of the Syrian civil war, when a Kurdish-led militia fighting against the Islamic State established a form of self-rule in northeastern Syria, while the Syrian government was distracted by Arab rebels in other parts of the country.

The militia’s rise to prominence alarmed the Turkish government, since it is the Syrian offshoot of a Kurdish guerrilla movement that has waged a decadeslong insurgency against the Turkish state, a longtime American ally.

But there was the little the Turkish government could do, since the Kurdish fighters operated with the protection of the United States military from 2014 onward. The militia, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, became the main ground force of an American-led international coalition working to force Islamic State extremists out of Syria.

As the Islamic State retreated, the Kurdish fighters became, in effect, the government of roughly a quarter of Syria, including — to Mr. Erdogan’s fury — most of the Syrian border with Turkey.

For several years, American troops kept order between its two allies, Turkey and the Syrian Kurds, acting as de facto peacekeepers on the border. But then Mr. Trump ordered American forces to begin a withdrawal from the region this month.

That allowed Turkey to invade, and prompted the Kurdish leadership to turn in desperation to the Syrian government and its Russian backers for protection, in a bid to prevent Turkey from taking over the entire Kurdish-held area.

But as Tuesday’s deal showed, it came at the cost of renouncing Kurdish military control over the majority of its populated areas.

Turkish-backed Syrian Arab militias have nevertheless expressed wariness about the deal, fearing that Kurdish fighters will secretly remain near the border under the flag of the Syrian and Russian armies.

“We do not trust Russia,” said Hisham al-Skeif, a spokesman for one of the Turkish-backed factions. “The Russians did not comply with any agreement previously.”

But Mr. al-Skeif said he was happy that the dream of an autonomous Kurdish region was coming to an end. “This is a great pleasure for us even if we have not achieved everything we want,” he said.

In a briefing to reporters on his flight back from the negotiations in Russia, Mr. Erdogan said that Mr. Putin had guaranteed that Kurdish fighters would not be allowed to remain near the Turkish border.

“We asked him: ‘What would happen if they stay on the ground wearing the uniform of the regime?’” Mr. Erdogan said. “He replied: ‘We will not allow it.’ We will be following up.”

Carlotta Gall reported from Akcakale, and Patrick Kingsley from Istanbul. Ben Hubbard contributed reporting from Syria.

*********

Turkey’s Border Towns Pay Deadly Price for Erdogan’s Syria Incursion

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign against the Kurdish militia in Syria has led to at least 20 deaths at home and has reopened old wounds in southeast Turkey’s traumatized population.

By Carlotta Gall | Published October 21, 2019 | Photographs by Mauricio Lima | New York Times | Posted October 23, 2019 |

NUSAYBIN, Turkey — Smears of fresh black asphalt covered the blood stains from a deadly mortar strike on a quiet neighborhood in Nusaybin, Turkey, just two blocks from the Syrian border.

Turks, Kurds and Syrians were all cut down in the same attack, one of dozens that have hit the border towns in Turkey’s southeast in the last 10 days.

After the first two mortar strikes on Nusaybin last week, shopkeepers and others rushed to the scene. That was when the third mortar hit, killing at least eight, including two Syrian  refugees, and wounding 35.

“The people who died were mostly the people who came to help,” said Adem Dilges Aktog, 44, a Kurdish shopkeeper squatting amid the broken glass of his wife’s clothing store. “They all had shops here.”

Border towns like Nusaybin are paying a heavy price since the Turkish military began its incursion into northern Syria and Kurdish militants retaliated with rocket and mortar fire.

But so far, there has been little increase in ethnic tension, as communities have mourned together and refused to blame each other, even when they back different sides in the conflict.

“No one is discussing against Kurds or Syrians,” said Ozgur Becet, 34, a Turkish long-haul truck driver. “The fight we are having is with the U.S. because they are giving them weapons,” he said, referring to American support for the Kurdish militia in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces. “If no one was supporting them with weapons, then there would not be a problem in the first place.”

Turkish officials have kept a strong grip on the communities along the border, attending funerals while laying the blame for the casualties on the United States for supporting what Ankara calls a terrorist organization. Ottoman-era martial music played repeatedly on loud speakers in the border towns, and the mosques recited prayers for the Turkish army.

But despite the government’s insistence that it is fighting terrorism to protect Turks, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign against the Kurdish militia in Syria has hurt communities at home, with already 20 dead and 80 wounded in Turkey.

It has also reopened old wounds and anxieties in southeast Turkey’s deeply traumatized population. Syrians are reliving the horrors of war. For the Kurds, many of whom distrust the intentions of the central government in Ankara, it is only reinforcing longstanding disaffection.

Young people gathered at the scene of the mortar strike in Nusaybin were even questioning whether the mortars had been fired on the town by Turkish forces, although the trajectory indicated they had been launched from Syria.

Those skeptical of the official account noted that throughout the course of Syria’s long civil war, the Syrian Kurdish group had never so much as thrown a single stone across the border, contradicting the government’s talk of a terrorist threat.

While these deadly mortar attacks are new, Turkey’s southeast is no stranger to conflict.

The majority-Kurdish population has lived through decades of violence as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., has waged a separatist insurgency in Turkey. Thousands have been killed in Turkish military campaigns against the P.K.K., and tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced since the 1980s.

The entire region is heavily policed today, and most Kurds interviewed refused to give their names, saying they risked detention. Those who did talk made sure to do so out of view of closed circuit police cameras, which monitor the main streets and intersections of many towns.

In private conversations, Turkey’s Kurds described onerous constraints in their lives and described their dread that Turkey’s latest military operation in Syria was going to bring more oppression for Kurds on both sides of the border.

One of the reasons is that many Kurdish families in the southeast have sons who ran away to join the American-backed Kurdish militia in Syria to help fight the Islamic State — and may now be fighting against the Turkish army.

In Suruc, a majority-Kurdish town 175 miles west of Nusaybin, a street vendor estimated that half the town’s Kurdish population had a relative who had gone to join the Kurdish militia in Syria.

While Kurds predominate in the region, a mix of ethnic groups lives among them — Turks and Arabs, along with tiny minorities of Assyrians, Circassians, Armenians and Jews with their own histories of persecution. They have been joined in recent years by a million Syrians, mostly Sunni Arabs but also Syrian Kurds from across the border, fleeing the war.

The influx of refugees was hard for everyone, but they were met with broad acceptance since people understood their plight and many had family or business ties, with trade between the two countries flourishing in the years before the war.

“We did trade with the Syrians for years,” said Ibrahim Sahin, 32, a computer repairman in Nusaybin. “We cannot blame them. No one leaves their country willingly.”

The Syrian refugees brought wages down because they worked for less, said Ayse Bayrak, who is from a Turkish Arab tribe that farms close to the Syrian border. Her sister-in-law is Syrian, and she said most people made accommodations to welcome the newcomers, though it was easier when they moved on.

“The first two years they were all crowded on our shoulders and we shared electricity and jobs,” said Ms. Bayrak, 36. “Then they moved to the big cities, and we could breathe better.”

Even before the Turkish incursion, the war sometimes came too close in the eight years of fighting, as when Russian and Syrian government forces battled opposition groups in Syrian border towns.

“Six or seven years ago, Russian jets were pounding with barrel bombs here,” said Musa Sahman, 70, whose raw meat kebab shop in Ceylanpinar, 80 miles west of Nusaybin, is one block from the border wall that separates the Turkish town from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain. “For the past seven years it has not ended. It might last another seven years.”

Starting in 2009, the Kurds in Turkey enjoyed a period of respite and hope as Mr. Erdogan pursued peace talks with the P.K.K. But when those negotiations fell apart, fierce fighting broke out in 2015 in several cities in the southeast, including Nusaybin, as the P.K.K. battled Turkish security forces inside the city’s neighborhoods.

Some homes in a neighborhood of Nusaybin still bear the shrapnel scars from that conflict.

“They have not healed from that and now this,” said Mr. Sahin, the computer repairman, of his neighbors in Nusaybin. “They lost their children, their spouses. Some have left. Those who did not, do not have the means.”

For those just trying to make a living in one of Turkey’s most underdeveloped regions, there is little hope their situation will improve any time soon. Many pleaded for the United States to intervene to end the war.

“There is not a single factory here,” Mr. Sahin said. “No one invests here.”

For some Syrians, the Turkish operation initially brought hope they would be able to return to their homes free of the Kurdish militia, which they complained conscripted fighters and taxed farmers heavily.

But within days, as the Turkish operation halted, and amid reports of Syrian government troops moving in to areas, that hope wavered.

“We need to go back but we don’t know if this war is for our benefit,” said Khanim Khalil, a grandmother and refugee living in Akcakale, Turkey, whose Syrian village was among those taken by Turkish-backed forces. “We are too afraid of the regime, if it comes back.”

For other Syrians, yet another military operation, following so many years of conflict, is just too much, and they predicted that migrations to Europe would spike again.

“It’s very hard,” said Khoshan Yousuf, 36, a Syrian trader. “That’s why the Syrians want to go to Europe. They are fed up.”

*********

[alexsmitposts]

Without the I Word, Beware B and P As Nancy Pelosi struggles to contain increasing demands for the Congress to impeach President Trump, his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo ratchets up tensions in the Gulf of Oman, as it has done in countless other historical circumstances, making war with Iran look imminent. Now more than ever, Americans need to know that beyond oil, the Middle East, like the rest of the world, is divided between right and left. Iran is the leader of the left-oriented Shia version of Islam, while Saudi Arabia leads the right oriented Arab world. Meanwhile, Israel, as it continues to occupy Palestinian territory for over seventy years, has gone from being a left-oriented society in which the kibbutz played a central role, so far to the right that it often agrees with fascists. Across the Middle East as elsewhere,“Follow the money”, corresponds to the left-right divide. Unlike American ignorance of current foreign affairs, few people across the world have a false idea of the French Revolution of 1789: driven by popular hardship, the sans culottes got rid of a monarch, opening the way for an organized left that carried out the Russian Revolution of 1917, followed, in due course, by the Chinese Revolution of 1949. These three revolutions duly claimed their place in history and in the popular imagination, however, after the defeat of Nazi Germany, the US installed ‘liberal’ parties in Western Europe, Eastern Europe modernized under a Soviet controlled authoritarian form of social democracy, while Iran was still a relatively poor country whose population was in need of everything from health care to education and housing. In 1953, when Iranians elected a lawyer named Mohammed Mossadegh to lead the country, the nationalization of their oil bonanza was a no-brainer. Alas, this coincided with the growing realization by the US of the crucial role of ‘black gold’, as American automobile ownership tripled, and petroleum became the magic fluid that generated prodigious development in the West. In what was to become a pattern, the CIA and M16 worked in tandem to overthrow the Iranian popular government and put the exiled Shah back in power. Twenty-six years later, in 1979, popular forces carried out a revolution against the Shah’s iron rule that has never been understood by the West, which saw the new leaders exclusively as religious fanatics. In reality, when Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile in France, he was accompanied by a socialist theoretician. Ali Shariati had been in and out of jail while teaching high school and campaigning for change. Eventually, he was allowed to accept a scholarship to France, where he studied with Islamic scholars, earning a PhD in sociology and the history of religions in 1964, while discovering the third world political theologist Frantz Fanon, collaborating with the Algerian National Liberation Front and campaigning alongside Jean-Paul Sartre for an end to French colonialism. Returning to Iran, Shariati founded the Freedom Movement of Iran, gathering followers throughout \society. His sin was to have revived Shiism’s revolutionary claim that a good society would embrace religious values. He taught that the role of a government under a learned clergy, was to guide society according to Islamic values rather than managing it, allowing human beings to reach their highest potential rather than encouraging the West’s hedonistic individualism. Believing that Shia Muslims should not await the return of a mysterious 12th Imam, (as the Jews await ‘the Messiah’) but hasten it by fighting for social justice, even to the point of martyrdom, Shariati criticized the Shah’s clerics and translated the claims of Iranian Marxists that revolution would bring about a just, classless society into religious symbols that ordinary people could relate to. Seeing a direct link between liberal democracy and the plundering of pre-modern societies based on spirituality, unlike Fanon, he believed that people could only fight imperialism by recovering their cultural identity, including their religious beliefs, which he called ‘returning to ourselves’. (Like a growing number of contemporary leaders — such as Vladimir Putin — Shariati called religious government ‘commitment democracy’, as opposed to Western demagogy based on advertising and money. The panic that gripped the West in 1979 when 52 American diplomats were locked-into the Embassy for 444 days, was heightened by Israel’s victory in the Six Day War a few years earlier. Since that time, while continuing to deny the Palestinians a state of their own, Israel has moved closer to the most powerful Sunni (i.e., conservative) Arab nation, Saudi Arabia, which supports ISIS and its offshoot terrorist organizations worldwide, and wages an unrelenting campaign against the tiny country of Yemen, whose revolutionary Houthis are also supported by Iran, in the millennial battle between Sunni and Shia. Few Americans know that these two are strongly correlated to the left-right divide. Western media correctly attributes the conflict to attitudes toward Ali, the Prophet’s designated successor, but it features Shiites lashing themselves with chains in solidarity, without mentioning that the reason for Ali’s murder was his defense of the lower classes. In turn, that attitude was based on a disagreement over whether God had attributes, such as ‘justice’ and hence could demand that humans treat each other with respect and dignity. Arising after the Prophet’s death, the argument centered around whether the Quran was an emanation of God, or had always existed. In turn, the answer to that question depended on whether God simply ‘is’ or whether, like humans, he has attributes, one of which would be ‘justice’, or solidarity, which would imply the existence of free will. At one point, a free will defender who got up and left the discussion was labelled a Mutazilla, or ‘one who has left’. During the following centuries, and mainly under the Abbasid rulers centered in Persia, the Mutazilla movement lead to the development of Shia Islam, with a different set of laws from those of the Sunnis, who still believe that individual lives are foreordained by a God who is neither ‘good’ nor ‘evil’, but simply ‘is’, and that men must obey Him without question. Under the cleric Wahhab, that conviction led to the extreme of Sunni Islam, in whose name terrorism is carried out to this day. The notion of a ‘Shia arc’ suggests an equally threatening military entity, when in reality it is an ideological one. Although nothing could be further from the minds of those who hold Trump’s foreign policy in their hands, Ali Shariati and the Iranian revolution revived Shia Islam’s original message that men must treat each other with dignity and respect. The original seat of the Mutazilla movement was the city of Basra, located on the Persian Gulf Shat al Arab waterway, and the Shiite learning center of Najaf, near the southern Iraq/Iran border, was the headquarters of Iran’s exiled revolutionary leader, Imam Khomeini. After spreading from Iran to Iraq, Shia Islam reached Syria and Lebanon on the strength of its commitment to justice. In Syria, the life values of Islam had already led to the creation of the Baaʿth Party, which in 1953 merged with the Syrian Socialist Party to form the Saddam Hussein’s Arab Socialist Baaʿth (Renaissance) Party. Although both countries belonged to the non-aligned, anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist movement, the merger failed. (The US suffered the Baath being the party of Saddam Hussein as long as he was waging an eight-year war against socialist Iran.) Syrian Shiism continues to be represented by the small Alawite sect headed by the Assad family. Reaching back to the ninth century, the Alawites, who pray sitting rather than prostrate, and celebrate some Christian holidays, had been rejected by the Shiite hierarchy until Assad’s father, Hafez al Assad, came to power in 1964. Though accused by the US of “killing its own citizens”, Assad’s son, Bashar, heads the only secular government in the Middle East (including Israel), and retains the educational system and Western social customs that prevailed under the French mandate (1923-1964). In neighboring Lebanon, the Shiite militia known as Hezbollah represents a powerful political force in a tiny nation whose population is divided among half a dozen religions and sects, including the Christian Druze and Maronites. The picture painted for Westerners is of a rabble acting on orders from Iran, while Hezbollah is allied with the Shia militia Hamas in the struggle for an independent Palestine, making Syria ‘the frontline state’. (Alastair Crooke’s book Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution, attributes Hezbollah’s victories over the Israeli army to ‘horizontal’ organization, which encourages a high level of individual initiative, and is part of the surprisingly sophisticated knowledge of Western political thought by its leader Hassan Nasrallah.) This makes the fact that the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” all the more ironic. America is the only modern nation whose citizens have almost automatic access to guns, resulting in thousands of murders every year, while its leaders insist that foreign national militias must be punished by a so-called ‘rules-based’ international community. Last but not least, in this saga, like the cherry on the cake, the American public is oblivious to the decades-long ties between Iran and its neighbor, Russia, based on both a shared revolutionary commitment to ‘dignity and respect’, and to religious values. It is disquieting, to say the last, that when the two B’s threaten Iran, they are threatening Russia outside the narrative familiar to American voters.

[urfavmurtad]

Hi! in one of your posts u said: "infanticide, either female or otherwise, was not a common practice in pre-Islamic Arabia." can you please link me to some sources for that? i'd be forever grateful xxx

Anon I just finished one of my final papers and now I’m in a ranting mood and what a GREAT topic for ranting you have brought up. It’s a perfect example of how pre-Islamic Arabia has gotten shat upon for the better part of 1400 years because people, mostly their own descendants, have decided that they were all evil savages. Ask anyone who was raised Muslim, even if they’re no longer practicing, for a fact about “Jahiliyya” and you’ll be told “they buried their daughters”. I think pretty much everyone with even a month of Islamic education, myself included, has been taught that this was a routine and widespread occurrence that Islam stopped. Even non-Muslim people have probably heard of this.

It’s repeated so frequently that few people ever bother to look up where the accusation comes from and what evidence supports it, outside of Islamic texts. Let’s see. There wasn’t a ton of writing before the 7th century, but are there any surviving fragments that mention it? Hm… nope. Maybe it was mentioned in the works of some travelers or foreign writers? Not there, either. How about references to it from neighboring literate peoples, like the Byzantines and Persians, who saw the Arabs south of the Ghassanid/Lakhmid lands as backwards anyway and surely wouldn’t have minded reporting on such a practice? Or even the Christian Arabs to the immediate north? Nope. Well, the gender ratio must’ve been screwed up, isn’t there at least evidence of that? No? Fine, but surely there is at least some archaeological evidence of this? There must be lots of bones of female infants that people have uncovered, right? Uh… no.

I mean… okay, but there must be something, somewhere in the peninsula, from some time before Islam that mentions this, right?! Well, in fact there is one piece of pre-Islamic historical evidence that may concern this subject in the Arabian Peninsula. From between the fifth and the second century BC. In Yemen. It was not written in Arabic, as at the time Yemenis still spoke their own South Arabian language (called Sabaean). Nonetheless, let’s look at what the devious people of Jahiliyya were up to. It was codified that:

It is unlawful for anyone of the people of Matarat to kill his daughter.

…that, uh, it was illegal for people kill their daughters. Over 700 years before Mohammed was born. The linked article points out that the word can also be used to mean female relatives of any age, not only infant daughters, so it seems to have been a general prohibition against killing any female members of one’s family. There are fatwas throughout Islamic history that say the same thing, so we can’t even be generous and say “maybe the fact that this exists means it was socially acceptable beforehand?”.

So the only pre-Islamic evidence we have relating to any form of female-targeted killings comes from hundreds of years before Mohammed’s time, in a different part of Arabia, and it explicitly outlaws the practice. Now look, I’m not saying that infanticide didn’t happen at all, as it certainly did both in pre- and post-Islamic Arabia, in times of great hardship. But for such a supposedly widespread practice afflicting the entire race before Islam miraculously invented feminism and stopped it overnight, is it not a tad strange that no one of any civilization over the span of a thousand years bothered to mention it before Mohammed? And isn’t it kind of weird how there isn’t any record of even a single named person engaging in this practice outside of Islamic texts written in the 800s AD onwards, long after polytheism was no longer practiced? (And as I’ll show later, barely anyone is named even in those texts…)

At any rate, given that every single accusation about Arabs practicing widespread and specifically female infanticide comes from Islamic sources, I suppose we should look at what they actually say on this matter, even though Mohammed’s views of his contemporary polytheists were not exactly, shall we say, neutral and unbiased. I’ll explain why I find them unconvincing in terms of evidence that this was a common practice. This is going to be long! I’m putting this under a cut bc I think probably… five people in total on this entire site care??

Let’s deal with the Quran first. Infanticide is mentioned in four places: 81:8-9, 6:151, 17:31, and 16:58-59. 6:151 (it’s also mentioned a bit before that in surah 6 too but that one just says that it’s Allah’s will, so :|) and 17:31 do not mention daughters specifically and simply tell people not to kill their children because they are poor and starving and don’t have enough food to go around (which was the context of most cases of infanticide throughout world history).

So let’s take a look at the two that are actually about girls. The context of 16:58-59 is Mohammed complaining that the polytheists say that Allah has daughters (the trio of sister-goddesses popular in the Hijaz at the time). 16:58 has Mohammed saying that when one of the polytheists themselves finds out his newborn is a girl, he gets angry, and in 16:59 he has the imaginary polytheist wondering if he should bury the newborn “in the dust”. This is meant to convey that the polytheists disgrace Allah by giving him daughters when they don’t even want them themselves. It’s similar to 43:16-19, which does not mention infanticide but does complain that the polytheists claim that angels are female while being displeased with their own daughters.

(I feel like I’ve repeated this a thousand times, but Islamic sources themselves describe literate women, highly-revered female medics, successful female business owners, women in monogamous marriages, female clan leaders, women who inherited and distributed property, women who chose their own husbands, widows and single mothers working in respected professions, women who were on battlefields, and women leading thousands of troops in this era. The idea that non-Muslim Arabs in Mohammed’s time uniformly loathed women and routinely buried their own daughters is completely nonsensical even judging by solely Islamic sources and it’s absolutely bizarre that this perception still stands. Y’all they were a polygamous society and women seemed to outnumber men, not the other way around. I know some people think “if the Quran says it, it must be true!” but lookit, Alexander the Great did not have horns on his head and pre-Islamic Arabs were not all baby-killing savages, them’s the facts.)

In any case, the ayah actually just says the evildoing polytheists think of doing it because they want sons… not that they do it. Nor does it say that Mohammed has ever seen it happen. It seems highly unlikely that he ever personally witnessed such a thing in Mecca, as even the guys the Quran calls evil by name like Crazy Uncle Abu Lahab had daughters. I’ll also add that some noted Quranic commentators say the phrase “bury [her] in the dust” could be a metaphor meaning “to hide [her] out of sight”, because the first word can also mean “conceal”. But let me talk about the other verses now.

Hold on because the next one’s got a plot twist. Surah 81, At-Takwir, is one of those poetic ones about the end of the world, about the stars falling and seas being set on fire etc. 81:8-9 is part of this poem and says “And when the girl [who was] buried alive is asked/For what sin she was killed”.

The phrase translated as “the girl [who was] buried alive” is all one word, l-mawuda, stemming from a root used only in this ayah. It is evidently meant to refer to one killed via “wad”, meaning (in this case apparently) infanticide. So the word would mean, as literally as possible, “infant (girl) who was killed”. However!!

This verse is mentioned in one sahih hadith, which is… not actually about infanticide at all, but is instead about the practice of “azl”, which is the pull-out method, inexplicably called a form of infanticide (wad al-khafi–hidden infanticide, or “secret (way of) burying alive” as this translation puts it).

Then they asked him about ‘azl, whereupon he said “That is the secret (way of) burying alive”, and Ubaidullah has made this addition in the hadith transmitted by al-Muqri and that is: “When the one buried alive is asked[…] (81:8)”

Where might Mohammed have gotten such an idea? Why, I do believe this other sahih hadith has the answer. Someone informs Mohammed that Jews say that Every Sperm is Sacred (they call it mawudat al-sughra, minor infanticide. While the translation of mawuda as “girl buried alive” is standard now, it is clearly meant more in a general infanticide sense here… it’s not implying the dudes are literally burying their semen in the ground). Mohammed, who does not like Ze Jews, declares them liars. Despite the fact that they are saying literally exactly what he said in that other hadith.

The Jews say that withdrawing the penis (azl) is burying the living girls on a small scale. He (the Prophet) said: The Jews told a lie.

This blatant contradiction in two sahih ahadith has puzzled scholars throughout history and has largely been completely brushed over despite the former (from Sahih Muslim) coming from the most conservative of all the ahadith collections and being repeated by other collectors.Many scholars throughout history have just said “yeah, well, that can’t be right because that’d mean that the prophet contradicted himself!”. Which…  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Here’s what I think happened. As with many things in his Mecca days, Mohammed based his understanding on azl on what the Jews said (see: the qiblah switch). Then he got to Medina and realized, oh, the Jews are actually garbage and we should stop imitating them. So when Muslims ask him whether he agrees with the Jews on the subject of azl, he forcefully declares that he does not, despite the fact that… he did. This is, in fact, an accepted explanation for the contradiction: the one where he calls azl infanticide is early, based on what the Jews believed, and was abrogated later once Allah “revealed” that it wasn’t true. And surah 81 is a Meccan surah, meaning it was from the period before he started loathing Jews, and his own followers connected his view on azl with the verse in question!

Anyway… that’s it for the Quran on this subject. I think I’ve explained why I find it pretty much impossible to believe that Arabs commonly murdered their infant daughters based solely on those verses. But of course, we have other sources that mention infanticide. So let’s do some other ahadith learnin’. For the sake of brevity (lol…) I am going to mainly focus on the sahih collections and will not go into any ahadith with da’if/weak narrators or traditions that appear out of nowhere in like the 10th century+ bc what’s even the point.

I think many Muslims would be surprised by how rarely this subject is mentioned in the sahih collections. There is only one hadith within them alleging any infanticide in Mecca itself, and it is this one narrated by Abu Bakr’s daughter Asma (through her son Urwa and his son Hisham).

I saw Zaid bin Amr bin Nufail standing with his back against the Ka'ba and saying, “O people of Quraish! By Allah, none amongst you is on the religion of Abraham except me.” He used to preserve the lives of little girls: If somebody wanted to kill his daughter he would say to him, “Do not kill her for I will feed her on your behalf.” So he would take her, and when she grew up nicely, he would say to her father, “Now if you want her, I will give her to you, and if you wish, I will feed her on your behalf.”

I’ll be straight with you: I do not believe this. Not in the sense that I don’t believe Asma said it, but in the sense that I don’t believe her actual words.

Zayd ibn Amr, for those of you who don’t know, was a man of Mecca (he was Umar’s cousin on one side and Umar’s uncle on the other–don’t practice incest, kids!) who died a bit before Mohammed became a “prophet”. Because he eschewed polytheism, Christianity, and Judaism in favor of some vague Abrahamic tradition, he was sort of retroactively declared a Muslim and all sorts of legends about his life were made up to portray him as a pious and righteous proto-Muslim. Mohammed claimed that he met him by chance at some point and discovered that Zayd happened to follow the same dietary rules that “Allah” would later instruct Mohammed to follow. I guess he is vaguely comparable to John the Baptist in the Christian tradition? Like a predecessor pious guy (who is killed… not because of persecution, though, robbers just shanked him).

Anyway, Asma was like… 10 years old at most when Zayd died, and he had been away on trading business at the time of his death, so it’s a bit unclear what the timeline is here, if it did happen. She would have been 5-8, I guess. And so here is my question: where, exactly, are these girls that he “saved”? She says that he raised multiple young girls, keeping some with him and later returning others to their families. These girls would have been between Asma and Aisha in age and, presumably, some would have been older than Asma.

So what happened to them? Where are they? Why are they never mentioned again?

Not a single one of these girls he supposedly cared for is ever named or referenced. This happened in Mecca, in a well-known family. Zayd’s own children, Saeed and Atiqa, were Muslims quoted in various ahadith. (Saeed was married to Umar’s sister, incidentally, and was part of Umar’s whole anime-ass backstory. Atiqa was a wife of Umar himself and had a rather scandalous personal history, but that’s irrelevant. Point is, neither had anything to say about their father rescuing or raising any kids of either gender.)

Given how young Asma was and how no one, not even Zayd’s own kids, corroborates her account, I tend to look at her words here with some skepticism. If they existed, the women who were “saved” by Zayd as infants would have become Muslims by or before the conquest of Mecca, and at least one of them would have been quoted or just mentioned in some hadith, somewhere. But they weren’t, and imo it’s because this is not something that really happened and is instead just a demonstration of early Islamic myth-making. The same trope is repeated in later and weaker sources, like some poetry attributed to al-Farazdaq claims that his grandfather raised 66 (!!!) girls he “saved”, who would presumably have been the same age as his parents, but does he name a single damn one of them or name the individuals who he “saved” them from? Nope. Just like Zayd’s mysterious disappearing foster daughters, the girls disappear from the story right after they stop being needed to prove a point. Hm.

There are no other recorded instances of specific people in Mecca either practicing or stopping infanticide. In the interest of fairness, despite my loathing for the guy, I must note that a semi-popular story about Umar burying his daughters is fabricated. Umar obviously had many daughters, his eldest being one of Mohammed’s own wives, who was not only not killed but even received an education and was literate.

The only other sahih hadith on this subject is this one, which just lists various bad things and is similar to 6:151. Again, no specific incidents are mentioned. The term used here is “wad al-banat”, meaning presumably the infanticide (wad) of daughters (banat).

Verity Allah, the Glorious and Majestic, has forbidden for you: disobedience to mothers, and burying alive daughters … (etc)

Nothing further is said of this supposedly common practice in any other sahih hadith. Zero people are accused of partaking in this practice, zero people confess to having done it, no one mentions having a murdered sister or aunt or daughter. And judging by the marriage practices of early Islam, there sure doesn’t seem to have been a gender ratio issue.

With this total dearth of evidence in mind, some Islamic scholars over the centuries have relented on the polytheists somewhat, proposing that female infanticide was a rarer practice than some claim in settled areas, but was still practiced somewhere by some tribe. (This is not just a modern practice: they were in the minority, but there were some 9th century scholars like al-Mubarrad who were explicitly skeptical of the baby-killing days of Jahiliyya.) Usually the Bedouin living outside the Hijaz are blamed because, you know, lol silly desert nomads. Even this requires relying on weaker traditions, though. So hey since this is turning into a goddamn dissertation, let’s dive into them!!

First, let me get this one out of the way: Qays ibn Asim, evidently a leader of the Banu Tamim tribe. If you’ve heard any specific person identified with the practice of female infanticide, it’s probably him. There are all sorts of versions of his story, though most of them go like this.

That story says that his tribe was raided by a Lakhmid (Iraqi) king, who took the women as slaves. Eventually the women were returned once peace was negotiated between the parties, but one of them, the daughter of Qays, refused to come home because she wanted to stay with her Lakhmid husband. After that, Qays buried all girls born to his wife, to avoid such a dishonorable thing happening again in the future. Sometimes it’s said there were 8 girls, other times it’s said there were 12. After he converted to Islam, he confessed and repented by sacrificing some of his camels. (Often this is presented as the first case of female infanticide among Arabs, which does… not… make much sense, timeline-wise?)

I suppose it goes without saying that while the Banu Tamim are mentioned (sometimes in a derogatory way, other times in a nice or neutral way) in the six main ahadith collections, this story is not found in any of them… in fact, Qays himself narrates some sahih ahadith and never bothers to mention that he’s apparently killed a dozen babies. Hmmm. Where does the story come from, then?

As far as I can tell, the bare bones of it come from al-Tabarani (he was of the generation of ahadith collectors after Bukhari et al; this book in particular has tens of thousands of ahadith of varying levels of authenticity, many of which are clearly weak), apparently quoting from Nouman ibn Bashir, who says he heard it from Umar (thus the confusion over Umar supposedly killing one of his children).

All that hadith says is that he buried 8 daughters; the other details about his tribe being attacked etc come from weaker/fabricated sources. There’s a variant of the story in which Qays’ wife saves one girl and (somehow??) brings her up on her own and Qays is devastated and shamed of his deeds when he sees her, which appears to be pulled from a fabricated account about some other guy named Awf ibn Muhallam. Neither account is considered sahih or even credible. The same is true of a ridiculous story from Sunan al-Darimi (Google Translate is shit at Arabic but I can’t find an English version, you can at least get the general idea, the unnamed guy says he kicked his daughter down a well as she screamed out for him!) that some people may have heard which is, again, never stated to be authentic and not found in any other collections; the details in that last one are quite clearly meant to demonize polytheists as shockingly as possible.

I searched and searched for the most credible possible account mentioning a specific incident of infanticide, and I think this one here comes closest. It is a hasan hadith from one of Bukhari’s commentaries. This is not Sahih Bukhari–this commentary has ahadith ranging from daif to sahih (weak to strong, hasan is pretty much “okay”). The guy evidently says he killed a daughter (“wadt mawudatan”, translate that as you will) in pre-Islamic times and asks Abu Dhar if he can repent. Abu Dhar says it’s fine because Allah forgives what has been done before Islam… then starts arguing with his wife about food and this hadith is classified under the chapter about giving guests food… the apparent infanticide being totally forgotten for the remainder of the hadith. Weird.

There’s a variant of this story with different wording in one of Imam Ahmed’s collections (#20376), with a different narration chain. The word mawudatan is not present–“wadt” وأدت is in fact without an object there. It’s possible it’s not talking about infanticide at all but rather using the word with a different definition to indicate being a leading participant in polytheistic practices. But… uh. That’s the best I can do here. One guy, and not from a source that’s considered super authentic.

There are no other even sort-of-reputable sources mentioning female infanticide. That’s it. In the entire history of pre-Islamic Arabia, that is the extent of the evidence for “Arabs always used to bury their daughters alive!!”. As you can see, the evidence that this was a common practice is… not convincing in the least, and the conflation between infanticide and splooging outside a vagina is confusing and not helping matters. In summary, please leave our ancestors alone!! They went through enough shit without ppl painting them as baby-killing monsters based on zero non-Islamic sources and barely any Islamic sources either. I’m just asking y’all to evaluate claims of them being evil with the same skepticism you’d grant claims of pagan Europeans being called evil by Christian sources. The fact that we’ve all been taught this “fact” is unfortunate but I hope I’ve convinced you that the practice at least wasn’t as common as it’s presented in the modern era.

I guess we may follow the prophet’s example and blame the Jews for this confusion. And Allah knows best.

[classyfoxdestiny]

Tanker underway again after ‘potential hijacking’ near UAE ends

Tanker underway again after ‘potential hijacking’ near UAE ends

Britain has urged the United Nations to respond to “destabilising actions and lack of respect for international law” by Iran following a series of incidents involving tankers in the Persian gulf.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday morning wrote to security council president T. S. Tirumurti, amid news of a possible hijacking off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, reportedly on the ship the Asphalt Princess.

It comes after a Briton and Romanian were killed in a separate drone attack on the Mercer Street tanker off the coast of Oman, which the UK, US and Israel blame on Tehran.

As the latest incident unfolded UK chief of the defence staff General Sir Nick Carter said had Iran made a “big mistake” by allegedly targeting the tanker last week.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we need to be doing, fundamentally, is calling out Iran for its very reckless behaviour.

“They made a big mistake on the attack they did against the Mercer Street vessel last week because, of course, that has very much internationalised the state of play in the Gulf.”

He added: “Ultimately, we have got to restore deterrence because it is behaviour like that which leads to escalation, and that could very easily lead to miscalculation and that would be very disastrous for all the peoples of the Gulf and the international community.”

The Royal Navy reported on Wednesday morning that boarders had left the the Panama-flagged asphalt tanker Asphalt Princess, which was believed to have been seized off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

Three maritime security forces had told Reuters on Tuesday that the Asphalt Princess tanker had been seized by suspected Iranian-backed forces, which Iran denies.

The AIS tracking status of the tanker was “underway using engine” early on Wednesday, according to Refinitiv ship tracking data.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a Royal Navy agency, said what it had described on Tuesday as a potential hijack incident was now “complete” and the vessel involved was safe.

The agency gave no further details in a warning notice based on a third-party source, and did not name the vessel involved. Shipping authority Lloyd’s List and maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global had both identified the hijacked vessel as Panama-flagged asphalt tanker Asphalt Princess.

The incident took place in an area in the Arabian Sea leading to the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for about one-fifth of the world’s sea-borne oil exports.

Satellite-tracking data for the Asphalt Princess had shown it slowly heading toward Iranian waters off the port of Jask early on Wednesday, before it stopped and changed course back toward Oman.

The Independent has contacted the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for more information.

Tehran’s relationship with western powers has deteriorated in the years since Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 treaty that sought to limit Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Commercial shipping around the Persian Gulf has increasingly been caught in the crosshairs.

Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP who sits on parliament’s foreign affairs committee told The Independent of the latest incident: “Whether it was Iranian proxies or the Iranian military, the Gulf of Oman remains a treacherous stretch of water for commercial shipping companies. This will only become worse as deteriorating relations between Iran and other nations leave Iran feeling more aggrieved and warranted in escalating incidents like this, as well as limpet mine attacks.

“It’s a reasonable assumption that the armed group were Iranian proxies or Revolutionary Guard, because Iran not only has a history of maritime piracy, and then denying outright their actions, but the Asphalt Princess has been detained by Iranian forces on multiple occasions in the past, and the owners previously had another ship targeted as well.”

Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a prominent and well-connected Emirati political analyst told The Independent that the UAE had no interest in flared tensions in the strategic waterway and would be looking for ways to de-escalate after the recent incidents. 

“This should be of concern to the international community which should step up but the UAE doesn’t want an increase in tension or hostilities – it does not want escalation at the moment,” he said. 

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“The thinking here is the UAE does not want to be dragged into any unnecessary confrontation with Iran. We do not want that to happen period. That said, everyone has a direct interest in the safety and security of this very fragile water way.”

Yoruk Isik, an Istanbul-based maritime expert and non-resident scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, who has been following the Asphalt Princess said he thought it was more likely related to small-time Iranian oil smuggling than a major international incident. 

“The company that owns the Asphalt Princes – is Prime Tankers LLC (of the UAE) – it operates a fleet of middle age to older ships and most of the ships have gaps in their Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracking that makes us suspicious that they are hiding small time smuggling, perhaps Iranian.” 

“We don’t know for sure but they are a prime suspect in Iranian oil smuggling – it is the second time their ships have been involved in something like this. As you can see from the MT Riah incident in 2019” – a refernec to the seizure of Panama-flagged tanker whose 12-man Indian crew were detained by the Iranian coastguard in 2019. 

“The ownership is for sure Prime Tankers LLC – this is the second time they have been involved in an incident . This company has no linkage to Israel whatsoever.”

He said that although the alleged hijacking incident was taking place at the same time as a series of attacks on tankers and soaring tensions between Iran, the US and Israel this was likely “an exception”. 

Isik said it was likely tied to “rogue elements of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps not necessarily operating on behalf of Iran” that were trying to settle a commercial dispute.  

“Maybe someone didn’t get paid and so they boarded the ship,” he said, adding that he was certain the ship was Iranian only because at the beginning of the incident it changed course towards Iran, which he said would not be possible if it was private or pirate operation. 

Additional reporting by agencies

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[expatimes]

Kuwait needs an Cyber Army for electronics warfare

Kuwait has fallen behind in preparing an electronic defense force

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 29: At a time when about 30 countries entered cyberspace – which is the fourth war field after the three traditional land, sea and air war fields – Kuwait is trying to knock on its doors and take a share in it in order to ward off the horrors of hostile attacks that target its information security, and strike the nerve of modern life based on distance services in killing, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In view of the requirements of modern life, “electronic armies” are no longer a luxury or an option, but an urgent need imposed by the necessities of the current era. The US Department of Defense, in its 2020 budget, highlighted a series of priorities that focus on electronic warfare and projects related to cyberspace.

Britain recently announced a new national electronic army to be an offensive unit targeting hostile countries and terrorist groups. This type of armies is present in more than 29 countries around the world, according to a report issued by the Wall Street Journal in 2016.

Warnings

Despite the constant warnings by information security experts and consultants in this field to officials and leaders that there is no rule to defend Kuwait and government agencies in light of the development witnessed by the services provided online and the possibility of exposing personal and financial information as well as government data to danger, movements in this area continue to be shy, and have not seen the light in a way that achieves competition, at least for the surrounding countries.

According to information security experts, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Arab countries have groups that work as an electronic army and are interested in defending these countries from any external dangers, analyzing the various types of attacks and the dangers resulting from them, figuring out ways to confront them, and addressing the loopholes and attacks.

The Blue Fence

Information security consultant Raed Al-Roumi declared, “Kuwait has fallen behind in preparing an electronic defense force even though more than one proposal was submitted to government agencies, including the Communications Commission and the Central Agency for Information Technology, to equip the so-called Blue Wall, which is a Kuwaiti team to confront intrusions and any possible electronic attack. However, it has not yet looked at those proposals even after more than four years have passed”.

Al-Roumi stressed that there are more than 50 Kuwaiti hackers who can work side by side as a specialized volunteer team to build a virtual protective fence to preserve government agencies and the vast internet space, work on the gaps, strengthen the protection levels for the government system, analyze attacks and loopholes that are constantly exposed, study the extent of viruses, and preserve information against encryption.

A specialized body

President of the Kuwait Information Security Association and a faculty member at Kuwait University Dr. Safaa Zaman warned of the attacks that Kuwait, government agencies and individuals are constantly exposed to, which lead to fraud and losses.

She highlighted the need for the state to establish a specialized body for cybersecurity, so that there are subsidiary bodies in all institutions that monitor electronic transactions under their umbrella. She also stressed the need for the establishment of a complaints center that interacts seriously with institutions and individuals affiliated with this body.

Dr. Zaman insisted on the need to amend the cybercrime laws in a way that keeps pace with rapid changes.

She explained that international agreements and treaties that preserve the state’s entity in the field of cybersecurity must be made with major technical companies, such as and . A specialized center must be established for data analysis based on technologies, artificial intelligence, and other technologies that benefit the country’s leaders in the field of cybersecurity.

Urgent solutions must be developed along with coordination between the security services and communications networks in order to protect government agencies and individuals from constant attack and fraud. This is especially as such operations negatively and directly affect the economic conditions in the country, as well as the safety of the financial system with the available financial tools. There is a need to create a tight and fierce system to curb the spread of any hacking operations of governmental or individual agencies.

Abu Al-Khair: Experience is a factor of success

Information security specialist Ihab Abu Al-Khair affirmed Kuwait’s need for an electronic army to confront any potential cyber risk in light of the rapid development of Internet services and the widespread use of the network.

He indicated that such a step in developing an electronic defense system requires sufficient experience, in addition to the need for implementation to be through an entity with the ability to transform the matter on the ground in a fast and strong manner that achieves the desired goals through it.

Al-Khair highlighted that the expansion of piracy operations by individuals, companies or external bodies must be matched by an expansion in the studies and operations even if the operations are outside Kuwait, in addition to their importance in defending information and data from potential operations.

“We are living in a new era that requires the presence of unconventional armies capable of facing the new challenges facing the country”, said Abu Al-Khair, adding that, “The delay in implementing this important file puts everyone in front of the risk of advanced attacks that may affect important institutions.”

Al-Suwaidan: An Internet Monitoring Center

Information security specialist Basel Al-Suwaidan affirmed that there should be a “specialized center, such as an emergency center, that monitors the Internet that passes through the country, as the Ministry of Defense should have an electronic army like other countries in the world and countries in the region.”

He pointed out the importance of the existence of such a center being preceded by legislation paving its way, in addition to a serious spread in aspects of information security, especially since electronic warfare and the repeated targeting of Kuwait exist and broadly target the oil sector companies, and financial and security bodies.

Meanwhile, among the 30 countries that have entered the world of electronic warfare, the most prominent are America (cyber command), Russia (electronic military unit), Iran (Cyber Army) and China (Unit 61398)

Furthermore, experts define the working patterns of electronic armies, affirming that they cover many aspects of life such as: 1 – Against terrorism and organized crime 2- Anti-state activities 3 – Data encryption 4 – Filling gaps in government agencies 5- Data analysis to counter a possible attack.

Also, there are a variety of fields that can be used as a field for electronic warfare. They include military, political, intelligence and economic.

The objectives of cyber-attacks are countless but the most important among them are creating chaos, disrupting the infrastructure, espionage and destruction of information.

Meanwhile, Raed Al-Roumi highlighted the importance of working to attract young Kuwaiti amateurs in this field to be part of such teams and electronic armies along with specialists instead of trying them and holding them accountable, indicating that this is what is done in Western countries, as benefiting from such minds and directing them properly saves the millions spent in other fields.

Al-Roumi insisted on the importance of Kuwait having an electronic army in light of the increase in electronic government services and its smart applications with the amount of personal and financial information that are circulated in the electronic space without guarantees to preserve rights from diversion.

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