Take Me Back

After a long day, I need time to unwind. Today might have been long, but the weeks and months preceding have been longer, more hectic, filled with trial and misfortune. I ask myself, have I withstood the test of time. My gut reaction is no. My heart sinks as I think about where I am in life, how I have progressed and where I will go. Despair is a terrible state to be in. I take my Qur’an in hand contemplating whether the oceans found within may be of help to me. "May" i think. "Have I fallen that deep into despair?"

My spirit needs certainty. It needs a sign. It is the catalyst that keeps hope pulsating through my veins and heart—I must revitalize it. As I reflect on my state, my spirit begins to move. It starts pounding at the door of my heart trying to resuscitate it, knowing that it’s on the brink of failure. I yearn for those days spent reflecting on the signs of Allah [swt] and on my own actions. I remember vividly the time when life was easy. Not because there was less responsibility and difficulties, but because those distant days were filled with satisfaction coupled with strong faith. Whatever came my way I felt I could handle. The exams, difficult people, trials. Today, it seems as if my heart sulks in uncertainty—on the precipice between faith and disbelief—a feeling between hope and hopelessness. My heart sinks deeper. It needs to be revived.

Opening the Qur’an, I whisper to Allah [swt] to give me certainty once again. I need it. I crave it. I want it so bad. I ask the Qur’an, “Oh the one who guides the misguided, guide me.” My mind immediately shifts and recollects the days spent growing up in the beautiful colonial home my parents purchased. The scent of pine needles and the warm glow of a Michigan summer’s sun flood my senses. Why I ponder? Why that home, why those summer days spent climbing pine trees and exploring my own backyard. Why? The innocence I conclude—the tranquility that accompanies childhood. That is what I yearn for.

I begin to open the Qur’an wondering what awaits me. Damnation? Hope? Ambiguity? Would God put his servant on this earth and not show him the path of hope and salvation? No, never. I begin to read and immediately I am overwhelmed. My emotions take over and my mind and intellect struggle to make sense of it all. So many solutions I think. He gives solutions; we are the ones that reject arrogantly out of negligence and disbelief.

“Verily, the Muslim men, and Muslim women, and the believing men, and believing women, and the truthful men and truthful women, and the patient men and the patient women and the humble men and the humble women, and the alms-giving men and the alms-giving women, and the fasting men and the fasting women, and the men who guard their private parts and the women who guard, and the men who remember God much and the women who remember God much, for them has been prepared forgiveness and a great recompense.” [Al-Ahzab: 35]

I am in my backyard now. The one which use to be filled with pine trees and crabgrass, cracked cement slabs that make their way up to a rundown garage. The sun hits my face as the wind dances by. I lay there. I hear children playing and birds chirping. The metal backyard door opens and slams abruptly, as it use to always do. My mother walks out, her young face, bright and spotless greets me. My heart is at peace now. The peace I was longing for.

DA Hadi

Interview: As'ad Abukhalil on the Nahr al-Bared siege

I find that Abukhalil of Angry Arab does a good job of teasing out the issues in the recent conflict in Lebanon. I also completely agree--some (most) in Lebanon denigrate and dehumanize Palestinians, as does the rest of the world. The collateral damage we are seeing are civilian lives, and I don't care if they are chasing out wahaabis from our country, we shouldn't resort to an American-style form of aggression.

This whole incident reeks of conspiracy.

AH Dabaja

Interview: As'ad Abukhalil on the Nahr al-Bared siege
Ali Abunimah, Electronic Lebanon, 24 May 2007

Thousands of Palestinian refugees are fleeing from Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon as five days of fighting by the Lebanese army and a militant group known as Fath al-Islam has left dozens of soldiers and fighters and an unknown number of civilians dead. As the situation of these Palestinian refugees worsens, 59 years after they were first expelled from their homeland into Lebanon, the world looks on in silence. Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah spoke with As'ad Abukhalil, the creator of the Angry Arab News Service blog. Abukhalil explained the origins of Fath al-Islam, the events that led to the violence and what it means for Lebanon and the region.

EI: What is Fath al Islam?

ABUKHALIL: We hadn't heard of Fath al-Islam prior to late last year. There have been reports over the last two years especially after the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon of a variety of extremist militant groups who are sprouting throughout the refugee camps of Lebanon, and elsewhere outside of the camps especially in northern Lebanon.

Some of the reports have been filled with sensationalism and sometimes groups that the government were complaining about turned out to have been funded by the Hariri family, for example Asbat al-Ansar and Jund as-Sham in Ain al Hilweh refugee camp, some of whose members later joined Fath al-Islam.

Fath al-Islam is clearly or at least predominantly a non-Palestinian organization. Based on interviews with their leaders that I have seen on television or in print in the last few months we can discern the ideological shape of the organization. They are extremist Sunni fundamentalists that have these general grandiose fundamentalist goals that only appeal to the margins of the margins of Islamic fundamentalist organizations. They denied links with al-Qaida yet they speak with the same rhetoric and they do not hide their sympathy if not affinity with al-Qaida.

EI: Is there any evidence that the Hariri family funded Fath al-Islam?

ABUKHALIL: We don't have evidence that the Hariri family did specifically fund Fath al-Islam. But that still allows for two possibilities. We know from Afghanistan the factor of blowback. Sometimes patrons may fund a client and, over a period of time the client turns against the patron. So the possibility exists, but I do not know of any evidence that Hariri funded directly that particular organization. What we know for a fact is that over the last several years, since 2000, and specifically since 2005 during the parliamentary elections, the Hariri family spent lavishly, especially in northern Lebanon to recruit among the extremist, fundamentalist Sunni organizations.

Some of the people in Fath al-Islam who are fighting now were released in an unprecedented amnesty in 2005 insisted on by the Hariri family because they wanted to win favor among the Sunni fundamentalist organizations in Tripoli. So it is very likely that some of these people are beneficiaries of Hariri largesse in the area of northern Lebanon. But that doesn't mean that the Hariris knowingly financed Fath al-Islam, although we know that they funded fanatical Sunni groups some of whose members later joined Fath al-Islam.

EI: Palestinian refugees fleeing from Nahr al-Bared camp have been quoted in press reports saying that Fath al-Islam militants had infilitrated into the camp over the past year, that they were very separate and didn't have much contact with the camp residents except to condemn them for smoking, or playing music, or putting up posters. One of the things a refugee witness remarked on was that the camp is guarded on all sides by the Lebanese army. He wondered how these militants got in noting that they didn't drop in from the sky. How would you answer that question?

ABUKHALIL: I think it is certainly suspicious how all these people came into Lebanon, and all indications are that they came into Lebanon legally. We are not talking about infiltrations like those the American media talk about in Iraq. So they came to Lebanon with their passports, came through port entrances controlled by the Lebanese security forces and army and settled in those camps, and as you rightly indicated all these camps are under watch by the Lebanese army.

The rest of the interview can be found at: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6945.shtml

Lebanon's Enemies Unveil their New Plan

“And they plotted and planned, and Allah too plans; Allah is the best of planners” [Quran 3:54]

Following Lebanese politics the last several months has been quite a ride, particularly so after the ethnic cleansing of southern Lebanon’s indigenous population in last July’s war. While the displacement and murder of these people might have been easy, the purging of Lebanon’s Shi’a from the political fabric has not. Now, the US, the Zionist regime and their regional and internal allies are scrambling to play their next and final card. Could it be the Wahabi card?

One cannot help but wonder that if creating discord among Lebanon’s many political and religious factions hasn’t succeeded (without pointing fingers at government officials as corroborators), why not use the volatile Iraqi model of foreigners and Wahabism to finally destabilize Lebanon and hurl it into a dark abyss reminiscent of the civil war days?

“Fatah Islam” the latest of the Wahabi-inspired militant groups, emerged from obscurity in November of last year, as did Al-Qaeda and several jihadi groups in recent years. Conveniently their mission is to “protect Sunnis and Palestinians”. Micheal Aoun head of the Free Patriotic Movement, who is also allied with Lebanon’s opposition group, recently warned the US-backed Siniora government about the rogue element fomenting within the Palestinian-controlled refugee camps. Did they listen? Apparently not. Fatah Islam and other Wahabi groups’ role in the “New Middle East” are much too important.

Many had wondered about the dormant 400,000 strong Palestinian refugees that had sat by silently throughout the crisis. Insignificant at the time, now they may be the key to Lebanon’s demise and further chaos in the region. Pitting radical elements from within Palestinian refugees against the rest of the country is ingenious, especially since Lebanon’s largest minority are the Shi’a. Lebanon’s enemies are maneuvering now to make their next move. Will it work?

AH Dabaja

Activism Begins At Home

Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem.

Before embarking on being an eternal activist, perhaps we should consider what it means to be an activist. Should I be an activist because its cool to be one? Should I be an activist because my friends are activists? Should I be an activist so that I may live for a cause? Should I be an activist because I really believe in something, in a set of values and principles, in a way of life? Do I live that life at home, with my friends, with my lone self? What is it for, who does it truly benefit? What examples do I follow?

Activism is a strong and courageous endeavor. By being an activist you choose to discard fluff, do away with egos, do away with the 'me' and live your life in the way of 'we'. Your actions begin to take on more accountability because you start to represent a cause and have to fight everything that is against the cause in yourself. By being an activist you propagate a cause, a societal goal in just the way you live your life, converse, be. Everyone is an activist in some shape or form, they propagate somehthing. Some propagate conformity – conformity activists, some propagate evil - activists for evil. Some propagate the struggle for truth - activists for Haqq. Some propagate "it doesn't matter" – the actively complacent. What kind of activist are you now? What kind of activist do you want to be? What affects the self the most is one's immediate surroundings and that is the home. This sacred environment is the birthplace of true change, a change that resonates and penetrates society silently. This is the environment which is the womb of the soul after it departs the womb of the mother. This womb, the home, and the nafs have an interdependent or inter-effecting relationship – it taps you and you tap it. Focusing your energy on mending this womb, bringing change, uplifting it is where it all begins. It requires the most patience, the most compassion and is a true test as it involves the highest degree of sensitivity and emotion. Its activism boot camp.

Jihad: The Holy Struggle

I have been occassionally reading “Forty Hadith: An Exposition of Ethical and Mystical Traditions” by Late Ayatollah Khomeini (r), one of the greatest religious, spiritual and political leaders of recent times. It is a compilation of forty different ahadith (traditions) from our pious Prophet, Ahlul Bayt (household of the Prophet(saw)) and gives a brief commentary for each hadith. I cannot type the entire explaination, but I will paste the conclusion of the commentary given about Jihad or struggle.

Since the struggle of the self concludes here and man succeeds in driving off the legions of satanic armies from the empire of his soul, this land becomes the abode of angels of God and a place of worship of truthful servants of God. Thus the task of pursuing the journey towards God becomes easier, and the road to humanism is illuminated. The doors of blessings from heaven and their ascending steps are opened to him, and the doors of hell and the descending steps thereof are closed on him. God Almighty views him with mercy and benevolence and unites him with His faithful and His blessed servants. The path to divine knowledge, which is the ultimate purpose of creation of mankind and jinn, is opened to him. God Almighty guards him through this hazardous path.

InshaAllah, may we all be successful in “driving off the legions of satanic armies from the empire of his soul, this land becomes the abode of angels of God and a place of worship of truthful servants of God…” I pray that all of us reach that level one day.

Abbas Naqvi

Our Goals and Responsibilities

This story/tradition struck deep into my heart. It puts everything in perspective and give us the needed hope that we all desire.

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and the Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin.The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So, this the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down; his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: “you have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t moved.” Thus, giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.

Satan said, “Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough.”

That’s what he planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. “Lord,” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”

The Lord responded compassionately, “My Servant, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard.

Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that, which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. Now I, my servant, will move the rock.”

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just a simple obedience and faith in Him. By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves mountains.

Imam Ali (a): Your responsibility is not to reach your goals, but to try and endeavor (and to act upon your responsibility).

(source: Pearls of Wisdom 84)

Abbas Naqvi

After Shahadat

A profound and bold statement on the definitive revolution on Islamic history. Blood is but one part of the equation; it is the message that endures and changes the world...

From Ali Shariati

Yes, for every revolution, there are two visages: blood and the message. Husayn and his companions undertook the first mission, that of blood. The second mission is to bear the message to the whole world, to be the eloquent tongue of this flowing blood and these resting bodies among the walking dead. The mission of conveying the message
begins today. Its responsibility rests on the fine shoulders of Zaynab, a woman from whom mankind is to learn virtue. The mission of Zaynab is more difficult and heavier than that of her brother. Those who have the courage to choose their own death have simply made a great choice. But the responsibility of those who survive is heavy and difficult. Zaynab has survived. The caravan of the captives follows behind her. The ranks of the enemy, as far as the eye can see, are in front of her. The responsibility of conveying her brother's message rests solely upon her shoulders. Leaving behind a red garden of shahadat and the perfume of roses, spreading from her skirts, she enters the city of crime. the capital of power, the center of oppression and execution.

With peace and pride, she victoriously announces to the power and cruelty of the slave-agents and executioners, to the remnants of colonialism and dictatorship: "Thank God for all the generosity and glory which He has bestowed upon our family. The honor of prophethood and the honor of shahadat." Zaynab bears the responsibility of announcing the message of the alive but silent shuhada. She has survived the shuhada and it is she who must be the tongue for those whose tongue has been cut off by the sword of the executioner.

If blood does not have a message, it remains mute in history. If the message of blood does not reach all generations, it is as if the executioner has imprisoned the shahid in the castle of one age and one time. If Zaynab does not convey the message of Karbala to history, Karbala remains as a mere historical event; and thus the ones who need this message will be deprived of it. Thus no one will be able to hear the message of those who spoke to the generations with their blood. It is for this reason that the mission of Zaynab is heavy and difficult. The mission of Zaynab is the conveying of a message to all humanity, to all those who weep for Husayn's death, to all those who bow down faithfully to Husayn, to all those who believe the message of Husayn that, "Life is nothing except belief and jihad." The message of Zaynab is as follows:
Oh, all of you who have a covenant with this family, who believe in the message of Muhammad, think and choose. In every age and generation, in whatever land you may be, you must learn to listen to the message of the shuhada of Karbala who said, 'Those can live well who can die well.'
Oh you who believe in the message of monotheism and in the Qur'an, as well as in the way of Ali and his family, and you who will follow us, the message of our family to mankind is the art of living well and dying well. Everyone dies just as he lives.


The message of Husayn to mankind is this:
If you are men of religion, then [live your] religion. If you do not follow a religion, then human freedom has placed a responsibility on your shoulders. As a religious person or a freedom-loving person, be the witness of your time and the shahid of truth and falsehood in your age.


The eyes of the shuhada are upon us. They are conscious, alive, and present. They are the paradigms, the witnesses of truth and falsehood, and the witnesses of the destiny of mankind.

And shahid has all these meanings.

For every revolution, there are two visages: blood and message.

Anyone who has accepted the responsibility of accepting the truth, and anyone who knows the meaning of the responsibility of being Shi'ite, of being a freedom-lover, knows he has to choose in the eternal battle of history, everywhere and in every land. All battlefields are Karbala, all months are Muharram, all days are Ashura? One has to choose either the blood or the message, to be either Husayn or Zaynab, either to die like him or survive like her, if he does not choose to be absent from the battlefield.

... There is much to be said, but how can one sufficiently explain the miracle that Husayn has performed and Zaynab has completed. What I want to say is a long story, but I can summarize it as the mission of Zaynab after the shahadat: those who died committed a Husayn-like act. Those who survive must perform a Zaynab-like act. Otherwise, they are the followers of Yazid.