Al-Akhbar | May 18, 2013
Israeli troops shot and wounded nine Palestinians near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday night, and injured two others north of Hebron, security officials and medics said.
Palestinian security officials said that Palestinians from the Jalazoun refugee camp, near Ramallah, were hurling stones at Israeli motorists near an illegal Jewish settlement before coming under fire from soldiers.
"No result can be expected in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process without reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said May 17 in Washington. "A reconciliation process has been launched. I believe that the ..."
No Palestinian-Israeli peace without Hamas-Fatah reconciliation: Turkish PM
Allah states, in His Noble-Book, “Whomever wills, let him believe; and whomever wills, let him disbelieve.”.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.18, V.29)
I’ve just found out that Umar Lee, the controversial author of “The Rise And Fall Of The Salafi Movement”, which exposed the fallacies & hypocritical elements of the Saudi/Oil-Rich Arab-States sponsored Salafi-Movement sect, has just committed Riddah/Apostacy…he has left Islam, the Path of Allah, the Path of Allah, the Path of Guidance…He has, unfortunately, allowed ash-Shaytan/the Devil to corrupt his heart & mind, and also the negative statements & actions of fellow Muslims, via horrible character, to turn his heart away from at-Tawhid/the Oneness of Allah, to ash-Shirk/Association. He has now, via a YouTube video, converted to Christianity, claiming that worshipping a man, a Prophet, a Messenger, al-Masih/the Christ, Jesus, the Son of Mary (Peace be upon him), whom never, ever called people to worship him, is the “Son of God” & the key to Salvation…He is so wrong about that, for so many reasons, and I’ll only pick one of those reasons: According to the Bible/Chritstian-Theology, Jesus was nailed to a cross, bleeding, dying, and utterly helpless. Now, if you’re looking for true-salvation, are you really gonna turn to someone whom is falsely-depicted as not even able to save himself from torture & death?!!! If I’m placing my soul on the line, looking for guidance, I think it’s probably not a good idea to wager on someone whom couldn’t even prevent others from harming him, especially if that person were to claim any type of divinity. But, fortunately, Jesus never called people to worship him, nor did he ever die on a cross, claiming to be able to deliver others from Hell, when he couldn’t even deliver himself from death.
I am truly saddened, by his poor choice, to leave Tawhid & accept Shirk. It is obvious that he has allowed the negative actions of Muslims, to cloud his better-judgement, and leave Truth, in exchange for Falsehood. And, let this be a serious-lesson for Muslims: we all must learn from this…Even though there is no valid-reason to leave Islam, we, as Muslims, can never, must never, allow ourselves to be the reasons which people use to leave Islam.
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) has said, “The Muslim is one who protects other Muslims (other people generally as well), from his statements & actions.”.(an-Nawawi) Now, the fact that this Apostate can pull-out so many examples of the open flaws of Muslims actually speak a lot of sad amounts of volumes. This actually reminds me of when I had first reverted to Islam: I had known a member of my former Church-Community, for years, whom was constantly attempting to pull me back into Christendom, and although, ignorant as I was, when I first became a Muslim, Allah, the Creator/Lord of the Universe, had still chosen to protect my mind & heart, from the evil of his lies & deception-It was very obvious that this person was inspired by ash-Shaytan, in a devious attempt to pull me away from Tawhid, and her’s the proof: I remember one day, this guy & myself were talkin’, he was it as usual, with his lame antics about how Jesus Christ (Peace be upon him) was both god & man, and all that jazz, even though, in the beginning of the Book of Matthew, where it states the lineage of Jesus, “God” isn’t mentioned, anywhere, in the bloodline of Jesus. Also, there are several individuals mentioned in the Bible itself,as being the “Son of God”, whom are not even Jesus…Let’s name some of them: There’s Adam, the Father of the Human-Race (Peace be upon him), mentioned as being the “Son of God” in the Book of Luke; then, there’s Jacob/Israel (Peace be upon him), whom is not only mentioned as the”Son of God, but also mentioned as “My first born”, in the Book of Exodus; finally there’s David & Solomon (Peace be upon both of them), mentioned separately as the “Son of God”, in the Book of Chronicles I. So…why…oh why…is this the case, if Jesus is both god & man, and/or the “only begotten son of God”?!!! #ThingsThatMakeYaGoHmmm
Then, there’s the kicker: this dude had told me that he was once, himself, a Musli, and that he had left Islam, to convert to Christianity, for all of the same exact reasons which Umar Lee had decided to. But, he added something different, which I’ve never heard, before or since: This dude said that he had made Hajj/Pilgrimage to al-Makkah, and as he was circulating al-Ka`bah, he saw Jesus…This Nigga said he saw Jesus!!! Oh, and not just saw him, he said that Jesus told him that he was the way & that he was the “Son of God” & all that…This sounds a lil’ Pauline, doesn’t it, I mean, isn’t this the exact the thing that Paul said, while enroute to Damascus, after his many, infamous, notorious, killing-sprees, of the followers of the true teachings of Jesus, which was in fact Tawhid, by virtue fo the fact that Jesus is a Muslim, via his Prophethood, Messengership, and Christhood to boot?!!!
Also, in addition to this, he had also tried to convince me that the name Allah was actually the linguistic male version of the Pagan-Arab Moon-Goddess al-Lat, even though there’s absolutely no linguistic similarities between these two respective words, at all.(Lisan-ul-`Arab/the Language of the Arab [the Lexicon of the Arabic-Language]) Then, there’s also the errononeous claims that Muslims worship al-Ka`bah/The Cube, the cubed-structure, which signifies the first Mosque ever built upon Earth, as well as the fallacy that Muslims worship al-Hajr-al-Aswad/The Black-Stone, one of the jewels of al-Jannah/The Paradise, which fell to Earth, along with our Parents, Adam & Hawwa’/Eve (Peace be upon both of them), after their fall fro grace, as a result of listening to te deception of ash-Shaytan.(Qasas-ul-Anbiya’/ Stories of the Prophets, ibn-Kathir)
Upon this convo with this man, when I was a new Muslim, still (I was roughly about 17 at the time), regardless of the ignorance upon me, fresh from Christianity, Allah had protected me from his lies, ad made my mind & heart firm upon the truth of Islam. So, in conclusion, let us, as Muslims, learn from this sad tale, of a man, who was guided, by his Creator/Lord, but yet was deceived by his own poor opinion of Muslims, with the help of ash-Shaytan, coupled with the negative actions of other Muslims, to use as excuse to leave Truth, in exchange for Falsehood.
So, what do we all, as Muslims, learn from this?
This what we are to learn: never expose your negative, to anyone; we must be at our best, at all-times & in all-places, for 2-reasons: one, to exclusively please Allah; two, to be good-examples for others, that they may follow our examples, in positivity, for Allah.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.112, V.3) This story of Umar Lee, as well as the person whom I had mentioned, along with countless others, both famous & non-famous are a true, as well as sad testament to our failure to be the best Human beings which Allah has created. No one should ever use us as excuse to leave Islam: let them make-up any excuse that they want, but let not any of their excuses be our failure to be good Muslims, which Allah requires us to be.
Although, on the Day of Standing/Judgement-Day, people like Umar Lee will have no excuses, with Allah, for leaving Islam, out of Allah’s eternal-justice, He will respect these cases, made against Muslims whom they knew and/or came in-contact with, whom were not good-examples for them, ridiculed them, told them they weren’t good-enough Muslims, etc. In spite of the fact that his fate lies with his Lord, if he doesn’t turn back to the truth of Islam, he will still have a valid Hujjah/Indictment against other Muslims whom treated him negatively. And, to be honest, that is one of my worst fears, to be among those whom have a Hujjah against me, as a result of a person using me as an excuse as to why they either didn’t become a Muslim, or didn’t remain a Muslim.
My final-word, to my Muslim brethren, is to just, simply, enure that yo do what Allah says, concerning to calling people to that which is positive & to what Muhammad had mentioned, concerning protecting people from our negative.
Gareth Bryant/2013
UPDATE 05-15-13 -- 2:30 PM EST:
After this Op-Ed was published, Uni-ball reached out to me and apologized. They have pulled the ad and claim to be "working to rectify" the situation.
https://twitter.com/UniBall_USA/status/334724425750544384
https://twitter.com/UniBall_USA/status/334770242809114626
https://twitter.com/UniBall_USA/status/334770727691644928
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With pen-maker Uni-ball's release of an ad featuring what amounts to a racist white fantasy on Black manhood in America, they have displayed the level of cultural insensitivity, sheer ignorance and blatant bigotry typically reserved for Ku Klux Klan meetings and Tea Party rallies.
ACTION ALERT | #NAKBA65 65 YEARS NAKBA = ENOUGH!
15th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
By Team Khalil
On the 14th May 2013 , a day before the Nakba, on the edge of Bethlehem, a demonstration to remember the day of the catastrophe in 1948 marched from Duheisha refugee camp to the entrance of the village of Al-Khader.
Mexican press conference announcing the arrest of two nationals in the murder of Malcolm Shabazz. Shabazz was severely beaten and left for dead outside a bar in Mexico City., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Mexican officials arrest two men in murder of Malcolm X's grandson
Malcolm Shabazz, 28, died in Mexico on Thursday…
Allah says:
“Everyone shall taste Death. And, We test you with the worst & best of a trial. And, you will be returned to Us.”.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.21, V.35)
“Oh, you whom believe!!! Revere Allah, revering Him is correct, and do not die, except as Muslims.”.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.3, V.102)
“Death comes to us all. However, it matters not why, or when we die, it’s how we die; and, I do not mean how by what circumstances under which we died, I’m exclusively referring to what state, what condition, what position with Allah, the Creator/Lord of the Universe, at the time of Death, which will be the most important.”
Gareth Bryant
Malcolm Shabazz, the maternal-grandson of Malcolm Little (AKA Malcolm X [May Allah mercify him]) has been reported, (via twitter from Terrie M. Williams) as being found dead, murdered, in Tijuana, Mexico, as a result of being shot & thrown from a building, during being robbed. This is very hurtful news to hear, not just because he was the maternal-grandson of Malcolm Little, but, more importantly, because he was my Muslim brother, a Human being, whom I had actually known personally. This really hurts!!!
And, also, I had recently discovered that this man had even went to my old High School, Benjamin Banneker in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. A former High School schoolmate of mine had revealed this info. to me, and, I had never known it, until I had found out about his death, which is so ironic, and displays, so ver clearly, how small our world is, where we could be in the same vicinity, sharing the same space, being in the same crowd, or clique, or school, or class, with someone, and not even know or care about their narrative, their history. Fortunately, I was able to be on a first-name basis with Malcolm, instead of just being a passer-by, or an admirer of his family-legacy, or a commenter, criticizer, of his personal-past.
So, for now, sadly, he is gone from us. However, he is still someone whom I’m glad that I had an opportunity to know, dialogue with, be connected with, in some way. And for whatever he was, it surely didn’t consume him, nor prevent him from becoming the man he was: He was a Muslim, a Human being, and a friend. It is very sad to know that he is no longer with us.
May Allah mercify him…#Amen
Gareth Bryant/2013
Allah says, “Oppression is worse than Killing/Murder.”.(Noble Qur’an: Chpt.2, V.191)
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) quotes Allah, as He says, “Oh, My Property (Creation, Servants, etc.)!!! Verily, I have made oppression prohibited, (even) upon Myself, as well as between you. So, do not oppress one another.”.(an-Nawawi)
I was reading, in the paper, about these 3 young Women whom were abducted in 2002 to know. I was so very disgusted as to how: one, just the mere fact that it took place; two, that it took place, in spite of neighbors addressing their concerns to local Ohio authorities, about people nude, and held by dog-leashes, etc. All of these heinous, inhumane, acts of torture, humiliation, things in which no Human being should ever have to endure, for any reason, at all, were common-place, during their duration of captivity, for a decade.
It’s very ironic, how the U.S. government was around the World, chasing a global, phantom-enemy, whom were actually produced by our very own government, deceiving people, concerning the fallacy “Weapons Of Mass-Destruction”, when the true enemy, with the true weapons of destruction were right within the confines of our American borders, secretly wrecking havoc upon innocent, in Middle-America. The true enemies to our American way of life are perverts, like the Castro Brothers: Ariel, Onil, and Pedro, and their weapons of destruction are their sick, twisted pathologies to dehumanizes their fellow man.
For 10-years, these 3 Men (if you can even call them “Men” in the 1st-place) caused the suffering of not only these 3 Women, but, the anguish of their respective families, communities, not knowing whether these individuals were alive or dead, for all of that time. And, it wasn’t until a daring escape, by one of these Women, to someone’s home, in that neighborhood, where they were imprisoned, that alerted local Law-Enforcement, which compelled all to take their plight seriously.
Although, these Women were forced to succumb to unimaginable wretched acts, by their captors, even to the extent of one of them becoming pregnant & giving birth, as a direct-result of the sexual-abuse enacted upon them, while held hostage, against their will, they still, in spite of all of this, displayed courage, and the will to make it out of this condition, which, by the mercy of Allah, they have.
The Castro Brothers have been arrested (even though only Ariel has thus far been officially charged with any counts of Abduction, Rape, etc.), detained and, their fate, according to the Ohio state legal-system, is not at all certain. But, whatever their fate is, they will not be able to escape judgement from Allah, the Creator/Lord of the Universe, and although the other 2 Castro Brothers: Onil & Pedro, haven’t been, officially, charged with any Abduction, Torture, or Rape charges, it’s pretty ridiculously-obvious that they must’ve had some, or a major, part to play in the abductions, rapes, torturing of these Women, at one point, or another, during the 10-year reign of terror inflicted upon them. And, for that Allah will, also, in turn, not only question Ariel Castro for his crimes against these Women, but, also, question his 2-brothers, for whatever contributions to this malicious brutality they made to it.
All in all, the most important thing is that all of the 3-abductees, along with the daughter of one of the victims, are alive, and have been able to escape the clutches of these 3-monsters. I’m personally, happy that they were able, by Allah’s permission to survive their ordeal, and it is my sincere hope that Allah guide them, to arrive at a much brighter place, than they were for the past decade, into a better, more fruitful life, able to place this dark chapter in their lives way behind them.
Gareth Bryant/2013
Copper memory
Burning wires
Loose circuits
Loose attire
Losing focus thinking about that fire
Inside of me, I crumble
Outside of me, I perspire
#Swagger-Overload
Author’s note:
This following poem is a commemoration, of the famous, classic Rap-Song, “Fuck The Police”, by the famous/infamous Rap-Group, known as “NWA/Niggas With Attitude”. Although, raunchy & vulgar as this particular hit was/is, it truly brought the point home, concerning how policing in Non-White neighborhoods, play-out, and are ethno-politically biased, from jump-street, and keep in-mind that this song is about 30-years old, yet, ironically, the same exact policing-policies, all across this nation, we call the United States of America, have barely changed, if at all. Fortunately, my poem is not vulgar, as the song I’ve mentioned is, yet it is just as (in the words of my loving, Muslim brother, Cyrus McGoldrick) “Radical”, in fact, just as radical, if not more radical, than this top-charting urban ballad, written & recorded, over 3-decades ago.
Big-Brother is outta control, because, his parents are not home.
He’s able to kill anyone he wants, with just the strike of a drone.
He rapes & locks-up, chains, cuffs, and slaps-up, anyone he chooses, with the support of his malicious War-Machine…
…Millions of illiterate, gun-toting, teens & young-men, sent to the frontlines, to simply kill, and, be killed, to be supreme.
The time is now…we can’t wait!!!
We must resist the Police-State!!!
He gestures, with dangerous-threats, using his weapons; he has no regard for the oppressed, or their loved ones…
…He’s a murderer, swindler, thief; his entire life has been spent upon insatiable control, with his nukes, and, his guns.
He uses billy-clubs, bombs & Napalm, to beat-down, destroy & disintegrate.
These tools are solely meant to exploit, disrespect, abuse & to utterly berate.
The time is now…we can’t wait!!!
We must resist the Police-State!!!
This Police-State, which we all call home, is supported by Banksters, Lobbyists & Politicians.
These same people flood Churches, on Sundays, and masquerade, as god-fearing Christians.
It grants full-support to the corruption, caused by Wall Street, as they, like greedy Hawks, pillage Main Street & prey upon the feeble…
…When you really examine, who gets away with what & who gets persecuted, it’s pretty easy to tell the difference between good & evil.
The time is now…we can’t wait!!!
We must resist the Police-State!!!
How many “We shall overcome” hymns should we hum, before we rise-up & fight back, with courage & much more?!!!
When are we gonna stop yelling, at rallies “No Justice…no Peace”, before we stand firm & prepare to wage war?!!!
Gareth Bryant/2013
