Jamaat al-Muslimeen Decries Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman’s Political Imprisonment and Death in Captivity

Press Statement

Nadrat Siddique

Jamaat al-Muslimeen National Majlis-e-Shura member

February 18, 2017

February 18, 2017, is a dismal day in the history of the United States, even by its own genocidal standards. On this day, Islamic scholar Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as “the Blind Sheikh,” died a political prisoner of the U.S. government.  To multitudes of Muslims the world over, he will be viewed as a martyr of Islam. The American mainstream might better understand Muslim sentiment if they considered how they might feel if Pope Francis—or another beloved religious figure— was imprisoned in a Muslim country, allowed virtually no contact with constituents, followers, and family, and then left to die a slow painful death from untreated (but treatable) medical conditions.

A visionary, Dr. Abdel Rahman articulately and consistently spoke out against the U.S.-backed Egyptian dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak decades prior to the Arab Spring, insisting that the resources of Muslim countries, including Egypt, be used for the betterment of those countries--and not be pilfered by Western Powers or multinational corporations. These basic and seemingly logical demands were rewarded with imprisonment and torture by the Egyptian regime.

Fleeing the Egyptian regime’s torture, Dr. Abdel Rahman sought political asylum in the U.S., which he viewed as a land of freedom of expression, and whose laws he repeatedly emphasized must, in accordance with Islamic rules on guest-host relations, be respected by all Muslims who sought asylum therein, including himself.

Far from being accorded freedom of expression, he was brought up on trumped up charges, tried in a climate of utter fear and emotion, and, in 1995, convicted of conspiracy to bomb New York landmarks, almost entirely on the word of an informant who was paid over a million dollars.

Although he undoubtedly knew he was facing decades of jail time, he stood before the Court, unafraid of all but the Creator. His final words before being marched off into the American Gulag were a telling: “Fuzto Be Rab-e-Ka’aba” (“By the Lord of the Ka’aba, I have succeeded”).

The blind, elderly, diabetic scholar of Islam was detained and held for over 20 years under what can only be described as conditions of “Cruel and Unusual” punishment. Since he could neither see nor speak to his captors (he was blind and spoke no English); was barely allowed a monthly phone call to his family in Egypt; and was held in solitary confinement, he no doubt suffered all of the psychological trauma associated with long-term solitary captivity. On top of that, his advanced stage diabetes went untreated for months on end, until its effects, including gangrene, were irreversible, and he was finally relocated to the Butner Medical Center in North Carolina, where he would ultimately die. His family’s hunger strikes and appeals to the (post-Arab Spring Egyptian) regime of Muhammad Morsi for his repatriation to Egypt were fruitless, and Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman—loved throughout much of Egypt and the Islamic world—died alone, a slow painful death from diabetes.

The long-term political imprisonment and death in captivity of Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman seems part of a trend by the U.S. and its proxies to silence all independent, vocal, and effective Muslim leadership, and in particularly those who hold the title of imam, a position of high honor and respect in the Muslim community. It seems that the only imams of major mosques permitted to operate freely are those who kowtow to the government; bandy American flags on Muslim religious institutions; welcome video monitoring of their mosques; and encourage or allow censorship of their own words and those of their constituents by the authorities—clearly compromising their faith, as well as American principles of: "Separation of Church and State.”

The death of a renowned and respected Islamic scholar under such circumstances is an abomination. Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman’s treatment in captivity clearly violated both American laws on the treatment of prisoners (set out in the Bureau of Prison regulations), as well as numerous international laws. Jamaat al-Muslimeen decries Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman’s political imprisonment on trumped up charges, and laments his tragic death under clearly dehumanizing conditions.

END

Thoughts of Leonard Peltier on Eid

By Nadrat Siddique

In addition to being Eid ul-Adha, September 12 is Leonard Peltier’s 72nd birthday. Even though he’s not a Muslim, he made an Abraham-esque sacrifice for the oppressed Lakota (Sioux) people in 1975. His sacrifice stems from his participation in the American Indian Movement (AIM) camp on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Peltier is Anishinabe (Ojibway), and not of the Lakota tribe or Pine Ridge. Hence his actions could be considered rather self-less and internationalist (or at least intertribal). AIM was an national organization fighting for the rights of indigenous people throughout North America. In this context, it came up against both corporate greed and the corrupt local tribal councils which did the dirty work of the corporations. Like many movements which fight for self-determination, human rights, and against the seizure of their peoples’ resources by U.S. and European multinational corporations, AIM was quickly labeled a “terrorist” organization by the authorities.

The camp on Pine Ridge was established to protect the local population from the reign of terror being enacted on them by the puppet tribal council of Dick Wilson. (Indian reservations typically have neither city council nor mayor; instead tribal chair and tribal council are the nearest equivalent). As a Pakistani, I would compare Dick Wilson’s reign of terror to that conducted by the Pakistan Army in Waziristan. As in Waziristan, many Pine Ridge residents were driven out of the area, while others lived in daily fear of the regime over an extended period of time. Many of Dick Wilson’s opponents wound up dead, and it was believed they were murdered by Wilson’s goon squad. Day-to-day life was totally disrupted in Pine Ridge (as was life in Waziristan by the Pakistan army incursions), hence AIM was called in to protect the local people.

It was only as a result of his presence on Pine Ridge that Peltier could be charged with the murder of two FBI agents--a crime which all the evidence, including undisputable ballistic evidence, shows he did not commit. And so Peltier, nearing 40 years of incarceration, continues to languish in an American prison.

This Eid Day, please pray for Peltier, and for all other victims of the American system of Injustice.

© 2016 By Nadrat Siddique

The Passing of a Community Mother—Muneera Afifa

By Nadrat Siddique

May 20, 2016

Burtonsville, MD

Today I attended the janaza of a very old and dear friend, Muneera Afifa. Idara-e-Jaferia (mosque) very kindly hosted the services. Immediately after juma’ah prayers, the janaza (funeral) prayer was held. The scene at Idara resembled a reunion of Jamaat al-Muslimeen members, former members, and associates. I ran across Sr. Yasmine Abdul-Jalil; Sr. Fatimah Abdullah and Sr. Hamdiyah, both from Philadelphia; Sr. Amatullah; Sr. Safiyyah Abdullah; and Sr. Sumayah Nahidian and her daughter. Then there was Sr. Najah; Sr. Zainab Kareem; and Zainab’s son Natheer Kareem. There were others who looked familiar but whom I could not immediately place. Br. Mauri Saalakhan of the Aafia Foundation had cancelled a speaking engagement in New Jersey to be there. Br. Saifuddin Waliullah of Masjid Al-Islam and Br. Khalid Griggs from North Carolina were there. Jamaat al-Muslimeen Ameer Dr. Kaukab Siddique, a long-time friend of Muneera, was not physically present as he had a juma’ah khutbah to deliver at Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen in Baltimore, but had sent condolences with his daughter (this writer).

We met, wept, and commiserated with each other, and then left in a miles long funeral procession for the cemetery. The interment was held at the Maryland National Memorial Park in Laurel, MD, where Idara-e-Jaferia holds a section specifically for Muslim burials.

Muneera was a leading member of the DC chapter of Jamaat al-Muslimeen c.1978 – 1985. I remembered her being at every Jamaat meeting, along with her close friend Yasmine Abdul-Jalil, whom she knew from the Islamic Party. Yasmine—along with her then husband, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil—hosted many of the meetings in their Silver Spring home. She had given Muneera shahada, and the bond between them was tight.

Muneera was lively, outspoken, and down-to-earth, attending Jamaat al-Muslimeen meetings with her three small children, Sulaiman, Nafeesa, and Atiya, whom she did not hesitate to breast-feed during the meetings. The organization’s platform included racial and gender equality; permissibility of women’s leadership over men (contingent on their respective taqwa-levels); anti-imperialism; and internationalism. Muneera encompassed all of these tenets. A Black Washington DC, native, she appeared regularly at Jamaat al-Muslimeen protests at the Egyptian Embassy (against the regime of Hosni Mubarak, known for his torture of political opponents); at marches through poverty-ridden DC projects (carrying the revolutionary message of Islam to local communities); at pickets of the Saudi Embassy (calling for an end to the monarchy there); and at Jamaat al-Muslimeen local and national conferences, which relied heavily on her organizing skills.

“Patience and perseverance,” qualities of a Muslim mentioned throughout the Qur’an, were regularly mentioned at DC Jamaat meetings. And Muneera exemplified these traits, despite going through many trials and tribulations at various points in her life.

To me, she was a tower of strength, unflinching in faith. It was the era before political correctness, and I was then attending Annandale High School, a mostly White school in affluent Fairfax County (just outside Washington, DC). There were no other evidently practicing Muslims at Annandale High at the time, and I met major harassment for my adaption of the hijab. At the time, hijab was not the norm in my family—my mother wore it nominally; my sister, my aunt, and my grandmother wore it not at all—and support for my decision to publicly identify as a Muslim was nowhere to be found. As daily persecution against me at Annandale High, including physical attacks by ignorant, corporate-media informed youth, increased, I looked to Muneera. She gave me unconditional support for the path I had chosen, and an affirmation far beyond that of a mother. Somehow, she found the time and energy to be there for me, even while being the young mother of three small children. And- as I heard repeatedly at the janaza, I was not the only one for whom she did this. As a fellow janaza attendee told me, Muneera was the mother to an entire community.

As I stood in the cemetery thinking of the pivotal role Muneera had played during my teen years, and the selflessness with which she’d given of herself, tears rolled down my cheeks. The Iranian clergyman conducting the graveside ceremony went on at considerable length in Arabic—which most of the attendees clearly could not understand. He offered durood as-salaam to the Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) family, including the twelve imams. Oddly, he could not remember or pronounce the name of Muneera’s father (Glover Collins), in his opening statement.

By this time, Muneera’s daughter Nafeesa and son Sulaiman were completely inside the (open) grave with their mother’s body. They adjusted and re-adjusted their mother’s body, until Muneera lay on her right, with head towards the ka’aba. (In an Islamic burial, the body is buried directly in the ground enshrouded in a white sheet, and no coffin is needed, other than perhaps for transport. Family members are encouraged to perform last rites themselves, rather than relying on an undertaker.)

Upon completing the task, Nafeesa emerged from the grave with shovel in hand, and asked the women to move forward, as they were to approach the grave first, to offer prayers, or to symbolically throw dirt on the body. A pile of dirt had been placed on a nearby cart by cemetery workers. After heaping several shovel-fulls of dirt over her mother’s body, she offered the shovel to the women watching. Several of the women, including the stylishly-dressed Fatimah Abdullah from Philadelphia, were grabbing up handfuls of dirt from the pile, and placing them in the grave. However, none stepped forward immediately to take the shovel from Nafeesa, perhaps because it was rather large and unwieldy. I stepped forward, and took it, placing several shovel-fulls of dirt over my beloved friend’s body, memories of the years in Jamaat al-Muslimeen with Muneera flooding my consciousness. I would have continued in my reverie, but Nafeesa reclaimed the shovel from me, and offered it to the other women, before turning it over to the men. The men then completed the job of covering the body with dirt.

Nafeesa was the heroine of the day. The burial ritual over, she stood before the crowd, speaking with grace, clarity, and without breaking down. She thanked the attendees for the outpouring of love shown her mother, and for their support of her and her family. I remembered Nafeesa as a small child, dressed by her mother in dark-colored hijab similar to the one she wore now. She had flowered into a poised, self-confident, and beautiful young woman. I knew that her mother would be proud of the manner in which she presided over this, most difficult of ceremonies.

Imam Khalid Griggs, of the Community Mosque of Winston-Salem, poignantly detailed his life-long friendship with Muneera. He mentioned how she would energize any Islamic project with which she was involved, and how it was hard for her to refrain from becoming involved any time she heard of positive Islamic work being done.

The last time I saw Muneera was at a gathering for Palestine (Quds Day) in Washington, DC. It was Ramadan and well into the fast, and everyone was feeling its effects. Traversing the crowd to get to me, Muneera greeted me with her characteristic loving embrace. From the time frame described by family members, she may have already seen the onset of the disease which ultimately took her life. But there she was, undaunted, by heat, fatigue, and hunger, a Black woman standing up for Palestine. May Allah forgive her sins and grant her Paradise.

© 2016 Nadrat Siddique

Letter to Dawn (Pakistani Daily Newspaper) on Dr. Aafia Siddiqui

March 26, 2016


The Editor

Dawn

Karachi, Pakistan

Dear Editor,

I am a Pakistani Muslim woman marathoner, living in the Washington, DC area. Since 2009, I have run 26 marathons in ten different states of the U.S. (A marathon, by definition, is 26.2 miles.) In at least five of these 26 competitions, I have qualified for the Boston Marathon. (The Boston marathon is an elite and exclusive race, for which one must first meet the rigorous qualifying standards set by the Boston Athletic Association in another marathon.)

On March 12, I ran the Washington DC Marathon to call attention to the plight of another Pakistani woman: Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

Dr. Siddiqui holds a bioscience degree from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD in neuroscience from Brandeis University. Although I have never met her, I can say with some certainty that she is highly intelligent, articulate, deeply Islamic, and cares about Muslim suffering in faraway lands. As such, she is a hero to me, as to many other Pakistani woman (and men).

March 31 will mark 13 years since Aafia was kidnapped from Karachi with evident collusion between the Musharraf regime and U.S. intelligence services operating on Pakistani soil. Her three minor children were captured along with her. Despite clear prohibitions on the imprisonment of children in the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights—to which Pakistan is a signatory—two of Aafia’s children were imprisoned along with her. The third, an infant, appears to have been killed in the course of the rendition.

Running 26.2 miles without stopping is not easy. It can hurt. It can make one feel hopeless, very minute in the overall scheme of things. Many people never complete the race. Exhausted, they commence walking part way through.

There can be other complications like the one I had the night before the marathon. Due to some complication, the custom-made black and white “Free Dr. Aafia Siddiqui” tee shirt I had ordered to wear during the race did not arrive. So I took it upon myself to make one. The excitement of the race and painting the homemade “Free Dr Aafia” shirt kept me up the night before, and I slept only four hours. Around 20,000 people would be running the race, so parking near the starting line was out of the question. I got up before fajr, grabbed my gear, and boarded the Washington DC subway to the race start near the Washington Monument.

The race started at 7:30 AM sharp. As I ran up a steep hill near DC’s famed Dupont Circle, the lack of sleep caught up with me and my muscles ached. I wondered how I would complete the race. For some reason, as I ran along DC’s picturesque Southwest Waterfront, the picture of Aafia’s angelic face in hijab came clearly to my mind. I thought about the horrors she had endured. Aafia, mother of three, who loved children so much that her PhD thesis centered upon them—watching helplessly as her baby Suleman slipped from her arms and fell to the ground, his skull fractured, as Pakistani police roughly arrested the young mother. Innocent, sweet Aafia, with the face of a flower, repeatedly raped and tortured in a remote U.S. military base in Baghram, Afghanistan. What kind of sick bastards could do that to a Muslim woman? My physical pain melted away, to be replaced by psychic pain, and I ran faster, finishing the marathon in 3 hours, 57 minutes.

After five years of being held without charge, and denied even official recognition that she was a prisoner (her name did not appear in any prison, police, or military registry during this time), Aafia was officially handed over to U.S. authorities, and tried in a New York court. The trial was presided over by Judge Richard M. Berman, a Zionist who was clearly biased against Muslims. Not surprisingly, she was convicted and sentenced to 86 years in U.S. prison.

What is surprising—and indeed was the reason I felt compelled to run the Washington DC marathon in Aafia’s name—is that she remains in prison. She is in extremely poor health, has been denied proper medical attention, and can die in U.S. prison—without ever having seen her children and other family members.

The ordinarily vociferous feminist groups, quick to deplore the violations of women’s rights by “those horrible Talibans” have been completely silent on her case. In fact, it is noteworthy that feminists on both sides of the Atlantic, including those who embraced Malalai Yousafzai, have said not a word about Aafia and the very long range torture she endured. Similarly, the liberal U.S. media, such as the Daily Beast, Salon.com, and others, who are ordinarily extremely vigilant about the violations of Pakistani—and in general—Muslim women’s rights because they love us so much [sarcasm intended], have uttered not one word about Aafia.

The Pakistani government has taken no effective steps toward her release. “Israel,” when its citizens are captured, sends commandos to free them. The U.S. government, under President Jimmy Carter, sent a military mission to free American hostages then held by Iran. Other nations have interceded either militarily or diplomatically (eg, via prisoner exchange) when one of its citizens is wrongly held by a foreign government. General Musharraf, under whose reign Aafia was captured, is long gone, and largely discredited at least among some sectors. But- Pakistan, a nation headed by Muslim men—with Qur’an and hadith as their Guiding Light—continue to sit idly by while a Muslim woman is held captive, tortured, and raped for over a decade.

The Pakistani press, too, appear to have written her off.

Aafia is a political prisoner, being held not for any wrong doing, but for the crime of being a Muslim and in the wrong place at the wrong time. What is wrong with us, that we can’t stand up even in this most clear cut case of injustice?

As a Pakistani Muslim woman athlete, I urge the immediate release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, and a cessation of illegal and unmandated (by the Pakistani populace) U.S. intelligence activities on Pakistani soil which lead to tragedies such Aafia’s.

Sincerely,

Nadrat Siddique

Maryland

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Juma'ah Reflections on Masaud Khan

I visited the Islamic Center of Maryland (Gaithersburg) for juma'ah prayers today. Political prisoner Masaud Khan and his mother, Elizabeth Khan attended here. She still visits time and again. I thought of them, as I stood distributing the New Trend (anti-imperialist Muslim newsmagazine), about how he, incarcerated as a young man, and now in his thirties, lost his youth to an incredibly unjust System. And- I thought about her, a mother, fighting desperately to get her son out of the clutches of that System.

In the last four weeks, I've visited four different masajid in the Baltimore-Washington area) for juma'ah. Three of the four masajid had political prisoner associations to them. That is, either a Muslim locked up on political (bogus) charges attends/ attended there, or the family of a political prisoner attends/ attended there. I realized what a tragic commentary this was on the state of affairs and suffering of the Muslim community: Many, many communities have been devastated by the targeting of political dissidents, or at least operate in fear. They dare not exercise basic First Amendment protected freedoms, not even in the House of Allah. Muslim-on-Muslim snitching is pumped as a solution to the "extremist problem," all speakers/ imams, other than government-approved ones, are excluded from most masajid; even imams on the government's "approved" list must sign agreements not to speak on certain topics, or to approach topics in ways objectionable to the authorities. While local and national government officials and candidates are welcomed into the mosque, dissident Muslim speakers are excluded. Literature from Democratic and Republican candidates for office is welcomed, while Islamic literature is frequently banned (or rules greatly impugning its distribution are enacted).

In the course of the FBI's "War on Terror," completely innocent men and women from communities across the U.S. have been locked up on the words of informants, or harassed and hounded by federal agents, often to justify intelligence budgets. All of this is meant to keep the public in fear of approaching "Muslim Hoard," which have replaced the "Reds Under the Beds," or to justify support for Israel and various dictators ruling Muslim lands.

Under such a climate, we have the choice of becoming apolitical, mindless drones, who question nothing, and swallow any nonsense directed at our people. Or we can speak, write, and go forth for that which we know to be just- at the peril of becoming political prisoners ourselves.

We then cannot afford to be silent. I encourage everyone to help the families of those unjustly detained; to write to Muslim political prisoners (as well as other political prisoners) so that they know they are not forgotten; to join a committee to free a political prisoner; and to educate others on the reality of political imprisonment in this country.

“The Story of Nuh” Christmas Day Lecture Draws Large Crowd of Spirited Young Muslims, Leaves Many Questions Unanswered

By Nadrat Siddique

 

Fairfax, VA

December 25, 2015

 

To attend a lecture on "The Story of Nuh" seemed to me, the ideal "Christmas" day activity. The event was sponsored by MakeSpace--a group of primarily youth and professionals whose aims include "helping the community develop an American Muslim identity." It was held at the Shirley Gate Mosque in Fairfax, VA, in one of the nation's wealthiest counties.

 

Despite a downpour of rain just prior to the event, the parking lot was completely packed when I arrived a few minutes into the lecture. The lecture hall in the mosque basement, was similarly filled to capacity, with few empty seats, with at least two thirds of the attendees young women in hijab. Alhamdulillah it seemed the spirit of Islam was alive among Northern Virginia Muslims.

 

The youthful lecturer, Adam Jamal, of Pakistani origin, spoke eloquently and was very informative. Perusing Surah Nuh in its entirety, he held the audience's attention for the duration of the 3 hour event.

 

To my uninformed mind, the lecture, which afforded no Q&A period, raised more questions than it answered. For instance, early on in the lecture, Jamal spoke of the delineation of one's people. Very often when you say "your people," you mean those from your country of origin, said Jamal. But in reality, your people are the people around you, he insisted.

 

So, the lecturer was asserting that if one lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, one's people would necessarily be the Sodomites? Or if one lived in a war-mongering society which murdered over a million Muslims without qualm, the war mongerers- and not the Muslims being killed, would be one's people? I was not getting it.

 

Further into the lecture, Jamal described the treatment meted out by a corrupt society to a warner, messenger, or in general to one who tells the truth (and in doing so challenges the prevailing power structure):

 

1) Prevailing powers attempt to coopt the warner; if that does not work,

2) The prevailing powers attempt to discredit the warner, make fun of him, or designate him as crazy; if that does not work,

3) The prevailing powers torture or even kill the warner.

 

Adam Jamal did not offer any examples of who such a warner, gadfly, or maverick might be in our times. Some possible examples which came to mind, and which he might have drawn, were Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman (blind, diabetic hafiz-e-Qur'an and opponent of the Egyptian dictatorship, imprisoned for life in the American Gulag for his staunch opposition to the U.S. backed dictator in country); Osama Bin Ladin (millionaire Saudi who left all worldly belongings to fight first the Soviets and then the American invaders in Afghanistan); and Lal Masjid's Abdul Rashid Ghazi (Pakistani cleric who opposed the aerial destruction of a plethora of mosques across the Pakistani frontier, and who ultimately gave his life when his mosque was besieged by the Pakistan army).

 

Despite the very stark parallels to today's society and Nuh's (AS) time, Jamal failed to draw a single parallel between the two, rendering the lecture entirely theoretical. Oddly, the lecturer also did not mention Nuh's (AS) estrangement from his son, who rejected Islam, the fact that Nuh (AS) left him behind when the flood came, and the symbolic value of such a decision. He did however, repeatedly emphasize the 950 year period during which Nuh (AS) struggled to establish Allah's way, as if it were a literal 950 years (I'm not convinced it was).

 

The event was part of a series put together by the Bayyinah Institute. Bayyinah emphasizes the importance of learning Arabic, and appears allied with Zaytuna College, Qurtaba Institute, and other U.S. government approved Muslim entities which seek to coopt and render politically impotent young Muslims with a passion for Islam. And clearly, the Muslim youth who filled the room to the brim that evening had that passion. In sequestering themselves at a Muslim event on a rainy “Christmas” evening, they were clearly saying “La” to the shirk, materialism, and excesses surrounding them that day. The question remained how a paid Qur’anic Arabic lecturer such as Jamal would direct such positive energies.

Baltimore Marathon Blues

By Nadrat Siddique

 

So, I ran the Baltimore Marathon (26.2 miles) this morning. It was my third time running it. Although I've always considered myself a DC girl, I have grown to love Baltimore, and its people, and was aching to run the race, which I'd been unable to run since 2012. I was quite conflicted about running the race, and did not register until late last night, only a few hours before the event, something unheard off for most amateur athletes engaging in such a major undertaking.

 

The reason for my hesitation was the corporate sponsorship of the race. Among others, Under Armour had signed on to the event. The corporate giant, which now competes with Nike and has its headquarters in Baltimore, play a key role in the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), a conglomerate of corporate interests, which control Baltimore's economics with an iron hand. And- the Greater Baltimore Committee--Zionists who assisted in crushing April's Baltimore Uprising--are heavily complicit in the gentrification of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. They have succeeded in driving Baltimore's native Black population out of the area, grabbing up land, developing it, and selling it at prices completely out of reach for most Baltimore natives. A mere condo on Baltimore's newly gentrified Inner Harbor easily goes for $500,000 - $600,000.

 

I see commonality between the practices of the GBC, and those of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) in Occupied Palestine. In the Palestinian case, settlements are built by Israeli settlers. These homes are then completely off limits for Palestinian habitation, a situation no less than Apartheid South Africa. And the original Palestinian inhabitants, whose land was seized to facilitate the influx of the Zionist settlers, are forced to relocate to Bantustans where they live under dismal, depraved conditions. As you might imagine, I was very troubled by the fact that my $130 registration fee, although meager in the larger scheme of things, might be seen even symbolically as a support of the White Supremacist design for Baltimore. On top of that, I was getting warning messages from some not-so-friendly quarters not to run the race.

 

I compromised and paid the registration fee, deciding to run to deliver my message "Black Lives Matter," contained on a black tee-shirt I'd acquired, hoping for an opportunity to offer solidarity from my Pakistani people to that important movement at some point.

 

I did not see anyone else at the Baltimore marathon representing the Black Lives Matter movement, either running or spectating. But I received kudos from many spectators, including Whites, who yelled out "Black lives matter," to which I responded, "Stop police brutality!" One Black man yelled out at me, "All lives matter!" I pumped my fist at him: "Black lives matter!" I crossed the finish line in 3 hrs 42 mins, a new record for me (also a Boston Marathon qualifying performance) for that distance. I attribute it to the love I have developed over the last few years for Baltimore, and to the Power of the Almighty.

Juma-tul-Wida at the Islamic Center of Baltimore

By Nadrat Siddique

 

I made the juma'ah prayers at ISB (Islamic Center of Baltimore) today. Recall that this is one of the government's flagship masajid, replete with DHS cameras and whatnot (unfortunately not unusual for many monied mosques today). I hadn't been there in a while.

 

 ISB is not a poor mosque to begin with. It is valued at $813,000. An SDAT real estate search revealed that $675,000 of this is in improvements done by the mosque association after it was purchased. So clearly, some individuals associated with the mosque have money, and lots of it.

 

That made it all the more surprising that the mimbar would be used for well hitting up you and I for a lil cash. Much of the second half of the khutbah was a fundraising pitch for the grandiose mosque. On the prestigious occasion of Juma-tul-Wida, Part 2 of the khutbah had the tone of an auction (or the lead in to one, in any event). The real "auction" was the next day, when ISB would have their annual fundraising dinner, into which, said the imam, they ordinarily invested $30,000 to $40,000 for the dinners served to the guests.

 

The khutbah ended with the imam invoking du'ah for various members of the congregation who were ill. That was understandable, I thought. After all, these brothers and sisters are part of the masjid community (and even if they weren't, they are part of the ummah).

 

But it was the imam's final du'ah that almost made me fall over. He asked the congregants to pray for Governor Larry Hogan. Hogan, he said, was also “sick,” referring to the Maryland Governor’s recent cancer diagnosis. “And Hogan, being the leader of Maryland, is our leader, too,” continued the imam. “May Allah give him health and hikma (wisdom)," said the imam.

 

I was flabbergasted. The imam was praying for a kaffir, out of the pulpit which ideally ought emulate that of the Rasool (SAW). I'm not an Islamic scholar, but I don't believe the Rasool ever made du'ah for kaffirs out of the pulpit. So it was quite out of line, it would seem.

 

On top of it all, imam sahib was praying for a man who had just weeks prior called the National Guard on Black youth in Baltimore, risking a blood bath. He labeled and blackballed them as "thugs," "criminals," and "rioters" because they had the gaul to stand up against police brutality. And about a week after the Baltimore Uprising (termed "Riots" by corporate media and government), he rescinded $11 million dollars in educational funds from those youth (a total of $68 million was rescinded from Maryland schools in toto). So, Hogan is hardly someone who is aligned with the oppressed.

 

And our imam couldn't find anyone else to pray for? This is a sad, sad commentary on us as an Ummah.

Jamaat al-Muslimeen Condemns Charleston, SC Shootings

Press Statement

 

Nadrat Siddique

Jamaat al-Muslimeen National Majlis-e-Shura Member

Washington, DC

June 19, 2015

 

Jamaat al-Muslimeen condemns the massacre of four Black pastors and five other church-goers by a White Supremacist shooter at the Emmanual African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, SC, yesterday. We offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

 

It is particularly saddening that such an occurrence took place at a church which is nearly 200- years old and considered a historical landmark. As many are aware, the church was founded around 1820, by the great slave rebellion leader Denmark Vesey, who was forcibly brought to Charleston, but later bought his own freedom. He organized a slave rebellion in 1822, which was betrayed by some of the participants. Vesey and 34 others, including his son, were hanged. The church was razed by the authorities.

 

Jamaat al-Muslimeen notes the image of police officer Michael Brelo in Cleveland, standing on the hood of a car and shooting unarmed motorists Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams 15 times through the windshield at point blank range. We note the choking death of the asmatic Eric Garner by a New York police officer.

 

Internationally, we note the 2007 shooting spree by a U.S. Apache helicopter in Baghdad, deliberating targeting and gunning down 12 civilians, and laughing “Ha ha I hit ‘em.” We note the murder of large numbers of civilians by drone strikes—in violation of international law—in places like Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.

 

In these cases and countless others, the perpetrators went unpunished. It is deeply troubling that these acts of terrorism and countless others against people of color by those representing the U.S. government, here and abroad—in violation of the United States Constitution and the U.S. military handbook—send the message to potential White Supremacist terrorists that there is no punishment for taking innocent lives.

 

We note that incidents such as the Charleston massacre indicate the inability of the U.S. government to protect its own citizens, and point to the compelling need for U.S. intelligence services to refocus their efforts. Instead of engaging in entrapment, fraudulent/ preemptive prosecutions, and Thought Crime prosecutions of Muslims and others, we encourage U.S. intelligence services to refocus their efforts on what is clearly a very real threat by White Supremacist extremists—domestic terrorists in the U.S.

 

END

A Conversation with Reverend Annie Chambers (Big Momma's House)

May 1, 2015

 

Describe the area in which you work.

 

I work all over. Baltimore has changed a lot. They have pushed out a lot of poor people. I work with people on Caroline Street. Also the projects I work in are Perkins, Douglas, Gilmor, and others. They’re taking away public housing. Now people have nowhere to live. We fight for basic things like food and shelter. Shelter is getting to be a real challenge.

I work with a mother with three children. The police came to her house and found a tiny amount of marijuana. As a result, she and her three children are homeless. Average rent in Baltimore is $800 or $900 per month, which she cannot afford. She goes from place to place, depending on family members to take her in. The homeless shelters in the city are a joke. Her sixteen-year old can’t stay with her at a shelter because he’s considered an adult male. She wanted to stay with me, when I have is a one bedroom. She says all she needs is a floor to sleep on.

 

Describe the conditions faced by the young people in Baltimore.

 

I deal with children and people on a daily basis who don’t have shoes. They wear fifty cent flip flops all summer long. And it’s not only that they don’t have shoes. You got parents who can’t get a proper shirt or pair of pants.

 

We dressed the children ourselves, because they don’t have clothes.

                                                                                                                

The children come to me are often hungry. A boy told me ten different ways to fix “Oodles of Noodles.” He wanted to know why I didn’t have “Oodles of Noodles.” I hate “Oodles of Noodles.” One day I made spaghetti, and he had some. He said it was some funny tasting “Oodles of Noodles.” I gave him a cupcake instead.

 

Many of the children we deal with are in a shelter at night. They walk the street during the day. We take them on field trips. We educate them in Black history. We teach them art. Every child who went to Big Momma’s house was one or two grades ahead when they went back into the public school system.

 

Do many of these children have parents who are locked up?

 

If you have ten children, maybe half of those will have parents who are locked up.

 

The education system has failed the children.  The system has failed them. We have failed them. The system thinks nothing of putting them in prison. In fact, they think nothing of putting the children in prison with the older people.

 

If you’re a black male walking down the street, you’re a target. I’ve seen police strip the boys down to their underwear. Even make them take their underwear off. Do a body cavity search. They will grope all over the girls’ breasts. And the children haven’t done anything.

A ten-year old told me: The police better not mess with me. I asked him what he would do if they did mess with him. He said: I will kill the police.

 

Police stomp a man like Tyrone West in the chest. They know what they are doing. Then they say it was okay, the man is dead. But that man was a father, an uncle, a brother.

 

People think children don’t see all these things. They keep telling the children to be peaceful.

 

The children were tired. They were caged. How do you expect them to feel when they keep seeing the police kill us. The officials always come up with some explanation for why they killed us.

 

How do you think Tyrone’s children are going to feel when they see that the police beat their father or uncle to death? So the anger is already there in the children. The powder keg was already there. The children throwing rocks in Baltimore were not thugs, thieves, or soldiers. They did what they had to, and now  the whole world is noticing. I am proud of them.

 

Minister Malcolm told us, never start a fight. But if they bring it to you, make sure you finish the fight.

 

This government goes over the world talking about human rights. We [Black people in Baltimore] ask: Am I not a human?  Just because my skin is brown, or black or red, am I not a human? We have not gotten any human rights yet. We have to pray, get up, and start battling. I’ll be 75-years old in August, and I’ve been praying to see this day.

 

I’m tired of the preachers, faith-based leaders. They keep talking about peace.  We haven’t had any peace since we’ve been here.

 

Those children were doing what we should have done. If you want respect from those devils, you must command it. I understand from people who were in the first march, people were spitting on them. My grandson and other young people told me they were spit on. They were called niggers. The white people who were with them were called nigger lovers. They had beer thrown on them. And they decided they were not going to take it anymore.

 

All the public radio and television personalities were talking bad about the children. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and all the other self-proclaimed advocates came into town, and thumbed their nose at the people. They didn’t march with the people. They met with the mayor.

 

I didn’t see any of these men come out in defense of the children, except [Pastor] Jamal Bryant. And he stayed only five minutes. I prayed that the Lord would smite them. They are part of the problem. Then for [Baltimore Mayor] Stephanie Rawlings Blake to call our children thugs. The next election, everybody who has breath in their body should work to get her out of office.

 

[Police Commissioner] Batts came into  office with the agenda to eliminate our people. His plan was to push Black people out of the city. They got rid of all the Section 8 [subsidized] housing, making it very difficult for poor people on very low incomes to survive in Baltimore.

 

Another problem that arises: If you don’t have water, the government can take your children from you.

 

Why would you not have water?

 

Because you couldn’t pay your water bill.

 

And why would that be? Wouldn’t a water bill be at most $30, 50, or 100? That doesn’t seem like a big deal, considering how high rent and utilities are in Baltimore.

 

The water bill may be $300, $400, or $500.

 

So the pretext of unpaid water bills is one way the System separates Black children from their parents. In what other ways do they attempt to destroy the Black family?

 

The media aired that clip of the woman who grabbed her son out of the protest. She slapped him in the head. They aired that many times. They were gloating over it.

 

But think about it: In the times we live in, if a Black parent beats their child, they’re going to jail.  Parents can’t even holler at their children, because the police will come and take the child away from the parent.

A woman across the street whipped her child for stealing out the Dollar Store. The cops came and locked the mother up.  Next time they try to do that, I’m going to remind them about that woman they put on TV. It was okay for her to hit her son upside the head, because he was part of the Uprising (which they call a “riot”). These people [in government] are liars and connivers.

 

Talk about the terminologies used by the government and corporate media to describe the young people who participated in Monday’s actions.

 

The word “thug” came out of our mayor’s mouth. It got picked up by the media who kept it going. “Hoodlums” came out of the mouth of Dante Hickman who calls himself a minister.

 

Dante Hickman, of the Southern Baptist Convention?

 

Yes. And President Obama called them thieves. The media picked that up and ran with it. These are labels put on the children. If I’m hungry and can’t get food, and I take some, I’m a thief. If I’m oppressed and I strike back, I’m a hoodlum. We didn’t have a riot. I know what a riot is. I’ve seen plenty of them. We had an uprising.

 

The thug is the police department. The hoodlums are those down in City Hall who are doing the master’s will. The thieves are the carpetbaggers in the churches and corporations. Put the labels where they belong.

 

The children struck a match. They lit the fire. Let’s hope the adults have the sense to put some wood onto the fire. Continue to fight.

 

I’m glad the children did what they did because they stood up and said, “I’m human and I want to be treated like I’m human. I’m an instrument and a soldier in the Army of the Lord.” They’re not thugs and thieves. They’re truly soldiers in the Army of the Lord.

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Reverend Mother Annie Chambers is a Black Panther, a mother, a grandmother, and a great grandmother. She’s a fighter for her people, which she considers to be all humanity.