The Purse

By Nadrat Siddique

So, on Monday, I left my entire purse inside Duncan Donuts. I had gone there during a work break, not to eat donuts (these are loaded with high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and cholesterol), but to use their wifi to submit a bit of political writing. I have only a flip phone, with no internet capabilities, and so rely on public networks for my activist work. I completed a quick edit, sent the piece, and then hurried out--leaving the purse hanging on the side of the Duncan Donuts chair. All my credentials (including those I need to work) were in it: credit card, bank card, driver's license, work badge, and date book. Only my cell phone and car keys were on my person, and so were not left behind.

A good Samaritan, a Latino man named Alex, who was dropping his daughter at the airport (near which I work), found the purse. He saw from my drivers license that I live in Ellicott City. He finished seeing his daughter off at the airport. Then, even though he lives in Baltimore, he diverted all the way to Ellicott City. He had to circle the court a few times to find the house, as the number was not clearly evident. Then, he knocked on the door politely but at length, as my Mum, not recognizing him, did not open the door at first. When she reluctantly answered, a stunned look on her face, he handed over the purse, responded to her questions, and left without asking for anything. I was still at work, and wondering how I would retrieve the purse.

I drove home without my purse/drivers license, hoping I wouldn't get stopped by police. I made it home without incident. My mother was in a bit of a shock, and worried that the man, Alex, had done something to me, and that was why he had my purse. I consoled her, and checked the purse. Every single thing, from the cash, to my bank card, was intact.

"..For verily in these things are signs for people who understand.." --Holy Qur'an

International Crowd Celebrates Cuban Revolution’s 60th Anniversary

By Nadrat Siddique

January 18, 2019

Washington, DC

In St. Stephen's Church’s welcoming milieu, Cuba supporters, including Latinos, Blacks, Arabs, Pakistanis, and others, celebrated the anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. The event was organized by the DC Coalition in Solidarity with Cuba. The room was filled to capacity, and a majority of the attendees had visited Cuba. The evening began with a vibrant performance by the Malcolm X Drummers and Dancers.

Speakers included Miguel Fraga, the First Secretary of the Embassy of Cuba; Patricio Zamorano, a supporter of the Cuban Revolution; Omari Musa, member, DC Coalition in Solidarity with Cuba, and Socialist Workers Party leader; and Detroit-based labor leader Cheryl LaBash.

Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin (dressed, not surprisingly in pink!) was in the audience, as was jazz legend and anti-racism activist Luci Murphy (formerly of Sweet Honey in the Rock; and later of the Rock Creek Trio). The event was moderated by WPFW radio host Mimi Machado. (WPFW is an independent radio station heard on 89.3 FM in the DC listening area.)

Patricio Zamorano spoke eloquently about the U.S. role in destabilizing Latin America. He gave the example of Honduras, where the U.S. supported the 2009 coup forcibly removing the country's elected president, Jose Manuel Zelaya. Honduras boasts one of the largest deployments of U.S. Special Forces outside of the Middle East, with the corresponding deleterious impact on human rights there.

Omari Musa had visited Cuba, among many other Latin American and African countries. He described life in Cuba, detailing the nation’s many social welfare programs. These, he said, were available to all Cubans, and membership in the Communist Party was not a requirement [unlike in China, and other self-described communist countries –editor]. He encouraged the audience, particularly youth, to visit Cuba.

During Q&A, a Caucasian audience member, sharply dressed in suit and tie, asked the panel whether or when Cuba would take steps to democratize, following models, e.g., of Scanandavian or other First World countries. Zamorano replied that the European model was not necessarily the most effective, or the best model for the rest of the world to follow.

A Palestinian member of the audience drew parallels between the struggles of Latin American peoples, and those of the Palestinians. Urging the audience to open their eyes to the similarities of the situations of the two peoples, she said the struggles of the people of Latin America, and those of the Palestinian people were against a common oppressor.

Participants at the 60th Anniversary celebration were offered the opportunity to visit Cuba, with the May Day Brigade. Literature describing the Brigade differentiated it from a mere site-seeing or vacation trip to Cuba. Here, participants would be expected to volunteer their time to various projects delineated by their Cuban government hosts.

Background

In December 1958, the Cuban people overthrew U.S.-supported Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Under the leadership of Fidel Castro, they nationalized many industries, and drove out large U.S. corporations. The new government instated equal pay for everyone (so that doctors made as much as trash collectors!), racial discrimination was outlawed, milk was free for infants and babies, and high quality healthcare and education was free to all Cubans. The infant mortality rate fell, becoming on par with the United States.

The Cuban Medical School, free to all Cubans, enlarged its enrollment to those outside of Cuba, initially inviting only Blacks. Later on, enrollment was opened to all people. Doctors from the Cuban Medical School volunteered their services in Africa, and many other places, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

As a result of its egalitarian message uplifting the impoverished, driving out multinational corporations, and the consequent challenge to the World Order, the Cuban Revolution and Cuba itself, soon came under attack. In 1960, the U.S. imposed an embargo on the tiny island nation. That embargo was all-inclusive, except for food and medicine, and was in retaliation for Cuba's nationalization of American-owned Cuban oil refineries. In 1962, the embargo was extended to include nearly all imports to Cuba, including food and medicine. As a result, there was a significant deterioration in the quality of life of many Cubans, despite the Cuban government's efforts to counter this. Every year since 1992, the United Nations has passed a resolution condemning the embargo and its effects, and declaring it in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law. In 2014, nearly the entire U.N. General Assembly voted for the resolution. Tellingly, only the U.S. and Israel voted against the resolution supporting Cuba against embargo.

But the U.S. efforts to destroy the Cuban Revolution did not stop at economic warfare. In 1961, the Bay of Pigs Invasion was launched, with the U.S. sending 1,500 Cuban exiles into Cuba. Thousands of assassination plans of Cuban leaders were instrumented by U.S. intelligence agencies, many of them targeting Castro, who miraculously survived.

---------------

Why such hatred and fear of a revolution, one might ask? It seemed to me that, like the Haitian Revolution, it was not merely the actions—however heroic—of the Cuban people between 1953 - 1958, which posed a threat to the World Order. Rather, it was what the Cuban Revolution symbolized. Similarly, in Haiti, it was not merely the successful revolt by Black slaves and the killing of the slave masters which instilled fear and loathing among American planters; rather, it was the example put into the public sphere by the Haitian Revolution. That revolution planted in the minds of Black slaves in the continental U.S. a different reality, one in which they were not being raped, tortured, separated from their families, or treated like chattel, and the way forward to that reality. But—the mere thought of this was terrifying to the slave owners. Almost immediately, Haiti was slapped with an embargo by France and the U.S.  Haiti was also forced to pay reparations to France, the very nation which had occupied it! (The forced reparation payments continue to this day, contributing heavily to the impoverishment of Haiti.) The example of Cuba provides a similar model of liberation for Latin American countries. And- like Saul Landau said, The "Latin Americans never disobeyed the United States before the Cuban revolution."

© 2019 Nadrat Siddique

Yazidi Woman Awarded Not-So-Nobel Prize

Nadia Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi woman was selected to receive the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month. It is instructive that:

1) Iraq has a population of 37,000,000 (37 million) people, all of whom have lived under U.S. occupation and war/ proxy-war since 2003. Off those millions, the Nobel committee selected a clear Islam-hater;

2) Of that population (37 million), 90% are Muslim. (Yazidis, by comparison, form 2% of the population.) Vast segments of the Muslim population have fought back against the U.S. occupation and war, often times in ways which demonstrated extraordinary courage and heroism. (Despite the pervasive labels and propaganda against fighters who oppose U.S. power, fighting a superpower with vastly great force of arms can only be described as heroic, and in any other era--e.g. the Warsaw Ghetto, the Algerian Civil War, etc.--would be viewed as an act of courage.)

Comparable to the Palestinian children throwing rocks at Israeli tanks, Iraqis (in the early days of the war) armed with only IEDs would launch themselves upon U.S. APCs and tanks--but only after the U.S. dropped 50,000 bombs and missiles on Baghdad in just over a month's period. And yet not one Muslim fighting occupation and oppression was deemed worthy of the Nobel committee's consideration;

3) Iraqi Muslim women suffered perhaps the most as a result of the U.S. occupation and war; and many of them have fought back against the terror enacted upon them by a Superpower terror. Again, not one of them was deemed worthy of the Nobel award.

Only Nadia Murad was deemed worthy. After she visited Israel (in a trip to witness the enacting of legislation protecting Yazidis, an incredible irony in a state which practices apartheid against Palestinians), she returned to Germany where she currently resides. Shortly after that, she was notified by the Nobel Committee of her award. In response, she said, "I am incredibly honored and humbled by their support and I share this award with all Yazidis with all the Iraqis, Kurds and all the minorities and all survivors of sexual violence around the world." Oddly, she uttered not one word against those who had occupied and steadily destroyed and destabilized her country since 1991.

If it were up to me, Abeer an-Janabi, the 14-year old Iraqi girl raped and burned to death by U.S. troops in 2006 (all of her family were killed by U.S. troops in the same incidentj) would have received the Nobel. Posthumously, if there is such a thing as a posthumous Nobel. THAT would have restored the dignity of the Nobel.

© 2018 Nadrat Siddique

One Woman for Aafia

 By Nadrat Siddique

October 5, 2018

Chicago, IL

As I was in Chicago to run the Chicago Marathon for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, I decided a stop at the Pakistani Consulate was in order. The Consulate is located on the seventh floor of a high rise building on Michigan Avenue, a vibrant and bustling street in Chicago's downtown. Interestingly, there didn't seem to be any other consulates in the area.

Just as I arrived, a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest passed, proceeding quickly onto E. Wacker Avenue (the site of many of the organization’s protests). The protestors chanted slogans deriding the killer police. Earlier that afternoon, in a radical departure from the norm of impunity, a police officer was convicted in the death of an innocent Black man. I itched to join the BLM march, but knew I must fulfill the purpose for which I had come to Chicago: to call attention to the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, an innocent Pakistani Muslim woman scientist entering her 15^th year of illegal detention. As the BLM march disappeared from view, my heart went with it.

I stood in front of the Pakistan Consulate, a silent one-woman protest, my sign calling for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's freedom. The security guard, a heavy set Black man asked me to move away from the building. He gestured that I should stand closer to the Starbucks which was next door. I naively told him I was there for the Pakistan Consulate, and not Starbucks. He insisted I move away from the Consulate entrance. I really didn't want to be in front of Starbucks, so I re-positioned directly in front of the Consulate, but closer to the street side.

The only problem was that the street side was lined with police officers. Chicago panicked whenever Black people marched for justice. The heavy police presence there was in anticipation of "riots," Orwellian Double-Speak for Black protesters making Whites uncomfortable.

I was not eager to be in close proximity to the cops, so I temporarily moved towards Starbucks. Thankfully, the cops cleared out shortly thereafter, and I returned to my position closer to the Consulate.

As it was late Friday afternoon (the one woman protest for Aafia was 4:00 - 6:00 PM), I saw only a small handful of Pakistani officials emerge from the building. A few glanced in my direction, but it was not clear if I made a dent.

Soon after I arrived, a Pakistani couple passed me and went into the Starbucks. The wife was in full niqab. They remained in the coffee shop for some while. When they came out, I was in plain view in front of the Starbucks. They did not bat an eye, and continued on their way.

During the two-hour protest, hundreds, if not thousands, of  pedestrians walked by me. Others were in cars or buses. Many of those on foot turned around for a second look at my sign. A few cars honked their horn for me to turn toward them, so that they could read my sign (if it was not oriented in their direction at the time that they passed). Many made eye contact, which I returned with a smile. Some gave me a nod or a thumbs-up.

The ordinary (ie non-consular) Pakistanis who passed by were of two extremes: The first group were those who were overtly interested, and stared or turned around for a second look at my "Free Dr. Aafia Siddiqui" sign after they had passed. The second group was completely disinterested (or at least feigned disinterest).

I was surprised to see how many of the passersby were extremely fit runners. They were there to run the Chicago marathon that Sunday. They came from all over the country, and were notable by the race packets--distributed by all major races--slung over their shoulders. Many of them wore Boston Marathon jackets, indicating they had completed that illustrious race. Others wore the blue-colored 2018 Chicago Marathon commemorative shirt. Many of the runners passed my one-woman "Free Aafia" protest with looks of interest on their faces. We runners--particularly marathoners--tend to be very narcissistic. Also, marathons charge on average $100 registration fee, making marathoning an expensive hobby, and as a result largely the dominion of the well-to-do. I wondered how many of my fellow Chicago Marathon participants would stand for a cause higher than themselves, particularly a political prisoner whose false imprisonment their tax dollars subsidized.

As it was my first visit to the Pakistani Consulate, I didn’t realize it lay in the path taken by many marathoners leaving the McCormick Center (where packet pickup for the marathon was held). The marathon had not even started, and inadvertently I’d introduced a large number of runners to the Aafia case.

As I left the Consulate and headed to the nearby subway station, I prayed that the newly elected Pakistani government would reverse the ignominies of its predecessors, and work to free Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. It was a shame and a travesty that a Muslim nation had allowed one of its most innocent and vulnerable citizens to languish for 15 years in American, Pakistani, and Afghan prisons, all without just cause. I prayed that all those complicit in her torment would be punished by Allah Almighty.

© 2018 Nadrat Siddique

Karen Silkwood: Heroine

By Nadrat Siddique

This past weekend, I was in Oklahoma City for a friend's wedding. Walking around the downtown, I passed roads and a small city park named for Robert Kerr and Dean McGee. An elementary school and a high school were similarly named for the principles of the Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corporation. It reminded me that a heroine of my teen years, Karen Silkwood, was murdered here in the 1970s.

While working for Kerr-McGee, Silkwood found the corporation endangering its workers through highly unethical and likely illegal industry practices. She became a whistleblower, and thus the target of the company’s malfeasance. Ultimately, she was murdered when her car was run off the road.

It was the Silkwood case which convinced me of the importance of the labor (she was the union representative for workers at her Kerr-McGee location); of environmentalism (although Kerr-McGee paid a large settle ment to the Silkwood estate, they refused to admit fault; however Silkwood and the union alleged corporate negligence which led to the contamination of workers with plutonium; and of activism (had Silkwood remained silent and tolerated Kerr-McGee’s abuse of its workers, she might be alive today; instead, she insisted on investigating, organizing and agitating for workers’ rights, despite being aware of the risks of challenging a corporate giant).

So, Silkwood is dead, and the Men in Black suits—Kerr and McGee—who likely ordered her murder are honored to this day in Oklahoma City.

Their 9-11's

By Nadrat Siddique

The majority of those in immigration detention are from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. What those in power—from the Trump administration to the liberal Left—fail to discuss or recognize is that starting from the 1980s (many would argue much earlier), the U.S. played a highly pernicious role in subverting the governments and economies of these countries. Their countries rendered effectively unlivable, it should come as no surprise that Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans make the dangerous and risky journey north, seeking asylum in the U.S. and other places. Far from incarcerating these indigents, the U.S. should be paying them reparations.

In Guatemala, the democratically-elected government of Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown by a CIA coup in 1954, and the country was plunged into turmoil. That turmoil resulted in a string of U.S.-supported military dictators, the most prominent of whom were Efrain Rios Montt and Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores.

The U.S. actively supported Efrain Rios Montt, who came to power through a 1982 military coup. He learned counterinsurgency techniques from his U.S. handlers at Fort Gulick (Panama Canal Zone) and Fort Bragg (North Carolina). Under Rios Montt, the Guatemalan army with U.S. support, went on a rampage to wipe out rural support for left wing guerrillas. Rios Montt is widely believed to be responsible for the brutal murders up to 70,000 indigenous Mayans in what was known as a “scorched earth policy,” and was eventually put on trial in Guatemala and Spain.

In 2013, Rios Montt received an 80-year sentence for crimes which included massacres in fifteen Ixil Maya villages in which 1,771 unarmed men, women, and children were killed. However, the conviction was overturned.

Rios Montt’s successor, Brigadier General Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores, came to power in 1983, and was also supported by the United States, He continued Rios Montt’s policies. In 2011, Mejia Victores was put to trial in Guatemala on war crimes charges stemming from the killings of thousands of indigenous Guatemalans. But—he was declared unfit to stand trial as the result of a stroke.

All told, 200,000 Guatemalans, the majority of them Mayan Indians, were killed between 1960-1996. According to exhaustive investigations by the U.N. and the Catholic Church—most of the dead were civilians who were killed by the Guatemalan Army. Of these, 132,000 died between 1978-1983, a period of undeniable U.S. involvement in Guatemala. The U.S. role in the destruction of Guatemalan society was never brought to bear.

In Honduras, a literal banana republic existed for decades. Starting in the late 19^th century, Cuyamel Fruit Company (an American company, despite the name), United Fruit, and Standard Fruit (which later become Dole) effectively ran the country. They were granted land and exemptions from tax liability and other legal obligations by the Honduran government. During this period, the U.S. repeatedly sent troops to Honduras, presumably to protect the interests of U.S. fruit corporations. U.S. troops landed in the banana republic in 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924 and 1925.

Following two decades of military rule, a populist physician named José Ramón Adolfo Villeda Morales came to power. He ruled from 1957 – 1963, and instrumented agrarian reform which included the transfer of land to poor peasants. He modernized Honduras, and established the country’s public education, public health, and social security systems. Villeda Morales announced plans to expropriate lands from United Fruit. But before he could do this, he was deposed in a 1963 military coup which returned the country to military rule. That military rule lasted for another two decades.

Honduras has long been used as a launch pad by the U.S. for military incursions and interventions in the region. For instance, the deposing of the democratically-elected government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954 was conducted from Honduran soil. The Nicaraguan Contras (counterrevolutionaries fighting the democratically-elected Nicaraguan government) received support from the U.S. military headquartered in Honduras. The Contras launched a campaign of terror in the Nicaraguan countryside, subjecting Nicaraguan peasants to arson, rape, murder, and other horrific crimes meant to deflate their support for the Nicaraguan government. In the course of the Contra war—a war fueled and funded by the U.S.—30,000 Nicaraguans were killed. The economies of both Nicaragua and Honduras were severely damaged as a result of the U.S. intervention.

Similarly, Honduras was used to send U.S. support to the Salvadoran military dictatorship in the 1980s.

The U.S. built the Soto Cano Air Base in the Honduran town of Palmerola in the early 1980s to facilitate these operations and others. Approximately 500 – 600 U.S. troops are housed there. Additionally, the U.S. military's Joint Task Force Bravo is headquartered at Soto Cano.

In El Salvador, the U.S. supported a repressive right-wing regime which was being challenged by leftist guerrillas. Under Reagan, the U.S. sent hundreds of millions of dollars of military and economic aid to El Salvador—more than to any other country except Israel and Egypt. At the time, the Salvadoran government frequently used death squads and paramilitaries to carry out their repression.

These death squads killed a popular Archbishop, Oscar Romero. They raped, then murdered four American nuns who were in El Salvador. In the tiny mountain town of El Mozote, a U.S.-trained Salvadoran army unit, called the Atlacatl Battalion, conducted a massacre of Salvadoran peasants, murdering around 1,200 men, women, and children.

The U.S. not only continued to fund the Salvadoran regime, but actively assisted in the cover-up of these atrocities. By the time the civil war ended in 1992, 75,000 Salvadorans, mostly civilians, had been killed with the help of U.S. tax dollars.

And yet, the U.S. has the gall to incarcerate and prosecute the people fleeing from the fallout of these dirty wars. And to take their children from them when they seek asylum here. If that is not hubris, I don't know what is.

© 2018 Nadrat Siddique

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui Supporters Hold Iftar, Pray for Her Release

By Nadrat Siddique

June 1, 2018

Baltimore, MD – Very nearly half way through Ramadan, supporters of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui held an iftar in her honor.  Close to 30 committed Muslim activists from DC, Maryland, and Philadelphia discussed her case, made du’ah for her (and for other Muslim political prisoners), performed maghrib prayers, and shared dates and a Middle Eastern meal.

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a petite Pakistani Muslimah, is a political prisoner of the U.S. government. By all accounts, she has been raped, tortured, and separated from her school age children—who were also detained for years—in the course of her incarceration. Aafia is a neuroscientist with degrees from Brandeis University and MIT. She is being held as if she is a dangerous criminal in Carswell, TX, on trumped up charges which include attacking U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan. But supporters, like the ones gathered at the Baltimore iftar tonight, say the charges are preposterous, and that even the U.S. government knows it erred in its dealings with her, but is too arrogant or stubborn to reverse its actions.

Dr. Kaukab Siddique, an independent Pakistani journalist, who also teaches journalism at Lincoln University, was at the iftar. He had been writing about Aafia’s case almost since its inception. In opening remarks to the iftar, Dr. Siddique referred to the Muslim organization he helped found decades ago: “Jamaat al-Muslimeen has always been in the forefront of fighting for Muslim women’s rights under the rubric of Islam, and women have often been at the helm of the organization.”

He recognized Ashira Na’im, Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen administrator; Sr. Chekisha El-Amin, a long-time Baltimore-based Jamaat al-Muslimeen activist; Nadrat Siddique, a DC-based Jamaat al-Muslimeen activist and political prisoner advocate; and Sr. Fatima Abdullah, a founding member of the organization, who, along with her husband Amin Abdullah, had come to the iftar from Philadelphia, PA.

“And Jamaat al-Muslimeen has always supported political prisoners, those who are imprisoned unjustly or because of their beliefs. So, when we learned of the plight of Dr. Aafia, it was only natural for us to support her case,” he concluded.

Mauri Saalakhan, a long time DC-based human rights activist and head of the Aafia Foundation (formerly known as the Peace and Justice Foundation) was the guest speaker at the iftar gathering. He had travelled to several continents to raise awareness of the Aafia case, and organized rallies for Aafia outside the Carswell, Texas prison where she is being held—on very hostile turf, as well as at the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, and other key locations.

Saalakhan said that it was the Islamic responsibility of Muslims to speak out against injustice, particularly during Ramadan. The organizer-activist, who is also known as El-Hajj Mauri Saalakhan because he has completed the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, had worked on a litany of political prisoner cases. But—Aafia’s case, he said, was one of the worst cases of injustice he had seen. She was alive, he said, negating the recently circulating rumor that she had passed away. But she was not well. She was held under sordid conditions, a travesty of justice, he said.

Saalakhan said he was very disappointed by the lack of action on the part of most Muslims to come forward. Muslims who could have done something to help Aafia, but didn’t—would be held accountable for their inaction in the Hereafter, he told iftar attendees. He pointed out the Pakistani government’s insidious role in first aiding Aafia’s kidnapping, and then subverting efforts to release her.

Imam Ali Siddiqui, a lifelong peace and justice activist currently based in DC, attended the iftar along with his family. His organization, the Muslim Institute of Interfaith Studies and Understanding, has effectively dialogued with churches and synagogues in the DC area. Addressing the iftar gathering briefly, he mentioned recent work with the DC Poor Peoples Campaign, a rekindling of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s movement for social justice. Imam Siddiqui has long protested Aafia’s detention as well as that of other political prisoners, and participated in rallies and meetings to free her.

This writer, DC-based blogger, runner, and activist Nadrat Siddique organized the iftar. Siddique, who has run three marathons to call attention to Aafia’s case, said that as Muslims were eating and praying, praying and eating—at many, many iftars throughout Ramadan, they ought also think about the Muslim prisoners and political prisoners, being held under horrendous conditions in American prisons and secret prisons. What were the prisoners eating for iftar? Were they even conscious and able to fast? If they were fasting, did they have access to halal (Islamically permissible) food with which to open their fast?

“Muslims ought to ask the imams of their respective masajid to mention the political prisoners in their khutbas. We should write letters raising concern for the welfare of the political prisoners to corporate media, and on the social media sites of these corporate media. Give zakat to the families of the political prisoners. And make du'ah for them. There is added barakat in doing this during Ramadan,” she concluded.

Dr. Kaukab Siddique closed out the evening with a du’ah asking for the acceptance of the fasts of the iftar attendees, and remembering all the political prisoners, including Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

© 2018 Nadrat Siddique

Maintaining the Silence on Aafia

What do the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and (the Pakistani daily) Dawn have in common? They all maintain the silence on the unjust imprisonment of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. As such, they are abdicating their responsibility as media organs to seek truth in this case of gross human rights violations of an innocent Muslim woman scientist.

My letter to the Washington Post on Aafia (after running the 2018 DC Rock ‘N Roll Marathon in her name; letter is as yet unpublished by the Post):

https://siddiqun.blogspot.com/2018/03/her-too-assault-and-rape-in-case-of-dr.html

My letter to the Boston Globe on Aafia (after running the 2017 Boston Marathon in her name; letter remains unpublished by the Globe):

https://siddiqun.blogspot.com/2017/04/running-boston-marathon-for-pakistani.html

My letter to (Pakistani daily) Dawn on Aafia (after running the 2016 DC Rock ‘N Roll Marathon to call attention to Aafia’s case; letter was not published by Dawn):

http://siddiqun.blogspot.com/2016/03/letter-to-dawn-pakistani-daily.html

It is particularly shameful that Pakistani and other Muslim media refuse to openly and honestly discuss her case, or take any step which would compel Pakistani lawmakers to intercede on Aafia’s behalf. Inshallah, they will be held to account on the Last Day.

--Nadrat Siddique

Standing with Black Lives Matter-Columbia

So I finally made it to my first Black Lives Matter-Columbia vigil today, a few hours after completing the B&A Trail Marathon. The vigil is held at a very busy intersection at one of the entrances to Columbia Mall. It was an excellent turnout, with an entire shoulder on one side of the road filled with folk holding signs saying "Black Lives Matter," invoking the names of Philando Castille and other victims of police murders; decrying the school-to-prison pipeline; or calling for justice for all. There was a smaller but energetic group of activists on the other side of the road as well.

I stood with the larger group of activists in my shalwar kameez, seemingly the only Pakistani in attendance (unfortunate because the Columbia area has a very sizable Indo-Pak population).

Amazingly, the young white woman next to me, whom I'd met at a recent NAACP meeting, was also a marathoner. (She was preparing to run Boston in a little more than a week!) She told me she attends the vigil each month. I carried a sign saying "We stand with the family of Terrence Sterling; Stop Police Murders," which I'd hastily penned after running the 26.2 that morning.

Sterling was a 31-year old resident of Fort Washington (a DC outskirt). In 2016, he was riding his motorcycle--unarmed--when he was shot in the neck by police, who claimed he deliberately backed his motorcycle into a police cruiser. No criminal charges were brought against the officers involved.

Participants at the BLM-Columbia vigil were of all races and ethnicities, with a high degree of White participation. The Howard County NAACP chapter was there in force. Numerous candidates running in the upcoming local elections were also present. The vigil was entirely peaceful, with the greatest perturbation being the constant beeping of horns by passing motorists in support of the vigil.

It was a great day to stand up for justice.

Juma’ah at the DC Islamic Center: Hashing and Re-Hashing Hasad (Envy)

By Nadrat Siddique

Washington, DC

April 6, 2018

I performed juma’ah prayers for the last two weeks at the DC Islamic Center. Located on Embassy Row, ICDC, as it is known, is rather unusual as far as mosques go. It was conceived in 1944 during the Truman presidency by diplomats from Muslim countries, and was inaugurated in 1957 under Eisenhower.  The principal who pushed for the completion of the center was Egyptian Ambassador Kamil Abdul Rahim. Abdul Rahim travelled to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Muslim countries to solicit funds for the completion of the center.  In addition to funds, various Arab countries also contributed to the decor of the mosque: Egypt provided a chandelier, Iran brought in oriental carpets, and Turkey contributed tiles.

At the time, ICDC’s board was composed of diplomats from the various Muslim countries. Today, it is unclear who sits on its board. In fact, the ICDC webpage fails to list board members, imams, and related information. By contrast, other mosques, however conservative or controlled, list this key information. The imam’s salary is also not divulged. It does say that the Islamic Center’s aim is to work with the U.S. government, an odd breach of the key American principle of “Separation of Church and State.”

The Saudi Embassy’s website mentions the DC Islamic Center (as an example of the broadening reach of Islam in the U.S.), but does not delve into the extent of its contributions or investment into the Center.

The Islamic Center board was determined by election only once in its history: In November 1981, a Syrian-born Sunni scholar, named Muhammad Al-Asi was elected imam. His reign at the center was brief however, and he was ousted by the Saudis and others associated with the previous mosque board in March 1983. The Saudis locked Asi and his family out of the Islamic Center, and completely closed the Center for three months, under two seemingly unrelated pretexts: 1) that they had information on a weapons cache inside the Center; and 2) maintenance and repairs were needed inside the Center.

Later, when Imam Al-Asi attempted to return, they arrested and briefly jailed him along with 50 of his supporters, charging then with “unlawful entry into the mosque” and “disturbing a religious service.” Asi and his cohorts were also indefinitely banned from entering the mosque.

New Trend, then in its sixth year of publication, supported Imam Al-Asi on principle.

So, the operations of the current board of the ICDC remain enshrouded in mystery. The little which is known emerged around 2009, as a result of a legal case between the mosque director/imam Abdullah Khouj and the mosque financial manager Farzad Darui. As a consequence of the case, it became apparent that hundreds of thousands of dollars were being funneled into a mosque fund by the Saudi government. The money was to be used, in part, for mosque maintenance and security.

Another point garnered from the 2009 case was that the mosque board had, in 1984, shortly after deposing Muhammad Al-Asi, hired a Saudi—from Saudi Arabia, and with no ties to the local community—to be imam.

The Saudi imam’s March 30 khutbah I sat in on focused on cleansing one’s body as well as one’s soul, touching on various complications which can arise in such cleansing, including hasad (envy). The April 6 khutbah by the same imam also focused on hasad: Why one ought not engage in hasad; ramifications of engaging in hasad; remedies for the individual in danger of engaging in hasad, etc. There was a great deal of redundancy between the March 20 and April 6 khutbahs. And there were extensive and selective quotations from the Qur’an in Arabic (to a congregation which was, at best, 50% Arabic-speaking).

Feeling an odd twinge of empathy (pity, really), I pondered how difficult it was for imams in the pocket of Saud or DHS to come up with entirely academic khutbahs, and completely skirt any remotely political topic, week after week. Almost any real world concern, it seemed to me, could be labeled as political—and hence off limits—not only to the paid Saudi imam whom I observed, but to the numerous imams on the DHS-approved speaking circuit.

For example, in both the ICDC khutbas I heard, the imam mentioned memorization of Qur’an by hafiz-e-Quran as one area in which envy was okay. That is, competition to memorize and accurately recite God’s word was a highly worthwhile endeavor exempt from the warnings against hasad. Ideally, envying a hafiz would lead one to also become a hafiz.

Ironically, two days prior, 100 hafiz-e-Quran children in Kunduz (Afghanistan) were killed in an airstrike by the Afghan government, a puppet of the U.S. And a little more than a year ago, world renowned hafiz-e-Qur’an Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman died a political prisoner in U.S. custody. How could any man of God ignore these terrible tragedies, and not make the logical connections? But to the Saudi imam I was observed, there seemed no connection.

The Saudi imam continued to rail against hasad, spouting off yet more daleel in Arabic. His frenzied du’ah, also entirely in Arabic, was the only passionate part of his khutbah. Murdered Afghan children were clearly not on his mind. I left immediately after the prayer ended, asking Allah to forgive me for praying behind such a one. I pondered the openness to scrutiny of our beloved Rasool (SAW) and later of the Khulafah-E-Rashidun (RA) by their constituents. At a minimum, disclosure of the ICDC imam’s salary and its source, as well as the salaries (and sources) of other ICDC board members would help congregants to understand why topics such as hasad are beat to death during the Center’s khutbahs, while thousands of innocents across the Muslim world perish daily at the hands of the U.S., Russian, NATO, and other imperialist armies without a mention.

© 2018 Nadrat Siddique