Calif. Muslims, Jews File Lawsuit Against Circumcision Ban

The recent efforts to ban circumcision in San Francisco have brought about one curious unintended result: Muslim and Jewish Americans have teamed up in the city to file a lawsuit against the ballot measure. The “unlikely coalition,” as dubbed by The Blaze, was formed because the ritual of circumcision is common to both the Muslim and Jewish faiths.

Now that San Francisco election officials have confirmed that there are enough signatures to qualify the initiative for the ballot, the city will be the first to hold a public vote on banning male circumcision. If passed, the measure would prohibit circumcision on males under the age of 18, making it a misdemeanor punishable by either a fine of up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail.

It is because the measure would permit no exemptions, including for religious reasons, that Jewish and Muslim residents are collaborating in the lawsuit. The Blaze notes,

The case filed in San Francisco Superior Court asks the court to remove the voter initiative from the city’s Nov. 8 ballot, arguing that California law bars local governments from restricting medical procedures.

The lawsuit includes five Jewish and three Muslim plaintiffs, as well as two physicians who regularly perform circumcisions. It also includes the Anti-Defamation League and the local chapter of the Jewish Community Relations Council as plaintiffs.

Leticia Preza, one of the plaintiffs in the case, declares of the proposed ban:

It’s a measure that would basically infringe upon my rights as a Muslim to practice here. It would also take away my rights as a parent to choose what’s a good procedure for my child.

Supporters of the ban contend that circumcision is equitable to genital mutilation and conclude that it should not be imposed on children by their parents. They claim the procedure is too painful and dangerous to justify its continued use.

"Parents are really guardians, and guardians have to do what's in the best interest of the child. It's his body. It's his choice," claimed Lloyd Schofield, the measure's lead proponent and a longtime San Francisco resident.

The New American's Daniel Sayani notes dissembling in this assertion, however:

Yet, this is a position that reeks of hypocrisy, as the same anti-circumcision individuals often support a pro-choice position on abortion, arbitrarily defending a born child’s supposed “right” not be circumcised, while supporting the “right” of an individual parent to legally kill their unborn children as late as 36 weeks of pregnancy (approximately nine months of gestation). In fact, San Francisco’s permissive culture has been warmly embracing of several abortionists and even late-term abortion practitioners: According to attorney Leonard Moscowitz, “It is amazing that in San Francisco, you can abort a 5, 6, or 7 month old baby, but you soon may not perform a circumcision on a 9 month, 8 day-old baby.”

Meanwhile, the ban has provoked a great deal of ire from both the religious and medical communities, as well as from constitutionalists who take issue with the local government's overreach. The Blaze indicates:

The ballot measure is running into fierce opposition, especially among Jews and Muslims who consider circumcision a sacred religious rite. They say the ban would violate their constitutional rights and run counter to San Francisco’s tradition of cultural and religious tolerance.

International health organizations have promoted male circumcision to help reduce the spread of the AIDS virus, but there hasn’t been the same kind of push in the U.S., in part because nearly 80 percent of American men are already circumcised, compared with the worldwide average of 30 percent.

TNA's Sayani noted the number of health benefits associated with circumcision:

There is ample medical evidence that circumcision is linked to lower rates of penile cancer, thrush infections, balanitis (inflammation of the glans), posthitis and phimosis (two other severe inflammatory conditions), sexual dysfunction, and a reduction in HIV/AIDS and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV, which is linked to sexually-transmitted cervical cancer) transmission rates (in African and other developing societies) as well as improved hygiene.

Plaintiff Jeremy Benjamin voiced his concern over the ban: “As Jews, we take the threat of banning circumcision personally. This measure singles us out, along with the Muslim community, as illegitimate and unwanted in our own city.”

The city of Santa Monica was considering a similar ban, until the author of Santa Monica’s proposal, Matthew Hess, created an anti-Semitic comic called Foreskin Man. What Hess called a “joke” and “publicity stunt” ultimately revealed what many believed to be an underlying anti-Semitic position behind the circumcision ban. The comic provoked such a public outcry that the city of Santa Monica elected to drop the proposal.

Jena Troutman, who originally submitted the initiative to the Santa Monica city clerk, retracted her proposal, telling the Jewish Journal, “It shouldn’t have been about religion in the first place. Ninety-five percent of people aren’t doing it for religious reasons, and with everyone from the New York Times to Glenn Beck focusing on the religious issue, it’s closing Americans down to the conversation.”

As of now, the circumcision ban in San Francisco is scheduled to appear on the ballot in November. Whether the lawsuit will remove the measure from the ballot remains to be seen.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/faith-and-morals/7981-calif-muslims-jews-file-lawsuit-against-circumcision-ban

The Imperialist Suicide Epidemic in India

by Larry Everest

"The children were inconsolable. Mute with shock and fighting back tears, they huddled beside their mother as friends and neighbors prepared their father's body for cremation on a blazing bonfire built on the cracked, barren fields near their home. As flames consumed the corpse, Ganjanan, 12, and Kalpana, 14, faced a grim future. While Shankara Mandaukar had hoped his son and daughter would have a better life under India's economic boom, they now face working as slave labor for a few pence a day. Landless and homeless, they will be the lowest of the low.

"Shankara, respected farmer, loving husband and father, had taken his own life. Less than 24 hours earlier, facing the loss of his land due to debt, he drank a cupful of chemical insecticide. Unable to pay back the equivalent of two years' earnings, he was in despair. He could see no way out."1

Shankara's story is not unique—or even unusual. Between 1995 and 2009, 241,679 farmers in India committed suicide, and by the end of 2010 the number had probably risen to 250,000—a quarter of a million people. In 2009 alone, 17,638 farmers committed suicide—an average of one every 30 minutes.

And it's even worse. These shocking figures "considerably underestimate the actual number of farmer suicides taking place," according to a new study by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University Law School, "Every Thirty Minutes: Farmer Suicides, Human Rights and the Agrarian Crisis in India."2 For instance, women are often excluded from suicide statistics because they don't have title to their land and therefore are not counted as "farmers."
The Roots of India's Farmer Suicide Epidemic

This suicide epidemic is not a product of "human nature," or India's culture. Mass farmer suicides were unknown in India before the 1990s. Nor are they random and unexplainable: they follow a pattern. 86.5 percent of the farmers who commit suicide are in debt. Like Shankara, 40 percent had suffered a crop failure, the majority are small farmers (with less than five acres of land), and are growing cash crops for export. Cotton is one of India's main cash crops, and one of the highest concentrations of suicides is among cotton farmers like Shankara. Roughly half of all farmer suicides occur in the Vidarbha region of central India, where there are 3.2 million cotton farmers.3

What is the connection between crushing debt, failed harvests, small plots, and cash crops? Why have hundreds of thousands felt they had no way out but to take their own lives? What does this epidemic show about India, a country the U.S. lauds as "the world's largest democracy" and celebrates as a model for economic development? And what does it show about U.S. capitalism-imperialism and how it impacts millions upon millions around the world?
Step Back... and Survey the Globe

To answer these questions, we can't just look at India's cotton industry, or Indian agriculture overall, or even just India. You have to step back and look at what kind of system we live in, how it dominates and shapes the whole globe—especially oppressed countries like India.

We live in a capitalist system. That means that all production, including of basic necessities, is driven and shaped by the maximizing of profit. Today the tentacles of that capitalist system envelop the whole world—capitalism has become imperialism. A small handful of rich, capitalist-imperialist countries dominate the rest of the planet, with the United States at the top of this global system. These imperialist powers dominate the oppressed nations—where over 80 percent of the world's people live—economically, politically, and militarily. The imperialists set the terms for what will be produced in these countries—not to meet the needs of their peoples, but to further the interests of the imperialists, in particular their profitable accumulation of capital.

Imperialist investment is not—as we're told by the capitalist media—a "boon" or a "handout" for people in oppressed countries. As Raymond Lotta has written, "the economic structure of the oppressed nations (like India) is shaped mainly by forces external to them: what is produced, exported and imported, financed, etc., reflects first and foremost their subordination, and not principally the internal requirements and interrelations of different sectors. They answer to another's 'heartbeat.'"4

Globalization, including Third World countries becoming further integrated into and subordinated to imperialism, has intensified since the end of World War 2. Imperialism's need to further integrate and subordinate Third World countries like India took a leap following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union—which by the mid-1950s was an imperialist, not a socialist, country. Suddenly, the global political, economic, and military landscape was radically changed. The U.S. and Western imperialist powers had triumphed in the Cold War. The U.S. saw the need and the opportunity to accelerate capitalist "globalization": to break down barriers to global investment, exploitation, and trade, including opening up countries formerly allied with the Soviet Union or formerly closed to the West.

Poor countries around the world, in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, have been subjected to Structural Adjustment Programs imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. These programs require that Third World governments meet strict conditions to get new loans or to obtain lower interest rates on existing loans. Both the IMF and World Bank are controlled by the imperialist powers, especially the United States. And this restructuring creates more favorable conditions for imperialist trade and investment.5

Imperialist restructuring has led to enormous changes in agricultural production in the oppressed countries. They have been more deeply integrated into the workings of an imperialist‑dominated global food system. Agriculture has been further "industrialized" and reshaped to better serve the imperialists. Traditional subsistence farming (based on producing staples like corn, beans, etc.) has more and more been overrun and swallowed up by imperialist‑controlled agribusiness.

India, the world's second most populous country, was one of the U.S.'s prime targets and has been ground zero for this agricultural restructuring. India was a longtime ally of the Soviet Union, and most of its economy was controlled and directed by the Indian state, which represented the interests of Indian capitalism and landed property, including semi-feudal landlordism.
Capitalist Globalization's Devastating Impact on India's Agriculture

India remains a predominantly agrarian society, with over 800 million people (of the 1.2 billion total population)—nearly 70 percent of the population—living in rural areas. Over half of India's workforce of nearly 500 million works in agriculture.6

The world's capitalist powers say that poor countries being integrated into the world imperialist system will lead to rapid economic growth and development and rising standards of living for all. When President Obama addressed India's Parliament in November 2010, he praised India for not "resisting the global economy," instead becoming "one of its engines." He claimed this had unleashed "an economic marvel that has lifted tens of millions from poverty and created one of the world's largest middle classes," and that advanced technology was now "empowering farmers and women" in India.7

But what globalization has actually meant for the masses of people in India is intensified exploitation, sweatshops, and growing disparity between the rich and poor. After 25 years of market reform, the average calorie intake in India has declined! And globalization has meant the ruin of many farmers, driving them into desperation. Let's look, for example, at how imperialist globalization has affected cotton farmers in India, who are a lot of the farmers committing suicide.
Compete on the Global Market... Or Go Under

Beginning in the 1990s, the U.S., the World Bank, and the IMF pressured India to privatize many of its state-owned enterprises, slash regulations on business, cut spending on social services and subsidies to small farmers, tear down barriers to foreign investment and trade, and integrate its economy, including agriculture, more closely into the imperialist-dominated global capitalist order.

Under this "neo-liberal" program, the Indian government reduced subsidies and access to credit for farmers, who had mainly been raising food crops for domestic consumption. It pushed farmers to switch from foodstuffs to cash crops for sale on the global market. And as part of this, the Indian state has promoted the expansion of cotton growing. Today there are 4 million cotton farmers in India, which is now the world's second largest cotton producer.8

However, to sell their cotton, Indian farmers now faced the volatile ups and downs of the global market, and competition with giant multi-national corporations based in the imperialist countries, which had enormous advantages in technology, marketing, and financial resources.

The report, "Every 30 Minutes" says, "In order to compete on the global market, then, Indian cotton farmers desperately turned to using new, higher-priced inputs," and "the cotton market has become increasingly commercialized, and is dominated by a small group of multinational corporations that exert increasing control over the cost, quality, and availability of agricultural inputs."

In India, giant imperialist monopolies exerted this control and extracted huge profits through the sale of genetically modified cottonseed, especially Bollgard Bt cottonseed, made by the U.S. chemical giant Monsanto, the world's largest seed producer.

When Bt cottonseed was approved by the Indian state in 2002, Monsanto launched an aggressive sales program in India with salesmen going from village to village promising these seeds would yield higher outputs—and income—including because they're resistant to some pests, so less can be spent on pesticides. By 2009, a majority of India's cotton farmers invested in the seed, and 85 percent of cotton produced in India was Bt cotton.9
"They Consume the Very Pesticide That They Purchased, in Order to Kill Themselves"

Farmer Shende shouldered at least four debts at the time of his death: one from a bank, two procured on his behalf by his sisters and one from a local moneylender. The night before his suicide, he borrowed one last time. From a fellow villager, he took the equivalent of $9, roughly the cost of a one-liter bottle of pesticide, which he used to take his life.10

Bt cottonseeds cost from two to 10 times as much as regular cottonseed, and can end up accounting for 50 percent of farming costs. Making matters worse, farmers are often prevented from reusing these genetically modified Bt seeds without paying a fee each year to Monsanto—which owns the "intellectual property rights" to the seed.11

Of the 89.35 million farmer households in India, small and marginal farmers make up 84 percent of all agricultural land holdings. These small farmers on average earn less than $2 per day, according to a 2003 study.12

And the workings of imperialism have increasingly forced these kinds of farmers into debt, squeezing them from two sides. On the one hand, these farmers have to pay more for seed, fertilizers, etc., so their costs have gone up. On the other hand, in the name of neo-liberal reform, the government has cut back in providing low-cost credit to small farmers while credit is channeled towards the largest, most profitable agricultural enterprises. This has meant that farmers have had to seek out sources of credit from local, predatory money lenders. And they end up going ever deeper into debt and desperation.

While growing Bt cotton for the global capitalist market can produce high returns, it is also highly precarious and unpredictable. Prices can swing sharply on the world market. Today the price of cotton in real terms is one-twelfth what it was 30 years ago. Also, Bt cotton requires a larger and steadier flow of water than traditional seed, yet 65 percent of cotton farmers have no access to irrigation and depend on monsoon rains. (Only 37 percent of rural households in India have electricity, and 80,000 villages are not even connected to the grid.13) Less than an average rainfall can wipe out their crop, and India's rainfall and weather patterns have become increasingly irregular, with annual monsoons failing three times in the last 10 years and drought impacting some provinces. These changes may be connected to global warming.14

Meanwhile, competition from cotton imported from the U.S. and other major capitalist countries—where farmers and agricultural corporations have much greater access to capital and advanced technology—is driving down cotton prices and ruining tens of thousands of Indian farmers.

Between 1997 and 2004, India imported some eight million bales of American cotton. This cotton was being sold at a price 50 to 65 percent lower than the cost of production because it was being subsidized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which spent $245.2 billion to subsidize U.S. cotton farmers from 1995 to 2009, as part of promoting the interests of U.S. capital around the world.15

Smita Narula, co-author of "Every Thirty Minutes," sums up the impact of all this on tens of thousands of India's farmers: "So they've gone into insurmountable debt to purchase the inputs. They don't have the yields. They repeat this cycle for a couple of seasons. And by the end of it, they're simply trapped in a cycle that they can't get out of, and they consume the very pesticide that they purchased, in order to kill themselves."16
India's Agrarian Crisis

The plight of Indian cotton farmers is part of a broader crisis in Indian agriculture, and most farmers facing ruin have no place to turn. India's much-talked about information technology and business processing industries—the so‑called new economy—employ only 1.3 million out of India's working population of nearly 500 million.17

Oppressive traditional feudal and patriarchal relations also weigh heavily on Indian farmers. Those with daughters have to pay dowries to a prospective husband's family in order for them to be married:

"Farmers who pay these dowries fall further into debt—or face the social stigma of being unable to pay—and may commit suicide as a result. Even more startlingly, in Andhra Pradesh, unmarried daughters, wracked with guilt over their fathers' deaths, have committed suicide themselves. Finally, when husbands commit suicide, they not only leave their wives with their debt but also with the responsibility to marry off their daughters. As farmer-activist Sunanda Jayaram has noted, ‘There are debts hanging on [women's] heads which they did not incur. There are daughters whose marriages are pending. The pressure is unending.'"18

Indian farmers can no longer count on their own food production to stave off hunger and are increasingly subject to the global food crisis created by imperialism. The Revolution article, "The Global Food Crisis...and the Ravenous System of Capitalism" points out:

"Third World countries have been forced to shift much of their food production away from subsistence crops to high value exports. They have been pressured to open up their markets to cheap food imports. As a result, local food production for domestic consumption has been undercut. Now these countries are caught in a vise: The price of imported food has gone way up at the same time that the ability to produce food for local consumption has been eroded."19

In an article about the food crisis in India, Utsa Patnaik wrote, "The colonized Indian peasant starved while exporting wheat to England, and the modern Indian peasant is eating less while growing gherkins and roses for rich consumers abroad." Today, one quarter of India's population—some 300 million people—does not have enough money to eat adequately.20
"The Largest Wave of Recorded Suicides in Human History"

Imperialism has everything to do with the epidemic of farmer suicides in India. And the United States, in particular, plays a major role in shaping India's murderous agricultural system. During her visit to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in July 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that agriculture would be the "strongest and most important pillar" of the strategic partnership between the U.S. and India.

What's taken place in India over the past 16 years represents, in the words of one Indian researcher, "the largest wave of recorded suicides in human history."21

What makes this such a towering crime is that it's totally unnecessary. There is no reason that agriculture and food and other needed goods can only be produced if a profit is turned and the interests of a handful of imperialist powers are served. The basis exists, in human knowledge, technology, and resources, to solve the needs—including for food and clothing—of humanity. But what stands in the way of this is a world economic system of capitalism driven by profit.

Unless and until this system is abolished through revolution, and is replaced by a new socialist system, there will continue to be massive hunger, starvation, dislocation—and yes, farmers will be driven to drink pesticide out of horrific desperation. Under socialism, making sure people have enough food will be the first priority in agricultural production and part of building a whole world of shared abundance for everybody.

India's epidemic of farmer suicides, and understanding that it has been spawned by the workings of the capitalist-imperialist system, speaks powerfully—and achingly—to the urgent need for the revolutions that can bring that better world into being.

http://revcom.us/a/236/imperialist_suicide_epidemic-en.html

I read the Koran every day, says former prime minister Tony Blair who claims it keeps him 'faith-literate'

By Ian Drury

Tony Blair has now spoken of how he reads the Koran every day

He was notoriously reluctant to discuss religion while Prime Minister, with his chief spin doctor Alastair Campbell famously commenting: ‘We don’t do God.’

But since leaving Downing Street in 2007, Tony Blair has become increasingly open about the importance of religion.

Mr Blair, who converted to Catholicism months after leaving Number 10, has now spoken of how he reads the Koran every day.

Reading the Islamic religion’s holy book - considered by Muslims to be the exact words of God - ensured he remained ‘faith-literate’, the former Labour leader said.

In an interview with the Observer magazine, published yesterday he said: ‘To be faith-literate is crucial in a globalised world, I believe.

‘I read the Qur’an [Koran] every day. Partly to understand some of the things happening in the world, but mainly just because it is immensely instructive.’

Mr Blair believes that a knowledge of the faith informs his current role as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia.

The former PM’s work, which has cost British taxpayers more than £2million, aims to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


Mr Blair has previously praised the Muslim faith as ‘beautiful’ and said the Prophet Mohammed had been ‘an enormously civilizing force’.

In 2006 he said the Koran was a ‘reforming book, it is inclusive. It extols science and knowledge and abhors superstition. It is practical and way ahead of its time in attitudes to marriage, women and governance’.

But Mr Blair has also faced the devastation wreaked by violent jihadists who interpret the Koran as a call to arms.
Mr Blair said reading the Islamic religion's holy book - considered by Muslims to be the exact words of God - ensured he remained 'faith-literate'

Mr Blair said reading the Islamic religion's holy book - considered by Muslims to be the exact words of God - ensured he remained 'faith-literate'

He was Prime Minister when the July 7 suicide bombers attacked London in 2005, murdering 52 innocent people.

Not only does reading the Koran support his peace envoy role, it also gives him something in common with sister-in-law Lauren Booth.

Journalist Miss Booth - Cherie Blair’s half sister - raised eyebrows after announcing last October that she had converted to Islam after what she described as a ‘holy experience’ during a visit to a shrine in Iran.

Mr Blair also used the Observer interview to dismiss claims he was on a Christian ‘crusade’ when taking Britain into the highly divisive war in Iraq.

His former constituency agent John Burton said two years ago that Mr Blair ‘believed strongly at the time, that intervention in Kosovo, Sierra Leone – Iraq too – was all part of the Christian battle; good should triumph over evil, making lives better.’

But the ex-Premier said: ‘People still ask me if military decisions in Iraq or Afghanistan were based on some kind of divine instruction. It’s rubbish.
‘Of course not. Just as I couldn’t go into a corner and pray to ask God what the minimum wage should be.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2002883/Tony-Blair-reads-Koran-day-stay-faith-literate.html#ixzz1PAX6cRoZ

Allaah is above His Throne and He is close to us by His Knowledge

Quran says "Angels and Gabriel ascents to Allah in a day equivalent to 5000 terrestrial years. Does it imply that Allah is controlling the earthly matters sitting on the throne? Then how can be Allah nearer to us than the veins?

Praise be to Allaah. It is proven in the Qur’aan and Sunnah and by the consensus (ijmaa’) of the salaf (early generations) of this ummah that Allaah is above His heavens on His Throne, and that He is the Exalted, Most High. He is Above all things, and there is nothing that is above Him. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Allaah it is He Who has created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them in six Days. Then He rose over (Istawaa) the Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty). You (mankind) have none, besides Him, as a Wali (protector or helper) or an intercessor. Will you not then remember (or receive admonition)?” [al-Sajdah 32:4] “Surely, your Lord is Allaah Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days and then rose over (Istawaa) the Throne (really in a manner that suits His Majesty), disposing the affair of all things [Yoonus 10:3] “To Him ascend (all) the goodly words, and the righteous deeds exalt it (i.e. the goodly words are not accepted by Allaah unless and until they are followed by good deeds) [Faatir 35:10] “He is the First (nothing is before Him) and the Last (nothing is after Him), the Most High (nothing is above Him) and the Most Near (nothing is nearer than Him) [al-Hadeed 57:3] The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “You are the Most High and there is nothing above You…” There are many similar ayaat and ahaadeeth. But at the same time, Allaah tells us that He is with His slaves wherever they are: “Have you not seen that Allaah knows whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth? There is no Najwa (secret counsel) of three but He is their fourth (with His Knowledge, while He Himself is over the Throne, over the seventh heaven), — nor of five but He is their sixth (with His Knowledge), — nor of less than that or more but He is with them (with His Knowledge) wheresoever they may be” [al-Mujaadilah 58:7] Allaah has combined mention of His being above His Throne with mention of His being with His slaves in one aayah, where He says (interpretation of the meaning): “He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days and then rose over (Istawaa) the Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty). He knows what goes into the earth and what comes forth from it, and what descends from the heaven and what ascends thereto. And He is with you (by His Knowledge) wheresoever you may be [al-Hadeed 57:4] Saying that Allaah is with us does not mean that He is mixed with (or dwells in) His creation; rather He is with His slaves by His knowledge. He is above His Throne and nothing is hidden from Him of what they do. With regard to the aayah (interpretation of the meaning): “And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein (by Our Knowledge)” [Qaaf 50:16] - most of the mufassireen said that what is meant is that He is near by means of His angels whose task it is to record people’s deeds. And those who said that it means that He is near explained it as meaning that He is near by His knowledge, as is said concerning how He is with us. This is the view of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaa’ah, who affirm that Allaah is above His creation and that He is also with His slaves, and they state that He is far above dwelling in His created beings. With regard to the denial of all Divine attributes as voiced by the Jahamiyyah and their followers, they deny that His Essence is above His creatures and that He rose above His Throne, and they say that He is present in His Essence everywhere. We ask Allaah to guide the Muslims. Shaykh Abd al-Rahmaan al-Barraak
Islamqa

Kandahar prison broken once again. A mystifying showdown of muscles between belief and technology

The victorious and history producing soldiers of Allah under the leadership of Islamic Emirate have once again broken Kandahar prison, freeing more than 500 imprisoned Mujahideen which include tens of commanders, group leaders and high ranking officials and once again showed the triumph of the forces of mercy and faith over the technology plagued forces of Satan.

Mujahideen had started working on a 360 meter-long underground tunnel with great professionalism, dedication and secrecy, during which they bypassed highly secure check posts and Kandahar-Herat main highway before directly reaching their target, the prison’s political wing in a 5 month period, according to the latest information provided by the Mujahideen in Kandahar.

As planned earlier, the freeing of prisoners through the tunnel began at 11:00 pm last night when 3 previously informed inmates walked into each cell, woke up the Mujahideen and guided them to the tunnel, the process of which finished at around 03:30 am this morning when all the prisoners came out of the tunnel where they were escorted to secure destinations by vehicles.

Kandahar prison was previously broken into by Martyrdom seeking Mujahideen in the month of June 2008, breaking down its security barriers and killing dozens of security guards using an explosive-laden vehicle and heavy arms before freeing all its inmates. After this incident, the security personnel in Kabul’s stooge regime, in a failed attempt upgraded its security parameters by surrounding the prison with belts of security check posts, cameras and mobile patrol groups. The American’s and their hirelings never thought that the brave and daring Mujahideen would ever be able to free their comrades again, especially without any of the security personnel ever noticing or causing harm to any of the 500 prisoners who escaped through the tunnel. This is a sign of the help from the Almighty Allah, which no mind or technology can comprehend and this is considered as nothing more than the strike of the superiority of faith over material means.

This recent operation comes at a time when the echoes from the blow on the Ministry of Defense in Kabul are still ringing in the ears of the puppets in Kabul and their foreign masters while the theatrical drama of the blame game goes on between the two sides. The senate of Kabul regime wants the removal of the minister of defense (Raheem Wardag) from his office in connection with the incident while the high council and others go even further by proposing the changing and scrambling of all officials in security posts. But these people do not realize that they shall be witnesses to even more such Jihadic operations, which shall be even more dazzling and impressive than the previous, the blame of which shall not only force the defense minister to resign but also the “esteemed” head in Kabul! And the American commander supported by state of the art weapons, technology and overflowing dollars, who deceitfully boasts about securing Kandahar, should also ready himself for resignation and admit to his failures and defeat against the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate.

Al-Qaeda commander calls for overthrow of Gaddafi and introduction of Sharia Law

Abu Yahia al-Libi, the head of Sharia committee of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan/Pakistan, has urged his Muslims countrymen to overthrow the regime of Moammar Gaddafi and establish the Islamic rule, taking advantage of current events that sweep through the region, UmmaNews reports citing the Associated Press.

Sheikh Abu Yahia said in his video address that after the fall of the regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, it is now Gaddafi's turn, as rebel fighters there wage a nearly month-long campaign to oust him.

He named the Arab autocratic national governments as the enemies of Islam who practiced the worst kind of oppression with the backing of the West and failed to learn from history.

"Now it is the turn of Gaddafi after he made the people of Libya suffer for more than 40 years," Sheikh Abu Yahia said, adding that it would bring shame to the Libyan people if the tyrant were allowed to die a peaceful death.

Previously, Muammar Gaddafi said that al- Qaeda was behind the Libyan uprising seeking to end his dictatorship that lasts for more than 40 years.

It is worth noting that Gaddafi brutally suppressed any attempts to appeal to Monotheism and to implement the Sharia Law which are an integral part of Islam. He forbade the imams to preach in their sermons (hutbah) on issues associated with politics, and also brutally punished the Libyans who had fought in Afghanistan.

Sheikh Abu Yahia said that the ousting of Western-backed Arab regimes was "a step to reach the goal of every Muslim, that is to make the word of Allah the supreme" and establish the Islamic rule.

It should be added that Sheikh Abu Yahia al-Libi has been held in a U.S. military prison at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan for a long time, before escaping in 2005. After that, he took an active part in the Jihad in eastern Afghanistan bordering Pakistan.

In his 31-minute video message, al-Libi also criticized the hypocrisy of the U.S. leaders who now stand on the side of the rebels and strongly support them, although recently they actively supported the Gaddafi's regime.

In conclusion, Sheikh Abu Yahia urged Lybians not to look towards the Western countries, not to seek their help, and to go by their own way:

"We have to get rid of our inferiority complex and free ourselves from the West," he said.

13 women burnt alive in 12 months here

Sandhya Richariya was 18 when she was burnt alive inside her own home.

She was killed in March 2010, allegedly by four neighbours in her village in Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh. They wanted to punish her for falling in love with a man from a different caste. None of them are in jail.

After pouring kerosene on her and setting her on fire, the attackers left. Sandhya’s parents and the village sarpanch rushed her to hospital. Before she died, she identified the men who assaulted her. She gave her statement to the police.

But because the police did not get Sandhya’s doctor to testify that she was mentally alert when she made that statement, her testimony did not count in court. Sandhya died in hospital and the men arrested for her murder were released.

A month after that court verdict, we visit the small hut where Sandhya’s family lives. Her father works as a daily-wage earner. Her mother, a housewife, once looked after three children. Now there are two.

Speaking to us outside his home in a dusty, narrow street, Sandhya’s father checks repeatedly to ensure nobody is eavesdropping on our conversation.

Inside, her mother, Ramwati, explains that they have given up hope of ensuring justice for their daughter. ”The villagers said if we want to stay on here, we should not pursue the case.”

In Bundelkhand in Madhya Pradesh, Sandhya’s story is not an uncommon one. This is one of the country’s poorest regions, its poverty exacerbated by unforgiving drought that has staked its claim over the region in the last decade.

Bundelkhand has also become the home of the maximum brutalities against women in India – domestic violence and dowry deaths are the most prevalent crimes here.

In the last year, 13 young women have been burnt alive, either after they were raped, or because they tried to fight their attackers. Women’s rights activists who have been monitoring the cases say that the police have done little to prove the cases against the offenders, largely because of community pressure. Families of most of the victims are either threatened by the powerful or avoid approaching the police because of the stigma attached to rape.

”There are several rape cases in which no action have been taken. Soon after, the victims were either torched or they committed suicide. Timely police action could have saved them,” says Aruna Rao, the Inspector General of the Madhya Pradesh Women’s Crime Cell.

In a village not far away from Sandhya’s, we meet a father whose 15-year-old daughter was raped in November by a man known to the family. When the victim and her father went to the police, they allegedly took Rs. 400 as bribe to register their compliant. The accused and his family burnt the victim’s house in vengeful retaliation. But the accused was never arrested.

Another teen rape victim in the area was moved to a relative’s house so that she was not attacked. Her mother is seriously considering withdrawing the police case she once hoped would bring justice for her daughter.

The victim’s father explains that at the end of the day, he has to worry about how to feed his family. He has not worked in months. His wife earns Rs. 1,500 a month as a worker at the local aanganwadi. “He (daughter’s alleged rapist) sent a message that I can keep my job. He won’t trouble me or my daughter,” she says.

source: NDTV

Tunisian Revolution, Global Jihad & It Is Time For Khilafah Islamiyah To Lead The World

Does the Revolution in Tunisia mark the end of the era of the ruthless dictators and the beginning of the era of Khilafah Islamiyah? What is the role of the da'wah and global jihad amidst the political uproar in the Islamic countries which are affected by the domino effect from the revolution in Tunisia? Are the Islamic ummah ready to lead the world with the return of the Khilafah?

The Revolution Of A Vegetable Seller

The revolution in Tunisia originated from a vegetable seller named Muhammad Bouazizi, aged 26. Muhammad Bouazizi is a symbol of the oppressed youths in the area of Sidi Bouzid Sidi, 300 kilometers south of the capital of Tunisia. There are many youths who hold a bachelor degree there but day to day are just hanging out at the cafés in the dusty streets of the poor cities, showing the failure of governments in guaranteeing decent works.

Bouazizi, had been a vegetable seller for seven years until the police confiscated his vegetable cart on 17th December 2011 by accusing him of selling without license. Bouazizi had already tried paying 10 Tunisian dinars and paid another 7 dollars approximately, but he was slapped instead and was spat upon and his father who had died was insulted. Bouazizi could not accept being humiliated like that, and he reported it to the provincial headquarters hoping his complaints would be heard. However, as is usually the manner of the officials, they did not even want to meet him. Bouazizi then took his own steps, he doused fuel onto his body and burnt himself. It turned out that Bouazizi did not only burn himself but also burnt the anger of the entire Tunisian population against the dictatorship of the ruling regime.

Ben Ali, the dictator had the time to visit Bouazizi on 28th December to dampen the fire that had already burned the people of Tunisia. However, the fire fire in the chest of the people of Tunisia could no longer be extinguished, and on 14th January, only 10 days after Bouazizi died, the dictatorship of Ben Ali was overthrown by an intifadhah which was triggered by a vegetable seller.

Ben Ali, the dictator of Tunisia who had been in power for 23 years is a symbol of the secular governments of the Muslim countries, especially in the Arab world, who failed to perform his system of administration in all aspects of life. Unemployment, economic liberalization, free market are the sources of problems for Tunisia. Especially that Tunisia does not have the natural resources and is very highly dependent on foreign countries. Plus the corrupt and repressive government and the reticence of political access, then the sufferings of the Tunisians is complete which eventually led to the resistance for a change. A revolution had begun.

The End Of The Dictators?

The collapse of the dictatorial regime of Tunisia turned out to be a particular concern for all dictators, especially in the Arab countries. They worry that the people in their country would make the revolution in Tunisia as an inspiration, and that's what happened today!

Abdul Bari Atwan, editor Al-Quds Al-Arabi based in London wrote an article entitled “Thank You Tunisians”, expressed the concerns of the Arab dictators caused by the Tunisian revolution.

“These are critical days for most of the dictatorship of the Arab leaders. The conditions of life in Tunisia is still better compared to most other Arab countries. Furthermore, the dictator in Tunisia was less repressive than in the other Arab world.”

Abdul Bari Atwan, who wrote the book “The Secret History of Al-Qa’ida” (telling about Sheikh Usamah bin Ladin and Al-Qaeda) also provided an interesting advice for the U.S. government related to the revolution in Tunisia. Atwan advises the U.S. Government to prepare an island in the Pacific Islands to accept the Arab allies and other dictators.

An expert on Arab politics , Hussein Majdoubi also analyzed the possibility of a revolution, similar to the one in Tunisia, that would spread to Arab countries. The rulers of Morocco, Libya, Algeria and Egypt according to him are the targets of the next revolution. He was also disappointed with the West which continues to provide support to the Arab dictators and ignores the sad state of politics.

Clovis Maksoud, former Arab League envoy for the UN, said that the Tunisian revolution is an inspiration in the Arab world used by the countries which have dictatorial regimes. In an interview with Press TV, he said “The Tunisian revolution is one of the most inspirational in the Arab world in this contemporary time.”

Yvonne Ridley, a Muslimah journalist who was also a muallaf (Muslim convert ) from London, UK, believes that the people in the Arab world today has lost their sense of fear for the Arab regimes which are oppressive and corrupt as supported by the power of America and Europe, and which will start falling like dominoes. She continued:

“The first thing to do is to send the Air Force One to assemble all the dictators, tyrants and despotic rulers who are paid by America and bring them all to Washington. Like the pet droppings in the New York Central Park, you must be responsible for the mess your dogs!”

The people's revolution in Tunisia makes the Arab dictators panicky. The thing that happened to Ben Ali is an insult that has never happened to an Arab leader before. An extraordinary event, when the Tunisian dictator who had been in power for 23 years was finally overthrown by the people's resistance who are frustrated and sick of the system that had governed them all these time. The era of the dictators appears to be ending soon.

The Domino Effects Of The Tunisian Revolution

The act of the vegetable seller, Muhammad Bouazizi, that sparked the Tunisian revolution turned out to be an immediate inspiration for the people in some other Arab countries. There were nearly a dozen people who imitated the action of self-immolation in several Arab capitals, some of which were in Cairo and Algeria. In fact, until now, demonstrations demanding the departure of the Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak, is still continuing to happen in the city streets of Egypt. Egypt is now in turmoil.

The protesters in Egypt even burnt the government buildings in the Suez port town. Protests against the dictatorial government of Hosni Mubarak continued to happen in Egypt. Protesters also threw Molotov cocktails at the government buildings. The burning and throwing of bombs were also carried out at the headquarters of the ruling party, National Democratic Party.

Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets across the country to continue their protests the likes of which had never been seen before, defying the ban of the government which was earlier announced by the Interior Minister. The Protesters burned tires and threw stones at the police in Cairo, while the fully armed riot police were deployed in major cities to dissolve the masses opposing the three decades dictatorial rule of Egypt under Mubarak.

Clashes were also reported in the cities of Alexandria and Suez, where the security forces used water cannons, tear gases, batons and rubber bullets to disperse the masses. Hundreds have been killed.

Large scale demonstrations in Egypt have been running for two weeks and to date it got even more heated. The Egyptian police even shot 17 people who were trying to attack the police station in Cairo, Egypt. This action occurred following a statement by the dictator Hosni Mubarak, who refused to step down. This statement further heated the atmosphere instantly and pepped up tens of thousands of masses to take to the streets in major cities in Egypt. The domino effect of the Tunisian revolution is creeping and now happening in Egypt with one common goal, to depose the dictator!

In Yemen, the people are also demanding the resignation of the ruthless dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Thousands of people are demonstrating in the capital, Sanaa, calling for the dictator of 30 years, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down. The courage the people of Yemen in trying to overthrow their president emerged after the mass protests in Egypt and the revolution in Tunisia which succeeded in overthrowing the ruling regime.

The people of Yemen complained about the increasing poverty among the young people and frustration with the lack of political freedom. Also complaining about corrupt officials.

“We are gathered today to demand the abdication of President Saleh and his corrupt government,” said the demonstrators.

The Tunisian revolution sparked the solidarity of the common citizens in the Arab world, especially the Muslims who are fed up with the dictatorial and secular system of government which has been applied all these time. After Tunisia, the revolution spread to Egypt, and it could be spreading to Yemen, and probably will continue throughout the other regions of the Arab world. A big change is happening. The Pharaohs are facing the anger and resistance of 'Moses' who rose up against oppression!

The Call Of Da'wah & Global Jihad

The Tunisian revolution is also supported and in synergy with the calls of da'wah and global jihad. All geared towards the same end, the implementation of Islamic Shari'ah and the establishment of Khilafah Islamiyah.

Dozens of Muslim activists in London demonstrated in front of the embassy of Tunisia in London, Friday (21/1) calling on the Muslims in Tunisia to apply the Islamic Shari'ah (Khilafah). In the demonstration, Islamic activists carried the inscription “Shari'ah For Tunisia”, in English, Arabic and French. They also shouted “Shari'ah Will Return” and “Khilafah Will Return” followed by echoes of Takbeer!

Meanwhile, Al-Qaeda for the territories of Maghrib or which is better known as AQIM, supported the Tunisian revolution and called for the implementation of the Islamic Shari'ah immediately in Tunisia. In a 13-minute video, Sheikh Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, the amir of AQIM, stated his support for the rallies of the Tunisians in overthrowing the dictator Ben Ali. In the video posted to jihadist forums, he also provided a number of strategic advices, including their readiness to provide training in the use of weapons.

Sheikh Abu Musab Abdul Wadud also criticized Ben Ali for committing oppression, corruption, and for neglecting the welfare of ordinary people. He asked the demonstrators to immediately overthrow Ben Ali and apply the Islamic Shari'ah law in Tunisia. He said, the Tunisian Muslims should expand the revolution into a nationwide scale.

Leader of AQIM Sheikh Abu Musab Abdul Wadud is the tandzim of Al-Qaeda in Al-Jazair (Algeria), or in full the Tandzim Al-Qaeda Biladil Maghrib Islami (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Countries of North Africa) which until now existed and continues to expand its influence. Previously, before joining Al-Qaeda, this tandzim's name was The Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) or in Arabic “Al-Jama’ah As-Salafiyyah lidakwah wal Qital.”

According to experts, the bases of AQIM increasingly widened to a number of countries, such as Tunisia, Al-Jazair, Mauritania and Mali. The AQIM also said:

“Your disaster is our disaster and your suffering is our suffering.”

What System Will Be Used?

Where is the direction of the Tunisian revolution? Will the Islamic Shari'ah be implemented there? Tunisia is an Arab country with Muslim populations located in North Africa, on the coast of Mediterranean Sea to be exact. Tunisia is bordered with Algeria to the west, and Libya in the south and east.

Among the countries situated in the Atlas Mountains , the region of Tunisia is one of the easternmost and smallest. 40% of the Tunisian region is made up of the Saharan desert, the rest are fertile lands.

Tunisia used the secular system i.e. Republic for regulating its state sand society after getting independence from the kafir French colonial on 20th March 1956. Ben Ali, rose to power through a bloodless coup in 1987 to later become the ruling dictator for a period of 23 years.

When in power, Ben Ali kept on committing evils to the Islamic ummah of Tunisia and this shows that he was a genuine dictator. In fact, Ben Ali is a staunch supporter of Zionist Israel where he forbade the people of Tunisia from carrying out Anti-Israel demos, in fact he even prohibited the efforts of collecting relief aids for the Muslim in Gaza. Too much!

Ben Ali is also a loyal American stooge, as well as anti-Islamic Shari'ah. He banned the jilbab, in the 1990's, Ben Ali started rounding up Muslims who grew beard in Tunisia- which in truth are people who want to go back to the Islamic Shari'ah- banning them from going to masjids and being at workplaces and learning institutions.

Apparently, Ben Ali and his family also liked to steal the wealth of the Tunisian people while at the same time, the people of Tunisia are left to live in poverty, no job and under opprerssion every day. Corruptions and collusions become a daily meal for Tunisian officials which ultimately makes the people of Tunisia sick with the system of administration and dictatorship of Ben Ali, that they finally were moving against and overthrew the dictator.

After the overthrow of Ben Ali, for the first time in 23 years, Muslim youths performed their prayers in congregation in the streets of the cities in Tunisia. The spirit to return and implement the Islamic Shari'ah became one of the alternatives for the Tunisian folks, especially the youths. This is of course a concern for the secular officials and former proponents of the dictator, Ben Ali.

The Regional Development Minister, Silvan Shalom, expressed his concern about the overthrowing of the dictatorial ruler, Ben Ali, because “This step will facilitate the movement of Islam in this country.”

The Tunisians who do not feel enough with the results of the coup against the government of that country, called for radical changes in politics. They held a mass action demanding the release of political prisoners from the jails of the dictator, Ben Ali.

Most people in Tunisia call for the establishment of an Islamic state and the implementation of Islamic Shari'ah and to ensure the consolidation of the Muslim countries. The people who marched in Tunisia shouted: “There is no other way, there is no other way, Islam is the only solution!” “With our souls, with our blood, we will sacrifice for You, O Islam!”

Standing before the Tunisian army, they addressed this kalimah to: “You in Palestine, you in Iraq, drop the chains of the rulers off your neck and fulfill your duties!” “O Muslim forces, we are ready with you, with our blood, with our souls and our children! Topple the oppressive regimes!”

An appropriate choice for the people of Tunisia is to implement the Shari’ah of Islam and establish the Islamic system of government i.e. by establishing the Khilafah of Islam. The people of Tunisia should be getting this ‘blessing’ from Allah SWT, that with the fall of the dictatorial regime of Ben Ali, they could make use of this precious moment and not be fooled by the gentle persuasion and deceptions of satan which offers the poison of democracy.

A Mujahid had told us a valuable experience in the struggle:

“We are busy with military combats, success is forged on the sincere souls, and we managed to revive the love of dying shaheed. But we forgot to think of power (politics). Because we do not embrace it wholeheartedly. We still view politics as a filthy thing. The result? We are successful in changing the direction of the wind of victory with very invaluable sacrifices, until upon approaching the last chapter, when victory is ready to be plucked, the enemies are opening the fires of “mercy” at us – thus was the vocabulary that they usually use in order to tame us.”

The fact is, until now it is still not known where the Tunisian revolution would gear toward. The situation is still uncertain. At this time, Prime Minister Mohammad Ghannouchi who serves the interim government promised to immediately held an election which will replace the presidential system with a parliamentary system. Of course this promise was just a lie which will not bring about meaningful impacts of change. Because the change of the regime and its system is still in the corridor of the system of democracy which is anti-Islamic Shari’ah.

The change of a regime or dictator in a country is not a sure guarantee for a change in life in that country. Experience has proven that the change of a regime without being followed up by a comprehensive change in the system of life would not bring any change whatsoever. Not to mention the sweet promises of changes and reformation which are always shouted out by the enemies of Islam, who are not prepared for the Islam Shari’ah and Khilafah to be applied as the only system which regulates the life of the Islamic society. In the end, it is democracy which is always offered as the best alternative for a change. Whereas, democracy is a very deadly venomous poison for the Islamic ummah who are longing for the return of the Islamic Shari’ah in the entire aspects of life. For that, there is no other alternative, and there is no other system for the Islamic ummah anywhere except to reapply the Islamic Shari’ah in kaafah (in its entirety) in the frame of Islamic Khilafah.

Khilafah, Ready To Lead The World

From Nu’man bin Basyir from Hudzaifah bin Yaman radliallahu ‘anhu, he said that Rasulullah sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said:

“The Prophethood will remain among you for as long as Allah wills, then Allah will lift it when He wishes to, then it will be a Khilafah Rashidah on the method of the Prophethood (KHILAFAH ‘ALAA MINHAJIN NUBUWWAH), it will remain for as long as Allah wills, then Allah will lift it if He wishes, then it will be a hereditary leadership (MULKAN ADLON) which will remain for as long as Allah wills, then He will lift it if he wishes, then it will be a tyrannical rule (MULKAN JABARIYYAH), and it will remain so for as long as Allah wills, then He will lift it if He wishes, then it will be a Khilafah on the method of the Prophethood (KHILAFAH ‘ALAA MINHAJIN NUBUWWAH), then he kept silen.” (H.R. Ahmad and Al Baihaqi. Mishkatul Masabih: Bab Al-Indzar wa Tahdzir, Al-Maktabah Ar-Rahimiah, Delhi, India. Page 461. Musnad Ahmad, juz 4, page 273).

The news from Prophet SAW above becomes a glad tiding for the Muslims today. The time or era of the Khilafah (Islamic state system) which follows in the footsteps of prophethood will soon be starting after the collapse of the era of ‘mulkan jabariyah’ or the era of the arrogant (cruel) kings alias dictators.

The phenomena of the Tunisian revolution, followed by the Egyptian and beyond, could be a mark of the truth of the hadith which is believed as the phases of history of the Islamic ummah’s decline and revival. After the collapse of the last Islamic Khilafah in Turkey, 3rd March 1924, the Muslims entered the bad periods in its history. The system of Islamic Khilafah was toppled by ‘dajjal’ Mustafa Kemal At-Tatruk, giving birth to the secular system and which gave birth to dictatorial leaders all over the countries of Muslims. It was at that time that the period of “mulkan adlon” ended and the period of “mulkan jabariyyah” alias the dictators was started. These dictators, under the pressure of the West, used the system of secular democracy with elections, as the jargon of freedom and change.

Now the ummah realizes how cruel their kings and leaders, the dictators, are. The system of secular democracy also turned out to be only promise for the winds of paradise without any reality at all. The living condition which is sunken due to applying the system and ideology of kufr democracy ultimately raises the awareness and wind of change in all countries of the Muslims. The Tunisian revolution becomes a trigger, and an inspiration at the same time.

Based on the good news from Prophet SAW, in the haidth about the history of the Islamic ummah, then the collapse of the cruel dictators marks the beginning of the emergence of a system of Islamic Khilafah and the reimplementation of the Islamic Shari’ah in all aspects of life.

The ummah is also longing for the emergence of Al-Mahdi, the figure of a Khalifah who would emerge after the expiration of the period of “mulkan jabbariyah” or cruel dictators. The collapse of Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, and followed by the other dictators insha Allah, becomes a sign of the nearness of that period promised by Rasulullah SAW, about the emergence of Khilafah Islamiyah based on the method of prophethood. The Tunisian revolution could be an introduction to the promised advent of that period, where the Islamic ummah and in fact the entire people of the world will live in peace, prosperity and mercy. Therefore, be prepared O Muslimeen to receive the return of the Khilafah Islamiyah to lead the world!

Wallahu’alam bis sowab!

Source: arrahmah.com

Democracy, A Religion?

Democracy is a catchword that becomes a controversy for all Islamic activists today, diverse interpretations of democracy are being served like a meal, but in essence all Islamic activists agreed on one thing about democracy, that democracy is the product of the kafir and thus contrary to the Islamic law. There are a few people who claim that democracy is a shura like in Islam, but this is also invalidated. The presence of some similarities on systems that are incompatible does not mean that the systems are alike. One side of good may not be able to justify that all sides are good, let alone a system that is very incompatible to human beings.

However, to this day there is still a group of people who refuse to budge from the view that democracy is not a religion but a vehicle for heading towards a civil society or heading towards a society with the Shari'ah of Islam. So is it true that democracy is a religion? Let us prove with the daleels from the Qur’an and Sunnah.

Democracy Is A Religion

In the daleels of the Qura’an and Sunnah, or the books of the ulama's of Ahlus-Sunnah, yes, the word democracy has never been mentioned explicitly because at the time of Rasulullah SAW or in the old days, this word had never been known or was still foreign, but this does not fool us and make us fall into the trap.

In understanding democracy, we should go back to the fundamental subject of one's Islam, namely iman. Iman is a pledge that makes a person being called Muslim and that makes him different from the people who disbelieve (kafir) although they are practising good deeds in the eyes of the world, without iman all those do not mean anything.

And the basis of one's faith (iman) is like what Allah SWT says in the Holy Qur’an:

“And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” (QS. Adz-Dzriyaat: 56)

“And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying], 'Worship Allah and avoid Thaghut.'” (QS. An-Nahl: 36)

“The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in Thaghut and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it.” (QS. Al-Baqarah : 256)

“But those who have avoided Thaghut, lest they worship it, and turned back to Allah - for them are good tidings. So give good tidings to My servants.” (QS. Az-Zumar: 17)

The above verses are the commands of Allah to mankind after they have iman, to keep away from all kinds of obedience and submission to others besides Allah SWT which in the Qur’an is called Thaghut. So one's iman is not valid before they deny (to be kafir toward) and be free of all the millah, manhaj and aqeedah of others besides Islam.

Included in the category of thaghut is every one who positions himself as a musharri' (legislation and law maker) along with Allah, whether he is a leader or a common citizen, a people's representatives in the legislature or the people whom he represents from among those who elected him (in the general elections), because with that deed, he has exceeded the limit which Allah SAW created for him, because he is created as a slave of Allah, and his Lord orders him to surrender submissively to His Shari'ah, but he is reluctant, and he becomes arrogant instead and oversteps the limits which Allah SWT has set, he on the other hand wants to make himself as a match for Allah and affiliate with Him in the authority of tashri' (establishment of law and legislation), whereas it should not be turned to any other except to Allah SWT and for anyone who does that, then he has made himself as ilaah musharri' (God the lawmaker), while it cannot be doubted anymore that for such a person, he is a part of the ru'uusuth thawaghiit (frontmen of thaghut) where one's Tawheed and Islam is not valid until he is kafir towards that thaghut, avoiding it, as well as bara'ah (be free) from its worshippers and troops.

Allah SWT says:

“They wish to refer legislation to Thaghut, while they were commanded to reject that Thaghut.” (QS. An-Nisa': 60)

Imam Mujahid rahimahullah said: “Thaghut is devil in human form, where the humans refer the laws to him, while he is taking control of them.”

Shaikhul Islam Ibnu Taimiyyah rahimahullah said: “On that account, one who rules by other than Kitabullah (God's Book) where he becomes the legal reference, he is called thaghut.”

Imam Ibnul Qayyim rahimahullah said: “Thaghut is anything in which the limit is exceeded by the slaves, be it the one worshipped, or followed, or obeyed, that the thaghut of every society is the people whom they make as legal reference other than Allah and His Rasul, or which they worship besides Allah, or that which they followed without any foundation of daleels from Allah, or the people whom they obeyed in matters which they do not know that it is a form of obedience to Allah”.

And he said further: “Anyone who refers the law or reports lawsuits to others in addition to what has been brought about by Rasulullah sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam, then it means that he had been referring the law and reporting lawsuits to the thaghut.”

And among the types of thaghut worshipped besides Allah SWT today, and which becomes the obligation of every Muwahhid to be kafir towards them and be free from them, as well as from their followers so he can hold on to al 'urwatul wutsqa (the most trustworthy handhold [Luqman : 22]) and be safe the fires of hell, are the false gods and arbaab maz’um which have been made by many people as shurakaa musharri'iin (allies who make the laws and legislation) besides Allah SWT.

"Or have they other deities who have ordained for them a religion to which Allah has not consented? But if not for the decisive word, it would have been concluded between them." (QS. Ash-Shuura: 21)

That's a brief explanation of democracy and why Islam is so opposed to it and threatens the perpetrators of democracy as a people who are out of Islam.

“There has already been for you an excellent pattern in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people, 'Indeed, we are disassociated from you and from whatever you worship other than Allah . We have denied you, and there has appeared between us and you animosity and hatred forever until you believe in Allah alone' …” (Al-Mumtahanah: 4)