VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

Volume 76, April 29, 2009
St. Louis, Missouri

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful

GLOBAL UMMAH IN PICTURES:
One picture is worth a thousand words

Protesters demonstrate outside the Iranian embassy in London, in April 2009, against the scheduled execution of Delara Darabi (seen on poster). Iran has ordered a stay of execution for two young convicts sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were under the age of 18, their lawyer told AFP on Wednesday.(AFP/File/Leon Neal)

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari delivers a speech in Tokyo, April 2009. President Barack Obama will Wednesday try to cajole leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan into a crackdown on resurgent extremism, in summits aimed at lancing mistrust hampering anti-terror efforts.(AFP/File/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

Internally displaced Sri Lankan Tamil civilians queue for food rations at a camp for internally displaced people near the northern Sri Lankan town of Vavunyia on April 26, 2009. Canada's main opposition party on Tuesday pressed the government to make it easier for Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka to enter the country.(AFP/File)

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang (L) and Vice President Jusuf Kalla in Jakarta. Indonesia's presidential race was thrown wide open Thursday with Vice-President Jusuf Kalla saying he was ready to walk away from a joint ticket with incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.(AFP/File/Bay Ismoyo)

A Lebanese university student reads an Arabic novel at the campus of American University of Science and Technology in Beirut. As Beirut prepares to don the mantle of UNESCO "World Book Capital City 2009," Arabic novels are enjoying an unprecedented boom across the Middle East, breaking taboos on topics such as sex and religion.(AFP/File/Joseph Barrak)

German couple Sascha Schmidt (left) and Caterina Remhof left the three children at a restaurant in Aoste, Italy. The couple abandoned the children because they had run out of money. Remhof has been charged with abandoning the children.(AFP/Italian Police/File)

A man identified as Sascha Schmidt, 24, from Germany, is escorted by two police officers as he leaves the police station in Aosta, northern Italy, Friday, April 24, 2009. Ina Caterina Remhof, 26, and a man identified as Sascha Schmidt, 24, abandoned her three young children in a pizzeria in northwest Italy four days ago. The German couple and the children had dinner at a pizzeria late Sunday in Aosta. The two then went outside to smoke and never came back, abandoning the three siblings: a boy of 6, a girl of 4, and an 8-month-old boy. (AP Photo/Massimo Pinca)

Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian protester during a demonstration against the construction of the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah April 24, 2009.REUTERS/Fadi Arouri (WEST BANK CONFLICT POLITICS IMAGE OF THE DAY TOP PICTURE)

A man holds a wounded boy while waiting for medical treatment in a hospital in Baghdad's Kadhimiya district April 24, 2009. In a second day of major bloodshed, two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests blew themselves up at the gates of a revered Shi'ite Muslim shrine in Baghdad on Friday, killing 60 people, Iraqi police said.REUTERS/Bassim Shati (IRAQ CONFLICT)

A masked Kashmiri protester shouts slogans for freedom during a protest against the Indian general elections, in Srinagar, India, Friday, April 24, 2009. With more than 700 million voters, India is holding a five-phased election, for logistic and security reasons, ending May 13.(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Evacuees from Buner walk next to trucks loaded with their possessions on the outskirts of Peshawar April 29, 2009. Pakistani security forces have killed 50 Taliban and lost one soldier in an operation to drive the militants out of the strategic valley 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.REUTERS/Adil Khan

Evacuees from Buner walk on the outskirts of Peshawar April 29, 2009. Pakistani troops took the main town in strategically important Buner Valley on Wednesday after dropping by helicopter behind Taliban lines, killing over 50 militants in two days of fighting, the military said.REUTERS/Adil Khan

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish followers of Neturei Karta burn an Israeli flag against Israel's Independence Day in the central Israeli town of Beit Shemesh, Wednesday, April 29, 2009. Neturei Karta, which means 'Guardians of the City', is a small group of Haredi Jews who oppose Zionism and believe that Jews are forbidden to have their own state until the coming of the Messiah. Israel is celebrating its annual Independence Day, marking 59 years since the founding of the state in 1948.(AP Photo/Ashraf Abu Turk)

JAMAMASJID: An Indian Muslim prays at the Jama Masjid in New Delhi. For many among India's huge Muslim minority, general elections only serve to highlight their community's general sense of isolation and neglect.(AFP/Pedro Ugarte)

Iranian pilgrims pray at the shrine of Imam Musa al-Kazim in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, April 28, 2009. Iraq's prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has sent a letter of condolence to Tehran over the killing of dozens of Iranian pilgrims in bombings in Baghdad and north of the capital that happened last week.(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)



A local woman and her children flee from a troubled area in Lower Dir. Around 30,000 people in northwest Pakistan have been displaced by a military offensive to flush out Taliban militants, a provincial minister has said.(AFP/Tariq Mahmood)

Local residents flee from a troubled area in Lower Dir in northwest Pakistan. Around 30,000 people in northwest Pakistan have been displaced by a military offensive to flush out Taliban militants, a provincial minister has said.(AFP/Tariq Mahmood)

Pakistani local residents cross a bridge as they flee from a troubled area in Lower Dir. The Pakistan Taliban has suspended talks with Islamabad as helicopter gunships pounded suspected militant hideouts in the northwest of the country.(AFP/Tariq Mahmood)



A girl whose mother was killed in a U.S. military raid cries as she is consoled by a relative in front of her house in Kut, 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 27, 2009. Iraq's prime minister denounced a deadly U.S. raid on Sunday, which left at least two Iraqis dead, as a 'crime' that violated the security pact with Washington and demanded American commanders hand over those responsible to face possible trial in Iraqi courts.(AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)


Malaysia's health officials wear face masks as they wait to receive a flight from Los Angeles via Taipei to screen passengers for possible swine flu infection, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport April 27, 2009.REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad

Malaysia's health officials check temperature on passengers arriving from Los Angeles through Taipei for possible infection of the swine flu at Kuala Lumpur International Airport April 27, 2009. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad

Jazakullah Khair

Feel free to contribute your valuable suggestions: amyusuf786@yahoo.com

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

Volume 75, April 19, 2009
St. Louis, Missouri

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful

EDITORIAL:

Thanks to Br. Amer Sayed who forwarded below article and which was initiated by Br. Tanveer Ahmed of Doha, Qatar. It is an example of what the mainstream media will NEVER focus on. The priorities of an average Muslim on the micro level and Global Ummah on a macro level are totally different than the mainstream media in terms of receiving information. When you pick up a newspaper or magazine, as a Muslim did you ever have a feeling even once, that you got the needed information you would like to get from an Islamic perspective ? We are not talking here about Islamic bookstores but information gleaned from the general media.

Nothing could be more powerful than more Muslims being actively involved in the media world through various media and publication outlets and to coordinate with each other.

For a non-Muslim, the importance of SIMPLICITY in one's life has a very low priority. However for a Muslim, given the gems of Hadith and Quran, it should be an important aspect of one's life. For after all, once we die, regardless of what fame we achieved, what materialistic properties we accumulated, and cash we have saved, we would leave all of it in this world and go back with nothing but a piece of white cloth over our body.

When you die, who are the persons who would wash your body and who are the persons who would throw sand over your body once your body is placed on the grave, only ALLAH knows ? By the passing of each day and night, you are coming one day closer to above departure from mother Earth. What you take with you to the next phase of transition is your deeds. Part of such deeds include SIMPLICITY.

Although as Editors of VOGU, we disagree on President Ahmedinejad extreme and wrong positions relating to the Holocaust and hate towards Jews et.c, we are very humbled and deeply admire his simplicity in terms of his lifestyle. We don't believe that there is a single President of any country in this world that could even come close to the extent of his simple way of life.

The Life of Iranian President Ahmedinejad

"The FoxNewsTV (USA) asked the Iranian President Ahmedinejad,

'When you look into the mirror in the morning what do you say to yourself'?

He answered: I see the person in the mirror and tell him 'Remember' you are no more than a small servant, ahead of you today is the heavy responsibility, and that is to serve the Iranian nation'.

Ahmedinejad, the Iranian President who astonished many when he first reached to the office of the Presidency by donating all the high valued Iranian carpets to one of the mosques in Tehran by replacing them with the low cost ordinary carpets. He observed that there was a huge extravagant lounge for receiving and welcoming the VIPs and he ordered it to be closed and asked the protocol office to arrange for an ordinary room only with wooden chairs.

On many instances he joins the cleaning staff of the municipality for cleaning the streets in the area where his home and the Presidency are located.



Under his authority whenever he appoints any minister to his post he gets a signed document from him with many points particularly highlighting that he shall remain poor and that his personal and his relatives accounts will be watched and the day he leaves the ministry shall be with dignity, and therefore it is not lawful for him or his relatives to take any advantage of his office.

First of all he declared himself for all the 'Big' wealth and the property he owned was a Peugeot 504 car, model 1977, an old small house inherited from his father 40-years ago in one of the poorest zones in Tehran . His accounts with a zero balance and the only money comes in to his a/c was from his salary from the university as a lecturer with an amount of US$ 250 only.

For your information the President still lives in that same house. This is all what he owns; the president of one of the world's important countries; strategically, economically, politically and with regard to its oil and defense. He even doesn't take his personal salary with the argument that all the wealth belongs to the nation and he is the safeguard over it.

One of the things that impressed the staff at the presidency is the bag the President brings with him every day, which contains his breakfast; some sandwiches or bread with olive oil and cheese prepared by his wife and eats and enjoys it with all happiness.

One of the other things he changed was his personal carrier 'the President's Aircraft' to a cargo aircraft in order to save the spending from the public treasury and he ordered that he will be flying with the ordinary airline in the economy class. He organizes meetings every now and then with all the ministers to know their activities and efficiency and he closed down the office of the Manager of the president and any minister can enter to his office without any permission. He also stopped the welcome ceremonies like the red carpet, the photo session or any personal advertisement or respect of any kind while visiting any place in the country.

Whenever he has to stay in any of the hotels he asks them to make sure not to give him a room with any big bed because he doesn't like to sleep on beds but rather likes to sleep on the floor on a simple mattress with a blanket..

Refer to some of the photographs which also confirm the above. The Iranian president is sleeping in the guest room of his house after getting away from his special guards who follow him wherever he goes and photo is taken by his small brother according to the Wifaq Newspaper which published this photo and the next day the photo was published in most of the world's newspapers and Magazines and particularly the Americans.

During the prayer you can see that he is not sitting in the first row. And the final photo is of his dining room where the president is busy eating his simple meal.

Try comparing this with the emoluments and privileges our ministers get ...... plus the amount they loot

How many Presidents, PMs, Ministers & politicians are willing to SERVE THEIR COUNTRY without making money? ! ! ! "

Jazakullah Khair

Feel free to e-mail your valuable feedback: amyusuf786@yahoo.com

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH
Volume 74, April 12, 2009
St. Louis, Missouri

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful

Muslim Girl Gets 400 Thousand Dollars From Nevada School District in Head Scarf Bully Case

FOX NEWS, April 08, 2009

A Nevada school district agreed to pay $400,000 to a Muslim girl and her friend over allegations that other students threatened to kill her in the stairwell for wearing a religious head scarf and the staff did nothing to stop it.

The Washoe County School District in the Reno area will give Egyptian former student Jana Elhifny $350,000 and her non-Muslim friend and supporter Stephanie Hart $50,000 as part of the civil settlement.

Elhifny and her family came to Reno from Egypt in 2003, and the girl enrolled as a freshman at North Valleys High School.

She didn't finish the year after she told teachers and administrators that someone had threatened to kill her in the stairwell because of her Muslim hijab or head scarf, the district's independent attorney in the case, Robert Cox, told FOXNews.com.

Shortly afterwards, Cox said, Elhifny filed the lawsuit and returned to Egypt, where she married her fiancé.

The lawsuit, handled by U.S. District Court in Reno, alleges that Elhifny faced death threats and harassment and school administrators did nothing to stop the abuse.

...Cox said school officials couldn't confirm the stairwell death threat story.

He said the settlement was agreed upon to end lengthy and "expensive litigation." The case has been fought in the courts for the past four years, according to Cox.

Lawyers for the girls praised them for their bravery in bringing the suit in a joint press released issued by counsel for both sides.

"Ms. Elhifny and Ms. Hart had the courage to stand up for themselves and defend their right to a safe education," said Peter Obstler, a San Francisco attorney who handled the young women's lawsuits with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.

Hart, a non-Muslim who says she was ostracized when she befriended Elhifny at North Valleys High School and also dropped out, will receive $50,000. Cox said she was a supporter of Elhifny's rather than a victim and never complained to school officials before getting involved in the lawsuit.

The settlement was announced early Wednesday. The monetary award will be paid by the district's insurance carrier.

The district also agreed to work with lawyers on harassment and discrimination policies.

Attempts to reach Elhifny in Egypt and Hart, who now has a child and resides in California, weren't immediately successful.

Shariah court approves SMS divorce

Arab News, April 9, 2009

JEDDAH: "A Shariah court here has approved the divorce of a young Saudi woman in her 20s whose husband sent her an SMS text from Iraq saying he had divorced her.

The husband, who is in Iraq to participate in what he described as “jihad,” also telephoned two of his friends who witnessed his marriage and told them that he had divorced his wife.

The woman had approached the court and asked for an official document proving she was divorced.

A judge summoned the two witnesses who confirmed that their friend called them from Iraq and told them that he had divorced his wife. Another two relatives of the absent husband also confirmed that he had told them on telephone that he had divorced his wife.

The judge approved the divorce and told the woman that she did not have to go through the iddah (the post-divorce waiting period stipulated by the Shariah) as the marriage was not consummated".

Uncle kills eloping niece over ‘honour’
www.dailytimes.com
April 09, 2009

LAHORE: "A man allegedly killed his teenage niece on Wednesday morning over ‘honour’ in the Shahdara Police precincts. According to the locals of the area, victim Noreen of Haji Kot area was eloping with her paramour Kamran when Karamat Ali, girl’s uncle, intercepted the couple. They said Kamran fled in his rented car after seeing Karamat, who took the girl to his house and gunned her down.

They said the girl’s family tried to hide the fact to avoid legal complications and save the accused, but some neighbour called the police. However, Shahdara Police said Noreen’s father Asghar Ali had lodged a first information report (FIR) against his brother for killing his daughter. The FIR said some unidentified accused were trying to kidnap the girl, but Karamat – a drug addict – followed them, after which they left the girl. The complainant said his brother accused Noreen of going with the accused with her consent, over which he killed her. The accused is still at large. staff report

Jazakullah Khair

Feel free to contribute your valuable opinion: amyusuf786@yahoo.com

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH
Volume 73, April 6, 2009
St. Louis, Missouri

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful

EDITORIAL:

We urge the Ummah to raise up and condemn barbaric acts perpetrated by our own brothers towards our sisters. We should have zero tolerance towards their anti-Islamic & criminal act and we hope that below perpetrator is apprehended and punished to the fullest extent of the law.

On the second note mentioned below in which a Arab male was racially profiled and discriminated, the outcome of him winning close to quarter million dollars reward is a clear victory for FREE SPEECH. The American Justice System compared to other justice systems around the world, has confirmed yet once again the JUSTICE PREVAILS. (Disclaimer: We realize that this does not applies to ALL cases of injustice)

(THE NEWS) www.thenews.com

Husband chops off wife’s nose on alleged infidelity

April 06, 2009

SUKKUR: "A husband cut her wife’s nose on allegations of having illicit relations with another man here in Kashmor.

According to police, a man named Jalnar Mamdani chopped off his wife Asia Mamdani’s nose with a sharp edged tool after blaming her of having illicit relations with another man. Following the incident, the man took his two children along and escaped.

Asia Mamdani was first admitted to Kashmor Hospital and later she was shifted to Sukkur Hospital where her surgery was carried out.

Injured Asia has appealed the police for providing her security. DCO Kashmor Syed Abid Ali Shah hoped that Jalnar Mamdani would soon be arrested".

240,000 dollars awarded to man forced to cover Arab T-shirt

New York: (AFP) Jan 5, 2009:

An airline passenger forced to cover his T-shirt because it display ed Arabic

An airline passenger forced to cover his T-shirt because it displayed Arabic script has been awarded 240,000 dollars in compensation, campaigners said Monday. Raed Jarrar received the pay out on Friday from two US Transportation Security Authority officials and from JetBlue Airways following the August 2006 incident at New York's JFK Airport, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced. "The outcome of this case is a victory for free speech and a blow to the discriminatory practice of racial profiling," said Aden Fine, a lawyer with ACLU.

Jarrar, a US resident, was apprehended as he waited to board a JetBlue flight from New York to Oakland, California, and told to remove his shirt, which had written on it in Arabic: "We will not be silent."

He was told other passengers felt uncomfortable because an Arabic-inscribed T-shirt in an airport was like "wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, I am a robber,'" the ACLU said.

Jarrar eventually agreed to cover his shirt with another provided by JetBlue. He was allowed aboard but his seat was changed from the front to the back of the aircraft. (news.yahoo.com)

Jazakullah Khair

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VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

Volume 72, March 29, 2009
St. Louis, Missouri

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

بــــــــــسم الله الرحمن الرحيـــــــــــــم
In The Name Of Allah, Most Gracious and Most Merciful
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركات

As'salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh

EDITORIAL:

As the title of this blog rightly indicates, it is VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH, we will continue to publish information we receive from our readers. In this issue, we would like to thank Br. Amer Sayeed from Los Angeles, California to forward us below informative e-mail.

Ahead of Iraq Deployment, 37 Korean Troops Revert to Islam

"I became a Muslim because I felt Islam was more humanistic and peaceful than other religions. And if you can religiously connect with the locals, I think it could be a big help in carrying out our peace reconstruction mission." So said on Friday those Korean soldiers who converted to Islam ahead of their late July deployment to the Kurdish city of Irbil in northern Iraq. At noon Friday, 37 members of the Iraq-bound "Zaitun Unit," including Lieutenant Son Hyeon-ju of the Special Forces 11th Brigade, made their way to a mosque in Hannam-dong, Seoul and held a conversion ceremony.

Captain Son Jin-gu from Zaitoon Unit recites an oath at ceremony to mark his conversion to Islam at a mosque in Hannam-dong, Seoul on Friday. /Yonhap

The soldiers, who cleansed their entire bodies in accordance with Islamic tradition, made their conversion during the Friday group prayers at the mosque, with the assistance of the "imam," or prayer leader. With the exception of the imam, all the Muslims and the Korean soldiers stood in a straight line to symbolize how all are equal before God and took a profession on faith. They had memorized the Arabic confession, " Ashadu an La ilaha il Allah, Muhammad-ur-Rasool-Allah," which means, "I testify that there is no god but God (Arabic: Allah), and Muhammad is the Messenger of God."

Soldiers from Zaitoon Unit pray after conversion ceremony at a mosque in Hannam-dong, Seoul on Friday./Yonhap

Moreover, as the faithful face the "Kaaba," the Islamic holy place in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, all Muslims confirm that they are brothers. For those Korean soldiers who entered the Islamic faith, recent chances provided by the Zaitun Unit to come into contact with Islam proved decisive.

Taking into consideration the fact that most of the inhabitants of Irbil are Muslims, the unit sent its nonreligious members to the Hannam-dong mosque so that they could come to understand Islam. Some of those who participated in the program were entranced by Islam and decided to convert. A unit official said the soldiers were inspired by how important religious homogeneity was considered in the Muslim World; if you share religion, you are treated not as a foreigner, but as a local, and Muslims do not attack Muslim women even in war.

Zaitun Unit Corporal Paek Seong-uk (22) of the Army's 11th Division said, "I majored in Arabic in college and upon coming across the Quran, I had much interest in Islam, and I made up my mind to become a Muslim during this religious experience period [provided by the Zaitun Unit]." He expressed his aspirations. "If we are sent to Iraq, I want to participate in religious ceremonies with the locals so that they can feel brotherly love and convince them that the Korean troops are not an army of occupation but a force deployed to provide humanitarian support." (englishnews@chosun.com )

GLOBAL UMMAH IN PICTURES:
One picture speaks a thousand words

Jury selection began in the trial of former US soldier Steven D Green, seen here in this undated Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) handout, accused of being the ringleader of a plot to rape a teenage Iraqi girl, murder her family and set the house alight to cover their crime (AFP/MCSO-HO/Getty Images/File)

Sara Azme Rasmussen symbolically sets fire to a hijab, a traditional garment in many Islamic countries and seen by many as oppressive, at International Women's Day. (AP Photo/Cornelius Poppe/Scanpix Norway)

(Editorial Note: Such actions as above including the perception of wearing hijab as oppressive is coming out of sheer ignorance, hate and prejudice, the same characteristics held by extremists. It is not clear why the so called Champions of freedom are unsuccessfully trying to stifle the freedom of millions of Muslim women who voluntarily choose to wear the hijab. When will people understand to respect each others values and NOT impose one's values on others?)

Refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh hold Friday prayers in Sabang. Indonesia said that it will repatriate 174 "economic migrants" who fled Myanmar claiming persecution, as new accounts emerged of their harrowing sea journey and alleged abuse by the Thai navy. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin).

A boy cries during the funeral of his relatives who were killed in a bomb attack in Baghdad's Um al-Maalif, South Baghdad) Reuters/Ahmed Malik

DIVERSITY IN LIFESTYLES/DRESS OF FEMALES

(Female Buddhist nuns at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

Cheng Shiqun displays her long hair at a park in Yunyang, Chongqing Municipality March 30, 2009. Cheng has grown her hair, measuring 2.5 metres, for 16 years, according to China Daily. Effect created by the photographer's assistant holding and releasing her hair. Picture taken March 30, 2009. REUTERS/China Daily

Police women dismantle their rifles during a training course at a police academy in Kerbala, Iraq.

High Jump: Amy Acuff clears the bar at 6 feet, 3
(AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

An Iraqi female police cadet trains with a weapon at the police academy in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 80 kilometers south of Baghdad, Iraq on March 26, 2009 (AP Photo/Ahmed al-Husseini)

With her powerful jumps and flexible spins, Irina Slutskaya of Russia is heavily favored to win the gold medal.
(YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi female police cadets in training (AP)

Police offers parade during a ceremony in Sibate, Columbia
(AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

An Iraqi police office supervises the training of policewomen on dismantling weapons at a police academy in Kerbala, 80 km southwest of Baghdad on March 22, 2009. About 2000 policewomen are in the three month training course.

Women police cadets jog during a training session in Baghdad on March 22, 2009. About 48 women have attended 9 months of training and will graduate as police officers at the Higher Institution for developing security and management in Baghdad. Reuters/May Naji (Iraq Military)

A policewoman takes part during a graduation ceremony at a police academy in Baghdad on January 26, 2009. Some 500 female police officers finished the first batch of an inspector course at the Baghdad Police College. Reuters/Sadd Shalash

A Jordanian woman weaves a traditional rug using a traditional weaving machine in Iraq-al-Amier rural town to the West of Amman on Sunday, March 8, 2009, as the country joins the world celebrating Women's Day. The woman is a member of one of the several women's societies that focus on reviving indigenous crafts and help market the products to improve the income of women in rural areas. (AP photo/Mohammad abu Ghosh

A campaign poster for Zainab Sadik Jaffar, a lawyer running for provincial council in the upcoming provincial election, is seen as an Iraqi Army soldier stands guard in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Jan. 12, 2009. Freed last year from the grip of militias, Basra has emerged as the main political battlefield in this month's regional elections, as Shiite parties allied in the national government are competing for control of the oil-rich south. The Jan. 31 election, in which voters across the country will choose ruling provincial councils, will be the first since U.S.-backed Iraqi forces wrested control of Basra from Shiite militias and criminal gangs. The poster reads ' The national list # 190. Today the vote is yours. Change and build.' (AP Photo/ Nabil al-Jurani)

A Romanian model displays wedding dress with a train measuring 1,579 metres long for a new world record for the longest wedding train in Bucharest Romania, Wednesday, April 1, 2009. (AP Photo)

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VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH
Volume 71, March 22, 2009
St. Louis, Missouri

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful

Editorial:

As unusual as it may seem, a guard from Guantanamo prison converts to Islam. We recommend below article (condensed version) from NEWSWEEK by Dan Ephron as an interesting read. Thanks to Jabeen Mubashira from Los Angeles, California, who forwarded below article. Of particular interest is the guard's past before he joined the military.

The Guard Who Found Islam

Terry Holdbrooks stood watch over prisoners at Gitmo. What he saw made him adopt their faith. By Dan Ephron / NEWSWEEK Mar 21, 2009

Army specialist Terry Holdbrooks had been a guard at Guantanamo for about six months the night he had his life-altering conversation with detainee 590, a Moroccan also known as "the General."

So Holdbrooks began spending part of the night sitting cross-legged on the ground, talking to detainees through the metal mesh of their cell doors. He developed a strong relationship with the General, whose real name is Ahmed Errachidi. Their late-night conversations led Holdbrooks to be more skeptical about the prison, he says, and made him think harder about his own life.

Soon, Holdbrooks was ordering books on Arabic and Islam. During an evening talk with Errachidi in early 2004, the conversation turned to the shahada, the one-line statement of faith that marks the single requirement for converting to Islam ("There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet"). Holdbrooks pushed a pen and an index card through the mesh, and asked Errachidi to write out the shahada in English and transliterated Arabic. He then uttered the words aloud and, there on the floor of Guantanamo's Camp Delta, became a Muslim.

But as the fog of secrecy slowly lifts from Guantanamo, other scenes are starting to emerge as well, including surprising interactions between guards and detainees on subjects like politics, religion and even music. The exchanges reveal curiosity on both sides—sometimes even empathy. "The detainees used to have conversations with the guards who showed some common respect toward them," says Errachidi, who spent five years in Guantanamo and was released in 2007.

"We talked about everything, normal things, and things [we had] in common," he wrote to NEWSWEEK in an e-mail from his home in Morocco. Holdbrooks's level of identification with the other side was exceptional. No other guard has volunteered that he embraced Islam at the prison (though Errachidi says others expressed interest). His experience runs counter to academic studies, which show that guards and inmates at ordinary prisons tend to develop mutual hostility.

...his misgivings about Guantanamo—including doubts that the detainees were the "worst of the worst"—were shared by other guards as early as 2002. A few such guards are coming forward for the first time. Specialist Brandon Neely, who was at Guantanamo when the first detainees arrived that year, says his enthusiasm for the mission soured quickly. "There were a couple of us guards who asked ourselves why these guys are being treated so badly and if they're actually terrorists at all," he told NEWSWEEK.

Holdbrooks says growing up hard in Phoenix—his parents were junkies and he himself was a heavy drinker before joining the military in 2002—helps explain what he calls his "anti-everything views."

He has holes the size of quarters in both earlobes, stretched-out piercings that he plugs with wooden discs. At his Phoenix apartment, bedecked with horror-film memorabilia, he rolls up both sleeves to reveal wrist-to-shoulder tattoos. He describes the ink work as a narrative of his mistakes and addictions. They include religious symbols and Nazi SS bolts, track marks and, in large letters, the words BY DEMONS BE DRIVEN. He says the line, from a heavy-metal song, reminds him to be a better person.

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VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

Volume 70, March 15, 2009
St. Louis, Missouri

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful

GLOBAL UMMAH IN PICTURES: ONE PICTURE SPEAKS A THOUSAND WORDS

(Heads of sovereign wealth funds which control three trillion dollars of assets opened a meeting in Kuwait on Sunday with a call for Coordination in the face of the global economic meltdown. (AFP/Yasser al-Zayyat)

(An Afghan girl carries her little sister in Naray, Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province. (AFP/File/Liu Jin)

(Burqa-clad women walk at the Hazrat Ali shrine in the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan in March. AFP/File/Jes Aznar).

Graduation party: An Iraqi student wearing a traditional outfit attends a graduation party at Baghdad IT and Technology University. (APP/Patrick Baz)

Afghan women attend a gathering to mark the International Women's day on Sunday, March 8, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Afghan women, putting blue scarves that symbolizes justice on their heads, during a ceremony to mark the International Women's day on Sunday, march 8, 2009 in Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

An Afghan girl looks a portrait during a ceremony to mark International Women's Day (Reuter/Omar Sobhani (Afghanistan Anniversary Politics Society)

France President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) and Bahrain's King Hamad bin issa al-Khalifa are pictured prior to their bilateral meeting at the Al-Hudaibiya Palace in Manama Feb 11, 2009 (Reuteres/Gerard Cerles/Pool)

Jazakullah Khair

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