Posted on 09/15/2001 11:56:10 AM PDT by vannrox
| In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful: Kateebit Aisha Volume 1 Special Issue For Lailat Al Qadr 27 Ramadhan ============== SURAT AL QADR ============== 1. Verily We have sent it (this Quran) down in the night of Al Qadr (decree). 2. And what will make you know what the night of Al Qadr is? 3. The night of Al Qadr is better than a thousand months (ie worshipping Allah in that night is better than worshipping Him for a thousand months, ie 83 years and 4 months). 4. Therein descend the Angels and the Ruh (Gibrael or Gabriel) by Allah’s permission with all decrees. 5. And all the night there is Peace (and Goodness from Allah to His believing slaves) until the appearance of the dawn. Editor/publisher Huda Al Assaf Subscribe and unsubscribe info. at the end. ============= CONTENTS ============= - Editorial - Letter from the Chechniyan Mujahideen to the Muslims of the World - Hadith - Article: News from Sudan =========== EDITORIAL =========== Tonight is the night of the 27th of Ramadhan. Although it could be any of the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadhan, this night is most likely to be Lailat al Qadr, or the night of power. This is a very special night for Muslims, when duah or supplication is accepted, and sins are forgiven. Traditionally, Muslims spend the whole night, or as much of it as they can, in devotion to their Lord. Spending this time in the Masjid is called I’tikaaf, or seclusion. It is described in the Quran as being ‘better than a thousand months.’ And ‘Peace will reign until the sun rises.’ Can we even comprehend the mercy of Allah, that the prayers and duah that you make on this night are better than if you prayed for a thousand months! For those of you who are not aware, in the Islamic calender, the date changes at Maghrib, so that although today is Friday the 26th Ramadhan, tonight is the 27th of Ramadhan. May Allah accept from us all. And don’t forget to perform the same I’tikaaf on the 29th, because we can never be sure when Lailat al Qadr is. The following message from the Mujahideen in Chechniya was forwarded to me. In your duah, please also remember the Muslims in Palestine, who are suffering such terrible oppression with both loss of life and Muslim property. Let us also remember our brothers and sisters in Sudan who are struggling to build a Muslim country, and have attracted the attention of all Western governments for their pains, who are systematically seeking to undermine their efforts and discredit them in the eyes of Muslims everywhere. (Please see article below and note that I do not necessarily subscribe to all the opinions expressed in it). Truly the United States and their cronies are a fitna wherever you find them. Muslims are suffering wherever you care to mention. In Turkey, women are now being sent to prison for daring to wear hijab to university. I haven’t heard a single peep from the international agencies about the transgression of personal freedom in this! What about the rights of these women to freedom of personal expression and freedom of worship? Are not those the precepts upon which Western governments claim to have built their constitutions? Are we to understand from this that such freedoms are only appropriate for Westerners, and that Muslims do not deserve them? Here are just a few examples, and I am sure you all know, if we want to compile a complete list of all the crimes being committed against Muslims in the World, a thousand issues of Kateebit Aisha Would not suffice. But your duah will suffice brothers and sisters. This is a very effective tool, if we wish to make a difference. But do not forget that duah has conditions attached to it. You must be sincere; the most effective duah comes from the most committed Muslim. The more trouble we take to learn about our religion and apply it, the more good we will do the Muslims at large. So starting from tonight, please let us commit ourselves to helping our Muslim brethren. This could mean improving our commitment to the prayers, fasting extra days once Ramadhan is over, wherever possible taking greater pains to improve our levels of commitment to our religion in every way we can. Blocking Western influence inside our homes wherever possible is an important part of this. Let us not forget charity, Sadaqa, as it wipes away our sins. And please make sure you pay all your Zakat. This is very important, and must be paid before the Eid. If you do not pay it before the Eid, it is counted as an ordinary charity, and not as Zakat. Non payment of Zakat is generally accepted to be one of the reasons for Allah allowing His slaves to be afflicted with worldly trials. If we make sure our Zakat is paid, our nation will be more deserving of the mercy of Allah for which we so fervently beg. ==================== THE POWER OF DUAH ==================== Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 05:19:33 -0000 Assalamu alaikum... a friend sent this to me and said to pass it on to those people who make sincere du'aa. Ya Allah make us sincere-ameen Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 10:20:22 -0800 Wednesday 20 December 2000 Ramadan Letter from the Mujahideen to the Muslims of the World O Muslims of the World - Don't Forget Our Rights Upon You During the Last Ten Nights of Ramadhan O Muslims, Oh people of the Taraweeh and Qiyaam-ul-layl prayers, O Imams of Makkah, Madinah, and all the other houses of Allah... If a Muslim has the right upon his fellow Muslim that he supplicates for him in his absence, then we have a huge right upon all of you. For we surely feel and see the effects of your supplications for us, in every step we take, in every operation we execute, and in every battle we wage against the Russians. And we strongly plea with you and urge that you continue to pray to Allah during these last ten nights of Ramadhan, asking Him, begging Him to grant us perseverance, determination and victory. Our conditions are presently extremely severe, the temperatures are so bitterly low, that we sometimes feel the cold is crushing our bones. And although the enemy is broken, it is still a stubborn beast, gasping for its last breath, but continuing to throw its weight and might around, killing and destroying everything and everyone standing in its path. Our arms are nothing when compared to theirs and our money is but a tiny fraction of the material wealth they possess. But, our belief in the Divine Help of Allah, and our dependence upon Him is greater than either of these. And coupled with this belief, is the strength of your supplications, prayers and your never-ending support. Insha-Allah we will not give in, and we will persevere until Allah Grants us victory. We supplicate for all of you and for everyone else who gives anything in the Path of Allah - we ask Allah to accept him/her as a Mujahid. So similarly, we ask you not to forget us in your prayers. Raise your hands up high, and charge towards your Lord with a sincere supplication, asking Him to bestow victory upon us, and all the other Mujahideen fighting in His Path across the world. Your Mujahideen Brothers in Chechnya ============== HADITH ============= Anas relates that the Holy Prophet (SAW) said: Allah says: When a servant of Mine advances towards Me a foot, I advance towards him a yard, and when he advances towards Me a yard, I advance towards him the length of his arms spread out. When he comes to Me walking, I got him running. (Bokhari). ========================= ARTICLE: News from Sudan ========================= Sudan expels US diplomat arrested in Khartoum for planning subversive activities By our own correspondent (Crescent International) An American diplomat has been expelled from Sudan after having been caught attending a meeting of leaders of the opposition umbrella National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to plan for subversive activities against the government. On December 7, Sudanese foreign minister Mustafa ‘Uthman Ismail declared Glenn Warren, a political officer at the US embassy in Khartoum, persona non grata and gave him 72 hours to leave the country. Ismail said that Glenn had violated his diplomatic mission and jeopardized Sudan’s security by attending a 90-minute meeting of "leaders of unregistered political organizations" during which "issues related to Sudanese security and stability" were discussed. He added that the security authorities seized documents with the detained persons which "go in line with the current American policies that target the Sudanese government and seek to undermine it." A government statement explained that confiscated note-pads and minutes of the meeting, which was held at a private Sudanese residence, show that Warren posed questions on the likelihood of a military coup and the political situation in Sudan. The documents also reveal that the NDA leaders were plotting "a popular uprising to be backed by armed action." The statement added that the group was found in possession of a plan on ways to support the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which is waging a separatist war in the south. These tactics included "passing information over to the rebel movement to help it occupy cities and destroy installations with assistance by the United States." Warren was detained with seven leading members of the NDA when Sudanese police raided the meeting, but was later released as he has diplomatic immunity. Others arrested include Joseph Okelu, the NDA’s domestic secretary-general, and spokesman Ali Ahmad al-Sayyid. The US has denied that Warren was doing anything "improper or inappropriate," and said that it was looking into ways to respond to what it described as Sudan’s "unwarranted action." Speaking to reporters in Washington, US state department spokesman Philip Reeker said that "the meeting involved nothing more than a discussion of the general situation in Sudan. That’s what diplomats do." It does not take much thought to notice the hubris at the heart of such a statement, despite its diplomatic language. One only needs to imagine Washington’s reaction to a Sudanese diplomat taking part in the deliberations of a strategy meeting for fostering armed uprising in the US, perhaps in alliance with groups linked to an enemy such as Cuba. The expulsion further erodes the already poor relations between the two countries, which were strained by the unauthorized visit of Susan Rice, US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, to rebel-held areas of southern Sudan to highlight allegations of slavery in the country. In protest against the visit, Sudan had on November 21 revoked the entry visas of US diplomats linked to the Khartoum embassy. But Warren and US charge d’affaires Raymond Brown were allowed to enter Sudan after Ismail issued a special waiver permitting them to use their visas from December 1. Moreover, the Sudanese government had, one day before the arrests, lodged a sharply worded protest over Rice’s visit with UN secretary-general Kofi Annan. The complaint accused Rice of violating Sudan’s sovereignty by entering the south without obtaining a Sudanese visa. US diplomats in Sudan, who serve in Khartoum on a rotating basis from neighbouring countries, only returned to work at the US embassy in Khartoum in April this year. This was the first time the members of the US diplomatic staff had operated in Khartoum since the bombings of two US embassies in east Africa in August 1998, when the embassy staff were withdrawn because of ‘security fears’. With America’s long record of plotting to dismember Sudan and to overthrow or destabilize its government, Khartoum has good reason to worry about the activities of US officials and diplomats on its territories. The US has placed Sudan on the state department’s list of countries it accuses of sponsoring "international terrorism", which effectively bans US companies from investing in Sudan. Washington has also orchestrated the drive at the UN Security Council to ostracize and impose international sanctions on Sudan. The US is also largely responsible for the broad-based military effort designed to plunge Sudan into a whirlpool of bloodletting, out of which an American puppet regime would emerge. It was US political and economic support, rather than any harmony of interests, that rallied into this proxy war such odd bedfellows as the neighbouring countries of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda and Rwanda, in addition to a medley of feuding Sudanese opposition groups. Rice has been involved in a covert arms supply network to the SPLA rebels, which was run out of the US state department as part of this proxy war. In August 1998, the US used cruise missiles to destroy the Al-Shifa’ pharmaceuticals factory near Khartoum on the pretext that it was producing chemical-weapon precursors for so-called Islamic militants linked to the bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. All Sudanese diplomats were withdrawn from Washington after the attack. More recently, while NDA leaders were hobnobbing with Warren in Khartoum, some of their armed militias (based in Eritrea) were reportedly massing forces at the Eritrean-Sudanese border in preparation for a fresh attack against government positions in the eastern Kassala province. Warren’s arrest took place against a backdrop of preparations for the simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections, between December 11 and 20, that the opposition had vowed to boycott. The opposition is accusing Sudanese president ‘Umar Hassan al-Bashir of not giving opposition parties enough time to organize effective campaigns, in order to put them in a weaker position. Those refusing to take part in the elections include constituent groups of the NDA, as well as the Ummah Party, whose leader, Sadiq al-Mahdi, returned to Sudan last month after four years of self-imposed exile in Egypt and Eritrea. Also boycotting the elections is the Popular National Congress (PNC), led by Bashir’s former ally Dr Hassan al-Turabi. In the presidential vote, Bashir is standing against four challengers, including former president Ja’afar al-Numeiri, removed by a popular uprising in 1985. Twenty-six ruling National Congress members and two pro-government Muslim Brotherhood candidates, who stood uncontested in the Khartoum region’s constituencies, have already been declared de facto winners. It seems clear that another electoral farce, designed to keep Bashir and his party in power, is unfolding in Sudan. To subscribe to Kateebit Aisha, send a blank message to: Kateebitaish-@topica.com To unsubscribe, send a blank message to: Kateebitaisha-@topcia.com |
**found on the geoff metcalf web site
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