همه روز روزه رفتن، همه شب نماز کردن
همه ساله حج نمودن، سفر حجاز کردن
ز مدینه تا به مکه، به برهنه پای رفتن
دو لب از برای لبیک، به وظیفه باز کردن
به معابد و مساجد، همه اعتکاف جستن
ز مناهی و ملاهی، همه احتراز کردن
شب جمعه‌ها نخفتن، به خدای راز گفتن
ز وجود بی‌نیازش، طلب نیاز کردن
به خدا قسم که آن‌را، ثمر آن قدر نباشد
که به روی ناامیدی در بسته باز کردن

- شیخ بهایی

via thomcurse:

A U.S. citizen’s perspective on silent Shia genocide taking place in Pakistan

In all of these massacres, attackers repeated the atrocity of lining up and identifying only Shiite passengers, who were segregated from Sunnis and murdered on the spot.

In the most recent incident, on 3 April 2012, where the banned Deobandi group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (currently operating as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ASWJ) ordered several passenger buses to stop near Chilas, and proceeded to machine-gun down all those identified as Shiites is a clear show of genocide in progress. Eye-witness accounts claim that those who ran were either shot or bludgeoned to death with rocks, several were burnt with acid or submerged under water.

The target killing of Shia Muslims in Pakistan is not a new phenomenon. On June 6, 1963, over a hundred Shiites were martyred and twelve injured by the Wahhabi-Deobandi extremists in the Terhi town, near Khair Pur, on the sacred day of Ashura (10 Muharram) during the military regime of General Ayub Khan. On that tragic day 118 Shiites lost their lives; their only crime: participation in Muharram rituals.

During General Zia-ul-Haq’s martial Law, 1977-1988, the Shiite persecution and target killing became more systematic element of the state’s policy.

In the last six decades, we have witnessed the gradual conversion of Pakistan from a secular state (Jinnah’s speech on August 11, 1947), to an Islamic state (Objectives Resolution in 1949) to a Sunni State (General Zia-ul-Haq’s promulgation of Sunni Islam) to a Deobandi-Wahhabi State through the Pakistan Army’s willing participation into anti-Soviet Union Jihad in Afghanistan, which was financed, unfortunately, by U.S. during its myopic Cold-War mentality, and by Saudi petro-dollars and indoctrinated by a Jihadi Wahhabi-Deobandi ideology.  While the US had perhaps short-sighted geo-strategic reasons to participate in anti-Soviet Union resistance in Afghanistan, it was a mistake to allow the Saudi-ISI duo to produce a rabidly violent and intolerant breed of Salafi-Deobandi Jihadis.

Read more

*snort*

socialuprooting:

U.S. Marine: “If Tarek Mehanna is a ‘terrorist conspirator’, then so am I”.

socialismartnature:

On 12 April, Tarek Mehanna was found guilty of conspiracy and of giving material support for terrorism and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. The prosecution accused Mehanna of translating statements for al-Qaida and of disseminating pro-jihadist material on the internet. Mehanna maintains that he does not support the world view of al-Qaida, though he is unapologetic for supporting the rights of Muslims to defend themselves against their oppressors – in this case, US and British soldiers.

However, if Tarek Mehanna is guilty, so am I. I, too, support the right of Muslims to defend themselves against US troops, even if that means they have to kill them, and I try to give the Iraqi resistance a voice through my website. I have done everything that Tarek Mehanna has done, and there are only two possibilities as to why I am not sitting in a cell with him: first, the FBI is incompetent and hasn’t been able to smoke me out; second, the US judicial system would never dream of violating my freedom of speech because I am white and I am a veteran of the occupation of Iraq.

 … I’m not afraid to profess my support for Tarek Mehanna, or to advocate for his ideas, because I know the law does not apply equally to all in America. My whiteness and my status as a veteran will protect me. But Tarek was brown and he never made the mistake of enlisting in the Marine Corps, as I did. So he will spend the next 17 years in a prison cell.

khatmal:

Disgusting - the epitome of Saudi corruption.

The architectural masterpiece is right in front of it. That, not a clock, should be bringing people from all over the world.

They have demolished so many historical sites, and are trying to make Makkah into some sort of Vegas.  

And as talks between Iran and Western leaders continue…

(I know I’ve posted this before. It’s just so good I had to do it again.)

The Iranians needed to show how they could “build confidence” with the international community by living up to commitments to disclose details of what the West believes is a nuclear weapons program. “If they do, we would certainly explore reciprocal actions that are responsive to concrete steps by the Iranians,” Mr. Rhodes said.

How nice of the West to speak for the international community.

socialuprooting:

“I learned about the American-led sanctions that prevented food, medicine, and medical equipment from entering Iraq, and how – according to the United Nations – over half a million children perished as a result. I remember a clip from a ’60 Minutes‘ interview of Madeline Albright where she expressed her view that these dead children were “worth it.” I watched on September 11th as a group of people felt driven to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings from their outrage at the deaths of these children. I watched as America then attacked and invaded Iraq directly. I saw the effects of ’Shock & Awe’ in the opening day of the invasion – the children in hospital wards with shrapnel from American missiles sticking but of their foreheads (of course, none of this was shown on CNN). I learned about the town of Haditha, where 24 Muslims – including a 76-year old man in a wheelchair, women, and even toddlers – were shot up and blown up in their bedclothes as the slept by US Marines. I learned about Abeer al-Janabi, a fourteen-year old Iraqi girl gang-raped by five American soldiers, who then shot her and her family in the head, then set fire to their corpses. I just want to point out, as you can see, Muslim women don’t even show their hair to unrelated men. So try to imagine this young girl from a conservative village with her dress torn off, being sexually assaulted by not one, not two, not three, not four, but five soldiers. Even today, as I sit in my jail cell, I read about the drone strikes which continue to kill Muslims daily in places like Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Just last month, we all heard about the seventeen Afghan Muslims – mostly mothers and their kids – shot to death by an American soldier, who also set fire to their corpses. These are just the stories that make it to the headlines, but one of the first concepts I learned in Islam is that of loyalty, of brotherhood – that each Muslim woman is my sister, each man is my brother, and together, we are one large body who must protect each other. In other words, I couldn’t see these things beings done to my brothers & sisters – including by America – and remain neutral. My sympathy for the oppressed continued, but was now more personal, as was my respect for those defending them. So, this trial was not about my position on Muslims killing American civilians. It was about my position on Americans killing Muslim civilians, which is that Muslims should defend their lands from foreign invaders – Soviets, Americans, or Martians. This is what I believe. It’s what I’ve always believed, and what I will always believe. This is not terrorism, and it’s not extremism. It’s what the arrows on that seal above your head represent: defense of the homeland. So, I disagree with my lawyers when they say that you don’t have to agree with my beliefs – no. Anyone with commonsense and humanity has no choice but to agree with me. If someone breaks into your home to rob you and harm your family, logic dictates that you do whatever it takes to expel that invader from your home. But when that home is a Muslim land, and that invader is the US military, for some reason the standards suddenly change. Common sense is renamed ”terrorism” and the people defending themselves against those who come to kill them from across the ocean become “the terrorists” who are ”killing Americans.” The mentality that America was victimized with when British soldiers walked these streets 2 ½ centuries ago is the same mentality Muslims are victimized by as American soldiers walk their streets today. It’s the mentality of colonialism. I learned one more thing in history class: America has historically supported the most unjust policies against its minorities – practices that were even protected by the law – only to look back later and ask: ’what were we thinking?’ Slavery, Jim Crow, the internment of the Japanese during World War II – each was widely accepted by American society, each was defended by the Supreme Court. But as time passed and America changed, both people and courts looked back and asked ’What were we thinking?’ Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist by the South African government, and given a life sentence. But time passed, the world changed, they realized how oppressive their policies were, that it was not he who was the terrorist, and they released him from prison. He even became president. So, everything is subjective - even this whole business of “terrorism” and who is a “terrorist.” It all depends on the time and place and who the superpower happens to be at the moment. In your eyes, I’m a terrorist, and it’s perfectly reasonable that I be standing here in an orange jumpsuit. But one day, America will change and people will recognize this day for what it is. They will look at how hundreds of thousands of Muslims were killed and maimed by the US military in foreign countries, yet somehow I’m the one going to prison for “conspiring to kill and maim” in those countries – because I support the Mujahidin defending those people. They will look back on how the government spent millions of dollars to imprison me as a ”terrorist,” yet if we were to somehow bring Abeer al-Janabi back to life in the moment she was being gang-raped by your soldiers, to put her on that witness stand and ask her who the “terrorists” are, she sure wouldn’t be pointing at me. The government says that I was obsessed with violence, obsessed with ”killing Americans.” But, as a Muslim living in these times, I can think of a lie no more ironic.”

—

Tarek Mehanna’s sentencing statement

straphangerr:

The Anatomy of the Human Body, 1386; copied mid-1400s

Mansur ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn Ilyas

The skeleton depicted above from this early book of anatomy is viewed from the back with the head hyperextended so that the mouth is at the top of the page — a posture suggestive of a dissection table. Squatting figures such as this were the dominant model for anatomical illustration in the Islamic world until the introduction of European models.

This is in Farsi! Why does that me make me so happy?

Why Nestle isn’t racist.

noellejt:

(These are from an Australian list, so I’ve just copied a few that I know for a fact are also sold in the US and UK.)

For a full list of over 300 products containing crude palm oil click here.

Colgate-Palmolive

General Mills

• Old El Paso tacos, dips, salsas & tortillas (AP)
• Betty Crocker products (AP)
• Cheerios breakfast cereal
• Nature Valley granola bars
• Fruit roll-ups
• Latina Pasta (AP)

Olay (owned by General Mills)

Kraft

• Easy Mac
• Deluxe macaroni and cheese
• Peanut Butter
• Philadelphia cream cheese (AP)
• Toblerone Chocolate
• Velveeta
• Cool Whip cream
• Nabisco (owned by Kraft)
• Oreos (AP)
• Ritz Crackers
• Chips Ahoy! (biscuits)
• Wheat Thins

Mars Incorporated

• M&Ms
• Snickers
• Mars bars
• Milky Way
• Twix
• Bounty
• Maltesers
• Doublemint
• Dove

Wrigley’s (owned by Mars)

• Juicy Fruit gum (AP)
• Starburst lollies
• Skittles lollies

Sara-Lee

(Toblerone is the real travesty of this list.

The good news is that you’re ok with Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, L’Oreal, Garnier, Maybelline, McDonaolds, Cadbury & Kelloggs - unless you’re boycotting them for a different reason - not because they don’t contain palm oil, but because they’ve switched to sustainable palm oil…)

Cadbury is now owned by Kraft, so I assume they’re now using the unsustainable kind. The real travesty is that switching to sustainable palm oil would cost them next to nothing, and yet they still refuse to.

I was looking at the chocolate section in the supermarket a few weeks ago, and realised I CAN’T BUY ANYTHING!

Kraft: Uses unsustainable palm oil. Also resent them forcibly taking over Cadbury’s.

Mars: Uses unsustainable palm oil while pretending to be forest-friendly.

Nestle: Oh hell, the list is too long. Military funding to Israel, encouraging African mothers to use their formula instead of breastfeeding etc.

Almost everything is owned by one of these three companies. On the other hand, buying expensive fairtrade, organic chocolate from small, ethical companies means I eat a LOT less chocolate as money constraints make it an occasional treat.

The good news is that you’re ok with Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, L’Oreal, Garnier, Maybelline, McDonaolds, Cadbury & Kelloggs

Boycotting most of them for Palestine-related issues, among others.

#firstworldproblems