Precepts of Said Nursi (Part 2)

33. The existence of something is dependent on the existence of all its parts. As for non-existence, since it occurs though non-existence of one part, a weak man supports destruction in order to demonstrate his power; he acts negatively instead of positively.

34. If the laws of government are not combined with the principles of wisdom, and the bonds of force not combined with the laws of truth, they will not be fruitful among the mass of the people.

35. Tyranny has donned the hat of justice; treachery has clothed itself in the garment of patriotism; jihad has been given the name of rebellion; captivity has been called freedom! Opposites have exchanged forms!

36. Politics which revolves around benefit is savagery.

37. To show friendliness towards a hungry beast does not excite its compassion, but its hunger. Both its fangs and its claws will want their rent!

38. Time has shown that Paradise is not cheap, and neither is Hell unnecessary.

39. While the virtues of those known by the world as the upper classes should be the cause of modesty and humility, they have lead to oppression and arrogance. And while the poverty and powerlessness of the poor and common people should be the cause of compassion and bounty, they have resulted in captivity and condemnation.

40. So long as honour and good things are to be obtained from a thing, they offer it to the upper classes, but if it is a bad thing, they divide it among the ordinary people.

41. If there is no imagined goal, or if it is forgotten or pretended to be forgotten, thoughts perpetually revolve around the ‘I’.

42. The origin of all revolutions and corruption, and the spur and source of all base morals are just two sayings: First, “So long as I’m full, what is it to me if others die of hunger?” Second, “You suffer hardship so that I can live in ease; you work so that I can eat.”

There is only one remedy for extirpating the First Saying, and that is the obligatory payment of zakat. While the remedy for the Second is the prohibition of usury and interest. Qur’anic justice stands at the door of the world and says to usury and interest: “No entry! It is forbidden! You don’t have the right to enter here!” Mankind did not heed the command, and received a severe blow. So it must heed it before it receives one even more severe!

43. War between nations and states is relinquishing its place to war between the classes of mankind. For just as man does not want to be a slave, so he does not want to be a labourer.

44. Someone who follows his goal by an illicit path is usually punished by receiving the opposite of what he intended. The recompense for illicit love, like love for Europe, is the cruel enmity of the beloved.

45. The past and calamities should be considered with regard to Divine Determining, while the future and sins from the point of view of responsibility before God. The Jabariyya and Mu‘tazila are reconciled on this point.

46. Impotence should not be resorted to in things for which a solution may be found, while for things for which there is no solution, punishment should not be resorted to.

47. The wounds of life may be healed. But Islamic pride and honour, and national pride, their wounds are extremely deep.

49. One grain of truth consumes a stack of lies. One grain of reality is superior to a stack of illusions. Everything you say should be true, but it is not right to say everything true.

50. A person who sees the good in things has good thoughts. And he who has good thoughts receives pleasure from life.

51. What gives life to people is hope, while what kills them is despair.

52. Since early days, this Islamic state took on itself the upholding of the Word of God, the maintenance of independence, and jihad for Islam, an obligation which if undertaken by part of the community, released the rest; it considered itself to be charged with sacrificing itself for Islam, which was united, and carrying the banner of the Caliphate. The misfortune it now suffers will therefore be made up for by the future prosperity and freedom of the Islamic World. For this calamity has speeded up in wondrous fashion the growth of Islamic brotherhood, the leaven of our lives.

54. A tarnished, matchless diamond is always superior to a piece of glistening glass.

55. Those who seek everything in materiality know only what their eyes see, and such eyes are blind in spiritual matters.

56. If metaphors fall from the hands of learning into those of ignorance, they are transformed into their literal meanings, opening the door to superstition.

57. Favour greater than Divine favour is not favour. Everything has to be described as it is.

58. Fame also ascribes to man what is not his.

59. Hadiths are the source of life and inspirer of reality.

60. The revival of religion is the revival of the nation. The life of religion is the light of life.

61. The Qur’an, which is a mercy for mankind, only accepts a civilization that comprises the happiness of all, or at least of the majority. Modern civilization has been founded on five negative principles:

1. Its point of support is force, the mark of which is aggression.
2. Its aim and goal is benefit, the mark of which is jostling and tussling.
3. Its principle in life is conflict, the mark of which is strife.
4. The bond between the masses is racialism and negative nationalism, which is nourished through devouring others; its mark is collision.
5. Its enticing service is inciting lust and passion and gratifying the desires. But lust transforms man into a beast.

However, the civilization the Shari‘a of Muhammad (PBUH) comprises and commands is this: its point of support is truth instead of force, the mark of which is justice and harmony. Its goal is virtue in place of benefit, the mark of which is love and attraction. Its means of unity are the ties of religion, country, and class, in place of racialism and nationalism, and the mark of these is sincere brotherhood, peace, and only defence against external aggression. In life is the principle of mutual assistance instead of the principle of conflict, the mark of which is accord and solidarity. And it offers guidance instead of lust, the mark of which is human progress and spiritual advancement.

Do not loosen your hands from Islam, the preserver of our existence; cling onto it with all your strength, or you shall be lost!

62. A general disaster results from the error of the majority. Disaster is the result of crime, and the introduction to reward.

63. A martyr thinks he is alive. Since he did not suffer the pangs of death, he considers the life he sacrificed to be perpetual and not to have been severed. Only, he finds it purer.

64. The pure justice of the Qur’an does not spill the life and blood of an innocent, even for the whole of humanity. The two are the same both in the view of Divine Power, and in the view of justice. But through self-interest man becomes such that he will destroy everything that forms an obstacle to his ambition, even the world if he can, and he will wipe out mankind.

65. Fear and weakness encourage outside influences.

66. Definite benefits should not be sacrificed for imaginary harms.

Some Precepts of Sayid Nursi (Part 1)

Said Nursî was an Ottoman theologian and scholar of Kurdish decent who wrote the Risale-i Nur (The Treatise of Light) Collection, a body of Qur’anic commentary exceeding six thousand pages. His works would later influence some contemporary Turkish scholars, most notably Fethullah Gulen. During his time in the service of the governer of Van Province, he devised a plan for university education for the Eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire. By combining scientific and religious (Islamic) education, the university was expected to advance the philosophical thoughts of these regions. Though not a Traditionalist, in the strictest sense, he did lay forth some of the more esoteric aspects of Sunni Islam in plain terms.

1. The prescription for a sick age, an ailing nation, an ill member, is to follow the Qur’an.

2. The prescription for a glorious though unfortunate continent, an illustrious though hapless state, a noble though ownerless people, is Islamic Unity.

3. One who does not have the strength to raise and turn the earth and all the stars and suns as though they were beads of a tesbih cannot lay claim to creating anything in the universe. For everything is tied to everything else.

4. The raising to life of all animate beings at the resurrection of the dead can be no more difficult for Divine Power than restoring to life a fly in the spring, heavy with the death-stained sleep of winter. For Pre-Eternal Power is essential; it does not change; impotence cannot penetrate it; obstacles cannot intervene in it; there can be no degrees in it; everything is the same in relation to it.

5. He who created the eye of the mosquito is the one who created the sun.

6. The one who ordered the stomach of a flea is also the one who ordered the solar system.

7. There is such miraculousness in the universe’s compilation that if to suppose the impossible all natural causes possessed will and the power to act, they would still prostrate in utter impotence before such miraculousness, exclaiming: “Glory be unto You! We have no power; indeed You are the Mighty, the Wise!”

8. An actual effect has not been given to causes, for Divine Unity and Glory require it to be thus. Only, in the outer aspect of things, causes are a veil to the Hand of Power; and this, Divine Dignity and Grandeur require, so that in the superficial view the Hand of Power should not be seen to be directly in contact with lowly things.

9. The inner dimensions of things, where Divine Power has its connection, are transparent and pure.

10. The Manifest World is a lace veil strewn over the Worlds of the Unseen.

11. An infinite power sufficient to create all the universe is necessary to create a single point and set it in its place. For every letter of this Mighty Book of the Universe, and particularly all its living letters, has a face looking to all the sentences, and an eye that beholds them.

12. It is well-known: they all looked for the crescent moon of the ‘Id, but no one could see it. An elderly man swore he had seen it. But what he had seen was not the crescent moon; it was a curved white eyelash. What is an eyelash compared with the moon?… What is the motion of minute particles compared with the one who fashions all beings?

13. Nature resembles a printing-press, not the printer. It is an embroidery, not the Embroiderer. It is passive, not active. It is a pattern, not a source. It is an order, and not the Orderer. It is a law, not a Power. It is a code of laws proceeding from a will, not an external reality.

14. The lure and attraction in the conscience, which is the essential nature of conscious beings, is felt through the appeal of a drawing truth.

15. The essential nature of beings does not lie. The inclination to grow in a seed declares: “I shall sprout and produce fruit!” It speaks the truth. In an egg is the desire for life; it says: “I shall be a hen!,” and this comes about, with Divine permission. It speaks the truth. Due to the inclination to freeze, a handful of water says: “I shall take up more space!,” and unyielding iron cannot give it the lie; the rightness of its words splits the iron. These inclinations are the manifestations of the creative commands proceeding from Divine Will.

16. God, who did not leave ants without a prince, or bees without a queen, certainly does not leave mankind without prophets.

17. The two phrases of the confession of faith testify to each other. The first is ‘the proof of cause to effect’ of the second, while the second is ‘the proof of effect to cause’ of the first.

18. Life is a sort of manifestation of Unity within multiplicity, and therefore leads to unity. Life makes one thing the owner of everything.

19. Spirit is a law possessing external existence, a conscious law. Like the stable and enduring laws of creation, spirit comes from the World of the Divine Command and the attribute of Will. Divine Power clothes it an existence decked out with senses. He makes a subtle, flowing being the shell to that jewel. Existent spirit is the brother of the conceivable law. They are both enduring and come from the World of the Divine Command. If Pre-Eternal Power had clothed the laws governing in the species of beings in external existence, they would have been spirits. And if the spirit banishes consciousness, it still would be an undying law.

20. Beings are visible through light, and their existence is known through life. Both are revealers.

22. It is the sacredness of the authority more than proof that drives the mass of the people to conform.

23. The essentials and incontestable matters of religion, which form ninety-nine per cent, are each diamond pillars, while the controversial matters which are open to interpretation form only ten per cent. Ninety diamond pillars may not be put under the protection of ten gold pillars. Books and interpretations should be telescopes for observing the Qur’an; they should be mirrors; not shadows or deputies!

24. Anyone who is capable may make interpretations of the Law for his own self; but he cannot make the Law.

25. Calling others to accept an idea is dependent on acceptance by the ‘Ulama; otherwise it is innovation, and should be rejected.

26. Since by nature man is noble, he seeks the truth. Sometimes he encounters the false, but supposing it to be the truth preserves it in his heart. Then, when delving into reality, without his willing it, misguidance strikes him on the head; supposing it to be reality, he plunges his head into it.

27. Divine Power has many mirrors, each more subtle and transparent than the last; they vary from water to air, and air to ether, and ether to the World of Similitudes; from the World of Similitudes to the World of Spirits, and even to time, and to thought. A single word in the mirror of the air becomes millions of words. The Pen of Power writes this mystery of reproduction in truly wondrous manner. The reflection contains either its identity or its identity together with its nature. The images of dense beings are moving but dead. While the images of a luminous spirit in their own mirrors are living and linked with it; even if they are not identical, they are not other than it.

29. If the light of thought is not illuminated with the light of the heart and blended with it, it is darkness and breeds tyranny. If the white of the eye, which resembles day, was not together with its black pupil, which resembles night, the eye would not be the eye; it would be unseeing. Similarly, if the black core of the heart is not present in white thought, it lacks insight.

30. If knowledge lacks the insight of the heart, it is ignorance. Taking the part of something is one thing, belief is something else.

America: Secular-Liberal Fanaticism Trumps Democracy

One big piece of news in America is that California Proposition 8, which was passed by the majority of the voters in that state, has been overturned by a federal judge.

For those who aren’t familiar with Proposition 8, allow me to refresh your memory.  Two years ago, the California Supreme Court ruled that denying same-sex couples the right to marry violated the state constitution. In response, supporters of traditional marriage followed California’s legal and democratic process: They collected enough signatures to put a proposed amendment to the state constitution on the ballot.

Two years later, secularist and gay activists appealed to the federal courts, obviously displeased with the outcome of the election.  Throughout the 13-day trial, Judge Vaughn Walker’s sympathies were clear to observers.  Even though his ruling isn’t surprising, his dismissal of the opinions of the people of California and five thousand-plus years of human tradition is breath-taking. Then again, inasmuch as Walker is one of the few openly gay federal judges, maybe his dismissal shouldn’t shock us, either.

In other words, the people of the state of California voted against the assault on marriage, and for a while it had to be accepted as the law.  However, once again it was taken out of the hands of voters by someone who had a stake in the case and had never been a neutral party in the first place, and simply passed over by activists and their advocates in the corrupt American judiciary.  Of course, this seems to happen more often than not in “democratic” societies when people don’t vote the way they’re supposed to.  Just like the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland.

This ruling is a sort of foolishness which is only surpassed by attempted intellectual justifications of it. The central question is not whether “the purpose of marriage is to build a family”, as all manner of familial associations can feasibly be contrived of – polygamous, tribal, extended, interchangeable etc.  What is at issue is whether the politicized social identity of “homosexuals” is deserving of the privileged legal recognition of their romantic unions, which had formerly been reserved (since the Napoleonic Code) exclusively for Man and Woman.  Apart from the transparently deranged ideology homosexual emancipation, voluntarism, and criticisms of the nuclear family, there is little basis for this political agitation on behalf of an identitarian faction whose only basis for voluntary association is their shared exclusion for heterosexual romantic unions and practices.

And one final comment: While this was greeted as “great” news by the American public, just imagine the outrage, dear readers, if an Iranian judge overturned a democratically selected outcome in Iran.  Wouldn’t that be a cause for the controlled media’s concern and universal condemnation of Iran?

From the Mind of Dr. David Duke

I have been travelling for the greater part of the summer and have had little time to post.  Here is a video that I found to be interesting.

Here, Dr. Duke discusses the potential war in Iran.  Whether or not one agrees with his social opinions in other issues, his facts about this are definitely to the point and contain a good analysis of the impending war.

Another Example of Liberal Cultural Imperialism

The TripleStandards blog reported some time ago that the Netherlands is attempting to force the predominantly Catholic nation of Chile to accept sodomy in exchange for humanitarian aid and loans, after the latter experienced a devastating 8.8 M_W earthquake.

A website of the Dutch government states that:

…Embassies play an important part in organising and carrying out development activities. They help formulate a general approach, which is further worked out in multiyear regional or country policy plans. And they provide a channel for the Dutch and host country governments to talk about the whole range of development issues…

One must wonder what kind of “development” the Dutch government focuses on, if they have been so insistent in funding a culturally radical organization such as MOVILH.  The Dutch government’s funding of MOVILH, directly or indirectly is a clear attack on Chilean sovereignty, which, unfortunately met little resistance from the former socialist president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet.

It is no secret that the Netherlands has been a bastion of decadence for some time.  Further research into the Dutch side reveals that within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (which handles its diplomatic relations worldwide), there is a post called the Minister for Development Cooperation (Minister voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking in Dutch).  The current minister is Bert Koenders, who is a member of the Labour Party (PvdA).  Koenders himself was the protege of the current Chairman of the Labour Party, Job Cohen, the son of history professor A. E. Cohen and Hetty Coster, both members of the local liberal Jewish community.

A Teaser from an Upcoming Satire

Having studied some works of cultural anthropology, I wrote the following satire as a humorous window into life in the Far West.  I expand on  Horace Miner’s studies of the Nacirema people as the archetype for the following two excerpts.

Although the Injil was preached to the natives of the land, they remain rather superstitious. In many of the larger towns, there are certain types of ‘witch-doctors’ – a who come form a caste of men and, as I was told, more recently, women – who are paid exorbitant sums of money to purge certain evil spirits from within the minds of the ruffian city-dwellers.  The upper castes themselves do not engage in exorcisms such as these, being able to afford a variety of potions and pills to cure their real or imaginary afflictions.  Usually, the exorcism occurs in the format of a certain prescribed ritual, which is performed in private between the witch-doctor and the supplicant, but on occasion, one can see a mass ritual being performed.

I had the opportunity to witness the “private ritual” in the city of Goi-ca-hi (i.e., in their language, “Place of the Onions”). First, the penitent is admitted into the ritual room. The ritual room contains a collection of about about thirty to several hundred tomes, which one might assume at first to be some kind of holy book, (I was later informed that some were of a secular nature), as well as a narrow plank covered in fabric or leather, much resembling a bed. In this particular ritual, there were also plants which had been cut from the outside and moved indoors, but they seemed to be there merely as a factor of the Nacirema aesthetic, and did not seem to have a direct use in the ritual. The penitent is then asked to come into the ritual room, where he may be administered an elixir of some sort, and asked to either sit or lie down on the plank-like bed, depending on his or her individual circumstance.

Here, the ritual begins. The lights are dimmed, and the witch-doctor begins to ask a series of questions towards the penitent. It is said that this confuses the evil spirit within them into speaking out by accident, at which point the spirit may be confronted and thus purged from the soul of the penitent.  He is compelled to speak of incidents of his youth and of his adulthood, of his joys and sorrows, in an attempt to also discover the nature of the posession.  Sometimes, the inquiries of the witch-doctor lead to a deep sadness, rage, or ecstasy, but the witch-doctors claim that this indicates the success of the ritual.

For a more severe case of possession, the witch-doctor may produce from within his shrine a small amulet composed of metal measuring no more than six centimeters in diameter, which is greeted with some apprehension by the penitent. Calming ritual music is often reproduced in an artificial manner, and fragrances of a refreshing nature are offered to the Nacirema gods (the chief of which, as we discussed earlier is Ycarok-S’dem), while the amulet is placed in front of a prostrating penitent, and set in motion as if it were a pendulum. This continues for minutes, until the penitent can be placed in a deep trance. The ritual then proceeds in the same way it did, as described above.

I was unable to learn much of the Nacirema’s belief in the spirits that possessed them, for the witch-doctors seemed loathe to speak to me, a foreigner, of their methods and secrets. I gathered that there were no greater than 349 “signs” of affliction, perhaps one for each astrological day aside from public holidays and celebration days, in the Nacirema calendar. The upper class (c.f. the high-ranking courtiers and the lords of the land), however, revealed to me, that they feared most the twin demons of m’sicsaf and m’sicar, as these two spirits would wreak havoc on their society if not controlled, and had thus dispatched many witch-doctors to all parts of their country in order to purge the two demons from the souls of the masses.

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As I have heretofore discussed in depth, the Nacirema do not observe fasts in the same manner as the civilized world, and have few native Traditional feasts.  Their largest celebration commemorates the founding of their nation, and the second largest is a primitive harvest festival initiated by the cultural hero Nolcnil. Instead it is often considered from virtue among the upper castes that they should become slothful and gluttonous. They regard work, whether in agriculture or production of industrial goods to be noxious, and ignorance is considered to bring happiness to them. Indeed, in the Nacirema courtship ritual which is now common, it is almost required to flaunt one’s stupidity before an audience of their equals.  Mr. H—-, an Irishman who for some time had lived in one of their larger cities, had complained that even at the King’s College at the great port-city of Kroywen, which the English had established some time ago, the courtship ritual is so pervasive among the native ruffians there, that even the casual visitor can observe it.

The courtship ritual may take place either in a private residence or in a public venue. In either case, the chambers will be darkened before guests are allowed to enter. Various libations are presented on a high counter.  Those who can afford it pride themselves on the strength and quality of such libations, and if servants are available, often use them in their employ to mix them in a pleasing manner.  At such events, it is considered proper to drink as much as one desires, even to the point of illness and confusion, as the Nacirema believe that alcohol not only purges “somber moods” but also encourages intimacy.

The native music of the Nacirema plays an important role in courtship rituals such as these.  They are naturally primitive in all their artistic tastes, for with the word “rootlessness”, we can describe the nature of their cultural institutions.  Their music is not unlike that of the Negroes,  rhythmic in quality, and invented to satisfy their primitive inclinations, as well as their desire to be noisy on the one hand and to excite bestial tendencies on the other. The Nacirema intoxication in their music, though, does not reach its full completion until the music is accompanied by singing that is just as coarse and obnoxious as the music itself.  Meanwhile, the noise of the instruments and the voices mounts, and it rings in the ears to an unbearable degree.

Once the music starts, the Nacirema courtship ritual takes another turn, for here young men and women stand together and perform what they fancy to be “dances”.  They gyrate their bodies wildly and with fervor, attempting to make close contact with one another – pressing their bodies against each other in an immodest fashion.  In every manner except for the dress, which is unique unto the Nacirema, it resembles the pagan festivals of Africa or South America, except that the former is conducted with less dignity and order.  The object of these rituals is merely instant gratification, or in more honest terms – fornication, for marriage, is shunned by Nacirema women.

The Monotheism of Ancient China

And verily We have raised in every nation a messenger, proclaiming: “Serve Allah and shun false gods”. Then some of them (were those) whom Allah guided, and some of them (were those) upon whom error had become established. Do but travel in the land and see the nature of the consequence for the deniers! (Surah An-Naĥl, Verse 36)

Before thee We sent (Messengers) to many nations, and We afflicted the nations with suffering and adversity that they might learn humility. (Surah Al-Anam, Verse 42)

“Monotheism” is sometimes considered to be solely a Western concept, but in reality, existed in many traditional cultures in all parts of the world.  The ancient classical of China from high antiquity is an example of this.  For thousands of years, the state religion of China was “heaven worship”. This religious belief predates native ideas of Taoism by hundreds of years, and the foreign faith of Buddhism by nearly 3,000 years.

Heaven worship centers around a non-corporeal entity called “Shangdi” (上帝 lit. “the Emperor of Heaven”), an omnipotent, just, and monotheistic supreme being. The ceremony of heaven worship initially forbade idolatry, but required sacrifices at temples, such as the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. During the Warring States period, heaven worship became associated with the veneration of ancestors, with ancestors or famous figures being able to intercede to Heaven as “a medium” between heaven and man. The Emperor was important to Ancestor Worship, as he and his House were thought to be ordained by Heaven; the convergence of the spiritual and royal principles were intertwined in the mortal person of the emperor, and his legitimacy as a ruler was tied to ritual propriety and subject to the approval of heaven. loods and famines were regarded as disapproval of heaven.

Heaven Worship predated Confucius by eighteen centuries (and even Confucius was said to have transmitted ethical precepts, and not have “invented” a new religion), and the importation of Buddhism by over two millenia. In those rites the authority of a single God (to which we equate “monotheism” and “tawhid”) and worshipping this God was clearly established, worship of One God as supreme is distinctly set forth as a “customary service,” thereby implying that it was already long established.  The initial stages of Taoism deviate slightly from this, in positing a more agnostic worldview, yet, the idea of Tao being beyond speech, words, and human characteristics, clearly reflects a monotheistic tone.  Only later records mention inferior deities, which arose as a deviation, perhaps from contact with the so-called “barbarians” of the South who imparted this “telluric” element into the ancient faith of Chinese monotheism.

The noted Sinologist James Legge claimed, “Five thousand years ago the Chinese were monotheists—not henotheists, but monotheists” (“Confucianism and Taoism described and compared with Christianity”). The Syriac Christians, as well as their later counterparts from the Catholic Church, saw similarities between Shangdi/Tian and the Abrahamic God, and therefore rendered the name for the Christian “God” as “Shangdi” in Chinese.  Some Chinese Christian scholars assert that the Christian God and the Chinese Shangdi are in fact the same entity.

Israeli Genocide of Palestinian Christians

Thou shalt  surely find the most intense of the people in enimity toward the believers [to be] the Jews and the idolaters; and thou shalt find the nearest of them in affection to the believers those who say, “We are Christians.” That is because among them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant. – The Noble Qur’ân, Surah Al-Maeda, 82nd Verse (Interpretation of Meaning)

The conflict between Israel and Palestine is often portrayed, at least by American media, as a conflict between the “eternally innocent” Jews and their “Muslim” tormentors.  At least, this is how the politically correct, controlled media would like as to believe.  The truth might lie somewhere in between, but regardless of the facets of the Jewish-Muslim conflict, and how it manifests itself to the media, one group has long been forgotten, perhaps as a matter of convenience, by the Western media: the Christians of Palestine.

In 1947, Palestine’s population was approximately 40 percent Christian, one of the largest Christian minorities in the Middle East.  Today, after more than 60 years of Zionist occupation, Christians number only 5% of the Palestinian population, and fewer than 1% of the entire population of the former Palestinian Mandate.  Around 50% of Palestinian Christians are of the Orthodox faith, while smaller numbers are Maronite, Melkite, or Roman Catholics.

Palestinian Christians have long fought against the Israeli occupation, alongside their Muslim neighbors, and have often faced similar retribution at the hands of the Zionists.  George Habash, a prominent Palestinian Christian was the founder of The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (source), ts offshoot, the DFLP, was founded by a Christian also. The Palestinian Authority’s first lady, Suha Arafat (the wife of Yassir Arafat), was a Christian, as is the current ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in France, Hind Khoury.

While some Israeli sources claim that Muslims actively persecute Christians, many Palestinian Christians themselves adamantly reject these claims, and report good relations with Muslim Palestinians (source).  The Jerusalem Post has mentioned that Muslim pressure has not played a major role according to Christian residents themselves.  Hanna Siniora, a prominent Christian Palestinian human rights activist, has attributed harassment against Christians to “little groups” of “hoodlums” rather than to the Hamas and Fatah governments.

In a 2006 poll of Christians in Bethlehem by the Palestinian Centre for Research and Cultural Dialogue, 90% reported having Muslim friends, 73.3% agreed that the Palestinian Authority treats Christian heritage in the city with respect, and 78% attributed the ongoing exodus of Christians from Bethlehem to the Israeli occupation and travel restrictions on the area, while Americans were more likely to blame it on Islamic politics (source).  Other sources have reported abuses towards Christians by Jewish extremists.  Armenians in Jerusalem, identified as Palestinian Christians, have also been attacked and received threats from Israeli and Jewish extremists. In September, two Armenian Christian clergy were expelled after protesting against Jewish extremists for spitting on holy Christian objects.  Also, according to historian Sami Hadawi, 51% of Christian Palestinians were driven from their homes by the advancing Israel army.

Palestinians, Muslims and Christians alike, have paid a heavy price for the creation of Israel.  Let us continue to show our solidarity with the Palestinian Christians, as they work towards an independent, more peaceful and prosperous Palestinian state.

A Tribute to Ayatollah Khomeini

On this day, Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Iranian revolution for a decade, passed away in 1989.  Born to a Kashmiri family in 1900, he would go on to lead one of the most important populist and Third Positionist revolutions of the later 20th century, ousting the corrupt government of the Shah.  At a time when his nation of Iran was flanked by the secularist, communist Soviet Union and the secularist, materialist United States, the Imam would secure his nation’s place in the world as an independent nation, with Shi’a Islam as the dominant guiding force for his people.  In addition to his considerable contributions to the Shi’a theoretical framework, he was also a noted politician and poet. Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran continues on, adding to its thousands of years of culture and history, in no small part thanks to Ayatollah Khomeini and the nation he helped establish.

By February 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini had become the global figurehead of the Iranian Revolution, and he was to become leader of the newly formed Islamic Republic. No Muslim intellectual has achieved the same realisation of his ideas as Khomeini, with his doctrine of velayat-e faqih, or “guardianship of the jurisconsult”, which stands behind the role of Supreme Leader of Iran.

As a tolerant man, he ensured religious freedom for the Christians and Jews living in his country, securing for them representation in the Iranian Majlis (Parliament).  He also was an outspoken advocate of Sunni-Shi’a unity.

The noble ideology and lofty ideals of the Iranian Revolution put into practice the resistance to materialism: while not denying the presence of a material economy, its right to pre-eminence was rejected.  The Iranian Revolution showed that, despite some difficulties, a true socially conservative revolution which was also anti-bourgeois and which served the needs of the masses was possible.  Moreover, he exercised the idea that with the guidance of God, man becomes the master of  everything.  According to his legal framework, the law of God precedes everything, covering all human affairs, and all aspects in man’s life.  Khomeini helped remove the diseases of liberalism and secularism from Iranian society, forging Iran’s own future according to Iranian culture.

Today, we stand with the people of Iran in commemorating Ayatollah Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, an eminent leader of the Revolt Against the Modern World, ascetic spiritual guide of the Iranian people, and inspiration to the millions of Iranians who desire an independent and fair future for their people.

Israel Raids Aid Flotilla Destined for Palestine

The above footage shows an Israeli raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla headed for Palestine.  According to international news sources, around 20 activists massacred, dozens injured, as Tel-Aviv Apartheid regime opens fire on the Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla on international waters. About 600 people, including unarmed Turkish and Arab civilians, dozens of foreign journalists, European parliament members, British and American nationals, Jewish activists against Israel, 50 women and a one year old baby were in the boats. A priest and Muslim cleric among the critically wounded by the Israeli gunfire.

In response to these events, many international leaders condemned Israel’s action and interception of the flotilla, which was attempting to break through Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and bring food, medical supplies, clothing and constructions supplies to the impoverished territory.  As the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting, French President Nicolas Sarkozy criticized Israel’s “disproportionate use of force,” and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a “thorough investigation” into the violence.  Turkey, a itself  an ally of Israel, recalled its ambassador to Israel and warned of further actions.

American politicians, however have been silent.  U.S. officials expressed regret at the loss of life but stopped short of criticizing the Zionist entity, which the U.S. considers a crucial ally.  Americans at large, fed by a steady diet of media in favor of Israel – arguably “Jewish supremacist” propaganda – also have been fanatically defensive of the Zionist state.

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Commentary:

The American silence is not in the least surprising.  Few Americans even know of the USS Liberty, a U.S. vessel which was deliberately attacked in international waters by Israeli forces during the summer of 1967, and most US politicians have kept silent about this direct attack on US troops.  Many American sources, citing Israeli news, reported the next day that the Israelis were “attacked” or “ambushed,” willfully ignoring that, had Israeli forces not violently boarded a foreign ship in international waters (and one flying the flag of a NATO member state), they would not have been ambushed at all.

Several professors of International and Maritime law have also condemned the event.  Robin Churchill of the University of Dundee in Scotland, said the Israeli commandos boarded the ship outside of Israel’s territorial waters, and that there is no legal basis for boarding these ships,” Churchill said.  Ove Bring, and Mark Klamberg both agreed that Israel had no right to take military action outside of their waters.  Canadian scholar Michael Byers noted that the event would only be legal if the Israeli boarding were necessary and proportionate for the country’s self defence.  A group of Israeli lawyers, including Avigdor Feldman, petitioned the Israeli High Court charging that Israel had violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea by capturing the boats in international waters.

These attacks, which were not justified by international law, showed once again the true face of Israel, and the mad rush by the forces of political correctness in America, ever afraid to criticize the supposedly “poor, persecuted Jew” have been quick to put a damper on any possible reconciliation.  Indeed, as the controlled media in America would have us believe, the several hundred passengers on the flotilla, be they Muslims, Christians, diplomats, non-governmental organization officials, or journalists are part of a grand anti-semitic conspiracy.  Meanwhile, the American Kaffir-in-Chief, Barack Obama, still embarrassed over the failure to contain the BP oil spill, merely expressed “deep regret”, without condemning Israel.

Some people might remember the curious case of Akmal Sheikh – the international outcry to save the life of a petty drug smuggler.  In a fury whipped up by the controlled media in the West, people held candlelight vigils, and Western governments harshly criticized China.  China, however was many times more justified in executing a criminal, than Israel was in boarding ships and killing civilians.  Certainly, if the U.S. had pulled something of such magnitude in Iraq, it would have gotten more media attention than the recent Israeli aggression – as they would have deserved for an egregious violation of international laws.  This of course leaves some questions hanging in the air: Where is the universal condemnation of the massacre of innocents when it is done by the supposedly “Chosen” people?  And, why was it the fault of the passengers aboard the Marmara for fighting back and defending themselves?

Addendum:

Paul Fromm, a Canadian Catholic and Activist speaks on the Gaza Flotilla Massacre: Click Here

Please note that Paul Fromm’s ideas are his own and not necessarily the views of the author.