From: imnet2@max.u.washington.edu
Subject: ISLAMIC WORLD NEWS (14th)
Organization: 
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 07:13:46 GMT

******************************************************************************
*  IN THIS ISSUE:                                                            *
*                   - NEWS UPDATE (AUG. 13th)                                *
*                   - ISLAM AND ARAB NATIONALISM (Part III)                  *
*                             By Imam Mohammed H. Asi                        *
*                   - IS IT ISLAM OR MUSLIMS                                 *
*                             By Ahmed E. Souaiaia                           *
*                   - ANNOUNCMENTS                                           *
******************************************************************************
**************************** NEWS UPDATE *************************************
BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA

The death camps suddenly "discovered" in Bosnia
were not a secret

Conclusive evidence of the Serbian-held Death Camps, the subject of current
international outrage, existed long before the western media and politicians
claimed to have become aware of them.
Not only did internationally recognized Bosnian humanitarian organizations
supply detailed lists of the camps, number of inmates and executions but
Bosnian diplomats also provided similar information to the United Nations
and western governments as long ago as May.
A group of non-governmental humanitarian and peace organizations in
Bosnia-Hercegovina published a detailed report on June 3, giving exact
numbers, location and population of the camps in the republic as well
as camps in Serbia and Montenegro.
The authority of the report cannot be in doubt as it is signed by the
presidents of the following organizations:
       The Red Cross of Bosnia and Hercegovina;
       Centre of Anti-War Activities, Sarajevo;
       Esperanto of Bosnia and Hercegovina; and
       The Youth Council of Bosnia-Hercegovina.
All these organizations are well-established and are recognized by their
counterparts in other countries.
Four pages of the report are packed with the details of the Death Camps.
They give the number of death traps in Bosnia-Hercegovina as 94 and
those in Serbia and Montenegro as 11.
No place was too sacred as Serbian murderers set up makeshift camps for
the thousands of Muslim Bosnians rounded up to implement Belgrade's
"ethnic cleansing" policy. Schools, hospitals and mosques were converted
into torture and death chambers.
This detailed report did not stay on the files of its authors but was
published and communicated to international organizations and western
governments, which received similar information provided by the Bosnian
authorities.
In a startling disclosure on August 9, Muhammad Sacirbey, Bosnia's
ambassador to the UN, accused the European Community and Lord Carrington,
its peace negotiator for Yugoslavia, of suppressing and failing to act
on information about the Death Camps supplied to them and the UN as early
as last May.
"One has to question just what Lord Carrington knew and why the information
was not disclosed", said ambassador Sacirbey.
When television cameras and newspaper reports gave harrowing details of
the torture, deliberate starvation and execution of Bosnian Muslims in
Serbian-run camps on August 7 for the first time, hypocritical western
leaders professed surprise and horror at what they and their
voters saw.
The first pictures by the British ITN television station were shown to
audiences in Britain and the US. Only hours after seeing them president
George Bush announced his support for armed intervention to stop the
massacre of Muslims, only to retract his statement the next day.
On August 7, John Major, the British prime minister, who consistently
opposes any military intervention, onstentatiously called for the closure
of the Death Camps and the punishment of those reponsible.
After a telephone conversation with the US president, he and Bush agreed
to confine security council action to providing armed escorts for
humanitarian aid only!
The following day, ambassador Sacirbey of Bosnia accused Bush, Major
and president Francois Mitterand of trying to "salve public opinion" by
dealing with the humanitarian aspects of the problem rather than the
"root cause" namely, Belgrade's policy of genocide and ethnic
cleansing.
Western correspondents [see for instance Leslie H Gelb, "New York Time"-
August 7, 1992] have confirmed that western leaders have no intention
of saving the Muslims of Bosnia.
Their policy is to convince the Bosnians of the hopelessness of their
situation and to lead them to surrender to the Serbs. This is planned
for the forthcoming Conference in London organized by the British.
They have no intention of forcing the Serbs to stop their policy of
genocide, only to tell the Muslims that no western government is
prepared to send their forces to save the lives of Bosnians, not even
women and children.
Western hypocrisy and immorality have no limits. As one Middle Eastern
commentator observed: The west would fight for Muslim Oil but not
Muslim Lives! How True.

AFGHANISTAN
Kabul continues to suffer bombardment from the south as well as fighting
between two factions in the west of the capital.
A missile struck the centre of the city on August 13 killing 80 people
and injuring 98 others. The missile, believed to carry cluster explosives,
hit a crowded market in Kabul.
Gulbuddin Hikmatyar's Hizb-e Islami forces have continued to pound Kabul
almost without interruption. Mangal Husain, a spokesman for the
Hizb-e Islami in Islamabad said on August 11 that Hizb fighters had
shot down two jet fighters used by the regime to bomb their positions.
He also claimed that the Hizb-e Islami had capture the Chehelstoon Palace
in the south of the city and that their forces were advancing on the
Bala Hisar Fort which is controlled by the Uzbek militias headed by
general Abdul Rashid Dostam.
Hikmatyar has made the presence of Dostam's militias a bone of contention
and he has insisted that they must be pulled out of Kabul otherwise
he will continue his bombardment of the city.
More than 1,000 people have been killed or wounded in the latest bombings
and the fighting continues.
The defence ministry announced on August 12 that 30,000 additional
militias had been brought in from Mazar-e Sharif, the stronghold of
Dostam, to fight the Hizb-e Islami.
Power and water supplies have been disrupted since August 8.
On August 12, professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, the interim president of
Afghanistan was to fly out to Pakistan but had to cancel his programme
because Kabul airport was closed. The Hizb-e Islami has been firing
rockets into the airport as well.
Meanwhile, Abdul Sabour Farid, Hikmatyar's nominee to be the prime minister
in the interim government had already left Kabul on August 7 and gone to
Pakistan. He first visited Islamabad and later went to Peshawar.
According to reports from Torkham, the Pakistani border post, thousands of
Afghan refugees are straeming back into Pakinstan following the eruption
of fighting in Kabul.
The flow of refugees back to Afghanistan from Pakistan has also come to
a halt, creating major problems for the government in Pakistan.
At the UN, the Soviet ambassador Yuli Vorontsov, told the security council
that two Russian embassy employees had been killed and one injured in
a rocket attack on the embassy. He called upon the security council
to arrange a ceasefire so that Russian diplomats and embassy staff can
be evacuated.
One observer compared Kabul to Mogadishu, the strife-torn capital of
Somalia. Perhaps the only difference is that people are not starving yet
in Kabul. In all other respects, the situation is virtually identical:
groups fighting for power and personal interest, regardless of how much
Islamic rhetoric is used to camouflage their naked lust for power.

MOROCCO
Mohamed Karim Lamrani, 72, was asked by king Hasan of Morocco to become
the prime minister on August 12. Lamrani, who had previously served as
prime minister in 1971 and 1984, will head a 28-member cabinet.
He replaces Azzadine Laraki who had served as prime minister for seven
years.
Observers interpret the move as a prelude to making preparations
for general elections in the country.
Elections in Morocco of course mean that elected representatives still
serve at the pleasure of the king. The king is above the law and he
considers himself the permanent ruler of the country, in no need of
any mandate from the people.
Morocco has a terrible human rights record but since the king is a
favoured client of the west, therefore, there is little mention of his
regime's horrible record in the western media. He rates no better than
Saddam Husain of Iraq, Hafez al-Asad of Syria or the military junta
in Algeria.

OCCUPIED KASHMIR
The Indian government was forced to announce the cancellation of elections
in Jammu and Kashmir. Shankar Chavan, the Indian home affairs minister,
announced in the Indian parliament on August 12 that the security
situation did not allow the holding of elections in the State yet.
Earlier in the year, the Indian government had made much noise about
going ahead with the elections claiming that the law and order situation
had been brought under control.
The people of Kashmir had vowed not to allow the elections to take place
because they consider the State to be under Indian military occupation.
They are demanding, instead, the holding of a referendum as called for
in numerous UN security council resolutions, to determine their own
future.
Since the demand for holding the referendum became louder and the
Kashmiris re-launched their movement nearly three years ago, the Indian
occupiers have become increasingly brutal.
Summary executions, gang-rapes of women and the torture of thousands of
innocent people have occurred in Kashmir. The Indians have amassed more
than 650,000 troops in the Valley who are busy strangling the entire
population to death.
Governor's rule has been in force in the State since 1990. It was 
extended on August 12 for another six months. What this means is
that the Indian occupiers dispense with even the semblance of the rule
of law.
Under governor's rule, security forces indulge in barbaric practices
without worrying about any regulations.
The Indian barbarities, however, have not cowed the people of Kashmir into
submission. The resistance continues.
*******COURTESY OF CRESCENT INTERNATIONAL, The newsmagazine of the global  
         Islamic  movement. Phone # (416) 474-9292, Fax (416) 474-9293****
**************************************************************************

EVENT SCAN ###############################################################

                   ISLAM AND ARAB NATIONALISM

By Imam Mohammed H. Asi

Part III
                                
                Arab Nationalism and Ottoman Rule

     Over  a  hundred  years  ago,  Imperialism,  in  those  days
represented by  France, Britain and Russia, sought to destroy the
Ottoman House  from  within,  because  it  had  become  virtually
impossible predictably  to destroy  it from  without. Imperialism
unrelenting efforts  to bring  down the authority in Istanbul was
because Istanbul  represented  the  central  authority  by  which
Muslims the world over still enjoyed a notion of common cause vis
a vis the historic hostilities of Europe. The internal erosion of
the Ottoman  state depended  upon hundreds  of trained  agents in
espionage  and  infiltration.  When  the  time  was  right,  this
internal Europe  Imperialist network  began to foment and agitate
centrifugal forces  under the  slogans of  equality, freedom  and
fraternity. One  of these centrifugal forces, which was to become
Imperialism's Trojan horse, was Arab nationalism.

     The very same elements which caused the first rupture in the
post-prophetic era,  i.e. the non-Muslim Arabs, were to return to
the political scene one thousand and three hundred years later to
bedevil whatever  was left  of an  Islamic central authority. And
once again  their seat  of activity was the levant. What followed
was a  proliferation of  secret societies and organizations which
would all  combine together  to undermine  what was  a symbol  of
resistance  against  European  colonialism,  namely  the  Ottoman
State.

     In Short, Arab nationalism was a tool by which a few regions
were dismembered from, the Ottoman authority. Arab nationalism in
this context  was never meant to unite the Arabs, it was meant to
separate them from their Muslim brothers - Turks, Kurds, Persian,
etc. .  . After  the task  of de-Ottomanizing  the Arab lands had
been  accomplished  the  primitive  Arab  surrogates  (al-Sharief
Hussein, and  his sons  Abdullah and  Faisal) would be dumped and
the final  process of  secularization would  go ahead  under  the
auspices  of  Imperialism,  with  no  particular  need  for  Arab
nationalism any  more. This is what actually happened in Lebanon,
Syria, and  Iraq in  the aftermath  of World War I; or to be more
precise, following  the demise  of the Ottoman resistance against
Euro-Colonialism.

     The deviation  which began with Mu'awiyah was finally coming
full circle  by the  time of  Elias Habbalin (a professor at what
was  to  become  the  American  University  in  Beirut)  and  his
students: Faris  Nimr, Salim  'Ammun, Ibrahim  Al-Yaziji, Ibrahim
al-hawrani, Ya'qub  Sarruf and Shahin Makarious. Add to the above
shadowy figures  of Arab  nationalism, i.e. Islamic disunity, the
more celebrated  names of  Aziz  Al-Masri,  the  founder  of  al-
Jam'iyyah al-qahtaniyyah in Istanbul, some students in Paris such
as Faris  Al-Khoury and  Shukri al-Quwwatli; plus Sati' al-Husari
and many  others. Thanks to them Arab nationalism was resurrected
with a spirit of imperialism by means of its agents to once again
poison  the  Islamic  fraternal  atmosphere,  and  to  serve  the
historical and  cherished objectives of Islam's enemies. And once
again  Arab  nationalism  intimidated  the  non-Arab  Muslims  in
Anatolia and  the Balkans.  Naturally, within this highly charged
atmosphere of  national and ethnic tension, the avenues were wide
open for  imperialist Zionist  penetration on  a larger  and more
lethal level.  As centuries  and centuries ago, Persian pride was
the natural reaction to Arab pride and prejudice, during the last
century Turkish  pride became the expected response to the Arab's
claim of  pride and  prejudice when  in fact they lost it all and
the Turks  were too debilitated to recognize the hollow claims of
the Arab  menace. The  Ottomans  had  been  combatting,  for  all
practical purposes,  virtually the  whole  world  for  over  four
consecutive centuries,  to defend, in their own way, the abode of
Islam. The  mutual  antagonism  of  Arab  nationalism  and  Arab-
generated nationalistic responses left the door wide open for the
combined penetration of colonialism and Zionism into Muslim lands
up until this very day.
___________________________________________________________________

                     IS IT ISLAM OR MUSLIMS?
By Ahmed E. Souaiaia

     During public  presentations or  in our writings there is an
obvious feature  that paints  Muslims with  sad colors  and veils
them in  a black  cloth reflecting a sense of despair since being
targeted by  everyone everywhere  at any  time to the extent that
some of  the brothers and friends whispered to me: any good news?
any happy reports? any smiles on the horizons?

     It is  not  probably  a  debatable  issue,  after  the  many
examples revealed  every day,  that Islam  has become  the common
fear and  the worst  nightmare of this contemporary western power
structure and the only candidate to replace what was known as the
`Red Evil  Empire.' Further  more, we  see today  those who spent
billions of  dollars developing  lethal weapons  and  unmatchable
military might  to confront and eventually destroy that evil, are
spending today  an equivalent amount of money and support to save
that same  regime and  help them  keep their  status as  the only
`superpower' supervising  Muslim republics who lived over seventy
years enslaved  and  exploited  by  a  handful  of  Generals  and
dictators of the USSR. While minimizing the military capabilities
of  the   Muslim  republics   of  the   former  Soviet  Union  by
transferring all  nuclear weapons  to Russia,  Those who  granted
themselves the  status of  world police are sitting back watching
in cold  blood the  slaughter of  Muslims in  Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Palestine, Kashmir,  and even in their friendly Arab nations like
Algeria, Tunisia,  Egypt, Jordan  . .  . All this bring us to the
question: Why? Why are Muslims persecuted this way?

     Before we  answer such  questions let  me state  that we are
neither complaining  nor blaming  others for what is happening to
us. It  is an attempt to have those who already hate us to `hate'
us for  the right  reasons and  those who loved us to love us for
the right  reasons. Also,  let's not  forget that every suffering
Muslim has  the choice  of avoiding  that situation and live like
everyone else,  but they've  chosen Islam  - and subsequently all
consequences -  over materialistic and luxurious life and that is
the price of being Muslim.

     Given the  universality of  Islam as  a  religion  that  has
captured the  hearts and  souls of all people regardless of their
color, race  or ethnic  background, it seems absurd to imply that
the opposition  of arrogance  is a war on one nation or one race.
Islam is  a new  religion compared  to Judaism  and Christianity,
hence, for  it to  spread and gain a popular base, Islam reverted
the idol  worshippers, Christians  and the Jews to the proper way
of submission  to Allah  and the right teaching for building God-
fearing individuals and societies. This huge diversity that Islam
enjoys proves  that the other block wants to destroy the Idealism
and principles  of this  faith even  if that  causes the death of
millions of their own people.

     So this undeclared war is a war on Islam and not on Muslims.
It is  a strong  rejection of the teachings, principles, idealism
of Islam  and those who identify themselves with Islam. Since the
demise of  the  so-called  Ottoman  Empire,  the  West  Bourgeois
expressed their readiness to coexist and contain the leftovers of
the Muslim  world by  encouraging the  merge of the nation-states
and supporting  (in  most  cases,  formulating)  the  shape,  the
constituents, and  ideologies of  the future  governments. It was
not until  the rise of a new generation of Ulama like Mowlana Al-
Mowdudi, Martyr  Al-Banna, Mohammed  Abdu,  Martyr  Sayed  Khutb,
Martyr Ali  Shari'ti, Martyr Baaker As-Sadr, and many others that
Arab and  so-called Muslim leaders started their war against this
Movement. The  struggle and  the sacrifices  of  these  committed
Muslims crowned  the Global  Islamic Movement by the birth of the
first Islamic  Republic in  Iran which in turn faced a war led by
Saddam on  behalf of  all nationalists and secularists to put one
of the  strongest Muslim  countries at least a generation behind.
While the  Islamic republic was busy fighting them, the suffering
of Muslim activists elsewhere increased.

     This opposition  is a rejection to the demands of Muslims to
alternative plans.  On the  national level,  Muslims are fighting
corruption, misuse  of authority,  exploitation, unfair taxation,
discrimination,  abuse   of  youngsters  and  women,  and  unfair
distribution  of   wealth  and   means  of   production.  On  the
international level,  the Islamic  Movement has been the voice of
the poor  nations and  the exploited  people. Between  an  unjust
international banking system and the dominance of the rich North,
reigns the  loss of  millions of  innocent  people  with  hunger,
thirst, and  starvation. The  more money they get from the North,
the bigger their debts and misery become. In short it is not fair
that 17  percent of the world population are consuming 87 percent
of the  world production  whereas the  rest of  people  are  left
starving in  the jungles of Africa and South America or trembling
from cold in the heights of the Himalayas! Reports since the late
seventees indicate  that there is a total disregard of human life
and human dignity.

     One report  for example  tells us  that 40,000  children die
every day;  100 million human beings go to bed hungry; 10 million
children  are   reduced  to   being   physically   and   mentally
handicapped, 97  out of  1000  children  die  in  the  developing
countries  as   a  result  of  starvation.  On  the  other  hand,
$1,000,000 is  spent every minute on destructive weapons. This is
the world  situation which  will continue  to be  so  unless  the
oppressed people  of the  world break  this trend  by relying  on
Allah and  on themselves  instead of  looking up to a system that
leads them to a new type of slavery. The intention of the masters
of the  `new  world  order'  is  to  create  new  generations  of
CONSUMERS willing  to buy  from the rich North. This is reflected
in the  `pretty sounding  slogans'  like;  Free  Market  Economy,
Absolute Private Ownership, and Democracy. . .

     As Muslims,  we do  not have any problem with these terms if
accompanied by  ethical values  and principled  practices.  After
all, what good does the Free Market Economy do for Africa if they
don't have  the money  to pay  for technology developed somewhere
for people  with different  standards of  living?  What good does
Private Ownership  offer for  people who  don't have any thing to
own in  the first place?  What good does democracy do if it leads
to the  tyranny of the majority on the expenses of minorities who
did not develop a strong voice or even a concept of democracy?

     Every nation  needs to  grow according  to its own pace. Any
intervention from  an outsider,  especially an arrogant one, only
deepens the  misery of  the people.  So the attack on the Islamic
approach is  a translation  of the  fear that  the Ethicality  of
Islam will  compete with the Materialism of the West. But that is
basically the law of history and nature as set by Allah (SWT), if
Muslims and  all God-fearing  people will not take a stand, Allah
will. In fact, the Koran tells us that the only reason behind the
destruction  of  civilizations  was  because  they  abandoned  or
ignored the  ethics and  principles that  preserve the  unity and
equality of all human beings. In Surat Al-Fajr (Ayahs 6-13) Allah
says:

     "Haven't you  seen how  your Lord dealt with A'd (People) of
Iram, the  city with  lofty pillars,  the like  of which were not
produced in  the land?  And with  the Thamood, people who cut out
rocks in  the valley? And with Pharaoh, Lord of Stakes? All these
transgressed beyond  bounds in  the  lands.  And  heaped  therein
mischief. Therefore your Lord poured on them a scourge of diverse
chastisements."

     So neither  Pharaoh who  declared himself  `God' who decides
life and  death, nor  Thamood  and  A'd,  two  civilizations  who
thought that  their strong  buildings and  fancy  towers  -  that
stands as  a witness  until this  day - will secure them from any
punishment, did escape this Sunnah of Allah on this earth.

     In conclusion,  Life - for every committed Muslim - is not a
reward, rather  a test.  So far  we've failed  to do  our part as
followers of  the Prophets  of Allah.  We've limited ourselves to
prayers in mosques and Churches while others are writing history,
and our  evaluation, with  their blood and tears. We have reduced
Allah's words  to wedding  and death `protocols' and adopted man-
made rules  and regulations as constitutional norms and codes. If
we are to bring about that revolutionary change in this world, we
need to  be ready  to follow the steps of our teacher and prophet
Mohammed (SAAW)  and willing to pay the price of freedom, justice
and equality  as did  our Prophet  Jesus (SAAW), and many others,
and that is death.
##########################################################################
*------- Note to contributors and readers:  
   ****Islam, as a universal Religion, forbids any sorts of racial 
bigotry; country names are to be used for and understood as a mere designation
of the geographical locations. Criticisms are for that particular system
or power structure and NOT the people. 
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