From: imnet2@max.u.washington.edu
Subject: ISLAMIC WORLD NEWS (15th)
Organization: 
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 23:22:16 GMT

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*     IN THIS ISSUE:                                                          *
*                   - NEWS UPDATE (SEP. 15th)                                 *
*                   - Mohammmed (PBUH), a mercy to all beings.                *
*                             By Mahmoud H. Ayoub                             *
*                   - ANNOUNCEMENTS                                           *
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PAKISTAN
The worst-ever floods in Pakistan's history continue to cause havoc and
destruction as the swollen rivers inundate more and more regions
in Pakistan.
The latest reports have put the death toll at more than 2,000
but it is likely to be much more.
At least 1,000 people have died in Kashmir alone where the
capital city, Muzaffarabad was completely cut off for several
days.
Pakistani troops have now managed to reach the remote mountain
villages in Kashmir. There are reports of widespread destruction of
houses. In some areas almost entire villages have been wiped out
by mudslides.
Millions of people have been evacuated from low-lying areas in
Punjab and Sind provinces as well.
The government of Pakistan has declared emergency in many areas
to cope with the situation and the Pakistan army has been put
on alert to help with the evacuation.
The army has taken over responsibilities for evacuating people
as well as strengthening river embankments to prevent the
rivers from flooding too many areas.
The country's cotton and rice crops have been virtually destroyed.
The losses are estimated at $600 million.
While floods are a regular occurrence in Pakistan, this one
has been the most severe. There is a mechanism in place to
deal with floods but because of a cumbersome
bureaucracy and unscruplous politicians, they are unable to
respond to such crises effectively when they occur.
The military in Pakistan is the only institution capable of
dealing with such emergencies.
Observers estimate that it will take at least 10 more days
before the river waters subside, provided there are no
more rains.

SOMALIA
Another part of the Muslim world gripped by disaster is Somalia.
The first batch of UN troops from Pakistan, has arrived in
Mogadishu to secure the airport for relief supplies.
The famine caused by drought and the totally senseless civil
war between clans, has led to the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of innocent people.
Many more are dying daily, dropping like flies. Some are too
weak even to take any food or water.
The clan warfare and well-fed thugs from each warlord's gang
are making life unbearably difficult even for relief workers.
Food convoys are looted and while people are starving to
death, the warlords snatch away food and feed their own
gangs to be able to fight against rivals.
The relief supplies being sent into Somalia is also being
sold in the open market.
The arrival of Pakistani troops to secure the airport as well
as the distribution of food supplies might alleviate
the problem somewhat but the situation is so grim that for the
overwhelming majority it may be too late.
The tragedy in Somalia could have been averted but as the
UN envoy for Somalia, Muhammad Sahnoon, pointed out, the
UN responded too late.
The tragedy was in the making for nearly 18 months and
despite pleas by relief agencies, the UN members dithered.
Even with the increased supply of food aid, some of it
is unsuitable for consumption by the people because it is
not what the Somalis are used to. Similarly, clan-warfare and
looting of convoys by warlords have complicated an already
tragic situation.

THE MIDDLE EAST
President George Bush's announcement that his government plans
to sell 72 F-15 fighter planes to Saudi Arabia has given the
zionist lobby in Washington another weapon to squeeze
more out of America in an election year.
Bush turned to selling weapons - not just to the Saudis but
also to Taiwan -- in order to save jobs in the declining
defence industries.
In any case, the sale to Saudi Arabia in no way endangers
the zionist State. The Saudis have never fired a bullet in
any war against the zionists. Weapons sold to Saudi Arabia
have always been used against the Muslims.
The most recent demonstration of this was in the US-led war
against Iraq last year.
Saudi weapons, facilities and oil were made available to the
Americans to kill nearly half-a-million people in Iraq.
The zionist lobby in Washington and the Israeli ambassador
have found in the proposed sale to Saudi Arabia a useful
tool to justify further aid and weapons supplies to the
zionist State.
In recent weeks, Americans had started to question the
un-interrupted flow of American money to Israel at a time
when there are 35.7 million people living below the poverty
line in the US; unemployment is at an all time high and
people are losing their life's savings.
Even with all the weapons at their disposal, the Arab regimes
are not capable of fighting Israel because the US has
underwritten the zionist State's security. A few dozen planes
to Saudi Arabia will make no difference to this imbalance.
In the October 1973 war, when the Arab armies were about to
drive the zionist occupiers out of the Sinai Peninsula,
Egyptian territory occupied by the zionists in 1967, the Americans
started an air-bridge of supply of weapons to Israel.
The tide of war was turned and by the time the ceasefire came into
effect, the zionists had even crossed the Suez Canal.
Thus, a successful struggle against the zionist occupiers will not be
waged with tanks and planes; the real struggle, as shown in
Lebanon and currently through the intifadah, will be waged by the
mujahideen armed with only light weapons but willing to court
martyrdom against a vastly superior armed enemy.
Bush is using the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia and Taiwan to
help boost his own sagging popularity in the polls. The zionists,
ever the extortionists, are using this to get more money and
weapons out of Uncle Sam.
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EVENT SCAN ###############################################################
          Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, a mercy for all
                           beings
  By Mahmoud M Ayoub

            "We have not sent you except as a mercy for all
beings"  (Al Qur'an 21:107).  "Muhammad is the Messenger of
Allah and those with him are stern  towards the rejecters of
faith, merciful towards one another" (Al-Qur'an 48:29).
Mercy is not a concept but a quality of a caring and
concerned relationship between two persons.
        In its basic linguistic meaning, rahmah, or mercy,
denotes the closest possible blood-relationship. It is
derived from the root R-H-M, which when vocalised - rahm -
means womb.  Rahmah is one of the most active and manifest
attributes of Allah, exalted be His majesty.
        Allah's mercy encompasses all things (40:7). He
prescribed it for Himself (6:12), and has made it manifest
in His beautiful creation and in the history of humanity as
well as the life of every individual.
        This mercy is manifest in many and diverse ways in
human life and history: Allah is "All-forgiving, All-
merciful; All-forgiving and loving with an intimate and
unfailing love (wadud)" (85:14).  He is the One who guides
(al-Hadi) to the good and beautiful in this life and the
bliss of the hereafter.  At the most crucial moment of
humankind's history, when our first parents, Adam and his
spouse, peace be upon them, were expelled from the bliss of
paradise into the toil, misery and temptation (fitnah) of
this earth, Allah promised them guidance: "There shall come
from Me to you guidance, and whoever follows My guidance, no
fear shall come upon them, nor will they grieve" (2:38).
        This divine guidance was not, however, promised to
Adam and Eve alone, but to all their progeny until the end
of time, for in the verse just quoted, Allah uses the plural
rather than the dual form of address.
        Allah is ever true in His promises: "He never fails
the appointed time" (3:9). He fulfilled His promise of
guidance in the missions of all the prophets, upon them all
be peace, but it was supremely fulfilled in the life and
mission of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah's blessings and
peace be upon him, his family and Companions and all those
who follow his guidance. He is a mercy in himself, in his
life and in his prophetic mission. He is a mercy for all
beings: humankind, the jinn, the angels and all of Allah's
creation. The Prophet, upon whom be peace, was a source of
consolation and blessing for his lonely mother and his
nursing-mother Halimah al-Sa'diyyah.  His mother Amina bint
Wahb was deprived of the loving care of a husband at a young
age, before the birth of her first and only child, Muhammad
Ibn 'Abdallah, upon whom be peace.

      Tradition tells us that while in the womb, his
presence was a source of consolation and companionship for
her. He glorified God in the womb and bestowed on the humble
household of 'Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet's grandfather,
peace, tranquillity and great happiness.  His birth marked
the beginning of a new era, an era of hope and justice, the
end of the slave-empires of Rome, Byzantium and Persia.  The
symbols of arrogant power of the kings of this world --
Kisra, the Persian potentate, and Qaisar, the emperor of the
Byzantine Christians --  were shaken. The great centres of
power and wealth  were shown to Amina, who was told that her
son would change the world from a state of power-struggle
into the abode of peace, dar al-Islam.  Halimah was a poor
peasant with only a few sheep and camels as the source of
livelihood for herself and her children.  Muhammad's
presence in her house was a source of blessing and plenty
that astonished her and her neighbours. When the angels
greeted and purified the young boy, she feared for him and
reluctantly returned him to his mother.
        Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah, was a source of
consolation and compassion (rahmah) for all those who had
lost the love of parents, and for the needy and the
oppressed of the world.  His mother died when he was only
five or six years old. Thus, the master of humankind grew up
a poor orphan.  Care for the orphans and the needy was a
constant injunction of the Qur'an and the Prophet's hadith
(tradition).  The Qur'an says: "As for the orphan, do not
oppress him; as for the beggar, do not scold him, and as for
the bounty of your Lord,  proclaim it" (93: 9-11).
        In a Prophetic hadith we are told: "Show mercy
towards those on earth so that He who is in heaven may show
mercy towards you."  In the arduous task of building a model
society with a model religious, social, economic and
political system, the Prophet showed compassion, mercy and
understanding towards friend and foe alike, but above all,
"Muhammad and those who are with him are merciful to one
another" (48:29).  It was this quality of gentle mercy that
persuaded many a hard-headed Arab to accept Islam. It was
this mercy and Allah's support that "made people enter into
the religion of Allah in droves" (110:2).
        His mercy towards his Makkan enemies (most of whom
were his nearest relatives) was like that of the Prophet
Joseph towards his envious and cruel brothers. When asked
how he would deal with them now that he entered Makkah
victorious, he answered: "I say to you what Joseph said to
his brothers, 'No blame shall be upon you today; go. You are
free'." (12:92).  Allah's Messenger, upon whom be peace, was
a merciful teacher in his life-example or Sunnah. Through
his Sunnah, this great teacher of humanity remains with us:
a source of guidance, mercy and enlightenment so long as the
sun shall rise and set.  His words and deeds are a living
guide to educators and social workers, to politicians and
the managers of economic affairs, and to philosophers and
those concerned with moral and social justice, for all those
who sincerely strive for the good in this life and the next.
     Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, is a mercy for all
beings through the guidance he brought from Allah in the
noble Qur'an, which was revealed to confirm, and be "the
guardian of all scriptures" (5:48).  The Qur'an was revealed
not only for humankind, but for the Jinn as well. When they
heard it, they exclaimed: "We have indeed heard a marvellous
Qur'an" (72:1).
     For human society, the Qur'an remains a guide to the
straight way, a source of moral and spiritual nourishment, a
challenge to the rich and powerful, and a solace to the poor
and oppressed on Allah's earth.  The word 'alameen in the
Qur'an means both epochs of human history as well as
society.  It also means the countless worlds of this vast
and marvellous universe.  It finally means the society of
the jinn and the company of the angels.  In short, al-
'alameen refers to the entire creation, but especially
rational creation.
     
     Muhammad, who is "rahmatan-lil-'alameen" is a mercy and
blessing for all of Allah's creation. May his birth, life
and guidance be our light in these dark moments of our
history.  May this great and wonderful light be our leader
to the good and to the good of all the world.
     Allah says in the Qur'an: "O Prophet, We have surely
sent you a witness, bearer of good tidings and a warner; one
who calls others to Allah, and a luminous lamp' (33:46).
____________________________________________________________
        [Mahmoud Ayoub is Professor of Islamic Studies at
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. He is the author
of numerous books on Islam, the best known of which is THE
QUR'AN & ITS ITERPRETORS, a multi-volume series, whose first
two volumes, covering Surahs Al-Fatiha, Al-Baqara and 'Ale-
Imran, have already been published by Albany University
Press, Albany, New York].
------------------------------------------------------------

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For more information, please contact Dr. Mohammad Amjad Alvi,
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To find out how to contribute to this effort please contact:

ASSOCIATION OF ISLAMIC COMMUNITY GAZI HUSREV-BEG
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