Never Forget Bosnia & Alija Izetbegovic’s “The Islamic Declaration”

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Twenty years ago this week, the war against Islam in Bosnia began in earnest. In 1990 Alija Izetbegovic the first & former President of Bosnia & Hercegovina laid the intellectual foundations of what an Islamic State today should be in “The Islamic Declaration – A Programme for the Islamisation of Muslims and Muslim Peoples”.

I’ve taken the liberty to upload the actual typed document that was faxed to many a Muslim country when Bosnia declared it’s independence.

If Islam, politics, governance & statehood is something that you consider crucial to your understanding, then The Islamic Declaration is a must read.

It was the quest for an Islamic statehood that made the Serbs state:

“300,000 Muslims Will Die, They Will Disappear From The Face of This Earth”

It was Radovan Karadzic who said:

“We Fought A “Just & Holy War”

Whilst the Muslim population defending themselves were made to disarm in Srebrenica, leading to more than 8,000 Bosnian men and boys being murdered in death camps and some 30,000 Bosnian Muslims were ethnically cleansed, while countless women and girls were brutally raped.

Try telling me it wasn’t Christian extremists who were carving crosses into the chests of Muslims who were in the death camps.

I want to leave you with pictures taken in Sarajevo this past weekend to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Bosnian war.

Once bullets, now pens, souvenirs for tourists

Rose marks the spot where 26 people killed in May 1992 in Sarajevo

Memorial concert for 11541 empty red chairs, one for every person killed during siege of Sarajevo

Empty chairs for all the children killed in the siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia

Like a red scar through the heart of Sarajevo. A chair each for the dead. Utterly & unbearably moving

Flowers & notes for Sarajevo dead

Red line, Sarajevo

More flowers for Sarajevo dead

red line concert for 11,541 dead in the siege of Sarajevo

For further analysis on Alija Izetbegovic’s book, The Islamic Declaration, visit the Muslim think-tank Grande Strategy.

Picture credits go to Jeremy Bowen @jfjbowen

Saudi & Orientalist Propaganda at the British Museums’ Hajj Exhibition

The Hajj Exhibition at the British Museum is viewed as a great dawah opportunity by many Muslims. As far as I’m concerned it’s a propaganda piece for the House of Saud project & it’s Orientalist backers.

After much cajoling by friends, I finally bit the bullet and decided to attend the Hajj Exhibition in London, more as an excuse to catch up with old friends and less to actually have my own religion and history explained to me.

For years I’ve avoided the British Museum, despite its new atrium and the sheer wonder of it’s architectural splendour, it’s the contents of the building that trouble me. The swag, the loot, the filthy lucre, centuries of ill gotten gain courtesy of the British Empire looting and pillaging from every known corner of the globe, for King, Queen & Country dear boy.

Putting those issues aside, I entered the exhibition and within the very few first minutes, whilst reading one of the plaques, I remarked to one of my friends:

“Harry St. John Philby? You know who he is right?”

Harry St. John Bridger Philby (1885-1960) Riyadh

Instead of talking about the importance of the Hajj or what the central role of Mecca is to Islam, why would they (the backers of the exhibition) choose to talk about Harry St. John Philby?

Harry St. John Philby, as the blurb said, was among one of the first westerners to enter Mecca (pretend to be a Muslim) to undertake the Hajj and to see what it was that drives Muslims to carry out the pilgrimage.

What it didn’t tell you, and what most people would just walk right past without noticing is that Harry St. John Philby was a spy who worked for the British Military Intelligence. His progeny would be one Kim Philby, who would work the same field as his father and end up being exposed as a double agent working for the KGB.

As we continued down the exhibition path and my disdain beginning to recede somewhat, I noticed there was an entire section on the “Arab Revolt”.

Yes.

The Arab Revolt that was created by men like Philby & Lawrence (of Arabia) of the British “Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force” to launch an armed uprising against the Caliphate.

I’ve written before about Abdul Aziz ibn Saud the bandit chieftain & his marriage of convenience with Britain to destroy the Islamic Empire.

Hijaz Railway - Remains of Exploded Train from Arab Uprising 1918

The exhibition glorified the terrorist attacks like the destruction of the Hijaz Railway, that ran from the centre of the Caliphate, Istanbul to Damascus and onto Medina.

You can see more pictures on this subject from the excellent picture blog of Jerry C Miller

The exhibition then took great lengths to show how great the Saud family was by demonstrating the railway line they built in it’s place some hundred years later.

I’ve read “The Great Theft Wrestling Islam From The Extremists” by Khaled Abou El Fadl and the following surmises what Abd’Al’Wahaab felt about the Caliphate:

So what you have is a foreign superpower (Britain) effectively aiding, abetting and installing by means of outright terrorism, a puppet regime that will favour it (sound familiar? Libya, Syria) whilst destroying the Islamic Empire at the same time.

This very same regime today preaches the message of obeying your leaders, whilst being formed on the exact opposite.

Hypocrisy?

It’s always been the Orientalists dream to understand the strength of Islam and what drives Muslims. Once they figured it out, they could subtly deconstruct that core element to drive their own agenda. For example we have London’s SOAS University , which was created with a remit to train the future leaders of the former British colonies to run them just as their past colonial masters had done so. It’s no coincidence that Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the former leader of The Qadiani’s was trained at SOAS.

Who's who? Haim Weizmann & Prince Feisal, Arabia, 1918

You can read about the Dönmeh connection to the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia in a report titled “The Emergence of Wahhabism and its Historical Roots,” dated September 2002 and released on March 13, 2008, by the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency.

You can read Said Nasir’s book, ‘The History of the Saud Family’, where it’s maintained that in 1943, the Saudi ambassador to Egypt, Abdullah bin Ibrahim al Muffadal, paid Muhammad al Tamami to forge a family tree showing that the Sauds and Wahhabs were one family that descended directly from the Prophet Mohammed SAW to strengthen their legitimacy as rulers.

You see it’s not that difficult to run counter propaganda.

The truth is that many Muslims are ignorant of their own history and religion.

For a religion that was unveiled with the words IQRA! (Read!) we as a people know little of Islam nevermind the knowledge of our history or the treachery committed by those who garb themselves in cloaks of respectability and piety.

A people who don’t read will fall for anything.

Iqra….Iqra….IQRA!!!

—————————————————————————————————

UPDATE

It seems that Qaisra Khan, the project curator of the Hajj Exhibition at the British Museum has read what I’ve written and has labelled me an extremist for writing this blog.

I am willing to share a platform with Qaisra Khan or anyone from the British Museum if they wish to debate me on what I’ve written.

Get in contact.

The Ulema should be supporting the Uprising’s throughout the Muslim world

For my Jummah Khutbah (Friday reminder) The Akh wishes to share with you the words of Damascus’s Shaykh Muhammed al-Yaqoubi, a righteous scholar who has shown he follows the true principles of Islam by by not siding with the rulers but with the people to show that their should be no fear on the choice of resistance.

The Akh has been very critical of our Ulema and their glowing endorsement for corrupt leaderships the world over – especially for the morally bankrupt house of frauds.

There is no doubt that there is a massive role for the Ulema to play in leading the Ummah, by giving Muslims the correct Islamic direction. Through their silence however, the Muslim people have been left with no other choice but to take to the streets, to demand the rights bestowed upon them by Allah Az’Wajjal and to remove the oppressive conditions that have been constricted them for decades.

While Shaykhs up and down this country have been telling people not to question their leaders, the Islamic rulings on demonstrations and how they are obligatory to remove these heinous conditions are set out with existing Fatawa’s, but they are conveniently overlooked.

National unity is a must, with all groups amongst the people pull in the same direction to demand the lifting of the oppressive conditions and the establishment of justice, so that the country and its people are above all other political considerations and not to be held hostage to the influence of any foreign power (Western foreign policy).

The Ulema have to take a courageous stance, there is no doubt that Muslims are looking at their Islamic leaders for advice like they have never done before, people are waiting on the words of scholars before taking any action. You can see this as most demonstrations start from the Masajid, Shaykh’s have a huge role in shaping public opinion.

Islam and the Prophets (Peace be upon all of them) never wanted us to surrender to injustice;

Hadith

“The best of all martyrs are Hamzah (ibn Abdul-Muttalib) and a man who stood before an unjust leader, commanding him to do right and avoid evil, so the leader killed him.” [al-Haakim]

Then he the Prophet continued: “Nay, by Allah, you either enjoin good and forbid evil and catch hold of the hand of the oppressor and persuade him to act justly and stick to the truth, or, Allah will involve the hearts of some of you with the hearts of others and curse you as he had cursed them” [Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi]

Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (pbuh) said, “The best type of jihad is speaking a true word in the presence of a tyrant ruler” [Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi]

Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (pbuh) said, “Whoever amongst you sees an evil, he must change it with his hand; if he is unable to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is unable to do so, then with his heart; and that is the weakest form of faith” [Muslim]

Abu-Bakr As-Siddiq (RA) said that he heard the Prophet (pbuh) saying “When people see an oppressor but do not prevent him from (doing evil) then it is likely that Allah will punish them all” [Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi]

Quran

You are now the best people brought forth for (the guidance and reform of) mankind.You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah.[Ale-Imran 110]

…….We rescued those who forbade evil and afflicted the wrong-doers with a grievous chastisement because of their evildoing. [Al-Araf 165]

Allah says to Musa (AS) “And go to Pharaoh now for he has transgressed all bounds. [Taha 24]”

Just as Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi said months ago:

“Political authority and religion are kin brothers, neither would stand but by its companion; because religion is the foundation of political power and its pillar, and political power is the guardian of religion; political power is not established with a foundation, and religion cannot be implemented without authority.”

Insh’Allah you’ll be off to the Masajid in a few hours, if your Shaykh is not addressing these issues, then ask him politely why?

Until the mimbars in our masajids do not reverberate and the hearts of the believers do not resonate with the power of words like his, the Muslim Ummah will remain oppressed and the Muslim leaders will remain tyrannical.

UPDATE

Saudi Shaykh, Salman Al-`Awdah, was banned from travelling from Saudi Arabia. He was not allowed to attend a conference in Egypt. Apparently, he offended the kingdom when he praised all Arab revolutions and said that not one Arab country would be spared.

Oh Muslims! Do you worship Allah or Saudi?

In the eyes of some Muslims, criticism of the house of frauds (Sauds) is tantamount to debasing Islam itself. This poisoned mindset is one that has to be challenged and overcome. If you don’t know about the fraudi’s (saudi’s) here’s a quick recap.

Abdul Aziz ibn Saud was a bandit chieftain who married the daughter of a cleric, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab to give his banditry religious approval. He used a fanatical “Wahhabi” doctrine, aided and abetted by Britain and a certain TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) to rouse a religiously inspired fighters to conquer his new kingdom, by going against the leaders of the Ottoman Caliphate. Together they conquered the Arabian peninsula to form “Saudi” Arabia in 1932.

Ever since then, the house of Saud have crushed any subsequent revolts and did a deal with the country’s ultra-conservative clergy that has endured to this day. The religious establishment was allowed substantial independence, the control of key ministries and a share of the wealth of the kingdom. In return, in crisis after crisis, it has come to the aid of the family, buttressing its authority with fatwa – religious opinions.

In 1991, Saudi clerics declared US troops could be based in the kingdom.

You can see the contradictions for yourself.

Saudi die hards – and by that I include the majority of Shaykhs that have been trained according to Saudi principles – always state that you can never oppose the leader.

Yet a country that was named after it’s bandit king was formed only when they themselves fought against their leaders in Istanbul.

The clerics and the king are so intertwined that any form of jihad has been outlawed:

“There are legitimate reasons for jihad in our religion but I have learned that no private person can say that a jihad is justified. It can only be the Islamic scholars who make that decision according to certain conditions”

Saudi Arabia is considered the most ‘Islamic’ nation and everything it does is used to judge Islam. It’s Kings are supported and encouraged and are old friends of kuffar (and I really don’t like using that word) leaders of the USA.

You have the Fraudi king handing out $37 Billion to bribe people NOT to protest against him.

The house of Frauds then decide to help out their fellow despot leaders in Bahrain by sending their (made in America) army to kill more Muslims.

On top of it all the bandit king of Saudi decides that he has to advise the scholars!

Yet the vast majority of our scholars remain silent.

Which leads to the simple question, if the Ulema & Muslim Scholars do not defend peopleʼs rights, as the deen of Islam demands, then who is going to do so?

Muslims have been hoodwinked into respecting and honouring these kings as they are some sort of saviours of Islam.

They ensure that American & European interests are safe in the middle east and in return “The West” maintains their power and kingship and never talk about democracy as long as the kings & clerics meet their demands.

The entire regime of Saudi should be ashamed of themselves because they are mentally pacifying Muslims worldwide.

Muslims see that Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and for this reason, the scholars of Arabia are expected to be the best as the Guardians of our two most holiest sites.

The moment the scholars of Saudi start teaching justice and fighting oppression, by freeing themselves of external interference, the mental ceiling in the minds of many Muslims that stop them from thinking shall be lifted.

So who do you worship?

If the Ulema & Muslim Scholars do not defend peopleʼs rights, who is going to do so?

For my Jumma khutbah (Friday reminder) I had to go back to Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi’s last Friday sermon he delivered before being arrested by the Syrian authorities. I covered this a few weeks back but now the full khutbah is available with English subtitles, so please do view it.

The entire English transcript is also available to download as a PDF below:

shaykh muhammad al yaqoubi the problem the solution english transcript of friday sermon damascus syria may 6 2011 courtesy of the team over at sacred knowledge

Unfortunately our scholars in the west spout the saudi doctrine at every turn, to never question your leaders.

If we are silent then the news speaks; if all people are excused for their silence, the ulema, imams and public speakers are not excused.

For sure, in silence there is safety, but it is incumbent upon us to speak the truth.

If the ulema and Friday speakers do not defend peopleʼs rights, who is going to do so? They are indeed the tongue of the people. Allah Az’Wajjal says:

“And remember when Allah took a covenant from the people who were given the Book to make it clear to people and not hide it.”

[Qurʼan 3:187]

And the Prophet SAW said:

“If one is asked and does not answer while he has knowledge, Allah will put in his mouth a rein of fire.”

We have reached to this state because of the silence of the ulema and public speakers, and there is a reason for that silence; anyone who says a single word against the government will be called for interrogation. A few weeks ago, I had to sign a pledge for the political branch of the secret service not to tackle any political subject during Friday sermons; I say, this is part of our religious duty and is not politics.

It won’t be until the boot is placed firmly on the necks of western scholars, will they then begin to speak out, sadly in the process of that happening, how many Muslims will have to die for their malfeasance?

Bandit King of Saudi Arabia Advises the Scholars!

“Ask the Scholars Ya Akhi!”…how many times have you heard this?

How many times have our khateebs in our masajids accused the youth of being hot headed and to seek guidance from the learned scholars.

This video above is less than a month old, and shows the bandit king saud ADVISING the scholars.

You heard and saw it correctly – the ruler telling the scholars how to act.

Saud had the audacity to state:

“Command what is good and forbid what is evil, according to your capabilities, and that you do the things that please Allah above all, and serve your religion and your land”

While his head Mufti, Shaykh Abdul-Aziz responded with:

“The scholars and the leaders have a strong bond with one another
The scholars strengthen those in authority and love them and invite the people to love them as well
And to be loyal towards them and help them do what is good”

So while the bandit king is bribing his people with $37 Billion to support him while turning our holiest sites into a gaudy Dubai style adventure playground his own personal fatwa brigade continuously overlook, no, give their tacit support to the rulers – not avoiding munkar and doing mahruf.

The biggest problem with the Ummah is that the Ulema bow down and listen to tyrant rulers – rather than the ulema tell the king’s what’s best for the Ummah, it’s even worse as Arabia is the centre point for Islam.

We are told to “ask the scholars”, but if the scholars are so aligned with the rulers then what do you do?

Even the Ulema of the world’s oldest University, Al-Azhar admitted that it did itself and the Ummah a great injustice by joining itself with Mubarak’s authoritarian regime.

Last weeks Jumma reminder was from Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi who acted accordingly to Islamic principles and denounced the tyrants of Syria for their acts – and since doing so the Shaykh has been put under virtual house offence. Not that the western media gives two hoots – after all its only the likes of Burma’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who’s worthy of this position.

Cowardly scholars like those surrounding the bandit king are part of the problem, they clearly value their provision more than speaking the truth.

If you go and see the comments under the original posting of this video, you’ll see just how many people have been brainwashed into believing the hype about the sauds.

Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi: “The Problem & the Solution” Jumma Khutba

This Friday, take a minute and listen to the words of Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi who addresses the Ulema and our leaders across the Muslim world. This comes of the back of last month’s powerful khutba, wherein the Shaykh stated that “Political Authority and Religion are Kin Brothers”

In his breathtaking and courageous speech Sh. Muhammad al-Yaqoubi must be congratulated and applauded and other Ulema must take note. They need to stand up and start emulating him. Until the pulpits and mosques do not reverberate and the hearts of the believers do not resonate with the power of words like his, the Muslim masses will remain oppressed and the Muslim leaders given free will to continue their tyrannous rule.

“Every person knows what is happening to the Muslims these days, we are all witnessing the unjust killing of civilians every morning and evening whilst meeting friends and family and hear of the killings here and mischief there…an image no one who loves shaam and its people could ever imagine would emerge.

The silence of all people can be accepted but the the ulema and preachers are not excused, they must speak out against wrong…it is the right of Allah…the preachers on mimbars must speak out about the rights of people and must not hide them.

We reached this stage due to the silence of the ulema, they do not speak due to the fear they will be tasked and investigated…in the last few weeks, the government has asked ulema to abstain from speaking about political issues on the pulpits but this matter is not a political one, it is a religious one…the scholars are banned from addressing the real concerns of the people of shaam since my first experience as a khateeb in 1977…had the ulema addressed these issues openly in their khutbas, people would not have walked out on to the streets demanding their rights today themselves…ulema could have relayed the peoples concerns to the government even if that involves positive criticism.

We want the fitna, that is spreading, to stop…we condemn killing of innocent people whether they are police or army members or the general public … Jihad is to be made with the tongue. We condemn lifting weapons for our rights as jihad with the weapon is only permitted under a sultan. We condemn the killing of hundreds of protesters. We condemn every torture and dishonour of humans. Our people here want freedom of speech to ask for their rights which they see others around them in the Arab world having.

Our lands have had problems for the last 30 years. The last 10 years, our people have witnessed the failure of our country, the loss of our business and economical progress, appointment of the wrong unfitting people to senior governmental posts…these are internal long term problems that have urged the people to seek their rights…our people want democracy, but not democracy defined by the united nations, our people want freedom, but not that defined by the united nations…

The problems of the previous years can be solved by the people of this country and its government. The problem of poverty can be solved by increasing peoples salary. The problem of unemployment can be overcome by increasing the opportunities for work. The problem of the freedom of speech can be solved by permitting the ulema to speak. The crisis [of killing] today cannot reach any solution. A poor person can be pleased through better provision, a wronged person can be pleased by releasing his relative from prison but how is that father to be pleased whose son has been killed? Or that military person who has been shot? Or the protesters who are treated with bullets in the hospitals? People have hoped for solutions and amendments over the years but things have come to a severe point.

We meet people on the streets from various cities speaking about their friends and relatives being killed in various parts of the country, what do we say to them? The current situation requires a swift and speedy revision and redress and needs the president to emerge in public with powerful political resolutions to retract from the previous slips…if news in the media is incorrect, why is the government silent? When we hear of the discord, we, being humans are hurt and angered. Our feelings are the same. We do not provoke people to go out onto the streets causing disharmony on the streets… protests need to be organised in order to be effective.

We want our lectures/messages to reach the president and interior ministry.

We have seen sincerity and good will in the president and this is what we want and thank him for, we do not want strife. We want rectifications to continue and for him to rectify the ground problems that have brought a decline, for which reason people took to the streets. People cannot be stopped from coming out to the streets regardless of what the laws stipulate. I ask the military personnel and security forces to treat people with respect even if they are out there without permission.

Every human possesses freedom and deserves honour. Such people do not deserve beating, wounds and attacks. We live in an information age which the president himself supports. Why does the government not publish names of all prisoners held in the Syrian prisons on the internet or in the local papers just as the names of students who pass secondary school are listed and mentioned so that every relative can finally know where his family member is held?

The first step is to release all unjustly captured prisoners…I have not slept all night pondering about all those people thinking of what is required of me to help them and what I can say to help them today… We want the president to come up with the solutions.

We want all operational activities against non-combatant peaceful citizens, in our streets to cease and for all security forces to leave the public. We want the government to allow people who were deported from this country over the years to return peacefully regardless of their religious attachments, everyone must be treated as a citizen of this country. We want peaceful negotiations and discourse with the tongue, not weapons, using the Word of Allah and the Noble Sunnah.”

Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi
Jumma Khutba
Jami’ al-Hasan Masjid, Abu Remaneh, Damascus, Syria
6th May 2011

This is a brief summary of the videos above, the full translation, is still pending and will be updated in due course.

14 Muslims Make “Time 100 Power List” of most influential people in the world

Amongst Time Magazines 100 Power List 2011 are 14 Muslims and they are the most influential people in the world. Note that four of them are Islamic Sheikhs/Religious leaders – still believe Islam & politics don’t mix?

These 100 people are artists and activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry.

Their ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution.

Click through to read their brief bio’s & contributions;

Hassan Nasrallah Hezbullah Leader

Feisal Abdul Rauf Sheikh

Muqtada al-Sadr Sheikh

Anwar al-Awlaki Sheikh

Wael Ghonim Spokesman for a revolution

Lamido Sanusi Africa’s central banker

Ahmed Shuja Pasha Intelligence Chief of the ISI

Fathi Terbil Human-Rights Lawyer

Saad Mohseni Media Mogul

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Motormouth

Maria Bashir Afghan Law Enforcer

El Général Tunisian Rapper

Azim Premji Philanthropist

Ayman Mohyeldin Al Jazeera Journalist

Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi’s Jumma Khutba on Murder, Oppression & Uprisings in Islam

The Akh was more than happy to hear the following Jumma Khutba from Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, On The Syrian Uprising, Murder and Oppression in Islam from his Friday Sermon of 4 Jumada al-Ula 1432AH/8th
April 2011 at the Jami’ Hasan Masajid, Damascus, Syria.

Regular readers will know that for the last few weeks I’ve begun to map out the power/leadership issue in Islam, and have questioned why the Ulema have been so silent in regards to Muslims rising up across the Middle East.

Insh’Allah you’ll be off to the Masajid in a few hours, if your Shaykh is not addressing these issues, like Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi is, then ask him politely why?

“Political authority and religion are kin brothers, neither would stand but by its companion; because religion is the foundation of political power and its pillar, and political power is the guardian of religion; political power is not established with a foundation, and religion cannot be implemented without authority.”

Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi

The following is from the MPACUK website:

It was Friday in Daraa and 27 lay martyred, the blood and broken bones were still to be washed from the streets of Syria, the bodies of the dead still to be buried and the ritual of wailing yet to commence, when a solitary voice could be heard, breaking the silence enforced by Bashar-al-Asseds thugs, the voice of Sh. Muhammad al-Yaqoubi daring to speak the truth, a revolutionary act that had left 27 dead that day, and hundreds more in the preceding months.

History has a curious way of repeating itself, as if almost asking, no, begging us to not make the same mistakes again. Once again, a son who inherited his kingdom from his father gave orders from Damasus for the blood of Muslims to be spilt and once again the direct descendent of the Prophet (pbuh) is almost alone in his courage and condemnation of tyranny and oppression from the pulpit.

For too long, the Ulema and Shayoukh have been silent in the face of tyranny and oppression by the rulers upon the ruled. Some say it is because they do not want to cause fitna which is worse than tyranny, some say it is because they are in fear of their lives, not surprising given the treatment of those before them such as Abu Hanifa R.A. and Ahmed Bin Hanbal R.A. and others say they are handpicked and chosen by the rulers to prop up via fatwas their often illegitimate and un-Islamic regimes.

Whatever the truth, the Ulema can no longer afford to be silent lest historical events unfolding in the Middle East leave them behind.

Sh. Muhammad al-Yaqoubi in his ground-breaking, breathtaking and courageous speech must be congratulated and applauded and other Ulema must take note.

They need to stand up and start emulating him.

Until the pulpits and mosques do not reverberate and the hearts of the believers do not resonate with the power of words like his, the Muslim Ummah will remain oppressed and the Muslim leaders will remain tyrannical.

A 1976 BBC documentary on Muammar Gadaffi – Allah, Muammar & Libya only!

Vodpod videos no longer available.

I have found a sort of fly-on-the-wall documentary made in 1976 which follows Muammar Gadaffi around as he goes about ruling Libya.

One highlight is a section with his mother and father who still live in a tent out in the desert. Mrs Gadaffi explains how her son has insisted that they must remain living in their old tent until every other Libyan is properly housed in a modern apartment.

The documentary makes it clear how repressive and brutal Gadaffi’s regime is. How he has locked up and tortured thousands of his opponents.

But then it takes a fascinating turn. The interviewer asks Gadaffi to explain why he has sent Libyan troops to fight with the Palestinians against Israel, and why he has sent in Libyan agents to try and overthrow President Sadat of Egypt.

In response Gadaffi launches into an explanation that countries like Libya have a duty to intervene in other nations where the ordinary people are being oppressed by autocrats or oppressive governments – and help free them.

That includes helping to liberate Egypt and Tunisia.

But it also means, he says, that politicians like him are justified in intervening in Northern Ireland to help the Provisional IRA. Because they are oppressed by the British government

They too are victims.

Gaddafi in his time has done plenty for the advancement of Libya, however, as is the want of Muslim/Arab leaders, he has clearly stayed well past his mandate.

Arab leaders love to have their pictures adorning every surface in their country, from the walls of government buildings, to pictures hanging from the entire length of a skyscraper.

His love of power can be seen in the delusionally oft repeated mantra which states – Allah, Muammar & Libya only!

This demagoguery is rampant within the Arab/Muslim world and the cult of the leader is one that The Akh despises.

Video Credit:“Goodies & Baddies”, Adam Curtis