Well put Warmoog " That said, what Islamic teachings and rulings stipulate in principle and how people implement them in practice are two separate matters. Even when a stance or decision is correct in principle, there may be failings or shortcomings in its application True indeed. "So when people make it a point to reasonably criticize the methods of any group or entity which claims to be implementing Islamic rulings, it is understandable and, in fact, necessary. Logical " There is a need for approaches that are balanced, prudent, well-thought-out, and compassionate". A timely Naseexah (advice)! May Allah reward you immensely for it. "Yet that is precisely what the factions in Somalia, especially those that claim to implement Islamic rulings, lack." Sometimes! " I don't even have to dig deep to find the wrongs in their activities. I need only look at their propensity to turn everything from corporeal punishments to grave excavations into crude media spectacles." Here I have my doubts. Mighty Media is the keyword, and they work magic to make people believe black is actually white (Vladimir Putin). World Media no longer serves world people, it serves politicians and Bankers, who together lead our world to its current situation. The Media has anointed Somali warlord criminals as peacemakers. Criminals who have committed the most gruesome and atrocious crimes in history of Somalia since 1990 with the help of nations whose strategic designs weighs far more than the suffering of poor peoples cursed to live nearby strategic areas. Still, as a person who has no connection to any group, I view every news print or broadcast with utmost doubt, simply because, World Media no longer belongs to even to its own people, it belongs to financial magnates whose vision is reformatting how people should think, thus, they skillfully put together any piece of news to make it serve the sponsors objective. "What is the purpose of them having pictures and videos taken of Muslims' bodies and remains as their graves are being excavated or as they are being stoned to death?" A good question that needs a direct answer from those behind the excavations. "What is the purpose of them taking someone's freshly amputated hand and, like a toy, putting it on display for media alongside the Quran and a bloody knife?" Right after 911 attacks, they also had a Holy Quraan next to one terrorist passport to show the connection of Quraan to terror, it was miraculous that these papers survived metal melting temperatures where the black boxes melted. This is what I was talking about, knowingly or not, these kids no matter how noble their cause is, are no match for mighty media's damaging footage. You need to look at these footage as a part of well concerted effort to brand entire Islam as barbarian, while the politically motivated massacres of Somalis in the hands of warlords, the killing fields in Iraq of 1.5 million dead Iraqis, thousands of Afghan civilians, millions of Vietnamese and Latinos as Civilized. They are masters in conveying a message, when they attack, they call it Shock and Awe, not Terror! If you were a neutral judge presiding over these claims, footage and propaganda, the first thing you would do before making a verdict on any party would be to dig for motives of the conflict, which is an inseparable component of the making of this Hollywood production. Motives behind crimes make a big difference, as wide as unintentional manslaughter to premeditated cold blooded murder. Nur

Ukhti al kareema You ask: 1. How about the Muslims who don't approach the Deen in the specific way I've set out? How would you describe your approach to being a Muslim in a way that sets you apart from those Muslims who don't agree with you on fundamental issues of faith? At some point, you have to mention a sub-definition(s) The name "Muslim" describes someone who has surrendered to Allah SWT and who: 1. Has Ikhlaas (Commits No Shirk in any form) 2. Who Performs her/his obligations toward Allah SWT according to the Sunnah of His Messenger. Now, if a Muslim person or a group violates one of the above codes, then their Iman or Islam has a deficiency equivalent to the violation. If the violation is major, as in Shirk al Akbar, then, they aren't entitled to be named "Muslim" at all, if the violation or innovation is minor, and they are not propagating it as genuine Islam, then they are fully entitled to be named "Muslims". If on the other hand, they propagate innovation or call for violation of the deen, then, they are on borderline of Kufr, because, presenting violation or bidca as Islam is critical issue and the group or person is warned not to make Tabdeel( Change) in Allah's Deen, if they insist, they become apostates from Islam according to the famous Hadeeth "He who introduces into this Deen an innovation that is not part of it becomes Murtadd" The innovation has color shades, the extreme darkest color borders Kufr, it can also be a watered down innovation, that may not lead to kufr. in which case we call that person a Mubtadic ( an innovator in Deen) In conclusion. A person who follows the Quraan and Sunnah is the rightful person who is entitled and honored to use the name "Muslim", she/he shouldn't differentiate herself/himself, Its the Mubtadic, those who introduce innovation and violation of fundamental tenets of Islam, who need to come up with new names for themselves, not the Muttabic. Allahu Aclam Nur

My Dear Sis my response was referring to the following statements that you have written: 1. There's misunderstanding of the meaning of the term 'salafi' and what it entails to be one and this I think has a lot to do with the attitude and actions of so called salafis today. I have tried to clarify the meaning of the Salafi term. 2. Most of us who follow the the Quraan, Sunnah and the Jama'ah are salafis by definition Here lies my main response. We are Muslims by definition. To say that its better to call ourselves Muslim, implies and strengthens the notion that usage of Salafi name is OK. Wallahu Aclam Nur

JB You write: With all due respect for both you and the alleged and unquestionably worthy cause of giving, but, How does one justify supporting a philosophy of war in Somalia while campaigning and giving the victims of the very war one supports. JB I support preservation of peace and happiness, I get my dose of happiness from assisting others, either by giving advice through this medium, or lending a helping hand of assistance, but never in aggression nor in causing pain. This outlook is the child of my firm belief in justice and freedom, and I have espoused it for a long time. The problem is that there are others who oppose peace and happiness, because it conflicts with their greedy policies, and as a result they impose their forceful will on other peoples who cherish their freedom to worship their maker and who are suffering for no crime other than saying Allah Alone is Our Master. I also champion benevolence, tolerance and building of bridges of understanding between faiths and cultures. Furthermore, I believe that if we all agree on and champion universal peace, that more and more people will discover the beauty of Islam denied to them due to the artificial confusion that is created by the blatant aggression and media vilification of Muslims who have lived a peaceful lives in their own countries between themselves on one hand, and between them and adherents of other faiths. Its because of greed driven wars that many people are poor, hungry, homeless or in permanent suffering. These people need our charitable hand to alleviate their pain and suffering regardless of their faith and race, and I subscribe to the philosophy of helping others and alleviating their plight any which way I can. I thus pray for a lasting peace, with myself first, and for all mankind on earth. Nur

Blessed sis, The Hadeeth that you have quoted does not support the argument under discussion which is permissibility of calling ourselves any name other than MUSLIM. The context of the Hadeeth here is about Blessed Leadership. Because there is other types of leadership. The word Salaf in Quraan, depending on context can mean: A. Precedent: Allah SWT says about Pharaoh and His soldiers: And We made them a precedent (as a lesson for those coming after them), and an example to later generations. B. Example - Lesson (Cibrah) - Leadership: Leadership can in turn be: 1. Good leadership: Leads followers to success in the hereafter, regardless of the suffering in the present life. (Which is the leadership the Prophet SAWS Offered Fatima RAA) 2. Bad Leadership: Leads to disgrace in the hereafter regardless of the goodness of quality of present life. This is the Leadership of Pharaoh for his people, they lived an affluent rich life, but due to their injustice, it ended in disgrace The Word Salaf can also mean: Past Earning: ( Maa Aslafat) Allah SWT says in Surah Yunus 30: "There! Every person will know (exactly) what (all) he had earned before, and they will be brought back to Allah, their rightful Lord (Maula), and their invented false deities will vanish from them. Also in Surah Maidah, Verse 95 Allah SWT says : Cafaallahu camma salaf , meaning Allah has forgiven the past deeds In conclusion: There is no Daleel Sharci, that its permissible to call this Ummah a different name other then the name Allah SWT has called them in Quraan. Allah SWT says in Surah Al Xajj Verse 78: And strive hard in Allah's Cause as you ought to strive (with sincerity and with all your efforts that His Name should be superior). He has chosen you (to convey His Message of Islamic Monotheism to mankind by inviting them to His religion, Islam), and has not laid upon you in religion any hardship, it is the religion of your father Ibrahim (Abraham) . It is He (Allah) Who has named you Muslims both before and in this (the Qur'an), that the Messenger may be a witness over you and you be witnesses over mankind! So perform Prayers (Iqamat-as-Salat), give Zakat ( Poor's due) and hold fast to Allah [i.e. have confidence in Allah, and depend upon Him in all your affairs] He is your Mawla (Sovereign, Patron, Lord, etc.), what an Excellent Mawla (Sovereign, Patron, Lord, etc.) and what an Excellent Rescuer! Nur

Nomas Waa is xasuusin kale, Afar sanadood kadib, inaam badinno istighfaarka. Nur

Waltzing at the Doomsday Ball Capitalism is dead, but we still dance with the corpse By Joe Bageant July 07, 2010 "ICH" -- As an Anglo European white guy from a very long line of white guys, I want to thank all the brown, black, yellow and red people for a marvelous three-century joy ride. During the past 300 years of the industrial age, as Europeans, and later as Americans, we have managed to consume infinitely more than we ever produced, thanks to colonialism, crooked deals with despotic potentates and good old gunboats and grapeshot. Yes, we have lived, and still live, extravagant lifestyles far above the rest of you. And so, my sincere thanks to all of you folks around the world working in sweatshops, or living on two bucks a day, even though you sit on vast oil deposits. And to those outside my window here in Mexico this morning, the two guys pruning the retired gringo's hedges with what look like pocket knives, I say, keep up the good work. It's the world's cheap labor guys like you -- the black, brown and yellow folks who take it up the shorts -- who make capitalism look like it actually works. So keep on humping. Remember: We've got predator drones. After twelve generations of lavish living at the expense of the rest of the world, it is understandable that citizens of the so-called developed countries have come to consider it quite normal. In fact, Americans expect it to become plusher in the future, increasingly chocked with techno gadgetry, whiz bang processed foodstuffs, automobiles, entertainments, inordinately large living spaces -- forever. We've had plenty of encouragement, especially in recent times. Before our hyper monetized economy metastasized, things such as housing values went through the sky, and the cost of basics, food etc. went through the basement floor, compared to the rest of the world. The game got so cheap and fast that relative fundamental value went right out the window and hasn't been seen since. For example, it would be very difficult to make Americans understand that a loaf of bread or a dozen eggs have more inherent value than an iPhone. Yet, at ground zero of human species economics, where the only currency is the calorie, that is still true. Such is the triumph of the money economy that nothing can be valued by any other measure, despite that nobody knows what money is worth at all these days. This is due in part to the international finance jerk-off, in which the world's governments print truckloads of worthless money, so they can loan it out. The idea here is that incoming repayment in some other, more valuable, currency will cover their own bad paper. In turn, the debtor nations print their own bogus money to repay the loans. So you have institutions loaning money they do not have to institutions unable to repay the loans. All this is based on the bullshit theory that tangible wealth is being created by the world's financial institutions, through interest on the debt. Money making money. As my friend, physicist and political activist George Salzman writes, "Everyone in these 'professional' institutions dealing in money lives a fundamentally dishonest life. Never mind 'regulating' interest rates," he says. "We must do away with interest, with the very idea of 'money making money'. We must recognize that what is termed 'Western Civilization' is in fact an anti-civilization, a global social structure of death and destruction. However, the charade of ever-increasing debt can be kept up only as long as the public remains ignorant. Once ecological limits have been reached the capitalist political game is up." You can see why I love this guy. Boomers and Doomers and XXL bloomers Capitalism wouldn't be around today, at least not in its current pathogenic form, if it had not caught a couple of lucky breaks. The first of course, was the expansion of bloodsucking colonialism to give it transfusions of unearned wealth, enabling "investors" to profit by artificial means (death, oppression and slavery). But the biggest break was being driven to stratospheric heights by inordinate quantities of available hydrocarbon energy. Inordinate, but never the less finite. Consequently, the 100-year-long oil suckdown that put industrial countries in the tall cotton, now threatens to take back from subsequent beneficiary generation everything it gave. The Hummers, the golf courses, the big box stores, cruising at 35,000 feet over the Atlantic -- everything. You'd never know that, to look around at Americans or Canadians, who have not the slightest qualms about living in that 3,500 square foot vinyl sided **** box, if they can manage to make the mortgage nut, or unashamedly buying a quadruple X large Raiders Jersey because, hey, a guy's gotta eat, right? Why don't I deserve a nice ride, a swimming pool and a flat screen? I worked for it (sure you did buddy, your $12,000 Visa/MasterCard tab is proof of that). The doomers and the peak oilers gag, and they call it American denial. Personally, I think it is somewhat unfair to say that most Americans and Canadians are in denial. They simply don't have ******* clue about what is really happening to them and their world. Everything they have been taught about working, money and "quality of life" constitutes the planet's greatest problem -- overshoot. Understanding this trashes our most basic assumptions, and requires a complete reversal in contemporary thought and practice about how we live in the world. When was the last time you saw any individual, much less an entire nation, do that? Compounding our ignorance and naiveté are the officials and experts, politicians, media elites, and especially economists, who interpret the world for us and govern the course of things. The go-to guys. They don't know either. But they've got the lingo down. Somehow or other, it all has to do with the economy, which none of us understands, despite round the clock media jabbering on the subject. Somehow it has to do with this great big spring on Wall Street called "the market" that's gotta be kept wound up, and interest rates at something called The Fed, which have got to be kept smunched down. The industry of crystal gazing and hairball rubbing surrounding these entities is called economics. In heaven, there are no jobs The following may be old news to some who studied economics in college. However, I did not. And, for me at least, this gets at the heart of our dilemma (if dilemma is the right word for economic, environmental and species collapse). Here goes: The human economy is made up of three parts: nature, work and money. But since nobody would pay people like Allen Greenspan or Milton Friedman millions of dollars if they talked just like the rest of us, economists and academics refer to these three parts as the primary, secondary and tertiary economies. Of these, nature -- the world's ecosystems and natural capital -- is by far the most important. It comprises about three quarters of the total value of economic activity (Richard Costanza et al. 1997). To western world economists, nature -- when it is even give nature a thought -- is considered to be limitless. The second part, work, is the labor required to produce goods and services from natural resources. Work creates real value through efficient use of both human and natural resource energy. A potato is just a potato until people sweating over belt lines and giant fryers turn it into Tater Tots. The third economy, the tertiary economy, is the production and exchange of money. This includes anything that can be exchanged for money, whether it is gold, or mortgages bundled as securities, or derivatives. In short, any paperwork device that can be rigged up in such a fashion that money will stick to it. Feel free to take a wild-assed guess which of the three economies causes the most grief in this world. To an economist, work -- the stuff that eats up at least a third of our earthly lives, is merely a "factor" called labor. Work is considered an unfortunate cost in creating added value. Added value, along with nature's resources, is the basis for all real world profits. Without labor, the money economy could not gin up on-paper wealth in its virtual economy. Somewhere, somebody's gotta do some real-world work, before bankers and investment brokers can go into their offices and pretend to work at "creating and managing wealth." Paying the workers in society to produce real wealth costs money. Capitalists hate any sort of cost. It represents money that has somehow escaped their coffers. So when any behemoth corporation hands out thousands of pink slips on a Friday, Wall Street cheers and "the market" goes up. No ordinary mortal has ever seen "the market." But traders on the floor of 11 Wall Street, people who've deemed themselves more than mortal by virtue of their $110 Vanitas silk undershorts, assure us the market does exist. No tours of the New York Stock exchange are permitted, so we have to take their word for it. In any case, in the money economy, eliminating costs, even if those costs happen to be feeding human beings, citizens of the empire, is sublime. That is why economists in the tertiary economy can declare a "jobless recovery" with a straight face. By their lights, the perfect recovery would necessarily be 100% jobless. Human costs of generating profit would be entirely eliminated. Say what you will about the tertiary "money economy," but one thing is certain. It's virulent. Right now finance makes up 42% of GDP, and is rising. Traditionally that figure has been around 9%. Fifty eight percent of the economy is "services." When it comes to the service economy, most people think of fried chicken buckets and "customer service," call centers harassing debtors or selling credit cards. However, much of the so-called service economy consists of "services" sub-corporations and entities owned and operated by monopolies in communications, electronic access and energy. They are designed for the sole purpose of robbing the people incrementally. Borrow a microscope and read the back side your cable and electric bill. Billing you is a "service" for which you pay. So is the guy who cuts off your lights if you don't. And manufacturing? Ten percent. Mostly big ticket items such as salad shooters, as near as I can tell. What nature? Still though, the foundation of the world, including our entire economic structure, is nature. This is clear to anyone who has ever, planted a garden, hiked in the woods, gone fishing or been gnawed on by chiggers. In vis est exordium quod terminus. Yet, not one in a thousand economists takes nature into account. Nature has no place in contemporary economics, or the economic policy of today's industrial nations. Again, like the general American public, these economists are not in denial. They simply don't know it's there. Historically, nature has never been considered even momentarily because economists, like the public, never figured they would run out of it. With the Gulf oil "spill" at full throttle, the terrible destruction of nature is becoming obvious. But no economist who values his or her career wants to start figuring the cost of ecocide into pricing analysis. For god sake man, it's a cost!

 With industrial society chewing the *** out of Mama Nature for three centuries, something had to give, and it has. Capitalists, however, remain unimpressed by global warming, or melting polar ice caps, or Southwestern desert armadillos showing up in Canada, or hurricanes getting bigger and more numerous every year. They are impressed by the potential dough in the so-called green economy. In fact, last night I watched an economist on CNN say that if the government had let the free market take care of the BP gulf catastrophe, it would not be the cluster**** it is now. Now THAT might qualify as denial. In the mean time, anthropogenic ecocide and resource depletion, coupled with the pressures of six billion mouths and asses across the globe, have started to produce -- surprise surprise, Sheriff Taylor! -- very real effects on world economies. (How could they not?) So far though, in the simplistic see-spot-run American mind, it's all about dead pelicans and oiled up hotel beaches. Monkey with the paper When the U.S., and then the world's money economy started to crumble, the first thing capitalist economists could think of to do was to monkey with the paper. That's all they knew how to do. It was unthinkable that the tertiary virtual economy, that great backroom fraud of debt manipulation and fiat money, might have finally reached the limits of the material earth to support. That the money economy's gaming of workers and Mother Nature might itself might be the problem never occurred to the world's economic movers and shakers. It still hasn't. (Except for Chavez, Morales, Castro and Lula). Jobs disappeared, homes went to foreclosure, and personal debt was at staggering all time highs. America's working folks were taking it square in the face. Not that economists or financial kingpins cared much one way or the other. In the capitalist financial world, everything is an opportunity. Cancer? Build cancer hospital chains. Pollution? Sell pollution credits. The country gone bankrupt? "Nothing to do," cried the mad hatters of finance, "but print more money, and give gobs of cash to the banks! Yes, yes, yes! Borrow astronomical amounts of the stuff and bribe every fat cat financial corporation up and down The Street!" All of which came down to creating more debt for the common people to work off. They seem willing enough to do it too -- if only they had jobs. Along with the EU, Japan and the rest of the industrial world, the US continues to flood the market with cheap credit. That would be hunky dory, if was actually wealth for anybody but a banker. The real problems are debt and fraud, and tripling the debt in order to cover up the fraud. And pretending there no natural costs of our actions, that we do not have to rob the natural world to crank up the money world through debt. No matter what economists tell us abut getting the credit industry moving again, papering over debt with more debt will not pollinate our food crops when the last honeybee is dead. I suggest that we put the economists out there in the fields, hand-pollinating crops like they do in China. They seem to know all about the subject, and have placed a monetary value of $12 billion on the pollination accomplished by bees in the US. Can you imagine the ******* arrogance? All bees do is make our fruit and vegetable supply possible. Anyway, if we cannot use the economists for pollinators (odds are they are too damned whacked to do that job), we could also stuff them down the blowhole of the Deepwater Horizon spill. For the first time in history, economists would be visibly useful. Speaking of China: Since there is no way to pick up the turd of American capitalism by the clean end, much less polish it, American economists have pointed east, and set up a yow-yow about China as "the emerging giant." The "next global industrial superpower." Many Chinese are willing to ride their bicycles 10 miles to work through poisonous yellow-green air, and others in the "emerging middle class" are willing to wade into debt up to their nipples; this is offered as evidence of the viability of industrial capitalism. All it proves is that governments and economists never learn. In the quest of getting something for nothing, China follows the previous fools right into the smog and off the cliff. Sumthin' fer nuthin' The main feature of capitalism is the seductive assertion that you can get something for nothing in this world. That you can manufacture wealth through money manipulation, and that it is OK to steal and hold captive the people's medium of exchange, then charge them out the *** for access. That you can do so with a clear conscience. Which you can, if you are the kind of sleazy prick who has inherited or stolen enough wealth to get into the game. Even so, to keep a rigged game going, you must keep the suckers believing they can, and eventually will, benefit from the game. Also, that it is the only game in town. Legitimizing public theft means indoctrinating the public with all sorts of market mystique and hocus-pocus. They must be convinced there is is such a thing as an "investment" for the average schmuck drawing a paycheck (and there is, sort of, between the crashes and the bubbles). It requires a unified economic rationale for government and industry policies, and it is the economist's job to pump out this rationale. Historically, they have seldom hesitated to get down on their knees and do so. It ain't robbery, it's a business cycle Capitalism is about one thing: aggregating the surplus productive value of the public for private interests. As we have said, it is about creating state sanctioned "investments" for the workers who produce the real wealth. Things like home "ownership" and mortgages, or stock investments and funds to absorb their retirement savings. That crushing 30-year mortgage with two refis is an investment. So is that 401K melting like a snow cone the beach. As the people's wealth accumulates, it is steadily siphoned off by government and elite private forces. From time to time, it is openly plundered for their benefit by way of various bubbles, depressions or recessions and other forms of theft passed off as unavoidable acts of nature/god. These periodic raids and draw downs of the people's wealth are attributed to "business cycles." Past periodic raids and thefts are heralded as being proof of the rationale. "See folks, it comes and goes, so it's a cycle!" Economic raids and busts become "market adjustments." Public blackmail and plundering through bailouts become a "necessary rescue packages." Giveaways to corporations under the guise of public works and creating employment become "stimulus." The chief responsibility of economists is to name things in accordance with government and corporate interests. The function of the public is to acquire debt and maintain "consumer confidence." When the public staggers to its feet again and manages to carry more debt, buy more poker chips on credit to play again, it's called a recovery. They are back in the game. Dealer, hit me with two more cards,. I feel lucky. Does it hurt yet? To anyone who is paying attention, things look doomed. Fortunately for American capitalism, nobody is paying attention. They never have. Even given the unemployment numbers, foreclosures and bankruptcies, most Americans are still not feeling enough pain yet to demand change. Not that they will. Demand change, I mean. We haven't the slightest idea of any other options, outside those provided by the corporate managed state. So in a chorus well-schooled by the media the public demands "reform," of the present system, the systemic pathogenic system based on exploitation of the many by the few, the one presently eating our society from the inside out. How do you reform that? We are clueless, and the state sees to it that we stay that way. Take the price of gas, about which Americans are obsessive. In one way or another, petroleum is the subject of much news coverage, nearly as much as pissing matches between egomaniacs in Hollywood or o Capitol Hill. So one might think that by now Americans would have a realistic grasp of the petroleum business and things like oil and gasoline prices. Hah, think again! This is America, this is Strawberry Fields, where nothing is real and the skies are not cloudy all day. We're stewed in a consumer hallucination called the American Dream and riding a digital virtual money economy nobody can even prove exists. Is there an economy out there or not? If we decide to believe the money economy still exists, and that debt is indeed wealth, then we damned sure know where to go looking for the wealth. Globally, forty percent of it is in the paws of the wealthiest one percent. Nearly all of that one percent are connected to the largest and richest corporations. Just before the economy blew out, these elites held slightly less than $80 trillion. After the blowout/bailout, their combined investment wealth was estimated at a little over $83 trillion. To give some idea, this is four years of the gross output of all the human beings on earth. It is only logical that these elites say the only way to revive the economy, which to them consists entirely of the money economy, out is to continue to borrow money from them. However, the unasked question still hangs in the air: Does the money economy even exist anymore? Is it still there? (was it ever?) Or are we all blindly going through the motions because: A: we do not understand that, for all practical historical purposes, it's over; B: we do not know how to do anything else so we keep dancing with the corpse of the hyper-capitalist economy; C: the right calamity has not come down the pike to knock us loose from the spell of the dance, or D: we're so friggin brain dead, commodities engorged and internally colonized by capitalist industrialism that nobody cares, and therefore it no longer matters. This is multiple choice, and it counts ten points toward survival, come the collapse. If there is no economy left, what the hell are we all participating in? A mirage? The zombie ball? The short answer is: Because the economy is a belief system, you are participating in whatever you believe you are. Personally, I believe we are participating in a modern extension of the feudal system, with bankers as the new feudal barons and credit demographics as their turf. But then, I drink and take drugs. Whatever it is, the money economy is the only game in town until the collapse, after which chickens and firewood may become the national currency. The Masai use cattle don't they? At the same time, even dumb people are starting to feel an undefined fear in their bones. When I was back in the States last month, an old high school chum, a sluggard who seldom has forward thought beyond the next beer and Lotto scratch ticket, confides in me: "Joey, I can't shake the feeling that something big and awful is going to happen. And by awful I mean awful." "Happen to what?" "Money, work, our country. Shit, I dunno." "Probably all three," I opined. "Plus the environment." "Cheerful ****, ain't ya?" "That's what they pay me for, Bubba." Some in the herd are starting to feel a big chill in the air, the first winds of the approaching storm. Yes, something is happening, and you don't know what it is, dooooo yew, Mistah Jones? However, the most adept economists and other court sorcerers are going along as if nothing too unusual is happening -- calling it a recession, or more recently a double-dip recession (don't you love these turd-balls, making it sound as harmless as an ice cream cone -- gimme a double dip please!) or even a depression. But no matter what it is, they smugly assure us, there is nothing happening that the world has never seen before. Including the insider scams that ignited the catastrophe. It's just a matter of size. Extent. OK, it's a matter of scale. Like the Gulf oil spill. We've seen spills before, just not this big. But over the next couple of years as the poison crud circulates the world's oceans, the Deep Horizon spill will prove to be a global game changer, whether economists and court wizards acknowledge it or don't. Anything of global scale, whether it is in finance, energy, foreign aid, world health or war contracting, is accompanied by unimaginable complexity. That makes it perfect cover for criminal activity. Particularly finance, where you are always close to the money. Jim Kunstler, never at a loss to describe a ludicrous situation, sums up the paper economy's engineering of our collapse nicely: "Wall Street -- in particular the biggest 'banks' -- packaged up and sold enough swindles to unwind 2500 years of western civilization. You simply cannot imagine the amount of bad financial paper out there right now in every vault and portfolio on the planet … the people fabricating things like synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) had no idea what the **** they were doing -- besides deliberately creating documents that nobody would ever understand, that would never be unraveled by teams of law clerks ... and were guaranteed to place in jeopardy every operation of the world economy above the barter level." Phew! So, for $5,000 and an all expense paid trip to Rio: What does a good capitalist do after having stolen all there is to steal from the living, then stolen the nation's future wealth from the unborn through debt both public and private? Tick tock, tick tock. The wheel spins. Blaaaaaamp! "Your answer please." "A good capitalist would "invest" his haul in some other racket, some other scam in the money economy." "Vanna, a pie in the kisser for this guy, please." The problem with the answer is that economy is now toxed out. Radioactive. Crawling with paper vermin and all manner of vermin, especially toxic derivatives -- about $1.4 quadrillion worth (even as we are still trying to get used to hearing the term trillions), according to the Bank of National Settlements. That is 1,000 trillion, or $190,000 for every human being on the planet. There is not now, and never will be, enough wealth to cover that puppy -- because there is not enough natural world under the puppy to create it. Not the way capitalism creates wealth. Defenders of capitalism who say it can and must be saved must also admit that there is not enough money left to work with, to invest. There is only debt. Oh, yeah, we forgot; debt is wealth to a banker. Well then, all we gotta do is collect $190,000 per head from people in Sudan and Haiti and the rest of the planet. Naw, that's too hard. Elite capital's best bet is a good old fashioned money raid on the serfs; create another bubble that will buy enough time before it pops to make the already rich a few billion richer. To that end, the G-8 is blowing one last bounder out there in the hyperspace where the economy s alleged to be surviving. Naturally, they are doing it in order to "save the world economy." The tough part is figuring out what to base the next bubble on. May I suggest Soylent Green? Under God, with fees and compound interest for all From the outset, capitalism was always about the theft of the people's sustenance. It was bound to lead to the ultimate theft -- the final looting of the source of their sustenance -- nature. Now that capitalism has eaten its own seed corn, the show is just about over, with the nastiest scenes yet to play out around water, carbon energy (or anything that expends energy), soil and oxygen. For the near future however, it will continue to play out around money. As the economy slowly implodes, money will become more volatile stuff than it already is. The value and availability of money is sure to fluctuate wildly. Most people don't have the luxury of escaping the money economy, so they will be held hostage and milked hard again by the same people who just drained them in the bailouts. As usual, the government will be right there to see that everybody plays by the rules. Those who have always benefited by capitalism's rules will benefit more. That cadre of "money professionals" which holds captive the nation's money supply, and runs things according to the rules of money, can never lose money. It writes the rules. And rewrites them when it suits the money elite's interests. Capitalism, the Christian god, democracy, the Constitution. It's all one ball of wax, one set of rules in the American national psyche. Thus, the money masters behind the curtain will write The New Rules, the new tablets of supreme law, and call them Reform. There will be rejoicing that "the will of the people" has once again moved upon the land, and that the democracy's scripture has once again been delivered by the unseen hand of God. --------------- Joe Bageant is the author of Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War. His newest book, Rainbow Pie: A Redneck Memoir, deals with America's permanent white underclass, and how it was intentionally created. To be released in September in Australia and October in the United Kingdom. Rainbow Pie is available for preorder from Amazon-UK and Amazon-Canada. In Australia, the book can be pre-ordered at Scribe Publications

That it true Muridi, the message is about enabling power of Islam, its about the alignment with Allah and His attributes to gain an insight into the purpose of our existence on earth an to seek everthing we need through Allah SWT. For example: If we seek to have peace on earth without Allah, whose attribute is As-Salaam The Source of Peace,. ( Enables us to seek real peace through surrender to our maker), it would be futile. Nur

Nomad Do you feel enabled or disabled by Islam? Nur

Good Thread Brother Xiin InshaAllah, will post a response soon. Note: In Islam, there is no such thing as Religious Loyalty, political loyalty, Football loyalty. There is only a concept of Walaa and Baraa. Anyone who is good to me is my Waliyy, and that begins with Allah, and anyone who is bad to me is an Aduww ( enemy), and that begins with Satan. it follows that anyone who is a friend of Allah is also my friend, and anyone who is friend of Satan is my enemy. What remains to be seen, who are Allah's friends, and who are Satans's friends. Nur

Ukkhayti Bambi I am in a hurry, and will come back later inshAllah, here are my quick responses. Good Marriage is wonderful, and it is a basis of a stable society. Celibacy, or staying single for too long, without a health or an income reason can beg unethical influences, to the point that the person may adjust to this status. Its also true, that its is a voluntary, but like loitering around common areas, if a persons lifestyle can be shown to be a community threat if it becomes the norm ( Low Fertility rate of 1.3 can wipe out a nation) , the state, may encourage marriage by either incentives ( stick or carrot)! The piece appealed to me from the historical point of view, not that I buy it wholesale, but it carried me back to a time when society had a different outlook and aspirations, when it looked at a single person with suspicion if there were so many eligible partners. Clearly, the Ataturk law, which was a secular Law, omitted most of the beneficial complementary clauses of the Sharia Law, making his law seem as unreasonable Law, which prompted the secular Parliament to modify and change in the years that followed. ( will explain how societies and laws change in a Secular states later insnAllah The writeup was meant to see past our time, and how in just 90 years ago, a country like Turkey, required young people to marry by age of 25. looking back today, was that secular law good or bad for Turkey? was it good for its economy, demography compared to the permissive Christian Club ( EU)? Well, let us discuss it in light of our Religion, the Quran and Sunnah to validate what was good, and to omit what is inherently bad. The reason I addressed this piece with the Shabab, is because, they need to also look back in time, to draw parallels of how societies diverge from Islam to DemonCracy and how they can progress better with a wholesome reasonable and Sunnah Compliant Sharia Law. Nur

"Islam in itself, like Judaism in itself and Christianity in itself, is not a threat to me or to anyone. American imperialism is, European indifference and co-operation is and Israeli racism and its cruel regime of occupation is" Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan

Bambi sis Its great to have you back, you are one of the few Nomads from back in 2003 who have visited back to see who is still around. Thanks for your encouragement and advice, and share your thoughts and opinions. Nur

Israeli mother Addresses European Parliament. Dear Friends, Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan is the mother of Smadar Elhanan, 13 years old when killed by a suicide bomber in Jerusalem in September 1997. Below is Nurit's speech made on International Women's Day in Strasbourg earlier this month. Please listen to the words of a bereaved mother, whose daughter fell victim to a vicious, indiscriminating terrorist attack. I wish her words will enter the hearts of all peace seekers in our troubled and divided world. For better days, Professor Avraham Oz Department of Hebrew and Comparative Literature University of Haifa avitaloz @ research.haifa.ac.il WOMEN by Nurit Peled-Elhanan Thank you for inviting me to this today. It is always an honour and a pleasure to be here, among you (at the European Parliament). However, I must admit I believe you should have invited a Palestinian woman at my stead, because the women who suffer most from violence in my county are the Palestinian women. And I would like to dedicate my speech to Miriam R`aban and her husband Kamal, from Bet Lahiya in the Gaza strip, whose five small children were killed by Israeli soldiers while picking strawberries at the family`s strawberry field. No one will ever stand trial for this murder. When I asked the people who invited me here why didn't they invite a Palestinian woman, the answer was that it would make the discussion too localized. I don't know what is non-localized violence. Racism and discrimination may be theoretical concepts and universal phenomena but their impact is always local, and real. Pain is local, humiliation, sexual abuse, torture and death, are all very local, and so are the scars. It is true, unfortunately, that the local violence inflicted on Palestinian women by the government of Israel and the Israeli army, has expanded around the globe, In fact, state violence and army violence, individual and collective violence, are the lot of Muslim women today, not only in Palestine but wherever the enlightened western world is setting its big imperialistic foot. It is violence which is hardly ever addressed and which is halfheartedly condoned by most people in Europe and in the USA . This is because the so-called free world is afraid of the Muslim womb. Great France of "la liberte égalite et la fraternite" is scared of little girls with head scarves. Great Jewish Israel is afraid of the Muslim womb which its ministers call a demographic threat. Almighty America and Great Britain are infecting their respective citizens with blind fear of the Muslims, who are depicted as vile, primitive and blood-thirsty, apart from their being non-democratic, chauvinistic and mass producers of future terrorists. This in spite of the fact that the people who are destroying the world today are not Muslim. One of them is a devout Christian, one is Anglican and one is a non-devout Jew. I have never experienced the suffering Palestinian women undergo every day, every hour, I don't know the kind of violence that turns a woman's life into constant hell. This daily physical and mental torture of women who are deprived of their basic human rights and needs of privacy and dignity, women whose homes are broken into at any moment of day and night, who are ordered at a gun-point to strip naked in front of strangers and their own children, whose houses are demolished , who are deprived of their livelihood and of any normal family life. This is not part of my personal ordeal. But I am a victim of violence against women insofar as violence against children is actually violence against mothers. Palestinian, Iraqi, Afghan women are my sisters because we are all at the grip of the same unscrupulous criminals who call themselves leaders of the free enlightened world and in the name of this freedom and enlightenment rob us of our children. Furthermore, Israeli, American, Italian and British mothers have been for the most part violently blinded and brainwashed to such a degree that they cannot realize their only sisters, their only allies in the world are the Muslim Palestinian, Iraqi or Afghani mothers, whose children are killed by our children or who blow themselves to pieces with our sons and daughters. They are all mind-infected by the same viruses engendered by politicians. And the viruses , though they may have various illustrious names--such as Democracy, Patriotism, God, Homeland--are all the same. They are all part of false and fake ideologies that are meant to enrich the rich and to empower the powerful. We are all the victims of mental, psychological and cultural violence that turn us to one homogenic group of bereaved or potentially bereaved mothers. Western mothers who are taught to believe their uterus is a national asset just like they are taught to believe that the Muslim uterus is an international threat. They are educated not to cry out: `I gave him birth, I breast fed him, he is mine, and I will not let him be the one whose life is cheaper than oil, whose future is less worth than a piece of land.` All of us are terrorized by mind-infecting education to believe all we can do is either pray for our sons to come back home or be proud of their dead bodies. And all of us were brought up to bear all this silently, to contain our fear and frustration, to take Prozac for anxiety, but never hail Mama Courage in public. Never be real Jewish or Italian or Irish mothers. I am a victim of state violence. My natural and civil rights as a mother have been violated and are violated because I have to fear the day my son would reach his 18th birthday and be taken away from me to be the game tool of criminals such as Sharon, Bush, Blair and their clan of blood-thirsty, oil-thirsty, land thirsty generals.. Living in the world I live in, in the state I live in, in the regime I live in, I don't dare to offer Muslim women any ideas how to change their lives. I don't want them to take off their scarves, or educate their children differently, and I will not urge them to constitute Democracies in the image of Western democracies that despise them and their kind. I just want to ask them humbly to be my sisters, to express my admiration for their perseverance and for their courage to carry on, to have children and to maintain a dignified family life in spite of the impossible conditions my world in putting them in. I want to tell them we are all bonded by the same pain, we all the victims of the same sort of violence even though they suffer much more, for they are the ones who are mistreated by my government and its army, sponsored by my taxes. Islam in itself, like Judaism in itself and Christianity in itself, is not a threat to me or to anyone. American imperialism is, European indifference and co-operation is and Israeli racism and its cruel regime of occupation is. It is racism, educational propaganda and inculcated xenophobia that convince Israeli soldiers to order Palestinian women at gun-point, to strip in front of their children for security reasons, it is the deepest disrespect for the other that allow American soldiers to rape Iraqi women, that give license to Israeli jailers to keep young women in inhuman conditions, without necessary hygienic aids, without electricity in the winter, without clean water or clean mattresses and to separate them from their breast-fed babies and toddlers. To bar their way to hospitals, to block their way to education, to confiscate their lands, to uproot their trees and prevent them from cultivating their fields. I cannot completely understand Palestinian women or their suffering. I don't know how I would have survived such humiliation, such disrespect from the whole world. All I know is that the voice of mothers has been suffocated for too long in this war-stricken planet. Mothers` cry is not heard because mothers are not invited to international forums such as this one. This I know and it is very little. But it is enough for me to remember these women are my sisters, and that they deserve that I should cry for them, and fight for them. And when they lose their children in strawberry fields or on filthy roads by the checkpoints, when their children are shot on their way to school by Israeli children who were educated to believe that love and compassion are race and religion dependent, the only thing I can do is stand by them and their betrayed babies, and ask what Anna Akhmatova--another mother who lived in a regime of violence against women and children--asked: Why does that streak o blood, rip the petal of your cheek?

As far as Islam is concerned, 2012 is a Christian Calendar date, nothing is special about it and it has no religious significance, I only posted it as attention humor for a more serious issue " Death and the after life". Nevertheless, Planet Earth and its inhabitants have a finite purpose. Humans and their fragile planet have a limited life time, and no natural occurrence happens in vain nor out of Allah's knowledge and plan. Although this phenomena has been a natural occurrence for billions of years, no one has ever recorded its burst peaks, and if there were ever in the past any intense bursts of electro-magnetic pulses ( EMP) that could have reached earth ( 93 Million Miles), it would not have disrupted "Pharaohs Civilization", he used chariots to chase the oppressed Jews, not Predator Drones to chase the oppressed Muslims, Pharaoh's horses drowned in the Red Sea while chasing Oppressed Jews, could it be that the EMP would render the drones that are killing innocent Muslims useless?. Today though we are the most electrical-power (and Fossil fuel, gas pumps) dependent "civilization" on earths history, a massive EMP would probably induce a very damaging current and voltage surge that can shut down all customer services and information flow, and like Katrina it will only take less than an hour to demote a Superpower to Zero Power! Nur

Nomads NASA says a severe solar flare will cause an electromagnetic disruption of civilization. The world may come to an end by 2012. What is your plan B? Nur

Naxar saaxib Imaam Shafici has a poem that goes like this: Uxibbu Saalixiina Wa Lastu Minhumu Lacallii an anaala Bihimu Shafaacati Wa Akrahu Man kaanat tijaaratahul macasi Wa low kunnaa sawaa an fil bidaacati: Meaning: I love the pious although I am not one of them Hoping that for their sake (Allah will) Pardon me . While I hate those who make sins their core business, Although I am a trader in the same business like theirs. Ukhayati, Malika Where in the blue skies and green Savannah of our Camel Land have you been? Your prayers are highly appreciated sis. Nur

Nomads Current political issues have gotten the better part of eNuri awareness efforts lately leaving the underlying spiritual foundations unattended, coupled with a passive audience who enjoy their fundemenatl 5th right of freedom of silence under the new world order. InshAllah, time permitting, and to prepare for Ramadan, eNuri plans to allocate more time to the spiritual ( Ruuxaaniyaat, raqaaiq) aspect of Islam, which remain the core competency of eNuri Enterprises. Nur

A Nose Job Once upon a time in a land far away there was a remote Kingdom ruled by a powerful King. The citizens of this Kingdom lost contact with the rest of the world and as a result, they became cultural illiterates who lack knowledge and wisdom. They grew very obedient to their powerful King until after a long time, the King became very ill and his doctors diagnosed him with a deadly disease that required his nose to be amputated. After a careful operation, he Doctors succeeded in the amputation and the King survived the illness. In his first cabinet meeting, all the Ministers couldn't hold from laughing at the King, which infuriated him to the point that he ordered his soldiers to amputate all the Ministers noses. The soldiers executed the Royal Order but failed to suppress their laughter at the scene of nose-less Ministers, which prompted the King to order the soldiers noses to be amputated too. The trend ended when all of the citizens of the Kingdom were ordered to have nose job amputations beginning from birth like circumcision. The Kingdom lived happy ever after and no one ever laughed at any other nose-less citizen, since all citizens had no noses by a Royal Decree. One day, a citizen at the beach was surprised to confront a newly arrived immigrant with a nose, and he could not stop laughing at him, the whole town gathered at the beach and laughed at the new comer with the nose in tact. They felt pity for the new comer and out of kindness offered him a free amputation of his nose. Moral of the story: When immorality gains widespread acceptance, people begin to laugh at virtues! -------------------------------------------------- An Example Of A Citizen With A Nose Translation: Courtesy of eNuri Transemantics 2010 eNuri Inspirational Essays Uncommon Common Sense Nur

When it snows in Ottawa, people fall down in Mogadishu! The level of in the Somali community abroad regarding the conflict at home is at all time high, you can't tell the difference between fact and Media fiction. eNuri Opticians to the job! Coming Soon, inshAllah Nur

Akhi Karl Yes brother, its my job description here at SOL Islam page. A timely reminder, inshAllah will add to this great treasure of our sheikh Ibn Taimiya. Nur

Lazie G You write: By bringing secularism into the discussion, you are in fact looking a way to get out and not be held accountable for what you support. I told you, you can not equate secularism with Islam, a religion over a concept. Answer: I did not bring secularism to the discussion, you did, here is what you wrote: "my personal view on this is that religion should be separate from the state" Separation of Religion and Politics is the simplest definition of Secularism. As for my opinion and what I think is right, since when did we made it a crime for a person to support Islam? because that is the only principle that I fully support with all of my mind and heart. You write: You want to blame melez for all your problems(along with the United States), I want your boys exterminated for what they have done to civilians and what they continue to do so. Answer: So your brother Meles Zenawi has nothing to do with Somalia's problems? Insteadt you want Melez TO GO BACK TO SOMALIA TO EXTERMINATE THE SHABAAB FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO CIVILIANS? It never occurred to me that you see the Shabaab as pests! and Melez as CEO of a Pest Control Company! so you can have your cake and eat it too! in your new hybrid Sharia-cum-secular dream house ! . The Chinese have a saying: Man open mouth too long before fried duck fly in his mouth You write: PS: Isn't it a good idea to establish security before you worry about gay soldiers that the UN may or may not send? How did we get to UN sending soldiers? This is why I'm laughing at your answers and line of questioning because of the absurdity thats at the centre of it. Answer: Its not a good idea to build your house on a cliff, not looking beyond your nose can get you in a bigger trouble later on, so its prudent to survey the terrain and the landscape on which you plan to build your house. Allah SWT teaches us in Holy Quraan, Surah Tawbah verse 109-110 : Is it then he, who laid the foundation of his building on piety to Allah and His Good Pleasure, better, or he who laid the foundation of his building on an undetermined brink of a precipice ready to crumble down, so that it crumbled to pieces with him into the Fire of Hell. And Allah guides not the people who are the Zalimun (Unjust, transgressors, oppressors). 110. The building which they built will never cease to be a cause of hypocrisy and doubt in their hearts, until their hearts are cut to pieces. (i.e. till they die). And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise As you have admitted earlier on the thread, that you have short memory or attention to details, here is how the UN will enforce an International Law on any weak country ( Powerful countries walk away with murder all the time) 1. Somali Government accepts Democracy, separation of Religion and Politics and protection of minority rights. 2. UN observers attend to make sure that voting is fair. 3. UN gives Somalia a good rating. 4. UN funds and demands formation of civil societies to represent minority rights in Somalia to become a true Democracy. 5. Parliament votes in favor of the formation of civil societies. 6. The UN sends a list of organizations that need to have an advocacy NGO. the list includes "Laga roonayaasha"! 7. Initially there will be a hesitation in parliament, but after a while, it will be slowly accepted just like in USA and Europe since they are your model to follow. Nur

Lazie G sis You write: The short answer is the case will not reach the high court because such voting on the local level will be considered unconstitutional. Answer: How can it be UNCONSTITUTIONAL sister if the people of Sodomyland adopt it locally and as I said the constitution approves it? You write: On the other hand, we have the Qur'an on our-side, which forbids alternative lifestyle choices. .... On the one hand, it will not fall under the jurisdiction of the high court as its a local issue and will not be problematic. On the other hand, we have the Qur'an on our-side, which forbids alternative lifestyle choices. Answer: Isn't the State a Secular State? How dare you quote Quraan in a secular State? how about the rights of Somali Christians and Atheists, do you really understand what Secularism means? if even today's Somalis are against Sodomy marriages, under Democracy, what will stop sodomy if it gets support from the UN , USA and EU who will demand if Somalia does not recognize Sodomy Marriages, that it will be classified like the Shabab and Taliban repressive regimes? what will stop them to get a UN mandate to send Volunteer American Gay Soldiers to stand up with their brothers and sisters in Somalia? will you stand up to these powers if it gets to that level? hana I dhihin "ma dhaceyso" yaa Ghaaliyah, because Secularism is a trap, once IN, you can't get OUT, better hold to your principles before being told that you have agreed to it. You write: Who should take responsibility for firing the mortar shells that injured that little angel on the picture who is struggling with her breathing and have to be fed through a tube? Answer: The Shabab never target populated areas, its the cowardly Ugandan and Burundi troops who have fired these shells in heavily populated areas, claiming that they are striking back at freedom fighters. Major responsibility on this crime falls on the shoulder of the USA and EU who pay the funding for the ailing TFG who are on a similar life support of their own and who only exist because the USA wants them to fight the Shabab group the USA doesn't like, not because they can harm USA an iota, because we all know that is a big joke, America with over 4000 nuclear warheads is afraid of Shabab? but because their main crime is speaking freely against the USA policies in the Muslim world which is a taboo not allowed in a "free Democratic world" you write: ....and I cant help but laugh@the rest of your questions Answer: You mean the funny REPORT of Ethiopian Soldiers helping Somali girls in Western Somalia? or the funnier Report Ethiopian Soldiers slaughtering Somalis like goats!, of course it happened "legally" during their friendly stay in Somalia under the cordial invitation of your adorable Sheikh Sharif's TFG government ? Waxaan hubaa inaadan keligaa ku qoslaynin dhibka ummaddeenna heysta! Nur

Bilaal brother Islam came to help people take off their false masks. We all wear the pride mask, individuals and states alike, what other explanation for the US slaughter of over a Million Iraqis , Somalis, Afghanis under false lies allegations and still unrepentaant to admit for their sin? Power and Pride are adangerous combination for human race. Allah says in Quraan: "Innal Insaana la yadghaa, an ra aahu istaghnaa Meaninng: " Mankind ( always) transgresses, when he finds himself self sufficient (powerful), surely, (O mankind), You will return to your lord (after death for judgement)" Nur

A good refrence thread for those seeking answers on aqeedah issues as debated at SOL Nur