Srebrenica: A story of a Muslim Genocide

The Srebrenica Massacre

11 July 1995

I was five when the Srebrenica genocide happened but I remember. Yes, don't laugh please. Kids here in this part of the world remember things like this. 
My 14 years old cousin Omar remembers his 2 years old memories of the Iraq war. 
I was too young so, I have such vague memories of it, I was a first grade kid in primary school and somehow I still remember a few things.

I still recall the Arabic songs/Nasheed my aunts used to play from an album called "The wounds of Sarajevo".
 A collection of Arabic poems in the form of songs talking about the massacres, about places called Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Bosnia and all these hard to pronounce Slavic names.

Later I found these poems and songs online after years of research and I still love to listen to them often.

I remember she had a bumper-sticker about Bosnia on her radio/cassette device where we used to play these songs. 

I remember a lot of the Modern Standard Arabic vocabulary I picked up and the concepts I learned about through this . I remember asking her as we were watching black and white TV reports and I was having such a hard time understanding why they are killing kids somewhere in the world called Bosnia.

It's so strange how I could clearly remember these details but it also shows what kind of childhood some of us have experienced in Egypt even though we were too far away from these conflicts since the post Camp David era.
 Still none of my peers in school and all the way up to college would relate to these stories or know of them.

"European Muslims", "Non-Arabic speaking people who believe in the same God and book I believe in", Yugoslavia", "Serb and Bosnian" and of course the "Hate/ discrimination crimes" all were things you don't get exposed to if you're a regular Egyptian who grew up in culturally Muslim households in a secular educational system.

As I grew up and while I was exploring my identity I felt a strong connection with these people though, more than just sympathy. I was so curious and wanted to know more about this part of the world and why these white Europeans who don't look like us are Muslim and why they were massacred like that.

When I was introduced to the internet finally in 2003 I did an intensive research on the issue in Arabic ( There wasn't much out there at all back then) and eventually had to do more in English. This was one of the topics that made me want to start blogging when I was 17 or so.
 I didn't think anybody else around me knew or cared and that was hard to understand. 

Later in 2008 I wrote 2 articles on the Bosnian Genocide and until today I still get visits from people searching it in Arabic.

http://so-called-human.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post_11.html

http://so-called-human.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post_9372.html

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Until today I still listen to all the beautiful poetry they wrote about the war/genocide that I memorized growing up in Arabic. 

The wounds of Sarajevo, an album cover 

I can't miss July the 11th without thinking about it and recalling all the Aljazeera documentaries and all the articles and pictures I have in the back of my mind about this horrific event.

I still feel the words on alienation, estrangement, and that Bosnian guy singing about growing up in a non-Muslim country missing the warmth of home, the mosques, the call to prayer, the family and friends, and everything he left behind after becoming a refugee knowing that he can't be back. Ever.

Before the uprising Egypt was pushing me further away more and more and at that time I started to be an advocate of such unpopular/ unknown causes that nobody here cares to learn about.

I started an online educational/awareness campaign on the online forums I used to participate in about this part of the world, the Balkan and central Asia, its history and present, the early Islamophobia in the 1990s.

Nobody I know really cared at that time, but I was happy I got some people excited about the idea online.

I couldn't understand why nobody else was wondering as I did for so long.

How come 8,000 people were killed in 4 days for being males and Muslims and how come women and girls got raped for being Muslims and females?

How come people were kept in concentration camps starving to death and getting tortured like this?

Why didn't anybody talk about it as much as they talked about other events while it was the most outrageous mass killing in Europe after WW2?

Why do you need to be a Muslim to speak about it and why don't fellow Muslims know about it at first place?

90% of all the mosques, schools and old architecture were destroyed , more than 700 hundred mosques and more than 850 public library.

Only (yesterday) around 500 newly discovered bodies where buried.

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"How can these army generals do it and get away with it?" that was one naive question I had as a first year college student until I saw other army generals doing similar things in my own country.

Looking at the destroyed buildings and the coffins piling up in Syria reminded me so much of these pictures showing green coffins and veiled women crying over them. For some reason it wasn't like Palestine or Iraq's scenes at all, it was more like Bosnia.

Now Syrians have more means to talk about what's going on there. Will that change people's perception to mass killings?
Does it mean that no more massacres will continue to happen, that no more innocent people will continue to die in vain and life will go on like this.

Does it make a difference to educate ourselves about history mistakes and educate those around us in order to avoid it?

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The Bosnian genocide and the way the world responded to it all taught me so many lessons about our world and the reality of things. The racial and religious dynamics in the whole thing have hundreds of lessons on how our world is operating. 

I don't know what could be done to stop the bloodshed around the corner from my house in Egypt to be thinking about solving these issues in other countries.

I just know that this specific event has certainly shaped the political and religious consciousness of so many young Muslims in the world as it did with me. More people should learn about this massacre in this context. 

The least I can do about it is talking and honoring these victims by letting more people learn about what happened to them.

For those of you who still don't know much about it, you can easily google: Srebrenica + Genocide + 1995 and you will find plenty of documentaries and articles. 

These are some of the tweets people posted today on twitter to commemorate Srebrenica Massacre, you still can follow the hashtag #Srebrenica to get updates on it:

Stay Human ‏@Stay_Human1

Imagine whats going through families who only just buried their beloveds today after 17 years ... bodies still being identified‪#Srebrenica

Zbigniew G ‏@Zbigniew_G

In many cases, body parts of one individual have been found in several different mass graves ‪#Srebrenica

Kaya Dee ‏@Kaya_Dee

To this day i remember Bosnians telling me about the pain they suffered at the hands of their neighbours ‪#Srebrenica ‪#Islamophobia@MPACUK

Taji Mustafa ‏@tajimustafa

#Srebrenica massacre: I remember how UN arms embargo

left Bosnian Muslims largely unarmed while Serbia inherited Yugoslav Army's arsenal

Radeyah Why? ‏@TryUmphNow

After the ‪#Holocaust we dealt with ‪#antisemitism After the ‪#civilrightsmovement we death with ‪#racism But we never deal with‪#Islamophobia

MPACUK ‏@MPACUK

‪#Srebrenica, where nearly 9000 Muslims were murdered. They are still finding more bodies 17 years on! We will never forget!

MPACUK ‏@MPACUK

Rape was as much a weapon as bullets & bombs. Women raped in front of their parents, children. Fathers forced to rape daughters‪ #Srebrenica

MPACUK ‏@MPACUK

An estimated 200,000 Muslims murdered, 12,000 children & 50,000 women raped at the end of the genocide. How can we not forget?#Srebrenica

Cosa dice l'Islam sul terrorismo?

L'Islam è una religione di misericordia e non consente il terrorismo.

Dio disse nel Corano:
((Dio non vi proibisce di essere buoni e giusti nei confronti di coloro che non vi hanno combattuto per la vostra religione e che non vi hanno scacciato dalle vostre case. Dio ama coloro che si comportano con equità.)) (Corano, 60:8)

Il profeta Mohammed proibiva ai soldati di uccidere donne e bambini e li avvisava:

{Non tradire, non essere eccessivo, non uccidere un neonato.}

Disse anche: {Chiunque abbia ucciso una persona che ha un contratto con i musulmani non profumerà come il Paradiso, sebbene la sua fraganza si sentirà per un periodo di quarant'anni.}

Il profeta Mohammed aveva anche proibito la punizione con il fuoco.

Egli elencograve; l'omicidio come il secondo di tutti i peccati e avvisava anche che nel giorno del giudizio, {I primi casi a essere giudicati tra persone nel giorno del giudizio saranno quelli di spargimento di sangue}.

I musulmani sono anche incoraggiati a essere gentili con gli animali ed è proibito maltrattarli. Una volta il profeta Mohammed disse:

{Una donna fu punita perchè imprigionò un gatto finché morì. Per questo motivo, fu condannata all'Inferno. Quando il gatto era imprigionato, essa non gli diede né cibo né acqua e non lo lasciò libero di nutrirsi degli insetti della terra.}

Disse anche che un uomo diede da bere a un cane, così Dio dimenticò i suoi peccati a causa di questa buona azione. Fu chiesto al profeta:

“Messaggero di Dio, saremo ricompensati per la gentilezza verso gli animali?” Egli disse: {Esiste una ricompensa per la gentilezza verso ogni forma di vita, animale o umana.}

In aggiunta, quando i musulmani macellano gli animali è loro imposto di farli spaventare e soffrire il meno possibile. Il profeta Mohammed disse: {Quando macellate un animale, fatelo nel modo migliore. Uno affili il suo coltello per ridurre la sofferenza dell'animale.}

Alla luce di questi e altri testi islamici, l'atto di incitare al terrore nei cuori dei civili senza difese, la distruzione completa di edifici e proprietà, il bombardamento e lo storpiare uomini innocenti, donne e bambini sono atti proibiti e detestabili secondo l'Islam e i musulamni.

I musulmani seguono una religione di pace, misericordia e perdono e la maggior parte non ha nulla a che vedere con i violenti eventi che sono associati ai musulmani.

Se un musulmano commette un atto di terrorismo, questa persona sarà colpevole di violare le leggi dell'Islam.

http://www.islam-guide.com/it

Norman Finkelstein: Arab dignity will bring peace to the Middle East

This  important and highly recommended statement by Dr. Norman Finkelstein was supposed to be published earlier but I totally forgot about it due to the unusual circumstances we are going through right now in Egypt.
Last May I attended his lecture in the American university of Cairo and that was one of the most informative and important lectures about Israeli/Arab conflict I've ever attended. 

If you are a westerner and interested in getting to know about this conflict from a perspective of a Jewish American who's parents died in the Holocaust you have to know more about this man.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Finkelstein


The article as found in his official site.
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/stop-the-presses-an-article-thats-actually-accurate/
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In a lecture that linked Egypt’s revolution to the balance of power in the region, the renowned American academic Norman Finkelstein painted the clear fear change will induce in Israel

Osman El Sharnoubi, Wednesday 18 May 2011

The American political scientist and author Professor Norman Finkelstein, an outspoken critic of Israel, gave a lecture Monday night to a packed auditorium at the American University in Cairo, a day after he demonstrated with Egyptians in front of the Israeli embassy in Giza on the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba.
Finkelstein, the author of The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, started the lecture by speaking about Israeli aggression towards its neighbours in the last five years, starting from Hezbollah’s victory against Israel.

Finkelstein moved from this defeat to tell a narrative of Israel’s belligerency in reaction to this defeat, using the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2008, the ensuing blockade and finally the attack on the freedom flotilla, the Mavi Marmara as illustration.
Through such accounts, Finkelstein presented to the audience why he views Israel as a rogue state.
Presenting facts and testimonies, Finkelstein refused to label what happened to Gaza in 2008 as a “war,” insisting that what took place there was a “massacre.” Presenting Israel’s excuse for this massacre as false, for Hamas did not provoke this response from Israel, he moved on to the real reason for the operation against Gaza. Israel, smarting from its humiliating defeat in Lebanon in 2006, wanted to display its military might.


In the same way, the professor undermined the reasons for the Israeli blockade on Gaza, saying that preventing weapons from entering Gaza did not necessitate banning chocolates, potato chips and baby chicks from entering.
He sees the blockade as a form of collective punishment on the Gazans for choosing the wrong leaders in the 2007 elections – Hamas.

pictures from Gaza after IDF attacks in Dec 2008

The final, and most important, part of the lecture covered the Egyptian revolution and its impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Posing as a starting point the question of whether or not the revolution would threaten Israeli security, Finkelstein delved into Egypt’s history with Israel since 1952, shortly after the occupation of Palestine, following the free officers’ coup and the revolution that immediately followed.

Finkelstein, again, tried to show that Nasser and other leaders were in fact hoping to avoid a confrontation with Israel, preferring to focus instead on modernising. It was Israel that wanted a war.

Through citing events from 1954 to 1967, the lecture presented the view that an unthreatened Israel carried out the 1967 attack on Egypt in its effort (with the grace of the United States) to destroy “radical Arab nationalism” and eliminate the chances of Egypt becoming a force to reckon with in the future. Instead, with Mubarak in power, it became a country that could “be pushed around.”

From here, the lecture became more inward looking, touching upon issues hotly debated in Egypt since the ousting of Mubarak. Among these is the Camp David peace treaty with Israel.

The treaty, he explained, came about as a consequence of Israel’s desire to remove Egypt from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The concern stemmed from Egypt’s military performance in the 1973 war that temporarily saw Israel pushed back in Sinai.

Sadat unilaterally agreed to peace in return for the Sinai Peninsula, which, according to Finkelstein, “freed Israeli’s military hand” to attack on other fronts. The 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank followed.

Finkelstein asserted that under Mubarak, Israel was guaranteed a calm southern front, and it pursued its attempts at cornering Iran with sanctions and mobilising for war against it.

This, the professor stated, is no longer the case. The first thing Israel said after Mubarak was ousted from power is that the attack on Iran is off.

Another consequence of Mubarak’s toppling, believes Finkelstein, is that the popularly rejected Camp David treaty may be renegotiated, although he doubts it will be renounced due to the reciprocal obligations a treaty entails, i.e. Israel left Sinai in exchange for Egypt making peace with it. Israel, Finkelstein said, trembles at the possibility of having to renegotiate with Egypt.

The revolution has brought Israel to face a fear it hasn’t had to contemplate since signing the treaty with Egypt. Israel is “afraid that the dignity of the Arab World, in particular Egypt, will be restored, that’s their problem,” declared Finkelstein. War, on the contrary, fills it with no fear since it has the upper hand militarily.

It was then the turn of Arab leaders to come under Finkelstein’s caustic analysis. Despite knowledge being a crucial asset for leading a country, Arabs – citing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah – don’t generally read, especially their leaders. “The complete guide to chewing grass” he cited as the only book Mubarak had ever read.

For this reason, Finkelstein explained, the Israelis weren’t afraid of Mubarak, but, in contrast, “they know ElBaradei reads,” to which the audience applauded.

His reference to the Nobel Prize winner and presidential hopeful Mohammad ElBaradei lead to him admitting his preference to see him become president because he “wants to restore the dignity and the pride of Egypt.”

It is precisely the prospect of Arab countries rising as powers and modernising, which destroys Israel’s war option, preventing it from having a free military hand in the region to use under the pretext that Arabs only understand the language of force. This, Finkelstein said, is the greatest threat to Israel.

The nullifying of the military option would create a climate in which the prospects for peace between Israel and Palestine have never been better.

Arabs and Muslims: The bad guys in Hollywood

"Reel Bad Arabs": How Hollywood vilifies a people.

I found this outstanding documentary on July 2010 and was impressed by the effort done and the huge amount of information documented in it. It was originally a book by the same author: Dr. Jack Shaheen that I so much admire and respect.

I thought of sharing this movie earlier but it never happened but now is definitely the best time to share such a masterpiece of work for many reasons. 

First of all to remind Arabs of the way we have always been considered and portrayed in the western media and consequently on the western mentality _and may be still are_ in order to work on changing this by clearing these misconceptions up.

I'm afraid the subconsciousness of us is being fed all the time by nonsense that become facts later on in a gradual process. 

(Advice number 1: Watch out for messages sent to you throughout media. All the time)

Secondly, when the map of the Middle East is being redrawn literally, policies towards the Middle East should be reconsidered again as well. This is the role of the educated open-minded westerners who are willing to co-operate.

Although seeing Americans jumping like crazy and chanting CIA in front of the red house oh, sorry I mean the white house made me think twice before talking about rationality and the definition of triumph I still have faith in the smart minority out there.

(Advice number 2: Power comes from people for people who are the makers of their fate, if they neglected this fact they should blame no-one but themselves.)

I'm not going to write much and will just quote from the official site of the movie that you might find here:

http://www.reelbadarabs.com/

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"This groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged from the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs--from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding "terrorists"--along the way offering devastating insights into the origin of these stereotypic images, their development at key points in US history, and why they matter so much today. "

"Shaheen shows how the persistence of these images over time has served to naturalize prejudicial attitudes toward Arabs and Arab culture, in the process reinforcing a narrow view of individual Arabs and the effects of specific US domestic and international policies on their lives.

By inspiring critical thinking about the social, political, and basic human consequences of leaving these Hollywood caricatures unexamined, the film challenges viewers to recognize the urgent need for counter-narratives that do justice to the diversity and humanity of Arab people and the reality and richness of Arab history and culture."

About Dr.Jack Shaheen:

Dr. Jack Shaheen (born 1935) is Professor Emeritus of Mass Communication at Southern Illinois University. He was also a consultant on Middle East affairs for CBS News.

He studies portrayals of Arabs and Islam in American media. Being a committed internationalist and humanist, Dr. Shaheen addresses stereotypical images of racial and ethnic groups. His presentations illustrate that stereotypes do not exist in a vacuum, that hurtful caricatures of Asians, blacks, Latinos and others, impact innocents. He explains why such portraits persist, and provides viable solutions to help shatter misperceptions.

Among Dr. Shaheen's awards recognizing his "outstanding contribution towards a better understanding of our global community" are the University of Pennsylvania's Janet Lee Stevens Award, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition for "his lifelong commitment to bring a better understanding towards peace for all mankind."

Shaheen, a recipient of two Fulbright teaching awards, holds degrees from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Missouri. 

He regularly appears on national programs such as Nightline, Good Morning America, 48 Hours, and The Today Show. Also, he has worked with several television series: The Lucy Show, Twelve O'Clock High and The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.

To watch the full movie on Top Documentary Films:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/reel-bad-arabs/

Where is Tunisia located?

Question 1 for you:

a. How does the western main stream media decide on exposing international issues? 

b. What are the factors that determine if something is newsworthy, hot or interesting?

For a long time I've been trying really hard to figure out the answer to this question especially that the reactions of the westerners themselves are pretty surprising to me most of the time.

So far, it seems to me that the majority of people are so very misinformed about all Middle Eastern issues.  

This is sad but I'm telling you, educated people of the west, I honestly want to change this and I want your help! 

I remember the way the news about Haiti earthquake, Darfur, and always the Iranian internal issues were focused on in western mainstream media. 

When they pick up and choose I think I should begin to doubt!

Of course I never go to western sources to get information about anything related to The Egyptian or middle eastern related affairs. However, I still need to complain about the extremely dumb stuff I see written about them on popular newspapers or shown on mainstream TV channels. And then also complain about the comments, opinions, and reactions people have in real world.

That was a kind of long introduction, right? I'm sorry but I really had to say this.

Ok then let's see what we have today from my interesting part of the world.

It's Tunisia!

Yes, this little less heard of seemingly peaceful and trouble-free North African country for the majority of us although the truth was far beyond this. 

Even here in Egypt we don't hear much about this country, until only a few weeks ago.

The whole thing started approximately around the 17th of December 2010. In Sidi Bo Zeid city people started to protest and then it spread all over the country only after this university graduate Tunisian guy tried to burn himself alive. 

He failed to get a job with his university degree (That sounds pretty familiar, like my future for example). Anyway, he ended up selling fruits in the street and the government chased him because it is illegal. 

So, the protests got bigger and it turned to be a people revolution on unemployment, high prices, oppression and all, and both the Tunisian police and army clashed with the protesters. It was a big mess some people were killed, some were injured and all schools and universities got closed. These are some of the pictures from there:

Pretty scary, isn't it?!

Up to this point, the western media coverage along with Middle Eastern "allies" were all terribly dumb. 

 Nothing but just a few lines with many "riots" and "riotous" words inserted within the articles "reporting" what happened to the majority of misinformed people over here and there who may still need to know where is Tunisia located! 

Some smart people have noticed the intended weak coverage on the Tunisian Revolution like this one here:

http://blogs.alternet.org/russwellen/2011/01/04/inspiring-story-of-tunisian-protests-ignored-by-washington/

And this one here:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/20111981222719974.html

Activist crackdown: Tunisia vs Iran

By: Jillian York who is a writer, blogger, and activist based in Boston. She works at Harvard Law School's Berkman Centre for Internet & Society and is involved with Global Voices Online.

"The mainstream media denounces crackdowns on Iranian bloggers, yet ignores attacks on activists in Tunisia. Now, as Tunisians take to the streets (and to the Internet) to protest unemployment and the oppressive and longstanding Ben Ali regime, the world's attention seems to be elsewhere. More specifically (and perhaps more importantly), the US government--which intervened heavily in Iran, approving circumvention technology for export and famously asking Twitter to halt updates during a critical time period—has not made any public overtures toward Tunisia at this time."

But things changed a little for the western media by the time it turned to be a real revolution.

Of course you can't simply ignore it when the dictator president flee away and escaped with his family! Till the present moment I'm writing this post, he is flying from an airport to another trying to get a place to hide.

For me, the funnies part about all of this is how westerners themselves comment and react online.

Ignorant people who refuse to get educated about what they don't know and don't admit it becoming political and social experts especially on Middle eastern related issues are funny.

One funny thing I keep reading is how many people think that it was the invention of Wikileaks and the Internet that helped the Tunisians.

 You know, these things they are not familiar with in 3rd world countries especially in Africa where they still live either on trees or inside tents.

But forget about this, for a little while I couldn't believe what I was hearing, seeing and reading online or on TV about Tunisia! 

A Revolution_for real_ on an autocratic regime for the very first time in a really long while in the region.

These are Arab people who are doing this.

You hear me, people? Arabs!

They live not too far from here almost up to same pressure, same corruption, and same everything bad  we have and they did it.

Thanks to the Tunisian people I feel so proud today, I feel it's a personal victory and I do wish to live till the time my own people learn that it costs a lot to see a change, to ask for your rights, and get them. 

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- Ah! by the way, could anyone please tell me where exactly is this country they keep talking about now?

Is it in Africa or somewhere Asia, maybe?

- Seriously man, why should I give a damn about it?
 I know they did pretty well in Star Wars, anyways. And that was awesome!

Die ersten 10 von Dhul-Hidsch

As Salamu ´aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,
liebe Geschwister im Islam.

Nur noch wenige Stunden, und die zehn besten Tage im Diesseits (Die ersten 10 von Dhul-Hidschah) treffen ein.

Diesbezüglich sagte der Gesandte ALLAHs (sallaALLAHu ´aleihi wa sallam): "Es gibt keine Tage, an denen die gute Tat ALLAH lieber ist, als an diesen zehn Tagen (...)" [Bukhary] Und: "Die besten Tage im Diesseits sind die (ersten) zehn Tage (von Dhul-Hidschah).“ Und: "Es gibt keine Tat, die bei ALLAH reiner (besser) ist, noch für die man größeren Lohn bekommt, als Gutes, das man in den zehn Opfertagen verrichtet (…).“

Damit haben gute Taten, die an diesen Tagen verrichtet werden, einen besonderen Stellenwert und werden mehr belohnt, als dass sie zu einer anderen Zeit verrichtet werden.

Aus diesem Grunde sollten wir in diesen Tage unsere Pflichten sorgfältiger ausführen, vermehrt von den Sünden Abstand nehmen (da die Sünden in den heiligen Monaten mehr bestraft werden) und vermehrt freiwillige Taten verrichten, um unser Hassanat-Konto reichlich zu füllen.

Diese 10 Tage sind eine hervorragende Gelegenheit, viel Belohnung zu erreichen und großen Nachteil erfährt gewiss jener, der diese Tage einfach an sich vorbei ziehen lässt und bzgl. ihrer Wichtigkeit unachtsam ist.

Unter diesen Tagen ist der Tag ´Arafah. Wer an diesem Tag fastet, dem werden die Sünden von 2 Jahren vergeben.

Und am 10. Tag ist unser Festtag.

Eine ausführliche Lektüre (Beweise zur Besonderheit und welche Gottesdienste sollte man verrichten) zu diesem äußerst wichtigen Thema findet Ihr auf:

www.islamlernen.com

Und vergesst nicht: Die Tage beginnen bereits diese Woche (womöglich am 18. oder 19.11, je nach Mondsichtung.)

Und wenn ihr eure Geschwister über diese Tage in Kenntnis setzt und sie zum Guten anregt, dann werdet ihr jedes Mal mitbelohnt, wenn diese Person eine gute Tat verrichtet, ohne dass ihr Lohn verringert wird.

Die Gnade ALLAHs ist wirklich unermesslich, Alhamdulillah.

---------------------------
The sources are :
*A facebook group named:Was ist der Islam wirklich?What's Islam really about?Qu'est-ce que l'islam?

*The site:
http://www.islamlernen.com/

Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land: Media & the Israel-Palestine Conflict

السلام و الدعاية و أرض الميعاد:

الإعلام الأمريكي و الصراع الفلسطيني الإسرائيلي

Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land:

Media & the Israel-Palestine Conflict

  

A film introduced by: Media education Foundation

Written and directed by:

Sut Jhally & Bathsheba Ratzkoff

*********

I've seen a part of this documentary dubbed into Arabic on Aljazeera documentary channel and I liked what I've heard and seen in it. 

Not to mention that I didn't really need to watch the whole film to judge it, I'm quite impatient so watching an 80 minute long documentary is more than I can take especially when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict for many reasons.

In addition, I'm not yet to decide about this issue since I've already had my point of view regarding it that I'll never change. Now I'm just enhancing it's validity even more.

Speaking from a standpoint of an average person living in any country allover the Middle East who has some interest in politics, the film doesn't offer something brand new.

However, it could be used as a very good argument in several occasions due to the nature and background of the interviewees and the speakers in it who are respectful scholars and journalists, former Israeli soldiers and also bright individuals such as the linguist Noam Chomsky, a worldwide reputed Jewish thinker that I appreciate myself.

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Taken directly from the official website:

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.

Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one.

The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.
 

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Interviewees include Seth Ackerman, Mjr. Stav Adivi, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Hanan Ashrawi, Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Neve Gordon, Toufic Haddad, Sam Husseini, Hussein Ibish, Robert Jensen, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Karen Pfeifer, Alisa Solomon, and Gila Svirsky.

Sections:

Intro | American Media: Occupied Territory | Hidden Occupation | Invisible Colonization | Violence in a Vacuum | Defining Who Is Newsworthy | Myth of U.S. Neutrality | Myth of the Generous Offer | Marginalized Voices | Is Peace Possible? 

 

 

Terms of camp david proposal and how it was covered in American media are one of the most interesting
parts of the documentary

You could watch the full version in English on google videos via this link:

Click here

Enjoy!

Muslims offered to pray in churches of the US and Italy

So, I'm actually writing this post just for record. Nothing more really.

Since things like that give me some hope it might turn to be better in the future and also make me feel a little optimistic about our world no matter how bad it looks like in my eyes now.

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I was not going to comment about "Burn Koran Day 11th of September" that's held by a church in Florida this month but I changed my mind now in order to compare opposite reactions and interactions with Islam and Muslims by different types of Christians.

Since 9/11, when the majority of people in non Islamic mainly western cultures first  heard about something called "Islam" everyone speaks about "Radical Muslims", "Extremist Muslims" and the like due to the active brainwash process carried out by the media promoting this ideas.

I have no idea how they used to perceive Islam and Muslims before this incident but I think it might be just ignorance rather than hatred.

And the question is:
Why doesn't anyone point out to Radical Christians and Radical Hindus and Radical anything else although they do exist in history? No answer.

N.B 
Pastor Terry Jones, the Radical Christian, is the leader of the event, for more details google his name or the name of the event.

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*First of all, when someone from an English background writes "Koran" instead of "Qur'an"  it tells me clearly what type of person they are, only someone who has never read about the Qur'an at first place rather than reading the book itself would write it this way.

*Second, as a Muslim I believe that a true Christian who knows well the real essence of Christianity and all other religions would never support hatred spreading events amongst different groups of people.

I believe Christianity is far more than a group of haters who probably know absolutely nothing about Islam, prophet Muhammad and may be Christianity as well.  

So the acts of some Christians don't necessarily represent Christianity and wouldn't change our perspectives regarding it.

Humans make mistakes and misrepresent their beliefs most of the time. 
(I know I've said this statement like 100 times before)
 

So, why isn't it the case when it comes to dealing with Muslims?!
No answer.

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Ok, let's check out the good news..

Christians are offering Muslims in emergency cases to pray in their churches all around the world, how tolerant and peaceful :)!

Reminds me of a verse in Qur'an:

((And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.)) 22:40 Al Hajj

I'm sure there are many other cases but I only got a couple:

1- Memphis Area Muslims who are coming from 30 different nationalities are worshiping at a Christian Church this Ramadan because their mosque is under construction..

For more details see the link below:

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story/Memphis-Area-Muslims-Worshiping-At-Christian/F5CZgzul4EegYgk_L9evNg.cspx

2- In the town of Gallarate, north of Milan, Muslims have no mosque in which to celebrate Ramadan.

Instead, for the past three years, they have prayed in a plot of land belonging to the local church.

For the rest of photos and more details check the link below:

http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20100830-italy-gallarate-muslims-no-mosque-pray-church-northern-league