By Imam Omar Ahmad Suleiman, Imam in New Orleans, LA and a member of ICNA’sShariah Council In the name of Allah, the most Compassionate, the most Merciful. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon His final messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). First and foremost, everything that is written is in assumption that the messages from Imam Anwar that have recently surfaced are indeed from him and no one else. As American Muslims, many of us used to wonder at how Allah has blessed Imam Anwar with such a degree of eloquence, and the gift of storytelling if … Continue reading Responding to Anwar Al Awlaki – A Message to Muslim Youth

The Petraeus briefing: Biden’s embarrassment is not the whole story Posted By Mark Perry On Jan. 16, two days after a killer earthquake hit Haiti, a team of senior military officers from the U.S. Central Command (responsible for overseeing American security interests in the Middle East), arrived at the Pentagon to brief Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The team had been dispatched by CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus to underline his growing worries at the lack of progress in resolving the issue. The 33-slide, 45-minute PowerPoint briefing stunned Mullen. The briefers reported that … Continue reading US Military Operations in Iraq need to expand and include Israel and the Palestinians! – Gen Petraeus

Qantas pilot allowed to carry on flying… despite having urges to crash planes By Richard Shears A jumbo jet pilot has told how he repeatedly had overwhelming urges to crash the planes he was flying. Bryan Griffin said that once he even had to ‘immobilise’ his arm to prevent him trying to down a Qantas passenger jet. His hand had ‘involuntarily moved towards the start levers’ on the journey to Singapore. Fined: Qantas has been ordered to pay a pilot £97,000 after allowing him to continue flying when he was not mentally fit to do so The compulsion to cut … Continue reading Qantas pilot allowed to carry on flying despite wanting to crash!

How to Calculate a Dog’s Age in Dog Years A popular misconception is that dogs age 7 years for each calendar year. In fact, canine aging is much more rapid during the first 2 years of a dog’s life. After the first 2 years the ratio settles down to 5 to 1 for small and medium breeds. For large breeds the rate is 6 to 1, and for giant breeds the rate is 7 to 1. Thus, at 10 years of age a Great Dane would be 80 years old while a pug would only be 64. How to Tell … Continue reading Calculate a Dog’s Age in Dog Years!

Actor Sir Christopher Lee has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to an illustrator in a dispute over royalties. By By Tom Worden telegraph.co.uk Actor Sir Christopher Lee as Mohammed Ali Jinnah Photo: EPA The Lord of the Rings star, 87, and his associates must pay £640,000 to artist Gerardo Moreno for work he did on a DVD cover, a Spanish court ruled. Mr Moreno claims he was not properly paid for the art work on the DVD of Jinnah, a 1998 movie staring Lee about the life of the founding father of Pakistan, Muhammed Ali Jinnah. … Continue reading Sir Christopher Lee loses battle

World of Islam children’s books spark protest from US Muslims Council on American-Islamic Relations complains Muslims are portrayed as violent in series by foreign policy thinktank guardian.co.uk, Protesters feel that the books indicate that Muslims are something American society should be wary of. Photograph: AFP photo/AFP/Getty Images A series of US children’s textbooks on Islam contains misleading and inflammatory rhetoric about the religion, inaccurately portraying its followers as hostile and deserving of suspicion, according to a US Muslim civil liberties group. The Pennsylvania chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has begun what it calls a public awareness campaign against … Continue reading Muslims are portrayed as violent by US foreign policy thinktank

The true meaning of halal Debates about halal slaughter miss the wider point of a concept that promotes purity and integrity in Muslims’ whole lives Catherine Fildes guardian.co.uk, Half-reluctantly, I should “come out”, despite having hidden it from most of my fellow PhD students in the Cambridge English faculty. I try to avoid identity politics but for this article it seems necessary. I’m a white Muslim girl who doesn’t wear hijab or speak Arabic. Unlike that other white Muslim, Jihad Jane, I quite like the west. In fact I’m inspired by western-educated Muslims such as Gai Eaton, who died recently. … Continue reading Coming out of the closet over Halal and the meaning behind it!

Healthcare reform vote: sweet victory for Obama Winning the vote for healthcare reform in Congress last night showed that Obama was right to keep fighting Richard Adams guardian.co.uk, After winning the healthcare reform vote in Congress, President Obama took to the airwaves to sell it. Photograph: AFP Some myths got slain last night in Washington DC. For one thing, the Democratic party rediscovered its vertebrae and used it, for a change, to pass healthcare reform. For another, the myth that the US political structure is broken and cannot digest fundamental issues … well, it took a dent. Minutes after the … Continue reading Obama must show a similar backbone and stand up to the Christian fanatics in the USA

The most dangerous drug isn’t meow meow. It isn’t even alcohol . . . Newspapers are the biggest threat to the nation’s mental wellbeing Charlie Brooker The Guardian, Mephedrone, otherwise known as meow meow. Photograph: Rex Features I’m a lightweight; always have been. I didn’t get properly drunk until I was 25, on a night out which culminated in a spectacular public vomiting in a Chinese restaurant. Ever wondered what the clatter of 60 pairs of chopsticks being simultaneously dropped in disgust might sound like? Don’t ask me. I can’t remember. I was too busy bitterly coughing what remained of … Continue reading The most dangerous drug in the UK is openly available….