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Views on the news - 1st May 08

America the land of the free has the highest number of prisoners

In a recent article in the New York Times, it was reported that the United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population, but it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners. The US has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation. China, which is four times more populous than the United States , is a distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison. Criminologists point to higher levels of violent crime, harsher sentences, racial turmoil, consumption of drugs, the American temperament and the lack of a social safety net, as factors behind the burgeoning prison population. Whilst these reasons may be contributing factors they are certainly not the root causes. The underlying cause is America ’s freedom and democracy, which no politician or legal expert is prepared to admit. And wherever, America has exported its version of ‘freedom and democracy’ the world has witnessed soaring crime and implosion in prison populations.

Belarus and Georgia : The new battle ground for Russian-American conflagration

On 30/4/2008 the Belarusian government ordered the expulsion of 10 US diplomats. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, is very close to Moscow and has long been accused of suppressing freedom of speech and imprisoning dissidents. He has been barred from both the United States and European Union on allegations he rigged his 2006 re-election. But relations between Belarus and the West—especially the US —deteriorated after the Bush administration described the country as the outpost of tyranny in January 2005. Meanwhile, NATO has vehemently condemned, Russia ’s announcement of bolstering peace keepers in the Georgia ’s breakaway region of Abkhazia. The move has attracted strong criticism from Georgia and NATO. James Appathurai, a NATO spokesman said, “The decision to send more troops to Abkhazia does not contribute to stability, but undermines it.” He also added that the alliance was unanimous in its support for Georgia ’s territorial integrity. The two countries are caught up in power struggle between Russia and the US . Russia ’s immediate concern is to protect its borders from NATO expansion and to repel US efforts to increase its sphere of influence in the region.

Bahrain may appoint Jewish woman ambassador to the US

On 30/4/2008 the International Herald Tribune reported that Bahrain was considering appointing its only Jewish law maker — Huda Nono as ambassador to the United States of America . Yasmina Britel, press officer for the Bahraini embassy in Washington , said Nono is “one of the nominees,” and that King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa would make the official appointment at an unknown date. Britel says this “could be tomorrow” or “in six months.” The appointment— if true— raises two important points. First, the US is a belligerent state, which is at war with the Muslim world. And as such no Muslim country should have or endorse diplomatic relations with the US including Bahrain . Second, in Islam the participation of non-Muslims is restricted to the Council of the Ummah. Non-Muslims are forbidden to partake in ruling, which is in accordance with ayah: “And Allah will never give the unbelievers any way of authority against the believers” [An-Nisa: 141].

However, the present rulers of the ummah pay lip-service to Islam and do their utmost to please their western masters. Furthermore, their steadfast support for America ’s war against Islam has eroded their popularity such that they no longer trust Muslims to occupy government positions. This has left the rulers with no choice but to appoint sell outs or non-Muslims to assist them in safeguarding the interests of western powers.

Iran and the pope

On 30/4/2008 Mahdi Mostafavi, the head of Iran ’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation met Pope Benedict XVI. Both parties issued a joint statement afterward saying that “faith and reason are both gifts of God to mankind.” How could the Iranian delegation agree to such a statement, when it is well known that taqleed and aql in matters of aqeeda are incompatible. Allah (swt) created human-beings to use their faculty of reasoning to arrive at the existence of Allah and not to associate any partners with Him (swt). “And if they said to them follow what Allah has revealed, they said but we follow what our fore fathers left for us. Even if their fathers understood not, and were not guided.” [TMQ Al-Baqarah: 170]

Pakistan to fix the price of rice

On 30/4/2008, the Pakistani government announced a minimum export price for all varieties of rice to protect domestic supplies and contain prices at the time of shortage. The move is bound to infuriate rice producers, who have seen their profits drop as result of high input costs in the production of rice. The fixing of prices of commodities is forbidden by Islam. Abu Dawud narrated from Abu Huraira who said,” A man came and said, O messenger of Allah, fix prices. He said,” Rather Allah reduces and increases.” The correct solution is for the government to buy the rice from the market and give it to those people who cannot afford it. If the government does not have enough money to purchase the rice then it should tax the wealthy people to raise enough funds to buy the rice from the market and feed its people. In this way neither hungry person nor the rice producers will feel victimized.

1/5/2008

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