Monday 28 May 2012

Catholic Church Abuses Around The World.



Salamu alaikum

The Catholic Church has faced a raft of allegations of child sex abuse by priests and an inadequate response by bishops. Here is a round-up of some of those events:
BELGIUM

The bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, resigned in April 2010 after admitting that he had sexually abused a boy for years when he was a priest and after being made a bishop.

The scandal drew in the former head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who had advised the victim in April not to go public with his story until Vangheluwe had retired in 2011.

After the Vangheluwe case came to light, a commission set up to investigate the extent of abuse in the Belgian Church received a flood of calls.

Police controversially raided the commission and Church offices, suspecting some evidence was being covered up - but this move was ruled illegal by a Belgian court.

In September 2010 the head of the commission released harrowing details of some 300 cases of alleged sexual abuse by Belgian clergy.

The abuse was found in nearly every diocese, and 13 alleged victims had committed suicide, he said.

However, he found no indication that the Church had systematically sought to cover up cases.

The Church pledged to set up a victims' support centre in a first attempt to rebuild public trust, and to co-operate more with the police.
IRELAND

Two major reports into allegations of paedophilia among Irish clergy last year revealed the shocking extent of abuse, cover-ups and hierarchical failings involving thousands of victims, and stretching back decades.

In one, four Dublin archbishops were found to have effectively turned a blind eye to cases of abuse from 1975 to 2004.

The Dublin archdiocese, it said, operated in a culture of concealment, placing the integrity of its institutions above the welfare of the children in its care.

In the wake of the report, all Irish bishops were summoned to the Vatican to give an account of themselves in person before the Pope.

Four bishops, named in the report, handed in their resignations. The Pope accepted two but told the other two he wanted them to continue.

Six months earlier, another report - the result of a nine-year investigation - documented some six decades of physical, sexual and emotional abuse at residential institutions run by 18 religious orders.

With the Church still reeling from the reports' findings, a fresh scandal erupted in March 2010 when it emerged the head of the Irish Catholic Church, Cardinal Sean Brady, was present at meetings in 1975 where children signed vows of silence over complaints against a paedophile priest, Fr Brendan Smyth.

Cardinal Brady resisted calls to resign but issued an apology for mishandling the matter.

A few days later, on 20 March, Pope Benedict XVI apologised to victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland.

He then accepted the resignation of Bishop John Magee, an aide to three popes before being assigned to Ireland, who was found to have mishandled allegations of clerical sex abuse in his County Cork diocese.

Pope Benedict has now appointed a panel of nine prelates to investigate child abuse in Ireland's Catholic institutions.
UNITED STATES

Over the past two decades, the Roman Catholic Church in the US - with the archdiocese of Boston in particular - has been embroiled in a series of child sex scandals.

There was public outrage after abuses in the 1990s by two Boston priests, Paul Shanley and John Geoghan, came to light, with suspicions that Church leaders had sought to cover up their crimes by moving them from post to post.

In 2002 the then-Pope John Paul II called an emergency meeting with US cardinals, but allegations continued to emerge.

Despite an apology and pledge to take a tougher line, Archbishop Bernard Law resigned over the scandal at the end of the year.

In September 2003, the Boston archdiocese - the fourth-largest in the US - agreed to pay $85m to settle more than 500 civil suits accusing priests of sexual abuse and church officials of concealment.

A report commissioned by the Church the following year said more than 4,000 US Roman Catholic priests had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years, in cases involving more than 10,000 children - mostly boys.

A series of huge payouts has been made by US diocese to alleged victims of abuse - the largest being some $660m from the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 2007.

During a tour of the US in 2008, the Pope met privately with victims of abuse by priests and spoke of "the pain and the harm inflicted by the sexual abuse of minors".

In March 2010 documents emerged suggesting that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, before he became Pope, failed to respond to letters from US clergy about cases of alleged child sex abuse by a priest in Wisconsin.

Archbishops had complained about Fr Lawrence Murphy in 1996 to a Vatican office led by the future Pope, but apparently received no response.

Fr Murphy, who died in 1998, is suspected of having abused some 200 boys at St John's School for the Deaf in St Francis, Wisconsin, between 1950 and 1974.

One of his alleged victims told the BBC the Pope had known for years about the accusations yet failed to take action.
GERMANY

Since the start of 2010, at least 300 people have made allegations of sexual or physical abuse by priests across the Pope's home country.

Claims are being investigated in 18 of Germany's 27 Roman Catholic dioceses.

Accusations include the abuse of more than 170 children by priests at Jesuit schools, three Catholic schools in Bavaria, and within the Regensburg Domspatzen school boys' choir that was directed for 30 years by Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, the Pope's brother.

In June, prosecutors said they were investigating the head of Germany's Roman Catholic bishops. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg is suspected of allowing the re-appointment of a priest accused of child abuse in 1987. The archdiocese rejected the charge.

In March, Father Peter Hullermann, who was convicted of molesting boys during his time in the archdiocese of Munich and Freising, was suspended from his duties after breaching a ban on working with children.

Days earlier, the Pope's former diocese said Benedict had unwittingly approved housing for Fr Hullermann when serving as archbishop of Munich; the Vatican denounced what it called "aggressive" efforts to link the Pope to the scandal.

The Regensburg diocese confirmed on 22 March new allegations of child sexual abuse against four priests and two nuns, saying most of the incidents occurred in the 1970s.

Two days later the German government announced it was forming a committee of experts to investigate all the abuse claims.
ITALY

In June 2010 a high-profile former priest was charged with sexual abuse.

Pierino Gelmini, 85, is alleged to have abused 12 young people at a drug rehabilitation centre he founded.

Meanwhile, a number of deaf men have come forward to say they were abused as children at the Antonio Provolo Institute for the Deaf in the northern city of Verona between the 1950s and the 1980s.

The allegations were first reported in the Italian press in January 2009.

Later last year the Associated Press news agency obtained a written statement from 67 of the school's former pupils naming 24 priests, brothers and lay religious men who they accused of sexual abuse, paedophilia and corporal punishment.

The diocese of Verona said it intended to interview the victims following a request from the Vatican to do so.
NETHERLANDS

In March 2010, Dutch bishops ordered an independent inquiry into more than 200 allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests, in addition to three cases dating from 1950 to 1970.

Allegations first centred on Don Rua monastery school in the eastern Netherlands, with people saying they were abused by Catholic priests in the 1960s and 70s.

This prompted dozens more alleged victims from other institutions to come forward.
AUSTRIA

A series of claims of sexual abuse by priests has emerged in the Vorarlberg region.

Some 16 people have reported 27 alleged incidents there, spanning half a century.

Ten children are also alleged to have been abused at a monastery in Mehrerau in the 1970s and early 80s.

Meanwhile five priests at a monastery in Kremsmuenster in Upper Austria have been suspended after complaints of sexual and physical abuse of boys there.

Separately, the head of a Salzburg monastery, Bruno Becker, resigned after confessing to having abused a boy 40 years ago, when he was a monk.
SWITZERLAND

A commission set up by the Swiss Bishops Conference in 2002 has been investigating allegations of abuse involving the Catholic Church there.

A member of the commission, Abbot Martin Werlen, said in a newspaper interview this month that about 60 people have said they were abused by Catholic priests. The alleged incidents are reported to have occurred over the past 15 years.

A priest in the canton of Thurgau was arrested on 19 March on suspicion of sexual abuse of minors, police said.
MALTA

Three priests have been accused of sexually abusing 10 orphan children in Malta during the 1980s and 1990s.

Pope Benedict visited the island in April and held an emotional meeting with victims, pledging to bring those responsible to justice and to protect young people in the future.
SPAIN

Police have launched an investigation into three members of staff at a care home run by a Catholic order.

There have also been formal accusations against a Carmelite monk in eastern Spain and Franciscan brothers in the south.

Taken from here

Wednesday 23 May 2012

There Is No Ja'fari Madhhab!


Sincere Muslims who may possess good intent, but are insufficiently educated in their Deen, are misled into accepting a myth of a so-called “fifth Madhhab” referred to as the “Ja’fari Madhhab,” supposedly named after Imam Sayyid Ja’far as-Sadiq, radiyallahu ‘anh. The above-mentioned are unaware of the fact that no such Madhhab exists, is not accepted by Muslims as a “fifth Madhhab,” and is a continuous attempt by Shiites[1] to gain acceptance from Muslims under the guise of a school of Islamic Law (Shari’ah). Examination of this “Madhhab” by one who does not have a firm foundation in Shari’ah or a sound grasp on the existence and history of Islamic Law will lead one to unknowingly think: “This is very similar to the Maliki and Hanafi Madhhab.” A brief glance at the history of this hoax, who it is named after, and where its name really originates is necessary in order to understand its inception.

Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (radiyallahu ‘anh) was a blessed Wali of Allah who revived al-Islam in Madinah, upholding the letter and spirit of al-Islam. By lineage, he is Sayyid Abu Abdullah Ja’far ibn Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Husain ibn Ali ibn Abu Talib al-Hashimi; son of Imam Abu Ja’far Muhammad al-Baqir and father of Imam Musa al-Kazim (radiyallahu ‘anhuma).

As it is well known, the Four Imams of Fiqh[2] wrote many books pertaining to Islamic Jurisprudence, Doctrine, and Worship. Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (radiyallahu ‘anh) did not write any books on such matters, but as related in Asmaa’ul-Mu’allifeen, three books were written by Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq: 1.) Taqseem-i-Ru’ya, 2.) Jami’atu fil-Jafr, and 3.) Kitab-ul-Jafr. The word Jafr means a four month-old lamb. When referenced in scientific terminology, the word “Jafr” relates to a branch of predicting future events beforehand. In the narrative of Sayyid Abdul-Wahhab and Kamus-ul-A’lam, it is related that the first book written in this science was by Hazrat Babul-‘Ilm Ali ibn Abu Talib (karramallah wajhah). Two of the three books written by Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq were written on sheets of sheepskin, and because of this, the science dealt with in these two books was named ‘Ilm-i-Jafr.

A book titled Imam-i Ja’far Buyrugu, in the possession of Shiites today, was written by a clergyman named Ja’far bin Husain al-Qummi (d. AD 951), who was the first to write on religious practice in the Shi’ah religion. Abu Ja’far Muhammad al-Tusi (d. AD 1068) wrote another book, titled Risala-i Ja’fariyyah, a commentary consisting of twenty volumes. Putting forward the books written by the two Ja’fars (al-Qummi and al-Tusi), Shiites name themselves “Ja’fari,” thus attempting to project that they are directly following Hazrat Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq, the way that Muslims who are Hanafi or Hanbali actually follow Imam Abu Hanifah or Imam Ahmad ibn Hambal, respectively. Exploiting the similarity between the words “Ja’far” and “Jafr,” Shiites assert that these two books, authored by Abu Ja’far al-Tusi and Ja’far al-Qummi, were written by Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (radiyallahu ‘anh).

Clearly, the “Ja’fari Madhhab” is a case of word games being played. Some even have the cheeks to say that it is the “Madhhab of Ahlul-Bayt.” The Four Madhhabs of al-Islam (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hambali) were either founded by the Imams themselves or by their students who expounded upon the decisions of the Imams. The ‘Ilm of Hazrat Ja’far al-Sadiq can only find it in the Madhhabs of Imam al-A’zam Abu Hanifah and Imam Malik ibn Anas (rahmatullahi alaihima), both of whom were the only students of Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq to have a Madhhab founded. The direct connection with the Ahlul-Bayt is prevalent in Madhhab of both. The Maliki Madhhab connects with Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq. The Hanafi Madhhab connects to a total of five members from amongst the Ahli-Bait, four of which being Imams. In addition to the gaining of ‘Ilm from Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq, Imam Abu Hanifah gained ‘Ilm from Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, Imam Zaid ibn Ali, and Abdullah ibn Hasan ibn Ali (radiyallahu ‘anhuma). The Sahibain (Imam Muhammad al-Shaibani and Imam Abu Yusuf al-Ansari) gained ‘Ilm from Imam Musa ibn Ja’far al-Kazim (rahmatullahi ‘alaih). Thus, the true Madhhab of Ahlul-Bayt resides within the Hanafi and Maliki Madhhabs.

From the facts presented, it is evident that the “Ja’fari Madhhab” is not only a non-existent (and illegitimate) school of Islamic Law, but it is merely a cloak utilized by Shiites, with their clergymen plagiarizing many of the works of Islamic Jurists and placing the name Ja’fari (or Imami) upon them. Muslims should not allow themselves or their family members to get tricked, swayed, or softened by Shi’ah propaganda. If one wishes to gain the Fiqh of Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (radiyallahu ‘anh), then one does not have to look any further than the Hanafi or Maliki Madhhab.
Taken from the Central Mosque website.

Sunday 20 May 2012

Islam Is Our Enemy: US Army!!


US Army’s ‘fatwa' on Islam and challenges before the Muslim world

By Fatima Tanveer.

The US Army’s fatwa that “America’s enemy is Islam in general, not just terrorists’’, is really very dangerous and highly provocative. It is really very shocking that the mid-level and junior US Army officers were being taught this theme till some of the student-officers themselves objected to it and the course was withdrawn.

The revelation that has now been published by media all over the globe is really very dangerous also in the sense that junior officers would be running the US Army, the most powerful army of the world, in future.

And the opinion of US military officers engaged in teaching that the best way to deal with this `enemy’ is to bombard the Islamic cities of Makkah and Madinah like that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War II or Dresden in Germany without caring for civilian casualties, indicates the worst form of hatred against Muslims and Islam in their minds. This is in direct contradiction with American official stand that US is against terrorism, not against Islam as a religion and the war it is fighting in Afghanistan and other countries is against terror, nor against Islam.

Though the course has been withdrawn from the Army curriculum and Lt Col Matthew Dooley, who was engaged in teaching the material, has been removed from his teaching assignment at Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia, it is really alarming that Dooley has already polluted the minds of young Army officers. But what is more worrying is that no senior person in the US Army stopped Dooley from teaching such hate-materials to the young army officers.

His war plan that Saudi Arabia be reduced to starvation suggests deep rooted anti-Islamism in his mind. Dooley seems to have learnt from the British forces fighting against Turkey during World War I. The British Army had forced starvation on Saudis to make them revolt against Turkish Khilafat. At the same time, they also tried to rouse Arab nationalism and propagated hate against Turks to weaken the Turkish rule.

As Britain and its Allied Forces dominated the sea, British warships arrested sailors, confiscated foodstuffs from all merchant ships carrying food grains to Jeddah port.

Since the survival of the inhabitants depended on imported food grains, people panicked once foodstuffs stopped reaching there. Due to non-availability of food, thousands of people were starved to death. As the residents of Madinah remained loyal to the Turks till the last moment, all supplies to the city were also blocked by the Sharif Hussain of Makkah with the result that hundreds of attendants at the Holy Mosque of the Prophet died of hunger.

Ultimately, Madinah also succumbed to the designs of the British. The British plan ultimately succeeded resulting into the dismemberment of countries under Turkish Khilafat and allowing Jews to settle in Palestine.

Almost the same tactics are being employed by US after almost 100 years of the World War I to destroy Muslim lands now, with the Arab rulers fully cooperating to implement the evil conspiracies of US and the Christian West.

It was first Iraq that was used to attack Islamic Republic of Iran. Then US and the European Christendom attacked Iraq as also Afghanistan subsequently, with all their military might, bringing death and destruction for the Iraqi people. Their war is still on against poor Afghans. All this was done on the pretext of fighting terror.

The US and the Christian Europe also reportedly used Qatar to finance the revolt and war against Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. Now the Libyan people are passing through the worst of times and they are subjected to daily bombardment by NATO forces despite Qaddafi and his family having been removed long ago. Post Qaddafi, loot, rape and murder has become a daily affair in that African country.

As British provoked feeling of Arab nationalism against Turks during War War I, the US is now sowing seeds of division to weaken Muslims by promoting animosity between Sunnis and Shias as is evident in Iraq as also through its agents in Pakistan. The same weapon is being used to weaken the government in Syria. The plans are also being made to mount a military attack on Iran which has achieved some level of military muscle to challenge Israel, the US extension in the Arab land.

The recent developments in Europe indicate the fast growth of anti-Muslim, anti-Islamic sentiments among the common populace there. The neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party of Greece, that was using hate-Muslim campaign as a political agenda, won seats for the first time in its Parliament. Anti-Islam rhetoric was also used by various political parties in the recently concluded presidential elections in France, particularly by pro-Christian National Front led by Marine Le Pen. It is a different thing that her party failed to win the polls. France’s outgoing president Nicholas Sarkozy had banned the wearing of scarves in government offices, indicating intolerance towards Muslim culture and its identity. Sarkozy also tried to rally the Christian world against Turkey by raising the issue of Turkish Army indulging into mass killing of Armenians, who are basically Christians, during the World War I. He tried to bring a law punishing those who denied the Armenian massacre, thus targeting a large number of Turkish people settled in France. In Netherland, ultra-Christian Party for Freedom is also based on its hatred towards Islam and Muslim immigrants in the country.

The media reports from several countries in Christian Europe indicate that anti-Islamism is becoming a popular tool of various Christian fundamentalist political parties to win political space for them. And such outfits are also gaining popularity and expanding their base, indicating that anti-Islamism in the Christian world is fast becoming a centrifugal force to attract supporters. According to the reports, supporters of political parties targeting Islam and Muslims are mostly the young in their twenties and early thirties as well as educated middle class, including businessmen and government employees.

In many European countries like Belgium and Netherlands, vigilante groups have been set up by anti-Muslim political parties to keep watch on fresh Muslim immigrants from Arab and African Muslim countries because of recent political and social upheavals in these countries. This indicates Christian world’s growing intolerance towards multi-culturalism, particularly, Islam and Muslims.

This is one of the biggest challenges to the contemporary Muslim world. But this challenge can be met only by introducing democracy, transparency in the governance and bringing immediate unity among all Muslim countries as also closing the gap between Shias and Sunnis by forming some sort of union among the Muslim nations. But who will take the lead in this effort?

Arabs are not ready to accept the leadership of Turks because of ego problems and Iranians don’t want change of regime in Syria because of the fear of Sunnis taking over the reins in their neighbourhood and Sunni Turkey helping Sunnis in Shia-majority Iraq and destabilize Alawite Shia-ruled Syria to prevent Shia Iran’s access through Shia-ruled neighbours to Mediterranean. The Shia-led governments in Iraq and Syria are also hounding out the Sunnis. Can we then face those trying to obliterate and exterminate us and expect a fate for us better than what it is today?
Taken from twocircles.net

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Bombay NGOs Urge Breaking Off Ties With Israel.



Al Salamu 'Alaykum.
On Yaum-e-Nakaba (regarded as Independence Day by Israel), Mumbai NGOs Tuesday urged India to cut off ties with Israel. They regretted that majority of the Indians don’t know about the ‘catastrophic effects’ of Israel.
“India used to side with just cause, and therefore its leaders, in the past, supported Palestinians but now the situation is just the opposite,” said Maulana Mustaqeem Ahsan Azmi, President of Jamiat Ulema Hind, Maharashtra here at a conference today.
“Our leaders are nurturing close relations with Israel and greedy people are selling India” Maulana Mustaqeem said. He pledged his support for the cause of Palestine.
“There is a section in India who has strategic alliance with the Zionists but majority of Indians are neutral,” observed Feroz Mithiborewala, a leader of Global March to Jerusalem. Growing support for Palestinians globally is causing anxiety for Israel and therefore they are trying to creep into India, Feroz added.
“Israel has pierced in to America through bribery, blackmailing and hounding, the same strategy is followed in India,” Feroz further said.
Expressing concern over growing clout of Zionism and ignorance of the masses in India Kishore Jagtap of Bharat Bachao Andolan said, “There is an urgent need to spread the information about Zionism, an Ideology, among our brothers and sisters in India.” He also condemned the celebration over friendship of India and Israel in Banaras Hindu University.
Social activist Chetna suggested starting a campaign informing about the evils of Zionism in Colleges, among the lawyers and advocates of India.
Aslam Gazi, Secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami expressed his happiness that many social organizations of India are coming together against Israel.
Shankar Karve of Dalit Panthers explained the relationship between Brhamins and Zionists.
The NGOs organized a signature campaign in Mumbai against Israel.
For the Arabs it’s an annual day of commemoration of displacement that followed the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.
Taken from Twocircles.


Saturday 12 May 2012

Shameful. Muslim Beggars, Hindu Baba!


Al Salamu 'Alaykum.

So-called 'Dalit' Muslim leaders have begged a BJP oriented Hindu Yogi in India to take up their cause. 


With folded hands, these 'Muslims' have begged Baba Ramdev to take up the fight for reservations for them. 


The beggars finally handed over a copy of the Holy Qur'an in Hindi to the Baba at the end of the show. This was perhaps the cruelest joke of all. 


May Allah guide all the Muslims.


Details here:
http://twocircles.net/2012may12/dalit_muslim_leaders_urge_baba_ramdev_lead_their_fight.html

Monday 7 May 2012

Ab Sarak Lo, Sarkozy Mian.


Al Salamu 'Alaykum.
The French poodle who hated Islam, the Muslims and the Hijab lost the recent elections to give way to a socialist called Francois Hollande. Let us see how the successor does. 
If you want details go here: http://arabnews.com/world/article627425.ece

Friday 4 May 2012

Destruction Of The Soviet Union.


Al Salamu 'Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh
On December 10 1979 – less than a week after Juhayman* was captured in Makka- Ustinov** summoned the Soviet Chief of Staff and ordered him to begin assembling a force of 75,000 to 80,000 soldiers along the Afghan-Soviet frontier. Two days later, the most senior members of the Soviet Politburo gathered in the Kremlin. The meeting’s top-secret, handwritten resolution was entitled simply “On Situation in A”. It formally authorized a war that would transform the world of Islam and eventually cause the Soviet Union itself to disintegrate.

*Juhayman ibn Saif al-Utaybi, the leader of the rebels who besieged the House of Allah in Makka in the name of the fake Mahdi.
**Defense Minister Dmitri Ustinov of the USSR.

Taken from “The Siege of Mecca” by Yaroslav Trofimov.