DHAKA, May 18: Bangladesh’s High Court ruled on Sunday that the children of Urdu-speaking “Bihari” Muslims awaiting repatriation to Pakistan for 37 years would be granted Bangladeshi citizenship.

“The children who were minor in 1971 or born after the independence of Bangladesh are citizens of Bangladesh,” the High Court said in a ruling over a petition by a group of Bihari Muslims pleading for Bangladeshi citizenship.

“They are also eligible to be enrolled as voters in Bangladesh,” said the ruling read out to Reuters by lawyer Hafizur Rahman Khan.

With the ruling, nearly half of about 300,000 Biharis waiting for Pakistan to accept them may become lawful citizens of Bangladesh,” Mr Khan said.

“They may also vote in the parliamentary election due in next December,” he added.

The Urdu-speaking Muslims had migrated to former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) from India following the partition in 1947.

Home ministry officials said about 140,000 Biharis who were either born in Bangladesh or have expressed loyalty to the country would be granted citizenship.

The rest would continue to languish in Bangladesh refugee camps waiting for an agreement with Islamabad to take the Biharis to Pakistan.

Pakistan has avoided the issue for decades despite repeated requests by Bangladesh, leaving the Biharis in crammed, squalid camps in Dhaka and other towns, run by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Bangladeshi government.—Reuters

60% Americans now believe these arduously collected facts, knowing what they know today!

Watch this very credible video called ‘911 Mysteries’ if you are committed to truth.

This is now mainstream, available at Walmart, Target, Barnes & Nobles etc in the form of DVD for a few dollars.

30 minutes of 90 minutes documentary that scientifically analyses this is available on this website:

http://www.911weknow.com/911-mysteries-movie.html

If you are an engineer or physicist you will appreciate it better.

We need another enquiry: http://www.nyc911initiative.org/

Ask you friends in New York to sign above petition.

God bless America for its persistence and commitment to the Truth!

Please forward this email to your friends.

Thank you,

Wasim Khan, MD, MPH

----- Original Message -----

From: Katie Sobo

To: katie sobo

Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2008 10:47 AM

Subject: PRESS RELEASE - NO PROOF OF MUSLIMS 9/11

casseia's blog

Elias Davidsson: 9/11, International Law, and No Proof of Muslim Hijackers

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Submitted by casseia on Sat, 2008-04-26 02:17.

From Kevin Barrett's newsletter -- Kevin writes:

Elias is one of the world’s leading 9/11 researchers. He did a terrific job on my show today, 4/25/08 explaining why the US government’s failure to provide evidence that Muslims were on the alleged 9/11 attack planes is itself evidence that there were no Muslims on those planes. He pointed out that the US government was obliged by its own law and international law, as well as by its interest in supporting its version of events, to immediately provide what should have been easily available evidence documenting the boarding of all 19 men: the official passenger lists, boarding passes, eyewitness reports from airline personnel, surveillance camera videos, and DNA evidence from the alleged crash sites. The fact that no such evidence has been provided, and attempts to find this evidence have been rebuffed, (1) constitutes overwhelming evidence that there were no Muslims on the planes, and that the official story is thus a blood libel of historic proportions; (2) constitutes overwhelming evidence of conspiracy to obstruct justice, and (3) makes the US government itself the leading suspect in the murder of nearly 3,000 people on 9/11. Below is his press release announcing his memorandum to the UN. Elias is optimistic that this will be actionable, and he urges all participants in the cover-up to jump off the sinking ship while there’s still time.
-Kevin Barrett

UN Expert Urged to Obtain Facts regarding the Mass Murder of September 11, 2001 (from Elias Davidsson)

Press release
April 25, 2008

On April 14, 2008, Icelandic scholar and human rights activist Elias Davidsson submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions a detailed memorandum describing the failure of the United States government to adequately investigate the mass murder that occurred on September 11, 2001, establish the truth and bring those responsible to justice. His submission is based on the following principles of human rights that have been affirmed by the United Nations and human rights tribunals, and reaffirmed by a panel of distinguished personalities concerned with the need to establish the truth on the mass murder of September 11, 2001. These include Prof. Ali Khan, Law Faculty, Washburn University (USA); Dr. Daniele Ganser, Historisches Seminar, University of Basle (CH); Dr. Kevin Barrett, Co-Founder of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth (USA); Jim Fetzer, Distinguished McKnight University Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota (USA) and Prof. Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor, MIT and member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA):

1. Principle: Relatives of victims of extrajudicial killings are entitled to know the truth about the circumstances surrounding these killings and the identities of the perpetrators
2. Principle: Society as a whole is entitled to see perpetrators of extrajudicial killings identified and brought to justice
3. Principle: Governments are under the moral and legal obligation to carry out, in good faith, investigations into cases of extrajudicial killings occurring on their soil.

The Submission to the Special Rapporteur, for which Mr. Davidsson is alone responsible, demonstrates that the United States government has failed to act in conformity with these principles:

1. It failed to positively establish the identities of the perpetrators of the mass murder of September 11, 2001, the identities of the planners and sponsors and the identities of the tools of crime. It thus grossly failed to establish the truth on this massive deprivation of the right to life, to which the relatives of the victims and society as a whole are morally and legally entitled.

2. It failed to bring any of the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors to justice, thus failing the expectation of the international community, as reflected in UN Security Council Resolution 1368 of September 12, 2001.

3. It attempted to prevent investigations of this mass murder to take place, condoned the destruction of forensic evidence, gagged witnesses and suppressed evidence crucial to understanding what happened on the fateful day.

The mass murder of September 11, 2001 represented a crime against humanity. As none of those responsible for this crime against humanity have been brought to trial, the Special Rapporteur is called upon, in the light of the "stakes involved for international peace, international law and human rights" and in conformity with his Mandate, to "seek explanations from the US authorities for their failure to (a) adequately investigate the events of 9/11; (b) positively identify the authors of the crime; and (c) bring them to justice." Moreover, the Special Rapporteur is requested to present his findings "to the appropriate UN bodies" as envisaged by his Mandate.

Editors and politicians are encouraged to join in requesting that UN human rights bodies, including the Special Rapporteur, seek explanations for the failure by the United States government to fulfil its international obligations with regard to the crime against humanity committed on September 11, 2001. The full memorandum submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur can be downloaded from:
http://www.aldeilis.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&i...

Elias Davidsson can be contacted at:
edavid [at] simnet [period] is

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I think I like this guy...

Submitted by casseia on Sat, 2008-04-26 02:22.

This is from Elias Davidsson's website, dated April 20:

Global Terrorism Database (GTD)
http://www.start.umd.edu/data/gtd/

Dear folks,

I wish first to express my appreciation for your compilation of global terrorism statistics and the attempt to use a reasonable methodology in classifying terrorist incidents.

My question refers to one particular and major incident, in which I contend that you make serious unsubstantiated allegations. The incident, ID nr. 74144, refers to part of the September 11, 2001 events, namely to the alleged crash of Flight AA11 on the North Tower of the World Trade Center. [See: http://209.232.239.37/gtd2/ViewIncident.aspx?id=74144 ]

In the detailed description of this incident, the perpetrators are identified as Al-Qa'ida, deemed an Islamic-Islamist (Sunni) religious organisation. Their motive is listed as "an attempt to cause a blow to the United States and cause American casualties." Yet, there exists no material evidence linking this incident to Al-Qa'eda, notwithstanding how this elusive entity is defined. The US Government has never produced any evidence, that would be admissible in a court of law, that an organisation by the name of Al-Qa'eda, or any of its alleged leaders, planned, financed or organized this incident. Statements made by alleged Al Qa'eda leaders cannot be considered material evidence of such a link, particularly when one considers where, when and how such statements were allegedly made. Moreover, the FBI admitted in June 2006 to an American journalist that it possessed no "hard evidence" to link Osama bin Laden to 9/11.

Secondly, contrary to what is stated in the Incident Summary, there is no factual base for the allegation that "[f]ive hijackers belonging to the Al-Qa`ida terrorist organization, took control of the Boeing 767 aircraft on a flight originating from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, and destined for Los Angeles International Airport." There exists not a single document proving that the five persons alleged to have hijacked Flight AA11, had boarded on that aircraft; there are also conflicting reports regarding the gate number from where the aircraft departed as well as evidence that Flight AA11 was not scheduled to fly on September 11, 2001. In addition, no one has seen the alleged hijackers board the aircraft, no CCTV recording documents their boarding, no boarding cards' stubs have been produced proving their boarding and their bodily remains from the crash site have not been positively identified. Finally, there is no evidence that these five individuals "belonged" to Al Qa'eda. While families of victims and members of the public have repeatedly asked for evidence proving who boarded Flight AA11 and the other aircraft of 9/11, the US Goverenment has failed for over six years to produce this evidence. The statements in that entry are, therefore, unsubstantiated and constitute serious accusations that are particularly hurtful to the families of the 9/11 victims who are entitled to the truth, as well as the families of those wrongfully accused of mass murder. The events of 9/11 have not been properly claimed by anyone, notwithstanding the preposterous and possibly fraudulent claims attributed to a fugitive named Osama Bin Laden or to individuals kept at a secret location and subjected to torture.

Hence, I would respectfully urge GTD to delete this entry from the database in order that your database achieve the necessary level of credibility which it deserves. Alternately, GTD might wish to add to its entries on 9/11 that the information included therein remains tentative and is based on unconfirmed official allegations regarding the identity of the perpetrators, their goals and the means of causing death.

In the view of the seriousness of the unsubstantiated allegations referred to in this letter, I intend to make this letter and our future correspondance available to the internet community.

Respectfully,

Elias Davidsson
Reykavik, Iceland
www.juscogens.org.P

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.5/1398 - Release Date: 4/25/2008 2:31 PM

You or someone you know is having an affair. We know, it sounds surprising, shocking even, but apparently that is the case. Cookie Magazine and "AOL Body" did a survey on the subject and 30,000 people responded. As far as surveys go, that is a big number, and it's even bigger when you consider that their questions were aimed solely at married women with children. Yep, lots of mommies are getting action on the side.

The survey, "Sex and the American Mom," revealed that 34% of these married moms is in the midst of, or has already had, an affair. Think of three married moms you know and ask yourself, "Which one is cheating?" We tried this and Colleen came up empty. Taylor could think of one or two, but not one out of three--that number seems staggering. Are we just naïve? In the dark? Out of touch? Which of our friends has managed to stray without anyone knowing (and when do they find the time and where they hell do they go?)?

Another somewhat mind-blowing result of this survey was that 77% of the respondents said they want more sex. That's more than three quarters of the 30,000 women asked who said they aren't getting enough. Again, we ask, who are these people? And are we to conclude that so many stray because they are not sexually satisfied?

Cheating seems to be a direct result of not getting what you need, be it sex, attention, openness, what have you. If there is a void, and it can be filled by someone else, chances are it will be. Affairs used to almost guarantee a trip to divorce court. Today, however, the "cheatee" might experience a sense of betrayal, but the "cheater" is not necessarily stigmatized socially, and often both agree to at least attempt reconciliation. It has even been viewed as a "wake-up call" -- one that can actually save a marriage, with each person expressing a sense of shared blame.

As a society, it seems as though we've become less judgmental about affairs in general. Maybe we've realized how hard marriage is and have simply gotten more realistic. But, maybe the scope of the issue is bigger, and what's happening is that we're in the midst of redefining marriage as we have known it.

The stereotype, of course, is if there's someone sneaking around in a marriage, it's the guy. In general, no one is surprised to hear that men cheat on their wives. However, when it comes to wives cheating on their husbands, while not entirely new, it is much more common than we thought. When we told men that one in three married moms cheat (or have cheated) on their husbands, and that a solid majority are actually looking for more sex than they're having at home, most mens' eyes light up with surprise and certainly curiosity. Some even joked about where they might find one of these gals. But, what we didn't hear was "Yes, I can understand that. I'm not in the mood very often and I'm probably not satisfying my wife's sexual desires."

Could the American male be suffering from a proverbial "headache?" Maybe the insatiable male sex drive is just a myth? After hearing what Michelle Weiner-Davis, an internationally recognized relationship therapist and the Director of The Divorce Busting Center, had to say in an interview with Psychology Today, this may not be far-fetched. She thinks we don't hear a lot about the man's lack of sexual interest because, "Men are so ashamed of speaking up about [it]." Estimating that it affects, "at least 20 to 25%" of adult males," Michelle adds, "...low desire in men is America's best-kept secret."
Please don't confuse our effort to understand what's going on here with male-bashing. When a couple's sex life changes, for better or worse, generally both parties are complicit. For the record, we love men and we're aware that sex is complicated. Let's face it, marriage is complicated, and it only becomes more so after having kids. If mom or dad feels rejected by the other, he or she may cheat. And if you're married and you've got kids, you know that sex, or lack there of, can be loaded with a lot of other emotions and agendas that don't have anything to do with lust, or even love.

As the Hook-Up Generation grows up and gets married, chances are affairs may even go mainstream. It's hard for us to believe that this won't lead to hurt feelings and collateral damage (remember the kids), but maybe that's because we're from a different generation.
We understand that the person who lies just outside of the daily grind--the one who's not figuring out how to pay the mortgage that month; the one who isn't angry about spending too little time with the kids--can seem like a vacation worth taking--at least once.

We're glad to hear that women want more sex, because frankly, it's good news that the female libido is alive and well. As for the affairs....If we could add one question to the poll it would be this: "Is/Was the Affair Worth It? Colleen Dealy and Taylor Baldwin

Coke launches Pakistan ad in India

Ashish Sinha / New Delhi May 08, 2008

ADVERTISING: The 30-second commercial, created for consumers in Pakistan and West Asia, is being aired in India during the DLF IPL Twenty20 matches. Taking the 'Jashn Mana Le' tagline of Coke across the border, leading soft-drink company Coca-Cola India is using a 30-second Pakistani Coke television commercial in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 matches. This will be a first for Coca-Cola India where a television commercial created by Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) Lahore for consumers in Pakistan and West Asian countries is also airing on the Indian telly-screens, but with a changed tagline.

The Coca-Cola ad aired in West Asia and Pakistan had the tagline — Khale, Peele, Jilee. For the consumers at home, the tagline has been tweaked to Khale, Peelee, Jashn Mana Le — Coke's current tagline that features actor Hrithik Roshan.

However, the Pakistani Coke commercial has no celebrities. "The ad features a group of friends having fun with a bottle of Coca-Cola while enjoying a meal at a restaurant. The fun of handling the bottle and pouring Coke in glasses has been developed into a sign language between youngsters that brings friends together and aids in bonding across the various tables in the restaurant," a Coca-Cola spokesperson said.

The Pakistani commercial, however, is not totally non-Indian. The commercial has been shot in a location in India with Indian models and is being customised by Coke's domestic creative agency McCann Erickson, Delhi. According to industry sources, several leading advertising agencies from Pakistan use Indian locations and local talents to shoot television ad-campaigns in the country.

"Several Pakistani companies related to telecom, soaps, juices, butter etc shoot their television commercials in India but none of them have been used on Indian television. Therefore, this Pakistani Coke campaign may set a precedence for more international commercials to make a debut on the Indian telly-screens," an advertising industry source said.

Giving the rationale behind airing this commercial on Indian television screens, a Coke executive said: "The influence of cricket and Bollywood has crossed borders and has had an overwhelming impact on complex subjects like India-Pakistan relations. We felt that ads could also contribute to the positive feel generated by IPL cricket and cinema."

Coca-Cola is one of the six associate sponsors of IPL and is estimated to shell out Rs 20-23 crore on IPL alone.

Industry sources reveal that adopting international television campaigns into Hindi or regional languages is a proven formula of success for the ad-agencies. "Remember the earlier Pepsi commercial that featured Aamir Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Mahima Chawdhury (then called Ritu Chawdhury)? That ad was adapted from the US that featured actor Michael J Fox. Or the Surf commercial — Daag Acche Hain — has also been adopted into Hindi from an international campaign," a senior executive from a leading advertising agency said.

Pakistan Is Not Given proper Credit By Some Americans, General Zinni

In February, The Brookings Institution hosted a discussion on the future of the U.S.-Pakistan military relationship with three distinguished speakers: General Jehangir Karamat, Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff from 1996 to 1998 and its Ambassador to the United States from 2004 to 2006; General Anthony Zinni, a former Marine general who served as Commander, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) from 1997 to 2000 and as the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East; and Richard Armitage, who served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. The event was moderated by Brookings Senior Fellow Philip Gordon.

According to Zinni, Pakistan has been doing a great job as a very important U.S. partner since the events of September 11, assisting in the hunt for al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in its Western frontier regions, but the country is not given full credit it deserves in the States for its sacrifices. It’s interesting to restate that Zinni was the first important individual among President Bill Clinton colleagues whom Musharraf called after he over threw Nawaz government in Pakistan by calling Zinni by his nick-name, Tony.

Appreciating Pakistan army’s role in fighting U.S. war, Zinni said that the criticism in the States of Pak army is very disappointing given it has done a lot more than its share in fighting the War on Terror.

It’s well-known that generally it’s Pentagon’s generals who don’t support whole- heartily a democratic system in Pakistan because it hinders achieving the department’s objectives more efficiently in South Asia in the absence of military regime in Pakistan.

However, since pro-Musharraf atmosphere has changed in Washington, even a man like Zinni felt forced to say that it’s very important for us to be very concerned about the Pakistani political, social, and economic interests as well, if America wants to protect its security interests in that part of the world.

General Jehangir Karamat defended Zenni’s pro democratic position by acknowledging   the weaken cause of democracy in Pakistan temporarily after the Supreme Court crisis and Ms. Bhutto’s assassination.

These unfortunate events were a big blow to the democratic process but the freedom the media gained during Musharraf regime, the reestablishment of a very self-confident civilian society, and reemergence of Pakistani lawyer’s moments in the result of these crisis are the phenomenon that are not going to go away, the retired General claimed.

These socio-political moments are going to stay there as a very potent force in Pakistan, which gives a sense of hope and optimism to the people devoted to these good causes, the retired General Karamat said.

Answering to a question of keeping a pro-Pakistan regime in Afghanistan for the sake of having strategic depth to face any potential Indian aggression, the retired General said the concept has become a trivial matter in the presence of current better Pakistani relationship with India.

Responding to an Indian journalist named Goyal about the size of Pakistani budget devoted to its nuclear projects, Mr. Karamat said he didn’t know about the amount in dollar terms, but addressing to the matter of allocation of the budget to an important civilian sector like education he said some political parties have claimed that they would increase educational budget from its current 2.4% of the GDP to 4% of Pakistani GDP once they come into power, which is a good omen.

This reporter asked a question to Secretary Richard Armitage as to why U.S. pays only $700 per soldier per month to Pakistan for the troops fighting a war for America on Pak-Afghan border whereas for the same services America has to pay at least $1,400, if she retains UNO’s troops.

This reporter made a strong statement that U.S is spending between 6 to 7 thousand dollar for the same purpose in Iraq for hiring the troops from other countries, which is defined as the dollar cost on the War on Terror.  However, whereas the money paid to Pakistani government– for the services its troops are providing to the States—is defined as U.S. aid to Pakistan rather than cost of Pentagon’s operation in Afghanistan.

This reporter further contended with Secretary Arimtage that Musharraf was selling Pakistan too cheap in return for having American blessing to stay in power.

This reporter also suggested that the other reason Musharraf got scared enough to give in to Secretary Armitage’s threat because he warned Musharraf of turning Pakistan into a stones age land by bombing it.

The reporter further claimed that whatever made Pakistan to get exploited by post 9/11 America, the ordinary Pakistanis have a reason to become bitter and angry toward the Bush regime.

“I don’t say something which I am not capable of doing, and I didn’t say that,” Secretary Armitage said.

Responding to a question about supporting the restoration of judiciary in Pakistan Secretary Armitage said, “We need to support democracy in Pakistan, but we must be careful how we present ourselves in that country.”

Linking the destiny of two Muslim neighbor countries, Armitage said he didn’t know how Afghanistan could become a success case without having a successful Pakistan.

Alluding to the infamous Pakistani army’s corruption and its exploitation of its very poor masses on the name of defending the country from India, Munawr Lughari of World Sindhi Institute (WSI) asked a very loaded question to General Karamat as to why and how so much money Pakistan was wasting from her very precious economic resources on making and maintaining the atomic bombs and then blackmailing to West about getting them in the wrong hands of Islamic fundamentalists, while the Sindhis and Baluchis are deprived of from very basic needs of life.

General Karamat expressed his ignorance about the amount of the money being spent on the development and maintenance of atomic bombs. In addition, responding to a question about Pakistan’s successful efforts of dismantling terror groups, Karamat said “that so far the country had broken up 15 terror network groups in Pakistan.”

At the end of the seminar, General Karamat expressed his appreciation to this reporter for making a statement about the feelings of average Pakistani among the Washington policy makers.

While Mr. Zardari and Mr. Sharif play hide and seek in Dubai and play tag in London, events are taking over their "Carmen Sandiago" adventures.

A massive catastrophe hat hit Mayanmar and more than 100,000 Burmese have died. Pakistan has key connections with China and can leverage that to send aid to the starving and the destitute. Mayanmar is a key strategic ally of China, and Pakistan's President Zia ul Haq and Pervez Musharraf have both visited the penury stricken country.

Burmese Muslims are one of the poorest souls on the planet and have been hit horribly by the cyclone.

Mr. Gilani and Mr. Sharif, can you guys get off the Iftikar Chaudhry dime and work in Pakistani international relations. If you are too busy chasing your personal interests, can you use President Musharraf to plan, and activate and fund raiser for Burma.

Burma can and should be like India's Karzai. Pakistan should have a very active presence there---let me put it this way....more active then Pakistan already has

CNN is now reporting that up to 100,000 people have died from the cyclone that hit Burma. The scale of this disaster is hard to even imagine, and relief is urgently needed. So we wanted to pass along this email from our friends at Avaaz.org (the global online progressive group) letting you know how you can help.

Dear friends,

Burma has been devastated by a cyclone—and by the military junta's failure to help its people cope. Help raise relief funds for distribution by Burma's monks:
CLICK TO DONATE!

In the wake of a massive cyclone, tens of thousands of Burmese are dead. More than 40,000 are missing. A million are homeless.
But what's happening in Burma is not just a natural disaster—it's also a catastrophe of bad leadership.
Burma's brutal and corrupt military junta failed to warn the people, failed to evacuate any areas, and suppressed freedom of communication so that Burmese people didn't know the storm was coming when the rest of the world did. Now the government is failing to respond to the disaster and obstructing international aid organizations.
Humanitarian relief is urgently needed, but Burma's government could easily delay, divert or misuse any aid. Today the International Burmese Monks Organization, including many leaders of the democracy protests last fall, launched a new effort to provide relief through Burma's powerful grass roots network of monasteries—the most trusted institutions in the country and currently the only source of housing and support in many devastated communities. Click below to help the Burmese people with a donation and see a video appeal to Avaaz from a leader of the monks:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php
Giving to the monks is a smart, fast way to get aid directly to Burma's people. Governments and international aid organizations are important, but face challenges—they may not be allowed into Burma, or they may be forced to provide aid according to the junta's rules. And most will have to spend large amounts of money just setting up operations in the country. The monks are already on the front lines of the aid effort—housing, feeding, and supporting the victims of the cyclone since the day it struck. The International Burmese Monks Organization will send money directly to each monastery through their own networks, bypassing regime controls.
Last year, more than 800,000 of us around the world stood with the Burmese people as they rose up against the military dictatorship. The government lost no time then in dispatching its armies to ruthlessly crush the nonviolent democracy movement—but now, as tens of thousands die, the junta's response is slow and threatens to divert precious aid into the corrupt regime's pockets.
The monks are unlikely to receive aid from governments or large humanitarian organizations, but they have a stronger presence and trust among the Burmese people than both. If we all chip in a little bit, we can help them to make a big difference.
Click here to donate:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php
With hope,
Ricken, Ben, Graziela, Paul, Iain, Veronique, Pascal, Galit and the whole Avaaz team
PS: Here are some links to more information:
For more information about Avaaz's work to support the Burmese people, click here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_report_back/
For more information about the cyclone, the humanitarian crisis, and the political dimension, see these articles:
New York Times: "A Challenge Getting Relief to Myanmar's Remote Areas." 7 May 2008.
BBC: "Will Burma's leaders let aid in?" 6 May 2008.
India's Economic Times: Indian meteorological department advised junta 48 hours in advance, 6 May 2008.
BBC: "Disaster tests Burma's junta." 5 May 2008
Times Online: "Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000." 6 May 2008.
_________

ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

Read More: Fashion Advice, French Fashion Tips, French Style, French Women, Hermes, Hermes Designer, How To Dress Like a French Man, How To Dress Like a French Woman, Men's Fashion, Mens Fashion, Living News

It's a well-known fact that women can always learn from their Francophone counterparts. And this time its the menfolk who are getting the tutorial.

Over at Details, Hermès menswear designer, Varonique Nichanian offers men 10 tried-and-true tips for dressing and looking their best.

She touches on weekend getaways (including the importance of passionate gestures) and outlines the perfect packing list:

For a weekend away, a man should bring a simple shirt, two cashmere sweaters, three polos, and one pair of jeans. For shoes, either sandals or light leather moccasins--just the essentials.

And like any and every good French woman, she stresses the necessity of the watch:

You should have one watch for the weekend, one for the week, one for suits, one for sport. I love watches. Watches are for men what perfume is for women. They are very personal, and you can wear them according to your mood.

And while four watches may seem extreme, you can also find one good watch to suit all your moods. A watch is an wise investment, and most definitely worth the splurge.

All in all, her advice is sage and has proven to be entirely effective. After all, neither of these two are really all that French (his father's Hungarian, and she's a born and bred Italian), but they've definitely mastered the art -- and now look at them!

French President Nicholas Sarkozy and First Lady Carla Bruni exiting a plane in Egypt

What do you think of her advice? Agree? Disagree? Got any fashion advice of your own?

And, if you're only in it for the French women, find out how French women are the new "sexual predators" here.
-or-

See what else you can learn from them here.

Jaswant Singh book on Jinnah to hit stands in July

LAHORE: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Jaswant Singh’s book on Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah is slated to hit stands sometime in July, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on Saturday. According to PTI, the book, “1947 - A fractured freedom: journey of Muhammad Ali Jinnah from an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity to Quaid-e-Azam of Pakistan”, is in the final stages and would be released in Hindi and Urdu, as well as English, simultaneously. “It is an effort to track down the history. It starts from the coming of the Muslims to India and also seeks to know the event of partition better and to understand who is responsible for it,” the news agency quoted Singh as saying. Singh wishes to organise the release function in Pakistan, PTI said, adding the publication comes after senior BJP leader LK Advani created a controversy over his statements on Jinnah in 2005. The saffron party faced criticism in 2005 when Advani visited Pakistan and stated that Jinnah was a ‘secular’ leader, which led to a controversy within the saffron fold when the Sangh Parivar came out openly against him, ultimately leading to Advani vacating the party president post, PTI added. daily times monitor

Curfew imposed after India blasts

Eyewitness: 'I could be dead'

Jaipur deals with aftermath

A curfew has been imposed in the old city in Jaipur in western India after a series of bomb blasts killed 63 and left about 200 wounded.

The bombs went off near historic monuments in the crowded old city on Tuesday evening.

The head of state police said it was a terrorist attack. Police have detained a number of people for questioning.

Jaipur, in Rajasthan, is a popular tourist destination about 260km (160 miles) from the Indian capital, Delhi.

No group has admitted planting bombs in Jaipur. It is not yet clear what the motive for attacking the city might be.

Most people in Jaipur are Hindus but the city has a large Muslim minority. Correspondents say it has no history of religious violence.

There have been sporadic bomb attacks around India in recent years. The police have had little success in bringing prosecutions.

Crowded markets

The curfew began at 0900 (0300 GMT) on Wednesday and is expected to last until the evening.

The bomb blast aftermath

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Jaipur says that the old city is completely deserted apart from journalists and policemen moving around.

People were milling on the streets and there was some traffic the morning after the blast. Police were seen asking people to leave the area and return home.

The bustling old city has been cordoned off by the police for investigation. Its shops will remain closed on Wednesday.

Police reinforcements have been deployed in the city to maintain order.

Security has been stepped up at airports and railway stations across the country, officials said.

Eight bombs went off in the heart of Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan state, starting at around 1915 local time (1345 GMT) on Tuesday.

Each came a few minutes apart and eyewitnesses spoke of panic and then a stampede in the crowded old walled city.

Television pictures showed scenes of twisted debris and pools of blood on the streets.

RECENT BOMB ATTACKS

August 2007: Bombs in open-air auditorium and restaurant in Hyderabad kill more than 40

May 2007: Bomb in historic Hyderabad mosque kills 14

February 2007: Twin blasts on train travelling from Delhi to Pakistan kills at least 66 people near Panipat

July 2006: More than 160 killed by seven bombs on train network in Mumbai

March 2006: Bombs at Hindu temple and railway station in Varanasi kill 15

October 2005: Three blasts in Delhi kill 62

In pictures: After the bombings

Papers see pattern to blasts

Mohammad Fareed had just alighted from a rickshaw when he was hit by a rain of shrapnel in Badi Chaupad near the bangle-seller.

"It was like lightning hit me," one survivor, Mohammed Fareed, told the BBC. "And then I was lying down by the road side."

"People were running around, shouting 'blast, blast'. Some people helped me and then the police arrived and brought me to the hospital."

Medical authorities have appealed for blood donations for the injured.

One bomb exploded close to Jaipur's most famous landmark, the historic Hawa Mahal, or palace of winds.

Indian President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the attacks and the prime minister appealed for calm.

Jaipur is an extremely popular stop on India's primary tourist circuit known as "The Golden Triangle", which takes in other historic sites of Rajasthan and the Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh state.

It is known as the Pink City, because of the colour of its forts, palaces and city walls.

On Tuesdays many devotees flock to a popular shrine in Jaipur's old city.

Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.

The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.

As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other people".

"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.

"No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this," he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper.

The German-language letter is being sold Thursday by Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, said the auction house's managing director Rupert Powell.

In it, the renowned scientist, who declined an invitation to become Israel's second president, rejected the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," he said.

"And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people."

And he added: "As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

Previously the great scientist's comments on religion -- such as "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" -- have been the subject of much debate, used notably to back up arguments in favour of faith.

Powell said the letter being sold this week gave a clear reflection of Einstein's real thoughts on the subject. "He's fairly unequivocal as to what he's saying. There's no beating about the bush," he told AFP.

You may have thought your prom night went badly, but Marche Taylor, a high-school student from Houston, Texas left hers in handcuffs, and not for the reasons you might think. According to the Dallas Morning News,

Madison High's prom took place at the Sugar Land Marriot. But Taylor only got as far as the lobby because when she tried to enter the ballroom an official stopped her.

She was told her dress violated a school dress code.

"She shook her head, she was like you are not getting into this prom," said Taylor. "We were arguing back and forth because I wanted to know why I can't get into my prom."

Even after offering to provide more cover, Taylor was still denied access to the final soiree of the school year.

At that point, Taylor said she was furious. After all this was her senior prom. She argued if she couldn't get in, she wanted her money back.

Things got so bad, the next thing she knew, someone had called the police. Officers showed up, handcuffed her and escorted her out.

Taylor was not charged and eventually released.

Here is KHOU's video coverage of her story.

KHOU has more on her prom dress, including photos and video. You can also read more on the prom dress and handcuffs debacle here.

Marche Taylor modeling her dress

Marche Taylor, left, with her date, right, as she was escorted out in handcuffs

A photo of Marche Taylor, left, in her now infamous dress

Marche Taylor, left, and friend

We don't like the black guy or the woman from New York. 7% of WV votes for Edward

Clinton beat Obama by a bruising 67 to 26 percent in West Virginia, with 100 percent of the vote counted. Seven percent voted for former senator John Edwards, who dropped out of the presidential race in late January.

The development aid request for Afghanistan is a staggering $40 Billion. After 2001 the aid approved for Afghanistan was $25 Billion. Since 2001 the international community has given $15 Billion in aid to Afghanistan. Pakistan got $750 million for the next five years 

For details see (http://www.ands.gov.af/)

May 14th, 2008 | KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan will ask international donors next month for $50 billion to fund a five-year development plan, a presidential aide said, despite growing criticism that aid money is being wasted.

About $14 billion is to go toward improving deteriorating security, but the key target is reviving the decrepit agricultural sector, Ishaq Nadiri, senior economic adviser to President Hamid Karzai, told reporters late Tuesday.

The plan will be presented to international donors June 12 in Paris.

"We expect a strong political commitment to Afghanistan," Nadiri said.

Afghanistan is struggling to recover from a quarter century of war. More than six years after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime, the country is mired in poverty and insurgent attacks are increasing. It also produces about 93 percent of the world's opium, the raw material of heroin.

The slow pace of development is hobbling public support for Karzai's Western-backed government as Afghans grapple with food shortages and the sharply rising cost of living. Official corruption is endemic.

"We are building a state, and that is a costly exercise," Nadiri said. "The country had lost its human, physical and social capital ... the collapse of Afghanistan was total."

An estimated 34 percent to 42 percent of Afghans still live below the poverty line. Despite significant improvements in health care, Afghanistan has the world's second-highest maternal mortality rate.

It is also highly dependent on aid. The United Nations, NATO and other international institutions are trying to better coordinate military and civilian reconstruction, widely regarded as fragmented and ineffectual. There is growing concern over how the aid money is spent.

Since 2001, the international community has pledged $25 billion in help but has delivered only $15 billion, according to a report by the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, an alliance of 94 international aid agencies.

Some 40 percent of it — or $6 billion — goes back to donor countries in corporate profits and consultant salaries, the report found.

The new five-year development plan is part of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy, a 5,000-page document drafted after a two-year consultative process across Afghanistan and abroad. It will be presented in Paris.

Nadiri acknowledged the government lacks the capacity to administer its aid money alone, but insisted it remains more effective than the myriad of international organizations.

Currently, one-third of foreign aid money is managed by the Afghan government and the rest by donors themselves.

A Bird Brings Surprising News Commentary by Sayyid Qutb

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=5&section=0&article=67682&d=29&m=7&y=2005&pix=islam.jpg&category=Islam

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent

He inspected the birds and said: “Why is it that I do not see the hoopoe? Is he among the absentees? I will certainly punish him severely, or I will kill him, unless He brings me a clear warrant” (for his absence). But the hoopoe did not take long in coming. He said: “I have just learned things that are unknown to you, and I come to you from Sheba with accurate information. I found there a woman ruling over them; and she has been given of all good things, and hers is a magnificent throne. I found her and her people prostrating themselves to the sun instead of God; and Satan has made their deeds seem goodly to them, thus turning them away from the path (of God), so that they cannot find the right way.” (The Ants; Al-Naml: 27: 20-24)

So far the surah has given details about the knowledge God had chosen to give to His prophet, Solomon. It relates Solomon’s own words as he expressed gratitude for the special privileges God granted him, such as understanding the speech of birds, and favors of all sorts. The surah also mentions that Solomon had armies from among the jinn and the birds, in addition to his human army. It tells us how he understood the language of ants when he heard one of them warning its community of ants to hide before they could be crushed by Solomon and his hosts.

All this was a prelude to Solomon’s story with the Queen of Sheba in which the hoopoe plays an important role. The story is told in six scenes with certain gaps deliberately left out, but we can easily understand them. Indeed these gaps serve to enhance the artistic beauty of the story. We also have comments on some of the scenes to alert us to their spiritual significance and enhance the moral we gather from the story. The comments are in perfect harmony, artistically and religiously, with the scenes and the gaps left between them.

Since the reference to Solomon started with mentioning the jinn, humans and birds, as well as highlighting the importance of knowledge, the story gives roles to all three and shows the value of knowledge. It is as if the opening verses were meant to point out the key actors in the story. This is one of the finer artistic features of story telling in the Qur’an.

As told in the surah, the story paints the personal and distinctive features of the main characters: Solomon, the queen, the hoopoe and the queen’s courtiers. It portrays different reactions of these characters in different situations.

The first scene begins in the military parade, after the procession has passed the valley of the ants: “He inspected the birds and said: Why is it that I do not see the hoopoe? Is he among the absentees? I will certainly punish him severely, or I will kill him, unless He brings me a clear warrant (for his absence).” (Verses 20-21)

We see Solomon, a prophet and a king, marshalling his troops, and inspecting the birds to discover the absence of the hoopoe. We understand that it is a special hoopoe, with a position assigned to it in the procession. It was not just one of thousands or millions of hoopoes on the face of the earth. We note that Solomon was alert and firm to miss a mere soldier in the great multitude composed of jinn, men and birds. His inquiry is of the type that befits a commander: it is flexible, looking at different possibilities: “Why is it that I do not see the hoopoe? Is he among the absentees?” (Verse 20)

It soon becomes clear to all that he is absent without prior permission. Hence, the matter should be firmly dealt with in order to keep matters under control. With the king’s inquiry, the hoopoe’s absence is no longer a secret. Unless firmness applied, it could become a precedent leading to worse consequences. Hence, Solomon threatens the absent hoopoe: “I will certainly punish him severely, or I will kill him.” (Verse 21) But Solomon is not a tyrant; he is a prophet. He must not issue a final judgment on the hoopoe before listening to what it had to say in its own defense. Therefore, we immediately see him as a just ruler: “Unless He brings me a clear warrant,” to justify his absence.

The curtains are drawn here, or may be the scene continues as the hoopoe arrives. He carries a great piece of news that represents a great surprise for Solomon and for us who are observing events as they unfold: “But the hoopoe did not take long in coming. He said: ‘I have just learned things that are unknown to you, and I come to you from Sheba with accurate information. I found there a woman ruling over them; and she has been given of all good things, and hers is a magnificent throne. I found her and her people prostrating themselves to the sun instead of God; and Satan has made their deeds seem goodly to them, thus turning them away from the path (of God), so that they cannot find the right way. That they should not prostrate themselves in worship of God who brings forth all that is hidden in the heavens and the earth, and knows what you conceal and what you reveal. God, other than whom there is no deity, the Lord of the (truly) magnificent Throne.” (Verses 22-26)

The hoopoe is fully aware of the king’s firmness and serious approach. Therefore, he begins his report with a surprise that overshadows the fault of his absence and ensures that the king will listen to him: “I have just learned things that are unknown to you.” What king would not listen when one of his subjects tells him that he has learned something unknown to him?

A Christmas Palm Tree

By William Dalrymple (William Dalrymple is the author of "From the Holy Mountain" and other books.]
12-25-5

In late December, the plains of North India turn suddenly cold and grey. Towards evening, as the sun is beginning to set over the minarets of the village mosques, smoke from the buffalo-dung cooking-fires begins to mass in a flat layer at the level of the tree tops. By dusk, the layer has turned into a vaporous mist which thickens and curdles overnight to form by morning a dense fog.

Some fifteen years ago, on just such a bleak, cold dawn, I climbed the long flight of ceremonial steps leading up to the great mosque at Fatehpur Sikri. This lay in the heart of the ruined Moghul capital built by the sixteenth century Emperor Akbar, a few miles to the West of Agra. I was a nineteen year old backpacker, and it was my first visit to India. I had just spent my first Christmas away from home, and I was enjoying the sensation of complete disorientation. It was immediately after Christmas, I kept thinking, but not only was there not a Christmas tree or a Christmas decoration in sight, there was nothing even remotely Christian to be seen- or so I thought.

For when I reached the top of the steps that rose to the Buland Darwaza- the massive domed, arched gate leading into the Imperial mosque- I saw something that confused me even further. Here was one of the greatest pieces of Muslim architecture in India, but according to my guide book, the strip of Persian calligraphy which framed the arch read as follows: Jesus, Son of Mary (on whom be peace) said: The World is a Bridge, pass over it, but build no houses upon it. He who hopes for a day, may hope for eternity; but the World endures but an hour. Spend it in prayer, for the rest is unseen.

The inscription was doubly surprising: not only was I taken aback to find an apparently Christian quotation given centre stage in a Muslim monument, but the inscription itself was unfamiliar. It certainly sounded the sort of thing Jesus might have said, but did Jesus really say that the world was like a bridge? And even if he had, why would a Muslim Emperor want to place such a phrase over the entrance to the main mosque in his capital city? Werent Christians regarded as the enemies and rivals of the Muslims- and vice versa? This was certainly the impression I had been given at my Catholic school where I had only ever come across Islam in the confrontational context of the Crusades.

It was only much later, after I had lived and travelled in India and the Middle East for several years that I began to be able to answer some of these questions. The phrase emblazoned over the gateway was, I learned, one of several hundred sayings and stories of Jesus that fill Arabic and Islamic literature. Some of these derive from the four canonical gospels, others from now rejected early Christian texts like the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, others again from the wider oral Christian culture-compost of the Near East- possibly authentic sayings and stories, in other words, which Islam has retained but which Western Christianity has lost.

These sayings of Jesus circulated around the Muslim world from Spain to China, and many are still familiar to educated Muslims today. They fill out and augment the profoundly reverential picture of Christ painted in the Koran where Jesus is called the Messiah, the Messenger, the Prophet, Word and Spirit of God, though- in common with some currents of heterodox Christian thought of the period- his outright divinity is questioned. The Koran calls Christians the nearest in love to Muslims, whom it instructs in to dispute not with the People of the Book [that is, the Jews and Christians] save in the most courteous manner and say we believe in what has been sent down to us and what has been sent down to you; our God and your God is one.

I have been thinking a lot about that quotation over the last three months. Ever since September the 11th we have seen some of the right-wing Qualities- as well as the tabloids- united in an often virulent bout of Islamophobia, as a hundred instant experts in Islam have popped up to offer their disparaging views on a religion few seem ever to have encountered in person. After the scale of horror of the atrocity in New York perhaps this sort of thing is inevitable; but it doesnt alter the fact that the image these writers are projecting of Islam- particularly vis-a-vis its relations with Christianity- is a ludicrously unbalanced, inaccurate and one-sided one.

For the links that bind Christianity and Islam are so deep, and so complex, and so intricately woven, that the more you learn about them, the more the occasional confrontations between the two religions begin to seem like a civil war between two different streams of the same tradition than any essential clash of two incompatible civilisations.

When the early Byzantines were first confronted by the Prophet's armies in the seventh century, they assumed that Islam was merely a variant form of Christianity: Islam of course accepts much of the Old and New Testaments, obeys the Mosaic laws about circumcision and ablutions, and venerates both Jesus and the ancient Jewish prophets. The early Life of Muhammad relates how, when Muhammad entered Mecca in triumph and ordered the destruction of all idols and images, he came upon a picture of the Virgin and Child inside the Kaba. Reverently covering the icon with his cloak, he ordered all other images to be destroyed, but the image of the Madonna to be looked on as sacrosanct.

When Muhammad's successor Abu Bakr stood on the borders of Syria he gave very specific instructions to his soldiers: In the desert, he said, you will find people who have secluded themselves in cells; let them alone, for they have secluded themselves for the sake of God. Likewise, when his successor Omar went to Syria, he actually stayed with the Bishop of Ayla and went out of his way to meet the Christian Holy Men in the town. For many years Muslims and Christians used to pray side by side in the great churches of the Middle Eastern cities: in Damascus, for example, the great basilica of St John was used for worship by both Christians and Muslims; only fifty years later were Christians obliged to pray elsewhere and the building formally converted into what is now known as the great Ummayad mosque.

As late as 649 AD a Nestorian bishop wrote: These Arabs fight not against our Christian religion; nay, rather they defend our faith, they revere our priests and saints, and they make gifts to our churches and monasteries. There were never any conversions by the Sword, a myth much propagated in anti-Islamic literature.

Indeed, the greatest theologian of the early church, St. John of Damascus (d. 749), was convinced that Islam was at root not a new religion, but instead a variation on a Judeo-Christian form. This perception is particularly remarkable as St. John had unique access to the fountainhead of Islamic thinking in the earliest days of the faith. He had grown up in the Ummayad Arab court of Damascus- the hub of the young Islamic world- where his father was chancellor, and he was an intimate boyhood friend of the future Caliph al-Yazid; the two boys drinking bouts in the streets of Damascus were the subject of much horrified gossip in the streets of the new Islamic capital. But, in his old age, St. John took the habit at the remote desert monastery of Mar Saba, where he began work on his great masterpiece, the Fount of Knowledge.

I first really heard about St John of Damascus and his writings was when I went to spend a few night in Mar Saba in the course of a journey around the monasteries of the Middle East in 1994. Mar Saba lay tucked into a cliff face in the wastes of Judea, a spectacular near vertical plunge of chapels, cells and oratories. One night, while the monks were still singing their vespers in the chapel, and their chant of their kyries were echoing around the rock-cut corridors of the monastery, I was taken by the monastery guestmaster to see the cave with St John wrote The Font of Knowledge. With a flickering storm lantern in his hand, he led the way to a small cell backing onto a rock wall, its ceiling cut so low as to make standing virtually impossible.

St John spent thirty years in that cell, he said. Although he could not stand he hardly ever went out of it. He believed he had become too proud of his high position in the court of Damascus, so he chose this cave in which to live as a monk.

It was here that St John of Damascus wrote his critique of Islam, the first ever penned by a Christian. Intriguingly, John- the ultimate insider- regarded Islam as a form of Christianity closely related to the heterodox Christian doctrine of Arianism: after all this doctrine, like Islam, took as its starting point the idea that on Christmas Day God could not have become fully human without somehow compromising his divinity.

Used to the often surrealistic scriptures of the Gnostics, then in widespread circulation among the Christians of the Near East, John was apparently unworried by the points where the Koran diverges from the basic narrative of the Gospels- such as the very full but oddly unfamiliar description it gives of the first Christmas. In this Koranic version, Jesus' birth takes place not in a stable but under a palm tree in an oasis, shortly after which the Christ child, still in his swaddling clothes, sits up and addresses Marys family with the words: I am the servant of God. He has given me the Gospel and ordained me a prophet . His blessing is upon me wherever I go, and he has commanded me to be steadfast in prayer and to give alms to the poor as long as I shall live. I was blessed on the day I was born; and blessed I shall be on the day of my death; and may peace be upon me on the day when I shall be raised to life.

Islam, of course, grew up the largely Christian environment of the Late Antique Levant, and the longer you spend in the ancient Christian communities of India the Middle East, the more you become aware of the extent to which Eastern Christian practice formed the template for what were to become the basic conventions of Islam. The Muslim form of prayer with its bowings and prostrations appears to derive from the older Syrian Orthodox tradition that is still practised in pewless churches across the Levant. The architecture of the earliest minarets, which are square rather than round, unmistakably derive from the church towers of Byzantine Syria, while Ramadan, at first sight one of the most distinctive of Islamic practices, bears startling similarities to Lent, which in the Eastern Christian churches still involves- as it once used to in the West- a gruelling all-day fast.

Perhaps no more branch of Islam shows so Christian influence as Islamic mysticism or Sufism. . For Sufism with its Holy Men and visions, healings and miracles, its affinity with the desert and its emphasis on the mortification of the flesh and the individual's personal search for union with God, has always borne remarkable similarities to the more mystical strands of Eastern Christianity, and many Muslim saints- such as the great Mevlana Rumi- worked to reconcile the two religions. Indeed the very word Sufi seems to indicate a link with Christianity. For Suf means wool which was the characteristic clothing material of Eastern Christian monks which was taken over by the early Mystics of Islam.

Other styles of dress adopted by the Sufis are also anticipated in pre-Islamic Christianity: the patchwork frock made from rags, and the use of the colour of mourning, black for the Christians, dark blue for the Muslims. Another interesting link- at the extreme edge of both Christian and Muslim asceticism- is the wearing of heavy chains. This was a practice first adopted by the Christian Grazers and which was later adopted by some Sufi sects. Through punishing the flesh, such exercises were believed by both groups of ascetics to induce visions and spiritual ecstasy.

Certainly if a monk from sixth century Byzantium were to come back today it is probable that he would find much more that was familiar in the practices and beliefs of a modern Muslim Sufi than he would with, say, a contemporary American Evangelical. Yet this simple truth has been lost by our tendency to think of Christianity as a thoroughly Western religion rather than the Oriental faith it actually is. The recent demonisation of Islam in the Christendom, and deep and growing resentment felt in the Islamic world against the Christian West, has created an atmosphere where few on either side are still aware of, or even wish to be aware of, the profound kinship of Christianity and Islam.

I first came across the idea of Christ as an object of Muslim devotion when I read that inscription quoting Jesus, son of Mary, on Whom be Peace, on the gateway at Fatehpur Sikri. Last month I came across a Mughal miniature, now on display in the British Library, which was probably painted within that city soon after the gateway had been built. It is a nativity scene, with Mary and the Christ child and wise men coming to offer gifts. But the wise men are Mughal courtiers, Mary is attended by a Mughal serving girls, and the Christ child and his mother are sitting under a palm tree. As this miniature shows, there are certainly major differences between the two faiths- not least the central fact, in mainstream Christianity, of Jesus' divinity. But Christmas the ultimate celebration of Christs humanity- is a feast which Muslims and Christians can share together without reservation. At this moment when the Christian West and Islamic East seem to be heading for another major confrontation, there has never been a greater need for both sides to realise what they have in common and, as in this miniature, to gather around the Christ child, to pray for peace.

THE TRUTH ABOUT ISLAM -- http://www.twf.org/Truth/iCard1.pdf

Also from Dick Fojut - Relevant to the above, as a reminder - or for any who hadn't earlier read my following article, here it is again...

MONSTROUS LIES ARE CAUSING CHRISTIANS

AND MUSLIMS TO KILL EACH OTHER

The Lies Must Be Exposed

http://www.rense.com/general65/monstrousliesarecausing.htm

June 8, 2005

I am also including the URL of David Ray Griffin's recent scathing and detailed lecture about the omissions and outright lies in the 9/11 Commission (whitewash) report that deleted all evidence that 9/11 may have involved INSIDE Treason, not (just) OUTSIDE "Terror" (by 19 alleged "Muslim Hijackers"). Worth reading, even if you've already accepted the 9/11 report as credible. Griffin may alter your thinking... 

THE 9/11 COMMISSION'S INCREDIBLE TALES

Flights 11, 175, 77, and 93

By David Ray Griffin

Dec. 13, 2005   911truth.org

http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=1478

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article350594.ece
How Islamic inventors changed the world

From coffee to cheques and the three-course meal, the Muslim world has given us many innovations that we take for granted in daily life. As a new exhibition opens, Paul Vallely nominates 20 of the most influential- and identifies the men of genius behind them
Published: 11 March 2006

1 The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make the first coffee. Certainly the first record of the drink is of beans exported from Ethiopia to Yemen where Sufis drank it to stay awake all night to pray on special occasions. By the late 15th century it had arrived in Mecca and Turkey from where it made its way to Venice in 1645. It was brought to England in 1650 by a Turk named Pasqua Rosee who opened the first coffee house in Lombard Street in the City of London. The Arabic qahwa became the Turkish kahve then the Italian caffé and then English coffee.

2 The ancient Greeks thought our eyes emitted rays, like a laser, which enabled us to see. The first person to realise that light enters the eye, rather than leaving it, was the 10th-century Muslim mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Haitham. He invented the first pin-hole camera after noticing the way light came through a hole in window shutters. The smaller the hole, the better the picture, he worked out, and set up the first Camera Obscura (from the Arab word qamara for a dark or private room). He is also credited with being the first man to shift physics from a philosophical activity to an experimental one.

3 A form of chess was played in ancient India but the game was developed into the form we know it today in Persia. From there it spread westward to Europe - where it was introduced by the Moors in Spain in the 10th century - and eastward as far as Japan. The word rook comes from the Persian rukh, which means chariot.

4 A thousand years before the Wright brothers a Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts. He hoped to glide like a bird. He didn't. But the cloak slowed his fall, creating what is thought to be the first parachute, and leaving him with only minor injuries. In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and eagles' feathers he tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew to a significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes but crashed on landing - concluding, correctly, that it was because he had not given his device a tail so it would stall on landing. Baghdad international airport and a crater on the Moon are named after him.

5 Washing and bathing are religious requirements for Muslims, which is perhaps why they perfected the recipe for soap which we still use today. The ancient Egyptians had soap of a kind, as did the Romans who used it more as a pomade. But it was the Arabs who combined vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatics such as thyme oil. One of the Crusaders' most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash. Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mahomed's Indian Vapour Baths on Brighton seafront in 1759 and was appointed Shampooing Surgeon to Kings George IV and William IV.

6 Distillation, the means of separating liquids through differences in their boiling points, was invented around the year 800 by Islam's foremost scientist, Jabir ibn Hayyan, who transformed alchemy into chemistry, inventing many of the basic processes and apparatus still in use today - liquefaction, crystallisation, distillation, purification, oxidisation, evaporation and filtration. As well as discovering sulphuric and nitric acid, he invented the alembic still, giving the world intense rosewater and other perfumes and alcoholic spirits (although drinking them is haram, or forbidden, in Islam). Ibn Hayyan emphasised systematic experimentation and was the founder of modern chemistry.

7 The crank-shaft is a device which translates rotary into linear motion and is central to much of the machinery in the modern world, not least the internal combustion engine. One of the most important mechanical inventions in the history of humankind, it was created by an ingenious Muslim engineer called al-Jazari to raise water for irrigation. His 1206 Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices shows he also invented or refined the use of valves and pistons, devised some of the first mechanical clocks driven by water and weights, and was the father of robotics. Among his 50 other inventions was the combination lock.

8 Quilting is a method of sewing or tying two layers of cloth with a layer of insulating material in between. It is not clear whether it was invented in the Muslim world or whether it was imported there from India or China. But it certainly came to the West via the Crusaders. They saw it used by Saracen warriors, who wore straw-filled quilted canvas shirts instead of armour. As well as a form of protection, it proved an effective guard against the chafing of the Crusaders' metal armour and was an effective form of insulation - so much so that it became a cottage industry back home in colder climates such as Britain and Holland.

9 The pointed arch so characteristic of Europe's Gothic cathedrals was an invention borrowed from Islamic architecture. It was much stronger than the rounded arch used by the Romans and Normans, thus allowing the building of bigger, higher, more complex and grander buildings. Other borrowings from Muslim genius included ribbed vaulting, rose windows and dome-building techniques. Europe's castles were also adapted to copy the Islamic world's - with arrow slits, battlements, a barbican and parapets. Square towers and keeps gave way to more easily defended round ones. Henry V's castle architect was a Muslim.

10 Many modern surgical instruments are of exactly the same design as those devised in the 10th century by a Muslim surgeon called al-Zahrawi. His scalpels, bone saws, forceps, fine scissors for eye surgery and many of the 200 instruments he devised are recognisable to a modern surgeon. It was he who discovered that catgut used for internal stitches dissolves away naturally (a discovery he made when his monkey ate his lute strings) and that it can be also used to make medicine capsules. In the 13th century, another Muslim medic named Ibn Nafis described the circulation of the blood, 300 years before William Harvey discovered it. Muslims doctors also invented anaesthetics of opium and alcohol mixes and developed hollow needles to suck cataracts from eyes in a technique still used today.

11 The windmill was invented in 634 for a Persian caliph and was used to grind corn and draw up water for irrigation. In the vast deserts of Arabia, when the seasonal streams ran dry, the only source of power was the wind which blew steadily from one direction for months. Mills had six or 12 sails covered in fabric or palm leaves. It was 500 years before the first windmill was seen in Europe.

12 The technique of inoculation was not invented by Jenner and Pasteur but was devised in the Muslim world and brought to Europe from Turkey by the wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul in 1724. Children in Turkey were vaccinated with cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at least 50 years before the West discovered it.

13 The fountain pen was invented for the Sultan of Egypt in 953 after he demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes. It held ink in a reservoir and, as with modern pens, fed ink to the nib by a combination of gravity and capillary action.

14 The system of numbering in use all round the world is probably Indian in origin but the style of the numerals is Arabic and first appears in print in the work of the Muslim mathematicians al-Khwarizmi and al-Kindi around 825. Algebra was named after al-Khwarizmi's book, Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah, much of whose contents are still in use. The work of Muslim maths scholars was imported into Europe 300 years later by the Italian mathematician Fibonacci. Algorithms and much of the theory of trigonometry came from the Muslim world. And Al-Kindi's discovery of frequency analysis rendered all the codes of the ancient world soluble and created the basis of modern cryptology.

15 Ali ibn Nafi, known by his nickname of Ziryab (Blackbird) came from Iraq to Cordoba in the 9th century and brought with him the concept of the three-course meal - soup, followed by fish or meat, then fruit and nuts. He also introduced crystal glasses (which had been invented after experiments with rock crystal by Abbas ibn Firnas - see No 4).

16 Carpets were regarded as part of Paradise by medieval Muslims, thanks to their advanced weaving techniques, new tinctures from Islamic chemistry and highly developed sense of pattern and arabesque which were the basis of Islam's non-representational art. In contrast, Europe's floors were distinctly earthly, not to say earthy, until Arabian and Persian carpets were introduced. In England, as Erasmus recorded, floors were "covered in rushes, occasionally renewed, but so imperfectly that the bottom layer is left undisturbed, sometimes for 20 years, harbouring expectoration, vomiting, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish, and other abominations not fit to be mentioned". Carpets, unsurprisingly, caught on quickly.

17 The modern cheque comes from the Arabic saqq, a written vow to pay for goods when they were delivered, to avoid money having to be transported across dangerous terrain. In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman could cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad.

18 By the 9th century, many Muslim scholars took it for granted that the Earth was a sphere. The proof, said astronomer Ibn Hazm, "is that the Sun is always vertical to a particular spot on Earth". It was 500 years before that realisation dawned on Galileo. The calculations of Muslim astronomers were so accurate that in the 9th century they reckoned the Earth's circumference to be 40,253.4km - less than 200km out. The scholar al-Idrisi took a globe depicting the world to the court of King Roger of Sicily in 1139.

19 Though the Chinese invented saltpetre gunpowder, and used it in their fireworks, it was the Arabs who worked out that it could be purified using potassium nitrate for military use. Muslim incendiary devices terrified the Crusaders. By the 15th century they had invented both a rocket, which they called a "self-moving and combusting egg", and a torpedo - a self-propelled pear-shaped bomb with a spear at the front which impaled itself in enemy ships and then blew up.

20 Medieval Europe had kitchen and herb gardens, but it was the Arabs who developed the idea of the garden as a place of beauty and meditation. The first royal pleasure gardens in Europe were opened in 11th-century Muslim Spain. Flowers which originated in Muslim gardens include the carnation and the tulip.
"1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World" is a new exhibition which began a nationwide tour this week. It is currently at the Science Museum in Manchester. For more information, go to www.1001inventions.com.

Today, India's Dalits comprise nearly 1/4 of the total population, a massive 250 million men, women, and children. The Dalits comprise the "outcaste" of Indian society - the "untouchables" - those called the "unborn" - it would be better off if they had never been born.

They are the poorest of the poor in the world and stripped of their humanity. The Dalits are denied basic human rights and entrenched in a system that gives them no freedom. Dalits are denied access to public wells, public parks, and many restaurants even use separate drinking glasses for Dalits.

The ruling caste tells them they are Hindu, yet they are denied access to the temples, cannot become temple priests, and due to lack of education cannot even read their scriptures. Their women are sold into bonded prostitution. Even finding a place to bury their dead is a problem.

Seventy percent of Dalits live below the poverty line. Only 2 - 3 % of rural Dalit women can read and write.

They have the right to a better life

On November 4, 2001 thousands of Dalits traveled to New Delhi from all over India to denounce the oppressive system they have been living under. Even though the government tried to block the ceremony - Dalits representing more Dalits from all of India declared they were leaving Hinduism for religions that allowed their freedom and gave them equality. Since then, Dalits have regularly been identifying themselves with other faiths.

Many states in India are passing or trying to pass local laws that prohibit the Dalits from converting to other religions. The Indian constitution guarantees equality, justice, and human dignity for all people, yet the ruling party is squelching these rights for the Dalits on the local level.

Movements among the Dalits to leave the caste system have occurred in the past. Most did not have a lasting effect on the Dalits. Only those areas where the Dalits became part of a new religious community - did the change continue for generations.

They are seeking human dignity by changing faiths.

The Dalits are crying out for wholistic reformation. Individuals and organizations from all over India are rising to the great need of the Dalits. But it will take the effort of people from all over the world partnering with those in India to see this movement have a sustaining effect on the fabric of India.

Since the majority of Dalits are illiterate, education is central to any program. The vast majority of secondary schools in India are English. In order for the Dalits to gain acceptance to these schools and to be able to function in the marketplace, Dalits need English medium primary schools.

Beyond schooling, the Dalits need basic medical care, micro loans for business development, and people who will show them love and concern.

The Dalit Freedom Network seeks to work with individuals, foundations and organizations outside of India, to knit together their combined resources on behalf of the individuals, foundations and organizations that are working for the emancipation of the dalits within India.

A movement of this magnitude requires a concerted effort by many people over a long period of time to have any lasting effect. DNF will become a clearinghouse of information on activities involving the Dalits. DNF will have components working in many areas: 1. human rights 2. education centres and training, 3. medical services and supplies, 4. funding, 5. public relations (getting information to the public through media and public speakers) and 7. economic development

A central office in the Denver, Colorado area will act as the hub to connect the people and finances to the areas of need in India. DFN will primarily work with the All India Christian Council to decide the best place to utilize these resources.

It has been years since a movement with this much potential for the significant change has occurred. Please consider how you could be involved with this dynamic network.

A New Wave of Islam phobia http://www.islam-usa.com/phobia.htm

HEALING THE WOUNDS Of September 11, 2001 A New Wave of Islam phobia

After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, attacking Islam and Muslims has become the fashionable sports for the radio, television and the print media. Thus this year instead of Ramadan and Eid greetings, Muslims are receiving vicious and poisonous articles, speeches and e mails by those who are supposed to “love thy neighbors”. Anti Islam writers and speakers are trying to become a clone of Steve Emersion. .While Islam is being portrayed as a religion promoting violence and war (Indianapolis Star, December 4, 2002 column by Cal Thomas), the FBI reports that there is a 1600% increase in hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs since September 11^th 2001. Those who are involved in such hate crimes against Muslims, are not the ones motivated by the Quran but by the Evangelists and the anti-Islam elements in the media. Reverend Jerry Fallwell, who after September 11^th, had said that “America deserved it” also said “Mohammad is a terrorist and Islam is evil”. Mr. Pat Robertson called Islam the enemy and said “Muslims are worse than Nazis.” Reverend Jerry Wine from Florida said “Mohammad is possessed by demons”. What is the purpose of such unwarranted attacks on Islam and Muslims other than my fear that it may be the prelude to ethnic cleansing in the USA as it happened in Bosnia. However I believe that Americans are wise and smart enough that they would not allow the hate mongers to disturb the peace in our country.

Karen Armstrong, a well known writer on Islam who as written many books and articles, asks this piercing question. “If Islam is so bad, as projected by the media, how come it is still growing so fast in the West?”( Time Magazine 9-17-01 the true peaceful face of Islam ). People should be running away from something so bad, not joining it. So, I add this question : “Where is the sword of Islam now?”. Islam is a religion of peace but Muslims have not been left in peace for a long time by the crusaders of the past and the present. Karen Armstrong notes that “ Islam is not addicted to war and Jihad is not a pillar of Islam”. All of the 30 or so battles in the life of prophet Mohammed were defensive wars imposed on Muslims by unbelievers. In another article, she noted that in 1099 at the fall of Jerusalem, the invading Christian armies killed 65,000 Muslims in 2 days . They had also killed thousands of Jewish people in Europe on their way to Jerusalem. It was not the Muslims that killed 6 million Jews in the Holocaust nor was it them who ran the concentration camps in Europe in World War II and in Bosnia. Cal Thomas calls Islam “ a religion of war “ but it is not the Muslims who used Atom bomb on Japan and agent orange in Vietnam. It was not the Muslims who killed millions of Polish people in WW11 nor did the genocide of native American Indians. One should not throw stones at other while sitting in a glass house.

The verses of Quran (i.e. 4:90) which appear to promote violence, should be taken in context of its revelation as Karen Armstrong states that these verses were revealed to the Prophet Mohammad, asking him not to give up against the terrorists of that time who were persecuting Muslims. Looking for verses that appear promoting violence can also be found in other scripture including the Bible( i.e. Deuteronomy 7:1-2, Numbers 31:17-18 and Deuteronomy 20:10-17.)

The attacks on Islam and the prophet Mohammad which started 1423 years ago will continue. The hate mongers of the past and of today will become history but the names of Mohammad, Moses and Jesus ( peace be upon them ) will continue to be remembered and respected until the end of this earth. Muslims neither asked nor bribed Michael Hart, the author of the book “The Most Influential Men in the History of Mankind”, to put Mohammad as the number one person. Americans should disregard such incitement to hate from both sides and concentrate on peaceful harmony in our country. I agree with Cal Thomas that moderate Muslims should “clean up the mess created by fundamentalists” and I urge the moderate Christian and Jewish people to do the same to the Taliban in their ranks. Let me assure the hate mongers that terrorism against Islam and Muslims by pen or speech will only help Islam and Muslims in a positive way. The more Islam is attacked, the more Muslims will hold on to their faith and more non Muslims will try to know the truth about “ the most misunderstood religion” thus answering Karen Armstrong’s piercing question.

Muslims thank Pope John Paul II for trying to make peace between Christians and Muslims. On October 28, 1965, the Second Vatican Council stated “over the centuries, many quarrels and dissentions have risen between Christians and Muslims. The sacred council now pleads with all to forgive the past and urge that a sincere effort be made to achieve mutual understanding for the benefit of all men. Let them together persevere and promote peace, social justice and moral values.”( Nostra Aetate 3 ).While addressing the Catholic community of Ankara, Turkey on November 29, 1979, Pope John Paul 11 said “my brothers, when I think of this spiritual heritage (Islam) and the value it has for man and for society, its capacity of offering, particularly in the young, guidance for life, the filling gap left by materialism and giving a reliable foundation to social and judicial organizations, I wonder if it is not urgent, especially today when Christians and Muslims have entered a new period of history to recognize and develop the spiritual bonds that unite us in order to persevere and promote together for the benefit of all men, peace, liberty, social justice and moral values as the council calls upon us to do”.

The moderate Muslims respect and will listen to moderate Christians whether

Karen Armstrong or Pope John Paul 11 but not to Islam phobic evangelists or columnists.

You can never get someone's cooperation by attacking his faith, scripture or his prophet.

The following is an open letter to Geert and Dr. Laura penned by a resident of the USA:

Dear Geert and Dr. laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18 : 22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them.

a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1 : 9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21 : 7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15 : 19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but many women take offense.

d) Lev. 25 : 44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35 : 2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or will you arrange it for me?

f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11 : 10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

g) Lev. 21 : 20 Clearly states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19 : 27. How should they die?

i) I know from Lev. 11 : 6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19 : 19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev. 24 : 10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20 : 14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your devoted disciple and adoring fan

Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) sent a message to the monks of Saint Catherine in Mount Sinai:
"This is a message written by Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, far and near, we are behind them. Verily, I defend them by myself, the servants, the helpers, and my followers, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be changed from their jobs, nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they (Christians) are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate. No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, this is not to take place without her own wish. She is not to be prevented from going to her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation is to disobey this covenant till the Day of Judgment and the end of the world."

http://www.emuslim.com/IslamAgainstVoilence.asp

http://www.emuslim.com/Jesus.asp

Al- Quran 3:55
Behold! God said: "O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.