The email linked to a debate regarding an amendment to Clause 15 of the Coroners and Justice Bill, which covers the issue of post-mortem examinations. Muslims (and as it turns out, Jews as well) require the body to be buried as soon as possible after death occurs. In addition, generally speaking, many people have a special sensitivity towards surgical autopsy, as they don’t wish the body of the deceased to be ‘harmed’ in any way.

The debate revealed that Manchester’s coroners jurisdiction has been offering MRI-based autopsies for some time, developed in response to the needs of its sizeable Muslim and Jewish communities. Apparently, not only is the procedure non-invasive, but it is also much quicker than the traditional, dissection-based method, as it does not rely on the analysis of biopsies, which can delay the results of a post-mortem for days, or even weeks.

Continue Reading at MuslimMatters.org…

To think that anyone in power could sit back and allow anything close to that to happen again… words fail me.

Maybe this time, it’s not about ethnic genocide.
Maybe it’s just about diamonds and coal.

But right now, dark-skinned women are having to make a choice:
Stay in squalid camps and let their babies starve.
Or return to rebel-controlled lands and face gang rape.
Some have already faced both.

Subhanallah… how?

How do they sleep?
How do they sip their morning coffee?
Kiss their wives on the cheek, and pat their children goodbye.
Sit in leather-clad offices.
And do absolutely nothing to stop this madness.

I… just don’t know what to say.

Sign the Avaaz Petition: STAND WITH THE PEOPLE OF CONGO

Make dua. Now. Please.

They are grown in the Jordan Valley, West Bank, and are the most profitable crop of the illegal Israeli settlers, who exploit the desperate poverty of their Palestinian workers – including children – with appalling working conditions. One company, Carmel Agrexco, even boasted about producing an early crop in time for Ramadan!

Imagine: to be proud that Muslims are breaking their fast with such blood-soaked dates. A product of illegal, oppressive apartheid!

How very, very, very sad… and sick.

Watch the videos below to learn more:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Information from the Inminds Campaign Website:

What else can we do?

*** BUY PALESTINIAN DATES ***
http://zaytoun.org

- Post this information onto your websites, blogs and forward onto your contacts.
- If you spot these brands in your local shops, complain to the owner (download sample letter of complaint, produced by Inminds) – ESPECIALLY IF THE SHOP IS MUSLIM-OWNED!
- If you spot these brands in someone’s house, POLITELY point out their origin. Most Muslims don’t know about this (I didn’t), and would not have bought these dates if they had known. So please be polite.
- Remember our Palestinian brothers and sisters in your dua, when placing a date in your mouth this Ramadan.

Hat-tip to bro Tariq for making me aware of this.

—
P.S., I know this may seem like just another average Muslim-lead boycott – and oh how we Muslims do love our boycotts – but in this case, it is clear that this is the most direct means of action we can take. It targets the offending companies that are mistreating their workers, as well as the illegal Israeli settlers. Plus, do you really want to be buying dates that were grown on stolen land? Stolen at gun point. It’s just not right, is it?

Well, you would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know that I am writing to you today from Gaza.

I really was too overwhelmed yesterday to put pen to paper after the magnificent welcome I and my fellow peace activists from SS Liberty and SS Free Gaza received as we entered the port of Gaza … the first ships to sail in since 1967.

Continue reading…

Well, better late than never, eh guys? {shakes head}

Taken from a press release written by “EGYPT LET THE Scottish VAN CROSS TO GAZA NOW & End the Siege” Facebook group:

After nearly one month of waiting at the Rafah crossing for Egyptian (Israeli) authorities to give permission to take the van full of medicine to Gaza, and after countless meetings and forms, today, Friday, at 12 noon, Khalil arrived at the Rafah crossing to take the van away.

The Egyptian authorities repeatedly refused any and all suggestions regarding delivering the medical supplies, whether through the Rafah crossing, the Kerem Abu Salem crossing (Kerem Shalom), or via the Egyptian Red Crescent. That, along with the declaration by Israeli authorities, via the PA embassy representative, that there was ‘no way the van would ever cross through Kerem Abu Salem’ led Khalil to decide, with no other option, to take the van from the crossing and begin the journey home.

Egyptian authorities presented many and varied the bureaucratic excuses to justify their refusal to allow entrance to the medicine. The latest was that the medicine was not accounted for in an item by item list. As the medicine was donated by various generous supporters in the UK, Al Niss and Willis did not have one list with receipts to present to Egyptian authorities. Yet Egyptian authorities refused the suggestion to have a third party, like the Egyptian Red Crescent, unload and supervise the itemizing of the medical supplies.

Khalil described his huge disappointment and frustration at not even being allowed to pass the medical supplies over to Red Crescent authorities to send to Gaza. On Thursday, Khalil had met with the Rafah customs authorities, based in Al Arish, to discuss this possible hand-over of the medical cargo. He left the office with an document approved and signed by Ismail Abbas, the former General Manager of Customs in Rafah, now a Manager in the Arish branch, as well as by Khalil Attala Khalil, the Assistant to the Customs Minister. The document authorized the hand-over of the medical supplies, from Khalil al Niss to the Red Crescent, with a further stipulation that the RC would do their utmost to ensure the medicine was sent to Palestinian land, meaning Gaza.

Egytian customs authorities at the Rafah crossing itself vetoed the order flat-out, stating that Khalil was not authorized to unload the van and give its contents to anyone else. Yet Abbas countered that “if anyone has a customs paper in his/her name, he/she has the right to give the cargo to whoever is specified on that paper. Then the contents belong to the recipient.” Abbas, extremely forthcoming and helpful, was in the end no match for Egyptian bureaucracy, and Egypt’s determination to show deference to Israel rather than allow humanitarian aid in through any legal means.

Following Thurday’s promise and disappointment, Khalil informed Gaza-based Dr. Khamis, the doctor Linda and Khalil had coordinated with to deliver the medicine to. Khalil was again told that whenever the medicine got into Gaza, it would be very welcome, still urgently needed.

Which brings us to Friday, what seemed to be the end of the long, fruitless effort to bring aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

After over an hour’s wait, Egyptian authorities finally produced the paper releasing the van from its parked position at the border. The release paper stipulates Khalil must drive the van back to the Nuweiba border crossing and cannot unload it at any point in Egypt.
Even without that stipulation, it would be impossible to open and unload the van, as it had been locked by Egyptian border officials upon arrival at Nuweiba nearly one month ago. The border officials also send a Police guard, to ensure Khalil drove to Nuweiba and left the country.

About 20 km away from Rafah the van stalled, technical problems. Three hours later, problems fixed, Khalil continued the drive back to Al Arish.

But, during this delay, one branch of Egyptian intelligence, the Mokhabarat, called Khalil to ask what his rush was. After 26 days at the closed Rafah crossing, and unccounted appeals to allow the medicine in, the man had the gall to imply Khalil was rushing off without due process. It need not be reiterated that he had been told by Egyptian officials he would not cross via Kerem Abu Salem.

Haithem, the Mokhabarat officer, suggested Khalil wait around another 3 weeks, as Kerem Abu Salem might open to goods going into Gaza.

This seems to be a very poor attempt by the Egyptian authorities to insinuate that Khalil and Linda aborted their humanitarian effort due to lack of interest. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In calling their bluff, Khalil will consider this dangling carrot, this false offer of the Kerem Abu Salem possibility. But I don’t think he is too crazy about carrots.

In the past six months, we have heard a great deal about Britishness—indeed the former Attorney-General was put in charge of it, perhaps as a consolation, but more likely as a punishment for his term in office. In truth, that was wholly unnecessary. We do not need to be taught about Britishness, or about flags and ceremonies. Britishness has many great attributes at its root, but civil liberties are not one of them. Civil liberties are not an attribute of being British. They are the defining characteristic of our nation. They are what we are.

That is not hyperbolic; I mention it simply because what comes from it is the enormously high burden and standard of proof required in this House if any Government attempt in any way to circumscribe or check those liberties. My first point, which has been made extraordinarily well already, is that there is no evidence whatever to vote for the Bill—none. Hopeful statements of desiderata are not evidence. Statements from senior police officers saying, “I would really like this,” or, “I would really, really, really like this,” or, “It would be very useful,” or, “I need this,” are not evidence. Evidence is what needs to be put before the House, and there is none, so the Bill must not be voted for.

Read the rest of his statement here… 

I welcome your feedback on the style and content. I’ve never written a scientific article for the general public before, and i fear i made it too technical. It’s hard to avoid jargon sometimes, and when you’re only used to talking to other biologists on the subject, you don’t even realize you’re doing it! So please let me know if that’s the case, so next time i’ll make sure to explain the matter better, inshallah.

Oh, btw, for those who don’t know… this blog was one years old on the 26th! I didn’t post a special entry, as i wasn’t sure what to say. Anyway, the blog has been through a lot in the past year, and i have been through even more because of it (more than most of you even know, and more than i am fully prepared to share!). I’m not sure what the next year will bring for the blog, iMuslim, especially as my attention is so diverted at present, but i pray that there are many good things to come for the blogger, iMuslim, inshallah!

—

My Lords, I am most grateful to the usual channels for arranging this debate, and I thank noble Lords who are here to speak today. I am looking forward to the contributions of distinguished speakers and, with great anticipation, to hearing the responses of my noble friend Lord Howell and the Minister. I also thank the House of Lords Library and the Politeia think tank for their help with preparatory research for this evening’s debate.

Americans today may be perplexed and confused about the way in which America is perceived in the world. They may feel like Josef K in Kafka’s The Trial. Noble Lords will recall the opening lines:

“Someone must have laid false accusations against Josef K because one morning he was arrested without having done anything wrong”.

Accusations against America have spread into a global phenomenon, crossing borders, classes, religions and generations. A Pew Trusts research poll in 2005 concluded that anti-Americanism is deeper and broader than at any time in modern history.

America’s critics can be heard everywhere. This is how they make their points—I have heard every one of them myself. America is too in love with money, worshipping the god of the market place, the golden calf. It has too much money: seven of the top 10 banks, eight of the top 10 companies, and so on. It is too stingy, giving away less of its wealth to poor countries than others. It is vulgar, a rich barbarian. It has a lowly culture yet practises cultural imperialism. It makes people dread “Americanization”. It is arrogant and condescending to what were called the “little monkeys” from other cultures. It is too religious, saying “God Bless America” once too often. It has too much power, spending more on arms than the rest of the world put together. It is a hypocrite, disguising its wars of self-interest as humanitarian interventions and exporting democracy at the point of a bayonet. It is inconsistent, agitating for regime change in some undemocratic countries but to others giving arms, aid and trade.

So it goes on. America has an incoherent foreign policy. It abandoned the “no first strike” principle which kept the peace for decades; pre-emption replaced deterrence but has no basis in international law. It is too close to Israel. It resists multilateral solutions, preferring unilateralism, hegemony, a sheriff strategy—”In guns we trust”. It has aroused the envy of Europeans, causing them to want to form a rival power bloc. It has hit an ideological brick wall: the Great Wall of China, where state capitalism works. It has not solved the mystery of Islam. And it is not even a democracy, as a 44 per cent turnout in presidential elections proves.

The accusations against America are endless. I have heard them all, all over the world. Speaking up for America has become a lonely ordeal. Perhaps the accusations are all untrue. Josef K protested his innocence on the basis that he was a victim of false perceptions; perhaps America could do the same. Unfortunately for America, all of us know the power of perception over reality, which is why David Kilcullen, seated at his desk in the counterinsurgency section on the second floor of the State Department building in Washington, was right to point out that, like the IRA before them, America’s enemies today are “armed propaganda organisations”.

The jury of world opinion is no different from the jury in a court of law: it seeks motive and intent. It wants to hear America’s true motive, and it wants it to be something good in the moral sense. We recall Alexis de Tocqueville’s conclusion at the end of his famous voyage around America:

“America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great”.

That was why President Reagan, when he addressed another place, asked Americans never to allow themselves to be placed in a position of moral inferiority.

Today, whether the American motive is pure or not, the one certainty is that, in recent times, America has proved unequal to the task of expressing it. Before globalisation it was possible—at least in theory—for America to be isolationist. It was possible to say of another nation, as Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said about Czechoslovakia in 1938, that it was:

“a faraway country of which we know little”.

Now there are no faraway countries, and there never will be again. Each day, we have a clear, stark and often alarming view of our multi-ethnic planet. Americans once brilliantly transcended the inherent fragility and insecurity of their own multi-ethnic community. In George Washington’s own words:

“The bosom of America is open … to the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions”.

Woodrow Wilson called it,

“the great melting-pot of America”,

and made it the prototype of a diverse society. E pluribus unum: one out of many. My main point is that it is to the new melting pot of the world that America can bring, if only it can find a way to express it, its unique message.

America, as we know, was born out of a desire for self-determination, a longing for the human dignity that only independence can bring. That is what the pilgrim fathers hoped when, inspired by the scriptures, they announced their aim to create,

“a City upon a Hill”,

their new Jerusalem. Americans of all national origins, religions, creeds and colours would hold in common the ideals of the essential equality of all human beings, of inalienable rights to freedom, justice and opportunity. America would embrace meritocracy before hierarchy. Its frontier spirit would mean anyone could do well if they were determined. In America, nothing would be impossible. Americans would breathe free, with freedom of speech and thought for all men and women. These were the motives that made America the inspiration for so many millions of people: not its wealth, but its intense belief in its moral purpose.

Does the Minister agree with me that to disarm its enemies and defeat its rivals, America has only to focus its intellectual energy and vast economic resources on the policies which would help the world follow its lead; to find the language to project its founding ideology beyond its own shores; and to remind the world of its ultimate belief in self-determination, individuality and independence, and in democracy only as a means to that great end? To do that will require a marching tune that people can respond to, so that Americans can once again, as the pilgrim fathers intended, show the world the American way.

The outcome of the battle of ideas between Americanism and anti-Americanism will set the tone of the 21st century. It will be the decisive ideological struggle of our times. America has a fine ideology, but it has forgotten either what it is or how to express it. America today is a sleeping beauty. It is time to wake her up.

Sarah will be one of the speakers at this event, taking place this Saturday, in London:

South London Man in Guantanamo: Shaker Aamer

This letter from Shaker to his family, disturbed me:

“I am dying here every day, mentally and physically. This is happening to all of us. We have been ignored, locked up in the middle of the ocean for years. Rather than humiliate myself, having to beg for water, I would rather hurry up the process that is going to happen anyway.

“I would like to die quietly, by myself. I was once 250 lbs (17 stone 12 lbs). I dropped to 130 lbs (9 stone 4 lbs) in the first hunger strike. I want to make it easy on everyone. I want no feeding, no forced tubes, no ‘help’, no ‘intensive assisted feeding’. This is my legal right.” Shaker Aamer, 2nd November 2005

Please keep all these brothers in your prayers.

Oh… btw… we have a new Prime Minister. I wonder, has anything really changed?

Comments for this entry are closed.

Please click on the link below and sign the petition demanding that the government stops the extradition of British citizen Babar Ahmad to the US and puts him on trial in the UK:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BabarAhmad/sign

For more information on the case, please visit www.freebabarahmad.com.

***

For the attention of all Global Citizens:

The initiative was first announced in Washington during the ADC Annual Convention on June 10, 2007

Can unarmed civilians break the siege of Gaza?

We can try

“I am unable to see my own country, much less live there”
- Palestinian professor, Mahmood Ibrahmin

“I cannot be silent when Palestinians are oppressed in my name.”
-Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein

“I have the right to tune pianos in Gaza if they want me to.”
-US Piano Technician Paul Larudee

Setting Sail to Break the Siege of Gaza

Who are we?

We are Palestinians, Israelis, Americans, Europeans, Africans and Asians. We are Jews, Muslims, Christians and Bud-dhists. We are clergy, programmers, farmers, fishermen, officials, language teachers, piano technicians and holocaust survivors.

What do we want?

We want the siege of Gaza to end. For forty years, Israel has controlled Palestinians. Israel says Gaza is no longer occupied, yet it denies Palestinians access to jobs, travel, visitors, commerce, education, health and medical care. It has made the Gaza Strip into a prison controlled by land, sea and air. Israel forces Palestinians to live on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe. It is time for Gaza to be free.

What can we do?

We can travel to Gaza at the invitation of its beleaguered people. We need no permission from Israel; we will not travel through Israeli territory. Instead, we will sail directly to Gaza by sea from international waters and nonviolently challenge Israel’s blockade through civil resistance.

What is our plan?

We will sail to Gaza in the last half of 2007, from a variety of embarkation points. We will take as many vessels as we can, both large and small, and we will go at different times, as our funding and logistics allow.

Why now?

We will no longer wait for the UN to enforce its resolutions, for the world to do its humanitarian duty, or for Israel to respect human rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention. We choose to act upon those rights as free people, and be in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

• We will not stand by while Israel besieges Gaza and denies Palestinians control over their own borders.
• We will not accept that the 1.4 million people of Gaza are trapped and starved, surrounded by 27-foot walls.
• We will not stand by as civilians are daily terrorized by bombings, incursions, and abductions by Israeli armed forces.
• We will not wait for Israel to free Gaza.

What can I do?

More than anything else, we need money – 250 people to make a $1000 donation each or many more to make smaller ones. Whatever the amount, we welcome your participation. We are going forward even on credit, in the belief that your support will make this happen. Please send your tax-deductible check to

PCWF – Gaza Human Rights
405 Vista Heights Rd.
El Cerrito, CA 94530

or donate at our website www.freegaza.org. Please contact us for further information or to ask for speakers to do a presentation to groups.

Thank you for your support and solidarity.

The Free Gaza Movement
Website: www.freegaza.org
Email: friends[at]freegaza[dot]org
USA tel. 510-236-5338

Comments for this entry are closed