Thursday, August 9, 2007

Revisionists Hijack Islam

by Murad Ali Baig from The Times of India

Actually, many Wahhabi ideas were a heresy to the words and actions of the Prophet whose conquest of Mecca had been achieved without shedding a drop of blood through a year-long, almost Gandhian, campaign of patience and moral principles. Muhammad preached peace, except in times of actual combat, and the very word Islam means absolute submission to the will of a merciful god. The word jehad is rarely found in the Qur'an but is referred to 199 times in the Hadith that was written two centuries after the death of the Prophet. The Wahhabis interpreted jehad to mean a holy war even though it had actually meant a striving and Mujahideen was no holy warrior but only one who strives ... Muslim clerics must understand that the philosophy of revenge has made Islamic communities viewed with suspicion in almost all countries. They should go back to the words of their Prophet instead of following the words of the revisionists who have hijacked the faith.

Wage Semantic Warfare to Divide the Enemy

by J. Michael Waller from FrontPageMagazine.com

Walid Phares does have a good point, though: It is dangerous to view the Muslim Brotherhood, whose “jihadist” strategy stresses power through infiltration, co-optation and subversion more than through violence, as the “good guy” against Islamist terrorism. Ditto for the subversive ideological exports of the House of Saud. Political, economic and cultural subversion may constitute a far greater strategic danger to the United States and the free world than the fanatical terrorism of al Qaeda. And this is where the Wahhabis and the Muslim Brotherhood have been investing heavily, even among American conservatives.

Muslim financiers fight suspicion in U.S.

by Landon Thomas Jr. from the International Herald Tribune

Some see Prince Mohamed al Faisal al Saud as the leader of Islamic finance, a thriving piece of the global economy that approaches $800 billion in assets. Others have accused the prince, a follower of the conservative Sunni branch of Wahhabi Islam, as being involved in funneling money to Al Qaeda. Fueled by rising oil prices and an increasingly open investment climate, capital is flowing to the Middle East, often steered to institutions like DMI and its subsidiaries that, to comply with Islamic law ... Yassin Abdullah Kadi, a prominent Saudi businessman and a past shareholder of DMI who was designated a terrorist in October 2001 for his ties to Islamic charities accused of providing financial support to terrorists ... Other documents collected by plaintiffs show that two extremist groups in Pakistan that have been designated by the United States as supporting terrorism maintained deposit accounts at Faysal Bank, DMI's banking affiliate there. McGuire, DMI's lawyer, said the accounts were frozen as soon as the clients had been either put on a designated list or banned in Pakistan. But Michael Elsner, a lawyer representing the Sept. 11 relatives said "And if the accounts are frozen, why are they accepting investment payouts?"

Knowledge key to MasterCard regional success

from Breaking Travel News

MasterCard Worldwide has announced positive second quarter 2007 operating results for the Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa region. MasterCards knowledge leadership took centre stage in Q2 with the global launch of the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce programme, designed to provide insights and knowledge on how leading cities influence the global economy ... In Saudi Arabia, MasterCard launched the first MasterCard Islamic Titanium card, in collaboration with the National Commercial Bank. To encourage cross-border usage, MasterCard launched dedicated travel campaigns in Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Additionally, MasterCard launched the SABB Amanah credit card in collaboration with Saudi British Bank, a new Shariah compliant product in Saudi Arabia.

Saudis absent from Iraq security meeting

by Albert Aji from The Associated Press

Iraq's deputy foreign minister urged neighboring countries to support its efforts to bolster security, and said he hoped a new regional body meeting for the first time Wednesday would produce real results. But Saudi Arabia, a key regional player, was absent from the two-day meeting of the Security Committee for Coordination and Cooperation on Iraq, casting doubt on how effective it would be ... Iraq and the U.S. have complained about weapons and fighters crossing into Iraq from neighboring nations such as Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia ... Saudi officials would not comment on their nation's absence, which was seen as a result of bad relations with the Syrian government over Syria's ties to Iran and the Shiite Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. A Sunni Muslim country, Saudi Arabia has been keeping Iraq's Shiite-led government at arms length. Under U.S. pressure to be more cooperative, it is now considering reopening an embassy in Baghdad.

Anti-Saudi tide rises in Iraq

by Sam Dagher from The Christian Science Monitor

This year's pilgrimage also comes amid an unprecedented wave of anger toward Saudi Arabia. Government and religious leaders here charge that the neighboring kingdom is doing little to stem the flow of its nationals to Iraq to wage "holy war" on Shiites. The Saudi backlash is being fueled by Iraqi media reports and Shiite leaders' condemnations of apparent fatwas, religious rulings by Saudi muftis calling for the destruction of Shiite shrines in Iraq. In spite of questions about their authenticity, the fatwas are stirring up much of the Shiite community and is indeed coloring this year's pilgrimage ... Nibras al-Kazimi, an analyst reached in Istanbul, Turkey, says that the stepped-up anti-Saudi stance reflects frustration with what some see as Saudi Arabia's standoffish attitude toward the influx of its citizens to fight in Iraq. "It's partly overreacting, and Saudi bashing will build political capital for some," says Mr. Kazimi"But there is also an element of vilifying the Saudis and picking a fight because people have had enough."