Al -Turki Praises Geneva Islamic Cultural Foundation

GENEVA - Dr. Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Turki, secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL) has thanked the Islamic Cultural Foundation in Geneva for its efforts in the service of Islam and Muslims. He was speaking at a gathering conducted for the reunion of newly converted Muslims in Switzerland.

Dr Al-Turki said Muslims who are considered a minority in the country should know the local environment in which they live and how to cope with the circumstances and deal with others. Muslims should also know how to hold fast to their religion and invite others to Islam. The responsibility of introducing Islam to others is the duty of every Muslim who should do what they can in this regard, he said.

A lecture was given by Khaldoun Dhiya, who said Muslims in Germany face the challenges from the society as well as from the media, which have to be dealt with. He called on the Muslim society in Switzerland to set up links between them and the local community in which they live.

Swiss Muslims came with their families in the gathering to know more about Islam. A brief report on the first meeting for newly converted Muslims that was held in 1998 was presented by Abdul Hafeez Al-Wardeghi, public relations officer of the foundation.

Earlier Dr. Al-Turki chaired the meeting of the Foundation, which reviewed the annual report and closing of accounts as well as its new budget and organizational charter. The meeting also reviewed the outcome of the agenda for the administration of King Faisal Waqf in Basel in addition to the achievements made over the previous period for the benefit of the Muslims in the country.

Preachers Urged to Shun Deviant Ideas

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia's Minister of Islamic Affairs Saleh Bin Abdul Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh has urged the imams, preachers, and religious scholars to shun deviant ideas and the fatwas of infidelity-labeling and terrorism.

Aal Al-Sheikh's comments came in a meeting with religious scholars and imams in Hail, the Arabic daily Al-Riyadh reported last Sunday.

He stressed that imams and orators should adhere to Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) course in directing people.

He said that religious people should remove any illusions about the deviancy of the terrorists marketing their deviant ideas to young people, especially through the Internet. - SG

Israeli Interrogators in Iraq

LONDON - The US officer at the heart of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal says she has evidence that Israelis helped to interrogate Iraqis at another facility.

Brig Gen Janis Karpinski told the BBC she met an Israeli working as an interrogator at a secret intelligence centre in Baghdad.

A BBC reporter says it is the first time a senior US officer has suggested Israelis worked with the coalition.

The Israeli foreign ministry said the reports were completely untrue.

Gen Karpinski was in charge of the military police unit that ran Abu Ghraib and other prisons when the abuses were committed. She has been suspended but not charged.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she met a man claiming to be Israeli during a visit to an intelligence centre with a senior coalition general.

"I saw an individual there that I hadn't had the opportunity to meet before, and I asked him what did he do there, was he an interpreter - he was clearly from the Middle East," she said in the interview.

"He said, 'Well, I do some of the interrogation here. I speak Arabic but I'm not an Arab; I'm from Israel.'"

Until a 1999 ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court, Israeli secret service interrogators were allowed to use "moderate force".

The US journalist who broke the Abu Ghraib scandal told the programme his sources confirm the presence of Israeli intelligence agents in Iraq.

Seymour Hersh said that one of the Israeli aims was to gain access to detained members of the Iraqi secret intelligence unit, who reportedly specialise in Israeli affairs.

The BBC reporter, Matthew Grant, says that whatever the truth, these allegations could cause anger in the Arab world.

One soldier has been sentenced and six others are awaiting courts martial for abuses committed at Abu Ghraib jail.

Gen Karpinski has said she was being made a "convenient scapegoat" for abuse ordered by others. - BBC Online

Iran, Syria Call Rapid Departure of Foreign Troops from Iraq

TEHRAN - Iran and Syria gave a show of unity against the presence of US troops in their common neighbour Iraq. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, on his third visit to the Islamic republic, had met with a string of top regime officials here including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. After meeting with President Mohammad Khatami, the two called for the rapid departure of foreign troops from Iraq.

"This crisis was predictable, and its source was the aggression and occupation of Iraq by the United States," Khatami said. "There is no ambiguity between us and Syria where Iraq is concerned. The solution is the quick end to the occupation, the installation of a government comprising all elements of the Iraqi people and the cooperation of the international community to bring stability and reconstruction," he said. For his part, Assad said "Iraq is on the top of our list of preoccupations" although he said his talks here would also cover "Palestine and the halt in the peace process".

"Regarding Iraq, we have always been in agreement with Iran on the need for Iraq's territorial integrity, a representative government and the departure of the occupying forces," he added. Both Syria and Iran have been accused by the United States of supporting anti-coalition insurgents inside Iraq.

Just Monday, The New York Times quoted US government officials and a prominent Iraqi of saying a broad network of Saddam Hussein's extended family is helping fund and arm the anti- US insurgency in Iraq. It said the network operates in part from Syria and Jordan and actively smuggles weapons, fighters and money into Iraq for the cause.

According to a British newspaper report Sunday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said his government had gathered information from intelligence services showing support for the insurgents from some neighbouring countries.

Zebari did not name the foreign powers, but the Sunday Telegraph quoted "senior Iraqi officials" as indicating "that Iran and Syria were the worst offenders".

Meanwhile, in a separate report, Syrian Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan told the Iranian state news agency IRNA that Assad would discuss here the alleged presence of Israeli forces inside Iraq.

"Unfortunately, the Israelis are active in northern parts of Iraq and their presence poses a serious threat to Iranian and Syrian security," he was quoted as saying. In June, the New Yorker magazine alleged that Israeli intelligence agents had infiltrated Iraq's Kurdistan and slipped across into Iran to monitor nuclear facilities. - AFP

Internet for Teaching the Holy Qur'an

JEDDAH - An agreement was recently signed between the Holy Qur'an Memorization International Organization and Harf company for information technology calling for the establishment of a website to assist in the memorization of the Holy Qur'an through the Internet.

The agreement was signed at he headquarters of the organization in the holy city of Makkah by the the Secretary General, sheikh Abdullah ibn Ali Basfar who said this effort reflects the organization's keenness to improve Qura'nic work by benefiting from modern technology in different areas.

He said the objective of the organization is to encourage people to memorize and understand the Holy Qur'an and to spread it's teaching among Muslims all over the world. The organization has a special section for the development of the means that help in the memorization of the Holy Qur'an.

Sheikh Basfar said the agreement is an important step forward and will give a big boost for the organization enabling it to further develop and enhance its projects in this area.

We took this step to benefit from modern technology and encourage the teaching of the Holy Qur'an thorough the Internet to enable Muslims in remote areas of the world to easily access the service quickly and at the lowest possible costs, he explained.

He said the cost of the project, which is expected to be high would be met through floating shares at the value of SR100 each and praised the efforts being made by Harf company and its cooperation with the organization in this regard. - IINA

Centre for Coaching Muslim Students in the Offing

NEW DELHI - The Crescent Academy in the northern Indian city of Aligarh is setting up a centre for coaching Muslims for top civil service examinations in India with an objective of empowering them with higher representation in civil service jobs. The centre will be set up on a plot of land covering an area of six acres in the outskirts of University City of Aligarh where there will be a hostel for 100 students as well as guesthouses and residential quarters for the faculty members.

In India, Muslims represent only 3.7 percent in the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), which currently has strength of 5018. Similarly, Muslims are grossly under represented in all layers of government services, which lead to alienation of Muslims from decision- making process.

Fazlur Raheem Mujaddidi, chairman of the Crescent Academy, has unveiled plans of the academy to set up similar centres in several other major cities of the country, including Delhi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Kochi and Bangalore. Mujaddidi also runs a Madrasa cum modern school known as Jamiatul Hidaya in Jaipur for the last 25 years.

Blair Warns Against 'Stigmatising' Muslims

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair warned against "stigmatising" the Muslim community because of fears of terrorism.

Giving evidence to the Commons Liaison Committee, the Prime Minster said that concerns about terrorism since the September 11 attacks in 2001 had added a "new dimension" to race relations.

"I think that issue to do with terrorism - and we heard all the controversy over the stop and search and so on - has put a new dimension into the equation which I think is difficult," he said.

"I know from my conversations with leaders of the Muslim community that they feel very strongly that if someone who calls themselves a Protestant goes on to the streets of Northern Ireland and murders a Catholic that doesn't reflect on the whole of the Protestant religion.

"Whereas they feel if you get Muslim extremists and terrorists then somehow this can be taken as stigmatising the entire community. I think we need to be sensitive to that."

Mr Blair warned against allowing "unnecessary tension" to develop between ethnic communities which could be exploited by parties like the far right British National Party (BNP).

"Sometimes there is an unnecessary tension that enters into local relations. Obviously this is what has happened in certain parts of the North West particularly, but not limited to the North West," he said.

"Those are areas particularly where political parties like the BNP can come in and exploit those tensions." - Muslim News

Most American Muslims to Vote Bush Down: Poll

WASHINGTON - A majority of eligible American Muslim voters would vote for Democratic presidential contender John Kerry and independent hopeful Ralph Nader in the November presidential elections, according to a poll released on Tuesday, June 29 by a prominent American Islamic civil rights group.

Fifty four percent of eligible Muslim voters said they would vote for Kerry and 26 percent for Nader, an American of Lebanese descent, while 14 percent remain undecided, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said.

According to the survey of 1161 individuals taken this month, 34 percent of respondents said the Democratic Party best represents American Muslims' interests, closely followed by the Green Party at 24 percent. Almost one- quarter (22 percent) of those polled said no party reflected their views.

All figures are based on responses provided by eligible Muslim voters. Almost all of the respondents said they are registered to vote or plan to vote in November.

Discrimination

The results mark a shift in the choice of American Muslims from the 2000 elections, in which 55 percent of Muslims voted for incumbent President George W. Bush.

Fifty four percent of the respondents said they experienced some form of anti- Muslim discrimination or bias in the past year and 87 percent felt less secure since the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Nearly 57 percent of American Muslims polled by CAIR in 2002 complained of having experienced bias or discrimination since the September 11 attacks and 87 percent know of a fellow Muslim who experienced discrimination.

Asked to list the most important domestic issues they will use to determine a presidential choice, almost 40 percent of the polled cited civil rights, followed by the economy at 25 percent. While more than 90 percent said Washington's policy in the Middle East is the most important international issue.

Bush triggered wrath of Muslim and Arab Americans by stating, with Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon at his side in a press conference, that Palestinian refugees could not return to their homeland and that Israel could retain occupation of lands in the West Bank, in what is dubbed as a "Bushfour Promise".

Swing votes

"This survey shows that presidential candidates will have to address issues of importance to Muslims if they wish to garner and maintain support in the Islamic community," CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said.

He underlined that Muslims may be swing voters in politically-important states such as Michigan, Ohio and Florida.

On April 29, a poll conducted by the Washington- based Arab American Institute revealed that a majority of Arab Americans in four battleground states would vote for Kerry if presidential elections were held that day.

The poll found that 49 percent of all Arab-American voters in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania - all swing states in the November election - would vote for Kerry, while 30 percent would vote for Bush.

Though there are only about 510,000 likely Arab- American voters in the states, the race could be close enough that even relatively small numbers could make a difference.

In 2000, then Democratic presidential contender Al Gore won Michigan and Pennsylvania by just over than 200,000 votes in each state, while Bush won Ohio by 165,000 and the two tied in Florida.

Free Religious Practice

On other issues, only 11 percent of respondents said they are better off now than they were four years ago. However, 81 percent said they feel free to practice their faith in America.

Muslims from 43 states responded to the survey, with the most responses coming from California (17 percent), Texas (8 percent), Virginia (8 percent), New York (4 percent), Florida (4 percent), Illinois (7 percent), Michigan (5 percent), Ohio (5 percent), Maryland (5 percent), and New Jersey (4 percent).

The two largest ethnic groups listed in the survey were South Asian (37 percent) and those from an Arabic-speaking countries (28 percent).

Feeling ostracized and betrayed by a number of oppressive laws enacted with the blessing of the Bush administration, Arab and Muslim Americans are trying to show they can be a mighty political force and key player in this year's presidential election. - IOL