A Seminar on Awareness on Muslim Personal Laws Held in Bangalore

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This was the first of its kind meet where people of different schools of thoughts came on a common platform to discuss Muslim personal law.

Yusuf Hakim Muchala, senior advocate of the Supreme Court deliberated on the necessity of a body like AIMPLB to work for the protection of the personal law for the Muslims. He also dwelt on the jurisprudential bases on the Islamic law pertaining to matters of inheritance and matrimonial issues and emphasized the need to establish Darul Qaza in every state.

Hazrath Moulana Khalid Saifulla Rahmani, member AIMPLB said, “Media was showing Shariat in negative light. There is a communication gap when it comes to Shariat.” Participants also signed a memorandum to be submitted to the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India urging them to take measures to safeguard personal law of the Muslims and to take remedial measures to prohibit courts from interpreting Muslim Personal Law according to its own notion.

Statement of Ahl ul Bayt World Assembly on Discrimination against Saudi Shia Muslims

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In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ مَنَعَ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ أَنْ يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ وَسَعَى فِي خَرَابِهَا أُولَئِكَ مَا كَانَ لَهُمْ أَنْ يَدْخُلُوهَا إِلا خَائِفِينَ لَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا خِزْيٌ وَلَهُمْ فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

Who is a greater wrongdoer than him who denies access to the mosques of Allah lest His Name be celebrated therein, and tries to ruin them? Such ones may not enter them, except in fear.

There is disgrace for them in this world, and there is for them a great punishment in the Hereafter.  (Baqarah 2:114)

Unfortunately, pressures and difficulties against the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) have recently intensified in Saudi Arabia.

Some extremist lobbies dominating Saudi state institutions have been causing trouble for the Shi‘ah such as unfounded arrests, police investigations, short and long term prison sentences, ban of religious ceremonies, and infringement of citizenship rights.

The worst of these measures is the prohibition of the simplest religious right of a Muslim, i.e. public prayer, which has reached a peak.  In addition to closing the Shi‘ah mosques of al-Khabar, they are denied the right to perform congregational prayer even behind Sunni Imams at Sunni mosques.

As an international nongovernmental organization, the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) World Assembly requests the attention of global human rights organizations regarding the suffering of the oppressed people living in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia.  We also petition the Saudi government to not submit to these extremists and to put an end to these problems.

Statesmen of this country very well know that the followers of the school of the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a), comprising of millions of Saudi citizens, form a great part of the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula.  Therefore, exerting pressure upon them may lead to break up of the relationship between these oppressed people and the governmental structure of this country.

Consequently, concerned parties in this country are expected to thoughtfully prevent such occurrences in the future.

The Ahl al-Bayt (‘a) World Assembly
Apr. 2010

Sayyed Nasrallah to Al-Rai: Israeli Project Nearing End

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Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah stressed the goal of the uproar over the alleged Scud Missiles transfer from Syria to Hezbollah “is to pressure Syria and Hezbollah and to prevent us as a resistance from defending ourselves.”

Sayyed Nasrallah was speaking during an interview with the Kuwaiti television Al-Rai on Thursday. “Their campaign has failed because Syria has denied the claim and Hezbollah traditionally does not comment on such issues,” Sayyed Nasrallah said.

His eminence asked about the implications of such campaigns on the Israelis on the moral and psychological levels. He added that “this is in our interest, and all those who support the resistance have become more reassured because we’ve said that we’ll defend ourselves and Lebanon and that we’ll strike their infrastructures if they target ours.”

Sayyed Nasrallah underlined that the resistance is capable of fulfilling its commitments to defend the country. “In July 2006 the resistance proved it possesses defensive capabilities and the enemy was stunned to see what had taken place because they did not expect to face a resistance of this kind. We will not allow them to target our cities. There are red lines and we’ll hit back and we are capable of it, however we do not discuss the nature of the weapons we’ll be using.”

The Hezbollah chief said the picture taken in Damascus (President Bashar Assad, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Sayyed Nasrallah) was enough to send a message that the circumstances in the region have changed. “I assure that any new Israeli war will be an adventure with uncalculated results for the Israeli side and will eventually change the face of this region…My brothers and I believe that this intimidation does not entail a war.”

On the assassination of Resistance commander martyr Imad Moghnieh, Sayyed Nasrallah said that vengeance for his death is a matter of time. “I can’t say that operations to avenge martyr Moghnieh’s death had taken place and failed and the Azabeijan issue is a different issue. I assure that the Islamic Resistance will not be lax in avenging him. We are engaged in a battle with the Israeli enemy and when our leaders get killed anywhere we will have the right to respond in the framework of the ongoing battle. Speaking of vengeance bares some tolerance in its meaning. If we sought after vengeance by killing Israeli tourists we would have been able to so easily but we do not look at the issue from this perspective. We know where to respond and when to respond and who to target. The Israelis know this and it is only a matter of time.”

Speaking about National Dialogue in Lebanon, Sayyed Nasrallah said that “our ally, General Michel Aoun threatened to withdraw from the dialogue to protest the attack on the arms of the resistance and its intentions.” He added: “General Aoun expressed resentment from this rhetoric. Hezbollah’s representative was very clear when he told the other camp that if they wanted to bring the issue to the media, there was no problem and if they wanted to tackle it around a round table there was no problem either. Some say that the arms of the resistance give Israel the pretext to wage war on Lebanon. We condemn this rhetoric because it contradicts the simplest axioms. We cannot accept giving legitimacy to an Israeli assault on Lebanon and our people. True, there is an historic difference that dates back to the establishment of the resistance. Some political powers never believed that Israel was an enemy, and this difference in ideologies was present even before I was born. The only way to resolve this difference is through a national dialogue. This is why we were the first to present our vision on this matter. Some groups have declared through written statements that they insist on raising the arms issue to establish that it is a controversial matter. The resistance has never had consensus in any country at any time and Lebanon is not a special case. The resistance in 1982 did not enjoy consensus as there were parties who were in the same camp with the Israelis fighting for them. “

Sayyed Nasrallah stressed the resistance in Lebanon was strong especially after the 2000 Israeli withdrawal from most of Lebanon and victory in the 2006 war with Israel. He added that the arms of the resistance were not and will not be used in Lebanon to change an internal political equation or to change the constitution. “The resistance won the war but we did not ask for power and we never sought after it. Everybody remember May 25, 2000 when I spoke in Bint Jbeil. I said that what we achieved was our obligation and we didn’t want anything in return. We called on the Lebanese army to have full reign in south Lebanon, we never asked for a constitutional amendment to change the sectarian distribution of powers in Lebanon…Our experience is enough evidence that Hezbollah’s ambitions is not based on sectarian interests, in fact it is founded on national interests and I admit that Lebanon cannot stay separated from the Palestinian cause.

Speaking about the May 7, 2008 incidents in Beirut, the Hezbollah chief explained that what happened was to reverse an unjust decision by then PM Fouad Saniora’s government that was aimed at the arms of the resistance, namely its communications network which played a major role in defeating Israeli in the 2006 war. “Some ex-March 14 figures admit that those decisions were a strategic mistake. That government attacked us and it sought to ignite sedition between the army and the resistance. We were not represented in the government. When the Arab delegation arrived in Beirut we told them that our only demands were to reverse the decisions and sit around the national dialogue table, nothing else. We did not set conditions on electing a new president or on giving Saniora another term as PM. Our arms were not and will not be use in Lebanon to change equations. Our arms are to defend Lebanon and the resistance, and we do not tolerate attacking our arms because our weapons are legitimate according to all standards.”

On the investigations committee probing the assassination of former PM martyr Rafiq Hariri, Sayyed Nasrallah warned that Hezbollah did not trust the panel. “We have evidence that lead us not to trust the panel as well as the tribunal itself. If the committee does not prove it is conducting a technical and serious investigation we will reconsider cooperating with it. Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq has made a couple of statements and for the first time he implicated Hezbollah cadres in the crime. Siddiq is a false witness who deluded the investigation panel and the whole world and his false testimony led to the detention of four generals, the death of dozens of Syrian workers in Lebanon, and could have led to war in the region. He is still at large and the spokeswoman of the tribunal says that the court has nothing to do with Siddiq. How come? We will formally ask the Lebanese government to arrest Siddiq wherever he was, whether in the UAE or in the Netherlands. We have to know who was behind him, who gave him passports, who provided shelter for him, and who has been funding him. We do not believe in making a balance between justice and stability in Lebanon.  We have to be convinced that this investigation is being conducted to learn the truth and to establish justice. “

His eminence added that “if Le French Figaro was right and after it the Kuwaiti Assiyasiyya and then the German Der Spiegel and now the French Le Monde, then there is no need for an investigation, because the bill of accusation is ready against Hezbollah. We refuse any accusation Hezbollah, be it the party as a whole or members of it. There is a Israeli Mossad agent who is sentenced to death who confessed of picking up Israeli handbags full of explosives and that he used to deliver them to certain locations. Were those explosives used in some attacks or not? There are threads that lead to Israel, but there is a trend to rule out Israel from the assassination of Hariri and this is an insult to the martyr.”

Addressing Kuwaitis, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed all plots to dominate this region and the Israeli project have failed and they are nearing their end. “The last draw is to incite sedition between Shiites and Sunnis. There are some Shiites and some Sunnis who are involved in this sedition plot and they know they are. This is why I call on all Muslims to realize the danger behind this project.

His eminence said that the verdicts in Egypt against the freedom fighters who were offering support to the resistance in the Gaza Strip are politicized and unfair.  He added that “when those brothers were arrested in Egypt, we stressed – and I’ve said this personally – that those are honest resistance fighters, not outlaws, criminals, and terrorists as the judge described them. They are honest people and their only crime is that they were supporting their brothers in Gaza and giving help to the legitimate Palestinian resistance which should be embraced by everybody. Those men were fulfilling their duty and everything beside this are mere fabrications to cover the measures that were taken against them.”

Sayyed Nasrallah addressed the detained resistance men and their families: “When you chose the path of backing the Palestinian people, you knew that you could be arrested or maybe killed as martyrs at any time. What you have gone through in Jail and the sentences that have been issued today is a badge of honor on your chests.”

The Hezbollah chief added: “For Arab and Muslim peoples to know that we get detained and jailed because we believe that Allah is our God and we only abide by His order to support our brothers in Palestine and Gaza is something to be very proud of. I don’t see in this any loss for any Arab depth. On the contrary, this confirms the credibility of our position and commitment to the Palestinian people. Of course, we seek more support to them, but even this much backing is costing us. Yet, this is all under Allah’s eyes and for His sake.”

He continued: “Of course the doors are not closed in Egypt, and we are surely not going to let those brothers in prison. We will follow up this case even if a sentence was issued, and we’ll seek to resolve the matter as we did in the past, through legal and judicial channels…This case is no longer a judicial matter, so perhaps the only available exits are political ones.” “We will seek, through political and diplomatic channels to resolve this issue, establish our brothers’ rights, and not letting them in prison,” he added.

At the end of the interview, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed “this current stage requires communication and dialogue between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. We should focus on common point, not on matters that leave us apart. We have so much in common and our interest is one. We are targets, particularly when we speak about plots and schemes seeking to plunder our riches and separate us.”

His eminence warned that “What is taking place in occupied Palestine is extremely dangerous and it threatens our nation,” suggesting that all Muslims gather around this common cause.

Clinton blasts Iran, Syria in appearance before Jewish group

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As the United States prepares for a visit next week by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned his regime in some of the Obama administration’s strongest language to date in a speech Thursday night.

“Iran, with its anti-Semitic president and hostile nuclear ambitions, also continues to threaten Israel, destabilize the region, and sponsor terror,” Clinton said, addressing the annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee.

“The United States is committed to pursuing [a] diplomatic path. But we will not compromise our commitment to preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.”

Ahmadinejad is expected to be in New York for a United Nations conference on nuclear nonproliferation that opens Monday. The United States has said it will likely grant the Iranian leader’s request for a visa.

Clinton also took on Syria on Thursday night, speaking of “grave dangers of Syria’s transfer of weapons to [Hezbollah],” and warning that such a move by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would “have a profoundly destabilizing effect on the region” and would violate a UN Security Council resolution

U.S. officials this month accused Syria of trying to supply weapons to Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party that the United States has labeled a terrorist organization.

“We do not accept such provocative and destabilizing behavior — and nor should the international community,” Clinton said. “President Assad is making decisions that could mean war or peace for the region.”

“There should be no mistake, either in Damascus or anywhere else: The United States is not re-engaging with Syria as a reward or a concession,” Clinton said, referring to the Obama administration’s plan to appoint an ambassador to Syria.

“Engagement is a tool that can give us added leverage and insight, and a greater ability to convey strong and clear messages aimed at changing Syria’s behavior.”

More than a thousand people, including members of Congress and diplomats, were packed into a ballroom at a downtown Washington hotel for the event. Clinton received a warm reception, with her speech repeatedly interrupted by applause.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who followed Clinton at the event, remarked on recent tensions between the Obama administration and the Jewish state, which have revolved largely around President Obama’s call for the Israelis to freeze settlements in the Palestinian territories.

“I feel very strongly that these differences, these slight disputes, are behind us,” Barak said Thursday.

Barak called 2010 a year of “exceptional threats and opportunities” for Israel and spoke of “heavy clouds looming over the horizon” in reference to Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran.

He said nations opposed to Iran moving forward with the development of nuclear weapons should support sanctions against it. “For the time-being, it is time for sanctions,” Barak said. “They should be effective.”

But he said that sanctions required clear time limits.

Four Palestinians killed in border tunnel

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(CNN) — Four Palestinians were killed, and six were hurt by toxic fumes when Egyptian security forces blew up a tunnel in Rafah, Egypt, the Palestinian Interior Ministry said.

The Egyptians on Wednesday blew up a tunnel on their side of the border with Gaza, Palestinian officials said, but fumes and chemicals from the blast seeped into an adjacent tunnel where the Palestinians were working.

Hundreds of such smuggling tunnels crisscross the border between Egypt and Gaza, providing passage for everything from weapons to humanitarian aid to people. Egyptian and Israeli forces frequently target the tunnels. Egypt has recently begun construction of a steel wall along the border to block such tunnels.

HEZBOLLAH REJECTS US ALLEGATION

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Hezbollah has sharply rejected US allegations about the Lebanese movement’s missiles, vowing to continue armed resistance against Israeli aggression.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah in an article published on Wednesday scoffed at recent comments by US Defense Minister Robert Gates that Hezbollah’s arms exceeded those held by many states in the world, saying Hezbollah’s arms did not compare to the “armament” and “crimes” of the United States and its ally Israel.
The Lebanese official recalled “the level of armament of the United States, which it used in its crimes against peoples around the world, from Hiroshima to the more than 100,000 killed in Iraq and the tens of thousands killed in Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan,” the Arabic-language newspaper As-Safir quoted him on Wednesday.
“There is a difference between arms which only serve invasions, occupations and aggressions, such as those of the United States and its ally Israel … and the arms of a resistance which defends, protects, and liberates,” he said.
“Our choice was and remains to secure all the arms of resistance that we can,” he added.
In a joint news conference with Israeli Defense Minster Ehud Barak in Washington, Gates on Tuesday accused Syria and Iran of arming Hezbollah with increasingly sophisticated rockets and missiles.
Gates’ claims came amid tensions in the Middle East intensified by Israel’s earlier accusations against Syria of providing Scud ballistic missiles for Hezbollah.
Israel views Hezbollah a major enemy, especially after the summer conflict of 2006 where the resistance forces repelled a 33-day Israeli offensive on southern Lebanon.

Iran selected for women's rights body

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Iran has won a four-year term on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, an influential body explicitly dedicated to promoting gender equality.

A press release on the filling of vacancies in subsidiary UN bodies announced on Thursday that Iran, along with representatives from 10 other nations, has been elected to the high-profile women’s rights commission.

Other countries joining Iran for the term beginning in 2011 include, Belgium, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Estonia, Georgia, Jamaica, Liberia, the Netherlands, Spain, Thailand and Zimbabwe.

The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) is devoted to ensuring the protection of women’s rights by investigating nations that violate women’s rights, monitoring their efforts in improving women’s equality and detailing their shortcomings.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast announced Monday that the country has dropped its bid for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council and has instead turned its sights on a position in the reputable UNCSW.

“Iran has reconsidered its application for candidacy in the Human Rights Council and will instead run for a seat in the influential and legitimate Women’s Right Commission,” Mehmanparast explained.

Iran will always stand alongside Syria: Veep

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Iran First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said here on Friday that Syria is prepared to confront any threat and Iran will always remain alongside it.

Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), In a joint press conference with Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri, he added that Iran will never neglect for a moment in supporting Syria against the occupiers of the Palestine land.

He described the unity between the two countries as an iron fist on the face of those who nurture bad thoughts in their heads about a Muslim country, especially Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

Stressing the need to strengthen economic ties between the two states, he further noted that Iran will prioritize friend countries in its economic cooperation.

Referring to the Israeli threats against the Arab country, he said that such threats are worthless.

“Iran will support Syria in all fields” Rahimi concluded.

US panel names Saudi as one of 13 religious violators

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That is the goal of the congressional act that founded the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 1998. The commission investigates conditions in what it calls “hot spots,” where religious freedom is endangered. Its job is to recommend U.S. government policies to improve conditions.

It is a “small but critically important point of intersection of foreign policy, national security and international religious freedom standards,” the report said. “Regrettably that small point seems to shrink year-after-year for the White House and he State Department.”

This year’s list of 13 “countries of particular concern” included all eight named last year – Myanmar, also known as Burma; China; Eritrea; Iran; North Korea; Saudi Arabia; Sudan; and Uzbekistan – plus Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

U.S. actions currently in force against the original eight include embargoes, often on top of existing sanctions, and denial of military or financial aid. Sanctions have been waived indefinitely for Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan has a waiver of 180 days which remains in force.

President Barack Obama’s administration has not officially accepted the 2009 findings or named the specified countries as violators of religious rights. Neither did the administration of President George W. Bush between November 2006 and January 2009.

In addition to the 13 designated the worst violators, the report identified 12 countries on a watch list: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela.

Thursday’s report described violations of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia as “systematic, egregious and ongoing” despite limited reforms implemented by King Abdullah.

“In China, the government continues to engage in systematic and egregious violations of the freedom of religion or belief,” the report said. It alleged “a marked deterioration in the past year, particularly in Tibetan Buddhist and Uighur Muslim areas.”

It had similar observations for the other countries listed. In Iran, it noted “prolonged detention, torture and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused.” It said the Tehran government’s record deteriorated after contentious elections in June.

The commission’s chairman, Leonard Leo, said in a statement that visits to the “hot spots” had found situations “where freedom of religion is obstructed and related human rights are trampled.”

He said the report offers important foreign policy solutions that should be implemented. “The report’s conclusion is clear,” Leo said: “the administration must do more.”

Iran wins seat on UN Commission on the Status of Women

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TEHRAN, May 1 (MNA) – Iran has won a four-year seat on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, an influential body committed to promoting gender equality.
At a meeting at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, Iran was elected, through a vote of acclamation, as a member on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Iran’s election to the commission came Just days after Iran announced it withdrew from a high-profile bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.

When its term begins in 2011, Iran will be joined by 10 other countries namely Belgium, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Estonia, Georgia, Jamaica, Liberia, the Netherlands, Spain, Thailand and Zimbabwe to help set UN policy on gender equality and advancement of women.

The CSW, a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is tasked with setting global standards and policies to promote gender equality, monitoring the implementation of measures for advancement of women, appraising progress made at the national, sub-regional, regional and global levels, and conducting review of cases of women rights violation across the globe.