The irreparable loss of Khateeb-e-Akbar
The demise of Professor Mirza Mohammad Athar has left the community saddened. At the age of 79, he was inching towards his valedictory breath in Max Hospital Saket, New Delhi. The 26th of February will be remembered for the irreparable loss to knowledge and man-kind. Thousands of people, students, scholars, including the chief minister of the state Akhilesh Yadav, attended his funeral in his hometown, Lucknow.
An alum of Sultan-ul-Madaris, where he graduated and later mastered persian literature. A teacher and exemplary orator, holding a record for his annual sermons at the Moghul Masjid for the last 58 years in the Limca Book of Records.
Those who lived through the era of his sermons at Moghul Masjid now know that it will never be the same. The fierce defender of righteousness and wilayat of Imam Ali will be cherished for his several teachings on human rights, terrorism, Islamic jurisprudence, critical analysis of ideas and authenticity of historical references.
Fondly known as Athar sahab, He also stood strong for justice and as the President of the Law Board (AISPLB), He came up with a set of deterrents to counter the marked apathy towards gender issues, particularly rising cases of violence against women and frivolous divorces.
He also worked on applying restriction to those who opt for infanticide and selective termination of pregnancy to rule out giving birth to a girl child. He strongly believed that No one has a right to play God and eliminate a life in the making due to gender bias, and condemned such acts.
Renowned across the globe for his uniqueness in oratory, eloquence of speech and content, He kept himself away from politics during sermons. When he was questioned about the use of metaphors in his sermons, he replied “Ek zamane mein jo Lucknow ki zabaan thi, abhi kareeb kareeb khatam ho gayi hain” and so has humanity, if he understand his last sermon.
His last sermon was on Humanity, where he exhorted Sunnis and Shias, sects that have been at odds, to stop fighting amongst themselves and respect their differences that stem from the disagreement over who took on the mantle of Islam after the Prophet. He further emphasised over and again about fighting intolerance and popularly said “Where kingdoms don’t exist politics does”
Following Saudi Arabia’s controversial execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr and his three associates, along with 44 others, Athar sahab spearheaded peaceful demonstrations and protest against the Consul General of Saudi Arabia in Mumbai to showcase the apathy and atrocities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 
In the end and through his several teachings, we come to the realisation that the tragedy of living is not dying, but what we let kill inside us, while we live. Athar sahab finally gets to meet Imam Ali, who he defended for over 5 decades.
May his soul be given the highest regards in heaven. Will miss his presence! 😦
Lowering the Gaze..
Lowering the Gaze >> What al-Quran says !!!
Firstly:
Lowering the gaze (ghadd al-basr) means restraining the gaze and not allowing it to wander or dwell upon anything.
Ibn Faaris said in Mu’jam Maqaayees al-Lughah (4/307):
Ghayn and daad indicate restraining, as in the phrase ghadd al-basr (lowering the gaze)…
Ibn al-Manzoor said in Lisaan al-‘Arab (7/196):
Lowering the gaze (ghadd al-basr) means restraining it. End quote.
Secondly:
In Islamic terminology it refers to a number of things:
* 1 – Refraining from looking at people’s ‘awrahs, which includes the beauty of a non-mahram woman.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (15/414):
Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, has enjoined us in His Book to lower the gaze, which is of two types: refraining from looking at ‘awrahs and refraining from looking at the site of desire.
The former refers to a man refraining from looking at the ‘awrah of another person.
The second refers to looking at uncovered parts of a non-mahram woman. This is more serious than the former, just as alcohol is more serious than dead meat and blood and pork, and the hadd punishment should be carried out on the one who drinks it, because these haraam things are not as desirable as alcohol may be. End quote.
* 2 – Refraining from looking into people’s houses and things that are behind closed doors
Ibn Taymiyah says in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (15/379):
Just as lowering the gaze includes not looking at the ‘awrahs of other people and other haraam things, it also includes refraining from looking into people’s houses. A man’s house conceals his body just as his garments conceal him. Allaah has mentioned lowering the gaze and guarding one’s private parts after the verse about asking for permission to enter, because the house covers a person just as the clothes on his body do. End quote.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Madaarij al-Saalikeen (1/117):
Haraam kinds of looking include looking at ‘awrahs, which is of two types: the ‘awrah behind a garment and the ‘awrah behind doors.
* 3 – Refraining from looking at what people have of wealth, wives, children, worldly goods and so on.
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Look not with your eyes ambitiously at what We have bestowed on certain classes of them (the disbelievers), nor grieve over them. And lower your wings for the believers (be courteous to the fellow‑believers)”
[al-Hijr 15:88]
Ibn Sa’di said in his Tafseer (434):
i.e., do not admire them in such a way that you will distracted with desire for the worldly pleasures enjoyed by those who live in luxury and by which the ignorant are deceived. You should be content with that which Allaah has given you of the seven oft-repeated verses and the Holy Qur’aan (cf. al-Hijr 15:87). End quote.
He also said (p. 516):
i.e., do not be impressed and do not look repeatedly admiring worldly pleasures and those who are enjoying them, such as delicious food and drink, fine clothing, beautiful houses and adorned women, for all of that is the adornment of this world in which those who are deceived rejoice. And those who do wrong enjoy it by ignoring the Hereafter. But it will all soon end and cease to be, and those who love it will die, then they will regret when regret will be to no avail, and they will realize the state they are in when the Resurrection begins. Allaah has made it a test and a trial, so that it may be known who will be deceived by it and who will be better in deeds. End quote.
Thirdly:
The scholars have mentioned many benefits of lowering the gaze, including the following:
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in al-Jawaab al-Kaafi (125):
There are a number of benefits in lowering the gaze:
1 – It is obedience to the command of Allaah, which brings happiness to man in this world and in the next. There is nothing more beneficial to a person in this world and in the next than obeying the commands of his Lord, may He be blessed and exalted, and those who are happy in this world and the next can only attain that happiness by obeying His commands, and those who are doomed in this world and in the next are only doomed because they ignore His commands.
2 – It prevents the poisoned arrows (of the shaytaan), which may lead to his doom, from reaching his heart.
3 – It creates a heart that is devoted to and focused on Allaah. Letting the gaze wander distracts the heart and keeps it far from Allaah. There is nothing more harmful to a person than letting his gaze wander, as it creates alienation between a person and his Lord.
4 – It strengthens the heart and brings it peace, just as letting the gaze wander weakens it and makes it sad.
5 – It brings light to the heart, just as letting the gaze wander brings darkness to it. Hence Allaah mentioned the verse of light immediately after the command to lower the gaze, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts…”
[al-Noor 24:30]
Then straight after that He says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Allaah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as (if there were) a niche and within it a lamp”
[al-Noor 24:35]
i.e., the likeness of His light in the heart of His believing slave who obeys His commands and heeds His prohibitions. If the heart is enlightened blessings will come to it from all sides, but if it is darkened, calamity and evil will come to it from all places. Whatever exists of innovation, misguidance, following whims and desires, avoiding true guidance and turning away from the means of happiness and focusing on the means that lead to doom, that will be recognizable by means of the light that is in the heart. If that light is lost then one will left like a blind man stumbling in the darkness.
6 – It generates true insight which can distinguish between truth and falsehood, sincerity and lies. Allaah rewards His slave for his good deeds with something similar and if he gives up something for the sake of Allaah, He will compensate him with something better than it. So if he lowers his gaze and refrains from looking at things that Allaah has forbidden, Allaah will compensate him with enlightenment; he will compensate him for restraining his gaze for the sake of Allaah, and will open to him the doors of knowledge, faith and true insight which he only attained by means of the light in his heart. The opposite of that is the blindness which Allaah attributed to the homosexuals, which is the opposite of insight. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Verily, by your life (O Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), in their wild intoxication, they were wandering blindly”
[al-Hijr 15:72]
7 – It creates a heart that is steadfast, brave and strong. Allaah will give him both insight and power and strength, as it says in the report:
“The one who goes against his whims and desires, the shaytaan flees from his shadow.”
On the other hand, the one who follows his whims and desires will feel a sense of humiliation, indignity, worthlessness and insignificance, which is the punishment which Allaah has decreed for those who disobey Him as al-Hasan said:
“Even if they ride the finest of mounts, the effect of sin will never depart from them. Allaah insists that the one who disobeys Him will be humiliated.”
Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, has connected strength to obedience to Him, and humiliation to disobedience to Him. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“But honour, power and glory belong to Allaah, and to His Messenger (Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and to the believers”
[al-Munaafiqoon 63:8]
“So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be superior (in victory) if you are indeed (true) believers”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:139].
Faith is both words and deeds, inward and outward. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Whosoever desires honour, power and glory then to Allaah belong all honour, power and glory [and one can get honour, power and glory only by obeying and worshipping Allaah (Alone)]. To Him ascend (all) the goodly words, and the righteous deeds exalt it (i.e. the goodly words are not accepted by Allaah unless and until they are followed by good deeds)”
[Faatir 35:10]
i.e., whoever desires power, let him seek it by means of obedience to Allaah and remembrance of Him, by speaking good words and doing good deeds. In Du’aa’ al-Qunoot it says: “he is not humiliated whom You have befriended, nor is he honoured who You take as an enemy”. Whoever obeys Allaah is His friend in as much as he obeys Him, and he will have support and honour from Him commensurate with his obedience towards Him. Whoever disobeys Him is His enemy in as much as he disobeys Him, and he will have humiliation from Him commensurate with his disobedience towards Him.
8 – It blocks the shaytaan from a means of entering his heart, for he may enter with looking, and penetrate the heart faster than the wind blowing through an empty space, and he may present to him the image that he looked at and make it attractive, like an idol to which his heart becomes devoted, then he encourages him and gives him hopes, and fans the flames of desire in his heart, adding the fuel of sin which could not have reached his heart without looking at that image. So his heart becomes inflamed and surrounded with fire on all sides, resulting in infatuation and frustration, and he is in the midst of it like a lamb in the oven. Hence the punishment for those whose desires were fuelled by haraam looking is that in al-Barzakh they are placed in an oven of fire.
9 – It distracts one from thinking of what is in one’s best interests, so his affairs become neglected and he follows his whims and desires and neglects to remember his Lord. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“and let not your eyes overlook them, desiring the pomp and glitter of the life of the world; and obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance, and who follows his own lusts, and whose affair (deeds) has been lost”
[al-Kahf 18:28]
10 – Between the eyes and the heart there is a connection which means that the one is affected by the other, and if one of them becomes good, the other will also become good, and if one becomes corrupt the other will become corrupt. If the heart becomes corrupt the gaze will become corrupt, and if the gaze become corrupt the heart will become corrupt, and similarly if one is sound the other will also be sound.
And Allaah knows best.
courtesy: Islam Great Religion (WordPress Blog)
Positive Parenting …
Coutesy: Madrasah Al Zahra—DSM
Raising kids is one of the toughest and most fulfilling jobs in the world — and the one for which you may feel the least prepared. Here are nine child-rearing tips that can help you feel more fulfilled as a parent — and enjoy your kids more, too.
1. Nurture Your Child’s Self-Esteem
Kids start developing their sense of self as babies when they see themselves through their parents’ eyes. Your tone of voice, your body language, and your every expression are absorbed by your kids. Your words and actions as a parent affect their developing self-esteem more than anything else. Praising accomplishments, however small, will make them feel proud; letting kids do things independently will make them feel capable and strong. By contrast, belittling comments or comparing a child unfavorably with another will make kids feel worthless.
Avoid making loaded statements or using words as weapons. Comments like “What a stupid thing to do!” or “You act more like a baby than your little brother!” cause damage just as physical blows do. Choose your words carefully and be compassionate. Let your kids know that everyone makes mistakes and that you still love them, even when you don’t love their behavior.
2. Catch Kids Being Good
Have you ever stopped to think about how many times you react negatively to your kids in a given day? You may find that yourself criticizing far more often than complimenting. How would you feel about a boss who treated you with that much negative guidance, even if it was well-intentioned?
The more effective approach is to catch kids doing something right: “You made your bed without being asked — that’s terrific!” or “I was watching you play with your sister and you were very patient.” These statements will do more to encourage good behavior over the long run than repeated scolding.
Make a point of finding something to praise every day. Be generous with rewards — your love, hugs, and compliments can work wonders and are often reward enough. Soon you will find you are “growing” more of the behavior you would like to see.
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.w) has said “ Kiss your children often, for every display of affection will raise your status in heaven.”
3. Set Limits and Be Consistent With Your Discipline
Discipline is necessary in every household. The goal of discipline is to help kids choose acceptable behaviors and learn self-control. They may test the limits you establish for them, but they need those limits to grow into responsible adults.
Establishing house rules helps kids understand your expectations and develop self-control. Some rules might include: no TV until homework is done, and no hitting, name-calling, or hurtful teasing allowed.
You might want to have a system in place: one warning, followed by consequences such as a “time out” or loss of privileges. A common mistake parents make is failure to follow through with the consequences. You can’t discipline kids for talking back one day and ignore it the next. Being consistent teaches what you expect.
4. Make Time for Your Kids
It’s often difficult for parents and kids to get together for a family meal, let alone spend quality time together. But there is probably nothing kids would like more. Get up 10 minutes earlier in the morning so you can eat breakfast with your child, or leave the dishes in the sink and take a walk after dinner. Kids who aren’t getting the attention they want from their parents often act out or misbehave because they’re sure to be noticed that way.
Don’t feel guilty if you’re a working parent. It is the many little things you do — making popcorn, playing games, window shopping — that kids will remember.
5. Be a Good Role Model
Young kids learn a lot about how to act by watching their parents. The younger they are, the more cues they take from you. Before you lash out or blow your top in front of your child, think about this: is that how you want your child to behave when angry? Be constantly aware that you’re being observed by your kids. Studies have shown that children who hit usually have a role model for aggression at home.
Model the traits you wish to cultivate in your kids: respect, friendliness, honesty, kindness, tolerance. Exhibit unselfish behavior. Do things for other people without expecting a reward. Express thanks and offer compliments. Fulfill your wajibats without fail. Above all, treat your kids the way you expect other people to treat you.
>>>>> Interesting,,, Seems that, I just have the perfect parents!
Remembrance of death
Often the Holy Quran severely criticises those who do not believe in the Day of Judgement. At times we find it condemning those who believe in the Day, but are negligent of it. Therefore, traditions emphasise the visitation of graves, so that man may remember death. In our daily prayers, we recite, Arabic ‘Master of the Day of Judgment’ a number of times, so that our attention is turned towards the ‘Day of Judgment.’
A major portion of our supplications are devoted to discussion on death and the Day of Judgement, so that man may wake up from the slumber of negligence.
If we ponder over reality, we learn that the world deceives the one who craves for it. On the other hand, the one who is attentive towards death and whose heart is aware of the Hereafter, does not fall for the lure of death. One who keeps death in front of his eyes and awaits for it, not only performs his routine tasks sincerely, but constantly strives to do more actions which becomes the cause of Allah’s satisfaction. He is aware that death can overtake him at any moment and he does not have time on his side.
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) says,
‘Surely the heart rusts like iron.’ People inquired, ‘How can it be polished?’ He (s.a.w.s.) said, ‘By remembering death and with the recitation of Quran.’
(Nahjul Fasahah)
So let us from today resolve to remember death at all times and perform all our actions with that thought in our minds. Let us collect deeds for our hereafter and make piety and abstinence our constant companions.
Source: al-muntazar ezine
Racial Profiling >>matter of grave concern
Editor’s note: Nafees A. Syed, a senior at Harvard University majoring in government, is an editorial editor at The Harvard Crimson as well as a senior editor and columnist for the Harvard-MIT journal on Islam and society, Ascent. She is chairwoman of the Harvard Institute of Politics Policy Group on Racial Profiling.
(CNN) — It seems that now someone called “Barack Hussein Obama” can be pulled aside and patted down merely because of his name. But while our president has the benefit of Air Force One, millions of us with a “funny name” (Muslim and otherwise) do not. Like me.
I’ve consistently faced “random” selections for extra screening at the airport after I decided to wear the hijab, or Muslim head covering. I’ve been told to take my head scarf off or have my head probed while the passengers in front of me offered pitying smiles as they rushed to their flights.
One time, the woman in front of me had a hairdo that could pose more of a security threat than any head scarf could. Muslim women wear the hijab as a symbol of modesty, to be judged not by their appearance.
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed that people would be judged for “the content of their character.” However, the Transportation Security Administration is judging me and other Muslims by the way we look.
The TSA uses the hijab to profile Muslim women, and passengers can now expect a full-body pat-down, an appallingly invasive “enhanced pat-down search that could include the chest and groin, or a planned “mind-scan” that would track people’s reaction to terrorist symbols. What’s next, palm reading?
At an airport with a full body scanner, I can have the image of my body displayed before a stranger — virtual nudity. Do they seriously have a blank check on our bodies? Of course I care about profiling partly because I’m affected. But does one have to face this issue to feel that it’s wrong? After all, it is difficult to imagine ourselves in other people’s shoes when we don’t have to.
It’s hard for me too. Especially over the past month, I’ve been shocked at the comments about my faith, and the sometimes-prejudiced support for racial profiling. Radio host Mike Gallagher said, “There should be a separate line to scrutinize anybody with the name Abdul or Ahmed or Mohammed.” Sorry Paula Abdul and Muhammad Ali, or anyone with the world’s most common name, Muhammad.
For people who aren’t affected by racial profiling at airports, imagine this: The TSA implements a new rule to counter drunken driving, which kills over 13,000 Americans every year. People who are not Muslim have to go through a Breathalyzer test before they can enter their vehicle. Muslims don’t drink alcohol and are, therefore, exempt. Ridiculous? I agree.
I know that what I am going through is just the tip of the iceberg of racial profiling in our country. Thirty-two million Americans report that they have been the victims of racial profiling. Racial profiling violates the U.S. Constitution, is ineffective and trickles down to the workplace, schools and elsewhere.
You also run into problems when you justify profiling nearly one in every four people in the world. There are Muslims of every possible race, making profiling practically futile. Fareed Zakaria said it best: “When you’re trying to find a needle in a haystack, adding hay does not help you.”
Putting ethical and pragmatic reasons aside, it’s hard to justify not caring. Even if racial profiling doesn’t affect us, it affects our friends, family members, co-workers, doctors, television personalities — the list goes on. There are some people who don’t know Muslims and are numb to realizing the effects of profiling. Therein lies the problem.
According to the Pew Research Center, people who know Muslims are less likely to have negative views of them. Co-existence is a dismal possibility unless people go to the source to find out about Islam, not skewed Web sites.
And Muslims, here’s something to think about: If your knowledge of Islam came from common stereotypes, wouldn’t you also be misinformed about the faith and its followers? The Quran says, “[God has] made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another (49:13).” So get to know your fellow Americans.
There are some Americans who think Muslims are terrorists and some Muslims who think that other Americans are willfully ignorant. Neither group deserves such a label. Psychologist Henri Tajfel, who was a Holocaust survivor, explained how we isolate ourselves into an “in-group” and facilitate discrimination of an “out-group.”
Religious profiling boxes Muslims into a category separate from Americans. We can’t accept that distinction. Let’s all think outside of the box.
It’s essential for U.S. security that airport screening be done. But we need to stop the inflation of procedures that make our society more afraid and less secure. The TSA needs to stop and evaluate methods that are more effective, less invasive, and don’t discriminate based on religion or race.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Nafees A. Syed.
Wuzu Machines
Wuzu Machine
I found this great stuff while reading the e-papers.
Innovation Found!
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters Life!) – A Malaysian company has invented a machine it says will help Muslims purify themselves before prayers without excessively wasting water.
The ornate, green-colored machine comes with automatic sensors and basins to curb water usage during wudu, an Arabic word used to describe the act of washing the face, arms and legs before prayers.
The wudu, or ablution, rite precedes the five daily prayers Muslims are obligated to perform. There are more than 1.7 billion Muslims in the world, with the majority in Africa and the Middle East where water supplies are scarce.
Inventors AACE Technologies is counting on rich countries in these two regions to snap up the machines that will be available in the next six months and cost $3,000-$4,000 a piece.
“Saving water is a motivation for people to adopt this system rather than the conventional methods, where there’s a lot of water wastage,” AACE Chairman Anthony Gomez told reporters while launching the product in the Malaysian capital.
The device, which also emits recorded Koranic verses and is 1.65 meters (5 ft 4.96 in) tall, only uses 1.3 liters (0.3 gallons) of water compared to the conventional methods, which usually involve leaving faucets running for the duration of the washing ritual, which can last for several minutes, Gomez said.
“During the Haj, two million people used 50 million liters water a day for wudu. If they introduce this machine they are saving 40 million liters per day,” he said, referring to the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Gulf city of Dubai has shown interest in acquiring the product for its airport, Gomez said, adding that the machine took two years to develop at the cost of $2.5 million.
AACE also wants to target mosques and offices with new models that can be wall mounted in a group of six.
Muslims heading for prayers in mainly Muslim Malaysia had mixed feelings about the high-tech, but pricey, invention.
“The idea is good and it is built in line with Islamic teachings. But water in this country is cheap, so it is still not worthwhile to have this machine,” an officeworker who gave his name as Aminuddin told Reuters.
But a tourist from neighboring Singapore, which has little water supplies, said the machine would help conserve natural resources.
“Nothing is impossible. Of course we are trying ways and means to new products, those that can save mankind, those that can save nature,” Azman Mohamed Noor
(Writing by Niluksi Koswanage, editing by Miral Fahmy)
what it takes to be PERFECT?
Meditation in God is my capital.
Reason and sound logic are the root of my existence.
Love is the foundation of my existence.
Enthusiasm is the vehicle of my life.
Contemplation of Allah is my companion.
Faith is the source of my power.
Sorrow is my friend.
Knowledge is my weapon.
Patience is my clothing and virtue.
Submission to the Divine Will is my pride.
Truth is my salvation.
Worship is my habit.
And in prayer lies the coolness of my eye and my peace of mind.
— Imam Ali (A.S.)
Israeli troops occupied Gaza ..
i found this for today….tracing all of you back to the roots… June 6th the year 1967 ….
Life in Gaza Before—and After—the 1967 War
By Mohammed Omer
“AYYAM ZAMAN” is Arabic for the “old days”—a time before occupation, checkpoints, dodging bullets from Israeli military snipers, seeking shelter from the steel rain of incoming hellfire missiles or from deafening sonic booms. It was a time when tanks did not prowl the streets or bulldozers crush homes and people to death. A time when fishermen fished freely off Gaza’s coast, farmers grew their crops, children attended school, lovers married, families grew and businesses prospered as they had for thousands of years. Ayyam Zaman describes an era where borders existed without a single checkpoint, razor fence or military unit in sight.
Then, on June 6, 1967 everything changed.
The Israeli people were told they were under “imminent danger,” with a pre-emptive strike against Egypt, Jordan and other Arab nations their only hope. In truth, the Israeli government deliberately lied to its own people; the invasion had been planned years earlier. Declassified American intelligence reports for May and June 1967 prove Israel’s sole threat was the realization of peace with Egypt—because peace kills the Zionist dream of a Jewish-only greater Israel, the driving ideology behind Zionism since 1897. By 1973 several Israeli officials had confirmed that Israel was under no threat. In 1982, as Israeli invaders laid siege to Beirut, Prime Minister and former terrorist Menachem Begin described the 1967 aggression as a war of “choice.”
That the Six-Day War was launched under false pretenses serves as little comfort to the millions of people in the West Bank, Gaza and Golan Heights, however, who watched their lives transformed from ones of freedom to oppression in less than a week. Nor could they have known that, 40 years later, most would still be living under apartheid, increasingly at risk of starvation, and enduring an ever-more sadistic and deadly occupation, protected, endorsed and supplied by the one nation founded upon human rights and democratic values—the United States.
Yet even reality cannot steal one’s past. Elderly Gazans remember life under Egyptian rule rather than Israeli occupation. Mustapha Al Jamal, known as Abu Kamal, was born in 1932. The father of eight sons and four daughters witnessed everything from the same home he lives in today. How is his life different, then and now? “Before ‘67 we lived in peace,” Abu Kamal recalled. “All of it [Gaza] was open land. Egypt was open to us. There were no borders, no customs…I could take the train from Gaza to Cairo. We had two trains per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.’
Pausing for a moment, he gazed south, taking a long, deep breath while motioning at the horizon.
“But now,” he lamented, “Gaza is under siege. Wherever you go, anywhere, it’s closed by the Israeli occupation.”
Abu Kamal continued: “Our curriculum was Egyptian before ‘67, as was our currency. Israel eliminated the Egyptian currency and required that we use Israeli currency. Then they imposed a curfew in order to do a census of the Palestinians. We were then issued identification cards by the Israeli Liaison Office.
“Of course, we are still occupied,” Abu Kamal pointed out, sitting in his barber chair—the same one he owned over 40 years ago. “But today the occupation is much more aggressive than it was in 1967, much more aggressive. When Egypt was defeated in ‘67, Israel took the stage, seizing control of Gaza, thus ending both Egypt’s administrative and civil control, including the Palestinian police. Today I fear walking in the streets because of shooting and chaos.”
Like many people who today live in Gaza, Abu Kamal originally came from an area in what is now known as the state of Israel, the village of Yebna. Beginning in December 1947, David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin and other Jewish terrorists instituted a campaign of ethnic cleansing designed to remove non-Jews from the land coveted by the Zionists. Many of the refugees ended up in Gaza, which was safe at the time.
Abu Kamal, like most of those displaced 60 years ago, hopes to return to his original home. If not him, then his grandchildren.
Nehad Al Shiekh Khalil, an historian and lecturer at Islamic University, remains ambivalent on the question of before and after. “I can’t say life was better for Palestinians in Gaza prior to or after 1967,” he stated. “However, occupation has created the worst Gaza of all times.”
When asked about major differences between pre- and post-1967, he elaborated, “For me, the most important to mention is the destruction or usurpation of Gaza’s natural resources and thus our self-sufficiency and ability to trade. For example, our water. The [Mediterranean] sea provided the backbone for Gaza’s economy, so Israel instituted policies that removed our ability to live off our resources, such as preventing fishing and refusing to allow Palestinians to trade or sell goods to other countries.” (Palestinian goods must pass through Israel by Israeli law, and Palestinians must accept whatever Israel decides is “fair market value.”)
In addition to limiting freedom of movement, restricting trade and destroying Gaza’s natural resources or access to them, Israel also has decimated a thriving economy over the past four decades. Prior to 1967 Gaza exported citrus, carpets, pottery, embroidery, textiles and woven fabric throughout the world. The elimination of Gaza’s industries transformed the small coastal strip from a wholly independent into a dependent society.
“After ‘67,” Khalil explained, “Israel controlled Gaza’s economy and all trade, within and out. By doing so it forced Palestinians to live on foreign aid. I can state that before ’67 there existed for Palestinians civil laws defining the relationship between different authorities in Gaza City. We had an economy and civilized culture that suited the population at the time. All of this was torn down by the occupation.”
Recalled 62-year-old Umm Al Abed Abu Sada, a mother of 14, one of whom is currently in jail: “Before ‘67 we had peace of mind. My husband used to build houses of mud. Life was much cheaper. Even the dowry required for marriage was less. Now everything is so expensive and the roads are closed. I am unable to go to Egypt for medication. Before, I could go anywhere.”
On a practical note, she added, “In the past, we used to cook daily. Now, one day we cook an okay meal. During the rest of the week we eat leftovers or a meal not so good.”
Asked before leaving his barber shop if he thought life will ever return to what it was before, Abu Kamal responded by opening his hands with both palms to the sky. “Inshallah (God willing),” he replied. “I hope so.”
Mohammed Omer, winner of New America Media’s Best Youth Voice award, reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site . He can be reached at .
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