T h e M u s l i m N e w s U p d a t eFriday BulletinThe

Rajab 24, 1427/August 18, 2006 Issue no. 173

This Newsletter contains some of Allah’s names. Please do not throw in the trash. Either keep,circulate or shred.

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Muslim leaders were categorical in asserting that the recent unprecedented attack on Lebanonand Gaza by Israel was part of the wider war on Islam sanctioned by the United States andBritain.The brutal attack which left more than 1,000 Lebanese and Palestinians dead, mostly womenand children, is part of the campaign to obliterate Islam in the guise of fighting terror.Mandera Central Member of Parliament Billow Adan Kerrow said Western leaders have atlong last admitted attempts are in place to crush Islam. “They have put in clear words, inblack and white that there are fighting Islam and not terrorism,” said the MP referring toBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair’s recent remarks that the West is fighting “reactionary Islam.”Billow was addressing a rally in Nairobi called to denounce the Israeli aggression andatrocities committed against the Lebanese and Palestinian people last Friday outside Jamiamasjid. Speakers at the rally held included three MPs, Muslim leaders and human rightsactivists.A ceasefire agreement undertaken by the United Nations ended the month long conflict onMonday which many analyst said was a humiliating defeat to Israel by the rag tag LebaneseHizbullah militia.“Reactionary Muslims are those who are steadfast in following teachings of Islam. Theywant to see a Muslim in name only, one who does not subscribe to the teachings of Islam,”Billow said.He told the gathering that the United States and Britain worked in complicity with the Israeliswho were given a blank cheque to massacre innocent people and to destroy the country.“Israel is the only country in the world which is allowed to break international laws, to kill andmaim the innocent.” “All this is because they do no want to hear about Islam,” the MP who is also the Kanushadow minister of Finance added.The speakers also lashed out at the government for its attitude toward Muslims in thecountry stressing that many innocent Muslims had suffered as a result of the so-called waron terror.Isiolo South MP Abdul Bahari decried the arrest and oppression of Muslims by the State andurged Muslims to unite in agitating for their rights as citizens of the country.Bura MP Ali Wario asserted that the so-called campaign on terror was a tool to intimidate andprosecute Kenyan Muslims to fulfil the ambitions of foreign powers.Addressing the gathering, the Imam of Landhies masjid in Nairobi, Sheikh Ahmad Uthmantook issue with the government for harassing Muslims adding that the government whichwas brought to power on the platform of respecting human rights was engaging the police toundertake Guantanamo-style torture methods against its citizens.Furthermore, the Imam said, the anti-terrorism Bill was being pushed by the Americans tofurther aggravate the campaign of oppression against Muslims.

Israel aggression: a war on Islam, leaders say

Muslim students have been encouragedto take up the teaching profession so asto contribute to the development of thecommunity.Speaking during the 10th graduationceremony of the Islamic TeachersTraining College in Mikindani, Mombasa,the chairman of the Universal EducationFund (UEF), Sheikh Amir A. Swalehlamented that many students areshunning and looking down upon theteaching career as an inferiorprofession.He noted that such attitude did not augurwell for the community as there is needfor more teachers to teach Islamicstudies as well as being role models forchildren.He said it was unfortunate that thoughthe college was based in Mombasa, thedistrict had the lowest number ofenrolled students compared to otherareas of the country.Sheikh Amir also put forward the casefor an Islamic University stressing thatthere was need to have such a facility inthe county to train personnel to teachIslamic Religious Education (IRE) in thecountry’s schools.The chairman expressed hisappreciation that the effective teachingmethods employed by the college hadbeen able to produce competent primaryschool teachers who are serving in manyschools around the country.In his address, he called on Muslimyouths to work hard in their studies,saying the future depended on theabilities to acquire knowledge.The college, the only one of its kind inthe country has made contribution intraining Muslims to teach in schools insubjects which include Islamic religiousEducation and other subjects.Speaking at the event, the Chairman ofthe Board of Governors, SheikhMohammed Abdillahi Omar advised thegraduands to be role models to theyoung generation and committhemselves to the Islamic teachings atall times.He also called on the community topositively contribute to the developmentof the teaching profession by supportingthe the college so as to make it moreeffective in serving the Ummah.

Take up the teachingcareer, students advised

The new Somalia rulers do not harbour any territorial expansion outside the country’s border,the head of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) said over the weekend.Sheikh Sharrif Ahmed dismissed claims of possessing plans for the so-called GreaterSomalia and reiterated that they are bound to respect the territorial integrity of its neighbours.He was speaking after meeting a delegation of Muslim leaders from Kenya. The team led byMandera Central MP Billow Kerrow was in the country to oversee peace efforts.Sheikh Sharrif praised Kenya’s role in its efforts bring peace to the country and said thatIslamic courts were looking forward to closer relations with their eastern neighbour. He alsolauded the Kenyan government for ejecting warlords from the country and giving a home toSomali refugees during the years of civil strife.The youthful leader dismissed allegations that the ICU was in league with terrorists andemphasised that the real terrorists were the warlords who for more than a decade hadmade life unbearable for the Somali people. He said since the warlords were defeated, thecountry has attained a high degree of peace and stability which was not experienced in thelast 15 years.He however, deplored the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia and called on the Kenyangovernment to exert its influence to see that the territorial integrity of Somalia was respected.

Somalia’s Islamic Courts eye close ties with Kenya

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editorial

The Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) is undertaking yetagain the gruelling exercise of voter registration. The exercisehopes to net a further 5 million Kenyans to enable themparticipate in the electoral process.For the Muslims, this exercise should serve as the first strategyin the preparation for the forthcoming general elections.Without a clear voting strategy in the past, successive regimesoften took with granted the loyalty of Muslims when it came toelection time resting assured that they will toe the usual line.The historic referendum exercise last year put an endto these phenomenon when Muslims for the first timevoted as a block to reject the constitution put forward bythe government.The referendum was a historic achievement whichproved that with unity and proper organisation, Muslims canassert their influence on political affairs of the country. Withthe community standing as a block, stakes were raised a notchhigher in the requisite bargaining power which the communitycould achieve in national politics.More so, the 30 percent Muslim population signif ies asignificant presence of a potential political force in the countrycapable of securing the rightful place for the community as anintegral segment of the Kenyan society.All said and done, this can only be achieved with propersensitisation and organisation of the community so as toconsolidate the gains of the referendum.

With proper leadership and organisation, the community canassert itself politically and claim its rightful share of resourceallocation, chart its progress, enjoy human rights and determinethe direction of statehood.Politics is an important area that eventually shapes all mannersof social-economic development in the country.We should not sit back and continue moaning aboutdiscriminations and harassments when we have an importanttool at our disposal to bring the changes to the political spectrum-

the Voters card.The referendum showed that we influence trends in thepolitical arena and it is time that we start preparationsfor this all-important arsenal.

The general elections are on the horizon, only 16 months away.As a first step, we need to go out in large numbers and ensurethat each of us is armed with a voters card ready to bring aboutthe desired changes.Muslim leaders and Imams need to take the rightful roles anduse all available media as well as the mimbar in educating thecommunity about the importance of participating in the electoralprocess.The more representation we have in the local authorities andnational assembly, the more, we expect to reap in the socio-economic development arean, hence a better future for Muslimsin the country free from discrimination and oppression.

Safeguard the interests of Muslims-go for the Voters Card

A month of fighting, more than 1,000 dead, upwards of 800,000Lebanese displaced and $2bn worth of damage - for what? Whowins in this bloody debacle, assuming it is coming to an end? Giventhe continued fighting, that is still a big assumption. Not Israel, certainly.Even while the authors of this military adventure continue to try tocarve out some notion of victory to sell the Israeli public, increasinglyfewer people are buying it.The likes of deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres have tried to promotethe notion that Israel has got everything it wants out of the war - andfrom Friday’s disgracefully late UN resolution calling for an immediatecessation of violence (on which Israel is still being permitted by theUS to drag its feet) - but the reality is that the prosecutors of this warhave lost more than they have won.Whatever Israel does now, it is seriously diminished. In military termsit has been confronted successfully for a second time by the guerillasof Hizbullah. Again and again, its heavily-armoured Merkava tanks have beenrocketed to a standstill. All its technologyand its large army have been shownlacking the deftness and determination ofa vastly smaller force lacking armouredvehicles, bombers and aircraft. Mostseriously, its vulnerability to missile attackhas been amply demonstrated to anyenemy, despite its possession of US anti-missile batteries. Israel has lost one of itsmost powerful weapons - thepsychological sense of its militaryinvulnerability.It is something for which Israelis areunlikely to forgive those behind a war whichevidence now suggests was beingplanned long before the kidnap of two Israeli soldiers. Even beforethe UN resolution was agreed, support for the conflict, though stillsubstantial, was steadily beginning to erode, confronted by a constantstream of casualties from the fighting for little geographical andstrategic gain. Indeed, Israel’s only major victory thus far was the‘capture’ of the largely Christian town of Marjayoun - peopled with itsformer collaborators with Israel’s allies from the South LebaneseArmy - a few kilometres across the border.Instead, in the past two weeks both the Israeli military and its politicalmasters have come under attack for their prosecution of the war. Andif one figure now appears most at risk it is Prime Minister EhudOlmert, a cold fish who tried and failed to be tougher than his mentor,

Ariel Sharon. For what Israelis have not been slow to notice is thatOlmert has signally failed to achieve what he set out to do: destroyHizbullah. The victory being claimed is diffuse and very partial: insecuring a UN resolution sort-of-on-its-terms and by reducing (bywho knows what amount) Hizbullah’s capability. Beyond that Hizbullahhas survived largely intact, but pushed back a little further from Israel’sborder.Then there are the imponderables. The nature of the Israeli campaignin Lebanon, with its scorched-earth policy designed to drive out localpopulations, its mendacious claim that it had allowed humanitariancorridors when it had not, its lack of concern for the killing of civilians(and callous explanation that dead civilians should have fled whenthreatened) has amplified the increasing sense abroad that this is acountry which does not care about international law.Though the world has long demonstrated a habit of forgetting Israel’s

misdemeanours, this war has dramatisedthe urgent need for a return to a properMiddle East peace plan, a negotiatedprocess that will be less generous to Israelthan its own unilaterally-applied‘convergence’ plan. There is a danger toothat if America’s unconditional support forIsrael in this affair damages its wider policyin the Middle East - in Shia-majority Iraq,where there are tens of thousands of UStroops, and over Iran - Israel may feel that itsquandered a high point in its relationshipwith Washington for little real advantage.So who has won? Not Israel. Certainly notLebanon or its fragile democracy, thedevelopment of both of which will have beenpushed back half a decade and more. But

what about Hizbullah? What can be said is that, on its own terms, ithas not lost. Not yet. It has resisted Israel and thus far at least hassurvived, which was all it had to achieve. If it continues to survive untilan international force is deployed - which seems likely - then the issueof its disarmament will have disappeared again into some vaguefuture. In psychological terms, it can claim that its few fighters haveinflicted disproportionate damage on the Israelis for a second time,and put the issue of the Shebaa farms on the negotiating table.But the real test for Hizbullah will be applied not by the internationalcommunity but by Lebanon itself, which must decide if the price it paidfor Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to claim bragging rightswas far, far too high.

Nobody’s victory, but in the end Israel could not defeat HizbollahPeter Beaumont,

Some of the innocent victims of the Israel terroristattacks in Lebanon

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He poured scorn on the government foremploying a different set of justice for theMuslim community pointing to the fact thatseveral innocent Muslims wereincarcerated while Armenian brotherswho were engaged in criminal activitieswere left to go scot-free and acommission of inquiry with tax payersmoney instituted to probe their illegalactivities.Speaker after speaker condemned thegovernment for refusing to condemn thebrutal killings of the innocent.Other speakers at the rally included thechairman of the National Muslim LeadersForum (NMLF) Abdillahi Abdi and formerRunyenjes MP Njeru Kathangu.The rally was jointly organised by NMLFwith Muslim Human Rights Forum.In Mombasa, thousands strode throughthe town streets chanting anti-American,British and Israel slogans and laterconverged at the Makadara groundswhere leaders from the area bitterlycriticised Israel together with its allies theUnited States and Britain.

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War against Islam

Ethiopian troops are based in the city ofBaidoa to protect the interim governmentwhich wield little power outside the city.On his part, Billow praised the ICU in its effortsto bring about peace in Somalia. “We praiseIslamic Courts for their devotion towardscreating stability in the lawless capital,” hesaid. He went on to urge the courts toparticipate in talks mediated by the ArabLeague in the Sudanese capital Khatoumwith the Baidoa administration so as to bringa lasting solution to the conflict.Among those in the delegation were AbdillahiAbdi, the chairman of the National MuslimLeaders Forum and Sheikh Hussein MahdiNoor, an official of the Majlis Ulamaa Kenya.Since the Islamic Courts Union took largechunks of the country, relative peace hasdescended in the country. For the first time inmore than a decade, the Mogadishuinternational airport and the sea port havenow been open to civilian. Last week, itreasserted its control over the Somalicoastline promising seafarers that thehijacking of ships by pirates would be amatter of history.

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Somalia eyes ties with Kenya

Lebanon has become a cursehaunt ing Is rae l i leaders w i thincumbent Ehud Olmert likely to be thelatest victim after a war that has provedto be a military fiasco, leaving doubthanging over the very future of hisnascent Kadima party, Israeli expertsand analysts have agreed.“Olmert knows this is the juncture intime at which an entirely different waris going to begin — the war over hispo l i t ica l fu ture, ” Ben Caspi t o f theMaariv daily told Reuters.One poll last week showed Olmert’spopu lar i ty had dropped be low 50percent from over 75 percent near thestart of the war.“There’s going to be a monumentaleruption,” said one army officer, whocou ld not be named. “ I t ’ s a l readystar ted in the army wi th genera lsaccusing each other and passing theblame (for the defeat).”Despite positive noises from Olmert’sallies, Israelis are far from convincedthe month-old war counts as a victory.“We did not win,” wrote Nahum Barneain the best-sel l ing Yedioth Ahronothnewspaper.Ana lys ts to ld Reuters that Is rae l ’smain achievement is the provisionin the UN resolution for the deploymentof the Lebanese army and abeefed-up UNIFIL peacekeeping forcein the south. But the two soldiers takenprisoner by Hizbullah are sti l l in thehands of the resistance group, whichproved it could hold off the Israeli armyand in f l i c t heavy casua l t ies wh i leraining rockets on northern Israel.And there is no t imetab le fo rd isarming H izbu l lah as repeated lydemanded by Israel and the US.Except for Israel’s ongoing conflict withthe Palestinians, Israel has sufferedheavier civilian casualties than in anywar since i t was establ ished at therubble of Palestine in 1948. A total of110 Israeli soldiers have been kil ledsince the star t of the war in f iercebat t le w i th we l l - t ra ined H izbu l lahfighters. Twenty-four Israeli soldierswere killed on Saturday, August 12, inthe highest single-day death toll.Over the past four weeks, Hizbullahproved a foe to be reckoned wi th ,inflicting heavy losses on the armed-to-the-teeth Israeli army.It shot downat least four Apache helicopters anddestroyed one warship, a fast-speedpatrol in addit ion to tens of Israel ’spride Merkava tanks. (Reuters)

Lebanon curse HauntsIsrael Prime Minister

The Friday Bulletin is a Publication of Jamia Mosque Commitee, P. O. Box 40629-00400 Nairobi, Tel: 243504/5 E-mail: majlis@wananchi.comPrinted by Pro-phase Marketing- Plessey House Uhuru Highway P. O. Box 8156-00200 Nairobi

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Kenya Commercial Bank took its interest free-bank account toMombasa with a colourful launch in the coastal town last week.The Amana account was launched in the coastal town at acolourful ceremony graced by Muslim leaders and companyofficials. Present at the event held at the Treasury Square werethe Chief Kadhi Sheikh Hammad Muhammad Kassim, Mvita MPNajib Balala, acting mayor of Mombasa Ali Shekue Ali and ProfMuhammad Hydar among the Muslim dignitaries. KCB officials included company secretary David Kiprop Makwenand Amina Ahmed the bank’s retail manager.Though the account is specifically aimed for Muslims, it is alsoopen to those who do not profess the Islamic faith.The launch in Mombasa comes less than a month after theunveiling of the Amana account in Nairobi.A four-man advisory council of Islamic scholars was constitutedto ensure that all functions of the account are in total conformitywith Islamic laws.The interest-free account, the second of its kind in the growingIslamic banking window sector, is also available in KCB branchesin Tanzania and Southern Sudan.Kenya Commercial Bank promised to unveil other features ofIslamic banking once the amendment to the Banking Act is made.Finance Minister Amos Kimunya in his Budget speechannounced the amendment of the Act to allow Islamic Banking.Barclays Bank opened the door for the sector with the launch ofthe La Riba Account late last year.A fully fledged Islamic Bank offering a wide range of Shariahcompliant banking services was due to open its doors next monthbut delays in amendment of the Banking Act have forced it todelay the opening to early next year-Inshaallah.

KCB Amana goes to Mombasa

Voices are getting louder for the anti-terrorist police unit to bedisbanded. The latest call came from Migori in South Nyanzawhere Muslims said the unit was operating outside the confinesof the law and being used to oppress members of the Muslimcommunity.The chairman of the Migori Muslim Development CommitteeIbrahim Omar Hussein said Muslims have suffered under thepolice squad on the assumption that there are terrorists andcriminals.“Our colleagues in Mombasa and other parts of the Coast havehad enough harassment and intimidation from this squad. It hasdepicted Muslims as criminals and terrorists,” he said.He called on President Mwai Kibaki to ensure that the rights ofMuslims are protected just like other Kenyans.Last week, at a conference of Kadhis from East Africa, a call wasmade for the scrapping of the unit, which came under attack forviolating the rights of Muslims with impunity. The Scholarsasserted that the unit had been used as a tool to oppress innocentMuslims in the country at the behest of foreigners.Similar calls have been made by scholars and Muslim leaders atdifferent forums.

Scrap terror police, Nyanza Muslims demand

Professor Shaukat Abdulrazak, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, EgertonUniversity in his key note address during a youth workshop organizedby NMJP underscored the importance of team building and groupachievement in the implementation and programmatic engagementof community youth initiatives and projects.He pointed out the case of Malaysian Muslim youth, which in allmeasurements stands out as a success story on youthdevelopment and implored local youth to enter into viable partnershipand meaningful synergies with similar initiatives regionally and evenglobally. Prof.Shaukat’ presentation proved to be an inspiring moodfor the workshop.The workshop also looked at team building and group achievementin the Islamic perspective and proceeded to identify specificillustrations of the prophets’ acts and spirit of team-building whichinclude; team work in building Masjid Al-Nabawi, the team spirit inthe battle of Khandaq and and the cooperation in the battle of Taabuk.The workshop further noted that team-work is an integral componentof good leadership and that team work is not possible without goodleadership. The following qualities were identified as characteristicof good leadership;- God fearing leadership self critical leadership trustworthy leadership hardworking leadership a non selfish leadership a non arrogant leadership an all integrated leadership a communicative leadership focused and wise leadership a sincere and honest leadership

a just and knowledgeable leadershipSome of the operational qualities of team work from Islamic point ofview are:- positive attitude towards goals and objective of team obedience towards leadership at all levels within the team sincerity and sacrifice by all members of the team intensive and systematic communication in the team trustworthiness and truth fullness between members involvement in the distribution and carrying out of tasks volunteerism by all members however difficult the task Efficiency and effectiveness especially at top leadership

The workshop also discussed Challenges facing the Muslim youthand looked at possible ways and means of turning the identifiedchallenges into opportunities.It might not be possible to enumerate all the challenges andopportunities identified but suffice it to note the resolve by all theparticipants to organize and consolidate gains and achievementsby looking for each other and investing in each other as youth locallyregionally and globally.

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