Press Association
The Guardian
Wednesday November 14 2007

A “torrent” of negative stories has been revealed by a study of the portrayal of Muslims and Islam in the media, according to a report published yesterday.

Research into one week’s news coverage showed that 91% of articles in national newspapers about Muslims were negative. The London mayor, Ken Livingstone, who commissioned the study, said the findings were a “damning indictment” of the media and urged editors and programme makers to review the way they portray Muslims.

“The overall picture presented by the media is that Islam is profoundly different from and a threat to the west,” he said. “There is a scale of imbalance which no fair-minded person would think is right.” Only 4% of the 352 articles studied were positive, he said.

Livingstone said the findings showed a “hostile and scaremongering attitude” towards Islam and likened the coverage to the way the left was attacked by national newspapers in the early 1980s. “The charge is that there are virtually no positive or balanced images of Islam being portrayed,” he said. “I think there is a demonisation of Islam going on which damages community relations and creates alarm among Muslims.”

Among examples in the study was a report which claimed that Christmas was being banned in one area because it offended Muslims, which researchers said was “inaccurate and alarmist”. The report said that Muslims in Britain were sometimes depicted as a threat to traditional British values, and the coverage weakened government attempts to reduce extremism. The report is an amalgam of research projects individually prepared by members of a panel. Some research, examining published newspaper articles and reporting the experiences of Muslim journalists, involved Hugh Muir, of the Guardian.

By ROBERT L. JAMIESON Jr.
P-I COLUMNIST
Source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com

Their campaign of terror keeps spreading.They want to wipe out those who don’t agree with their way of life.

They’ve spilled blood across the planet for eons, finding justification for the evil they do in holy texts.

What do we call them?

What else? Christian-o-fascists!

While we’re at it, let’s give them a calendar slot — “Christian-o-Fascism Awareness Week” — to be celebrated on college campuses everywhere.

Yes, I drummed up this term this week to show extreme ideas aren’t confined to one religion. Zealots who wrap themselves in Christianity have blown up abortion clinics as well as claimed the lives of non-believers since antiquity. Jewish extremists whack Palestinians. Muslim nutcases bastardize Islam to justify suicide bombings that kill innocents.

Yet, it seems only the radical fringe of Islam gets slapped with a silly but dangerous label, designed to fan fears and taint a whole faith.

This brings me to — drum roll, please — “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week,” celebrated at more than 100 campuses across the country, including the University of Washington.

Last week’s nationwide event was aimed at fostering awareness of the terror threat posed by a fraction of those in the Islamic faith. Organizers also wanted to blast the “silence of feminists” over the oppression of women of Islam.

Their effort would have been better served by looking at how extremists everywhere, across the spectrum of beliefs, crap up the world.

That actually could foster constructive dialogue about the perils of ultra-radicals.

Earnest dialogue, though, wasn’t on the agenda for the UW College Republicans, the local lackeys for the big week. They’re more about fanning flames of ignorance — and garnering attention — than kindling wisdom. They give wiser GOP minds a bad name.

I can’t say I’m shocked. In 2003, the College Republicans held an anti-affirmative action bake sale on the UW campus to spark “dialogue.” White students paid $1 for a cookie, for example, while minorities paid anywhere from a quarter to 95 cents.

Don’t get me wrong: The group had every right to exercise its free, if stupid, speech back then, as it does now. But what’s troubling about “Islamo-Fascism” week is the lack of voices from high places on campus countering the madness.

At least during the bake-sale shenanigans, the president of the UW Board of Regents wrote a letter saying the stunt was “tasteless, divisive and hurtful — learning is not advanced when the dialogue is demeaning and disrespectful.”

This time, a UW assistant provost wrote human rights activists — to reassure them there was “no indication” conservative pundit Michael Medved would speak on campus as part of a “terrorism awareness” tie-in. But, “it turns out that did happen,” Assistant Provost Patricia Huling said of Medved’s campus chitchat.

The university says Muslim and Arab students did pass out literature and set up a table on campus to offer counterpoints to the demeaning, disrespectful and narrow presentation of Islam.

But that was like talking into a hurricane. True learning, a thought-provoking dialogue, wasn’t advanced.

Maybe the stunt was fun and games for the publicity-seeking Republican college group. But it’s serious business for the folks behind last week’s national event, sponsored by David Horowitz of the Los Angeles-based Freedom Center, a conservative think tank. These right-wingers want to grab power by creating campaigns that spread fear and invoke made-up, hot-button words.

As Paul Krugman, a columnist for The New York Times puts it: “There isn’t actually any such thing as Islamo-Fascism — it’s not an ideology; it’s a figment of the neocon imagination.”

The term, he adds, became a fashionable way for Iraq hawks “to gloss over” the awkward transition from pursuing Osama bin Laden, who attacked us, to Saddam Hussein, who did not.

But hey, the conservative kids on campus don’t sweat such pesky details.

They know sometimes it’s best to gloss over truths, exploit fear and be only as aware as you want to be.

By SEAN GAFFNEY, Associated Press Writer
Found On Yahoo News

JERUSALEM - Tears welling in his eyes, an elderly Holocaust survivor on Thursday embraced the son of the Albanian man who saved him from the Nazi death camps, highlighting the little-known role played by European Muslims in helping Jews during World War II.The two met for the first time at a photography exhibition at Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust memorial, honoring Albanians who sheltered Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. Albania, a tiny European country with a Muslim majority, sheltered about 1,000 Jews who, except for one family, survived Nazi occupation, according to officials.

“This is a very unique story,” said Yehudit Shendar, the exhibition’s curator. Though Islam has an anti-Jewish image, these were “Muslims who endangered their own lives to save Jews,” she said. Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II.

Albanians sheltered between 600 and 1,800 Jewish refugees, risking death or imprisonment, officials said. At the end of the war, Albania was the only European country with a larger Jewish population than before the war.

Yoshua Baruchowic, 84, wore a grim smile as he retold the harrowing story of his rescue. He stood next to Enver Alia Sheqer, the Albanian whose father saved him.

For decades, Baruchowic exchanged letters with Sheqer, 50, and his father, Ali Sheqer Pashkaj, who died in 2004. They often sent family photos, and he called Sheqer his “brother.”

Despite many invitations, Baruchowic, who moved to Mexico after the war and became a dentist, refused to visit Albania while the communists were in power, and later because of political turmoil.

Meeting Sheqer on Thursday, he said, “It’s glorious. It’s something I waited to do all my life.”

In 1941, a Nazi convoy transporting Jews passed the Sheqer family’s general store deep in the Albanian mountains. Sheqer’s father offered the soldiers food and wine. When they became drunk, he handed a message — hidden in a melon — to one of the prisoners, the 18-year-old Baruchowic.

Though they had never met, Baruchowic agreed when Ali Sheqer urged him to flee to the woods. The young Jew hid while Sheqer’s father feigned ignorance as he repeatedly stared down a Nazi gun barrel. He held out until the Germans left and then retrieved Baruchowic, hiding him for three years.

“My father was a devout Muslim,” Enver Sheqer said. “He believed that to save one life is to enter paradise.”

He said his father had to help Baruchowic because of the Albanian code of “Besa,” which means “to keep the promise.”

The exhibition is named after that code and features black and white photographs of Albanians holding family photos and awards honoring their heroism. Israel has honored 63 Albanians as “Righteous Among the Nations,” a title granted to non-Jews who helped Jews escape Nazi persecution.

The photo exhibit is the product of five years of “headhunting” by American Jewish photographer Norman Gershman, who said he was inspired culling the archives at Yad Vashem. Working through several organizations, Gershman spent four years in and out of Albania tracking down survivors.

“It started at Yad Vashem and now it’s going to take off from here,” he said. The exhibition is next going to the United Nations headquarters in New York for a display on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, he said.

At the exhibit Thursday, Baruchowic and Enver Sheqer stood beneath a photo of Sheqer sitting at the foot of a statue of the Albanian national hero Skanderbeg, a resistance general who led the fight against the Muslim Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.

In the picture, Sheqer delicately clutches his chest while a furrowed brow looks poised for tears. A similar look covered his face as he struggled to the find words to describe meeting Baruchowic for the first time.

“I have such a good feeling,” Sheqer said. “I can’t begin how to describe.”

This is an extract, with some abridgement, from the book, “With Which Religion and Intellect are Suicide Bombings and Destruction Considered Jihad?” by the senior contemporary Islamic Scholar from Saudi Arabia, Shaikh ‘Abdul-Muhsin al-’Abbad.

WHAT HAS COME CONCERNING KILLING THE ONE UNDER PROTECTION OF A TREATY, INTENTIONALLY OR BY MISTAKE

The killing of a dhimmee (free non-Muslim), mu’aahad (one under a treaty or truce) and musta‘man (one under the guarantee of protection) is unlawful. Indeed, a severe threat has been mentioned concerning that.

Indeed, al-Bukhaaree relates in his Saheeh (no. 3166), from ’Amr Ibn ’Abdullaah (radiyallaahu ’anhumaa), from the Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) who said, “Whosoever kills a person who was a mu’aahad, he will not be able to smell the fragrance of Paradise, even though its fragrance can be smelled for the walking distance of forty years.”

This is mentioned by al-Bukhaaree in the book of al-jizyah (taxes for disbelievers) under the chapter, “Chapter: The sin of the one who kills a mu’aahad who has not committed any crime.”

And he mentions it in the book of compensations, under the chapter, “Chapter: The sin of the one who kills a dhimmee who has not committed any crime.” And it also occurs under the wording, “Whosoever kills a person who was mu’aahad will not smell the fragrance of Paradise, even though its smell can be found for the walking distance of forty years.”

Stated al-Haafidh Ibn Hajr in al-Fath (12/259), (commenting upon the action of al-Bukhaaree in the manner compiling these statements under these chapter headings), “Likewise, he brought the chapter heading of the dhimmee, yet he mentioned the mu’aahad. And in the chapter heading of al-jizyah (taxes for non-Muslims), he brought the wording, “Whosoever kills a mu’aahad…” as is apparent in the narration. So the intended meaning of this is that whosoever has a treaty with the Muslims, whether it be by agreement of a jizyah, or a truce with a Muslim ruler, or protection from a Muslim.”

And this hadeeth is related by an-Nisaa‘ee with the wording “Whosoever kills a person from amongst the people of dhimmah (protection), then he will not find the fragrance of Paradise, even though the fragrance of Paradise can be found for the walking distance of forty years.”

And he also relates it (no. 4749) with a saheeh isnaad, from a man from amongst the Companions of the Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam), that the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said, “Whosoever kills a man from amongst the people of dhimmah, then he will not be able to find the fragrance of Paradise, even though its fragrance can be found for the walking distance of forty years.”

As for killing the one under protection unintentionally, then Allaah has obligated a compensation and retribution for it. Allaah the Mighty and Majestic said,

“And if he belonged to a people with whom you have a treaty of mutual alliance, compensation must be paid to his family, and a believing slave must be freed. And whosoever finds this beyond his means, then he must fast for two consecutive months, in order to seek repentance from Allaah. And Allaah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” (an-Nisaa‘ 4:92)

And I say in conclusion: Fear Allaah – O youth – with regards to yourselves. Do not become prey for Satan. He gathers up for you the dishonour of this worldly life and the punishment of the Hereafter. And fear Allaah with regards to the Muslims, from amongst the elderly, the middle-aged and the youth. And fear Allaah with regards to the Muslim women, from amongst the mothers, daughters, sisters, maternal aunts and paternal aunts. And fear Allaah with regards to the elderly who ware bowing and the babies who are breastfeeding. And fear Allaah with regards to the spilling the blood of the innocent and the wealth of the unlawful.

“So fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones. (al-Baqarah 2:24)

“And fear a day when you shall be brought back to Allaah. Then every person shall be paid what he earned, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly.” (Sooratul-Baqarah 2:281)

“On the day when every person will be confronted with all the good he has done, and all the evil he has done, he will wish that there were a great distance between him and his evil.” (Soorah Aali-’Imraan 3:30)

“The day when a man shall flee from his brother, and his mother and his father, and from his wife and his children. Every man, that day, will have enough to make him careless of others.” (Soorah ’Abasa 80:37)

Awaken from your slumber and become attentive from your heedlessness. Do not be the riding animal for Satan to cause corruption in the earth.

And I ask Allaah the Mighty and Majestic to grant the Muslims understanding of their Religion, and to safeguard them from the misguidance of tribulations (fitan), whatever is apparent from them and whatever is hidden. And may the salutations, peace and blessings of Allaah be upon His servant and Messenger, Muhammad, upon his family and all of his Companions.

The esteemed and late Shaikh Muhammad bin Salih al-’Uthaimin of Saudi Arabia stated, during a tele-link in the evening of Friday, 28th July 2000:

…Likewise I invite you to have respect for those people who have the right that they should be respected, those between whom there is an agreement (of protection) for you. For the land in which you are living is such that there is an agreement between you and them. If this were not the case they would have killed you or expelled you. So preserve this agreement, and do not prove treacherous to it, since treachery is a sign of the hypocrites, and it is not from the way of the Believers. And know that it is authentically reported from the Prophet that he said, “Whoever kills one who is under and agreement of protection will not smell the fragrance of Paradise.”

Do not be fooled by those sayings of the foolish people, those who say ‘Those people are Non-Muslims, so their wealth is lawful for us (to misappropriate or take by way of murder and killing).’ For by Allaah - this is a lie. A lie about Allaah’s Religion, and a lie about Islamic societies.

So we may not say that it is lawful to be treacherous towards people whom we have an agreement with.

O my brothers. O youth. O Muslims. Be truthful in your buying and selling, and renting, and leasing, and in all mutual transactions. Because truthfulness is from the characteristics of the Believers, and Allaah - the Most High - has commanded truthfulness - in the saying of Allaah - the Most High -

“O you who believe - fear and keep you duty to Allaah and be with the truthful”

And the Prophet encouraged truthfulness and said, “Adhere to truthfulness, because truthfulness leads to goodness, and goodness leads to Paradise; and a person will continue to be truthful, and strive to be truthful until he will be written down with Allaah as a truthful person“.

And he warned against falsehood, and said, “Beware of falsehood, because falsehood leads to wickedness, and wickedness leads to the Fire. And a person will continue lying, and striving to lie until he is written down with Allaah as a great liar.”

O my brother Muslims. O youth. Be true in your sayings with your brothers, and with those Non-Muslims whom you live along with - so that you will be inviters to the Religion of Islaam, by your actions and in reality. So how many people there are who first entered into Islaam because of the behaviour and manners of the Muslims, and their truthfulness, and their being true in their dealings.

The Qur’an has outlined the base rule concerning the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims who do not fight the Muslims on account of their religion or expel Muslims from their homes or lands.

Allâh does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of religion and did not drive you out of your homes. Verily, Allâh loves those who deal with equity. (Al-Mumtahinah 60:8)

The classical commentator Ibn Kathir stated in his exegesis of this verse:

“… meaning that you are benevolent towards them and deal justly with them.”

This verse was revealed during the truce between the Muslims and the Quraish of Mecca. The mother of Asma, the daughter of Abu Bakr came to Medina and brought with her some presents. Asma sought recourse to the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) on the matter.

Ibn Kathir brings a number of narrations from Asma, the daughter of Abu Bakr (radiallahu anhu), whose pagan mother came to visit her in Medina, explaining that this was the reason for the revelation of this particular verse. Asma said:

My mother who was a pagan approached (Madinah) during the truce with (the tribe of) Quraish, so I came to the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, my mother has come and she desires to see me, shall I keep ties with her?” He said, “Yes, keep the ties of kinship with your mother”.

Ibn Jarir at-Tabari, another classical commentator explains in his exegesis that there were a number of opinions regarding this particular verse, and mentions amongst them:

• That this verse was particular only to those Muslims who were residing in Mecca but had not yet emigrated.
• That this vere relates to people outside of Mecca who had not emigrated to Medina
• That this verse was regarding the pagans of Mecca who did not fight the Muslims nor expel them from their homes, but that it was later abrogated with the command to fight the pagans (on account of their breaking the truce)

Then at-Tabari explains the correct viewpoint:

The most correct of these sayings is the statement of the one who said that what is meant by, “Allâh does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of religion…” (is that it pertains to) all of the factions from the varying beliefs and religions. That you behave good towards them, and that you are just regarding them, because Allah, the Mighty and Majestic generalised with His saying, “…those who fought not against you on account of your religion and did not drive you out of your homes…” So this applies to everyone who is characterised by this. He did not specify some as opposed to others in this regard.

And then at-Tabari goes on to discredit the view of those who said this injunction was abrogated.

The esteemed Scholar from the last century Muhammad Ameen ash-Shanqiti (rahimahullah) has a lengthy discussion in his exegesis, “Adwaa ul-Bayaan”. Ash-Shanqiti mentions the various views, including the viewpoint that this verse was abrogated with the command to fight the pagans. He then goes on to provide historical and textual evidences to discredit this view bringing:

• The statements of at-Tabari, ash-Shafi’i,after which he said:
  

  This (view) that has been deemed correct by Ibn Jarir (at-Tabari) and which was authenticated by as-Shafi’i, may Allah have mercy upon him, is that which is necessitated by spirit of the Islamic legislation.

• The benevolence of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) towards specific non-Muslims, such as Thumama who had come to assassinate the Prophet but was captured by the Muslims. He was treated well, eventually released and he voluntarily became a Muslim.
• The various delegations that came to the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) in the 9^th year after the hijra. Such as the Christians of Najran, and the delegation of Tamim, and others. With all of them, the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) was gentle and kind, he was benevolent towards them.
• The treatment of the Jews of Khaibar who despite being treacherous - scheming a variety of intrigues, instigating the Bani Quraiza, and plotting against the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) on numerous occasions - were spared. After being forced to surrender they were allowed to live off their land whilst giving a share of the produce to the Muslims.
• The verse in the Qur’an regarding the treatment of non-Muslim parents who force a person to worship others besides Allaah. Ash-Shanqiti said:
  

  And in closing, that which makes this clear very strongly, and about which no one has claimed abrogation is the saying of (Allah), the Exalted, “And if they both strive to make you associate with Me (in worship) that of which you have no knowledge, then do not obey them. But accompany them in this life with goodness.” (Luqman 31:15). This good behaviour and benevolence is towards the one who strove to make a Muslim associate others with Allah (in worship) but did not actually fight against the Muslims. Hence, the right of the parents are to be given precedence, even if they are upon disbelief, and strive to lead one to associationism (Shirk).

With these and other evidences ash-Shanqiti invalidates the view of those who spoke with abrogation of this verse. Ash-Shanqiti covered this issue in some depth in his Adwa ul-Bayan, explaining:

And we have lengthened the speech regarding this matter due to its importance and the dire need for it today.

Hence, it is established that the normal relation between Muslims and non-Muslims who do not show aggression or expel Muslims from their lands, as established in the Islamic texts, is one of benevolence and good behaviour.

Contemporary Islamophobes attempt to portray Islam and the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) as a violent, aggressive, murderous entity - and often distort, and outright lie, concerning historical occurrences and realities. Perhaps their distortions will be covered in later posts.