Islam's Up-to-Date Televangelist

Amr Khaled Has Bridged the Religious and Secular With His Feel-Good Message

By Robin Wright

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 11, 2007; Page C01

The rhythmic clapping began the minute Amr Khaled stepped through the door of the packed Crystal City ballroom. Surrounded by security guards, the Egyptian preacher had to weave his way through the crowd -- men both cleanshaven and bearded, women both fashionably coifed and dressed in conservative Islamic dress -- that had come from up and down the East Coast to hear him. Two massive screens projected his image to those in the back.

"My goal is that you leave happy," Khaled began softly, once he finally got to the lectern. "My goal is to fulfill the hadith of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, that says, 'Whoever puts joy in the hearts of the believers, his reward is not less than Paradise.' " The crowd ate it up. For the next 90 minutes, they laughed at his witticisms, smiled at his stories, nodded at his exhortations and clapped again -- spontaneously and often. But most of all, they listened intently.

The rock-star preacher in the designer suit, often called "the anti-bin Laden," had arrived in America with his new brand of upbeat, feel-good Islam.

For American Muslims beset by the tensions of the post-9/11 world, Khaled came to address a deep crisis of confidence. He tried to bridge the gap between conflicting allegiances, notably their U.S. citizenship and their fury at U.S. policy in Iraq and other Muslim countries.Read on.......

THE 6TH ANNIVERSARY----9/11, WAS IT A CONSPIRACY ?

HANTU LAUT
On the 11th of Sept 2001, exactly at 8.46 am, the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in New York.A janitor, William Rodriguez while on Level B 1 heard a massive explosion below probably on Level B2-3. He says " The floor vibrated. We were all thrown upwards, than everyone in the office started screaming. Then, seconds later, there was another explosion way above, which made the building sway from side to side.And this, we later discovered, was the first plane hitting the North Tower on the 90th floor."

A man than runs into the office shouting "Explosion! Explosion!" .The man, Felipe David, had been standing in front of a nearby lift when a fireball burst from the lift shaft, severely burning him.Rodriguez later asked "Now you tell me how an explosion from a jetliner could have burnt a man 90 floors down within seconds of impact?"

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggested that the basement explosion Rodriguez heard might have been caused by a fireball traveling from the aircraft down the central lift shaft. However, some time after hearing it, Rodriguez rescues two people trapped in a lift. He will therefore doubt NIST’s claim, saying that if it were true, “Why were the two people [I] rescued from the lift not burnt to death?” Rodriguez also claims to have witnessed alleged hijacker Mohand Alshehri in the World Trade Center in June 2001.

At about 9.03 a.m. the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the 77th floor of the South Tower.Millions throughout the world watched the crash live on television.

Numerous witnesses to the collapse of the south WTC tower think it resembles a controlled demolition using explosives.Reporter John Bussey watches the collapse from the Wall Street Journal’s offices across the street from the WTC. He says, “I… looked up out of the office window to see what seemed like perfectly synchronized explosions coming from each floor, spewing glass and metal outward. One after the other, from top to bottom, with a fraction of a second between, the floors blew to pieces.

Assistant Fire Commissioner Stephen Gregory: “I saw low-level flashes. In my conversation with Lieutenant Evangelista… he questioned me and asked me if I saw low-level flashes in front of the building, and I agreed with him… I saw a flash flash flash and then it looked like the building came down.… You know like when they demolish a building, how when they blow up a building, when it falls down? That’s what I thought I saw.”

In the lobby of Building 7 of the WTC, EMS Division Chief John Peruggia is in discussion with Fire Department Captain Richard Rotanz and a representative from the Department of Buildings. As Peruggia later describes, “It was brought to my attention, it was believed that the structural damage that was suffered to the [Twin] Towers was quite significant and they were very confident that the building’s stability was compromised and they felt that the North Tower was in danger of a near imminent collapse.” Peruggia grabs EMT Richard Zarrillo and tells him to pass on the message “that the buildings have been compromised, we need to evacuate, they’re going to collapse.” Zarrillo heads out to the fire command post, situated in front of 3 World Financial, the American Express Building, where he relays this message to several senior firefighters. He says, “OEM says the buildings are going to collapse; we need to get out.” (OEM is the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, which has its headquarters in WTC 7.) Fire Chief Pete Ganci’s response is, “who the f___ told you that?” Seconds later, they hear the noise of the South Tower as it collapses.

Many witnesses heard explosion just before the tower collapses. Many are still puzzled with what they heard and the way the building collapsed.

Most of the suspected terrorists were Saudi nationals and funded by Saudi money.There are many questions left unanswered, which George Bush was not at all interested to pursue.

After almost six years the American, with the most sophisticated surveillance equipment and technology, have not found or killed Osama. He was alleged to be the mastermind of the plot. Could he also be part of the conspiracy ?

Was the Gulf War an American/Saudi conspiracy to get rid of Saddam Hussein by allowing him to invade Kuwait. The Saudis see Saddam as a growing threat to their security.After the end of the Iraq/Iran war, Saddam growing ambition to expand his territory makes Saudi Arabia looks like an easy picking. The Saudis didn't have the military capacity to defend themselves in the event of an invasion from its northern neighbour.To dismantle Saddam and his war machines, the Saudis needed external help.The only one who can provide them with such assistance was America. The Gulf War failed to removed Saddam. The Saudis and American badly needed another plot.

Would 9/11 be too far-fetched to be a Saudi and American plot?

Will Osama strikes again ? Hope not.If he does, he is doing great injustice to the Muslim world community.

Would Iran be the next fall guy?


For those who perished in the
9/11 tragedy.

JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM - ARE WE INCOMPATIBLE ?

HANTU LAUT
When Abraham's two sons went on their separate ways, he wouldn't have known, that his sons and descendants would, one day, brought to this world, three of the greatest religions and also brought the greatest human conflicts and tragedies. Jews,Christians and Muslims have been at loggerheads for over a millennium. Tragic consequences of religious intolerance resulting in religiously motivated violence, mass murder and genocide.

The three faiths share a common heritage.All three religions worship one god.Judaism and Islam originated amongst the Jews and Arabs, while Christianity came from Judaism.The youngest, which most Muslims wouldn't agree is Islam. Mohammad, the Messenger of God, the last prophet according to Islam, founded the religion around the year 610 A.D when he received his first revelation.The Koran accepted all previous prophets before Muhammad as the prophets of Islam and accepted Jews and Christians as part of the Ahl al-Kitab (People of the Book).

Islam demands that Muslims treat Jews, Christians and non-Muslims as dhimmis, protected citizens who has certain rights.In some places and times, Muslims treated non-Muslims with great tolerance;in other places and times, non-Muslims were treated as enemies and persecuted. Likewise, Christians and Jews had their fair shares of unjust treatment of Muslims.

In the Hebrew Bible (old Testament).....violence is easily the most often mentioned subject.There are about 100 passages in it where God expressly commands others to kill people.Four of this events in the Jewish Scriptures would probably qualify as genocide under most current definition of the term.

They were;

1.The worldwide flood of Noah as mentioned in Genesis ,Chapter 6 to 8.It almost completely wipe out the human race with the exception of Noah,his wife and sons and their wives.This is God's violent rage.

2.The 'Passover' described in Exodus, Chapter 11 and 12.All the first born of all Egypt were to be slaughtered.

3.The conquest of Canaan in which God ordered the Hebrews to completely exterminate the Canaanite people....from the elderly to the new born and fetuses.Described in the Book of Joshua.

4.The near extermination of the entire tribe of Benjamin by the remaining 11 tribes, triggered by the serial rape and murder of a priest's concubine by a few Benjaminite.Described in the Book of Judges, Chapter 20.

Why have three religions sharing the same roots drifted so far apart and caught in perennial conflicts, atrocities and wars.Were they due to religion or were they the results of political and ethnic conflicts, the selfishness and greed of powerful men and nations, the desire for greater hegemony and enslavement of others and to exert total control of the weak and poor nations ?

The Islamic Golden Age spanned from the middle of the 8th century to the middle of the 13th century.Scientific and intellectual achievements blossomed during that time.Scholars and engineers from the Islamic world contributed enormously to the arts, literature, philosophy, sciences and technology.Religious freedom created cross cultural network attracting Muslims, Christians and Jewish intellectuals.During the Umayyad Caliphate rule of Southern Spain, the city of Cordoba was one of the largest cities in the world, a great cultural, political and economic centre and had the highest standard of living and quality of live in the whole of Europe.It has many splendid buildings and artistic architecture.The Mezquita, a mosque built during the Umayyad period is now a World Heritage Site.This civilisation precipitated the birth of the European Renaissance.

The Jews has a long history of persecution, from the days of the Pharaohs to the end of the 2nd World War. History has shown that it wasn't the Muslims that inflicted systematic persecution of Jews.The Christians had much longer history of systematic and atrocious persecution of the Jewish people.Many genocides and ethnic cleansing were inflicted on the Jews by Christians, over the past few centuries in Europe.

Below are some of the list of Jewish persecution for almost two millennium.

70.AD: The massacre of 1,100,000 Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans to quell Jewish rebellion.

132-135: The Bar Kocha rebellion.Death of 500,000 Jews, thousand taken into slavery.

315: 'Constantine the Great' established 'Christianity' as a state religion throughout the Roman Empire and issued many anti-Jewish law.

613: Persecution of Jews in Spain.All Jews who refused to be baptized were kicked out of Spain.Those who stayed were taken as slaves.All Jewish children 7 years and over were taken and given Christian education.

1181: French King Philip banished the Jews from his domain .All immovable assets such as land and houses reverted to the king.

1189:Richard the 'Lionhearted' unexpectedly persecuted the Jews.Most Jewish houses in London were burned and many Jews killed.All possessions of the Jews were claimed by the Crown.Richard's successor alone, relieved the Jews of more than 8 million marks.

1290: Edward I banished the Jews from England.16,000 Jews left the country.

1298: Persecution of Jews in Franconia,Bavaria and Austria.Nobleman Kalbfleish alleged he had received a divine order to destroy all Jews .More than 100,000 Jews were mercilessly killed.

1306: King Philip the Fair banished Jews from France, 100,000 Jews left the country.

1321: Jews were accused of having incited outlaws to poison wells and fountains in France.5000 Jews were burned at the stake.

1497:Jews banished from Spain.300,000 Jews left Spain penniless.Many migrated to Muslim country, Turkey,where they found tolerance and a welcome.

1846-78: All former restrictions against Jews in the Vatican were re-inforced by Pope Pius IX.

1903: Renewed restrictions and pogroms of Jews in Russia.

1933: Commencement of persecution of Jews by Hitler's Germany.Systematic destruction of 6 million Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe.

I will not list the Muslims persecution of Jews as they were pale compared to that of the Christians.In term of numbers, Christians have killed more Jews than the Muslims.

Why are the Jews persecuted ? Have they asked themselves where they have gone wrong to deserve such treatment? Are they so bad that others wanted to hurt them? Even Shakespeare didn't have kind words for the Jews. In 'Merchant of Venice' , a story about the fundamentals of morality, Shylock, a Jewish moneylender was portrayed as an evil man, selfish, ruthless and heartless . In his play 'Macbeth' , one of the many ingredients used by the three witches for the' witches brew' was 'the liver of a blaspheming Jew'.There was great deal of prejudice towards Jews in Shakespeare's time because Jews do not believe in Christ.

In the Umayyad kingdom of Al-Andalusa, the Caliph of Cordoba, Abd-ar-Rahman instructed his successor son, Hisham, and his government officials on the importance of tolerance towards all of his subject, Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.

"Remember, my son, these are God's kingdoms, God who gives and take away at leisure...Be just to all men, equally to the poor and the rich, for injustice is the road to ruin;at the same time be gentle and merciful with those who are dependant on you, for they are all creatures of God.Trust the government of the provinces to wise, experienced men and punish without pity those ministers who oppress the people" Abd-ar-Rahman, Caliph of Cordoba

The fair and just rule in Al-Andalusa came to an end with the Reconquista (reconquest) by the Christians that led to the Spanish Inquisition culminating in 1492.Jews and Muslims were expelled from the country, forcefully converted to Christianity, become slaves or be killed.The persecution of Jews and Muslims lasted almost 500 years before Spain gradually adopted tolerance and openness to other religions.

Today, Jews and Christians have joined forces against Islam. The war in Iraq, Afghanistan and the bombing of Lebanon are glaring example of Judeo-Christian alliance.This is an alliance of the power of money. An alliance for global dominance.A war of attrition against weak Islamic nations under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

In 1982 at Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugees camp in Lebanon the Jews used Phalangists Christian Militia to massacre and killed 3500 innocent Palestinian children, women and men that took refuge in the country. In the West Bank and other Occupied Territories, Palestinians homes were demolished or bombed, killing innocent civilians.The Occupied Territories remained occupied because America and the West support and protect Israel for the occupation and atrocities against the unarmed and defenceless Palestinians.

Terrorism came into existence in the Middle East due to the pro-Israel policy of the United States and Western European nations, which was further aggravated by the uncompromising stand taken by Israel toward the Palestinian issue. Different groups of Islamist decided to take the law into their own hands and form terror groups, as they couldn't get justice from powerful nations that control the politics and faith of other poor and weaker nations. Undeniably, America was the reason for the birth of terrorism. The powerful Jewish lobby and the immense wealth they control have greatly influenced America's policy in the Middle East. The Jewish Diasporas probably control greater wealth then those of all the OIC countries put together. The continuing injustice and atrocities against the Palestinians launched the birth of global terrorism, which has strong following in many Muslim nations.

The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were the biggest mistake made by the American administration. These unjustifiable wars had riled up the Islamists to seek further revenge.

Has Bush, the moron in the White House, got legs to stand on to defend himself on the number of people he had killed in the wars on terror.His parochial and myopic views of the outside world, other religion and culture had made him an irrationally dangerous man.His foreign policies are kindergarten stuff, in dire need of civilised behaviour.He kept saying he has won the war on terror.Has he ? Then why are innocent Iraqi civilians dying in the streets of Baghdad every day.Why built a huge fortress in the centre of Baghdad for his diplomatic mission if he truly believes he has won the war and Iraq is safe. He protects his own citizens and accorded them all the luxuries of life in a war zone sheltered inside an armoured fortress while outside Iraqis get killed by terrorists or American bombs and guns. Indubitably, George Bush is a god-fearing Christian. He is a man of the Bible and truly believes in 'an eye for an eye'.

Isn't his killing machines more efficient than those of the terrorists ? How many more people he would like to kill, to avenge those killed at the World Trade Centre in New York before he stops.It was estimated, at least, 500,000 Iraqis have been killed since the Gulf War started. He has made a mockery of the meaning of the word 'freedom'.Guantanamo Bay, where prisoners are detained without trial and stripped of their civil liberties broke all the rules of the Law of Protection of Human Rights.He cheated his American people and failed his nation as the epitome of freedom.

Should Bush, Blair and Howard be called Christian terrorists? Don't you think they deserve the name and more, as war criminals ?

The violence done by Muslims all over the world had nothing to do with Islam. They are the products of imams, mullahs and other so-called Muslims experts who are utterly confused and conveniently misinterpreted the religion to serve their own purpose.

WHY ARE WE HERE ?

HANTU LAUT

Sometimes, it makes you wonder why are we here ? If it's not for the contemptuous act of the temptress, Eve and the foolishness of Adam, we would all still be in paradise, the Garden of Eden, away from all our worldly troubles.That's, if you believe in any of the Abrahamic religions.

Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet, philosopher and mathematician wrote in his famous ruba'iyat:

"Although I have a handsome face and colour,
Cheek like the tulips, form like the cypress,
It is not clear why the Eternal Painter,
Thus tricked me out for the dusty show-booth of earth.

He began my creation with constraint,
By giving me life he added only confusion,
We depart reluctantly still not knowing,
The aim of birth, existence, departure.

Heaven's wheel gained nothing from my coming,
Nor did my going augment its dignity,
Nor did my ears hear from anyone
Why I had to come and why I went"

This question has plagued and challenged mankind for generations.The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe we are God's creation.Are we willing to accept the Scriptures as the truth and stop the search of our origin ?

On the other hand, the Theory of Evolution believes we are created from non-life, a complex transformation over time with beneficial mutation passed on to the next generation.The beneficial genetic mutations produce a different organism, an entirely different creature.Charles Darwin's theory of 'natural selection' has given plausible mechanism to the theory of evolution. It's a kind of 'survival of the fittest'. The inferior members of the same species would gradually died out, leaving only the superior members to survive.

Both, religion and evolution aspects of the beginning of mankind have remained as theories and perpetual mysteries.Both have not been able to provide conclusive evidence to support its tenet. In any religious belief, if you are a believer, than the existence of God become unquestionable.

In Darwin's theory of 'natural selection' the slight successive variations cannot take a great and sudden leap, but advance by short, sure and slow steps, therefore, no single or even multiple and successive generations can observe or witness the 'descend' into a new creature.The process could take millions of years. The theory remains at best a theory.

Would the day come when human can be created without the seeds and the womb? Can genetic engineering and stem cell one day produce our future generations in a laboratory? Would God be obsolete by then ?

Where are we from and why are we here ?

We still don't have an answer.