Headlines:
- Jewish Journalist Converts to Islam, Harshly Criticizes Jewish State
- Dutch Prime Minister is Just as Guilty as Wilders
- Imran Khan’s Cabinet Bans First-Class Air Travel for Top Officials
- Trump Cancellation of Pompeo’s North Korea Visit to Intensify Pressure on China
- Taliban Launch New Assault on Ghazni while also engaging in Negotiations
- US Pressure on Turkish Lira accompanied by Russian Proposals for Idlib
Jewish Journalist Converts to Islam, Harshly Criticizes Jewish State
Jewish journalist Mahdi Majeed converted to Islam several days ago and has viciously criticized ‘Israel’, despite having held close friendships to high-ranking Jewish officials. “I was not a Muslim, but now I believe in Islam thanks to God who guided me to find the truth after much research. Islam is the correct path, please God protect Islam from the Muslims who have distorted it,” he wrote on his twitter account. He added that he planned to travel to Mecca for pilgrimage, urging Saudi Authorities to let him in and congratulating people on Eid al-Adha. “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, I witness that I’m not supporting loyalty to any oppressor, tyrant and bloodshed and aggressor”, he said. Majeed went on to call the Jewish state a “Zionist state”, despite previously describing it as the lighthouse of democracy in the Middle East in February during a visit with a media delegation. “I urge you all not to trust the Jewish or any Jewish official, no matter how sweet his words are, as they only care about their interests. Adhere to Islam and keeping away from evil sheikhs and their misguidance,” Majeed wrote. He also advised his friend, Jewish writer Edy Cohen to convert to Islam, to which Cohen replied: “You have your own religion and I have mine.” [Source: Egypt Independent]
وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَن يَشَاء وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ
“but Allah guides whom He wills. And He knows best those who are the guided.”
[al-Qasas 28:56]
Dutch Prime Minister is Just as Guilty as Wilders
The Dutch prime minister on Friday distanced his government from a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest being organized later this year by anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders. Wilders “is not a member of the government. The competition is not a government initiative,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at his weekly press conference. Rutte’s comments came after angry reactions in Pakistan to the proposed contest, which Wilders plans to hold in November in his right-wing Party for Freedom’s heavily guarded offices at the Dutch parliament. Authorities in Pakistan have lodged a diplomatic protest against Wilders’ plan, calling it an attempt to defame Islam. Opposition lawmaker Wilders is well known for his fierce criticism of Islam and has previously sparked fury in Muslim nations with a film about Islam. He lives under a round-the-clock guard following years of death threats. Rutte questioned Wilders’ motive for organizing the contest, saying “his aim is not to have a debate about Islam. His aim is to be provocative.” However, he added that people in the Netherlands have far-reaching freedom of speech rights. “This man, Geert Wilders, is known for testing the limits of freedom of expression. He is free to do that,” Rutte said. “The Cabinet wants to make clear it is not a Cabinet initiative.” In a tweet, Wilders said the reaction of Rutte and the Dutch foreign minister “show that we are ruled by Islam cuddlers.” He said the contest was not meant as a provocation “but to show that we do not bargain with our freedom.” [Source: Washington Post]
Rutte is guilty of encouraging this despicable act. Both he and wilders support the demonization of Islam under the fig leaf of freedom. However, protests in Pakistan will not deter the like of Rutte. Had the rulers of the Islamic world any courage, they would immediately cease oil shipments to Holland. But is anyone brave enough to do this?
Imran Khan’s Cabinet Bans First-class Air Travel for Top Officials
The cabinet of newly-appointed Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has imposed a ban on first-class air travel by the President, Chief Justice, Senate Chairman and the National Assembly speaker. The move comes after the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government on Friday revised working hours in government institutions, abolished discretionary funds of the Prime Minister, federal ministers and members of the National Assembly, reports Dawn news. The decisions were taken during a second meeting of the federal cabinet in a week presided over by Khan.It was decided that the Prime Minister would use the official aircraft only for domestic tours and not for foreign visits. Another important decision taken by the cabinet was formation of task forces for upgrading shanty settlements across the country and launching tree plantation in main cities. The meeting decided to abolish the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) and merge its departments into other ministries. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had spent 51 billion Pakistani rupees ($417,825,150) government funds only in one year by exercising his “discretionary powers”, Dawn news reported. Similarly, President Mamnoon Hussain also distributed public money of 90 million Pakistani rupees on his own discretion. [Source: Khaleej Times]
Banning first class travel or not residing in the Prime Minister’s house will not bring prosperity to Pakistan. What Imran Khan needs to do is to make a public detailed plan on how he intends to make Pakistan like Madina.
Trump Cancellation of Pompeo’s North Korea Visit to Intensify Pressure on China
According to the Los Angeles Times:
In a surprise announcement, President Trump on Friday conceded a lack of progress on denuclearization in North Korea and instructed Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo to scrap a planned visit to Pyongyang “at this time,” a setback in the emerging diplomatic detente between the two longtime adversaries.
Pompeo had announced Thursday that he planned to make his fourth visit to Pyongyang early next week and would take Stephen Biegun, the newly-appointed special representative for North Korea, to try to break the logjam in the nuclear negotiations.
But the State Department canceled the trip after Trump tweeted that he had asked Pompeo to stay home, for now, “because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
The president blamed China, in part, for his decision to cancel the meeting. Beijing, he said, was not “helping with the process of denuclearization as they once were,” a reference to China’s increasingly tense trade dispute with Washington.
But Trump also held out an olive branch, saying Pompeo looked forward to returning “in the near future, most likely after our Trading relationship with China is resolved.” He added, “In the meantime I would like to send my warmest regards and respect to Chairman Kim. I look forward to seeing him soon!”
The United States of America has come to inherit its view of its role in the world from the British Empire which practised policies of ‘balance of power’ and ‘divide and rule’, maintaining conflict between the peoples of the rest of the world so that its own supremacy was secured. America’s policy towards North Korea has been very much inspired by that approach, using it as a point of conflict to create problems for China to control its expansion. Thus North Korea’s opening to South Korea was the worst news that America could expect from that region, as peace on the Korean peninsula is the last thing that America wants. So Trump’s only option was to hijack the negotiations with the South by meeting Kim Jong-Un himself and having this followed up with visits by his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. But now that the US has retaken control over the issue, it is back to its old tricks of sabotaging any hope of peace and stability.
International relations was dominated for over a thousand years by the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) State and Muslims never had the need to create conflicts to contain China. Instead the Khilafah was able to calm China’s fears, provide international security, send assistance for domestic conflict whenever needed and convince China to focus on its own development and peaceful existence. It was only when the Khilafah State weakened that China became prey to the disbelieving Western imperialists. With Allah’s permission, the world will see again a re-established righteous Islamic Khilafah State on the method of the Prophet ﷺ, and the world will witness once more the real meaning of peace and stability in the international order.
Taliban Launch New Assault on Ghazni while also engaging in Negotiations
According to Reuters:
Clashes have broken out between Taliban militants and government forces in Afghanistan forcing some civilians to flee from their homes near the city of Ghazni, which the insurgents stormed this month, officials said on Friday.
The Taliban raided three villages on the outskirts of Ghazni late on Thursday, destroying some newly built checkpoints and cutting off power to some parts of the city.
Provincial police chief Farid Mashal said government forces counter-attacked to block the insurgents from approaching the city.
A dangerous game is presently playing out in Afghanistan, where the Taliban leadership have begun engagement with America and her allies and agents, including Russia, which has been instrumental in carrying out US plans in Syria. According to an earlier report in the New York Times:
Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents confirmed on Wednesday that they would send emissaries next month to peace talks in Russia, a diplomatic twist in repeated efforts to settle the 17-year-old war.
The Taliban’s acceptance of an invitation by Russia to the Sept. 4 talks planned in Moscow was a reversal for the group, and came after the government of Afghanistan and its main supporter, the United States, declined invitations to attend.
In a message to The New York Times bureau in Kabul, the Taliban said through a spokesman that the chief of their political office in Qatar would lead a delegation to the Moscow talks.
Therefore, we hope and pray that the assault on Ghazni is not part of a pre-arranged plan for a negotiated final settlement with the Afghan mujahideen, where they are given a part of the country in return for accepting the continuation of American presence.
The long struggles and great sacrifices of mujahideen in Afghanistan and elsewhere have frustrated American planning throughout the Muslim Ummah but ultimately America and the other foreign disbelievers cannot be ejected from our region until there is a strong independent state standing behind the mujahideen and supporting them with its armies. As with almost all other problems that the Muslim Ummah remains enmeshed in, the Afghanistan problem awaits the re-establishment of the Islamic Khilafah State, which will unify Muslim lands and liberate its occupied territories.
US Pressure on Turkish Lira accompanied by Russian Proposals for Idlib
According to Reuters:
Russia has presented proposals to the Turkish authorities on resolving the situation in north-western Syria, the Interfax news agency reported on Friday.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu met his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar for talks in Moscow on Friday.
Turkey has backed some rebel groups in the northern Syrian region of Idlib and set up a dozen military observation posts. It is trying to avert an attack by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Moscow.
America sees the world as a chessboard, coordinating its moves by different pieces for a single goal. It is known that Turkey is just an American chessboard piece when it comes to the revolution in Syria and now that the war is entering a new stage, America is manoeuvring its pieces for the final settlement. Trump’s ongoing attack on the Turkish lira is part of this manoeuvring. It was America that brought Turkey to Syria, and it is now America that is demanding full Turkish cooperation and withdrawal from the area, and these instructions are being delivered to Turkey through Russia, which feels honoured to be America’s chief coordinator in the crushing of the Syrian revolution.
With Allah’s permission, the revolution in Syria will never be defeated, because America has only fought some manifestations of the revolution, whereas the real revolution has already occurred in the hearts and minds of the Syrian people, who hold one of the major keys to the re-establishment of the righteous Islamic Khilafah State on the method of the Prophet ﷺ.