AAFIA SIDDIQUI DAY

Sunday 28 March 2010 is the 7th anniversary of the kidnapping of Aafia and her children. To commemorate this and to highlight Aafia’s case as symbolic of the brutality of the ‘war on terror’ with the aim of having her repatriated to Pakistan and launching an investigation into the whereabouts of her missing children, the Justice for Aafia Coalition (JFAC – www.justiceforaafia.org) has been formed – an umbrella organisation, currently spanning four continents, which aims to unite and direct all individuals and organisations concerned for our sister and working for her release In an international day of protest, we aim to have events, demonstrations, letter-writing campaigns, khutbahs, etc in towns and cities all over the world in solidarity with Aafia on the one day – 28 March.

All it takes is for each person to do the following:

a) Organise an event (or screening) in your locality; rather than asking us to supply speakers, people could spend one hour reading up on her case thoroughly and presenting it to his community. JFAC will aim to provide you with the necessary information pack to deliver a presentation. If people educate themselves on the case and do the talk themselves, it is more empowering than just having an external speaker come. If you are interested in organising an event or hosting a related documentary screening, please email events@justiceforaafia.org. All events will be publicised on our website.

b) Attend the Aafia Siddiqui Solidarity March, from the Pakistani embassy to the US embassy, in London on Sunday March 28th, 2pm. Promote this and for those living outside London, organise coaches to bring people down.

c) Get 20 people from your community to send a letter to both your local paper and a national paper in the week beginning 22 March. The letters should be short, to the point and mention Aafia Siddiqui Day, the kidnapping and detention, missing children and the event. The individual must collect the letters, buy the postage and envelopes and post the letters. You have 20 days from today to get 19 letters (excluding the one you send yourself).

d) Get 20 people (doesn’t have to be the same 20) to send a letter to Aafia that day , from children in particular. Even though she is currently being denied mail, if the volume is enough, they may just let a few through.

e) An information leaflet, campaign pack and other resources will be shortly available, along with translations of the campaign materials into as many languages as we can. The aim is that anyone in the world can then just print off their particular language and distribute, thereby empowering them and decreasing dependency.

f) Approach your local mosque or Islamic Society to dedicate their khutbah on Friday 26 March to the case of Aafia Sddiqui. A khutbah template will soon be available for download.

There are many other projects in development and events are confirmed for UK, USA, Pakistan, Canada, Ireland, and Australia.

If you would like to assist us in the campaign please email info@justiceforaafia.org.

Justice for Aafia Coalition (JFAC)
www.justiceforaafia.org

What is the Global Qunoot Month?

The Global Qunoot Month is about reviving the most important and not to mention a forgotten sunnah of our beloved Prophet (may Allaah’s peace and blessings be upon him) during times of calamity. It was a well-known practice even amongst the later companions (may Allaah be pleased with them all) and scholars of later generation. What can be a better time than the present to turn to Allaah for help, when our fathers, our brothers, our husbands and our sons are thrown into prisons merely for believing in Allaah and for standing up for Truth; when our women are raped and children are tortured and are kept in secret prisons for only Allaah knows how long? Is it not time for us to beseech the One and Only who is truly in control of all our affairs? Who Alone can take away these trials from us and grant us relief?

We encourage every Muslim in every corner of the world to join hands with us during the Month of March to pray with us for relief from all calamities affecting the Muslim World and specifically to call upon Allaah to hasten the release of all our prisoners and return our loved ones to us.

You can pray individually but also in congregation behind an imaam. Contact your local imaam to recite Qunoot an-Naazilah and to pray for the release of prisoners during his prayers. Sisters can do the same in their own gatherings, all it takes for you is to raise your hands to Allaah – the Almighty, the Most-Powerful.

Qunoot an-Naazilah:

Qunoot is a supplication offered during prayer while standing. Du’aa al-Qunoot [an-Naazilah] is worded according to the nature of the hardship or calamity. The Prophet (may Allaah’s peace and blessings be upon him) prayed for Muslim Captives and against certain tribes invoking Allaah for protection from their evil and harm.

It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (may Allaah’s peace and blessings be upon him) prayed Qunoot for a month in Dhuhr, ‘Asr, Maghrib, ‘Isha’ and Fajr prayer, when he said: Sami’a Allaahu liman hamidah in the last rak’ah, praying against some tribes of Banu Sulaym, and against Ri’l, Dhakwaan and ‘Usayyah, and those who were behind him said Ameen. [Narrated by Abu Dawood (1443). Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood.]

It should be noted here that these tribes had betrayed and killed 70 of the Companions (may Allaah be pleased with them all).

“It is proven that the Prophet  (may Allaah’s peace and blessings be upon him) used to say Qunoot at times of calamity, praying against the aggressors among the disbelievers, and praying for the week and oppressed Muslims to be saved from the plots and captivity of the disbelievers.” [Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (22/271)]

Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (may Allaah’s peace and blessings be upon him) prayed Qunoot for a month. After saying Sami’a Allaahu liman hamidah, he said in his Qunoot: “O Allaah, save al-Waleed ibn al-Waleed, Salamah ibn Hishaam, ‘Ayyaash ibn Abi Rabee’ah and the weak and oppressed believers. O Allaah, punish Mudar severely and send upon them a famine like that of Yoosuf.” Then Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said that they were saved from the clutches of the disbelievers and came to Madeenah, so the Messenger (may Allaah’s peace and blessings be upon him) stopped praying for them.  Narrated by Muslim (675)

In Zaad al-Ma’aad (1/272) Ibn al-Qayyim said: “He prayed Qunoot at the time of calamity to offer supplication for some people and to pray against others, then he stopped when those for whom he had prayed came (to Madeenah) and were saved from captivity, and those against whom he had prayed became Muslim and came repenting. So his Qunoot was for a purpose, and when that was achieved he stopped Qunoot.”

How should one say Du’aa al-Qunoot?

According to the most correct scholarly opinion, Du’aa al-Qunoot should be recited after the ruku’, however reciting before the ruku’ is also considered acceptable. [Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Uthaymeen, al-Sharh al-Mumti’, 4/64]

It is prescribed to pray Qunoot during the last rak’ah of every salaah when a calamity strikes, and to continue until the calamity is averted.

Wording of the Du’aa:

Al-Nawawi said in al-Majmoo’ (3/497): “The correct view which was stated definitively by the majority of scholars is that there are no specific words, rather any du’aa may be said.”

In the name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

In light of the recent unjust verdict handed down by a jury so blinded by hate, that despite the lack of any evidence decided to label our dear sister ‘Aafia Siddiqui as guilty.

Let this be a wake up call for the Muslim Ummah, a reminder that our people will continue to be persecuted until we stand up and respond to the cries of our sisters and children. Allaah alone knows how many more ‘Aafias are out there. And how many more children are being tortured and killed in the name of America’s [and the entire West] “War on Terror”.

Let us not show any weakness because even though our sister ‘Aafia has been through unimaginable ordeal, she has continued to stand tall and strong. Despite her frailty, she shines like a bright star leading us by an example.

The Global Voice of Justice has prepared a Campaign Pack which details her biography and case, and also mentions certain steps that can be taken to help our sister. These action items only require sincerity and dedication, not just to the cause of Justice but to the cause of Islaam. And if for whatever reason you are still too much of a coward to act, then you might as well dig a grave and bury yourself because if not today, then tomorrow and if not tomorrow then one day surely this will come to haunt you. The words of our beloved Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam are true when he said, that “He in whose presence a Muslim is humiliated and who does not help him, being able to help him, Allaah will humiliate him before all creatures on the Day of Judgement.”

Here’s a link to the Campaign Pack. Please take a few moments to go through the document and spread the link wherever you can.

Also, these are two leaflets that people are encouraged to print  and distribute on school and university campuses, mosques, Muslim stores, and their local Muslim communities:

Leaflet # 1

Leaflet # 2

We urge Muslims across the world to spread the word about her unjust captivity and to encourage everyone to take action against it. Its time to let go of all our fears and stand up for ‘Aafia!

Abdullah Khadr has been on a hunger strike for over a week now for not being provided halal food at the jail. On several occassions he was given what he believes was pork instead of halal meat. The hunger strike, as it would affect any person with normal living conditions, is seriously beginning to adversely affect his health. When he refused to eat the food provided by the jail which he believes is not halal and put in a request for a halal diet, he was thrown into the hole. The “hole” is a segregation unit, a very tiny cell which only fits a toilet with walls covered in feaces and urine.

According to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act: “The Service shall ensure that, where practicable, the necessities that are not contraband and that are reasonably required by an inmate for the inmate’s religion or spirituality are made available to the inmate, including
(a) interfaith chaplaincy services;
(b) facilities for the expression of the religion or spirituality;
(c) a special diet as required by the inmate’s religious
or spiritual tenets.”

What YOU can do:

1. Write to or contact the jail’s suprintendent:

Anthony Valaitis, Superintendent
Metro West Detention Centre
111 Disco Road
Rexdale, ON M9W 5L6

Phone: 416-675-1806 ext 4211

Email: Anthony.Valaitis@ontario.ca

If you speak with Mr. Valaitis or an assistant to him, please approach him in a respectful manner and say something to the effect, “I am calling to support the right of a halal diet for Mr. Abdullah Khadr…” Feel free to leave your name and number.

2. Write letters to and call:

Rick Bartolucci – Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services
Email: rbartolucci.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

Address:

PLEASE CC all correspondence to globalvoice.forjustice@gmail.com.

3. Spread this message amongst your families, friends and through your mailing lists, and get them to write!

Also let us know by email what your response has been like. We want to keep a tally of who is in contact to get a sense of how much pressure they are under!

Any correspondence ultimately reflects on the brother and his family, so please approach the minister and/or his staff with polite firmness in the demand for this basic human right.

4. Write a message of support to Abdullah and/or his family. Please send your messages for his family to globalvoice.forjustice@gmail.com and we will forward them. You can also mail a letter to Abdullah directly to the address below:

Abdullah Khadr, Metro West Detention Centre
111 Disco Road
Rexdale, ON M9W 5L6

Your simple call, letter or email CAN have an impact. And we know from similar actions in the past that they DO have an effect! He has the right to a proper halal diet, and the jail has no reason to refuse him that. So lets bring some positive results for our brother!

If you have any questions or concerns about the above, please email us at globalvoice.forjustice.org

Location: Osgoode Hall (130 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON)
Time & Date: 10:00-10:20AM Monday December 7

‘Abdullaah Khadr said that Pakistani and U.S. interrogators had threatened violence against him and his family. “If someone tells you, if you don’t tell us you are selling missiles to al-Qaida, we are going to rape your sister, what would you say?” Khadr asked during his cross-examination by federal government lawyer Howard Piafsky. When Khadr briefly lost his composure, he was asked by Piafsky if he “needed a moment” before the cross-examination resumed. “I need a life. I don’t need a moment,” responded Khadr, at which point his mother left the courtroom in tears, with his sister following behind..”

(ii) Collecting the details of those that are interested to attend: this is important so we can keep in contact and follow up the interest of these individuals and help them to actually attend. Also so we can stay up to date with the cases of our prisoners by attending their hearings. 

(iii) Arranging a way for people to attend: Now, car-pooling is a great idea and brothers can arrange this for the males and the Sisters can arrange this for the females. This isn’t hard work at all, inshaa’Allaah. Brother Tariq Mehanna was known to arrange carpooling for people to attend Dr. Aafia’s trials and it’s not like the court hearings are on everyday of the week. This is like a once-off thing and our brethren need your support. We just don’t know how much this means to them, how much it means to their families and how much it means to the oppressors when they see us take a stand against their oppression! This is important and it can be done.

So please take apart of this initiative. Let us know which hearings you are willing to attend and what you can do to further strengthen our campaign. Remember, silence isn’t the way to deal with oppression – ACTION is!

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Global Voice for Justice