An Islamic Perspective on Darwin’s Theory of Biological Evolution and Natural Selection

By the Research Committee of IslamToday under the supervision of Sheikh Abd al-Wahhab al-Turayrî

Many Muslims wonder about the theory of biological evolution – the theory that living species on Earth today are descended from others in the past, and that the present diversity of living species we see is a result of descent with modification over the course of numerous generations.

Muslims also wonder about one of the main processes that evolutionary theory proposes to explain how evolution takes place – the process of natural selection. This is the idea that the individuals within a populations of living organism vary in their individual traits – they are not exactly alike – and that the organisms which are most successful at leaving descendants will pass on their unique traits to the next generation at the expense of the traits possessed by less successful organisms in the population, thereby contributing to a long-term gradual change in the suite of traits found within the population.

To start with, it is not our intention in this article to discuss the scientific implications of evolutionary theory. We wish to explore the issue from the perspective of Islamic teachings.

We as Muslims must ask: does the theory of evolution – and likewise the theory of natural selection as a mechanism of evolution – conform to Islamic teachings or conflict with them? Is a Muslim allowed to believe in evolution as a scientific theory as long as he or she accepts that Allah is behind it? Is a Muslim allowed to believe in human evolution? If not, how can we explain the fossils of upright, bipedal, tool-using apes with large brains that have been discovered?

We wish to re-emphasize that our concern here is not with examining the scientific merits of the theory of evolution. What we want to know is what Islamic teachings have to say about the idea. Whether evolution is true or false scientifically is another matter altogether.

When we look at the sources of Islam – the Quran and Sunnah – we see that, with respect to human beings living on the Earth today, they are all descendants of Adam and Eve. Allah also says:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is the one who is the most God-fearing.

[Surah al-Hujurat 49:13]

The Prophet, peace be upon him, identified the “male” mentioned in this verse as being Adam. He said:

وَالنَّاسُ بَنُو آدَمَ وَخَلَقَ اللَّهُ آدَمَ مِنْ تُرَابٍ قَالَ اللَّهُ  يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ مِنْ ذَكَرٍ وَأُنْثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

Human beings are the children of Adam and Adam was created from Earth. Allah says: O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is the one who is the most God-fearing. (49:13)

[Sunan al-Tirmidhî, Book of Tafsir, Number 3270]

We also see that Allah created Adam directly without the agency of parents. Allah says:

إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَىٰ عِندَ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ آدَمَ خَلَقَهُ مِن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ

The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, “Be” and he was.

[Surah Ali Imran 3:59]

We also know that Eve was created from Adam without the agency of parents. In the Quran, Allah states clearly:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً

O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women.

[Surah al-Nisa 4: 1]

Therefore, the Quran tells us that Adam and his wife were the father and mother of all human beings living on the Earth today. We know about this by way of direct revelation from Allah. The direct creation of Adam, peace be upon him, can neither be confirmed nor denied by science in any way. This is because the creation of Adam was a unique and singular historical event. It is a matter of the Unseen and something that science does not have the power to confirm or deny. As a matter of the Unseen, we believe it because Allah informs us about it. We say the same for the miracles mentioned in the Quran. Miraculous events, by their very nature, do not conform to scientific laws and their occurrence can neither be confirmed nor denied by science.

What about other living things, besides the human beings living on the Earth today? What about plants, animals, fungi, and the like? When we turn our attention to this question, we find that the Quran and Sunnah do not tell us much about the flora and fauna that was present on the Earth before or at the time of Adam and Eve’s arrived upon it. The sacred texts also do not tell us how long ago Adam and Eve arrived upon the Earth. Therefore, these are things we cannot ascertain from the sacred texts.

The only thing that the Quran and Sunnah require us to believe about the living things on Earth today is that Allah created them in whatever manner He decided to create them. Allah says:

اللَّهُ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَكِيلٌ

Allah is the Creator of all things and over all things He has authority.

[Surah al-Zumar 39:62]

Indeed, Allah states specifically that He created all life forms:

وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ

We made from water all living things.

[Surah al-Anbiya 21:30]

We know that “Allah does what He pleases.” Allah can create His creatures in any manner that He chooses. Therefore, with respect to other living things, the Quran and Sunnah neither confirm nor deny the theory of biological evolution or the process referred to as natural selection. The question of evolution remains purely a matter of scientific enquiry. The theory of evolution must stand or fall on its own scientific merits – and that means the physical evidence that either confirms the theory or conflicts with it.

The role of science is only to observe and describe the patterns that Allah places in His creation. If scientific observation shows a pattern in the evolution of species over time that can be described as natural selection, this is not in itself unbelief. It is only unbelief for a person to think that this evolution took place on its own, and not as a creation of Allah. A Muslim who accepts evolution or natural selection as a valid scientific theory must know that the theory is merely an explanation of one of the many observed patterns in Allah’s creation.

As for the fossil remains of bipedal apes and the tools and artifacts associated with those remains, their existence poses no problem for Islamic teachings. There is nothing in the Quran and Sunnah that either affirms or denies that upright, brainy, tool using apes ever existed or evolved from other apelike ancestors. Such animals may very well have existed on Earth before Adam’s arrival upon it. All we can draw from the Quran and Sunnah is that even if those animals once existed, they were not the forefathers of Adam, peace be upon him.

And Allah knows best.

(www.faithinallah.org / 24.06.2012)

Empty Stomach Warriors (I): Hasan al-Safadi Time and Time Again

Palestinian women shout slogans during a protest calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails in Gaza City on 25 April 2012.

(Published Wednesday, April 25, 2012 )

On Wednesday April 25, 33-year-old Hasan al-Safadi entered the 52nd day of his hunger strike in protest of not just administrative detention (a form of internment where a prisoner is held indefinitely without ever knowing the charges against him or her), but the Israeli occupation’s policy of imprisonment in general.

Safadi was arrested for the seventh time by Israel on 29 June 2011. He spent 60 days under interrogation, and was only allowed to meet with his lawyer Mohammad al-Abed for the first time after 30 days.

Safadi was in Megiddo prison when he began his hunger strike, which the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) responded to by transferring him to Gilboa prison.

Safadi is no stranger to spending time in Israeli prisons. He was first arrested when he was just 16 years old.

Prisoners who are transferred from one prison to another suffer immensely due to the harsh conditions they travel under, which include having their hands and feet shackled inside a metal ridged vehicle. The process of transfers, referred to as bosta, turns a two-hour trip into a torturous journey that could take up to three days.After refusing to eat or drink water for five days in Gilboa, Safadi was taken back to Megiddo. After it became clear that he would not end his hunger strike, he was placed in solitary confinement in Jalameh prison. Ten days later, Safadi’s health deteriorated rapidly, and he was taken to the Ramleh prison hospital where he has remained since.

Safadi is no stranger to spending time in Israeli prisons. He was first arrested when he was just 16 years old, in 1994. From 2007 to 2010, he became the longest administrative detainee in Israeli prison, with his detainment renewed every six months over and over again.

After his release, he was arrested by the Palestinian Authority for 48 days and spent the next five months being summoned for interrogation regularly. Prior to his arrest by Israel in 2007, he had spent 43 months in prison. In total, Safadi spent 10 years as an administrative detainee in Israeli prisons, without ever once being sentenced or charged officially.

In the living room of his family’s house in the old city of Nablus, photographs of Safadi taken over the years cover the coffee table. Framed pictures of his oldest brother Farid, who was killed in 1996 in the Battle of the Tunnel near Joseph’s tomb, and of his sister Nelli, imprisoned for 18 months back in 2010, adorn the walls. Nelli was finally able to travel to the Gaza Strip to be reunited with her husband Obadah Saeed Hakam, also an ex-prisoner, who was freed in the October Hamas-Israel prisoners’ deal but exiled to Gaza.

The day before Israeli forces came to arrest Safadi, his mother recalls, was a good one. She had gone to see a bride for Safadi, and was planning on going back again with Safadi.

Instead, later that night the Safadi family was rudely awakened by an explosion that blew the front door off its hinges at 2am. Suddenly the house was teeming with soldiers, with more coming down from the roof. They took Safadi and as his mother began crying out and screaming at the soldiers, they beat him up on the way to taking him to the jeep.

Safadi had studied maintenance but could barely keep a stable job, due to his frequent summoning for interrogations by the Palestinian Authority and Israel, which sometimes lasted for days on end.

He is adamant that he will not break his hunger strike unless he attains freedom and rejects the notion of exile unequivocally.

His sister Najiyeh, whose four young sons are all wearing t-shirts emblazoned with their uncle’s face, elaborates more. “The Israeli authorities have presented Safadi with the chance to go into exile as opposed to the continuous arrests and harassment he faces from them since 2004,” she said. “They offered him exile again in 2007, and the Israeli intelligence officer’s exact words were, ‘It’s better for you to go to a different country instead of rotting here in Palestine.’”

Safadi family was rudely awakened by an explosion that blew the front door off its hinges at 2am.

Safadi’s detainment was extended by another six months on December 2011. None of Safadi’s family members have seen him since last June, or were allowed the courtesy of speaking to him by phone. Safadi has reportedly lost 20kg so far.Safadi’s mother shook her head slowly. “I support his hunger strike,” she said, “but it’s extremely difficult watching your own son dying.”

Despite her age, Safadi’s mother went on hunger strike for 15 days in solidarity with her son. She almost collapsed, and had to be taken to the hospital where she was forced to end her strike.

“I don’t want Hasan to know of my hunger strike,” she said speaking softly. “I don’t want him to worry about me. One of my grandchildren wanted to write on his Facebook about my hunger strike but I forbade him from doing so.”

She added, “He’s a compassionate person. Quick tempered, but the most loving of my 11 children. Safadi has told me time and time again, in and out of prison, that he gets his strength from me. If he sees my crying on TV for example, he tells me it’s like I’ve placed him inside another prison.”

(english.al-akhbar.com / 24.06.2012)

Bashar al-Assad orders forming new Syrian government

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addressing the parliament, June 3, 2012

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree forming a new government, the state television says.

The Syrian president issued Decree 210 on Saturday, forming a new government under the newly appointed Prime Minister Riad Farid Hijab, the television said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem as well as Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha and Interior Minister Mohammad al-Sha’ar will remain in their posts.

On June 6, President Assad appointed former Agriculture Minister Riad Farid Hijab as the Syrian premier.

The presidential decree also ordered the formation of a number of new Syrian ministries, including internal trade and consumer protection, foreign economy and trade, and housing and construction development.

The latest decree was issued a day after armed groups in Syria killed 25 civilians in the northern province of Aleppo.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011.

The anti-Damascus Western governments have been calling for the overthrow of President Assad over the past few weeks.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on June 21 that a “scheme according to which President Assad should leave somewhere before something happens in terms of a cessation of violence and a political process… does not work simply from the very start.”

Also on June 21, the New York Times published a report quoting some US and Arab intelligence officials as saying that a group of “CIA officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey” and that the agents are helping the anti-Syria governments decide which gangs inside the Arab country will “receive arms to fight the Syrian government.”

The report added that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar pay for the transport of the weaponry into Syria.

On June 12, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “The US administration is pushing forth with its flagrant interference in Syria’s internal affairs and its backing of armed terrorist groups.”

The statement also condemned Washington for “distorting the truth and what is happening on the ground while encouraging armed terrorist groups to carry out more massacres… throughout the country.”

(www.presstv.ir / 24.06.2012)

Israeli military court sentences 14 yr old Palestinian child to 8 years

QALQILIA, (PIC)– The Israeli military court in Salem has sentenced a Palestinian child from Azzun village, Qalqilia province, to eight years behind bars.

Quds Press quoted Hassan Shubaita, in charge of recording Israeli violations in Azzun, as saying that the “convicted” child Ihab Hani Mishaal is only 14 years old.

He said that the Israeli military prosecution asked for similar harsh sentences against a group of children from the same village.

He lashed out at the Israeli court, saying that the sentence against the child, who was arrested a few months ago, was in grave violation of the children’s rights.

Shubaita called for pressuring the Israeli occupation authority to end its policy of targeting children.

(occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com / 24.06.2012)

Waar komt extremisme of radicalisme vandaan? Een nieuw perspectief.

Extremisme is niet afkomstig van religie, noch van een ideologie of enige vorm van denkwijze.

Het neigen tot extremisme of radicalisme voortvloeit uit dezelfde psychische beweegredenen die een mens aansturen om bepaalde variant van het geloof of ideologie te kiezen. Een religieus extremist of een rechts extremist of links extremist…, hebben precies dezelfde psychische denkbeelden die hen drijven om extremistisch te worden.

Halfvol of halfleeg?

Daarom heeft extremisme weinig met een geloof of ideologie te maken, maar heeft eerder te maken met hoe je persoonlijk naar een glas kijkt die tot de helft met het water gevuld is.

Ben je ingesteld als een persoon die het glas halfvol ziet, dan ben je openminded, optimistischer en kijkt verder dan je neus lang is. De gulden middenweg is dan je manier van keuzes maken, want dan kijk je objectiever en helderer naar de zaken. Ook is het zwart-wit of doemdenken niet je manier van oordelen.

Ben je een persoon die het glas halfleeg ziet, dan ben je pessimistisch, negatief ingesteld, je denkt zwart-wit, je zoekt de oplossing in het uiterste en gebruikt ook radicale oplossingen om je doel te bereiken.

Wanneer je dan een geloof (of ideologie) aanhangt dan ga op een extreme manier er naar gedragen. Stel dat je van dieren houdt, dan is de kans groot dat je op die manier ook voor de dieren opkomt. Kortom: de geestelijke toestand van een persoon wordt van oorsprong niet bepaald door het geloof, maar door zijn eigen milieu waarin hij wordt opgevoed en dat begint thuis bij zijn ouders. Het geloof hangt hij later aan (door middel van bekering), maar dan leest hij het en gebruikt hij het vanuit die psychische (negatieve of positieve) toestand die hij van huis uit o.a. mee heeft gekregen.

Het mes

Als een buitenaardse wezen ons zou bezoeken die nog nooit eerder een mes heeft gezien en we laten hem foto’s zien van afgeslachte mensen en dieren die door het mes zijn gedood, dan zal deze buitenaardse wezen terug keren naar zijn planeet en zijn volk vertellen dat een mes een vreselijk instrument is waar je vreselijke dingen mee kan doen. Het mes zal geassocieerd worden met misdaad en bloedvergiet. Indien we een ander buitenaardse wezen hetzelfde mes laten zien waarin we hem alleen uitleggen dat je fruit en groenten mee schilt en kunt gebruiken als een handig gereedschap, dan zal hij zijn volk op zijn planeet vertellen hoe nuttig en wat voor prachtig instrument een mes is.

Amygdala (amandelkernen)

Het oordeel van een positief of negatief ingesteld persoon bepaalt hoe hij naar de zaken kijkt. Onze beoordelingsvermogens hangen sterk af van hoe wij vanaf onze kinderjaren informatie deels in onze hersenen (in de amgydala om precies te zijn) opgeslagen hebben. De amygdala is het emotionele brein die ons in staat stelt om te kunnen vluchten of vechten voor een gevaar. Ieder levend wezen vanaf de insectenvorm heeft een ‘amygdala’. Kom je met je vinger in de buurt van een mug dan zal zijn amygdala alarm slaan. Zonder na te denken in een reflectie vliegt het weg om haar leven te redden. Dit geldt ook voor de mens en daar komen overigens onze reflecties bij het zien van gevaar ook vandaan. Alvorens we stil staan bij een gevaar heeft de amgydala alarm geslagen en binnen 1/3 van een seconde al reageren we in een reflex (zonder er over na te kunnen denken) op het gevaar.

Helaas, dezelfde amygdala kan ook ‘informatie’ opslaan die onjuist is, maar zelf is ze ervan overtuigd dat die informatie correct is. Kinderen die met onterechte angsten zijn opgevoed, slaan veel angsten op die hen leven later erg beïnvloeden waardoor ze die angsten (denkfouten) als basisideeën gebruiken voor hun beoordelingsvermogen. Hetzelfde als wat ik eerder uitlegde over dat mes waar we de buitenaardse wezen mee voor de gek hebben gehouden, beoordelen wij ook alles wat om ons heen gebeurd op basis van foutieve informatie die in de amygdala opgeslagen zijn.

Stel dat je als ouder je kind regelmatig slaat, bij alles wat hij doet verwijt, bang maakt door middel van schreeuwen en dreigementen, of dat je ruzie maakt met je partner of bedreigingen uit naar haar et cetera die je kind ziet, dan zal je hij dankzij jou angsten opslaan in zijn amygdala die dus later van invloed zullen zijn op zijn beoordelingsvermogen.

Wanneer je dus met angsten leeft (het kunnen bewuste, maar ook onbewuste angsten zijn), dan zal je ook neigen tot het nemen van beslissingen die radicaal zijn. Sommigen zullen uit angst zichzelf willen opsluiten (tot aan fobieën toe), anderen toveren die angsten om tot acties die vaak extreem zijn tot aan aanslagen toe. Meer over deze materie ga ik met God’s wil wat dieper behandelen in andere artikelen.

Om terug te komen naar het extremisme. Een moslim, christen, links of rechts extremist voedt dan zichzelf ideeën op die zijn ‘extreem denken’ opvoeden. Een moslim extremist leest dan de Koran vanuit die perceptie. In het geval van iemand met een negatieve persoonlijkheid die beladen is met een agressieve persoonlijkheid, zal dan zich interesseren in het oplossen van de problemen vanuit een agressieve houding. Oorlogsteksten of jihadteksten uit de Koran zullen hem dan meer aanspreken dan barmhartige teksten. Ook door zijn gebrek aan aandacht in zijn kinderjaren, maakt hij ook graag uitspraken die meer opvallen zodat hij daarmee zijn portie aandacht waar hij naar snakt kan krijgen.

Identiteit

In tegenstelling tot een positief ingesteld persoon, heeft deze in vrijwel de meeste gevallen een positievere zelfbeeld. Ook is zijn identiteit sterker. Hier komen we bij de vraag: wat is een identiteit? Naar mijn mening heeft identiteit op de eerste plaats niets te maken met waarin je gelooft – het zij een religie of ideologie -, maar het heeft op de eerste plaats te maken met je psychische gesteldheid. Een persoon die een zelfverzekerde persoonlijkheid heeft met daarnaast een dosis zelfwaardering, zelfrespect en zelfvertrouwen, is iemand die een sterk identiteit heeft. Deze zojuist genoemde eigenschappen hebben zelden te maken met een religie of een ideologie, maar zijn eerder eigenschappen die iemand van huis uit mee heeft gekregen. Op de eerste plaats door de manier hoe zijn opvoeders hem hebben opgevoed en op de tweede plaats door het milieu waarin hij is opgegroeid die deels invloed op hem heeft gehad. De rol die het geloof speelt in zijn identiteit is een aanvullende rol. Het maakt later wel deel van zijn identiteit maar het is niet de basis zoals de meesten zich vergissen. Een geloof krijg je mee, maar je karakter, eigenschappen, je instelling et cetera zijn allemaal onderdeel van je psyche die gevormd zijn door op de eerste plaats je opvoeding.

Daarom is het een fundamentele vergissing van een grote groep mensen die denken dat ellende veroorzaakt wordt door religie. Ik heb eerder iets geschreven hierover en zal ik hier op mijn blog toevoegen met God’s wil.

(badryouyou.wordpress.com / 24.06.2012)

 

Mansour: Safadi’s administrative detention renewal is a violation of agreement

NABLUS,(PIC)– The MP for Nablus province, Yasser Mansur, called for more popular events and official support for the prisoners in the Israeli prisons till the release of the remaining detainees, commenting on the Israeli court’s decision that renews the prisoner Hassan Zahi Al-Safadi’s administrative detention for an additional 6 months. Hassan Safadi accepted to stop his strike that lasted for 70 days after the Prison administration had promised to release him as soon as his detention period ends. The occupation had arrested Safadi on 30 June 2011 after storming his house in Nablus, and held him under the administrative detention, which, today, was renewed for the third time. MP Mansour said that the court decision is a “flagrant violation of the agreement,” which had been signed last month by the leadership of the Captive movement and the Prison Service administration under the auspices of Egypt. The MP Mansour appreciated the captive Safadi’s steadfastness and persistence, who insists to break the Israeli will of oppression and repression, calling on the human rights and humanitarian organizations to intervene immediately to alleviate the prisoners’ suffer in the Israeli prisons and Hassan Safadi in particular. (www.palestine-info.co.uk / 24.06.2012)

urgent appeal!!!: Help us free Hassan Nafi!

Important updates on the prisoners of Ni’lin who were arrested last thursday!!

call From Saeed Amireh to all the freedom and peace lovers in the world!

Dear friends, supporters, freedom people of the world,
4 hours ago i came back from Ofer military court where Hassan Nafi and Ahmad Amireh has a court today. the court was suppose to be at 02:30 pm but it was delayed until 04:30 pm because Ahmad was still under the interrogation! so i had to wait for hours and hours before seeing them.

at 04:30 they brought Ahmad Amireh first who is a father of 4 young children and they asked to extend his arrest to another period to keep pressing on him to force him to sign on a paper that is full of names of people who join the ”illegal” protests against the segregation wall in the west bank village of Ni’lin. the military court accepted to extend the court till next Tuesday.
( Ahmad didn’t do anything except protesting the theft of his land peacefully.
therefore he has to pay for his ”crime” by being shot and arrested and being far from his family and children and more suffering yet.

at 05:00 pm, they brought Hassan Nafi (the photographer volunteer with Ni’lin committee)

i could speak with Hassan for a little bit despite the shouting of the Israeli soldier at me because it is not allowed to say any word there or touch the prisoner.

Hassan told me that, after he was arrested from his home, he was taken to the wall side and then stayed to hours at the Israeli checkpoint that is sat up on Ni’lin’s land.he was handicapped and blindfold. the Israeli soldiers beat him so much.
moreover, they put him in a corner and started to throw stones at him from around 10 meters far distance, he was injured next to his head, and after a while he was taken to the investigation rooms in Ofer military jail where he was left without water or food all the day and the night.

Hassan is now still with high spirit,the Israeli soldiers didn’t succeed to force him to sign on the papers. and as a photographer, the Lawyer asked for the immediate release of Hassan but the Israeli military prosecutor rejected, even Hassan didn’t commit anything, but they charged him with a fine of 2500 Nis (550 Euro) to be free. so Hassan will be free as soon as the fine is payed. Hassan family can not offer to pay the fine due to their miserable situation. and if we don’t pay this fine then Hassan will stay in jail for 2 months and a half.

so Please help us free Hassan!
and also to be prepared to free Ahmad too!
for anyone of my friends who is interested in helping us please contact me at my email: saeedima91@gmail.com

or you can send direct to our paypal account on: http://supportibrahim.com/donate/

or a direct donation to the email: free.nilin@gmail.com

or through the easiest way for you!
we don’t have enough money in our committee to pay any fine for the moment, and in the same time we can’t allow the Israeli occupation to succeed to suppress our struggle or kill the eye witnesses who are filming and spreading the truth about the true ugly face of Israel.

Please share and spread widely too
so that we can free him tomorrow!

your help is really highly appreciated!

thank you soo much!

kind regards

Saeed Amireh- Ni’lin popular committee

(www.nilin-village.org / 24.06.2012)

Gaza celebrates Egypt election result

The Gaza Strip erupted in celebratory gunfire with news that the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate won the presidency in neighbouring Egypt, but one person was killed.

Tens of thousands of joyous Palestinians took to the streets across the territory after Egypt announced that Mohammed Morsi won last weekend’s runoff election, the first time an Islamist has won that nation’s highest office.

Gunmen fired automatic weapons in the air, while mosque loudspeakers rang with prayer. Some revellers handed out candy on street corners. Others waved Egyptian flags and blasted the country’s national anthem from car speakers.

A Gaza health official said one person was killed and six others wounded by celebratory gunfire.

Gaza is ruled by the militant Islamic Hamas, a local offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt’s ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, collaborated with Israel in a blockade of Gaza to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas.

Now Gaza residents are optimistic the new Egyptian leader will improve relations with the impoverished Palestinian territory.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh phoned Morsi to congratulate him on becoming Egypt’s first Islamist president. “This is a victory for all Arabs and Muslims, and this is God’s promise to his believers,” the Hamas leader said to the newly elected president.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum and other Hamas leaders followed developments closely on TV and went ecstatic when the announcement came that the Brotherhood won. “This is a victory for Egypt and the revolution and the Arab people,” Barhoum said.

Hamas plans a rally Sunday evening in support of Morsi.

Gaza has a 15-km border with Egypt’s Sinai desert and one official border crossing between the two.

(www.skynews.com.au / 24.06.2012)

Bestuur NMP legt functie neer

De heren Jacques Visker en Henny Kreeft hebben hun bestuursfuncties binnen de Nederlandse Moslim Partij neergelegd. Beide heren zijn tot de conclusie gekomen dat er op dit moment geen plaats is in de landelijke politiek voor een partij die gebaseerd is op de Islam.

Nadat de Nederlandse Moslim Partij (NMP) was opgericht, zijn er een aantal pogingen gedaan om mee te doen met lokale verkiezingen, zonder resultaat. In 2010, maar ook weer in 2012 is gekeken naar de mogelijkheid om mee te doen aan de verkiezingen voor Tweede Kamer, helaas is dit niet gelukt. Visker en Kreeft – beide teleurgesteld – hebben daarom besloten hun functies neer te leggen. Ze zijn van mening dat misschien de tijd voor een moslimpartij in de Tweede Kamer er niet rijp voor is en tevens de moslims ook niet. Maar het belangrijkste is dat er nog vele discussies gevoerd moeten worden binnen de moslimgemeenschap om alle neuzen dezelfde kant op te krijgen, zodat ze verenigd kunnen worden in één partij.
De heren willen niet spreken over spijt en geven aan: “We hebben veel ervaring opgedaan”  en Visker is van mening dat een terugkeer in de politiek mogelijk blijft, maar overweegt nog of dat met een moslimpartij zal zijn of met een doorstart van de NMP of door aansluiting bij een andere partij.  Kreeft daarentegen zegt de actieve politiek vaarwel en gaat zich bezig houden met alles er om heen. De stap van het bestuur brengt met zich mee dat de partij wordt opgeheven.

Jacques Visker uit Hoensbroek is nog bezig met de overweging wat hij nu in het sociale vlak gaat doen om de Islam te blijven verdedigen.

Kreeft uit Harderwijk, zegt: “Ik ben al op het sociale vlak bezig. Ik ben bezig met de stichting DIZiN (De Islamitische Zorg in Nederland) , de Qu’ran in te lezen in het Nederlands op de Amerikaanse website van Yousef Estes (www.allahsquran.com) , mijn nieuwssite (www.khamakarpress.com)  en magazine (Altahrir Nieuws). Maar vooral alles wat met Palestina te  maken heeft.” Henny Kreeft is persvoorlichter en secretaris van de Stichting Stop de Bezetting. Kreeft: “Mijn werk voor het leven van het Palestijnse volk vergt tijd en energie, en onze hulp hebben deze mensen hard nodig. Er moet veel gedaan worden voor de Palestijnen, in Palestina maar ook hier in Nederland. Het is absurd dat de Nederlandse media hierover niet wil schrijven. Ik ben er dagelijks mee bezig, maar niets of bijna niets over de dagelijkse strijd van de Palestijnen tegen het stelen van hun land, vernietigen van huizen en olijfbomen, het oppakken van onschuldige mensen. Niets over hongerstakers, zoals de voetballer Mahmoud al-Sarsak en dit tijdens het EK.” Daarover zullen we de komende tijd Kreeft nog wel horen of iets van hem lezen. Een demonstratie zal Kreeft ook niet uit de weg gaan.

Morsi wins Egypt’s presidential election

Muslim Brotherhood candidate declared the official winner with 13.2 million votes.

Morsi was declared the winner with 13.2 million votes, the electoral commission said

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi has officially won Egypt’s presidential election and will be the country’s next president, the electoral commission has announced. Morsi picked up 13.2 million votes out of just over 26 million, giving him about 51 per cent of the vote. His competitor, Ahmed Shafiq, the final prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, received 12.3 million. More than 800,000 ballots were invalidated. Farouq Sultan, the head of the election commission, delivered a long speech before announcing the results in which he defended the body’s “independence and integrity” amidst what he called meddling by unnamed political factions. The final results Turnout: 26,420,763 (51 per cent) Invalidated votes: 843,252 Morsi: 13,230,131 votes (51.7 per cent of valid votes) Shafiq: 12,347,380 votes The two candidates filed 456 complaints about the electoral process, Sultan said, most of them allegations of either forgery or Christian voters being blocked from polling stations in Upper Egypt. The vast majority of those complaints were dismissed. Political uncertainty ahead Morsi’s victory caps off more than a week of behind-the-scenes negotiations between the Brotherhood and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). He claimed victory just hours after last week’s runoff election, based on unofficial numbers tallied by the Brotherhood, but the commission delayed its official announcement until Sunday. In the intervening days, Khairat al-Shater, the Brotherhood’s political boss, met generals from SCAF at least once. Sources say they were negotiating exactly what powers the president will have. Despite Morsi’s victory, many of those questions about his power remain unanswered. Shortly before the polls closed last week, the generals issued a decree sharply limiting the powers of the new president. It permitted him to declare war, for example, only with the approval of the military council. SCAF will also keep control of legislative power, and the budget, until a new parliament is elected. Egyptians went to the polls in November to elect a legislature, which was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, but it was dissolved earlier this month after a high court ruling found parts of the electoral law unconstitutional. Saad el-Katatni, the speaker of the now-dissolved parliament, also met with officials from SCAF, and told them that the Brotherhood would not accept the court ruling or the election-night decree. But it’s unclear whether the Brotherhood ultimately accepted those decisions in exchange for the presidency. Either way, the military council – which has promised to hand over power to a civilian government on June 30, in a “grand ceremony” – will remain a powerful force in Egyptian politics, despite the election of a civilian president. (www.aljazeera.com /24.06.2012)