Every month a couple of Hindu families (of the 2.44 lakh Hindus in Pakistan) leave the land
where they and their parents had been born, to seek refuge, in India.
Each one talks of feeling watched, being pushed further into their
homes. They celebrate their festivals as quietly as possible or not at
all. They pray behind closed doors and many have
considered giving their children Muslim first names, except that even
that might attract violence. Riding in public transportation is a
fraught event because someone might decide that Hindus should sit with
them. -- NISHA SUSAN
I’ve
always thought that Islamic extremism was different. To me, the most
persuasive theory is that some people are caught between modernity and
tradition and as an escape have invented a make-believe purism, which
permits killing in the name of holiness. Then came the Iraq war and the
debate shifted. But over the past few weeks, I’ve been reminded that
the problem has not gone away. There are still fanatics in Iran,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza and South Lebanon, and even Denver. In some
ways extremism is on the wane but in other ways the poisonous infection
has not been addressed. -- By David A. Lehrer
Shivaji’s confidential secretary was Maulana Haider Ali and the chief of his cannon division was Ibrahim Gardi. Rustom-e-Jamaan was his bodyguard.
As
a matter of fact, Shivaji is popular amongst people, not because he was
anti Muslim or worshipper of Cows and Brahmins, but because he reduced
the taxation on the poor peasants. Shivaji adopted humane policy in all
the aspects of his administration, which did not base itself on the
religion. In the recruitment of his soldiers and officers for army and
navy, religion was no criterion and more than one third of his army
consisted of Muslims. The supreme command of his navy was with Siddi
Sambal, and Muslim Siddis were in navy in large numbers. Interestingly
his major battles were fought against the Rajput army lead by Raja
Jaisingh, who was in the administration of Aurangzeb. When Shivaji was
detained at Agra forte, of the two men on whom he relied for his
eventual escape, one was a Muslim called Madari Mehtar. -- Ram Puniyani
Please
recall that in the heydays of Islam, a Muslim from Baghdad, Bokhara,
Cairo, Damascus, Samarkand and elsewhere learnt his theology in the
same madrasa (educational institution, literally) where he was also
taught science and mathematics, logic, philosophy and mysticism, music,
literature and architecture. You adore Imam Ghazali; consider his to be
among the most respected names in the field of Islamic theology. But do
you teach in your madarsas what Imam Ghazali did: “He who has never doubted is not a true believer”, or that every ayat (verse) of the Quran can be interpreted in 60,000 ways?
Do you tell them ever that this highly learned Imam believed that Allah
has prescribed two basic texts for the ummah: one, the Quran, the other
is His “open book”, otherwise known as the Universe/ Cosmos. And that
the Quran itself repeatedly asserts that to even begin to fathom Divine
Intent, in addition to imaan (faith) you need aql (intellect) and ilm
(reasoning). A rounded education for the 4 per cent is critical,
for it is they from whom the 96 per cent learn their Islam. Because of
the compartmentalised, fragmented, insular and sectarian nature of his
education, the Maulvi Sahib’s ignorance of the world he inhabits is
tragic — and the Mr Muslim’s knowledge of Islam pathetic. --Javed Anand
Iraq
will be an Islamic democracy, which is an oxymoron. Democratic
government is illegal in Islam. How many Christian American boys died
to establish an Islamic government in Iraq?
Now we are told that 40,000 additional troops are needed for the “war
on terror” in Afghanistan. There is no freedom of religion in
Afghanistan, no rights of the individual, no rights for women, and
Islam is the established religion. The President must be a Muslim.
Peace in Afghanistan will result in the continued establishment of an
Islamic Republic ruled by a nation of Islamic Clerics (Judges). In
Muslim majority nations, such as Saudi Arabia, non-Muslims are regarded
as Dhimmis, second-class people whose testimony in court does not count
as much as that of a Muslim and who must pay extra taxes. Forget equal
treatment under the law, and don’t even ask how they treat Dhimmi
women. -- Coach Dave Daubenmire
Nathan
Gardels: For those of us who have not had the opportunity to read your
book "Right of Return," which imagines Israel in 2024, what is the
picture you paint?
I
describe an Israel that is basically the area of larger Tel Aviv, with
the northern part of the Negev, including Dimona. The North is gone,
the South is gone, Jerusalem is gone. The country fell apart because of
external pressure -- continuous rocket bombardments -- that caused
families to leave, and because of internal erosion: The Israeli Arabs
and the ultra-Orthodox Jews moved away from the secular Jewish heart of
the nation. Those with a criminal record, those who are old, and
another group fascinated to be part of an apocalypse, and those who
just want to stay and defend the country no matter what happens, were
left behind. -- Dutch Novelist and FilmmakerLeon de Winter
Belief: Iran is like North Korea in having an active nuclear weapons program, and is the same sort of threat to the world.
Actuality:
Iran has a nuclear enrichment site at Natanz near Isfahan where it says
it is trying to produce fuel for future civilian nuclear reactors to
generate electricity. All Iranian leaders deny that this site is for
weapons production, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has
repeatedly inspected it and found no weapons program. Iran is not being
completely transparent, generating some doubts, but all the evidence
the IAEA and the CIA can gather points to there not being a weapons
program. The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate by 16 US intelligence
agencies, including the CIA and the Defence Intelligence Agency,
assessed with fair confidence that Iran has no nuclear weapons research
program. -- Juan Cole
And
like the Osamas, the Taliban and the Ikhwan ul Muslimeen in Egypt, many
Pakistanis are further hobbled by their belief that they are not
successful in life because they are not committed enough to their
religion. As many of them see it, to cure their ills they must have an
even larger dose of their religion. Welcome to the Club of Doom. This
is like the Malay saying ‘biarkan si luncai terjun dengan labu labunya’
which loosely translated means ‘let the fat guy sink himself in the
deep end’. Their understanding of religion seems to focus their
energies on hate, hate and more hate. They have nothing better to do
with their lives. ... Islam
on the other hand is not a religion. Islam is a Deen or a way of life.
Islam does not breed hatred. Surely then what is breeding all this
hatred in Iraq is not Islam. ... Just
educating the Muslims and making every Muslim an engineer or doctor is
not enough to create a successful Islamic country. Somehow a PhD does
not automatically make a Muslim respect his neighbour, his environment
or stop him from being ‘holier than thou’ or be able to contribute some
useful work in a disciplined and professional manner which can compete
with the non Muslims. The continuing suffering of the Islamic countries
bears witness to these failures.-- Syed Akbar Ali
A person greatly admires Hazrat Maulana Rashid Gangohi,
the outstanding scholar who was one of the founders of the Deoband
madrasa. The gentleman to whom I refer is a kindly soul, who can be
depended upon for help by others. However, when in the course of
conversation I chanced to remark that the most basic virtue lay in
kindness towards others, he contradicted me. Kindness, he contended,
was reserved for “pious, practicing Muslims”. As for others, they
should be given a chance to mend their ways, after which “they would be Wajibul Qatal”. Another person I chanced to meet — a finance man, no less — feels that people who do not attend Friday prayers “should simply be killed. Slit their throats!”
Now,
this kind of sanguinary verbal ferocity is very different from the
traditions of quiet piety and gentle acceptance in which most Muslims
were brought up. I claim no expertise to suggest
whether this or the other is the ‘correct’ version of Islamic thinking.
However, there are certainly many scholars who hold that this
aggressive literalism, popularly but incorrectly referred to as
‘fundamentalism’, is a doctrinal innovation of relatively recent
origin. It is very much a product of the linear, pseudo-logical
thinking that has characterised our violent and intolerant age — an age
that began with the full flowering of modern imperialism in the
nineteenth century and whose baleful cultural and psychic responses
have long outlived their origins. With this kind of intellectual legacy as a backdrop, what kind of political discourse is possible in Pakistan --Salman Tarik Kureshi
It should be delivered in Arabic: Whether Muslims understand what they are being told is immaterial
Several
intellectuals gave their views on the subject of Using Friday Khutba
(the speech delivered by the Imam before prayers) for spreading
reformist ideas in the Muslim community. Some said that to be effective
Khutba should be given in the language Muslims of that area understand.
Commenting on these ideas, conservative Deobandi Aalim Maulana Nadeemul Wajidi explains that
Khutba is an essential part of Friday prayers, actually one-half of the
prayers, and like the prayers should only be delivered in Arabic, the
language of Heaven and angels, who come down to listen to the Khutba;
whether Muslims understand that or not is immaterial, as Muslims in any
case don’t understand who they are praying to or what they are praying
for . He, however, concedes that lectures dealing with reformist and
societal issues, which many Muslims consider the primary purpose of
Friday prayers (which has to be for that reason a larger congregation
than normal five-times-a-day prayers,) can be given in the local
language before the Khutba. But there should not be a gap between the
Arabic Khutba and the prayers, so the actual khutba should not even be
translated in the local language.
As
regards Jinnah’s legacy of Partition, everybody in India and many
across the border realise that it was indeed a historical blunder. I
strongly feel that it is high time efforts were made to reunite the
subcontinent. Germany and Yemen have managed a happy reunion. Can the
people of the subcontinent — which not too long ago was a single nation
united by common bonds of history, geography, religion, language and
culture — not tread the same path of sanity? As to Jinnah’s other
legacy, unfortunately Muslim religious leaders of the day, always
shouting from the rooftop that personal law in its entirety is an
inalienable part of their faith, would not let the badly distorted
Shariat Act of 1937 be amended so as to remove its anomalies and
discriminatory provisions. -- Tahir Mahmood
Most
Western analysts dogmatically deny that the Koran teaches violence and
supremacism. Yet Muslims who believe this comprise a global movement,
active from Indonesia to Nigeria and extending into Europe and North
America, that is dedicated to waging war against "unbelievers" - that
is, non-Muslims - and subjugating them as inferiors under the rule of
Islamic law. This movement sees in the Koran its divine mandate to wage
that war. In
March 2009, five Muslims accused of helping plot the September 11
attacks, including the notorious Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, wrote an
"Islamic Response to the Government's Nine Accusations."
In
it they quote the Koran to justify their jihad war against the American
Infidels. "In God's book," asserts the letter, "he ordered us to fight
you everywhere we find you, even if you were inside the holiest of all
holy cities, The Mosque in Mecca, and the holy city of Mecca, and even
during sacred months.
In
God's book, verse 9 [actually verse 5], Al-Tawbah [the Koran's 9th
chapter]: Then fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them, and
seize them, and besiege them and lie in wait for them in each and every
ambush."
Osama
bin Laden's communiqués have also quoted the Koran copiously. In his
1996 "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of
the Two Holy Places," he quotes seven Koran verses: 3:145; 47:4-6;
2:154; 9:14; 47:19; 8:72; and the notorious "Verse of the Sword,"
9:5.[i] Bin Laden began his October 6, 2002, letter to the American
people with two Koran quotations, both of a martial bent: "Permission
to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are
fought against, because they have been wronged and surely, Allah is
Able to give them (believers) victory" (22:39) and "Those who believe,
fight in the Cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve, fight in the
cause of Taghut (anything worshipped other than Allah e.g. Satan). So fight you against the friends of Satan; ever feeble is indeed the plot of Satan" (4:76)." ...
One
pro-Osama website put it this way: "The truth is that a Muslim who
reads the Koran with devotion is determined to reach the battlefield in
order to attain the reality of Jihad. It is solely for this reason that
the Kufaar [unbelievers] conspire to keep the Muslims far away from
understanding the Koran, knowing that Muslims who understand the Koran
will not distance themselves from Jihad." -- Robert Spencer
Islamic
scholar and peace advocate Maulana Wahiduddin Khan and Hindu spiritual
guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar talk about jihad in the Qur’an and the
Bhagavad Gita. Sadia Khan, the Maulana’s 24-year-old granddaughter,
adds a youthful perspective with her questions. The dialogue was
moderated by Narayani Ganesh
"I
think everyone knows what the basic outlines of an [Israeli-
Palestinian final status] agreement would look like," President Obama
opined while campaigning for the presidency, repeating what many others
have said. But Arabs don't agree with this consensus view, which
assumes that Palestinians will moderate their demands for Jerusalem and
for the "right of return" of Palestinian "refugees" to Israel, and
Israel will trade land for peace, including parts of Jerusalem. Fatah
has proclaimed its red lines to the Palestinians and to more than a
billion Muslims. It won't be easy for them to back down from their
demands, even if they want to. It's not just the Palestinians who want
to limit the Jewish presence in Jerusalem. Israel has plenty of Jewish
citizens who may not agree with all the Palestinian statements, but
their actions implement our adversary's agenda and undercut Israel's
legitimacy. -- Stephen Kramer
What if America's greatest threat was not from terrorists or so-called "extremists"?, What
if our baseline tactical assumptions created in reaction to the 9/11
attacks did not address the strategic ideological threat?, Almost
every homeland security and every counterterrorist law
enforcement-related tactic has been focused on preventing "the next
9/11" attack on America. But the next 9/11 style mass-casualty
terrorist attack, no matter how horrific, will not destroy America. We
need to be less afraid of "the next 9/11," and more concerned about
showing the courage of our convictions in defending America's values
and ideals. America is a survivor, because we are much more than
buildings and cities. America is more than a nation-state. We are more
than individuals and families. We are certainly all of that, and we
certainly need to defend all of that. But first and foremost, America
is an idea, and our twin towers of equality and liberty will continue
to stand as long as we fight for the idea that is America.In fact, the true threat to America is much larger than terrorist tactics alone. -- Jeffrey Imm
Contemplating the plight of Muslims in the world despite their large numbers – one fourth of humanity - Zafar Agha
concludes that this is because Muslims have gone back to the days of
the pre-Islamic Jahiliya, though they still claim to abide by Islamic
tenets. Islam had freed them from monarchy, feudalism, subservience to
an obscurantist priestly class and ignorance. But once again they have
left pursuing modern education and rule by consultation and have
adopted a monarchical, feudal and exploitative system of governance in
most parts of the Muslim world and have come to depend on conservative
ulema alone for their education. Hence their degradation, political
impotence and a life of slavery despite very large numbers.
America
and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and
identify the real enemy: Islam… If you want to understand the nature of
the enemy we face, visualize a tapestry of snakes. They slither and
they hiss, and they would eat each other alive, but they will unite in
a hideous mass to achieve their common goal of imposing Islam on the
world. Gabriel vehemently denies that there can be such a thing as a moderate Muslim, only a “non-practicing” one: I
call it a practicing Muslim and a non-practicing Muslim. I think it is
a better description than “moderate” and “radical.” A practicing Muslim
goes to mosque, prays five times a day, doesn't drink, believes God
gave him women to be his property - to beat, to stone to death… He
believes Christians and Jews are apes and pigs because they are cursed
by Allah. He believes it is his duty to declare war on the infidels
because they are Allah's enemies. That is a practicing Muslim. -- Hussein Ibish
IRAN's Current Political Assessment: The torture and imprisonment of thousands, the killingof nearly 100 and rapes of many,
and the mass trials of "key figures" many of whom were paradoxically
the past pillars of the Islamic Republic's theocracy has intensified
the resolved determination of the people for freedom and democracy,
justice and transparency, accountability and reforms in an indigenous
"Green Movement" that conjures up the mass elimination of dissidents
and political prisoners of conscience of the Shah's and Khomeini's era
of the 80's. No one can deny the adverse role of western hegemonies as
evidenced by the annual spending of over $100 million dollars by the
U.S. government alone for subversive and media based insurgencies,
which has ironically impeded the people of Iran to achieve their goals,
since the Iranian regime exploits this as a rationale for repressing
their rights. -- Pirouz Azadi
MCCA
chairman Dr. Akhtar Kalam outlined the objectives of the MCCA saying
that the organization was too big to remain a cooperative and yet too
small to become a bank. Kalam said that the move to turn MCCA into
Australia’s first Islamic retail bank would be hastened as more and
more consumers are now turning to the principles of Islamic Banking
& Finance as an alternative to the current offers in the
marketplace. Under Islamic law, charging interest on a loan is
forbidden. The MCCA was founded in the early 1990s. It was initially
funded by shareholders but now borrows from non-banking lenders. The
key achievement of the MCCA being that it has helped hundreds of Muslim
families in Australia buy a home. -- Danish Ahmad Khan
The
TJ organization also serves as a de facto conduit for Islamist
extremists and for groups such as al Qaeda to recruit new members.
Significantly, the Tablighi recruits do intersect with the world of
radical Islamism when they travel to Pakistan to receive their initial
training. We have received reports that once the recruits are in
Pakistan, representatives of various radical Islamist groups, such as Harkat-ul-Mujahideen,
the Taliban and al Qaeda, are said to woo them actively — to the point
of offering them military training. And some of them accept the offer.
For example, John Walker Lindh — an American who is serving a prison
sentence for aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan — traveled with Tablighi
preachers to Pakistan in 1998 to further his Islamic studies before
joining the Taliban. -- Fred Burton and Scott Stewart
No covering up Egypt's niqab row: There
have been demonstrations by women students in Cairo after a leading
cleric backed moves to ban the wearing of full women's veils, known as
the niqab, in classrooms or dormitories.
Women Choosing Full-Face Veil Has Egyptian Authorities Worried
The
Mo’mins fight in the cause of Allah against cruelty, tyranny and
injustice. Their purpose is to make justice prevail in the world. The
unbelievers fight to subdue other people and exploit them for their own
ends. The Quran tells us in simple and direct language when war is
justified and when it is not. The principles laid down by the Quran are
clear and definite. They are not couched in language which may be
susceptible to different interpretations. The distinction between a
just and an unjust war is clear and should not be blurred by
sophistical arguments, for example, people, if they are really
persecuted, have a light to rebel against the government of their
country. However, they would be acting directly against the Quranic
principles if they magnified any petty grievance and called it
persecution. They may be said to be the victims of persecution only if
the basic rights, defined by the Quran, are denied to them. The Mu’min
will keep up arms only to defend these rights, and he will hasten to
help the oppressed, whether Muslim or non-Muslim. --Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez
Suicide blast in Pakistan kills over 40, injures 46
Every month a couple of Hindu families (of the 2.44 lakh Hindus in Pakistan) leave the land
Tackling terror sincerely in Pak's own interest: India
As
a matter of fact, Shivaji is popular amongst people, not because he was
anti Muslim or worshipper of Cows and Brahmins, but because he reduced
the taxation on the poor peasants. Shivaji adopted humane policy in all
the aspects of his administration, which did not base itself on the
religion. In the recruitment of his soldiers and officers for army and
navy, religion was no criterion and more than one third of his army
consisted of Muslims. The supreme command of his navy was with Siddi
Sambal, and Muslim Siddis were in navy in large numbers. Interestingly
his major battles were fought against the Rajput army lead by Raja
Jaisingh, who was in the administration of Aurangzeb. When Shivaji was
detained at Agra forte, of the two men on whom he relied for his
eventual escape, one was a Muslim called Madari Mehtar
Please
recall that in the heydays of Islam, a Muslim from Baghdad, Bokhara,
Cairo, Damascus, Samarkand and elsewhere learnt his theology in the
same madrasa (educational institution, literally) where he was also
taught science and mathematics, logic, philosophy and mysticism, music,
literature and architecture. You adore Imam Ghazali; consider his to be
among the most respected names in the field of Islamic theology. But do
you teach in your madarsas what Imam Ghazali did: 
Iraq
will be an Islamic democracy, which is an oxymoron. Democratic
government is illegal in Islam. How many Christian American boys died
to establish an Islamic government in Iraq?
Pakistan Retakes Army Headquarters; Hostages Freed
Nathan
Gardels: For those of us who have not had the opportunity to read your
book "Right of Return," which imagines Israel in 2024, what is the
picture you paint?
Belief: Iran is like North Korea in having an active nuclear weapons program, and is the same sort of threat to the world. 
And
like the Osamas, the Taliban and the Ikhwan ul Muslimeen in Egypt, many
Pakistanis are further hobbled by their belief that they are not
successful in life because they are not committed enough to their
religion. As many of them see it, to cure their ills they must have an
even larger dose of their religion. Welcome to the Club of Doom. This
is like the Malay saying ‘biarkan si luncai terjun dengan labu labunya’
which loosely translated means ‘let the fat guy sink himself in the
deep end’. Their understanding of religion seems to focus their
energies on hate, hate and more hate. They have nothing better to do
with their lives. ... 
Maulana Kalbe Sadiq also kicks up a row proposing 30 per cent quota for women in India’s Muslim Personal Law Board
A person greatly admires Hazrat Maulana Rashid Gangohi,
the outstanding scholar who was one of the founders of the Deoband
madrasa. The gentleman to whom I refer is a kindly soul, who can be
depended upon for help by others. However, when in the course of
conversation I chanced to remark that the most basic virtue lay in
kindness towards others, he contradicted me. Kindness, he contended,
was reserved for “pious, practicing Muslims”. As for others, they
should be given a chance to mend their ways, after which “they would be Wajibul Qatal”. Another person I chanced to meet — a finance man, no less — feels that people who do not attend Friday prayers “should simply be killed. Slit their throats!”
As
regards Jinnah’s legacy of Partition, everybody in India and many
across the border realise that it was indeed a historical blunder. I
strongly feel that it is high time efforts were made to reunite the
subcontinent. Germany and Yemen have managed a happy reunion. Can the
people of the subcontinent — which not too long ago was a single nation
united by common bonds of history, geography, religion, language and
culture — not tread the same path of sanity? As to Jinnah’s other
legacy, unfortunately Muslim religious leaders of the day, always
shouting from the rooftop that personal law in its entirety is an
inalienable part of their faith, would not let the badly distorted
Shariat Act of 1937 be amended so as to remove its anomalies and
discriminatory provisions.
Most
Western analysts dogmatically deny that the Koran teaches violence and
supremacism. Yet Muslims who believe this comprise a global movement,
active from Indonesia to Nigeria and extending into Europe and North
America, that is dedicated to waging war against "unbelievers" - that
is, non-Muslims - and subjugating them as inferiors under the rule of
Islamic law. This movement sees in the Koran its divine mandate to wage
that war. 
"I
think everyone knows what the basic outlines of an [Israeli-
Palestinian final status] agreement would look like," President Obama
opined while campaigning for the presidency, repeating what many others
have said. But Arabs don't agree with this consensus view, which
assumes that Palestinians will moderate their demands for Jerusalem and
for the "right of return" of Palestinian "refugees" to Israel, and
Israel will trade land for peace, including parts of Jerusalem. Fatah
has proclaimed its red lines to the Palestinians and to more than a
billion Muslims. It won't be easy for them to back down from their
demands, even if they want to. It's not just the Palestinians who want
to limit the Jewish presence in Jerusalem. Israel has plenty of Jewish
citizens who may not agree with all the Palestinian statements, but
their actions implement our adversary's agenda and undercut Israel's
legitimacy
What
if our baseline tactical assumptions created in reaction to the 9/11
attacks did not address the strategic ideological threat?, 
America
and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and
identify the real enemy: Islam… If you want to understand the nature of
the enemy we face, visualize a tapestry of snakes. They slither and
they hiss, and they would eat each other alive, but they will unite in
a hideous mass to achieve their common goal of imposing Islam on the
world. 
MCCA
chairman Dr. Akhtar Kalam outlined the objectives of the MCCA saying
that the organization was too big to remain a cooperative and yet too
small to become a bank. Kalam said that the move to turn MCCA into
Australia’s first Islamic retail bank would be hastened as more and
more consumers are now turning to the principles of Islamic Banking
& Finance as an alternative to the current offers in the
marketplace. Under Islamic law, charging interest on a loan is
forbidden. The MCCA was founded in the early 1990s. It was initially
funded by shareholders but now borrows from non-banking lenders. The
key achievement of the MCCA being that it has helped hundreds of Muslim
families in Australia buy a home
No covering up Egypt's niqab row: 
The
Mo’mins fight in the cause of Allah against cruelty, tyranny and
injustice. Their purpose is to make justice prevail in the world. The
unbelievers fight to subdue other people and exploit them for their own
ends. The Quran tells us in simple and direct language when war is
justified and when it is not. The principles laid down by the Quran are
clear and definite. They are not couched in language which may be
susceptible to different interpretations. The distinction between a
just and an unjust war is clear and should not be blurred by
sophistical arguments, for example, people, if they are really
persecuted, have a light to rebel against the government of their
country. However, they would be acting directly against the Quranic
principles if they magnified any petty grievance and called it
persecution. They may be said to be the victims of persecution only if
the basic rights, defined by the Quran, are denied to them. The Mu’min
will keep up arms only to defend these rights, and he will hasten to
help the oppressed, whether Muslim or non-Muslim