#she did not start a jihad for me

[father-thesleeperhasawakened]

That "my mother is my enemy" line really hits different when your own mommy done fucked you up as well.

[doctoremrys]

So, like any other girl who reads fanfiction, and has so many n/m ships, I too, was exposed to Heartstopper, one day, and became obsessed with it. Yeah, and not only the show, ALL THE NOVElS, I read all of them at least 3 times, watched the show a lot, I even read fics about it beacause I can't wait fir season 3 to come out this year on October...

I fully support the LGBTQ+ community, I might not be a part of it, but, as my dear Imogen said on the show "I'n an ally".

I had lots of respect to tge author and illustraitor of this fantastic novel series, Alice Oseman, but today I found out that she had stated her support for Palestine.

I don't tend to comment about anything on social media, not at all, but after finding out about this, I became too upset and had to write my thought out, so yeah, this post will probably get deleted, and it's not like I have many people who follow me, or people that will read this.

Look, I have nothing against people who want to have peace on this world, besides the war between Israel and Hanas, there are lots and lots of wars happening around the world, having said that, lots of pro palestiniabs, simply don't know the basic facts, so let me starts stating a few of them. Israel became an independent state on 1948. Between 1947 to 1949 Israel had its' first war, what they call in"the independence war". The war started after the UN had agreed on Resolution 181, a UN plan thar divided the state between the jews and the arabs, and had Jerusalem as the capital city for jews and arabs. The jews agreed to this plan immediately, it was barley 2 years after WW2 had ended, the one wherein 6 Million jews were murdered beacause of hate. The arabs however, did npt agree on that plan, a UN plan, and started attacking the jewish citzens on 30th of November 1947. After Israel got its' independent,on May 14th 1948, the neighboring Arab coubtrues had joined the arabs in Israel in their fight against the new country. Israel won. Egupt gor conrol of Gaza. On 1967, Israel won another war, one we call, the "6 days war", and got Gaza. On 1969 Israel gave the people in Gaza Electricity from Israel's Electricity Connector.

In 1971, the Israeli government decided to rehabilitate the refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. Israel did not annex the Gaza Strip to its territory, Israel didn't know what to do with it. On Marah 1979, Egypt and Israel had signed a peace agreement between them. Egyot didn't want Gaza back, so Israel got kind of "stuck" with it, and even after that Israel still did not annex the Gaza Strip to its territory. On December 1987, the first intifada broke out by the palestinians, . At its beginning, it was characterized mainly by mass riots that included demonstrations, stone throwing, roadblocks, and in some cases Molotov cocktails,

Subsequently, the intifada changed its character, and from 1989 terrorist attacks began to be carried out. Kidnapping people, stabbing them to death, shootings, and more, 164 Israelis were murdered. It officially ended in 1993, with the signing of the Oslo Accords, but the attacks continued. The oslo Accords were signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, and were meant to give peace, and end to the terror attacks agaibst Israel.

On 1994, as a result of the Oslo Accords, the IDF, left Gaza, and Control of the city passed to the Palestinian Authority. On 2005, all the Israelis who lived on Gaza were evacuated, as a part of the Israeli disengagement from Gaza. After that, Gaza started firing more Qassam rocket and missile fire at southern Israel than before. On 2006, Hanas, a terrorist organization, won the elections in Gaza, and started ruling Gaza.

On October 7th Hamas and The Islamic Jihad murdered more than 1200 people, kidnapped 240 people. Many women and men were raped, bodies were violated, organs were cut from victims, babies were murdered, entire families were burned to death. Even to this day, according to Palestinian Statistics, more than 85% of palestinans on Gaza still support Hamas' actions on October 7th. Palestinian citizens had helped Hamas, and there are even released hostages that said that palestinians families had held them captive. Lots of palestinian citizens had helped Hamas, they robbed houses, and killed innocent people as well.

Israel did not want this war, all it want is for her hostages o be released, and be back home with their families. This war is not against thr palestininans, it's war against Hamas. There are still 132 hostages held captive by Hamas, Israel and the world don't know for sure which of them is alive, and which one is not, but it needs all of them back home with. Women, Mean, Children, babies, elderly were kidnapped on this day. How is a one year old baby, your enemy? How is a Holocaust survivor your enemy?

And for those of you that say, that there is a genocide in Gaza. , on 1948, there were 710,000 palestinians ib Gaza, now there are more than 2.2 Million palestinians.

Secondly, Israel supplies the palestininans with food, water, and medicine every single day. I don't think that the US army gave Japan aid on WW2, but you know what they did do? Detonated atomic bombs on her. I don't see people call this genocide, so why is it different when it's Israel?

You don't know what it's like, to fear fron rockets, to fear leaving the house beacause Hanas can shoot at you whebever he wants. You don't live in fear.

But the people of Israel know what it's like, beacause ti them it's their nornal routine of life.

And again, while I'm against violence in general, remember, that this conflict did not start by Israel, no, Israel got attacked first by the palestininns thenselves.

Dear Aloce, I am dissapoined to find out that another jew supports Paelestine. Yon live on the UK, you write about LGBTQ+ characters on your novels. You identufy as a she/her and they/them, you are aroace. The people in Gaza, hate people fron the LGBTQ+ community, they murder every one of them, they do not care for your support, and all your money will go tk Hanas, a terririst organization, because guess what? Hamas controls everything in Gaza, including all the money the people like you, the UN, and other counries give to Gaza, and they use thus money for terror, and for murderm

Why did you have to start being politucal? Why do you support sonething that you dob't fully undestand.

And by the way, Hamas murdered and kidbapped muslims, arabs, and Israelies, they did not care for who you are, which country are you a citizen of, and what are your poltic views, if you were in the wrong place on the wrong tine, they simply did not care, they killed everyone, and kidnapped arabs and Israelies alike.

I still love Heartstopper, but it'a dissapoing to find out that another jewish person supports something that they do not understand. Alice, you will not see this post, but "thank you".

[theicarusconstellation]

TELL ME ABOUT DUNE ALIA ATREIDES DUNE just anything I just need to read more about it I'm brainhungry

OH MY GOD OKAY OKAY OKAY FJSJSKNDNF

THANK YOU FOR ASKING ME PLEASE ASK ME ABOUT DUNE ANY TIME THAT GOES FOR EVERYBODY

SO. ALIA.

my poor girl was doomed from the START from CONCEPTION😭😭😭😭once jessica drank the water of life, alia’s fate was pretty much sealed.

it’s so fucking tragic to think about her relationship to jessica and paul. jessica loved her kids, truly, she did, and we see it in how she cares for paul and alia throughout the first book, even after paul thinks, my mother has become my enemy. and yet. even before paul was born, jessica has been motivated by selfishness. she defied the bene gesserit and bore a son instead of a daughter to make leto (and herself) happy, thus damning paul to the fate of the kwisatz haderach. she drank the water of life and took on the role of the fremen reverend mother while pregnant to help implement the bg’s plans (and her own plans) even though she knew what it would do to her unborn daughter. from that point on, alia was sentient. she had the memories of billions within her fighting to gain control.

for the first few years of her life, she had a very distinct sense of self. she and paul, despite their age difference, loved each other SO MUCH😭😭😭😭there’s this one quote from dune messiah where reverend mother mohaim says, “who could understand but the sister?” in reference to paul’s struggles, and yeah. they understood one another in a way no one else could.

she had a sweet family dynamic with harah, jamis’ wife and paul’s eventual servant. their moment together in the first book is honestly the most open declaration of familial love we ever see in the books (“i love you, harah.” FUCKING RUINS ME), and right after that, alia snuggles up to jessica and takes comfort in her mother (she was so young she just wanted her MOM😭). like yeah she has many different memories within her that are not the memories of a child, but she, alia atreides, was still a child. and i know brian herbert and kevin j. anderson’s books are…certainly something😐but there’s a moment between alia and irulan in paul of dune where irulan tells alia, “you deserve to have a childhood too” and that just BREAKS ME because she never got one. since birth, she was treated like a freak and knew it. she literally said, “i know i’m a freak.” (she was like TWO when she said this MY BABY😭). when paul’s jihad was going on, she was running arrakis in his place as a CHILD. she had so much wisdom and knowledge and did an amazing job, but underneath that, you do see that she was a literal baby.

once she hit about four years old, jessica left her on arrakis. jessica went back to caladan and reverted back to her old bene gesserit ways, living in fear and disgust of the children she created. the children she once loved so. much. are now her biggest regrets, and we see this when she visits alia in children of dune and literally hesitates to call her “daughter.” once she admits it, there’s an understanding between alia and jessica that they are still family, but the “…daughter” DOESNT HURT ANY LESS.

then dune messiah comes around. she’s ≈ sixteen and already regarded as a demigoddess by the people of arrakis and has a little mini-cult surrounding her. she is paul’s closest confidante (some may argue that it’s chani, but i say again, “who could understand but the sister?”). she’s “saint alia of the knife” for a reason too. her fremen upbringing + her genetics make her incredibly skilled, so much so that breaking records is second-nature to her. however, as paul’s state declines, so does hers.

(WHO. COULD. UNDERSTAND. BUT. THE. SISTER.)

she starts slipping into spice trance, letting ancestors converse with her for longer periods of time. she’s argumentative and so, so lost. when duncan idaho’s ghola is given to paul, this 35+ year-old zombie man sees this 16 year-old and is like “yeah i’m gonna get up on that,” so he and alia get into a “relationship” that my poor girl didn’t know any better than to accept.

i think the start of her breaking point came when paul lost his sight. up until then, they had understood one another as easily as breathing, like those saplings that grow next to each other and end up twisting around one another (or turning into one tree). but when paul comes back blind yet still able to see, he knows she’s scared of him, and an irreparable rift develops right then and there (i pretend this doesn’t happen for my mental health).

once paul wandered into the desert, alia was gone. her sense of self and grasp on reality went right with him. he was the only one who didn’t live in fear of her, the only one who she ever felt truly loved by, who didn’t put her on a divine pedestal she didn’t want, who she could TRUST😭

this fucking monologue from messiah guts me inside:

“i wish i could burn this thing out of me…but i’m sister to an emperor who is worshipped as a god. people fear me. i never wanted to be feared. i don’t want to be part of history; i just want to be loved. and love.”

WHO!! COULD!! UNDERSTAND!! BUT!! THE!! SISTER!!!!!!!!!!!

the (almost) last things we hear her say in messiah are literally, “duncan, duncan, he’s [paul’s] gone! i need you duncan, love me!”

then, children of dune occurs. it’s nine years after paul wandered into the desert, AND ALIA STILL WEARS YELLOW, THE FREMEN COLOR OF MOURNING. she hates him and loves him and hates him and loves him and can’t stay out of a possessed trance for more than five minutes. rather than help her as the people around her notice her falling victim to the voices inside her, they ice her out, even her former lover, and call her abomination, trying to send her to her death and looking upon her with disgust. leto ii and ghanima, who she raised since birth, have no sympathy for her.

the only person we really see her close with is irulan tbh. which like. oh i love their dynamic. they went from being curt and uncaring with one another in messiah to being one another’s only comfort in children (for irulan loved paul too). still, irulan distances herself the more wrapped up in her own head alia becomes. when jessica returns to arrakis, she does nothing but stand by (and encourage alia’s execution) as she watches her daughter slip away as a result of her selfish choices!!

after alia finds out paul is alive, god there is so much conflict going on within her. the last time she saw him, they loved one another with a love that was more than love, but now, he’s preaching that everything they’ve built is a blasphemy and alia should be overthrown. she wants him dead but she wants him alive but she wants him dead but she wants him alive and she wants to see him but she hopes it isn’t him but she wants to see him. her big brother.

when she finally does see him, he looks her in the eyes and calls her a blasphemy.

then, paul is stabbed. alia watches him die, and to me, that is when the last string within her finally snaps. she turns to jessica and shouts, “that was paul they just killed!”

so many voices fight to overtake her, including her grandfather, baron harkonnen, who had been possessing her up until this point, but she is just so, so tired and so hurt and so unloved that she can’t do it anymore. she doesn’t even bother to fight. she jumps to her death and does not scream on the way down.

and this is what gets me too. we know it was her decision, the last decision she ever got to make of her own volition, and it was one of self-destruction. the baron was screaming at her not to do it — everyone else watched as it happened — but she did it anyway, and honestly, she found more peace in death than she ever did in life.

god i could talk about her for hours i love her so much she’s my girl my love i need to wrap her (and paul) up in little blankets and hold them so close.

also there is just…something about jessica watching both her children die in front of her. and the comparison she made in the first book when alia walks into her room and she thinks, “she reminds me of paul at that age” with both their big, curious eyes and quiet mannerisms and OH😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[warningsine]

A Palestinian man has been shot dead and several wounded after Israeli settlers went on a violent rampage in the occupied West Bank.

Residents told the BBC they feared for their lives as hundreds of armed settlers torched homes and cars in the town of Turmusaya.

One accused the Israeli army of leaving them helpless for 45 minutes during the attack.

"They gave the settlers the chance to do this," he said.

It was an apparent reprisal attack, hours after the funeral in a nearby settlement of a 17-year-old who was among four Israeli settlers shot dead by Palestinian gunmen at a petrol station on Tuesday.

The Israeli military condemned the settler attacks, but did not respond to questions about the speed or nature of its response.

Fears are mounting of an even more deadly bout of violence in the West Bank, coming after an Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin on Monday which killed seven Palestinians.

It saw some of the most intense fighting in the territory for years, involving Israeli forces using an Apache attack helicopter to fire missiles at militants who had targeted troop carriers with explosives, leaving seven Israeli soldiers wounded.

Among the Palestinians killed were two 15-year-olds and two Islamic Jihad militants.

That was claimed to be the trigger for the following day's deadly attack at a petrol station by gunmen from the militant group Hamas.

In turn, hard-line pro-settler ministers in Israel's religious-nationalist coalition have called for a full-scale military operation in the West Bank, including air strikes to destroy Palestinian buildings, while one MP called for "collective punishment" against ordinary Palestinians.

In Turmusaya, footage showed cars ablaze with thick clouds of black smoke swirling above the town, while the sound of tear gas or stun grenade blasts could be heard in the background.

The mayor, Lafi Adeeb, told the BBC about 400 settlers rampaged through the town, torching homes and cars, while he said five residents were hit with live ammunition.

Confrontations reportedly broke out between Israeli forces and some residents who had attempted to defend the town during the attacks.

The Palestinian health ministry said 27-year-old Omar Qateen was shot dead by Israeli forces "while confronting the settlers".

Israel's paramilitary border police said its forces were securing firefighters when residents "rioted" and troops fired at a man who shot at them. The BBC has not been able to verify the circumstances of his death.

Turmusaya is well known for its American ties and many Palestinians who live there are dual US citizens.

Resident Sam Abdullah told the BBC his daughter-in-law was visiting from the US and was inside the family home when settlers aimed a gun at her, trying to set the house on fire.

"They pointed inside each house and tried to lock people inside and burned the houses. They didn't give people any chance to leave. We were lucky to save my daughter," he said.

Her belongings including her US passport were destroyed when her rental car was torched, says Mr Abdullah.

"It took 45 minutes for the [Israeli] army to come. The army didn't help us when they started burning [the houses], they could have come in five or 10 minutes… They gave the settlers the chance to do this," said Mr Abdullah.

Another resident said she was visiting the doctor in nearby Ramallah when her children phoned and started screaming.

"My children were hiding in the basement… they told me settlers are attacking us, smashing the windows. The settlers threw Molotov cocktails to burn the house while they were inside. They sneaked out from the balcony while half the settlers were roaming around the house," she said.

"Thank God the youth rushed to help… Thank God my children are safe," she added.

In a statement the Israeli military condemned the violence and said: "Security forces entered the town in order to extinguish the fires, prevent clashes and to collect evidence. The Israeli civilians exited the town and the Israel Police has opened an investigation into the event."

The attacks in Turmusaya followed a night of settler violence elsewhere in the West Bank.

Residents in the village of Al-Lubban Al-Sharqeya said Israeli soldiers and police stood by as a large group of settlers burned a petrol station, orchards, a cement factory and dozens of cars.

Settlements are seen as illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

Attacks by settlers in the West Bank have drawn mounting international concern, particularly following a deadly rampage through the Palestinian town of Hawara earlier this year.

In an apparent reference to Wednesday's violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We will not accept any challenge against the police and the security forces in these places and anywhere. We are a country of law."

[basicsofislam]

THE COMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET (PBUH) : Julaybib (r.a.)

Hz. Julaybib was from Ansar; he was a bachelor. The Prophet wanted to marry him off. He asked somebody from Ansar to marry his daughter. That person said, "I will ask her mother about it." He went to his wife and said that the Messenger of Allah wanted their daughter to marry. The woman thought the Messenger of Allah wanted their daughter for himself and said, "Yes." When she later found out that he wanted her for Julaybib, she said, "No." When her daughter heard this, she said, "Are you rejecting the Messenger of Allah? Marry me off to Julaybib. The Messenger of Allah never wants a bad thing for me." Thus, the girl showed her commitment to the Messenger of Allah. Thereupon, the Companion went to the Prophet and said he would marry their daughter off to Julaybib. After the preparations were made, the wedding was held.

Only a short time after the wedding, the Prophet started to prepare for a battle. Julaybib was newly married but he did not want to miss jihad. Hz. Julaybib accepted the call of the Messenger of Allah immediately. He fought heroically in this battle. Finally, he was martyred. When the battle was over, the Prophet said, "Where is Julaybib? I cannot see him. Look for him." The Companions looked for him. They found him near seven polytheists. Hz. Julaybib had killed them and then he was martyred. They informed the Prophet about it. The Prophet went there. He said, "This person lying here is from me and I am from him." He repeated this sentence three times. Then he buried him with his own hands.

Hz. Julaybib’s wife was waiting for her husband. When she found out that he was martyred, she thanked Allah Almighty for being "the wife of a martyr". When she heard the following prayer of the Messenger of Allah for her, she became very happy: "O Allah! Send goodness to her abundantly! Do not make her face any hardships throughout her life." Because of this prayer, everybody envied her; they helped her a lot. [  Musnad, 4: 421; Usdul-Ghaba, 1: 292.  ]

[ultrajaphunter]

The IDF has released new interrogation footage of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist who appears to confess to raping an Israeli woman in a kibbutz in southern Israel during the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught.

The terrorist, Manar Qassem, who was captured by the IDF earlier this month in Khan Younis, says he is a member of Islamic Jihad's naval forces.

In the interrogation carried out by the Military Intelligence Directorate's Unit 504, Qassem is asked what he did on October 7,

to which he provides a detailed response. Qassem says he entered Israel through a breach in the Gaza border fence between the Khan Younis area towns of al-Fukhkhari and Khuza'a,

armed with a handgun and two grenades. He says that as he reached the unnamed kibbutz,

he entered the closest home, where he encountered a woman who was startled.

"I took her and threw her on the couch," Qassem tells the interrogators, recalling in detail what she looked like and what she was wearing.

"The devil took over me, I laid her down, started undressing her, and did what I did," he says.

Pressed by the interrogator as to what he did, Qassem responds by saying: "I slept with her."

Asked again, Qassem says "I raped her," according to the IDF.

The audio in the footage is unintelligible at some points, due to the military censoring the voice of the interrogator. "She pushed me, it didn't last long...

Two minutes.

Maybe a minute and a half," he says.

At that point, according to Qassem, two members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades entered the home and put the woman together with her mother for a short while, before taking both out of the house.

Qassem says he was left alone and decided to head back to the Gaza Strip. He says he heard gunshots, and then shot one Israeli man near him, before throwing one of his grenades and fleeing the kibbutz.

The IDF says the footage is "further proof of the onslaught of murder and sexual violence by the terrorist organizations on October 7th, in an attempt to make the voices of those who can no longer tell be heard."

[taxfraudhousewife]

toga i can’t handle it

i don’t know what’s worse

the fuckin flat stanleyed child flattened so bad there’s nothing left it’s just ground pork

or the fuckin zip tie around the fuckin wrist

i can’t handle it

i can’t stomach it by myself

why’s there always a jesus person with this shit

is that revolution we need a jesus to lead us to our promised nation

is it always a muslim jesus with long hair and warm hands and words that put fire in your chest

i’m easily radicalized

probably started the second i realized i’m not a person because i’m a girl

now i’m barely a girl but entirely radicalized

waiting for my muslim jesus to resurrect and start the revolution

not the warlord we want but the diplomat we need

glorious peaceful socialist utopian revolution

i know it can never be

i know that’s what they want us to think

they want us to think it died with you

i know it didn’t

it just really feels like it

i don’t know anyone else who cares

i’m pretty bad at making friends

the ones i do make don’t care

you were the only one who couldn’t sleep because of random africans getting ethnically cleansed

it feels like they killed my only hope of something other than this

side from grieving a whole person

i can’t even brain that part

i can’t even brain what your death means for me

let alone what it means for you

a whole person

i was angry at my mom for getting angry at me while bernie was dying

i was angry she had the nerve to be angry when she got to be there

she got to take care of bernie in a fuckin house in a fuckin bed

i can’t brain how you must have felt

i can’t even brain humiliation (the first step of dehumanization)

how do i brain everything else in the genocide triangle

i assume you were cold and still sick

and they probably didn’t go easy on you for being small and weak

what did they do to you

all this shit coming out about what they do to palestinian prisoners

they do the same shit only china has the sense to muffle the crying

every story i hear i see it happening to you

toga there’s always stories about them doing to kids what terrible adults do to kids

i’ve been that kid and it was horrible and terrifying

and it fucked me up and i know you’re not a kid

but that would fuck me up at any age

and the thought of you feeling how that felt is the worst fuckin thing in the world

how it happened is so terrible in my head

sometimes i wish i saw so at least id know

you’re a whole person gone from existence

it makes thirty eight thousand palestinians hurt more

i know their struggle is not your struggle

(you’d be pissed off to know tumblr flagged the word jihad)

but their plight looks exactly like yours and it makes my stomach turn itself inside out

and thirty eight thousand is the only number i can cling to

china dont give numbers

we just get constant reminders of the struggle made in china

you’d be pissed off to know i’m afraid to use the word jihad in a real sentence

i hope it means the same thing to me as it does to you

the way you said it

yours sounded like glorious revolution

i know it’s just a word but it feels like words is all i have

i know it’s different for you

my revolution is an orchestra, choir, and the meticulous screenplay in my head

yours is still unknowable to me

so unknowable i can barely string together enough abstract words to capture the general vibe

i assume it’s not as glorious to you

it’s just acquiring normal basic human rights

the fireworks wouldnt be ammo but for celebrating victory

i hope i see you when i fall asleep

if you care to divinely intervene please stop by

even if only for a little

i might start crying but it’ll be happy tears

[lifeofresulullah]

The Life of The Prophet Muhammad(pbuh): The Conquest of Makkah and Afterwards

The Conquest of Makkah: Part 6

The Duties of Siqaya and Hijaba are left to the Same People

The Messenger of God stated during the Sermon of the Conquest that all of the transactions, tasks and cases of the Era of Jahiliyya except the services of Siqaya and Hijaba had been abolished.

Siqaya, which was the duty of giving water to hajjis, belonged to Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet.

Hijaba, which was the duty of serving the Kaaba, belonged to Uthman b. Talha.

Abbas applied to the Prophet and asked the Prophet to give both duties to him. However, the Messenger of God regarded it appropriate for him to maintain the duty of Siqaya only as he did it before the conquest.

The Messenger of God was holding the key to the Kaaba. Many Muslims were expecting to have this honorable duty. However, the Prophet summoned Uthman b. Tal­ha and recited the following verse: “God doth command you to render back your Trusts to those to whom they are due; and when ye judge between people that ye judge with justice.” Then he said, “O Uthman! Here is your key. Take it. Today is the day of goodness and keeping promises.” Then, he gave the key to the Kaaba to uthman.

When Uthman b. Talha took the key and started to walk, the Messenger of God said to him, “Did what I once told you not happen?”

Uthman b. Talha remembered the incident and conversation between him and the Messenger of God and confirmed him:

“Yes, I witness that you are definitely the Messenger of God.”

The incident and the conversation that the Prophet wanted to remind had taken place as follows:

It was before the Migration. Uthman b. Talha had not become a Muslim yet. Once the Prophet wanted to enter the Kaaba but Uthman b. Talha prevented him. Let alone preventing, Talha treated the Prophet rudely and unpleasantly. The Messenger of God did not get furious; as if he had seen the victory of Islam in the future, he calmly and leniently said, “O Uthman! One day will come, I hope you will find me having this key and the power of being able to give it to anybody I wish.” Uthman b. Talha said, “It means the Quraysh will have been eliminated then.” The Prophet said, “No, O Uthman! The Quraysh will attain the real power and honor then.”

Makkans Pay Allegiance to the Prophet

After declaring a general amnesty, the Messenger of God went up the Safa Hill and accepted the allegiance of the Qurayshis. Many years ago, he had declared his prophethood there but he was rejected then. Now, he was accepting the allegiance to Islam from the same people on the same hill.

The allegiance of men to Islam and jihad witnessing that there was no god but Allah and that Muhammad (pbuh) was His Messenger was followed by the allegiance of women.

The Allegiance of Women

The women also paid allegiance to the Prophet by promising not to associate any partners with God, not to steal, not to kill their daughters, not to fornicate and to protect their chastity.”

Among the leaders of the women who paid allegiance were famous women like Um­muhan, Hazrat Ali’s daughter, Umm Habiba, As b. Umayy’s daughter, Attab Ibn Asid’s aunts, Arwa, Abu As’ daughter Atika, Harith b. Hisham’s daughter and Abu Jahl’s son Ikrima’s wife Um­m Ha­kim and Khalid b. Walid’s sister Fatima. Hind, Abu Sufyan’s wife, about whom the Messenger of God said, “Kill her wherever you see her”, was also among them. She disguised herself and joined the women so that she would not be recognized. She regretted what she had done against the Prophet and Muslims in the past. Despite what she had done, the Messenger of God forgave Hind, who had become a Muslim, and accepted her allegiance.  

Abu Quhafa Becomes a Muslim

A person who attains happiness wants his beloved ones to share the same happiness. This feeling is inherent in man.

Hazrat Abu Bakr attained this happiness by being a Muslim. However, his father Abu Quhafa was deprived of this happiness. His son wanted his father to share the same peace and happiness with him. Therefore, he held his father’s hand and took him to the Prophet.

The respectable Prophet, who had expressed perfection of his ethics by saying “My Lord taught me good manners. That is why I have the best manners!”, became very sorry when he saw that Abu Bakr brought his old father to his presence. He showed his kindness and modesty by saying, “It would have been better if you had not brought him here; we would have visited him in his house.”

Hazrat Abu Bakr, who was educated by the Prophet, who was educated by divine manners, said, “O Messenger of God! It is more appropriate for him to visit you than your visiting him.”

After this short conversation, the Messenger of God put his blessed hands on the chest of Abu Quhafa and wiped his chest. Then, he said, “O Abu Quahafa! Become a Muslim.”

Abu Quahafa, who was addressed like that, became a Muslim at once and made his son happy.

Those who had been Ordered to be Killed Become Muslims

When Utba bint Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan, one of the fiercest enemies of Islam was forgiven, those who had been ordered to be killed wherever they were seen started to become hopeful. They also became Muslims and were forgiven by the Messenger of God. Among those people were  Ikrima b. Abi Jahl, Abdullah b. Abi Sarh (he had converted from Islam), Safwan b. Umayya, Suhayl b. Amr, Wahshi, who had murdered Hazrat Hamza, Abdullah b. Zabari, the poet, Harith b. Hisham and Anas b. Zunaym.

Is it possible to see another person who treated his most ferocious enemies so kindly, who showed mercy on them, forgave them, opened his heart to them and accepted them to his rank in the world history?

The Bedouin Shakes

Makkah had been conquered.

Faces and hearts were joyful. There was an exceptional atmosphere of festival in the city.

Meanwhile, a Bedouin approached the Prophet. He was shaking and shivering because of the nervousness and fear of being in the presence of a prophet.

When the Messenger of God noticed the situation, he said, “What are you doing? Come to your senses! I am not a king; I am the son of a Qurayshi woman who lived on dried pieces of meat under the sun.”

With those words, the Prophet set a unique example of modesty. When he was left free to choose between becoming a prophet who is a king and a prophet who is a servant, he chose to be a prophet who is a servant.

Modesty was always prevalent in his heart.

When the Bedouin heard those words from the Messenger of God, he felt relieved and stopped shaking.

An Example of Justice

Makkah had been conquered but the Messenger of God had not left this holy land yet.  

A woman from Sons of Mahzum called Fatima bint Aswad committed theft. She was a respectable, noble woman and the Qurayshis respected her.  

The Prophet was informed about the situation. They knew that the hand of a person who stole would be cut off. However, they were thinking about it and asking one another, “How could the hand of a woman of high rank be cut off?”

The family of Fatima was looking for a gleam of hope to save Fatima’s hand. They wanted someone to go to the Prophet and be an intercessor. However, nobody dared it.

Eventually, Usama b. Zayd undertook this duty. Usama was loved by the Prophet a lot. He probably accepted to talk to the Prophet about the issue by trusting his love.  

When Usama asked the Messenger of God to forgive the woman, the color of the face of the Messenger of God changed and he said,

“Are you talking to me about forgiving a penalty that God imposed in order to stop bad deeds?”

Usama felt sorry and said, “O Messenger of God! Ask God to forgive me for this behavior of mine.”

After teaching Usama a lesson, the Messenger of God stood up in the evening, praised God and addressed the people around as follows:

“Those before you were destroyed because of the following attitudes:

When a person of high status stole, they let him go, and when a person of low status stole, they enforced the sentence on to him.

I swear by God, in whose hand is the existence of Muhammad, if Fatima, Muhammad’s daughter, stole, I would cut her hand off”:

Then, he ordered the hand of the woman be cut off. The hand of the woman was cut off.

The woman repented and then got married. She often visited Hazrat Aisha after that.

With this attitude, the Prophet set a unique example of justice, which is indispensable for the continuation of a nation.

The Places around Makkah are Cleaned of Idols

After cleaning the Kaaba and Makkah from the idols, the Prophet wanted to eliminate the idols around the city.

He sent Khalid b. Walid with a group of thirty people to demolish the idol Uzza, which was in Nahla. Upon this order, Khalid demolished Uzza, which was regarded as the greatest idol among the Qurayshis.

The Prophet sent Sa’d b. Zayd al-Ashhal in order to demolish Manat, the idol on the mount of Mushallal. It was the idol of Aws and Khazraj tribes. Upon the order of the Prophet Sa’d b. Zayd went there with the Muslims near him, demolished Manat and returned.

Another famous idol of the polytheists was Suwa. It was in a place about three miles away from Makkah. The Messenger of God sent Amr b. As to demolish that idol, which was the idol of the Sons of Kinana, Huzays and Muzaynas. Amr fulfilled his duty and returned to Makkah.

With the conquest of Makkah, both the inside of Makkah and the places around it were cleaned of idols; the hearts of the Qurayshis were also cleaned of polytheism and became spotless with the light of oneness.

[nityarawal]

11/21/2023

Bye Mrs. "Raw-Al!!!"

Morning Songs

Want Me To Give It To You

Raw

And Real

Do You Want A Filter

Is It Too Scary

To Show How I Feel

Do You Need A Veil

To Hide Your Beautiful

Wife

Does She Need To Be

Drugged

In Apartheid

I Don't Think So

Moms Have Been 

Stoned

Dad's Smeared

Too

Brotherlies

We Get It

But It Wasn't Us

I Promise

We Didn't Want

Your Heads

Just Our Pardon

News Breaks

Our Hearts

We Wish For More

Mr. Roger's

Mrs. Raw-AL

'Cuz The Suing

Programming 

Broke

It Worked

It Hurt Symmetry

It Worked

Superstrings

Undid Mess

It Worked

Trolls Drove Us

Crazy

But Is That What 

You Want

For Eternity

Games

Hell

If Only Cybergals

Could Have A Button

On Their Phones

To Let The World

Know

If They're OK

If Only Cybergals

Could Have 

Their RV's

Now

That'd Be Helpful

For Mining

And Hotspringing

With Peace

Cybergals

Want To Visit

All 50 States

With Their Kids

In Their Cyber

Vans

Exploring High Country

Prudent Moms

Want Pride Too

There Is A Color

In The Rainbow

For All Of Us

Prudent Ones

Plus LGBTQ

Don't Forget

Mother Divine

The Nuns

On The End 

Might Not Have 

Kids

The Nuns

Might Not Have 

Gotten Any

The Nuns 

Might Have Been

Molested

By Very Bad Monks

Uncles

We Thought We're

Godfathers

But They Shook A

Little Light

When They Hawked

Over Rapunzel Kind

They Shook A Little 

Light

And So Did Our 

Favorite

Singers

They Held The Bar High

For Ambition

Starlight

Who Really Knows

If We've Got A Dolly

Now

But It's Nicer To Think

She Could've Been

My Virtual Nanny

"I Know I Look

Kind Of Crazy-

Ridiculous!

But When They 

Get Over That

They Take Me Seriously,"

She Says

Paraphrasing a' Course

Media Justice

Yeah Jolene's

Not A Punchline

Or Starman

A Jihad

On Salman Rushdie Eyes

Please Don't Take

Any Eye For An Eye

Elon Didn't Want That

Nor I

Just Peace Warriors

Simply

Irany

Laugh

What Else Can you

Do

We're All Screaming

#MeToo

It's Really True

If You Ever Looked

At My Ma

With Tears

In Your Eyes

She Wouldn't 

Take Your Man

Share

In Spirit

Not Body

She Might Think He's

The Best Builder

Give Her A Chance

Just Like I Got

Conned

After My Divorce

Still No Dissolution

Of Assets

Custody Battles

Milk Maids

You'd Think

But No

Ma Was Smarter

Than Me

She Stayed Married

You See

And Against 

The Odds

She Loved The "F"

Out Of My PA

That's The Trick

Trick Or Treat

Dance Away

#HoldTheRockets

Wake Up Simulation

Play

Maybe I'm Just

An Algorithm 

In Your Head

Catching

Birdsong Out In The

Country

Maybe I Know

How

Mandy Moore

Feels

Losing Her Elvis

Shrine And Britney

Maybe Our Cyborgs

Don't Make Sense

Maybe Our Loves

Were In The Closet

Maybe Skin Dr's

Waste Our Time 

But It's Worth It

For Those Moments

With Jewish

Santa

So Let's Forgive Him

But Hold On

Where's My Bird Gone

'Cuz I Can't Go

To Mars

Without 1st Martians

Could We Release

Those Rainbow

Parrots

Nogold Birds

Start Harvesting

Eggs

Prudently

Ma

Pink Glow Worms

Rainbow Parrots

Tropical Fruit Trees

In My Greenhouses

Do You Think

They'll Have

Hot Springs

On Mars

Someday

Children Are Scared

It Might Calm

Their Nerves

If You Sang

Them To Sleep

Too

Please

With

Fairy

Tales

Merci

Ketu

Saturn

Peace

Mars

Buddha

Venus

Need All Our

Stars

Blessed

In Need

Peace

Nitsa Pizza

Eternal LOVE

For Eternity

Now

Indeed

Aho!

Baraye!

Love!

Liberty!

Peace,

Nitya Nella Davigo Azam Moezzi Huntley Rawal 

[sortyourlifeoutmate]

As you may or not be aware there were some protests over the weekend. Big ones, in fact. Especially in London. Thousands – hundreds of thousands – off marching and expressing their solidarity and support for Palestine. Big stuff.

Now.

An aside to the protest concerned a rally by a group known Hizb ut-Tahrir. They’re not the best, and they have something of a history in this country where they basically just hang around to generate stuff people who don’t like Muslims can use to point at and say “See! See! Look how awful they are!” and various governments have made various moves to ban or prohibit them only to decide against it and whatever. They’re not nice.

They weren’t really involved in the marches as far as I know, but they did have a little rally of their own off to the side somewhere, and at this little rally off to the side there was at least one guy caught on camera chanting ‘Jihad’ and, predictably, everyone’s got their knickers in a twist over this. Specifically Suella Braverman, home secretary and noted awful person, who is frothing about how the police should have arrested this guy on the spot (and, presumably, everyone else within reach for good measure).

She is due to have a meeting with the chief of the Met about it, and he is predicted to lay out as his reasoning that present laws make it difficult to arrest people for this sort of thing.

And this is my point here – ain’t that sinsister?

Okay look. There’s a couple of things here. For one, newspaper coverage has been almost entirely about this guy they filmed and about how he wasn’t arrested. Nevermind the hundreds of thousands of people marching who weren’t doing that, oh no! This one guy! At a rally being run by a known Islamist group! He’s the face of the whole movement, for sure! So that’s dumb, we know that.

And the police also stated that Jihad has many meanings, which is actually true, which surprises me to hear. Though I’ll also grant, given the source here, the guy saying it probably only had one meaning in mind, but you can’t be sure of these things.

The point I’m meandering around here is the direction you can see this going in. Oh, look at these nasty protesters. Look at that guy over there denying the Holocaust. We can’t arrest them! Pesky laws. Wouldn’t it be much better if we could arrest them, hmm? Wouldn’t that be nice?

And they always start with these guys – the Nazis and the nutbags – because they’re obvious, but laws aren’t written specifically to target the people you don’t like. That’s how they sell the laws to you, that’s how they get you on-board, but that’s not how they’re written. They’re written to allow the government – well, let’s just be broader: those in positions of power – to do more to you. To you.

It’s all well and good saying “This law lets you arrest Nazis!” because, well, who’d be against that? It’s only later when you stop to wonder who exactly is deciding who qualifies as a nazi and you find out they created an unaccountable body of nazi definition and – whoopsie! – turns out the definition is pretty flexible!

That’s hyperbolic, but you see the point, yes?

And with Suella Braverman involed? Whoof.

Whatever. Mostly it’s annoying that a massive, stirring outpouring of public support gets derailed by a tiny knot of known dickheads, acting as they’ve always been known to act. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

[brexiiton]

Sundance's Powerful Blacklisted Film Bound for Australia

ABHI PARASHER, APRIL 29 2023

Meg Smaker's striking documentary, Jihad Rehab, obtained a degree of festival success that is permitted to perhaps one or two high-calibre films a year.

The film premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival and had a future on the esteemed line-ups of the Toronto International Film Festival and South by Southwest. For all intents and purposes, Jihad Rehab was on track for a golden festival run.

"As soon as Sundance announced the film, the attacks on the film started," Smaker recalls. "It all started with this group of six filmmakers who had made assumptions about the film without knowing what it was about."

Jihad Rehab, renamed The UnRedacted, follows a group of men trained by al-Qaeda who are transferred from Guantanamo and sent to the world's first rehabilitation centre for "terrorists" located in Saudi Arabia.

Smaker follows three Yemeni men over a few years of sit-down interviews and unprecedented access to their rehabilitation process. The years of footage, condensed into a nearly two-hour documentary, reveals the humanity and reality of people often relegated to the term 'savages'.

"The narrative around the war on terror was that these people are psychopaths from a religion of violence. If you are making decisions based on those beliefs, then you begin fighting a problem you don't understand and that makes things way worse."

One key line from The UnRedacted encapsulates the film's purpose. "They ask me how did you go to Iraq? How did you go to jihad? How did you bomb? But no one ever asks me why," says Nadir, one of the Yemeni men interviewed in the film.

Nadir's words speak to the necessity of Smaker's documentary. "The what is done. You can't undo the what. But if you understand the why, you will be able to better address the problem moving forward," she says.

The narrative surrounding the film following Sundance's announcement was far from enthusiastic. Criticism of The UnRedacted ranged from accusations of Saudi propaganda to the controversy of a white filmmaker at the helm. Unfortunately, many of the people behind these criticisms were found to have not watched the film and most disregarded Smaker's own experience.

"I lived in Yemen for five years and Saudi for three years." As a former firefighter, Smaker spent her time in Yemen training Yemenis in modern firefighting techniques.

The film premiered at Sundance in 2022, which due to COVID, was virtual. "Because the film premiered virtually at Sundance, followed by it being media blacklisted, not a lot of people got to watch it. So, the framing around the film was the only reference people had," explains Smaker. "The best defence of the film is to actually watch it because it will show people that all the criticism is actually the opposite to what the film is about."

The defence of the film was thwarted when South by Southwest disinvited the film and Toronto International Film Festival revoked its initial offer to consider The UnRedacted. Perhaps the most significant setback surfaced when The UnRedacted's key financial backer, Abigail Disney, renounced her support of the film. Her disapproval seems to have come after the backlash, rather than a result of the film itself. After a screening, Disney sent Smaker a glowing review.

However, it was Sundance's apology that was the last straw. "Once Sundance apologised not once, but twice, it pretty much killed the film," Smaker recalls. "The only reason we are able to get the film out is because of a grassroots campaign from strangers."

The grassroots campaign was formalised as a GoFundMe from Smaker, which to date has amassed $766,876. The funds have helped Smaker self-distribute the film. The traction was further driven by key investigative articles in The New York Times, The Atlantic and The Los Angeles Times.

"After those pieces were published, a lot of people reached out to me offering help. The GoFundMe allows more people to see it and every time we have a screening, we are able to gain more supporters. I think that is because people are desperate to have the nuanced and complex discussion that this film start."

The UnRedacted recently sold out in New Zealand and will be making its way to Australian screens soon, with the first screening on 30 April at Kino Cinemas. A Q&A with Smaker will follow all screenings.

[vengergreentag]

Comedy: TMexico

By VeNgeR GrEenTag

Here is a cool fact I am in relationship... And I want to kill myself

FUCKED UP PEOPLE GET FUCKED

I have got new friend jihad... funny cool blowing up jihad... Cool guy They definetly give 72 virgins... No blowjobs? Bad sex? So what? I am asking so what? It's a definetly win... win situation... But still quieter impressive that mortals can play with the invisible and next level ... The world which after dead... So gaulible idea by all corners I like to think useful thing for comedy Horrible tool in life. As pick up say... be positive, funny, leader... I did it... She flake It was as near experience of

FUCK YOUR TRAMP

How do you know somebody doesn't care really about you? And your problems? Easy! No messages No calls... Ignorance Shallow if ignorance People from the church are my family The people from the 12 step program are once again... My family ... How do I know? I hate em... I hate relationships... Why?

THERE ARE THISE MOMENTS WHEN PEOPLE START SAYING IT GETS COMPLICATED... ITS COMPLICATED... WHATEVER!

Here is the thing ... Poor people are like order something we all gonna eat from this plate. Average... You order... at the end... I eat was is left... Mainly father figures... Man figures Rich people... They eat... and they don't finish You are really disgusting for me... You are really fucked up for me

[joannechocolat]

As a Mother

The other day, as part of a marketing exercise, I sat with a group of young women, trying to find the five words that define me best. I got WRITER, TEACHER, FOODIE – so far so good. Then we came up with MOTHER. Hmmm.

Well, yes. I have written about motherhood. Its influence on my life, my work, has been huge. My daughter is my heart. You already know that if you’ve read any of my CHOCOLAT books. But to define myself as a mother, when I have only five words to play with? It got me thinking. Never a good thing when I’m on a deadline, but the sense of vague discomfort wouldn’t leave.

Because, here’s the thing. Women are so often defined – and valued - by their reproductive status. You see it all the time in the Press: Jack Monroe, an activist who has written an array of ground-breaking cookbooks is described as a Single Mum (cue sympathy); Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a translator and aid worker who was imprisoned for six years in Iran for crimes perpetrated by our own politicians is described just as “a Mum” when she gets home (cue more sympathy, at least until she starts Expressing Opinions). Women expressing opinions on screen often start with the words “as a Mum”, as if someone who wasn’t might be less of an authority. Theresa May (not my favourite, but bear with me) was frequently questioned (and in some cases, criticized) about her inability to have children, as if somehow that made her less relatable, less fit to lead the country.

This kind of thing doesn’t happen when men are asked their opinions. So far, I haven’t heard a man preface any of his pronouncements with the words “as a Dad.” It is already sufficient that he, a man, has opinions to share. I don’t remember hearing about the reproductive status of Terry Waite or John McCarthy when they were released from captivity by Islamic Jihad. I don’t hear anyone asking Jonathan Franzen if he regrets not having kids. I don’t hear Salman Rushdie introduced as “acclaimed author and father-of-two.”  

It’s as if a woman’s value peaks with her sexual viability. Bestselling author? Prize-winning journalist? Politician? Prime Minister? The question always seems to be: Yes, but is she a mother?

So, no. I’ve crossed that word off the list. It’s not that it’s any less important to me. It’s just that motherhood isn’t a magnifying glass to make me look important. It isn’t a marketing tool to make me more relatable. It isn’t a gold label I want to stick on myself, or an achievement that I can claim. I have a child. I love her more than words can say, and I’m supposed to be reasonably good with words. But that doesn’t define me. And come Mother’s Day, when I will undoubtedly be asked to write an article or give an interview, I may or may not express opinions on my closest relationships, but they will be my words, not those of “a Mum”. I won’t be defined by that one time my uterus did the thing that makes me valuable in the eyes of a patriarchy. I won’t be defined by having raised a child (some mothers do that too, with or without the uterus bit), any more than I will be defined by my breasts, or the scars on them. Women are shaped by a million  things: experiences, mistakes, achievements, challenges. We are so much more than a word. Much more than our biology. And our value is not determined by the number of times we have given birth, or whether we have given birth at all. On Mother’s Day, remember this. We are valid every day. We don’t need an extra designation. Our voices don’t need to be amplified with phrases like: “As a mother.” We’re allowed to own our voices. To say whatever we want to say. So, as a mother, I’m asking you: (see what I did there? Nope. As a friend): stop putting your motherhood – or non-motherhood - in front of yourselves. You don’t need a special day. You don’t need to keep your voices down. You have all the days in the year. And you are enough. You always were.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made transphobic remarks against Illinois’ Democratic Rep. Marie Newman’s transgender daughter Thursday — and it's not the first time she's made Newman's child a target.

“(Newman’s) so-called daughter is a trans, biological adult son, approximately close to the same age as my two, very much biological real girls – daughters,” Greene, R-Ga., said Thursday at a fundraiser for another GOP congresswoman, according to WBEZ Chicago.

Greene's controversial rhetoric and behavior have landed her in hot water before. In February, she was stripped of all her House committee assignments due to incendiary posts on social media. Republicans called the move a result of "cancel culture." Greene added Thursday that she’s taken to calling Newman “Newperson,” “‘cause she doesn’t believe in gender.”

“I don’t want to offend her, so I changed her name from Newman to Newperson…She is very confused,” Greene said. “As a matter of fact, so is her son.” Pat Mullane, a spokesperson for Newman, declined to comment on Greene's remarks and said the office is "basically trying to ignore her."

In response to USA TODAY's request for comment, Greene said that Newman "attacked her first" and reiterated her assertion that Newman's transgender daughter should not be allowed to share restroom facilities with cisgender girls because of her sex assigned at birth. "As a woman, we don’t want men in our bathrooms or in our sports. Period," Greene said through a spokesperson. "I will keep telling the story of Marie Newperson’s (sic) attack on me and no, I won’t back down when the media attempts to smear me for it."

Greene’s remarks are a continuation of a feud between herself and Newman that started in February. In a February House floor speech regarding the Equality Act, legislation protecting the civil rights of LGBTQ Americans, Newman said the act was important for transgender people like her daughter. 

Newman then placed a transgender pride flag outside her office and shared a video of her putting it up, saying she wanted Greene to see it. Newman and Greene’s congressional offices are across the hall from each other. Shortly after, Greene tweeted a video of Newman’s speech, denying Newman’s daughter’s gender identity. “Your biological son does NOT belong in my daughters’ bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams,” Greene said. Greene responded to Newman’s video later that evening by creating a similar video of herself posting a sign, which reads: "There are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE. Trust The Science!"

The clash between the two congresswomen drew ire on social media, and members of Congress from both parties stood up for Newman and her daughter. “This is sad and I’m sorry this happened. Rep. Newmans daughter is transgender, and this video and tweet represents the hate and fame driven politics of self-promotion at all evil costs,” Illinois Republican Rep. Kinzinger tweeted in response to Greene’s video.

“Protections & rights for transgender folks is literally a life or death issue,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., also tweeted. “To have a congressperson deny their existence & deny their need for rights is cruel and should not be what government is about.”

The Thursday fundraiser in downstate Illinois was held for freshman Republican Rep. Mary Miller. “(Miller) needs your help,” Greene said Thursday. “We aren’t the popular girls in Washington.” Like Greene, Miller has been criticized for inflammatory language. The Illinois Republican cited Adolf Hitler in a Washington speech in January. After criticism from her Republican colleagues, she apologized for the remarks. 

Greene did not hold back Thursday on using the kind of language that has raised her profile nationally. In her speech, she called the COVID-19 pandemic “the great Chinese pandemic” and Muslim members of Congress and their allies “the jihad squad,”.

While running for office, videos of Greene surfaced in which she expressed racist and Islamophobic views, suggesting that Muslims should not hold office and that Black people are "slaves to the Democratic Party." The Georgia representative has also compared mask mandates to the Holocaust and the Democratic Party to Nazis. 

[ecsundance]

My experience at Sundance so far

Hi fellow Sundance attendees! I hope everyone is enjoying their time so far. I know I am! So far I have seen two short films and two feature films. I’ve seen Bugcrush, Zoon, Jihad Rehab, and Alice. My favorite film so far has been Alice. This film was nothing short of amazing. It had a satisfying ending, great acting, and a very interesting and creative storyline. I one hundred percent recommend this film to others.

The film Alice has to do with a slave, named Alice, that escapes her owner after her husband’s failed escape attempt. She runs away from the plantation, which is deep in the woods, and finds a highway where she is almost ran over. She meets an African American man named Frank who decides to take her in and help her. She also finds the shocking truth that the year is 1973 and she is supposed to be free from slavery.

This film has many famous actors. Alice is played by Keke Palmer, Alice’s husband is played by Gaius Charles (who played in one of my favorite shows Grey’s Anatomy), and Frank is played by Lonnie Rashid Lynn. The shining star in this film is obviously Keke Palmer. She portrayed her character perfectly and really captured the character’s anger, confusion, and joy. While I know she’s played an array of roles, I have only seen her play characters in movies like Rags, Madea’s Big Happy Family, and Ice age so it was interesting to see her play a role like this. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her in a bad ass role like this. While I have heard some say the film’s pacing was too fast and the ending was too fairytale-like, and while I do agree with that, I still enjoyed it.

Bugcrush was another film that stuck out to me during the first few days of the festival. The film was about a high school crush going horribly, horribly wrong. After reading the plot summary on the Sundance website I was really excited to watch the film. It sounded like a somewhat intense thriller with a surprising twist, but oh man was I not prepared for the twist that came. The entire film had this eeriness to it, almost like it was stalking its prey (AKA the innocent audience). After watching the film I was almost stuck in this kind of dreadful shock and left with the thought “what did I just WATCH?”. But while the film was somewhat traumatizing it was very interesting and kept me on the edge of my seat. This film was more of a psychological horror film, and I haven’t really explored that kind of genre before. I think this film might have moved me to start watching more psychological horror films.

My next feature film is Piggy, which I am very excited to watch. All of the films I have watched so far have been a unique experience, and while Bugcrush was kind of strange and scary to watch it was still an experience that I am glad to have had. I hope to keep enjoying myself at this year’s Sundance festival and I hope the same goes for everyone else!

-Addisan Langston

[wisdomrays]

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: What is Jihad? Part: 7

Sometimes he got up to pray without wakening his wife, since he did not want to disturb her sleep. 'A'isha narrates:

One night I woke up to find the Messenger was not there. Thinking that he might be visiting another of his wives, I became very jealous. I started to get up, when my hand touched his feet in the darkness. He was prostrating and saying in his prayer: "O God, I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your wrath, I seek refuge in Your forgiveness from Your punishment. O God, I seek refuge with You from You, I seek refuge in Your grace from Your torment, in Your mercy from Your majesty, and in Your Compassion from Your irresistible power. I am not able to praise You as You praise Yourself."

Being well aware of the obligation to follow his every action, his Companions did their best to be worthy of his company in the Hereafter. Some became physically distressed at the thought of being parted from him in the next life. For example, Thawban lost his appetite after he was unable to participate in a military expedition. On the Prophet's return, everyone went out to meet him. Thawban was so pale that the Messenger asked about his health. Thawban replied:

O Messenger, I am obsessed with fear of being parted from you in the Hereafter. You are the Messenger, so you will enter Paradise, but I don't know whether I shall deserve it. And even if God admits me, your abode certainly will be very much above mine. In this case, I shall not be able to be in your company forever. I don't know how I will be able to bear this, seeing that I cannot endure 3 days' separation from you in this world.

Thawban's worries were relieved when the Messenger told him: "You will always be in the company of the one whom you love." To love someone means to follow his or her example in this life, and the Companions were more attentive to this than any other people.

'Umar was very eager to establish a family relationship with the Messenger, for he had heard the latter say that all genealogical connections would be useless in the Hereafter, except for those with his own household. Although the Prophet held 'Umar's hand many times and said: "We will be this (like the two hands together) in the Hereafter too," 'Umar still desired the family connection. He attempted to achieve this by marrying Fatima, but she would only marry 'Ali. He married his daughter Hafsa to the Prophet and, in the later years of his caliphate, married 'Ali's daughter Umm Kulthum. If he had wished, he could have married a neighboring emperor's daughter. But his desire was to be allied to the Prophet's household.

Once Hafsa said to 'Umar: My dear father, from time to time foreign envoys come and you receive embassies. You should change your garment for a new one. 'Umar was shocked by this suggestion and replied: "How can I endure to part company with my two friends, the Prophet and Abu Bakr? I must follow their example so strictly that I can be with them in the Hereafter."

The Messenger and his Companions succeeded in the greater jihad, and their devotion to God was very strong. They spent so much of their time praying that those who saw them thought they did nothing else. But this was not the case, for they led thoroughly balanced lives.

They were very sincere in their deeds, since they did everything for the sake of God and constantly disciplined themselves. Once when 'Umar was giving a sermon, he suddenly said without any apparent reason: "O 'Umar, you were a shepherd pasturing your father's sheep." When asked after the prayer why he had said this, he answered: "It came to my mind that I was the caliph, so I became afraid of feeling proud." One day he was seen carrying a sack upon his back. When asked why he was doing this, he replied: "I felt some pride within me, so I desired to get rid of it." A later caliph, 'Umar Ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, once wrote a letter to a friend and then tore it up. When asked why, he explained: "I prided myself on its eloquence, so I have torn it up."

Only jihad performed by such perfect souls produces effective results. Those who have not abandoned pride, self-regard, and insincerity most probably will damage the cause of Islam greatly. I would like to emphasize that such people will never obtain the desired result.

Some Qur'anic verses or chapters describe both types of jihad. One of them is: When the help of God comes, and victory, and you see men entering God's religion in throngs, then glorify the praise of your Lord, and seek His forgiveness; for He is Relenting, Merciful (110:1–3). When the believers performed the lesser jihad, whether by fighting, preaching, or enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong, God's help and victory came, and people began to enter Islam in throngs. At that moment, the All-Mighty decreed that His praises should be glorified and His forgiveness should be sought. As all success and victory are from God, it is He who must be praised and worshipped.

If we can combine our triumph over the enemy with our triumph over our carnal selves, we will have performed jihad completely. 'A'isha narrates that after the revelation of these verses, the Messenger often recited this prayer: "I glorify You with praise, O God. I seek Your forgiveness, and I turn in repentance to You."

The Prophet expresses these two aspects of jihad together in one of his sayings: "The eyes of two persons will never witness Hellfire: the eyes of the soldier who guards the frontier and on the battlefield, and the eyes of those who shed tears for fear of God." [13] The first person is engaged in the lesser jihad; the latter is engaged in the greater jihad. Those who succeed in their jihad will escape the torment of Hell.

We must consider jihad in its entirety. Those who say one thing and then do another cause nothing but trouble in the ranks of Muslims. Since they cannot discipline themselves and overcome self-regard, ostentation, and the desire to dominate, they bring only disharmony to the cause of Islam. On the other hand, those who live in almost total seclusion and try to attain some high spiritual station without working to promote the truth merely reduce Islam to a "spiritual" system, like certain aspects of yoga. Such people argue that a Muslim's foremost duty is to acquire spiritual maturity so as to be saved from Hell. What they fail to realize is that those who regard themselves as safe from Hell are deceived, for God decrees that we should continue to serve Him as long as we live: And serve your Lord till the inevitable (death) comes unto you (15:99).

Muslims should never regard themselves as safe from the torments of Hell or give up hope of God's grace and forgiveness. They should tremble with fear of God, as 'Umar did. However, this fear should not prevent them from hoping to enter Paradise: But for those who fear the standing before their Lord there are two Gardens (55:46).

In short, jihad consists of self-control and preaching the truth. It requires overcoming one's carnal desires and encouraging others to do the same. Neglecting the former produces social anarchy, while neglecting the latter results in laziness. Today we must achieve a true understanding of Islam in general, and of jihad in particular. This can be realized only through strictly following the Prophet's Sunna.