Reflections On 2008: 13 Important Events To Be Remembered By The Ummah
08-01-2009
Arrahmah Jihad Analysis - Seconds ticked off the clock and turned to minutes,
then to hours, days, weeks and months. The months we had passed clustered to
become a year. Another year had just passed by. We had just left the year
2008/1429 H behind and entered the year 2009/1430 H. There had been a lot of
incidents occurring during the year 2008/1429 H, whether it be in the field of
economics, politics, social, cultural, and so on. The followings are 13
important incidents to be remembered as a reflection for the year 2008:
1. Early in the year of 2008, we were being surprised by the appearance
of a video from the media wing of Al Qaeda, As Sahab. The video with the title
“An Invitation to Reflection and Repentance” presented Adam Gadahn, alias Azzam
Al Amriki, the convert who originated from America and is now a well-known Al
Qaeda fighter. The video was expectedly full of messages and information's,
especially on the exposure of the weakness of the American foreign policy and
the western Christian civilization, as well as their defeat at the hand of Islam
and the Muslims.
The climax of it was when Adam Gadahn, who appeared in a Palestinian red and
white head scarf, took out his American passport from his chest bag, showed it
close up on the camera and then tore it apart, as a form of protest on the
actions of America on the Muslim prisoners.
What made it even more interesting was, in the video Azzam Al Amriki threatened
the Fir'aun of this century, Bush, to be not welcomed with flowers and applause
when visiting Israel, but with bombs. What's unique about it was, the call by
Azzam Al Amriki ‘almost’ materialized at the end of the year 2008 when an Iraqi
reporter, Al Zaidi tossed his shoes at Bush.
2. The next inportant event was the appearance of a film, entitled “Fitna”,
which was the handiwork of a wild Dutch politician, Geert Wilder. This film
created protests and uproar all over the Islamic world. In this short film,
which runs for only a 17 minutes duration, Wilder recreated the cartoon of the
supposed Prophet Muhammad SAW first popularized by the Danish cartoonist from
the Jylands Posten newspaper.
A lot of blasphemies, slanders, and unfounded fears (Islamophobia) were produced
by the maker of this film, who is also an extreme right wing member of
parliaments in Holland. It was later found that Wilder was not satisfied with
the rapid expansion of Islam in his country, and Europe in general. Wilder, like
many other kafirs, was afraid of facing the reality that Islam is the truth and
mercy for all the worlds. Therefore, he created the “Fitna” film.
Wilder in this regard, obviously did not learn from the incident which befell
upon his predecessor, Theo van Gogh who was killed for insulting Islam. Theo van
Gogh made the film, “Submission” which also insulted Islam and ended up in
causing his own death from a stab and seven gunshots.
3. Exactly on 3rd March 2008, it was already 84 years that the Islamic
ummah lived without the shari'ah at state level (under the shade of the Khilafah
Islamiyyah). Surely humiliation, sufferings, and oppression are the orders of
the day for the Islamic ummah when the main 'protector' of the ummah is absent,
namely the Islamic Khilafah. Thank God though, the jihad activity had never
stopped (despite the absence of the Khilafah Islamiyyah) and the Mujahideen all
over the world came forward as defenders of the ummah, though they have to face
abusive remarks and criticisms, as well as accusations of being terrorists,
extremists, etc.
Alhamdulillah, in the global jihad forefront, the Islamic shariah began to be
implemented at state level, such as in the Daulah Islam of Iraq under the
leadership of Amirul Mu'minin Abu Umar Al Baghdady, in the Imarah Islam of
Afghanistan, under the leadership of Amirul Mu'minin Mullah Muhammad Umar, and
in the Daulah Islam of Kaukasus under the leadership of Amirul Mu'minin Dokka
Umarov. We don't know yet who between “the three Umar” would truly soon become
the Amirul Mu'minin of the global Islamic ummah under the shade of an Islamic
Khilafah.
4. The month of April in 2008 had become a month of actions for the
disbandment of the Jamaat Ahmadiyyah of Indonesia (JAI). Calls and actions for
the abolition of the JAI and Ahmadiyyah Movement of Indonesia was made because
the existence of the Ahmadiyah group was obviously deviating from Islam and is
an insult to the Islamic ummah.
The followers of the JAI and Ahmadiyyah Movement of Indonesia are the followers
of a false prophet, Mirza Gulam Ahmad, who was born on the 15th February 1835 AD
and died on the 26th May 1908 AD. Besides claiming to be a prophet and
messenger, Mirza also claimed to be Imam Mahdi, as well as claiming to have
received revelations which they called Tadzkirah. With this “holy” book that he
manufactured, Mirza Ghulam performed the bai'at for his students, misled them
with the teaching of Ahmadiyyah and started to spread out the deviated sect.
Today, the Ahmadiyyah movement that have entered Indonesia since 1935, have
around 200 branches, especially in Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, West
Sumatera, Palembang, Bengkulu, Bali, NTB and others.
The phenomena of the appearance of false prophets in these end times, the likes
of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Ahmad Mosadeq, to Lia Aminuddin who claimed to be Al
Masih and have received revelations from Jibril A.S become an indisputable
indication that there is a conspiracy to destroy Islam, designed by the enemies
of Islam. Various “miraculous” stories were normally imparted to their followers
in order to convince them, whereas those miracles, whether the obvious or not,
were designed and falsified by the enemies of Islam
5. Still in the same month (April) of the year 2008, the Zionist Israel
once again displayed their never ending hostility towards the Muslims of
Palestine. A total of 7 Palestinian citizens were shaheed, including a mother
and four of her children due to the missile attacks in North Gaza by the Zionist
Jewish Israel, whose ancestors were turned into apes and swine.
On Saturday 26th April, the Zionist forces infiltrated the town of Beit Lahiya
in Northern Gaza in an attempt to arrest a local leader of Hamas. The kufar
forces of Zionist Israel broke into the house of the Hamas leader who was also a
leader of the Brigade Izuddin Al Qossam, and managed to capture the Hamas
leader, Talat Hassam Marouf, and shot her 14 year old daughter, Mariam.
6. The Monas incident which occurred on 1st June 2008 became an important
event which should always be remembered by the ummah. In this incident, a
skirmish and fight between al haq and al batil broke out. This incident showed
that, implementing the amar ma'ruf nahi munkar is not an easy task and it is
always full of risks. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Laskar Islam tried
to stop the "National Alliance For Faith And Religious Freedom" (AKKBB)
community who planned to organize an event in support of the deviated group, the
Jamaat Ahmadiyyah of Indonesia (JAI) and Ahmadiyyah Movement of Indonesia.
In that incident, a clash between the FPI plus the Laskar Islam (representing Al
Haq) and AKKBB along with the secular liberalist and pluralists (on the side of
Al Batil) could not be avoided. Post-the Monas incident, the leader of the FPI,
Habib Rizieq together with the leader of Laskar Islam, Munarman had to pay the
heavy price and were forced to accept the authority’s cruelty to be made as
suspects and finally detained to these days. A price that was not cheap from the
noble deed of amar ma'ruf nahi munkar.
7. The eight incident happened on the 8th of August 2008, namely the
opening of the Beijing Olympics by the Chinese government. All eyes were fixed
on the country of the Bamboo Curtain, where they were considered as successful
as a host country for the sports event of an international level. At the same
time, the Muslim community in the province of Xinjiang was exposed to oppression
and tyranny from the same government.
14 centuries ago, during the time of Khalifah Utsman bin Affan, Sa'ad bin Abi
Waqqas was sent to China and he had to go through a distance of about 5000 miles
to spread the tawheed. This journey was later known as the “Silk Route” where
the countries they passed through were decorated with Islamic da’wah until Islam
was spread to every part of China. Presently the parts of China which have the
highest Muslim population are Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Yunnan and the province
of Henan which have a total population of about 150 millions, with about 30
thousands masjids.
Unfortunately, between the year 1949 and 1965 the communist regime of Mao
slaughtered 26 million Muslims in the North West of China, and the rest were
left to starve and die. In 1964 the regulations of the Chinese government forced
the Muslims in the province of Xiang to be abused as guinea pigs in a nuclear
test, and as a result the people from the regions were found dead due to
diseases, and more than 20,000 children were born deformed.
Up till now, the oppression and tyranny by the Chinese government upon the
Muslims community have never stopped. The policy of racism and mass murder by
the Chinese government on the Chinese Muslim keep on going. Even in the month of
August in 2006 the police forcefully entered the house of a Muslimah, Aminan
Momixi during an Al Qur'an teaching session with her 37 students. She and her
students who averagely aged around 7 years old were all arrested.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics organized by the Chinese government was nothing but a
camouflage to cover up the facts about the Muslims in China who were oppressed
and tyrannized on the daily basis by them.
8. In October, a liberal minded woman, Amina Wadud stirred a controversy
again. This liberal thinking woman had already appalled the Islamic world before
in 2005, by leading a Friday prayer which was attended by around 100 male and
female jamaa'ah in a cathedral church at Sundram Tagore Gallery 137 Grene
Street, New York.
In October 2008, this writer of a book titled “Qur'an and Woman : Rereading the
Sacred Text from a woman's Perspective”, she once again organized a similar
event, an act of worship that had never been done in all of the 1400 years
period of Islamic history, namely becoming an imam and at the same time a
khateeb for the Friday prayer. This time, Wadud (Mardud) held the event in the
Muslim Educational Center in Oxford with a mixed male and female ma’mum or
jamaa'ah, and of course she was also the one to give the short khutbah to the
jamaa'ah in the hall of the MEC (Muslim Educational Center), Oxford. This Amina
Wadud-style firday prayer became an opening ceremony for the conference on Islam
and feminism which was held in Wolfson College, Oxford.
The hidden agenda of Amina Wadud was clear, namely an attack by the Western
culture through the idea of liberal feminism. The West's attempt to liberalize
Islam are accomplished by means of interpreting Islam (including hadith) using
the view points of feminism. The irony is that, the West's attack on Islam
through the idea of liberal feminism and other secular ideas, is considered as
religious reformations. The proponents of religious reformations entered through
the doors of fiqh (jurisprudence) renovation as one of their agendas. Amina
Wadud had really insulted Islam. Allah SWT speaks about the people who insulted
Islam as the leader of kufr in which this title is surely even worse than just
simply being kufr.
9. In November, there are three important events which attracted the
attentions of the world, firstly was the appointment of Barrack Obama as the
44th president of the USA. This event happened on the 4th of November 2008.
The irony was that, the world population greeted the victory of Obama with
happiness, the same goes with a part of the Islamic ummah who were deceived and
did not know the personality of the real Barack Obama.
Alhamdulillah, not long after that, Al Qaeda through As Sahab Media released a
video which contained a clarification from Hakimul Ummat, Sheikh Ayman Az
Zawahiri about who Barack Obama really was. The video with the title "Dzahaba
Bush wa Majiy Obama" compared in an interesting way, the two characters that
appeared the same but in reality are not, ie. between Barack Obama and Malcom X.
Even though Barack Obama and Malcom X both came from the same race (negro), and
both of them are known as great orators, charming, full of charismas and liked
by many people, however their iman and eventual choice of their lives are not
immediately similar. Guidance and hidayah are obviously the absolute rights and
wishes of Allah SWT to be given to whoever He likes.
Barack Obama had chosen to become a Christian despite being born of a Muslim
father. He also proved his loyalty (Al Wala, as well as Al Bara) by defending
with all efforts the “golden child” of America, ie. the Zionist Jews, and
attacking the Muslims of Palestine. Barack Obama had showed that being born of a
Muslim father was not a guarantee that one would later become a Muslim and be on
the side of Islam and the Muslims. Meanwhile, a Malcom X was born of a Christian
father, but in the end he became a righteous Muslim by the will of Allah, and
struggled for the establishment of Islam, in fact he even died fighting for
Islam.
10. The second important event in November took place five days after the
victory of Obama, ie. on the 9th November 2008 to be exact. The trio Bali
Bombing Mujahid were executed in the Nusakambangan Prison.
When daytime approached on that day, an SMS from the wife of Ash Shaheed (Insya
Allah) Imam Samudra circulated amongst the Muslim community. The following was
the content: "Bismillah, I bear witness that Abdul Aziz bin Syihabuddin bin
Nakhail Imam Samudra qudamah is SHAHEED. His face is fresh, the scent is sweet
like we had never smelt before. Alhamdulillah."
His younger brother, Lulu Jamaluddin also bore witness : "The Janaza of my
brother was so fragrant the moment he was taken out from the casket." he said
from their house at Lopang Gede, Serang. Meanwhile, the older brother of Imam
Samudra, Khoirul Anwar who took part in the lowering of the janaza into the
grave was mesmerized the moment he saw his brother for the last time. "His face
was like a young child who had just been given sweets. Like a baby who had just
been washed by the midwife," he said. "His face was in happiness and clean. His
lips appeared smiling," Khairul said further.
Meanwhile, in Lamongan, or Tenggulun to be exact, it was said that sweet
fragrance dispersed all over inside the hall when the funeral prayer was
performed. "The sweet fragrance filled the air inside the hall. Both Mujahids
appeared smiling and their faces were clean, so clean indeed, and also more
handsome. Allahu Akbar!"
The next day, the photos of the three Ash Shaheed (Insya Allah) decorated the
local and international Islamic websites and became hot topics of discussion
even to these days.
11. The third important incident in November which also attracted the
attention at the end of 2008 was the Mumbai Incident. A group which called
themselves the Deccan Mujahideen was said to have carried out the attacks which
began on Wednesday night, 26th November around 10:00 hr after grabbing a
fisherman boat, and straight away entered the city of Mumbai and took control of
a few locations which were always visited by foreigners such as hotels, cafés,
and transportation facilities. The Jewish house of worship (the Nariman), Hotel
Taj Mahal and Hotel Oberoi were the three most destroyed places in the attacks
where the executors used AK 47 automatic weapons, hand grenades and bombs.
The number of victims in the incident which lasted for 160 hours was more than
180 people dead including dozens of Mumbai police, foreigners from America, UK
and Israel, as well as nine attackers. It took quite a long time for the special
forces of India, or the National Security Guard (NSG) to finally liberate Hotel
Taj Mahal which was the last place they managed to free on Saturday morning,
29th November.
The Indian national media reported that they received a fax from the Deccan
Mujahideen who claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, the government
of India rejected the statement and pointed a finger at a Pakistani militant
group, the Laskhar e-Taiba, who are blamed as the culprit behind the incident in
the famous commercial and tourism city of India. Until this article was written,
there had not been any official release on the jihad websites on the name of the
Mujahideen to claim responsibility on the Mumbai Incident.
12. The Best Shoes in The World. Thus how Sheikh Anwar al Awlaki named
the pair of shoes which became the hottest incident at the end of the year,
namely the incident of “The Flying Shoes”. In fact he even said: "If anyone
knows the make of the journalist’s shoes, please give us the information. We
really like to buy them, as a form of our solidarity with that of our brother!"
“The Flying Shoes” incident took place when President George W Bush was on a
farewell visit to Iraq. It was in the press conference with the puppet PM of
Iraq, Nuri al Maliki, in the PM’s office in Baghdad, that a courageous
journalist, Muntadar Al Zaidi tossed a pair of his shoes (said to be of sized
10) towards Bush when Bush was giving his reports about the development of the
war in Iraq on the last days of his presidency.
Too bad, the shoes missed the target. Many people wished that Bush could not
have dodged the flying shoes. This was going to be once in a lifetime event, a
chance many people dreamt of doing, a farewell greeting that would never be
forgotten by Bush.
Al Zaidi, the correspondent from Al Baghdadi TV which had an office in Cairo,
did not only throw a pair of his shoes at Bush from a distance of less than 7
meters, he also shouted "This is a farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the
widows, orphans and those you killed in Iraq."
Bush had daydreamt before that America would be greeted in the street of Baghdad
with flowers. However, seven years later, what he received were not banquets of
flowers, but curses and flying shoes.
Bush, through the terrorist state of America had spent budgets of around 567
million dollars and 150,000 troops had been sent to Iraq for almost 5 years and
9 months. Now Bush began to regret over his decision on Iraq, especially after
learning about the losses their forces had suffered at the hand of the Iraqi
Mujahideen.
13. Approaching the Islamic new year, the Islamic ummah were grieving.
The Zionist regime of Israel on Saturday (27/12) launched a big scale attack on
Gaza. The invading regime mobilized F16 jet fighters and Apache helicopters to
slaughter the citizens of Gaza who were already helpless after a blockade had
been imposed on them for over a year.
Strikes after strikes are still unleashed up till now. To date, the total number
of victims had reached 640 Palestinians killed and more than 2000 Gazans
wounded.
Anyone witnessing the conditions of Palestine, Masjidil Aqsha, the place of Isra
Mi'raj of Prophet Muhammad SAW, today, would surely be sad. The aggression from
the cursed invaders, namely the Jews, happens every day in the blessed land. The
kind of condition Palestine is exposed to has made it compulsory for all Muslims
to perform jihad.
Sheikhul Jihad, Abdullah Azzam said that the honor of Palestine will never come
back by speeches alone. Sheikh Usamah bin Ladin said that America would never
dream of peace until we really feel it in Palestine. Sheikh Ayman Az Zawahiri,
issued a message with the title "Palestine is our business and the business of
every Muslims". Sheikh Abu Mush'ab Az Zarqawi said: "Indeed, we are fighting in
Iraq, while our eyes are aimed at Baitul Maqdis".
Thus, the 13 Important Events That Should Be Remembered By The Ummah;
Reflections on 2008. We don’t know what would happen in 2009. It’s just that, it
is important for the ummah to review the incidents that had happened and reflect
on the hikmah (wisdom) behind them. A reflection is one of the ways to show our
thankful (shukr) to Allah and praise Him for every mercy (rahmah) and help He
had given to this dien in the time of hardships. Insha Allah!
By: M. Fachry
International Jihad Analysis
Ar Rahmah Media
Network
http://www.arrahmah.com
The State of Islamic Media
© 2008 Ar Rahmah Media Network
Translated by A Mujahid
Submitted by a Mujahid