Why Islam only true Deen *Religion

The one significant issue, which rises in most of the minds and vexes the tender feelings of the heart, is that common moral values are identical in all the religions (especially in the widely accepted religions). All the religions assert not to tell a lie; not to steal; to be honest; not to deprive others of their rights etc. Islam. Also proclaims the same then what is that distinctive feature on the basis of which we assert: - that Islam is the only true Deen; that no other Deen is acceptable to God; that salvation and auspiciousness is tied to Islam; And therefore it is necessary that all followers of religions should accept Islam. The Significant Question If the specificity, on the basis of which Islam is entitled to make this claim, is the same values, then this privilege ought to be extended to every religion of the world. This would not be a reasonable attitude that the qualities on the basis of which we adjudge Islam as Deen-Ul-Haq (the right Deen), are ignored in case of claim of other religions.

What Is Deen *Religion

Basic misconception in this regard is that Deen is thought to be no more than an ethical code. Deen is not the collection of a few moral values; it is a comprehensive system of life covering all aspects of human life. The moral values become operative within this system, or in other words this system provides that sound base on which the edifice of these moral values is established. Did you ever ponder over this phenomenon that the whole world says that telling a lie is bad; dishonesty is intensely opprobrious; deception is very contemptible misdemeanor but in spite of all this the whole world tell lies; corruption is rampant every where; cheating is in full swing.  The question is why is this all happening? In spite of condemning and cursing all these things why has man taken to them? Considering these acts the most detestable and opprobrious why is he not refraining from them? Its reason is that either the people acknowledge these moral values just as of formality or they have their foundation on emotions alone. They know nothing as to why these values should be followed and why should they not be violated. You ask a person to satisfy you as to why you should not tell a lie. Going a little deeper than superficial talk, you would realize that he has no reasonable reply to this question. With all the reason and rhyme at his command, he would not be able to respond to the why of your question.  He will not be able to explain to you rationally what would you loose by telling lies and which gain you would accrue by speaking the truth. And since man adopts only that which gives him gain and abandons that which causes him loss, therefore his acquiescence to this effect is either simply traditional or imitation or the product of emotional inclinations. He neither develops insight of these values  nor rationally makes them the way of his life. Deen provides those basic concepts, which conspicuously bring forth the purpose and ultimate aim of human life. The purpose of life defines the proper value of every thing and when these values are identified it can very easily be understood which one is profit bearing and which one is loss accruing; which one is higher and which one is lower on the continuum of values.

Desire to Action

Deen, along with these basic concepts, provides the practical system through which these theoretical values take the form of reality and then the man within their concrete results sees of his own, how gainful or harmful it is to act or not according to these values. Being affected by this, his emotions and feelings follow the proper channel for their own operation and since emotions are the impetus of actions, his life synchronizes with these higher values. This is called the exaltation of character and neatness of conduct. Bear it in mind that human activities pass through three phases: - namely a desire takes birth in your heart; this desire awakes in the heart involuntarily, you have no reason, rhyme or rationale for it; it relates purely to the emotions; then you present it to the intellect. If your emotions are intense, your intellect thinks or the means to accomplish it and provide justified reasons for it. But if your intellect overpowers your emotions, it then makes comparison between gain and loss, and if it sees that the gain to be accrued is greater it decides to accomplish the desire. Now your desire transforms into your wish; then your will power comes in to play, and takes practical steps to actualize your desire. In this phase, your WISH takes the form of your WILL. But the human intellect, even if not operating under the command of emotions can maximally decide the gain or loss of that person, it cannot decide whether the desire is fair or foul. In other words, the human intellect can only inform the person concerned as to which thing is profitable to him and which one will bring him loss. It can make no distinction between good and evil. This distinction can only be possible in the presence of values, and as narrated earlier, it is the concept of life that determines the values.

Concept of Life

How does the concept of life (right or wrong) change the perspective of human vision and define the direction of his activities, we need not to go anywhere far to understand it. Every one complains today that falsehood; deception, cunningness, betrayal, corruption, bribery, injustice, oppression, extortion and exploitation are prevailing in the world. It looks as if, without any exception of zones or inhabitants, the germs of these diseases have spread all over the globe like an epidemic. Did you ever ponder over the cause thereof? Ills were also there in the days gone by, but these were not so general and comprehensive. With a little pondering, this reality will be established that its basic cause is the concept of life which, in the 19th century, emerged in the West and due to the general and global means of communication spread to ever nook and corner of the world. All these ills/miseries are the product of this concept. This concept of life was that the human life is only the physical life and laws governing the life and the death at the animal level apply to man also. Survival of the fittest is the immutable law of nature. According to this law, only the one wielding the maximal scepter of authority and power has the right to live. How was this authority and power acquired is no question. The poor and the weak and the powerless can be allowed to live only to become victual of the powerful. Every big fish devours the smaller one. Insects are born to be the food of the sparrows and the sparrows consequently breathe only to be the prey of the eagles. This is the law of nature, the constitution of life. It is according to this law that the decisions on the life and death of individuals as well as Nations are made. “ Might is right” is the exigency of justice. Lion is the king of jungle, not the goat. If the lion eats the goat, the goat cannot make complain that it is the victim of oppression. The animals live by instincts which, though many in number can generally be classified into three categories: Self-preservation, Self-assertion and Self-procreation. When the human life is not valued higher than that of the animal level, obviously every individual would work under these very instincts, and then there would be no room for the moral values.

Nationalism

According to the civilization raised on this concept, national character would be regarded as highest character. Thinking deeply you would realize that the national character is, also, the product of animal instinct. Herd instinct is in the very nature of animals. Every animal finds its preservation in living with its herd. This is the only urge on which a nation comes into being and endures. Prosperity and well-being of one's own nation becomes the highest values for the individual; the greatest patriot becomes the one who squeezes out the last drop of blood of other nations and decorates the magnificent edifice of one's own nation with the gaudiness of this blood. For him, the question of being honest or dishonest or the question of falsehood and truth does never arise. The one who starts giving mind to these values cannot perform the affairs of the state. In the words of Walpole: “No great country was ever saved by good men, because good men will not go to the length that may be necessary to save a nation.” In this connection, what these patriots have to say, the reproduction of the words of the reputed Italian thinker, Cavour are sufficient. He says. “If we did for ourselves what we do for our country, what rascals we should be.” Did you observe how a change in the concept of life brings changes in the individual and collective life, and how does the concept of life influence  every walk of life? The reason that the moral values are still being theoretically appreciated today is that the man has, up till now, not been able to erase his sub-conscience free from the binding effects of the past.  If this concept pervaded any further into the next few generations, even the concept of these values will be wiped off from his mind and its verbal confession will also remain no more. Its signs and symptoms have started surfacing right from now.  Our younger generation ridicules these values by calling them mere conservatism. Islam provides such concepts on which the whole edifice of human life is raised and where every aspect of life is embodiment of higher values. These concepts are not found in any religion of the world leave aside atheism (religious ness). These are only the characteristics of Islam, which entitles it to become the system of life established on right lines and surety to human achievement and prosperity. These concepts fall into the following headings: -

Concept of God

Relationship between God and Man. Relationship between Man and Universe. Relationship between Man and Man. Relationship between Actions and their Consequences. Concept of the ultimate object of life. In the next pages, these concept will be discussed briefly and it will be explained as to what is the nature of these concepts in the well known religions (Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity) and what type of concepts the Holy Quran reflects; and what scenario of human life is established on these concepts. Be very clear that the comparative study of religions is not my aim at present; I'll only narrate the fundamental tenets found on these concepts in these religions. This may also be clarified that our belief is that proper and true teachings were revealed to all the messengers of the Almighty God on their own turns but these teachings are now not found in their pristine form in the so-called heavenly books available among the followers of these religions. Whatever is described of these concepts will therefore be based on the existing documents of these religions and not on that pristine and real message which is not found now with any of them. The detail of this resume will be found in the first chapter of my book in Urdu Mairaj-e-Insaniat, in which, according to the researches of the followers of these religions, it has been dealt with at length, wherein it has been explained that according to researches of the followers of these religion the pristine message of those religions is not found among any one of them now; but since they lay down their existing message as the knowledge base of their religions, the current teachings about these concepts will be projected. Except this, there can be no other alternative left for us.

Some Basic Characteristics of Islam

George Bernard Shaw is reported to have said:

"I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phases of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man - and in my opinion far from being an Antichrist, he must be called the Savior of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it much needed peace and happiness. I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today."

The question is, what are those characteristics of Islam which have won millions of followers to the Faith in the past and which make it so appealing to the modern age? Some of the major characteristics of Islam are given in the following pages.

Simplicity, Rationality and Practicality. Islam is a religion without any mythology. Its teachings are simple and intelligible. It is free from superstitions and irrational beliefs. The oneness of Allah, the prophet hood of Muhammad, and the concept of life after death are the basic articles of its faith. They are based on reason and sound logic. All of the teachings of Islam flow from those basic beliefs and are simple and straightforward. There is no hierarchy of priests, no farfetched abstractions, no complicated rites and rituals. Everybody may approach the Qur'an directly and translate its dictates into practice. Islam awakens in man the faculty of reason and exhorts him to use his intellect. It enjoins him to see things in the light of reality. The Qur'an advises him to pray: O, my Lord! Advance me in knowledge (20:1 14). It asserts that those who have no knowledge are not equal to those who have (39:9), that those who do not observe and understand are worse than cattle (7:179), that the meanings of revelation become manifest to those who have knowledge (6:97) and who have understanding (6:98), that whosoever has been given knowledge indeed has been given an abundant good (2:269), that the basic qualifications for leadership are, among other things, knowledge and physical strength (2:247), and that of all things it is by virtue of knowledge that man is superior to angels and has been made vicegerent of Allah on earth (2:30).

The Prophet of Islam said: "He who leaves his home in search of knowledge walks in the path of Allah" (Tirmidhi and Darimi) and "To seek knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim" (Ibn Majah and Bayhaqi). This is how Islam brings man out of the world of superstition and darkness and initiates him into the world of knowledge and light.

Again, Islam is a practical religion and does not allow indulgence in empty and futile theorizing. It says that faith is not a mere profession of beliefs, but rather that it is the very mainspring of life. Righteous conduct must follow belief in Allah. Religion is something to be practiced and not an object of mere lip-service. The Qur'an says:

Those who believe and act righteously, joy is for them, and a blissful home to return to. (13: 29)

And the Prophet Muhammad said:

"Allah does not accept belief if it is not expressed in deeds, and does not accept deeds if they do not conform to belief." (Tabarani)

Thus Islam is a simple, rational and practical religion.

Unity of Matter and Spirit. A unique feature of Islam is that it does not divide life into watertight compartments of matter and spirit. It stands not for denial of life but for the fulfillment of life. Islam does not believe in asceticism. It does not ask man to avoid material things. It holds that spiritual elevation is to be achieved by living piously in the rough and tumble of life, not by renouncing the world. The Qur'an advises us to pray as follows:

"Our Lord! Give us something fine in this world as well as something fine in the Hereafter." (2:201)

Allah strongly censures those who refuse to benefit from His blessings. The Qur'an says:

Say: "Who has forbidden Allah's finery which He has produced for His servants and the wholesome things from (His) provision?" (7:32)

Islam's injunction is:

Eat and drink, but do not be extravagant. (7:31)

The Prophet said:

"A Muslim who lives in the midst of society and bears with patience the afflictions that come to him is better than the one who shuns society and cannot bear any wrong done to him."

And:

"Keep fast and break it (at the proper time) and stand in prayer and devotion (in the night) and have sleep - for your body has its rights over you, and your eyes rights over you, and your wife has a claim upon you, and the person who pays a visit to you has a claim upon you."

On another occasion he said:

"These three things are also enjoined upon the faithful: (a) to help others, even when one is economically hard-pressed, (b) to pray ardently for the peace of all mankind, and (c) to administer justice to one's own self."

Thus Islam does not admit any separation between "material" and "moral," "mundane" and "spiritual" life, and enjoins man to devote all of his energies to the reconstruction of life on healthy moral foundations. It teaches him that moral and material powers must be welded together and that spiritual salvation can be achieved by using material resources for the good of man in the service of just ends and not by living a life of asceticism or by running away from the challenges of life.

The world has suffered at the hands of the one-sidedness of many other religions and ideologies. Some have laid emphasis on the spiritual side of life but have ignored its material and mundane aspects. They have looked upon the world as an illusion, a deception, and a trap. On the other hand, materialistic ideologies have totally ignored the spiritual and moral side of life and have dismissed it as fictitious and imaginary. Both of these attitudes have resulted in disaster, for they have robbed mankind of peace, contentment, and tranquillity. Even today, the imbalance is manifested in one or the other direction. The French scientist Dr. De Brogbi rightly says: "The danger inherent in too intense a material civilization is to that civilization itself; it is the disequilibrium which would result if a parallel development, of the spiritual life were to fail to provide the needed balance."

Christianity erred on one extreme, whereas modern western civilization, in both of its variants of secular capitalistic democracy and Marxist socialism, has erred on the other. According to Lord Snell:

"We have built a nobly-proportioned outer structure, but we have neglected the essential requirement of an inner order; we have carefully designed, decorated and made clean the outside of the cup; but the inside was full of extortion and excess; we used our increased knowledge and power to administer to the comforts of the body, but we left the spirit impoverished ."

Islam seeks to establish an equilibrium between these two aspects of life - the material and the spiritual. It says that everything in the world is for man, but man was created to serve a higher purpose: the establishment of a moral and just order that will fulfill the will of Allah. Its teachings cater to the spiritual as well as the temporal needs of man. Islam enjoins man to purify his soul and to reform his daily life - both individual and collective - and to establish the supremacy of right over might and of virtue over vice. Thus Islam stands for the middle path and the goal of producing a moral man in the service of a just society.

A Complete Way of Life. Islam is not a religion in the common and distorted sense, for it does not confine its scope to one's private life. It is a complete way of life and is present in every field of human existence. Islam provides guidance for all aspects of life - individual and social, material and moral, economic and political, legal and cultural, and national and international. The Qur'an enjoins man to embrace Islam without any reservation and to follow Allah's guidance in all areas of life. In fact, it was an unfortunate day when the scope of religion was confined to the private life of man and its social and cultural role was reduced to naught, as has happened in this century. No other factor, perhaps, has been more important in causing the decline of religion in the modern age than its retreat into the realm of private life. In the words of a modern philosopher:

"Religion asks us to separate things of Allah from those of Caesar. Such a judicial separation between the two means the degrading of both the secular and the sacred ... That religion is worth little if the conscience of its followers is not disturbed when war clouds are hanging over us all and industrial conflicts are threatening social peace. Religion has weakened man's social conscience and moral sensitivity by separating the things of Allah from those of Caesar."

Islam totally denounces this concept of religion and clearly states that its objectives are the purification of the soul and the reform and reconstruction of society. As we read in the Qur'an:

We have sent our messengers with explanations, and sent the book and the balance down with them, so that mankind may conduct themselves with all fairness. We have sent down iron wherein is great violence as well as benefits for mankind, so that Allah may know who is supporting Him and His messenger even though (He is) unseen. (57:25)

Discretion belongs only to Allah. He has ordered you to serve Him alone; such is the right religion, even though most men do not realize it. ( 1 2: 40)

(Muslims are) those who, if We establish them in the land will keep up prayer (salah) and pay the welfare due (zakah); command what is proper and forbid what is improper. (22:40-41)

The Holy Prophet said:

"Each of you is a keeper or a shepherd and will be questioned about the well-being of his fold. The head of the state will be questioned about the well-being of the people of the state. Each man is a shepherd to his family and will be answerable about every member of it. Each woman is a shepherd to the family of her husband and will be accountable for every member of it. And each servant is a shepherd to his master and will be questioned about the property of his master." (Bukhari and Muslim)

Thus even a cursory study of the teachings of Islam shows that it is an all-embracing way of life and does not leave out any field of human existence to become a playground for the forces of evil. Balance between the Individual and Society. Another unique feature of Islam is that it establishes a balance between individualism and collectivism. It believes in the individual personality of man and holds everyone personally accountable to Allah. It guarantees the fundamental rights of the individual and does not permit anyone to tamper with them. It makes the proper development of the personality of man one of the prime objectives of its educational policy. It does not subscribe to the view that man must lose his individuality in society or in the state.

According to the Qur'an:

Man shall have nothing but what he strives for. (53:39)

And whatever suffering you suffer, it is what your hands have wrought. (42:30)

Allah does not change what any people have until they change what is in themselves. (13:11)

Allah only assigns to a soul what it can cope with: in its favor stands whatever it has earned, while it is held responsible for anything it has brought upon itself. (2:286)

For us are our deeds and for you are yours. (28:55)

On the other hand, it also awakens a sense of social responsibility in man, organizes human beings in a society and a state, and enjoins the individual to subscribe to the social good. Prayer, in Islam, is offered in congregation, a situation that inculcates social discipline among Muslims. Everyone is enjoined to pay zakah, and it has been laid down in the Quran that:

The beggar and the destitute have due rights in their (i.e., the rich man's) wealth. (51:19)

Jihad has been made obligatory, which means that the individual should, when the occasion arises, offer his life for the defense and protection of Islam and the Islamic state. The Prophet said:

"All mankind is a fold, each member of which shall be a keeper or shepherd to every other, and be accountable for the entire fold."

"Live together; do not turn against each other; make things easy for others and do not put obstacles in each other's way."

"He is not a believer who takes his fill while his neighbor starves. "

"The believer in Allah is he who is not a danger to the life and property of any other."

In short, Islam neglects neither the individual nor society - it establishes a harmony and a balance between the two and assigns to each its proper due. Universality and Humanism. The message of Islam is for the whole of the human race. Allah, in Islam, is the Allah of all the world (Qur'an 1:1) and the Prophet is a Messenger for the whole of mankind. In the words of the Quran:

O People! I am but a Messenger from Allah to you all. (7:158)

We have sent you only as a mercy for everybody in the universe. (21:107)

In Islam, all men are equal, regardless of color, language, race, or nationality. It addresses itself to the conscience of humanity and banishes all false barriers of race, status, and wealth. There can be no denying the fact that such barriers have always existed and continue to exist today in the so-called enlightened age. Islam removes all of these impediments and proclaims the ideal of the whole of humanity being one family of Allah.

Islam is international in its outlook and approach and does not admit barriers and distinctions based on color, clan, blood, or territory, as was the case before the advent of Muhammad. Unfortunately, these prejudices remain rampant in different forms even in this modern age. Islam wants to unite the entire human race under one banner. To a world torn by national rivalries and feuds, it presents a message of life and hope and of a glorious future.

The historian, A. J. Toynbee, has some interesting observations to make in this respect. In Civilization on Trial, he writes:

"Two conspicuous sources of danger - one psychological and the other material - in the present relations of this cosmopolitan proletariat, i.e., [westernised humanity] with the dominant element in our modern Western society are race consciousness and alcohol; and in the struggle with each of these evils the Islamic spirit has a service to render which might prove, if it were accepted, to be of high moral and social value.

"The extinction of race consciousness between Muslims is one of the outstanding moral achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue ... It is conceivable that the spirit of Islam might be the timely reinforcement which would decide this issue in favor of tolerance and peace.

"As for the evil of alcohol, it is at its worst among primitive populations in tropical regions which have been 'opened up' by Western enterprise ... the fact remains that even the most statesmanlike preventive measures imposed by external authority are incapable of liberating a community from a social vice unless a desire for liberation and a will to carry this desire into voluntary action on its own part are awakened in the hearts of the people concerned. Now Western administrators, at any rate those of 'Anglo-Saxon' origin, are spiritually isolated from their 'native' wards by the physical 'color bar' which their race-consciousness sets up; the conversion of the natives' souls is a task to which their competence can hardly be expected to extend; and it is at this point that Islam may have a part to play.

"In these recently and rapidly 'opened up' tropical territories, the Western civilization has produced an economic and political plenum and, in the same breath, a social and spiritual void ...

"Here, then, in the foreground of the future, we can remark two valuable influences which Islam may exert upon the cosmopolitan proletariat of a Western society that has cast its net around the world and embraced the whole of mankind; while in the more distant future we may speculate on the possible contributions of Islam to some new manifestation of religion."

Permanence and Change. The elements of permanence and change coexist in human society and culture and are bound to remain so. Different ideologies and cultural systems have erred in leaning heavily towards one or other of these ends of the equation. Too much emphasis on permanence makes the system rigid and robs it of flexibility and progress, while a lack of permanent values and unchanging elements generate moral relativism, shapelessness, and anarchy.

What is needed is a balance between the two-a system that could simultaneously cater for the demands of permanence and change. An American judge, Mr. Justice Cardozo, rightly says "that the greatest need of our time is a philosophy that will mediate between conflicting claims of stability and progress and supply a principle of growth." Islam presents an ideology which satisfies the demands of stability as well as of change.

Deeper reflection reveals that life has within it elements of permanence and change - it is neither so rigid and inflexible that it cannot admit of any change even in matters of detail, nor it is so flexible and fluid that even its distinctive traits have no permanent character of their own. This becomes clear from observing the process of physiological change in the human body, for every tissue of the body changes a number of times in one's lifetime even though the person remains the same. A tree's leaves, flowers, and fruits change but its character remains unchanged. It is a law of life that elements of permanence and change must co-exist in a harmonious equation. Only such a system of life that can provide for both these elements can meet all of the cravings of human nature and all of the needs of human society. The basic problems of life remain the same in all ages and climes, but the ways and means to solve them as well as the techniques of handling the phenomenon undergo change with the passage of time. Islam brings to focus a new perspective on this problem and tries to solve it in a realistic way.

The Quran and the Sunnah contain the eternal guidance given by the Lord of the universe. This guidance comes from Allah, Who is free from the limitations of space and time and, as such, the principles of individual and social behavior revealed by Him are based on reality and are eternal. But Allah has revealed only broad principles and has endowed man with the freedom to apply them in every age in the way suited to the spirit and conditions of that age. It is through ijtihad (intellectual effort to arrive at the truth) that people of every age try to implement and apply the divine guidance to the problems of their times. Thus the basic guidance is of a permanent nature, while the method of its application can change in accordance with the peculiar needs of every age. That is why Islam always remains as fresh and modern as tomorrow's morn.

Complete Record of Teachings Preserved. Last, but not least, is the fact that the teachings of Islam have been preserved in their original form. As a result, Allah's guidance is available without adulteration of any kind. The Qur'an is the revealed book and word of Allah, which has been in existence for the last fourteen hundred years. It is still available in its original form. Detailed accounts of the life of the Prophet and of his teachings are available in their pristine purity. There has not been even one change made in this unique historic record. The sayings and the entire record of the life of the Prophet have been handed down to us with unprecedented precision and authenticity in works of the hadith and the sirah. Even a number of non-Muslim critics admit this eloquent fact. Professor Reynold A. Nicholson, in his A Literary History of the Arabs, says:

"The Koran is an exceedingly human document, reflecting every phase of Muhammad's personality and standing in close relation to the outward events of his life; so that there we have materials of unique and incontestable authority for tracing the origin and early development of Islam, such materials as do not exist in the case of Buddhism or Christianity or any other ancient religion."

These are some of the unique features of Islam that establish its credentials as the religion of man the religion of today and the religion of tomorrow. These aspects have appealed to millions of people in the past and the present and have made them affirm that Islam is the religion of truth and the right path for mankind. There is no doubt that these aspects will continue to appeal to even more people in the future. Men with pure hearts and sincere longing for truth will always continue to say:

"I affirm that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, that He is One, sharing His authority with no one, and I affirm that Muhammad is His Servant and His Prophet."

Prophet hood and Life after Death

The second part of the kalimah, on the other hand, signifies that Allah has not left man without any guidance for the conduct of his life. He has revealed His guidance through His prophets, and Muhammad was the last prophet. To believe in a prophet means to believe in the revelation that he has received, to accept the law that was transmitted to him by Allah, and to follow the code of conduct that he was instructed to pass on to humanity. Thus the second basic postulate of Islam is to believe in the prophet hood of Muhammad, to accept the religion that he presented, and to follow his commands and his example.

Every prophet of Allah, according to the Qur'an, strove to build man's relationship with Allah on the principle of His sovereignty and the individual's acknowledgment of the authority of the Prophet as a source of divine guidance. Every one of them said: "I am to you Allah's apostle, worthy of all trust. So be committed to Allah, heed Him, and obey me."

The guidance is revealed through the prophets. It is a part of their mission to translate it into practice in their own lives and in the society they try to reform. All of the prophets are representatives of Allah, but they are human beings and their lives are models for mankind. Muhammad, since he was the last prophet, is the final model for mankind. To believe in him as a prophet of Allah means to accept his authority as representative of the Supreme Ruler and to follow his example in thought and behavior. The code of behavior, the standard that determines rightness or otherwise (halal or haram) of any particular thing, was revealed to the Prophet and is known as the Shari'ah (the path). Belief in the Prophet involves acceptance of the Shari'ah and the attempt to implement it in all matters of daily life. This is how the will of Allah is fulfilled on earth. The Qur'an says:

We have not sent any Messenger but that he was to be obeyed with Allah's permission. (4:64)

And about the Prophet, it is explicitly stated that:

Yet by your Lord, they will never believe until they make you a judge concerning what they are disputing among themselves; then they will find no inconvenience for themselves concerning whatever you have decided and submit completely. (4:65)

The test of one's acceptance of Allah and His Prophet lies in conducting all human affairs in accordance with the Law revealed to them:

And those who do not judge by what Allah has sent down are disbelievers. (5:44)

Thus belief in Allah and His Prophet means commitment to obey them and to fashion individual and collective life in the light of the law and the guidance that Allah revealed to His Prophet.

This automatically raises the question: Are those who follow the law and those who refuse to accept or abide by it on the same level of existence? Are they going to be treated in the same way? What are the consequences of differing attitudes and behaviors? This brings us to the third basic postulate of Islam: belief in the Hereafter.

The world, according to Islam, is a place of trial, and man is being judged in it. One day, he will have to give an account of all that he did during his lifetime. After his death, he will be resurrected in a new world, and it is here that he will be rewarded or punished for his deeds and misdeeds. Those who live a life of obedience to the Lord in the present world will enjoy eternal bliss in the Hereafter, and those who disobey His commands will have to face the bitter fruits of their disobedience. According to the Quran:

And every man's deeds have We fastened around his neck, and on the day of resurrection will We bring forth a book which shall be proffered to him wide open: (It will be said to him) "Read your record: This day there need be none but yourself to make out an account against you." (17: 13-14)

Whoever comes with a good deed, for him there shall be the like of it tenfold, while whoever comes with an ill-deed, he shall be required with only one like it, and they shall not be treated unjustly. (6:160)

Thus the basic articles of Islamic faith are: (a) belief in the oneness of Allah, (b) belief in the prophets and in the guidance that they bequeathed, (c) belief in the angels, (d) belief in the books, (e) belief in the Day of Judgment, and (f) belief in fate. Whoever professes these beliefs is a Muslim. And all of these concepts are epitomized in the kalimah: There is no Allah but Allah; Muhammad is His Prophet.

Tawhid: The Bedrock of Islam

Tawhid is a revolutionary concept and constitutes the essence of the teachings of Islam. It means that there is only one supreme Lord of the universe. He is omnipotent, omnipresent and the sustainer of the world and of mankind.

Now can one observe the inexhaustible creativity of nature, its purposefulness, its preservation of that which is morally useful and destruction of that which is socially injurious, and yet fail to draw the conclusion that behind nature there is an all-pervading mind of whose incessant creative activity the processes of nature are but outward manifestations? The stars scattered through infinite space, the vast panorama of nature with its charm and beauty, the regular waxing and waning of the moon, the astonishing harmony of the seasons - all of these point towards one fact: there is a Allah. We witness a superbly flawless plan in the universe - can it be without a planner? We see great enchanting beauty and harmony in its working‹can they be without a creator? We observe wonderful design in nature‹can't be without a designer? We feel a lofty purpose in physical and human existence - can it be without a will working behind it? We find that the universe is like a superbly written, fascinating book - can it be without an author? Truly, Allah said:

O, Mankind: worship your Lord, Who created you and those before you, so that you may ward off evil; Who has made the earth a resting place for you, the sky a canopy and Who causes water to pour down from the heavens, thereby producing fruits as food for you. So do not set up rivals to Allah, when you know better. (Qur'an 2:21-22)

This is the basic tenet to which Muhammad asked humanity to adhere. It is an important metaphysical concept and answers the riddles of the universe. It points to the supremacy of law in the cosmos and the all-pervading unity behind the manifest diversity. It presents a unified view of the world and offers the vision of an integrated universe. It is a mighty contrast to the piecemeal views of the scientists and the philosophers and unveils the truth before the human eye. After centuries of groping in the dark, man is now coming to realize the truth of this concept, and modern scientific thought is moving in this direction.

But it is not merely a metaphysical concept: it is a dynamic belief and a revolutionary doctrine. It means that all men are the creatures of one Allah and that they are therefore all equal. Any discrimination based on color, class, race, or territory is unfounded and illusory. It is a remnant of the days of ignorance that chained men down to servitude. Humanity is one single family under Allah, and there can be no sanction for those barriers. Men are one - and not bourgeois or proletarian, white or black, Aryan or non-Aryan, westerner or easterner. Islam gives us a revolutionary concept of the unity of mankind. The Prophet came to unite humanity on the word of Allah, which says:

Cling firmly together by means of Allah's rope, and do not be divided. Remember Allah's favor towards you when you were enemies; He united your hearts so that you became brothers because of His favor. (Qur'an 3:103)

This concept also defines the true position of man in the universe. It says that Allah is the Creator and the Sovereign, while man is His vicegerent on the earth. This exalts man to the noble and dignified position of being Allah's deputy on earth and endows his life with a lofty purpose: to fulfill the will of Allah on earth. This will solve all the perplexing problems of human society and establish a new order wherein equity and justice, as well as peace and prosperity, will reign supreme.

The starting point of Islam is the belief in the oneness of Allah (tawhid).

The Meaning of Islam

Islam is an Arabic word that denotes submission, surrender, and obedience. As a religion, Islam stands for complete submission and obedience to Allah - that is why it is called Islam. The other literal meaning of the word "Islam" is "peace." This signifies that one can achieve real peace of body and of mind only through submission and obedience to Allah. Such a life of obedience brings peace of the heart and establishes real peace in society at large.

Those who believe and whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allah-indeed it is in the remembrance of Allah alone that the heart of man finds rest-those who believe and act righteously, joy is for them, and a blissful home to return to. (13: 28-29)

This message was preached by all the Prophets of Allah, who guided man to the right path. But man not only veered away from the right path again and again, but also lost or distorted the code of guidance that the prophets had bequeathed. That was why other prophets were sent to restate the original message and guide man back to the right path. The last of these prophets was Muhammad, who Presented Allah's guidance in its final form and arranged to preserve it for all time. It is this guidance that is now known as Islam and is enshrined in the Qur'an and the life-example (Sunnah) of the Prophet.

The basic Islamic concept is that the whole universe was created by Allah, whom Islam calls Allah, and who is the Lord and the Sovereign of the universe, which He Alone sustains. He created man and appointed for each human being a fixed period of life that he is to spend upon the earth. Allah has prescribed a certain code of life as the correct one for mankind, but has, at the same time, conferred upon man the freedom of choice as to whether or not he adopts this code as the actual basis of his life. One who chooses to follow the code revealed by Allah becomes a Muslim (believer) and one who refuses to follow it becomes a kafir (disbeliever).

A man joins the fold of Islam by honestly believing in and professing faith in the oneness of Allah and the prophet hood of Muhammad. Both of these beliefs are epitomized in the kalimah (the article of faith):

La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah. (There is no Allah except Allah; Muhammad is His Prophet.)

The first part of the kalimah presents the concept of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and its second part affirms the prophet hood of Muhammad.

Islam: Basic Principles and Characteristics

Islam is the religion of truth. It is the embodiment of the code of life which Allah, the Creator and Lord of the universe, has revealed for the guidance of mankind.

For the proper development of human life, man needs two elements: (a) the resources to maintain life and to fulfill the material needs of the individual and society, and (b) knowledge of the principles of individual and social behavior to enable man to fulfill himself and to maintain justice and tranquillity in human life. The Lord of the universe has provided for both of these in full measure. To cater to the material needs of man, He has put all of nature's resources at his disposal. To provide for his spiritual, social, and cultural needs, He has raised His prophets from among men and has revealed to them the code of life that can guide man's steps to the right path. This code of life is known as Islam, the religion preached by all of the prophets of Allah.

Allah said:

Say, "[0 Muhammad] we believe in Allah and in the Revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac Jacob and the Tribes. We believe in the Revelation that was sent to Moses, Jesus and all other Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between them, and to Him we surrender." (3:83; 2:136)

He has revealed to you (O Muhammad) the scripture with truth, confirming that which was revealed before it even as He revealed the Torah and the Gospel before as a guide to mankind and has revealed the Criterion (for judging between right and wrong). (3:3-4)

All of them called humanity to the way of the Lord, the way of submission to Allah. All of them gave the same message, and all of them stood for the same cause: Islam.

Prisoner 650' at Bagram

'Prisoner 650' at Bagram, suspected to be a Pakistani woman allegedly raped, tortured and kept in a cage by US soldiers in a men's facility. Rights activists believe she could be Dr Afia Siddiqui who disappeared from Karachi along with her three underage kids in 2003.


IslamicTube.net : Prisoner 650 - The Grey Ghost Lady of Bagram - Prisoner 650 is a Pakistani women held by the terrorist American military for many years without any trial in the notorious Bagram Prison in Afghanistan. Her screams have reached the ea

Four years in Bagram as Prisoner 650
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:03:00


Yvonne Ridley
British journalist Yvonne Ridley flew to Pakistan on a whirlwind trip this week to highlight the plight of a woman who has been held in US custody for more than four years.

She referred to the woman, known only by her prisoner number 650, as The Grey Lady of Bagram.

More than 100 journalists attended the press conference hosted by Pakistan political leader Imran Khan who pledged his full support to Ridley's mission, which is part of a Cage Prisoner Campaign to help the female detainee.

A statement of support from British MP and RESPECT Party leader George Galloway was also read out during the conference.

Details of Prisoner 650 are being kept secret by the U.S. military.

On Monday night she said, “I think everyone was shocked to hear that the Americans were holding this woman at Bagram in Afghanistan. From the information coming through I am told she is being held in exactly the same conditions as the men and has absolutely no privacy when it comes to toilet and shower facilities.

“This would never happen to a Western woman and it shows just how women are viewed by the US military. There is even a suggestion she has been molested and sexually abused by her captors. We need to demand the truth,” added Ridley who was held captive herself in Afghanistan for 11 days in September 2001.

“I was released on humanitarian grounds. Mercifully my treatment was good, respectful and decent, although still terrifying,” she added.

Ridley, also a patron of the organization Cage Prisoner, revealed how she first read about the woman in a book written by ex-Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg called Enemy Combatant.

“I remembered Moazzam telling me about the woman's screams and how he first imagined they could be from his wife. In truth, I thought maybe he had just been listening to a tape recorder as part of a form of mental torture.

“However, we now know the screams came from a woman who has been held in Bagram for some years. And without compromising anyone, we can also reveal from impeccable sources that her prison number is 650.

“This information has been enough to scramble the Pakistan media into action by demanding the return of this woman to her homeland immediately,” added Ridley.

Joining her at the open air press conference in Islamabad at the headquarters of Khan's PTI party was Saghir Hussain, a lawyer and member of Cage.

He handed over a dossier prepared by Cage which reveals the full extent of the Disappeared from Pakistan… individuals who have been literally kidnapped from the streets.

“Prisoner 650 is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg of human rights abuses, illegal detentions and rendition flights. It is a shameful episode in Pakistan's history which must be put right.”

Amina Masood Janjua, chair of the Defense of Human Rights, also joined the platform along with other supporters whose husbands, sons and brothers have disappeared without trace. She thanked Cage for its dossier and the supporting work it had conducted on the Disappeared.

“I wonder how can we hand over our sister to the non-Muslims for their illegal trial by men whose history is full of rape and other abuses to prisoners,” the Pakistani daily Dawn quoted Ridley as saying.

Ms. Ridley read the text from the book's section covering Mr. Begg's stay in Bagram, “I began to hear the chilling screams of a woman next door… Why have you got a woman next door? They told me there was no woman. But I was unconvinced. Those screams echoed through my worst nightmares for a long time. And I later learned in Guantanamo, from other prisoners, that they had heard the screams too.”

She said the account had been corroborated by four Arabs who had escaped from Bagram in July 2005. “While on the run, one not only confirmed he had heard a woman's screams, but said he had seen her.”

Ms. Ridley said, “My story made international headlines, front page pictures and major stories on TV. But there has not been one word, not one paragraph about Prisoner 650 -- the 'grey lady' of Bagram, a murderous detention facility under control of the U.S. military and intelligence services.”

She urged every Pakistani to ring America, and ask them who Prisoner 650 is. What was her crime? Who else was being held illegally? How many secret detention centers were there?

Ms. Ridley's colleague Saghir Hussain gave details about other people of the country who had 'disappeared'.

“All, like the grey lady of Bagram, have been illegally abducted by secretive intelligence agencies. They began disappearing in 2001 during the so-called war on terror,” he said.

Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan demanded that the government hold an investigation into the case. “What has the sovereign parliament done about the missing persons?” he asked.

Islam in Pakistan

Islam was brought to the South Asian subcontinent in the eighth century by wandering Sufi mystics known as pir. As in other areas where it was introduced by Sufis, Islam to some extent syncretized with preIslamic influences, resulting in a religion traditionally more flexible than in the Arab world. Two Sufis whose shrines receive much national attention are Data Ganj Baksh in Lahore (ca. eleventh century) and Shahbaz Qalander in Sehwan, Sindh (ca. twelfth century).

The Muslim poet-philosopher Sir Muhammad Iqbal first proposed the idea of a Muslim state in the subcontinent in his address to the Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930. His proposal referred to the four provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and the NorthWest Frontier--essentially what would became the post-1971 boundary of Pakistan. Iqbal's idea gave concrete form to the "Two Nations Theory" of two distinct nations in the subcontinent based on religion (Islam and Hinduism) and with different historical backgrounds, social customs, cultures, and social mores.

Islam was thus the basis for the creation and the unification of a separate state, but it was not expected to serve as the model of government. Mohammad Ali Jinnah made his commitment to secularism in Pakistan clear in his inaugural address when he said, "You will find that in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State." This vision of a Muslim majority state in which religious minorities would share equally in its development was questioned shortly after independence. The debate continued into the 1990s amid questions of the rights of Ahmadiyyas (a small but influential sect considered by orthodox Muslims to be outside the pale of Islam), issuance of identity cards denoting religious affiliation, and government intervention in the personal practice of Islam.

Forgiveness in Islam

Allah (SWT),who named Himself Ar-Rahman (The Beneficent) and Ar-Rahim (The Merciful) is also Al-Ghafoor (The Forgiving). His Mercy overtakes His punishment and anger. He is more merciful to His creations than a mother can be to her infants. He created "man with weakness"; thus He knows and we should know that "to err is human," and "no one is perfect."

Iblis (Satan), the cursed one, out of envy to Adam, has promised to himself "to attack children of Adam on their way to their journey toward God, so that those who fall prey to his attack will also have the same fate as himself (I'll take you down with me!). So he says, "I'll attack men from the front, behind and sides." (7:17) This means he will disguise himself as our friend, as our opponent, and side distractions of the world. He will then make us do wrong by presenting evil as good (poison candy in a nice wrapper), making us angry, jealous, envious, just "follow-the-leader" type, and we wrong ourselves and fall prey to his temptation. Iblis and his followers have a feast of joy and laugh at man's foolishness, until the man realizes his mistakes, repents and asks for forgiveness and he is forgiven, and then Iblis cries again.

Giving up Hope of the Mercy of Allah is a crime in itself:

"Say: 'O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of God: for God forgives all sins (except shirk): for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.'" (39:53)

"And it is He who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons the evil deed and knows what you do." (42:25)

In order for forgiveness to be accepted, these conditions should be met:

(1) The crime is committed out of ignorance, not with the intention that, "Let us go ahead and commit this crime as Allah is forgiving, so He will forgive us.";

(2) Quickly turn into shame and repentance after committing a crime out of ignorance;

(3) After asking for forgiveness, make a promise or pledge to "mend his ways", and to stick to his promise. Let us examine verses of Quran.

"...if any of you did evil in ignorance, and thereafter repented and amended (your conduct), lo! Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (6:54)

"Forgiveness is only incumbent on Allah towards those who do evil out of ignorance and then turn quickly (in repentance) to Allah. Toward them will Allah turn in mercy; for Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom." (4:17)

"Forgiveness is not for those who do ill until death faces one of them, who then says, 'Lo! I repent now, nor for those who die as disbelievers, for such we have prepared a painful doom.'" (4:18)

IS ANY CRIME OR TOO MANY CRIMES TOO BIG TO BE FORGIVEN?
Let us examine two Hadith.

1) Hadith Qudsi: Allah, the Almighty, has said:

O Son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O Son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O Son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins as great as the earth, and were you then to face Me ascribing no partners to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.

2) Prophet (SW) has said:

A certain person had committed 99 murders. He went to a scholar and asked, is there any chance of my being forgiven? The scholar said no, you have committed too many crimes. The man killed the scholar too, but his heart was restless, so he went to another scholar and asked the same question. He was told yes, but you must leave this town of bad people and go live in the next town in the company of good people.

So the man set out to the town he was told to go to. On the way he died. A man passing by saw two angels arguing over his dead body. The Angel from Hell said, 'His body belongs to me as he had not done any good in his life.' The Angel from Heaven said, 'His body belongs to me as he had repented and was set out to be with good people.' The man who was the passer-by said, 'Let us measure the distance of his body from the town he left and the town he was going to.'

This was done. He was found to be nearer to the town he was going to. In another version, the earth was ordered by Allah to shrink and make the distance smaller, so that he was admitted to Heaven.

How does Allah forgive us?

When we commit a sin, four witnesses are established against us.

a) The place we did the crime (i.e., scene of the murder).

"On that day, the earth will reveal all its secrets." (99:4)

b) The organ we used to commit the crime. "When their ears, their eyes, their skin will testify against them." (41:21)

"That day we seal up mouths, and hands speak out and feet bear witness to all that they did." (36:65)

c) The Angels who record the deeds (Kiraman Katebeen).

"The honored writers know what you do." (82:11)

d) "We record that which they send before them, and their footprints, and all things we have kept in a clear register." (36:12)

Now, with four such strong witnesses, how can we present ourselves to Allah? So He (the Al-Wakeel--the Defender), like a smart lawyer, removes all the witnesses against those whose repentance has been accepted, so that we present ourselves with a clean record. Case dissolved due to lack of witnesses. Hadith is like this. "When Allah accepts repentance and forgives His servant, then recording angels erase their records, organs lose their memories, and earth removes its stains of evidence so that when that person appears before Allah, there is no one to be a witness against him. Subhan Allah.

How to ask for forgiveness when Adam and Eve realized they had done wrong but did not know how to ask for forgiveness:

Then learnt Adam from his Lord words of forgiveness, and his Lord turned toward him, for He is Oft-Forgiving and Most Merciful. (2:37)

What were those words taught to Adam?

They said, "Our Lord, we have wronged our souls and if you forgive us not, and bestow not upon us your mercy, we shall be losers. (7:23)

How did the Prophet Muhammad (AS) teach Aisha (RA) to ask for forgiveness in Ramadan?

O my Lord, forgive me, because you love to forgive, thus forgive me, O you Merciful!

Remember, asking for forgiveness is not just for our sins, but also for our needs as well.

And I have said! Seek forgiveness from your Lord. Lo! He is oft-forgiving (if you ask for forgiveness). He will give you plenty of rain, He will give you wealth and sons, and assign you Heaven and Rivers in the Heaven. (Surah Nuh:10-12)

Thus after repenting and asking for forgiveness, we must mend our ways and not go back to Kufr and fall prey to the tactics of Satan (Iblis) again. While we expect Allah to be kind and merciful and forgive our major and minor sins, we are unforgiving towards our fellow human beings!

Quran 16:125

A guide to the religion of Islam, Muslim history and civilizations, the rights of women in Islam, Islam in the West and around the world today plus Muslim schools and family life.

 Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious; for your Lord knows best who have strayed from His Path, and who are truly guided." Quran 16:125

Aafia Siddiqui

Aafia Siddiqui 

(born March 2, 1972, in Karachi Pakistan is a Pakistani Muslim neuroscientist accused of being an al-Qaeda member. In February 2010, she was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and attempting to kill U.S. soldiers and FBI agents who were seeking to interrogate her while she was in custody.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) alumna and Brandeis Ph.D., she had disappeared in March 2003. Her disappearance followed the arrest of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, alleged chief planner of the September 11 attacks and the uncle of her second husband, and the issuance by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of a global "wanted for questioning" alert for her. In 2004, U.N. investigators identified her as an al-Qaeda member, and the FBI said she was a "terrorist facilitator" and listed her as one of the seven "most wanted" al-Qaeda fugitives.

She resurfaced when she was arrested July 17, 2008, by the Afghanistan National Police. The following day, when U.S. military personnel arrived at the Afghan facility meeting-room where she was being held, she allegedly came out from behind a curtain, picked up an M-4 assault rifle at the feet of one of the soldiers, and fired two shots at them, missing them. An officer returned fire, hitting her in the torso, and she was subdued. Siddiqui was charged with attempted murder, armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and assault on U.S. officers and employees. She was convicted in February 2010, in a Manhattan court, on all counts. She faces a minimum sentence of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison on the firearm charge, and could also get up to 20 years for each attempted murder and firearms charge and up to 8 years on each of the remaining assault counts when she is sentenced on May 6, 2010.

Siddiqui's family has asserted that she does not have any connection to al-Qaeda, that the U.S. secretly detained her for five years, and that she was tortured and raped, all claims that the U.S. and Pakistan flatly deny. After her conviction, thousands of people protested in Pakistan, and the Taliban threatened to kill a captured American soldier in retaliation.

Early life and education

Siddiqui was one of three siblings. raised first in Zambia until the age of eight, and then in Karachi, Pakistan. Her father, Muhammad Salay Siddiqui, was a British-trained neurosurgeon and her mother, Ismet (nee Faroochi), a now-retired homemaker who previously performed social work. Her brother Mohammad Azi Siddiqui, an architect, lives with his wife, a pediatrician, in Sugarland, Texas.Her sister, Fowzia Siddiqui, is a Harvard-trained neurologist married to Nassar Jamali, and worked in Sinai Hospital, Baltimore, before returning to Pakistan.

Siddiqui moved to Texas in the United States on a student visa in 1990, joining her brother. After attending the University of Houston for three semesters, she transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology^.

During her years at MIT, she was regarded as religious by her colleagues. She joined an association of Muslim students, and wrote three guides for teaching Islam. In 1992, as an MIT sophomore, Siddiqui received a Carroll L. Wilson Award for her research proposal "Islamization in Pakistan and its Effects on Women". As a junior, Siddiqui received a $1,200 City Days fellowship through MIT's program to help clean up Cambridge elementary school playgrounds. During her undergraduate years, she lived in McCormick Hall and worked at the MIT libraries, graduating from MIT in 1995 with a degree in biology. A year after she graduated, Siddiqui wrote an article for the MIT Information Systems newsletter about the File Transfer Protocol and the then-emerging World Wide Web.

During that time period, she solicited money for Al Kifah Refugee Center, now known as an al-Qaeda charitable front and al-Qaeda’s U.S operational headquarters, tied to Osama bin Laden and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. She also took a 12-hour pistol training course at the Braintree Rifle and Pistol Club.

In 1995 she had an arranged marriage to anesthesiologist Amjad Mohammed Khan from Karachi, whom she had never seen. They were married over the phone.in 1999, while living in Boston, Siddiqui, her husband, and her sister founded the nonprofit Institute of Islamic Research and Teaching. She attended a mosque outside the city, where she stored copies of the Koran and other Islamic literature that she distributed. She went on to graduate study in cognitive neuroscience at Brandeis University, receiving a Ph.D. degree in 2001 for her dissertation, titled "Separating the Components of Imitation." She also co-authored several journal articles.

Siddiqui was one of six alleged al-Qaeda figures who were involved in buying diamonds in West Africa immediately prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks, according to a dossier prepared by U.N. investigators for the  Commission. According to Alan White, former chief investigator of a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Liberia, she was in Monrovia, Liberia, on June 16, 2001, using the alias of 'Fahrem', as she visited on behalf of al-Qaeda's leadership to buy blood diamonds worth $19 million, which were used to fund al-Qaeda operations.

According to Khan, after the September 11 attacks Siddiqui insisted on leaving the U.S., saying that it was unsafe for them and their children to remain because the U.S. government was abducting Muslim children. In May 2002, the FBI questioned Siddiqui and her husband regarding their purchase over the internet of $10,000 worth of night vision goggles, body armor, and military manuals including The Anarchist's Arsenal, Fugitive, Advanced Fugitive, and How to Make C-4. Khan claimed that these were for hunting and camping expeditions. On 

June 26, 2002, the couple returned to Pakistan.

In August 2002 the couple's marriage reached a breaking point. Khan went to Siddiqui's parents' home, and said he intended to divorce her. An argument took place between Khan and her father, and Siddiqui's father suffered a fatal heart attack on August 15, 2002. A few weeks later Siddiqui gave birth to their third child. Their divorce was finalized on October 21, 2002.

Her ex-husband has accused Siddiqui of being abusive and manipulative throughout their seven years of marriage, and said that Siddiqui had a violent personality and extremist views, leading him to suspect her of involvement in jihadi activities^. He has also said that Siddiqui wanted him to move to Afghanistan, and work as a medic for the mujahideen. They have three children: Ahmed (b. 1996), Maryam (b. 1998), and Suleman (b. 2002). The two older children are American citizens.

On December 25, 2002, Siddiqui made a trip to the U.S., saying that she was looking for a job. She left the U.S. on January 2, 2003. The FBI suspects that the real purpose of her trip was to open a P.O. box for an alleged al-Qaeda operative, Majid Khan, who is suspected of having planned attacks on gas stations and underground fuel-storage tanks in the Baltimore, Maryland—Washington, DC area on the orders of Khalid Sheikh Muhammed. Siddiqui listed Majid Khan as a co-owner, and falsely identified him as her husband. The key of the P.O. box was later found in the possession of Uzair Paracha, who was convicted of providing material support to al-Qaeda, and sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in 2006. Siddiqui's ex-husband has also said he was suspicious of Siddiqui's intentions, as she made her trip at a time when U.S. universities are closed.

Disappearance and FBI warning

Before her disappearance, she was working at Aga Khan University in Karachi. On March 1, 2003, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, alleged chief planner of the September 11 attacks, was arrested in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Khalid reportedly revealed Siddiqui's name during his interrogation as a key al-Qaeda operative in Boston,and shortly thereafter a series of related arrests began. On the same day as Muhammad's arrest, Siddiqui emailed a former professor at Brandeis University and expressed interest in working in the U.S., citing lack of options in Karachi for women of her academic background. A few days later, afraid the FBI would find her in Karachi, she left her parents' house along with her three children. She took a taxi to the airport, ostensibly to catch a morning flight to Islamabad to visit her uncle, but disappeared.

Siddiqui's whereabouts and activities from March 2003 to July 2008 are a matter of dispute. In March 2003, the FBI issued a global "wanted for questioning" alert for Siddiqui and her ex-husband, Amjad Khan. While Siddiqui remained missing, Khan was questioned and subsequently released by the FBI. Multiple allegations were made against Siddiqui, to the effect that she was a "courier of blood diamonds and a financial fixer for al-Qaida". Khan believes she went into hiding after the global alert for her was issued. According to the U.S. and Khan, Siddiqui was at large, working on behalf of al-Qaeda.

During her 'disappearance' Khan said he saw her at Islamabad airport in April 2003, as she disembarked from a flight with their son, and said he helped Inter-Services Intelligence identify her. Two years later he said he saw her in a Karachi traffic jam. Siddiqui's maternal uncle, Shams ul-Hassan Faruqi, says he met her in January 2008 when she came to visit him in Islamabad, and asked for his help in order to cross over into Afghanistan where she thought she would be safe in the hands of the Taliban. Faruqi said that he immediately notified his sister, Siddiqui's mother, who came in the next day to meet her daughter. He said that Siddiqui stayed with them for two days.

In 2003-04, the FBI and the Pakistani government said they did not know Siddiqui's whereabouts.  U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft referred to her as being the most wanted woman in the world, an Al Qaeda "facilitator" who posed a "clear and present danger to the U.S.", and on May 26, 2004, the U.S. listed her among the seven "most wanted" al-Qaeda fugitives.

Family assertion Siddiqui detained by Pakistan and the U.S.

Siddiqui's family said that she does not have any connections to al-Qaeda and that the U.S. secretly detained her in Afghanistan after she disappeared in Pakistan in March 2003 with her three children. They point to comments by former Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, detainees who say they believe a woman held at the prison while they were there was Siddiqui. Her sister said that she had been raped, and tortured for five years. In late March 2003, Pakistani news reports said Pakistani authorities had detained Siddiqui, and had questioned her with FBI agents, but Pakistani authorities denied the reports. An Afghan intelligence official said he believes that Siddiqui was working with Jaish-e-Mohammed (the "Army of God), a Pakistani Islamic mujahedeen military group that fights in Afghanistan. According to Yvonne Ridley, she spent those years in solitary confinement at Bagram as Prisoner 650. Siddiqui herself gave conflicting explanations, alternately claiming that she was kidnapped by U.S. intelligence and Pakistani intelligence, while also claiming that she was working for Pakistani intelligence during this time. Siddiqui reportedly said that she worked at the Karachi Institute of Technology in 2005, was in Afghanistan in the winter of 2007, stayed for a time during her disappearance in Quetta, Pakistan, and was given shelter by different people.

The U.S. government said it had not held Siddiqui during that time period, and had no knowledge of her whereabouts from March 2003 until July 2008. In February 2009, Siddiqui's ex-husband told a Pakistani newspaper that most of the claims in Pakistani press reports related to her and their children were being propagated to garner public support and sympathy for her, but that they were one-sided and in most instances untrue.

Children

Siddiqui has not explained clearly what happened to her two younger children, who are missing. She told one FBI agent that sometimes one has to take up a cause that is more important than one's children. She has alternated between saying that the two youngest children are dead, and that they are with her sister Fowzia. Her ex-husband believes that the children are in Karachi, and in contact with Siddiqui's family. He also says that the missing children were seen in Siddiqui's house in Karachi and Islamabad on several occasions since their alleged disappearance in 2003.

Her eldest son, Ahmad, resurfaced with her in 2008. He now lives with his aunt in Karachi, and has been prohibited from talking to the press by Siddiqui's family.An Afghan intelligence official in the Ministry of the Interior said the boy said that he and Siddiqui worked in an office in Pakistan, collecting money for poor people, and that they were later dispatched with maps and documents to Afghanistan.

Her ex-husband has unsuccessfully sought custody of their eldest son, and said that he suspected the two younger children were with Siddiqui's family, and not in U.S. detention.

Re-marriage

At the time of her arrest in 2008, when FBI agents questioned her she said she was married to Ammar al-Baluchi, also known as Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, a nephew of al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Al-Baluchi is in U.S. custody and faces the death penalty for aiding the 9/11 hijackers. Siddiqui's marriage to al-Baluchi was denied by her family, but confirmed by Pakistani intelligence, the FBI, and—according to court records—by Siddiqui herself. A defense psychologist also confirmed the marriage, and BBC confirmed it from security sources and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's family.

Arrest

Siddiqui was encountered on the evening of July 17, 2008, by officers of the Ghazni Province Afghan National Police outside the Ghazni governor's compound. Wearing a burqua and with two small bags at her side, crouching on the ground, she aroused the suspicion of a man who feared she might be concealing a bomb under her burqua. He called the police. She was accompanied by a teenage boy about 12, who she claimed was an orphan she had adopted. She said her name was Saliha, that she was from Multan in Pakistan, and that the boy's name was Ali Hassan.Discovering that she did not speak either of Afghanistan's main dialects, Pashtu or Dari, the officers regarded her as suspicious.

The officers searched her handbag.They found that she had a number of documents written in Urdu and English describing the creation of explosives, chemical weapons, Ebola, dirty bombs, and radiological agents (which discussed mortality rates of certain of the weapons), and handwritten notes referring to a "mass casualty attack" that listed various U.S. locations and landmarks (including the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the New York City subway system). She also had documents detailing U.S. "military assets", excerpts from The Anarchist's Arsenal, a one-gigabyte digital media storage device (thumb drive) that contained over 500 electronic documents (including correspondence referring to attacks by "cells", describing the U.S. as an enemy, and discussing recruitment of jihadists and training), and "numerous chemical substances in gel and liquid form that were sealed in bottles and glass jars", according to the later complaint against her. She had with her about two pounds of sodium cyanide, a highly toxic poisonous substance. Other notes described various ways to attack enemies, including by destroying reconnaissance drones, using underwater bombs, and using gliders.

The officers arrested her, as she cursed them, and took her to a police station. DNA testing performed a short time later revealed that the boy was in fact was her eldest son, Ahmed.

Attack

The following day, on July 18, two FBI agents, a U.S. Army warrant officer, a U.S. Army captain, and their U.S. military interpreters arrived in Ghazni to interview Siddiqui at the Afghan National Police facility where she was being held. They entered a meeting room that was partitioned by a curtain, but did not realize that Siddiqui was standing unsecured behind the curtain. The warrant officer sat down adjacent to the curtain, and put his loaded M-4 assault rifle on the floor by his feet, next to the curtain.

Siddiqui allegedly drew back the curtain, picked up the M-4 assault rifle, and pointed it at the captain. “I could see the barrel of the rifle, the inner portion of the barrel of the weapon, that indicated to me that it was pointed straight at my head,” he said. She threatened them loudly in English, and yelled "Get the fuck out of here" and "May the blood of [unintelligible] be on your [head or hands]". He dove for cover to his left, as she yelled "Allah Akbar" and fired at least two shots at them, missing them An interpreter who was seated closest to her lunged at her, grabbed and pushed the rifle, and attempted to wrest it from her.At that point the warrant officer returned fire with a 9-millimeter pistol, hitting her in the torso, and one of the interpreters managed to wrestle the rifle away from her. During the ensuing struggle she initially struck and kicked the officers, while shouting in English that she wanted to kill Americans, and then lost consciousness.

She was taken to Bagram Air Base by helicopter in critical condition. When she arrived at the hospital she was 3 on Glasgow Coma Scale, but she underwent emergency surgery and recovered over the next two weeks.

Trial

Siddiqui was charged on July 31, 2008, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York with assaulting with a deadly weapon, and with attempting to kill, U.S. personnel. She was indicted on September 3, 2008, on two counts of attempted murder of U.S. nationals, officers, and employees, assault with a deadly weapon, carrying and using a firearm, and three counts of assault on U.S. officers and employees.

Her trial was subject to a number of delays, the longest being six months in order to perform a psychiatric evaluation of claims that she was "going crazy", with hallucinations and crying fits. Three of four psychiatric experts concluded that she was faking her symptoms of mental illness.

The Pakistani government paid $2 million for the services of the three lawyers to defend Siddiqui during her trial.Many Siddiqui supporters were present during tje proceedings, and outside the court dozens of people rallied to demand her release.

Jury selection controversy; threatened boycott of trial

Siddiqui said she did not want Jews on the jury. She demanded that all prospective jurors be DNA-tested, and excluded from the jury at her trial "if they have a Zionist or Israeli background ... they are all mad at me ... I have a feeling everyone here is them—subject to genetic testing. They should be excluded if you want to be fair." Siddiqui's legal team said, in regard to her jury selection comments, that her incarceration had damaged her mind.

Prior to her trial, Siddiqui said she considered herself innocent of all charges, which she maintained she could prove, but refused to do in court. On January 11, 2010, Siddiqui told Manhattan federal judge Richard Berman that she wanted to fire her legal team. Siddiqui told the judge that she would not cooperate with her attorneys. She also said she did not trust the judge, and that she was "boycotting the trial ... there are too many injustices. I’m out of this". Following her outburst she was removed from the court, though the judge said she would be allowed back, as she was entitled to be present at her trial.

Trial proceedings

Jury selection was completed and her trial began with opening arguments on January 19, 2010, in New York City.

Prior to the jury entering the courtroom, Siddiqui told onlookers that she would not work with her lawyers, and that: "This isn't a fair court ... Why do I have to be here? ... There are many different versions of how this happened". She also said: "I have information about attacks, more than 9/11! ... I want to help the President to end this group, to finish them ... They are a domestic, U.S. group; they are not Muslim."

Three government witnesses testified first, out of a total of nine called by the prosecution: Army Captain Robert Snyder, John Threadcraft, a former army officer, and John Jefferson, an FBI agent. As Snyder testified that Siddiqui had been arrested with a handwritten note outlining plans to attack various U.S. sites, she disrupted the proceedings, saying: "If you were in a secret prison ... where children were tortured ... This is no list of targets against New York. I was never planning to bomb it. You're lying."

As result of her outbursts, Siddiqui was repeatedly removed from the court, but told by the judge that she could watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television in an adjacent holding cell, a proposal that she rejected. A request by the defense lawyers to declare a mistrial was turned down by the judge.

The defense counsel said that the jury would not see any forensic evidence that the rifle was fired in the interrogation room. It said it expected to show that there were very different versions of the story, and that her handbag contents were not credible as evidence because they were sloppily handled. FBI agent John Jefferson and Ahmed Gul, an army interpreter, recounted their alleged struggle with her in Ghazni. Judge Berman warned Siddiqui that no more outbursts would be tolerated, which she accepted: "I’m just going to be quiet, but it doesn’t mean I agree."

An FBI agent said that they did not find her fingerprints on the rifle. The testimony of Gul appeared, according to the defense, to differ from that given by Snyder with regard to whether Siddiqui was standing or on her knees as she fired the rifle. When Siddiqui testified, in addition to denying that she grabbed the rifle, though she admitted trying to escape, she said she had been tortured in secret prisons before her arrest by a “group of people pretending to be Americans doing bad things in America’s name.”

Conviction

The trial lasted two weeks, and the jury deliberated for three days before reaching a verdict.

On February 3, 2010, she was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder, armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and assault on U.S. officers and employees. She faces a minimum sentence of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison on the firearm charge, and could also get up to 20 years for each attempted murder and firearms charge and up to 8 years on each of the remaining assault counts.Sentence will be passed on May 6, 2010.

Reaction in Pakistan

In Pakistan, a petition was filed seeking action against the Pakistani government for not approaching the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to have Siddiqui released from the U.S. Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffree said the CIA had arrested Siddiqui in Karachi in 2003, and one of her sons was killed during her arrest. On January 21, 2010, he submitted documents allegedly proving the arrest to the Lahore High Court.

After her conviction, thousands of political and social activists and students in Pakistan protested. Echoing her family's comments, and anti-U.S. sentiment, many believe she was picked up in Karachi in 2003, detained at the U.S. Bagram Airbase and tortured, and that the charges against her were fabricated. U.S. officials flatly deny the assertions. Shireen Mazari, editor of the Pakistani right-wing Nation newspaper, wrote that the verdict "did not really surprise anyone familiar with the vindictive mindset of the U.S. public post-9/11".

Taliban threat

According to the Pakistani newspaper The News International, the Taliban has threatened to execute U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl in retaliation for Siddiqui's conviction. They claim members of Siddiqui's family requested their help. A Taliban spokesman said:

We tried our best to make the family understand that our role may create more troubles for the hapless woman, who was already in trouble. On their persistent requests, we have now decided to include Dr Aafia Siddiqui's name in the list of our prisoners in US custody that we delivered to Americans in Afghanistan for swap of their soldier in our custody.