Sign the petition and call on Congress to keep us safe by making it illegal for President Trump, or any successor, to single-handedly start a nuclear war.
The new law would require Congress to declare war before the president could authorize nuclear strikes — except in response to a nuclear attack. In other words, it would block President Trump's ability to start nuclear war on a whim.
It is mind-boggling to think that the current system allows for one individual to unleash the most destructive weapons ever created by humankind. It is irrational, immoral and utterly unconscionable. Help us change this now.
Great post. We also need a movement to change the extremely dangerous way that allows Trump to launch nuclear weapons into cities around the world.
This is an opportunity not only to keep us safe for the years that Trump is President but also to help us into the future. Let us seize this vital opportunity for our generation and for our children and generations into the future.
Many would say that Donald Trump should be the last person authorized to launch US nuclear weapons. In fact, he is the only person that is.
As shocking as it sounds, President Trump alone has the power to launch thousands of nuclear weapons — enough to end life on Earth as we know it. He does not have to consult anyone. He does not need the consent of military commanders, his Cabinet or Congress. He can pick up the phone and within 4 minutes send nuclear missiles flying across the world.
Two members of Congress, Rep. Ted Lieu and Sen. Ed Markey, have proposed urgent legislation to prevent the President from starting a nuclear war. Just last week The New York Times endorsed the legislation in a major editorial, writing that it "sends a clear message to Mr. Trump that he should not be the first since World War II to use nuclear weapons."
Ploughshares Fund has partnered with Global Zero, Daily Kos, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Win Without War, Women's Action for New Directions and several other groups on a new petition calling on Congress to support this important bill. We need your help now to make sure our voices are heard.
Juan, please collect all your posts on Trump and publish in a book.
Also, we need to pass some laws on age requirements for senior advisors. What's up with these adolescents, Stephen Miller (yes, he makes a typical snot nosed kid with a big attitude), Jared Kushner, Ivanka, etc. effecting lives of billions of people. If someone is a "senior" advisor, he or she should be at 45 or above or they need Congress to pass an exemption saying that the person is a genius.
From the tweet by @GovernorOopsies it is a screen grab before Facebook took down Bissonnette's Facebook page.
This photo must have been after Trump signed the Muslim Ban. On the same day Bissonnett celebrated presumably the Muslim Ban by writing "Hallelujah!" above his posted photo of a crusader about to kill someone. Two nights later, he went into the mosque and killed and injured many.
This shows how Trump's illegal and unconstitutional ban has led to the final inspiration to carry out this carnage.
And the 6 killed is 6 more than what any immigrants or refugees from any of the 7 countries killed from looking at the data from 1975 to now.... zero were killed.
Great thing about Ellison is that he speaks from the heart and connects very well with any person.
I would recommend anyone to verify this to youtube Ellison's talks when he was on any news media for example...he doesn't come across as contrived as most politicians. And he does not connect to people like Trump in a demagogic or manipulative way but just through a logical, ethical, and common sense way. He is careful in what he says but goes to the heart of the issues, speaks from his heart, and connects with hearts.
Sad that Alt right is worried about terrorism when they support Pence for VP even though Pence supports Big Tobacco which kills over 400 000 Americans every year and kills millions worldwide.
I have been reading a lot and there may be some truth to the involvement of some so-called Gulenists in the coup. So it may be more than just a convenience for Erdogan to blame his former ally and now clear enemy.
So please disregard my earlier post putting Erdogan's allegation all on a subconscious desire.
If there is any truth, I am surprised since the books that I have seen by Gulen are spiritual and enlightening and calling for the highest of virtues and not political in the least. Even if hypothetically some of his supporters are guilty it is not necessarily clear that he is associated with the coup.
It's all too complicated for me to understand since I am not a Turk and I have not been following all the information of the politics in Turkey over the years.
I hope there is the efforts for forgiveness and highest of reconciliation in Turkey and everywhere whenever it is possible for the greater good.
May God do what is best for peace, goodness, justice, and truth in Turkey and all over the world. Amen
2. It is also interesting that Michael Rubin, who appears to be a neocon and probably a Netenyahu supporter, and is with the American Enterprise Institute, (a neocon outfit that I believe supports Netanyahu that pushed for the Iraq war), essentially called for a coup to occur a few months ago in Newsweek (links below).
I am happy the coup apparently failed....regarding who Erdogan is blaming, he subconsciously wants to blame Gulen because if he blames some military faction, then it is hard for him to tease out and differentiate it from army in the general sense...it is rhetorically convenient for him to blame a spiritual Muslim. I like Sufi focus on love of God and their kind and compassionate behavior...I don't agree with some sufis who resort to intercession seeking type actions in terms of visiting graves, etc.
There may be some cult like propensities in the Gulen movement but many years ago, I have read a few of his books by Fethullah Gulen and found them to be very enlightening. His books have been translated in english and are easily accessible.
I am happy that the coup failed since military rule would have been much, much worse than a democratically elected leader who is trying to resort to autocratic methods when he can. Sad about hearing that thousands of judges were purged because of Erdogan's McCarthyism. Sad to hear about the long lives against innocent opposition.
I am praying that the dictator Baathists who have killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians (since they protested for freedom after they noticed freedom for others in the Arab Spring such as Tunisia) are not able to starve the 200,000 of Syrian babies, children, women, and men of East Aleppo. Ameen. God please protect them from the Thugs of Assad and his allies. Ameen.
Great post. Much of our education if supposed to be founded on understanding arithmetic and fractions. Too bad most people and especially Republicans don't understand this grad school stuff.
The Republicans support the Tobacco industry which is killing over 8 million people worldwide and they instead focus on terrorism.
There is no powerpoint that can even graphically show the massive difference between these different orders of magnitude.
Republicans are liars when they say they want to protect lives.
As you post shows, they lie and too many people fall for these lies again and again.
Thanks Juan...it is surely sick how Trump seems giddy to want to commit massive war crimes and sick how Cruz now wants to do plain torture since he thinks it will help his numbers and Cruz is still willing to do carpet bombing.
Kasich seems like a reasonable guy sometimes but he is talking very irresponsibly regarding his comments on Japan.
So sick what people who want to be president are willing to do.
Great article again. But as a physician (although working in public health), I think there are far more than 20,000 American Muslims (2.5%).
I saw in some youtube animation protesting Islamophobia in America, that 10% of physicians are Muslims...that source did not explain how they came to that number.
Physicians from all over the world try to come to the US and thus from the 50 Muslim majority countries. And probably many thousands of physicians from India practicing in the US are Muslim.
There are for sure not many from some Muslim nations that are very poor or small and might not have proper medical schools such as Somalia, Albania, etc. but from even Syria, there are many thousands of American Muslim physicians.
It would be a nice metric to estimate how many hundreds of thousands of Americans are treated every day and thus how many are estimated to be treated by American Muslims every year.
#8 is enough of a reason....we caused the instability with our intervention in Iraq that the whole world including the UN inspectors were telling us to not do.
Thanks Juan for explaining all of this. It is unfortunate that celebrities like Trump or ill informed politicians try to become history experts and formulate bd policy on millions of people.
I read that 10 percent of physicians in the U.S. are Muslims. I wonder how many Americans are cared for and how many of them are protected from illness and death everyday by these 20 thousand American Muslim physicians.
I am an American Muslim and was born and raised in the U.S. I am concerned for my children and grandchildren. May God help us all around the world and all our progeny. Ameen.
After reading this empathetic and wise reflections on her personal experience, I am glad she played the role of Princess Leia's mother in the Star Wars prequels.
Anyone who cares for justice and protection for humans has to feel troubled that while the Rwanda genocide was going on in our high tech, easy communication world, the education system was not talking about it.
"Trump is a one-man advertisement for campaign finance reform, socialism and banning casinos. Whatever circumstances made him a plausible candidate for president should be immediately changed to make sure that kind of thing never happens to our country again.
But in addition, I think all the Republicans who say they are outraged at Trump’s comments need to step up and apologize to John Kerry if they didn’t, as McCain did, defend him from the swiftboaters."
As a practicing Muslim, I admire the values of the US constitution.
Very beautiful statements....
“all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”
What a beautiful and true statement! It recognizes that we are created. There is no way that our conscience, our sense of morality, our evolved biology, our universe could have arisen by a fluke chance. The chances are 1 in infinity which is equal to zero.
But it also recognizes that we should treat each other equally.
So much of problems of our nation and the world would disappear if we simply treat others like we would like them to treat us.
Hmmm, I am not an expert on Israel but I disagree with the author's bottom line.
He makes good points but he does not provide any good alternative. Israel is supported by supported by powerful forces in the world such as the US Congress.
I don't know all the tools he is referring to but so far over decades the general tools I can think have not been working
Having said that of course people should work super hard right now to have those tools be used.
But I don't see any alternative.
And I think BDS can work strongly against Israel because so much of it their economy relies on trade and the geographic al location of Israel will worry Israel of being isolated and can force them to change.
Very nice article. I am a Muslim that does not like to identify on sectarian grounds. I come from a Sunni heritage.
After studying early Muslim history from both sides, I do clearly think that the Prophet Muhammad preferred that Ali to lead the Muslims after him.
In the tradition of Ghadir Khumm is one of the few traditions that has numerous lines of tradition at each generation and it seems to indicate that he preferred Ali to succeed him (not as a prophet of course) but as a leader of the state since Ali was most wise and pious.
Sunnis interpret Ghadir Khumm differently and think that the Prophet did not intend political succession but I think the Sunnis interpretation is weaker than the Shia interpretation.
Nevertheless, Shias recognize that Prophet Muhammad did not force this succession before his death.
If Ali being leader was so vital, then the Prophet would have been more forceful in ensuring it. So both sects should calm down on their sectarianism.
I do also think that certain practices did creep into the Shia Muslims transforming their political stance into more and more theology creating a separate sect. I find some of these practices that some of them do such as their saying Ya Ali Madad (Oh Ali, help) when they have difficulty to be outrageously against the Qur'an. Once I went to a Shia mosque to pray. I asked the Imam to tell me, that had Ali come back alive and were he to come to this mosque....if we asked him who would he want us to call for help when we have any difficulty...would it be him or God? The Imam did not want to answer because he knew that the answer is obvious that Ali would have been outraged at anyone calling on him rather than God.
I love reading the profoundly wise and pious sermons of Ali in Nahj al-Balagha.
Here is a discussion by the late Shia scholar, Ayatollah Murtadha Mutaharri on glimpses of Ali's profound sermons on the perfection and unity of God.
Interestingly even in Nahj al-balagha, Ali in one of his sermons says something to the effect that his followers to correct him if he errs since he is a human (but unfortunately, Shia scholars use acrobatic gymnastics to try to obscure that excerpt) . It is ironic how the former pagan enemies of the Prophet (the Ummayads) ended up taking the leadership over the Muslims. But, Shias should not exaggerate on Ali or Husayn (who also a very pious and great leader).
May God bring peace, wisdom, and goodness to all our hearts.
Professor Cole does not have "limited" knowledge on Islam. He is a professor who knows multiple languages spoken by hundreds of millions of Muslims and knows Islam to a scholarly level. Professor Cole himself indicated that what IS is doing is as you say "not acceptable to any level minded Muslim." So you did not read his articles correctly.
The Qur'an reverses the pagan pre-Islamic practice of beheadings, torturing, enslaving, etc by explicit commands.
"...At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom: Until the war lays down its burdens..." (47. 4)
The Qur'an explicitly forbids the injustice against any person, regardless of whether they are People of the Book or pagan or atheist...and in fact indicates that beyond justice, a Muslim should be kind to all non-Muslims. please see below.
"Allah does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against you on account of (your) religion, and have not driven you forth from your homes, that you show them kindness and deal with them justly; surely Allah loves the doers of justice. (60, 8) There are many other verses like the above two.
A youtube needs to made on this superb and truthful satire.
So many youtubes need to be made regarding the warcrimes of Cheney and his cronies and colleague-criminals at CIA, etc. with people acting these roles.
I hope some viewers of Juan's blog will make them.
Almost certainly the wicked anti-Islam, anti-Qur'an, leader of ISIS was partly or wholly radicalized from the harsh treatment under American forces after the Iraq 2003 invasion and so were many other ISIS members and perhaps other ISIS leaders.
Al-Baghdadi
The sooner the Moderate Rebels are supported with adequate money and training, the better.
The longer the extremists and terrorists rule territory, the more they will brainwash teenage boys and young men with their evil thoughts which will God forbid bring up another generation with such thoughts and behaviors. These evil thoughts are clearly against the Qur'an in numerous ways. For instance Chapter 60, verse 8 says Muslims should be just and kind to non-Muslims who do not initiate persecution or expel Muslims from their homes. I beg God that Jabhat Nusra, ISIL are defeated. I am sure we all wish this. But God helps only those who help themselves. And the way to help people is thus to adequately fund, arm, and train the moderate rebels to the point that they can defeat all these extremists, terrorists, and also the terrorist regime of Assad.
Sorry for being a little off topic but with regards to the need to help the Yazidis and free their women and girls enslaved from the cruel militia ISIS, please note that there is a demonstration at the White House today at 2 pm. I just saw tweets by Matthew Barber @Matthew_Barber Please see below and convey to all and please retweet this.
Matthew Barber @Matthew__Barber · 7h 7 hours ago
Please RT: Everyone concerned for #Yazidi future—& women enslaved by #IS—can join tomorrow’s (Fri 24) demonstration at the White House, 2 pm
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Matthew Barber @Matthew__Barber · 7h 7 hours ago
Yazidis will demonstrate at the White House at 2:00 pm tomorrow to call for protection for #Sinjar & action to free enslaved women
#Yazidi
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@Phaedrus, the Qur'an does not condemn apostates to death. On the contrary it explicitly states that there is no compulsion in religion (2:256). There are a few hadiths (Islamic secondary sources) which some Muslims use as their rationale for thinking that apostates are condemned to be killed. But many Muslims see these hadiths as not being authentic. Regarding Buddhists, I don't know much about their texts, but they are engaged in the worst of atrocities in killing the Rohingya Muslims who they have herded by the hundreds of thousands in concentration camps which Nicholas Kristof of the NYTimes has written about. Please see http://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000002939059/21st-century-concentration-camps.html
There are bigots and killers in all religions and all secular ideologies.
Regarding one particularly urgent issue that is noble to do in addressing the atrocities of ISIL, Matthew Barber provides an excellent suggestion of freeing the thousands of enslaved Yazidi women and says it can be done in just one day if there is sufficient will in US decision makers to do so.
This is interesting....Most of what I read in the internet says that the Yazidi religion is 4000 years old....is that a misconception?
And that instead they are 1000 years old like and a mountainous ofshoot connected to Islam like Druze and Alawis?
Juan, I am happy that the US is dropping food and water. I hope they drop a lot more in different areas so that there is better distribution of the food and water....and I hope that the huge number of Yazidi families get a safe passage quickly for they have no shelter on that mountain.
But you make an excellent point. We should never forget the vast amount of death and continued suffering in terms of the staggering numbers of impovershed widows and orphans and the staggering number of wounded including terrible injuries such as losing both legs, etc.
We need a memorial built in Iraq and the US for this. I hope there is great documentation and photographs of not only what happened but of photographs and video of those who are currently in deep suffering because of the illegal invasion and attacks. If we attacked Saddam Hussein when he was actively engaged in killing large numbers of Kurds or Shia, I would not have felt bad but we attacked him when there was relative peace in the country except for the mass suffering from the cruel sanctions we imposed on Iraq for some 13 years which also killed at least half a million children. The sanctions which led to large numbers of Shias, Sunnis, and others dying prematurely with great suffering (including premature death within Yazidis) also reveal that our policy in Iraq the last few decades has been not of humanitarianism but that of causing unimaginably massive amounts of suffering. Having said that though, I hope all the Yazidis reach safe areas. May God help all the people there from suffering and guide them in all ways. Ameen.
Thanks much for revealing this mindset which is all too common among Israeli society and Israeli elite.
And thanks for the excellent commentary to refute the million times repeated lie that Hamas is an existential threat to Israel.
Many Israelis follow the propaganda principle that if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
Of course, regardless of Hamas, it is always evil to kill civilians, even more so children. Besides being killed, over 8,000 have been injured. Many have lost legs, including children....some have lost both legs thanks to weapons paid by our tax dollars. . .
God will not let people of conscience by always fooled. They will come to know the truth and do action to do good for all people, regardless of religion, etc.
Regarding ousting (un)Islamic State, I feel that the most moral policy is to provide massive support to the Syrian moderates.
The combination of the Iraq army acting in Iraq and the Syrian moderates acting in Syria along with disgust of the (un)Islamic State from the Sunni population in Iraq and Syria may be too much for the small numbers of this brutal organization.
And helping the moderate Syrians will help them overcome the torturing Assad regime which is so bloodthirsty to remain in dictatorial control, that some 170,000 Syrians have died thus far.
As a practicing Muslim, I am outraged about the ultimatums made to the Christian community and for them to then leave their home and land.
I am not a scholar of Islam but I know that there are multiple commands in the Qur'an for Muslims to do and enjoin the "ma'ruf."
Although I am not an Arab, my understanding is that mar'uf has meanings of what is universally accepted as good and right.
Regarding the jizya, maybe it was considered normative in the far past for outlying communities to pay some amount to formally demonstrate recognition of the new religious/ethnic group that has taken over the geographical area and maybe also as to compensate from having to provide any men for protecting the state and not needing to pay any tax such as zakat for helping those in poverty.
However, I would assume that God would want Muslims to calibrate what is ma'ruf regarding political and economic understandings of peoples within the context of time and place.
So a community may not feel threatened 1400 years ago by having to pay some amount to the new authorities but communities of today would feel threatened.
I am not making any "fatwa" because I am not a scholar but I do know that Muslim rulers are supposed to provide fairness, security and prosperity to all they are ruling, and thus not of course not to provide the opposite policy of threatening ultimatums.
So for this criminal led organization to not be sensitive to others but rather threatening and brutal is embarrassing for Muslims.
Although not confirmed yet, if any damage was done to an ancient church in Mosul, it shows that the (un)Islamic State is in violation of 22(39-41) of the Qur'an which is pasted below because Muslims are supposed to protect churches...and also in violation of the beginning of this passage which indicates that Muslims should help to protect everyone's homes and thus not the opposite of threatening them.
In fact verse indicates that Muslims should be willing to fight to protect all houses of worship including monasteries, churches, and synagogues. And verse 41 again uses the word ma'ruf (translated as what is considered "right."
"Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, God is competent to give them victory.
[They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right - only because they say, "Our Lord is God." And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.
[And they are] those who, if We give them authority in the land, establish prayer and give zakah and enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. And to God belongs the outcome of [all] matters."
I recall reading the father who I think was diagnosed with brain cancer decided to stay in Russia to die there....that may have also had played a factor....of course that is no excuse for the atrocities that were done
And this is the rest of it from the link above...
Sign the petition and call on Congress to keep us safe by making it illegal for President Trump, or any successor, to single-handedly start a nuclear war.
The new law would require Congress to declare war before the president could authorize nuclear strikes — except in response to a nuclear attack. In other words, it would block President Trump's ability to start nuclear war on a whim.
It is mind-boggling to think that the current system allows for one individual to unleash the most destructive weapons ever created by humankind. It is irrational, immoral and utterly unconscionable. Help us change this now.
Please, sign this important petition today.
Great post. We also need a movement to change the extremely dangerous way that allows Trump to launch nuclear weapons into cities around the world.
This is an opportunity not only to keep us safe for the years that Trump is President but also to help us into the future. Let us seize this vital opportunity for our generation and for our children and generations into the future.
Below is from http://www.ploughshares.org/issues-analysis/article/tell-congress-stop-trump-starting-nuclear-war
Many would say that Donald Trump should be the last person authorized to launch US nuclear weapons. In fact, he is the only person that is.
As shocking as it sounds, President Trump alone has the power to launch thousands of nuclear weapons — enough to end life on Earth as we know it. He does not have to consult anyone. He does not need the consent of military commanders, his Cabinet or Congress. He can pick up the phone and within 4 minutes send nuclear missiles flying across the world.
Two members of Congress, Rep. Ted Lieu and Sen. Ed Markey, have proposed urgent legislation to prevent the President from starting a nuclear war. Just last week The New York Times endorsed the legislation in a major editorial, writing that it "sends a clear message to Mr. Trump that he should not be the first since World War II to use nuclear weapons."
Ploughshares Fund has partnered with Global Zero, Daily Kos, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Win Without War, Women's Action for New Directions and several other groups on a new petition calling on Congress to support this important bill. We need your help now to make sure our voices are heard.
Juan, please collect all your posts on Trump and publish in a book.
Also, we need to pass some laws on age requirements for senior advisors. What's up with these adolescents, Stephen Miller (yes, he makes a typical snot nosed kid with a big attitude), Jared Kushner, Ivanka, etc. effecting lives of billions of people. If someone is a "senior" advisor, he or she should be at 45 or above or they need Congress to pass an exemption saying that the person is a genius.
Juan,
Please see https://twitter.com/GovernorOopsies/status/826180292973101059
From the tweet by @GovernorOopsies it is a screen grab before Facebook took down Bissonnette's Facebook page.
This photo must have been after Trump signed the Muslim Ban. On the same day Bissonnett celebrated presumably the Muslim Ban by writing "Hallelujah!" above his posted photo of a crusader about to kill someone. Two nights later, he went into the mosque and killed and injured many.
This shows how Trump's illegal and unconstitutional ban has led to the final inspiration to carry out this carnage.
And the 6 killed is 6 more than what any immigrants or refugees from any of the 7 countries killed from looking at the data from 1975 to now.... zero were killed.
Great thing about Ellison is that he speaks from the heart and connects very well with any person.
I would recommend anyone to verify this to youtube Ellison's talks when he was on any news media for example...he doesn't come across as contrived as most politicians. And he does not connect to people like Trump in a demagogic or manipulative way but just through a logical, ethical, and common sense way. He is careful in what he says but goes to the heart of the issues, speaks from his heart, and connects with hearts.
Sad that Alt right is worried about terrorism when they support Pence for VP even though Pence supports Big Tobacco which kills over 400 000 Americans every year and kills millions worldwide.
Thanks much Juan for speaking up for Muslims in America like me. i have three kids and o am concerned about how they feel as they grow older.
I assume you meant to say Lebanese and Egyptian Christians above.
Thanks again.
Juan, thank you so much for this very informed article. So sad and unfair of the tiny number of refugees the US has taken.
May God reward those leaders in Germany who cared for refugees.
I have been reading a lot and there may be some truth to the involvement of some so-called Gulenists in the coup. So it may be more than just a convenience for Erdogan to blame his former ally and now clear enemy.
So please disregard my earlier post putting Erdogan's allegation all on a subconscious desire.
If there is any truth, I am surprised since the books that I have seen by Gulen are spiritual and enlightening and calling for the highest of virtues and not political in the least. Even if hypothetically some of his supporters are guilty it is not necessarily clear that he is associated with the coup.
It's all too complicated for me to understand since I am not a Turk and I have not been following all the information of the politics in Turkey over the years.
I hope there is the efforts for forgiveness and highest of reconciliation in Turkey and everywhere whenever it is possible for the greater good.
May God do what is best for peace, goodness, justice, and truth in Turkey and all over the world. Amen
I want to make a correction to my earlier post...when I mentioned long lives above, I meant "long knives."
I think there is a connection to Israel which hates the Turkish government and which wants Turkey weakened.
1. It is interesting that the suspected leader of the coup served as military attache to Israel (link below).
http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/turkey/1.731349
2. It is also interesting that Michael Rubin, who appears to be a neocon and probably a Netenyahu supporter, and is with the American Enterprise Institute, (a neocon outfit that I believe supports Netanyahu that pushed for the Iraq war), essentially called for a coup to occur a few months ago in Newsweek (links below).
http://www.targetliberty.com/2016/07/michael-rubin-called-turkish-coup.html
http://www.newsweek.com/will-there-be-coup-against-erdogan-turkey-439181
I am happy the coup apparently failed....regarding who Erdogan is blaming, he subconsciously wants to blame Gulen because if he blames some military faction, then it is hard for him to tease out and differentiate it from army in the general sense...it is rhetorically convenient for him to blame a spiritual Muslim. I like Sufi focus on love of God and their kind and compassionate behavior...I don't agree with some sufis who resort to intercession seeking type actions in terms of visiting graves, etc.
There may be some cult like propensities in the Gulen movement but many years ago, I have read a few of his books by Fethullah Gulen and found them to be very enlightening. His books have been translated in english and are easily accessible.
I am happy that the coup failed since military rule would have been much, much worse than a democratically elected leader who is trying to resort to autocratic methods when he can. Sad about hearing that thousands of judges were purged because of Erdogan's McCarthyism. Sad to hear about the long lives against innocent opposition.
I am praying that the dictator Baathists who have killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians (since they protested for freedom after they noticed freedom for others in the Arab Spring such as Tunisia) are not able to starve the 200,000 of Syrian babies, children, women, and men of East Aleppo. Ameen. God please protect them from the Thugs of Assad and his allies. Ameen.
Thanks much Juan.
Great post. Much of our education if supposed to be founded on understanding arithmetic and fractions. Too bad most people and especially Republicans don't understand this grad school stuff.
The Republicans support the Tobacco industry which is killing over 8 million people worldwide and they instead focus on terrorism.
There is no powerpoint that can even graphically show the massive difference between these different orders of magnitude.
Republicans are liars when they say they want to protect lives.
As you post shows, they lie and too many people fall for these lies again and again.
Thanks much Juan!
I frequently go to your blog to see some refreshing sanity after hearing of such tragic events.
"They know better, deep down."
Very well written from your heart Juan. Thanks.
Thanks Juan...it is surely sick how Trump seems giddy to want to commit massive war crimes and sick how Cruz now wants to do plain torture since he thinks it will help his numbers and Cruz is still willing to do carpet bombing.
Kasich seems like a reasonable guy sometimes but he is talking very irresponsibly regarding his comments on Japan.
So sick what people who want to be president are willing to do.
Juan,
Great article again. But as a physician (although working in public health), I think there are far more than 20,000 American Muslims (2.5%).
I saw in some youtube animation protesting Islamophobia in America, that 10% of physicians are Muslims...that source did not explain how they came to that number.
But there are at least 17,000 Pakistani physicians in North America... please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Physicians_of_Pakistani_Descent_of_North_America
Physicians from all over the world try to come to the US and thus from the 50 Muslim majority countries. And probably many thousands of physicians from India practicing in the US are Muslim.
There are for sure not many from some Muslim nations that are very poor or small and might not have proper medical schools such as Somalia, Albania, etc. but from even Syria, there are many thousands of American Muslim physicians.
It would be a nice metric to estimate how many hundreds of thousands of Americans are treated every day and thus how many are estimated to be treated by American Muslims every year.
Thank you so much Juan!
Juan,
Thanks much for this list.
#8 is enough of a reason....we caused the instability with our intervention in Iraq that the whole world including the UN inspectors were telling us to not do.
Thanks Juan for explaining all of this. It is unfortunate that celebrities like Trump or ill informed politicians try to become history experts and formulate bd policy on millions of people.
I read that 10 percent of physicians in the U.S. are Muslims. I wonder how many Americans are cared for and how many of them are protected from illness and death everyday by these 20 thousand American Muslim physicians.
I am an American Muslim and was born and raised in the U.S. I am concerned for my children and grandchildren. May God help us all around the world and all our progeny. Ameen.
After reading this empathetic and wise reflections on her personal experience, I am glad she played the role of Princess Leia's mother in the Star Wars prequels.
Anyone who cares for justice and protection for humans has to feel troubled that while the Rwanda genocide was going on in our high tech, easy communication world, the education system was not talking about it.
Kiriakou, you are a hero for sanity and moral clarity and transparency and justice.
Thanks!
Thanks Juan,
Great conclusion below.
"Trump is a one-man advertisement for campaign finance reform, socialism and banning casinos. Whatever circumstances made him a plausible candidate for president should be immediately changed to make sure that kind of thing never happens to our country again.
But in addition, I think all the Republicans who say they are outraged at Trump’s comments need to step up and apologize to John Kerry if they didn’t, as McCain did, defend him from the swiftboaters."
Very nice....Thanks Professor Cole.
As a practicing Muslim, I admire the values of the US constitution.
Very beautiful statements....
“all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”
What a beautiful and true statement! It recognizes that we are created. There is no way that our conscience, our sense of morality, our evolved biology, our universe could have arisen by a fluke chance. The chances are 1 in infinity which is equal to zero.
But it also recognizes that we should treat each other equally.
So much of problems of our nation and the world would disappear if we simply treat others like we would like them to treat us.
this is great....I hope all who understand Arabic see it and share it with others.
Hmmm, I am not an expert on Israel but I disagree with the author's bottom line.
He makes good points but he does not provide any good alternative. Israel is supported by supported by powerful forces in the world such as the US Congress.
I don't know all the tools he is referring to but so far over decades the general tools I can think have not been working
Having said that of course people should work super hard right now to have those tools be used.
But I don't see any alternative.
And I think BDS can work strongly against Israel because so much of it their economy relies on trade and the geographic al location of Israel will worry Israel of being isolated and can force them to change.
Thanks much Juan for the sad info.
But the number of Yazidis kidnapped and enslaved is actually between 5000 and 7000 according to the UN.
Please see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11160906/Isil-carried-out-massacres-and-mass-sexual-enslavement-of-Yazidis-UN-confirms.html
I don't read Arabic without the voweling well...can you please check the number...the organization should be told their number is incorrect.
Omer
Very nice article. I am a Muslim that does not like to identify on sectarian grounds. I come from a Sunni heritage.
After studying early Muslim history from both sides, I do clearly think that the Prophet Muhammad preferred that Ali to lead the Muslims after him.
In the tradition of Ghadir Khumm is one of the few traditions that has numerous lines of tradition at each generation and it seems to indicate that he preferred Ali to succeed him (not as a prophet of course) but as a leader of the state since Ali was most wise and pious.
Sunnis interpret Ghadir Khumm differently and think that the Prophet did not intend political succession but I think the Sunnis interpretation is weaker than the Shia interpretation.
Nevertheless, Shias recognize that Prophet Muhammad did not force this succession before his death.
If Ali being leader was so vital, then the Prophet would have been more forceful in ensuring it. So both sects should calm down on their sectarianism.
I do also think that certain practices did creep into the Shia Muslims transforming their political stance into more and more theology creating a separate sect. I find some of these practices that some of them do such as their saying Ya Ali Madad (Oh Ali, help) when they have difficulty to be outrageously against the Qur'an. Once I went to a Shia mosque to pray. I asked the Imam to tell me, that had Ali come back alive and were he to come to this mosque....if we asked him who would he want us to call for help when we have any difficulty...would it be him or God? The Imam did not want to answer because he knew that the answer is obvious that Ali would have been outraged at anyone calling on him rather than God.
I love reading the profoundly wise and pious sermons of Ali in Nahj al-Balagha.
Here is a discussion by the late Shia scholar, Ayatollah Murtadha Mutaharri on glimpses of Ali's profound sermons on the perfection and unity of God.
http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/general-al-tawhid/selection-glimpses-nahj-al-balaghah-mutahhari/theology-and-metaphysics
Interestingly even in Nahj al-balagha, Ali in one of his sermons says something to the effect that his followers to correct him if he errs since he is a human (but unfortunately, Shia scholars use acrobatic gymnastics to try to obscure that excerpt) . It is ironic how the former pagan enemies of the Prophet (the Ummayads) ended up taking the leadership over the Muslims. But, Shias should not exaggerate on Ali or Husayn (who also a very pious and great leader).
May God bring peace, wisdom, and goodness to all our hearts.
Thanks again for your article.
Juan,
I am a believing and practicing Muslim.
I completely agree with your wise analysis.
Thanks much!
Brilliant analysis Juan. Thanks much.
Great point JamesL.
Professor Cole does not have "limited" knowledge on Islam. He is a professor who knows multiple languages spoken by hundreds of millions of Muslims and knows Islam to a scholarly level. Professor Cole himself indicated that what IS is doing is as you say "not acceptable to any level minded Muslim." So you did not read his articles correctly.
The remark on Prophet Muhammad is false.
The Qur'an reverses the pagan pre-Islamic practice of beheadings, torturing, enslaving, etc by explicit commands.
"...At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom: Until the war lays down its burdens..." (47. 4)
The Qur'an explicitly forbids the injustice against any person, regardless of whether they are People of the Book or pagan or atheist...and in fact indicates that beyond justice, a Muslim should be kind to all non-Muslims. please see below.
"Allah does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against you on account of (your) religion, and have not driven you forth from your homes, that you show them kindness and deal with them justly; surely Allah loves the doers of justice. (60, 8) There are many other verses like the above two.
Very nice analysis..
Very nice but sadly true.
Here is a nice cartoon on Cheney.
http://theweek.com/cartoons/index/273537/political-cartoon-dick-cheney-torture
A youtube needs to made on this superb and truthful satire.
So many youtubes need to be made regarding the warcrimes of Cheney and his cronies and colleague-criminals at CIA, etc. with people acting these roles.
I hope some viewers of Juan's blog will make them.
Great job Juan!
Great post!
Almost certainly the wicked anti-Islam, anti-Qur'an, leader of ISIS was partly or wholly radicalized from the harsh treatment under American forces after the Iraq 2003 invasion and so were many other ISIS members and perhaps other ISIS leaders.
Al-Baghdadi
Very interesting. Thanks for this. Such analysis is never told in the news!
The sooner the Moderate Rebels are supported with adequate money and training, the better.
The longer the extremists and terrorists rule territory, the more they will brainwash teenage boys and young men with their evil thoughts which will God forbid bring up another generation with such thoughts and behaviors. These evil thoughts are clearly against the Qur'an in numerous ways. For instance Chapter 60, verse 8 says Muslims should be just and kind to non-Muslims who do not initiate persecution or expel Muslims from their homes. I beg God that Jabhat Nusra, ISIL are defeated. I am sure we all wish this. But God helps only those who help themselves. And the way to help people is thus to adequately fund, arm, and train the moderate rebels to the point that they can defeat all these extremists, terrorists, and also the terrorist regime of Assad.
I think we should increase our purchase of IKEA products to show support of Sweden's fairness!
Hello all,
Sorry for being a little off topic but with regards to the need to help the Yazidis and free their women and girls enslaved from the cruel militia ISIS, please note that there is a demonstration at the White House today at 2 pm. I just saw tweets by Matthew Barber @Matthew_Barber Please see below and convey to all and please retweet this.
Matthew Barber @Matthew__Barber · 7h 7 hours ago
Please RT: Everyone concerned for #Yazidi future—& women enslaved by #IS—can join tomorrow’s (Fri 24) demonstration at the White House, 2 pm
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Matthew Barber @Matthew__Barber · 7h 7 hours ago
Yazidis will demonstrate at the White House at 2:00 pm tomorrow to call for protection for #Sinjar & action to free enslaved women
#Yazidi
0 replies 28 retweets 16 favorites
Reply Retweet28 Favorite16
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@Phaedrus, the Qur'an does not condemn apostates to death. On the contrary it explicitly states that there is no compulsion in religion (2:256). There are a few hadiths (Islamic secondary sources) which some Muslims use as their rationale for thinking that apostates are condemned to be killed. But many Muslims see these hadiths as not being authentic. Regarding Buddhists, I don't know much about their texts, but they are engaged in the worst of atrocities in killing the Rohingya Muslims who they have herded by the hundreds of thousands in concentration camps which Nicholas Kristof of the NYTimes has written about. Please see http://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000002939059/21st-century-concentration-camps.html
There are bigots and killers in all religions and all secular ideologies.
Regarding one particularly urgent issue that is noble to do in addressing the atrocities of ISIL, Matthew Barber provides an excellent suggestion of freeing the thousands of enslaved Yazidi women and says it can be done in just one day if there is sufficient will in US decision makers to do so.
http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/u-s-wanted-help-free-thousands-enslaved-yazidi-women-single-day/
This is interesting....Most of what I read in the internet says that the Yazidi religion is 4000 years old....is that a misconception?
And that instead they are 1000 years old like and a mountainous ofshoot connected to Islam like Druze and Alawis?
Juan, I am happy that the US is dropping food and water. I hope they drop a lot more in different areas so that there is better distribution of the food and water....and I hope that the huge number of Yazidi families get a safe passage quickly for they have no shelter on that mountain.
But you make an excellent point. We should never forget the vast amount of death and continued suffering in terms of the staggering numbers of impovershed widows and orphans and the staggering number of wounded including terrible injuries such as losing both legs, etc.
We need a memorial built in Iraq and the US for this. I hope there is great documentation and photographs of not only what happened but of photographs and video of those who are currently in deep suffering because of the illegal invasion and attacks. If we attacked Saddam Hussein when he was actively engaged in killing large numbers of Kurds or Shia, I would not have felt bad but we attacked him when there was relative peace in the country except for the mass suffering from the cruel sanctions we imposed on Iraq for some 13 years which also killed at least half a million children. The sanctions which led to large numbers of Shias, Sunnis, and others dying prematurely with great suffering (including premature death within Yazidis) also reveal that our policy in Iraq the last few decades has been not of humanitarianism but that of causing unimaginably massive amounts of suffering. Having said that though, I hope all the Yazidis reach safe areas. May God help all the people there from suffering and guide them in all ways. Ameen.
I appeal to all to please sign this petition demanding immediate reinstatement of Dr. Steven Salaita....and please forward to all.
Over 11,000 have signed already!
http://www.change.org/petitions/phyllis-m-wise-we-demand-corrective-action-on-the-scandalous-firing-of-palestinian-american-professor-dr-steven-salaita
Dear "Nobody," thanks for trying to increase others to being informed.
If enough people are informed, then a critical mass is reached and great breakthroughs can occur for all peoples.
Even with less than great breakthroughs, a small number of informed people can mitigate harm by pushing back against unjust and destructive policies.
Juan,
Thanks much for revealing this mindset which is all too common among Israeli society and Israeli elite.
And thanks for the excellent commentary to refute the million times repeated lie that Hamas is an existential threat to Israel.
Many Israelis follow the propaganda principle that if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
Of course, regardless of Hamas, it is always evil to kill civilians, even more so children. Besides being killed, over 8,000 have been injured. Many have lost legs, including children....some have lost both legs thanks to weapons paid by our tax dollars. . .
God will not let people of conscience by always fooled. They will come to know the truth and do action to do good for all people, regardless of religion, etc.
Juan,
Thanks for posting this.
Regarding ousting (un)Islamic State, I feel that the most moral policy is to provide massive support to the Syrian moderates.
The combination of the Iraq army acting in Iraq and the Syrian moderates acting in Syria along with disgust of the (un)Islamic State from the Sunni population in Iraq and Syria may be too much for the small numbers of this brutal organization.
And helping the moderate Syrians will help them overcome the torturing Assad regime which is so bloodthirsty to remain in dictatorial control, that some 170,000 Syrians have died thus far.
As a practicing Muslim, I am outraged about the ultimatums made to the Christian community and for them to then leave their home and land.
I am not a scholar of Islam but I know that there are multiple commands in the Qur'an for Muslims to do and enjoin the "ma'ruf."
Although I am not an Arab, my understanding is that mar'uf has meanings of what is universally accepted as good and right.
Regarding the jizya, maybe it was considered normative in the far past for outlying communities to pay some amount to formally demonstrate recognition of the new religious/ethnic group that has taken over the geographical area and maybe also as to compensate from having to provide any men for protecting the state and not needing to pay any tax such as zakat for helping those in poverty.
However, I would assume that God would want Muslims to calibrate what is ma'ruf regarding political and economic understandings of peoples within the context of time and place.
So a community may not feel threatened 1400 years ago by having to pay some amount to the new authorities but communities of today would feel threatened.
I am not making any "fatwa" because I am not a scholar but I do know that Muslim rulers are supposed to provide fairness, security and prosperity to all they are ruling, and thus not of course not to provide the opposite policy of threatening ultimatums.
So for this criminal led organization to not be sensitive to others but rather threatening and brutal is embarrassing for Muslims.
Although not confirmed yet, if any damage was done to an ancient church in Mosul, it shows that the (un)Islamic State is in violation of 22(39-41) of the Qur'an which is pasted below because Muslims are supposed to protect churches...and also in violation of the beginning of this passage which indicates that Muslims should help to protect everyone's homes and thus not the opposite of threatening them.
In fact verse indicates that Muslims should be willing to fight to protect all houses of worship including monasteries, churches, and synagogues. And verse 41 again uses the word ma'ruf (translated as what is considered "right."
"Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, God is competent to give them victory.
[They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right - only because they say, "Our Lord is God." And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.
[And they are] those who, if We give them authority in the land, establish prayer and give zakah and enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. And to God belongs the outcome of [all] matters."
Juan, Great points!
Very insightful Juan.
I recall reading the father who I think was diagnosed with brain cancer decided to stay in Russia to die there....that may have also had played a factor....of course that is no excuse for the atrocities that were done