A synopsis of different sects of Islam

A synopsis of different sects of Islam

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Muslims ordered to avoid Avoid Ramdev’s yoga camp; it begins with ‘Vande Mataram’

Avoid Ramdev’s yoga camp, it begins with ‘Vande Mataram’: Darool to Muslims

PTI 7 November 2009

MUZAFFARNAGAR: Four days after Ramdev demonstrated ‘pranayam’ and a Hindu priest recited Vedic hymns at a meet of Muslim clerics at Deoband, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom issued a directive asking Muslims to avoid a camp run by the yoga guru as it begins with the singing of ‘Vande Mataram’.

“Singing of Vande Mataram is a prayer and against Islamic law as Muslims cannot offer prayers to anyone except Allah. Muslims should not sing Vande Mataram,” said Mufti Ehsan Kazmi, deputy-in-charge of Darul Uloom’s fatwa department.

He, however, said yoga can be practised as an exercise.

Another cleric Mufti Ehsan also said Muslims should refrain from singing ‘Vande Mataram’ during the yoga camp.

Darul Uloom had issued an edict which opposed any prayer involving ‘Vande Mataram’ and it was supported by top Muslim body Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind at its 30th general assembly at Deoband.

More than two lakh clerics and students watched Ramdev’s demonstration.

Incidentally, the 143-year-old influential seminary Darool had in the past issued a fatwa in favour of yoga after some clerics banned Muslims from practising it.

Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hasan said Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans

Fort Hood shooting: Nidal Malik Hasan ‘said Muslims should rise up’

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who allegedly killed 11 people before being shot and wounded by police at Fort Hood, had said Muslims should “rise up” and attack Americans in retaliation for the US war in Iraq, a former army colleague said.

By Philip Sherwell in New York
06 Nov 2009

Col Terry Lee, a retired officer who worked with him at the military base in Texas, alleged Maj Hasan had angry confrontations with other officers over his views.

Maj Hasan was reportedly fighting orders to be deployed to Iraq at the end of the month, claiming that he was the victim of harassment and insults because of his Arab background and his faith.

US soldier shoots dead five comrades in Baghdad stress clinicThe major is a psychiatrist who had been treating soldiers returning from Iraq for post-traumatic stress and alcohol and drug abuse problems.

“He was making outlandish comments condemning our foreign policy and claimed Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans,” Col Lee told Fox News.

“He said Muslims should stand up and fight the aggressor and that we should not be in the war in the first place.” He said that Maj Hasan said he was “happy” when a US soldier was killed in an attack on a military recruitment centre in Arkansas in June. An American convert to Islam was accused of the shootings.

Col Lee alleged that other officers had told him that Maj Hasan had said “maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Time Square” in New York.

He claimed he was aware that the major had been subject to “name calling” during heated arguments with other officers.

Federal law enforcement officials have said Maj Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.

The officials said the postings appeared to have been made by Maj Hasan but they were still trying to confirm that he was the author.

Maj Hasan’s cousin Nader Husan said he was happy working for the military but did dread deployment to Iraq.

Mr Hasan said his cousin was a US-born Muslim who had joined the military after high school. He had served as a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC, which treats many badly wounded troops.

“He was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed dealing with the people coming back and … trying to help them with their trauma,” he said.

He said his cousin had been transferred to Fort Hood in April months ago and was very reluctant to be deployed to Iraq. “We’ve known over the last five years that was probably his worst nightmare,” he said.

Muslim Army Major on rampage at US Military Base, Kills 12, wounds 31

More on Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan Click here

Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the officer in command of Fort Hood, said a shooter opened fire at a processing center for soldiers being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and was killed by military personnel and police who shot back. Two other men were arrested as suspects.

Cone said 12 people were killed, including the gunman, and 31 others were injured. All but one of the dead were members of the Army; the other was a civilian police officer employed by the Department of Defense at Ft. Hood.

The gun battle was apparently swift. Cone said the shooter used two handguns. It was unclear, the general said, whether he had a chance to reload before he was hit by return fire.   abcnews

Army officer opens fire at Fort Hood, killing 12
By APRIL CASTRO and DEVLIN BARRETT – 31 minutes ago

FORT HOOD, Texas — An Army officer opened fire Thursday with two handguns at the Fort Hood military base in an attack that left 12 people dead and 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman and apprehended two other soldiers in what appears to be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base.

There was no immediate word on a motive. The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He said all the casualties took place at the base’s Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening.

“It’s a terrible tragedy. It’s stunning,” Cone said.

A law enforcement official identified the shooting suspect as Army Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan. The official said Hasan, believed to be in his late 30s, was killed after opening fire at the base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

A defense official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hasan was a mental health professional — an Army psychologist or psychiatrist. Officials say it was not clear what Hasan’s religion was, but investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name or if he may have changed his name and converted to Islam at some point.

A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed was going on nearby at the time of the shooting, said Sgt. Rebekah Lampam, a Fort Hood spokeswoman.

Greg Schanepp, U.S. Rep. John Carter’s regional director in Texas, was representing Carter at the graduation, said John Stone, a spokesman for Carter, whose district includes the Army post.

Schanepp was at the ceremony when a soldier who had been shot in the back came running toward him and alerted him of the shooting, Stone said. The soldier told Schanepp not to go in the direction of the shooter, he said.

The base was locked down after the shootings. The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Nine were taken to Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple. A hospital spokeswoman says all had been shot and are adults. A Fort Hood spokesman said he could not immediately confirm any identities of the injured.

Lisa Pfund of Random Lake, Wis., says her daughter, 19-year-old Amber Bahr, was shot in the stomach but was in stable condition. “We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly,” Pfund told The Associated Press. She couldn’t provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.

“I ask that all of you keep these families and these individuals in your prayers today,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry said.

The shootings on the Texas military base stirred memories of other recent mass shootings in the United States, including 13 dead at a New York immigrant center in March, 10 killed during a gunman’s rampage across Alabama in March and 32 killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at Virginia Tech in 2007.

Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.

“The bottom line for us is that we are increasing security at our gates because the threat hasn’t yet been defined, and we’re reminding our Marines to be vigilant in their areas of responsibility,” said Capt. Rob Dolan, public affairs officer for the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz.

In Washington, President Barack Obama called the shooting “a horrific outburst of violence.” He said it’s a tragedy to lose a soldier overseas and even more horrifying when they come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

“We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident,” the commander in chief said. “We are going to stay on this.”

Covering 339 square miles, Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the United States. Home to about 52,000 troops as of earlier this year, the sprawling base is located halfway between Austin and Waco.

About a mile from Fort Hood’s east gate, Cynthia Thomas, director of Under the Hood Cafe, a coffee house and outreach center, was calling soldiers and friends on the post to make sure they’re OK.

“It’s chaotic,” Thomas said, as a SWAT team just drove by. “The phones are jammed. Everybody is calling family members and friends. Soldiers are running around with M-16s.”

Fort Hood officially opened on Sept. 18, 1942, and was named in honor of Gen. John Bell Hood. It has been continuously used for armored training and is charged with maintaining readiness for combat missions.

Associated Press Writers Anne Gearan, Lara Jakes, Suzanne Gamboa and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, D.C., Jay Root in Temple, Linda Stewart Ball, Anabelle Garay and Andre Coe in Dallas contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Jamait-e-Ulema Hind issues fatwa against Vande Mataram

Fatwa issued against ‘Vande Mataram’

Times Now 3 November 2009

Jamait-e-Ulema Hind or the JEU on Tuesday issued a fatwa against singing national song ‘Vande Mataram’.

According to a resolution, Muslims should not sing ‘Vande Mataram’ as its reciting is against the Islam.

The resolution, which was passed at the Deoband national convention meet, says that Muslims should not sing ‘Vande Mataram’ as some verses of the patriotic song are against the tenets of Islam. The JEU leader said that the some of the line in the song is against Islam.

Meanwhile, home minister P Chidambaram addressed a Jamait-e-Ulema Hind conference in Deoband today.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Law Board justified the decision saying that (Muslims) can’t offer prayers to anyone but Allah. Kamal Farooqui, a prominent leader of the Board said, “We love the nation but can’t worship it.”