Following the surprise election of Hamas some weeks ago in the Palestinian territories, the Zionist-influenced world including the US and European Union punished the Palestinian people for deciding to vote for the party of their choice.  With limited funds, Hamas is now paying the real price for abandoning their former means and adopting the political process.  But from an unexpected corner comes some moral support.

In a one-two counter-punch, Iran's President on Wednesday said taking European incentives to suspend uranium enrichment would be like trading gold for chocolates, and the foreign ministry spokesman in a mocking turnabout offered the Europeans trade incentives from Tehran.

Al-Nakba (the Catastrophe), or what Israel refers to as the War of Independence, was the war between the Arab armies in Palestine and Jewish forces in 1948. The war, part of which resulted in the independence of the State of Israel, also led to the dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

When we imagine what it has perhaps cost the US to sustain the Palestine/ Israel conflict, the amount imagined is mind-boggling. When we look at Israel today, seeking to ascertain what we got for our money, it is mind blowing, and heart breaking. Perhaps trillions of dollars have made their way from the United States to Israel since 1948 by various routes, and most, if not all of that money has been used to kill Palestinians, to vilify Islam, and to prevent economic, social and political development, while destroying any semblance of modernity that presently exists in the Muslim and Arab world, which is arguably the underlying objective of the Iraq invasion, and also the destruction of Lebanon, and why we are stalking Iran.

Giving an Islamophobe more attention than they deserve is perhaps not ideal, but sometimes there is nothing like exposing a liar, cheat and above all a hater of Islam and Muhammad (p). Hirsi Ali, whose real name is Hirsi Magan, fits this bill perfectly. 

{And we will surely test you with some fear, hunger and shortages of property, people and produce. But give good tidings to the steadfast. Those who, when a calamity befalls them say: "We belong to

A Recipe for Peace (www.arecipeforpeace.com) was founded in 2003 by two former diplomat's daughters who grew up seeing various races and religions dine peacefully together at their parent's tables.  The two founders hope that by funding pairs of young people from traditionally hostile cultures to learn to cook together, this will foster greater understanding and concord between these cultures.  They are also both from the financial industry and feel that giving young people strong vocational skills may also prevent them from feeling disenfranchised and becoming susceptible to more radical and anti-social political rhetoric.

For some time we have seen at MPACUK a logic and truth in the Ummah that many dare not speak of, for fear of being denounced as heretic. Yet each day Allah provides for us even greater truths to the argument that has formed in our mind. We have seen our fellow “so called practicing Muslims” follow a faith that is at best nothing more than a set of rituals and rules, much like all bankrupt faiths of the world, we have become a tribe who follow the customs that our priests taught us to follow. They offer the world a faith of harsh rules and no reason.

This simple but expressive poem is attempted on the lines of traditional Arabic poetry, i.e. where every line should rhyme (couplets). What is amazing is not only the content and sentiment, but the standard of English and the ability to compress a great deal of ideas into this relatively short piece of verse.