Had Allah not shown us favour, Hu may have made us to be swallowed (by the earth) also. Don’t you see how the kafirun do not prosper (Qur’an 28:87)

What you have committed is foolishness and degradation enough to fill the heavens and the earth! Are you then surprised if the heavens rain blood? ‘And the chastisement of the hereafter is even more degrading.’ (41:16). So do not take these moments of respite lightly - for He is not prompted by haste nor is it feared that He will miss the reprised. No! ‘Your Lord is ever observant.’ (89:14).” (Hazrate Zainab (AS) daughter of Imam Ali and Fatima Zahra, narrated in Al Amali, ch. 38, #8 )

In this session we will address the global environmental crisis from an Islamic discourse based in our history of traditional Islamic sciences and scholarship. This session will focus on the responsibility that God has placed upon humans as stewards of the environment. We will gather some of the West?s leading Islamic scholars to address the global environmental crisis from this Islamic perspective.

This panel will fit into the crosscutting themes of environmental degradation, while addressing the roles Muslims are playing in the neoliberal world order. It is our hope to shift the discourse of our community to one of a conscious understanding of the destructive nature of neoliberalism to our planet and to begin a dialogue as to what would be an effective Islamic response to these issues that we are facing.

This session will be in English, though Arabic will be used throughout to quote classical Islamic texts. Translation of the Arabic will be provided by the scholars on the panel immediately after quoting the Arabic, as is standard in Islamic scholarship.

The biggest challenge that the Islamic movement in the United States faces today is the same as all the other movements in the United States who are fighting the cultural destruction brought on by globalization and neoliberalism.

Our concrete alternatives are affirming that Islam has answers relevant to both Muslims and humanity in helping to create a more just and humane world order. But to do this Muslims must again believe that the tradition that has been given to us is still relevant in a changing world.

Secondarily, we believe it is important for Muslims to begin to engage more generally with the other movements in the United States and we believe that the US Social Forum is a perfect venue for us to begin this work.

Fatima Zahra (AS) daughter of Rasul Allah said: ” Allah made…Justice as a means of harmonization of the hearts…” (trans. in A Bundle of Flowers, p. B)

I find the situation too depressing… recommend folks just read about the the situation on Angry Arab (just ignore his silly anti-Islam comments that he comes up with from time to time - he is still under the spell of ye “olde left”).

And the Meanwhile in Palestine and Iraq blog (Molly, over there, sometimes insists on putting up some silly anti-Iran stuff, pass over ‘em - most of the other stuff is very good).

If you just wanna read a couple of posts: read this one entry and this one also.

Rasul Allah (peace and blessings upon him and his Family) said: “That which causes more of humanity to reach the Garden are taqwa for Allah, and a beautiful way of being (khulq)” (attributed in Bihar-ul-Anwar, vol. 71, p. 373, trans. A Bundle of Flowers, p. 36).

Recent and ongoing events should be understood in the following context:

“The strength of this new ?democratic strategy? lies in its unique public relations value, which allows those who wield it to cloak their ?free-market? agendas in the powerful rhetoric of human rights and humanitarianism. Ironically, the democracy idea was first picked up with gusto in the early 1980s, when President Reagan (with bipartisan support) created the quasi-nongovernmental organisation, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Needless to say, the Reaganites newly defined ?democracy? quickly debased democracy as commonly understood by the American populous: a not wholly unexpected development from a government reliant upon covert propaganda for implementing their deeply regressive domestic politics.

Either way, war or no war, it is urgent that progressive activists understand, expose, and criticize the insidious nature of the mechanisations of all would-be ?democracy promoters.? In this respect, this article will only examine the role of the most prominent US-based ?democracy promoting? organisation, the NED. However, it should be noted that the ?promotion of democracy? is a global phenomena, whose very legitimacy relies upon the support from a multitude of international actors. [4]

The NED Goes to Iran

The 2005 Iranian election was ?met with worldwide approval.? [5] It was, it seemed, a signal to the rest of the world that Iran was preparing itself for a more western style of democratic governance. But, despite the apparent legitimacy of the elections, it became evident in February 2006 that the US administration was now in ?Iranian democracy promoting mode.? It was then that Condoleezza Rice first announced she was requesting $85 million from Congress for the newly formed Office of Iranian Affairs.

Their ?democratic? rhetoric seems to have worked its wonders and allowed the NED to completely slip under the radar of the world?s media. In fact, even before the advent of the Iran Freedom and Support Act the NED had been openly meddling in Iranian affairs. According to the NED?s online project database five Iranian groups received NED aid prior to 2004: the Iran Teachers Association, the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, the National Iranian American Council, the Women?s Learning Partnership, and the Abdorrahaman Boroumand Foundation. [7] Therefore, in a bid to understand what US-led ?democracy? will mean for Iran, the activities of each of these organisations will now be examined in turn.

more here”

A quote from the Iranian government shows that they are not exactly ignorant of what is going on:

“The truth of the matter is that those bodies are under the umbrella of such titles as democracy, human rights, and are playing the role that their intelligence and information services used to play against countries in question in the past.”

…the NED Foundation, relying on the cooperation of other US foundations, theoretized the model of East Europe’s collapse, matched it with the situation in Iran, and tried to pursue it as a project.”

some of those foundations send invitations to Iranian thinkers to give lectures, participate at seminars, or to present research projects, allocating budgets to such activities… trying to choose active partners in our country and link them to the decision maker circles and organization in the United States.”