'Imran b. Husain Radiallah Anho reported Allah's Messenger Sallallahu alaihi wasallam having said to him or to someone else: Did you fast in the middle of Sha'ban? He said: No. Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: If you did not observe fast, then you should observe fast for two days.

Sahih Muslim. The Book of Fasting

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Narrated 'Aisha Radiallah Anha,  Allah's Apostle Sallallahu alaihi wasallam  used to fast till one would say that he would never stop fasting, and he would abandon fasting till one would say that he would never fast. I never saw Allah's Apostle fasting for a whole month except the month of Ramadan, and did not see him fasting in any month more than in the month of Sha'ban.

Sahih Al Bukari

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"To many, the word “Shariah” conjures horrors of hands cut off, adulterers stoned and women oppressed....
In fact, for most of its history, Islamic law offered the most liberal and humane legal principles available anywhere in the world."

Islamophobia is fueling the politics of fear in the presidential campaigns. Some candidates have made bigoted comments that would never be made against any other group. According to Jack Levin, a hate-speech expert at Northeastern University in Boston, as reported in the Christian Science Monitor, today's anti-Muslim sentiment is similar to American attitudes toward Japanese-Americans during World War II.

Rudy Giuliani

While Rudy Giuliani's campaign has been swift in letting go a volunteer in New Hampshire for calling Muslims "madmen" who need to be "chased back to their caves," the campaign has so far failed to fire a well-known Islamophobe, Daniel Pipes.

Pipes has said that American Muslims "will present true dangers to American Jews." He has called for war crimes against Palestinians by asking Israel to raze Palestinian villages as collective punishment. It is unfortunate that Giuliani has hired a person who openly argues for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Giuliani has also endured little scrutiny for touting an endorsement from TV evangelist and onetime presidential candidate Pat Robertson, who has called Islam "Satanic" and the Prophet Muhammad "a wild-eyed fanatic." Peace and blessings be upon the Prophet. Giuliani also has approved of an advertisement calling Muslims "a people perverted."

Mike Huckabee

"When I say single them out, I am making the observation that we have more Pakistani illegals coming across our border than all other nationalities except those immediately south of the border," said Mike Huckabee. The fact is that Pakistan is the last country listed by the U.S. in undocumented workers coming through Mexico.  Also, Huckabee's Iowa manager has called the "War on Terror, a theological war."

Mitt Romney

In a late November Las Vegas fundraiser, Mitt Romney said he "cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified" for a Muslim in his administration, in light of the percentage of Muslims living in the U.S. The irony is that the population of Mormons, Romney's faith group, in the country is about equal to the number of Muslims.

John McCain

Sen. John McCain commenting on Romney's remarks to CBS said: "… it's absolutely wrong."

However, McCain himself has stumbled on the Muslim question. In September, beliefnet.com asked him about the possibility of a Muslim running for president, McCain said he would prefer a Christian president because this is a Christian nation. McCain later contacted the website to say he would vote for a Muslim if he or she were the candidate.

Barack Obama

Senator Barack Obama has been on the receiving end of Islamophobia since he entered the race although he is not a Muslim. A Hillary Clinton operative in Iowa was found spreading rumors about Obama and Islam. Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, while endorsing Senator Clinton, said of Obama that he liked "the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim." Later Kerrey stated he wasn't troubled by the fact that Obama "spent a little bit of time in a secular madrassa."

Obama has been very careful not to respond strongly to this part of his heritage. However, his wife has been more vocal. Addressing a Chicago-area fundraiser in November she said, "He is not Muslim. He is not a terrorist."

Obama, however, needs to challenge these bigoted rumors with a positive message by stating that there is nothing wrong in being Muslim instead of just responding that he is a Christian.

Challenge it!

The only way this blatant Islamophobia can stop is by Muslims and other Americans of conscience challenging it. That means directly contacting the campaigns of the above-mentioned candidates by phone or email and expressing our concerns. Below is important contact information for these candidates:

Rudy Giuliani

http://www.joinrudy2008.com/

Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee, Inc.

295 Greenwich St, #371

New York, NY 10007

212-835-9449

webteam@joinrudy2008.com

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=7643965041&ref=s

Mike Huckabee

http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Home.Home
Phone: 501-324-2008
Email: information@explorehuckabee.com

Mitt Romney

http://www.mittromney.com/

Phone: (857) 288-6400

http://www.mittromney.com/CommentForm

John McCain

http://www.johnmccain.com/landing/?sid=gorganic

Phone: (703) 418-2008

http://www.johnmccain.com/landing/?sid=gorganic

Barack Obama

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

Phone: (866) 675-2008

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2263644905&ref=s

By Sound Vision Staff Writer

Islamophobia is real. You may have personally experienced it or know a family member, friend or acquaintance who has. This new racism must be made known and fought against. Here are a couple of ways to combat this phenomenon:

1. Remember the Prophet: The Prophet was subject to horrible insults and hate crimes in his lifetime. He remained steadfast, patient and tolerant in the face of this Islamophobia. We must model this same behavior.

Good and Evil deeds are not alike. Requite evil with good, and he who is your enemy will become your dearest friend. But none will attain this save those who endure with fortitude and are greatly favored by God. (Quran 41: 34-35)

Pray that God guides these people who mock the Deen and one of God’s Prophet.

2. Incidents of Islamophobia are not isolated: Whether it's threat of bombing Makkah, calling Islam evil, depicting the Prophet as a terrorist, disrespecting the Quran, discriminating against Muslims, profiling Hindus, Sikhs, or Latinos thinking they look like Muslims, torturing prisoners, bombing civilians, these are all signs of Islamophobia.

3. Also note that not all media or all non-Muslims support this type of insulting behavior: Many have been at the forefront of condemning torture, bombing and occupation. There are 75 million Americans who, despite all Islamophobic media, think positive about Islam and Muslims.

4. Equate racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia: They all are fruits of the same tree of hate.

5. Start using the word Islamophobia to describe any kind of hate crime or speech against Islam and Muslims: Doing this will make the term uniform and eventually, an accepted part of the English language the way the term "anti-Semitism" is.

6. If you are involved in interfaith work, bring up the topic of Islamophobia at your meetings: Stress the urgency and need for people of all faiths to help address and condemn it and all other forms of intolerance publicly. If possible, get the organization to issue a public statement condemning Islamophobia in general, as well as in response to specific incidents like those mentioned above.

7. Sponsor reports on Islamophobia: Unless more documentation and yearly opinion surveys are conducted, people will continue to dismiss Islamophobia as a reality. So far, the UK is the only country which has officially commissioned a report on Islamophobia. The word has yet to become a part of American media. 

8. Request your local library to purchase some of the latest books and articles on the phenomenon of Islamophobia: Some of these include Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy, Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism: Causes and Remedies and Combating Islamophobia depends on unlearning intolerance 

9. Report any and every incident of Islamophobia you, your family or friends encounter: The FBI collects hate crime statistics. Report Islamophobia to them at your local FBI office. File a report with the Council on American-Islamic Relations. They issue an annual report on Muslim civil rights in the US. Also report the crime to your local police office.

10. If it's an election year, make sure your local Congressman or Congresswoman who relies on your vote is aware of Islamophobia: Organize a delegation of Muslims in your constituency if you can and arrange to make a presentation on the topic, as well as a list of clear things you would like your Congressman or Congresswoman to do about Islamophobia if they want your vote.

11.For every incident of Islamophobia, write a letter to the editor and your local civil rights organization about it.

12. Organize a program at your local mosque or community center about the problem of Islamophobia today: Hold a brainstorming session as part of the program as well to discuss how to solve this problem.

13. Thank those who speak out or act against Islamophobia: A quick call, even leaving a message and/or a two-line email message are sufficient.

14. Make Dua that Allah guides those who hold Islamophobic views and practice Islamophobia: The Prophet made Dua for the Quraysh, asking for them to be guided because they were ignorant of what they were doing by committing Islamophobic acts and saying wrong things against Islam and the Prophet.

© 2008 Abdul Malik Mujahid