William Rees-Mogg: In crisis never forget value of gold

The dollar is simply a piece of paper. Gold is a much better store of value and is the best insurance against future shocks

By William Rees-Mogg
The Times, London
Monday, February 16, 2009

Last week was a bad one for bank shares; after the HBOS L8.5 billion loss, Lloyds shares fell by a third and other bank shares fell as well. Yet it was a very good week for the gold price, which closed on Friday at $935 an ounce, after reaching what was nearly a seven-month high of $953.30 on Wednesday.

The Books of the Mudawwanah

The Mudawwanah is the record of the answers given by Abdarrahman ibn al-Qasim in particular, Ibn Wahb and other direct students of Imam Malik, who were living in Egypt, to the questions of Sahnun. I post just the names of the book headings here since it is an interesting view of the things that these very serious men thought were important when compiling a work about ALL of the shariah. Compare these book headings against the issues that people think of overriding importance today, such as women’s dress, and the disparity is revealing. Continue reading “The Books of the Mudawwanah”

Ibn Khaldun on ‘Evolution’

It should be known that we – May God guide you and us – notice that this world with all the created things in it has a certain order and solid construction. It shows nexuses between causes and things caused, combinations of some parts of creation with others, and transformations of some existent things into others, in a pattern that is both remarkable and endless.

One should then look at the world of creation. It started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals. The last stage of minerals is connected with the first stage of plants, such as herbs and seedless plants. The last stage of plants, such as palms and vines, is connected with the first stage of animals, such as snails and shellfish which have only the power of touch. The word “connection” with regard to these created things means that the last stage of each group is fully prepared to become the first stage of the next group.

The animal world then widens, its species become numerous, and, in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man, who is able to think and to reflect. The higher stage of man is reached from the world of the monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection and thinking. At this point we come to the first stage of man after (the world of monkeys). This is as far as our (physical) observation extends.

The Mawlid

‘Ali ibn ‘Abd as-Sadiq said: “The (fast) is classified in different ways: for example, it may be an obligation; or may be makruh, like for example, (fasting) the day of the Mawlid, the Prophet’s birthday, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. This (latter judgement) is recorded from Zarruq from one of the (‘ulama) who justifies this (judgement by arguing) that it is one of the ‘Eid days of the Muslims. Our Shaykh, Abu ‘Abdallah al-Qouri, has expressed his juristic preference for this (latter judgement).” Continue reading “The Mawlid”

Israeli support for Hamas

Professor Anthony H. Cordesman [4], who currently holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), has near-conclusively demonstrated Israel’s systematic financial and monetary aid to Hamas, which began in the late 1970s. According to internal documents published several years ago by the Israel-based Institute for Counter Terrorism [5], in 1978 Israeli authorities allowed Hamas co-founder Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin to establish the group under its early name, “Islamic Center”, in Israel. A few years later, during the Iran-Contra Affair (1985-1986), Israel acted as Washington’s conduit in supplying US-made weapons to Iran and then channeling the profits to the Contras paramilitary mercenaries fighting Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. Israel did so in full knowledge of the fact that the Iranian government was at that time Hamas’ primary military supplier. As a result, Hamas even today uses numerous US-made weapons in its operations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, channeled to it by Israel, through Iran. According to Richard Sale, Terrorism Correspondent for United Press International, who has studied the internal documents, Israel’s active support for the militant group actually intensified after Iran’s Islamic Revolution caused Hamas’ popularity to boom in Palestine [5]. Continue reading “Israeli support for Hamas”

DOING NOTHING IS NOT AN OPTION – SHAYKH DR. ABDALQADIR AS-SUFI

Now, something must be done. The disgraced Arab peoples who have clearly surrendered their Deen to a kafir political class must finally act.

The spectacle on TV of the savage face of an Israeli woman, her mouth set in that same downward twist of cruelty and scorn we see daily on the Israeli ‘Defence’ Minister, as she mocked the sobbing and cries of Gaza mothers over their dead infants – it is that image that demands rational and liberating action from our paralysed Arab brothers. Israel is clearly caught up in a collective psychosis in which she is persecuted and the whole world is against her. Israel will never listen to the world. Let Israel listen to Freud, Melanie Klein and Reich – for the illness is psychic, collective and compulsive.

Read the article here.

The End of Democracy – “ Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi

To the great uneducated masses, democracy means universal franchise free to pick its governing institution divided into two or more opposing parties. The media instructed technical class also adhere to the creed that government should not interfere with the market – the market being corporation-controlled distribution and free markets meaning it is forbidden to inhibit global spread of corporation over private entity. Wealth is not governed. Wealth does not spend itself on people. The people pay for everything and are taxed for everything they buy or drive or fly.

Read it here.