[25/12, 20:40] Anon: "Lest we forget!* Today, in Rememberance of 350,000 Bosnian Muslims!

[25/12, 20:40] Anon: "Lest we forget!*

Today, in Rememberance of 350,000 Bosnian Muslims!

Death didn't come easy .

The Genocide by the Christian Serbs against the Muslims of Bosnia.

📌 Approximately 100,000 Muslims were martyred.

📌 60,000 women and girls were raped.

📌 One and a half million people were abandoned.

 Do we remember it❓

 Or have we forgotten it❓

 Or are we totally ignorant about it❓

🖌Christiana Amanpour of CNN spoke about the memory of the Bosnian massacres, and asks:
Does history repeat itself?

✏She comments on the memory of Bosnia:
It was a Medieval war of killing, blockade and starvation of Muslims, and Europe refused to intervene saying that it was a civil war. . .
That was myth.

⛓The Holocaust lasted for about 4 years, during which the Serbs demolished more than 800 mosques, some of which were built in the 16th century.
They burned the Sarajevo Historical Library.

🖊The United Nations interfered and placed two gates at the entrances of Muslim's cities such as Goraga, Srebrenica, Zepa.
But they were under siege and fire and their protection did nothing.

🔗The Serbs put thousands of Muslims in detention camps, tortured them, and starved them, until they became skeletons!

📍When a Serb commander was asked: Why? He said,
Because they don't eat pork!

✏ The Guardian published The days of the Bosnian Massacres, a full-page map showing the locations of the rape camps of Muslim women,
17 huge camps, some within Serbia itself.

🔸The Serbs raped children. A 4-year-old girl, blood running between her legs.
The Guardian published a report on it entitled:
The child whose guilt is  being a Muslim.

📌Butcher Mladic invited the Leader of the Muslims in Zepa to a meeting. He gave him a cigarette, laughed with him a little, then swooped on him and slaughtered him.

🔶The  most famous crime was the siege of Srebrenica, the international soldiers (crusaders) were together with the Serbs, dancing, and some bargained for Muslim woman regarding their chastity, in exchange for a bite of food.

📌The Serbs had besieged Srebrenica for two years during which the shelling didn't stop for a moment.
The Serbs were also taking a large part of the aid meant to go to the Muslim towns.

🔗Then the West decided to hand it over to the wolves. The Dutch battalion protecting Srebrenica conspired with the Serbs. They pressed Muslims to surrender their weapons in exchange for safety.
The Muslims bowed after being tortured and punished.

🔹After having given False Guarantees, the Serbs swooped on Srebrenica.

They isolated the males from their females,
They gathered 12,000 males (Boys and men) and massacred them in different forms:
One Serb stood on a Muslim man, and he dug on his face the image of the Orthodox Cross....
(From a Newsweek or Time magazine report).

🖍As for the women, they were assaulted regarding their honor and some of them were burned ... others were left in the open heat to die slowly.

💢The slaughter continued for days in Srebrenica. Its fall was in late July 1995

📌 A mother was holding the hand of a Serbian man saying .. "Please do not slaughter my son", so he cut her hand and then placed his cut off head in front of her eyes!

🩸The massacre was taking place while the rest of the World could see, hear, eat, have fun and play ..

📌After the slaughter of Srebrenica ... Butcher Radovan Karagic entered the city, and openly declared: Srebrenica was always Serbian and has now returned to the hands of the Serbs.

💢The Serbs were raping the Muslim women, and they were holding them for 9 months until they gave birth.
Why?
A Serbian told a Western newspaper We want Muslim women to give birth to Serb babies

✏We remember Bosnia, Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Srebrenica.
✏We will mention it and bring it back
✏We will not forget the Balkans.
✏We will never forget Granada.
✏We will not forget Palestine.

🖌On the memory of 20 years since the crime of Europe and Serbia in Bosnia we say:

📌We will not forget,
📌we will not forgive,
📌We will never believe in
Slogans of Tolerance, Coexistence and Human rights.

📝Here we must record with ink of shame ... the positions of the Orthodox Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who was at that time the Secretary General of the United Nations,
He sided blatantly with his Serb brothers.

🖌But unfortunately, after 20 years, we did not learn any lesson.

🖍 The Serbs were singling out Religious Scholars, Masjid Imams, Intellectuals and businessmen for killing. They tied them, then slaughtered them, and threw them in the river!

📌When the Serbs entered a town, they started with demolishing its Masjids.
One of the Muslims says:
If the Serbs demolished the town's Masjid, we would have nothing to do but flee from it, the Masjids represented everything!

🖌 A British newspaper described the genocide of Muslims in Bosnia in this phrase:

War of the twentieth century waged in the style of the middle centuries!

🖊🖊
Please share this post,
let us not forget our history and let us remind the future generations.

 LET THE WORLD KNOW

حسبنا الله ونعم الوكي

Excuse Me, But Israel Has No Right To Exist

PALESTINE - ISRAEL, 21 May 2012

Sharmine Narwani - The Sandbox

The phrase “right to exist” entered my consciousness in the 1990s just as the concept of the two-state solution became part of our collective lexicon. In any debate at university, when a Zionist was out of arguments, those three magic words were invoked to shut down the conversation with an outraged, “are you saying Israel doesn’t have the right to exist??”

Of course you couldn’t challenge Israel’s right to exist – that was like saying you were negating a fundamental Jewish right to have…rights, with all manner of Holocaust guilt thrown in for effect.

Except of course the Holocaust is not my fault – or that of Palestinians. The cold-blooded program of ethnically cleansing Europe of its Jewish population has been so callously and opportunistically utilized to justify the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian Arab nation, that it leaves me utterly unmoved. I have even caught myself – shock – rolling my eyes when I hear Holocaust and Israel in the same sentence.

What moves me instead in this post-two-state era, is the sheer audacity of Israel even existing.

What a fantastical idea, this notion that a bunch of rank outsiders from another continent could appropriate an existing, populated nation for themselves – and convince the “global community” that it was the moral thing to do. I’d laugh at the chutzpah if this wasn’t so serious.

Even more brazen is the mass ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population by persecuted Jews, newly arrived from their own experience of being ethnically cleansed.

But what is truly frightening is the psychological manipulation of the masses into believing that Palestinians are somehow dangerous – “terrorists” intent on “driving Jews into the sea.” As someone who makes a living through words, I find the use of language in creating perceptions to be intriguing. This practice – often termed “public diplomacy” has become an essential tool in the world of geopolitics. Words, after all, are the building blocks of our psychology.

Take, for example, the way we have come to view the Palestinian-Israeli “dispute” and any resolution of this enduring conflict. And here I borrow liberally from a previous article of mine…

The United States and Israel have created the global discourse on this issue, setting stringent parameters that grow increasingly narrow regarding the content and direction of this debate. Anything discussed outside the set parameters has, until recently, widely been viewed as unrealistic, unproductive and even subversive.

Participation in the debate is limited only to those who prescribe to its main tenets: the acceptance of Israel, its regional hegemony and its qualitative military edge; acceptance of the shaky logic upon which the Jewish state’s claim to Palestine is based; and acceptance of the inclusion and exclusion of certain regional parties, movements and governments in any solution to the conflict.

Words like dove, hawk, militant, extremist, moderates, terrorists, Islamo-fascists, rejectionists, existential threat, holocaust-denier, mad mullah determine the participation of solution partners — and are capable of instantly excluding others.

Then there is the language that preserves “Israel’s Right To Exist” unquestioningly: anything that invokes the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and the myths about historic Jewish rights to the land bequeathed to them by the Almighty – as though God was in the real-estate business. This language seeks not only to ensure that a Jewish connection to Palestine remains unquestioned, but importantly, seeks to punish and marginalize those who tackle the legitimacy of this modern colonial-settler experiment.

But this group-think has led us nowhere. It has obfuscated, distracted, deflected, ducked, and diminished, and we are no closer to a satisfactory conclusion…because the premise is wrong.

There is no fixing this problem. This is the kind of crisis in which you cut your losses, realize the error of your ways and reverse course. Israel is the problem. It is the last modern-day colonial-settler experiment, conducted at a time when these projects were being unraveled globally.

There is no “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” – that suggests some sort of equality in power, suffering, and negotiable tangibles, and there is no symmetry whatsoever in this equation. Israel is the Occupier and Oppressor; Palestinians are the Occupied and Oppressed. What is there to negotiate? Israel holds all the chips. They can give back some land, property, rights, but even that is an absurdity – what about everything else? What about ALL the land, property and rights? Why do they get to keep anything – how is the appropriation of land and property prior to 1948 fundamentally different from the appropriation of land and property on this arbitrary 1967 date?

Why are the colonial-settlers prior to 1948 any different from those who colonized and settled after 1967?

Let me correct myself. Palestinians do hold one chip that Israel salivates over – the one big demand at the negotiating table that seems to hold up everything else. Israel craves recognition of its “right to exist.”

But you do exist – don’t you, Israel?

Israel fears “delegitimization” more than anything else. Behind the velvet curtain lies a state built on myths and narratives, protected only by a military behemoth, billions of dollars in US assistance and a lone UN Security Council veto. Nothing else stands between the state and its dismantlement. Without these three things, Israelis would not live in an entity that has come to be known as the “least safe place for Jews in the world.”

Strip away the spin and the gloss, and you quickly realize that Israel doesn’t even have the basics of a normal state. After 64 years, it doesn’t have borders. After six decades, it has never been more isolated. Over half a century later, and it needs a gargantuan military just to stop Palestinians from walking home.

Israel is a failed experiment. It is on life-support – pull those three plugs and it is a cadaver, living only in the minds of some seriously deluded foreigners who thought they could pull off the heist of the century.

The most important thing we can do as we hover on the horizon of One State is to shed the old language rapidly. None of it was real anyway – it was just the parlance of that particular “game.” Grow a new vocabulary of possibilities – the new state will be the dawn of humanity’s great reconciliation. Muslims, Christians and Jews living together in Palestine as they once did.

Naysayers can take a hike. Our patience is wearing thinner than the walls of the hovels that Palestinian refugees have called “home” for three generations in their purgatory camps.

These universally exploited refugees are entitled to the nice apartments – the ones that have pools downstairs and a grove of palm trees outside the lobby. Because the kind of compensation owed for this failed western experiment will never be enough.

And no, nobody hates Jews. That is the fallback argument screeched in our ears – the one “firewall” remaining to protect this Israeli Frankenstein. I don’t even care enough to insert the caveats that are supposed to prove I don’t hate Jews. It is not a provable point, and frankly, it is a straw man of an argument. If Jews who didn’t live through the Holocaust still feel the pain of it, then take that up with the Germans. Demand a sizeable plot of land in Germany – and good luck to you.

For anti-Semites salivating over an article that slams Israel, ply your trade elsewhere – you are part of the reason this problem exists.

Israelis who don’t want to share Palestine as equal citizens with the indigenous Palestinian population – the ones who don’t want to relinquish that which they demanded Palestinians relinquish 64 years ago – can take their second passports and go back home. Those remaining had better find a positive attitude – Palestinians have shown themselves to be a forgiving lot. The amount of carnage they have experienced at the hands of their oppressors – without proportional response – shows remarkable restraint and faith.

This is less the death of a Jewish state than it is the demise of the last remnants of modern-day colonialism. It is a rite of passage – we will get through it just fine. At this particular precipice in the 21st century, we are all, universally, Palestinian – undoing this wrong is a test of our collective humanity, and nobody has the right to sit this one out.

Israel has no right to exist. Break that mental barrier and just say it: “Israel has no right to exist.” Roll it around your tongue, tweet it, post it as your Facebook status update – do it before you think twice. Delegitimization is here – have no fear. Palestine will be less painful than Israel ever was.

______________________

Sharmine Narwani is a commentary writer and political analyst covering the Middle East.

Go to Original – al-akhbar.com

POWER OUTAGES AND FLUCTUATIONS - 1

 Early on the morning of Saturday 11th March 2023, before 3.00 am, our power went. Tried to call Kenya Power's engineers to no avail. None of them was answering. After over an hour, one answered and was told it would take another hour to restore.

Unfortunately, this did not happen and when at 6.00 am we were still suffering in this awful heat, and I called, again no answer and when finally one of them, did, was told it would take another hour! Yet, a few minutes after hanging up, the power mercifully returned. So, why was this engineer lying to me? 

This is one of the reasons we don't have any confidence in these people and suspect that they don't work 24 hours as the long-suffering public is made to believe, but can only work during daylight hours. Kenya Power has lost its credibility with the public (consumers), whom they are supposed to serve because they do not keep its word and even lies to us. 

Forget about transparency, they are not even translucent but extremely OPAQUE!!!

Then, just after about 36 hours of the above outage of over 3 hours, we had another one of these outage/fluctuations yesterday (12th March 2023), late afternoon. Again, there was no response when called and while the power returned after a couple of minutes, these play havoc with our electrical devices, and the regulators they are attached to, start malfunctioning. Who will pay for this damage?

This missive has the number 1 in the title. Henceforth, I will start numbering these fluctuations/outages so that both the receiving public and Kenya power for their record will be able to tell how often this happens with their so-called services.

PERSISTANT OUTAGES AND FLUCTUATIONS EVERYDAY!

This morning we had at least 2 outages and fluctuations with a matter of 15 minutes. Why?

And as usual, no response to calls, either. Why?

Can Kenya Power PLEASE get its act together and work more efficiently to give us with a consistent supply of power where our electrical devices will not malefunction? Otherwise, the long suffering consumers might entertain the possibility of demanding compensation for damage/s for their AWFUL 'SERVICES'...!

Considering the hefty bills we have to foot every month, it is high time we, consumers, demanded and equally responsible and accountable service in return.

WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR CONSTANT OUTAGES...?!

 On Saturday, 4th March 2023, once again nearly the WHOLE COUNTRY lost power! Most of us do not know the reason why, but we have noticed that since late last year that there have been too many of these national outages. Why? Are we in a war 'mode' or suffering from some natural catastrophe which is usually the reason when nations suffer from such incidences?

Kenya Power, which has proved itself to be a very insolent outfit of late which takes its customers for granted due to it being the ONLY one that supplies us with this commodity, does not deem it fit to either answer our frantic calls and/or give an explanation and apology for the outage. 

On that fateful Saturday, we were forced to 'time' travel to a time before Mankind discovered electricity and put it to use for itself and developed further... In the sweltering heat and humidity of the coast, we had to suffer for over 4 HOURS without knowing when we would be put out of our misery.

None of the local engineers were answering their phones initially and when one of them finally, did, he could not give any specific time scale WHEN it would be back! When cornered, he told me 3 to 4 hours, but when the 3 hours were up and I called him again I  was told that it would take another 3 hours!!!!

Then, today the power went off, yet again in the morning and KP  wouldn't answer their phones. When this happens, we are left wondering what caused the outage, if it is country-wide, again, and how long it will last for... All of this is extremely frustrating for those of us who rely a lot on power. 

What is the matter with our monopolistic and EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE power company? They are becoming more and more insolent by the day...

What is it about Friday....?

The non-Muslims among us must be wondering, especially those living around the Umoja Estate in Nyali, that while mercifully the whole week, at least two Mosques among the umpteen ones we are surrounded by, have reduced their noise level, Alhamdulillah, comes Friday, and we are inundated by the racket!

So, my question, since I too, am a Muslim, what is it about Friday that they should make more noise than normal? While the Qur'an tells the believers to especially treat the mid-day prayer on Friday as very important and to leave everything aside when they hear the call to prayer and attend congregational worship in the mosque. More so for the men which is a MUST. 

Nowhere in the entire Qur'an nor in the Sunnah of the Prophet (saw), does it say that the prayer should be extra-loud or even the sermon (which is counted as part of the prayer). All of this is supposed to be heard only by the attendees in the mosque/s, just like any other day or prayer.

Therefore, my question is, why are these Imams and Muslims in general changing the rules? 

If one is not even supposed to disturb the person/s standing in line next to us while praying, who gives you the right to disturb those of us who are living in the vicinity of mosques, and who are also trying to say our prayers (those of us who are females, Muslims and not attending mosques)? By the way, it's optional for women to attend mosques for prayers.

What is the matter with the authorities like NEMA and the County Environment Dept., that they continue to let religious noise pollution carry on? When talking to them one gets the impression that they are either scared stiff of applying this law regarding noise pollution or don't know much about what Islam actually says regarding this loud leading of prayers in all the mosques. They should first and foremost separate freedom of religion from senseless noise-making and then carry on from there. If they don't know what Islam allows and doesn't allow, they should educate themselves.

And don't ask residents who are getting disturbed that they sign a letter to them which is when they will take action. Regarding this, if Islam really allowed loud leading of prayers, etc., our signatures would have scant effect on these people. And if they accepted our signatures, it would show that our religion does not allow disturbing others! Also, how do they manage in other countries which are more law-abiding and don't tolerate noise? Such places don't even allow the loud call to prayer on the PA system.

So, will something be done about this, please?

What we all feared, has started happening....!

Today is just the 2nd day of Ramadhan and one of our neighbourhood mosques (Umoja Estate is surrounded by them), is leading the late night prayers over the PA system, again!

For the past week there's been some peace during prayer times when ONLY the calls to prayer have been on the PA systems and as I write this it is 9.00 pm and the special prayers that one says during Ramadhan called Tarawih, are being led very loudly on the PA system of one of the mosques.

Does this mean that our peace and quiet is now gone and since this mosque has started disturbing the whole neighbourhood, others will follow in its wake?

May I again remind this Imam and the various attendees who are praying in these mosques to PLEASE, have consideration for their neighbours as well as the fact that nowhere in the practice of the Holy Prophet (saw), was this done nor is it allowed in the Holy Qur'an to disturb others. It is NOT VALID for others to follow him and therefore, only the ones INSIDE THE MOSQUE are supposed to hear him and so the PA system should be switched inside and NOT OUTSIDE for everyone to be disturbed. 

Please, do remember that most of your neighbours would like to go to bed early and whom you are keeping awake with your loud prayers.... or are you trying to show off to others that you are so holy and as proof you are leading these loud prayers?!

If that is the case, then the Qur'an speaks of people like you - you have little of faith and would just like to be seen and heard by men, i.e. show off how holy you are!!! Then, shame on you, all. What you are practicing is definitely NOT the ISLAM THAT THE HOLY PROPHET (saw), came with!

Have consideration for your neighbours for there are many non-muslims living amongst us and even the Muslims are getting disturbed and cannot do what they would like. Which can be their own prayers, sleep, etc.

The offensive and disturbing noises continue....

 It is beyond me to understand, why some of my muslim brothers are so insistent on having a peaceful and quiet neighbourhood erupt into incoherent noise comes Friday mid-day prayers.

On what basis do they insist on doing this? If, as some on social media, have rudely told us (muslims and non-muslim alike), to move or that they are trying to 'spread' Islam by giving loud and incoherent sermons on the PA systems, I would like to again ask them where in the practice of our beloved Prophet (saw), was this the case. 

Again, I would like to point out to them that there are a multitude of different kinds of people living within hearing distance of these loud sermons followed by prayers and they are disturbing EVERYBODY. I, being a Muslim, myself, was disturbed by this nearly half an hour of sermons being given in the mosques surrounding us. Since, they are ALL loudly given, we cannot make sense of anything. The ONLY thing it does is interfere in our prayers and/or anything else we might be doing at the time. 

Now, imagine the effect these loud (and competing sermons), will have on those fasting from next week. We are told in the Qur'an and the Seerah of the Prophet (saw), to observe more ibadah during this month. Therefore, we will be doing more prayers and especially reciting the Holy Qur'an more than usual, but, these mosques will probably be making more noise than ever, thereby incurring Allah's wrath because they'll be disturbing their neighbours.

So, for what purpose do you do this? You are DEFINITELY NOT doing ANYTHING meritorious by inconveniencing your neighbours, believe me. Again, I would beseech you all to look up what the rights of neighbours are......, not what you're practicing!

By rudely telling us to move, is highly offensive and uncalled-for and akin to giving threats. And I would remind you that Islam was never spread by threats and violence but by adhering to the Qur'anic teachings and practice of the Prophet (saw). 

Islam stands for PEACE and your behaviour is anything but, that. So, PLEASE stop being pests!

Noisy Mosques...continued from the last post....

While the mosques around Umoja estate have considerably reduced their noise levels, and we thought that the bliss would continue, but unfortunately it all lasted only till today, a Friday, 2nd April 2021!

Today, the noise level increased considerably and the sermon after the Adhan, was again given using the outside PA system. This is not allowed. Like the prayer which is to be done only for those within the mosque, the sermon, too is only for them, NOT for the public.

Now, I wonder if this is in preparation for the coming Holy month of Ramadhan? Are we all going to be inundated with noise from all the mosques surrounding us on a daily basis?

I would again, like to ask these imams, why do they do this? First, even if we were inclined to listen (which we are NOT AT ALL!), to their noisy sermons/prayers, etc., we cannot understand or hear what they are saying due to other mosques competing with each other on who can be the loudest. In fact, they sound more like they are telling off their congregants and whoever is listening to them and that they are quarrelling!

The other thing I would like to remind these noisemakers is the fact, that when they are reciting the Qur'an, we, Muslims are told to listen to it. Now, they are putting the non-mosque going Muslim public in a dilemma - we cannot make out a thing other than noise, when they are reciting the Qur'an on PA systems and others are also doing the same. Therefore, they are making a mockery of the Qur'an.

Can they please, stop this? You are disturbing your neighbours which is against Islam! Please do not confuse the freedom of religion with that of noise pollution.

Noisy mosques and religious noises in general

While Umoja Estate in Nyali is surrounded by umpteen numbers of mosques, there's a new one that's been built within hearing and visual distance from us and which has since Thursday, 25th March 2021, acquired one of the LOUDEST public address systems around. The 2nd loudest one is the mosque at Ratna Square.

After having suffered from the EXTREMELY LOUD call to prayer at 4.30 am on the 25th of March 2021 over an hour nearly before the actual morning prayers, the imam then gave another call about 45 minutes later and another one after 5 to 10 minutes. Soon after the actual prayer started which is normally led by the imam.

Now, can anybody tell me (I am a muslim, too, who gets up for prayers in the mornings), what is the point of leading prayers so loudly that the whole neighbourhood and those farther afield can hear, depending on how loud is the PA system that is being used? For the information of non-muslims and quite a few fellow ignorant Muslims, this is invalid. It is invalid for me for example to follow this offensive imam. Since we cannot follow that loud imam who seems to think that what he's doing is a meritorious act, what is the point of him doing this? The ONLY people who have to hear him are the ones inside the mosque! So why are these mosques heard leading entire prayers and sermons outside the mosques? Why not have speakers inside the prayer hall/s so that all the congregants can hear him and not the entire neighbourhood?

In fact, he's disturbing others who are praying and also the non-muslims among us not to mention the sick, the elderly, and the children.

When I went to see the mosque imam the next day to request him to lower the volume of everything including the call to prayer, him and his companions (there were several guys with him), completely denied that the racket emanates from their mosque! My neighbours have all heard them and this mosque, Al Buraq, is awfully loud and we are ALL fearing what they are going to do during Ramadhan when almost ALL mosques will become even louder for an entire month!!!

One of the guys there challenged me to make a recording and then go there to accuse them of being loud. Unfortunately, I cannot do this since I am praying at this time, too. I would also like to ask all those Muslims who seem to find my post offensive to please let me know where in the Qur'an or the practice of the Prophet (saw), is this behaviour allowed and THEN come back to me with your accusations.

Other than the call to prayer, no other part of the prayer is supposed to be heard outside! Also, since there are so many mosques around there's no need for the call to prayer to be so loud that the sound from other mosques overlaps it! It is TERRIBLE. One would think that the various PA systems are competing with each other.

Will somebody in authority please act on this?

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An ALERT for people with disabilities!

I suffer from Multiple Sclerosis(MS), and have to contend with umpteen numbers of disabilities which can be both visible and invisible to the people around me. But, they ALL have a nasty impact on my daily life. 

Unfortunately, unlike many others, I live on my own without much help with my daily living and therefore cannot assign others to do my shopping for me, etc. This creates very frustrating problems for me due to the fact that I  have very limited energy and movement and get exhausted quite fast.

Therefore, shopping is quite a challenge and more so when our supermarkets not to mention our public transport system, DO NOT cater for disabled people. There are some supermarkets that provide manual wheelchairs, but others not even this, unfortunately.

The ones that provide the manual ones do so with the belief that the disabled person will arrive there with somebody in tow who will push the wheelchair and at most they would have to provide somebody to push the shopping cart (this makes quite a 'train'!). It never crosses the supermarkets' high command that people with disabilities can live alone and therefore when one arrives, like me, to shop, they waste a lot of time to look for 2 people to push the wheelchair and another to deal with the shopping cart. And they most times don't have people to spare to do  this.

I tried informing one such supermarket about half an hour in advance so that we would not waste each others time, but when I called, the person answering told me to come with a maid or something as they would not be able to avail one of their staff!!! When I talked to the manager, I was given the above explanation, but he was good enough to understand my predicament and provided the necessary people.

Naivas supermarkets (in Mombasa, Nyali branch), provides two wheelchairs, but they are only for show. ONLY an amputee would be capable of using those since they have no foot-rest on them! I have talked to the management umpteen numbers of times over the years since they opened their branch here to no avail. They don't care!!!

Carrefour at the 2 rivers branch, ironically provides carts to hook up to wheelchairs, but no wheelchairs! Again, I asked the manager and was told that it is not their policy to do so. Why? 

The ONLY place I found who cheerfully and kindly provides for disabled people is Sarit Centre. Here, from the disabled parking slot one can ask for a wheelchair and it will be brought by a minder who will very willingly take you where you want to go without expecting 'rewards' in return and back again. Thumbs up to Sarit centre for this provision.

Nakumatt is also the ONLY one which provides an automated wheelchair with an attached cart which allows the shopper complete freedom to do his/her shopping on their own.

Now, my question to these supermarkets is this - if they do not want to provide for disabled people, shouldn't they announce so to the public? That their branches will NOT cater or entertain disabled people....., especially the ones, like me, who shop alone?!

Crimes agains humanity

Campaign racket

As I  write this, we, in this residential area of Nyali (near Cinemax), are being inundated with an unbelievably ear-splitting campaign racket coming from the main road. This happens EVERY SINGLE DAY come rain, hail or shine. 

We, the residents are least interested in this kind of 'banana republic type' of campaigning that our useless, brainless and idiotic so-called politicains have of trying to get themselves votes from us.

Since we cannot engage them with our questions on what they stand for, etc., most of us WILL NOT BOTHER TO vote for such insensitive and disturbing politicians, most of whom are a 'recycled' lot who care NOTHING for law and order or justice!

Can the present, nearly on the way out (hopefully), politicians still holding office, please do their final service to the residents of Mombasa by getting rid of these noise polluters, please?

NHIF payments..

I went to a clinic today where they accept our NHIF cards. After I gave my card to the receptionist, she checked if my payment was up to date.

After a few moments, she came back to me and very politely told me to please update my payments on it as it showed a very low balance!

I informed her that my payment to NHIF was fully paid up to at least April 2017. She insisted that the card did not show this and that to get in touch with NHIF immediately and inform them of this fact.

This I did as soon as I got back home. One of their numbers was not being answered, so I tried another (all of them in Nairobi as the Mombasa ones are NEVER answered!). It was answered quite fast, but, after I told the receptionist about my problem, she put me on hold for over 2 minutes and never got back to me, so I hung up.

I tried the same number after a few minutes and again it was answered immediately and the person at the other end asked me my problem which I related. She then asked for my ID number and mobile number both of which I supplied. I was told to hang up and wait for somebody to call me on the number I had given her and would not share any more details. All very mysterious. 

The above calls and conversation took place at about 3.00 pm. It is now past 5.30 pm, but nobody has called me from NHIF and I do not believe that they will.

Lots of questions started swirling in my head immediately that the clinic had told me about my NHIF card showing some very strange amount on it.

1. I have never used the card since I got it early last year, so how come it did not show ALL of the amount I've been paying them all this time?

2. What is it supposed to show anyway?

3. Since they have not been updating my card efficiently and keeping track of my payments, what happens if and when, I am so ill that I cannot show the clinic or the hospital where I am admitted the proof of payment via Mpesa on my phone? What will the medical institution do when my card does not show all these payments?

4. Why, when I  called NHIF Nairobi regarding my card update, did the receptionist behave in the way she did?

5. Why haven't I still heard from them, yet? And will I ever do....?! 

6. So now, what happens?

All the above thoughts are still going through my mind and which also make me very angry. Angry at our so-called institutions whom we pay through our collective noses, but get NOTHING in return. Total unaccountability and irresponsible attitude.

Yet, just this morning we read that the poor medical personnel who have been trying to get justice, have been trashed and told arrogantly to return to work or else become jobless.

Is it any wonder that we are seriously suffering a braindrain in this country? Everybody who can and have the opportunity are leaving. It's pathetic.

How come the citizens who are paying our useless politicians who do the least amount of work, but have awarded themselves obscene amounts of remuneration, were told by their employers (us Kenyans), that we will stop paying them a cent till they do some honest amount of work on OUR BEHALF, for once?!

Let us see, if they like it? Maybe, then they will understand the Medics' plight.

All this is connected with our NHIF payments. Where is the money going?

I  need answers, pronto!

BEWARE - The disabled of Mombasa County!!!

Why is it that the County of Mombasa is so insensitive to the plight of people with various disabilities - visible and invisible (to the general public)? By invisible I mean for  example that a person could be sight impaired or hearing impaired but these disabilities are not necessarily immediately apparent to the public till they interact with them. And these are just two examples for there are many disabilities which are invisible.

Mombasa County officials are not only insensitive towards the disabled but are also totally IGNORANT.

In fact, I would suggest that with their welcome sign at the beginning of the County, they should add that this place is ONLY for the totally FIT and ABLE-bodied and woe betide anybody who happens to be otherwise. They will not be tolerated or understood!

Let me explain what happened to a tuk tuk and it's driver and the organization that hires it, further.

On the 12th of February 2014, the Dear Diary Initiative (DDI), office got a call from Coast General Hospital asking them to help in transporting a disabled and sick patient home. Since DDI is a charity outfit and is specifically for the disabled and underprivileged members of society, they sent the tuk tuk to Coast General to pick up this patient. The tuk tuk also has a clearly visible to all sign on it's windshield of the disabled. So the driver went as close to the entrance as possible to pick this person up. But just as he reached the entrance a Council askari descended on him and very rudely got in and started shouting at the driver to move and that he was under arrest.

The driver kept trying to explain to him that he was there to pick up a disabled and sick patient and also  there was no other traffic around that he was hindering, either. But this askari refused to listen, look or think about what he was being told. Why?

If the driver had tried to find a parking (and he wasn't even parked at the entrance), how would a disabled person get to him?

Anyway, he was unceremoniously dragged to the Council where he was locked up and the tuk tuk impounded. Nobody was listening to anything that this driver was saying. The tuk tuk's reg. No. is KTWA 677E and the driver's name Kumbe Kalama.

One of the DDI employees, who is also disabled, went to the Council to sort things out with them, but, it got her nowhere as NOBODY there was ready to listen including the magistrate.

Now, what is this 'court' and magistrate for if the accused are not allowed to defend themselves and like kangaroo courts of yester year, passes questionable 'judgements'. Is this justice?

Can our Judiciary please look into this?

At the Court, he was fined 11,000/- before the vehicle was released. The receipt No. is 0783350 and the case number is M532/2014.

Subsequent visits and a letter dated 14th February 2014, have gone unanswered and now over 2 months later, the money is still being withheld for wrongful arrest.

So, all the disabled of this County - BEWARE!!!!

We are dealing with extremely semi- and illiterate and insensitive people in the County of Mombasa. Take care how you go about your business whatever it might be and best wishes.

An Open Letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif

Follow us in Twitter | The Muslim Times | Alislam |  Subscribe                            An Open Letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif  Epigraph: "He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." Thomas Paine By Zia H Shah MD Dear Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, I know you would be busy in running the affairs of the state and managing the fate of Ex President Pervez Musharaf, but, you would recall that on the very first day of your assumption of power, you banned the Muslim Times (TMT) and possibly other sites from view within Pakistan. I have had at least 10 testimonies from readers in Pakistan that when they try to log in, instead of our content, they read, "The  website is not accessible. The site contains content that is prohibited for  viewership from within Pakistan." These readers have written to me from Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Rabwah. Dear Prime Minister, you would recall that you have in a recent speech condemned Ex President Musharaf for not honoring the constitution of Pakistan and acting against it.  But, in your unilateral and unreasonable action against TMT, without due process, you yourself have violated the constitution of Pakistan, Article 19 of which states: Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or de fence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, or incitement to an offence. Dear Prime Minister, you or your law experts would also recall that Pakistan is a signatory of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Article 1 of the Declaration states: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are   endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. We humbly request our freedom and a brotherly treatment. Dear Prime Minister, you or your more brainy friends will recall a quote from Evelyn Beatrice Hall, a biographer of the famous French philosopher Voltaire, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," which is often quoted in support of freedom of speech. You may also recall a quote of President Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the declaration of Independence of USA, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." Dear Prime Minister, you or those who acted on your behalf to ban TMT, would recall that one of the guiding principles of TMT is that we want to establish universal brotherhood and sisterhood for the whole of humanity.  You profess to believe in the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, who was one of the staunchest believers in universal brotherhood.  Can we assume that you did not ban us for our contributions in this sphere? Dear Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, you will recall that one of the core values of TMT is Separation of Mosque-Church and State.  You may refuse it in Pakistan under your governance.  But, you could certainly not deny the sorry state of 160 million Muslims in India or 8 million Sunni Muslims in Iran, if this same value was denied in neighboring India or Iran? Thomas Paine, one of the Founding Fathers of USA, once wrote about religious freedom: As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all government to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government hath to do therewith. The thousands of regular readers from all around the globe would recall that in the last three years of its publication, TMT has published more than 20,000 posts.  We have aggregated materials for human rights, women rights, universal brotherhood, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, Muslim heritage and beauties of the teachings of Islam and last but not the least, Separation of Mosque-Church and State.  Dear Prime Minister please tell us for which of these 20,000 contributions have we been knighted with the honor of ban in Pakistan? Those readers, who have not been able to directly confirm the ban in Pakistan on TMT, can recall and at a glance confirm that the mentor of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, General Zia ul Haq had enacted draconian laws, in 1984, against the members of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which are still part and parcel of Pakistan law under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif.  According to these laws any member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, who poses to be a Muslim by word or action is to be imprisoned for three years.  Almost all of the 60 members of Editorial team of TMT are guilty of living the life of a Muslim on a daily basis!  Incidentally, I have had to remove the names of our Editorial team members in Pakistan, from the site, for their personal safety. In closing, dear Prime Minister, we do not want to impose on your precious time, but, please be kind enough to make one of your private secretaries communicate to us that for what crime of ours, the Muslim Times has been banned in Pakistan? Read in the Muslim Times. Those who get this email but cannot open the Muslim Times should write to me.

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An invitation to other religions: demonstrating human rights and Universal Brotherhood from your scriptures

And excellent challenge!

Raziya

Follow us in Twitter | The Muslim Times | Alislam |  Subscribe An invitation to other religions: demonstrating human rights and Universal Brotherhood from your scriptures Epigraph: "And who is better in speech than he who invites men to Allah and does good works and says, 'I am surely of those who submit?' And good and evil are not alike. Repel evil with that which is best. And lo, he between whom and thyself was enmity will become as though he were a warm friend." (Al Quran 41:34-35)   Kaaba in Mecca Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD I was very happy to see the rescue of the 33 miners in Chile, in October of 2010, after an ordeal of more than two months. I noted all the international media focused on this and I wondered how wonderful our human community will become if we valued every human life regardless of race, religion or creed, with a similar zeal. I also wondered where do the human rights come from and what is the worth of an individual human life. This reminded me of a verse of the Holy Quran that declares the worth of human life to be priceless, it equates the saving of one life to the saving of the whole humanity: "We (Allah) prescribed for the children of Israel that whosoever killed a person — unless it be for killing a person or for creating disorder in the land — it shall be as if he had killed all mankind; and whoso gave life to one, it shall be as if he had given life to all mankind." (Al Quran 5:33) In what may be considered by others a self-indulgent thought, I rejoiced that the human rights and the dignity of human life, in its most pristine form, comes from the Holy Quran. It seems self evident to me that followers of other religions will not agree, some may even violently disagree, but, here I suggest a peaceful solution. I will demonstrate the roots of the human rights and the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in my holy scripture, in my comments and the links that I offer here and I would plead that the Christians, the Jews, the Hindus and the Buddhists will reciprocate the favor and make their case from their respective scriptures. The Holy Quran not only encourages rights of others and justice but prescribes unilateral goodness even in the face of evil: "And who is better in speech than he who invites men to Allah and does good works and says, 'I am surely of those who submit?' And good and evil are not alike. Repel evil with that which is best. And lo, he between whom and thyself was enmity will become as though he were a warm friend." (Al Quran 41:34-35) I suggest the 30 articles as a matrix or yard stick against which we choose to measure our respective scriptures. Let this Knol be a purist's pursuit to demonstrate the elegance of his or her own scripture without maligning others. Let the race begin, and do not focus on just one article of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights, rather show how your scripture is in line with or better than all the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration! Fourteen hundred years before USA elected her first African-American President Barack Obama who jokingly described himself a 'mutt' and a similar number of years before Nelson Mandela could be free and the leader of South Africa the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him said, addressing a historic crowd of a hundred thousand people in the sparsely populated desert peninsula of Arabia, at the time of Hajj, "O men, all of you are equal. All men, whatever nation or tribe they may belong to, and whatever station in life they may hold, are equal. Allah has made you brethren one to another, so be not divided. An Arab has no preference over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab; nor is a white one to be preferred to a dark one, nor a dark one to a white one."  It has been noted by the Muslim theologians, the Prophet never made any big or tall claims that did not have their foundation in the holy scripture, the Quran. As the Holy Quran is the final revelation by God to the whole of mankind, it addresses humanity as a whole.  There are at least 65 mentions of 'mankind,' in the Holy Quran. The Quran intends to unify Homo sapiens into 'Universal Brotherhood.' Many verses in the Holy Quran start with a term, which means, 'O mankind.' A couple of examples of the use of the expression, O mankind: "O mankind! be mindful of your duty to  your Lord, Who created you from a single soul and created therefrom its mate, and from them twain spread many men and women; and fear Allah, in Whose name you appeal to one another, and fear Him particularly respecting ties of relationship. Indeed, Allah watches over you."  (Al Quran 4:2) In this verse, Allah is defining the unity of mankind and highlighting that the whole of humanity is coming from one source and as such are related to each other, and should fear God in regards to their responsibilities to each other.  Incidentally, the verse also talks of evolution of life on the planet earth and how all life forms are related and the initial biological reproduction was asexual. "O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female; and We have made you into tribes and sub-tribes that you may recognize one another. Indeed, the most honourable among you, in the sight of Allah, is he who is the most righteous among you. Surely, Allah is All-knowing, All-Aware." (Al Quran 49:14) "O mankind, the Messenger has indeed come to you with Truth from your Lord; believe therefore, it will be better for you. But if you disbelieve, indeed, to Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and in the earth. And Allah is All-Knowing, Wise." (Al Quran 4:171) "Say, 'O mankind! truly I am a Messenger to you all from Allah to Whom belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. There is no God but He. He gives life, and He causes death. So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the Prophet, the Immaculate one, who believes in Allah and His words; and follow him that you may be rightly guided.'" (Al Quran 7:159) "O mankind! there has indeed come to you an exhortation from your Lord and a cure for whatever disease there is in the hearts, and a guidance and a mercy to the believers." (Al Quran 10:58) "The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding moral achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue."  (Famous historian: Arnold Joseph Toynbee) Read further in the Muslim Times.

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