₦airaland Forum

The Story of a Mosque of Swedish First Mosque on 20th April 1984 in Malmö
The documentary is about a Dream by a Mecedonia to build a mosque so people of his faith could congregate and practice their tradition.Since the opening of the mosque in 1984 ,it has been under attack from several arson attack ,gunshot etc.The documentary mirrors the struggle of sustainning a mosque,islamic school,backlash and support from the local Community etc.Uptill date no arrest have been made for attacks on the mosque.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyZMMr6tdLc#t=1010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyu6ld0hYtY

Saudi Arabia donated $115 billion to help 90 countries

https://www.arabnews.com/sites/default/files/tmp/imagecache/galleryformatter_slide/2015/10/04/file-04-1443980346530641800.jpg
HELPING THE NEEDY: The Kingdom has been in the forefront of distributing aid to Syrian refugees.
Published — Monday 5 October 2015
Last update 5 October 2015 1:23 am
JEDDAH: Faisal bin Hassan Trad, the permanent representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations Office in Geneva, said the Kingdom has been the most generous country in the world in the field of development and humanitarian aid over the past four decades.
“Saudi Arabia donated, during this period, more than $115 billion to more than 90 countries all over the world,” said the Saudi ambassador to the UN during a symposium at the Geneva Press Club in the Swiss capital, which was managed by the Swiss Foreign Ministry. The symposium was attended by officials from King Salman Humanitarian and Relief Center (Ksrelief).
The ambassador gave a detailed briefing during the event on the vision, goals and the nature of work of the center, adding that Saudi Arabia has always led other countries in terms of the application of humanitarian values and principles in relief and support.
Ambassador Trad said that Ksrelief was derived from the good and tolerant values of Islam, the religion of peace, grace, humanity and dignity.
The symposium was attended by Maher Hadraoui, CEO of the Ksrelief center, Richard Brennan the director of emergency risk management and humanitarian response at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Rashid Khalikov director of the office for coordination of humanitarian affairs, Alexander Khan assistant general director for UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Programs, and Amin Awad director for Middle East and North Africa operations at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Ambassador Trad said that Saudi Arabia, stemming out of its obligations and commitments toward the brotherly Yemeni people, was the only country that responded to the humanitarian assistance appeal launched by the UN to help Yemen by extending a donation of $274 million.
“The Kingdom also signed a number of agreements to extend food and medicines, in addition to other needs for mother and child affairs, and to rehabilitate health institutions in Yemen,” said the ambassador.
Maher Hadraoui said although the center was founded only four months ago it has become a leading international institution fully dedicated to humanitarian aid and to provide relief to distressed communities.
The Saudi delegation showcased films on the center’s activities in providing humanitarian assistance to Yemen.
Khalikov said of the activities of the center: “We have a copy on the figures of the funds donated by the center and it reveals large monetary aid which is not even possible to collect from a large number of countries.”
Brennan added the center always coordinates with WHO for channeling medicines and medical equipment to Yemen.
“I only can say this is quality assistance that has met the basic needs of distressed people,” he added, praising the noble goals of the center and its achievements in such a short period.
http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/815851

More on Heaven
But what is the nature of these delights in Paradise, and how will it be different from the delights of this world? We will try to highlight a few of these differences.

Pure delight without pain and suffering
While people in this world experience some delight, they also face much toil and suffering. If one was to scrutinize the life which they live, they will find that the amount of hardship they face is much more than the ease and comfort. As for the life of the Hereafter, there will be neither hardship nor suffering in it, and people will live therein in pure joy and delight. All the causes of sorrow, pain and suffering which people experience in this life will be absent in the Hereafter. Let’s take a look at some of these causes.

Wealth

When one thinks of success in this life, they usually conjure the image of big houses, fine jewelry and clothing, and expensive cars; financial stability is seen to be the key to a happy life. To most people, success is inseparably related to wealth, even though this is the furthest from the truth. How many times have we seen the wealthiest of people living such miserable lives, that it sometimes even leads them to commit suicide! Wealth is something which humans in their very nature desire at any cost, and this desire has been created for a great and wise purpose. When this desire is not satiated, it causes some extent of grief in a person. For this reason, God has promised the inhabitants of Paradise that they will have all that they imagined as far as wealth and belongings are concerned, both for those who were extremely poor, experiencing even hunger and thirst, to those well-to-do but who desired even more. God gives us a glimpse of this when he says:

“... there will be there all that the souls could desire, all that the eyes could delight in …” (Quran 43:71)

“Eat and drink at ease for that which you have sent forth (good deeds) in days past!” (Quran 69:24)

“… They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold, and they will wear green garments of fine silk and heavy brocade. They will recline therein on raised thrones. How good [is] the recompense! How beautiful a couch [is there] to recline on!” (Quran 18:31)


Social Relationships
As for the remorse felt due to a rift in personal relationships, people will never hear any evil or hurting comments or speech in Paradise. They will only hear good words and words of peace. God says:

“They will not hear therein ill speech or commission of sin. But only the saying of: Peace! Peace!” (Quran 56:25-26)

There will be no enmity between people nor ill-feelings:

“And We shall remove from their breasts any (mutual) hatred or sense of injury (which they had, if at all, in the life of this world)…” (Quran 7:43)

The Prophet said:

“There will be no hatred or resentment among them, their hearts will be as one, and they will glorify God, morning and evening.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)

People will have the best of companions in the Hereafter, who were also the best people in the world:

“And whoever obeys God and the Messenger – those will be with the ones upon whom God has bestowed favor – of the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous. And excellent are those as companions!” (Quran 4:69)

The hearts of the people of Paradise will be pure, their speech will be good, their deeds righteous. There will be no hurtful, upsetting, offensive or provocative talk there, for Paradise is free of all worthless words and deeds. If we were to discuss all the causes for anguish in this life, we would surely find its absence or opposite to be true in Paradise.

The Eternalness of the Hereafter
The Pleasures of this world are transient whilst the joys of the hereafter are lasting and eternal. In this life when a person enjoys something, it is only a short while before they get bored with it and proceed to search for something they feel is better, or they may not feel a need for it altogether. As for the delights of Paradise, a person will never feel bored with anything, but rather, its goodness will increase each time they indulge in it.

Also, the life of this world is very short. Humans only live on this earth for a short while, and very few people reach the age of seventy.
Free from all Impurities

Paradise is free from all the impurities of this world. Eating and drinking in this life results in the need for excretion and its associated unpleasant odors. If a person drinks wine in this world, he loses his mind. Women in this world menstruate and give birth, which are sources of pain and hurt. Paradise is free from all of these discomforts: its people will not urinate, defecate, spit or suffer from catarrh. The wine of Paradise, as described by its Creator, is:

“Crystal-white, delicious to those who drink (thereof), free from intoxication, nor will they suffer intoxication therefrom” (Quran 37:46-47)

The water of Paradise does not become brackish, and its milk never changes in flavor:

“...rivers of water incorruptible; rivers of milk of which the taste never changes...” (Quran 47:15)

The women of Paradise are pure and free from menstruation, postnatal bleeding and all the other impurities suffered by women in this world, and all are free from stool and feces. God says:

“...and they shall have therein purified mates…” (Quran 2:25)

“…Say: Short is the enjoyment of this world. The Hereafter is (far) better for him who fears God...” (Quran 4:77)

As for Paradise, people will live forever. God says:

“...its provision is eternal and so is its shade…” (Quran 13:35)

“What is with you must vanish, and what is with God will endure …” (Quran 16:96)

“(It will be said to them): This is Our Provision, which will never finish” (Quran 38:54)

THANK YOU PRINCESS02 FOR MAKING A USEFUL CONTRIBUTION,I AM NOT HERE TO CRITICIZE OR APPLAUD.I AM STILL FOR MORE CONTRIBUTION.ANNUNAKI AND MEDICIS MAKE YOUR OWN CONTRIBUTION.THIS THREAD MIGHT HELP OUT SOMEONE IN THE FUTURE SEEKING THIS KIND OF INFORMATION.

Henry Kissinger: 'Terrorists' Just 'People Who Reject the New World Order'
What happens if you don't want to submit to the United Nations, or reject a central bank system of rule? You get defined as a terrorist.

One of the United States' most Machiavellian diplomats in history, Henry Kissinger, acknowledged that most of the people we're fighting in the Middle East known as "terrorists" in America are actually just resistant to international control. And how do you think they'll treat independent minded Americans who refuse to submit to the new world order?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x__looLj9c

Here's a short excerpt from Henry Kissinger in a speech given in Istanbul, Turkey on
May 31, 2007, while the Bilderberg conference was simultaneously underway, just a few miles down the road.

"In the Middle East, we live in a different world. The nations do not represent historic entities in the same sense that European nations did. Turkey of course does, and Iran in a considerable extent does. But in the region in between, the borders were drawn by the victors of World War I on the basis largely of what would facilitate their influence. So therefore, the identities of these countries, and of their borders, can be challenged more easily."

"What we in America call terrorists are really groups of people that reject the international system, and they're trying to regroup it to a radical Islamic fundamentalists kind."

pls delete

[img]http://www.thelocal.dk/userdata/images/article/w468/d27f893381d17c5edcc5899cfc2753a191b5e7ebb4d63b7783a6ce1a8aec260a.jpg[/img]
The supermoon eclipse as seen over western Germany. Photo: Patrik Stollarz/Scanpix

[img]http://www.thelocal.se/userdata/images/article/w468/70d08cd6ef1b6ba58a5e4336bff40a68db2d3bbe1d39095e38bb7a703573d0f3.jpg[/img]
The super blood moon above Turning Torso in Malmö. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nIK3VU_C7U

Upon the arrival of Columbus in 1492 in the Carabean Islands, unknown to Columbus (and majority of the Eastern Hemisphere), he landed on Islands located in the middle of two huge continents now known has North America and South America that was teaming with huge Civilizations (that rivaled any in the world at that time) and thousands of smaller Nations and Tribes. With recent estimations, the population may have been over 100 million people that spanned from Alaska and Green Land, all the to the tip of southern South America.

Pre Colombian North America (north of Mesoamerica):

In Pre-Canada, most people lived along the coast, along the major rivers

Native America before European Colonization

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FItlStGMY4

History of Convict Australia Documentary


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFRUU2jTmEw


The Aboriginals of Australia (INCREDIBLE ANCIENT HISTORY DOCUMENTARY)

Frontier is considered television's first comprehensive account of Australia's hundred and fifty year land war. Between 1788 and 1938, thousands of whites and tens of thousands of blacks died in racial violence across the continent. Frontier is compulsive viewing for everyone interested in Australia's national debate on reconciliation.

Ep 1 - They Must Always Consider Us As Enemies (1788-1830)
Soldier/Administrator David Collins sailed to Sydney with the First Fleet. He became the first official to acknowledge that blacks and whites were locked in a grim struggle for the land. When a second settlement in Tasmania was established it too became embroiled in a 'Black War'. Fighting ended only after a verbal treaty acknowledged some Aboriginal rights in the land, however the Government broke its promises and Aborigines were rewarded with exile.

Ep 2 - Worse Than Slavery Itself (1830-1860)
By 1830 Humanitarians and Missionaries began to take up the anti-slavery campaign with the official message to Australia that Aboriginals had legal rights as subjects of the crown. However the new mood did not go down well on the Frontier and horrific massacres took place.

Ep 3 - The Government Should Shut Its Eyes (1860-1938)
When the land wars moved north to Queensland the Aborigines resisted. An estimated ten thousand Aborigines were shot dead with the Colonial Government turning a blind eye. Blacks would be imprisoned on reserves, have their children taken from them and be encouraged to breed themselves out. But even as massacres continued Aborigines started to organise politically and would inform white Australia that they had no intention of dying away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMLsan9oYjQ

The United States is one big reservation, and we are all in it. So says Russell Means, legendary actor, political activist and leader for the American Indian Movement. Means led the 1972 seizure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in 1973 led a standoff at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a response to the massacre of at least 150 Lakotah men, women, and children by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry at a camp near Wounded Knee Creek.

American Indian Russell Means gives an eye-opening 90 minute interview in which he explains how Native Americans and Americans in general are all imprisoned within one huge reservation. Means is a leader for the Republic of Lakotah, a movement that has declared its independence from the United States and refused to recognize the authority of presidents or governments, withdrawing from treaties it made with the federal government and defining its borders which cover thousands of square miles in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana.

Means explains how American Indians have been enslaved within de facto prisoner of war camps as a result of the federal government's restriction of their food supply and the application of colonial tactics, a process that has now also been inflicted on the United States as a whole which has turned into, "one huge Indian reservation," according to Means.

Means warns that Americans have lost the ability of critical though, and with each successive generation become more irresponsible and as a consequence less free, disregarding a near-perfect document, the Constitution, which was derived from Indian law. Means chronicles the loss of freedom from the 1840's onwards, which marked the birth of the corporation, to Lincoln's declaration of martial law, to the latter part of the 19th century and into the 20th when Congress "started giving banks the right to rule," and private banking interests began printing the money.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LA-S64QY3o

THE TRUTH OF NATIVE AMERICANS BEFORE THE GENOCIDE


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7baWokO4ms


American Holocaust of Native American Indians (FULL Documentary)
The powerful and hard-hitting documentary, American Holocaust, is quite possibly the only film that reveals the link between the Nazi holocaust, which claimed at least 6 million Jews, and the American Holocaust which claimed, according to conservative estimates, 19 million Indigenous People.

It is seldom noted anywhere in fact, be it in textbooks or on the internet, that Hitler studied Americas Indian policy, and used it as a model for what he termed the final solution.

He wasnt the only one either. Its not explicitly mentioned in the film, but its well known that members of the National Party government in South Africa studied the American approach before they introduced the system of racial apartheid, which lasted from 1948 to 1994. Other fascist regimes, for instance, in South and Central America, studied the same policy.

Noted even less frequently, Canadas Aboriginal policy was also closely examined for its psychological properties. America always took the more wide-open approach, for example, by decimating the Buffalo to get rid of a primary food source, by introducing pox blankets, and by giving $1 rewards to settlers in return for scalps of Indigenous Men, women, and children, among many, many other horrendous acts. Canada, on the other hand, was more bureaucratic about it. They used what I like to call the gentlemans touch, because instead of extinguishment, Canada sought to remove the Indian from the Man and the Women and the Child, through a long-term, and very specific program of internal breakdown and replacement call it assimilation. America had its own assimilation program, but Canada was far more technical about it.

Perhaps these points would have been more closely examined in American Holocaust if the film had been completed. The films director, Joanelle Romero, says shes been turned down from all sources of funding since she began putting it together in 1995.

Perhaps its just not good business to invest in something that tells so much truth? In any event, Romero produced a shortened, 29-minute version of the film in 2001, with the hope of encouraging new funders so she could complete American Holocaust. Eight years on, Romero is still looking for funds.

American Holocaust may never become the 90-minute documentary Romero hoped to create, to help expose the most substantial act of genocide that the world has ever seen one that continues even as you read these words.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTrbVf6SrCc

WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ABORIGINEES,THE INDIGENOUS TRIBE OF AUSTRALIA
ABORIGINAL PEOPLE
There are about 500 different Aboriginal peoples in Australia, each with their own language and territory and usually made up of a large number of separate clans.

Archaeologists believe that the Aboriginals first came to the Australian continent around 45,000 years ago.

Aboriginals themselves, however, trace their creation back to the Dreamtime, an era long past when the earth was first formed. One Aboriginal man explained it thus:

‘By Dreaming we mean the belief that long ago these creatures started human society, they made all natural things and put them in a special place.

’These Dreaming creatures were connected to special places and special roads or tracks or paths. In many places the great creatures changed themselves into sites where their spirits stayed.

’Aboriginals have a special connection with everything that is natural. Aboriginals see themselves as part of nature … All things on earth we see as part human. It is true that people who belong to a particular area are really part of that area and if that area is destroyed they are also destroyed.’

Aboriginals’ land was invaded from the end of the 18th century onwards, with catastrophic consequences for them.
How do they live?

Before the invasion, Aboriginal people lived throughout Australia, although the highest population density was along the coast. Here, people seem to have moved seasonally between permanent settlements near the sea and others at the headwaters of the coast rivers.
Evidence suggests that these communities managed their environment carefully to ensure a steady supply of food, bringing wild yams into gardens which they irrigated, for example, or building artificial dykes to extend the range of eels.

Those Aboriginal tribes who lived inland in the bush and the desert lived by hunting and gathering, burning the undergrowth to encourage the growth of plants favoured by the game they hunted. They were experts in seeking out water.

Today more than half of all Aboriginals live in towns, often on the outskirts in terrible conditions. Many others work as labourers on cattle ranches that have taken over their land.

Many, particularly in the northern half of the continent, have managed to cling on to their land and still hunt and gather ‘bush tucker’.

What problems do they face?

Ever since the British first invaded, Aboriginal peoples have had their land stolen from them or destroyed. Until 1992, when it was finally overturned, the legal principle governing British and then Australian law regarding Aboriginal land was that of ‘terra nullius’ – that the land was empty before the British arrived, belonged to no-one, and could legitimately be taken over.

Most has still to be returned today, and the loss of their land has had a devastating social and physical impact on Aboriginal peoples.
The initial invasions also sparked huge waves of disease that killed thousands – many others were massacred. In just over one hundred years from the first invasion of their land, their numbers were reduced from up to an estimated one million to only 60,000.

During much of the 20th century, outright killings were replaced with a policy of removing Aboriginal children from their parents and giving them to white families or placing them in mission schools, to eradicate traces of Aboriginal culture and language.

Today they still face racist attitudes, and there are periodic incidents of violence towards them, particularly affecting those in police custody. Their generally poor living conditions mean that Aboriginal people have a far higher infant mortality rate and suicide rate and a lower life expectancy than the rest of the population, and they make up a disproportionate section of the prison population.

A landmark High Court judgment in 1992, known as the Mabo case after the lead plaintiff, threw out the racist ‘terra nullius’ principle on which Australian legal attitudes to Aboriginal land rights had been based. The decision recognized for the first time the existence of Aboriginal ‘native title’ over large parts of rural Australia. Many Aboriginal groups, such as the Martu of western Australia, have used the ruling to have their ownership of their ancestral lands recognized in law. Others, however, have failed to overcome the many legal hurdles placed in their way by the government’s land rights legislation.

In 2007, publication of a report into sexual abuse and violence amongst Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory caused huge controversy. The government’s response to the report was to launch the ‘Northern Territory National Emergency Response’ later that year. Many of the measures in this programme, such as the removal of Aboriginal communities’ right to control access onto their lands, and the compulsory acquisition of some communities, stirred a great deal of resentment amongst Aboriginal people

Since the First Fleet dropped anchor in 1788, close to 10 million settlers have moved from across the world to start a new life in Australia. They have arrived in waves, encouraged by developments like the 1850s gold rushes, or to escape adverse conditions at home such as the Industrial Revolution’s social upheavals in 19th-century Britain, the two world wars and the aftermath of the Vietnam War in the 1970s. Collectively these migrants have helped shape a unique British-based and now multicultural society on the perimeter of Asia

Convict transportation

From 1788 to 1868 Britain transported more than 160,000 convicts from its overcrowded prisons to the Australian colonies, forming the basis of the first migration from Europe to Australia. When these first Europeans arrived they did not find an empty land as expected. They were outnumbered by more than 500,000 indigenous Aboriginal people whose ancestors had lived in Australia for at least 50,000 years.

Free immigrants

Between 1793 and 1850 nearly 200,000 free settlers and assisted immigrants chose to migrate to Australia to start a new life. The majority were English agricultural workers or domestic servants who outnumbered the Irish and Scottish migrants.
Labourers

Did you know the Chinese were the third largest migrant group in Australia after the British and Germans by 1901?

Thousands of Chinese people came to Australia during the 1850s gold rushes. When the gold was exhausted many took up market gardening or established businesses such as restaurants or laundries. In the second half of the 19th-century South Sea Islanders were recruited to work on Queensland sugar plantations, Afghan cameleers played a vital role in the exploration and opening up of the Australian outback, and Japanese divers contributed to the development of the pearling industry.

White Australia

Did you know migrants had to pass a dictation test in any European language in order to enter Australia between 1901 and 1958?

Following Federation in 1901 Australia’s newly-formed Federal Parliament passed the Immigration Restriction Act, which placed certain restrictions on immigration and aimed to stop Chinese and South Sea Islanders from coming to Australia. These laws, known as the White Australia policy, were administered by a dictation test and informed Australian attitudes to immigration for the next 50 years.

Populate or perish

In the years after World War 2, Australia stepped up its immigration with the catchphrase ‘Populate or perish!’ It negotiated agreements to accept more than two million migrants and displaced people from Europe, offered assisted £10 passages to one million British migrants, nicknamed ‘Ten Pound Poms’, and finally, in the 1970s, repealed the restrictive White Australia policy framed in 1901.

Boat people

In the late 1970s, just as the last migrants to travel by ocean liner arrived in Australia, a new wave of seaborne refugees docked in Darwin, firstly from East Timor and then from Indochina. The Vietnamese ‘boat people’ in particular arrived at a time of dramatic social upheaval in Australia, with spirited public debate about our involvement in the Vietnam War, the new concept of multiculturalism, the breaking of many of Australia's traditional ties with Britain, and the forging of new links with Asia. Despite some opposition from the wider community, the relaxation of immigration restrictions meant that most of the refugees were allowed to settle in Australia. They were followed by a second wave of boat people from Cambodia, Vietnam and southern China in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Asylum seekers
Since the late 1990s increasing numbers of asylum seekers fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Sri Lanka have arrived in Australia by boat. They are distinct from the previous two waves of boat people in that they usually involve larger numbers of arrivals and their passage is often organised by people smugglers. Today the question of how to deal with asylum seekers arriving on unauthorised voyages remains one of the most polarising debates in contemporary Australia.
http://waves.anmm.gov.au/Immigration-Stories/Immigration-history.aspx

AND WE KNOW WHAT LATER HAPPENED TO THE RED INDIANS, THE INDIGENOUS TRIBE OF AMERICA.
American Indians

The term American Indians is defined by the indigenous peoples of the area that is now known as the United States. This means the people were living here for thousands, even millions of years, long before it was conquered and settled. Over the last many hundred years, the American Indians have formed tribes, hunted, lived, and prospered on this great land.

They were overall a peaceful people who enjoyed family, prayer, and creativity. An appreciation and respect for nature was of the utmost importance. American Indians viewed nature as a gift from the Gods which should be revered and treated properly at all times. Although most American Indians claim to have lived on their territory since the beginning of time, some would claim that they migrated here in prehistoric times by way of the Bering Strait Land Bridge. Many believe that most came from Siberia.

While the American Indians had lived in solitude for much of their lives, when the Europeans came and discovered America, things became less peaceful. Indians were suddenly forced off of their land and made to relocate. Wars were fought and blood was shed. While some Indians eventually sided with the white man, many others refused to surrender to their harsh ways. A large number of tribes migrated to the Western part of the country, mostly due to Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830. After years and years of struggle, American Indians are finally getting the much deserved respect that they should have received a long time ago. Museums have been erected all over the country showing tribute to this great people, and educating the public about their history and rich heritage. While the number of American Indians still living today is much fewer than it was centuries ago, their people still remain strong and proud of who they are and what they have become

The Dutch Immigrants
Holland (Netherlands) claimed land which became known as New Netherland (Nieuw-Nederlandt) which covered areas of the Mid Atlantic States which eventually became known as New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Connecticut. Due to trading alliances immigrants from Scandinavia joined the Dutch immigrants and travelled across the Atlantic Ocean on Dutch ships and settled among the Dutch in the lands of New Netherland. The Dutch in New Netherland chose the island of Manhattan as its capital and its major port was named New Amsterdam (which would later be changed to New York). The first wave of Dutch imigrants was during the 1600's when the Dutch West Indies Company established the Patroon land grant system. The lands of New Netherland was lost to the English but Dutch settlers continued to emigrate. For additional facts, history and stats refer to Dutch Migration to America.

The Swedish Immigrants
The early Swedish colonists settled the colony in Delaware Bay that they called New Sweden (Nya Sverige) and famously introduced the log cabin to America. Conflicts developed between the colonies of New Netherland and New Sweden and in 1657 both the colonies fell to the English but the original colonists were allowed to remain. A major wave of Swedish immigration was sparked in the 1840's by economic factors, crop failure and a devastating famine. In the late 1800's nearly half a million Swedes immigrated due to the employment opportunities available during the Industrialization of the United States. For additional facts, history and stats refer to Swedish Migration to America.

The German Immigrants
German Immigration to America initially centered in Pennsylvania and upstate New York during the 1700's. The early German immigrants were search of religious freedom and the opportunity for trade. The First major wave of German immigration occurred from the 1840's when Germany, like many other European countries, suffered from serious crop failures including the potato blight (1845-1849) and nearly 1 million Germans fled their home country to a new life in America. More German immigrants followed as German farmers were hit by the influx of cheap American wheat and over one million farmers and agricultural laborers left Germany for better farming prospects in the United States. Another great wave of immigration occured during the Industrialization of America during the late 1800's. For additional facts, history and stats refer to German Migration to America.

The Scottish Immigrants
Immigrants from Scotland, who adhered to the Protestant religion, joined the English in the first 13 Colonies. Scottish Immigration to America significantly increased during the 1700's following defeat at the hands of the English at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Many of the Scots settled in South Carolina and Virginia and worked in the tobacco trade. For additional facts, history and stats refer to Scottish Immigration to America.

The Scots-Irish Immigrants
The Scots-Irish trace their ancestry to the Scottish lowlands, but emigrated to Ireland. The term Scots-Irish originated in America to distinguish the Protestant Irish of Scottish ancestry with the Irish Catholics. The Immigration of the Scots-Irish to America was prompted by the Irish linen trade as Scots-Irish immigrants introduced flax growing and the production of linen to America. Many other Scots-Irish settlers left Ireland, tired of the tyranny of British rule, high rents and crop failures and settled in the 'Backcountry' that covered the Blue Ridge mountains and the Appalachian regions of America. For additional facts, history and stats refer to Scots-Irish Immigration to America.

The Irish Immigrants
The reasons for the early Immigration by the Irish to America started with the forced migration of the Irish race as involuntary indentured servants which lasted for a period of between 7 and 20 years. From 1641 to 1652, over 300,000 Irish people were sold as virtual slaves as a form of punishment to the first 13 colonies lasting from 7 to 20 years. The next major wave of Irish immigration was due to the devastation of the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849). During the period of the Irish Potato Famine the population of Ireland dropped from 8 million to 6 million due to death from starvation or immigration. The final great wave of Irish immigration was prompted by the beginning of the Industrialization of America and the age of steam power and many Irish gained employment working on the railroads, in construction and in the coal mines. For additional facts, history and stats refer to Irish Immigration to America.
The Eastern European Immigrants
The late 19th Century and the early 20th century saw immigration trends change from immigrants from Western Europe to immigrants mainly from Southern and Eastern Europe. The numbers of immigrants rocketed and the United States began to pass laws restricting entrance to the country and the immigration center at Ellis Island was opened. By 1910, Southern and Eastern Europeans made up 70% of the immigrants entering the United States. Western Europeans were readily accepted as "Old Immigrants" because they shared the cultural heritage, history, language and ancestry of the immigrants who had initially populated America. Western European migrants were considered superior to the "New Immigrants" who came from Southern and Eastern Europe. The 1911 Dillingham Commission report on immigration had stated that the "New Immigrants" to the US were inferior, unskilled and uneducated workers who failed to integrate with Americans. For additional facts, history and stats refer to Italian Migration to America.

History of European Immigration to America: The Discovery of the 'New World'
This article contains interesting facts, statistics and the history of European immigration to America. The history of European Immigration to America began following the discovery of the 'New World' by Christopher Columbus in 1492 which led to the Golden Age of Exploration during the Renaissance era of 1500's.

The First Immigrants
The discovery of America led to a great power struggle for control of the new lands primarily between the three most powerful countries in Western Europe at the time: Spain, England, France. These European countries financed the voyages of the early explorers for many reasons:

•To increase their lands and build great European Empires and to increase the wealth of the 'Mother Country' by exploiting the natural resources of the new lands - the search began for gold, silver and spices. To increase opportunities for trade and to spread the Christian religion.

These great Western European powers made various claims on the lands of America and by the 1600's the first explorers were followed by settlers - the immigration to America by the Europeans began in earnest. Other immigrants form European powers such as the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries joined the adventurous men and women in the perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean to begin new lives and establish new colonies and cultures in America. The American colonies were seen as an extension of the European homelands and were responsible for the basic American cultural features such as law and language which are still evident today.

The Reasons for European Immigration to America
Why did the Europeans want to leave their homes and undertake the dangerous 3000 mile journey to an unknown life in America? The reasons for the first waves of European Immigration to America were at first based on obtaining profit from the new lands but quickly changed as people decided to move from Europe to escape religious and political prosecution. The prospect of starting a new life and owning some land was also a major reason for the first European immigration to America.

The Spanish Immigrants
Spain established the Spanish colonies in America known as New Spain (Nueva España) between 1519 to 1821. Spain controlled the south Atlantic coast, Mexico and the islands of the Caribbean. The first Spanish settlement was in Florida, followed by other Spanish colonies in areas now known as New Mexico, California, Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana. The objectives of the Spanish were to gain wealth and prestige for the Mother Country' and spread the Catholic religion. The Spanish established religious missions, military installations (presidio) and founded towns (the pueblos). For additional facts, history and stats refer to Spanish Immigration to America.

The First English Immigrants
European Immigration to America began in the late 1500's when Sir Walter Raleigh (1554-1618) led expeditions to North America in order to search for gold found new settlements. In 1585 several shiploads of English colonists to America settled on Roanoke Island where Virginia Dare, the first child born of European parents, was born in America. These first English immigrants mysteriously disappeared and Roanoke was given the nickname of "the Lost Colony". Other English colonies were soon established by the Pilgrims and the Puritans. The Jamestown settlement was established in the Virginia Colony in 1607 and the Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620 by the Mayflower Pilgrims. In 1630 a religious group of Puritans left England in search of religious freedom in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The 'Great Migration' and the 13 British Colonies
The 'Great Migration' was the term used to describe the wave of over 50,000 of English immigrants to America between 1620 and 1640 which led to the establishment of the first 13 Colonies: Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The colonies need cheap and plentiful labor. Most of the immigrants were poor and it is estimated that 80% of immigrants came as Indentured Servants. The British controlled the northern Atlantic coast of America. For additional facts, history and stats refer to English Immigration to America.

The French Immigrants
The early French Immigration from Europe to America was dictated by the establishment of the colonies of New France (Gallia Nova) between the time periods of 1534 to 1763. France concentrated its efforts in gaining the Northern lands of the New World and established its dominance via the areas surrounding the St. Lawrence river, eventually claiming the entire Mississippi River Valley. The five colonies of New France consisted of Canada (1534), Arcadia (1604), Plaisance (1662), Hudson Bay (1663) and the French colony of Louisiana (1682). The massive area claimed by the French in New France eventually covered over 3 million square miles but ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763 when all New France east of the Mississippi, except the area surrounding New Orleans, was ceded to Great Britain. For additional facts, history and stats refer to French Immigration to America.

Despots and dictators: not in my backyard, but fine for yours

A second example of Western neo-colonialism is found in these countries' support for corrupt dictators, totalitarian despots and anti-democratic forces in the Muslim world. Muslims question how sincere the Western belief in justice and democracy really is when this happens.

For instance, the government of France supported the Algerian army when it canceled elections following the victory at the ballot of the Islamic Salvation Front party in 1992. France is the country famed for "liberty, equality and fraternity". It seems this is not what they had in mind for the Muslims in their former colonial baby, Algeria.

The United States, which touts "freedom and democracy" has similarly supported undemocratic regimes in Muslim and other countries. Justice, it seems, is not for all, especially not Muslims.
Muslim minorities in the West versus Christian minorities in Muslim countries

Both of these groups of minorities have been the brunt of stereotypical images in the local media, along with various forms of harassment. For example, several Masjids in America have been burned down and attacked as have chuches in Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia. Tribal clashes in Nigeria have taken on a religious color and a number of Christians have been murdered outside churches in Pakistan.

Muslims in Muslim countries must protect the rights of their Christian neighbors to freely practice their religion as well as their freedom of speech, as Prophet Mohamed (peace and blessings be upon him) and the rightly guided Khalifas after him did.The constitution the Prophet drafted in Madinah following his migration from Makkah enshrined the rights of Christians and Jews in the city, including those of worship. These were fully enforced under his leadership. Another example was when Umar ibn al-Khattab was Khalifah. He returned tax money collected from Christians in a town in modern day Iraq after he and the Muslims had to leave it. The taxes had been collected to ensure Muslim protection of the Christians living there. Since the Muslims could no longer do that, they returned the money.

Similarly, Christians in countries like America must stand up for Muslims' rights, especially those of free speech and freedom of religion. This way, both groups can build bridges of understanding and tolerance in a world currently fraught with violence, terror and destruction.

Still Some Examples of Cooperation

But amid these examples of New World Order colonialism and tense Muslim-Christian relations, there are some bright spots.

In the 1990s, the West did eventually come to the aid of Muslims following massacres, rapes and the oppression of Muslims in Bosnia and Kosova.

On the level of faith, the 1994 United Nations Conference on Population in Cairo, Egypt, became a platform for Muslim and Catholic cooperation against perceived anti-religious bias.

In addition, it is somewhat ironic that while Muslims resent the Western support for dictatorships in their countries, they turn to the West when seeking to escape the oppression in their countries. For example, Iran's anti-Shah revolutionaries were essentially based in the West.

It is not uncommon to find Muslim refugees escaping to Germany, France, Britain, America and Canada. While many of them are economic migrants, seeking a better life for themselves and their families on a financial level, there are also those escaping political turmoil and corruption in their home countries.

The current situation

In September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI set off worldwide controversy while quoting Manuel II during a lecture at the University of Regensburg in Germany: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you
will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

The reaction was swift and strong from Muslims the world over. While Pakistan's parliament voted to condemn him, Lebanon's leading Shia leader asked for a personal apology. The deputy head of Turkey's governing party put him in the same category as Hitler and Mussolini. Unfortunately, two churches in Palestine were bombed and a nun in Somalia killed over the incident.

This was followed by an apology in which the Pope said he was "deeply sorry" about the angry repercussions of his comments, adding that the quotation was not an expression of his personal views.

The Pope's statement is being taken by Muslims as part of a continuity of Islamophobic statements made by high profile Christians like Franklin Graham, who has described Islam as a "very evil and wicked religion".

Although some mainstream churches opposed Graham's statement, most adopted a silent or neutral stance towards such false, anti-Islamic propaganda.

US President George Bush's use of the term "Islamic Fascism" in the current "war against terrorism," in addition to the ongoing war against Iraq continue to confirm the Muslim perception that the war is turning against them, despite President Bush's assurances to the contrary. First came the reference to the war as a "crusade," then the bombings of Afghanistan and Iraq, which killed more than 100,000 civilians. All of this added to America's existing image as a one-sided in reference to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

In the US, Muslims are living in a virtual internment camp under a regime of fear. About a half a million Muslim Americans have been directly affected by the government policies although not a single Muslim American have been successfully convicted of terrorism so far. Four major charities in the US have been banned without due process of law. Muslims who gave millions of dollars to these charities to fulfill the third pillar of Islam, Zakat, in the month of Ramadan, lost all that money. The abuse of individual freedom, the media's ridicule of Islam and mockery of Muslim beliefs have led to such lawlessness in dealing with Muslims that one Jewish attorney of a Muslim client commented that, "Muslims have become the new Ni...rs of America."

Terrorism is a real threat. It must be dealt with in a proper and fair manner. If we could wait to try Timothy McVeigh with the due course of law, why not let these individuals and their organizations know what the charges are against them and allow them to defend themselves. It seems that a Christian terrorist has civil rights but a Muslim terrorist has none, although terrorists do not represent their faith. Otherwise they would not do things like this.

There have been several positive actions taken by our neighbors since September 11. A number of churches and their leaders have come forward in interfaith gatherings to show support and sympathy for the Muslims of America. The late Pope issued a call to Catholics worldwide to fast on the last Friday of Ramadan of 2002 in solidarity with Muslims. Some non-Muslim women have donned headscarves as a way of expressing sympathy for Muslim women too afraid to cover themselves in the backlash that followed the September 11 attacks.

More recently, a number of mainstream Christian groups have been at the forefront of the peace movement that opposed the war on Iraq, as well as the country's occupation by America. This is a very positive step forward, considering that churches did not oppose the Vietnam War until 10 years after it began, nor did Christian groups oppose the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, except for the Quakers.

In addition, amongst Christian groups, there has been a split in terms of war on Iraq. While most groups oppose the war, the more right-wing groups, like the evangelicals support it.

And so the cycle of positive and negative relations between Muslims and Christians continues. Muslims and Christians must continue to work together for peace and justice for all people. Muslims and Christians in America, especially, are in a unique position to do this and can serve as an example of peaceful coexistence of minorities the world over.

Now the bad news

1. The Crusades

During the Crusades (1095 until 1291) European Christians attacked and occupied this Holy land. They oppressed the Muslims, the local Christians and the Jews. These Crusaders killed over 200,000 innocent civilians.

The aim: to wrest control of Jerusalem from the Muslims. This was not only a period of bloodshed, hostility and violence. It was also the beginning of collective Western stereotypes of Islam and Muslims, according to some scholars.

The Crusades ended centuries ago. But today, the remnants of those stereotypes have taken on new meaning. Muslims are still bloodthirsty, violent savages by most of the mainstream media's standard. The propagation of these views on the collective level through the media has affected Muslims globally and locally. Muslims in America, while living peacefully with Christians and other religious groups, are still subject to discrimination in varying degrees, and physical violence and harassment in the worst cases.

While the Crusades were bad news for Muslims and even local Christians living alongside them, one significant outcome of this contact between Muslims and Western Christians was the passage of knowledge from one to the other.

Christians, through the Muslims, were able to access texts like those of Aristotle, for instance. The Muslims clearly passed on an intellectual heritage, which a number of scholars say laid the foundations for the modern Christian West. For more discussion of this, please see the book " Islam and the Discovery of Freedom by Rose Wilder Lane.

2. Muslim Spain versus Christian Spain

Many Muslims look back at Muslim Spain with pride. But Jews also call it their "golden era".

Spain became part of the Islamic world at the beginning of the eighth century. Under Muslims, Spain became the center of civilization. Although many local Spaniards embraced Islam, Christians and Jews were free in all aspects of their lives. The Muslims respected their religion and institutions. The result was the birth of the first true cosmopolitan culture in the West.

Christians studied alongside Muslim scholars to such a degree that in 854, a Christian named Alvaro of Cordoba complained that these students were forgetting their own religion and culture.

The Muslims and Christians of Spain did not live in their ghettos, isolated and not cooperating in various aspects of daily life together.

It was in Spain that Aristotle's works on physics and natural history were translated into Arabic from Greek. Historians generally acknowledge that the Muslim world proved to be a major conduit of ancient scholarship into the West, especially through Muslim Spain.

It wasn't just Muslims and Christians who thrived in Spain, though. Jews, who were reviled and hated elsewhere, were not only living safely and peacefully alongside non-Jews in Muslim Spain, they were learning and contributing to its culture and knowledge which Muslim scholars had established.

But this success in wealth, knowledge and co-existence came to end in a violent and very sad way.

As Christian Crusaders of Spain expelled Muslims, civilization that took centuries to build was destroyed. Muslims and Jews were either expelled or forced to convert to Christianity. Millions died as tolerance was replaced by the Spanish Inquisition. A suspected Muslim was to be killed for the smallest act resembling Islamic tradition - such as taking a bath on Friday.

3. European colonialism (1500s to the early 20th century)

European colonialism was such a powerful force that by 1900, 90.4 percent of Africa was under European or American colonial control. This was a political and economic phenomenon that began in the 1500s. Various European nations "discovered", conquered, and exploited large areas of the world.

In a quest for silk, spices and world domination, European explorers, like Christopher Columbus set out to sea. He ended up in North America. The result: the slaughter and destruction of millions of Natives and the usurpation of their land by Europeans.

In Muslim lands, colonialists wreaked havoc, supplanting Islamic educational systems with secular or Christianity-focused ones, and murdering and/or enslaving the natives of Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, for example.

They also acculturated the "savage" natives to the "refined" customs of Europe. In the Indian subcontinent today, the term "Brown Sahib" is used to refer to a native who is mentally colonized by the West. There are similar stock characters in other Muslim cultures.

4. Armenia-slaughter at the hands of Turkish Army, early 20th century

The predominantly Christian Armenians consider the greatest disaster in their history to be their murder and deportation from Turkey during World War I.

In 1915 as Turkish Armenians aligned with the pro-Christian Tsarist Russian enemy, the Turkish army reacted strongly against this betrayal. Although, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, statistics are disputed regarding the Armenian population in Ottoman Anatolia at the outbreak of World War I and the number of Armenians killed during this deportation, a large number of Armenians died during this civil war.

Those Turkish Armenians who survived migrated to places like predominantly Muslim Lebanon and Syria, as well as Russia, France, and the United States.

5. Current relations between the Muslims and Christians

Today 70% of all refugees in the world are Muslims. To Muslims, many of these refugees and other conflicts are a result of their powerlessness.

Muslims feel culturally enslaved, in many ways to the predominantly Christian West. The United States, with the new geopolitical reality of uni-polar world, continues to dictate policies to smaller nations of the world.

This new form of colonialism is done with the help of local lackeys in Muslim countries who take their orders about how their countries should be run from Washington, D.C. as opposed to locally.

On a larger level, British, French, American and Russian colonial powers (all Western, and all predominantly Christian) also control Muslim and other Third World countries through international institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Security Council of the United Nations.

This excessive power over the lives of millions is perceived by a number of Muslims as the continuing perpetuation of the colonial era. For most Muslims, colonialism is not about the spread of "refined European civilization". It is about massacre, slaver, and weakness. It is nothing to proudly look back upon.

The fight against tobacco
One example of modern American colonialism can be found in the fight against tobacco in the United States.

In the last eight years, the US tobacco industry has lost business because of public health awareness campaigns against smoking. But in the same period the industry has achieved the record profits. How?

They now have an open market to sell their deadly products to Third World consumers, thanks to the help of the American government. So cancer is bad for Americans, but it's okay for others. Where is the justice?
http://www.soundvision.com/article/muslim-christian-relations-the-good-the-bad

There were great times and there were the bad ones.

Tolerance, respect and cooperation some times. Murder, intolerance and hostility on other occasions.

These have been some of the defining features of Muslim-Christian relations throughout history. Here are some examples of the good and the bad.
First the good memories:

1. Habasha and the Negus

It was a Christian king in a predominantly Christian land who gave the small, persecuted community of early Muslims in the beginning of the Prophet Muhammad's mission protection. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon the Prophet.

The Muslims sought refuge in Habasha, modern day Ethiopia, after suffering starvation and torture at the hands of the polytheistic Makkans. The Prophet Muhammad said about the Negus and Habasha: "a king rules without injustice, a land of truthfulness."

Muslims were welcomed, protected and lived in peace with the Christians of Habasha. But this did not sit well with the Makkans, who did not want to see them leave Makkah or want the message of Islam to flourish in peace.They spent special envoys with gifts and lies about the Muslims to convince the Negus to send the Muslims back to Makkah. They told the Negus that this "new" faith took pride in insulting not just ancestral Makkan beliefs, but the beliefs of Christians as well.

Another king may have simply taken their word and automatically kicked the Muslims out. The Negus did not. He ordered that the leader of the Muslim community come to his court and explain Islam's position.

Enter Jafar ibn Abu Talib, early Muslim refugee to Habasha, and cousin of the Prophet.

Not only did he eloquently explain the message of Islam and the persecution of those who accepted this truthful message. He also recited the opening verses of Surah 19 of the Quran, Surah Maryam or Mary, after the Negus asked him to recite part of Quran.

King Negus listened to the recitation of the Quran in focused attention. He cried as he listened, so much so that his beard got wet. When Jafar completed the recitation, Negus said, ‘Surely this Revelation and the Revelation of Jesus were from the same Source.' Then to the two Makkan ambassadors, he said, 'By God, I will not hand over these persons to you.'

But the story does not end here. The Makkans would not give up so easily. They asked the king to find out what the Muslims' view of Jesus and his Divinity were, knowing of course, the difference in the Christian and Muslim positions regarding Jesus.

Again, Jafar responded, with no compromise of principles, just the simple, clear Truth:

'He (Jesus) is God's servant and Messenger; a spirit and a word from God that He bestowed on the Virgin Mary.'

Upon hearing this, Negus picked up a straw from the ground and said:

‘By God, Jesus was not even as much as one straw more than what you have said about him.'

He returned the gifts of the Quraysh. Negus told them he was not used to taking bribes and the Muslims would remain under his protection.

This was an early victory for positive Muslim-Christian relations.

2. Umar ibn al-Khattab and Jerusalem

Jerusalem and its surrounding territory were and remain holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews. It was during the Caliphate of Omar ibn al-Khattab that Muslims first gained leadership of this territory. May Allah be pleased with Omar.

The Muslim reaction to this victory is something to remember.

Omar entered Jerusalem in humility. He walked in with not he, the Caliph, but his servant comfortably riding on a camel. They had been taking turns walking and riding.

At one point in Jerusalem, the Christians asked him to pray in their church but he declined. He said he was afraid that in the future Muslims could use this as an excuse to take over the Church to build a Masjid.

The Christians gave the key of the Church of Resurrection to Muslims to be responsible for its safety. This key is still with the Muslims today as a sign and symbol of the mutual trust.

[b] 3. Saladin (Salah el Deen Ayyubi) and the Crusades
It was in response to the horrific oppression in Jerusalem at the hands of the Crusaders in the 11th century and the need to free the area of their control that Sultan Salah el Deen Ayyubi (Saladin) liberated Jerusalem from them in 1187.

His arrival brought relief for the local Christian population, who helped him, after the oppression they suffered at the hands of their co-religionists, the Crusaders.

Not only did Saladin treat the Crusaders with kindness, he ensured that Muslims and non-Muslims lived in peace and harmony with each other.

One particular story about him recounts that some Muslim soldiers were besieging a Christian fortress. Many Christians were seeking shelter inside, including a young couple who was planning to get married, but whose plans had been stopped by the fighting. They decided to get married anyway, even though they were trapped inside the castle.

Saladin was in charge of the Muslim troops at this time. When he heard about the wedding, he ordered his soldiers not to attack the castle where the couple was staying, so that they could enjoy peace and quiet. In return for this respect, the bride's mother sent out trays of food for Saladin and the Muslim army to share in the wedding celebrations.

Indeed the longest period of peace and justice for all in Jerusalem has been the period when Muslims were in control.

Islam and Discrimination, Equality in Islam, Racism and Islam, Islam and Race, One Human Race

Islam and Discrimination Racism is one of the severe diseases of human society in this age. Everyone remembers how black Africans were transported across the oceans, packed in specially designed ships, thought of and treated like livestock. They were made slaves, forced to change their names and religion and language, were not entitled to hope for true freedom, and were refused the least of human rights. Because among some Western people the attitude to non-Westerners has unfortunately changed little in modern times, the political and social condition of black people often remains, even where they live amid the native Westerners as theoretically equal fellow-citizens, that of despised inferiors.

When Allah's (SWT) Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, was raised as a Prophet, the same kind of racism, under the name of tribalism, was prevalent in Makkah. The Quraish considered themselves in particular, and Arabs in general, superior to all the other peoples of the world. Allah's (SWT) Messenger came with the Divine Message and proclaimed that no Arab is superior over a non-Arab, and no white is superior over black and superiority is by righteousness and God-fearing alone (Surat Al-Hujurat, 49:13). He also declared that even if an Abyssinian Black Muslim were to rule over Muslims, he should be obeyed.

Allah's (SWT) Messenger eradicated the problem of racial or colour discrimination so successfully that superiority is not by birth or colour or blood, but by God-fearing and righteousness.

The message of Islam is for the entire human race. According to Islam, Allah (SWT) is the God of the entire world and the Prophet Muhammad (saw) is a messenger for the whole of mankind. Islam unites the entire human race under one banner without any kind of discrimination.

Allah (SWT) says in Surat Al-Hujurat, "O Mankind! We have created you from a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you in the sight of Allah is he who has most Taqwa among of you. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware." Noble Qur'an (49:13)
In surah Al-Room Allah (SWT) says, "And one of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colors; most surely there are signs in this for the learned." Noble Qur'an (30:22)

With this verse, Islam declares equality among people as one human race, one humanity, that is because Islam respect a human for being a human not for any other reason; Islam does not distinguish between two races, or two groups of people, or between two colors, and the Prophet Muhammad (saw) addressed the people signifying that concept during the last Hajj pilgrimage, saying: "O People! Your God is one; your father is one; no preference of an Arab neither over non-Arab nor of a non-Arab over an Arab or red over black or black over red except for the most righteous. Verily the most honored of you is the most righteous."

Not only did Islam emphasize the equality principle theoretically, but did it practically in some of the worship acts that translated this principle into a sensible fact that does not escape people minds, thus: in the mosques where Friday prayer is held once every week, as well as the five daily prayers; equality is exercised practically and all the differences vanishes among people. That is, whoever came to the Mosque first, took his place in the front rows despite his financial states or position, and whoever come late, his place is late and if you look at any row among the prayer's rows, you would find in that row the rich and poor, the knowledgeable and the one with no knowledge, the Arab and the non Arab, no differences all the same in sight of Allah (SWT), their direction during prayer, as well as their reveled book, as their Lord is one and also their movements during the prayer following one Imam.
Also in the holy land where the annual Hajj pilgrimage and the Umrah is performed, the equality is even clearer and stronger that is because during prayer people may differ in their clothes but during Hajj pilgrimage and Umrah the Ihram situation oblige every one to only wear simple white clothes which equates the rich and the poor, the governor and governed, all walking around the Holy Kaaba asking one lord.

Also, another practical application of equality in Islam, is the equality among people in front of the law and regulations. What is allowed is for all people and what is forbidden as well upon all people. The obligations are upon everyone, and whoever deserved punishment gets it, regardless.

An example of such was when some of the companions (Sahaba) talked to Osama Bin Zaid, the favorite of the Prophet Muhammad (saw), to intervene for the sake of the well reputed woman from Quraish tribe who deserved punishment for stealing (that is cutting her hand), Osama Bin Zaid talked to the Prophet Muhammad (saw), the Prophet Muhammad (saw) got angry and said, "Those before you were districted, that is because the renowned is untouched when he steals, and the poor is punished, verily if Fatimah daughter of Muhammad stole, I would have cut her hand."

This is Islam: emphasizing the equality and applying it in the society since 1400 years ago, when during that time mankind used to suffer the worst distinction among people and individuals in society and readied the enslaving of the human to his brother the human. The eradication of racism consciousness is one of the outstanding moral achievements of Islam.

This is the secrete that made Islam and Muslims prevail nations in the past. It is a mistake to think that Islam prevailed only because Muslims like dying in the battles as other like to live. Islam did not prevail through battles only, but because Islam is a complete unique guidance for life, unique in it's rituals, beliefs, dealings and morals and from all with all that the religion of Allah is comprised, and with all that Muslims won and prevailed in the past, and with it Muslims can prevail and rule these days or any other time.

Annunaki:
You forgot to include the allotted 72 virgins each in islamic paradise

I WANT YOUR VERSION OF PARADISE AND HELL FROM THE BIBLE AND NOT CORRECTING ME .AS YOU CAN SEE I WROTE TO BE CONTINUED.I NEED RESPONSE BEFORE I CONTINUE

I MUST WARN YOU PARISBOOKADDICT TO ALWAYS VERIFY THINGS BEFORE POSTING ,YOU MIGHT THINK YOU WANT TO HUMILIATE ISLAM BUT I TELL YOU ,YOU WILL ONLY EARN YOUR SELF A PUNISHMENT FROM GOD FOR SPREADING FALSEHOOD TO THE PEOPLE.FOR EVERY THING WE DO IN THIS LIFE THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES WHEN WE DIE.YOU WILL ACCOUNT FOR EVERY DEED YOU DO WHEN YOU MEET YOUR GOD IN THE HEREAFTER.

When Allah's (SWT) Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, was raised as a Prophet, the same kind of racism, under the name of tribalism, was prevalent in Makkah. The Quraish considered themselves in particular, and Arabs in general, superior to all the other peoples of the world. Allah's (SWT) Messenger came with the Divine Message and proclaimed that no Arab is superior over a non-Arab, and no white is superior over black and superiority is by righteousness and God-fearing alone (Surat Al-Hujurat, 49:13). He also declared that even if an Abyssinian Black Muslim were to rule over Muslims, he should be obeyed

When Allah's (SWT) Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, was raised as a Prophet, the same kind of racism, under the name of tribalism, was prevalent in Makkah. The Quraish considered themselves in particular, and Arabs in general, superior to all the other peoples of the world. Allah's (SWT) Messenger came with the Divine Message and proclaimed that no Arab is superior over a non-Arab, and no white is superior over black and superiority is by righteousness and God-fearing alone (Surat Al-Hujurat, 49:13). He also declared that even if an Abyssinian Black Muslim were to rule over Muslims, he should be obeyed

parisbookaddict:
Yes ..Arab muslims looks at Negro as sub human. Islam does not consider blacks and Arabs as equals. Mind you Arabs aren't white themselves, but are light skinned.

Mohammed disposed of 2 Negro slaves for 1 Arab slave.(this says a lot of how he sees the Negro.)

Most people like to remind America of its Trans Atlantic slave trade which happened for about 300 years (if I remember correctly) while the Arabs kidnapped and traded black slaves for over 1000 years during the sub-Saharan slave trade.

Infact a lot of slavery in still going on in the middle east because the quran approves of slavery. Qatar uses dark skinned Asians or middle east people as slaves, this is one of the reasons some people are calling for the world cup to be moved away from qatar.

Mohammed even mocked the raisin head shape of the Negro in one of the sahih hadiths.

their is no place mohammed calls for equality. Infact Arab women are not equal to Arab men.

Infact if u say mohammed was black in an Arab muslim majority country, you will be killed because its similar to "blasphemy". Its considered a grave insult.

The black man is genetically superior to the whites by the way, this is why blacks can survive very terrible conditions and the harshness of the sun, malaria etc

infact civilization started in Africa Egypt, but truth be told the white man has proven to be intellectually superior to the black man. But this isn't based on genetics. Its simple concerted cultivation.

By the way, new information from the investigation of the stampede shows it was an Arab prince and his entourage of 200 people that caused the stampede and not the low IQ Africans.

Mohammed disposed of 2 Negro slaves for 1 Arab slave.(this says a lot of how he sees the Negro.) IF WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN IS TRUE BRING OUT YOUR EVEIDENCE,CITATION OR REFERENCES


TO ANSWER SOME OF YOUR QUESTIONS A BLACK WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO MAKE THE ISLAMIC CALL TO PRAYER DURING THE TIME OF THE PROPHET IN THE NAME OF BILAL FROM ABYSINNIA TODAYS ETHIOPIA.

Bilal the Great African Muslim

Bilal is very lovingly remembered by all Muslims of the world as one of the earliest great African Muslim.

He was born in a village in a mountainous place in Western Arabia. Bilal's father was called Rebah and his mother was known as Hamama1. They had come to Arabia as slaves from Ethiopia. The father and mother were slaves of Ummayya bin Khalaf, a rich man from the tribe of Quraish. Bilal was therefore born in slavery and served as a housekeeper. His master Ummayya bin Khalaf was not a Muslim (IDOL WORSHIPPER).

When Bilal was about the age of 40, it was the time when Prophet Muhammad started teaching the new religion of Islam, Bilal was attracted by the teaching of Prophet Muhammad. He accepted the religion of Islam and became a Muslim.

When Ummayya bin Khalaf and his family went to worship idols, Bilal would pray to Allah as taught by Islam.

In the early days of Islam the tribe of Quraish who were strong and many and lived in and around Makkah, disliked Islam.

They also disliked Prophet Muhammad and his new teachings. If any person accepted the new religion, they oppressed and harassed him.

One day Ummayya bin Khalaf came to know of Bilal's secret prayers. He called Bilal and asked,

“Oh Bilal, do you worship and bow down to the God of Muhammad?”

Bilal was not afraid. He replied,

'Yes Master, I do worship Allah, the only God.”

The reply angered Ummayya greatly. He began to torture Bilal. He was tied with ropes and made to lie on the burning hot desert sand at mid-noon. He was then asked to forget the God of Islam and worship the 'great' idols known as LAT and UZZA. But Bilal was strong in his new belief. He refused to worship idols and kept crying “AHAD-AHAD”, meaning “One God, One God.” The tortures continued and were increased. Hot iron rod were stamped on his pained body. Yet Bilal would not yield.

On one hot day Bilal lay on the burning hot sand tied to the ground. A very heavy stone was placed over his chest. Bilal could no longer bear the heat and the load so great. He had also grown weak. In that tied condition even water was denied to him. In the condition he lay and lost his senses. As the day neared its end, it became cooler; he regained his conscious (senses). He found that the heavy stone was no more on his chest. He wondered who had come to free him from pain. His heavy eyes slowly opened only to look at the bright smiling face of Prophet Muhammad.

Prophet Muhammad had heard of and seen the torture of Bilal. It pained him extremely to learn that a true believer should suffer in such a manner. He also felt pity for the poor man He told Abu Bakr to purchase Bilal from Ummayya and set him free. This was done. In similar ways the Prophet had many slaves set free. He insisted that slaves be treated fairly and kindly. By his own conduct he also set such examples.

When Bilal first came before the Holy Prophet, he praised the Holy Prophet in two poetic lines of his native language. The Prophet asked Hassan bin Thabit to translate it in Arabic. He translated it in words which means:

“When in the world, the virtues are described, thou art mentioned as the model of virtues in our midst.”

Among the slaves from Africa, Bilal was the first to accept Islam. He had a strong faith in Allah and a great love for the Prophet. He had a pure character. Soon he earned high respect of the Prophet and other great Muslims of the time. The Prophet liked Bilal's sweet voice and made him the first Muazzin -The Caller To The Prayers.

All through his life Bilal remained a close companion of Prophet Muhammad and was with him at every occasion. When the Prophet died he was very saddened. Thereafter all his life he looked grieved and very solemn. He had gone to Madina when the Prophet had migrated. After the death of the Prophet he did not feel happy to stay in Madina. He sadly discontinued giving 'adhan' and migrated to Damascus, Syria. He died there after about eight (or ten) years. His grave is still existing in the famous Muslim graveyard in Damascus. People still go to his grave to pay respect and salute him.

MORE ON HELL

Its Size

Hell is huge and immensely deep. We know this through several ways.

First, innumerable people will enter Hell, each, as described in a hadeeth, with the molar teeth as large as Uhud (a mountain in Medina)[1] The distance between the shoulders of its inhabitants has also been described as being equivalent to three days of walking.[2] Hell will house all the unbelievers and sinners from the beginning of time and there will still be room for more. God says:

"On the Day when We will say to Hell: ‘Are you filled?’ It will say, ‘Are there any more (to come)?’" (Quran 50:30)

The Fire of Hell is likened to a mill that grinds thousands and thousands of tons of grain and then waits for more to come.

Second, a stone thrown from the top of Hell will take a very long time to reach the bottom. One of the companions of the Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, describes how they were sitting with the Prophet and heard the sound of something falling. The Prophet inquired if they knew what it was. When they expressed their lack of knowledge, he said:

"That was a stone thrown into Hell seventy years ago and it is yet in the way (the other side) of Hell until now."[3]

Another report states:

"If a stone as big as seven pregnant camels was thrown from the edge of Hell, it would fly through it for seventy years, and yet it would not reach the bottom."[4]

Third, a great many angels will bring Hell on the Day of Resurrection. God speaks of it:

"And Hell will be brought near that Day…" (Quran 89:23)

The Prophet said:

"Hell will be brought forth that Day by means of seventy thousand ropes, each of which will be held by seventy thousand angels."[5]

Fourth, another report that indicates the vast size of Hell is that the sun and moon will be rolled up in Hell on the Day of Resurrection.[6]

Its Levels

Hell has various levels of heat and punishment, each is reserved according to the extent of their disbelief and sins of those being punished. God says:

"Surely, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths (grade) of the Fire." (Quran 4:145)

The lower the level of Hell, the greater is the intensity of heat. Since the hypocrites will suffer the worst punishment, so will they be in the lowest part of Hell.

God refers to the levels of Hell in the Quran:

"For all will be (ranked) by degrees according to what they did." (Quran 6:132)

"Is one who seeks the good pleasure of God then like the one who draws on himself the wrath of God? His abode is Hell – and worst, indeed, is that destination! They are in varying grades with God, and God is All-Seer of what they do." (Quran 3:162-163)

The Gates of Hell

God speaks of seven Gates of Hell in the Quran:

"And surely, Hell is the promised place for them all. It has seven gates, for each of these gates is a class of sinners assigned." (Quran 15:43-44)

TO BE CONTINUED

PARADISE

Description of Paradise in the Quran

"The description of Paradise which the Muttaqoon have been promised is that in it are rivers of water, the taste and smell of which are never changed. Rivers of milk the taste of which will remain unchanged. Rivers of wine that will be delicious to those who drink from it and rivers of clear, pure honey. For them will be every kind of fruit and forgiveness form their Lord." [ 47:15]

"And their recompense shall be Paradise, and silken garments, because they were patient. Reclining on raised thrones, they will see there neither the excessive heat of the sun, nor the excessive bitter cold, (as in Paradise there is no sun and no moon). The shade will be close upon them, and bunches of fruit will hang low within their reach. Vessels of silver and cups of crystal will be passed around amongst them, crystal-clear, made of silver. They will determine the measure of them according to their wishes. They will be given a cup (of wine) mixed with Zanjabeel, and a fountain called Salsabeel. Around them will (serve) boys of perpetual youth. If you see them, you would think they are scattered pearls. When you look there (in Paradise) you will see a delight (that cannot be imagined), and a Great Dominion. Their garments will be of fine green silk and gold embroidery. They will be adorned with bracelets of silver, and their Lord will give them a pure drink." [76:12-21]

[b]"And those foremost (In Tawheed and obedience to Allah and His Messenger in this life) will be foremost (in Paradise). They will be those nearest to Allah in the Gardens of Delight. A multitude of those (the foremost) will be from the first generation (who embraced Islam) and a few of those (the foremost) will be from the later (generations). They will be reclining, face to face, on thrones woven with gold and precious stones. They will be served by immortal boys, with cups and jugs, and a glass from the flowing wine, from which they will have neither any headache, nor any intoxication. They will have fruit from which they may choose, and the flesh of fowls that they desire. There will be Houris with wide, lovely eyes (as wives for the pious), like preserved pearls, a reward for deeds that they used to do. They will hear no vain or sinful speech (like backbiting, etc.) but only the saying of: Salam, Salam, (greetings of peace). And those on the Right Hand, who will be those on the Right Hand? They will be among thorn-less lote-trees among Talh (banana trees) with fruits piled one above another, in long-extended shade, by constantly flowing water, and fruit in plenty, whose season is not limited, and their supply will not be cut off. They will be on couches or thrones raised high. Verily, We have created for them (maidens) of equal age, loving (their husbands only). For those on the Right Hand." [56:10-38]
[/b]
"Verily, the dwellers of Paradise that Day, will be busy in joyful things. They and their wives will be in pleasant shade, reclining on thrones. They will have therein fruits (of all kinds), and all that they will ask for. (It will be said to them): "Salamun" (Peace be on you), a Word from the Lord, Most Merciful." [36:55-58]

to be continued

WHEN I WAS IN THE UNIVERSITY MANY YEARS AGO ,I NOTICED THAT WHENEVER I ASK BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS ABOUT DESCRIPTION OF HEAVEN AND HELL.THEY TAKE THEIR LEAVE ,BECOME CONFUSED AND NEVER COME BACK TO PREACH TO ME.TODAY I WILL LIKE TO KNOW THE DESCRIPTION OF HEAVEN AND HELL FROM MY XTIANS BROTHERS AND SISTERS ON A NAIRALAND ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE.

I WILL START BY STATING THE QURANIC AND HADITH DESCRIPTION ABOUT THE SUBJECT.
TRUTHMAN2012 ,BISHOPMAGIC,WOMBRAIDERS YOUR INPUTS ARE NEEDED,NO INSULTS THIS IS AN INTELLECTUAL EXERCISE FOR BELIEVERS IN GOD'S REVELATIONS.SO MAKE YOUR RESEARCH AND LETS SET THE BALL ROLLING.

Islam teaches that Hell is a real place prepared by God for those who do not believe in Him, rebel against His laws, and reject His messengers. Hell is an actual place, not a mere state of mind or a spiritual entity. The horrors, pain, anguish, and punishment are all real, but different in nature than their earthly counterparts. Hell is the ultimate humiliation and loss, and nothing is worse than it:

"Our Lord! Surely, whom You admit to the Fire, indeed You have disgraced him, and never will the wrongdoers find any helpers." (Quran 3:192)

"Know they not that whoever opposes God and His Messenger (Muhammad), certainly for him will be the Fire of Hell to abide therein? That is the extreme disgrace." (Quran 9:63)

Paradise and Hell Presently Exist and are Eternal

Hell exists at the present time and will continue to exist forever. It will never die down, and its inhabitants will remain in it forever. No one will come out of Hell except sinful believers who believed in the Oneness of God in this life and believed in the specific prophet sent to them (before the coming of Muhammad). The polytheists and unbelievers will reside in it forever. This belief has been held from classical times and is based on clear verses of the Quran and confirmed reports from the Prophet of Islam. The Quran speaks of Hell in the past tense and states that it has already been created:

"And fear the Fire which is prepared for the disbelievers." (Quran 3:131)

The Prophet of Islam said:

"When any of you dies, he is shown his position (in the Hereafter) morning and evening. If he is one of the people of Paradise, he is shown the place of the people of Paradise. If he is one of the people of Hell, he is shown the place of people of Hell. He is told, ‘this is your position, until God resurrects you on the Day of Resurrection." (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim)

In another report, the Prophet said:

"Surely, the soul of a believer is a bird hanging on the trees of Paradise, until God returns it to his body on the Day of Resurrection." (Muwatta of Malik)

These texts make it clear that Hell and Paradise exist, and that souls may enter them before the Day of Resurrection. Speaking of Hell’s eternity, God says:


"They will long to leave the Fire, but never will they leave there from; and theirs will be a lasting torment." (Quran 5:37)
"…And they will never leave of the Fire." (Quran 2:167)

"Surely, those who disbelieve and did wrong; God will not forgive them, nor will He guide them to any way except the way of Hell, to dwell therein forever." (Quran 4:168-169)

"Surely, God has cursed the disbelievers, and has prepared for them a flaming Fire wherein they will abide for ever." (Quran 33:64)

"And whosoever disobeys God and His Messenger, then surely, for him is the fire of Hell, he shall dwell therein forever." (Quran 72:23)

The Keepers of Hell

Mighty and stern angels stand over Hell who never disobey God. They do precisely as ordered. God says:

"O you who believe, save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is men and stones over which are (appointed) angels, stern and severe, who flinch not (from executing) the commands they receive from God, but do (precisely what) they are commanded." (Quran 66:6)

They are nineteen keepers of Hell as God says:

"Soon I will cast him into Hell Fire. And what will explain to you what is Hellfire? Nothing does it allow to endure, and nothing does it leave alone! Darkening and changing the color of man! Over it are nineteen (angels as keepers of Hell)." (Quran 74:26-30)

One should not think that the inhabitants of Hell will be able to overcome the keepers of Hell because there are just nineteen of them. Everyone of them has the strength to subdue all humanity by himself. These angels are called the Guards of Hell by God in the Quran:

"And those in the Fire will say to the Guards of Hell, ‘Call upon your Lord to lighten for us the torment for a day!’" (Quran 40:49)

The name of the chief angel guarding over Hell is Malik, as mentioned in the Quran:

"Surely, the disbelievers will be in the torment of Hell to abide therein forever. (The torment) will not be lightened for them, and they will be plunged into destruction with deep regrets, sorrows and in despair therein. We wronged them not, but they were the wrongdoers. And they will cry: ‘O Malik! Let your Lord make an end of us’ He will say: ‘Surely, you shall abide forever.’ Indeed We have brought the truth to you, but most of you have a hatred for the truth" (Quran 43:74-78)

TO BE CONTINUED