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Mixed
Muslim Messages
Excerpts
from an article iterating the mixed messages coming from some
Muslim leaders before and after the attack on America:
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On
Sept. 20, FBI agents showed up at the house of Hamza Yusuf,
a Muslim teacher and speaker in Northern California. They wanted
to question him about a speech he had given two days before
the Sept. 11 attacks, in which he said that the U.S. "stands
condemned" and that "this country has a great, great
tribulation coming to it."
He's
not home," his wife said. "He's with the president."
The
agents thought she was joking, Yusuf said. But she wasn't. That
day Yusuf was at the White House, the only Muslim in a group
of religious leaders invited to pray with President Bush, sing
"God Bless America," and endorse the president's plans
for military action.
...
Before
the Sept. 11 attacks, Yusuf's speeches would occasionally stray
into anti-American rhetoric, hitting apocalyptic themes. At
least one other Muslim leader invited to the White House since
the attacks also has made provocative remarks about America.
But
now Yusuf has joined other American Muslim leaders as they have
closed ranks behind the message that Islam is a peaceful religion
and that extremists are outside its fold.
No
one suggests that Yusuf had anything directly to do with the
attacks, and he has not endorsed violence against American targets.
But some Islamic experts said Yusuf is one example of a Muslim
leader who speaks of peace to the American public though he
has used incendiary language in private.
...
Muslims
"are so sensitive about the perception of Islam,"
Asani said. "Even when there are disagreements within the
Muslim community about extremism, they will project to the outside
that we are all monolithic and peaceful."
Asani,
who has watched the spread of rhetoric such as Yusuf's with
dismay, added that it was time for a reckoning. After Sept.
11, the more extreme leaders went "on alert," said
Asani. "They realize that they are part of the problem,
that the Sept. 11 incident can be the result of this kind of
thinking they have been propagating for so many years."
...
His
Sept. 9 speech was not the first time Yusuf drew criticism.
In 1995 he said, "the Jews would have us believe that God
had this bias to this little small tribe in the middle of the
Sinai desert, and all the rest of humanity is just rubbish.
I mean, that is the basic doctrine of the Jewish religion and
that's why it is a most racist religion."
...
Yusuf
said yesterday that the attacks had taught him a lesson.
"One
of the things I have learned is that we in the Muslim community
have allowed a discourse of rage," he said. "This
has been a wake-up call for me as well, in that I feel in some
ways there is a complicity, that we have allowed a discourse
centered in anger."
Another
popular Muslim cleric invited to the White House after the attacks
also has made controversial remarks. Muzammil Siddiqi, who also
spoke at a service at the Washington National Cathedral after
the attacks, harshly criticized U.S. support for Israel at a
rally outside the White House last October, at which marchers
chanted in praise of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist
group.
"America
has to learn," Siddiqi said at the rally. "If you
remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come.
Please, all Americans. Do you remember that? Allah is watching
everyone. God is watching everyone. If you continue doing injustice,
and tolerate injustice, the wrath of God will come."
Siddiqi
could not be reached for comment.
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Source:
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Fabric
of Space-Time and Hidden Dimensions to be Explored
In
2005, near Geneva, at CERN, a 27 kilometer long circular tunnel
known as a large hadron collider will be opened.
It
will be capable of producing mini-black holes, allowing scientists
to study the very nature of space-time itself.
Some
of the secrets of existence may be revealed, such as how matter
acquires mass and how gravity arises from quantum mechanics.
Source:
New
Cancer-Killer to be Tested
In
mice, a molecule called icon not only attacks cancer but causes
production of other cells that join in attacking cancer, per
tests on mice.
In
those tests, mice with human forms of prostrate cancer and melanoma
had their cancers eliminated by icon destroying the blood vessels
that fed the cancer.
Tests
may begin on humans next spring, if approved by the FDA. While
results in humans may differ from that in mice, it is hoped
that this type of treatment will be demonstrated to work not
only on prostrate cancer and melanoma, but on any solid cancer
in the body.
The
way the icon molecule works:
- Cells
on blood vessels lining tumors have a receptor, TF, not present
on non-tumor cells
- A
molecule called fvII bonds strongly to TF; that molecule is
naturally present in the blood
- Scientists
attached a human antibody called Fc to the fvII molecule,
placing that new molecule into a virus injected into the body
as icon; Fc causes breakdown of cells it attaches to, resulting
in the body's immune system attacking and destroying those
cells
- In
mice with human melanoma or prostate cancer that received
the icon molecule, both the injected tumor and others that
were not directly injected disappeared
Source:
- World
Scientist / AP [link inactive]
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