Nuclear Radioactive Threat From Fukushima Spent Fuel Rods

REPORT FROM GLOBAL RESEARCH 10 APRIL 2012

Japan’s former Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr. Mitsuhei Murata, was invited to speak at the Public Hearing of the Budgetary Committee of the House of Councilors on March 22, 2012, on the Fukushima nuclear power plants accident. Before the Committee, Ambassador Murata strongly stated that if the crippled building of reactor unit 4—with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground—collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4.

In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced. He stressed that the responsibility of Japan to the rest of the world is immeasurable. Such a catastrophe would affect us all for centuries. Ambassador Murata informed us that the total numbers of the spent fuel rods at the Fukushima Daiichi site excluding the rods in the pressure vessel is 11,421 (396+615+566+1,535+994+940+6375).

I asked top spent-fuel pools expert Mr. Robert Alvarez, former Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Security and the Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy, for an explanation of the potential impact of the 11,421 rods.

I received an astounding response from Mr. Alvarez [updated 4/5/12]:

In recent times, more information about the spent fuel situation at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site has become known. It is my understanding that of the 1,532 spent fuel assemblies in reactor No. 304 assemblies are fresh and unirradiated. This then leaves 1,231 irradiated spent fuel rods in pool No. 4, which contain roughly 37 million curies (~1.4E+18 Becquerel) of long-lived radioactivity. The No. 4 pool is about 100 feet above ground, is structurally damaged and is exposed to the open elements. If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire involving nearly 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released by the Chernobyl accident.

The infrastructure to safely remove this material was destroyed as it was at the other three reactors. Spent reactor fuel cannot be simply lifted into the air by a crane as if it were routine cargo. In order to prevent severe radiation exposures, fires and possible explosions, it must be transferred at all times in water and heavily shielded structures into dry casks.. As this has never been done before, the removal of the spent fuel from the pools at the damaged Fukushima-Dai-Ichi reactors will require a major and time-consuming re-construction effort and will be charting in unknown waters. Despite the enormous destruction cased at the Da–Ichi site, dry casks holding a smaller amount of spent fuel appear to be unscathed.

Based on U.S. Energy Department data, assuming a total of 11,138 spent fuel assemblies are being stored at the Dai-Ichi site, nearly all, which is in pools. They contain roughly 336 million curies (~1.2 E+19 Bq) of long-lived radioactivity. About 134 million curies is Cesium-137 — roughly 85 times the amount of Cs-137 released at the Chernobyl accident as estimated by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP). The total spent reactor fuel inventory at the Fukushima-Daichi site contains nearly half of the total amount of Cs-137 estimated by the NCRP to have been released by all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, Chernobyl, and world-wide reprocessing plants (~270 million curies or ~9.9 E+18 Becquerel).

It is important for the public to understand that reactors that have been operating for decades, such as those at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site have generated some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet.

Many of our readers might find it difficult to appreciate the actual meaning of the figure, yet we can grasp what 85 times more Cesium-137 than the Chernobyl would mean. It would destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants. This is an issue of human survival.

There was a Nuclear Security Summit Conference in Seoul on March 26 and 27, and Ambassador Murata and I made a concerted effort to find someone to inform the participants from 54 nations of the potential global catastrophe of reactor unit 4. We asked several participants to share the idea of an Independent Assessment team comprised of a broad group of international experts to deal with this urgent issue.

I would like to introduce Ambassador Murata’s letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to convey this urgent message and also his letter to Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda for Japanese readers. He emphasized in the statement that we should bring human wisdom to tackle this unprecedented challenge.

Ambassador Murata’s letter says:

It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on NO.4 reactor. This is confirmed by most reliable experts like Dr. Arnie Gundersen or Dr. Fumiaki Koide.

Anti-nuclear physician Dr. Helen Caldicott says that if fuel pool 4 collapses, she will evacuate her family from Boston and move them to the Southern Hemisphere. This is an especially dramatic statement given that the West Coast is much more directly in the path of Fukushima radiation than the East Coast.

Will humanity rise to the occasion, and figure out how to stabilize fuel pool number 4 before catastrophe strikes?

Or will modern civilization win a Darwin award for failing to pay attention to the real threats?

ASK QUESTION:

WHO WILL SAVE OR RESCUE US/HUMANITY IF JAPAN CLOSE THIS TRUE UNFOLDING EVENTS ? LA HAULA WA LA QUWWATA ILLA BILLAHI ALIYYIL AZIM....FROM ALLAH, WE CAME AND UNTO HIM ARE OUR RETURNING.

Silver, China and Dirham

Let See and Think :

1. China silver output in 2010 = 104.6 million oz.

2. Equal to 1,093.6 million dirham coins (2.975 gm).

3. Based on price of RM25/dirham, it valued at RM26.84 billion.

4. Roughly China 1.3 billion population, each citizen can buy/own 1 Dirham.

5. Using same ratio of 28 million Malaysian, we all can buy/own 28 million silver Dirham valued at RM700 million ! (RM25 x 28 m ).

"China's silver market is roughly three times the size it was in 2000," CPM noted in its recently published Silver Yearbook 2011. "China is the third largest producer of mined silver in the world. China also is a major consumer of silver, absorbing large and rapidly growing volumes of silver in its electronic manufacturing sector." - MINEWEB Report 11 Mac 2011.

"Chinese silver mining witnesses significant growth and development in recent years, fueled by technological strides in exploration and an increase in production in response to steady growth in domestic and international demand," CPM said.

For instance, CPM found domestic demand for silver has outpaced supply growth. "China was a net exporter of silver until 2006, but became a net importer in 2007."

"Chinese investment demand for silver coins and medals began to rise at a double digit pace in 2008, a trend likely to continue as consumers seek to preserve their wealth amid rising inflation in the economy," CPM forecast.

The Chinese mine supply of silver totaled 102.7 million ounces in 2010, according to CPM. More than two-thirds of that output is from silver contained in copper, lead, zinc and gold concentrates. "Consequently, China's refined silver production has been growing in tandem with base metals output."

CPM predicts silver mine production could increase to 104.6 million ounces this year. "China's silver mine supply is expected to increase over the next few years, driven mainly by production expansions at silver-producing base metals mines."

Jiangxi Copper, one of the largest copper producers in China, was also among the biggest refined silver producers with 14.8 million ounces of refined silver in 2010. The country's total refined silver output in 2010 was estimated at 194.4 million ounces.

CPM forecast that Jiangxi could produce 15.6 million ounces of silver in 2011. The precious metals consultants estimated Jiangxi has about 341.8 million ounces of silver in proven reserves.

Postscript 2 :

Goldforecaster report 1 April 2011.

HSBC, the world's largest bullion dealer [in both gold and silver] is confirming that silver's role as a monetary metal is gathering the most momentum, particularly in emerging economies. They say that the macro economic trends from emerging markets are positive for both gold and silver. They put the growing Chinese middle classes [now well over 400 million people of the 1.3 billion Chinese citizens] as fueling an "explosive" growth in demand for silver as a hedge against fast rising inflation.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank by market value, agrees this. I.C.B.C. sold 13 tonnes [418,000 ounces] of physical silver to Chinese citizens in January, alone, compared with 32.97 tonnes [1.06 million ounces] for the whole of 2010.

We have seen China turn from an exporter of silver to a huge importer in the last three years. And that's just the start! China was a net importer of over 3,110.42 tonnes [100 million ounces] of silver last year, whereas while it was selling 'official' holdings of silver only a few years ago it was exporting an equal amount annually.

Gold Exchange Paper Trade Fund in Singapore

Welcome to SPDR Gold Shares (Launched in 2006)

1. SPDR Gold Shares offer investors an innovative, relatively cost efficient and secure way to access the gold market. SPDR Gold Shares are intended to offer investors a means of participating in the gold bullion market without the necessity of taking physical delivery of gold, and to buy and sell that interest through the trading of a security on a regulated stock exchange. The introduction of SPDR Gold Shares was intended to lower many of the barriers, such as access, custody, and transaction costs, that have prevented some investors from investing in gold.

2. SPDR Gold Shares represent fractional, u ndivided beneficial ownership interests in the Trust, the sole assets of which are gold bullion, and, from time to time, cash. SPDR Gold Shares are intended to lower a large number of the barriers preventing investors from using gold as an asset allocation and trading tool. These barriers have included the logistics of buying, storing and insuring gold. In addition, certain pension funds and mutual funds do not or cannot hold physical commodities, such as gold, or the derivatives.

Master Izi Commentary:

a. Beware if they offer you to buy paper gold. You may lose your 'money' anytime.

b. It means they can sell unlimited 'quantity' of paper gold or 'shares based on moving gold price'.

c. Are you an investor or buyer ? You may lose both ways if not careful !

d. It seems that they are replicating the old way of cheating your 'real gold' by promising to pay 'interest/guranteed profit' if your keep your gold with them/bankers. More sophiscated names will be better to confuse you.

e. If you read the current free media - there are 100 times traded gold fund/paper in the world than the real gold trade( physical delivery/stocks today). So 99% gold paper fund are just like shares stocks, have no relationship to true gold buying and selling to take possession.

f. In islamic ruling...all these are riba based financial trading and dubious instruments to increase paper wealth, manipulation, power and control over real gold and silver production/trading.

g. JP Morgan and HSBC control about 80% of world silver traded fund ! Then you know why and how they cheated you by opening up more funds in friendly states under their domination.

h. Alf Field (op.cit.) is talking about the „seven D’s” of the developing monetary disaster: Deficits, Dollars, Devaluations, Debts, Demographics, Derivatives, and Devolution. Let me add that the root of all evil is the double D, or DD: Delibetare Debasement. In 1933 the government of the United States embraced that toxic theory of John Maynard Keynes (who borrowed it from Silvio Gesell). It was put into effect piecemeal over a period of four decades. But what the Constitution and the entire judiciary system of the United States could not prevent, gold did. It was found that gold in the international monetary system was a stubborn stumbling block to the centralization and globalization of credit.

Zakat Wang Kertas Tak Sah

Zakat Sebenarnya Hanya Diterima Dengan Dinar Emas dan Dirham Perak, Bukannya Wang Kertas!

Pelancaran Matawang Syariah Dinar dan Dirham di Kota Bahru, Kelantan pada 2 Ramadhan 1431H (12 Ogos 2010) lalu menandakan berakhirnya darurat untuk orang Islam untuk pengambilan dan pembayaran zakat di samping titik permulaan untuk kembalikan semula Muamalat sebagai asas asas deen ul-Islam.

Dinar ialah syiling emas 22 karat (917/916) seberat 4.25 gram manakala Dirham ialah syiling perak tulen (999) seberat 2.975 gram. Timbangan ini dikenali sebagai Piawaian Umar Al-Khattab, Khalifah Islam kedua dan disetujui jumhur ulama serta digunakan sejak permulaan Islam lagi.

Kedudukan dwilogam ini sebagai matawang Syariah dijelaskan Ibn Khaldun dalam kitabnya, al Muqaddimah: "Asas nas dan dalil menyebut dan kaitkan banyak penghakiman kepada kedua-duanya, contohnya zakat, nikah kahwin, hudud dan lain-lain, oleh itu dalam nas dan dalil ia ada kepentingan tersendiri dengan ukuran tertentu untuk penilaian (zakat dan lain-lain) di mana hukum diasaskan berbanding (syiling-syiling lain) yang bukan syarie.

Maka sangat jelas, pengambilan dan pembayaran zakat hendaklah menggunakan matawang syariah iaitu dinar dan dirham terutama berkaitan zakat harta. Zakat harta merujuk kepada emas dan perak dalam semua bentuk dan barang dagangan. Jumlah nisab dan zakat harta ialah 20 dinar emas (85 gram) dan 200 dirham perak (595 gram). Bagi setiap 20 dinar, zakat ialah 1/2 dinar dan bagi setiap 200 dirham, zakat iaah 5 dirham. Ukuran di sini ialah beratnya.

Dua jenis zakat harta iaitu simpanan dan perniagaan Keuntungan pelaburan juga dikenakan zakat. Pada masa ini, wang kertas digunakan untuk membayar zakat kerana ianya sah diperlakukan melalui paksaan undang-undang sehinggakan pihak berkuasa pun akur kepada undang-undang itu walaupun mereka sebenarnya tidak terikat kepadanya. Menurut Imam Malik ibn Anas, wang dalam Islam ialah apa saja barangan diterima umum sebagai bahan perantaraan mereka dan tidak ada barangan boleh dipaksakan sebagai wang. Jelaslah wang kertas tidak memenuhi syarat sebagai wang. Ia bukan barangan diterima umum, tetapi undang-undang memaksa kita guna, malah dicipta atas angin, tiada sandaran dan bukan surat hutang. Ia hutang yang ada padanya Riba!

Menurut buku Shaykh Abdalhaq Bewley - Zakat Raising The Fallen Pillar...walaupun begitu, wang kertas masih tidak boleh digunakan untuk bayar zakat kecuali guna syiling emas dan perak yang dituntut syariah kerana tidak ada bukti barangan lain diterima untuk bayaran zakat dan tidak susah mendapatkan emas dan perak untuk penuhi kewajipan itu.

Telah berkata Imam Shafie di dalam kitabnya Ar Risalah: "Tiada harus diqias dengan emas dan perak atas yang lain daripada keduanya pada wajib zakat"

Menurut Imam Abu Bakr al-Kasani dalam kitabnya Bada'i al-Sana'i, zakat mesti dibayar dengan barangan 'ayn dan tidak boleh dibayar dengan dayn iaitu hutang, tanggungan atau mahupun nota janji. Satu bentuk zakat lagi ialah Zakat Fitrah. Amalan zaman Rasulullah S.A.W, zakat fitrah dibayar guna bahan makanan asasi seperti gandum, barli, beras, dan lain-lain. Ukuran di sini ialah timbangan dan bukan harga. Bagaimanapun menurut Imam Abu Hanifah, harus dikeluarkan zakat fitrah dengan wang seharga atau senilai dengan makanan wajib dikeluarkan zakat. Menurutnya zakat fitrah adalah hak fakir miskin.Untuk memenuhi hajat mereka boleh dengan makanan dan boleh juga dengan wang. Bagaimanapun, wang yang disebut oleh Imam Abu Hanifah itu bukanlah wang kertas, tetapi dinar emas dan dirham perak yang digunakan semasa pemerintahan Khalifah Uthmaniyah (di mana mazhab Hanafi menjadi pegangan) sehinnga ia jatuh pada 1924.

Kita berada dalam keadaan darurat kerana kerajaan-kerajaan dipimpin oleh orang Islam sendiri mengeluarkan wang kertas yang dimaktubkan dalam undang-undang negara yang diperkenalkan oleh bekas penjajah masing-masing. Dalam Islam, darurat ialah satu keadaan membolehkan sesuatu hukum itu dilonggarkan untuk sementara. Apa yang biasanya diharamkan menjadi harus, tetapi kita tidak boleh untuk berada dalam keadaan darurat untuk selama-lamanya.

Apa yang perlu dibuat ialah usaha keluar dari keadaan itu. Surah At-Talaq ayat 3, Allah berfirman maksudnya; "Dan (Allah) akan memberinya rezeki dengan tiada terkira. Barang siapa menyerahkan diri kepada Allah, maka Allah akan mencukupkan (memeliharanya). Sungguh Allah menyampaikan (melangsungkan) urusan Nya. Sungguh Allah mengadakan satu kadar (aturan yang tertentu) bagi tiap-tiap sesuatu"

Berasaskan kefahaman kita mengenai sifat sebenar wang kertas dan ada pula matawang syariah, maka tempoh darurat sudah berakhir. Orang Islam yang ingin membayar zakat dengan sempurna hendaklah melakukannya dengan dinar dan dirham. Kini, menjadi tuntutan ke atas semua Mufti 13 negeri dan 3 Wilayah Persekutuan Malaysia untuk mengkaji dan mengambil langkah perlu bagi memastikan bukan sahaja pengambilan zakat malah pengagihannya dibuat dalam mata wang syariah.

Rakyat Kelantan telah melakar sejarah dunia dan ia satu teladan semestinya dicontohi. Mengembalikan pengambilan dan pembayaran zakat dengan cara tepat akan membolehkan kita mendirikan semula tiang zakat yang telah runtuh.

Artikel asal oleh
Khalid Noorshah

Dimuatkan di dalam Akhbar Sinar Harian edisi Utara
29 Oktober 2010

Making Endless Money and Still Fear or Panic

Perhaps it hasn’t mattered for a long time now. The futurist John Casti, a maths genius, shows in his new book “Mood Matters: From Rising Skirt Lengths to the Collapse of World Powers” how the moods of a society govern its history. Casti’s argument is a radical one: it’s not events in the real world that shape the future, but solely collective expectations. As Epictetus said over two thousand years ago, “What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgments about the things.”

Not just wicked speculators are betting against the euro. A fear-and-anxiety industry among the media, which depend above all on escalating headlines, has been with us a long time.

Fearconomy

The Euro Apocalypse, the Twilight of Money, the End of Prosperity. Angry professors come on talk shows to grandstand with their I’ve-known-it-all-along gestures. In every debate the organ notes piping out doom and gloom have to be cranked an octave higher.

Has this “Fearconomy” not already been the true economy a long time, a much stronger economy than one that relies on change, improvement and renewal? Is “Terror, alarm, horror, end, downfall, crisis, bankruptcy, danger, abyss, anxiety, core meltdown” not the hottest business model of all time, because human beings, at their deepest level, are simply creatures of panic?

“Our most profound conviction,” says Dr. Hoffman in the novel by Robert Harris, “is that digitisation itself, universal connectivity, will provoke a global panic wave. And that’s how we’ll make money – a hell of a lot of money!”

The State = Bank + Government

Umar Vadillo-

We are simply pointing out that we cannot give validity to a word simply because we are comfortable with it. The value of a word, is that it helps you to discern, to discriminate, to identify. In our case, a good definition of State should give us understanding of this institution and by extension of our society. It should help us to act. And because we are Muslims this implies understanding from an Islamic perspective, and acting means acting fisabilillah.

It is in this light that I value the necessity to create a new definition of the State. Whether we like it or not, our cultural and historical values are embedded in language. When we challenge language -this is what a poet does- we are challenging the cultural and historical values of our society. For us this should be done in order to establish our own Islamic understanding of life. This is important. Our language should reflect who we are.

Words are windows that open “worlds” before us. Which words we use and how we use them determines the way we see the world. I forged this definition of the State out of necessity. I was not happy with the present definitions. They were too vague to create identity or too partisan to recognise a problem. They all seemed to ignore what I call “the event”. This event is the marriage between banking and government that took place somewhere in the past. This event was not nothing. It was a huge evolutionary step in our history and the consequences have been even bigger as they reached our days.

As a result of this event the way people interacted with government changed, including how revenues were collected, the creation of debt, the way of accumulation of capital, the meaning of money and investment, and many other collateral issues involving the basis of trading and finance between countries. In short, almost every way in which we relate to each other changed for ever. The world changed for ever after this event. Yet, I realised, no one had named this new institution. This institution was more than government, it was more than banking. But it had no adequate name. This is a danger, because if you cannot name it, you cannot think it.

The Event

The event that I am referring to took place in England in the year 1694 with the birth of the Bank of England as the national Bank. The Bank of England was not the first national bank. Two other national banks were created before the Bank of England. The first national bank was the Banco de Spiritus Sanctus or the Bank of the Holy Spirit (amazing name!) which became the first national Bank in 1605 of, which State? None other than the Vatican. The Bank, founded by Pope Paul V, has ceased to perform financial miracles for the Popes -now it is in the hands of the Italian State- but the Vatican possesses its own official bank, piously called the Institute for Religious Works.

The second was the Bank of Sweden (Sveriges Riksbank) founded in 1668. The reason why we have chosen the Bank of England as the birth of the State is because only England with the beheading of their King and the creation of the Parliament had the right social chemistry to trigger the unprecedented unfolding of this institution, the State. Only in England, and for the first time, the debt of the Sovereign had the conditions to become what became known as the National Debt. A concept whereby the debt incurred by the Sovereign, no longer belongs to him, but to the entire nation.

From Gold To Bank Notes and Paper Currency: New Turkey ?

Ottoman Public Debt

By the mid-19th century the financial situation of the Ottoman Empire was precarious. The Empire had remained far behind from European technological progress and it was also not able to maintain the military strength it needed. Although the world was going through the early wave of globalization, which was giving a boost to world trade and capital flows, the Ottoman Empire was not able catch up with its pace. Economic and financial reforms were urgently needed. The reform movements in the Ottoman Empire actually go back to the 18th century, however it was with the declaration of the Tanzimat Decree, which made way for a constitutional state in the Empire for the first time, when the reform movement entered a new phase in the sense that liberalism that rose and developed in Europe had begun to take steps in the Ottoman Empire. The Tanzimat period was to be one where European influence had a great influence not only on administrative and military, but also on economic transformations, although the latter lagged behind the general momentum of change.

Money was needed to finance the reforms. It was a time when the value of Ottoman currency was plummeting. When Sultan Mahmut II had ascended to the throne in 1808, one Pound Sterling was trading at 19 Piasters. When he died in 1839, the rate was 106 Piasters to one Pound Sterling. It was also a time when foreign borrowing was unimaginable in the eyes of those governing the Empire, because it was deemed synonymous with surrendering sovereignty. Hence, the only way left to create new resources was to imitate a European practice and print paper-money. Printing Paper Money The introduction of the first ever paper-money (in Turkish: kaime) took place in 1840. It had an interest of 12.5 percent, hence it was more a bond rather than banknote. It was to remain in circulation for 8 years, but the population found it hard to get used to this novelty. Soon its trading value fell 30-40 percent below its nominal value. Zafer Toprak explains the reason for the lack of confidence as follows: “In the West, banknotes were issued by strong banks authorized by the government. The banknotes in circulation were guaranteed by these banks. Furthermore, thanks to other tools of similar to money, there was an established confidence in paper. However, for the Ottomans money meant the gold and silver it contained rather than the imperial insignia on it. In an environment where even individual rights and freedoms were not secured and safety of life and property was questioned, it was extremely difficult to feel safe with paper money.”

One of the earlier Ottoman banknotes, which has a denomination of 100 Lira

The paper-money was followed by the adoption of a bi-metallic standard in 1844 and the establishment of Banque de Constantinople, a foreign currency regulating agency in 1845. Ethem Eldem states that these early measures had proved inefficient: “…mainly due to the fact that most of these innovations had remained at the level of —often contradicting— half-measures: the uncontrolled issue of paper-money had led to a disastrous depreciation of the kaimes while at the same time adding to the monetary chaos of the period; the 1844 monetary reform had been unable to eradicate the circulation of altered currency; and the Banque de Constantinople had been forced into bankruptcy by the government’s demand for cash advances which the insufficient capital basis and local resources of the bank had been unable to meet.” The Crimean War of 1854-56 was a turning point in the history of the Empire, in the sense that for the first time ever Ottomans sided with two great European powers, Britain and France, fighting against Imperial Russia. The war ended with the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty in 1856, only one month after the Islahat Decree was issued by Sultan Abdülmecit. This decree introduced a number of reforms, including financial ones based on European support.

Foreign Borrowing The Crimean War also marked the beginning of a period when the Ottoman Empire began to resort to foreign borrowing to finance its rapidly growing deficits. Additionally to attempting to finance the through repeatedly issuing new series of paper-money, the Sublime Porte took its first foreign loan in 1854. The £3 million loan, which was issued at a rate of 80 percent and an interest rate of 6 percent, was supported but not guaranteed by the British. It was the beginning of a series of loans obtained on European markets. The second one came in 1855, a £5 million loan issued at 102.6 percent with an interest rate of 4 percent and this time interests guaranteed by British and French governments. These were war time loans, Allies were supporting each other and therefore the conditions were favourable. Ethem Eldem comments: “Money was coming in at a much lower cost than when lent by local bankers; the temptation was strong to base the future of the Empire on the attractive prospect of a series of loans. Moreover, to a government that had decided to tie its destiny to a gradual process of integration with the West, it could easily be claimed that financial operations of this sort were bound to act as the cement of a future collaboration.” The British and French governments were concerned about the stability of the loans they had given. In these early stages, there were not many concerns about the Empire’s ability to pack and in order to prevent any risk; the lenders selected the prime revenues of the Ottoman state as backing for the loans. In 1855, a commission was set up to control the expenditures and to verify the Treasury accounts. What pushed the Ottoman government down the debt spiral in this stage was that the money was not being efficiently, it was spent for irresponsible and useless projects such as building new palaces along the Bosphorus. A third loan of £5 million was contracted in 1858 at a rate of 76 percent with an interest of 6 percent, but it was this time neither guaranteed nor supported by Western governments. It was supposed to be used for the redemption of paper money, but the government failed to realise this vital importance. Additionally, several foreign schemes to establish a firm control over Ottoman finances collapsed, which kept the European investors away from the Ottoman market. The Empire was in dire need for funds, but it was rapidly losing its creditworthiness. Soon the bubble burst and the state found itself in an intense financial crisis. Sultan Abdülmecit died in 1861 and was succeeded by Sultan Abdülaziz. His Grand Vizier Fuat Paşa presented a formal budget in 1862 and also thanks to an encouraging report on the financial situation of the Empire drafted by the British commission, there has been an upturn in the financial situation. A new loan of £8 million, issued at 68 percent with an interest of 6 percent was organized successfully. It was intended for the once and for all redemption of the paper-money in circulation and managed to bring back confidence to the market. Behind this operation, there were two organizations, Deveaux and Co. from London and the Ottoman Bank. The latter was a small London based commercial bank, established in 1856, which had in time gained credibility in the Ottoman market. The Sublime Porte had decided in favour of this bank for organizing the 1862 loan, with the provision that French capital was to be included to its existing British capital. As Ethem Eldem wrote, Fuat Paşa’s plan was simple and sensible: “The prospect of having a foreign state bank was worrying enough, but practically unavoidable; however, dividing its capital between the French and the British was likely to minimize the risk of being completely ruled by the British alone.”

Imperial Ottoman Bank The Ottoman Bank thus became a state bank and transformed into the Banque Impériale Ottomane (TR: Banka-i Şahane-i Osmani) in 1863. It had the privilege to issue banknotes, however it had no control over the financial decision making of the Empire. Foreign investors were disappointed by the fact that this bank was far from being able to constitute a mechanism of control over state finances; however its presence alone was still enough to create an atmosphere of security. The Banque Impériale Ottomane organized two loans in 1863 and 1865, of £8 million and £6 million and at 71 and 66 percent respectively, both at an interest rate of 6 percent. Meanwhile, the paper-money in use was withdrawn from circulation. The Ottoman government was now in a vicious cycle of debt. The new loans were being used for the payment of outstanding foreign and domestic debts. In addition to the foreign loans, the state was heavily involved in short-term borrowing from local bankers. There was also no incentive to bring this unhealthy situation to an end. Foreign investors, who were assured by the presence of the Banque Impériale Ottomane, had no intention to give up this lucrative business.

Announcement of the Imperial Ottoman Bank Source: Ottoman Bank Archives

Over the five years between 1865 and 1870, foreign borrowing continued and the government contracted a debt of £86 million, which corresponds to 2.3 times the sums borrowed over the previous eleven years. However, due to low rates of issue, only half of this nominal value had been cashed in by the Treasury and most of it was used to redeem previous debts. Between 1871 and 1874, five new loans were signed with a total value of £98.5 million. By then, 55 percent of the Empire’s budget was being absorbed by foreign debt. In May 1874, the Sublime Porte signed an agreement with the Banque Impériale Ottomane which extended this institution’s power in monitoring the revenues and expenditures. The government had agreed on harsher conditions in an attempt to restore western confidence in Ottoman bonds. A few months later the bank secured a £40 million loan at a very low rate of 40 percent. Ottoman Finances Going Bankrupt The agreement was, however, a futile attempt, since the Ottoman finances had already reached a point of insolvency. On 6 October 1875, the new Grand Vizier Mahmut Nedim Paşa issued a decree declaring that the payments on coupons would be reduced by half. By March 1876, payments ceased altogether and to make things works the troubles in Balkans resulted in the deposition of Sultan Abdülaziz and declaration of war by Serbia. The Empire was bankrupt and the investors in Europe were in panic. The political situation was worsening rapidly. Abdülaziz’s successor Sultan Murad V was mentally unstable and had to be removed soon after his accession to the throne. He was replaced by Sultan Abdülhamit II. The Empire was at war with Serbia and there was a grave threat of Russian aggression. The threat became a full scaled war in April 1877. The Turco-Russian war ended in January 1878 with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. The Congress of Berlin reduced the status of the Empire to a minor power in European politics.

Ottoman finances were already bankrupt and the war with Russia had put an additional pressure. Since organizing further foreign loans were impossible, the government resorted once again to printing paper-money. Three issues of paper-money within two years, totalling 1.8 billion piastres, caused a depreciation of paper-money by nearly 65 percent. By 1880, the paper-money had dropped to 10-15 percent of its original value. The Sublime Porte was facing an urgent need to solve the problem of outstanding debts. With an agreement reached in November 1879 between the state and the local creditors, the problem of outstanding internal debts was solved to an extent by surrendering some indirect revenues to local creditors. Following the success of this arrangement, similar negotiations were started with foreign lenders as well. The negotiations led to the signing of the Muharrem Decree on 20 December 1881, which foresaw the establishment of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration (in Turkish: Düyun-u Umumiye), an organization of European bondholders (and through these bondholders, indirectly with the major powers of Europe except Russia) that was given the right to develop and collect taxes from some of the leading revenues sources of the Empire and direct them towards debt payments. The Muharrem Decree ceded irrevocably to the Ottoman Public Debt Administration, until the debt was liquidated, all the revenues from the stamp, spirits, fishing taxes, silk tithe, salt and tobacco monopolies as well as the Bulgaria tribute, surplus of Cyprus revenues and the revenues originating from Eastern Rumelia.

Although it was a great detriment to the sovereignty of the Empire, which had surrendered its rights over revenues and accepted unconditional control to foreigners, the establishment of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration proved to be successful in the sense that it restored the Ottoman creditworthiness. From 1886 to 1914, the government could secure another 23 loans, totalling £150 million at an average rate of issue of over 85 percent. Furthermore, as Krasner wrote, “the council could –with the consent of the government- initiate measures that would improve more general economic conditions since a more prosperous Turkey would mean higher revenue collections.” It promoted the export of salt, introduced new technologies for the silk and wine industries and facilitated the development of railways in the Empire. Foreign capital started to enter the Ottoman market at an increasing rate and gained control of the most of the most crucial sectors of the economy. According to Eldem: “From the 1890’s on, Ottoman integration with Europe had started to take a substantially different course, much akin to imperialism.” Despite the fact thatfore the Ottoman state managed to generate a budget surplus and to orderly pay its outstanding debt in the last two decades of the 19th century, rising military expenditures, especially after 1908, began to create serious problems again. Deficits appeared again and they had to be financed through further borrowing. By 1914, the outstanding debt of the government had reached £140 million, equivalent to nearly 60 percent of the Ottoman gross domestic product.

Ottoman Banking, Public Debt and Surrender To West

Part 1

Between 1854 and 1881, the Ottoman Empire went through one of the most critical phases of the history of its relations with European powers. Beginning with the first foreign loan contracted in 1854, this process was initially dominated by a modest level of indebtedness, coupled with sporadic and inconsequential attempts by western powers to impose some control over the viability of the operation.

From 1863 on, a second and much more intense phase began, which eventually led to a snowballing effect of accumulated debts. The formal bankruptcy of the Empire in 1875 resulted in the collapse of the entire system in one of the most spectacular financial crashes of the period.

It was only six years later, in 1881, that a solution was found in the establishment of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration that would control a large portion of state revenues. The new system restored the financial stability of the Empire, but profoundly modified its rapports de force with Europe by imposing on it a form of foreign control that would have been unthinkable only ten or twenty years earlier.

While bringing a much-needed stability to the flailing Ottoman financial situation and thus opening the way to economic development, the new system also radically changed the very nature of the process of integration, by introducing an imperialist dimension that had been lacking in the previous decades.

(Notes: Kemal Ataturk in taking over power in 1909 allowed 4 western banks to operate an monopoly of paper money system in modern secularised Turkey...)

Part 2: .........................................................................

The collapse of most empires does not happen for military reasons it seems. It happens for financial and economic reasons. It happened to the Soviet Union and it happened to the Ottoman Empire.

In The Arabs: A History by Eugene Rogan we find this happening to the Ottomans in an excerpt below:

The single greatest threat to the independence of the Middle East was not the armies of Europe but its banks. Ottoman reformers were terrified by the risks involved in accepting loans from Europe. In 1852, when Sultan Abdulmecid sought funds from France, one of his advisors to him aside and counseled strongly against the loan: “Your father [Mahmud II] had two wars with the Russians and lived through many campaigns. He had many pressures on him, yet he did not borrow money from abroad. Your sultanate has passed in peace. What will the people say if money is borrowed?” The advisor continued: “If this state borrows five piasters it will sink. For if once a loan is taken, there will be no end to it. [The state] will sink overwhelmed in debt.” Abdulmecid was convinced and canceled the loan, though he would return to European creditors within two years.

What ensued was the Ottoman default and Europe coming in to take control of the economy. The Ottoman state continued to grow weaker economically and militarily until the end of World War I. Then the partitioning of the empire began.

Now today in the United States we have a national debt and Republicans have been focused obsessively with it ever since President Obama took office (not before though). Yet they fail to see what allowing banks to do as far as lending and debt has brought us. The national debt is a concern and it needs to be addressed, but also look at the banks and let the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau operate and do what must be done to regulate.

Economic Man and Kufr Is A System

Kufr; is a system that weakens people. The economical system is a disaster for the people, internally and externally. Our job is not to fight the economical system but to get out of it before its disaster falls on top of us. By getting out of it you are also actively helping in its collapse. In order to do this we have to look at things in a different way: think differently and behave differently. In this, the Muslim is the opposite of the economic man. The economic man - the man who lives within the patterns given by the economical system - is trained to think as the absolute observer (subject) who looks out at the world (object).

This is the foundation of traditional western philosophy in which modern sciences and economics are based. Within this basis, the economical man thinks that usury is an economical problem with some economical answers. He may question, how can I fight the problem of usury? In this way of questioning it is assumed that usury is something over there, while the person questioning is in plastic bubble isolated from it, but this is not how things are. The questioner is actively participating in usury, what he may consider a problem, and yet, he is part of the problem. He is the problem. Without this recognition you will be fighting your own illusion.

This recognition has an explanation in the knowledge of Ihsan by which we can understand that we are not the observers of the world, we are not the measurers of the world but we are being observed. Allah is observing us. He is the Measurer, not us. Only on this basis can we understand our responsibility, rather than escape from it. Only thus we can become masters of our condition, rather than slaves of our condition.

We understand that nothing stops us from getting rid of usurious practice except ourselves. Then the question "How to fight usury?" should be replaced by "How should we change our behaviour so that we do not need usury anymore?" If we think in this way we are in a better position to suggest proper answers. Nowadays our own behaviour demands the existence of the banks and their monetary system.

Therefore if we get rid of the usurious banks but continue to behave in the same way, we will end up again creating a bank. Nothing will change if we call it an "islamic bank". We have to change our behaviour. To do that we have to think differently. And to think differently we have to deny that the main characteristic of man is an economic characteristic. We are not economic units.

We deny what Islam denies. We deny the usurious practices of the modern economy and we deny the way of thinking they call Economics. We deny the banking system and its system of paper money. We deny the administrative nature of the state.

We declare the end of economics based on two affirmations: commerce without usury, and government without state.

We are calling for a free man who is free to behave within our Law. We will create a differently shaped society. The society where the qirad was normal was a different society without banks or necessity of banks. It was a society with agents, not banks but agents. The agents brought the people together, without themselves forming an institution. They brought this man with this other man to make business. The agent is like the old woman in the village who says this young man can marry this young woman and so arranges marriages. Without her some marriages would never have happened.

The agents are there in the middle of the society, forming an organic part of it, bringing people they know together and not necessarily for money. The wealth of the agent is his honesty and good reputation. He competes in honesty with the others. The best of them is the one who is more honest; therefore more people will trust him with their wealth. Then he does not need to go to the people but people come to him.

Knowledge of Allah is what prevents the agent from being a robot like the 'economic man'. This is a time where there are people, some of them Muslims, who regard themselves as being unemployed. 'Unemployment or employment' is economic conditioning. The Muslim does not regard himself within these categories. We are above that because we have knowledge.

The Muslims use this metaphor to explain knowledge; "Man is like an ant who is so close to the carpet that he cannot see the design." Knowledge is elevation from the carpet, and the carpet is dunya.

The person who is 'unemployed or employed' is spiritually so close tot he carpet that either he finds himself totally useless or in need of the salary in some business of the usurious system. All business today are usurious on their bases because they all are forced to dealwith usurious paper money, which is banking-money. He knows that the bank for instance is no good, but he thinks he has no better choice. He works for the state, although he knows the state is criminal. Even the businessman profiting within the usurious frame is a slave. All these people have failed to understand the nature of dunya and they are slaves of it. The way out lies in Islam. We need the most pure Islam.

It is, by Allah, in the hands of the Muslims. The Jihad of our time is to abolish usury.
This is the easy way and the path of success. Success belongs to Allah.

In Memory of Great Grandfather of Maryam Alice Richardson

Hugh E. Richardson (1905–2000) was a British diplomat and Tibetologist.

His academic work focused on the history of the Tibetan empire, and in particular on epigraphy. Born in St. Andrews, he studied classics at Keble College, Oxford. He joined the civil service in 1930, and represented Britain in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, from 1936 to 1940 and again from 1946 to 1950, in the final years having become the diplomatic representative of the recently independent India. After his retirement from public service he returned to St. Andrews and spent the remainder of his life as an independent scholar.

He was an accomplished linguist who spoke Bengali fluently, a skill he put to use when conversing with Rabindranath Tagore, and his fluent Tibetan was described by the Tibetan politician Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa as "impeccable Lhasa Tibetan with a slight Oxford accent." ^[1]

He was an advocate of the right of Tibetans to a separate political existence, a case he made in two books, Tibet and Its History (1962) and A Cultural History of Tibet (1968), and at the United Nations when the issue of Chinese oppression of Tibet was raised by the Irish Republic. There, in the words of one commentator, "he acted valiantly as a man of honour in a cause which has been largely lost because of the notions of political expediency, where sides are taken without regard to principle and in order not to risk aligning oneself with a potential loser, however deserving he may be" - a position which reportedly earned him the displeasure of both the British and Indian delegations to the UN Assembly.^[2]

He later wrote: "The British government, the only government among Western countries to have had treaty relations with Tibet, sold the Tibetans down the river and since then have constantly cold-shouldered the Tibetans so that in 1959 they could not even support a resolution in the UN condemning the violation of human rights in Tibet by the Chinese."

Richardson also said that he was "profoundly ashamed",^[3] not only at the British government's refusal to recognise that Tibet had a right to self-determination, but also at the government's treatment of the 14th Dalai Lama.^[4]

Obituary -- Dr Hugh Richardson (The Scotsman)

---

Thursday, 7th December 2000
The Scotsman. Dr Hugh Edward Richardson, civil servant and scholar

Born: 22 December, 1905, in St Andrews Died: 3 December, 2000, in St
Andrews, aged 94

RENOWNED as one of the world's leading authorities on Tibet, Hugh Richardson
was the son of the late Colonel Dr Hugh Richardson, a general practitioner
and lecturer at St Andrews University.

He was educated at St Salvator's School, St Andrews, and Trinity College,
Glenalmond. He later went on to study Classics at Keble College, Oxford.

As officer-in-charge of the British Mission in Tibet for many years he
acquired an extensive knowledge of the country, its language and its people.
His unrivalled collection of artefacts and photographs of Tibetan life and
customs formed a significant part of the Tibetan exhibition staged at the
British Museum in 1981.

Dr Richardson was a tireless advocate of the right of Tibetans to a separate
political existence, living their own lives, enjoying their own culture. It
was a case he made in two books, Tibet and Its History (1962) and A Cultural
History of Tibet (1968), and at the United Nations when the issue of Chinese
oppression of Tibet was raised by the Irish Republic. There, in the words of
an informed commentator, "he acted valiantly as a man of honour in a cause
which has been largely lost because of the notions of political expediency,
where sides are taken without regard to principle and in order not to risk
aligning oneself with a potential loser, however deserving he may be" - a
position which earned him the displeasure of both the British and Indian
delegations to the UN Assembly.

Richardson later wrote scathingly of the British government's attitude
towards Tibet: "The British government, the only government among Western
countries to have had treaty relations with Tibet, sold the Tibetans down
the river and since then have constantly cold-shouldered the Tibetans so
that in 1959 they could not even support a resolkution in the UN condemning
the violation of human rights in Tibet by the Chinese."

Richardson confessed that he was "profoundly ashamed", not only at the
British government's refusal to recognise that Tibet had a right to
self-determination, but also at the government's treatment of the Dali Lama.

Dr Richardson was appointed to the Indian Civil Service - regarded as the
cream of British administrative services - in 1930 and was posted to Bengal.
It was during his vacations that he visited Sikkim and then set foot in
Tibet for the first time and began the start of a long love affair with the
country and its peoples.

In 1934 he transferred to the Foreign and Political Service of the
Government of India and held a number of appointments before taking over as
trade agent at Gyantse in 1936. He was a member of the British Commission
which visited Lhasa under the leadership of Sir Basil Gould that year and
was put in charge of the British Mission, recently established to
counterbalance Chinese influence. He remained in Lhasa, the first white
representative to function in the capital, from 1936-1940 and again from
1946, having held a number of offices in the intervening years.

During the Second World War he served as secretary of the Indian Agency
General in Chungking and was a signatory to the Sino-British Treaty on
behalf of India in 1943.

He returned to Lhasa after the end of the war as British representative and
when Britain left India in 1947 after it was awarded self-government he
remained in Tibet as the representative of the Indian government as officer
in charge of the Indian Mission.

His involvement within the country was total, mastering the language and
becoming a friend of the leading people of Lhasa, who sought his help in the
problems they faced after 1946. He also met and became a friend of Tibet's
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. during his time in the country.

Dr Richardson eventually relinquished his post in 1950 after a total of 14
years in Lhasa - the same year that the Chinese invaded Tibet - and later
returned to his native St Andrews.

In 1944 he was appointed OBE and two years later was again in the Honours
list as a Companion of the Indian Empire.

He also published a number of other books, including A Corpus of Early
Tibetan Inscriptions (1985), which is a major source book for the study of
Tibetan history, Ceremonies of the Lhasa Year (1993) and High Peaks, Pure
Earth (1998).

A keen golfer, he joined the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St Andrews in
1946 and was a very popular figure who enjoyed playing a few holes each
Saturday until earlier this year. He also had a great enthusiasism for
gardening and plants.

He was predeceased by his wife, Huldah Rennie, several years ago.

Faqih Lagi Sufi

Berbalik kepada "Diwan al-Imam asy-Syafi`i" maka pada halaman 47, Imam asy-Syafi`i radhiyaAllahu `anhu bersyair dengan katanya:-

Faqih lagi sufi, Engkau jadikan dirimu

Kedua-duanya sekali, Jangan hanya salah satu

Demi Allah, Sungguh - sungguh aku menasihatimu

Faqih semata tiada merasa takwa, kerna hatinya membatu

Manakala semata sufi itu jahil, Kurang faham, tiada ilmu

Justru bagaimana si jahil, menjadi baik sholih lagi bermutu ?

Oleh itu, janganlah meremeh-remehkan ilmu fiqh dengan anggapan ianya tidak penting kerana ianya kulit sahaja. Berusaha menjadikan diri kita orang yang faqih dan sufi sebagaimana nasihat dan pesanan Imam kita asy-Syafi`i tersebut. Insya-Allah, kita memperolehi keselamatan dan laba di akhirat nanti.

Jangan jadi sesetengah manusia zaman ini,

Dengan thoriqat dia menisbah diri

Saban hari berkhayal dirinya wali

Namun lalai syariat Ilahi

Majlis ilmu ia jauhi

Para ulama tiada ia hampiri

Rasa dirinya sudah mencukupi

Lagi pula guru thoriqatnya wali

Kalau pun sungguh bagai yang dirasai

Maka yang wali itu si gurunya tadi

Sang Guru wali

Ilmunya penuh amalnya selari

Memadaikah bagi si murid hanya dengan bangga diri

(Nota: dinukil dari blog bahrus shofa)

Live for Allah. Die for Allah. Obey your Amir-Sultan

Sohbet given by Sheykh Abdul Kerim el-Hakkani el-Kibrisi.Tuesday 2 Shawwal, 1427 / October 24, 2006. Osmanli Naks-i’bendi Hakkani Dergah, Siddiki Center, New York.

An incident happened. It just fits to you and to me to understand the story of a man who was still in the way of Allah and who was keeping the orders one hundred percent. Only one thing he did.

LAST DAYS OF THE CALIPHATE (1920s)

In the time of Sultan Abdul Hamid Khan (Jannat Mekat), during the last
days when there was confusion everywhere and Sultan Abdul Hamid Khan
is almost alone. He doesn’t have too many helpers around. So many helpers
became betrayers and he cannot trust them. And among some of them whom
he was trusting there was one general in the army, high level general.
Mehmet Aqif Ersoy is saying, he is giving the story how it happened.
He said that after the Sultan passed from this world, Khilafat was
removed and curse started coming down on mankind. When the Khilafat is
removed then curse is coming anyway. You don’t need to hear it for
yourself. Non-stop curse is coming down to mankind saying, “You are
the ones who removed the Khalifah.” And curse is coming down. From
that time until now. That’s why we are not accepting their system,
their democracy-hypocrisy system. Anyone who is accepting that, it’s
showing that they don’t want the Khalifah, they don’t want that
ruling. That’s why they are praising democracy. The Khilafat, that’s
what Allah wants.

THE OLD MAN IN SULTAN AHMED MOSQUE

So Mehmet Aqif Ersoy is saying, “Every morning I go to Sultan Ahmet
Mesjid, mosque, Jamii. I go early in the morning and next to the
Mihrab I see an old man. His hair and his beard is complete white,
snow-white. He is continuously crying. Anytime I am going I finding
that man crying. From the outside I am seeing that he is the first one
in the mesjid. But he is continuously sitting, making tesbih and
crying. One day I came near him and I said to him, “Oh holy one, why
are you crying so much? Are you cutting yourself from the mercy of
Allah? Is that why you are crying? The mercy of Allah is coming.” He
(also) said, “Oh, you are looking at outside and what they did (by
removing the Khilafat.). What a foolish thing they did. That’s why you
are crying.”

He (the old man) said to him, “Don’t make me speak. My heart will
stop.” He said, “Please Speak. Say.” He said, “I will tell you.” He
said, “I was a high general in Sultan Abdul Hamid’s (Jannat Mekan)
time. My parents passed away. In the area of Izmir we had so much land
and farm. So I sent my resignation letter to the Sultan asking for him
to acquit me from the army. And Sultan right away send me the message
back saying, “No, we cannot afford to send you away anywhere now.
There is a big problem waiting for us and I need a couple of people
like you. So I will not approve what you are asking.” He said, “I was
sad. But we had so much work to do. One day I needed to go to Istanbul
and I said to myself, `Now that I am here, let me go to visit the
Sultan.’” He said, “Because I had a big authority, I could just go and
visit him.” The Sultan’s door at that time was open early in the
morning for everybody. Not even the Mayor open the door today for
people. The door of the Ottoman Sultan was open. People were coming
and complaining, asking and saying. This was in the worst time.

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SULTAN

So he said, “I came to the Sultan. He was sitting on his table. He
looked at me and he put his head down. He was not looking at me
anymore.” He said, `Your Majesty, I sent you a letter’, and instantly
he said to me very strongly, `I sent you the answer back.’ He said,
`Yes, that’s why I am here now to ask you because this is the excuse I
have.’ The Sultan was shaking his head. He was not looking at me and I
asked to be released again. So he just raised his head, looked at me
so strongly and said, `So what can I do?’ He said to me, `What can I
do? You are asking so much? Go away.’ He released him. Finished. The
Sultan just waved his hand like that. In our tradition, if someone
speaks to you and says, “Okay, go”, it means, “I am not happy with you
anymore”, and they move the back of their hand to you. When they say,
“Go with blessings”, it’s like this, with the palm of the hand towards
you. But when it’s with the back of the hand, in proper manner it
means, “Get lost.” He said, “That action just finished me. But what
can I do? I cannot take that back anymore too, and I came.”

HOLY PROPHET (SWS) INSPECTING THE OTTOMAN ARMY

“Very short time later, so many incidents happened that I understood
why Sultan didn’t want me to be released.” He said, “But one night I
saw a dream. In the dream I saw the Ottoman Army. They were all in
straight lines. All generals were in front of the army and Sultan
Abdul Hamid Khan came and he was saluting them. And the Prophet (sws)
was standing in front of him and he (the Sultan) was saying, “Ya
Rasulullah, the army of Islam is ready. As you like. Give order. We do
as you like.” He (the old man) said, “Everyone was seeing the Prophet
(sws) except me. When I was looking from far I was seeing the Prophet
(sws) like a moon, shining. But I couldn’t see the Prophets (sws). But
the Sultan and all the army were seeing the Prophet (sws).”

“And Prophet (sws) looked at the army from the beginning and he came
to the end and the battalion, the group at the end was supposed to be
under my authority. But I wasn’t there. So all the soldiers were very
sloppy. They were not in order. The Prophet (sws) looked at the Sultan
very strongly and said to the Sultan, `Ya Sultan! Where is the general
of that group of people?” And the Sultan put his head down saying, “Ya
Rasulullah, that one wanted early retirement. I didn’t want to send
him to early retirement but he asked several times. So I couldn’t say
`no’ to him anymore. So I sent him to retirement. I sent him away.”
The Prophet (sws) looked at him and said, “Ya Sultan! The one that you
send away, we are also sending away from our association.”

He said, “After that day, I never slept at night. I am crying non-stop
but I am not seeing any dreams. After that day I left everything. I
left all the belongings to the people. Allah is sending my sustenance
but I lost. I didn’t see the Prophet (sws) and after that I have never
seen any good dreams anymore.”

ALLAH IS NEVER SECOND

This is not a joke. This is real. Real-real, if you understand what
that means you will cry a lot then. If you don’t understand then you
are a donkey. What can we do? The way you live, that’s how you will
die. The way you will die, that’s how you will be raised. This is
hadis-e sharif. If you keep Allah priority then Allah keeps you
priority. If you keep Allah second class then you just finished
yourself. Allah is never second. If the whole world says, “We keep
Allah second”, Allah is not second. Allah is first. It is a blessing
for man just to understand (the favor of) Allah’s granting permission
to man to praise Allah. As Sheykh Mevlana is saying, “Live for Allah.
Live for Allah and die for Allah.” It is a blessing to you. And Allah
is asking then, “What does My servant want? Give it to him.” And when
you say, “Ya Rabbi, I want, I want”, He says, “Whatever you want. When
you are in My service I give you everything. You say that you love me,
I love you and I am yours too. I am in your service.” Allah is in our
service. What service do we give to Allah? What do we do, huh? Just
getting up and going up and down. Is that the service we give to
Allah? Does that fit to His Majesty?

He gives everything to us and we cannot give anything back. The only
thing is just to keep His orders, to try to keep His orders. Then you
are honoring yourself. Allah is granting you more honor all the time.
Anyone who leaves Allah, who runs away from Allah, they are losing
their honor in Dunya and they are losing their honor in Akhirat. This
much is enough for you and for me. No? Also for me, and for you, and
for `X’. Are you sleeping `X’? Or did he leave? Do you get it now?
Hmm. Anybody who takes it, takes it to themselves too. Anybody who is
saying, “This sohbet does not include me”, it’s okay. You don’t have
to say IT. Just keep it inside to yourself. Look what happens.

THE RETIRED GENERAL OF TURKEY

Priority is Allah. If you are not living for Allah then Allah is
saying to us, “If you are not opening your hand to ask from Me, what
is your value?” Understanding? He says, “What is your value?” Value of
a donkey or a horse, or an animal? No. He is saying, “No. Not even
that because that animal is valuable. You, those who are not keeping
Allah priority have no value in Dunya and Akhirat. You can give them
as much titles as you want. It’s only temporary.” They are saying,
“Retired. Take that name from the table, take out the uniform, go home
and wait to die.” Retired. That’s what it means. So all titles are gone.

Yesterday there was a General in Turkey, the General of the whole
army, the head master. The man had all power in his hand. Last month
he was the General. This month the uniform is out, everything is out
and he is just a normal person in the streets. Finished. All power is
gone. He cannot even go back to his office anymore, that office which
he was occupying. He could’ve turned the country upside down if he
wanted. He cannot (even) enter to that office (now). Finished. Titles
are gone and everything is gone.

Whatever he did for Allah in that station that’s what he won. If he
did something for Allah then he won. If he didn’t then he lost Dunya
and he lost Akhirat. This one at present now, the same thing will
happen to that one. This one at present in this country, the same
thing will happen to that one. To everywhere. Don’t look at how many
people are saying `mashallah’ and cheering. No. How many days? How
many years? Four years, five years or ten years? Eight years. Not more
than that. Later, go home. After having all that power they cannot sit
home too. Big problem then to them.

So be happy with what Allah has given to you. If you are happy with
Allah then Allah is happy with you. If you are not happy with Allah,
you are not going to bother Allah because you are not happy with
Allah. But if Allah is not happy with you then disaster is waiting.

Wa min Allahu taufiq

Bihurmatil Habib

Bihurmatil Fatiha.

(Note: When Turkey was cheated and forced to use paper money and banking by western powers. this poison of riba,debt and democracy eventually bring the khilafate down....)

What Is Freedom and Iman ?

Freedom:

Not holding on to anything of this world

To be like Earth, it receives everything
including dump and gives as return life and riches

To believe Allah is Ar-Razzaq,
as one believes fire burns, job or no job

To feel no pain holding on to burning coals
and crawling over ice for Allah

To not betray the Ur-form of man and realise
the gestalt of an eagle is destroyed
when it is forbidden to hunt

To care less whether rich or poor,
in practice to not care at all

To leave the management of all affairs to Allah;
to depend on Him, rely on Him and on Him alone

To live with no financial anxiety

In the collaborative couple who support each other
in their project for justice (beyond family)

To live a dead man taking death for a life companion

To finish planting a seed, that was commenced,
even if the Last Day comes

A journey that never ends

Taqwa

Ma'rifatullah


(by Hasbullah Shafi'iy from Tumasik Trade Network, Singapore)

GRATITUDE TO MOROCCO

I would also like to express an enormous gratitude to the people of Morocco, who have always shown us the deepest generosity. At first, filled with longing and excitement to be a part of a tariqat in Morocco, I went to Meknes to the zawiyya of our shaykh thinking it would be a kind of perfect Utopia, and it was perfect, but not in the way we think. It was perfect the way the world is perfect. And at the same time, the intention, the niyyat, of everyone, even the imperfect ones, like us, like me, was to be in a circle of dhikr, and to find the Presence, the Hadrat of Allah.

There is something deeply imbedded in the heart of the Moroccan people that is very beautiful and essential, full of iman, having available to it the various steps toward real knowledge of God, and as a citizen of the world with spiritual thirst, for that I am deeply grateful. When our little community of European Muslims passed through the market streets, in our djalabas and turbans, purchased in Tangiers before we went south into the Moroccan heartland, people would stop and weep to see obviously Muslim westerners respectful of Moroccan culture, instead of as with the earlier influx of Europeans who came as hippies in the 60s, and who seemed only to indulge in some of the less Islamic aspects of Moroccan culture.

Although I was born in Oakland, in the North American state of California, I consider Meknes, Morocco, my real birthplace, where I met Shaykh ibn al-Habib, raheemullah, wali of Allah, Qutub shaykh of the time, and where I also lived for a time that had the taste of eternity in it, in his zawiyya with his disciples.

It was there I saw the old men (and some of the women as well, most especially his wives) of his spiritual community who had been with him for decades, who were now like trees, forests of trees — I was living in a forest of ‘ilm and ma’rifa. Among all the variety of people we encountered there we found these giant trees, like towering redwoods. That was the world of our shaykh’s domains. So when my wife and I visited Meknes a few years ago, in early 2000, I suddenly felt at home again.

HAJJ IN 1972

I was with a group of us living in the zawiyya during the last Ramadan of Shaykh ibn al-Habib’s life, and I went on Hajj in 1972, with Shaykh Dr. Abdal-Qadir, Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley, Abdal-Aziz Redpath and the great photographer, Peter Abdal-Adheem Sanders. It was a truly momentous Hajj for us. We were meant to meet the shaykh in Jeddah. We had asked permission in Meknes at that Ramadan to go on Hajj and he had said, “Meet me in Jeddah.” But we arrived in Jeddah and he wasn’t there. So we went on to Mecca, and still didn’t see him.

Then the sheriff of his zawiyya, Sidi Moulay Sheriff, came running up to us, greeted us very happily, asked how we were, how our travels were, and if we were satisfied with our accommodations (which we were not, our mutawwif had not really taken care of us). He then went and found us a good place to stay, took us to a place to eat, for we were all very hungry, and after all that, which must have taken over an hour or so, took Abdalhaqq Bewley off to speak to him privately.

When Abdalhaqq came back he had tears streaming down his cheeks. Shaykh ibn al-Habib, raheemullah, wouldn’t meet us in Mecca, for he had died on his way from Meknes by automobile, in Blida, Algeria. So our Hajj was one of deep grief as well as the deep experience of the Hajj itself, and was therefore a doubly difficult journey, and continued to be so when we returned to England to tell the community there the very sad news. But I’ve always felt, and this has been a constant in my own spiritual life as a living example of true ‘adab, that the way in which this faqir greeted us, carrying such a terrific burden of news, was so extraordinary, in that he didn’t run up to us saying, “The shaykh is dead! The shaykh is dead!” But in fact, he made sure we were comfortable, and fed, and then spoke the right words to Abdalhaqq privately.

We found in all our journeys to Morocco and our visits with the people, that with the natural beauty of the country itself, with its lavender valleys and rolling green hills, and its variegated and rich culture, among the people there’s an innocence and a deep wisdom, there’s a depth, a beauty in the people, and certainly in the profound tradition of Sufism and Islam that is so much a part of Morocco, in all of its manifestations. And the tradition is still very much alive that makes available, through the living scholars and shuyukh and awliyya, the Path to Allah, The Ultimate Reality, through correctly and sincerely receiving the proper initiation and ‘idhn, from a real shaykh of m’arifa, of whom there are many great and magnificent living exemplars today.

May Islam and Sufism continue to grow and thrive among all humankind everywhere, with Morocco again at its peak of a golden age of Sufism and true Islamic teachings, and constant nourishment for all those who go with a hunger for true spiritual experience and deep-rooted foundational learning. Amen.
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Visit Daniel Abdal Hayy Moore’s website: www.danielmoorepoetry.com, where you can read many of his poems.