Unity for Peace

International Islamic Fair 2007: The Conference
28 - 29 July
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Session 1: Update on the Ummah
Moderator: Bro Yusri Mohamad
Lecturer
Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws
International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)


Paper 1: Iraq – Reality & Hope
Faieza Fadhil Al Obaidy
Vice President of Arab Women’s Association

- Tak paham ape. Paper is in Arabic. So as the presentation.
- The translation was only given yesterday (29 July). Belum sempat bace lagi…

Paper 2: Palestine & Israel’s Imperial Agenda
Imran Nazar Hosein
Director,
Islamic Studies of Muslim Organization of Greater New York

Imran Hosein ni orang yang kite nampak ketokohan pada dia. Yakin pada apa yang disampaikan with very good English with some humor. Berjaya membangkitkan dan membincangkan isu-isu yang sensitif.

- Quran explains everything
- Christians and Jews differ on certain view:
o Jews reject the son of Mary though they also believe that the Messiah will come
- ‘You have a PhD from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the foremost institute of tech in the world)? But if you internally blind, you’re just like a cattle’
- The mysterious link between Britain and the Holy Place would not be explained by typical political analysis.
- Who are controlling the world? ‘We control US’ Ariel Sharon once said not long ago. But then US is the ruling state of the world today. So, Israel?
- Gold? Is the price growing up? No! The price of ‘the paper’ is going down.
- ‘O you who have attained faith! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for your allies; they are but allies of one another (expected to have bad intention towards muslims)’ (51:4)
- Surah al-Kahfi teaches about men who gave up everything far faith

Paper 3: Darfur – What is Going On?
His Excellency Mahdi Ibrahim
Member of Parliament of Sudan
X-Sudanese Ambassador to US

Mahdi ni memberikan talk yang sangat-sangat informative (malangnya aku tak berapa nak dengar sebab isi-isi talk dia, boleh aku katakan terlalu politikal, aku tak faham sangat. Antaranya kisah-kisah yang dia ceritakan masa dia jadi duta dekat US.

- Sudan: 25 million km² = size of Eastern Europe.
- 7 million people.
- Focus on IDP caps (internally displaced person, I don’t know what it is)
- Millions of conflicts: farmers x nomads; between tribal (there are 573 ethnics) war over land, water.
- It is the longest African war – killed 2 million people, and made millions others in refuge.

Paper 4: Need for Unity among South East Asia (SEA) Muslims
Dr. Amir Farid Ishak
Activist in Interfaith NGOs in SEA

Memberikan gambaran terhadap keadaan muslim di seluruh Asia Tenggara dan menggalakkan menuju kearah perpaduan antara muslim Asia Tenggara.

- Mongol once conquered SEA in 13th century but they were too busy invading Europe that time, so Mongols in SEA were weak and were defeated by Madjapahit.
- Madjapahit was then under the sovereignty of Malacca.
- Territorial expansion by Malacca also brought together Islam.
- But now, only Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei remain Muslim countries where other countries in SEA are mainly Buddhist.
- Problems:
o Indonesia: secularization of uneducated poor Muslims.
o Malaysia: Disunity within Muslim groups; tension from non-Muslims; Malaysian youths embrace American popular culture while government tries to preserve Islamic practices
o Brunei: not much problem – Muslims are well-off in the rich state.
o Singapore: Muslims are minority – 14%, secularization of the Muslim life.
o Philippines: 4 million Muslims (5%), conflict with the government, officially had been 25 years, probably had been centuries.
o Thailand: 4 million Muslims, same like the Philippines.
o Cambodia: less then 4% Muslims. Many migrated to Malaysia.
o Myanmar: 4% Muslims
o Laos: just 400 Muslims.
o Vietnam: 66,000 Muslims.
- Non-Muslim scholars are more interested in us: many books on us.
- Muslim ummah in SEA is a potential formidable force if we cooperate and unite!

Paper 5: Acheh – 30 Months After
Fadlullah Wilmot
Country Director for Muslim Aid, Indonesia

He is an Australian, has been teaching in various schools in Indonesia and Malaysia, and speaks Malay fluently. He was the Personal Assistant to the IIUM’s Rector in 1990s. He is the father of Wardina Safiyya.

- Acheh is a continuous state of conflict for 150 years:
o 1873 – Dutch: 30 years of guerilla attack against the Dutch
o Soekarno
o Japan
- BUT!!! On 15 August 2005, an MoU was signed at Helsinki. What the heck?! What MoU? Peace is still not installed in Acheh until now.
- There are many reasons of the conflict in Acheh:
o Tsunami factor
o TNI (Tentera Negara Indonesia) factor
o Kalla (Jusof Kalla, the Indonesian Vice President) factor
- It costs Indonesia as much as USD 130 million per year for security operations in Acheh.
- Its just about Muslims hypocrisy.
- Muslims have to be critical: Muslims all over the world have been criticizing the conflict in Bosnia, Chechnya and Iraq. But Acheh? Why we kept silent on that?
- ‘Lets not be excited about symbols, but get excited about ideas’.

Session 2: Business, Economy & Finance
Moderator: Dr Ahamed Kameel Myden Meera
Lecturer,
Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences
IIUM



Paper 1: Gold Dinar – the Kelantan Experience
Nik Mahani Mohamaed
Pioneer of the Islamic Banking System in Malaysia

- Dinar is a Greek word ‘Denarias’.
- Why now? Alternative mode of investment
- We, the ummah today are ignorant!
- Usury (Riba’): Paper currency. Its Haram!
- Say an example: You want to buy a valuable thing. You buy it with a paper called money which is initially doesn’t have any value (it is us that give value by printing the figure at a paper). Is it just? We should buy the valuable thing with another thing that is also valuable, i.e., gold such as gold dinar.
- Minting issues: licensed pawn brokers.
- Gold dinar is daily-rated pricing based on market price for gold 916 carat.
- Minted at 1, ½, ¼ dinar.
- ‘Owning dinar is an investment’

Paper 2: Banking for the Poor
Dr. Asyraf Wajdi Dato’ Dusuki
Assoc. Professor
Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences
IIUM
Was the best student in Economics in IIUM

- OIC members conquered the top 10 of the poorest country in the world with 60% - 80% poverty in 2006.
- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait & UAE’s GDP are totaled at USD 1.1 trillion in 2001.
- Many reasons why poor has been denied to access to banking list.
- Methods of microfinance:
o Workable poor will form a group
o The group will seek money from microfinance institution (MI)
o MI will provide training to the group.
o The group will pay progressive loan.
o Members within the group will asses each other
- Islamic microfinance; the source:
o Sadaqah, zakah, waqf, deposit
- The use:
o Charitable contracts (Ar-Rahnu) i.e. loan; participatory contracts (musharakah, mudharabah); exchange contracts (murabahah, ijarah); hybrid contracts.

Paper 3: Mobilizing Zakah Resources
Bro Alim Ali
???

I did not really pay attention during this paper presentation… (Its 3 o’clock in the afternoon! Sleepy… Hehe) This is the only point that I wrote down…

‘The Americans (the citizens, not the government) are the world’s most charitable people,’

These are the statistic;

- USD 1.8 billion for tsunami
- USD 73 million for Pakistani earthquake
- USD 3.12 billion for Catherina disaster

Paper 4: Islamic Products & Services – Serving Humanity
Dato’s Ma’amor bin Osman
Secretary General
Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM)


- ISO was created by industrialists to niche the market.
- Good Muslims produce good products.
- ‘Blue Mosque Fraternity’ - gathering of Muslim entrepreneurs to share experience.
- Muslims should support Islamic banking instrument organized by Muslims.
- ‘We are what we eat’
- http://www.muslimconsumer.org.my/

Paper 5: In Search of the Perfect Islamic Products & Services Hub
Bro. Mohd Shukri Abdullah
Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS)

- Global market value for halal products: USD 2.1 trillion.
- We should build a platform among the OIC members:
o Proper infrastructure
o Economic & political stability
o Good governance
o Strong commitment to Islam and its principles.

Session 3: Human Relation, Media & Global Reach
Moderator: William Rodriguez
The Last Survivor of WTC 9/11
Saved hundreds of other victims since he held the master key of the North Tower
19 Years working at WTC before as a janitor

- He gave salam… is he a Muslim?
- National Security warned him when the first time he received an invitation to go to Malaysia last year ‘Don’t go to Malaysia! They’re gonna kill you!’
- ‘I have converted to Islam, it was last year’. Apparently, he recited the shahadah in front of Yusuf Estes inside a taxi in London.
- 9/11 has been used to criminalize Muslims all over the world for 6 years.
- ‘Bang!!!’ he heard a big bang from below the base as he was working at the basement that jumped him up. And that was actually BEFORE the first plane hit the tower. His testimony was never be included in 9/11 Commission Report though.
- That day he was late for work. If ever he was early, he would be at the top of the building during the explosion as he would be everyday before that.
- He was an atheist, but when helping the victims, he heard screams everywhere that made he said ‘God, please help me! I don’t know how to help these people!’.
- There are 5 master key holder of the building, 4 of them were the first to flee away, leaving William being the only master key holder during that hectic moment.
- He helped hundreds of victims, pulling them out of the building. Up to he was the last person to come out of the building alive. Everyone said ‘Get out of here! Don’t look back!’ and when he was running away from the building, he looked back, he saw the worst thing in his life – people jumping out of the building from 50, 60 storey, falling down, and bumped on the ground not far from him. He can even see their face on the ground, and knew some of them, but that time, their bodies were no more one each. Their bodies turned into pieces. Moments later, the building collapsed.
- He ran off below a fire truck, and he can feel the fire truck stroked down by the falling steel and bricks. He thought that was the end of his life.
- The firemen searched for the survivors immediately after the collapse and found William safely.
- The collapse of WTC did not only kill the people inside, it has also killed all the search dogs, and 62,000 people leaving nearby were ill due to the toxic dust from the rubble.
- Salvatore Giambanco, Felipe David, and some others have also survived, but all their testimonies were not included in the 9/11 Commission Report.
- ‘We owe the truth to them (the families of the victims)’.

Paper 2: Post 9/11 Exposures
Annie Machon
Former MI5 agent (British Intelligence)

‘She has the license to kill, no kidding!’ said William. It is true indeed. She was the British spy and has been one of the MI5 agents before she blew the whistle on MI5’s crime and incompetence that caused the lost of her ‘license to kill’.

- There are two groups of agents served for the British government; MI5 – deals with the internal espionage, and MI6 that deals with external affairs.
- She gave an example on what espionage is all about;
o Bombing in London 1994
o The British blamed two Palestinians (students studying engineering in London).
o But then, the MI5 was the one who responsible for the bombing.
o Why they did that? ‘They afraid that someday those Palestinians grew up and could harm the safety of Britain since they have the potential’ Annie mentioned.
o Those unfortunate Palestinians are still in prison up to this date.
- MI6 has even the license to kill abroad provided that they get approval from their political master. Just like in the movies. James Bond is not a fantasy.
- How did the three towers fall down freely by a plane crash? (There’s another tower besides the twin WTC, it was 47-storey building. It collapsed in 6.5 seconds).
- Civil Contingency Act – any minister can declare state of emergency in UK system.
- Put pressure to the media! To the politics! 9/11 should be re-opened.
- The victim’s family felt overheated, they want the truth!
- ‘You have to be an activist! You have to get involve (in re-opening of 9/11)’.

Paper 3: The New Media – A Welcomed Change
Khaleed Taha
Director of Technology, Al-Jazeera Network
Founder of English Channel Al-Jazeera

- Al-Jazeera
o Mubashir
o Al-Jazeera.net
o Ar-Riyadhah
o Mobile
o Al-Wathaqiyah
o Al-Jazeera
- Al-Jazeera
o School of thought
o Free and democratic media
o Fearless, believe in saying the truth for life
- We can capture, upload and share – SMS, MMS, blogs
- ‘You have the power to create something new!’
- ‘You ARE the new media!’

Paper 1: Depleted Uranium (DU) Project
Dr. Doug Rokke
Foremost DU expert of US Military

He was assigned to prepare the soldiers to respond to nuclear, biological and chemical warfare and sent to Gulf during the Gulf War. What he experienced has made him a passionate voice for peace. He became convinced DU was causing illness such as cancer, and that the Pentagon was downplaying its danger. When he went to public with his views, he was sacked.

- He was absent from the conference physically. He is sick, due to the DU, as William mentioned. But then tele-conference was made between KL and US.
- The phone call was not very clear.. Only two points that caught my attention:
o ‘Throw greed and power aside’
o ‘Live together in harmony’

Paper 4: Establishing Muslim World & GPOW Cooperation
Prof. Emeritus Dato’ Dr Khoo Kay Kim
Prominent Malaysian Thinker

* GPOW is Good People of the World. That is how some people refer non-Muslims to, GPOW.

Siapa yang tak kenal dengan Prof Khoo Kay Kim? Seorang tokoh pemikiran negara, penganalisis segala bidang – penyatuan kaum, politik, sukan, sosial dan kebudayaan dan sebagainya. He is one of the co-authors of Rukun Negara. He was the one who launched the first sports degree academic program in Malaysia during 95/96 academic session at University of Malaya. He is also a prolific writer and has published 205 items in period 1963 to 1998.

- Malaysians are like eagles that think they are turtles.
- Since ’57, each ethnic group try to maintain each culture
- Non-Muslims in Malaysia do not know about Islam, because Muslims in Malaysia do not have the feel of obligation to explain to them what Islam is.
- 1913 – ‘A Malay must be a Muslim’ a statement of constitution created by British administration that has already exist since 1913.
- ‘Malays must take the lead!’
o ‘Every Muslim must by obligation, a mubaligh!’ (imagine, Prof Khoo, a Chinese GPOW urged Muslims to be a mubaligh. Aren’t we feeling like to be one (mubaligh)? )
- 1826 – British administration never allows Christian missionaries to preach Christianity to Muslims in the Strait settlement.
- Scholars, universities should be more involved in telling the public what Islam is.
- ‘There is a need to make Islam clearer to other people’.

Paper 5: Dreaming of Global Peace
Datuk Mukhriz bin Tun Mahathir
Coordinator of PEACE Malaysia


- Mile of Death 1991, Iraq. A place where thousands of Iraqi refugees were killed along a highway by an air strike
- USS Lincoln the aircraft carrier, carries 90 aircraft. Total up worth USD 4.5 billion.
- War means willful killing.

Session 4: Community, Arts & Education
Moderator: Dato’ Mustapha Ma
President of Macma

For this particular session, I was not taking down notes.


Paper 1: Revolutionizing Islamic Entertainment
Farihin Abdul Fatah
Composer
Founder of Raihan the nasyid group


Paper 4: Socio-Political Awareness – Key to Survival
Dr. Abidullah Ghazi
Specialist in Islamic Studies & Comparative Religion


Paper 3: Towards Well Rounded Islamic Education
Dr. Tasneem Ghazi
Dr. Abidullah’s wife

Together with her husband have a life-long commitment to write, develop and produce Islamic educational material and quality textbooks at various levels.

- ‘Ta’lim never comes alone. It comes with tarbiyyah’


Paper 5: Muslim View Magazines – Anyone?
Rafay Faruqi
IT experts

Paper 2: Islam, Beyond the Difference
Yusuf Estes!!!
International Islam Preacher

Yusuf Estes. First time I know him from Firs about a year ago when he showed me a video of Yusuf’s talk at India which he got from his friend. First time watch him talking about Islam, I was impressed by his humor and entertaining way of conveying the message of Islam. Yusuf’s many websites make it easy to share Islam. Alhamdulillah I have almost 2 gigabyte-size of hundreds collection of his videos. People in mahallahs in IIUM can easily access to my computer, //jimin in Mshome network and all the videos are under ‘Ceramah Collection’ -> ‘Yusuf Estes’, while people in IIUM without LAN connection may feel free to contact me and ask for the videos. ‘Sharing is Caring’. Sheikh Yusuf Estes is also known around the world on local cable and satellite TV stations like: Islam Channel in the UK, Voice of Islam in New Zealand, and Peace TV with Dr Zakir Naik in India, Huda TV in the Arab world and even on Saudi Airlines in flight programming.

It was a video conferencing between us and Sheikh Yusuf from his house in Washington. He could not attend here with us because ‘something happened to his house’ (that was what I heard from him during the video conference. It might not be true, because the connection of the video conference was not very clear).

- Islam contains ‘salam’ in it
- Salam means
o Surrender
o Submission
o Obey
o Sincerity
o Peace
- If we want to achieve peace, we have to establish peace first with Allah in our heart.
- To achieve that, we have to read and explore the book of Allah.
- ‘Come together only on truth’.
- Unity can only be unity when it first unity with God.
- http://www.yusufestes.com/
- http://www.watchislam.com/
- http://www.islamtomorrow.com/groups/
- http://www.searchforislam.com/

‘Tell me, I might forget. Show me, I might remember. Involve me, then I will remember’
Dato’ Mustapha Ma

‘There was a man driving his car in a rural place one night. Suddenly his car broke down. He did not know what to do. There was no one there. Fortunately, a car passed by and the driver saw him at the side of the road. So, the stranger stopped by. ‘Please help me, my car broke down,’. ‘Oh, don’t worry, I will help you, I am a mechanic,’ said the stranger. So the stranger looked at the engine. Then he asked the man, ‘Do you have a hammer?’. ‘Yes I do!’. The man gave the mechanic the hammer. ‘Bang!!’. The mechanic then hammered one part of the engine and immediately asked the man to try starting the engine. Amazingly, the engine started.

‘Thank you sooo much!’ thanked the man to the mechanic, ‘How much should I pay you?’.

‘Oh, not much. Its only RM 100,’.

‘RM 100?? Well, that IS much. You had just hammered my engine. And that was only one simple hammering and you charge me RM 100 for that?!’.

‘Oh? That hammering? The hammering is very cheap, I only charge RM 1 for that. But to know exactly where to hammer, I charge you RM 99.. =)’.

End of story.

The conference has provided us the RM 1 part. The RM 99 part, it is up to us. We have to get involve, and act accordingly to apply all things that we have from the conference.’

Shah Kirit Govindji
Program Manager
IIF 2007 Conference

The resolution of the conference:

‘It is time for action!’