N E G A S H I - OJ

The two day meeting of the General Assembly of the Federal Majlis is concluded today electing three people who are to be the face of the sole institute of the Muslim Community. According to the official communication made public at the end of the meeting, the three people who would take care of the daily business of the Federal Majlis are Shaykh Ahmedin of Oromia Majlis (President), Shaykh Muhammad Ibrahim of Harari Majlis (Vice Chairman), and Al-Mohammed Siraj of Amhara Majlis (General Secretary). According to the fragmented info. I could gather only the general secretary has attended additional modern education other than religious education.

There was information that the grand Mufti Shaykh Omer Idris of Addis Ababa Majlis would be among those three leaders. The understanding established until the moment the general assembly finalized its meeting was that the newly “selected” officials would serve for 18 months. One of their reported objectives was to organize an official election so that the Muslims community would be able to elect its leaders. This point was one of the items that has given hope to the majority of those who are concerned with the paralyzed institute. At the end of the meeting unexpected news has surfaced as for how long the new Majlis is to stay in power.

According to the news broadcasted by Ethiopian News Agency new Majlis will stay in office for the coming four years. This has come as a surprise even to those who are elected to serve. This has further created more questions as to what the real plan of the government is when it set up and license the whole process. Insha Allah the coming days will be crucial to answer this fundamental point at least in part.

Whatever the plan of the government may be, Negashi OJ would like to congratulate those who are appointed to lead us. At the same time, I would like to call up them to be conscious of Allah in whatever action they engage in and not to be used by the enemies of Islam and Muslims. Regardless of our differences, Muslims need to stand shoulder to shoulder and face with determination and resolute the well organized and planned war declared upon us by fanatic and fundamentalist Christians.

Insha Allah I will try to get details on the meeting and the points on the agenda. I will also try to establish the profile of the 13 members of the new Majlis. Any info. you may add here is quite welcome.

A two day deliberation of the general assembly of the Federal Majlis called to assign individuals for the available positions is underway. During its first day the gathering deliberated on various issues related to the working of the institute and its missions.

Names of people who are to take the key positions has not been made public yet. However, sources indicate Shaykh Ahmedin of Oromia Majlis, Grand Mufti Shaykh Omer Idris of Addis Ababa Majlis and Al-Mohammed Siraj of Amhara (?) Majlis are the likely candidates to take the Presidential, Vice President and Secretariaat positions respectively. Other sources indicate that the grand Mufti Shayk Omer might rather be assigned to oversee the Woqf section or the Dawa branch of the Institution and the Vice president positon might go to Shaykh Nuradin Dalil, another delegate of Addis Ababa Majlis.

The official list of names for the various posts will be known tomorrow as the gathering concludes its business.

Members to the general Assembly of the federal Majlis are (1) Executive committee members of the 11 regional Majlis (2) Executive committee members of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa Majlis and (3) memebers of the outgoing Executive committee of the federal Majlis. The executive committee of the Federal Majlis has got 13 members.  Addis Ababa and Oromia Majlis are represented by two delegats. All the other regional Majlis are represented by one person each.

The thirteen members of the executive committee elect the President, the Vice President and the General secretary from among themselves and present them to the general assembly for endorsement.

In what is likely to be his last words from the Federal Majlis, the cursed Elias Redman delivered his final service to “the institute” and “his Holy father” he has been serving with loyality and obedience for the last several years. He also told the Addis Admas Newspaper that Muslims are to blame for whatever tension that surfaced in the country.

The man told the Addis Admas further that they have finalised preparation to transfer authority to the newly “selected leaders” of the sole institute that operates in the name of the Muslim community but by far shackled the Muslim Community’s contribution to the prosperity and development of the country and their demands for religious freedom and equality. Will the new officers be any better is a matter to be seen but one thing that is becoming evedent is that the time of Elias is over and his final lies and accusation will be his legacy.

In the mean time, the church particularly “His Father” has been lobbying to keep him in the same position, at least in the institute. Success or failure of this effort will be seen within days. However given the fact that Addis Ababa Majlis has already delegated two of its members for the federal Majlis, it is unlikely that Ato Elias is to retain place there

Ato Elias:

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Sources close to the Muslim community affairs has informed Negashi OJ that Delegation from Reginal Majlis are arriving in Addis for a meeting tomorrow, Feb., 17, 2009. Tomorrow’s meeting is expected to replace the old Federal Majlis leaders led by the notorious Elias Rediman with the new representatives. The new officers are not ‘elected’ but ’selected’ by an under-ground mission sunctioned by the office of the PM. The same sources indicated that about half the members of the new leadership are known to have direct and indirect link to the security apparatus of the ruling party. This fact shades light on the purpose of the whole scheme and left the Muslim community to wonder what is to come next. Insha Allah, Negashi OJ will try to get the latest and keep you updated. Stay tuned!

by Abdulmalik Omar

[Note: The article below is a comment left by one of my visitors - br. Abdulmalik Omar. I find the message he wanted to transmite, the analysis he made of the dangereous developments, and his call for very peace-loving Ethiopians to understand quite very important, I decided thus to repost it here. I have also taken the liberty to title it as <Stop Playing with Fire>. For the rest, the text remained untouched. Thank you br. Abdulmalik and I look forward more of your contribution.]

I believe the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian government are treading on a dangerous path. Both of them can not feign ignorance to what is going on right under their nose. This guy is preaching hatred against Muslims right outside of some church. And the government is pleading ignorance and letting the church wage a senseless crusade against more than half the population. If the church and the government are under the impression that they are following the right course of action, I believe both of them are going to loose big time in what may follow.

The government has gained a lot of experience by rigging elections and census data. Some sources are saying that the recent census showed that sixty five percent of the population is followers of Islam. It is speculated that it is this reason why it took the government more than two years after the completion of the census to come up with some ridiculous numbers against the Muslims. Both the church and the government figured out that this is not going to do the trick against the Muslims and in their infinite wisdom, they have declared a war against Muslims to disenfranchise and demoralize them in hopes of subjugating them as they have been used to in times past.

We are being told the action of this loony “priest” is an isolated incident and does not reflect the sentiment of the larger Christian population. The majority of Ethiopian Christians might not accept what the guy is preaching, but let me remind you that every movement starts small initially and spreads wide if left unchecked. The Nazi and Fascist movement was a very marginal and fringe group at its inception. It ended up for the loss of more than fifty million lives and the destruction of so many countries. And our country was not spared the scourge of that movement. This lunatic priest is not preaching alone, he has a crowd of followers who are echoing and supporting his venomous attack against innocent Muslims and their faith. And the troubling question is where are the government and the church when everything is happening under their very eyes?

During the early years of the present government, many Christians were attacked in some Oromia regions because of the prevailing political climate that developed which pitted one ethnic group against another. Large number of non-Oromos who have lived in that region totally abandoned the area for good. For anyone who has a slight knowledge of population distribution in the country, the present course of action by some fanatic Christians does not bode well for their cause. If what we are witnessing is left unchecked, the nation will surely be divided along religious and ethnic lines which are the opposite of the outcome some chauvinist fanatics are looking four. The Ethiopian Muslims are under a constant threat both from the church and the government when it comes to the question of their Allah given rights. But some in the Ethiopian church (Mahbre Kudusan) think that Muslims are getting away with much more than they are entitled. And we Muslims are challenging the system to get our rightful place in the affairs of the nation. If this disagreement is not resolved properly, I am afraid the light we are seeing at the other end of the tunnel is nothing but a freight train.

We Muslims have been repeatedly told by our Christian brothers and sisters that we have lived as good neighbors with mutual respect and understanding. Although the sentiment has some merit, much of the understanding and respect came from the Muslims. I am sure the Muslim of Bosina were told by their Serbian neighbors stories along the same lines until that fateful event for the Muslims arrived and paid dearly with their lives. Times have changed for us Muslim Ethiopians and we are no more content with the status-quo. Following the dictates of the constitution, we are demanding our equal rights and our rightful place in the nation as equal with all others; and for that we are confronted with obstacles and intrigue from different corners. It is the duty of the government to safeguard and protect the right of every citizen and it is the responsibility of every citizen to respect others and not infringe on that right and make a mockery of each other beliefs.

The government has a burden of protecting its citizens from malicious and hateful elements in the population and the church should be responsible for elements that are speaking on its behalf. I hope I am wrong but it is my feeling that the government is not paying much attention and the church is tacitly approving what is being done judging from its past activities. I am praying that decent elements from the government and the church will prevail in the matter to spare our people another episode of calamity that is waiting to fall.

[EEJ] It was at the end of last year, when many Muslims were alarmed by intesifying provocations. Back then, that I though Ethiopian Muslims need to handle this provocations with wisdom. Back then I wrote an artice on this to remind the readers of the way Dutch muslims handled the right wing Wilderss of Dutch parliamentairian provocation. In fact,last week, Amsterdam appeal court ruled that Wilders should be prosecuted for inciting hatred.

Contrary to the expectations of many us, the provocations are intensifying and they appear to be well organizedand fininced. So, I liked once gain to write another article but I thought I could not write better to get the message through-so decide to paste it below again-.Muslims need to have deeper insight and very cautious of getting emotional.

Why in the first place there is such provocations? Why it has continued for such a long time and getting so blatant? Are we being provoked to React? If yes, then why? Do we really need to react , then? Only then we would understand how to defeat such bigots. And we don’t have to forget that there are setutaions where denying attention to could lead to an irricoverable defeat a provocator.

I would rather add, Muslims should stress on the constitutional right of equality and justice, freedom of worship , freedom to believe as well as freedom to teach (preach) . I would rather have a consititution that guarantees aboslute freedom-rather than a checked one when it comes to religion!!!

Wisdom in the face of religious provocations

Since 9/11 provocation has become a short cut for anti-Islam elements to fulfill their dream. The neocons and the right wing politicians have played a big role in creating the post 9/11 Islamophobia Mixing it with xenophobia, they tried to keep the sentiment against the Muslims as high as possible. With their logic of `don’t trust Muslims`, they gave a?painful stab at the back in front of preset camera to record the crying of the`Muslims extremist `. Unaware of the stab, many ordinary people were deluded to march against the `dangerous Muslim` who is `simply shouting` at them!!

Learned from their previous mistakes, Muslims got the Dutch Islam basher parliamentarian Wilderss, scrambled against them. There is nothing more valuable to Muslims than the Quran, and knowing that he desecrated to pump out the `emotion` ,then to capture that `Muslim shouter` getting ` more louder and more dangerous` to sell it to the general public. Muslims got wiser this time than the Danes one, and they understood that he has no substance but provoke them and use them as scarecrow.

Dutch Muslims defeated and diffused in well organized way the fitna program! The reaction of the Muslims was right from the onset. Wilderss has started promoting the program well before the production, and the media gave a wide coverage. Dutch Muslims, got themselves into the mass media and made their point of view too loud to be ignored. Their argument was simple “Let us have live open debate in civilized way on any issue related with Quran”!! Of course he had nothing to discuss, so his unwillingness to this was where his project started to scramble.

And when he released his program, all the main outlets turned it down.And guess how Muslims reacted, Anger? Emotion? No at all. They reached out ordinary non-muslim peoples with thousands of flowers, and a nice smile . On the top of that they declared the `day of fitna` into an open mosque day, so that all non Muslims could visit them. And in fact many non Muslims came to the mosque, and expressed their solidarity!! And by any standard it was the a dark day for Neocons and right-wingers.

Lessons to Muslim Ethiopians

In our country with no question the neocons are on the rise and there are our own fitna people. Muslim Ethiopians are being provoked in the same fashion. Phobia injection, anti-mosque campaign and subsequence mosque demolition, using Quran as toilet paper, campaigning against Muslim officials (as `Islamic` agents)….. And now, though the census data is business as usual, some are taking the laws into their hand and overwriting the constitution of `Secular Ethiopia` to `Christian Ethiopia`.

They are doing what their counterpart neocons have done in the west. In the very same way and the very same things! Ethiopian Muslims should be wise enough of how to response to such provocation and the Dutch Muslims would remain as a shining examples, of how wisdom and not emotion defeats. Of course they worked hard and sacrificed a lot, and don`t be mistaken about this. They felt the pain when they saw their holy book being abused, but they overcome their emotion. Overcome the emotion and sit?No, not at all?they even worked harder and get their enemy and enemy of humanity defeated in well organized and civilized way, than simply shout and go home. They turned shout energy to work energy with pluses! This is what you may call , wisdom in the face of provocation.