Came across this article today on 'Glorifying Mohammed" from the Free-Minds website ...

http://free-minds.org/salatala


Give your thoughts on this ...

... The page bursts forth with rhymes or lines to nurture minds ... I chase cadence, rhythm and line breaks that sculpt vision and wisdom ... I chase the beauty and bliss of prayer and nothing compares to the reciprocity there ...


- (Gnostic Element)

RUMI ...

If the Friend rose within you,

would you bow?

Indian MJ Tribute ...

Below is the english version

Salaam ... Peace ...

Bangali's love them some Goldfish ... lol ...

Surah Al Nisa (The Women) Chapter 4:34 ...

Men are the support of women as God gives some more means than others, and because they spend of their wealth (to provide for them). So women who are virtuous are obedient to God and guard the hidden as God has guarded it. As for women you feel are averse, talk to them suasively; then leave them alone in bed (without molesting them) and go to bed with them (when they are willing). If they open out to you, do not seek an excuse for blaming them. Surely God is sublime and great

In Honor of … By Saul Williams ...

(Black History Month Children's Poems)


I asked her
to clean up
her room.

She said,
“I’m not a slave.”

“Nuh, duh,” I said
“cause if you were
with that attitude
you’d be dead.”


“No. I would be
like Harriet Tubman
or Sojourner Truth.
And in honor of
Black History Month
I won’t clean up my room!”

“In honor of the maids
who worked long hours
for little pay, who cleaned
and cleaned, and cleaned
and cleaned …
I won’t clean up today!”

“Well, you do know your history”
I said. “Girl, you make me proud

And in honor of your mixed ancestry
you should clean the house.”

When your rage is choking you, it is best to say nothing

(Octavia E. Butler)

When no influence is strong enough to unify people, they divide...
They struggle, one against one, group against group...



-Octavia Butler

Lauryn Hill ... Forgive Them Father ...

Ms. Hill ...

L Boogy killin it at the Apollo ...

Seriously now ????

Malcolm X killer freed after 44 years ...

Thomas Hagan was captured shortly after the assassination of Malcolm X on Feburary 21, 1965.

(CNN) -- Thomas Hagan, the only man who admitted his role in the 1965 assassination of iconic black leader Malcolm X, was paroled Tuesday.

Hagan was freed a day earlier than planned because his paperwork was processed more quickly than anticipated, according to the New York State Department of Correctional Services.

Hagan, 69, walked out of the minimum-security Lincoln Correctional Facility at 11 a.m. The facility is located at the intersection of West 110th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard.

Hagan had been in a full-time work-release program since March 1992 that allowed him to live at home with his family in Brooklyn five days a week while reporting to the prison just two days.

Last month, Hagan pleaded his case for freedom: To return to his family, to become a substance abuse counselor and to make his mark on what time he has left in this world.

He was dressed in prison greens as he addressed the parole board. He had been before that body 14 other times since 1984. Each time, he was rejected.

Hagan was no ordinary prisoner. He is the only man to have confessed in the killing of Malcolm X, who was gunned down while giving a speech in New York's Audubon Ballroom in 1965.

"I have deep regrets about my participation in that," he told the parole board on March 3, according to a transcript. "I don't think it should ever have happened."

Hagan had been sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment after being found guilty at trial with two others in 1966. The other two men were released in the 1980s and have long denied involvement in the killing.

To win his release, Hagan was required to seek, obtain and maintain a job, support his children and abide by a curfew. He must continue to meet those conditions while free. He told the parole board he's worked the same job for the past seven years. He told the New York Post in 2008 he was working at a fast-food restaurant.

A parole officer checked on him while outside prison, and he had to undergo random drug tests.

CNN was unable to reach Hagan for a comment about his release. The Nation of Islam declined comment for this story.

Malcolm X is best known as the fiery leader of the Nation of Islam who denounced whites as "blue-eyed devils." But at the end of his life, Malcolm X changed his views toward whites and discarded the Nation of Islam's ideology in favor of orthodox Islam. In doing so, he feared for his own life from within the Nation.

Malcolm X remains a symbol of inspiration for black men, in particular, who are moved by his transformation from a street hustler to a man the late African-American actor Ossie Davis eulogized as "our own black shining prince."

The ballroom where he was killed has now been converted into The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center. Board Chairman Zead Ramadan said the center doesn't have a position on Hagan's release.

"I personally find it strange that for a couple decades any person convicted in the assassination of such an iconic figure would be allowed such leniency," Ramadan said.

There's outrage among some African-Americans, he said, that he's being released. Would he be set free if he had killed an iconic white leader?

"It's really a struggle for Muslims to contemplate this issue, because our faith and our religion is full of examples where we have to exert mercy," he added. "The Malcolm X story has not ended. His populuarity has grown in death. ... Only God knows why this was allowed to happen."

The center is preparing for a special service next month to celebrate what would have been Malcolm X's 85th birthday. Would the center welcome Hagan if he asked to attend?

"We'd cross that bridge if he called us," Ramadan said, "Think about that: How far-fetched is it that he could meet one of the daughters of Malcolm X? And what's going to happen then? Mercy, fury, anger, emotions -- who knows?"

Killed in front of his family

On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X took to the stage of the Audubon Ballroom, a site often used for civic meetings. His wife, Betty Shabazz, and four children were in the crowd.

"I heard several shots in succession," his wife later told a Manhattan grand jury. "I got on the floor, and I pushed my children under the seat and protected them with my body."

Gunshots continued to ring out, she said. Her husband's body was riddled with bullets. The native of Omaha, Nebraska, was 39.

"Minister Malcolm was slaughtered like a dog in front of his family," A. Peter Bailey, one of Malcolm X's closest aides, told The New York Times on the 40th anniversary of the killing.

The assassination came after a public feud between Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam's founder, Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm X had accused Muhammad of infidelity and left the Nation in March 1964.

"For the next 11 months, there was a pattern of harassment, vilification and even on occasion literally pursuit in the streets of Malcolm by people associated with the Nation," said Claude Andrew Clegg III, author of a biography on Elijah Muhammad called An Original Man.

"Malcolm felt that if Elijah Muhammad snapped his fingers, then he could stop the escalation of the violent tone around the split of the two men. And I think there's some truth to that."

Over the years, the killing of Malcolm X has been the subject of much debate, with conspiracy theories involving the Nation of Islam and others. The Nation of Islam has repeatedly denied any involvement in Malcolm X's assassination.

On a deadly mission

Hagan, then known by the name Talmadge X Hayer, was in his early 20s and a radical member of the Nation of Islam the day he entered the ballroom armed and ready to kill. His allegiance was to the Nation's founder, and he was outraged Malcolm X had broken from its ranks.

After the shooting, Hagan tried to flee the scene but he was shot in the leg. He was beaten by the crowd before being arrested outside.

Last month, he told the parole board he felt the urge to kill Malcolm X because of his inflammatory comments about the Nation's founder.

"It stemmed from a break off and confusion in the leadership," Hagan said. "Malcolm X broke with the Nation of Islam, separated from the Nation of Islam, and in doing so there was controversy as to some of the statements he was making about the leader."

He added, "History has revealed a lot of what Malcolm X was saying was true."

Two other men, Muhammad Abdul Aziz and Kahlil Islam, were also found guilty of murder in 1966 and received 20 years to life. Both proclaimed their innocence. Hagan, who eventually admitted his part in the murder, testified at trial and subsequent parole hearings that both men were innocent. Aziz was paroled in 1985; Islam was freed in 1987.

At last month's parole hearing, Hagan again maintained that Aziz and Islam were not the other assassins. He said it was two other men who helped plot, plan and participate in the killing.

Did they receive orders from the Nation to carry out the killing?

"I can't say that anyone in the Nation of Islam gave us the idea or instructed us to do it. We did this ourselves for the most part, yes," Hagan told the parole board.

Hagan said he received a master's degree in sociology while incarcerated and that helped him deal with his actions from 45 years ago.

"I understand a lot better the dynamics of movements and what can happen inside movements and conflicts that can come up, but I have deep regrets about my participation in that."

He added, "Unfortunately, I didn't have an in-depth understanding of what was really going on myself to let myself be involved in anything like that. ... I can't really describe my remiss and my remorse for my actions -- basically a very young man, a very uneducated man. "

He is still a Muslim but no longer a member of the Nation of Islam. He volunteers at a mosque to help young men. He told the parole board he hopes to become a qualified substance abuse counselor.

His primary mission is to help his four children, ages 21, 17, 14 and 10. He has two other grown children.

"My focus is to maintain my family and to try to make things a little better for them. It's upward mobility, and to encourage my children to complete their education because it's a must."

Library ...

RUMI ...

I cannot sleep in your prescence.
In your absence, tears prevent me.
You watch me My Beloved
On each sleepless night and
Only You see the difference

Looking at my life
I see that only Love
Has been my soul’s companion
From deep inside
My soul cries out:
Do not wait, surrender
For the sake of Love.

If you can’t smell the fragrance
Don’t come into the garden of Love.
If you’re unwilling to undress
Don’t enter into the stream of Truth.
Stay where you are.
Don’t come our way.

All year round the lover is mad,
Unkempt, lovesick and in disgrace.
Without love there is nothing but grief.
In love… what else matters?

Do you want to enter paradise?
To walk the path of Truth
You need the grace of God.
We all face death in the end.
But on the way, be careful
Never to hurt a human heart!

Do you know what the music is saying?
“Come follow me and you will find the way.
Your mistakes can also lead you to the Truth.
When you ask, the answer will be given.”

RUMI ...

You are a lover of your own experience ...

Not of me ...

You turn to me to feel your own emotion ...

Treat a man as he appears to be, and you make him worse

But treat a man as if he were what he potentially could be

and you make him what he should be

- Goethe -

Tagore ...

The flower which is single need not envy the thorns that are numerous

What we speak becomes the house we live in
Who will want to sleep in your bed if the roof leaks right above it?
Look what happens when the tongue cannot say to kindness
"I will be your slave"


- Hafiz

Bruce Lee ...

Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked,

while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind

You yourself are your own barrier ... rise from within it - (Hafiz)

RUMI ...

"Almond Eyes Hears The Dove's Cries "

available now on Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/Almond-Hears-Doves-Cries-ebook/dp/B003CT334G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AZC9TZ4UC9CFC&s=books&qid=1270504187&sr=1-1

Kevin Bales ... How to combat modern slavery ...

If you have some spare time, kindly please view this video from a TED Conference. Perhaps you may be amongst those who help to end modern slavery. Be apart of the change (even as minuscule as an atom) that you want to see in the world.

For Haiti (Poem) ... By Jafar Alam ...

Dear Thursday,
How we gonna do this?
A broken truth results in a broken heart

Dear Self,
The world goes on with and without you
Within and without you

Words are words
And actions are actions

You
Are magic made

Dear Haiti,
It's about that water
I'm all about bringing you this water
Hold tight babe, we gotchu

I speak of YOU as ME
Of I as US

When did we remove ourselves from each other?

If I shine, we all gon shine

The revolution starts with love

Dear Love,
Hold me like a revolution

And who says you can't be a revolution all unto yourself?

Dear World,
Wake the hell up

It serves us nothing to argue with each other
About why tragic events occur

What matters
Is what we do to respond to these matters

Lets vibe for a minute, shall we?

Things serve their own purpose
It's not our job to argue purpose

It's our job to live
To live abundantly and with humility for each other
Yes?

Maybe this is a sign
A sign that we are too isolated from each other
Maybe ...
Maybe they were all signs

The test of our character is what we'll do
Once we've seen the cheekbones of suffering
After we've seen the sweat of its brow

Remove the debris and rubble so you can be free
And when you get free, reach back and help someone else

The pendulum of the mind alternates

It's much easier to keep track of the truth

No right mind
Would wrong you

Turn the page
And write a new chapter

I squint to read what is written
On the faces of these ungrateful days

Deep in your heart is a mind

Our life
As it nears us
Is an inescapable reflection of how we look at it

Tomorrow holds
Tomorrow holds all
Tomorrow holds all that is possible

Haitians
They have stories

They have stories
But no one that will listen

They have secrets

They have secrets
But no companion to keep it

Show me a scar
And I will kiss its face

And just cause they're breathing,
Don't mean they're living

Freedom ‘aint for free

Let's die to the past every moment

The confusion
Confuses me

Every tongue will have to confess

The conversations getting lonesome

The depth of certain thoughts, untouched by words

An ocean of formless feelings

I understood the word of the wind and the trees

A child
Is crying on the street
Her tears could be my own

Walking on blood stained soil
Their smiles collapsed

And don't speak to me of LOVE
If you don't know BROKEN

And don't pretend to care about something
Just cause everyone else seems to be about it at the moment

You thought it was a joke?

HELL to the NO

The earth is talking back
And she's letting us know the deal

We stand side by side
But we don't even see the same thing

Some days, ask questions
Some days answer

Let inspiration be your drug of choice

Lost in a storm of broken dreams

People ugly from ignorance
And broken from being poor

The earth, rich and pure
Clinging to bodies

We are losing love every hour

People have a right
As human beings
To live

That is our birth right
Not our privilege

And some are in the business of making money

But we
We are in the business of making magic
That's what we do

A little child asks me:
"Where does love come from, and where does it go when it's gone?"

I said:
"Child, you have beautiful words that make my heart cry out for you"

Greed makes
Breast filled revolutions go shirtless

I was hoping they'd bring me flowers
From the last grave they buried their minds


My grandma, she told me:
"In the heart of men, there is a boy weeping for love"

I believe in miracles

In Haiti
The sun shines on darkness

The caged wall sings

They're fixing sidewalks
But hardly any feet to walk on them

Little Haitian boy, eating a mud pie with your sister
If no one told you they loved you today
I love you
I love to love you
Know that you are brilliantly beautiful
You are my melody

I am an offering
Make of me what you will

And know that change requires death
But also produces life

Change is constant
And
God is change

And in case there is a heartbroken individual that comes across my words
There is a new risen consciousness born from the rubble of pain

Rest a while
My child
There will be angels in the morning

And somewhere in Haiti, there is a severe wound miraculously healing
Somewhere in Haiti, a child is dreaming of a family, of a full stomach, of a hug
Somewhere in Haiti, there is a woman breastfeeding an orphan
And somewhere a grandfather is singing a prayer to calm his people before rest
And somewhere there is a child still surviving under the rubble, being saved

There are angels everywhere

And we have not stopped praying

And I want to want to
Pray for cold hearts to be warmed
For the impossible to make believers out of non believers
To pray for a miracle

Write your name on every pain
Sadness hunts murdered dreams

Love …
Love is a friend left in exile

O faces of beauty
Give your features some meaning

You sit under night’s lantern
Sad for your sadness

The streets are empty
Like death

And what do I know
About the pain of death?

I don't even know
About the pain of birth

And I swear by The Living God
That we are losing the race against time

And where did they magically find
These American soldiers in Haiti?

I'm just saying, that
If they treated American citizens like refugees
In New Orleans
Then how do you think they'll treat Haitians?

I guess they sent soldiers to save face and to
Politely control a nation through its suffering

And it's not really the soldiers
It's the people that sent them
Soldiers are meant to carry out orders
No matter how good

America's greed, doesn't just end at oil
It never even began there
It was always about land and power

And all you have to do is consider any great leader
That doesn't support the agenda of American colonization
And you'll understand the depth of this system

Soldiers are bred to kill or be killed
They're not bred to empathize and heal
And they felt good, because they sent soldiers to Haiti?

You don't send soldiers to a country to heal people
Weakened by hunger and deprivation

And don't call it a conspiracy theory
Just because you're too afraid of the world you live in

Some things are just real

Some things
are just REAL

Speak to the force within you
That which is trying to escape and set free
Let it fly

Let us have a
World-driven vision

You already know what it is

We are greatness bound
It was written

A victim offers me a cup of her salty tears

I used to know these three chicks:
Shoulda, Coulda and Woulda
And boyyy did they love to waste time

In my head
I hear their screams sound like multiple stabs in my ear

Her people are prisoners
Their words taken away

They are cell mates and soul mates

But in the silence

Who
Will speak for them?

Dear Thursday
Dear Self
Dear Haiti
Dear Love
Dear World

Thanks for listening

PEACE ©




(Almond Eyes Hears The Dove's Cries, pg.279)

Arundhati Roy ...

At a time when opportunism is everything

When hope seems lost

When everything boils down to a cynical business deal

We must find the courage to dream

To reclaim romance

The romance of believing in justice

In freedom and

In dignity

For everybody

Howard Zinn ...

Historically, the most terrible things

War, Genocide, and Slavery have resulted

Not from disobedience

But from obedience

Use your voice and your freedom to demand freedom

For the voiceless in Palestine

Speak until justice wakes

This organization mentioned me on their website ...
Thought it was interesting ...

http://www.bobbysandstrust.com/archives/1689

Thirst For Change

Live this life like a traveller

Bangladesh ...

The market in the town of Sarankhola was wrecked by the cyclone

BANGLADESH

PALESTINE

Inspired by the genius of Banksy and the perpetual, revolutionary words of Bobby Sands.

"They will not criminalise us, rob us of our true identity, steal our individualism, depoliticise us, churn us out as systemised, institutionalised, decent law-abiding robots. We refuse to lie here in dishonor! We are not criminals, but Irishmen! This is the crime of which we stand accused. Never will they label our liberation struggle as criminal...Our revenge will be the laughter of our children."
- Bobby Sands

We refuse to lie here in dishonor! We are not terrorists, but Palestinians. This is the crime of which we stand accused. Our crime remains that we were born Palestinian.

The artwork is by graphic designer, Basmah Felemban!
http://www.basmah.co.nr/

Ben Gurion was sadly mistaken, for he underestimated the indomitable will of the Palestinian people when he arrogantly asserted that “the young will forget”, because despite heartache, pain, and suffering, we will never relinquish a dream so imbedded in our hearts and minds. Yes, the old may die, but the young will never forget, and our ultimate revenge will be the laughter of our future generations to come, those who will carry on this dream and fight. You see, this dream will live on in the hearts of generation after generation; it is a fire burning inside our hearts that cannot be extinguished. What we say today will be our life-long commitment.

"Our revenge will be the laughter of our children."
-Bobby Sands

This intifada is defined by:

1) VERBAL ROCKS,[vur-buhl rok]: 1.noun [root, Civil Unrest] an expression launched from the cognitive abilities of a revolutionary against the institutionalized language of an oppressor. 2. verb [root, Activism]: to Verbal Rock is to celebrate the diverse attributes of language and expression, and to highlight its unique strengths and creativity as a means of resistance to oppressive entities in a celebratory manner
See Also: Oppressors of Your Mind.
See Also: Slingshot of the Mind.

2) SLINGSHOTS OF THE MIND, [sleng-shot of the mynd] noun [root, unconventional education]: the strongest weapon known to man is this; that which launches factual and intelligent knowledge and targets the inconsistencies of the various Goliaths of society.
See Also: David and Goliath

Liberate your mind and shake off the system that oppresses it.

RUMI ...

Walk patiently through this troubled world

And you will find great treasure

Even though your house may be small

Look within it

Almond Eyes Hears The Dove's Cries ... By Jafar Alam ...

Almond Eye's Hears The Dove's Cries is officially on sale now !!!

Available for purchase on Sony, Kindle and Xlibris

(https://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.aspx?bookid=75053)

Best ad I've seen in a while ...

The one you are looking for is the one who is doing the looking ...

Redemption Song ...

RUMI ...

Love is the order of the universe and we are its atoms
It is the ocean and we are its drops

Through love the heavens are brilliant
Without love even suns and moons are eclipsed

Today is beautiful. The sun is out the air is warm. I have an Oreo cookie and a cozy room to sit and type inside of. Today is a good day. I can hear the birds outside talking back to the clouds ...

Red Dawn ...

"I can't remember what it was to be warm. It seems a thousand years since I was a small boy in the sun. How did I come to this high, desolate place where there is nothing but loneliness? So much is lost. I want to look into your eyes and forget. It all seems so far away: a warm house where my shadow never falls; your long, black hair in my hands. There is no more revolution, only you to come back."


-Colonel Ernesto Bella

RUMI ...

As a lovesick nightingale,

you flew among the owls

Then came the scent of the rose garden
and you flew off to meet the Rose

Fall of Rain ...