According to recent research carried out by Tesco, the food-banks charity, the Trussell Trust, and food redistribution charity Fare Share, one in five parents in the UK are struggling to feed their children. Many skip meals, while others go without food for days to feed their children, or rely on family and friends for food. 70% of families suffering from food poverty with children in primary school education rely partly on food supplied by schools. Consequently, the upcoming summer school holidays could see a large number of children going hungry. The research also shows that the problem of food poverty in the UK is unlikely to improve in the near future. According to a joint report by Oxfam and Church Action on Poverty published a few weeks ago, the number of people driven through desperation to use food banks that distribute food donated by the public, has trebled in the past year alone. Many charities have attributed this soaring rise of people resorting to emergency food hand outs to feed themselves and their families, to the government's welfare cuts, falling wages, and the economic crisis caused by the flawed capitalist system. The rise of such food banks reflects the capitalist UK government's failure and abandonment of taking care of the most vulnerable people within its society while simultaneously giving tax breaks to the wealthy and bailing out multi-billion banks. This has been coupled with callous statements from high profile UK politicians who have slurred those unable to feed their children adequately or those visiting food-banks, reflecting their contempt for the poor, total lack of concern for the welfare of those they govern, and attempt to absolve themselves and the man-made, secular system they implement of blame for this social crisis. This July, Lord Freud, the wealthy Work and Pensions Minister claimed that those attending food-distribution centres were doing so to opportunistically gain free food rather than out of desperation and real need; while Michael Gove, the Education Secretary suggested that feckless parenting rather than lack of financial resources was to blame for the high numbers of children who attend school hungry.

All this is the result of the destructive capitalist system that creates unstable debt-ridden economies based on borrowing and credit that are prone to collapse and crises, causing high unemployment and inflation, and plunging ordinary citizens and families into desperate poverty. In addition, this detrimental system is characterised by catering to the needs and interests of the wealthy elite rather than the general public, and nurtures mentalities, including those in ruling that view the poor and vulnerable as a burden to the economy rather than those to whom provision of adequate food, shelter and other basic needs is an important duty of the state. Furthermore, it is a system focussed on wealth creation rather than effective distribution of wealth to ensure that all have their basic needs met, and that implements flawed economic policies and an interest-based financial model that causes the rich to become richer and the poor to become poorer. In summary, the humanity of any ideology or society can be judged according to how it treats its most weak and vulnerable. Capitalism has shown that it treats its poor and vulnerable with contempt. It is a dehumanising ideology that sanctifies wealth and financial gain while simultaneously devaluing, ignoring, and disregarding human need.

This raises the question as to why the governments of the Muslim world insist on continuing to implement and pursue the capitalist and other man-made systems upon our Muslim lands. Even after Arab uprisings, new leaderships in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen continued to put their trust in the capitalist system and policies to build their economies and states, even though this same system and policies had impoverished and oppressed the Muslim world for decades. The consequence has been deteriorating political and economic lives for the people of the region, including for its women and children. According to a report published this June by the UN World Food Program, malnutrition due to poverty is causing 11% of the child mortality rate amongst children in Egypt. In Yemen, a humanitarian crisis is intensifying with a quarter of women between the ages of 15 and 49 being acutely malnourished and struggling to feed their families, and 10 million Yemenis (nearly ½ of the population) not having enough to eat. And undoubtedly, in this month of Ramadan, as in decades past, millions of Muslim women and children will be struggling to find food to start or end their fast.

It is only the Islamic system, implemented by the Khilafah "Caliphate" that can provide the lifeline out of this economic quagmire affecting our Muslim lands. It is a system under which the priority of ‘fighting poverty' is not simply the rhetoric of politicians but rather manifested in the Islamic economic laws and policies that oblige fair distribution of wealth, zakat and the provision of basic needs to all. This is alongside prohibiting the monopolisation of wealth, the exploitative principle of interest, and the privatisation of natural resources such that all benefit from their revenue. It is a system where taking care of the needs of the human being rather than the bank accounts of the wealthy is the focus, and where the Khalifah is commanded to be the guardian of the people and the shade and provider for the poor and vulnerable. It is a state that has a history of eradicating poverty from lands. Under the second Khalifah of Islam, Umar bin Al Khattab, it is narrated that after several years of Islamic rule, Muadh ibn Jabal who was appointed as an envoy to Yemen sent the Khalifah all the zakat that had been collected from the people of Yemen for he could not find any poor person in the province who needed it or would accept it from him. This was the result of the implementation of the just Islamic laws and sound Islamic economic system upon the region that lifted the people from poverty and created widespread prosperity. In this month of Ramadan in which Allah (swt) sent the Qur'an as a Mercy for mankind, we should be reminded that this Mercy can only materialise physically for this Ummah and for humanity in the manner ordained by the Creator through the full implementation of the contents of this Noble Kitaab under the Khilafah "Caliphate" system. Therefore, in addition to excelling in our ibadat (acts of worship) during this Blessed month as believers, we should also set our focus and increase our efforts in carrying the dawah to establish this state upon our Muslim lands.

((وَمَآ أَرۡسَلۡنَـٰكَ إِلَّا رَحۡمَةً۬ لِّلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ))

"And we have not sent you (O Muhammad), except as a Mercy for all of mankind" [TMQ 21: 107]

Dr. Nazreen Nawaz

Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir

Headlines:

• US Bankrolled Anti-Morsi Activists
• Syria Chemical Weapons 'Most Worrying Terror Threat to UK'
• Pakistan Quietly Preparing for Civil War in Afghanistan
• China has World's Most Active Missile Programs, US says

Details:

US Bankrolled Anti-Morsi Activists:

President Barack Obama recently stated the United States was not taking sides as Egypt's crisis came to a head with the military overthrow of the democratically elected president. But a review of dozens of US federal government documents shows Washington has quietly funded senior Egyptian opposition figures who called for toppling of the country's now-deposed president Mohamed Morsi. Documents obtained by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley show the US channeled funding through a State Department programme to promote democracy in the Middle East region. This programme vigorously supported activists and politicians who have fomented unrest in Egypt, after autocratic president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising in February 2011. The State Department's programme, dubbed by US officials as a "democracy assistance" initiative, is part of a wider Obama administration effort to try to stop the retreat of pro-Washington secularists, and to win back influence in Arab Spring countries that saw the rise of Islamists, who largely oppose US interests in the Middle East. A main conduit for channeling the State Department's democracy funds to Egypt has been the National Endowment for Democracy. Federal documents show NED, which in 2011 was authorised an annual budget of $118m by Congress, funneled at least $120,000 over several years to an exiled Egyptian police officer who has for years incited violence in his native country.  This appears to be in direct contradiction to its Congressional mandate, which clearly states NED is to engage only in "peaceful" political change overseas. Colonel Omar Afifi Soliman - who served in Egypt's elite investigative police unit, notorious for human rights abuses - began receiving NED funds in 2008 for at least four years. In an interview with the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley, Soliman reluctantly admitted he received US government funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, but complained it wasn't enough. "It is like $2000 or $2,500 a month," he said. "Do you think this is too much? Obama wants to give us peanuts. We will not accept that." On a YouTube video, Soliman took credit for a failed attempt in December to storm the Egyptian presidential palace with handguns and Molotov cocktails to oust Morsi. "We know he gets support from some groups in the US, but we do not know he is getting support from the US government. This would be news to us," said an Egyptian embassy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. [Source:  Aljazeera]

Syria Chemical Weapons 'Most Worrying Terror Threat to UK':

Al-Qaeda could gain access to Syria's stockpiles of chemical weapons with "catastrophic" consequences, a UK parliamentary committee has warned. The Intelligence and Security Committee's annual report said spy chiefs considered this UK's "the most worrying emerging terrorist threat". They also had no doubt that "vast stockpiles" of chemical weapons had been amassed in Syria, the ISC said. Al-Qaeda and "individual jihadists" were both seen as threats, it added. "There is a risk of extremist elements in Syria taking advantage of the permissive environment to develop external attack plans, including against Western targets," the ISC, which oversees the work of the intelligence agencies, said in its annual report. Protests in Syria, inspired by the Arab Spring which saw changes of government in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, were brutally suppressed by security forces in 2011. The stand-off has since escalated into a civil war which has claimed tens of thousands of lives so far, according to UN estimates. [Source: BBC]

Pakistan Quietly Preparing for Civil War in Afghanistan:

Recognising the realities on the ground leading to fast changing events inside Afghanistan, with no one having a clue to what might happen subsequently after NATO withdraws next year, Pakistan is focusing on how to ‘secure' its own territory, as it does not rule out a ‘civil war' once again. It appears to be ready to face a blowback this time around. It is for this reason that it realises that it is imperative to focus on a ‘contingency plan' and avoid a situation where its own fragile internal security receives a further jolt from its western borders. "It is difficult to understand and uncertainties surround us -- but if nothing moves we are heading towards a civil war (inside Afghanistan) which we want to avoid. Specially, if all reconciliation efforts do not succeed then there is likelihood of civil war. Then there will be a spill over into Pakistan and this will create its own problems, especially from the Pakistan Taliban", said diplomatic sources in a meeting with the media here. It is for this reason, said one of them, that this contingency plan has to ensure a scenario, which ensures that Pakistan's own territory is well protected. As prices of property keep rising in areas outside Peshawar in anticipation of what comes next from across the Durrand Line, at this point the diplomat said the government could not contemplate the number of Afghan refugees that could flow in if there is a civil war. However, there appeared some room for optimism, the diplomat said even though the Afghan Taliban have closed their Qatar office temporarily to protest demands that they remove a sign which said that the Qatar office was that of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. "This could just be a ‘tactical' move by the Afghan Taliban to get noticed. The situation was mishandled in Qatar. However, talks can still be held in places other than the Qatar office, and also talks with the Northern Alliance can be held separately", added the diplomat. Another ‘tactical' move that Pakistan points out is when out of sheer frustration with Hamid Karzai, Obama has threatened considering speeding up the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, ensuring that there would be none left after 2014. Pakistan is also getting a sense that some Taliban groups are getting tired of the war and efforts should be made to get other such like-minded groups to support them. "Otherwise the hardliners will take over," he said. His comments came at a time when the Pakistani Taliban announced the dismissal of its spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, signaling a further split amongst the militants.[Source: News International]

China Has World's Most Active Missile Programs, US Says:

China's military has the world's "most active and diverse ballistic missile program," with an expanding inventory of nuclear warheads that can reach the US, according to a Pentagon intelligence report. The arsenal includes a new submarine-launched JL-2 ballistic missile that will for the first time let Chinese submarines target parts of the U.S. from near China's coast, the National Air and Space Intelligence Center said in a new assessment obtained by Bloomberg News. China is boosting its missile program under a broader military modernization plan that's seen the country's defense spending more than double since 2006. China's neighbors including Japan and the Philippines have expressed concern that its government is becoming more aggressive in the region, as the U.S. also puts new emphasis on forces in the Asia-Pacific. Some of China's weapons are "specifically designed to prevent adversary military forces' access to regional conflicts," the report said. It's an update to one released in 2009. China is developing and testing new missiles, upgrading older systems, forming new missile units and working on ways to counter missile defenses, the report said. The number of Chinese nuclear warheads capable of hitting the U.S. "could expand to well over 100 within the next 15 years," it said. [Source: Bloomberg]

Abu Hashim

The tour by President Obama of America to several African countries which culminated in Tanzania has become the big talk for many, especially the thinkers. Some have gone to the extent of claiming that the tour is one of consolation, success and blessings of humanitarian aid and business for the toured countries and Africa in general.

O Muslims of Pakistan!

As we seek to secure Ramadhan's many rewards, let us remember for centuries this Ummah rushed to secure Islam's most significant victories during this blessed month, whether against the Quraysh of Makkah, the plundering Crusaders, the brutal Tartars or the lowly European hordes of Spain (Andalus). However, this Ramadhan, without Islam as the law of the land