Ramadan notes

1. Ramadan is the fourth of the five pillars of Islam.
2. Fasting is intended to help teach Muslims self-discipline, self-restraint and generosity.
3. Fasting has been widely practised at all times of man’s religious history.
4. The Islamic fast is incumbent on every healthy adult, man or woman.
5. It was the practice of the Prophet to spend several days and nights during Ramadan in the mosque, devoting himself to prayer and meditation to the exclusion of all worldly activities.
6. The observance of several of the religious obligations instituted by Islam - like the fast of Ramadan, or the pilgrimage to Mecca - is based on the lunar calendar, in which the months rotate through the seasons of the solar year.
7. Observing Ramadan is one of the "five pillars of Islam".

Ramadan notes

01 07 2014

1. For Muslims Ramadan is a period of introspection.
2. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and the holy month of fasting.
3. Ramadan begins and ends with the appearance of the new moon.
4. On the night of 27 Ramadan—the “Night of Power” (Laylat al-Qadr)—Allah revealed to the Prophet Muhammad the Qurʾān.
5. Allah forgives the past sins of those who observe the holy month with fasting.
6. The iftar usually begins with dates or apricots and water or sweetened milk.
7. Muslims in some communities ring bells in the predawn hours to remind others that it is time for the meal before dawn, called the suhoor.
8. Ṣawm can be invalidated by eating or drinking at the wrong time.
9. Able-bodied adults fast during the daylight hours from dawn to dusk
10. Pregnant or nursing women, children, the old, the weak, and the mentally ill are all exempt from the strictures regarding fasting.

introspection: examination of one's own thoughts
stricture: a restriction

US Drones Making Pakistan More Dangerous

When the militants claimed responsibility for carrying out brazen attacks on the country’s busiest airport on 9 June, the unmanned CIA aircraft hit their hideouts in North Waziristan. According to the international news agency Reuters, two top officials of the government of Pakistan told on condition of anonymity that Washington was working in tandem with Islamabad. The latter gave “express approval” to the Americans to carry out drone strikes inside Pakistan.

Some clues suggest that the above piece of news may be spot on. At first the ministry of foreign affairs stated that no drone strikes have been carried out on Pakistan soil. The prime minister, the defence minister and other top officials at the helm did not condemn the US strikes as a violation of the country’s sovereignty. Also, given that last year the US halted drone strikes at our request, now it is reasonable to believe that the Americans have resumed them on our government’s request.

There are two prisms through which we can see the use of the armed drones. The CIA conducts covert drone operations to hit the militants who are the enemies of the state and the target of the armed forces too. Which is why the civilian administration approves the drone strikes. According to the UK-based news agency Reuters, the government of Pakistan publicly opposes the drone strikes saying they cause loss of innocent lives and violate the country’s sovereignty, while in private the officials admit the rulers support them. But the fact remains that they violate Pakistan’s territorial integrity. Is there any sovereign nation in the world which will allow the US to use drone strikes as a counter-terrorism measure on its soil?

Instead of requesting the super power to use the remotely piloted aircraft on militants in Pakistan in order to stamp out terrorism, the government should allow the Pakistani military to pounds their havens in Waziristan.

Should the civilian political bosses authorize the US to pound the tribal areas, it will muddy the waters enough to make the fight against militancy harder. A possible danger of strikes is bringing together of the fractured TTP. The insurgents holed up in Waziristan give the impression to those who are willing to listen to them that the government in the saddle right now is the puppet of the US, so holy war against the state is an obligation.

Please check the following website to learn that the government of Pakistan secretly requested the US to carry out drone strikes inside Pakistan.

Drones hit Taliban hideouts in 'joint Pakistan-U.S.' raid, say officials

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/12/uk-pakistan-drones-idUKKBN0EN0TD20140612