Raja Abdulhaq

Nakba Day in Bay Ridge with @palawda and. @nycpym @raja48 wrapped up the speeches, and let me just say—when he speaks, you stop and pay attention. No matter how long he goes on, his words captivate because he has a way of making it all make sense. He doesn’t just speak, he makes you think. @raja48 words need to be put into action ! Jazakallah Khair @raja48 for putting so much into perspective.

Gaza is being forced into a choice between survival and surrender, but under this reality, both paths lead to the same outcome: subjugation or death.

“When the native is disarmed... colonization becomes a bureaucracy of death.” The Israeli occupation is pushing for Gaza’s disarmament, falsely framing control as stability. @Raja48 explains how this is a colonial tactic to fully subjugate Gaza.

The Israeli occupation is conditioning access to aid and reconstruction in Gaza on disarmament. Is this a humanitarian pathway or enforced surrender?

Disarmament or death…the impossible choice facing Gaza

It's not that Trump can't contain Netanyahu, this is part of strategy since 10/7. The US and Israel play different roles of deception and containment to manage the war against Axis of Resistance. During the Biden period, many redlines and deadlines were communicated as a way to buy Israel time and contain dissent, including invasion of Rafah and weekly news of imminent ceasefire. This conflicting rhetoric about whether Lebanon is included in the ceasefire isn't an accident, it's a calculated tactic to stop Iran from retaliating as Israel attempts to eliminate Hezbollah in Lebanon. The US and Israel understand that to maintain their hegemony in the region, the the Axis of Resistance must be eliminated through a tactic of isolation and separation of "fronts." The horrific attack on Lebanon today achieves 2 things. First, it's meant to target the popular infrastructure of Hezbollah to isolate the resistance from its base, making resistance a costly endeavor. Second, it's meant to test Iran's temperature to see how desperate they are for a ceasefire devoid of any material gains. If Iran retaliates, then the war is back without any strategic loss for the US or Israel. If it doesn't, they succeed in deterring Iran without making any political capitulation. This is an existential situation for Iran. Its best course of action is a massive retaliation or they will face a harsher round of war to complete what the US and Israel started: the total elimination of the resistance, spiritually and materially.

Introducing our featured panelists for our upcoming discussion on Post-Colonial Resistance across regions, from the Caribbean to the Middle East! We are so honored and lucky to be joined by these wonderful panelists and can’t wait to learn from them with you, this Friday at 5PM in Lawrence Hall!

The obsession of "civility" by Muslims grassroots and religions leaders is crippling our collective imagination as an Ummah. When we are forced to respond to political and epistemic violence using the tools defined by the oppressors, we will be stuck in the same cycle forever.

Did Iran’s strikes force the US to step back from war?

Trump couldn't have declared the end of the war on Iran yesterday even if he wanted to. According to the US, the objectives of the war were centered on regime change and the liquidation of ballistic missiles program. None of these objectives were accomplished. On the contrary, Iran seems more resilient with strong decentralized leadership hierarchy along with the ability of firing missiles at Israel nonstop. As such, ending the war now signals a total defeat to the US and Israel. Following the US retreat from Afghanistan and the collapse of Israel invincibility on October 7, they both can't afford another defeat by an actor like Iran. Since the strategy for the US and Israel after October 7 has been the annihilation of Axis of Resistance, starting with Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran's destruction was the last piece of the puzzle to impose Israel's regional superiority over all actors. The failure to subjugate Iran, coupled with the rise of Hezbollah after the massive blows it received, brings Israel and the US back to square one: the resistance to their hegemony in the region remains powerful. While Trump might still pull out of the war without a resounding victory, the US can't afford a humiliating defeat because of the strategic impact on the reputation of the empire, especially as the US prepares for future conflict with China. Hence, Trump might intensify the attacks on Iran, potentially including boots on the ground, in an attempt to cause as much damage to Iran as possible to save what's left of American deterrence. In conclusion, even if the war was started by Trump without the approval of the bureaucracy, it's now in the hands of the imperialist bureaucracy to restore American deterrence and Israeli regional superiority to save the American empire from crumbling.

Quran[.]com removes Mishary Alafasy as the default reciter across the site. This is an important step as Quran shouldn't be associated with someone who provides religious cover for tyrants and oppressors. Our digital spaces must reflect values of Islam, not treacherous politics.

I really don't understand how can some mosques in the US remain silent on Iran and not even make Duas for it while it faces an existential threat by the same government we pay taxes to. How could the Khateeb make Duas for the whole Ummah, naming specific countries except Iran during this American and Israeli aggression? Even if you hold deep wounds regarding Syria because of Iranian leadership, what about the Iranian people? Aren't they Muslims and part of the Ummah? They don't deserve for us to remember them with our Duas? At a moment when the US and Israel unleash a ghoulish war against our Ummah to subjugate it, how can we not even do the bare minimum of remembering the victims of the war? Isn't that silence indirectly aiding the oppressors of the Ummah? If the US and Israel break Iran, the whole Ummah will be exploited regardless of their position on Iran or Syria. This is a moment to put our differences and wounds, no matter how deep, to the side and prioritize our survival against this aggression that won't leave any of us safe.