Abdul Malik Mujahid

I wish Sr. Aminah Assilmi had survived that accident the Friday morning of her death as she did the one in Chicago. But I can see her smiling, still full of plans, because whenever I met her, she had some fantastic ideas about what needed to be done for Islam in America.

Free people control their time and money. Slaves control neither. So let's take charge of ourselves through planning for ourselves now so there is a purpose to our lives beyond the mundane routines of earning and consuming.

Will you live to see 2008? What about June 2007? None of us knows. That's why planning and implementing our plans help us use our short time on this planet wisely. God wants us to live a thoughtful life of hope, working for the future of this world and the hereafter.

One major cause of problems in the Muslim society today is the absence of Shura. The Shura process, if adopted as a personal behavior and nourished by the family as a way of life, will benefit the Ummah.

"Why are there no women speakers?" This is how I came to know her, straight, forceful, full of haya, but not shy when it came to speaking the truth. Polite but firm. May God bless her with the best place in Jannah.

May God help us all. May He guide our president to save the lives of Americans as well as others in our global village. May He comfort the victims. May He change the hearts of the oppressors. May He stop victims from becoming wrongdoers. May He let human beings talk to each other to understand each other. Ameen.

Over 1300 people, mostly boys, were stacked like logs into six army trucks. They were placed face down with their hands tied behind their backs, one on top of another, making a pile of four or five persons deep.