One of the great mysteries of the Quranic reading traditions are their many phonetic irregularities, that seem to have no purpose except to show off some grammatical oddity. One of these is the ʾimālah of al-kēfīrīna. Ibn Ḫālawayh in his Ḥuǧǧah has an interesting discussion. 🧵

The plural of 'disbelievers', besides the now popular kuffār, is also kāfirūna in the Quran. In the genitive and accusative this becomes kāfirīna. Some readers read this (and ONLY this) as kēfirīna.
This is the reading of: ʾAbū ʿAmr, al-Dūrī ← al-Kisāʾī and Ruways ← Yaʿqūb.

In his al-Ḥuǧǧah fī l-Qirāʾāt al-Sabʿ, Ibn Ḫālawayh sets out to rationalize and explain the practices of the seven readers canonized by his teacher, Ibn Mujāhid. He also discusses al-Kēfirīna. Let's translate and give commentary along the way.

"As for the saying of the almighty 'wa-ḷḷāhu muḥīṭun bi-l-kāfirīna'", al-kāfirīna is read with ʾimālah or without ʾimālah whenever it is in the accusative or genitive.

So the explanation is that it is because of the meeting of four kasras within a single word"

"It is the kasrah of the fāʾ, rāʾ and yāʾ -- and the rāʾ can carry two kasras, so they pull the ʾalif, because it is quiscentent, by their strength, so they cause ʾimālah to apply to it".

So lots to unpack here. Where on earth is he getting four kasrahs from?!

1. Institututional religions function as quasi-governments, and either take over the state (Islam), undermine it (Judaism), compete with it (Cathoicism), work with it (Orthodoxy), or Abandon it (Protestantism).

2. Institutional religions resist evolution and reform. Protestant religion continuously reforms by creating a market for sects, that for all intents and purposes, provide messaging for about every half standard of deviation in iq and class - with the same underlying strategy.

3. The Catholic church had the opportunity to reform multple times, and spawned a history different movements including sects, Augustinian Synthesis, Monastic movement, Classical Restoration's Scholasticism, Literacy, the protestant reformation, and the Darwinian revolution.

4. But the Church merged semitic christian and european classical Aryan thought, with the Catechism of of the Church, the catholic encyclopedia, and much of the doctrin is an imitation of european legall structure from the premise of charity instead of natural law's reciprocity.

5. But the institution itself like any bureaucracy dependent on income streams failed the natural law restoration, the Darwinian revolution, and the Romanitc revolution. And tragically failed completely under Vatican Two.

Last October, Israelis were rightly horrified to hear that ~400 acres of forest burned down as a direct result of an IDF training exercise carried out in a nature reserve,despite warnings.
Now look at what happened when the IDF insisted on training in a Palestinian village today:

This is Jinba, a village in Firing Zone 918. Large-scale artillery forces arrived there this AM w/ armored vehicles. In response to @acri_online who reminded them of the damage caused last time, the IDF promised to avoid damaging residents' property. But somehow, this happened:

And this is what some of the agricultural lands looked like this morning, after the heavy armored vehicles flattened them. The residents depend on this land for their livelihood. Several months of hard work can be destroyed in a matter of minutes. (Video: Guy Botavia)

Destroying agricultural fields isn't new. Here's what a Nahal Brig soldier saw in 2004-05: "There was wheat that overflowed beyond the fields, so the instruction [...] that the platoon commander got, or at least what he said to us, [was] to trample."

Here's another picture from this morning, this time from fields belonging to residents of the neighboring Bir al-Eid:

THREAD ON CHINA AND GLOB0HOM0

The conventional understanding of right & left, liberal & conservative, breaks down when applied to China

China, while ostensibly communist, differs from other communist countries and from Western leftist ideology in several important ways.

I.

China's "socialism w Chinese characteristics" is heavily nationalist & even racialist, in contrast to the internationalist & anti-racist bent of Western leftism. They have a clear (though somewhat flexible for political expediency) understanding of who is and isn't Chinese

The Han ethnic majority forms the core of Chinese identity, while other (Asiatic) ethnic groups within Chinese territory are still considered Chinese w equal citizen rights but who will be fiercely repressed if they cause problems (Tibetans and Uighurs)

Everyone else a foreigner

II.

China is fiercely protectionist

Their banning of Western social media served 2 purposes: 1) keep glowy foreign subversion out of their cyberspace, and 2) create domestic alternatives such as Weibo and WeChat for greater economic benefit to themselves

China was let into the World Trade Organization thanks to efforts by Bill Clinton (who took CCP $$$) and George W. Bush. They said China would become more liberal and democratic

I have watched with concern the recent development in Oyo and Ondo States in which quit notices were given to Fulani herders, with the subsequent burning of the property of Fulani herdsmen in some parts of Oyo State.

These happenings have increased the tension and unduly raised the temperature in the country.

The ugly development in these two states are symptomatic of the continued threat to the unity of our country that we have witnessed on a higher scale in recent times and in different parts of the country — including the South-East and South-South zones.

I strongly appeal to all of us to work for peace and take initiatives that can douse the tension. All Nigerians have a responsibility to begin to take measures that will reassure people across board that a united Nigeria will benefit everybody better than a disintegrated country.

The deafening silence by key stakeholders, leaders and others who we think should speak out is worrisome. This silence is a dangerous tell-tale sign that things are wrong. This is not good for our country.

THREAD
What is overlooked in analysis of #RussiaProtest after @navalny's arrest? It's sophistication that the Kremlin has developed in addressing such threats, and lack of realistic strategy by Putin's opponents. Let's put together some unpleasant facts 👇

2/ Of course, it's hard not to be impressed by @navalny's and his family's courage, as well as by energy and scale of protests on January 23. Good summary by @yaffaesque for @NewYorker here:

3/ @navalny's investigation about Putin's palace (>96 million views now!) and street protests are seen as a serious challenge by the Kremlin, which is visible in heavy-handed crackdown on Navalny's team&family, as @HenryJFoy & @maxseddon document here:

4/ Jan 23 protest had the widest geographic coverage (>120 cities all across Russia), and the crowd numbers were significant, particularly in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It's important to note that the price tag for unsanctioned rallies is now higher than before...

5/... and protesters risk much more than 100k people who came to Bolotnaya Square in Moscow back in 2011. Add COVID, and 40k crowd (@Reuters estimate) in the capital will look like a success. But here comes the tricky part.

Essence/existence distinction in Maximus?

Here is the Greek

“Existence” in the Greek is “to einai”. Literally “the thing being”. Same as what St. Thomas uses in the Latin (esse).

He even discusses how form cannot create existence and existence must be added to form to make form actual.

This is hundreds of years before St. Thomas.

POLICE ARREST ABDUCTOR/KILLER OF A SIX-YEAR OLD IN KOGI
•       AS 25 CRIMINAL SUSPECTS MEET THEIR WATERLOO, 5 AK47 RIFLES RECOVERED

Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have arrested one Friday Domozu, 23years native of Jarkama Village, Bassa LGA of Kogi State, the leader of the kidnap gang responsible for the abduction and killing of a six year old, ...

Farida Yahaya ‘m’ at the Gabije Area of Kogi State on 2nd November, 2020. The victim was abducted alongside one Abdulraheem, ‘m’ 14years old who narrowly escaped from the kidnappers den.

Investigations by the Police team revealed that the kidnappers demanded a huge sum as ransom from the family of the little girl before she could be released, but eventually killed her owing to the inability of the family to meet up with their demands.

Efforts by the Police team to rescue the little girl led to the arrest of the principal suspect, Friday Domozu who led the Police Team to a deep forest at Gabije area of Kogi State where the remains of the little girl were recovered.

Revelations of Former FO Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam regarding the role of INGOs endorse James Peck's claims about convergence of US Foreign Policy & Human Rights.

[1]
How INGOs suspiciously operate in Pakistan | A discussion with ex-civil ... https://t.co/zxQWuCEZVy via @YouTube

James Peck in his book, “Ideal Illusions: How the U.S. Government Co-opted Human Rights” argues that US Foreign Policy and human rights industry is interconnected and is being used as an ideological weapon.

[2]

From the moment when Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been signed in 1948 in response to Nazi atrocities, human rights are being used to extend American global reach.

By condemning Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups

[3]

with legal outfits for downplaying economic and social discriminations, Peck reveals that humanitarian interventions in US military adventures in Vietnam, Iraq and other places serve as pretexts for invasions to ‘legalize’ US prerogative of intervention while ignoring

[4]

the illegitimacy of intervention and the violence it causes.

In words of Peck, “The widely heralded rise of human rights is not free of such complications. For the history of human rights in the United States—as a movement, as an impassioned language of good intentions,

[5]

#NigerianPolitics: The inter-tribal hostilities presently brewing in the south-west of Nigeria 🇳🇬 between Yoruba & Fulani people need not happen if all parties are ready to shun dishonesty & allegiance to primordial tribal sentiments. We must not allow an escalation.

That there is a problem of criminals hiding in SW forests is beyond a doubt.These criminals are known to disguise as Fulani people carrying out legitimate cattle herding business in the region. Some of the criminals have also been found to be fulani in times past & recently.

Previous engagements between governments of the region and leadership of the Fulani cattle herders association has not yielded the expected result of reduction in kidnapping along the highways of the region while survivors have always said the kidnappers look 'fulani.'

I have not been kidnapped before but I have had former co-workers who have been kidnapped along the Akure-Owo expressway. They gave similar reports about the ethnicity of their kidnappers.

We must not discount the harrowing experiences of these Nigerians in the name of politics.

Now the simple solution to this not too complex problem has been made surprisingly complicated by the peculiar nature of our politics in Nigeria:

1. We want all solutions to states' problem to come only from Abuja even though we run a federal system.

The subject of true and false prophesying has been raised recently. See @derekradney especially. It’s important because as @PLeithart notes in his fine commentary on 1&2 Kings, Israel’s history is not so much political as it is prophetic.

One example - Ahab. Not only does he despise & reject the three prophets God mercifully sends him, but he embraces the hundreds who falsely prophesy in God’s name. That latter fact is the issue. It’s not that the false prophets are invoking Baal but YHWH.

Ahab’s prophets are false for numerous reasons but let me cite just one. They aimed to reinforce an unholy alliance between Judah’s future king and Ahab’s daughter Athaliah, a disaster that resulted in the attempted destruction of the Messianic hope.

Prophetically backing unholy alliances - defending the union of what God has separated - nearly led to the disastrous destruction of Judah. They are false not simply because of false predictions but because of errant theology.

I’m going to put this as plainly as I can. The Church today is disturbed, divided, and misled because of false prophets. They aren’t false in an obvious sense (or only in a narrow ‘charismatic’ sense) because they operate within otherwise orthodox settings & use orthodox terms.

The revelation that a former officer in Israeli military intelligence’s notorious Unit 8200 has been employed to work in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition is of deep

Unit 8200 is a unit of the Israeli Intelligence Corps, part of the Israeli military. Part of its role includes surveilling Palestinians living under Israel’s belligerent and illegal occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The activities of the unit, which involve blackmail and harassment of Palestinian civilians in violation of international law, have been revealed in large part because of the testimony of brave whistleblowers,

including many who have become refuseniks and now resist the Israeli states’ oppression of the Palestinian people.

Their testimonies have been widely published in The Guardian and New York Times.

Shockingly, whistleblowers within the unit have confirmed that LGBT Palestinian’s sexuality is used to blackmail the unit’s intelligence targets into becoming informants.

Broad, philosophical thread about how a hybrid authoritarian regime like Russia uses repression when citizens protest.

On this day of protests for #Navalny across Russia.

#RussiaProtests (1/21)

First of all, the defining ethical feature of the modern world is that each human life has equal moral worth.

Only the most extreme regimes can disregard - without consequences - that their citizens are cognisant of this.

#RussiaProtests

(2/21)

In Belarus, escalating violence against protestors caused the regime more damage than it had hoped.

Unlike Belarus, where the special police numbers a couple of thousand, the Russian special police can handle vast numbers of protestors.

#RussiaProtests

(3/21)

So could the Putin regime order the special police, the broader national guard, and regular police to round up 10,000 protestors, and adopt Gestapo-like tactics on them?

At this stage, no- the regime would consider that an act of existential self harm.

#RussiaProtests

(4/21)

The regime can take extreme steps with individuals, e.g. Navalny. But it's not ready to universalise this to all citizens.

Moreover, it can't. The bodies of state responsible for organised violence in Russia compete with one another, & aren't part of a vertical system.

(5/21)

THREAD: tomorrow, Jan 25 is the global day of action for Yemen. Here’s a list of everything you can do to support it 🇾🇪👇🏼👇🏼

Show up in person if you can! there are protests happening all over the world. You can look at the action map here and RSVP to one!

Register for the online rally happening tomorrow featuring @mrdannyglover, @jeremycorbyn, @CornelWest , @shireen818 and more! We will be highlighting the importance of ending US/UK/Canadian etc support for the war and the weight of the crisis!

if you can’t get out to a protest, no worries, social media action is super important too! Use these super easy toolkits to take action online.
Here’s one the entire world can use!

Here’s one for the UK! thank you @STWuk ❤️

Among the 4 far right parties in Israel, looks like "New Right" (mildly religious, very hawkish) will run alone and be anti-Bibi

Jewish Home (very religious, mildly hawkish), Religious Zionist Party (very religious, very hawkish), and Otzma Yehudit/Jewish Power (theocratic, genocidal) will run together and be pro-Bibi

The "Religious Zionist Party" used to be called "Tkuma", it was the religious faction of a hawkish, mostly secular coalition called the "National Union". It's legally taken over the National Union's spot in the election registry but jettisoned most of it's secular voters

"Jewish Home" used to be called the "National Religious Party" for most of it's history. It renamed itself in order to gain secular votes but most of those new people left to form "New Right" so now "Jewish Home" is smaller than the old "National Religious Party"

In the last election, New Right, Religious Zionist Party (then called Tkuma-The National Union), and the Jewish Home all ran together as pro-Bibi with Otzma Yehudit running on its own and failing to enter parliament