Below is an email send to me appealing for help to obtain the release of Sheikh Ali Tamimi. He is a teacher and upholder of the aqeeda of ahl Sunnah wal Jammah. Importantly, he is also someone who understands the religious sciences and secular knowledge, the deen of Islam and the reality of the life in the West. He is in fact a treasure of this ummah, but a treasure purposely buried by the opposer's of divine guidance.
Sheikh Ali Tamimi is someone I have benefited so much from over the years. My "Reaping the Benefits of Ramadan" lecture is based on an article he wrote.
His case is shocking, and illustrates the malicious and malevolent nature of the current US administration and their hypocritical disregard for the values that they claim to espouse.
Remember him in your duas and support him with that which Allah has entrusted you of wealth especially in that which remains of this blessed month.
Bismillah at the beginning of this email and at its end.
As you know, this last year has been a test for everyone involved in Ali's case.
By the grace of Allah, Ali has been returned to the local Alexandria jail. But
it was not in the manner in which anyone expected. If fact there is a good
chance that his conviction will be overturned. But Ali needs your help.
After Ali's comprehensive loss in court and abandonment by the previous support
committee, a few people offered to help.
Perhaps they decided to help when they heard that Ali was forced to wear the
same prison outfit for 6 months.
Or maybe it was because Ali had to wash that prison jump suit in the toilet. I
do not know how he prayed afterwards. I do not know of a Fiqh chapter on
"praying after you wash your clothes in the toilet". Do you?
Allah did bless him when another prisoner secretly lent Ali a uniform while he
washed his sole outfit in the toilet. Well that only happened after a gang
member with tuberculosis C-- the most virulent strain which currently has no
known cure-- beat Ali.
Perhaps the new group started to help because Ali has been transferred to 5
different prisons in the first 6 months so that his new attorney could not speak
with him.
Then again, it might have been because each prison illegally read Ali's legal
correspondence so that they would know the strategy for the appeal.
We can probably count 100 different reasons why 1 or 2 people are helping now.
But Allah is more merciful than we were to Ali.
Experts in constitutional law and national security have started to come to
Ali's defense. Though Ali's case was confusing to many of us, it was clear to
legal experts: defending Ali is defending free speech... defending Ali means
trying to stop future oppression of Muslims specifically and Americans in
general.
They ask: "How can a man be convicted for life plus 70 years for something he
may or may not have said years before during a 20 minute dinner?"
You know that type of dinner. Many of you had the same type with Ali during the
80's and 90's. When you call a few brothers over and "break bread" together.
We've tried to explain what's happening with Ali's case on a new site. The old
site altimimi.org still works but has been neglected for too long.
The new site is freeAli.org and it's not complete but it should help Ali's
friends come to his defense... to speak up for Dr. Al-Timimi.
So why did I write you this email? We have a strong chance-- and with Allah is
success-- to have a new trial or an outright dismissal.
I mention some of the reasons on the new site: http://freeAli.org.
In brief, we're very close to proving that the government intentionally lied to
the court and jury. And that usually means dismissal-- and with Allah is
success.
So what caused this optimism? We found some old documents from the previous
lawyers and got some new legal power with which Allah blessed Ali.
But the old lawyers won't give these documents to us unless we pay some of Ali's
old bills. And the new lawyer needs to be paid.
We need to raise USD 150 000 (one hundred fifty thousand dollars) by Oct 23
which is at the end of Ramadhan 2006. That's the day that Ali has to prove that
the government spied on him and then hid evidence that shows that Ali was
working with some of the Saudi scholars to avoid a "clash of civilization" and
not the mad-man they described to the jury.
So, I do not know if we will have another chance like this to help Ali. All I
can tell you is that the lawyers have told us:
"Rescue Ali now and you're rescuing yourselves in the future".
So, we have some of the greatest legal minds of our time working for nominal
fees. They're treating Ali as indigent and are aghast that we all have abandoned
him. He was our friend, our teacher, our relative, and our student.
Perhaps we forgot that defending the callers to the Sunnah is like defending the
Sunnah itself.
Allah knows what’s in the hearts but I think that we can all testify before
Allah and mankind that the Prophet's statement refers to Ali. Which statement?
The one that Ali taught us: “Allah mentions and the angels pray for the teacher
who teaches good to the people”.
So Allah has blessed us with an opportunity in these last days of Ramadhan to
rescue Ali today so that we rescue ourselves tomorrow.
Wassalam alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh wa maghfiratuh