An Imam (, ) is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the Imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque Imam if they have a religious question. In smaller communities, an Imam could also be the community leader.

The Sunni branch of Islam, whereto approximately 90% of Muslims adhere, does not have a clergy and therefore an Imam is not a cleric like that of a Christian priest. In the Shi'a branch of Islam, the concept of an Imam occupies a much more central religious position.

Sunni Imams

The Sunni branch of Islam does not have Imams in the same sense as the Shi'a. In every day terms, the Imam for Sunni Muslims is the one who leads congregational Islamic worship and prayers, and the Friday sermon is most often given by an Imam.

The term is also used for a recognized religious scholar or authority in Islam, often for the founding scholars of the four Sunni madhhabs, or schools of religious jurisprudence (fiqh). It may also refer to the Imams who created the sciences related to Hadith or it may refer to the heads of the Prophet's descendants in their times. In other words, Imam Ali, referring to Ali ibn Abi Talib, is a phrase commonly used by both Shi'a and Sunni Muslims, though with different connotations.

Those who are considered Imams in the context of scholarly authority by Sunni Muslims, are listed below:

Shi'a imams

In the Shi'a context, imam has a meaning more central to belief, referring to leaders of the community. Twelver and Ismaili Shi'a believe that these Imams are chosen by God to be perfect examples for the faithful and to lead all humanity in all aspects of life. They also believe that all the Imams chosen are free from committing any sin, infallibility which is called ismah. These leaders must be followed since they are appointed by God.

Twelver

Here follows a list of the Twelvers Imams:

{|class="wikitable" width="60%" style="background:#ffffff;" |- style="border-bottom:3px solid #CCCCFF" ! Number !! Name(Full/Kunya) !! Title(Arabic/Turkish) !! Birth–Death(CE/AH) !! Importance !! Birthplace (present day country) !! Place of death and burial |- |1 |Ali ibn Abu Talibعلي بن أبي طالب

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Abu al-Hassan or Abu al-Husayn أبو الحسین or أبو الحسن |Amir al-Mu'minin(Commander of the Faithful)

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Birinci Ali |600–661 |The first Imam and the rightful successor of the Prophet of all Shia; however, the Sunnis acknowledge him as the fourth Caliph as well. He holds a high position in almost all Sufi Muslim orders (Turuq); the members of these orders trace their lineage to Muhammad through him. Buried at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, Iraq. |- |2 |Hassan ibn Aliالحسن بن علي

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Abu Muhammadأبو محمد |al-Mujtaba

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Ikinci Ali ----3–50 |He was the eldest surviving grandson of Muhammad through Muhammad's daughter, Fatimah Zahra. Hasan succeeded his father as the caliph in Kufa, and on the basis of peace treaty with Muawiya I, he relinquished control of Iraq following a reign of seven months. |Medina, Saudi Arabia Buried in Jannat al-Baqi. |- |3 |Husayn ibn Aliالحسین بن علي

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Abu Abdillahأبو عبدالله |Sayed al-Shuhada

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Ūçüncü Ali ----4–61 |He was a grandson of Muhammad. Husayn opposed the validity of Caliph Yazid I. As a result, he and his family were later killed in the Battle of Karbala by Yazid's forces. After this incident, the commemoration of Husayn ibn Ali has become a central ritual in Shia identity. |Medina, Saudi Arabia ----Dorduncu Ali ----38 ----Besinci Ali |Medina, Saudi Arabia (the Trustworthy) ----Altinci Ali |Medina, Saudi Arabia |al-Kazim ----Yedinci Ali He established the network of agents who collected khums in the Shia community of the Middle East and the Greater Khorasan. |Medina, Saudi Arabia ----Sekizinci Ali ----Dokuzuncu Ali ----Onuncu Ali Buried in the Al Askari Mosque in Samarra. |- |11 |Hassan ibn Aliالحسن بن علي

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Abu Muhammadأبو محمد |al-Askari ----Onbirinci Ali |Medina, Saudi Arabia |- |12 |Muhammad ibn al-Hassanمحمد بن الحسن

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Abu al-Qasimأبو القاسم |al-Mahdi, Hidden Imam, al-Hujjah ----Onikinci Ali ----255–unknown |Samarra, Iraq |According to Shia doctrine, he has been living in the Occultation since 872, and will continue as long as God wills it. |- |}

Fatimah, also Fatimah al-Zahraa, daughter of Muhammed (615–632), is also considered infallible but not an Imam. Many Shi'a believe that the last Imam will one day return.

Ismaili

See Imamah (Shi'a Ismaili doctrine) and List of Ismaili Imams for Ismaili Imams.

Zaidi imams as rulers of Yemen

In the Zaidi Shiite sect, Imams were temporal as well as spiritual leaders who held power in Yemen for more than a thousand years. In 897, a Zaidi ruler, Yahya al-Hadi ila'l Haqq, founded a line of such Imams, a theocratic form of government which survived until the second half of the 20th century. (See details under Zaidi, History of Yemen.)

See also

Shia Imam

Women as imams

Mullah

Footnotes

References

External links

A brief introduction of Twelve Imams

A Brief History Of The Lives Of The Twelve Imams a chapter of Shi'a Islam (book) by Allameh Tabatabaei

The Twelve Imams Taken From "A Shi'ite Anthology" By Allameh Tabatabaei

A Short History of the Lives of The Twelve Imams

Detailed description of the Shiite belief

List of Sunni Imams

* Category:Clergy Category:Religious occupations Category:Religious leadership roles Category:Arabic words and phrases Category:Titles of national or ethnic leadership

Name	Siraj Wahhaj
Birth name	Jeffrey Kearse
Birth place	Brooklyn, New York CityNew York, United States
Occupation	Islamic scholar
Religion	Sunni Islam
Nationality	American
Website	www.mana-net.org

Siraj Wahhaj (born Jeffrey Kearse, 1950) is an African-American convert to Islam. He is imam of Al-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, New York and the leader of The Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA).

Early life

Siraj Wahhaj was born as Jeffrey Kearse and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His mother was a nurse and his father a hospital dietitian. He went to church very religiously and went on to become a Sunday school teacher as a teenager in a Baptist church. Wahhaj then later went on to the New York University on a partial scholarship. He also played basketball where he met a teammate who interested him in the Nation of Islam (NoI), an African-American movement.

In 1969 he ended his schooling and joined the NoI, changing his name to Jeffrey12x. Imam Siraj says of his interest in the Nation: "It wasn't the theology that attracted me to the Nation of Islam at all... It was the kind of do-for-self black pride."

When Elijah Muhammed died in 1975, "His teachings began to unravel in my mind", and he became a Sunni Muslim with the encouragement of Muhammad's son Warith Deen Mohammed. Mohammed took over and reorganized the NoI, urging members to come to orthodox Islam. Kearse then changed his name again to Siraj Wahhaj, which means "bright light" in Arabic. He was chosen to study Islam at the Umm al-Qura university of Mecca for a period of four months in 1978. He also briefly taught a course in Islamic studies at Howard University, where Johari Abdul-Malik is the chaplain.

Public Life

Siraj is an extremely prolific speaker in America. He makes many appearances at major North American Muslim conventions, and numerous forums and lectures in New England. His audio and video lectures are also popular in America's Muslim community. He is known to encourage Muslims to be God-fearing, enjoing good and forbid evil, practice regular charity, stay away from drugs, abstain from pre-marital relations, and other issues as well. He has also appeared on several national television talk shows and has had interviews with several media outlets.

In 1991 Siraj offered an invocation (opening prayer) to the United States House of Representatives. He was the first Muslim to do so.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hosted Imam Siraj and other notable scholars for a Ramadan feist of lamb, lentils and saffron rice.

Activities

Masjid Al Taqwa Mosque

In 1981 Wahhaj started his own mosque, Masijd Al-Taqwa, in a friend's apartment in Brooklyn. Later they bought an abandoned clothing store which is where Masjid Al Taqwa still resides today. The Masjid has expanded since then and usually overcrowded on days of Jummah (Friday prayer).

Anti drug movement

In 1988 he led his community in an anti-drug patrol in which they staked out drug houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant in the cold of winter for 40 days and nights, forcing the closure of 15 drug houses. This effort received high praise from the New York City Police Department and the media.

Organizational Involvement

Since that time, Siraj has been active in many Islamic organizations. He has been vice president of the Islamic Society of North America since 1997 and has served on the Majlis al Shura, a consultative council of Islamic scholars, since 1987. He is a member of the Board of Advisors for the American Muslim Council and has also served on the national board of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

In 2005 Imam Siraj was elected as the Amir (Chair) of MANA's Diwan (Executive committee). MANA was founded on the independent ideas of many scholars including Siraj Wahhaj, Zaid Shakir, Hamza Yusuf, Talib Abdur Rashid, Asim Abdur Rashid, Ihsan Bagby, R. Mukhtar Curtis, Abdul Hakim Jackson, Amir al-Islam and many others. The organization's initials stand for Muslim Alliance in North America. The organization has since held two conventions in 2007 and 2008, in which the topics community activism, criminal justice and marriage where given great concern.

Recent Speeches

Imam Siraj is still the resident Imam of Masjid Al- Taqwa as well as a speaker across the country. One of his most recent speeches was given on September 5, 2009 during the "United Against Malaria" conference, were he helped to raise money for people of Africa suffering from Malaria. On March 27, 2010, he gave an emotional speech about the Youth at Darul Islah Mosque, in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Lawsuits

A jury threw out Imam Siraj's $5 million (libel) lawsuit against Curtis Sliwa for claiming the mosque had run guns to Canada, after the Guardian Angels had helped the mosque fight a crack epidemic in the 1980s.

Battle with Prostate Cancer

Imam Siraj, having publicly spoken about his battle with hyper tension stated in a letter posted on helpimamsiraj.com that he'd been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer.

As a result of being thoroughly checked by the competent doctors in Atlanta , I have been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Al Hamdulillah, inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajiun. (All Praise is for Allah. Truly, to Allah we belong and truly, to Him we shall return.) My diagnosis is not as bad as it sounds on the surface. Many men have been cured from prostate cancer. My doctors are very optimistic about my cure, and so am I. InshaAllah the treatment should last about two months

Months later Imam Siraj wrote another letter on helpimamsiraj.com where he stated that he was now cured of the disease:

Al Hamdulillah, I'm happy to announce to MANA readers and supporters that my major treatment for prostate cancer has been successfully completed. This has been a major milestone in my life and I thank Allah, Most High, for His purification, love and mercy. Likewise, it is through Allah's love and mercy that my treatment has been paid for with help from so many of you. The generous donations, acts of kindness, duas, and overall love shown to me and my family has been a true blessing and is deeply appreciated. Jazakallah khairan! Your highest reward is with Allah, Most High.

Many of you want to know how I'm feeling. This is an easy question to answer. Al Hamdulillah, I feel very good. I think I'm in very good condition and I actually feel more healthy now than I have in years. I'm exercising everyday, eating healthy and am more conscious of making the best choices for my health. I really feel I'm on the right track in terms of achieving and maintaining a lifestyle of wellness.

In terms of the efficacy of my treatment, my doctor has informed me that we are "right on target". Insha'Allah, after one month I will return for an evaluation, and again three months later for a full examination. With the full examination we will have a good idea of where things are, insha'Allah.

References

External links

Muslim Alliance in North America

Siraj Wahhaj Lectures

ImamSWahhaj.com Official Site for CDs/DVDs by Imam Siraj

Siraj Wahhaj's interview on Australian radio

Imam Siraj Wahhaj on IBN MEDIA

Guide For Humanity

Lectures by Siraj Wahhaj on DVD and CD

Category:Living people Category:1950 births Category:New York University alumni Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Muslim activists Category:African American Muslims Category:American imams Category:21st-century imams Category:American Sunni Muslims Category:Former Nation of Islam members Category:African American converts to Islam

Honorific-prefix	His Excellency
Name	Mahmoud Ahmadinejadمحمود احمدی‌نژاد
Office	President of Iran
Vicepresident	Parviz DavoodiEsfandiar Rahim MashaeiMohammad-Reza Rahimi
Term start	3 August 2005
Predecessor	Mohammad Khatami
Office2	Mayor of Tehran
Term start2	20 June 2003
Term end2	3 August 2005
Predecessor2	Hassan Malekmadani
Successor2	Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf
Office3	Governor of Ardabil
Term start3	1 May 1993
Term end3	28 June 1997
Predecessor3	Hossein Taheri(Governor of East Azerbaijan)
Successor3	Javad Negarandeh
Birth date	October 28, 1956
Birth place	Aradan, Iran
Party	Alliance of Builders (2003–present)Islamic Society of Engineers (1990–present)
Alma mater	University of Science and Technology of Iran
Profession	Civil engineer
Religion	Shi'a Islam
Spouse	Azam Farahi (1977–present)
Signature	Ahmadinajd Signature.jpg
Signature alt	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Website	http://www.president.ir

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( Mahmūd Ahmadinezhād , ; born 28 October 1956) is the sixth and current President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative political groups in the country. An engineer and teacher from a poor background, Ahmadinejad joined the Office for Strengthening Unity after the Islamic Revolution. Appointed a provincial governor, he was removed after the election of President Mohammad Khatami and returned to teaching. Tehran's council elected him mayor in 2003. He took a religious hard-line, reversing reforms of previous moderate mayors. His 2005 presidential campaign, supported by the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, garnered 62% of the runoff election votes, and he became President on 3 August 2005.

Ahmadinejad is a controversial figure both within Iran and internationally. He has been criticized domestically for his economic lapses and disregard for human rights. He launched a gas rationing plan in 2007 to reduce the country's fuel consumption, and cut the interest rates private and public banking facilities could charge. He supports Iran's nuclear energy program. His election to a second term in 2009 was widely disputed and caused widespread protests domestically and drew significant international criticism. Major opposition parties, traditional clerical circles and influential Iranian politicians questioned the legitimacy of his presidency.

Ahmadinejad is an outspoken critic of the United States, Israel, and United Kingdom. He abides by Iran's long-standing policy of refusing to recognize Israel as a legitimate nation.

Background

Ahmadinejad was born near Garmsar in the village of Aradan, in Semnan province, the fourth of seven children. His father, Ahmad, was an ironworker, grocer, barber, blacksmith, and religious Shi'a who taught the Qur'an. His mother, Khanom, was a Seyyede, an honorific title given to those believed to be direct bloodline descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. or "Sabaghian" when Ahmadinejad was four years old to avoid discrimination when the family moved to Tehran, as the rural name indicated a lowly social standing. Sabor is Persian for thread painter, a once common occupation within the Semnan carpet industry. Ahmadinejad was chosen as it means from the race of Ahmad, one of the names given to Muhammad.

In 1976, Ahmadinejad took Iran's national university entrance contests. According to his autobiography, he was ranked 132nd out of 400,000 participants that year, and soon enrolled in the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) as an undergraduate student of civil engineering. He earned his PhD (1997) in transportation engineering and planning from Iran University of Science and Technology, located at Tehran, when he was the Mayor of Ardabil Province, located at the north-west of the country.

Supporters of Ahmadinejad consider him a "simple man" that leads a "modest" life. As president, he wanted to continue living in the same house in Tehran his family had been living in, until his security advisers insisted that he move. Ahmadinejad had the antique Persian carpets in the Presidential palace sent to a carpet museum, and opted instead to use inexpensive carpets. He is said to have refused the V.I.P. seat on the Presidential plane, and that he eventually replaced it with a cargo plane instead. Also upon gaining Iran's presidency, Ahmadinejad held his first cabinet meeting in the Imam Reza shrine at Mashhad, an act perceived as "pious".

Ahmadinejad is married with two sons and a daughter. One of his sons formerly studied at the Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic).

Administrative and academic careers

Some details of Ahmadinejad's life during the 1980s are not publicly known, but it is known that he held a number of administrative posts in the province of West Azerbaijan, Iran.

Ahmadinejad was accepted to a Master of Science program at his alma mater in 1986. He joined the faculty there as a lecturer in 1989, and in 1997 received his doctorate in civil engineering and traffic transportation planning.

Presidency

2005 Campaign

Ahmadinejad was not widely known when he entered the presidential election campaign as he had never run for office before, (he had only been mayor of Tehran for two years and had been appointed not elected), although he had already made his mark in Tehran for rolling back earlier reforms. He is a member of the Central Council of the Islamic Society of Engineers, but his key political support is inside the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran (Abadgaran or Developers).

Ahmadinejad generally sent mixed signals about his plans for his presidency, perhaps to attract both religious conservatives and the lower economic classes. His campaign slogan was: "It's possible and we can do it".

Ahmadinejad was the only presidential candidate who spoke out against future relations with the United States. He told Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting the United Nations was "one-sided, stacked against the world of Islam." He opposed the veto power of the UN Security Council's five permanent members: "It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals. Should such a privilege continue to exist, the Muslim world with a population of nearly 1.5 billion should be extended the same privilege." He defended Iran's nuclear program and accused "a few arrogant powers" of trying to limit Iran's industrial and technological development in this and other fields.

In his second round campaign, he said, "We didn't participate in the revolution for turn-by-turn government....This revolution tries to reach a world-wide government." He spoke of an extended program using trade to improve foreign relations, and called for greater ties with Iran's neighbours and ending visa requirements between states in the region, saying that "people should visit anywhere they wish freely. People should have freedom in their pilgrimages and tours."

Ahmadinejad described Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a senior cleric from Qom as his ideological and spiritual mentor. Mesbah founded the Haghani School of thought in Iran. He and his team strongly supported Ahmadinejad's 2005 presidential campaign.

2005 Election

Ahmadinejad won 62 percent of the vote in the run-off poll against Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei authorized his presidency on 3 August 2005.

2005 Cabinet Appointments

Iran's President is constitutionally obliged to obtain confirmation from the parliament for his selection of ministers. Ahmadinejad presented a short-list at a private meeting on 5 August, and his final list on 14 August. The Majlis rejected all of his cabinet candidates for the oil portfolio and objected to the appointment of his allies in senior government office. The ministers promised to meet frequently outside Tehran and held their first meeting on 25 August in Mashhad, with four empty seats for the unapproved nominees.

2006 Councils and Assembly of Experts election

Ahmadinejad’s team lost the 2006 city council elections, In the first nationwide election since Ahmadinejad became President, his allies failed to dominate election returns for the Assembly of Experts and local councils. Results, with a turnout of about 60%, suggested a voter shift toward more moderate policies. According to an editorial in the Kargozaran independent daily newspaper, "The results show that voters have learned from the past and concluded that we need to support.. moderate figures." An Iranian political analyst said that "this is a blow for Ahmadinejad and Mesbah Yazdi's list."

2009 Presidential Election

, Russia, 16 June 2009]] On 23 August 2008, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced that he "sees Ahmadinejad as president in the next five years," a comment interpreted as indicating support for Ahmadinejad's reelection. 39,165,191 ballots were cast in the election on 12 June 2009, according to Iran's election headquarters. Ahmadinejad won 24,527,516 votes, (62.63%). In second place, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, won 13,216,411 (33.75%) of the votes. The election drew unprecedented public interest in Iran.

2009 Iranian Election Protests

, the election results remain in dispute with both Mousavi and Ahmadinejad and their respective supporters who believe that electoral fraud occurred during the election. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed Ahmadinejad as President on 3 August 2009, and Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term on 5 August 2009. Opposition groups asked protesters on reformist websites and blogs to launch new street demonstrations on the day of the inauguration ceremony. On inauguration day, hundreds of riot police met opposition protesters outside parliament. After taking the oath of office, which was broadcast live on Iranian state television, Ahmadinejad said that he will "protect the official faith, the system of the Islamic revolution and the constitution".

2009 Cabinet Appointments

Ahmadinejad announced controversial ministerial appointments for his second term. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei was briefly appointed as first vice president, but opposed by a number of Majlis members and by the intelligence minister, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i. Mashaei followed orders to resign. Ahmadinejad then appointed Mashaei as chief of staff, and fired Mohseni-Eje'i.

On July 26, 2009, Ahmadinejad's government faced a legal problem after he sacked four ministers. Iran's constitution (Article 136) stipulates that, if more than half of its members are replaced, the cabinet may not meet or act before the Majlis approves the revised membership. The Vice Chairman of the Majlis announced that no cabinet meetings or decisions would be legal, pending such a re-approval.

The main list of 21 cabinet appointments was announced on August 19, 2009. On September 4, Majlis approved 18 of the 21 candidates, and rejected three, including two women. Sousan Keshavarz, Mohammad Aliabadi, and Fatemeh Ajorlou were not approved by Majlis for the Ministries of Education, Energy, and Welfare and Social Security respectively. Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi is the first woman approved by Majlis as a minister in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Domestic policy

Economic policy

In Ahmadinejad's first four years as president, Iran's real GDP reflected growth of the economy. Inflation and unemployment have also decreased under Ahmadinejad due to better economic management and ending the unsustainable spending and borrowing patterns of previous administrations . Ahmadinejad has increased spending by 25 percent and has supported subsidies for food and gasoline. He also initially refused a gradual increase of petrol prices, saying that after making necessary preparations, such as a development of public transportation system, the government will free up petrol prices after five years. Interest rates were cut by presidential decree to below the inflation rate. One unintended effect of this stimulation of the economy has been the bidding up of some urban real estate prices by two or three times their pre-Ahmadinejad value by Iranians seeking to invest surplus cash and finding few other safe opportunities. The resulting increase in the cost of housing has hurt poorer, non-property owning Iranians, the putative beneficiaries of Ahmadinejad's populist policies. The Management and Planning Organisation, a state body charged with mapping out long-term economic and budget strategy, was broken up and its experienced managers were fired.

In June 2006, 50 Iranian economists wrote a letter to Ahmadinejad that criticized his price interventions to stabilize prices of goods, cement, government services, and his decree issued by the High Labor Council and the Ministry of Labor that proposed an increase of workers' salaries by 40 percent. Ahmadinejad publicly responded harshly to the letter and denounced the accusations. Ahmadinejad has called for "middle-of-the-road" compromises with respect to Western-oriented capitalism and socialism. Current political conflicts with the United States have caused the central bank to fear increased capital flight due to global isolation. These factors have prevented an improvement of infrastructure and capital influx, despite high economic potential. Mohammad Khoshchehreh, a member of Iranian parliament that campaigned for Ahmadinejad, said that his government "has been strong on populist slogans, but weak on achievement." President Ahmadinejad has changed almost all of his economic ministers, including oil, industry and economy, since coming to power in 2005. In an interview with Fars News Agency on April 2008, Davoud Danesh Jaafari who acted as minister of economy in President Ahmadinejad’s cabinet, harshly criticized Ahmadinejad’s economic policy: “During my time, there was no positive attitude towards previous experiences or experienced people and there was no plan for the future. Peripheral issues which were not of dire importance to the nation were given priority. Most of the scientific economic concepts like the effect of liquidity on inflation were put in question." In response to these criticisms, Ahmadinejad accused his minister of not being "a man of justice" and declared that the solution to Iran’s economic problem is "the culture of martyrdom". In May 2008, the Petroleum minister of Iran admitted that the government illegally invested 2 billion dollars to import petrol in 2007. At Iranian parliament, he also mentioned that he simply followed the president's order.

While his government had 275 thousand billion toman oil income, the highest in Iranian history, Ahmadinejad’s government had the highest budget deficit since the Iranian revolution.

During his presidency, Ahmadinejad launched a gas rationing plan to reduce the country's fuel consumption. He also instituted cuts in the interest rates that private and public banking facilities could charge. He issued a directive, according to which the Management and Planning Organization be affiliated to the government.

Family planning and population policy

In October 2006, Ahmadinejad began calling for a scrapping of Iran's existing birth control policies which discouraged Iranian couples from having more than two children. He told MPs that Iran could cope with 50 million more people than the current 70 million. In November 2010 he urged Iranians to marry and reproduce earlier, “We should take the age of marriage for boys to 20 and for girls to about 16 and 17.” His remarks have drawn criticism and been called ill-judged at a time when Iran was struggling with surging inflation and rising unemployment, estimated at around 11 percent. Ahmadinejad’s call was reminiscent of a call for Iranians to have more children made by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979. The policy increased Iran's population by 16 million in seven years but was eventually reversed in response to the resultant economic strain.

In 2008, the government sent the "Family Protection Bill" to the Iranian parliament. Women's rights activists criticized the bill for removing protections from women, such as the requirement that a husband obtain his wife's consent before bringing another wife into the family.

Housing

The first legislation to emerge from his newly formed government was a 12 trillion rial (US$1.3 billion) fund called "Reza's Compassion Fund", named after Shi'a Imam Ali al-Rida. Ahmadinejad's government said this fund would tap Iran's oil revenues to help young people get jobs, afford marriage, and buy their own homes. The fund also sought charitable donations, with a board of trustees in each of Iran's 30 provinces. The legislation was a response to the cost of urban housing, which is pushing up the national average marital age (currently around 25 years for women and 28 years for men). In 2006 the Iranian parliament rejected the fund. However, Ahmadinejad ordered the administrative council to execute the plan.

Human rights

]] According to a report by the group Human Rights Watch, "Since President Ahmadinejad came to power, treatment of detainees has worsened in Evin Prison as well as in detention centers operated clandestinely by the Judiciary, the Ministry of Information, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps." Again according to Human Rights Watch, "Respect for basic human rights in Iran, especially freedom of expression and assembly, deteriorated in 2006. The government routinely tortures and mistreats detained dissidents, including through prolonged solitary confinement." Human Rights Watch described the source of human rights violations in contemporary Iran as coming from the Judiciary, accountable to Ali Khamenei, and from members directly appointed by Ahmadinejad.

Responses to dissent have varied. Human Rights Watch writes that "the Ahmadinejad government, in a pronounced shift from the policy under former president Mohammed Khatami, has shown no tolerance for peaceful protests and gatherings." In December 2006, Ahmadinejad advised officials not to disturb students who engaged in a protest during a speech of his at the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, although speakers at other protests have included among their complaints that there had been a crackdown on dissent at universities since Ahmadinejad was elected.

In April 2007, the Tehran police, which is under Khamenei's supervision, began a crackdown on women with "improper hijab." This led to criticism from associates of Ahmadinejad.

Universities

In 2006, the Ahmadinejad government reportedly forced numerous Iranian scientists and university professors to resign or to retire. It has been referred to as "second cultural revolution". The policy has been said to replace old professors with younger ones. Some university professors received letters indicating their early retirement unexpectedly. In November 2006, 53 university professors had to retire from Iran University of Science and Technology.

In 2006, Ahmadinejad's government applied a 50 percent quota for male students and 50 percent for female students in the university entrance exam for medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. The plan was supposed to stop the growing presence of female students in the universities. In a response to critics, Iranian minister of health and medical education, Kamran Bagheri Lankarani argued that there are not enough facilities such as dormitories for female students. Masoud Salehi, president of Zahedan University said that presence of women generates some problems with transportation. Also, Ebrahim Mekaniki, president of Babol University of Medical Sciences, stated that an increase in the presence of women will make it difficult to distribute facilities in a suitable manner. Bagher Larijani, the president of Tehran University of Medical Sciences made similar remarks. According to Rooz Online, the quotas lack a legal foundation and are justified as support for "family" and "religion."

December 2006 student protest

On 11 December 2006, some students disrupted a speech by Ahmadinejad at the Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic) in Tehran. According to the Iranian Student News Agency, students set fire to photographs of Ahmadinejad and threw firecrackers. The protesters also chanted "death to the dictator." It was the first major public protest against Ahmadinejad since his election. In a statement carried on the students' Web site, they announced that they had been protesting the growing political pressure under Ahmadinejad, also accusing him of corruption, mismanagement, and discrimination. The statement added that "the students showed that despite vast propaganda, the president has not been able to deceive academia." It was also reported that some students were angry about the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust.

In response to the students' slogans, the president said: "We have been standing up to dictatorship so that no one will dare to establish dictatorship in a millennium even in the name of freedom. Given the scars inflicted on the Iranian nation by agents of the US and British dictatorship, no one will ever dare to initiate the rise of a dictator." It was reported that even though the protesters broke the TV cameras and threw hand-made bombs at Ahmadinejad, the president asked the officials not to question or disturb the protesters. In his blog, Ahmadinejad described his reaction to the incident as "a feeling of joy" because of the freedom that people enjoyed after the revolution.

One thousand students also protested the day before to denounce the increased pressure on the reformist groups at the university. One week prior, more than two thousand students protested at Tehran University on the country's annual student day, with speakers saying that there had been a crackdown on dissent at universities since Ahmadinejad was elected.

Nuclear program

Ahmadinejad has been a vocal supporter of Iran's nuclear program, and has insisted that it is for peaceful purposes. He has repeatedly emphasized that building a nuclear bomb is not the policy of his government. He has said that such a policy is "illegal and against our religion." He also added at a January 2006 conference in Tehran that a nation with "culture, logic and civilization" would not need nuclear weapons, and that countries that seek nuclear weapons are those which want to solve all problems by the use of force. In a 2008 interview Ahmadinejad elaborated that countries striving to obtain nuclear weapons are politically backward nations and those who possess them and continually make new generations of such bombs are "even more backward".

In April 2006, Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had successfully refined uranium to a stage suitable for the nuclear fuel cycle. In a speech to students and academics in Mashhad, he was quoted as saying that Iran's conditions had changed completely as it had become a nuclear state and could talk to other states from that stand. On 13 April 2006, Iranian news agency, IRNA, quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that the peaceful Iranian nuclear technology would not pose a threat to any party because "we want peace and stability and we will not cause injustice to anyone and at the same time we will not submit to injustice." Nevertheless, Iran's nuclear policy under Ahmadinejad's administration has received much criticism, spearheaded by the United States and Israel. The accusations include that Iran is striving to obtain nuclear arms and developing long-range firing capabilities, and that Ahmadinejad issued an order to keep UN inspectors from freely visiting the nation's nuclear facilities and viewing their designs, a move which would be in defiance of an IAEA resolution. Following a May 2009 test launch of a long-range missile, Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling the crowd that with its nuclear program, Iran was sending the West a message that “the Islamic Republic of Iran is running the show.”

Despite Ahmadinejad's vocal support for the program, the office of the Iranian president is not directly responsible for nuclear policy. It is instead set by the Supreme National Security Council. The council includes two representatives appointed by the Supreme Leader, military officials, and members of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government, and reports directly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons in 2005. Khamenei has criticized Ahmadinejad's "personalization" of the nuclear issue.

Ahmadinejad vowed on February 2008, that Iran will not be held back from developing its peaceful nuclear program and has stated that at least 16 different peaceful uses for nuclear technology have so far been identified.

In October 2009 the United States, France and Russia proposed a U.N.-drafted deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program, in an effort to find a compromise between Iran's stated need for a nuclear reactor and the concerns of those who are worried that Iran harbors a secret intent on developing a nuclear weapon. After some delay in responding, on October 29, Ahmadinejad seemed to changed his tone towards the deal. "We welcome fuel exchange, nuclear co-operation, building of power plants and reactors and we are ready to co-operate," he said in a live broadcast on state television. However, he added that Iran would not retreat "one iota" on its right to a sovereign nuclear program.

Domestic criticism and controversies

Alleged corruption

Ahmadinejad has been criticized for attacking private “plunderers” and “corrupt officials,” while engaging in "cronyism and political favouritism". Many of his close associates have been appointed to positions for which they have no obvious qualifications, and "billion dollar no-bid contracts" have been awarded to the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), an organization with which he is strongly associated.

Other statements

, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]] In June 2007, Ahmadinejad was criticized by some Iranian parliament members over his remark about Christianity and Judaism. According to Aftab News Agency, Ahmadinejad stated: "In the world, there are deviations from the right path: Christianity and Judaism. Dollars have been devoted to the propagation of these deviations. There are also false claims that these [religions] will save mankind. But Islam is the only religion that [can] save mankind." Some members of Iranian parliament criticized these remarks as being fuels to religious war.

Conservative MP Rafat Bayat has blamed Ahmadinejad for a decline in observance of the required hijab for women, calling him "not that strict on this issue". Ahmadinejad has been also accused of indecency by people close to Rafsanjani, after he publicly kissed the hand of a woman who used to be his school teacher.

The UN and football stadiums

Two statements that have brought criticism from some religious authorities concern his speech at the United Nations, and the attendance of women at football matches. In a visit to group of Ayatollahs in Qom after returning from his 2005 speech to the UN General Assembly, Ahmadinejad stated he had "felt a halo over his head" during his speech and that a hidden presence had mesmerized the unblinking audience of foreign leaders, foreign ministers, and ambassadors. According to at least one source (Hooman Majd), this was offensive to the conservative religious leaders because an ordinary man cannot presume a special closeness to God or any of the Imams, nor can he imply the presence of the Mahdi.

In another statement the next year, Ahmadinejad proclaimed (without consulting the clerics beforehand), that women be allowed into football stadiums to watch male football clubs compete. This proclamation "was quickly overruled" by clerical authorities, one of whom, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani "refused for weeks to meet with President Ahmadinejad" in early 2007. President Ahmadinejad accused the head of parliament of violating Iranian constitutional law. He called for legal action against the Parliament speaker. Haddad-Adel responded to Ahmadinejad accusing him of using inappropriate language in his remarks and letters.

Ali Kordan

In August 2008, Dr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appointed Ali Kordan as Iran's interior minister. Kordan's appointment has been criticized by Iranian parliamentarians, media and analysts after it came to light that a doctoral degree allegedly awarded to Ali Kordan was fabricated, and that the putative issuer of the degree, Oxford University, had no record of Ali Kordan receiving any degree from the University. It was also revealed that he had been jailed in 1978 for moral charges. Fabrication of legal documents is punishable in Iranian law with one to three years of imprisonment and in the case of government officials, the maximum sentence (three years) is demanded.

In November 2008, President Ahmadinejad announced that he was against impeachment of Ali Kordan by Iranian parliament. He refused to attend the parliament on the impeachment day. Ali Kordan was expelled from Iranian interior ministry by Iranian parliament on 4 November 2008. 188 MPs voted against Ali Kordan. An impeachment of Kordan would push Ahmadinejad close to having to submit his entire cabinet for review by parliament, which is led by one of his chief political opponents. Iran's constitution requires that step if more than half the cabinet ministers are replaced, and Ahmadinejad has replaced nine of 21.

Conflict with Parliament

On February 2009 after Supreme Audit Court of Iran reported that $1.058 billion of surplus oil revenue in the (2006–2007) budget hasn't been returned by the government to the national treasury, Ali Larijani – Iran's parliamentary speaker – called for further investigations in order to make sure the missing funds are returned to the treasury as soon as possible. Ahmadinejad criticized the National Audit Office for what he called its "carelessness", saying the report "incites the people" against the government. The head of the parliament Energy Commission, Hamidreza Katouzian, reported: The government spent $5 billion to import fuel, about $2 billion more than the sum parliament had authorized. Katouzian quoted Iran's Oil Minister, Gholam-Hossein Nozari, as saying that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had ordered the extra purchase. On February 2009 parliamentary research centre report Iran faces a budget deficit of 44 billion dollars in the financial year starting in March.

"Earthquake Saferoom"

Ahmadinejad was allegedly involved in a fraud in which he along with Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Mousa Mazloum in 2005 published an invention by Farzan Salimi, claiming it as their own. The idea for an "earthquake saferoom"—a design for a fortified room in homes in case of disaster was owned by Farzan Salimi, an Iranian researcher and engineer. In July 2009, the general court of Tehran convicted Industry Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Mousa Mazloum but kept silent about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's involvement, according to Etemad-Melli daily. According to the BBC, Ahmadinejad is named as an author on the cover of the book in which the fraudulent claim was made.

Foreign relations

in Baku.]] in Tehran.]]

During Ahmadinejad's tenure as President of Iran the foreign policy of the country took a different approach from the previous administration. Relations with the West generally soured while relations with other parts of the world, including Africa and Latin America, were on the ascendance. In light of the calls for sanctions on Iran for its nuclear weapons programme, Ahmadinejad and his foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, traveled extensively throughout the two regions, as well as hosted other leaders. Relations with the ALBA states, and Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador, in particular, were most strengthened. Relations with America during the Bush administration and Israel were weakened.

He was embroiled in controversy in regards to statements he made about the Holocaust and for commenting that "the occupying regime" should, according to various translations, be eliminated from or "vanish from the pages of time." Some news sources misinterpreted this as a call for the destruction of the State of Israel when the phrase was mistakenly translated as "wiped off the map,". Experts say the word "map" doesn't even appear in the quote.

He advocates "free elections" for the region, and believes Palestinians need a stronger voice in the region's future. Criticism of him in the West has been coupled with accusations of describing the Holocaust as a myth and of statements influenced by "classic anti-Semitic ideas," which has led to accusations of anti-Semitism, though he has denied these accusations, saying that he "respects Jews very much" and that he was not "passing judgment" on the Holocaust.

In September 2010 he caused yet-another controversy at the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly by claiming that most people believed the United States government was behind the 9/11 attacks and later called for an inquiry, stating: "The fact-finding mission can shed light on who the perpetrators were, who is al-Qaeda... where does it exist? Who was it backed by and supported? All these should come to light." The speech triggered a mass walkout, and the U.S. president Barack Obama described the claims as "inexcuseable", "offensive" and "hateful". In 2010, Ahmadinejad reiterated the 9/11 conspiracy, and wrote:

"Establishing an independent and impartial committee of investigation, which would determine the roots and causes of the regrettable event of 9/11, is the demand of all the peoples of the region and the world. [...] Any opposition to this legal and human demand means that 9/11 was premeditated in order to achieve the goals of occupation and of confrontation with the nations.

On al-Quds Day in September 2010 criticized the Palestinian Authority over its' president's decision to renew direct peace talks with Israel saying the talks are "stillborn" and "doomed to fail", urging the Palestinians to continue armed resistance to Israel. He said that Mahmoud Abbas had no authority to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, fired back, saying, Ahmadinejad "does not represent the Iranian people,..., is not entitled to talk about Palestine, or the President of Palestine"

In October 2010, Ahmadinejad will visit Lebanon. Ahmadinejad plans to throw a rock towards Israel "to demonstrate his hatred". Hizbullah operatives will provide him with security throughout his visit. According to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa Syrian, President Bashar Assad advised Ahmadinejad not to visit southern Lebanon. In response, Ahmadinejad expounded the "strategic importance for him because southern Lebanon is Iran's border with Israel".

See also

Politics of Iran

Haghani Circle

Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi

Advisors to the president: Hamid Mowlana, Mohammad-Ali Ramin, Ali Akbar Javanfekr

2006 Iranian sumptuary law controversy

References

Further reading

"Referral of Iranian President Ahmadinejad on the Charge of Incitement to Commit Genocide" by Justus Reid Weiner, Esq., with Amb. Meir Rosenne, Prof. Elie Wiesel, Amb. Dore Gold, Irit Kohn, Adv., Amb. Eytan Bentsur, and MK Dan Naveh

External links

Official website of the President of Iran

Blog of President Ahmadinejad

Biography by CIDOB Foundation

Video Archive of President Ahmadinejad

Collected news and commentary at The New York Times

Interview with Ahmadinejad in TIME Magazine

The Results As They Came In:

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Category:1956 births Category:Antisemitism Category:Current national leaders Category:Holocaust deniers Category:9/11 conspiracy theorists Category:Iranian governors Category:Iranian anti-communists Category:Living people Category:Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Category:Mayors of Tehran Category:Presidents of Iran Category:Shi'a politicians Category:Iranian civil engineers Category:Islamic Society of Engineers politicians Category:Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran politicians

Category:Arab people Category:Islamic history Category:Shi'a imams Category:626 births Category:680 deaths Category:Assassinated Shi'a imams Category:Ismailism Category:People killed at the Battle of Karbala Category:Martyrs Category:Muslim martyrs Category:Family of Muhammad Category:7th-century caliphs Category:Twelver imams Category:Zaidi imams

Name	Imam Alimsultanov
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Imam Alimsultanov
Born	1957
Died	November 10, 1996
Origin	Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
Instrument	Voice, Guitar
Genre	Music of Chechnya, Folk music, Bard (Soviet Union)
Occupation	Singer

Imam Alimsultanov () (1957 – November 10, 1996) was a popular Chechen bard and folk singer.

Biography

Imam was born in Kyrgyzstan in 1957 to Chechen parents, who had been relocated as a result of the forced deportations of most Chechens and Ingush to Central Asia on February 23, 1944. He returned to Chechnya and would graduate from a secondary school in the Chechen capital Grozny. Alimsultanov would later graduate from the Polytechnic Institute in Rostov, and work as a land reclamation expert.

Alimsultanov started his musical career in the mid-1980s, where he would pass on music folktales and tales of Chechen heroes with his songs. He also wrote songs to poems written by Umar Yarycheva, Musa Geshaev, and other prominent Chechen poets. Unlike fellow Chechen bard Timur Mucuraev's songs, Imam's music tended to be closer to traditional Chechen music. Some of his most popular songs include "Gazavat", "Dagestan", "Distant Homeland Anthem", and "Chechnya".

With the start of the First Chechen War in December 1994, Alimsultanov spoke to Chechen fighters, and at the request of Chechen President Dzhokar Dudayev, accompanied injured fighters to Turkey. Imam performed extensively in Istanbul, collecting money for injured Chechen fighters.

After returning to Chechnya, as a chief negotiator Alimsultanov helped secured the release of 25 builders from Odessa, Ukraine, who were held hostage. After securing their release, Odessa Mayor Eduard Gurwits opened the Imam Music Hall Theatre, where Imam would be invited to perform five times.

On the night of November 10, 1996, three men in police uniform burst into the Odessa house where Alimsultanov and his artistic team were staying, shooting Imam and two colleagues at close range. All three died, but one witness, who was in the bathroom at the time of the murder, survived. The murder remains unresolved. In one version of the Ukrainian law enforcement, the murder had no political motive; however, an investigation by Chechen special services implicated the Russian FSB for the murder.

Imam Alimsultanov was buried near his hometown of Khasavyurt, Dagestan, and a street in the same city was renamed in his honor.

External links

Kavkaz Chat page on Imam Alimsultanov (in Russian)

Chechnya Free.ru article on Imam Alimsultanov

Kavkaz Center news report on Imam Alimsultanov's assassination

Chechenpress article by Alexander Litvinenko

Kavkaz Center Audio of Imam Alimsultanov

Category:1957 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Chechen singers Category:Chechen murder victims Category:Deaths by firearm in Ukraine Category:People murdered in Ukraine Category:Russian people murdered abroad Category:Russian singers

Name	Sheikh Hamza Yusuf
Caption	Hamza Yusuf at Doha Academy Education Conference in Qatar, 2010.
Birth name	Mark Hanson
Birth place	Walla Walla, Washington, United States
Occupation	Islamic scholar, teacher
Religion	Islam
Website	Zaytuna College

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson is an Islamic scholar, convert, teacher, and co-founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, United States. He is an American convert to Islam, and is one of the signatories of A Common Word Between Us and You, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding.

Biography

Hamza Yusuf was born in Washington State and raised in Northern California. In 1977, he became Muslim and subsequently traveled to the Muslim world and studied for ten years in the U. A. E., Saudi Arabia, as well as North and West Africa. Hamza Yusuf is a cofounder of Zaytuna College, located in Berkeley, California. He is an advisor to Stanford University's Program in Islamic Studies and the Center for Islamic Studies at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union. He also serves as a member of the board of advisors of George Russell's One Nation, a national philanthropic initiative that promotes pluralism and inclusion in America. In addition, he serves as vice-president for the Global Center for Guidance and Renewal, which was founded and is currently presided over by Abdallah Bin Bayyah, one of the top jurists and masters of Islamic sciences in the world.

Hamza Yusuf is a proponent of classical learning in Islam. He has promoted Islamic sciences and classical teaching methodologies throughout the world. He has also been an advocate for social justice, peace, and conviviality among peoples and places. For several years, he has argued that the "them versus us" problem is fundamentally flawed, as he considers himself one of "them" as well as one of "us."

Hamza Yusuf has served as an advisor to many organizations, leaders, and heads of state. He has been an innovator in modern Islamic education, founding the highly imitated Deen Intensives, and with Shaykh Ibrahim Osi-Afa, he started the first Rihla program in England, which has been running for over fifteen years. Dozens of young Muslims who were influenced by his call to reviving traditional Islamic studies in the West went to the Muslim lands in the nineties and early part of the current decade to study, many of who are now teachers in their own right.

With Eissa Bougari, Hamza Yusuf initiated a media challenge to the Arab world that resulted in a highly successful cultural religious program that he hosted for three years and was one of the most watched programs in the Arab world during Ramadan. Cambridge Media Studies stated that this program had a profound influence on subsequent religious programming in the Arab world. He has also been interviewed on BBC several times and was the subject of a BBC documentary segment The Faces of Islam, ushering in the new millennium, as it aired at 11:30pm on Dec. 31st 1999.

Hamza Yusuf has been an outspoken critic of American foreign policy as well as Islamic extremist responses to those policies. He has drawn criticism from both the extreme right in the West and Muslim extremists in the East.

He founded the Zaytuna Institute in 1996, which has established an international reputation for presenting a classical picture of Islam in the West and which is dedicated to the revival of traditional study methods and the sciences of Islam. Hamza Yusuf currently resides in Northern California with his wife and five children.

Hamza Yusuf has also authored several encyclopedia articles and research papers. His published books include The Burda (2003), Purification of the Heart (2004), The Content of Character (2004), The Creed of Imam al-Tahawi (2007), Agenda to Change our Condition (2007), and Walking on Water (2010). Forthcoming are The Prayer of the Oppressed, and The Helpful Guide.

Hamza Yusuf is the first American lecturer to teach in Morocco's prestigious and oldest university, the University of Al-Karaouine in Fes. He is married and has five children, all boys.

Academics

Critical reception

The British newspaper The Guardian called him "one of the West's most influential Muslim scholars." Jordan's Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre placed him on its list of the top 50 most influential Muslims in the world. The magazine Egypt Today described him as a kind of theological rock star, "the Elvis Presley of western Muslims." Recently, Hamza Yusuf was ranked as "the Western world's most influential Islamic scholar" by The 500 Most Influential Muslims, edited by John Esposito and Ibrahim Kalin, (2009).

Publications

Books Authored

The Burda (2003)

Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart (2004)

The Content of Character (2004)

The State We Are In: Identity, Terror, and the Law of Jihad (contributing Author), (2006)

The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi (2007)

Agenda to Change our Condition co-authored with Imam Zaid Shakir(2007)

Walking on Water (2010)

Educating your Child in Modern Times

Books with Foreword or note

Instruction of the Student : The Method of Learning

The Prophetic Invocations By Mostafa Al-Badawi

Books Edited

Submission Faith and Beauty Submission Faith and Beauty, The Religion of Islam

Papers

Zaytuna Seasons Journal

Caesarean Moon Births

Climbing Mount Purgatorio

See also

Zaytuna College

Zaid Shakir

References

External links

Websites

Sheikhhamza.com - Contains list of books recommended by Hamza Yusuf and a small biography

Zaytuna.org - Shaykh Hamza Yusuf's organization

Correct Islamic Faith International Association (CIFIA)

Lectures by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:American people of Greek descent Category:Islamic studies scholars Category:Muslim reformers Category:Converts to Islam from Eastern Orthodoxy Category:San Jose State University alumni Category:American Sunni Muslims Category:People from Hayward, California Category:People from Walla Walla, Washington Category:Muslim apologists Category:American converts to Islam

Subject name	Al Capone
Image name	AlCaponemugshotCPD.jpg
Birth date	January 17, 1899
Birth place	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Death date	January 25, 1947
Death place	Palm Island (Florida), U.S.
Charge	Tax evasion
Conviction penalty	11 year sentence in Alcatraz
Conviction status	Deceased
Occupation	Gangster, bootlegger, criminal, racketeer, Boss of Chicago Outfit
Spouse	Mae Capone
Children	Albert Francis Capone|Albert Francis "sonny" Capone (1918–2004)
Nickname	Scarface

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone (January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947) was an Italian-American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. Known as the "Capones", the group was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early 1920s to 1931.

Born in Brooklyn, New York to Italian immigrants, Capone became involved with gang activity at a young age after being expelled from school at age 14. In his early twenties, he moved to Chicago to take advantage of a new opportunity to make money smuggling illegal alcoholic beverages into the city during Prohibition. He also engaged in various other criminal activities, including bribery of government figures and prostitution. Despite his illegitimate occupation, Capone became a highly visible public figure. He made various charitable endeavors using the money he made from his activities, and was viewed by many to be a "modern-day Robin Hood".

However, Capone gained infamy when the public discovered his involvement in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, which resulted in the death of seven of Capone's rival gang members. in the Navy Yard section of downtown Brooklyn, near the Barber Shop that employed Gabriele at 29 Park Avenue. During this time, Capone was influenced by gangster Johnny Torrio, whom he came to regard as a mentor.

After his initial stint with small-time gangs that included The Junior Forty Thieves and The Bowery Boys, Capone joined the Brooklyn Rippers and then the notorious Five Points Gang. During this time, he was employed and mentored by fellow racketeer Frankie Yale, a bartender in a Coney Island dance hall and saloon called the Harvard Inn. It was in this field that Capone received the scars that gave him the nickname "Scarface"; He inadvertently insulted a woman while working the door at a Brooklyn night club, provoking a fight with her brother Frank Gallucio. Capone's face was slashed three times on the left side. Capone apologized to Gallucio at Yale's request and would hire his attacker as a bodyguard in later life. When photographed, Capone hid the scarred left side of his face and would misrepresent his injuries as war wounds. According to the 2002 magazine article from Life called Mobsters and Gangsters: from Al Capone to Tony Soprano, Capone was called "Snorky" by his closest friends.

Married life and increase in gang activity

On December 30, 1918, Capone wanted to get married. He was under the age of 21 and his parents were required to sign a consent form agreeing to allow their son to marry. The consent was executed and Capone married Mae Josephine Coughlin. Earlier that month she had given birth to their son, Albert Francis ("Sonny") Capone.

Capone departed New York for Chicago, without his new wife and son, who would join him later. Capone purchased a modest house at 7244 South Prairie Avenue in the Park Manor neighborhood on the city's south side in 1923 for USD $5,500.

Capone came at the invitation of Johnny Torrio, his Five Points Gang mentor who had gone to Chicago to resolve some family problems his cousin's husband was having with the Black Hand. He quickly resolved the issue by killing members of the Black Hand who had given his cousin's husband problems. He saw many business opportunities in Chicago, bootlegging following the onset of prohibition. Torrio had acquired the crime empire of James "Big Jim" Colosimo after the latter refused to enter this new area of business and was subsequently murdered. Frankie Yale was a suspect but legal proceedings against him had to be dropped due to a lack of evidence. Colosimo's secretary Frank Camilla described the fleeing assailant as a heavyset man with scars on the left side of his face; an accurate description of Al Capone, although he was never arrested. Capone was also a suspect for two murders at the time, and was seeking a safe haven and a better job to provide for his new family.

The 1924 town council elections in Cicero became known as one of the most crooked elections in the Chicago area's long history, with voters threatened at polling stations by thugs. Capone's mayoral candidate won by a huge margin but only weeks later announced that he would run Capone out of town. Capone met with his puppet-mayor and personally knocked him down the town hall steps, a powerful assertion of gangster power and a major victory for the Torrio-Capone alliance.

For Capone, this event was marred by the death of his brother Frank at the hands of the police. Capone cried openly at his brother's funeral and ordered the closure of all the speakeasies in Cicero for a day as a mark of respect.

Much of Capone's family put down roots in Cicero as well. In 1930, Capone's sister Mafalda's marriage to John J. Maritote took place at St. Mary of Czestochowa, a massive Neogothic edifice towering over Cicero Avenue in the so-called Polish Cathedral style.

Capone's wealth and power grows in Cicero

The Torrio-Capone organization, as well as the Sicilian-American Genna crime family, fell into a rivalry with the North Side Gang of Dean O'Banion. Events came to a head in May 1924 when O'Banion, having discovered that their Sieben Brewery was going to be subject to a Federal raid, sold his share of the brewery to Torrio. The raid took place on the 19th, and both O'Banion and Torrio were arrested. O'Banion was murdered in revenge on October 10, 1924, provoking a gang war.

Severely injured in a 1925 assassination attempt by the North Side Gang, the shaken Torrio turned over his business to Capone and returned to Italy. Capone was notorious during the Prohibition Era for his control of large portions of the Chicago underworld, which provided The Outfit with an estimated US $100 million per year in revenue. This wealth was generated through all manner of illegal enterprises, such as gambling and prostitution,), jewelry, and female companionship. He garnered media attention, to which his favorite responses were "I am just a businessman, giving the people what they want" and "All I do is satisfy a public demand." This event prompted Capone to call for a truce. Negotiations fell through.

Capone placed armed bodyguards around the clock at his headquarters at the Lexington Hotel, at 22nd Street (later renamed Cermak Road) and Michigan Avenue. For his trips away from Chicago, Capone was reputed to have had several other retreats and hideouts located in Brookfield, Wisconsin; Johnson City, Tennessee; Saint Paul, Minnesota; Olean, New York; French Lick, as well as Terre Haute, Indiana; Dubuque, Iowa; Jacksonville, Florida; Grand Haven, Michigan and Lansing, Michigan and Hot Springs, Arkansas; where former New York Goffer Gang member Owney "The Killer" Madden retired and married the postmaster's daughter. Owney and the old gang never lost contact and were always welcome to visit for a safe peaceful vacation. First time Lucky Luciano was arrested was in Hot Springs. As a further precaution, Capone and his entourage would often suddenly show up at one of Chicago's train depots and buy up an entire Pullman sleeper car on night trains to places like Cleveland, Omaha, Kansas City and Little Rock/Hot Springs in Arkansas, where they would spend a week in luxury hotel suites under assumed names with the apparent knowledge and connivance of local authorities. In 1928, Capone bought a 14-room retreat

To monitor their targets' habits and movements, Capone’s men rented an apartment across from the trucking warehouse that served as a Moran headquarters. On the morning of Thursday February 14, 1929, Capone’s lookouts signaled gunmen disguised as police to start a 'raid'. The faux police lined the seven victims along a wall without a struggle then signaled for accomplices with machine guns. The seven victims were machine-gunned and shot-gunned, each with fifteen to twenty or more bullets.

Photos of the massacre shocked the public and greatly harmed Capone in the public opinion, prompting federal law enforcement to focus more closely on investigating his activities. Capone completed his term in Alcatraz on January 6, 1939, and was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in California, to serve his one-year misdemeanor sentence. He was paroled on November 16, 1939, spent a short time in a hospital, then returned to his home in Palm Island, Florida.

Physical decline and death

Capone's control and interests within organized crime diminished rapidly after his imprisonment, and he was no longer able to run the Outfit after his release. He had lost weight, and his physical and mental health had deteriorated under the effects of neurosyphilis. He had become mentally incapable of resuming his gang activity. In 1946, his physician and a Baltimore psychiatrist performed examinations and concluded that Capone then had the mental capability of a 12-year-old child. He often raved about Communists, foreigners, and George Moran, who he was convinced was still plotting to kill him from his Ohio prison cell.

On January 21, 1947, Capone had a stroke. He regained consciousness and started to improve but contracted pneumonia on January 24. He suffered a fatal cardiac arrest the next day. He passed away in his home in Miami Beach, Florida, surrounded by his family, including his wife, who collapsed at the scene.

In popular culture

One of the most notorious American gangsters of the 20th century, Capone has been the subject of numerous articles, books, and films. Capone's personality and character have been used in fiction as a model for crime lords and criminal masterminds ever since his death. The stereotypical image of a mobster wearing a blue pinstriped suit and tilted fedora is based on photos of Capone. His accent, mannerisms, facial construction, sometimes his physical stature, and parodies of his name have been used for numerous gangsters in comics, movies, music, and literature.

Literature

Capone is featured in the Kinky Friedman novel, The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover (1997). Al Capone is referenced in Gennifer Choldenko's 2004 historical fiction book, Al Capone Does My Shirts, and its sequel "Al Capone Shines My Shoes" In a book of photographs titled, New York City Gangland (2010), both Capone and his NYC bootlegging ally, Giuseppe "Joe The Boss" Masseria, appear in Prohibition-era "bathing beauty" portraits.

A reincarnated Capone is a major character in science fiction author Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy.

Film and television

In Godfather film, Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone references Chicago's crime families as 'Those animals in Chicago.'

Capone has been portrayed on screen by: Rod Steiger in Al Capone (1959). Anthony LaPaglia in Road to Perdition (2002), in a deleted scene.

Julian Littman in Al's Lads (2002)

Jon Bernthal in (2009).

Stephen Graham in Boardwalk Empire (2010)

Actors playing characters based on Capone include: Wallace Beery as Louis 'Louie' Scorpio in The Secret Six (1931). Ricardo Cortez as Goldie Gorio in Bad Company (1931). produced by The Alchemist and featuring Keak Da Sneak. Al Capone transcribed a love song called Madonna Mia while in prison. In May 2009, his rendition of the song was recorded for the first time in history.

See also

American Mafia

List of Depression-era outlaws

Scarface (1932 film)

Scarface (1983 film)

The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault

Timeline of organized crime

References

Further reading

Kobler, John. Capone: The Life and Times of Al Capone. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81285-1

Pasley, Fred D. Al Capone: The Biography of a Self-Made Man. Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Co., 2004. ISBN 1-4179-0878-5

Schoenberg, Robert J. Mr. Capone. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. ISBN 0-688-12838-6

Ferrara, Eric - Gangsters, Murderers & Weirdos of the Lower East Side; A self-guided walking tour 2008

MacDonald, Alan. Dead Famous - Al Capone and his Gang Scholastic.

Hoffman Dennis E. Scarface Al and the Crime Crusaders: Chicago's Private War Against Capone Southern Illinois University Press; 1st edition (November 24, 1993) ISBN 978-0809319251

External links

Mario Gomes' behemoth site on everything related to Al Capone and Chicago gangsters of the 1920's

Miami Beach USA The Un-Welcomed Visitor: Al Capone in Miami. (with photos)

Complete FBI files on Al Capone

Al Capone at the Crime Library

Category:1899 births Category:1947 deaths Category:Alcatraz inmates Category:American people convicted of tax crimes Category:Bootleggers Category:Chicago Outfit bosses Category:Disease-related deaths in Missouri Category:Five Points Gang Category:American mobsters of Italian descent Category:Mob bosses Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:Prohibition-era gangsters Category:The Untouchables Category:Chicago Outfit mobsters

Name	Cam'ron
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Cameron Ezike Giles
Origin	Harlem, New York, U.S.
Born	February 04, 1976
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Musician, actor
Years active	1992–present
Label	Untertainment, Epic, Diplomat, Asylum
Associated acts	The Diplomats, Juelz Santana, Jim Jones, Hell Rell, 40 Cal., Children of the Corn, Mase, Big L, The U.N., Vado, Jay-Z, Damon Dash, Beanie Sigel

Cameron Giles (born February 4, 1976), better known by his stage name Cam'ron or "Killa Cam", is a Grammy-nominated, American rapper and actor. He is the founder of the hip-hop group The Diplomats (also known as Dipset), and also of The U.N. (Us Now) group.

Music career

Early life

Cameron Giles was born and raised in Harlem, New York. He went to school at Manhattan Center High School, where he would meet his long time friends Mase and Jim Jones. He was a promising basketball player alongside Mase, however, he was unable to take advantage of various scholarship offers due to a poor academic record. He instead enrolled in a college in Texas, even without graduating from high school, but soon dropped out and returned to Harlem where he began selling drugs before starting his rap career. He began his musical career in the mid 1990s, rapping alongside Big L, Mase and his cousin Bloodshed in a group called Children Of The Corn. However, after Bloodshed's death in a car accident in 1997, the group disbanded and the remaining members continued solo careers.

1998: Epic Records & Confessions of Fire

A year before Big L's murder in 1999, Cam'ron was introduced to The Notorious B.I.G. by Mase who was signed to Bad Boy Records at the time. Biggie was so impressed by Cam'ron that he introduced him to his partner Lance "Un" Rivera who signed Cam'ron to his Untertainment label, distributed by Epic Records. His debut album, Confessions of Fire was released in July 1998 and included singles such as "3-5-7" (which was also featured in the movie Woo), and "Horse and Carriage" featuring Mase which reached the R&B; Top Ten and just missed out on reaching the pop Top 40. The album achieved gold status and made the Top 10 of both the pop and R&B; charts.

2000: S.D.E.

In 2000, Cam'ron was working with music executive Tommy Mottola and released his second album S.D.E. (Sports Drugs & Entertainment) on Sony/Epic Records. With features from Destiny's Child, Juelz Santana, Jim Jones, N.O.R.E., and producer Digga, it included the relatively successful singles, "Let Me Know" and "What Means The World To You". The album reached Number 2 on the R&B;/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and Number 14 on the Billboard 200.

2001-2002: Roc-A-Fella & Come Home With Me

After demanding a release from Sony/Epic Records, Cam'ron signed with his childhood friend and new manager Damon Dash to Roc-A-Fella Records in 2001, alongside artists such as Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, Freeway and Memphis Bleek. A reported $4.5 million record deal was agreed upon with and Damon Dash and his Roc-A-Fella partners Kareem Biggs and Jay-Z in the form of a record advance. His third and most successful album Come Home With Me was released in 2002 featuring guests such as Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, and Memphis Bleek, and production from Just Blaze, Kanye West and The Heatmakerz. It included the hit singles Oh Boy and Hey Ma which both featured The Dipmomats newest member and protégé; Juelz Santana. The album achieved platinum status and served as a stepping stone for Cam'ron's group The Diplomats to sign with Roc-A-Fella.

2003-2004: The Diplomats (Dipset) & Purple Haze

In 2003 Cam'ron teamed up with his fellow Diplomats Members Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, and Freekey Zeeky to release the Diplomats' debut double disc album, Diplomatic Immunity, in 2003 under Roc-A-Fella/Diplomat Records, which was quickly certified gold by the RIAA. The album featured the lead single "Dipset Anthem," a remix to Cam'rons hit "Hey Ma" and the (street anthem) single "I Really Mean It," as well as boasting production from Kanye West, Just Blaze, and The Heatmakerz. A year later, the Diplomats released their second album, Diplomatic Immunity 2. Although not as successful as their debut , it still was boosted to gold status. Around this time in the height of his mainstream fame, Cam'ron was known for popularizing the color pink. During this period, Cam'ron was always seen wearing pink clothing and even bought an all pink Range Rover which can be seen in his video for "Killa Cam". Cam'ron's fourth studio album, Purple Haze, was released on December 7, 2004 on Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella Records. It featured collaborations with Kanye West, Jaheim, Twista, Juelz Santana, and various other artists and ultimately reached gold status. The album was also a critical success, being ranked 114th on Pitchfork Media's Top 200 Albums of the first decade of the 21st century List, and 10th on Rhapsody's Hip Hop's Best Albums Of The Decade List. However, after feeling that the album was poorly promoted and that his projects were not receiving the attention they deserved, Cam'ron requested his release from Roc-A-Fella Records.

2005-2006: Asylum Records & Killa Season

On April 28, 2005, Cam'Ron officially joined the Warner Music Group under the Asylum Records imprint. He began work on what would be his first project for the new label. Cam'ron's fifth studio album, entitled Killa Season, was released on May 16, 2006 featuring production from long term collaborators The Heatmakerz, Charlmagne and Ty Fyffe, as well as others such as Alchemist and I.N.F.O.. Along with the album, Cam'ron released his first film, in which he wrote, directed and starred in, also titled "Killa Season." Despite selling 112,000 units in the first week and debuting at #2 on the charts, Killa Season failed to have the same sales strength as his two previous releases, failing to reach gold or platinum status. As of now, however, Killa Season has been certified Gold by the gold

2006-2009: Three Year Hiatus

After the release of Killa Season, and his infamous beef with 50 Cent in 2007, Cam'ron took a three year hiatus from music after his mother suffered 3 strokes, leaving her paralyzed on her left side. He moved to Florida with her to set up her rehabilitation and therapy, and stayed there until she had fully recovered.

2009: Crime Pays & Dipset West

Cam'ron's 2009 album, Crime Pays was released on Asylum/Diplomat Records, featuring the majority of the production handled by Skitzo and AraabMuzik. Although none of the singles managed to chart, the album still reached Number 3 on the Billboard 200 but only sold 150,000 units, making this the lowest selling album of his career. In 2009 Cam'ron formed his new label Dipset West & his new group The U.N..

2010-Present: Killa Season 2, Gunz 'N' Butta & Diplomat Album

In late 2009/early 2010, Cam'ron released a series of mixtapes hosted by DJ Drama called "Boss of All Boses" which featured his new upcoming artist Vado. He has also released an album with Vado entitled the first single off the album was "Speaking Tongues" which peaked at number 82 on the U.S. R&B; charts. Cam'ron announced that he would be releasing a joint album with his new group The U.N. called "Gunz n' Butta". After 3 years Cam'ron & Jim Jones have decided to start working on a third installment of the Diplomatic Immunity album along with other Diplomat artists such as Juelz Santana & Freekey Zekey. Cam'ron announced that the Diplomat album's release will take place around Christmas 2010. The first single featuring the reunited Diplomat members is called "Salute". Produced by upcoming Diplomat producer AraabMuzik, the track is rumored to appear on Jim Jones next album Capo.

Other Ventures

Film/Acting Career

In 2003, Cam'ron went on to appear in the Damon Dash produced film, Paid in Full, in which he played one of three main characters alongside Mekhi Phifer and Wood Harris. In 2006 started shooting his movie for his album entitled Killa Season, the film would mark both Cam'ron's screenwriting and directorial debuts, as well as his return to acting. Killa Season was released to DVD on April 25, 2006, after a special two-day theatrical release.

Controversy

Jay-Z

Although there were rumors of a beef between the two emcees, Cam set this off in a track on "Killa Season" called "You Gotta Love It (Jay-Z Diss)" featuring ex-Dipset member Max B. In the song, Cam'ron takes jabs at Jay-Z's age, his biting and his current girlfriend. On Jay-Z using The Notorious B.I.G rhymes, "You ain't the only one with big wallets got it my shit's brolick but ya publishing should go to Miss Wallace." He then uses another song "Swagger Jacker (Biter Not a Writer)" to highlight the many songs Jay-Z has borrowed lines from to claim it's no wonder Jay-Z is no longer in the game. In the next issue of XXL, Cam'ron explained the reason why the beef originated began when Jay-Z went away Dame Dash was talking about making him the CEO & President of Roc A Fella Records. But when Jay-Z came back & Got the positions he didn't like it. But in 2010 Cam'ron stated he doesn't have any issues with Jay-Z because he respects his hustle.

50 Cent

On February 1, 2007, Cam'ron & 50 Cent had a live argument on The Angie Martinez Show on Hot 97 radio. Jackson commented that Koch Entertainment was a "graveyard", meaning major record labels would not work with their artists. Cam'ron then ridiculed the record sales of G-Unit members Lloyd Banks and Mobb Deep by stating that Jim Jones outsold their albums despite being signed to an independent label and that his group, The Diplomats, had a distribution deal from several labels. But After 3 years of not speaking, Cam'ron & Jim Jones mended their differences in April 2010.

Juelz Santana

After it was evident to the fans that The Diplomats had separated and were no longer on speaking terms, Cam'ron explained in an interview that he was scared for Juelz Santana stating he was "addicted to the drink Sizzurp" and even talked to his mother about his possible "addiction". Juelz responded back by asking why Cam would say false accusations. Additionally, with Dipset seeming to be broken up and diminished, Cam'ron decided to sell Juelz Santana's contract from Diplomat Records to Def Jam Records for $2,000,000. However, Juelz said there were no hard feelings between the two and have since reconciled.

Kanye West & Dame Dash

Both Cam'ron & Jim Jones took out their frustrations on former label-mate Kanye West & former CEO Dame Dash by releasing a song entitled "Toast" rhyming over Kanye West's song "Runaway". Saying "Kanye you a sucka nigga took ya beat now come get it back". Dame Dash"so my attitude fuck a nigga, Sucka Jigga how you gone live with that." Despite this diss-track, when asked in an interview on Hot 97 with Funkmaster Flex of his take on the subject, Kanye responded by saying "Man, you don't understand how much I love Dipset. But it's so necessary; Dipset is so necessary." Additionally, Kanye said he understands that people don't agree with the way he does certain things and he, himself, doesn't even agree with some of the stuff he's done. Currently, neither Cam nor Jim have responded back.

Personal life

Carjacking/Stop Snitching Campaign

On October 23, 2005, Cam'ron was leaving a nightclub in Washington D.C., having performed the day before at Howard University. Whilst and stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of New York and New Jersey Avenue shortly after midnight, a passenger of a nearby car threatened Cam'ron to "give up" his 2006 Lamborghini. Cam'ron resisted, and the man then shot him. Cam'ron was struck at least once as he was holding the steering wheel, but he was able to drive, going the wrong way on streets and flashing his lights, until a fan drove him to Howard University Hospital. The gunman and passenger fled and crashed into a parked car and fled the scene. D.C. Metro Police recovered a cell phone from the scene of the crash, which they tried to use to trace the suspects. On April 22, 2007, Cam'ron was interviewed on 60 Minutes about the incident. He stated that he does not know who shot him. He also stated that he would "not help the police" try to locate the shooter saying he is "not a snitch" and helping the police would probably hurt his record sales. Cam'ron was also questioned on 60 Minutes about the "Stop Snitchin'" campaign. When asked by Anderson Cooper if he would tell the police if a serial killer was living next to him, Cam'ron replied "I would probably move," but wouldn't inform the police. Cam'ron has had contact with the police in the past. According to The Smoking Gun, New York Police Department records indicate that Giles filed a police report with police after he was assaulted at a Harlem playground in 1999.

Discography

Official studio albums

Confessions of Fire (1998)

S.D.E. (2000)

Come Home with Me (2002)

Purple Haze (2004)

Killa Season (2006)

Crime Pays (2009)

Killa Season 2 (TBA)

; Collaboration Albums

2003: Diplomatic Immunity (with The Diplomats)

2004: Diplomatic Immunity 2 (with The Diplomats)

2010: Cam'ron & The U.N. Presents: "Heat in Here" Vol. 1 (with Vado)

2011: Guns 'N' Butta (with The U.N.)

2011: Diplomatic Immunity 3 (with The Diplomats)

Filmography

Paper Soldiers (2002)

Paid in Full (2002)

State Property 2 (2005)

Killa Season (2006)

Cousin Bang (TBA)

Killa Season 2 (TBA)

References

External links

Cam'ron Official Website

Cam'ron on Twitter

Diplomat Records

Category:1976 births Category:Actors from New York City Category:African American rappers Category:American shooting survivors Category:Roc-A-Fella Records artists Category:Epic Records artists Category:Living people Category:People from Harlem Category:Rappers from New York City

Name	Adel Imam
Nickname	El Zaeem
Birth date	May 17, 1940
Deathhdate	December 09, 2009
Birth place	El-Mansoura, Egypt
Othernames	Goodwill Ambassador El Za'eem
Birthname	Adel Mohammed Imam

Adel Imam (sometimes credited as: Adel Emam), (), born May 17, 1940 in El Mansoura (المنصورة), is a popular Egyptian movie and stage actor. He is primarily a comedian, but he has starred in more serious works and, especially in his earlier films, has combined comedy with romance.

He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Agriculture from Cairo University. Since then he has appeared in over 100 movies and 10 plays. He is probably the most famous actor in Egypt He has received critical and popular praise throughout his career. His roles have displayed a wide range of humour including slapstick, farce, and even the occasional double entendre. His characters tend to be down on their luck rising above powerful outside pressures. This has proved an extremely resilient type in Egypt.

In January 2000, the United Nations appointed him as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR. Since then, he has worked tirelessly for the cause of refugees. He has been cast several times by the producer Emad Adeeb in movies like Morgan Ahmed Morgan and Hassan and Marcus.

In 2005, he starred in Sifaara fil'Aimara (Embassy in the Building), playing a Cairene everyman inconvenienced when the Embassy of Israel moves into his apartment building.

In 2006, he appeared as one of the many stars of The Yacoubian Building, a film reputed to be the highest-budgeted in Egyptian cinema and adapted from the novel of the same name. The story is a sharp look at contemporary Egyptian life through the prism of a faded downtown Cairo apartment building. Emam portrays an aging roué whose misadventures form a central strand of the film's complex narrative.

In 2011, Adel Emam starred in an ad campaign for Vodafone Egypt titled 'Kowetna' (Our Power).

Personal life

Emam is married and has three children, the young director Rami Imam, Sarah Emam, and Mohamed Imam who also starred in the movie The Yacoubian Building as Taha Shazli. He is the brother of Esam Imam and Iman Imam. His brother-in-law is the late actor Mustafa Metwalli. Adel Emam stated on a talk show with host Hala Sarhan that Amin Shalaby and the late Younes Shalaby as well as Saeed Saleh were his best friends since university. He is also a figure for the arabian community and either he knows it or not he played a political part to reflected in his movies and his plays which sometimes put him in a critical situation with the president or the government .

Works

Selected Filmography

Plays

Ana Wa Howa Wa Heya (1964)

Al-Nassabeen (1966)

Dhat Al-Bijama Al-Hamraa (1967)

Ana Feen Wa Enti Feen (1970)

Madrast Al-Moshagebeen (1973)

Gharameyat Afifi (1975)

Shahed Ma Shafsh Haga (1975)

Al-Wad Sayed Al-Shaghal (1993)

Al-Zaeem (1998)

Body Guard (1999)

References

External links

All Adel Imam films online in English , Arabic and French

Adel Imam in a funny clip from Alleab Maa Al Kobar: she is so mad since she spent 7 years of her life with him without marrying

Category:Egyptian film actors Category:Egyptian comedians Category:1940 births Category:Living people Category:United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassadors