Headlines 10/01/2016

Headlines

• Islam Set to become the Second-Largest Religion in America by 2040

• Historic Week: Dow Plunges 1,079 Points

• Saudi Arabia Steps up War of Words with Iran

Details

Islam Set to become the Second-Largest Religion in America by 2040

The American Muslim population stands a strong chance of doubling in size by 2050 and becoming the second largest religion by 2040, based on new estimates from the Pew Research Center. At the moment, Pew believes that there’s approximately 3.3 million Muslims living in the United States. Given the total U.S. population, this means that Muslims currently comprise 1 percent. But by 2050, Pew thinks that Muslims may surge to 8.1 million. Part of the reason for that surge is due to Muslim immigration, Pew noted, since about 10 percent of all legal immigrants are Muslim. Another is because Muslim families tend to have far more children than the average, which is the case in Europe, as well. Even before that, however, Islam itself is projected to become the second largest religion in the U.S. by 2040, which is a far greater increase than that expected among Jews and Hindus. [Source: The Daily Caller]

((يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِؤُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ))

Allah (swt) says: “They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it.” [TMQ: 60:8]

Historic Week: Dow Plunges 1,079 Points

The Dow lost 1,079 points this week, or over 6%, as fears about China and crashing oil prices dealt Wall Street a painful one-two blow. It was the Dow's worst five-day start to a year on record, according to Dow Jones. Despite the relative calm in China and a strong U.S. jobs report, the Dow fell 168 points on Friday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost about 1% apiece. It capped off the Dow's biggest weekly percentage loss since 2011. "People are very nervous. We have a lot of fear about what is going on in China," said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of trading at Themis Trading. Investors were once again spooked by crude oil prices, which plunged to the lowest level since late 2003 on Thursday. Oil initially calmed down on Friday before retreating again.

Crude finished the day at $33.16 a barrel, its weakest settle since February 2004. When oil drops, so do energy stocks. They retreated again on Friday, with names like Valero (VLO) and Marathon Petroleum (MPC) falling more than 3% apiece. The oil plunge was one of the main drivers behind this week's market selloff, which erased nearly $1.1 trillion from the S&P 500, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Chinese stocks started the year with an epic 12% nosedive. The selling earlier in the week triggered "circuit breakers" that are designed to smooth volatility in the markets. Trading in China was halted twice this week -- on Thursday, the stock markets shut down after just a half hour of trading. Sentiment was boosted after regulators scrapped the circuit breakers because many believe they were fueling sharp trading losses -- rather than taming them. Investors cheered as China stopped allowing its currency to lose value. In fact, China's central bank raised its target rate for the yuan for the first time in over a week. The surprise decline in the yuan has raised fears of a currency war of competitive devaluations. [Source: CNN]

8 years after the last global financial crisis, the world is on a brink of another crisis. With trillions of dollars printed and interest rates at historic lows, the world economy is not even showing a modest growth. All indications are that the situation will get much worse, and the capitalist system is in its last period of decline.

Saudi Arabia Steps up War of Words with Iran

Saudi Arabia on Saturday accused Iran of not acting like a nation state and said it is considering further measures against its regional rival, as tensions between the two countries escalated further over the kingdom’s execution of a dissident Shiite cleric. “Iran has to make a decision whether it is a nation state or a revolution. If it’s a nation state, it should act like one,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said following an emergency meeting in Riyadh with his Gulf Arab counterparts to discuss the crisis with Iran. “Sectarianism wasn’t heard of in the region before the Iranian revolution.” “We are looking at additional measures to be taken against Iran if it continues with its current policies,” he said. The foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council—a six-country bloc comprising Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman—met amid concerns that the spat between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran may lead to serious repercussions for other conflicts in the region. The GCC countries in a joint statement urged Iran to “respect the principle of good neighborliness in words and actions” and “stop activities that cause instability in the region.” The kingdom and Iran are locked in a battle for influence across the Middle East, mostly along sectarian lines. The escalation of tensions could complicate peace efforts in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of Sunni Arab countries against Houthi rebels, who receive support from Iran. In addition, Shiite-led Iran is the most important backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Saudi Arabia is committed to his removal. Mr. al-Jubeir said the kingdom remains committed to the peace process in both Yemen and Syria, reiterating Saudi Arabia’s position that Mr. Assad can’t be part of the future in Syria.

“The crisis with Iran doesn’t change our position,” he said. Iranian officials didn’t immediately respond to the GCC statement, although they have criticized Saudi Arabia sharply in recent days. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, accusing Saudi Arabia of enabling terrorism and trying to sow discord in the region after Iran reached a nuclear deal with six world powers last July, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said Saturday. [Source: Wall Street Journal]

The nation state is an alien concept in Islam and was imposed on the Muslim world through colonization. The correct behaviour for both Saudi Arabia and Iran is to dismantle their artificial nation states, unify borders and work together to eject western powers from the region.