Sheikh Mohammed Al-Hilli discusses Arbaeen: The Walk, the first book in English about the annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Imam Husayn

15 - 20 million people participate in the annual pilgrimage to Karbala, Iraq to visit the shrine of 7th century martyr, Imam Husayn. Yet few in the West know about it. Sheikh Mohammed Al-Hilli has written the first book about Arbaeen in English. It is called Arbaeen: The Walk. It is a guide for participants and a helpful reference for English speakers to learn about the phenomenon of Arbaeen.Sheikh Mohammed Al-Hilli (Facebook, Twitter) is an Islamic scholar and speaker who has visited and presented lectures in many parts of the world. He has an MA in Islamic Studies at Middlesex University in the UK. For over ten years, Sheikh Al-Hilli studied Hawza (Islamic Seminary Education) in London and Najaf. He is a teacher for Hawza studies for the Islamic College in London. He is currently head of the Islamic Education Department at Noor Trust in the UK, conducting Quranic commentary programs, marriage workshops as well as youth activities. 

Sheikh Al-Hilli has taken part in the Najaf to Karbala Arbaeen walk annually since 2012 with the Spiritual Journeys Ziyarah group.

Imam Muhsen Al-Dhalimy of the Islamic Center of Portland Explains the Significance of the 7th Century Martyr, Husayn, and the Popularity of Arbaeen

Biblical scholar, Dr. Susan "Elli" Elliott, discusses her book, Family Empires, Roman and Christian, Volume 1. 

Imam Muhsen Al-Dhalimy is the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Portlandon the corner of Denney and Hall in Beaverton. The Islamic Center of Portland is the only Shia Mosque in the Portland Metro.  Imam Al-Dhalimy was born in Iraq and made the pilgrimage to Karbala to mourn Imam Husayn and visit his shrine when doing so was illegal. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, now between 10 and 20 million people visit the shrine of the grandson of the Prophet every year, making Arbaeen the largest peaceful gathering of human beings on Earth.

I, inshallah, will be going on this pilgrimage courtesy of the Husaynia Society of Seattle. Imam Al-Dhalimy will talk about how the walk has changed and what it means for Shia Muslims and Iraq.

Also, during the first part of the hour, I speak with Susan “Elli” Elliot who will be hosting a Jesus Seminar on the Road in Beaverton on October 19-20.  She is the author of Family Empires: The Roman Family Empire and Early Christian Responses.  In this book,

“Dr. Elliott examines the Roman household form as it was changing during the Augustan era. Augustus relied on his version of that family form to establish his one-man rule of the empire. Dr. Elliott lays out several forms of resistance to the Roman empire and the family model on which it was built.”

This program aired on my monthly show, Beloved Community, Friday, October 12th from 9-10 a.m.

Scholars and religious leaders explore the impact of Husayn and the devotion of the 15-20 million pilgrims who visit his shrine each year. Part 1 of 2.

This is a rebroadcast of an episode that originally aired in May 2018.

I will be attending the pilgrimage to Arbaeen from Najaf to Karbala, Iraq, at the end of October, with a Maulana Mohammad Baig, courtesy of the Husayniah Islamic Society of Seattle.

On April 28th 2018, The Husayniah Islamic Society of Seattle and Global Initiatives co-sponsored an interfaith educational event called Husayn Day.  The event was a reflection upon Husayn, the martyred grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. Rather than bow to his oppressors, he, along with 72 family members were killed in Karbala, Iraq in 680 CE. He is considered a martyr for justice, truth, love, and resistance. He is a leading figure in Shia Islam and his death is mourned each year by between 15 and 20 million pilgrims who visit his shrine during the forty-day period of mourning from Ashura to Arbaeen.

In the next two episodes, you will hear speeches from the presenters on Husayn and the yearly pilgrimage to his shrine. The presenters include, Dr. John Morrow, Sister Nicole Correri, Sheikh Fadhel Al-Salani, Sheik Ahmed Bahriny, Maulana Mohammad Baig, and me, John Shuck. 

The West is largely ignorant about Islam and, in particular, Shia Islam and the person of Hussain. Twenty million people visit his shrine each other. This the largest annual gathering of human beings on planet Earth. Yet, Western media ignores it. According to an article in the Huffington Post by Sayed Mahdi al-Modarresi, “World's Biggest Pilgrimage Now Underway, And Why You've Never Heard of it!” 

Why you have never heard of it probably has to do with the fact that the press is concerned more with negative, gory, and sensationalized tabloids, than with positive, inspiring narratives, particularly when it comes to Islam.

You will hear about it on Progressive Spirit.

In this first episode you will hear from Dr. John Morrow, full professor, author, senior research scholar, public speaker and activist. He is author of a number of numerous articles and books including The Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christians of the World. Dr. Morrow provided a stirring poetic spiritual biography of Husayn.

You will also hear from Sister Nicole Correri. She is the preeminent female Shia speaker in North America. She will begin a Ph. D. program at Boston University in the Fall.  Sr. Correri told the importance of Zainab, Husayn’s sister, and described her experience attending Arbaeen. Video of the entire conference.

Moral Philosopher and Environmental-Thought Leader, Kathleen Dean Moore, tells the hard, urgent truth about the state of Earth and calls out for moral courage.

Dr. Kathleen Dean Moore spoke at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Beaverton, Oregon, September 30th, 2018. Hear her address, Bearing Witness (starts at 4:30). In this interview, she talked with John Shuck about her 2016 book, Great Tide Rising: Calling on Clarity and Moral Courage to Confront Climate Change. She discusses grandchildren, criminals in high places, religious hypocrisy, despair, hope, and moral integrity. Time is short. We have a mission. What is life for?Kathleen Dean Moore is a writer, moral philosopher, and environmental thought-leader, devoted to an unrelenting defense of the future against those who would pillage and wreck the planet.

As a writer, Kathleen is best known for award-winning books of essays that celebrate and explore the meaning of the wet, wild world of rivers, islands, and tidal shores – Riverwalking, Holdfast, Pine Island Paradox, and Wild Comfort. But her growing alarm at the devastation of the natural world led her to focus her writing on the moral urgency of action against climate change and habitat destruction. Quitting her university position, Kathleen began to write in defense of the lovely, reeling world. 

A moral philosopher, Kathleen holds a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. For many years, she taught critical thinking and environmental ethics as Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Oregon State University. She has published philosophical books on forgiveness (Pardons: Justice, Mercy, and the Public Interest), Apache philosophy (How It Is: the Native American Philosophy of Viola Cordova), Rachel Carson (Rachel Carson: Legacy and Challenge), and critical thinking (Reasoning and Writing). While at OSU, she co-founded and for many years directed the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word, where she now serves as Senior Fellow.

Two years ago, Moore left the University in order to write and speak full-time about the moral urgency of action to stop fossil fuels and the consequent global warming. She has addressed audiences ranging from 350.org activists to Nobel Conference scholars to Disneyworld executives and students all over the country — Alaska to Texas, New York to California — calling people to clarity and moral courage as they confront the forces that would wreck the world. Her new project, “A Call to Life: Variations on a Theme of Extinction,” is a collaboration with classical pianist Rachelle McCabe.

Kathleen is embedded in a family of environmentalists and biologists. Her parents were science educators who led nature walks in the beech-maple forests in Ohio. Her husband, Frank, a neurobiologist, is an expert on amphibian behavior. Her daughter, Erin, is an architecture professor at the University of Oregon, specializing in green construction. Her son, Jonathan, is a professor of coastal studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Kathleen and her husband live in Corvallis, Oregon, and in the summers, in a cabin where two creeks and a bear trail meet a tidal cove in Alaska’s maritime wilderness.

“The role of the media is the primary reason why good people become silent — or worse — about 9/11.” -- Frances Shure

This is the fourth of my four-part series on the 9/11 Consensus Panel, whose work was released in book form on September 11th, 2018.

[Note: Amazon, as of September 25th, now reports the book as "Temporarily out of stock" even as the publisher says Amazon has many copies. Amazon has made purchasing this book difficult to say the least. See Edward Curtin and Ken Hanly].

The book can be ordered from the publisher, Interlink Books at 9/11 Unmasked: An International Review Panel Investigation. The co-authors are David Ray Griffin and Elizabeth Woodworth.

Reviewers of this book include Edward Curtin, Piers Robinson, Philip Roddis, and Paul Craig Roberts, who writes:

Anyone who is still brainwashed by the official 9/11 story can immediately free themselves from their deception by reading this book. There is no longer any doubt that 9/11 was an inside orchestrated event for the purpose of unleashing two decades, with more to come, of American aggression in the Middle East.

In the first part of this series I explained why I was spending four episodes on one book. The reason is that this book could be the most dangerous book in America. If what this book presents is true, that the official account of September 11th 2001 is false, then we are in trouble. If any one of the 51 points of evidencepresented in this book is solid, then the American people have been played for fools.

The truth of the matter is that anyone who reads this book and considers the evidence presented likely willbecome skeptical of the official narrative. Unless, of course, the evidence is too scary to consider in the first place. That is the topic of this fourth and final episode.

According to psychotherapist, Frances Shure, the media are the problem. She has written a series of articles for Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, entitled "Why Do Good People Become Silent"Or Worse"About 9/11?"Her latest installment in this series is called, "The Role of the Media: Whatever Happened to Investigative Journalists?"

She says the media define for us what are acceptable topics for conversation.

"If the media totally ignores an event, such as the evidence that 9/11 was a false-flag operation, then we don't take it seriously and are afraid to discuss it."

Frances Shure co-founded Colorado 9/11 Truthin 2004 and is a member of the 9/11 Consensus Panelas well as the Medical Professionals for 9/11 Truth.

She was included with a number of other social scientists in the film 9/11: Explosive Evidence: Experts Speak Out  that was produced by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. She also appeared extensively in "The Demolition of Truth: Psychologists Examine 9/11."

She was on Progressive Spirit in August 2017.

Other episodes in this series include:

1) 9/11 Unmasked: A Conversation with Elizabeth Woodworth and Graeme McQueen

2) 9/11 Unmasked, Part 2: A Conversation with Dwain Deets about Able Danger

3) 9/11 Unmasked, Part 3: David Chandler and the Day of Magical Physics

4) 9/11 Unmasked, Part 4: Fran Shure and the Problem of the Media

In Part 3 of my four-part series on the work of the 9/11 Consensus Panel, I speak with David Chandler about the physics behind the collapse of the three World Trade Center Towers on September 11th, 2001. Why do the buildings look like they came down in controlled demolition by carefully placed explosives? "Because," says David, "That is what happened." He says, "I tell people, you can see what happened with your own eyes, by doing the physics, I am just proving that you're not crazy."The 9/11 Consensus Panel has just published its six-year investigation of best evidence consensus regarding the events surrounding the crimes that took place on September 11th, 2001. Their book released on September 11th, 2018 is called 9/11 Unmasked: An International Review Panel Investigation. Even the distribution of the book has not been without intrigue. While the book was printed and sent to Amazon for distribution by September 11th, the Amazon website (as of September 17th) still says the item is not in stock.  I pre-ordered my copy on August 14th and it arrived September 17th. The publisher says Amazon does have the books. 9/11 Unmasked may be ordered from the publisher, Interlink Books. Edward Curtin, who wrote a review of the book, also wrote a piece about this unusual action by Amazon, Amazon Censorship of 9/11 Unmasked.  Curtin writes:"Readers should demand that Amazon immediately change their website and accept orders to be shipped today. Whether they are responsible for this game of chaotic discouragement or the intelligence services, who are fully capable of hacking into Amazon, as Edward Snowden has pointed out, I do not know. But something very odd is happening and Amazon should correct it."

Here also is a review from University of Sheffield Professor, Piers Robinson.David Chandler has a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Harvey Mudd College, a Master of Arts in education, and a Master of Science in mathematics from California Polytechnic University. He recently retired from teaching physics, mathematics, and astronomy at the high school and college levels since 1972, and has now moved to Denver. Since about 2007 he has been active as a researcher with what he calls the "science wing" of the 9/11 Truth Movement. He is currently the Coordinator of Scientists for 9/11 Truth, and worked for several years with Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth.

David became involved with the study of the building collapses of the World Trade Center when he realized he could use frame tracking software, which he used in his physics teaching, to measure the various velocities and accelerations associated with the 9/11 building collapses. He is best known for his measurements demonstrating the freefall of WTC 7, proving that NIST’s (National Institute for Science and Technology) claims were false. In its final report NIST changed its analysis of the motion of WTC 7, admitting freefall, but continued to deny its clear implications.

David has authored and co-authored a number of scientific papers including "Destruction of the World Trade Center North Tower and Fundamental Physics." He has also created a large number of videos analyzing various aspects of the World Trade Center Collapses and presented them to the public on YouTube. He maintains a web site in collaboration with several other researchers, featuring their collected works, at 911SpeakOut.org. 

 Part 1: 9/11 Unmasked with Elizabeth Woodworth and Graeme McQueenPart 2: 9/11 Unmasked with Dwain Deets

Local 9/11 Activist, David Fura, discusses the work of the Oregon 9/11 Truth Action Project

David Fura likes street fairs. It gives him an opportunity to talk with people about what happened on September 11th, 2001 and why what happened matters 17 years later. David is the founder of the Oregon 9/11 Truth Action Project, part of the larger 9/11 Truth Action Project or 9/11 TAP. Here is 9/11 TAP’s mission and goal:

9/11 TAP’s mission is to build and mobilize a global grassroots movement to create a groundswell of civic support that achieves transparency and accountability for the crimes of 9/11, justice for its victims, an end to unwarranted wars, and restoration of our civil liberties.

The goal of this new movement is to achieve an independent, comprehensive Congressional investigation, by mobilizing and coordinating the efforts of volunteers across the U.S. and abroad, through local Truth Action Groups coordinated at the state, regional, national and international levels.

Dave says it is great for mental health to be in the streets educating people about the crimes of 9/11.

The Beloved Community is heard live on KBOO/Portland on the second Friday of each month at 9 a.m.

Former NASA engineer explains evidence that an intelligence operation, Able Danger, knew Mohammad Atta was in the US yet was forbidden to share this information with the FBI 

This is the second of a four-part series on 9/11, specifically, the work of the 9/11 Consensus Panel, an international 23 person panel of 9/11 researchers. The panel was spearheaded by Dr. David Ray Griffin and Elizabeth Woodworth. They have published a book on their work entitled, 9/11 Unmasked: An International Review Panel Investigation. (Read a review). This is from the book’s cover:

9/11 Unmasked is the result of a six-year investigation by an international review panel, which has provided 51 points illustrating the problematic status of all the major claims in the official account of the 9/11 attacks, some of which are obviously false. Most dramatically, the official account of the destruction of the Twin Towers and World Trade Center 7 could not possibly be true, unless the laws of physics were suspended that day. But other claims made by the official account including the claims that the 9/11 planes were taken over by al-Qaeda hijackers, that one of those hijackers flew his plane into the Pentagon, and that passengers on the planes telephoned people on the ground are also demonstrably false.

The book reports only points about which the panel reached consensus by using the best-evidence consensus model employed in medical research. The panel is composed of experts about 9/11 from many disciplines, including physics, chemistry, structural engineering, aeronautical engineering, and jurisprudence.

Last week Elizabeth Woodworth and Dr. Graeme MacQueen were my guests to discuss the purpose, goal, and work of the panel as well as address a few of the 51 points including foreknowledgeof world trade center 7’s collapse, eyewitness testimony of explosionsprior to the collapse of the world trade center towers, military drillsthat had been moved to September 11th, and evidence for steelrecovered from world trade center 7’s collapse.

This week, I speak with consensus panel member Dwain Deets. Our conversation will focus on the alleged hijackers, including an analysis of whether or not phone callscould have been made from any of the planes, the strange story of Mohammad Atta (or were there two Mohammad Attas?), and, in particular, Able Danger, an 80 person intelligence network that identified an al-Qaeda cell in the Bronx, led by “Mohamed Atta” back in January 2000.

You will also hear a portion of an interview I had with David Ray Griffinin which he discusses the work of the panel and evidence showing that Dick Cheney lied about his whereaboutson 9/11.

Dwain Deets is the Former Director for Research Engineering and Aerospace Projects at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, where his work earned him the NASA Exceptional Service Award and inclusion in “Who’s Who in Science and Engineering."

Deets served as a Director on the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth Board from 2008 to 2009. He spoke on 9/11-Truth subjects on several occasions. The titles of these presentations include The Puzzling WTC7 Destruction; United 93: A Tale of Two Planes?; 9/11 Consensus Panel; and The Pentagon 757.

Part 1: 9/11 Unmasked: A Conversation with Elizabeth Woodworth and Graeme MacQueen about the 9/11 Consensus Panel

This is the first of a four-part series on the new book released by the 9/11 Consensus Panel, 9/11 Unmasked: An International Review Panel Investigation.

"9/11 Unmasked is the result of a six-year investigation by an international review panel, which has provided 51 points illustrating the problematic status of all the major claims in the official account of the 9/11 attacks, some of which are obviously false. Most dramatically, the official account of the destruction of the Twin Towers and World Trade Center 7 could not possibly be true, unless the laws of physics were suspended that day. But other claims made by the official account including the claims that the 9/11 planes were taken over by al-Qaeda hijackers, that one of those hijackers flew his plane into the Pentagon, and that passengers on the planes telephoned people on the ground are also demonstrably false. 

The book reports only points about which the panel reached consensus by using the best-evidence consensus model employed in medical research. The panel is composed of experts about 9/11 from many disciplines, including physics, chemistry, structural engineering, aeronautical engineering, and jurisprudence."   Panelists in the four-part series include Dwain Deets, Frances Shure, David Chandler, Graeme MacQueen, and Elizabeth Woodworth. In this first episode, Elizabeth Woodworth and Graeme MacQueen discuss

the purpose, goal, and methodology of the 9/11 Consensus Panel, 

evidence of foreknowledge regarding the collapse of WTC 7, 

evidence of witness testimony of explosions in the World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2, 

evidence regarding steel recovered from WTC 7, 

photographic evidence regarding hijackers, 

and evidence of military drills on 9/11.

 Elizabeth Woodworth is a researcher and writer on both 9/11 and climate change science and activism. She co-founded the 9/11 Consensus Panel in 2011 with Dr. David Ray Griffin, with whom she has co-authored two books, Unprecedented Climate Mobilization, and 9/11 Unmasked: An International Review Panel Investigation. Elizabeth was head librarian for the British Columbia Ministry of Health from 1978-2002.  She also co-wrote with Peter Carter, Unprecedented Crime: Climate Science Denial and Game-Changers for Survival. Dr. Carter was on Progressive Spirit in June 2018.  

Dr. Graeme MacQueen received his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Harvard University and became founding Director of the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University in Canada. Since his retirement he has carried out research on the War on Terror. In addition to his work on the 9/11 Consensus Panel he has been a co-editor of the Journal of 9/11 Studies and an organizer of the 2011 Toronto Hearings on 9/11. Dr. MacQueen was on Progressive Spirit in 2017.

In his latest book, America: The Farewell Tour, Chris Hedges shows how the effects of America's decline and decay affects its citizenry. As America sinks further into poverty and despotism, and as corporations and the military-industrial-media complex pirate the remaining assets of a nation that has lost its industry save weapons manufacturing, human beings suffer from gambling addiction, hatred, and violence in the streets. Hedges announces a spiritual call to resist.Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. He writes a weekly column for the online magazine Truthdig out of Los Angeles and is host of the Emmy Award­–winning RT America show On Contact. Hedges, who holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard University, is the author of the bestsellers American Fascists, Days of Destruction­, Days of Revolt, and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist for War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Toronto. He currently teaches college credit courses in the New Jersey prison system.