Help stop Google from trying to steal www.YoutubeIslam.com

Note:- Forwarded Message from Shk. Yusuf Estes.

Bismillah Rahman Raheem

I need your help, inshallah. Please do something for me and for Islam right now, inshalllah. First, read this and then join me and those who believe in Allah - to stop a very horrible crime about to be committed by some very powerful and forceful people. Help me put this information all over the Internet and around the world - we can do it, inshallah.

Let me start at the beginning . . .

Can you imagine my shock when I opened up an email telling me our website domain name (YOUTUBE.COM) is being taken over by GOOGLE and their video site - YOUTUBE?
Here is more or less what we were told:
NOTICE: Effective August 5th, 2009 Google (owner of YouTube.com) will take over your domain name:

YOUTUBEISLAM. COM.

Although we have purchased the name "YOUTUBEISLAM. COM" and have renewed for several years through GODADDY.COM it seems GOOGLE has enough influence to just simply take our domain name from us - and by the way, we have even paid for it all the way through to next year.

First, their lawyers contacted us saying they were going to take our domain because we copied their logo. We didn't even come close to their logo.. (look for yourself www.YOUTUBEISLAM. com/images/ logo.gif)

They next came up with saying our name was too similar to their name. We changed the name and the layout to read:
Yo Utu Beis Lam.com and we even registered that as a trade name.

We changed the logo and the images to reflect the new name.

They said they went into "arbitration" (of course we were not invited to that meeting) and then our registrar (GODADDY.COM) notified us they are "transferring" our domain name over to GOOGLE.

We have always maintained the highest of standards on our site - We never allowed any videos with inappropriate material. We did not allow videos that insulted or put down other religions. No dating or suggestive materials. No bad language. Only topics fit for all the family.

We paid for the bandwidth from our own pockets to make sure everything was always as it should be without having people click and wind up on websites attacking beliefs or making fun of believers and certainly nothing to hurt people's feelings.

Above all, we did not put up any ads (especially not GOOGLE ADS) on our site.

(Could this be why they want it so bad?)

Or is it just so they can advertise their thousands of customers who would be happy to introduce thousands of paying advertisers to ways of entering into the homes of trusting Muslims who will think the website still belongs to Yusuf Estes and his dawah team?

Maybe they just don't like Islam?

Or possibily they don't like seeing so many new people entering Islam from our work?

Why does GOOGLE - a company who bought YOUTUBE for billions of dollars - want to take away our little website?

Good question.

I think you know the answer.

But do we have to let them do this without at least telling others about the unjust way of dealing of these people?
Are we just going to sit there and do nothing, while they destroy our work, our efforts, our viewers trust and above all - destroy the chance for many people to know the truth about real Islam in simple English language.

We don't have to.

We can make a difference, maybe even stop these cowards.. Let's join together, all around the world and make a difference.

Let's tell everyone what is going on and what they can do to help...

1. Get a good copy of this page and make sure it is easy to read

2. Copy it

3. Make sure to mail it out to everyone and ask them to do the same

4. Send text messages - Like this: "Google trying to steal Yusuf Estes website - www.YoutubeIslam. com Help us stop them - www.GuideUS. TV for details"

5. Call people you know, or fax them, and tell them the same basic statement, asking them to share this message in every way possible.

6. Send regular mail to Google ask them not to steal our only ad-free, family video website and leave it for us to use.

7. Email the people at Google and tell them we all use their other services and appreciate the good things they offer for people to use, but please let us keep our family oriented website for true Islam in English.

8. Send faxes to Google and ask them to do the same thing.

9. Contact the local newspaper, the TV and radio people and tell them we are not happy with what GOOGLE is doing to our website for true Islam.

10. Remind everyone to do this each and every day until the news people pick up this story and it is heard around the world. Do it every day.

11. Tell everyone about our live broadcasts on our other websites and how important it is for us to have our own TV station in America - for Muslims to have a voice. A voice for Islam.

And by the way - on Sunday (today) we have a live broadcast on the Internet to tell everyone about all of this. It will be at 2 PM our time (EST) and will include Mutahhir Sabree myself and others.

Here is the site - link will be there, inshallah, to direct everyone to our program.

www.GuideUS. TV

12. Pray to Almighty Allah and beg Him to give victory for His deen and His message in English.

Thank you and may Allah Bless you and your family and make your efforts work for good for you and for all of us, ameen.
____________ _________ _______

As regards all the material - we are keeping all of it - and we will be making it available on our other websites, inshallah. Either of the follow:

1. www.GuideUS. TV
2. www.BridgeToFaith. com
3. www.WatchIslam. com

Make dua and ask Allah to keep this site and domain for His Sake, ameen.

Jazakallah khair was salam alaykum,

Yusuf Estes

www.YOUTUBEISLAM. com (while it lasts) - Article on this site: www.IslamNewsroom. com


Also read report from Saudi Gazette.

http://www.saudigaz ette.com. sa/index. cfm?method= home.regcon&contentID=200907314 5328


Make dua and spread the word!

All Taliban are not the same.

During my recent trip to Pakistan with Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, I found the people of Pakistan confused. Taking cue from the United States the educated and westernized elite believe in ‘crushing’ the Taliban while others believe Taliban are the only people standing up to the madness of the United States. The Pakistani government is weak and corrupt, garners no respect from the elite or the peasantry. Pakistan government abdicated its responsibility when it surrendered the country to the United States. Furthermore, to please the United States the government launched a major assault on its own people. To eliminate a few thousand Taliban the ‘operation’ has displaced over 3 million people from Swat, Buner and Deer and more are coming from South Waziristan as the army starts an offensive there.

By the time we arrived in Islamabad on the morning of May 25, 2009, the army ‘operation’ in Swat was well underway and the drone issue had taken the back seat in public consciousness. We spent the first two days meeting with activists/elites at civil junction. Almost everyone spoke English and was educated or had spent some time abroad. Majority of them supported the operation and believed in ‘crushing’ the Taliban.

We met displaced people from many villages and towns of mostly swat, some buner and deer. we met them living just outside Islamabad (Bara Koh, Satra Meel), in Attock, Swabi, Mardan (Haathia, Jallah), Tarbela, Ghazi and Hasan Abdal. We met them living in empty buildings (hospital, schools, colleges), private homes and tented camps.

Afghani Taliban has said there is no connection between them and the Pakistani Taliban and Taliban from swat are not the same as Taliban of south Waziristian. This also echoed by the displaced people we met. About two years earlier outsiders with long hairs and beards started to come into town and take over police stations. They promised nizame adle and quick justice. They also offered large sums of money and arms. Some locals - poor, unemployed and criminally minded - joined them. In the beginning people supported them. Women donated money and even their jewelry for the cause. Swatis are religious people; women dress modestly, observe pardah and believe in education for girls. We met several female high school and college students, in various camps.

When the so called Taliban started burning girls schools, forcing their way into the villagers’ houses in gangs of 10 or more and making unreasonable demands, those who criticized them disappeared, days later their bodies would be found decapitated, their heads hung in the village squares, only then the locals realized that these were not sincere Muslims. They did not observe normal Islamic code, among other things the obligatory prayers did not apply to them, and they even changed the ayas of the Qur'an to fit their purpose.

Taliban in South Waziristan, on the other hand, are left over 'mujahidin' from the time of Russian invasion. They married locals and have been assimilated. That’s where the US is conducting drone attacks. They are the ones fighting American aggression as they did Russians. Majority of the casualties from these attacks have been civilians. Traditional life of proud people of NWFP has been disrupted, there is no peace and no normal life we all take for granted.

A man from North Waziristan told us sad tales of the aftermath of drone attacks. He told us that hospitality is a Pastun tradition that applies to enemies as well as friends. If any Taliban visits them they feed and protect them. Quite often the drone attacks came long after the Taliban had gone. The villagers have to carry the injured for miles before reaching the paved road and wait there for any means to transport to reach Red Cross.

What is going happen to the displaced people when their homes, their crops, their fruit orchards and their livestock are destroyed? They are living under horrendous conditions; coming from colder climate the Punjab heat is unbearable for them. How and when are they going back to their homes? Who is going to take care of them in the mean times? United Nations is already overburdened and out of funds. Majority of the affected people (~80%) are cared for by the community and charity organizations, how long the goodwill and resources of these organizations can last?

The western media is raising the specter of Pakistani nuclear bombs falling into the hands of ‘terrorist’. Nothing could be further from truth. These are primitive uneducated people fighting a guerrilla war to preserve their centuries old life style and tradition and rid their country from the foreign meddling. They do not have the sophistication to assemble the nuclear bomb even if they stumble upon it. The Pakistan army is the only stable and over half a million strong institution in Pakistan. It is extremely unlikely of it succumbing to ragtag local Taliban. It is another scare tactic by the great super power to make it population close their eyes and let Uncle Sam keep them safe.

The drones, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), have been dropping bombs in South Waziristan since 2004. A Pakistani newspaper - The News, April 10, 2009 – report: Figures compiled by the Pakistani authorities show that a total of 701 people, including 14 al-Qaeda leaders, have been killed since January 2006 in 60 American predator attacks targeting the tribal areas of Pakistan. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=21440. Since Obama took office the frequency of drone attacks has increased and expanded into Baluchistan. With every drone attack, with every casualty, the anger against the United States and the Pakistan government rises and more ‘Taliban/terrorists’ are created

Many people coming from different villages in Swat and Buner had stories to tell some general and similar many personal and heart breaking. How they had to leave with just the clothes on their backs, how they had to walk for miles sometimes for days before finding a car or a truck and shelter somewhere.

They were confused as to why the police yielded to Taliban take over so quickly; why the government didn’t stop Maulana Fazalulah from broadcasting on FM radio; why half a million strong army could not handle small group of renegades. In all the camps and private homes we visited, we were told that no one has received any assistance from the government. The NGOs and local communities are the only ones generously and actively taking care of the displaced people. People who still have relatives trapped inside the war zone are unable to contact them because all the telephone towers have been knocked down by the army to prevent the ‘Taliban’ from communicating with each other.

One woman told me one of her neighbor is beside herself because she lost her child whom she was carrying on her back in the rush. One woman handed her son to his father, he put the child on the ground for a moment and the child went missing. Father thought the child is with the mother and the mother thought he is with the father. An 8-year-old boy’s parents were killed and two of his siblings who survived are lost somewhere in the crowds. Only with time we’ll know the full extent of misery caused by the Pakistan army’s operation, which is going on and expanding to other areas.


PS. The army has ended the operation in Swat and people have started to return to their homes. What they found there and how they are surviving is not known.

three important talks spomsored by MSA at bradley; april 9, 13 and 16, 7 - 8 pm

Thursday April 9th
"A Journey Through Faith: Finding the Creator."

Dr. Jeffrey Lang will be speaking about his conversion from atheism to Islam. He is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Kansas.

Location: Bradley University
Baker Hall room B51
Time: 7:00-8:00 p.m.

- - - - -

Monday April 13th
"Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos."

Anna Baltzer

Location: Baker Hall room B51
Time: 7:00-8:00 p.m.

Anna Baltzer is a 29 -year-old Jewish American Columbia graduate,
Fulbright scholar, author, and the granddaughter of Holocaust
refugees. As a volunteer with the International Women's Peace Service,
Baltzer documents human rights abuses in the West Bank and supports
Palestinian- led nonviolent resistance to the Occupation.

Cosponsors include: Amnesty International: Bradley Chapter, Peoria Area Peace Network, and Veterans for Peace

- - - - -

Thursday April 16th
"Erasing Misconceptions about Islam"

Dr. Kamran Riaz

Location: Bradley Hall room 46 (in the basement)
Time: 7:00-8:00 p.m.

Kamran Riaz has an extensive background in Islamic studies. From 1995 to 1996, he studied the Qur'an, Arabic, the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and completed memorization of the Qur'an within a nine month period at the Institute of Islamic Education, based in Elgin, Illinois. Since then, he has continued studying Islamic sciences with some of the most renowned scholars in the Chicagoland area.
He attended the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC) for undergraduate studies where he was the president of the Muslim Students Association in 2002 and 2003. He graduated magna cum laude from University of Illinois in Chicago from the prestigious GPPA program with dual degrees in Economics and Middle Eastern History with the highest possible departmental distinction. Kamran also leads Taraweeh prayers in Ramadan at the Downtown Islamic Center. He has served as a group spiritual leader during Hajj. He teaches Arabic classes at Darul Qasim, an institute of classical Islamic learning in the suburbs of Chicago. In addition, he has spoken at various events including the Zaytuna Minara Program, Friday prayers around the Chicagoland area, fundraising dinners, youth events, interfaith dialogues, and the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention. Kamran has also been featured in author Pearl Gaskins' book, "I Believe In…" He graduated from the UIC College of Medicine, and at present, he is a resident physician in the Department of Ophthalmology at Northwestern University.

60 minutes: the West Bank

Watch CBS Videos Online

"Gift to Israel" a letter from a Jewish American friend

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Beirut trying to concentrate, but
I just can't. There are hundreds of heartbreaking emails to read
through, each one worse than the last. The carnage did not stop with
the so-called "ceasefire" (I use quotations because the slow massacre
of starving an entire population of basic human necessities --
sufficient food, water, medical supplies, heat -- continues). Everyday
on television we watch new bodies being dug out of the rubble. And now
that a few international reporters and humanitarian workers have been
allowed into Gaza, we hear more of the
stories that had previously been left untold.

I received the following letter written by my friend Barbara Lubin, a
Jewish American woman who founded the Middle East Children's Alliance,
a great organization to contribute to if you can
(www.mecaforpeace.org). Her account turned my stomach:

-------------------------------

January 23, 2009
Dear Aamir,
I entered the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night with my friend and fellow
activist Sharon Wallace after waiting ten hours at the Egypt/Gaza
border. The destruction and trauma is even greater than I expected.
...
Out of all the devastation I have seen so far, there is one story in
particular that I think the world needs to hear. I met a mother who
was at home with her ten children when Israeli soldiers entered the
house. The soldiers told her she had to choose five of her children to
"give as a gift to Israel." As she screamed in horror they repeated
the demand and told her she could choose or they would choose for her.
Then these soldiers murdered five of her children in front of her. The
concept of "Jewish morality" is truly dead. We can be fascists,
terrorists, and Nazis just like everybody else.
...
In Zaytoun, I saw families gathering wood from charred trees. The
almost two-year blockade of Gaza has deprived people cooking gas, so
these terrified families build fires to keep warm and cook the little
food they can get. I talked to people on the street who told stories
of wild dogs coming to eat their dead neighbors, relatives bleeding to
death because Israel would not allow emergency workers into the area,
and Israeli soldiers entering homes to beat and kill.

But despite the immense mourning and devastation, people are starting
to put their lives back together. Sabreen, a young woman from Rafah,
told me, "We are a strong people. No matter how many times Israel
bombs us we are not leaving. We will keep trying to live as normal a
life as possible."

Sincerely,

Barbara Lubin
Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine

-------------------------------

I was invited for dinner tonight by the president of a theological
school here in Beirut, who offered me a place to stay. She didn't seem
to want to talk about politics, but when I showed her my book she
looked at me and said "As a person of the scriptures, I was convinced
that the Jewish state must have some ethical grounding, for all its
faults... Until 2006. Until that summer when Israel bombed everything
in sight, and dropped 1,200,000 cluster bombs (authorized by
Condoleezza Rice) after -- AFTER! -- the ceasefire agreement. Just
yesterday a young man's leg was blown off by one of them, one of
millions that remain. And after watching the massacres in Gaza, I have
no more faith in the morality I so closely tied with Judaism."

I came to Syria and Lebanon worried that anyone I told I was Jewish
would be resentful, or even violent. But each person I tell seems
almost relieved to meet a Jewish person opposed to what Israel is
doing, wanting to revive their hope that Jews, Muslims, and Christians
can coexist. The problem is not that people here hate Jews; the
problem is the army of fighter jets bearing Jewish stars, claiming it
represents Judaism, repeatedly devastating children, families, an
entire nation, decade after decade, while most Jews (and others) in
the world let it happen without a peep. The problem is that I myself
am starting to wonder what it even means to be Jewish if the morality
and memory ("Never again") that tied me to it is now gone.

Something has happened since my last trip less than two years ago. In
the West Bank last month, formerly active friends told me to go home,
get a new job, start a family, forget about Palestine because there's
no hope. People seemed so tired, at the end of their rope, and this
was before the Gaza bombing started. People in Gaza were at the end of
their rope 18 months before, when their most basic needs were cut off
and they were encaged, left to waste away and fight amongst
themselves. How much can a person take?

I do not have the resilience to even bear one more month here. I am so
drained, so pained, and of course I have the luxury of being able to
buy a ticket and leave whenever I want. It's fitting that Beirut will
be one of my last stops. Here a city, devastated by war after war,
continues to rebuild itself, like the rest of Lebanon and like Gaza.
Beirut nightlife buzzes around me as I write, and I have to believe
that if the millions of Lebanese and Palestinian people repeatedly
traumatized in this war-torn land have pulled themselves together to
rebuild and look to a better future, then I'll manage to as well.

In solidarity with those who have lost their homes and families,

Anna Baltzer
Beirut, Lebanon