MARAWI CITY/100 days: The Globalization of Terror

When I was in high school, my family lived just across the street from the mosque.

MARAWI CITY

Lake Lanao is the second-largest lake in the Philippines, with a surface area of 340 square kilometers. At 2,300 ft., it is the second-highest lake in Asia, after Dal Lake in Srinagar, India, in the Kashmir region. It is listed among the 15 ancient lakes of the world.

I always remember my hometown, the City of Marawi, as a haven of peace. Life was fun and simple. The lake was like a giant pool, serene and crystal. Whether swimming or drifting in your canoe-like boat, you can lose track of the time. It was a time when one could bask in the moonlight to the wee hours of the morning without fear of being molested. Its misty dawns, virgin forests, cool and chilly climate, abundant rainfall, and afternoon drizzles are natural wonders that the Maranaw people are blessed with.

Non-Muslim migrants from the north were lured into the City with enchanted tales like “if you toss out the seed of a fruit, you will find it sprouting the following day.” Better believe it…!

It was formerly known as Dansalan City, which was later renamed Marawi City. I always remember it as just one big town among many that dot the shores of Lake Lanao. Comparatively, Marawi City has always been poor. Government basic services are minimal, with poor electricity and water services, as well as other apparent signs of government neglect. However, if you don’t know what you are missing, you may find it acceptable. Kerosene lamps lighted my entire education until I left Marawi for college, and I remember it with nostalgic memories.

With the violence of martial law in the 1970s, the natural wonder went puff like a paradise forever lost in the mist of time. Life was never the same again, and with the 2nd Martial Law of May 2017, almost half a century hence, the destruction is sadly near total. It will need divine intervention to fly again like a phoenix if Marawi City is ever to rise again from the ashes of its ruins.

THE MARANAW

I prefer using the word Maranaw as a noun to refer to a person of the Ranao tribe, although most people prefer using Meranaw, meaning a person from the lake. Maranaws don’t live in the lake – they live around it, which brings to mind the Badjaos of the Sulu provinces. They live in their boats floating in the seas, and in times of storms, they simply row their houseboats to the other side of an island to weather the storm.

Due to the economic hardships in the Lanao highlands, the Maranaos have created the country’s largest ethnic diaspora. I surmised, although I have no statistics to back it up, that 40-50% of the Maranaw tribe have mainly migrated to the adjoining provinces, such as Lanao del Norte, CDO, the Zamboangas, the Cotabatos, and elsewhere in the country. They are in every nook and cranny of the archipelago. It is a survival migration, and they did.

They are people who take life less seriously. They laugh easily, even at the dire circumstances of their own lives. When the smoke of battle has settled in Marawi, the people will remember more the funny things that happened on their way to escape the onslaught of terror. They will laugh at it, and it will be retold for generations.

The Maranaws are adventurous and fiercely competitive people. They see life as a stage set for the battle of wits, and they stop at nothing to win. If you visit your local school and check if a Maranaw is among the students, you will likely find them on the honor roll and probably the president of the class. If you put a Maranaw in a group, given time, he will end up being the leader of the group. He is fearless. It is in the Maranaw character to lead. President Duterte is a Maranaw.

The Maranaw tribe is among the country's three big Muslim groups. The Maranaws are better described as businessmen and merchants. They sell everything from nail cutters on the sidewalks to pearls and diamonds in the country’s malls. They are vendors, peddlers, and, of course…professionals. Their competitiveness has enabled them to secure high positions in both government and private enterprises.

When Armstrong landed on the moon, he was shocked to find Maranaws peddling their wares. This is just to highlight how Maranaws make a laugh of themselves. They enjoy life no matter what the circumstances. If you have bought a pirated CD, you probably bought it from a Maranaw. They turned CD piracy into a multi-million industry, and sadly, so are illegal drugs.

THE GLOBALIZATION OF TERROR

My initial reaction upon seeing it in the news was one of disbelief.

The Iran-Iraq war was coming to a close when I came to Saudi Arabia (1980). Then came the Gulf War of 1991, the Afghan War, the Gulf War of 2003, and then Libya, Syria, and Yemen, not to mention the endless war in Palestine. Those are just news to me, where towns, villages, and cities are destroyed. I have friends whom I have worked with for more than 20 years, including those from the West Bank, Palestine, and Aleppo, Syria. I feel happy whenever I see their posts on social media, an assurance that they are okay. Then, it is almost surreal in the blink of an eye – the news becomes me. My friends' and relatives’ homes, places I frequented, barangays where my family lived, streets I walked growing up, and schools I attended – all reduced to rubble.

It is all so unreal - Terrorists/ISIS…? Are you joking? Most Filipinos don’t even know where Marawi City is, and yeah, the ISIS/ISIL/IS is in the Middle East. How did it come to my Highlander city halfway around the world?

Terror has likewise globalized. It can happen to anyone, anyplace, anywhere. The masterminds of 9/11 – the Big Bang that globalized terror succeeded beyond their dreams, and most of them live to see it come true. 

NK

https://www.amazon.com/Nosca-Khalid/e/B01NA7APYQ

9/11 – THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY AGAINST MUSLIMS

The events of 9/11 are considered the crime of the century, not because of the 3,000 Americans that died, but because of the subsequent destruction of 5 Muslim nations, the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslims, and the displacement of millions from their homes.

There is no such thing as a perfect crime, especially if it involves so many people, because some will eventually succumb to the dread of death. They will be haunted by their conscience to the gates of hell, and only confessions can offer them some semblance of solace on their deathbed.

LARRY SILVERSTEIN: Evil Genius of 9/11

Larry Silverstein is a Jewish businessman who is the leaseholder of the World Trade Center. He rented the compound from the state of New York for $ 100 million. Then he insured the group of buildings for 5 billion dollars from terrorist attacks—yes, folks, specifically for terrorist attacks. He never missed taking his breakfast at a restaurant on the 32nd floor—except on 9/11. As if by cue, the events of 9/11 happened three months later.

The World Trade Center building 7 had become the symbol of treachery - the smoking gun proving that 9/11 was an inside job. It never crossed the mind of most until a CIA agent participant recently confessed that a 3rd plane was supposed to crash into building 7, but it never showed up. I have always wondered why there were fires in Building 7. Where did it come from? Obviously, the fires were preinstalled to exaggerate a plane crash, probably a smaller one, and trigger a collapse just like the twin towers. For some unknown reason, the plane never showed up while the preinstalled fires kept on burning. It took Silverstein 8 hours to decide to go on with the plan and detonate the preinstalled explosives for the demolition of building 7 without a plane crashing into it.

http://www.neonnettle.com/news/2495-cia-agent-gives-sworn-statement-we-brought-down-the-twin-towers-on-9-11-

https://www.amazon.com/Nosca-Khalid/e/B01NA7APYQ

STRANGER THINGS

Regardless of how we technologically advance in leaps and bounds…mysteries beyond our comprehension still abound.

For months, I heard rumors that our clinic’s manager, aside from recruiting nurses to fill the gap in our staffing, is also bringing another GP doctor from Egypt. I didn’t believe the doctor's diagnosis because there was no need for it. Our clinic is small, and with half of the town having left for a safer place to escape the errant bombs from across the border with Yemen, the number of patients has been markedly reduced.

The other Egyptian GP and I can manage a 16-hour shift from 8:00 am to 12 midnight. Although our clinic’s manager/owner informed the Egyptian GP that another doctor would be coming, he did not inform me. He would have told me if it was true, so I took it for a joke, which he often does, but the other doctor is distraught. It means that one of us will have to go, and since I have no issue with the manager or with everyone else in the clinic, he was afraid; it could be him.  He kept asking if the manager had told me or if he had called me to his office or talked with me about it, but I assured him that he hadn’t. Several times, he asked me to come with him and speak to the manager, but I refused, knowing it to be untrue.

Two weeks ago and while crossing the street near our clinic; a boy driving a GMC hit him. The hospital is a minute drive from our clinic. He had multiple fractures (5 fractures in his legs and arms). He had 4 surgeries ever since and he is recovering well. I heard that his wife is coming anytime now and when he is well enough to travel; they will go home to Egypt.

I usually do a 16 hours duty whenever the Pediatrician or the other GP went for a leave but with the ravages of time…I find the burden harder and harder to bear.

“The new doctor arrived today,” one of the nurses retorted as we crossed path in the hallway.

I said, “What?” it was the 3^rd day of the accident meaning I have been on duty 16 hours a day for the last 3 days.

“He will start his duty tomorrow. You can relax,” she said with a smile.

I wanted to jump and dance…!

https://www.amazon.com/Nosca-Khalid/e/B01NA7APYQ

THE SCENES OF APRIL: vacation 2017

As soon as I lowered my shoulder bag, I noticed something different. The space between the seats is more expansive. “Maybe, I thought - the airline is finally willing to sacrifice a few rows of seats for comfort.” As soon as I sat down and groped for the seat belts, I heard a sweet voice, almost a whisper, close right to my face.  “Please put your bag in the overhead compartment. You are seated at the emergency exit.” I turned my head and saw the emergency exit sign. I burst out laughing – “OMG, I have been doing this for the last 37 years.” April 7, 2017

During my last vacation in November 2016, the clinic’s driver handed me an envelope at the Abha airport.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Certificate of Employment,” he replied.

I said, “I didn’t ask for this.” (During the last 10 years I worked at this private clinic, I never requested a certificate of employment.) It is something you ask for at the time you resign because you need it when you apply for a new job.)

“Saeed (manager/owner of the clinic) thought that you might need it,” the driver answered.

I slipped the envelope into the side pocket of my shoulder bag.

Weeks later: “Give me your certificate of Employment,” said the local manager of Metro Bank. It was the first and most important document that the bank manager requested from me. My wife and I were at the bank applying for a car loan. A little more than a week later, my wife and I commuted to “Toyota Manila Bay” and drove home an Avanza G 1.5. “Thank you, God, for the car,” I said silently as I went home. Although I didn’t have a car in the 10 years leading up to that day, it was actually my car, number 5, since 1980.

My return home in April 2017 was not part of my scheduled leave, so I had to pay for my own ticket. I promised Nishreen that if she ends the year with honors, I will fulfill her wish of going out of town for a break, but there was a problem – they were a victim of the DFA’s incompetence. The earliest they can apply for a passport is May 26.

Everything happens for a reason, so I let Nishreen go on a shopping spree.

“Why are you buying me anything I want?” she asked.

“Because you deserve it,” I replied with a smile.

“If I am at RGMS (Montessori/her elementary school) and not at SCC (Senator Cayetano Memorial Science and Technology High School), how much will my tuition fees be?)

Intelligent girl, I thought. “Something like 70k?”

“You mean I can go shopping?”

“Yea, scholar ka ng bayan e…” I teased her.

If God gave me a car last time I was home, this time He gave me miraculous gifts, not to mention ease and the daily comforts of living.

I thought that, due to time constraints, I couldn’t travel home to Marawi to see my brothers. A few days after I arrived, I saw a post on Facebook. My younger brother and his wife were on a flight to Manila. Wow, I thought with glee. I called them on the day they were supposed to arrive. They didn’t know I was home in Manila. The call was a surprise.

They directly traveled from the airport to PGH and had my sister-in-law confined. Her kidney tumor had recurred a year after surgery. My wife and I visited them in the hospital. Days later, she was declared completely free without surgery, confirmed by a PET scan. That was one gift of life, but then who knows, that could be God’s way of bringing them to Manila. There was this adage I suspected to be from Western writers meant to ridicule Islam: “If Mohammad cannot come to the mountain, let the mountain come to Mohammad,” and people took it as a ridiculous joke.

On the same day, I had my own kidney ultrasound. I have been taking meds to dissolve a kidney stone for a year. My stone also disappeared.

My eldest daughter had been waiting for a year, waiting for her name to be drawn from a visa lottery for a hospital employment opportunity in the USA. Her employer/agency had spent and done everything necessary, so the waiting finally came to an end. She received the Email she had been anxiously waiting for.

My son’s promotion also came at a time when I could be a part of the cheer.

Miracles happen in our everyday lives, but only the keenly sensitive notice. This incident is just one among many. Norayda and her longtime high school friends often hang out at a Starbucks in Parañaque. Her name, having been drawn from the lot, calls for a celebration. She asked me and her mom if we could drive her to the place. We can take our coffee while she joins her pals. The joint has only 6 parking spaces. It was packed, but as soon as I stopped to decide what to do, the driver of the car, whose front I had stopped, signaled that I should drive backward. He was driving out. Inside the joint, it was packed. There were tables outside, but it was hot. Two men taking dinner at the table near where we were standing stood up and walked out.  Weird; their meal was not even half finished, and Starbucks is not cheap.

BACK TO SAUDI ARABIA

The queue at the Saudia Airlines check-in counter was, as usual, long. Extreme to my right was the Business Class check-in counter, which was empty. The Lady behind the counter was waving her hand at me, but I pretended not to see. I was okay in my queue, but she waved to the lady employee, who tapped my shoulder and told me to go. I have a new suitcase with four wheels that you simply nudge or push, so I went. Again, my seating was at the emergency exit, but not at the side column; it was in the middle aisle. The lady at the counter asked me if I wanted to change my seat. She’ll find a way, but I said no.  I like it there…I can stretch my legs.

At Riyadh Airport, after passing through immigration, your passport is checked as you exit the door. The Saudi guy checking the passports just put his hand over my shoulder and nudged me gently forward without looking at my passport.

C’mon, guys, am I going to die? Strange things do happen to a person who is about to die. Are you seeing my spiritual light? I thought amusingly.

I reported for work a day after I returned. To reestablish my routine, I needed groceries, so after my first shift (12:00 PM—4:00 PM), I walked 2.5 km to the town’s biggest grocery store.

Along the way, a beautiful flower sprouted from an unlikely place at the corner bend. I pulled out my CP, took a shot, and continued walking. I had never crossed that road before without looking to my left to make sure no car was turning right, but at that moment, I didn’t. My focus was distracted by the flower.

To avoid hitting me, the driver steered his car to the opposite lane. I was in the middle of the right lane. Fortunately, the opposite lane was empty of cars. Both lanes, divided by an island, were empty of vehicles, and the entire stretch was more than 2 km. The driver just continued driving in the opposite lane…

I have just wasted my life #8.

Wind Residences, Tagaytay

17th floor of Tower 1 - WIND RESIDENCES

Nishreen's 12th B'day: April 19 - Shell Residences

Norayda and her son are flying kite at the Wind Residences ground

My routine most of the time was walking the side streets of BGC while waiting for two of my children to finish work at 11 PM.

“Allah’ho Akhbar…” The Call Emanating from an Old Church

Although my spirit keeps wandering in time, even when I am napping on my chair, aboard a plane, in a car, or anywhere else, the best of my prophetic dreams comes when I return to sleep after my morning prayer at 4-5 a.m. The message, if important, will be embedded in my memory like a video, and this one is one of those.

THE DREAM

I was walking along a small path with several inches of tall grass growing along each side. It was no wild grasses; it was properly trimmed as if purposely maintained. On my left and right were buildings —a few-story building that looked really old. I was there for no particular reason. In fact, I thought I had lost my way and was trying to find my way out. I heard the “Athan (Muslim’s call to prayer)…Allah’ho Akhbar.” Surprised, I thought there must be a mosque here, so I followed the call until I found myself standing in front of an old church. It’s tall, but there was no cross at the spire/pointed summit. Plants and grasses were growing over it, covered with moss and algae of various colors – green, black, and white. Wild trees were growing on both sides. 

“Allah’ho Akhbar…” the call continued, blaring.  I thought there must be a mosque behind the church, and then I woke up.

I tried to interpret my dreams about what old churches or old buildings mean, but I realized that the message the dream has nothing to do with old buildings or old churches.

IT REPRESENTS THE CHURCH/CHRISTIANITY RAVAGED BY TIME, WHILE ISLAM SURGES ONWARD.  TIME WILL PROVE THAT ISLAM IS RIGHT, WHILE CHRISTIANITY SUCCUMBS TO THE RAVAGES OF TIME.

The last three popes attempted to reform the church to better align with the times, but the reforms came too late. Years ago, in one of the things I wrote before the end of the 20th century, I said that the 21st millennium would be Christianity’s last. Huh! This century could be its last, as technology whizzes by at the speed of light…Christianity and other idolatrous religions will be crushed. 

How can one be so technologically intelligent and at the same time worship idols? It doesn’t make intelligent sense, and yeah, the MEDIA found a fall guy to blame for the fall of Christianity – Islam. LOL!

...but then, it's only a dream! 

The reality, as we speak, is that churches in Europe are being converted to mosques. The dream is absolutely correct; Islam's call to prayer, as we speak, emanates from what used to be churches. 

https://www.amazon.com/Nosca-Khalid/e/B01NA7APYQ

GOG AND MAGOG: Savior of Humankind at the END OF DAYS

Gog and Magog…!

Who are they?

One of the mysteriously fascinating names of the end times are the Gog and Magog. I made a few clicks to learn more about them, only to discover that, like the Beast 666 and the anti-Christ, nobody really knows for sure who they are at the END OF DAYS. Like the Beast 666 and the anti-Christ, they represent in every age and time a Gog and Magog personalities. Hitler was the anti-Christ in WW2. Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, and OBL, at some point in their lives, were tagged as the ant-Christ. Napoleon waged a war between the Gog and Magog. When President Bush went to France to convince the French president to join the coalition of the willing against Saddam, he was quoted to have told the president that the “battle of the Gog and Magog is going on in the Middle East.”

LET ME SHOCK YOU!

They are aliens, and according to the Bible and the Qur’an, they are so numerous, something like “as numerous as the sand of the sea,” that they will overrun the planet. The Bible and the Qur’an’s descriptions of them perfectly fit our modern perception of aliens from other worlds.

I’m not nuts! The truth is stranger than fiction.

The Qur’an version, compared to the Bible, is very clear that the Garden of Eden is not on this planet. God spoke of Earth as a totally different place, as if banishing man to an Island in the vast ocean of space to serve out a certain limited period of time.

Qur’an 7:24: “Get you down with enmity between yourselves. On Earth will be your dwelling place and your means of livelihood for a time.” In Qur’an 7:25 – He said: “Therein shall you live and therein you shall die, but from it, you shall be taken out at last.”

1)    “...get you down” (from where...?)

2)    “...with enmity between yourselves.” (It would imply that Adam and Eve were not alone and would sync with the Bible. Eve was Adam’s second wife. The first wife was Lilith. The children of Adam went out and found themselves wives, meaning there were other Earth settlers.)

3)    “...Earth will be your dwelling place for a time,” meaning they came from somewhere else. Earth was an alien planet.

4)    “...but from it you shall be taken out at last,” meaning humankind will abandon Earth at some point in time. In case of Earth’s total destruction, humankind will be evacuated back to the gardens of Eden?

END TIME

THE MOON IS ABASHED…THE EARTH REELS LIKE A DRUNKARD; IT SWAYS LIKE A HUT IN THE WIND (ISAIAH 24:1-23)

THE MOON IS CLEFT ASUNDER…AND THE SUN RISES FROM ITS PLACE OF SETTING (Al Qur’an)

Whatever it is, it will probably be a planet-sized cosmic object shattering the moon. It will come hurtling towards us and smash planet Earth. The impact will be so massive that it will reverse the earth’s axis rotation and cause the sun to rise from its place of setting.  According to the Qur'an, the shattered moon will take a death dive towards the sun’s gravitational pull. It will be lost forever.

In Revelation 20-22, the dreamer/visionary described a totally destroyed earth that is blurred by the writers of the Bible trying to inject Jesus into the dream.

Intergalactic Rescue:

Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

If you pay close attention, Gog and Magog have not killed or attacked anyone, but they will be all over the four corners of the earth.

The Gog and Magog will be all over the Earth looking for survivors as part of the intergalactic rescue of humankind.

In Qur’an 7:25 – He said: “Therein shall you live and therein you shall die, but from it, you shall be taken out at last.”

“…you shall be taken out at last (or at the end).”

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.

HUMANKIND IS BACK IN THE PLANET OF THE GARDENS OF EDEN!

Huh! Is the planet of the Gardens of Eden without seas...?

https://www.amazon.com/Nosca-Khalid/e/B01NA7APYQ

DAJJAL: THE ANTI-CHRIST (eBook #7)

When, on February 18, 2017 – 80 people died from an ISIS bomb, I decided to expose the Dajjal-translated anti-Christ. In the Philippines, a German hostage was beheaded by the terror group Abu Sayyaf, while in Egypt, Coptic Christians are leaving to escape ISIS.

The Dajjal passed away in 2013, but he spawned 30 Dajjal that the Prophet foretold would spread havoc in the world so terrible that, according to some witnesses, the Prophet turned pale as he described his vision of the Dajjal’s atrocities.

...you can read it for free at Amazon.com. Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Nosca-Khalid/e/B01NA7APYQ