Assault part 9

Confederation forces fought their way to the gates of the capitol, paying for every meter with blood. Bahamut class battleships, outfitted with mass drivers, maneuvered into low orbit firing on the unity forces north of the capitol with devastating effect. Confederation troops, who could feel the explosions caused by the mass drivers from kilometers away, joked that next year they would fish in the lakes being created north of the capitol city. The destruction of the Unity forces north of the capitol left the Unity defenders with out hope of reinforcement. After three days of ferocious fighting the Unity defenders retreated into the city, abandoning the few armored vehicles that had not been destroyed.

The Unity defenders hoped to delay the invading confederate forces long enough for reinforcements to arrive from the southern continent. Unfortunately for the defenders any relief would have to be air-lifted to get to them in time to help and the C.S.S. Musa, a Zaratan class carrier’s Buraq fighters were destroying anything that the Unity tried to put into the air.

After two days of attempting to negotiate surrender, the Confederate assault troops were given their orders and attacked the city blasting the airlocks and simply cutting through the city’s walls. Fierce house to house fighting raged for 5 days and while the Unity troops had the will to fight, they found themselves out of ammunition and low on bottled air and filters. And so they finally surrendered. The leader of the Unity of Saints, who went by the title of prophet, was captured and announced the unity’s surrender.

The surrender was recorded and broadcast all over the planet. Soon confederate ships were being dispatched to all Unity controlled star systems with recordings of the Unity of Saint’s prophet surrender. In one bold remove the Unity of Saints was removed as a military threat.

“Omar can you give me a hand over here? I need and Hamza to bring those welders over to gate station 4, so they can get started on repairing it” said the captain.

“Sir why can’t we just get a bio-lab to create a retro-virus we can give these people so that they can be enhanced and able to breathe the air here? Can’t be that hard, they possibly even have the original retro-virus used on Hausa World that enabled to breathe back home and here on Zarahemla prime still sitting in storage in some lab somewhere.” Asked Hamza.

“The saints have some type of religious beliefs that do not allow them to gene-modify themselves. Their cattle are in the fields around the city so they obviously know how to do it. We cannot enforce our beliefs on them it just isn’t right.” Replied the captain, “Now get those welders over to gate station four, so we can get this city depressurized.”

Assault part 8

Confederate Armored vehicle fires at Unity para-military forces in support of confederate assault troops.

Soon they had new orders, ground radar had triangulated where the sporadic rocket fire that was hitting them was coming from, but as they still could not find the mortar teams, Omar was told to take his men and spot the rocket launchers. Moving carefully through the forest looking out for booby traps and Unity Para-military snipers, an hour later they started taking fire, they could also hear the whoosh of the out going rockets.

“Hamza’s hit,” yelled Jakir as he returned fire at the Unity defenders.

“I ‘m alright” shouted Hamza after rolling behind a tree, “Alhamdulilah I’m alright, but the laser spotter is broken.”

Omar fired two grenades from the under slung grenade launcher on his G.A.R-17 and made a mad dash towards Hamza. While Hamza zeroed in on the Unity defenders and started putting 14mm rounds into them, Omar tried to see if he could fix the laser spotter. He quickly came to the irrefutable conclusion that he could not. The laser spotter had been hit by a round meant for Hamza and had broken in to two pieces, electronic components inside were shattered.

Omar looked at Hamza and announced “It looks like the spotter has given its life for the Confederation. We don’t have another one, do we?”

“Nope”

“Didn’t think so. Alright we have to come up with another plan.” Said Omar glancing around the huge tree he and Hamza were using as cover. He had come to realize that in the last few minutes that the Unity return fire had significantly dropped off. “Look I took out the machine gun they had with my grenades, how many do you think you have you gotten?”

“I put down maybe 5 or 6.”

“Alright listen up; I want you to get over there with Jakir. You two will fire all 5 of your grenades in rapid succession and then start firing 3 round bursts. Hussian and I will charge them. If there are as few of them as I think we should be able to over run them and then hit the rocket tubes.”

“And if there isn’t a few of them but a whole company back there guarding the rocket tubes, then what.”

“Then it nice knowing you and I die with wudu”

“Right, right”

The plan went off perfectly as there turned out to be only two unity defenders left. They moved up towards where they heard the rockets firing from. They crawled up a small hill which the rocket tubes were set up behind and fired down on the Unity unit killing them all before they could get off even one shot. Eight hours later the Confederate Assault infantry was able to hook up with the armor units that were waiting to press on to the capitol city of Zarahemla Prime and all of the Unity.

Assault part 7

The pod hit the ground with a heavy thud, the iris door spun open and the straps holding Omar in the pod released. Omar activated his body armor’s chameleon skin and as trained moved twenty meters away from the pod took and took cover before activating his locater, so that he could find the Lt. When he picked up the Lt.’s signal flash he locked its location on his map read out and started moving towards it, as it was the units rally point.

Moving cautiously through the forest it took him only a few minutes before he came upon the rally point. The Captain was there giving out assignments.

“Omar get over “ordered Captain Khalid, “don’t have a mortar with you?”

“No sir”

“You did not happen to see any of the mortar teams when you were making your way here, did you”

“No sir”

“Alhamdulilah! Where are those mortar teams, listen Omar I want you to grab Hamza, Takir and Hussain and try to get up to the road. Hamza has a Laser spotter and we got Jinn Bombers entering the atmosphere now. They are going to do us a fly over. There is a Unity armored column coming down the road and you guys are going to spot it for the bombers, alright.”

“Yes sir”

Omar found the other men and they started towards the road. Hamza explained to him that something with the drop pods navigation systems had malfunctioned and they were twenty kilometers south of where they were supposed to be. So, while they had been screaming through the atmosphere hoping their feet did not burn off, the drop ships had unloaded the armor in the right place. The eyes in the sky had discovered that there was a Unity armor unit between them and the confederate armored unit whom they were supposed to be scouting a path towards the capitol. They could hear gunfire erupting south and west of them as Unity Para-military forces engaged the invading confederate army.

It wasn’t long before they saw the enemy tanks moving down the road towards them. Hamza trained the laser spotter on the second tank as Takir made a radio flash signal to the Jinn attack bombers. 10 seconds later the whole road seemed to explode as hundreds of bomblets rained down on the armored column. They never even saw the Jinn bombers.

Assault part 6

Drop pods photographed by a Unity Officer in command of a AAA unit.

12 hours later they emerged from the wormhole and slid into the Zarahemla star system, and while the confederate 4th fleet finished wiping the Zarahemla defenders from the sky, the Assault group traveled through the star system to take position in orbit of Zarahemla Prime. As every minute ticked by Omar and the other men felt the tension rise. Men cleaned their weapons, made dhiker, or read to try and pass the time. As they got closer and closer to their objective, more and more of the men made dhiker.

The order was given, Omar and the rest of his company assembled outside of their drop pods with all of their equipment. The captain then ordered them into their drop pods and then added, “Remember your training and you will survive. Remember Allah and you will be victorious regardless of the battle’s out come.”

Omar got into his drop pod and strapped himself in. He read the engraved plate, which was just above the go no-go lights in his drop pod. It was a hadith and read ‘The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once saw the corpse of a woman who had been killed during a battle. He disapproved of it and forbade the killing of women and children.’ It was a final reminder to the assault troops of how they were expected to conduct themselves during combat. The green go light came on and Omar feeling his stomach doing flip-flops recited the basmallah as he pressed the launch button.

The steering rockets fired and he felt the drop pod hit the atmosphere. The pod started to heat up for a short time and then the jerk of the main shoot being deployed, activated automatically by the pod’s altimeter. During this stage Omar knew he was most vulnerable, for even with the pod being invisible to radar and as the heat shield fell away, invisible to infrared the pod could still be seen by the naked eye. The shoot was sky blue but the pod was a dark grey. Attempts at painting them just had the paint burn off during entry.

Assault part 5

After several days of leave spent mostly playing soccer and computer games, Omar and Hamza reported back to base and assembled with the rest of the third assault division in a huge cavernous hanger. When General Al-Jaber walked into the hanger 20 thousand men snapped to attention. The General walked slowly across the stage to the podium, looking out at the faces of men whom he was about to order into combat. They are so young he thought.

At the age of 63, General Al-Jaber was old enough to be the grandfather of most of the men in the 3rd Assault Division. He still kept his 2.1 meter frame in trim fighting shape by jogging and swimming every day, but even with that age had caught up with him some what and took out the reading glasses, that he hated that he had to have, to read his speech notes.

“Assalam Alaikum” Said General Al-Jaber.

“Alaikum Assalam” replied 20 thousand soldiers.

“Bismillah Rahim Raham, five months ago military vessels belonging to the Frankish Empire attacked the Confederation, but they were not being content with destroying the military sites in the New Palestine star system. Oh no, they also nuked the eight largest cities on the prime planet. Now since that time we have fought two major battles and several smaller skirmishes, with raids going back and forth. The last major battle was a major attack by the Franks on New Kelantan and gentlemen, the Franks were crushed. All of the Frankish capitol ships participating in the raid were destroyed. A complete victory for the Confederation. Now the Franks are still in the fight and they have just finalized an alliance with the Unity of Saints. An Alliance, which we shall nullify with one bold strike. You will leave this assembly gather your gear, for in 6 hours you will be taking the elevator up to a top of the line Crocotta class assault troop transport” the General paused looking up from his notes at the sea of faces and exclaimed “Takbir”

20 thousand voices replied “Allahu Akbar”

“Takbir”

Allahu Akbar”

“Takbir”

“Allahu Akbar”

“You are dismissed.”

Omar and Hamza crowded on to the elevator car with a thousand of their fellow soldiers, combat armor on and packs on their backs. They would have their G.A.R.-17s issued to them once they got on board the C.S.S. Cairo, The Crocotta class assault ship which would transport them.
Once they and the rest of the assault divisions were loaded onto the transports, each platoon gathered around its Lieutenant who then ripped open their sealed orders and read them to the men. The Confederation High Command was making an attack on Zarahemla prime. The 7th fleet would slide into the Zarahamla Star system first and then they, 250,000 assault troops being escorted by 2 Bahamut class battleships and 4 Quyata class heavy cruisers, would come into after most of the Unity system defense ships had been destroyed or disabled. The assault ships were then to establish a low orbit and the assault troops would go down in drop ships. The soldiers also learned that the assault troops from Hausa world had been chosen to make the assault on Zarahemla Prime for a very special reason. Zarahemla Prime’s air was of a similar composition as Hausa world, 50% Carbon Dioxide. As all of the Hausa had been genetically modified generations ago so that they could breath the air, they would not have to wear any special type of respirators. The Unity defenders would be wearing such devices, as genetic modification of human beings was illegal in the Unity. All the cities and towns on Zarahemla Prime were domed.

86 hours after receiving their orders the lead battleship, the CSS Kuwait led the assault group to their slide point and opened up a worm hole which the group slid through to the Zarahemla star system.

Assault part4

When they got off the train, they were hustled on to a bus with other recruits and in short order were driven to the training base, where they met training Sgt. Abdulkhareem. A man whose 2.2-meter tall frame seemed to bulge everywhere with muscles and he howled at them in a thick New Daura accent pegging him as an off worlder. He seemed to spend the entire training time either in their faces or behind them kicking their butts.

“Listen up, I am not your friend, I am not your mama, I am not your daddy, I am your training Sgt. I will be training you how to be Confederate Assault troops, the greatest type of soldier there is. I will train you how to use all sorts of different killing devices and in battlefield tactics. But most importantly I will teach who the enemy is, so that when you go into battle you will not hesitate, because if you hesitate you die”, roared training Sgt. Abdulkhareem.

Over the next several months Omar, Hamza and the other recruits learned how to use the G.A.R.-17; gauss assault rifle, as well as the V.R.F gauss gun. They learned to use grenades, mines, and seemingly every confederate infantry weapon in use. Spending hours each day on the firing range, with the hot sun beating down on them.
When it rained, as the military did not want to run the firing range in the downpour, they did physical training and practicing marching in formation. The military did not seem to care how wet they got.
They practiced hand-to-hand combat, knife fighting and use of the garrote until every muscle ached and they could do the movements in their sleep.

“Drop the garrote over his head and around his neck, partial twist of your body and pull. Done correctly the enemy’s head will come off”, barked Training Sgt. Abdulkhareem white teeth gleaming.
Omar and the other recruits could hear training Sgt. Abdulkhareem in their sleep howling at them, “Wrong, now you are dead. Do it again!”

After graduation from the weapons school they went straight to drop school. They did parachute jumps and specialized HALO jumps for 3 weeks, then after a week of classroom instruction they went up the space elevator, they climbed aboard the C.S.S. West Wind, loaded into drop pods and made their first orbital assault insertion. They made one more drop and then had their graduation ceremony.
Omar’s Mom and sisters came with Hamza’s parents and brother. They all remarked how they looked older and seemed more mature. Mostly Omar and Hamza just felt tired, but they also felt confident in their new abilities and skills.

Assault Part 3

Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported: A person came to Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and said: Who among the people is most deserving my companionship (of a kind treatment from me?) He said: Your mother. He, again, said: Then who (is the next one)? He said: It is your mother (who deserves the best treatment from you). He said: Then who (is the next one)? He (the Holy Prophet) said: It is your mother. He (again) said: Then who? Thereupon he (The Prophet (peace be upon him)) said: It is your father.

“YOU DID WHAT!!!” yelled Khadija, Omar’s mom a tall thin woman wearing a black and gold outfit, at him.

“Hamza and I went down to the recruiter’s office and signed up.” Replied Omar nervously; this was not going at all as he had seen it in his mind. He had envisioned hi mother crying and grief stricken but proud, not blazing with anger.

“When you say recruiters, you mean you have signed up as dutronic robotic gardening equipment salesmen.” Said his mother with just a hint of sarcasm.

“No mother, Hamza and I went and signed up with “

“I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN BOY, I AM NOT STUPID.”

“Hamza and I …”

“I don’t care what Hamza does, I am not his mother. Now I forbid you to join the military. I have just lost your father, I am going to need help with your sisters,” she said gesturing to the 3 little girls who were sitting quietly on the living room’s old and worn couch.

“Mom, we already signed up. We are to report back to the recruiting station next Thursday to ship out for training.”

Khadija collapsed into the big black leather chair next to the couch, her head in her hands. It seemed that her anger had evaporated away and with it her strength. Her husband of twenty-four years dead and now her only son going off to fight in a war that had taken her by surprise. This was not how her life was supposed to be going, she thought. She had been inquiring about brides for her son and had expected to have him introduced to a few prospective brides when her husband had returned in 6 months. Now all her plans were shattered.

Khadija had Omar home for ten days and she made the most of it. Cooking all his favorite foods and letting him spend his days drinking tea and playing mancala with his sisters and friends. Omar figured he had gained two kilos by the time he reported to the military recruiter’s office, where they were given train tickets.

Assault part two

It is narrated on the authority of Tariq b. Shihab: It was Marwan who initiated (the practice) of delivering khutbah (address) before the prayer on the 'Id day. A man stood up and said: Prayer should precede khutbah. He (Marwan) remarked, This (practice) has been done away with. Upon this Abu Sa'id remarked: This man has performed (his duty) laid on him. I heard the Messenger of Allah as saying: He who amongst you sees something abominable should modify it with the help of his hand; and if he has not strength enough to do it, then he should do it with his tongue, and if he has not strength enough to do it, (even) then he should (abhor it) from his heart, and that is the least of faith.

Hamza plucked his red tinted glasses off his face and turned to his best friend, since 2nd grade, and stuttered” Omar, cousin I am so sorry, I mean I am sure that he wasn’t there. He was probably in the field. You know how he is always out getting rock samples.”

“Omar isn’t your dad on New Palestine”? Asked Zainab a young co-ed that Omar and Hamza had in their Neo-Quantum Trigonometry class.

“Yeah his dad is on New Palestine, teaching geology at the university at Ramallah by the Sea. Now could you give us a moment.” Replied Hamza who now had taken Omar’s arm in his hand and was directing him out the door. More of their classmates started to offer words of sympathy or encouragement.

Omar’s tall and lanky frame came to a sudden halt. Causing an un-alert Hamza to almost trip over him.
“The time stamp on the pictures show that it was a weekday morning. He is teaching classes mornings during the week. He was there when Ramallah by the sea was hit.” Stated Omar adding “We are at war Hamza, and I am going to go down and to the military recruiter’s office and sign up.”

“We will sign up together” said Hamza with a big smile braking across his face., “because there is no way I am going to let you go off and get all the glory.”

When they got there they found the recruiter’s office was full.

Story

If you haven't read the first part of the story Assault it is actualy after the Islamic expressions post. and i do urge you to read it. i hopefully will post more tonight.

Islamic Expressions

Islamic Expressions
There are a number of different collections of Islamic terms and common expressions. Here is a collection that I have found to be most useful to explain common expressions and terminology used by Muslims.
ALAYHIS SALAM-'Peace be upon him', a formula used after the name of a prophet
AMEEN-The Arabic expression meaning 'Please accept.' Used at the end of prayers and supplictions.
ASSALAMU ALAYKUM'Peace be upon you' the greeting of the muslim[the reply is 'wa alaikumus salam' which means 'and peace be upon you. The fuller version reads, 'assalam u alaikum wa rahmatulahi wa baakatuhu' which means 'peace be upon you and the blessings and mercy of Alllah' the reply is 'wa alaikumus salam wa rahmatulahi wa baakatuhu']
ALLAHU AKBAR-The Arabic expression meaning 'Allah is greater.' Also called the takbir
ALLAHU ALAM-An Arabic expression meaning 'Allah knows best'
AL HAMDU LILAH WA SHUKRU LILLAH-The Arabic expression meaning which means 'Praise belongs to Allah and all thanks to Allah'
AMMA BAAD-An expression used for separating an introductory from the main topics in a speech; the introductory being usually concerned with Allahs praises and glorification. Literally it means 'whatever comes after'
ASTAGFURALLAH-The Arabic expression meaning 'I ask forgiveness of Allah'
AUDHU BILLAHI MIN ASH SHAYTAN AR RAJIM-The Arabic expression meaning 'I seek protection in Allah from the accursed satan.'
AZZA WA JAL-A formula used after the mentioning the name of Allah meaning 'Mighty and Majestic is He'
BARAKALLAH FIK-An expression which means 'May the blessings of Allah be upon you.' When a muslims wants to thank another person, he uses different statements to express his thanks, appreciation and gratitude. One of them is BarakAllah
BISMILLAH AR RAHMAN AR RAHIM-The basmala. 'In the name of Allah, the all Merciful the all Compassionate.'[this is also translated as in the name of Allah most gracious most merciful]
FI AMANALLAH-Valedictory phrase meaning 'In Allahs protection'
FI SABILILLAH-The Arabic expression meaning 'In the way of Allah', 'For the cause of Allah' [also used to mean 'for the love of Allah']HADHRAT/HAZRAT-Literally 'Presence'; a term of address roughly equivalent to 'Your Honour'
HASBALA-The Arabic expression, 'Hasbunallah wa nimalwakil' meaning 'Allah is enough for us and an excellent guardian'. Usually known as 'Hasbi Allah'
HAWQALA-The Arabic expression, 'la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah' which means 'There is no power nor strength save (expect) by Allah'
INNA LILLAHI WA INNA ILAYHI RAJIUN-This is something which a muslim expresses when he is afflicted by a misfortune, the meaning of which is 'We are from Allah and to Him are we returning.' It is taken from an ayat (verse) from the Quran (ch 2 vs 156).[this is usually said upon hearing of the death of an individual]
INSHALLAH-The Arabic expression meaning 'If Allah wills'[this is usually said when referring to a situation in the future e.g. inshAllah I will go to the grocery shop tomorrow etc]
ISTIGHFAR-To ask the forgiveness of Allah, especially by saying, Astagfuralah, 'I seek the forgiveness of Allah'
ISTITHNA-Exception, saying 'InshAllah', 'If Allah wills'
ITAQILLAH-The Arabic expression meaning 'Fear Allah' - i.e. To fear to do something (i.e. a bad action), knowing that Allah is always watching.
JALLA JALALUH-The formula said after the name of Allah meaning 'Great is His Majesty'
JAZAKALLAHU KHAIRAN-This is a statement of thanks and appreciation to be said to a person who does a favour. Instead of saying 'shukran' (thanks), this phrase is used. It means 'May Allah reward you with good.
KARAM ALLAHU WAJHAHU-'May Allah honour him', a formula used when Ali ibn Abi Talib (RadiAllahu Ta'ala anhu) is mentioned
LABBAYK-'At your service', the talbiya or call of the pilgrim to his Lord in the hajj.[the full talbiya is 'LabbaykAllah huma Labbayk, LabbaykAllah sharee kalala Labbayk, innal hamda, wa naimata lakawulmulk la shareekala' which means "Here I am O Lord, here I am, Oh Allah, here I am. Here I am. You have no partner. Here I am. Surely all praise, grace and dominion is yours, and you have no partner."]
LA HAWLA WALA QUWWATA ILLA BILLAH-The meaning of this expression is 'There is no power nor strength save in Allah'. This is said by a muslim when he is struck with calamity, or is taken over by a situation beyond his control.
LI WAJHILLAH-Literally, 'For the face of Allah', meaning in order to obtain the pleasure of Allah, purely for Allah himself.
MA SALAMA-'With peace', a formula for ending letters
MASHALLAH-A phrase literally meaning 'What Allah wishes', and it indicates a good omen[example of usage, I get an A in a test, my mother would say MashAllah]
MALWANA'Our master', a term of respect[usually used in the context of referring to the Prophet , also however used in the context of referring to a learned individual e.g. scholar or imam, a concept I am not too keen on supporting and Allah knows best]
RABBANA WA LAKAL_HAMD-'Our Lord, Praise if yours', said after rising from ruku after saying 'sami Allahuliman hamidah'[which means 'Allah listens to the one who praises him']
RADIYALLAHU ANHA-The formula 'May Allah be pleased with her' used after a female companion[usually abbreviated as RA or RAA]RADIYALLAHU ANHU-This is an expression to be used by muslims whenever a name of a companion of the Prophet Muhammed is mentioned or used in writing. IT means 'May Allah be pleased with him'[usually abbreviated as RA or RAA]
RADIYALLAHU ANHUM-The formula, 'May Allah be pleased with them', used after a group of companions[usually abbreviated as
RA or RAA]RAHIMAHULLAH-The formula, 'May Allah have mercy on him'
SALLAHU ALAYHI WA SALLAM-'May Allah bless him and grant him peace', the formula spoken after the mentioning of the Prophet Muhammed [usually the following two sets of abbreviations are used for this phrase (pbuh) which means 'peace be upon him' and is the technical reply for all Prophets or (saws) the correct suffix when referring to the Prophet Muhammed ]
SAMI ALLAHU LIMAN HAMIDAH-'Allah heard him who send praise to Him', said by someone praying when he rises from ruku (unless he is following an imam in prayer)[if he is following an imam in prayer he says 'Rabana wala kalhamd' only]
SAYYIDUNA-'Our Master', a term of respect. Literally means 'Lord' or 'Master, or 'Leader'[usually used to refer to the Prophet Muhammed , however many people use it to refer to learned man / scholar, a practise I am not keen on - and Allah knows best]. It is also frequently used to denote a descendant of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam)
SHUYUKH -Magestic plural of Shaykh, literally meaning 'Old man' - an honorific title widely used to denote scholars, as well as tribal chieftians and notables.
SIDI-Colloquial for 'Sayyidi' or 'Sayyiduna' - My 'Lord/Master/Leader' - an honorific term - especially popular in North Africa.
SUBHANALLAH-'Glorified is Allah.' To honour Allah andmake Him free from all (unsuitable evil things) that are ascribed to Him, (or 'Glorified be Allah')
SUBHANAHU WA TA'ALA-'Glorified is He and exalted,' an expression that muslims use when the name of Allah is pronounced or written[this us usually abbreviated as (swt)]
TA'ALA-'Exalted is He', an expression used after the name of Allah is mentioned[i.e. Allah Ta'ala meaning, Allah, exalted be He]
TAAWWUDH-Saying, 'I seek refuge in Allah...' (audhu billahi minash shaitan nirajeem)
TABARAKALLAH-The formula 'Blessed is Allah' [usually used in the context of when one hears good news]
TAHMID-Saying the expression 'alhamdulillah', which means 'Praise belongs to Allah'
TAKBIR-Saying 'Allahu akbar', which means 'Allah is Great'
TALBIYA-Saying 'Labbayk', which means 'At your service' during the hajj
TAMJID-Glorifying Allah
TARDIYA-Saying one of the expressions which begin with 'radiyallahu....'
TASBIH-Glorification, saying 'SubhanAllah', which means 'Glory be to Allah'
TASHMIT -Uttering a prayer for the sneezer which thes the form, 'yarhamuk Allah' which means 'may Allah have mercy on you'[when a person sneezes he says, Ahamdulillah (Praise be to Allah), a person who hears the sneeze says 'yarhamuk Allah' and the sneezer replies 'Yahdikumul-lah wa Yuslih balakum' which means 'May Allah give you guidance and improve your condition.']
ULAMA -Scholars, or learned men. Especially applied to religious scholars, but often used also for those learned in other branches of knowledge.
WAJHULLAH -'The face of Allah', meaning for the sake of Allah, irrespective of any reward in this life, purely for Allah'
ZAWIYA -Lodge of religious order or fraternity.

Assault

The Amarya Zazzau University Student Union cafeteria was filled with the sound of students talking about the latest soccer match, exams, what they were going to do this weekend and the smells of rice and lamb. While the cafeteria was co-ed, male and female students sat at different tables. Male and female students would talk to each and occasionally romances started in the cafeteria they always sat at different tables, no one was really sure if this was a university rule or just tradition, but it was always done.

Suddenly one of the students whom were watching one of the vid screens on the wall shouted for every one to be quite. Soon everyone in the cafeteria was glued to the broadcast.

CINN NEWS FLASH CINN NEWS FLASH CINN NEWS FLASH
The Frankish navy has made a surprise attack on New Palestine. Initial reports are telling us that the orbital shipyards at New Palestine have been destroyed, along with all orbital defenses and system defense boats. CINN has just received word that the attacking Frankish fleet also dropped thermo-nuclear bombs on several cities on New Palestine. The list we are reading to you now are of the cities that we know have been hit, but it is not to be assumed to be a complete list. Arafat city, New Jericho, Ramallah by the Sea, and Druze Colony. The Confederation military is calling up all reserves and canceling all leaves. You are to report to your unit right away. In planetary news The Hausa world Military High Command is also calling up all reserves and canceling all leaves. If you are in the military you are to report to your unit commander immediately.

The Picture is our first visual of the Nuclear strike on Ramallah by the sea. It was shot by the medical transport vessel Um Musa as it descended towards the planet.