Disclaimer regarding content and data

The idea of a free media is one that we at NewAgeIslam.com hold in the highest regard. We believe in bringing our site visitors, readers and audio listeners or video viewers the widest possible array of information that comes to our notice in regard to the trials and tribulations of the Muslim community all over the world in their bid to adapt to the fast-changing circumstances of the Twenty-first century and anything else that we deem my be of interest to or necessary for our readers and viewers. We trust our worldwide readership and audience, and believe them to be fully-capable of making their own decisions and discerning their own realities, regardless of our editors’ or contributors’ interventions on one side of a certain argument or the other. We want Muslims to recognise while holding any discussion that two-thirds of humanity, at lest, does not agree with us, in fact most Muslims themselves hold very different opinions from other Muslims and subscribe to different schools of thoughts in interpreting their scriptures and in their responses to current word events. Clearly there is no point in considering one’s own view as final and applicable to the entire Muslim community, even to one’s own sect or sub-sect, or more vainly, all humanity.

Among the thousands of articles and comments posted here for your consideration, or links and summaries of which are mailed to you daily, there will doubtless be some that you find useless, and possibly offensive, in content or in language; but we believe you will be discerning enough to realize that even the ideas, subjects and comments you disagree with have some value in terms of clarifying and giving a context to your own ideas and endorsing our common agenda of promoting a peaceful and prosperous life for all on the planet. Offensive, particularly obscene language we keep removing from the site whenever we observe them or some reader points out to us, but this cannot always be done in good time as this is a non-monitored site in the interest of facilitating readers’ comments.

The subjects we choose to discuss or the points of view expressed by our writers, or even the editorial staff does not necessarily reflect any official position of the website NewAgeIslam.com. It would be best if our readers and viewers did not make any 'assumptions' about NewAgeIslam.com on that count. This website is not about promoting any agenda, even if its editors and contributors appear to have definite opinions of their own on certain issues of concern to the ummah and may even seek to convince others of the same. As we say in our masthead we are here to help the Muslim community map out an agenda suitable for the Twenty-First century through open, no-holds-barred debates and discussions on all issues of concern. No community or sect or individual of any persuasion is barred from participating in the discussions on NewAgeIslam.com. We welcome all with open minds and hope that some good will come out through this interaction.

It is our firm belief that it would be ill-advised and cowardly to sweep under the carpet doubts and questions abut our own ideological positions or any novel or strong views on any subject. Muslims will have to consider all sorts of opinions -- of not only Muslims of all sects and persuasions, but also ex-Muslims and non-Muslims, as indeed would-be Muslims – to be able to arrive at a conclusion as to what suits us best in a certain situation.

The situation we live in today in this New Age is vastly different from the conditions that prevailed in 7th century Arabia at the time of the advent of Islam. That is why Allah ("Subhanahu Wa T'ala" – SWT – meaning "The Glorious and High") and Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him - PBUH) in his wisdom gave us the instrumentality of Ijtihad, so that we can continue to renew our religion as and when required. And it is largely because we failed to use this instrument continuously through the last one and a half millennium that we are in the mess we are in today. We would have continued to be the most advanced community in the world armed with the latest ideology, had we continued to heed Allah (SWT) and Rasoolullah (PBUH) who had told us that we will need to continuously renew our religion to stay ahead of the changing times. In some respects we are still ahead of other religious communities as a forward-looking community on the strength of the fact that ours is the latest of revealed religions, but in many other respects we lag far behind others who hold ideologies and ways of life (deens) even older than our own. It is to their credit that despite a lack of specific guidance in their theologies about a continuous renewal of faith, they felt the need for doing so and have gone ahead, while it is to our eternal shame that despite our original ideology specifically asking us to continue to change with times, we have not done so and are hence one of the most backward in our political, societal and civilisational mores.

We at NewAgeIslam.com have a horror of censoring news, views, information and comment here, except for the foul language some of our readers and viewers love to use. We believe censoring is for you to do, either as self-censorship or as pointing out if something needs to be removed from the site. We strongly recommend that you do not 'assume' anything, particularly about our intentions. We intend to do nothing but to provide us with a forum where we can freely discuss any relevant subject. Read, consider, and make your own informed decisions. Let us state once again, in a firmer tone, NewAgeIslam.com does not necessarily adhere to, or endorse, any or all of the links, stories, articles, editorials, or products offered by its editors, contributors or sponsors found or broadcast on this site.

All of the materials and data offered on this site, and on the multimedia programs, are for informational and educational purposes only, to help you be more enlightened about what is going on in the world, who is thinking and saying what and then be ale to form your own informed opinion.

And remember: it's all free to you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Thank you for visiting.

Read, Listen, View and Think and Share with us your thoughts in the interest of world peace and prosperity for all. Peace and Prosperity for Muslims depends on the peace and prosperity of the world, two-thirds of which is not Muslim and most of the Muslims too may not belong to our particular Islamic sect or sub-sect or school of thought, whatever it may be.

Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam

Other Disclaimers

The materials comprising the NewAgeIslam.com news service (the "Website") are provided by NewAgeIslam.com as a service to its readers on an "as-is, as-available" basis for informational purposes only. NewAgeIslam.com assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions in these materials. NewAgeIslam.com makes no commitment to update the information contained herein. Further, NewAgeIslam.com cannot edit, control, review for truth or accuracy, or screen for defamation or obscenity any content provided to the Website by a third party through postings, uploaded files, or any other form of communication, nor can the NewAgeIslam.com ensure prompt removal of defamatory, obscene, inappropriate or unlawful content after transmission. Any such third party postings, files or other communications do not necessarily represent the opinions, beliefs, or positions of the NewAgeIslam.com, its owner, employees or sponsors.

NewAgeIslam.com makes no, and expressly disclaims any, representations or warranties, express or implied, regarding the Website, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. NewAgeIslam.com makes no, and expressly disclaims any, warranties, express or implied, regarding the correctness, accuracy, completeness, timeliness, and reliability of the text, graphics, links to other sites and any other items accessed from or via this Website or the Internet, or that the services will be uninterrupted, error-free or free of viruses or other harmful components. Under no circumstances shall NewAgeIslam.com, its owner, or any of their respective partners, officers, directors, employees, agents, associates or representatives be liable for any damages, whether direct, indirect, special or consequential damages for lost revenues, lost profits, or otherwise, arising from or in connection with this Website, the materials contained herein, or the Internet generally.

All original materials contained in this Website are protected by copyright laws, and may not be reproduced, republished, distributed, transmitted, displayed, broadcast or otherwise exploited in any manner without the express prior written permission of NewAgeIslam.com or the author, authors or sources of said materials.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to promote Co-Existence and Dialogue of Religions and Civilisations, and advance understanding of Islam and Democracy, Pluralism, Terrorism, Human Rights, Islamic Laws and Ideology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. New Age Islam has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor is New Age Islam endorsed or sponsored by the originator of these articles.

For more information go to: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

United States Code: Title 17, Section 107https://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/unframed/17/107.html

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classNameroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include - (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

United States Code: Title 17, Section 106 Chapter 1 - Subject Matter And Scope of Copyright https://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/unframed/17/106.html

Subject to sections 107 through 120, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following: (1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords; (2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work; (3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending; (4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly; (5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and (6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

United States Code: Title 17, Section 107https://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/unframed/17/107.html

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classNameroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include - (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

United States Code: Title 17, Section 106 Chapter 1 - Subject Matter And Scope of Copyright https://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/unframed/17/106.html

Subject to sections 107 through 120, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following: (1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords; (2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work; (3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending; (4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly; (5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and (6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

To: Members of the Faculty, Hoover Institution Fellows, Academic Staff, and Library Directors

From: Condoleezza Rice, Provost

Re: Copyright Reminder

October 30, 1998

This memorandum provides a general description of the applicability of the copyright law and the so-called "fair use" exemptions to the copyright law's general prohibition on copying. It also describes "safe harbour" guidelines applicable to classNameroom copying.

The federal copyright statute governs the reproduction of works of authorship. In general, works governed by copyright law include such traditional works of authorship as books, photographs, music, drama, video and sculpture, and also software, multimedia, and databases. Copyrighted works are protected regardless of the medium in which they are created or reproduced; thus, copyright extends to digital works and works transformed into a digital format. Copyrighted works are not limited to those that bear a copyright notice. As a result of changes in copyright law, works published since March 1, 1989 need not bear a copyright notice to be protected under the statute.

Two provisions of the copyright statute are of particular importance to teachers and researchers:

* a provision that codifies the doctrine of "fair use," under which limited copying of copyrighted works without the permission of the owner is allowed for certain teaching and research purposes; and

* a provision that establishes special limitations and exemptions for the reproduction of copyrighted works by libraries and archives.

The concept of fair use is necessarily somewhat vague when discussed in the abstract. Its application depends critically on the particular facts of the individual situation. Neither the case law nor the statutory law provides bright lines concerning which uses are fair and which are not. However, you may find it helpful to refer to certain third party source materials. Guidelines for classNameroom copying by not-for-profit educational institutions have been prepared by a group consisting of the Authors League of America, the Association of American Publishers, and an ad hoc committee of educational institutions and organizations. In addition, fair use guidelines for educational multimedia have been prepared by a group coordinated by the consortium of College and University Multimedia Centres (CCUMC). These guidelines describe safe harbour conditions, but do not purport to define the full extent of "fair use."

The guidelines, as well as other source material, are available through a variety of resources, including through the world wide web site https://fairuse.stanford.edu. Stanford University Libraries & Academic Information Resources, in collaboration with the Council on Library Resources and FindLaw Internet Legal Resources, are sponsors of this web site. The site assembles a wide range of materials related to the use of copyrighted material by individuals, libraries, and educational institutions.

I hope that the discussion below helps to clarify further the nature of "fair use."

I. Fair Use for Teaching and Research

The "fair use" doctrine allows limited reproduction of copyrighted works for educational and research purposes. The relevant portion of the copyright statue provides that the "fair use" of a copyrighted work, including reproduction "for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classNameroom use), scholarship, or research" is not an infringement of copyright. The law lists the following factors as the ones to be evaluated in determining whether a particular use of a copyrighted work is a permitted "fair use," rather than an infringement of the copyright:

* the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofits educational purposes;

* the nature of the copyrighted work;

* the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and

* the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Although all of these factors will be considered, the last factor is the most important in determining whether a particular use is "fair." Where a work is available for purchase or license from the copyright owner in the medium or format desired, copying of all or a significant portion of the work in lieu of purchasing or licensing a sufficient number of "authorized" copies would be presumptively unfair. Where only a small portion of a work is to be copied and the work would not be used if purchase or licensing of a sufficient number of authorized copies were required, the intended use is more likely to be found to be fair.

A federal appeals court recently decided an important copyright fair use case involving course packs. In Princeton University Press, et.al. v. Michigan Document Services, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit concluded that the copying of excerpts from books and other publications by a commercial copy service without the payment of fees to the copyright holders to create course packs for university students was not fair use. The size of the offending excerpts varied from 30 percent to as little as 5 percent of the original publications. Although the opinion in this case is not binding in California, it is consistent with prior cases from other courts, and there is a reasonable likelihood that the California federal courts would reach a similar conclusion on similar facts.

Where questions arise, we suggest that you consult the guidelines for classNameroom copying and other available source material available on the fair use web site, cited above. Please note that the guidelines are intended to state the minimum, not the maximum, extent of the fair use doctrine. Thus, just because your use is not within the guidelines, it is it not necessarily outside the scope of fair use. In the absence of a definitive conclusion, however, if the proposed use deviates from the guidelines, you should consider obtaining permission to use the work from the copyright owner. In instances where the fair use question is important and permission would be difficult or expensive to obtain, a member of the Fair Use Advisory Group (described below) or the Legal Office can assist in analyzing whether a particular proposed use would constitute "fair use."

Some photocopying services will obtain copyright permission and add the price of the royalties, if any, to the price of the materials. A request to copy a copyrighted work should generally be sent to the permission department of the publisher of the work. Permission requests should contain the following:

* Title, author, and/or editor, and edition

* Exact material to be used, giving page numbers or chapters

* Number of copies to be made

* Use to be made of the copied materials

* Form of distribution (classNameroom, newsletter, etc.)

* Whether the material is to be sold

Draft form letters can be obtained from or reviewed by a member of the Fair Use Advisory Group or the Legal Office.

For certain works, permission may also be sought from the Copyright Clearance Centre (CCC) which will quote a charge for works for which they are able to give permission. The Copyright Clearance Centre can be contacted at www.copyright.com or (978) 750-8400, but it may be easier to go through a copying service that deals regularly with the CCC.

II. Course Reserves

Some libraries at Stanford will refuse to accept multiple photocopies or to make photocopies of copyrighted materials needed for course reserves without first having permission from the copyright holder. Other libraries on campus will accept a limited number of photocopies for course reserves. Consult individual libraries for clarification of their policies.

While the libraries have blanket permission from dozens of journals, obtaining permission sometimes takes a good deal of time. Experience in obtaining permission has shown that an inquiry addressed to a journal publisher frequently produces information that the copyright is actually held by the author, and four weeks is often inadequate to obtain such permission. Four to six weeks is considered the norm.

Permission may be obtained in a number of ways:

* Upon request, some libraries on campus will obtain materials for course reserve. In these cases, the librarian will write to obtain permission to photocopy or to purchase reprints. However, most libraries do not provide this service.

* Written permission may be obtained by the academic department.

* Oral permission may be obtained by faculty members, departmental secretaries, or library staff, in which case a written record is needed of that action.

Note that filling course reserve requirements may require two to three months before the quarter begins if the library does not already have a copy of the publication, if the publication is out of print, or if the copyright holder is not readily available.

III. Resources

Additional information on copyright issues may be found on the world wide web site https://fairuse.stanford.edu.

Questions about the copyright law as it affects faculty and staff in their University capacities should be directed to a member of the Fair Use Advisory Group (see attachment) or to Linda Woodward in the Legal Office (3-9751), who can put you in touch with the appropriate lawyer to respond to your specific question. Questions about library policy and course reserves should be addressed to Assunta Pisani, Associate Director, University Libraries (apisani@sulmail or 3-5553). Information concerning the application of copyright law to computer software can be found in the memorandum "Copying of Computer Software" distributed by the Library and Information Resources and in Administrative Guide Memorandum 62.

Thank you for your cooperation in ensuring the observation of these guidelines.

The information comprised on this site in not offered or held to be a solicitation of the views, ideas or policies explained or represented in stories, articles and editorials offered. It is being presented as news and news only. Further, the content of NewAgeIslam.com does not constitute advice or a recommendation by NewAgeIslam.com and should not be relied upon in making (or refraining from making) any decision relating to the material presented here.

Neither NewAgeIslam.com nor its staff nor its sponsors, its ISP of any contributors to the site can be held liable or responsible in any way for any opinions, suggestions, recommendations or comments made by any of the contributors to the various materials on this site...nor do opinions of contributors necessarily reflect those of NewAgeIslam.com, et al.

In no event shall NewAgeIslam.com, its staff, its sponsors, its contributors or its ISP be liable for any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, direct, special, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages, or damages for lost profits, loss of revenue, or loss of use, arising out of or related to the NewAgeIslam.com internet site or the information contained in it, whether such damages arise in contract, negligence, tort, under statute, in equity, at law or otherwise.