Muslims Archives

Iran, Muslims mark Ashura with mourning ceremonies “battle of karbala”

October 1, 2017 by administrator

Iraqi Shias watch a reenactment of the Battle of Karbala ahead of the annual Ashura events, which mark the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the third Shia Imam, in the southern city of Basra on September 29, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

In their millions, Muslims have staged passionate mourning ceremonies in commemoration of the day in history that witnessed the martyrdom of the icon of sacrifice to the faithful.

The occasion, known as Ashura, marks the martyrdom of Imam Hussein and 72 of his companions in 680 AD in a land that is known today as Iraq, after they refused to pledge allegiance to the tyrant Yazid.

Ashura is the culmination of a 10-day annual mourning period in the lunar month of Muharram for the third Imam of Shia Muslims, who was a grandson of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him).

The rituals are observed in ultimate magnificence in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, the latter of which hosts Imam Hussein’s holy shrine.

On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, traveling from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Lebanon and many other countries, descended on Karbala, with officials putting their numbers at 3 million.

An Iraqi TV channel said authorities had created a security belt around the holy city to protect it from possible terrorist attacks. In the past, Daesh and other Takfiri groups have targeted the pilgrims on their way to Karbala or carried out bombings inside the city.

Across Iran, millions of mourners started the processions shortly after the sunrise, lining up in coordinated and orderly bands of passion plays and recitations of elegies which continued until the afternoon.

Sunni Muslims in the Iranian provinces of Kurdistan and Sistan and Baluchestan as well as devotees of other faiths such as Armenians joined Shia mourners, distributing free food in a show of solidarity.

Ashura is also an occasion for unity when Iranians of all ethnic backgrounds, including Azerbaijanis, Arabs, Kurds, Lors, Baluchis and Turkmen, commemorate it in their local languages and dialects.

On Saturday, huge masses in Iran and other countries such as Pakistan and Yemen held mourning rituals on the ninth day of Muharram to mark Tasu’a, the ninth day of lunar month.

In Iran, devotees in cities, towns and villages across the country listened to elegies recounting the indescribably tragic events in the Battle of Karbala during which Imam Hussein and some members of his family and his companions were brutally massacred.

More than 5,000 people marched through the center of Sydney, slapping their chests in a sign of grief. A procession of mourners marched down Wilmslow road in Rusholme, south Manchester, joining other devotees across the world to mark the occasion.

The Battle of Karbala between a small group of supporters and relatives of Imam Hussein and a larger military detachment from the forces of the Umayyad caliph represents the war as one between good and evil.

Source: http://presstv.com/Detail/2017/10/01/537063/Islam-Shias-Ashura-Imam-Hussein-Iran-Karbala

Palestinian Christians & Muslims come together against Israel over Al-Aqsa protests

July 28, 2017 by administrator

Palestinian Christians, Muslims come together B Ahmed el-Komi,

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Video footage showing Nidal Aboud, a young Palestinian Christian man, reading his Bible amid a crowd of Muslims performing Friday prayers July 21 in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem created a buzz on social media.

Palestinian activists saw the video as an example of coexistence between Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem and an expression of a shared fate against Israeli measures in the city.

Palestinians have been staging sit-ins for a week and a half now in the streets of Jerusalem and around Al-Aqsa Mosque denouncing Israel’s attempt to install metal detectors at the entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque to search worshippers.

Palestinian Christian youths and activists have also participated in these sit-ins to express their rejection of these measures, even though they target Al-Aqsa Mosque, a religious symbol of Muslims.

Aboud, 24, from Mount Olivet in Jerusalem, seen praying among thousands of Muslims, told Al-Monitor that he participated in the sit-in in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque as an act of patriotism. He said, “A day before the sit-in, I saw on TV an elderly Palestinian in a wheelchair crying because he was not allowed to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque. I was deeply touched and felt I must act out to end this. This is why I decided to take part in the sit-in in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque and took my cross and Bible with me. I was there at 8 a.m. the next day in front of one of the mosque’s entrances.”

Aboud noted that Israeli soldiers at the entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque prevented him and a number of elderly Palestinians from entering the mosque and fired tear gas at them, describing the scene as “devoid of humanity and appalling.”

“Because I am a Palestinian national it is my right to defend all of my country’s religious sanctities,” he said. He noted that he was unaware media outlets were reporting live, saying, “I was thrilled with how Muslim activists and friends welcomed me among them. Their warmth was genuine, and it gave me the strength to stay with them.”

Aboud added that when they started praying, he was asked to join them. “They were very welcoming and they placed me in the center. At that moment, I began to recite Bible verses. We were all praying with great fervor,” he said.

Denouncing Israel’s attempt to install metal detectors at the entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque, he stressed that Christianity is an integral part of the Palestinian cause. “I would not accept such metal detectors to be installed at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, so why would I accept them to be installed at Al-Aqsa Mosque?” Aboud said.

Pointing to the efficient role and participation of Christians in sit-ins and protests around Al-Aqsa Mosque against Israeli measures, he noted, “Jerusalem needs us — even if we are a minority. The Palestinian cause needs all Palestinians. This is the land of peace.”

The participation of Palestinian Christians in Al-Aqsa protests and sit-ins is attracting media attention as it reflects the strong interfaith relations in Palestine and represents a means to promote national unity and tolerance.

Zeina Mosleh, a Christian from Jerusalem, said she participated in a sit-in with Muslims in front of one of the entrances of Al-Aqsa Mosque because she felt this was a religious duty. She told Al-Monitor, “I was shouting their slogans and distributing drinking water to worshippers and young protesters.”

She strongly rejected Israel’s measures, describing them as unacceptable and against freedom of worship. “It is not about a specific religion. We must have the courage to reject Israeli practices against one of the most important and sacred mosques for Muslims,” she said.

Hanna Issa, a Palestinian Christian historian and the head of the Islamic-Christian Commission in Support of Jerusalem and Holy Sites, told Al-Monitor, “Israel wants to portray the conflict as a conflict between Judaism and Islam. We as Christians refuse this.”

He said, “We believe the attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque is an attack on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Relations between Muslims and Christians in Palestine are governed by Umar’s Assurance of Safety that we believe is tantamount to a constitution. Churches in Jerusalem are adjacent to mosques. We respect Ramadan, they respect our fasting, and we exchange visits on religious and national holidays.”

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the most important Christian religious monuments in Jerusalem, located deep inside the walls of the Old City.

Issa asserted that Muslims and Christians share the same just cause, and that the participation of young Christian activists in the sit-in in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque is the best example of this. Commenting on Aboud’s video footage, he said, “We are all believers. There is no discrimination. We share the same sense of belonging.”

According to Issa, there are 50,000 Christians in the Palestinian territories: 47,000 in the West Bank and the rest in the Gaza Strip.

It is said that Muslim Caliph Umar Ibn al-Khattab had written to the people of Aelia (Jerusalem) upon the first Muslim conquest of the city in 638 a document in which he assured safety for their churches and properties, provided that no Jews live with them in the city. This assurance is one of the most important documents in the history of Jerusalem and Palestine.

Ahmed el-Komi, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza, writes for a number of Arab and international newspapers, magazines and media sites. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Islamic University in Gaza and is

Democrats see persecution of Muslims in the U.S. more than that of Christians in Islamic world: Poll

February 14, 2017 by administrator

By Bradford Richardson – The Washington Times – Tuesday, February 7, 2017

A majority of Democrats believe Muslims are mistreated in the United States because of their faith, but fewer will say the same thing about Christians living in the Islamic world, a new poll shows.

Fifty-six percent of Democrats say Muslims living in the U.S. are mistreated due to their faith, a Rasmussen poll released on Tuesday shows. That view is shared by 22 percent of Republicans and 39 percent of unaffiliated voters.

Fewer Democrats, 47 percent, believe Christians living in the Islamic world are persecuted over their faith. That’s compared to 76 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of unaffiliated voters.

Last year, former Secretary of State John Kerry said Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East are victims of genocide at the hands of the Islamic State terror group.

A majority of Americans, 62 percent, believe Christians are treated unfairly in the Islamic world because of their faith. Seventeen percent say they disagree, while 21 percent are undecided.

Czech leader says Muslims ‘impossible to integrate’ in Europe

January 17, 2016 by administrator

This file photo taken on September 09, 2014 shows Czech President Milos Zeman during a press conference with at the Elysee Palace, on September 9, 2014 in Paris, during an official visit. AFP photo

PRAGUE – Agence France-Presse,

Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his fiery anti-migrant comments, said on Jan. 17 that it was almost impossible to integrate the Muslim community into European society.

“The experience of Western European countries which have ghettos and excluded localities shows that the integration of the Muslim community is practically impossible,” Zeman said in a televised interview.

“Let them have their culture in their countries and not take it to Europe, otherwise it will end up like Cologne,” he added, referring to the mass New Year’s Eve assaults on women in Germany and elsewhere.

“Integration is possible with cultures that are similar, and the similarities may vary,” pointing out that the Vietnamese and Ukrainian communities had been able to integrate into Czech society.

Zeman, a 71-year-old leftwinger and the first-ever directly elected president of the Czech Republic, has repeatedly spoken out against the surge of migrant and refugee arrivals in Europe.

Earlier this month, Zeman claimed the influx was masterminded by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood which uses money from several states to finance it in a bid to “gradually control Europe”.

Late last year, Zeman called the surge in refugee numbers “an organised invasion,” urging young men from Iraq and Syria to “take up arms” against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group instead of running away.

More than one million migrants reached Europe in 2015, most of them refugees fleeing war and violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

But few asylum seekers have chosen to stay in the largely secular Czech Republic, an EU and NATO member of 10.5 million people, with the majority heading to wealthier Germany and other western EU states.

January/17/2016

BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump Calls for Barring Muslims From Entering U.S.

December 7, 2015 by administrator

Donald J. Trump. the Republican presidential candidate, at a campaign rally on Friday in Raleigh, N.C.Credit Ray Whitehouse for The New York Times

Donald J. Trump called on Monday for the United States to bar all Muslims from entering the country until the nation’s leaders can “figure out what is going on,” an extraordinary escalation of his harsh rhetoric aimed at members of the Islamic faith in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif.

“Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine,” said Mr. Trump, the leading Republican candidate for his party’s 2016 presidential nomination.

“Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life,” he said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump confirmed the authenticity of the statement. Asked what prompted it, Mr. Trump said, “death,” according to the spokeswoman.

Mr. Trump made his remarks a day after President Obama delivered a national address from the Oval Office urging Americans not to turn against Muslims in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Mr. Trump is expected to say more at a rally at the USS Yorktown in South Carolina on Monday evening to mark the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Experts on immigration law and policy expressed shock at the proposal Monday afternoon.

“This is just so antithetical to the history of the United States,” said Nancy Morawetz, a professor of clinical law at New York University School of Law, who specializes in immigration. “It’s unbelievable to have a religious test for admission into the country.”

She added: “I cannot recall any historical precedent for denying immigration based on religion.”

Ms. Morawetz said that the United States has long regretted policies that banned the immigration of Chinese at the end of 19th century.

“It’s a very sad chapter in American immigration history that we would think is behind us today.”

Mr. Trump has a track record of making surprising and even extreme comments whenever he is overtaken in opinion polls by other Republican candidates – as happened on Monday just hours before he issued his statement about Muslims. A new Monmouth University survey of likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers found that Mr. Trump had slipped from his recent top spot in the state, which holds the first presidential nomination contest on Feb. 1. According to the poll, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas earned 24 percent of support in the poll, while Mr. Trump had 19 percent and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida had 17 percent. But another Iowa poll released on Monday, by CNN/OCR, showed Mr. Trump with a comfortable lead but Mr. Cruz gaining ground on him.

Mr. Trump, who boasts about his strong poll numbers at the beginning of virtually every campaign speech, launched an unusually stinging attack against Ben Carson, another Republican candidate, when Mr. Carson took a lead in Iowa polls this fall; Mr. Trump, citing Mr. Carson’s memoir about his sometimes-violent youth, called him “pathological” and compared his state of mind to a child molester’s.

While several Republican presidential candidates have called for increased intelligence gathering and more aggressive investigations of suspected terrorists, as well as a halt to Muslim refugees entering the United States from Syria, Mr. Trump’s pointed suspicions about Muslims have been in a category by themselves.

At his campaign rallies, he has drawn strong applause from thousands of voters for his calls on the government to monitor mosques, and he has refused to rule out his earlier proposal to enter names of Muslims in America into a database. He has also made a series of ominous comments about President Obama’s leadership in fighting terrorism, suggesting that there was “something going on” with Mr. Obama that Americans were not aware of.

Several Republican rivals of Mr. Trump repudiated his latest remarks — something they have done for months, to little effect, after Mr. Trump has made comments or taken positions that they consider beyond the pale.

“This is just more of the outrageous divisiveness that characterizes his every breath and another reason why he is entirely unsuited to lead the United States,” said Gov. John Kasich of Ohio. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey called it “a ridiculous proposition, and one that won’t even be productive.” Another Republican, Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, tweeted: “Every candidate for president needs to do the right thing & condemn @Realdonaldtrump’s statement.”

The proposal drew immediate condemnation from Muslim-Americans. Eboo Patel, the president of Interfaith Youth Core, based in Chicago, said, “I’m standing in a building right now where I am looking up at the Sears Tower, which was designed by Fazlur Rahman Khan,” a structural engineer originally from Bangladesh who was behind what is now known as the Willis Tower.

“What if we had barred Russians from America because of the Cold War? Who would have invented Google?” Mr. Patel asked, referring to Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin.

Germany: 80% of Turkish Muslims claim welfare payments “Must Read”

May 17, 2015 by administrator

by Daniel Greenfield

Turks came to Germany as ‘guest workers’. They were supposed to provide some “necessary cheap labor” and then leave. But it didn’t work out that way.

And the topic has obvious implications for our own Gang of 8′s guest worker plan, which is going to lead to non-workers bankrupting the social welfare system even further.

Three million Turks live already in Germany already, while 2.5 million of them have German nationality, and the majority of them are conservative Muslims.

Very few Turks in Germany have a regular job; about 20%. The other 80% live on the so-called Hartz IV (state social benefits). 70% of their children have no GCSE; they left school before they finished their basic education.

According to the German state benefit system, every adult citizen who possesses the German nationality, unemployed and cannot find an appropriate job, is entitled to get monthly 482 € ($627). Additionally, parents get for each child under 18 years old, 200 € ($261), plus all their monthly expenditures in terms of rent, heating, power, health insurance, and public transport.

“Amazingly enough some Turks who live on the generous state benefits can afford to buy a house or an apartment and drive luxurious cars like Mercedes or BMW.” Says Klaus, a landlord whose tenants are a case in point.

That part is easy enough. Just like in the United States, you cash in by having a lot of kids. Bring over a whole bunch of family members, churn out some kids from polygamous marriages (the next frontier in marriage equality) and soon you’re bringing in 10 grand a month)

Kamal (46 years old) and his wife Shadia (42 years old) have ten children under 18 and live on Hartz IV (the German social benefit system). They have a monthly net income of about 3000 €. In addition, all their spending on rent, health care, transport, heating, etc. are paid by the state.

Kamal never worked or had a regular job, never finished school, and never learned a profession. Now he claims that he is “ill.” Klaus, the landlord of Kamal says, “The man is fit.” He even confessed to Klaus that he lies when he says he is ill. “He told me once, ‘Why should I work if I can live well without/’” Klaus quotes Kamal.

Kamal is obliged to regularly report his joblessness to the Federal Employment Office (Bundes Agentur für Arbeit) in his town. He does so when he is invited for a job interview. But he always alleges that he is “sick:” He allegedly has “unbearable pains in his back and joints.” Therefore, he cannot take any job. The only one who knows the truth about Kamal is his landlord Klaus.

Klaus and many other Germans are outraged about Kamal and his like. “It is us, taxpayers who have to finance odd buggers like Kamal. This makes me sick.” Klaus frowns at me.

On the other hand, Kamal’s neighbour, Dieter works for a mail company. For working 8 hours daily, he merely get 800 € ($1000) at the end of the month. From this salary he has got to pay his rent and the rest of his expenditure. Left for him is something around 400 € ($500).

This is much worse than Cyprus. And this will eventually break Germany’s back. Imagine millions of people living this way and reproducing at a much higher rate than the native population and the spending becomes completely unsustainable.

German citizens can enter Turkey with simply showing their personal identity card. Hence German Turks, particularly women, travel to Turkey and come back with a “leased” baby. They get the baby temporarily from relatives and claim at the German border that it is their baby who was recently born in Turkey.

Khaled, a Turk, told me that you can get “a false birth certificate” in Turkey for $10.

Back in Germany, the “new” baby is registered at the town hall administration, and the “mother of the baby” starts getting 200 € ($261) monthly.

And don’t kid yourself. This happens here too south of the border.

Source: Jews News

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Turkish Singer faces 1 year in jail for likening Muslims to ISIL members in tweet

March 30, 2015 by administrator

Turkish singer and songwriter Leman Sam (Photo: DHA)

Turkish singer and songwriter Leman Sam is facing one year’s imprisonment over a Twitter post in which she likened Muslim people who slaughter livestock as a ritual during Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) to members of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

A prosecutor had previously dropped charges against Sam after individuals filed a criminal complaint against the singer regarding her tweet, on the grounds that her remark was within the scope of free speech. An İstanbul court has accepted an appeal by lawyer Turgay Balaban, who stated that Sam’s action needed to be prosecuted. Report Zaman

Sam wrote in her Twitter post during Eid al-Adha in October 2014: “For me, ISIL and a person who puts a knife against an innocent animal’s throat have the same feeling. ISIL does not surprise me.” Sam is charged with instigating people to hate and animosity and publicly insulting religious values adopted by a group of people among the society.

Balaban told the Cihan news agency, “Nobody can regard someone making a sacrifice [as an Islamic ritual] as being equivalent to the terrorist organization ISIL, which beheads people.” According to Balaban, hundreds of thousands of Muslims were accused and insulted through Sam’s statement.

In the Islamic tradition, most of the Muslims around the world sacrifice livestock to distribute meat to the poor. In modern times, most Muslims make a donation to charities for them to carry out the ritual and distribute a large part of the livestock sacrificed to the poor.

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Turkey angered as Austria bans foreign money for Muslim groups

February 26, 2015 by administrator

A sign leading to the Islamic Center mosque, (Photo: Reuters)

Austria’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday that seeks to regulate how Islam is administered, singling out its large Muslim minority for treatment not applied to any other religious group.

The “Law on Islam” bans foreign funding for Islamic organizations and requires any group claiming to represent Austrian Muslims to submit and use a standardized German translation of the Quran. report Zaman

The law met with little opposition from the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population, was backed by Austria’s Catholic bishops and was grudgingly accepted by the main Muslim organization. But it upset Turkey’s state religious establishment.

“We want an Islam of the Austrian kind, and not one that is dominated by other countries,” said Sebastian Kurz, the 28-year-old conservative foreign minister –formally the minister for foreign affairs and integration — who is easily Austria’s most popular politician.

Austria’s half a million Muslims make up about 6 percent of the population and are overwhelmingly the families of Turkish migrant workers. Many of their imams are sent and financed by Turkey’s state Religious Affairs Directorate, the Diyanet.

Mehmet Görmez, head of the Diyanet, said before the law was passed that “with this draft legislation, religious freedoms in Austria will have fallen back a hundred years.”

Austria’s biggest Islamic organization, IGGiO, accepted the law, but its youth arm opposed it, as did the Turkish-financed Turkish-Islamic Union in Austria (ATIB), which runs many mosques and has vowed to challenge the bill in the Constitutional Court.

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Obama approval high with American Muslims: Poll

July 11, 2014 by administrator

President Barack Obama’s approval rating is higher among Muslims than any other religious group, a new poll says.

According to a Gallup poll released Friday that tracked responses for the first six months of 2014, 72 percent of Muslims said they approve of the president, compared with just 20 percent who disapprove.

Mormons were the least approving religious group, with 18 percent of Mormons approving and 78 percent disapproving of the president. Mormons in the past have ranked as the most conservative major religious group in the US.

The survey underscores a religious divide when it comes to presidential approval — Obama is more popular among non-Christians and less popular among Christians.

Those who classify as “Other non-Christian” gave the president a 59 percent approval rating, while Jewish Americans gave Obama a 55 percent approval rating and atheists or those who subscribe to no religion have a 54 percent approval rating.

Catholics, on the other hand, have only a 44 percent approval rating of Obama, compared with 51 percent disapproval. Protestants and other Christians are more critical, with 37 percent approving and 58 percent disapproving.

Friday’s findings are in line with Gallup results on religious groups’ approval ratings of Obama since the beginning of his presidency — the relative rank of the groups have not changed in the six years Obama has been in office. The president’s approval rating in every group for the past six months has dropped 5-7 points from the average of his entire presidency.

Gallup reported that Obama’s overall approval rating for the past six months is 43 percent.

The survey was conducted January-June 2014 with a random sample of 88,801 adults from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The margin for error for the entire sample is plus-or-minus one point — though that number is higher for some of the individual religion samples. POLITICO

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ISIL’s Baghdadi orders Muslims to ’obey’ him

July 5, 2014 by administrator

BAGHDAD – Agence France Presse

The leader of the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant (ISIL), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, purportedly ordered all Muslims to obey him in a video released July 5 on social media.

The hitherto elusive Baghdadi, who on June 29 proclaimed a “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq, made his appeal in a sermon delivered on Friday in the militant-held northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

“I am the wali (leader) who presides over you, though I am not the best of you, so if you see that I am right, assist me,” he said, wearing a black turban and robe.

“If you see that I am wrong, advise me and put me on the right track, and obey me as long as I obey God in you.”

AFP was not immediately able to confirm the authenticity of the video purportedly showing Baghdadi, of whom there were previously only two known photographs.

The video is the first ever official appearance by Baghdadi, according to Aymenn al-Tamimi, an expert on Islamist movements, though the jihadist leader may have appeared in a 2008 video under a different name.

“God gave your mujahedeen brothers victory after long years of jihad and patience… so they declared the caliphate and placed the caliph in charge,” he said.

“This is a duty on Muslims that has been lost for centuries,” he added, sporting a long and slightly greying beard, as he addressed the faithful from the mosque’s pulpit.

ISIL renamed itself simply as the Islamic State (IS). The militant group released 32 Turkish drivers in northern Iraq on July 3, but still holds 49 staff members of the Turkish consulate in Mosul after it abducted them on June 11.

July/05/2014

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