Muslim men over 50 return to Al Aqsa mosque

By Reuters

Published about 8 hours ago

— File photo by Reuters

JERUSALEM: Muslim worshippers over the age of 50 returned to pray at Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, a day after Israeli authorities shut down all access to the sacred compound following violence in East Jerusalem.

The Muslim quarter of the Old City was calm early in the day, the Muslim holy day, and police said pre-dawn prayers had passed off without incident. However, security was tight ahead of midday prayers, when more people were expected to attend.

Israeli border police increased their presence in the cobblestone alleyways of the Old City and around the Muslim access points or gates into the Al Aqsa compound, checking identification papers closely.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the closure of Al Aqsa as “tantamount to a declaration of war” by Israel.

His Fatah party and Hamas had called for a “day of rage” in Jerusalem to protest at the closure of the holy site that was partially reopened late on Thursday. Rainfall in Jerusalem, the first in weeks, looked likely to dampen any protests.

Locals said it was the first time Al Aqsa had been closed to all visitors — Muslims, Jews and tourists — since 2000, when the second Intifada or Palestinian uprising began. But Jordanian religious authorities said it was first full closure since 1967.

Israel police frequently limit access to Al Aqsa to women and Muslim men over the age of 40 or 50 when they are concerned about potential clashes at the site. It was not clear when the compound would be reopened to all Muslim worshippers.

“I normally go five times a day to pray, but the police are not letting me today,” said Ahmed Abu Zaaror, 21, who runs a fruitstand in the Muslim quarter of the Old City. Asked if he was angry at the situation he said: “What can I say? I have to keep all my anger inside.”

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Tension High

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Tensions have been high on the streets of East Jerusalem and around the Al Aqsa compound for weeks, following the Gaza war and Israel's moves to expand settlement building in eastern areas of the city, which the Palestinians want for a capital of an independent state alongside Gaza and the West Bank.

Al Aqsa, which Jews refer to as Temple Mount, is a particularly sensitive issue. The 38-acre (15 hectares) compound houses the 7th century Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque, from where Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) is said to have ascended into heaven. It is the third holiest place in Islam.

It was also home to two ancient Jewish temples, the second one destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and is the holiest place in Judaism.

Under the rules governing access to Al Aqsa, which is administered by Jordanian religious authorities, Jews are allowed into the compound but are not permitted to pray.

In recent years, there has been a push by far-right Jewish activists to be allowed to pray at the site, a campaign that has heightened tensions with the Muslim community.

The leader of that campaign, an American-born activist called Yehuda Glick, was shot and seriously wounded this week by a suspected Palestinian gunman.

Israeli police tracked the shooting suspect down to the Palestinian neighbourhood of Abu Tor, in the shadow of the Old City, on Thursday morning and, after an exchange of gunfire, shot him dead, leading to fierce clashes on the streets of the district and fears among locals of another Palestinian uprising.

UN warns of 'unprecedented' number of foreign jihadists

By AFP

Published about 7 hours ago

The UN warned that more nations than ever face the problem of dealing with fighters returning from the battle zone. — File photo/AFP

LONDON: Foreign jihadists from more than 80 countries have flocked to fight in Iraq and Syria on an “unprecedented scale”, according to extracts of a UN report published by Britain's Guardian newspaper on Friday.

Around 15,000 people have travelled to fight alongside Islamic State (IS) and other hardcore militant groups from “countries that have not previously faced challenges relating to Al Qaeda”, said the report.

The number of foreign jihadists travelling to fight since 2010 exceeds the cumulative total of the 20 preceding years “many times”, the Security Council study said.

“There are instances of foreign terrorist fighters from France, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland operating together,” it said, according to the Guardian.

Britain's top police officer, Bernard Hogan-Howe, estimated last week that five people a week were leaving the country to fight with IS. Security officials estimate that there are currently around 500 British nationals fighting in Syria and Iraq.

Dozens have been arrested for preparing to leave to join the IS group or helping others to do so.

France is also moving closer to adopting an “anti-terrorism” law which would slap a travel ban on anyone suspected of planning to wage jihad.

The UN warned that more nations than ever face the problem of dealing with fighters returning from the battle zone.

The US Central Intelligence Agency last month announced figures showing that there were around 20,000 to 31,500 IS fighters active in Iraq and Syria, much higher than previous estimates.

A US security official estimated that there were close to 2,000 westerners among the 15,000 foreign fighters.

Previous figures showed there were 7,000 foreign jihadists fighting in March and 12,000 in July suggesting 1,000 a month were travelling to fight, despite the launch of US air strikes three months ago, although there is a lag of a few weeks in the figures.

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Al Qaeda 'remains weak'

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The report was produced by a committee that monitors Al Qaeda, and concluded that the once mighty and feared group was now “maneuvering for relevance” following the rise of the even more militant IS, which was booted out of Al Qaeda by leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Despite the split, the UN concluded that the legal basis for US President Barack Obama's fight against IS was justified by its ideological congruence with Al Qaeda, and considered the two groups as part of a broader movement.

“Al-Qaeda core and Isil (IS) pursue similar strategic goals, albeit with tactical differences regarding sequencing and substantive differences about personal leadership,” the UN wrote.

Obama has vowed he will not order a large force into combat in Iraq or Syria, relying instead on air power and local forces.

But his “no boots on the ground” pledge is coming under pressure amid growing calls for advisers and forward air controllers to deploy with Iraqi or Kurdish soldiers to help direct air raids and plan operations.

The IS group's “cosmopolitan” use of social media, “as when extremists post kitten photographs”, was attracting a new breed of foreign fighters who are put off by the more dogmatic communication tactics of Al-Qaeda, said the report.

IS leaders recognise “the terror and recruitment value of multichannel, multi-language social and other media messaging”, it added.

The UN agreed with the Obama administration that “core Al Qaeda remains weak”, but argued that its demise had only paved the way for more bloody groups, for whom “cross-border attacks — or attacks against international targets — remain a minority. “

Cosmopolitan new Afghan first lady backs French veil ban By AFP

Cosmopolitan new Afghan first lady backs French veil ban

By AFP

In this photograph taken on October 30, 2014, Afghan First Lady Rula Ghani, also known as Bibi Gul, speaks during an interview with AFP at the Presidential Palace in Kabul. — AFP

KABUL: Afghanistan's cosmopolitan new first lady has backed France's controversial ban on the niqab, comparing the full veil to “blinders” as she prepares to campaign for more respect for women in her conservative adopted homeland.

Rula Ghani shocked Afghan observers earlier this year when she appeared with her husband during the country's presidential campaign, a rare example of a political wife sharing the spotlight.

Now the Lebanese-American of Christian heritage is set to carve out a role for herself as the patriarchal and deeply Muslim nation's first high-profile first lady.

In an interview with AFP at the presidential palace, Rula, who speaks five languages, reminisced about her time as a student at the prestigious Sciences Po university in Paris which she attended during the late 1960s.

Wearing a vintage Hermes scarf over her hair, she recalled in fluent French that “all the young women at Sciences Po had their headscarves which they would wear as they stepped out of school”.

“When issues began to arise around the veil and hijab in France, I was a little shocked, people seem to not have a very long memory.”

Wearing the full veil in public was banned by French law in 2011, igniting a fierce debate over the value of religious freedom against social cohesion.

Rula said she supported the ban.

“Regarding the French law against the niqab and burqa which prevent women from being able to move freely and see, because the niqab is a bit like blinders, I am in full agreement with the government of France,” she told AFP.

It is a typically forthright view from a woman of strong opinions who has already taken a far more prominent role than her predecessor, Zeenat Karzai, who was practically invisible during the 13-year rule of her husband Hamid Karzai.

Karzai came to power after a US-led coalition toppled the hardline Taliban government that banned women from leaving their homes without male guardians.

Rula admits she is still trying to define her role, but hopes that by the end of her husband's five-year term, “men in Afghanistan will be more inclined to recognise whatever role their wives take”.

“In one word, more respect,” she said.

Her husband is already leading by example, praising his wife's work with internally displaced people, women and children during his September 29 inauguration speech.

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Exiled by war

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By the standards of most women in Afghanistan, who are confined to domestic family roles, Rula has had an extremely liberated, globe-trotting life.

Highly educated, with degrees from leading universities in France, Lebanon — where she met her future husband — and the United States, she spent three years in Kabul with her in-laws during the 1970s while her husband worked as a lecturer.

They left for the United States, where he was to pursue his PhD at Columbia University, and could only watch helplessly as their country was invaded by the Soviet Union.

Rula says she benefits from her diverse background, despite being attacked by political rivals during the campaign for being a Christian.

“There are two ways of dealing with it — one is to cling on to one identity alone and the other is to embrace all of them, to try to take advantage of all of them,” she said.

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French connection

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Rula returned to Kabul in 2002 when her husband, then a successful World Bank economist, returned home as the country's finance minister.

Though immersed in the affairs of her adopted country, she is a self-professed Francophile who recalls vividly her time in Paris during the student uprising of 1968.

“I found it very refreshing to see people decide that there are certain things they wanted and some things they did not want. It showed some independence of mind,” she said.

Her time at the university, together with two years working as a journalist for Agence France-Presse in Beirut, trained her to “think in a very logical way”, she says.

At AFP her role involved monitoring Arab radio and press every morning for news related to the political upheavals of the early 1970s.

“It was great training for a journalist, because it taught you to be quick but at the same time you had to be accurate,” she said.

Now aged 66, Rula hailed the work of brave activists and female politicians for breaking new ground for women in Afghanistan despite discrimination and violence.

Given the hostility of opponents during the campaign, observers believe Rula will be forced to strike a delicate balance in her new role — a fact she seems keenly aware of.

“I am kind of finding my way,” she said. “Listening and trying to understand what is happening in Afghanistan.”

Alcohol consumption in Pakistan: Don't mix sin with crime By Murtaza Haider

Alcohol consumption in Pakistan: Don't mix sin with crime

By Murtaza Haider

A consensus ('Ijma') on how to deal with alcohol has eluded Muslim jurists for more than a millennium.

Consuming pork is sinful and forbidden in Islam. However, Islamic law does not prescribe whipping or incarceration to those who consume pork. The religious doctrine may prohibit certain behaviours and consider them sins. This does not make those acts a crime.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has taken up the task of determining if the physical punishment prescribed for the use of alcohol under the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order of 1979 is Islamic.

Earlier, the Federal Sharia Court declared that the current punishment for consuming alcohol is un-Islamic. A five-member bench of the Superior Court will hear the government’s appeal against the FSC’s verdict. This landmark case will open the much-needed debate on the difference between sin and crime in Pakistan.

Since the mid-seventies, Muslims across the globe have faced violent political movements that used religion to further their political causes. Such movements have emerged as revolutions (Iran), military coups (Pakistan), and rebellions (Egypt), and ultimately radicalised the respective societies.

The perpetrators behind these political movements used Islamisation as the smokescreen to advance their political agendas. Harsh punishments were introduced into the legal systems, using religion as justification.

Explore: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after

A systematic review of all these politicised legal frameworks is now in order. The Law should deal only with crime and leave sin as a matter between man and his Maker.

Alcohol consumption is a crime in Pakistan and several other Muslim countries. The Pakistan penal code, under the Prohibition (Enforcement of Had) Order of 1979, awards 80 lashes to those convicted of consuming alcohol. This raises several concerns.

Muslim jurists and theologians document sufficient evidence to confirm alcohol consumption, like usury or pork, is forbidden. However, the evidence to suggest that alcohol consumption is a punishable crime is not without controversy.

A consensus (Ijma) on how to deal with alcohol has eluded Muslim jurists for more than a millennium.

Under the Islamic law, the definition of a crime and its punishment originate either as Hadd(defined explicitly in Quran or the Sunnah) or as Tazeer, which are discretionary punishments awarded by the jurist (Qazi).

Take a look: Strange brews

The former military dictator, late General Ziaul Haq, set out to revise the legal frameworks in Pakistan. He was motivated to enforce his personal views about religion on the rest of the society. His regime introduced laws that blurred the line between sin and crime. He criminalised certain behaviours that for centuries, had remained outside the domain of legal frameworks.

While alcohol prohibition was initiated by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, it was General Zia’s regime which declared alcohol consumption a crime punishable by 80 lashes.

The dictator willfully and deliberately committed high treason by suspending the Constitution of Pakistan. It served his interests to criminalise the rest of the society so that he may enjoy immunity from high treason, which he continued to commit for 11 years until his death in 1988.

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The 40/80 dilemma

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At present, consuming alcohol is punishable by 80 lashes in Pakistan. The popular discourse and the commonly held belief in Pakistan is that this punishment is based on religious injunctions, which enjoy consensus (Ijma). This may not be true.

These punishments are more in line with the Hanbali school of thought, which is followed in Saudi Arabia. General Zia was inspired by the Saudis and hence his legal interventions bear a strong resemblance to the Saudi/Hanbali legal system.

The Noble Quran addresses alcohol consumption at five different instances. In certain verses, the Quran prohibits alcohol (khamr) consumption. There is, however, the fact that Quran does not prescribe a penalty for consuming alcohol. The only reference for such a punishment during the life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is a Hadith by Anas Bin Malik, who recalled that the Prophet prescribed 40 lashes for someone accused of consuming alcohol. The 40 stripes were administered with two palm branches.

Still, many jurists do not consider this reference a strong precedent to treat alcohol consumption under Hudood. They believe it falls under discretionary punishments (Ta’azir).

Historians have documented the controversy of 40 or 80 lashes that lasted for some time. Even today, the Maliki, Hanbali, and Hanafi schools of thought consider 80 lashes as the punishment, whereas the Shafi’is consider 40 lashes.

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Do not drink and legislate

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Since the Islamic legal traditions did not provide for formal prosecutors, investigators, and other officials needed to investigate an allegation; the Qazi exercised significant discretion in settling disputes.

This raises certain interesting concerns related to prosecuting those accused of consuming alcohol. Given the paucity of reliable examples from the Sunnah regarding alcohol consumption, Muslim jurists developed much of the legal frameworks centuries later.

For instance, what constitutes as proof for alcohol consumption? If someone’s mouth smelled of alcohol, Imam Malik and Imam Hanbal considered it sufficient proof of alcohol consumption.

Imam Shafi’i and Imam Abu Hanifa, on the other hand, considered this insufficient because of other factors that may be making the mouth smell of alcohol.

Take a look: Former member of CII says Hudood laws were ‘Bhutto specific’

Then there is the question of possession of alcohol. Is it a crime to possess alcohol? Some Muslim countries consider it so and award physical punishment for possession. Imam Abu Hanifa had an interesting take on this matter:

He argued that if a person were to be punished for possession of alcohol, they might as well be punished for fornication in light of possessing sex organs.

Is it 40 or 80 lashes? Can one substitute palm branches with a can or leather whips? What constitutes as proof for consumption?

These are not trivial matters. But the Hudood laws in Pakistan paid no attention to these details.

The controversy is not about prohibition, but about how to enforce it. The Noble Quran is silent on this matter and the Hadith does not cover the matter in sufficient detail. This makes a strong case of saying that alcohol consumption may not be dealt under Hudood, because no fixed punishments have been prescribed in either the Quran or the Sunnah.

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What should Pakistan do?

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The purpose of this piece is not to advocate abolishing all regulations regarding the sale and consumption of alcohol. Even western countries, where consuming alcohol is legal, the sale and consumption of alcohol is strictly regulated. In Canada, serving alcohol at public places without a permit carries a hefty fine. Driving under the influence of alcohol carries severe penalties, including fines up to $5,000 and six months of imprisonment. In the United States, it is illegal to serve alcohol to persons under 21 years of age.

It is also not the purpose of this piece to downplay the harmful impacts of alcohol consumption on a society. In 2012, 10,322 people were killed in traffic accidents caused by alcohol-impaired individuals in the United States alone. This accounts for almost one in three traffic-related deaths in the United States, where the police arrested over 1.2 million drivers in 2010 for operating vehicles under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.

In 1995, the British Medical Association revealed that alcohol was a factor in 60-70 per cent of homicides, 75 per cent of stabbings, and 50 per cent of fights and domestic assaults.

Look through: Alcohol, jihad and a broken heart

The purpose of this article is to raise awareness about the legal and historic constructs that should inform prohibition laws in Pakistan. The 1979 Hudood Ordinance made alcohol consumption a crime. That was not the case before. The result is that low-income consumers are forced to consume inexpensive harmful moonshine while the well-off freely obtain imported alcohol.

The consumption of alcohol in Pakistan and its abuse has not declined since prohibition, though given the substitution of commercially produced alcohol with moonshine, incidents of alcohol-poisoning did rise significantly.

At the same time, the Hudood laws convicted mostly low-income individuals who lacked the means to mount a legal defense. Such discrimination against the poor can be addressed if alcohol consumption is regulated rather than criminalised.

Demoralised Australia fight to save Test after Younis epic

By Agencies | Dawn.com

Updated about 3 hours ago

Younis Khan plays a shot during the second day of the second test cricket match between Pakistan and Australia in Abu Dhabi. — Photo by AFP

ABU DHABI: Australia were left with a daunting task to save the second Test and series after Younis Khan hit an epic double hundred to put Pakistan in command on Friday.

Younis notched a memorable 213 for his fifth double hundred to steer Pakistan to 570-6 declared in their first innings on a flat Sheik Zayed Stadium pitch in Abu Dhabi.

At the close on day two Australia were 22-1 with David Warner on 16 and nightwatchman Nathan Lyon on one, still trailing by 548 runs with nine wickets intact on a day when Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul Haq (101) and Azhar Ali (109) also enjoyed the run feast.

Opener Chris Rogers fell caught behind to paceman Imran Khan for five, putting Pakistan in a strong position to press for their first series win over Australia since 1994.

It was Younis, who hit twin hundreds in the first Test, who once again dominated Australia's hapless bowling during his eight-and-half-hour stay, hitting 15 boundaries and two sixes.

Younis hit Glenn Maxwell for a towering six and, in the spinner's next over, took a single to complete 200. He was finally bowled while playing Peter Siddle across the line and was given a standing ovation by a 12,000 holiday crowd and his team-mates.

When on 181, Younis completed 8,000 runs in his 93rd Test, becoming the third Pakistani batsmen to reach the milestone behind Javed Miandad (8832) and Inzamam-ul Haq (8829).

In all, 28 batsmen in the world have scored 8,000 or more Test runs.

Misbah also completed his hundred with a reverse sweep off Maxwell, taking 166 balls for the mark before he gave a return catch to Steve Smith.

Misbah hit 10 boundaries and a six and added 181 runs with Younis to further hit Australia badly.

At 63 Misbah also became the highest scorer as Pakistan captain, beating Imran Khan's 2408 runs in 48 Tests. This is Misbah's 31st match.

The Younis-Misbah stand flourished in the afternoon after the Australian bowlers toiled hard in the morning session to get only one wicket, that of Ali.

Pakistan added 101 in an extended two-and-a-half-hour session due to Friday prayers after resuming at 304-2.

Younis added 236 with Ali to erase the previous highest third-wicket stand against Australia of 223 held by Javed Miandad and Taslim Arif from a 1980 match in Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Australia had another unusually sloppy day in the field as David Warner failed to hold a sharp chance at point from Younis's push off paceman Mitchell Johnson in the third over of the day. Younis was then batting on 112.

Nine runs later Younis edged a Siddle delivery which fell short of Brad Haddin, who hurt his right shoulder in an attempt to hold the catch.

Haddin had to walk off the field and Warner, who replaced him behind the stumps, spurned a stumping chance off spinner Lyon as Younis was well out of his crease on 125.

But Warner made amends as he took a good catch off Ali's glance off paceman Mitchell Starc for a consolation wicket. Ali's 250-ball knock had six boundaries, while Starc was the best bowler with 2-86.

MIDDLE EAST Sunni Tribesmen Say ISIS Exacts Brutal Revenge

MIDDLE EAST

Sunni Tribesmen Say ISIS Exacts Brutal Revenge

By BEN HUBBARDOCT. 30, 2014

Islamic State militants have been exacting harsh revenge against an Iraqi Sunni tribe that fought for months to keep the jihadists at bay, capturing and summarily executing scores of its members, tribal leaders and local officials said Thursday.

The death toll among the tribe, the Albu Nimr, remains unclear; one account put it at more than 200 based on mass grave sites, though that could not be independently verified. But the reports mesh with the Islamic State’s pattern of methodical slaughter as it has consolidated its territorial grabs in Syria and Iraq.

The killings also came amid meetings between Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Sunni tribal leaders to discuss how to enlist more tribes in the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

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American and Iraqi officials have said that it is vital to get more Iraqi Sunnis to cooperate with the government, after widespread hostility to the previous Shiite-led administration led many Sunnis to welcome the Islamic State’s advance in Iraq. But plans to formally incorporate Sunni tribes into the fight have been slow to develop, and many tribes that have resisted the Islamic State have faced brutal retribution from the militants.

Members of the Albu Nimr tribe fought for months to keep the Islamic State from entering their area, near the Anbar Province town of Hit, about 90 miles west of Baghdad, according to tribal leaders.

But with no support coming from outside, resupply was difficult, and tribal fighters and police officers were badly outgunned by the Islamic State, which captured many heavy weapons from armories in Syria and Iraq. The jihadists finally conquered Hit this month, and have since expanded their control of nearby areas.

Each time the Islamic State seized an area, residents said, its fighters made a point of hunting down police officers or members of the Iraqi Army who had helped in the fight.

“Anyone who was in the state, in the government or the security forces, is their enemy,” said Jalal al-Gaood, a tribal leader and businessman based in Jordan.

If those targeted by the group had already fled, the jihadists would blow up their homes.

“That sends a message to everyone else that this is what is coming for you,” Mr. Gaood said.

One tribe member, Sabah al-Haditheh, said the Albu Nimr had called for military help and arms support from the government in Baghdad but had received nothing.

“We put the responsibility on the government because they didn’t respond,” he said. “We were fighting ISIS with rifles, and it was fighting us with heavy machine guns.”

A spokesman for Mr. Abadi’s office, Rafid Jaboori, said he could not comment on whether the tribe had asked for support.

But he said that Mr. Abadi had met with Sunni tribal leaders several times in the past 10 days to discuss how they could be integrated into the fight against the Islamic State.

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“People are of course horrified at what happened,” Mr. Jaboori said. “But the easiest thing is to blame the government.”

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More than 40 members of the Albu Nimr were lined up and executed with gunshots to the head in Hit on Wednesday alone, according to Naem al-Gaood, a tribal sheikh related to Jalal al-Gaood.

In a photo circulated online by Islamic State supporters and said to show the aftermath, dead bodies with deep head wounds lie in line, slumped on a curb.

Reports emerged on Thursday of mass graves near Hit and elsewhere in Anbar Province that held the bodies of dozens of other members of the tribe, but photos of the bodies were not released and the reports could not be independently confirmed.

Across the border in Syria, Islamic State fighters bragged of executing hundreds of members of the Shueitat tribe this year after it had tried to fight them.

And Human Rights Watch said in a report Thursday that the Islamic State had systematically executed about 600 captives after taking over a prison near Mosul in June.

The jihadists divided the prisoners by sect and gunned down the mostly Shiite prisoners as they knelt alongside a ravine, the New York-based organization said in the report, which was based on survivor testimonies.

Also in June, the Islamic State carried out a similar mass killing of captured soldiers at a palace complex in Tikrit where Saddam Hussein once lived.

The barbarity, size and multinational composition of the Islamic State and affiliated groups have increasingly alarmed counterterrorism officials around the world and have become a growing concern at the United Nations. On Thursday, a special Security Council committee that monitors sanctions on designated terrorist groups said in a report that roughly 15,000 fighters from more than 80 countries, including the United States and European Union members, had entered Syria and Iraq in recent months, echoing numbers reported by American intelligence officials last month.

The threat is amplified, the report said, by “the very substantial resources now available” to the Islamic State and its “arsenal of modern military hardware.”

The report reinforced fears that many of these fighters could return home and create havoc.

“Even discounting those who have been killed and those who have returned,” the report said, “this is a problem on an unprecedented scale.”

Omar al-Jawoshi and Rick Gladstone contributed reporting.

U.S.

Voters in Illinois Governor’s Race to Choose ‘Failure’ or the ‘Billionaire’

By TRIP GABRIELOCT. 30, 2014

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Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois greeted soldiers at a homecoming celebration for the Illinois National Guard last week.CreditAlyssa Schukar for The New York Times

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ALSIP, Ill. — At least his home state is one of the places where Barack Obama is still welcome on the campaign trail.

Gov. Pat Quinn of Illinois has thrown open his arms to the president, who told a crowd of 6,000 recently, “I care about what happens here.”

Governor Quinn desperately needs black voters, who still adore President Obama, to turn out in force for him on Election Day. For his part, the president wants to avoid the embarrassment of losing deep-blue Illinois.

But despite Mr. Obama’s support and some positive economic news this year, Governor Quinn is running no better than neck-and-neck with a wealthy political novice, Bruce Rauner. Promising to use his business skills to tame state government, Mr. Rauner has poured $26 million of his fortune into tapping voter fatigue over high taxes and one-party rule in Springfield, the state capital.

In their final debate last week, both candidates reduced their messages to single words, numbingly repeated: The governor battered Mr. Rauner as a “billionaire,” and Mr. Rauner labeled Governor Quinn a “failure.”

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The unexpectedly close race has become a battle over geography and demographics, with Mr. Rauner looking to maximize support in the suburbs north and west of Chicago, especially among white women, while Governor Quinn reaches out to blacks in the city and southern suburbs.

In visits to three African-American churches on Sunday, the governor harped on one issue to motivate voters: raising the state minimum wage to $10 an hour. He quoted the prophet Amos: “One of the things he said was, ‘Woe to those who afflict the poor,’ ” Governor Quinn said at the Lighthouse Church of All Nations. “And that is why I believe in raising the minimum wage in Illinois.”

The Quinn campaign points to tapes of Mr. Rauner advocating a position he no longer says he holds, that the state would be better off if its $8.25 minimum wage was $1 lower. It rarely misses a chance to highlight the Republican’s extreme wealth — his nine homes and ranches, a $140,000 membership in a wine club.

Still, Mr. Rauner, 58, has gained support by promising relief from Illinois’s sordid political history. He tells audiences of his teenage daughter who did not want him to become governor because then, she feared, he would go to prison. Two recent Illinois governors were convicted of corruption: George Ryan, a Republican, and Rod R. Blagojevich, a Democrat, whose 2009 impeachment ushered Mr. Quinn, the lieutenant governor, into office.

Governor Quinn was elected governor in his own right by a thin margin in 2010, but he continues to suffer from perceptions that he is in some ways an accidental governor, and not the true boss in Springfield, where entrenched Democratic lawmakers have held power for decades. The Chicago Tribune measured the governor’s job approval at only 34 percent last week.

At a restaurant that Mr. Rauner visited on the northern edge of Cook County on Saturday, diners, mostly white, complained of a state tax hike on personal and business incomes in 2011, originally meant to be temporary, which Governor Quinn now says should be permanent.

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Bruce Rauner, the Republican candidate for governor in Illinois, at a restaurant in Cook County last  Saturday. He has promised to roll back a 67 percent personal income tax increase.CreditAlyssa Schukar for The New York Times

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“I have never voted for a Republican anything in my life, but I voted for Rauner,” said Paulette Kirscher, 69, a school teacher-turned-business owner, who cast her ballot in early voting. “I am very unhappy about these Illinois politicians. I think things need to change.”

The Tribune poll suggests that Mr. Rauner has pulled essentially even with Governor Quinn because of voters like Ms. Kirscher, white suburban women who strongly favored the Republican.

Ms. Kirscher said she would not have broken her lifelong Democratic allegiance if not for assurances that Mr. Rauner would protect abortion rights. He says he has no “social agenda.” Asked on Saturday about a charge that Gloria Steinem, the women’s rights activist, made at a Quinn rally — that Mr. Rauner could not be trusted to protect abortion rights — he replied, “That’s baloney.”

“I have an agenda that is about jobs and schools and taxes and fighting corruption,” he said. “I don’t have a social agenda.”

Senator Mark S. Kirk of Illinois, the second Republican in the Senate to supportsame-sex marriage, said that being “a social moderate and fiscal conservative” was the key to a Republican winning statewide in Illinois. He praised Mr. Rauner’s choice to steer clear of recent Chicago appearances by two Republican firebrands, Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas.

Mr. Rauner promises to roll back the 67 percent personal income tax increase of 2011. The tax raise was originally sold as a way to fix Illinois’s budget crisis, including $100 billion owed to retired public employees, the worst pension mess in the nation. Governor Quinn forced through a separate pension rescue last year, which unions are fighting in court.

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The governor maintains that a tax rollback would cost the state $4 billion and lead to teacher layoffs and cuts to social services like child care.

Mr. Rauner’s pitch is simple: Democrats have had their chance and failed. But he has offered few details about how to balance the state’s books. In an interview, he said taxes could be lowered without cutting into schools by eliminating “wasteful spending.”

“Illinois has become the worst-run state in America,” he said. “I can really shake it up in a way that a standard politician can’t.”

The Quinn campaign has dug into Mr. Rauner’s career as a private equity investor to portray him as heartless.

Mr. Rauner, whose 2013 income was $60.1 million, was chairman of the private equity partnership GTCR, which bought and sold interests in hundreds of companies. He boasts of making millions of dollars for the Illinois teachers’ pension fund, but some investments ran into trouble. Three officials of one company went to prison for accounting fraud. At a trial now underway in Florida, GTCR is accused of selling a nursing home operator to avoid damages in wrongful death suits. Mr. Rauner has said he was unaware of such problems.

Over lunch at a McDonald’s — a choice in keeping with the governor’s portrayal of himself as more in touch with everyday people — he had harsh words for Mr. Rauner’s career.

“He calls himself a businessman,” the governor said as he opened the packaging of a second apple pie. “He’s not a businessman. He’s a profiteer. He’s had 12 bankruptcies, caused great harm to many people. He’s given himself a lot of money out of it. He’s using it now to have a hostile takeover of the government of Illinois.”

To counter this caricature, Mr. Rauner tells audiences about inheriting a work ethic and a desire to give back to the community from his family. He omits mention of his father, a senior executive at Motorola, and paints a portrait of a Swedish-speaking grandfather who milked dairy cows and lived in a double-wide trailer. “He always gave back in church,” Mr. Rauner told supporters on Saturday. “Even when it hurt to put $3 into the collection.”

A version of this article appears in print on October 31, 2014, on page A12 of the New York edition with the headline: Voters in Illinois to Choose ‘Failure’ or the ‘Billionaire’. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe