Thanks to Krishen-ji for alerting me to this interview of Bill Warner, Director, Center for the Study of Political Islam (CSPI). CSPI is devoted to the scientific study of the foundational texts of Islam, including the Koran and Hadith.
Its approach is unusual in that it relies on statistics to study the doctrines (e.g. see the discussion about “Jihad” below) and considers the Koran alongside the Sira and Hadiths as part of the Islamic Trilogy. Although published more than a year ago, large parts of it are still very relevant.
Excerpts:
…Our major intellectual breakthrough is to see that dualism is the foundation and key to understanding Islam.
…Endless ink has been wasted on trying to answer the question of what is Islam? Is Islam the religion of peace? Or is the true Islam a radical ideology? Is a moderate Muslim the real Muslim?
This reminds a scientist of the old arguments about light. Is light a particle or is light a wave? The arguments went back and forth. Quantum mechanics gave us the answer. Light is dualistic; it is both a particle and a wave. It depends upon the circumstances as to which quality manifests. Islam functions in the same manner.
Our first clue about the dualism is in the Koran, which is actually two books, the Koran of Mecca (early) and the Koran of Medina (later). The insight into the logic of the Koran comes from the large numbers of contradictions in it. On the surface, Islam resolves these contradictions by resorting to “abrogation”. This means that the verse written later supersedes the earlier verse. But in fact, since the Koran is considered by Muslims to be the perfect word of Allah, both verses are sacred and true. The later verse is “better,” but the earlier verse cannot be wrong since Allah is perfect. This is the foundation of dualism. Both verses are “right.” Both sides of the contradiction are true in dualistic logic. The circumstances govern which verse is used.
For example:
(Koran of Mecca) 73:10: Listen to what they [unbelievers] say with patience, and leave them with dignity.
From tolerance we move to the ultimate intolerance, not even the Lord of the Universe can stand the unbelievers:
(Koran of Medina) 8:12: Then your Lord spoke to His angels and said, “I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the unbelievers’ hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers!”
All of Western logic is based upon the law of contradiction—if two things contradict, then at least one of them is false. But Islamic logic is dualistic; two things can contradict each other and both are true.
No dualistic system may be measured by one answer. This is the reason that the arguments about what constitutes the “real” Islam go on and on and are never resolved. A single right answer does not exist.
Dualistic systems can only be measured by statistics. It is futile to argue one side of the dualism is true. As an analogy, quantum mechanics always gives a statistical answer to all questions.
For an example of using statistics, look at the question: what is the real jihad, the jihad of inner, spiritual struggle or the jihad of war? Let’s turn to Bukhari (the Hadith) for the answer, as he repeatedly speaks of jihad. In Bukhari 97% of the jihad references are about war and 3% are about the inner struggle. So the statistical answer is that jihad is 97% war and 3% inner struggle. Is jihad war? Yes—97%. Is jihad inner struggle? Yes—3%. So if you are writing an article, you can make a case for either. But in truth, almost every argument about Islam can be answered by: all of the above. Both sides of the duality are right.
Keep Reading…
August 20th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Impact of Islam on India, Islam & Reform, Islam & Terrorism, Medieval Indian History |
4 comments
Some good links for the weekend:
Excerpts from the Pak army and the jihadi’s second coming: Read in the context of recent incidents of ceasefire violation along the LOC and the controversy surrounding Gen Kapoor’s remarks.
Excerpts from [The Islamist-Leftist] Allied Menace
and how California alone uses more gasoline than any other country in the world (including India and China!)
.
Keep Reading…
August 9th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentations about India, Enviroment Related, Geo-Strategic Issues (incl. Nuclear, Oil, Energy), Global Terrorism, Islam & Terrorism, Jammu & Kashmir related, Pakistan related |
no comments
This is probably a less lucid post than most of what I write…In spite of that it has taken me a very long time to draft this.
Last Sunday, after hearing of the blasts in Ahmedabad, I asked myself…what would I have done? What should the Government do? What can we do…as concerned, anxious and angry citizens?
I decided not to write anything more about the attacks until I had some idea of the answers to this questions…This post is an attempt in that direction…It mainly deals with what the government should do/ or consider doing…I may decide to write a separate post on what each one of us, as proud ”Bharatiyas”, can do…
The suggestions are organised in different sections (in no particular order):
The Political Will
Effective Policing and Intelligence Coordination
The role of the “middle class”
The role of the Muslim community
The role of Pakistan
Better Legislation
The Ideological Challenge
The ideas I have mentioned below are not all mine - they rely heavily on work and thinking done by others, more experienced and better informed than me…What I have attempted is to bring these ideas together - in a coherent, mostly consistent, way. I will be grateful for any critiques…Please contribute freely with your ideas and suggestions…
Jai Hind.
Tackling Terrorism: One Step at a Time
The Political Will
Our biggest weakness in this war is the lack of political will…No amount of proposals, ideas and counter-terrorist measures will work unless there is a clear, unambiguous and determined consensus - across all parties - at all levels - that this is WAR and it has to be fought with the same intensity and sense of urgency…The time for patting ourselves on the back about the “Spirit of Mumbai” (or Bengaluru or Ahmedabad) is past…
Political Will means bringing pressure on Pakistan …or as Ashutosh memorably mentioned in his comment on this blog, “turning on the heat“…It necessarily involves retaliation - something which NSA M K Narayanan hinted at a few weeks ago (after the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul)…It is time to follow-up on these statements…For more than a decade, we have been crying hoarse about terrorist camps and support infrastructure across the border…Well, THIS is the time to do something about it…
As Raja Ram mentioned in his comment following the Mumbai Blasts:
…The GOI has to present the evidence gathered publicly, set forth a clear demand for actions from governments - or agencies of governments - that may be involved with a clear time frame. This should be backed up with a clear promise of retributive action against the perpetrators with or without their support. International support for such should be channelised and developed.
…But this can happen only when the political class has the clarity of mind about dealing with terror in that manner. There are consequences to such actions that we must be ready to face. The political class, mind you is a creature of the people. The people should not only be ready to back them but demand such action from the political class and only then will they respond. Till that happens, concerned Indians can pull their hair and whack their heads - not much is going to come out of it. India will just have to take it in her stride yet again and fight on alone. There is no support for India in her war on terror. What is available is only meaningless platitudes.
The PM needs to get up and say, as did Tony Blair last June: “…This extremism can be defeated. But it will be defeated only by recognising that we have not created it; it cannot be negotiated with; pandering to its sense of grievance will only encourage it; and only by confronting it, the methods and the ideas, will we win.”
The President, Chief Commander of the Armed Forces needs to declare: India will not negotiate with terrorists… And every political party - and their leaders in Parliament - need to unequivocally support this stance…otherwise there is little hope.
Keep Reading…
August 1st, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Human Rights and Legal Issues, Islam & Terrorism, Jammu & Kashmir related, LeT, SIMI etc., Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement, Terrorism in India |
30 comments
Excerpts from a great article by Prof Walid Phares, “The Deobandi Fatwa Against Terrorism Didn’t Treat the Jihadi Root” underscoring some of the points I had made in an earlier post (Thanks to Krishen-ji for alerting me to this)
*** Excerpts Begin (emphasis mine) ***
Many in the West and in other regions of the world were impressed by the issuing of a fatwa (Islamic theological edict) condemning Terrorism by one of the leading religious centers in the Muslim world, the Darool-Uloom Deoband in India. An Islamic seminary said to have ‘inspired’ the Taliban has, according to the said document denounced “terrorism” as against Islam, calling it an “unpardonable sin.”
…The Deobandi School, a classical third branch for Salafi Islamism (along with Wahabism and Muslim Brotherhood), has significant weight in the South Asia Theater. Its teachings based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law have reached many countries, including Afghanistan and Britain, where they are said to have indoctrinated the Taliban. “If they change course, al Qaeda and the Taliban are finished,” I heard in Europe and the United States.
So the question now is have they changed doctrinal direction and is this fatwa the evidence? I regretfully conclude that it is not the case yet.
Keep Reading…
July 29th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Global Terrorism, Islam & Reform, Islam & Terrorism, Terrorism in India |
3 comments
In an eerily prescient post a few weeks back, I had written: Our Kurukshetra is approaching fast.
The terrorist attacks in Ahmedabad and Bangalore are merely the latest consequences of a mis-guided, half-hearted approach to tackle terrorism and ignoring the root of the problem - which is the ideology of “Jihad”…and Islamism…This is the ideology that led to 9/11, the massacre of Beslan and numerous attacks since then - a disturbingly large number of them in Bharat.
As long as we don’t recognise this, we will be fighting the wrong enemy (not terrorists but innocents)…on the wrong front (not at the level of ideas, but at the level of physical force)…and with the wrong weapons (not better policing and quick, efficient justice but Dharnas, Bandhs, Satyagraha etc..)
The FIRST STEP though has to be the realisation that this is WAR - nothing less.
At least someone has realised this…
Terror attacks are a war against India…
I salute Shri Modi for having the courage to speak out.
He at least has more spine than the hundreds of others who claim to represent India. But as Radha-ji of Vigil pointed out in an email to me: “His spine is not in question here, it is his understanding of the nature of the threat - jihad…” I think she has hit the nail on its head.
As I had promised to myself, I will say no more on this until such point when I have some idea of how to deal with this menace.
In the meantime, here are some extracts from a letter written by a concerned father* (in teh US) to his sons back in 2004. Pl. read and think (emphasis mine).
*** Excerpts begin **
…To get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII).
The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means.
Keep Reading…
July 27th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Global Terrorism, Godhra, Islam & Terrorism, LeT, SIMI etc., Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Politics of Minority Appeasement, Post Independence History, Terrorism in India |
6 comments
Apparently, when it becomes a training ground for Jihad.
Chinese authorities have…closed down 41 “illegal” places of worship (in the Muslim dominated Xinjiang province).
These places of worship were used as training ground for conducting a “holy war”, Chen Zhuangwei Chen, the police chief of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province, said. Xinjiang, which borders central Asia and Pakistan, has been the scene of a pro-independence movement by a section of the eight million Uighurs living there for a long time. [ link ]
What about these Madarsasthough? and what about the Deobandi madarsas where the Taleban were trained?
Highly Recommended: Mosque Demolition meets Deathly Silence
Related Posts:
When is it OK to storm a place of worship?
Chinas Afzal Guru
July 17th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
China related, Current Affairs, Global Terrorism, Human Rights and Legal Issues, India & Its Neighbours, Islam & Terrorism |
4 comments
Some fresh updates…
“…The blasts took place in Tripolia Bazar where a Hanuman temple drew a large number of devotees today…Manas Chowk, Badi Choupal, Choti Choupal and Johari Bazar. ” link
As many of you must have already realised, Tuesday isa particularlysignificant day for devotees of Lord Hanuman (and is generally considered auspiciousfor a variety of reasons).Another important fact: apparently there were 7 bomb blasts and 8 bombs were diffused…In terms of scale at least, 15 coordinated bombs is serious stuff.
The predictable appeal for calm:I wonder ifthe Honourable PM is going to loose anysleep over this?
Latest Count 60 deadand 150 injured. HuJI role suspected (more on this in an upcoming post):
“,,,sources said the tell-tale signs of the blasts indicate HuJI’s hand.
The blasts showed that HuJI, which is being mainly run from Bangladesh, has managed to establish cells in Rajasthan and that the outfit was responsible for previous major terror attacks including the New Year eve attack on CRPF camp in Rampur and serial blasts in three other places in Uttar Pradesh.
The last terror strike in Rajasthan occurred on October 11, 2007 when an explosion in the Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer left two persons dead and 17 others injured.
HuJI outfit, suspected to be behind the blast at the sufi shrine, had used a mixture of Tri-Nitro Toluene (TNT) as the explosive material.
…The sources did not rule out the possibility that banned HuJI may have been supported by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) which has been attempting to target tourist destinations and places of economic interests.
A heart-rending first-hand account of how it feels from Shivani in Jaipur (courtesy Bharat-Rakshak):
“…I do not know what to say. Yes, I am in Jaipur. Today, I actually went to these markets in the afternoon.
I ask members to forgive me, but I am being very honest when I say that all the blasts we have had in other cities have not affected me at all, and I realized this only today. …
Terrorism was something that happened to “other” people. Something very distant.
Now I am afraid to even step out of the house, or allow a family member to do likewise. Imagine going to some shop or mall and being blown apart. Or living handicapped for the rest of your life. Presently, the roads are deserted, sirens have only just stopped screaming, and people are retiring to their homes after talking with neigbours etc.
This changes everything. I do not particularly feel angry towards Indian Muslims, pakis, and their puppeteers in the west. They are doing something that is very natural, and very ‘rational’.
It is the unnaturally passive and thoroughly incompetent Indian approach that offends me the most. I feel strong outrage towards our dysfunctional system of governance…
…I have never felt more disillusioned with New Delhi, the politicians and babus, and the western controlled media. We have never had a revolution in India and it shows.
The entire system system of governance and its operators need to be eliminated and replaced by a new order if we are to make fundamental progress in how we survive and prosper as a nation.
I can’t go to sleep now, just found out someone lost relative. Sorry if anyone is offended, I have never felt the kind of emotion like today before. I am so utterly miserable and helpless…
and another first-hand account of how it feels, from amar_gwho lived through the Mumbai blasts:
“…been through the same thing myself a few years ago during the mumbai serial blasts..was attending classes for my 10th std and slowly news started to come in about blasts..my father was in the stock exchange building at that time..it was a horrible feeling till he called up and confirmed everything was ok..
i really do hope and pray the govt dose take some action and we indians do not get used to this “as just one of those things that keep happening” ..like people do in iraq..
…the religion of peace is trying to target our tourist destination..a soft target..scare foreigners away..besides jaipur has got one of the IPL teams..it can only generate more bad press for india as not being a safe destination…
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat. We shall overcome.
With deepest sympathies andcondolences for the families of the innocents…Their lives must not go in vain…
Long list of related tragedies:
Another day, another blast - Kuch nayee baat bataoyaar
Blasts? What Blasts?Yeh to hota hi rahtahai
Anger, tears anddespair
and Four Years, Two Attacks, OneStory
May 14th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Indian Media, Islam & Terrorism, LeT, SIMI etc., Pakistan related, Politics and Governance in India, Terrorism in India |
17 comments
Fellow blogger Pastorius posted this great piece over at the Infidel Blogger’s Alliance. It touches on euphemisms and “media labels” regarding Asians, something�on which I have commented before.
Excerpt:
“…There is a group of people in Britain who have distinguished themselves by setting off bombs in subways, preaching hatred of Infidels in Mosques, and carrying placards in the streets calling for a “real Holocaust” against Jews.
The media calls these people “Asians”.
In other words, the media uses a racial classification to name a group of people who are
1) driven by ideology, not race
and
2) more time than not, NOT ASIAN.
…And, really race is beside the point. I can not think of anything more racist than to blame Jihadi violence, which is driven by the ideology of the Koran, and various Islamist groups (Muslim Brotherhood, Wahabbism, Hizbollah, Hamas, etc.) on Asians.
…The PC Media, under the guise of fairness, are blaming the misdeeds of a few ideologically-driven people on a group of people designated by their racial characteristics.
That is racism.
Can you imagine how Chinese people, and Indians, and Filipinos feel about that?”
Now you may understand why some British Hindus do not want to call themselves “Asians and why some of them are very angry.
For the latest example of this, see this report (emphasis mine):
A priest has been attacked in the grounds of his church, in what police described as a “faith-hate” crime. Canon Michael Ainsworth, 57, was injured by two Asian youths at the church, in Tower Hamlets, east London.
although a later BBC report noted that
Tower Hamlets in east London, where the church is located, has a large Muslim community and Mr Khan said the incident should not affect “the hard work of communities in Tower Hamlets to create social harmony.
See also:
Please, no “M-word” here
and Avoiding the M-word from which comes this short excerpt:
The obfuscation is sometimes almost comical.
The New York Times, reporting the Glasgow attack on Page 1, carefully avoided using the M-word to identify Britain’s Muslim terrorists. Instead it attributed the 7/7 bombings to Britain’s disenfranchised South Asian population and reported that the terrorists in Glasgow were South Asian.
(As Joel Mowbray pointed out for Powerline, Indian Hindus are Britain�s largest South Asian demographic.)
UPDATE (Nov 2nd ‘08): Courtesy Sh Kak, this Op-Ed from The Hindu which mentions how “forced marriages” - routinely mentioned as an “Asian” problem is actually more of a problem amongst Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities (emphasis mine):
According to the British reckoning, the figures for this sordid practice (forced marriages) are around 3,000 per year. Unofficial estimates suggest that the tally may be even higher. Most victims are known to be women aged between 15 and 24. Another 15-20 per cent of cases involve young men. About 65 per cent of known cases involve those of Pakistani origin, another 25 per cent are of Bangladeshi origin, and the rest are of Indian or various African and Eastern European origins.
March 20th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
A Hindu Identity, An Indian Identity, Distortions, Misrepresentations about India, Global Terrorism, Identity, Islam & Terrorism |
no comments
As the Darul Uloom maintains that its fight against terrorism will continue, read this thought-provoking essay by M. Zuhdi Jasser* on what are the ideological standards required to confront militant Islam.
In view of the points made by Lt Commander Jasser,are the scholars of Darul Uloom at Deoband prepared to take the next step and declare/accept:
1. The rejection of Islamism as a political ideology.
2. A rejection of the concept of the Islamic state …or (the) vision of a Muslim majority society led by theologians (imams and clerics) who run government through their interpretation and enactment of Islamic law (sharia).
3. Identification of radical Islamist organizations by name …that utilize terrorism as a tactic for political change…While these organizations may at times “condemn terrorism,” they often offer apologies (if not justifications) for terrorism and seek the establishment of both individual Islamic states and a global or regional caliphate of them.
4. The acceptance that the root cause of terrorism is political Islam.
5. …the toxic role that Wahhabism (a radical Saudi Arabian interpretation of Islam) has had upon the radicalization of some members of the Muslim community.
6. To unequivocally recognize the state of Israel and its right to exist.
7. (the) separation (of)faith (spirituality) and nationalism.
8.…individual freedom and liberty.
9. To advocate for the rights of dissidents and liberty-minded Muslims in Muslim majority nations against the dictatorships and monarchies which oppress them
10. To acknowledge that much of current Islamic jurisprudence (sharia) is in dire need of ijtihad (reform)
***
* M. ZuhdiJasser is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander andfounder/Chairman of the Board of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Related Posts:
Islamism - not Islam - is responsible forterrorism
Indias Islamist Groups -Extracts
Islams uncomfortabletruths
Other voices of reason: We Muslims Have Work To Do - SalimMansur
March 12th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Impact of Islam on India, Islam & Reform, Islam & Terrorism, LeT, SIMI etc., Terrorism in India |
6 comments
Extracts from a BBC news story:
“…Dr Nazir Ali, the bishop of Rochester…in a separate interview with the BBC…said
“Britishness” had to be recovered if it was to “have the identity to face another highly organised ideology, perhaps for the first time since the disappearance of Marxism”.
He said the government’s approach to multiculturalism was wrong, adding: ” I think an affirmation of the Christian roots of British society would actually provide a better way of affirming other people than the sort of secular all-faiths-are-the-same kind of route.
“Because the secular approach will in the end marginalise everybody.”
Try substituting “Hindu” for “Christian” and “Indian” for “British” in the extract above. Could he be talking about India, I wonder?
***
Here are somemore extracts from the Bishop’scomments as they appeared in The Telegraph:
“…Alongside these developments, there has been a worldwide resurgence of the ideology of Islamic extremism.
…Attempts have been made to impose an “Islamic” character on certain areas, for example, by insisting on artificial amplification for the Adhan, the call to prayer. Such amplification was, of course, unknown throughout most of history and its use raises all sorts of questions about noise levels and whether non-Muslims wish to be told the creed of a particular faith five times a day on the loudspeaker.
This is happening here even though some Muslim-majority communities are trying to reduce noise levels from multiple mosques announcing this call, one after the other, over quite a small geographical area.
There is pressure already to relate aspects of the sharia to civil law in Britain. To some extent this is already true of arrangements for sharia-compliant banking but have the far-reaching implications of this been fully considered?
…
Much of this has come about because of a “neutral” secularist approach which refuses to privilege any faith. In fact, secularism has its own agenda and it is certainly not neutral…”
Well said.
Related Posts:
Secular Fundamentalismalive & kicking inIndia
Secularism or Politics ofAppeasement?
Perverse secularism and Indiasfuture
Pseudo-secularism at itsbest?
Another fine example ofpseudo-secularism
January 8th, 2008
Posted by
B Shantanu |
A Hindu Identity, An Indian Identity, Current Affairs, Impact of Islam on India, Islam & Terrorism, Politics and Governance in India |
5 comments
Halfway through an innocuous article about an unusual Saudi programmeto rehabilitate jihadis, the Director of the Care Rehabilitation Center, Sheik Ahmed Hamid Jelan lets his guard slip.
The excerpt (from the TIME magazine article)needs no further commentary (emphasis in bold is mine).
Although the perimeter is guarded by police, the facility feels like a country club or college campus. Detainees (Young Saudis caught fighting American forces in Iraq) have lots of downtime and soda pop.
They spend their days in vocational training, psychological counseling and classroom lectures, most of which are given by religious scholars from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, including the center’s director, Sheik Ahmed Hamid Jelan.
He walks the detainees through religious texts on jihad–a theological minefield, considering that while the Saudi government forbids fighting in Iraq, it once recruited young Saudis like bin Laden to fight the Russians in Afghanistan.
The basic difference, Jelan explains to his charges, is that fighting the Soviets served the interests of Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world, while struggling against the U.S. in Iraq does not…”
.
Does this mean that it is acceptable to wage jihad if it serves the interests of Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world?
See also: SRK: Jihada small littleword
Adjacent Posts:
Jihad in Islamabad and The Counterjihad Calendar for2008
November 10th, 2007
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Global Terrorism, Islam & Terrorism, World History |
12 comments
Baron Bodissey has just released “The Counterjihad Calendar for 2008” - a result of”four months of (hard) work”.
“The purpose of the calendar is twofold:
1. To enhance a sense of community among the inhabitants of the countries of the West.
We can show solidarity with one another even as we remain nationalists within our own countries. The West doesnt require an artificial and corrupt empire like the EU or the UN to maintain its collective identity. There is something that binds us together, a common heritage that enables us to resist Islamization.
2. To facilitate a greater awareness of the struggle we are all facing and how it is approached in different countries, by listing counterjihad blogs and websites on the sidebar for each country.
I recommend that readers take a look through the sites listed at the end of this post; its amazing how many of us there are.”
The printed calendar is available on CafePress.
The month of “April” is dedicated to India and features the Shree Somnath Temple. Fittingly, April also happens to be the first month (Chaitra - which roughly corresponds to March-April) of theIndian New Year.
October 19th, 2007
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Impact of Islam on India, Islam & Terrorism |
2 comments
Dear All,
I am “creating” this post to collate several comments that were exchanged between readers in response to the post referring to Dr Zakir Naik’s video.
The reason for moving the comments to this post are
- the comments did not refer to the specific video but addressed more general and broader issues (as you will see below)
- I think the discussion that is evolving has value in itself and touches upon several things in relation to Islam, Hindutva, Dr Zakir Naik, Godhra etc
- The original video was notaboutDr. Zakir Naik’s comments which have been referred to by Mohammed Ali (below). It was to do with his remarks ona different subject- unfortunately it is no longer available on youtube
I will be responding to Mohammed’s comments in a day or two but please feel free to join the discussion. A few important points:please stick to civil language;please refrain from personal insults;please avoid dismissive arguments; and of course, no abuseor vulgarity allowed…
Thanks for joining the discussion…and hopefully, this will help us get closer to the truth. Satyameva Jayate!
Keep Reading…
July 8th, 2007
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Distortions, Misrepresentation about Hinduism, Hindu Dharma, Islam & Terrorism |
152 comments
From last week’s The Australian, a great commentary on some of the issues that Islam needs to face up to, by Tanveer Ahmed in Sydney: Islam must face its uncomfortable truths
Excerpts:
THE latest attack in Britain shows how the Islamist threat is being driven by something much grander than mere foreign policy or feelings of grievance. The perpetrators believe they are soldiers in the perceived historical battle between good and evil.
The methods of attack are becoming more brazen, amateurish and desperate, illustrated most profoundly by the burning terrorist at Glasgow airport shouting “Allah” while struggling with a policeman, but the ideological roots are unchanged.
As a commentator on Muslim affairs and home-grown terrorism, I am often asked whether there is something in Islam itself that is contributing to terrorist acts. As someone who is not a theological expert, I shy away from strong pronouncements on the issue, preferring to discuss the sociological roots of alienation and the modern symbol of protest that Islam has become.
But the question is impossible to avoid and I believe that theology is central and not peripheral to the problem. It is grounded in history, but the sparks have been generated by the information age.
Keep Reading…
July 8th, 2007
Posted by
B Shantanu |
Current Affairs, Global Terrorism, Islam & Reform, Islam & Terrorism |
6 comments
