Islam and the Age of Globalization

aayeh bhi woh, gayey bhi woh

Many have come before to ``liberate`` Islam and many more will come as long $$$ are flowing.

Some good words before the ``already enlightened`` suited-booted muslims in 5-star Hotels, some nice colorful well bounded Reports etc. and thats all.

No guts to face the ``real`` muslims.

Zara ek baar kisi masjid key samney jaa kar bolain tau jaaney

Professor Sahib, do you hear??

Urstruly,
Please stop the laissaze faire-globalization-leads-to-economic-disparity-in-fledgling-democracies trip already! All of us here know that just leftist dribble, excuses by and for stupid societies that can’t keep up with changes in technology and generally cannot embrace change, which, we also know, is as easy for Allahditta to do as it is for, say, Bilal. I mean, weren’t we raised in that same Pakistan but, inspired by Carlin and Carlos, able to pull ourselves up from our bootstraps, play by U. Sam’s rules and end up with a three car garage to show for it too? Oh why can’t all those filthy hoardes just learn from our experience!!

Waisey, seriously now, I was shocked to hear that there have been 34,000 suicides in rural Sindh just this calendar year. Are you sure you have that figure right??

Also, I find it hard to agree with your statement that “Almost every robbery and home invasion now also includes gang rapes of women as well.” You paint a picture of an despairingly dark law-and-order situation here. While crime is certainly on the rise, there is nothing in what I read or hear to suggest that it is quite as increasingly violent as you suggest. Auto- and cell-phone- snatching at gun point is, yes, alarmingly high-- but rape and murder??!

“The second extreme on this group is that young generation is joining the freedom movements all over Islamic world in hordes.”

True. And also true to some degree is that many young Muslims have waited for an excuse to have to join this freedom movement against the ‘evil West’, without seeking to understand wither the evil lie—in much the same way as many in the West tend to stereotype and conceptually coalesce the “barbaric” Muslim word.

That said, my own understanding and observation is that in the West, apart from certain vested interests that benefit from such adversarial scenarios (read Buchanan’s “Whose War?” essay for a true American conservative’s view on this matter) most Americans/Westerners are more prepared to introspect and challenge their prejudices about the other than are their Eastern Muslim counterparts. Too bad Ed Said didn’t have the time, or imagination, to write on “Occidentalism.”

Someone wrote something about Christians not having the same respect for Islamic figures and icons as the Muslims have for theirs. Duh! That’s like expecting the Jews to respect Jesus!! But a larger point was missed. It is mainly the nominal Christians, or proclaimed agnostics/atheist that more often than not are the source of ridicule of Islam (as they are often enough of Christianity and Western democratic icons, one might pertinently add!)

Re. #2: “Muslims haven`t been dominating US society or labelling Americans as backward barbarians, if anything due to cultural hegemony of the US in our world, they hold a positive view of the US in general”

The truth is, there is no ‘general’, or at least no consensus and no studies done to ascertain it. It is probably more accurate to say that while many Muslims do have a positive view of the US (due to, as you mention, cultural hegemony), it is equally true that a large and growing number of Muslims hate everything that the US represents, especially its wealth coupled with its non-Islamicness – and not for any particular reasons of oppression either.

``.........and more authorities from Islam such as Akbar Ahmed ..............``

What nonsense Bina.......we do not need any ``authorities from Islam`` to tell normal Americans that muslim Americans are NOT part of any engagement between US, Iraq, Iran or Al-Qaeda............ isn`t it plain and simple that muslim Americans are Americans and oppose any one , whether muslim or a commie or anyone, trying to damage America.......what has ``Islamic Authorities`` got to do with all this..........
infact it is extremely dangerous to have all these ``Authorities from Islam`` speaking for muslim Americans on any public forum and makes it appear as if they represent the muslim American voice...........

{Professor Ahmed and his team are traveling from Jordan to Syria, Qatar, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia to ask these questions of students, mainstream Muslims, political and religious leaders; men and women, old and young alike.}

Dear Writer,
Excellent article Bina Sahiba, we need more intellectuals of Dr Akbar`s pedigree, vision and ability to reach out and build much needed bridges. However, there is just one question and that relates to the Dr`s travel plans, why does he not have Saudi Arabia and Iran on his wish list? After all SA is home to 15 of the 9/11 hijackers, heartland of Wahabism and most importantly central to Muslim history. SA and Iran represents everything which moderate Muslims wud not like the world to see, is that the reason he skipped SA or was it because he (Dr Akbar) is not welcome in land of the pure?

Question that needs to be asked is what kind of bridges does the emminent Dr intend to build? The two muslim fundamentalist regimes mentioned above represent what is so wrong in the muslim world today, fortunately or unfortunately both are very well endowed with rich natural resources (oil and gas) which certainly has helped their ideologies by gaining political leverage both in the muslim and non-muslim world. No matter what global leaders plan or think, obscurantist rule these two countries with an iron fist and thru these two countries rest of the muslim world, you change mother load and you change the muslim world. Iam afraid all other trips will be initially percieved as glimmer of hope but will eventually suffer a quick merciful death of silence.

im sorry if i offended you bina, but obviously one can never see those people objectively if they have grown with them -- in any case i stand by what i said -- he is not as great or scholarly or brilliant as this article makes him out to be

oh -- it seems that my earlier post has not been posted -- while i hadnt said that he had embezzled any money i did say basically what is contained in post 50 --

hp what urstruly is saying is nonsense -- doesnt matter who said -- shahid masood is a moron par excellence

#50 Omar
[im sorry if i offended you bina, but obviously….]

Ama yaar, try as hard as I do, I see no prior interact from you on this board. What’s this? You got another nick tucked away that you use exclusively for offending people?

Or did you offend her in person?

O, the stealthy ways that editors operate! All cloaks and daggers - and the colleagues are the first ones to get it.

When are you guys going to give Manto a REAL job?

re Salim Chauhan # 18
(at the constant exclusion of Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains by these Muslim and their Jewish and Christian Abrahamic do gooders. Real understanding is possible only when you consider ALL components of the religious divide on our planet. )

abay, what`s wrong with crossing one hurdle at a time-- preferably the lower ones first?
I could argue with your last statement too, if I wanted to be picky: Why only the RELIGIOUS divide? What about God-fearing atheists like myself? Why should we be left out of the Kumbaya Discourse, heh??

That said, I agree, that there is something irksome in apologetic or patronizing refrains I hear to ``ahle-kitaab`` from Muslims acquaintances. But they`re not coming from where the professor is.
At least i think he`s coming from elsewhere! hmm...

#51 Omar
[oh -- it seems that my earlier post has not been posted...]

Yup, those editors have you on their hit list, Omar! You better watch out - they are a MEAN lot and they really mean it!

Be nice to the writer and even more to ye ole Prof.! Or he will come after you with his questionnaire.

Now THAT would get all those terrorist killers shaking with fear - and the world at large nodding its head in relief! They just needed to UNDERSTAND the idealized Islam and the problems of the reality will go away.

That lipstick will work on the pig every time! And hey, if it does not - that is no reason to stop trying!

If Chowk can put so much on lip-sticking the subcontinent`s very first terrorist, why bemoan and begrudge the ole Prof. his goree grad students?!!

mullah omar quraishi: if your new job involves reporting on America firing missiles at will on paki territory and repeatedly invading paki airspace, please refuse..you don`t want to end up like that hayatullah dude...killed by the ISI because the Paki military wanted to save face..

Re: # 60

For every 1 reason that you have provided to say that neo-colonialism is right, I can provide a minimum of 5.4 reasons to prove that it is wrong. All I have to do is to write the names of 54 countries in Africa.

Re: # 58

urstruly,

you say : The Western nations consider themselves above any and all laws and general modicum of human decency. Semantics do not replace morality.

10 reasons why you are wrong

1. Toyota
2. Hyundai-Kia
3. FAW and SAI
3. Mittal Steel
4. Infosys
5. Wipro
6. My sprinkler guy`s son who is going to Harvard Business School this fall
7. My sprinkler guy`s daughter who is going to U of Michigan Law School this fall
8. IBM employs 42,000 people in india and will invest $6B
9. Bill & Melinda Gates
10. Urstruly continues to pay taxes to uncle sam ...............

.............. and the list can go on and on and on ..............now, what are your reasons other than the whiney excuses offered by impotent communists and jihadists .........

Re: # 58
urstruly,

Wah jee wah, dil khush kitha jinaab aaly. Useing your analogy: putting 2 and 2 together to make four we get:

1 2 ka 4 4 2 ka 1
my name is lakhan - 2
sajanon ka sajan
mera naam hai lakhan

(tak tunna - 2 tidhin tidhin ) - 2
duniya chakori paisa hai chandaa
suli pe latka har ek banda
sabke gale mein - 2 maaya ka phanda - 2
seekho o yaaron inse yeh dhanda inse yeh dhanda

o~
do bol meethe bas bol ke har maal becho kam tol ke
ho kam tol ke re baba kam tol ke
tum apani khaali jeben bharo ji
karta hu main jo woh tum bhi karo ji
1 2 ka 4 4 2 ka 1
my name is lakhan - 2
sajanon ka sajan
mera naam hai lakhan

o~
main kuchh na jaanu isse jiyada - 2
tu mera mohan main teri radha
jeevan nahi itna seedha sadha
kaise karu tumse koi vaada
vaade jhuthe sachhe ho tum
jaise bhi ho bade achhe ho tum
bade achhe ho tum
kehte ho sabse tum ho man mauji
man mauji ho toh mauj karo ji
1 2 ka 4 4 2 ka 1
sajanon ke sajan
karu koi jatan - 2
jaldi ho milan

dhina dhin dha...
hmm kha pee raha hai - 2
sara zamana - 2
jo bhukha pyasa hai woh dewana
hai woh dewana
daulat ki jhuthi chamak pe na jaana
mehnat se roti roji kamana
roji kamana

oh~
kehna bado ka tum maan lo
achha bura kya yeh jaan lo
yeh jaan lo
kehta hu main jo woh tum suno ji
maine suna nahi phir se kaho ji
nahi number 2 koi donon ho number ho
mere ram lakhan jiyo ram lakhan
sajnon ke sajan jiyo raam lakhan...

Aur yeh thay aapkay janay pehchanay herr dil sangeeth Harri Adam Smith jee jo laapke leya lai hein dhair saree khushian.....dhina dhin dha...ram pam pam ram pam pam rampa papam pam pam.....a lassaise faire, open market concept.....


{My contention on lassaize faire globalization is not based on leftist/commie propaganda; all one has to do is to put 2 and 2 togethr to make four.}

PM

My contention on lassaize faire globalization is not based on leftist/commie propaganda; all one has to do is to put 2 and 2 togethr to make four. Let me explain:

The driving force behind the current globalization effort is the ideology of the ``Invisible Hand`` propounded by Adam Smith some 200 years ago. He proposed that lassaize faire economy (i.e. economy with no restriction or taxation) is the force of nature that works in the best interest of the people. Whereever there is money to be made, people will put there efforts into that direction, and that will drive more people to join in which will cause competition and hence no one will be able to monopolize. So this force of nature will drive humanity together towards greater mutual good.

But two hundered years of history since Adam Smith has proven his thesis absolutely wrong. The core of his assumptions is wrong on two accounts:

1. He misunderstood the human nature, which has tendency to dominate others

2. He misunderstood the mechanism of competition

His theories work ina perfect environment where everyone plays by the rules and society is egalitarian and every component of society is goverend by the strict hand of law. But in real world we see that the playing field is not level. The Western nations consider themselves above any and all laws and general modicum of human decency. Semantics do not replace morality. They have destroyed all international institutions and use them shamelessly just to propmote their own self interests. So in this law of the jungle, do you think Adma Smith can survive? What is happening undercover of sematics of globalization is the global neo-colonialism. And every human being that has least bit of humanity left in him is opposed to that. Sematics do not mean nothing, you may call this resistance to neo-colonialism as terrorism or you may call it dictatorship of Hugo Chavez or psychosis of ahmadinijad but for that one whose children are hungary for the past three days and he is contemplating suicide, semantics cannot fill his stomach.

THE CRIME STATISTICS IN LAHORE - a city of 7 million


``In late December 2005, police stated that 53,296 criminal cases were registered in Lahore. According to statistics provided by the government of Pakistan, there were 557 murders committed in Lahore in 2005. The statistics state that there were 1,332 car-jackings in the city of Lahore and 1,050 burglaries in 2005. The government of Pakistan also stated there were 9,224 cases involving some type of firearm registered in 2005``

If this is not the jungle then what is?

http://karachi.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=40472


and by the way this report is from the abbajaan directly and not from a tutpoonjia ngo