How Muslims Can Win The Coming Wars!

re: #32

[International mediation is now exposing pakiland for what it really is..a servile wannabe.. ]

Any agreement reached after mediation will be underwritten by an international third-party. This means India (or Pakistan) can`t just reach an agreement one day, and walk out the next month. Therefore the Pakistani insistence on mediation is borne out of pragmatism, not servility. It makes sense if you look closely at the Indus Water Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in April 1960. This treaty has survived despite two wars simply because it was underwritten by the World Bank, a third-party.

Pakistanis understand that mediation will require them to take painful steps. But at least there will be quid-pro-quo for taking those painful steps. This is in marked contrast to the Indian concept of diplomacy i.e. lack of reciprocity.

Unlike a third-grade power like India, the real superpower (USA) reciprocates through military and economic aid. When Egypt made peace with Israel through Camp David process, all of its external debt was written off as a reward.

By calling Pakistan a ``servile wannabe``, you are simply expressing the Indian frustration of having failed to isolate Pakistan diplomatically. Last week, Colin Powell snubbed Yashwant Sinha`s attempts to draw parallels between the pre-emptive strike on Iraq and India`s so-called case for attack on Pakistan.

India reminds one of the old shrew who is sore simply because the dashing sheriff picked a younger damsel for his wife. Hey, don`t let my posts interrupt your grumbling.

Cheers

re: #33 hamidm2

Muslims can never progress as a nation as long as their lands are being occupied by foreign nations. You cannot become a first-class world power if you are treated as second-class citizens in your homeland. Unfortunately, this treatment is being meted out to Kashmiris, Palestinians. Under these nations are free to pursue their own budgets, foreign policies and develop their own identity, their odds of living a decent, successful life are doomed.

Only free citizens of a free country have the right to make or break the laws that govern their way of life and help them achieve their national goals.

I have question that has been bothering me for a while. It seems Mr. Naqshbandi is a Sufi. Now, what I understand about Sufism is that Sufis believe that a personal relationship can be reached with Allah or God. This however, is against one of the great beliefs on which Islam is built -that is an ordinary mortal cannot establish relationship with God and only the good old MO was supposed to be His Agent and only he had the sole monoply after he assumed prophethood. This belief of theirs is considered blasephamy by the Sunnis and the Saudis consider Sufis to be Kafirs.

The question that I have for Sufis is that why do they consider themselves to be moslems when their belief is so diameterically opposed to what is written in Koran. Are they reformers or should they consider themselves as a separate religion ( one that was inspired by MO and his Koran) but now has taken a separate path.

To me Sufis seem on the right path as they try to establish a direct relationship with God but why do they not have courage to establish their religion as separate from Islam.

Strengthening the ``ummah`` sounds like strengthening the ghetto - wrong emphasis. I do think muslims across the globe could benefit from each other but excluding everyone else first would be disaster. Any way, this would never happen.

Tauheed sahab; I`m going to disagree with you there. The Muslims are a community and are identified by certain definitive characteristics, the arkaan-ul-Imaan, I believe they`re called. They believe in the Unity of God, in the existence of the angels, in the divinity of the revealed texts, in the lineage of the prophets, in the inevitability of the Day of Judgment and in Destiny. Extending from the Quran and the teaching of the Prophet, a set of laws applies to them and they cannot exist outside these; but more than that, the Muslims, like any other community that exists, have their own aspirations and motivations; they have their own goals that they wish to achieve and for which they must unite. Why should they be denied this right?
Of late there has developed a reflexive antipathy towards ``traditional`` or orthodox Islam without there being an understanding of what that really involves. I think the blame for that goes both to those who leap to such unfounded criticism without examining the source and essence of such practise and also to the practitioners themselves who have failed to unlock that wisdom and make it accessible to a larger world. I think now, more than ever, is a time for some serious scholarship on the part of the Muslims to figure out what they really stand for.

``Indeed, on matters of religion, we violate the Quran when we assume or claim that Islam is a ``better`` faith than other religions.`` Again, Tauheed sahab, I going to have to ask you for a reference from the Quran. There is a reason why one chooses one faith over another, why that faith appeals to one better than any other. All religions are not the same but that doesn`t mean that the people who practise them can`t live peacefully with one another. Our humanity is common to us all; the same God that created me, created you. How then can I oppress you?

Just thinking about it, if I am a Muslim and believe in a certain set of values, I would naturally want to associate with someone who shares the same values. These would be my family and my friends and on a larger scale would extend to become a community with common interests and a common purpose. That`s the Ummah.

re: #29 harish_hyd

The following declassified National Security documents reveal how much America really ``cares`` about democracy

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm

In 1973, the charismatic Salvador Allende swept the polls in Chile. The Nixon administration became wary of his socialist agenda and encouraged General Augustine Pinochet to ``make the Chilean economy scream`` and pave the way for a coup. With the help of DINA (Chilean secret police), the Army planned Operation Condor to assassinate all pro-Allende judges, bureaucrats, politicians and military officers.

Finally, Pinochet launched air strikes against the Prime Minister house. Salvador Allende was bombed by fighter jets. All this happened with the ``aashirbad`` of U.S. government.

So much for your defense of democracy!!

Despite its countless virtues, democracy can`t ensure national security. Nukes can.

(To this day, no nuclear armed nations have ever entered into direct full-scale confrontation with each other).

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...... the only wars the muslim need to fight and win are those against ignorance, poverty and superstition ........ it would be nice if the bedouins could give up their tents and move into houses, and take of their night gowns and start dressing like regular people ......... it would also be nice if some of us would shave off our beards and stop parroting arabic verses that don`t mean diddly - it might be a good idea to start reciting multiplication tables instead ............ this war business is highly overrated ............
...... i realize some momins are hell bent on jihad and other such nonsense, but it really doesn`t pay unless you want to spend the rest of your life hiding in a cave ............

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Have no idea how muslims can win the coming wars. But I think that they can AVOID the coming wars by an itjehad to update the interpretation, if not rejection altogether, of sharia and the concepts of dar-ul-harb, jihad and umma.

Ansari #26 I would agree with Nazar that the concept of a muslim ummah is wrong. It is wrong in a religious sense (since it goes counter to the Quranic emphasis on individual responsibility and the Quranic recognition of the diversity of religions). It is wrong in a practical sense: intellect and compassion are hardly the monopoly of the muslims. On intellect, for example: Why should I be any more ``united`` with a muslim in saying that 2 plus 2 equals four than I would be united with a nonmuslim in reaching this conclusion. On compassion, for example: Why should I be any more ``united`` with a muslim in saying that it is wrong to torture prisoners than with a nonmuslim? As for faith in the Unity of God, Jews have the same faith too. Why are they demonized? Indeed, on matters of religion, we violate the Quran when we assume or claim that Islam is a ``better`` faith than other religions.

Nazar sahab

``Even Allama Iqbal`s son now does not believe in the concept of Muslim Ummah. ``

Oh and that`s supposed to disqualify it for the rest of us? Come on, Nazar sahab. The concept of the ummah is one of the vitality of a unified Muslim, for want of a better word, nation. It is a unity based on intellect and compassion as much as it is based on, and perhaps because of its, faith in the Unity of God.

Ref Studebaker #15

[Isolated reporting of a muslim rapist or vengeance would not be enough until rape is written with anecdote how he was practicing mohommeds practice of 7 wives]

Twenty, not seven.

Yours in the interest of historical accuracy,

Harimau

The answer lies in Four `Ts``

1 they should stop `` Tanqeed`` and Taqleed``

2 start `` Tehqeeq`` and `` Takhleeq ``


for finish it off that way they will avoid the Fifth T which is

`` TakhreeB ``

Asif,

LOVE IN THE TIME OF JIHAD

With all the talk of love in islam the fact remains that what you have proposed is the jihadic islam. Now accepting that islam cannot be spread with the sward, you are taking another route to spread essentially the traditional version.

What is significant is that you are still talking about converting to islam, this time with love, that the jihadic version has failed. You are not talking abou t a tolerant islam that accepts other religions as equal, but still the superior version to which other are to be converted to, this time with the subterfuge of love.

What else can one xpect from a child of TNT, the hatred in the blood through the k for kafir education is now with the facade of love, essentially to convert, never to accept other religions as equal. Pathetic, simply pathetic, and shows the inherent eveil of the TNT minds.

Friend

I say this with great regret that it is this very rhetoric that you have promoted in your article that is the ROOT CAUSE of the problems faced by Islamic world.

In Science and Business, one thing that you should always watch out for is “PARADIGM SHIFT.”

A paradigm shift occurred in the human civilization during last few hundred years due to the rapid acceleration in the pace of technological development.

A few hundred years ago, the strength that use to come from muscles in your body, raw courage and unfettered willingness to die– Today the source of that strength and power is your BRAIN. Yes, your mental abilities, aptitude and ability to calmly think about and solve problems – This is the source of all power, strength and dominance today.

“Today, Brain is the most powerful muscle in your body.”

Islam evolved during a time in history when source of power was courage of the fighting forces and willing of men to die. “Shahdat” i.e. Martyrdom, being a strong motivator, Islam thrived at a time in history of mankind when source of power was raw valiancy.

But when the paradigm shifted, due to rapid acceleration in technology, raw human courage became obsolete as the source of power. Power now resides in those few ounces of gray matter in your head.

As history shows, when the paradigm shifts, one who suffers most is the one who was the best at the old paradigm. This is the reason why Islam is suffering the most today. All the philosophies in Islam are perfectly cut out (or have evolved) in a way that made it the KING OF THE OLD PARADIGM. Muslims are suffering, and if we don’t wake up and recognize reality, will continue to suffer the most because we were so good at the old paradigm. Today we are having terrible pain and anguish relinquishing the old paradigm.

If history is to follow its course, in a fashion similar to the past, Muslims will not be able to “let go” in the near future. But perhaps the very thing that caused the paradigm shift, technology, becomes our savior. The massive communication revolution, perhaps may cause the change that occurred in mindsets over hundreds of years in the history of mankind, to occur in few decades, just over one or two generations. I believe in glass being half full.