The Alternative Muslim Identity

#69 by Saminasha on June 20, 2005 12:29pm PT


funnily enough my film studies friend says hysterical blindness is an accurate view of female self deception....


Now that you`ve put it this way, the hysterical blindness DVD has moved up on my list of christmas presents for guys on my goo list...

arjun:

i should have thought kama sutra would have been up there already. *rolling eyes*. aap ka andaz aur, humara aur. different strokes for different folks. i could say i`m disappointed that you thought ``lost in translation`` was one of the worst movies ever made, but celluloid affects everyone differently.

and now i`m curious. what would you consider to be one of the best movies ever made?

p. s. mira nair rockssss! *whispers*

#77 by ana on June 20, 2005 1:32pm PT


i should have thought kama sutra would have been up there already.


KS..for the guys on my goo list?


and now i`m curious. what would you consider to be one of the best movies ever made?


Saving Private Ryan

Re: # 79

RawDust Sahib:
You asked, ``My question to you: Before asking Why this Islam or that islam, a rather more pertinent question to be asked is Why should a person buy into a belief system that talks about Hell and eternal condemnation for the deviant and infidels?``

I have a theory that addresses the question you have posed. Humans because of their very fragile existence are morbidly afraid of the unknown. Death presents the most feared unknown. A belief system provides answers, a system of moralities and most of all; a comfort zone.

In my opinion, there is no physical place as Heaven or Hell. This earth is either like heaven or hell. On a more esoteric note, I must add, that to me Hell means a separation from the divine. I am firm believer in the Chandogaya Upanishada teaching that all creation stems from the infinite divine called Brahman in Sanskrit. This universal divine power is the primogenitor of the human soul in my opinion. After death, this tiny spark of the divine seeks to be united with the Ultimate divine power, and I consider nearness to this divine energy a source of bliss, or a state of heaven. On the other hand, the further away one`s soul is from the divine light, the more anguished and tortured one`s soul is, whether in this human life or the next life without matter; it is a state of hell.
Hell to me is simply an absence of the divine in one`s life.
One does not need to be a Muslim, a christian or any religion to have this divine light illuminating their lives. The sages of the Vedantic period had no religion, yet lived bathed in divine light of wisdom. Wisdom brings bliss and contentment. Ignorance brings anguish, fear and pride.

I didnt mean to go on an on. I didnt know how else to answer your question.

ShoreSahib:
Do you happen to know the Hadith, where it is prophesied by the Great Prophet that the Ummah will be broken up into 73 sects But there will be only One sect which will be granted admission into Heaven - the 72 others -> Hell.

you can always discard Ahadith, ofcourse.

My question to you: Before asking Why this Islam or that islam, a rather more pertinent question to be asked is Why should a person buy into a belief system that talks about Hell and eternal condemnation for the deviant and infidels?

Ana, have you seen the following movies. They are my favorites:

Tampopo

Amorres Perros

Como Aqua para Chocolate

The Scent of Green Papaya

Raise the Red Lantern

Eat, Drink, Man, Woman

Before Night Falls

Fire

A touch of Pink

Bhaji on the Beach

Re: # 81
I am not taking offense at SS.

I grant thee permission to call me that. :))

I loved Amorres Perros. Great movie.

Have you seen, ``Requiem for a Dream``.

I would also urge you to see, `` Babette`s Feast``. Cest Magnifique, Monsieur.

a good list you got there, SS. (sorry if you take offense for the SS :-) )

Amorres Perroes had a lot going on.

Before Night Falls was a straight ripoff (imagery-wise) from Tarkovsky`s Andrei Rubilev.

cheers.

ShoreSahib:
many thanks for your reply. one of these days, i am gonna readup on vedas and upanishads.

shoresahib:

i have seen four of the movies you`ve mentioned. like water for chocolate, fire, raise the red lantern, and bhaji on the beach. fire was now when i think about it, much better than earth, all of these were good movies, although i know that gurinder chadha has been criticized for the dimensionality of her characters. but still, i think ``bhaji`` is a good movie in terms of the generational relationships, and the varying aspirations, conflicts of the women, and if memory serves me correctly, wasn`t one of the women characters actually from the mothership i. e. india herself and was seen as more ``outrageous`` by both the older and the younger women? that, if i`m not mistaken, was interesting. and if there are those who feel that the desi man was being stereotyped yet again. . . there are plenty of jerks around like the husband who beat his wife.

hopefully this will all flow and connect back to zehra in some way. . :)

arjun:

saving private ryan, i hear, was a good movie. would you believe, i haven`t seen it yet? okay, for a moment i thought you were going to give me a golan-globus movie, and if you had i would have freaked and concluded that you truly are a lost soul. (i guess unlike some others, i haven`t reached that conclusion yet. foolish me.)

Re: # 86
Thou shalt not cast your pearls before Swine.

The Holy Bible

I congratulate Ana, Raw_dust and ShoreSahib for hijacking this thread for a conversation that is best suited for UP.
I respect your taste in movies but none of them had any entertainment value. Why waste hours and money on movies that make you run out of theatres!
I cannot bear to watch them on DVD either.

HP:
i saw the list and couldnot resist commenting. apologies to the peeps - if that amounted to hijacking.
for the question of movies and entertainment - start a thread on UP if you really wanna, ill stop by sometime.

I read this piece as a desperate--often cheeky--attempt at an explanation of a dithering individual; and I take the term ``identity`` (thanks Alephnull) to be the crux of the cake, so to speak. In the end what is gained? Nothing. Beyond that nugatory meandering of an “identity-less” Muslim, then what? I`m lost; and by implication, so is Zehra. And cheap shots against America don’t highlight the ‘progressiveness’ of this new Muslim intelligentsia.

--Ibn

I read this piece as a desperate--often cheeky--attempt at an explanation of a dithering individual; and I take the term ``identity`` (thanks Alephnull) to be the crux of the cake, so to speak. In the end what is gained? Nothing. Beyond that nugatory meandering of an “identity-less” Muslim, then what? I`m lost; and by implication, so is Zehra. And cheap shots against America don’t highlight the ‘progressiveness’ of this new Muslim intelligentsia.

--Ibn

#85 by ana on June 20, 2005 2:19pm PT



saving private ryan, i hear, was a good movie. would you believe, i haven`t seen it yet?


Try Mr and Mrs Smith....it`s True lies with two pairs of balls....


okay, for a moment i thought you were going to give me a golan-globus movie,


Hey...what`s wrong with Superman II?



that you truly are a lost soul.


heck, my nani thinks i`m a lost soul, destined for that barbecue in hell....are you a practicing catholic?