London’s Hour of Reckoning Ajeya

You wanted examples here are but a few:

Ajeya asserts ``Islam is based on monstrosity``.
Now if this is not racism and demonisation what is ?

``Islam eats into the soul of any culture``
Ajeya your hatred spews venomously once again !!

``People generally unquestioningly follow the religion handed down to them``
This is a glaringly simplistic generalisation.

``Religion is a mental crutch``.
All you focus on is the mental, what about the spiritual dimension ?

London’s Hour of Reckoning Re: # 101

Ranjit militantly argues ``People still mouth politically correct lines like Islam is peaceful but it is a small minority etc``.

A small minority ? The MAJORITY of moderate Muslims, such as myself, condemn acts of terror. You obviously have no Muslim friends otherwise your choice of words would have been more sagacious.

Ranjit rants on ``However, in their hearts most non-muslims know that the real enemy is Islam, not Al-Quaeda. It is just a matter of time when this distinction is not going to be made anymore and every muslim will be viewed as an enemy``

Ranjit I know your fingers are crossed in anticipation and your champagne bottle is ready to uncork itself on that day. Just in case your Nostra Damus like predictions do not materialise here is some precautionary advice:

You are so blinded by the media machine that your layers of thick skin are not porous and receptive to distinct and innovate ideas. Your prejudices are so innate that it would be Quixotic even trying to reason with you. Yet I shall.

Take time to read the Quran. Read all its passages. IMPARTIALLY. You will see all the verses on Compassion. And Mercy.

And then come and interact with some real ``ammunition``.

London’s Hour of Reckoning
So Masanamuthu interact #54

You are spreading hatred against Islam. Why have you been so selective in ignoring the rest of the verses in the Holy Quran ? Surely it serves your pedantic purpose. Let me enlighten yourself by countering your negative examples with positive ones so that the readership at Chowk gets a balanced perspective on the Holy Quran and Islam which you so readily condemn.

As quoted in Hadith, the Prophet of Islam (SAW) defined the ``Mujahid`` as those who are doing Jihad with their Psyche/carnal life, a peaceful internal spiritual cleansing. Yet these purported ``Al-Qaeda`s`` are shifting to reverse gear. They indulge in ludicrous violence against others. If they do not get an opportunity to execute their nefarious design most of the times, the so-called Mujahideen prefer suicide bombing.

These Mujahideens and Muslims for the namesake are laying landmines on the roads of true Islam and you Masanamuthu are swallowing their nefarious acts as mainstay digestion. Feeding your appetite is the media frenzy.

Those involved in indiscriminate killing spree are TERRORISTS not MUSLIMS. Please make note of that distinction before waxing lyrical. Acts of senseless carnage occur in Gujarat, they are not committed not by HINDUS they are executed by TERRORISTS. , Ghastly acts, wherever they take place are pleasing the Satans.

NO ONE ELSE.

As per the preaching of Islam, war or violence has never been a solution and the same is not acceptable in any condition. No one is competent enough to draw an inference against a person or a group, and indulge in violence against the same, considering him or her as Simon-pure.

Under Shariah Law only if an enemy invades your land than their ``armed combatants`` should be attacked. NO ONE ELSE. To murder a person is a great sin in the eyes of Islam. Verses of the Quran are cited below pertaining to the murderers.

Masanamuthu these verses should help our readership objectively understand the compassion of Islam-without resorting to senseless rhetoric like you do.

(Surah Al-maida-Verse 32) - If a person is murdering another one, without any bonafide reason, i.e. either he has indulged in violent activities or has also murdered someone, it amounts to the murder of entire mankind and if he saved a person, it amounts to the saving of entire mankind.

The gist is that, Islam denigrates guerrilla war and terror antics.

Islam in totality is a religion of peace and compassion. Violence against any one is strictly prohibited. No one is allowed to launch an onslaught as per their whims and fancies.

Yet many interactors here engage in mindless Anti-Islamic rhetoric as per their whims and fancies.

London’s Hour of Reckoning #79 by ferozk on July 10, 2005 8:24am PT

Feroz

I agreed with some of the points you made though your ``blueprint for modernity`` has its flaws. Let me dissect them one by one.

you assertively opine ``the foremost is to admit that Islam and its ideology has become dysfunctional and is in need of a reform``.

The Tanzimat period during Ottoman rule witnessed Islamic scholars using Islamic principles to modernise commerce and banking. Recently Swiss banks have adopted principles such as Mudaraba and Murabaha Riba-free concepts as low-risk financial instruments into their lending mortgaging and borrowing procedures. So what are you talking about? Reform has always been on the Islamic agenda.

``they need to seperate religion from politics and everything else in their lives``

Feroz the very concept of ``Hukuk-ul-Ibad`` (human rights) was derived from Islamic politics. The principle of elections and parliamentary assembly (Mejlis) emanates from Islam and the Middle Eastern peninsula, please consult history books. To separate human rights, assemblies and elections from politics is political suicide !!

``Third; they need to stop appeasing wrongs committed in the name of Islam and speak out against the wrongs done in the name of Islam.``

Now objectively this point I agree with.

``Fourth; they need to intergrate into the societies, where they live and they need to stop forcing their views upon the majority in non-Muslim nations``.

Feroz The Quran stipulates that ``there is no compulsion in religion``. Anybody who ``forces`` Islam down people`s throats is not following an Islamic mode of practice.

Fifth; ``Muslims have to adapt to the 21st century and stop trying to relive the 7th century``.

Feroz Reforms in Tunisian divorce laws under Bourgiba, Islamic maintenance rights for women (Shah Bano case in India) divorce law in Morocco bio-genetics in Bahrain, architecture and engineering in the UAE have all come about under the auspices of Islam.

The gates of Ijtehad have re-opened and many Muslims are undertaking praise-worthy measures. Please do not over-simplify an already distorted western media frenzy to an informed readership.

``Sixth; they need to renounce violence``.

Feroz are Muslims the only ones comitting violence ? Common go travel to Rwanda, Congo, Serbia, Colombia. Violence is committed by all races, castes, colours and creeds people should stop making inflammatory racist comments towards one religion alone. Im not saying you are, but many people here on Chowk go out of their way to bash Islam.

Surely an informed readership is more mature than that.

``Seventh; Muslims have to learn that world has many different interpretations and develop tolerance in deeds and not just in words``.

Feroz That is why Islam has diverse ``Madhabs`` such as Hanafis, Malikis, Shafis, Alevis, Ismailis, each with their own Islamic interpretations. PLurality, discourse and questioning is part and parcel of Islam.

``Eight; accept the prevailing paradigm of international relations and power equations and stop trying to resist the prevailing status quo``

In other words we should bask in the glory of complacency and unfettered capitalism ? Accept the non-effectiveness of the UN and public international law ? Allow Bretton Woods Institutions such as the IMF ride rough-shod over continents ? What kind of a ``reformist`` are you ?

``Nine; create an awareness, within their own societies about political plurality``.

Good point. It is already being done, with diverse levels of intensity in various polities.

``Ten; stop patronizing violence as a means of political tool and glorifying it under religious pretexts``.

A healthy point Feroz.

London’s Hour of Reckoning Re: # 86

Romair

Stellar points. It is sanguine to distinguish, as you do, pure unfettered peaceful religion (Islam) and power-hungry hunters with a perilous political penchant (Al-Qaeda).

Sadly many interactors on this e-forum equate Al-Qaeda with Islam and blur the demarcation line. It is like in the 20`s people could not distinguish genuine socialism (Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx) from the totalitarian regime of Josef Stalin.

According to true socialism the state apparatus would ``wither away`` for veritable proletarian empowerment, whereas Stalin super-imposed statist ``totalitarian communism`` and the state apparati assumed centre-stage.

The way Stalin distorted socialism Al-Qaeda distorts Islam.

The times may have changed.

The pernicious tactics have not.

London’s Hour of Reckoning #65 by ranjit

``Then it should carpet bomb the Sunni Triangle like it did in Dresden in WW2``.

Ranjit tell me do you have a poster of Hitler stuck up on your wall ?

Were you a member of the 3rd Reich or the Gestapo ?

Your solutions tantamount to genocide.

For people of your ilk there exists an International War Crimes Tribunal.

London’s Hour of Reckoning Re: # 57

Ajeya

Your ``demonisation`` of the Islamic template is a route which many tread because it is de rigeur to do so. Why don`t you see all the amelioration which Islamic finance, its jurists, its scientists, its engineers have undertaken before rendering a slap-dash verdict on Islam.

Islam, much like other religions, condones improvement and the unfettered pursuit of knowledge. The Holy Quran states:

``Say-go through the earth and see how God hath brought forth all creation: hereafter will He give it another birth`` (29:20)

This verse exhorts all Muslims to discover, explore and improve what the earth has to offer.

What mother nature has dispensed.

So any claims that Islam is static is a cozy under-researched sweeping generalisation.
Circumstantial statements as opposed to evidence-based ones are perilous for they stand on shaky ground and mislead assumptions.

Ajeya you talk about ``cults`` why not obectively speaketh of the cult of ``baseless generalisation`` ?

London’s Hour of Reckoning Re: # 76

SR types ``The ruling elite consists of the power structure, the big business lobby and their thugs the governmental bureaucracy``

SR it is precisely this ``military-industrial-complex`` (Pentagon, Wall Street, Capitol Hill) and its vile dictatorial style trying to dabble into every nation`s business. These ``go-betweens`` and their Don Corleone cigar-room secrecy, opaque decision-making structures and purported ``separation of powers``are all an easily palatable myth for cogs in Uncle Sam`s mill.

London’s Hour of Reckoning MALIK 99

I wholeheartedly concur with you when you state that `` Western decision-makers cut taxes for the rich, put ordinary bank robbers behind bars yet multi-million dollar corporate fraudsters walk free, and who sqaunder their national wealth on foreign wars while their populations suffer without health insurances``

The crises of Equitable Life and an ensuing under-funded NHS problematique is but one example I can give to add water to your theoreum.

London’s Hour of Reckoning HP

You accurately depict how Saudi extortionists fund terrorism. They do so to try and clear their repugnant conscience thinking it will bring them salvation in the hereafter.

One day the largesse of Saudi oil and petro-dollars will dry up and this ``rentier`` monarchy will implode from quiessence. So too will many of the other Gulf states.

The House of Saud does not stand on legitimate underpinnings. For decades the Saudis have meddled in murky waters. America turns a deaf ear to such claims because Saudis bankroll a lot of Wall Street portfolios.

A marriage of ill-fated convenience HP. That is what it is.

London’s Hour of Reckoning Samina Shah

I do not diametrically oppose George Galloway. In fact I have a deep-seated respect for him. He expressed a heartfelt sympathy to all those who were dead/injured by the bombs in London. Like Galloway Samina I DO NOT CONDONE acts of violence aimed at innocent civilians going about their daily lives. They have not been a party to, nor are they responsible for, the decisions of their government. I do however project dismay towards the carpet-bombing of Baghdad and an indiscriminate killing of its pregnant mothers and children.

The loss of innocent lives, whether in the UK or Iraq, is precisely the result of a world imbalanced due to income inequity spread by Western hegemony. Samina you can deny it all you want but the reality pill is never a facile one to swallow.

Until there is a legally binding concerted multi-lateral effort to involve developing nation stakeholders in the negotiation and development process the status quo will linger like a deadly virus.

After the Madrid bombings, I urge the UK government to sanctimoniously shield the people in this country from harms way, as the Spanish government acted to remove its people from harm, by ending the occupation of Iraq and by turning its full attention to the development of a real solution to the wider conflicts in the Middle East.

Only then will the innocents here and abroad be able to breathe, eat, live and enjoy every ticking moment of life`s most cherished asset- that of unequivocal justice.

London’s Hour of Reckoning Beejay and Ana:

You sagaciously pinpoint that

``true`` justice is not what is happening in iraq, afghanistan, darfur or anywhere else where there has been senseless loss of lives.

“True” justice is not simply served on a silver platter of “democracy” as many would have us believe. Each indigenous culture needs to work out its own recipe for development in the cookbook of international relations. Trying to stir up a dish of terror is NOT what I prescribe on the menu.

If that is your interpretation of my article then you have wrongly “spun” the message Im trying to weave. I realise finger-pointing at “Goras” alone is not the answer. BUT acknowledging our whole-hearted dependence to them and their magic-wand political prescriptions is part of a deeper deadlier symptom which we have to wrangle ourselves out of.

It is high-time we take off those rose-tinted ``mops`` and spectacles and peering into the double-standards of Western diktats we will ALL find dissymmetry.

London’s Hour of Reckoning Re: # 12

Beejay:

how do you know im not already engaging in the below mentioned ?

1) Get your rear out of here and get involved in relief operations.

(2) Get involved in inter-community networking efforts.

(3) Snitch, snitch, and snitch! If that guy looks suspicious to you from your vantage point, maybe he can be as hurtful to you as to the rest of the crowds.

London’s Hour of Reckoning Re: # 8

Pmishra

Any form of terror, as hideous as such acts of Holocaust are, always have an underlying root-cause. Denial and massacre in Palestine is the root-cause of spineless terror. So are you saying that we should negate any attempt toward a peaceful resolution in the Gaza and West Bank ?

Can you not see the inter-relatedness of global issues in the 21st century mishra ? Or are you trapped in a time machine of some archaic century ?

London’s Hour of Reckoning Re: # 4

Ally

The average `gora` is microscopically more discerning. Hence they ruled us all for centuries.....

London’s Hour of Reckoning Re: # 3

Ana how about `centuries` of reckoning ?