April 2, 2006 Thoughts Post a Comment

Women of Pakistan

Induction of Female fighter Pilots, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Well we couldn’t come up with anything else to empower women in Pakistan but to make 4 of them fighter pilots. I don’t disagree with this action but common this doesn’t do crap for Pakistani women. Islam has always given rights to women, so why don’t we start from allowing them have basic human rights. What do I mean by that you ask?

Well stuff like the following

1. Right to live a decent life.
2. Right to marry and ask for a divorce at will.
3. Right to work.
4. Right to question the society.
5. Right to live as a human being.

Ok I am sure you are thinking that what the heck are you saying, you have always written conservative religious crap but lemme assure the people here that I think the same till now.

The problem is that in Pakistan we have fused religion with Culture. If we look at the status of women during the time of the Prophet Pbuh. That society was much liberal than a lot of conservative societies nowadays and very conservative as compared to the liberal ones right now.
This means the golden middle path that Islam has always taught us and asks us to follow. Women have had rights from day one when Islam came and women were empowered to do all that is allowed in Islam. They did business, they had a say in their marriage, there were no honor killings, and they fought in wars but what has changed now in these times. What has changed is the corruption of religion in certain societies by the hand of culture. Some cultural aspects are very good but some are really bad and we see the bad one prevalent in Pakistani Culture.

The tradition of Karo Kari, honor killings, forced marriages, unable to divorce from a bad relationship, treatment of divorced or widows and so on. These have had no space in our culture but have come from the Hindu culture which was and still prevalent in sub continent. We try to compete with India in all acts of life, from being very progressive to TV vulgarism to Military might and so on.

Why do we do this because we tend to turn away from the core teachings of Islam? Islam teaches us all sort of good things but punishment for the bad things is also severe. The laws in Islam are very strict just to make sure those forbidden acts don’t happen. It has been made so easy to commit a sin rather than live a good pious life because the culture doesn’t let people so.

So I guess we await the day when we can decide that what do we actually want, The Islamic Republic of Pakistan or The Republic of Pakistan.

Let’s not cheat our selves.

March 29, 2006 Thoughts Post a Comment

Mortgaging Children to barely survive in Indian Kashmir

BBC Link

Also this times of india link

Saw this report on BBC Urdu. Very depressing. India has become one of the biggest economies and leaders in Asia but after i read this article about how people in kashmir cannot afford to live and the govt doesnt help them, they have resorted to selling their childern. It is a very depressing story and reading that made me realise that life is not that sweet all the time.
I can sit here enjoy life when dilip singh from one of the villages had to get 12000 rupees against 2 of his kids. It is amazing to see when we always tend to see the sweet side of india all the time. we have the Lakme Fashion shows, India’s Booming IT industry and the strong 300 Million strong workforce and the economy that makes you wonder, but then we see tragic stories like this.
This not a one person selling their kids but it is a whole market setup. Not one two or three but quite a few families selling their kids for prices ranging from 2000 rupees to 15000 rupees.

This is utter disgusting and depressing.

March 24, 2006 Thoughts Post a Comment

Abdul Rahman and Islam

Well let me clarify something. I am not in favor of killing anyone but If Afghanistan says the law is based on Shariah then what the Shariah says should be done.

One thing a lot of people don’t realize is that why interfere in some countries internal Affairs, Ohh well Afghanistan is already an American run country then they sure can. But if they preach Democracy and claim that Afghanistan is a democratic state then I guess they need to let the course of the law take its shape. I read quite a few blogs online about how savage is Islam and all that crap.

The God fearing Christians forget that it was them only who were part of the killing of thousands of people in the name of religion during the Crusades and Inquisitions. I never question the law of God as it has been in Islam. I would never do that and any respecting Muslim would also not question it. It is the law. If Abdur Rahman apostated and is proclaiming his faith just to incite people then he should be returned to Europe where he came from.

We need to realize that the case has been brought by his own family in the first place. It is not the government who arrested him just for that but he is the one who told repeatedly that he was a Christian and brought it on his own. It is like the case in USA right now. The law states if Zacarias Mossavi is responsible for the deaths of people then he should be put to death. No one will question that because the law states that. So in an Islamic country the law states that if a Muslim apostates then he is dealt according to the process.

It is funny we forget that US’s close allies like Saudi Arabia and quite a few of the rich oil states don’t allow preaching of any religion. Anyone caught preaching any other religion other than Islam is put in jail. So why be surprised about this afghan case. Hey if worse comes to worse, US can always use its covert ops teams to extract the dude. 🙂

Abdul Rahman

March 24, 2006 Thoughts Post a Comment

Modernism in Islam

Came across this article about Modernism. Actual link is here

WHAT IS MODERNISM AND WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

We can relate, ideologically, the modernist movement spreading these days to one sect in the past. This sect is called the Muta’zila, which is dated back to the third Islamic century. Although those people accepted the Qur’an and Sunna they made ta’weel (their own interpretation of the Qur’an) and said ‘aql (intelligence) takes precedence over naql (guidance of the Prophet). However, this school died out. The modernist movement did not evolve from them, but they are very similar to them. The modernist movement actually originated in Europe (middle-ages). At the time when the scientific method came about in Spain, it was seen that what the church was teaching was not true. This led to a slow revolt. The basic view of modernism (in all religions)is that: the religion should change according to the circumstances, and that it is not fixed. There is no such thing as absolute truth. The Jewish and Christian modernist responce in Europe tried to explain how the religion was still relevant for the people. They made innovations to keep people interested in the religion (such as singing in church, introduced only in the 1900’s). They tried to say the divine and the human is mixed in the Bible and that the parts that are true must be the ones that are not out of date. Also, the religion is improving over time and there is no absolute truth in the Bible. This is the time in history when many Muslims were looking to Europe. This led to three choices for those Muslims: accept the West; reject the West; or mix the two (reform Islam). Those who followed the third (the modernist) developed in, and focused on: Turkey – because it was under British influence; and Egypt – because Al-Azhar was the seat of Islamic knowledge. The people of this modernist movement judge Islam according to their ‘aql. Some of their faults in regards to it are:

1) use it for things which it can’t comprehend;

2) refer everything to it: accept what agrees with it, reject what does not;

3) judge the revelation by it. However, Ahl As-Sunna Wal Jamaa’ believes that using the sound ‘aql should lead one to the conclusion that the Qur’an and the Prophet are true and that their teachings should take precedence over pure ‘aql.

Rest of the Article here

March 12, 2006 Thoughts Post a Comment

the undeclared wars in muslim asia

Well I thought I will document the undeclared, below radar wars going on in the world. These are mostly IT wars and take place constantly online, in forums, sometimes spills out in real life also.

1. Shia Sunni:
Very evident it is happening in Iraq, Pakistan and quite a few places. Shias hate Sunnis and vice versa. It is also happening online, just visit any community related to shias on Orkut or sunnis, you will find evidence of such battles.

2. West and Muslim World
This one is also very clear with Iraq, Muslims fighting West’s presence in Iraq, also in Pakistan, Iran resisting US Pressure on Nuclear ambitions and so on. This was is not about religion but clash between values and societies, Their civilizations and cultures.

3. Islam and Christianity
This war has been on for quite a while. The influx of missionaries who try to convert people to Christianity and Muslims following suit. sometimes it erupts in bloody conflict like Lebanon or Nigeria.

4. India Pakistan
This is a proxy war which has been going on for a long time. With the Afghan conflict out of hand Pakistani still wage this undeclared war until God knows Who.

5. Saudi/Pakistan and Iran
To counter shia Islam the sunnis countries try to fight the shia Islam in Iran and now maybe Iraq. Iran has been sponsoring shia militancy in Pakistan for quite a while. Saudi Arabia has supported Sunni militant groups in Pakistan for a long time.

6. China and India
These two powers have had clashed once and now fight unconventional wars between each other. China supports Pakistan in its efforts to match India’s might and china also achieves its hidden agenda also against India at the same time.

7. America and China
The war of economy and communism vs. capitalism goes on. China is being fought now by helping India.

8. Israel and Muslim World
The centuries old conflict with Jerusalem in the middle and Israeli occupancy also happening at the same time. Israel has USA on its side and non one can beat them economically or militarily.

March 11, 2006 Thoughts Post a Comment

So He is dead

I was reading about the death of Slobodan Milosevic today as I opened up BBC. Was I sorry that he died in the manner he did, in a prison cell. I don’t think so; I think it was a mercy for him to die like that without going thru the trial or the punishment. This will provide a closure for the families of the dead but not accountability for butchering thousands of innocents during his time.

He got a not well deserved Death today in his prison cell but I pray he Rots in Hell.

from MSNBC
Though the witness testimony is on public record, history will be denied the judgment of a panel of legal experts weighing the evidence of his personal guilt and the story of his regime.

“It is a pity he didn’t live to the end of the trial to get the sentence he deserved,” Croatian President Stipe Mesic said.

March 8, 2006 Thoughts Post a Comment

Indian Blasts in Banaras

well the easiest way to implicate pakistan in anything is to have some kind of religious related terrorist act in india and blame it on LET. Well who knows who did that but all eyes are already on pakistan and LET. It is interesting to see that a Leading politician yesterday after the bombing said that it had traits of LET.

Lets investigate and then point fingers, rather than instigating the population and start a religious riot (ofcourse india is famous for that) but hey who is looking. All care about Islamist terrorism. I think they should look at Hinduists also :). well i can see this going the other way around that is to start another gujrat type riots to make the muslims realise that “Hey we are watching you. We can screw you anytime.”

March 8, 2006 Thoughts Post a Comment

So Benazir made an Amazing discovery

She said that the relationship between Pakistan and Afgahnistan are getting worse.

I bet you had to be really smart to notice that. Well lemme put it straight If it was Musharraf, Benzair, Nawaz Sharif or Me as the leader of the pakistnai govt right now, my opposition would say the same. Everyone knows what Pakistan’s policy was in afghanistan, who trained and got Taliban into Afghanistan. we will never have good relations with a not friendly afghan govt. it is very visible that the current government is from the reminence of Northern Alliance which was once very india friendly and stuill are.

This has been the problem from Day one. An India friendly govt in afghanistan is pakistan’s nightmare. It has been true since the fall of Taliban. we knew the day we decided to part with the taliban that we will have an india friendly government in Kabul. Now they are allowed to take free swings at pakistan and we cannot do anything. ISI had created the Taliban to counter india’s influence in Afghanistan but sadly in 10 years or so the tables have turned and now it is exactly opposite to what they had wished for.

So Madam Benazir, live with the relaity and dont play politics with this issue. If you were in the office you would not have allowed the afghans to question our policies in pakistan and would have answered the way musharraf did to Karzai (and rightly so).

I never support Musharraf but i totally support his stance on Afghan statements about pakistan.

March 7, 2006 Thoughts Post a Comment

Another story out of pakistan

On suspicion a man shoots his two sisters and then flee.

What is going on in paksitan. It is becoming soo easy to commit crime in the name of honor, Then to top it off it is related to religion, it has nothing to do with religion other than the dude who committed it was a muslim and didnt know anything about islam.

Story is here.

March 7, 2006 Thoughts Post a Comment

Another Tribal council decision in pakistan

Again it has nothing to do with islam and this shows the ignorance still present in pakistan.
One of the daughters of a landlord in villiage in pakistan decided to go with one of the workers in the house. To get her back a council was called for the village and they decided that 2 women from the guy’s family will be abducted as a counter.
This kind of sanctioned abuse is totally not acceptable. I wish these people could be arrested and imprisoned with harsh labor.
It is just not a local problem but the problem with the system. This culture evolves from earlier hindu culture and still exist both in India and Pakistan. Police protect these people and then once the case is registered they arrest them after deals have been made.

Again as i said it is pure Ignorance.

Stoy is in Urdu and can be found here