The Reality of the Looking Glass: Seeing Muhammad

#88 by Zeena
Singhaii, pakhair raghalay. Tolla musliman tha kana, stara mushay?(Sorry for my broken roman Pushto)

Zeena. Correction. Ahmed Zai are not pushto speaking. They are Urdu speaking. Sorry.

#95 by rsridhar: That is why he married 14 year old Ayesha when she had not attained her puberty.
#113 by rsridhar:The bigger question is: was Mohammed being ignorant when he married Ayesha who was just 14 and he was more than 50 years old? He should have known that this was an abuse.

Guys. First make up your minds what puberty is. What is the age of onset of menstruation? I think it is 13. Re the age difference, it was neither then nor now a taboo at all. If Ayesha had been abused, don`t forget that it was the same abused innocent child who raised and personally led an army of forty thousand men into fierce battle against no less an opponent than Ali, and almost defeated him. As for rsiridhar`s bigger question, Muhammad was not being ignorant at all. He obviously saw something in Ayesha which was later proven in her being his closest companion and advisor.

#114 by bharath Re: # 113

Thanks for the posting on the flight transcript, it is both stunning and digusting.

Sure it is all that and more. Most disgusting feature of this transcript is that it is a complete fabrication. I have myself seen an Indian minister say on TV in a panel discussion that this flight was shot down ... of-course immediately corrected by the moderator that it was actually crashed by hijackers. The minister just nodded with a wry smile.

They were only visitors, abusing the good faith of the Kafirs.

Sure. They were only visitors partaking of the good faith of the kafirs to get piddly Cessna training, which they could have got even in Multan or Peshawar or a dozen other places in Pakistan or perhaps even Aghanistan.

The mysteries of 9/11 will perhaps never be known. So let`s not get presumptuous.

Re: # 118
> MAJ (pbuh)

that was neat ... also kindly do not use the short form of the blessing. You shud write
MAJ(peace be upon him). Reason is that there are 2 variations of pbuh. The other one that I
use is ``piss be upon him/her``

:)

Re: 102 HE Sahib

(This is the kind of ignorance and evil that polytheistic religions can spawn in society...

Horror of India`s child sacrifice )


Religion makes people do funny things… Kill children, fly planes into skyscrapers. It may interest you that many tantriks in UP are Muslims, don’t ask me whether they are Deobandi or not.

Re: 96 Doc,

(We look forward to the day when India will have common borders with Afghanistan. )

Why do you want to visit such a calamity upon us poor Hanuds. Why do you want to undo what the good lord MAJ (pbuh) did. Just imagine if India had not been divided USA would have been bombing Indian border villages and we would have been impotently watching on, like the Pakis are doing now.

Regards

Re: # 43

The following Qawali is being repeatedly voiced on the PTV these days:

``Shah e Madinah Bathaa ke waali Saare Nabi tere DAR ke sawaali``

(O King of Madinah and Lord of Batha, all the prophets are beggars at your door)

How would it look if presented in graphics? What would have happened if the believers in other prophets were serious about blasphemy against their prophets or bigotted about their religion? Any how is it not against what the Holy Quran ordains ``Do not discriminate among the various prophets``?

re: Stories of Mohammed, the all merciful
This is the story of Mohammad, the all merciful as narrated by James Arlandson.

The peaceful non-assassinations of mockers

In their replies to the uproar over satirical depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, Muslim spokespersons who have access to the national media have recently withheld some valuable but unpleasant information about early Islam. Killing those who ridicule Muhammad is in the Quran.

On national television, Feb 2, 2006, Ibrahim Hooper, a leader of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), spoke only of the forgiveness and kindness of his prophet.



HOOPER: Let me tell you how the Prophet Muhammad responded to attacks on himself.

There was a lady who threw garbage in the path of the prophet on a daily basis. One day, she didn’t do it. The prophet went to inquire about her health, because he thought she might be sick. This lady ended up converting to Islam. So, that‘s how you respond to people who attack you, with forgiveness and with kindness. (Source)



On February 8, 2006, Amir Taheri, a reputable journalist who often explains Islam to the West, used the absolutist word “never” in the context of chopping off the heads of satirists during Islam’s founding.



The truth is that Islam has always had a sense of humor and has never called for chopping heads as the answer to satirists. Muhammad himself pardoned a famous Meccan poet who had lampooned him for more than a decade. (Source)



On February 9, 2006, a journalist for al-Jazeera, Abderrahim Foukara, appeared on the Charlie Rose Show saying about the same thing. After Muhammad conquered Mecca “peacefully” (in early AD 630), he forgave a satirical poet. Never mind that twenty-eight Meccans died in the “peaceful” conquest, after their city—weakened by eight years of Muslim raids on Meccan trade—was surrounded by 10,000 jihadists. [1]


In truth, however, while Muhammad forgave a poet and a singing girl right after his conquest of Mecca, he killed satirical poets more often than he forgave. Muhammad violently created a dead poets society of his own. He also killed non-poetic or ordinary mockers, and he used a poet to mock a tribe of Jews just before their conquest, slaughter, and enslavement.


These spokesmen for Islam presented only peaceful aspects. This is not full disclosure. This is wrong. The truth about all of Islam must be publicized, if we want to understand this religion fully. This article is intended to balance out the picture of Islam from the one that these spokespersons have presented.



The assassination of satirical poets


Once Muhammad reached Medina in AD 622 and gradually grew in military power, his tone and outlook changed. The following murders occur after the Hijrah.



(1) March 624: Al-Nadr bin al-Harith



Before Muhammad’s Hijrah, he used to sit in the assembly and invite the Meccans to Allah, citing the Quran and warning them of God’s punishment for mocking his prophets. A Meccan named Al-Nadr bin al-Harith would then follow him and speak about heroes and kings of Persia, saying, “By God, Muhammad cannot tell a better story than I, and his talk is only of old fables which he has copied as I have.” On other days al-Nadr would interrupt Muhammad until the prophet silenced him.



It was Nadr’s bad fortune to join Mecca’s army, riding north to protect their caravan, which Muhammad attacked at the Battle of Badr in AD 624. It pitted about 320 Muslims against about 1,000 Meccans, near the north-south trade route following the Red Sea. The story-telling polytheist was captured, and on Muhammad’s return journey back to Medina, Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, at Muhammad’s order, beheaded him, instead of getting some possible ransom money. He was one of two prisoners who were executed and not allowed to be ransomed by their clans—all because he harassed Muhammad and wrote poems and told stories critiquing him. [2]



(2) March 624: Uqbah bin Abu Muayt



A similar story as that of Nadr can be told about Uqba bin Abu Muayt. He too harassed and mocked Muhammad in Mecca and wrote derogatory verses about him. He too was captured during the Battle of Badr, and Muhammad ordered him to be executed. “But who will look after my children, O Muhammad?” Uqba cried with anguish. “Hell,” retorted the Prophet coldly. Then the sword of one of his followers cut through Uqba’s neck.


After the prophet’s victory at Badr, he was not always magnanimous. This passage finds him mocking the enemy dead in the middle of the night, as their bodies lie motionless in a pit:



. . . The apostle’s companions heard him saying in the middle of the night, “O people of the pit: O Utbah, O Shayba, O Ummayya, O Abu Jahl,” enumerating all who had been thrown in the pit, “Have you found what God promises you is true? I have found that what my Lord promised me is true.” The Muslims said, “Are you calling to dead bodies?” He answered: “you cannot hear what I say better than they, but they cannot answer me. [3]

The reliable hadith collector and editor Bukhari confirms Ibn Ishaq’s account.


These were the battles of Allah’s Apostle (which he fought), and while mentioning (the Badr battle) he said, “While the corpses of the pagans were being thrown into the well, Allah’s Apostle said (to them), ‘Have you found what your Lord promised true?” ‘Abdullah said, “Some of the Prophet’s companions said, “O Allah’s Apostle! You are addressing dead people.’ Allah’s Apostle replied, ‘You do not hear what I am saying, better than they.’ (Bukhari )



In this tradition the prophet is shown taunting the dead in a well, not a pit, and he seems to have done this in broad daylight. Maybe these are two different episodes in Ibn Ishaq and Bukhari; regardless, they convey the same unpleasant message. [4]



(3) March 624: Asma bint Marwan


She was a poetess who belonged to a tribe of Medinan pagans. She composed a poem blaming them for obeying a stranger (Muhammad) and for not taking the initiative to attack him by surprise. Perhaps in March 624, when the Allah-inspired Prophet heard what she had said, he asked, “Who will rid me of Marwan’s daughter?” A member of her husband’s tribe volunteered and crept into her house that night. She had five children, and the youngest was sleeping at her breast. The assassin gently removed the child, drew his sword, and plunged it into her, killing her in her sleep. [5]

(4) September 624: Kab bin al-Ashraf

Kab b. al-Ashraf had a mixed ancestry. His father came from a nomadic Arab tribe, but his mother was a Jew from the powerful al-Nadir tribe in Medina. He lived as a member of his mother’s tribe. He heard about the Muslim victory at the battle of Badr, and he was disgusted, for he thought Muhammad the newcomer to Medina was a trouble-maker and divisive. Kab had the gift of poetry, and after the Battle of Badr he traveled down to Mecca, apparently stopping by Badr, witnessing the aftermath. Arriving in Mecca, he wrote a widely circulated poem, a hostile lament, over the dead of Mecca.



Angered by the poems and now able to strike back after the Battle of Badr, Muhammad had had enough. He asked, “Who would rid me of [Kab]?” Five Muslims volunteered, one of whom was Kab’s foster-brother named Abu Naila. They informed him, “O apostle of God, we shall have to tell lies.” He answered, “Say what you like, for you are free in the matter.”



After deceitfully gaining Kab’s trust over time, a Muslim yelled to the four other murderers, “Smite the enemy of God!” Though outnumbered, Kab mounted a strong defense, so their swords were ineffective. Finally, one of the conspirators remembered his dagger, stabbed Kab in the belly, and then bore it down until it reached his genitals, killing him.



They made it back to Muhammad. They saluted the prophet as he stood praying, and he came out to them. They told him that the mission was accomplished. Early Muslim historian Tabari (d. 923) reports that the five Muslim thugs severed Kab’s head and brought it to Muhammad. [6]



(5) July-August 625: A one-eyed, unnamed Bedouin


In revenge for an ambush on some Muslim missionaries, Muhammad sent Amr bin Umayya and a companion to assassinate Abu Sufyan, a leader of the Meccans. This shows that the Prophet could get caught up in the cycle of violence that went on endlessly in seventh-century Arab culture. Umayyah failed in his attempt, and he had to flee under pursuit, hiding in a cave, murdering a man named Ibn Malik along the way. As the pursuit was dying down, a tall, one-eyed, unnamed Bedouin entered the cave, driving some sheep. Umayyah and the Bedouin introduced each other. After they settled down, the shepherd sang a simple two-line song in defiance of Muslims and Islam.



Unfortunately for this Bedouin, he was in the cave with a radical Muslim, who said: “You will soon see!” The Bedouin fell asleep, snoring. Umayyah recounts what he did: . . . “I went to him and killed him in the most dreadful way that anybody has ever been killed. I leaned over him, stuck the end of my bow into his good eye, and thrust it down until it came out of the back of his neck.” He fled back to Muhammad, who said, “Well done!” The account ends: The prophet “prayed for me [Umayyah] to be blessed.” [7]



(6) After January 630: One singing-girl


After Muhammad conquered Mecca in early AD 630, a conquest that saw some bloodshed of twenty-eight Meccans, he showed amnesty to the newly conquered. But on the list of those excluded from amnesty was not only Abdullah b. Katal, collector of legal alms, who had killed his slave for incompetence, apostatized from Islam, and took the money back to Mecca. But his two singing-girls who sang satirical verses about Muhammad, which Abdullah had composed, were also excluded from the list. He was killed, even though he was clinging to the curtain of the Kabah shrine. And one of the girls was killed, but the other ran away until she asked for pardon from Muhammad, who forgave her. [8]



(7) After February 630: close call for Kab bin Zuhayr

Confident with the victory over Mecca, Muhammad returned to Medina a hero and firmly in charge of the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula. In this context Muhammad nearly murdered another poet who satirized Muhammad and Muslims, Kab bin Zuhayr (here called Zuhayr to distinguish him from Kab bin al-Ashraf, above, no. 4). Zuhayr’s brother wrote him that Muhammad had killed a number of satirical poets during his conquest of Mecca, but that the Prophet would forgive a poet who came to him in repentance, which really meant becoming a Muslim. His brother told him that the poets who were left had fled in all directions.



“If you have any use for your life, then come to the apostle quickly, for he does not kill anyone who comes to him in repentance,” wrote the brother, continuing: “if you do not do that, then get to a safe place.”



Finding no way out, Zuhayr wrote a letter extolling Muhammad. Soon afterwards, he traveled up to Medina to ask for security as a Muslim. Muhammad was saying his morning prayers, and a friend took Zuhayr into Muhammad’s presence. “Would you accept him as such if he came to you?” his friend asked. The Prophet said he would.



As Zuhayr came into the Prophet’s presence, one of the Ansars (helpers or native Medinans who helped Muhammad after his Hijrah) leaped upon Zuhayr and asked Muhammad if he could behead the enemy of God, for some of Zuhayr’s verses mocked the Ansars, too. The apostle said to leave him alone, for Zuhayr was breaking free from his past. The implication is clear: if Muhammad had caught Zuhayr before his repentance, Muhammad would have allowed him to be beheaded. Either he converts or he dies—for writing derogatory poetry.



What is remarkable about the anecdote is how the morning prayer provides the setting for a Muslim leaping on a poet and threatening to cut his head off, as if this is an ordinary day and act. [9]



Murder of ordinary mockers

Two examples of murder demonstrate that Muhammad did not like mockery even by non-poets. Any ole insulter is vulnerable in original Islam.



(1) A blind man murders his slave-wife



Narrated Abdullah Ibn Abbas:



A blind man had a slave-mother who used to abuse the Prophet . . . and disparage him. He forbade her but she did not stop. He rebuked her but she did not give up her habit. One night she began to slander the Prophet . . . and abuse him. So he took a dagger, placed it on her belly, pressed it, and killed her. A child who came between her legs was smeared with the blood that was there. When the morning came, the Prophet was informed about it.

He assembled the people and said: I adjure by Allah the man who has done this action and I adjure him by my right to him that he should stand up. Jumping over the necks of the people and trembling, the man stood up.



He sat before the Prophet . . . and said: Apostle of Allah! I am her master; she used to abuse you and disparage you. I forbade her, but she did not stop, and I rebuked her, but she did not abandon her habit. I have two sons like pearls from her, and she was my companion. Last night she began to abuse and disparage you. So I took a dagger, put it on her belly and pressed it till I killed her.



Thereupon the Prophet . . . said: Oh be witness, no retaliation is payable for her blood. [10]


The last line of this hadith shows Muhammad not allowing even blood-wit (compensation for bloodshed) to be paid on her behalf. Apparently, she was worth nothing, even though she bore the blind man two sons.



(2) An unnamed man strangles an unnamed Jewish woman.

Narrated Ali ibn Abu Talib:



A Jewess used to abuse the Prophet . . . and disparage him. A man strangled her till she died. The Apostle of Allah . . . declared that no recompense was payable for her blood. (Abu Dawud)



This hadith communicates that a Jewish woman is worth nothing. In early Islamic sources, Jews too often appear as extra-bad. Who was killed? Who is a murderer? A Jew?



That’s no big deal. Of course. That’s to be expected. So what else is new?



Is it any wonder why so many Muslims who are educated in their source documents hate Jews? How can Muhammad and his sacred texts tell them to stop?



Regardless, in both murder cases, no one was arrested or executed, like-for-like. No one was even scolded. The murderers were let go on the grounds that insulting the Prophet deserves death. The translator of Abu Dawud informs us that all Jews or any non-Muslims who insult the Prophet should also be killed (vol. 3, note 3800).



Muhammad uses a satirical poet



Muhammad is fresh off a victory against a coalition of 10,000 Meccans and their allies in AD 627. After they depart, the last remaining major tribe of Jews, the Qurayza, is left alone, without allies. During Muhammad’s twenty-five-day siege of this tribe, which resulted in the slaughter of the men and pubescent boys and the wholesale enslavement of the women and children, he employed a poet to abuse them.



The Prophet said to Hassan, “Abuse them (with your poems), and Gabriel is with you (i.e. supports you).” (Through another group of sub-narrators) Al-Bara bin Azib said, “On the day of Quraiza’s (besiege), Allah’s Apostle said to Hassan bin Thabit, ‘Abuse them (with your poems), and Gabriel is with you (i.e. supports you).’” (Bukhari)



This shows how valued poetry was in seventh-century Arabia. In the absence of mass media, gathering around and listening to poets was an opportunity to persuade, smear, mock, praise, and otherwise influence large numbers. Now that Muhammad has the power, he employed a satirical poet without fear of reprisal. In fact, he refers to the Jews as brothers of monkeys, citing a legend that he believed, namely, that God turned some disobedient Jews into apes. (see also Ibn Ishaq pp. 461-62).



Conclusion



While it is true that Muhammad forgave a satirical poet and a singing girl (see no. 7 in “Assassination of satirical poets,” above), he murdered more than he forgave. Omitting the violent episodes in the Prophet’s life, the spokespersons for Islam act irresponsibly in their television appearances. Possibly their strategy is to make Islam and its Prophet seem only peaceful and loving, perhaps so that the uninformed may be drawn to this religion or at least not be turned off by it.



However, aggressive Islam is on the march. The riots over the cartoons are only one symptom. The stakes are high. Thus, the peaceful spokespersons’ partial presentation of Islam is misleading at best and dangerous at worse. When or if Islam gets a foothold in a region on the basis of “peace and love,” what happens when the hard line and traditional (not to mention nonviolent and violent fanatics) Muslims come to the region later and impose all sorts of violent laws and policies and practices in the Quran and hadith? Honesty demands full historical and scriptural disclosure, even if it hurts.



James M. Arlandson can be reached at jamesmarlandson@hotmail.com.



Endnotes:



[1] Go here for more information, and scroll down to no. 3, looking for a critique of Karen Armstrong. The transcript is available by purchase only. Here is a video clip of the discussion between Foukara, Rose, and others.

[2] Source: Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, (trans. A. Guillaume, Oxford UP, 1955, 2004), pp. 136, 163, 181, 262, 308. Reputable historians today consider Ibn Ishaq to be a reliable source of early Islam, though they may disagree on his chronology and miraculous elements.

[3] Ibn Ishaq, p. 306

[4] Bukhari, Spoils of War (online source); Muslim nos. 4421, 4422, and 4424; These are parallels in Bukhari about taunting the dead: here and here. Ibn Ishaq, pp. 306-08. Muslim is also a reliable collector and editor of the hadith (records of the words and deeds of Muhammad outside of the Quran).

[5] Ibn Ishaq, pp. 675-76.

[6] Bukhari, Military Expeditions (online sources: here; see also the one below); this one and this one show Muhammad giving permission to his assassin to say anything, i.e. lie; Muslim no. 4436 ; Ibn Ishaq pp. 364-69 ; Tabari, The History of al-Tabari, Vol. 7, (trans. by M.V. McDonald and annotated by W. Montgomery Watt, SUNYP, 1987), pp. 94-98. Reputable historians today consider Tabari to be a reliable source of data on early Islam, though they may not agree on his chronology or miraculous elements.

[7] Tabari, vol. 7, pp. 149-50; A later editor incorporated some of Tabari’s account into Ibn Ishaq’s biography, pp. 674-75.

[8] Bukhari, Military Expeditions, (Online source) ; Ibn Ishaq, pp. 550-51.

[9] Ibn Ishaq, pp. 597-602. Some Muslim polemicists consider him to be unreliable mostly because he preserves so many traditions that portray Muhammad as violent. But here the prophet is forgiving, so now Ibn Ishaq’s reliability cannot be doubted.

[10] Abu Dawud no. 4348 (he is another reliable hadith collector and editor)
Sridhar

#63 by Mantolives,

Thanks, so he was just one amongst the 100 most influential people, not THE most like you asserted. So, even by that one Michael Hart`s opinion he is only one of the 100 thus far.

So, why is that almost every muslim expects the same kind of respect, awe and admiration for Mohammed from non-muslims? What we hear from Muslims about Mohammed is a white-washed rendition of what must have happened in Arabia in the 7th century. Most Muslims are like teenagers coming out of a cinema so completely in awe with their favorite actor/actress in it. They strongly believe nothing can be wrong about that man, which is fine as long as you don`t deny the right of non-muslims to question that, or make fun of him.

Re: # 113

Thanks for the posting on the flight transcript, it is both stunning and digusting.

``These perpetrators, unlike the villagers indulging in child sacrifice, were educated people settled in US``
They were only visitors, abusing the good faith of the Kafirs.

re:#102 by HisExcellency
What has ignorance got to do with religion?
You can be an atheist and still be ignorant.
If the people who indulged in child sacrifice did it out of ignorance, then how does it matter whether they invoked God or not.
The bigger question is:
was Mohammed being ignorant when he married Ayesha who was just 14 and he was more than 50 years old?
He should have known that this was an abuse.
Even conceding the fact that Md lived in primitive times, what about present time.
Transcripts of what happened during the final hours of the illfated flight93 that was hijacked by muslim terrorists has been released and can be read at:
http://files.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/flight93transcript.pdf
The flight ends with cries from the terrorists interspersed with cries of victims.
A sample:
09:33:34 In the name of Allah, the most merciful, most compassionate
09:45:57 In the name of Allah. In the name of Allah. I bear witness that there is no other God but Allah
09:58:33 Let us go guys. Allah is greatest. Allah is greatest. Oh, guys. Allah is greatest
09:58:44 Oh allah, Oh allah, the most gracious.
And, so it goes on till the end.
Hapless victims of the flight struggling against evil forces who constantly evoked allah`s name to glorify their heinous act.
These perpetrators, unlike the villagers indulging in child sacrifice, were educated people settled in US.
What kind of sick religion would glorify God while killing innocent people?
Sridhar

Re: # 42

urstruly

And what about the dreaded blasphemy law and the lynchings for blasphemy prompted perhaps by the following Hadees:

``Sunnan Abu-Dawud
Book 38, Number 4348:
Narrated Abdullah Ibn Abbas:
A blind man had a slave-mother (A slave-woman bearing children but not treated as a wife) who used to abuse the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and disparage him. He forbade her but she did not stop. He rebuked her but she did not give up her habit. One night she began to slander the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and abuse him. So he took a dagger, placed it on her belly, pressed it, and killed her. A child who came between her legs was smeared with the blood that was there. When the morning came, the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) was informed about it.
He assembled the people and said: I adjure by Allah the man who has done this action and I adjure him by my right to him that he should stand up. Jumping over the necks of the people and trembling the man stood up.
He sat before the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and said: Apostle of Allah! I am her master; she used to abuse you and disparage you. I forbade her, but she did not stop, and I rebuked her, but she did not abandon her habit. I have two sons like pearls from her, and she was my companion. Last night she began to abuse and disparage you. So I took a dagger, put it on her belly and pressed it till I killed her.
Thereupon the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Oh be witness, no retaliation is payable for her blood.``

Meanwhile in Holy Land, the celebration of birth of the HOLLY PROPET (Beace P Up Him),the peaceful, merciful continues:

FACTBOX-Militancy in Pakistan
Wed 12 Apr 2006

April 12 (Reuters) - At least 57 people were killed in a suicide attack on a Sunni Muslim prayer meeting in the southern city of Karachi on Tuesday, the latest religious violence in Pakistan.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but Karachi, Pakistan`s commercial capital, has been a hotbed of sectarian, ethnic and political violence for decades.

Here are few facts about religious strife in Pakistan.

* The vast majority of Pakistanis are Muslim and follow the two major sects of Islam -- Sunni and Shi`ite.

* Most Pakistanis are Sunnis -- who regard Abu Bakr, one of the companions of Prophet Mohammad, as his successor. Shi`ites, who account for 15 percent of Pakistan`s 150 million people, revere Ali, a cousin and son-in-law of Mohammad, as his successor.

* Sunnis in Pakistan have two major sub-sects -- Barelvi and Deobandi. The dominant Barelvis believe in liberal interpretation of Islam, venerate sufism and mysticism and fervently celebrate religious events, such as the Prophet Mohammad`s birthday. Deobandis follow a strict interpretation of Islam and abhor sufism and mysticism.

* There is a also a small group of Sunni Muslims known as Ahl-e-Hadith who do not consider themselves bound by any school of law and is based on Wahabism, the austere brand of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia.

* Most of the militant groups in Pakistan adhere to the Deobandi school of thought and their extremist members consider Barelvis and Shi`ites as heretical. There are also small Shi`ite militant groups which have been involved in sectarian attacks with Sunni militants. Sunni militant groups have also been involved in fighting in Kashmir and Afghanistan.

* Some Sunni Muslim militant groups forged ties with al Qaeda and have been blamed for most of the attacks on religious minorities, Western targets and government officials. The groups are angry about President Pervez Musharraf`s support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

* Karachi has also seen violence between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, an ethnic group representing Urdu-speaking migrants from India and other ethnic communities in the past. Militants fighting for more autonomy and benefits from exploration of natural resources in neighbouring Baluchistan province have also carried their fight to the streets of Karachi.







© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Re: # 109
Boss, since they have had their fill of gentleness, I think they put a stop to any more gentle
beings coming around for all times to come.
Somebody mentioned that most of Arabia turned apostate as soon as Mo died... must have
been very gentle persuasion to get them back into the fold :)

May Islam get many more like the gentle Muhammad to lead their people.

Amen.

You Lie with such conviction or shamlessness!

Why do his followers behave like a goonda`s henchmen who threaten everyone with physical harm if their boss is not shown respect?

ALL other religious heads are respected by non followers except Mohmad. WHY?

I suggest you visit FAITHFREEDOM.ORG

to find the truth....and tell there how gentle mohmad was

re: HisExcellency # 102

That`s some ghoulish shit!!

Re: # 104

HERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW MUCH ENLIGHTENMENT MONOTHEISM CAN CAUSE:
(Col Jafri is not sure if this is in true Islamic spirit, the problem is it probably is in ``true
Islamic spirit``)


Why Penalize the Wives?
By Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd.)
Rawalpindi, Pakistan


A dangerously strange verdict was given by a maulvi of the NWFP assembly who observed that all those legislators who had not voted in line with the party dictates in the recently held elections for the Senators must divorce their wives! I simply fail to understand what is the fault of the poor wives if their husbands did not tow the party line and why must they (wives) be punished for the crime of their husbands?

I admit my inadequacy in such Fiqahi matters and would request the Federal Shariat Court to intervene if the verdict is not in the true Islamic spirit, before an irreparable harm is done to some innocent lady.

Zeena khoray:

khudai de mal sha, khushala awo abada ossay.

I have one big problem with Pakistanis attending such outwardly pompous shows. Where is the net result, matalab kho da dey chay where do all the teachings and narrating all those personal traits of our Holy Prophet (saww) show in us?

I hope it had showed in the women who were attending the Milad in that Masjid. When they heard cries of one poor lady, all of them should have brought in the discipline they must have learnt from the mehfil-e-milad immediately into action. Or was it that they thought that they would run out of time for catching one of those bogus Indian plays on Z-TV?

Similarly, if love of the Prophet had been an influencing factor then, the “loving Brailvi Muslims” should not have burnt the Fire Engine nor burnt the personal property.

As a student in the USA, I was once hearing a Christian priest who was telling the weak points of Muslims to his students in order to find opportunities to bring them to Christianity. I was most impressed by one of his points. He said that the Muslims don’t have any concept of character development. They are aware of sin not by the very evil in it, but because what they think the others would say about them if they indulge in it i.e. they are more people conscious than God conscious.

As an example, a Muslim would not go gambling in a Muslim country because gambling is not permitted in the religion, but because if caught what would relatives say. I don’t think Mehfil-e-Milad or Jalsas for the Nabi prepare us character wise.

Another thing – Pakistan is bursting at seams with population. It is not like you will have to make arrangements for a hundred people and every thing will work out fine. In order to have such religious gatherings you have to provide for all required facilities for many thousands of people nowadays. Pakistani infrastructure and training of the organizers just don’t support these pompous shows.

Lastly, I would like to refer to an article published in Dawn few months ago. The article had said that Pakistani newspapers, magazines, TV shows are replete with religious articles and programs that are interactive. Increasingly, Pakistanis are reverting to self proclaimed aamils, astrologers, card readers, palmists and religious healers working through Quranic verses and jinns for getting their problems solved. The article attributed this to lack of education and failure to recognize that problems are our own creations and we are the best people to solve them, of course with prayers to Allah.

In conclusion, I will only say that Pakistani Muslims need to pray a lot, perhaps in small gatherings, emphasize more on character development rather than gaudy show off, and strive to get some leadership positions in the secular world also.

As regards your culminating points regarding Islam and Musalmans, I would like to produce here a verse from a short poem that my wife read in a class last night (its easy enough to understand because it has too many urdu words):

sa dey da deeni tafreeq?

zaka chay sunni ham musalman da awo shia ham musalman da
moong asal maqsad da dunya ke da haq da para kaar da

(Translation 2nd verse: our real objective in this world is to work for the right of our people)

Khpal awo khplyano khyal awo Allah pa aman


P.S. It seems that you have lived in Pakhtun territory :)