Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State

#66 Posted by echoboom,

Thank you Echoboom. This is amazing background. No doubt Iqbal used 'behr-i-Zulmaat' and 'ghorey' in much more meaning than what it appears to the naked eye.

After your elaboration, the couplet becomes a hundred times more powerful than what it is already for the uninformed/not so informed like me.

Re: # 66

echo,

... so how do you expect to regain the moon god's kingdom on earth ? ... is baitullah mehsud and his band of smelly tibesmen going to restore the glory of the this 'unmatched world power' ?

... wake up and smell the starbucks .... i don't think that wild-eyed barbarians like the mongols and bedouins are going to be able to ride out of the desert and conquer the world simply by waving their swords and a book ...... riding horses onto the beach and into the dark sea is not going to impress nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers .... the ummah might be better served if they learn to use utensils, indoor plumbing and deodrant before they embark on their quest to conquer the world ......

#65 Posted by hamidm2,

hamidm2, now listen carefully. I am not mourning for the Lal Masjid dead. I was morning for YOU and the tahmeds.

Would you believe that?

Zeemax:

The behr-i-Zulmaat or the Ocean of Darkness, referred to in that couplet by Allama Iqbal, is what is known to mariners as the Doldrums.

These are the regions in the Pacific as well as the Atlantic below the equator. The weather here was either of dead calm and hence no Sail or extreme hurricanes hence boats getting capsized.

Sailors avoided going south of the Equator and it is for this reason that Africa was called the "Dark" Continent. The utlity of the Northern Star as a Navigation tool got less and less as the ship headed South of the Equator. Hence the fear of getting in the Doldrums. The Portugese
learned the use of the Astralabe , hence you find their firstColonies South of the Equator & so Vasco De Gama's cape route.

The Doldrums are also called the Horse Latitudes. They are known thus because the Colonisers who got caught in the region unburdened their boats for lighter travel. Horses were thus thrown overboard. The Muslims, because of the Astralabe & their acumen in seafaring were in a much better position to navigate. Hence their influence as far as Indonesia but almost none south of middle Africa.

Allama Iqbal has so succinctly and beautifully encapsulated this huge subject in just two lines. The metaphorical use of Zulmaat can just not go unnoticed and unappreciated as well. It refers to the Dead-calm & Listlessness as well as the Storms which the Muslims encountered in their pursuit of
becoming the World Power yet to be unmatched in the annals of human history.

P.S: This has been written and addresed to you so that the Abu-Jahilyaas , the Murtids and the Catonment-Kuttas here get a hint of what the westoxicated education does to their scummed minds.

Re: # 61

zeemax,

... stop mournig for the terrorists of lal masjid - they would have bred more suiciders and homiciders ...... and this stuff has been going on in malakand and swat since the seventies and they were thrown the bone of sharia in the early ninetees ..... it just goes to show that one should not feed a rabid dog because he will come back for more .....

.... tnsm, taliban and all these jihadi groups are sister organizations of the jamat-i-islami which is waiting in the wings to surround lahore ..... i think we need some predators over ichra and mansoora ......

Re: # 52

zeemax,

.... personally, i would like to see nato troops going after these barbarians on both sides of the border ..... i think that like all other vermin they can and should be exterminated ..... it might take a while but the civilized people of the world will not allow these animals to destroy what it took adam's and eve's offspring six thousand years to build .....

.... the tribal pathan belongs to a sub-human species that has to be tamed and domesticated ......

speaking of islamofascism...prophetboy...the democratically elected government has agreed to the whole sharia thing..what's up with that?

I thought pakis were moderates who didn't want sharia and it was only musharraf, training jihadis all by himself in his basement, who was the problem...

so no more predictions from zrafique about how the drone bombings will stop?

#58 Posted by majumdar,

majumdar, this assertion is so silly that you (and many others) see any Pakistani Taliban advance as a trick being played by musharraf in connivance with Taliban leadership to fool USA. Why don't you apply Occam's razor instead and see that Pakistani Taliban are fighting fair and square and have been gaining territory since 2005?

Mangal Bagh's capture of Bara Agency (a sub-agency of the Khyber Agency) is just the most recent development. One may ask why Bara Agency? Mangal Bagh was based in Landi Kotal on the Afghan border but came down and captured Bara. Why not capture Landi Kotal itself which is a much larger area?

The answer is, because Bara Agency is actually a suburb of Peshawar - like people go there for shopping for crockery and electronics/appliances/apparel everyday. It is like capturing a part of Peshawar.

... as for mourning Lal Masjid, I genuinely mourned that event because I knew exactly this outcome would come about - specifically rebellion in Swat and Waziristan and suicide bombings in major cites. I am on record saying that at the time and many people remember and have quoted me.

#55 Posted by tahmed32,

You know tahmed32, despite your good intentions, your view is never panoramic but rather very limited.

Do you not see that before you had a Lal Masjid on a few acres. Through your misjudgment, arrogance, and obstinacy, now you have a Lal Masjid spannong the ENTIRE Swat and Malakand. (of-course by you I don't mean tahmed)

Please do develop a bird's eye view of events. You tend to see them each in isolation and on their own merits/demerits.

Zee sahib,

You are very much superior in knowledge of the facts, the terrain as well as military affairs. So I hope you will pardon my saying this. The apparent capitulation in NWFP (if that is true) may well be a smokescreen created by Mushy to create an impression that Pakistan is falling to the Talibs. That could reinforce US support to Mush and the Pak Army could stage a similar comeback as happened in Swat post Emergency.

But I may well be wrong in my guesswork.

Regards

... and these are Pakistani Taliban. So please get rid of that illusion as well that a "Pakistani city" is not their city as well.

#54 Posted by tahmed32,

Read #53.

If the Pakistani military does not fight them, they will leave Peshawar alone. Otherwise, they are right now in a position to take Peshawar. The Pakistan army knows that very well. That's why they didn't resist Mangal Bagh in Khber and have handed over Swat to Fazlullalh.

Don't be under any illusions, Tahmed Saheb.

further to #54: and once the government cracks down on them, you and urstruly will stop gloating and start mourning the "injustice" brought upon them. as you (or at least urstruly) did after lal masjid.

zeemax: Why are you so happy that a Pakistani city is surrounded by armed men? You think they will bring the Kingdom of God on earth?

btw, rest assured that in a military sense these thugs pose no danger to Pakistan - that is why the government is going easy on them. As they say, "Give a fool a rope long enough, and he will hang himself". And that ultimately is going to be the fate of these illiterate thugs.