Reforming Religious Fundamentalists

“I asked a number of people from different walks of life and diverse cultural backgrounds,�

Who were these people? Did you talk to them on the streets? Were they terrorism experts or you decided to read chowk posters? Chowk poster sounds like the only place. All the observations that you mentioned appears to be views expressed by them.

“Can militant religious fundamentalists be reformed?� If the answer is yes, then how?� These are million dollar questions pondered by many people in both the West and the East.�

Well, something similar to this was the subject of a study recently published by Rand Corporation and people can still find that on www.rand.org. That study showed many reform ideas along with some others. Rand has done lots of research work on terrorism. Rand is not the only think tank there are others that are doing similar research. I think instead of spending tons of money on the research, they should have just paid money to Dr. Sohail. For this fabulous report published for free on Chowk.(Is it possible dr. Sahib found some treasure trove of studies on the subject and hastily put together something for Chowk?)

“Being a student of human psychology who believes that human beings can change and reform, I studied interviews and biographies of militant religious fundamentalists who had reformed on their own and developed a peace consciousness.�

Where is the source? Who were they, where did you read the biographies of the reformed ones? The ones in Gitmo are still under trial for the last many years and no one seemed to have reformed after so much efforts including torture by the US government. Yeah, I heard Saudi Arabia has reformed some terrorists. No one has access to them in KSA, how did doctor sahib get to read their books?

“After militant religious fundamentalists reform, they either
leave politics altogether, follow a spiritual path or stay in politics but seek to bring about political change through democratic and peaceful means.�

Again where are they?

“we find some leaders and many followers who were part of a violent confrontation at one time and were perceived as “terrorists�, who experienced a transformation with the passage of time and embraced peace. It is fascinating to read biographies of Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin in the Middle East and Nelson Mandela and de Klerk in South Africa; they were enemies at one stage of the political struggle�

No one ever called de Klerk a terrorist. The poor sod was the last white President of SA.
Nelson Mandela? Religious fundamentalist terrorist? Dr. sahib, who is providing you this silly information? Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin were never religious fundamentalists at some point they were called terrorists by some insane people. No one ever called them fundamentalists.

Dr. Sahib, please don’t write on subjects you don’t know anything about!

#21 Dr sahib - I think my point was not that the taliban could not express them expressed themselves sexually as children. It was the opposite - that is, that they became psychopaths as a result of having been the targets of sexual predation as children.

#16 Posted by laddu

[Terrorism will stop if muslims start realizing the inherent supremacism that starts with the recitation of kalima in a prejudiced manner.

Once muslims do not think that believing in other Gods turns those believers into objects of hatred then much would improve.

What muslims require is sensitization towards other faiths because they have a very prejudiced view of other religions!! ]

Dear laddu,

Let me take this opportunity to point out how wrong you are. In fact, as Tahmed would point out, YOU are the prejudiced one. This is because you fail to understand (or even if you understand, fail to admit it publicly) that the words of hatred that you allude to in the koran are actually words of peace. Take for example, this one - "molten lead will be poured into the ears of the nonbelievers". This, in reality, is a message of peace. And if it is not, then you fail to interpret it properly. And as tahmed would point out, in any case, this refers to a different time. The lead pouring has stopped in the 21st century. Does not apply any more. How peaceful!

See, you need to open your mind. Maybe your Hindu background is an impediment. You have to be more open-minded like most muslims are.

Peace and joy to all! Allah alaikum salaikum! Illah illi ullah! Subhanallah!

Sohail:

"...and do not let them express their sexual desires as teenagers."

How should teenagers express their sexual desires?

Re: # 19 and 20
category 7 and tahmed 32
...yes i have read that hitler was a frustarted artist...
in my opinion
when communities and cultures do not acknowledge children's creative talents and do not let them express their sexual desires as teenagers then they pay a big price when those suppressed and oppressed creative and sexual needs turn violent and fanatical...sincerely sohail

#19 Dr Sohail: With "why cant we all get along" Patraeus now in Afghanistan, maybe they will start having art classes and group therapy for taliban. No doubt their psychopathic behavior has much to do with their being child abused during their formative years (a common phenomenon in those parts, as is well known).

dr. sohail,

dunno if this has been mentioned before, but Hitler was an aspiring artist. When his art ambitions were crushed, he moved towards what he moved towards.

If only a gallery or two had shown his art...the whole world would not have had to see his horror at the scale that it did.

Re: # 14
DEAR KULHAREE...I fully agree with you that many social, economic, religious and political factors play a role a creating religious fundamentalists. I was focusing on those who realizaed that they were on the wrong violent path and wanted to choose a peaceful path. I agree we need to change the social factors to prevent violent religous fundamentalism. But once people are involved as a psychologists abd psychotherapist we try to identify factors that contribute in the process of reforming. Thank you for your wise comments. I always enjoy your feedback. sincerely sohail

What is happening in Muslim world today is the beggining of the end of the Atlantic Charter that was signed between Churchil and Roosevelt in August 1941. The terms and conditions of this charter can be summarized in one sentence ``We (US) will save your (UK) ass (from Nazis), in return for your Empire``.

According to the Churchill`s own words, Atlantic Charter was the death warrant for the British Colonial Empire but he had no choice because German forces were preparing to land on British Isle with in weeks. According to eye witmnesses Churcill was in tears while signing the document. It is said that Roosevelt comforted him with these immortal words ``Mr. Prime Minister, I know it is hard for you, but I see you (British Empire) as a monkey who has stuck his hands in a jar full of candies. That monkey can easily get his hand unstuck if he simply let go some of the candies; but the monkey is greedy, he is jumping up and down, screaming and kicking but holding on to its candies. So my advise to you, Sir, is that it is time to let go of your candies``

So not only the British Empire but also all other European colonies came under US and USSR control. These Colonial powers installed their local agents in those colonies and started their proxy rule. But as the addage goes - what goes up must come down. So 9/11 was the turning point in history which marked the beggining of the end of the colonial era.

In the present globalized world Muslims have refused to be colonized anymore and they refuse to be the second class citizen of the global village. This struggle will continue until an equitable and just resolution is reached thru negotiation. This is an inevitability that can be delayed but cannot be denied or stopped.

In the process the proxy ruling elite of these colonized lands will be decimated. It is written on the wall. They can delay their decimation but cannot stop it. In Pakistan at least they were given a final and golden opportunity to establish the rule of law by reinstating judiciary in a dignified manner. This final chance was lost and now they show even more arrogance towards the agents of change. The change is inevitable. It was good for them to be part of the change, but they chose the opion of confrontation. Now it is absolutely too late to ride a moral high horse by labeling the agents of change as Islamists, fundamentalists, or Taliban or what not. Since when a revolution could be stopped by the labels given by forces of obscurantism and old order? never happened in history of mankind..

Terrorism will stop if muslims start realizing the inherent supremacism that starts with the recitation of kalima in a prejudiced manner.

Once muslims do not think that believing in other Gods turns those believers into objects of hatred then much would improve.

What muslims require is sensitization towards other faiths because they have a very prejudiced view of other religions!!

Sohail,

I also think that art classes will stop terrorism.

Dr. Sohail Sahib, In my village a guy ran a cycle shop and one day I went to his shop to get my cycle repaired and he admires my wrist watch. He asks me to take it off as he wants to closely examine it. While looking at the watch, he says “IdiaN tyre TubaaN buht fit nay� (The watch has very good tires and tubes). What I mean to say is that you always look at every issue from the position of your profession. The rehabilitation of religious fundamentalists may be found in by providing psychiatric and psychological treatment, but the success can only be realized by addressing the surroundings that produce religious fanatics. Poverty, lack of self-worth, unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, lack of freedoms, are some of the causes, and any solution to this problem can only be successful by addressing these issues (in addition to what you are proposing).

Sohail ji, it is not a matter of learnt prejudices but basic intellectual and moral orientation toward life and living.

Kakkar's point is (and in my own humble way I have saying the same thing for years), justice-orientation creates a fundamentally different society than compassion-orientation.

They are different modes of existence, not better or worse ways. One cannot bring up people in one orientation and then reform them into another at another time. It won't happen.

This compassion-for-all business would sound silly to those who are brought up in the justice paradigm.

Re: # 10
but who is qualified to do it? sohail

Re: # 9
Dear Eklavya....I am in favour of teaching all children compassion for the whole humanity and helping them see that our enemies are our distant cousins. Our prejudices for other religions and races and nationalities are the reflection of our social and cultural conditioning and we need to learn to rise above them. it is a difficult job but it is worth it. thank you for your comments and questions...sohail

How about a psychological analyses of muslim-mind in the light of the various hadiths.......

perhaps that would solve a lot of problem inherent to Islamic fundamentalism.......