Muslims Vs. Modernity

....A GOOD Muslim is a NON Muslim....:-)

#73 by omar_r_quraishi on June 21, 2004 6:44am PT

Regarding my name, Is it Arthur Shiraz or Athar Shiraz.

Mr. Quraishi since in most likelihood you have not stepped out of karachi I would like to inform you that the anglicized version of Athar is to ease communication with my American friends. I know of a lot of Xiao from China who use the name Steve because Xiao is harder to pronounce and a lot of Pervaiz`s who go with Peter or Pete and a lot of Jews who have Anglican names and Hebrew names (Yaqub call themselves Jacob).

Does that clear up your insinuations ? I am an open book. I lay no claim to being a Mullah. I do lay claim to kinship with the Muslims of the world because I was one before and I know how they feel and the Muslims know how I feel and they can relate to me quite well thank you (quite a lot of them).

What have you got next ? Will you next question my motivations as a Pakistani like your kind isolates and persecutes Ahmedi Pakistanis because of their religion? Will you next accuse me of being ethnically different (as in the case of Urdu Speaking people scorning the Punjabis as Paindoos and the rest of Pakistan looking down upon the Pathans as Niswar Choos?) What is next will you then question my credibility based on the color of my skin ?

You are a pathetic specimen sir and you are damaging our own people by such insinuations when you have no arguments to present. Its INDECENT and parochial and utterly evil that once again you try to squelch the voice of reform and once on basis of a name and once again you stigmatize the critic by branding them as the ``other``. That is just low and my fellow country men and women know that.

dost-mittar,

``The Ontario govt. has agreed to allow muslims to settle their disputes according to sharia outside the Ontario judicial system. ``

.............. are you kidding !!!!.......... like the kind folks of medina, the canadians will regret the day they let in the meccan camel ! .............. trojan horse

#73 by omar_r_quraishi

[i think readers should know whether this article was written by a disillusioned muslim who left it or by someone who wasnt a muslim ever]

What a stupid question! Obviously, if he is a disillusioned Muslim, you can expect this from him. If he is not, you can still expect this from him. Man, the `Assistant Editor` seems to have taken leave of his senses.

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#85
``Jehad is the basis of our ideology and it is the only way to defend our religious values, he added.``
It is hard to understand. What began as covert deniable foreign policy is now touted as mainstream religion. And in a whole nation worth of Muslims there appears to be no decisive reply.

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#85 by arjun_m on June 22, 2004 10:58am PT
”why am I not surprised?”

What is there to surprise?

Prof Khursheed is a jamaat Islami old hand. Who else would say these things but a fundamentalist party that is the force behind some of the major problems in the educational system in Pakistan.
I think you should pay attention to Jehad is the basis of our ideology and it is the only way to defend our religious values, he added.

You did highlight it but this is the latest political line of the Islamist in Pakistan and elsewhere.
Now it is not a Jihad for Muslims rights in Kashmir, or Palestine but now jihad is to defend the religion.
It appears to me that Jihadi have conceded in Kashmir, Palestine, and Afghanistan etc.
The war against these fundos should now be more on ideological grounds than at physical level.

I think that is something that would hurt the jihadi more than anything else. They stand on very thin ideological grounds. The public support is waning.

The US, as the next step must emphasis to Pakistan to limit its religious programming on TV and other public media. I think Pakistan will soon have a new much more westernized PM, who would depend more on the US support than on the Army support for his power base.

Sir Hamid,

We are still awaiting the fourth part :)

harish_hyd, why do you think its a stupid question?

Correction:

``.....because that`s what led him to the disillusion in the first place.``

must read

......because that`s what led him to the disillusionment in the first place.

#90 by solitude on June 22, 2004 5:53pm PT

[harish_hyd, why do you think its a stupid question?]

Well, it is stupid because there`s more than fair chance that a disillusioned Muslim would question Islamic beliefs, because that`s what led him to the disillusion in the first place. And if he isn`t a Muslim at all, there`s still a fair chance that he would question Islamic beliefs because we all know a true Muslim would never question the wisdom passed on by the Quran.

he he he
all i can say as a `kafir` is i hope the `god of the muslims` puts some sense into them.So that we `non-believers` can live in a little peace minus the ambition of people who intend to get seven VIRGINS in heaven. god save aallaah!

sparchus #93

seven VIRGINS

My friend, you certainly underestimate the generosity of the arabic Allah toward those who behead kafirs. You have to know the motivations of these people better. :)

re: mullah and modernity: the case of Imran Khan
Anybody read the latest news? The flashy playboy of yesteryears, the one who has fathered a nameless child living somewhere in USA is, hold your breath guys, divorcing his wife.

This was a high profile marriage: he in his 40s, she in her 20s; he, a famous cricketer with good looks, she a young chic with good money. Many pakis bemoaned the fact that he was marrying outside his religion. Some rejoiced that he was converting a jew into the islamic fold. ``One less jew in this world`` was the common refrain in Pak in those days.

Imran Khan always lived a western lifestyle when he was outside Pakistan. Often, he was known to frequent night clubs and with his good looks, he had no problem with high profile socialite chics. It surprised me that he actually married someone and settled down in life.
I thought this was a case of ``sow choohey khaakey billee haj ko chalee``.

Now, Imran Khan himself has given the most incredible reason for his divorce: that his wife could not adjust to the conditions in Pakistan!
Is this guy a moron or what? Which modern woman would adjust to conditions in Pak society, where so many restrictions are placed. I thought, being a person of western education and outlook, this guy would give same freedom to his wife that he himself enjoyed once. Looks like, that was not the case. So, 7 years and 2 kids later, this woman is now walking away to freedom. Good for her.
Imran seems to harbor a mullah mind. He is perhaps a ``closet mullah:, one who wears his western garbs when it suits him. Back in Pak, being a conservative can get him votes. So, he speaks and acts like a mullah in his own country. I also noticed, not without amusement, how much of a hardliner he was when it came to India. This guy, above anybody else, should be friendly towards India. But no. That will not serve his political fortunes.

Here then is a modern man caught up in the confusing debate: is Islam compatible with modernity? Imran Khan has just proved that it is not.
Sridhar

#82 -- solitude jee -- arent we being a bit touchy about a simple enough question???