Zahir Ebrahim |
Project
Humanbeingsfirst.org
Wednesday,
December 11, 2019
Preamble
Late last night,
suffering from my usual insomnia when I do my most creative
intellectual work, I was 'googling' Shashi Tharoor to understand how
he acquired the super-manly courage to so eloquently stand up to the
racial Modi regime rapidly transforming a liberal India into a
fundamentalist Hindu-only state – in the mold of the handful of
courageous recovering Jews who have long stood up to the evil of
Zionism's Jews-only state but with zero impact, and here too fearing
the same outcome – I was pleasantly surprised to discover Dr.
Tharoor's autobiographical book Why
I am a Hindu. After hearing
him read from it in a presentation at the Hay Market forum explaining
Hinduism’s origins and its philosophical concepts, I have
ordered not just that book, but also his earlier book Inglorious
Empire: what the British did to India.
I
first understood Hinduism being fundamentally monotheist, singular
Creator of all that exists, when a Hindu mom at my children's
elementary school where I used to volunteer daily, surprised me with
that revelation during a deep conversation on spirituality,
explaining that all the many gods you see Hindus worshiping are
merely their imaginative representation of the singular root
Godhead's, the Creator's, many properties or characteristics
personified by man's limited imagination to make it more palatable to
conceptualizing the unconceptualizable God for the human mind. For,
indeed, that's also what Allah SWT's 99 names also represent, the
many properties or characteristics of God, the Creator.
So,
for instance, while Muslims call upon Allah as the Deity with the many
Names mentioned in the Holy Qur'an without using their imagination to personify those God
characteristics, the Hindu is a tad more imaginative and gives
physical representation to the Creator's otherwise unimaginable God
characteristics. And since they have no formal “Divine text”
prohibiting them to use their imagination thusly, Hinduism as 'the
way of life' has richly accumulated in its cultural moorings more
than three thousand five hundred years of imaginations representing the same one
Creator of all creation in differing manifestations, now totaling 33
million, depending on what aspect of God is being called upon as the
Deity by which human mind. That rich tapestry of human imaginations
still represent one, and only one, singular but unknowable Creator. And as Shashi Tharoor
elegantly summed its impact, quoting someone in his presentation, it
makes it easier for the Hindu mind to accept all other religions which do proclaim a Creator. And not
merely tolerate them! In the Hindu mind, as Tharoor put it, another religion's conception of God becomes
yet one more representation of the same Creator in Hinduism!
And
that's all the difference I actually saw right there and then in my
conversation with this lovely volunteer Hindu mom whose daughter was
in the same 4th grade class as my brood. To me, it appeared that the
Hindu mind was a bit more imaginative and unconstrained by Scripture than the Muslim mind, but was
essentially calling on the same singular Creator with many different
names just as Muslims call on Allah with the many names. Did that
make the Hindu polytheist?
After all,
Islam's Scripture, the “Divine text”, does state
categorically that the Creator sent Divine Guidance through
Messengers and Prophets to all peoples, all nations, and all
civilizations, in their own languages and social contexts.... but
stuff got lost, distorted, changed, adapted to cultures and
imaginations, etc. And Hinduism appears to be the longest
continuously living example of it, far older than the Semitic
religions which today is grandfathered in the Judaism of the Talmuds
(the Pentateuch given less importance by the Jews and more adopted by
the Christians as first part of Bible) and terminated in Islam. Even
reason begets just One Singular God, not polygods and polytheism, if
there is indeed a Creator that can be imagined philosophically by the
mind, as I have demonstrated in my chapter-length essay Some
Problems in Epistemology in Section
5 titled Limit Problem of Epistemology – The Hard
and Soft Limits to Knowing, using Gödel's incompleteness
theorem.
Fast forward
about twenty years to last night, the intellectual savant Dr. Shashi
Tharoor's rational characterization of Hinduism mirrored this
ordinary home-maker Hindu mom's in California, United States of
America, some two decades earlier. For the life of me I cannot recall
her name, but we used to talk almost daily on parenting things.
As
I was reflecting on how poorly Muslims understand Hindus and Hinduism
even today despite living with them for over a millennium, and ruling
over them for a good part of it until the British empire took over
for the last two hundred years of it, first plundering India and
reducing it to servitude, and during the imperial withdrawal
again decimating the subcontinent through arbitrary partitioning of
it in the red blood of the natives to prevent the colossal
land of 400 million peoples from ever rising to their natural level
of great potential and threatening the supremacy of the white Anglo
Saxon masters during their retrenchment from overt colonialism to
neocolonialism, Shashi Tharoor's conversation with the program
compere showed how even Hindus today are deceived in corrupting their
own 'deen', way of life, in the rising racial Hindu fundamentalism.
The Hindutava
doctrine closely mirrors Zionism in its quest for Lebensraum
of Eretz Yisrael in far more characteristics than it does Nazism that
the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has alluded to. Modi is
not a Nazi. Modi is a Zionist, and their stooge, using their methods
and political instruments to resettle the Hindu Lebensraum.
What Modi is preaching is no different in racial primacy and Hindu
national chauvinism than Rothschild Zionism invented by Moses Hess in
1828 (see Rome
and Jerusalem: A Study in Jewish Nationalism). I examined
Rothschild Zionism in its thirty-one continually evolving flavors in
my 2010 essay Palestine:
The Struggle Forward in my quest to understand all the forces
that had created the “Iron Wall” that Vladimir Jabotinsky
had referred to in his demagoguery-laced justification of the
morality of Zionism in his seminal 1923 article by that name.
The RSS doctrine
also invented in the early 1920s at about the same time as the
Zionist project was well underway, I wonder who pedigreed them then,
but it's doctrinal template
in that racial primacy and supremacy demagoguery hints of common
fingerprints. And just like Zionism was brought to power and aided
and abetted by forces outside Palestine, and which surrounded their
conquest and resettlement of Palestine by an “Iron wall”
which none could breach from within, and which still continues to
protect the ongoing occupation and ongoing resettlement with
genocidal cleansing, Modi's Hindutava has similar force-field
underwriting its attempted ethnic-cleansing of India of its
indigenous 250 million Muslim population. The scale is staggering. I
imagine until it is all a fait accompli, and then, ex post facto,
they shall come out in loud condemnation of it to pay lip-service to
their “non discrimination” and “secular humanism”
mantra. Even the UN is a willing accomplice by their notable
silence
(archived)
as well as nonsilence
(archived).
For this international vassal for projecting the oligarchic “will
to power” driving both Lebensraums, to speak or not
speak is all the same.
In any case, I
eagerly await Amazon sending me Tharoor's book Why I am a Hindu.
As I reflect on my own belief system and activism, I have to say that
I thank my stars that I am a Muslim, and I have previously explained
Why I am a Muslim. Mirroring Dr. Shashi Tharoor's templated
commonsense response to why he is a Hindu for the most basic reason,
he was born into a Hindu home, I had written in the Epilogue 2019 of
my latest book The
Pakistan Decapitation Papers 2019: A Report on the Banality of Evil,
on pages 643-644 of Volume II:
Begin
Quote
But
first, I wish to establish a template. I begin with thanking Allah
SWT that He made me a human being (not an animal); gave me all
functioning parts (not handicap); made me ba-baseerat (not an
imbecile); endowed me with an intellect that searches for truth in
all matters (not indoctrinated); raised me in my parents' home which
made me a Muslim by socialization (could have been born in a Zionist
or pagan home). My home not just acquainted me with the Ahlul Bayt of
the Prophet of Islam and Imam Hussein (as) from birth as the
Exemplars and Imams of Islam from whom we take our understanding of
the meaning of the Holy Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet of
Islam (in principle), but also indelibly carved their love into my
heart, into my very being (just as I love my parents). Beyond
socialization, I am neither Shia nor Sunni, but only trying to be
Muslim (minus the crippled epistemology) as human being first that I
was fashioned in (ahsan-e-taqweem), and wish to die Muslim
(InshaAllah). I could just as easily have been born on the other side
of the railroad tracks... and deprived of these rich bounties and
propensities. I am the fortunate of history. Alhamdolillah.
End
Quote
Dr.
Shashi Tharoor of course went on in that presentation to read from
his book why he was consciously a practicing Hindu, and the degree of
his own choice in the matter for being proud of being a Hindu, and
the reasons for it, including the principal reason why he now had to
publicly write about his beliefs in such an autobiographical book as
a moral calling against the criminal doctrine that his beloved India
and his beloved 'deen' were being subjected to by Hindutava. All of
which, by the way, I can easily relate to and applaud him for.
As I reflect on
Tharoor's courage and his engagement with that extreme evil to
counter it – rather than stand aside looking from the side just
as the Germans did when Hitler had come to power and was sending the
Jews to the concentration camps, and just as the world does today as
the Zionist Jews have turned the Palestinians' own homeland into a
giant concentration camp which the British journalist John Pilger
incisively titled in his 2007 missive Looking
to the side, from Belsen to Gaza, and the same applies to
what Hindutava chauvinist Modi has done to Kashmir and is maintaining
as a giant concentration camp for the indigenous Kashmiri Muslims to
the thunderous sounds of silence emanating not just from among the
1.6 to 2 billion holy and pious Muslims worldwide, but to the
thunderous sounds of silence of the 7.8 to 8 billion world public at
large as well – this morning I too feel compelled to simply
re-title my nearly a decade old original essay written in the same
mold, Islam
and Knowledge vs Socialization, to Why I am a Muslim.
I am just as
consciously glad for my own birth-gift as Shashi Tharoor is for his
birth-gift. In my case, because my birth-affinity is to a noble world
religion that empowers me to take on tyranny, primacy, evil, and
there is indeed a conception of the “well-lived life” in
its doctrine. Surah
Asr characterizes it as the “life which is not at a
loss”, or the “good-life” as Shashi Tharoor called
it in his presentation, and which he averred has no parallel in
Hinduism. I am proud to be part of a religion that indeed has such a
conception, irrespective of the question of reward and punishment
immanent in Islam. “Life which is not at a loss”
naturally resonates with my moral calling as a categorical
imperative, just as the “liberalism” in Hinduism
naturally resonates with Dr. Tharoor as his moral calling motivating
him to stand up to any subversion of it.
Why
I am a Muslim beyond the fact that I was born a Muslim, just as why
Shashi Tharoor is a Hindu beyond his birth-gift, why I run Project
Humanbeingsfirst, why I continually seek Allah's help to empower me,
to strengthen me to continually wage the greatest struggle against
evil, the one within me, my own shortcomings, my own failings, which
Islam has called “jihad-un-nafs”, and the overcoming of
which is both the necessary and sufficient precondition for all
societal good to naturally follow when it aggregates in the
collective, including the society's collective jihad against all that
is evil in the world, and why it's not happening, nor has it happened
since time immemorial, and despite all the moral platitudes from time
immemorial that mankind has memorized in its idiomatic memory as
clichés to reproduce in show of piety while the world burns
under the guns of primacy, is in the essay now retitled to Why I
am a Muslim. While I shall be
reading Shashi Tharoor's writing and be inspired by it, InshaAllah
(that just means if my time is not up before then, for we all have a
rendezvous with death and only God, the
Creator, I believe knows when we shall leave this frail body made of
dust to continue our soul's journey onward), I can only hope that he
shall read mine.
Why
I am a Muslim (was Islam and Knowledge vs. Socialization)
Is
Islam the Problem for which Secular Humanism is pitched as the
Solution or Is Primacy the Problem for which Islam is the only
Solution?
By
Zahir Ebrahim | Project
Humanbeingsfirst.org
I
sometimes like to tee off my writings on the human condition from the
opinions I hear being expressed among the common man, in the
grapevine, or in the news media. The quoted perspective below is from
an unknown website written by an anonymous person. It expresses the
seeds of a crucially pertinent topic to the human condition which is
examined in considerable depth in this article.
'On
occasions, I feel Muslims ‘lose’ something when it comes
to religion. I am speaking about the second last prophet Jesus or Isa
(E-sa) peace be upon him. ... My general opinion of Muslims is that
they tend to take on a facile view of Christianity ... I get the
feeling that this may be because: If an increase in discussions by
Muslims of Jesus (pbuh) were to take place, it would be perceived as
“being Christian”.' ---- article [1]
The
interesting perspective embodied in that quote which inspired me to
address this issue, is along the lines which reduce to the following
empiricism: Human beings in general don't tend to appreciate what is
not part of one's own socialization. Furthermore, with suitable
inculcation, this lack of appreciation can span the gamut of behavior
from remaining largely indifferent to being outright antagonistic to
what's not perceived as one's own. The limit of that of course being
intense doctrinal hatred and warfare.
This
is pretty much a universal trait. An observable universal truism if
there is one. And just as applicable to one as to another.
Upon
this truism is the manipulative jingoism of antiquity to modernity
constructed. We see this from tribalism to ethnocentrism,
sectarianism to religionism, racism to culturalism, and nationalism
to patriotism.
It
is even the basis of the following formulation in Zbigniew
Brzezinski's The Grand Chessboard – American Primacy and Its
Geostrategic Imperatives:
|
“More
generally, cultural change in America may also be uncongenial to
the sustained exercise abroad of genuinely imperial power. That
exercise requires a high degree of doctrinal motivation,
intellectual commitment, and patriotic gratification.” The
Grand Chessboard – American Primacy And Its Geostrategic
Imperatives, pgs. 211-212
|
I
mention that not to needlessly digress, but only to point out the
universality of the principle that the seeding theme being responded
to and developed, has outlined just one instance of.
It
is one thing for an outsider to not appreciate what's not theirs, or
be only superficially familiar with it based on vicarious sources, as
in my internet-confrere Peter Meyer's musings on the template of
Bertrand Russell's uber finger to the Church: Why I am not a
Christian, in: Why
I am not a Muslim.
Surely, Peter may be forgiven his absurd understanding of Islam –
since he is evidently on a life-long journey of truth-discovery if
his website is any evidence, and like Kim, is still searching for his
own River of the Arrow – when he makes the following
facile observations of what is not part of his own heritage:
“As
a young man, since I was a seeker after spiritual truth, I read much
about religion and the various religions, including Islam, and thus I
discovered Sufism (or at least, that there was a spiritual tradition
of that name). I read about the Sufi quest for union with the divine,
which appealed to me (and which is considered heretical by orthodox
Muslims).
I
also discovered the beauty of Islamic art. The geometrical designs
found in Islamic art and architecture are a wonder, and some grand
mosques (especially when illuminated at night) are beautiful to see.
However, as noted previously, the beauty of the art (and
architecture) of a religion is not evidence of the truth of its
doctrines.
When
one examines how Muslims live and act there are are good and bad
features. The good is that there is a strict code of ethics,
according to which good Muslims are honest, reliable, fair, generous
and considerate of others; they do not lie, cheat or steal. Fine. I
wish everyone was like that.
On
the other hand, Muslims act this way (if they do) because they are
are following a strict code of conduct (not just a code of ethics)
which tells them how to act in all situations. There is not just a
Muslim way to pray (which, in the case of the Sunnis, is the same in
all mosques from Casablanca to Jakarta) there is also a Muslim way to
do anything (including defecating). This code of conduct, which
regulates the behavior of a strict Muslim in every way (Islam
is thus a totalitarian religion), is modeled on the life
of the Prophet Muhammad and subsequent Muslim religious leaders. If
Muhammad did something in a certain way then that must be the right
way to do it and as a good Muslim one must do it that way. Thus in
Muslim societies cats are looked upon with favor but dogs are not
(consequently cats far outnumber dogs) because Muhammad supposedly
liked cats but disliked dogs.”
Then
he makes some perceptive observations of the state of the Muslims:
“ "Islam"
means "submission", more exactly, submission to the will of
God (Allah), and a "Muslim" is "one who submits".
One who submits has thus given control of his life over to something
else, in this case, to the decrees of the mullahs who interpret the
Koran and to the social customs characteristic of Islamic societies.
A Muslim is thus not a free person. It is thus hard to see how anyone
who values their freedom could remain a Muslim, still less convert to
that religion.
Muslims
are fatalists, since they believe that everything happens according
to the will of God, and nothing happens unless God wills it
(Inshallah). This is a prescription for the abrogation of personal
responsibility. Strictly speaking, one cannot be held responsible for
one's actions if everything happens because Allah wills it to be so.
(Of course, this does not prevent thieves being punished under sharia
law by having their right hand cut off — actually quite a
deterrent to potential thieves.) And if something doesn't go
according to plan, well, it's the will of Allah. Maybe tomorrow,
Inshallah.
Islam
is a grim religion. Of the five religions considered here,
Islam is the most intolerant and the most puritanical. (A puritan is
someone who worries constantly that someone, somewhere, may be having
a good time.) In January 2010 Malaysia's "Islamic morality
police" arrested dozens of Muslims for the crime of "khalwat",
or "close proximity", under a sharia law that prohibits
Muslims from being alone with a member of the opposite sex before
marriage.”
Then
he comically concludes with (I could only laugh until tears poured
out):
“There
is simply no evidence of the existence of Allah beyond the assertions
of Muhammad and the claims of all those since him who have believed
what he said. It is said that Muhammad received revelations, claimed
to be from Allah. These were spoken to Muhammad by an entity named
"Gabriel" and subsequently codified in the form of the
Koran. (Actually, on his first appearance, Gabriel showed Muhummad a
book, and asked him to read. But apparently Gabriel or Allah was not
aware, or had forgotten, that the future Prophet was illiterate. So
Muhammad had to memorize what Gabriel said to him.) But if all who
hear voices were to found religions then we would have more religions
than we could count.”
Nothing
need be said for that convoluted conclusion. To each their own.
Perhaps Peter might change his mind if he reads this. One thing in
Peter's favor is that he is a genuine seeker and that is his genuine
opinion. He is not shilling for a master. Peter Meyer is quite open
about his biases and his preferences as a life-long social justice
activist. Having interacted with Peter for years, and having read and
talked with him about his experiments with Ayahuasca and at Esalen
Institute, that is my sense. I learn interesting things from him,
like I do from almost everyone else interesting I encounter on planet
internet. It would be rather boring to constantly run into oneself.
Peter Meyer
is a template of the harmless outsider looking at the “other”
in search of “truth” and we shall say goodbye to him
(unless he publishes a propaganda book based on his crippled
epistemology). In contrast, we have an insider turned “native
informant” also claiming to be in search of “truth”,
Dr. Khalid Sohail, formerly of Pakistan, now living in Canada and
practicing the healing arts, as well as his poetry, upon mental pains
in psychologically dysfunctional patients as a “Creative
Psychotherapist”. Very laudable indeed. In my many
conversations with him until he broke it off, I learnt to admire his
genuine concern for his patients. His Green Zone therapy is a good
model. However, Dr. Sohail's book with a great catchy title betrays
everything about him in one short heading: From
Islam to Secular Humanism.
I tried my best to engage him on the subject. His entire suite of
writings in that domain to me reeks of Uncle Tom, a House
Nigger echoing what is popular with the massa. But I am sure he
believes in it, in which case his silence betrays him. I kept calling
him out on his omissions and his absurd emphasis on ignoring the
shitting-trumpeting elephant in the bedroom, until he stopped writing
to me and replying to my emails. Oh well.
If
I ignore this aspect of his disingenuous psyche and his penchant for
pseudo philosophy whereby he cannot hold a logical conversation in
counterpoint with anyone who isn't exactly an imbecile, and quickly
runs away preferring to preach to the choir instead, I actually find
his work in psychotherapy most endearing. Many a time I had offered
to put myself on his couch! And he had also invited me to have a meal
with him if I visited Canada. Until he stopped speaking to me that
is. I imagine the invite is long canceled. I am still happy to get on
his therapist couch (or chair) though! And I hope that despite
everything, he would become open to a scrutinizing examination of his
inimical views on Islam and his lopsided views on current affairs to
check their validity in the light of factual analysis by one who is
not among his choir, but is fair and not prejudiced against those who
don't think like him. How boring would that be, to only talk to
people we agreed with, or to rows of cabbages; pretty soon we'd be
reduced to quoting ourselves!
Dr. Khalid
Sohail is the unfortunate template of the useful idiot House
Nigger
who shills for the massa and his core axioms; who carries the
white man's burden with greater zeal than the white man; is more
white than the white man; and deprecates what was once his own like
any good Native Informant who is celebrated in his new group
as their new insider for his adverse “expert” opinion of
the other to which he once belonged. (Late)
Dr. Professor Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins immediately springs to
mind as the Olympic gold winner in this endeavor (see Dream Palace of
the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey; and The Native Informant: Fouad
Ajami is the Pentagon's favorite Arab, By Adam Shatz April 10, 2003).
Paraded daily in the American mainstream newsmedia as the Pentagon's
favorite Arab expert on the Middle East in the aftermath of 9/11 and
harnessed for furthering
the doctrinal motivation
for America's invasion of Iraq in 2003, house niggers may look
at themselves in the despicable mirror of this Arab
World's Negro
who was staged into willingly becoming the prized useful idiot
native
informant
for the massa, to help their own selves recognize their own
roles.
Holding
mirror to the blind is of course never productive. That's okay for we
must all sleep in the bed we make. Except that in this case, Secular
Humanism is the bane of civilization. It is a bed that all of us
shall be compelled to sleep in by the fiat of law and the force of
cultural persuasion. It is a cancer that must be unceremoniously
exorcised before it metastizes any further into our societies.
For the
wannabe social philosopher Dr. Khalid Sohail to not see that Secular
Humanism cunningly underwrites Primacy and Social Darwinianism by
removing all Divine standards of morality (see Morality
derived from the Intellect leads to Enslavement!,
Atheism
and Social Justice a Non Sequitur,
Axioms
of Secular Humanism and Why It Must Lead to Primacy By Definition),
is him only being disingenuous as the house nigger, nothing
more. It is my observation that the good doctor enjoys being the tool
of empire – for all the accolades and worldwide visibility he
gets with it. Too bad princess Malala trumped him on the Nobel peace
prize racket as the worthy
victim of the baddies
--- there is still open opportunity though, as Dr. Khalid Sohail's
template is of that same ilk. There is a long line of these useful
idiots in the waiting for their earthly reward for their great
show of selective humanitarianism in the service of empire (see How
to win the Nobel Peace Prize).
We
shall say goodbye to the kindly faced Dr. Khalid Sohail as well, for
we don't much care for the secular humanist's kind of compassionate
concern for humanity that is templated on being Summun Bukmun
Umyun on the highest order bit of the matter, Primacy of
Empire. Even if the River of the Arrow (in Rudyard
Kipling's Kim) runs in front of them, this type who proclaim to be
after their own “truth” will quickly turn away pretending
it isn't there. Sad. For, as a psychotherapist, I'd love to be on Dr.
Khalid Sohail's creative couch – who doesn't need a therapist
in these times! It is indeed rare to find a free-thinker among
Muslims. But strangely, these supposed avant-garde in intellectual
thought tend to run from me the moment they find out I am not in
their incestuous choir. Am I so bad, Sohail? Six feet under, we meet
the maggots regardless of what we believed, whom we shilled for, and
what “truths” we told or held dear. Talk to me! Journey
with me... we are on the same damn train of life with the same
destination. Come by my cabin. I tried yours but you wouldn't open
the door.
Before
moving on to examine facile worldviews in more depth and to the
self-realization of its divorcement from reality when one acquires
some ma'arifat of the subject, a meaningful distinction
between the useful idiot “native informant” vs.
the “reformer” or “truth teller” seeking
“social justice”, must be clearly drawn such that none
are confused as to why is the template of Peter Meyer only a
“harmless” activist when he has such inimical views on
Islam, i.e., his caricature of Islam epitomizes facile, and why is
the template of Dr. Khalid Sohail a pernicious “native
informant” behind the transparent facade of selective
“humanitarian” and “reformer” when he so
boldly announces his inordinate love affair with the suffering
humanity?
These are
two different and distinct behavioral templates: one a brave soldier
for truth (as he or she sees it, but may differ with you), and the
other a Trojan horse, a house nigger propagandist shilling for
the massa, often even unaware that he has become the massa's
representative to his own people. The latter template does not see
the monumental crimes of the massa. It only finds fault with
his or her own brethren, the field niggers, for their malaise,
subjugation, corruption, vice, and social-intellectual-moral
backwardness. Whereas, the former template calls it as he or she sees
it even under the threat of hemlock, minus any crippled
epistemology. I.e., he or she may be genuinely mistaken, but does not
suffer from the psychosis of inferiority or superiority complex, nor
caters to the narratives of power, nor regurgitates its axioms and
presuppositions. Peter Meyer does not give a blank check, or any
check, to the white man's burden, to its noble lies, to
its primacy imperatives. A visit to Peter Meyer's website
serendipity.li
makes that readily apparent. The latter template pretends the white
man's burden does not exist while often participating in some
aspects of it. Dr. Khalid Sohail's intellectual template has been
amply and accurately deconstructed in the FAQ:
What is an Intellectual Negro?.
A visit to Dr. Khalid Sohail's website drsohail.com
and even a cursory glance at his “creations”, “his
love letters to humanity”, as he calls his overly-simplistic
writings, prima facie validates that ignoble characterization of his
pious labors that appear to aid and abet only the massa's
primacy and its imperatives.
In
our modernity with the phenomenal rise in supremacy of Western
civilization and its norms that is rapidly replacing indigenous
values and norms worldwide, the Muslim body-politic has become
mortally infected by the house nigger virus. There appears to
be no easy cure for this malady. A revealing diagnosis of this
infection was made in the 1960s book “Occidentosis:
A Plague From the West”
by the iconoclast Iranian littérateur, Jalal Al-i Ahmad, who
called it Gharbzadagi in Persian, or Westoxification in
English. “The
Art and Science of Co-option”
appears to actively protect its dispersion and survival in one form
or another spanning the gamut of persuasion from Left to Right. Its
only benign cure is to induce metanoia (a gestalt
shift in thinking, a reorientation of perspective leading to an
internal transformation, a change of heart). The other methods to rid
society of this plague are not easily contemplatable, but Dickens'
fictional character from his rendition of the French Revolution,
Madame Defarge, with her knitting needles keeps jumping to mind. All
civilization and all social order is cataclysmically altered in the
wake of such mass turbulence. It throws the baby out with the bath
water. In our Machiavellian modernity, such cataclysms are
manufactured synthetically using Hegelian Dialectic: fashioning
opposites and getting them to battle it out wherein all participants
are made sacrificial useful idiots to destroy what is existent
and entrenched, in order to raise the phoenix from its ashes.
To takeout Divine religions, secularism is the Hegelian Dialectic.
The outcome sought is World Order in which the public mind is
obedient to the superstate, its norms, values and styles
standardized, and the global society organized in some form of
scientific caste hierarchy. Just look around us and one sees its
fingerprints everywhere. China's CCP state control of the public mind
and behavior is its closest experimental template today of a Godless
capitalist state's full spectrum control of public and private life
where the state has replaced god, and the people willingly consent to
its supremacy.
The Face of Religion of Islam in the Holy Qur'an
Recognizing
this innate psychological trait of mankind of having natural affinity
with one's own kind when one is not laboring under any inferiority
complex, (one presumes) is why the author of the Qur'an, which
Muslims of course believe is the Creator (while other's believe was a
lunatic), makes an extraordinary pronouncement on this very topic in
Surah Al-Maeda – behold the unmatched principle of Pluralism
and Multi-culturalism that is integral to the Holy Qur'an
– and they dare to burn this Book(!), dare to revile and
caricaturize this template for exemplary behavior among mankind (!):
|
It was
We who revealed the Torah (to Moses); therein was guidance and
light. By its standard have been judged the Jews, by the Prophet
who bowed (as in Islam) to Allah’s will, by the Rabbis and
the Doctors of Law: for to them was entrusted the protection of
Allah’s Book, and they were witnesses thereto: therefore
fear not men, but fear Me, and sell not My Signs for a miserable
price. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath
revealed, they are (no better than) Unbelievers. (5:44)
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إِنَّا
أَنْزَلْنَا
التَّوْرَاةَ
فِيهَا هُدًى
وَنُورٌ ۚ
يَحْكُمُ بِهَا
النَّبِيُّونَ
الَّذِينَ
أَسْلَمُوا
لِلَّذِينَ
هَادُوا
وَالرَّبَّانِيُّونَ
وَالْأَحْبَارُ
بِمَا اسْتُحْفِظُوا
مِنْ كِتَابِ
اللَّهِ وَكَانُوا
عَلَيْهِ
شُهَدَاءَ ۚ
فَلَا تَخْشَوُا
النَّاسَ
وَاخْشَوْنِ
وَلَا تَشْتَرُوا
بِآيَاتِي
ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا
ۚ وَمَنْ لَمْ
يَحْكُمْ بِمَا
أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ
فَأُولَٰئِكَ
هُمُ الْكَافِرُونَ
|
|
We
ordained therein for them: “Life
for life, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for
tooth, and wounds equal for equal.”
But if anyone remits the retaliation by way of charity, it is
an act of atonement for himself. And if any fail to judge by (the
light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than)
wrong-doers. (5:45)
|
وَكَتَبْنَا
عَلَيْهِمْ
فِيهَا أَنَّ
النَّفْسَ
بِالنَّفْسِ
وَالْعَيْنَ
بِالْعَيْنِ
وَالْأَنْفَ
بِالْأَنْفِ
وَالْأُذُنَ
بِالْأُذُنِ
وَالسِّنَّ
بِالسِّنِّ
وَالْجُرُوحَ
قِصَاصٌ ۚ فَمَنْ
تَصَدَّقَ
بِهِ فَهُوَ
كَفَّارَةٌ
لَهُ ۚ وَمَنْ
لَمْ يَحْكُمْ
بِمَا أَنْزَلَ
اللَّهُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ
هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ
|
|
And in
their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the law
that had come before him: We sent him the Gospel: therein was
guidance and light, and confirmation of the law that had come
before him: a guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah.
(5:46)
|
وَقَفَّيْنَا
عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمْ
بِعِيسَى ابْنِ
مَرْيَمَ
مُصَدِّقًا
لِمَا بَيْنَ
يَدَيْهِ مِنَ
التَّوْرَاةِ
ۖ وَآتَيْنَاهُ
الْإِنْجِيلَ
فِيهِ هُدًى
وَنُورٌ وَمُصَدِّقًا
لِمَا بَيْنَ
يَدَيْهِ مِنَ
التَّوْرَاةِ
وَهُدًى وَمَوْعِظَةً
لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
|
|
Let the
people of the Gospel Judge by what Allah hath revealed therein.
If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath
revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel. (5:47)
|
وَلْيَحْكُمْ
أَهْلُ الْإِنْجِيلِ
بِمَا أَنْزَلَ
اللَّهُ فِيهِ
ۚ وَمَنْ لَمْ
يَحْكُمْ بِمَا
أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ
فَأُولَٰئِكَ
هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ
|
|
To
thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture
that came before it, and guarding it in safety; so judge between
them by what Allah hath revealed, and follow not their vain
desires, diverging from the Truth that hath come to thee.
To
each among you have We prescribed a Law and an Open Way.
If
Allah had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but
(His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you: so
strive as in a race in all virtues.
The
goal of you all is to Allah; it is He that will show you the
truth of the matters in which ye dispute. (5:48)
Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Maeda 5:44-48
|
وَأَنْزَلْنَا
إِلَيْكَ
الْكِتَابَ
بِالْحَقِّ
مُصَدِّقًا
لِمَا بَيْنَ
يَدَيْهِ مِنَ
الْكِتَابِ
وَمُهَيْمِنًا
عَلَيْهِ ۖ
فَاحْكُمْ
بَيْنَهُمْ
بِمَا أَنْزَلَ
اللَّهُ ۖ وَلَا
تَتَّبِعْ
أَهْوَاءَهُمْ
عَمَّا جَاءَكَ
مِنَ الْحَقِّ
ۚ لِكُلٍّ
جَعَلْنَا
مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً
وَمِنْهَاجًا
ۚ وَلَوْ شَاءَ
اللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ
أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً
وَلَٰكِنْ
لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ
فِي مَا آتَاكُمْ
ۖ فَاسْتَبِقُوا
الْخَيْرَاتِ
ۚ إِلَى اللَّهِ
مَرْجِعُكُمْ
جَمِيعًا
فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ
بِمَا كُنْتُمْ
فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ
|
Caption
Holy Qur'an Surah Al-Maeda verses 5:44-48 on Islam's fundamental
acceptance of plurality of beliefs, and its enjoining mankind
to strive for good alone as in a race in all virtues, while staying
within their own socialized belief systems. Observe that there is no
“saving” by conversion in Islam as in the religion of the
Christian; and there is also no everlasting certificate of virtue as
“god's chosen people” as in the religion of the Jew; and
nor any class hierarchy by birth as in the “karma”
infused religion of rebirth of the Hindu. Mankind in Islam is judged
by his and her acts alone, of both commission and omission, as per
the Qur'anic Accountability Equation: Output / Input. How much more
egalitarian, and explicit, can Islam's singular scripture, the Holy
Qur'an, be? And yet, the incessant propaganda barrage against Islam
and its noble Messenger, as in the FBI training presentation graph
(see The face of Jews' Islam
“violent Islam” below), as in “International
Burn a Quran Day” (see Christian pastor Terry Jones below),
continually succeeds among the “information-age” soaked
Western minds – just as indifference, apathy, and fatalism of
“god is running the world”, continually succeeds among
the religion-soaked Muslim minds. Facile? Or, the veritable success
of perception management by The
Mighty Wurlitzer
( http://tinyurl.com/mightywurlitzer
)?
And
to ensure that the point is not lost here, permit me to highlight the
solution-space outlined in the above passage by none other than the
presumed Almighty Creator of mankind: “To each among you have
We prescribed a Law and an Open Way. If Allah had so willed, He would
have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what
He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of
you all is to Allah; it is He that will show you the truth of the
matters in which ye dispute.”
The
Author of the Qur'an is in fact most emphatic about “matters
in which ye dispute”:
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And in
whatever thing you differ, its decision is unto God. Holy Qur’an,
Surah Ash-Shura 42:10
|
وَمَا
ٱخۡتَلَفۡتُمۡ
فِيهِ مِن شَىۡءٍ۬
فَحُكۡمُهُ
ۥۤ إِلَى ٱللَّهِۚ
|
If
one were to judiciously extract the core first-principle from that
straightforward and explicit multicultural pronouncement, while also
observing that:
- the Author of the Holy Qur'an affirms that It did not deny Its Message or Its Messengers to any among mankind (even though only a very few are explicitly mentioned in the Holy Qur'an such as in Surah Al-Maeda 5:44-48 above):
|
And
verily We have raised in every nation a messenger, (proclaiming):
Serve Allah and shun false gods. Holy Qur’an, Surah An-Nahl
16:36
;
|
وَلَقَدْ
بَعَثْنَا
فِي كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ
رَسُولًا أَنِ
اعْبُدُوا
اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُوا
الطَّاغُوتَ
|
|
And for
every nation there is a messenger. And when their messenger
cometh (on the Day of Judgment) it will be judged between them
fairly, and they will not be wronged. Holy Qur’an, Surah
Yunus 10:47
;
|
وَلِكُلِّ
أُمَّةٍ رَسُولٌ
ۖ فَإِذَا جَاءَ
رَسُولُهُمْ
قُضِيَ بَيْنَهُمْ
بِالْقِسْطِ
وَهُمْ لَا
يُظْلَمُونَ
|
|
Surely
We have sent you with the Truth as a bearer of good news and a
warner; and there is not a people but a warner has gone among
them. Holy Qur’an, Surah Faatir 35:24
;
|
إِنَّا
أَرْسَلْنَاكَ
بِالْحَقِّ
بَشِيرًا
وَنَذِيرًا
ۚ وَإِنْ مِنْ
أُمَّةٍ إِلَّا
خَلَا فِيهَا
نَذِيرٌ
|
- and that furthermore, the Author of the Holy Qur'an even requires anyone who accepts Its teachings to also accept all Its past Revelations to all peoples as an article of faith:
|
And who
believe in that which has been revealed to you and that which was
revealed before you and they are sure of the hereafter. Holy
Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqara 2:4
;
|
وَالَّذِينَ
يُؤْمِنُونَ
بِمَا أُنْزِلَ
إِلَيْكَ وَمَا
أُنْزِلَ مِنْ
قَبْلِكَ
وَبِالْآخِرَةِ
هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ
|
one
would discover a most progressive and natural principle of freedom of
choice that is universally applicable to all of mankind, to peoples
of all beliefs, and to peoples of no belief:
- [to] mind one's own business for what one does not feel is one's own, as in the case of what's outside one's own sphere of socialization; and
- [to] compete with each other in virtuous conduct as in a race in all virtues ( فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ Surah Al-Maeda 5:48) rather than theological upmanship of whose understanding of religion is the greatest!
In
my humble view, this is simply outstanding, nay, mind-blowingly
progressive and liberal advocacy of mutual tolerance to a fractious
mankind that is psychologically prone to tribalism, ethnocentrism,
the modern version of it being nationalism – all by the natural
artifact of birth and socialization into a tribe, religion, and
nation!
By the
admission of the Author of the above verses, it is by design that the
Creator made mankind into separate peoples, tribes and nations, and
gave each of them their own localized affiliations and emotional
attachments: “If Allah had so willed,
He would have made you a single people” ( أُمَّةً۬
وَٲحِدَةً۬
Surah
Al-Maeda 5:48). The Author proclaims that it is He Who deliberately
Fashioned man in due proportion in the best of form:
|
لَقَدْ
خَلَقْنَا
الْإِنْسَانَ
فِي أَحْسَنِ
تَقْوِيمٍ
|
|
|
He Who
has made everything which He has created most good: He began the
creation of man with (nothing more than) clay, (32:07)
|
ٱلَّذِىٓ
أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ
شَىْءٍ خَلَقَهُۥ
ۖ وَبَدَأَ
خَلْقَ ٱلْإِنسَٰنِ
مِن طِينٍ
|
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ثُمَّ
جَعَلَ نَسْلَهُۥ
مِن سُلَٰلَةٍ
مِّن مَّآءٍ
مَّهِينٍ
|
|
|
But He
fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him something
of His spirit. And He gave you (the faculties of) hearing and
sight and feeling (and understanding): little thanks do ye give!
(Surah As-Sajdah 32:09)
|
ثُمَّ
سَوَّىٰهُ
وَنَفَخَ فِيهِ
مِن رُّوحِهِۦ
ۖ وَجَعَلَ
لَكُمُ ٱلسَّمْعَ
وَٱلْأَبْصَٰرَ
وَٱلْأَفْـِٔدَةَ
ۚ قَلِيلًا
مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ
|
Caption
Surah As-Sajdah verses 32:7-9 declaring that the Author of the Holy
Qur'an fashioned man in due proportion (and not as a random event),
Surah Al-T'in
95:4 declaring man is created in the best of form.
Therefore,
when “He fashioned him in due proportion in the best of moulds,
and breathed into him something of His spirit. And He gave you (the
faculties of) hearing and sight and feeling (and understanding)”,
He surely must also Know the psychological bent of every human mind,
borne of its natural socialization and cultural programming due to
being born in a specific nation and specific tribe. The Author
therefore also Knows the “fitrat”, i.e., nature, of every
man and woman. Specifically, what he and she is most susceptible to.
Only because of this empirical fact of natural socialization by birth
that the Author of the Holy Qur'an strongly Countenances the pursuit
of: فَاسْتَبِقُوا
الْخَيْرَاتِ
, instead of
theological upmanship, clearly predicating that the human mind which
He Fashioned in due proportion, and which He Knows well, in its most
natural state will face grave difficulty overcoming its socialized
programming without expending considerable striving!
Of
course, when own looks at evolutionary biology and social psychology,
that is also the natural outcome of how mankind has developed from
many different tribes and nations across the earth.
And
the Author of the Holy Qur'an provides guidance du jour taking
empiricism of mankind's present and future condition into account,
while also inexplicably asserting that in the past, mankind was but
one people (arguably suggesting a single social source of mankind
before its geographic spread on earth into tribes and nations):
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Mankind
was but one nation, but differed (later). Had it not been for a
Word that went forth before from thy Lord, their differences
would have been settled between them. Holy Qur'an, Surah Yunus
10:19
|
وَمَا
كَانَ النَّاسُ
إِلَّا أُمَّةً
وَاحِدَةً
فَاخْتَلَفُوا
ۚ وَلَوْلَا
كَلِمَةٌ سَبَقَتْ
مِنْ رَبِّكَ
لَقُضِيَ
بَيْنَهُمْ
فِيمَا فِيهِ
يَخْتَلِفُونَ
|
What
is apparent from even these few quoted verses in accurate and full
context of the Holy Qur'an, is that for all future times from its
Last Messenger's revelation of the Holy Qur'an, which was itself
declared by the Author of the Holy Qur'an as the completion of its
favors and the perfection of its religion which it named “Islam”
(see verse 5:3 Surah Al-Maeda below), the Holy Qur'an unequivocally
accepts, and guarantees, diversity of beliefs based on the natural
artifacts of individual and group socialization!
Contrast
the aforementioned principled understanding of the religion of Islam
which unequivocally enjoins mankind to “strive as in a race in
all virtues” in its singular scripture the Holy Qur'an, to the
propaganda manual of the prominent Anglo-American Jew, Professor
Bernard Lewis of Princeton University: Crisis of Islam – Holy
War and Unholy Terror. Billed in the West as “a leading Western
scholar of Islam”, [a] the “vulgar propagandist”,
[b] and the obvious heir apparent to Dr. Joseph Goebbels for the
construction of the present global Fourth Reich, namely, one-world
government, speciously devoted much verbiage to Islam's
“Triumphalism” in order to scare the Western public mind
into waging West's perpetual “war on terror” against
“Islamofascism”! The FBI training presentation titled
“Militancy Considerations” made by another Jew to
America's foremost law enforcement agency to poison their mind
against Islam and American Muslims (see below), not to forget the
likes of America's favorite Christian pastor burning a copy of the
Holy Qur'an in Florida while proclaiming “Islam is of the
Devil” to further embellish the propaganda line on West's “war
on terror” (also see below), all have an imposing propaganda
pedigree to be sure! What is perhaps the saddest and the most
despicable fact in all this is that many Muslim intellectuals
worldwide, men and women of arts, science, and letters, not to forget
statesmen and politicians, have become a willing appendage of this
Western perception management of the public mind as the inveterate
House
Niggers and Uncle Toms
of empire
( http://tinyurl.com/faq-intellectual-negro ).
( http://tinyurl.com/faq-intellectual-negro ).
Whereas
the Holy Qur'an itself proclaims: if you don't prefer the message of
Islam, no problem – “there is no compulsion in religion”
(see verse 2:256 Surah Al-Baqara below). Follow the guides, imams,
prophets, that were sent to your own people and on the Day of
Judgment, declares the Holy Qur'an: “One day We shall call
together all human beings with their (respective) Imams” (see
verse 17:71 Surah al-Israa' below) and “it will be judged
between them fairly, and they will not be wronged.” (see verse
10:47 Surah Yunus above).
The clear
message of the Holy Qur'an to everyone among mankind, Muslim and non
Muslim, whatever sect, whatever ethnicity, whatever nation, and
whatever epoch, is to compete for virtuous conduct ( فَاسْتَبِقُوا
الْخَيْرَاتِ
) amongst
themselves – not for resources, not for territories, not for
hegemony, and not power!
The
Holy Qur'an continually harkens mankind towards dealing with each
other in full justice, even unequivocally averring that God loves
those who are just and deal equitably with each other:
|
For
Allah loveth those who judge in equity. Holy Qur'an Surah
Al-Maeda 5:42
|
إِنَّ
اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ
الْمُقْسِطِينَ
|
That
straightforwardly puts to rest all religious and sectarian arguments
for all times! Just that much is sufficient to both repel all
propaganda against Islam, and eliminate all internecine fracture
points and facile views among Muslims. But we have only just begun.
The
obvious overarching point to ponder here is that why go through all
this repetition once again if justice among mankind is the core
first-principle the Holy Qur'an is teaching for mankind's conduct
amongst each other? Everything else of course naturally follows from
that core first-principle. But it is not a new or unfamiliar concept.
The
following Biblical Commandment from antiquity was, and still is, at
least in my view, both complete and sufficient for governing the
peaceable, equitable, and virtuous conduct of mankind:
|
“Do
unto Others as you have others do unto you.” The Bible:
Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31; Old Testament Mosaic Law; Socrates;
Confucius; Solon
|
So,
why does mankind need anything more than that one primary fundamental
Biblical statement? Indeed, one can easily surmise that all
beneficial national constitutions, international and local laws,
trade treaties, foreign policies, inter and intra governing
principles, and even effective principles for dispute resolutions,
are logically derivable from just that one ancient first principle,
for a fairly equitable co-existence of mutual benefit for all
mankind. There'd be no room for masters and slaves under the
corollaries derived from such an egalitarian first principle!
While that
universal pithy wisdom is deemed Biblical, I have found evidence of
its truism in other antiquity as cited above. For instance, Solon the
Athenian law giver, according to Plutarch's Lives,
when asked which city he thought was well-governed, said:
|
“That
city where those who have not been injured take up the cause of
one who has, and prosecute the case as earnestly as if the wrong
had been done to themselves.” Solon in Plutarch's Lives
|
Even
beyond divine religion, in the realm of logic and rational empiricism
alone, the following operations-research (OR) logical formulation due
to Bertrand Russell, a man of considerable beliefs in no religion, is
the most commonsensical recipe of governing peaceable human conduct.
In my own succinct rendition, Bertrand Russell's formulation goes
something like this (and I am putting it in single quotes to indicate
that the formulation belongs to Russell but the words may not all be
his):
|
'Maximize
individual happiness while minimizing social conflict for
optimizing the overall common-good.' (Bertrand Russell's
prescription to do away with religion as the bearer of moral law,
probably in 'Why I am not a Christian' and similar writings)
|
With
just a little bit of reflection, one will see that Bertrand Russell
captures the beneficial essence of many religions, including Islam,
in at least so far as “haquq-al-ibad”, i.e., the rights
of man upon man, otherwise known as moral law, are concerned, quite
admirably.
By
just using rational empathetic logic which hinges on spreading virtue
rather than glory, vice, hegemony, and conquest, one can come up with
reasonably equitable methods of governing oneself in any age, and
among any peoples.
However,
the Author of the Holy Qur'an advocating the path of mutual
co-existence to mankind through the perfection of its message which
it called “Islam”, is just as meaningless as man coming
up with his own protocol for mutual co-existence using his own
sensible logic and reason, if man is unwilling, or unable, to
implement the protocol:
|
This
day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour
upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. Verse
fragment Holy Qur'an, Surah Al-Maeda 5:3,
632 AD
|
الْيَوْمَ
أَكْمَلْتُ
لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ
وَأَتْمَمْتُ
عَلَيْكُمْ
نِعْمَتِي
وَرَضِيتُ
لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ
دِينًا ۚ
|
|
“Hegemony
is as old as mankind.” Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand
Chessboard – American Primacy and Its Geostrategic
Imperatives, 1996 AD, pg. 3 – the book's dedication reads:
“For my students—to help them shape tomorrow's world”
|
Thus,
if nihilist followers of Zbigniew Brzezinski's predatory foreign
policies which predicate upon primacy and its geostrategic
imperatives because they believe that “Hegemony is as old as
mankind” so why change it, choose sociopathic mass
psychology to mobilize the public to villainy and infamy by
bequeathing to them only facile worldviews, well, that's not because
there is any shortage of great platitudinous recipes in either the
divine books of antiquity, or the modern mind of reason as the
Deistic philosophers of eighteenth century enlightenment argued (of
which Bertrand Russell was the atheist legatee).
That
choice, of exercising villainous hegemony or equity and benevolence
upon the 'untermenschen', is entirely man's of course. The Author of
the Holy Qur'an itself asserts that such a choice between life's
governing principles is entirely up to mankind in all its diversity
of existence, and is neither a monolithic diktat of triumphalism, nor
a choiceless matter like being born to one's parents:
|
There
is no compulsion in religion. Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqara
2:256
|
لَآ
إِكۡرَاهَ
فِى ٱلدِّينِۖ
|
|
There
surely came over man a period of time when he was a thing not
worth mentioning. 76:1
|
هَلْ
أَتَىٰ عَلَى
الْإِنْسَانِ
حِينٌ مِنَ
الدَّهْرِ
لَمْ يَكُنْ
شَيْئًا مَذْكُورًا
|
|
Surely
We have created man from a small life-germ uniting (itself): We
mean to try him, so We have made him hearing, seeing. 76:2
|
إِنَّا
خَلَقْنَا
الْإِنْسَانَ
مِنْ نُطْفَةٍ
أَمْشَاجٍ
نَبْتَلِيهِ
فَجَعَلْنَاهُ
سَمِيعًا بَصِيرًا
|
|
Surely
We have shown him the way: he may be thankful or unthankful. Holy
Qur’an, Surah Al-insaan 76:3
|
إِنَّا
هَدَيْنَاهُ
السَّبِيلَ
إِمَّا شَاكِرًا
وَإِمَّا كَفُورًا
|
The
overarching point being, at the risk of being repetitious, whatever
the religion, whatever the people, and whatever the culture and
geography, man naturally gravitates firstly towards one's own kith
and kin, and secondly towards one's own socialization which
principally gives birth to one's dominant worldview. It is all but a
truism that just as one man's terrorist is another man's freedom
fighter, one man's “messiah” is another man's lunatic.
And
Islam, recognizing this natural human tendency for partisanship and
tribalism due to socialization from birth, proffered the above quoted
solution of Surah Al-Maeda 5:44-48 to those who believe in Islam, and
also to those who wish to learn about Islam, that this religion, this
way of life, this “deen” which Allah perfected for those
who wish to believe in it of their own free will, does not bring the
threat of forced triumphalism to mankind.
That Islam
cherishes diversity and enjoins the people to compete only in
virtuous conduct ( فَاسْتَبِقُوا
الْخَيْرَاتِ
) amongst
themselves even as they live in their own respective socialization of
birth, faiths, tribes and nations, forming a diverse multicultural
milieu of mankind.
That,
if God wanted to, mankind could have been made into all one people
just as they were in the past and “their
differences would have been settled between them”
(see 10:19 Surah Yunus above).
That, if
people disagree in matters of theology, religion, and other esoterica
upon which faith is often based, to leave the resolution of such
disagreements to God alone (see 42:10 Surah Ash-Shura above) --- lest
the Muslims at any time in the future, senselessly imbued with empire
and its 'la mission civilisatrice',
criminally come to carry the 'white
man's burden'
(http://tinyurl.com/the-white-mans-burden):
|
And
if your Lord had pleased, surely all those who are in the earth
would have believed, all of them; will you then force men till
they become believers?
|
وَلَوْ
شَاءَ رَبُّكَ
لَآمَنَ مَنْ
فِي الْأَرْضِ
كُلُّهُمْ
جَمِيعًا ۚ
أَفَأَنْتَ
تُكْرِهُ النَّاسَ
حَتَّىٰ يَكُونُوا
مُؤْمِنِينَ
|
|
وَمَا
كَانَ لِنَفْسٍ
أَنْ تُؤْمِنَ
إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ
اللَّهِ ۚ
وَيَجْعَلُ
الرِّجْسَ
عَلَى الَّذِينَ
لَا يَعْقِلُونَ
|
Surah
Al-Maeda 5:44-48, Yunus 10:99-100, and other supporting verses quoted
above in their full context, put to rest in finality, all false
charges brought by Western war-mongers, of their merely defending
themselves from Islam's “Triumphalism” in their holy war
against “Islamofascism”.
As
these unambiguous verses in their complete context clearly convey in
the direct words of the Holy Qur'an itself, there isn't any
“Triumphalism” in Islam. It is a charge more suited to
Pauline Christianity (today's mainstream Christianity of almost every
denomination and sect), whereby, to “save” mankind from
eternal damnation, the unworthy humanity has to all be converted to
belief in Christ!
All
such charges are vulgar propaganda against Islam, conveyed today no
differently than it was conveyed during the Christian Crusades, by
some very diabolical “Western scholars of Islam” in order
to cultivate facile views among their ignorant Western peoples. (See
for instance, Bernard Lewis: Crisis of Islam – Holy War and
Unholy Terror)
Without
such facile views, the masses cannot be readily mobilized against
“Islamofascism” in the fabricated “clash of
civilizations” – a transparent facade for exercising
primacy, supremacy, hegemony, mass behavior control.
As
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former American president Jimmy Carter's
National Security Advisor, self-servingly but accurately presaged in
his American Mein Kampf:
|
“Hegemony
is as old as mankind. ... Democracy is inimical to imperial
mobilization ... except in conditions of a sudden threat or
challenge to the public's sense of domestic well-being.”
The Grand Chessboard – American Primacy And Its
Geostrategic Imperatives, pgs. 3, 36. (See Pastor Terry Jones
below)
|
Sociopathy
of Hegemony, Primacy, Social Darwinianism, the exercise of
Supremacy, mass behavior control, all one and the same genre, is the
real problem. A problem that is as old as hegemony, as old as
mankind. It thrives on the facile mind. Consequently, the sociopaths
who often rise to power easily, ensure that the public mind stays
facile. Making the public mind is the first art of governance from
caliphate to democracy --- for unlike a dictatorship, ruled at the
point of the bayonet, caliphate to democracy depend on a measure of
consent from the governed. Unless that governance is changed first,
until the non sociopaths in society force their way into ruling
corridors of power to devalue the villainy of the facile mind, all
Divine Books will be “mahjoor” (verse 25:30),
and the public mind shall forever remain chained to its unturning
neck in Plato's Cave.
The
directive of Surah Al-Maeda 5:44-48 is also very explicit for
Muslims. There is no ambiguity in it. These are not allegorical
verses ( مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ
);
their meaning is very straightforward, established, and unequivocally
clear ( آيَاتٌ
مُحْكَمَاتٌ
).
(See verse 3:7
of Surah Aal-'Imran for Qur'an's own definition of the two types of
verses in the Holy Qur'an; every verse and verse fragment of the Holy
Qur'an has to be understood in the entire context of the Holy Qur'an,
and not just in isolation of its occurrence or else it can easily
lead to constructing a facile or even false understanding of the
topic. See the case study “Islam:
Why is the Holy Qur'an so easy to hijack? Part-I”
[2])
Although,
it must be admitted that, the universal principle of virtuous and
amicable co-existence among the diversity of nations as those
outlined in Surah Al-Maeda 5:44-48, and the corollaries to be deduced
from it and from several verses like it in the Holy Qur'an, requires
at least a modicum of reflection and some basic ability to reason.
Parrots
memorizing the Holy Qur'an as an inheritance, can no more come to
understand it than any other talking parrot, regardless of the beauty
of its voice and feathers!
Were
such reasoning a characteristic of Muslim scholarship, the scholars
of Islam would have long extinguished the flames of sectarianism
among the Muslims which had originally arisen in the epoch of the
Prophet of Islam itself, not due to any misunderstanding of the Holy
Qur'an and the Prophet's teachings for the Exemplar lived and taught
among them, but purely due to vested interests. These vested
interests ab initio planted the pernicious seeds of absolutist
kingdoms and empires to come in the future. These empires
subsequently endowed their scholars to interpret and canonize the
imperial religion – the hijacking of Islam into an unsurpassed
Muslim empire lasting 700 years in the name of Islam's God –
for their masses. (Ibid.)
Today,
we are merely their inheritors and unable to go back to the
fundamental teachings of Islam beyond the superficial rituals. For
the only original sources we have beside the Holy Qur'an, are the
works of these very partisan and sectarian scholars of empire who had
hijacked Islam! More details can be gleaned in the investigative case
study on how the Holy Qur'an itself contributed to its own subversion
in what prima facie appears to be a fascinating plan By Design.
A plan in which algebraic variables instead of constants are
sprinkled judiciously in all the key verses which, had they been
clearly Determinate instead of requiring mankind to solve systems of
algebraic equations to figure out their values, such a crown as the
Holy Qur'an itself opening the Pandora's box to a plurality of
interpretations, both unwittingly misperceived as well as with
diabolical intent, could not have been laid upon its head. (Ibid.)
The reason for repeated entreaties in the Holy Qur'an for reflection
with a cleansed heart is very clear for this reason alone (see
below). One needs a minimal ability to reason in addition to being
able to do basic arithmetic correctly, such as to add two plus two
equal four when instead of two constants being added, two variables
in two equations are being added. For instance, if x+y=4 and x-y=0,
what are x and y?
This
is of course predicated on knowing that there is even a riddle to
solve, and then correctly setting up the riddle before attempting to
solve it. Often times, even that awareness does not exist --- that
the Holy Qur'an hides many a riddle in its mellifluous verses.
Fourteen centuries have passed and yet the Good Book still remains a
Book of paradoxes and riddles. Some Determinate and easily soluble,
others open-ended and Indeterminate, meaning, not known whether or
not they have unique solutions and which ones if any are correct and
which ones aren't --- as there is no absolute reference present today
to compare the answers to. It is virtually akin to decoding a cipher.
Indeed, viewing the Holy Qur'an as a cipher text leads to its much
greater understanding because emphasis now shifts to viewing it as a
sophisticated and complex text that requires much reflection of the
whole rather than a simple plaintext of individual unconnected verses
which it isn't. (Ibid.)
Evidently,
it is well-nigh impossible to find a scholar of Islam with any
colored turban who even knows basic algebra let alone be able to
solve algebraic riddles and ciphers! In the age of universal deceit
which has in fact always existed, and is virtually guaranteed to
always exist so long as mankind in its present form exists, both
self-righteous fools and Machiavelli will continue to dominate the
world. The consequent of which will continue to be the domination of
facile world views. Everything but setting up and solving the
algebraic riddle x+y=4 correctly! Never mind when it is x+y=z and the
many equations are not independent in the three variables.
Recognizing what is what, what is Determinate and what is
Indeterminate, is the heart of the problem. It is explored in the
aforementioned case study. (ibid.)
The fascinating riddle of multi-culturalism in the Holy Qur'an
Pertinent
to the topic at hand, Surah Al-Maeda 5:44-48 bears such a momentous
general concept of acceptance of others in the religion Islam, that
this concept is even formulaically rehearsed countless times each day
in daily prayers by its adherents without any reflection whatsoever.
For, if one spent even 10 minutes thinking about what many “pious”
among Muslims likely repeat at least 17 times daily, if not more, one
would easily see that very core-principle at work for oneself.
That
repetitive formulation is Surah Al-Fatiha of the Holy Qur'an, its
very first Surah. It is recited countless times daily by Muslims as a
prayer. Just look at it with some reflection rather than rehearsing
it as a parrot and matters become transparent. And what does it say?
First
let's see what it does not say:
- there is no mention of the word “muslim” in it ;
- nor is there any mention of the noble name of the harbinger of the Qur'an, its Exemplar.
If
one were not so imbued with one's own socialization since birth, one
would surely ask the following question to oneself: why not?
If
Islam is the last Testament, its Prophet the last Messenger, and the
Holy Qur'an the last Word on the matter of Divine Guidance to
mankind, why have the following riddle in its the
most essential Surah:
|
Show us
the straight path, 1:6
|
اِهۡدِنَا
الصِّرَاطَ
الۡمُسۡتَقِيۡمَۙ
|
|
The
path of those whom Thou hast favoured. Holy Qur’an, Surah
Al-Fatiha 1:7
|
صِرَاطَ
الَّذِيۡنَ
اَنۡعَمۡتَ
عَلَيۡهِمۡ
|
Why
command the reciter of that Surah to beseech the Creator to show him
or her the “straight path”, a path that is not named or
labeled or identified in any other way other than as the “straight
path”, a singular path, and only identified as the path of
those whom (plural) have been bestowed “divine favors”
(plural), or who have been divinely favored? But no names are
mentioned for any further identification!
Why
send the poor seeker of divine wisdom in search of solving what
appears to be a complicated riddle?
How
is he, or she, to know what those unknown “quantities”
are?
Is
the man of faith simply to be socialized into fixing those unknowns –
like choosing a value for the variable “x” in an
elementary school level algebraic expression – by his parents,
grandparents, teachers, scholars, culture, civilization, by osmosis,
diffusion, vicariously?
Given
that the average intelligence of the masses in any nation is rather
low, and the Author of the Holy Qur'an if it is indeed the Creator of
man would certainly have known that, why then did the Author of the
Holy Qur'an not straightforwardly just say for all and sundry Muslim
to understand in its most oft recited Surah: follow the path laid out
in the Holy Qur'an, follow the path of Muhammad, its last Messenger
and Exemplar?
How
ironical that what the Surah calls a “straight path” is
not identified straightforwardly!
All
Muslims feel they already know (by virtue of their socialization)
that that's what is implied. But that's not what the Surah Al-Fatiha
says at all. One is only interpreting it to mean that based on one's
own socialization bias!
The
answer to the riddle, as invariably in all Qur’anic riddle
cases, the Holy Qur'an itself also provides.
The
author of the Qur'an has repeatedly alluded to Its Word as the Book
of Reflection which none shall approach, except with a cleansed
heart.
So,
not everyone can glean the wisdom of the Qur'an even though they may
be reading or mouthing its words – how interesting!
And
the solution to the riddle is hinted, inter alia, in the afore-quoted
verses from Surah Al-Maeda 5:44-48. It is still obviously not the
complete solution, but we are an inch closer to solving the riddle.
For
one thing, we learn that the solution is multicultural, and is indeed
very much socialization dependent.
Different
peoples will naturally have different perspective on what is “divine
favor”, who those favored ones are, and are thus encouraged to
seek out the path followed by those whom they naturally
psychologically feel closer to – that is the basis for what
appears to the riddle of Surah Al-Fatiha, 1:6-7.
And
Surah Al-Maeda 5:44-48 quoted above is an exemplary partial hint to
solving that riddle.
Wow!
What an incredible Book!
Nevertheless,
it is still a Book of reflection first and foremost, which none shall
penetrate, except with a cleansed heart. The rest are
naturally misled. The Author of the Holy Qur'an even asserts that
only It Guides Whom It pleases and leads others astray. Is this just
rhetorical tautology? The Western mind un-attuned to the language of
the Qur'an may think so.
Who can understand the Holy Qur'an and who cannot – in the Holy Qur'an's own words
Here
are some verses from the Holy Qur'an on the cleansed heart.
|
That
this is indeed a Qur'an Most Honourable, 56:77
|
إِنَّهُ
لَقُرْآنٌ
كَرِيمٌ
|
|
In a
Book well-guarded, 56:78
|
فِي
كِتَابٍ مَكْنُونٍ
|
|
Which
none shall touch but those who are clean (purified): 56:79
|
لَا
يَمَسُّهُ
إِلَّا الْمُطَهَّرُونَ
|
|
A
Revelation from the Lord of the Worlds. 56:80
|
تَنْزِيلٌ
مِنْ رَبِّ
الْعَالَمِينَ
|
|
أَفَبِهَٰذَا
الْحَدِيثِ
أَنْتُمْ
مُدْهِنُونَ
|
|
|
Those
are they whose hearts, ears, and eyes Allah has sealed up, and
they take no heed. Surah An-Nahl, 16:108
|
أُولَٰئِكَ
الَّذِينَ
طَبَعَ اللَّهُ
عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ
وَسَمْعِهِمْ
وَأَبْصَارِهِمْ
ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ
هُمُ الْغَافِلُونَ
|
|
Allah
hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes
there is a covering. Theirs will be an awful doom. Surah
Al-Baqara, 2:7
|
خَتَمَ
اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ
قُلُوبِهِمْ
وَعَلَىٰ
سَمْعِهِمْ
ۖ وَعَلَىٰ
أَبْصَارِهِمْ
غِشَاوَةٌ ۖ
وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ
عَظِيمٌ
|
|
In
their hearts is a disease, and Allah increaseth their disease. A
painful doom is theirs because they lie. Surah Al-Baqara, 2:10
|
فِي
قُلُوبِهِمْ
مَرَضٌ فَزَادَهُمُ
اللَّهُ مَرَضًا
ۖ وَلَهُمْ
عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
بِمَا كَانُوا
يَكْذِبُونَ
|
|
Do they
not then reflect on the Quran? Nay, on the hearts there are
locks. Surah Muhammad 47:24
|
أَفَلَا
يَتَدَبَّرُونَ
الْقُرْآنَ
أَمْ عَلَىٰ
قُلُوبٍ أَقْفَالُهَا
|
Caption
A few verses from the Holy Qur'an on the cleansed heart
metaphor.
The
understanding of the message contained in the Holy Qur'an is only
made accessible to those who try to approach its contents not
with pre-conceptions, or agendas bearing the diseases of the heart,
or other prejudices, but with a genuine desire to learn what exactly
is the Book Saying! Only the purified ones, “al-muttaharoon”
الْمُطَهَّرُونَ
may approach
its full understanding. The meaning of the Qur'anic word
الْمُطَهَّرُونَ
in the
context of the Holy Qur'an is layered and nuanced. The Holy Qur'an
explains الْمُطَهَّرُونَ
itself, as
it continually points them out in terms of various defining
characteristics in its own emphatic explanation of whom it is
intended for, who will be able to extract its message, who its
custodians are, and who it is not going to benefit at all:
|
This is
the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those
who ward off (evil). Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqara 2:2
|
ذَٰلِكَ
الْكِتَابُ
لَا رَيْبَ
ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًى
لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
|
The Holy
Qur'an by its own statement is a guidance only for those who are
“muttaqin” ( هُدًى
لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
), and not
for others! The “muttaqin” characteristics are further
defined, inter alia:
|
Who
believe in the Unseen, and establish worship, and spend of that
We have bestowed upon them;
|
ٱلَّذِينَ
يُؤْمِنُونَ
بِٱلْغَيْبِ
وَيُقِيمُونَ
ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ
وَمِمَّا
رَزَقْنَٰهُمْ
يُنفِقُونَ
|
|
And
who believe in that which is revealed unto thee (Muhammad) and
that which was revealed before thee, and are certain of the
Hereafter.
|
وَٱلَّذِينَ
يُؤْمِنُونَ
بِمَآ أُنزِلَ
إِلَيْكَ وَمَآ
أُنزِلَ مِن
قَبْلِكَ
وَبِٱلْءَاخِرَةِ
هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ
|
|
أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ
عَلَىٰ هُدًى
مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ
ۖ وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ
هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ
|
These
“muttaqin” (must) approach the scriptures with an
attempted cleansed heart in order to incrementally endeavor in
seeking its meaning. And they will succeed in comprehending its
message dependent only on the level of their spiritual cleansing –
that's a promise of the Holy Qur'an! Different seekers of guidance
will have different levels of comprehension of the Holy Qur'an based
on how much “muttaqin” and how much “al-muttaharoon”
they are!
This is why
the Holy Qur'an further differentiates among them – all
Muslims, believers in Islam, are not equal in the sight of the Author
of the Holy Qur'an who identifies Itself as “the Lord of the
Worlds” ( رَبِّ
الْعَالَمِينَ
):
|
Verily
the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the
most righteous of you. Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Hujraat, verse
fragment 49:13
(see full verse below)
|
إِنَّ
أَكْرَمَكُمْ
عِنْدَ اللَّهِ
أَتْقَاكُمْ
|
|
Is
one who worships devoutly during the hours of the night
prostrating himself or standing (in adoration), who takes heed of
the Hereafter, and who places his hope in the Mercy of his Lord―
(like one who does not)? Say: 'Are
those equal, those who know and those who do not know?'
It is those who are endued with understanding that receive
admonition. Holy Qur’an, Surah Az-Zumar 39:9
|
أَمَّنْ
هُوَ قَانِتٌ
آنَاءَ اللَّيْلِ
سَاجِدًا
وَقَائِمًا
يَحْذَرُ
الْآخِرَةَ
وَيَرْجُو
رَحْمَةَ رَبِّهِ
ۗ قُلْ هَلْ
يَسْتَوِي
الَّذِينَ
يَعْلَمُونَ
وَالَّذِينَ
لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
ۗ إِنَّمَا
يَتَذَكَّرُ
أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ
|
Incredible!
How
does one embark on such a mission of a cleansed hearted
journey to understand the Holy Qur'an today and overcome, in a
meaningful way, one's socialization biases and natural tendencies, to
actually be counted among those even mildly “honoured
in the sight of Allah” rather than being among those
who are “in a state of loss”
(see Surah Al-Asr below)? If the Holy Qur'an claims to be a book of
guidance for all mankind for all times rather than merely a revered
scripture of antiquity, then clearly it must be comprehensible today
in today's epoch, offer prescriptive principles to adhere to which
are vibrant, effective and pertinent for today's living conditions,
just as they must be for tomorrow's living conditions, and just as
they were for the time of the Prophet of Islam when the Holy Qur'an
reputedly revolutionized that Age of Jahiliya.
Well,
the answer the Holy Qur'an itself provides in its very first Surah,
Surah Al-Fatiha, verse 1:6-7 quoted above – to beseech the
Creator in daily supplication to “Show
us the straight path, The path of those whom Thou hast favoured.”
The fascinating riddle of “Al-Wasilah”
Evidently,
according to the prima facie prescription of Islam itself, the
cleansed hearted journey to understand the Holy Qur'an for
Muslims (like all other peoples seeking divine guidance) can only be
undertaken by seeking out the path of some unnamed people whom God
has favored. This is further underscored:
|
O ye
who believe! Do your duty to Allah, seek the means of approach
unto Him, Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Maeda 5:35
|
يَا
أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا
اللَّهَ وَابْتَغُوا
إِلَيْهِ
الْوَسِيلَةَ
|
Caption
Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Maeda 5:35, unequivocally putting to bed
for all times the argument on how to approach Allah: “O
ye who believe! Do your duty to Allah, seek the means of approach
unto Him,” Who are these “means of
approach unto Him”? See below Surah Al-Baqara verse
2:166-2:167, and Surah An-Nahl 16:25, for Qur'anic constraints on
الْوَسِيلَةَ
, “Wasilah”,
whereby both followers and leaders are respectively condemned! Who
specifically then meets the highly constrained
requirements of “Wasilah” of this pivotal verse 5:35
wherein “believers” are commanded to “seek
the means of approach unto Him,” as an
obligatory “Duty to Allah”?
It follows
therefore, rather straightforwardly in fact from the logic of the
Qur'anic Message, that ONLY “the
path of those whom Thou hast favoured”
as proclaimed in Surah Al-Fatiha 1:7,
and subsequently clarified as “seek
the means of approach unto Him,”
the “Wasilah” ( الْوَسِيلَةَ
)
in Surah Al-Maeda 5:35, can exemplify, interpret, and explain the
journey of the straight path ( الصِّرَاطَ
الۡمُسۡتَقِيۡمَۙ
)!
Verse
1:7 teaches the supplicant to beseech the Creator to show the path of
His Favored Ones. And verse 5:35 commands the supplicant to first
seek the means of approach unto Him as his duty to the
Creator, in order to even approach the straight path! The
Author of the Holy Qur'an specifies how to seek Guidance from His
Scripture in order to approach Him --- to seek His designated
“Wasilah”!
In
simpler words for the language and logic challenged, let's break that
down step by step. This is what is meant by reflection when the
Author repeatedly invites reflection on the verses of the Holy Qur'an
with a cleansed heart: “Do they
not then reflect on the Quran? Nay, on the hearts there are locks.”
– for its greater meaning is only understood when one thinks
and reasons through the whole because the whole is much larger than
the sum of its individual parts. There is a great deal of advanced
understanding contained even in very simple verses when their obvious
interconnections are grasped. These are the low hanging fruits of the
tree so to speak, within reach of anyone who is willing to reach up
to pluck them, but is not available when one makes no effort at
reflection or stays mired in its Cliff notes:
- By the proclamation of the Holy Qur'an itself, the supplicant, the seeker of the straight path, cannot approach the Creator directly, but only through the specified means, of seeking the “Wasilah”, the means of approach unto Him.
- For emphasis, it is even presented as a “duty” of the “believers” to first seek the “Wasilah”!
- And it is further emphasized that only the Author's own favored ones can delineate the straight path unto Him.
- The Author's own favored ones, and not the believers' favorite ones, are veritably the Wasilah, “the means of approach unto Him.”
- The Holy Qur'an categorically affirms that the straight path is indeed a guided journey under the leadership of the Divinely Favored Imams, Al-Wasilah, and not a solo journey by one's own interpretation, imagination, due diligence! Al-Wasilah must specifically be sought and followed for the journey on the straight path in order to benefit from Divine Guidance. The rest are led astray because they end up on the paths of the wrong types of people!
- Since the straight path is singular, it follows that all the favored ones who are Al-Wasilah, the show-ers of the straight path upon whom God has bestowed favors, the Guides to follow, the Imams who lead on that path, are directing believers to the same one path without making an error and without disagreeing with each other one iota. Like the airline flight path, once divined by the ATC, is singular and has no margin of error --- it has to be exactly followed without deviation.
- It follows that Al-Wasilah are inerrant by the very definition of their job function!
Mind
blowing... putting to bed all facile views pertaining to the path of
spiritual guidance and spiritual ascendance in the pristine Religion
of Islam. [c] This is not the man-made Islam penned by the hand of
man. But the untampered and unadulterated Islam that eagerly beckons
when one approaches the study of its singular Scripture with even a
moderately cleansed heart! Imagine the depth of understanding one may
be able to reach with greater self-control of the mind to remove all
vestiges of socialization bias, confirmation bias, self-interest and
perception management.
Putting it
together with verse 39:9
of Surah Az-Zumar then makes that rhetorical question obviously
prescriptive, rather than being merely tautological: “Are
those equal, those who know and those who do not know?”
Meaning, it
further follows that these “Wasilah”, the show-ers of the
straight path upon whom God has bestowed favors, the Guides to
follow, the Imams who lead on that straight path, must also be
the ones highest in knowledge and understanding of that straight
path among those whom they guide. Otherwise, how can they
guide others more knowledgeable than themselves? Or, if their own
understanding concerning this straight path was error prone?
Especially of an obscure path which Allah ordained that no man may
otherwise know of his and her own accord, except through those who
were divinely favored. Which, of course, also automatically implies
that their teacher can be none among those whom they have been
divinely chosen and ordained to guide! And the Holy Qur'an
precisely confirms this, that their teacher is only Allah, in verse
6:90
of Surah Al An'aam: “These are
they whom Allah guided, therefore follow their guidance”!
|
These
are they whom Allah guided, therefore follow their guidance. Say:
I do not ask you for any reward for it; it is nothing but a
reminder to the nations. Holy Qur’an, Surah Al An'aam 6:90
|
أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ
ٱلَّذِينَ
هَدَى ٱللَّهُ
ۖ فَبِهُدَىٰهُمُ
ٱقْتَدِهْ ۗ
قُل لَّآ
أَسْـَٔلُكُمْ
عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا
ۖ إِنْ هُوَ
إِلَّا ذِكْرَىٰ
لِلْعَٰلَمِينَ
|
That there
is a didactic significance to the notion of “Wasilah” for
knowing and approaching the straight path, and which is not to
be dismissed as merely allegorical ( مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ
), is
emphasized again:
|
One day
We shall call together all human beings with their (respective)
Imams Holy Qur’an, Surah al-Israa' 17:71
|
يَوْمَ
نَدْعُو كُلَّ
أُنَاسٍ بِإِمَامِهِمْ
|
A brief
explanation of the word “Imam” ( إِمَامِ
)
is perhaps in order as few Muslims evidently comprehend it –
judging from the honorific which they continually adopt for
themselves and ascribe to every tom dick and harry who can
regurgitate in Arabic or tie a turban on his head. The word “Imam”
is frequently used in the Holy Qur'an. Its meaning fortunately is
unambiguously explained by the Holy Qur'an itself. We don't have to
use a language dictionary nor hijack Qur'anic terminology as a common
noun when it clearly is not intended to be. (See Hijacking
the word 'Islam' for Mantra Creation
for how Qur'anic terminology is routinely hijacked with semantic
overload by vested interests). But first, let's see what the
language dictionary says about the word. The Arabic-English
dictionary of the Holy Qur'an in the hands of this scribe defines the
common noun “Imam” thusly:
|
Imam:
“Leader; President; Any object that is followed, whether a
human being or a book or a highway”.
|
The fascinating riddle of the “Imam” – a Divine family's story
However,
in the language of the Holy Qur'an, the terminology “Imam”
is a proper noun when referring to apostolic leaders whom Allah chose
above all others – as in the following verses where its
clearest meaning is made manifest for those upon whose eyes there is
no covering, and upon whose ears and heart there is no lock of
self-interest or self-deception:
|
Surely
Allah chose Adam and Nuh and the descendants of Ibrahim and the
descendants of Imran above the nations.
|
إِنَّ
ٱللَّهَ ٱصْطَفَىٰٓ
ءَادَمَ وَنُوحًا
وَءَالَ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ
وَءَالَ عِمْرَٰنَ
عَلَى ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
ذُرِّيَّةًۢ
بَعْضُهَا
مِنۢ بَعْضٍ
ۗ وَٱللَّهُ
سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ
|
|
And
when his Lord tried Ibrahim with certain words, he fulfilled
them. He said: Surely I will make
you an Imam of men. Ibrahim
said: And of my offspring? My
covenant does not include the unjust, said He.
Holy Qur'an Surah Al-Baqara, 2:124
|
وَإِذِ
ٱبْتَلَىٰٓ
إِبْرَٰهِۦمَ
رَبُّهُۥ
بِكَلِمَٰتٍ
فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ
ۖ قَالَ إِنِّى
جَاعِلُكَ
لِلنَّاسِ
إِمَامًا ۖ
قَالَ وَمِن
ذُرِّيَّتِى
ۖ قَالَ لَا
يَنَالُ عَهْدِى
ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ
|
Caption
Verses of Holy Qur'an explaining its use of terminology of “Imam”
as the leader of “naas” (mankind), لِلنَّاسِ
إِمَامًا ,
asserting that Allah shall also make Imams in the offspring of
Prophet Ibrahim as a Divine Covenant (Contract) for Ibrahim's request
as his everlasting reward. Observe that Prophet Ibrahim is already a
Prophet of Allah when his Lord tried Ibrahim with certain words that
he fulfilled, and as a reward Allah said: Surely I will make you an
Imam of naas. Prophethood and Messengership represent Allah's
Guidance to mankind, and Allah's appointed Imams lead mankind in
accordance with that Divine Guidance. The verse makes it clear that
the Imam need not be a Prophet or Messenger of Allah, but will be a
Leader of man who shall not be unjust or from among the oppressors,
ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ
.
Since verse 2:124 prima facie is neither time bound nor limited to
any geography, it is an evergreen Covenant that begs the obvious
question: who are these Allah's appointed Imam(s) today who are from
among the offspring of Prophet Ibrahim? How shall we identify them?
By DNA? Or, is our modern age denied the benefit of the Covenant that
Allah made with Prophet Ibrahim thousands of years ago? Did the
benefit of that Covenant of a Divinely made Imam end with the Last
Prophet of Allah, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him? If that
conjecture is presumed, then verse 2:124 is trivially falsified
because it espouses no sense of limit in the Imams from among the
offspring of Prophet Ibrahim, except that they shall not be unjust.
Therefore, verse 2:124 must still be presumed true. So, might we look
for just leaders(?) with the Prophetic DNA – (Prophet
Muhammad's as well as all Jewish Prophets')... I am still
searching... where art thou? Or is 2:124 yet another one of those
metaphorical verses ( آيَاتٌ
مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ
)
of the Holy Qur'an?
Thence
we see that when verses 17:71 and 10:47 (quoted above) respectively
state: “One day We shall call
together all human beings with their (respective) Imams”, “And
for every nation there is a messenger. And when their messenger
cometh (on the Day of Judgment) it will be judged between them
fairly, and they will not be wronged”, the word “Imam”,
like “Messenger”, a proper noun, prima facie refers to
those guides and leaders whom Allah has chosen to lead men (and
women) onto the straight path from a specific Divine family,
“Offspring one of the other”
as per verse 3:34, and in the progeny of Prophet Ibrahim as per the
Covenant in verse 2:124. “Imam” is thus one Divine
family's story! That's what the Good Book itself says right before
one's eyes. But being perpetual victims of facile views, Muslims tend
to follow anyone with a turban on the pulpit with the title “imam”
– and therein lies the pièce de résistance
of conundrums. The “tahreef”, corruption, alteration, of
the meaning of the Qur'anic word “Imam” and its
replacement with the dictionary meaning common noun “imam”
is only part of the problem.
Apart
from the logical reasoning noted earlier for the solution to the
obvious puzzle that why can't one just read the Holy Qur'an and be
done with the dispensation of divine guidance directly from it rather
than seek out the path of some favored ones who are not even
straightforwardly identified in the most common Surah; that why does
one, even today fourteen centuries later, in obligatorily repeating
Surah Al-Fatiha in mandatory daily prayers, have to seek that
straight path of divine guidance via some “Wasilah”
who also remain unnamed in the Holy Qur'an, except for the fact that
we are told they are in the progeny of Prophet Ibrahim? How are we to
identify them today? But that's not the end of the conundrum, only
its beginning!
If
only the business of divine guidance were so straightforward –
for the average intelligence level of humanity is certainly not up to
solving complex riddles in order to pursue faith by way of reasoning
about it (which is why the vast majority are simply socialized into
their respective belief system by birth, and stay in it for their
entire life). That empirical reality must be accounted for otherwise
the Holy Qur'an remains just un-implementable theory.
The first
of these accountings for the empirical reality of socialization
already mentioned above, is to compete with each other in virtuous
conduct ( فَاسْتَبِقُوا
الْخَيْرَاتِ
Surah
Al-Maeda 5:48 above) as individual behavioral responsibility, rather
than in theological upmanship among God's religions brought by
different Messengers among whom there is no difference (Surah
Al-Baqara 2:285 below).
Now,
we have the second empirical reality. It is proffered to not only
“seek the means of approach unto Him”,
but also that “We shall call together
all human beings with their (respective) Imams” on
the Day of Reckoning.
What
if the socialization of a Muslim polity is outright, or partially,
based on falsehoods, half-truths, three-quarter truths, and subtle
distortions that have crept into the divine teachings? What if that
which is followed is not accurately the teachings of the Messengers
and Imams dispatched by God to every people – including to the
Muslims?
Since:
“We shall call together all
human beings with their (respective) Imams”, and the
false “imams” will disclaim their followers (see verses
immediately below), we have both, a practical and a theological
problem. Finding the “straight path” just got a
lot harder and trickier – because now there is a penalty
attached to getting it wrong and following false teachers and false
leaders despite the best of plebeian intentions!
Therefore,
to ensure correct guidance for the supplicant of the straight path
that they don't end up mistakenly following false paths, false
prophets, false leaders, false imams, false pontiffs, false kings,
false khalifas, false pulpits, and false paths laid out by usurpers,
tyrants, and impostors, while thinking they are following the
divinely guided straight path, the following verses of the
Holy Qur'an proffer the clearest admonishment ( آيَاتٌ
مُحْكَمَاتٌ
) of
perpetual vigilance as the caveating qualifier to seeking the
straight path ( الصِّرَاطَ
الۡمُسۡتَقِيۡمَۙ
) of only
those people whom God hath favored ( اَنۡعَمۡتَ
عَلَيۡهِمۡ
):
|
(On the
day) when those who were followed disown those who followed
(them), and they behold the doom, and all their aims collapse
with them. 2:166
|
إِذْ
تَبَرَّأَ
الَّذِينَ
اتُّبِعُوا
مِنَ الَّذِينَ
اتَّبَعُوا
وَرَأَوُا
الْعَذَابَ
وَتَقَطَّعَتْ
بِهِمُ الْأَسْبَابُ
|
|
And
those who were but followers will say: If a return were possible
for us, we would disown them even as they have disowned us. Thus
will Allah show them their own deeds as anguish for them, and
they will not emerge from the Fire. Holy Qur’an, Surah
Al-Baqara 2:167
|
وَقَالَ
الَّذِينَ
اتَّبَعُوا
لَوْ أَنَّ
لَنَا كَرَّةً
فَنَتَبَرَّأَ
مِنْهُمْ كَمَا
تَبَرَّءُوا
مِنَّا ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ
يُرِيهِمُ
اللَّهُ أَعْمَالَهُمْ
حَسَرَاتٍ
عَلَيْهِمْ
ۖ وَمَا هُمْ
بِخَارِجِينَ
مِنَ النَّارِ
|
|
Let
them bear, on the Day of Judgment, their own burdens in full, and
also (something) of the burdens of those without knowledge, whom
they misled. Alas, how grievous the burdens they will bear! Surah
An-Nahl 16:25
|
لِيَحْمِلُوٓا۟
أَوْزَارَهُمْ
كَامِلَةً
يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ
ۙ وَمِنْ أَوْزَارِ
ٱلَّذِينَ
يُضِلُّونَهُم
بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ
ۗ أَلَا سَآءَ
مَا يَزِرُونَ
|
Caption
Holy Qur’an Surah Al-Baqara 2:166-2:167 unequivocally
disclaiming followers, and Surah An-Nahl 16:25 unequivocally
disclaiming false imams who will equally be apportioned their due for
misguiding the foolish people without knowledge who followed them!
And
specifically, the following admonishment is especially for the
Muslims, in their blindly casting about for guides and imams, leaders
to show them the way, benefactors, rulers, and interpreters of faith
whom they obey as their vali, guardian, and ending up with false
friends who betray their trust or who are themselves misled and take
their followers to hell on earth as well as in the Hereafter:
|
The Day
that the wrong-doer will bite at his hands, he will say, 'Oh!
Would that I had taken a (straight) path with the Messenger!'
25:27
|
وَيَوْمَ
يَعَضُّ الظَّالِمُ
عَلَىٰ يَدَيْهِ
يَقُولُ يَا
لَيْتَنِي
اتَّخَذْتُ
مَعَ الرَّسُولِ
سَبِيلًا
|
|
'Ah!
Woe is me! Would that I had never taken such a one for a friend!'
25:28
|
يَا
وَيْلَتَىٰ
لَيْتَنِي
لَمْ أَتَّخِذْ
فُلَانًا خَلِيلًا
|
|
'He did
lead me astray from the Message (of Allah) after it had come to
me! Ah! the Evil One is but a traitor to man!' 25:29
|
لَقَدْ
أَضَلَّنِي
عَنِ الذِّكْرِ
بَعْدَ إِذْ
جَاءَنِي ۗ
وَكَانَ الشَّيْطَانُ
لِلْإِنْسَانِ
خَذُولًا
|
|
Then
the Messenger will say: 'O my Lord! Truly my people took this
Qur'an for just foolish nonsense.' Holy Qur’an, Surah
Al-Furqaan 25:30
|
وَقَالَ
الرَّسُولُ
يَا رَبِّ إِنَّ
قَوْمِي اتَّخَذُوا
هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ
مَهْجُورًا
|
Caption
Surah Al-Furqaan 25:27-30 making it shockingly plain that the
religion of Islam would become so distorted and misrepresented among
the Muslims that even the Messenger of Allah who brought the
revelations will lament on the Day of Judgment that his own people
shackled its meaning, “mahjoor”, to erudite study, stale
rituals, and mindless recitations to seek Heaven, instead of living
its meaning as a vibrant constitution of life which singularly hinges
on not just disaffirming all falsehoods (kalima), but also actively
striving to end them (103:3) – “mahjoor” includes
that woven by Machiavellian power through their proxy agents planted
as Trojan Horse to shackle it, the great betrayal of trust by the
turbans who have occupied the pulpit in the service of empire: 'O
my Lord! Truly my people took this Qur'an for just foolish nonsense.'
This
lament of betrayal by Muslims creates a fascinating riddle when
juxtaposed next to verse 4:59 of Surah an-Nisaa' which makes
obedience to a third party besides Allah and his Messenger, the
“ulul-amar”, compulsary:
|
“O
ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those
charged with authority among you.
If ye
differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His
Messenger, if ye do believe in Allah and the Last Day: That is
best, and most suitable for final determination.” Surah
an-Nisaa' 4:59
|
يَا
أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا أَطِيعُوا
اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا
الرَّسُولَ
وَأُولِي
الْأَمْرِ
مِنْكُمْ ۖ
فَإِنْ
تَنَازَعْتُمْ
فِي شَيْءٍ
فَرُدُّوهُ
إِلَى اللَّهِ
وَالرَّسُولِ
إِنْ كُنْتُمْ
تُؤْمِنُونَ
بِاللَّهِ
وَالْيَوْمِ
الْآخِرِ ۚ
ذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ
وَأَحْسَنُ
تَأْوِيلًا
|
Caption
Verse 4:59 of Surah an-Nisaa', the Verse of Obedience, itself
opening the door to a riddle, the source of abuse by all rulers and
empires who have lorded over the Muslim public in the name of Islam,
and the primary reason for the fundamental bifurcation between Sunni
and Shia sects whereby each understands this verse solely in
accordance with their respective socialization.
Who are
these third unnamed entity, mentioned in plurality, “those
charged with authority among you” ( وَأُولِي
الْأَمْرِ
مِنْكُمْ ۖ ),
that the Muslim public mind is enjoined to obey at the same command
precedence level as God and His Messenger, during the lifetime of the
Prophet of Islam (the command is in present tense), and thereafter (
appears open-ended?), while simultaneously not becoming a victim of
the aforesaid lament? What a riddle! And no turban today appears any
closer than he was yesterday to having any expertise in simple
algebra to solve this puzzle outside of his own narrow sphere of
socialization, or outside of his self-serving pusillanimous service
to rulers who make recourse to this verse to demand obedience from
the public in the name of God. This riddle and its impact upon Muslim
polity over the past fourteen centuries, and still counting, is
examined in the aforementioned case study. [op. cit.]
Speak
of facile views! The Prophet of Islam, vouches the Holy Qur'an, will
himself complain on the Day of Reckoning that: “Truly
my people took this Qur'an for just foolish nonsense.”
The disturbing consternation, expressed in the language of the
Qur'an, is an admonishment so that people have the opportunity to
rectify it, and not a foregone conclusion.
Something
all the latter day mosque going holy turbans sporting white flowing
beards with self-righteous piety stamped upon their forehead, not to
ignore the pious mother of man who hides in black tent as the
ultimate mark of her virtue and obedience to God, might worry about,
at least a little. While the tyrants run supreme strangulating
mankind with mere perception management, the Muslim mind bows in ever
more fervent obeisance to who knows which god --- for it is surely
not the God that conveyed the religion of Islam in the Holy Qur'an!
What a
challenge for the earnest seeker of the straight path ( الصِّرَاطَ
الۡمُسۡتَقِيۡمَۙ
),
especially when religion intersects with imperial mobilization and
its diabolical confrere, the Machiavelli, as it has done since time
immemorial.
How
is a Muslim, born and raised under the cloud of sectarian schisms and
empire's favored version of Islam, to navigate this minefield which
is replete not just with socialization artifacts of birth, culture,
and historical baggage, but also ongoing false friends cultivated
from the highest pulpits in every generation?
Not a
single Muslim thinks these admonishing verses apply to him or her –
as is typical of all self-righteous indoctrination. See “Hijacking
the word 'Islam' for Mantra Creation”,
the 600
page Fatwa on Terrorism,
and the CAIR
report
for contemporary examples of false friends and Trojan horse
institutions devilishly implanted among Muslims for precisely this
purpose of diabolically manufacturing consent and engineering
controlled dissent for aiding imperial mobilization. Well-intentioned
people seeking guidance hither and thither continually fall for them!
The modus operandi of this betrayal by friends who present themselves
as being on the side of the weak (the weak being perennially ripe for
cognitive infiltration by false friends as their predicament inclines
them naturally to the well-known Biblical and Qur'anic beatitudes
that have become more of a gift to Machiavelli than do anything for
the weak, such as the “meek
shall inherit the earth” in the Bible, and “And
We desired to bestow a favor upon those who were deemed weak in the
land, and to make them the Imams, and to make them the heirs,”
in Surah Al-Qasas verse 28:5
in the Holy Qur'an), is examined in The
Masters of Dissent and The Dying Songbird.
[2a]
One
needs to be fully awake and thinking in the matters of faith no
differently than in any other matter of political science – for
faith and political science continually intersect to ensure both the
support of religion, and no interference from religion, in the
pursuit of empire's business. Whereas God's “deen” has
nothing to do with empire! And this is the most significant fact of
the matter from which all macro good and evil follow, for every
people, of every religion, and no religion.
Furthermore,
the cleansed hearted learning for the journey of the straight
path ( الصِّرَاطَ
الۡمُسۡتَقِيۡمَۙ
)
is not just with the intellectual left-half brain, i.e., cognitive,
analytical, logical, reasoned, based on empirical knowledge. But also
with the poetic and linguistic right-half brain, i.e., with feelings,
emotions, empathy, intuitions, insights, inspiration, all of which
may transcend the causality principle of cold objective intellectual
empiricism. (Think Mr. Spock vs. Captain Kirk in the fable of Star
Trek television series of the 1960s). For a discussion of why these
are independent human faculties and why both are necessary to pilot
human wisdom and spiritual learning towards the straight path, see
the essay Morality
derived from the Intellect leads to Enslavement!.
[3] The report Islam:
Why is the Holy Qur'an so easy to hijack? Part-II
[4] further dwells upon this bifurcation of left and right half brain
metaphors and what the language of the intellect (verses like
67:3-4 see discussion below), and the language of the heart
(verses like those quoted above), respectively speak to in the
context of the overarching spiritual teachings of the Holy Qur'an
(such as in verse 20:114 discussed below). One without the other is
at best one-eyed! More often, usually blind.
Seeing with
the spiritual eye is how the journey of the straight path even
becomes discernible. But it is not a spiritual journey of the Sufis
and dervishes withdrawn from the affairs of this world – it is
a bold physical life's journey of striving in this world
amidst all its travails and tribulations as further outlined in the
recipe of a successful life in Surah Al-Asr discussed below. The
inner motivation to embark and to stay on that journey of the
straight path is principally seeded only with the spiritual eye to
even perceive the straight path ( الصِّرَاطَ
الۡمُسۡتَقِيۡمَۙ
), and the
urgency to be on it – for one does not know how much time one
has remaining to one's life.
This
is why the Holy Qur'an refers to the spiritual condition of being
lost in darkness away from the straight path in similitude
like: “on the hearts there are
locks” and “Allah
hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there
is a covering.”
Caption
Image Pastor Terry Jones burning the Holy Quran
That's
the cleansed heart metaphor – inter alia, a genuine
desire to learn using all human faculties at our disposal. Whereas
anyone may pick up a copy of the Qur'an, read it, torch it, defecate
on it, shoot at it, and of course, even recite it in in the most
surreal and melodious of incantations that is prized by all Muslims
worldwide. The cleansed heart is an empirical demand not just
of the Author of the Holy Qur'an to those who seek its teaching, but
also of rational commonsense.
Don't
bring perceptual, ingrained, residual, or prejudicial biases to
reading any book or else you won't comprehend the complete message
that was put in the book by its author. You'll only get what you want
to hear, believe, or argue to serve your own narrow interests! That's
how fine literature is supposed to be read, argued, and enjoyed –
using one's own interpretation and imagination. A fine book of poetry
or allegorical fiction can reasonably mean different things to
different people – and they can argue about it all day if they
like without loss of sensibilities.
But
try doing that to a city's handbook of traffic laws, or the tax laws.
One has to precisely understand what the authors of the traffic
regulations – the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) –
mean in the full letter, the full intent, and the full spirit of the
regulations if one wants to pass that pesky written test to get one's
driver license. More importantly, in order to be a safe driver which
only comes about by repeatedly putting into best practice what one
has learnt in theory. The practice helps clarify the theory, and the
theory helps refine the practice.
Indeed,
the Holy Qur'an is like any other convoluted law book – one has
to absorb it with concentration, contemplation, and with the clear
motivation to exactly comprehend what its Author had in mind. This is
also a common topic of exposition by genuine scholars of Islam. But
unfortunately it has been relegated to dusty old books in local
Muslim languages which few ordinary people read. The advent of the
internet has made at least some of these works accessible in
translation to anyone today and there is hardly any excuse for the
lack of commonsense on how to sensibly study the complex and unusual
text of the Holy Qur'an. [5]
Acquiring
such non-facile theoretical Qur'anic knowledge, and living it in
practice in the straight path ( الصِّرَاطَ
الۡمُسۡتَقِيۡمَۙ
)
established by those whom God hath favored, just made both the
comprehension and practice of the Religion of Islam a lot harder than
the prostrations stamped upon the forehead! (See: Islam: Why is the
Holy Qur'an so easy to hijack? Part-I,
Part-II)
Furthermore,
hijacking the Qur'an for vested interests also just got easier.
Deliberately purveying facile views on Islam serve their own
diabolical agendas. Let's take a moment to examine the intent behind
Terry Jones', the 'Burn a Quran' pastor in Gainesville
Florida, statement to CNN.
Caption
Image bookcover of Pastor Terry Jones “ISLAM is of THE DEVIL”
‘(CNN)
— In protest of what it calls a religion “of the devil,”
a nondenominational church in Gainesville, Florida, plans to host an
“International Burn a Quran Day” on the ninth anniversary
of the September 11, 2001, attacks. The Dove World Outreach Center
says it is hosting the event to remember 9/11 victims and take a
stand against Islam. With promotions on its website and Facebook
page, it invites Christians to burn the Muslim holy book at the
church from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“We
believe that Islam is of the devil, that it’s causing billions
of people to go to hell, it is a deceptive religion, it is a violent
religion and that is proven many, many times,” Pastor Terry
Jones told CNN’s Rick Sanchez earlier this week.
Jones
wrote a book titled “Islam is of the Devil,” and the
church sells coffee mugs and shirts featuring the phrase.
“I
mean ask yourself, have you ever really seen a really happy Muslim?
As they’re on the way to Mecca? As they gather together in the
mosque on the floor? Does it look like a real religion of joy?”
Jones asks in one of his YouTube posts.
“No,
to me it looks like a religion of the devil.”
“In
Islam, many actions that we consider to be crimes are encouraged,
condoned or sheltered under Islamic teaching and practice, though.
Another reason to burn a Quran.”’ (CNN, July
29, 2010)
[6]
When
someone utters of a scriptural religion of 2 billion peoples which
unequivocally enjoins justice and equity among mankind regardless of
religion, which unequivocally forbids committing excesses in the
land, unequivocally forbids the killing of innocent people, and
unequivocally likens the virtue of saving one innocent person from
injustice being akin to saving an entire peoples, that: “to
me it looks like a religion of the devil”, is
not just simple ignorance:
- “For Allah loveth those who judge in equity.” Holy Qur'an Surah Al-Maeda 5:42
- “... so strive as in a race in all virtues.” Holy Qur'an Surah Al-Maeda 5:48
- “On that account We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land, it would be as if he slew the whole people; and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our Messengers with Clear Signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.” Holy Qur'an Surah Al-Maeda 5:32
Furthermore,
to go to the bother of writing a full book-length treatise
egregiously titling it: 'Islam is
of the Devil', seems to be following directly in the footsteps
of the propaganda manuals written by the “foremost Western
scholar of Islam”, Princeton University professor emeritus
of Near Eastern Studies, primarily of Islamic history, Bernard Lewis,
such as Crisis of Islam – Holy War and Unholy Terror.
Clearly
Terry Jones' case isn't the simple situation of mere prejudice, of
being mistaken about Islam in the information age of 2011, of an
orientalist misreading the Holy Qur'an. Pastor Terry Jones actually
went ahead and torched a copy of the Holy Qur'an in March
2011.
[7] Such demonstrated malice is beyond ignorance. It is designed to
inflame, to hurt, to elicit an uncontrolled response from the
Muslims. No hate laws were applied to Pastor Terry Jones of course in
the name of free speech any more than these were applied to the
Danish cartoonist drawing hideous caricatures of the Prophet of Islam
in 2006 under guidance from his own Jewish confreres in America,
Daniel
Pipes and company.
[8] Instead, Terry Jones is now smugly mounting a campaign for
becoming the president
of the United States for 2012!
[9]
It is easy
to misread into Terry Jones' misanthropy as being either an isolated
case of a crackpot jackass (as the Western media projects it to be),
or an example of revived Crusades against Islam (which Muslims
holding facile views are wont to believe). It is neither. Apart from
perhaps personal malice, it is entirely political science in the same
vein as all propaganda manuals are. And the word “Islam”
is the scapegoat! As I had summed it up in September
2010:
'(yawn....
sooo reminiscent of Bible Burning in Zionistan [9a] and
pissing-spitting on the symbols of Christianity for advanced
entertainment and mirth [9b] –– common progenitors [9c]
and instigators harboring more or less equal contempt for the faith
of all 'untermensch' and thenceforth, without fear of accountability
or retribution, nurturing the figment of a “clash of
civilizations” to justify the ongoing murderous “Imperial
Mobilization”)' [9d]
That
Machiavellian maligning of Islam as “doctrinal
motivation” (see Brzezinski quote at the
beginning) is examined in the report “Hijacking
the word 'Islam' for Mantra Creation”
[10] where I take an in-depth look into the Dynamics of Mantra
Creation of Islamofascism, starting with the crafty Jewish penmanship
of Bernard Lewis in the service of “imperial
mobilization”.
I should
just add in passing that the unenviable destiny of all such vulgar
propagandists who at the peak of their hubris fuel unspeakable
war-mongering upon mankind, is perhaps timelessly captured in the
Goebbels
family's fate!
[11] But only under the spectre of victor's justice.
Returning
back to inadvertently misunderstanding the Holy Qur'an as opposed to
deliberately distorting it for vested interests as illustrated above,
it should be obvious to any sensible person that memorizing the Holy
Qur'an like a tape recorder has zero pertinence to understanding its
message, never mind comprehending it sufficiently as “muttaqin”
for practicing its spirit beyond its daily rituals. I hope I can be
forgiven for drawing the apt parallel of the pleasure of daily
Qur'anic recitation with daily reciting the DMV driver's handbook
just for the pleasure of hearing the sound of the latter instructive
words!
That
is in effect what the Muslims have done with the Holy Qur'an –
read the DMV handbook for the sheer pleasure of hearing the sounds
and rhythm of its words and sentences! As useful as that might be to
wean oneself from sleeping pills, can one pass the DMV test that way?
“Is it such a Message that ye
would hold in light esteem?” demands the Author of the
Holy Qur'an, while simultaneously asserting “In
a Book well-guarded, which none shall touch but those who are clean”!
Clearly,
the warning to Muslims (and non-Muslims alike) by the Author of the
Holy Qur'an to not make a mockery of the “well-guarded Book”,
is very emphatic, repetitive, and unequivocal ( آيَاتٌ
مُحْكَمَاتٌ
).
Even verse 25:30 of Surah Al-Furqaan vouches a severe condemnation of
the Muslims themselves by none other than the Messenger who brought
them the Holy Qur'an: “Then the Messenger will say: 'O my Lord!
Truly my people took this Qur'an for just foolish nonsense.'”
The primary focus is veritably on understanding the message: “Do
they not then reflect on the Quran? Nay, on the hearts there are
locks.” (refer to Surah Muhammad, 47:24 quoted above) as it
commonsensically should be, and not on its mere recitation,
memorization, ritual reverence, and ritual practice: “Is it
such a Message that ye would hold in light esteem?” (refer to
Surah Al-Waqia, 56:81 quoted above). Of course, as all Muslims will
surely testify, there is a more profound effect upon the spirit on
hearing or reciting the Holy Qur'an in its original Arabic than doing
the same to the DMV driver's handbook in any language!
The Holy
Qur'an, first and foremost, is an aural recitation, not a written
word. The authenticity and correctness of the written copy of the
Qur'an, as Muslims are aware, is testified by a hafiz of the
Qur'an, one who has memorized it in its exactness, like a tape
recorder, and the memorization has itself been authenticated by his
teacher – successively going back to the time of the Prophet of
Islam when the Prophet himself (the historical narrative unanimously
states) approved the full recitation as it exists today. (For a
history
of its written compilation see: Some Old Manuscripts of the Holy
Qur'an ) [12]
As
divisive as Muslims are, and in as many sects as we are divided in,
and in as many languages we speak on all five (or six) continents
that we live, one thing we agree upon is the text of the Qur'an –
that it remains unchanged.
There
is nothing which unites the fractious 2 billion Muslims more than the
text of the Holy Qur'an. The following verse asserts that unlike
previous scriptures, the Author of the Holy Qur'an takes the
responsibility of protecting its Message from man's corruption:
|
We
have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly
guard it (from corruption). Holy Qur'an, Surah Al-Hijr 15:9
|
إِنَّا
نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا
الذِّكْرَ
وَإِنَّا لَهُ
لَحَافِظُونَ
|
This is
perhaps why there is so much emphasis among Muslims of all nations,
cultures, and civilizations since the very time of the Prophet and
the spread of Islam, to learn the memorization of the Holy Qur'an as
both a sacred as well as a utilitarian virtue. Its verbatim perfect
memorization continually protects the Holy Qur'an from tampering by
those who own the printing presses. And it protected the Holy Qur'an
in antiquity from malicious scribes working for kings, and from
copying errors. And we see the proof of the pudding in its eating
even today, fourteen centuries later. But while the text of the Holy
Qur'an all Muslims agree remains the same, they all slightly disagree
on what it means! See Islam:
Why is the Holy Qur'an so easy to hijack? Part-II
for a first of its kind forensic examination into this matter.
Sticking
with the recitation of the Qur'anic Word for the moment, there is
also something undeniable and uncanny about the calmness and feeling
of spiritual peace which comes with reciting a Surah from the Holy
Qur'an as an act of worship. Such calmness does indeed benefit many
Muslims temporally – meaning, in the here and the now. Our
psychiatric bills are almost negligible (unless we are physically
being bombed to smithereens on a daily basis), and ProzacTM
sales never took off among the Muslim nations as it did in the West.
Empirically speaking, it is undeniable that even memorization,
recitation, and parroting by the ordinary peoples has brought Muslims
throughout the fourteen centuries some very unique benefits of
spiritual strength and empowerment to withstand daily vicissitudes of
life and tyrants.
Nevertheless,
commonsense tells us that something has terribly gone wrong here.
We
have kept the shell and thrown away its fruit! [12a]
The
Muslims have come to believe, or been led to believe, collectively,
that making the Arabic offering of the Qur'an to Allah with its
attendant rituals will take one to Heaven!
More
recitation offerings to Allah will bring more Heaven in the
Hereafter by compensating for our failings in the here, of
both commissions and omissions.
Personal
elevation of the spirit notwithstanding – the Shaman priest too
derives much elevation of the soul in reciting his mantras as does
the Hindu swami reciting the Vedas (for man, evidently, is naturally
endowed with a spiritual bent of mind that seeks psychological
comfort in the pursuit of the “why” of existence) –
often times the words being recited are in a foreign tongue (Arabic)
which the vast majority of Muslims on earth don't even speak or
understand!
Of
the nearly 2 billion Muslims on planet earth today, just about 10%
are native speakers of Arabic. A few others speak it as a second
language.
But
most Muslims mouth the words of the Holy Qur'an formulaically in its
original Arabic, or in its transliteration into their local language
script, for some vague notion of reaping rewards in the Hereafter.
Acts
of courage, valor, dignity, self-respect, standing up for what's
right, standing up to oppression, tyranny, breaking the bonds of
servitude, have all been replaced by joyous recitations.
Muslims
do such pious recitations every opportunity we get, which is mostly
on deaths and death-anniversaries of loved ones. We solemnly bring
down the Qur'an from the topmost shelf of our choicest closet or
bookcase, often kept wrapped in many layers of fine silk to preserve
its dignity from dust and spiders, and gather around with friends and
family to “finish” mouthing the Qur'an a maximum number
of times as blessings and reward for the dear departed. More often
than not, because of our busy lives, unable to gather sufficient
number of people to mouth the Qur'an, we farm off the task to the
nearest mosque and get children studying there to come-over and do so
in proxy services in lieu of some food and generous gratuity to the
mullah. More money we spend in such efforts, more we feel our prayers
have traveled farther into purgatory relieving the burden of
accountability on our loved ones!
As
per the concept of sadqa-jariya, it is believed by many
Muslims that such Qur'anic recitations and prayers of good-will help
those who are no longer in this world when their loved ones miss them
and pray for mercy for their souls (as opposed to forget them or
curse them). Let's just accept, to avoid any red herring contentions,
that it helps the damned to be less damned in purgatory if they leave
a good legacy of love and charitable works behind. For those rare
virtuous people not damned, perhaps the prayers of the living helps
them gain greater Heaven. Sadqa-Jariya is a unique
concept in Islam which helps foster love, brotherhood, and charitable
works that keep on accruing benefit to one even after one has left
this abode, so long as the good-will left behind keeps bearing fruit
for those still living.
But
does such ceremonial mouthing of the Holy Qur'an help us while we are
still living?
And
during Ramadan of course, we again rush to “finish”
mouthing all its 114 chapters divided into 30 sections, in just under
27 days as the fast-path to Heaven. If we overshoot by one
day, we are in panic mode to finish the remaining sections quickly
before the night of moon-sighting for the next day's Eid
festivities.
When
do Muslims actually study the Holy Qur'an to comprehend its message
for the here and the now, as one would study the DMV handbook? Or
more aptly, as one studies to learn one's profession and trade?
How
much more facile than that can anyone get?
The fascinating acceptance of ALL Previous Prophets, of the Jews, of the Christians, and of the un-named peoples in every time and every space, making ALL of them comparable, equal, without difference, to the Prophet of Islam
Returning
to the topic of the remarkable pluralism of Surah Al-Fatiha and Surah
Al-Maeda, what does the Author of the Holy Qur'an commend to Muslims
about His many Prophets, Apostles, and Messengers?
Witness:
|
Say (O
Muslims): 'We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us
and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac,
and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus
received, and that which the prophets received from their Lord.
We make no distinction between
any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered.'
Holy Qur'an, Surah Al-Baqara 2:136
|
قُولُوٓا۟
ءَامَنَّا
بِٱللَّهِ
وَمَآ أُنزِلَ
إِلَيْنَا
وَمَآ أُنزِلَ
إِلَىٰٓ إِبْرَٰهِۦمَ
وَإِسْمَٰعِيلَ
وَإِسْحَٰقَ
وَيَعْقُوبَ
وَٱلْأَسْبَاطِ
وَمَآ أُوتِىَ
مُوسَىٰ وَعِيسَىٰ
وَمَآ أُوتِىَ
ٱلنَّبِيُّونَ
مِن رَّبِّهِمْ
لَا نُفَرِّقُ
بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ
مِّنْهُمْ
وَنَحْنُ لَهُۥ
مُسْلِمُونَ
|
|
The
Messenger believeth in what hath been revealed to him from his
Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one (of them) believeth in
Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers. 'We
make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His
messengers.' And they say: 'We
hear, and we obey: (We seek) Thy forgiveness, our Lord, and to
Thee is the end of all journeys' Holy Qur'an, Surah Al-Baqara
2:285
|
ءَامَنَ
ٱلرَّسُولُ
بِمَآ أُنزِلَ
إِلَيْهِ مِن
رَّبِّهِۦ
وَٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ
ۚ كُلٌّ ءَامَنَ
بِٱللَّهِ
وَمَلَٰٓئِكَتِهِۦ
وَكُتُبِهِۦ
وَرُسُلِهِۦ
لَا نُفَرِّقُ
بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ
مِّن رُّسُلِهِۦ
ۚ وَقَالُوا۟
سَمِعْنَا
وَأَطَعْنَا
ۖ غُفْرَانَكَ
رَبَّنَا
وَإِلَيْكَ
ٱلْمَصِيرُ
|
This is
principally why Muslims do not return the villainous propaganda
warfare waged against Prophet Muhammad by the Judeo-Christian
soldiers carrying the white
man's burden
– for instance, like the Danish cartoons of 2006, and the
American movie of 2012, dehumanizing the noble Prophet of Islam, or
the Qur'an burning exercise resurrected in Norway in 2019 –
with counter propaganda warfare against the prophets of antiquity
whom the Christians and the Jews revere. For, the Holy Qur'an enjoins
the Muslims to revere these same prophets of antiquity and to “make
no distinction between one and another of His messengers.” (See
many similar verses, e.g. 4:163, 6:83, 57:26).
This
is despite the Holy Qur'an simultaneously vouching that the earlier
messages brought by these prophets of antiquity had been lost or
distorted by the impudence of human hands (see Surah Al-Maeda
5:12-16), and that Islam now superseded them all as the last
Testament to mankind which the Author had Himself undertaken to
safeguard: “We have, without doubt,
sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it”
(Surah Al-Hijr 15:9 quoted earlier), with no more Messengers and
Testaments to come in future times (see Surah Al-Ahzaab 33:40).
But
does the Author of the Holy Qur'an forbid Muslims reading other
people's books?
No!
I have not found any occasion when such a travesty has been
advocated.
Does
the Author of the Qur'an forbid speaking to the people of other
nations?
No!
I have not found any occasion when such a travesty has been
advocated.
Does
the Author of the Qur'an call upon Muslims to force themselves upon
others?
Well,
we have already seen what Surah Al-Maeda 5:44-48, Surah Yunus
10:99-100, Surah Al-Baqara 2:256 quoted above, say about no
compulsion and amicable co-existence. The author of the Holy Qur'an
goes even further, categorically stating the following:
|
O
mankind! Lo! We have created you from male and female, and have
made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the
noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct.
Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware. Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Hujraat,
49:13
|
يَا
أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ
إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ
مِنْ ذَكَرٍ
وَأُنْثَىٰ
وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ
شُعُوبًا
وَقَبَائِلَ
لِتَعَارَفُوا
ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ
عِنْدَ اللَّهِ
أَتْقَاكُمْ
ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ
عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
|
My
goodness! Is there another Scripture like it? And how can “ye
may know one another” ( لِتَعَارَفُوا
) unless ye
talk to each other, partake of each others joys and sorrows?
The
straightforward logic of verse 49:13
in full context demonstrates that the Author of the Qur'an made the
religion of Islam both non-isolationist, and non-triumphalist by
force, to the core!
Does
the Author of the Qur'an forbid Muslims imbibing themselves of
knowledge and wisdom from any source?
No!
I have also not found any occasion when such a travesty has been
advocated.
Quite
the opposite in fact. The Author of the Qur'an commands Its own last
Messenger to pray to his Creator to increase his own “ilm”
as a virtue:
|
and
say: My Lord! Increase me in knowledge. Holy Qur’an, Surah
Ta-Ha, 20:114
|
وَقُلْ
رَّبِّ زِدۡنِىۡ
عِلۡمًا
|
And
therefore, since the Author's last Messenger is also the Exemplar for
his followers, the commandment is to the Exemplar's followers as
well, i.e., to the Muslims, to do the same: “and
say: My Lord! Increase me in knowledge.” This pithy
prayer is recited by many Muslims in their daily prayers. It is also
plastered prominently on the entrance doors of universities and
seminaries. Unfortunately, this increase evidently hasn't come to
pass for a vast majority of us.
What's
more, the author of the Qur'an even advocates pursuing boundless
“ilm” thusly:
|
مَا
تَرَىٰ فِي
خَلْقِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ
مِنْ تَفَاوُتٍ
ۖ فَارْجِعِ
الْبَصَرَ
هَلْ تَرَىٰ
مِنْ فُطُورٍ
ثُمَّ ارْجِعِ
الْبَصَرَ
كَرَّتَيْنِ
يَنْقَلِبْ
إِلَيْكَ
الْبَصَرُ
خَاسِئًا وَهُوَ
حَسِيرٌ
|
The
profound significance of these pithy verses of Surah Mulk to
knowledge, to “ilm” acquisition can perhaps also be
judged from the fact that Muslim physicist Dr. Abdus Salam rehearsed
it in Stockholm upon accepting The Nobel Prize in Physics 1979,
boldly
stating
at the Nobel Banquet on December 10, 1979, before other Nobel
laureates, scientists, dignitaries, the Nobel Foundation and the
Royal Academy of Sciences, that: “This in effect is, the
faith of all physicists; the deeper we seek, the more is our wonder
excited, the more is the dazzlement for our gaze.” [13]
That wonder excitement by the study of nature, of
the heavens, of creation, of existence, is innate to the religion of
Islam! Who says to separate religion from science when Islam itself
advocates science? They probably mean not to conflate the processes
of religion with the processes of science as explained in
Falsification
in the Scientific Method.
But
does the author the Qur'an advocate such pursuits, singlemindedly, to
the exclusion of all else, such that such pursuits become the
self-serving pursuit of the 'American Dream'?
Or,
is such an advocacy for the pursuit of “ilm” as a noble
endeavor, made an essential component of a greater all encompassing
moral imperative by the author of the Qur'an? A categorical
imperative which devolves upon man an even greater system of personal
and social responsibility for which the wholehearted pursuit of “ilm”
is necessary, but not sufficient?
The
answer is obvious, despite the question not being merely rhetorical.
It
is plainly given by the author of the Qur'an in the pithy Surah Asr,
in the verse fragment:
|
and
those who strive for haq, Holy Qur’an, Surah Al-Asr, 103:3
|
وَتَوَاصَوۡا
بِالۡحَقِّ
|
The Arabic
word “haq” حَقِّ
(pronounced
'huq' like 'hug' and not like 'faq') is an all encompassing word and
its single-word translation into English is impossible. It means all
of the following (and then some): truth, Truth, justice, rights,
rectifying injustice, not violating rights, not being unjust,
demanding one's own rights, not permitting others to violate one's
own rights, etceteras.
It
is but simple logic and commonsense to deduce that the pursuit of
accurate knowledge in all matters is an essential prerequisite to the
pursuit of “haq” in all matters – lest one be
deceived, be manipulated, end up believing in falsehoods, and act
unjustly.
The
aforementioned tiny but self-sufficient verse fragment of the Qur'an
forms the foundational basis for what is called “jihad”,
striving as a moral imperative, in other verses of the Qur'an:
|
And
strive they with their wealth and their lives in the way of God;
they are the truthful ones. Holy Qur'an, Surah Al-Hujraat 49:15
|
وَجَاهَدُوۡا
بِاَمۡوَالِهِمۡ
وَاَنۡفُسِهِمۡ
فِىۡ سَبِيۡلِ
اللّٰهِ
|
But what
should they “strive” ( وَجَاهَدُ
) for, inter
alia, with their wealth and their lives, without any expectations in
return from their fellow man, to be so nobly designated as the
“truthful ones” ( الصّٰدِقُوۡنَ
) by none
other than the one who claims to be their Creator?
The
Qur'anic answer, once again unequivocally provided by the author of
the Qur'an in the Qur'an itself, is in Surah Asr.
It is to
principally strive for “haq” ( وَتَوَاصَوۡا
بِالۡحَقِّ
) with all
of one's wealth, resources, talents, and energies! The lack of
striving of which, the Author of the Holy Qur'an emphatically
re-asserts in the same Surah Al-Asr, leads to:
|
Lo! man
is in a state of loss Holy Qur'an, Surah Al-Asr 103:2
|
اِنَّ
الۡاِنۡسَانَ
لَفِىۡ خُسۡرٍۙ
|
For
completeness, reproduced below is the full recipe of the pithy Surah
Al-Asr for a noble life which is “not
in a state of loss”, one which is not
perpetually full of facile views, ignorance, apathy, vile servitude
to the harbingers of inequity and injustices, and wild revolutions
and further injustices in the name of redressing injustices. Notice
what's stated and what's omitted in this self-sufficient tiny Surah.
There is no reference to Muslims, or to Islam, or to any particular
people or religion. It is directly addressed to man ( الۡاِنۡسَانَ
) ,
“insaan”, to every people of all religions, and to people
of no religion, the overarching context for which has already been
elucidated above:
|
وَالۡعَصۡرِۙ
|
|
|
اِنَّ
الۡاِنۡسَانَ
لَفِىۡ خُسۡرٍۙ
|
|
|
Save
those who believe,
and
do good works,
and
strive for “haq”,
|
اِلَّا
الَّذِيۡنَ
اٰمَنُوۡا
وَ
عَمِلُوا
الصّٰلِحٰتِ
وَتَوَاصَوۡا
بِالۡحَقِّ
ۙ
وَتَوَاصَوۡا
بِالصَّبۡرِ
|
The
aforementioned few words of the Author of the Holy Qur'an, as
straightforward as they appear to be, still do require plenty of
reflection and context to grasp the full import of its message
towards an equitable and mutually beneficial multicultural
co-existence without the imposition of anyone's values and/or “facile
views” upon another.
It is
important to re-emphasize for the first of the four clauses of verse
103:3
of Surah Al-Asr quoted above, even at the risk of being repetitious
once gain, that on theological matters of belief, including no
belief, when one disagrees with another, the dispute is not up to man
to decide. It is for some abstract entity called “God” to
decide, as already quoted from the author of the Qur'an in the
preceding discussion. It is not the business of man what another's
beliefs are. That business is God's, and is defined as being among
the Rights of God upon man, the “haquq-Allah”. No mortal
may interfere in that Right even if, due to their own natural
socialization and/or self-ascribed learnedness, they perceive that
some Right of God is being violated by others holding a facile view.
This clear demarcation of respective Rights in Islam between the
Rights of God (beliefs) and the Rights of man (moral law), ends for
all times, at least from Islam's point of view, all arguments of the
type: whose conception of god is better; is there a god or isn't
there; etc.
Everyone
gets to believe in whatever theology they want! The Author
of the Holy Qur'an in defining the religion of Islam, already took
the inherent differences in beliefs, natural inclinations, bent of
mind, and perception biases due to the very nature of socialization
of man into account!
Thus,
apart from friendly discourse, any forceful disputation with another
on the nature of their personal beliefs is transgressing the limits
set by the author of the Qur'an for Islam's practitioners:
|
And if
your Lord had pleased, surely all those who are in the earth
would have believed, all of them; will you then force men till
they become believers? Holy Qur'an, Surah Yunus 10:99
|
وَلَوۡ
شَآءَ رَبُّكَ
لَأَمَنَ مَن
فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ
ڪُلُّهُمۡ
جَمِيعًاۚ
أَفَأَنتَ
تُكۡرِهُ ٱلنَّاسَ
حَتَّىٰ يَكُونُواْ
مُؤۡمِنِينَ
|
Wonderful.
This
leaves man, as per the other three clauses of Surah Al-Asr verse 3
quoted above, in his short gift of life, to not worry about saving
another's soul, but to primarily contend with his own conduct with
his fellow man, the previously mentioned “haquq-al-ibad”.
The
commonsense advocacy of that method of conduct, of doing good to
fellow man, of striving for “haq” in removing injustices
from oneself and from fellow man, and being patient in adversity
rather than committing suicide or becoming a suicide bomber, is
beneficial guidance to all mankind no differently than the Biblical
commandment: “do unto others as you
have others do unto you”, and Bertrand Russell's
non-religious and secular formulation: 'Maximize
individual happiness while minimizing social conflict for optimizing
the overall common-good', are beneficial for all mankind.
(Note
caveat on unbridled emphasis on intellect alone and the religion of
deception which it naturally birth-pangs upon mankind called Secular
Humanism, in: Morality
derived from the Intellect leads to Enslavement!)
Take from
whichever system of thought that naturally resonates with one; but
don't be iniquitous to oneself, or to another; and the only
practicable method to achieve that enlightened state of affairs
regardless of the belief system one is socialized into, is the
pursuit of “ilm” (in order to minimally be able to
differentiate truth from falsehoods), social justice, and
benevolence, as if in a race in all virtues instead of being in a
race for Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives – i.e.,
imperial mobilization. This is the prima facie principal message of
the Author of the Holy Qur'an. There is absolutely no drive for
empire, or triumphalism, in the principled teachings of the Holy
Qur'an which describes itself as the completion of a divine favor of
a “deen” in verse 5:3 ( الْإِسْلَامَ
دِينًا ),
and a divine guidance only to the “mutaqeen” in verse 2:2
( هُدًى
لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
).
(The Holy
Qur'an's self-description naturally begs the obvious question which
is addressed in the aforementioned case study Islam:
Why is the Holy Qur'an so easy to hijack? Part-II:
where is empire in the Holy Qur'an? Especially, as were witnessed in
the Ummayad, Abbasside, Fatimide, the Spanish Moor, and the Ottoman
dynastic empires during the heyday of Arab and Mongol Muslim
domination of the world for nearly a millennium?)
If
only man were to take heed of any of this platitudinous stuff from
any of the Books of wisdom among mankind, and implement that which is
his preferred choice by socialization or natural inclination, in his
respective tribe and nation.
That
singular failure to implement moral platitudes, from time immemorial,
is the one fundamental problem of social failure to strive in “haq”!
That social failure is the first cause for the creation of unjust
empires and tyrants, and their subsequent quest for hegemony and
domination of tribes and nations of the world as was justified by
Zbigniew Brzezinski in his own American Mein Kampf of 1996 titled The
Grand Chessboard – American Primacy and Its Geostrategic
Imperatives: “Hegemony is as old as mankind.”
It is
because of this empirical fact that the author of the Qur'an, in what
it claims to be its last Testament to mankind, has laid such strong
emphasis on striving for “haq” – even making it the
underpinning of a life which is at a loss in its absence ( اِنَّ
الۡاِنۡسَانَ
لَفِىۡ خُسۡرٍۙ
).
Otherwise, the Biblical wisdom “do unto others as you have
others do unto you” is still sufficient general principle
among any enlightened peoples. However, while the latter was merely
advisory, striving for “haq” has been made compulsory in
Islam! In order to comprehend just how difficult that is in practice,
and always has been, which is evidently why it has been made a
cornerstone of Islam in the Holy Qur'an, please see the full
exposition
of Surah al-Asr. (op. cit.)
And
what has man, “insaan”, done about such striving for
“haq” as the principal engine of human development and
social progress?
Nothing.
Caught
between facile world views on the one hand, and bread and circuses on
the other, man continues to be manipulated into voluntary servitude
to tyrants of modernity just as he was in antiquity. While one may
arguably understand the servitude in the Dark Ages to the tyrants of
antiquity, in the modern information age, the Technetronic Era
(term coined by Zbigniew Brzezinski), for the disease of the Dark
Ages to persist is indicative of something far deeper which has not
changed despite the march of civilizations, liberations, exponential
increases in public knowledge, and the Technetronic progress.
Those
who pursue “ilm”, knowledge, don't necessarily do so to
strive for “haq”, or to redress the human condition, but
for their own narrow self-interests to achieve their own version of
the 'American Dream'. As the knowledge bearers, they are often either
the direct harbingers of, or the silent bystanders to, the untold
crimes against humanity. In the Technetronic Era of today, the former
are the scientists, engineers, and technicians of empire laboring
under facile delusions of all kind.
Tyranny
of course only flourishes when many good men, and many good women,
learned and pious, too busy pursuing their 'American Dreams', stay
silent, indifferent.
That
is just too well-worn a statement to be anything but one of the best
moral clichés of all time. Edmund Burke wasn't the first to
think of it. All the sages throughout the ages have reflected upon
it. And Solon, the Athenian law giver, as noted previously, even made
coming to the aid of fellow man a legal obligation (as opposed to
solely being a moral one imparted by religions)!
Apart
from the copious evidence of blood-stained pages of recorded history,
the obvious import of accurate knowledge to the pursuit of “haq”
as its principled primemover, can also be contemporarily judged by
the empirical fact that due to the Muslims having a rather facile
view of their own religion throughout history, and remaining quite
ignorant of its interplay with imperial matters in every epoch,
“jihad” was once again vilely harvested for an imperial
agenda in the modern epoch with nothing but snake oil.
The face of Brzezinski's Islam “God is on your side”
This
time around by Zbigniew Brzezinski for “giving to the USSR
its Vietnam War” in Afghanistan 1979-1988 by creating the
“Mujahideens”. It is worth reproducing here Zbigniew
Brzezinski's 1998 interview to French magazine Le Nouvel
Observateur for his own confessions of the utility of
promulgating facile world views to accomplish this:
'Question:
The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs
[“From the Shadows”], that American intelligence services
began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet
intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser
to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is
that correct?
Brzezinski:
Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the
Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army
invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded
until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that
President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the
opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I
wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my
opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
Question:
Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But
perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to
provoke it?
Brzezinski:
It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we
knowingly increased the probability that they would.
Question:
When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they
intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States
in Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a
basis of truth. You don't regret anything today?
Brzezinski:
Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the
effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me
to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border,
I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to
the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to
carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that
brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the
Soviet empire.
Question:
And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic
fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?
Brzezinski:
What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or
the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the
liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Question:
Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated Islamic
fundamentalism represents a world menace today.
Brzezinski:
Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to
Islam. That is stupid. There isn't a global Islam. Look at Islam in a
rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading
religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there
in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco,
Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian
secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.'
(source Global
Research
[15])
It
is also worth reproducing here how Brzezinski fashioned these “Some
stirred-up Moslems”:
News
voice over 1980: “US National Security Advisor Brzezinski
flew to Pakistan to set about rallying resistance. He wanted to arm
the Mujahideen without revealing America's role. On the Afghan border
near the Khayber Pass, he urged the Soldiers of God to redouble their
efforts”
Brzezinski
1980: “We know of their deep belief in God, and we are
confident that their struggle will succeed. That land over there, is
yours, you'll go back to it one day, because your fight will prevail,
and you'll have your homes and your mosques back again; because your
cause is right; God is on your side.” [enthusiastic
clapping by the future 'Mujahideens']
Brzezinski
in the studio speaking to the interviewer: “The purpose of
coordinating with the Pakistanis will be to make the Soviets bleed,
for as much, as long, as possible.” (transcription is mine from
the documentary video
clip
[16])
The
mass ignorance and the facile world views that lay behind “their
deep belief in god” among the Muslims was
devilishly harvested with “god is
on your side” to leave the Muslim civilization
of Afghanistan into dust, and to set the stage for the future
disintegration of Pakistan, with nothing but “Some
stirred-up Moslems”!
It is the
same fundamental lack of wherewithal today among the Muslims which is
also enabling the same grandmasters to wage the perpetual 'Global War
on Terror' upon the world as the age-old pretext for “imperial
mobilization” on The Grand Chessboard. The enemy in
yesteryear was crafted as Communism. The enemy today is crafted as
Islam. (See Hijacking
the word 'Islam' for Mantra Creation,
op. cit.) That enemy is being taught to be feared worldwide,
including to the world's foremost policing agency of the sole
superpower, the FBI.
The face of Jews' Islam “violent Islam”
Caption An
FBI video presentation titled “Militancy Considerations”
measures the relationship between piety and violence among the texts
of the three Abrahamic faiths [ the
god's chosen people obviously coming out on top!!! ]
As time goes on, the followers of the Torah and the Bible move from
“violent” to “non-violent.” Not so for
devotees of the Koran, whose “moderating process has not
happened.” The line representing violent behavior from devout
Muslims flatlines and continues outward, from 610 A.D. to 2010. In
other words, religious Muslims have been and always will be agents of
aggression. Watch FBI
Presentation Video
(click on image, alternate
watch,
source
video link)
artfully Hijacking
Islam.
See Islam
vs. Secular Humanism and World Government by Zahir Ebrahim
for its full implication. [16a] [16b] [16c] (Image
source)
In
both endeavors, Muslim rulers and their intelligence apparatuses
played, and are still playing, prostitutes to empire against the
common-good of their own public.
Evidently,
all empires, past and present, from antiquity to modernity, are built
upon promoting facile views of certain truths among their public, and
among their prostitutes.
St.
Augustine of Hippo had aptly summed this matter millennia ago:
|
“When
the King asked him what he meant by infesting the sea, the pirate
defiantly replied: 'the same as you do when you infest the whole
world; but because I do it with a little ship I am called a
robber, and because you do it with a great fleet, you are an
emperor.'” St. Augustine, The City of God Against The
Pagans, pg. 148
|
Man against Superman
It
is not surprising then, that the One who claims to be the Creator of
man, the Author of the Holy Qur'an, correctly gauged the natural
psychology of the masses among mankind and how they will be
manipulated by the devil's apprentices, and for which it universally
advocated the pursuit of “ilm” and “haq” for
every “insaan” in a lifelong striving it termed “jihad”
as the only effective counter to facile world views from which all
evil follows.
It
is therefore also not surprising then, that the superlative devil's
apprentices too, from time immemorial, also recognized that
encouraging facile views among the masses was essential in order to
rule them!
Thus
was created the narrow specializations and superficial generalization
of education systems since the dawn of the Industrial Age, to craft
the “likkha parrha jahils” of modernity, meaning,
literate morons with pieces of paper proclaiming their august
qualifications. It wasn't just by the happenstance of rapid knowledge
expansion of the Technetronic Era, as Zbigniew Brzezinski
speciously implied in his 1970 book Between Two Ages, that
this transpired:
|
'...
it can be argued that in some respects “understanding”
... is today much more difficult for most people to attain. ...
It is simply impossible for the average citizen and even for men
of intellect to assimilate and meaningfully organize the flow of
knowledge for themselves. In every scientific field complaints
are mounting that the torrential outpouring of published reports,
scientific papers, and scholarly articles and the proliferation
of professional journals make it impossible for individuals to
avoid becoming either narrow-gauged specialists or superficial
generalists. The sharing of new common perspectives thus becomes
more difficult as knowledge expands; in addition,
traditional perspectives such as those provided by primitive
myths or, more recently, by certain historically conditioned
ideologies can no longer be sustained.' Zbigniew Brzezinski,
Between Two Ages, 1970, pg. 15
|
Let
me highlight the two key empirical observations from that
aforementioned passage: “make it
impossible for individuals to avoid becoming either narrow-gauged
specialists or superficial generalists. The sharing of new common
perspectives thus becomes more difficult as knowledge expands;”.
The self-serving cyclic argument of Brzezinski is that firstly,
ignorance about knowledge, due to the sheer explosion in knowledge,
is the natural outcome of scientific modernity. Secondly, that people
can no longer easily reach a common “understanding” of
their common condition. Both those observations are empirically true
today. But one can easily imagine an alternate modernity where that
need not be the case despite the abundance of knowledge explosion.
It
was the corporatization of knowledge in the service of empire in the
vast military-industrial-academe complexes of the industrialized
world, and its tight coupling to the exercise of hegemony, that has
made it so. Science and technology today equate with hegemony.
Therefore, since the quest for hegemony is perpetual, those pursuing
science and technology have to continue slaving in the service of
empire as “narrow-gauged specialists.” It is a
self-serving, self-sustaining game of flourishing ignorance.
And
it isn't just incidental to knowledge explosion as Brzezinski has
tried to portray it. It is in fact according to a premeditated plan,
deftly put into motion at the very onset of Western
industrialization, for the crafting of “a
large number of men who are content to labor hard all day long.”
Here
is Bernard de Mandeville in the eighteenth century, cleverly planting
the very seeds of modern self-serving ignorance of the people for a
production-consumption economy wherein, human masses are deemed only
useful as economic widgets for the economic well-being of a nation:
|
'The
economic well-being of the nation depends on the presence of a
large number of men who are content to labor hard all day long.
Because men are naturally lazy they will not work unless forced
by necessity to do so.' Bernard de Mandeville, The Fable of the
Bees, 1705
|
This
man-made value system of human beings as economic widgets “content
to labor hard all day long”, has today spread
like a virus across the full gamut of gainful employment in the
globalized corporate world, from blue collar to white collar, from
traders to craftsman, from superficial generalists to narrow-gauged
specialists.
That
philosophy, to create “a large
number of men who are content to labor hard all day long ... forced
by necessity” espoused in The Fable of the
Bees, inspired Adam Smith, the author of Wealth of Nations,
to propose the pursuit of selfish industriousness for the overall
common good. Of course, common good primarily of the ruling class
with trickle-down economics, but that's just buried in the definition
of common good where the common man labors hard all day long, and the
elites enjoy the good. Patterned upon the bees collectively making
that marvelous tasting honey, each bee narrowly staying busy in its
own specialized micro-task, while the queen bee rests and enjoys all
the benefits, lies the entire edifice of modern civilization. It
hinges entirely upon what Bernard de Mandeville stated 300 years ago.
At the risk of being repetitious, it needs to be emphasized once
again: “The economic well-being of the
nation depends on the presence of a large number of men who are
content to labor hard all day long ... forced by necessity.”
This
300 years old philosophy of inculcating selfish, myopic,
narrow-gauged industriousness for the common good has been easily
adapted to the high-tech Technetronic Era of modernity which
naturally requires highly specialized, passionate, skilled,
ultra-hard working bees “content to labor hard all day long”
due to their natural fascination with the subject. It goes hand in
glove with creating specialized narrow-gauged morons with advanced
university degrees who can very patriotically “United We Stand”
for the common good while staying productively engaged in narrow
specializations in the economy.
Kept
perpetually too busy to either think independently from the herd even
when capable of doing so, or to pursue knowledge outside of their
narrow-gauged spheres of specializations by the sheer demands of time
and the endless debt-bills in pursuit of their endless “American
Dreams”, statecraft today relies on inflicting exactly The
Fable of the Bees upon man for its own functioning as an empire.
In this scheme of things, vast amounts of useless information has
been recast as knowledge, and parrots have been turned into learned
savants. While wisdom and commonsense have been driven out from the
acumen of men and women “content to
labor hard all day long ... forced by necessity.”
That
pursuit, by its very nature, promotes holding only facile world views
among the dreamers of the 'American Dream'. The more one is invested
in one's American Dream, the more averse one automatically becomes to
losing that dream if one wakes up to “ilm”. Natural
psychological forces do the rest, by automatically bringing to the
cognitive surface incessant rationalizations and self-delusions to
maintain status quo in order to suppress the discomfort of cognitive
dissonance. (See Leon Festinger's study of mental gymnastics for
harmonizing dissonance.)
The
end result is that one prefers to maintain only a nodding
acquaintance with “ilm”, remaining mostly content with
what's salutarily written on that piece of decorative parchment
necessary for becoming an economic widget. The devil's apprentices
building their palatial heavens right here on this earth, have
further ensured that the very nature of participating in modernity
also only permits the hardworking bees just sufficient time and
inclination for either very superficially-broad, or very
narrow-gauged specialized acquaintance with “ilm”.
We
have already seen above that without “ilm”, striving for
“haq” is impossible. Thus, between self-deception,
deception by Machiavelli, and full time engagement in bread and
circuses, one automatically becomes a captive audience to one's
ignorance in all important matters which occupy the elites enjoying
all that common good from the work of those “content to labor
hard all day long.” This diabolically induced state of
ignorance makes one easy putty in the rulers' cold calculating hands.
The cumulative impact of this to society is exactly as presaged by
Brzezinski in Between Two Ages – a must read ode to
legitimizing the tyranny of the elite in the Technetronic Era
(subtitle of the book). The era of global scientific
dictatorship.
The
proof of this is the empirical evidence that the most industrialized,
most powerful, the greatest and richest Republic on earth today whose
economic foundation was laid by Adam Smith, trumped the foundation of
liberty and separation from empire laid by its founding fathers with
the prime directive that it was to be a Republic. It has silently
descended into a police-state without a murmur of protest from either
its super-educated or its rank and file. They both today stupidly
stand together in line to have their body cavities examined, groped,
molested, humiliated, or irradiated with deadly radiation every time
they travel by air. Soon, it will be every time they visit a shopping
mall, governmental office, school, and perhaps even getting on and
off highways to and fro from work. Mobile radiation scanners are
already deployed in many cities which scan all passerbys, cars,
trucks, for the so called “terrorists”. The rulers
meanwhile have their own private jets which take off and land on
private runways and terminals bypassing the fate of the masses. No
radiation scanners violate their physical being, and no perverts
molest their women and children.
All
this travesty only exists because the public is continually taught
the facile view, or forced to acquiesce to the facile view at the
threat of themselves being labeled “terrorist”, that they
are under mortal threat from the “terrorist”.
Sociopathy of hegemony is the real problem
Referring
back to Zbigniew Brzezinski's ode to hegemony quoted at the very
beginning, the method of circumventing domestic impediments to the
“sustained exercise abroad of
genuinely imperial power” become empirically
self-evident:
|
“Moreover,
as America becomes an increasingly multicultural society, it may
find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy
issues, except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely
perceived direct external threat. [Because] the pursuit of power
is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions
of a sudden threat or challenge to the public's sense of domestic
well-being.” Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Grand
Chessboard, pgs. 211, 44
|
Sociopathy
of Hegemony, Primacy, Social Darwinianism, the exercise of Supremacy,
mass behavior control, all one and the same genre, is the real
problem. A problem that is as old as hegemony, as old as mankind. It
thrives on the facile mind. Consequently, the sociopaths who often
rise to power easily, ensure that the public mind stays facile.
Making the public mind is the first art of governance from caliphate
to democracy --- for unlike a dictatorship, ruled at the point of the
bayonet, caliphate to democracy depend on a measure of consent from
the governed. Unless that governance is changed first, until the non
sociopaths in society force their way into ruling corridors of power
to devalue the villainy of the facile mind, all Divine Books will be
“mahjoor” (Holy Qur'an, 25:30),
and the public mind shall forever remain chained to its unturning
neck in Plato's Cave. [16d]
Q.E.D.
As
the aforementioned examination discloses, in this perpetual battle
between good and evil, strong and weak, hegemons and victims, wolves
and sheep, rulers and masses, evidently both sides have been well
equipped. But unfortunately, it is only the one side which has
continually figured out, from time immemorial, how to capitalize on
its own core strengths and others' weaknesses. And it has artfully
trapped the other in bread and circuses.
This
was the craft of kings from antiquity who ruled in the name of the
divine for their own private interests with “all authority is
an extension of god's authority”. And is now the craft of
Machiavelli in modernity who showed the prince how to rule for
private interests in the name of democracy with “god is on your
side”. Indeed, it is only upon that singular characteristic
that the following observation of Zbigniew Brzezinski in his own
bible of hegemony, The Grand Chessboard, is so penetratingly accurate
even today: “Hegemony is as old as mankind.” (pg. 3)
The
very foundation of hegemony and empire lie in the public holding
largely facile views of truths essential to the rulers. It doesn't
matter which view they hold, in fact, they can hold any view they
want, so long as it is not the whole truth, and is anything but the
truth.
Like
every people, such facile views are also promoted by Christians
themselves of their own religion upon their own masses – never
mind others doing it for them – when it is convenient to the
exercise of imperial power. There is virtually no exception to this
empiricism throughout the pages of recorded history. It exists among
every people, including Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Greeks, Romans,
Egyptians, etc. Pick an empire and its people have been subjected to
facile worldviews which have served the interests of empire. Indeed,
the first imperative of all empires is always primacy. That exercise
requires subverting the religion or beliefs of the people, preferably
by giving them new absurdities to believe in. For if you can convince
the public of absurdities that are convenient to your own imperial
mobilization agenda, you can get them to accept anything.
And
modernity is no exception.
Promulgating
Zionism among the Jews, and Christian Zionism in the Bible Belt of
America, readily come to mind. The following is just one example of
religion in the service of empire. A facile sermon ostensibly from
the Holy Bible, Romans 13, by a Christian preacher harkening back to
the divine kings of antiquity to teach his own flock to “Honor
the King. Do it anyway, whether the king deserves it or not”:
|
“I
am free to submit to authority. I am free to make myself a slave.
My friends, you are free, you are free to respect and appreciate
the authority of the government that god gives to you - Honor the
King! The way you talk about your government, it's so easy to
complain isn't it? It is so easy to criticize, it is so easy to
find fault. Honor the King. Do it anyway, whether the king
deserves it or not. All authority, all authority is an extension
of god's authority!” ('New American Theology of Civil
Submission', transcription is mine from a Youtube video of the
sermon cited by prisonplanet.com [17], April 14, 2008)
|
Caption New
American Theology of Civil Submission – the Christian pulpit
brazenly in the service of king and empire in the name of God which
would make even George Orwell roll in his grave! Pastor Chuck Baldwin
dispels
this absurdity for Christians. [17a]
What
can be a more self-servingly facile view of Christianity than that
Orwellian double-speak?
Any
Muslim's facile views of Christianity surely pale in comparison!
As
is amply evidenced above, anyone can promote facile views, and also
be the victim of them. To remove facile views on any subject,
including Christianity and Islam, it is commonsensical to go directly
to its source. Approach the Good Book with a desire to understand
what the Book actually says, whether or not one believes or accepts
it – as when writing an A+ book report for a high school
English honors class – and one shall know.
Worn out
from holding facile views in the land of absurdities, journalist and
“accidental theologist”, Lesley Hazleton tried it.
She sat down one day to read the Holy Qur'an as “an agnostic
Jew reading someone else's Holy Book” – by her own
description. And what she found -- as a non-Muslim, a self-identified
“tourist” in the Islamic holy book -- wasn't what
she had expected. It ended for her the tyranny of facile views on
Islam and the Holy Qur'an. Watch
[18].
Summation and Impact Analysis
To
finally bring this long riposte to a summation, the short theme being
keyed off here has posed a good specific question whose general
answer has been explained to those Muslims who can understand the
wisdom of the Qur'an. Ignorance, like being naked at birth, is the
natural state of being. But we don't go prancing about as civilized
adults in the au natural state of our body anymore than we
should as civilized adults, of the au natural state of our
mind!
Having
facile views is natural, of others especially, but is not limited to
the 'other'. One can be just as ignorant of what's one's own as
illustrated above. And as an antidote to holding facile views, the
full spectrum pursuit of knowledge as the precondition for the
pursuit of a noble life – to be counted among the “truthful
ones” – is rationally advocated by the author of the
Qur'an as a categorical imperative for the civilized and harmonious
co-existence of man.
That
quest for harmonious co-existence at times requires measured and
effective self-defence against predators, both physical and
psychological. And the prescription for that striving against man's
natural predators, the sociopaths and tyrants from among mankind
itself, is captured by the universal striving for “haq”.
Meaning, just as the natural state of creation is the jungle, but we
don't live in one as a civilized people, the natural law of the
jungle too is not the law of civilization. That law, the Qur'anic
prescription of striving for “haq”, is the most well
balanced and comprehensive prescription that exists in any book of
wisdom from time immemorial. It prescribes how to be effective and
pragmatic in standing up to barbarians without ourselves becoming
one. It offers the criterion for resolving the existential dilemma
often faced by all peoples of conscience, whether to confront, or to
be co-opted. To know what it is, one still needs to acquire its
“ilm”, as with everything else. We no more naturally know
it in our au natural state of ignorance and barbarianism than
we are born with our clothes on.
Interestingly,
it is also a commonsense wisdom. Acquire Knowledge – 'even
if one has to journey to China', as the Prophet of Islam is
reputed to have also stated to his followers in that Age of
Jahiliya (ignorance).
The
difficulty of physically journeying to China is of course
considerably less today. However, we continue to suffer another Age
of Jahiliya in our modernity today. One that is dominated by
facile views and deception all around. The most pervasive of these
facile views among Muslims today is their own self-deception to avoid
taking on the responsibility for rectifying their own subjugated
condition. It is that oft heard self-serving proclamation of the
pious and the scoundrel alike: “Allah
chala raha hai”.
Meaning, “God
is running the world”.
[18a] Its natural but specious corollary which incapacitates action
against tyranny then easily follows: “let
Allah take care of his world while I take care of my camels.”
(with reference to context to the story of the Prophet of Islam's
grandfather having made that fabled statement in pre-Islam Arabia
when the king Abraha had assaulted Mecca before the birth of the
Messenger.)
The
devil's apprentices who actually are running the world, from time
immemorial, deliberately cultivate such servile dogmas and facile
views among the foolish masses living in their au natural
mental state. To await their favorite savior or messiah;
to patiently suffer life for the future expectation of reward in
heaven; to focus on taking care of one's own camels and to leave the
affairs of state to god, president, or king, except to vote every
four years as that's called “democracy” which one must
worship; etceteras, while the rulers continue to enjoy their own
unlimited heavens right here on earth.
The devil's
apprentices also find an irresistibly natural fertile soil among the
Muslims for imperial plowing and harvesting. Divided into partisan
sects from birth, each having not just a different understanding of
the early history of their religion, but also a slightly different
understanding of the religion of Islam itself despite possessing the
same Holy Qur'an that they all share, Muslims rush to draw upon their
respective sectarian narrations of history and doctrinal mumbo jumbo
(that's the only way I can fairly describe what pious Muslim scholars
utter from their highest pulpits to indoctrinate their flock), to
dignify their pathetic silence to tyranny. That's the “good
Muslim” variety (sic!). The “bad Muslim” of course
rush to join “Al Qaeeda” (sic!). The Muslim ethos, born
in servitude
to the crown and pulpit, [18b] cultivated
into co-option,
[18c] and dreaming of rewards in heaven, lends naturally to the
Hegelian
Dialectic
of “good Muslim” vs. “bad Muslim”. [18d]
And
precisely that facile world view was engaged from the very day of
9/11 by Muslim scholars with assistance from the many Trojan Horses
and Uncle Toms. It made, and still continues to make ten years later,
the otherwise un-congenial task of “imperial
mobilization” all that much more un-impedimental for
invading and occupying “bad Muslim” nations while the
“good Muslims” who stay silent, or support the empire's
narratives, are applauded and rewarded for their “United We
Stand”. See for instance, the 2010 600
page Fatwa on Terrorism
[19] which earned its Uncle Tom author a place next to the massa at
the World Economic Forum in 2011.
As
one can hopefully appreciate very clearly by now, the observation by
Zbigniew Brzezinski: “Hegemony
is as old as mankind”, has only been true because of an
almost infinite gamut of facile views being deftly cultivated among
the peoples who have lived and died for maintaining the glory of
their rulers from the very beginning of civilization.
Where
to seek knowledge, wisdom, when all bearers of knowledge and wisdom,
both in the East and the West, appear to be shilling for
self-interest? When the bearers of knowledge today also appear to be
the greatest manipulators and predators of man? And when the
knowledge seeker too is naturally beholden to socialization and
susceptible to accepting facile world views ingrained since birth?
See Some
Problems in Epistemology for how easily we divorce ourselves
from understanding what is the way it is due to our
presuppositions which unconsciously become axioms of faith. [19a]
See the
CAIR
report
[20] for the difficulties faced in overcoming facile views by even
the most learned and pious when their own chiefs mislead them. For
writing and disseminating that response to CAIR report pointing out
its significant omissions, one Muslim board member of one of the
largest Muslim community and mosque of California Bay Area responded:
“Whose interests are you serving? Hateful zionists or the
hateful christian zioinists or both? Take me off your list.”!
It will be
noticed that I have refrained from offering any specific solutions
here beyond what is naturally obvious by way of commonsense, or
automatically falls out from the text of the quoted passages from the
Holy Qur'an. Instead, I have focussed mainly on highlighting the
myriad dimensions of the problem-space surrounding the cultivation of
self-serving facile views birthed by socialization but aliased as
“knowledge” and “wisdom”. Apart from vested
self-interests, it is the improper rush to solutions by short
attention span sincere peoples which often preclude really
understanding the problem domain to the depth of ab initio, which in
turn precludes any effective redressing. Thus, it is observed that
most invariably end up applying palliative ointments to symptoms of
systemic diseases which instead of healing, continue to eat-away a
people from within. See “The
Poor-Man's Guide to Modernity”
[21] for more aspects of the problem domain.
That
vile curse of modernity, wrought by hectoring hegemons, is the common
challenge for all people of faith, as well as no faith. Namely,
self-preservation from predatory forces disguised as friends and
governments who thrive mainly by cultivating facile and outright
nonsensical views among the public as gospel truths! Even the best
and the brightest often get taken in by both socialization and
self-interests, and end up 'United We Stand' with what is in fact
absurdities.
Additional
real world examples of how very difficult this endeavor of seeking
knowledge which can help separate truth from falsehoods, has become
in the super-abundance of our information-age due to a)
self-absorption in the pursuit of the proverbial 'American Dream'; b)
being perpetually kept busy between bread and circuses throughout our
adult lives; and c) Machiavellian total perception management being
the cornerstone of modern statecraft; can be found in “The
IVY League Morons Syndrome”
[22] and “Response
to 'Why I'm leaving Harvard'”.
[23]
A review of
the FAQ:
What is an Intellectual Negro?,
[24] and the report on Behavior Control titled “The
Mighty Wurlitzer”,
[25] will I hope help in becoming self-aware of some of the mental
gymnastics of servitude routinely inflicted upon mankind which
naturally encourage holding self-serving facile views.
How we
ended up in this tortuous New Age of Jahiliya where everything
the public is made to believe is either facile or false; where
liberty is to get people to love their own servitude obeying orders;
and where happiness is in the public being content laboring hard all
day long for the benefit of the few; is examined in depth in my
response to a brilliant scientist inducted into the National
Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011, “The
Fable of the Bees”.
[26] The fable of the bees directly underwrites “The
Art and Science of Co-option”
such that even when one wants to escape the Age of Jahiliya,
co-option ensures a Janus face with shackles of permanent
silence. [27] For the more suave of mind and avant-garde in
intellectual thought bearing the hefty weight of imamate of
millions of followers worldwide, it becomes a bridge through tyranny,
the Doctrine
of Neutrality.
[28]
The
cumulative end result of all these, despite their respective
self-rationalizations, is greater than the sum of its individual
parts: the production of our Age of Jahiliya for which all
bear a measure of culpability.
Footnotes
[a]
See the (late) Jewish American professor at Harvard University,
Samuel P. Huntington, and his Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking
of World Order, wherein he incestuously anointed his Talmudic
tribe-mate with the lofty epithet: “In 1990 Bernard Lewis, a
leading Western scholar of Islam, analyzed 'The Roots of
Muslim Rage,' and concluded:
'It
should now be clear that we are facing a mood and a movement far
transcending the level of issues and policies and the governments
that pursue them. This is no less than a clash of civilizations –
that perhaps irrational but surely historic reaction of an ancient
rival against our Judeo-Christian heritage, our secular present, and
the worldwide expansion of both. It is crucially important that we on
our side should not be provoked into an equally historic but also
equally irrational reaction against our rival.'” pg. 213.
See its
full deconstruction in Zahir Ebrahim, Hijacking the word “Islam”
for Mantra Creation,
http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2009/05/note-on-mighty-wurlitzer.html
[b]
Epithet from Jewish American scholar Professor Noam Chomsky of MIT
for his Jewish imperialist tribe-mate at Princeton, Professor Bernard
Lewis. In a candid interview on CBC, Noam Chomsky stated:
“...
now, until Bernard Lewis tells us that, and that's only one piece of
a long story, we know that he is just a vulgar propagandist and not a
scholar. So yes, as long as we are supporting harsh brutal
governments, blocking democracy and development, because of our
interest in controlling the oil resources in the region, there will
be a campaign of hatred against us!” --- Interview to Evan
Solomon, CBC, part-2, at minute 5:50, December 9, 2003,
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bieFwutoqvA
[c]
A non-Muslim inquisitive reader may perhaps sensibly stop to ponder
at this point that why did the Author of the Holy Qur'an not directly
impart its self-proclaimed divine guidance directly to each human
being instead of employing the “Al-Wasilah”, His
Messengers and Imams? Instead of mandating seeking “the
means of approach unto Him,” the “Wasilah”, in
an alternate system every human being could have just as easily been
his or her own Imam, his or her own Wasilah, employing his or her own
inner moral compass – the perfect egalitarian system with
direct connection to the Creator – thus obviating the need for
chosen Messengers and Imams to start with.
It
may be argued that this could have perhaps avoided the corruption of
the pulpit by rulers and the concomitant bloodshed of several
millennia altogether! Why such an obvious earthly measure was not
adopted by the self-proclaimed All Knowing and All Seeing Author of
the Holy Qur'an, may at best only be baselessly speculated upon by
the brilliant intellectual – for that's clearly not the method
adopted by the Author of the Holy Qur'an – leading to even more
idle chatter and furtherance of even more facile unfounded views of
Islam.
[1] The
first extempore version of this missive was submitted to the tiny
anon website as comment for the article which inspired delving into
this topic:
http://lwtc247.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/jesus-isa-alahi-salam/#comment-5241
[5] A
straightforward exposition can be found in Murtada Mutahhari,
Understanding the Uniqueness of the Qur'an,
http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/unique-quran.htm
, albeit with the characteristic presuppositions common to all
ingrained sectarian socializations already examined in Part-I of
Islam: Why is the Holy Qur'an so easy to hijack?
http://faith-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2011/08/islam-why-is-quran-easy-to-hijack-pt1.html
This
fact of ingrained socialization bias is unfortunately not
acknowledged by Mutahhari in his exposition even though it is
embedded in the teachings of the Holy Qur'an in its emphasis on the
separation of righteous beliefs (Haquq-Allah 42:10) from righteous
acts (Haquq-al-ibad 5:48). The Holy Qur'an calls itself Al
Furqaan, the criterion, by which to judge both for one's own
strivings in the path of “haq”. That lack of recognition
fortunately does not detract from Murtada Mutahhari's sensible
examination of how to study the Holy Quran despite that fact that he
does lend an a priori conclusion to such study based on his own
socialization which is amply in evidence in his exposition. It is in
fact hard to find a scholar of any religion who fervently believes in
that religion, who would be immune to such a priori conclusions even
as he might endeavor to teach others how to study the religion and
letting them arrive at their own conclusions AFTER that study!
This
appears to be the inherent nature of socialization and of the
subjectivity, and hence the religiosity, conferred to it by the
right-half brain. This is perhaps why the Holy Qur'an while accepting
socialization as a human fact, has also laid so much emphasis on
striving for “haq” under all conditions for everyone
among mankind whereby, striving for overcoming the nafs, the
personal inclinations due to proclivity and socialization, is termed
the greater jihad and a co-requisite to the reflective study
of the Holy Qur'an. See Part-II of Islam: Why is the Holy Qur'an so
easy to hijack? (Ibid.) for some inherent impediments in its path.
[6] Church
plans Quran-burning event By Lauren Russell, CNN,
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/07/29/florida.burn.quran.day/index.html
[7] USA
Today, March 21, 2011: Florida pastor oversees Quran burning By
Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2011-03-21-quran-burning-florida_N.htm
[8]
European media provokes Muslims to inflame Zionist “CLASH OF
CIVILIZATIONS” by Christopher Bollyn, American Free Press,
3-Feb-2006, http://www.rense.com/general69/zz.htm
[9] Terry
Jones 2012: Pastor Who Burned Quran Running For President, The
Huffington Post 10/27/11,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/terry-jones-2012-president_n_1035631.html
[12] A
short history of the compilation of the Holy Qur'an, Some Old
Manuscripts of the Holy Qur'an by Kazim Mudir Shanehchi,
Astaneh-ye Quds-a Radawi, Mashad, Iran
http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/manuscripts.htm
[12a]
Sentiment attributed to Imam Ali, the father of the progeny of the
Prophet of Islam, paraphrased from Najhul Balagah. To appreciate the
import of this statement, one has to understand the person who
expressed his consternation with it, an unsurpassed victim of facile
views of the Muslims of his time, and evidently, that vile legacy
still endures. See What does the Holy Qur'an say about the Ahlul
Bayt?,
http://islam-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-does-quran-say-about-ahlul-bayt.html
[13] Abdus
Salam's speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1979,
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1979/salam-speech.html
[15]
Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's National
Security Adviser, Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris, 15-21 January 1998,
Posted at globalresearch.ca 15 October 2001,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html
[16]
Zbigniew Brzezinski, 'God is on your side' news clip,
http://sites.google.com/site/humanbeingsfirst/download-pdf/god_is_on_your_side.wmv
[16c] FBI
Teaches Agents: ‘Mainstream’ Muslims Are ‘Violent,
Radical’, Spencer Ackerman, 09.14.11,
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09/fbi-muslims-radical/2/
[16d] See
pertinent excerpt from Plato's The Republic, Simile of the Cave,
http://prisonersofthecave.blogspot.com/2007/04/introduction.html#Myth-of-the-Cave
[17] New
American Theology of Civil Submission, Monday, April 14, 2008,
prisonplanet.com,
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2008/140408_b_Theology.htm
[17a]
Pastor Chuck Baldwin,
https://chuckbaldwinlive.com/Articles/tabid/109/ID/511/Romans-Chapter-13.aspx
[18] On
Reading the Koran, Lesley Hazelton TED talk filmed Oct 2010,
http://www.ted.com/talks/lesley_hazelton_on_reading_the_koran.html
[18a]
http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2009/04/god-is-running-theworld-let-him-run-it.html
[21]
Introduction, The Poor-Man's Guide To Modernity, 2011-2015,
http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2011/06/poor-mans-guide-to-modernity.html
Preface,
The Poor-Man's Guide To Modernity, 2011-2015,
http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2013/02/poor-mans-guide-to-modernity-preface.html
Preface,
Hijacking the Holy Qur'an and Islam, 2013-2015,
http://faith-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2013/02/islam-why-is-quran-easy-to-hijack-prefac.html
[22]
http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2011/01/ivy-league-morons-syndrome-zahirebrahim.html
[28]
http://faith-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2013/03/ismaili-muslims-and-aga-khans-neutrality.html
Credits
Arabic
Qur'an recitation by Shaykh Mahmoud Khalil al-Husary, audio courtesy
of Verse By Verse Quran, acquired 8/13/2011 from
http://versebyversequran.com
Arabic
verses courtesy of the open source Qur'an Tanzil Project, acquired
8/13/2011 from http://tanzil.net/download/
Most
(not all) English translation of Qur'an verses are by Yusuf Ali,
Shakir, and Pickthall, acquired 8/13/2011 from
http://tanzil.net/trans/
With
humble thanks to all.
Short URL:
https://tinyurl.com/Why-I-am-a-Muslim
Source URL:
https://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2019/12/why-i-am-muslim-by-zahir-ebrahim.html
Source
PDF (Preamble):
https://sites.google.com/site/humanbeingsfirst/download-pdf/why-i-am-muslim-by-zahir-ebrahim.pdf
First
published as Islam and Knowledge vs Socialization on June 11, 2011 |
Preamble added and essay retitled to Why I am a Muslim on Wednesday, December 11, 2019
05:00 pm
29848
Why
I am a Muslim By Zahir
Ebrahim | Project Humanbeingsfirst.org