Christians Under Attack

Malaysian state to spy on lovers

The spies will tip off Islamic morality officers if they spot couples engaged in illicit kissing, cuddling or other untoward activities.

The public has been assured that the spies will only be allowed to snoop, and not peep......

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Sermon against vaccination

FIZA GHAT (Swat), Feb 21: A religious figure in a Swat village has told people not to take any preventive measures against polio ‘as those killed during an outbreak are martyrs’.

Maulana Fazlullah said in a Friday sermon: “I must tell my brothers and sisters that finding a cure (vaccination) for an epidemic before its outbreak is not allowed in Shariat.”

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Mullahs vs polio
The report that a cleric in Swat has been telling people not to get their children vaccinated is yet another reminder that there are some areas in the country where clerics have so much sway that they are able to force the local population to live a life more typical of the Dark Ages. Coming on the heels of the murder of a doctor and three health workers recently in Bajaur Agency, who were killed because they were spearheading the polio vaccination campaign there, this episode concerning an anti-vaccination maulvi needs to be dealt with sternly by the government. They need to cut access to the makeshift radio station that the cleric is said to be using to spread his venom and disinformation. And they need to prosecute him by registering a case for inciting the general public to break the law and refuse vaccination for a disease that is entirely preventable after inoculation.

The cleric's main 'message' seems to be that vaccination is against religion and to this he has added the equally absurd qualifier that those who die during an epidemic are "martyrs". It just so happens that this cleric (his name is Maulana Fazlullah) happens to be a son-in-law of the notorious Sufi Mohammad of Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi fame. His use of the loudspeaker against the campaign is not only crude and insensitive, it is illegal and akin to spreading anarchy in society by wilfully misleading the general public to do something that is sure to do immeasurable damage to their offspring. Words or phrases like 'hell', 'heaven', 'martyr', 'jihad', 'un-Islamic', 'kafir' and so on lace the sermons -- especially those delivered on Friday since they tend to have the largest congregation -- of almost every cleric these days, and people have become inured to them. But many of those who prayed behind Maulana Fazlullah, and the innumerable in homes and streets who had to hear him over the loudspeaker, should have taken issue with at least his edict that "finding a cure for an epidemic before it breaks out is prohibited in the Shariah". How can efforts for the prevention of an incurable, often fatal and always-crippling disease -- one whose "martyrs" are mostly young children -- be against the tenets of any religion?

All our great poets have either ridiculed or condemned the sheer illogic of the typical cleric -- Iqbal among them -- and there are numerous verses of the national poet which can be quoted here to show the true nature of these barber-intimidators, doctor-killers and 'martyrdom'-promoters. It's unfortunate that our various religious parties have yet to utter a word to criticise this antagonism to the anti-polio drive in NWFP. However, let the government switch off the maulana's loudspeaker, and they may very well speak up in protest.

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Muslim Sesame Street I: do the "Death to America" thing - Video

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Dutch politician doubts Muslim ministers' loyalty
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The leader of a Dutch anti-immigration party will call for a vote of no-confidence in two Muslim government ministers next week, citing their dual nationality as the issue, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Geert Wilders said in an interview with the Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad the appointment of Moroccan-born Ahmed Aboutaleb and Turkish-born Nebahat Albayrak as junior ministers was wrong because both could have loyalties towards countries other than the Netherlands.

Wilders, whose Party for Freedom (PVV) party won 9 seats out of 150 in the November election, said he will call for a no-confidence vote when the cabinet discusses its policy plans in parliament.

The new cabinet, formed by Christian Democrats, Labour and the Christian Union and sworn in on Thursday by the Dutch queen, is expected to soften immigration policy, which had been tightened under the previous coalition in response to the rise of the populist Pim Fortuyn in 2002.

Maverick politician Fortuyn broke taboos with his criticism of Muslim immigrants before he was murdered by an animal rights activist.

In Saturday's interview, Wilders said: "I do not want to live in a country where some day six or seven members of cabinet could be Muslim," adding that Islamic laws were "barbaric", referring to four people who were beheaded in Saudi-Arabia this week.

"I want to encourage Muslims to leave the Netherlands voluntarily. The demographic development should become such, that the chance is small that we again have two Muslims in the cabinet." About 1 million Muslims live in the Netherlands out of a population of 16 million.

Last week Wilders called on Muslims to ditch half the teachings in the Koran and said he would chase Islam's Prophet Mohammad out of the country if he were alive today. The Iranian embassy called those remarks "spiteful", while the Saudi Arabian embassy held talks over the comments with Dutch foreign ministry officials.

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No Such Thing As A Moderate Muslim - Dr M
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today asked Muslims to do away with false assumptions when declaring themselves as moderate followers of Islam because the religion is indeed moderate.

The former prime minister said Muslims did not need to defend themselves as moderate or liberal Muslims as this gave a picture that were only partial followers of Islamic teachings while others (teachings) were deemed extreme.

"Islam is already a moderate religion...there is no need for us to show that were are more liberal Muslims than others. We are Muslims...period," he said when opening the 45th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Muslim Welfare Organisation of Malaysia (Perkim) here.

Dr Mahathir, who is also Perkim president, said that even if some Muslims were labelled extremists, it was not because of the teachings of Islam but a lack of understanding of them or the religion being manipulated by irresponsible followers.

"There is nothing extreme about Islam if we follow its teachings as contained in the Quran," he said.

Dr Mahathir said the ummah (faithful) and Islamic nations must intensify efforts to dispel the notion held by many of Islam as being extreme, its followers ignorant, poor, do not know how to administer a country and are fond of asking for help from others.

He said that if the negative perception of Islam continued, it would adversely affect efforts to spread the religion as "no one would be interested to join a religion whose followers are seen as losers".

"People will only be attracted when there is a successful track record...as such only when Muslims become successful in all spheres or better than others in them can we successfully carry out effective missionary activities," he said.

According to Dr Mahathir, efforts must also be intensified to give a clear an correct picture that the religion was not an obstacle to progress.

"We must encourage followers who want to be successful and competitive. We should show that Islam does not stand in the way of followers who want to attain great achievements," he said.

Dr Mahathir said that there were also certain quarters in the country who claimed that Malays had converted to Islam during the time of Prophet Mohamad, some 1400 years ago when in fact they only did so about 600 to 700 years back.

"There are also many who recently converted (to Islam) but their faith is no less strong than longtime Muslims. In fact, new converts oftentimes show better faith than born Muslims," he said.

Touching on Palestine, Dr Mahathir said the conflict between the Jews and Muslims there was not because of religion but lands confiscated by the former.

"That is the main reason, not because Muslims and Jews cannot live together. History has proven that...this conflict is because Muslims lost their homes and lands," added Dr Mahathir.

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OIC chair Malaysia says Muslim nations to sever ties with Israel
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Malaysia, the chair of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), has said Saturday the grouping had agreed to sever ties with Israel over its works at the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid said OIC foreign ministers had agreed in principle to Malaysia's proposal to cut diplomatic relations at an extraordinary meeting in Saudi Arabia during the week.

"We suggested that Islamic countries having diplomatic relations with Israel sever the ties or recall their ambassadors temporarily to show that we are serious and do not engage in mere empty talk," the Bernama news agency quoted Syed Hamid as saying.

The minister said the OIC's secretary general, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, had been tasked with following up on the proposal.

Malaysia has long been a critic of Israel's policies in the Middle East and does not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

The country earlier this month called on the United Nations Security Council to intervene and put pressure on Israel to halt work near Jerusalem's holy Al-Aqsa mosque compound that has enraged Muslims around the world.

Malaysia also suggested the OIC seek a resolution from the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Israel's actions, Bernama reported.

Palestinians and Muslims all over the world have angrily denounced Israeli excavations begun on February 6, saying they endanger the foundations of the mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site.

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The Concerns of the Saudi Women
Fahda bint Saud bin Abdul Aziz Al-Hayat - 19/02/07//

The Arab Muslim women in general and Saudi in particular have never in their modern and old history come under the spotlight at the internal and external levels. Nor have their rights been a major cause for concern as is the case now - to the extent that they appear as the sole pivot for the nation's renaissance in its current crisis. This concerted intense campaign calls for optimism should this be the reason behind it!

Indeed, many women rights-related issues need to be reconsidered and this gentle creature must regain her standing. About to lose this divine particularity, women are undergoing a superficial transformation - from altered physical features to loss of internal balance.

Women's human rights were violated prior to Islam but with its ascent, women regained all their rights and were introduced to their obligations, which helped restore social balance for human beings to live in "eternal" happiness.

As a result, women gained power - though not a supernatural one - while men cemented their strength with their respect for women's privacy. In other words, both men and women preserved their natural disposition, which drew them closer to each other and helped them enrich the Muslim civilization in poetry, literature, and diverse sciences. In the meantime, the natural roles within the family were respected, and this nucleus was preserved over generations, even at the gloomiest moments. During the century-long wars and colonialism era, as the structure and concepts of the Arab Muslim society were substantially altered, the family system, on the other hand, remained until recently a source of pride and honor. Over the years, the family laws have represented and identified all social codes. When duties and obligations were equitably assigned among family members, society suffered from less psychological and social problems - as had been the case of the Saudi society which emerged from the tribal system and drew the socioeconomic relations among its members. The Saudi generations were at that time known to be productive, living off their own hand-made goods, whether clothes or food. Women, productive as they were, formed an integral part of this system and the cornerstone of the family and tribe. Fully aware of their rights within this framework that guaranteed them protection, respect, and care from cradle to grave, they were only concerned with sheltering, feeding, and clothing all tribe members. In parallel, society provided them, mainly the divorced, widow, and the elderly, with a guardian's protection, for it was shameful to abandon tribe members, whether men or women.

These tribal features prevailed over the Saudi society even when the Island was united as a stable country in line with oil discovery. The State then substituted the tribe in protecting the people and settling their affairs in light of the Sharia. Consequently, the State, intent on teaching men, generalized and opened more schools in an effort previously confined to personal initiatives in Hejaz and Nejd. Unfortunately, women's share of education remained scant in these communal schools (four in Mecca, 5 in Jeddah, and one in Medinah), the most renowned of which was Al-Zahraa
in Jeddah. In parallel, "Al Ahlia School For Girls" was set up in 1974 and "Al Nasifiyah" in 1950. In turn, the Saudi Crown Prince Saud bin Abdul Aziz opened in 1951 the first school for girls in the Kingdom, the Riyadh-based Al-Karimat School and sent his own daughters thereto hoping, by so doing, to encourage parents to teach their daughters. This exemplary school became in 1970 the first secondary institution in the Kingdom. In addition, King Saud daughters opened in 1956 Mabarrat Al-Karimat, while Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz established in 1956 King Abdul Aziz Mabarrat. Still, as these schools failed to absorb more girls willing to pursue their studies in Riyadh, the parents, forced to send their daughters to Egypt, urged King Saud to open more schools for girls - hence came the 1960 General Presidency for Girls' Education run by senior scholars under Sheikh Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Sheikh. This school later opened many branches across the Kingdom despite all the objections rebuffed by the King himself.

Since then, conditions started to change for women, who began studying and working in specific fields in tune with society's perception of their work and role. Many working women stood out, notably King Saud daughters who ran King Saud Mabarrat - let alone some female poets and authors who favored, in this conservative society, to write under pseudonyms. Likewise, many Saudi women embraced teaching, a profession previously restricted to ladies from Egypt, Palestine, and Syria.

When the ministry of Labor and Social Affairs was established in 1960 under King Saud, it undertook, in cooperation with the ministries of health, education, and agriculture a huge project: the urban and rural local community development center. To this end, 16 such centers were set up in 1960, where women contributed to eradicating illiteracy, disseminating girl education, cementing respect for handcrafts, and pinpointing the importance of social development.
In addition, women created their own cooperative associations - with some later transformed into charity associations. They also trained girls and helped the poor households after examining their precarious conditions. In other words, women sought primarily to uproot female illiteracy, help poor households and raise awareness, which are all education and work-related concerns within a family-respectful framework. At this, society at large accepted women education and work amid respect for religion and customs. At the same time, social solidarity was preserved and family's financial reliance on working women was viewed as socially shameful, which eventually strengthened family ties.

As the per capita income mounted during the boom - the dangers, dimensions, and concepts of which went unnoticed, as society and its needs evolved, and rural migration increased in quest of education and job opportunities, many concepts, like family care and men's role as guardians, changed. Accordingly, men began relying sometimes on working women. Many social changes prevailed amid higher incomes and the prevalent locally-unacceptable concepts given the impact of the foreign labor force on the traditional families, which proved unable to preserve the inherited Muslim values. Thus, families were fearfully disrupted, and their members, engrossed in materialism and different consumption patterns, were drawn apart. As a result, some momentous aspects were overlooked, like the need to rehabilitate the individual to become productive and self-sufficient. In parallel, the citizen embraced some of the negative aspects left by the consuming societies. Hence, both the citizen and society lost many values. But women were not the sole segments to suffer from this change as depicted in our media which, in the footsteps of their foreign counterparts, make judgments based on the values of the strong, totally overlooking the fact that the law that protects women equally protects all social categories.

Indeed, Saudi women concerns are now more numerous and violent than ever. Women have unfortunately relinquished most of their Sharia-consecrated rights in light of the social and economic changes and the alteration in the concepts long prevalent in the tribal and family systems which provided women with protection and care. Women were then supposed to economically provide for the family, which added up to their family responsibilities. Their acquired rights were equally violated and their status as working women exploited; hence the prevalent social and psychological problems, the mounting divorce cases referred to courts and the relevant matters - from alimony to the right of guardianship. The situation was compounded further, since problem solving was no longer a family responsibility amid social disintegration, weak family protection and cohesion, increased interest in easy money and social appearances, diminishing financial assets, and loosening morals. Personal interests prevailed over laws, which were not implemented on equal footing. Nepotism, bribery, and corruption became rampant, thus disrupting social balance and increasing women concerns as well as family and work responsibilities. Exposed to the foreign winds, women sought to imitate the media-portrayed seducing women. As such, considerable funds were channeled to plastic surgery -which most often yielded reverse results from deformation to death and caused psychological disorders.

Nowadays, women suffer from many factors. Socially speaking, this suffering affects society at large. Values are rapidly changing in a society unable to keep pace and adapt to the swift and unexpected events. At the personal level, women were misled by the material brainwashing consumption-oriented media that leave them unable to grasp their real dimensions. From the legal perspective, the women, ignorant, dependent, and obsessed with luxury, have settled for what is less than their legitimate rights though enshrined in the legislations initially meant to protect them. No wonder that society underestimated their demands and concerns! In other words, women suffer from three-faceted injustice: a self-induced one, another caused by the sweeping globalization laws that undermine man's dignity and finally, the injustice imposed by the strong on the weak.

If we are to tackle women concerns, we must then prioritize these concerns so as to find solutions thereto with the least possible loss and as soon as possible. In this regard, every society must first lay the foundations for a decent life and satisfied basic needs (the right to food, shelter, education, work, and protection). As for the other needs, they are just relative luxuries that evolve with society's needs, values, and classes. For instance, the luxuries of the rich classes match their class concepts and outer appearances. Thus, the affluent categories, the first to lose the cultural and heritage legacy, distance themselves from popular concerns - a feature recently embraced by the Saudi society with its openness to the West and compliance with its dictates in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks. As for the middle-classes, most often composed of professionals and intellectuals, their luxuries are closer to the proletariat's, who struggle to live decently. The destitute poor classes, for their part, are often contented with the basics when available. They pass on the cultural heritage over generations and preserve traditions, attached as they are to the land away from mingling with different cultures. Hence, the Saudi women concerns must be classified according to social classes. Otherwise, all efforts in this direction will remain unrealistic. For it is implausible that homeless and jobless women endeavor to drive a car they can't even dream of owning. Therefore, we must question women's right to drive: Which categories are entitled to drive? Is this right a luxury or a basic need? Can the destitute woman ask for luxuries? Can the affluent women eager to change their societies understand and sympathize with their hardworking peers, who represent the majority in any society?

When we manage to grasp the requirements of our society as a whole, when we work in tandem to satisfy them, only then we can cautiously set realistic priorities towards promoting the social awareness we lack at this critical moment in our history. We need to be more resolved and methodical in diagnosing our problems instead of downplaying our troubles, the outcome of the intellectual chaos we are embroiled in. With no doubt, numerous institutions, committees, conferences, and round tables have pored over many of our priorities, mainly the issues that concern the youth viewed as the largest and most dangerous and influential category in development. Such pressing issues are related to education, unemployment, void, ignorance, and fear of the future in the absence of social institutions likely to advance positive solutions in the form of enforceable sustainable programs, for the consuming society to become productive based on values and concepts that would restore social stability.

Therefore, such critical issues need to be seriously tackled as social and media priorities worthy of specialized conferences and appeals if we really want to spare our society the looming social, economic, and security dangers.

* Al-Hayat Translation Unit

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Removal of Bible from patient rooms creates furor at Salisbury, Md., hospital
y DEBORAH GATES, The (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times
Posted Saturday, February 24, 2007 at 8:23 am

SALISBURY, Md. -- The removal of the Bible from patient rooms at Peninsula Regional Medical Center has outraged some readers who accuse the hospital of sacrificing their religious practice in an attempt to gratify non-Christians.

PRMC officials, though, dispute the claim, saying that a process to restock Bibles left some patient rooms temporarily without them, although copies of the religious text were available upon request.

Outrage has been building for more about a month, when Christian critics discovered the books missing, said Pam B. Webster of Hebron. An inquiry to the PRMC Pastoral Care department revealed that the Bibles were removed because of complaints of non-Christians, she said.

"We are not trying to disregard other people's belief; put religious scriptures in for them," Webster said Friday. "Like a TV or a phone, why can't you add their book? Don't take away ours."

But Roger Follebout Jr., a PRMC manager of community relations and marketing, said the fuss is unnecessary; Bibles were removed as part of a hospital restocking project and patient rooms will get new ones, he said Friday.

"Bibles have not been removed from patient care rooms," Follebout said. "Some do not have them in as we are restocking our supply. Patients will find Bibles in many of the rooms, if not most."

He also said that upon request, patients impacted by the switch can in the meanwhile request a Bible or other religious scriptures, such as a Qur'an, the holy book of Islam.
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10 siblings want to be listed as Hindus in their MyKad
BUKIT MERTAJAM: Ten siblings are seeking to have their religion currently listed as Islam changed to Hindu.

The 10 – five men and five women – are children of a Muslim man who married a Hindu but grew up practising Hinduism and eventually got married to Hindus.

On Feb 16, the 10, all of them with Muslim names and listed as Muslims on their MyKad, submitted individual sworn declarations at the magistrate's court in Jawi, South Seberang Prai, claiming that they had been practising Hinduism since birth and prayed at Hindu temples.

In their declaration, they said that they wanted to change the status of their religion from Islam to Hindu.

They also said they were married to Hindus – although none of them had their marriages registered – and took part in Hindu celebrations, including Thaipusam. Their children were also given Hindu names.

They related their predicament to newsmen during a press conference at Bukit Mertajam MP Chong Eng's service centre here yesterday.

Their father, Ibrahim Noyah, 67, said he first married a Muslim woman known only as Sabariah but she died in 1958. He then married M. Nagamah but did not require her to convert.

“Nagamah was my neighbour and I fell in love with her when she took care of me after my wife passed away,” he said.

Ibrahim and Nagamah, 60, have 10 children and 30 grandchildren. Three of the grandchildren do not have birth certificates, while some have only one parent's name in their birth certificates.

V. Rathiga, 27, an athlete married to Ibrahim’s son, Kamis, 27, said she left out Kamis' name in the birth certificates of their daughters – three-year-old Prami and one-year-old Sakti – as Kamis wanted them to be recognised as Hindus.

Chong hoped the authorities would settle the matter quickly.

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EDITORIAL: Our clerics favour suicide-bombing!
In a case of “wrong or misleading heading”, a survey on suicide-bombing by a Karachi Urdu newspaper has confused the press. It has wrongly concluded that our leading ulema have renounced suicide-bombing. This is what an online academic magazine has concluded: “Clerics from all schools of thought have declared suicide attacks un-Islamic and forbidden them under the Sharia; they said killing a non-Muslim without a legitimate cause was against the Islamic way of life”.

But the truth is that the meaning of what these clerics said is quite different from that which has been attributed to them. For instance, Maulana Amir Hamza of Jamaatud Dawa is quoted as saying that a suicide attack is an act of terrorism and that someone who kills himself to kill others also accounts for the sins of those killed. But he also added (found on website) that “no suicide attack is justified in a country which has Islam as the state religion, ruled by a Muslim ruler and is not under occupation by infidels”. This means that Iraq is excluded from this definition because it is occupied by infidels. In other words, Maulana Hamza would justify suicide bombing in Iraq against the occupying infidel.

This also means that suicide-bombing is not okay in Pakistan — because Islam is the state religion, the country is not occupied by infidels and General Musharraf is a Muslim ruler — but okay in a non-Muslim country like the United Kingdom, for instance. The scholar is clearly worried about Muslim suicide-bombers killing innocent Muslims. But what may become moot at any time is whether even Pakistan can qualify as an Islamic state and whether General Musharraf can be denounced as a bad Muslim for allying with an infidel like the USA.

The second cleric included in the survey is Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, formerly of the JUI, who actually allows suicide-bombing while alluding to Palestine!

Then there is a former minister and Sunni cleric, Dr Mehmood Ahmad Ghazi, who says that suicide-bombing is wrong but he too imposes the condition of the Islamic state, implying that it may be okay to kill innocent people in a non-Muslim state. Dr Anis of Jama’at-e Islami says he can’t be sure if suicide-bombing is wrong, but he too refers to Palestine without noting that Al Fatah condemns suicide-bombing while Hamas actually does it.

Our morose-looking Barelvi mufti, Munibur Rehman, says nothing new, as expected, but also maintains that suicide bombing in an Islamic state is not legitimate. This implies that one may suicide-bomb innocent non-Muslims and even target a non-Muslim state with impunity. Thank God, the shia scholar, Allama Qamber Abbas Naqvi, says that even a non-Muslim can’t be killed in this manner.

Therefore a re-reading of the views of these gentlemen leads to the conclusion that they have outlawed suicide-bombing only in very specific conditions and not generally at all.

In fact our clerics have confirmed that Al Qaeda, which began the trend on 9/11, can go on doing it. It is not clear if killing the Shias in Iraq is wrong because the ulema did not explain if they thought Iraq was being ruled by Muslims. It is quite possible that they may eventually disqualify Iraq as an Islamic state because the Americans are in occupation there. All of them cunningly ducked the question whether Al Qaeda’s killing of the Shias of Iraq — and the killing of innocent Sunnis by thugs like Muqtada al Sadr — was okay.

Tragically, they all allowed suicide, expressly forbidden by the Quran, under the condition of jihad. They also abstained from explaining what jihad was: war initiated by the Islamic state or by private parties posing as pious entities pursuing amr and nahi? In short, was jihad an ‘official’ function or a private one? They also did not adjudicate the global trend of dubbing private jihad as terrorism. Can the Muslims pursue private wars in the face of international law that recognises legitimate war only when it is conducted by a state?

What were the clerics driving at? If they wanted to outlaw suicide-bombing in Pakistan, why did they refer to Palestine where suicide-bombing is done to kill innocent people as legitimate collateral damage? The survey is the most hair-brained piece of work done by a publication whose rightwing religious views are well known. The problem really is that we are killing ourselves through suicide-bombers and the bombers are treated as martyrs on the videocassettes they leave behind.

The clerics should have touched on the trend of killing the Shias through suicide-bombing. The truth is that most of the casualties of suicide-bombing in Pakistan have been innocent men, women and children of the Shia community. Why weren’t the clerics interested in outlawing the fatwas of apostatisation (takfir)? It is the fatwa of takfir under which the Shias and at times the Barelvis are killed. The suicide boy who killed Allama Hasan Turabi last year said on film that he was going to Paradise for his deed!

Above all, our clerics have failed to rise to the level of common humanity by not condemning (barring the Shia scholar) suicide-bombing that kills innocent non-Muslims in non-Muslim states. The faith they pretend to profess believes in justice no matter how tough the circumstances. The Prophet (PBUH) did not exempt himself from humanity when he was besieged and endangered by his non-Muslim enemies. *

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VIEW: The challenge of extremism —Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi
Religious extremism and violence are on the rise in Pakistan and the last three weeks have witnessed at least six suicide-bombing attacks, the murder of a lady minister by a religious extremist and the attack on a federal minister and his police escort vehicle in Balochistan. The security agencies claim they have intercepted half a dozen potential suicide bombers and press reports indicate the intelligence agencies are expecting more such attacks in the near future.

On top of all this is the show of strength by religious hardliners from an Islamic seminary in Islamabad after the local administration demolished a mosque constructed on illegally occupied land. The baton-wielding female students of the seminary took over a library in protest and a large number of male activists provided outside security for the female students. The entire affair was orchestrated by the seminary’s staff and other clerics who had summoned their followers from outside Islamabad. Some of them argued that there was nothing wrong in constructing mosques on public or government land because all land belonged to God.
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The most serious challenges are coming from religious extremism and religion-based violence, invariably resorted to by the hardline followers of the Wahhabi/Salafi, Deobandi and Ahle Hadith traditions in Islam. This is despite President General Pervez Musharraf’s repeated assertions that religious extremism would be contained because it was the biggest hurdle to the country’s progress.

Any independent review of the political situation in Pakistan shows that religious extremism and terrorism have been escalating since the latest breach between the government and the Islamic elements in the wake of the Army’s action in the tribal areas.
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Denmark demands censorship for Quran

A political party in Denmark demanded censorship for Quran, stating it is 'against the Danish constitution.'

A Danish party demands censorship for Quran

A political party named SIAD (Stop Islamiseringen af Danmark-Stop Islamisation of Denmark) has demanded a censorship for parts of Quran, stating that that certain parts 'encourage violence.'

After caricature crisis and the attack no Muslim graves, Denmark has hit the headlines for the third time again with its anti-Islamist movements. A political party called Stop Islamisation of Denmark has claimed that 67th and 69th verses of Quran are violating the Danish constitution and the mosques across the country should be closed according to the 78th article of the Danish constitution. SABAH Newspaper has talked with the leader Anders Graves of SIAD; a party that has about 400 members. Graves said: "Denmark is our country. Some verses of the Quran are filing me with worries about the lives of my children and grand children." Stating that they have no intention or expectation on banning the Islam religion across the country Gravers said people living in Denmark should obey the constitution of the country no matter what they believe in.

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Mumbai intolerant
No data exists officially, but crimes due to religious intolerance have been increasing. At least 50 people have lost their lives and thousands were injured in the city due to religious intolerance in the past five years.
Says Arup Patnaik, joint commissioner of police (law and order), “We are studying the cases and the situation in which such crimes take place. I would draw any conclusion only after completing the study.”

Sociologist Nandini Sardesai says that religion is misinterpreted. “The trend of misinterpreting religion to kill, loot, rape and abuse has always been there but people are now more aware because of the media hype.

People like Ravi Kantolu, who killed homosexuals, have always existed, but citizens have never known about them.

Homosexuality is not accepted in Christianity and Islam, but that does not mean they can go around killing people.”

Kantolu, who gave Mumbai police quite a headache, allegedly killed 10 homosexuals in south Mumbai.

He is said to have done it because homosexuality is not permitted in Islam. Reportedly, he acted under the influence of a religious leader, who had bayed for the blood of homosexuals.

Agrees Maulana Mohammed Dariyabadi, general secretary of the Ulema Council, “Communal forces exhort people to kill the innocent by taking advantage of their religious beliefs.

However, hate crimes are committed by individuals who interpret religion in a particular way. There is definitely a rise in such crimes.” When asked about Kantolu, Dariyabadi reaffirms the Islamic stand, “Islam is against homosexuality and people are ostracized as it goes completely against the religion as well as Indian culture.

Homosexuality is a western influence and as Indian Muslims we have to do our best to fight it.”

Father Tony Charanghat, spokesperson for the archbiship, feels a better understanding of religion has become crucial. He says, “Religion has always been hijacked by criminals to justify their actions.

In India there are umpteen examples of how so called godmen loot and abuse their followers. People need to understand their faith and religion. Only then can crimes in the name of religion be curbed.

Those who use religion to commit crimes are fanatics and should be dealt with severely. Such criminals also need to be counselled and the aggravating factors and wrong notions have to be curbed.”

“Hinduism does not permit black magic and homosexuality, so we are trying to eliminate aghori (cannibalism) practices from the society through awareness campaigns,” says Ramesh Shinde of the Hindu Janjagran Samiti.

“Every religion has some good sides. We should put that side before the society. So no one will dare to commit a crime in the name of religion.”

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BOOK REVIEW: The battle within —by William Dalrymple
Unlike many commentators on militant Islam, Hussain writes with nuance and understanding of the differences between the various forms of militancy and the crucial distinctions between the madrassa-educated peasant foot soldiers of the Taliban and the sophisticated international terrorists of Al Qaeda, many the bourgeois products of Western universitie

FRONTLINE PAKISTAN: The Struggle with Militant Islam
Author: Zahid Hussain
Publisher: I. B. Tauris, UK,
Price: £17.99; 272pp
Pakistan Edition Published by Vanguard Books Pvt Ltd
Special Price Rs 595.00

General Hamid Gul, the former head of Pakistan’s secret service, the Inter Services Intelligence Agency or ISI, is a well-preserved sixty-something, with a carefully waxed pepper-and-salt moustache that makes him look a little like Dick Dastardly in The Wacky Races. He is also a fervent Islamist who, since the 1980s, has done as much as anyone to form Pakistan’s intelligence policy, and whose work — for better or worse — has helped to shape modern history.

General Gul lives in a neat middle-class suburb of Islamabad where, when I visited him, his two toddler grandsons were wobbling around the agapanthus pots on their tricycles. In his living room was a large piece of the Berlin Wall presented to him — so the plaque says — by the people of Berlin for “delivering the first blow” to the Soviet Empire — a reference to his role in directing the Mujahideen who expelled the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. Gul is plainspoken and makes no secret of his admiration for Osama bin Laden. He describes his friend as “a romantic figure . . . sensitive, humble, polite. He was fondly nurtured by the CIA people here. They were always inviting him to garden parties at the embassy.”

Gul is also disarmingly open about direct ISI involvement in the jihad in Kashmir: “If we encourage the Kashmiris it is understandable,” he says. “The Kashmiri people have risen up, and it is the national purpose of Pakistan to help liberate them. India is so huge, so ruthless. If the jihadis go out and contain India, tying down their army on their own soil, why should we not support them?”

Such rhetoric encapsulates the paradoxical position of Pakistan’s military, and the quirk of history that since 9/11 has made this once-obscure country a strategic loose cannon in President Bush’s disastrous “war on terror”. The incendiary nature of the region’s problems was emphasised this week when a train was bombed, killing 67 people, in an apparent attempt to scupper India-Pakistan peace talks.

Gul’s comfortable environment underlines his country’s surprisingly successful economic performance. Under the urbane eye of Shaukat Aziz, the former vice-president of Citibank and now General Pervez Musharraf’s prime minister, Pakistan is enjoying a boom, with growth approaching 8 percent and Asia’s fastest-rising stock market. It has far higher GDP per head than India, better roads and airports and more reliable electricity.

Gul’s close links with the Americans and his friendships with CIA spooks, are another central Pakistani paradox. The ISI came to be as powerful as it is, virtually a state within a state, largely because it was subcontracted by the CIA to run the biggest and most expensive operation in the agency’s history — the Mujahideen war against the Soviet Army in Afghanistan. The mess that the Afghan jihad left in Pakistan — with thousands of armed but unemployed jihadis, millions of weapons, a proliferation of militant groups, a population of imported Arab jihadis and an over-mighty intelligence community — can all be traced back to that US and Saudi-funded operation that created the crucible that, in turn, formed Al Qaeda.

If the very complexity of the Pakistani situation makes the country so interesting and so very difficult to handle, then it also makes it unusually difficult to write about. Pakistan constantly defies stereotypes and broad-brush generalisations. Hence the strength of Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam by Zahid Hussain, the veteran Times Pakistan correspondent.

It is well researched, well written, impeccably sourced and balanced, accurate, reliable, and above all, amazingly clear and comprehensible. Hussain has interviewed most of the principal players in the government, the military and the jihadi groups. His account is all the more worrying for its calm and measured tone. Unlike many commentators on militant Islam, Hussain writes with nuance and understanding of the differences between the various forms of militancy and the crucial distinctions between the madrassa-educated peasant foot soldiers of the Taliban and the sophisticated international terrorists of Al Qaeda, many the bourgeois products of Western universities. Pakistan, he shows, certainly has no shortage of problems: a disastrously inadequate education and health system, a political system that seems unable to support sustained democratic government, an abysmal human rights record and some of the worst corruption in the world. But its most intractable problem is the way that the ISI and the military have, for 25 years, been the paymasters of myriad jihadi groups, intended for selective deployment in Afghanistan and Kashmir as a means of dominating one and neutralising the other.

While the ISI may have believed that it could use jihadis for its own ends, the Islamists have followed their own agenda, and have brought their struggle on to the Pakistani streets and into the heart of its politics. Worse still, groups such as Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-e Mohammed, originally covertly supported by Pakistan’s military, have now turned their guns on their creators, and General Musharraf has faced several assassination attempts by former protégés.

General Musharraf understands the mortal threat that the jihadis pose to the continued existence of Pakistan as a viable state. He has replaced many of the more pro-Islamist ISI generals and does seem to be co-operating wholeheartedly in the hunt for Al Qaeda suspects. But Pakistan’s Kashmir policy remains essentially unchanged, and the scale of Taliban units operating out of its tribal territories implies that — at the very least — the ISI is not doing all it can to prevent the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan.

Such a two-faced policy is not sustainable. Pakistan must choose — it cannot have the blessings of both America and the jihadis. Yet what remains unanswered is whether the state is still strong and coherent enough to make a meaningful choice. As Hussain concludes: “Pakistan’s battle with itself is far from over.” *

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