I just read this on the Washington Post website and think that most of us need to join this school of thought. Islam is not served by the people who commit these acts or those who support them. Add your comments below.

Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and serves as a spiritual boot camp for Muslims. In this month, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk everyday; abstaining from food, water, sex and anything unpleasant and immoral. One is not allowed to get angry, speak rudely or even think of bad things. The purpose of the month is to take a break from deep entanglements in mundane affairs and make a systematic and concerted effort to reconnect with the divine and work on improving one’s personal moral character. 

For me, Ramadan is about returning to the fountain of truth and drinking from it as deeply as possible. It is not the parched throat but rather the parched soul that is my concern, so I study the Qur’an and contemplate on it. Other Muslims adhere more closely to rituals. I believe that while rituals discipline, knowledge is more transformative. But to each his own. The goal in Ramadan is really is to find a way, ritual, spiritual or intellectual, to get closer to God.

Unfortunately, for some Muslims, murder and mayhem rather than prayer and fasting have become the way to celebrate Ramadan.

On September 6, in the first week of Ramadan, two suicide bombers killed over 50 people in Peshawar, Pakistan. On September 13, five bombs killed over 30 in New Delhi, India. On September 15, a female suicide bomber blew herself up at a Ramadan fast breaking ceremony killing 22 people in Diyala, Iraq. On September 17, a truck bomb and some militants attacked the US embassy in San’a, Yemen killing 16 people. And on September 20, a massive truck bomb killed over 60 people in Islamabad, Pakistan.

All of these attacks have been conducted by people who call themselves “Jihadis”, this they claim is their struggle in the path of God. One cannot imagine to what extent the minds and the hearts of these people have become poisoned that in the month of Ramadan, when even frowning is undesirable, they chose to murder and maim indiscriminately. The most incomprehensible aspect of these atrocities is that a vast majority of their victims are the very people on whose behalf these wars are waged!

If they want to fight and die for God, they are welcome. There are over 200,000 American soldiers, in Iraq and Afghanistan, who are there specifically to oblige them, why not go and fight them.

These cowards, who call themselves Jihadis, run and hide from soldiers seeking to fight them and instead target helpless and unarmed civilians. They repeatedly confirm that they have no regard for social order, for law, for human life and even for the sacred injunctions from the God whose pleasure they seek through violence.

If they really wish to wage a Jihad (struggle) in this holy month of Ramadan, then their first target should be their own cowardice and the profound Jahiliyyah (ignorance) that disables them from seeing what is right and what is wrong.

There are three kinds of Muslim responses to these never ending atrocities. Some Muslims condemn, oppose and actively reject the Jihadis and their agenda of global anarchy. I wish they would be better organized and more effective.

Another minority, unfortunately, appreciates and supports the Jihadis. I pray that this Ramadan may open their eyes to the true reality of the Jihadi phenomenon. It preys on the weak and the helpless, has achieved absolutely nothing of value for Muslims, and has pushed a large number of people in the world to despise Islam and hate Muslims.

And then there is a significant Muslim population that lives in denial. They also are intellectually dishonest. They first deny that there is such a thing as jihadi terrorism, resorting to conspiracy theories blaming every act of Jihadi violence either on Israel, the U.S. or India. Then they argue that unjust wars by these three nations (in Palestine, Iraq and Kashmir) is the primary cause for Jihadi violence; a phenomenon whose very existence they have already denied.

Unless Muslims wakeup to the culture of terrorism in their world and act to eradicate it, they may find themselves isolated and shunned from the rest of the world, while also being the biggest victims of the very phenomenon they do not fight.

Muqtedar Khan is Director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware and a Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

Courtesy: Newsweek - Washington Post

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A LARGE number of countries in the world like being called democracies on the basis of holding periodic elections in the presence of international observers and on the laws that they enact through their functional cabinets or parliaments. Many also claim to be governed by the rule of law, stating that they are guided by their constitutions in keeping their social contract and taking important public decisions.

Many resources are committed by the US in developing democracy promotion strategies. However, the experience of EU accession agreements with the new applicants setting up clear targets for membership suggests that conditionally may be more effective in promoting democracy than mere incentives. There are also periodic reports which “name and shame” countries on the basis of democratic yardsticks such as political rights and civil liberties, human rights violations, corruption and on meeting international goals.What is, however, needed now is investment in resources and tools for building the architecture of democracy in countries which are democracies only in name. This is a gigantic task. The design of democracy requires that in order to be effective, several of its components should be working efficiently and in accordance with international treaties, non-binding declarations and political commitments of national leaders.

These components consist of a modern constitution; separation of powers with proper checks and balances; an independent judiciary; electoral and political processes that deliver representative and responsible government; instruments of accountability, public scrutiny and transparency; the contribution made by women in politics and conflict-resolution; the comfort level of minorities and other marginal groups in the political system; protection of human rights and freedom of assembly, belief and expression; and devolution of powers.

The weakening of any of these important components of democracy can endanger the very foundations of democracy and it would take years to restore trust and millions of dollars to rebuild institutions. Also, when elected governments become complacent and self-serving, they become corrupt and devoid of imagination to reform.

Experience suggests that the design and capacity for democratic institutions cannot be imported. The local population must be consulted fully in any reforms agenda and must own the changes before constitutions can be written or improved in a country. Afghanistan is a permanent example of why things have never gone right with this country. For most part of their history, the Afghan people remained strangers to the policies of the government in Kabul which were framed with outside consultation without involving the people in the discussions on the nature and composition of their governance.

It is, therefore, unfair to assume that Hamas, having won the elections in Palestine would behave like its counterpart rightwing political party in Israel or that a monarchy like Swaziland which has welcomed democracy and adopted its first indigenous constitution limiting the powers of the king, could now be compared to a constitutional monarchy in Europe which has gone through a long democratic transition from monarchy to liberal democracy for almost a century.

Should these suspect regimes be given the benefit of doubt and room for engagement, or should they be thrown out and replaced by their western educated counterparts who have been in exile abroad, and who may be very articulate and good-intentioned, but who may not have popular support in their home countries to pursue long-term reforms?

This brings us to the point of where Muslim countries stand in regard to the western democratic model. While the former group of countries may still exhibit signs of authoritarianism, countries in the latter category are in the final stages of liberal democracy where the focus is entirely on the freedom of the individual.

A further stage in the evolution of democracy is secular democracy where the emphasis is on the separation of state from religion in all aspects of social and political issues, such as the constitution, administration, legislation, policymaking and culture.

Only two countries would find trouble with this definition; namely Pakistan and Israel because both were founded in the name of religion. Over the last 60 odd years there have been robust debates in both these countries on separating religion from politics.

The traditionalists in these countries take the view that this is tantamount to challenging their very reason for existence. Others, who are also in a majority, take a more general view and regard their independence as a result of historical forces which is no longer relevant in a modern world. The emerging social contract in both these countries today favors separation of state from religion.

Secular democracies have been very popular in pluralistic and multi-ethnic societies such as India and South Africa where unity is achieved by treating all citizens equally and keeping religion out of public discourse. In secular societies, the tyranny of the majority is balanced by the rights of the minorities protected by law and efficient justice. In this type of democracy, justice plays a central role. It guarantees a stable and just society despite divisions created by religious, philosophic and moral doctrines.

Despite its open view, secular democracy is not liberal democracy which is the next step in democracy’s higher evolution. In liberal democracies, top priority is given to individual liberty over all other human endeavours such as equality, social justice, democracy, stability and order.

Except for western democracies, many emerging democracies are not aware of what liberalism means to their societies. They have not yet faced issues such as legal protection for same-sex marriages, right to euthanasia, etc. In fact, this horizon is further expanding with political scientists talking about the state-plus vision of global democracy.

The question that is often asked is how the promotion and building of democracy can be successful in the Muslim world which has been slow to implement reforms. Many traditional Muslim countries which are now experimenting with democracy find it hard to feed the western theories of democracy to their traditional populations beyond deliberative democracy. This is because secular democracy still raises doubts in the minds of many Muslims as to its implications for their ideology and family traditions.

Irrespective of the clear definition of secularism, which is not to be confused with communism, these countries suspect that it is a way of bringing a godless culture into their lives through the backdoor.

It is also inconceivable that if some Muslim countries indeed embrace secularism as their political philosophy, such as Turkey, they would find it easy to move to liberal democracy in the next stage of their democratic evolution. What is, therefore, required is a new marker on the horizontal line of democracy’s evolution for Muslim states and its recognition by the international community as an important stage in their transition.Pakistan has called this intermediate stage “enlightened moderation”. Some others call it “decent democracy’.

Malaysia, for instance, would argue that in the Muslim world, the aim should be to replace illiberal democracies or authoritarian regimes not with secular or liberal democracies but with decent democracies where human rights, democratic and institutional reforms and constitutions correspond to the core values of the local population and sit well with the social makeup of their respective communities.

The model of decent democracy also sets aside endless debates about whether Islam is compatible with democracy or is democracy compatible with Islam. Instead of highlighting the definition of sovereignty in Islam, the linkage between political Islam and religious Islam or the limits placed on man as the creation of God, decent democracy lays emphasis on those positive aspects where there is no difference of opinion between the West and Islam.

These common values highlight developing democratic institutions and processes; good and honest governance; effective social and economic development; respect for all faiths, cultures and human rights; legal, administrative, political and structural reforms; development of free media and independent civil society; participation of women in politics, both in numbers and the quality of their input; and an active engagement with the external actors in the western world who are perceived not as enemies but as partners.

In addition to that, some way should be found to gainfully utilize the experience of very senior and experienced leaders in the Muslim world whose continuation as kings or heads of state or government may no longer be fashionable or popular in their respective countries, but who remain a valuable source of political advice, guidance and inspiration for the younger leadership.

Regrettably, apart from a few selective efforts, no global attempt has been made to tap this important resource and encourage more such leaders who do not see an active political future for themselves in their countries to retire early and play a regional and global role as mediators, special envoys and guardian angels of peace and democracy worldwide.

Perhaps the United Nations can take the first step in setting up a global institution which keeps former presidents and prime ministers occupied in lecture tours and resource-building efforts to make it worthwhile for them to retire and give democracy a chance.

The author is a former special adviser for political affairs in the Commonwealth Secretariat, London.

[ratings]

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“Anyone willing to sacrifice liberty for safety deserves neither” - Ben Franklin

This is a rather old story, but I completely agree with the movement that has started because of it. Raed Jarrar, an architect of Iraqi decent, was forced to remove a t-shirt that bore the words “We will not be silent,” otherwise he was not going to be allowed to board his flight. The full story can be read here, here and here, but for those who want the basic information……

Raed Jarrar had cleared security at John F. Kennedy airport in New York for a Jet Blue flight back to his home in California when two men approached him and asked to check his ID and boarding pass. He was told that a number of passengers had complained about his t-shirt and asked him to remove it. He refused arguing that the slogan was not offensive and citing his constitutional rights to free expression, but after an exchange with member of the airline’s staff, he was “persuaded to wear another t-shirt bought for him at the airport shop.”

The phrase “We will not be silent” is a slogan that was made popular by the White Rose dissident group which opposed Nazi rule in Germany. Raed gave a profound insight while speaking with a New York radio station “I grew up and spent my life under authoritarian regimes and I know that these things happen, but I’m shocked that this happened to me here in the US.”

But Raed is not alone, in a seperate incident an Orthodox Jewish man was removed from an Air Canada flight in Montreal for praying. The incident occurred on a September 1st flight from Montreal to New York City. According to CBC News reports, the plane was travelling toward the runway at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport when eyewitnesses said the Orthodox man began to pray. Yves Faguy was seated nearby and gave his account: “He was clearly a Hasidic Jew…. He wasn’t exactly praying out loud and lurching back and forth.” He continued saying that the action didn’t bother anyone, but a flight attendant appoached the man and told him his praying was making passengers nervous.

“The attendant actually recognized out loud that he wasn’t a Muslim and that she was sorry for the situation but they had to ask him to leave.”

So wait, let me get this straight, the flight attendant was sorry because he was not a Muslim so she would have been justified in kicking him off the plane? Are we getting closer to having a “Muslims Only” line at airport check-in? Has American learned nothing from the American Indians and the African-Americans?

I am reminded of a story that I read while I was in college about Tecumseh, the great Shawnee warrior, who shouted at William Henry Harrison in the early 1800s, “You killed the son of your God, then you worshipped him when he was dead, and now you kill those who choose not to follow him.”

As a result, a couple of great t-shirts have been created and made available in various languages to protest the racial profiling that is happening in the world’s airports today. You can get an “I am not a terrorist” t-shirt here or a “We will not be silent” t-shirt here.

Bill Maher has the right idea when he said that the most patriotic thing that any American can do nowadays is to riddicule the president just to let the world know that “We are not with stupid.”

Unless America categorically agrees that they are a racist, bigotted people… but then we only need to ask the American Indians, Italians, African Americans and Spanish if that is true or not. Since they have suffered the wrath of racism for so many decades.

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Let’s have a little chat… I am going to break away from the normal polite and professional tone that I maintain on this blog to discuss what should be done about the Hudood Ordinance which continues to plague this great nation. It should be repealed.

Now for those who ask why:

Any law that victimizes women in the name of religion must go.

I have read my Quran and nowhere does it say that women are to be victimized by the rule of man. As a matter of fact, the Quran clearly states that women are equal to men in all ways. It is the crazed, foaming at the mouth mullahs that have turned Pakistan into their own playground with their “interpretations” of the Holy Quran. I do agree that there are references on how rape should be dealt with under Islamic law, but Pakistan has a civil legal system and it should be allowed to function and grow. And honestly, if there are 4 men in the room during a rape, what makes you think that all 4 were not involved? Give me a break.

Women have been tortured, stoned and killed because of this “law.” It still has not changed how this nation behaves. Repeal the Hudood Ordinance.

Any law created by man can be changed by man.

Check your newspapers and evening news reports, every Pakistani politician is calling for democracy. Democracy can not exist without the seperation of mosque and state. You either have a democratic system or you don’t. There is no in-between. Moreover, since it was created by a military dictator, General Zia Ul-Haq, and his ultra screwed up view of what Islam should represent, it should be repealed. If you google Zia, you will find that this same general was the one who supported the Afghan resistance to the Soviet conflict funnelling weapons, money and support from the US through Pakistan into Afghanistan, which lead to the creation of the Taliban. Zia also believed in public punishments for anyone who violated his understanding of Islamic law and traditions, which was very much in the tradition of Saudi Arabia’s justice system. I was lucky not to be in Pakistan during his reign of terror. Any law created by man can be changed by man. Period.

Teaching morality is the responsibility of the parents, not the state.

The religocrats, better known as the MMA, are threatening that if the Hudood Ordinance is changed along the lines of the original amendments, it would lead to a moral decay of the nation. I simply don’t agree. If parents would spend more time taking responsibility for the creations they call their children, then this would be a moot point. Instead, in Pakistan, most parents are more interested in showing off and pretending to be forward thinkers, while their children are having sex, using drugs and drinking. The Hudood Ordinance has not changed their behavior, what makes you think that it will change with its repeal or amendment?

The sad fact of the matter is that the “religocrats,” as I like to call them, get great benefit from holding the country hostage with the phrase “un-Islamic.” The riots that you saw in response to the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were the handy work of these same religocrats; the continuation of honor killings is the handy work of the religocrats; and most of all the stalled development in the country on a social, economic and intellectual level is the handy work of the religocrats. Now, the National Assembly is again threatened with mass resignations, riots on the streets and a basic call to vigilante justice; it is obvious that this law needs to go and the religocrats need to go with it. In my opinion, they should go over to Afghanistan and be with the Taliban since they share so many of the same ideals.

How do you recognize a religocrat? He is the one with the beard.

Secular parties need to grow up.

I am inflamed by the comments of that muppet Nawaz Sharif. How dare you say that any change to the Hudood Ordinance is un-Islamic? While Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif took great pains to violate everything the Quran stands for, from extrajudicial killings to robbing the national exchequer and raiding the Supreme Court to influence a decision. And now while he sits exiled in London, this muppet wants to tell Pakistan that any change to the Hudood Ordinance is un-Islamic, to the point that he has collected the resignations of every elected member of his “political party” to submit to the government.

It should also be noted that if it wasn’t for General Zia ul-Haq, Nawaz Sharif would not be in politics today. While Zia was in power, Nawaz was “elected” as the Finance Minister for the Punjab (1981) and was then promoted to Chief Minister of the Punjab. It would be completely “un-Islamic” for him to forget his loyalties to General Zia.

Religious scholars?

The number of religious scholars that have spoken out on television for the repeal and amendment of the Hudood Ordinance is outstanding; but the quasi-religocrats will never allow it. I don’t recall any of them putting forth a logical argument to why the Hudood Ordinance should not be repealed or amended other than it would cause a decay in the moral fabric of the country. Are you serious?

I have lived in Pakistan since 1997 and no law is going to decay the moral fabric of this country any more than it is today. Pakistan is a nation of rule breakers: 9 year olds drive cars because their parents don’t care, teenagers are doing what everyone does in the Western world (including drugs, drinking and sex) because their parents don’t have the time to teach them right from wrong, adults are having affairs even in spite of the Hudood Ordinance because they don’t care. Enough of the moral fiber story, Pakistan is Pakistan. It will still be Pakistan without the Hudood Ordinance. We don’t need a religious police. They tried that in Afghanistan and it didn’t work. They do that in Saudi Arabia and it doesn’t work.

How do you recognize a religious scholar? He is the one with the beard.

Leave my sister alone.

I would like for each one of you to visit Pakistan and see how women are treated here every day. They are ogled, harassed, belittled and insulted because they are women. Pakistani men are caged animals. They have no sense of understanding that if they are justified in doing this to another woman, then any man is justified in doing it to their sisters. For a Pakistani male, HIS family honor is a matter of respect and should be protected at all costs, anyone else is fair game.

Finally….

The Hudood Ordinance needs to be repealed, not amended. Every women that is in jail or prison should be released immediately. Otherwise, we as a nation need to forget about this word “democracy,” for democracy can not exist with a religious police that outlaws anything that would take power away from them.

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Women’s rights has become the most important debates in Pakistan. With the Musharraf government’s commitment to enlightened Islam, we are finally seeing a move to change the most repressive law in the history of the nation. The Hudood Ordinance was brought into effect during the ultra-Islamist dictatorship of General Zia ul-Haq and has been the basis for massive human rights violations against women for almost 3 decades.

Today, the people of Pakistan are taking positions on the left and right; the left believes that this ordinance must be changed, if not repealed, while the right is screaming that it is un-Islamic to change the law and it will lead to the moral decay of the Pakistani people. While the government, media and educated class of Pakistan represent the left, the louder voice comes from the ultra-religiocrats of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), a conglomeration of 6 different religious parties, and the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N), the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was dismissed and exiled on charges of hijacking, terrorism and massive corruption.

Over the past few weeks, the year long battle has come to a boiling point, with the Women’s Protection Bill 2006 being presented in the National Assembly of Pakistan. With the government and the media fighting tooth and nail for the ordinance to be changed, the religiocrats have vowed to “fight to the death to make sure this bill is not passed.” The battle became further entrenched when the leader of the MMA, Mualana Fazl-ur-Rehman, lead the charge in the National Assembly by ripping up the bill, which included numerous references to the Holy Quran, Allah and the Prophet Muhammad , and stepping on the torn pieces bringing screams of blasphemy from the left. To those of us who believe in Islam and its teachings, this is a desecration and will not be tolerated. How do you trust a religiocrat that doesn’t have respect for the Holy Quran? That would be like a Christian burning the Bible to make a point. What the MMA didn’t count on was the power of the free media that Musharraf has ushered in. Within hours of the incident in the National Assembly, the entire country was watching the video tape of these idiots smiling and laughing as they committed blasphemy.

As a prelude to a series that I will start later this week, I have provided links to the fantastic work that GEO TV, Pakistan’s largest international news channel, has done to educate the public about the Hudood Ordinance and why it must be changed, if not repealed. These links provide a great basis to frame the debate and how the illiterate religiocrats would like to paint the issue. Capital Talk, Jawab Dey, Alif, and Pachas Manit have all done excellent programs on the Hudood Ordinance.

The Hudood Ordinance needs to go and if it means that the religiocrats, MMA and others need to go with it, then so be it! And if you are wondering where I stand…. Throw out the Hudood Ordinance. Throw out the religiocrats that want to hold my country hostage with a skewed interpretation of Islam. And throw out anyone that wants to stand with them.

Pakistan has decided: We will not let this continue any longer.

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