Islam’s Silent Moderates

The nation of India and the ideology of Islam have a long history. India was subjugated by Islam for many centuries and it bears those wounds till date. Now the entire globe is feeling the pain that Islam inflicts on what it calls “Dar ul Harb” or the “Land of War” (as opposed to it’s own dominion the “Dar ul Islam”.) India is unfinished business for Islam — as many high-ranking officials of Islam do remind us from time to time. In the Islamic division of humanity into two distinct factions, India is the land of infidels that must be brought under the sword of Islam. And that attempt is bleeding India. That explains why I occasionally focus on Islamic terrorism and triumphalism on this blog which is primarily concerned with India’s economic growth and development.

I am opposed to violent ideologies. I make no distinction between religious or secular ideologies. If it is violent, I am opposed to it. It’s ideology I oppose, and not people. I have nothing against Germans, for instance, but I am against Nazism. But Nazism is dead and Germans today themselves oppose Nazism. That ideology has been defeated by rationality and humanity — backed by superior fire power. Communism is not as violent on the surface but it inflicts incalculable harm on human society. I am opposed to it. Communism is dead around the world except in India where it persists in its cancerous influence. Islam is a religious ideology, and from all evidence historical and contemporary, causing harm to humanity. The people who follow it to the letter cannot coexist with non-believers. The fundamentals of that ideology do not allow peaceful co-existence — only subjugation or war. As subjugation is not possible at present, it is war by Islam against the rest.

Yes, the majority of Muslims are not violently opposed to non-Muslims all the time and in all places. But that does not in any way indicate that Islam itself is willing to compromise with non-believers. Surely there are moderate Muslims — just as there were Germans who did not fully subscribe to the Nazi supremacist dogma. But their mere existence did not moderate the horrors that Nazism inflicted on “undesirables”. The question was where were they? Why didn’t they prevail? Or at least, why didn’t they get heard? The question today is where are the moderate Muslims? Why don’t we hear from them as vociferously as the true believers of Islam? Ayaan Hirsi Ali opines about that in NY Times op-ed recently. I reproduce it fully here.

Forbidding Expression – Part 2

If your government is manipulated into disregarding the law of the land by rioting murderous mobs, you might be a third-world country.

{Continued from part 1.}

Taslima Nasreen got hounded out of Kolkata by rioting Muslims. The state of West Bengal displayed its spinelessness and instead of providing protection to a visitor, gave in to intimidation and violence. She was packed off to Jaipur. The fear of murderous mobs compelled the Rajasthani government to kick her out. She is now hiding somewhere in New Delhi, the capital of India. One does not expect state policy to be dictated by rioting mobs but it appears that Indian policy is.

Do the Taliban have Buddha Nature?

Here we go again. In March of 2001, the Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan. These statues had stood there since the early 6th century. Symbols of universal compassion, these were in the eyes of Islam, something that had to be destroyed.

Full marks for perseverance, though. “When Mahmud of Ghazni conquered Afghanistan and part of west India in the 12th century, the Buddhas and frescoes were spared from destruction though Buddhist monasteries and other artifacts were looted or destroyed. Aurangzeb, the last Mughal emperor distinguished for his religious zeal, employed heavy artillery in an attempt to destroy the statues. Nadir Shah, too, had cannon fire directed at the statues. But over the centuries the statues had largely been left untouched.”

Exporting Islam

My friend Nitin Pai of The Acorn has an op-ed in the Mint, “Why India must export its Islam.” He writes:

In a secular state such as India, there is little role for the state in matters of faith and religion. But the rise of a radical, intolerant version of Islam around the world is also not in its interests. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran have no self-imposed restrictions on promoting their own Islamic values. It is unlikely that India can counter these exertions of soft power by promoting the virtues of secularism to the Islamic world. But it could promote its own syncretic Islamic tradition to offer an alternative narrative to the world’s Muslims.

Nitin is an astute observer and I have the utmost respect for his incisive commentary and analysis of matters of importance. Try as I might, however, I cannot see what he means in that op-ed.

Exporting Religion

Such a Pity

It is easy to slip into self-pity when battling what appears to be a nasty ‘flu. One’s view of the world is jaundiced and it all appears rather pointless. Events appear a grimmer shade of black when viewed from the context of physical illness. Yet, to put it in perspective, one should not complain about a temporary illness when others go through real ordeals. It is exactly one year ago that nearly 200 people lost their lives and several hundreds horribly injured just going about their daily business in Mumbai.

Rage is all the Rage

Well I am off to the City Formerly Known As Madras. I will be in Chennai for the weekend.

Here is a classic Christopher Hitchens piece for you reading pleasure. “It’s impossible to satisfy “Rage Boy” and his ilk. It’s stupid to try.” And don’t forget to see the pictures of Rage Boy here.

US to Deport Indian national

Just in case you were getting carried away reading Indian newspaper reports about how wonderfully Indians in the US were doing, here is a report that will give you pause. One can be fairly certain that this will not be reported by the main stream Indian press. After all, we cannot imagine home-grown jihadis, can we? We are a secular country.

September 11th, 2006

“Where were you on Sept 11th?” is always going to be an easy question to answer for me, and I guess for a few hundred million others. Not only the day but the exact set of events that led up to the shock of learning that something extraordinary was happening would be forever remembered and often recalled.

Jihad Watch – 1

India’s development is not insulated from global forces shaping the world. Islamic terrorism is a global reality that only the seriously deluded can deny. Its bloody hand reaches deep inside the global human breast daily and wrenches the heart out.

The world spends hundreds of billions of dollars every year trying to protect itself. The security apparatus we go through at the airports is in place largely to dissuade jihadists. Soon I guess the local train stations in Mumbai will have to have some sort of security in place.

Islamic terrorism impedes the free flow of law abiding people, it hurts commerce, it hurts development, and most importantly of all, it destroys lives and families. Around 200 dead and a thousand injured in Mumbai last week was just one more the hundreds of incidents of jihad the world suffers each year.

Jihad is a regular feature of our world. Jihad Watch will be a regular feature on this blog. Why? Because we must understand the enemy if we wish to prevail. We need to understand what motivates them and why. I will highlight articles and viewpoints which I believe can help inform our understanding of jihad.

The Brain of the Minister of State for Haj

In my last post, we met the Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Haj, Mr Muhammad Yaqoob Qureshi, who has announced a $11.5 million reward for the murder of Danish cartoonists and has asked the Indian government to server dipolomatic ties with the US. Here is how his brain works.