Dueling Fatwas

Submitted by Fazal Habib Curmally (Pakistan), Oct 8, 2010 at 01:50

Greetings Canadian Chris,.

At long last a thinking person who hits the problem on the head.

Forgive me Canadian Chris if I go into the matter in some depth.

By the time the 1950s rolled around, the world was in a state of flux.It was after 1956, that the USA after president Eisenhower's chastising England France and Israel over the Suez canal fiasco and the Cuban Revolution of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Both events were the beginnings of the anti colonial way of life that had shaped the 19th century. There was a last attempt to bring about forced change by invasion in the Bay of Pigs failed invasion of Cuba by the US Government sponsored Cuban expatriates. This was then overshadowed by the Cold War. We flirted with Communism but it never took root because it was Godless.

But it was at Cancun where the world was thought to have become a Global village so to say. It was a very important change that came about. fast communications due to satellites in space. Overt colonialism was replaced by covert colonialism and then replaced by making the World Safe for Democracy. Try and understand how we saw what was happening.That there was a tearing apart of the Muslim nations of the world and much thought was given as to where where they fit in to the scheme of things that was coming about.. Whilst America and the West preached Democracy, we had their stooges or in other words our rulers who were present at that time, had to be acceptable to the West.

By the mid 1970s, most thinking Muslims who thought on the matter had given up on the West and had decided on an Islamic identity instead. I was one of them. We were no longer subjects of foreign powers overtly but covertly. We were not citizens but subjects of our rulers and our bureaucracy who in turn were backed by the West. The world was being run and was structured by 5 countries in accordance with the best principals of the time immediately after the WW II and with the coming of the UN. As we saw it we were backward and had not become equals but junior partners in the greater scheme of things and were once again drawers of water and hewers of wood. We had been enslaved raped and devastated by the colonials ad here was colonials without a whip but doing nearly the same thing in a different way. We were never to be free under the present scheme of things because.the world was geared to replacing physical domination by a domination of the mind.

So , we were under a constant state of siege and thought the only way to get back our freedom was not talking because the West would throw precedents at us which was not representative of us barring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights especially Article 8. But other that that the UN Security Council, the Treaty of Non proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or examples were Treaties of exemption. Five Countries were exempt from many restrictions that were applicable to us. There was no option but to close our minds and take the West on because they didn't have place for us in their scheme of things.

So from the mid 1970s, in one form or another 1.5 billion Muslims were angry people. As we closed our minds the West closed their minds about who or what we were it was as if a chasm had opened up between us. We talked and went ha ha at the right moment with the West but deep down there was a rage. It was 1979 that really became a watershed year for us. Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew the Shah of Iran, then there was the Soviet Invasion of Iran. The attempted seizure of Mecca by Revolutionaries who claimed to be the Mahdi. Then there was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Iran called the USA the Great Satan and laughed though most Muslims didn't think much of Khomeini we cheered him because he was speaking our thoughts. Then came the Satanic Verses and with it an attack on Islam.

It was here that a more violent split occurred. making fun of out Prophet is akin to undressing our Mothers Sisters and Wives in public and discussing them. It was shameful and degrading. It was the final straw that broke our back. First it was enslavement of the body and now it was to be the enslavement of the Mind. No sir we were not willing to sell our souls. Anything that had Islam attached to it was to be protected right or wrong. By the time 1990 came around Khomeini had passed on but his Revolution held and the Soviet Union was out of Afghanistan and was breaking up and finally Salman Rushdie was still under the Death threat. It was considered to be a time that Islam had come to stay and start again once more. The seed planted in the mid 1970s had sprouted. It had to be nurtured. Then came Osama Bin Laden and he stood the world on it's head, whether it was Somalia, Chechnya, Bosnia,Afghanistan or 9/11.

Now comes the important part. Do we agree with Osama Bin Laden. Most say no but once again the fact that Islam is associated with him Some will stand with him if push comes to shove. Why? Because the West thinks nothing of ridiculing everything in the name of plurality of culture or whatever. If that is enlightenment, then it is for you. We don't want any part of it and will fight if we have to. better to die once with your head held high than to live on scraps like a dog.

Canadian Chris, I have tried to give you a concise view of the World as we see it. Tolerance has gone out of the window a longtime ago. You in the West see Islam as a threat. We have become a threat because we started to speak for ourselves and we don't want to fight you. Everyone has a right to belief of his or her choice and a right to this Earth. Today we have forgotten this. I'll give you two more examples.

My country Pakistan is a most favoured non NATO ally.for the ISAF or NATO troops in Afghanistan and a conduit for their logistics. Today the USA wants to Pakistanize the war and that would mean us have our troops in Afghanistan and it would help America exit from Afghanistan with honour. But we are not at war with Afghanistan. Our policy is to recognize any Government in Kabul. We have given shelter to millions of Afghans on our soil and are still hosting million plus Afghans after 30 years. The USA thinks nothing of crossing borders so we stopped their supplies and asked them to apologize for killing our troops. They did. But was it necessary? Do you get what I/m saying? the second example is 9/11. What happened then was sheer horror and unforgivable horror. Why did it happen? This has not been sufficiently answered. Was Osama Bin Laden who is the allegedly behind it a madman? I don't think so. I believe the real crazies are in the USA and I'll tell you why. 0/11 caused 2730 casualties. Iraq that was invaded on false pretenses caused the USA to take over 5700 dead and roughly 30,000 wounded. Afghanistan is around 1500 dead NATO troops and God knows how many wounded. Which is a greater number 2730 or the casualties you suffered. let us not count the faceless Iraqis and Afghans here? The USA have cut their nose to spite their face.

The real problem is, when Iraq invaded Kuwait which was historically a part of Iraq, it put the northern part of Saudi Arabia under threat. Kuwait had asked Iraq to pay back some of the funds it had borrowed to fight Iran. Now the Saudis had planned the same thing and felt they were next. Osama Bin Laden offered his help but was told " But Osama there are no mountains in Iraq" and asked the USA for help. The USA didn't finish the job in 1990-91 and the Saudis learned you didn't need mountains to fight another type of war. Musab al Zarqawi gave a violent example of this type of war in Iraq and there are others who are doing the same. Subsequent to the USA's troops being stationed in Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden who was stripped of his Saudi nationality, read his famous second fatwa calling for the expulsion of foreigners from the Land of the Two Holy Places. I think because I'm not sure about the date if this fatwa,it was probably in 1998.That is how it all started.

So minds are closed, you have the Neocons and the the Tea Party bloc in the USA. You have your various assortment of leaders. barring Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in the West, who somehow don't want Islam in Europe. Its too late for that so they are trying to sanitize them like what Sarkozi has done in France. You will breed more hate not overtly but covertly.

Life goes on with the world divided into two camps. The West who see a new enemy and does not understand him and we see an old enemy who up to his usual tricks. In all this we have learned lessons that you probably have not. Become like the enemy and understand him. Become a child of many cultures so you can defend yourself better. If you think I'm joking, consider if you will. The 19 suicide bombers were all Western educated in western schools and collages. Not one had studied in a Madressa. Whilst the West insists that madressa education breeds violence. I really don't know where the western intelligensia get these ideas from?

WE believe the measure of a man is the Laws of God and not man is the measure of man as the secular world believes once we overcome this major point of difference we will have peace, Until then, like you, I want an equitable peace that accepts me and my beliefs. I want to see my children and grandchildren in a safer world. We become giants by standing on each others shoulders. Let us build bridges that enable to flourish on this Earth there is enough for all of us. Let us accept each other for what we are and have the courage to see where the future takes us. The alternative is war. We will fight and die rather than see Islam being degraded.

Best Wishes

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