Sir Salman...

So, having been inspired by Sir Salman Rushdie's quote on Selfistan to start this particular blog, I feel it is necessary to comment on his recent knighthood. Rushdie, as many of you hopefully know, is an author of Indian origin. Born in Bombay, he did his initial schooling in the city of dreams and then went to the UK - Cambridge if I am not mistaken - for his post-grad degree(s).

His family background, as his name suggests, is Muslim; but Rushdie left the ummah at a young age. Why? I don't know; perhaps he found it too restricting. Anyway, in 1988 he wrote The Satanic Verses - a book that touched on the issue of verses delivered to the Prophet Mohammed by Satan, which were then apparently rescinded once Mohammed realized their true nature. On February 14th of that year, he received a fatwa - essentially a death sentence - from Ayatollah Khomeini for being a traitor to Islam and for questioning Mohammed and the religion. For the next few years, he went into hiding; one of his publishers was killed; stores that sold his books were firebombed.

Anyway, so his recent knighthood has rekindled hatred for the author in the Islamic world. Now, as you may have guessed, I'm a huge fan of Sir Salman's and have always hoped that he would receive the Nobel Prize for Literature someday. I have also always maintained that he is a much better writer than VS Naipaul, who received the Nobel a few years ago. But at the same time, I think that knighting Rushdie at this point in time was an incorrect move. The Middle East is already feeling as if the West wants to destroy its culture and religion, and this notion is somewhat reinforced by knighting one who has lambasted Islam, at times, and is not in favour with those in the Muslim world.

I was born here in the West and I am also of Muslim heritage - although I do not consider myself Muslim in the true sense. I feel a connection with both sides and I am afraid that Samuel P. Huntington's theory of a Clash of Civilizations is going to occur. Obviously, like countless others, I will be caught in the middle. It seems to me that the West - in particular the USA and the UK - will stop at nothing and will continue to clash head-on with the Islamic world until one side wins and the other loses. I went to a graduation ceremony the other day, and a prominent right-wing journalist delivered the keynote address. In it, he stated that his parents' generation had fought fascism. His generation had fought communism, and it was up to us to fight fear and Islamism.

I agree, to an extent. It is up to my generation to fight fear - not just the fear that Islamists supposedly instil in us - but the fear that the West instils in the Middle East. The fear that is heightened every time the USA supports Israel and invades another Middle Eastern country; the fear that is heightened every time the USA threatens to bomb an Islamic country into the Stone Age; the fear that is heightened every time CNN deals with Islamism.

They - the Middle East's radicals - are not the only ones who have the ability to make others afraid. We - the Western nations - perhaps have a greater ability to do so. We have the economic and political means to do so. Sir Salman's knighthood, is just one of those.


That's it for now...ciao, adios, au revoir..and remember...to be born again first you must die...

~me

Musharraf the Great...(?)

Another post inspired by my all-day and late-night readings on Islam, Hinduism and nuclear weapons. Seriously, I've been researching/reading non-stop for the past week and a half - maybe two weeks and have gotten through some fascinating books - if you haven't noticed by the proliferation (not nuclear of course..:P) of posts on the topic.

So, tonight's post is also somewhat about Islam - well, mostly about Islamic-based terrorism. Recall one of my earlier posts -A Paragraph of Complete Absurdity. I posted it on another forum on the net and received the following comment..

Hi NaBz...This is a very interesting quote. While I agree the author is obviously quite narrow minded, and has a somewhat perverted idea of Islam, im my opinion, the voice of more moderate Muslims must be made louder. Unfortunately, it is much easier to believe the stereotypes cited in the quote, simply due to the type of exposure Islam is recieving in the world today. While I certainly agree that Islam is recieving a raw deal with regards to media coverage, American foreign policy, etc, in order to clean up the religions image, I think mainstream Muslims should perhaps take a more hardline stance against fundamentalism. Thats just my two cents anyway... On a lighter note, what did you think of the concert last nite?

Well, I found the following quote in Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's autobiography - In the Line of Fire - and immediately thought back to the above comment. The autobiography itself is quite fascinating; Musharraf's life coincides quite well with Pakistan - he was born a couple of years before the creation of the nation - and so, he manages to cover most of the events in the young state's history with first-hand experience. But at the same time, it seems to me as if Musharraf has written the book for a Western, and mainly American, audience. When attempting to explain particular areas in the port city of Karachi, he refers to Harlem and other areas in New York. As well, throughout the book, he attempts to portray himself as one firmly dedicated to moderation, rationality and the benefit of Pakistan. Rarely does he write about his own shortcomings. When he does, he follows it up by speaking about the benefits that arose from his acting in such a manner.

Hmm, I've been writing on here quite a lot these past few days....anyway, here's the quote.

The idea of "enlightened moderation" dawned on me in my study one night when I was meditating on all this. To stop violence, we need a global solution. The turmoil in the Muslim world arises primarily because of unresolved, long-standing political disputes that have created a sense of injustice, alienation, deprivation, powerlessness, and hopelessness in the masses. This situation is aggravated by the fact that by any measure, the Muslim countries have the least healthy social conditions in the world. Political deprivation, combined with poverty and illiteracy, has created an explosive brew of extremism and terrorism. Muslim societies must shun terrorism and extremism if they hope for emancipation and a release from these conditions. But at the same time their demand for a just resolution of certain political disputes must also be addressed.

Enlightened moderation is a two-pronged strategy that I sincerely believe is also a win-win strategy. One prong, to be the responsibility of the Muslim world, is the rejection of terrorism and extremism in order to concentrate fully on internal socioeconomic development. The other prong, to be the responsibility of the West in general and the United States in particular, is to put their full weight behind finding a just resolution of all political disputes afflicting Muslim societies. Justice for Muslims around the world must not only be done, but seen to be done. The Palestinian dispute lies at the core of international turmoil, as does the nuclear flashpoint of Kashmir, which needs urgent resolution if there is to be a permanent peace in south Asia.

That's it for now...ciao, adios, au revoir...and remember...to be born again, first you must die...

~me

Updates and Argh

Rite..so my profile has been updated - of note is my answer to that random question blogger likes to ask its writers...

i was going to write something else here - i thought about it last night, but have now duly forgotten...typical me...

oh well back to work...hmm...perhaps that thought was about my stupid polisci instructor...hmm...ahh...wait...no...yes..? hmm...k..i'll just tell ya'll...


he's a ph.D student..and is teaching a polisci course that starts tomorrow...now generally, polisci courses at my wonderful uni are 3hours a week, 12-13 weeks a term. in the summer, the intense ones (which i am taking for god/gods/blah blah knows what reason) are 3 hours a day, 4 days a week. now, if you have any sense as a student, you're going to stay on top of your readings during these intense courses because falling behind could prove horrible for your GPA...which, i want to maintain at a ridiculously high level....

so stupid ph.D instructor decides to NOT have a textbook for the course and, instead, puts some materials on the darling internet and the rest in the reserve room at the library. now, there are about 100 students in this class, and about 2 copies of the books that are needed. with some common sense, which this instructor is obviously lacking, one would understand the horrific line-ups and waits to get those particular books.

so..not needing to take this course, i've decided to drop it...but that means losing my summer scholarship cuz now i'm taking less than a full summer course load....argh....


oh well...it's better to lose a scholarship than to screw up ur GPA by taking a course you never even wanted to in the first place....

rite..back to work

that's it for now...ciao, adios, au revoir...and remember...to be born again first you must die...

~moi

True Ramblings II

So I've been sitting here for a while now, with my laptop on my desk, a headache in my teeth and a cold in my throat - and I think, well I know, that there's something wrong but I still haven't figured out what. For the past while - not just the while I've been sitting here - things have been quite odd, well, odd for my life. It seems as if everything that I expect or want to happen doesn't happen - the opposite does - well, to tell you the truth, not everything - the only thing that tends to occur as I wish it to these days is my work and academic stuff - which in the whole scheme of things, perhaps occupies - should occupy - a secondary position.

But at the same time, it's all quite amusing - amusing for me with my incomprehensible (for others mostly) sense of amusement. I have this odd ability, I think, to look at my general life as if I were an outsider, as if I were God or Gods or a spirit or a something looking down upon me from high above, or perhaps from down below (I still haven't decided which direction I've been looking at myself from).

But sometimes, this ability fails me - as it has been doing recently. Not only have I been relying on a few friends to tell me what's wrong with me, I've also realized that I'm slowly inching towards apathy - which I've always despised with a passion. Perhaps the oddity of my life has acted as a numbing force - things just don't make an impact on me now. Or perhaps I've just stopped caring about myself and things around me - although this option seems less plausible than the former. But whatever it is, it has to change. Maybe this forum of randomness will assist me get back to the randomness and interest of old. I sure hope it does.


That's it for now...ciao, adios, au revoir...and remember...to be born again, first you must die...

~me


now..i shall go renew my Economist subscription...

Arriba 1

thus starts the Arriba section...quotes by Arriba...enjoy...:P



uufff.... honestly it is so beyond even I with the magnificent imagination I posses cannot unerstand how far beyond fugly they are



yes...word for word...letter for letter....

Nucular (sic) Weapons

I think the governments of ALL the nuclear weapon states in the world should read this quote. As has been the case for the past few posts, I came across this during my research. It's from an article called "Renouncing the Nuclear Option" by Zia Mian.



From a moral standpoint there is little difference between a nuclear "option" and a nuclear weapon. Having a nuclear "option" means deciding you may want to commit mass murder at some time in the future and are preparing for it now. The intention is there from the moment the decision is made that committing such murder is an option. The actual killing only involves deciding when to do it.

That's it for now...ciao, adios, au revoir...and remember...to be born again first you must die...

~me

I'm Sorry Osama

So, as part of my research on religion and the bomb in South Asia, I've been reading this fascinating book called "Islamic Political Ethics." Edited by Sohail H. Hashmi, it is a collection of essays about the relationship between politics and religion in Islam.

Anyway, so the essays quote the Qur'an often and at length. One of the essays, titled "Interpreting the Islamic Ethics of War and Peace" (by Hashmi), deals with - as the name suggests - war and peace. Hashmi speaks mostly about the concept and types of jihad through an analysis of classical and medieval Islamic theories and constructs/deconstructs these particular theories with the aid of the Qur'an.

I came across this particular ayat from the Qur'an and realized that it had the ability to deligitimize what most people usually call Islamic terrorism. Apologies Osama, looks like your entire legitimacy has gone down the drain. Funny how the Bush admin hasn't looked at this particular verse and denounced Osama and al-Qaeda for being kafirs. I would have. But then again, it is the Bush administration - so I'm not really surprised.

If your Lord had so willed, all those who are on Earth would have believed;

Will you then compel mankind against their will to believe?

- 10:99

That's all for now...ciao, adios, au revoir...and remember...to be born again first you must die...

~me

A Paragraph of Complete Absurdity

I found this paragraph in Edward Said's "Covering Islam" - and found it so absurd that I had to post it up here. Note though, that Said does not agree with the following paragraph, but publishes it in his book to show "lazy historical judgement, over-generalization, and incredible stereotyping of the kind no one who has anything seriously to do with Islam would recognize as near- nonsense."

Here goes...

Certain cultures and subcultures, homes of frustrated causes, are destined breeding grounds for terrorism. The Islamic culture is the most notable example. That culture's view of its own rightful position in the world is profoundly at variance with the actual order of the contemporary world. It is God's will that the House of Islam should triumph over the House of War (the non-Moslem) world, and not just by spiritual means. "Islam Means Victory" is a slogan of the Iranian fundamentalists in the Gulf. To strike a blow against the House of War is meritorious; consequently, there is widespread support for activities condemned in the West as terrorist. Israel is one main target for these activities, but the activities would not be likely to cease even if Israel came to an end.

- Conor Cruise O'Brien

What I find fascinating, and a tad unnerving at the same time, is that Said's book was first written in 1981 - and then updated in 1997 (this quote was presumably inserted at that time as it has been taken from the June 1986 edition of 'The Atlantic') - but speaks about issues that are extremely relevant today: the perversion of Islam in the media, the way in which Islam and terrorism purported by those from predominantly-Muslim states are used synonymously, the rise in anti-Americanism in the Muslim world as a result of American policies and so on....


That's it for now...ciao, adios, au revoir...and remember...to be born again first you must die...

~me