[Weislenalkata]

Be Modern

Very technically qualified brothers and sisters are present at SF.
This need to be utilized to solve a pesky problem.
Image of Islam and hence of Muslims is that they are the most backward of all communities on the face of the planet.
Jewish people are envied as the most Nobel Prize decorated people and hence highest in modern scientific and intellectually accomplished race.
Christians are the next.
India is already there on the scene.
Japan has been there for long time.
China is feared by the sole superpower.
Except for Muslims nearly everyone is developed. Even Africa our share of that image of backwardness is considerable.

Kindly make efforts to change that image - I mean on line.
If you have any technical expertize then combine it with Islam and write posts here or write a blog.
If you are expert in science then develop a Islamic perspective on science.
If you in the middle of business, economy and financial sector then try to develop theoretical models to switch over to Islamic way of doing the things.
If you are nimble with sociology then bring the ideas of Ibn Khaldoon and Muslim contributions to the fore.
If you know a thing or two about psychology then try to develop an Islamic perspective on that.
If you know international relations then try to figure out how Muslims can put forward Islam as a solution to current world problems.
If you have any facility in interpersonal relations then try to bring our Macaulian brothers and sisters to the side of Islam and Muslims.
If media is your expertize then tell us how even Muslim Media is serving western interests.
We Muslims should be talking about every high-tech concept - Islamically.

Nothing happens on its own - some one has to do it.

[Weislenalkata]

Everybody is Shouting Down My Troll

We just had a glorious troll week. Then we have a troll, at his best, right now, here at SF.

All Praise is due to Allah (SWT).

But there is a pain in yours truly's heart. Every one is shouting down our beloved troll.

Brothers have hinted to our honourable troll to take a bow. If he does not answer a particular question, that is.

All these people want answer to questions.

"How do you know Qur'an?"

"What is the meaning of if you love Allah then follow Prophet (PBUH)?"

"Can you prove Kalima from Qr'an?"

"Can you prove whole of Salah text from Qur'an?"

"Its procedure?"

"Its implementation?"

"Where is the working model of Islam?"

Questions, questions, question.

Leave our respected troll alone.

Or be prepared to face a nightmare in broad day light - no trolls here.

[Weislenalkata]

Please Render Accounts for Divide and Rule

Many of us remember a trend in the west where the high up people, a Pope or a President, seeking forgiveness from people for the past sins of their organizations, the Church and a state in this case.

We in former European colonies have a complain. We suffered a lot in the past because of colonization of Asia and Africa by Europe and lately economic colonization by US and to some level Europe again.

So can some one please make some calculations about the harm done by European powers when they used the divide and rule policy in their former colonies. As well as the harm done by the US by sowing similar seeds in all Muslim countries with which they had any concern - like causing ethnic and sectarian violence in Iraq and Afghanistan?

If we can make a realistic assessment of that we can present the bill to the US and concerned European countries. They will be at least bankrupt.

And please do not worry about belling the cat problem. There are no cats here, only former cats and present non-cats. US and the west are loosing their teeth right before your eyes.

[Weislenalkata]

Determined to Exclude Islam Commentating on the interview and Tlass’s qualities, Professor Joshua Landis (Director at the Centre for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma) said whilst the odds were against his being accepted as the answer to where to find an alternative to Assad, ‘if anyone could do it’, it was ‘someone like him’: well-known in Syria, able to win people in the current regime and against Islamic politic groups. So the nice guys are looking for an alternative in Syria and they are sure about one thing.
Islam should be left out of the equation.
And who said that crusades were a thing of past?

There is couplet in Urdu:
Noor-e-khuda hai kufr ki harkat pe khandazan
Phookon se ye charagh bujhaya na jayega

Divine light is amused at the actions of disbelief
This lamp will not be extinguished by blowing on it

Sooner or later our friends in the west have to realize that Muslims are defined by Islam and they have neither abandoned Islam nor they are ready to compromise on it. Christian world at logger heads with Islam from day one. this is a long story. The only interesting chapter in that engagement between Christian Europe and Islamic world is that for last few centuries Europe has been dominating Muslim geography in one way or in another way. That domination was challenged about a hundred years ago and physical domination was diluted to a great extent by dismantling of colonialism. Neo-colonialism, including economic colonialism, stands completely challenged. Our western brothers are acknowledging it.
How long will the euphemisms like Radical Islam and Political Islam and the like serve the western purpose?

[k1ePRlda]

Kindly make efforts to change that image - I mean on line.
If you have any technical expertize then combine it with Islam and write posts here or write a blog.
If you are expert in science then develop a Islamic perspective on science.
If you in the middle of business, economy and financial sector then try to develop theoretical models to switch over to Islamic way of doing the things.
If you are nimble with sociology then bring the ideas of Ibn Khaldoon and Muslim contributions to the fore.
If you know a thing or two about psychology then try to develop an Islamic perspective on that.
If you know international relations then try to figure out how Muslims can put forward Islam as a solution to current world problems.
If you have any facility in interpersonal relations then try to bring our Macaulian brothers and sisters to the side of Islam and Muslims.
If media is your expertize then tell us how even Muslim Media is serving western interests.
We Muslims should be talking about every high-tech concept - Islamically. I am not so sure about this method. The problem is that those who are experts in any one field think that their own field is the most important and atht everything else should be subordinate to it - including Islam.

Thus, we had a few years ago a student of anthropology who said that the anthropological base from which Islam came has to be studied and Islam should be changed accordingly, since according to him, archeology was paramount. We see the same sometimes from psychology majors, who might be influenced by those who say that religion is nothing but a play of different psychological forces.

Of course, we will not seek the services of those who explicitly hold on to such ideas, since such thoughts are very far from Islam, but what I see is that for almost anyone who studies the modern educational curriculum (which is almost everyone who writes on forums, sites, blogs, etc.), it will be very difficult for them to divorce themselves from the Kufr views that their education feeds them. The only option, I believe is for such people to be under an 'Aalim, or a project approved by such 'Aalims, so that their possible contributions really do serve Islam rather than do more harm to the propagation and upholding of Islam.

[Weislenalkata]

I am not so sure about this method. The problem is that those who are experts in any one field think that their own field is the most important and atht everything else should be subordinate to it - including Islam.

You have identified one disease. let us work on its cure.
Thus, we had a few years ago a student of anthropology who said that the anthropological base from which Islam came has to be studied and Islam should be changed accordingly, since according to him, archeology was paramount. We see the same sometimes from psychology majors, who might be influenced by those who say that religion is nothing but a play of different psychological forces. Even late Ismail Razi Farooqi knew the cure for that - Islamization of knowledge.
My impression is that we can do better than him because of the fact that we depend upon our Elders for advice.
Of course, we will not seek the services of those who explicitly hold on to such ideas, since such thoughts are very far from Islam, but what I see is that for almost anyone who studies the modern educational curriculum (which is almost everyone who writes on forums, sites, blogs, etc.), it will be very difficult for them to divorce themselves from the Kufr views that their education feeds them. The only option, I believe is for such people to be under an 'Aalim, or a project approved by such 'Aalims, so that their possible contributions really do serve Islam rather than do more harm to the propagation and upholding of Islam. Once again you have put your fingers on the pulse.
Modern curriculum has been doing its damage for a long time. Sooner we start working on its undoing better it will be. We got to find the cure before hearts of more people are locked - hearts of many people have been locked already.

[Weislenalkata]

A Tale of Two Types of PhotographsFirst type was of Prince Harry and second type is of Lady Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.
Both have brought ignominy to British Royal Family.
Of course one older problem in this gamut remains unsolved - why should there be any monarchy, even if notional, in a country that has been a party to devastation of many a countries in the name of democracy?
Sooner or later people will ask British people to render account for that.
At the moment Duchess of Cambridge, and everybody else except, perhaps, the French magazine readers, is distressed.
One will assume that topless photograph of Duchess of Cambridge was not for public consumption.
Even a private consumption tag is not entirely kosher but why this duplicity that a Duchess should hold a higher morality than the rest.
Will it not be more appropriate to curtail nudity in its entirety?
And Prince Harry's activities are not naughty. There are other words that describe that incident. Unfortunately all of them are unflattering.

And now that we are talking about significant things it is easier to add one more - why don't we Muslims invite the British Royal family to Islam? Why are we so hesitant? Is British awe and grandeur bigger than Muslim dignity and self-respect? They certainly do not measure up to the stature of Islam. They, for example, have erred in matters of modesty and in Islam modesty is part of faith.

[Weislenalkata]

Allama Iqbal : First Post Modernist

Once upon a time there was a high academic activity was going on in the west - read America, sorry the US.
It was called postmodernism. It used very high sounding words like deconstruction, normative hermeneutics, narration of text and what not.

And it was largely bunkum. We shall come to the little concrete reality that it contained shortly.

There is a French philosopher, Paul Feyerabend, he became quite bold. There is no such thing as the scientific method, he said. And then you can complete the rest of the argument - there is no such thing as science.
You see. Long back people had realized that in academics there are two cultures, that of science and humanities, respectively. There was, and perhaps still is, a gap between them in the sense that these two do not mix well. What people do not say openly but that is the crux of the problem is that one of them, the culture of science, has a sort of same attitude towards the other, the culture of humanities and social sciences, that the Occident has towards the Orient. Superiority complex.

And if one understands this state of affairs then one can understand Feyerabend's theory - his is a convenient theory. Just deny science and you teach the scientists a lesson.

So there were people who started saying that science is merely a social construct.
A particle physicist got irked at that.
Additional rub was that, like him, most of the anti-science ban wagon consisted of leftist people.
Some them did talk a lot and did little.

So he pulled a fast one on the postmodernists.
That is called the Sokal Affair, after Alan Sokal.

He wrote a phony article in one of the most admired journals of that high academic field - the publication was called the Social Text.

He used high sounding words of postmodernist jargon and the tone of the article vaguely sounded as if he, a particle physicist, was saying that really the most modern developments in science have come to the same conclusion that high-academicians of post modernist coterie were saying.

And at the time when the article was in press he spilled the beans in a different journal Lancet.
So people had both the hoax article as well as the admission of the same in their hands at the same time.

To cut the long story short - there was enough of hell breaking loose.

And luckily for them, the miserable academicians of loosing one of the two cultures, some thing else came to the fore - terrorism and the war on terrorism.

***************

This takes us only one third along the post - ideas wise.

Now some thing about the reality and utility of post-modernism and deconstruction.

Post-modernism is just any vague thing beyond modernity, read European and hence western enlightenment. Enlightenment was trashing of Church and if you do the same with the accumulated wisdom of enlightenment then you are nearly there - you are postmodern. If you wished - and now you shall not wish that because it was all bunkum - negativity defines nothing unless combined with some thing positive. Latter element was not there with poor post-modernists.

Let us now take up the master key of our beloved postmodernist - deconstruction.

You deconstruct a text. Now our postmodernist is a self claimed sophist.
Text may mean very many disparate things.
But let us restrict ourselves to some real and actual text.

So let us take the statement I love you from a little girl to her mother.
So we have to deconstruct this statement.
To find the purpose behind it.
Post modernist will say that let us think of the opposite of the operative clause - love.
That is hate, not love.
So the reality of the situation is that the little girl does not love her mother!

I kid you not.

A postmodernist will go a few steps ahead. The girl does not love her mother and in reality she is after the cookies in the kitchen! The next step is that there is no such thing as love and it is all economics.

I postmodernist friend once told yours truly that Japanese parents send their kids for tourism in summer vacations because the cost of lodging them at home in Tokyo or Kyoto will be much more as compared to a summer tour to Thailand. It is economics stupid.

May Allah (SWT) protect all believers from vagaries of deviations.

******************

There were some postmodernists who would deconstruct anything in sight.
And the things came very close for Islam and Muslims too.
Let us deconstruct the Noble Qur'an - it was demanded.

Some Muslims were upset.
They should not have been.

When the purpose of deconstruction is to find the objective behind the text then in case of the Noble Qur'an the task is rather easy. We already know the purpose - guidance of mankind.

Of course the worry was that there will be attempt to deny and refute the Noble Qur'an. This too is not a worrisome thing. There has been constant calumny against the Noble Qur'an in last fourteen hundred years and there is absolutely nothing new that they could have come up. Detractors of Islam have exhausted themselves long back.

The result is that though yours truly has read some articles by Muslims displeased with the news that someone wants to deconstruct the Noble Qur'an but yours truly knows not a single product of that nefarious enterprise.

The conclusion? Well the whole enterprise was useless - not merely the nasty shot at the Noble Qur'an but the whole postmodernist balloon.

****************

"So why have you taken us for a ride?"

Ultimately it all amounts to looking at all possible alternatives of a statement to come to the truth. Now that is common sense, which in turn is guided by many considerations and mechanical negation and the like are not the guiding principles.

One has to get one's common sense in consonance with Islam.
There is an Islamic science called Tazkiya - it removes the cob-webs from your common sense.

Once you have achieved a consonance between common sense and Islam then deconstruction is a rather mundane tool for you - not a deceptive high academic construct.

Yours truly is presenting Allama Iqbal as the first postmodernist.
He died much before most of the postmodernists were born.
And he gave some lectures in Madras, now called Chennai.
There are available in English and the title is Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam.
Notice the name.
And the methodology is the same as the later day postmodernists employed.

So guys we have been there and we had done that - long, long ago.

[Weislenalkata]

Deception of the Day
Once a person associates oneself with any work of Deen then floodgates of Allah (SWT)'s Mercy open up. Even when one is making very rudimentary efforts the incoming blessings are so large in number that one will find it difficult to keep an account of them. Of course accounting is far from our minds and perhaps that is justified except that we have to render thanks for each blessing.

One blessing needs specific mention. When one enters any work of Deen one becomes aware of Deen related shortcomings of others. These shortcomings are a plenty for each one of us is a walking encyclopedia of sins - keeping the Friends of Allah (SWT) out of discussion. Now this awareness of other people's shortcomings is a strangely asymmetric occurrence. We, at the same time, might not be similarly aware of our own deficiencies.

Now it is desirable that these people move away from these habits that we find problematic.
In fact that is what life is about - to move away from darkness to light, sin to obedience, obliviousness to awareness but that project is a life time project. This is a matter in which the things can not be rushed. There is no fast lane to Islah let alone an instantaneous formula for self reform.

The object of the post is to remind ourselves that when we are new to the field of Deen that is also the time to exercise most control over our desire to reform others. We know reforming our own habits is mighty difficult - why should we be so arrogant as to impose, demand or expect a quick turn around?

[Weislenalkata]

Our Frontiers
A senior alumni of yours truly's Alma Mater avers, in the context of current demonstrations against silly US film portraying beloved Prophet (PBUH), that we are not aware of our real frontiers. "Fontiers of our battles should be against illiteracy, backwardness & social evils", he asserts. And then others from the same community have gone into a good drive about the appropriateness of these words of wisdom.

These too are frontiers of our battles.
And then there are other frontiers too.
The frontier that learned senior wants to divert attention from is also a frontier.
We really do not realize that defending the honour of beloved Prophet (PBUH) is also a frontier.
There is a reason behind that.
The dominant ideas at any time are the ideas of dominant economic powers of the day.
That is west till the moment of writing.
And the prevalent ideas in the west at present have no counterpart of honour of a Messenger of God (AS).
For a few centuries they have been taking liberty with religion.
Atheism is rife in that society and its bad effects are there for all to see but they are incapable of analyzing it - they have lost guidance. Breakdown in family as well as social structure is no mean price to pay.

This is the society that is usually at the back of mind of our western educated class when they deliver admonitions to Muslims.

That society, let us admit for the time being, has overcome illiteracy.
They have made economic progress too - hope that is the opposite of backwardness.
But they are in economic down turn - let us accept that.
But whether we have more social evils than them is a very debatable question.
In fact the situation is more in favour of our own society.

And this really evens out the things between us and the model society that honourable senior has in mind.
This makes any preaching a risky proposition.

And indeed we should, with whole heart, fight against illiteracy, backwardness and social evils.
And we should keep asserting before the west that insulting our beloved Prophet (PBUH) is neither liked nor tolerated in these quarters. Yours truly has a vague feeling that they might start listening - or may be they are already listening.

[Weislenalkata]

New Attitude

From the recent press reports it looks as if the US and UK are changing their aggressive attitude, towards Muslims and Islam, of recent past.

This has implications for Muslims. One can not continue with the reactions of past as such. But this does not mean that Muslims should seek to disengage with them. Live and let live is a good dictum and decency demands that this should be taken into account but same decency also demands that Muslims deliver the rights of western people to them. The biggest of these rights is their right to know about Islam. Even if they are hostile and unreceptive to it. Allah (SWT) has said that you may not like something though there is good in it for you. This applies to non-Muslims too. They might not like Islam but there is pure good for them in it. And the duty to communicate that to them is on us. Now that we have a possibility of military disengagement with them at something like equal terms, whether they like it or not and whether they accept it or not, we can make a move to present Islam to them with grace - and at some thing like equal terms.

[Weislenalkata]

They Insist
There is a fad in modern science establishment.
Keep religion out - they insist.
This has an advantage, you do not have to be conversant with Judaism and Christianity - religion of two people who have contributed most to this enterprise.
And there is a disadvantage also.
Devoid of moral values science looks not only dry but unattractive too.
There is a sort of inclination away from non-religion towards anti-religion.
The undercurrent is quite nuanced and the establishment will defend the secular character vociferously.

Among the serious problems in vogue, in Physics, is the black hole information loss paradox.
There is sort of religious belief that micro-level information will not be lost in any physical process.
Including black holes.
But all the evidence that people can collect points towards the opposite.
And all the evidence, of necessity, can be theoretical only. We neither have black holes at our disposal, to experiment with, nor we know how to use them - if we happen to have them at hand.
Now this is religion of science.
If they were adopting the orthodox religion it will give a better way out of the dilemma.
Just accept that God does not want to give you full control over information.
Hence you may loose information.
Accept God's decision with an amicable disposition and be at peace.

And if, at a later time, you find that information, after all, is not lost then take that as a blessing.

[Weislenalkata]

On Whom the Curse is Raining
People of Allah (SWT) show a quite visible aversion to indulge in any talk about the western society. They do not approve of it. In general they do not prefer to indulge in any talk about worldly things. This usually gives us an impression that they might not be that aware of the happenings in that society - the west. This, in turn, creates a problem for those who either read the news about that society or otherwise get affected. This includes nearly all of us. The problem is how to cope with the news that comes from that direction. Frequent shootings of US, serial killer in UK, racist mass murderer in Sweden, incestuous father in Austria and the list is endless.

In view of the above it was a surprise to hear an admonition yesterday. The words were, "Whole of Ummah is going on this path - we are adopting the ways of the west, the people on whom the curse of Allah (SWT) is raining".

[Weislenalkata]

Do Muslims Enjoy Being Killed
There is a western rhetoric question. Do fox enjoy being hunted? The point is to bring the absurdity of an argument to the fore. A few days ago we heard that US has Pakistan's tacit support for drone strikes in that country. Now there is a minor correction to the assertion - Pakistan is there to give its point of view. He they did give their point of view. No, their tacit support is not their - US has been assuming convenient things.

It is a known thing that the US has constructed a balloon of belief for itself and this balloon extends upto Afghanistan and Pakistan. So far this disconnection from reality has not manifested at the home front but one could expect this any moment. Excessive smartness resulting in utter stupidity might be on display - for all to see and cringe at.

[Weislenalkata]

Perennial Drones
A Los Angeles Times report talks about Notre Dame law professor Mary Ellen O'Connell who is fighting again drone strikes in Pakistan.

The same LAT page has link to a report titled Congress Zooms in on Drone Killings.

So US is against the drone attacks.

But US continues the drone strikes. How does one reconcile the two opposite signals emanating from the same society?

Perennial thinking leads you to any number of conundrums. Everything is right. All roads lead to Rome. All paths art correct.

Let us get one headline out of the way - drone strikes are not a result of US perennial philosophy.
Drones strikes are a result of much more mundane causes.
After the second world war the US took over the reins at the real world power.
In the middle of the path it got challenged by the USSR.
Latter was liquidated by Muslims - with a little bot of help from the US.
After that US was left out without enemies.
They slapped the dishonour on Islam and Muslims - Clash of Civilizations was published in 1993, nearly a decade earlier than 9/11.

And the rest, as they say, is the history.
US, among other things, doing drone strikes. Mechanized killing of homo sapiens.
Unable to come out of enemy mindset.
Having lost all the ability to differentiate between right and wrong.
Wrong and right.
That is what it is in perennial world. Everything is right. Right is right, wrong is right.

Once again US as a whole is not perennialist.
But you do get perennial signals. Like the one quoted in the beginning.

Of course it is not impossible to disentangle the dominant US attitude - it is eminently possible.
We could call it residual imperialism that is melting in front of our eyes. But we digress.

If we get confusing signals from US then it is because of another residue - the perennial strands of thought.
Or effectively perennial element. The hawks are right to continue with drone attacks. Dissenters are right in dissenting.

So the innocent victims of drone attacks can thank lawyer Mary Ellen O'Connell and US Congress for their concern but they got to lick their own wounds - if they are still around to do so.

[Weislenalkata]

On Busted LifeBoy and his family, father, mother and younger sister, lodged themselves, with their luggage, in the corridor outside Controller of Examinations just after the Medical Entrance Test. Medical seat is an extremely precious commodity in these parts of the world. Families work day and night and the frenzy works itself up to a climax on this date. After that lies the wait for result but that is non-voluntary. This particular family was in a state of mourning. Boy had marked all his answers on the question booklet and not on the OMR sheet that is evaluated to prepare the result. With a single innocuous slip he had neutralized not only his own efforts of years but also those of the family.

This is a good paradigm to analyze those people who spend their life time in worldly successes. Monetarily they might become billionaires or at least millionaires. Might become bid politicians. Great sportsperson. Public figures. Respectable intellectuals. Leave out the haraam professions - though many of these are counted in worldly success. But the question is whether they have prepared for the hereafter? When you want a medical seat you have to mark your answers on the OMR sheet. When you want a seat in Jannah you have to indulge in good deeds out of which declaring faith in God is the compulsory question. Without that a worldly successful life is in reality a completely busted life.