Dialogue *Monday, Apr 20 2009* No Hindu Can Ever Become A Fundamentalist: B. P. Singhal <http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1340>
In a note sent to *New Age Islam*, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader *B. P. Singhal *has tried to define the highly controversial word “Fundamentalism”. His definition has 10 points and at the end of every point, he reaches the conclusion that a Hindu can never become a fundamentalist. The obvious implication is that some religions promote fundamentalism but Hinduism doesn’t. Clearly, there will be many, among them Hindus too, not to speak of followers of other faiths, who will dispute these conclusions and the issues that seem to define fundamentalism for Mr. Singhal. Indeed, there are many Hindus, among others, who consider his VHP itself a fundamentalist organisation and for them this write-up would just appear to be a rather shaky attempt at self-exoneration. Nevertheless, Mr. Singhal’s thesis deserves debate and discussion, particularly as this term has now come to simply signify extremism of any kind, used as a pejorative mostly, though it started originally in a very specific sense to describe certain Christian fundamentalists within the Protestant community of the United States in the early part of the 20th century who interpreted the Bible as the “inerrant, factual, and literal word of God”, but again, even then to describe different “levels or versions of their fundamentalist belief”. It would certainly help to clear the air somewhat. -- *Editor* More...<http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1340> Radical Islamism & Jihad *The role Sufism could play in checking extremism <http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1339>* What has a bunch of dervishes whirling round a fire got to do with down-and-dirty politics and shady wars among nations? A lot, if you are fighting a lost battle in the area of darkness that stretches from Lahore to Mingora, to Jalalabad and beyond — where religion is used as fuel for the engines of war. As the Pakistani Taliban appears to tighten its noose around the country’s neck, Islamabad is trying to open a new front —faith wars between two strains of Islam. This lies in the hope that the deep-rooted Sufi tradition would help to halt the al-Qaida/Taliban juggernaut — driven by Wahabism. -- *Shobhan Saxena* More..<http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1339> -- Syed M. Asadullah --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Asalam o Alaikum, You Are Receiving This Message, Because You Are A Member Of FOCUS ON ISLAM, A Google Group [..:: The Best Group For Nice Islamic Mails ::..] \/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<>\/ You can Post Your Comments and Suggestions to Me [Moderator of this Group] on this email address: [email protected] To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.google.com/group/focusonislam/ To post messages/mails to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] Please forward our Mails to Your friends, and convence them to join our Group. Wanna subscribe to this group, send email to [email protected] \/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<<<<>>>>\/<>\/ *********************************************************** The Official Website of Group is LAUNCHED, http://www.geocities.co -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
