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The following response to my posting on the
futility of throwing rocks is from a very good Muslim friend, Dr. M. Husain
Saddar.
Ed
As a Canadian of Islamic faith, I can say
without any hesitation that the followers of Islam have done no better than
followers of other faith in understanding and following the true message of
Islam.
As a matter of fact, Muslims have done much
worse at least during the recent past. After all, it is only the Muslims who are
engaged in attacking and destroying places of worship ( mosques )
and brutal killings, kidnapping and torturing of other people and
especially Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and many other
countries.
Quran says that Islam is basically an
updated version of what was preached by Prophets Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Jesus
etc. Hence Muslims are instructed to believe in all prophets and their
teachings.
I have said in the past that as far as I
know, there is an unbridgeable gap between what Muslims proclaim Islam is -
peacful, tolerant and comprehensive way of life, and what they actually
practice in their own daily lives.
Soon after the death of Prophet Mohammad,
vested interests took over the interpretation of the teachings of Islam. This
led to a systematic use and also abuse of the Quranic messagge. These so called
Islamic teachings were carefully tailored for pushing their own specific agendas
namely tribal supermacies, male domination of the house hold and control of the
community life style and assets.
Taking advantage of the wide spread
illiteracy, poverty and ignorance, a handful of educated Arab elite primarily
from the Arabian peninsula spanning from from Mecca to Cairo and Baghdad,
developed and implemented what in my opinion, is a totally irrelevant and
outdated interpretations of Quranic teachings.
The controllers of what I like to call "
THE MOSQUE MODEL " of Islamic teaching entered into an unholy alliance with
powerful tribes in the Arab world and military establishment in most if not all
non-Arab Muslim countries.
Hence weather it is Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
Pakistan or Indonesia, mosques around the world including in Canada, UK, USA
etc. keep on repeating the same interpretation cooked by a handful of Arab
males. Part of their output is also commonly known as the "Shariyya
Law".
Unfortunately, Arab governments and their
institutions backed by oil money, keep on taking the lead in spreading the so
called " message of Islam" which is essentially set in the rigid frame of Arab
culture of more than thousand years ago.
Since population in most if not all
non-Arab Islamic countries is poor and illiterate and cannot even read or write
their own local language, they accept whatever versions ( fatwas ) are issued by
their so called " more knowledgeable" Arab brethren tell them during the
congregational prayers in the mosques around the world..
During my travels in the numerous Arab
countries, I was told time and again that without knowing Arabic well, one
cannot understand Quran.
The implications are that those with
Arabic as their mother tongue, somehow are designated by God as better followers
of Islam.
About a year, I wrote in the Ottawa
Citizen, that although the Arabic speaking Muslims are no more than 15 percent
of the total population of Muslims around the world, those who claim to be
leading authorities on Islam and even those who lead prayers in any mosque
including the Ottawa mosque are always, from an Arab
country.
This is one of the key factors why
Osama Bin Laden keeps on recruting new faces. The other reason is the enormous
amount of oil money in the hands of few Arab countries namely Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar. Incidentally, the total
population of all these countries is less that thirty
million.
By taking full advantage of deep rooted
poverty and ignorance in the general population of large Muslim countries and
the absolutely corrupt governments in such large Islamic countries as Egypt,
Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Bangladesh etc. etc. I am afraid that Osma Bin
Laden will have little difficulty in buying more and more " martyres " suicide
bombers.
On the other side are the so called
Western leaders who preaches democracy but keep on doing every thing
undemocratic to gain power, oil and easy money.
All one has to do is to look at what we in
the West call our allies such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Kuwait, Indonesia,
Kazakistan, Egypt etc. etc.
May God help us all.
Husain.
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