Looking for Moderates in the Wrong Places
Mirza A. Beg
Written, Wednesday July 18, 2007
The American Muslim, Thursday July 19, 2007
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/looking_for_muslim_moderates_in_the_wrong_places/0014270
Pine Magazine, Tuesday July 23, 2007
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=880
Milli Gazette, August 2007
Moderate! It used to be a very nice word. Essentially it described a person who considers all sides of issues to makes a thoughtful, balanced, informed and humane judgment - as opposed to an extremist.
In the current political climate in the United States, the word moderate has been corrupted to become a propaganda buzz word of the right wing extremists and pseudo-moderates, the solid base of the Bush administration. Pretending their own moderation, they use it to smear Islam, as in “they are looking for moderate Muslims to speak up.”
A pastor of a large church, I have known briefly, vehemently used the word moderate in a discussion recently. He went on to longingly preach the imminent Armageddon and the crucial need of expulsion of the Palestinians from the Holy Land, to make it happen. I gingerly asked about the fate of the Jews of Israel in the aftermath of the second coming? He side stepped the question and veered into the inevitability of the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists; in short order, all non Christians (avoiding to name Jews), going to hell.
He preached fire and brimstone from the book of revelation, and the necessity to support Bush. It did not matter to him if millions of innocent Iraqis are killed; after all it is war of annihilation. After a while I asked, what do the Gospels, the essence of Jesus’ message have to say about this theology. He again changed the subject.
While painting this dire scenario, this paragon of religious virtue asked the question often asked by the talking heads on the FOX news network or Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), “Why don’t moderate Muslims speak out against extremism?”
This phrase is hurled as a truism, supposedly a winning volley. I drew his attention to the huge university library and the city libraries housing thousands of books on Islam, most written by Western scholars, and scores written by and about the moderate Muslims. He rejected the suggestion with a curt remark, “He has the real truth. He does not need to read books about fake religions.”
No wonder, people like him, who draw information exclusively from FOX or CBN news or from the propaganda web-sites on the internet can not find moderate Muslims.
Fortunately I have many Christian friends, including many very contemplative pastors, with whom I have had hours of introspective discussions. Though he does not represent Christianity to me, sadly he does represent the views of about 25 to 30%, rightwing Armageddon-seeking (war mongering) Christians, a solid base of the Bush presidency. They are a huge chunk of the American polity with loud voices. They are heard loud and clear among their counterparts in the Muslim world, who just like this pastor can not find a moderate Christian.
A combination of titillating news about the latest sex scandal and the hard-core Bush doctrinal agenda has helped the FOX News to the top of the viewer share, yielding rich economic dividends. Chasing the almighty viewer-share ratings, other major cable outlets such as CNN and CNBC have been trying hard to emulate FOX.
The failure of the popular media to inform the electorate has injured the political process. Although most Americans have belatedly realized the horrible folly of the immoral invasion of Iraq based on lies by the Bush Administration. They are unable to force a change of course towards sanity. A strong minority of the 25 to 30% Armageddon-seeking Christians, helped by an apathetic titillation-seeking polity, aided the Republican Party to win majorities in the Congress for the first six years of Bush administration. Republicans in congress acted as a rubber stamp for the Bush follies. Though the Democrats won last November with a slim majority in the Congress, with the threat of veto from Bush, the Republicans have blocked all efforts towards a change in course.
Those really looking for moderate Muslims or moderate anything have no problem finding them. Most Americans, including religious Christians do not have a problem finding moderate Muslims. MENSA (International Organization of highly intelligent people with IQs in 98 percentile) at its annual gathering at Birmingham, Alabama, in July had no problem finding moderate Muslim speakers. Many Churches, Public Radio or Public Broadcasting Network have had no problem finding moderate Muslims from all walks of life.
It is the popular cable networks and extremists Christian columnists who just can not locate them. They are not looking for Muslims who strongly disagree with the extremists, such as Talibans and the Al Qaida; they are looking for those who should support the Bush doctrine of supremacy, invasion of countries without any restraint in an endless war, as in the Presidents words, ”Those not with us are against us.”
The extremists are indeed a threat to the world peace. They preach exactly the same ideologies from the opposite sides. Armed with half-truths they use the other side as an effective tool to recruit followers. They have a symbiotic relationship – Right-wing Christians obsessed with Armageddon trying to control the most powerful state, against the Taliban-style Muslims pining for a misperceived caliphate looking for a state.
Both sides are an insult to the religions they supposedly hold dear and in whose name they advance their murderous agenda. It indeed is a failure of the moderates on all sides if they do not join hands and redouble their efforts in defeating the murderous supremacist ideologies within their own religions.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
When Wrong is Right04-09-15
When Wrong is right
Mirza A. Beg
Written September 15th, 2004
Media Monitor Network, Thursday, September 16, 2004
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/headlines/when_wrong_is_right
Al-Jazeerah, Tuesday, September21, 2004
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2004%20opinions/September/21%20o/When%20Wrong%20is%20right%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
Yellow Times. Org, Sunday September 26, 20024
http://www.yellowtimes.org/print.php?sid=2082
The Tuscaloosa News, Thursday, October 7th, 2004
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041007/NEWS/41007002&SearchID=73186268466562
"Blame America first" is the retort from those who think all actions, including reactions (defying logic) take place in a historical vacuum. We are right and to accept mistakes is weakness. We are good, evil is what others do. End of discussion.
I have heard adaptations of "Blame ---- first" in many languages. Fill in the blank depending on the country, race or religion. It may be Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews or whoever.
9/11 elicited thoughtful analysis by some. Their voices were drowned by the instant analysts, on television and added to the popularity of the hate radio. The question was why? The complex nuanced answers were drowned by simplistic explanations. "They" hate us for our goodness, our freedoms. An administration controlled by ideologues, Neo-Cons and the war preaching - Armageddon seeking wing of Christians, implemented a policy devoid of humane and Christian values. They found it easy to paint a whole people and religion as culprits.
With blinders on, Bin Ladin and Talibans only saw an increasing support for the expansionist policies of Israel and support of corrupt Arab regimes for Oil by the US administrations. They could not see the democratic and humane facets of America. They did not see the rot in their draconian systems, the stifled education and injustices heaped on their own people and the minorities, were the reasons they were open to exploitation.
They had to show that they could hurt a super-power. They did. It mattered little that the turmoil destroyed thousands of innocent lives.
Bin Ladin and his kind gave an unimagined opportunity to the ideologues in America. They used 9/11 for a simplistic propaganda. All liberation movements were painted as terrorism and all terrorism was assigned to Muslims. Basque Nationalists of Spain, Shining path Guerillas in Peru, Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka got a respite. The Christian Serbian genocide of Muslims, the Rwandan genocide lost relevance, and Israeli expansionism celebrated.
The only reality was the attack on 9/11 by Arab Muslims, thus easy to simplify a complex phenomenon.
The attack on Bin Ladin and Talibans in Afghanistan was an opening gambit. The goal was to exploit the current US supremacy in the continuum of history. They left BinLadin on the loose, Afghanistan smoldering. Arrogant with power they connived and invaded Iraq. They were salivating at the prospect of attack on Iran, Syria and others being next. Trial balloons by the Pentagon were busted in the Iraqi quagmire.
Ensuing turmoil destroyed tens of thousands of innocent lives and America lost credibility. Neo-Cons boasted of "shock and awe". They managed to awe themselves and shock the world. Iraq became a quagmire.
People who loose the sense of introspection as individuals and even more so as a society become dangerous to others and eventually to themselves. We learn this lesson again and again and forget it with every generation to relearn it at great cost to humanity
The administration circumvented the Geneva conventions in Guantanamo Bay and prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq. Private contractors were hired to violate the norms. Reports were rife for a year about the torture chambers, then Abu Ghraib seared us with pictures. The photographs of torture, abuses, and humiliations of every sort shocked the decent Americans, but to Iraqis and the world it became the personification of American perfidy.
Shocked decent Americans protested and apologized. Strong articles were written, but the ideologues, who wanted apology from all living, and possibly some dead Muslims, justified these actions as no worse than collage pranks, some bad apples. They insisted on suppression of evidence. Administration refused an independent commission lest they connect it directly to the Policy of Bush and Rumsfeld.
The problem with wars is, they are started by a few narrow-minded self-serving ideologues, drunk with bravado. A small minority that cares about candor and justice counsels restraint, but is drowned in propaganda. A majority, consisting of kind and decent people, who try to help the weak and needy as individuals are taken in by the nationalistic drums of war. As the ugly rapacious face of wanton death and destruction emerges, they are urged to fall in line lest they be considered weak and harm the dubious cause.
The evil instead of being contained is multiplied. The warmongers on all sides control the agenda. The dead and injured innocents are collateral damage. The purported laudable aims give way to half-truths, then victory at any cost. Virtue becomes vice, and wrong becomes right.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at: mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Written September 15th, 2004
Media Monitor Network, Thursday, September 16, 2004
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/headlines/when_wrong_is_right
Al-Jazeerah, Tuesday, September21, 2004
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2004%20opinions/September/21%20o/When%20Wrong%20is%20right%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
Yellow Times. Org, Sunday September 26, 20024
http://www.yellowtimes.org/print.php?sid=2082
The Tuscaloosa News, Thursday, October 7th, 2004
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041007/NEWS/41007002&SearchID=73186268466562
"Blame America first" is the retort from those who think all actions, including reactions (defying logic) take place in a historical vacuum. We are right and to accept mistakes is weakness. We are good, evil is what others do. End of discussion.
I have heard adaptations of "Blame ---- first" in many languages. Fill in the blank depending on the country, race or religion. It may be Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews or whoever.
9/11 elicited thoughtful analysis by some. Their voices were drowned by the instant analysts, on television and added to the popularity of the hate radio. The question was why? The complex nuanced answers were drowned by simplistic explanations. "They" hate us for our goodness, our freedoms. An administration controlled by ideologues, Neo-Cons and the war preaching - Armageddon seeking wing of Christians, implemented a policy devoid of humane and Christian values. They found it easy to paint a whole people and religion as culprits.
With blinders on, Bin Ladin and Talibans only saw an increasing support for the expansionist policies of Israel and support of corrupt Arab regimes for Oil by the US administrations. They could not see the democratic and humane facets of America. They did not see the rot in their draconian systems, the stifled education and injustices heaped on their own people and the minorities, were the reasons they were open to exploitation.
They had to show that they could hurt a super-power. They did. It mattered little that the turmoil destroyed thousands of innocent lives.
Bin Ladin and his kind gave an unimagined opportunity to the ideologues in America. They used 9/11 for a simplistic propaganda. All liberation movements were painted as terrorism and all terrorism was assigned to Muslims. Basque Nationalists of Spain, Shining path Guerillas in Peru, Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka got a respite. The Christian Serbian genocide of Muslims, the Rwandan genocide lost relevance, and Israeli expansionism celebrated.
The only reality was the attack on 9/11 by Arab Muslims, thus easy to simplify a complex phenomenon.
The attack on Bin Ladin and Talibans in Afghanistan was an opening gambit. The goal was to exploit the current US supremacy in the continuum of history. They left BinLadin on the loose, Afghanistan smoldering. Arrogant with power they connived and invaded Iraq. They were salivating at the prospect of attack on Iran, Syria and others being next. Trial balloons by the Pentagon were busted in the Iraqi quagmire.
Ensuing turmoil destroyed tens of thousands of innocent lives and America lost credibility. Neo-Cons boasted of "shock and awe". They managed to awe themselves and shock the world. Iraq became a quagmire.
People who loose the sense of introspection as individuals and even more so as a society become dangerous to others and eventually to themselves. We learn this lesson again and again and forget it with every generation to relearn it at great cost to humanity
The administration circumvented the Geneva conventions in Guantanamo Bay and prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq. Private contractors were hired to violate the norms. Reports were rife for a year about the torture chambers, then Abu Ghraib seared us with pictures. The photographs of torture, abuses, and humiliations of every sort shocked the decent Americans, but to Iraqis and the world it became the personification of American perfidy.
Shocked decent Americans protested and apologized. Strong articles were written, but the ideologues, who wanted apology from all living, and possibly some dead Muslims, justified these actions as no worse than collage pranks, some bad apples. They insisted on suppression of evidence. Administration refused an independent commission lest they connect it directly to the Policy of Bush and Rumsfeld.
The problem with wars is, they are started by a few narrow-minded self-serving ideologues, drunk with bravado. A small minority that cares about candor and justice counsels restraint, but is drowned in propaganda. A majority, consisting of kind and decent people, who try to help the weak and needy as individuals are taken in by the nationalistic drums of war. As the ugly rapacious face of wanton death and destruction emerges, they are urged to fall in line lest they be considered weak and harm the dubious cause.
The evil instead of being contained is multiplied. The warmongers on all sides control the agenda. The dead and injured innocents are collateral damage. The purported laudable aims give way to half-truths, then victory at any cost. Virtue becomes vice, and wrong becomes right.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at: mab64@yahoo.com
Attack on Iraq? 02-09-06
Is this the right time for attack on Iraq?
MIRZA A. BEG
Birmingham Post Herald
Friday September 6, 2002
There is hardly anybody who would shed a tear and not heave a sigh of relief if Saddam Hussein disappeared from the face of the Earth. His defeat may or may not help the rest of the world; it will certainly be a boon to the hapless Iraqis. They will have an opportunity to breathe an air if not as free as in the West, at least considerably less noxious. The United States could have, should have done it a long time ago. But we did not.
Why are we so anxious to do it now in such a hurry? President Bush has been chafing at the collar to invade Iraq. Now that he seems to have gone beyond the stage of bluster, even his Republican supporters are getting nervous and are getting vocal in their criticism of the ill-advised policy. All the three reasons from the administration fall well short of convincing: He is amassing the weapons of mass destruction; Iraqis want and need democracy; he was involved in the 9/11 attack.
The first two reasons have been valid for more than 25 years. The third reason has not been proven in spite of zealous efforts by this administration.
The story is finally out that we helped Saddam Hussein use chemical attack against Iran in the mid-'80's and we remember our government's "deafening silence" to his use of deadly gas against Iraqi Kurds. We danced with the worst of the devils when it suited our purpose. The admonition at his use of chemical weapons, as if Bush appears to have learned it yesterday, is self-righteous hypocrisy, unless he condemns Ronald Reagan's and George Bush the elder's administrations for inhuman callousness.
Be that as it may, Saddam is an evil person. He is evil, but stupid he is not. He knows that in the changed circumstances after 9/11, he dare not look at America with so much as an evil glance. He knows it. We know it. So what is the urgency to attack Iraq right now? When we are still bogged down in a very unstable Afghanistan and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has spiraled into an abyss from which we do not seem to want to rescue them.
Israel is pressurizing the administration to attack Iraq now. Bush says the democracy in Iraq will start a positive trend in the Arab world.
The problem is the complete identification of this administration with the Likud Party line in Israel. The most important and longest festering problem in the Middle East is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Bush, who has never been accused of intellectual heft, ignored the problem at the most crucial time after taking office, then after 9/11 threw his weight completely behind Ariel Sharon, whom he called a man of peace. (One suspects Sharon may have almost died of shock). Nobody, even in Israel has ever accused him, of being a man of peace.
The criticism at home about the mission creep in the war on terrorism, American isolation due to untenable policy in the Palestine-Israel conflict, pressure from Israel and illegitimate accounting practices on stock market dictate a major diversion. The sane advise of Colin Powell is being completely ignored and the proponents of Israeli lobby have completely taken over and isolated the State Department.
The best route to propagation of democracy in the Middle East is the creation of a Palestinian state. Palestinians have practiced a better democracy even without a state in the most difficult circumstances for more than 20 years. They have the only true, albeit limited democratic experience and tradition in the whole of Arab world. Iraq has no tradition of democracy at all.
The creation of a Palestinian state is only a matter of time and is achievable without more bloodshed. It will be conducive to stopping the current spiral of violence, and start the Middle East on a road to democracy. This will truly isolate Saddam.
Saddam Hussein is evil, but attack on Iraq for spurious reason at this time will result in much civilian Iraqi blood, and Americans will also pay a heavy price in blood. It has the potential to completely de-stabilize the region. Though it is a very desirable goal to get rid of Saddam Hussein, it's the wrong time and a wrong set of reasons to do it before solving the Palestinian problem and the Afghan stabilization.
Mirza A. Beg can be reachedmab64@yahoo.com
MIRZA A. BEG
Birmingham Post Herald
Friday September 6, 2002
There is hardly anybody who would shed a tear and not heave a sigh of relief if Saddam Hussein disappeared from the face of the Earth. His defeat may or may not help the rest of the world; it will certainly be a boon to the hapless Iraqis. They will have an opportunity to breathe an air if not as free as in the West, at least considerably less noxious. The United States could have, should have done it a long time ago. But we did not.
Why are we so anxious to do it now in such a hurry? President Bush has been chafing at the collar to invade Iraq. Now that he seems to have gone beyond the stage of bluster, even his Republican supporters are getting nervous and are getting vocal in their criticism of the ill-advised policy. All the three reasons from the administration fall well short of convincing: He is amassing the weapons of mass destruction; Iraqis want and need democracy; he was involved in the 9/11 attack.
The first two reasons have been valid for more than 25 years. The third reason has not been proven in spite of zealous efforts by this administration.
The story is finally out that we helped Saddam Hussein use chemical attack against Iran in the mid-'80's and we remember our government's "deafening silence" to his use of deadly gas against Iraqi Kurds. We danced with the worst of the devils when it suited our purpose. The admonition at his use of chemical weapons, as if Bush appears to have learned it yesterday, is self-righteous hypocrisy, unless he condemns Ronald Reagan's and George Bush the elder's administrations for inhuman callousness.
Be that as it may, Saddam is an evil person. He is evil, but stupid he is not. He knows that in the changed circumstances after 9/11, he dare not look at America with so much as an evil glance. He knows it. We know it. So what is the urgency to attack Iraq right now? When we are still bogged down in a very unstable Afghanistan and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has spiraled into an abyss from which we do not seem to want to rescue them.
Israel is pressurizing the administration to attack Iraq now. Bush says the democracy in Iraq will start a positive trend in the Arab world.
The problem is the complete identification of this administration with the Likud Party line in Israel. The most important and longest festering problem in the Middle East is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Bush, who has never been accused of intellectual heft, ignored the problem at the most crucial time after taking office, then after 9/11 threw his weight completely behind Ariel Sharon, whom he called a man of peace. (One suspects Sharon may have almost died of shock). Nobody, even in Israel has ever accused him, of being a man of peace.
The criticism at home about the mission creep in the war on terrorism, American isolation due to untenable policy in the Palestine-Israel conflict, pressure from Israel and illegitimate accounting practices on stock market dictate a major diversion. The sane advise of Colin Powell is being completely ignored and the proponents of Israeli lobby have completely taken over and isolated the State Department.
The best route to propagation of democracy in the Middle East is the creation of a Palestinian state. Palestinians have practiced a better democracy even without a state in the most difficult circumstances for more than 20 years. They have the only true, albeit limited democratic experience and tradition in the whole of Arab world. Iraq has no tradition of democracy at all.
The creation of a Palestinian state is only a matter of time and is achievable without more bloodshed. It will be conducive to stopping the current spiral of violence, and start the Middle East on a road to democracy. This will truly isolate Saddam.
Saddam Hussein is evil, but attack on Iraq for spurious reason at this time will result in much civilian Iraqi blood, and Americans will also pay a heavy price in blood. It has the potential to completely de-stabilize the region. Though it is a very desirable goal to get rid of Saddam Hussein, it's the wrong time and a wrong set of reasons to do it before solving the Palestinian problem and the Afghan stabilization.
Mirza A. Beg can be reachedmab64@yahoo.com
War on Terrorism 02-09-29
War on terrorism will be won or lost depending on how we frame the issue.
Mirza A. Beg
Written on August 19, 2002
Birmingham News Sunday, Sept 29, 2002
About a year ago the nation was jolted into the realization that we are not immune to the acts of wanton terror. This was the heaviest price in human life we have ever paid in one brazen attack. Mr. Bush with the whole nation behind him declared war on terrorism. The cold anger we felt was palpable and deep. It was no time to think about the nuances of past short-sighted policies or the innocent civilian dead in other countries because of our indirect and sometime direct involvement.
The time called for unity. These were our people on whom death rained from the sky to etch 9/11 in our collective memories, because some zealots gave went to their grudge against us, feeling safe in a far off land. Unable to take us on militarily, they thought they would damage our psyche and succeed in their purpose. They have their answer. They did kill our people but failed miserably in their aims.
A year has given us time for introspection, to define the parameters of the war on terrorism and to fine-tune our aims.
If this war is against those who attack the United States for whatever reason, then we have substantially won and are in a slow long-term mopping-up operation. There will be minor ups and downs but the trajectory is set.
The terrorists of Al Qaida faced a united and determined people. A people who would not only defend the home land but also punish the culprits and bring them to justice. Al Qaida network is decimated. The masterminds, Mr. Bin Laden, his cohorts and their protectors, the Taliban regime of Mullah Omar are history. The culprits are dead, in hiding or incarcerated. Granted we do not know for sure the exact fate of the two top people. We can hunt them as a low-key but determined international operation and do the more difficult job of beefing up internal security in a thoughtful manner consistent with our constitution. That is why I call it a mop up operation.
Our decisive, overwhelming and swift response not only defeated the immediate enemy but also gave a very stern deterrent warning to the future attackers. Perfect safety can not be guaranteed, but this will go a long way to provide substantial safety.
If the war has a fuzzy definition to get rid of all the terrorism in the world, and the definition of terrorism is equally fuzzy; we are courting “mission creep”. The President or the Congress has not yet defined terrorism. Apparently any violent uprising by a group against an entrenched power can be and is being defined as terrorism. Uprising against an oppressive state--- an occupying power ---or even against a dictatorship is defined by them and some times by us as terrorism. This has all the makings of a quagmire. By this definition either we will loose the war or at best may fool ourselves that we are winning, the way we have been winning the war on drugs for that last 35 years.
We had a year to think and fine tune our mission. It is evident that we have not done it. We empathized and supported the Chechens in their struggle against an oppressive Russian State, but since 9/11, Russia has successfully attached it self to our war on terrorism. Similarly Chinese State against Uigurs and Tibetans, Turkish State against Kurds, Indian State against Kashmiris, there are many more examples. Our human rights stand in all these cases has been softened or jettisoned.
In the second category, whatever the spin doctors in this country may say about rights or wrongs of the Hamas attacks on Israelis and Israeli attacks on Palestinians, the fact remains that Israel is occupying internationally (including the U.S.) recognized Palestinian territory and has refused to part with it. The rest is a daily blow by blow argument for 37years to tactically blur the root of the problem. We say that we are honest brokers and in the next breath say that we completely support Israel. It is clear to all except us that we are neither honest nor good brokers in that dispute.
Mr. Bush has put a precondition for Palestinians to have a perfectly transparent democratic government under the exceedingly harsh Israeli occupation. The last Palestinian elections were freer and fairer (as certified by the international observers and our State Department) than any in Egypt, Algeria or Russia, our allies (as certified by the international observers and our State Department).
In the third category are the dictators such as in Uzbekistan, Algeria, Ukraine, Georgia etc., often with a fig leaf of elections. Rebellion against them, ranging from democratic groups to religious extremist is suppressed and we help them suppress it because they all have jumped on our bandwagon.
People fighting for democratic values, by its very nature are not zealously organized and are more easily suppressed; this leaves the field clear for the extremists. We end up helping suppress the forces of democracy and strengthening the forces of extremism. Extremism begets terrorism; this helps create a cycle of perpetual war on terrorism.
The simplistic notion that “if you are not with us you are against us”, is great for bumper stickers. Taking this logic seriously has bizarre consequences. If we allow oppressive regimes to piggyback on our war on terrorism, the likes of Saddam Husssain, if we let them, will love to join us to help suppress their own people. While the Europeans who grieved with us on 9/11, and see the fallacy of our simplistic notion will be deemed to be against us.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Written on August 19, 2002
Birmingham News Sunday, Sept 29, 2002
About a year ago the nation was jolted into the realization that we are not immune to the acts of wanton terror. This was the heaviest price in human life we have ever paid in one brazen attack. Mr. Bush with the whole nation behind him declared war on terrorism. The cold anger we felt was palpable and deep. It was no time to think about the nuances of past short-sighted policies or the innocent civilian dead in other countries because of our indirect and sometime direct involvement.
The time called for unity. These were our people on whom death rained from the sky to etch 9/11 in our collective memories, because some zealots gave went to their grudge against us, feeling safe in a far off land. Unable to take us on militarily, they thought they would damage our psyche and succeed in their purpose. They have their answer. They did kill our people but failed miserably in their aims.
A year has given us time for introspection, to define the parameters of the war on terrorism and to fine-tune our aims.
If this war is against those who attack the United States for whatever reason, then we have substantially won and are in a slow long-term mopping-up operation. There will be minor ups and downs but the trajectory is set.
The terrorists of Al Qaida faced a united and determined people. A people who would not only defend the home land but also punish the culprits and bring them to justice. Al Qaida network is decimated. The masterminds, Mr. Bin Laden, his cohorts and their protectors, the Taliban regime of Mullah Omar are history. The culprits are dead, in hiding or incarcerated. Granted we do not know for sure the exact fate of the two top people. We can hunt them as a low-key but determined international operation and do the more difficult job of beefing up internal security in a thoughtful manner consistent with our constitution. That is why I call it a mop up operation.
Our decisive, overwhelming and swift response not only defeated the immediate enemy but also gave a very stern deterrent warning to the future attackers. Perfect safety can not be guaranteed, but this will go a long way to provide substantial safety.
If the war has a fuzzy definition to get rid of all the terrorism in the world, and the definition of terrorism is equally fuzzy; we are courting “mission creep”. The President or the Congress has not yet defined terrorism. Apparently any violent uprising by a group against an entrenched power can be and is being defined as terrorism. Uprising against an oppressive state--- an occupying power ---or even against a dictatorship is defined by them and some times by us as terrorism. This has all the makings of a quagmire. By this definition either we will loose the war or at best may fool ourselves that we are winning, the way we have been winning the war on drugs for that last 35 years.
We had a year to think and fine tune our mission. It is evident that we have not done it. We empathized and supported the Chechens in their struggle against an oppressive Russian State, but since 9/11, Russia has successfully attached it self to our war on terrorism. Similarly Chinese State against Uigurs and Tibetans, Turkish State against Kurds, Indian State against Kashmiris, there are many more examples. Our human rights stand in all these cases has been softened or jettisoned.
In the second category, whatever the spin doctors in this country may say about rights or wrongs of the Hamas attacks on Israelis and Israeli attacks on Palestinians, the fact remains that Israel is occupying internationally (including the U.S.) recognized Palestinian territory and has refused to part with it. The rest is a daily blow by blow argument for 37years to tactically blur the root of the problem. We say that we are honest brokers and in the next breath say that we completely support Israel. It is clear to all except us that we are neither honest nor good brokers in that dispute.
Mr. Bush has put a precondition for Palestinians to have a perfectly transparent democratic government under the exceedingly harsh Israeli occupation. The last Palestinian elections were freer and fairer (as certified by the international observers and our State Department) than any in Egypt, Algeria or Russia, our allies (as certified by the international observers and our State Department).
In the third category are the dictators such as in Uzbekistan, Algeria, Ukraine, Georgia etc., often with a fig leaf of elections. Rebellion against them, ranging from democratic groups to religious extremist is suppressed and we help them suppress it because they all have jumped on our bandwagon.
People fighting for democratic values, by its very nature are not zealously organized and are more easily suppressed; this leaves the field clear for the extremists. We end up helping suppress the forces of democracy and strengthening the forces of extremism. Extremism begets terrorism; this helps create a cycle of perpetual war on terrorism.
The simplistic notion that “if you are not with us you are against us”, is great for bumper stickers. Taking this logic seriously has bizarre consequences. If we allow oppressive regimes to piggyback on our war on terrorism, the likes of Saddam Husssain, if we let them, will love to join us to help suppress their own people. While the Europeans who grieved with us on 9/11, and see the fallacy of our simplistic notion will be deemed to be against us.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
United Nations 03-05-18
Don't Knock the United Nations
Mirza A. Beg
Written, April 28th, 2003
Birmingham News, Sunday, May 18, 2003
Folk wisdom is at times earthy, but acute, “It takes a master carpenter to build a barn, and any Jackass can knock it down”.
These days, angry retorts against UN, such as,”It stabbed us in the back” are common, as if UN is a person. That begs the question, what is UN, and what does it do?
Founding of the United Nations :
After the carnage of World War I, based on the 14 points enunciated by President, Wilson, at the treaty of Versailles gave birth to the “League of Nations” in 1920. It was ineffective as nations were not deterred from pursuing their selfish aims and the US did not join, because the isolationist Congress did not ratify the treaty.
The weakness of the League of Nations, compounded by the hubris of the European nations brought on the World War II. In the wake of the horrible destruction of the WW II President Roosevelt advocated a more robust world body and coined the name “United Nations”. It was founded under a Charter singed by 50 nations in 1945 and headquartered in New York. The Charter takes into account, not perfectly but in large measure, competing interests of nations, evolving with time, just as our constitution has evolved. A comparison could be helpful.
US Government
US constitution came out of a struggle among states with strong self-interest. Large states felt they could get along by themselves. The constitution emerged after many compromises. It provides checks and balances in dispersing the power among the three branches of the government. Though cumbersome, it has worked well for two centuries.
Republicans and Democrats in congress castigate presidents for seemingly good reasons. Presidents decry do nothing Congress. Congresses pass inane populist laws usually with an eye on the elections that courts often find unconstitutional. Presidents appoint ideologues to the courts and congress stymie and filibuster followed by the President throwing a fit. It is a regular fodder for the news media.
The civil war proved that though imperfect we have a very good thing going. So we gripe, but celebrate the constitution. Even amend it to suite the times and the Republic with occasional set backs keeps prospering.
Work of the UN
United Nations is a world organization based on similar principles as our constitution. There are 191 member countries, most are small, poor and week, while others are large and powerful with diverse interests. They have different languages, cultures and form of governments.
The UN consists of the General Assembly, Secretariat, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, the International Court, and many other organizations under these bodies.
The General Assembly with 191 member countries is the persona of the UN. The executive power resides in the Secretary General who is appointed for five-year term on the recommendation of the Security Council. Security Council is the true powerhouse and is composed of five permanent members and 10 members elected for terms of two years by the general assembly.
The permanent members are China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States. For any resolution to pass these five must be a part of the majority. A no vote by any of the permanent members automatically defeats the motion and is popularly dubbed as Veto.
UN has pioneered humanitarian relief, health in poor countries, international cooperation in human rights, broadcasting, aviation, trade and many other fields. UN has not been very successful in stopping the conflicts especially if one of the Veto powers were involved, because the veto negates any possibility of progress.
Exercise of Veto
Promise of a no vote by France against the Iraq resolution, has made them pariahs in the eyes of the Administration. Let us consider the history of Vetoes since the inception of the UN.
The USSR used 118 vetoes, Russia as successor to USSR since 1991 used it twice in the Bosnian Crisis. China has used it 5 times. France 18 times 13 were with the US. UK used veto 32 times, 23 with the US.
United States did not use veto until 1970, after that it has used it 76 times, 35 of them against resolutions criticizing Israel for occupation of Palestinian lands and oppression of Palestinians.
Veto powers including the US have defended causes such as the apartheid regime in South Africa, colonial regimes in Namibia and Rhodesia. The most recent veto cast by the US was in December 2002, against the resolution criticizing Israel for killing several UN employees and the destruction of the UN were-house on the West Bank.
Reform Security Council
Security Council is the problem; the abuse of veto by permanent members should be curbed. The Security Council could be enlarged with more permanent members, possibly from 5 to 7 representing different parts of the world. Requiring at least 5 out of 7 permanent members voting with the majority so that one selfish power may not hold the resolution hostage.
UN has served the world peace well, under very difficult circumstances and needs nurturing and evolution. It is a great face saving device. We have used it several times and would need it again.
Let us criticize it and blow steam as we do against our own government but help nurture UN. Let us not kick the barn down.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Written, April 28th, 2003
Birmingham News, Sunday, May 18, 2003
Folk wisdom is at times earthy, but acute, “It takes a master carpenter to build a barn, and any Jackass can knock it down”.
These days, angry retorts against UN, such as,”It stabbed us in the back” are common, as if UN is a person. That begs the question, what is UN, and what does it do?
Founding of the United Nations :
After the carnage of World War I, based on the 14 points enunciated by President, Wilson, at the treaty of Versailles gave birth to the “League of Nations” in 1920. It was ineffective as nations were not deterred from pursuing their selfish aims and the US did not join, because the isolationist Congress did not ratify the treaty.
The weakness of the League of Nations, compounded by the hubris of the European nations brought on the World War II. In the wake of the horrible destruction of the WW II President Roosevelt advocated a more robust world body and coined the name “United Nations”. It was founded under a Charter singed by 50 nations in 1945 and headquartered in New York. The Charter takes into account, not perfectly but in large measure, competing interests of nations, evolving with time, just as our constitution has evolved. A comparison could be helpful.
US Government
US constitution came out of a struggle among states with strong self-interest. Large states felt they could get along by themselves. The constitution emerged after many compromises. It provides checks and balances in dispersing the power among the three branches of the government. Though cumbersome, it has worked well for two centuries.
Republicans and Democrats in congress castigate presidents for seemingly good reasons. Presidents decry do nothing Congress. Congresses pass inane populist laws usually with an eye on the elections that courts often find unconstitutional. Presidents appoint ideologues to the courts and congress stymie and filibuster followed by the President throwing a fit. It is a regular fodder for the news media.
The civil war proved that though imperfect we have a very good thing going. So we gripe, but celebrate the constitution. Even amend it to suite the times and the Republic with occasional set backs keeps prospering.
Work of the UN
United Nations is a world organization based on similar principles as our constitution. There are 191 member countries, most are small, poor and week, while others are large and powerful with diverse interests. They have different languages, cultures and form of governments.
The UN consists of the General Assembly, Secretariat, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, the International Court, and many other organizations under these bodies.
The General Assembly with 191 member countries is the persona of the UN. The executive power resides in the Secretary General who is appointed for five-year term on the recommendation of the Security Council. Security Council is the true powerhouse and is composed of five permanent members and 10 members elected for terms of two years by the general assembly.
The permanent members are China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States. For any resolution to pass these five must be a part of the majority. A no vote by any of the permanent members automatically defeats the motion and is popularly dubbed as Veto.
UN has pioneered humanitarian relief, health in poor countries, international cooperation in human rights, broadcasting, aviation, trade and many other fields. UN has not been very successful in stopping the conflicts especially if one of the Veto powers were involved, because the veto negates any possibility of progress.
Exercise of Veto
Promise of a no vote by France against the Iraq resolution, has made them pariahs in the eyes of the Administration. Let us consider the history of Vetoes since the inception of the UN.
The USSR used 118 vetoes, Russia as successor to USSR since 1991 used it twice in the Bosnian Crisis. China has used it 5 times. France 18 times 13 were with the US. UK used veto 32 times, 23 with the US.
United States did not use veto until 1970, after that it has used it 76 times, 35 of them against resolutions criticizing Israel for occupation of Palestinian lands and oppression of Palestinians.
Veto powers including the US have defended causes such as the apartheid regime in South Africa, colonial regimes in Namibia and Rhodesia. The most recent veto cast by the US was in December 2002, against the resolution criticizing Israel for killing several UN employees and the destruction of the UN were-house on the West Bank.
Reform Security Council
Security Council is the problem; the abuse of veto by permanent members should be curbed. The Security Council could be enlarged with more permanent members, possibly from 5 to 7 representing different parts of the world. Requiring at least 5 out of 7 permanent members voting with the majority so that one selfish power may not hold the resolution hostage.
UN has served the world peace well, under very difficult circumstances and needs nurturing and evolution. It is a great face saving device. We have used it several times and would need it again.
Let us criticize it and blow steam as we do against our own government but help nurture UN. Let us not kick the barn down.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Tsunami-Nature-God05-01-22
Tsunami, Nature and Perception of God
Mirza A. Beg
Written, Saturday, January 22, 2005
Aljazeerah, Wednesday, January 26, 2005
http://www.aljazeerah.info/26o/Tsunami,%20Nature%20and%20Perception%20of%20God%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
Axis of Logic, Wednesday, January 26, 2005
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_15284.shtml
Media Monitor network, Thursday, January 27, 2005
http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/12915/
Muslims Wake Up Tuesday, February 1, 2005
http://muslimwakeup.com/
Birmingham Post-Herald, Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Muslim Observer, February 5th, 2005
The enormous loss of lives and destruction by the Tsunami inevitably raises the question, why? Why do such disasters take place? The scientific answer is reasonably simple. The theological answer is complex and depends upon our own spirituality and understanding of religion.
Scientifically, the Tsunami was generated by a powerful earthquake of magnitude 9 (Richter scale) in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Sumatra. It was caused by the subduction (Sliding under) of the Indian-Australian plate under the Burma Plate. This is the largest quake in the last 40 years and the fourth largest in the last 100 years. All of these quakes took place at subduction zones, Kamchatka peninsula (1952), Alaska (1957), Chile (1960), and Alaska again (1964).
In mid 1960s Earth Science was revolutionized by the discovery of the plate tectonics, a mechanism that helps explain the formation of mountains and oceans. The Earth's crust is divided into tectonic "Plates" that slowly move on a conveyor-belt-like circulation of the material below the Earth's crust. When the plates collide they help mountains to rise and the forces cause major earthquakes. The plates are estimated to have been in motion for at least 3.5 billion years, of 4.5 billion years of Earth's history. The major earthquake zones are known. The research is at the threshold of being able to predict quakes and warn people about impending disasters.
In richer countries with better facilities for prediction and evacuation, people suffer less. In poorer countries with undeveloped infrastructure and inadequate building designs, they suffer more. It does not follow that God loves the rich more than the poor.
If people were not involved, as in cases of many Tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean, it would not even be called a disaster. Such mind-boggling force of nature would have been termed grand, awe-inspiring and even beautiful.
It is the theological answer that eludes us. God by definition is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. Therefore God knows past, present and future - the laws of nature are God's design and the universe is God's creation.
Death is a part of the life cycle. We have trouble comprehending the "untimely" death and suffering of innocent people, particularly children. I do not know the answer.
The only way I can even attempt to fathom it is in terms of the ultimate divine justice that takes into account all the facets of an individual life: the span of life, the gifts and handicaps the person was born with.
The monotheistic religions rationalize the sufferings of this world with the rewards in the afterlife - heaven. The Hindu, Buddhist and other Eastern religious traditions, explain the joys and sufferings of this life with the doctrine of "Karma" - the rewards or punishments from the actions of previous lives determine the next birth.
Religions help seekers on the path towards spirituality. When troubled, we turn to God for solace and inner peace. As we learn more through science, we realize how little we know. The paradox is that each Human life is a mini universe of interactions and memories, yet it is so insignificant in the expanse of the Universe.
The Universe appears even more awe-inspiring with our advancing knowledge. Even the definition of the Universe tests the confines of human language. According to the String theory, there may be many universes. New words are being coined for the super Universe.
According to Doug Ray, a friend of mine, "The problem is our inability to grasp simultaneously the value of human life and its insignificance. I can't create human life; I should not destroy or diminish it. It is a thing of great value, a gift of God. At the same time, there are many things worth dying for, and to place too much value on my life is a mistake in perspective and probably sinful."
Some see the natural disasters as God's anger. Anger at whom? Innocent babies as well. Limitations of human language and thought precludes them from perceiving the all encompassing grandeur of God, beyond description. Misunderstanding the allegorical language of scriptures, people often perceive God in their own inadequate images and assign to God their frailties: love, hate, jealousy and anger as we are wont to do to other humans.
Humans are capable of intense love and hatred. We can give our lives for our children, friends and causes. We can kill for the same reasons. It is the perfect justice that eludes us. God is perfect justice.
When I see the beauty in nature and am thankful for being able to perceive it; when I see injustice and find the courage to stand up against it; when I learn new secrets of nature and find order in what once was considered chaos; my respect for the intelligence that made it possible is deepened.
Mirza A Beg invites comments. He may be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/
Mirza A. Beg
Written, Saturday, January 22, 2005
Aljazeerah, Wednesday, January 26, 2005
http://www.aljazeerah.info/26o/Tsunami,%20Nature%20and%20Perception%20of%20God%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
Axis of Logic, Wednesday, January 26, 2005
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_15284.shtml
Media Monitor network, Thursday, January 27, 2005
http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/12915/
Muslims Wake Up Tuesday, February 1, 2005
http://muslimwakeup.com/
Birmingham Post-Herald, Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Muslim Observer, February 5th, 2005
The enormous loss of lives and destruction by the Tsunami inevitably raises the question, why? Why do such disasters take place? The scientific answer is reasonably simple. The theological answer is complex and depends upon our own spirituality and understanding of religion.
Scientifically, the Tsunami was generated by a powerful earthquake of magnitude 9 (Richter scale) in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Sumatra. It was caused by the subduction (Sliding under) of the Indian-Australian plate under the Burma Plate. This is the largest quake in the last 40 years and the fourth largest in the last 100 years. All of these quakes took place at subduction zones, Kamchatka peninsula (1952), Alaska (1957), Chile (1960), and Alaska again (1964).
In mid 1960s Earth Science was revolutionized by the discovery of the plate tectonics, a mechanism that helps explain the formation of mountains and oceans. The Earth's crust is divided into tectonic "Plates" that slowly move on a conveyor-belt-like circulation of the material below the Earth's crust. When the plates collide they help mountains to rise and the forces cause major earthquakes. The plates are estimated to have been in motion for at least 3.5 billion years, of 4.5 billion years of Earth's history. The major earthquake zones are known. The research is at the threshold of being able to predict quakes and warn people about impending disasters.
In richer countries with better facilities for prediction and evacuation, people suffer less. In poorer countries with undeveloped infrastructure and inadequate building designs, they suffer more. It does not follow that God loves the rich more than the poor.
If people were not involved, as in cases of many Tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean, it would not even be called a disaster. Such mind-boggling force of nature would have been termed grand, awe-inspiring and even beautiful.
It is the theological answer that eludes us. God by definition is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. Therefore God knows past, present and future - the laws of nature are God's design and the universe is God's creation.
Death is a part of the life cycle. We have trouble comprehending the "untimely" death and suffering of innocent people, particularly children. I do not know the answer.
The only way I can even attempt to fathom it is in terms of the ultimate divine justice that takes into account all the facets of an individual life: the span of life, the gifts and handicaps the person was born with.
The monotheistic religions rationalize the sufferings of this world with the rewards in the afterlife - heaven. The Hindu, Buddhist and other Eastern religious traditions, explain the joys and sufferings of this life with the doctrine of "Karma" - the rewards or punishments from the actions of previous lives determine the next birth.
Religions help seekers on the path towards spirituality. When troubled, we turn to God for solace and inner peace. As we learn more through science, we realize how little we know. The paradox is that each Human life is a mini universe of interactions and memories, yet it is so insignificant in the expanse of the Universe.
The Universe appears even more awe-inspiring with our advancing knowledge. Even the definition of the Universe tests the confines of human language. According to the String theory, there may be many universes. New words are being coined for the super Universe.
According to Doug Ray, a friend of mine, "The problem is our inability to grasp simultaneously the value of human life and its insignificance. I can't create human life; I should not destroy or diminish it. It is a thing of great value, a gift of God. At the same time, there are many things worth dying for, and to place too much value on my life is a mistake in perspective and probably sinful."
Some see the natural disasters as God's anger. Anger at whom? Innocent babies as well. Limitations of human language and thought precludes them from perceiving the all encompassing grandeur of God, beyond description. Misunderstanding the allegorical language of scriptures, people often perceive God in their own inadequate images and assign to God their frailties: love, hate, jealousy and anger as we are wont to do to other humans.
Humans are capable of intense love and hatred. We can give our lives for our children, friends and causes. We can kill for the same reasons. It is the perfect justice that eludes us. God is perfect justice.
When I see the beauty in nature and am thankful for being able to perceive it; when I see injustice and find the courage to stand up against it; when I learn new secrets of nature and find order in what once was considered chaos; my respect for the intelligence that made it possible is deepened.
Mirza A Beg invites comments. He may be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/
Response -Tsunami 05-01-22
Humanity's Response to the Tsunami
Mirza A. Beg
Written Saturday, January 22, 2005
Media Monitor Network, Tuesday, January25, 2005
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/12851
Al Jazeerah, Tuesday, January 25, 2005
http://www.aljazeerah.info/25o/Humanities%20Response%20to%20the%20Tsunami%20By%20Mirza%20A%20Beg.htm
Axis of Logic, Wednesday, January 26, 2005
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_15285.shtml
The Muslim Observer, Vol. 7, Issue 5, January 29,2005
There have been many deadly natural disasters before, but the December 26th Tsunami in the Indian Ocean caught the imagination of the world. More people saw and were affected by the gruesome pictures than any event before.
A death toll of 225,000 makes this Tsunami the eighth deadliest natural disasters in recorded history affecting so many far-flung countries. Millions more suffer the after effect because they are alive, alone, shorn of loved ones and all possessions. Most of us were aghast, sad and wanted to help save the broken lives, to mend torn bodies and wipe tears from vacant eyes. It propelled us to find our humanity. We opened our hearts and purses to help those in need. Within a couple of weeks, according to the UN about 4 billion dollars had been pledged to help the victims.
According to reports at least 40 percent of Americans contributed in response to the Tsunami, as many did all over the world. They did not brag or claim credit. They simply gave, quietly. It speaks volumes about the generosity, humanity and piety of individuals as Americans, as humans. The pouring in of contributions met the immediate needs of many charities, even overwhelmed some of them. The Nobel peace prize-winning charity, "Doctors without borders”, reported that they have enough money committed to Tsunami victims to meet their capacity.
Many governments responded generously as well. Unfortunately the US government, representing us did not show that elegant spirit. It initially pledged $15 million. After accusations of being stingy, the sum was raised to $35 million and a week later to $350 million. Stung by criticism, Colin Powell and others bragged about the American generosity and pointed that the Bush administration was helping non-Christian people, including Islamic countries, and enjoined Muslims to remember that generosity.
This unseemly bragging tainted the nobility of charity. It reduced the effort to buying goodwill to supplant the arrogance in Iraq. Inevitable comparisons followed - 15 million for F-15 fighters, 40 million for Bush inauguration and about 650 million per day spent on war in Iraq. It did not help. Indeed, American people are generous, but the Bush administration is not.
Bush administration tried to sideline the common effort under the UN umbrella by announcing a separate coalition effort, co-opting India, Japan and Australia. Mercifully the co-opted countries let this harebrained idea die quietly.
Faced with natural disasters, we reach for our common humanity. It brings out the best in us. The disasters of our own making such as war, oppression and torture driven by hubris, relentlessly kill, maim and destroy. They reveal the worst in us. They destroy those who face the brunt of human cruelty and corrode those who inflict such horrors.
The two worst effected regions by the Tsunami are Aceh, in Indonesia and Northeastern regions of Sri Lanka. In Aceh, the northernmost region of Sumatra Island, the military has been fighting a brutal war against separatists of the Free Aceh Movement for almost three decades and has kept the province closed to outsiders.
In Sri Lanka a brutal 25-year civil war has claimed 64,000 lives. The war has pitted the government, dominated by the country's Sinhalese, Buddhist majority, against the Hindu minority of Indian origin, demanding a homeland, under the banner of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Tsunami stunned the warring parties in to joining hands to help the people, irrespective of ethnicity or political affiliation, bringing hope for the people caught in the conflict. But three weeks after the Tsunami fissures have already started to appear. According to the UN reports, Tamil Tigers are recruiting young orphans in their militia and Indonesian government has killed some 20 rebels.
The United Nations has a solid record of accomplishment in the areas of humanitarian relief and the advancement of health in poor countries. Reoccurring natural disasters are part of nature. We seem to have realized that helping the needy is our common concern. It is time to stop bickering and strengthen the UN to wield the power of the world opinion to effectively guide the contending parties to a negotiated mutually beneficial peace. It is an opportunity for the US to shed the perfidy of the Iraq war and take a constructive role in strengthening the UN at what it does best. It is our common world institution.
The UN, on the behalf of the humanity should insist that the contending parties in Aceh and Sri Lanka desist from the past violence and with the help of the UN, reach a peaceful settlement. They should not be allowed to destroy what is being rebuilt with the love of our common humanity.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Written Saturday, January 22, 2005
Media Monitor Network, Tuesday, January25, 2005
http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/12851
Al Jazeerah, Tuesday, January 25, 2005
http://www.aljazeerah.info/25o/Humanities%20Response%20to%20the%20Tsunami%20By%20Mirza%20A%20Beg.htm
Axis of Logic, Wednesday, January 26, 2005
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/printer_15285.shtml
The Muslim Observer, Vol. 7, Issue 5, January 29,2005
There have been many deadly natural disasters before, but the December 26th Tsunami in the Indian Ocean caught the imagination of the world. More people saw and were affected by the gruesome pictures than any event before.
A death toll of 225,000 makes this Tsunami the eighth deadliest natural disasters in recorded history affecting so many far-flung countries. Millions more suffer the after effect because they are alive, alone, shorn of loved ones and all possessions. Most of us were aghast, sad and wanted to help save the broken lives, to mend torn bodies and wipe tears from vacant eyes. It propelled us to find our humanity. We opened our hearts and purses to help those in need. Within a couple of weeks, according to the UN about 4 billion dollars had been pledged to help the victims.
According to reports at least 40 percent of Americans contributed in response to the Tsunami, as many did all over the world. They did not brag or claim credit. They simply gave, quietly. It speaks volumes about the generosity, humanity and piety of individuals as Americans, as humans. The pouring in of contributions met the immediate needs of many charities, even overwhelmed some of them. The Nobel peace prize-winning charity, "Doctors without borders”, reported that they have enough money committed to Tsunami victims to meet their capacity.
Many governments responded generously as well. Unfortunately the US government, representing us did not show that elegant spirit. It initially pledged $15 million. After accusations of being stingy, the sum was raised to $35 million and a week later to $350 million. Stung by criticism, Colin Powell and others bragged about the American generosity and pointed that the Bush administration was helping non-Christian people, including Islamic countries, and enjoined Muslims to remember that generosity.
This unseemly bragging tainted the nobility of charity. It reduced the effort to buying goodwill to supplant the arrogance in Iraq. Inevitable comparisons followed - 15 million for F-15 fighters, 40 million for Bush inauguration and about 650 million per day spent on war in Iraq. It did not help. Indeed, American people are generous, but the Bush administration is not.
Bush administration tried to sideline the common effort under the UN umbrella by announcing a separate coalition effort, co-opting India, Japan and Australia. Mercifully the co-opted countries let this harebrained idea die quietly.
Faced with natural disasters, we reach for our common humanity. It brings out the best in us. The disasters of our own making such as war, oppression and torture driven by hubris, relentlessly kill, maim and destroy. They reveal the worst in us. They destroy those who face the brunt of human cruelty and corrode those who inflict such horrors.
The two worst effected regions by the Tsunami are Aceh, in Indonesia and Northeastern regions of Sri Lanka. In Aceh, the northernmost region of Sumatra Island, the military has been fighting a brutal war against separatists of the Free Aceh Movement for almost three decades and has kept the province closed to outsiders.
In Sri Lanka a brutal 25-year civil war has claimed 64,000 lives. The war has pitted the government, dominated by the country's Sinhalese, Buddhist majority, against the Hindu minority of Indian origin, demanding a homeland, under the banner of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Tsunami stunned the warring parties in to joining hands to help the people, irrespective of ethnicity or political affiliation, bringing hope for the people caught in the conflict. But three weeks after the Tsunami fissures have already started to appear. According to the UN reports, Tamil Tigers are recruiting young orphans in their militia and Indonesian government has killed some 20 rebels.
The United Nations has a solid record of accomplishment in the areas of humanitarian relief and the advancement of health in poor countries. Reoccurring natural disasters are part of nature. We seem to have realized that helping the needy is our common concern. It is time to stop bickering and strengthen the UN to wield the power of the world opinion to effectively guide the contending parties to a negotiated mutually beneficial peace. It is an opportunity for the US to shed the perfidy of the Iraq war and take a constructive role in strengthening the UN at what it does best. It is our common world institution.
The UN, on the behalf of the humanity should insist that the contending parties in Aceh and Sri Lanka desist from the past violence and with the help of the UN, reach a peaceful settlement. They should not be allowed to destroy what is being rebuilt with the love of our common humanity.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Triple Taxation 03-03-16
Government should address triple taxation
Birmingham News
03/16/03
MIRZA A. BEG
President Bush and his Cabinet have been on the road promoting his new economic stimulus package and the looming war on Iraq, for which no money has been allocated. The deficits are soaring again, and Bush wants to cut taxes for the wealthy a tax cut that even Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Alan Greenspan finds ill-advised.
"It is unfair to tax money twice," Bush said as he presented his economic stimulus proposal in his State of the Union message. "There is a principle involved. The government ought to be content with taxing revenue streams or profits one time, not twice."
His rationale is that corporations pay taxes on their net profits. Part of that is distributed among the shareholders as dividends; therefore, the shareholders should not be taxed again on that income. It is logical, and if it is a matter of principle, Bush should also be against another form of double taxation the Social Security tax.
It is a more regressive form of double taxation and, in some cases, triple taxation. It affects every working American, from all tax brackets. Meanwhile, taxes on dividends are paid by only about one-fourth of all tax filers, and most of them have small investments; the lion's share of benefits goes to the people in the highest tax brackets.
The Social Security tax is deducted from our paychecks by a government mandate to eventually help us through our retirement years. It is a good program. But we never volunteered for it.
The tax rate has increased from 1.5 percent on the first $3,000 of earnings in 1950 to 6.2 percent on the first $87,000 of earnings in 2003. Employers also pay an equal amount on our behalf and the government's behest, effectively bringing the total pay-out to 12.4 percent.
Triple taxation:
The federal government imposes this tax on us, out of the goodness of its heart.
However, we pay income tax on the amount already deducted for Social Security. This is taxation on a tax already paid.
But that is not all: Millions of retirees pay income tax again from 50 percent to a maximum of 85 percent on their Social Security benefit if their income plus half of Social Security exceeds $25,000 a year for a single person and $32,000 for a married couple. This is triple taxation.
Plus, the base taxable income is not inflation adjusted. Therefore, with inflation pushing up incomes, the number of retirees paying the triple tax will rise each year.
The difference between the double taxation of dividends and the triple taxation of Social Security is enormous for an average citizen. Most people do not own stocks. Of the one-fourth of the tax filers who do own stocks, most have them in their 401K plans, which won't benefit from the dividend tax relief because it is deferred income.
In addition, even most of the people who own stocks that pay dividends won't see much savings because they own only a few hundred shares. For example, Microsoft declared a dividend of 16 cents a share. If you own 100 shares of Microsoft stock, you'd get $16 enough to buy a cheap meal for a family of four.
Bill Gates, however, who owns 612 million shares, gets $97.92 million. Of course, he gets more because he owns more stocks. The bottom line is that about 6 percent of the taxpayers will get more than two-thirds of the benefit of the $147 billion windfall.
Here's something else to consider: The full 6.2 percent Social Security tax is paid only on incomes up to $87,000 a year. Income above that is not subject to this tax. Thus, as a percentage of income, the tax decreases as the income rises. On a million-dollar income, it is effectively one-half of 1 percent.
Thus, if the tax on the tax paid for Social Security is exempted, an average family earning $75,000 a year would save about $700. And the rich and the poor would benefit equally.
Cost of business:
In the case of dividends, two different entities pay taxes on the same income. It is a cost of doing business in a peaceful, civil society that the government provides for the business to flourish. Tax on dividends is a tax on a commodity, in this case money, as bankers, brokers and the government view it, use it and get rich in the process.
Conversely, the Social Security tax and the tax on that tax are paid by the same individual. The majority of Social Security taxpayers are middle- and lower-income earners. Sweat of their brows makes the economy work and enables the wealthy to have the privilege of paying taxes on dividends. Most people work hard and would love to be wealthy enough to own stocks and to pay taxes on dividends.
The greatest difference is that the corporations and people who control corporations have money to grease the political machines. Members of Congress routinely sneak special provisions into unrelated bills to give special tax breaks to corporations.
Bush and the Republican leadership were impassioned in their arguments against restrictions on large political contributions. They equated large financial contributions to free speech. The rich buy a lot of "free speech;" the average citizens cannot, because they do not have the means.
We agree, Mr. President: Double taxation is wrong. But let us start with relief from triple taxation.
Mirza A. Beg is a geologist who lives in Tuscaloosa. His e-mail address is mab64@yahoo.com.
Copyright 2003 al.com. All Rights Reserved.
Birmingham News
03/16/03
MIRZA A. BEG
President Bush and his Cabinet have been on the road promoting his new economic stimulus package and the looming war on Iraq, for which no money has been allocated. The deficits are soaring again, and Bush wants to cut taxes for the wealthy a tax cut that even Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Alan Greenspan finds ill-advised.
"It is unfair to tax money twice," Bush said as he presented his economic stimulus proposal in his State of the Union message. "There is a principle involved. The government ought to be content with taxing revenue streams or profits one time, not twice."
His rationale is that corporations pay taxes on their net profits. Part of that is distributed among the shareholders as dividends; therefore, the shareholders should not be taxed again on that income. It is logical, and if it is a matter of principle, Bush should also be against another form of double taxation the Social Security tax.
It is a more regressive form of double taxation and, in some cases, triple taxation. It affects every working American, from all tax brackets. Meanwhile, taxes on dividends are paid by only about one-fourth of all tax filers, and most of them have small investments; the lion's share of benefits goes to the people in the highest tax brackets.
The Social Security tax is deducted from our paychecks by a government mandate to eventually help us through our retirement years. It is a good program. But we never volunteered for it.
The tax rate has increased from 1.5 percent on the first $3,000 of earnings in 1950 to 6.2 percent on the first $87,000 of earnings in 2003. Employers also pay an equal amount on our behalf and the government's behest, effectively bringing the total pay-out to 12.4 percent.
Triple taxation:
The federal government imposes this tax on us, out of the goodness of its heart.
However, we pay income tax on the amount already deducted for Social Security. This is taxation on a tax already paid.
But that is not all: Millions of retirees pay income tax again from 50 percent to a maximum of 85 percent on their Social Security benefit if their income plus half of Social Security exceeds $25,000 a year for a single person and $32,000 for a married couple. This is triple taxation.
Plus, the base taxable income is not inflation adjusted. Therefore, with inflation pushing up incomes, the number of retirees paying the triple tax will rise each year.
The difference between the double taxation of dividends and the triple taxation of Social Security is enormous for an average citizen. Most people do not own stocks. Of the one-fourth of the tax filers who do own stocks, most have them in their 401K plans, which won't benefit from the dividend tax relief because it is deferred income.
In addition, even most of the people who own stocks that pay dividends won't see much savings because they own only a few hundred shares. For example, Microsoft declared a dividend of 16 cents a share. If you own 100 shares of Microsoft stock, you'd get $16 enough to buy a cheap meal for a family of four.
Bill Gates, however, who owns 612 million shares, gets $97.92 million. Of course, he gets more because he owns more stocks. The bottom line is that about 6 percent of the taxpayers will get more than two-thirds of the benefit of the $147 billion windfall.
Here's something else to consider: The full 6.2 percent Social Security tax is paid only on incomes up to $87,000 a year. Income above that is not subject to this tax. Thus, as a percentage of income, the tax decreases as the income rises. On a million-dollar income, it is effectively one-half of 1 percent.
Thus, if the tax on the tax paid for Social Security is exempted, an average family earning $75,000 a year would save about $700. And the rich and the poor would benefit equally.
Cost of business:
In the case of dividends, two different entities pay taxes on the same income. It is a cost of doing business in a peaceful, civil society that the government provides for the business to flourish. Tax on dividends is a tax on a commodity, in this case money, as bankers, brokers and the government view it, use it and get rich in the process.
Conversely, the Social Security tax and the tax on that tax are paid by the same individual. The majority of Social Security taxpayers are middle- and lower-income earners. Sweat of their brows makes the economy work and enables the wealthy to have the privilege of paying taxes on dividends. Most people work hard and would love to be wealthy enough to own stocks and to pay taxes on dividends.
The greatest difference is that the corporations and people who control corporations have money to grease the political machines. Members of Congress routinely sneak special provisions into unrelated bills to give special tax breaks to corporations.
Bush and the Republican leadership were impassioned in their arguments against restrictions on large political contributions. They equated large financial contributions to free speech. The rich buy a lot of "free speech;" the average citizens cannot, because they do not have the means.
We agree, Mr. President: Double taxation is wrong. But let us start with relief from triple taxation.
Mirza A. Beg is a geologist who lives in Tuscaloosa. His e-mail address is mab64@yahoo.com.
Copyright 2003 al.com. All Rights Reserved.
Practice Tolerance 04-03-10
Practice is better than Preching Tolerance
Mirza A. Beg
Written, March 3, 2004
Published Yellow Times.Org, March 10, 2004
http://www.yellowtimes.org/print.php?sid=1807
Secondflagsalute.org, March 11,2004
http://www.secondflagsalute.org/articles/General%20International/2004.03.04.practicing_tolerance.htm
The Anniston Star, Thursday, March 25th, 2004
The Indian Express, Friday, April 2, 2004
http://www.indianexpress.com/print.php?content_id=44192
Murderous attacks on Shia Muslims in Pakistan and Iraq have resulted in about 43 deaths in Pakistan and 182 deaths in Iraq. Hundreds more are wounded physically and thousands more emotionally. The agony of friends and relatives is heart-wrenching.
Such murderous intolerance is just the latest in wonton killings that have become common place in Pakistan. The norm in Pakistan and many other Muslim countries appears to be to kill those with whom one disagrees in religion or politics. Hindus were persecuted regularly before the breaking away of Bangladesh. Now they are such a miniscule minority, relegated to insignificance. Cold-blooded killers in Pakistan have killed Christians and Muslims such as Qadianis and Shias in the last few years, all in the name of the convoluted brand of their religion. Indonesia, that used to be and is peaceful and tolerant of its Hindu minority, caught the sectarian virus resulting in atrocities against Catholics in East Timor and other Muslims in Aceh. Algeria's dictatorial secularists have murdered tens of thousands of innocent civilians in their fight with the equally murderous rebels fighting in the name of Islam. Sudan's Islamic government can not bring peace to the southern marshy Animists by oppressing them.
In Iraq, in the wake of American invasion, they justify it for the debased reason of creating conditions untenable for American occupation. But that is where the internal gyroscope of humanity, decency and religious piety kicks in to completely rule out evil means to achieve any aim no matter how worthy it may seem. It is of some comfort that both Shia and Sunni clerics have jointly denounced the perpetrators of this evil.
Murderous intolerance is repugnant, but is even more repulsive when it is done in the name of religion, and finds justification in the demented minds of some of its followers. This perversity of belief must be opposed. It is always better if the opposition springs from within the community. It is more effective and conducive to thoughtful change.
Paucity of reform and negation of such heinous forces from inside the community bring condemnation and pressure from outside. This gives an excuse to those resistant to much needed change to give a garb of debased nationalism to their evil acts and blame it on the real and imagined enemies from outside. Often it only helps to advance the agenda of those outside forces that are malicious towards Islam for their own vile reasons. These murderers are the enemies within that caricaturize a great religion and inadvertently help the enemies without.
In public discourse we never tire of pointing out that Islam stands for peace, mercy and compassion... which it does! Such perverse behavior can not be just chalked off to a few bad apples, as are wont to occur in any society. When extreme becomes common, the normative base of the society is severely injured. Such perversity of beliefs must be opposed by the civil society, especially one that claims a moral high ground.
Self-criticism is always painful; it is time to feel and welcome such pain. But all the words in my vocabulary fall short of the grief and anger I feel compounded by the dejection that Muslim populace has not already risen up to this challenge.
Most of us have genuinely felt the anguish of riots in India against Muslims and now the open season on Islam in the west. I have argued and written extensively about them, but all of them pale in comparison to the self-destructive plot these vulgar perpetrators hatch in the name of my religion.
Those who kill in the name of purity of their religion only succeed in trawling it through the mud and bringing shame to those who labor towards the ideal of humanity that is sullied time and again.
It is time for Muslims all over the world to denounce discriminations that Muslims in Muslim-majority countries heap on the minorities. In the last couple of decades, fascism has found a home in religious extremists all over the world including the U.S., India and Muslim countries. Those who do not stand up against such forces in their communities or find reactionary justifications for them are at best unwitting enablers and at worst stealthy helpers.
When others practice cruelty and mayhem against Muslims, it hurts and we resist and fight against it. When Muslims do it, we need to fight even harder in the name of Islam, humanity, and decency. We should condemn it, resist it and fight against it with even greater resolve. Otherwise our protestations sound hollow because they are!
Mirza A. Beg invites your comments: mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Written, March 3, 2004
Published Yellow Times.Org, March 10, 2004
http://www.yellowtimes.org/print.php?sid=1807
Secondflagsalute.org, March 11,2004
http://www.secondflagsalute.org/articles/General%20International/2004.03.04.practicing_tolerance.htm
The Anniston Star, Thursday, March 25th, 2004
The Indian Express, Friday, April 2, 2004
http://www.indianexpress.com/print.php?content_id=44192
Murderous attacks on Shia Muslims in Pakistan and Iraq have resulted in about 43 deaths in Pakistan and 182 deaths in Iraq. Hundreds more are wounded physically and thousands more emotionally. The agony of friends and relatives is heart-wrenching.
Such murderous intolerance is just the latest in wonton killings that have become common place in Pakistan. The norm in Pakistan and many other Muslim countries appears to be to kill those with whom one disagrees in religion or politics. Hindus were persecuted regularly before the breaking away of Bangladesh. Now they are such a miniscule minority, relegated to insignificance. Cold-blooded killers in Pakistan have killed Christians and Muslims such as Qadianis and Shias in the last few years, all in the name of the convoluted brand of their religion. Indonesia, that used to be and is peaceful and tolerant of its Hindu minority, caught the sectarian virus resulting in atrocities against Catholics in East Timor and other Muslims in Aceh. Algeria's dictatorial secularists have murdered tens of thousands of innocent civilians in their fight with the equally murderous rebels fighting in the name of Islam. Sudan's Islamic government can not bring peace to the southern marshy Animists by oppressing them.
In Iraq, in the wake of American invasion, they justify it for the debased reason of creating conditions untenable for American occupation. But that is where the internal gyroscope of humanity, decency and religious piety kicks in to completely rule out evil means to achieve any aim no matter how worthy it may seem. It is of some comfort that both Shia and Sunni clerics have jointly denounced the perpetrators of this evil.
Murderous intolerance is repugnant, but is even more repulsive when it is done in the name of religion, and finds justification in the demented minds of some of its followers. This perversity of belief must be opposed. It is always better if the opposition springs from within the community. It is more effective and conducive to thoughtful change.
Paucity of reform and negation of such heinous forces from inside the community bring condemnation and pressure from outside. This gives an excuse to those resistant to much needed change to give a garb of debased nationalism to their evil acts and blame it on the real and imagined enemies from outside. Often it only helps to advance the agenda of those outside forces that are malicious towards Islam for their own vile reasons. These murderers are the enemies within that caricaturize a great religion and inadvertently help the enemies without.
In public discourse we never tire of pointing out that Islam stands for peace, mercy and compassion... which it does! Such perverse behavior can not be just chalked off to a few bad apples, as are wont to occur in any society. When extreme becomes common, the normative base of the society is severely injured. Such perversity of beliefs must be opposed by the civil society, especially one that claims a moral high ground.
Self-criticism is always painful; it is time to feel and welcome such pain. But all the words in my vocabulary fall short of the grief and anger I feel compounded by the dejection that Muslim populace has not already risen up to this challenge.
Most of us have genuinely felt the anguish of riots in India against Muslims and now the open season on Islam in the west. I have argued and written extensively about them, but all of them pale in comparison to the self-destructive plot these vulgar perpetrators hatch in the name of my religion.
Those who kill in the name of purity of their religion only succeed in trawling it through the mud and bringing shame to those who labor towards the ideal of humanity that is sullied time and again.
It is time for Muslims all over the world to denounce discriminations that Muslims in Muslim-majority countries heap on the minorities. In the last couple of decades, fascism has found a home in religious extremists all over the world including the U.S., India and Muslim countries. Those who do not stand up against such forces in their communities or find reactionary justifications for them are at best unwitting enablers and at worst stealthy helpers.
When others practice cruelty and mayhem against Muslims, it hurts and we resist and fight against it. When Muslims do it, we need to fight even harder in the name of Islam, humanity, and decency. We should condemn it, resist it and fight against it with even greater resolve. Otherwise our protestations sound hollow because they are!
Mirza A. Beg invites your comments: mab64@yahoo.com
The Will of God 02-12-18
The will of God
Mirza A. Beg
Written December 18, 2002
Tuscaloosa News on February 16th, 2003
"The will of God". The expression is simple and apparently straightforward. So why write about it?
It is not as simple as it sounds, when religious zealots proclaim the will of God. Mullah Omar knew the will of God, Rev. Falwell and Rev. Robertson know it too. So do many others who preach the religion of exclusion. Their spiritual ancestors found justification for slavery as well as anti-Semitism in scriptures not too long ago.
Mullah Omar oppressed those he could control. Fortunately Rev. Falwell and Robertson have no temporal authority, so they proclaimed 9/11 attacks to be the wrath of God on a hedonistic society, thus they appointed Osama-bin-Laden to be the instrument of God. Now they have declared open season on Islam through their many miss-pronouncements.
My understanding of religion is that God is Just and Impartial. He does not love some above others, except for their piety and deeds. Therefore it stands to reason that God had sent guidance to all people and nations. That would include Eskimos, Pygmies as well as Tasadais, discovered living in isolation, insulated from the outside world in Philippines in early 1970s.
God in Islam is referred as Rabbul-Alameen, Lord of the worlds, many worlds. That means the lord of the Universe, all existence without any limitation imposed by the confines of human intellect. He is not limited to being, the Lord of the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or Christians. He is not confined to being the Lord of this world, the Earth. God is by definition all knowing all powerful, omnipresent and omnipotent.
God gave us intelligence to reason, think and discriminate good from evil. He gave us guidance through his messengers and scriptures. God knows that our capacity to reason and discriminate is diverse and limited in many ways. With the same set of information we reach different conclusions. Yet the scriptures are not as clear as our limitations would warrant, they require interpretation. God also knows that human mind plays tricks, the moment it takes on the burden of interpretation.
Most of us past adolescence know, we have changed and adjusted our values as we grow old, know more and acquire better understanding through introspection.
Therefore, it behooves us to tread our paths in this life with trepidation in the knowledge of our limitations. With hope of God's grace we should strive for justice seasoned with mercy.
Many of us have had brushes with zealots of various shades, full of certainty in their literal interpretation of the scriptures. Imagine had we followed them in our youth, what havoc we could have wrought on others who dared to think differently or thought differently because they could not help it.
Those of us, who read and think, have been dismayed even alarmed at some of the verses in the scriptures. At first reading they some time contradict the sublime part of our nature. Interpreted in historical context with introspection, deeper and time specific meanings emerge and sooth our souls.
The following verse from Qur'an, has soothed my soul and awoke my intellect towards understanding with renewed sense of peace and justice that religion is supposed to preach and enhance.
Verse 7, Chapter 3 (Translation by A. Y. Ali): He who has sent down to thee the book: In it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning); they are the foundation of the book. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord and searching for its hidden meanings, but no one knows its hidden meaning except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: "We believe in the book; the whole of it is from our Lord", and none will grasp the message except men of understanding.
According to scholars, of about 7,000 verses in Qur'an only about 200 pertain to codes governing day to day living. These deal with piety, one's personal responsibility towards God and duty towards others and humanity. The others need to be understood in the context of time and historic situation.
Similarly, paramount theme of numerous verses in the Old Testament is the wrath of God and destruction of 'others'. One shudders with a notion of a vengeful God playing favorites. The New Testament gives meaning to the love, mercy and forgiveness of a universal God.
Religion gives meaning to life in all its facets, particularly in despair, when one does not know whom or where to turn. Religion used for ethnic or political supremacy is debased. Historically, it has been misused by politicians, to justify tribalism, slavery, ethnic cleansing and genocide, and in modern times often in the guise of Nationalism. Even today in the age of mass media, particularly the television, purveyors of hate are at work and unfortunately considerably successful.
It is up to us to stop listening with blinders on, instead read and think with introspection. Our lives, our actions towards others speak more clearly to project our beliefs than the bigoted oratory of some on Television selling a bill of goods.
Mirza A Beg invites comments. He may be contacted at mab@yahoo.com http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/
Mirza A. Beg
Written December 18, 2002
Tuscaloosa News on February 16th, 2003
"The will of God". The expression is simple and apparently straightforward. So why write about it?
It is not as simple as it sounds, when religious zealots proclaim the will of God. Mullah Omar knew the will of God, Rev. Falwell and Rev. Robertson know it too. So do many others who preach the religion of exclusion. Their spiritual ancestors found justification for slavery as well as anti-Semitism in scriptures not too long ago.
Mullah Omar oppressed those he could control. Fortunately Rev. Falwell and Robertson have no temporal authority, so they proclaimed 9/11 attacks to be the wrath of God on a hedonistic society, thus they appointed Osama-bin-Laden to be the instrument of God. Now they have declared open season on Islam through their many miss-pronouncements.
My understanding of religion is that God is Just and Impartial. He does not love some above others, except for their piety and deeds. Therefore it stands to reason that God had sent guidance to all people and nations. That would include Eskimos, Pygmies as well as Tasadais, discovered living in isolation, insulated from the outside world in Philippines in early 1970s.
God in Islam is referred as Rabbul-Alameen, Lord of the worlds, many worlds. That means the lord of the Universe, all existence without any limitation imposed by the confines of human intellect. He is not limited to being, the Lord of the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or Christians. He is not confined to being the Lord of this world, the Earth. God is by definition all knowing all powerful, omnipresent and omnipotent.
God gave us intelligence to reason, think and discriminate good from evil. He gave us guidance through his messengers and scriptures. God knows that our capacity to reason and discriminate is diverse and limited in many ways. With the same set of information we reach different conclusions. Yet the scriptures are not as clear as our limitations would warrant, they require interpretation. God also knows that human mind plays tricks, the moment it takes on the burden of interpretation.
Most of us past adolescence know, we have changed and adjusted our values as we grow old, know more and acquire better understanding through introspection.
Therefore, it behooves us to tread our paths in this life with trepidation in the knowledge of our limitations. With hope of God's grace we should strive for justice seasoned with mercy.
Many of us have had brushes with zealots of various shades, full of certainty in their literal interpretation of the scriptures. Imagine had we followed them in our youth, what havoc we could have wrought on others who dared to think differently or thought differently because they could not help it.
Those of us, who read and think, have been dismayed even alarmed at some of the verses in the scriptures. At first reading they some time contradict the sublime part of our nature. Interpreted in historical context with introspection, deeper and time specific meanings emerge and sooth our souls.
The following verse from Qur'an, has soothed my soul and awoke my intellect towards understanding with renewed sense of peace and justice that religion is supposed to preach and enhance.
Verse 7, Chapter 3 (Translation by A. Y. Ali): He who has sent down to thee the book: In it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning); they are the foundation of the book. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord and searching for its hidden meanings, but no one knows its hidden meaning except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: "We believe in the book; the whole of it is from our Lord", and none will grasp the message except men of understanding.
According to scholars, of about 7,000 verses in Qur'an only about 200 pertain to codes governing day to day living. These deal with piety, one's personal responsibility towards God and duty towards others and humanity. The others need to be understood in the context of time and historic situation.
Similarly, paramount theme of numerous verses in the Old Testament is the wrath of God and destruction of 'others'. One shudders with a notion of a vengeful God playing favorites. The New Testament gives meaning to the love, mercy and forgiveness of a universal God.
Religion gives meaning to life in all its facets, particularly in despair, when one does not know whom or where to turn. Religion used for ethnic or political supremacy is debased. Historically, it has been misused by politicians, to justify tribalism, slavery, ethnic cleansing and genocide, and in modern times often in the guise of Nationalism. Even today in the age of mass media, particularly the television, purveyors of hate are at work and unfortunately considerably successful.
It is up to us to stop listening with blinders on, instead read and think with introspection. Our lives, our actions towards others speak more clearly to project our beliefs than the bigoted oratory of some on Television selling a bill of goods.
Mirza A Beg invites comments. He may be contacted at mab@yahoo.com http://mirzasmusings.blogspot.com/
Way out of Iraq 06-11-09
The only way out of Iraq
Mirza A. Beg
Way out of IraqWritten Thursday, November 9th, 2006
The American Muslim (TAM), Friday, November 10, 2006
http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_only_way_out_of_iraq/0011616
Pine magazine, Saturday, November11, 2006
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=290
Al Jazeerah, Tuesday, November 14, 2006
http://www.aljazeerah.info/14%20o/The%20only%20way%20out%20of%20Iraq%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
Counter Currents, Tuesday, November 14, 2006
http://www.countercurrents.org/us-beg141106.htm
Voices in War time November 9, 2006
http://imagineacultureofpeace.org/Home/Article/DisplayArticle.aspx?TypeofContent=Article&AuthorID=106932&ArticleType=2
http://voicesinwartime.org/Home/Article/DisplayArticle.aspx?AuthorID=106932&TypeofContent=Article&ArticleType=2#369787
The mid-term congressional elections gave a thrashing to the Republican congress, because it failed its primary duty of oversight of the executive branch gone amuck. The electorate should have sent this message to Bush two years ago. Unfortunately most Americans are against the Bush policy in Iraq, not because it is wrong, but because it is not succeeding. Unless we understand; the invasion of Iraq was not only unwise but also immoral based on lies, we cannot formulate a well thought out exit strategy.
In the throes of mid-term congressional elections with his approval ratings in the tank, Bush junked the inane phrase, “Stay the course”, to the dust heap of slogans, such as “Shock and awe”, that awed Americans and shocked the world in its inane cruelty; and the fascistic phrase “If you are not with us you are against us”, that left no choice to thoughtful decent people, but to be morally against us. Remember the abuses heaped on France and Germany. Finally the reality dawned. Two days after an unequivocal support for Rumsfeld, Bush dumped him.
It is time to revisit our options in Iraq. Not that it is a mystery, exactly three years ago in November 2003, I wrote “There are only five options for the US in Iraq and none of them are good.”
“1- The military should be patient in response to the attacks because the guerrillas vanish in the population and innocent people are hurt. This frustrates the soldiers and strengthens the guerrillas garnering support from successes. “
“2- Draconian response to flush out the guerrillas and intimidate civilians into cooperation, engendering greater hatred for the US. Helping the US means inviting attacks. Iraqi policemen helping the occupation are considered collaborators targeted by the guerrillas.”
“3- Fast Iraqification, similar to Vietnamization. New recruits will inevitably attract infiltrators to sabotage the effort. This will help the US to cut and run rather than leaving a stable democratic Iraq.”
“4- Troops from other countries. No Islamic government will cooperate. US policy is seen as anti-Muslim. Europeans stung by the Bush deceit oppose the occupation, even the Spaniards are withdrawing. No country wants to send its citizens to be killed in a war it opposed.”
“5- Get the UN involved. UN will take part only if the US yields the civilian authority and still foots the bill. This will be open-ended, complete reversal of the Bush policy, full of long-term uncertainty.”
The first option was never tried. It is too late now. To the Neocon bullies, there was no substitute for a quick victory based on intimidation. Though individual commanders tried in local piecemeal efforts, but were stymied by the bullies of, “If you are not with us you are against us”, crowd. Thus, all Iraqis with any feeling of dignity were lumped as enemies, and eventually they became enemies.
The second option was tried with fanfare. The celebrated destruction of Faluja and many smaller cities, while the world watched in horror; dropping of thousand pound bombs in densely populated areas; killing of more than a hundred thousand innocent civilians; the horrible pictures from Abu Graib became the poster of Bush doctrine on torture. Most Iraqis, happy at the tyrant’s downfall, slowly realized that though under brutal Saddam, there was no political liberty at least the streets were safe. If they kept quiet, they could have a reasonably good lively-hood. Now the living is a nightmare, and Bush keeps trumpeting that we are fighting terrorists in Iraq so that all the killing is done there to keep us safe here. Iraqis are listening intently; they realize that Iraqi lives are expendable in Bush doctrine.
The third option of Iraqification similar to Vietnamization has been in the works for about two years. According to the Pentagon more than two hundred thousand have been recruited in the Iraqi military. Most have joined because there is no other livelihood. Many Iraqis, viscerally against the US occupation have infiltrated the new military. That is why they are not trusted by the US command in Iraq, and can not perform independently. There is no way that Iraqis will like or trust us, after more than three years of horror that Bush has wrought on Iraqis, in our name.
The last two options are effectively a defeat of the Bush doctrine and by extension, the defeat of the mindless naked power that the rest of the world considers to be neo-Imperialism. But these are the only feasible courses to get out of an unending carnage. The neighboring countries have a natural interest in a stable Iraq. They can be persuaded to help stabilize Iraq under the aegis of the UN, only if convinced that the US will bear the enormous open ended expenses, but will not interfere in their decision making councils. It sounds expensive and a defeat of Bush doctrine, given the bravado and self delusion of Bush and his coterie, but the alternative is endless war that fuels terrorism.
Almost as many American soldiers have been killed in Iraq as the victims of 9/11. According to a prestigious study about 600,000 Iraqis have lost their lives, thanks to Bush and his mandate from “God”, through the powerful Armageddon seeking wing of the Christian right. Millions of Iraqis have been displaced because of the resulting civil war. To the Pentagon under Bush, the Iraqi lives do not matter. The quibbling over how many innocent Iraqis died, by those who do not even care to count the Iraqi dead is obnoxious.
It is time to learn from our recent history. Defeat of an immoral policy is better than following the corrupt policies to endless wars. Had we not been defeated in Vietnam, we would still be “winning”, the mirage of victory, perpetually just around the corner, 12 to 18 months away. These were the lies; we were fed adnauseam by the administrations then and now. Contrary to the dire predictions of doom of American prestige, the defeat in Vietnam liberated us and the Vietnamese to find new and better life to grow, prosper and even become friends.
The failure is evident to all who can reason. As predicted our bungling leader has not only landed the sole super power in an un-winnable quagmire in Iraq, but now even Afghanistan is on the skids, spiraling towards chaos.
Another slogan that ensnared the Americans, “Failure is not an option”, needs to be sent to the junk-yard of Fascism. It simply means, “Victory at any cost”. This should be an anathema in a moral, democracy. We need to stand up for our morals and values and say, “hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost through a policy that kills innocent civilians and creates more terrorists is too high a price to pay. No, we will not be a part of that immoral, mindless travesty.”
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com.
Mirza A. Beg
Way out of IraqWritten Thursday, November 9th, 2006
The American Muslim (TAM), Friday, November 10, 2006
http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_only_way_out_of_iraq/0011616
Pine magazine, Saturday, November11, 2006
http://pine-magazine.com/content.php?id=290
Al Jazeerah, Tuesday, November 14, 2006
http://www.aljazeerah.info/14%20o/The%20only%20way%20out%20of%20Iraq%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
Counter Currents, Tuesday, November 14, 2006
http://www.countercurrents.org/us-beg141106.htm
Voices in War time November 9, 2006
http://imagineacultureofpeace.org/Home/Article/DisplayArticle.aspx?TypeofContent=Article&AuthorID=106932&ArticleType=2
http://voicesinwartime.org/Home/Article/DisplayArticle.aspx?AuthorID=106932&TypeofContent=Article&ArticleType=2#369787
The mid-term congressional elections gave a thrashing to the Republican congress, because it failed its primary duty of oversight of the executive branch gone amuck. The electorate should have sent this message to Bush two years ago. Unfortunately most Americans are against the Bush policy in Iraq, not because it is wrong, but because it is not succeeding. Unless we understand; the invasion of Iraq was not only unwise but also immoral based on lies, we cannot formulate a well thought out exit strategy.
In the throes of mid-term congressional elections with his approval ratings in the tank, Bush junked the inane phrase, “Stay the course”, to the dust heap of slogans, such as “Shock and awe”, that awed Americans and shocked the world in its inane cruelty; and the fascistic phrase “If you are not with us you are against us”, that left no choice to thoughtful decent people, but to be morally against us. Remember the abuses heaped on France and Germany. Finally the reality dawned. Two days after an unequivocal support for Rumsfeld, Bush dumped him.
It is time to revisit our options in Iraq. Not that it is a mystery, exactly three years ago in November 2003, I wrote “There are only five options for the US in Iraq and none of them are good.”
“1- The military should be patient in response to the attacks because the guerrillas vanish in the population and innocent people are hurt. This frustrates the soldiers and strengthens the guerrillas garnering support from successes. “
“2- Draconian response to flush out the guerrillas and intimidate civilians into cooperation, engendering greater hatred for the US. Helping the US means inviting attacks. Iraqi policemen helping the occupation are considered collaborators targeted by the guerrillas.”
“3- Fast Iraqification, similar to Vietnamization. New recruits will inevitably attract infiltrators to sabotage the effort. This will help the US to cut and run rather than leaving a stable democratic Iraq.”
“4- Troops from other countries. No Islamic government will cooperate. US policy is seen as anti-Muslim. Europeans stung by the Bush deceit oppose the occupation, even the Spaniards are withdrawing. No country wants to send its citizens to be killed in a war it opposed.”
“5- Get the UN involved. UN will take part only if the US yields the civilian authority and still foots the bill. This will be open-ended, complete reversal of the Bush policy, full of long-term uncertainty.”
The first option was never tried. It is too late now. To the Neocon bullies, there was no substitute for a quick victory based on intimidation. Though individual commanders tried in local piecemeal efforts, but were stymied by the bullies of, “If you are not with us you are against us”, crowd. Thus, all Iraqis with any feeling of dignity were lumped as enemies, and eventually they became enemies.
The second option was tried with fanfare. The celebrated destruction of Faluja and many smaller cities, while the world watched in horror; dropping of thousand pound bombs in densely populated areas; killing of more than a hundred thousand innocent civilians; the horrible pictures from Abu Graib became the poster of Bush doctrine on torture. Most Iraqis, happy at the tyrant’s downfall, slowly realized that though under brutal Saddam, there was no political liberty at least the streets were safe. If they kept quiet, they could have a reasonably good lively-hood. Now the living is a nightmare, and Bush keeps trumpeting that we are fighting terrorists in Iraq so that all the killing is done there to keep us safe here. Iraqis are listening intently; they realize that Iraqi lives are expendable in Bush doctrine.
The third option of Iraqification similar to Vietnamization has been in the works for about two years. According to the Pentagon more than two hundred thousand have been recruited in the Iraqi military. Most have joined because there is no other livelihood. Many Iraqis, viscerally against the US occupation have infiltrated the new military. That is why they are not trusted by the US command in Iraq, and can not perform independently. There is no way that Iraqis will like or trust us, after more than three years of horror that Bush has wrought on Iraqis, in our name.
The last two options are effectively a defeat of the Bush doctrine and by extension, the defeat of the mindless naked power that the rest of the world considers to be neo-Imperialism. But these are the only feasible courses to get out of an unending carnage. The neighboring countries have a natural interest in a stable Iraq. They can be persuaded to help stabilize Iraq under the aegis of the UN, only if convinced that the US will bear the enormous open ended expenses, but will not interfere in their decision making councils. It sounds expensive and a defeat of Bush doctrine, given the bravado and self delusion of Bush and his coterie, but the alternative is endless war that fuels terrorism.
Almost as many American soldiers have been killed in Iraq as the victims of 9/11. According to a prestigious study about 600,000 Iraqis have lost their lives, thanks to Bush and his mandate from “God”, through the powerful Armageddon seeking wing of the Christian right. Millions of Iraqis have been displaced because of the resulting civil war. To the Pentagon under Bush, the Iraqi lives do not matter. The quibbling over how many innocent Iraqis died, by those who do not even care to count the Iraqi dead is obnoxious.
It is time to learn from our recent history. Defeat of an immoral policy is better than following the corrupt policies to endless wars. Had we not been defeated in Vietnam, we would still be “winning”, the mirage of victory, perpetually just around the corner, 12 to 18 months away. These were the lies; we were fed adnauseam by the administrations then and now. Contrary to the dire predictions of doom of American prestige, the defeat in Vietnam liberated us and the Vietnamese to find new and better life to grow, prosper and even become friends.
The failure is evident to all who can reason. As predicted our bungling leader has not only landed the sole super power in an un-winnable quagmire in Iraq, but now even Afghanistan is on the skids, spiraling towards chaos.
Another slogan that ensnared the Americans, “Failure is not an option”, needs to be sent to the junk-yard of Fascism. It simply means, “Victory at any cost”. This should be an anathema in a moral, democracy. We need to stand up for our morals and values and say, “hundreds of thousands of innocent lives lost through a policy that kills innocent civilians and creates more terrorists is too high a price to pay. No, we will not be a part of that immoral, mindless travesty.”
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com.
Republic Day- India 07-01-26
The 58th Republic Day of India
Mirza A. Beg
Friday, 26th of January 2007
Counter Currents.org, Friday January 26, 2007
http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_501_550/holding_muslim_leaders_accountab.htm
Indian Muslims Info net, Saturday, January 27, 2007
http://indianmuslims.info/news/2007/january/27/articles/the_58th_republic_day_of_india.html
Al Jazeerah, Sunday, 2, 2007
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2007%20Opinion%20Editorials/January/28%20o/The%2058th%20Republic%20Day%20of%20India%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
The Milli Gazette, Friday, February 2, 2007
http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2007/200702012_Republc_Day_India_issues.htm
Indians are proud to celebrate the 58th, anniversary of the founding of the Republic of India, “The Republic Day”. Though India became an independent country on the 15th of August 1947, but for political convenience, for a while in name only, it remained a part of the British dominions. It took more than two years of very hard work by the constitutional convention appointed by the founding fathers, under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar, an untouchable to design a thoughtful and inclusive constitution. It was officially adopted on the 26th of January 1950. India the political state became the Republic of India.
On the Republic Day India awards high honors to its citizens who have contributed to peace and growth in all fields of humanity, arts and sciences. Among the many deserving peace activists, this year the recognition of Teesta Setalvad is particularly noteworthy. She could as well be awarded medals for bravery, because in the face of bigotry of some lethal forces, to be a voice of reason and resolute advocate of the rights of politically weak and marginalized is the greatest act of bravery. Award to her does credit to the Government and people of India
Democracy, especially a liberal democracy in a huge sub-continental, mutli-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious country is very difficult indeed. It becomes even more daunting where many communities that make up the fabric have long and rich histories of rise and fall of indigenous empires that they are proud of, and some hark nostalgically to those gone by days. Those pre-modern norms were based on ethnic supremacy of some casts and a history of perennial, structural deprivation of casts at the lower rungs of the economic, social and religious ladder. India has struggled to right these wrongs with inevitable resistance and numerous setbacks.
To say, it is very difficult to create and sustain democracy in such conditions is an understatement. In the wake of the Second World War it became very clear that imperialism practiced by the Western democracies was an obvious oxymoron and on its last legs. Hundreds of countries including India, with artificial borders designed for the convenience of the imperial powers, woke up to a new dawn and felt the invigorating winds of change in Asia and Africa. Unfortunately almost all of them except India fell to the lure of dictatorships promising shortcuts to fast and easy solutions to the myriad problems partly a colonial legacy. They never found solutions. Dictatorships only created more problems, succumbing to the exploitation by superpowers or past colonial masters. They only succeeded in strangling their citizens with false promises. A few of those countries, after many pitfalls, have finally awakened to learn from India that there are no short cuts.
To build a democratic republic requires hard work, unplanned sacrifices and to grow deep sustainable roots, it demands tremendous patience in the face of terrible challenges. The growth of democracy in India has been full of pit falls. The forces of bigotry that inevitably take advantage of democratic values of tolerance have menaced India continuously. They have often succeeded in sowing mayhem in different regions of the country and the struggle has been arduous. The protection of the right to free speech of fascistic organizations that indulge in mayhem to violently deny these rights to others, mostly minorities have been excruciating. Many innocent lives have been lost owing to treachery of some in power taking advantage of inevitably slow and inherently cumbersome methods of democracy. These victims in effect have been forced, unwilling martyrs, or one may say sacrificial lambs at the altar of democracy. It indeed is terribly shameful and sad, but abrogation of constitutional guarantees of free speech and free assembly, even when reprehensible forces exploit these rights under the umbrella of democracy have been the death knell of the states that have fatally spiraled into the abyss of dictatorships, scrapping the constitution.
Though draconian shortcuts to rein in undemocratic forces are often very appealing, they tend to destroy the very system leading to the evolution of a civil society. It is a conundrum for all decent people, but so far no easy answer has emerged.
It is a credit to the sustaining vision of the founding fathers of Indian democracy and Indian people that with all the terrible pitfalls and many horrendous mistakes of omission and commission, Indians have maintained a generally upward trajectory towards a better tomorrow with a patient nurturing of a democratic republican form of government. The price paid by the sacrifice and the blood of innocent victims and faith in democracy has helped India to emerge from the depths of colonial past, poised to take its place among the modern nations and the potential to be one of the great powers of the 21st Century.
Mirza A. Beg invites your comments at mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Friday, 26th of January 2007
Counter Currents.org, Friday January 26, 2007
http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_501_550/holding_muslim_leaders_accountab.htm
Indian Muslims Info net, Saturday, January 27, 2007
http://indianmuslims.info/news/2007/january/27/articles/the_58th_republic_day_of_india.html
Al Jazeerah, Sunday, 2, 2007
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2007%20Opinion%20Editorials/January/28%20o/The%2058th%20Republic%20Day%20of%20India%20By%20Mirza%20A.%20Beg.htm
The Milli Gazette, Friday, February 2, 2007
http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2007/200702012_Republc_Day_India_issues.htm
Indians are proud to celebrate the 58th, anniversary of the founding of the Republic of India, “The Republic Day”. Though India became an independent country on the 15th of August 1947, but for political convenience, for a while in name only, it remained a part of the British dominions. It took more than two years of very hard work by the constitutional convention appointed by the founding fathers, under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar, an untouchable to design a thoughtful and inclusive constitution. It was officially adopted on the 26th of January 1950. India the political state became the Republic of India.
On the Republic Day India awards high honors to its citizens who have contributed to peace and growth in all fields of humanity, arts and sciences. Among the many deserving peace activists, this year the recognition of Teesta Setalvad is particularly noteworthy. She could as well be awarded medals for bravery, because in the face of bigotry of some lethal forces, to be a voice of reason and resolute advocate of the rights of politically weak and marginalized is the greatest act of bravery. Award to her does credit to the Government and people of India
Democracy, especially a liberal democracy in a huge sub-continental, mutli-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious country is very difficult indeed. It becomes even more daunting where many communities that make up the fabric have long and rich histories of rise and fall of indigenous empires that they are proud of, and some hark nostalgically to those gone by days. Those pre-modern norms were based on ethnic supremacy of some casts and a history of perennial, structural deprivation of casts at the lower rungs of the economic, social and religious ladder. India has struggled to right these wrongs with inevitable resistance and numerous setbacks.
To say, it is very difficult to create and sustain democracy in such conditions is an understatement. In the wake of the Second World War it became very clear that imperialism practiced by the Western democracies was an obvious oxymoron and on its last legs. Hundreds of countries including India, with artificial borders designed for the convenience of the imperial powers, woke up to a new dawn and felt the invigorating winds of change in Asia and Africa. Unfortunately almost all of them except India fell to the lure of dictatorships promising shortcuts to fast and easy solutions to the myriad problems partly a colonial legacy. They never found solutions. Dictatorships only created more problems, succumbing to the exploitation by superpowers or past colonial masters. They only succeeded in strangling their citizens with false promises. A few of those countries, after many pitfalls, have finally awakened to learn from India that there are no short cuts.
To build a democratic republic requires hard work, unplanned sacrifices and to grow deep sustainable roots, it demands tremendous patience in the face of terrible challenges. The growth of democracy in India has been full of pit falls. The forces of bigotry that inevitably take advantage of democratic values of tolerance have menaced India continuously. They have often succeeded in sowing mayhem in different regions of the country and the struggle has been arduous. The protection of the right to free speech of fascistic organizations that indulge in mayhem to violently deny these rights to others, mostly minorities have been excruciating. Many innocent lives have been lost owing to treachery of some in power taking advantage of inevitably slow and inherently cumbersome methods of democracy. These victims in effect have been forced, unwilling martyrs, or one may say sacrificial lambs at the altar of democracy. It indeed is terribly shameful and sad, but abrogation of constitutional guarantees of free speech and free assembly, even when reprehensible forces exploit these rights under the umbrella of democracy have been the death knell of the states that have fatally spiraled into the abyss of dictatorships, scrapping the constitution.
Though draconian shortcuts to rein in undemocratic forces are often very appealing, they tend to destroy the very system leading to the evolution of a civil society. It is a conundrum for all decent people, but so far no easy answer has emerged.
It is a credit to the sustaining vision of the founding fathers of Indian democracy and Indian people that with all the terrible pitfalls and many horrendous mistakes of omission and commission, Indians have maintained a generally upward trajectory towards a better tomorrow with a patient nurturing of a democratic republican form of government. The price paid by the sacrifice and the blood of innocent victims and faith in democracy has helped India to emerge from the depths of colonial past, poised to take its place among the modern nations and the potential to be one of the great powers of the 21st Century.
Mirza A. Beg invites your comments at mab64@yahoo.com
9/11 - The pain 01-09-23
Our collective pain! What do we do now!
Mirza A. Beg
Tuscaloosa News, Sunday, Sept 23rd 2001
This is a time of great consternation and sadness in our land. Lives have been lost, dreams destroyed and indescribable individual sufferings have left a gaping hole in the collective soul of all of us as Americans. The repercussions from the fall out of this tragedy are strewn with potential peril for our country and the world. The tragedy has struck nothing can be done to nullify it, though each new morning for a second we feel normal then get jolted to the new reality. We can, and we must learn lessons from it. I hope and pray they will be the right lessons. We have to be strong spiritually and emotionally. The immediate reaction of the shocked and angry populace will be to call for revenge, a flailing revenge. It is of utmost importance for us to plan a suitable and just punishment, not an ill-considered revenge. We should remember Sarajevo in 1914, when a terrorist act started a chain reaction and the European powers inescapably followed each other over the precipice to the First World War.
The world is a lot smaller and better connected than in 1914. Those who have suffered at the hands of an oppressive regime, a powerful covetous enemy, or have lost a loved one simply because they belonged to a different ethnic group, religion or tribe are potentially capable of taking revenge, because the doors to justice were closed to them. They were considered too week to matter. A great power can inflict a swift overwhelming revenge to satisfy an angry populace but a small seemingly helpless man without any recourse becomes a zealot. He may take years to plan and inflict damage when the rest of the world has forgotten the injury done by its complacence or at times compliance.
Examples of individual revenge are many, from the assassins of the 12th century to the Armenians extracting revenge from the Turkish Government in the 1970s. The time has come for the major Governments of the world to insure a mechanism to institute justice for the dispossessed and oppressed people of the world. Some groups come to mind without much effort, Palestinians, Kurds, Armenians, Chechniyans, Moros, Hindus in Pakistan, Muslims and Kashmiris in India and till very recently Bosnians, Kosovars, Christians in Indonesia and Catholics in Northern Ireland. There are myriad more in Africa, Asia and Latin America. All these stories of isolated oppressions, so far from us, ignored by the world some time coalesce and some time inevitably become bigger and reek havoc on sleeping peaceful populace unaware of the lingering cancer nurtured by the inattention and occasionally connivance of the major powers.
The United Nations was founded to ameliorate these situations, From American, Vietnam War the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Major powers have violated the principles that they so strongly purported to uphold. In the last quarter century the major powers, especially the U.S. and Western Europe have taken great strides towards helping the oppressed in Europe, but they have been complacent and at times partisan in the conflicts in other parts of the world. United States is the only superpower left after the fall of the Soviet hegemony. The response of the United States to this tragedy should be strong, measured and just punishment, meted out to the culprits mindful of the collateral damage. Not bombing just to score domestic political points as in the case of bombing of the aspirin factory in Sudan.
America is a land from sea to shining sea, It is beautiful and our Flag stands for liberty. But above all America is an Idea, a sublime idea, translated into action it becomes a Country, based on Justice and liberty. Our actions should be for the right cause, for the right reason and in the right spirit. Our Government should strive to make sure that people in the United States and around the world should see it as such. This is a test, for our leaders. Will they be Statesmen working for the good of the country and future or the next election, poll ratings and office?
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Tuscaloosa News, Sunday, Sept 23rd 2001
This is a time of great consternation and sadness in our land. Lives have been lost, dreams destroyed and indescribable individual sufferings have left a gaping hole in the collective soul of all of us as Americans. The repercussions from the fall out of this tragedy are strewn with potential peril for our country and the world. The tragedy has struck nothing can be done to nullify it, though each new morning for a second we feel normal then get jolted to the new reality. We can, and we must learn lessons from it. I hope and pray they will be the right lessons. We have to be strong spiritually and emotionally. The immediate reaction of the shocked and angry populace will be to call for revenge, a flailing revenge. It is of utmost importance for us to plan a suitable and just punishment, not an ill-considered revenge. We should remember Sarajevo in 1914, when a terrorist act started a chain reaction and the European powers inescapably followed each other over the precipice to the First World War.
The world is a lot smaller and better connected than in 1914. Those who have suffered at the hands of an oppressive regime, a powerful covetous enemy, or have lost a loved one simply because they belonged to a different ethnic group, religion or tribe are potentially capable of taking revenge, because the doors to justice were closed to them. They were considered too week to matter. A great power can inflict a swift overwhelming revenge to satisfy an angry populace but a small seemingly helpless man without any recourse becomes a zealot. He may take years to plan and inflict damage when the rest of the world has forgotten the injury done by its complacence or at times compliance.
Examples of individual revenge are many, from the assassins of the 12th century to the Armenians extracting revenge from the Turkish Government in the 1970s. The time has come for the major Governments of the world to insure a mechanism to institute justice for the dispossessed and oppressed people of the world. Some groups come to mind without much effort, Palestinians, Kurds, Armenians, Chechniyans, Moros, Hindus in Pakistan, Muslims and Kashmiris in India and till very recently Bosnians, Kosovars, Christians in Indonesia and Catholics in Northern Ireland. There are myriad more in Africa, Asia and Latin America. All these stories of isolated oppressions, so far from us, ignored by the world some time coalesce and some time inevitably become bigger and reek havoc on sleeping peaceful populace unaware of the lingering cancer nurtured by the inattention and occasionally connivance of the major powers.
The United Nations was founded to ameliorate these situations, From American, Vietnam War the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Major powers have violated the principles that they so strongly purported to uphold. In the last quarter century the major powers, especially the U.S. and Western Europe have taken great strides towards helping the oppressed in Europe, but they have been complacent and at times partisan in the conflicts in other parts of the world. United States is the only superpower left after the fall of the Soviet hegemony. The response of the United States to this tragedy should be strong, measured and just punishment, meted out to the culprits mindful of the collateral damage. Not bombing just to score domestic political points as in the case of bombing of the aspirin factory in Sudan.
America is a land from sea to shining sea, It is beautiful and our Flag stands for liberty. But above all America is an Idea, a sublime idea, translated into action it becomes a Country, based on Justice and liberty. Our actions should be for the right cause, for the right reason and in the right spirit. Our Government should strive to make sure that people in the United States and around the world should see it as such. This is a test, for our leaders. Will they be Statesmen working for the good of the country and future or the next election, poll ratings and office?
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Taj Mahal 06-07-08
Reminiscence of Taj Mahal
Mirza A. Beg
Written, Tuesday, July 6th, 2006
Counter Currents, Saturday, July 8, 2006
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg080706.htm
Taj Mahal is the most recognized mausoleum, or for that matter any building in the world. It has inspired lyrical feelings even in people, not given to poetic thoughts. One of the most apt descriptions of Taj I have ever read is,” it is a symphony in Marble”. One can find its pictures, history and architectural details in thousands of books and sites on internet. The following is a glimpse of what I saw and how I remember the “Taj”
I do not remember a time from my earliest childhood that I did not know of Taj and could not recognize a picture of the monument. The vastness of imagination has the advantage of being unfettered by gravity or any other natural law. Castles in one's imaginations have the ethereal quality of limitless space and beauty, therefore they can never be captured in stone, masonry or any other earthly material, but Taj Mahal came close to what I had imagined. I went through three stages of changing opinions in a very short time; from breathless wonder of ethereal beauty to disappointment in what appeared to be blemishes, and finally to a deeply felt appreciation of the embodiment of thoughts, dreams and above all love in material form.
I had seen many black and white and a few gaudy, colored enhanced calendar photographs. So I knew what to expect, or so I thought. The first time I saw it on my own, I was sixteen years old a freshman at Aligarh University. I went with a few friends in a public bus from Aligarh to Agra, a sort of pilgrimage of 80 miles to the fabled Taj.
It was the prime monsoon season, a rainy morning in August. The rain had just stopped after cleansing the atmosphere of the hanging dust churned up from the densely populated Agra city, on the bank of Jamuna River. Our bus was crossing the Jamuna Bridge; when suddenly to the southwest I saw the most elegant milk white Taj Mahal ethereally levitating in the almost black sky. The sheer contrast made the clouds darker than they were and Taj whiter than it was.
In Earth time, on the congested bridge, it probably took about ten minutes for the bus to cross, but it was timeless for me. I can still close my eyes and see that view, when the time stood still. Suddenly I was alone with no distractions, the din of the traffic, the friends, the bus or the bridge, all receded into oblivion. The Taj, the only reality, a small luminous white building of my imagination levitated in the backdrop of limitless black horizon.
Then just as suddenly it got lost behind the congestion of buildings lining the narrow streets of Agra, amplifying my expectations. We finally reached the premises after what felt like hours. It is well hidden behind very tall boundary walls. We entered the premise through a huge beautiful red sandstone building that serves as an ornate gate, a sentry guarding the hidden jewel.
It was almost as beautiful, but not quite. From the red sandstone gate, as we walked through the beautiful geometrically laid out Mughal garden, with each step the Taj kept growing larger and larger and to my astonishment the plinth of the edifice alone was almost four times taller than me. The marble slabs were huge and not as white as I thought. There were gray streaks of impurity in the metamorphosed stone, peaking my geological curiosity but grating my overly demanding aesthetics. Instead of a molded seamless heavenly milk white building it was made up of huge blocks of crystalline white marble with occasional gray streak, joined at seems. To my enchanted eyes were blemishes. I suddenly wished I had turned back at the bridge with the eternal beauty imprinted on my mind.
With young friends cracking jokes, pushing and shoving, doing everything except an appreciative study of the architectural marvel, we walked around for a while and saw all the obligatory points and a few other historical monuments. I left Agra in the late evening, disappointed.
A few years later I went again with a very close friend. We rediscovered a different Taj, a Taj of perfect proportions. Proportions of the dome to minarets on paper may not look right to many architects, but it is perfect the way it is. Seeing is believing. The calligraphy of Quranic verses in black jasper are so proportioned that they look the same size and can be read with equal ease from the bottom to the top a distance of about 80 feet. The exquisite filigreed marble screens around the graves are robust, but they appear too fragile to touch. The floral ornamentation of superbly sculpted beds of lilies and bouquets of narcissus, iris and tulips appear frozen in white marble providing a contrast to the curvaceous patterns of colorful vines inlaid with jade and malachite with flowers of amber, lapis, carnelian, amethyst, jasper and coral that form perfect delicte patterns on the walls and vaulted portals.
There is much to see in the beautiful red sandstone adjacent buildings as well, but they suffer the indignity of comparison with perfection. There are many beautiful buildings around the world that I cherish but there is only one Taj Mahal, the expression of the deepest abiding love of a man for his beloved wife. Because the man happened to be an Emperor, Shah Jahan, he could make the name of his wife Mumtaz Mahal eternal. He was lucky that in his grief he searched and found best of all the arts and engineering and they coalesced as never before or since.
I have been to Taj Mahal many times since. I have seen its unbelievable beauty in the evocative pale light of the harvest moon, its reflection in the waters of River Jamuna and in the blazing heat of June at high noon. Every time I see it, I feel the tug of the ultimate love incarnate in stone and discover new hidden aspects of its beauty. It beckons me to come again and again.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Written, Tuesday, July 6th, 2006
Counter Currents, Saturday, July 8, 2006
http://www.countercurrents.org/beg080706.htm
Taj Mahal is the most recognized mausoleum, or for that matter any building in the world. It has inspired lyrical feelings even in people, not given to poetic thoughts. One of the most apt descriptions of Taj I have ever read is,” it is a symphony in Marble”. One can find its pictures, history and architectural details in thousands of books and sites on internet. The following is a glimpse of what I saw and how I remember the “Taj”
I do not remember a time from my earliest childhood that I did not know of Taj and could not recognize a picture of the monument. The vastness of imagination has the advantage of being unfettered by gravity or any other natural law. Castles in one's imaginations have the ethereal quality of limitless space and beauty, therefore they can never be captured in stone, masonry or any other earthly material, but Taj Mahal came close to what I had imagined. I went through three stages of changing opinions in a very short time; from breathless wonder of ethereal beauty to disappointment in what appeared to be blemishes, and finally to a deeply felt appreciation of the embodiment of thoughts, dreams and above all love in material form.
I had seen many black and white and a few gaudy, colored enhanced calendar photographs. So I knew what to expect, or so I thought. The first time I saw it on my own, I was sixteen years old a freshman at Aligarh University. I went with a few friends in a public bus from Aligarh to Agra, a sort of pilgrimage of 80 miles to the fabled Taj.
It was the prime monsoon season, a rainy morning in August. The rain had just stopped after cleansing the atmosphere of the hanging dust churned up from the densely populated Agra city, on the bank of Jamuna River. Our bus was crossing the Jamuna Bridge; when suddenly to the southwest I saw the most elegant milk white Taj Mahal ethereally levitating in the almost black sky. The sheer contrast made the clouds darker than they were and Taj whiter than it was.
In Earth time, on the congested bridge, it probably took about ten minutes for the bus to cross, but it was timeless for me. I can still close my eyes and see that view, when the time stood still. Suddenly I was alone with no distractions, the din of the traffic, the friends, the bus or the bridge, all receded into oblivion. The Taj, the only reality, a small luminous white building of my imagination levitated in the backdrop of limitless black horizon.
Then just as suddenly it got lost behind the congestion of buildings lining the narrow streets of Agra, amplifying my expectations. We finally reached the premises after what felt like hours. It is well hidden behind very tall boundary walls. We entered the premise through a huge beautiful red sandstone building that serves as an ornate gate, a sentry guarding the hidden jewel.
It was almost as beautiful, but not quite. From the red sandstone gate, as we walked through the beautiful geometrically laid out Mughal garden, with each step the Taj kept growing larger and larger and to my astonishment the plinth of the edifice alone was almost four times taller than me. The marble slabs were huge and not as white as I thought. There were gray streaks of impurity in the metamorphosed stone, peaking my geological curiosity but grating my overly demanding aesthetics. Instead of a molded seamless heavenly milk white building it was made up of huge blocks of crystalline white marble with occasional gray streak, joined at seems. To my enchanted eyes were blemishes. I suddenly wished I had turned back at the bridge with the eternal beauty imprinted on my mind.
With young friends cracking jokes, pushing and shoving, doing everything except an appreciative study of the architectural marvel, we walked around for a while and saw all the obligatory points and a few other historical monuments. I left Agra in the late evening, disappointed.
A few years later I went again with a very close friend. We rediscovered a different Taj, a Taj of perfect proportions. Proportions of the dome to minarets on paper may not look right to many architects, but it is perfect the way it is. Seeing is believing. The calligraphy of Quranic verses in black jasper are so proportioned that they look the same size and can be read with equal ease from the bottom to the top a distance of about 80 feet. The exquisite filigreed marble screens around the graves are robust, but they appear too fragile to touch. The floral ornamentation of superbly sculpted beds of lilies and bouquets of narcissus, iris and tulips appear frozen in white marble providing a contrast to the curvaceous patterns of colorful vines inlaid with jade and malachite with flowers of amber, lapis, carnelian, amethyst, jasper and coral that form perfect delicte patterns on the walls and vaulted portals.
There is much to see in the beautiful red sandstone adjacent buildings as well, but they suffer the indignity of comparison with perfection. There are many beautiful buildings around the world that I cherish but there is only one Taj Mahal, the expression of the deepest abiding love of a man for his beloved wife. Because the man happened to be an Emperor, Shah Jahan, he could make the name of his wife Mumtaz Mahal eternal. He was lucky that in his grief he searched and found best of all the arts and engineering and they coalesced as never before or since.
I have been to Taj Mahal many times since. I have seen its unbelievable beauty in the evocative pale light of the harvest moon, its reflection in the waters of River Jamuna and in the blazing heat of June at high noon. Every time I see it, I feel the tug of the ultimate love incarnate in stone and discover new hidden aspects of its beauty. It beckons me to come again and again.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
American Talibans 02-05-17
‘Talibanism’ in America
By Mirza A. Beg
Birmingham Post-Herald
May 17, 2002
As a small boy in the early '50s, I sometimes accompanied my father on his rural inspections. I remember a small village in the backwaters of Northern India, where I heard an old, wiry, toothless mullah preach to a largely illiterate crowd about the terrible British. The British had left India in 1947, so it was easier for him to rail against them for injuries inflicted, real and imaginary.
Their creed and their religion were an easy prey. One of the statements I remember was, "We spill our blood for our Creator; they drink the blood of their God every Sunday, whom they call their savior."
I suspect he had never really met a Christian, nor had he ever seen the inside of a church. He had no idea of the Sacrament or the Eucharist.
I was going to a Catholic school and thought I knew a few things. I was about to call the mullah wrong. My father stopped me.
He said, "son you cannot have a civil dialogue with sanctimonious ignorance." That was my first brush with "Talibanism."
Attorney General John Ashcroft, in an interview with Cal Thomas, said, "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you." I still remember my father's wise words. I am sadly violating them. The village preacher was uneducated, with a very limited audience; but Ashcroft is the chief law enforcement officer of this land.
President Bush has taken some pains to convince us that our campaign is against those who have misused the religion and not against Islam. He needs to make sure his attorney general understands it as well, and assure the American people that his attorney general has been made to understand this simple concept.
Judge Roy Moore in Alabama has been a fountainhead of bigotry against all religions and creeds. He has been in the news again. He never misses a chance to appeal to the baser instincts, to achieve his political objectives. He is the chief justice of Alabama.
Pastors such as Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson have also made blanket statements about how terrible Islam is. Graham has since back-peddled saying something to the effect that he does not know much about Islam. No doubt if pressed, Robertson will also hide behind some such statement. These are the American Taliban.
Fortunately the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution have stymied them.
Accusations, based on intentional ignorance, violates the ninth commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." The American Talibans may follow this commandment with their next door neighbor, in a very narrow construct of the word but do not understand the spirit, just as the Taliban never understood the spirit of their religion.
My friends, from all shades of Christianity, including pastors, cringe when such pronouncements are made in the name of their religion, as I resent the hijacking of my religion. Narrow-minded, ignorant, sanctimonious Taliban took over the government of Afghanistan and brought the innocent people untold misery. Unfortunately the Christian soul mates of those Taliban, "the American Taliban" are not only alive and well in the United States, but they also have a following. Fortunately, the Constitution protects us from the American Taliban.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
By Mirza A. Beg
Birmingham Post-Herald
May 17, 2002
As a small boy in the early '50s, I sometimes accompanied my father on his rural inspections. I remember a small village in the backwaters of Northern India, where I heard an old, wiry, toothless mullah preach to a largely illiterate crowd about the terrible British. The British had left India in 1947, so it was easier for him to rail against them for injuries inflicted, real and imaginary.
Their creed and their religion were an easy prey. One of the statements I remember was, "We spill our blood for our Creator; they drink the blood of their God every Sunday, whom they call their savior."
I suspect he had never really met a Christian, nor had he ever seen the inside of a church. He had no idea of the Sacrament or the Eucharist.
I was going to a Catholic school and thought I knew a few things. I was about to call the mullah wrong. My father stopped me.
He said, "son you cannot have a civil dialogue with sanctimonious ignorance." That was my first brush with "Talibanism."
Attorney General John Ashcroft, in an interview with Cal Thomas, said, "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you." I still remember my father's wise words. I am sadly violating them. The village preacher was uneducated, with a very limited audience; but Ashcroft is the chief law enforcement officer of this land.
President Bush has taken some pains to convince us that our campaign is against those who have misused the religion and not against Islam. He needs to make sure his attorney general understands it as well, and assure the American people that his attorney general has been made to understand this simple concept.
Judge Roy Moore in Alabama has been a fountainhead of bigotry against all religions and creeds. He has been in the news again. He never misses a chance to appeal to the baser instincts, to achieve his political objectives. He is the chief justice of Alabama.
Pastors such as Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson have also made blanket statements about how terrible Islam is. Graham has since back-peddled saying something to the effect that he does not know much about Islam. No doubt if pressed, Robertson will also hide behind some such statement. These are the American Taliban.
Fortunately the fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution have stymied them.
Accusations, based on intentional ignorance, violates the ninth commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." The American Talibans may follow this commandment with their next door neighbor, in a very narrow construct of the word but do not understand the spirit, just as the Taliban never understood the spirit of their religion.
My friends, from all shades of Christianity, including pastors, cringe when such pronouncements are made in the name of their religion, as I resent the hijacking of my religion. Narrow-minded, ignorant, sanctimonious Taliban took over the government of Afghanistan and brought the innocent people untold misery. Unfortunately the Christian soul mates of those Taliban, "the American Taliban" are not only alive and well in the United States, but they also have a following. Fortunately, the Constitution protects us from the American Taliban.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Against War/Terror 05-11-13
Take a Stand against War and Terrorism
Mirza A. Beg
Sunday, November 13, 2005
The Tuscaloosa News Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Al -Jazeerah on Line, Friday November 11, 2005
Milli Gazette, Friday November 11, 2005
When volcanoes erupt or earthquakes shake continents by the continual adjustments of tectonic plates, or when the benign winds turn into hurricanes and tornadoes, inadvertently rearranging the terrain, we are awe-inspired by the power of nature. Unfortunately we usually take notice only when they wreck lives.
Scientists study the forces of nature to learn to minimize the destructive effects in future. Some grasp the precariousness of human existence and find fulfillment in helping those in need. Yet some tag the victims with the wrath of God and try to promote their concept of right and wrong.
People devoid of humanity have done and continue to do much more harm to the civilization through wars of hubris and terrorism than nature has ever done. The sublime beauty of religious spirituality is ravished at the altar of religious bigotry and supremacy.
The wars for land, resources and control of others, usually couched in the name of nationalism or religion go on unabated. Nation states keep on inventing more powerful and more sophisticated weapons to subdue the legitimate grievances of those considered "the others". In time the more militant among the aggrieved stealthily adopt the weapons of their tormentors. It brings on more oppression and draconian measures by the powerful and power blinded, leading to indiscriminate violence.With the punch and counter-punch even principled rebellions degenerate in to murderous rebellions, facilitating the rise of unscrupulous leaders advocating indiscriminate violence. A downward spiral into the abyss of inhumanity ensues. Where nothing is sacred, no revenge is too cruel and the most heinous methods acquire currency.
On October 29, Delhi was rocked by four serial blasts that killed 67 innocent people and wounded scores more. Unfortunately the problems that are nurtured for baser purposes of the nation states and the resultant downward spiral into the abyss of inhumanity can not be solved by knee jerk reactions, as is evident from the contemporary wars. Fortunately, to their credit the government and people of India realized that treachery and terror do not achieve anything noble and shunned a flailing, immediate and irrational response.
In our busy lives, we take notice of horrible events, are shocked and condemn them, then go on with the arduous task of living, to be shocked again by another event almost with the regularity of seasons.It feels as if we are on a fast moving train of time, with scenes of benign normal pastoral uneventful lives rushing past our window. Every so often with the regularity of dark nights, horrible scenes of carnage suddenly come into view. We want to avert our eyes but can not. We want to help but feel bound to the train. The scene passes; leaving a lingering sadness that dissipates into the next scene.We want to help abolish violence and exploitation, but feel helpless. But we are not as helpless as we think. The train does have brakes. Two of my dear friends Dr. Tripathi and Dr. Ansari from different religious traditions organized a one-day fast on November 12, at Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation memorial in Delhi. It was an expression of grief for the carnage, but much more than that, it was raising of consciousness against the killing of innocent civilians caught in the web of spiraling calculated violence. It drew many to the cause of sanity who thought they were alone and there is no one to raise a voice for decency and sanity.
It was not just a feel good exercise. When we take time from our busy schedules, we take an important step away from apathy. Let us take time to fast on our own, reflect and try to influence just a few more towards the idea of being engaged. Send money to whatever organization we think would feed the hungry and shelter the exposed. The following couplet is my rendition of an Urdu poem:
The journey was lonely, the quest was long;
One by one they joined, behold it is a caravan.
One person alone is a voice in wilderness, when others join, it becomes a movement and the voice of the people. Let us take up the fast started by our friends in the name of voiceless victims of inhumanity and ask a friend to join.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Sunday, November 13, 2005
The Tuscaloosa News Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Al -Jazeerah on Line, Friday November 11, 2005
Milli Gazette, Friday November 11, 2005
When volcanoes erupt or earthquakes shake continents by the continual adjustments of tectonic plates, or when the benign winds turn into hurricanes and tornadoes, inadvertently rearranging the terrain, we are awe-inspired by the power of nature. Unfortunately we usually take notice only when they wreck lives.
Scientists study the forces of nature to learn to minimize the destructive effects in future. Some grasp the precariousness of human existence and find fulfillment in helping those in need. Yet some tag the victims with the wrath of God and try to promote their concept of right and wrong.
People devoid of humanity have done and continue to do much more harm to the civilization through wars of hubris and terrorism than nature has ever done. The sublime beauty of religious spirituality is ravished at the altar of religious bigotry and supremacy.
The wars for land, resources and control of others, usually couched in the name of nationalism or religion go on unabated. Nation states keep on inventing more powerful and more sophisticated weapons to subdue the legitimate grievances of those considered "the others". In time the more militant among the aggrieved stealthily adopt the weapons of their tormentors. It brings on more oppression and draconian measures by the powerful and power blinded, leading to indiscriminate violence.With the punch and counter-punch even principled rebellions degenerate in to murderous rebellions, facilitating the rise of unscrupulous leaders advocating indiscriminate violence. A downward spiral into the abyss of inhumanity ensues. Where nothing is sacred, no revenge is too cruel and the most heinous methods acquire currency.
On October 29, Delhi was rocked by four serial blasts that killed 67 innocent people and wounded scores more. Unfortunately the problems that are nurtured for baser purposes of the nation states and the resultant downward spiral into the abyss of inhumanity can not be solved by knee jerk reactions, as is evident from the contemporary wars. Fortunately, to their credit the government and people of India realized that treachery and terror do not achieve anything noble and shunned a flailing, immediate and irrational response.
In our busy lives, we take notice of horrible events, are shocked and condemn them, then go on with the arduous task of living, to be shocked again by another event almost with the regularity of seasons.It feels as if we are on a fast moving train of time, with scenes of benign normal pastoral uneventful lives rushing past our window. Every so often with the regularity of dark nights, horrible scenes of carnage suddenly come into view. We want to avert our eyes but can not. We want to help but feel bound to the train. The scene passes; leaving a lingering sadness that dissipates into the next scene.We want to help abolish violence and exploitation, but feel helpless. But we are not as helpless as we think. The train does have brakes. Two of my dear friends Dr. Tripathi and Dr. Ansari from different religious traditions organized a one-day fast on November 12, at Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation memorial in Delhi. It was an expression of grief for the carnage, but much more than that, it was raising of consciousness against the killing of innocent civilians caught in the web of spiraling calculated violence. It drew many to the cause of sanity who thought they were alone and there is no one to raise a voice for decency and sanity.
It was not just a feel good exercise. When we take time from our busy schedules, we take an important step away from apathy. Let us take time to fast on our own, reflect and try to influence just a few more towards the idea of being engaged. Send money to whatever organization we think would feed the hungry and shelter the exposed. The following couplet is my rendition of an Urdu poem:
The journey was lonely, the quest was long;
One by one they joined, behold it is a caravan.
One person alone is a voice in wilderness, when others join, it becomes a movement and the voice of the people. Let us take up the fast started by our friends in the name of voiceless victims of inhumanity and ask a friend to join.
Mirza A. Beg can be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Struggle in Islam 02-08-24
Struggle within Islam
Mirza A. Beg
Written Aug. 24, 2002
Muslim Observer Sept.6, 2002
All religions have internal struggle for the ultimate truth as perceived by the pious. Christianity has reached a substantial truce even though the Balkan wars, less than a decade ago were religious wars in the garb of nationalism. Judaism is polarized but can not afford a war within before defeating the perceived foes without. Hindus are at war with their caste system. Islam also has an on going struggle that started within a generation of its inception.
The struggle within Islam has acquired greater urgency since Osama bin Ladin became a household name. Enduring changes are slow and methodical. Ideas emanating from usual discussions can be grouped in the following laments.
1. If only we go back to the basics of Q’uran and Hadeeth etc. If we follow the teachings faithfully (that is the rub), God will reward us and all will be well.
2. All the great ideas are well and good but impractical. Talk is cheap. Stop talking and start doing something.
3. Our problem is too many sects. If we could only unite and stop bickering.
All observations are true. Taken in isolation without introspection they guarantee failure. We live in a time in which most of us can get as educated as we want. Yet education without introspection and questioning of one’s own beliefs becomes perpetration of propaganda on oneself.
We tend to read laudatory accounts of past glories of Islamic civilization, but do not like to read or understand other religions and societies. Even when we do, it is usually with jaundiced eyes looking for holes to punch, not to learn from them.
Why once great, are we mired in pathos now? Why is the west ascendant with many obvious shortcomings? One word answer is freedom. Freedom to think. There is no freedom to think great ideas without freedom to think stupid and innocuous thoughts as well.
The Prophet of Islam did not designate a successor. It was not an oversight. In effect he willed us to think and choose according to our best lights. The nascent Islamic polity did choose, though not without dissentions, within the limits of civilized decency.
Islamic ethos was given a body blow in 661 CE when Muawiyyah maneuvered Ali's defeat and made the Caliphate a hereditary office, clearly against the pattern set by the prophet. Islam could have withered away. Not only did it flourish but the Omayyad period followed by the Abbasids is considered the golden age of the Islamic civilization.
There were two main reasons. The dynastic wrangling and struggles were left to the power brokers and warriors. The rulers understood the need to learn from the more developed conquered civilizations. Instead of impeding they encouraged learning and adaptations from Greek, Persian, Hindu and other sources.
The second reason was that though they were not considered equal, the conquered people found more freedom and peace than they had under their co-religionist. The Christian, Jewish and Hindu scholars were not only given freedom but were celebrated for their learning and given places of influence under the new rulers. They went from less to more freedom of thought and practice.
The reformation in Europe lead to the age of enlightenment, which unleashed a thirst for intellectual freedom. Freedom from the oppression of the rulers as well as from the religious establishment that historically molded the religious doctrines to suit the powerful.
This set the stage for modern democracies, which are not flawless. With tug and pull, debate and elections, ordinary people work in small ways to make them better. Often taking two steps forward and one back aspiring for a better, not a perfect system.
At this stage some may say that the Prophets system was perfect. By the Islamic definition we know that there is not going to be another Prophet. The system as evolved by the first four Caliphs was nascent proto-democracy aborted by contrived succession of Muawiyyah by his son Yazid.
In America the democracy is flawed by any ideal standard. But it has evolved in a generally right direction with some major setbacks. The founders recognized human failing of addiction to power. So they designed a system of competing centers of power. George Washington gave the greatest gift to this nation by setting a precedent of giving up power after two terms in office.
Only Franklin Roosevelt overrode this principle during the 2nd World War. The congress corrected it by the22nd amendment. It had a tremendous moderating effect on frail presidential egos and it gives people a certainty of getting rid of perceived bad leader with due process.
The republic not only survives the intellectually deficient to highly intelligent though roguish presidents but it prospers, primarily because the presidents know that they have a limited time to make their positive mark on history. The people know that even the worst leader will be at the helm for at most eight years. Thus there is no need for revolution or violence.
God has given each of us some unique gifts and freedom to use them for good, evil or not use at all. We know the parameters according to which we will be judged. This is a quest for the hereafter. In this world it behooves us not go for the illusive perfect, but aspire for better than what is.
The first lament is that, if we all followed the rules and were pious it will all workout. It really will be wonderful but through the whole human experience, this has never happened. People claiming to be pious have fought for their brand of interpretation, at times they reek havoc.
The second lament that talk is cheap… It is the ideas that guide actions. Unless we have a vigorous fearless yet thoughtful debate, not only no new ideas will emerge, but even the old ideas will not be understood in context to do us any good.
The third lament that only if all the sectarianism will stop... It is like waiting for Godot in Samuel Beckett’s play. This has never happened nor will it ever happen. All religions and ideologies since time immemorial have broken into competing sect immediately after the passing of the founder.
So the time is nigh for a civil, thoughtful and fearless debate within the Islamic polity. None of the Muslim countries have true freedoms to do it. In ‘devoutly proclaimed’ religious countries, the religion is misused to suppress all freedoms and in ‘devoutly secular’ countries the religion is suppressed at the altar of secularism. Muslims in this country have the freedom and opportunity to take this challenge. History and our children will be justified in judging us very harshly if we fail to take the lead.
Mirza A Beg invites comments. He may be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
Mirza A. Beg
Written Aug. 24, 2002
Muslim Observer Sept.6, 2002
All religions have internal struggle for the ultimate truth as perceived by the pious. Christianity has reached a substantial truce even though the Balkan wars, less than a decade ago were religious wars in the garb of nationalism. Judaism is polarized but can not afford a war within before defeating the perceived foes without. Hindus are at war with their caste system. Islam also has an on going struggle that started within a generation of its inception.
The struggle within Islam has acquired greater urgency since Osama bin Ladin became a household name. Enduring changes are slow and methodical. Ideas emanating from usual discussions can be grouped in the following laments.
1. If only we go back to the basics of Q’uran and Hadeeth etc. If we follow the teachings faithfully (that is the rub), God will reward us and all will be well.
2. All the great ideas are well and good but impractical. Talk is cheap. Stop talking and start doing something.
3. Our problem is too many sects. If we could only unite and stop bickering.
All observations are true. Taken in isolation without introspection they guarantee failure. We live in a time in which most of us can get as educated as we want. Yet education without introspection and questioning of one’s own beliefs becomes perpetration of propaganda on oneself.
We tend to read laudatory accounts of past glories of Islamic civilization, but do not like to read or understand other religions and societies. Even when we do, it is usually with jaundiced eyes looking for holes to punch, not to learn from them.
Why once great, are we mired in pathos now? Why is the west ascendant with many obvious shortcomings? One word answer is freedom. Freedom to think. There is no freedom to think great ideas without freedom to think stupid and innocuous thoughts as well.
The Prophet of Islam did not designate a successor. It was not an oversight. In effect he willed us to think and choose according to our best lights. The nascent Islamic polity did choose, though not without dissentions, within the limits of civilized decency.
Islamic ethos was given a body blow in 661 CE when Muawiyyah maneuvered Ali's defeat and made the Caliphate a hereditary office, clearly against the pattern set by the prophet. Islam could have withered away. Not only did it flourish but the Omayyad period followed by the Abbasids is considered the golden age of the Islamic civilization.
There were two main reasons. The dynastic wrangling and struggles were left to the power brokers and warriors. The rulers understood the need to learn from the more developed conquered civilizations. Instead of impeding they encouraged learning and adaptations from Greek, Persian, Hindu and other sources.
The second reason was that though they were not considered equal, the conquered people found more freedom and peace than they had under their co-religionist. The Christian, Jewish and Hindu scholars were not only given freedom but were celebrated for their learning and given places of influence under the new rulers. They went from less to more freedom of thought and practice.
The reformation in Europe lead to the age of enlightenment, which unleashed a thirst for intellectual freedom. Freedom from the oppression of the rulers as well as from the religious establishment that historically molded the religious doctrines to suit the powerful.
This set the stage for modern democracies, which are not flawless. With tug and pull, debate and elections, ordinary people work in small ways to make them better. Often taking two steps forward and one back aspiring for a better, not a perfect system.
At this stage some may say that the Prophets system was perfect. By the Islamic definition we know that there is not going to be another Prophet. The system as evolved by the first four Caliphs was nascent proto-democracy aborted by contrived succession of Muawiyyah by his son Yazid.
In America the democracy is flawed by any ideal standard. But it has evolved in a generally right direction with some major setbacks. The founders recognized human failing of addiction to power. So they designed a system of competing centers of power. George Washington gave the greatest gift to this nation by setting a precedent of giving up power after two terms in office.
Only Franklin Roosevelt overrode this principle during the 2nd World War. The congress corrected it by the22nd amendment. It had a tremendous moderating effect on frail presidential egos and it gives people a certainty of getting rid of perceived bad leader with due process.
The republic not only survives the intellectually deficient to highly intelligent though roguish presidents but it prospers, primarily because the presidents know that they have a limited time to make their positive mark on history. The people know that even the worst leader will be at the helm for at most eight years. Thus there is no need for revolution or violence.
God has given each of us some unique gifts and freedom to use them for good, evil or not use at all. We know the parameters according to which we will be judged. This is a quest for the hereafter. In this world it behooves us not go for the illusive perfect, but aspire for better than what is.
The first lament is that, if we all followed the rules and were pious it will all workout. It really will be wonderful but through the whole human experience, this has never happened. People claiming to be pious have fought for their brand of interpretation, at times they reek havoc.
The second lament that talk is cheap… It is the ideas that guide actions. Unless we have a vigorous fearless yet thoughtful debate, not only no new ideas will emerge, but even the old ideas will not be understood in context to do us any good.
The third lament that only if all the sectarianism will stop... It is like waiting for Godot in Samuel Beckett’s play. This has never happened nor will it ever happen. All religions and ideologies since time immemorial have broken into competing sect immediately after the passing of the founder.
So the time is nigh for a civil, thoughtful and fearless debate within the Islamic polity. None of the Muslim countries have true freedoms to do it. In ‘devoutly proclaimed’ religious countries, the religion is misused to suppress all freedoms and in ‘devoutly secular’ countries the religion is suppressed at the altar of secularism. Muslims in this country have the freedom and opportunity to take this challenge. History and our children will be justified in judging us very harshly if we fail to take the lead.
Mirza A Beg invites comments. He may be contacted at mab64@yahoo.com
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