The ‘immortal’ Pharaoh is still Alive and Kicking

Spiritual Meditations

20 Jun 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com

The 'immortal' Pharaoh is still Alive and Kicking

Dr. Sarkar Haider ponders the moral frailties of mankind A few years back while standing in a Cairo museum, looking at the mummified corpse of Ramses II, a renowned cardiologist, Dr. Sarkar Haider, now based in Bareily, India, felt besieged by several questions. While Time has answered some of his questions and the rest have died out a natural death, the biggest question he had on his mind that day still haunts him: is the Pharaoh, who was thought to be immortal, finally dead or is he still alive? If Pharaoh 3.0 is here, could the Deliverer be far behind? Dr. Haider's musings lead him to the conclusion that the current age is the age of Pharaoh 3.0, which is more menacing, more powerful, more aggressive, more spiteful than the original one. But then another question has cropped up in his mind: Where is the Deliverer? URL: http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1487 ---------------------------------------  The 'immortal' Pharaoh is still Alive and Kicking   Dr. Sarkar Haider 20 June 2009  A few years back while standing in a Cairo museum and peeping at the mummified corpse of Ramses II, the most famed Pharaoh in history, I was gripped in a complex emotion of awe, confusion, hatred and the impossibility of a mortal looking at the "immortal", even though he was nothing more than a thin tuft of fluffy grey hair and crooked nose which gave him his distinct, legendary appearance. I was very close; only a few millimetre of glass separated our faces. I had a thousand questions for him but mummification had not found a way of preserving his speech. Over the next few years most of my questions have died out a natural death, a select few seem to have been even answered by the circumstances and experiences, but the biggest question that I had on my mind that day still haunts me: is the Pharaoh, who was thought to be immortal, finally dead or is he still alive?  They say for every Pharaoh there is a Moses, but the irony is that the followers of each Moses ultimately solidify their own distinct clout and thus the Pharoahood  travels further off course under a different (more acceptable) Label, this has come a long way from the time of exodus to the present Zionistic Israel and its famous almighty, omnipotent, ubiquitous lobbies who like Biblical Pharaoh now decide who has the right to live, what should be called a news, how the economy of the world should dance to their tunes and so on and so forth. As per rules of existence every check requires a mate, therefore after a few hundred years it was JESUS proclaiming his divinity and asking the pharoahnically solidified masses to give up their stubbornness. His followers were prosecuted by blood hounds but after his crucifixion the same persecuted lot starts to solidify like their predecessors. Soon Christianity finds the most eligible groom, The Roman Empire, and now there was no turning back. Great cathedrals were erected where works of some of the greatest artists found their place on domes and basilicas, although the father of Christianity ( Jesus himself) is known to have lived a very modest life in which his entire energy was spent in teaching ways of God and establishing a kind and just society, where the weak is not harassed, where the war cry remains " THE WEAK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH"  and the energy dedicated to the material life is the bare minimum, just to ensure survival. But the Christians were turning into kings, monarchs and Lords. Now the energy equation was a little changed. It was expansion of Christian power, territory and might as the primary task. While all this was being achieved Christian thought (as perceived by the contemporary followers and if it suited their socio - political agenda) too was being disseminated, but since this was now a hybrid, this surprisingly had ability to accommodate works of arts, which otherwise would appear ungodly acts. The result was expected. Rome had paintings, statues , murals , themes as it always had before Christianity but now most statues started displaying winged angels hovering over their heads, some faces started wearing haloes. Rome being the epicentre of European conscience was soon copied by other neighbouring states. Byzantium thrived on works of art and great architecture. Within no time the Roman Empire expanded like a fire. This had a Christian identity in its cortex but once again the nucleus was Roman. Next generation (in web lingo, the version 2.0) Pharaoh was born. And the humanity again had similar kinds of rulers and social landscaping. After seven hundred odd years the stage was set for the arrival of Prophet Mohammad.    He too like his predecessors would try to liberate humanity from the Pharaohnic clutches of local Emirs of Arabia who exploited a common man in day to day life. His job was a little more complex as he had the task to liberate Arabs not only from the bondage of man but also from a worse form of bondage of idols of Laat and Manaat. The local clergy fooled the common man into believing so many fabricated tales so that they continue to rule humanity as an emissary of those supposed 366 gods of Arabia. Once gods were there, they needed visits by common man and thus pilgrimage to Mecca was the most thriving industry of the said times. Prophet Mohammad did successfully break this vicious circle but he had to adopt the same attitude, that of his forefather, Abraham. It is quite understandable because the local Arabs must have been in so much awe of those bogus gods that it became necessary to shatter those faces of stones and metal, otherwise even if they were gone their image would continue to sit like a perfect idol in Arabian consciousness. Once the prophet liberated his people from these two forms of bondage, he moved on to the other more important existential issues his newfound nation faced.  An unbiased analysis of the whole thing should reveal that the demolition of idols was not meant for paving the way towards heavens to please an almighty God; rather it was meant as a symbolic destruction of the collective religious bondage which was so shrewdly exercised by the clergy of that era, so that people find time and resources to attend to existential issues rather than spend their time chanting some mantras and slogans. History always repeats itself and after the prophet left his nation at the age of sixty three, the nation had two psychological guardians -- the Rulers and the Sheikhs, The institution of Hadith (traditions attributed to the prophet) was invariably moulded by these sheikhs (the then ulema, the so-called scholars) from time to time to suit various dynasties which were about to rule in the name of Islam. This was not a new phenomenon, similar thing had already been done by the followers of Moses who had accorded a very exalted status to TALMUD (akin to the institution of Hadith among Muslims). Torah, the original book which is the fountainhead of Judaism brought by Moses himself was made so much sacred and thought so much complex that only a few Jews chose to consult this in their day to day lives. It was on the authority of Talmud that various kings of Jerusalem and Israel ruled in the past.  Past centuries have witnessed the repetition of this history. The story is continuing in our times. Presently the scene being enacted has SAUD DYNASTY playing the role of Roman emperor, pumping tens of billions of dollars to propagate their version of Islam as conjured by a local sheikh of central Arabia, Abdul Wahhab al- Najdi. Islam which originally was a religion of peasants, slaves and shepherds presently has maximum number of kings and monarchs scattered all around the world, all justifying their rule to be as much Islamic as they can.  God, as interpreted by the contemporary  protagonists of the Saudi version of Islam seems to be like the proverbial extremely jealous woman, who is not at all ready to tolerate any kind of dilution of attention on the part of His subjects ( the Muslims in particular and others in general). The ideological cortex of this psyche is new (Muslim) but the seed is very old, and can possibly be traced down to the times of Abraham and the Age of Monotheistic revolution. Any work of Art is frowned upon, the subconscious verdict being indulgence in devilish activities whereas in fact the time and energy should have been devoted to lord's worship. Ah ! The worship!!!.. Since the time immemorial, scholars have absolutely failed to define this act. But that would require an altogether different debate. In our 21st century Time seems to be in unprecedented hurry. History is being too rapidly unfolded because of common man's access to means of rapid communication. It requires just a few hours today for the entire world to know, for instance, that Swat has made history with bearded men flogging a helpless young girl, amidst her cries of help.  The world could actually see that happening and hear her cries, even though it could do nothing to save her. The counting of Iranian election is not even over and the world knows that Mousavi says polled were rigged. Keeping pace with the technological advancements, the Pharaoh too has updated himself. Now we may call him 3.0 in the internet language. This in fact is not any man of flesh and blood; rather this is a deadly combination of material power plus clergy. Each sect among Muslims, for instance, has its own distinct clergy that seems to have more rights over the lives of Muslims than the Muslims themselves. The most distinct and relevant example is that of the clergy of Abdul Wahhab issuing moral guidelines to the Muslims all around the world. Since the clergy thinks infidels and those they consider people with weak faiths need to be wiped out. Taliban like groups are executing their wish and plan. In their workbook Buddha of Bamiyan was an ugly reminder of idolatry; therefore, it was broken. Tomorrow if Taxila, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro came under their control they too would be wiped out. It is interesting to note that all the famed prophets invariably brought the death warrant of existing gods and pharaohs.  Each ensured some level of liberation to their followers, and although it may startle some readers, the fact remains that all of them were essentially SECULAR, at least in the sense we commonly use the word today. They invariably targeted the existing clergy like a qualified doctor targets a gangrenous tissue and invariably routed this out.  But the clergy has a tendency to bounce back mostly in tandem with monarchy to execute its malwares. Now interestingly the traditional mullah is not very much in demand, except, perhaps in the South Asian sub-continent; so modern clergymen are assuming the shape of Televangelists. Doctors and engineers are executing the programmes which originally mullahs implemented in the past. Current age is the age of Pharaoh 3.0, which is more menacing, more powerful, more aggressive, more spiteful than the original one. Where is the Deliverer??!!....  URL: http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1487