The Scholar, The Sufi, And The Fanatic, The War within Islam,

The War within Islam

The Scholar, The Sufi, And The Fanatic

By Nadeem F. Paracha

Dec 31st, 2009

Roughly speaking, the political and social aspects of Islam in Pakistan can be seen as existing in and emerging from three distinct sets and clusters of thought. These clusters represent the three variations of political and social Islam that have evolved in this country: modern, popular and conservative.

The modern aspect of Islamic thought in Pakistan has its roots in the ‘Aligarh Movement’ – a nineteenth century effort launched by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.

His analysis convinced him that the Muslims of India had failed to come to grips with the new zeitgeist emerging from the rise of western colonialism – a power driven by breakthroughs in modern scientific thought and economics, and pragmatic politics based on rational and dispassionate self-interest, all of which stemmed from the many doctrines and socio-political upheavals witnessed in the West during the ‘Age of Reason/Enlightenment.’

Ahmed strived to reinterpret the teachings of Islam so they could be brought in harmony with modern science and philosophy, helping the educated Muslims to continue holding on to their religion but through a rational and enlightened view of life.

Though accused of heresy by conservative Islamic scholars, Ahmed managed to lay the foundations of a modern college in Aligarh in an attempt to draw young Muslims away from the traditional madrassahs towards a place of learning where religious studies would be supplemented by the teaching of modern ‘secular subjects.’

http://newageislam.com/the-scholar,-the-sufi,-and-the-fanatic/the-war-within-islam/d/2317

Pakistan’s urban middle-class still suffering from the Muslim minority complex of the early 20th century India, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

Pakistan’s urban middle-class still suffering from the Muslim minority complex of the early 20th century India

By Nadeem F. Paracha

Sunday, 24 Jan, 2010

The Mughals and the Muslim population of the subcontinent weren’t all that bothered by the whole concept of the caliphate. As rulers they did not, or only superficially, recognised the Ottoman caliph. The Mughals, though Central Asian by decent, were deeply entrenched in the political and social traditions of the subcontinent and so was their Muslim polity.

Also, till even the reign of the last great Mughal ruler, Aurangzeb, there are only a handful of documented episodes involving any serious physical clashes between the Hindu majority and their Muslim counterparts. Compared to the communal violence between the two groups in India, and the drummed-up anti-Hindu sentiment in Pakistan in the 20th century, relations between the two communities were largely harmonious — especially during the reigns of Akbar and Shahjehan.

Thus, the roots of the modern-day Hindu-Muslim antipathy lie not in the distant past, but a mere hundred and fifty years back in history; or soon after the failure of the 1857 rebellion started jointly by disgruntled Hindu and Muslim soldiers against their colonial British masters.

As the British became a lot more imposing after the failed rebellion, they also began introducing a greater number of modern ideas and technology, some of which, like democracy, suddenly awakened the Muslims to a stark reality which they had simply not been aware of. The idea of majority rule suddenly made the Muslims realise that they were actually in a minority.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan%E2%80%99s-urban-middle-class-still-suffering-from-the-muslim-minority-complex-of-the-early-20th-century-india/islamic-society/d/2427

The three in-famous Kasabs of Pakistan, all of them religious crackpots!, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

The three in-famous Kasabs of Pakistan, all of them religious crackpots!

The name’s Kasab

By Nadeem F. Paracha

09 18th, 2009

What’s with this name, Kasab (sometimes also spelled with a Q)? There have been three (in) famous Kasabs in Pakistan – and all of them religious crackpots!

First there was one Yusuf Kasab who was arrested by the police in the early 1990s and accused of committing ‘blasphemy’ by proclaiming that he was a prophet. He was killed by a fellow inmate while awaiting trail in jail.

Then there is Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani terrorist and jihadi who was involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Incidentally, the mass murderer was the only attacker captured alive by police and is currently in Indian custody.

The third Kasab is yet another mad-faith-crank. He’s Sher Muhammad Kasab, a frontline butcher of the Takreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who was recently arrested by the Pakistan Army.

Of course, all these crackpots having a similar surname is no more than a coincidence, but it sure is a meaningful concurrent.

Because if one chronologically follows the exploits of all the Kasabs, he can draw a fairly interesting narrative about the madness of Islamic fanaticism that until recently had threatened to rip society and the country apart.

Yusuf Kasab, the so-called ‘false prophet’ may have been a victim of the ‘blasphemy’ trend - unfolded by General Ziaul Haq’s myopic laws and warped ‘moral’ antics in the 1980s, that has seen a number of self-righteous fanatics accusing Christians and fellow Muslims alike for committing ‘blasphemy.’

http://newageislam.com/the-three-in-famous-kasabs-of-pakistan,-all-of-them-religious-crackpots!/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/1835