Former Pakistani Cricketer Imran Khan on Islam: Why the East Sticks To Religion, Islamic Ideology, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Ideology

Former Pakistani Cricketer Imran Khan on Islam: Why the East Sticks To Religion

By Imran Khan

My generation grew up at a time when colonial hang up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan. Despite gaining independent, they were, and still are, producing replicas of public schoolboys rather than Pakistanis.

I read Shakespeare, which was fine, but no Allama Iqbal – the national poet of Pakistan. The class on Islamic studies was not taken seriously, and when I left school I was considered among the elite of the country because I could speak English and wore Western clothes.

Despite periodically shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in school functions, I considered my own culture backward and religion outdated. Among our group if any one talked about religion, prayed or kept a beard he was immediately branded a Mullah.

Because of the power of the Western media, our heroes were Western movie stars or pop stars. When I went to Oxford already burdened with this hang up, things didn’t get any easier. At Oxford, not just Islam, but all religions were considered anachronism.

Science had replaced religion and if something couldn’t be logically proved it did not exist. All supernatural stuff was confined to the movies. Philosophers like Darwin, who with his half-baked theory of evolution had supposedly disproved the creation of men and hence religion, were read and revered.

http://newageislam.com/former-pakistani-cricketer-imran-khan-on-islam--why-the-east-sticks-to-religion/islamic-ideology/d/2038

Islam not responsible’ for shooting, says US imam, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Islam not responsible’ for shooting, says US imam

Saturday, 07 Nov, 2009

SILVER SPRING (Maryland), Nov 6: Islam is ‘not responsible’ for the bloodbath at an army base in Texas where Muslim-American army Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly gunned down 13 people, the prayer leader at the mosque where the officer regularly worshipped said on Friday.

“We offer our condolences and prayers to the families that have a person who died,” said Imam Mohammed Abdullahi over loud-speakers that carried the weekly Muslim prayer to several hundred worshippers gathered at the mosque.

“Islam is not responsible,” he stressed.

Many of the worshippers who had come to the mosque in this suburb of Washington knew Hasan or had seen him at Friday prayer, which he attended regularly when he lived in the Washington area.

To them, the news that he had allegedly opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon and a handgun in a crowded troop processing centre on the sprawling Fort Hood base in Texas, mowing down 13 people and wounding 30 others, came as a shock.

“Islam doesn’t command anybody to do something like that,” said Shaikh Khamis, who has prayed at the Silver Spring Muslim Community Centre mosque for 11 years.

“It’s very sad, a big tragedy for everybody,” said another worshipper, Ibrahim Gayi.

“We pray for everybody, all Americans, not only Muslims,” he said.

Asif Qadri, head of the medical clinic at the Muslim Community Centre, described Hasan, an army major, as “very gentlemanly.

“He was sociable, likeable. We had regular, casual conversation — he didn’t manifest any particular view either way,” Qadri said.

“When I saw him on television, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he added.

It was “unbelievable”, said Qadri, that the man who news reports said went on a deadly rampage on Thursday was the soft-spoken psychiatrist who prayed at the mosque nearly every week.—AFP

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/islam-not-responsible-for-shooting%2C-says-us-imam-719

http://newageislam.com/islam-not-responsible%E2%80%99-for-shooting,-says-us-imam/islamic-world-news/d/2065

Dr Zakir Naik: One Man, One Mission, Islamic Personalities, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Personalities

Dr Zakir Naik: One Man, One Mission

By Aijaz Zaka Syed

4 September 2009

One first heard about Dr Zakir Naik nearly ten years ago, back in Bangalore. A friend of mine and an ardent admirer of his had invited me to one of his marathon lecture-and-Q&A sessions in the Silicon Valley of India. Back then, I didn’t know who he was and why just about everyone was looking forward to seeing him in action.

And then I saw his posters all over the city that has always been so close to my heart. I couldn’t believe what I saw: A maulvi (mullah?) in a smart, well-cut suit, with a strikingly colourful tie and regulation Muslim skullcap and a scrubby beard. He looked rather funny. My friend told me Dr Naik was good at giving “speeches in English” on Islam.

I opted to pass that meeting, deciding it must be one of those boring community events that we do all the time. However, Dr Zakir Naik and his face remained etched on my memory. It was not just his appearance. There was something about the man that you couldn’t quite place yet found hard to ignore.

Today, the rather ordinary looking ‘mullah in suit’ has come a long way. He has grown into a legend, a true phenomenon and has millions of followers in India and around the world. His Peace TV, with its headquarters in Mumbai and a staff of nearly 200 young and committed professionals, is the world’s first global television network that is dedicated to presenting the real face of Islam and its original, liberating teachings before the world.

http://newageislam.com/dr-zakir-naik--one-man,-one-mission/islamic-personalities/d/1733

Saudi Child bride turned over to 80-year-old husband, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Saudi Child bride turned over to 80-year-old husband

Arab News, 27 Aug 2009

AL-LAITH, AUGUST 25 - A 10-year-old bride was returned last Sunday to her 80-year-old husband by her father who discovered her at the home of her aunt with whom she has been hiding for around 10 days. A Saudi local newspaper said the husband, who denies he is 80 in spite of claims by the girl's family, accused the aunt of meddling in his affairs. "My marriage is not against Shariah. It included the elements of acceptance and response by the father of the bride," he said. He added that he had been engaged to his wifés elder sister and that this broke off as she wanted to continue with her education. "In light of this, her father offered his younger daughter. I was allowed to have a look at her according to Shariah and found her acceptable," he said. Maatouq Al-Abdullah, a member of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), said there is no system in place regulating the marriage of young girls, something that he said results in adverse psychological, health and social effects. "Such marriages are considered a gross violation of charters on the rights of children, which the Kingdom has signed and which set the age of adulthood at 18," he added. (ANSAmed).

http://newageislam.com/saudi-child-bride-turned-over-to-80-year-old-husband/islamic-world-news/d/1693

The Self Of Man And Its Destiny: Chapter 3: Islam A Challenge to Religion by Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez, Books and Documents, NewAgeIslam.com

Books and Documents

The Self Of Man And Its Destiny: Chapter 3: Islam A Challenge to Religion by Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez

Personality or self is no doubt centred in the physical organism. But there are valid grounds for believing that it is not identical with the body. That man is something more than his physical self, can easily be seen from the fact that whereas his body is continually changing, both in its inner structure as well as in its outward appearance, his self remains unchanged. What, then, is his real self? The answer is, the ego or "I" of whose real nature we know nothing except in so far as it expresses itself in its behaviour or activities which are mediated by the body. Biology tells us that the human body is an organic structure, composed of millions of living cells which are continually changing. The moment a cell passes out of existence, it is replaced by a new one. In technical language, the process of catabolism is counterbalanced by the process of anabolism. Disintegration is quickly followed by re-integration. As a result of this, new cells are being produced and taking the place of older ones. Destruction and construction go side by side. The human body is, therefore, continually changing into a new one, so much so that it does not take more than three years, or seven as some believe, to renew itself completely.

http://newageislam.com/the-self-of-man-and-its-destiny--chapter-3---islam-a-challenge-to-religion-by-allama-ghulam-ahmad-parwez/books-and-documents/d/1593

The idea of compulsion in religion is alien to Islam, Islamic Ideology, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Ideology

The idea of compulsion in religion is alien to Islam

Why The West Craves Materialism and The East Sticks To Religion?

By Imran Khan

Science had replaced religion and if something couldn't be logically proved it did not exist. All supernatural stuff was confined to the movies. Philosophers like Darwin, who with his half-baked theory of evolution had supposedly disproved the creation of men and hence religion, were read and revered. Moreover, European history reflected its awful experience with religion. The horrors committed by the Christian clergy during the Inquisition era had left a powerful impact on the Western mind.

To understand why the West is so keen on secularism, one should go to places like Cordoba in Spain and see the torture apparatus used during the Spanish Inquisition. Also the persecution of scientists as heretics by the clergy had convinced the Europeans that all religions are regressive.

However, the biggest factor that drove people like me away from religion was the selective Islam practiced by most of its preachers. In short, there was a huge difference between what they practiced and what they preached. Also, rather than explaining the philosophy behind the religion, there was an overemphasis on rituals. I feel that humans are different to animals. While, the latter can be drilled, humans need to be intellectually convinced. That is why the Qur'an constantly appeals to reason. The worst, of course, was the exploitation of Islam for political gains by various individuals or groups.

http://newageislam.com/the-idea-of-compulsion-in-religion-is-alien-to-islam--/islamic-ideology/d/1005

Pakistan: Another Terrorist attack, Dozens killed in Marriott hotel, Islamabad, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Pakistan: Another Terrorist attack, Dozens killed in Marriott hotel, Islamabad

Heavy security

She says that about two-thirds of the 290-room hotel is on fire, and the wounded and dead are still being brought out, on stretchers or wrapped in sheets.

She says the emergency services have been unable to reach the upper floors of the hotel, where more people are feared to be trapped.

A hotel employee, Mohammad Sultan, said he was in the reception when something exploded, forcing him to the ground.

"I don't understand what it was, but it was like the world is finished," he told the Associated Press news agency.

There are reports that the explosion brought down the ceiling of the banquet hall, where some 300 people were sharing a meal to break the fast during the holy month of Ramadan.

The Marriott is the most prestigious hotel in the capital, and is located near government buildings and diplomatic missions.

Security there is tight, with guests and vehicles subject to checks.

It is popular with foreigners visiting Pakistan or members of the expat community, and has previously been the target of militants.

Last year a suicide bomber killed himself and one other in an attack at the hotel.

Insurgency

The bomb attack comes just hours after Pakistan's newly installed President, Asif Ali Zardari, said he would not allow Pakistan's territory to be violated by terrorists or foreign powers fighting them.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan--another-terrorist-attack,-dozens-killed-in-marriott-hotel,-islamabad-/war-on-terror/d/762

Islam's enemy within, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Islam's enemy within

By Kanchan Gupta

Only someone who has undergone lobotomy would say something so stupid in public. But more than being silly, there's a sinister purpose to such comments and they should not be attributed to a lobotomised brain; Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil would vouch for this. A lie repeated again and again, as Paul Joseph Goebbels proved through word and deed, tends to be believed by the masses. Islamofascists, both at home and abroad, who peddle the myth that 'Islam is the solution' and thus see nothing wrong with the ghastly crimes committed in the name of Islam, would naturally take to Goebbelsian propaganda tactics like a duck takes to water. Fiction propagated slyly at conferences and seminars, mentioned between the lines in newspaper articles, and slipped into Friday sermons by mullahs after the jumma namaaz, acquires a certain legitimacy and is soon perceived as fact.

http://www.newageislam.com/islam-s-enemy-within-/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/39