It fell from the heavens, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

It fell from the heavens

By Nadeem F Pracha

Though both sides of the main sectarian divide (the ‘Barelvi’ and the Salafi/Deobandi) are given equal space on the channels, unfortunately, the preachers and TV hosts of both the sides have usually taken extreme positions on various issues. This includes exhibiting animated armchair radicalism by indirectly siding with monsters such as the Taliban and scoffing at the concept of democracy and liberal Islam, attacking them as misguided constructs worthy only of ridicule.

But the proliferation of conservative and at times rather demagogic religious shows on television is not exactly a new phenomenon. Its roots lie in the sudden growth of religious programming on the state-owned PTV from 1979 onwards, or two years after General Ziaul Haq’s intransigent military dictatorship started to find some firm footing following the toppling of a democratically elected government in 1977. According to a former PTV man Burhanudin Hasan’s book, ‘Uncensored’ (2000), there was almost a three-fold growth in religious programming on PTV in the 1980s.

This kind of programming was mostly sculpted to propagate the Zia regime’s Islamic credentials and laws, and to also justify and glorify the concept of armed jihad in the wake of Pakistan’s involvement in the anti-Soviet manoeuvres of the (US/ISI-backed) Afghan mujahideen. But is it possible to pinpoint an exact moment that triggered the whole trend of politically-motivated religious programming in Pakistan? It seems there is.

In July 1979, America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) announced that its ‘Skylab’ satellite that had been orbiting the planet since 1973 had developed a fault and was expected to fall to Earth. Nasa was not sure exactly where it would crash, but experts believed that the burly satellite was likely to fall either over Australia or over the Indian subcontinent. Though the same experts also stated that the satellite would start burning after it entered Earth’s atmosphere and most probably end up in the sea, the story took a life of its own in Pakistan.

http://newageislam.com/-it-fell-from-the-heavens-/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/2752

Jihadism gets sustenance from verses of war in the Quran, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Jihadism gets sustenance from verses of war in the Quran

Dear Aamir Mughal Sahab,

Knowing how to Interpret Quran correctly doesn't solve our problems regarding the Holy Quran's war-like verses. These verses were situational. They are instructions given in a certain context. Some of them certainly are of a universal nature. But that context does not and cannot obtain today or in future. Time machine or not, we are not going to live in the 6th century Arabia and fight those wars again. Enemies of Islam both within and without are using these surahs to propagate that Islam breeds or justifies terrorism.

A virtually new religion has come into existence that I have been calling Jihadism, but it claims to be Islam and derives sustenance from these verses. Its practitioners too are outwardly Muslim and claim to be true Muslims, indeed the only Muslims who deserve to go to Heaven. Jihadism has indeed distorted the very beautiful concept of Jihad fi sabilillah.

http://newageislam.com/jihadism-gets-sustenance-from-verses-of-war-in-the-quran--/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/960

Jihad has had a chaotic journey’ - Ayesha Jalal, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Jihad has had a chaotic journey’ - Ayesha Jalal

By Rohit Karir in New Delhi

“ The concept of jihad, which means an inner struggle to be more human, has suffered from betrayals from within,” said Jalal, a professor of history at Tufts University. “ Just when Islamic scholars like Shah Waliuallah, considered to be the founder of liberal Islam in India, would tone down the rhetoric about jihad and Islam in the 18th century, along would come people like Abul Ala Maududi in the 20th century, who would propagate a darker and a more absolute view of Islam and indeed jihad.” She said organisations supposedly associated with terrorism, such as Lakshar- e- Tayyeba and Jamat- ul- Dawa, play with people’s minds. “ When they helped people after the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, they termed it as jihad for people who had died of a natural cause,” she said.

Ayesha said she had thought of writing a book on jihad much before 9/ 11. “ The concept of jihad is crucial to understanding the issue of faith or imaan ,” she said. “ Because if someone tells you he or she is a Hindu, Sikh or Parsi, it really does not tell you what their faith is. The concept of jihad has shifted to refer to infidel encroachment rather than an ethical struggle to be more human. The word has had a topsy- turvy journey. Its beginnings were in imaan ( faith), but over the centuries, jihad has come to be associated with external sacrifice rather than an inner struggle to understand Islam.”

http://newageislam.com/jihad-has-had-a-chaotic-journey%E2%80%99----ayesha-jalal-/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/435