Friday, September 29, 2006

The Thing About the “World” is:

There are 193 countries in the world

Out of this 15-20 countries form the World Cup Cricket.
Some 33 countries team against one another to form World Cup Football/Soccer.
(Please fill in the blanks about how many go for World Cup version of Basketball. I don't know the number).
One country makes up the "World" in the World Series Baseball ~ America.
In America, Super Bowl or World Series [American] Football is considered the most famous game in the "World". All of America watches it.

Another Debate that Went Way into the Night --- About Texts and People and their Interrelation

But have you read the Quran? No? Then how are you so sure that the Quran says just that and that? How do you know so much about the Quran anyway? Where does your information come from? How is it that you trust your media so much?

Coming to the media, have you ever wondered what the media means?

You live in America. Arabic media does not reach you here. No news of Iraq and Pakistan and Afghanistan until given to you through American TV, newspaper and the .coms.

[And yes, that holds true for India too. You only know the war fought upon the Indian land through the Indian perspective. Isn’t that how History is formed, with the sea saw heavily tilted to one side? (Don’t you think there must have been more freedom fighters who fought for India’s independence, many of who must have been Muslim? I don’t know the name of any though. But isn’t that how History is formed?)]

But the Quran still does not feature into all this. Just like the Bible does not feature into how the American media conducts itself.

Are you very sure the removal of Islam from politics in Islamic countries will bring peace and order?
Stalin ruled and murdered without religion, so did Hitler.
Killing Jews does seem like a very religious thing to do…Jews being a religious sect. How come you don’t view the World Wars as a religious war? How come you don’t bring the Bible into this entire picture?
Why do I feel that had Hitler been a religious person he would not have killed?

Slavery was justified using the Bible.

And what about Abu Gharib torture and abuse? Why do you not blame Christianity for this inhumanity? Why is the Abu Gharib just another political/moral crisis?
Would you call such torture if conducted by Iraqies another political/moral crisis?

I quote from wikipedia. This is Ameen Saeed Al-Sheik, detainee No. 151362 telling about what happened at the Abu Gharib prison.
'Do you pray to Allah?' one asked. I said yes. They said, '[Expletive] you. And [expletive] him.' One of them said, 'You are not getting out of here health[y], you are getting out of here handicapped. And he said to me, 'Are you married?' I said, 'Yes.' They said, 'If your wife saw you like this, she will be disappointed.' One of them said, 'But if I saw her now she would not be disappointed now because I would rape her.'" [...] "They ordered me to thank Jesus that I'm alive." [...] "I said to him, 'I believe in Allah.' So he said, 'But I believe in torture and I will torture you.'
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse)

“Jesus” is used as a word here, would that make this a Christian crime?

When you say Muslims always put their religion before their nation, before love, before life, before humanity, do you mean ALL Muslims or just certain Muslims? A substantial percentage of the African American population is Muslim, as is a substantial population of Black Africa. Do you think the African Americans will fight for Iraq in a war between the US and Iraq?

Why don’t you think of the African Americans as Muslims? They worship Allah too, why are they not a part of the Jihad?
Why do brown skinned, tall, dreamy eyed men come to your mind when you think Muslim? What about the black skinned? The mongolian featured?
If the fault is in the religion itself wouldn’t it affect everyone and anyone practising it?

And if Islam turns people evil because the Quran says so, what about Taslima Nasreen? What about Rushdie? Nushrat Fateh Ali Khan? And the SEVERAL other singers. What about Shah Rukh Khan and the other Khan dons of Bollywood? What about cricket? What about Michael Jackson who converted in 2003? What about Mohammad Ali?
How come you don’t attribute these people’s secularism to the Quran?

Give me proof that a Muslim general in the Indian army will sell India to Pakistan. So far I hear no names.

And what about Gulzaar and Ghalib and Javed Akhtar and Shabaana Aazmi and A.R.Rehman?

Is creativity a product of the Quran too?

In Nepal, the only Hindu country in the world, there are armed policemen standing at temple gates to keep non-Hindus out. That translates to violent, religious discrimination, doesn’t it? If the American TV showed pictures of men with guns standing before Pashupati Nath, what would everybody else think about the Hindus?

Do the Shiv Senas represent Shiva?

But if the media tried and the audience REALLY wanted to then would it not be the easiest thing to represent Hindus as a bunch of miserable fanatics?

It’s not about religion, not about Hinduism or Christianity or Islam. Religion and relgious texts have nothing at all to do with the state of our world. But yes, dogmatism, indifference, irrationality, cruelty, herd mentality, close mindedness, hate, superior/inferior complexes, fear, greed…these are responsible. Just like Christianity did not teach the prison guards to torture the Abu Gharib prisoners and the Bible did not allow the Western world to enslave people from Africa and Ramayan does not tell us to domolish mosques and burn our brides for dowry, the Quran does not propagate violence…and unless you have read Quran as it is, interpreted it as it is, weighed and counterweighed all its arguments and complexities, understood it without bias and prejudice, there is no argument at all.

By the way, had there been a direct co-relation between texts and practices, Hindus would have been a group of sexually expressive and free people who believed in swayambhars and love marriages and single parenthood, the Christians would have been absolutely Virgin, and the book that allows a woman divorce, takes a woman’s consent before marriage, gives her the security of Mehr would have treated women folks with so much more respect.