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Jul 3rd, 2010 - 06:40:29 |
Shoaib Khan
Sunni Muslims demand ban of Zakir Naik’s talk
November 13, 2008
Salman ansari/DNA
On November 8, 2008, members of India’s premier Sunni Muslim organisation, Raza Academy came together to demand a ban on Zahir Naik’s programme ‘Insaniyat Ke Liye Hal’ to be held from November 14-23 at Somaiya grounds.
Maulana Ashraf Raza of the Darul-Uloom Hanfia Rizvia, Colaba also issued a fatwa against Naik. Members alleged that Naik had made derogatory statements about Islam’s prophet. Maulanas from the All India Sunni Tableeq Community were present.
Members complained that on many occasions Naik had urged crowds to pray to Allah alone instead of Prophet Mohammed Paigambar, as he claims the prophet is human.
They also alleged that Naik had praised, Yazid, the murderer of Imam Hussein. Saeed Noori, general secretary of Raza Academy said, “Naik has been very indifferent about Osama Bin Laden. He hasn’t said anything about Osama, even though we see him as a terrorist.”
Ebrahim Tahil, member of the academy said, “He earlier targeted Christians and is now against Sunni Muslims. We have met with RR Patil and KL Prasad urging them to ban the programme.” He added, “We want to know from where Naik gets his funds?”
What if the ban is not enforced? Noori said, “Maulanas from the Sunni community plan to confront Naik on his knowledge of Islam before the public during the programme.”
DNA tried getting in touch with Naik, but he was unavailable for comment.
Jul 3rd, 2010 - 06:34:02 |
Shoaib Khan
Zakir Naik banned from entering Britain
Submitted by admin 4 on 18 June 2010
Indian Muslim
By IANS,
London : Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik who claimed "every Muslim should be terrorist" has been banned from entering Britain, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.
Naik, 44-year-old tele-evangelist, was due to deliver a series of lectures in Wembley Arena and Sheffield.
Britain's new Home Secretary Theresa May said she was banning Naik from entering the country as the "numerous comments" he made were evidence of his "unacceptable behaviour".
Jul 3rd, 2010 - 06:17:41 |
Shoaib Khan
Can Pakistan’s Sufi Tradition Resist the Taliban?
February 25, 2009
BBC asks whether Pakistan’s Sufi Islamic tradition can save it from the Taliban.
By Barbara Plett
It’s one o’clock in the morning and the night is pounding with hypnotic rhythms, the air thick with the smoke of incense, laced with dope.
I’m squeezed into a corner of the upper courtyard at the shrine of Baba Shah Jamal in Lahore, famous for its Thursday night drumming sessions.
It’s packed with young men, smoking, swaying to the music, and working themselves into a state of ecstasy.
This isn’t how most Westerners imagine Pakistan, which has a reputation as a hotspot for Islamist extremism.
Devotional singing
But this popular form of Sufi Islam is far more widespread than the Taleban’s version. It’s a potent brew of mysticism, folklore and a dose of hedonism.
Inside the Sufi drumming session at the shrine of Baba Shah Jamal
Now some in the West have begun asking whether Pakistan’s Sufism could be mobilised to counter militant Islamist ideology and influence.
Lahore would be the place to start: it’s a city rich in Sufi tradition.
At the shrine of Data Ganj Bakhsh Hajveri, musicians and singers from across the country also gather weekly, to perform qawwali, or Islamic devotional singing.
Qawwali is seen as a key part of the journey to the divine, what Sufis call the continual remembrance of God.
“When you listen to other music, you will listen for a short time, but the qawwali goes straight inside,” says Ali Raza, a fourth generation Sufi singer.
“Even if you can’t understand the wording, you can feel the magic of the qawwali, this is spiritual music which directly touches your soul and mind as well.”
But Sufism is more than music. At a house in an affluent suburb of Lahore a group of women gathers weekly to practise the Sufi disciplines of chanting and meditation, meant to clear the mind and open the heart to God.
One by one the devotees recount how the sessions have helped them deal with problems and achieve greater peace and happiness. This more orthodox Sufism isn’t as widespread as the popular variety, but both are seen as native to South Asia.
‘Love and harmony’
“Islam came to this part of the world through Sufism,” says Ayeda Naqvi, a teacher of Islamic mysticism who’s taking part in the chanting.
“It was Sufis who came and spread the religious message of love and harmony and beauty, there were no swords, it was very different from the sharp edged Islam of the Middle East.
“And you can’t separate it from our culture, it’s in our music, it’s in our folklore, it’s in our architecture. We are a Sufi country, and yet there’s a struggle in Pakistan right now for the soul of Islam.”
That struggle is between Sufism and hard-line Wahhabism, the strict form of Sunni Islam followed by members of the Taleban and al-Qaeda.
It has gained ground in the tribal north-west, encouraged initially in the 1980s by the US and Saudi Arabia to help recruit Islamist warriors to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan.
But it’s alien to Pakistan’s Sufi heartland in the Punjab and Sindh provinces, says Sardar Aseff Ali, a cabinet minister and a Sufi.
“Wahhabism is a tribal form of Islam coming from the desert sands of Saudi Arabia,” he says. “This may be very attractive to the tribes in the frontier, but it will never find resonance in the established societies of Pakistan.”
So could Pakistan’s mystic, non-violent Islam be used as a defence against extremism?
An American think tank, the Rand Corporation, has advocated this, suggesting support for Sufism as an “open, intellectual interpretation of Islam”.
There is ample proof that Sufism remains a living tradition.
In the warren of Lahore’s back streets, a shrine is being built to a modern saint, Hafiz Iqbal, and his mentor, a mystic called Baba Hassan Din. They attract followers from all classes and walks of life.
‘Atrocities’
The architect is Kamil Khan Mumtaz. He describes in loving detail his traditional construction techniques and the spiritual principles they symbolise.
He shakes his head at stories of lovely old mosques and shrines pulled down and replaced by structures of concrete and glass at the orders of austere mullahs, and he’s horrified at atrocities committed in the name of religion by militant Islamists.
But he doubts that Sufism can be marshalled to resist Wahhabi radicalism, a phenomenon that he insists has political, not religious, roots.
“The American think tanks should think again,” he says. “What you see [in Islamic extremism] is a response to what has happened in the modern world.
“There is a frustration, an anger, a rage against invaders, occupiers. Muslims ask themselves, what happened?
“We once ruled the world and now we’re enslaved. This is a power struggle, it is the oppressed who want to become the oppressors, this has nothing to do with Islam, and least of all to do with Sufism.”
Ayeda Naqvi, on the other hand, believes Sufism could play a political role to strengthen a tolerant Islamic identity in Pakistan. But she warns of the dangers of Western support.
“I think if it’s done it has to be done very quietly because a lot of people here are allergic to the West interfering,” she says.
“So even if it’s something good they’re doing, they need to be discreet because you don’t want Sufism to be labelled as a movement which is being pushed by the West to drown out the real puritanical Islam.”
Back at the Shah Jamal shrine I couldn’t feel further from puritanical Islam. The frenzied passion around me suggests that Pakistan’s Sufi shrines won’t be taken over by the Taleban any time soon.
Jul 3rd, 2010 - 05:56:53 |
Shoaib Khan
Daghestan’s Ban on Wahhabism Should Be Repealed, Khasavyurt Mayor Says
Georgian Tiems Daily,
November 06, 2009
Paul Goble
In 1999, Daghestan became the first republic to legally ban Wahhabism, but that step, Khasvyurt Mayor Saygipasha Umakhanov says, had exactly the opposite effect than intended, calling attention to a trend that otherwise might have remained quite marginal.
Indeed, he said this week, it has “at times” seemed to him that “if there had not been a law ‘On Wahhabism,’ this trend in general would not have existed in Daghestan.” Consequently, he said, his republic and by implication any other Russian jurisdiction with similar legislation should repeal such laws (www.riadagestan.ru/news/2009/11/04/88099).
Umakhonov’s call is important for three reasons: First, as he noted, he was among the first to call for the adoption of this law a decade ago fearful that his republic was going to be transformed by Muslim missionaries and Daghestani Muslims returning from study abroad who rejected traditional Islamic practice.
Second, his comments highlight the way in which Wahhabism became less a description of a particular kind of Muslim than a curse word employed by Russian officials and journalists, on the one hand, and traditionalist Muslims, on the other, to castigate any Muslim trend of which they did not approve.
And third, by calling for the repeal of the 1999 Daghestani law that many elsewhere have voiced support for, Umakhanov puts himself and his republic on a collision course with Moscow, many of whose leaders have used Wahhabism as a spectre to haunt Russians Muslim and non-Muslim alike and to justify repressive actions.
But a comment posted in response to his call when it was reported on a Muslim news site (islamnews.ru/news-21131.html) may give aid and comfort to those who think the Daghestani law should not only be preserved but extended across the Russian Federation in order to defend against the radicalization of the Muslim community there.
“Pavel abu Muhammed” – a screen name -- said that “Wahhabism and traditional Islam are one and the same thing” and that because that is so, there is no reason for there to be a secular law about either. That view, clearly intended as support for Umakhanov’s view, almost certainly will be seen by others as a reason for concluding that the Khasvyurt mayor is wrong.
If Wahhabism and traditional Islam are truly “one and the same thing” as this author suggests, any practice or belief that departs from the more clearly articulated positions of Wahhabism cannot be viewed as genuinely “traditional Islam” and must be changed, a position some Muslims would find attractive but that many Russians would find abhorrent.
Umakhonov’s comments came at a roundtable in his city earlier this week at which participants, who included politicians, officials, siloviki, and students, were asked to address two questions: “What is preventing Daghestanis from being united?” and “What must be done for the consolidation of society?” Some of them made equally intriguing comments.
Valentina Antonyuk, the head of the city section of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), said that from her point of view, the biggest problem in Daghestan and Russia as a whole is that officials frequently talk about “the state” or “the country” but almost never about “the people.”
Not only is that what she said was an unfortunate departure from Soviet times, but it means that the politicians only care about the people “until [the former] have realized their ambitions” and taken office. After that, “the ‘people’ is again left with its own problems and aspirations,” that she suggested the powers that be are doing nothing to address.
Local representatives of “Just Russia” – Gadzhiyev Magomedov and “United Russia” Aziz Azizov, in contrast stressed that while there were positive aspects to the Soviet past, “there was also a great deal of negative things in its, including the absence of pluralism of opinions.” And both stressed that any future unity could be achieved only by discussion.
But other speakers, including local officials and the head of the city Council of Imams, stressed that the situation could be improved only if people became more active, more willing to change their own psychologies, and more ready to defend the longstanding historical, cultural and religious traditions of the people of Daghestan.
Jul 3rd, 2010 - 05:44:56 |
Shoaib Khan
South Asia Analysis
Paper no. 903
26. 01. 2004
End Muslim Terrorism by Ending Wahabism Influence in Saudi Arabia
Guest Column- by Hari Sud
A. Introduction
Osama bin Laden, Talibaan Chief Mullah Mohammed Omar, Chief Suspect in Daniel Pearls murder, Omar Saeed are all followers of Mohammed Abdul Al Wahab, the eighteenth century fundamentalist Mullah (cleric) in present day Saudi Arabia. His view was, that since the time of Prophet Mohammed the followers of the faith have strayed away from his teachings, hence they have to be refocused back to what Prophet Mohammed said in Qoran. Influence of Wahabs word, spread in Saudi Arabia during his lifetime. But the Ottomans, rulers of Arabia at that time, who originally are Central Asian Turks and Sunnis, did not encourage this firebrand Mullah. They set out to completely smash his small band of followers, locally called Wahabis. Ottomans did not succeed very well; hence Wahabis influence remained strong with Mullahs who control the Muslim holy sites and Mosques in and around Arabia. Wahabis have spent last 300 years waiting for an opportune time to gain political influence.
The opportunity came during WW I, when Britain looking for local support within Arabia, Transjordan and Iraq for war against Ottomans found two competing princes for power in Arabia. They had to choose one for their backing. Prince Ibn Rashid lorded over one era of the Arabia (close to present day Iraq) and Prince/Emir Faisal maintained influence in Western end of the desert. They spent their life as Bedouin nomads; hence Ottoman had difficulty catching them. Briton dispatched Gertrude Bell (later called Desert Queen) to prince Rashids camp. She was the first ever lady intelligence officer, Briton had sent on an overseas mission, partly because she had lived in Middle East and partly she was daring in the mold of the proverbial Indiana Jones. She undertook a four-week journey to reach Prince Rashids camp through an uncharted desert with a group of Bedouin guards. There she found Rashids camp divided and decimated by family feuds over women and spoils of raids. She reported her findings back to her British masters. Dissatisfied with Rashid, British sent a second mission lead by T.E. Lawrence (popularly called Lawrence of Arabia) to feel Prince Faisal. Lawrence found Prince Faisal a valuable ally, worthy of British military and technical aid. This alliance resulted in a series of victories for Lawrence & Faisal and a complete rout of Ottoman in Middle East. Thereafter states of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia were born (after a long difficult Paris conference in 1919).
Prince Faisal, to broaden his support, aligned himself with the Wahabi Mullahs of Arabia peninsula. With this alliance, Wahabis gained influence within the ruling circles of Prince later King Faisal and became the interpreter of the Islamic ideology in Arabia. King Faisals successors not only maintained this alliance but also with the arrival of Petro-dollars, enhanced it by giving them monies to build, maintain Muslim holy sites. This increased Mullahs influence ten fold. Extra Petro-dollars at Mullahs disposal gave them ideas of exerting influence outside Arabia in same manner as Pope exerts influence over the Roman Catholics world over from Rome.
B. Wahabis in Arabia and their Influence with the Ruling Princes
All Saudi princes including the king Fahad are Wahabis. They grew up in schools and education system run by Wahabis. Western education to some of them has not changed their outlook. Saudi King(s) have created a special government department which looks after all the religious affairs including Hajj pilgrimage, the up keep of Grand Mosques in Mecca and Madina, free printing and distribution of Qoran in native languages, distribution of cash within Arabia and outside Arabia. The latter is key to galvanizing Muslims in their home countries. With cash at their disposal the local Mullahs are free to open Madarssa (religious school), repair Mosque, build new Mosque and help terrorists find shelter, food money and training. Madarssa curriculum is based on Wahabi teachings.
From 1973 2001, the price of oil scaled new height; hence more money became available to be distributed through out the Muslim world. All teachers of the Madarassas, Mullahs of the Mosques under pretext of Hajj pilgrimage underwent Wahabi training in religious schools in Saudi Arabia. Care was taken not to indulge in political propaganda to alarm the home country government. The latter was left for the mullahs and teacher to undertake after their return.
With the soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Saudis involved themselves in a, first war of the twentieth century against the infidel. To this, they were encouraged by the USA. Open call was given to Muslim all over the world to come to Afghans rescue. They did come and came in large numbers. The military hardware was paid for by USA, it was facilitated thru Pakistan by the Pakistani Government. Saudis paid for their religious indoctrination and recruitment thru the Mosques and Madarssas built by them all over the world.
C. What is Wahabism all about
Al Wahab in his teachings wished to arrest the decadence in the Muslim society and infuse vitality in it. In its original form it was a reformist movement. It rejected Sufism & saint worship and advocated return to the original teachings of Islam incorporated in the Qoran. He wished to liberate Islam from previous 1400 years of interpretations and distortions of the medieval times. He wished Muslim to go back to the fundamentals.
In a way he was turning the clock back on 1400 years of evolution.
To get a better understanding of Al Wahab message, please go to the following references:
http://biphome.spray.se/isllam/WAHABYA.htm?
In this simple message, Al Wahab set in motion events, which lead to present day religious and political alignment in Arabia and influence outside its borders. It is the interpretation, which matters. Theologians differ in its true meaning and the underline meaning. But there is only one conclusion It is a fundamentalist challenge.
D. Where is the major concentration of the Wahabis in the World?
Mostly in the Arabian Peninsula
In Pakistan/Afghanistan
In Indonesia
Smaller proportions exist in Sudan, Gulf countries
Saudi Arabia
It is the home of all firebrands Wahabis. Since they are allied to the ruling princes, hence their influence with in the Saudi society is the greatest.
To repeat, all this has been financed using Petro-dollars under the very nose of USA.
Pakistan
General Zia Ul Haq, the eighties dictator of Pakistan was the first convert to Wahabism in Pakistan. He imported the Wahabi philosophy to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan. His other motive was to drive India out of Kashmir under the pretext of freedom struggle.
Zia aligned himself with the local Mullahs and invited Saudi aid to build Saudi style madarssas and other religious infrastructure. The famous Binori Madarssa in Karachi, Pakistan has been built with Saudi aid. It can boast of having Osama bin Laden, Daniel Pearls murders as its graduates.
The greatest damage General Zia did was to the Pakistani army. He instituted Madarssa graduate recruitment into the army. Army officers were promoted on the basis their religious beliefs. In this way he hoped that Pakistani Army would become defenders of the faith. In order to ensure that his successors are Wahabi, General Zia ensured that bright young army officers are posted in Saudi Arabia in a Pakistani sponsored army mission in eighties. Current crop of senior army officers in Pakistan are all Wahabis.
For Pakistani Army, like Saudi Arabian princes, 9/11 gutted a carefully constructed strategy. Things, which US did not wish to get involved, previously became issues of the day.
Indonesia
Indonesia is a Muslim country with a gentle form of Islam practiced for the last 400 to 500 years. Its post Dutch independence leaders like Sukarno, Suharto etc. were secular in their dealings. Until 1966, it had the largest Communist Party outside Soviet Union and China. Then why has militant Islam emerged in Indonesia? The answer lies in the economic failure of the politicians giving Mullahs an opportunity aided by monies from Saudi Arabia. This was further aided by Afghan war which has let Osama bin Laden to establish contact with the local Mullahs.
Wahabi movements are strong in Sudan, Egypt and all of Gulf countries except Iran. The latter follows the Shia version of Islam, hence runs a foul with Al Wahabs teachings.
E. Why is Wahabism on a Collision course with the West and Others?
Wahabis stayed in the background after WWII. They were thankful to the West for providing them help in exploring and exploiting its oil wealth. The problem first started with the Israel Palestinian conflict. It galvanized the Mullahs and they began to preach anti Semitism, anti west and anti infidel message.
Second and more important cause of galvanizing Wahabis was the importing of the decadent western values (according to Wahabis) from the West. Oil revenues enriched the Saudi Arabian society. They traveled into the West and acquired modern amenities. Moral values suffered at the expense of Islamic teachings. Arrival of large number of workers from the west to exploit the oil wealth and to build and maintain their new cities further exasperated an already critical Mullah community.
Third, the Afghan War and preaching of Jehad against the Soviets further offered opportunity to the Wahabi Mullahs to take on a political stance more boldly. Princes in power supported it; hence the state and the religion combined their resources to meet the challenge of Jehad.
Fourth, the Gulf War I, resulted in a significant presence of American and British on the Arabian Soil. The former felt that it is a necessity to keep Saddam Hussain under control. The Saudi Arabian Mullahs felt it otherwise. They considered their presence, as an occupation of their sacred soil. USA, which had portrayed itself as liberator of Kuwait became occupiers of their holy land. They plotted to get rid of Americans from their soil and gain complete independence from the Wests economic hold on them.
Lastly, oil wealth provided them an opportunity to run an independent foreign policy with or without ruling princes approval by directly supporting Madrssas all over the Muslim world. With this they could preach Jihad on a minor pretext e.g. Jihad for the Palestinian cause, Jihad to get Soviets now Russians out of Chechnya, Jihad to get Kashmir liberated, Jihad to expel Americans out of Arabia etc.
All the above causes have now galvanized Wahabis into action. A major strike at WTC was there first such major act. Many more are threatened. God forbids, if they do succeed in acquiring crude nuclear technology, threat to the rest of the world will be the greatest.
F. What do we do to eliminate this Ever Present Threat?
Former British allies, turned enemies have grabbed the world headlines especially after 9/11. Prior to that, their support for East Africa bombing, USS Cole bombing brought them into the limelight. Osama bin Laden is one of the Wahabi who undertook all the aforementioned acts. In India, Chechnya, Philippines Muslim terror threat is ever present for worthless causes. West is now paying attention to Arabia because majority of the 9/11 terrorists hailed from there.
There is a little US can do directly to the policy making in Saudi Arabia. Indirectly they may be able to influence a few key princes in power to:
Limit the amount of monies, which Wahabis get under the pretext of upkeep of holy places.
Modify the school system in Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia and elsewhere to prevent the Wahabis from affecting the young minds.
Close down some of the premier Madarssas in above countries and replace them with better schools of study and learning.
Mullahs to be relieved of their duties if they preach Jehad in Mosques and other places.
Hajj is not to be used to recruit and indoctrinate people for worthless Jehadi causes.
No monies outside Saudi Arabias border are to be handed over to the local religious charities. No matter what the cause.
Israel- Palestine, Chechnya-Russia, India-Pakistan, Bosnia -Serbs are to be treated as bilateral local issues. Calls for recruits to join in the fight are to be thoroughly discouraged.
Guerilla Fighters in Philippines, Talibaan in Afghanistan etc. are not to be given monetary or technical aid under any pretext.
The West and US develop a policy of slowly disengaging from Arabian oil supply.
No political support locally or in any world forums to be given to movements which have smiling face on one side and terrorist face on the other.
In the end, I must say, Wahabis are here to stay. Only Arabian government can control them. West can only help to reshape their education and prevent monies transferred to other countries to galvanize masses there. To end Muslim terrorism, the West has to influence Saudi policy. Only the latter can control the Wahabi influence in the Kingdom and outside it.
(The author is a retired Vice President from C-I-L Inc. and has lived in Canada for the past 34 years. A graduate of Punjab University and University of Missouri; Rolla, USA, the author is a former investment strategies analyst and international relations manager. The Views expressed are his own. email- harisud@hotmail.com)
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