An opinion---Fuck Hegemony, and Fuck Al Queda.

[Left of Larry]

Gals and Guys, let me know what you think of this article....It is time we get our news from diverse places...I for one read Al Jazeera, it gives a completely different perspective, that way you can match their news to BBC, or even CNN and Fox to compare, contrast and form opinions.. Anyway, this is form an Opinion piece from the Aljazeera website...the link is at the end...

Al-Qaida: Wrong answers to real problems
By Soumayya Ghannoushi

Monday 25 July 2005, 18:23 Makka Time, 15:23 GMT

Once again I watched the nauseous devastation and massacre, this time in the heart of my city, near the universities and libraries, where I have spent much of my adult life.


Madrid and Bali, Casablanca and Riyadh, I have come to predict al-Qaida's responsibility for a given criminal act through the following test. If I find myself at a loss for an answer to the questions: "Why the innocent?" and "For what purpose?", then, in all likelihood, the crime is of al-Qaida's doing.

The absurd, random mass carnage of young and old, male and female is its trademark. Residential buildings, tourist resorts, rush hour trains and crowded buses turn into grand spectacles of mass murder where no heed is paid to the victim's identity and the extent of his/her responsibility for the policies of a country defined as the enemy. The boundaries between the world of politics and that of organised crime are blurred, as political demands get wedded to criminal methods.

Al-Qaida, it must be said, is no pioneer in this field. For although it founds its ideology on religious references and speaks a language overwhelmed by religious symbols, al-Qaida falls largely within the modern tradition of revolutionary anarchists - from the Jacobins and the Bolsheviks down to latter-day Marxist guerrillas like the Baadr-Meinhoff Gang.

Destruction as a passion

Like these modern revolutionary nihilists, al-Qaida warriors subscribe to an instrumentalist logic that recognises no distinction between the legitimate and illegitimate, thereby sanctioning acts of terror for the attainment of their ends. Like them, they are more interested in the act of destruction than its effects. As the father of Russian anarchism Mikhail Bakunin put it, 'the passion for destruction is also a creative passion'.


"No one here is shocked, or crying for any one. People here are just sick and tired of being inadvertently blamed for what someone else is doing to someone else, somewhere else."

Al-Qaida is also a revival of the radical currents that surfaced in Islamic history from time to time only to be defeated by moderate mainstream Islam led by the Ulama (scholars). In particular, they appear to be a continuation of Kharijite thought with its dualistic puritanical conception of the world and the community of Muslims and of Gnostic underground organisations like the Assassins and Qaramita, who sought to disrupt the stability of Muslim societies through acts of terrorism.

Al-Qaida would be best seen as a mixture of these political and ideological strands. Apart from the ideological justifications it takes recourse to, one would, indeed, be hard put to find much that distinguishes it from Latin American anarchist groups. Their acts share the same destructive ferocity, the same absurdity. The difference is that where one finds its ideological legitimacy in Marxism, the other seeks it in the Islamic religion.

Islam misinterpreted

How can the murder of the innocent be perpetuated in the name of a religion that likens the loss of one human life to the loss of humanity at large? How can Islam be said to sanction such acts of aggression when it openly forbids revenge and declares in no less than five Quranic chapters that: "No bearer of a burden bears the burden of another"?

How can the killing of ordinary men and women going about their business be permissible when even the battlefield has been regulated by the strictest moral code: "Destroy not fruit trees, nor fertile land in your paths. Be just, and spare the feelings of the vanquished. Respect all religious persons who live in hermitages or convents and spare their edifices"?

Perhaps the one thing al-Qaida militants have proven good at, apart from the shedding of innocent blood, is fanning the flames of hostility to Islam and Muslims. From the darkness of their caves and hiding places, these self-appointed spokesmen for about one and a half billion Muslims worldwide have excelled in stirring latent negative images of Islam within the Western psyche. Through their senseless crimes, Islam, in the minds of most, has become a euphemism for mass slaughter and destruction. Thanks to them, racism, bigotry and Islamophobia could rear its ugly head unashamedly in broad day light.

The terrible irony is that Muslims currently find themselves helplessly trapped between two fundamentalisms, between Bush's hammer and Bin Laden's anvil, hostages to an extreme right wing American administration, aggressively seeking to impose its expansionist and hegemonic will over the region at gunpoint, and to a cluster of violent, wild fringe groups, lacking in political experience or sound religious understanding.


'Us' and 'them'


Although the two claim to be combating each other, the reality is that they are working in unison, one providing the justifications the other desperately needs for its fanaticism, ferocity and savagery.

No wonder, it didn't take the neo-conservative world supremacists long to spot the immense opportunities 11 September handed them. Their puritanical missionary belief in being God's instruments on earth and grand imperial ambitions could now be realised through shameless emotional blackmail and bogus moral claims.

The two share a shallow, myopic, dualistic conception of the world populated by 'us' and 'them' in Bush's language, 'believers' and 'non-believers' in Bin Laden's. Al-Zarqawi and his fellows then brandish the sword of excommunication (takfir) against the Muslim body itself in an endless orgy of maiming and mutilation.

Some are to be expelled, because they are Shia, others because they are Sufis, or Mu'tazilites (rationalists) and so on in a perpetual elimination process that spares no one but a handful of puritan elects from its deadly reach.

The vast stock of common denominators is ignored, that which tears and divides is sought. These would rather see the world turn into an ever- raging battlefield, Muslim societies into blazing scenes of sectarian schism and civil war in a region rich in ethnic, religious, sectarian and linguistic diversity.

I daily use London's trains and buses and could have been one of Thursday bombings' victims. I hardly think that killing or maiming me would have aided the causes the bombers claim to defend. The truth is that these narrow-minded fanatics are a scourge to the causes they purport to champion.

Ask any Iraqi or Palestinian if the bombing of the innocent in Bali, Casablanca, or London has helped alleviate their suffering. If anything, they have handed their oppressors with an open permit to butcher and destroy, safe in the knowledge that blame has been shifted from them to their victims.


Just causes, unjust means

So, Sharon demolishes the homes of Palestinians, expropriates their lands and sends his helicopters to massacre them in their hundreds in the name of combating terrorism. Arab regimes stifle dissenting voices, imprison and assassinate in the name of resisting terrorism. American tanks and gunships invade, occupy, kill and rampage, all in the name of terrorism.

Al-Qaida's mindless acts have turned the aggressor, who colonises, massacres and pillages, into a victim. For all their material vulnerability, victims have a very powerful asset: their moral case as innocent victims. Perhaps, this is the cruellest dimension to these senseless crimes: That the powerless has been stripped even of his victimhood. Even this has been appropriated by the powerful.

The causes al-Qaida extremists speak for are certainly just causes. The sanctioning of genocide and occupation in Palestine, slaughter of hundreds of thousands in Iraq through exposure to depleted Uranium and years of barbaric sanctions first, then through bombing and shelling without bothering to count the dead, brutal invasion of the country, destruction of its infrastructure and humiliation of its people undoubtedly rank among modern history’s bloodiest crimes and darkest tragedies.

But the mindless killing of the innocent in Madrid, or New York is the wrong answer to these real grievances. These are illegitimate responses to legitimate causes. Just as occupation is morally and politically deplorable, so, too, is this blind aggression masquerading as Jihad.

Soumayya Ghannoushi is a researcher in the history of ideas at the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ ... EA180F.htm

[Iconoclast]

How can the murder of the innocent be perpetuated in the name of a religion that likens the loss of one human life to the loss of humanity at large? How can Islam be said to sanction such acts of aggression when it openly forbids revenge and declares in no less than five Quranic chapters that: "No bearer of a burden bears the burden of another"?

How can the killing of ordinary men and women going about their business be permissible when even the battlefield has been regulated by the strictest moral code: "Destroy not fruit trees, nor fertile land in your paths. Be just, and spare the feelings of the vanquished. Respect all religious persons who live in hermitages or convents and spare their edifices"?

QUORAN QUOTES:

28:86 "Never be a helper to the disbelievers."

66:9 "Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey's end."

9:123 "Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you."

9:29 "Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah."

4:101 "The disbelievers are an open enemy to you."

4:144 "Choose not disbelievers for (your) friends in place of believers. Would ye give Allah a clear warrant against you?"

5:51 "Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. ... He among you who taketh them for friends is (one) of them."

3:151 "We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve."

8:12 "I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger."

4:91 "Take them and kill them wherever ye find them. Against such We have given you clear warrant."

4:74 "Fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward."

A RELIGION OF PEACE

[Left of Larry]

Iconoclast: Here is a response I had written to a neocon on JIHAD. NOT in defense of Muslims or Islam, because I believe all religions are subject to misinterpretation which ilead to hate and fear and violence, be it, terrorist or hegemonic in nature.... What the point of what I wrote below is to show that like the fucking bible the quran also can be misinterpreted, adn we all like to take quotes that fit our views of what we want to hear. Christianity and the zionist movemnt of judaism is, if not more so, as violent as the extremist muslims...Let's not forget that Timothy McVeigh was a protestant....in the nature of terrorism and wars..religion is only used as a fuel...there are obvious economic and land issues at stake...being the somewhat marxist that I am I do believe that the bottom line to all societal failures and successes is money....or land use which can be interpreted as money..but to not further stall.... here you go: (with the disclaimer that I hate ALL religion and to me it is all bullshit, but let's understand what we hate first on ALL levels not just through our bigoted eyes, also the following was a response to someone else, not you, but it makes a point here as well)

REMEMBER: TIMOTHY MCVEIGH WAS A PROTESTANT. REMEMBER OKLAHOMA CITY!!!



Lesson one...it's called Quran, not koran (we just have to americanize everything don't we...lol).

Lesson two....Islam is not addicted to war, and jihad is not one of its "pillars”

3. AND THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ONE Jihad in Arabic does not mean "HOLY WAR”. It means "STRUGGLE” or “STRIVE”. It is the difficult effort needed to put God's will into practice at every level The "greater jihad” in the Quran is that of the soul, of the tongue, of the pen, of faith, of morality, etc. The "smaller jihad" is that of arms. Many directives in the authentic statements of
Muhammad (Hadiths):

He told his companions as they go home after a battle "We are returning from the lesser jihad [the battle] to the greater jihad, at home"

Three levels of jihad:

Personal: That of the soul

Verbal: Raising one's voice in the name of Allah on
behalf of justice.
"The most excellent jihad is the speaking of truth in the face of a tyrant" (Hadith) (THIS MAY BE INTERPRETED IN MANY WAYS)

Physical: Combat waged in DEFENSE (and this is a point I will address later) against oppression and transgression. Profoundly MISUNDERSTOOD (BOTH BY MUSLIMS AS WELL AS THE REST OF THE WORLD) in today's world.

6. Much of the Quran revealed in the context of an all-out war imposed on early Muslims by the powerful city of Mecca, and many passages deal with the conduct
of armed struggle.

EXAMPLES:
1. While one finds "slay [enemies] wherever you find them!" (e.g., 4: 89), in almost every case it is followed by something like "if they let you be, and do not make war on you, and offer you peace, God does not allow you to harm them" (2:90; 4: 90; 5: 2; 8: 61; 22: 39)

2. Since good and evil cannot be equal, repel thou evil with something that is better, and love he between whom and thy self was enmity may then become as though he had always been close unto thee, a true friend" (41:34)

3. God does not allow harm of civilian, and requests the protection of women, children and the elderly during war (4:96; 9: 91; 48: 16,17)

4. “If any one slew a person--unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land--it would be as if he slew the whole people; and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.” (5:32)

5. You shall feed and protect prisoners of war, and you shall not expect a reward (4: 25,36; 5:24)

6. Thus, the only permissible war in the Quran is one of self-defense, you cannot kill unarmed (civilian), and you have to protect prisoners of war.

7. Warfare is always evil. Sometimes you have to fight to avoid persecution. e.g., the one Mecca inflicted on early Muslims (2: 191; 2: 217), or to preserve decent values (4: 75; 22: 40)

8. Muslims may not begin hostilities "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loves not transgressors." (2: 190).
Notice: Defensive war, fight back (JEWISH ZIONIST AND AMERICAN HEGEMONY)

Hostilities must be brought to an end as quickly as possible, and must cease the minute the enemy sues for peace (2:192-3; 41:34)

9. ‘Martyrdom’: Those killed during fighting or while doing civic duties (martyrs) are promised a place in heaven (several passages, e.g., 2:154; 3:169-172)
However, suicide is not allowed; it is forbidden and condemned (e.g., 6:151, 17:33, 25:68)

10. One of my favorite Hadiths
'Do not attack a temple, a church, a synagogue. Do not bring a tree or a plant down. Do not harm a horse or a camel’

NOW...let's talk about 1. the extreme terrorists and why I think they are doing what they are doing.. 2. Are they really muslims? 3. Correlation between muslim aggression and christian aggression and 4...comparison of all the western religions to each other especially the similarities between islam and christianity....

SO..

NUMBER 1.
Based on the teachings of the quran...war is not what islam stands for. However if attacked, then a muslim may call a Fatwah. Now, Osama Bin Laden in 1998 issued a Fatwah on the US.

fatwah: (Islam) a legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar; "bin Laden issued three fatwahs calling upon Muslims to take up arms against the United States" (btw: they are trying to change who can and cannot call fatwah.. Only the true scholars of islam can now call a fatwah, to avoind bin ladens in the future)

This, may be argued, was in defense to the US middle east policies, their ties to the zionist movement of israel and their hunger for middle eastern oil..which is rightly theirs. So you may argue, which most people here in the US don't see or undertand, is that these fundametalit muslims are feeling attacked and find it justified to attack back. So in essence, it can be argued that they are retaliating to US imperialism and israels zionist movement.

Now..here is my problem with these fucking crazy assholes....they do not follow the tenets of the quran..at least they have interpreted it in a very twisted manner...which brings me to number 2.

Number 2. ARe they true muslims? no, they are not true muslims...becuase it is strictly prohibited in the quran to kill innocent women and children...therefore, they are using the power of persuasion of religoin to convince idiots to kill innocents.. these people are feeble minded..they are ignorant. much like christians in this country are using language and god to convince and brainwash us to certain ideologies so are the muslims doing so with their religion. Christianity has in teh past killed without provocation...remember the Crusades??? Remember what we did to the Native Americans????? So no, also Martyrdom is not suicide. These "suicide" bombers are not martyrs they did not die in battle, they commited suicide...which is STRICTLY prohibited in the quran. These people are victims to the ways of the lost..the ignorant...religion has turned them into puppets..much like many christians in this country. who use hateful rhetoric, against gays.....so are the muslims using hateful rhetoric, justified by god. it is wrong....but that is the problem with religions..it has been twisted and perverted into a reason to kill and hate......on both the muslim side AND the christian side, AND the jewish side. This section also included point 3.

Point 4. Are you familiar with Abraham? He is the grandfather of Islam, Christianity and also Judaism. All three western religions stem from the same source..they all worship the same God. It is a difference in detail, which also proves to me that it is all about what fits you..I mean look, you have Islam that's split into various forms..sunni, shi'a, etc.. you have Christianity that's split into catholicism, protestant, etc.. and EVEN within THOSE section you have separations and non agreement, such as...this Christianit-->Protestatism-->Baptists--->Free will, Southern..etc..

I mean my point here is that religion is so open ot interpetation that even people within their own faith can't agree...cause they want to use the quran or the bible to fit their own personal needs. This proves to me that it's all bull..if it was truly the word of GOD the bible would not be so divisive.



Let me show you how the Quran is related to other faiths:

Like the Torah, the Quran permits retaliation eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

But, like the Gospels, it says “it is meritorious to forgo revenge in a spirit of charity (5: 45)

Acknowledges Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, Zacharia, Jesus, John the paptist, and others as the “the good prophets of God” (the quran mentions jesus more than the bible or the torah)

A special place for Jesus and Mary (e.g., 3:45,46; 4:156-158; 19:1-98)

Accepts that Mary’s conception is from God’s soul.

Rejects the divinity of Jesus (no trinity).

Jesus was not killed (e.g., 4:155-159; 5:17-19)

Islam did not impose itself by the sword.
"There must be no coercion in matters of faith" (2: 256)

Muslims have to respect Jews and Christians, the "People of the Book," who worship the same God (e.g., 2:62; 29:46). AGAIN WHICH PROVES THAT THE TERRORISTS ARE USING ISLAM AS A MECHANISM TO SPREAD HATE.

"And dispute ye not with the People of the Book, except with means better, unless it be with those of them who inflict wrong: but say, 'We believe in the revelation which has come down to us and in that which came down to you; Our Allah and your Allah is one; and it is to Him we bow.”

In one of his last public sermons Muhammad said
“God tells all human beings, "O people! We have formed you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another" (49: 13). Do not conquer,
convert, subjugate, revile or slaughter but to reach out toward others with intelligence and understanding”

The Levant remained mainly Christian for almost 200 Yrs. No one was forced to convert to Islam
The right of all faiths to worship was respected
Sites of worship, holy places and shrines of all faiths were protected

So do you see my point? your version of the quran is wrong..it is part of this mass propaganda and smear campaign against the religion of islam.. from the xtian right... it's like the fucking blind hating the other blind....read the REAL quran, if you want to find the truth. You dont' have to believe in it..but don't read the "Ann Coulter" version of it. And again, these media pundits are entertainers that have found a demographic to sell their books too...all of them, Michael Moore, Geneane Garofallo, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Al Franken, they are out to make money..even Mel Gibson, think about how much money he made by making a movie about a man being tortured to death in a very graphic manner....emotions..cause knee jerk reactions and these people know exactly what they are doing..and their pockets get fatter and fatter... be a free thinker..don't let these people do the thinking for you..

In ending I hate ALL RELIGIONS BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT THEY LEAD TO HATE AND WAR...ALL OF THEM....NOT JUST ISLAM...

[Iconoclast]

I'm sure my version is not the "Ann Coulter" type. I got those quotes from www.skepticsannotatetedbible.com, which is run by what I suspect are Secular Humanists.

I can't blame the islamics for 9/11 and the bombings due to the West's imperialism, but they're still a much a threat to us even if we leave their country as they seek to assimilate us into their religion, which like Christianity seeks to universalize the worship of their god.

I know all muslims won't be as fundie about it, but the religion itself seeks to spread and it's current target is Europe--already we have Europe being almost literally invaded by muslim immigrants to the point where the original population will be a minority in 30-75 years.

[Iconoclast]

Number 2. ARe they true muslims? no, they are not true muslims...becuase it is strictly prohibited in the quran to kill innocent women and children

I like how the word "innocent" is planted there.... Do you think they see women and children stubborn to convert as "innocent"?

[Left of Larry]

Number 2. ARe they true muslims? no, they are not true muslims...becuase it is strictly prohibited in the quran to kill innocent women and children

I like how the word "innocent" is planted there.... Do you think they see women and children stubborn to convert as "innocent"?

That's the problem with religion....yes fundies, as you call them, are a threat no matter what religion. And the Fundamentalist Xtians are huge threat here at home and abroad...as I said LET'S NOT FORGET TIMOTHY MCVEIGH...

Btw: as I said this was a response to a neocon I was having a "conversation with" I wasn't sayin ti was your quutes that were the "Ann Coulter" version..however.. quoting is dangerous when taken out of context which is done alot.... from all sides....

[Iconoclast]

Number 2. ARe they true muslims? no, they are not true muslims...becuase it is strictly prohibited in the quran to kill innocent women and children

I like how the word "innocent" is planted there.... Do you think they see women and children stubborn to convert as "innocent"?

That's the problem with religion....yes fundies, as you call them, are a threat no matter what religion. And the Fundamentalist Xtians are huge threat here at home and abroad...as I said LET'S NOT FORGET TIMOTHY MCVEIGH...

Btw: as I said this was a response to a neocon I was having a "conversation with" I wasn't sayin ti was your quutes that were the "Ann Coulter" version..however.. quoting is dangerous when taken out of context which is done alot.... from all sides....

Agreed. That is why I put so many and ones that are probably NOT out of context.

How was McVeigh a fundie? I thought he was just pissed with the government, rightfully so, and decided to take matters into his own hands.

[Iconoclast]

And let us please stop saying the problem is religion intrinsically. The real problem is the religions based off of Judaism, namely Christianity and Islam.

[Fat Pat]

too many words.. I'll come back to this later...

[Guest]

And let us please stop saying the problem is religion intrinsically. The real problem is the religions based off of Judaism, namely Christianity and Islam.

Well let's just say the abrahamic religions.....