Oh Pakistan…!

Oh Pakistan!

Oh Pakistan, how many times must you make us cry? How many times must you break our hearts?

You are so full of contradictions that we don’t know which way to turn.

People have no jobs, they have nowhere to get food for their families. Government-run  hospitals are inadequately stocked, insufficient staff and not to be seen in deep country.
Education is unavailable except to the rich. Government schools are poorly-run, many teachers are collecting salaries from two or more, different schools while none of the schools even have any students.
Fanatic mullahs are allowed free reins to run the public in any way they may so they teach things that do not exist in Islam. They promote hate and violence saying God wants His followers to kill the infidel; “Infidel” being anyone who does not belong to the mullahs own sectarian club. Yesterday, the “enemy”, the “Kuffar” (infidels) was the Christians, the Hindus or the Jews while today, the list of “infidels” has expanded closer to home to include; the Shia, the Sufis, the Ahmediyya.

FATAH: Mentally ill? The media or the murderer?

I was sent a link to this (headline) article from the Toronto Sun questioning whether the media were mentally ill because they were soft on Muslims. It was sent to me by a dear friend who, as a Hindu from Pakistan has (sadly) good reason to be mad at Muslims persecuting minorities like him in the name of Islam. Pakistan’s twisted system of law, what they call “Sharia-based” law gives cover to the monsters who take part in murders and persecutions of religious minorities. (https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/fatah-mentally-ill-the-media-or-the-murderer?video_autoplay=true)

My friend’s e-mail was in response to him originally referring to “Radicalized” when talking about violent Muslims. I pointed out that the term “Radicalized” is not a hole lot different from “terrorist”, “fundamentalist” and “home-frown” in that they have become slightly civilized code for Muslims. I asked him to not use such terms and to be against violence and injustice no matter who committed it.

He replied by telling me there are Muslims who go to becoming Martyrs and killing people so when they go to Heaven, they will have “a gaggle of virgins”. That as guests in this country, we should refrain from “complaining and bitching at home and in Mosques” about the US and the West because it contributes to Muslim violence.

He closed by telling me that as “A Muslim leader”, it is my job to speak out against violence. This was my response:

Vigil for the murdered Indian in Kansas

Miserable day for an open-air vigil but there was a good turnout of South Asians. Of course, there were lots of speeches and most people seemed to think they were the only ones making a speech and we were in a warm auditorium, but sadly, they were wrong.

I believe we have lost yet another opportunity for political strength and inter-faith cooperation (not the one where we read our scriptures and praise the other ones).

Bombs, Hate, Jews and Muslims

Jewish organizations are still reeling from a round of bomb threats against their schools and centers this is the fifth round of threats just this year. Over a hundred Jewish gravestones were vandalized in Philadelphia, not even a week after a similar event on Missouri. This is of course most seriously viewed by Jews in the US and around the world and it should also be viewed seriously by any sensible person because Hate is now on a speedy path upwards.

The Trump administration has made it better for people to hate openly, the Bush administration started it after 9-11 and the Obama administration did nothing to slow it down, in spite of their wonderful words against discrimination and persecution, especially against Muslims.

Jewish organizations have a job to do in order to help stem the rise in hate-fueled violence; they need to stop fueling the hate themselves.

Fruits of Hatred: Three Jews Murdered in Kansas

On Sunday, the 14th of April 2014, the eve of Passover, a man went to two Jewish Centers and killed a total of three people. Frazier Glenn Cross a.k.a. Frazier Glenn Miller is a known White Supremacist and a former leader in the Ku Klux Klan; hatred…institutional hatred, clearly played the major role in his murders.Three lives snuffed out, just like that, with three blasts of a hate-filled man’s gun. the people who died, left behind friends and relatives, whose lives will forever have a void in them, they will be mourned by their communities and by those who lived close by and who now realize what happened in their greater neighborhood. Of course, Jews all over the country and probably all over the world, feel the twinge of fear, knowing there is so much hate being generated and cultivated against them simply for the fact that they are Jews; it is so incredibly difficult to fight such endemic hate!

How does this happen?

Thoughts on “Muslims Were Less Violent In 2012”

A few days ago, some people sent out e-mails amongst Muslims, with a link to a WIRED magazine article headed, “Report: U.S. Muslim Terrorism Was Practically Nil in 2012“. Accompanying comments noted how Muslims were really not violent despite current perceptions. The e-mails did nothing to please me because I saw that the focus was still on us Muslims. To me it should not be a matter of note if Muslims were less violent than expected; a matter of general note should be the state of terrorism or, of violence across the board, without a “Muzlem” sub-category…and no other faith sub-category.

I wrote an article expressing these thoughts and got raked over coals for

Bilal Philips and Innovations (Christmas etc.,) in Islam

Normally, when I receive an e-mail with a link and “Must See!!!”, without any further explanations, I delete it because I do not have the time to check it out to see if the link will actually lead me to an interesting site where I might learn something. I figure if the sender does not have the time to explain what s-he is sending, then it is not worth my time to read it either.

This time, I received an e-mail saying, ” Innovation in the Religion -‘Christmas’,  Birthdays’“. Inside was a comment:

Here is one of many Lectures provided by Sheik, Dr. Bilal Philips, on the topic of Innovations in our Religion 

“Innovation” as used in Islam, is a re-designing of the religion in a way that is different from the Quran. I had to learn more…

With Christmas approaching, I was once again, seeing opinions flying around that it is “Haram” (forbidden) to celebrate Christmas or, even to respond to someone’s “Merry Christmas”. Not just Haram, it is actually a rejection of Islam to do so!

I also wanted to see what was being identified as “innovation in our religion (Islam)”.

Will the Republican Party ever “get it”?

Elections 2012 are over and the Republican Party has lost handily as the American Public rejected their platform of Hate, Fear and Exclusion.

 

If people are awaiting serious soul-searching from within the Party ranks, they may have to wait a while, the Party is still unable and unwilling to look at what may have caused their failure.

The Romney Campaign maintains that in spite of his fluent Spanish, Mitt had a “Communication Problem” with the Latino voters. The day after the elections, one senior party leader conceded that the Republican Party had a “Hispanic Problem“, but the sad fact is that the Republican party has many “Problems” AND it is in complete denial of every single one of them.

 

With 70% of its voters being White, the Reps are on a path to extinction unless

Please Retire Your Copy of “THE NOBLE QURAN”

I have seen about a dozen different English translations of the Quran and have many of them. While they each differ slightly because of individual translator differences, the differences are minor nuances and keep faithfully to the original Arabic, which is alongside all of them, except one which is entirely in English.

 

One of the earlier and more popular English translations of the Quran is the version by Marmaduke Pickthall, is is pretty good except it is in old English with too many “Thee” and “Thou”, “maketh” and “shouldst” so it is not an easy read.

Other versions are pretty easy to read and understand and as I said, they all keep to the same message even when they sometimes, use different words.

 

All except for “THE NOBLE QURAN”, by Al-Hilali and Muhsin Khan with its diabolical translations.

“Islam vs. Christianity and Judaism”

Sometimes, I wonder what the reaction would be if some Mosques across the country, ran advertisements (see below) for sermons such as the following:

• Masjid of Allah presents a series of free public seminars warning of the dangers of Christianity and Judaism in the world
  Sept 2. Quran vs. New Testament and Torah
  Sept 9. Sin and Salvation in Judaism and Christianity
  Sept 16. Judaism and Christianity; religions of slaughter and sword
  Sept 23. Totalitarian nature of Judaism and Christianity

  Services begin at 10:00 a.m.