Pakistan’s Dive into the Sewer of Religious Intolerance

The religious zeal and violence we see in Pakistan has nothing at all to do with religion, it is simply a function of manipulation of ignorant masses in order to get control of the country. It appears that even the leaders, the so-called “scholars of Islam” who whip up mass hysteria, do not understand the very basics of Islam. Often the very respected “religious scholars” themselves are too illiterate to even understand the local language, let alone the Arabic of the Quran. The most illustrative example of ignorance and illiteracy that drives fanaticism in Pakistan is the picture below. It is a recent demonstration led by a large sign that is supposed to declare, “Punishment for rudeness towards the prophet is beheading, beheading”. On the sign, however, they omitted a crucial accent which changed the meaning to read, “Rude prophet’s punishment is beheading, beheading”. It should have started with, “Gustakh-e-nabi…” but it was printed as “Gustakh nabi…”.

The demonstrators themselves, are guilty of “blasphemy”!

Tragically, even as we discuss Pakistan’s situation, we run the risk of being accused of “blasphemy”; no idle accusation for, it can carry a death sentence or, result in a lynching death before the trial takes place. Anything can be twisted such that it becomes an accusation of blasphemy in fact, simply an accusation without evidence, can result in a guilty verdict (or pretrial death) from judges who are terrified that THEY will be killed by some mob or, their families will be attacked by an ignorant public whipped into a murderous frenzy, justified by religion and led by “religious scholars”.

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.

Pakistan and its Fanatics

What has happened to my Pakistan? I want my Pakistan back from the blood-drenched hands of the fanatic Mullahs who think the length of their beards is a sign of their devotion to God. These fanatical leaders march their idiotic, ignorant followers into the Hell of intolerance, hate, fear and murder, as though “protecting” the name of the prophet Mohammed and “defending” Islam. They fail to understand that their hate-filled, self-aggrandizing actions only lead the world of non-Muslims to fear and hate Islam and Muslims; non-Muslims cannot be faulted for believing Islam is as represented by the idiotic, ignorant and violent people we see in the news all the time.

Intellectuals and dissidents are targeted and accused of blasphemy in order to suppress them or shut them up. Sometimes, people from minority faiths are accused of blasphemy because someone has a vendetta against them, wants their property or their job. Once thus accused, the person has no recourse, if the religious courts don’t get him, the ignorant and fired-up public will.

Is Islam dead in Pakistan?.

Is Islam dead in Pakistan?.

Religious fraud is where religion is used to mask fraud and hypocrisy. There are MANY such countries in fact, I doubt if any country is safe from such practices but I am not here to discuss the world’s ills, I am here to talk about my birth country that I want to be so proud of and yet, I am so ashamed of…Pakistan.

Pakistan is a land where religion is obvious at every corner, people have sprouted beards to show how religious they are, politicians invoke Islam whenever they get a chance, leaders and religious “scholars” spout Islam and God at every step and these last are usually seeking to exert their power and oppress people.

Oh yes, sadly Islam is used as cover to show the country how powerful and influential a certain religious “Scholar” or Mullah (imam) may be, where they rouse up masses of the ignorant and unemployed to demonstrate against things they do not like including what may have happened overseas. The “demonstrations” take the form of thousands of angry people, many of whom don’t even understand why they are there except that they need to “defend” Islam, God and the prophet Mohammed. During the “demonstration” people smash stores that may be on their way, burn cars, buses and trucks, all owned by innocent people, their own brothers and sisters in Islam, just so they can show how enraged they are.

Intolerance for Muslims, what about intolerance BY Muslims?

Intolerance is everywhere, we cannot finish it off but we can and we must, stand against it wherever we are. I often rail against the US for its intolerance of Islam and Muslims and its targeting of Muslims inside and outside of the US; I rail against many European countries for the same reason. Arabia, commonly known by its misnomer “Saudi” Arabia is another country worthy of condemnation for its intolerance towards Shia and other Muslim sects and for its lethal intolerance for any un-approved behavior. I am also always taking a stand against Israel, the ultimate anti-Muslim country, for its genocide of the Palestinians.  For these expressions of outrage, I am variously called “Anti-American”, “Anti-West”, “Anti-Pakistan”, “Anti-Muslim” and of course, “Anti-Semitic”.

To its lasting shame, Pakistan stands in front among the ranks of the disgusting because of its carte blanche to its religious, ignorant, fanatics who have so much mass-appeal (of illiterate Pakistanis) that they can call thousands of people ready to destroy their own country just because their leader has told them that Islam/the prophet Mohammed must be defended.

Trumps’ Speech on Afghanistan…and Pakistan

Yes, Donald Trump, the President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of its overwhelming military decided to give a speech on Afghanistan. I would give it zero points for a well thought-out plan and full points for high rhetoric, bluster, fake bravado and other brave-appearing but meaningless, sounds.

Let’s take a closer look…

• “Love for America requires love for all of its people. When we open our hearts to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry, and no tolerance for hate.”

Unless of course, we talk about MUSLIMS who do not deserve any protections against prejudice, bigotry or, hate. Note that most naïve Muslims are still sitting out there waiting and hoping that Trump will condemn the bombing of the Mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota; they have a long wait in front of them.

Pakistan: Fanaticism and Tyranny Under Cover of “Islam”

It is almost impossible to avoid being charged with blasphemy in Pakistan these days and blasphemy carries the death penalty with it. Judges who exonerate someone accused of blasphemy can be killed and the person exonerated of blasphemy is sure to be lynched even after being freed. Accusations of blasphemy are easy, courts do not allow evidence to be submitted because even the submission of the evidence is blasphemy! Today, one may not even discuss some of the negative things the followers of the prophet Mohammed or his wives said or did, because even those facts of history as written by contemporary Muslims, is blasphemy.

In a recent case (Pakistani police charge 68 lawyers with blasphemy over protest) in Pakistan, A lawyer was detained by the Police so, 68 lawyers rose in protest and demonstrated against Umar Daraz, the Police officer who detained the first lawyer, cursing the Police officer….the Police turned around and arrested the 68 lawyers on blasphemy charges because they were cursing Umar Daraz and “Umar” was the name of a revered follower of the prophet Mohammed, one of the four “Righteously-guided” Caliphs of Islam!

KARACHI Jamatkhana bombed; Why should Shia, Ismaili be safe?!

One by one the ever-thirsty beast of Selafi extremism draws more blood from minorities…”The Kuffar” is the label they use to justify their Fasad and Fitna. Now it is the Ismailis’ turn…

Why should the Shia be safe any longer?

Why should the Ismailis be safe any longer?

Is a paralyzed Muslim a good Muslim?

The question I pose is, “Is a paralyzed Muslim a good Muslim?”. By this, I don’t mean the person who is physically unable to get about, I mean the Muslim who cannot stand on his or her feet and speak out against injustice, cruelty and in favor of the rights of our fellow Muslims, our fellow human beings. Is a person who is a spectator when evil occurs even when s-he can make a difference, a worthy person in the eyes of God?

 

God says when we see wrong being committed, we must DO something to stop it. If we cannot do something, we must SPEAK against the wrong. If we cannot even speak against it, we must condemn it in our hearts.

 

Far too many of our Muslim brothers and sisters interpret this command as permission to remain silent and that is to our collective shame.

Droning on the “Af-Pak” border

The story was terrible, 28 (later corrected to 24) Pakistani soldiers killed by US attack helicopters and other aircraft.

 

To soothe the shock, US forces said they were responding to cross-border firing, but the story looks thin and stinks of cover-up, arrogance and lies.

 

The first point of issue would be to ask how it is that the US, fighting across Pakistan’s border and launching continuous attacks at Pakistan’s people along the borders, was so completely unaware of where Pakistani soldiers are deployed…fighting America’s war by killing their own people! US forces, euphemistically called “NATO forces”, have to be completely incompetent if they don’t even keep track of the military movements of its ally of convenience in this idiotic “War!” against and unseen, unknown enemy.