Pak Tea House » Entries tagged with "Muslim"
Two Nation Theory and Creation of Bangladesh
Raza Habib RajaThis article is not a “defense” or repudiation of the two nation theory (TNT). Rather it tries to critically evaluate the argument that creation of Bangladesh in fact proved that the two nation theory was not valid. Those who claim that the two nation theory has proven to be a failure cite creation of Bangladesh as an example. It is claimed that ethnic nationalism trumped religion and therefore the two nation theory has proven to be a failure. I do not intend to prove that the two nation theory is wrong or right but just evaluate it with reference to creation of Bangladesh. Frankly speaking I am not a history expert and do not claim any command on minute details of partition and its various narratives. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
The plain Mr Jinnah
By Saad Hafiz: Muhammed Ali Jinnah who founded Pakistan in 1947 was a refined, anglicised and secular Indian Muslim and lawyer. To Indian Muslims he was a man of sterling personal qualities, the Quaid-e-Azam, ‘Great Leader’. To many Indians, Jinnah was an anti-Hindu demagogue and a political shyster, an unyielding humour-less man with a vainglorious nature. To the colonial masters, Jinnah was a worthy adversary who respected British constitutional and liberal political traditions. Jinnah has been described as a highly conventional politician, who can take no credit for original political thinking at any point. His ‘-isms’ were nationalism and liberalism. He began his career thinking within an ‘Indian’ framework, in the sense of nationalist opposition to British rule. Later, he renamed India’s Muslim community a ‘nation’ and continued his opposition from a narrower … Read entire article »
Filed under: Jinnah
Anti-Americanism in the Muslim world
By Saad Hafiz: Many Americans are baffled and angered by the deep-set anti-Americanism prevailing in the Muslim world. Some Americans see it as an expression of a malevolent ill disposition that goes beyond the pale of reason, revealing the inherent venality, weakness and instability of Muslims. In this worldview, the US is the beacon of freedom and democracy and a major aid provider, which makes it especially confounding that it would be the target of Muslim rage. The genuine fears about extremism and violence in the Muslim world continue to play a role in driving these views. Former President George W Bush captured a widespread concern when he said, “Like most Americans, I just cannot believe the vitriolic hatred of the United States because I know how good we are.” There are … Read entire article »
Filed under: USA
We only have one planet
By Usman Sadiq: Peace and freedom of speech are not conflicting ideals, if not interdependent values that accentuate, supplement and sometimes restrain each other. The polarized views I could see on my friends’ riling statuses were my first introduction to a viral video that had resulted in violence across parts of the Muslim world. In my view, the video was an appalling and pornographic way of expressing one’s blind hatred and anger against Islam, as opposed to any serious theological, historical or intellectual challenge to Islamic ideals. The ruckus that in turn ensued in Libya, killing 5 innocent human beings, was a deplorable way of terrorizing the world in the name of religion. It might look like the point where agreement and peace are permanently punctured to give in to violence. … Read entire article »
Filed under: peace
Bridging the great divide
by Saad Hafiz: The recent anti-US protests that erupted across the Muslim world fueled by an inflammatory film titled Innocence of Muslims have exacerbated the deep divide between Islam and the west. Muslims see the film as an attack on the very foundation of their religion as the Prophet (PBUH) plays a special role in Muslim consciousness. The western countries view the dissemination of the film in the context of the ‘freedom of expression’ guaranteed in secular societies. Debates have long swirled around the issue of religious defamation (or blasphemy), which refers to insults to a certain religion, or religions in general. Since the 1989 fatwa by the Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie, and the Danish cartoon protests, religious defamation debates often focus on Islam. Supporters of restrictions on religious defamation point … Read entire article »
Filed under: World
‘Save Burma, let Pakistan burn’
By Hasan: Social networks are crowded with pictures, pleas and appeals for the Burmese Muslims caught in the midst of a terrible conflict with the Buddhist majority in Burma. The tales and pictures (most of which are fake though) being used on social media are gut-wrenching and horrifying. Amnesty international has accused the security forces and ethnic majority of Rakhine Buddhists for the violence being perpetrated in the north. It should be well-known that this conflict … Read entire article »
Filed under: human rights
Itinerary Ear-Cleaners
By Jürgen Wasim Frembgen: Notes on a Marginal Profession in Urban Muslim Punjab. It was not until the 1990s, when during sojourns in larger cities of Pakistan and North India I became aware of traditional medical practitioners who wandered the streets in search of clients to remove earwax. It proved difficult to satisfy my professional curiosity through ethnographic observation and conversation as these extraordinary looking men, wearing red headgear with iron sticks tucked under it, seemed to vanish as fast as they materialized all of a sudden at a street corner. Sometimes I could only catch a glimpse of such an ear-cleaner while passing by in a speeding rickshaw. Finally, in November 1999, I had my first chance to talk to one of them who was attending to a customer in front of the Tarannum Cinema in Lahore’s infamous Hira Mandi area. This became the starting point … Read entire article »
Filed under: People's Pakistan, Uncategorized
The Wrong Kind of Muslim
By Qasim Rashid Out of the silent night, two men moved swiftly through the mosque’s front gate. All that separated a fully loaded Kalashnikov in the hands of a madman from 50 innocent worshippers was a straw curtain that hung helplessly in the doorway. “In the end, they killed eight of my brothers, and shot 20 more.” The two men belonged to a Taliban offshoot. The 50 innocent worshipers were Ahmadi Muslims. I listened silently as Yusef related the events of that ominous October day in 2005, in his hometown of Mong, Pakistan. In Pakistan, Ahmadi Muslims are the Wrong Kind of Muslims, and therefore declared wajib ul qatl. Yet Pakistan’s silence was deafening. And Mong was not the exception, but the rule. Not long after, eight Christians from Gojra, Pakistan would be … Read entire article »
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Untangling myth from fiction: Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s Reign of Power
by Habib Siddiqui “It is difficult to untangle this historical mess without scrutinizing the accusations against Aurangzeb rationally. Fortunately, in recent years quite a few Hindu historians have come out in the open disputing those allegations.” In a polarized world that we live in (which is, sadly, getting ever more polarized now by every minute and hour), we have often assumed that what is good for “our” people had to be bad for the “other” people. A glaring example is the personality of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who ruled India for 50 years. Of all the Muslim rulers who ruled vast territories of India from 712 to 1857 C.E., probably no one generates as much controversy as Aurangzeb. He has been hailed as anyone from a “Saintly or Pauper Emperor” to one who … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
The Jew is Not My Enemy-by Tarek Fatah (Excerpts-II)
Anti-Semitism (hatred for Jewish people) is not a new or unique phenomenon for us Pakistanis. We love to hate the Jews and to blame all our ills on the ugly, hideous, nefarious designs of the Zionist Jews. After all, Jews control the world and it is only because of them that we Muslims are so far behind the rest of the world. It’s all a big conspiracy. Journalist and Political advocate Tarek Fatah described and analyzed … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
The Jew is Not My Enemy-by Tarek Fatah (Excerpt)
Anti-Semitism (hatred for Jewish people) is not a new or unique phenomenon for us Pakistanis. We love to hate the Jews and to blame all our ills on the ugly, hideous, nefarious designs of the Zionist Jews. After all, Jews control the world and it is only because of them that we Muslims are so far behind the rest of the world. It’s all a big conspiracy. Journalist and Political advocate Tarek Fatah described and analyzed … Read entire article »
Filed under: Books, Europe, Great game, History, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Law, Religion, state, Uncategorized, USA
When Torture Became Virtue
By Ayesha Noor: On March 30th, 43-year-old Master Abdul Qudoos lost the battle of his life in Rabwah, Pakistan. A relatively young man, he did not die of a heart attack, nor did he die of a fatal accident, neither of a lethal bomb explosion. Instead, he was tortured to death. His tormentors were not the Taliban nor do they belong to any banned militant organization. They were not even his opponents from a never-ending land dispute. Instead, his tormentors were the very policemen committed to protecting him. Master Abdul Qudoos was born as a Muslim in 1960’s Pakistan, with every equal and free human right afforded to all Pakistani citizens. But, in the 1970’s, Prime Minister Bhutto took away his right to call himself a Muslim. Then, in the 1980’s, Dictator General Zia ul Haqq took away his right to “pose” as a Muslim, under threat of imprisonment and death. In the 1990’s, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif … Read entire article »
My Legal Journey From Muslim to Non-Muslim and Back
Maudood A. Bhatti I was born a Muslim. Until the second amendment was passed in Pakistan’s constitution in 1974, I remained a legal Muslim. I was very young when this happened, too young to remember it well. Hence, I did not have the opportunity to carry out and observe Islam’s practices before I was declared non-Muslim by State and before these practices were banned on me. I practiced my faith later on in my teenage years just as any other Pakistani Muslim; observing the five daily prayers, reciting the Holy Quran etc. I also played cricket with all kinds of friends – Shia, Sunni, Christian etc. Even though I was declared a non-Muslim under Law by this time, no one made a big fuss about it except for an occasional use of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Are Ahmadis Non-Muslims?
By Yasser Latif Hamdani (Written exclusively for PakTeaHouse. Please give credit when crossposting) The poison of ignorance and extremism that Bhutto and General Zia jointly fathered during their dictatorial regimes has fully indoctrinated even those who otherwise describe themselves as educated. This week the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN inched closer to the discovery of Higgs Boson or the God Particle as it were. In this extraordinary story of human achievement, Dr. Abdus Salam is a key player who put Pakistan on the map of theoretical physics. In his homeland though, a group of self-styled champions of Islam have started a posthumous campaign of scurrilous slander claiming that Dr. Salam was giving out nuclear secrets. Forget that even a confirmed bigot like General Zia held a ceremony in our only nobel prize … Read entire article »
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