Different Faces of Neo-modism

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Different Faces of Neo-modism


By ABID ULLAH JAN
Sep 23, 2004

It is interesting to study the same music coming at different frequencies, from
different channels set up by different quarters of Muslim Neo-mods — the
self-proclaimed “progressive,” “liberals,” and “moderate” Muslims.

The common tunes on all these different channels are apologies for the
uncommitted crimes and misconceptions that have no place in Islam. Their common
target is the ears of the Neo-cons of the West. These ears want more of the same
music to justify their destructive march towards total domination.

The direct victims of the Neo-mods music are non-Muslims, mostly those who have
no knowledge about the ABC of Islam. Its indirect victims are Muslims in the
Muslim lands under the US direct and indirect occupations.

When any of these channels of Muslim Neo-mods is discussed in a short write up,
it gives the impression as if it is an isolated case, or it has no impact or
connection with other channels.

That is not the fact. Actually Muslim Neo-modism comes in different versions.
All are well connected and all have the same objectives: a) exploit the fear of
Islam, b) generate some more in a different way, and c) milk Washington.
Collectively they have a wider impact, but again, only in the non-Muslim world.

One can easily look around to find different versions of Neo-modism in
operation. The broad classification is as follows:

See: http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/9921/

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Assalamoalykum all

here are some of my favourit bits from the article, though the whole article is brilliant alhumdulillah.

''It is a common tendency of the Neo-mods to consider every criticism as a personal attack. They consider every critic having some kind of personal vendetta against them. However, that is absolutely not the case simply because their critics are neither on the CIA payroll, nor they get career building opportunities. They don’t get scholarships or fellowships at Brookings or Rand in return for criticizing the neo-mods, nor are they promoted on high profile media outlets.''

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This version of Neo-modism has no trace of scholarship or logical argumentation. It has no objective to serve other than self-projection and heaping curses on Islam’s basic sources: the Qur’an and Hadith. This trend began with Salman Rushdie, then moved on to the age of Taslima Nasreen and Irashad Manjee and then is trying to become mainstream with all and sundry participating in below-the-belt Neomodism at “sex and umma” section of the MuslimWakeUp.com. The problem is that you cannot even argue with this kind of Neo-mods who are bent upon heaping curses.
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Both of these groups believe in selective freedom of expression. They feel free to not only challenge Divine wisdom by criticizing the Qur’an (which all Muslims believe as the word of God), but also to go to the extent of mocking its verses and making fun of the Ahadiths (saying of Prophet Muhammad PBUH) – together these two sources form the foundation of faith for 1.3 billion people.

However, when it comes to criticizing their below-the-belt approach to reformation of Islam, they resort to personal attacks, strongly demanding removal of that critical analysis from the source publication along with apologies from the authors and editors. It seems as if their wisdom is above the Divine wisdom. They have the right to mock the Qur’anic wisdom,[3] but no one has the right to point finger at them
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The Neo-mods leave the subject and start criticizing the critic. They forget that no one needs to be an angel to criticize an evil trend. Being evil and being the promoter of evil are two different things. For instance, being a homosexual, knowing that it is against the core principles of Islam, and staying conscious of one’s evil acts is far better than not being a homosexual but justifying homosexuality and promoting its cause.

So, it is absolutely not that critics of the Neo-mods of Islam are angels from heaven. It is that they simply point out that the Neo-mods participation in demonizing Islam for their personal interests undermines future of both Muslims and non-Muslims.
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The Neo-cons and Neo-mods cry foul when they feel that they have been considered guilty by association. However, they forget that not only thousands in the US concentration camps but millions of other Muslims around the world are targeted just for being Muslims. They are harassed and tortured unless they somehow prove themselves to be perfectly “moderate,” liberal,” or “progressive” Muslims. Racial profiling is nothing by harassment based on simple association with Islam.
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may Allah guide us all to the truth Ameen
wassalam
lubna