lubna
05-12-2004, 20:55
Dark Minds of the Darkest Age
By ABID ULLAH JAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We think and speak about the dark ages with a strong belief that we are living
in the most enlightened and civilized age of human existence. In fact, we are
living in the darkest period of human history with the most closed minds ever
possible.
To understand this reality we would have to zoom out of the minor details such
as windows or windows-less planes hitting the WTC; the impossibility of a
passenger plane making neat holes in the third and fourth ring of concrete
reinforced walls at Pentagon; the US torture, butchery and other crimes in Iraq,
and the ways in which elections were rigged in the US and Ukraine.
These are side issues related to acts committed by poisoned minds in the darkest
age of all times. We actually need to unlearn the grand misconception that the
unprecedented technological and scientific advancements are signs of our
intellectual enlightenment. What we need to learn is that the advancement is
exactly a proof of our living with dark minds.
The reason is simple. If we cannot reach the Truth with all the available means
of communication, research and education, we are far worse than those living
through the dark ages and failing to reach the reality without these facilities.
We can easily draw parallels between present and any dark age of the past.
However, the easiest and more comprehensible parallels are possible with the
latest dark age that was hardly 14 to15 hundred years ago.
For assessing the dark minds of our age, all one needs is to pick up any
article, news-report or documentary produced by the “mainstream” sources about
Islam in the US and compare it with beliefs, views, perception and particularly
the reaction to the message of truth in the dark ages before us.
In 21st century, Sam Harris tells the world through the pages of Washington
Times (Dec 02, 2004) that:
“It is time we admitted that we are not at war with "terrorism." We are at war
with Islam. This is not to say that we are at war with all Muslims, but we are
absolutely at war with the vision of life that is prescribed to all Muslims in
the Koran. The only reason Muslim fundamentalism is a threat to us is because
the fundamentals of Islam are a threat to us. Every American should read the
Koran and discover the relentlessness with which non-Muslims are vilified in its
pages. The idea that Islam is a ‘peaceful religion hijacked by extremists’ is a
dangerous fantasy — and it is now a particularly dangerous fantasy for Muslims
to indulge.”
This is exactly what the world has been hearing since 7th century — 611 to be
exact. The intellectuals, religious and tribal leaders, and even common man
said the same thing: We are not against Mohammed (PBUH) and his friends; we are
against what he preaches and calls it the word of God. Compare this we the words
of Sam Harris in 21st century: “we are absolutely at war with the vision of life
that is prescribed to all Muslims in the Koran.”
In the 7th century, Arab society had many superstitious and groundless beliefs.
These early Arabs believed in legends inherited from past generations. They
supposed that mountains supported the sky above. They believed that the world
was flat; burying daughters alive is an honorable deed and living life in
licentious ways is ultimate goal of existence.
Mohammed (PBUH) was just one person challenging the status quo of a people, who
would fight for forty years on the slight provocation that a camel belonging to
the guest of one tribe had strayed into the grazing land belonging to other
tribe and both sides had fought till they lost 70,000 lives in all; threatening
the extinction of both the tribes to such furious Arabs. These people feel
threatened with the message of just one person.
Today we see the same. Sam Harris says: “The only reason Muslim fundamentalism
is a threat to us is because the fundamentals of Islam are a threat to us.”
Remember, that the Qur’an was not fully revealed at this time. Nor were there
any companions with Mohammed (PBUH). In today’s world Sam Harris’s fear is
justified. He fears not the so-called 1.2 billion Muslims. He is afraid of the
Qur’an.
Sam Harris writes: “This is not to say that we are at war with all Muslims, but
we are absolutely at war with the vision of life that is prescribed to all
Muslims in the Koran.” Harris is just a spokesperson of a poisoned and darkened
mindset. This is what the New York Times told us exactly one year ago in its
lead editorial of November 14, 2003. [1] This is what the Newsweek has been
doing with publishing Qur’an-bashing articles such as "Challenging the Qur'an"
(Newsweek, July 28, 2003).
People with dark minds were feeling the same way 1400 years ago. They reacted
the same way. Same Harris reflected thinking of the dark minds, ruling the
“mainstream media.” In his words: “The truth that we must finally confront is
that Islam contains specific doctrines about martyrdom and jihad that directly
inspire Muslim terrorism.”
Remember that dark minds feared Islam when the Qur’an was even not fully
revealed, let alone the specific verses about Jihad. Those who demonise Muslims
for their belief in the Qur’an and thus in Jihad which is part of the Qur’an
must read history. History is before any mind, which is open to reasoning and
understanding.
Read how dark minds tortured the early converts to Islam to death without anyone
knowing the concept of Jihad. Sumayya, an innocent women, was cruelly torn into
pieces with spears, not because she was wagging Jihad against the dark-minded
people, but only because dark minded people felt her faith as a threat to the
status quo they were trying to maintain.
An example was made of Yassir whose legs were tied to two camels and the beast
were driven in opposite directions, well before the revelation of the Qur’an. He
was not a "Jihadist."
Khabbab bin Arth was made lie down on the bed of burning coal with the brutal
legs of their merciless tyrant on his breast so that he may not move and this
made even the fat beneath his skin melt.
Khabban bin Adi was put to death in a cruel manner by mutilation and cutting off
his flesh piece-meal." In the midst of his tortures, being asked weather he did
not wish Mohammad in his place while he was in his house with his family, the
sufferer cried out that he was gladly prepared to sacrifice himself his family
and children and why was it that these sons and daughters of Islam not only
surrendered to their prophet their allegiance but also made a gift of their
hearts and souls to their master?
Against the dark mind of a dark age, these men and women were not of low
station, or inferior mental caliber, or born Muslims without any commitment and
devotion. Around Mohammed (PBUH) in quite early days, gathered what was best and
noblest in Mecca, its flower and cream, men of position, rank, wealth and
culture, and from his own kith and kin, those who knew all about his life. All
the first four Caliphs, with their towering personalities, were converts of this
period.
Dark minds of 21st century call their compatriots: “All civilized nations must
unite in condemnation of a theology that now threatens to destabilize much of
the Earth.” That is exactly what the dark minds of the 7th century felt: a
destabilization of the order they had established.
Mental horizon of the dark minds then was narrow, because the struggle for
existence in their inhospitable environment was so severe that their energies
were exhausted in satisfying the practical and material needs of daily life, and
they had little time or inclination for religious or philosophic speculation.
Today the struggle for existence has become economically so tough that no one
has time to think over philosophical speculation. Both parents/partners have to
work and youth have to start jobs during the summer breaks. In earlier times,
religion was a vague polytheism and their philosophy was summed up in a number
of pithy sayings. Same is true today and that’s why words of Sam Harris,
Friedman, Pipes and others are taken seriously. ......
continued.....
By ABID ULLAH JAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We think and speak about the dark ages with a strong belief that we are living
in the most enlightened and civilized age of human existence. In fact, we are
living in the darkest period of human history with the most closed minds ever
possible.
To understand this reality we would have to zoom out of the minor details such
as windows or windows-less planes hitting the WTC; the impossibility of a
passenger plane making neat holes in the third and fourth ring of concrete
reinforced walls at Pentagon; the US torture, butchery and other crimes in Iraq,
and the ways in which elections were rigged in the US and Ukraine.
These are side issues related to acts committed by poisoned minds in the darkest
age of all times. We actually need to unlearn the grand misconception that the
unprecedented technological and scientific advancements are signs of our
intellectual enlightenment. What we need to learn is that the advancement is
exactly a proof of our living with dark minds.
The reason is simple. If we cannot reach the Truth with all the available means
of communication, research and education, we are far worse than those living
through the dark ages and failing to reach the reality without these facilities.
We can easily draw parallels between present and any dark age of the past.
However, the easiest and more comprehensible parallels are possible with the
latest dark age that was hardly 14 to15 hundred years ago.
For assessing the dark minds of our age, all one needs is to pick up any
article, news-report or documentary produced by the “mainstream” sources about
Islam in the US and compare it with beliefs, views, perception and particularly
the reaction to the message of truth in the dark ages before us.
In 21st century, Sam Harris tells the world through the pages of Washington
Times (Dec 02, 2004) that:
“It is time we admitted that we are not at war with "terrorism." We are at war
with Islam. This is not to say that we are at war with all Muslims, but we are
absolutely at war with the vision of life that is prescribed to all Muslims in
the Koran. The only reason Muslim fundamentalism is a threat to us is because
the fundamentals of Islam are a threat to us. Every American should read the
Koran and discover the relentlessness with which non-Muslims are vilified in its
pages. The idea that Islam is a ‘peaceful religion hijacked by extremists’ is a
dangerous fantasy — and it is now a particularly dangerous fantasy for Muslims
to indulge.”
This is exactly what the world has been hearing since 7th century — 611 to be
exact. The intellectuals, religious and tribal leaders, and even common man
said the same thing: We are not against Mohammed (PBUH) and his friends; we are
against what he preaches and calls it the word of God. Compare this we the words
of Sam Harris in 21st century: “we are absolutely at war with the vision of life
that is prescribed to all Muslims in the Koran.”
In the 7th century, Arab society had many superstitious and groundless beliefs.
These early Arabs believed in legends inherited from past generations. They
supposed that mountains supported the sky above. They believed that the world
was flat; burying daughters alive is an honorable deed and living life in
licentious ways is ultimate goal of existence.
Mohammed (PBUH) was just one person challenging the status quo of a people, who
would fight for forty years on the slight provocation that a camel belonging to
the guest of one tribe had strayed into the grazing land belonging to other
tribe and both sides had fought till they lost 70,000 lives in all; threatening
the extinction of both the tribes to such furious Arabs. These people feel
threatened with the message of just one person.
Today we see the same. Sam Harris says: “The only reason Muslim fundamentalism
is a threat to us is because the fundamentals of Islam are a threat to us.”
Remember, that the Qur’an was not fully revealed at this time. Nor were there
any companions with Mohammed (PBUH). In today’s world Sam Harris’s fear is
justified. He fears not the so-called 1.2 billion Muslims. He is afraid of the
Qur’an.
Sam Harris writes: “This is not to say that we are at war with all Muslims, but
we are absolutely at war with the vision of life that is prescribed to all
Muslims in the Koran.” Harris is just a spokesperson of a poisoned and darkened
mindset. This is what the New York Times told us exactly one year ago in its
lead editorial of November 14, 2003. [1] This is what the Newsweek has been
doing with publishing Qur’an-bashing articles such as "Challenging the Qur'an"
(Newsweek, July 28, 2003).
People with dark minds were feeling the same way 1400 years ago. They reacted
the same way. Same Harris reflected thinking of the dark minds, ruling the
“mainstream media.” In his words: “The truth that we must finally confront is
that Islam contains specific doctrines about martyrdom and jihad that directly
inspire Muslim terrorism.”
Remember that dark minds feared Islam when the Qur’an was even not fully
revealed, let alone the specific verses about Jihad. Those who demonise Muslims
for their belief in the Qur’an and thus in Jihad which is part of the Qur’an
must read history. History is before any mind, which is open to reasoning and
understanding.
Read how dark minds tortured the early converts to Islam to death without anyone
knowing the concept of Jihad. Sumayya, an innocent women, was cruelly torn into
pieces with spears, not because she was wagging Jihad against the dark-minded
people, but only because dark minded people felt her faith as a threat to the
status quo they were trying to maintain.
An example was made of Yassir whose legs were tied to two camels and the beast
were driven in opposite directions, well before the revelation of the Qur’an. He
was not a "Jihadist."
Khabbab bin Arth was made lie down on the bed of burning coal with the brutal
legs of their merciless tyrant on his breast so that he may not move and this
made even the fat beneath his skin melt.
Khabban bin Adi was put to death in a cruel manner by mutilation and cutting off
his flesh piece-meal." In the midst of his tortures, being asked weather he did
not wish Mohammad in his place while he was in his house with his family, the
sufferer cried out that he was gladly prepared to sacrifice himself his family
and children and why was it that these sons and daughters of Islam not only
surrendered to their prophet their allegiance but also made a gift of their
hearts and souls to their master?
Against the dark mind of a dark age, these men and women were not of low
station, or inferior mental caliber, or born Muslims without any commitment and
devotion. Around Mohammed (PBUH) in quite early days, gathered what was best and
noblest in Mecca, its flower and cream, men of position, rank, wealth and
culture, and from his own kith and kin, those who knew all about his life. All
the first four Caliphs, with their towering personalities, were converts of this
period.
Dark minds of 21st century call their compatriots: “All civilized nations must
unite in condemnation of a theology that now threatens to destabilize much of
the Earth.” That is exactly what the dark minds of the 7th century felt: a
destabilization of the order they had established.
Mental horizon of the dark minds then was narrow, because the struggle for
existence in their inhospitable environment was so severe that their energies
were exhausted in satisfying the practical and material needs of daily life, and
they had little time or inclination for religious or philosophic speculation.
Today the struggle for existence has become economically so tough that no one
has time to think over philosophical speculation. Both parents/partners have to
work and youth have to start jobs during the summer breaks. In earlier times,
religion was a vague polytheism and their philosophy was summed up in a number
of pithy sayings. Same is true today and that’s why words of Sam Harris,
Friedman, Pipes and others are taken seriously. ......
continued.....