| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Death worshippers |
| 2007-02-11 |
| By Dr Farrukh Saleem A children's programme on Hizbollah TV: A ten-year old daughter of a suicide bomber comes on and says: "I have often prayed for my father to be martyred. I am very happy that God heard my prayers (http://www.manartv.com.lb/)." Agence France-Presse (AFP). The mother of a suicide bomber: "I am very happy my son was martyred. I had said goodbye to him before he left for his mission and I wished him success. I am thankful to God that he heard my prayers (http://www.afp.com/english/home/)." Is it human for a ten-year old to actually celebrate the death of her father? Is it human for a mother to actually rejoice at the loss of her son? Only in a society that glamorises death (and not life). Only when one is brought up in a 'culture of death'. Only where twisted logic is indoctrinated as the ultimate truth. In Pakistan, ten thousand madrassahs prepare two million martyrs a year. On top of that, 198,166 primary, middle and secondary schools are working hard at manufacturing 27 million closet martyrs. As if that wasn't enough, the martial state of the Islamic Republic steps in and puts on display its destructive nuclear potential -- Chagai and replicas of missiles -- on all major street intersections. Walk into any classroom of any government-run school and ninety-five per cent of what's on display is martyrs (with the exception of Jinnah, Iqbal and Sir Syed). What we have thus managed to create is an ideal 'culture of death'; a whole society of death worshippers. Here's the official curriculum document for classes K-V, National Bureau of Curriculum and Textbooks, Federal Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan (1995): "At the completion of Class-V, the child should be able to: Make speeches on jihad and shahadat; India's evil designs against Pakistan; acknowledge and identify forces that may be working against Pakistan [pg 154]." The document further instructs teachers: "To judge their spirits while making speeches on jihadÂ….." Another prescribed 'learning outcome' is to "recognise the importance of jihad in every sphere of life." Textbooks prescribed by the Punjab Textbook Board eulogise "jihad and shahadat" and routinely urge students to "become mujahids and martyrs". Middle school textbooks have long been urging children to be "willing to die as martyrs for Islam." Someone really intelligent once said that the real tragedy of Islam is that "people who talk about Islam the most understand it the least." Our madressahs have been teaching our children death and destruction. Islam is all about life and construction. Our religious leaders are harsh and inflexible. Islam is pleasant and accommodating. Our schools give lessons on hate and hostility. Islam is all about love and friendship. They teach us insanity and irrationality. Islam is all about wisdom and reason. We have been spreading intolerance and ignorance. Islam is all about tolerance and enlightenment. We glorify death and demean intellectual struggle. Islam is all about intellectual struggle and glorification of life. Schools and madrassahs determine what a nation is destined to become in the future. For us, that future is here because we have long let our madressahs and schools churn out brigades of death worshippers. Glamorisation of death -- not life -- and long years of death worshipping degenerate into suicide bombings. To be certain, suicide bombings are getting us nowhere; Muslims are killing Muslims. Our religion gives us al-jihad al-akbar, the greater jihad, the most powerful of instruments to beat non-Muslims through excellence in education, knowledge, schools, universities, libraries, women emancipation, creation and innovation. We have picked up al-jihad al-asghar, the lesser jihad, even before we gave a chance to al-jihad al-akbar. Al Quran, 4:29: "O you who believe, you shall not kill yourselves" Al Quran, 2:195: "You shall spend in the cause of God; do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction" The writer is an Islamabad-based freelance columnist. |
| Posted by:john |
| #7 anymouse: Moloch might be a good description, as the great purpose of that god's demand is pain and suffering, not just death, and also includes that god's demand for child sacrifices. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-02-11 16:52 |
| #6 Anonymoose...the natural extension to your logic is that allan is a demom...like the Canaanite's god, Moloch. Or, (what I beleive) allan is actually the demon (god) Moloch. allan requires human blood sacrifice, and is appetite unsatiable. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2007-02-11 13:14 |
| #5 Lets give 'em that they want! |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-02-11 13:10 |
| #4 Interesting article by John, as always, and interesting comment by Anonymoose [sucking noises]. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-02-11 10:11 |
| #3 As an aside, I wouldn't call them "death worshippers" as much as "murder worshippers." The reason being that in the Hindu religion, there actually are the equivalent of "death worshippers", who in past were the violent Thugee, but today are relatively peaceful. There is actually some respectability in seeing death as a powerful force worth worshipping. It is one of the few truly reliable, verifiable, and certain natural events that is both essential to life itself and inevitable. Unlike other invisible god religions, it is truly universal, whether you like it or not, whether you even believe in it or not. Its only failing is that people have virtually no influence over it, so it obviously does no good to pray to it, intone it for mercy, or ask for grace. This leaves those who worship it two choices: to approach it with fear; or in awe, admiration and wonder. It is the only god that proves its own existence endlessly. A death worshipper can point to anything dying and claim that it proves their god exists. They can also point out that death can lend great power to anything it touches. It can cause change in almost everyone who attends a funeral, for example. A death in the family rearranges the whole balance of relationships. Finally, you have to ask what is a healthier outlook in life. To be like most Americans who shun death, fear it intensely, act morbidly around it, and make it as unnatural as possible. Or to embrace it in everything around you and even in yourself as a religious or spiritual act? How different from "murder worshippers", whose beliefs center around justifying homicide by claiming it is demanded by their invisible god? Theirs is an evil god that thrives on pain and suffering inflicted on the innocent. A god who promises heavenly rewards to those who defile life and abuse others. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-02-11 10:08 |
| #2 The books, he says, further present local history as a clash between religions. Thus one finds that many of the history books target Hindus rather than the English colonialists in the relevant period. "This intolerant mindset is then fertile ground for breeding all kinds of hatred. It no longer remains Muslims vs. Hindu but can easily become Sunni vs. Shia; Muslim vs. Christians etc. There is an implicit sometimes very clear message: Muslims are the chosen people and Islam the right way. Hence, in every conflict we must have been in the right and others wrong. You will find that class perspective, economic factors, political demands based on universal human rights and concepts, find no place in our books." If our books were the only window to the world, he says, the Renaissance never occurred, the Reformation never took place, the French and Russian revolutions, the colonial era, etc., are insignificant events all overshadowed by the eternal fight between Islam and its enemies. "It is this mindset that is then exploited by those who seek recruits to their violent agendas," says Hasanain. |
| Posted by: john 2007-02-11 08:00 |
| #1 Educationists on the proposed and actual changes in school curricula.. Asked what role hate literature has played in brutalising an otherwise peaceful Pakistani society, he says what it did psychologically was to lift the barrier to hate. "The hate material in textbooks was directed against a particular 'other', but once the barrier was crossed, anyone could be hated. Now the 'other' could be defined on the basis of religion, sect, language, ethnicity, etc. These 'others' were so closely compared to the ones aimed at in the texts that the hate could also easily accompany a violent action against the imagined enemies. Pakistani society thus faced violent internal feuds and fissures." The hate literature taught so zealously in our schools especially after General Zia ul Haq usurped power in 1977 has destroyed the very social fabric of Pakistan society. And has contributed to many present day challenges including Talibanisation. Sectarian strife, he says, has increased in Pakistan as a consequence of trying to define Pakistani identity in religious terms. 'The Subtle Subversion: The State of Curricula and Textbooks in Pakistan,' a research publication of SDPI compiled by A.H. Nayyar and Ahmed Salim a couple of years ago states that madrasahs in Pakistan have recently been a focus of world attention for creating this kind of exclusionary and sectarian worldview. But the educational material in the government run schools does more harm than madrasahs. "The textbooks tell lies, create hate, incite for jihad and shahadat, and much more," it states. |
| Posted by: john 2007-02-11 07:59 |