In Response to Muhammad Maroof Shah's"Implementing Islam in the Secular States"

The conflicts and contrasts between Islamic and Western political thought stems from their Philosophical, Methodological, and Theoretical background rather than mere institutional and historical differences.The questions of how and through which processes these alternative conceptions of the world affect political ideas via a set of axiological presuppositions are the "crux" to be deliberated.

The very "world views" dichotomize on Ontological differentiation & Ontological proximity. Epistemologico-Axiological Foundations & Cosmologico-Ontological Foundations.As Such,
juxtaposing "God smothered Materialism " on "Islamic Politico Paradigm": TAWHEED, is farce & theoretically flawed.

Co-Existential culture with intellectual engagement & invitation by establishing just societies, had been the epitome of Islamic civilization.Be it State of Medina,Rein of Rightly guided Caliphs or even Muslim Spain before it was hijacked as the rationale for the acts of "most savage rulers". Accepting the status quo of judiciously interspersed "Heterogeneity/Pluralism" is contradictory & at loggerheads with the essence of Tawheed.It's like why i can't "submit & not submit" at the same time.Cutting across "mere line's on maps" & "materialistic class dilution" drawn upon the psychological forces of hate,suspicion,& resentment which tends to impoverish the soul of man and closes up his hidden spiritual source of energy.

The two divergent streams[Western Bourgeois Liberalism & Marxism] of today have their roots vested in Greek humanism.Both boast of their humanism.But both in theory & in practice, are rooted in human materialism.Both took man as economic animal.Both,Voltaire and Marx closed their eyes to the spiritual dimensions of human essence.On writing to Engels,after studying the work's of Darwin,Marx accepted the laters view,as the biological basis for his philosophical work.No matter how "Evolutionary reformation" has Marxism gone over the year's,it's vested in something which contradicts the very philosophical basis of Islam.

The world wouldn't consider Democracy for its political ruling system for the 1700 hundred year's after the demise of world's first experiment with Democracy,with the succumbing of Roman Republic to dictatorship,and fall of Ancient Athens to dictators,& then foreign power's ruled by Roman Empire. It was not until the age which produced the birth of a new worldview in European thought, called anachronistically, ‘The Enlightenment’, that Democracy would be resurrected. This new and radical world view had many incarnations & names, but is called today ‘Secular Liberalism’, or ‘Liberalism’.

It's this "Secular Liberalism"which after brutal colonial adventure dropped "Little Boy" & "Fat Man" on Japan,just to reduce War in-order to install "Neo-Imperialistic institutions" under the fake veneer of euphemistic Democratic patronage.Who can deny the lethal WTO negotiations where even "Climate Change" is used to sell technologies to "Developing nations"The land which blessed world with "Democracy"-Greece, collapsed just few months ago under the mammoth piled debt trap.Thanks to Democratic Institution-IMF.Today,revolutions are sparked just to install Democracy & open nations for "Neo-Liberal Economic agenda".USSR [Communism] has collapsed,China is almost assimilated & Castro's Cuba finally succumbed to sanctions.World today craves for a system based on cooperation not competition.

Marx felt human liberation depends upon the denial of God,and Nietzsche boasted,"God is Dead", Hobbes & John Locke,"Locked God in Oblivion" and Decade's ago Allama Iqbal proclaimed, "Today,more than else,humanity needs Spiritual interpretation of Cosmos". We may add,"it needs Spiritual interpretation of humanity as well".

Muslims and The Biased World Media

A few years back while watching a video lecture of Haward Zinn in university of Massachusetts, I noticed something eccentric when he said,” Long back I have given up taking narratives from the media “& then something similar from Arundhati Roy in an interview with Tarik Ali.Back then I was the regular reader of some of the India’s leading dailies. The sayings were quite intriguing. At the back of my mind it kept puzzling me every time. Until a day, my enigma was solved.

Media- as Edmund Burke says is the fourth estate of democracy. The media serves as the module for communicating & predicting future vagaries to the general populace. It’s incumbent upon media to ventilate their grievances & insinuate morals, beliefs & the ethics of a civilized society. In a world full of disparities, conflicts & occupations; it’s this unprejudiced institution that keeps the adrenaline rush of a system going. It keeps vigil on the evil designs of a brutal regime. It’s aimed to protect the rights of downtrodden, marginalized & demonized sections of a society. However its corruption is surely not good for the health of democracy.

Muslim World at large has been at the receiving end by the coverage of world media. The callous, cold & biased outlook towards the community is appalling. There are multifarious occasions in the world history when media turned blind eye to the growing aspirations of the community & painted it in bad light.

After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, United States imposed sanctions on Iraq. U.S. was responsible for large number of Iraqi civilian deaths in the 1990s. These” sanctions of mass destruction “caused the deaths of "more people in Iraq than have been slain by all so-called weapons of mass destruction [nuclear and chemical] throughout all history." A large fraction of the million or more killed by sanctions were young children; UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy pointed out that "if the substantial reduction in child mortality throughout Iraq during the 1980s had continued through the 1990s, there would have been half a million fewer deaths of children under five in the country. World media not only legitimized it but also and gave little attention to this inhumane barbarity. Political vocabulary is used very prudently where “Genocide” is interspersed with “Victimization “in the war torn countries.

In 2003, US again launched an invasion of Iraq. It was the war grounded on the claims by journalists, political pundits and analysts of media that Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” posed an impending threat to US, British and its staunch allies in Middle East. Hundreds and thousands of Iraqis lost their lives in that war with no trace of lethal weapons.

According to a new report published in March 2015, at least 1.3 million people have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan from direct and indirect consequences of the U.S. so called “war on terrorism”. A shocking 5 percent of the country’s population wiped out in Iraq alone. This report is without those killed in Yemen, Somalia, covert war in Syria and elsewhere. There are 3 million internally displaced Iraqis and nearly 2.5 million refugees living in Pakistan. What is painful, when American public remains sadly misinformed by the biased narrative of the media .In a public poll in 2007 it was found Americans estimated the Iraqi death toll at 10,000.In a study by the University of Maryland, 38 percent of Americans still believe that U.S. uncovered clear evidence that Saddam Hussein was closely working with Al Qaeda, though the claim is false.
Despite the growing war debts, souring taxes, unproductive military interventions’ & successive humiliating defeats, according to the recent Pew Polls, nearly half of Americans believe that military force is the best way to combat global terrorism. Such is the height of “manufactured consent “by the hoax narratives of media to unleash rampant destruction in Muslim lands.

In 2012 ,a study published in the “American Sociological review “, conducted by an assistant professor of sociology at university of north Carolina says US mainstream media outlets are dominated by anti Islam “fringe” groups and are shaping the distorted public discourse about Islamic faith. In August 2011, a 130 page US report titled “Fear,Inc .: The Roots of Islamophobia Network in America “ reads, a group of foundations, think tanks and bloggers, as the prominent players to promote the fear of Islam and Muslims in the US. The study identifies seven foundations that have provided 42 million dollars to key individuals and organizations for spitting anti Muslim venom between 2001 -2009.

Back in 1983, fifty corporations dominated world media. In 1987, the fifty companies had shrunk to twenty nine with a biggest media merger deal then of worth $340 million. In 1990, the twenty nine shrunk to twenty three. In 1997 with the biggest firms, numbered ten, signed a $19 billion Disney –ABC deal, at the time biggest media merger deal ever. In 2000 AOL and Time Warner announced their intensions to combine and married a deal of whopping $350 billion. Then Time Warner/EMI and Tribune/Times Mirror merged. It’s believed today, six colossal media corporations tower all over the rest of fringe smaller firms. This is worse than a night mare that most of our information is controlled by few pockets. These firms shape the public opinion and work in tandem with states.

In the wake of recent past, after Charlie Hebdo journalists attack probably perpetrated by Muslims, a wave of anti Muslim attacks which remained mostly unnoticed was set in Europe. Three Muslim students at University of North Carolina where killed by a radical Atheist after reading Richard Dawkins & Sam Harris. Western media outlets proved a catalyst for it. Reports prove that Excessive coverage is given to the global and regional conflicts involving Muslim lands and killing of non Muslims by Muslims. Against this, when Muslims are killed by non Muslims, the identity of faith is kept anonymous.

Talk shows, Chat forums, News room debates are titled “What’s problem with Muslims today?” “Does Islam need reformation?” “Are Muslims incorrigible? This lopsided, narrow and sensationalistic bigoted western Medias portrayal of Islam and Muslims is bound to generate anti Muslim sentiments. This has become so deeply invested, that Islamophobia is now a reality in the western society.

The ousting of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, & subsequently his death sentence is an open assault on democracy. The parti pris reporting and the criminal silence of world media about the issue will breed nothing but aggression and violent means in Muslim circles. The persecution of Islamists & shrinking of their political space in Bangladesh under the guise of external forces by Khalida Zia regime and media coverage is quite distressing and humiliating. Who could deny the one-sided coverage of top notch channels like BBC,Fox News,Sky News and CNN in the recent naked aggression of Israel against poor Palestinians.

 Back in India, a country which is plagued with meticulously planned communal hatred, illegal detentions & where fascist forces have found political voice; the mainstream media coverage is annoying. Events like Ballabgarh riots, where hundreds of Muslim families are displaced & property worth millions of rupees is vandalized, ironically don’t find space in mass media.

The likes of Salman Rushdie & Tasleema Nasreen rhetoric had been blown out of proportion. This negative publicity of Islam was only aimed to build a public notion that Islam is inherently violent and lacks space for dissent. Islamic doctrines encourage Muslims for debate.Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the first to invite the people of book for an open debate & that too interestingly in a mosque.

It remains a stark reality the western media rarely highlights Islam, its contribution of building western society, its glorious past and its potential to revive spiritually ailing, morally bankrupt and ethically void world.

There is no denying of the fact that Muslims need to think of alternate and viable means to present true message of Islam to the world. The emergence of distinct Muslim media will provide a focal point through which Muslims, and particularly young Muslims, can find expression for their concerns and aspirations. In the light of the events of 9/11, western military intervention in Muslim lands, Covert wars & global campaign of maligning Islam, the creation of new spaces for counter narrative becomes crucial. These spaces will enable Muslims to express views and debate the issues that concern them the most. Already in the Britain & many south Asian nations, younger Muslim generation is judiciously using various media channels including that of social networking sites, to disseminate knowledge and debunk myths about Islam. In the French Charlie Hebdo incident whole world was trending on social networking sites with hash tag #jesuisCharlie to degrade Islam. The young Muslims retaliated back with the hashtag #WhoIsMuhammmad to dispel the hoax propaganda. It’s also encouraging young Muslim intellectuals have come up with debating forums in the west including that of iERA’s “The Big Debate” & a campaign “Don’t Hate, Debate” & “Muslim Debate Initiative” by Abdullah Andulusi. Muslim media outlets like that of IRFs Peace TV initiative can also substantiate handy in this regard .Peace TV is now multi lingual & has got some good coverage worldwide. It should come up with more critical issues & contemporary challenges which affect Muslim ummah holistically. But this surely is not enough. There is a dire need of Muslims think tanks to come forward and think of pragmatic road map to put an end to this vicious circle of scare mongering and demonization of Islam.

Muslims and The Biased World Media

Back in 1983, fifty corporations dominated world media. In 1987, the fifty companies had shrunk to twenty nine with a biggest media merger deal then of worth $340 million. In 1990, the twenty nine shrunk to twenty three. In 1997 with the biggest firms, numbered ten, signed a $19 billion Disney –ABC deal, at the time biggest media merger deal ever. In 2000 AOL and Time Warner announced their intensions to combine and married a deal of whopping $350 billion. Then Time Warner/EMI and Tribune/Times Mirror merged. It’s believed today, six colossal media corporations tower all over the rest of fringe smaller firms. This is worse than a night mare that most of our information is controlled by few pockets. These firms shape the public opinion and work in tandem with states.

In the wake of recent past, after Charlie Hebdo journalists attack probably perpetrated by Muslims, a wave of anti Muslim attacks which remained mostly unnoticed was set in Europe. Three Muslim students at University of North Carolina where killed by a radical Atheist after reading Richard Dawkins & Sam Harris. Western media outlets proved a catalyst for it. Reports prove that Excessive coverage is given to the global and regional conflicts involving Muslim lands and killing of non Muslims by Muslims. Against this, when Muslims are killed by non Muslims, the identity of faith is kept anonymous.

Talk shows, Chat forums, News room debates are titled “What’s problem with Muslims today?” “Does Islam need reformation?” “Are Muslims incorrigible? This lopsided, narrow and sensationalistic bigoted western Medias portrayal of Islam and Muslims is bound to generate anti Muslim sentiments. This has become so deeply invested, that Islamophobia is now a reality in the western society.

The ousting of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, & subsequently his death sentence is an open assault on democracy. The parti pris reporting and the criminal silence of world media about the issue will breed nothing but aggression and violent means in Muslim circles. The persecution of Islamists & shrinking of their political space in Bangladesh under the guise of external forces by Khalida Zia regime and media coverage is quite distressing and humiliating. Who could deny the one-sided coverage of top notch channels like BBC,Fox News,Sky News and CNN in the recent naked aggression of Israel against poor Palestinians.

 Back in India, a country which is plagued with meticulously planned communal hatred, illegal detentions & where fascist forces have found political voice; the mainstream media coverage is annoying. Events like Ballabgarh riots, where hundreds of Muslim families are displaced & property worth millions of rupees is vandalized, ironically don’t find space in mass media.

The likes of Salman Rushdie & Tasleema Nasreen rhetoric had been blown out of proportion. This negative publicity of Islam was only aimed to build a public notion that Islam is inherently violent and lacks space for dissent. Islamic doctrines encourage Muslims for debate.Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the first to invite the people of book for an open debate & that too interestingly in a mosque.

It remains a stark reality the western media rarely highlights Islam, its contribution of building western society, its glorious past and its potential to revive spiritually ailing, morally bankrupt and ethically void world.

There is no denying of the fact that Muslims need to think of alternate and viable means to present true message of Islam to the world. The emergence of distinct Muslim media will provide a focal point through which Muslims, and particularly young Muslims, can find expression for their concerns and aspirations. In the light of the events of 9/11, western military intervention in Muslim lands, Covert wars & global campaign of maligning Islam, the creation of new spaces for counter narrative becomes crucial. These spaces will enable Muslims to express views and debate the issues that concern them the most. Already in the Britain & many south Asian nations, younger Muslim generation is judiciously using various media channels including that of social networking sites, to disseminate knowledge and debunk myths about Islam. In the French Charlie Hebdo incident whole world was trending on social networking sites with hash tag #jesuisCharlie to degrade Islam. The young Muslims retaliated back with the hashtag #WhoIsMuhammmad to dispel the hoax propaganda. It’s also encouraging young Muslim intellectuals have come up with debating forums in the west including that of iERA’s “The Big Debate” & a campaign “Don’t Hate, Debate” & “Muslim Debate Initiative” by Abdullah Andulusi. Muslim media outlets like that of IRFs Peace TV initiative can also substantiate handy in this regard .Peace TV is now multi lingual & has got some good coverage worldwide. It should come up with more critical issues & contemporary challenges which affect Muslim ummah holistically. But this surely is not enough. There is a dire need of Muslims think tanks to come forward and think of pragmatic road map to put an end to this vicious circle of scare mongering and demonization of Islam.A few years back while watching a video lecture of Haward Zinn in university of Massachusetts, I noticed something eccentric when he said,” Long back I have given up taking narratives from the media “& then something similar from Arundhati Roy in an interview with Tarik Ali.Back then I was the regular reader of some of the India’s leading dailies. The sayings were quite intriguing. At the back of my mind it kept puzzling me every time. Until a day, my enigma was solved.

Media- as Edmund Burke says is the fourth estate of democracy. The media serves as the module for communicating & predicting future vagaries to the general populace. It’s incumbent upon media to ventilate their grievances & insinuate morals, beliefs & the ethics of a civilized society. In a world full of disparities, conflicts & occupations; it’s this unprejudiced institution that keeps the adrenaline rush of a system going. It keeps vigil on the evil designs of a brutal regime. It’s aimed to protect the rights of downtrodden, marginalized & demonized sections of a society. However its corruption is surely not good for the health of democracy.

Muslim World at large has been at the receiving end by the coverage of world media. The callous, cold & biased outlook towards the community is appalling. There are multifarious occasions in the world history when media turned blind eye to the growing aspirations of the community & painted it in bad light.

After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, United States imposed sanctions on Iraq. U.S. was responsible for large number of Iraqi civilian deaths in the 1990s. These” sanctions of mass destruction “caused the deaths of "more people in Iraq than have been slain by all so-called weapons of mass destruction [nuclear and chemical] throughout all history." A large fraction of the million or more killed by sanctions were young children; UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy pointed out that "if the substantial reduction in child mortality throughout Iraq during the 1980s had continued through the 1990s, there would have been half a million fewer deaths of children under five in the country. World media not only legitimized it but also and gave little attention to this inhumane barbarity. Political vocabulary is used very prudently where “Genocide” is interspersed with “Victimization “in the war torn countries.

In 2003, US again launched an invasion of Iraq. It was the war grounded on the claims by journalists, political pundits and analysts of media that Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” posed an impending threat to US, British and its staunch allies in Middle East. Hundreds and thousands of Iraqis lost their lives in that war with no trace of lethal weapons.

According to a new report published in March 2015, at least 1.3 million people have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan from direct and indirect consequences of the U.S. so called “war on terrorism”. A shocking 5 percent of the country’s population wiped out in Iraq alone. This report is without those killed in Yemen, Somalia, covert war in Syria and elsewhere. There are 3 million internally displaced Iraqis and nearly 2.5 million refugees living in Pakistan. What is painful, when American public remains sadly misinformed by the biased narrative of the media .In a public poll in 2007 it was found Americans estimated the Iraqi death toll at 10,000.In a study by the University of Maryland, 38 percent of Americans still believe that U.S. uncovered clear evidence that Saddam Hussein was closely working with Al Qaeda, though the claim is false.
Despite the growing war debts, souring taxes, unproductive military interventions’ & successive humiliating defeats, according to the recent Pew Polls, nearly half of Americans believe that military force is the best way to combat global terrorism. Such is the height of “manufactured consent “by the hoax narratives of media to unleash rampant destruction in Muslim lands.

In 2012 ,a study published in the “American Sociological review “, conducted by an assistant professor of sociology at university of north Carolina says US mainstream media outlets are dominated by anti Islam “fringe” groups and are shaping the distorted public discourse about Islamic faith. In August 2011, a 130 page US report titled “Fear,Inc .: The Roots of Islamophobia Network in America “ reads, a group of foundations, think tanks and bloggers, as the prominent players to promote the fear of Islam and Muslims in the US. The study identifies seven foundations that have provided 42 million dollars to key individuals and organizations for spitting anti Muslim venom between 2001 -2009.





ver the rest of fringe smaller firms. This is worse than a night mare that most of our information is controlled by few pockets. These firms shape the public opinion and work in tandem with states.

In the wake of recent past, after Charlie Hebdo journalists attack probably perpetrated by Muslims, a wave of anti Muslim attacks which remained mostly unnoticed was set in Europe. Three Muslim students at University of North Carolina where killed by a radical Atheist after reading Richard Dawkins & Sam Harris. Western media outlets proved a catalyst for it. Reports prove that Excessive coverage is given to the global and regional conflicts involving Muslim lands and killing of non Muslims by Muslims. Against this, when Muslims are killed by non Muslims, the identity of faith is kept anonymous.

Talk shows, Chat forums, News room debates are titled “What’s problem with Muslims today?” “Does Islam need reformation?” “Are Muslims incorrigible? This lopsided, narrow and sensationalistic bigoted western Medias portrayal of Islam and Muslims is bound to generate anti Muslim sentiments. This has become so deeply invested, that Islamophobia is now a reality in the western society.

Islam on Spirituality...!!

Minutes of the “Students of AMU” Saturday night’s special program-“Night Ijtima”

Islam being a complete way life doesn't view ‘spirituality’ separately from everyday activities. In Islam everything is ‘spiritual’ because all actions must be in accordance with God’s pleasure. This view comes from the Islamic creed and the Muslim understanding of Tawhid (the oneness of God).

The understanding of spirituality in Islam is unlike the secular understanding. It is the constant reference to God and ensuring that everything he or she does is in accordance with God’s pleasure.
The Prophet Muhammad emphasized on developing a good character by engaging a constant practice of prayer, meditation, remembrance of God and other activities, as these actions change the heart and thereby bring one closer to God.

In the backdrop heavy intellectual exercise going on in the various programs of “Students of AMU”… a decision for the rejuvenation of the soul was taken .The move was supported by the majority of the members & Saturday night program was called for the “Night Ijtima” by the Group leader Br.Abu Bakr.

The program proved to be a success as fair number of the cadres participated in the Spiritual Session. The program as usual was opened with Quranic group discussion. Interpretation of the diverse tafaseer makes it always intellectually rich & widens the scope of the discussion with handsome arguments. The program was followed by a short break and then recitation of the Holy Quran. Nothing is important then a calm, peaceful & enlightened soul. Humility of the participants was a living testimony to that.

Br. Wajihudin delivered an inspirational talk on the life of “Chief of the martyrs’ “Hazrat Hamza (RA).” It was very emotional, blood wrenching but quite insightful. Uhud Mount stands as evidence for al-Hamza's(RA) bravery, the Master of the Martyrs, and the polytheists' savageness. It was retreated that martyrdom of the Hamza(RA) should not be treated as an Epic of a religion but indeed a lesson for the contemporary Muslim ummah.
The program ended with Supererogatory prayer i.e. Nafl Salat صلاة نفل ,salatul tahajud followed by Fajr prayer & a soulful supplication of the Group leader..

God consciousness is an essential element in Islamic spiritual practice, without it, the Muslim’s behaviour and attitude are corrupted. Islam has a unique view on spirituality as it encompasses all aspects of the Muslim’s life. All actions that are referred to God are spiritual, and these actions include the supplications we utter before we go to bed to the type of bank account we hold. God has prescribed certain actions that develop positive characters as well as bringing the Muslim closer to God thereby attain God consciousness. This state achieves many things including God’s love, closeness and divine assistance.
May Allah Accept this from us…