As the first rays of sun illuminated the mother earth, on the glorious day of 1st May 1960, two new states in the Indian Republic were born.
Today, after the mindboggling journey of 50 years, they have become the pillar of India’s success story.
They are Gujarat and Maharashtra…
And,
They enter their fiftieth year today..
Gujarat,
the lion shaped state on the Western coast of India, roars to the world, of Indian Supremacy, not only in the fields of cultural and social heritage, but also in the Industrial and Economic achievements…
Gujarat..Gurjar Desh or Aanart, as it was known in ancient times, is a narration of rich history and superlative growth..
Gujarat’s tale of heritage is enriched by seven colors of rainbow.. The Saptarangi Gujarat, is the achievements over hurdles..the power of strenthful climbibg of ladder of progress along with innumerable sacrifices..
Gujarat is a heartbeat of every soul born on this pious soil..
Gujarat is a enlighted experience for every mind that steps its foot on this fertile land..
Gujarat ek Ahsaas..
Gujarat ek Anandabhaas.
Gurjar land, which was a part of Mumbai state at the time of independence, earned its special status of separate state in 1960, with Maha Gujarat Aandolan..With commitment and courage of Late Shri Indu Chacha and Late Shri Ravi Shankar Maharaj, the people of Gurjar land accomplished a state of their own..Gujarat..And Late Shri Jivraj Mehta as their first chief minister..
Later, in 1974, the Navnirmaan Aandolan marked the second phase of the courageous commitment that raised its voice against the corruptive practice and was initiated by the students unions.
And,
Again the commitment prevailed over corruption and the success story was re-written.
Sangharsh, is the first color of Saptarangi Gujarat…
Saahas, or the mighty strength to think big, bear risks and conquer the world is a natural phenomenon that runs in the blood of every Gujarati born on this earth.. He may be residing in any part of the world but he dreams similiarly.. To rule the world in his chosen field..
And,
This natural instinct portrays its second color of rainbow..
Samanjasya, or Ekroopta shows the world the instinct of Gujaratis to make the part of the earth, that they place their foot, a mini Gujarat. Peaceful existence in the foreign lands with intact Gujarati”ness” is the picture that represents Gujarati residing in any corner of the earth.. Availability of Indian food in remotest corner of the world and Gujaratis dressed in their traditional outfits to celebrate their festival across the globe, is a regular experience.
Yet,
The Gujaratis always respects the land the customs and traditions of the land they have made their home.
This richness of the soul is the third color of rainbow..
Swarajya priti, is the fourth color of Saptarangi Gujarat..
Gujarat’s soil has been the birth place of many many personalities who devoted and dedicated their lives for the freedom of the land and Mother India..From Mahatma Gandhi to Sardar Patel to Morarji Desai.. the list is endless.
And, we are today, because they sacrificed their todays for us, on yesterdays..
Samajseva has been in the hearts of many Gujaratis.
And,
Late Shri Ravishankar Maharaj, Shri Indu Chacha, Swami Anand worked effortlessly for the upliftment of community at large.. And,
This is the fifth color of rainbow that spreads its fragrance of brotherhood.
The feeling of Vasudhev Kutumbkum, is imbibed in the soul of every individual that breathes the air of Gujarat. Since time immortal, Gujarat has welcomed races from across globe..From the Siddis of Africa to Parsis of Iran, the lohanas from the Sindh, are few of the examples. Today, people from all over India have made Gujarat their home and the co-existence is extremely peaceful..
Thus, the unity among people living on this land is the sixth color of rainbow..
And,
The Seventh Color..
The Sankalp Shakti of Gujarati..
He may be residing in any remotest nook of the world but he would always think big.. His dreams will be big and his determination to conquer the dreams into achievement, still bigger..
Come what may.. the Gujarati, would aim for the tallest achievement and strive to fulfill it..
Thus,
Today, on the fiftieth birthday of this great land, we all Gujaratis bow down to this pious yet courageous soil that has enriched the existence of all belonging to this land..
Friday, April 30, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
How history gets written in other parts of the world..and then, in India..
A 19 year old ex-cheerleader (now an Air Force Security Forces Sniper) was watching a road that led to a NATO military base when she observed a man digging by the road. She engaged the target, i.e, she shot him.
It turned out he was a bomb maker for the Taliban, and he was burying an IED (Improvised eXPLOSIVE dEVICE) that was to be detonated when a Canadian patrol walked by 30 minutes later. It would have certainly killed and wounded numerous soldiers.
The interesting fact of this story is that the shot was measured at 725 yards! She shot him as he was bent over burying the bomb. The shot went through his butt and into the bomb, which detonated; he was blown in to pieces.
The Air Force made a motivational poster of her!
Folks, that's a shot 25 yards longer than seven football fields!
She was honored and hired in the Air Force as a sniper.
That is Canada!!
If a similar incident had happened in India, the following would be the aftermath.
1. J&K state declares hartal and violent demonstrations follow.
2. Civil Right Groups demand an inquiry, and arrest of the girl.
3. Teesta Setalvad says the man was just answering nature's call and files a case
against Modi accusing him of ordering the fire.
4. MF Husain will draw a painting of a bare butt to honour the slain victim. "The Hindu" and other psecular media will hail Hussain's freedom and artistry.
5. Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Pronnoy Roy et al will debate for a week at prime time if it was correct to fire at the butt of a poor person belonging to minority community.
6. The Air Force sniper faces departmental inquiry and suspension.
7. Manmohan Singh loses a night's sleep and declares a compensation of Rs. 10 lacs to the victim's family!!
**************
It turned out he was a bomb maker for the Taliban, and he was burying an IED (Improvised eXPLOSIVE dEVICE) that was to be detonated when a Canadian patrol walked by 30 minutes later. It would have certainly killed and wounded numerous soldiers.
The interesting fact of this story is that the shot was measured at 725 yards! She shot him as he was bent over burying the bomb. The shot went through his butt and into the bomb, which detonated; he was blown in to pieces.
The Air Force made a motivational poster of her!
Folks, that's a shot 25 yards longer than seven football fields!
She was honored and hired in the Air Force as a sniper.
That is Canada!!
If a similar incident had happened in India, the following would be the aftermath.
1. J&K state declares hartal and violent demonstrations follow.
2. Civil Right Groups demand an inquiry, and arrest of the girl.
3. Teesta Setalvad says the man was just answering nature's call and files a case
against Modi accusing him of ordering the fire.
4. MF Husain will draw a painting of a bare butt to honour the slain victim. "The Hindu" and other psecular media will hail Hussain's freedom and artistry.
5. Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Pronnoy Roy et al will debate for a week at prime time if it was correct to fire at the butt of a poor person belonging to minority community.
6. The Air Force sniper faces departmental inquiry and suspension.
7. Manmohan Singh loses a night's sleep and declares a compensation of Rs. 10 lacs to the victim's family!!
**************
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Post Godhra riots..The other side of the story.
For eight long years, Gujarat 2002 has stood out as one of the worst episodes in our calendar of atrocity. Since then, the country has witnessed ugly sparring over the bloody riots between the Gujarat Government and the votaries of the Hindutva movement on one side and the human rights lobby on the other.
Setalvad
Setalvad is alleged to have included charges that were retracted later by the witnesses.
Meanwhile, the state Government, Chief Minister Narendra Modi in particular, has been repeatedly accused of direct or indirect involvement in the riots. In March 2008, the Supreme Court (SC) appointed the Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by former Central Bureau of Investigation Director R.K. Raghavan, to reinvestigate nine major cases in the Gujarat riots of 2002. Charges flew back and forth once again last week when human rights activists called for the prosecution of Modi for his involvement in the riots in response to a petition.
The latest round of sparring began after the SIT sought Modi's presence in response to an SC petition by Zakia Jafri, a riot victim and the widow of Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, accusing Modi and 61 others of being involved in riots and hatching a conspiracy to kill Muslims. Ehsan was among the 69 people killed by a riotous Hindu mob in the Gulberg Society case.
Narender
"For eight years, canards have been spread against me. But the truth cannot be suppressed."
NARENDRA MODI, Gujarat Chief Minister
Significantly, in March 2003, the SC had stalled the trial of nine Gujarat riot cases, thanks to the relentless campaign by the human rights activists seeking justice for the Muslim victims. The riot victims said they won't get justice as long as the Gujarat Government had a role in the police probe and the subsequent trial. The SIT is reinvestigating the cases under the virtual supervision of the apex court, with even the judges and public prosecutors being selected under the SC's monitoring. As the SIT goes about its task, more and more evidence is surfacing that the human rights lobby had, in many cases, spun macabre stories of rape and brutal killings by tutoring witnesses before the SC. In the process, it might have played a significant role in misleading the SC to suit its political objectives against Modi and his government.
Last week, one of the most horrible examples of cruelty resurfaced once again as the trial of the Naroda Patiya case, where 94 persons were killed, began in the SC-monitored special court in Ahmedabad. Soon after the riots, the human rights activists and the Muslim witnesses had alleged that a pregnant woman Kausarbanu's womb was ripped open by rioters and the foetus was flung out at the point of a sword. The gruesome incident was seen as the worst-possible example of medieval vandalism in the modern age.
Riots
The wait for justice for Gujarat's riot victims is still not over
Last week, eight years after the alleged incident, Dr J.S. Kanoria, who conducted the post-mortem on Kausarbanu's body on March 2, 2002, denied that any such incident had ever happened. Instead, he told the court: "After the post-mortem, I found that her foetus was intact and that she had died of burns suffered during the riot." Later Kanoria, 40, told INDIA TODAY, "I have told the court what I had already written in my post-mortem report eight years ago. The press should have checked the report before believing that her womb was ripped open. As far as I remember, I did her post-mortem at noon on March 2, 2002."
A careful study of the three police complaints, claiming that Kausarbanu's womb was ripped open by the rioters, shows several loopholes. While one complaint accuses Guddu Chara, one of the main accused in the Naroda Patiya case, of ripping open Kausarbanu's womb, extracting her foetus and flinging it with a sword; another complaint accuses Babu Bajrangi, yet another accused in the case, of doing the act. A third complaint, on the other hand, does not name the accused but describes the alleged act.
Modi will also have reasons to smile at the affidavits filed by the Muslim witnesses in the SC in 2003 at the behest of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and Teesta Setalvad on the basis of which the trial in nine cases were stalled for six long years. The most glaring hole is in the affidavit of Nanumiya Malek, a key witness in the Naroda Gam case. In his affidavit before the SC filed on November 15, 2003, Malek stated that a newly married woman called Madina, who lost four of her relatives, including her husband in the riots, had been raped by the rioters.
Dr
"Her (Kausarbanu) foetus was intact and she had died of burns suffered during the riot."
Dr J.S. KANORIA
Malek's affidavit states: "I was witness to the crimes of murder and rape that took place on Madina and her family. I also saw seven people being burnt alive, including four orphans. I request the SC to keep the details of this rape victim confidential since she is alive and use it only for the purpose of trial and conviction of the rapists." But on May 5, 2009, in his statement before the SIT, Malek said: "I had wrongly claimed that Madina had been raped. I made the charge because of Teesta Setalvad's pressure. I kept on telling her not to include that charge in my affidavit, yet it was included." In her statement before the SIT on May 20, 2008, Madina, who has remarried now, said: "The charge made by Malek claiming that I was raped by a riotous mob is false. I wasn't raped. When the riotous mob put my house on fire, I tried to run but was attacked by a rioter who injured me with a knife. Later I managed to merge in a Muslim crowd."
There are six other affidavits filed by different Muslim witnesses on November 15, 2003, that wantonly allege rape in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya riot cases without giving any details. Interestingly, all the affidavits have a uniform language: "Over 110 persons were not simply killed, but raped and mutilated as well, including young children. We urge the SC to stay the trials and transfer them to a neighbouring state and also order fresh investigation." The affidavits state that they had been filed at the behest of Setalvad and in the presence of her co-activist Rais Khan.
Nanumiya
"I had wrongly claimed that Madina was raped. I made the charge because of Teesta Setalvad's pressure."
NANUMIYA MALEK
If this wasn't enough, other glaring attempts by human rights activists to tutor witnesses have come to the fore. For example, soon after the Gulberg massacre in which Ehsan Jafri was killed, nearly a dozen Muslim witnesses told the police that Jafri had fired in self-defence, killed a rioter and injured 14 others. They also said that this led the mob to resort to violence and attack Muslims in Gulberg with vengeance. But almost half of them who deposed before the special court have retracted from this statement. The statement of Imtiaz Pathan in the Gulberg trial also raises eyebrows. He told the special court that before being killed, Jafri told him that Narendra Modi abused him (Jafri) on phone when he sought protection during a mob attack. Incidentally, there is no record available of Jafri having made any call to Modi. Pathan didn't name Modi in the first police statement he made soon after the riots. Interestingly, he has also identified as many as 27 individual attackers from a mob of thousands of rioters.
When the SIT started taking statements of witnesses in the Gulberg Society case, around 20 witnesses came with typed statements. But the SIT objected to it, citing Section 161 of the CRPC, saying that the police must record the statement of a witness. So when the SIT forced the witnesses to give their statement during the interrogation, there was a vast difference between the 'readymade typed' statements and the oral evidence that the police had received earlier.
As a senior lawyer defending the accused puts it: "The witnesses under the influence of the human rights activists didn't allow videotaping of their statements while they were being recorded. There is an obvious attempt on the part of activists to dictate not just the SIT, but also the courts." Last week, INDIA TODAY quizzed Setalvad about the charge of tutoring the witnesses and creating false evidence before the courts in the 2002 Gujarat riot cases.
Her response: "I am under no obligation to respond to your questions." The human rights activists' band seems to believe that one side's suffering is greater than the other's.
Credibility Gap
Then
In his petition before the SC, Nanumiya Malek, a key witness in the Naroda Gam case, says that a married woman called Madina had been raped by rioters.
Now
Malek later told the SIT that Madina's rape was an accusation put forth at the behest of Teesta Setalvad. Madina also denied the charge.
Then
For the past eight years, human rights activists and Naroda Patiya victims have alleged that the rioters ripped open the womb of the pregnant Kausarbanu. Now
Dr J.S. Kanoria, who conducted a post-mortem on Kausarbanu's body, says she died of burns during the riot and that her womb was intact.
Then
While reinvestigating the Gulberg case, the SIT comes across nearly 20 witnesses who came with their readymade, typed statements to which the SIT objects. Now
The Muslim witnesses refuse to videotape their statements. The statements that are recorded by the SIT do not match the readymade statements.
Then
Imtiaz Pathan, a key witness in the Gulberg case, tells the special court that Ehsan Jafri was abused by Modi when Jafri called the latter seeking his help during the riots. Now
The SIT has not been able to find any evidence or a record of Ehsan Jafri making a phone call to Narendra Modi.
Then
In their 2003 SC petition, Muslim witnesses accused the rioters of raping women. As a result, the trials of nine major cases were stalled for over six years. Now
In their statements made before the SC-appointed SIT, the witnesses haven't accused the rioters of raping women. by Uday Mahurkar.[India Today]
Setalvad
Setalvad is alleged to have included charges that were retracted later by the witnesses.
Meanwhile, the state Government, Chief Minister Narendra Modi in particular, has been repeatedly accused of direct or indirect involvement in the riots. In March 2008, the Supreme Court (SC) appointed the Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by former Central Bureau of Investigation Director R.K. Raghavan, to reinvestigate nine major cases in the Gujarat riots of 2002. Charges flew back and forth once again last week when human rights activists called for the prosecution of Modi for his involvement in the riots in response to a petition.
The latest round of sparring began after the SIT sought Modi's presence in response to an SC petition by Zakia Jafri, a riot victim and the widow of Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, accusing Modi and 61 others of being involved in riots and hatching a conspiracy to kill Muslims. Ehsan was among the 69 people killed by a riotous Hindu mob in the Gulberg Society case.
Narender
"For eight years, canards have been spread against me. But the truth cannot be suppressed."
NARENDRA MODI, Gujarat Chief Minister
Significantly, in March 2003, the SC had stalled the trial of nine Gujarat riot cases, thanks to the relentless campaign by the human rights activists seeking justice for the Muslim victims. The riot victims said they won't get justice as long as the Gujarat Government had a role in the police probe and the subsequent trial. The SIT is reinvestigating the cases under the virtual supervision of the apex court, with even the judges and public prosecutors being selected under the SC's monitoring. As the SIT goes about its task, more and more evidence is surfacing that the human rights lobby had, in many cases, spun macabre stories of rape and brutal killings by tutoring witnesses before the SC. In the process, it might have played a significant role in misleading the SC to suit its political objectives against Modi and his government.
Last week, one of the most horrible examples of cruelty resurfaced once again as the trial of the Naroda Patiya case, where 94 persons were killed, began in the SC-monitored special court in Ahmedabad. Soon after the riots, the human rights activists and the Muslim witnesses had alleged that a pregnant woman Kausarbanu's womb was ripped open by rioters and the foetus was flung out at the point of a sword. The gruesome incident was seen as the worst-possible example of medieval vandalism in the modern age.
Riots
The wait for justice for Gujarat's riot victims is still not over
Last week, eight years after the alleged incident, Dr J.S. Kanoria, who conducted the post-mortem on Kausarbanu's body on March 2, 2002, denied that any such incident had ever happened. Instead, he told the court: "After the post-mortem, I found that her foetus was intact and that she had died of burns suffered during the riot." Later Kanoria, 40, told INDIA TODAY, "I have told the court what I had already written in my post-mortem report eight years ago. The press should have checked the report before believing that her womb was ripped open. As far as I remember, I did her post-mortem at noon on March 2, 2002."
A careful study of the three police complaints, claiming that Kausarbanu's womb was ripped open by the rioters, shows several loopholes. While one complaint accuses Guddu Chara, one of the main accused in the Naroda Patiya case, of ripping open Kausarbanu's womb, extracting her foetus and flinging it with a sword; another complaint accuses Babu Bajrangi, yet another accused in the case, of doing the act. A third complaint, on the other hand, does not name the accused but describes the alleged act.
Modi will also have reasons to smile at the affidavits filed by the Muslim witnesses in the SC in 2003 at the behest of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and Teesta Setalvad on the basis of which the trial in nine cases were stalled for six long years. The most glaring hole is in the affidavit of Nanumiya Malek, a key witness in the Naroda Gam case. In his affidavit before the SC filed on November 15, 2003, Malek stated that a newly married woman called Madina, who lost four of her relatives, including her husband in the riots, had been raped by the rioters.
Dr
"Her (Kausarbanu) foetus was intact and she had died of burns suffered during the riot."
Dr J.S. KANORIA
Malek's affidavit states: "I was witness to the crimes of murder and rape that took place on Madina and her family. I also saw seven people being burnt alive, including four orphans. I request the SC to keep the details of this rape victim confidential since she is alive and use it only for the purpose of trial and conviction of the rapists." But on May 5, 2009, in his statement before the SIT, Malek said: "I had wrongly claimed that Madina had been raped. I made the charge because of Teesta Setalvad's pressure. I kept on telling her not to include that charge in my affidavit, yet it was included." In her statement before the SIT on May 20, 2008, Madina, who has remarried now, said: "The charge made by Malek claiming that I was raped by a riotous mob is false. I wasn't raped. When the riotous mob put my house on fire, I tried to run but was attacked by a rioter who injured me with a knife. Later I managed to merge in a Muslim crowd."
There are six other affidavits filed by different Muslim witnesses on November 15, 2003, that wantonly allege rape in the Naroda Gam and Naroda Patiya riot cases without giving any details. Interestingly, all the affidavits have a uniform language: "Over 110 persons were not simply killed, but raped and mutilated as well, including young children. We urge the SC to stay the trials and transfer them to a neighbouring state and also order fresh investigation." The affidavits state that they had been filed at the behest of Setalvad and in the presence of her co-activist Rais Khan.
Nanumiya
"I had wrongly claimed that Madina was raped. I made the charge because of Teesta Setalvad's pressure."
NANUMIYA MALEK
If this wasn't enough, other glaring attempts by human rights activists to tutor witnesses have come to the fore. For example, soon after the Gulberg massacre in which Ehsan Jafri was killed, nearly a dozen Muslim witnesses told the police that Jafri had fired in self-defence, killed a rioter and injured 14 others. They also said that this led the mob to resort to violence and attack Muslims in Gulberg with vengeance. But almost half of them who deposed before the special court have retracted from this statement. The statement of Imtiaz Pathan in the Gulberg trial also raises eyebrows. He told the special court that before being killed, Jafri told him that Narendra Modi abused him (Jafri) on phone when he sought protection during a mob attack. Incidentally, there is no record available of Jafri having made any call to Modi. Pathan didn't name Modi in the first police statement he made soon after the riots. Interestingly, he has also identified as many as 27 individual attackers from a mob of thousands of rioters.
When the SIT started taking statements of witnesses in the Gulberg Society case, around 20 witnesses came with typed statements. But the SIT objected to it, citing Section 161 of the CRPC, saying that the police must record the statement of a witness. So when the SIT forced the witnesses to give their statement during the interrogation, there was a vast difference between the 'readymade typed' statements and the oral evidence that the police had received earlier.
As a senior lawyer defending the accused puts it: "The witnesses under the influence of the human rights activists didn't allow videotaping of their statements while they were being recorded. There is an obvious attempt on the part of activists to dictate not just the SIT, but also the courts." Last week, INDIA TODAY quizzed Setalvad about the charge of tutoring the witnesses and creating false evidence before the courts in the 2002 Gujarat riot cases.
Her response: "I am under no obligation to respond to your questions." The human rights activists' band seems to believe that one side's suffering is greater than the other's.
Credibility Gap
Then
In his petition before the SC, Nanumiya Malek, a key witness in the Naroda Gam case, says that a married woman called Madina had been raped by rioters.
Now
Malek later told the SIT that Madina's rape was an accusation put forth at the behest of Teesta Setalvad. Madina also denied the charge.
Then
For the past eight years, human rights activists and Naroda Patiya victims have alleged that the rioters ripped open the womb of the pregnant Kausarbanu. Now
Dr J.S. Kanoria, who conducted a post-mortem on Kausarbanu's body, says she died of burns during the riot and that her womb was intact.
Then
While reinvestigating the Gulberg case, the SIT comes across nearly 20 witnesses who came with their readymade, typed statements to which the SIT objects. Now
The Muslim witnesses refuse to videotape their statements. The statements that are recorded by the SIT do not match the readymade statements.
Then
Imtiaz Pathan, a key witness in the Gulberg case, tells the special court that Ehsan Jafri was abused by Modi when Jafri called the latter seeking his help during the riots. Now
The SIT has not been able to find any evidence or a record of Ehsan Jafri making a phone call to Narendra Modi.
Then
In their 2003 SC petition, Muslim witnesses accused the rioters of raping women. As a result, the trials of nine major cases were stalled for over six years. Now
In their statements made before the SC-appointed SIT, the witnesses haven't accused the rioters of raping women. by Uday Mahurkar.[India Today]
Saturday, April 3, 2010
A heart pour by a Muslim..
From the heart of a Muslim - Tawfik Hamid
I was born a Muslim and lived all my life as a follower of Islam.
After the barbaric terrorist attacks done by the hands of my fellow Muslims everywhere on this globe, and after the too many violent acts by Islamists in many parts of the world, I feel responsible as a Muslim and as a human being, to speak out and tell the truth to protect the world and Muslims as well from a coming catastrophe and war of civilizations.
I have to admit that our current Islamic teaching creates violence and hatred toward Non-Muslims.
We Muslims are the ones who need to change.
Until now we have accepted polygamy, the beating of women by men, and killing those who convert from Islam to other religions.
We have never had a clear and strong stand against the concept of slavery or wars, to spread our religion and to subjugate others to Islam and force them to pay a humiliating tax called Jizia.
We ask others to respect our religion while all the time we curse non-Muslims loudly (in Arabic) in our Friday prayers in the Mosques.
What message do we convey to our children when we call the Jews "Descendants of the pigs and monkeys".. Is this a message of love and peace, or a message of hate?
I have been into churches and synagogues where they were praying for Muslims. While all the time we curse them, and teach our generations to call them infidels, and to hate them.
We immediately jump in a 'knee jerk reflex' to defend Prophet Mohammed when someone accuses him of being a pedophile while, at the same time, we are proud with the story in our Islamic books, that he married a young girl seven years old (Aisha) when he was above 50 years old.
I am sad to say that many, if not most of us, rejoiced in happiness after September 11th and after many other terror attacks.
Muslims denounce these attacks to look good in front of the media, but we condone the Islamic terrorists and sympathise with their cause.
Till now our 'reputable' top religious authorities have never issued a Fatwa or religious statement to proclaim Bin Laden as an apostate, while an author, like Rushdie, was declared an apostate who should be killed according to Islamic Shariia law just for writing a book criticizing Islam.
Muslims demonstrated to get more religious rights as we did in France to stop the ban on the Hejab (Head Scarf), while we did not demonstrate with such passion and in such numbers against the terrorist murders.
It is our absolute silence against the terrorists that gives the energy to these terrorists to continue doing their evil acts.
We Muslims need to stop blaming our problems on others or on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. As a matter of honesty, Israel is the only light of democracy, civilization, and human rights in the whole Middle East.
We kicked out the Jews with no compensation or mercy from most of the Arab countries to make them "Jews-Free countries" while Israel accepted more than a million Arabs to live there, have its nationality, and enjoy their rights as human beings.
In Israel, women can not be beaten legally by men, and any person can change his/her belief system with no fear of being killed by the Islamic law of 'Apostasy,' while in our Islamic world people do not enjoy any of these rights. I agree that the 'Palestinians' suffer, but they suffer because of their corrupt leaders and not because of Israel.
It is not common to see Arabs who live in Israel leaving to live in the Arab world. On the other hand, we used to see thousands of Palestinians going to work with happiness in Israel, its 'enemy'. If Israel treats Arabs badly as some people claim, surely we would have seen the opposite happening.
We Muslims need to admit our problems and face them. Only then we can treat them and start a new era to live in harmony with human mankind. Our religious leaders have to show a clear and very strong stand against polygamy, pedophilia, slavery, killing those who convert from Islam to other religions, beating of women by men, and declaring wars on non-Muslims to spread Islam.
Then, and only then, do we have the right to ask others to respect our religion. The time has come to stop our hypocrisy and say it openly: 'We Muslims have to Change'.
Dr. Tawfik Hamid (aka Tarek Abdelhamid), is an Islamic thinker and reformer, and one time Islamic extremist from Egypt. He was a member of a terrorist Islamic organization JI with Dr. Ayman Al-Zawaherri who became later on the second in command of Al-Qaeda. Some twenty-five years ago, he recognized the threat of Radical Islam and the need for a reformation based upon modern peaceful interpretations of classical Islamic core texts.
I was born a Muslim and lived all my life as a follower of Islam.
After the barbaric terrorist attacks done by the hands of my fellow Muslims everywhere on this globe, and after the too many violent acts by Islamists in many parts of the world, I feel responsible as a Muslim and as a human being, to speak out and tell the truth to protect the world and Muslims as well from a coming catastrophe and war of civilizations.
I have to admit that our current Islamic teaching creates violence and hatred toward Non-Muslims.
We Muslims are the ones who need to change.
Until now we have accepted polygamy, the beating of women by men, and killing those who convert from Islam to other religions.
We have never had a clear and strong stand against the concept of slavery or wars, to spread our religion and to subjugate others to Islam and force them to pay a humiliating tax called Jizia.
We ask others to respect our religion while all the time we curse non-Muslims loudly (in Arabic) in our Friday prayers in the Mosques.
What message do we convey to our children when we call the Jews "Descendants of the pigs and monkeys".. Is this a message of love and peace, or a message of hate?
I have been into churches and synagogues where they were praying for Muslims. While all the time we curse them, and teach our generations to call them infidels, and to hate them.
We immediately jump in a 'knee jerk reflex' to defend Prophet Mohammed when someone accuses him of being a pedophile while, at the same time, we are proud with the story in our Islamic books, that he married a young girl seven years old (Aisha) when he was above 50 years old.
I am sad to say that many, if not most of us, rejoiced in happiness after September 11th and after many other terror attacks.
Muslims denounce these attacks to look good in front of the media, but we condone the Islamic terrorists and sympathise with their cause.
Till now our 'reputable' top religious authorities have never issued a Fatwa or religious statement to proclaim Bin Laden as an apostate, while an author, like Rushdie, was declared an apostate who should be killed according to Islamic Shariia law just for writing a book criticizing Islam.
Muslims demonstrated to get more religious rights as we did in France to stop the ban on the Hejab (Head Scarf), while we did not demonstrate with such passion and in such numbers against the terrorist murders.
It is our absolute silence against the terrorists that gives the energy to these terrorists to continue doing their evil acts.
We Muslims need to stop blaming our problems on others or on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. As a matter of honesty, Israel is the only light of democracy, civilization, and human rights in the whole Middle East.
We kicked out the Jews with no compensation or mercy from most of the Arab countries to make them "Jews-Free countries" while Israel accepted more than a million Arabs to live there, have its nationality, and enjoy their rights as human beings.
In Israel, women can not be beaten legally by men, and any person can change his/her belief system with no fear of being killed by the Islamic law of 'Apostasy,' while in our Islamic world people do not enjoy any of these rights. I agree that the 'Palestinians' suffer, but they suffer because of their corrupt leaders and not because of Israel.
It is not common to see Arabs who live in Israel leaving to live in the Arab world. On the other hand, we used to see thousands of Palestinians going to work with happiness in Israel, its 'enemy'. If Israel treats Arabs badly as some people claim, surely we would have seen the opposite happening.
We Muslims need to admit our problems and face them. Only then we can treat them and start a new era to live in harmony with human mankind. Our religious leaders have to show a clear and very strong stand against polygamy, pedophilia, slavery, killing those who convert from Islam to other religions, beating of women by men, and declaring wars on non-Muslims to spread Islam.
Then, and only then, do we have the right to ask others to respect our religion. The time has come to stop our hypocrisy and say it openly: 'We Muslims have to Change'.
Dr. Tawfik Hamid (aka Tarek Abdelhamid), is an Islamic thinker and reformer, and one time Islamic extremist from Egypt. He was a member of a terrorist Islamic organization JI with Dr. Ayman Al-Zawaherri who became later on the second in command of Al-Qaeda. Some twenty-five years ago, he recognized the threat of Radical Islam and the need for a reformation based upon modern peaceful interpretations of classical Islamic core texts.
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