June 26, 2008
Thursday
Sa Bahay
MUSLIMS NOTE VERY WELL...
(Birth anniversary of my late Aunt Salud/Sally who was born June 26, 1917...)
Just to report the latest on my personal life... A lot of things have transpired only a few days after my last post... I've forgotten when that was... I really am losing count of the days!... Only shows that STRUCTURED TIME as in clocks, watches & calendars & schedules are just a learned/acquired habit"... Not really "OBJECTIVE"?! BUt this TOO philosophical...
-Noticed the GOLDEN MASJID in QUIAPO had lost its metal MINARET... Sold off to MAGBABAKAL!!! ASTAGH... Paging GENUINE/REAL MUSLIMS... WHAT'S HAPPENING TO YOUR MOSQUE??? Do COl. Khaddafy & Imelda M. know about this?
-The scanner broke down & so I cannot post the latest old pics in my life's blog...
-A few days back my brother got held up at gunpoint inside an air-con bus & he lost his expensive watch & cellphone - in broad daylight! I notice he has lost some of his "hot-air" or self-confidence... I always insist to him that we are all being "manipulated" & not the real masters of our lives... Of course, this is CONSTHEO & NOT ISLAAMIC... My immediate verdict: "POLICE ASSETS" posing as criminals - I noticed the visibility of police cars lately - Alert for WHAT? My main SUSPECT is the POLICE although possibly criminal gangs in the style of Italian MAFIA or Japanese YAKUZA or Chinese TRIADs might be involved... But in CONSTHEO, the LEFT & the RIGHT, the CAPITALISTS & THE COMMUNISTS, the GLOBALISTS & the "ISLAMISTS", the POLICE & the CRIMINALS, the PDEA & THE DRUG LORDS, the THE GOOD & THE BAD are ultimately TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN... (ULTIMATELY IN CAHOOTS...)
Might even be the same group that snatched my cellphone in Divisoria... But his case was hold-up, a more complicated operation. All three males in our home have lost a cellphone to criminals. I wonder how high is the STAT on criminality in the metropolis. A U.P. prof-friend told me a lady professsor of the Ateneo who was our common friend also lost her cellphone to snatchers. The POLICE way of gathering INTELLIGENCE about the populace? Is this the local implementation of the GLOBAL PLAN of MR. WHITE POLICEMAN (BUSH)? Then it is time for the ordinary citizens to organize new REBEL/REVOLUTIONARY groups... Where are our rebels & revolutionaries? OR have they all been BOUGHT off?
Of course in CONSTHEO, "THEY" are also behind the POPULAR rebel/revolutionary groups! HAR!
June 24 Araw ng Manila... Went to the real/original MANILA - the WALLED CITY within INTRAMUROS. According to HISTORY books this is the site of RAJAH SULAYMANS's Malay Settlement... Went first to FORT SANTIAGO De Vera (I thought there was some HAPPENING" to see/watch & might even get FREE LUNCH HAR!) But P50 entrance fee according to a "KATIPUNERO" guard... Overheard a vendor saying "Sino bang nilalang yan?...)
[Anyway/how, that's just a "PETTING/NECKING" place nowadays...] So just went straight to Palacio del Gobernador, Manila Cathedral, old Knights of Columbus building (REMINDS ME OF ANOTHER GHOST STORY INVOLVING CHESS - PAGING TORRE, CAMPOMANES, & OTHER OLD/SENIOR PHILIPPINE CHESS PEOPLE. - BANTAYAN NINYO ITONG GHOST STORY KO DITO... If you do not believe in SPIRITS, then this might change your minds...), RED CROSS, CBCP, new K of C bldg, NYK-FIL office, San Agustin church with sign "437th Founding Anniversary-Mayor Lim-Miguel Lopez de Legazpi"... & straight to ASEAN garden but only saw a Chinese couple, cleaners/janitors, vendors & child prostis... An unproductive & tiring walk... Am losing my stamina...
A SULPICIO LINES SHIP sank & still in the MEDIA headlines... An ILONGGO U.P. employee friend was very angry at what had happened... MEDIA questioning the presence of US WARSHIPS... TYPHOON FRANK (FRANK/FERINGGI - the white European adversaries of the MUSLIM SARACENS back in the CRUSADER days)... HEY, I have a half-FIlipino- half-American FIRST COUSIN named FRANKIE... I'll introduce him to you if ever we get back the HP scanner... AM suspicious about the weather changes... I have a feeling scientists can already MANIPULATE the weather & produce typhoon, cyclones, hurricanes & tornadoes...
CONPIRATORIAL THINKING that is very UNISLAAMIC but with SCIENTIFIC basis... It's a dilemma (MA, Ang DILEM!) to choose between religion & science... One needs to take Kierkegaard's LEAP OF FAITH...
-Am really trying to get back to CHESS-PLAYING... Contacted some personalities in PHILIPPINE CHESS... Old friends & acquaintances who could no longer recognize me in my latest appearance as a REVERT... (One even asked me if I was a member of a ROCK BAND! HAR! HAR! HIPPIE NA USTAZ) I INSIST AJEDREZ/CHATUR/CHESS is NOT HARAAM... CHESS is combined THINKING & FIGHTING... If you do not like CHESS then you do not like to THINK & FIGHT... Sh how can you be a "BELIEVER" as in MUHAMMAD's FOLLOWER??? A Malaysian-trained Ustadz told me a few days back it was NOT as long as it did not interfere with prayers... In fact, I prayed DHUHR yesterday with a MUSLIM CHESS MASTER... I WAS REALLY SURPRISED HE COULD COMBINE RELIGIOUS PRAYERS & MASTERFUL CHESS-PLAYING!!! TERRIFIC!!! NAKAKABILIB TALAGA mga UTOLS! For the first time I felt I was in the company of a GENUINE MUJAHEED!!! Kidded him about his secret knowledge on contacting JINNS to assist in chess-playing... And guess what? - He receives ZERO/SIFR support from our RICH BROTHERS in his ENDEAVOR... Paging MISUARI, ABU HAIDER, Mayor SEMA, GEN. MURAD, the OMA, the IRANIAN SHIAs (Just attended their U.P. SYMPO organized by their cultural office, U.P.'s IIS & CSSP), & other MUSLIM "LEADERS" BOTH FAKE/COOPTED & GENUINE ETC ETC ETC [NEVER MIND THE SAUDI EMBASSY] HOY, MGA KUMPARE... WHERE ARE YOU NOW? (Dehins ito kanta hah!) Do you know or are you aware that a representative of the MUSLIM WORLD is STRIVING ALONE to raise the FLAG OF ISLAAM in the INTERNATIONAL GAME of CHATUR??? OR are you ALL CONFUSED about the situation obtaining in the WORLD today just as you & I have NEVER REALLY UNDERSTOOD the TRUE ISLAAM like those STOOP... ARABuhoks in KSA & elsewhere... I reminded this TAUSUG NATIONAL MASTER (with at least 2200 ELO RATING) that the BEST MUSLIM after the PROPHET (S.A.W.) was the KURD SALAHUDDIN AL-AYYUBI [SALADIN], a famous leader of the MUSLIM WORLD (& chess-player!) who defended Jerusalem's MASJID AL-AQSA & QUBBAT-US-SAKRA from the SALIBIYYIN...
CHECKMATE, SHAHMAT...
[My move: K-K9 (King to King 9)
meaning: BO-TAKS NA KO-AKS -> WAG-DU KAW! HAR! HAR!]
TMNP
ADDENDUM: THOUGHT IT'S ONLY WEDNESDAY TODAY COMPUTER SHOWS IT'S THURSDAY AGAIN I'm LOSING ONE DAY OFF... TELL ME IF THIS IS PURE INSANITY ON MY PART OR A SIGN OF THE TIMES... Ask BELIEVERS about the signs of the END of DAYs
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
FOR EVERYONE
THEY SAY THAT JESUS'S LANGUAGE WAS ARAMAIC.
=========================
ARAMAIC OUR LORD'S PRAYER
=========================
ABWOON D'BWASHMAYA
NETHQADASH SHMAKH
TEYTEY MALKUTHAKH
NEHWEY TZEVYANACH AYKANNA D'BWASHMAYA APH B'ARHA.
HAWVLAN LACHMA D'SUNQANAN YAOMANA.
WASHBOQLAN KHAUBAYN (WAKHTAHAYN)
AYKANA DAPH KHNAN SHBWOQAN L'KHAYYABAYN.
WELA TAHLAN L'NESYUNA
ELA PATZAN MIN BISHA.
METOL DILAKHIE MALKUTHA WAHAYLA WATESHBUKHTA L'AHLAM
ALMIN.
AMEYN.
KING JAMES ENGLISH VERSION
OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN
HALLOWED BE THY NAME.
THY KINGDOM COME.
THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.
AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS.
AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM, AND THE POWER, AND THE GLORY, FOR
EVER.
AMEN.
(MATTHEW 6:9-13, KING JAMES VERSION)
==============================================================
AS COPIED EXACTLY FROM A BOOK BROUGHT FROM THE STATES BY A FRIEND
==============================================================
TAGALOG VERSION AMA NAMIN (THE WAY I LEARNED & MEMORIZED IT AS A CHILD)
AMA NAMIN SUMASALANGIT KA
SAMBAHIN ANG NGALAN MO
MAPASAAMIN ANG KAHARIAN MO
SUNDIN ANG LOOB MO DITO SA LUPA, PARA NANG SA LANGIT
BIGYAN MO KAMI NG AMING KAKANIN SA ARAW-ARAW
AT PATAWARIN MO KAMI SA AMING MGA PAGKAKAUTANG
GAYA NG PAGPAPATAWAD NAMIN SA MGA NAGKAKAUTANG SA AMIN
AT HUWAG MO KAMING IPAHINTULOT SA TUKSO
BAGKUS IADYA MO KAMI SA DILANG MASASAMA
AMEN.
===============
SURATUL FATIHAH
===============
(ROUGH ROMAN ALPHABET TRANSLITERATION OF ARABIC ORIGINAL)
I USE "GOD" INSTEAD OF THE PERSONAL NAME IN ARABIC
TO MAKE IT FAMILIAR TO CHRISTIANS/NON-MUSLIMS
[N.B.: SOME VERY STRICT MUSLIMS WOULD DISAGREE
THAT THIS IS IDENTICAL WITH OR THE SAME AS
THE ORIGINAL WRITTEN IN THE ARABIC SCRIPT]
BISMILLAH HIR RAHMAAN NIR RAHEEM
ALHAMDULLILAH HIR RABBIL AL AMEEN
AR_RAHMAAN NIR RAHEEM
MAALIKI YAUMMIDDEEN
IYYAKA NA'BUDU WA IYYAKA NASTA'EEN
IHDINAS SIRAATAL MUSTAQEEM
SIRAATAL LA ZHINA AN'AMTA 'ALAYHIM
GHAIRIL MAGHDHUBI 'ALAIHIM
WALADHDHALEEN
AMEEN
ROUGH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
IN THE NAME OF GOD THE MOST BENEFICENT THE MOST MERCIFUL
PRAISE BE TO GOD THE LORD OF THE WORLDS
THE MOST BENEFICENT THE MOST MERCIFUL
MASTER OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
TO THEE DO WE WORSHIP & TO THEE DO WE SEEK HELP
GUIDE US TO THE STRAIGHT PATH
THE PATH OF THOSE UPON WHOM THOU HAVE BESTOWED FAVOR
NOT OF THOSE WHO HAvE EVOKED THINE ANGER
OR THOSE WHO HAVE GONE ASTRAY
AMEEN
===================================================================
NOTE THE STRIKING SIMILARITY IN SUBJECT MATTER/THEME, LENGTH, TONE, ETC
BETWEEN THE LORD'S PRAYER OF CHRISTIANITY & THE AL FATIHAH OF ISLAAM. THIS LENDS SUPPORT TO THE MUSLIM'S POSITION REGARDING JESUS - MUSLIMS CONSIDER JESUS THE CHRIST OF NAZARETH, SON OF MARY, TO BE A PROPHET & ALSO A MUSLIM!!! NOTE HIS ALLEGED "ELI, ELI LAMA SABACHTHANI" UTTERED WHILE ON THE CROSS. (MUSLIMS DO NOT BELIEVE THAT HE WAS CRUCIFIED.) THIS PHRASE IS TRANSLATED AS "MY GOD, MY GOD WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?" SO IF THIS IS THE CASE THEN JESUS'S WORD FOR GOD WAS "EL" OR "ELE" OR "ELI" (SOME WRITERS CLAIM GOD'S NAME IS ELOHIM (CLOSE BECAUSE OF "EL") OR "EL SHADDAI" BUT "JEHOVAH" OR "YAHWEH" IS NOT QUITE THE SAME/SEEMS OFF THE MARK AS COMPARED WITH JESUS'S ALLEGED UTTERANCE... BUT NOTE THE SIMILARITY OF "EL/ELI/ELE" WITH "ALA/ALLA/ALLAH"...
ONE MUST BE AWARE THAT "CHRISTIANITY" IN ITS PUREST FORM AS IDENTIFIED WITH ITS "FOUNDER" ORIGINATED IN THE VERY HEART OF THAT PART OF THE WORLD CALLED THE "MIDDLE EAST". PROPHET EESA, (ESAU), AS A HISTORICAL BEING WITHIN TIME & SPACE, WAS DEFINITELY NOT A BLONDE, BLUE-EYED & WHITE-SKINNED EUROPEAN BUT MORE & MOST LIKELY A DARK OR BLACK-HAIRED, SWARTHY MIDDLE EASTERNER!!!!!!!
=========================
ARAMAIC OUR LORD'S PRAYER
=========================
ABWOON D'BWASHMAYA
NETHQADASH SHMAKH
TEYTEY MALKUTHAKH
NEHWEY TZEVYANACH AYKANNA D'BWASHMAYA APH B'ARHA.
HAWVLAN LACHMA D'SUNQANAN YAOMANA.
WASHBOQLAN KHAUBAYN (WAKHTAHAYN)
AYKANA DAPH KHNAN SHBWOQAN L'KHAYYABAYN.
WELA TAHLAN L'NESYUNA
ELA PATZAN MIN BISHA.
METOL DILAKHIE MALKUTHA WAHAYLA WATESHBUKHTA L'AHLAM
ALMIN.
AMEYN.
KING JAMES ENGLISH VERSION
OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN
HALLOWED BE THY NAME.
THY KINGDOM COME.
THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.
AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS.
AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM, AND THE POWER, AND THE GLORY, FOR
EVER.
AMEN.
(MATTHEW 6:9-13, KING JAMES VERSION)
==============================================================
AS COPIED EXACTLY FROM A BOOK BROUGHT FROM THE STATES BY A FRIEND
==============================================================
TAGALOG VERSION AMA NAMIN (THE WAY I LEARNED & MEMORIZED IT AS A CHILD)
AMA NAMIN SUMASALANGIT KA
SAMBAHIN ANG NGALAN MO
MAPASAAMIN ANG KAHARIAN MO
SUNDIN ANG LOOB MO DITO SA LUPA, PARA NANG SA LANGIT
BIGYAN MO KAMI NG AMING KAKANIN SA ARAW-ARAW
AT PATAWARIN MO KAMI SA AMING MGA PAGKAKAUTANG
GAYA NG PAGPAPATAWAD NAMIN SA MGA NAGKAKAUTANG SA AMIN
AT HUWAG MO KAMING IPAHINTULOT SA TUKSO
BAGKUS IADYA MO KAMI SA DILANG MASASAMA
AMEN.
===============
SURATUL FATIHAH
===============
(ROUGH ROMAN ALPHABET TRANSLITERATION OF ARABIC ORIGINAL)
I USE "GOD" INSTEAD OF THE PERSONAL NAME IN ARABIC
TO MAKE IT FAMILIAR TO CHRISTIANS/NON-MUSLIMS
[N.B.: SOME VERY STRICT MUSLIMS WOULD DISAGREE
THAT THIS IS IDENTICAL WITH OR THE SAME AS
THE ORIGINAL WRITTEN IN THE ARABIC SCRIPT]
BISMILLAH HIR RAHMAAN NIR RAHEEM
ALHAMDULLILAH HIR RABBIL AL AMEEN
AR_RAHMAAN NIR RAHEEM
MAALIKI YAUMMIDDEEN
IYYAKA NA'BUDU WA IYYAKA NASTA'EEN
IHDINAS SIRAATAL MUSTAQEEM
SIRAATAL LA ZHINA AN'AMTA 'ALAYHIM
GHAIRIL MAGHDHUBI 'ALAIHIM
WALADHDHALEEN
AMEEN
ROUGH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
IN THE NAME OF GOD THE MOST BENEFICENT THE MOST MERCIFUL
PRAISE BE TO GOD THE LORD OF THE WORLDS
THE MOST BENEFICENT THE MOST MERCIFUL
MASTER OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
TO THEE DO WE WORSHIP & TO THEE DO WE SEEK HELP
GUIDE US TO THE STRAIGHT PATH
THE PATH OF THOSE UPON WHOM THOU HAVE BESTOWED FAVOR
NOT OF THOSE WHO HAvE EVOKED THINE ANGER
OR THOSE WHO HAVE GONE ASTRAY
AMEEN
===================================================================
NOTE THE STRIKING SIMILARITY IN SUBJECT MATTER/THEME, LENGTH, TONE, ETC
BETWEEN THE LORD'S PRAYER OF CHRISTIANITY & THE AL FATIHAH OF ISLAAM. THIS LENDS SUPPORT TO THE MUSLIM'S POSITION REGARDING JESUS - MUSLIMS CONSIDER JESUS THE CHRIST OF NAZARETH, SON OF MARY, TO BE A PROPHET & ALSO A MUSLIM!!! NOTE HIS ALLEGED "ELI, ELI LAMA SABACHTHANI" UTTERED WHILE ON THE CROSS. (MUSLIMS DO NOT BELIEVE THAT HE WAS CRUCIFIED.) THIS PHRASE IS TRANSLATED AS "MY GOD, MY GOD WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME?" SO IF THIS IS THE CASE THEN JESUS'S WORD FOR GOD WAS "EL" OR "ELE" OR "ELI" (SOME WRITERS CLAIM GOD'S NAME IS ELOHIM (CLOSE BECAUSE OF "EL") OR "EL SHADDAI" BUT "JEHOVAH" OR "YAHWEH" IS NOT QUITE THE SAME/SEEMS OFF THE MARK AS COMPARED WITH JESUS'S ALLEGED UTTERANCE... BUT NOTE THE SIMILARITY OF "EL/ELI/ELE" WITH "ALA/ALLA/ALLAH"...
ONE MUST BE AWARE THAT "CHRISTIANITY" IN ITS PUREST FORM AS IDENTIFIED WITH ITS "FOUNDER" ORIGINATED IN THE VERY HEART OF THAT PART OF THE WORLD CALLED THE "MIDDLE EAST". PROPHET EESA, (ESAU), AS A HISTORICAL BEING WITHIN TIME & SPACE, WAS DEFINITELY NOT A BLONDE, BLUE-EYED & WHITE-SKINNED EUROPEAN BUT MORE & MOST LIKELY A DARK OR BLACK-HAIRED, SWARTHY MIDDLE EASTERNER!!!!!!!
FOR MUSLIMS
Monday Morning
I QUOTE/COPY IN TOTO THE FOLLOWING EXCELLENT/WELL-WRITTEN ARTICLE
OR ESSAY. I WISH I WUZ THE ONE WHO WROTE IT IN THE ORIGINAL!
THE BREADTH IN SCOPE & EVEN DEPTH IS TO MY LIKING...
THIS IS THE KIND OF WRITING I EXPECT "MUSLIMS" TO BE PRODUCING...
================================================================
http://www.e-resaneh.com/English/Political/THE%20CONSPIRACY%20OF%20THE.htm
THE CONSPIRACY OF THE WEST AGAINST ISLAM: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
INTRODUCTION
Allah (SWT) has assured us in the Qur'an that He is the best Protector, the best Guardian and the most Mercifulof all merciful. (Qur'an 2:257; 3:150). Islam is under siege in the contemporary world. Siege is a war tactics, an offence and an attack. In the repertoire of war, both as strategy and tactics, to be under siege is to be hemmed in. It connotes a situation whereby the enemy has surrounded the frontiers, the access has been blocked and there is no coming in and no going out. It is meant to snuff out the enemy unless he (the General) or they (the city and its people and all) are ready to surrender. It is either they are enslaved or in most cases they are eliminated. In the alternative, they have to fight back. It is a dire situation! Apparently, a formidable force hems in the besieged. In most cases it is not a single enemy. Enemies come together in their various forms. Different armies or their states conspire to see the end of a common enemy, to neutralize its forces, to remove or reduce the menace, which it has constituted to them. Conspiracy therefore is a strategy, a preconceived plan to execute on the terrain, as tactics on grounds, in the execution of the war. So, if the battlefield manifests the siege, which is the tactics, the war headquarters of the besieging army/armies conceive the plan, the conspiracy, which is the strategy. And in the Clausewitzian tradition, "the battle... the bloody solution of the crisis, the effort for the destruction of the enemy's forces, is the first born son of war" (0 'Sullivan and Miller Jr 198:52).
The war itself, in Clausewitz's own phrase, "is politics through other means" (Clausewitz 1963:494). This incursion into strategic analysis is to accentuate the gravity of the problem at hand. If we can agree that Islam is under siege, then we will have to agree that we are in a war situation. And if there is a conspiracy, it means we are not talking about a single enemy but about many. And their method must be manifold. The question that follows is who are the enemies, the West, who conspire, to do what, against Islam? What threats does Islam constitute to what interest or interests (of theirs) to warrant this gang up? What are the methods used in this conspiracy and how do they execute the plan? What are the implications of the siege? Is Islam in a position to lift the siege? In one word, if Islam is under attack, it means Islam is on the defensive. What (war) tactics are required to lift the siege, (the attack)? Is Islam doing the right thing, in the right way? Does Islam appreciate the precariousness of its situation? Who are the generations and the decision-makers in this situation? Are the people carried along? These are the issues to be addressed in this discourse.
THE CONDITION
It was Napoleon Bonaparte, the French General who once said that God is on the side of the better battalion. How can we explain the siege that Islam is under? Historically, as the Qur'an has declared, the Truth has come in the advent of Islam, falsehood has collapsed, as it is bound to (Qur'an 3:80). The phenomenal success of Islam in all lands and climes gradually, through time, ended up with the condition, in various Muslim lands, of their outright defeat by the enemies who hitherto had cringed "in the face” of the might of the valiant Muslims. When the Muslim Arabs marched out in hordes immediately after the Prophet’s (SAWA) death in mid 7th century,
the whole world jittered. Great empires collapsed one after another under the waves of Muslim armies, in Persia (Qadisiyya, 635;Ctesiphon,637), in Chaldea and Mesopotamia (635), in Egypt (Alexandria, 641) in the Maghrib (Qayrawan,670; Western Maghrib, 704-711, Spain, 711). In these places and other various places the conquests of Islam led to the establishment of Muslim rule and Islamic law. In the words of Professor Gibb, the spread of Islam led the way to a new integration of peoples and cultures (Gibb 1975:3). Soon after, the cracks appeared in the center of the Islamic Empire starting early in the Battle of Siffin (It seems we cannot escape the military analogy). Siffin symbolized the clash, as Malek Bennabi puts it, of the Qur'anic spirit -represented by Imam Ali (AS)- with the Jahiliy spirit -represented by Mu’awiya the son of the Prophet’s archenemy Abu Sufiyan. In any case, as Islamic civilization flourished in various Muslim lands, an almost imperceptible internal decay developed. Dynasties were formed, mutual antagonism, rivalry and unhealthy competition flourished.
The Muslims lost sight of the elan, the very dynamism of their call that had seen them triumph over others. Muslims, as it were, rested on their oars, the sea ride slowed down, Muslims neglected their arsenal, they took their enemies for granted. To borrow the phrases of the Father of sociology, Ibn khaldun, the Muslims like city dwellers became effete population luxuriating in their achievements until the hordes of primitive tribes descended on them. Islam has, for centuries, had to grapple with this problem. The Crusades, from late 11th century marked the beginning of formidable attempts by Christendom (the Christian West) to offset the Muslim dominance of the world. It was an invasion, it was a siege and it was effected by a gang-up of all Christendom in a conspiracy against Islam. It is in the career of a Muslim Sultan and General that we can appreciate the enormity of this problem for the Muslim world. It is also in this one Muslim's leadership that we can encompass the commitment needed by Muslims from their leaders to offset the menace of the West. Lane-Poole has captured the gravity of the daring and determination of the West in the treatment of the career of Salahuddin al-Ayyubi (Saladin to the Christian West). A quote from this account is illustrative of our point:
In 1096 the first Crusade began its eastward march; in 1098 the great cities of Edessa and Antioch and many fortresses were taken; in 1099 the Christians regained possession of Jerusalem itself. In the next few years the greater part of Palestine and the coast of Syria, Tortosa, 'Akka, Tripolis, and Sidon (1110) fell into the hands of the Crusaders, and the conquest of Tyre in 1124 marked the apogee of their power. It was the precise moment when a successful invasion from Europe was possible. A generation earlier, the Seljuq power was inexpugnable. A generation later, a Zengi or a Nur-ed-din, firmly established in the Syrian seats of the Seljuqs, would probably have driven the invaders into the sea. A lucky star led the preachers of the first Crusade to seize an opportunity of which they hardly realized the significance. Peter, the Hermit and Urban II chose the auspicious moment with sagacity as- unerring as- if they had made a profound study of Asiatic politics. The Crusade penetrated like a wedge between the old wood and the new, and for a while seemed to cleave the trunk of Mohammadan Empire into splinters (Lane-Poole 1968:163-164).
Starting with Salahudin al-Ayyubi, and followed by other valiant Muslim warriors after him, the Christian successes were reversed; The Second Crusade (1130) was defeated, the Third (1189) was defeated as the "Siege of the Besiegers"; the Children Crusade (1212) ended in disaster. The Hungarian-led Crusade (1217) was a failure, even the crusade led by Frederick the Great (1228) still was a failure. In 1239, the Crusade led by the king of Navarre was defeated, so also did the one led by King Louis IX of France (1249) end in disaster (Lane - Poole 1968; 163-165, 173; 174; 209-211; 218; 225-229; 230,31, 231,239, 256). One great fall-out of the Crusades was the realization by Christendom of the profound literary, cultural and scientific achievements of the Muslims. They learnt from and borrowed ideas from the Muslims. The contact of the West with the East inspired in Christendom the determination to improve itself. No less a phenomenon than the Renaissance was inspired by this contact between Islam and Europe (lzetbegovic 1999: 143).
It must be realized that Christendom did not give up on its hope of undermining Islam. Following the defeats of the West in the Crusades, Islam passed through a doldrum. But even in the century of the final defeat of the Crusaders, the Ottoman State was founded (1299). By the next century, the Ottoman Empire had become a formidable power. With its conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire had established itself astride Europe by mid-15th Century. In fact, for the next three centuries after its founding, (14th to 16th Centuries), the Ottoman Empire became the ‘’Menace of Europe" and in fact, "the present Terror of the World’’ (Lewis 1974:198-199). The Turks became 'Infidel Turks' to Europe and the embers of enmity grew between the East and the West. Just as it happened to Islamic Empires before it, the Ottoman Empire was soon to rest on its oars. Internal decadence set in and for the next three centuries (17th to 19th Centuries), the great Ottoman Empire decayed. And this decadence culminated in its defeat (in war) in early 20th century in the First World War. So, internal decadence attracted external aggression (Oluwatoki 2001 :29). It must be noted that the West that was defeated by Islam in the Crusades learns its lessons. Inspired by the achievements of Islam, it turned inward, went through the Renaissance and then through the Enlightenment. At the Age of Reasoning, and discarding the predominance of religion, this West came out with superiority of scientific and technological knowledge. It was this west, this Christendom that now took the shape of imperialism to conquer the world. It was in the 19th century at the height of the decadence of the Ottoman Empire. By 1830, Colonialist France had occupied Algiers (Abun-Nasr 1973:311) and the height of it was the Balfour declaration (1917) that promised Palestine to the European Jews(or more properly the raciest Zionists) for the creation of a supposedly ‘National’ Home for them. In 1948, the illegal Zionist entity, Israel, was declared and since then the Palestinian Question had become the Arab-Israeli conflict. So, through imperialism, colonization and then neo-colonialism the World of Islam had been besieged by Christendom, which for centuries had been the underdog. The great lesson of all this is that the Muslims has fallen into a condition that made them vulnerable. This, in the words of Malek Benabbi, is "colonisibility". In other words, a people are colonisable only if they have put themselves in the condition.
II THE CONSPIRACY AND ITS CORRELATES
I am sure we have established the Conspiracy of the West against Islam. What remains is to enumerate the various manifestations of this conspiracy. Apart from the military efforts, which failed woefully (Oluwatoki 2001: 16), other areas of the manifestation of the conspiracy are in the following:
1. EDUCATION
Through colonization the West attempts to acculturate the Muslims by way of its education system, which plays down the Islamic principles and inculcates Euro-American ethos. This is one avenue through which the West has created the westernized elite in various Muslim countries who have become vanguards of European cultural penetration into Muslim lands. Just like it happened in many colonies, this education, to start with, started and ended with the three R's - writing, reading and arithmetic. It was a restricted education but through the Missionaries, it was meant to be an instrument of conversion to Christianity and a means of creating a Europeanized and later Americanized natives. It is perhaps the strongest weapon of the West.
2. LEGAL SYSTEM
In various Muslim lands where the West had a foothold, it eroded the legal Principles of Islam by the abrogation of the aspects of the penal Justice of the shari'ah and imposed its own, criminal code. It has always grudgingly allowed the civil aspect of the shari'ah. This erosion of the shari'ah is systematically aimed at a neutralization of the all-pervading influence of Islam in the Muslim life. With its (western) education and the inculcation of its civilization, the West presents anything western as best. Its man-made law with all its natural deficiencies is supposed to be superior. And with all its contradictions and its unabashed protection of the power that is and the establishment, canon law is imposed on Islamic law. The problems associated with this imposition are the sources of contention in many Muslim lands today.
3. FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Since the ultimate aim of imperialism is creating the enabling environment for the development of capitalism, colonization is the highest level of imperialism. The main thrust is integrating various parts of the World into world capitalism. Usury and profiteering are main features of capitalism, and they are a negation of the Islamic financial system. After the era of the monopolistic practices of the oligopolies (The multinational corporations), we are now in the era of globalization where the frontiers of states are brought down to allow for the penetration of transnational capital. It is the 'conspiracy' of the transnational elite of the West with their collaborators in other parts of the world to concentrate the greatest part of the wealth of the world in the hands of the smallest part of the population of the world. AB Robinson points out, the Human Development Report 1992 has more than illustrated the perpetual imbalance that is created by the contradiction between neo-liberalism and polyarchy (American brand of democracy specially meant for the Third World. Actually, the report shows that the richest 20% of the world population receive 82.7% of the world's total- income. The poorest 20% of the world population receive 1.4% of the world total income. This is coupled with the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots in the individual countries. Nothing can negate Islamic social organization more than this (Robinson 1996: 340-341). The Muslims have been victims like others. Suffice it to say that this economic imperative informs western intervention in various parts of the World since the 19th Century. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, the West endeavored to entrench its financial system in Breton Wood institutions - the World Bank, International Monetary Fund etc. Globalization is its apogee in the 21st century.
4. INFORMATION
Starting with the Radio, then the Television, then the Cinema, then the Computer and now with the Internet, Information Technology has succeeded in transforming the so-called global village into the global sitting room. Events from the remotest parts of the world are reported to you instantly through the tube. So also are cultural influences in all ramifications passed on to you and your wards, challenging age-long values and practices and jeopardizing important institutions? One big target of this instrument is in the area of dressing (especially for women), drinking, (of alcohol), gambling and a myriad of other distinct cultural values on which Islam put much premium. The rate at which the West disseminates vices to the youth and even to all and sundry is alarming. In the tabloid, on the television, in the cinema and now on the internet, readers, viewers and browsers are free to 'suck in' into their system, such daunting negative influences like violence, pornography, drinking (of alcohol), gambling and a host of others. All these are taken for granted. But the fact is that the media of communication make the individual subscriber almost helpless. Communication has also afforded the West a press war on Islam especially in the area of spreading negative reportage on the Faith. We are all familiar with the negative connotation given to "fundamentalism" as an attribute of Islam and its movements.
5. NEO-COLONIALISM
On the political plane, countries of the West led by the USA continue to predominate in Muslim countries where they could influence policies, executing development projects and affecting the lives of Muslim peoples. Saudi-American relations are illustrative of this. Any Muslim state where this Euro-American domination has been resisted has been dealt with out-rightly through invasion, military bombardment, regime change and other means. Or such states become targets of negative propaganda. Illustrative of this point are Imam Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran, Iraq, Nasser’s Egypt, Libya, Afghanistan, to mention but a few.
6. PALESTINE
Palestine remains the quintessence of Western conspiracy against Islam and an eternal indictment of the West in its double play. In the execution of the first World War, Britain (the then World Greatest Power), promised the Arabs independence if they would fight against the Ottoman Empire, their overlords. This promise applied as well to Palestinian Arabs (Muslims and Christians). At the same time and in Western characteristic double-face, Britain promised the European Jews the creation of what it called a Jewish National Home in Palestine. This was in 1917 (Hence, the 1917 Balfour Declaration). This promise, it must be noted, was given in response to the pressure of International Zionism, which was the response of the Jews in the Diaspora to the inhuman treatments they have had from Europe, the West. So, the inadequacy of the Judeo-Christian civilization, the failure of Christendom to be its brother’s keeper must be ameliorated by denying Islam, the Muslim peoples, their own rights.
III CONSEQUENCE AND CAUSE
The consequence of the two centuries of Western domination of the Muslim peoples; subjugation of their lands and onslaught on their cultural values is very obvious. The Muslims have lost confidence in themselves. They erroneously attribute the successes of the West to science and technology. They succumb to the temptation and the trapping of materialism, which is the cardinal philosophy that drives Western civilization. They fall for the unrestrained freedom entrenched in individualism and liberal democracy, which promises capitalist prosperity throughthe economics of the free market. The Muslims began to doubt the superiority of their Islamic culture and the profound achievements of their Islamic civilization in the sciences, in literature, in politics, in military strategy, in family relations, in social cohesion and in collective effort. More devastating is their helpless acquiescence to the Westphalian nation-statism jettisoning once and for all the universal state of Islam. This consequence has been grave and it has demobilized the Muslims, deadening their sinews so much that they seem not to know what to do.
Yet, the seriousness of the situation is such that it has imposed on the Muslims the need to wake up to the cause of Allah for their own sake. It is a call for Jihad in the cause of Allah. Muslims need to wake up to their duty to defend their stronghold from the formidable attack of the West. This cause should be on all fronts. The Education system in all Muslim lands should be consciously guided by a policy that sets out to create true Muslim educated citizens who are mindful of their responsibilities to Allah. Education is a serious matter. It is a cardinal principle of socialization. Through education, the cultural values of a people are transmitted down the generations. Any people that neglect education and allow the dissemination of just any ideas to its youth is gravely endangered. Muslims cannot afford to be despondent. Islam has always put a great premium on education. The present generation is being careless by leaving the education of its younger generation to whatever comes up from its adversaries. The shari'ah should be entrenched in all Muslim lands as the supreme law. There is a need to be cautious in those states like Nigeria, where a substantial part of the population is Muslim, but where anti-Islamic sentiments are strong from the Christian members of the population. But we cannot give up the struggle until the rights of the Muslims to their own legal system within the purveyors of the Constitution are realized. Muslims should endeavor to entrench their own Islamic financial system. They should showcase the possibility of running an interest-free banking system. The JAIZ endeavor is a step in the right direction in Nigeria. Islam and Muslims must of necessity exploit the possibilities inherent in Information Technology. Every Muslim must be computer literate and participate actively in the dynamic world of Information Technology. The cyber-world is open to everybody. Muslims should harness its potentials to further the cause of Islam, disseminate Islamic ideas and ideals and promote Islamic cultural values. Muslims should conscientiously participate actively in politics. This they should do with a mind to better the lots of the people, to show that through their attitudes Islamic precepts of governance are possible. In any case, Muslims must be empowered politically and economically to be able to withstand the problems inherent in neo-colonialism and the questionable "promotion of democracy", which is the vogue in the world today. There is no gain saying it that the USA is actually promoting 'polyarchy' in its so-called promotion of democracy (Robinson 1996). Muslims have it as an obligation to identify with the Palestinian Arabs who have been under siege of West-supported and West-sponsored Zionism since 1917. This is a problem we cannot afford to abandon to our Arab brethren. They are divided well enough. The West has put a strong wedge in the Arab line of resistance. Moreover, Muslims all over the World have the duty as an Ummah to do something about the Question of Palestine. It is a task that must be done! If all Muslim peoples in all lands will let their governments know that they are serious about the Question of Palestine, these governments will consider the Question in their respective foreign policies.
CONCLUSION
This paper has attempted to establish the fact of the conspiracy of the West against Islam in the military, education, legal, financial, information, and national political and international political systems. We have also tried to proffer solutions to these problems for us as Muslims to regain our dignity and lift the siege, which has been used to hem us in. Like Salahuddin al-Ayyubi before us, all that we need is a "Siege of the Besieger". Doing this we shall triumph and regain our freedom. But it requires dedication, determination and diligence. We should remember, "Allah does not change the condition of a people unless and until they changed the condition of their souls". In the same vein, "Allah does not change His blessing that He has bestowed on a people until they changed what is in their souls’’ (Qur'an 8:53).
REFERENCES
1. Abun-Nasr, Jamal. A History of the Maghrib. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973.
2. Ali, Abdallah Yousuf. The Glorious Kur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary. Beirut, Dar aI-Fikr, n.d.
3. Asad, Muhammad. Islam and Western Civilization. n.p,n.p,n.d.
4.Bennabi, Malek. Islam in History and Society (Trans. from French and Annotated by Asma Rashid). Islamabad, Islamic Research Institute,1988. .
5. Clausewitz, Otto von. On War. In Hutchins, Robert M. and Adler, Mortimer J; (Eds.), Gateway to the Great Books. vol. 7., Man and Society. Chicago, William Benton, 1963.
6. Gibb, H.A.R. Islam: A Historical Survey (2nd Edition). Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1975.
7.Hitti, Philip K. History of the Arabs from the Ancient Times to the Present (10th Edition). London: Longman, 1973.
8.Izetbegovic, A.A. Islam Between East and West. Indianapolis, American Trust Publications, 1999.
9. Lane-Poole, Stanley. A History of Egypt in the Middle Ages. London, Frank Cass, 1968.
10. Lewis, Bernard, "War and Politics." in Schacht, Joseph with Bosworth, C.E. (Ed.), The Legacybof Islam. Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1974.
11. Lewis, Bemard. The Arabs in History. London, Hutchison University Library, 1966.
12. Oluwatoki, Abu Sayf J.A. Islam, the West and Terrorism. Ado-Ekiti, Idris Oluwatoki Islamic Foundation, 2001.
13. Oluwatoki, J.A., "Institutions and State Building: An Overview of the Asiatic Ottoman Civilization." In AI-Hadarah: LASU Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies. vol. 4, June, 2001.
14. O'Sullivan, Patrick and Miller Jr., Jesse W. The Geography of Warfare. London, Croom Helm, 1983.
15. Robinson, William I. Promoting polyarchy: Globalization, US Intervention, and Hegemony. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996.
http://www.e-resaneh.com/English/Political/THE%20CONSPIRACY%20OF%20THE.htm
================================================================
END OF ARTICLE
I QUOTE/COPY IN TOTO THE FOLLOWING EXCELLENT/WELL-WRITTEN ARTICLE
OR ESSAY. I WISH I WUZ THE ONE WHO WROTE IT IN THE ORIGINAL!
THE BREADTH IN SCOPE & EVEN DEPTH IS TO MY LIKING...
THIS IS THE KIND OF WRITING I EXPECT "MUSLIMS" TO BE PRODUCING...
================================================================
http://www.e-resaneh.com/English/Political/THE%20CONSPIRACY%20OF%20THE.htm
THE CONSPIRACY OF THE WEST AGAINST ISLAM: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
INTRODUCTION
Allah (SWT) has assured us in the Qur'an that He is the best Protector, the best Guardian and the most Mercifulof all merciful. (Qur'an 2:257; 3:150). Islam is under siege in the contemporary world. Siege is a war tactics, an offence and an attack. In the repertoire of war, both as strategy and tactics, to be under siege is to be hemmed in. It connotes a situation whereby the enemy has surrounded the frontiers, the access has been blocked and there is no coming in and no going out. It is meant to snuff out the enemy unless he (the General) or they (the city and its people and all) are ready to surrender. It is either they are enslaved or in most cases they are eliminated. In the alternative, they have to fight back. It is a dire situation! Apparently, a formidable force hems in the besieged. In most cases it is not a single enemy. Enemies come together in their various forms. Different armies or their states conspire to see the end of a common enemy, to neutralize its forces, to remove or reduce the menace, which it has constituted to them. Conspiracy therefore is a strategy, a preconceived plan to execute on the terrain, as tactics on grounds, in the execution of the war. So, if the battlefield manifests the siege, which is the tactics, the war headquarters of the besieging army/armies conceive the plan, the conspiracy, which is the strategy. And in the Clausewitzian tradition, "the battle... the bloody solution of the crisis, the effort for the destruction of the enemy's forces, is the first born son of war" (0 'Sullivan and Miller Jr 198:52).
The war itself, in Clausewitz's own phrase, "is politics through other means" (Clausewitz 1963:494). This incursion into strategic analysis is to accentuate the gravity of the problem at hand. If we can agree that Islam is under siege, then we will have to agree that we are in a war situation. And if there is a conspiracy, it means we are not talking about a single enemy but about many. And their method must be manifold. The question that follows is who are the enemies, the West, who conspire, to do what, against Islam? What threats does Islam constitute to what interest or interests (of theirs) to warrant this gang up? What are the methods used in this conspiracy and how do they execute the plan? What are the implications of the siege? Is Islam in a position to lift the siege? In one word, if Islam is under attack, it means Islam is on the defensive. What (war) tactics are required to lift the siege, (the attack)? Is Islam doing the right thing, in the right way? Does Islam appreciate the precariousness of its situation? Who are the generations and the decision-makers in this situation? Are the people carried along? These are the issues to be addressed in this discourse.
THE CONDITION
It was Napoleon Bonaparte, the French General who once said that God is on the side of the better battalion. How can we explain the siege that Islam is under? Historically, as the Qur'an has declared, the Truth has come in the advent of Islam, falsehood has collapsed, as it is bound to (Qur'an 3:80). The phenomenal success of Islam in all lands and climes gradually, through time, ended up with the condition, in various Muslim lands, of their outright defeat by the enemies who hitherto had cringed "in the face” of the might of the valiant Muslims. When the Muslim Arabs marched out in hordes immediately after the Prophet’s (SAWA) death in mid 7th century,
the whole world jittered. Great empires collapsed one after another under the waves of Muslim armies, in Persia (Qadisiyya, 635;Ctesiphon,637), in Chaldea and Mesopotamia (635), in Egypt (Alexandria, 641) in the Maghrib (Qayrawan,670; Western Maghrib, 704-711, Spain, 711). In these places and other various places the conquests of Islam led to the establishment of Muslim rule and Islamic law. In the words of Professor Gibb, the spread of Islam led the way to a new integration of peoples and cultures (Gibb 1975:3). Soon after, the cracks appeared in the center of the Islamic Empire starting early in the Battle of Siffin (It seems we cannot escape the military analogy). Siffin symbolized the clash, as Malek Bennabi puts it, of the Qur'anic spirit -represented by Imam Ali (AS)- with the Jahiliy spirit -represented by Mu’awiya the son of the Prophet’s archenemy Abu Sufiyan. In any case, as Islamic civilization flourished in various Muslim lands, an almost imperceptible internal decay developed. Dynasties were formed, mutual antagonism, rivalry and unhealthy competition flourished.
The Muslims lost sight of the elan, the very dynamism of their call that had seen them triumph over others. Muslims, as it were, rested on their oars, the sea ride slowed down, Muslims neglected their arsenal, they took their enemies for granted. To borrow the phrases of the Father of sociology, Ibn khaldun, the Muslims like city dwellers became effete population luxuriating in their achievements until the hordes of primitive tribes descended on them. Islam has, for centuries, had to grapple with this problem. The Crusades, from late 11th century marked the beginning of formidable attempts by Christendom (the Christian West) to offset the Muslim dominance of the world. It was an invasion, it was a siege and it was effected by a gang-up of all Christendom in a conspiracy against Islam. It is in the career of a Muslim Sultan and General that we can appreciate the enormity of this problem for the Muslim world. It is also in this one Muslim's leadership that we can encompass the commitment needed by Muslims from their leaders to offset the menace of the West. Lane-Poole has captured the gravity of the daring and determination of the West in the treatment of the career of Salahuddin al-Ayyubi (Saladin to the Christian West). A quote from this account is illustrative of our point:
In 1096 the first Crusade began its eastward march; in 1098 the great cities of Edessa and Antioch and many fortresses were taken; in 1099 the Christians regained possession of Jerusalem itself. In the next few years the greater part of Palestine and the coast of Syria, Tortosa, 'Akka, Tripolis, and Sidon (1110) fell into the hands of the Crusaders, and the conquest of Tyre in 1124 marked the apogee of their power. It was the precise moment when a successful invasion from Europe was possible. A generation earlier, the Seljuq power was inexpugnable. A generation later, a Zengi or a Nur-ed-din, firmly established in the Syrian seats of the Seljuqs, would probably have driven the invaders into the sea. A lucky star led the preachers of the first Crusade to seize an opportunity of which they hardly realized the significance. Peter, the Hermit and Urban II chose the auspicious moment with sagacity as- unerring as- if they had made a profound study of Asiatic politics. The Crusade penetrated like a wedge between the old wood and the new, and for a while seemed to cleave the trunk of Mohammadan Empire into splinters (Lane-Poole 1968:163-164).
Starting with Salahudin al-Ayyubi, and followed by other valiant Muslim warriors after him, the Christian successes were reversed; The Second Crusade (1130) was defeated, the Third (1189) was defeated as the "Siege of the Besiegers"; the Children Crusade (1212) ended in disaster. The Hungarian-led Crusade (1217) was a failure, even the crusade led by Frederick the Great (1228) still was a failure. In 1239, the Crusade led by the king of Navarre was defeated, so also did the one led by King Louis IX of France (1249) end in disaster (Lane - Poole 1968; 163-165, 173; 174; 209-211; 218; 225-229; 230,31, 231,239, 256). One great fall-out of the Crusades was the realization by Christendom of the profound literary, cultural and scientific achievements of the Muslims. They learnt from and borrowed ideas from the Muslims. The contact of the West with the East inspired in Christendom the determination to improve itself. No less a phenomenon than the Renaissance was inspired by this contact between Islam and Europe (lzetbegovic 1999: 143).
It must be realized that Christendom did not give up on its hope of undermining Islam. Following the defeats of the West in the Crusades, Islam passed through a doldrum. But even in the century of the final defeat of the Crusaders, the Ottoman State was founded (1299). By the next century, the Ottoman Empire had become a formidable power. With its conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire had established itself astride Europe by mid-15th Century. In fact, for the next three centuries after its founding, (14th to 16th Centuries), the Ottoman Empire became the ‘’Menace of Europe" and in fact, "the present Terror of the World’’ (Lewis 1974:198-199). The Turks became 'Infidel Turks' to Europe and the embers of enmity grew between the East and the West. Just as it happened to Islamic Empires before it, the Ottoman Empire was soon to rest on its oars. Internal decadence set in and for the next three centuries (17th to 19th Centuries), the great Ottoman Empire decayed. And this decadence culminated in its defeat (in war) in early 20th century in the First World War. So, internal decadence attracted external aggression (Oluwatoki 2001 :29). It must be noted that the West that was defeated by Islam in the Crusades learns its lessons. Inspired by the achievements of Islam, it turned inward, went through the Renaissance and then through the Enlightenment. At the Age of Reasoning, and discarding the predominance of religion, this West came out with superiority of scientific and technological knowledge. It was this west, this Christendom that now took the shape of imperialism to conquer the world. It was in the 19th century at the height of the decadence of the Ottoman Empire. By 1830, Colonialist France had occupied Algiers (Abun-Nasr 1973:311) and the height of it was the Balfour declaration (1917) that promised Palestine to the European Jews(or more properly the raciest Zionists) for the creation of a supposedly ‘National’ Home for them. In 1948, the illegal Zionist entity, Israel, was declared and since then the Palestinian Question had become the Arab-Israeli conflict. So, through imperialism, colonization and then neo-colonialism the World of Islam had been besieged by Christendom, which for centuries had been the underdog. The great lesson of all this is that the Muslims has fallen into a condition that made them vulnerable. This, in the words of Malek Benabbi, is "colonisibility". In other words, a people are colonisable only if they have put themselves in the condition.
II THE CONSPIRACY AND ITS CORRELATES
I am sure we have established the Conspiracy of the West against Islam. What remains is to enumerate the various manifestations of this conspiracy. Apart from the military efforts, which failed woefully (Oluwatoki 2001: 16), other areas of the manifestation of the conspiracy are in the following:
1. EDUCATION
Through colonization the West attempts to acculturate the Muslims by way of its education system, which plays down the Islamic principles and inculcates Euro-American ethos. This is one avenue through which the West has created the westernized elite in various Muslim countries who have become vanguards of European cultural penetration into Muslim lands. Just like it happened in many colonies, this education, to start with, started and ended with the three R's - writing, reading and arithmetic. It was a restricted education but through the Missionaries, it was meant to be an instrument of conversion to Christianity and a means of creating a Europeanized and later Americanized natives. It is perhaps the strongest weapon of the West.
2. LEGAL SYSTEM
In various Muslim lands where the West had a foothold, it eroded the legal Principles of Islam by the abrogation of the aspects of the penal Justice of the shari'ah and imposed its own, criminal code. It has always grudgingly allowed the civil aspect of the shari'ah. This erosion of the shari'ah is systematically aimed at a neutralization of the all-pervading influence of Islam in the Muslim life. With its (western) education and the inculcation of its civilization, the West presents anything western as best. Its man-made law with all its natural deficiencies is supposed to be superior. And with all its contradictions and its unabashed protection of the power that is and the establishment, canon law is imposed on Islamic law. The problems associated with this imposition are the sources of contention in many Muslim lands today.
3. FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Since the ultimate aim of imperialism is creating the enabling environment for the development of capitalism, colonization is the highest level of imperialism. The main thrust is integrating various parts of the World into world capitalism. Usury and profiteering are main features of capitalism, and they are a negation of the Islamic financial system. After the era of the monopolistic practices of the oligopolies (The multinational corporations), we are now in the era of globalization where the frontiers of states are brought down to allow for the penetration of transnational capital. It is the 'conspiracy' of the transnational elite of the West with their collaborators in other parts of the world to concentrate the greatest part of the wealth of the world in the hands of the smallest part of the population of the world. AB Robinson points out, the Human Development Report 1992 has more than illustrated the perpetual imbalance that is created by the contradiction between neo-liberalism and polyarchy (American brand of democracy specially meant for the Third World. Actually, the report shows that the richest 20% of the world population receive 82.7% of the world's total- income. The poorest 20% of the world population receive 1.4% of the world total income. This is coupled with the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots in the individual countries. Nothing can negate Islamic social organization more than this (Robinson 1996: 340-341). The Muslims have been victims like others. Suffice it to say that this economic imperative informs western intervention in various parts of the World since the 19th Century. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, the West endeavored to entrench its financial system in Breton Wood institutions - the World Bank, International Monetary Fund etc. Globalization is its apogee in the 21st century.
4. INFORMATION
Starting with the Radio, then the Television, then the Cinema, then the Computer and now with the Internet, Information Technology has succeeded in transforming the so-called global village into the global sitting room. Events from the remotest parts of the world are reported to you instantly through the tube. So also are cultural influences in all ramifications passed on to you and your wards, challenging age-long values and practices and jeopardizing important institutions? One big target of this instrument is in the area of dressing (especially for women), drinking, (of alcohol), gambling and a myriad of other distinct cultural values on which Islam put much premium. The rate at which the West disseminates vices to the youth and even to all and sundry is alarming. In the tabloid, on the television, in the cinema and now on the internet, readers, viewers and browsers are free to 'suck in' into their system, such daunting negative influences like violence, pornography, drinking (of alcohol), gambling and a host of others. All these are taken for granted. But the fact is that the media of communication make the individual subscriber almost helpless. Communication has also afforded the West a press war on Islam especially in the area of spreading negative reportage on the Faith. We are all familiar with the negative connotation given to "fundamentalism" as an attribute of Islam and its movements.
5. NEO-COLONIALISM
On the political plane, countries of the West led by the USA continue to predominate in Muslim countries where they could influence policies, executing development projects and affecting the lives of Muslim peoples. Saudi-American relations are illustrative of this. Any Muslim state where this Euro-American domination has been resisted has been dealt with out-rightly through invasion, military bombardment, regime change and other means. Or such states become targets of negative propaganda. Illustrative of this point are Imam Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran, Iraq, Nasser’s Egypt, Libya, Afghanistan, to mention but a few.
6. PALESTINE
Palestine remains the quintessence of Western conspiracy against Islam and an eternal indictment of the West in its double play. In the execution of the first World War, Britain (the then World Greatest Power), promised the Arabs independence if they would fight against the Ottoman Empire, their overlords. This promise applied as well to Palestinian Arabs (Muslims and Christians). At the same time and in Western characteristic double-face, Britain promised the European Jews the creation of what it called a Jewish National Home in Palestine. This was in 1917 (Hence, the 1917 Balfour Declaration). This promise, it must be noted, was given in response to the pressure of International Zionism, which was the response of the Jews in the Diaspora to the inhuman treatments they have had from Europe, the West. So, the inadequacy of the Judeo-Christian civilization, the failure of Christendom to be its brother’s keeper must be ameliorated by denying Islam, the Muslim peoples, their own rights.
III CONSEQUENCE AND CAUSE
The consequence of the two centuries of Western domination of the Muslim peoples; subjugation of their lands and onslaught on their cultural values is very obvious. The Muslims have lost confidence in themselves. They erroneously attribute the successes of the West to science and technology. They succumb to the temptation and the trapping of materialism, which is the cardinal philosophy that drives Western civilization. They fall for the unrestrained freedom entrenched in individualism and liberal democracy, which promises capitalist prosperity throughthe economics of the free market. The Muslims began to doubt the superiority of their Islamic culture and the profound achievements of their Islamic civilization in the sciences, in literature, in politics, in military strategy, in family relations, in social cohesion and in collective effort. More devastating is their helpless acquiescence to the Westphalian nation-statism jettisoning once and for all the universal state of Islam. This consequence has been grave and it has demobilized the Muslims, deadening their sinews so much that they seem not to know what to do.
Yet, the seriousness of the situation is such that it has imposed on the Muslims the need to wake up to the cause of Allah for their own sake. It is a call for Jihad in the cause of Allah. Muslims need to wake up to their duty to defend their stronghold from the formidable attack of the West. This cause should be on all fronts. The Education system in all Muslim lands should be consciously guided by a policy that sets out to create true Muslim educated citizens who are mindful of their responsibilities to Allah. Education is a serious matter. It is a cardinal principle of socialization. Through education, the cultural values of a people are transmitted down the generations. Any people that neglect education and allow the dissemination of just any ideas to its youth is gravely endangered. Muslims cannot afford to be despondent. Islam has always put a great premium on education. The present generation is being careless by leaving the education of its younger generation to whatever comes up from its adversaries. The shari'ah should be entrenched in all Muslim lands as the supreme law. There is a need to be cautious in those states like Nigeria, where a substantial part of the population is Muslim, but where anti-Islamic sentiments are strong from the Christian members of the population. But we cannot give up the struggle until the rights of the Muslims to their own legal system within the purveyors of the Constitution are realized. Muslims should endeavor to entrench their own Islamic financial system. They should showcase the possibility of running an interest-free banking system. The JAIZ endeavor is a step in the right direction in Nigeria. Islam and Muslims must of necessity exploit the possibilities inherent in Information Technology. Every Muslim must be computer literate and participate actively in the dynamic world of Information Technology. The cyber-world is open to everybody. Muslims should harness its potentials to further the cause of Islam, disseminate Islamic ideas and ideals and promote Islamic cultural values. Muslims should conscientiously participate actively in politics. This they should do with a mind to better the lots of the people, to show that through their attitudes Islamic precepts of governance are possible. In any case, Muslims must be empowered politically and economically to be able to withstand the problems inherent in neo-colonialism and the questionable "promotion of democracy", which is the vogue in the world today. There is no gain saying it that the USA is actually promoting 'polyarchy' in its so-called promotion of democracy (Robinson 1996). Muslims have it as an obligation to identify with the Palestinian Arabs who have been under siege of West-supported and West-sponsored Zionism since 1917. This is a problem we cannot afford to abandon to our Arab brethren. They are divided well enough. The West has put a strong wedge in the Arab line of resistance. Moreover, Muslims all over the World have the duty as an Ummah to do something about the Question of Palestine. It is a task that must be done! If all Muslim peoples in all lands will let their governments know that they are serious about the Question of Palestine, these governments will consider the Question in their respective foreign policies.
CONCLUSION
This paper has attempted to establish the fact of the conspiracy of the West against Islam in the military, education, legal, financial, information, and national political and international political systems. We have also tried to proffer solutions to these problems for us as Muslims to regain our dignity and lift the siege, which has been used to hem us in. Like Salahuddin al-Ayyubi before us, all that we need is a "Siege of the Besieger". Doing this we shall triumph and regain our freedom. But it requires dedication, determination and diligence. We should remember, "Allah does not change the condition of a people unless and until they changed the condition of their souls". In the same vein, "Allah does not change His blessing that He has bestowed on a people until they changed what is in their souls’’ (Qur'an 8:53).
REFERENCES
1. Abun-Nasr, Jamal. A History of the Maghrib. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973.
2. Ali, Abdallah Yousuf. The Glorious Kur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary. Beirut, Dar aI-Fikr, n.d.
3. Asad, Muhammad. Islam and Western Civilization. n.p,n.p,n.d.
4.Bennabi, Malek. Islam in History and Society (Trans. from French and Annotated by Asma Rashid). Islamabad, Islamic Research Institute,1988. .
5. Clausewitz, Otto von. On War. In Hutchins, Robert M. and Adler, Mortimer J; (Eds.), Gateway to the Great Books. vol. 7., Man and Society. Chicago, William Benton, 1963.
6. Gibb, H.A.R. Islam: A Historical Survey (2nd Edition). Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1975.
7.Hitti, Philip K. History of the Arabs from the Ancient Times to the Present (10th Edition). London: Longman, 1973.
8.Izetbegovic, A.A. Islam Between East and West. Indianapolis, American Trust Publications, 1999.
9. Lane-Poole, Stanley. A History of Egypt in the Middle Ages. London, Frank Cass, 1968.
10. Lewis, Bernard, "War and Politics." in Schacht, Joseph with Bosworth, C.E. (Ed.), The Legacybof Islam. Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1974.
11. Lewis, Bemard. The Arabs in History. London, Hutchison University Library, 1966.
12. Oluwatoki, Abu Sayf J.A. Islam, the West and Terrorism. Ado-Ekiti, Idris Oluwatoki Islamic Foundation, 2001.
13. Oluwatoki, J.A., "Institutions and State Building: An Overview of the Asiatic Ottoman Civilization." In AI-Hadarah: LASU Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies. vol. 4, June, 2001.
14. O'Sullivan, Patrick and Miller Jr., Jesse W. The Geography of Warfare. London, Croom Helm, 1983.
15. Robinson, William I. Promoting polyarchy: Globalization, US Intervention, and Hegemony. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996.
http://www.e-resaneh.com/English/Political/THE%20CONSPIRACY%20OF%20THE.htm
================================================================
END OF ARTICLE
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
INDEPENDENCE DAY
June 12, 2008Manila
PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY
Ilang mga kuro-kuro, opinyon, haka-haka...
Isa sa maaaring gawing panimula sa isang debate ay ang isyu hinggil sa bandila (bendera) o watawat (DEHINS watiwat!) ng "Bansang Pilipinas". Ang sikat na "simbolo" ("symbol" - what is
it? How does it "symbolize, What does it "symbolize"?...)
Philippine Flag, kinatok mula sa Wikipedia
"OLD PHILIPPINE FLAG" VINTAGE 1898
Mayroon akung sariling ideya na baguhin na ito. Ito ang bandila ni Aguinaldo sa Kawit.
Subali't may mga naniniwala na hindi ito ang dapat naging simbolo... Elitistang grupo daw na nang-agaw ng kapangyarihan si Aguinaldo... Para umikli ang istorya: May tatlong "paksyon" o posisyon hinggil sa isyu ng araw at simbolo ng "kasarinlan":
July 4, SAME FLAG
June 12 (ORTHODOX) SAME FLAG
August 24, IBANG BANDILA
PARA SA AKIN ANG KASALUKUYANG BANDILA AY "OLD PHILIPPINE FLAG"
Kung rebolusyounaryo nga ang tatanungin ay dapat ang tamang posisyon nito ay PABALIGTAD
(RED COLOR ON TOP) meaning, still in state of STRUGGLE...
ALSO: "PILIPINAS KONG MAHAL" HAS TWO MEANINGS OR ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS:
"PHILIPPINES, MY BELOVED"
OR
"MY EXPENSIVE PHILIPPINES"! HAR!
E-2-2-LOY NO GOOD ANG COMPUTER NA GINAGAMIT KO EH...
Sunday, June 1, 2008
53rd POST
May 31, 2008
NOW WHAT?.... WHAT TO POST NEXT???
SOME INTERESTING LINKS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udk0vRXGLlA
ALBERT CAMUS THE ABSURD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_7F8pTTeTg
Albert Camus - Photos rares
By selecto16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLNM-NZuQxI
Camus, Eres Tu?
By OpenHEadProductions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvLAv30pWz8
The Stranger
TTTRock
PRODUCING/PRESENTING A DRAMA/PLAY ADAPTATION OF CAMUS'S THE STRANGER IS INDEED A CHALLENGING TASK FOR PLAYWRIGHTS & DIRECTORS & SHOULD BE A GOOD PROJECT FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THOUGH EXISTENTIALISM IS BAD PHILO FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. I WOULDN' TEACH OR INTRODUCE IT TO YOUNG MINDS FOR THEY MIGHT LOSE THEIR ZEST FOR LIFE. IT IS EASIER TO MISunderstand IT...
=========
COMPETITION/STRUGGLE/CONTEST
A 16TH CENTURY CATHOLIC TREATISE
"Lorenzo Scupoli Spiritual Combat"
Unseen Warfare
SOME SCHOLARS OF WHATEVER FAITH SHOULD MAKE A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THIS WORK WITH ISLAAM'S JIHAAD
========
COMPUTER CHESS CONSPIRACY THEORY
An interview with aDEEP BLUE team member
Campbell: Not everybody plays but everybody knows that chess is a very difficult game -- you can devote your whole life to playing chess and still have room for improvement. So it's understood that chess is a game which requires intelligence and so for a machine to play at the level of the world champion is a sign that computers have progressed further than maybe some people had thought they had. In one sense, it's just one milestone among many along the way, but it's one that the general public could understand more easily.
WN: Some conspiracies emerged that say the computer was being controlled by human grand masters behind the scenes. Your response?
Campbell: In my mind, they're ridiculous. One of the things about conspiracy theories is that, really, you should present some evidence rather than just make a theory up. In the 10 years since the match, I have yet to see any evidence of cheating.
COMMENT: SOME CONSPIRACY THEORIES ARE ACTUALLY "RUMORS OR MERE SUPPOSITIONS" PASSING OFF AS CONSTHEO. THE LEGITIMATE CONSTHEORISTS SHOULD HAVE STRONG GROUNDING IN SCIENCE & PHILOSOPHY & CAN IDENTIFY PSEUDO-SCIENCE OR WEAK HYPOTHESES...
CHESS COMPUTERS ARE SO STRONG IT MUST NOW BE ADMITTED THAT MACHINES CAN NOW BEAT HUMANS IN THE "THINKING GAME". IN THIS SENSE CHESS IS PRACTICALLY A "SOLVED" GAME. (YET THERE ARE HOT DEBATES BY EXPERTS ON ISSUES REGARDING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) PARTICULAERLY COMPUTER CHESS (JUST SEARCH ON "P-NP PROBLEM" & BLOGS ON COMPUTER CHESS)
=======
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6jkESf0oVE
Chess Beauties
By AQJ
=======
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF8bT5DV3is
Stoopid Arabs who betrayed the Ottoman Caliphate (1917)
By wheestle
The Fall of the Ottoman Empire 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr7oBJIWyBc
troshan
ALSO: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire 2
Fall of Ottomon Caliphate A BRIEF HISTORY [4/5]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gy_msyFWZ0
azibuddin
ALSO: PARTS 1,2,3 & 5
=======
A GADGET, or thingamajig New TOY INVENTION
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/01/khet_laser_ches.html
(Next Post: TOYS)
NOW WHAT?.... WHAT TO POST NEXT???
SOME INTERESTING LINKS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udk0vRXGLlA
ALBERT CAMUS THE ABSURD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_7F8pTTeTg
Albert Camus - Photos rares
By selecto16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLNM-NZuQxI
Camus, Eres Tu?
By OpenHEadProductions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvLAv30pWz8
The Stranger
TTTRock
PRODUCING/PRESENTING A DRAMA/PLAY ADAPTATION OF CAMUS'S THE STRANGER IS INDEED A CHALLENGING TASK FOR PLAYWRIGHTS & DIRECTORS & SHOULD BE A GOOD PROJECT FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THOUGH EXISTENTIALISM IS BAD PHILO FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. I WOULDN' TEACH OR INTRODUCE IT TO YOUNG MINDS FOR THEY MIGHT LOSE THEIR ZEST FOR LIFE. IT IS EASIER TO MISunderstand IT...
=========
COMPETITION/STRUGGLE/CONTEST
A 16TH CENTURY CATHOLIC TREATISE
"Lorenzo Scupoli Spiritual Combat"
Unseen Warfare
SOME SCHOLARS OF WHATEVER FAITH SHOULD MAKE A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THIS WORK WITH ISLAAM'S JIHAAD
========
COMPUTER CHESS CONSPIRACY THEORY
An interview with aDEEP BLUE team member
Campbell: Not everybody plays but everybody knows that chess is a very difficult game -- you can devote your whole life to playing chess and still have room for improvement. So it's understood that chess is a game which requires intelligence and so for a machine to play at the level of the world champion is a sign that computers have progressed further than maybe some people had thought they had. In one sense, it's just one milestone among many along the way, but it's one that the general public could understand more easily.
WN: Some conspiracies emerged that say the computer was being controlled by human grand masters behind the scenes. Your response?
Campbell: In my mind, they're ridiculous. One of the things about conspiracy theories is that, really, you should present some evidence rather than just make a theory up. In the 10 years since the match, I have yet to see any evidence of cheating.
COMMENT: SOME CONSPIRACY THEORIES ARE ACTUALLY "RUMORS OR MERE SUPPOSITIONS" PASSING OFF AS CONSTHEO. THE LEGITIMATE CONSTHEORISTS SHOULD HAVE STRONG GROUNDING IN SCIENCE & PHILOSOPHY & CAN IDENTIFY PSEUDO-SCIENCE OR WEAK HYPOTHESES...
CHESS COMPUTERS ARE SO STRONG IT MUST NOW BE ADMITTED THAT MACHINES CAN NOW BEAT HUMANS IN THE "THINKING GAME". IN THIS SENSE CHESS IS PRACTICALLY A "SOLVED" GAME. (YET THERE ARE HOT DEBATES BY EXPERTS ON ISSUES REGARDING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) PARTICULAERLY COMPUTER CHESS (JUST SEARCH ON "P-NP PROBLEM" & BLOGS ON COMPUTER CHESS)
=======
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6jkESf0oVE
Chess Beauties
By AQJ
=======
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF8bT5DV3is
Stoopid Arabs who betrayed the Ottoman Caliphate (1917)
By wheestle
The Fall of the Ottoman Empire 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr7oBJIWyBc
troshan
ALSO: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire 2
Fall of Ottomon Caliphate A BRIEF HISTORY [4/5]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gy_msyFWZ0
azibuddin
ALSO: PARTS 1,2,3 & 5
=======
A GADGET, or thingamajig New TOY INVENTION
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/01/khet_laser_ches.html
(Next Post: TOYS)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)