A comment from another list. Sukla
Javed: Beautifully written and addressed to a number of relevant groups - the families of victims, the perpetrators of the act, the surviving staff of Charlie Hebdo, the demonstrating multitude, the government of France, other western governments and the like. I would like to add one more relevant group and a little bit of my own, "what can I say" to them. To the Muslim ummah ... what can I say? Somewhere along the line you transformed the culture of "I will not insult my prophet" to "YOU will not insult my prophet". Building on this transformed culture, extremists and self-serving politicians added "OR ELSE". The "OR ELSE" manifests itself as blasphemy laws and Charlie Hebdo killings. It is easy to identify and condemn the "OR ELSE", but like like the submerged part of the iceberg the culture of "YOU will not insult ..." remains blameless, remains unexamined. Dear Ummah, if you permit me, I would like to go further. The even larger part of the iceberg is, "I will not insult my prophet". Self examination and questioning is NOT an insult. It was healthy before the culture of "I will not insult my prophet" took such strong hold. I hope that along with condemning the "OR ELSE", you will have the courage to examine the hidden iceberg. jin ka deeN pairavi-e-kasb-o-riya hai unko himmat-e-kufr mile`, jur'at-e-tahqiq mile` - Faiz Ahmed Faiz Those whose faith it is, to promote the false, the fake, May they have the power to deny - the courage to search Shahed. On 14/01/2015, Sukla Sen <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.asianage.com/columnists/what-can-i-say-396 > > Asianage EDIT > > 14JAN2015 > What can I say? > > Javed Anand <http://www.asianage.com/javed-anand-220> > > *To those fuelling Islamophobia, here's a tweet from Dyab Abou Jahjah from > Belgium: 'I am not Charlie, I am Ahmed the dead cop. Charlie ridiculed my > faith and I died defending his right to do so.'* > > To the mourning parents, siblings, children, spouses, lovers, family and > friends of those who were gunned down in the horrific massacre in Paris, > what can I say? Except that I am with you in your grief even as I cannot > even pretend to imagine the depth of your pain and suffering. And that I am > sorry and deeply ashamed that your near and dear ones were done to death in > the name of a god and a prophet that I am supposed to have in common with > the mass murderers. > > Though I have not been much to speak of in the matter of faith for a long > time now, my education began in a village madrasa. > "Bismillahirrahmanirrahim" was the very first thing the maulvi sahib taught > me. I was taught to recite the Quran in Arabic so I had no clue as to what > it all meant. But what Bismillahirrahmanirrahim meant was made clear to me > again and again by my family and my maulvi sahib -- "I begin in the name of > Allah the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful". > > Allah, I was taught, wants us to do good deeds and, therefore, all my > endeavours, from prayers to playing, must always begin with Bismillah. Next > I learnt that Allah is not just Rabbul Muslimeen (sustainer of Muslims) but > Rabbul Alameen (sustainer of the entire universe). And that He had sent > Prophet Muhammad to this world as a Rehmatul lil alameen (mercy upon all > mankind). How then can the god of the merciless killers be my god, their > prophet my prophet? Yet I am sorry and ashamed and I seek your forgiveness. > > To those at Charlie Hebdo what can I say? Except that I unequivocally > condemn those who silenced your comrades and colleagues. And that I defend > your right to offend even as I hope that at some point you'll spare a > thought to what Michael Lerner, political activist, editor of Tikkun (a > progressive Jewish interfaith magazine) and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue > in Berkeley, California has to say. > > Shouldn't free speech and individual human liberties be our highest value? > Here is Rabbi Lerner's response: "(1) No, individual human liberties are > not our highest value. Our highest value is treating fellow human beings > with love, kindness, generosity, respect and seeing them as embodiments of > the holy, and treating the earth as sacred. Individual liberty is a > strategy to promote this highest value, but when that liberty gets abused > (as for example in demeaning women, African Americans, gays in public > discourse) we often insist that the articulators of racism, sexism and > homophobia be publicly humiliated (not shut down, but using our free speech > to vigorously challenge theirs). (2) Free speech is not defeated when we > use it to try to marginalise hateful or demeaning speech. So let's call > demeaning speech, including demeaning humour, what it really is -- an > assault on the dignity of human beings." > > To the multitude in Paris and elsewhere who have been chanting "Je Suis > Charlie" ("I am Charlie") what have I to say? To those among you who were > part of the 10 million men and women who in an unprecedented show of > solidarity marched on a single day -- February 15, 2003 -- in 600 cities > across 60 countries (including 200,000 in Paris, three million in the > streets of Rome) to protest former American President George W. Bush's > impending, illegal war on Iraq, my respectful salaams. But to those of you > inclined to fuel Islamophobia, projecting the Paris attack by a few > terrorists as "Islam's war on Western civilisation and values", allow me to > draw your attention to a tweet from Dyab Abou Jahjah, a commentator based > in Belgium: "I am not Charlie, I am Ahmed the dead cop. Charlie ridiculed > my faith and culture and I died defending his right to do so". > > To the world leaders who linked arms with each other and French President > Francois Hollande to lead the march of a million Parisians last Sunday, > what have I to say? "Paris is today the capital of the world. Our entire > country will rise up and show its best side to the world", President > Hollande has declared. I applaud you Mr President, but... Let's forget the > past. May we hope that in future in defence of the freedom of expression > and opposition to the killing of unarmed civilians, the new world capital > and the world leaders who assembled there will be consistent? > > May we hope that the French government will lift its June 2014 ban on > pro-Palestine demonstrations in the republic of liberty, equality and > fraternity? Will the right to "absolute" freedom to offend now be extended > to the French satirist Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, who has hitherto been > damned as an "anti-semite", a "danger to society" and whose show Le Mur > (The Wall) was banned earlier this year. > > May we hope that the next time the Israeli government rains death and > destruction on civilians in Gaza, including children in a UN-run > playground, and the United States responds with fresh supplies of deadly > arms and ammunition to occupying forces, world leaders will link arms and > lead a solidarity march in occupied Palestine? And may we also hope that > Western leaders will at least now introspect over their continued > flirtation with Wahhabi Islam, and their enthusiastic collaboration in the > nurturing of "good terrorists" such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria > across the Arab world? > > To the Western mass media, what have I to say except refer back to Rabbi > Lerner. Himself a "serial offender", he is now scared of being in the > cross-hairs of Islamic extremists. But he is no less worried about > fanatical Jews who have targeted him in the past while the champs of > Western values have looked the other way. > > "When right-wing 'pro-Israel' fanatics frequently sent me death threats, > physically attacked my house and painted on the gates statements about me > being 'a Nazi' or 'a self-hating Jew', and called in bomb threats to > Tikkun, the magazine I edit, there was no attention given to this by the > media, no cries of 'our civilisation depends on freedom of the press' or > demands to hunt down those involved (the FBI and police received our > complaints, but never reported back to us about what they were doing to > protect us or find the assailants)". > What more can I say? > > * The writer is co-editor of Communalism Combat and general secretary, > Muslims for Secular Democracy* > > > > -- > *Javed Anand* > +919870402556 > +91-22-26602288 > Nirant, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu > Mumbai 400049 > > - > Peace Is Doable > -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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