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bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
An apology from Pope is meaningless
By Abid Ullah Jan
Al-Jazeerah, September 16, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI proved himself to be another George Bush on the
religious front of a war to sustain the existing unjust world order. As
he spoke his mind more clearly, both Muslims and non-Muslims are
demanding his “deep and persuasive apology.”[1] The question, however
is: Would Pope’s apology mean he has changed his belief that the
teachings of Prophet Mohammed (Peace and blessings of God be upon him)
are “evil and inhuman”?
The answer to this question lies in deep analysis of what is going on
both on the religious and political fronts in the West to preserve the
status quo of a global, imperialist order—a rule of law which the former
colonial powers have established to perpetuate de facto colonization of
the weak nations. At present, if anything can pose a real challenge to
this order, it is Islam. Hence Islam and its followers become enemies by
default.
Muslims and Islam are presented as evil because the concept of "evil"
contains ambiguities and evokes fear. By employing the term "evil,"
Western political and religious leaders generate fear of Muslims and
Islam to manipulate people's attitudes and behaviors. Associating
Islamic sources, Prophet Mohammed and Muslims with evil is especially
powerful for summoning support for violent or militaristic action.
When the events of September 11 unfolded, many people were deliberately
forced to feel that they were witnessing evil. With statements upon
statements, people were made to feel angry, fearful and sad. Without
presenting any concrete evidence thus far, people have been bombarded
with messages that there were evil Muslims who were responsible, and if
we could just find them and kill them, the world would be safe again and
life could return to normal.
The rhetoric of Bush and Blair's speeches and news conferences shows the
construction of the kind of ideology of good versus evil that is meant
to justify a violent, militaristic response. Furthermore, together with
the corporate media and religious sector, they employ clever rhetorical
strategies that play on both public wishful thinking and fears in order
to persuade by emotion rather than logic.
Bush, for example, explains why the United States was targeted for
attack: "America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest
beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world." In subsequent
speeches, he adds to this list: they hate our democratically elected
government; they hate our tolerance of openness and
our creative culture. While it is possible that all this is true, the
question of whether it is the full answer to the question of who really
attacked and why Americans were attacked remains open. Such language
makes "the enemy" seem monstrous and irrational, incomprehensibly hating
what the Western public regard as unquestionably good.
In his first speech after September 11 attacks, Bush described the
terrible events of that day as evil, and tied evil into human nature.
The idea of evil people was then made more explicit in later speeches.
For example, in a news conference on October 11, Bush said, "I think
it's essential that all moms and dads and citizens tell their children
we love them and there is love in the world, but also remind them there
are evil people." Specific evil people were then identified during this
news conference: Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Any subsequent
attempt to call someone evil or his religious beliefs as evil evokes the
same images of “evil” Osama bin laden and Saddam Hussein.
Pope’s attempt to directly or indirectly link the Prophet of Islam and
his teachings to “evil and inhuman” becomes an icing on the cake. This
puts a seal of confirmation on the political attempts at showing just
how horrible the “evil” Muslims are. Bush on the political front says,
they are trained in tactics of terror and are "sent to hide in countries
around the world to plot evil and destruction."[2] They are directed "to
kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans and make no distinctions
among military and civilians, including women and children."[3] Not only
do they kill, they do so with satisfaction: "We have seen the true
nature of these terrorists in the nature of their attacks; they kill
thousands of innocent people and then rejoice about it. They kill fellow
Muslims, many of whom died in the World Trade Center that terrible
morning, and then they gloat. They condone murder and claim to be doing
so in the name of a peaceful religion."[4] But: "We're not deceived by
their pretenses to piety."[5]
And it is not just the terrorists themselves at fault. All other Muslims
as well become guilty by association, and sharing the same faith and
following teachings of the same prophet. Because the enemy is so clearly
evil, a military response is required and Pope has no problem extending
legitimacy for this mission to “democratize” the Muslims world. This
connection was made explicit when Bush spoke with reporters at the White
House following his November 6 satellite speech to a summit in Warsaw,
Poland. Referring again to bin Laden, Bush said, "This is an evil man
that we're dealing with, and I wouldn't put it past him to develop evil
weapons to try to harm civilization as we know it. That's why we work
hard to keep our coalition bound together, and that's why we're going to
keep relentless military pressure on him in Afghanistan." In an earlier
speech, he spoke of directing "every resource at our command" to this
task, claiming that "the only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our
way of life is to stop it, eliminate it and destroy it where it
grows."[6] The response is thus one of vengeance and violence,
expressed in unambiguous terms of elimination and destruction.
Pope and Bush’s goal are as much ambitious as they are scary. Pope
believes the Prophet of Islam has brought nothing new other than “evil
and inhuman.” On the other hand Bush says, this war on evil "will not
end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped
and defeated." Stating the goal this way is disturbing, as the very
impossibility of determining whether Bush and comapny have actually
succeeded suggests that they may be forcing public to live in fear and
in this state of war not just for a long time, but forever. Pope’s
attempt to link the roots of evil to the message of Prophet Mohammed
shows that Muslims will remain evil as long as the follow his teachings.
How can we ever be sure we have found every terrorist group and every
Muslim has relinquished the “evil and inhuman” teachings of Prophet
Mohammed? What exactly would it take to permanently stop Muslims from
believing in evil and defeat them? The image is made even more
horrifying by statements such as this one from the same speech: "Our
response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated
strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign
unlike any other we have ever seen." The vagueness of what is meant by
"lengthy campaign" (something more than retaliation and military
strikes) becomes a serious cause for alarm when a papal, broad-brush
justification is released for a struggle against the perceived evil.
This characterization of the enemy as wholly evil is then further
reinforced by language that draws sharp lines between only two sides,
good versus evil. This event is part of a great cosmic battle: "This
will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil. But good will
prevail."[7] Canadian author Erna Paris writes that the image of a
crusade—of a cosmic war between good and evil—remains the choice of
President George W. Bush when he speak to reassure the American people
in these words. “With these symbol-laden words, the president fulfilled
the three purposes I have alluded to: he reassured people that he was
in control; he laid the foundation for his eventual response, which
would be war of some sort; and he steered the public discourse into a
religious - apocalyptic space.”[8]
With this kind of language, Pope on the religious and Bush on the
political front appeal to the Western public’s noble sentiments in order
to solicit their support for a grand strategy for a decisive moment in
the Great Cosmic Battle between Good and Evil.
The problem with Pope and Bush’s theory of justification is that it is
all too easy for anyone to say that we have the right kinds of feelings,
and the enemies have the wrong kinds of feelings, and so we are good
and they are evil. Bush and Blair on the political front do regard some
Muslims as innocent and do not wish to harm them. Nevertheless, Pope’s
attempt to demonize the core of Islam with the help of words from an
Islamophobe from 14th century removes any distinction between good and
evil Muslims.
The most worrisome aspect of the political and religious leaders’
calling Islam and Muslims evil is that it forcefully silence dissent to
the theory that the world is divided into two. On one side are the
concepts of freedom, democracy, creativity, a "way of life," and
"civilization," all necessarily to be defended with something "more"
than mere words. On the side are images of murderer “Jihadists,” lurking
in caves, and women and children being beaten because of their socks,
shoes, kites, and snowmen. Neutrality is not an option. There is no
space for it in such a sharp dichotomy. Every attitude, action, or
person must be assigned to one side or the other. Therefore, to question
the papal or White House interpretation, or to question the
appropriateness of a military adventures, is to remove oneself from the
side of goodness, because in a tightly dichotomized world, to question
any part of one side of the divide is to question everything else
associated with it. Therefore, the questioner must be regarded as evil,
because there are no other ways of classifying someone who, by
questioning some of what Bush or Pope has defined as evil, is thereby
questioning goodness itself.
It is very strange that the states purpose of Pope’s speech at his old
university was to provide a foundation for a "dialogue of cultures" and
challenge secularist reason. It sounds like a noble endeavor, yet the
concept of the evil in Islam is so engraved in Pope' mind that rather
than addressing those of his fellow Christians whose addiction to faith
undermines their ability to reason he pointed a critical finger at
Islam.
Right now, there is far more organized and systematic violence in the
world being committed by people who call themselves Christians than by
anyone else. Evidence is mounting by the day which shows military
Generals, such as General Boykin insulting Muslims and Islam and their
front line warriors desecrating the Qur’an and making fun of Muslim
faith. The violent acts associated with a handful of Muslims (without
any concrete evidence) in the West have resulted in only a fraction of
the amount of suffering that Muslims have experienced in recent years.
As an Iraqi wrote this week, "With 3,000 civilians killed every four
weeks, my country suffers its own 9/11 on a monthly basis."[9]
Keeping such blindness of Pope, Bush, Blair and their associates in
mind, one comes to the conclusion that calls for Pope’s apology are
meaningless. Any verbal apology from anyone of them is irrelevant. It
would neither change the ground realities nor the bigotry and
Islamophobia in their hearts. It would not change their plans to impose
“value systems on the Muslim world.”[10] What Muslims and non-Muslims
need to do is to struggle for mutual liberation from the religio-
imperial forces which have enslaved the humanity.
The dawn of true liberation for Muslims and non-Muslims is at
hand. A majority of the masses have realized that today’s inequalities,
poverty, violence and ware at global and local levels stem from the rule
of law and governing systems put in place over the last seven centuries
by the wealthy and powerful colonialists, who have throughout been
blessed by Popes in their respective age.
The first of those 700 years was plunder by trade between city
states and the countryside and the slow evolution of current rule of
law. Then came 400 years of battles between colonial empires. Only after
WW-II did those imperialist nations ally together to maintain control of
the rest of the world. The imperialist powers realized they had to quit
fighting each other and ally together to maintain their monopoly
position. That alliance is desperately attempting to sustain both their
rules of law (plunder by trade) and internal rule of law worldwide.
Islam is perceived as the only challenge that can come up with an
alternative model and way of life. Hence, it is the evil and the enemy
number one.
Abid Ullah Jan is the author of Afghanistan: The Genesis of the Final
Crusade.
Notes
________________________________________________________________________
[1] “The pope’s words,” Editorial, the New York Times, September 16,
2006.
[2] http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html
Bush’s address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People,
September 20, 2001.
[3] Ibid. Bush speech of Sept 20, 2001.
[4] President Bush: "No Nation Can Be Neutral in This Conflict." Remarks
by the President To the Warsaw Conference on Combating Terrorism.
November 6, 2001.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011106-2.html
[5] Ibid. Bush speech of Sept 20, 2001.
[6] Ibid. Bush speech of Sept 20, 2001.
[7] Bush’s speech on September 12, 2001.
[8] Irna Paris, “In Times of Crisis,”
http://www.ernaparis.com/news/intime.htm
[9] Ali Hamdani, “What 9/11 means to Iraqis,” Times, September 12, 2003.
URL:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-3-2354622-3,00.html
[10] See: http://www.icssa.org/desperate_blair.html
source:
http://aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%
20Editorials/September/17%20o/An%20apology%20from%20Pope%20is%
20meaningless%20By%20Abid%20Ullah%20Jan.htm
Related News:
Text of Pope's apology
The following is the text of Pope Benedict XVI's remarks regretting
causing offence to Muslims in his 12 September speech in the Bavarian
city of Regensburg.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5353774.stm
SEE ALSO: Pope remarks reveal harder stance
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5352404.stm
Pope’s attack on Islam was no casual slip
Pope Benedict has hit out at Islam and its concept of holy war. The
thinly veiled attack on Islam came during a theological lecture on Sept.
12, 2006 to the staff and students at the University of Regensburg,
where he taught theology in the 1970s. Just like a cheap shot against
Islam - packaged in western free speech clichés and marketed as innocent
satire – launched in the form of cartoons of Prophet Muhammad printed by
a Danish daily and republished by European newspapers, Pope’s anti-Islam
remarks are touted as an invitation to open dialogue with Muslims. Lord
Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, insists Muslims must learn
to enter into dialogue without "crying 'foul"'. The Guardian says:
“There cannot be dialogue without rigor and openness. The Muslim world
should also take pains to be thoughtful in its response, and perhaps
less quick to take offence.”
http://www.amperspective.com/html/pope_benedict_comment.html
Pope apologises for Islam remarks
Pope Benedict has said he is sorry for offending Muslims in a speech
this week in which he implicitly linked Islam and violence.
http://snipurl.com/wkan
Tariq Ali: Papal Insults: A Bavarian Provocation
Violence was and is not the prerogative of any single religion as the
continuing Israeli occupation of Palestine demonstrates. During the Cold
War the Vatican, with rare exceptions, supported the imperial wars.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15001.htm
===
-muslim voice-
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