Re: Taliban
Altway
> It is claimed that the Taliban have to be defeated in order to prevent
Terrorism in the West. The fact, however, is that it was not the
Afghans or the Taliban but an Arab Al Quida group that did the 9/11
atrocity. The terrorism in the West was a response to the invasion of
Iraq and Afghanistan. The word "Taliban" is now used indiscrimiately
to demonise all those who oppose the invaders. I am sure the political
masters in the USA and Britain know this full well, but hypocritically
choose to shut their minds in order to pursue ulterior motives. And
they do not mind sacrificing many lives to do so, but are unable to
see that problems that are not understood cannot be solved.
Question:-
Re: Two Questions.
Are we to understand that you support the Taliba?
Answer:-
Not necessarily. But I oppose the invasion of Afghanistan and
the imposition of an alien culture there
We have a Feudal society there and the attempt is to impose
something that has been developed in an Industrial system and is also
far from Ideal adding corruption to corruption.
I understand the position of the Taliban.
I also regard regimes in Pakistan and Afghanistan that are killing their own
citizens on
beholf og invaders are thoroughly disgusting criminal activities.
There ought to be negotiations such that the Taliban etc undertake not to
attack
others in exchange for cessation of attacks on them.
There is no doubt that World conditions are degenerating owing to
increasing psychological, social and environmental problems. All these
are certainly interconnected and all connected with the spiritual and
moral state of the people because perception, values and action,
knowledge, motive and ability are also connected. An increasingly
greater number of people see this and the there is growing urgency
that these trends should be reversed. These problems cannot be solved
in isolation from one another. The authorities that run the present
political, social, economic and cultural systems, being generally
well-adapted and conditioned by those systems are also beneficiaries
of these systems and do not have the necessary knowledge, values, will
or ability to change those systems. This leads other Pressure Groups
to arise that inevitably come into conflict with the authorities and
there is no official recognised way that their voice can be heard with
sufficient strength. They remain fringe movements that are often
weakened by disunity and conflict. The more they are ignored or
suppressed, the more extreme do their activities become in
compensation.
This produces another problem. Like other fighters for freedom or
rights or in support for various causes, the Taliban tend towards or
are provoked into extremist actions that alienate the very people
whose support they need, driving them into the enemy camp. But it
also leads them to contradict or distort the very Cause or Teachings
they claim to follow. It can hardly escape the attention of observers
that there is much un-Islamic in the conduct of the Taliban and that
cultural, political or economic factors have been mistaken for
religious ones or vice versa, that relative trivialities and
accidentals have been substituted for essentials, attention has become
narrowly selective and biased leading to hypocrisy, and that emphasis
has been placed on the means while the ends have been forgotten. In
particular, emphasis is placed on law and punishment, even to the
exclusion of Justice while compassion, tolerance and forgiveness are
ignored. In particular, there appears to be complete unawareness of
the basic principle that Islam is the Religion of Truth. (9:33, 61:9)
Had the Prophet whom they profess to follow been similarly harsh,
intolerant and inflexible he would certainly not have succeeded either
as the Quran confirms (Quran 3:159). It is by teaching and guidance
and the gradual cultivation of understanding and correct motives that
progress was to be made rather than by unintelligent imposition of
formal laws. Surely, if they study the Quran and follow it as they
claim then they must have come across the verse that requires that
there be no compulsion in Religion (Quran 2:256). One cannot create
faith by force! Is it not the case that the Quran makes each person
responsible for his own deeds and not for those of others? (Quran
5:105, 10:109, 17:15, 53:38-42) The Quran does not expect perfection
from all, but only that they strive to do good and avoid evil. (Quran
4:31, 4:95, 5:87, 39:39, 64:16.) People are not punished or rewarded
in the Hereafter for each individual act but rather on the balance
between the good and evil they do themselves. (Quran 101:6-11) It is
Allah who is the final Judge, not man.
Hamid S. Aziz