"I bring a people against you who love death more than your people love life?" This is considered the rallying cry of jihad.
dear Tammy
How conviniently, you take these reports authentic and how easily you term them "jihaadi" when it suits your purpose.
How about " either you are with us or with the enemy"????????
Is it also "jihaadi" or "crusader's cry"?
An athiest is in fact stuck at the first stage of being a muslim ( la I'lah) and the next leap to "illallah" needs wisdom which not many make use of it.
Atheism is an effort but half hearted.Hoodbhoy is an athiet without studying the religion properly. He still teaches nuclear physics but despite being a science teacher he lacks the ability to see through the fog of uncertainity.
No doubt you have read many books of muslim authors but to be frank your intension is not to learn but to find material to support the cause of the people who write your pay check.This is why you are unable to diffrentiate between Islam and what we have today in the name of Isam. And this bias does not let you see the reality. An urdu poet said something like this" a scientist can learn about the petals by stripping them away from the flower but fails to analyze the whole flower".
Your example is exactly like that scientist who has stripped the petals of this flower ( islam and muslims and their culture) placed on the examination table and trying to learn every piece of it but this way you will learn only the "piece" and will never be able to appreciate the beauty of the flower.
if you really want to learn Pakistan and its culture, you need to learn urdu which will open the whole world of beauty unto you. Believe me it will be hard for you to find the equal of urdu poets and writers. More over, if you become able to understand Punjabi and read "saif ul Malook", you wnt like to read any thing else on literature. Punjab is a land of romance and love, colored with the wisdome of Waris shah and Mian Mohamamd Bakhsh. Sindh will cause you euphoria with the rhymes of sachal sar mast and shah latif bhitti, sarhad will send you on romantic journey through the rough terrains on the tunes of khatak and balochastan's dances and folk lores will sooth your nights and deliver peaceful sleep you ever had.
If you ever plan to set your foot on the soil of my Sohni Dharti, let me know, i will be glad to be your host.
I am sad that after visiting the forum for such a long time, you have not understood what "Jihaad" is.
Regards
Taseer
Muhammad Asad--Question on forming Constitution of Pakistan
-
Drcheema
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2006 5:45 am
- Contact:
Muhammad Asad--Question on forming Constitution of Pakistan
Taseer Cheema,MD
New York
New York
-
tammyswofford
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:59 pm
- Contact:
Muhammad Asad--Question on forming Constitution of Pakistan
Dear Respected Taseer,
Yes it saddens me also, my lack of cultural intelligence, which is indeed my personal quest, but a slow passage because of my own cultural memory which lies in the West and not the East. None, can shed their cultural underpinnings and neither should there be the necessity for rational people to become that which they are not! I also hope for the grace and love to cover my own foibles, missteps and offenses. To be able to speak the truth, in love, is the difficult balance to find, is it not? You have shown that ability, in your previous post and I honor you for it.
I read the Urdu couplets that I can find in English, I love the poet Rumi and find him comparable to John Donne, except when Rumi speaks of love, his reference is to the Divine, while John Donne, loved women in general.
I know your history and culture is rich, America is still a "toddler" by comparison, and I do not know a word of Urdu at this point. smile
Having read "The Kite Runner" and "The Bookseller of Kabul" I would love to visit Afghanistan. The "Bookseller of Kabul" reminds me of "Five Families" by Oscar Lewis, which is a socio-anthropological work regarding Mexico, the land of my childhood. I have relatives who lost a son in Afghanistan, prior to the arrival of the Soviets. He drowned, in one of its many rivers.
Best Regards,
Tammy Swofford
Yes it saddens me also, my lack of cultural intelligence, which is indeed my personal quest, but a slow passage because of my own cultural memory which lies in the West and not the East. None, can shed their cultural underpinnings and neither should there be the necessity for rational people to become that which they are not! I also hope for the grace and love to cover my own foibles, missteps and offenses. To be able to speak the truth, in love, is the difficult balance to find, is it not? You have shown that ability, in your previous post and I honor you for it.
I read the Urdu couplets that I can find in English, I love the poet Rumi and find him comparable to John Donne, except when Rumi speaks of love, his reference is to the Divine, while John Donne, loved women in general.
I know your history and culture is rich, America is still a "toddler" by comparison, and I do not know a word of Urdu at this point. smile
Having read "The Kite Runner" and "The Bookseller of Kabul" I would love to visit Afghanistan. The "Bookseller of Kabul" reminds me of "Five Families" by Oscar Lewis, which is a socio-anthropological work regarding Mexico, the land of my childhood. I have relatives who lost a son in Afghanistan, prior to the arrival of the Soviets. He drowned, in one of its many rivers.
Best Regards,
Tammy Swofford