The whole of Islam appears afflicted by a peculiar masculine twist. All the typical masculine qualities of aggression, dominance, violence, hatred and like find abundant representation in Islamic approach. It is no co-incidence probably that the status of women as citizens and human beings is lowest in Islamic societies.
The whole of Christianity, on the other hand, appears to have arisen out of feminine sensibility. Christianity has arisen out of sympathy for Christ and the way he was executed by Jews. (Is it any co-incidence, by the way, that Christian societies were the first to give women equal rights and the status of women as citizens and human beings is highest in Christian societies?) The feminine virtues of love, forgiveness and tolerance are abundantly reflected in the Christian approach. It is difficult to imagine a figure like Mother Teresa coming from any other religion than Christianity. She devoted her life to looking after lepers and poor in an alien country. She was hailed as a saint by the orthodox Christian establishment. What if she were a Mohammedan? The chances are that orthodox Islamic establishment would have issued a fatwa against her for abandoning her own country and going to a foreign country. The Islamists are, anyway, uneasy with women moving around at all, except with their body covered from head to toe by a loose black dress.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Islam and War
The whole of Islam seems to have denigrated into a weird political phenomenon, one that appears aimed at dominating others physically, mentally and spiritually. This is reflected on the physical plane in the high-voltage war campaign now under-way in the name of holy war. The use of black magic and other such things in various guises have become common; with Islamists now providing the main platform for highly obnoxious evil forces in their vendetta against mankind.
The roots of violence in Islam can be traced to Mohammad himself, who carried out successful war campaigns that led to spread of Islam into middle-east and beyond. In fact, in the whole history of mankind, Mohammad is the only prophet who believed in war campaigns. It is very difficult to associate violence of this type, say, with Buddha or Jesus Christ. The Indian prophets Krishna and Rama did fought wars, but they were mainly for self-defence and as a last resort. (in Mahabharata, in fact, Lord Krishna advocates settling only for five villages in lieu of a whole kingdom if that can prevent war). They were anyway not interested in carrying out war-campaigns with the aim of spreading their kingdoms far and wide.
This medieval idea of fighting a war with hands (in which Islamists did have a certain advantage) seems to have lingered in the Islamic mind. They probably still dream of dominating this world and destroying the infidels with this kind of approach; though the current world seems to have moved much beyond since.
The roots of violence in Islam can be traced to Mohammad himself, who carried out successful war campaigns that led to spread of Islam into middle-east and beyond. In fact, in the whole history of mankind, Mohammad is the only prophet who believed in war campaigns. It is very difficult to associate violence of this type, say, with Buddha or Jesus Christ. The Indian prophets Krishna and Rama did fought wars, but they were mainly for self-defence and as a last resort. (in Mahabharata, in fact, Lord Krishna advocates settling only for five villages in lieu of a whole kingdom if that can prevent war). They were anyway not interested in carrying out war-campaigns with the aim of spreading their kingdoms far and wide.
This medieval idea of fighting a war with hands (in which Islamists did have a certain advantage) seems to have lingered in the Islamic mind. They probably still dream of dominating this world and destroying the infidels with this kind of approach; though the current world seems to have moved much beyond since.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)