03-16-2006, 06:31 AM
EDITORIAL: <b>Extremism of the mosque </b> - Daily times
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The jihad in which Pakistan participated in the 1980s brought it a lot of dollars that remained unaccounted for. It also brought in an alien version of Islam that is equally unaccounted. Pakistani society was forced to think that only stringency of faith could set things right in the country. What actually resulted from this stringency was extremism that today radiates not only from the khateebs but also from the TV channels that sell religion with an eye to the market. Money came with this hard brand of Arab Islam, symbolised originally by Islamabadâs International Islamic University funded by Saudi Arabia
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The connection went to the extremist chief cleric of Saudi Arabia, the blind and now <b>late Sheikh Bin Baz, who thought that our planetary system was geocentric and that the earth was flat.</b>Â <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Last year a praising report printed in a Lahore-based newspaper stated that the famous Madina Islamic University, which began with Bin Baz as its first chancellor, had welcomed 6,000 foreign students who formed almost 80 percent of the total student population. It gave generous scholarships plus an air ticket back home during vacations to all foreigners. Pakistani students came from Lahore, Faisalabad, Turbat, Mamo Kanjan, Karachi, Kasur, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Nowshehra, Haripur, Gilgit and Mekran. There used to be 300 Pakistanis in the university but now there were less than 200. There was a report that mosques in Dipalpur in Punjab were preaching the khutbas of Sheikh Bin Baz.
The Wahhabi creed of Saudi Arabia was once considered a <b>khariji phenomenon </b>that had pushed Islam to an extreme posture. It was based on xenophobia and an original version of the jahiliyya creed as explained by Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, the founder of extremist Islam in Najd. He looked at Muslims not following his strict creed as reverters to the condition of pre-Islamic days and held them to be not erring Muslims but apostates who should be violently stopped. This idea was revived by Syed Qutb in the 1930s and today forms the central pillar of the creed of Osama bin Laden and Aiman al Zawahiri. The irony is that the House of Ibn Saud is straining to exorcise the genii of extremist faith today but the clerics there are convinced that extremism is the right way to go.
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<b>Extremism of the mosque in Pakistan goes in tandem with the extremism of the madrassa,</b> which President Musharraf has not been able to tame. The rejectionism that informs the mind of the khateeb comes from the seminary. President Musharrafâs political opponents in the MMA and the ARD are bound to ignore this phenomenon simply because his strategy has strengthened the clergy and weakened the political mainstream. *<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->..........
The jihad in which Pakistan participated in the 1980s brought it a lot of dollars that remained unaccounted for. It also brought in an alien version of Islam that is equally unaccounted. Pakistani society was forced to think that only stringency of faith could set things right in the country. What actually resulted from this stringency was extremism that today radiates not only from the khateebs but also from the TV channels that sell religion with an eye to the market. Money came with this hard brand of Arab Islam, symbolised originally by Islamabadâs International Islamic University funded by Saudi Arabia
..........
The connection went to the extremist chief cleric of Saudi Arabia, the blind and now <b>late Sheikh Bin Baz, who thought that our planetary system was geocentric and that the earth was flat.</b>Â <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Last year a praising report printed in a Lahore-based newspaper stated that the famous Madina Islamic University, which began with Bin Baz as its first chancellor, had welcomed 6,000 foreign students who formed almost 80 percent of the total student population. It gave generous scholarships plus an air ticket back home during vacations to all foreigners. Pakistani students came from Lahore, Faisalabad, Turbat, Mamo Kanjan, Karachi, Kasur, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Nowshehra, Haripur, Gilgit and Mekran. There used to be 300 Pakistanis in the university but now there were less than 200. There was a report that mosques in Dipalpur in Punjab were preaching the khutbas of Sheikh Bin Baz.The Wahhabi creed of Saudi Arabia was once considered a <b>khariji phenomenon </b>that had pushed Islam to an extreme posture. It was based on xenophobia and an original version of the jahiliyya creed as explained by Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, the founder of extremist Islam in Najd. He looked at Muslims not following his strict creed as reverters to the condition of pre-Islamic days and held them to be not erring Muslims but apostates who should be violently stopped. This idea was revived by Syed Qutb in the 1930s and today forms the central pillar of the creed of Osama bin Laden and Aiman al Zawahiri. The irony is that the House of Ibn Saud is straining to exorcise the genii of extremist faith today but the clerics there are convinced that extremism is the right way to go.
................
<b>Extremism of the mosque in Pakistan goes in tandem with the extremism of the madrassa,</b> which President Musharraf has not been able to tame. The rejectionism that informs the mind of the khateeb comes from the seminary. President Musharrafâs political opponents in the MMA and the ARD are bound to ignore this phenomenon simply because his strategy has strengthened the clergy and weakened the political mainstream. *<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->