[thechat] Flaws in Cultures

Syed Zeeshan Haider szh at softhome.net
Mon Sep 23 06:27:00 CDT 2002


Hello Everybody,
Some days ago, Judah directed us towards two flaming articles against Arabs.
Being a Muslim, and a descendent of Arab ancestors I agree with A FEW of Steve's
opinions. I am not going to quote them instead I am going to point the flaws in
Arab culture which me and my father has experienced by living in Middle East. It
is necessary to tell you that my Arab ancestors entered subcontinent during the
reign of Mughal King Akbar, mostly known as Akbar-e-Azam (The Great Akbar).
Steve has criticized "Islamic Culture". First of all it is to be cleared and
kept in mind that there is no such thing like "Islamic Culture". Islam is a way
of living and it is very flexible according to time, era, environment and
culture. If you study Islam in depth, then you'll notice two Arabic words "Arab"
and "Ajam". You know what "Arab" means but don't know about "Ajam". It means
"non-Arab". "Ajam" was a term of contempt for non-Arabs. Islam strictly
prohibited such differentiation on the base of language or culture. In His last
address (which is called Khutbat-ul-Wida'a, The Farewell Address), Prophet
Muhammad strictly said, "Any Arab has no superiority on any Ajam and any Ajam
has no superiority on any Arab". This a not just a statement but it is an order.
However, such difference is still present in some Arabs.
After the death of Prophet Muhammad, Islam crossed the boundaries of Arab and
spread in large parts of Asia and some parts of Europe. Consequently, Arabic
became a language which was spoken in most parts of the world (just like English
is used today). Sciences and Arts flourished during this golden age of Muslims.
This age is remembered as Dark Age by some Europeans because that was not any
glorious for them. Muslims became so powerful and rich that nobody could defeat
them in any war. This thing made them proud. They thought that they had become
the "leaders of the world". After crusades, Europeans began to come to the
Muslim universities to learn Arabic, Persian, and different subjects of science
and art. From this time, Muslims' decline started. They began to lose their
path in the intoxication of pride of Power and Money. They plunged themselves
in stupid religious discussions instead of sciences. These discussions were
raised by Sufism (a metaphysical religious practice of Islam; it is not accepted
as a way of living). Some Muslims tried to turn their nation back to the science
but the pride had made them deaf
and blind. They thought that they were the only super power and nobody could
defeat them. During this time awakening of dark Europe had started. They noticed
that they had not enough resources and money to flourish their industry. They
set off for developing colonies in other countries. Muslims thought that they
were super and they were the leaders and strongest. They allowed all kinds of
colonies on their lands. It was their real decline.
Today Arabs have become rich again because of their oil. Now they think that
they are rich enough to just enjoy all kinds of luxuries, Europe and USA are
just the machines of developing technologies and Arabs are for buying them. Now
they are proud of their Money. They don't care about what USA is, they only care
about getting luxuries with money and that's all. But when they turn towards
their bleeding part,
Palestine, they become annoyed and they ask for help from their major luxury
provider, USA. They notice that they are helpless and even their money cannot do
anything for Palestine, in addition USA is a big supporter of Israel then they
become arrogant and want to do anything to save Palestine from Israeli
oppression. They call Israel the bastard son of USA. These are not the only
reasons for their hate for USA. USA calls itself the leader of the world and
does anything it wants. These days the main victim of consents of USA is Middle
East. Let's take Iraq. Iraq was provided with chemical and biological weapons
during Iran-Iraq war. Because at that time USA wanted to destroy Iran with the
help of Iraq. USA knows that Iraq possesses some of those weapons but not any
Nukes. Iraq has no capability of carrying bio and chemical weapons to USA. It is
very clear to USA but these weapons are a very right excuse to attack Iraq to
get their oil. People say USA needs no more oil at this time. What about after
100 years when our earth will not be having enough oil. Think Tanks in USA think
for very far future also.
Iraq cannot create any nuclear weapons because none of Arab countries have any
high
standards of scientific education to develop such weapons. We in Pakistan always
scold our educational standards and demand high standards of scientific
education. Arabs come to Pakistan for "higher studies". Arabs want to have
everything without doing anything. This is not their culture. This is their
thought which is a gift of their pride. Prophet Muhammad said, "Pride is the
dress of Allah; if some one tries to wear it, Allah will burn him in fire". It
means no human is eligible to have pride. Only God can have pride. Arabs are
paying for their pride. Their only problem is their pride.
USA is also very Proud. No offence, but I think USA has started to pay for it.
Every culture has some good things and some bad things. Cultures are built by
humans according to the environment. You cannot impose your culture on all
environments. Let me give you an example. Western style of Music began to
flourish in Pakistan in late 1980's. At that time it had worst form in Pakistan.
Musical bands spread all over Pakistan like infectious diseases. Each of them
was equipped with heavy guitars, strong drum beat and awkward and disgusting
movement of body. More than 80% of them have disappeared now. They were highly
influenced with western culture, (USA culture is a better term) but people of
Pakistan could not accept them because USA culture was being imposed on
Pakistanis which was not according to our environment and social atmosphere. We
could not accept lots of English in Urdu and Punjabi songs. We could not accept
heavy beat and guitars which seemed to us like the battle of cattles and nothing
else. We could not accept awkward movement of body which was often referred as
the reaction of stomach pain. Consequently, most Americanised musical bands had
to leave the stage. Remaining had to Pakistanize their way of singing. Now most
famous Pop Singers of Pakistan have created a
very beautiful form of music by mixing Pakistani musical traditions and
instrument with western hi-tech musical instruments. Abrar-ul-Haq is one of the
leading pop singers of Pakistan. His songs are famous for heavy beat but all of
them depict the pure culture of Pakistani province of Punjab in the natural
Punjabi language.
Lets us take the example of Iran. USA thinks that Iran is an arrogant country.
Most Iranians think USA is an arrogant country. They think that USA is NOT any
leader and it cannot impose itself and its policies on Iran. Iranians want to
live by their own way and they think that USA is interfering their internal
matters. If you ever meat any Iranian, then you'll notice that they are very
friendly people. I have a personal experience of it because when I was in UAE I
had many Iranians in my aria. Once, me and my father were waiting for a taxi on
a
road in UAE. Suddenly, a taxi stopped near us and its Iranian driver asked us to
get in. We recognized him. He lived in our aria. After reaching to the
destination, that Iranian refused to accept any money. He said, "We are
neighbours, therefore, I cannot accept any money".
On the other hand, most Arabs are not as friendly even with Muslims and that's
why they cannot get enough support from non-Arab Muslim countries. Pakistan had
three major wars with India. In all these three, Iraq supported India. Pakistan
cannot forget this but cannot support any alien (USA) attack on Iraq on baseless
reasons. Because when USA attacks Iraq or Iran, its war on terror becomes war on
Muslims which is NOT acceptable.
Pakistan is a Muslim country and we don't have many supporters of USA, however,
they are not the supporters of any attack against USA citizans in Pakistan
because it effects the respect of Pakistan. On September 11, 2002 we did not
remember any bit of attacks on USA. We had to mourn our country's creater,
Quaid-e-Azam (means The Great Leader). West knows this man as Jinnah but we call
him Quaid-e-Azam. He died of tuberculosis on September 11, 1948, long before
September 11, 2001. The main difference between Pakistan and Arabs is Money. We
don't have money but we want to work. We have developed Nukes and Ballistic
Missiles with our own hands. Western countries see these weapons in a very
narrow perspective. They are not just weapons and machines to keep the
deterrence but they are the encouragement for Pakistan. If we can develop such
destructive weapons for our defence then we can create many constructive things
for the well being of mankind. These weapons are not just weapons but they are
our scientific success also. I like to see the constructive aspects of
destructive mchines.

Thank you!
Syed Zeeshan Haider.
http://syedzeeshanhaider.faithweb.com/





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