Whose War is it anyway?

WASHINGTON, Oct 05, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group announced today that Howard Gordon, the executive producer of Fox's drama "24," has withdrawn his endorsement of the anti-Muslim film "Obsession" currently being distributed to some 28 million households in presidential election swing states by a shadowy non-profit organization called the Clarion Fund.

Source: Marketwatch.

The film and the words "anti-Muslim" are strongly tied. It makes me wonder if there's a Holocaust round the corner. I am back in the year 2001 right now where I would hear horror stories of Muslim kindergarten children being pelted at with bananas and Cheetos for wearing tiny headscarves.

The history of Muslims is conflicted, I'll give you that. But I don't altogether believe that we deserve as much hate as we are recently acquiring. Just like the war on terror isn't exactly a war on terror, I wonder if people are able to see that the "Jihad" in Jamiya Hafsa or the suicide-bombings from 9/11 to 7/11 to 9/20, isn't exactly like the Jihad the Prophet of Islam waged 1400 years ago. I wonder if there will be any room for an explanation for what a fundamentalist is in the next few years. And I sincerely wonder if the average Pakistani man will ever stop calling himself a 'radical muslim' just because he has a beard or prays at the mosque. I've never heard of the phrases 'radical Christian' or 'fundamentalist Jew'. Is it some South Asian dilemma? Radical Hindus and radical Muslims?

While we're at the topic, another problem with the Pakistani nation that is rampant and quite the trend in the holier-than-thou society: rejecting modernity. Refusing modern culture or the adaptation to technology. The more of a Luddite, the better a Muslim. The more of an idiot a woman is - all the better to be a wife. Because wives of present-day "good" Muslims, unlike the Umhaat ul Momineen, aren't supposed to be literate enough (Hazrat Ayesha RA) to have the ability to quote 5000 ahadeeth or advise on war matters or educate a nation, no. Neither should they be of enough power to assume a choice to divorce her husband (Hazrat Zainab bint e Jahsh RA) nor should she have enough gumption to be strong for a husband when he needs her the most (Hazrat Khadeeja RA). No. Our women's piety and chastity is justified by just how tightly our burqas are clad, just how quietly we can take a husband's beating and exactly by how many slaps and insults and acid-sprinkles we can withhold from our in-laws. Our society isn't an Islamic one - neither are our people, and I'd really wish the global media would desist the stupidity of calling us the 'followers of Quran' who wish 'death upon America'. If anyone's terribly un-Islamic, it's us. We are not waging Jihad in any way. We are waging a war of political interests, of international conflict, using and abusing Islam wherever we deem necessary, whenever we can throw in a quotation about God willing to fight the 'non-Muslims', to obliterate the 'enemy', forgetting it was the Prophet Muhammad SAW who announced sanctuary to the people of Mecca, the women and children, and anyone who took refuge in Abu Sufyan's house. And bonus points for guessing whose side Abu Sufyan was on.

They can all us great terrorists if they want to, but they should drop the Muslim alibi (which I know they won't, the war on terror hasn't shifted to OIL either - Operation Iraqi Liberation) which is just a bad excuse for a badly played hand by Al Qaeda. It's a shame that not even a few people in the Muslim world have had much luck explaining this to the west. Movies such as Obsession and Danish cartoons and 'anti-Muslim' sentiment will continue to thrive and multiply. We're seriously not interested in an image revamp.

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Pakistan and Pakistanis Muslims, to the world, are torch-bearing, Kafir-killing, flag-burnig, suicide-bombing fanatics who beat and kill their wives, spit on modern medicine and probably eat their young daughters. And then there's that other end of the spectrum. Where we're belly-dancer oglers, suppressed, bearded, dark-eyed heretics who worship the Satan as badly as the other-enders worship Allah.

There are definite moments where I am not proud to be a part of this race - this Pakistani Muslim category which has proudly marshalled its militant image. Mainly because of the lay man who sported bin Laden's picture on the back of water tankers and pan shops. My greatest fear for my country and my people is that we are not even aware - not even remotely cognizant - of the threat we have come to face because of our incessant stupidities. We have supported Talibanization whenever the West has wanted us to without dictating a clear democratic or diplomatic stance. Instead of proclaiming a support for the US we have camouflaged our US-love as Ummah-love and in the end, eat our own vociferous speeches. There is no harm in accepting that we are quietly supporting a US-led war on terror in Afghanistan (which we are, are we not?) and quietly letting them dictate a future with India and now with Iran because our own infrastructure is weak and frail. It cannot withstand an enmity with the biggest dog in the yard.

I don't believe that America is the greatest nation to grace the planet but I do believe that it is indeed a powerful nation - and for good reason. I believe that Americans have survived great odds like war, famine, economic depressions, nuclear threats, the handling of a federation of 50-odd states, a combative bi-polar world of the 1960s - to overcome and emerge as one of the most powerful nations of the world. They have worked hard and they've gotten what they invested in. They aren't perfect but they've done whatever they possibly could in their powers. Which is something Pakistanis just do not understand. We are too busy fighting over petty issues, thrashing each other apart whether it is judicial killings or judicial positions. For us, all we need is a spark. We'll add the feul to the fire ourselves.

Muslims, along with the rest of the world, need to understand the clear difference between a Mullah and a Muslim. They need to understand the difference between sexist and gender-based; between jihad and political tactic; between diplomacy and consistency; between resentment and tolerance.

This entire hoopla on suicide bombs is only going to prove Marx right once and for all that religion is what masses get high on - how leaders can sway the devotion of people in their favor. Chant Allah hu Akbar and ram the fourteen year old into the mosque with explosives. Cite a certain text (albeit misinterpreted) and thrash your wife into a pulp. Give a misquoted example and wage a war against innocent American civilians.

Marx will also be right when we'll land as an American army on Iraqi/Afghani soil. Look at certain profits and send your troops in to wage a 'crusade'. Sign certain oil proliferation treaties and declare weapons of mass destructions all over any country you like. Find a potential threat and fool the prolateriat by any means necessary - economic downfall, a threat of terror or a politics of fear. The idea is to raise capital. And raise it must.

This is nowhere a holy struggle. The present state of affairs is in no way a prediction or order from the Quran or from the American constitution. It is a malady produced by the personal choices and greeds for more, an exploitation of the powerless masses, the ridiculed and the befuddled. We keep making movies like The Obsession, we keep chanting slogans against the Muslims or the Americans and we keep feeding to this black hole of vested interests.

This is not a war on terror, this is not a Jihad.

This is humanity at its best.

Power hungry and stupid.