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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

[mukto-mona] BREAKING NEWS>>> Bangabandhu trial final verdict Nov 19



The Supreme Court has set Nov 19 for the final verdict on Bangabandhu murder trial as it ended hearing appeals by death convicts on Thursday
pls follow the link

hasan



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[ALOCHONA] 2 Bangladeshis killed by BSF:How much blood do the criminal Gandhi,Nehru beasts gong want?



News today 12/11/2009 report:

2 Bangladeshis killed by BSF

RAJSHAHI, Nov 11: Two Bangladeshi cattle- traders were shot dead by Indian Border Security Force (BSF) at Chouka frontline under Shibganj upazila in Chapainawabganj inside the Indian territory opposite to border in the early hours of today, reports BSS.
However, identities of the deceased could not be known immediately.
Commanding Officer of Chapainawabganj''s 9th Rifles Battalion Lt Col Zayed Hossain told the newsment that BSF troops of Malda fired six rounds at the traders as they were entering Indian territory at about 5:00 in the early morning.
The two men died on the spot while another two received bullet wounds, Hossain said.
BSF recovered the bodies. Identification of the deceased and the injured could not be immediately verified, but they were almost certainly Bangladeshi, Hossain said.
Bangladesh Rifles and their counterpart Border Security Force officials held a flag meeting this noon to decide on return of the bodies, he added.

my question;How much blood do the criminal Gandhi,Nehru beasts gong want?




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[mukto-mona] Fwd: REMINDER - Call for Nominations for the Martin Ennals Award 2010

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS


2010 MARTIN ENNALS AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS (MEA)

Dear friends,

As a member of the Jury of the Martin Ennals Award (MEA), the World
Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) would like to remind you that the
deadline for submissions for the Martin Ennals Award For Human Rights
Defenders (MEA) 2010 is approaching: 9th December 2009.

Please go to the website www.martinennalsaward.org, where forms can be
filled out electronically.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

OMCT International Secretariat

APPEL A NOMINATIONS


PRIX MARTIN ENNALS POUR LES DEFENSEURS DES DROITS DE L'HOMME (MEA) 2010

Chers amis,

En tant que membre du Jury du Prix Martin Ennals (MEA), l'Organisation
Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT) souhaite vous rappeler que le délai
de soumission des candidatures pour le Prix Martin Ennals pour les
Défenseurs des Droits de l'Homme (MEA) 2010 a été fixé au 9 décembre
2009.

A cet effet, veuillez visiter le site www.martinennalsaward.org, où
vous pouvez remplir le formulaire électroniquement.

Merci.

Meilleures salutations,

Le Secrétariat International de l'OMCT

LLAMAMIENTO PARA NOMINACIONES


PREMIO MARTIN ENNALS PARA LOS DEFENSORES DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS (MEA) 2010

Estimados amigos,

La Organización Mundial Contra la Tortura (OMCT), miembro del Jurado
del Premio Martín Ennals (MEA), quisiera recordarles que las
sumisiones de candidaturas para el Premio Martín Ennals para los
Defensores de los Derechos Humanos (MEA) 2010 deben ser depositadas
antes del 9 de diciembre de 2009.

El formulario electrónico para ello se encuentra en el sitio web
www.martinennalsaward.org.

Muchas gracias.

Cordialmente,


Secretariado Internacional de la OMCT


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[ALOCHONA] The Daily star: Best Newspaper from Bangladesh. Fair and Balanced, But how?



Dear all,
the Daily Star demand that they are"Best Newspaper from Bangladesh. Fair and Balanced"
The concious people of Bsngladesh know very well that how far it is 'Fair and Balanced"
The pro indians , imperilist, ngo n international organisations may regard it as "Best Newspaper from Bangladesh." for their own interest.But the patriotic  people of bangladesh know  how they worked for an emmergency rule and unconstitutional rule in Bangladesh.We watched 
 the blatant shamelessness of paolo n d star during the  unconstitutional rule of Moin fokh.the two editor used to
sit beside Moin during their rule . We did not forget their unfairdemand "amrai jorury obostha enechi"
 



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[mukto-mona] Calgary Herald Op-ed: Why was Maj. Nidal Hasan wearing Afghan attire?

November 10, 2009

Was Major Hasan a Jihadi Islamist?


Tarek Fatah
The Calgary Herald

As dozens of talking heads descended on CNN and FOX TV to give their opinions on the Fort Hood massacre, no one seemed to notice the significance of the attire Maj. Nidal Hassan was caught wearing, the morning of his suicide mission. It was captured on a store surveillance video as Maj. Hasan bought a coffee.

CNN's Arab commentator, Octavia Nasr, incorrectly reported that the major was wearing "Muslim garb" commonly worn in Jordan, and that it reflected his devoutness as a Muslim. However, to Pakistanis and Afghans watching the clip around the world, his clothing reflected something far more significant and sinister.

Maj. Hassan was wearing the "shalwar-kameez," the traditional attire worn by Pushtoons on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border. Had Maj. Hasan been of Pakistani or Afghan ancestry, it would have meant very little, but for an Arab-American to wear this attire was significant. No Arab male would ever want to be seen wearing this garb. Having said that, there is one particular group of Arabs who did embrace the garb of the Pushtoons. They were the "Afghan Arabs'' who went to Afghanistan to wage jihad alongside al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The question that needs to be asked is this: Where did Maj. Nidal Hasan, an American-born Arab, get a shalwar-kameez? Did Maj. Hasan visit the Pakistan-Afghan region or was he in touch with the Arab Afghans in the U.S. and Canada who wear the Pushtoon attire as a sign of solidarity with Osama bin Laden?

All of this talk about the killer's clothing would be inconsequential, had it not been for what else we now know about the good major.

Col. Terry Lee, a retired officer who worked with Maj. Hasan at the military base in Texas, alleges the mass murderer had angry confrontations with other officers over his views that Muslims should "rise up and attack Americans" in retaliation for the U. S war in Iraq.

Col. Lee was quoted in the London Telegraph saying, Maj. Hasan was "happy" when in June, a Muslim convert killed a U.S. soldier in an attack on a military recruitment centre in Arkansas. Other army officers claimed Maj. Hasan had said "maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Times Square" in New York.

If there was any doubt about the motivations of Maj. Hasan, it should have been laid to rest after what Lt.-Gen. Robert Cone, the commander of the base told NBC News. Gen. Cone said, according to eyewitnesses, Maj. Hasan had shouted the Islamic battle cry "Allah-O-Akbar! (God is great)" before opening fire.

However, all this evidence was not sufficient for Islamic groups. In statements after the mass murder, they tried to manipulate the media narrative by suggesting it was they who were the victims of this tragedy. Instead of denouncing the rise of Islamism and jihadi doctrines among Muslim youth, Islamist organizations once more came out with banal denunciations of violence.

First out of the gates was CAIR, the Council for American Islamic Relations, recently labelled by the U.S. Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Texas terror trial. Without naming or denouncing Maj. Hasan by name, CAIR issued a statement saying, "We condemn this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible and ask that the perpetrators be punished to the full extent of the law."

The Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Mich., issued a similar statement saying it "condemns the atrocious attacks on Fort Hood military base in Texas. Not a word about Maj. Hassan. Moreover, as usual, there was a proviso that said, "Islam in no way accepts such violence and terror," and that, "Islam is a peaceful religion with great reverence for human life."

Missing in these statements was any denunciation of the doctrine of "armed jihad," which is without doubt the force that gives religious validation to such acts of terror and encourages so many young Muslims towards suicide attacks on non-Muslims.

Unless and until Islamic organizations, imams of Mosques and their allies who have penetrated every institution that matters in our public life, say explicitly that there is no room for jihad at any time in the modern nation state, and that the doctrine of holy war is defunct, outdated and needs to be shelved, the rest of North America will not take us Muslims seriously.

If the mosques do not stop spreading the virus of victimhood, there will be more Muslim men willing to waste their lives for a jihad that God never asked them to fight.

We have a window of opportunity. Let us acknowledge what Muslim youth living among us are being fed. If a Muslim man, educated and trained at the expense of the American taxpayer to be a doctor and rise to the rank of major still feels a victim, and launches a suicide attack against America, then those who cry Islamophobia every day also share some blame in this atrocity.
---------------
Tarek Fatah Is founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[ALOCHONA] General Zia was in the thick of 1975 killings in Dhaka



General Zia was in the thick of 1975 killings in Dhaka

Shabbir Ahmed

The military dictators and the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan used to glorify the politics based on conspiracy, coups, and killings. After the independence of Bangladesh, the people of this tiny deltaic land breathed a sigh of relief knowing that there would be no return to the vicious cycle of conspiracy and illegal power-grabbing by the military dictators. This aspiration of the people however did not last long. The agents of Pakistan had already infiltrated into the army and started conspiring to kill the nascent democratic process brought on under the civilian political rule. The killers got support from the conspirator of all times named Gen. Ziaur Rahman.  As the then deputy chief of staff of the army, he provided support and encouraged the killers to overthrow the democratically elected civilian government. Accordingly, the pro-Pakistani killers execute their plan through gruesome murders in the dark night of August 15, 1975. The self-confessed killers mentioned it several times in the past and now we read it again as the information during the trial of the killings of Bangabandhu and others are released to the media. The killings centering power-grabbing started in August but continued in November 1975 and beyond. It is interesting to note that the primary beneficiary of the killings was none other than Gen. Zia.

The diabolic and petit dictator, Gen Zia, had a superb capacity to remain calm and manipulate events in his favor. Through a careful examination, one will be able to conclude that fishing in troubled waters was his area of expertise. For example, in 1971, he suddenly appeared in the scene to read the declaration of independence on behalf of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman even though he was going to help Pakistanis unload firearms from a marine vessel before the military crackdown on March 25, 1971. With the passage of time, he and his cohorts tried in vain to establish him as the sole announcer of independence. In another occasion, on November 7, 1975, while the conspiracies and killings were going on full blast in the cantonment, he remained in hiding while he was able to contact over phone the other conspirators, he manipulated events from hiding, and finally he came out while the situation was in his favor.  This is the way he had operated all through his life.  Eventually, he consolidated his power by overthrowing President Justice Sayem, formed Bangladesh National Party (BNP) by using government resources and power to bring many unsavory characters under his fold and later to glorify this day of tumult he declared November 7th as a soldier-people union day. On that soldier-people union day, there were no people involved from general public. It was killings and chaos perpetrated by a small group of people under the conspiracy of a few that includes Gen. Zia.

A few conspirators (from outside) provided support to ignite unrest in the army and organized a small gathering after the chaos and killings to achieve their political goal. The naïve co-conspirators thought that Gen. Zia would fulfill their dream but he was a manipulator of all times. He knew how to get the benefits from chaos by turning events in his favor. It is not difficult to do some research to find that most of the soldiers who were motivated to bring into his (Zia's) favor were finally executed during his rule under martial law. The prime conspirator Gen. Zia manipulated and used Col. Taher and his followers in the army to get to the power.  Gen. Zia was ruthless enough to try and even execute his friend and ex-colleague Col. Taher through a camera trial under martial law. Col. Taher was a valiant freedom fighter and was maimed during the independence war in 1971.  He was not to be given capital punishment but it was Gen. Zia and his power under martial law that overturned that rule. Any illegal and ruthless acts were possible by this diabolic man of uniform.

Now that Bangladesh has a number of talk shows in private television channels, one can observe that the pro-BNP discussants desperately try to glorify the events of the first week of November 1975. The Goebbels of Bangladesh tell lies repeatedly about the union of soldiers and people on November 7, 1975. In fact, I remember well that it was a scary condition for the people throughout the country because there was not a full-functioning government existed in the first week of November 1975. The uncertainty gripped the whole nation after hearing the news of killings of the top ranking leaders even in Dhaka central jail. Unfortunately, the leaders and supporters of BNP and Jamaat-I-Islami are all hell bent on spreading lies on the events centering Nov 7, 1975. As they stand now, they are desperate to continue their misinformation campaign but at this time of information technology, they should not underestimate the abilities of the people to conclude on any events based on correct information available online. It is not possible any more to fool even a small group of people even for a short time never mind the entire people for all the time!




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[mukto-mona] General Zia was in the thick of 1975 killings in Dhaka



General Zia was in the thick of 1975 killings in Dhaka

Shabbir Ahmed

The military dictators and the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan used to glorify the politics based on conspiracy, coups, and killings. After the independence of Bangladesh, the people of this tiny deltaic land breathed a sigh of relief knowing that there would be no return to the vicious cycle of conspiracy and illegal power-grabbing by the military dictators. This aspiration of the people however did not last long. The agents of Pakistan had already infiltrated into the army and started conspiring to kill the nascent democratic process brought on under the civilian political rule. The killers got support from the conspirator of all times named Gen. Ziaur Rahman.  As the then deputy chief of staff of the army, he provided support and encouraged the killers to overthrow the democratically elected civilian government. Accordingly, the pro-Pakistani killers execute their plan through gruesome murders in the dark night of August 15, 1975. The self-confessed killers mentioned it several times in the past and now we read it again as the information during the trial of the killings of Bangabandhu and others are released to the media. The killings centering power-grabbing started in August but continued in November 1975 and beyond. It is interesting to note that the primary beneficiary of the killings was none other than Gen. Zia.

The diabolic and petit dictator, Gen Zia, had a superb capacity to remain calm and manipulate events in his favor. Through a careful examination, one will be able to conclude that fishing in troubled waters was his area of expertise. For example, in 1971, he suddenly appeared in the scene to read the declaration of independence on behalf of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman even though he was going to help Pakistanis unload firearms from a marine vessel before the military crackdown on March 25, 1971. With the passage of time, he and his cohorts tried in vain to establish him as the sole announcer of independence. In another occasion, on November 7, 1975, while the conspiracies and killings were going on full blast in the cantonment, he remained in hiding while he was able to contact over phone the other conspirators, he manipulated events from hiding, and finally he came out while the situation was in his favor.  This is the way he had operated all through his life.  Eventually, he consolidated his power by overthrowing President Justice Sayem, formed Bangladesh National Party (BNP) by using government resources and power to bring many unsavory characters under his fold and later to glorify this day of tumult he declared November 7th as a soldier-people union day. On that soldier-people union day, there were no people involved from general public. It was killings and chaos perpetrated by a small group of people under the conspiracy of a few that includes Gen. Zia.

A few conspirators (from outside) provided support to ignite unrest in the army and organized a small gathering after the chaos and killings to achieve their political goal. The naïve co-conspirators thought that Gen. Zia would fulfill their dream but he was a manipulator of all times. He knew how to get the benefits from chaos by turning events in his favor. It is not difficult to do some research to find that most of the soldiers who were motivated to bring into his (Zia's) favor were finally executed during his rule under martial law. The prime conspirator Gen. Zia manipulated and used Col. Taher and his followers in the army to get to the power.  Gen. Zia was ruthless enough to try and even execute his friend and ex-colleague Col. Taher through a camera trial under martial law. Col. Taher was a valiant freedom fighter and was maimed during the independence war in 1971.  He was not to be given capital punishment but it was Gen. Zia and his power under martial law that overturned that rule. Any illegal and ruthless acts were possible by this diabolic man of uniform.

Now that Bangladesh has a number of talk shows in private television channels, one can observe that the pro-BNP discussants desperately try to glorify the events of the first week of November 1975. The Goebbels of Bangladesh tell lies repeatedly about the union of soldiers and people on November 7, 1975. In fact, I remember well that it was a scary condition for the people throughout the country because there was not a full-functioning government existed in the first week of November 1975. The uncertainty gripped the whole nation after hearing the news of killings of the top ranking leaders even in Dhaka central jail. Unfortunately, the leaders and supporters of BNP and Jamaat-I-Islami are all hell bent on spreading lies on the events centering Nov 7, 1975. As they stand now, they are desperate to continue their misinformation campaign but at this time of information technology, they should not underestimate the abilities of the people to conclude on any events based on correct information available online. It is not possible any more to fool even a small group of people even for a short time never mind the entire people for all the time!




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[mukto-mona] SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN MURDER CASE—A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE



SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN MURDER CASE—A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

 

For anybody concerned in the case of what is commonly known as the Bangabandhu Murder Case, there is a pressing need for assessing what kind of occurrence had taken place in the morning of 15th August 1975. It calls for a realistic legal formulations to judge which way the balance of justice tilts --- in favour of conviction to capital sentence or in favour of acquittal?

 

Complete Article -

 

http://deshcalling.blogspot.com/2009/11/sheikh-mujibur-rahman-murder-casea.html

 



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[ALOCHONA] SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN MURDER CASE—A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE



SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN MURDER CASE—A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

 

Thus, it is evident that in spite of the difference between the two incidents, the first one being caused by the members of the Army in combination with others and the other being caused exclusively by the members of the Army, there is no difference in the application of the provisions of the Army Act in general and mutiny in particular (resulting in death) in the incident of 14th/15th August 1975 in the same way the provision of the Army Act was applied for the incident, resulting in the killing of the-then President Ziaur Rahman.

 

Complete Article -

 

http://deshcalling.blogspot.com/2009/11/sheikh-mujibur-rahman-murder-casea.html

 



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[mukto-mona] On Central Madrasa Board Controversy: Interview with Justice Siddiqui, Chairman of National Commission of Minority Educational Institutions




 

 

Justice M.S.A. Siddiqui is the Chairman of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he discusses his proposal, sent to the Government of India for its consideration, for the setting up of a national-level Central Madrasa Board and the vociferous opposition that the proposal has met with from some Muslim quarters.

 

Q: Recently, you created a storm when you suggested to the Government of India that it set up a Central Madrasa Board. A large number of ulema and heads of Muslim organizations and movements vehemently denounced this proposal. Why do you feel the need for such a Board?

 

A: I proposed the Board simply to assist Muslims to enter the national mainstream. I think the Board is an important step in that direction. Until Muslims join the mainstream of Indian life it will not be possible for them to have an equal share in the country's progress and prosperity. Muslims must accept that the only way for this is through modern education. Muslims must learn the art of prospering in the face of adversity. Lamentably, however, they tend to rely on emotions and rhetoric, not intelligence, in the face of anything new. They should learn from the Jews, who were badly oppressed for several thousand years but yet never gave up their love for learning, so much so that today a tiny country like Israel has such a powerful control on global affairs. This was only because of the Jews' love for knowledge.

 

Q: Why do you feel so many ulema are so vehemently opposed to your proposed Board?

 

A: If you read Muslim history you will discover that many good new things and useful inventions and innovations were vociferously opposed by the maulvis. Even when, in the early period of Muslim history, it was proposed that the Quran be compiled as a book this proposal was opposed by some people! When the Caliph Umar proposed to expand the Prophet's mosque in Medina, even that was opposed! The mullahs vehemently opposed Syed Ahmad Khan, founder of the Aligarh movement, and even called him a kafir!

 

What I mean to say is that among Muslims, in general, there is a marked tendency to adopt a very negative, critical approach to new things. Every new thing they readily denounce as a 'conspiracy', as 'interference in Islam', or as kufr or infidelity. So, it is hardly surprising that some of them see the Board as a 'conspiracy' against Islam and Muslim identity. I wish to assure them that this is not at all the case. The Government has no intention to grab or control the madrasas. If the Government actually wanted to, nothing could have stopped it from doing so.

 

 In any community it is the role of intellectuals to help mould the minds of people on constructive lines. Unfortunately, this is almost totally lacking among Muslims. We have very few modern-educated intellectuals who take an active interest in community affairs. As for the traditionally educated maulvis, community reform is also one of their roles but few actually take this seriously at all. Most of them are interested simply in self-projection, while the few really committed religious scholars prefer to remain in the background. I don't want to generalize here, but I have a feeling that a large section of the elites of the Indian Muslim community, along with many maulvis who run madrasas, actually do not want the common Muslims to gain modern education because they feel that this would enable them to escape from their clutches, because of which they would no longer be able to play politics or make money in their name. Many of those who oppose any substantial reform of the madrasas do so simply because this would hurt their interests, power and influence, although they are careful to camouflage this by claiming that such reforms are supposedly 'anti-Islam' and so on.

 

It is an undeniable fact that a large number of maulvis have today become politicized, and are associated with some or the other political party in order to extract gain for themselves. Some of these people, as well as some other self-styled leaders of the Muslims, are crying out hoarse against the proposed Board, wrongly branding it as an anti-Islamic 'conspiracy' simply in order to make political mileage for themselves, to project themselves as saviours of Islam and the Muslims. But, who has allowed these mullahs to assume a monopoly over Islam? Allah suffices to protect Islam. It is He, not any mortal being, who will preserve Islam till the Day of Judgment.

 

Because of the nuisance value of these mullahs, the real ulema or religious scholars have chosen to remain in the background. As an Urdu poet so wonderfully expressed it:

 

Kisko yeh fikr hai ki qabile ka kya hua

Sab is pe lad rahe hain ki sardar kaun hai

 

Who is bothered about what happens to the people?

People are fighting among themselves over who the leader is

 

 

If the common Muslims were to become educated, naturally these maulvis, as well as the entrenched Muslim political elites, would no longer be in a position to take advantage of their poverty to feather their own nests. That is why many of them are furiously opposed to the inclusion of modern subjects in the madrasa curriculum, which is one of the things that the proposed Board seeks to do. Their opposition to the Board is also a reflection of the feudal mentality of our political and religious elites, which, lamentably, is still very deeply-rooted.

 

That said, let me also state that the proposed Board has been welcomed by a large number of Muslims, including many ulema, especially younger-generation madrasa graduates and students. I have received numerous letters from across India from such people supporting the set up of the Board, and they belong to various maslaks or sects. There is a silent revolution underway among the Muslim youth of this country. They want quality education for the community, and the opposition of some maulvis to this will not make any difference. If they continue their opposition it will, needless to say, be counter-productive for them. People will simply stop listening to or following them.

 

Our madarsas should no longer continue to be like a fixed stone in the midst of the flowing river of life. Change is the only constant in temporal life. Islam developed its magnificent civilization because this civilization went on changing from age to age absorbing new discoveries and creations in every aspect of human endeavour. It never shied away in throwing away old, outmoded conventions and doctrines. We have to adjust the educational needs of the Muslim community to suit the compulsions of the global village.

 

In this regard let me also state that it is perhaps understandable that some very large madrasas, such as Deoband and Nadwa, may not want to join the proposed Board or to seek the Board's assistance in teaching modern subjects to their students. They have enough resources to manage on their own, some of them being richly funded from Arab sources. Further, they might wish to continue functioning as specialized institutes for higher Islamic learning. The bigger madrasas—the real Jamias that are like universities—can be left out of the purview of the Board, which can focus on the smaller madrasas, particularly those that face chronic shortages of funds.

 

Q: One of the aims of the proposed Board is to facilitate the teaching of modern subjects in the madrasas. Why do the opponents of the Board have problems with this?

 

A: One factor is what I regard as the un-Islamic dualism that has crept into the Muslim educational system. Islam does not countenance any rigid division between 'religious' and 'secular' knowledge, which is why even Science, Mathematics, Geography and so on were taught in the early madrasas, in addition to the Quran and Hadith. This is what enabled the early Muslims who studied in these madrasas to become great scientists, mathematicians, explorers and so on, in addition to great commentators on the Quran and experts on Muslim jurisprudence. It was only in the wake of the enormous devastation of West and Central Asia caused by the Tatars in the thirteenth century that the notion of a division between 'religious' and 'secular' knowledge began to emerge among the ulema. Soon, these two were seen as not just different from each other but also as fundamentally opposed to each other. This led, in turn, to a tendency towards a world-renouncing monasticism, or rahbaniyyat, which is something that the Quran sternly forbids. Muslims pray for God to provide them with success in this world and in the next, and Islam regards this world as the field for the next. Obviously, therefore, Islam, properly understood, has no room for this sort of asceticism and indifference to the world and knowledge of it. The Quran speaks numerous times about the need for humans to reflect on God's creation, which it terms as His 'signs' (ayat). That is, in a sense, a call for us to engage in research. How can one engage in this sort of research and, thereby, fulfill a basic Quranic mandate, without knowledge of modern disciplines?

 

Our proposed Board, far from being a deviation, is a small step to reviving the lost Muslim tradition of a holistic concept of knowledge. By making sharp and untenable distinction between 'religious' and 'secular' knowledge, and using this as an argument to oppose the introduction of modern subjects in the madrasa curriculum, the conservative maulvis are adopting an un-Islamic stance, which can only further reinforce Muslim backwardness and marginalization.

 

Q: How do you think the proposed Board would help modernize the madrasas?

 

A: One crucial step that the Board would take, if it comes into being, is to introduce the teaching of English in those madrasas that choose to affiliate with it. In the past, many of our traditionalist ulema, who were rightly opposed to the British colonial rule, made the grave mistake of opposing the learning of the English language as well. They forgot that a nation might have a language, but a language does not have a nation. Today, you cannot develop without knowledge of English, most scientific and technical literature and even a lot of Islamic literature being in that language. By facilitating the teaching of English and other modern subjects in the madrasas the Board will also enable madrasa graduates to enroll in regular universities and for a wide range of subjects. In this way, the Board will help these graduates widen their future prospects, which are very restricted at present. As of now, only a couple of universities in India recognise madrasa degrees, and that too for a very limited range of courses. Ideally, I would like to see all the universities in India recognizing madrasa degrees, but for that it is imperative that madrasas also teach modern subjects, which is one of the major objectives of the proposed Board.

 

Through the Board we propose to provide affiliated madrasas with teachers for modern subjects with decent salaries. Presently, most madrasa teachers earn a pathetic salary, between five hundred to two thousand rupees a month, and often go for months without pay. Naturally, then, madrasas do not attract the best teachers. Often, it is those who have no other option who take to teaching in madrasas and agree to survive on the pittance that they receive. One cannot expect many such teachers to take their work seriously. It is because these maulvis are paid such a miserable salary that it has now become so easy to literally buy a favourable fatwa from a mufti simply by paying a small sum of money.

 

I have proposed that the Board will provide affiliated madrasas with trained teachers for modern subjects whose salaries would be equal to that of government servants. It is but to be expected that, because of this, those who are teaching these subjects in non-affiliated madrasas for a pittance, being heavily exploited by their managers, will seek employment in the affiliated madrasas. And, since the teachers of religious subjects will find that those who teach modern subjects in the same madrasas get a better salary, they will begin to demand better salaries and service conditions for themselves as well. Obviously, some madrasa managers will be upset about this, but this will help erode the heavy exploitation of the madrasa teachers. I feel that this challenge to the authoritarian ways of many madrasa managers and their exploitation of their teachers is one reason why some maulvis who run madrasas are so opposed to the Board since it so directly threatens to undermine their vested interests.

 

Q: An oft-heard argument put forward by many of those opposed to the proposed Board is that the teachers who would be appointed to teach modern subjects in the affiliated madrasas might be non-Muslims, who might lead their students 'astray' or cause a 'dilution' of their commitment to Islam. How do you respond to this charge?

 

A: I am aware that some people do argue on these lines, but this is a ridiculous charge. In the wake of the Battle of Badr, the Prophet Muhammad arranged for Meccan prisoners of war to educate Muslims as a way to win their freedom. These Meccans were not just non-Muslims, they were also inveterate foes of the Prophet and had taken up arms against him, but yet he wanted them to teach his followers. In this regard, let me also cite a saying, according to which the Prophet is said to have exhorted his followers to go even to China for knowledge. Now, in those days there were no Muslims in China, so, obviously, what the Prophet meant was that his followers should go to China to study non-religious knowledge from the non-Muslim Chinese. Given all this, how can it be said that for a non-Muslim to teach modern subjects in a madrasa is impermissible or, as some argue, a 'conspiracy' against Islam?

 

We should be working for a more inclusive and democratic society, and non-Muslim teachers teaching Muslim students would, in fact, be a very welcome step in that direction. I will go even further and say that we should be moving towards creating an environment wherein even non-Muslim students can study in madrasas if they want.  This can prove a very useful means to promote inter-faith and inter-community understanding and interaction through education.

 

But to come back to your question, it will be for the Board to choose the teachers to be appointed in the affiliated madrasas for teaching modern subjects. Naturally, this will be done taking into consideration the sectarian affiliation of each madrasa. The Board will consist of people from different sects or maslaks and so they will ensure that the selected teachers are suitable for the madrasas they are sent to depending on their own sectarian affiliation.

 

Talking of the problem of sectarianism, which is so rife in the madrasa system, the proposed Board will, I feel, go a long way in bridging maslaki differences because it will have representatives from the different maslaks. It will thus provide a much-needed forum for ulema from different maslaks to work together.

 

Q: Some critics of your proposed Board argue that it might enable the Government to interfere in the functioning of the madrasas and to dilute their religious identity. In fact, they regard the Board as part of a 'conspiracy' hatched by the Government precisely with this purpose in mind. What are your comments on this?

 

A: Let me clarify that the proposal of the Board was suggested and initiated by the National Commission for Minorities' Educational Institutions and forwarded to the Government. It was not done on the directions of the Government. This is something that many critics of the proposed Board do not realize. This is the major source of confusion that underlies the opposition of some people to the Board. Further, my proposal very clearly specifies that the Board will not interfere in the religious or dini talim component of the madrasa curriculum. The proposal also specifies that affiliation with the Board will be purely voluntary and not compulsory. The madrasas will be free to affiliate with the Board if they want, or refuse to do so, if they choose to. Moreover, affiliated madrasas can always disaffiliate themselves whenever they want to.

 

Nine states in India presently have state-level madrasa boards, to which several hundred madrasas have been affiliated, some for decades. These boards are controlled by state governments. How come there has been no such vociferous opposition to these boards? Why is it that some maulvis are opposing the national-level Board that I proposed, even though this Board would be autonomous and free from government control?

 

The fear that the proposed Board might interfere with or investigate the accounts and budgets of affiliated madrasas is a major reason for the opposition to the Board on the part of some maulvis. It is an undeniable fact that there is considerable and very serious financial misconduct and misappropriation of funds by many madrasa authorities. In one particular state, which I do not want to name, I was told that there are some 250 madrasas that exist on paper alone, and which receive funds from the Government's 15-point programme for employing teachers for modern subjects. One of these so-called madrasas was actually run by a Pandit, who had turned it into a pathshala! These corrupt people are scared that the Board might put an end to their malpractices.

 

Some critics of the proposed Board argue that the Government has no business to bother about the madrasas. But, my point is, the Indian Muslims, who number some 200 million, are also citizens of this country, and so obviously the Government ought to be concerned about the educational profile of such a large community. When I say this my critics at once pounce and declare that, according to the Sachar Committee Report, just 4 per cent of Muslim children study in full-time madrasas and so, they argue, the Government should be more concerned with the 96 per cent who don't. My reply is that, firstly, that the figure of 4 per cent that the Sachar Committee report came up with is a considerable under-estimate, a figment of a fertile imagination. It is clear that those who had cited this figure did not do any rigorous survey. But, even if one assumes that the figure is indeed 4 per cent, does it mean that the Government should not be bothered about them? In my view, the Government should be concerned about the education of every single child in this country. If one part of the body is spoilt, obviously it will soon lead to the whole body falling sick. If the Muslims, or a major section of the Muslims, remain educationally and economically backward, obviously it will bode ill for the peace and prosperity of the country as a whole. Moreover, our democracy is an inclusive democracy and therefore, the Government is responsible for the welfare and development of its citizens. Education is the potent tool for human development and empowerment of the people. If the Government thinks that introduction of modern education in madarsas is in the interest of the Muslim community, the same cannot be brushed aside claiming some kind of immunity or exclusive right. That apart, Article 51-A of our Constitution obligates every citizen to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that nation rises to higher levels of endevour and achievement.

 

Sadly, some maulvis want to isolate the Muslims from the rest of Indian society. This is one reason for their vehement opposition to any meaningful reform of the madrasas. I am totally against this isolationist mentality. Muslims here can't live on their own little island. We should break down the walls that some people want to build around us, and convert them into bridges so that all communities of our country can benefit from increased interaction with each other. As an Urdu poet so aptly put it:

 

                                   

Sahara lena hi padta hai mujh ko  dariya  ka

                                    Mai  ek katra hun, tanha to bah nahi sakta

 

A drop has to take the help of the river

For it is just a drop, and cannot flow alone

 

 

Q: Some critics of the proposed Board claim that the intention behind the 'modernisation' that the Board will usher in is to subvert the madrasas and destroy their specifically religious identity and character by gradually converting them into secular schools. How do you react to this charge?

 

A: This is a ridiculous allegation. As the person who suggested to the Government to set up this Board, let me say that I believe that we do need the madrasas. They are vital for the preservation of Muslim culture and religious tradition. Madrasas also focus on character-building, which is something sorely lacking in general schools. I myself studied in a madrasa as a child, and I am proud of this. My teachers there were heavily involved in, and committed to, moulding and improving my knowledge, character and personality. I am not advocating that madrasas be secularized out of existence and turned into general schools. Far from it. All I am appealing for is for madrasas to introduce some basic modern education so that their graduates can function properly in the outside world and so that some of them can go on to enroll in colleges and universities and thereby widen their career options which, at present, are extremely limited.

 

Q: Some maulvis who oppose the introduction of modern subjects and English in the madrasa curriculum argue that if these subjects were taught to madrasa students, their commitment to the faith would weaken, and that they would become more 'worldly' and would refuse to take up low-paid jobs such as that of imams in mosques and teachers in madrasas. This, in turn, they say, would result in a veritable crisis for the whole Muslim community, which would be left bereft of madrasa teachers and mosque imams, leading to a serious dilution of their Islamic faith and identity. Hence, they argue, such subjects must not be taught in the madrasas. How do you respond to this allegation?

 

A: This is a completely bizarre argument. If maulvis who argue like this want the 20 crore Muslims of India to become beggars and faqirs and wallow in poverty, I certainly cannot agree with them. If the maulvis want to make the 20 crore Muslims of India pious Muslims, well, that is a good thing, but, for heaven's sake, don't stop them from acquiring modern education as well.

 

Some critics use another argument to oppose the reform of the madrasa curriculum. They claim that if modern subjects were included in the syllabus, the burden would become so great for the students that they would excel neither in the traditional religious subjects nor in the new ones. This argument is also fallacious. It is certainly not an Islamic approach. Leaving our madrasa students ignorant of the modern world, of languages such as Hindi and English, has such a deleterious impact on their self-confidence. They suffer a terrible complex when they come into the outside world and find that they are forced to take the help of others even to read a sign in a railway station or to fill up a form in a post office.

 

 

Q: The USA, other Western governments, as well as the governments of scores of other countries, including Pakistan and India, began talking about what they termed as 'reforming' the madrasas only after the emergence of radical groups, such as the Taliban, which had links to certain madrasas. Many Muslims believe that the proposed Board has little to do with any sincere concern on the part of the Indian Government for Muslim educational advancement, but, rather, is actually a means to clamp down on madrasas, and that, in this, it is being pressurised by America. What do you have to say about this?

 

A: I can state with full confidence that the Taliban have nothing to do with the Indian madrasas. I can guarantee that not a single madrasa in India provides any sort of terrorist training. Their focus is simply on providing Islamic education. Those who allege that they are 'factories of terror' are completely wrong. That said, the situation in Pakistan is different, where, due to locally specific circumstances, certain madrasas were used by the state and other elements for purposes other than providing Islamic education. The error that some people make is to equate Indian madrasas with these certain madrasas in Pakistan, which is a totally untenable proposition.

 

Certain forces in the West as well as the Zionist lobby have been aggressively promoting the absolutely false thesis of Islam being a religion of terror and of madrasas allegedly churning out terrorists. This poisonous propaganda urgently needs to be rebutted. Lamentably, opponents of the proposed Board are playing into the hands of those who claim that madrasas are dens of terror, who project this opposition as supposed 'proof' that the madrasas are not above board, that they have something to hide. In this way, opponents of the Board have only succeeded in further shoving Muslims into a corner.

 

 

Q: Given the vehement opposition to the proposed Board from some quarters, do you think the Government will have the political will to go ahead and establish the Board?

 

A: The ball is now in the Government's court. I will be retiring from my present post by the end of this November, and it is now for the Government to decide. Some people in the Government have started asserting that the Government will decide about the Board only after a consensus evolves among Muslim leaders on the issue. My answer is that this consensus can never come about. Even at the time of the early Caliphs who came after the Prophet there was no consensus among Muslims, so how can we expect any consensus on this issue now? My personal opinion is that the Government must go ahead and pass a Bill and set up the Board in the larger interests of the Muslims of India and of the country as such. The opposition of a few people must not deter it from doing so because these people do not speak for the Muslims of this country as a whole.

 

Justice Siddiqui can be contacted on chairman.ncmei@nic.in

 

Yoginder Sikand works with the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Social Policy at the National Law School, Bangalore.











--
Allah, Farid, juhdi hamesha
Au Shaikh Farid, juhdi Allah Allah.
Acquiring Allah's grace is the aim of my jihad, 0 Farid!
Come Shaikh Farid! Allah, Allah's grace alone is ever the aim of my jihad
(Baba Guru Nanak Sahib to Baba Shaikh Farid Sahib)

Check out my blogs: www.madrasareforms.blogspot.com
www.islampeaceandjustice.blogspot.com



--
Allah, Farid, juhdi hamesha
Au Shaikh Farid, juhdi Allah Allah.
Acquiring Allah's grace is the aim of my jihad, 0 Farid!
Come Shaikh Farid! Allah, Allah's grace alone is ever the aim of my jihad
(Baba Guru Nanak Sahib to Baba Shaikh Farid Sahib)

Check out my blogs: www.madrasareforms.blogspot.com
www.islampeaceandjustice.blogspot.com



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[mukto-mona] Fwd: Fort Hood Tragedy, Islam, and America - --by Sheila Musaji



 
 

From: Tradex017
To: Kirfani
Sent: 11/10/2009 11:11:07 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Fwd: Fort Hood Tragedy, Islam, and America - --by Sheila Musaji
 
 

-----------------
Forwarded Message:
Subj: Fort Hood Tragedy, Islam, and America - --by Sheila Musaji 
Date: 11/10/2009 10:12:11 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From: shah.akhtar@yahoo.com
To: shahakhtar@gmail.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)
 

 
 
Fort Hood Tragedy, Islam, and America - updated 11/10/09
Posted Nov 10, 2009

Fort Hood Tragedy, Islam, and America

 

by Sheila Musaji

First I must say that as a Muslim, as an American, and as a human being - I cannot understand how anyone can commit such an act.  The "fact" that Maj. Hasan was a Muslim and so am I does not give me any understanding of his action - the fact that we are both Americans does not give me any understanding of his action - the fact that we are both human beings does not give me any understanding of his action.  The shooting at Fort Hood was a criminal act.  A person who could do such a thing is either mentally unbalanced, a sociopath, or a psycopath.  With the information we have so far there is no way to tell what category Maj. Hasan falls under.

If he was harassed because of his religion, if he had an unhappy family life, if he wanted out of the military, if he had had a change of heart and did not want to serve in Afghanistan or Iraq - none of this changes the fact that what he did was criminal.  He could have asked for conscientious objector status.  Even if the Army was not following their own protocol and refused to let him resign his commission, he could have gone to jail rather than go overseas, or he could have gone AWOL and taken his chances - at least that would not have hurt so many others.  Maj. Hasan betrayed his country, he betrayed his military oath, he betrayed his medical oath, he betrayed his religion. 

My brother Ray Hanania, an American Arab Christian who served in the military has some cogent observations from experience:  "The reality is that thousands of Arabs and Muslims have served in the military, including myself. I served during the Vietnam War and have both an honorable discharge and a Vietnam Era Service ribbon, among other recognitions. Bigotry and racism existed in the U.S. Air Force even when I served in it in the early 1970s. My colleagues called me such names as "sand nigger" and "camel jockey." Officers and enlisted personnel challenged me: "Who's side will you be on if we have to go fight in the (1973) Arab-Israeli war?" they would ask.  Among my best friends in the military were two Muslim brothers who suffered similar taunts. Yet, those incidents did not discourage me from continuing my service in the Illinois Air National guard for 10 more years."

At Fort Hood there have been other soldiers who objected to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and refused deployment.  Just a few months ago Spc. Victor Agosto refused to deploy to Afghanistan over his beliefs that the war violates international law.  He was sentenced to a month in jail, had his rank reduced, and will receive an administrative discharge.  Another soldier, Travis Bishop refused to deploy because of his religious beliefs which he said had become stronger over time. 

Understanding the "why" of this tragedy may be possible after all the investigations are done, and if Maj. Hasan recovers enough, or is mentally stable enough to be able to explain himself.  That being said, I would like to attempt to understand how someone can come to such a place in their life that an action like this seems reasonable to them.  I doubt that we can ever fully understand (we still don't understand any of the other such incidents that have taken place), but perhaps any illumination will help us to find ways to prevent things like this from happening in the future.

In the meantime, I cringe every time someone asks me to explain why Maj. Hasan or any other Muslim criminal has committed some reprehensible act.  I don't know why.  I may understand it even less than many non-Muslims think they understand because the Islam that I know has nothing in common with any possible justification they may raise to attempt to connect criminality, violence, hatred, or injustice with Islam.  Actually, I am amazed that intelligent people could possibly believe that it makes sense to ask any random Muslim to explain the actions of any one of the other 1.5 billion Muslims on earth, as if we are connected to each other like the Borg. 

I am also shocked that so many people seem to believe that if someone commits such a crime, the fact that they are a Muslim becomes the explanation for that.  The typical litany goes something like this ...  Oh, of course, he's a Muslim - they are all violent, they can't be trusted, they lie, they shouldn't be allowed in the military, they shouldn't be allowed in this country, stealth jihad, and on and on. 

Added to my disgust with the actions of Maj. Hasan for the crime of taking so many lives, and the terrible anguish he has brought to the families of his victims, is anger for the anguish he has brought to all American Arabs and Muslims, and to his fellow Arab and Muslim military members.  And, I am angry that so many people seem to believe that if any Muslim commits a crime, or even acts badly in any way, then every Muslim must apologize for their actions.  Why is that? 

As another dear brother, Robert Salaam, a former marine so eloquently expressed"The actions of this madman cost us, the many Muslims that have served this country honourably over the years, so much. I, like them, make no secret of my love of my faith as well as my country and my Corps. Like everyone else, young Muslims want to serve even over the objection of their parents: they want to be part of something, they want to do their bit. Many American Muslim military personnel have honourable discharges; some others gave the ultimate sacrifice, and are buried at Arlington Cemetry. I want to say to Christians: this murderer is no more one of us than the paedophile priest, the abortion doctor killer, or the millions of prisoners behind bars are part of you.  And yet already our military loyalties, our honour, and our integrity are being questioned. Most American Muslims today are going to get up, get ready for work, send their kids off to school, and pray that nothing stupid happens because of their faith. My hope is that the professionalism of most armed forces units will mean that casual jokes and debate will be the norm. But violence is also possible.  Meanwhile, some non-Muslims still believe that an entire religious community shares responsibility for the actions of one guy that we didn't even know existed until yesterday. No other faith community is taken to task in this manner. I read the blogs and messageboards, and I understand people are upset – but the reaction is disheartening: calls for the expulsions of Muslims from the armed forces, or for a vetting process, or in a few cases for an all-out ban on Islam. So even as I make extra prayers and give Dua, I know that my fellow non-Muslim Americans would love to see me leave my country. I wonder where they would like me to go."

What we now know (or think we know) about the shooting at Fort Hood:

There are 13 dead and 38 wounded in a shooting attack at Fort Hood, TX.  Major Nidal Malik Hasan a physician and psychiatrist appears to have been the single shooter. He is in the hospital in stable condition.  The attack went on for about 10 minutes and 100 shots were fired.  He was eventually brought down by four shots from the weapon of civilian police Sgt. Kimberly Munley.  He carried two guns, but only one gun was used in the shooting.

Maj. Hasan was born and raised in Virginia.  His parents were Palestinian immigrants.  He joined the Army right after high school.  He served eight years as an enlisted soldier during which time he studied at Barstow Community College in California and Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, where he earned an associate degree in science in 1992.  He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1995, receiving a bachelor's degree in biochemistry with honors and minors in biology and chemistry.  His father died in 1998, his mother in 2001.  He entered the Bethesda campus of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 1997 and graduated in 2003 as a medical doctor.  For seven years from 2003 through this summer, was an intern, a resident and then a fellow at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. caring for trauma victims.  He completed a residency in psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington in 2007 and a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry in 2009.  While at Walter Reed he had some difficulties that required that he receive counseling.  He was promoted to the rank of Major in May 2009 even though he had had a recent poor performance review from Walter Reed.  He was transferred to Fort Hood in July 2009. He had retained a lawyer to help him get out of the military.  In August 2009 he walked into Guns Galore near Fort Hood and spent $1,000 on a high-powered, Belgian-made semi-automatic pistol.  (Times Online) According to the military he was carrying two guns, but this was the only one he used.  He was due to be deployed to Afghanistan in November and had expressed concerns about this.  For the past few years he had been asking to be let out of his military duty.  People who knew him never saw him as violent, but as quiet and somewhat isolated.  He was a religious man who attended the local mosque regularly both in Maryland and in Texas.  He gave away most of his possessions to neighbors before the incident, telling them that he was being deployed.  He was never married and had no children. 

These seem to be the facts of the situation, but anything may change at any time as we have seen from previous reports of two or three shooters, a second shooter cornered, the death of Maj. Hasan, etc.  And, there are still inconsistencies in the stories in the media.  When this story first broke, there was nothing but conjecture, rumors, and just plain nonsense.  But, even after we are beginning to get an actual picture of the events and of the man, there are some things that just don't make sense.  Glenn Greenwald has an excellent listing of many of the errors in the original stories. 

Placing the Fort Hood Shooting in Context

Random violence is not a unique event.  In the SAME WEEK this tragedy took place at Fort Hood, Jason Rodriguez opened fire in the offices of his former employer in Florida killing 1 person and wounding 5 others.  THIS YEAR Michael McLendon murdered his mother and then set off on a 24-mile shooting spree in Alabama during which he fired more than 200 rounds and killed 10 more people, including himself; and, Jiverly Voong opened fire at an immigration services center in downtown Binghamton, NY, killing as many as 13 people before shooting himself.  This was not the first such event at a military installation this year.  Sgt. John M. Russell of the 54th Engineering Battalion killed 5 soldiers at the Camp Liberty military stress counseling clinic in Iraq. 

There have been numerous serial killers (e.g. Jeffrey Dahmer, Dean Corll, Angelo Buono, Ronald Dominique, Kristen Gilbert, Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez, John Wayne Gacy, David Berkowitz, Ed Gein, Juan Corona, Donald Gaskins, Gary Ridgeway etc.)

There have been many tragic shooting sprees over the years.  For example:

Similar civilian incidents

1966 - Charles Whitman killed his wife and mother and then went up to a tower at the University of Texas in Austin and killed 14 people and wounded 32 others before the police killed him.
1970 - 29 members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed students protesting the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia on the Kent State University college campus, killing 4 and wounding 9 others.
1984 - James Oliver Huberty went into a McDonald's in San Ysidro, CA and killed 21 people and injured 19 others before being killed himself. 
1991 - George Hennard drove into Luby's diner in Killeen, TX and killed 23 people and wounded more than 20 before committing suicide. 
1999 - Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold went into their Columbine H.S. and killed 13 people and injured wounded 24 before commitng suicide.
2002 - John Allen Muhammad & Lee Boyd Malvo killed 10 people and wounded 3 people in D.C., MD, and VA.
2005 - Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend on the Red Lake, MN Chippewa reservation, then went to Red Lake H.S. where he killed 7 people and wounded 5 others before committing suicide.
2006 - Charles Carl Roberts IV went into an Amish school in Lancaster County, PA and killed 5 girls before committing suicide.
2007 - Seung-Hui Cho went on a rampage at Virginia Tech and killed 32 people and wounded many others before committing suicide.
2007 - Sulejman Talovic went on a rampage in a Utah mall and killed 5 people and wounded 4 before being shot.

Similar military incidents

The military has not been immune from this sort of incident.  Attacks on fellow soldiers were dubbed "fragging" in Vietnam.  The Christian Science Monitor reports that: "Between 1969 and 1971, the Army reported 600 fragging incidents that killed 82 and wounded 651." More recently such incidents continue:

1995 - Sgt. William J. Kreutzer, Jr.  killed one officer and wounded 17 other soldiers when he opened fire on a formation at Fort Bragg, NC.
2003 - Army sergeant Hasan Karim Akbar killed two officers of the 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in Iraq (He was a Muslim convert)
2005 - Two officers were killed at Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit, Iraq by a deliberately placed mine.  Staff Sergeant Alberto B. Martinez was charged in the killing but was acquitted in a court martial trial at Fort Bragg, NC.
2006 - Pvt. Steven Green raped a 14-year-old girl, and killed her and 3 other members of her family in Iraq
2007 - Master Sgt. John Hatley convicted of the execution-style killings of 4 bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees near Baghdad. 
2007 - Olin Ferrier, a Fort Carson, CO soldier killed a taxi driver in Pueblo, CO
2008 - Staff Sgt. Brandon Norris killed Spc. Kamisha Block and then committed suicide in Iraq.  The military first reported this as a death by "friendly fire". 
2008 - Spc. Jody Michael Wirawan killed 1st Lt. Robert Bartlett Fletcher at Fort Hood and then committed suicide
2008 - Dustin Thorson, an Air Force technical sergeant killed his son and daughter on Tinker Air Base, OK. (He had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Iraq.)
2008 - Edgar Patino, a soldier at Fort Bragg, NC killed another soldier Spc. Megan Touma who was pregnant. 
2009 - Jomar Falu Vives a Fort Carson, CO soldier and Iraq war veteran accused of killing 2 people and wounding another in drive-by shootings. 

There has also been an increase in the number of SUICIDES among military personnel and according to CNN, this:  "… can be traced, in part, to a "stressed and tired force" made vulnerable by multiple deployments.  ...  Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, vice chief of naval operations, said suicides are the third leading cause of death in the Navy. And the article makes a relevant point that relates not only to suicides, but to the mental state of soldiers " ...  And it wasn't just the trauma of war that appears to heighten the risk. The suicides were about evenly divided among those who had returned from deployment, those who were still deployed—some on a third or fourth tour—and those who had never been deployed - All of the military leaders said they had too few mental health professionals in their ranks." The New York Times reports that "military suicides are at the highest level in nearly three decades."

There has been an increase in the number of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND MURDER cases among military personnel.  CBS News reported that in 2002 alone, 4 wives were killed in just 6 weeks at Fort Bragg, and that three of the husbands had served in Afghanistan.  At that time, there were some who questioned whether a malaria drug called Larium that the soldiers had taken before deployment had affected them.  "Soldiers at Fort Bragg said they are well aware of mental problems linked to the anti-malaria drug Lariam, which include aggression, depression, paranoia, hallucinations and suicidal thinking, even as official military spokesmen dismiss a connection between the drug and the events around Fayetteville this summer which have drawn national attention. ...UPI reported in May that mounting evidence suggests Lariam has caused such severe mental problems that in a small percentage of cases it has led to suicide. In July, UPI reported that scores of Peace Corps volunteers are coming forward saying they have suffered severe mental problems, some of which have lasted for years after they stopped taking the drug." Ann Jones reported that: "… since returning from Iraq, nine members of the Fort Carson, Colorado, Fourth Brigade Combat team had been charged with homicide."

Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is a serious problem

Similar "religiously motivated" incidents

Regrettably, there have also been many "religiously motivated" incidents of violence and terrorism over the years.  To give only one equally horrifying example:  Baruch Goldstein a 38 year-old American Israeli medical doctor opened fire at a mosque in Hebron during Friday prayers and killed 30 Muslim-Palestinians. This is also called the Hebron massacre - Hebron massacre (Goldstein's tombstone reads Here lies the saint, Dr. Baruch Kappel Goldstein, blessed be the memory of the righteous and holy man, may the Lord avenge his blood, who devoted his soul to the Jews, Jewish religion and Jewish land. His hands are innocent and his heart is pure. He was killed as a martyr of God on the 14th of Adar, Purim, in the year 5754 (1994). After his death there are annual graveside parties to celebrate Goldstein's action.) There have been so many such incidents that TAM has one collection of information about Jewish Extremism and Terrorism and another on Christian Extremism and Terrorism.  So, the claim that all terrorists or extremists are Muslims ignores history

What are the key issues that have been raised about the Fort Hood shooting?

1) The criminals religion seems to be the main focus. 

Whether or not Maj. Hasan was a Muslim, and if so whether he was a convert or born Muslim was brought up almost immediately, and lots of discussion took place about whether converts to Islam were more likely to be violent.  Once it was known that he was a Muslim and born a Muslim, then began discussions about the meaning of - The fact that Maj. Hasan had the word Allah in Arabic on his apartment door.  (Actually this is very common among Muslims, just as having a mezuzah on the door is common among Jews.  It is a way of asking God to bless and protect this home.  We have Bismillah on all our exterior doors.) - The fact that some witnesses reported that Maj. Hasan had said "Allahu Akbar" before shooting.  (This is strange only because Islam clearly forbids the action he was about to commit, but no more strange than a Catholic criminal lighting candles in church before a crime).  - The fact that Maj. Hasan regularly attended a local mosque. (It is too bad he didn't pick up even the basic Islamic teachings there - "And fulfill every covenant.  Verily, you will be held accountable with regard to the covenants." (Quran, 17:34)) - The fact that Maj. Hasan sometimes wore "Islamic clothing".  (Really stretching.  So do many Muslims, and Jews, and Sikhs, and Hindus, etc. This has no meaning at all.)

Wajahat Ali notes in The Guardian:  "Ultimately, this use – or misuse – of fear and rumour over Hasan's Islamic faith should be moot in light of the record of the thousands of Muslim American soldiers who have served and made sacrifice – such as Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, awarded the prestigious Purple Heart and Bronze Star and praised by Colin Powell, who now rests in Arlington cemetery after giving his life to protect and serve his country in Iraq.  ...  If Hasan's faith is ultimately proven to be the misguided inspiration for his violence, then the brave and patriotic service of thousands of Muslim American soldiers renders him an isolated and aberrant exception."

Media Matters reports that"Right-wing media figures have used the shooting at Fort Hood as an excuse to attack Islam and American Muslims in particular, with Debbie Schlussel, for example, urging readers to think of the alleged shooter "whenever you hear about how Muslims serve their country in the U.S. military." ...  Fox News host Brian Kilmeade suggesting the implementation of "special debriefings" for Muslim American soldiers to prevent future attacks." The same articles notes some other comments:  "Pamela Geller - Shooter is in the "pious Muslim category," has "such Islamic bravery." Michelle Malkin - links shooter to other "Muslim Soldiers with Attitude."

As H.A. Hellyer expresses so well: "And we also know that people on the far right (and probably on the left as well), will use this sad turn of events to yet again "prove" that Muslim Americans are simply not American. They are merely interlopers on American soil who must be suspected and pulled aside for random checks at airports.  Any Muslims who condemn the attacks must have ulterior, clandestine motives for doing so, and be dishonest collaborators with the enemy. There are no moderates: there are only those who believe in Islam – the enemy – and those who are brave enough to leave this evil cult – our friends. There are those who see the Qur'an as revelation, who are our mortal foes, and those who see the Qur'an as the manifesto for world fascistic domination, who are our allies."

Every major Muslim and Arab organization has condemned this incident and offered their condolences to the families of the victims.  The suggestion that Islam is the problem can only be called Islamophobia, bigotry, religious hatred.  The danger in this sort of labeling is that it sets off those among us who are only to happy to have a scapegoat on which to vent their rage. It is an irrational prejudice that lumps all Muslims into one category - the "other", "them", "those people".  If this anger is towards the criminal actions of some Muslims, then American Muslims are also on your side in the fight against them.  If your anger is towards our existence as Muslims and our love for our faith, our book, and our prophet, then that is something else again.  It is Islamophobia, and it is Anti-American.  I pray that the voices of dialogue and reason prevail and drown out the voices that would tear us apart.  By burning bridges with American Muslims we make me and my family, and all other Americans, less safe.  This facile "explanation" is an easy out and wastes the possibility of looking for real issues and solutions.

Are there more productive questions we need to ask?

What are the important facts about Maj. Hasan that we need to look at more closely in order to attempt to understand the "why" of his criminal actions.  Could this tragedy have been prevented.  Were warning signs missed?

Was there any friendly fire involved? NPR reports that: "A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press that investigators have not ruled out the possibility that some casualties may have been victims of "friendly fire," shot by authorities amid the mayhem and confusion at the scene." We now know that he only shot one of the guns he was carrying.  How is it possible that one man could have done so much damage using only one gun?

If Maj. Hasan wanted to leave the military, why was this difficult for him to do, and why did he need to hire an attorney? According to the Wall Street Journal: "Army officials at the Pentagon said that Muslim soldiers who felt their religion prevented them from fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan could claim conscientious objector status and seek noncombat assignments in the U.S. But they weren't aware of any Muslim soldiers who had done so." Did Maj. Hasan ask for such an assignment?  Was he refused?  And, if so, why?

Were warning signs ignored by the Muslim community An imam at the mosque Hasan attended in Killeen, Texas - Osman Danqua has told a reporter that Maj. Hasan had come to him a few months ago to talk about concerns that he was conflicted between his faith and his allegiance to the military.  According to an article in USA Today, Hasan asked Danqua: "If soldiers come to me and have problems fighting other Muslims, what do I tell them?" ... "Hasan also asked about soldiers changing their minds after joining the military and inquired about other members of the congregation. His line of questioning sounded so disjointed, however, that Danquah said Saturday he suspected Hasan might be a federal agent trying to infiltrate the mosque. I told him, 'There's something wrong with you, and if you're here to gather information, we're not here to do anything against the government. We're here to worship,'" Danquah said."

Were warning signs ignored by the military? It was reported that Hasan was promoted to Major in May although his last performance evaluation at Walter Reed Hospital was not good.  Some military personnel have now said that he made statements that concerned them, or even that made them question his loyalty.  What did they do about this?  According to YNet "However, classmate Finnell said that Hasan made a presentation during their studies "that justified suicide bombing" and spewed "anti-American propaganda" as he argued the war on terror was "a war against Islam." Finnell said he and at least one other student complained about Hasan, surprised that someone with "this type of vile ideology" would be allowed to wear an officer's uniform.  But Finnell said no one filed a formal, written complaint about Hasan's comments out of fear of appearing discriminatory." According to Times Online a Dr. Val Finnell who was with Hasan at Walter Reed said that: "… Hasan had consistently expressed opposition to the Iraq and Afghan wars since his early days at Walter Reed. One of his fellow students recalled Hasan arguing that suicide bombers were comparable to soldiers who fell on grenades to protect their colleagues. "I really questioned his loyalty," If there were colleagues who questioned his loyalty, did they report this to the authorities?  If there only reason for not reporting something as serious as justifying suicide bombing, then they were derelict in their duty to protect all of us, Muslim and non-Muslim.

Are there enough mental health professionals in the military, and who is taking care of their mental health? According to the Christian Science Monitor: "There are 408 psychiatrists in the Army, including nearly 300 civilians and civilian contractors, according to Army officials in Washington, for 550,000 active duty soldiers."

"Major Hasan was one of a thin line of military therapists trying to hold off a rising tide of need. So far this year, 117 soldiers on active duty were reported to have committed suicide. The Army has only 408 psychiatrists — military, civilian and contractors — serving about 553,000 active-duty troops around the world. As a result, some soldiers home from war, suffering from nightmares and panic attacks, say they have waited almost a year to see a psychi atrist.  Many military professionals, meanwhile, describe crushing schedules with 10 or more patients a day, most struggling with devastating trauma or mutilated bodies that are the product of war and the highly advanced care that kept them alive.  Some of those hired to heal others end up needing help themselves. Some go home at night too depressed to talk to their children. Others, like Bret A. Moore, a former Army psychologist at Fort Hood, ultimately quit.  "I planned for a career in the military, but I burned out" after about five years, he said.  The biggest problem, Dr. Moore said, was "compassion fatigue." (New York Times)

In an article entitled The Forever War of the Mind, Max Cleland, the secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, a Democratic senator from Georgia from 1997 to 2003, and a Vietnam Vet said:  "While the authorities say they cannot yet tell us why an Army psychiatrist would go on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas, we do know the sorts of stories he had been dealing with as he tried to help those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan readjust to life outside the war zone. A soldier's mind can be just as dangerous to himself, and to those around him, as wars fought on traditional battlefields.  War is haunting. Death. Pain. Blood. Dismemberment. A buddy dying in your arms. Imagine trying to get over the memory of a bomb splitting a Humvee apart beneath your feet and taking your leg with it. The first time I saw the stilled bodies of American soldiers dead on the battlefield is as stark and brutal a memory as the one of the grenade that ripped off my right arm and both legs."

Were the conditions at Walter Reed overwhelming to deal with? Max Cleland in the same article listed above notes:  " ...  We know of the recent failures at Walter Reed Medical Center, where soldiers were stranded in substandard barracks infested with rats while awaiting treatment. I was in Walter Reed myself at that time seeking counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, which, ignited by a barrage of Iraq headlines and the loss of my United States Senate seat, had simply consumed me.  ...  Weeks before the troubles at Walter Reed became public in 2007, my counselor put it to me simply. "We are drowning in war," she said. The problems at Walter Reed had nothing to do with the dedicated doctors and nurses there. The problems had to do with the White House and Congress and the Department of Defense. The problems had to do with money."

Rev. Carl Wright, the head chaplain at Hill Air Force Base, who has twice been deployed to Iraq told a Salt Lake Tribune reporter that:  "In his view, it's not Hasan's faith but his experiences at the Army's Walter Reed Medical Center that might have brought on what Wright calls "compassion stress"—also known as secondary stress disorder.  The shooter would have had patient after patient, soldier after soldier, telling him gruesome stories," he said.  When you're counseling with people, regardless of the helping profession, to a certain extent you feel what they feel," Wright said. "You vicariously experience ... not the identical experience, but pretty darn close, especially when you're a psychiatrist or psychologist." Such professionals, he said, need to be in therapy themselves, constantly working on their own issues and on self-improvement. "It's an article of their Hippocratic oath; all healers know that they are themselves wounded people."

Was Maj. Hasan himself suffering from mental illness? Maj. Hasan's uncle in Palestine told an LA Times reporter that Maj. Hasan:  "...spoke to his uncle of ethnic taunts by Army colleagues. He was haunted by the wartime disabilities of soldiers he treated as an Army psychiatrist, Hamad recalled, and was overwhelmed by a growing caseload he felt unable to manage." ... ""The whole family is in a state of denial," Hamad said today. "We don't believe he is capable of doing something like that. I was amazed and shocked, because it's not him. He's very quiet, gentle.  Maybe it built up together—the harassment, too many patients, the workload, the tragedies his patients brought to him," said the 65-year-old retired real estate broker. "Whatever it was, it must have been big pressure, something terrible he couldn't handle."

How could no one have noticed inconsistencies such as:

Most sources say he was never married and had no children, and had unsucessfully tried to find a wife through Muslim matrimonial services.  However one Wall Street Journal article mentions that a Mr. Cook, a former neighbor of Maj. Hasan in Virginia in the 90's said that Hasan was a single father and that two sons were living with Maj. Hasan at that time, and they attended local schools.  Who are these children, and what happened to them? 

"While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.  Grieger said privacy laws prevented him from going into details but noted that the problems had to do with Hasan's interactions with patients. He recalled Hasan as a "mostly very quiet" person who never spoke ill of the military or his country.  "He swore an oath of loyalty to the military," Grieger said. "I didn't hear anything contrary to those oaths." (MSNBC) How serious were these "difficulties" and should they have kept him from pursuing a career path that would focus on patients with PTSD?

Is there a problem with harassment of minorities (sexual orientation, gender, religion, ethnicity, etc.) in the military? And, if there is, what is being done about it?  Military Religious Freedom Foundation is working with about 100 Muslims in the military who have lodged discrimination complaints.  Mikey Weinstein, the director of MRFF said his phone was ringing Friday with complaints from Muslim troops that the Fort Hood shooting was being used by comrades to ridicule their faith.  He has also received at least one email from an American-Muslim military wife who has been harassed over the last few days on a military base here in America, and whose husband is currently deployed to Afghanistan.  These folks are also "collateral damage" of Maj. Hasan's criminal act.  What a shame that Arab and Muslim soldiers and their families must suffer doubly.  Muslim soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan often use fake last names to prevent being targeted by insurgents, who also may threaten their families especially if they live in other countries.  Do they also have to hide right here in America?

Mikey Weinstein has (a hero whom I am proud to call a friend): "called upon President Obama to immediately issue a statement as Commander-in-Chief making it clear that there would be a zero tolerance policy against any member of the US military "inflicting harassments, retribution or reprisal against an Islamic member of the US military." President Obama issued a statement earlier Thursday condemning the shootings.  Weinstein, whose civil rights organization was recently nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace prize, said Obama must state, unequivocally, that the US does not judge the worth of a "service member based on his or her religious faith." Weinstein's group has exposed the meteroric rise of fundamentalist Christianity within the US military and has called attention to the fact that military personnel have sought to cast the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as a crusade between Christianity and Islam.  Weinstein, an honor graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, former White House counsel during the Reagan administration and former General Counsel to H. Ross Perot, said religious intolerance within the military is widespread and continues to get worse. ...  Weinstein noted that MRFF has about 18 active cases at Fort Hood involving soldiers who allege they have been subjected to non-stop fundamentalist Christian proselytization.  "Fort Hood is one of our worst hot spots of the nearly 1,000 US military installations scattered around the world in approximately 132 countries," Weinstein said. "We've had a particular problem with the public elementary school that's actually situated on the installation where children of soldiers have been continuously proselytized to." Maj. Hasan, according to the New York Times, had allegedly been harassed by fellow soldiers because he was Muslim.  "It's obviously too early to know what all the salient facts are," Weinstein said. "But MRFF is the only subject matter expert on planet earth that can speak authoritatively with regard to the effects that religious persecution has on members of the US military, particularly those of minority faiths like Islam. It would absolutely strain credulity to presume that this clearly sick perpetrator's actions had nothing at all to do with the fact that his faith may possibly have been Islamic." 
 

 
 



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               -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190




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