Tag: mullah

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A donkey loaded with books is still a donkey.

Mohammed Abbasi

Loads of books? The rot of distorted religious beliefs has contaminated Pakistani society. Just one example of this was a wedding I attended in June last year. A mullah from an important mosque was asked to perform the ceremonies at the bride’s house. He grasped the opportunity to inflict a lengthy homily about the sanctity of marriage on the unfortunate guests. Marital harmony, he insisted, was founded on the subservience of woman to man because Eve was created from the rib of Adam. The cleric had obviously read, or had been told about, the story of creation as it appears in the … Continue reading A donkey loaded with books is still a donkey.

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The Kharijites and their impact on Contemporary Islam

Mohammed Abbasi

Shaykh Seraj Hendricks Much of the excesses and extremism that we observe today may be understood in terms of the origins and unfolding of Kharijism during the first few centuries of Islam. While a number of writers – both past and present – are of the opinion that this sect is extinct, others are of the view that its not. I share the latter view. The influences of this sect have always been present, in different guises and in varying degrees, throughout the history of Islam. But it appears to have gained a renewed momentum with the emergence of Muhammad … Continue reading The Kharijites and their impact on Contemporary Islam

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Logic before silly fatwa?

Mohammed Abbasi

Listening to your logic to shun fanatical fatwas Badria al-Bishr When cars were first introduced to Saudi Arabia as modernization began with King Abulaziz, people narrated a story that a man placed fodder in front of a car because he thought it was a camel or a ewe in need of food. The car was understood as such. This simple thinking is fitting with the isolation which people lived in during that time and thus the incapability to understand new technologies. This isolation caused an increase in physical objects and concepts being prohibited. New ideas were dealt with in a … Continue reading Logic before silly fatwa?

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The Mullahs of Pakistan are WRONG!

Mohammed Abbasi

The CII ruling is wrong    Imran Ahsan Nyazee The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has issued a ruling to the effect that a restriction placed on the unfettered Islamic right of a husband to take a second (or third or fourth) wife without seeking permission of the existing wife is wrong, and should be removed.  The issue runs much deeper than a mere seeking of permission from the first wife. It involves the methodology of the CII in interpreting the texts of the Quran and the Sunnah. Theoretically, the CII should be following the Hanafi system of interpretation, which … Continue reading The Mullahs of Pakistan are WRONG!

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Levels of outrage

Mohammed Abbasi

    Owen Bennett-Jones                                    I was asked the other day why the people of Pakistan were not more outraged by the beheading of the 23 Frontier Constabulary men in Mohmand. Good question. The person asking had her own explanation. The people of Pakistan, she argued, despair of American imperialism and the violent conduct Pakistan’s own army. Through bitter experience they have come to see that the methods used by the US and the Pakistani military will never produce long-term solutions. The deaths of … Continue reading Levels of outrage

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Taliban to grow in strength by 2017

Mohammed Abbasi

The Taliban and other militant groups will have the upper hand in Afghanistan by 2017 even if the United States maintains a small military presence in the country, says a new US intelligence report. Known as the National Intelligence Estimate, the report includes input from all 16 American intelligence agencies and is prepared for US policymakers and lawmakers. In another report also released this year, the US intelligence community predicted that Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba would continue to be the most multifaceted and problematic of the Pakistani militant groups. “The group has the long-term potential to evolve into a permanent and even Hamas/Hezbullah-like presence … Continue reading Taliban to grow in strength by 2017

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Pakistan: a culture of intolerance

Mohammed Abbasi

Pakistan: a culture of intolerance By Sajjad Ashraf Pakistan’s impoverished and peaceful Christian community has endured mob rampages, blasphemy charges, and was largely spared the ravages of suicide bombings, till last month. Suicide bombings on September 22 at Peshawar’s All-Saints Church, which is designed like a mosque to reflect inter-faith harmony, killed 83 worshippers and injured more than 125, bringing to focus how the danger minorities face in the militancy raging across Pakistan. With almost a bomb a day since Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government took over in June, the church was indeed a soft target. Since independence in 1947 … Continue reading Pakistan: a culture of intolerance

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Is this Pakistans future under the Taliban?

Mohammed Abbasi

OVER A COFFEE : Negotiations: dangers of a Pyrrhic victory — Dr Haider Shah The Taliban follow the creed where force is considered a necessary element for cleaning the modern day Muslim community of presumed un-Islamic additions Every social action campaign launched by our media has proved short-lived lately. For instance a few weeks ago the Shahzeb Khan murder case was all over the media, as the arrogant killers were forgiven by the parents of the deceased under the Sharia law. It then was suddenly replaced by the shocking news of the dumping of a five-year-old girl after her alleged … Continue reading Is this Pakistans future under the Taliban?

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Muslims need to respond with REASONING concerning Aisha RA age at marriage to The Prophet PBUH

Mohammed Abbasi

Of Aisha’s age at marriage IT is said that Hazrat Aisha was six years old when her nikah was performed with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Makkah, and nine years old when she moved in to live with her husband in Madina after Hijra. This piece of misinformation has led to the wrong view that child marriage has the sanction of Islam. It must be noted that establishing the authenticity of hadiths, the narrators’ circumstances and the conditions at that time have to be correlated with historical facts. There is only one hadith by Hisham which suggests the age of Hazrat … Continue reading Muslims need to respond with REASONING concerning Aisha RA age at marriage to The Prophet PBUH

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Delusional reality of Pakistani peace

Mohammed Abbasi

By Sameera Rashid Pakistani political parties of different ideological denominations, after attending the All Parties Conference (APC) in Karachi, issued a communique at the conclusion blaming the US war on terror and the negative fall out from drone attacks for the enormous loss of Pakistani lives in the battle against militancy. Observers have termed this a one-sided understanding of a complicated reality that will only embolden the militants. Militancy in Pakistan has been spawned by multiple factors; in fact, the rise in militancy is akin to a sedimentation process, where inundation of one layer upon another, has created a compressed … Continue reading Delusional reality of Pakistani peace