It's become quite evident to even the most casual of observers that post-Taliban Afghanistan has become a miserable failure. Life for the normal Afghani is the same, if not worse. The economy is in shambles, the drug-trade is thriving, the US-puppet government has barely a hold on Kabul and a few other cities, and peace is only found in the barrel of the gun.
And then I read this story on the increasing occurrences of rape, most of which are carried out without any fear of retribution or criminal punishment.
And then I think to myself, as a father of a 10-yr old daughter, that I would rather keep my daughter holed up in my house than send her to school or work in such a lawless society.
I would happily give up these rights for the general security the Taliban had established, knowing that her trip to the local market would not end up with this most miserable of endings.
I would happily live under the 'backwards' life under Taliban rule, where my family's well-being is preserved than the 'civilized' life under US/Karzai rule, where uncontrollable beasts run the streets.
Critics (legitimately) scolded the Taliban for their oppressive ways (forcing the burqa and the beard, destroying Buddhist artifacts, shutting down girls schools, etc.), while conveniently turning a blind eye to the security and order they established in war-torn Afghanistan.
But have they provided anything better in the past 7 years?
Since when are the issues of women's rights and religious freedom even comparable to fundamental concerns for safety and security?
As lofty as their goals may have been for invading Afghanistan, they've really turned it into a cesspool of crime and corruption. Just like in Iraq, they failed to establish the most basic of societal needs – public safety. (Be sure to check out this 3-part documentary Five Years in Iraq)
I don't care to defend the Taliban, but it seriously makes my blood boil when I read articles like the CNN piece I linked above.
Sure, Afghanistan under Taliban rule was a pile of garbage, but that beats the pile of shit the US has turned it into.
I say they pack up their bags and hand the country back to the Taliban, if for no other reason but to bring back some semblance of order. Sure, the public may despise the mullahs for forcing them to wear burqas and closing down the music shops, but at least their women will be able to walk the streets without getting abducted.
WAW
4 days ago
12 comments:
Assalamu alaikom Naeem... it's so true about post taliban Afghanistan being a total mess... I remember reading about how the Taliban wasn't "able" to open schools for women and fancy hospitals for the public due to the lack of funds. As a result they had to prioritize their governmental spending on more important aspects of society. I just think of how stable the society may have been if those billions of dollars wasted on killing life during these past 7 years could have been put to "more" good under Taliban rule... Allah knows Best...
One thing you should always bear in mind tho is that people or nations are only conquered when they become susceptibile to it (i.e. susceptible to being conquered).
No amount of water in the ocean can sink a ship, unless you let the water get inside the lower decks.
You did a great job with your previous posts.
By contrast, in this one, you are bashing the oppressor...but such approach isn't going to change anything.
The muslims will continue to be badly run-over in this world, unless they embark on some serious inner transformation. It is not a cliche.
It's obvious that the people who run the world have no brains, and the Koran recounts this many times....about a people who don't think much. Or at least, they are only concerned with MacDonalds and Oil wells. I am not sure what you can do with somebody who is acting exactly as he/she is supposed to be acting.
But, how about somebody e.g. Muslims who are acting as he/she is not supposed to be acting.
America invaded Iraq, is that why they should be fighting one another? America invaded Afghanistan, is that why they should be raping their own mothers and daughters? And selling drugs? They finally have an excuse! Naturally, this should have been a moment of coming together and working together to support one another and develop the community.
We have to channel our anger and concern in the right direction. It's difficult to take that look in the mirror, but it has to happen if we are going to change our appearance.
We can only keep the semblances of Islam for so long, before Allah says, well that's enough you squirrels! (I have nothing against squirrels by the way).
Please note that I am not judging Taleban here, I am only pronouncing a general perspective on the matter...i.e. the sunnan. How Islam generally works.
If we don't want to be discussing these same issues in 50 years time (God forbid), and still wondering what is going on....and fantasising about the Sahabas, then perhaps we need to start making some serious conscious holistic change. Two step backwards, one step forward, and 20deafening takbirs is not going to do much.
They can get as many guns and gunpowder as they want to keep the security, secure all the rapists, the drug dealer, and don't forget you still have to defend yourself against the international war mongers etc. Well you probably need sane people to do that, not psychos or drug dealers.
Yeah! We won! By raping and killing we made it so that you think that living with us controlling your every movement and thought as a good thing! Did you really think it wasn't us doing all those dastardly things?
AA- Anon,
Valid points. I agree that real change (as I've argued before) will not come from a top-down approach.
My point is simply to state that all those cheerleaders and warmongers who supported America's 'humanitarian' mission to Afghanistan need to open their eyes and prioritize.
The right to attend an opera or smoke a hookah take a back seat to the basic right of public safety.
The Taliban were able to provide safety and security after decades of warlords and lawlessness. (The same was being said of the UIC in Somalia before they were bombed out of Mogadishu by US/Ethiopia)
We agree that they weren't the ideal solution to the woes of the Muslims. However, they surely weren't as bad as the US/Karzai replacement.
Focusing on shaping up our homes doesn't preclude us from cleaning up the trash on the street. Or is it a serial effort (ie. the former must be completed first before the latter can be initiated)?
Taliban Commander,
Yeah! You're a dork!
So you're suggesting the Taliban is behind all the raping/killing/drug trade?
Wow, you really need to read more than the MSM dude.
Let's start by addressing your oversimplified outlook on world politics. Its not always black and white, good-guys vs bad-guys. That was only true in grade school when you played cowboys and indians.
There are more sides to the conflict than Taliban vs US/Karzai. Afghan Warlords, Northern Alliance, Pakistan, US BlackOps, etc. all have their hands in the pot called Afghanistan...
How I wish I could afford your simplistic outlook on life!
My point is simply to state that all those cheerleaders and warmongers who supported America's 'humanitarian' mission to Afghanistan need to open their eyes and prioritize.
You are putting forward a challenge Naeem! I think you are expecting too much of those people.
Anyhow, what I was saying is that America's so-called 'humanitarian' mission was an inevitable sequence to the situation on the muslim grounds.
The regime replacement was on its way from the very beginning or at least from whencever the focus shifted to semblances as opposed to real transformation of the heart - the ultimate place where Allah will look on the day of judgement.
Hence the dua'a don't recompense us with tyrants for our wrong doings; but if you are implementing a holy project that is only geared towards outter fulfilment, it would be easy to forget this dua.
Basically, there's nothing you can do to sustain the so-called "lesser evil" (you seem to be implying) other than to re-orientate.
-5 minus -1 = -6
-1 minus -5 = -6
And which one is greater? -1 is greater, so does that make it a greater evil? It is a difficult analysis.
But when you re-orientate, you are able to continuously move forward in one direction, hopefully a positive direction.
So, -5 minus -1 = -6
but then -5 minus 0 = -5
and then again -5 minus 1 = -4
and then -5 minus 2 = -3
and so on until you neutralise the "negatives"
-5 minus 5 = 0.
And then -5 minus 6 = 1.
"Truth has cometh and falsehood hath vanished"
But as you can see, they will rather opt for all those pretentious and rather complicated-fuzzy arrangements that dis-orients the common-man... as exemplified in political agreements, power sharing documents, militarisation treaties, virtue enjoinment programmes, security strategies, vice prevention, democratisation, institutionalisation of good citizenship, legalisation, tribalisation, socialisation, devolution, etc.... that nobody, understands (including the so-called leader-head). As Qushari says:They were completely deprived, because they ignored the basics..
Focusing on shaping up our homes doesn't preclude us from cleaning up the trash on the street. Or is it a serial effort (ie. the former must be completed first before the latter can be initiated)?
Of course it is not serial.
Inner in my earlier comment ("Inner transformation") is not used as the opposite of outter. Inner here means something like the Core.
What the Prophet (alehi salatu wasalam) said is that if the heart is sound the body will be sound. But you still have to use the body in some way, such as using your leg to walk to the doctor, your mouth to take the medicine, your eyes to watchout for saudi drivers etc. Hence, you can't wait for the heart to be sound before you start using the body in *this way*. At the same time you ought not to use the body for anything other than to aid the project of making the heart Sound, i.e. *until* the heart is sound....which is going to go one forever in concentric circles. And That is the Enjoyment of it all. So, the heart will get a bit better and offer life to the body, and then more better and in turn offer a renewed life to the body and back and forth, forever.
If not that, then surely both of them will die out inevitably starting with the heart.
If body will not support the heart, yet the heart keeps pumping blood to offer life to the body, and the body keeps pumping cholestrol to the heart. It is obvious what will happen.
So, if for example some holy government is going to keep everyone at home just to be Islamic in the dry sense without any picture in mind of how that should connect with self-improvement of the citizens. If they are keeping their borders safe only as a show of strenght or preventing evil and not for the sole purpose of elevating the soul or complementing other effort to achieve such objective, then this is not going to work at all.
Because the point of these actions should be to help you get closer to Allah, not to help you become 'religious' in some self-righteous disjointed way from Allah's ....
some one argue that by continuing fighting, The taliban and narcotics smugglers/dealers have added to the lawlessness in aghanistan as resources have been diverted to fight with them.
Also the taliban continue to attack women's schools etc as they are against women education.
Anon,
True, that hypothetical argument can be made, although I would counter that the negative influence and corruption in the current Afghan government is the main cause of the problems.
But instead, I prefer to deal with the facts on the ground. For example, the fact that the Taliban had established a respectable level of security and peace. Also, the fact that they had significantly curtailed the cultivation of poppy/heroin.
Those facts can't be denied, especially in hindsight, as we look back at what they had accomplished compared to what currently is taking place.
Naeem,
Sorry for my long comment, I just re-read it, and realised some of the points were irrelevant and there are typos too. minus = plus.
However, I still think you are dealing with symptoms on this matter - as opposed to getting to the 'heart' of the matter. Why are these holy goverments failing? Why are they unable to win the hearts and minds of their people?
They obviously didn't appear to have curtailed the cultivation of poppy/heroin, otherwise the people wouldn't be planting it immediately as soon the Taliban were gone. It's all about face mask, and this strategy is not working. I can understand the sentiments and emotions for looking at the good side of such efforts, but sometimes you need to be blunt and utterly honest...otherwise the cycle will never be broken.
AA- Anonymous,
As always, your insightful comments are much appreciated!
You are absolutely correct. I am in no way advocating the Taliban as a panacea for all the problems in Afghanistan. Again, I am adamant in my call for an inside-out approach. I recently wrote about the dangers of a semi-competent Muslim rulership (in Malaysia and Turkey) giving Muslims a false glimmer of hope, when in reality the time is ripe to bite the bullet and take the painful, bitter medicine of true internal reform.
But again, my point with this post is to highlight the ineptitude of the current Afghani administration compared to the Taliban *in purely worldy matters* such as public safety, governmental corruption, and the drug trade.
In fact, if the Taliban were in charge, I would address them with the same charges I made against the Mutawwa.
All that being said, I still do not promote a purely spiritual approach. I believe the Prophetic Sunnah was a balanced mix of the external with the internal. Please refer to this post on a beautiful quote by Sh. Muhammad Al-Yaraghi regarding this matter.
As-salamu'alaykum Br. Naeem,
I read the link you offered. Thanks.
Also you comment below was noted:
I believe the Prophetic Sunnah was a balanced mix of the external with the internal.
Very true bro! But I am sure you know that the Prophet (saw) was inspired (both externally and internally) at every moment by something very Great, and that is confirmed in the Koran in dedicated verses. He wasn't mixing his own potions, and was constantly reminded of that.
Subhanallah, That's some very unimaginable state bro... which understandably sounds as a phenomenon that require some "interpolation" (or "interpretation" as they say ) in later generations, particularly in our time..... i.e. justifying the Prophet's way to "believers". lol!
But, this not really required. :sigh:.
The Prophetic Sunnah is clear and straight forward, but the tradition that conveys this "phenomenon" to us is pretty much muddled...and Allah is not going to approve muddiness (not because He is Mean) but because He is Merciful lest you carry on with it. Surely, it is the Merciful who Occupies the Throne.
And note that paradise and the hereafter itself (the one we are now hoping for - since we have failed miserably to civilise this earth) would have also been lost we had carried on a step further to muddle our brain beliefs about the matter. Thanks to the Aqeedah bashers for that.
Sometimes, I am not sure if I am making sense, pls don't hesitate to tell me.
Salaamualaikum naeem and An.
It is really nice to see such intelligent and heart-touching discussions my brothers.
I am indeed in unanimous approval of what An said about the present condition of muslims. It is time we channel our energy to whats actually causing this in the first place.
We have had taken the world so close to our hearts that most of us won't mind lying to someone or indulging in interest taking..or doing whatever it takes to have a lot of duniyah.(Im sorry brothers and sisters if you don't do these things..but im just talkin about the general Muslim population).
Mind you I am not saying that we should abandon the Duniyah. We should indulge in it the way our beloved prophet saw did. That is exactly why Nikah is Sunnah. Or else the more pious amongst muslims would have left for mountains and deserts in complete solitude to grow closer to Allah. Though that isn't forbidden, it is preferred that one lives in the world with most of the Ummah and there should be a collective effort to render the whole ummah closer to Allah, so that we keep remindin each other at times as Imaan never stays stationary.
Nevertheless I am still a sinner but now I atleast know that I am one and I am trying to rid myself of my dark past. At times I falter as most of us, but I am tryin..I ask the might lord to save me from my inner self and for strength.
I ask Allah to forgive the Ummah and help the Ummah so that it comes on to the way of the prophet SAW. Until then whatever be its outer form, we will always be bitterly crushed, subjugated to all forms of cruelty. It is only through growing closer to Allah that we can attain peace both internal and external.
Please pray for me brothers and sisters and also pray for people who have been wrongly put under detention. Imagine solitary confinement for 3 years. That could drive a sane person nuts. And for the Ummah in general. I hope that the worst is what we are seeing but im doubtful about that unless we change ourselves.
Sorry for my LOng post and May Allah bless us All and salaamualaikum
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