Hello Taliban, Hello al-Qaeda. No offence intended guys, really.
I have one of those blog counters that produces a "recent visitors" map. It's fun to take a gander at it every now and then to see who is visiting from where and what they're reading - or at least it was until today.
A couple of days ago I did a post entitled "Isn't It Time Muslims Defended Islam?" in which I advocated that moderate Muslim states ought to be responsible for keeping extremists in check in Pakistan.
When I went to the recent visitors map today I found that someone was interested in my views - someone who happened to be in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan - the headquarters of the Taliban and al-Qaeda inside Pakistan.
I have one of those blog counters that produces a "recent visitors" map. It's fun to take a gander at it every now and then to see who is visiting from where and what they're reading - or at least it was until today.
A couple of days ago I did a post entitled "Isn't It Time Muslims Defended Islam?" in which I advocated that moderate Muslim states ought to be responsible for keeping extremists in check in Pakistan.
When I went to the recent visitors map today I found that someone was interested in my views - someone who happened to be in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan - the headquarters of the Taliban and al-Qaeda inside Pakistan.
Oh well, turns out I got a visit from the US Defence Agency also. Maybe if I can just put the two of them in touch...
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Actually I tracked down the Quetta hit and it appears to have come from the Pakistan Muslim League. From there the search turned murky. It turns out the PML is a factional outfit representing everyone except the Islamists and Bhutto's PPP. PML-N is the faction of the opposition leader and former pm Sharif. PML, the original, is a pro-Musharraf party. There's also a PML-Q but I have no idea what that is although it seems to be wrapped up within PML itself. Recently there were accounts of PML-N and PML-Q campaigners resorting to gunfights over election posters.
Interesting comment. Thanks MaS. I have to admit having enough trouble struggling to grasp the inane extremes of Christianity much less exploring the depths of Islam. How did we all get swept up in this fundamentalist extremism of our respective faiths?
ReplyDeleteImagine if the Muslim world had never had oil but, instead, a favourable climate and an abundance of fertile lands and other non-carbon resources? Then, my friend, you would have to struggle with the concept of a region, a faith, a culture able to develop its own style of democratic institutions and prosperity free of Western influence. Take that back a few centuries and try to imagine where the Islamic world might be today. I don't care if its your prophet or mine - somebody made us really, really stupid.
Oil is the biggest curse that Muslim people ever experienced.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteJohnathon,
ReplyDeleteAren't you one sick genocidal maniac?
Don't worry about it MaS, that's just the ravings of our rightwing nutjobs. I won't tolerate that racist drivel on this blog. I just delete his rants when I learn of them.
ReplyDeleteThe Mound of Sound,
ReplyDeleteWe found it a lot more productive to confront and expose nutjobs (on any side of the spectrum) rather than deleting their comments. They always make our points way better than we could. Besides, it is great for our collection: http://www.reformislam.org/quotes.php
Also, while Islamophobia is a repulsive form of bigotry, it is not racism; Islam is not a race. “Islamophobia is a racism” argument was made up by Islamists to justify their notion that any criticism of Islam is racist. We are being called anti-Muslims racists on regular basis.