TALIBAN'S LIQUIDATION OF STATUES
ISLAMIC RESPONSE TO CULTURAL IMPERIALISM
by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D
On March 12, 2001 someone named Azizah Hibri, a professor at
University
of Richmond, issued a FATWA against the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan's
demolition of Budhha monuments. Her views reflect the position of an
important segment of pro-U.S.-government Muslim organizations in
America. As
she herself states, she was "asked by concerned American and Canadian
Muslim
organizations" to comment on the Taliban's position. Thus an entire
group of
Muslim organizations considered Prof. Hibri their worthy spokesperson.
The entire structure of Prof. Hibri's views is very shaky and
one
wonders how she can possibly be taken seriously by anyone who knows of
the
war being waged against Islam by the western powers, particularly the
Zionist
lobby in USA.
Her very first paragraph indicates that she is out of touch with
reality because she bases her views on a statement published in The
Washington Post. Not that the Post is always wrong on Islamic issues
(even a
stopped clock is correct twice in 24 hours) but to base a supposedly
Islamic
Fatwa on a news item in the Washington Post indicates the mindset of
the
person who gave the Fatwa.
In Paragraph two Prof. Hibri claims that she relies "primarily on
the
Qur'an and Sunnah." But her statements in the same paragraph belie this
possibility for she writes "in matters of jurisprudence I rely heavily
on a
fatwa issued earlier by Dr. Taha Jaber al-Alwani on a related matter"
and
that "in matters of Islamic history and world religions, I rely on
statements
made by Professor Seyyed Hussain Nasr on this and other occasions." Dr.
al-Alwani is the same gentleman who supported the pro-government
organizations' (CAIR, AMC, AMA etc) bid to get the Muslim community
stuck in
the swamp of U.S. presidential politics. The extent of Dr. Alwani's
pro-U.S.
government leanings can be guaged from the fact that he legitimized
voting in
a kafir power-structure for a kafir candidate and thus permitted the
waste of
massive Muslim resources urgently needed by Muslims in America and
around the
world. Alwani's Fatwa went against the Qur'an, the authentic hadith and
the
consensus of Muslim scholars for 1400 years. It went against Syed Qutb
(who
preferred death to acceptance of a secular government even though it
was
Muslim in name), against Maudoodi (who would not accept voting and
elections
even in an Islamic country, Pakistan, if the country did not formally
accept
Allah as soveriegn) and Dr. Omar 'Abdel Rahman (who does not compromise
with
this oppressive power even though he is in solitary confinement in a
cell in
Rochester, Minnesota). Thus in jurisprudence, Prof. Hibri has taken a
source
which is of no Islamic value.
As for Prof. Nasr, the less said the better. Whatever exalted
heights
of sufiism he might live on, there is no denying the fact that he did
not
support the Islamic revolution in his home country led by the
illustrious
Imam Khomeini.
Let us look at Prof. Hibri's methodology. She is giving a Fatwa
about
the Buddhist monuments but she begins by commenting on the Taliban's
"oppressive limitations on Muslim women's rights." Other than the
Washington
Post, she has not given a source for her views on the Taliban. If she
had
read other views, she would have found that women are quite safe in
Afghanistan and the Taliban are re-building the entire educational
structure.
Inspite of the ravages of war, 36,000 women are back to school in Kabul
alone. Thus Prof. Hibri's pontification about the right to education
etc of
women (para.5) (in her attempt to discredit the Taliban) only indicates
her
lack of real information about Afghanistan. Impartial accounts, both
Muslim
and non-Muslim, indicate that women are active in every sphere of life
in
Afghanistan. Only the westernized, pro-Communist women in Kabul were
subjected to restrictions after the city was taken by storm by the
Taliban.
As compared to the history of other conquered cities (the Americans in
Nuremburg, the Russians in Berlin, the Americans in Vietnam), the
Taliban's
treatment of the conquered people was humane.
In her academic zeal, Prof. Hibri forgot the entire context of
the
situation in Afghanistan. Here is a country which was ravaged by
Russian
occupation and gave 1.5 million martyrs. I wonder if Prof. Hibri ever
took
the help of the organizations she supports to visit the women and
children of
Afghanistan when the Jihad was on in every Afghan village.
At this time the issue is that of children starving in
Afghanistan,(although 95% of Afghanistan has achieved peace and unity
under
the Taliban.) Islam makes it incumbent on every Muslim to help the
children
of Afghanistan by BREAKING THE U.S. EMBARGO. The real issue is not that
of
the statues, but of the children. The Qur'an is very clear: THE
BELIEVERS ARE
NONE OTHER THAN ONE BROTHERHOOD/SISTERHOOD.
If Prof. Hibri is following the Qur'an, then she must speak and
write
against the sanctions and take emergency help to the children of
Afghanistan.
Prof. Hibri has entirely misunderstood the Taliban's position on
the
statues. They have demolished the statues NOT BECAUSE ANYONE IS
WORSHIPPING
THEM. In fact the Taliban have assured the few Hindus in Afghanistan
that
their statues are quite safe.
The action against the statues has nothing to do with any
antagonism
towards Buddhism either. There are no Buddhists in Afghanistan and the
Buddhists in other countries have no claims on Afghanistan and in fact
were
totally unaware of any such statues till the Zionist media raised a hue
and
cry about them.
The Taliban acted against the statues when they found that the
UNITED
NATIONS (the tool of U.S. imperialism) was acting as if it is custodian
of
the statues. The same UNO which sanctioned US embargo on Iraq resulting
in
the death of 750,000 children and has okayed US sanctions on
Afghanistan, is
interested in the safety of the statues!
It was the issue of children versus statues.
Mullah Umar, who knows at least as much Qur'an and Hadith as Prof.
Hibri and
Dr. Alwani, struck a blow at the unbelievers which made them stand
naked in
front of the whole world for the great wrongs they have done not only
to
Afghanistan but to every Muslim country. As the Prophet (pbuh) has
taught:
WAR IS DECEPTION. That is strike at the enemy in a way which he least
expected.
READ MULLAH UMAR's HISTORIC ANSWER TO the SHAIKH OF AZHAR AND YUSUF
QARADAWI: Why don't you go to Babri masjid?
That, dear Muslims, is the key question: Did these azhari shaikhs
go to
Babri masjid? Why are they accepting U.S. pressure to go to Afghanistan
to
teach Islam to mullah Umar (mujahid, Mu'min).
Mullah Umar's blow has uncovered the worldwide oppression against
Islam.Muslims are talking as never before about:
1. Mosques destroyed in Palestine.
2. Mosques destroyed in Chechnia
3. Mosques destroyed in Kashmir
4. Mosques destroyed in India
5. Mosques destroyed in Iraq
6. Mosques destroyed in Afghanistan (during Soviet
occupation and
then by 25 U.S.missiles during monica-gate.)
7. Mosques destroyed in Bosnia
8. Mosques destroyed in Kosova
9. Mosques destroyed in Macedonia
10. Mosques destroyed in various parts of ex-USSR
11. Use of beautiful Turkish mosques by pro-US generals
for
making dollars off tourists.
BEAUTIFUL ARTIFACTS IN IRAQ, perhaps the oldest
civilization in
the world, have been damaged and put in serious jeopardy by annual
bombing
raids by the British and US airforces and by the U.S. of uranium-tipped
ammunition during the assault on Iraq.
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Prof. Hibri and Alwani, etc also show their very narrow pro-US
bias by
ignoring the great wrongs done to artifacts of other nations.
1. Beautiful German churches and museums destroyed in Dresden,
Hamburg and 35 German cities during area bombing by US/British air
forces
(WWII).
2. DESTRUCTION OF BUDDHIST TEMPLES IN TOKYO fire raids,
HIROSHIMA AND
NAGASAKI.
3. Hindu army's invasion and desecration of the Sikh Temple in
Amritsar.
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Islam is not the name of a narrow pro-US tilt against a tiny
Muslim
country being targeted because it has given refuge to an Arabian
mujahid.
Islam must safeguard first the mosque of al-Aqsa and rebuild all the
mosques
which have been destroyed. Today even Makka and Madinah are under the
shadow
of the USA naval armadas.
Justice is not an academic exercise. It involves a wholeness of view.
A
fragmented vision which is blind to the tremendous evil of the
sanctions
against Iraq, Afganistan and Sudan should not presume to give fatwas
about
the destruction of historic relics. ONE AFGHANI CHILD IS MORE PRECIOUS
THAN
ALL THE STATUES OF BYGONE AGES. (To paraphrase the Prophet Muhammad,
pbuh:
the honor of the Muslim is more precious than the Ka'aba itself
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2001-03-24 Sat 11:38ct