The Scope of inter-religious pluralism within Islam

Even though pluralism is a loaded term, its generic meaning suggests a phenomenon of peaceful coexistence between entities of diverse cultural, religious, and political inclinations. It is important to remember that pluralism does not mean the elimination of difference, nor does the word “tolerance” do justice to its intended purpose. Pluralism is not merely tolerating the other but engaging with the beliefs of others with peaceful dialogue and action. The scope of interreligious puralism within Islam proposes this kind of pluralism.

What does Pluralism mean in Islam?

Looking at the subjective meaning of pluralism within the ambit of Islam, the proponents of various Islamic discourses have proposed that pluralism is a pronounced feature of Islam. Many Muslim intellectuals claim that pluralism is central to the fundamental essence of Islam. A convincing case can be made for the presence of a compelling pluralistic ethos within the Islamic scriptures.

In his essay, Reformist Islam in Comparative Perspective, Mehran Kamrava claims that the rise in the level of religiosity amongst Muslims has given rise to other forms of Islam. One of which according to him is “likely to have the most resonating consequences for Islamic jurisprudence in both the near and the distant future” and calls it “intellectual Islam”. He claims that it is through this form of Islam that a Muslim reformist discourse is introduced. Which has produced significant work to locate the place of inter-religious pluralism in Islam. He further derives some themes out of the reformist discourse, very important with their reference to pluralism in Islam:

“First is a deep and abiding conviction in Islam as faith and a system of belief. In its current manifestation, the discourse of reformist Muslim intellectuals does not seek to instrumentalize Islam for purposes of achieving modernity in a manner palatable to the masses at large. Islam is not a means to an end; it is an end in itself. It simply needs to be re-thought and reformulated. The reformists’ reliance on and endless references to the Qur’an bespeaks of the text’s cultural centrality to them.”.

Such display of absolute faith by Muslim reformists whilst having reformist inclinations bespeak of their balanced position. A flexible modern vision can develop interfaith dialogue. The abiding conviction to Islam earns a sense of authenticity for their thought process in the eyes of fellow Muslims.

What is Democratic Pluralism?

The next theme of the reformist discourse is “democratic pluralism”: “Pluralism, the reformist discourse’s proponents maintain, is a salient feature of the spirit of the Qur’an and the hadith.” (Kamrava )

To support his claim he cites another Muslim intellectual Abdulaziz Sachedina who quotes:

The challenge for Muslims today, as ever, is to tap the tradition of Koranic pluralism to develop a culture of restoration, of just intrareligious and interreligious relationships in a world of cultural and religious diversity. Without restoring the principle of coexistence, Muslims will not be able to recapture the spirit of early civil society under the Prophet.

In the globalized world, the facets of modernity like its political model of the nation-state have become a governing principle for all ethnic, cultural, and religious pluralism. This means the only larger identity governing the religious identity of the people is that of the nation-state. In the religiously pluralistic society of today, people may have different identities, but the model of the nation-state promises all of them the same status. People might identify with different religious inclinations, but the state identifies them as either citizens or residents of the state. This is exactly the kind of challenge that Sachedina talks about when he implores Muslims to revive the tradition of pluralism that is central to the Islamic texts for peaceful coexistence in the globalized world.

The Case of Muslims living as a minority

If Muslims live in a minority in a nation-state that runs on one of the political models of modernity like democracy or secularism, then for the sake of the welfare of Muslims they need to fulfill the duties that the nation-state demands from them. Andrew March talks about the jurisprudence of Muslim minorities also called Fiqh al-aqalliyyat al-muslima in Arabic:

Fiqh alaqalliyyat tends to be a discourse where departures from traditional Islamic commitments are not seen as desirable, and certainly not goals in and of themselves, but where creative rethinking often occurs in subtle and pragmatic guises. It is thus an important object of study for those interested in the ideal moral encounter between a public religion like Islam and modern/post-modern secularism. (March 6).

Important questions of interest toward non-Islamic institutions have been addressed from within internal Islamic discourses that advocate for a positive Muslim attitude concerning the issue of pluralism.

Islam’s relation with other Faiths

The third theme within the reformist Islamic discourse is “Islam’s relations with other great faiths”. An important aspect central to the Muslim understanding of pluralism is the conception that god’s message in the Quran is universal and that the revelation was made through more than just one prophet, which means that the revelations had multiple manifestations. The basic underpinning for this idea can be seen in the Quran which mentions the monotheistic traditions of Judaism and Christianity. Far from denying the Quran in fact validates that Torah and Bible were predecessor scriptures affirming that their message has come from the same god. Many Quranic verses echo the sentiments which envisage a world where diversified people are united by their pious intentions and mutual devotion to God.

Some Important Milestones in the Islamic History

Apart from the theoretical contributions to promote Islamic pluralism, efficient action has also been taken within the Muslim discourse on a practical level to perpetuate inter-faith harmony.

One such historic step was the “1981 adoption of the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights, whose article XIII states: Every person has the right to freedom of conscience and worship in accordance with his religious beliefs.”.

Apart from this, another significant step was taken in 1990 when the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam was adopted, Article 1(a) of which states:

“All human beings form one family whose members are united by submission to God and descent from Adam. All men are equal in terms of basic human dignity and basic obligations and responsibilities, without any discrimination on the grounds of race, color, language, sex, religious belief, political affiliation, social status or other considerations. True faith is the guarantee for enhancing such dignity along the path to human perfection.”

Islamic Tradition of Peaceful Coexistence

The Quran recognizes fundamental rights for all humankind whether Muslims or non-Muslims and explicitly forbids compulsion in faith. The Islamic texts also provide a practical model of implementing pluralistic ideals which have greatly affected the treatment of non-Muslims in Muslim lands. Contrary to the Islamophobic stereotypes, Islam not only acknowledges pluralism, but it also goes beyond the reductive concepts of tolerance and intolerance to endorse and encourages a tradition of peaceful coexistence.

COP27 Climate Change Summit: Greenwashing Scam Imperilling Human Rights

COP27 Faced Major Criticism

Morally, politically and economically COP27 climate change summit has been coined as a greenwashing scam imperilling human rights.

The world watched Egypt closely as it hosted the 27th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh from the 8th-16th of November. More than 190 governments attended COP27 to attempt to solve some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Furthermore, Egypt hosting of COP27 sparked much controversy due to its abysmal human rights record. Additionally, COP27 faced heavy criticism due to some of the world’s top polluters, such as Coca-Cola sponsoring the event. Furthermore, attendees arrived in private jets; meat and dairy products remained on menus; dozens of domestic civil society organizations were excluded. Additionally, the summit was overshadowed by persistent calls to release up to 65,000 political prisoners in Egyptian prisons.

World's Top Polluter, Coca-Cola, Sponsored COP27

The UN climate conference announced a sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola, one of the “world’s top polluters”. Coca-Cola recently retained its title for the fourth year as the world’s top plastic polluter. The sponsorship deal is a greenwashing scam by campaigners, drawing intense criticism.

Coca-Cola produces 120 billion throwaway plastic bottles a year. 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels, exacerbating the plastic and climate change crises.

Private Jets, Bottomless Cocktails and Beef Medallion Dishes

Surprisingly, attendees indulged in the very activities which got us into this mess in the first place. Moreover, world leaders flew to Egypt in private jets. Attendees enjoyed bottomless cocktails, one-hour unlimited wine and beer packages, $100 beef medallion dishes, and $50 seafood platters.

This begs the question: do these foods belong at a climate conference? We have missed the true purpose of the climate summit: to help save the planet.

Meat and Dairy On the Menu – Not on the Agenda

In the three-decade history of the UN Climate Summit, COP27 was the first UN summit to discuss the meat and dairy industry’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions.

COP27 faced massive criticism this year from climate activists due to the unsustainable meat and dairy items on its menus. It seems unimaginable that globally we are trying to reduce our meat and dairy consumption to save our planet. However, our governments cannot stop eating these foods at the world’s largest climate summit.

Cutting meat and dairy output are not yet on the agenda for governments at COP27. Many governments attending the summit give billions to livestock farmers in subsidies. Instead of focusing on plant-based diets, they are advancing policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions using feed additives that make animals less gassy and technology that sucks up the methane wafting off manure heaps. Andy Reisinger, a farm emissions specialist and vice-chair of the UN’s IPCC climate panel, said feed additives could worsen emissions by promoting intensive farming.

Dozens of Domestic Civil Society Groups Excluded

Hundreds of prominent human rights defenders, researchers and environmentalists were exiled from Egypt. They were unable to attend Cop27 due to the nature of their work. Many voices from Egypt were absent at the conference due to the government’s corrupt attempts to exclude dozens of domestic civil society groups.

“Arrests and detention, NGO asset freezes and dissolutions and travel restrictions against human rights defenders have created a climate of fear for Egyptian civil society organisations to engage visibly at the COP27” 

Additionally, COP27’s wifi blocked access to international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other news websites needed during information talks. These prominent human rights organizations hosted talks at COP27 but could not access their sites due to previous work criticizing the Egyptian government. Egypt used this strategy to hide the nation’s decades-long record of cracking down on human rights.

65,000 Political Prisoners in Egyptian Prisons

Currently, there are an estimated 65,000 political prisoners inside Egyptian prisons. COP27 was overshadowed by persistent calls to release political prisoners.

A British-Egyptian detainee, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, was a significant focus in the media. As a leader of Egypt’s 2011 revolution, he has been in prison for the past decade. He started a partial hunger strike in April 2022 to protest his detention conditions. He spent the last six months consuming just 100 calories a day. A week before COP27 started, he stopped eating altogether. Then, on the day the summit began, he stopped drinking water. He has since resumed drinking water but remains critically ill.

Greta Thunberg, who refused to attend COP27, signed a petition by a human rights coalition calling on Egyptian authorities to open up civic space and release political prisoners.

COP27 Cracks Down On “Greenwashing”

Companies, banks, cities and states worldwide have continuously made broken promises to achieve net-zero emissions. These corporate climate pledges amount to little more than a greenwashing scam. Evading net-zero claims is a common greenwashing strategy. Companies claim to be carbon-free due to strategies such as buying carbon credits while simultaneously pursuing new fossil fuel projects emitting greenhouse gases.

Greenwashing is when an organization spends more time and money marketing itself as environmentally friendly than minimizing its environmental impact. It’s a shady marketing gimmick that misleads consumers who prefer to buy environmentally friendly goods and services.

At COP27, the UN cracked down on greenwashing, laying down recommendations for how companies, financial institutions and cities must calculate their net-zero emissions status. The new UN report aims to eliminate loopholes by laying out ten steps to bring integrity, transparency and accountability to net-zero claims.

“I have a message to fossil fuel companies and their financial enablers. So-called ‘net-zero pledges’ that exclude core products and activities are poisoning our planet. They must thoroughly review their pledges and align them with this new guidance”.

UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL, ANTÓNIO GUTERRES.

The UN cracked down on companies stating that they can’t claim to be net zero if they are not in line with targets set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These targets include cutting global carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. The UN limited short-term carbon offsets and held that they could only be used sparingly in the long term.

Historic Deal: Governments Must Pay Poor Nations for Climate Damage

Governments at COP27 approved a historic deal to create a fund for compensating developing nations that are victims of extreme weather events worsened by rich countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. However, many remained uncertain as countries argued over emission reduction efforts.

Moreover, this is a massive step for poorer countries bearing the brunt of climate change. These nations face extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heat waves, and famines despite releasing the lowest greenhouse gas emissions. This historical “loss and damage” deal will provide financial assistance to developing nations stricken by climate disasters.

However, this loss and damage deal has several flaws. Some nations held that the pledges to limit global temperatures to below 1.5 degrees showed little progress compared to the COP26 conference in Glasgow in 2021. Furthermore, others criticized how the language and guidelines on phasing out fossil fuels were weak. Despite many different opinions between nations regarding the guidelines of this historic deal, it is still a vital step towards achieving climate justice.

Concluding Thoughts

COP27 has faced significant criticism this year for many justifiable reasons. Many believe COP27 is a greenwashing scam failing humanity and the planet by not leading to significant changes. The UN climate summit is losing its credibility in being able to create meaningful change to save our planet.

World leaders and people in power continuously use high-profile gatherings like COP for attention and are greenwashing, lying and cheating their way through pledges and commitments. The UN Environment Programme released the Emissions Gap report stating that only an urgent system-wide transformation can deliver the enormous emissions cuts needed to stabilize global temperatures below 1.5 degrees by 2030.

World leaders consistently fail to fulfil their commitments and act on time. We cannot place trust in greenwashing scams like COP summits anymore. Instead, we need rapid, far-reaching, unprecedented changes in all aspects of society if we want to build a sustainable world for future generations.

Qatar FIFA 2022, A Civilized Model Of Islam

Qatar is the first country in the Middle East to host the FIFA World Cup 2022. This was after Qatar’s award hosting in December 2010. This is a tremendous opportunity for Qatar to represent Qatar in FIFA 2022 as a civilized model of Islam. The country converted to Islam in the 7th century. Since winning the hosting, it has been constructing some of the most eco-friendly and architectural advanced sporting facilities ever seen. It is the kind of country that has the power to host the greatest show of FIFA ever on Earth.

First, Qatar has always drawn its strength from discovering oil, fishing, and pearl hunting. In addition, it is the world’s second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. Hosting the tournament presents tremendous opportunities for Qatar to prove itself as a powerful country. Significantly, Qatar has always been taking advantage of the tournament hosting to develop local Industries, expertise, and infrastructure. This was for Innovation and application of excellent standards and support of Qatar’s transition to a knowledge-based economy. This edition of the FIFA World Cup 2022 is being themed by Qatar on its culture, history, identity, and hospitability. As a result, efforts have made the event an unforgettable historical experience.

The Tremendous Achievements and Preparations of Qatar’s FIFA World Cup Hosting 2022 as a Civilized Model of Islam

Qatar has reflected the Islamic culture theme in the event’s hosting laws. This has made Qatar FIFA 2022 a civilized model of Islam. Affected by the domestic laws of the country, Qatar imposed laws governing the behavior of foreign nationals. Laws also included regulating the rights of broadcast and FIFA’s intellectual property. Laws also covered the entry and exit of fans, fans’ financial transactions, and the establishment of the Security Commission. All the imposed laws require foreign Nationals who are visiting the country to adhere to local Customs. This applies to the fans who are attending the World Cup tournament.

These laws include:

• It prohibits selling any type of Alcohol in and around the stadium.
• It prohibits all homosexual slogans.
• All kinds of music and songs at the time of the prayers are not allowed.
• Banning the German national team’s flight from entering the country for bearing the homosexual logo and exchanging it.

As a Muslim country, Qatar expects foreign Nationals intending the World Cup tournament to wear conservative clothes in public places. Accordingly, laws prohibited fans from putting money on specific teams according to the domestic law of Qatar, which prohibits gambling. 

Other Beautifying Islamic Implementations

Posting Ahadith Nabawia, which means the sayings of the prophet PBUH, in every corner of the stadium about Islamic tolerance, charity, and pure altruism.

 It Exchanged all the humble-voice Muezzins (the believers who call for the prayer) with charming-voice Muezzins.

Moreover, the allocation of many speakers inside the stadium in order to allow fans and everyone to hear the Azan.

Distribution of books about Islamic and Arabian history and introduction to Islam. All books are available in the audience’s languages.

Posting Boasters calling the audience not to smoke or drink alcohol as well as respecting Qatar’s religion and culture.

Inauguration of the event by reciting some Ayat from the holy Quran by the Qatari reciter Ghanim Al Moftah.

Hosting the most iconic Islamic preacher, Zakir Nike. He will conduct religious lectures in the largest global gathering for the entire duration of the event.

Equally important, Qatar has been constructing one of the greatest stadiums. It will be hosting the largest edition in the history of the event.

Other Attracting Preparations

Starting from the design of the emblem of FIFA World Cup 2022 implies many symbols. Its design resembles the traditional woolen shawl that men and women were in the Arab region. The shawl itself represents a symbol of a unifying force. They shaped the emblem in figure 8, which represents the number of stadiums built to host the event. Moreover, the design of the emblem celebrates Qatar’s heritage while embodying the vision of a global event that connects and engages the entire world.

Qatar Fifa 2022 as a Civilized Model of Islam, Between Proponents and Opponents, Still Challenging

The Worldwide focused its attention on the Islamic-culture theme rather than the tournament itself. “Since we won the honor of hosting the World Cup, Qatar has been subjected to an unprecedented campaign that no host country has faced,” the emir said in a speech. “We initially dealt with the matter in good faith, and even considered that some criticism was positive and useful, helping us to develop aspects that need to be developed,” the emir said.

Nevertheless, massive speech attacks against Qatar still claim Qatar’s Islamization of the FIFA World Cup event. Accordingly, many have been cruelly attacking Qatar through speech for its situation towards homosexual relationships as a dictatorial country that gives no value to freedom and human rights.  Others were criticizing choosing Qatar as a host claiming that it is a very small country. “Picking Qatar to host the World Cup was a mistake,” former FIFA president Sepp Blatter said. “It’s a country that’s too small,” Mr. Blatter said of Qatar, the smallest host by size since the 1954 tournament in Switzerland. All criticizing claims tend to be either racist, islamophobic, or even secular.

The Associated Press’s Speech

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Associated Press) — Qatar is a Muslim nation, with laws, customs, and practices rooted in Islam. The country is neither as liberal as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates nor as conservative as parts of Saudi Arabia. Most of its citizens are Sunni Muslim.”

Qatar’s most powerful clan originates from the Arabian Peninsula’s landlocked interior, where the Wahhabi ideology was born. Its national mosque is named after the 18th-century religious figure, Mohammed Ibn Abdul-Wahhab, who spurred the ultraconservative interpretation of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism.

Visitors to this mosque and others in Qatar are asked to dress conservatively, with men covering their knees and women preferably donning loose-flowing robes known as abayas and headscarves.

Unlike Saudi Arabia, where adherence to Wahhabism led to strict segregation of unmarried men and women, banned women from driving, and kept concerts, cinemas, and even yoga off-limits for decades, Qatar has long sponsored the arts, allowed women to participate in high levels of governance and encouraged tourists to feel at ease in the country. It also permits the sale of alcohol in licensed hotels and bars.

General View

Each time the word wide strongly proves that the World Cup Tournament is not just a game. But, it’s a chance to scatter all the political issues and to flip over the flows of each country in its face. From the very first moment of Qatar’s winning the hosting honor, European countries turned their attention toward Qatar, facing constant scrutiny over its treatment of foreign workers, women’s rights, and homosexuals’ rights.

In addition, each time the FIFA Union puts rules to avoid merging politics with the tournaments, they seem useless since many European countries tend to politicalize the contests on a large scale. Authorities in several French cities – including Paris – have already announced that they will boycott the event by not showing any matches on big screens or creating fan zones. Nevertheless, Despite all the opponents’ fingers pointing towards Qatar, Qatar has proven that it is worth hosting. On top of all the beautifying deeds Qatar made is launching a campaign on social media called #Reflect_Your_Respect which totally makes Qatar FIFA 2022 a civilized model of Islam. In the end, let us enjoy the event in our own special way and wish the players all the best of luck!

The World Cup in Qatar and Die-hard Western Racism

The Western modernity project, which has undeniably accomplished enormous innovations for the entire world, is yet to get rid of major ailments and liabilities still blemishing the collective western mindset. The current World Cup in Qatar has revealed the depth of that morbidity, namely the deep-rooted European racism, and recalcitrant persistence of classical and novel Orientalism in the perceptions of many Westerners.

Likewise, conventional and social media have reinforced negative stereotypes about the East, both Muslims and non-Muslims, as the current World Cup event has revealed to us that Western racism against the others is still active and far from being dormant or historical.

‘I Do Not Respect This Country and I Will Not Go to It’

An interesting comment I came across recently on Twitter from a European woman stated the following:

“I am a woman with special needs, and I learned that Qatar does not respect people with special needs, so I do not respect this country and I will not go to it.”

How did  this lady come to the utterly mendacious realization that Qatar or any other country,  (non-Western) does not respect people with special needs?

How can any country on earth not respect people with special needs and their requirements? This comment by that European lady belongs to a long catalogue of racist comments about Arabs and Muslims in general, backwardness, terrorism, etc.

In the final analysis,  the West would go as far as far as saying that Qatar effectively took advantage of the opportunity to organize the World Cup, only in order to vent its frustration and compensate for its utter insignificance! How dare they do this, embarking on such a gargantuan feat, which only Europeans and westerners should be tasked to do? Surely, the Arabs and Muslims have exceeded their proscribed boundaries!

Europe: Deep-Rooted Orientalist Racism

In the context of the explosion of this deep-rooted Orientalist racism, there are several quick points that deserve to be evoked and satisfactorily examined regarding the following question:

Are we really living in a world of multiculturalism, diverse traditions, societies and religions where coexistence and Mutual respect is the ultimate regulator of relations,

 Or do we live in a world that is centred around the West and Europe, directly or indirectly, and therefore must willy-nilly be guided and led by Western values ​​and standards?

This is part of a set of complex questions hovering around the limits of cultural particularism and the horizons of universal human values. But this is a discussion that needs broader spaces and wider contexts, perhaps.

The first note is related to the reported Qatari position of refusing to host gay banners during matches and festivals in the fifa world cup 2022. This is in addition to preventing public demonstrations or gatherings for this specific category of spectators.

The authorities in the small Arabian Gulf state said that the public celebration demanded by homosexuals contradicts the culture, traditions and religion of the Qatari society, and while the Qataris wouldn’t ask arrivals about their sexual orientation, they prevent the expression of those orientations in the public space, whether those orientations are homosexual or non-homosexual.

Western Countries Are Not in a Position to Give “Moral Lessons” to Other Nations

Here, the Western media arrogance manifested itself by claiming or giving the impression that they represent the overall human discourse when in fact they represent no more than one-eighth of the world’s population (Europe and America) – in fact, many Westerners do not actually agree with much of what is published and adopted by that media.

Indeed, neither the Chinese nor the Indian media nor the rest of the world stirred up this “non-conformist” Qatari position, because the majority of countries and societies around the world recognize the diversity of cultures, traditions and orientations of societies and assume mutual respect.

A One-sided Moral Lesson is Just Hypocrisy!

Media exaggerations and insinuations have reached astonishing proportions: Backward Muslim countries are condemning homosexuals to death, and there is a real danger to the lives of those going to the World Cup, and so on.

An amazing thing that calls for an occasional reminder of a historical fact dating back a thousand years ago, when the societies of Muslim countries in Baghdad, Damascus, Andalusia, and India were publishing collections of poetry and literature about homosexuals and boys, Europe considered women a demonic being.

The important thing here is to pay ample attention to the fact that societies shift and change unceasingly and do not move in a unilateral linear direction, but oscillate and turn left and right, back and forth, and sometimes in a circular pattern, according to contemporary socio-economic challenges and pressures which are extremely complex and difficult to predict, and that its cultures and traditions are organized in a changing process, not static or fixed, and Europe is one of the most important examples. Therefore, a distinction must always be made between criticism that is always needed to stimulate new human paths, and another criticism that is part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

The second note relates to the prohibition of alcohol consumption in and around the stands while confining it to specific places as announced by the organizers.

Once again, the Western media is raging, as if there were a “holy book” for football that stipulates the presence of alcohol as part of the sport that has charmed millions. The host country determined the practice, again based on local culture, religion and traditions. Why do many Westerners not want to respect non-Western cultures, while demanding that non-Westerners conform to Western culture sensitivities when others visit or reside in Western countries?

What is worse is that we do not see this brazen bullying of Qatar even in other non-Western cases. Is it acceptable in the West for some Western tourists to congregate in the center of the Indian capital, Delhi, and slaughter a cow, for example? Of course not, but it is required of Westerners and non-Westerners not to prejudice the Indian tradition of respecting cows. No one is required to agree or believe what others believe, but what is required is mutual respect.

The third note is related to the rights of Asian workers in Qatar and the purported violations of their rights, committed by some firms and employers,  governmental or private.

Here, it has been made amply clear in many cases that violations have already taken place, especially in the first years of construction, and in every proven case, the media deserves a real appreciation for exposing these violations.

Needless to say, this has led to a significant improvement in the laws related to labor and workers, according to the reports of concerned international organizations. But at the same time, there has been a vitriolic black media campaign focusing on unproven data claiming that there have been as many as 6,500 deaths among these workers since 2010. Again, according to international statistics, the size of Asian labor in Qatar is around 2 million workers.

Assuming that the aforementioned death figure is correct, then, from a purely statistical point of view, it is not far from the natural and general death rate for a community of 2 million. On the other hand, the number that we do not hear much about in the black Western media (and this description does not apply to all Western media) is the 29,000 immigrants who have drowned on the shores of Europe since 2014, because the official authorities in more than one European country prevented them. And returning them to the sea, at a rate of more than 4,000 deaths annually, so far, according to statistics and reports of the International Organization for Migration.

The fourth note is the tendentious Western media focus on the fact that Qatar spent 220 billion dollars on the World Cup, which is a huge figure compared to what was spent by all the countries that previously hosted the World Cup.

However, a quick search of this figure leads the researcher to the fact that this spending went away from direct spending on sports facilities, to building a modern infrastructure that includes whole cities, gathering facilities, streets, bridges, and so on, and that this spending extended between the years of 2010, which is the year  Qatar was designated as the would- be host for the World Cup, and until now, i.e. the year 2022, at a rate of 18 billion every year.

This is more or less a normal figure for a country quite rich in oil and gas.

But focusing on this number in the Western media seemed to insinuate that the Arabs do not deserve the wealth that is in their hands and that they squander it rather lavishly.

Indeed, between the lines of Western criticism of this figure,  an honest observer would detect a certain resentment that reflects a huge amount of envy.  Unseen, this envy consists of two parts:

The first is that the wealth of other countries is “misplaced” and should, therefore,  have gone to Europe and the West. How and why did these riches come to them, and why on earth we cannot access them?

The second: How does a “backward, Arab and Muslim” country that is the target of constant ridicule succeed in organizing a huge global event on the level of the World Cup? Organizing these events is exclusively our business.

 In the colonial past, Europe arrogated the wealth of others, and plundering it over the course of centuries from Latin America to Africa, to Asia. And now, to their chagrin,  the West does not reach all the wealth as easily as it used to do. Now, too, many countries and societies have acquired self-creating, organizing and innovation capabilities, and are no longer governed by the hegemony of control by European and Western centers.

Finally, there is a contemplative note: If we compare aerial photographs of European cities such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin, with others such as Kuala Lumpur, Delhi, Doha, Dubai, Riyadh, then we can safely argue that the second group (and to which we can add numerous other cities around the world) was built thanks to  the wealth of the countries themselves, whereas  European cities were built historically thanks to the wealth arrogated by the colonial masters. The history of European colonial plundering of continents, which is still going on in the African continent and elsewhere, though indirectly but quite rapaciously, does not qualify Europeans and westerners in general,  to teach moral lessons to the world. 

The Forgotten Jammu Massacre

In November 1947, thousands of Muslims were murdered in Jammu by paramilitaries under the command of Maharaja Hari Singh’s army, the Hindu Dogra ruler of Jammu and Kashmir. Although the precise number of victims in the killings that lasted for two months is unknown, estimates range from 20,000 to 237,000. Nearly half a million Muslims were compelled to flee across the border into the recently formed country of Pakistan. These Muslims had to settle in the part of Kashmir that is under Pakistan’s administration. The massacre of Muslims in Jammu and the forced migration of others set off a chain of events that included a war between India and Pakistan, two newly independent countries. These incidents also gave rise to the Kashmir issue. The massacres occurred as part of a British-designed strategy to divide the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, as millions of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs crossed the border from one side to the other.

An Orchestrated Massacre

Before the two-decade-long massacre against Jammu’s Muslim majority really began, The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders from Amritsar met in secret with the Maharaja and his officials. They chose Poonch as the beginning place for the massacre of Muslims because of its record for fierce resistance. A two decade long and horrifying anti-Muslim pogrom began with the murder of a herdsman in the Panj Peer shrine and a Muslim labourer in the centre of Jammu city in the first week of September. Extremist Hindus and Sikhs committed the murders with the help and complicity of the Maharaja Hari Singh-led armies of the Dogra State. The RSS leaders and workers were complicit in organising and carrying out the atrocities.

Idrees Kanth, a fellow at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam who studied the history of Kashmir in the 1940s, told Al Jazeera that the immediate impact (of partition) was seen in Jammu. “The Muslim subjects from different parts of Jammu province were forcibly displaced by the Dogra Army in a programme of expulsion and murder carried out over three weeks between October-November 1947,”.

The Dogra Army personnel started evicting Muslim peasants from Jammu province in the middle of October. The majority of the refugees were housed in refugee camps in the districts of Sialkot, Jhelum, Gujrat, and Rawalpindi after being directed on foot toward West Punjab, which would eventually become a part of Pakistan.

On November 5, Kanth claimed about the Dogra Army forces’ planned evacuation of Muslims that  “Instead of sending them to Sialkot, as they had been promised, the trucks drove them to wooded hills of Rajouri districts of Jammu, where they were executed.”

Demographic Changes

After the deaths and expulsion, the Muslims, who made up more than 60% of the population in the Jammu region, became a minority. According to a story from The Times, London, dated August 10, 1948: “2,37,000 Muslims were systematically exterminated – unless they escaped to Pakistan along the border – by the forces of the Dogra State headed by the Maharaja in person and aided by Hindus and Sikhs. This happened in October 1947, five days before the Pathan invasion and nine days before the Maharaja’s accession to India.”.

According to historians, the executions carried out by the Sikh and Hindu ruler’s armies were part of a “state sponsored genocide” to alter Jammu’s demographics, which had a predominately Muslim population.

Reports mention that Muslims who earlier were the majority (61 percent) in the Jammu region became a minority as a result of the Jammu massacre and subsequent migration.

According to PG Rasool, the author of a book The Historical Reality of Kashmir Dispute “The massacre of more than two lakh (two hundred thousands) Muslims was state-sponsored and state supported. The forces from Patiala Punjab were called in, RSS was brought to communalise the whole scenario and kill Muslims.”

Covering up of the Jammu Massacre

While it is unknown how many people were killed during the two-month-long killing spree, Horace Alexander’s report from The Spectator on January 16, 1948, is frequently cited. Alexander claimed that 200,000 people had died and that nearly 500,000 people had been displaced across the border into the recently formed country of Pakistan and the region of Kashmir that it controls.

India has ever since tried to free itself from the accountability of the past. The Jammu massacre has not only been left out of J&K’s historical narratives by the Indian state, but it has also been openly denied in its entirety.

Khurram Parvez, a noted human rights defender in Kashmir, told Al Jazeera that the ongoing conflict in Kashmir has its roots in 1947 massacre. “It is deliberately forgotten. Actually, the violence of that massacre in 1947 continues. Those who were forced to migrate to Pakistan have never been allowed to return,” he said.

What Does the Jammu Massacre mean for Kashmir today?

The Jammu massacre gave India the opportunity to rewrite history, therefore relieving the Indian government from owning up to any responsibility for the atrocity. The Indian government is attempting to replicate this pattern in the Kashmir valley by systematically killing and exterminating Muslims and then covering it up. As more and more Indians obtain Kashmiri citizenship and are granted the ability to vote in state elections, this provides the necessary motive and encouragement for non-Kashmiris to relocate to Kashmir. While the right-wing BJP government has been milking the targeted killings of Kashmiri pandits in Kashmir. The communal violence against Muslims and the Jammu Massacre is the least talked about and written about in the history of the region.

Is Zionism Truly Anti-Nazism?

In its rabid efforts to demonize Israel’s Palestinian victims, the Zionist propaganda machine, known as Hasbara, repeatedly cites a famous meeting between Palestinian national leader Hajj Amin Husseini, and German  Führer Adolph Hitler in 1941, as an “indicting evidence” proving Palestinian collaboration with the Nazis.  In fact, Zionist propagandists weaved and continue to weave all sorts of farfetched tales concerning that inconsequential meeting. 

In fact, the Zionist machine of mendacity would go as far as claiming that the Palestinians bear a major share of responsibility for the Holocaust as a result of that meeting.

The real truth, however, is that such nefarious lies, though perfectly characteristic of the classical Zionist discourse, are knowingly used to mitigate the brutal ugliness of the ongoing Zionist holocaust against the Palestinian people.

In fact, the vast majority of Palestinians in the 1930s and early 1940s, probably knew next to nothing about Germany. Palestine then was under the harsh  British occupation, known as the mandate, whose ultimate goal was to prepare the country for the establishment of the malignant racist entity known as Israel.

Very few Palestinians visited Germany during that period,  and, similarly, very few Germans visited Palestine, probably with the exception of a small number of orientalists, anthropologists, archaeologists and missionaries.

Hence, the claim that the Palestinians who were languishing under an British military occupation did have particularly friendly ties with the Germans can’t withstand academic scrutiny for two minutes.

Yes, most Palestinians hated their British occupiers who were actually devising one of the greatest crimes against humanity of all time against a simple, pastoral and unsophisticated  peasant community.

We hated our British tormentors…and we still do

I don’t deny the possibility that many Palestinian nationalists of that time might have wished victory for Germany and defeat for the British. Such feelings are quite normal and natural, to say the very least. But to interpret the Palestinian anti-British feelings as  support for the  Holocaust would be tantamount to fornicating with the truth and historical facts.

Besides, the Zionist movement then, as now, had a big clout on British policy makers. Hence it was quite logical and expedient for Palestinian leaders of that time to seek support for their just cause from Britain’s main foe, namely Germany. This didn’t mean at all that the Palestinians backed or identified  Germany’s racist Nazi ideology or, indeed,  its purported plans to  exterminate.

Zionism had good chemistry with the Nazis prior to the Holocaust

There is a preponderance of  crucial data pertaining to Zionist collaboration and cooperation

With the Nazi leadership, although the Nazi anti-Semitism policy had been well-known since 1933. Yet the Zionists, either directly or otherwise, maintained an extensive though secret contacts with the Nazi authorities, though the Zionist aim beyond these contacts was mainly to expedite the Zionist scheme in Palestine, rather than save or free Jews from the genocidal clutches of German anti-Semitism.

In the context of these contacts between Zionists and the Nazi authorities, the Nazis showed a certain willingness to allow hundreds of thousands of Jews to emigrate to the U.S. and other countries in return for certain tactical concessions from the allied countries. This meant that hundreds of thousands of Jews could have been spared gas ovens and concentration camps had the German demands been met. But the Zionist movement, which exerted disproportionate influence on American and British leaders, especially in relation to Jewish issues, adamantly refused the German overtures, with some Zionist leaders arguing that 50,000 Jews going to Palestine were preferred to a million  Jews allowed to emigrate to North America.

Jewish soldiers serving in German armies

According to some Jewish historians, thousands of Jewish soldiers served in the German armed forces, including the Wehrmacht, SS and the Gestapo. The Judenrate (Jewish councils) were administered at the low and medium levels buy Jewish officers. The late Israeli historian, Israel Shahak, pointed out that Jewish families in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe feared Jewish soldiers manning Nazi-roadblocks more than they did German or other soldiers. The Jewish soldiers were especially harsh and brutal to their co-religionists, probably to impress their German superiors.

Modern Zionist propagandists, even historians, strive to avoid or evade such embarrassing chapters of that era. They flatly deny that thousands of Jewish soldiers served in the Nazi armed forces, claiming that these soldiers were only partly Jewish and that most of them had Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers. In short, they employ the Same twisted arguments in dismissing this phenomenon as some ardent Zionists  do in denying the presumed  non-Semitic Origin of the bulk of Ashkenazi Jews.

I am speaking about prevarication, decontextualizing event, making sweeping generalizations out of rare or isolated events as well as indulging in sheer lies,  while hurling the ant-Semitic scare-bomb at those disagreeing with the Zionist narrative, even if these people happened to be Jewish or even Holocaust survivors such Shahak and Zeev  Sternhell.  

Stalin’s Jewish aides

Although, Adolph Hitler is widely viewed as the most evil mass murderer in the history of mankind, it is probably safe to argue that Joseph Stalin was more nefarious a murder, given the huge number of his direct and indirect victims.

According to some estimates, Stalin was directly or indirectly responsible for the death of 6 million to 20 million people during his prolonged rule.

The huge number of victims occurred as a result of unrelenting political executions or indirectly as a result of Stalin’s policies such as the Gulags and other induced famines, collective deportations, and his sustained campaign of purges which lasted more than two decades.

Some of Stalin’s most diabolic crimes included the attempted physical liquidation of entire social classes, induced famines which caused the death of millions, the Gulags and  the deportation of the Crimea Tatars and other ethnic peoples The Soviet authorities used cattle trains to deport these mostly Muslim peoples, mainly children, women and the elderly to Uzbek SSR and other remote destinations. Thousands died during the deportation journey while tens of thousands perished later due to the harsh exile.

Most Western historians evade  or ignore the fact that many of these gigantic crimes were supervised and carried out by Stalin’s Jewish aides who directly reported to Stalin.

I know that very few people would venture to sale in these “uncharted waters” for fear of being accused of hostility to Jews.

Nonetheless, Zionist Jews must realize that they are not exactly history’s  angelic victims and that they do have much to be ashamed of.  

Good chemistry between Israeli and fascist governments

 Today, Israel, which claims to follow a principled policy against fascism and racism anywhere in the world, is maintaining close, even cordial working relations with fascist regimes and groups around the world.

Israel is maintaining close ties, bordering on actual alliance, with the BJP regime in India. Needless to say, this regime is deeply racist, scandalously  Islamophobic and hopelessly fascist. It is a regime that upholds the racist mantra that “to be a true Indian, you must be a true Hindu and thoroughly anti-Islamic.” This mantra is an identical copy of the racist Israeli Nationalism Law  which states that  ” in order to be a complete citizen of the state of Israel, one must be Jewish.”  It is also worth mentioning, that the Israeli domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet, has advised the Indian security apparatus to adopt some of the most vengeful measures used against Palestinians, and use these tactics against Indian Muslims. This includes the widely condemned practice of home demolition, which is already being used in some Indian states like Ultra-Pradesh.

In Europe, Israel has good ties with the new fascist regime in Italy, which has assured Zionist circles that Italian fascism would target Muslims, not Jews. Israel also has excellent ties with the quasi-fascist regime of Hungary.

Moreover, Israel has also had and continues to have warm relations with anti-Islam movements in Britain, Germany, France, Sweden and Netherland.  These racist movements are disguised as anti-immigrant movements although Islam and Muslims are their ultimate target.  A few years ago, Dutch  far-right anti-Islam politician Geert wilders was invited to Israel  where he was warmly welcomed by the Israel government. Wilders eventually converted to Islam to the chagrin of his former Zionist friends. His conversion to the religion he had hated most stunned Islamophobic and Zionist circles in Europe and Israel.

And in America, Israel has had cordial ties with Evangelical Zionists who support, soul and heart, Israel’s  repression of the Palestinian, although some Zionist Jews don’t hesitate to call Jesus Christ  “the Hitler of Bethlehem.”

The same thing can be said about every fascist leader under the sun, who is usually courted by Israel and encouraged to pursue his or her anti-Islam discourse.

Conclusion:

So, the next time you hear or watch a Zionist spokesperson accuse the Palestinians of collaborating with the Nazis, you should immediately realize that you are encountering a sly liar.  In the final analysis, Israel itself is now considered one of the world’s main hotbeds of fascism, especially after recent elections which brought to the fore Nazi-like parties which consider non-Jews lesser or infra human beings. Don’t be bamboozled by their lies.  Such values as truth, honesty and justice don’t exist in the unholy Bible of Zionism

What is wrong with BJP’s Appropriation of Sardar Patel?

It was Sardar Vallabhai Patel’s 147th birth anniversary last week. Patel worked with Mahatma Gandhi as a freedom fighter during India’s anti-colonial struggle and served as independent India’s first Deputy Prime minister and Home Minister under Jawahar Lal Nehru. 

What is Patel’s Legacy?

In Srinagar, on National Infantry Day, union home minister Rajnath Singh mentioned that what we started on August 5 2019, will end with integrating what he termed Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) and Gilgit-Baltistan with the rest of India. He added that this would fulfill the dream of the National Unity of Sardar Vallabhai Patel. A couple of years back, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned him in both houses of the Indian Parliament. Taking a dig at the opposition, he said that India would not have faced the issue of Jammu and Kashmir had Patel been India’s first Prime Minister. He questioned why Congress does not own him and his legacy. Signaling that the owner of his legacy is BJP, the question is, what is Patel’s legacy? Is it the same picture that BJP is painting? 

Patel Banned RSS

From building the Statue of Unity to declaring his birth anniversary as National Unity Day, the ruling party BJP embracing him today makes Patel a contested figure who openly opposed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) activities. BJP’s forerunner is RSS, its ideological parent, and Patel banned RSS right after Gandhi’s assassination. “India is a secular country and it will be nothing else. There is no doubt in my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu Mahasabha was involved in the conspiracy. The activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of the government and the state. Our reports show that those activities, despite the ban, have not died down. Indeed as time has marched on the RSS circles are becoming more defiant and are indulging in their subversive activities in an increasing measure,” remarked Patel in a letter to Hindu Mahasabha leader Syama Prasad Mukherjee in 1948. Therefore, we must know the BJP’s ironic yearning to convey that it is the only party concerned about Sardar Patel. The BJP is an outfit which does not have the greatest freedom-fighting heritage—so going ahead and settling down for Patel, who conveniently fits all the parameters of a freedom fighter and strong mass leader and not having Gandhi or Nehru as a surname. Thus, owning a stalwart, even from the pantheon of Congress, has become obvious. 

Over the years BJP has created a sense that Congress has tried removing Patel’s name from history. The claim is ironic in that last year in February, the ruling BJP chose to rename the Motera cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, which had been given Patel’s name, to Narendra Modi Stadium.

Patel and Kashmir

The BJP’s portrayal of Patel as someone who unified erstwhile princely states seems far-fetched regarding the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to Indian dominion. Once the Partition Plan was announced, Congress and Muslim League engaged in high politics. The major Princely states aimed for relative independence instead of joining either of the newly formed dominions. VP Menon, Secretary to the Ministry of states under Vallabhai Patel, came up with the idea of acceding to Indian dominion on three subjects; foreign affairs, defence, and communication. This would give these states relative autonomy in deciding on other subjects on their own.

Most princely states joined the Indian dominion with the same sense of autonomy; however, Hyderabad, Junagarh, and Kashmir held out. The government of India, after a lot of internal deliberations, offered to hold a Plebiscite in Junagarh. The point is that the idea of a referendum was there even before the question of Kashmir popped up. In November 1947, M A Jinnah shot down the offer of holding referendums in the three princely states. Jinnah, Governor General of Pakistan, says why do not we exchange Junagarh with Kashmir? The real question is, would Patel have allowed giving Kashmir to Pakistan? In the rounds of dialogues with Pakistan, Patel offered an exchange of Hyderabad with Kashmir. So the BJP’s claim that Kashmir would have entirely been part of India falls apart. At this point, he was ready for Kashmir to become part of Pakistan. In his book Integration of Indian states, Menon mentions that “He went so far as to tell the Maharaja (king of Kashmir) that if he acceded to Pakistan, India would not take it amiss and that he had a firm assurance from Sardar Patel himself.” The aim is to prove how uncomfortable Patel was with Kashmir joining India, given the political environment at the time.

The case is convincing. Despite Prime Minister Modi’s assertions to the contrary, Patel’s behaviour, attitude, and worldview did not align with the BJP. One can claim that there is a huge possibility that the first deputy prime minister disagreed with much of what is happening in India today.

How Practical is the Secular Democracy of India? Curbing of Religious Freedom in Kashmir

Even while a right-wing Hindu nationalist government is ruling India for the past 8 years now, India still professes to be a secular democracy. The constitutional grounds for India’s secularism have been carefully accommodating religious freedom. However, the past 8 years have been witnessing a shrinking of sorts for the religious freedom of Muslims. The Indian government seems to be particularly adamant about curbing the religious freedom of Kashmiri Muslims.

In 2022, the Indian authorities arrested prominent religious clerics across Kashmir under PSA (Public Safety Act). After that, the Indian government banned schools run by FAT (Falah-e-Aam Trust ). FAT is an affiliate of the banned Islamist organization Jama’at-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir (Jama’at). Another incident followed with the circulation of a video of Kashmiri students. The video showed students being forced to chant Hindu hymns sparked controversy over social media. However, these are not isolated incidents that reveal the curbing of religious freedom in Kashmir.  

Curbing Religious Freedom in Muharram

Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar is one of the holiest months for Shite Muslims worldwide. During this month, Shia mourners gather together to hold a procession. They recite eulogies, and chant slogans to mourn the martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson Hussain.

However, since 1989, the Indian government has prohibited some of the major Muharram processions in Kashmir. The government issues an order each year prohibiting Muharram processions due to “security reasons”. Kashmiris claim that the Indian state has been curbing their religious rights on the pretext of “security concerns”. Kashmiri Muslims have a history of raising their voices against the curbing of their religious rights by the Indian government. Nonetheless, this history of resistance against religious inequality has always been violent for the Kashmiris. Every year, Shia mourners face police thrashings, beatings, and arrests while trying to take out Muharram processions.

Since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the police arrested 15 Shia mourners. They also arrested a well-known preacher named Manzoor Ahmed Malik. The police charged them under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act). According to the police, they allegedly chanted free Kashmir Slogans during Muharram processions.

While talking to the Wire, Arshid Ahmad, a Shia mourner told The Wire “In contemporary times, the ‘step-motherly’ treatment of Muslims is unacceptable and the government should reconsider the decision on Muharram bans. This minority bears the brunt of the repression, even though other religious pilgrimages are permitted with full security and pomp,”.

“We are protesting and condemning this ban but no one is listening to us. If the government can allow other religions to perform their religious rites, why ban the Muharram procession?” Muzzafar, another mourner asked.

Most mourners who talked with the media brought up the Amarnath Yatra, a 40-day pilgrimage. They questioned why the government couldn’t guarantee protection for the Muharram parade for one day.

Janmashtami Procession held by Kashmiri Pandits Amid Police and Army Security

Days after Muharram, Kashmiri pandits staged processions throughout Srinagar to celebrate the birth of the Hindu god Krishna. The government allowed Hindu devotees to take out the religious procession and provided them with tight police and army security.  

Amid massive spectacle and show, the government supervised and safeguarded the religious procession. National news outlets in India were hailing this incident as “signifying a perceptible improvement in the situation in the strife-ridden Valley”. However, none of the Indian media called out the hypocrisy of the Indian government that has been curbing the religious freedom in Kashmir for Muslims for decades.

The Grand Mosque in Kashmir Closed For Friday Prayers For Three Years

The Jamia Masjid or the grand mosque in the heart of Srinagar city is a 600-year-old that has been cherished and venerated by Kashmiris for centuries and is of historic and religious significance. On important religious occasions throughout the year, thousands of Muslim worshippers have been visiting the grand mosque. Friday is considered the holy day of the week for Muslims and congregational prayers are of utmost importance. Yet, Kashmiris haven’t been allowed to offer prayers in Jamia Masjid for three consecutive years now.

Additionally, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Hurriyat leader, and the mosque’s chief preacher has been kept under constant house arrest and is not permitted to give Friday sermons. Recently, the Lieutenant Governor of Kashmir Manoj Sinha disputed reports of Mirwaiz being under house arrest, yet a few days later, the Hurriyat leader was denied permission to deliver the Friday sermon at Jamia Masjid. In attempts to deny the claim of “prolonged closure, of the Jamia Masjid” the LG declared that it had only been in effect on three Fridays this year. However, the mosque’s administration made it explicit that this year, prayers have been prohibited for 14 Fridays so far by the enforced presence of the CRPF and J&K Police.   

To Kashmiris, the prolonged closure of the Jamia masjid serves as a bitter reminder of their helplessness. And the attempts of psychological warfare. This is yet another incident that speaks of the curbing of religious freedom in Kashmir.

Religious Freedom Vanishing From The Largest Democracy In The World

India prides itself internationally as the world’s largest democracy. According to the Indian constitution, the government “will not discriminate, patronize, or meddle in the exercise of any religion.” Its constitution guarantees religious freedom, which entails that individuals should be able to adhere to and freely practice their religious views. However, the religious freedom and claims of secularism mentioned in the Indian Constitution are utterly absent when it comes to Muslims and particularly when it comes to Kashmir.

Christians must not dance with Israeli apartheid under the guise of fighting anti-Semitism

It has been revealed that major Christian Churches in the UK succeeded in forcing former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, to reconsider earlier thoughts of moving the British embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

According to news reports, the Church of England, the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church strongly urged Truss to reconsider her ideas in this regard.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, reportedly sent a letter to Truss warning her against moving the British Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which, according to international law, is considered an occupied territory.

Cardinal Nichols probably reflected the views of his fellow clerics when he warned that the relocation of the embassy would seriously damage British interests throughout the Muslim world: “A relocation of the UK Embassy would be seriously damaging to any possibility of lasting peace in the region and to the international reputation of the United Kingdom.”

Moreover, the chief cleric in the Church of England, Justine Welby, expressed a similar attitude in a newspaper interview.

Predictably, Israeli leaders reacted furiously, accusing Christian leaders of ignorance and adopting an immoral stance toward the apartheid Israeli entity.

Furthermore, one right-wing Israeli writer lambasted the three Churches which objected to the idea of relocating the British embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, claiming that the churches didn’t represent Christians around the world. He hinted that a Christian cannot be a true Christian unless he or she embraces the Israeli apartheid regime in the West Bank where non-Jews, e.g. Christians and Muslims, are treated as children of a lesser God, or using the biblical terms, as water-carriers and wood-hewers!

Interestingly, most extremist Israeli leaders subscribe to the silly concept that the only authentic Christians are the evangelical groups, or the so-called Christian Zionists, who believe that the creation of Israel in Palestine in 1948 was a fulfilment of Biblical Prophecy and a precedent to the second advent of Jesus.

The Hitler of Bethlehem

By the way, it might be appropriate to remind readers on this occasion that the Israeli government which claims to tend to and protect Christian interests in Palestine is the very same government that pays hundreds of millions of Shekels to vehemently anti-Christian Talmudic colleges (Yishivot) that teach the filthiest possible hate literature, like Hesronot Shas, against Jesus Christ. I am not going to mention passages from this filth out of veneration for Jesus himself and as a gesture of respect for Christian brothers and sisters around the world. My ultimate goal behind these stunning revelations is not to incite Christians to hate Jews. In the final analysis, truth, not hate is my craft.

Before leaving this thread, I want to remind readers of an incident that occurred several years ago. Then I met an ostensibly moderate and respectable rabbi. And as we were speaking about monotheistic religions and the common grounds between them, the rabbi surprised me when he referred to Jesus, a figure I love so much as every other Muslim does, as “The Hitler of Bethlehem.”  The repulsive remark shocked me from head to toe, to say he very least.

Noticing my reaction, the rabbi said: I know that you Muslims venerate and sanctify Jesus, I am sorry if I have inadvertently caused you any offense.

Venomous anti-Christian Hostility

Nonetheless, not all rabbis, especially in the West, are as honest as my interlocutor mentioned above. In fact, Zionist rabbis and other manifestly dishonest propagandists hysterically strive to distract attention from this colossal shame.

Hence, they concoct all sorts of lies and disinformation about an alleged persecution in the Holy Land of Christians by Muslims and even by the unreligious Palestinian Authority (PA), which is absolutely and completely at Israel’s beck and call.

The truth of the matter is that the apartheid Israeli entity and Talmudic Jewish circles (the Pharisees of our time) are the only sources of harassment and persecution of al Palestinians, Christians and Muslims alike.

This unceasing persecution assumes many forms, including:

1. Seizing land and real estate belonging to the churches, either by coercion or through suspicious purchase deals.
2. Routinly harassing Christian clergymen in the streets of East Jerusalem by spitting on them,  verbally abusing them or even bad-mouthing Jesus.
3. Denying Palestinian Christians in the Gaza Strip access to Christian Holy places in the West Bank such as The Nativity Church in Bethlehem and the church of Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
4. Occasionally vandalizing and setting churches on fire by anti-Christian Talmudic fanatics who often act on instructions from their government-paid rabbis.
5. Constantly seeking to stir Muslim-Christian tension, using Shen Bet agents to carry out this filthy feat. Fortunately, 99% of these toxic efforts have utterly failed, due to the exemplary vigilance of the Palestinian community.

An Australian Blow

A few days before the resignation of Liz Truss, the Australian government decided to reconsider its erstwhile decision to relocate Australia’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The decision was warmly welcomed by the Palestinians and the PA, which described it as consistent with the rule of international law.  However, the Australian decision drew much anger and consternation from the Israeli government and jingoistic media, with former Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu blaming current Prime Minister Yair Lapid for the reversal of Australian policy.

Conclusion

Nonetheless, Christians are expected to show some justice toward the tormented Palestinians.

We all know that thanks to the grossly unethical and illegal western policy toward the Palestinian question, Israel has been given a carte blanch to murder, torment, savage and dispossess the Palestinian people. This utterly unfair and unjust policy by western governments, particularly the U.S. and UK, effectively condemned the Palestinian people to an unenviable situation that is similar to those proverbial orphan kids, sitting for dinner around the table of the cruel and the mean.

Hence, the gesture of the three churches in England is highly appreciated. We also sincerely hope that Church leaders will continue to raise their influential voices in defence of the virtually abandoned Palestinians. This would be consistent with the lofty Christian ideals of siding with the oppressed. 

Iran is certainly not Garden of Eden for Human Rights, but the West is absolutely hypocritical

The ongoing sustained propaganda war by the U.S., Britain and other Western countries against Iran for violating the human and civil rights of women is not altruistic. Quite the contrary, this vitriolic campaign is highly hypocritical, morally duplicitous and politically motivated since its main goal is to destabilize Iran and put an end to the hard-line Shiite regime there.

I am not a fan of the Iranian regime which I repeatedly criticized in my articles, especially its criminal embrace of the murderous regime of Bashar Assad in Damascus.  Just to refresh readers’ memories, that regime murdered half a million Syrians, forced 50% of the Syrian people into exile, and destroyed over 70% of Syria’s towns and villages, in order to remain in power.

Moreover, the regime has been employing excessive lethal force against the large Sunni minority as happened in Zahidan, in south-eastern Iran, where trigger-happy Iranian soldiers killed as many as 90 protestors on 30 September, as reported by some human rights groups.

Nonetheless, as Muslims, we are supposed to be fair and just in judging others, even though we may not like them.

Western hypocrisy is clarion

To begin with, the tragic and lamentable  death of a Kurdish woman activist in Iran several weeks ago was by no means the most gargantuan and obscene crime committed in Iran or in the Middle East..  In 2018, the de facto Saudi leader Muhammed ibn Salman (MBS) ordered the murder of  Saudi journalist Jamal Khashogji inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.  However, despite some  regurgitated rhetoric from Western capitals, especially Washington and London, most Western leaders eventually hastened to grovel at the tyrant’s feet. 

The dramatic turnabout in Western attitudes toward MBS didn’t reflect a sudden awakening of a dormant love for the  moody Saudi prince. It rather demonstrated that Israel’s regional interests as well as  the multi-billion dollars arms deals with the corrupt House of Saud were far more important for the West than the  secondary subject of human rights in one of the world’s worst dictatorships.   A few days ago, President Biden admitted that the single most important reason behind his visit to Saudi Arabia more than four months ago was to secure Israel’s interests.

Moreover, grave human rights violations are routine occurrences in countries like Egypt, UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, which rely for their very survival, on Western, especially American backing. However, the West keeps reticent lest any pressure on these tyrannical regimes prompt the masses to revolt against them, which is not in Israel’s interests.

The West  betrays human rights everywhere

The callous betrayal of the cause of human rights in places like Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa is a conspicuous feature of western policies toward Muslims. This means that the West, along with the venomous snake, called Israel, is Democracy’s number-1 enemy in the Middle East, especially the Arab region.

Don’t you dare tell me that the rampancy of tyranny, despotism and harsh dictatorship throughout the region occurred by coincidence or is related to Islam! Such a logic would be utterly unconvincing and unacceptable to say the least.

The starkness of American and British hypocrisy on human rights is nowhere more brazen than in occupied Palestine. There Israel is carrying out real massacres of innocent Palestinians nearly on a daily basis,  and all we hear from Washington is the same scandalous remarks we have been hearing ad nauseam for many years, like “Israel has the right to defend herself” and “we call on both sides to exercise self-restraint,” which only encourage Israel to perpetrate more atrocities.

Moral inconsistency

I am quite sure that the bulk of Iranians have no iota of appreciation for American and British criticisms of the Iranian regime’s suppression of protests triggered by the regrettable death of Mahsa Amini. True, many Iranians are fed up with the regime over its harsh tactics toward dissidents. Nonetheless, most Iranians still remember the 28 Mordad coup d’eta when the CIA toppled the democratically- elected Mussadeq regime in 1953 and installed Shah Muhammed Reza Pahlavi as King of Persia.

Israel Firsters rule Washington unopposed

In addition to what has been said, I would like to make two points:  First, the popular indignation at the  Mullahs should never be understood to mean or imply support for or identification with America’s imperialistic designs for `the country.

The U.S., irrespective of which administration in the White House, is hell-bent on turning Iran into a pliant banana republic, very much like Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the despotic Gulf Sheikhdoms, which Washington bullied to sign the treacherous Abraham Accords with the hateful Israeli apartheid entity.

I think this bleak and ghoulish prospect is very unlikely to happen in Iran under existing circumstances. But the U.S. is trying and is unlikely to stop trying as long Zionist circles and Israel Firsters continue to tightly dominate the U.S. government and Congress.

Which brings us to the second point. There is no doubt in this writer’s mind that the central reason behind America’s unmitigated hostility to Iran has nothing to do with Iran’s human rights record or even with Tehran’s criminal embrace of the Syrian regime. The real reason has to do with the Zionist entity and its strategic designs, namely the imposition of its strategic supremacy over the entire Arab-Islamic region. Powerful Muslim countries like Pakistan, Turkey and Iran currently pose a real challenge to the grand Zionist design. 

Hence, The U.S., which is always at Israel’s beck and call, is trying to neutralize this Muslim challenge for Israel’s benefit. The full weight of the American empire is always utilized to serve and expedite Israel expansionistic goals, military and strategic aggrandizement, mainly at the expense of Muslims.

More to the point, the US efforts to trigger an insurrection against the Iranian regime is apparently aimed at effecting a regime change in the hope that a new pro-Western regime would dismantle the country’s vital nuclear program, widely considered as the second most important strategic foreign policy headache facing Washington now after the Ukrainian crisis. Moreover, the growing military cooperation between Russia and Iran, including the reported planned sale of Iranian-made missiles to Russia, is likely to further aggravate American concerns.

The U.S. has paid 17 billion dollars to Ukraine so far to repulse the Russian invasion.  However, it is highly likely that Washington would be willing to pay ten-times or twenty-times that much to serve Israeli interests and strategic ambitions, including spreading its hegemony over the entire Middle East.

Muslims must never trust America

Biden’s frank admission that the main reason behind his visit to Saudi Arabia was serving Israel’s interests should serve as a real eye-opener for Arabs and Muslims everywhere.  I know there are many willfully stupid Arabs who would rather bury their heads in the sand of the desert than facing the truth.  These are the bastards of history and no Muslim on earth would shed a tear for their bleak fate.

But there are hundreds of millions of Muslims who must make sure that they won’t be bamboozled again by Washington’s sweet but deceptive words.  To these people I solemnly say: Disregard, disobey and never trust America if you wish to have a bright future for yourselves and your children.