Secularism and Islam don't mix!

It has been a big debate about Secularism, Democracy and Islam. whether it's possible to have them one packet in peace and at ease?!.  or the problem is bigger and deeper. As it seems in the strong impact of religion in the Muslim countries made it hard to establish a secular society. Islam exerts a strong power over every aspect of Muslim's life, starting from diet and how to enter the bathroom to the relations between family or sexes or people and the ruler. 

. Islam forbids demonstrating against any tyrant, unless he left Islam. I said he, because Islam doesn't allow women to judge or to rule along with the non Muslims.

 it's so clear if we take Egypt as an example, religion has been always powerful. Depsite the fact of the existence of religious minorities, president "Sadat" would prefer calling himself the "Muslim president" for a "Muslim country". In Fact, all Presidents were always interesting to show their religiosity, thinking it's more attractive image for Egyptians. Rather than giving an image of a wise civic president.

 Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

 The Only real secular experience happened in Turkey when the founder of modern Turkey "Ataturk" put Islam aside and start to secularize the society by force. Abolishing the hair veil for women, or the Azan in mosques and every religious aspect of life.

 

 Egypt knew secularism with the British occupation. In 1880s and early 1900s. The most popular Egyptian party was a secular party (Alwafd party), raising the slogan: 'Egypt is for all the Egyptians' no matter their religion or sex or ethnic. In that time also the very important book of of "Ali Abdel Razek": Islam and the foundations of governance, calling for Islam to be out of political life or what we know as secularism. His book was banned. But the debate didn't end.

 It said that these times were the only opportunity Egypt could establish a secular society before revolution of 1952 that ban all parties, including "AlWafd" and the imapct of the rich Petro-Countries with their extremist comprehension of Islam and its impact on the Egyptian society.

 Secularism, in my opinion, have to divide not only religion but also any fascist ideology that could intervene with the people freedom whether it's religion or Nationalism. "Nasser" tried to secularize Egypt but he replaced the religion with Nationalism. somehow, he just turned one side of the same coin.
 It's not healthy for both secularism or democracy.

 Democracy itself is an absurd and in vain without a secular society. Democracy can't be exerted without a real existence of secularism in the society and of course, without non healthy rule as the military that running Egypt now..

 

Islam's self destruction 1

 [AP]

 After the so called "Jan. 25 Revolution" in Egypt (Lotus Revolution) and its sisters in Tinusia, (Jasmine Revolution), Lybia (Unkown flower revolution), The ordinary people in these countries and the west in general thought it is indeed a revolutionary spring train heading directly to the paradise of democracy, liberty, equality, justic and all that.. Later, when the islamists came to power, people started to wonder whether it is really a Arab spring or it is an Islamic Spring?!.. The majority of people (normal and ordinary people) became nervously, watching and waiting to see the fate of these revolutions and the future of their countries, rulled by the Islamists. So many were astonished by their arriveal to power as if it happened suddenly!
  The Islamists showed a big failure in running the country, their only concern is to dominate every joint in the state and expand their influence in every corner more than finding solutions for tons of economical and poilitical problems..

 Their voices became more loud, with more frown faces. Even more radical voices started to appear in the scene. Voices that considered "over" extreme, even for the ordinary Muslims.. Many assumed that the Islamic state is coming and the Islamic monster is coming back to dominate. 

In the other side of this Islamic awakeness/ scream, was the fact that atheism is spreading in a country like Egypt. various increase of atheists and non-religious who have got enough of the sweetness of Islam and the inspiration of its Sheiks!. It's quite hard to estimate a specific number for many reasons.

 The thing that drew a big logical question and wondering whether it's really an awakeness of Islam or it's compleltely different than it seems and what Islamists are trying to announce; and it's actually a begining for the demise of Islam as if it didn't rise but to fall the last fall.
 Or it's just a stain on Islam and just a breakdown for the image of its spokemen and it's a begining for a revolution on its clericks, Islam itself is staying, a revolution that would take the extreme side and keep the "beautiful and tolerent" Islam?!

 Those who knew Islam well and read history, know that from the begining, Islam has proved that it's an enermy for civilization, agaisnt human rights, against life itself, it hates science (and we're already living in the age of science and thanks to it) and fighting it, has a comlicated complex with the civic, modern state (the only successful model), but has its own concept about a state based in Sharia, terroristic laws and primitive tools, failed to catch the spirit of our age. the only difference in it that it never was suitable to be applied, all the examples and experiments tried to apply it are scary and absurd (Afganstan, Somalia, Suadi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Sudan ... )

 All the attempts and efforts to "modernize" and "makeup" it to give some colours to it, ended to big failure and became just academic studies or specialized books, nobody read them but those don't get bored of reading. This reflects another big problem in islam; it's so stubborn to accept any renewal yet it's so fragile religion, no solution to fix part of it without destroy all of it.
 Even those who tried to renew and civilize it, considered heresies; the skeptic and philosophical way they followed, was hard anyway to reach the ordinary Muslim, who was raised and brought up to follow the text blindly and the sanctity of using mind in it, who hasn't read any book except Quran, and Hadith and perhaps some interpretations (tafseer), these books basically disable his mind of thinking.

 However, it wasn't that weird when those "renewers" were accused of apostasy and even got killed them because they simply showed how Islam is so fragile and weak.
 The ordinary Muslim preferred to consider perosns like "M. Elghazali" or "M. Elshaarawy" or "Amr Khaled" or "Mostafa Mahmooud" and others to be the real renewers of Islam; the only thing they renewed was the language of speech and replacing the old language with ligher and easier one, anything else stayed the same.

 "A.Sabour Shahine", a university professor and muslim clerik tried to fix the problem of story of creation as quran tells it and to reconcile it with Darwinism, in his book "Adam, My father" (some called him "Dicartes of Islam), he said that there was another kind of mankind existed before Adam but Adam himself ...
 Shahine himself accused "Nasr Hamed Abu Zaid" of apostasy as long with Algghazali who accused Farag Fouda by the same and was defending his assaisne and blessing him for protecting Islam from such thoughts!!
 ironically, Shahine himself became accused of the same thing for his book, that Islamic phenomenon since ever; not allowed to use mind with the text !!

 Anyway, by time and thanks to open media and internet, people discovered that even those clerics who were considered tolerents and renewers, that they're not much different than other radical clerics!
 Another confusing question came to surface; what if this radical Islam is the right Islam?! those radical Muslims don't do anything but to apply the ideology of Islam literrally as 'Muhamed' and his friends were doing and this Jihadism, Salfism isn't an option in Islam but it's actually the real life style of a real Muslim?!
  And why, after more than 1400 years, Islam failed to present a successful experiment or to better the life of people?!
 

The Oud of "Anouar"

 Sometimes, when you discover new music, you wonder how you didn't hear it before. how it could be without it.
 This happen to me with the music of Anouar Brahem. His mellow and melancholic melodies not only tell endless stories. His music give you this illumination as if you're through a mystical experience.

 Anouar Brahem is a tunisian Oud player. He's known best and succeeded to fuse the Clasical Arabic Music with Jazz and folk music.

 - More about him here
 

What's between Islam and modern Islam

   Islam, like other religions is a local idea created for a specific time and place and according to environment's conditions.

The necessity to 'modernize' Islam and re-consider its tools and laws "Sharia", making it more fit to the spirit of the age has been observed by many Muslim scholars (such as Ibn Rushd, known in Spanish "Averroes", the Andalucian muslim philosopher who called for measuring the things with the mind and reasoning. One of his famous quotes say that " God can't give us laws or religions and in same time give us minds that cant reason them".). 

 In the nineteenth century and following the effect of the industrial revolution and science explorations along with the cultural and visions exchanges between Arabic countries and civilized Europe stimulated the minds and created doubts about the holiness of  "Sharia", Islam laws inspired by Quran and Hadith or some of Islamic laws and ideas. Like women and non muslims situation and rights or meaning of Jihad or a very important topic in its time like the crisis of finding new "Khalifa" after "M. Kemal. Ataturk" ended the theodratic regime of the Ottoman Empire. Khalifa is the Muslims ruller who's considered the representer of Allah and recommended by Sharia as an Islamic rule. 

Work by  Amjad Rasmi

 However, the attempts for creating a moderate Islam is most likely rejected by the leaders and the majority of Muslims since they believe that Islam is holy and untouchable. Any reform of its laws is forbidden or never taken seriously. Usually, they oppress these who try to revive their religion and accusing them of infidelity and blasphemy. Ibn Rushed's been considered a heretic and his works are still suspected by the public while others has been banished like "Nasr Hamed Abu Zaid" or even been killed like "Farag Fouda".

 The popularity of these cases was accompanied by the rise of the modern Islamic extremism and the terrorist attacks/ Jihad and the new-born world system, open and globalized unvieled a new different kinds of Muslim who liked to label themselves as "Moderate Muslims", with more tolernat and open opinions. Like the artistic graffettis in Cairo streets, more fashionable lables are born by day; Liberal Muslim, secular muslim or even communist Muslim.

 They're rejecting the violence and the extremism. Ironically, they blame the extremists and the Muslim fundamentalists for distortion of the real beautiful emssage of Islam and being so radical yet, they give them "repect of parents". Their "Modern/moderate Islam" is like a way to defend Islam and save it before its extinction for incompetence. They argue that Islam is moderate and a natural gentleman. Can be easily moderenized but much twist is used.

 Seems that the coninuous fight between the Traditional Islam apologists and the Modernity propagatos is a fight that won't come to an end. Propably it was a beginning for a decline of Islam itself and religions in general.

 This explains the rising and invisible numbers of atheism in Egypt, more than 2 millions estimated.  

ore doubts about whether Islam is suitable to continue or even if its presence is necessary.

Unfinished terrorism of Muslim brotherhood

The terrorist MB (Morsi Supporters) Throw 4 teens Off Building in Alexandria, killed 2 of them!

 

Your right of expression.. My duty of scorn!

 (On the unreasonable rise in "blasphemy" cases in Egypt)

Dear Sister / Dear brother,
 " There's a big difference between freedom to express your opinion and the claim to respect this opinion .. You have the right to express your opinion freely and in any way you desire as long as it doesn't assault on my own freedom or the freedom of others or assaulted on me personally or anybody else..
 I have the right to agree / disagree with your opinion but I'm not demanded at all to respect your opinion, "I respect your right to express your opinion."

 When - for example - you imagine that homosexuals are sickness and a shame, or that women are minors or incomplete in their minds and testimony, or that non-Muslims are "Kuffar" (infidels) and call them pigs and monkeys (pigs, in fact, innocent animals) or ..
Or other examples, which, unfortunately, are still a matter of debate and arguing in our world and our time..
 In fact, I do not respect those opinions, actually I'm scorning them and in the same time can't help but feel pity and compassion on their pathetic believers, same compassion I have on a child with epilepsy, yet, I can't help but accept that it's your right to express your opinion and it's my right, well my duty to reply to your opinion, criticize it before leaving you for evolution mechanism to repair what have been screwed up in you!

 In a bigger circle, you are free to worship a musty sock, you believe that the spirit of God has been embodied in it, or to believe in a "scarecrow", guarding your "corn field" from evil birds, protecting the holes of your body from bad spirits and to worship it thankful,
or to have oral sex with a black stone, as long as the both of you are satisfied and the stone doesn't complain..

 Like you like someone else who is free to dance naked on music for seeking to Zen, Yin or Yang.. This is his belief as well, but I'm not demanded ever to respect this scarecrow or to be content with this kind of sex, it is my right to consider it just a nonsense (actually it's totally bullshit)..
 The right you have from me is to respect that space of you to express what you think and practice it as you wish as long as you keep it away of my life, my existence and others lives!

 You are trying to create a big problem when you cancel your own comprehension and even your freedom, replace it with superstitious echoes that you claim you're hearing from your scarecrow or any other imaginary clown and ask me to respect them!
  Then you complicate this problem when you put this clown in my own space and freedom and ask me to salute you, do the same like you, thinking this is what freedom of expression is about?!

 Well, Think about it again because it doesn't even have a sense.. of humor!

The idiot kid is burning Egypt!

 Yesterday (Sunday) was a sad day in Egypt.
 An angry mob leaded and provoked by Slafist clerics attacked Shia Muslim house, burnt it before killing four of them in a brutal way. (Here)

Official Support!
 This brutal crime came just a few days after a rally organized by the Muslim Brotherhood
and attended by the president Morsi himself along with many of Jihadi Salafists clerics who were during the rally, insulting Shia Muslims, calling for Jihad in Syria against Shia (the second largest denomination of Islam), spread their hatred against all others who don't share them their ideology and seems the president was so satisfied with them, he didn't move a muscle during that poison rally.

- Morsi among Salafist clerics who were insulting Shia and calling for Jihad against them  during the rally -

Image source

 The organizers of the rally said it was meant to send a message of support to Syrian rebels but the timing of it (two weeks before 30 June) drew some questions whether the president and his group MB trying to show their power and to send another threaten message to those who are preparing for the huge protests on 30 June and when it didn't work, they used this utilize sectarian violence (the same way of the past regime) to distract people's attention away from their failure and crisis?!

 Apparently, MB won't leave power in an easy way at all but I'm afraid they would choose the harshest way and turn the country to a burning hell before quitting. I'm afraid this is an "earlier" beginning of series of sectarian violence, would reach Christians, atheists and every different person in Egypt.
 They started this fire it but they won't care or either be able to finish it. Eventually, it will finish them. It's only a matter of time....

- Warning: Graphic Content -