Re: inquiry

At 02:08 AM 10/29/01 -0500, Boris Stremlin wrote:
>I'm not familiar enough with scripture to give percentage figures, but
>singling out any religion in particular as the repository of militant
>values is somewhat problematic.  


No doubt.  There are militancies all over the world, so its obvious that no
one religion has a monopoly on militant values.



>Let's not forget the deuteronomic history
>of the conquest of the Holy Land (a chronicle whose strict historical
>value is highly suspect), which has been used as the basis of the entire
>Zionist project as well as fodder for various types of militant
>Protestantisms, etc.  I would, like Wallerstein, advise one to stay away
>from President Bush's theological formulations (though perhaps he will
>soon restore the caliphate and be crowned defender of the faithful) - it
>seems to me one can easily condemn the actions of 9/11 without challenging
>bin Laden on his interpretations of the Quran.
>


Agreed too.  Lets keep our distance from George Bush and his rhetoric in
most matters.  

But....

It is misleading to say that "Islam means peace..." in the context of the
present war.  Islam also means war to some people, in some circumstances.
Second, it is entirely facile to try and locate the roots of contemporary
Islamic inspired militancy exclusively in terms of capitalism, modernity
peripheralization etc...  There is an internal history to the matter too.
An adequate explanation must locate the rise of inspired militancy in the
Islamic world at the point where an internal militant trajectory intersects
with modern conditions.  There are numerous examples of inspired
militancies in Islamic history prior to its peripheralization under
historical capitalism.  The point is to locate how that tradition enters
into the modern world, and selectively appropriates certain aspects of it.
To argue that all Islamic inspired militancy is exclusively a product of
modern conditions misses a very long history.



Khurram Husain



>On Sun, 28 Oct 2001, Syed Khurram Hussain wrote:
>
>> Two things regarding this question:
>> 
>> First: suicide bombings were used by the Vietcong and Cuban revolutionaries
>> as a war fighting tactic long before they appeared in the Muslim world.
>> They are currently employed by the Tamil Tigers to far deadlier effect than
>> any Muslim group until the WTC bombings.  So what the "Islamic concept of
>> heaven" has to do with "9/11 and the US response" baffles me.
>> 
>> Second:  it is true that "Islam means peace," but what is meant by peace
>> here is not peace between states, or  peace defined as an absence of war.
>> More specifically, Islam means "peace through submission" to God.  Peace
>> here refers more to a spiritual state than a condition in society.  If you
>> read the Quran, you will find that 70 percent or so of it is full of talk
>> of war.  In the rush to counter warmongering jingoism, lets not kid
>> ourselves.  War is not alien to Islam.  The Salafiyah cadres know their
>> doctrines on Jihad very well.  They argue that this inner state of peace is
>> essential to victory in war.  We may not like to agree with them, but it is
>> not true that war is anathema to Islam altogether.  
>> 
>> 
>> Khurram Husain
>> 
>> 
>> At 02:03 PM 10/27/01 EDT, KSamman@aol.com wrote:
>> >>can anyone briefly discuss the Islamic concept of heaven. in particular,
>> what role does gender play in >>their conception of heaven. a good friend
>> is writing a column for a popular audience on 9/11 and the US >>response 
>> >
>> >He may want to also ask the question: 
>> >
>> >In order to learn more about the Oklahoma bombing and the US sponsoring of
>> terrorist organizations like the Contras (which killed 20,000 civilians
>> with the financial aid and training by the US), I'm also interested in the
>> Christian concept of heaven and especially how it pertains to the issue of
>> social justice.  Isn't the fact that this question is not asked of "the
>> West" but yet made repeatedly for Muslims a racialized question, even by
>> those liberals who are well meaning?  I for one am tired for speaking for
>> the Muslim world.  "Islam means peace . . ." and all that stuff.
>> >
>> >Khaldoun Samman
>> >
>> >
>> 
>
>-- 
>Boris Stremlin
>bstremli@binghamton.edu
>
>