January 30th 2010

SHALIMAR RADIO

Sir Mohammed Iqbal, Poet & Philospher

“They have hijacked Islam!” These could have been the words of Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, had he been alive; or the words of Sir Mohammed Iqbal, the greatest Islamic thinker of the 20th century, the man who gave the Pakistan idea. Such were the liberal and progressive founders of Pakistan. Jinnah and Iqbal, in their times, had been declared heretics by the Mullahs. The Mullahs had hijacked Islam through US support and now the US policy was taking a U turn.

“We will eradicate them,” declared the US President. The change in US policy towards the Taliban, heralds a new era for Islam and the Muslims. Will this ever happen? Can this become the slogan for Muslims in the new millennium? How shall we eradicate them? This is what we Muslims wondered.

I have read the Quran. I know well that the Taliban Faith is not based on the Quran, but on ‘Traditions of the Prophet’ that were concocted by the ancestors of the Taliban, some centuries ago. This is how the liberal ideology of the Quran was shackled. The Taliban are the epitome of this is the Anti-Islam that has plagued the world for centuries, transforming Muslims into a nation of helpless lepers. I have pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States. It is because the American dream of equal rights to life, liberty and pursuits of happiness is in absolute harmony with my faith. Indeed denouncing hero worship and establishing the law of God as the law of the State was the vision of the last Messenger of God. Muhammad achieved it through the power of the pen and the written word. The Messenger was the greatest human being in history who fought a crusade against the religious fundamentalists of his time. He gloriously defeated them. He abolished priesthood and established a system of social justice and equality. He set up a stateless and classless society. He gave equal rights to women. The law of God is the law of sciences. It is the law of the physiology of human need. It is the only law that guarantees to deliver equally, to everybody, food, wealth and comforts of life. Islam proclaimed the law of God as “The Accepted Order”. Islam is indeed a system of State that guarantees Peace. Islam was not a religion but Anti-Religion. The hybrid of Judeo-Christian and Zoroastrian faith is the Anti-Islam. That is religion. The Kings ostracized the liberal ideology of The Quran through ‘Traditions of the Prophet’. The classic Islam, is an ideology well preserved in the original text of The Quran. This tells us a different history of the times of Mohammed. It promises to end all forms of human misery and exploitation by establishing a system of distribution of wealth based on the law of God. The American system of government with its liberal ideals of equal rights to life liberty and pursuits of happiness are, to me, the closest the human mind can get to Mohammed’s vision. I am a Muslim and an American.