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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Fouzi</SPAN><?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Islamofascism is
controversial term, but in Pakistani blogs we use it a lot. It refers to what
the Taliban stand for based upon what they have done during their misrule in
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:country-region w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region> and they have
been doing in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s lawless northern borders.
Some examples, slaughtering non-Wahabis and non-Deobandis, burning down schools,
waging a bloody campaign to establish khilafat in Pakistan (and later elsewhere)
where mutilative Islamic punishments will be implemented regardless of the
objective conditions, confining women to the "four walls of the home," and much
more. I wish I could go on, but I must complete a review I have been
writing.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The writer of this
article is a very well known liberal intellectual. By Muslims, he means Muslims
of the world and not just Pakistanis. You have every right to disagree with him
and I suggest that you write a counter-argument in this respect. I have
interacted with many Arabs and my view is that they are more anti-intellectual
than the Taliban. Forgive me for such an outlandish statement but it is based
upon my personal experience. If you want me to write an argumentative piece on
it, I will try to oblige you, but I cannot tell when. I have so much on
hand.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">We Muslims tend to take
refuge in the past glories. We even claim that the West stole from us, etc.
Again, I am saying a very controversial thing, but it is not wide off the
mark.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Some time back, an
international Islamic sciences conference was held in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Islamabad</st1:place></st1:City> in which a
Muslim scientist came up with fantastic idea. One of them was that in order to
solve energy problems, we should control jinns and harness their energies. The
Koran says that the jinns are made of fire/energy. That scientist was given very
high awards including a professorship. Refer to Dr Hoodbhoy’s “Islam and
Science” and you will find lots of fantasies of “Islamic science” to entertain
yourself.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Regards.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Abbas
Zaidi<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P><BR>
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<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> lgpolicy-list-bounces@groups.sas.upenn.edu
[mailto:lgpolicy-list-bounces@groups.sas.upenn.edu] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Fouzi
Bellalem<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, May 03, 2011 9:50 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Language
Policy List<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: [lg policy] Muslims and
education<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
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<DIV>Abbas, Thanks for your comments. First, I like the term
"Islamo-fascism", but I am not sure what the definition of it means
exactly, i.e., is it people with extremist hatred towards Muslims and
Islam, or is it Muslims who develop an extremist ideology?
Nevetheless, in both cases it seems that Education in
Pakistan is failing. Second, what do you think is the way out to
this problem? Please let me know what you think.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I've asked for more information on the issue because as a Muslim I
disagree (and at the same time feel disturbed) with the discourse used in
the paragraphs below since it implies a generalisation on all Muslims
in the world. The statements below about Muslims and education are far
from being the truth, and history is there to prove that Muslims, as
much as any other social beings from other faiths and
ideologies, have also contributed to the development and progress of
humanity in the world. This is not to deny that education is in its lowest
standards in the Muslim world, but this is not because of Islam, rather
there are different other factors such as illiteracy, poverty, political
and economic instability and lack of tranparency and democracy. Unless,
what the author meant by Muslims was solely related to Pakistan, then this
I believe will be another debate. This is my stance.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Fouzi</DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR>--- On <B>Tue, 3/5/11, Zaidi
<I><manoo@brunet.bn></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><BR>From:
Zaidi <manoo@brunet.bn><BR>Subject: RE: [lg policy] Muslims and
education<BR>To: "'Language Policy List'"
<lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu><BR>Date: Tuesday, 3 May,
2011, 12:42<BR><BR>
<DIV id=yiv1304696927>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=yiv1304696927MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Fouzi</SPAN>
</P></DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=yiv1304696927MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The point about
sharing this article was to try to tell that if you have the type of
attitudes we have in Pakistan (in terms of education), you end up
producing Islamofascists. I guess I need not tell anyone what is
happening in Pakistan thanks to educational policies funded and
supported by the CIA and Saudi Arabia . That now the United States will
pose as a pious grandmother preaching blessings of democracy and hatred
for the likes of Al Qaeda is another matter.</SPAN>
<DIV></DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=yiv1304696927MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><SPAN
class=yiv1304696927484163611-03052011>It may be the same case in some
other Muslim countries here the US has been spreading the light of
democracy such as Saudi Arabia.</SPAN></SPAN>
<DIV></DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=yiv1304696927MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Regards.</SPAN>
<DIV></DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=yiv1304696927MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Abbas
Zaidi</SPAN>
<DIV></DIV><BR>
<DIV dir=ltr lang=en-us class=yiv1304696927OutlookMessageHeader
align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B>
lgpolicy-list-bounces+manoo=brunet.bn@groups.sas.upenn.edu
[mailto:lgpolicy-list-bounces+manoo=brunet.bn@groups.sas.upenn.edu]
<B>On Behalf Of </B>Fouzi Bellalem<BR><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, April 30,
2011 11:05 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Language Policy List<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re:
[lg policy] Muslims and education<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
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<DIV>Abbas, what was the point of this article? As I don't have a
great background knowledge on Pakistan's education, can you please
give me an idea on the nature of conflict taking place
and why such a discourse is being used by the author and for
which political interest? I let you know my views once I have a
full picture.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Regards</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Fouzi</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>--- On <B>Thu, 28/4/11, Zaidi
<I><manoo@brunet.bn></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><BR>From:
Zaidi <manoo@brunet.bn><BR>Subject: [lg policy] Muslims
and education<BR>To: "'Language Policy List'"
<lgpolicy-list@groups.sas.upenn.edu><BR>Date: Thursday, 28
April, 2011, 10:35<BR><BR>
<DIV class=yiv1304696927plainMail>Excerpt:<BR>"Muslims can't
handle two things. They can't cope with the task of
thinking<BR>about a modern state and they swoon into all kinds
of unrealistic trances<BR>when it comes to thinking about
education. It is because of the fixity of<BR>their thinking and
their erroneous imitative mindset that they cannot<BR>imagine
life as 'becoming' despite Allama Iqbal's insistence on it.
Their<BR>utopia lies in fixity and what they aspire to is
utopian paralysis. It is<BR>almost futile to ask Muslims to run
a state intelligently or to educate<BR>their masses. They will
end up making the state inanely ideological in the<BR>belief
that purity is attained only through stringency of ritual. And
they<BR>will push education in the direction of the madrassa
where the mind is<BR>closed against doubt and
questioning.<BR><BR>Our scientists are Muslims and act in line
with our mindset, maybe to get<BR>themselves validated, barring
people like Hoodbhoy who wish obstinately to<BR>remain outside
the pale. Dr Attaur Rahman followed in the footsteps of
the<BR>doyen of all Pakistani scientists Sultan Bashiruddin -
who wished to extract<BR>electricity for the jinn - when he came
on PTV to lecture on Islam. Needless<BR>to say, he was out of
his depth and false-sounding; it was simply not
his<BR>bailiwick. In the process, he subordinated himself to the
authority of the<BR>lowest cleric in Pakistan. Nuclear scientist
Samar Mubarakmand has also<BR>given proof of this fatal
attraction by narrating his cooking pot 'miracle'<BR>story after
he had tested the nuclear device in the Chaghai Hills
of<BR>Balochistan in 1998."<BR><BR>I have attched the entire
article with this email.<BR>Regards.<BR>Abbas
Zaidi<BR></DIV><BR>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<BR><BR>
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