Oh Justice!

On February 3, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani national was found guilty in Manhattan Federal Court of attempting to Murder US nationals in Afghanistan, and six other additional charges. Deeply religious, Siddiqui is a delicate 100-pound Muslim woman, who attended MIT and Brandeis University.

On March 30, 2003, Siddiqui left her family home in Gulshan-e-lqbal with her three children, and took a taxi to catch a flight for Rawalpindi. She never reached the airport. Pakistani intelligence agents abducted her and handed her over to US authorities. On that day began her long ordeal of secret imprisonment, interrogations, and years of torture.

Aafia was Prisoner 650 at Bagram prison, where she was called the “Gray Lady of Bagram” for her shrill screams. She was tortured and repeatedly raped over many years. Her lawyer said, “She was a pawn in America’s 'war on terror,’ used, abused, now convicted, and facing life in prison when sentenced, a victim of gross injustice.”

“I do not know whether Siddiqui is innocent or guilty. However, I do know that permitting jailers, spies, kidnappers and assassins to operate outside of the rule of law contaminates us with our own bile. Siddiqui is one victim. There are thousands more we do not see. These abuses, justified by the war on terror, have created a system of internal and external state terrorism that is far more dangerous to our security and democracy than the threat posed by Islamic radicals.”

Thus scribbled Chris Hedges in an article called, The Terror-Industrial Complex . In 2002, Chris had received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. Chris is as much American as apple pie is, yet his sympathy for an alien woman is evident in his article.

Stephen Lendman, a Research Associate of the Center for Research on Globalization wrote in an article, Aafia Siddiqui: Victimized by American Injustice, “Siddiqui is innocent of all charges, yet the DOJ claimed she was involved in biochemical warfare. In fact, she devised a computer program, enlisted adult volunteers to watch various objects move randomly across the screen, then reproduce what they recalled. The idea was to learn how well they retained information after viewing it on a computer. It had nothing to do with terrorism, biochemical warfare, or blowing up New York targets, charges never appearing in her indictment.”

Her sentencing is scheduled for May 6. She faces a maximum sentence of 120 years in prison for the attempted murder and armed assault charges. Two of her children, Maryam and Suleman, disappeared and are suspected to have been killed. Her son Mohammed was released with the condition that he will not speak about his tribulation.

Please read further:

Yvonne Ridley

Paul Craig Roberts

Letter From Montreal

I have been coming to Montreal every year for the past 19 years!! I have seen the Canadian paper industry rise and decline to a pathetic low this year ... very disappointing!! Our company serves many markets and paper is one. I was very disappointed!!

Nevertheless, Montreal has its charms! Surely it is different from Toronto ... very European in flavor, more French than France and bordering on arrogance!! You can get by knowing English, but, let there be no doubt that French is the preferred language. If you want to do business, it can only be in French. If you speak only English, you are not part of the "elite" and therefore, I'd be reluctant to conduct business with you! This is the general attitude.

Surprisingly, there are a lot of Arabs here! Taxi drivers and other services are performed by Arabs. No Blacks! Pardon my ignorance (or racial slant), maybe, it is too cold for them! It is very cold here. Have a look at the photos. There are 4 of us with our elbows on an ice table that does not melt. It is really "cool" in more ways than one ... check it out.

I am staying at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel right smack downtown Montreal. The name says it all. I needn't elaborate and state that it is a fancy upscale hotel. Things are expensive here ... everything!! I don't know know how people afford stuff.

Montreal has an incredible underground set-up. Lots of walkways, stores, restaurants, etc connected underground. Really neat. During rush hour, people are literally "running" to their respective destinations!

If you ever have a chance, visit Montreal in the middle of deep winter ... it's an experience. And if you like fine wine and lobster bisque, all the more better!! Fine (exotic) dining and upscale culture are Montreal's highlights!

Afzal Ali
February 3, 2010

The Last Bread

The miracle is that we are alive now. And that is about it, there is no other miracle in life. Death takes the living beings to its natural state.

Religion and philosophy are merely borrowed ideas, decaying concepts that live like parasites clinging to the living souls. Parroting those borrowed words does not bring salvation. If you want liberation you must be able to think on your own, shattering the glass house that you live in, and let go of your conditioning.

Science is only transitory knowledge, today's fact is waiting to be proven wrong tomorrow. The world is maya (illusion). Truth is wholesome which cannot be grasped by intellect. Intellect is a tool that is totally inadequate to discern the Truth on its own.

If that is the case, if intellect is totally inadequate to discern the Truth, what are we left with? After all, intellect is the only tool that gives us god's power. We have built huge structures, altered the Nature and subjugated wild beasts to do our bidding by using our intellect. We are laid thin and bare without intellect. What are we to do?

Enjoy what you are doing. Treat this moment as your last, and do what you would if you knew death is waiting in the wing, only to descend upon you without notice. Leave the last bread for your neighbor. This indeed is your greatest achievement.

Why do you care, if anyone remembers you when you are gone? Ask yourself, if anyone cares for you now; care enough to offer you his last bread, even though he is dying of hunger. In that there is a great lesson to be learned.

And when you are ready to give away your last bread to save a stranger, you have found God. Indeed God lives in you.

Freedom Exacts Its Price

Are we free to choose?

Conventional wisdom harangues from the rooftop— we live in a free society. Notwithstanding, our freedom stops at the boundary of our neighbor’s freedom, such is the very definition of freedom.

The truth is everything is relative. When we say the USA, or for that matter, the western world has a free society, that freedom is only in relation to other under developed countries.

The word freedom, used in the absolute context, is an oxymoron. Absolute freedom is absolute bondage, because our freedom ends where our neighbor’s freedom begins.

Let’s talk of faith.

Are we free to choose our faith?

The question gives rise to other questions. Are we at a juncture of life where we have done the required soul searching and made a conscious decision to make a choice? Will the society let us choose what we want to choose? Will we be happy with our new choices? Do we need to make our own choices?

The answer is predominantly in the negative for most of these questions. We are social animals. We cannot live alone. Well, most of us anyway. When we live among our kin, we are bound by their edict. The eastern culture reflects this more radically.

Long before people in the west built their shining cities, Santan Dharma laid down the principles of rules of living, which were profound and pragmatic. The overbearing doctrine sacrificed individual freedom for the greater good of the society. The result was one of the first great civilizations in human history. It is another matter that degeneration in society set in later and gave bad name to many practices of the Hindus. However, such is the common tale with all great religions. With time, religion depreciates.

It was the same with Taoism of China, which preceded the Vedas. The indoctrination of Taoism is so refreshing, that it is still considered modern and is applicable in our time. These are the eternal bodies of Truth. However, are we free to choose?

What is faith by the way? What does faith have to do with religious belief? Don’t we often say faith and imply religion?

When the mystic Gurdjief was asked a similar question, he replied: “You wish to know? To really know you must suffer. Can you suffer?”

To make a free choice we must suffer.

Every sensible human being must publicly denounce Al-Qaida

Al-Qaida has claimed credit for the failed attempt to blow up an American airliner by a wayward green named Umar Farouk Abdulmutalleb. What a bunch of cowards who hides in the underpants of a confused youth! Shame on them!

God’s greatest gift is life; do not waste it when you can create none.

You may be the master of seven scriptures, yet, if you have not learnt this simple truth your life has been in vain. Any holy book that insinuates shedding blood of the innocents is unholy and must be shunned like trash.

Any one who promulgates sacrifice of human life at the altar of any god, that god is a false god, beware of those phony prophets.

Here is a Hadith from Abu Huraira collected by Muslim:

On the day of judgment God will say, “Hey the son of man, I was sick and you did not come to see me.” He will ask, “My Lord, how could you be sick when you are the nourisher of the world?” God will say, “Didn’t you know that ward of mine who was sick? If you would have gone to see him you would have found me near him.

“Hey the son of man, I asked food from you and you did not give me food.” He will ask, “How could I give you food when you are the nourisher of the world?” God will say, “Didn’t you know that ward of mine who was hungry? If you would have given him food
surely that would have reached me.

“Hey the son of man, I asked water from you and you did not give me water to drink,” He will ask. “How could I give you water when you are the nourisher of the world?” God will say, “Didn’t you know that ward of mine who was thirsty? If you would have given
him water surely that would have reached me.”

This is the true God, the one and only, and you are but a part of that God, as the rest of the creation is. Whoever preaches otherwise is a mere pretender, serving a false god.

On the eve of a new decade I personally dare you to sign this page and denounce Al-Qaida for what they are.

Are Muslim extremists the most violent religious fanatics in our time?

Statistics say: Yes.

The case in point is, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23 year old Nigerian, who attempted Christmas Day bombing of an American airliner.

Born of a father who retired this year as chairman of First Bank of Nigeria and still sits on the boards of several prominent Nigerian firms, Umar was raised at the family home in Kaduna, a city in Nigeria’s Muslim-dominated north. At a boarding school, he was easygoing and studious, and would occasionally preach Islam to his class mates. Later, he attended an elite British boarding school in Togo, where many of his classmates were British expatriates and students from around West Africa.

Despite his affluent upbringing Umar was a lonely man, who sought friends online, through Facebook and in Islamic chat rooms, writing under the name Farouk1986. He would often turn to internet for counseling and companionship. He wrote about love and marriage, his college ambitions and anxiety over standardized tests, as well as his inner struggles as a devout Muslim. Writing in an online forum he affirmed, “My name is Umar but you can call me Farouk… I have no one to speak to…no one to consult, no one to support me and I feel depressed and lonely. I do not know what to do. And then I think this loneliness leads me to other problems.”

He had visited the United States and other countries, including Egypt and Yemen, and was aware of Western customs. He had a privileged upbringing as a wealthy Nigerian banker’s son. He had ambition to study engineering at Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, or the California Institute of Technology. Writing of his disappointment in scoring a 1200 on the SAT he scribbled, “I tried the SAT, It was a disaster!!!” In 2008, he graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the University College London.

His ambition was to be steadfast in religion; notwithstanding, the strict doctrine of Islam about interaction with other gender did not help him. He wrote of the conflict between his desires and his religious duty of “lowering the gaze” in the presence of women, “The Prophet advised young men to fast if they can’t get married but it has not been helping me much and I seriously don’t want to wait for years before I get married,” he acknowledged.

In December 2005, he wrote of his parents visiting him in London and mentioned that he was debating whether he could eat meat with them. “I am of the view meat not slaughtered by Muslims is haram for consumption unless necessary,” he wrote, “My parents are of the view as foreigners we are allowed to eat any meat. It occurred to me I should not be eating with my parents as they use meat I consider haram. But I fear this might cause division and other complicated family problems.”

He was in Yemen between August and December of this year to study Arabic at a language institute. One of his uncles said, “Farouk was a devoted Muslim who took his religion seriously and was committed to his studies…He was such a brilliant boy and nobody in the family had the slightest thought he could do something as insane as this.” People from the rich Unguwar Sarki neighborhood in Kaduna said that he was easygoing and passionate about Islam. One of his cousins commented, “He was a very religious, polite and studious fellow, but it was unthinkable that he would do anything close to attempting to bomb a plane.”

So, what went wrong?

The seed of fundamental Islam is sprouting vigorously. Although it is alleged that Islam is a religion of peace, the history attests otherwise. Out of the first four Caliphs only one died natural death, others were all assassinated. The direct descendants of Prophet Mohammed, the apples of his eyes, were mercilessly put to death. The war of revenge and avenge continues unabated.

And the war on terror declared on Islam by the self-proclaimed civilized Western world is only adding fuel to that fire. History says, the Muslims are the most backward as religious peoples in our time. The history also says whenever there is a clash between civilizations, the less sophisticated culture always wins, for they have little to live for.

One God: Christian Missionary Deconverted

I decided to hold off my written post for this week in favor of this youtube video. You can replace the word ‘Christian’ before missionary, with the name of any other religious follower; the fact remains the same.

Please enjoy the profound bliss which is beyond any written word.

One God: Christian Missionary Deconverted

So, that is what you said

I can sacrifice myself for religion:

Twelve percent of my readers responded in this category, and I am shocked.

You are in the USA, the year is 2010ish and twelve percent of you can die for religion? What good is that religion that sends you to death?

Religion is for wo/man, wo/man is not for religion. If we all die for religions who will worship God?

Please, please, please write me, call me names, send charmed words to my ancestors, but please explain what is the rational for your stance!

The Quran says there is no compulsion in religion (2:256). It also says: Surely, those who believe, those who are Jewish, the Christians, and the converts; anyone who believes in GOD, and believes in the Last Day, and leads a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord. They have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve (2.62).

When such is the case, why do you want to die for your religion?

Organized religions that seek dominance over other faiths are inherently evil and create dissention in people, not harmony. Jews say Moses is the last prophet, Christians say Jesus, and Muslims claim Mohammed. What about the 23 million Sikhs, 7 million Baha’is and other smaller groups that are among us? Is religion purely a number game, the more the followers, the superior it is?

At the present time there are 2.1 billion Christians, and 1.5 billion Muslims inhabiting the planet earth. Third largest group of people in the world numbering more than the Hindus who form the fourth largest group, are peoples who are banded as Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist. Since Buddhists are atheists as well they too may be added to this group. Together, this group shall have nearly as many members as the Muslims and when the closet Agnistics/Aethists are taken into account, their actual numbers may surpass that of the Muslims. Shall we still play the number game?

If superiority is measured in the contribution to human progress, Judaism is unquestionably the greatest of all religions, for 14 million people ranking 12th as a group has given the world illumination far beyond its proportion to the world population.

God created wo/man, wo/man created religion. At one hand religion brought peace, on the other hand it waged war, war against other religions in broad-spectrum, nonetheless, at times against a dissenting group or individual of the same faith.

Religion is for human beings, and not the other way around.


It is the center piece of my life:

Thirty percent of the respondents are in this category. Pretty much middle of the line, shall I say?

If it is the center piece of your life you are a traditional God-fearing person who wants to live and let live others. Perhaps it is time for you to seek and find the true religion? In the 21st century, you are lucky to call home this country that we call the USA. There is no other place on earth that offers you greater opportunity to practice your faith in peace, and at the same time opens up the opportunity to explore at length outside your own faith. Please avail of this opportunity.

Whatever your faith is, if you want to be true to it, you must dive deeper and contemplate at the inner core of your belief and discover the universal message that your denomination has brought to this world.

If you want to understand your own religion, study other religions, embrace people of other faith as your own kin, seek the common travail. God created division just to test people, He could create one Nation if He so desired, albeit, His Mission is to Test and Reward His true followers.

Like it takes a mason, a carpenter, a plumber, and many other folks to build a house, it takes all denominations to build the House of God. Do not confine yourself in a small shell, shatter it, spread your wings in the sun-drenched breeze and wonder in the unexplored openness. God has created this universe for the humans to study and discover, and only through that study can we reach God. There is no other way.


I need it to live in the society:

Thirty percent of the respondents are in this category, tying up the position with the previous group.

Absolutely. We all need to make peace at the cost of our own personal desires for the greater interest of the society. Anyone who finds home in this group is potentially living ahead of her/his time. You have made the decision to sacrifice your own convictions for the greater good of humanity. Interestingly however, this attitude demands greater honesty and morality. If you do not have this intrinsic quality then you have not yet evolved, and you are not ahead of your time. If you are not ahead of your time you are in danger of leading a self-centered life, sinking, rather than perching to a higher plateau.

The glad tiding is, wherever you are, you are at the crossroads of fulfillment, ready for the transformation to embark on a glorious journey, if you can let go your ego and reach beyond yourself.

I do not care:

Twenty seven percent of the respondents are in this category, forming the second largest group from my survey.

If you are here, to you I say, been there, done that.

The question is, you may not care, notwithstanding, can you live outside the influence of religion? And if your fellow voyager does care, how do you interact with that person, in peace, in love, and in harmony?

You are probably responding with the assumption that we are confining ourselves to organized religions, and your answer denotes that you do not care for any organized religion. You nevertheless, akin to the Buddhists, can yet be marching to a religious band, sublime, and profound.

The Hindus coined the term dharma for religion in their religious scriptures known as Sanatan Dharma. The word dharma has dual connotation, in one sense it defines the attributes of something, or the very being. When you take that aspect of religion it does not matter whether you care for it or not, because in that paraphernalia the religion is all encompassing, and the goal and the journey is the same, as in the case of ancient Chinese belief in Tao.

Were the pre historic Taoists and the Hindus so far ahead of their times? Were they ahead of our times? Can we take a leaf out of their garden?

Why suffer?

Have you ever realized that your power comes from others? Alone, you are nothing.

Alone, you are miserable, and the more powerful you are in this world, the more miserable you are by yourself, without others around you. Your money, education, and sophistication are naught if there is no another human being to relate to.

Imagine; you are in a remote island. There are no other human beings. Only wild animals and vegetation. Would you survive? How long would you survive? What good your wealth come to?

Contrary to your position in the society, the lower in the stratum you now are, the greater would be your chance of survival in the wild. Hence, the word of the Christ: the least among you will be the greatest in the heaven.

The more you depend on others for gratifying your basic needs, the lesser will be your chance of survival in isolation. Yet, your thunderous cry pierces the night sky—Me..Me.. Me, I am the all powerful one. I deserve this, I deserve that. For me the bell tolls!

God smiles, you pitiful idiot, this is the reason you suffer. You are only an infinitesimal part of me. I Envelop the Universe.

You can only be happy when you realize that your happiness is entangled with happiness of rest of the universe. You cannot be happy when others around you are not, and your unhappiness touches others too.

Jason, you made me feel so small

Jason O’Neill is just a kid like any other 8th grader. What separates him from others is the fact that he started his own business at the age of 9. What was more astounding though, he was giving money to charity since he started his business, Pencil Bugs, four years ago.

This year he wanted to do something different. He raised funds nationally to buy teddy bears to give them away in Christmas, to needy children. A group of kids from Michigan sent him a check for $119. The smallest check was for couple of dollars from another kid.

When we the grown ups are so busy filling our own pockets at any rate, when we are breaking homes of millions of kids, Jason and his friends are buying happiness for a few.

Jason you made me feel so small!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34130756/ns/us_news-giving/?GT1=43001

Book Critique

Islam-o-sharia by Hasan Mahmud, published in Bangladesh.
Language: Bangla
3rd Edition, 2008


Hasan’s book begins with the time when life of the prophet of Islam was ending. It was an all-destructive Thursday, in Hasan’s words, a grand deception was taking place at the dying moment of a man’s life—a man whose mere words could once change the face of Arabia, but now too frail to command even his closest allies.

In a poignant language he evokes memory of those moments and the readers would relive highly charged emotions, as if the incidents were happening right in front of their eyes. This is the beauty of Hasan’s writing. His book is part history, part analysis, and part beseeching the forgotten glory. Nonetheless, it is an intense book.

Amidst the black letters of the book the readers will see dark red blood, in pages after pages, the blood of the very best of the Muslim saints who are the pride of the Muslim ummah. Even after 1400 years, your own blood will boil, and your eyes will become moist.

Hasan writes with intense passion and he begs the readers to revive the beauty, peace and the grand scheme of a religion, called Islam, underneath the violent raiment in which it has been cloaked.

Two underlying themes, justice and compassion override all other emotions, in pages after pages. Hasan quotes materials, all from respected written sources to rediscover the beauty of Islam.

He cites Islamic scholars, at times self proclaimed, albeit, with considerable followings that preach violence by the name of the religion, and goes on to demonstrate how vain their callings are, with support from Quran and Hadith. Without saying in as many words, he hints time and again, how the short sighted religious preachers utilized hadiths that are against the very teachings of the Quran.

Hasan devotes considerable ink in his book to refute the wrong conception of Quran-sanctioned oppression of the women. Hasan insists, provides logic, and establishes with cross references that many hadiths were indeed inserted by the debauched Muslim rulers and their henchmen. In the hands of the uneducated and sometimes educated, nonetheless, unscrupulous religious scholars those hadiths received stamps of authority.

Those additions and insertions created the phenomenon of radical Islam, an extreme and violent transformation of the original religion that spread only peace and harmony. Whereas the very name Islam literally connotes peace and submission, at the hands of the egotistical rulers it became an implement of tyranny. With this book Hasan wages a war against the evil of the radical Islam.

The book fosters understanding of the true spirit of Islam. Even the perpetrators of radical Islam would see the eternal truth in it, and Hasan fervently hopes that would mellow them to enter the mainstream civilized life of the modern era, and become effective members of the global society.



Links to Hasan’s book and other works:

http://www.tritiomatra.com/woaz.html
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B0305803702E7AE7

Two Americas

There were polls on the Fort Hood incident and there were results.

Fox news:
94% said it was a terrorist act perpetrated by Islamic Fundamentalists.

6% were undecided.

Progressive talk radio:

54% said it was a singular case of individual action not motivated by religion.

26% were undecided.

20% said it was a terrorist act perpetrated by Islamic Fundamentalists.

(Based on the 1st day of poll)

Are you listening, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan?

Quran said: this book is for the believers.

Aha! Belief! That heavenly word on which the heavens and the hells rest!

And thus came a large sheeple of people, calling themselves Muslims.

Once man believed in sun god, cow god and rain gods. Belief?

Then came the prophets, Rama, Krishna and a host of them. They came at a time when the Semitic people were roaming in jungles in bare skin (but the latter would dare to call the formers heretics).

Then the Semitics clothed themselves, and they created their own religions, story of Abraham, and then came their prophets.

The God of Abraham was ruthless, violent, and loved vengeance. Was that all? Then why did he spare the life of the child that Abraham was ready to sacrifice?

Then came Jesus, and he said, “I have not come to do away with the Laws, but to make them come true. Not the least of the Laws shall be done away with, not until there is Heaven and Earth.

Jesus also spoke in the name of God and he lived life of a god, far beyond any ordinary mortal’s realm. Jesus said, if some one slaps one of your cheek, let him slap the other one too. Jesus said, pardon your enemy 70 times 7. Jesus said, leave all your worldly possessions and come to me. He lived the life of a god.

Then came Muhammad, who accepted all Semitic religious traditions before him. Muhammad accepted Jesus as a prophet, and the miracle of his birth and host of other traditions. When did Muhammad bring a new religion? All he did was remove the cobwebs and establish the Kingdom of God in the true tradition of Abraham.

Muhammad had his feet firmly on the ground. He lived the life that any ordinary mortal could live. He was the king of Arabia, yet he lived the life of a pauper. There were days when his body was weak with pain from hunger. He too forgave his worst enemies.

At the gate of Mecca, he faced his life-long tormentors; with one word he could decimate the city into oblivion. Notwithstanding, he choose to forgive. Forgive even the worst of the worst.

Muhammad followed the tradition set by Jesus and all other prophets before him, inclusive of Rama, Krishna and the rest of them.

It is one religion man, the religion of GOD the almighty. Do not kill in the name of religion.

You call yourself a Muslim, you whose hands are smeared in blood? Who does not have the temerity to condemn all these violence in the name of Islam?

You rascal!

Can a non religious person lead an honest and ethical life?

The poll has closed and I am flabbergasted with your response.

Thirty people participated in the poll; I thank you all for taking time to convey your opinion. Sixty six percent of the respondent answered “yes” to the question. This indicates that I am dealing with a matured audience that has come of age and is ready to live without crutches. In my book One God in You and Me, I had hypothesized that a great number of people in our time is not ready to relinquish the crutch. Albeit, not my audience, you have indicated a level of illumination which is above normal.

Twenty six percent answered, “may be,” which is again very impressive since you are prepared to grant the breadth to other thought processes and deliberate the question with honesty. If you have come that far, you have left the base and are close to the transition to a higher plateau.

One person answered “don’t know,” theoretically there is not a great difference between you and the people who answered, “may be,” except that you are probably veering more on the side of caution. You too are ready for the leap.

I will reserve most of my comments for the person who answered “no.” I am sure you will agree that a religious person can live unethical life; in deed a mere look at the outside world is sufficient to exhibit that people who vouch in the name of religion do not always live ethical lives. The very basis of mechanics of war on terror, and the associated mayhem attests to this. Truly, there shall not be any confusion to the reality that a religious life is no guarantor to an ethical life.

Now the question is, if a person is not religious, can he live an ethical life? If not, why not? What prevents him from pursuing an ethical life? If fear of God and religion cannot ensure an ethical life why the absence of it would automatically propel one to the other spectrum? What kind of person leads non religious life, anyway?

Human society has imposed religious beliefs on its members from time immemorial. The cruder the society the greater was the force of authority. Collective thoughts have attempted to suppress contrary individual thoughts time and again. Without freedom of thought, the society rots and is ultimately subjugated by invaders. Quran says, there is no compulsion in religion, so do books of all other faiths. Consequently, freedom of thought is the fundamental human right; freedom to question, freedom to seek better ways, freedom to strive for perfection. That freedom of enquiry thrusts human generation to the next higher level of progression. Can religion be an impediment to that progress?

I dare say; it can. This is what I have tried to delineate in my book One God in You and Me, using various religious teachings, pre-religious customs, and science. That is why I would submit, there are ethical people who can continue to seek meaning of life outside the rigor of organized religions.

Hasan Mahmud: Director, Sharia Law, Muslim Canadian Congress

Islam-o-sharia by Hasan Mahmud is arguably the most important book on Islam in our time. The book examines and reinforces the core values of Islam with supporting texts from Quran and hadiths and comments from various Islamic scholars. In Hasan’s own words, “The book is a result of painstaking efforts that came from digesting hundreds of Islamic books spanning nearly two decades.”

Islam-o-sharia is by far the best book on Islamic sharia laws ever written in Bangla and the book deserves to be translated in every language in every part of the world wherever there are Muslims.

Having said that, suggesting the book only to the Muslims would be a great disservice, for the book is equally good for any non-Muslim who desires to understand true, and I emphasize the word true, Islam.

Before writing about the book though, I want to write about Hasan Mahmud the man.

I met Hasan in Abu Dhabi in the late 70s, when both of us were starting our careers in Abu Dhabi. I had respect for his sharp wit and intellect but never knew that he graduated in the top four in his school final exam conducted by the erstwhile East Pakistan Education Board.

The fact was disclosed to me by a common friend only a few months back. When I asked Hasan during a recent telephone conversation with him, how is it that he never mentioned this to me! Hasan brushed it off with his characteristic laugh and said, every year people are graduating with such distinctions so what is the great deal in that!

With a brilliant academic background, Hasan could excel in any field of his choosing, yet he chose to be a molla, fotemolla to be exact. Albeit, he is a molla as no molla has ever been, truly a molla of the mollas.

To be honest, I could never fathom Hasan’s transformation into a religious scholar from his ultra progressive views on life. With a little contemplation however, I could easily relate to this phenomenon.

In his youth, Hasan gave freely; he gave his time, his service, and money, not only to his friends but also to strangers who were at the low strata of the society. He gave without ever expecting anything in return. His love for people, especially for the downtrodden was without parallel.

When the news broke out that Hasan was leaving Abu Dhabi, and he did not have enough money to start a new life in a new country, many people who had earlier received help from him came forward and voluntarily returned money. Hasan refused to accept money from them, but they forced his hands, saying they were returning only what was his.

The other day, I called on Hasan after decades, and was discussing Islam with him, when he started freely quoting from Quran with full references. He was supporting his arguments with hadiths, again with exact references. It was an incredible feat as there are over 39,000 authentic (regarded to be authentic by Muslim ummah) hadiths. However, he completely floored me when he quoted from Genesis (Old Testament), again with proper reference.

There are many people in the world who can recite Quran from page one to the last from memory, nonetheless, I had not met anyone who could quote from hadiths with volume numbers and their placing in the volumes, extempore. It takes superhuman intellect and memory, but on top, a lifetime of dedication.

When I expressed my surprise about how he remembers all these verses, he simply stated, I have no option. I knew instantly what he meant; his life has always been for service to people, especially to those who are oppressed and hapless. It is from that intense love for humanity that Hasan’s superhuman ability emanates.


Next week: Hasan’s book- Islam-o-sharia