Fundamenalism in all faiths

I finished with Karen Armstrong's Islam. It was a good book very informative. I have understood many things about Mongol period, Ottoman empire, Muslim empire in India. I always wanted to read more about Mongol and Ottoman empire. I got a basic information of it from the book but not detailed one.

The book starts with short biography of prophet Muhammad and origin of Islam. Then it takes readers to the period of the Mongols; with an introduction to the Safavids, the Moguls, and the Ottomans empire. Lastly it points out challenges before Islam in today's modern society. Here I got my real answer for fundamentalism.

Armstrong has correctly mentioned that fundamentalism has surfaced in all major faiths in response to the problems of our modernity. This is true because no religion can claim that it does not have any issue of fundamentalism. But one can easily understood that the root of fundamentalism lays in the modern society. As certain part of the society keeps progressing by suppressing other section the rift between the two widens. This increasing gap encourages fundamentalism.

A recent example is Malegaon blast case, where Hindu fundamentalists were alleged of being involved. The reason for mentioning the particular example is that till now the all communities used to point out Muslims as fundamentalists, but its not true.

Back on the book, it has written in a balanced way and with a simple language so that common people can read and understand about the religion. Some of my doubts are still not clear about Islam. I think I need to read more about it. Someone has suggested me Martin Lings, Montgomery Watt or Maxime Rodinson, Bernard Lewis and Achdiat Karta Mihardja. I have long way to go!

I Got More Armstrongs....

Hey! There is good news for all book lovers. Strand book store has started their annual sale and exhibition at Sundarbai hall, Churchgate. (Though my best friend said that they didn’t have new books and authors, it’s all old stock. But visiting once is ok).

I visited the exhibition on first day and guess what did I get? Three books of Karen Armstrong. Wow! I am happy because after reading her Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time (which of course introduced to me by the same friend), I was longing to other titles.

I got three of them, Islam: A Short History, A History of God (the most famous title of her) and The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism (this was gifted by another friend she said it was birthday gift, cool! I wish my birthday could come on every month).

I am just too eager to start with one the books. But need to finish Isabelle Eberhardt’s In the Shadow of Islam.

Other book I bought was D H Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, as I need to read more classics to understand and improve my language. I also got The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. I am feeling great after buying so many books. But now I need some time to read them. I think I should put a leave application now and read all the books 24/7.

Touchy Blue Eyes

I read a book review of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye on one of the sites. I liked the concept of it that a black girl named Pecola who yearns for blue eyes. She thinks the blue eyes would make her beautiful and her all problems in the life would be solved. People' s attitude towards her would also change because then she would be a beautiful girl.

Immediately went to the second hand book shop at Fountain and bought it for Rs 200 though it was a pirated copy.

When I finished the book, I was completely zapped by it. Its not only the girl's yearning for blue eyes but the all about racism, sexuality, seduction, incest, rape, repression and innocence.

Pecola, belongs to a poor black family in Ohio province. Her mother Pauline does all the household work, father Cholly, a drunker and brother Sammy does not have any great existence in their life.

The black, ugly girl keeps wishing for blue eyes and everyday prays for that. She thinks if she could look beautiful with blue eyes then all her worries and sorrows would be gone. She can have more attention from her parents. There would not be any quarrel between them. Teachers would treat her like other girls and life would be definitely different.

The story starts with Pecola being pregnant from her own father. Her father has failed in his life forever at all levels. He lives a distant life and blames humiliations experienced in past for that. Cholly represents the negative freedom in the society. He drunks, he beats his wife, he doesn't earn and he also rapes own daughter.

Pauline came from a village and becomes an independent women when she realizes her husband's drinking problem. She has a lame foot and impurity complex for her ugliness. She feels most alive when she is at work, cleaning a white woman's home. Pauline, encourages her husband's violent behavior in order to reinforce her own role as a martyr.

But there is one more character Soaphead Church, who is the pastor of the local church. He is the wicked person in the novel and a pedophilic. He sexually exploits Pecola and promises her to give the blue eyes.

Pecola is a symbol of a vulnerable part of the society. Unable to fight with surroundings, she forces herself into a fantasy world. She is the target of hatred for everyone. It also indicates the impurity complex of the black community towards their colour.

The author gives fairly enough chance to every character to justify themselves. But still Pecola's exploitation cannot be justified. Finally she looses her mind and just remains the reminder of human cruelty.

Author has lashed the hypocrisy in the society through the novel. The society decides norms and punishes the vulnerable if they break it. But one can do anything if he or she is mighty enough.

The past exeperinces of life always reflects the future. Person gets bad experience in the life. But human mind is so wicked that instead of fighting against the society, it takes revenge from the poorest part of the society.

Islam in Armstrong's view

I received an SMS: A man in US sees a dog about to bite a lady. He kicks d dog 2 death. Newspapers report: Us citizen saves lady from dog. Man says he was not a US citizen. So report changed: Foreign hero saves lady from dog. Man says he was from Pakistan, Next days headline: Terrorist attacks local dog.

I found this is utter rubbish. How one held responsible an entire nation for few terrorists. I repeatedly asked this question to many but most of them have no satisfactory answer. People think Muslims or Pakistanis are terrorists by birth.

Yesterday's editorial in Saamana, Shiv Sena mouthpiece criticised slain ATS chief Karkare's family again for showing humanitarian approach towards Kasab, the only terrorist caught during Mumbai terror attacks.

Actually, frequent terror attacks are compelling people to spread such messages. But none of the religion especially Islam ever started with an aim to produce terrorists or Jihadis. This reminds me Karen Armstrong's book Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time, which gives brief biography of Islam and its founder Prophet Muhammad in a very balanced and in-depth manner. The book may reduce distortion and myths about the religion and of course "Islamophobia" in people’s mind. It was rewritten on the backdrop of 9/11 attacks on US.

Armstrong says the second largest faith in the World is Islam but people don't know much about it. In fact they have many myths and misconceptions about the religion and prophet Muhammad. After 9/11 attacks Muhammad was alleged of being a ‘terrorist’ and ‘pedophile’ which is nonsense.

The story starts in 500 century when Quraysh tribe was dominating in Arabia. Social atmosphere during the period was very unstable and the region was prone to internal conflicts. Though born and brought up in such atmosphere, Muhammad’s took first bold step when he was 25 and married to a widow Khadija who was 40 years old.

Soon after that Muhammad received revelations from God which he preached to close ones and then to all. This is known to be the first form of holy book Quran.

Islam was definitely more progressive compared to other religions of that time since it allowed widow marriage, care for orphans and the poor, belief in justice, equality and compassion. The most surprising was that it treated women equally by giving them property rights and right to divorce. Though the prophet promoted peace in the tribe, he also fought wars when inevitable, Armstrong says.

The meaning of Islam is surrender or submission (to God). Praying together, eating together, staying together were the simple lessons in Islam created to keep the isolated people binding in real sense. In fact, no activity was excluded from mosque like Churches, which were devoted only to worship.

There is also a misconception in western world that Prophet Muhammad was a womanizer because he married to five women. But in reality he was married to Khadija only. (Hindu hero Shri Krishna married to 18,000 women because their husbands were killed in war but we never alleged him.) All his other wives were political or social ties with his companions. None of them bore any children to the prophet except Khadija. He was also criticized for married was married to his daughter in law Zeinab.

But what I have understood is that Zeinab was not his daughter in law in first place. She was a wife of his servant. The servant was very loyal to the prophet and that is why he was adopted by the latter. As per the Quran, adopted girl or boy does not get any legal status. In that sense the servant was not his legal son and according to the revelation from God, the prophet married to Zeinab.

In this whole making and practicing of Islam, there is no encouragement or a single word on terrorism. Jihad has been mentioned as a struggle for survival. I think Islam was way ahead of the ancient religions of that time like Christianity, Judaism and even Hinduism. It was originated to emancipate the people from conflicts and provide them a stable life.

In my opinion, the origin of any religion has been always same except the Hindu religion, which started with an intension to exploit people (See the philosophy of Manu). New religions were created in the human history because the earlier religion was exploiting certain section of society.

Not withstanding the exploitation new religion was the way out for the people. This I believe an unending process, because the new religion also goes in the same manner of the old and starts exploiting people. Now it is interesting on my side to read further that why Islam became so radical and pushed its self centuries back.

The Reality

`If a Mahabharata war had actually been fought on the scale reported, nearly five million fighting men killed each other in an 18-day battle between Delhi and Thanesar; about 130,000 chariots (with their horses), an equal number of elephants and thrice that many riding horses were deployed. This means at least as many camp-followers and attendants as fighters. A host of this size could not be supplied without a total population of 200 millions, which India did not attain till the British period, and could not have reached without plentiful and cheap iron and steel for ploughshares and farmers1 tools. Iron was certainly not available in any quantity to Indian peasants before the 6th century BC. The greatest army camp credibly reported was of 400,000 men under Candragupta Maurya, who commanded the surplus of the newly developed Gangetic basin. The terms patti,gulma etc., given as tactical units in the Mbh did net acquire that meaning till after the Mauryans. The heroes fought with bows and arrows from their chariots, as if the numerous cavalry did not exist; but cavalry—which appeared comparatively late inancient Indian warfare—made the fighting chariots obsolete as was proved by Alexanderin the Punjab.`

This bold statement was made by historian D D Kosambi in his book Myth and Reality.
I completed reading the book while was in Nagpur. I was amazed by his profound research of history specialy ancient coins, idols and artifacts. These artifacts reveal the vital information of human life in that period which tells us our own evolvment.
Few more information I would share here:

'Let me put it that the underlying difficulties were economic. Images locked up too much useful metal; monasteries and temples after the Gupta age withdrew far too much from circulation without replacement or compensation by adding to or stimulating production in any way. Thus, the most thoroughgoing iconoclast in Indian history was another king Harsa (1089 - 1101 AD) who broke up all images in Kasmir, except four that were spared. This was done systematically under a special minister devotpatananayaka, without adducing the least theological excuse, though one could easily have beenfound.'

The book is full of such incidences with Kosambi's logical interpretation. It basically focuses on the origins and development of Indian culture. It also indicated similarities between two cultures of same period like Indian and Greek.

One more interesting observation I would like to mention which would trouble theist people:

`......The best such recent example is that of Satyanarayana, "the true Narayana', so popular all over the country, but which has no foundation whatever in scripture, and which is not even mentioned 200 years ago. Indeed, the origin seems to be in the popular legends of one Satya Pir, in Bengal; the Pir himselfbecame Satyanarayana. The vedas have a Visnu, but no Narayana. The etymology seems to be he who sleepsupon the flowing waters (nara) and this is taken as the steady state of Naifiyaija.'

I need to read the book again in order to remember some vital information he achieved through the research.

A Woman in African Desert

I have started reading Isabelle Eberhardt's In The Shadow of Islam which I bought last month from Strand book store. Actually the synopsis of the book forced me to buy it. The story is of early 19th century when a woman wearing men's clothes travels in the deserts of North Africa alone.

Isn't the concept exciting?

I was trying to imagine how would have been the situation then for her, how did she managed to travel and what was her intention behind it. Many questions and only one answer-- buy the book. So spent Rs 400 and copy was mine.

It is one of the books from Peter Owen series, original Arabic translated in English.

Isabelle was born in Geneva in 1877, the illegitimate daughter of a Russian priest and a half-Russian and half-German aristocrat. She spent much of her short life in north Africa where she converted to Islam. She died an unfortunate death at the age of 27.

Strange Addiction

I am addicted to a strange habit-buying books almost every week. I don't know how I got addicted with it but I am spending all my pocket money only on books. Another thing when I get frustrated or feel tensed, I prefer to buy a book to feel relax and I do!

Last few months I have bought about 15 books or may be more. Whenever I see a book I cannot resist myself from buying it. What to do? How to save money?

I tried a library option but didn't work. The book I want is never available. Now my book stock is freely flowing at home. One can see books everywhere, on cupboard, table, TV, refrigerator, bed, kitchen parapet and many other places I cannot name here.

I think I need to buy a bookshelf to keep these books neatly. But again I am running short of money because whenever I have extra bucks, I prefer spending them on books.

A Deekshabhumi book Store

I had been to Nagpur for almost 17 days. It was a good change for me though I was on duty. I was carrying a book of short stories by Rabindranath Tagore but somehow couldn't read a single story.

I visited Deekshabhumi at Nagpur, a place where Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar converted into Buddhism. My friend took me there. The place was very peaceful and huge. But we found one strange thing there. My friend said it could be the impact of Hindu religion on Buddhism. A Buddha idol was surrounded with 'Dan Peti' (Fund Box).

But important thing is that I found a bookstore there and just couldn't refrain myself from visiting it.
The book was full of Ambedkar and Dalit literature. It had many good authors in Hindi and English too. Apart from books it had Buddha idols, greetings, showpieces and many other things. I had to visit twice the place and still not satisfied.

I bought some good books. One of them was Dr Ambedkar's Who Were Shudras and D D Kosambi's Myth and Reality (both in Marathi). I had read the Shudras.... long ago but didn't have my own copy. Then I gifted two to my friend one was one of the best long story Sood written by Baburao Bagul and Shahid Bhagat Sing's Why I Am An Atheist (both in Marathi).

A second time I visited the store with to buy another copy of the Myth and Reality for my best friend. I just liked it and amazed by reading Kosambi's research work. I would gift him.