Dinah Lord

Say what? The father of Pakistan's nukes lectures us on tolerance?

Cutting off noses, throwing acid on women, honour killings, whipping in public etc are horrible events that send chills down our spines. Just in the last three months, 72 people, mostly women, have been burnt alive!

Random this, AQ.  The genie's out of the bottle, and you were doing the rubbing. 

Random thoughts

Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Dr A Q Khan

Given what is happening in our country at this time, I would like to deliberate here on the Islamic values of tolerance and forgiveness. In simple words, tolerance is the ability, willingness and capacity to put up with something with which one disagrees, or which one dislikes, without interfering or attempting to forcibly change it. This does not mean we should not attempt trying to change things that are wrong. It simply means attempting to bring about that change without violence and keeping in mind that other people's ideas may be different to ours. Compromise plays a large role in tolerance. Forgiveness is simply excusing an offence/mistake and avoiding venting anger towards the person/institution causing the event. Since these two virtues are cardinal principles in Islam that seem to have totally vanished from society, I feel that they should be elaborated upon.

Not a day goes by in which newspapers are not full of horrible stories and we are confronted with gory scenes on TV. What you read and/or see is often perpetrated in the name of Islam. Cutting off noses, throwing acid on women, honour killings, whipping in public etc are horrible events that send chills down our spines. Just in the last three months, 72 people, mostly women, have been burnt alive! These are despicable crimes that need condemnation. All these acts are carried out by those who claim to be Muslims, while in actual fact they are neither good Muslims, nor should they be pardoned. The Holy Quran is full of warnings and instructions from Allah to desist from wrongdoing and to show love and affection towards others. For example: "Think not that Allah does not heed the deeds of those who do wrong. He but gives them respite against a Day when their eyes will fixedly stare in horror". (Surah Ibrahim) "No doubt that the chastisement of Allah is very severe and painful and Allah knows all wrong-doers. Allah's curse is on them and a permanent punishment". (Surah Tauba)

Islam has put a lot of emphasis on love, affection, tolerance and forgiveness.  (Editor's note:  not really)  In the Holy Quran and in the sayings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) there is an abundance of such instructions and advice. This behaviour does not depend upon our free will, but is an edict of Islam – i.e. it is intrinsic in the behaviour of a true Muslim. Here are some relevant Ahadiths.

Hillary wakes up to Taliban Nuke threat. Or maybe not. She might just be doing Sec of State as drama queen.

Oh, this is a cluster fark of the first water right here.  Hillary sounds the alarm that the nukes might not be so safe after the US gives the Indian government 'high level assurances that the nukes are totally safe'.  Unh-huh.  Does anybody have a reset button handy?

From the Deccan Herald.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton raised the ultimate scare this weekend saying the "unthinkable" could actually happen in Pakistan — that the Taliban and Al Qaeda could topple the government, giving them "the keys to the nuclear arsenal".

In an interview in Baghdad, she said the US would not "let this go on any further, which is why we're pushing so hard for the Pakistanis to come together around a strategy to take their country back".

Clinton's statement raised eyebrows in India, because it came just a few days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared, at an election rally, that he had been "assured" that Pakistan's nuclear weapons were safe. Singh's announcement came as a response to BJP's concerns on the issue. He said, "We have been assured that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are in safe hands as of now. And I have no reason to disbelieve the assurance."

Although he did not name the source of his assurance, its clear that it would have to be the US at a very high level. The PM had recently met US President Barack Obama in London and officials said Pakistan was very much part of the discussions.

Besides, as Indian officials say, apart from Pakistan, the US is the only country that has close to intimate knowledge of Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

Indian officials say whenever India has asked the US about the security of Pakistan's N-arsenal, the US confidently reassures them that the weapons are "safe". In fact, Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had said not long ago that he was "reasonably confident that the nuclear weapons were secure". But on Saturday, Clinton said the danger was that the weapons were "dispersed" all over the country.