ISLAM 101 (Cont'd)

Toward the end of his masterful (and
fascinating) exposition of Muslim
teaching and history, Reza Aslan (RA)
writes: "The tragic events of 9/11/2001
may have fueled the clash-of-mono-
theisms mentality among those Muslims,
Christians, and Jews who seem so often
to mistake religion for faith and scrip-
ture for God." Religion, you'll recall
from previous discussion, is the system
by which a faith-community shares
its insights through ritual and stories.
It is all too human, as we have seen in
studying its histories. Faith is the
individuals own experience of the
ineffable, the infinite, the mysterium
tremendum.

Sacred history is more about faith than
it is about religion. RA again: "Rather,
sacred history is like a hallowed tree
whose roots dig deep into primordial
time and whose branches weave in and
out of genuine history with little concern
for the boundaries of space and time.
Indeed, it is precisely at those moments
when sacred and genuine history collide
that religions are born. The clash of
monotheisms occurs when faith, which
is mysterious and ineffable and which
eschews all categorizations, becomes
entangled in the gnarled branches of
religion."

"But it (9/11) also initiated (RA goes on)
a vibrant discourse among Muslims
about the meaning and message of Islam
in the 21st century. What has occurred
since that fateful day amounts to nothing
short of another Muslim civil war -- fitnah
-- which, like the contest to define Islam
after the Prophet's death, is tearing the
Muslim community into opposing factions."

RA's book not only examines original Islam
as found in the Quran, he maintains that a
reformation is now going on throughout the
Muslim world (MW) to recover that early
teaching, which was pluralistic, tolerant,
and without racial, religious, or gender bias.
Women were honored, and accorded equal
treatment in Muhammad's program at Medina,
as were Jews and Christians living there in
peace.

According to RA: "The Quran proposes the
unprecedented notion that all revealed
scriptures are derived from a single concealed
book in heaven called the Umm al-kitab, or
'Mother of Books'." Here are the words of
the Quran: "We believe in God and in that
which has been revealed to us, which is that
which was revealed to Abraham and Ismail
and Jacob and the tribes (of Israel), as well
as that which the Lord revealed to Moses and
to Jesus and to all the other prophets. We
make no distinction between any of them;
we submit ourselves to God."

How did so many factions within Islam
become intolerant, violent, and even brutal?
Well, how did Christians in the Middle Ages
wind up burning nice people like Joan of Arc
and thousands of others like her while they
were still alive? Obviously, they got way off
the track, to put it mildly! So did the followers
of Muhammad. Terrorism, torture, and mass
killings are no more a part of true Islam than
the Inquisition was true Christianity.

More on this later.

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net

AMAZING!

"The amazing thing is that we are being
taken over basically by a cult, eight or
nine neoconservatives."
-- Seymour Hersh (at start of Iraq war)

"Every day, George W. Bush asks young
Americans to die in defense of an Iraq
that has ceased to exist (if it ever did) in
the hearts and minds of Iraqis. What
Iraqis believe in are sectarian or tribal
Iraqs -- a Shi'ite Iraq, or a Sunni Iraq, an
antonymous Kurdish Iraq state, an Iraq
where Grand Ayatollah Sistani or Moqtada
al-Sadr or some other chieftain holds sway.
These are the Iraqs for which Iraqis are
willing to die. Whatever their merits and
shortcomings, they are at least rooted in
reality. These Iraqs have adherents and
territory. The Iraq for which Bush compels
Americans to fight has neither."
-- Harold Meyerson in Wash. Post 5/30/07
THAT'S AMAZING!

Meanwhile, in the "why do they hate us?"
department: "We have destroyed the most
viable and the most modern Arab country
in the Middle East. We destroyed the Iraqi
state, loathsome as its leadership was. Now
we are also destroying the country -- 24
million people, two million of whom have
been driven out of their homes, and about
half a million of whom are no longer living
today because of what happened. . . And
then on top of it, there is the Islamophobic
rhetoric that Bush has fostered, and the
irresponsible plunge of the mass media
and the entertainment industry into terror
sensationalism with a strong racist,
religious tone to it, resulting in a feeling
of real resentment."
-- Zbigniew Brzezinski in The American
Prospect (TAP) June, 2007

"Iraq's three major ethnic and sectarian
groups have failed to reach compromises
on important issues, not because they are
now unwilling but because they are unable
to do so. Shia, Kurdish, and Sunni politicians
cannot reconcile positions that are funda-
mentally irreconcilable, and no measure
of U. S. exhortation or coercion will change
that reality." -- Flynt Leverett, TAP, June, '07

And why are the positions irreconcilable?
The Kurds are not Arabs, do not speak
Arabic, and have never considered them-
selves part of Iraq. Nor do they want to
be. They want their own nation, and will
cooperate with anyone (Shia or Sunni) that
will help them get there. They are friendly
with the U. S. and Israel, and will let us
park troops there, if we want to get them
out of the killing zone. We are too dumb,
so far, to do that.

Iraq's Arab Sunnis (the Kurds are also
Sunnis, but largely secular ones) despise
the Shia, over whom they have long
ruled, and will die (are dying) rather than
be ruled by them. Fundamentalist Sunnis
regard the Shia as apostates, and Muslim
law (Shariah) requires that apostates be
put to death. So a lot of them are busy
at that job now. That, of course, requires
retribution from the Shia, who don't
know a lot about democracy, but do
understand that the majority rules. They
are not inclined to show a lot of charity
to the Sunnis that keep blowing up their
mosques and market places, killing, as
they do, thousands of women, children,
and elderly.

Our congress doesn't get it at all, and
keeps believing the adminstration's
assurances that the weak, thoroughly
corrupt Shia-run government in Iraq
will, any day now, do what it has no
intention of, let alone lack of ability to
do, and that is to kiss and make up with
their Sunni bretheren. It's not happening!
Not, at least, until hell freezes over.

Biden and Brzezinsky, and Peter Galbraith
are probably right in advocating a tri-
partite split of Iraq along ethnic and
sectarian lines. Sad but true.

More later.

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
a half million

ISLAM ONE-O-ONE

In a previous entry I introduced Reza Aslan,
author of the monumental book: No god but
God. Of this book, Steven Cook of the
Council of Foreign Relations says: "A
fascinating account of Islam's evolution.
Aslan's book should be required reading
for all analysts and policymakers interested
in the Muslim world. It's a terrific read ---
no easy feat for such a difficult subject."

Further praise: " Wise and passionate . . .
an incisive, scholarly primer in Muslim
history and an engaging personal exploration."
---The New York Times Book Review

In spite of all the hulabaloo to the contrary,
as Reza Aslan (RA) points out, there is not
presently a "clash of civilizations" going on
between the Muslim world (MW) and the
West. Osama bin Laden, and some of our
own neo cons (Dick Cheney among them)
are trying to promote such a clash. And
both 9/11 and our invasion of Iraq were
planned, each in their own way, to further
that goal. But the vast majority in the MW,
as RA points out, want only peace, and to
be left alone. That's as their religion
teaches.

Young people, all over the world are
communicating on the internet, and are
enthralled by Western culture, especially
movies, music, and dress. Global economics
are turning the planet into one big common
market. No clash there!

While the clash of civilizations is more
imagined than real, the real shooting and
killing over land and oil goes on, and is
complicated by what RA refers to as a
"clash of monotheisms." Europe's fastest
growing religion (by far) is Islam. This is
due to several factors: 1) Christianity is dead
or dying in most of Europe (less than 5%
church attendance). 2)Europe's Jews are
gone (for the most part), due to the
Holocaust and migration to Israel.
3) Muslim immigration and high birth
rate (3 to 4 times that of native Europeans.)

And misunderstanding of and between the
monotheisms is rampant. The Pope has
referred to Islam as a religion of the sword,
forgetting, perhaps the Crusades, the
Inquisition, the bloody conquest and forced
conversion of Latin America's Indians,
European colonial history in sub-Sahara
Africa, and on and on! We ascribe Arab
and Ottoman conquests to Islam, but don't
identify European colonialism with Christi-
anity. But the Muslims do! And they have
long memories.

When prominent churchmen like Franklin
Graham and Jerry Falwell refer to Islam as
"an evil and wicked religion" they are guilty
of the same error the Pope made: they are
mistaking the unquestionably evil behaviour
of violent extremists like Osama and his
cutthroats with the authentic religion of
Muhammed.

RA's great contribution to understanding
is to plainly show and explain the original
teachings of the Prophet in their historic
intent and context, and to explain the
battle going on now within Islam to restore
that original vision: "Once a reasonable
interpretation of the rise of Islam in sixth
and seventh century Arabia has been
formed, it is possible to trace how
Muhammads's revolutionary message of
moral accountability and social egalitarianism
was gradually reinterpreted by his successors
into competing ideologies of rigid legalism
and uncompromising orthodoxy, which
fractured the Muslim community (the Ummah)
and widened the gap between mainstream, or
Sunni, Islam and its two major branches,
Shi'ism and Sufism."

RA goes on to point out: "Religion, it must
be understood, is not faith. Religion is the
story of faith. It is an institutionalized
system of symbols and metaphors (read
rituals and myths) that provides a common
language with which a community of faith
can share with each other their numinous
encounter with the Divine Presence."

(To be continued)

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net

MEMORIAL DAY MUSINGS

We can love our country and still grieve for
the lives wasted through stupidity and
ignorance. Craig Crawford (writing in The
Huffington Post): "An unpopular president
has been able to secure unfettered financing
to maintain an unpopular war with no end
in sight -- and all this despite nothing but
bad news from the battlefield. Even Abe
Lincoln had to show tangible success --
namely, the burning of Atlanta in 1864 --
to sidetrack mounting opposition to the
Civil War and avoid what might have been
an electral disaster for himself and his
party that year.

Until Republicans on Capitol Hill start
casting votes that sync with their public
and private complaints about the president's
war policy, Bush will continue to get his way.
Even in the best-case scenarios for Democrats
going forward, they could still fall short of
the veto-proof majority they will need to take
control of this war. The more likely
possibility is that only the 2008 election can
change things. And by then, Bush will have
kept his war going all the way to his last day
in office." Oh happy day!

Paul Krugman (in The New York Times):
"Future historians will shake their heads
over how easily America was misled into
war. The warning signs, the indications
that we had a rogue administration
determined to use 9/11 as an excuse for
war, were there, for those willing to see
them, right from the beginning -- even
before Mr. Bush began explicitly pushing
for war with Iraq.

In fact, the very first time Mr. Bush
declared a war on terror that 'will not end
until every terrorist group of global reach
has been found, stopped and defeated,'
people should have realized that he was
going to use the terrorist attack to justify
anything and everything. When he used
his first post-attack State of the Union to
denounce an 'axis of evil' consisting of
three countries that had nothing to do
either with 9/11 or with each other,
alarm bells should have gone off.

But the nation, brought together in grief
and anger over the attack, wanted to
trust the man occupying the White House.
And so it took a long time before
Americans were willing to admit to
themselves just how thoroughly their
trust had been betrayed.

It's a terrible story, yet it's also under-
standable. I wasn't really surprised by
Republican election victories in 2002
and 2004: nations almost always rally
around their leaders in times of war, no
matter how bad the leaders and no
matter how poorly conceived the war.

The question was whether the public
would ever catch on. Well, to immense
relief for those who spent years trying
to get the truth out, they did. Last Nov.
Americans voted overwhelmingly to
bring an end to Mr. Bush's war.

Yet the war goes on."

"Here's the way it ought to be," Krugman
continues: "When Rudy Giuliani says
that Iran, which had nothing to do with 9/11,
is part of a 'movement' that 'has already
displayed more aggressive tendencies by
coming here and killing us,' he should be
treated as a lunatic." (The Iranians [Shia]
hate and oppose al Qaeda [Sunni fanatics]
as much as we do and will gladly join us in
fighting them and the Taliban anywhere
we suggest.)

Krugman again: "When Mitt Romney says
that a coalition of 'Shia and Sunni and
Hezbollah and Hamas and the Muslim
Brotherhood and al Qaeda' wants to 'bring
down the West,' he should be ridiculed for
his ignorance." (Someone should explain
to him why Shia and Sunnis are killing each
other, and that al Qaeda is a renagade part
of the latter, while Hezbollah is Shia, and
the Muslim Brotherhood is a non-violent
political movement.)

Back to Krugman: "And when John McCain
says that Osama, who isn't in Iraq, will
'follow us home' if we leave, he should be
laughed at." (As if they can't operate in more
than one place at a time! Osama can reach
us from wherever he is. He doesn't need
Iraq as much as we do!)

Regardless of our politics, on this Memorial
Day we should certainly thank our troops
whole-heartedly for their sacrifices, and
honor them for their courage and fidelity.
They make us all proud and grateful.

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net

WHY NO 9/11 REPEAT: THE REAL REASON

There is one and only one way to avoid an
endless war with the Muslim world: we must
quickly join hands with the Muslim majority,
who want peace and an end to violence. Time
is of the essence here. Every day we destroy
more lives and property in Iraq, and the
Israelis do the same in the West Bank (with
our help), we are losing more "hearts and minds"
in the Muslim world (MW).

We urgently need to understand those hearts
and minds, and their primary concerns, if we
want to work with them rather than against
them. To help us understand, two bright
young Muslim Americans (both born in
Iran) have written brilliantly about the current
ferment and struggle going on in Islam. Both
authors are fluent in the languages and
cultures of the Middle East (M.E.) Both are
experts on Muslim history and doctrines,
and able to write clearly and interestingly
about these subjects, as well as what is going
on in Islam at the present time.

The Shia Revival, by Vali Nasr, is as fresh
and contemporary as tomorrow's newspaper.
It focuses on the history and status of that
sectarian struggle, as well as it's present and
future implications particularly for the M. E.
His insights are powerful and essential if we
are to find a workable path forward. He is
increasingly recognized as a top expert, and
was a consultant for the Iraq Study Group.

Also emerging as a popular authority on
world-wide Islam, and rightly so, is Reza
Aslan, a professor of world religions, and
author of No god but God. Like The Shia
Revival, this is a "must read" for anyone who
wants to know what's happening today, in the
MW, and why. It is fascinating reading. It's
subtitle: "The Origins, Evolution and Future
of Islam," give an idea of the scope and
importance of this truly monumental work.
And it's easy reading! I have studied (and
taught) Islam for 40+ years, and this is the
best explanation of what's going on in it that
I have seen.

In it, Aslan tells why 9/11 happened, and why
it hasn't happened again: "It is mainly as a
means to galvanize other Muslims to the
jihadist cause that most of these attacks against
the West should be understood. The attacks
of September 11, 2001, for example, were by bin
Laden's own admission specifically designed to
goad the United States into an exaggerated
retaliation against the Islamic world so as to
mobilize Muslims to, in the words of Geo. Bush,
"choose sides."

Why haven't we had a second 9/11? Is it because
our borders are secure? No, they are tighter now
than they were then, but lots of people, drugs and
booty are still coming through. Are we inspecting
all the checked baggage going on our planes? No,
hardly any of it, in fact. Shipping containers
entering our ports? We are inspecting less than
5%!

Is it because we are "fighting them there so we won't
have to fight them here?" No, the Iraqi insurgency
is just that: an Iraqi response to our invasion and
occupation of their country. Wouldn't we be doing
the same thing if we were invaded and occupied by,
say, the Chinese? Most Iraqis believe that we are
there for oil and intend to stay. It's irrelevant why
they believe that. They wouldn't be fighting us if
they didn't. Less than 10% of the forces fighting us
there are al Qaeda. Al Qaeda in Iraq is hated by
most Iraqis and tolerated at all only because they are
helping against us. They will be gone quickly from
Iraq when we are. There is no chance in the world
they will have a secure base there in the future.
They are Sunnis, remember? The Shia majority
will be in control, and they hate al Qaeda more
fiercely than we do. And with more reason.

The real reason there hasn't been another 9/11 is
because the first one accomplished its purpose.
It got us going on a stupid, criminal, horribly
destructive rampage that is bleeding us
unmercifully, and alienating more and more of
the MW the longer it goes on. Bin Laden loves it!
We are playing his tune, following his script, and
losing the battle against terrorism as long as we
continue this fiasco.

More on this debacle later.

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net

FADED HEROES

The Bush enablers and defenders are dwindling.
Two of the most influential, Tony Blair and
Jerry Falwell have recently exited public life.
Both claimed to be evangelical Christians, but
eagerly supported un-Christian activities.

Falwell supported the apartheid government of
South Africa and attacked his fellow Christian,
Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Tutu as a
"phony." Rev. F. also supported segregation
in his native Virginia, teaching that God had
ordained that blacks should serve whites. He
was theologically confused: he chose Moses
over Jesus as his authority. (Always a bad
choice!) Moses, you will recall, also allowed
slavery, polygamy, and easy divorce.

Falwell fought the teaching of biological
Darwinism and embraced social Darwinism
wholeheartedly. He was unaware, evidently,
that the latter is based on, and in fact assumes
the former. Bad theology leads to bad politics,
and vice ver-sa. (Many American church
people are, like Rev. Falwell, unaware that the
unregulated capitalism fashionable today was
openly preached as social Darwinism by the
"Robber Barons" of the late 19th and early
20th century.) It masquerades now as
"compassionate conservatism."

As Leonard Pitts, the syndicated columnist
has written: "With Robertson and a few others,
Jerry Falwell presided over the rise of a
Christianity unrecognizable to many of us
who were raised in that faith. This Christianity's
moral purview was reduced to two issues:
abortion and homosexuality. It had nothing to
say about feeding the hungry, housing the
homeless, helping the helpless."

Turning now to Tony Blair, we have a more
truly tragic figure. This is a bright, idealistic,
well educated, highly talented person who,
for the best reasons in the world, fell in with
evil companions. He reminds me of Jake, the
ex-Ranger in "Lonesome Dove" who hung
with horse thieves (literally). T. B., like his
friend W. was gulled into the Iraq disaster
by pro-Israel neocons like Cheney, Perle,
Wolfowitz & company. It's tragic for Tony,
and for Colin Powell (who was also gulled),
and for George Tenent (one of the gullers),
but even more tragic for 4 million Iraqis
displaced from their homes, and 600,000
plus killed, with several principal cities
destroyed. And no end in sight. It's tragic
for American families losing 100 killed
each month, and 6 or 7 hundred badly
wounded.

"The kaleidoscope has been shaken," Tony
Blair told a labour party conference in Oct.,
2001. "The pieces are in flux. Soon they
will settle again. Before they do, let us re-
order the world." This was after Mr. Bush
had promised to answer the 9/11 attacks
and "rid the world of evil." What hubris!
What tragic and total silliness!

David Bromwich writes in The Huffington
Post: "The kaleidoscope of Blair was a
necessary cover for the crusade of Bush.
He imparted to the Iraq war a gloss of
philanthropy, a generous fervor, an
impression of a clean conscience; and
his eager eloquence sapped the determi-
nation to resist the war among a good
many doubters."

A decent man who believes in world
community put his beliefs on a shelf to
support criminal actions in a war of
aggression opposed by large majorities
throughout the European community
(including his own Britain), and by
most of the world community.

Here is Bromwich again: "'Hand on heart,'
Tony Blair asked in his farewell speech to
be pardoned for the sincerity of his mistakes
(if they were mistakes). But, hand at the
switch, he never doubted the right of the
great powers to decide by force the destiny
of lesser powers. Merely going along with
Bush has always borne with it a prerequisite
of fever and panic. The binge thinking and
slurred explanations and avoidance of
honest reckoning and reality are too giddy
for some tastes. Having Blair on board gave
a promise of accountability; but the promise
was rhetorical and meant little to its maker."
And nothing to anyone else. What a waste!

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net

LIKELIEST STORY?

How can we know for sure if Iraq is really
about oil? Well, how about if we knew that
the Saudis are running out of the stuff?
Connect the dots: Saudi Arabia is our main
oil source. Several world oil experts say
Saudi production is in irreversible decline.
The Saudis deny it, and keep their records
secret. You can easily check the claims of
both: just Google "Saudi oil fields."

If the outside experts are right, and the
Texas oil men in charge here have known
this ever since one of the experts spoke at
the Veep's secret energy confab early in this
administration (which is why it was secret),
that could explain Mr. Bush's seeming
inexplicable (and irrational) determination
to stay put in Iraq no matter what! That
would also explain the pres.'s statement
that a future president will decide when to
leave Iraq, and his confident prediction
that history will prove him right. He must
know something we don't. Otherwise we are
led by a madman. And that's not likely. The
other story is likelier. Or I like to think so!
Watch for it to begin to be leaked by the
administration, probably near election time!
What do you think?

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net