Pope is right on Islam (A Hindu View)

At the height of the war in Lebanon two months ago, an assortment of Arabs, British Muslims, radical socialists and bleeding heart liberals marched through the streets of London with placards proclaiming "we are all Hezbollah." Since Pope Benedict XVI delivered his scholarly but contentious lecture in Regensburg last Wednesday, an equally unlikely assortment of individuals bound by a common distaste for Islamist terrorism have been whispering the counter-proclamation: "We are all Papists now."

Before rushing to take rival positions in the trench warfare of civilisations, it is prudent to remember that the contemporary Islamist assault on the "decadent" West, epitomised by "American imperialism", has long enjoyed the backing of influential Muslim theologians. This is, perhaps, the first time that the philosophical gulf between Islam and Western civilisation has been delineated by someone who wields authority in the Christian world. Pope Benedict, unlike many of his colleagues in Rome, has not succumbed to either the pretensions of Christian universalism or the mumbo jumbo of inter-faith dialogue. He has rightly viewed both Christianity and the Catholic Church as load-bearing pillars of Western civilisation. He has disavowed the growing secularisation of national cultures and, by implication, called into question the moral relativism which accompanies the practice of multiculturalism in the EU.

In an article If Europe Hates Itself written when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger, the Pope despaired about Europe's growing inability to distinguish good from evil: "The West reveals ... a hatred of itself, which is strange and can only be considered pathological; the West ... no longer loves itself; in its own history, it now sees only what is deplorable and destructive, while it is no longer able to perceive what is great and pure."

In November 2004, he despaired that secular ideology which is "imposed through politics... does not give public space to the Catholic or Christian vision (and) runs the risk of becoming something purely private and, thus, disfigured."

The Regensburg lecture amounted to a Christian critique of the violence that is inherent in political Islam. However, rather than fall back on the politically expedient and customary detachment of Islamism from Islam, the Pope chose to distinguish between Christianity's reason-based European underpinnings and Islam's faith-based traditions centred also on literal acceptance of its texts. By implication, his lecture was also an attack on some of the more aggressively evangelical churches found in the US and would have been treated as such if the references to the Byzantine experience had been omitted. In arguing that violence was at odds with reason, the Pope was also tacitly repudiating some of Christianity's bloody inheritance, but this aspect of his lecture has been overshadowed by the furore over Islamic certitudes.

What the Pope argued last week is not strikingly original. Many of the contemporary critiques of Islam have dwelt at length on the fact that the apparent finality of the Quran has made it difficult for Islam to experience a Reformation. What is also undeniable is that whereas the claims of Islam to be a religion of peace have been unceasingly made, almost all the Islamists have justified their terrorism in terms of religious obligation.

Heinous crimes have been committed and justified in the name of religion. Concern has also been voiced that the tenets of brotherhood in Islam do not always extend to non-believers, making them incompatible with multi-religious existence.

These are issue which warrant dispassionate debate and dialogue. The Pope may have been injudicious in citing a 14th century assessment by a Byzantine emperor but the questions he has raised are relevant both in theological and political terms. What is alarming is the fierce reaction to his lecture. They suggest that any debate on Islam based on critical scrutiny is bound to be accompanied by threats and intimidation. Far from encouraging sympathetic understanding of Muslim societies, this climate of intolerance is certain to fuel Islamophobia.

Political correctness necessitates debunking the clash of civilisations but realities on the ground are beginning to suggest otherwise.

Or this quote from Churchill, which is now a classic

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property‹either as a child, a wife, or a concubine‹must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science‹the science against which it had vainly struggled‹the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."

http://allaboutsikhs.com/martyrs/martyrbandasingh.htm

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur was the first Singh King who established Sikh rule in a large part of Punjab. Lachhman Das was his childhood name. He was born to Rajput parents. He wa very fond of hunting in his early life. One he hunted a she dear who was pregnant. The dying animal gave birth to two kids who also died along with their mother before the eyes of Lachhman Das.

He was thoroughly shaken by the incident and ovecome with grief, he renounced the world and became a Bairagi Sadhu adopting first one Janki Das as his Guru, and later some others, but none of them being true Guru, could provide him peace of mind. He turned to tantric sadhus and acquired some miracle powers. With the help of these miracles powers he was able to recruit a number of persons as his agent disciples. Through them, he established his popularity among the simple minded people around his Ashram on the bank of river Godavri. None benefitted from his miracles. He rather used those miracles to sub due and humiliate religious leaders and other famous saints of the atea who ever happened to visit his Ashram. Guru Gobind Singh while travelling towards South India from North along with some Sikhs, visited Lachhman Das’s Ashram and in his absence, sat on his beautifully decorated cot.
On his return to the Ashram, Lachhman Das could not tolerate Guru Gobind Singh occupying his seat. He along with his disciples tried all their tantric miracles to overturn the cot occupied by Guru Gobind Singh, in order to humiliate and punish him for his daring act but failed to cause any harm to the new unknown visitor. No trick worked on the Guru. He kept sitting on smilingly.

Accepting defeat, Lachhman Das Bairagi fell at the feet of Guru Gobind Singh and asked forgiveness and said, “O, Guru Ji, I am your Banda (Slave)”. Show me light and put me on the right path. I am at your service and am prepared to do anything at your bidding.

Guru Gobind Singh taught him the basic principles of sikh religion and administered Amrit to Lachhman Das, admitting him to Sikh fold. The Guru renamed him as Banda Singh. Guru Ji’s Amrit changed Lachhman Das’s life completely. He was no longer a wicked bairagi troubling humiliating innocent people, but was now a brave Sikh of the tenth Master.

Guru Gobind Singh sent Banda Singh on a mission to Punjab to punish the guilty and cruel rulers of the time. He was provided with five brave Sikhs as advisors. He was also provided with necessay weapons.
Fully armed and accompanied by brave Sikhs and Guru Ji’s blessing, banda Singh proceeded on his mission towards Punjab. With the help of Guru’s Hukumnamas (Orders) to Sikh community to help and join Banda Singh in his assigned mission, thousands of armed Sikhs joined him. The rulers of Punjab were already well aware of fighting qualities of the Sikhs and were thus terrified to face them.

Within a short time, Sikh forces, under the leadership of brave Banda Singh, put to death many tyrant rulers, including Nazab Wazir Khan who was responsible for putting to death the two younger sons of Guru Gobind Singh in a most in human manner. Cruel rulers and their associates were singled out systematically, picked up and punished for their crimes against humanity.

Banda Singh captured large part of Punjab and established sikh rule there. He minted coins in the name of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Guru Gobing Singh ji, In the meantime, Faruksaiyar became the Emperor at Delhi. He was angered by the defeat of Mughtal forces at the hands of Banda Singh everywhere. He sent a large force from Delhi and mobilised forces from eleswhere in Punjab to defeat and capture Baba Banda Singh.

The Sikh forces were ultimately beseiged by overwhelming number of Mughal forces in the fortess of Gurdas Nangal. The Sikhs fought valiantly under the leadership of Baba Banda Singh inflicting heavy casualties on the Moghul army. However, due to prolonged encircling of the fortess by superior number of forces, the Sikh forces were left with no rations. They were forced to eat tree leaves to sustain themselves. Due to this, they became too weak to fight the enemy.

Ultimately, the brave Sikh general Baba Banda Singh Bahadur was arrested along with seven hundred Sikh soldiers and brought to Delhi, where they were mounted on ponies, insulted and paraded in the Bazars of Delhi.
The Sikhs were offered amnesty if they accepted conversion to Islam. Not one among them accepted this offer of lease of life. As such they were tortured and done to death publicly. They died in high spirits, sticking to their faith.
Finally before Baba Banda Singh was butchered most mercilessly by the tyrant rulers, his four years old son was put ot death in front of Baba Banda Singh, by cutting open his abdomen. His heart was taken out and thrust into the mouth of Baba Banda Singh. But even this most inhuman and cruel act of tyrant rulers failed to break Baba Ji’s resolve and determination. He remained composed as ever. Finally, he was put to death most mercilessly by pinching the flesh from his body, bit by bit, by means of heated pincers.

Thus came to an end and eventful chapter of Sikh History when the tyrant Moghul rulers tasted defeat after defeat for a number of years at the hand of Sikhs under the leadership of the first Sikh General Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. The Guru thus demonstrated to the people the true strength of mind and body of those who had partaken Amrit and how a Bairagi who was notorious and aimless, could turn out to be a brave person with credible achievements.

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