'Democratic Islamic Republic is a biggest lie' - Democracy is democracy!

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'Democratic Islamic Republic is a biggest lie' - Democracy is democracy!
by Iqbal Latif
16-Sep-2011
 

Dissent and freedom of expression are source of democracy, a nation that denies both denies democracy. Iran can be rightly termed as the cradle of civilization and of being a "Lawgiver"; it has a rich tradition of culture and diversity of thinking.

As a region, Iran has given law to the world; laws of the Medes and Persians acquired wide-ranging prominence. Iranian history has a very close relationship to near the beginning when humanity started living as a civilised society. To obliterate the heritage of freedom seekers and minorities is not a service to Islam; rather, it is an affront to the religious convictions of pluralism.

 

Democratic Islamic Republic is a biggest lie; Democracy is not Islamic or Christian- Democracy is democracy! Dignity of man - I have rights as a man- when you take my rights away you take my humanity away!! No prophet can claim the institution of dignity emanating from the source of his scriptures! Hence no Republic founded on 'any of the holy scriptures' can claim warrants to enforce human dignity ala Islam or Christianity. Human dignity is free of holy scriptures it is within us. When free expression is denied humanity is denied. Human dignity is not a 'God bestowed right' it is an innate right to respect and receive ethical treatment. It is an offshoot of Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable rights.

 

Human dignity beyond chains of particular belief is a concept that dates back to Pico della Mirandola a philosopher of the Renaissance, granted dignity to ideas and to beings. In his "Oration on the Dignity of Man" he told hostile clerics about the dignity of the liberal arts. This oration is commonly seen as one of the central texts of the Renaissance, intimately tied with the growth of humanist philosophies. Age of Enlightenment (17th and 18th centuries).

 

The lack of respect for human life, in mullah led Iran in particular, and the collective flippant attitude of the world of "political Islam" towards mass human rights abuses in general, stems from sacrificing longstanding universal truths like "strings that have connected the "necklace of mankind" together. The potency of these "strings" that connects our universal village together lies in the potency of the weakest link. These longstanding universal truths of respect for life and availability of justice are codified as a part of broad-spectrum civility in our genes.

 

What has recently happened post revolutions is that some have discovered the weakest spot in the string that holds the global village necklace. Seeing a rich traditional country like Iran deviating to these low levels of turpitude of governance is incredible. We need to reject this grave attack on "human civility and dignity" by a handful of ideological thugs. It is the string of "civility" that connects our human village together, this source of respect towards each other is a fountain of wellspring of mankind, and Iran has definitely been the source of the universal tradition of civility.

 

Efforts to erase the minorities under the charges of "misguided group... whose affiliation and association with world Zionism is a clear fact"from the Iranian mosaic are gruesome. It is a prerequisite for any contemporary social order to endure that it has to find a way that coalesces the trinity, which is: respect of law, importance of science and logic and religion. To expect such conditions to exist in theologically infested societies within cores of the present world of Islam, that of Iran, is an unviable bet. Naturally, their very theological constitution rarely helps to find themselves in an enviable position in discovering this nirvana of advancement and optimism.

 

Cyrus the Great granted that right, and literally figures like Rumi and Saadi have structured within the Iranian genre by saying: "The sons of Adam are limbs of one another Having been created of one essence." "When the calamity of time afflicts one limb, The other limbs cannot remain at rest."A great commanding and authoritative speech by a global champion of Human Right causes. It is perhaps the tragedy that a few "deranged ideologically motivated" leaders have wasted the histological traditions of Iran in less than three decades, the richness of thousands of years trampled in few years.

 

To live in peace without coercion is an indispensable human right; terror campaigns violate the sacred trust of "live and let others live" that has been evolved over millenniums. Law started in Iran in the beginnings of human history, however, this rich inheritance has been wretchedly shattered by the in-attendance clerical tyranny in Tehran. Human social contract of peace with each other is based on dignity of man and intricate relationship of 'being' with the innate basic human rights i.e. to equality; egalitarianism and treatment of each other as equal. When that basic decorum is deprived, it has to be opposed and damned.

 

In all Islamic countries when they deny the 'Rights of Man' they charge the accused of espionage for Jews or Imperialists, forget it; please I beg your pardon. Iran is a great nation mired in turpitude of governance under a decadent theocratic model that has no place in the contemporary world. Iran's contributions to codified law, so as to dispense justice, are poignant, evidenced by the extensive corpus of pre-Islamic texts on religious and scientific laws.

 

The ancestors of the Persians, the ancient Zoroastrians, covered texts from the laws applying to soldiers to those on the cultivation of soil. It is perhaps the tragedy that a few "deranged ideologically motivated" leaders have wasted the histological traditions of Iran in less than three decades, the richness of thousands of years trampled in few years. The first 'Iranian rulers' were lawgivers and now contrast it to today and one sees the 21st century Iran under clergy as the biggest violator of human rights.

 

Its post-revolution decline from bastion and cradle of civilization to the lowest rung of civilized nation's ladder is scandalous and disgusting. To live in peace without coercion is an indispensable human right; terror campaigns violate the sacred trust of "live and let others live" that has been evolved over millenniums. Law started in Iran in the beginnings of human history, however, this rich inheritance has been wretchedly shattered by the in-attendance clerical tyranny in Tehran.

 

Democratic Islamic republic is a biggest lie; Democracy is neither Islamic nor Christian! Democracy is democracy! When free expression is denied humanity is denied. Dignity of man- I have rights as a man- when you take my rights away you take my humanity away!! Although it is generally considered that the most ancient code of laws is understood by Western scholars to be the code of Hammurabi, an ancient king of Babylonia, who ruled about 2100 B.C. Babylonia, the first dignitaries to have rendered extraordinary service in framing and codifying laws was Prince Uruvakhshaya, the brother of the eternal idol Krsaspa (Garshasp) and the son of King Thrita, the vicar of medicine. They were the direct ancestry of Yima, the dazzling antediluvian monarch. This unquestionably demonstrates insistence of early Iranian rulers to codify law and provide justice to their subjects.

 

The other code known to civilisation popularly is the "Justinian code" Roman law that was promulgated by Justinian, the contemporary of Khosrow, the Great of Persia who was more popularly known as Anoshervan. The influences of Anoshervan on edicts of Justinian code are extraordinarily evident. It is obvious however that the more ancient cradle civilizations of Iran, China, India and Egypt should have had earlier systems of law. The issues of terrorism and barbarism arisen in the present day and age have shaken the limbs of humanity. It is however commendable that, despite insinuation and indirect intervention, Iran has not been responsible for the kind of global terrorism that finds its roots coming from extremist elements within Saudi Arabia.

 

Iran is far too sophisticated for that. But to see the violations in terms of human rights abuses originating from this great country is heartbreaking; particularly, a nation ingrained with the utterances of Cyrus the Great, who 2500 years ago said, "he would not reign over the people if they did not wish it" and declared that he would not force any person to change his religion or faith.In very ancient times, it was Iran that taught humanity the interweavements of Law with Science and Religion. Since Zarathushtra, when human awareness was raised into the inviolability of religion and devised into twenty-one Nasks or Holy Books, one third of Zarathushtra works comprised Law, one-third Science, and one-third pure Religion. 'Sovereignty of belief' i.e. to be free of religion or be religious or be an apostate is a basic human right : Equality is a right of every human being; Cyrus the Great granted that right, and literally figures like Rumi and Saadi have structured within the Iranian genre by saying:"The sons of Adam are limbs of one another Having been created of one essence.""When the calamity of time afflicts one limb, The other limbs cannot remain at rest. Unfortunately the freedom oriented Iran still face, day after day, methodical denial of their rights, not only as Iranian citizens with regard to their civil and political rights, but also in terms of their economic, social and cultural rights as members of a world-wide religious faith.

 

The trampling of the customs of Cyrus the great and adage of Saadi to annihilate vibrant freedom sseking communities that take pride in its Iranian roots is poignant day for Iran. Rediscovery of "political Islam" in Shiite and Sunni worlds has led to the redefinition of our human social contract evolved over thousands of years through a process of survival of the best idea. The legacy of thousands of years' human richness has been sacrificed on the altar of holy interpretations of how we should administer our life; unfortunately these interpretations are led by the likes of Khomeini and Mullah Omar.

 

Ideologically provoked "terrorism" has plunged a dagger into the heart of our social contract, that of basic respect of human life. It provides, through its ill-founded medieval judgment and jurisprudence, the "right to kill innocent" without hearing. The heart and mind of every terrorist has become the "temple of justice", with so many elevated to dispense summary justice as they please the "high priests"with a 5 kg dynamite belt strapped around their waist, out to avenge and settle scores with those who do not believe in their vision of Dark Age living.

 

The suicide judges have rewritten the rules of engagement prevalent amongst combatants; the "holy repugnance" of taking one's own life has been redefined as the revenge of the weak. With new ideological jurisprudence in practice, we are living in a two-tiered world of justice, one where justice demands evidence before someone is convicted, the other, where convictions are handed by 21st century's new inquisitors, those who are quick to dispense justice and are able to craft and interpret the worst of atrocities in the name of "moral equivalence and ideological justifications." "Jihadi and ideological instincts" are regrettably in dissent with the contract of basic respect for life that works in concert with rich traditional and cultural diversity of our society.

 

Human beings have overcome a lot of this adversity in the past and our combined human heritage is strong enough to accept this new challenge. The holy inquisitions of the present age, like the inquisitions of the past, are bound to fail. We as human beings have shown that conscientiousness time and again.

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Iqbal Latif

"The eagle does not hunt flies"

by Iqbal Latif on

Humans are mix of rubbish and innovation, in pursuit of truth humans mind toys with several permutations some can be rubbish, but rubbish needs to destroyed and not in monosyllable.

Monosyallablity is remnant of our primitive mindset and rubbish stays where it so let's argue; let's make some fireworks, let's destroy what is not the truth, that is the what a blog is all about.

I will word it differently from Maulvi, my speech is like the river or may be a well and it is the mad silence of the sea all-around you, may be the sea is seeking you: don’t seek the river or the well; go and seek the sea.

I believe it is always better to be known as for who you are than to be loved for what you are not. Rumi topped it ‎''Everything about yesterday has gone with yesterday. Today, it is needed to say new things.''

I did learn from you, you helped me create this by the way:

//www.facebook.com/mevlana#!/notes/iqbal-latif/the-eagle-does-not-hunt-flies-either-teach-or-learn-or-leave/10150287446475036

I wish I could write in monosyllables, when someone argues in monosyllable, no defense can ever be made. Even a relationship comes to a dead end when you are told in a single sentence 'I have no time!'

Aquila non capit muscas "Either teach, or learn, or leave"

On ''I'd had a look at globalpolitician, some worth reading, some utter rubbish.''

P.S. If you want to read some more new good/utter rubbish you can visit me here too:

//iqballatif.newsvine.com/


SamSamIIII

Mr Latif

by SamSamIIII on

 

I think Greek default is priced in the market considering the ridiculous %125 yield on their 1 yr treasury notes & junk bonds and considering fairytale speculation on Itlay & Spain's default outta way I say market is a buy if S&P breaks above 1225 resistance. what do you think?.. with china's inflation apparently under control on the last report I think we shall see PBC easing on growth policy which might pretty well restart another short term opportunity. I say short term since Finanacials XLF & construction XHB are still a drag & havent started a meaningfull recovery . In macro I say; short Gold above $2000 (will reach there & fade), US treasuries between now & december. In micro, short NFLX, go long on semis such as NVDA, INTC, buy RIMM below 20, long YHOO as it will be taken out by leveredge M&A , & most beaten down Chinese ADS stocks as most have hit bottom & major short sqeeze is in order.

 

Good blog btw & cheers!!!


Rea

To cut the long story short

by Rea on

No matter how you make your words sing, 2+2 = 4.

Personally, come under the one seated in Vatican, yet couldn't care less about.

Sa'adi is the answer. 

Of one Essence is the human race...

Out of here, cheers.

PS. curious as I am, I'd had a look at globalpolitician, some worth reading, some utter rubbish.


Iqbal Latif

"It is fun to do something foolish every now and then!"

by Iqbal Latif on

"Democracy is not Islamic or Christian- Democracy is democracy!"

''neither it is Hare Krishna*, or Jewish**, or Snow White and the 7 dwarfs.*** ''

Let me elucidate for you that this whole article was inspired by the official name of Iran and many Muslim countries:

Islamic Republic of Iran
Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān

Motto:Independence, Freedom, Islamic Republic

It is the constant 'Islamic democratic harping' by many Islamic countries that I am talking about e.g.

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Jomhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Afġānistān

Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Islāmī Jumhūrī-ye Pākistān

Motto:Unity, Discipline, Faith Ittehad, Tanzeem, Yaqeen-e-Muhkam

Arab Republic of Egypt
Ǧumhūriyyat Miṣr al-ʿArabiyyah
"Bilady, Bilady, Bilady"

Even the worst of Islamic dictatorships Sudan led by ideological tyrant like Bashir who imposed a Islamic legal code and recruited Arab militias in guerrilla warfare in the ongoing conflict in Darfur (the conflict is described as a genocide )calls itself Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān.

The other possible Islamic Republics in offing in and around the area are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Islam had the second largest number of believers in the Soviet Union, with between 45 and 50 million people identifying themselves as Muslims. The Soviet Union which existed from 1922 until its dissolution into a series of separate nation states in 1991 of these fifteen republics, six had a Muslim majority.

There is also a large Muslim presence in the Volga-Ural region and most of the population of North Caucasus of Russian Federation were Muslims and a large number of Tatar Muslims lived in Siberia and other regions.

Now let's look at the Hare Krishna* country, the largest democracy does not crow about Jomhuri-ye Hindu but simple :

Republic of IndiaBhārat Gaṇarājya
"Truth Alone Triumphs"

Now let's go to Jewish**
Israel official name is :
State of Israel
Medīnat Yisrā'el Dawlat Isrā'īl

Snow White and the 7 dwarfs is neither Islamic nor democratic! ***

I hope you can see now very clearly what I meant by "Democracy is not Islamic or Christian- Democracy is democracy!"

It is the constant repetition of Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān that led me to write that 'Democracy is not Islamic or Christian!'

These countries motto are Democracy, Independence, Freedom, Ittehad, Tanzeem, Yaqeen-e-Muhkam, none of the forgone are anywhere applied! Islamic system is not democratic and has no room for 'general will of public' it is subservient to the will of Allah.

When Christian Empire existed they never called themselves as democratic but 'Holy' with the papal writ of holy symbolic authority over all Christendom!

There has been 'The Holy Roman Empire' that existed from 962–1806 in Central Europe. It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Imperium Romanum Sacrum (IRS), Sacro Romano Impero (SRI)) was a realm (Reich)

Revived: Pope Leo III on a Christmas day in the year 800—more than three centuries after the abdication of the last Roman emperor, the Carolingian king of the Franks, Charlemagne was crowned Emperor 'The Holy Roman Empire'
This papal act was seen as a revival, or transference, of the Roman empire, prophesied to be the last of four earthly kingdoms preceding the Apocalypse.

The imperial title, which asserted symbolic authority over all Christendom but had little concrete political significance, was passed to Charlemagne's Carolingian successors.
In its last centuries, its character became quite close to a union of territories. The French Enlightenment writer Voltaire remarked sardonically that "this agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire."

Now what remains of the Christian empire is episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church. 'The Holy See.' (Latin: Sancta Sedes, "holy chair") is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is also recognized by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained.

Now coming to @ 'Somewhat repetitious' I agree but would add my 2 cents worth:

I hide behind words.
I make them dance and sing
so I don’t have to.
I make them cry,
so I don’t have [...]

I have gathered some old truths let me share with you; true 'understanding' is reiteration of old ideas in new forms with unsullied stimulations; it is like making ablutions in old sand though water is near. ( Rumi)

For me humility or diffidence in knowledge is most imperative, as Maulvi says: 'O Thou that changest earth into gold, And out of other earth madest the father of mankind, Thy business is changing things and bestowing favours, My business is mistakes and forgetfulness and error. Change my mistakes and forgetfulness to knowledge; I am altogether vile, make me temperate and meek. '

Making myself ignorant, submissive, only helps me release from myself imposed ignorance. If one would like to become a pilgrim on the road of love with me? The first condition is that one make oneself humble as dust and ashes. 'Be nothing if you want to be something!!'

There is a Latin inscription in St. Paul's School Aquila non capit muscas "Either teach, or learn, or leave" Since I am a learner here only I can only say Aliquando et insanire jucundum "It is fun to do something foolish every now and then" but remember before I leave Aquila non capit muscas "The eagle does not hunt flies"

Moreover as a perpetual student I have learned that Aut dosce, aut disce, aut discede sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment; Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment intuition!

Thanks for your very kind one liner, it was quite mentally provocative and helpful.


Rea

Somewhat repetitious

by Rea on

Otherwise, the core message I agree with entirely and wholeheartedly. 

"Democracy is not Islamic or Christian- Democracy is democracy!"

Would only add, neither it is Hare Krishna, or Jewish, or Snow White and the 7 dwarfs.


Iqbal Latif

Of one Essence is the human race;

by Iqbal Latif on

Thanks Maryam,

Of one Essence is the human race,
Thusly has Creation put the Base;
One Limb impacted is sufficient,
For all Others to feel the Mace.

Iranian poet Saadi (~1200-1292)

 


Maryam Hojjat

Mr. Latif, Excellent Article

by Maryam Hojjat on

thank you for contribution to IC.  I am so privillaged to read your articles and be enlighthen by your vision of the world.  I wish those clergies in Iran in particular were able to understand your writings and digest them but I doubt it very much. 


Iqbal Latif

Conspiracy theories to eliminate minorities has no mileage!!

by Iqbal Latif on

Conspiracy theories to eliminate minorities has no mileage. Let's look at the core of the problem:

Repression is a totalitarian tool and this sensitivity of 'millions of a nation of faithful' is so reproachful; I don't accept one man ship of mullah or clerics or any prophet; but I also defend the rights of those which are trampled for what they believe in, my right as an apostate or believer should be as protected as their right of being faithful or a Ayatollah.

Day after day, methodical denial of rights of minorities across the board contitue highest form of intellectual discrimination- 'a genocide of mind is as worst as genocide of bodies,' not only as Iranian citizens with regard to their civil and political rights, but also in terms of their economic, social and cultural rights as members of a world-wide religious faith.

Forget about false drummed up charges of Bahá'ís being the 'fifth columnists' and agents of Zionism; how much fair is this when nearly thousands of Baha'i university-age students in Iran are affected by new government regulations requiring that, in order to attend a university this coming year, they must accept identification as Muslims. ''Unfortunately the anti-bahai craze has a history that precedes the status quo.'' There is no reason for Bahá'í persecution rather Iran should take pride in the ideas of universal egalitarianism formulated by the founders of the Bahá'í Faith.

Anyone in the 19th century coming up with the idea of 'One world government, a connected world and a universal language that should be commonly instituted plus equality of rights between gender should only be a constructive feature of a nation.' Only the greatest have been visionary of universal oneness of mankind, Iranian mullahs have shaped a blinkered and bigoted society that encourages division and selective prejudice against peripheral minorities; the heavenly trade off promised makes our planet tormented and hellish, this needs all our collective denunciation.

Equality is a right of every human being; Cyrus the Great granted that right, and literally figures like Rumi and Saadi have structured within the Iranian genre by saying: "The sons of Adam are limbs of one another Having been created of one essence." "When the calamity of time afflicts one limb, The other limbs cannot remain at rest."

By that token, are Bahais' not the sons of Adam? Unfortunately the Baha'is of Iran still face, day after day, methodical denial of their rights, not only as Iranian citizens with regard to their civil and political rights, but also in terms of their economic, social and cultural rights as members of a world-wide religious faith. The trample the customs of Cyrus the great and adage of Saadi to annihilate a vibrant community that takes pride in its Iranian roots is poignant day for Iran.

The ideal of an egalitarian society where the prejudice of colour, race and belief will be shunned and a new call of oneness of mankind becomes the cardinal goal of mankind looks premature even now. In medieval Iran of the 19th century how could a man, descending partly from aristocracy and partly from Babism, have coined the new world order of collective progress is beyond the scope of many great modern thinkers.

The vision of future held by members of the Bahai community, however little it may be understood as yet by the majority of the planet's inhabitants, refutes the idea of encroaching darkness; the Bahai vision is, in contrast, one of great promise. The Bahai vision amongst the contemporary revolutionary thoughts is viewed as marking the last and highest stage in the stupendous evolution of man's collective life on this planet.

The emergence of a world community, the consciousness of world citizenship, the founding of a world civilization and culture...should, by their very nature, be regarded, as far as this planetary life is concerned, as the furthermost limits and the cutting edge in the organization of human society, this is the vertical limit and Iranians can be proud of the fact that such a global visionary as Bahaullah was born in Tehran.

Persecution of man is something that has been very close to my heart and soul, the persecution of Bahá'ís is tremendously significant.

I have extensively covered this subject like many others with great enthusiasm.

Persecution of thought has been a established practice of medieval minds. Caliph Omar before deciding the fate of Great Library of Alexandria, is described in Jorge Luis Borges poem ‘Alexandria, AD 641′ before commanding his soldiers to destroy it, said:

''They say the wealth of volumes it contains
Outnumbers the stars or the grains
Of sand in the desert. The man
Who tried to read them all would lose
His mind and the use of his reckless eyes.''

Today in this day of knowledge the quantity of information produced every 48 hours now exceeds the sum of all the words uttered by mankind since the beginning of time until the 21st century. A new super consciousness of mankind has evolved where billon of people are connecting to each other.

Internet today has become source of infinite information. Mankind faces new threat from extreme censorships of ideas in the part of the worlds that are not free from dogma; contemporary man today finds himself even a thousand years away from era of Caliph Omar in front of a new rendezvous with epoch of information – the old 'scripts, ideas and books' are replaced by now specks of instant information flowing through a faultless World Wide Web.

We see events in real time at distance that only were attributed to Gods. Distance has died and so has our ability to unravel mysteries of nature. It is sad that some people are still stuck in 'Iranian mullah primitive society' with persecution of those who believe in oneness of mankind.

Equality is a right of every human being; In this , intricately interwoven world of ours freedom of thought is the burning issue of the day. In my humble opinion it is only from the excesses of the past like those Iranian clergy, Vatican and Caliph that we learn not to duplicate our blunders. I wrote an article that in my opinion is an essential effort to emphasize that the suppression of the Taliban and Khomeini are just a persistence of our fight back with 'suppression' in the name of holy writ.

In 2002, Aug I wrote this article where I coined the term 'Medieval ignorance' describing the attitude of the Iranian clergy towards Baha'is.

Medieval ignorance
The silence of Iranian polity towards Bahai persecution
August 5, 2002
//iranian.com/IqbalLatif/2002/August/Baha...

I also wrote in 2006 about intellectual cleansing and highlighted that no one gives a damn about the Baha'is in Iran, after a decade these terms are now become part of lexicon of Baha'i persecutions.

Black census
Counting minorities is an omen of bad prospects and evil designs ahead
//iranian.com/IqbalLatif/2006/May/Bahai/i...


Iqbal Latif

Renaissance Cannot Be Islamic

by Iqbal Latif on

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has adopted a new charter that calls for a “jihad of peace” to spark off an Islamic renaissance. Muslim country Indonesia called for an “Islamic Renaissance.” Indonesian President Susilo Bambang was quoted as saying “The possibility of an Islamic renaissance lies before us. We need to get our act together as an organisation of Muslim nations.” These are virtuous and extremely timely, helpful statements cannot be overlooked, these represents sea change of attitude and I can see beginning of a thaw in very hardened ideological quarters. The world should try to capitalise on these offshoots and act as catalyst to commence a debate on change.

Renaissance has no colour, creed or ideology, add reason to logic and top it up with broad-mindedness and pluralism and you have a sturdy drift of 'Renaissance' engulfing any region or any society. For these conditions to exist minds need to be free from dogma and idolatry of puritan ideology. Self righteousness is anathema of Renaissance, so is self flagellation and self pity, nations who indulge in this are more concerned with post life than the life here.

Describing the OIC as a “unique” institution, Yudhoyono said its influence covered three continents. Besides, Muslim countries supplied 70 per cent of the worlds energy requirements and 40 per cent of its raw material exports, he added.It’s appalling statistic that with all of their oil wealth, two-thirds of the world’s poorest people live in Muslim countries? This state of misery is unparalleled; Islam’s inability to translate its economic prowess into general good has baffled the intelligentsia of the world. Perhaps one can argue that why, in the last 20 years, have over million people died in conflicts involving intra Muslim wars? Why are democracy and the rule of law nonexistent in most Muslim states? Why are most of the worst acts of terrorism carried out in the name of Islam? Whenever wicked fundamentalists have taken over reins of affairs they have gone for the jugular. Extremists have a single point agenda whereby 'worldly decadence' needs to be abolished for blessings and rewards of the after world. None of devotion but their kind can gratify them, every strain of deviancy over times have its own brand of virtuous approach, these anarchists at one point have inflicted devastation on embryonic societies of Islam.

I have a suggestion for President Susilo Bambang. Renaissance cannot be tainted with colour of ideology, it cannot be ‘Islamic or Christian,’ it is collective effort of minds to seek freedom from dogma and seek answers to complex questions of purpose of existence on this planet. Free thinking, logic and rationalism have to be the foundation stone of any serious attempt to induce renaissance in the Islamic world. Pluralism of Ideas and the prosperity of any land are intertwined. Freedom of minds and skill of intellect to ‘think the unthinkable’ is how humanity has progressed; when minds are incarcerated nothing endures.

//www.globalpolitician.com/print.asp?id=4272