United States of Islam

by: Sheikh Taimur Nawaz

The phrase ‘do more’ is not merely a random expression but has a very serious connotation and it seems our masters use this as if they have ‘exclusive territorial copy rights’ with them for indefinite period. We have already paid a very heavy cost in this regard and it appears the ‘compliance mode’ at the helm of affairs is likely to go on. While driving down the urban cities, one unfortunate depiction of our loss is seen in the form of boulevards and crossings being named after ‘Shuhada’s’ (martyrs). This pertinent observation makes me sad as one doesn’t come across that many anywhere in the world.

This loss aside, the compliance to ‘do more’ time and again is hurting our ability to challenge our status quo and to move on with new initiatives on diplomatic front. The voices are curbed and reduced to minimal decibels. We are living in one of the most unfortunate times and the present generation continue to suffer. It’s becoming an era of ‘deception’; we are increasingly becoming unsure of what is reported to us. The news seems to be engineered serving hidden agenda’s of certain inflectional groups and factions. Gone are the days when television was supposedly a source of entertainment and relaxation. We switch on television and are bombarded with news channels fighting in terms of points scoring with tall claims of breaking a news to the public for the first time. And of course the news are disturbing as it is most of the time reporting of loss of precious lives, strikes, injustices, deprivation etc. We are unsure of who is who, serving whose ulterior motives.

It’s a simple profit and loss statement and a no brainer to see loss and gains in this dangerous game. In retrospect, the incidents unfold in front of us in regular intervals and all appears to have some linkages as if it’s a grand plan being executed and we are one of the guinea pigs. It seems that ever since we participated actively as an ally in war against soviets, we are at the mercy of our masters and we blindly take dictation as if there aren’t any options left with us. We went nuclear over a decade ago and west seems to be really active as how to counter and neutralize the nukes. The chain of events are all converging to this ultimate agenda of disarmament.     

One unfortunate bit is the fact that there is no unbiased ‘media’ available to us and especially the Muslim world is totally dependent upon already established news networks who are serving targeted motives. These channels often recruit individuals who are ‘opinion makers’ whereby we all end up discussing what was intentionally injected in bits and pieces.   

However, one refreshing change especially in the younger generations is that overall awareness level is on the rise due to unrest and the general public’s appetite for validating the news via alternative media is increasing. In general a lot of people now do not take any news on its face value and do dig out agenda’s and check the credibility from other available sources. Now we do question controversial individuals and have started linking the dots. Having said that, where are we off to, are we well equipped, what’s our ultimate objective, where should we be heading, what are the caveats all along, are we really sure if we are being guided by the right people even now, are we heading in the right direction and if yes what are the chances of being successful and what are the measures of success? And the list goes on. The idea is not to digress but find common grounds and converge and channelize our efforts in pursuing a ultimate objective.

The dilemma starts when the objectives are not known and thus all good intentions and efforts all along become futile. In my opinion the dilemma of today’s times is that we lack clarity in terms of our objectives. Now where to start and how to come to common grounds and find our list of objectives is a million dollar question? Have we done anything in particular in this regard, the answer unfortunately is in affirmative as we all tend to indulge in lots of lip service without much being achieved at the end of the day. The words need to be translated into actionable points.