By Izeth Hussain –
Izeth Hussain
I want to argue in this article that the best prospect for the Muslims to live in peace, amity, and co-operation with the Sinhalese would be to emulate the Chinese example in South East Asia, notably in the Philippines. It will be now widely acknowledged, unlike in the past, that Sinhalese -Muslim relations have become highly problematic. It is certainly true that historically the Sinhalese and the Muslims got on famously well together – there is an excellent book on the subject by Lorna Devaraj – but that alas is no longer true at certain levels of our society. I believe that this transformation can be best understood in terms of a paradigm of racism.
In the traditional societies there used to be – for the most part – harmonious inter-ethnic relations based on an ethnic division of labour. In Sri Lanka the Moors – the major Muslim ethnic group in Sri Lanka – were for many centuries essentially traders, while the Sinhalese and Tamil castes, which can be regarded as sub-ethnic groups, had their niches in the traditional ethnic division of labour. It was a relatively stable social order because there was not much socio-economic upward mobility, and therefore not much reason for economic rivalry and conflict. But that situation changed with the economic development taking place in the course of the nineteenth century. It led among other things to the 1915 anti-Muslim riots which can be taken as signaling Sri Lanka’s advent into modernity: the riots resulted from trade rivalry, the consequence of the intrusion of low-country Sinhalese traders into the Kandyan Provinces; and the Sinhalese reaction to the riots was the beginning of modern nationalism in Sri Lanka.
In the subsequent period the Muslims developed a strong fear psychosis towards the Sinhalese that has lasted to this day. They withdrew into themselves, a drive towards a mollusk-like withdrawal being a notable characteristic of Islamic societies in their phases of decadence. Most importantly they lagged behind in education mainly because of an Islamic fear of the possible secularizing impact of modern education. They came to be known as “a backward minority”. The term “backward” was certainly opprobrious, but all the same it was apposite because in the modern world it is education above all that provides opportunities for upward mobility. However, it was precisely that backwardness, I hold, that was the foundation for excellent Sinhalese-Muslim relations. Unlike the Tamils the Muslims were not serious rivals to the Sinhalese in any way. Besides, they were, and remain to a large extent, an abjectly submissive minority.
But that situation was bound to change. At least some aspects of modernity had to catch up with the Muslims. The provincial Muslims, unlike the Muslim business elites, were going in for education in a big way, which was the catalyst for many other changes, and in the course of the ‘seventies a Muslim consciousness of belonging to the wider Islamic world was catalyzed by the large Muslim presence at the 1976 Non-Aligned Summit Meeting in Colombo. 1976 can be regarded as inaugurating a new, and negative, era in Sinhalese-Muslim relations as it saw the Puttalam riots, actually a massacre of Muslims inside Puttalam mosque, which too was significantly ignited by trade rivalry. Thereafter there were anti-Muslim riots practically every year until 2002.
Yet another phase, much more horrible than anything that preceded it, can be said to have begun around 2011 with the hate campaign followed by anti-Muslim action of the BBS and other extremist groups. In this phase, in my view, it has become imperative for both sides, the Sinhalese and the Muslims, to do some serious rethinking about how they can live together in peace, amity, and co-operation. For this purpose we must question the conventional wisdom about Sinhalese-Muslim relations and try to get at the fundamentals behind those relations. According to that conventional wisdom Sinhalese-Tamil relations were bedeviled by the fact that the Tamils are a minority with a majority complex while the Sinhalese are a majority with a minority complex. That made the Tamils, the argument goes, excessively demanding, intransigent, and brought on their heads the terrible suffering of the thirty-year war. The Muslims on the other hand, according to the conventional wisdom, showed a shrewd pragmatism and benefited greatly thereby. But the developments since 1976 that I have very briefly sketched out above have blown that conventional wisdom sky-high. Those developments can best be explained in terms of a paradigm of racism as I have argued above. I must add that, in addition to the socio-economic factor, the racists among the Sinhalese power elite have shown an essentially racist drive to kick the Muslims down.
We must note the significant features of the new phase inaugurated around 2011. The BBS clearly had the backing of the Sri Lankan State. It was initially provided space for its headquarters in a Government-owned building. One of its important meetings was given the explicit support of the Defense Secretary. The police played the role of passive spectators while the BBS openly flouted the law, but when some Buddhists held counter-demonstrations the police immediately took action against them. This kind of blatant State backing for anti-minority racist action seems to be something novel in Sri Lanka. Another significant feature is that the anti-Muslim problem has acquired an international dimension, which could come to have unforeseen fateful consequences, particularly as it is featured in the US-led UNHRC Resolution. Yet another significant feature is that the SLMC provided detailed information to the UNHRC on anti-Muslim action, and Rauf Hakeem supported that act of his Party. That represented a defiant breakaway from the traditional abjectly submissive role of the Muslim politicians. Finally, the anti-Muslim campaign and demonstrations failed to ignite Sinhalese mass action against the Muslims, on which I will make some observations later.
At present there is a prospect of governmental change, and the question arises whether a new Government will inaugurate a new era of inter-ethnic peace, amity, and co-operation, or at least go some way towards that ideal. That may be possible to a modest extent, but we have to face up to the fact that five years after the war our ethnic polarization is worse than ever before. Why? It is a relevant fact that Sri Lanka does not have even one political party that is accepted unequivocally by the minorities as an authentic national party in the way the Congress is accepted in India. The State, according to the Hegelian notion, is supposed to rise above the rivalry and conflict in the civil society and unify the people. The opposite is the truth in Sri Lanka: at the level of the people some degree of inter-ethnic peace, amity, and co-operation prevails, but since 1956 the State has been a fierce divisive force in Sri Lanka. Furthermore it has shown a fierce hierarchical drive, so that what we have in Sri Lanka today is not a Sri Lankan State but a Sinhalese State. What I am spelling out briefly in this paragraph are some of the fundamentals that underlie our ethnic problems. They won’t change in a hurry, and I can’t see that governmental or regime change will make much difference.
There is another unpleasant fact that the Muslims must take into account in determining their strategy on how to live in reasonably amicable relations with the Sinhalese. It is that democracy in Sri Lanka has been for several decades a limited and thoroughly flawed sort of democracy. Way back in the eighteenth century Rousseau wrote about the most flourishing democracy of his time – that of Britain – that on the day of the elections the British were a free people but in between elections they reverted to being slaves. In fact, however, the power of an elected Government – under a fully functioning democracy – is held in check by a vibrant and active civil society and a similar Opposition. If those two factors are absent, Rousseau’s description of democracy would be substantially correct, and that precisely is the horror that we have been experiencing in Sri Lanka.
A meretricious show of dynamism is given by our civil society because of the activities of the INGOs but the indigenous civil society is a zombie-like affair characterized more by inanition than by dynamism. This can be seen clearly in the civil society reaction to the anti-Muslim campaign. No one seems to doubt that the BBS and other extremist groups represent not much more than a tiny segment of the SL Buddhists. Yet civil society action to get the Government to restrain the extremists has been derisory. Some Buddhists organized counter-demonstrations but that quickly fizzled out. The Opposition too has shown more inanition than dynamism in getting the Government to restrain the extremists. Chandrika Kumaratunge organized an inter-faith meeting, which has been widely seen as her first salvo in a forthcoming Presidential election campaign. I expect nothing useful to come out of her initiative, though it is obviously well meant, because the dynamic behind Buddhist extremism is not religious intolerance but rather something that has to be understood in terms of a paradigm of racism.
To be continued…
Maghribi / April 12, 2014
Law of the jungle still prevails in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. A lack of well defined code of conduct is conveniently ignored or not legislated by the relevant authorities. Absence of rule of law is a grave injustice to the law abiding tax paying citizens. The public pays all forms of taxes for security and safety. If the government fails, the people should take private measures to protect places of worship and their businesses.
“Democracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy; such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man’s life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit, and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable [abominable] cruelty of one or a very few.” — John Adams (1797-1801) Second President of the United States and Patriot
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JimSofty / April 12, 2014
Two billions muslims all over the world is following Arab culture and not what their teacher said.
Muslims in Sri Lanka and Asia are crying out loud because they want to destroy other religions in the region and establish Islam as the major religion in Sri Lanka and Asia.
That is constant struggle of two major Abrahamic religions. Children of the two brothers are fighting for the world domination.
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Fathima Fukushima / April 12, 2014
There is no Islam in SL.
SL Muslims are Hindus with a trace of Islam. True Islam is Wahab teachings. Soon Wahabism will replace Saiva-Islam in SL. Too bad some misguided Muslims will be unhappy.
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Amarasiri / April 12, 2014
Jim Softy and Avtars,
“Two billions muslims all over the world is following Arab culture and not what their teacher said.”
Is Religion Man-Made? How Did Religion Start? The Evolution of Religion .
You can also start your own religion. Religion Start up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql2yz7XDs2A
Published on Aug 26, 2013
The evolutionary origin of religions theorizes about the emergence of religious behavior during the course of human evolution.
Humanity’s closest living relatives are common chimpanzees and bonobos. These primates share a common ancestor with humans who lived between four and six million years ago. It is for this reason that chimpanzees and bonobos are viewed as the best available surrogate for this common ancestor. Barbara King argues that while non-human primates are not religious, they do exhibit some traits that would have been necessary for the evolution of religion. These traits include high intelligence, a capacity for symbolic communication, a sense of social norms, realization of “self” and a concept of continuity.[1][2][3] There is inconclusive evidence that Homo neanderthalensis may have buried their dead which is evidence of the use of ritual. The use of burial rituals is evidence of religious activity, but there is no other evidence that religion existed in human culture before humans reached behavioral modernity.[4]
Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, argues that many species grieve death and loss.[5]
There is general agreement among cognitive scientists that religion is an outgrowth of brain architecture that evolved early in human history. However, there is disagreement on the exact mechanisms that drove the evolution of the religious mind. The two main schools of thought hold that either religion evolved due to natural selection and has selective advantage, or that religion is an evolutionary byproduct of other mental adaptations.[18] Stephen Jay Gould, for example, believed that religion was an exaptation or a spandrel, in other words that religion evolved as byproduct of psychological mechanisms that evolved for other reasons.[19][20][21]
Such mechanisms may include the ability to infer the presence of organisms that might do harm (agent detection), the ability to come up with causal narratives for natural events (etiology), and the ability to recognize that other people have minds of their own with their own beliefs, desires and intentions (theory of mind). These three adaptations (among others) allow human beings to imagine purposeful agents behind many observations that could not readily be explained otherwise, e.g. thunder, lightning, movement of planets, complexity of life, etc.[22] The emergence of collective religious belief identified the agents as deities that standardized the explanation.
Some scholars have suggested that religion is genetically “hardwired” into the human condition. One controversial hypothesis, the God gene hypothesis, states that some variants of a specific gene, the VMAT2 gene, predispose to spirituality.[23]
Another view is based on the concept of the triune brain: the reptilian brain, the limbic system, and the neocortex, proposed by Paul D. MacLean. Collective religious belief draws upon the emotions of love, fear, and gregariousness and is deeply embedded in the limbic system through sociobiological conditioning and social sanction. Individual religious belief utilizes reason based in the neocortex and often varies from collective religion. The limbic system is much older in evolutionary terms than the neocortex and is, therefore, stronger than it much in the same way as the reptilian is stronger than both the limbic system and the neocortex. Reason is pre-empted by emotional drives. The religious feeling in a congregation is emotionally different from individual spirituality even though the congregation is composed of individuals. Belonging to a collective religion is culturally more important than individual spirituality though the two often go hand in hand. This is one of the reasons why religious debates are likely to be inconclusive.
Yet another view is that the behaviour of people who participate in a religion makes them feel better and this improves their fitness, so that there is a genetic selection in favor of people who are willing to believe in religion. Specifically, rituals, beliefs, and the social contact typical of religious groups may serve to calm the mind (for example by reducing ambiguity and the uncertainty due to complexity) and allow it to function better when under stress.[24] This would allow religion to be used as a powerful survival mechanism, particularly in facilitating the evolution of hierarchies of warriors, which if true, may be why many modern religions tend to promote fertility and kinship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutio…
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Maghribi / April 12, 2014
People can be easily brainwashed or fed with this poisonous belief that Muslims want ‘my way or the highway’. Intelligent people will see the absurdity with this notion.
Islam will grow and had grown exponentially during the last 14 hundred years, not because Muslims want it or they fought for it. It grew because people do find solace and peace in it. We cannot fight against our fitrah (natural disposition or hard wired) even if we did; it will be for a short while, eventually our built-in nature (fitrah) kicks in. Example, wealthy and famous people committing suicide because they thought they could fight their fitrah and win.
Muslims do not take their faith from a culture. We will not be asked about our culture in our grave. And we will not be judged based on our Father’s last name. When the trumpet blares, there will be no more kings, only slaves. And our family and tribal traditions will not be able to keep us safe.
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JimSofty / April 12, 2014
Magrhibi:
ISlam has grown exponentially as you say because of conquests and violence. All the Islamic conquerors treated their invaded territories with violence and converted them forcefully if not they were killed.
Even to date Islam has that conquering style. Muslims like to marry from other religions on the other hand, muslim girls are married onto muslim men.
One and only objective of muslims is to always increase the progeny in order to expand the religion and they are not allowed to reflect their religion critically.
It is a Dictatorship.
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Surpanake Vishravasi / April 18, 2014
And the Racist Bum Softy pimps around in public forums with the primitiveness of the Sinhala ignorance.
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Amarasiri / April 12, 2014
Dear Izeth Hussain –
1. “According to that conventional wisdom Sinhalese-Tamil relations were bedeviled by the fact that the Tamils are a minority with a majority complex while the Sinhalese are a majority with a minority complex. That made the Tamils, the argument goes, excessively demanding, intransigent, and brought on their heads the terrible suffering of the thirty-year war. The Muslims on the other hand, according to the conventional wisdom, showed a shrewd pragmatism and benefited greatly thereby. But the developments since 1976 that I have very briefly sketched out above have blown that conventional wisdom sky-high. Those developments can best be explained in terms of a paradigm of racism as I have argued above. I must add that, in addition to the socio-economic factor, the racists among the Sinhalese power elite have shown an essentially racist drive to kick the Muslims down.”
2. ” because the dynamic behind Buddhist extremism is not religious intolerance but rather something that has to be understood in terms of a paradigm of racism.”
This is a good summary. However, the primary dynamic is racism ( the 30- year war and LTTE) AND Buddhism. While not ALL Sinhala Buddhists are racists, many are lethargic, and the egalitarians sold out to the racists.
The Para-Sinhala are using Monk Mahanama “Buddhism” as a rallying cry.
Read History of LSSP and CP. Google LSSP.
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Spring Koha / April 12, 2014
For years now, our Muslim brethren have suffered numerous indignities. Mindful of their status, they have sought reconciliation. Since 2009, the resurgent Sinhala-Buddhist forces in all forms have taken the shambling efforts, of the often splintered factions, of the Muslim community as a weakness. But there are forces chomping at the bit and waiting for the opportunity to unleash mayhem that will shake our cities to their foundations. Time is running out for the forces for good government and civic society to repair the considerable damage that has been done to community relations. The next conflagration will not be in the far north but much nearer the homes and workplaces of the great and good.
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Fathima Fukushima / April 12, 2014
If all SL Muslims go to Indonesia both countries will be happy.
When will a Muslim Gobi will be handled? SOON! SOON!
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Amarasiri / April 12, 2014
Fathima Fukushima , Lorenzo, Jim Softy and other Avtars,
“If all SL Muslims go to Indonesia both countries will be happy.”
If all Paras, Para-Sinhala, Para-Tamils, and Para-Muslims go to South India, where they came from, as proven by the DNA in their bodies, both native Veddah and the South Indians will be happy for the family reunion.
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Safa / April 12, 2014
I think this is not true on the wider scale. It is only a small group of extremist who are stirring the pot backed by a few bigwigs. Neither have Muslims withdrawn into a shell and moping around. Most are going about their work and business and doing quite well at it. Our children when deprived of state education have been educated privately and are doing as well as other communities.
As there are challenges, there are opportunities as well. The world is open to us, if not in Sri Lanka. Our sustenance and destiny is written by the Lord. As we muslims believe, God is sufficient for us. Our religon teaches us to lead a balanced life, free of social evils and extravagance. That alone is a blessing of the Lord.
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Hooker / April 12, 2014
The pugnacious Izeth Hussain again!!! He seems to love to get into controversy after controversy by his crop of misplaced “expert analysis” reminding one of Oscar Wilde’s famous quip “those who cannot learn take to teaching”
The [Edited out] has taken upon himself, unsolicited again, the task of what Lankan Muslims should do to get out of the difficulties they are now in. For a long time he has tried to get into the good side of the Muslims but, in the long run, seems to make things more complicated for them – “…best prospect for the Muslims to live in peace, amity, and co-operation with the Sinhalese would be to emulate the Chinese example in South East Asia, notably in the Philippines….” That’s a winner. Surely Hussain, the otherwise well read man, in chosing the Filipino example fumbles. After all, from the time of President Ferdinand Marcos until now, the Phillipines are engaged in a bloody battle with the Moro Islamists in Mindanao. This is known to most students of contemporary history. Does he also not know the Chinese are having serious problems with the Uighur Muslims in the Western Province of Xingziang, which is a serious worry to the strong government in Beijing.
“In the subsequent period Muslims developed a strong fear psychosis towards the Sinhalese that has lasted to this day. They withdrew into themselves” is to either misread or misrepresent facts. Barring the 1915 riots that, fortunately, subsided quickly Sinhalese and Muslims lived in relative harmony all over the South. Since the feelings against the Muslims subsided after 1915 Dr. M.C.M. Kaleel was made the Minister of Labour (?) from 1948-1956. “Sinhala” Marikkar from the Kadugannawa area found a comfortable place in the Sinhala Only cabinet of 1956 as the Minister of Posts. In the 1970 regime of Mrs.B, Dr. Badi-ud-din Mahmud was elevated to the key post of Minister of Education.
After the dust of 1915 settled down they were widely respected as a peaceful and religious community. They did not bother or threaten those of other religions until the recent advent of Islamic Fundamentalism, the unnecessary Halal imposition which was more a money-making effort, the disturbance at dawn – all of which heightened majority revulsion. Naturally, the more aggressive in the Sinhala community reacted.
Once the Muslim factor came into focus, both locally and globally, the academic community in the Sinhalese began to study the world around and alerted the Sinhalese of this much feared prospect of a planned global Islamic conspiracy – an effective instrument of which was the unnatural rise in population viz:- the baby explosion. What happened in the Maldive Islands in recent decades of a total take over of Sharia Islam is much feared here.
Hussein is disingenuous when he notes “They came to be known as “a backward minority”. While there a large number of poor in the urban areas, Muslms were never called “backward” – simply because they are not. Some of the richest merchants in the country are Muslims – in the Gem trade, in Import-Export and in the country-wide retail sector. They enjoy a monopoly in the meat trade. They are the largest owners of land and property in the rich Western Province.
“Yet another phase, much more horrible than anything that preceded it, can be said to have begun around 2011 with the hate campaign followed by anti-Muslim action of the BBS and other extremist groups” As mentioned earlier, Muslim extremists – call them Wahabists,
Salafists or Fundamentalists and those behind those mysterious Madrasas – muddied the waters for ordinary Muslims. They have none else but themselves to blame for bringing this upon them.
Hussain, particularly of late, shows a marked anti-Tamil tendency. Here he unnecessarily courts Tamil condemnation as he, deliberately and irresponsibly, announces “Tamils are a minority with a majority complex” Nothing can be further from the truth. He twists the widely accepted description that the Sinhalese consider themselves a majority with a minority complex.
We have no problem with him as he announces “In this phase, in my view, it has become imperative for both sides, the Sinhalese and the Muslims, to do some serious rethinking about how they can live together in peace, amity, and co-operation” One way, if you will allow me, is for men like Hussain and a few mother Muslims in this pages not to do what in Sinhala village folklore goes as “avoid putting into your sarong/redda the snake that goes on its peaceful way in the road” That, sadly, is what men like Izeth Hussain are doing in making provocative statements like “Sinhala power elite have shown an essentially racist drive to kick the Muslims down” He can do much harm to his community when he issues veiled threats, like he does here “anti-Muslim has acquired an international dimension, which could come to have unforeseen fateful consequences”
Hussain must understand his community is powerless both within the country and outside. Has he forgotten they had absolutely no influence with their role-models – the Saudis – in saving the life of that Rifana Nafeek girl while the rich Saudis were releasing offending British by the droves.
But perhaps the most damaging statement and foolish misjudgement is when he dares “at present there is a prospect of governmental change” He will not have many takers, inside and outside the government, for this Mother of all Hussainic blunders. Hussain’s antics are such the Muslim community cannot be blamed if they were to say in unison “Lord, we can take care of our enemies. But please save us from our friends”
Hooker
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Izeth Hussain / April 13, 2014
What is the explanation for what looks like this Hooker’s gratuitous outpouring of venom and hatred against me? It is clearly, and beyond dispute, anti-Muslim racism.I will explain this further down.
He refers to me as “pugnacious”. He is not the first to use such terms about me.The record of exchanges in the CT will show that I have hit back only when provoked, and that I have given courteous replies to courteous dissent.
He charges that I have taken upon my self the unsolicited task of trying to get the Muslims out of their present difficulties. On what basis does he make that charge? It is just plain nonsense. All that I have done is no more than what innumerable others have done when they write to the newspapers expressing their views about the corrective action to be taken over the problems prevalent in this country.But my doing so has provoked his irrational cynicism.
I hold that an irrationality verging on lunacy is a marked characteristic of racism. He provides excellent examples to illustrate that notion. I wrote that the SL Muslims should emulate the example set by the Chinese in South East Asia, particularly the Philippines. In refutation he refers to the Moro rebellion in the Philippines.But I was talking of the Chinese not the Moros.That simple fact has eluded him. Again he refers to the Uighur rebellion in China, which is totally irrelevant to my argument.His racist hatred has made his rational faculty go into abeyance.
I wrote that after the 1915 riots the Muslims developed a strong fear psychosis. In refutation he refers to some Muslims who have held high political office. Surely Muslims can hold high political office and there can be a fear psychosis in the Muslim community at the same time. He is in too irrational a state of mind to be able to grasp that simple fact.
In the next two paragraphs he repeats the utter nonsense about a threat from the Muslims. Those two paragraphs have to be read to be believed.In them he clearly declares himself to be an anti-Must racist of the worst type.
He makes the charge that particularly of late I have shown a marked anti-Tamil tendency. Can he substantiate that charge? He can’t because it is absolute nonsense. Then he misquotes me as writing that”the Tamils are a minority with a majority complex”. What I really wrote was that that was part of the “conventional wisdom” making it absolutely clear that I didn’t agree with that notion. The man’s rational faculty had clearly gone into abeyance.
I wrote that the “anti-Muslim problem has acquired an international dimension, which could come to have unforeseen fateful consequences, particularly as it is featured in the US-led UNHRC Resolution”. That point has been made by innumerable others, but Hooker, incredible though it may seem, chooses to see that as my making a threat!His rationality has been destroyed by racist hatred. That is also shown by his fantastic delusion that the Saudis are the role models of the Sl Muslims. Finally that is shown by his exploding in fury over my assessment that there is a prospect of governmental change, an assessment shared by innumerable others.In conclusion I must ask why he refers to “Hussainic blunders”. That coinage is not funny and serves no purpose. Suppose his name includes Mahinda. What purpose will be served by the coinage “Mahindaic”?
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Hooker / April 13, 2014
It is time Izeth Hussain stop taking the readership for granted and for fools. I will not validate his long nonsense in this response except to expose his analogue of China and the Phillipines – his claim as exemplary Muslim co-existence with the two societies in the two countries – as asinine for reasons I mentioned earlier.
As to his characteristic anger when his mistakes are pointed out and regular abuse, I chose to ignore them as this has become standard fare.
Hooker
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Izeth hussain / April 14, 2014
Hooker – I am not going to let this Hooker off the hook easily. He has been extremely insulting towards me. Furthermore he has declared his grotesque, nasty, mindless anti-Muslim racism – which is something on which I hope to take further action.To cap it all he has dared to be subtly threatening towards the Muslims.
I replied to practically every point he made against me. He has not replied to any of them, obviously because he can’t. Evidently he was engaged in a foolish fault-finding exercise, motivated by his racist hatred, not expecting that I would expose his nonsense. I have done so. I challenge him to reply.
His only reply is entirely beside any point that I made. He writes this: “I will not validate his long nonsense in this response except to expose his analogue of China and the Philippines – his claim as exemplary Muslim co-existence with the two societies in the two countries – as asinine for reasons I mentioned earlier.”
I have been exposed to polemics for many decades. I cannot recall anything so nonsensical as the above sentence of Hooker. Even his English has collapsed. I made no “analogue of China and the Philippines”, none whatever. I wrote nothing to “claim as exemplary Muslim co-existence with the two societies in the two countries”. He has been reading what is not there on the page. His mind is wandering. After attributing to me views that I never expressed he calls them “asinine”. What is your explanation, Hooker? Don’t run away, be a man, reply and accept for your own good the corrective punishment that I will give you.
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Hooker / April 14, 2014
Why is there so much of rancour on the part of Izeth Hussain merely because his mistakes are exposed. He cited the Chinese example in Asia and the Phillipines as ideal for Sinhala-Muslim co-existence and I pointed out both examples are poor, because the Catholic Govt in the Phillipines is at war with the Moro rebels in Mindanao for decades and Beijing is at virtual war in XingZiang. It is worse in Thailand and Burma – both in Asia.
I chose to ignore the rest of his combative rhetoric grounded on writhing racialism. It is a waste of time contesting them.
I am amused from political analysis Hussain now attempts to become English pedagogue. Goodluck to him
Hooker
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Izeth hussain / April 15, 2014
This Hooker is hallucinating. I wrote that the example set by the Chinese should be emulated by the Muslims in Sri Lanka. The Moro rebellion in the Philippines has no relevance at all to the fact that the Chinese are getting along very well with the Filipinos. Can’t you grasp that simple fact, Hooker? Likewise the travails of the Muslims in China have no relevance at all to how the Chinese are getting along with the Filipinos.
The truth is that this Hooker has jumped the gun. Instead of waiting for the second part of my article in which I will explain why I recommend the Chinese example set in the Philippines,he has assumed that I am being “asinine”. The explanation is that he has been engaged in fault-finding, motivated by racist hatred. Earlier I exposed his fault-finding in much detail, but he has refused to reply. The truth is that he can’t without showing himself up as “asinine”.
Come on Hooker, be a man, don’t run away,reply to my earlier demolition of your “asinine” charges against me.
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P / April 12, 2014
The need for Myanmar like mechanism to deal with Islam.
Islam however, whoever says what, Is a barbaric religion. The religion asks to kill those who do not believe in Islam. The justification is, “it is better to kill them than let them live with no faith on Allah” so killing infidels is this justified as “for the betterment of infidels”
E.g : Quran
2:191 “..And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. And fight not with them at the Inviolable Place of Worship until they first attack you there, but if they attack you (there) then slay them. Such is the reward of disbelievers”
2:193 “And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah.”
2:216 “Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye know no.t.
2:244 “Fight in the way of Allah, and know that Allah is Hearer, Knower.”
5:33 “The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom”.
In Islam, everything is governed under Quran. Children are taught only Islam, but not even a word about other religions. They are taught and trained to act as killing machines and spread Islam. This is the reason why Islam is very aggressive and Islam itself is terrorism.
When the majority of a country is Islam, they impose Sharia. They justify it as the “divine law of God”. Non-Muslims also need to adhere to sharia, or be punished under sharia. Non-Muslims are not given jobs/education or other opportunities. There will be taxes on non-Muslims, just because they are non-Muslims. E.g. Indonesia, Malaysia
See “Jizya” : e.g : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizya
Why non-Muslims should pay Jizya : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6g9ohG-784
Muslims migrate to Non-Muslim country and slowly (yet steadily) grow their numbers. They act very innocent and get all the benefits under the majority. Most of the other civilised religions do not depress other religions. And Islam grows with no threat from the existing principle religion ( Buddhism or Christianity) once they grow the numbers, then ask for sharia and special laws. And when they can, they take the power of the country and make it a Muslim country. No democracy , no mercy for minorities there onwards. Non-Muslims are depressed and killed.
See why terrorism is allowed in Islam: http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Why_Terrorism_is_Allowed_in_Islam
Further Islam allows its followers to cheat infidels in order to covet them to Islam.
(http://www.investigativeproject.org/3641/the-evils-of-the-muslim-brotherhood-evidence)
Look at this own publication by an Islamic organisation. It says, Islamic woman is independent of her husband and has her own rights.
“Muslim women have all the rights of their male counterparts. Islam granted full rights to women fourteen hundred years ago. Muslim women may own and dispose property; they may work, exercise voting powers and exercise numerous other rights freely without constraints. More so, Muslim women cannot be forced to marry against their will.”
(http://www.whatisislamabout.com/islam/what-is-islam/)
What a joke. In Islamic countries a woman is not allowed to walk without her husband / son or father. And he is prisoned under the hijab.
Lying, Stealing, and Cheating to Victory: In a recent article titled “The Islamist Group’s Hidden Intentions,” appearing in Watani, the author Youssef Sidhom exposes a document “which carries the logos of both the Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party.” Written by the Deputy to the Supreme Guide, Khairat el-Shater and addressed “to all the Brotherhood branches in the governorates,” the memo calls on Muslims to cheat, block votes, and “resort to any method that can change the vote” to ensure that Morsi wins, which, of course, he just did—amidst many accusations of electoral fraud. El-Shater concluded his memo by saying, “You must understand, brothers, that our interest lies wherever there is the Sharia of Allah, and this can only be by preserving the [MB] group and preserving Islam.”
In short, the Muslim Brotherhood has not changed; only Western opinion of it has. As it was since its founding in 1928, the group is committed to empowering and spreading Sharia law—a law that preaches hate for non-Muslim “infidels,” especially Islam’s historic nemesis, Christianity, and allows anything, from lying to cheating, to make Islam supreme. Now that the Brotherhood has finally achieved power, the world can prepare to see such aspects on a grand scale.
It is rather apparent the reference to “satin” in Christianity and reference to “mara” in Buddhism must be referred to the same, that is Islam and its God Allah. According to Christianity and to Buddhism, there is a dooms day; where e the world destroys, when people are sinners. It must be referred to a situation where Islam conquers the world. Or rather “satin” or “mara” conquer the world. Then the glory of the world is gone. And world get destroyed itself.
So via democracy, kindness the world simply cannot deal with Islam. Islam is such that It is like a cancer. By loving the cancer or by been nice to cancer, you can’t get rid from that. You need to treat the cancer in such a way to get rid from that.
The mechanism in Myanmar, is thus rather justified. Since they understood that Islam is growing and soon, they will be slaves under Islam hypocrisy and depression. A problem which cannot be addressed democratically or with a human feelings. Look, what happened in all Buddhist countries, in all peaceful countries. Islam enters and they simply destroy it. E.g. Sri Lankan, India, Maldives, Bangladesh etc etc.
The American Approach is better, but is in macro level. Mass scale Muslim depression. While America treats the would cancer like that, small nations like Myanmar or Sri Lanka need to act in a grass root level to get rid form the world cancer.
Sri Lankans, if they need to be safe, have to think about Something like in Myanmar, before it is too late. I think Sri Lankan Buddhist are ( or they used to be ) too good and too innocent. Bodu Bala Sena is doing a marvellous duty by making it clear to Sinhalese. Let’s hope the Glory of the world will remain longer, with No Islam Hypocrisy.
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Abhaya / April 12, 2014
muslims talking about racisum is a bass ackward story isnt it , destroy anything that is not muslim . just like the Christians . BBS is only a fringe Taliban and the wahabisum is not fringe .
Also the new goni billas
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Palmsquirrel / April 12, 2014
Finally something we can agree on.
Islam is a genocidal , supremacist and expansionist religion. Islam and its supporters yearn for the day Islam dominates the world.
One can read the news and see how non Muslims are treated in Muslim majority nations. In South Asia, there are 2 Muslim nations (Pakistan and Bangladesh) but India, Nepal and Sri Lanka are expected to tolerate and give in to Muslim demands.
Muslim organizations always take but never give. They always want to convert but ban Muslims from converting. They want non Muslims to tolerate the Muslim call to prayer despite the fact that the call to prayer is racially supremacist as it proclaims the god of the Arabs as the only god.
Muslims demand every country in the world to accept and tolerate Islam all the while Muslim countries are expected to remain Muslim for all eternity.
If Sri Lanka was majority Muslim, the Buddhists, Hindus and Christians will be in the same situation as the Christians and Hindus in Pakistan. There will be little rights and rampant discrimination and oppression by Sri Lankan Muslims against non Muslims.
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Mallaiyuran / April 12, 2014
Izeth Hussain’s somersaults
In his previous article, he wrote that the American Resolution is an wanted imperialist interference in Lanka, not good for Sri Lanka. He praised Hakeem, for doing good job of staying with government. In this one “Another significant feature is that the anti-Muslim problem has acquired an international dimension, which could come to have unforeseen fateful consequences, particularly as it is featured in the US-led UNHRC Resolution. Yet another significant feature is that the SLMC provided detailed information to the UNHRC on anti-Muslim action, and Rauf Hakeem supported that act of his Party. That represented a defiant breakaway from the traditional abjectly submissive role of the Muslim politicians. Finally, the anti-Muslim campaign and demonstrations failed to ignite Sinhalese mass action against the Muslims, on which I will make some observations later.”
In the last article he advocated the organic growth. I asked him to observe the direction of the Sri Lankan growth of the Democracy, before he put forward his baffling theories. In this one he is saying ” It is that democracy in Sri Lanka has been for several decades a limited and thoroughly flawed sort of democracy.” So from where the organic growth is going to come?
He seems to be selfish writer. The entire article is full of contradiction with what he has been writing. Of cause when there is need arise, one after other has be discussed. Now it is not important.
It doesn’t matters who punish Rishad. He should be punished. When he goes with his master Gotha, he goes blind. He should be punished for sending his rowdies to beat the Judge and directing it sitting on an Army helicopter. The case is still not properly settled by the government interference of in behalf of Rishad. His gang was involved in beating up the Christians fathers. Recently, this gang was blamed of putting anti-Christian notices on the name of Hindu Organization that never allowed coming to Lanka and never existed in Sri Lanka. That “rowdy gang” leader should be punished. He even had to apologies for the Lawyer in the court for his rowdy behavior. If BBs is not suitable, somebody needs to take care of that gang for Manner become to a livable place Tamil Hindus and Christians.
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Izeth Hussain / April 13, 2014
I thought that in writing about the SL Muslims I would be spared the spitting forth of venom by persons writing under Tamil-sounding nom de plumes. I was mistaken.Mallaiyuran’s response seems to exhibit the venomous anti-Muslim racist hatred shown by what seem to be expatriate Tamils.
I have been making the point that that racist hatred seems to make their rational faculty go into abeyance.He provides a blatant example in his response. I wrote in my article that in Sri Lanka we have had for decades a limited and flawed sort of democracy. In earlier articles I have held that democracy can grow in Sri Lanka through an organic process.He sees a contradiction in those two positions. Actually there is none, because what is flawed can become less flawed and what is limited can become less limited. Mallaiyuran, are you unable to grasp that simple fact?
He writes that I seem to be a “selfish writer”. Can he say in what way that selfishness is shown? He can’t. It’s just nonsense. Then he writes that my article is full of contradictions with what I had written earlier, after which his English becomes totally incoherent. What are those contradictions? He is showing an irrationality verging on lunacy that I hold goes integrally with racism.
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Hooker / April 13, 2014
Izeth Hussain,
It is time you stopped this nonsense of “Tamil-sounding nom de plumes” which you generously use in weak defence when your false positions are exposed. It is not Tamils but others too who are
enraged in your misplaced analyses.
Hooker
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Izeth Hussain / April 14, 2014
Hooker – you must learn to recognize facts and accept them. Look at the responses to my present article. Only two out of over thirty are insulting and nasty – yours and the one from Mullaiyuran, the person with the Tamil-sounding name. Such responses to my past articles have been overwhelmingly from persons with Tami-sounding names.
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Hooker / April 14, 2014
Looks like being economic with the truth is in the blood of this
Izeth Hussain. It is not just two critics only, my friend. From memory I recall Paul S, Spring Koha, Shankar, Dr. Passe, Nettabommai, Ketikaran, Palm Squirrel, Thiru, Ragavan, Robert S, Rohan, Kali and many others. I don’t think, like me, there is anything personal here. They are merely contesting your weird and unacceptable views. I suspect one is interested in finding-fault with you, as you complain. We are all trying to alert the readers not to be confused or mislead by inaccuracies – either by omission or commission.
But let this not worry you too much. After all, the old adage is “while imagination initiates, it is the critical spirit that creates” You sure leave a lot of room in your analysis to produce a large number of critics.
Hooker
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Izeth hussain / April 15, 2014
Hooker – you are being disingenuous. Anyone examining the past attacks against me will quickly see that the Tamil attacks have been in a class apart.Dr Passe, though extremely critical,wrote something to the effect that I “have much to contribute”. That is unimaginable from the expatriate Tamil anti-Muslim racists.Theirs is a total annihilating hatred.Like yours, who belong to the lunatic fringe of the Sinhala racists, as shown very clearly by what you wrote.
If you think that the attacks go against me, you are engaging in wishful thinking.Most often they are nonsensical, like yours – which is why you won’t reply to my detailed critique of your nonsense.The attacks are also trivial – Like Mullaiyuran’s when he charges that my article is full of inconsistencies with what I have written in the past. I have challenged him on that, and I am sure that he will not be able to point convincingly to any inconsistencies. Most often the expatriate Tamil racists don’t reply when I hit back. I can’t see that that damages my reputation.
Incidentally it is evident that you have been reading me with much attention for some time. That looks like an unconscious tribute to my quality. Thanks.
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Izeth Hussain / April 18, 2014
Hooker – you have failed to reply to to my detailed demolition of the “asinine” charges that you made against me. Does that go against me or against you?
I wrote earlier that I won’t let you off the hook easily. So I will now make a charge, a very serious one, that escaped my attention earlier. In your response of April 12 you quoted me as writing that the “Sinhala power elite have shown an essentially racist drive to kick the Muslims down”. What I actually wrote was this: “…the racists among the Sinhalese power elite have shown an essentially racist drive to kick the Muslims down”. You seem to have deliberately distorted what I wrote to make it out that I have damned the entire Sinhalese power elite as racist, whereas I scrupulously singled out only the racists among them. Or is it that when you read me you are so full of anti-Muslim racist hatred that your mind ceases to function properly?
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Hooker / April 18, 2014
Dear Mr. Izeth Hussain
In your case, I have intervened only in those instances your
errors – either by omission or commission – are likely to mislead readers. I have done this in respect of other commentators too. I have, therefore, no further obligation to you.
As to the adjectives you invite, that is inevitable due to the outrage you produce in your pieces – particularly calling those who disagree with you by your acerbic tongue as racists and anti-Muslim.
There is little doubt, on the average, you are well read and you are readable. But, in your own interest, watch your language while you in a rage, which, you clearly are most of the time.
If, by chance, you fear you are hooked in that you have angered Sinhala readers, it is up to you to unhook yourself with another decent apology.
Hooker
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Izeth hussain / April 19, 2014
Hooker – you made certain charges against me. I refuted them. You refuse to reply to my refutations. Why not? Obviously you can’t without making yourself look “asinine” – your language.
What made you make those charges in the first place? I said it was racism because there was material in your response which most readers will certainly regard as showing extreme anti-Muslim racist bias.
You write of my pieces causing outrage and my angering Sinhalese readers. The vast proportion of the responses drawn in the CT have shown no outrage and no anger. That has been shown overwhelmingly by writers with Tamil-sounding names. You are a Sinhalese exception.
It is pertinent to mention that after 1989 I have written a huge number of articles in newspapers and magazines. The editors have been Sinhalese and so have been most of my readers. Sinhalese racists like you are exceptional
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Hooker / April 19, 2014
Take it easy and try to restrain yourself, Mr. Hussain. I have already responded to you, appropriately and briefly, on April 18.
Hooker
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Izeth hussain / April 18, 2014
Mullaiyuran – you wrote that my article was full of inconsistencies with what I had written in earlier articles. I asked what were those inconsistencies. You have failed to reply. Evidently those inconsistencies exist only in your head. Your charge of inconsistencies amounts to no more than the spitting forth of anti-Muslim venom.
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Palmsquirrel / April 12, 2014
” In Sri Lanka the Moors – the major Muslim ethnic group in Sri Lanka – were for many centuries essentially traders ”
Is the author stating that the majority of Lankan Muslims are Moors?
To claim Lankan Muslims are mostly Moors is an outright lie, a lie that seeks to perpetuate the genocide by Arabs against Tamils because the majority of Muslims are ethnic Tamils, espeically true for East Coast Muslims. It is only in Colombo that one finds any noticeable Moorish input, and yet even in Colombo the majaority ethnic component is Tamils.
The very fact that phenotypically the vast majority of Muslim Lankans do not resemble Arab and have Tamil as their mother tongue exposes the lie of all these Lankan Muslims who enable Arab cultural genocide against Tamils.
This author like other Muslim Lankan pundits continues the genocidal attitude of Arab racists who waged cultural genocide on Tamils by 1st converting Tamils and then denying the Tamil origins of most Lankan Muslims.
Moors is also an erroneous term applied by the Portugese. Moors are North African Muslims ; whereas Lankan Muslim community was established by Arabs from the Penninsula. Moors are different from Penninsula Arabs.
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Abhaya / April 13, 2014
I cringe at your arguments . as far as I know there has not been any genocide perpetrated on Tamils by muslims . but then again genocide is an easy word for your ilk . As for the genesis of your genetics I doubt these claims as well . 95 % of human genes is similar with chimps . So there .
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Izeth Hussain / April 13, 2014
Palmsquirrel – I wrote that the the Moors are “the major Muslim ethnic group in Sri Lanka”. Muslims are those who believe in the religion of Islam. Muslim ethnic groups in Sri Lanka are the Moors, the Malays, the Borahs and the Memens. The second largest of thes groups are the Malays who number around 53,000. The Moors are far larger in number. Your charge that I engaged in an “outright lie” can be seen as a spitting forth of venom
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Backlash / April 13, 2014
Do I assume this Izeth Husain is a Lankan Malay. The 53,000 is highly exaggerated. The number is far too small than that.
Many have merged with other communities – Sinhalese, Burgher and even Sinhalese.
Backlash
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Bensen Burner / April 12, 2014
This is a very good paper. It is true that “since 1956 the State has been a fierce divisive force in Sri Lanka. Furthermore it has shown a fierce hierarchical drive, so that what we have in Sri Lanka today is not a Sri Lankan State but a Sinhalese State”. The Chinese on the other hand are a very secular people, one of the main reasons for their rapid advancement. Bensen
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Palmsquirrel / April 12, 2014
” Buddhist extremism is not religious intolerance but rather something that has to be understood in terms of a paradigm of racism.”
And Islam should be seen for what it is, Arab supremacisy under the guise of religion. Islam is Genocide against non Arab cultures .
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paul / April 12, 2014
Before talking about South east asian solution, would it not be wise to find an Arabian or Middle eastern solution to the mess you you are in over there?
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ramona therese fernando / April 13, 2014
Really good article with much insight into any Sinhala-Muslim divide……waiting for part two to read about the proposal for the S.E. Asian strategy………..must be a good solution as long as the paradigms taken into account are : that most of S. E. Asia is Islamic and therefore tolerant of other religions and races, and also of the kick-starting of S.E. Asian economies due to some oil and natural-gas (but Sri Lanka might be the same as She is Buddhist and therefore tolerant of other religions if not for some Hindu caste system concepts,- and of course there not being any oil and natural gas in SL….or diamonds –gem stones not being comparable to diamonds).
Thinking further on Buddhism and Islamic philosophy, one must first remove the cultural implications of the two:
Cultural implications of Islam
1) The 4 wives syndrome
2) The Sharia laws of torture and death for sexual offences, and other offences
3) That wealth is a gift from the Most-High
Cultural implications of Buddhism
1) The “yellow-robes” factor (only the bad/mad monks)
2) Celibacy as a fast-track towards Nirvana
3) Money is a nonentity
Otherwise, one can assume that the two religions are actually the same philosophically:
1) Hell is not eternal for both Buddhism and Islam (unlike the Christian philosophy)
2) Different levels to heaven and hell for Islam (rather like rebirth for Buddhism)
3) Neutrality and Equanimity in disposition. These are achieved by meditation in Buddhism. In Islam these are achieved by e.g. removal of gross works of art in which humans tend to get over-stimulated on, and removal of intensity in mourning.
4) Most-High is a concept called Nirvana in Buddhism. And in Islam, Most-High concept is of Interactive Substance, although Islamists are not supposed to picture this Essence mentally and/or physically as it is an impossibility, but are yet to have the awareness of Its Loving Presence.
Therefore, if Lankans modernizes (…..agree that Western enlightenment process can also be used) – e.g.no more “yellow robes” and no more multiple wives, – the religions might be able to become unified.
************************************************************
Disclaimer : More can be added on or detracted……must learn more of both.
nb. the Islamic wealth and Buddhistic money-nonentity factors can also be compromised.
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paul / April 13, 2014
Most unenlightened religious comparison one could ever come across…Where do you get this foolish ideas from?
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ramona therese fernando / April 13, 2014
Moi?……..what I mean in other words is that Muslims in Sri Lanka must become more like unto the Buddhists.
ps. I forgot about the halal killings……..oh yes, that has to go. Also the hijabs in accordance with Lankan climatic conditions.
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paul / April 14, 2014
Look near Therese. Your religion and Islam have many more similarities: sharing a historical and traditional connection,common origin etc. Muslims consider followers of your religion to be People of the Book. Trying to find similarities b/w Buddhism and Islam is a long bow to draw and is beyond your intellect.
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ramona therese fernando / April 15, 2014
Paul,
Christianity and Islam, while having more similarities as you say, in sharing a historical and traditional connection, common origin etc., and Muslims considering followers of Christianity to be People of the Book, have yet very little(to nothing) to do with each other, in the reality of pure philosophical essence.
And Buddhism is very simple to comprehend actually.
I will try and enlighten you :
1)Get rid of your covetousness and cravings.
2)Practice meditation under the guidance of a Bikkhu.
3)Practice mindfulness.
Then Buddhism will become a reality with whatever intellect you possess(in the Buddhist scripts, I read that there was a frog who listened to the word of Buddha and became Enlightened).
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ramona therese fernando / April 15, 2014
And Paul, I will try and explain why Buddhism and Islam are more alike that any other religion. It might not be a very professional way of explaining things, but here it is anyway:
Christianity is more like Hinduism (minus the caste system), with incarnation of gods etc. One is supposed to develop into higher and higher latitudes till the ultimate of God or Bhrama in heaven is reached. Salvation comes from attaching oneself to the main god, with probable help from the many demigods out there (angles and saints and priests and divine persons).
Buddhism on the other hand treats existence as an unfortunate result of craving (craving being a function of infinity). One has to move towards Nothingness or Nirvana which yet encompasses the Everything. The mind is the creator of the universe and vice versa – there is interplay between these concepts, rather like the chicken and the egg situation…..(have to read and meditate more to comprehend like the Bikkhus).
Knowledge of Reality aka Enlightenment, comes from meditation (sometimes it just hits you without any meditation at all- realization comes in an instant). Understanding of Reality comes from the individual mind; the same mind that creates the universe for itself. Enlightment (Nirvana) is achievable from within the object of consciousness (e.g. person or frog, although humans have the greatest capacity out of all life-form to realize Nirvana).
For Islam, the concepts are similar to Buddhism : Most-High, the Creator (that is not a person or personification or any concept like in Christianity and Hinduism), deals with the individual from within and without(outside of the individual) in a delicate and enchanting interplay under the condition or catalyst of one being good and holy. Most-High and the individual can thus become as one unto themselves.
The only seeming difference probably is that in Buddhism, conscious existence is a curse, whereas, in Islam, it is a gift from the Most-High (similar to Christianity). However, Gautama Buddha realized life as a curse because living, as he saw it, was out of synch with the nature of reality; people were out of reality with their covetous and delusional ways. However, after Enlightment, Buddha yet lived on in his human body in Nirvanic state, and then life was a blessing, albeit unnecessary. When he died, he did not go into the womb of any conscious being, but encompassed Everything (Nirvana or Nothingness).
In Islam, once one is good, one has reconciled with the Most-High, and this happens only when one is alive. And the Most-High is Nirvanic in Its concepts- Nothingness encompassing Everything. For if one does not reconcile with the Most-High whilst alive, one then gets judged by the Most-High (either automatically in line with Buddhist concepts of functions of the infinite world, or in a more childlike-understandable way as in big hall in front of the Most-High’s throne), and thus placed in different levels of heaven or hell (or reborn till one achieves Nirvana, or the Islamic form of it).
Now Paul, you can go forth, shave your head, don the yellow-robes, and become a Bikkhu.
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shan / April 13, 2014
You interpret the Quran out of context, go read the full verse with tafsir. Then u all get the picture. This is the problem with u Buddhists . you all think all the scriptures are like mahawansha , a story book with imagination. That u can take a verse and interpret. U have not understood or seen the beauty of Quran. Like Ghanasara u all just spread lies about Quran.
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ramona therese fernando / April 13, 2014
Moi?…….I remove all context and see the Islam from its purest essence.
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Spring Koha / April 14, 2014
Bloody Portuguese!
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ramona therese fernando / April 15, 2014
Really?…..wow!
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Javi / April 18, 2014
YOYO, that is no pullout port_ug_ese!
but a three toed skink `Podo-Oral` – (Foot in Mouth)
with the `wow` (walking on willy) sound
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paul / April 15, 2014
You are eons apart from the truth when analysing what Buddhism is or is not. It is your religion that is simplistic: Commit all the sins under the sun and then pray to your god to transfer your sins to jesus and believing he died on the cross ta take on your lowly deeds. What a stupid argument:-)
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paul / April 15, 2014
Q:”Won’t god forgive me for my sins?
A:Try that in court.
Q:Then how can anyone go to heaven?
A:There is only one way: If a sinless person offered to take your punishment then justice would be served and you could go free (MY COMMENT: Try that in court too)
Q: How could you get this forgiveness when you can not earn it nor doing good deeds is not going to going to help.
A:It is a free gift: Trust that Jesus death on the cross is the only reason why all your sins are foregiven.”
MY COMMENT: Just suck up to me.. What a load of crap!. This is against the world order as we know it..Do the crime do the time..According to this all humans ever lived on earth before Jesus and about 70% of those who lived/ living since are in HELL!- any time. I go with the majority
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ramona therese fernando / April 15, 2014
Hey Paul, the only thing you know about Buddhism is to criticize Christianity. How disappointing. …….and all I wanted to do was to have a nice philosophical conversation.
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ramona therese fernando / April 16, 2014
Being a staunch Buddhist now (oh no, not that race called Sinhala-Buddhist, but that religion called Buddhism), I would like to address the philosophy of Christianity (away from its cultural implications, and any race called Christianity e.g. Irish-Catholicism):
In the Reality of Everything Eternal, there comes human-kind which finds it difficult to reconcile with the eternal being-concept personified as God, of which human-kind is created in the image of.
Out of the disability to comes to terms with Reality (of which is projected a God),-Reality aka Goodness,- too may humans were damned into another sphere away from Reality/God (but only about 0.001%).
Reality therefore brought forth Reality’s “Son” called Jesus. “Son” is actuality Reality itself – the human manifestation. In the human understanding of Reality (the Christian one), God is composed of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Among the concept called Realty (personified as God), are also the other apparitions like angles and saints. Therefore the angel appeared before Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Now this is not any earthly court of law, but a Divine one. Reality is therefore very loving and forgiving, and it beams out graces to anyone who looks upon the “Son.”
The “Son” of God suffered greatly thus, to reconcile humans with God. Anyone who calls on the name of the Son, will surely be pardoned. Even in great sin, where one is going away to that other sphere away from Reality(God), realizing God’s sufferings through His Son, will definitely pardon the sinner.
All this understanding is of course with the notion that all humans (even delusional ones), realize they do wrong and try their best, but yet find it hard to reconcile with God’s goodness. However we know of many, don’t we, who don’t try at all, and actually enjoy evil!
Therefore God in all His goodness uses a percentage marker to measure out good deeds vs. bad deeds, and Catholics also define Purgatory or Limbo for those in the grey area. Those who don’t make it (0.00000001% of humans after Jesus came to earth), go away to the other sphere. Unfortunate, but where else can persons who enjoy absolute evil go to? Don’t worry, they are very much in tune with that other sphere.
It is that most humans want to be good, but are damned by bad genes, environmental factors, etc. Therefore Jesus will definitely save them by pulling them into the Reality of Goodness. Even for the 0.001% who went to Hell before Jesus came to earth, Catholic doctrine says that after Jesus’s death on the cross, he went to Hell for three days and redeemed the occupants.
…..Amen
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paul / April 16, 2014
“Being a staunch Buddhist now…all I wanted to do was to have a nice philosophical conversation”.
My foot.
More likely Therese, you an imposter, most likely a man, with limited intellect and education (certainly not gone to any University before the age of 25 years), planted by the Church or by some evangelical movement , describing yourself as a “Buddhist” purely to hoodwink some unsuspecting people in the slim hope of converting in them to Christianity.
Let me give you some examples of your un-Buddhist – pro Christian commentary on this thread alone.
• Celibacy as a fast-track towards Nirvana
• Buddhism on the other hand treats existence as an unfortunate result of craving
• One has to move towards Nothingness
• The only seeming difference probably is that in Buddhism, conscious existence is a curse
• Now Paul, you can go forth, shave your head, don the yellow-robes, and become a Bikkhu.
Your illiteracy or lack of formal education is evident throughout your arguments. Take for example:
• Out of the disability to comes to terms with Reality (of which is projected a God),
• Reality aka Goodness,- too may humans were damned into another sphere away from Reality/God (but only about 0.001%). My comment: How the hell did you arrive at this number?
• Reality therefore brought forth Reality’s “Son” called Jesus. “Son” is actuality Reality itself – the human manifestation.
• Among the concept called Realty (personified as God), are also the other apparitions like angles and saints. Therefore the angel appeared before Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
• Now this is not any earthly court of law, but a Divine one. Reality is therefore very loving and forgiving, and it beams out graces to anyone who looks upon the “Son.”
• The “Son” of God suffered greatly thus, to reconcile humans with God.
• Anyone who calls on the name of the Son, will surely be pardoned. Even in great sin, where one is going away to that other sphere away from Reality(God), realizing God’s sufferings through His Son, will definitely pardon the sinner.
• Those who don’t make it (0.00000001% of humans after Jesus came to earth). My comment: You seem to be plucking numbers from the sky.
•..Amen
Just move on troll, take your foolish evangelical message – while calling yourself “a staunch Buddhist” – elsewhere.
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ramona therese fernando / April 16, 2014
Seriously Paul, you are one paranoid Buddhist. One can surely look to the beauty of other religions and appreciate the goodness in them(from me especially as I was born a Christian). So, I would advise you to open your mind and become a Good Buddhist and remove your Diabolical Anger. Meditate, and very soon, Buddha’s Reality will open up for you.
For in the end, the Cause and Effect philosophy of Buddhism has the most meaning for me.
Oh Lord! There aren’t other Buddhists like you in Sri Lanka, are there? If so, then Buddhism in Sri Lanka needs some revival away from the bigoted views.
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ramona therese fernando / April 16, 2014
Further Paul, you are a typical case of Abusive Ad Hominem. For you can’t give legitimate argument, but can only attack the other person- what poor argument! I will go through all the points you pick on and try and open your mind up further :
• I said : Celibacy as a fast-track towards Nirvana
I explain : Certainly is the best way (even the Catholics preach it). But in trying to compromise Islam and Buddhism (in a good way- which was what the whole argument started with i.e. me seeing the parallels in Buddhism and Islam), Sri Lanka can go one step down a bit and accept married Buddhist priests also, although the celibate ones are better- however, is only my opinion of things) – better than fighting with Islamists, isn’t it!
• I said : Buddhism on the other hand treats existence as an unfortunate result of craving
I explain : Buddha’s words : “There comes also a time, Vasettha, when sooner or later this world begins to re-evolve. When this happens, beings who had deceased from the World of Radiance usually come to life as humans.”
and
The Buddha positively declares:
“Without, cognizable beginning is this Samsāra. The earliest point of beings who, obstructed by ignorance and fettered by craving, wander and fare on, is not to be perceived. [9]”
This life-stream flows ad infinitum, as long as it is fed with the muddy waters of ignorance and craving. When these two are completely cut off, then only does the life-stream cease to flow; rebirth ends, as in the case of Buddhas and Arahants. A first beginning of this life-stream cannot be determined, as a stage cannot be perceived when this life force was not fraught with ignorance and craving. (http://buddhism.org/Sutras/BuddhaTeachings/page_22.html)
• I said : One has to move towards Nothingness
I explain : Certainly “Nothingness” is a mere human term for cessation of the state of the mind as we know it, for in the words of Buddha : “O good man! Though there is no fuel or charcoal, the wind drives the fire flakes away. Through the causal factor of the wind, the fire does not die out”
• I said: The only seeming difference probably is that in Buddhism, conscious existence is a curse
I explain : The Buddha is reputed to have said: “I have taught one thing and one thing only, dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.”
Dukkha is commonly explained according to three different categories:
The obvious physical and mental suffering associated with birth, growing old, illness and dying.
The anxiety or stress of trying to hold onto things that are constantly changing.
A basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all forms of existence, because all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any inner core or substance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukkha
• I said : Now Paul, you can go forth, shave your head, don the yellow-robes, and become a Bikkhu.
I explain : I would have done so too if I realized Buddhism in my youth. However, on you, I said it merely tease- such person need a bit of teasing…….i thought.
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ramona therese fernando / April 16, 2014
~ grammatical corrections in []
I explain : I would have done so too if I realized Buddhism in my youth. However, on you, I said it merely [to] tease- such [a] person [needs] a bit of teasing…….i thought.
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paul / April 17, 2014
I have great respect for civilised belief systems such as hinduism, judaism, buddhism and athiesm for example. Islam and chritianity are not the same. They have killed and maimed and destroyed millions over the milleniums in their queast for domination. Religious conversions of the poor and vulnerable through unethical means abound in them even today.In short there is tangible evidence that they have done more harm than good to the mankind and only intangible evidence that they have done any good (like consigning criminals who repented to heaven or polygamy is ok formen but not women).
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ramona therese fernando / April 17, 2014
I agree 100%. That’s why I converted to Buddhism. Because beyond the glorious assumptions of the Abrahamic philosophies, are there too many people abusing that Divine Gift of Forgiveness.
Therefore , it is best that Muslims and Christians respect the Buddhist faith and not try and convert, contradict, and evangelize within a Buddhist country. They should learn from Buddhism and improve on their own faiths, and give precedence to the Buddhists.
As for Hinduism, Buddhism is a purification of Hinduism.
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Pandaranayagam / April 17, 2014
“As for Hinduism, Buddhism is a purification of Hinduism”?????
Ramona Therese, my dear. Keep to the business of learning. You have a long way to go. Teaching is too far out of your league.
Sadananda Dharma – often referred to as Hinduism, over the millennia has all those ingredients by which one identifies what goes as a religion. Prince Gauthama Siddartha – undeniably of this faith – was a great wise man, well ahead of his times. He spent his time looking for the causes of sorrow – a noble pursuit.
His Code of Conduct is not a religion although degenerates like those thugs in the BBS and the various Ravayas have today made it a rollicking business while the Mahanayakas, who should be challenging, them prefer the cosy comfort of their spacious abodes while those innocents who call themselves Buddhists in the country are confused.
By the way you, have a charming Christian name although you confess you have given up your former religion. Why not? Its still a free country.
Pandaranayagam
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ramona therese fernando / April 17, 2014
No, no, Pandaranayagam, I’m not teaching, merely learning, and hoping someone will carry on the philosophical conversation. My name I will not change, for I have been told by Venerable Bikkhus that official conversion and name change are unnecessary in the purity of Buddhism.
Definitely as you say : “degenerates like those thugs in the BBS and the various Ravayas have today made it a rollicking business while the Mahanayakas, who should be challenging, them prefer the cosy comfort of their spacious abodes while those innocents who call themselves Buddhists in the country are confused.” Buddhism in Sri Lanka in this way will not survive beyond the 2,500 years out of 5,000 years, with such disgraceful occurrences.
As for Hinduism, certainly Hinduism is the most concentrate of all religions. Every emotion, understanding, psychology, reasoning, philosophy, physical need, bodily purity, bodily previsions, division of labour, rascism, knowledge of infinite worlds, reasons for wickedness, reasons for goodness, 100,000 gods, another 100,000 devils, is all concentrated into Hinduism.
In other words, Hinduism is one original and pure thought gone exponentially mad and wildly out of control, grossly layered upon layered upon each other, and with no end in sight.
And thus did Reality bring forth the Buddha. And Buddha, in his mighty wisdom sought Hinduism’s cure.
Thus purified, the Main Essence of Reality was finally achieved in Buddhism.
The purest of all religions, Buddhism went many steps further by realizing that unlike its original predecessor Hinduism, conscious life-form had to dissipate, and not aggregate. God was not the concentrate aggregate of Everything and All called Bhrama, but the concept of dissipation of All and Everything into Nothingness called Nrivana.
And Buddha specified that His religion extended beyond His code of conduct. For in following that code of conduct diligently, if one has yet to be Enlightened, one’s life stream after death of the mortal body will naturally move on to the womb of another mortal being (or even into a heavenly being, or yet even into another dimension completely out of a being), till that life stream has achieved Equanimity, of then which it then slides into Nirvana.
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Pandaranayagam / April 18, 2014
Ramona Therese, my dear
Forgive me but Gauthama the Buddha did not, I believe, preach in terms of “HIS RELIGION…” He had absolutely no idea his thoughts will be converted into an institution of a religion that, as in many theatres today, becomes a subject of violent conflict. On the contrary he counselled serenity of thought, tranquility of mind, gentleness of action, detachment of the material world and a human being of a calm and peaceful disposition. He laid great emphasis in the plurality of thought as his emphasis on questioning debatable societal rules suggests.
You err – and even offend, as you note “Hinduism is one original pure thought gone exponentially mad and wildly out of control” Here, like many others, you make the mistake of distinguishing between ideology and ritual.
Buddha, therefore, could not have resorted “to seek to cure” as you believe. The primodial Sanatana Dharma evolved in the millennia and discarded several of its rituals and practises in the passing centuries – the last of which being Sati in the 20th century. Temple Entry for all in Ceylon is a progressive step that came into being in the 1960s – whereas it happened in most of India earlier. In recent times, the question of the relevancy of caste and dowry is being debated in traditional Hindu societies. In modern society based on commercialism class is slowly but surely giving way to caste.
The appeal for Buddhism, particularly in the wealthy and developed West and its universality among the more learned, I believe, is due to its focus on the higher intellect, its rejection of violence of action and thought. Love as a basis of a political order rather than force for power appeals to Western thinkers who have changed their societies that now zealously guards the philosophy reason should be the source of power rather than the early system of force as the source of power.
I must add – curiously, it is only in Sri Lanka this comparison of Hinduism and Buddhism this debate occurs. In the larger Buddhist countries like Burma, Thailand and Nepal it is not an issue. It is simply a non-starter.
Pandaranayagam
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ramona therese fernando / April 18, 2014
Pandaranayagam, no religion was ever meant to an institution.
And no, Buddha went beyond his teachings on correct mortal living, and retained the Hindu beliefs on the afterlife (except for dispersing of aggregates in Buddhism, and congregation of aggregates (albeit good ones) in Hinduism).
For in Buddha’s words: “This life-stream flows ad infinitum, as long as it is fed with the muddy waters of ignorance and craving. When these two are completely cut off, then only does the life-stream cease to flow; rebirth ends, as in the case of Buddhas and Arahants.”
Therefore, taking away the ‘institution” from Buddhism, and taking it on purely its philosophical merits places Buddhism squarely in the religious spheres.
Ok, Hinduism is a highly intellectual pursuit, and the Tamilians who invented it, or had it beamed down to them are also highly intelligent (happy now?). However, it has the gross tendency to roll out control even from its very inception. Therefore, any attempts to bring back any normalcy is quite hopeless. Unless Hindus turn to Buddhism to disperse all aggregates.
No, modern system of commercialism class can never be compared to the Hindu caste system. For in the modern system of commercialism, almost everyone is given a chance of coming up to wealth (and even if this does not happen, after a few generations or less, they are brought down to equality by socialist themes). However, caste system of the Hindus have stayed static ever since Hinduism’s invention/beaming down.
Doubt any Philosophy of Reason dominates Westerners who turn to Buddhism. What is seen of them is an ego boosting tour to show off their education and intellect and turn up their noses at the church-going masses (it goes the opposite way in Sri Lanka).
In the larger Buddhist countries like Burma, Thailand and Nepal Buddhism is not an issue because there is little to no Tamilians to keep poking holes in it.
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ramona therese fernando / April 18, 2014
I mean:”……little or no Hindus poking holes in Buddhism.”
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ramona therese fernando / April 19, 2014
I mean : However, it has the gross tendency to roll out OF control even from its very inception.
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Javi / April 18, 2014
“That’s why I converted to Buddhism. “
Hoooo!
pissu you left something behind when leaving in disgrace.
Your new name:
Biscuit_Boofer_Sucker (BBS)this matches your DNA not
the borrowed Portuguese.
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ramona therese fernando / April 18, 2014
Love you to Ravi……
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ramona therese fernando / April 18, 2014
Love you too, Ravi…….
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Kokkohana / April 18, 2014
Of Polygamy, you can be the Sinhala pioneereer of the 21st century for the Renaissance of Polygamy excerpted from the Kandyan sediments,. Start it from your own home, a novel trend for a new kind of Cottage Industry.
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ramona therese fernando / April 18, 2014
What?
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ramona therese fernando / April 16, 2014
And Paul, the number 0.0000001% is based on the number of people I personally see as being absolutely evil(no one personally, but what I read of in mostly historical texts).
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paul / April 17, 2014
Count me in Therese. Happy to go to your hell, assuming you and other true believers will be on the other side.. :-)
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ramona therese fernando / April 17, 2014
No,…..you won’t get me there either…..you have tried very hard to shame me for considering myself a Buddhist. Now there are a few Non- Sinhala races/castes in Sri Lanka that are Buddhist, and they remain staunch in the face of the continual humiliation from certain Sinhala-Buddhist sectors; sectors to whom Buddhism is of shameful race and caste bigotry (exactly what Buddha preached against).
These sectors feel that it is only they who should only hold the truths of Buddhism, and too many of them, with little understanding of other faiths, also indulge in shameful abuse of other faiths.
On top of that, their jealousy quotient is unusually higher than that of other normal mortal men. They that have studied and understood Buddhism in the greatest of detail; learning’s that are held very tight to their bosoms in pride,- cannot tolerate the Non-Sinhala person who comes along who can also expound these truths very easily from the passion and simplicity of their hearts. That poor Non-Sinhala person is then cut down to bits and pieces in angry fits of jealousy and rage .
Such at times, can be the embarrassment of Sinhala-Buddhism.
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paul / April 18, 2014
I did not say you will go to hell but I will.
As an ardent buddhist, the terms you used to describe some of its key concepts are abhorrent to say the least. I challenge you to find any of these exact terms being used in buddist original texts or by any authority of the dhamma such as walpola rahula, narada thero or on the buddhanet website, if you do I will withdraw my comment.
“fast-track towards Nirvana”
“unfortunate result of craving”
“move towards Nothingness”
“existence is a curse”
I put it to you that you used them to ridicule buddhism.
On the other hand it is your right to interpret and practice it the way you want.
This would be my last comment on this thread.
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ramona therese fernando / April 18, 2014
To be fair Paul, what I said 3 threads up about certain Sinhala-Buddhists, was not personally about you. But I took my chance to write it anyway, in your provocation.
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ramona therese fernando / April 18, 2014
No, I meant that you will not catch me in trying to ridicule me for calling myself a Buddhist, as you said “…..assuming you and other true believers…..”
I doubt you will find any of the terms I used for the other religions either, included in any professional texts. And I have never declared myself to be a professional. I have used my own words, and they are my interpretation of the religions. What I said on Buddhism I supported with Buddha’s own texts (11 “threads” up).
I am usually nonchalant about religion, though I love to debate it. Buddhism I should have been more careful of, as I a great believer of Buddha’s doctrines. I understand and staunchly believe in Buddhism. However I am probably also a very bad Buddhist.
However, you, Paul, are on the paranoid side, as are too many Sinhala Buddhists.
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