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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Intellectuals have failed to understand terrorism: Modernism versus Fundamentalism, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad
Intellectuals have failed to understand terrorism: Modernism versus Fundamentalism
By Saif Shahin
11 Nov, 2009

Violence does not necessarily stem from poverty or conservative orthodoxy

THE APPROACHING anniversary of 26/ 11 brings with it a terror of its own: the bald and bespectacled babble of homespun ‘terrorism experts’. Our cuttlefish commentariat spews inexorable amounts of ink on the subject all times of the year; the news peg is sure to send them into overdrive.

Apart from roasting Pakistan, their well- meaning offerings generally revolve around three central tenets: terrorism springs from the well of poverty into which Indian Muslims have been pushed, the bulk of Indian Muslims are not terrorists, and ‘ modernised’ Muslims will have to stand up against the Deobandi ulema if we are to defeat the scourge.

Unfortunately, not only is much of this not backed by empirical data, but it is also replete with some obvious contradictions. If terrorism springs from poverty, and most Indian Muslims are poor, then why aren’t more and more of them answering the call to arms? And if modernisation is the antithesis of terrorism, then why is it the Deobandis who repeatedly denounce such violence as unIslamic while modernised Muslims — engineers, doctors, scientists — sit on their haunches or, worse, join the terrorist ranks themselves? Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy went to the best English schools, graduating to a top job with a Yahoo! India subsidiary and a salary running into lakhs. One of his brothers is an architect, another is a chest specialist in the UK. His wife is a homoeopathic doctor. He could have been the perfect example of a modern, sociallyintegrated Muslim — only he went on to head the media cell of the Indian Mujahideen ( IM), the only known home- grown Muslim terror outfit. He was the guy who used to send diabolical emails to media houses before terror attacks.

http://newageislam.com/intellectuals-have-failed-to-understand-terrorism--modernism-versus-fundamentalism/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/2081


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