The Sins of Double Standards
A view from the throne |
Wars indeed bring out the best and the worst in the combatants and then some surprises. A nation may win on one ground but lose on another that was not even the issue of war. The armies of Germany and Japan were obviously vanquished, but the nations emerged as economic powers doing better than some of the victors. The current conflict may be seen as clash of civilizations, an attempt to grab the Iraqi oil fields or overpowering an enemy of Israel, but the end results are altogether different. They have exposed the superpower's feet of clay, bringing shame of guilt of deceit and fraud to its leadership. They were caught in the act red handed doing exactly what the claimed they stand against.
To speak the truth is a divine virtue, but in the last analysis it is also the practical wisdom that is often forgotten in the hurry of pursuing greed. A lie may pay off in the short term, but takes its toll in the long run, ---- as the policies of Tony Blair and George Bush are proving to their utter mortification. Truth was also known to be the first casualty in war, but now it can survive, ---- as it did not when the world soon found out the lie of the Weapons of Mass Destruction. You can fool some people for sometime but not all of them all the time, ---- as the BJP learnt to their grief in the last Indian elections.
The enlightened segment of humanity has always known the truism about truth, but we owe its renewed revelation to the event of the information explosion, as though information had broken out from the state controls. Thanks are due to the growing technology of information that defies borders and defeats tricks like the 'embedded reporters', and make reporters vie with each other for being the first one to bring the true story to the world.
In the gloomy outlook of the present day world, information is spreading like light in the darkness. Science and technology, which armed the oppressor to wreak havoc on humanity, may have taken a full circle and returned to the basics of morality to ameliorate its sufferings through information.
When the American founding fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence (1776) - " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights.....", they had in their minds their own rights that were usurped by the British oppressors. Little did they know that the Americans, after they were fed on these noble sentiments for 228 years, would include the Iraqi prisoners at Abu Gharaib in the same category of 'men created equal' too! The graphic information of the indignities perpetrated by their government on other human beings, provided by the information media, shocked the Americans beyond belief and put them to shame. Hats off to the God fearing British girl who was developing and printing pictures in a photographer's shop and could not stand the horror of sadistic torture she saw in them. She found it fit to betray the confidence of the customer and report the crime to the Police. Credit also goes to the Police who did not hush up the matter and swallowed their national pride by bringing the guilty British soldiers to trial.
Does it mean that the days of the rulers, who professed one thing and practiced another, are coming to an end? Maybe it is the first ray of hope. Double standards (munafiqat) is the greatest curse that has been the bane of humanity on earth. Much more grievous in - justices are inflicted covertly on the poor and the hungry of the world, that never see the light of the day. The media with commercial interests is averse of showing the unsightly images of famine stricken cadaverous children on TV for fear of disturbing the appetite of their viewers having dinner and losing their patronage.
Guiltier than the developed countries, who oppress the third world covertly are the rulers of the poor countries who allow it and indulge in overt oppression of their own county men. While shedding crocodile tears on the plight of their subjects and electorate, they live in lavish styles and transfer millions to foreign banks in secret accounts.
Whereas the information age brings hope to the suffering humanity, it delivers warning to the autocrats, potentates, oligarchs and also the leaders who wear the halo of democracy around their heads. It tells them to beware of practicing double standards, be it in the matters of their own nations or the affairs of the world. Information age knows no borders and is already a global phenomenon and it will see through their deeds and misdeed just the same.
It may be to soon to celebrate the power of information, but we can help by acquiring it, demanding it and spreading it as much as we can.
Wherever information flows freely, there will be light, and wherever there is light there will be hope.
The author is an independent commentator based in Karachi, Pakistan
Views: 9737
this leads to the comments posted by marianne who sais "double standards are also present in our muslim world...." You see, the point is not in where it is also found. It is that we as muslims will only merit the title "khairul ummah" when we enjoin doing the good and forbidden the bad, everywhere. this means doing the same to people from within us and from without the muslim community. nobody has ever assumed that the islamic brotherhood is safe from any form of bad or even evil acts, but we are the adherents of the only reigion in the world which consciously enjoins the above.
i look forward to reading more of these and other comments. may Allah reward us all.
Double standards are also present in our muslim world: i've heard an islamic clerik proclaiming that the muslims being persecuted in Darfur 'are not really muslims', an assertion no muslim is to make of any other [according to a hadith].
I have not heard of any muslims coming to protect our persecuted sisters and brothers in islam in darfur.
The hostage taking of russian school children by chechen rebels today and the attack on the two russian airplanes are acts clearly prohibited by islam.
if we as muslims speak out against the crimes committed by the IDF, american government and many soldiers in iraq [etc.], then we should also clearly speak out against and distance ourselves from the crimes committed by some of our sisters and brothers in islam [hostage taking and killing of civilians, e.g. iraq, chechnya, etc.], may Allah lead them to the straight path and keep them from sin, insh'Allah.
We can still support our sisters and brothers in islam who are in need by giving charity [providing food, shelter, education, etc.] and following what is allowed in islam, but not by following what is prohibited in islam [killing of innocent civilians].
regards,
Marianne
May Allah have Mercy and Blessings on all the Muslims, insh'Allah.
As for the the American population, large sections of them were always against the war.
above is from Sadr as he fights a clean fight to defend his country from foreign invasion and only after they closed his newspaper. Any logical person would admit that writing your views in a newspaper is a democratic right, yet Americans provoked him by closing down his newspaper because they did not like what he was saying. They then hunted him down. Remember, by calling for his assasination. The man had no option but to fight them, yet a Muslim hero fights a clean fight and he does not condone kidnapping and killing of the innocent. This is to show that there are Muslims who do not hold 'double standards' and fighting for them, even after invasion, is the last resort.
Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1294183,00.html
treatment of muslims by muslims in DARFUR (Sudan) and the deafening silence of the arab and muslim world on this subject. Why? Probably Zionists and crusaders are not involved in this 'genocide' of people in Darfur!!!.
We also appreciate for condemning the selfish and corrupt rulers and leaders of the poor countries. Please keep a track of them and follow on exposing their misdeeds.
regards/Rahim
When a Palestinian, after losing 1/2 of his/her family members to crazy Israelis, they Christians and Jews want the Palestinian to not fight back. Why? Because that is not noble. To the Jews and Christians, it is more noble and just to be killed and not do anything.
Islam is a religion of justice, more so than peace. It is just for the oppressed to fight back with every means possible. It is the right of the oppressed to use bombs, guns, stones, sticks, etc. against the enemy.
The Americans, Israelis, Russians, Filipinos, etc use AC-130 and Apache helicopters against Ak-47 carrying freedom fighters in Iraq, Palestine, Chechnya, etc.
So, the logic of Christians is "Let me violently break into your house, rape your women, kill your men, and you have to thank us for saving you from oppressing yourselves"
That is why Islam will eventually reign supreme. All other methods of governance is unjust. Only Islam can save the present world.
The Christians and Jews and their allies (whether it is Muslim or non-Muslim) have caused and will continue to cause great harm to humanity. The Christians and Jews and their allies have made the world of humans and animals unsafe. They have poisoned the waters, killed and made extinct many thousands of species of animals, committed genocide on whole continents (N. and S. America, Africa and Australia).
Islam, after conquering a region, benefited the region more than the Muslim nation. Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc, read your own history. Not the ones written by biased historians. But look only at the facts.
Before Muslims, India and Spain were just backwater killing fields. After Islam, both countries were superpowers in Art, Culture,
Also we appreciate you for condemning the self-fish and corrupt rulers of the poor countries. Please keep a tract of them and follow on exposing their misdeeds.
regards/Rahim
EVERY civilization that has gone up, came down. For a country that's run by the few leading the many [majority ignorant], it will be a hard fall. Unfortunately, the mid-point has passed and we're already on the down side of that hill, I feel.
What matters is the truth. As a Muslim, insha'Allah that means getting rid of the double standards and the hypocrisy in the Middle East, as well. Aaaah what I'd do to see the fall of the hypocrits in the Middle East ... Amen.
has given America a license to carry out premptive aggression against individuals or countries whom they feel rightly or wrongly threatens their security.
Thank you author(s) for expressing so accurately and astutely the truth of what (as I said) many of us also see.