| 27 February 2004 | Friday | 06 Muharram 1425 |
Tragedy and black magic
Vajpayee heading for easy win
The beauty of Islam is the ease with which it meshes with life. It is not a mosque-based religion, hitting home only on Sundays; nor does it propose ascetism, for leaving the world aside and zoning in on meditation cannot be too terribly difficult. On the surface there are rituals and there are people that get lost in the rituals, losing the forest for the trees in essence.
Prior to prophethood, Muhammad (Peace be upon him) would ponder and meditate in the cave of Hira. It is indeed the inherent nature of man to seek out God and fortunate are those that come to the conclusion that the sine qua non of inner peace is connecting with Him and making Him the focus of one's life.
A very endearing aspect of Islam is the concept of moderation. In a belief system this is even more important, for belief can lead to rigidity of thought. Muslims come in varying shades of practice. On the ultra-right are the people who practise the five pillars to the exclusion of all else and the last detail of ablution, or one hair strand peeking out of Hijab can become a federal case.
On the ultra-left are the people who negate the need for actually praying or fasting, and living footloose and fancy-free. The former have lost the heart of Islam and the latter can teeter on disbelief. The true practice of Islam pulls the two extremes toward a wholesome middle.
Prophet Muhammad integrated the mundane and the spiritual into a vital symphony. Though he spent long hours praying in solitude, when leading congregational prayer he read short verses so that the mothers of restless young children were not unduly inconvenienced.
When he learned of one of his companions spending the entire night in prayer, he admonished the faithful for there must be a balance between huqooq-Allah (the rights of Allah) and huqooq-ul-ibad (the rights of family and friends).
The schedule of prayer that has been laid down for us should be used as a template for time management. Instead of the prayer interfering with our work and school, it should be the five points that our worldly schedule is built upon.
Use it to centre you; to focus you for it has the amazing power to calm you down when you are having a hellish day. Use it to connect with God and a great equanimity will descend upon you. That a five-minute ritual can be the best of Valiums is a very real concept, one must allow it to be so though.
One must concentrate on what one is reading and as though God is watching you, for indeed He is, truly pleased with this harried and hassled person that dropped all the demands on time and took time out to connect with Him.
The blessings of the month of Ramazan are another untapped resource for us. That darned devil is tied up for the month and all that we ask for is granted. We have to pray with this in mind and remember that the time schedule that God has in bringing to fruition what we ask for is always in our best interest. For no one can love us more.
Hazrat Rabia Basri, acknowledged as one of the great saints in Islam, has a beautiful saying: "If I worship You for the fear of hell burn me therein, and if I worship You for the hope of paradise, exclude me therefrom, but if I worship You for Your own sake then withhold not from me Your Eternal Beauty".
Rabia Basri epitomizes the concept of "disinterested love" or the development and nurturing of a relationship with God for the sake of God alone, for the sake of His love alone. And in practice if our sole aim is His pleasure we are placing ourselves automatically on the straight path. And that path is directed to paradise.
In the six esoteric aspects of faith "committing things to God" is a very difficult but a very tender concept. We must work towards what we want and pray for it. And after that leave the net result to Allah.
Consider your effort and your prayer wrapped in a lovely package and given up to Him; he does with it what is His Will and we must accept that with thanks if our desires come true or forbearance if they do not, remembering that Allah is All-Knowing and there is always some benefit for us in His Will.
Like one nurtures a plant with sunlight and water, we must first plant the seed of a relationship with God within our hearts and then nourish that with prayer, fasting, Hajj, charity and most vitally with remembrance or zikr. In Al-Ahzab 33:41 "O ye who believe celebrate the praises of Allah and do this often."
In Surah Baqara 2:152, Allah says: "then do you remember Me; I will remember you". In an established hadith Prophet Muhammad illustrates the same saying that then we remember Allah he mentions us in a better gathering, when we are as though walking toward Him, He runs toward us.
Whilst the relationship with Allah is developing, there is the simultaneous development of patience and contentment. The Quran exhorts us in Surah Baqara 2:145 seek Allah's help with patient perseverance and prayer.
Some have interpreted "detachment", the sixth esoteric manifestation of faith, as just a sense of detachment and others as true ascetism. If the example of the Prophet is to be followed, however, and remembering that monasticism is not recommended is Islam, the preferable interpretation is that this should be a sense of detachment.
"A sense of perspective" comes close to explaining what this means. Stepping out of a situation mentally and emotionally, getting a bird's eye view, dropping material and emotional links whilst examining a situation and all the while keeping the Will of Allah as a backdrop, is a viable explanation of this concept.
Tragedy and black magic
Civil war, chaos, and economic collapse are once again engulfing Haiti. This small Caribbean nation of 8.5 million looks increasingly like one of its famous undead zombies as it staggers from crisis to crisis.
Haiti may not seem very important, but the mysterious island in the Spanish Main is a tragic symbol of so much that has gone wrong in the Third World.
During the 18th century, when France ruled Haiti, the island's slave plantations and immensely rich soil produced four annual crops of precious indigo, coffee, spice, and sugar. Haiti generated more export revenue than all Spain's gold and silver-producing Latin American colonies combined.
In 1791, Haiti's black slaves revolted, led by a heroic figure, Toussaint l'Overture. He defeated France's finest armies and made Haiti free in 1804. But after his death, Haiti fell into political turmoil.
The liberated slaves began cutting down Haiti's lush forests to make charcoal. After a century of deforestation, the island's rich topsoil washed away, leaving dead earth and destitute peasants. Two thirds of the island broke away, becoming the Dominican Republic.
The US Marine Corps took over Haiti in 1915 and administered it wisely and well until 1934 - and, unofficially, under President Magloire, until 1957. Many Haitians looked back to the era of US rule as a golden era.
Then, an obscure country doctor, Francois Duvalier, came to power. He turned out to be one of the worst tyrants in the hemisphere's history, a sadistic killer, black magician, and certainly the most frightening man I have ever met.
Better known as 'Papa Doc,' Duvalier inflicted a reign of terror on Haiti through his feared thugs, the 'Ton-ton Macoutes' (bogeyman in Haitian Criole). Duvalier was high priest, or Hongan, of the island's cult of African black magic (improperly called 'vodoo'). Haitians believed Papa Doc was the evil, top-hatted deity, Baron Samedi, who could raise the dead, create zombies, and kill his many enemies by spells.
Haiti in the early 1960's was a bizarre, dangerous place. I lived at Port-au-Prince's fabled Victorian gingerbread hotel, the Oloffson, dodged Ton-ton thugs, and met many characters from Graham Green's delightful book on Haiti, 'The Comedians.' Two attempted coups against Duvalier occurred while I was in Haiti, including the farcical 'Dade County Deputy Marshall's Invasion,' when a bunch off -duty Miami police tried to shoot their way into the National Palace, kill Duvalier, and loot the national bank.
-Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2004.
Vajpayee heading for easy win
When India's lower house of parliament was dissolved early this month, as the first step towards fresh national election, the veteran Indian communist leader, Somnath Chatterji, was quoted as saying that this was the people's chance to throw the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out sooner.
However, judging from the opinion polls held in India, this would seem to be more of a wishful thinking than a realistic appraisal of the people's mood. Two months before the elections are scheduled to be held, there are predictions of easy, even landslide, victory for Atal Behari Vajpayee.
A recent mood-of-the-nation poll, sponsored by a widely circulated English language news weekly of Delhi suggests that the Indian people prefer Vajpayee to return as the head of the government twice as much as the leader of the BJP's nearest rival party, Ms Sonia Gandhi of the Congress. Oddly enough, on the eve of the 1998 elections, Ms Gandhi's popularity rating was clearly higher than that of Vajpayee.
Even more significantly, the same polls have also indicated that the Congress will be a net loser in many of the states in which it is in power today. In contrast, the BJP is said to have gained in two of the largest states in India - Bihar and Uttar Pradesh - which account for more than 100 seats in the Lok Sabha.
Traditionally, in these states the Congress or other non-BJP parties such as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) or Samajwadi Party or Bahujan Samaj Party have been stronger than the BJP. In another major state (East) Punjab, where the Congress is at present in power, there is said to be growing opposition to the party and to the chief minister Amarinder Sindh.
According to Indian analysts, the factors contributing to Vajpayee's growing strength are many, not the least of them is his perceived role as a peace maker. It has been said that if peace now looks a possibility between India and Pakistan, it is mainly because of Vajpayee's vision. (However, this seems too one-sided.)
A section of the Indian intelligentsia has suggested that the BJP's imbibing "secularism" a la Nehruvian Congress has contributed to the gain in his popularity. While, as some argue, under Vajpayee the BJP may have been able to acquire "the virtues of an all encompassing society" which served as an essential element in the Nehruvian Congress's popular base, the BJP has institutionalised the turn to the right in Indian politics.
The parties which are the BJP's allies and give it the majority that it needs to be at the head of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and form the government at the centre are mostly fanatically Hindutva-oriented.
Almost all of them were involved in the demolition of the Babri Masjid and now demand the construction of a Ram Mandir at the site of the devastated mosque. Vajpayee himself is committed to the building of the Mandir.
A major factor which has contributed to the strengthening of the BJP has of course been the absence of a credible rival party opinion polls indicate that the Congress, which has traditionally been the dominant political party in India is no longer in a position to challenge the BJP's popularly. It has even been said that the party's downward slide could prove to be terminal.
It is unfortunate that on a popular basis what is held against the Congress is that its leader Sonia Gandhi by origin is an Italian and acquired Indian nationality only after her marriage with Rajiv Gandhi, the elder son of Ms Indira Gandhi.
In the common people's mind, her foreign origin is the biggest handicap in the way of her becoming the prime minister of India. The fact that she is not comfortable with Hindi or other Indian languages is also regarded as a negative factor.
It is also said that among "the coterie surrounding Ms Sonia Gandhi many have no political base and would be inclined to compromise with Hindutva." This, particularly from Pakistan's point of view, is a matter of the greatest concern."
From Pakistan's point of view it is important that Vajpayee should continue to be at the head of the government in New Delhi. It is with a great deal of difficulty that a measure of trust has been established between India and Pakistan.
From the Indian side the architect has been Vajpayee and along with President Gen Pervez Musharraf he has signed the statement calling for a peaceful negotiated settlement of all disputes between the two countries. He has also lifted the ban on Pakistani overflights and opened the travel links between the two countries. The two countries appear to be on the verge of normalization of their relations and it is important that the momentum is kept up.
Post-script: The BJP rank and file seem to find a great deal of encouragement from the fact that 24-year old Varun Gandhi, son of the late Sanjay Gandhi, has decided to join them. As an infant, Varun was thrown out of the house along with his mother, Maneka, by the then prime minister, Ms Indira Gandhi.