the edited version
[Lost In the Dunya]
As Britain Declares A De Facto State of Martial Law, Will It Make Any Difference To The Suicide Bombers Of The Islamic State and Their Supporters?
Following on from the Manchester Arena Stadium bombing in the United Kingdom a decision was taken by the Prime Minister to place up to 5000 troops on the streets of Britain to give 'visible support' to the Police, initially in the Manchester area.
But will it make any difference? Are individuals who have no fear of death likely to be deterred by the visible appearance of military or para-military forces in key locations in Britain or indeed in any other country across Christendom?
This really gets to the heart of the matter and one which I have been mentioning for the past decade:what is the objective of Christian forces occupying Muslim lands – in much the same way as the Crusaders, with the support of local Arab Emirates and Sultanates, fought endless battles for centuries across the Levant in pursuit of wealth and strategic locations to further trade, commerce and politics, all sanctioned by the political leadership of Christendom – The Holy Father (the Pope in Rome) and his Advisors, in those bygone days.
Can Christian military forces or Christian politicians (from either the Russian Federation or NATO-Atlantic Alliance) coalition bring peace justice and order to Islamic lands – backing client states - Muslim Emirates, Sultanates or Kingdoms - against one another or in support of several? The answer should be obvious but sadly 99.9% of our politicians are myopic and, as I never fail to point out, are all forever doomed to repeat historical mistakes of the past.
How can the ordinary person, the man or woman in the street, make sense of what is happening when nobody is telling the truth?
[For example, you probably do not know that Bahrain, a Gulf Kingdom, is not the tyranny Russia Today television network paints it to be, but, as with Iraq, has a historically inherited Shia majority population governed by a Sunni-minority. Iran, a Shia-majority country nearby, claims Bahrain as a historical part of one province. The ruling Sunni (and Saudi-backed) leadership and population in this small Kingdom have no practical 'final solution' for this dilemma.
I use this term because it would be loath of this moderate Muslim kingdom to embark on a 'Hitler-type' 'final solution' to solve its ethnic problems.]
Not a single journalist in the mainstream media in Christendom today asks pertinent questions – such as why are these individuals, the Islamic terrorists, so pleased and willing to be martyrs? Indeed, do our governments and institutions share any culpability through their reckless actions in Muslim lands, in the radicalization processes of such extremists and in their motivations to commit such horrendous acts of carnage?
When Patriotism and Martyrdom Are One and the Same
Why should people throughout Christendom be doomed to live in a perpetual state of fear and civil emergency because our politicians have their own (hidden) political and economic agendas for the Levant which the general populace, through widespread ignorance and disinformation, feel compelled to support or otherwise such persons are viewed and labeled as 'unpatriotic' and as 'traitors'?
Why is it unpatriotic to suggest that Christian forces should not be so highly visible as aggressors (by ordinary Muslim folk -as opposed to the ruling classes) across the Levant, the Gulf, the Sahel and the Far East?
Who defines political and religious martyrdom?
Ascension Thursday
There was an era when a religious figure of standing would bless all those innocents who had been martyred and whose place is now at the right hand of their God.
Indeed, today, for Catholics, it is Ascension Thursday.
As all appear lost in the Dunya, it's symbolism has likewise crumbled into [Pagan?] dust. Christendom and it's inhabitants have no spiritual guidance nor inspiration as a follow-on from this recent carnage – only the empty words of [temporal] entities promising defiance and continuity in the face of terror.
Silencing The Messengers
There was a time when I could pull out my Press Card in most parts of the world and it afforded if not protection then a modicum of respect and likely excuse against me being murdered - on the grounds that there was some empathy for the fact that I was only doing my (professional) job of work. Like doctors of old (not of today, I am sorry to have to tell you) you treated all 'patients' equally – regardless of whether they were government supporters or opposition fighters.
You simply reported what you found. Not any more.
How To Defeat Terrorism
One of the best ways to defeat terrorism is to take away the causes for rebellion, martyrdom and self-sacrifice:these are usually economic social and political injustice and disenfranchisement of the masses.
When did you last hear any political or spiritual leader tell you these facts?
[Every one of them will 'duck and dive' when you put the above statement to them saying, for example, 'well, that's a matter of politics, our job is law and order and protecting life and property' or 'I don't know anything about that, my job is to preach against all extremism' or some other non-committal reply which leaves the heart of the matter, unresolved – crying out for justice – with the 'guarantee' of more martyrs to come.]
You need to dwell on that last paragraph just a little longer because you are not getting any pertinent facts from your mainstream media nor from your politicians nor from your spiritual leaders.
War Is Good For Business (When You Have Little Else To Sell Except Fear and Insecurity)
Why have we, in Christendom, just given up on promoting principles of democratic values, social justice, economic and political prosperity and harmony as opposed to promoting wars and arms sales in Muslim lands and in the Third World? Cynics might reason that it is more profitable, quicker (in terms of outcomes) and cheaper to promote war and destruction than confidence and nation-building measures and structures – which are long, painstakingly slow, frustrating, and whose outcomes are never pre-determined nor can they be dictated.
History Repeating
As the great treasures of Babylon, Assyria, Phoenicia and Timbuktu are laid waste by Vandals (the Islamic State on this occasion) so too there will come the day when every treasure and heritage in Christendom will likewise be laid waste and ground into fine dust by their successors in aspiration or in empire.
Such is the sad and sorry epitaph for all prospective successor powers on planet earth, under its current stewardship.
Lost In The Dunya
I was going to leave this blog at the above but there is something else:
The generation I came from, before age politics and evolution, believed in love, peace and understanding. We are probably the most laughed at and scorned generation of teenagers which ever existed. Yet none of us preached the taking of any human life at any time and most wanted a more harmonious and just world for all. Yet we were all shouted and hounded out of these beliefs – and such philosophies were regarded as too anarchic and very dangerous.
Yes there are just causes worth sacrifice and martyrdom – there always have and always will be. The Coptic (and their West African Christian brother) prisoners of ISIS beheaded on the shores of the Mediterranean in Libya who all refused to deny their faith when given the chance to live (see an earlier blog) is just one of many testaments to this fact.
This is why you have what you have today. It is by design and by intent.
Let nobody ever deceive you by saying that you have the exponential terror in the world of today and tomorrow by chance.
The denial of basic justice, human rights and disenfranchisements are at the root causes of terrorism in the world today.
All of the extremes which evolve from such injustice are simply a more extreme evolution of unresolved political, economic, social and religious issues.
So as even more families grieve and mourn for innocents so cruelly taken at such short notice and through no fault of their own in this recent act of carnage, uniting them in spirit, as brothers and sister, with those in my previous blog and whose terrible deaths – their own precious lives likewise so cruelly taken – the latter receiving but a fraction of the world publicity the Manchester suicide bombing victims have attracted, why, I asked myself, should their precious Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist* lives, and equal suffering, be any less valid other than the fact that, until the horrors of what we disinter and call from beyond a place none of us know, come through the darkness to knock on our very own doors, we, likewise, will continue to all be lost in denial and in ignorance – in the Dunya.
©Patrick Emek, May 2017
Explanation:
I chose this title 'Lost in the Dunya' to again reflect the fact that this was an Islamic (Muslim) martyr, inspired by a cause or perceived injustice, that the victims were of whatever chance religion (or no religion) happened to have the misfortune be in his or her presence when Shahada (martyrdom) was embraced by that individual, that there was, in the mind of the suicide bomber a 'just cause' for his or her actions and that he or she genuinely believes that this action will be praised by Allah – and that, as a martyr, he will take his place at the right hand of the Prophet who himself is at the right hand of Allah.
Likewise, as innocent victims with absolutely no link to combatants, the security forces nor to their families nor such innocents sharing any responsibility or having any reason for the initial cause of jihad, such innocent individuals killed or murdered in this manner are, as I understand it, totally unacceptable to Allah in the Koran as sacrificial 'offerings' by the suicide bomber to justify his martyrdom. You did not know this? You need to converse with an Islamic scholar to confirm what I have just said. [As a non-Muslim I cannot advise you in this regard.]
You should also ask such a learned cleric as to whether such a misguided individual would be forgiven by Allah - in ignorance or mistranslation or misguidance of martyrdom and its terms of reference in defense of Islam and Islamic values - which caused him to act as he did in the taking of innocent life.
The Dunya:An Arabic-Islamic term which has many meanings but in essence translates into non-Arabic (English) language as either 'worldly' or 'hedonistic' and 'lost' to Mammon.
*I refer to the Muslim, Shinto Buddhist, Christian and Hindu believers as captured and murdered victims of ISIS in Syria, Libya and Iraq
