Taliban Online - Yes, even
those reactionaries in Afghanistan are capitalizing on modern technologies
such as the Internet and World Wide Web to get their message out.
Revolutionary Association of the Women of
Afghanistan (RAWA) - Opposed to the Taliban, RAWA is "a political/social
organization of Afghan women which is struggling for peace, freedom, democracy
and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan." - Link added
1999-07-23
Islam and the
Veil - a rebuttal to RAWA's claim that the veil is merely a cultural
matter. - Link added 1999-12-13.
Afghanistan's Vanished Culture
"Before their conversion to Mohammedanism [Islam]
they used to imbibe the learning and culture of the countries they conquered,
and by assimilating the culture of other countries would try to propagate
civilization. But ever since they became Mohammedans, they have only the
instinct of war left in them; they have not got the least vestige of learning
and culture; on the contrary, the countries that come under their sway
gradually have their civilization extinguished. In many places of modern
Afghanistan and Kandhar etc., there yet exist wonderful Stupas, monasteries,
temples and gigantic statues built by their Buddhist ancestors. As a result
of Turkish admixture and their conversion to Mohammedanism, those temples
etc. are almost in ruins, and the present Afghans and allied races have
grown so uncivilized and illiterate that, far from imitating those ancient
works of architecture, they believe them to be the creation of super-natural
spirits like the Jinn"
What was true 100 years ago, when Swami Vivekananda spoke those words,
is still true today!! The Taliban have demolished the Colossal Buddha
of Bamiyan (above). The media, in reporting on the destruction
of these cultural and religious treasures, have piously noted Christian
iconoclasm through the ages by means of comparison to shame*,
but do not note that the Taliban are faithfully emulating the example of
the Prophet Mohammed ("the model for all mankind") who destroyed the 360
icons in the Ka'aba.
Museum
under Siege - the plundered treasures of the National Museum of Afghanistan
Islamic
Art: the Kabul Renaissance - a funny (but sad!) satire about the
demolition of the statue of Buddha. Check out the links to CNN and
UNESCO at the bottom of the page.
What is curious about these episodes of iconoclasm is that Taliban claim
that they are only blowing up "rocks." However, the fact that they
demolished these statues indicates that the Taliban believes that there
is real power inherent in the statues. (A TV show on Cappadocia, Turkey
showed how Muslims had obliterated the eyes from icons of Jesus and Christian
saints. In various traditions, adding the eyes to a portrait or figure
is to animate the portrait or figure, as it were. It seems that the Muslims
of Cappadocia were trying to take the life out of the icons, which indicates
that they, like the Taliban, believed that there was real power in images!)
* Similarly, Moslem apologist Karen Armstrong
hauled out hoary stories about book-burning by Christians to open her biography
of the Prophet Mohammed, which she wrote to foster "understanding" of Islam
after Muslims burned copies of the Satanic Verses. As one intelligent
observer noted, burning copies of the Satanic Verses didn't recall centuries-old
stories of book-burning, but rather more recent Nazi burning of "degenerate"
books.
Islam is a proselytizing ideology that is bent on worldwide domination.
Here is a sampling of sites that show the contempt that Muslims have for
the societies and cultures in which they come to live:
Hizb-ut-Tahrir - Homepage
of a group formerly active at universities in the UK - until it was banned
for harassing non-Muslims (particularly Jewish, Hindu, and Sikh women students
who were the targets for conversion) and homosexuals.
Al Muhajiroun - Homepage of
a spinoff from Hizb-ut-Tahrir
United
Kingdom - Includes profiles of Moslem groups active in the UK, such
as Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Al Muhajiroun. From ORT's Anti-Semitism World Report
1997
Khalifornia - Homepage of a Caliphate
group based in (guess!) California, USA
AL JIHAD Homepage
- endorses killing Hindus and Buddhists who refuse to convert to Islam.
This Web site is based in Buddhist Thailand (the connection is erratic),
which shows the contempt that these Muslims have for their hosts.
How to
Make America an Islamic Nation - "...by accepting Islam I was declaring
that America needed to do so too. America, my home, would naturally become
an Islamic country one day. There is no other way to think if you are a
truly conscientious believer in Allah." - Link added 1999-07-23
Islamic
Monitor
