Perils of Self-Righteousness
An Anecdotal Evaluation of the Muslim Mind-set - A Self-criticism
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Open Letter to OBL
9th October, 2005
Dear Osama,
I know you are the savior of us Muslims.
I am a Muslim from Pakistan; a country that was created on the basis of Islam and in the name of Islam. You pretend to know exactly what is good for the Muslims and what is bad for them. You claim to have masterminded the destruction of those big towers, the symbols of so-called infidel America. This was a stroke of genius (noble or otherwise), unparalleled in the history of mankind. You think; you are brilliant. You claim; you are brave. You are the all-encompassing Osama Bin Laden, the liberator of the holy lands.
If ever there was a need for you, it is today. We are struck by an earthquake of a magnitude never seen before. It is Kashmir - remember, your own backyard - where so many of your foot soldiers are deployed. Our people are buried under tons of rubble. Our children are buried under their own schools, and our patients under the hospitals where they were being treated. Winter is approaching, and people are left out in the cold. Come and dig us out of this mess. You are good with bombs and bullets, but today your prowess is needed for something more constructive. You know how to create tremors; you must also know how to deal with an earthquake.
Please, where are you, Osama? I know you are hunkering down somewhere, waiting to show your magic. Send your operatives now; otherwise it will be too late. Nothing is impossible for you, Osama. Get us out of this please.
But no! You haven't shown up. You won't show up.
Your brilliance is in destruction, and not in rescue or construction. Now our leaders are forced to beg for help from the infidels. The British and the Americans are coming again to help. I am sure it doesn't make you happy. You might even attack those who come to help. But, Osama, we were helpless. Only the infidels had the tools, the helicopters, and the willingness to help.
Sorry, Osama. Once again you were late when it came to real help.
We will call the infidels only, when this happens the next time. You can rest assured that we won't call you. Thank you, Osama.
Yours faithfully,
Just an ordinary Muslim
*A footnote to this letter:
There was a subsequent incident of gunfire directed at a rescue helicopter operated by the US Military Pilots.
-------
Open Letter to Musharraf
11th October, 2005
Dear General,
A big chunk of your country is hit by an earthquake. The misery it has brought on those people is untold, and all I can see you do on TV is make excuses (it could not be foreseen; the scale was too big; and on and on) - and ask outsiders for help.
Dear president, is it new information that this region is sitting on top of a very active part of the earth, geologically speaking, and that this kind of event can happen anytime?
But you were busy General. You were busy preparing for other events, which will never happen. You were busy manufacturing devices that will create earthquakes and not protect from them. In a way, you are like Osama, just in a different guise. Your brain is tuned more to bombs than to bread and butter. You want to liberate Kashmir when you have no means to protect Kashmiris. Did you think of building secure houses in all population centers in case a thing like this happened? Did you think of secure food storages in case people were to go hungry? Did you think of tent and blanket storages? No; your brain is blocked with aggression and the making of bombs.
I know how proud you are of your nuclear capability. But those missiles you test fire every month with such pride and bravado - what are they for? For a people who are mainly poor and illiterate? How much damage has India done to your people and how much have you, General, through wasting our precious little on unnecessary pursuits? I know you will say that you focus on weapons in response to India. Well, dear General, do you have to be naive just because someone else is?
So wake up, General and start doing something real for your people's future.
Thank you, General.
Yours faithfully,
A very ordinary Pakistani
-------
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
The book is a candid sociopolitical commentary in the form of a collection of short anecdotal articles describing author's view on various issues facing the world in general and the Muslim world in particular. Various happenings around the world are analyzed in this book to build a case that Muslims are suffering from a psychology of being God's (Allah's) pampered followers with an assurance that paradise in the hereafter will be theirs for the taking. The book goes on to argue that this guarantee of paradise results in a superiority complex and a collective feeling of jealousy towards the West. According to this book; Muslims find it difficult to come to terms with the fact that others have taken ascendency over them through perpetual quest and hard work. The book concludes by arguing that it is dangerous to assume that the present day extremism is a minority phenomenon. It argues - using an analogy - that a pot which is hot, produces more vapor on the surface than the pot which is less hot. But the vapor should not be seen in isolation from what it rises from. In fact the clue to the vapor is in the temperature of the pot. In other words the clue to the extremist minority is in the majority- so it argues. The book contains many such analogies. This makes it an interesting read.