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Dear Mr. Joyce,
Although your post 63 is addressed to Dr. Khalid Suhail,
but there are a few comments, concerns and questions of generic nature that
you have raised in this post, I thought I would like to discuss those.
First of all, regarding being the skunk at the
picnic - disagreements or having an ideology different from others is not
only very welcome here but extremely desirable if we are to improve, make
progress in mutual understanding and promote peaceful coexistence within
communities and across the continents.
Regarding your comment that the Christian and
Muslim fundamentals may not be the same; well, this may or may not be so,
but before we go too deep, it may be instructive to define what we mean by
fundamentalism. The term has been used a lot during the last few years,
although it was coined by a Christian group about 100 years ago. Let’s
parse the terminology and the nomenclature before we go further. The recent
connotation attached with word ‘fundamentalism’ is that of political nature
as a means to a specific end, so let’s be careful about the pitfalls.
You are wondering if we are socialists. Some of
us may be, but the group consists of a people with a wide variety of
beliefs from political and religious points of view including those who
consider themselves atheist and some agnostics.
You say that you do not believe in the
existence of the Western imperialism. It seems that either you understand
some thing different from the term imperialism or you are simply not aware
of its existence.
I have tried to explain this point in my last
post, I hope, it may have been of some help.
You are wondering, and you wrote, “But I don't
know why a secular Muslim would have to be a socialist?”.
Socialism and capitalism relate to two
different economic systems and the procedures adapted by the governing
bodies to run the affairs of a country. While being a Muslim, Christian or
Jewish relates to one’s spiritual needs and the method of understanding of
the Higher Being. I would think that one could belong to any of the
religious groups (or the group with no organized religion at all) and yet,
belong to any of the political group and choose the economic system of
one’s choice.
The specific inquiries that you may have
addressed to Dr. Sohail, I am sure he will be able to provide you with his
answers himself. I have tried to provide you with generic answers to your
generic questions. I trust it will be satisfactory.
Sincerely,
Javed I. Chaudry
Jan 26, 2009
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