As historians tell it, during India's first election in 1952, Jawaharlal Nehru was already worrying about the feeble representation of Muslims in the country's positions of authority...
More than half century later, on India's 60th anniversary of independence, very little has changed.
I hate to be so blunt, but the Moslems are not known for their ambition. In most cases they are content to live in a tribalistic anti-progress state of mind. They don't like to work, and they don't like to be productive. And it's not just India. All over the Moslem nations you see the same behavior.
Ironically, the only real exception are the expatriate Palestinians, in many cases they have become successful businessmen in their adopted country, and are much more progressive than their Moslem brethren.
-- The only time we see the middle of the road is as we run from side to side. R.O.Clark
Posts: 3959 | Location: Santa Fe | Registered: 11 June 2003
I've known a number of ambitious, ex pat Moslems. Actually, going back to the ways of a few hundred years ago might be terrible for women all around the world, but it would be good for the environment.
Sue N.
Posts: 4624 | Location: UK | Registered: 16 November 2004
Well, the human "ambition" switch is turned on by default, and that's not going to change. While a culture based on non-ambition might be good in some ways, it is only a thought experiment at this time. I would say the the Moslems could benefit from a clearly defined doctrine of non-ambition, but a religious leader has not shown up to lead them there.
-- The only time we see the middle of the road is as we run from side to side. R.O.Clark
Posts: 3959 | Location: Santa Fe | Registered: 11 June 2003
If you live in a competitive world, you have to choose between fighting your way to the top, or finding a niche where you can keep uot of trouble. We can't all be top dog, and all the fighting to become so is largely a waste of time and effort, IMO. So long as we have the will to survive, and to be comfortable, we will do enough of what needs to be done. Whilst ambition enables us to achieve more, the extra seems as likely to be bad as good, IMO.
Sue N.
Posts: 4624 | Location: UK | Registered: 16 November 2004
We are measuring 'them' by our own standards of success. One only has to look around our own societies to see how far we ourselves have come. Measurements against us is futile. Better to see work in progress from all sides methinks.
When the world is run by fools it is the duty of intelligence to disobey
Posts: 1723 | Location: Perth, Australia | Registered: 02 August 2001
Islam, since the Middle Ages, has given nothing to the world. There was a time, when the Christians were burning witches at the stake, The Muslim world had soap, surgery, writing paper, silk etc.
A friend from from a European site made an interesting observation: Christianity did not progress, the people progressed. Having said you can make the same observation for the American South that has made no progress in Science. Oak Ridge Tenn and the research labs there are all staffed by Northerners.
Let me conclude by saying; blind observance of Religious dogma, regardless of the denomination leads to backwardness
"a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason."
Posts: 1944 | Location: Beautiful New Paltz, NY | Registered: 04 July 2006
Islam, since the Middle Ages, has given nothing to the world. There was a time, when the Christians were burning witches at the stake, The Muslim world had soap, surgery, writing paper, silk etc.
A friend from from a European site made an interesting observation: Christianity did not progress, the people progressed.
So what you're saying is that Christianity, too, has given nothing to the world?
quote:
blind observance of Religious dogma, regardless of the denomination leads to backwardness
Blind observance of any dogma (whether it's religious or not) denies the circumstantiality of life, which leads to absolutist destructive behavior. Backwardness is not necessarily a bad thing; cf. the context of the ongoing (and aforementioned) destruction.
Also, the impact of the apparent intention with which "sweeping negative generalizations" are made (which has to do with clarity in discourse) trumps the impact of the ((un)modified) generalization itself.
Posts: 205 | Location: mons | Registered: 23 October 2006
The "Golden Age" of Arab science, art, medicine and literature was the result of Arab liberalism. Jews and other minorities were tolerated and encouraged to mingle with Arabs and participate in social institutions. Many of the treatises of that era were written by Jews who published under Arabic names in medieval Spain. Intellectuals and artists stood a much better chance of survival by assimilating into the host culture, and Arabs and Jews are such similar people that the two cultures collaborated and found some peace during that time.
That example of progressive Arabism should serve as a goal for modern-day Arabs to emulate. Moorish Spain was the high point in Arab culture, and all because of a tolerant Muslim rulership.
-- The only time we see the middle of the road is as we run from side to side. R.O.Clark
Posts: 3959 | Location: Santa Fe | Registered: 11 June 2003
Gnarlodious: For what its worth: Moses Ben Maimon- better known as Maimonides wrote the Codex and The Guide for the Perplexed in Arabic and not in Hebrew.
"a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason."
Posts: 1944 | Location: Beautiful New Paltz, NY | Registered: 04 July 2006
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Gnarlodious: I hate to be so blunt, but the Moslems are not known for their ambition. In most cases they are content to live in a tribalistic anti-progress state of mind. They don't like to work, and they don't like to be productive. And it's not just India. All over the Moslem nations you see the same behavior.
I guess you have never been to Dubai.
Posts: 176 | Location: Seattle/UK | Registered: 17 March 2007
No I have never been to Dubai, but I hear it is a hideout for wealthy sheiks who prefer not to live the Islamic law they force on their own population. I also understand it was built with Pakistani and Indonesian labor out of petrodollars since the Arabs refuse to work. In addition, I hear Dubai is a mecca for weapons dealers, gambling, sex slave traders, drunkenness and just plain debauchery. I can't hardly believe Dubai was built out of good old-fashioned ingenuity and hard work.
Dubai is the anti- Islam, it represents every vice Islam tried to prevent.
-- The only time we see the middle of the road is as we run from side to side. R.O.Clark
Posts: 3959 | Location: Santa Fe | Registered: 11 June 2003
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