9/11
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Remembering the unforgettable
11-Sep-2007
It is said that "powerlessness frustrates and absolute powerlessness frustrates absolutely; absolute frustration is a dangerous emotion to run a world with."
Sometimes I wonder why I am so restless, why I cannot cease thinking! It seems like the world we live in reveals to us incessantly, at certain moments or in certain circumstances, just how little we are and how vast the universe is. This world of ours is a very complex world. The world we live in is a world of many brutal voices. It is a world of heavy blows and delirious trances, but it is the only world that we know.
As Americans prepare themselves to remember and honor the victims of the Islamic terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, life reminds us all how vulnerable we really are. On that day, the world we live in appeared an obscure and dull place, filled with pockets of disasters where men are easily the victims.
The tragic and catastrophic events of September 11, 2001 have affected me tremendously. I felt a temptation to scream and run to the end of the world and say my prayers with unusual earnestness and a heavy heart. I felt like screaming for the overflowing flood of human blood. I felt like screaming for the weary eyes and innocent moans of the victims’ families. I felt apprehensive, anxious, and fearful. And now, as I take up my pen, my hand trembles and my head swims with horror and disbelief at the magnitude of the human devastation. Yet, the world will go on as usual.
During the events of September 11, 2001, Americans stood still and watched the most horrific events unfolding right in front of their eyes. They were very traumatized by the events. Many people came and told the reporters of how they saw the flesh on dead people and they were so scared. Americans watched, prayed and hoped, searching for an answer, a comfort and strength to pass those tumultuous moments.
September 11, 2001 proved, unlike anything else in recent American history, that everyday people do extraordinary caring things. September 11 was the day that ordinary people became heroes. Heroes appear when circumstances call upon them. Heroes are those extraordinary people who make sacrifices and become agents of historical and social change.
When disasters occur, our minds pass through many stages of inner development. We sometimes speak of other forces that rule the world. The tragic events of September 11 left thousands dead and hundreds more wounded and put a nation into mourning. It was a heavy blow to humanity from the “religion of peace.”
There is nothing inherently wrong with religion. Religion can be a tremendous force for the good. However, when religion, this feeling-based belief, is filled with superstition, intolerance and hatred, then the beholder of that religion embodies those qualities and becomes a veritable menace to the self and to others. Feelings energize actions. Destructive feelings energize destructive actions.
Muslims living in theocratic states, in particular, tend to be victims of their religious brains. Their religious brains are indoctrinated, from the moment of birth, by an extensive ruthless in-power cadre of self-serving mullahs and imams who are intent on maintaining their stranglehold on the rank and file of the faithful—their very source of support and livelihood.
The mullahs and imams, as well as parents and others, envelop the receptive mind, feed it their dogma, and shield it from information that may undermine or falsify their version of belief.
For as long as there are bigoted, self-serving clergy and their collaborators with exclusive access to the blank slate, the problem of supplying wave after wave of Islamofascists will persist. It is the brain/mind that assesses things, makes decisions, and orders actions. To the extent that the in-place software of the religious brain is exclusionary in nature, hateful in orientation, and violent in tendency, the individual is both the perpetrator and the victim of barbaric acts.
What we need to do is to learn our lessons from the September 11 tragedy; learn more of the unethical depths to which human beings may fall and how we can prevent such tragedies from happening again. We need to educate ourselves about Islam, radical Islam and Islamofascism.
The surest way of dealing with Islamofascism is through the effective inculcation of religious software that promotes tolerance of diversity, freedom of faith and conscious goodwill to all, as well as the purging of all the vile and discriminatory dogma that permeates the out-dated primitive belief of some 1400 years. The best place to start is clearly the home, then schools, and mosques where the deeply-entrenched mullahs and imams of vested interest must be compelled by law to refrain from preaching messages of hate and violence against the unbelievers.
We, free Iranian-Americans, express our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims of the September 11 tragedy and we condemn, in the strongest terms, the new coalition of Islamofascists who are planning another attack on US soil under the disgusting and dangerous banner of Islamofascism.
Amil Imani is an Iranian-born American citizen and pro-democracy activist residing in the United States of America. Imani is a columnist, literary translator, novelist and an essayist, who has been writing and speaking out for the struggling people of his native land, Iran. He maintains a website at amilimani.com.
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Islam = Koran
by jamshid on Fri Sep 14, 2007 03:38 AM PDTWhy do you people bother arguing about what the real Islam is? There is one single authoritive source that determines what the real Islam is, one that none of you can even challenge.
That authoritive source is Koran. Islam is Koran and Koran is Islam. Read it again: Islam is Koran. Again: Islam is Koran. Repeat it to yourself: Islam is Koran. Period, end of argument. So stop injecting your personal likes and dislikes into Islam.
I bet half of you out there, pro or anti Islam, have not even bothered reading the Koran. I suggest you go ahead and read it in Farsi or English. You will see what a brutal, merciless and violent religion it is.
There are a few "ayeh" in Koran that together, or even one of them alone, is sufficient proof that this cannot be the religion of God. Here is one:
ایه 50 سوره الاحزاب
اى پيامبر! ما همسران تو را كه مهرشان را پرداختهاى براى تو حلال كرديم، و همچنين كنيزانى كه از طريق غنايمى كه خدا به تو بخشيده است مالك شدهاى و دختران عموى تو، و دختران دايى تو، و دختران خالهها كه با تو مهاجرت كردند ....
kaniz (=woman slave) ???? kanizani ke az tarighe ghanAeme jangi be to bakhshideh shodeh???? What the hell is this? Words of God??? Koran specifically is approving slavery and possession of women as prizes in those wars that moslems had won.
But I know what you Islamists are going to say. You will say that I fabricated the above "ayeh". So here is a link to prove it is authentic:
//www.aviny.com/Quran/Farsi/chapters/QP033.aspx
Islam/Koran is a barbaric religion that again and again approves violence, rape, murder and looting.
Cougar: According to your
by 1800 (not verified) on Thu Sep 13, 2007 08:43 AM PDTCougar:
According to your logic, the Vietnamese, Latin Americans, South Americans, Japanese and every country that has ever been colonized by either America or Chinese Empire or Japnese Empire, Arab Empire, Persian Empire, Russian Empire etc. should be blowing up their corresponding colonizers in their respective capitals...
Islamic terror has nothing to do with foreign policy. Terror is part and pracel of Islamic ideology. Muslims are immensely proud of their timeless religion. The Quran is respected and revered instead of being recognized for what it is -- a glorified encyclopedia of asininity. Islamic laws such as punishments for stealing, adultery, murder, rape, and apostasy remain the same across time and space. These laws are unreformable by definition.
The only hope is for Muslims to ignore such laws. Sadly, the past fourteen centuries don't offer much in that direction. Terror, both psychological and physical, is the very soul of Islam; has been and forever will be.
Very one-sided view
by Cougar (not verified) on Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:21 AM PDTMr. Imani convenietly forgets to mention the roots of struggle between Islamic states and western powers.
What Israel (and some jews) do is just as bad as what mullahs do. Unfortunately, US has always blindly followed Israel in their injustices toward muslims.
Guess what, they finally retaliated back and we had 9/11.
It is a biggest mistake that most americans make" All muslims in the world are not sitting around thinking: hmmm, we hate america because they have blond girls at the beach and we don't, lets kill ourselves and kill everybody.
Unfortunately, bias and unjust US policies for decades have caused great pain and suffering to muslim and now they are eternal and motivated enemies of US.
First step to prevent future attacks and escalation of conflicts lies in fair treatment of others. As long as US continues its arrogant and unilateral foreign policy, it is unlikey they will win a war as the enemy has nothing to lose, keep trying to inflict damage to US.
Muslims are 1 billion strong and every child born is a solider of the future if US fails to realize, imperialism does not work !
There is no such a thing as Islam
by Anonymous on Wed Sep 12, 2007 10:21 PM PDTThere are dozens and dozens of Islams, not just a single unitary authoritative Islam. Over the centuries, all kinds of power hungry and devious politicians have found Islam a convenient vehicle for their schemes. So, we can see the results today: A plethora of Islams where every sect sees itself the one and only true Islam. The best thing to do with Islam is to just let it disappear from the world. It really serves no useful function and creates a great deal of suffering for its various sects as well as all the infidels, unbelievers, apostates who are, in contrast to "Islams," are willing to let Muslims live in peace. Muslims: Please leave Islam. It has decayed beyond reformation or revival.
A fear of ideas
by Anonymous on Wed Sep 12, 2007 07:51 PM PDTIt seems that the Qur’an is a pretty political book, and inconsistent. It treats issues differently from one instance to another. This huge inconsistency can make Muslims confused. Based on this confusion, many Muslims have for centuries excluded non-Muslims from their orbit. In addition, the traditional script of the Qur’an exhorts repulsion of ‘others’ much more than acceptance. Many Muslims are unwilling to realise that the Qur’an was written and compiled by the pioneers of Islam through different political stages. Instead, many take the book as the final verdict of God. These Qur’anic teachings have been enforced by Sharia even more strictly than the Qur’an itself over the centuries. Now, for many, the whole essence of Islam is repulsion of others...read the rest
//davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/200...
Ali, are you that dumb?
by Anonymous on Wed Sep 12, 2007 04:54 PM PDTThere is nothing inherently wrong with religion. Religion can be a tremendous force for the good. However, when religion, this feeling-based belief, is filled with superstition, intolerance and hatred, then the beholder of that religion embodies those qualities and becomes a veritable menace to the self and to others. Feelings energize actions. Destructive feelings energize destructive actions.
Muslims living in theocratic states, in particular, tend to be victims of their religious brains. Their religious brains are indoctrinated, from the moment of birth, by an extensive ruthless in-power cadre of self-serving mullahs and imams who are intent on maintaining their stranglehold on the rank and file of the faithful—their very source of support and livelihood.
The mullahs and imams, as well as parents and others, envelop the receptive mind, feed it their dogma, and shield it from information that may undermine or falsify their version of belief.
For as long as there are bigoted, self-serving clergy and their collaborators with exclusive access to the blank slate, the problem of supplying wave after wave of Islamofascists will persist. It is the brain/mind that assesses things, makes decisions, and orders actions. To the extent that the in-place software of the religious brain is exclusionary in nature, hateful in orientation, and violent in tendency, the individual is both the perpetrator and the victim of barbaric acts.
Response to anonymous
by Anonymous on Wed Sep 12, 2007 04:27 PM PDTDear anonymous
Thank you for the Website. I did find Mr. Imani sharing the same views as I on the religion of islam and the theocratic regime. The article, however, was falsely perceived by me to be one trying to differentiate between islam and islamic fascism. I tried to stress the point that there is no difference.
But my friend a word of advice to you, this corrupt religion has infested our culture for many centuries...as indicated by your vile use of profanities...is it really necessary to write in such manner. If you are to represent a better and brighter future for our people then your own tolerance should be questioned. Try to be a bit more civil and civilized.
Thank you
Ali
Stupidity must have a limit.
by Anonymous on Wed Sep 12, 2007 03:12 PM PDTVISIT his website Dummy www.amilaimni.com
Mr. Imani did not fail, you failed to comprehend
by Anonymous on Wed Sep 12, 2007 03:08 PM PDTStupidity must have a limit.
Please read his website www.amilimani.com
Dool
by Anonymous on Wed Sep 12, 2007 02:56 PM PDTDool be rishet
Islam is not a religion of peace
by Anonymous on Wed Sep 12, 2007 02:07 PM PDTDear Mr. Imani
You fail to realize that Islam is not a religion of tolerance. You state that "there is nothing inherently wrong with religion" I beg to differ. Islam is a religion based on a wahabi cultural mentality of superstition, intolerance and hatred. The biggest lie that we tend to tell ourselves as moslems and others in the world is that Islam is a religion of peace, that it can be practiced differently. There is no moderation in the true practice of the religion. The theocracy that the world is observing today in Iran is only a moderate glance of what the religion truly represents. Just like facism, communism and other fundementally flawed ideologies have been rejected in the past, so should Islam.
Thank you
Ali
Ali