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The Evil Match!
February 16, 2015 | Muhammad Rasool Shah
Yesterday was a big day in the Cricket World Cup of 2015. Two archrivals, India and Pakistan were facing each other and the match was termed as the ‘mother of all the ...
Our Heedless Deeds Serve Our Sufferings!
February 16, 2015 | Asmatyari
Most of the problems, we encounter on daily accounts are associated with a flawed understanding of the root causes of the quandary and flawed strategies leading to its proper ...
The Mendacious Jihad of Religious Extremists
February 14, 2015 | Hujjatullah Zia
Religious fanaticism had triggered bloody wars throughout the history. The war and violence under the aegis of religion and faith wrecked catastrophic havoc on human societies. The great ...
Unheard Voices from Inside Israel!
February 14, 2015 | Muhammad Rasool Shah
The thoughts of new Israeli President, Reuven Rivlin may be somewhat different from the majority of his countrymen but of course, he is not the only one in his country. In present day ...
Living for One’s Own Self
February 12, 2015 | Dilawar Sherzai
One of the dominating beliefs in today’s world is that a person should live for others. By living for others, he can really pursue the aim of live and there are certain people who ...
Religion Nurtures Human Rights’ Discourse
February 12, 2015 | Hujjat Zia
Metaphysical human rights, which are discussed among religious scholars, will neither heal the bleeding wounds of human societies nor preclude from violence and bloodshed. Human ...
The Plight of Narcotic Addicts
February 11, 2015 | Hujjat Zia
The plight of Afghan narcotic addicts is rapidly increasing in intensity. Afghan men resort to addiction to help themselves to cope with life’s vicissitudes. They smoke because of 111
Proper Socialization Affirms Societal Normalcy
February 11, 2015 | Asmatyari
Man is entitled to be a social animal owing dual character of speech making, exhibiting togetherness and displaying exceptional intelligence. Human infants are born without any ...
The Philosophy of Human Rights
February 10, 2015 | Hujjat Zia
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted on December 10th 1948, results from historical violence and bloodshed in human societies. Men were in chains and their ...
Trust on Fellow Humans
February 10, 2015 | Dilawar Sherzai
One of the factors that are responsible for keeping human beings bonded with each other is trust. It is one of the most unique qualities of human beings and supports them in attaching ...
The Graveness of Afghan Refugees’ Plight
February 09, 2015 | Dilawar Sherzai
The poor Afghan refugees who have left their homeland and are compelled to live in other countries have very uncertain and on some occasions even pathetic lives. The foreign lands have not ...
Civil Society and Social Challenges
February 09, 2015 | Hujjat Zia
From the earliest times, human communities required cooperative behavior for survival, and it is clear that ancient patterns of social coordination imprinted institutional ...
Way out to Countless Challenges!
February 08, 2015 | Asmatyari
Looking back at earlier periods through myopic lens of past is a hard learned persona Muslims bear – contradicting the rational dictum, “learn from yesterday, live for today and ...
The Flagrant Violation of Women Rights
February 08, 2015 | Hujjatullah Zia
Women have been the vulnerable part of our society within different regimes, yet they suffer painfully in one way or another. Afghan women and girls sustain singular acts of ...
Davos Conference and Helpless Economies!
February 07, 2015 | Muhammad Rasool Shah
The gathering of super-rich ended in Davos without any unexpected results. As expected, the conference was a blend of blames and accusations and in the end, everyone agreed to ...
Flawed Teaching Techniques Unrewarding
February 07, 2015 | Asmatyari
Within the past couple of years, class sizes have been increasing in both high schools and colleges/universities. The larger the class size, the less individual attention each ...
The Dystopia of the Villagers
February 05, 2015 | Hujjatullah Zia
“I can still feel the pinch of the cardboard on my feet as I walked three miles to school. But it was better than having leaking shoes. This was only one childhood experience that gave ...
Concerns Persist after 13 Years
February 05, 2015 | Najibullah Wajahat
Afghanistan, like so many other countries, has tasted the flavor of so many ups and downs in its history and has experienced variant political systems; from tribe-based system ...
Culture of Violence Must Be Halted
February 04, 2015 | Asmatyari
“A society can exist with infidelity but not with malice”, affirmed, the great Hazrat Ali (AS). The frequent tale of bloodsheds, aggravation, injustices, vindictiveness, ...
Does Democracy Challenge Our Religious Beliefs?
February 04, 2015 | Hujjatullah Zia
Embracing human rights in modern term, as stated in Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which are based on being human irrespective of one’s race, sex, color, beliefs, etc, plays a highly integral role in democratic ...
Sustaining the Spirit of Goodness!
February 03, 2015 | Muhammad Rasool Shah
A man was walking on the road that suddenly a car came like a violent and angry camel and hit and threw him away. The car driver slowed down for a while and the next moment, he found it ...
The Negative Role of Media in Our Society
February 03, 2015 | Hujjat Zia
The negative impact of media on the mind and attitude of our youths is beyond doubt. The ostentatious style and flamboyant clothing of our younger generation, particularly the ...
Well Governed is Well Served!
February 02, 2015 | Asmatyari
Subsequent to assuming office of presidency, Mr. Ashraf Ghani and chief executive Abdullah Abdullah were destined to opt for convenient individuals in bid to carry forth government ...
The Open Structure of Islam
February 02, 2015 | Hujjat Zia
Religious interpretation is one of the controversial discourses in modern age among the religious intellectuals. Since traditional understanding of religion is unable to resolve the highly sophisticated issues of contemporary society, an “update theology” and neo-interpretation are the crying needs of our age. However, the traditional frames of mind on one hand and secular approaches to religion on the other hand, have led to sensitive issues.
Seemingly, the muftis and mullahs’ approaches towards religion, which are based on merely cryptic and sacred sources, is too conservative and traditional to unravel the philosophical, political and economic issues of today’s world. However, the secularists strive felicitously to interpret religion in a way to satiate the thirst of younger generation and to meet the needs of modern life.
Unlike Catholic religion, the natural structure of Islam is open. Mohammad Mojtahed Shabestri, an Iranian Islamic intellectual, believes that in the open structure of Islam, religious message directly addresses the men without appointing any official representatives for explaining and interpreting the divine message. To put further light on this topic, he makes a comparison between Catholic Christianity and Islam. He states that in the structure of Catholic religion, there are three angles namely divine message, mankind and church. Hence, it makes a closed triangle. In this close system; church is introduced in the nature of Christianity as official interpreter of divine message which obligates the admirers to follow. He argues that, based on Christian beliefs, when God incarnated in history and carried a message, this message bears an official protector that is church to keep the message safe. Mr. Shabestari stresses that the natural structure of Christianity necessitates that there is always a number of specific people in church to interpret the real essence of Christianity officially and their interpretations eventuate to the existence of dogmas which preclude the followers from disobedience. Therefore, the men being addressed by the divine message in Catholic are not qualified for interpreting the message. So, the natural structure of Christianity is a close system.
However, a third angle is not predicated in Islam and people are addressed directly being allowed to interpret the message. The communication between God and mankind and understanding the divine message by mankind is an open system. Islam, as it permeated the history, according to Mr. Shabestari, is like a globe shining brightly in the frames of theosophy, philosophy, jurisprudence, Holy Qur’an, Hadiths, etc. Thus, all of them are open in emergence and development and muftis are not obliged to think in a certain way or declare a certain fatwa. He, then, explains the difference between Christian dogma and Islamic fatwa:
Dogma includes religious beliefs and Christian’s practical matters; however Islamic fatwa includes only practical issues and religious beliefs are beyond the realm of fatwa or emulation. Fatwa is a deductive view based on a series of human knowledge but dogma is the outcome of the Holy Spirit’s presence in church which is beyond deduction. Fatwa can be numerous and contradicting on a single issue, for instance, ten muftis can declare several fatwa but dogma cannot be different in the same era. Muftis can backtrack on their fatwa, however the Catholic Pope can’t recant his dogma; and, therefore, the Catholic followers construe the historical evolution of dogma as a linguistic change or stating that the church discovers a new truth in every new age which was not stated before.
Hence, the aforementioned differences between dogma and fatwa point out how the rational system in Islam is open and no intrinsically religious element fetters the muftis’ fatwa. Since no official interpreters are defined in the nature of Islam and the people being addressed are also considered interpreters, without any meddlers. Moreover, the content of religious message will never manifest in an authoritative source to fetter the Muslims’ thought rather Muslims are entitled with the rights to understand and embrace the content of religious message. The diverse understandings and interpretations take place among the people and by the people. As it was mentioned earlier, there is the divine message on the one side and the men on the other side – which make an open structure.
Some may argue that religious law will contain a number of certain facts and values regarding social and political issues. This is an incontrovertible fact, however, since no specific source or institution is introduced formally in the nature of Islam, people are entitled to analyze and understand those facts in many ways. They are neither compelled nor stereotyped to understand the fact in one way.
Ill-fatedly, in spite of open structure or open system of thought, Muslims felt obliged, under dictatorial regimes and fundamental frame of minds, to understand a religious message as the regimes explained for them. In another item, the despotic rulers interpreted religious Sharia in their own political interests and declaimed being bestowed divine legitimacy to rule. Moreover, people focused more on their responsibilities rather than their rights. Since they naively believed the rulers as being caliph and cruel kings were considered the wrath of God and kind ones were deemed His mercy, they publically deemed themselves as total slaves in the hand of the kings. Why the cruel rulers should be obeyed?
They believed that whenever the people’s sin increase, God sends them a cruel ruler to retaliate them and they have to be subjugated to them at any case. Hence, such mentalities continued for long and kept them in dark without a sense of protest. In our age, such ideas are obsolete and, with few exceptions, people will know, with a thorough study, the open structure of Islamic law.
...Why Celebrate 550 Years of Kazakh Statehood?
February 01, 2015 | Hadi Ahmadi
What does the name “Kazakhstan” mean? There was a discussion a year ago about the President’s proposal to consider renaming the country “Kazakh Yeli”. The ...
Our Youth and Our Responsibilities!
January 31, 2015 | Muhammad Rasool Shah
A man got very angry of a cat in his house. He took a stick and ran after the cat. Cat went into a room and tried to hide itself somewhere. Man quickly closed and locked the door and ...
Man is Born Free and Everywhere He is in Chains
January 31, 2015 | Hujjatullah Zia
Men have persevered historically to break the fetters and enjoy freedom in their social and political life. Jean-Jacques Rousseau has aptly said, “Man is born free and everywhere ...
Tolerance Leads to Peace and Security
January 29, 2015 | Hujjat Zia
Being stereotyped with dogmatic beliefs and blind faith in subterranean rooms of Madrasahs and adopting fractious attitudes towards the public creed will sacrifice tolerance. An orthodox ...
Three Global Health Threats
January 29, 2015 | Jaime Sepulveda
The tragic Ebola outbreak in West Africa has underscored the imperative of strengthening health systems at both the national and global level. But, though Ebola has focused the world’s ...
New Dreams, New Destinations
January 28, 2015 | Muhammad Rasool Shah
Like me, many of you might have seen the pictures of Dubai when it included a few old houses and few huts were being established on the beach. Population was limited and people ...
Assad Emerging As Victor in Syria
January 28, 2015 | Manish Rai
It’s hardly a secret that the Obama administration’s plan to topple Syrian President Bashar-Al-Assad has long since been derailed by the rise of the Islamic ...
Security Challenges Ahead of National Unity Government
January 27, 2015 | Asmatyari
Everyday our beloved country bleeds with blood of innocents either civilians or security officials while serving their motherland. The insurgents are exerting their might to let unity ...
The Kite Runner: The Narrator to History and the Memory of War
January 27, 2015 | Asad Kosha
Having won critique acclaim, best seller and to Isabel Allende "unforgettable" Khalid Hosseini's The Kite Runner, a tragic novel of man's lived life, who for the very ...
The Horrible Corruption And Future Strategies
January 26, 2015 | Muhammad Rasool Shah
According to the independent media sources and government statistics, more than 1.4 trillion dollars have been spent in Afghanistan by US and its allies since the ouster of Taliban in ...
Freedom – The Citizens’ Basic Rights
January 26, 2015 | Hujjat Zia
Man is born free and can enjoy this right as an integral element of a dignified life. In order to enjoy freedom, a person should be free from inhibitions of the social structure in ...