Wednesday, April 21, 2021
Second Comment on Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
If the prudence of reserve and decorum dictates silence in some circumstances, in others prudence of a higher order may justify us in speaking our thoughts.
Edmund Burke, "Reflections on the Revolution in France", 1.14
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Burke's premise in writing this book is that while disclosing certain matters may lead to vigorous disagreements, not to disclose them is far more destructive of human society, for it prevents those charged with ameliorating the conditions of life from considering all of the options, which is the starting place for the best informed and most likely to be effective resolution of problems.
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
First comment on reading Reflections of the Revolution in France, by Edmund Burke
Circumstances (which with some gentlemen pass for nothing) give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing colour and discriminating effect. The circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or noxious to mankind.
Edmund Burke, "Reflections on the Revolution in France", 1.12
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This is a word of wisdom that promises to the reader that time spent in the study of this book will be profitable, even over three centuries after its writing.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Wikipedia on Khudai Khidmatgar (adapted)
Conditions prior to the movement
Main article: "Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Abdul_Ghaffar_Khan
At the turn of the last century Pashtun society was colonized, stagnant, violent, worn down by feuds, inequalities, factionalism, poor social cooperation, and plain ignorance. Education opportunities were strictly limited. Pashtuns are Muslims; and religious leaders and were known to have told parents that if their children went to school, they would go to hell. Khan stated that “the real purpose of this propaganda” was to keep Pashtuns “illiterate and uneducated”, and hence his people “were the most backward in India” with regard to education. He also stated that by the time Islam reached his people centuries earlier, it had lost much of its original spiritual message.
Origins
Formed out of the society for reformation of Pashtuns (Anjuman-e-Islah-e-Afghan), it initially targeted social reformation and launched campaigns against prostitution. Abdul Ghaffar [Badshah] Khan as its founder seemed to be influenced by the realisation that whenever British troops were faced with an armed uprising they eventually always overcame the rebellion. The same could not be said when using non violence against the troops.
The movement started prior to the Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre, when a demonstration of hundreds of non violent supporters were fired upon by British soldiers in Peshawar. Its low point and eventual dissipation was after Pakistan's independence in 1947 when the Muslim League Chief Minister Abdul Qayyum Khan banned the movement and launched a brutal crackdown on its members which culminated in the Babra Sharif massacre. At its peak the KK movement consisted of almost 100,000 members.
Genesis
Initially the movement focussed on social reform as a means of improving the status of Pashtuns against the British. Badshah Khan founded several reform movements prior to the formation of the Khudai Khidmatgar, the Anjumen-e Islah ul-Afghan in 1921, the farmers' organisation Anjuman-e Zamidaran in 1927 and the youth movement Pashtun Jirga in 1927. Trying to further spread awareness on Pashtun issues Abdul Ghaffar Khan founded the magazine Pakhtun in May 1928. Finally in November 1929, almost on the eve of the Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre the Khudai Khidmatgar were formed. Badshah Khan drew his first recruits from the young men who had graduated from his schools. Trained and uniformed, they served behind their officers and filed out into various villages to seek recruits. They began by wearing a simple white overshirt, but the white was soon dirtied. A couple of men had their shirts dyed at the local tannery, and the brick-red colour proved a breakthrough, it was this distinctive colour that earned the Khudai Khidmatgar movement activists the name "the Red shirts" or surkh posh.
Structure
Volunteers who took the oath formed platoons with commanding officers and learned basic army discipline. The volunteers had their own flags: red in the beginning, later tri-colour and bands: bagpipe and drums. The men wore red uniforms and the women black. They had drills, badges, a flag, the entire military hierarchy of rank and even a bagpipe corps.
Khan set up a network of committees called jirgas, named and modelled after the traditional tribal councils. Villages were grouped into larger groups, responsible to district-wide committees. The Provincial Jirgah was the ultimate authority.
Officers in the ranks were not elected, since Badshah Khan wanted to avoid infighting. He appointed a salar-e-azam or commander-in-chief, who in turn appointed officers to serve under him. Other ranks included Jarnails (Generals). The army was completely voluntary; even the officers gave their services free. Women were recruited too, and played an important role in the struggles to come.
Volunteers went to the villages and opened schools, helped on work projects, and maintained order at public gatherings. From time to time they drilled in work camps and took long military-style marches into the hills.
Khudai Khidmatgar--what they believe
Under the influence of Abdul Ghaffar Khan the movement advocated non-violent protests and justified their actions through an Islamic context. Khan did not find Islam and non-violence to be incompatible. Despite that, the movement was intrinsically non-sectarian. On more than one occasion when Hindus and Sikhs were attacked in Peshawar, Khudai Khidmatgar members helped protect their lives and property.
“The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into this world and taught us ‘That man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God's creatures.’ Belief in God is to love one's fellow men.” – Abdul Ghaffar Khan
“There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pathan like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence. It is not a new creed. It was followed fourteen hundred years ago by the Prophet all the time he was in Mecca.” – Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Opposition to Khudai Khidmatgar
"The British used to torture us, throw us into ponds in wintertime, shave our beards, but even then Badshah Khan told his followers not to lose patience. He said 'there is an answer to violence, which is more violence. But nothing can conquer nonviolence. You cannot kill it. It keeps standing up. The British sent their horses and cars to run over us, but I took my shawl in my mouth to keep from screaming. We were human beings, but we should not cry or express in any way that we were injured or weak." -- Musharraf Din (Baldauf).
In 1930, soldiers of the Garhwal Rifles refused to fire on non-violent protests led by Khudai Khidmatgars in Peshawar. By disobeying direct orders, the regiment sent a clear message to London that loyalty of India's armed forces could not be taken for granted to enact draconian measures. However, by 1931, 5,000 members of the Khudai Khidmatgar and 2,000 members of the Congress Party were arrested...
In 1932, the Khudai Khidmatgar movement changed its tactics and involved women in the movement. This unnerved many Indian officers working in the region as in those days of conservative India it was considered a grave insult to attack women, more so in a conservative Pashtun society. However the brutality increased and in one case five police officers in Benares had to be suspended due to 'horrific reports about violence used against young female volunteers'.
This introduction to the Khudai Khidmatgar is continued on wikipedia at this URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khudai_Khidmatgar
A short biography of Badshah Khan can also be found on wikipedia at this URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Abdul_Ghaffar_Khan
Main article: "Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Abdul_Ghaffar_Khan
At the turn of the last century Pashtun society was colonized, stagnant, violent, worn down by feuds, inequalities, factionalism, poor social cooperation, and plain ignorance. Education opportunities were strictly limited. Pashtuns are Muslims; and religious leaders and were known to have told parents that if their children went to school, they would go to hell. Khan stated that “the real purpose of this propaganda” was to keep Pashtuns “illiterate and uneducated”, and hence his people “were the most backward in India” with regard to education. He also stated that by the time Islam reached his people centuries earlier, it had lost much of its original spiritual message.
Origins
Formed out of the society for reformation of Pashtuns (Anjuman-e-Islah-e-Afghan), it initially targeted social reformation and launched campaigns against prostitution. Abdul Ghaffar [Badshah] Khan as its founder seemed to be influenced by the realisation that whenever British troops were faced with an armed uprising they eventually always overcame the rebellion. The same could not be said when using non violence against the troops.
The movement started prior to the Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre, when a demonstration of hundreds of non violent supporters were fired upon by British soldiers in Peshawar. Its low point and eventual dissipation was after Pakistan's independence in 1947 when the Muslim League Chief Minister Abdul Qayyum Khan banned the movement and launched a brutal crackdown on its members which culminated in the Babra Sharif massacre. At its peak the KK movement consisted of almost 100,000 members.
Genesis
Initially the movement focussed on social reform as a means of improving the status of Pashtuns against the British. Badshah Khan founded several reform movements prior to the formation of the Khudai Khidmatgar, the Anjumen-e Islah ul-Afghan in 1921, the farmers' organisation Anjuman-e Zamidaran in 1927 and the youth movement Pashtun Jirga in 1927. Trying to further spread awareness on Pashtun issues Abdul Ghaffar Khan founded the magazine Pakhtun in May 1928. Finally in November 1929, almost on the eve of the Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre the Khudai Khidmatgar were formed. Badshah Khan drew his first recruits from the young men who had graduated from his schools. Trained and uniformed, they served behind their officers and filed out into various villages to seek recruits. They began by wearing a simple white overshirt, but the white was soon dirtied. A couple of men had their shirts dyed at the local tannery, and the brick-red colour proved a breakthrough, it was this distinctive colour that earned the Khudai Khidmatgar movement activists the name "the Red shirts" or surkh posh.
Structure
Volunteers who took the oath formed platoons with commanding officers and learned basic army discipline. The volunteers had their own flags: red in the beginning, later tri-colour and bands: bagpipe and drums. The men wore red uniforms and the women black. They had drills, badges, a flag, the entire military hierarchy of rank and even a bagpipe corps.
Khan set up a network of committees called jirgas, named and modelled after the traditional tribal councils. Villages were grouped into larger groups, responsible to district-wide committees. The Provincial Jirgah was the ultimate authority.
Officers in the ranks were not elected, since Badshah Khan wanted to avoid infighting. He appointed a salar-e-azam or commander-in-chief, who in turn appointed officers to serve under him. Other ranks included Jarnails (Generals). The army was completely voluntary; even the officers gave their services free. Women were recruited too, and played an important role in the struggles to come.
Volunteers went to the villages and opened schools, helped on work projects, and maintained order at public gatherings. From time to time they drilled in work camps and took long military-style marches into the hills.
Khudai Khidmatgar--what they believe
Under the influence of Abdul Ghaffar Khan the movement advocated non-violent protests and justified their actions through an Islamic context. Khan did not find Islam and non-violence to be incompatible. Despite that, the movement was intrinsically non-sectarian. On more than one occasion when Hindus and Sikhs were attacked in Peshawar, Khudai Khidmatgar members helped protect their lives and property.
“The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into this world and taught us ‘That man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God's creatures.’ Belief in God is to love one's fellow men.” – Abdul Ghaffar Khan
“There is nothing surprising in a Muslim or a Pathan like me subscribing to the creed of nonviolence. It is not a new creed. It was followed fourteen hundred years ago by the Prophet all the time he was in Mecca.” – Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Opposition to Khudai Khidmatgar
"The British used to torture us, throw us into ponds in wintertime, shave our beards, but even then Badshah Khan told his followers not to lose patience. He said 'there is an answer to violence, which is more violence. But nothing can conquer nonviolence. You cannot kill it. It keeps standing up. The British sent their horses and cars to run over us, but I took my shawl in my mouth to keep from screaming. We were human beings, but we should not cry or express in any way that we were injured or weak." -- Musharraf Din (Baldauf).
In 1930, soldiers of the Garhwal Rifles refused to fire on non-violent protests led by Khudai Khidmatgars in Peshawar. By disobeying direct orders, the regiment sent a clear message to London that loyalty of India's armed forces could not be taken for granted to enact draconian measures. However, by 1931, 5,000 members of the Khudai Khidmatgar and 2,000 members of the Congress Party were arrested...
In 1932, the Khudai Khidmatgar movement changed its tactics and involved women in the movement. This unnerved many Indian officers working in the region as in those days of conservative India it was considered a grave insult to attack women, more so in a conservative Pashtun society. However the brutality increased and in one case five police officers in Benares had to be suspended due to 'horrific reports about violence used against young female volunteers'.
This introduction to the Khudai Khidmatgar is continued on wikipedia at this URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khudai_Khidmatgar
A short biography of Badshah Khan can also be found on wikipedia at this URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Abdul_Ghaffar_Khan
Introducing Khudai Khidmatgar
My name is Peter. I am a servant of God. I choose to serve Him...no man or woman has forced this upon me. I have not been brainwashed, neither have I lost my faculties from any cause. I am not a terrorist.
I believe in one God, and I believe that God spoke to Moses and that His Word is recorded in the Torah...that God spoke to Jesus and that His Word is recorded in the Gospels...that God spoke to Muhammad and that His Word is recorded in the Qur'an.
The teaching of the Qur'an is how to establish peace (salaam) between human beings. Many Muslims have come to the recognition that peace can only be established through peaceful means. These have included the twelve Imams revered by Ithna 'Ashari Shi'i Muslims, Jalalu'd-Din Rumi and many other Sufi saints and their followers, and, in our own time, 'Abdu'l-Ghaffar Khan (called Badshah Khan) and the Khudai Khidmatgar.
I discovered Badshah Khan in 2006, when I was reading Leo Tolstoi's "The Kingdom of God is within you" for the first time, and, propelled by my veneration for the prophet Muhammad, had sought traces of non-violent ideology and activism amongst Muslims. I read two biographies of Badshah Khan, the one by Eknath Easwaran and the other by Rajmohan Gandhi.
With war raging in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the Pashtun people fighting for their religious, cultural and national independence, the message of Badshah Khan is as relevant today as it was in the 1920s when he founded Khudai Khidmatgar. But his living non-violence as a Muslim does not speak to the travails of his own people...it speaks to all Muslims as well. It speaks to the adherents of Hamas and Hizbollah, and bids them lay down their weapons and abdure their genocidal ideology. It speaks to the rival factions in Iraq, and reminds them that Islam is the religion of peace, not the religion of war. It speaks to the people and government of Iran, and calls for them to abandon the oppression of the religious minorities living in their midst, and to work with all those whose aim is to bring peace and prosperity to their region.
And this same message, as articulated by Mohandas K. Gandhi, by Nelson Mandela, by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and by the millions of unsung heros and heroines who have taken up the cause of non-violence, this message speaks to all of humanity.
Here I stand, a servant of God, khudai khidmatgar.
I believe in one God, and I believe that God spoke to Moses and that His Word is recorded in the Torah...that God spoke to Jesus and that His Word is recorded in the Gospels...that God spoke to Muhammad and that His Word is recorded in the Qur'an.
The teaching of the Qur'an is how to establish peace (salaam) between human beings. Many Muslims have come to the recognition that peace can only be established through peaceful means. These have included the twelve Imams revered by Ithna 'Ashari Shi'i Muslims, Jalalu'd-Din Rumi and many other Sufi saints and their followers, and, in our own time, 'Abdu'l-Ghaffar Khan (called Badshah Khan) and the Khudai Khidmatgar.
I discovered Badshah Khan in 2006, when I was reading Leo Tolstoi's "The Kingdom of God is within you" for the first time, and, propelled by my veneration for the prophet Muhammad, had sought traces of non-violent ideology and activism amongst Muslims. I read two biographies of Badshah Khan, the one by Eknath Easwaran and the other by Rajmohan Gandhi.
With war raging in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the Pashtun people fighting for their religious, cultural and national independence, the message of Badshah Khan is as relevant today as it was in the 1920s when he founded Khudai Khidmatgar. But his living non-violence as a Muslim does not speak to the travails of his own people...it speaks to all Muslims as well. It speaks to the adherents of Hamas and Hizbollah, and bids them lay down their weapons and abdure their genocidal ideology. It speaks to the rival factions in Iraq, and reminds them that Islam is the religion of peace, not the religion of war. It speaks to the people and government of Iran, and calls for them to abandon the oppression of the religious minorities living in their midst, and to work with all those whose aim is to bring peace and prosperity to their region.
And this same message, as articulated by Mohandas K. Gandhi, by Nelson Mandela, by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and by the millions of unsung heros and heroines who have taken up the cause of non-violence, this message speaks to all of humanity.
Here I stand, a servant of God, khudai khidmatgar.
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