Year 2012 and 2013 in summary

Notable articles in

2012
January: Batriya sect, Khawarij and Ibn Arabi the Sufi
February: Zaydi sects and a propaganda documentary
March - June: Mutazila sect
July: Syrian sects
August: Safavid

2013
March: Islamic politics or the Iranian Wilayah al-Faqih system
April - May: Islamic terrorism
June: Iranian Presidential election and the Shia of Iraqi vs Iranian
November: Criticism of Iranian leadership

Restructuring work

The bad news is I've not done any restructuring on my blog since 2012. Probably missed this one due to the blog shutoff between august 2012 - Feb 2013.

Good news is thanks to the shutdown, I didn't get to write a lot of articles so the restructuring work should be easy.

So far, I've update the index under the Zaydi and Battriya sects here
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Couple of articles have been added under the index Batinis especially about the Qaramite sect

Couple of update under the Kharajites and Waqifa sects

As far as what's not being updated are articles about Shia, Sunni, Mutazila or Salafi. Articles on these sects tend to grow the most on my blog because I've most interest in writing them. You should be able to get to everything about these sects via the header on the top of my blog.

References
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/p/index-to-shia-pages.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/p/other-sects.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/p/kharajite-sufi.html

Unpleasant tasks ahead

End of the year is generally when I restructure my blog.

The process takes a long time and sometimes that's not very pleasant for me.

Afterward, I create a summary of written articles, what I've accomplished this year and what my visitors like to see on my blog.

While I can see the value of going back through each of my posts and linking them to indexing pages for easy retrieval but this work can also be a waste of my time; my time could be better spent writing new articles rather than revisiting old work. Besides, my earlier research about Islamic sects has almost nothing to do with most of my recent posts which are generally about politics, social, current events and sometimes completely random stuffs.

I definitely will continue my work in researching other sects but I don't plan to delve too deep into any single sect. I do feel the need to keep my sects related materials only at introductory level.

I also believe that some ideas (religious or non) are very interesting and I pursue them because doesn't matter what is the origin of it, if it's worthwhile then we should learn and know it.

References
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2011/12/restructuring-blog.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-is-taking-longer-than-i-originally.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2012/01/finally-done.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2012/01/end-of-year-report.html

Just like everything else in Christianity

Christmas also has nothing to do with Jesus or Christianity. It was supposedly a pagan holiday related to the winter festival related to a bunch of superstition. I’ve seen efforts by some apologetic Christians to de-link Christmas from the stigma of being a ‘pagan’ holiday by quoting a bunch of vague and obscure narratives/snippets about early Christian’s festivity and passages from the bible to give a ‘Christian’ spin on the holiday. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, really depend on how you choose to look at it, Christmas is soo commercialized nowadays that no one really cares about the religious or the pagan significance of the day.

While the western world has standardized Christmas to fall exactly on Dec 25th, other Christians like the Orthodox Church prefer to celebrate Christmas on January 7.

Noteworthy comments

I sometimes get very interesting and thoughtful comments from my readers. I, of course, don't get to respond them in a timely manner because I sometimes disappear from my blogs for days or weeks, I'm busy working on other interesting topics, due to a diversity of topics on my blog I may not be in the mood or ready for that comment or I may ignore it for a while...only because I know I'll respond better when I'm not tired, hungry, sad or lazy.

A recent noteworthy comment that you may want to check out is in this topic

I do appreciate my readers who take the time to read and respond to my articles. Don't get upset if we don't see eye to eye on most issues.

Ancient religions apparent contempt and hatred against homosexuals

Ancient religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism...etc) have zero tolerance against homosexuals or the act of homosexuality. These religions view homosexuality as a grave sin because it's an unnatural act because god created male and female for marriage and procreation because doing it any other way will cause a huge destruction in the world.

If you are living in a place where everyone thinks alike, and if everyone is completely opposed to the idea itself, then you probably wont think twice before agreeing/siding with the majority. That's why, whenever you sees these surveys done on population living in Muslim countries, the result from every single one of them seems to indicate that the majority of Muslims have a very homogeneous views/opinions/perspectives about life in regards to the teaching of Islam.

However, when people are living in a society that doesn't emphasize too much on living according to the ancient scriptures but places a greater emphasize on equality, respect and protection under the law for everyone then people generally tend to adopt a more moderate philosophy/approach to life. It's like, hey! he's living his life and I'm living my life. He doesn't bother me so I shouldn't bother him.

The main dilemma for religious people living in a non-traditional setting/ environment (secular nations) is the question of whether to accept/reject homosexuals/homosexuality.

I've observed that deeply religious people, no matter where they live, can never be convinced to accept homosexuality because religious people are always very susceptible to bias that are already built into their belief system.

I've been following this topic with interest.

Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), joined a broad interfaith coalition, calling ENDA a measured, common sense solution that will ensure workers are judged on their merits, not on their personal characteristics like sexual orientation or gender identity.[1]

As expected, a lot of Muslims see this action as a betrayal of Muslim's trust and the Islamic faith; How dare they claim to represent Islam and Muslims but go for the very act that has been strongly condemned and forbidden in Islam. That, seems to be the general consensus by people who are completely and totally opposed to the very idea of homosexuality.

However we see differing views/opinions by Muslims who think that there needs to be a greater tolerance and understanding and that we shouldn't really be very judgemental or promote self-righteousness.

I'd say that homosexuality is undoubtably a test - it is still experienced as a test by non-religious people in cultures where there is no longer punishment for gay sex and there is a level of accommodation for it. I would also say that it is not just a test for people who find themselves in that reality, but a test for all people. That more witnesses are required for sexual trangressions than murder has always been striking to me, and i think this is a reflection of the fact that when it comes to sexuality we are hugely compromised by our emotionality regarding it - the ego very much gets involved. We are disposed to use it as a vehicle to attack people, whether its a spurned suitor, a jealous wife or husband, a vindictive divorcee or the fear of rape or abuse or 'abnormality' that influences how we perceive and treat others. So when we are faced with issues around homosexuality it is a test - we can either let fear, ignorance and digust lead the discussion or we can attempt to manifest in ourselves virtuous qualities as we attempt to understand what it is we're actually talking about and what the sources actually say on the matter and how they can reasonably be understood and reconciled with other evidence that can be witnessed and measured. See ShiaChat user Ruq in post #151:

I'm not able to do a detail analysis of the topic or the posts. Please read the original discussion to form an informed opinion, whenever possible.

Reference
[1] http://www.shiachat.com/forum/topic/235018864-isna-supporting-sodomite-agenda/

Egyptian Military PR Embarrassment

Egypt is still under the military dictatorship. The military has done everything it could to suppress the people and silenced the opposition especially from the Islamic brotherhood who were formally voted in the power by a very narrow margin. Now, to legitimize their rule, the military and their backers have written a new constitution for Egypt and has publicize this “achievement” as a great victory for all. It didn’t turn out as well as they expected.

A campaign to win support for a draft of Egypt’s new constitution got off to a rocky start on Sunday, one month ahead of a referendum, when observers noticed that a banner promoting the document misspelled the word for “Egyptians” in Arabic and used stock images of foreigners to stand in for representative citizens.

Within hours of the campaign’s launch, journalists and bloggers discovered that three of the five Egyptians pictured on the banner were apparently not Egyptians at all, and suspicions grew that the makers of the poster had simply searched Google to find stock images of “a doctor,” “a businesswoman,” “a farmer,” “a man with Down syndrome” and “an Egyptian soldier.”

Image of the doctor had previously been used on the American site ehowtogetridofstretchmarks.com; the stock image of the businesswoman already graced the home page of an Irish professional networking site; and the image of the man with Down syndrome illustrated an article in an Arizona business magazine last year.

Here's a poster mocking the original banner -made up of aliens.

Reference
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/egyptians-mock-ads-promoting-new-constitution-with-typos-and-stock-images/?_r=1

Junior dictator from North Korea kills his uncle

Apparently the Jnr dictator from North Korea is cleaning up his circle of friends and family. After sending his old girlfriend under the firing squad; he has now sent a member of his own family, his uncle, under the same firing squad for being a ‘traitor’ (that’s the code word for I don’t like you anymore, so it’s time for you to get out of my life permanently).

It's not every day that the Kim dynasty kills one of its own, as Kim Jong Un apparently did his uncle and de facto No. 2, Jang Song Thaek. Rarer still is the fact that the official North Korean media publicized the execution and explained some the rationale behind it.[1]

"The tribunal examined Jang's crimes. All the crimes committed by the accused were proved in the course of hearing and were admitted by him," it added.[1]

Of course. Kim always gets his way.

Pyongyang issued an extraordinary announcement describing Jang as a "despicable human being" who was "worse than a dog" and saying he had been shot dead immediately after a military tribunal found him guilty of plotting to overthrow his 29-year-old nephew. [2]

Wow, this sounds very personal.

I was reading this news source. We could be expecting more interesting and exciting news from North Korea in the future.

“If Kim Jong-un was sure of his control of power, he would not have needed to execute his uncle,” said Lee Byong-chul, a senior fellow at the Institute for Peace and Cooperation in Seoul. “There will be big and small bloody purges, and at a time like this, desperate extremists may lash out. Pyongyang is no longer safe.” [3]

“Although high-ranking leaders, including members of the Kim family, have been deposed before, we haven’t seen anything this public or dramatic since Kim Jong-un’s grandfather Kim Il-sung purged his last major rivals in the late 1950s,” said Prof. Charles K. Armstrong, a North Korea expert at Columbia University and the author of “Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950-1992.” [3]

“This seems to indicate the divisions within the Kim regime were more serious than previously thought,” Professor Armstrong said. [3]

reference

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10517024/Empire-of-horror-North-Korea-faces-worldwide-condemnation-for-execution.html

[2] http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/12/116_147904.html


[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/world/asia/execution-raises-doubts-about-kims-grip-on-north-korea.html?hpw&rref=world&_r=0

New convert to Islam turning to violence

I was reading news about the trial of a British officer (Lee Rigby) killed by a recent convert of Islam (Michael Adebolajo). The answers in the trial from this convert are very shocking and chilling. I’m not even able to fathom how someone would start killing in the name of a new religion he just professed a few years ago. Is there a deficiency in his understanding of the Islamic faith or is violence so deeply rooted (ingrained) in the Islamic religion that it’s almost inseparable?

Here’s the court room exchange.

When he was later asked what his defence to the charge of murder was, he said: "I am a soldier. I'm a soldier of Allah".

He also told the Old Bailey he loved extremist network al-Qaeda.

Adebolajo said: "Al-Qaeda I consider to be Mujahideen. I love them, they're my brothers. I have never met them. I consider them my brothers in Islam."

He said he had been brought up as a Christian by his family and his parents had taken him to church every Sunday.

"The memory that sticks in my mind... is probably every New Year's Eve in the evening around 11 o'clock we would gather around in candlelight and read passages from the Bible," he said.

He converted to Islam in his first year as a student at Greenwich University.

Last week, CCTV footage of him running towards the police car with a meat cleaver raised was shown to the court. He said he should be ransomed back to other jihadi fighters, set free or killed if he was found guilty.

North Korea Unspeakable Horrors

I've always been fascinated with North Korea, especially in the recent time, especially after the Junior Kim took over the dictatorship from his daddy.

A lot of people don’t know much about North Korea. Mainly because North Korea is completely cut off from international community – nothing gets in the country, and nothing gets out. Most of the narrative about the country is built from testimonials of the survivors and the work done by the spy agencies (satellites, espionage..etc). Based on the narrative, there’s absolutely no doubt that North Korea is perhaps the most repressive country in the world.

If time permits, I’ll try to write more articles about North Korea. I hope you guys are as interested in this as I am. I have to warn you that most of my coverage will be extremely negative and maybe a bit graphic. So, you’re probably not going to hear about their great gymnastic program or their hardworking students.

I was recently reading news about North Korean Auschwitz-style prison camps. Lots of unspeakable horror is going on there.

Amnesty commissioned the images from DigitalGlobe, a commercial satellite imagery vendor. In their release, Amnesty claims that up to 200,000 prisoners, including children, are being held "in horrific conditions in six sprawling political prison camps."

Amnesty said the camp covered an area of around 216 square miles (560 square km), or three times the size of America's capital, Washington DC.

Pyongyang denies their existence, despite satellite images and testimony from witnesses. Amnesty claims many prisoners are allegedly being held for nothing more than watching foreign soap operas or holding a particular religious belief, while others are incarcerated simply for having a family member deemed politically undesirable.

According to Mr. Lee, women were "disappeared" after being raped: "After a night of 'servicing' the officials, the women had to die because the secret could not get out. This happens at most of the political prison camps."

Kim Young-soon, a former detainee in Camp 15 in the 1980s, described a public execution she witnessed of two detainees caught attempting to escape: "They were brought to a stage after they were badly beaten. The prisoners were tied to wooden stakes and shot three times in their head, chest and feet," she recalled.

In September this year, a United Nations inquiry into human rights abuses in North Korea highlighted the "unspeakable" and "widespread" atrocities being carried out in camps that required an international response, including a mother forced to drown her own baby and a prison camp inmate compelled to eat rodents and lizards just to survive.

Most Corrupt Countries in the World

Transparency International has just released its report of the least corrupt countries to the most corrupt countries in the world.

The total score is 100. Least corrupt countries have score closer to 100. Here's how countries are ranked (this is not a complete list. Please go to Transparency International to view the complete result and download the brochure).

Least Corrupt Countries
Denmark
New Zeland
Finland
Sweden
Norway
Singapore
Switzerland
Netherlands
Australia
Canada
Luxembourg
Germany
Iceland
United Kingdom
Barbados
Belgium
Hong Kong
Japan
United States of America
Uruguay
Ireland
The Bahamas
Chile
France
Saint Lucia
Austria


Most Corrupt Countries
Somalia
North Korea
Afghanistan
Sudan
South Sudan
Libya
Iraq
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Syria
Yemen
Haiti
Guinea Bissau
EQuatorial Guinea
Chad
Venezuela
Eritrea
Cambodia
Zimbabwe
Myanmar
Burundi
Tajikistan
Congo
Angola
Paraquay
Kyrgyzstan
Guinea
Ukraine
Papua New Guinea
Nigeria
Iran

References
http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/
http://www.voanews.com/content/perceived-corruption-high-in-subsaharan-africa/1802447.html