Mar 13, 2009
Bad Day for Salmaan Taseer
And his estranged son, Aatish Taseer, published scathing accounts of him in a memoir.
Here’s an excerpt:
?I had begun my journey asking why my father was Muslim, and this was why: none of Islam?s once powerful moral imperatives existed within him, but he was Muslim because he doubted the Holocaust, hated America and Israel, thought Hindus were weak and cowardly, and because the glories of the Islamic past excited him.
?The faith decayed within him, ceased to be dynamic, ceased to provide moral guidance, became nothing but a deep, unreachable historical and political identity. This was all that still had the force of faith. It was significant because in the end, this was the moderate Muslim, and it was too little moderation and in the wrong areas. It didn?t matter how someone prayed, how much they prayed, what dress they wore, whether they chose to drink or not, but it did matter that someone harboured feelings of hatred, for Jews, Americans or Hindus, that were founded in faith and only masked in political arguments.?
Like father, son is also confused about his identity… From the excerpt I gather none of the reasons for his father to be a Muslim have any thing to do with the faith… but juxtaposed social and political tendencies…
Yes, you are right about the father. That’s what his son says as well. Salmaan seems to subscribe to a form of cultural belligerence, rather than a religious tradition.
The son is non-religious. He was raised by his Indian Sikh mother.
taseer nay pehlay commies kay sath soya ab zardari kay saath soo raha hai.
I’m sure this book release is going to kick up a storm and I just hope we won’t see more blood although we won’t be able to avoid vitriol, slurs, and venom. As for Salman Taseer, what you sow, you reap. To me, his drinking is not an issue (we all know enough about the Quaid on that), but his hypocrisy and his character is troubling – on many counts. I agree with Anwar – he’s a Muslim for all the wrong reasons. Even immoral – whether by Islam’s true yardstick’s or from a humane point of view. First, he abandons a woman he impregnated. Well, you could cite untenable differences but isn’t that lifestyle so “western” and decadent as we scream all the time?! But, for me, more important is the fact that he refused contact with a child (his own) when that child was growing up! How responsible is that, I ask! We have tasked this man with the management of our most wealthiest and stable state? His son claims that his father is bright and well-read and hopes that the older man will understand him (the son) some day. What chances, my friends? What would you do, as a Muslim? As a Pakistani? As a conscientious human?