When will these Saudi bastards fuck off?

Many years ago (about a 100) my ancestors left this place for the..er..crummy village that goes by the name of Lahore (via Amritsar). Hmm, not the brightest of sparks, those Mirs!

And now, as in many other places in the so-called 'Muslim world' we apparently have the Arabization of what, from the stories passed down to me, was/is a genuinely syncretic tradition. In fact, form my travels in the spectacularly beautiful Hunza, I'd say there's a lovely, gentle, Buddhist influence in the whole region. Why, o why, did they come down to the plains and mix with the fanatics and the flatlanders?

Hmm. I know someone from Srinagar occasionally pops up here on the black sun. Would love to hear your views on this. Today, my heart is saddened Roxana, anton, dear Celia and Beth and anon, and Bob, when I read this:

'In his sermon he whipped worshippers into a frenzy over Western aggression in Muslim lands, decried the acceptance of Western values among the population, and blasted Palestinians for harming their aspirations toward statehood by “living like Jews.” But he steered clear of the complex affairs of Kashmir, even as he ridiculed Sufi customs.'

---The Boston Review. 


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