Page 4 - Pakistan Link - October 13, 2023

P4 - PAKISTAN LINK - OCTOBER 13, 2023 OPINION
Pakistan Link n By Mowahid Hussain Shah Muslim Father; Two Americans authorized biography by Walter Isaac-
son.
wo personalities have defined Although not a technical person,
the millennial generation and Jobs was a big picture visionary who
Advisory Board
Dr Sohail Masood Tthe shape of 21st century US had the astute judgment to place peo-
state and society. Both – President ple and the persuasive skills to drive
President Obama and Apple them to actualize his central vision.
Arif Zaffar Mansuri founder Steve Jobs – It led to Apple, Macintosh, and iMac
ArifMansuri@PLpublications.org are American men computers.
with Muslim fathers. Co-founding Apple Computers
Editor
Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui Their mothers wed in 1976, he envisioned a world where
afaruqui@pakistanlink.com when interactions with every person would own a computer.
Muslims were rare. In 2001, he revolutionized the digital
Editor Urdu Link & Bureau Chief Obama’s father was rooted in Ke- music market with the iPod, a pock-
(Pakistan) nya carrying the name Barack Hussein et-sized music player that could store
Shabbir Ghori
urdulink@yahoo.com Obama. He was an African foreign stu- 1,000 songs. In 2003, he connected it
dent who married a Caucasian Ameri- with iTunes, an online store of more
Resident Editor Urdu Link can. He effectively abandoned the fam- than 1 million songs. In January 2007,
& Director Video Operations ily when Obama was a toddler, and he introduced the iPhone, a smart
Anwar Khawaja
akhawaja@pakistanlink.com Obama saw him only once more when touchscreen phone with email, basic
he was 10, in December 1971, when his camera, browser, and mini-programs
Manager Sales & Advertising father visited Hawaii. called apps. Email and Internet became
sales@pakistanlink.com The second marriage of Obama’s accessible 24 hours a day, and camera
mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was When Steve Jobs died of cancer on October 5, 2011, Obama – with whom phones eventually replaced snapshot
Regional Offices
to Indonesian Muslim, Lolo Soetoro. he had shared some commonality of background and Muslim parentage – cameras. In 2010, Jobs unveiled the
YKKB Obama spent a formative phase of marked Jobs’ death with this tribute: “Brave enough to think differently, iPad, a tablet running apps with which
ykkb03@gmail.com his school-going years in Jakarta. But bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough iPhone users were already familiar, but
Obama’s Muslim connection didn’t end to do it.” – 9to5Mac which was much larger, making view-
Sacramento, CA here. His mother also lived in Lahore, ing of videos, Internet, and movies
Sacramento@plpublications.com ensuring an early Pakistani exposure. love with Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syr- people, including by then the famous more practical to view. All of this now

San Fransisco/Bay Area, CA While Obama changed the direc- ian Muslim studying in Wisconsin. In Steve Jobs, would visit a California dominates the routine of living.
Sanfrancisco@plpublications.com tion of American polity, Steve Jobs 1954, she accompanied Abdulfattah restaurant he managed, unaware that When Steve Jobs died of cancer on
changed the way Americans live. He to his hometown in now strife-torn Steve Jobs was the son he abandoned October 5, 2011, Obama – with whom
New York, NY
Newyork@plpublications.com made complex technology seem simple Homs. Shortly after his US birth in at birth. Astonished at this news, Jobs, he had shared some commonality of
yet elegant. He imagined, visualized, 1955, Jobs’ parents gave him up for having not forgiven, had no desire to background and Muslim parentage –
Houston, TX and anticipated what people wanted adoption, leaving thereby an abiding see him. marked Jobs’ death with this tribute:
Houston@Plpublications.org
well before people knew what they legacy of hurt and abandonment. A movie, “Steve Jobs”, deals with the “Brave enough to think differently, bold
Phoenix, AZ wanted. Years later, Abdulfattah recounted enduring legacy of his revolutionary enough to believe he could change the
Phoenix@Plpublications.org Steve Jobs’ mother, Joanne, fell in casually that successful technology product launches. Its precursor was his world, and talented enough to do it.”
Ontario, Canada
Ontario@Plpublications.org
n By Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy per cent, that in the Ottoman empire
Letters to the Editor Islamabad, Pakistan Is Pakistan Unusual? was a pitiful 1pc. Clerical resistance
Readers are welcome to express their also delayed banking by about three
opinion in these columns. Please keep s Pakistan unlike the world’s Mus- centuries. The very first bank in a Mus-
your letters brief and to the point. Let-
ters without full name, complete ad- lim-majority countries? In some were suicide bombed by other Muslims. have imposed their military domina- lim country was the Imperial Ottoman
dress, and a daytime phone number will Irespects, certainly, but not in oth- These ecstatic followers of Prophet Mu- tion upon the world. As for underde- Bank (1856) followed by the Egyptian
not be published. Also, copies of letters ers. While religious violence there is hammad (PBUH) were celebrating his velopment — none could have alleged Arab Land Bank (1880).
sent to other newspapers are not en-
couraged. Letters can be mailed, faxed on the higher side, it birth, a centuries-old tradition. But this during the Islamic Golden Age. Kuru insists that the ulema–state
or e-mailed to the Editor at the Pakistan shares some striking their killers, no less pious, were from a From the ninth through the 13th cen- alliance is neither an essential part of
Link Headquarters address listed below.
similarities with other sect which decries such expressions of turies — a period of roughly 400 years the Qur’an and hadith nor a perma-
Pakistan Link (ISSN 1074-0406) is pub- Muslim countries. joyousness as irreligious. — Muslim civilization from Baghdad nent feature of Islamic history. He may
lished weekly for $85 a year by JAZ LLC, Turkish author Ah- While particularly grotesque inci- to Spain sparkled with enlightenment be right — Indonesia’s largest Muslim
DBA PL Publications, LLC.
met Kuru helps situ- dents sometimes make it to the press, and learning. political party, the Nahdlatul Ulama
Periodical postage paid at Anaheim, CA ate Pakistan within a news of other brutalities generally does The causes of Muslim decline have with a membership of around 40 mil-
and additional mailing offices.
POST MASTER: Send address changes to broader context of authoritarianism, not. Non-Muslims are considerably been long debated. Mongol invasions lion, has a manifesto that pledges to
Pakistan Link, P O Box 1238, Anaheim, underdevelopment, and ongoing con- worse off than Muslims. In August, 21 and the advent of 18th-century Euro- uphold pluralistic, democratic values
CA 92815 flicts in Muslim countries. Kuru is a churches were burned down in Jaran- pean colonialism remain popular ex- and seeks to “curb radicalism, extrem-
The management has the right to re-
fuse to print any advertisement, news, professor of political science at San Di- wala by raging TLP-led mobs. Temples planations. While Kuru admits their ism and terrorism”.
article, letter or any other material. In ego State University and director of the and Ahmadi places of worship are rou- importance, he contends the true rea- The ulema-state alliance exists in
case of any errors in advertisement the Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies. tinely desecrated with impunity. son lies elsewhere. its starkest form in Pakistan. Starting
management will not be liable for more
than the amount paid for the advertise- Much of what is below derives from his Author Ahmet Kuru’s research The Islamic Golden Age owed its in the 1980s, Pakistan’s generals and
ment to the Link. award-winning book, Islam, Authori- reveals that many Muslim countries vitality largely to independent scholars clerics became symbiotically linked
Advertisements in Pakistan Link are tarianism, and Underdevelopment – share Pakistan’s problems. and Arab merchants who scoured the via the Afghan and Kashmir jihads.
placed in good faith. The newspaper is
not responsible nor endorses the con- A Global and Historical Comparison. Kuru’s other statistical data covers world for trade and brought back new Madressahs became jihad factories that
tents of any advertisement. In case of a The rest comes from my public conver- 48 Muslim-majority countries. One can ideas. Broad-minded caliphs of that successfully forced out the Soviets and
frivolous lawsuit, the plaintiff will bear
the total cost of the suit, including but sation with him this week over Zoom see where Pakistan fits in. On average, era welcomed such individuals to their eventually installed the Taliban in Ka-
not limited to the Link’s costs and the before an audience in Islamabad. Muslim countries have lower GNP per courts. Muslim, Christian, and Jewish bul. But this alliance devastated Paki-
attorney’s fees. Countries where Muslims are in the capita, smaller literacy rates, fewer years scholars filled the royal courts. stani society. The 2007 Lal Masjid in-
Information for majority, says Kuru, have significantly of schooling, fewer examples of func- But around the 11th century, rul- surrection turned Islamabad into a war
Subscribers higher levels of violence than others. tioning democracy, authoritarian lead- ers and usurpers discovered the use- zone leaving hundreds dead. It showed
The printing of Pakistan Link is un- Statistics tell a compelling story: two- ership is more common, rates of cor- fulness of clerics in endowing legiti- (Continued on page 23)
failingly completed by Wednesday thirds (eight out of 12) of the protago- ruption are higher, and the tax-to-GDP macy to their rule. An ulema-state
every week and its copies are hand- Views and
ed over to the mailing house for nists in recent wars, and two-fifths of ratio is smaller. The last fact means that alliance emerged, hugely empowering
prompt dispatch to the subscribers. the sides in relatively minor conflicts governments derive their revenue most- the ulema. The number of clerics sur- opinions ex-
The Link should reach its destination pressed by
on time if there is no delay at the (24 out of 60) were Muslim-majority ly from rent, meaning exploitation of rounding the caliph shot up but that of authors and
post office. If a delay is occasioned it states or Muslim groups. These rates some naturally endowed resource such merchants and independent scholars
is in no way attributable to the per- contributors
formance of Link’s management. In are disproportionate because Mus- as oil or geographic location. A smaller dwindled. By the 12th century, clerics in articles,
case of delayed receipt of Pakistan lims constitute only one-quarter of the industrial base means smaller value- were firmly in the saddle. letters, opin-
Link or missing issues, please contact
your local Post Office and submit a world’s population and Muslim-major- added production. No Muslim country The impact on Muslim society was ion pieces, reports, advertise-
“Publication Watch” form. ity countries are only one quarter of the produces high-level technology. catastrophic. As just one example, in ments, etc appearing in Paki-
Tel: 714-400-3400 world’s countries. What explains these negative fea- Turkey, influential ulema decried the stan Link and Urdu Link are
Fax: 714-400-3404 This thesis is buttressed by Pakistan’s tures? Kuru rejects suggestions that printing press, invented by Gutenberg their own. The paper neither
E-Mail: Editor@PakistanLink.com shares nor endorses them
case. A steady, unchanging component Islam is the cause, deeming this essen- in 1436, as the devil’s machine. It was
Pakistan Office of its national life is Muslim-Muslim tialist and unsupported by evidence. finally deemed Sharia-compliant in and thus should not be held
responsible for the views/
42 Rehman Court violence. Last week, on Rabi-ul-Awwal Indeed, violence is a general human 1727 — a whopping 293 years later! opinions of the writers & ad-
Plaza Square, Off M. A. Jinnah Road 12, over 60 Muslims in Mastung and problem and for the last two centuries Consequently, while the literacy rate in vertisers.
Karachi-74400, Pakistan Hangu met a bloody end when they Western powers, not Muslim countries, Europe of the 1800s stood at around 31
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