Minorities And Extremism In Pakistan

 

Minorities And Extremism In Pakistan: A Critical And Historical Review – OpEd

 July 31, 2023

By Dr. Hiba Imran

A state functioning as a religion automatically persecutes those not of the official religion or sect of a religion.

Bhupendra Kumar Dutta, a Hindu politician from East Bengal pointed out, “Politics came within the sphere of Reason, while Religion fell within the sphere of faith. Intermingling religion and politics runs the risk of subjecting religion to the type of criticism common to politics, which would be presented as sacrilegious. Tying Islam and politics would weaken reason and curb criticism as far as state policies are concerned.”

In the 1980s General Zia-ul Haq inserted Clauses 295-B and 295-C into the Pakistan Penal Code that was written in 1860 by the British. Clause 295-B convicts anyone who defiles, damages or desecrates the Quran with life imprisonment. Clause 295-C criminalizes derogatory remarks against the Prophet and will be punishable by death, life imprisonment and fine. The Blasphemy Laws while protecting “Islam” provided the privileged citizens with means through which they could falsely accuse anyone of Blasphemy over personal feud and interests manipulating the legal system. The PPP government and Musharraf regime tried to make the implementation of these laws stringent by introducing thorough investigation but were threatened and silenced by hard-core extremists.

Suhrawardy, The Islamic State And The Words Of Zaman

Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, who served as Pakistan’s Prime Minister from 1956 to 1957, said he felt that the Pakistan government’s tendency was in the direction of a communal state and the rhetoric of an Islamic state was responsible for causing insecurity among non Muslims. He said Pakistan no longer needed the rhetoric that had been deployed to mobilize Muslims for the creation of Pakistan. Suhrawardy claimed, now you are raising the cry of Pakistan in danger for the purpose of arousing Muslim sentiments and binding them together to maintain you in power. He said you’re not only destroying your own people but also minorities. And there will be no commerce, business or trade in a religious based divided and insecure state.

India was represented in cartoons of the era as a conservatively clad Hindu of the trading class, reinforcing the view in Pakistani minds that their conflict was not with India, but with Hindus. And obviously, the Hindus who lived in Pakistan as well also became the target of their brainwashing.

The presence of the Ahmadi community in Israel, dating back to the period of the British mandate in Palestine, was cited to advance claims about an Ahmadi-Israeli alliance. A martial law regulation was passed that pronounced a penalty of 7 years for any person who published, or was in possession of any book, pamphlet, etc which was offensive to the religion of Islam. This is how the reading culture diminished and Pakistan’s availability of books started to decline fostering ignorance and lack of critical thinking.

Pakistani historian Waheed-uz-Zaman said, “If we let go of the ideology of Islam, we cannot hold together as a nation by any other means.” He also voiced the dilemma that faced Pakistanis in defining their nationalism … If the Arabs, the Turks, the Iranians, God forbid give up Islam, the Arabs yet remain Arabs, the Turks remain Turks, the Iranians remain Iranians, but what do we remain if we give up Islam?” That is where the identity crisis erupted.

When Pakistan was born in 1947, the call to prayer was issued 5 times each day on loudspeakers by Shias, Sunnis and Ahmadis in Karachi. The country that came into being in the name of solidarity of Muslims due to Islam showed fissures within the very first day. The country that purported to keep its minorities secure demolished the Karachi synagogue in July 1988.

Pakistan’s name is an acronym, derived from the first letters of its component Provinces and regions (Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan). The name of the country was based on geographical representation yet the country represented a religion. A dichotomy. At the time of partition there were 23% non Muslims living in Pakistan, which has been reduced to 3% today. Where did they go? Murdered, executed, removed from census or migrated.

As Pakistan increasingly defined itself as an Islamic state, the hardliners viewed that non Muslims could not be faithful to an Islamic state. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, credited for founding Pakistan, chose Jogendar Nath Mandal, a Hindu, as the first Law and Labor Minister to affirm secular lawyers and legal system. Alas, the legal system itself would be the nemesis of the minorities. Mandal left for India after a while when he observed the discriminatory treatment.

Jinnah complained to the viceroy against the reluctance of the Punjab government to register the votes of Ahmadis in the headquarters at Qadian on the Muslim voters register for the 1947 elections. He then made Sir Zafarullah Khan Sahib, the first foreign minister of Pakistan, calling him a Muslim of excellent devotion. While addressing public gatherings, religious leaders described Foreign Minister Khan as an apostate and a traitor and justified the killing of Ahmadis. Jinnah was skeptical of Liaquat Ali Khan, the nation’s first Prime Minister, and rightly so. Liaquat perpetuated the sense of Islamic Victimhood to garner the support of citizens.

The Delhi Pact/Liaquat-Nehru Pact sought to ensure the protection of their respective minorities and paved the way for religious refugees to return to dispose of their properties if they chose citizenship of the other dominion.

Bhutto, 1971 And Zia’s Creations

Former President and Prime Minster Zulfikar Ali Bhutto once asked his audience at a public rally, “How can Islam be in danger in a country where the Muslims are in majority? … Do you feel any danger to Islam in Pakistan?” He asked rhetorically, wondering aloud if anyone had advised the Islamists “against offering prayers or reciting the Holy Quran or to give up their religion?” In 1971, the Pakistani Army painted big yellow “H’s” on the Hindu shops to identify the property of the minority population to target them. In April of the same year, Hindus were beheaded in a central square in Faridpur and their bodies were soaked in kerosene and burned. When some Hindus, trying to save their lives, begged to convert to Islam, they were shot as unworthy non-believers.

Zia’s quest began with a 1981 University Grants Commission (UGC) directive to prospective textbook authors. The directive told authors to demonstrate through their writings, “that the basis of Pakistan is not to be founded in racial, linguistic, or geographical factors but rather in the shared experience of a common religion.” Thus, consolidating the Islamic Ideology and excluding civic nationalism, leaving no space for non Muslims as citizens. He supported the formation of an anti-Shia group in 1983, Sipah e Sahaba, that insisted on describing Yazid ibn Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the second ruler of the 7th century Umayyad Dynasty, as an Islamic hero. Though Shias and most Sunnis blame Yazid for the brutal killing of Husayn ibn Ali at Karbala, which is historically true, Zia did this out of his intrinsic hatred for Shias.

Case Of Sherry Rehman And Shahbaz Bhatti

PPP appointed Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, Minister of Religious Minorities. Days after politician Salman Taseer’s assassination, Bhatti was killed in 2011 for speaking against his murder. Fliers were present at the site of assassination that said, “A Christian infidel, cursed on, Shahbaz Bhatti.”

Sherry Rehman, a member of PPP introduced a private bill in parliament in 2010 to amend the Blasphemy Laws to prevent the wrongful use and remove the death penalty, especially marking that only explicit words of derogation be taken as blasphemy and the cases should be referred to the High Court level. Sherry Rehman was called an apostate by the clerics and was under virtual house arrest at her home in Karachi for months because of threats to her life.

PTI, KPK And Madrasa Curriculum

The KPK, the PTI and Jamaat coalition removed mentions of important non Muslim figures, pictures of girls without their heads covered. It had added Quranic verses to science textbooks and had reintroduced mentions of Jihad in 2015. No wonder intellectuals were worried about SNC.

The Jamaat-e-Islami’s 2002 syllabus includes four books that refute the beliefs of Ahmadis alone, instead of teaching them their own faith. The books teach that the treatment for apostates is to be killed on spot. IK attended various seminars of Sami-ul-Haq, called the “father of the Taliban”. His madrassas at Akora Khattak are notorious for terrorist training and Mullah Omar is one of its alumns.

Examples Of Extremism

Into The Education Class: Case Of Saad Aziz

 Saad Aziz, a graduate of Karachi’s prestigious Institute of Business Administration (IBA) killed the Liberal activist Sabeen Mahmud in April 2015, and was implicated in an attack that killed 45 members of the minority  community in a bus in Karachi that May. It shows that no matter how educated one is in science, one must be a critical thinker in order to escape the indoctrination of such malicious ideas.

Case Of Asia Bibi

With regard to the Asia Bibi blasphemy’ affair, many observers pointed out that this initial accusation was not primarily about religion, but rather about caste. While working in the fields of the rural district of Sheikhupura, the Christian low-caste laborer Asia Bibi was rebuked by other women for drinking from the same cup as them. Only later did an accusation that was originally centered on ritual pollution turn into a blasphemy case.

The case took place in Nankana in Sheikhupura District. Asia Bibi took offense to their derogatory behavior and retorted, “Are we not humans?”, which led to Qari Salim, the local cleric accuse her of blasphemy. Salman Taseer, the former governor of Punjab and her lawyer was killed in January 2011 by his own bodyguard, Qadri, who was a follower of “Dawat-e-Islam”. In the court premises, he was showered with flower petals and kisses by the lawyers hailing him a hero. A mosque named after Qadri was built in Rawalpindi and a large shrine has been built where he is buried near Islamabad.

The Statistics

In its 2013 annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) described Pakistan’s failure in protecting its minorities as having reached ‘crisis proportions’.

The number of Radical Madrassas — that take harsh views of unbelievers and apostates — had risen from 6,761 in 2000 to 11,221 in 2005.

Between April 1984 and 2008, 756 ahmadis were charged with illegally displaying the kalima, 37 with offering the call to prayer, 44 with posing as Muslims, 161 with using Islamic words, 679 for preaching and 900 for violating section 298-B, 298-C and 258 cases under 295-C, 24 for distributing pamphlets criticizing the laws against them.

Between 2001 and 2008, at least 713 Shias were killed and 1,343 wounded in 86 incidents of terrorism against them.

Incidents Of Terrorism Against Minority Groups

1. Militants attacked St. Dominic’s Roman Catholic Church in Bahawalpur. 18 people were killed and their minister in 2001. Kashmir Jihadi group, Jaish e Muhammad, took the responsibility. The attack was assumed to be a protest against US airstrikes over Afghanistan, even though poor Pakistani Christians in a Punjab town clearly had nothing to do with US policy.

2. A mentally ill man was stoned to death in a village near Chak Jhumra in 2002 at the urging of the local imam under blasphemy laws.

3. In 2006, a prisoner charged with blasphemy was stabbed to death in police custody at the district and sessions court of Muzaffargarh. 5 attackers continued to stab the prisoner until they were certain of his death.

4. In 2006, police charged Tariq with blasphemy because he had allegedly removed anti-Ahmadi stickers inside a bus. In another case, Ahmadis were charged for watching television programmes in a private garage that had its door open due to summer heat.

5. On 26 April 2002, 12 women and children were killed and dozens injured due to an explosion in a Shia mosque in Bhakkar, Punjab.

 6. In 2009, a suicide attack killed 28 Shias and wounded more than 60 leaving shoes and torn clothing littering a bloodstained street in the northwest of country. Some of the dead and injured were taken to hospital in wooden handcarts.

7. In 2010, 2 suicide bombers killed 42 people at the Data Darbar, a 900 year old shrine in Lahore to Data Gunj Bakhsh Ali Hajveri. The media accused US and Ahmadis for the attack (who are themselves victims)

8. In 2011, 26 Shia pilgrims on their way to Iran were lined up in front of their bus and shot dead.

9. In 2010, during Friday prayers militants attacked 2 worship places of Ahmadis killing 98 and wounding 110 people.

10. Five Christian boys were arrested in 2001 aged 10 to 15. They were treating a donkey and the medicine they used on its wounds streamed in different shapes. A group of islamists declared that the boys had written Holy names on the donkey. The boys and the donkey were detained.

11. In Gojra, on blasphemy allegations, Sipah e Sahaba gathered a crowd of 1,000 and burned the Christians alive and razed their houses to the ground.

Kalpana Devi – A Hindu Lawyer (Zubaan Series)

Kalpana says, force really comes into play in areas such as Thar and Mitthi with the girls and women of the mazarin. These people are oppressed, uneducated and know the only way they will get two meals a day is by pleasing their vaderas (feudals). They are essentially slaves and there if any feudal Lords or his son gets interested in a girl, he kidnaps and rapes her and keeps her for 10 to 15 days. Then all of a sudden she comes back and because they fear people’s reaction, you find that she has a certificate from a madrassa saying that she is no longer a Hindu but a Muslim, an instance of forced conversion.

The recent example we see is in the words of Nabeel Gabol, a member of PPP, who said we pick up any girl we like. His words reflect the mindset of an average Sindhi Feudal. As this is a current event, we see what Kalpana Devi meant.

Faryal Talpur and Kalpana Devi

Kalpana Devi met Faryal Talpur (sister of Zardari) and told her it was vital that the legal age of maturity be fixed and applied in all cases of runaway marriages that then turn into forced conversions. If 18 is the age when we are eligible to vote, then why not fix the age of marriage at 18? Puberty should not be equated with readiness for marriage or for decision making regarding marriage. A girl may reach puberty at the age of 11 or 14, but she is certainly not mature enough to take major decisions about her life.

The very next day, the issue was raised in the Sindh Assembly. Sharmila Farooqi had forwarded the request on increasing the minimum age of marriage. The matter was discussed and the bill was passed fixing the age of marriage at 18. Since then a major girl should stay in a shelter home where she can rethink her decision and find time to decide whether she wants to go back or to the man she has decided on so that in the heat of the moment and confusion, the girl won’t be trapped into the cases of FCM straightaway. But still the problem will arise when she comes of age at 18 years and wants to return to her family. There should be laws flexible enough not to make her liable for the death penalty for apostasy.

But why are there such laws in the first place, as Pakistan has signed some international treaties? Parents can file charges under 365 B of the PPC if the girl marries on her own accord calling it an abduction as it becomes a matter of honor. But the government doesn’t do anything about that. Let’s look into the laws that Pakistan was meant to give protection to children regarding religion and when they come of age of wilful marriages, but failed to execute. Under their shadow, 295 of the Penal Code should not even exist, as religious adoption must be a free choice.

In the end, to envision the Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah wanted, we cite an excerpt from his speech:

“You are free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the state.”

References:

Purifying the Land of the Pure by Farhanaz Ispahani.

Disputed Legacies (The Pakistan Papers; Zubaan Series)

Pakistan Under Siege by Madiha Afzal 

Maria-Magdalena Fuchs & Simon Wolfgang Fuchs (2020)

Religious Minorities in Pakistan: Identities, Citizenship and Social Belonging , South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 43:1, 52-67 

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Dr. Hiba Imran

Dr. Hiba Imran studied Medicine and is interested in Social Sciences. She has written for The Youth Diplomacy Forum Pakistan.

Reincarnation In Jewish 21st Century Mystical Thought

 

 

Reincarnation In Jewish 21st Century Mystical Thought – OpEd

 August 8, 2023 

By Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Every human on earth has 8 great grandparents and 16 great great grandparents. Each of these 24 individuals contributes an equal amount of genetic material to their descendants. Nevertheless, siblings who share the same 24 ancestors do not have identical genomes. Even if they are identical twins their physical, mental and personality traits always differ, sometimes greatly, from their siblings who share almost the same physical genetic heritage. 

This difference is the result of both the unique physical combination of genes that occurs at conception; and the unique human soul that enters the body during the first or second trimester according to Jewish tradition.

Every year many hundreds of people find out that one or two of their 24 ancestors might have been Jewish. For most of them this discovery is an interesting fact of little significance. For many of them it might be an embarrassment to be ignored. 

But for some of them it becomes a life changing discovery. They feel drawn to Jewish people and seek to learn about Jewish music, food, literature, culture and religion. They feel more and more attached in some mysterious way to the Holocaust and the struggle of Israel to live in peace in the Middle East. 

Many of these people eventually are led to become Jewish either by formal conversion or by informal reversion within Reform Progressive synagogues.

These people provide a rather unusual form of evidence for reincarnation that comes from the Jewish mystical tradition; the Kabbalah. Unlike Buddhism and Hinduism, Kabbalah does not teach that reincarnation (gilgul) occurs over the course of hundreds of millions of years to millions of different sentient species. 

According to Kabbalah, only the souls of self conscious moral creatures like human beings reincarnate; and they reincarnate only when they have not fulfilled the purpose of their creation in their current lifetime. These esoteric Kabbalistic concepts from the 12th to 17th centuries; were popularized and spread throughout Eastern Europe, especially in Poland and Ukraine, by the Hasidic movement in the last half of the 18th and 19th century.

Since Judaism is an optimistic religion, most Kabbalists teach that most people can accomplish their life’s purpose in one or two lifetimes. A few souls may take 3-5 lifetimes or more. The bright souls of great religious figures like Abraham and Moses or Sarah and Miriam can turn into dozens of individual sparks that can reincarnate several times over many centuries. 

The tragic souls of Jews whose children have been cut off from the Jewish people, either through persecution or forced conversion to another religion, will reincarnate as one of their own, no longer Jewish, descendants. These non-Jewish descendant souls will then seek to return to the Jewish people. 

A majority of people who end up converting (or reverting) to Judaism and the Jewish people have Jewish souls from one of their own ancestors. Thus, the Jewish mystical tradition, claims that the souls of most converts to Judaism are the reincarnated souls of Jews in previous generations who were cut off from the Jewish people either voluntarily or involuntarily. Through conversion to Judaism they feel they are coming home. 

Sometimes these souls are descendants of Jews who were part of whole communities that were cut off, like the Marranos of Spain and Portugal, or European Jews in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust and then the decades of Communist oppression. Other times they are descendants of individual Jews who married non-Jews and did not raise their children to be faithful Jews. 

An example of the latter from England is recounted by Rabbi Barbara Borts: “One of the most touching conversions I ever did was a young girl of 11, brought to me by her mother, to discuss Judaism. The mother was a widow, living back at home with her mother and her father, who was a minister. This girl had done some research on Hanukkah for her school class, and in the process both loved what she learned and discovered that her late father’s grandfather was a German Jew. 

I asked her mother why she would support this. Her response was that her two daughters were no longer going to church, and she was delighted that one of them had found a religious home.  When I said that I could not imagine doing what she was doing if the positions were reversed, she said, “It’s different for Jews, after the Holocaust and all.”

So, the girl started Hebrew school classes, and attended services. I moved a couple of years later, and bequeathed her to the next rabbi. Some years later, we met up again when she was in University. She had converted, changed her name permanently, was an active member of a Jewish student organization, and planned to become a Rabbi; she may even now be in rabbinical school.”

Most of the time people who become Jewish do not find out that they have a Jewish ancestor until years after their conversion. According to a mystical 14th century Kabbalistic teaching found in Sefer HaPliyah, those non-Jews who do feel this powerful attraction to Jewish things and Jewish people, have Jewish souls that are reincarnations (gilgulim) of one of their own Jewish ancestors from 3-7 generations in the past.

That explains why they react to the discovery of some Jewish heritage in such a unusual way. It also explains why many people who do not even know that they have Jewish ancestors follow a similar path; and only discover a Jewish ancestor years after they have returned to the Jewish people.

The Hebrew word for reincarnation is gilgul which means recycling. Many people are born with new souls who are here for the first time. Others have a soul that has lived on this planet before. Most people do not reincarnate after their life on this earth is over. 

Most people who end up becoming Jewish, especially now, after the Jewish people have experienced several generations of assimilation, marriage to non-Jews, hiding from anti-semitism and outright genocide, are descendants of people whose children, in one way or another, have been cut off from the Jewish People. Among their non-Jewish descendants a few will inherit a Jewish soul (gilgul) that will seek to return to the Jewish people (Sefer HaPliyah). 

Take as an example Kadin Henningsen, who grew up female and Methodist in the Midwest. As a preteen she was inexplicably drawn to Judaism, empathizing with Jewish characters in Holocaust documentaries on TV.

Then in junior high, Henningsen had a revelation while reading Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen”: “I remember thinking I was supposed to grow up to be a Jewish man.”

Less than two decades later, the premonition came true. At 30, Henningsen transitioned genders and converted to Judaism, all within the span of a single summer. “It was a circular process,” he said. “The more entrenched I became in Jewish knowledge, the more comfortable I started to feel with my masculine identity.”

Henningsen’s conversion certificates were the first documents that referred to him with male pronouns. Today he is an active member of Temple Beth Chayim Chadashim, a Reform congregation in Los Angeles. According to Naomi Zeveloff”s article in the Jewish Daily Forward (8/16/13) Henningsen is not alone in his trajectory. Transgender converts constitute a growing minority within the small community of LGBT Jews. 

For some transgender converts conversion was intrinsically linked to gender transition; the process of soul-searching unearthed one insight after another. 

For others, Judaism was a lifeline during a time of immense vulnerability and isolation. When friends and family members grew distant, transgender individuals found community at the Hillel House or at a local synagogue.

Some transgender converts to Judaism came from strong Christian backgrounds and wanted to supplant their childhood religion with one that would be more accepting of their new gender identity. Others came to Judaism from a nonreligious background.

“In one way it is a search for personal authenticity,” said Rabbi Jane Litman, a congregational consultant with the Reconstructionist movement who has converted close to two dozen transgender  Jews. “People who are transitioning in terms of gender are looking for a way to feel most authentically themselves.”

Jesse Krikorian, a 24-year-old engineer, began exploring Judaism as a senior at Swarthmore College, shortly after she began her gender transition. 

Unhappy with her decision to take hormones, her parents threatened to withdraw their financial support. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, and there was a lot of chaos and uncertainty,” he later recounted. “I found that I really needed community and ritual and all those good things.”

Though he was raised Methodist, Krikorian was always interested in the Old Testament. A visit to the campus Hillel confirmed that Judaism might provide him with the community he was seeking: The Hillel director at the time, Jacob Lieberman, was also a transgender man. “I didn’t have any questions of whether I could be transgender and Jewish,” Krikorian said. “It was really clear that the combination could work.”

Krikorian attended Friday night services at Hillel each week and began to recite a prayer about transformation each time he bound his chest to appear more masculine. After graduating from college, he moved to Philadelphia. There he joined Kol Tzedek, a Reconstructionist synagogue. He converted and hopes to go to rabbinical school.

Thus the Gilgul process, especially due to the large amount of geographic and social mobility in modern times, often leads to transformations that lead Non-Jews to become Jewish.

According to Kabbalah, only the souls of self conscious moral creatures like human beings reincarnate; and they reincarnate only when they have not fulfilled the purpose of their creation in their present incarnation. 

Since Judaism is an optimistic religion, Kabbalists teach that most people can accomplish their life’s purpose in one or two lifetimes. A few souls may need as many as 3-7 lifetimes. 

The bright souls of great religious figures like Moses or Miriam can turn into a dozen or more sparks that may each reincarnate several times. 

The tragic souls of Jews whose children or grandchildren have been cut off from the Jewish people, either through persecution or conversion to another religion, will reincarnate as one of their no longer Jewish descendants. 

These souls will seek to return to the Jewish people, and a majority of people who end up converting (or reverting) to Judaism and the Jewish people have Jewish souls from one of their ancestors. Thus it is possible to see this form of reincarnation occurring in the world today in the experience of thousands of non-Jews who become Jewish.

Abrahamic Religions Each Share Their Own Decalogue – OpEd

 July 31, 2023

By Rabbi Allen S. Maller

People who simply want to put the Ten Commandments on the walls of our schools and our courtrooms often find themselves blocked by disagreements over which Ten Commandments to use. 

The Decalogue, a central text of Judaism, appears in the Torah in Exodus and again in Deuteronomy, with wording that is not the same in the two books. The rabbis say that the two versions of the ten commandments correspond to the two sets of two stone tablets. 

The version in Exodus was what was written on the first set of two tablets, which were broken by Prophet Moses after some Jews sinned with the Golden Calf. Deuteronomy repeats what was written on the second set of two tablets that God gave Moses.

Professor J. Cornelis de Vos points out, in an article that appeared on July 28, 2023, that Jewish Greek philosophy, the New Testament, Christian theology, Rabbinic Judaism, and the Church Fathers, all shaped and interpreted the Decalogue to meet the needs of their own community. 

The Hebrew text in the Torah is fairly clear. “These words YHWH (God’s special name used by Jews) spoke with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, the thick darkness, and he added no more. He (God) wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me (Prophet Moses) “.  (Deuteronomy 5:22 )

Professor J. Cornelis de Vos adds that Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish Bible commentator and philosopher (20 B.C.E. – 50 C.E.), uses the Decalogue as headings under which he subsumes almost all of the commandments of the Torah. In a discussion of other examples of the number ten in biblical narrative, he writes: “But why note such examples as these, when the holy and divine law is summed up by Moses in precepts which are ten in all, statutes which are the general heads, embracing the vast multitude of particular laws, the roots, the sources, the perennial fountains of ordinances containing commandments positive and prohibitive for the profit of those who follow them?”

Philo was also the first to divide the Decalogue into two parts, reflecting piety and justice, respectively, which he considered to be the main virtues in ancient Judaism: “Further, the ten words on them, divine ordinances in the proper sense of the word, are divided equally into two sets of five, the former comprising duties to God, and the other duties to men.

“Philo (who was somewhat of a mystic) further claimed that the Decalogue, with its ten commandments, comprises the whole visible (space/time) world. He reasons that the world consists of (four dimensions) points, lines, surfaces, and solids, forms with 1, 2, 3, and 4 sides, respectively, and then notes that the sum of 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 is 10. 

Four centuries later, Augustine of Hippo (354–430 C.E.) Christianized the Decalogue. Instead of dividing its contents equally across the two tablets, he argued the first tablet contained three commandments: 1. not to worship other gods or make idols; 2. not to misuse God’s name; and 3. to observe the Sabbath. These commandments symbolized the threefold nature of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

The remaining seven commandments on the second tablet related to human behavior towards fellow humans, with the prohibitions against coveting divided into two parts. This became the standard way that the commandments were enumerated in the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches; but most Protestant Churches have a somewhat different division of the Decalogue which makes the Catholic single commandment not to worship other gods or make idols, into two separate commandments.   

In the rare cases where the New Testament quotes specific laws from the Torah, it almost always quotes the Decalogue. For example, several parallel accounts depict Prophet Jesus citing the Decalogue in response to a question about what a person must do to gain eternal life in the next world. 

Thus, when the question is posed by “a certain ruler,” Prophet Jesus replies (with only the human behavior tablet): “You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother.'” (Luke 18:20)

Exodus tells us to “remember the Sabbath” while Deuteronomy tells us to “observe” it. More significantly, the purpose given in Exodus tells us to add holiness to God’s creation of the physical world; while Deuteronomy’s reason is grounded in social justice – to benefit all members of human society, including our own slaves.

Finally, emphasis is placed on these commandments in the Islamic faith: two sets of verses in the Quran, speak of them. The Quran speaks of them in chapter 6:151-153 and chapter 17:23-39 which is like a commentary on the commandments listed in 6:151-3. Some scholars call them the “verses of the ten commandments” simply because they speak of ten significant commandments to be observed by a Muslim. The Quran does not state that these are the same Ten Commandments that were given to Prophet Moses.

Detail of Guido Reni's "Moses with the Tables of the Law." Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Allen Maller retired in 2006 after 39 years as Rabbi of Temple Akiba in Culver City, Calif. He is the author of an introduction to Jewish mysticism. God. Sex and Kabbalah and editor of the Tikun series of High Holy Day prayerbooks.

LENS Essay Series: “‘Point and Shoot’: How Technology Blurs the Lines Between Civilians and Combatants”

BY CHARLIE DUNLAP, J.D. · 7 AUGUST 2023

Could using a cell phone get a civilian lawfully targeted in war?  Maybe.

The Ukraine conflict has seen many uses of technology–new and old–that are relevant not only with respect to the current fighting, but which also could significantly influence the ways wars are fought in the future.  Some of these uses have the potential to ‘democratize’ people’s participation in conflicts far beyond service in their nation’s armed forces.

Prominent among these is the role of app-equipped cell phones that enable millions of ordinary citizens to involve themselves in a truly unprecedented way in their military’s conduct of tactical combat operations. 

What does this technological empowerment mean in the context of the law of war which holds, among other things, that civilians who directly participate in hostilities may become lawful targets? The latest installment of the LENS Essay Series has some answers for you.

Duke Law 3L Katie Fink brilliantly addresses this immensely complex topic in her essay, “‘Point and Shoot’: How Technology Blurs the Lines Between Civilians and Combatants.” Here’s the abstract:

New forms of technology continue to transform the nature of warfare, offering more opportunities for civilians to directly participate in hostilities. For example, in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian civilians have been using the Diia and ePPO apps to report Russian military activity to Ukraine’s armed forces. By acting as spotters, civilians’ use of the Diia and ePPO apps likely constitutes direct participation in hostilities under both the ICRC’s Interpretive Guidance and the U.S. Department of Defense Law of War Manual.

By blurring the line between civilians and combatants, use of these apps may expose millions of civilians to lawful targeting in war. To protect civilians, the law must be updated to reflect the technological realities of modern-day warfare. As a starting point, both the attacking and defending parties to a conflict should have an affirmative duty to warn civilians of the potential consequences of their direct participation in hostilities. While developing a new legal standard, the international legal community must remain cognizant of establishing new precedents that address technology’s role in warfare appropriately.

You’ll really want to read the full article, and you can find it here.

About the author

Katie Fink (J.D. 2024) is a third-year student at Duke University School of Law. Originally from Denver, Colorado, Katie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2019 with a B.A. in Political Science. During her 1L summer, Katie interned with Judge G. Michael Harvey in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

During her 2L summer, Katie worked in Washington, D.C. as a Summer Associate at Williams & Connolly. At Duke, Katie is the Senior Notes Editor for Duke Law Journal, works as a Teaching Assistant for Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing, and serves on the Moot Court and Mock Trial Boards.

Six months on from earthquakes, tent hospital treats patients in Syria

The hospital was established as an urgent response to the earthquake disaster and the region’s need for expanded medical services.

Staff work in a treatment room at the hospital, put together in the aftermath of deadly earthquakes in February [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

By Ali Haj Suleiman
Published On 7 Aug 2023

Afrin, Syria – When patients first arrive at the Amanos Hospital, the tents the facility is solely built of are a reminder of what this region of northwestern Syria has been through in recent months.

Constructed on the outskirts of Afrin, the hospital was pieced together in an unusual style because of the thousands of people who suddenly needed attention but had nowhere to go.

Six months ago, devastating earthquakes hit this region, with the epicentres just across the border, in southeastern Turkey.

More than 4,000 people died in Syria, alongside the 50,000 or so who were killed in Turkey.

With aftershocks common in the wake of the quakes, a tent hospital seemed safer than already destabilised buildings.

“The hospital was established as an urgent response to the earthquake disaster and the region’s need for expanded medical services,” Dr Osama Darwish, a specialist in general surgery and the director of the Amanos Hospital, told Al Jazeera. “It is designed to operate for 15 years, according to the tents’ manufacturer.”


The structure may be made of tents, but it is expansive. A total of 112 beds, distributed across several sterilised tents, are available, along with two operating rooms, an emergency department, a radiology department, clinics, and a laboratory.

“The primary goal of constructing the hospital from tents was to provide a safer environment during natural disasters, and since our region is considered a war zone, it also allows for easier relocation to a safer place,” said Darwish, referring to the ongoing war in Syria, which is now more than a decade old and which has particularly affected opposition-controlled areas such as Afrin.

“We are working on expanding the hospital further, either by adding caravans or constructing a more permanent structure to provide additional services needed in the area, such as a central pharmacy,” Darwish said.

A patient in a wheelchair is guided by an employee through the Amanos Hospital 

[Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

Half a year on from the earthquakes, the healthcare sector in northwestern Syria is still suffering the consequences, because of what healthcare professionals say is the scarcity of aid provided by international organisations.

“The healthcare sector is still suffering from many gaps and the need for modern medical equipment and quality medications,” said Dr Zuhair al-Qarrat, the head of the Idlib Health Directorate. Additionally, healthcare workers lack sufficient training in this field.”

Al-Qarrat told Al Jazeera that hospitals and medical centres in Idlib had received some medicine and medical equipment after the earthquakes, but that it only covered around 20 percent of the health sector’s needs, despite appeals to several international and Arab entities. The closure of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey has further worsened the health situation in the region, especially for cancer patients.

“We urgently need specialised centres for cancer treatment, cardiac surgery, and neonatal care, in addition to a radiology centre equipped with all the necessary devices,” said al-Qarrat.

Cancer patients

For cancer patients in particular, healthcare facilities in northwestern Syria are not capable of providing proper treatment.

Many have instead taken to travelling to Turkey for care, but the earthquakes brought on a new problem, as Turkish authorities temporarily halted the entry of Syrian cancer patients, saying that the process of rebuilding from the earthquakes had left Turkish hospitals in the south unable to receive Syrian patients.

Entry has since been restored for pre-existing patients to continue their treatment, but has not been allowed for cancer patients diagnosed after the earthquakes, according to officials on the Syrian side of the Bab al-Hawa crossing.

Medical sources in northern Syria estimate that the number of these new patients is more than 600, with some having already lost their lives while waiting for permission to enter and receive treatment in Turkey.

“The halt in entry for cancer patients seeking radiation therapy has put us under tremendous pressure, and we can no longer accommodate the large numbers of patients coming for chemotherapy,” said Dr Ayham Jamou, a specialist in haematology and oncology and the director of the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) Oncology Department at Idlib Central Hospital.

The services provided by the SAMS Cancer Treatment Center are now limited to diagnosing new cases and administering the available chemotherapy to patients for free, making it the only facility in northwest Syria offering such medical care.

“We are left powerless in the face of patients who require radiation therapy due to the unavailability of radiation devices in the area, as well as patients who need expensive immunotherapy,” said Jamou.

In response to the plight of cancer patients in opposition-controlled areas of Syria, staff from medical and humanitarian organisations in Idlib, as well as activists, have staged an ongoing protest near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing since July, demanding urgent action from the international community to facilitate the treatment of those affected.

A total 112 beds are available at the tent hospital, along with two operating wards

[Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]

The Turkish government responded to demands by allowing cancer patients with permission to cross to receive free treatment within its territory.

“I am six months late for the treatment prescribed by the doctor in Turkey, because of the closure of the border crossing,” said Hala al-Ahmad, a 17-year-old displaced girl from Aleppo residing in Sarmada city near the Syrian-Turkish border.

Al-Ahmad has been suffering from kidney cancer for two years and used to receive treatment in Turkish hospitals. She returned to Syria just before the earthquakes, waiting for her next treatment dose, but has not been able to re-enter Turkey after the border crossing closure, which has put her in a difficult situation as she waits for permission.

“The decision to reopen Bab al-Hawa crossing for cancer patients to receive treatment has given me hope for life again,” said al-Ahmad. “But today, I went to the crossing, and they scheduled my entry to Turkey for three months from now. I’m now worried about what will happen to me.”

Syrian women find strength in the aftermath of the earthquake

After earthquakes, Syrians utilise new rules to cross from Turkey

Afraa, Syria’s ‘earthquake miracle’ baby, turns 40 days old

Britain begins detaining migrants on barge firefighters called ‘deathtrap

By Karla Adam
August 7, 2023
The Washington Post

The Bibby Stockholm, the rectangular gray barge in the foreground, is moored in the Portland harbor on the Dorset Coast of England on Aug. 1. 

LONDON — The British government on Monday began housing asylum seekers on a hulking barge moored on the Dorset Coast in an effort to cut down on the high costs of housing migrants in hotels — currently running at about $7.6 million a day — and to deter others from attempting the dangerous English Channel crossing.

The arrival of a small group of asylum seekers onto the football-field-sized Bibby Stockholm, an engineless barge registered in Barbados, was a highly symbolic moment in the debate here over migration. The government wants to use barges and former military facilities to address a recent surge in irregular entry.

More than 45,000 people last year made the crossing from northern France to England — up sharply from 300 in 2018. The numbers for the first half of 2023 have dipped slightly, but it’s unclear whether that’s to do with recent policy efforts or the season’s strong winds and choppy seas.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to “stop the boats,” one of his key priorities before the next general election, to be held by January 2025. The crossing is only about 20 miles, but it goes through one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world — a journey that can be deadly.

At least 27 migrants drown in English Channel, in one of the deadliest incidents on a dangerous route

The arrival Monday of the first tranche of migrants to the barge in Portland on the English Channel followed days of delays. The move-in date was expected last week, but pushed back after firefighters warned that the vessel was a “potential deathtrap.”

The barge, owned by a Liverpool-based company, looms three stories high and 305 feet long. The British government has retrofitted it with bunk beds to house 500 men in its 222 rooms. Fifteen people moved in on Monday; more are expected in the coming days.

The government says it’s cheaper to house migrants on barges than in hotels, but that it will affect only the small number who are waiting for decisions on their asylum applications.

More than 50,000 migrants were being housed in hotels as of June this year, the government reported Monday, at a cost of about 6 million pounds ($7.6 million) per day.

The use of barges to house migrants has proved contentious. Some neighbors in Plymouth say they’re worried about the impact on the community and local services; others have called it a “floating prison” and say that it’s no way to house migrants.

Steve Smith, executive officer of Care4Calais, said the refugee charity’s lawyers helped to stop about 20 people from being moved onto the barge.

“Amongst our clients are people who are disabled, who have survived torture and modern slavery and who have had traumatic experiences at sea,” Smith said. “To house any human being in a ‘quasi floating prison’ like the Bibby Stockholm is inhumane. To try and do so with this group of people is unbelievably cruel.”

Steve Valdez-Symonds, the refugee and migrant rights director at Amnesty International UK, said the vessel was “reminiscent of the prison hulks from the Victorian era” and an “utterly shameful way to house people who’ve fled terror, conflict and persecution.”

“Housing people on a floating barge is likely to be re-traumatizing,” he said. “There should be major concerns about confining each person to living quarters the typical size of a car parking space.”

 Karla Adam is a London correspondent for The Washington Post, which she joined in 2006. She is a former president of the Association of American Correspondents in London. Twitter

UK asylum seekers 'at high risk after being housed at ex-nuclear weapons base'

Former US Air Force site exposes them to hazardous and radioactive material, says report


The former US airfield may have been used to store nuclear and chemical weapons, including mustard gas, a study found. Photo: Wethersfield Action Group

Tariq Tahir
Jul 31, 2023

Asylum seekers are at a “high risk” from contact with hazardous material, some of it radioactive, at a former military base being used to house them, a report has found.

Another study into the Wethersfield site also found nuclear and chemical weapons, including mustard gas, may once have been stored there when it was used by the US Air Force.

The government wants to move 1,700 migrants into the site in the Essex countryside but residents living nearby, who are opposed to the plans, have highlighted contamination of the former airfield.

About 40 asylum seekers, who are believed to have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats, are the first occupants.

UK barge set to house asylum seekers raises fire safety concerns

The camp was originally known as RAF Wethersfield and was first used during the Second World War before being taken over by the US Air Force during the Cold War.

A report commissioned by the local parish council, as well as other government studies, has highlighted the legacy of contamination.

One study by engineering consultancy Buro Happold was commissioned by the parish council’s Wethersfield Airbase Scrutiny Committee.

Its chairman Andrew Hull, who is a resident fighting the plans, told The National that reports into the site reveal a “frankly terrifying list of potential contaminants”.


Buro Happold said the risks associated with the site from “Hazard Class 1” materials include radioactivity, aircraft and vehicle fuel, asbestos, firefighting foam and demolition material.

For any “future site users/visitors” who may come into direct contact with the materials, ingest them or inhale dust containing them, there is a “high risk”, says the report.

There is also a “moderate” risk from explosives and ordnance to those two groups at the site.

It recommends the ground is examined by specialists, including those in radioactivity and explosives, with chemical analysis carried out and a decontamination plan put in place.

The camp is surrounded by a barbed wire fence. The National

Opponents have also obtained two other reports into the site under freedom of information rules, one from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and another from Homes England, the government’s housing and regeneration agency.

The 248-page DIO study says there is “anecdotal evidence” that the US Air Force may have stored nuclear and chemical weapons including mustard gas at the site.

It also suggests the presence of potential contamination from radioactivity, explosives, fuel, asbestos, hazardous chemicals and waste storage.

Homes England warned of a contamination risk when it investigated the site for a “garden community”.


“The Wethersfield site will undoubtedly contain residual contamination in various areas of the site as there are no signs of any significant demolition and remediation having been carried out,” said its report.

Pictures shot from a drone show work being undertaken to ready the site for more arrivals, with a crane lifting cabins into place.

Mr Hull said “to even contemplate building, or housing people, on such land, seems beyond reckless to human life” but “neither the Home Office nor the Ministry of Justice are listening to warnings”.

“The Buro Happold report, which we as 13 parish councils commissioned, was written by a highly regarded expert on land contamination,” he said.

“Many Class 1 hazards have been identified on the site, which could lead to a high risk of severe consequences to human health, as the site currently stands. Visitors, staff and residents are all being put through high risk.”











MDP Wethersfield, a former airbase in Essex where the Home Office is housing adult male migrants, leaving villagers living nearby divided. 

All photos: PA

Alan MacKenzie, chairman of residents’ group The Fields Association, said the findings meant “it is fundamentally dangerous to have anybody at the site until it has been properly investigated”.

He said the report had been presented to the Home Office but “we’ve had nothing back from them at all and they’ve not responded to any questions provided”.

“They’ve been handed a report from an international organisation but they’re doing nothing about it,” he added.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping small boats ferrying migrants across the Channel one of his government's key pledges.

About 12,000 have made the journey so far this year, while last year the total exceeded 45,000. Huge tents have also been bought to house migrants to avoid the more expensive option of keeping them in hotels.

A UK government representative said: “Delivering accommodation on surplus military sites will provide cheaper and more orderly, suitable accommodation for those arriving in small boats while helping to reduce the use of hotels.

“These accommodation sites will house asylum seekers in basic, safe and secure accommodation as they await a decision on their claim. The safety of individuals in our care is always our absolute priority.”

Israel’s Slippery Slope

Amir Levy/Getty Images

Jul 31, 2023

NOURIEL ROUBINI

Israel's right-wing government has raised alarms around the world with its plans to disempower the judiciary. But while most of the criticism has focused on the implications for Israeli democracy, the "reforms" pose an equally salient threat to Israel's economy, labor market, national wealth, and security.

TEL AVIV – My current visit to Israel has coincided with a period of unprecedented political turmoil. A radical right-wing government’s package of legislation to disempower the judiciary has started to be adopted, leading many to worry that this great country’s robust liberal democracy is being eroded.

Since Israel lacks a formal written constitution, it is crucial that it maintains an independent Supreme Court and judiciary. That, after all, is what makes a democracy liberal – not just free and fair elections but also rule of law, protections for minorities, and appropriate checks and balances on executive and legislative power.

The government’s “reforms” will gradually move Israel closer to becoming an illiberal democracy of the kind one finds in Turkey and Hungary. The long-term damage to the economy could be so severe that, if the governing coalition’s judicial coup continues, this vaunted “start-up nation” could turn into a “fall-down nation” with severely diminishing economic prospects.

The opposition to the “reforms” comprises not just the half of the population on the left and center-left, but also many within the ruling conservative Likud Party. It also includes the most dynamic segments of the Israeli economy: the tech firms that account for 50% of exports, 25% of government revenues, 400,000 well-paid jobs, and over 20% of GDP (when accounting for their effects on other sectors).

Most Israeli tech leaders and workers are secular liberals, and many are now planning to move their operations abroad over time. This is easily done, because they use little physical capital and rely more on knowledge, intangible assets, and highly mobile tech-savvy workers.

At the same time, foreign venture-capital firms have pulled back from making new investments in Israel, and even many ordinary citizens are considering moving their savings out of the country. The “reforms” are also likely to discourage many Jews in the United States, Europe, and around the world from moving to, or retiring in, Israel – and many Israelis who are working or studying abroad may decide not to return. But most alarmingly, the government’s agenda is even putting Israel’s security at risk, with CNN reporting that, “thousands of Israeli army reservists – the backbone of the Israeli military – are threatening not to show up for work” in protest.


The composition of these protests matters, because the extreme ultra-orthodox men who support the governing coalition do not serve in the armed forces, do not study scientific subjects, are not important members of the labor force, and hardly pay taxes. On the contrary, they receive large transfer payments that grow with the size of their families.

If Israel had a proper, fair system of transfers financed by progressive taxation, beneficiaries would be induced to participate in civil service (if not the military), pursue marketable courses of study, join the labor force, and thus pay taxes. There are plenty of Likud members who would support such sensible reforms. But as matters stand, most ultra-orthodox are trapped in a cycle of poverty and dependency on the state.

Israel is also divided economically between tech and other large and medium-size businesses, on one hand, and local governments and smaller businesses, on the other. While the first group is generally corruption-free, the latter is rife with graft and nepotism in the permitting of construction, business operations, and other locally regulated activities. Worse, other proposed reforms would have the effect of replacing capable civil servants with incompetent, corrupt lackeys, further sapping the economy of dynamism and innovation.

The government’s plans thus amount to a time bomb, because rating agencies could soon see fit to downgrade Israel’s creditworthiness. If tech and other firms move abroad, the government’s revenue base will shrink, making the growing transfer payments to the ultra-orthodox unsustainable.

Over time, a deteriorating fiscal and public-debt outlook, combined with the erosion of the rule of law, will add to the current temptation to challenge the central bank’s independence, so that growing deficits can be monetized. If Israel heads down this road, the outcome will be predictable. Just look at what is happening in autocratic Turkey, where inflation is expected to hit 58% this year.

All these factors will curtail growth, perhaps leading eventually to economic stagnation and even eventual recession. Those who will suffer the most will be the extremist poor communities that are clamoring for the government’s radical legal reforms. If the stock market falls, interest-rate costs for the public and private sectors will increase, and a declining currency will fuel inflation, which is already rising.

Israel may well need some judicial reforms. But given the lack of a formal constitution, such changes would need to command the support of a large coalition of forces, not a narrow parliamentary majority that is controlled by extremist anti-democratic and theocratic parties. One hopes that Likud and its leader, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, will recognize that they are undermining not only Israel’s democracy but also its economy, labor market, national wealth, and security.

The damage has only started, so there is still time to reverse course. But if the ruling coalition continues to pass extreme legislation over the next three and a half years of its term, the “start-up nation” will grind to a halt.

NOURIEL ROUBINI
Writing for PS since 2007
179 Commentaries
Nouriel Roubini, Professor Emeritus of Economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business, is Chief Economist at Atlas Capital Team, CEO of Roubini Macro Associates, Co-Founder of TheBoomBust.com, and author of MegaThreats: Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil Our Future, and How to Survive Them (Little, Brown and Company, 2022). He is a former senior economist for international affairs in the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton Administration and has worked for the International Monetary Fund, the US Federal Reserve, and the World Bank. His website is NourielRoubini.com, and he is the host of NourielToday.com.