The Poetry of the Taliban

[JerseyLily]

Linking Qur’anic and modern conflicts – the Poetry of the Taliban

Much of the Taliban’s poetry in this volume places itself within the context of the oppression and grief that the Afghans feel not only in terms of the current conflict, but also historically. Thus there are mentions of Malalai, the British-Afghan conflict, the Soviets and other times and places around the world. However, there is also a religious current that flows through the poems, a recognition that troubles the region has faced, places itself within a much longer conflict, one that is effectively between good and evil. While the authors have readily identified some of the main themes, I want to focus this review around some of the links that the Taliban make to the Qur’an, and how they relate that to their contemporary situation.

Read the full book review by Asim Qureshi http://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thou...m_medium=email

The Poetry of the Taliban as a work needs to be read, understood and respected for what it brings to the debate – a better understanding of who the Taliban are, and what is important to them. They love their country, their brothers, but most of all their religion. The use of the imagery as explained above, provides an insight into their worldview, one which places their obligations to their religion not within a conflict that is now eleven years old, but one that could be viewed as being thousands of years old.

Very interesting - I agree we are still living in the times of Pharoah and Moses a.s. (Of course some Muslims have swallowed all the zio/neo con propaganda about the Taliban)

[jamie]

Linking Qur’anic and modern conflicts – the Poetry of the Taliban

Much of the Taliban’s poetry in this volume places itself within the context of the oppression and grief that the Afghans feel not only in terms of the current conflict, but also historically. Thus there are mentions of Malalai, the British-Afghan conflict, the Soviets and other times and places around the world. However, there is also a religious current that flows through the poems, a recognition that troubles the region has faced, places itself within a much longer conflict, one that is effectively between good and evil. While the authors have readily identified some of the main themes, I want to focus this review around some of the links that the Taliban make to the Qur’an, and how they relate that to their contemporary situation.

Read the full book review by Asim Qureshi http://www.islam21c.com/islamic-thou...m_medium=email

The Poetry of the Taliban as a work needs to be read, understood and respected for what it brings to the debate – a better understanding of who the Taliban are, and what is important to them. They love their country, their brothers, but most of all their religion. The use of the imagery as explained above, provides an insight into their worldview, one which places their obligations to their religion not within a conflict that is now eleven years old, but one that could be viewed as being thousands of years old.

Very interesting - I agree we are still living in the times of Pharoah and Moses a.s. (Of course some Muslims have swallowed all the zio/neo con propaganda about the Taliban)

before i read any of it is this the same taliban that kills girls for going to school?
the same ones that say women cant get treatment in a hospital cos they are women even tho they are dyin?
the same taliban that throws acid at women?

[europa]

Jamie,

You might be interested in what Bina Shah ( probably Pakistan's future Nobel Prizewinner for literature) had to say

the Pakistani novelist Bina Shah, said: “If they [the Taliban] had their way, they’d be running my country. They’d destroy every girls’ school from Kabul to Karachi. They’d drive women out of their jobs, out of the streets, out of hospitals and everywhere else that women need to be, and confine them to the house; turn them into baby machines and domestic slaves.”
Ms Shah said in an email: “While I can approach the project with an open mind, I'm having difficulty having an open heart towards it. Intellectually it seems worthy; emotionally, I fail to connect with it, especially given our proximity to the Taliban and their campaign of brutality in Pakistan.”

Compiled by two Europeans who founded AfghanWire - one should read it in full before making a decision. ( I'm almost 2/3 through and for anyone who sees value in poetry - definitely satisfying. Some of the poems are lyrical and non-political and beautiful, especially when they deal with nature but especially because it provides an insight into the minds of a group previously isolated by their brutality. Some of the poems deal with the concerns of soldiers in every war - home, family , loss - the ordinary concerns . Poetry can reveal the soul of a people, expose the minds of the thoughtful and hopefully maybe even a point of communication. McCleans has an interesting review

As in many medieval societies, poetry is the essential means of expression in Taliban culture. When Mullah Mohammad Omar seized control of Afghanistan in 1996, he banned all music. The radios blared ballads instead. The Pashto poetic tradition is ancient even if its current material is predator drones and corrupt NGOs. .. so we are confronted with the reality that the most rigid ideologues on the planet overwhelmingly choose an aesthetic of extreme lyrical ambiguity to express themselves. Every line is shot through with as many levels of meaning as possible.

Such poetry is profoundly revealing of the psychology of our enemy. Culled from cellphones, websites and cassettes, The Poetry of the Taliban bears little, if any, relation to official al-Qaeda “literature” with its idiotic, dull, unreadably boring dogmatism. There is politics in this collection but little ideology, little talk even of Islam. The verse burns with immediacy of reality. It’s full of alternately witty and grotesque bragging. ... The proximity of political poetry next to traditional love poetry and pastorals feels perfectly natural. These are people descanting on what they know. Sometimes it’s a rocket-propelled grenade. Sometimes it’s a patch of lush grass.

Steven Marche writes of it :

None of the verse in The Poetry of the Taliban made me even the slightest iota more sympathetic to their cause .... how can you defeat an enemy who believes he’s fighting for the existence of flowers?

One of the poets says

The world today is better than yesterday
Tomorrow will be better than today
Alas, Afghans don’t know how to go forward
They are slipping backwards into dust.

Maybe some will consider looking toward the sky and trying for a better, more humane future

[JerseyLily]

I would not advise anyone in Pakistan or Afghanistan to look to the sky better when you don't see death coming.

The Taliban are not the same as Al Queda and it is worth reminding everyone that the Taliban asked the USA for evidence that Bin Laden was responsible for 9/11, something which the USA has never managed to give and for which Bin Laden was never charged.

The Taliban is a resistance force who want to get rid of a foreign occupying army.

[europa]

The new issue of Foreign Policy has an extensive article/samples of the more to be expected views of the Taliban but there are actually more non political poetry in the collection than this kind.
Entitled Sonnets for the MujahideenThe militant movement has a little-examined sensitive side.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...oetry_any_good

Some even show doubts and and slef reflection - a recognition of the element of self blame for the sad state of the country.

It's a pity that we are wandering as vagrants,
We did it all to ourselves

[Abdullah Ali]

"When Mullah Mohammad Omar seized control of Afghanistan in 1996, he banned all music."

Ok, after the dust has settled and the allegations and (future) behaviour attributed to the Taliban, from someone who obviously despises them, has been put to one side and an action that the Taliban did actually carry out (the above quote) is presented we see an ideal Islamic way.

[europa]

an action that the Taliban did actually carry out (When Mullah Mohammad Omar seized control of Afghanistan in 1996, he banned all music) is presented we see an ideal Islamic way.

If I've understood you correctly - with reference to music in Islam - it is worth remembering that there are differing opinions. Many Muslims hold different views.

4:163 - "

We have sent thee inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after
him: we sent inspiration to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to
Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms.

"

17:55

"And it is your Lord that knoweth best all beings that are in the heavens and on
earth: We did bestow on some prophets more (and other) gifts than on others: and
We gave to David (the gift of) the Psalms."

They see no sense of disapproval, since the Psalms are clearly seen as God-given, a divine gift, a source of inspiration and were always sung.
Going back to pre-history - musical instruments were central to culture and in classical times the lyre and flute were seen as a link to the holy. As it refers to the Taliban - in fact rhythm in poetry/chant is seen as a kind of music. The more important question in the 21rst Century is whether someone should be whipped, beaten or killed for listening to music and who has the right to enforce such views ? Each of us must answer that question for ourselves.

[JerseyLily]

A quick look at the t.v. would confirm that the music of popular culture today is very pornographic, the dancing is anyway.

[Abdullah Ali]

If I've understood you correctly - with reference to music in Islam - it is worth remembering that there are differing opinions. Many Muslims hold different views.

The more important question in the 21rst Century is whether someone should be whipped, beaten or killed for listening to music and who has the right to enforce such views ? Each of us must answer that question for ourselves.

Boring. The majority view is that Musical Instruments are forbidden, except the duff. And when you speak about "in the 21st century".. I don't follow what people's desires, just what God has ordained (for their benfit) upon His creation.

[europa]

It seems that among the arbiters of 'justice' women die just for writing poetry http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/ma...pagewanted=all

The reality for Afghan women who just want to create poetry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHBlshuNULY

Examples - Lima Niazi, a 15-year-old Pashtun woman in Kabul addressed her latest poem to the Taliban:

You won’t allow me to go to school.
I won’t become a doctor.
Remember this:
One day you will be sick.

I remember you...

I remember you...
when you have no choice, no voice, no rights, no existence
when you have no laughs, no joy, no freedom, no resistance
your pain, your agony, your silence, your loneliness
your anger, your frustration, your cries, your unhappiness

I remember you...
when you are abused, attacked, beaten and veiled
when you are tortured, strangled, choked and almost killed
you feel numbness, nothingness, lifelessness and tears
your are a shadow, a ghost, a creature with many fears

I remember you...
when you in the darkness, stillness of a star-less night
lift your arms to the sky, with sadness and fright
and ask the universe with eyes full of tears and pain
why all these crimes? for what reason? can anyone explain?

I remember you...
when you finally will rise and stand on your feet!
and say " No! I will not stand for anymore defeat!"
you will break the chains, burn the veil and destroy the
walls!
you will scream with all your might "Damn you all!"

I remember you...
when you take the solemn oath that you will struggle, resist
and fight
that you will gain your freedom with all your might
that you will never give up, no matter how heavy the cost
never again will you be confused, pitiful and lost

I remember you...
when you gain your rights, reach your goals and hope(s)
but the path is hard, full of obstacles, you must learn how to
cope
to cope while struggling for your ultimate goal
a-reborn woman, free, independent and whole

@ Dr. Zieba Shorish-Shamley

What are these men afraid of ? The power of the word .... or the cruelty the words expose?

Mirman Baheer is Afghanistan’s largest women’s literary society, and in Kabul has more than 100 members drawn primarily from the Afghan elite: professors, parliamentarians, journalists and scholars. They travel on city buses to their Saturday meetings, their faces uncovered, wearing high-heeled boots. But in the outlying provinces — Khost, Paktia, Maidan, Wardak, Kunduz, Kandahar, Herat and Farah — the society’s members number about three hundred. In rural areas, Mirman Baheer functions largely in secret. Many of the rural members have to use mobile phones to participate at meetings, calling whenever they can, often at great personal risk. They read their poems to the group by phone and these are then transcribed line by line. To conceal poetry writing from their family, they rely on pen names.Traditionally women writing poetry is seen as shameful and could result in a beating or even death.

http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/...-seamus-murphy