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 Topic: What to make of Tarek Fatah?

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  • What to make of Tarek Fatah?
     OP - February 15, 2017, 02:06 AM
    The Canadian secular activist. I think he still calls himself a Muslim but he's a huge critic on Islamism and Muslims in general who he thinks don't subscribe to liberal secular values. He was born (and I think raised) in Pakistan but considers himself Indian. He hates the idea of Pakistan. Anyway I've been trying to follow his work recently given I want to explore my own Pakistani roots. I think he sees Muslims (as people) a big a problem as the Islamist ideological narrative, if that makes sense.
  • What to make of Tarek Fatah?
     Reply #1 - February 15, 2017, 02:54 AM
    Yeah, I watched him a little on youtube but couldnt really follow the complicated urdu very well. I think he makes some good points but I would guess a little out of touch and therefore not so relevant in Pakistan. It's not like he talking about any kind of alternative ideology. I actually follow Pakistani things like this a lot, but Tarek Fatah is not really on my radar for some reason.

    I dont know exactly what you mean by Pakistani roots but if you want to learn about Pakistani History you should probably start with the term Aryan, for which you will need to look at Indo-European Migrations (Out of India Theory), Rigveda, Vedic Sanskrit, Indus Valley Civilization (this will cover ancient history), look at Kalasha Culture and Religion (this is very very ancient) and you can also look at similarities between Pushto, Pakistani and Sikh culture.

    These are the things that helped me understand about my roots, if you will.

    I think Fatah is not too knowledgeable in these areas.



  • What to make of Tarek Fatah?
     Reply #2 - February 15, 2017, 03:35 AM
    Well he rips Pakistan to shreds as a 'nation. If he's not relevant there, that'll be to do with the fact that he's banned from public speaking. He seems to align himself with a lot of right wing figures in Canada and the US. Muslims are the problem as well as the Quran and Hadiths. Yet he still calls himself a Muslim. I find him a confusing figure.

    I didn't mean in terms of racial/ethnic roots (maybe roots is the wrong) but I have been trying to see how notable Pakistani immigrants who settle in the West try and reconcile both their motherlands and their new homes. Tarek Fatah hates Pakistan like Salman Rushdie before him (though Rushdie was born in India). Living in multi-cultural Britain as I do, everyone tends to pick a core identity. The white British tend to call themselves English above being British. And then we come along and we're torn between being culturally Pakistani and arriving from a Muslim country. A lot of us emphasized our 'Muslimness' in attire and beliefs in a country where no one cares about being citizens of the UK as much as their ethnic/religious/'national' identity.
  • What to make of Tarek Fatah?
     Reply #3 - February 15, 2017, 03:37 AM
    Yeah, it's a bit weird he still calls himself Muslim as he only seems to have bad things to say about it.
  • What to make of Tarek Fatah?
     Reply #4 - February 15, 2017, 04:12 AM
    At one point I thought he was a 'Quranist' Muslim but he even criticises the book as well for being the cause of much of the violence today in the so called Muslim world. I see him as a more vociferous version of a Maajid Nawaz type liberal Muslim. I don't like him much from my first impressions. He's gone after a lot of Muslims even of a secular liberal kind on social media. He has a lot of interest in the Muslim Brotherhood where he accuses Muslims being secret agents of that organisation.
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