Göttinger Tageblatt

Lower Saxony’s Morning post*Gottingen, Germany Newspaper since 1889

Thursday 23, Ferbrury 2007               No.45-8 weeks

Struggle for the Separation of Religion and State

Chief-in-Editor, Seddiq Rahpoe Tarzi takes the challenge for secularization in Islamic world

In our town, Goettingen, a lot of interesting personalities are living.

Today we want to talk to Mr. Seddiq Tarzi Rahpoe a journalist of the magazine Rowshani (Light) and former Ambassador of Afghanistan in Sofia, Bulgaria. He tells about himself and his fight for secularization in Islamic world.

By Michael Caspar

‘’The best way for religious people is to spread secularism ideas, if they are not against their own belief’’ says Mr. Seddiq Rahpoe Tarzi. ‘’Otherwise the religion will be abused by fanatics who using the religion as political means for their struggle to gain power and money” tells the Afghan journalist who came to Germany after the fall of the communist regime 1992, and lives nowadays in Goettingen, Germany.

            Were not prophet Mohammad religious leader and governor at the same time? “It is a delicate case that you mention” says Tarzi. He answers: Mohammad lived in a traditional tribal environment, where such kind of ideology works very well. But in a modern society it is a great problem, and therefore even the revelations of Mohammad have to be renewed and adapted in a modern term. “Especially the Islamic law or Sharia” has to be changed, accents Mr. Seddiq Tarzi Rahpoe.  To cut a hand of a thief belongs to archaic times. If you practice the same procedure today in modern time of human rights, it does not work. The thief with an amputated hand will never get a proper job and will become a burden on the shoulders of the society.

Aggression as a result of failure

“The fanatics in Islamic world deliver no solution toward modern problems” tells Rahpoe Tarzi. Even in countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia, they failed to develop the modern economy, science and culture. This failure leads to aggression. The way out of this is to blame everything on USA or the Zionists. “On the other hand the fanatics in the Islamic world are very strong, but it will last just for a short time” expects the Editor in –Chief of the quarterly magazine Rowshani (“The Light” in Persian). The paper is a result of the foundation of the Association of the En-lighteners of Afghanistan (EAA). That was established in the year of 1995. The number of members of this Association is around 100. Non-political persons as well as former communists are members of this circle. Right now there are negotiations between them and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to print the paper of Rowshani in Kabul as well as it is publishing since 95 in Europe.

            “The US made it possible that the Taliban fall of the power and Afghanistan is on the way to accept the idea of democracy and freedom of speech. Unfortunately the Afghan communists had made a great mistake as they support and took part of toppling down monarch Constitutional’s regime and put the King of Afghanistan out of the country in a revolt on 1973, which led to elimination of freedom of opinion and press as well.

After the communist party came under the pressure of this regime, they took the power in the year of 1978.

 The fanatic Islamic begun a struggle against them. The Soviet Union supported them with the red army. This led to arming of Jihad’s forces by US with weapons and money. The Muslims fanatics around the world took part to so called Jihad against unbelievers. 

After the 9/11 of 2001, the US government changed its opinion, as they recognized that they had not breed the Jihad just against the Communism, but as well against every kind of progress and modern civilization.

But the US is still allied with Saudi Arabia which itself supporting the Orthodox and Fundamentalism forces of Islam, tells the secularist.

u

************