Afghan Taliban and the West

The difference between the Afghan Taliban and the West is one of different models. Models of society and models of humans. In this paper we seek to explain the situation and to present it to the rational western mind of today. This includes those in the west and those influenced by them. This concept paper is targeted towards the average western oriented youngster who might be curious. The average western person wanting an explanation of the phenomenon of bearded men controlling a country.


The phenomenon of bearded men controlling a country might not be new. This time though what is new is that the west has simply failed to raise that country (and an army) on their ideals of freedom and democracy. After trying for 20 years the army and country they tried to raise simply did not take in the wests ideals and the other side took over without even a fight. So the Wests models and ideals of people and society failed miserably. Now an explanation is required for Sharia Law which is taking the place instead.


The story begins with a difference in the composition of humans. The west, as things stand, is focusing on the mind. It is treating the mind as supreme and as the only existence inside of humans. But things are different elsewhere.


What the West thinks that humans are composed of:


Mind and Body.


What bearded Muslim Sufis consider humans to be composed of:


Heart, Mind, Self, Body


From here on the story develops. The two extra components of the Heart and the Self (نفس) make a difference.


The reason being that Muslim Sufis consider the Self inside of humans to be something that needs to be tamed and controlled. And they consider the Heart as something that needs to be kept pure. That is the point of Sharia Law. The exercise of Sharia (Islamic Law) is put in place to tame the self and purify the heart.


To introduce the self and the heart we need to rely on the english language. The reason for this is because they have simply been wiped out of western mindset today. We present the words self-control, self-restraint and self-discipline. And we present the words heartfelt, heartful and heart of gold. These words give clues. The self is something which is annotated with control, restraint and discipline as in self-control, self-restraint and self discipline. While the heart is something which is annotated with feeling, fulfillment and purity (of gold) as in heartfelt, heartful, of gold.


From here onwards an exercise is carried out by Sufis to put in place self-control and purity of heart. This exercise includes Sharia Law’s enforcement on society whereby government backed laws are in place. These government laws mandate self-control to an extent so as to keep the hearts pure. Punishments are in place for what is perceived as lack of self-control and impurifying for the heart.


Let us now delve into 2 examples of control, discipline and purity to explain the situation.


Alchohol and Ladies.


As part of Sharia law these are two things which might seem interesting for the average western person. Alchohol is banned. Ladies and Gents are segregated to a certain extent. Isnt this a mindless exercise for the western mind ? Why ?


Whether this is mindless is a separate thing but it is self-controlling, self-restraining and heart purifying. We can loosely propose heart purifying as something which is spiritually fulfilling like goodness of behaviour or goodness of action. So we can say being drunk, committing adultery and breaking your family is against self-control and against heart purification.


But there is a background to all of this as well. A precursor to all this. Why worry about this self-control and heart purification ? Why this Sharia Law and so much control ? One could say why this exercise of so much self-control and heart purification so as to ban alcohol and segregate men and women.


The background of this is death. Yes, dying and being dead. For the average mind of the west preparation for death might seem as something foreign. Unfortunately everyone has to die. The precursor to self control and heart purification is that of achieving a very calm, satisfied and peaceful death leading towards Paradise. The pretext of all that self-control and heart purification is to grant a person a smooth life and a calm, peaceful death. So alcohol is banned and ladies and gents are segragated for the best of deaths.


To explain this we can put forward the question of what is the optimal death like? What would you want to have achieved by death? When dying what do you wish for to have done ?


What Sharia law ordains is to live a life of self-control and to die with a pure heart.


Science and Technology play a secondary role in this. They facilitate an easy life. Yes, you can have an AC and watch TV and have a video call on a smartphone and all this can make your life easy and happier. But this should not come at the cost a pure, calm death. This is foresight at its peak. Sharia Law allows a person to go to the moon and come back but it requires them to not have done adultery and drunken actions.


Economy is also secondary to this. A rich person dies and a poor person dies too. It is good for a country to be rich and to prosper but it is also good for them to have calm, peaceful deaths. Indulgence into things which are bad for death are avoided and even economic prosperity is compromised if need be.

So the difference between the Afghan Taliban model and the Wests model is that of Mind plus Body and of Heart, Mind, Self plus Body. That of life only and of life plus death. This leads to different laws and different choices. A difference on what is considered as an optimal society.


At ConceptPaper.org we have presented multiple concepts in relation to this. They are in our Humanity and Unity section. They are:


Concensus on what Humans are composed of

Consensus on Human Nature

Agreement on what is the optimal human like

Intentions Monitoring Body

Key Performance Indicators of the World and Humanity

Structured Collaboration on Supremacy of Thought

Closed Loop Money Cycle

The Optimal Society in Today’s Multipolar World

Hate Generation and Hate Management

New World Order

Declaration of Standing on Higher Moral Ground

Universal Ban on Alcohol

Universal Criminalisation of Adultery

The difference between the Afghan Taliban and the West is one of models. This paper and these earlier concepts elaborate on this.