Harry Potter and the New World Order

by M. Faraz Anwar

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of watching the newly
released "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'. The film is
excellently filmed and the plot is interesting. Nevertheless, what
was more interesting was the political twist in the film. Call it an
urban legend or simply paranoia, Hollywood and politics seem to go
hand-in-hand. The new Harry Potter film reminded me of the education
policy for Muslim countries that is being 'suggested' by Western
governments.

In the film, the Ministry of Magic has become a vehicle of
Valdermort, an antichrist-like character, who is determined to assert
his new-world-order on the good-world. Valdermort has with him all of
the dark forces and creatures, while the good is with schools,
especially Hogwarts', where Harry Potter and his friends study. The
Ministry now feels threatened by any retaliation from the school
students once the 'one-who-must-not-be-named' comes back from the
underworld. They send a bureaucrat from the Ministry to teach an
important subject of defensive spells (or something to that effect).
Her job as a teacher of defensive spells is to teach only the theory
and not to let the students learn how to actually defend themselves.
She starts forcing 'reformations' in the schools and finally
overthrows the headmaster Dumbledore.

Now let us take a look at the educational reformations in Muslim
countries. The Western governments seem to be a vehicle of 'you-know-
who'. Their main threat, as they openly say, is 'militant Islam'. The
main breeders of these militants are schools, which, according to
them, are mostly in Pakistan. The current government of Pakistan has
been pressured to 'reform' the education system, and it has
succumbed.

There were scattered bits of news of some chapters being eliminated
from primary school books of Urdu and Islamiat (Islamic Studies),
like the one about warrior Mahmood Ghaznavi and others. Mind you, I
am not talking about madrassas (religious seminaries), rather
about 'normal' schools, government-owned or private, that actually
follow the same curriculum set by "book boards". The military-like
training that spanned two weeks and was being given to Intermediate-
level students has been abolished (it was not serving a purpose
anyway, but that is a different story). The case of madrassas is
different. They are under direct threat of not just curriculum change
but outright extermination.

The changes are subtle, but the impact of altering or removing those
chapters could affect generations to come. Our people are already
under an inferiority complex, bedazzled by glamour of anything
Western in TV and cinema. If the glorious legends of history vanish
from their memories, their self-respect will also diminish. Such
people are then ready to be enslaved. The works of the great poet
Allama Iqbal warn of exactly this condition, rather pathology, and
suggest ways to counter it. One can only hope his poems are not
removed in the name of reformation and modernism.

Perhaps the solution to such politics is also from the new Harry
Potter film. When their school starts teaching only "nice things"
(much like Ghalib's and Meer's poetry), the students take their
learning into their own hands and want to fix things themselves. And
this, in turn, reminds me of the Red Mosque crisis!

:icon_biggrin:Harry potter has reached to saowt too
I didn't watch the movie, but i have read the book. And i really appreciated
the political twist in the story.


Yet, i didnt see the same analogy as the writer of the article


In the book, the government is not working for the enemy, but they are simply refusing to accept the the enemy exists, and they try to prevent people from building resistance and preparing to fight because they accuse them of preparing to overthrow the government.


It also shows how the desire to keep power can blind the leaders to the real danger, and how they become more intersted in keeping their position rather than saving their people.


Its also intersting the way the writer shows the power of the media and how it can change the reality


I think in the film there was more stress on the educational reform which was a good point in the book too. But, it didnt remind me of the Red Mosque crisis, maybe because its a childrens book.

I would like to thank you for your detailed analysis. I think the educational reform is very clear in both of them and this by itself is a huge issue.

Another more important point in my point of view is the manipulation of the media rather than the power of the media with the distortion of the reality.

I would like to know why u were surprised to see that Harry Potter arrived to Saowt?

Harry Potter has been in Saowt for a while now and that's no surprise really, especially when you consider that some of the subjects (or subject-matter to be concise) puts Harry Potter and all the wizardry in his stories to shame. Just check this subject out and see for yourselves: o

http://saowt.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23924


Different people make different deductions and have different understandings of the same text. I can definitely understand how a Pakistani reader, for example, can draw parallels with the Red Mosque issue and understand at the same time why a non-Pakistani doesn't see it.o


What really bothers me, however, is the absence among Muslims of such writers and such books who have a loyal and dedicated following like that of the author of Harry Potter and her books.o


The only one who comes close to that perhaps is Girgy Zaidan and his distorted historical novels. He's not even a Muslim.o


When author Rawlings announced that her latest Harry Potter book was also her last, a one-million-signatures petition was completed within days begging her to reconsider. That's loyalty and dedication!!o


Our brothers had to work for three months in 20 different countries to collect a million signatures for Al-Aqsa.o


Reform education you say?? You bet, I say. o


How do we get our youth to read and crave reading meaningful books? How do we get our writers to cater to such needs in our societies?o


Don't get me going, it will be hard for me to stop!!o

OK, It's too late,you got me going already ... :) o

I just added and article on the importance of education at: o
http://saowt.com/forum/showthread.php?p=173577#post173577

Tanx bro.
I will read the article In Sha2 Allah and please keep going.

Arabs are good readers also but very few writers are able to gain the attention of general readers.

We blame Khalil Jibran and Jirji Zaydan but our Ummah could not produce as big names. We had strong names such as Tantawi, Manfalouti and others but hte media did not gave them the same appraisal so their writings is still hidden until someone would come and uncover it.

However, this is not enough. We need other people who understands the mentality of current generations and can write for them and inspire them.