Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Choosing Evil: The Ideology of Destruction

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There’s this thing where ethics aren’t what they used to be. This idea that people are trying to replace the ideas of good and bad with better or worse… and that is incorrect. You gotta keep your ethics intact because good and bad is a compass that helps you find the way. And a person that only does what’s better or worse is the easiest type of person to control. They are a mouse in a maze that just finds the cheese. But the one who knows about good and bad will realize that he’s in a maze.

Dave Chappelle at Allen University (South Carolina) March 20, 2017

I have paid close attention to every presidential election since the beginning of my adult life. Without fail, the debate ensues around voting for the lesser of two evils in many progressive circles. This is in lieu of any viable progressive rivals, who the American people are told are “unelectable,” a status that is reinforced by state-level interventions to keep them off the ballots. While the decision to vote for a softer, friendlier (usually Democratic) candidate seems to make sense in the moment, this reactionary strategy has only emboldened those candidates to become more evil and take the progressive (especially African American) vote for granted. Yet, the question remains: “at what point will we stop voting for evil?” While comedian Dave Chappelle’s words from 2017 may seem prophetic to some, the ideology of the lesser of two evils has been rejected by Ḥanīfs of ancient times, not the least of which appears in the story of Hārūt and Mārūt.

Hārūt and Mārūt

According to Imam Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī in his book on angelology Al-Ḥabā’ik fī Akhbār al-Malā’ik, Hārūt and Mārūt are first alluded to in the Qur’an in al-Baqarah: 30 where we first encounter a conversation between God and the angels concerning the creation of mankind:

{وَإِذۡ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلۡمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٞ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ خَلِيفَةٗۖ قَالُوٓاْ أَتَجۡعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفۡسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسۡفِكُ ٱلدِّمَآءَ وَنَحۡنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمۡدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَۖ قَالَ إِنِّيٓ أَعۡلَمُ مَا لَا تَعۡلَمُونَ}

˹Remember˺ when your Lord said to the angels, “I am going to place a successive ˹human˺ authority on earth.” They asked ˹Allah˺, “Will You place in it someone who will spread corruption there and shed blood while we glorify Your praises and proclaim Your holiness?” Allah responded, “I know what you do not know.”

The Clear Qur’an translation

The second allusion to Hārūt and Mārūt appears later in the sūrah in verse 102 concerning the false accusations of Prophet Solomon practicing magic. Hārūt and Mārūt warned people about practicing magic and taught people how to differentiate between miracles and magic.

18th century Ottoman representation of Hārūt and Mārūt courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

“The Lesser Evil”: An Angelic Refutation

The backstory to these angels offers us some wisdom about the dangers of “the lesser evil” ideology. According to tradition, Hārūt and Mārūt were sent to earth where they ruled during the time of the Prophet Idrīs or Enoch. They were given the appetite and desires of people (shahwah) in order to test if they, who had once lived as angels, would behave differently when faced with the same temptations of normal men. Their story is as follows:

And it was said to them: ‘Choose from amongst you the two best angels and I will give the two of them a task; and I will prohibit the two of them [from doing certain things].’ And they chose Hārūt and Mārūt. So the two of them were sent down to Earth and the desires of the sons of Adam were aroused in them. [God] ordered the two that they should serve Him and not associate anything with Him. He banned them from killing prohibited individuals, from eating prohibited foods and from fornicating, stealing and drinking wine. The two remained on the Earth for a time ruling the people with justice. This was during the time of Enoch. And at that time there was a woman, who was the most beautiful woman, just as the beauty of Venus is amongst the rest of the stars. The two of them came to her, spoke softly to her, and wanted her on her own; but she refused unless the two took her orders and her faith. So the two asked her about her faith and she brought out to them an idol and said: ‘This is what I worship.’ And the two said: ‘There is no need for us to worship this.’ So they went and stayed away for a while. Then the two came to her and they wanted her on her own and she said as she had said before, so they went away. Then they came to her [again] and they wanted her on her own, and when she saw that they refused to worship the idol, she said to the two of them: ‘Choose one of three faults: worshiping this idol, killing this person, or drinking wine.’ And the two said: ‘None of these are right, but the least contemptible of the three is drinking the wine.’ So they drank the wine. [The wine] was taken from them both and they fornicated with the woman. The two then feared that the person would reveal what they had done, so they killed him. When the drunkenness lifted from them and they realised what sin they had done, they wanted to go up to heaven; but they could not, as it had been made inaccessible to them. And the cover that was between the two of them and between the people of heaven was lifted up, and the angels looked down at what had come to pass. They wondered with great wonder and they came to understand that whoever is hidden [from God], is the one with less fear. After that they began to ask for forgiveness for whoever was on the earth.

It was said to the two of them: ‘Choose between the punishment of this world and the punishment of the next.’ The two said: ‘As for the punishment of this world, it will come to an end and it will pass. As for the pain of the Angels and theology next world, it will not come to an end.’ So they chose the punishment of this world. The two stayed in Babylon and they were punished.

(Burge and Suyūṭī, 2012, pp. 94-95)

In this story, Hārūt and Mārūt were tricked into committing greater evil by doing what they perceived as a lesser evil. In reality, the lesser evil was simply a gateway into more evil. It was presented as a thing that would satisfy their immediate desire for drink and sustenance; something that is permissible under normal circumstances. However, compromising their principles by the seemingly innocent act of drinking the wine led to intoxication which led to committing fornication which led to murder. How many a prisoner sits in his cell pondering a similar scenario?

Conclusion

This story was intended to refute the Sabian position that gave favor to angels over men. It demonstrates that humans have favor because in order to avoid sin they must overcome their desires, while angels simply do not sin because they do not have  such desires. However, there is also wisdom in this story for the average American voter who are forced to choose between duplicitous politicians of either the Democratic or Republican party. Politicians from the local to federal levels insist on doing the bidding of narcissistic, unethical, and devilish entities instead of the will of citizens who entrust them with their money and power. In choosing to stick with the status quo of Democratic and Republican party leadership we have taken that intoxicating sip that has put us on the path of destruction.

The 2024 elections have been a dirty game given the Republicans’ assassination shenanigans and the Democrats’ shiesty switcheroo. Both Democrats and Republicans have shown to be abetters of genocide and endless war, with blatant corruption among their ranks as witnessed in cases of Dem. Bob Menendez, Dem. George Norcross, Rep. George Santos, not to mention Trump himself. We at the Maurchives advocate for justice and non-violent, creative, and – dare I say – revolutionary solutions to human problems. Therefore, it is with the revolutionary spirit that we endorse Jill Stein’s presidential bid on the Green Party ticket.

Dr. Jill Stein and Butch Ware (Green Party Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates)

References

Burge, S. R., and Suyūṭī. Angels in Islam: Jalal al-Din al-Suyuṭī’s al-Ḥabāʼik Fī Akhbār al-Malāʼik. Routledge, 2012.

Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn al-. Al-Ḥabā’ik Fī Akhbār al-Malā’ik. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyyah, 1988.

Renshaw, Jarrett. “How US States Make It Tough for Third Parties in Elections.” Reuters, 18 Jan. 2024. http://www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-us-states-make-it-tough-third-parties-elections-2024-01-18/.

Bill Cooper vs. the Modern Mystery Schools

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A few days after 9/11, I remember lying in my university dorm room in the middle of the night as bright lights from a helicopter illuminated my room and I heard the hoots and hollers of frat boys returning home after a night of partying. Before I came to my senses, I wondered if this was the Illuminati’s declaration of martial law? The year 2001 caught many off-guard. The conspiracy theory literature of the ’90’s had many of us thinking that as we approached the year 2000 something big was right around the corner. After Y2K passed without a hitch many people went back to sleep until Bush Jr. stole the 2000 election. People were shocked at first, but not mobilized since he was considered an idiot and comedic fodder. However, the events of 9/11 would change everything and confirm what many conspiracy theorists already assumed… That the US government would declare war on its people.

The cover of Behold a Pale Horse by Milton William “Bill” Cooper.

One book in particular stands out as the pivotal work for conspiracy theorists of various persuasions. That book is Behold a Pale Horse (1991) by Bill Cooper, who aimed to expose the plots of the perverted modern-day Mystery Schools. Cooper was killed two months after the 9/11 attacks in front of his Arizona home under a barrage of bullets from police officers, further validating his assertions. Not only did he predict that the US government would blame a terrorist attack on Bin Laden prior to 9/11, but his book properly identified how the president would expand his powers using executive orders, how computer technology would be used in social engineering, and the evils of the Federal Reserve. Cooper preceded Alex Jones as the go-to conspiracy theorist with his radio show “The Hour of the Time.” (Of course, Cooper was not a fan of shock jock Alex Jones.)

The 500-page monograph succinctly outlined the patriot’s worldview, which expounded on a number of primary source documents (also included in the book), such as intelligence memos, newspaper clippings, correspondences, and other documents the author thought worthy of public scrutiny. Therefore, the serious reader could claim that he/she has seen proof of the conspiracies with their own eyes. Back before the worldwide web was prevalent, such documents were not easily accessed, and thus his book represented a one-stop shop for self-study of the global conspiracy.

Fast forward over 20 years, when we live our entire lives online, a large web of conspiracy theories of all kinds has been weaved, which has distorted the approach of Cooper, popularly known as QAnon. Whether it’s the Illuminati or a reptilian cabal of pedophiles, QAnon beliefs have a genealogy that can be traced back to Cooper’s work, but does not remain loyal to it. Like QAnon, Cooper’s primary constituency were white Christian, often right-wing, constitutionalists, who were generally patriotic Americans and sometimes White Nationalists.

However, their anti-establishment disposition has not saved them from being duped by Trump. Trump spent years rubbing elbows with Hollywood stars and other elites, including the Clintons and known pedophile ring leader, Jeffrey Epstein. But somehow he has convinced his QAnon followers that he is fighting against those elites. Trump’s more than suspicious relationship with Putin has never been resolved and reeks of treason, but this does not seem to bother any of his supporters. Perhaps they did not read carefully enough when Cooper wrote:

“REMEMBER—NEVER WORSHIP A LEADER. IF YOU WORSHIP A LEADER, YOU THEN NO LONGER HAVE THE ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN DECEIVED!” (p.91)

In a similar vein, Black-owned bookstores, hip-hop music, and lecturers like Steve Cokely were the means by which Cooper’s ideas were disseminated into Black communities. Of course the foundation was already laid by the Nation of Islam who canonized these conspiracy theories in the early part of the 20th century.

In their respective interviews with Fat Joe, rapper Busta Rhymes and producer Dallas Austin described a scene from the early 90’s in which the legendary funk musician, George Clinton hipped a generation of hip hop artists to Behold a Pale Horse. Their recording sessions were like a book club and the book would inform the doomsday themes that led to Busta Rhymes’ album titles. Goodie Mob would release “Cell Therapy.” The D.O.C.‘s long-awaited second LP had several Cooper-inspired tracks. Prodigy from Mobb Deep would mention concepts from the book in his verses. And the list of hip-hop’s connection to the book goes on…

Busta Rhymes discusses the influence of Behold a Pale Horse (52:55 – 56:47).
Dallas Austin discusses the influence of Behold a Pale Horse (1:04:06 – 1:04:32).

However, the so-called Black conscious movement is not without its contradictions either. In contrast to white patriots, many “conscious” Blacks are Muslims, Five Percenters, Nuwaubians, Hebrew Israelites, or ascribe to non-traditional Christian beliefs. Likewise, they often embraced Black Nationalism and leftist Black activism such as the Black Panther Party, something that Cooper probably would have disapproved of. However, Black people generally saw his theories as confirmation of the anti-Blackness and pure evil of the American political establishment.

As we watch red-cap and fatigue-laden protesters riot at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. and other capitol buildings around the US, we should know that their actions are motivated by beliefs with a genealogy that can be traced to Cooper, the Nazi Party, and even earlier in American history. The irony is that for much of American history both patriots and conscious Blacks alike thought that the fall of America would occur at the hands of Blacks and other minorities, but recent events are showing us otherwise.