By Raffique Shah
February 26, 2024

Many of my readers who know of my health challenges, who have noted my not-infrequent absence from this space, added the proverbial two-and-two together and came up with 22. Wrong answer. Watching each other with a strong element of conspiracy my readers worked feverishly (they thought they were on a timeline!).

They engaged in conversations aplenty. My spies reported that further discussions held in camera resulted in innovative journalism, but like all who have followed my chequered careers in my near-80 years on earth, they quickly resolved their differences, demanded communication time with me, and… well, here is the fruit of the first such exploration.

No man—not even you, Shah—should make his exit with a “that’s that” attitude that is contrary to everything they preach but the coward’s way of answering some simple questions. Now in life I have not been one to cross swords or any weapon with “Jah”. This Fella has cornered the market for advice on any topic. They say, for instance, that He owns the patent and trademark for every aspect of our miserable peasants’ intellect—for those of us so “blessed”.

As readers know, I have stayed out of active politics for most of my life. But I have not been a passive player. My mouth and hands serve me pretty well even while stricken with Parkinson’s. I have my thoughts on Numero Uno—His existence, His powers, etc. But I so respect people’s right to believe in and practise their faiths, I won’t even advise them on the topic. I’ll tell you a secret, though: I don’t think the Fella is as all-powerful as he makes it out to be.

Look, let’s reason a bit: how does the omnipotent, omniscient, etc, Jah, allow what passes for human beings to get away with murder, atrocities and sundry sins of enormous proportions, if Jah had anything to do with them and their deeds? I know readers will respond overwhelmingly: “Ah make the child but not his mind.” The same people quoted above would say it takes a village to raise a child and, by extension, it takes a community to produce a gang, and a nation of psychopaths to train and equip architects of genocide. They are all around us.

Look outside your window now and you are likely watching someone who killed a child last night. You can’t prove that. But you don’t need to. Everyone knows the savages who live in and off their homes. Plundering food when they feel like it, stealing appliances and vehicles, shooting every which way, shaking their bodies to senseless songs they call music every day…

Tell me, reader—who invented Jah? This omni-everything is supposed to have created the world, which was a mess before he even handed it over.

How on earth, and I daresay in heaven and beyond, can one super being who wields any power you can think of and then some, stand with pride and shout, “I created this. This land is mine”—which is what the Zionists are crowing today, having the world believe they have total rights to all lands, property and possessions; thank God. Every time a child breathes his last agonising breath in Rafah, Gaza, He is responsible.

This world is a very mucked-down place. Yuh know what ah mean?! I’m not blaming Jah for every misdeed committed by monsters who claim they are men, mostly. But I must take strong objection to people who promote religion and prayer as the solutions to our problems. They have not solved anything since the Creator left this behind.

The Zionists-Islam feud over land, property, rights to waterways and even the sea has been ongoing for more than 1000 years. They have failed to resolve a seemingly simple issue in which sharing might be a word they would want to learn about.

I say on to you, Man, if you cannot rid yourself of greed, of grabbing everything you can lay your eyes upon, which is the prime motive that drives “good boys” to do very bad things. Their parents and siblings as well as the community leaders—here I point fingers at priests to publican—they are very much the exemplars for the murderous bandits.

So here I am writing in the afterlife, truth be told, I do not know where the hell I am. I see a hopeless world and people who cannot even select proper leaders to guide them out of the sewerage system the previous leaders led them into. And they begat those leaders…

Those “now” deceased misleaders begat bandits. Bandits who pillaged the public purse and now steal the soul of the nation…