مقال عبد الله بولا عن التجديد في فكر الأستاذ محمود محمد طه

Dear Nagat,
Please forgive me for writing in English. I am forced to this with the system I am using right now to covey this message. Let me begin, by saying that I don't know why you get offended by my cirticism of Osama Elkhawad. I would have respected your opinion had it not singled me out. Elnour, in his openning statement in this thread, mentioned Osama, in unflattering critical terms. Yet, you decided only to pick on me!!!
You should understand that my criticsim of Osama is not personal, as he makes it to be. Osama is a stark representative of a wide spread phenomenon amnog the Sudanese intellegencia. And that is why I spent so much time to knock his aggorgance down, and that of his likes, throuh discussing his flawed methods and content of thinking.

His every move and turn now is proving that I did the right thing, even though a good many of my good frineds begged me not to waste time and effort with him. But becuase I thought, and still think, he is smart, and because he is a repersenative of a wide spread phenomenon, I spent some of my time trying to help him mend some of his ways.
Now, that Osama has completely changed the course of discussion here by trying to make me the "subject" of this post, I hope you will cave in with an opinion on this transgression!!.
Osama is indeed an arrogant man, with a terriblly inflated ego. I have mentioned this to compare him with what I think is genuine scholarship, which you husband's paper, in my humble judgement, represents. What is wrong with such a comparison?? And again, I will remind you that it was drawn before mine by Elnour, at the beginning of this thread!!

I sense a very unhealthy anger in the way you express yourself when it comes to expressions of some strong opinions of mine!! This was the second time, I get this sense. Once when I crtiicised your husband's unfair presentaion of Haydar Ibrahim Ali's thinking on the "intellectual quagmire" that errupted between them in the past. And the second when I criticised Osama.

Please know that, as Republicans, we never said that we don't welcome criticism of our frames of reference. On the contrary, we happily welcome critisiam form someone who understands what we say!! Osama has just recently begun to comprehened what we say. May be he is a new reader to Al-Ustanz Mahmoud, and to the writings of the Republicans. Yet, he arrogantly presents himself as someone who "knows it all." Someone needed to step up to the plate to tell him what I told him, and I don't regret it!
A final note to you, ya Nagat. Please forgive me for having used a title infront of your name, if that in anyway offends you. I truly thought that you completed your Ph.D, and I meant no offense at all. I wish you every success in completing the final touches of your disseration.


Dear Osama,
You are proving my point by spreading your angry grudges in this thread. Again, I will say this: I am not the "subject" here, whetherr I am sick, or halucinating or not. Nor was I the "subject" of your discussion when you made me such in the thread of your egotistic crtitism of Al-Ustaz Mahmoud. I am just someone who didn't like the way you present yourself, and your ideas, and the content of those ideas!! You have to learn to live with the fact that there are people in this world who may not see you as you, and some of your frineds, see yourself!! The same thing applies to me. I have to live with the fact that some people, like you, may not like the way I think or express myslef. I am perfectly comofortable with this fact of life, even though I would have loved it if the whole world loved what I wrote!!!

I am really saddened that you don't know the diffenece between insult with intent, and the painfully constructive criticism. I know that what I did in your thread hurts you. However, you have to understand that I meant to say what I thought in the most articulate and candid of terms. If they seem too strong for your tase and that of Nagat, I am sorry. Many of those who sopke to me thought I have been more lenient than I should be, while others said I am just wasting my time with you -as I mentioned earlier in my response to Nagat. When a piece of writing generates such a diverse range of opinions, then you know, as a writer, that you have done a good job!
As for my health, please know that I, at least, have the brain and the guts to make the likes of you look bad!! Look at how bankrupt you have become, just like some others before you, Republicans and non-Republicans alike, when all the venues of logic are shut on your face!!

Please come back to your senses, and calm down, to know that no genuine thinker or social/political activist has escaped being thought of as "sick" -while, in time, his/her accusers turned out to be such. I admitted being disturbed by the volume of injustices that were leveled against me, and couragously sought help for it. If you were a true believer in the western traditons you so "extremely" and unthougtfully advocate, you would have admired the fact that I openly spoke about this. Unfortunatley, you use the West, and its wonderful intellectual tradiotns to promote yourself, and your egotistic indulgenies. Such a man ceases to be respected in the annals of intellectual decency and honesty!

Dear Elanour,
I am sorry to have been forced to drag the discussion in this direction. But, I think, you would understand that I was made the subject of this thread while I shouldn't have been dragged into it as the "subject," while I was just a contributor who made a comment.