September 19, 2006
Of course, her larger point is well taken--sharia is useless. Indeed it is. More than useless I'd call it. How about evil? I do not use the term evil lightly here. I believe any system of law that takes away certain inherent liberties is evil. Right up there at the top of that list would be the right to choose one's own religion. But useless will do for now.
The second point--that fatwas are useless--is also well taken, if not completely wrong. Fatwas are very useful because religious authority is claimed by those who do evil. Bin Laden issued a fatwa against America before 9/11 for the precise reason that he knew that people seek moral justification for their acts.
Last, let's get to these 'fatwas against terroror'.
Since I don't have time to refute all of the fatwas, we'll just start from the top of the first link provided and go down from there.
But before we do, can we agree that condemning 9/11 is not the same as condemning terrorism? One may condemn a particular act of terrorism without condemning terrorist tactics in general.
Also, can we agree that one may condemn terror in general but redefine 'terrorism' in such a way as to make the condemnation meaningless? Such is the case in dozens of reported 'condemnations' by mainstream Muslim leaders who, in their condemnation, qualify their remarks by making sure the reader understands that killing Zionists is not really terrorism.
Last, one may be against 'terrorism', but be guilty of a number of equally great sins. Terror is a tactic. One may be against the tactics used by al Qaeda, but be for the goals of al Qaeda. Okay, so you condemn using airplanes as a missile---do you also condemn stoning women to death for alleging rape?
The list linked to at Dean's World is one that has been widely circulated and popularized by the MAS and CAIR. You can actually find the same list posted in the comments section of several websites.
The entirety of the first 'fatwa against terrorism is no longer available in English on the web. The first signator is Mustafa Mashhur, head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt at the time of the 9/11 attacks. The official stance of the Muslim Brotherhood is the deportation of Jews of European ancestry out of Palestine. But don't worry, the Muslim Brotherhood wants to remove the Zionist entity peacefully, and ethnically cleanse Palestine with the help of the Europeans who would take the Jews back.
The next signator is Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the head of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. Besides condemning the Pope last week, the most notorious action of Jamaat in recent weeks has been its succesful campaign against the Musharraf effort to overturn the Hudood laws. The Hudood laws in Pakistan require four male witnesses to rape. Women who accuse men of raping them without four male witnesses are subject to the death penalty.
Qazi also openly supports Hamas and Hezbollah, both international terrorist organizations.
The most ironical of all the signators (40 we are told, but only 7 are named) is that of the Shiekh Ahmad Yassin, the founder of Hamas. Yes, that Hamas.
So, as evidence that Muslim religious leaders are against terrorism, we are given a fatwa issued by the head of a terrorist organization? Irony. True irony. And not the Alanis Morissette kind either.
Let's move on to the second 'fatwa against terror'. You can read all of it here.
It is not actually a fatwa against terror, but one which allows Muslims to serve in the military. The relevant part is that Muslims are allowed to fight against 'the real' perpertrators of 9/11. You know, the real ones. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
You may know the man behind the fatwa from his website Islam Online. Here is the man often cited as the most influential 'moderate' Muslim in the world:
An influential Sunni Muslim cleric who once condoned attacks on U.S. civilians in Iraq has issued a religious edict saying it is permissible under Islam to kidnap in wartime - but not to kill the hostages.In the abstract Qaradawi comes off sounding like a moderate, but that is only in English and only when you compare him to, say, a bin Laden.
Let's go to fatwa #3, signed by the highest religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world, Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Muhammad Sayyid Al-Tantawi. This is the same man that routinely describes Jews as "the enemies of Allah, sons of pigs and apes." He's a man who believes that during the Islamic Golden Age, "Jews were forced to wear a shoulder patch with a picture of a monkey and Christians had to wear a patch with a picture of a pig. These images had to be affixed to the doors of their respective homes."
Some Golden Age you got there al Tantawi.
And although al Tantawi has been widely reported as issuing a fatwa against suicide bombing in Israel, he did take backs, saying that those that kill Israeli women and children are martyrs worthy of praise.
Shall I go on? Frankly, I just don't have the time.
The larger point being that even so-called moderate Muslim leaders--the ones which liberal Muslims often go out of their way to cite as examples that Islam is just like any other religion--cannot condemn terrorism without either redefining terror or defending the ends of the terrorists if not their means.
Some religion of peace you got there.
This says nothing on whether Islam is inherently violent, but it goes a long way in understanding why so much violence comes out of the Islamic world today.
When authority figures justify acts of violence as a religious duty, there is no doubt that the faithful will follow.
Posted by: Rusty at
02:44 PM
| Comments (14)
| Add Comment
Post contains 1011 words, total size 7 kb.
'Cause under Sharia law, is means isn't.
Posted by: reverse_vampyr at September 19, 2006 03:43 PM (Ns5kk)
Posted by: Rusty at September 19, 2006 04:56 PM (JQjhA)
Posted by: Darth Vag at September 19, 2006 04:58 PM (HSkSw)
Posted by: jesusland joe at September 19, 2006 05:52 PM (rUyw4)
Posted by: Last gasp Larry at September 19, 2006 05:58 PM (Dd86v)
I had a thought. If we recognize Israels claim to the land of Canaan by right of having been there during biblical times, and this is a big part of the reason for supporting the Jewish homeland, then we who are members of the Christian faith must acknowledge our complicity in the acts of our various churches whether good and bad.
To not recognize these acts both good and bad, would be hypocritical in the face of the world. Particularly if you are going to quote anyone who was an Orthodox Catholic Emperor from the 14th century.
But seriously, why does it always come down to the Jews? Is anyone else besides me tired of this argument? Why don't all of these geniuses force a binding motion at the UN and make everyone aware of the position of the existing govt their opinion of the Jewish homeland. Yes they are for it, or no they are against it.
Then those who are against it are given a second chance to reconsider before they are expelled from the UN.
Posted by: SeeMonk at September 19, 2006 07:27 PM (n4VvM)
Posted by: greyrooster at September 19, 2006 08:37 PM (axEUn)
Posted by: SeeMonk at September 19, 2006 09:23 PM (n4VvM)
Posted by: Howie at September 20, 2006 08:33 AM (YdcZ0)
Posted by: Howie at September 20, 2006 08:37 AM (YdcZ0)
Were the pictures created by Muslims, or did the oppressed have to do their own oppressing? Who had the franchise? who sold the franchise? Was cubism and impressionism allowed?
Were there pig and monkey inspectors checking to see that pigs didn't wear monkeys and vice versa? What would they do if there was crossover? And didn't they realize that this was part of a judeo/christian conspiracy to tell who the MUSLIMS were?
Actually, to give you some idea how much the Muslim mind has regressed since "The Golden Age" in Spain, there were NEVER any "pigs and monkeys" badges! The Muslims of the Golden age were not that stupid! They knew it wouldn't work, so this Imam's story is just one more lie!
If we ignore them, they won't go away! Let's do something stronger!
Posted by: eliXelx at September 20, 2006 09:49 AM (j1K0C)
Were the pictures created by Muslims, or did the oppressed have to do their own oppressing? Who had the franchise? who sold the franchise? Was cubism and impressionism allowed?
Were there pig and monkey inspectors checking to see that pigs didn't wear monkeys and vice versa? What would they do if there was crossover? And didn't they realize that this was part of a judeo/christian conspiracy to tell who the MUSLIMS were?
Actually, to give you some idea how much the Muslim mind has regressed since "The Golden Age" in Spain, there were NEVER any "pigs and monkeys" badges! The Muslims of the Golden age were not that stupid! They knew it wouldn't work, so this Imam's story is just one more lie!
If we ignore them, they won't go away! Let's do something stronger!
Posted by: eliXelx at September 20, 2006 09:49 AM (j1K0C)
Were the pictures created by Muslims, or did the oppressed have to do their own oppressing? Who had the franchise? who sold the franchise? Was cubism and impressionism allowed?
Were there pig and monkey inspectors checking to see that pigs didn't wear monkeys and vice versa? What would they do if there was crossover? And didn't they realize that this was part of a judeo/christian conspiracy to tell who the MUSLIMS were?
Actually, to give you some idea how much the Muslim mind has regressed since "The Golden Age" in Spain, there were NEVER any "pigs and monkeys" badges! The Muslims of the Golden age were not that stupid! They knew it wouldn't work, so this Imam's story is just one more lie!
If we ignore them, they won't go away! Let's do something stronger!
Posted by: eliXelx at September 20, 2006 09:50 AM (j1K0C)
Posted by: reverse_vampyr at September 20, 2006 03:02 PM (Ns5kk)
34 queries taking 1.2433 seconds, 169 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.