Category Archives: Religion

UPDATED: Stoning: It Takes A Village

Islam, Middle East, Military, Nationhood, Religion

The Taliban did it is the spin in the media about the stoning to death of a young couple in northern Afghanistan. The many spectators who gathered to watch the stoning, as one news report alleged, were Taliban men. Executioners.

“The woman, Sadiqa, was 20 years old and engaged to another man, said the Kunduz provincial police chief, Gen. Abdul Raza Yaqoubi. Her lover, 28-year-old Qayum, left his wife to run away with her, and the two had holed up in a friend’s house five days ago, said district government head, Mohammad Ayub Aqyar.”

“They were discovered by Taliban operatives on Sunday and stoned to death in front a crowd of about 150 men,” wrote another report. “First the woman was brought out and stoned, then the man a half an hour later.”

Still other reports emphasized that the Afghan government has condemned the barbaric act and that it was the only stoning since the US occupied this backward country. (The only one that we know of.)

The New York Times gives an honest account of this blood sport:

“The punishment was carried out by hundreds of the victims’ neighbors in a village in northern Kunduz Province, according to Nadir Khan, 40, a local farmer and Taliban sympathizer, who was interviewed by telephone. Even family members were involved, both in the stoning and in tricking the couple into returning after they had fled.”

It takes a nation of lunatics to imagine they can transform a country like this one.

UPDATE (Aug. 18): “It worked with Germany, didn’t it?” I’m convinced Nora is being cynical. She can’t be comparing the nation that gave us Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Thomas Mann, Immanuel Kant, Mercedes-Benz, on-and-on, to the people who gave us the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (say no more). She’s being funny. Besides, American welfare didn’t rehabilitate Germany post WWII; German genius and graft did. Even with an enormously debilitating welfare state, Germans are still the most productive, ingenious people in Europe.

No Faith In Islam

Barack Obama, Islam, Multiculturalism, Religion, Terrorism

In “Dhimmis At Ground Zero?” I said what is now being restated by the president and reluctantly by everyone one, even by some of the sentimentalists fighting the Mega-Mosque with appeals to emotions: “Restricting acquisitive property rights in a free society should never be entertained.” (It is the proper libertarian position that rights of property subsume freedom of religion. You can’t demand to practice your religion on my property).

Obama reignited the mosque-at-ground-zero debate, which never really died down. A yet another White House event, this time celebrating Ramadan (Bush put on a big bash on Cinco de Mayo; not sure how he celebrated Ramadan), Obama, “expressed his support for the mosque, which will replace a building damaged by the attacks.”

“Let me be clear: As a citizen and as President I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country.”

‘That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.’

“But the next day,” reports the Mail Online, “he insisted he had not been commenting on the ‘wisdom’ of placing a mosque in such a symbolic place.”

Challenged about his comments during a family trip to Florida at the weekend, the President said: ‘I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. ‘I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding.”

As CNN’s John King reported today, there are other mosques in that radius. The small Muslim community is well-served in Lower Manhattan and the surrounds. He also pointed out that the “not in my backyard” attitude to the erection of mosques is shared across the country. His chorus of Republican and Democrat commentators agreed that what we have here is anti-Muslim bias.

What we have here are people who won’t come out with it. What do I mean by “IT”? I said so in “Dhimmis At Ground Zero?”:

“Having examined only their feelings, Americans campaigning against occupiers in-the-making have failed to examine what it is they are really saying and, then, say it out coolly and clearly, and then take cover.

If Christians raised a cathedral at Liberty St. and Church St., most Americans would not mind. If the Hari Krishna set up a place of worship in the vicinity, and bobbed up and down the exact complex in Lower Manhattan, Americans would smile benignly. Ditto if a Jewish tabernacle were to be erected around the corner; this reaction would not have occurred.

It’s in the faith of Islam and its adherents that Americans have no faith.”

“Such pleas [for sensitivity] remind me of the victim impact statement so popular in our Courts. How humiliating and futile is it to plead for contrition from sadists who’ve amply proved they are incapable of such sentiment, and derive sadistic pleasure from watching their victims squirm.”

UPDATED: Hillary: 'Terror Has No Religion' (Quranic verse 5:32)

Christianity, Crime, Islam, Jihad, Religion, Terrorism, The West

REALLY? I vehemently disagree with Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who uttered this fatuity in her tribute to the “10 medical aid workers who were killed in the northern Badakhshan Province,” among whom were six Americans.

TERROR, THY NAME IS ISLAM.

The deceased were members of the International Assistance Mission. According to Dirk Frans, the organization’s director, “The team had trekked about 100 miles into the mountains of one of the poorest and most remote areas of Afghanistan. The Americans were identified as Cheryl Beckett, 32; Brian Carderelli, 25; Dr. Thomas Grams, no age given; Glen Lapp, 40; Tom Little, 61; and Dan Terry, 63.”

CHARITY IS EUROPEAN AND PREDOMINANTLY CHRISTIAN.

“Also killed were Mahram Ali, 50, and man identified only as Jawed, 24, both of Afghanistan; Daniela Beyer, 35, of Germany; and Dr. Karen Woo, 36, of Britain.”

HILLARY: “Before their deaths, they had spent several days treating cataracts and other eye conditions in Nuristan Province. At their next stop, they planned to run a dental clinic and offer maternal and infant health care. They were unarmed. They were not being paid for their services. They had traveled to this part of Afghanistan because they wanted to help people in need. They were guests of the Afghan people.

CLEARLY NOT VERY WELCOME GUESTS.

As columnist Krauthammer said on FoxNews, this act was about destroying The Other, by which Chuckie meant the non-Muslim, the Christian.

And I would add that the “despicable act of wanton violence,” which sundered such gifted lives was about destroying goodness and nobility—qualities that are thin-on-the ground in that blighted part of the world.

An irony: I am quite positive that these good people were also extreme liberals who believed that the societies to which they took their good works were better than the ones from which they came.

Being someone who, contrary to what Glenn Beck preaches, does not believe in giving up her life so easily—or perhpas it is part of the extreme value we Jews place on life—I think it’s a sin not to protect your Mission with zeal. It’s a sin to be cavalier with the life of The Other, all the more so with your own life.

Let’s say these saintly Christians cared less about those who depended on them back home, as compared to their Christian love for The Other. What good are you to those you serve if you don’t guard your invaluable life and scarce skills and abilities with the zeal with which you serve G-d and The Other?

Beats me.

UPDATE (Aug. 10): Myron, did Hilary say that “the Quran teaches that taking one innocent life is like killing all humanity, and saving one innocent life is like saving all humanity”?

That Quranic verse (5:32) “once piqued my curiosity because of a similar sounding Talmudic saying.” As its official version has it, this ayah declares that, ‘Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.'”

Prompted by Dr. Daniel Pipes, I examined (and wrote about) the context of the passage in The Meaning of the Qur’an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, only to find that the” likes of Hillary, and other fans of Islam, routinely ‘”decontextualized” it. The Qur’an actually says the following:

“On that account: We ordained

For the Children of Israel

That if anyone slew

A person—unless it be

For murder or for spreading

Mischief in the land—

It would be as if

He slew the whole people:

And if anyone saved a life,

It would be as if he saved

The life of the whole people.

Then although there came

To them Our Messenger

With Clear Signs, yet,

Even after that, many

Of them continued to commit

Excess in the land.”

The verse apparently concerns the dread-Jew. At the very least it’s fair to say this Quranic ayah is considerably less humanistic and universal than depicted by Madam Secretary, as “The Whole People” refers to the Ummah only.

“Devoid of the killing component, the Talmudic version simply and unequivocally states that, ‘To save one life is like saving the world.’ Contrary to the Quranic Ayah, it doesn’t whittle down humanity.” There is no ambiguity about the Talmudists’ use of “the world.” They meant humanity. Islam reserves the ruling for its own.

The column quoted here is “More Fatwa Fibs.”

UPDATED: Hillary: ‘Terror Has No Religion’ (Quranic verse 5:32)

Christianity, Crime, Islam, Jihad, Religion, Terrorism, The West

REALLY? I vehemently disagree with Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who uttered this fatuity in her tribute to the “10 medical aid workers who were killed in the northern Badakhshan Province,” among whom were six Americans.

TERROR, THY NAME IS ISLAM.

The deceased were members of the International Assistance Mission. According to Dirk Frans, the organization’s director, “The team had trekked about 100 miles into the mountains of one of the poorest and most remote areas of Afghanistan. The Americans were identified as Cheryl Beckett, 32; Brian Carderelli, 25; Dr. Thomas Grams, no age given; Glen Lapp, 40; Tom Little, 61; and Dan Terry, 63.”

CHARITY IS EUROPEAN AND PREDOMINANTLY CHRISTIAN.

“Also killed were Mahram Ali, 50, and man identified only as Jawed, 24, both of Afghanistan; Daniela Beyer, 35, of Germany; and Dr. Karen Woo, 36, of Britain.”

HILLARY: “Before their deaths, they had spent several days treating cataracts and other eye conditions in Nuristan Province. At their next stop, they planned to run a dental clinic and offer maternal and infant health care. They were unarmed. They were not being paid for their services. They had traveled to this part of Afghanistan because they wanted to help people in need. They were guests of the Afghan people.

CLEARLY NOT VERY WELCOME GUESTS.

As columnist Krauthammer said on FoxNews, this act was about destroying The Other, by which Chuckie meant the non-Muslim, the Christian.

And I would add that the “despicable act of wanton violence,” which sundered such gifted lives was about destroying goodness and nobility—qualities that are thin-on-the ground in that blighted part of the world.

An irony: I am quite positive that these good people were also extreme liberals who believed that the societies to which they took their good works were better than the ones from which they came.

Being someone who, contrary to what Glenn Beck preaches, does not believe in giving up her life so easily—or perhpas it is part of the extreme value we Jews place on life—I think it’s a sin not to protect your Mission with zeal. It’s a sin to be cavalier with the life of The Other, all the more so with your own life.

Let’s say these saintly Christians cared less about those who depended on them back home, as compared to their Christian love for The Other. What good are you to those you serve if you don’t guard your invaluable life and scarce skills and abilities with the zeal with which you serve G-d and The Other?

Beats me.

UPDATE (Aug. 10): Myron, did Hilary say that “the Quran teaches that taking one innocent life is like killing all humanity, and saving one innocent life is like saving all humanity”?

That Quranic verse (5:32) “once piqued my curiosity because of a similar sounding Talmudic saying.” As its official version has it, this ayah declares that, ‘Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.'”

Prompted by Dr. Daniel Pipes, I examined (and wrote about) the context of the passage in The Meaning of the Qur’an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, only to find that the” likes of Hillary, and other fans of Islam, routinely ‘”decontextualized” it. The Qur’an actually says the following:

“On that account: We ordained

For the Children of Israel

That if anyone slew

A person—unless it be

For murder or for spreading

Mischief in the land—

It would be as if

He slew the whole people:

And if anyone saved a life,

It would be as if he saved

The life of the whole people.

Then although there came

To them Our Messenger

With Clear Signs, yet,

Even after that, many

Of them continued to commit

Excess in the land.”

The verse apparently concerns the dread-Jew. At the very least it’s fair to say this Quranic ayah is considerably less humanistic and universal than depicted by Madam Secretary, as “The Whole People” refers to the Ummah only.

“Devoid of the killing component, the Talmudic version simply and unequivocally states that, ‘To save one life is like saving the world.’ Contrary to the Quranic Ayah, it doesn’t whittle down humanity.” There is no ambiguity about the Talmudists’ use of “the world.” They meant humanity. Islam reserves the ruling for its own.

The column quoted here is “More Fatwa Fibs.”