Inside the Asylum

Raymond Ibrahim takes up the question of whether Judaism and Christianity are as violent as Islam. He argues that the Qur'an endorses violence in a way that is quite different from that of the Old Testament (and that the New Testament does not endorse violence at all).

When the Qur'an's violent verses are juxtaposed with their Old Testament counterparts, they are especially distinct for using language that transcends time and space, inciting believers to attack and slay nonbelievers today no less than yesterday. God commanded the Hebrews to kill Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—all specific peoples rooted to a specific time and place. At no time did God give an open-ended command for the Hebrews, and by extension their Jewish descendants, to fight and kill gentiles. On the other hand, though Islam's original enemies were, like Judaism's, historical (e.g., Christian Byzantines and Zoroastrian Persians), the Qur'an rarely singles them out by their proper names. Instead, Muslims were (and are) commanded to fight the people of the book—"until they pay the tribute out of hand and have been humbled"[13] and to "slay the idolaters wherever you find them."

The two Arabic conjunctions "until" (hata) and "wherever" (haythu) demonstrate the perpetual and ubiquitous nature of these commandments: There are still "people of the book" who have yet to be "utterly humbled" (especially in the Americas, Europe, and Israel) and "idolaters" to be slain "wherever" one looks (especially Asia and sub-Saharan Africa). In fact, the salient feature of almost all of the violent commandments in Islamic scriptures is their open-ended and generic nature: "Fight them [non-Muslims] until there is no persecution and the religion is God's entirely.

The example of Muhammad's life and the early history of Islam do nothing to moderate this call to perpetual war.

Aside from the divine words of the Qur'an, Muhammad's pattern of behavior—his sunna or "example"—is an extremely important source of legislation in Islam. Muslims are exhorted to emulate Muhammad in all walks of life: "You have had a good example in God's Messenger." And Muhammad's pattern of conduct toward non-Muslims is quite explicit.

Sarcastically arguing against the concept of moderate Islam, for example, terrorist Osama bin Laden, who enjoys half the Arab-Islamic world's support per an Al-Jazeera poll,[19] portrays the Prophet's sunna thusly:

"Moderation" is demonstrated by our prophet who did not remain more than three months in Medina without raiding or sending a raiding party into the lands of the infidels to beat down their strongholds and seize their possessions, their lives, and their women.

In fact, based on both the Qur'an and Muhammad's sunna, pillaging and plundering infidels, enslaving their children, and placing their women in concubinage is well founded. And the concept of sunna—which is what 90 percent of the billion-plus Muslims, the Sunnis, are named after—essentially asserts that anything performed or approved by Muhammad, humanity's most perfect example, is applicable for Muslims today no less than yesterday.

In all religions there are core texts, ideas, and examples that act as centers of gravitational attraction, continually pulling religious thought in particular directions even as it changes over time. In Islam the tide is always going to run towards violence because that is the direction in which the text of the Qur'an and the example of Muhammad's life will always pull.

Gulf news reports on a new comic book featuing 99 Islamic Superheroes. Shown below we have

Dana Ebrahim (Noora the Light), HOME COUNTRY: UAE, POWERS: Allow her to create realistic holograms, see the good and evil inside of people and even levitate!

But they left off her most impressive power: the ability to appear in public in Islamic countries wearing pants with her hair uncovered. Truly, she must be a formidable superhero. Oddly, another superhero called Samda The Invulnerable can't be all that invulnerable, because she does have to wear a headscarf. As for superhero Widad from the Philippines (also with hair revealed), they don't quite spell out what her power is, but she's called Widad the Loving...

It's not what you think. In fact, it turns out that Indian sex workers are positively opposed to dirt.

The tradition of collecting earth from brothel areas by sculptors to be mixed in the clay used for making images of Goddess Durga hasbeen opposed by sex workers here. "Sex workers who are our members as well as others have turned against this practice, which makes them feel stigmatised." said Dr Smarajit Jana, chief adviser of Durbar Mahila Samanya Committee (DBMS), the apex NGO of sex workers. As per the belief, the client of a sex worker leaves behind all virtues and takes only sins inside when he enters a brothel. So the soil outside is full of virtue and fit for use in making images of Durga... Speaking out against the tradition, former secretary of Durbar and a sex worker, Swapna Gayen said, "This practice will not help in changing the attitude of society towards us. So why should we allow this?

It puts a whole new meaning to the saying about "dishing dirt" on someone.

With the swine flu scare sweeping the world, Egypt took it as an excuse to wipe out the country's entire pig population. Of course, it was really a religious/political move aimed at Egypt's Christians (who can eat pork). I posted recently about the inevitable chaos of putting Italians in charge of your garbage collection, but it seems that the decision to wipe out the pigs is equally to blame. It's not as if they weren't warned:

When the government killed all the pigs in Egypt this spring — in what public health experts said was a misguided attempt to combat swine flu — it was warned the city would be overwhelmed with trash. The pigs used to eat tons of organic waste. Now the pigs are gone and the rotting food piles up on the streets of middle-class neighborhoods like Heliopolis and in the poor streets of communities like Imbaba.

And how do the former pig owners feel about the situation?

“They killed the pigs, let them clean the city,” said Moussa Rateb, a former garbage collector and pig owner who lives in the [Christian] community of the zabaleen. “Everything used to go to the pigs, now there are no pigs, so it goes to the administration.”

There's nothing much in the news about Hezbollah lately, but I saw this story, and wanted to highlight one section of it:

Hezbollah's chief Hassan Nasrallah said Friday [that] making deals and normalization with Israel is "religiously forbidden," and his group will neither recognize Israel, nor succumb to it, "even if the whole world recognizes its existence."

There's this tendency in the west to assume that all the "players" in the middle east are rational, and subject to the rules of logic. It's a false assumption.

In this case, Istanbul, Dresden (plus Alexandria and Tehran).
First Istanbul Turkey:

A 24-year-old street seller assaulted a man on the grounds that he was proselytizing Christianity, holding a knife to his throat in Istanbul before surrendering to police, newspapers reported Tuesday... The assailant – identified as 24-year-old pirate CD vendor – wrapped a Turkish flag around the head of İsmail Aydın, 35, put a knife to his throat and shouted, "This is Turkey, you cannot distribute Bibles here," Habertürk newspaper said. The stand-off lasted 20 minutes before the police persuaded the assailant to surrender, according to the daily Sabah... An Italian Roman Catholic priest was shot dead in 2006 and three Protestants – a German missionary and two Turkish converts – had their throats cut in 2007.

Now, for the record, Turkey is a secular republic, not a Muslim country. The Turkish news coverage of this incident is obviously disapproving, and the attacker was promptly arrested. The attacker's mental stability is questioned. This story reflects negatively on certain people in Turkey, but it is not representative of Turkey at all. That's not the point I'm trying to make. Let's continue shall we?
Now, Dresden Germany:

Initially it started out as a liable case: A Muslim woman filed a case against a 28-year unemployed German of Russian descent, in August 2008, after he had called her a “terrorist” on a Dresden street because she wears the higab – the Islamic headscarf that covers the hair.

But, after the Russian (not German) was fined 2,800 Euros for his crime, he decided to take matters into his own hands, stabbing Marwa Al Sherbini outside the courtroom. At least in Turkey the Christian wasn't killed, but there are clear similarities in the nature of the crimes. Now we get to the interesting bit ... the reaction to the incident in Germany in the "Muslim world" (whatever that is).

In Alexandria Egypt:

Alexandria governor Adel Labib “agreed to give the name of martyr Marwa al-Sherbini” to a street in the northern Egyptian Mediterranean city

There's also this:

It has also fuelled anti-German sentiment in Islamic countries, notably Iran and Sherbini's native Egypt, where she has been dubbed the "veil martyr" as she was wearing a headscarf when she was attacked... Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the German government for the act, and on the streets around 150 Iranian Islamist students pelted eggs at the German embassy in Tehran chanting "Death to Germany! Death to Europe!"

Meanwhile, back in anti-Muslim racist Germany:

"A meeting with town representatives and the Central Council of Muslims is set to take place next week to decide how we can honour her," Kai Schulz told AFP, adding discussions would also take place with the woman's family. The city's immigration officer, Marita Schieferdecker-Adolph said: "We are thinking of naming one of the city's streets after her."

I guess all I'd like to say (or ask) in conclusion is this: how would people in Egypt and Iran (the ones getting all hot and bothered against Germany) care to respond to the attack on the Christian in Turkey? Anything to say? Would you suggest, perhaps, that chanting crowds should pelt the Turkish embassy in Berlin? Is it fair to blame either Germany or Turkey for these nasty incidents? Is what's good for the goose what's good for the gander?

Monsoon problems in India have led to locals trying some ... interesting ... solutions.

Naked girls plough Indian fields for rain
Farmers in an eastern Indian state have asked their unmarried daughters to plough parched fields naked in a bid to embarrass the weather gods to bring some badly needed monsoon rain, officials said on Thursday... "They (villagers) believe their acts would get the weather gods badly embarrassed, who in turn would ensure bumper crops by sending rains," Upendra Kumar, a village council official.

And you know what? It seems to be working. All hail the naked young women.

India's monsoon rains were 15 percent above normal in the week to July 22, the second consecutive week of above-average rainfall after an exceptionally dry patch since the start of the season... Total rainfall since the beginning of June was 19 percent below average, improving from a 27 percent deficit in the previous week, the India Meteorological Department said.

There's still a long way to go, so let's all pull in together to help poor Indian farmers. Young women everywhere ... get out there, and get naked. Those rain gods need to be embarrassed some more.

(Click the category "environment" for more posts about this year's monsoon problems.)

For years people have been wondering what country God belongs to. In WWI, the Germans cried "Gott mit uns", while the British yelled "God save the King", etc. etc. Now at last, the age old question has been answered. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that God is in fact from Queensland. So now you know. Reportedly, also

God occasionally boos the Blues.

I also learned another interesting fact about Queensland.

Queenslanders have never forgiven NSW for being part of the founding colony and their secessionist spirit is such that if two trainloads of people had voted differently at federation, the banana benders would not have joined the commonwealth.

Yes, that's right, Queenslanders are also known as banana benders. Who cares whether they voted to be in Australia or not?

AP reports:

For much of the afternoon, a mob of 1,000 mostly young Han Chinese holding cleavers and clubs and chanting "Defend the country" tore through streets trying to get to a Uighur neighborhood until they were repulsed by police firing tear gas.

How did the local Chinese authorities respond to this? By urging them to go home, and trying to maintain an even hand while they sort out what happened? Not exactly ...

On Tuesday, some among the Han Chinese mob retreating from the tear gas were met by Urumqi's Communist Party leader Li Zhi, who climbed atop a police vehicle and started chanting with the crowd. Li pumped his fists, beat his chest, and urged the crowd to strike down Kadeer, the 62-year-old Uighur leader.

That'll help.

Turkish television will soon have a new game show, Tovbekarlar Yarisiyor (Penitents Compete).

Atheist contestants will ponder whether to believe or not to believe when they pit their godless convictions against the possibilities of a new relationship with the almighty... Four spiritual guides from the different religions will seek to convert at least one of the 10 atheists in each program to their faith. Those persuaded will be rewarded with a pilgrimage to the spiritual home of their newly chosen creed - Mecca for Muslims, Jerusalem for Christians and Jews, and Tibet for Buddhists. The program makers say they want to promote religious belief while educating Turkey's overwhelmingly Muslim population about other faiths.

Well, I've been to Jerusalem, have no particular interest in Mecca, and I'm kind of curious to see Xizang (the Chinese name for Tibet). I guess it's Buddhism for me!

Converts will be monitored to ensure their religious transformation is genuine and not simply a ruse to gain a free foreign trip. "They can't see this trip as a getaway, but as a religious experience," Mr Ozdemir said.

Damn. Still, I reckon I could fake it. Ommm, sound of one hand clapping, Ommmm.

This is kind of interesting. My guess is that the Palestinians are starting to wake up to the fact that the attempt to ban Muslim pilgrimage to Jerusalem is a classic case of "cutting off your nose to spite your face."

The chief Palestinian Muslim cleric [Shaikh Tayseer Al Timimi] is urging Muslims to visit Occupied Jerusalem, breaking a decades-long taboo against visiting the holy city because it would be considered support for Israel. "I withdraw my fatwa (edict) and now ask all Muslims and [Arab] Christians to creep into [Occupied] Jerusalem for a visit, satisfaction and shopping," Al Timimi said at a press conference in Cairo. "Come to the Palestinian hotels and come to the Palestinian markets," he said. Al Timimi had previously banned Muslims from visiting the city, arguing that would be considered normalizing relations with Israel.

If the Palestinians can't come up with a better source of income than foreign aid, then they're screwed. Of course, shooting rockets at people and constantly begging for retaliation is a great way to encourage foreign investment and tourism.

 With bags of popcorn and soft drinks in their laps, the crowd of more than 300 cheered, whistled and clapped when the first scenes of the movie hit the screen and the film's score erupted in surround sound.

This doesn't sound like such a big deal, now does it? The big thing about it is the venue: Riyadh's huge King Fahd Cultural Center. No movies have been shown in the Saudi capital in decades. 

"This is the beginning of change," said university student Ahmed Al-Mokayed, attending with his brother and cousin.

 Religious conservatives are utterly opposed to it, and gathered to protest.

Police at the venue had to fend off a small band of conservative Muslims who warned that films were bringing disasters on the country, citing a recent series of minor earthquakes in western Saudi Arabia. "Allah is punishing us for the cinema," one said.

Now we know why we get so many earthquakes in California. Blame Hollywood!

A Turkish newspaper (Taraf daily) accuses the Turkish military of having a secret action plan targeting the government and the Gulen religious movement. The Turkish military investigates, and says, "no, nothing to see here. Move along. Nothing to see here." 

The plan, allegedly drafted by the General Staff’s operations division, is said to contain efforts to fight fundamentalism, end the activities of religious movements, particularly the ruling AKP and the Gulen movement that are accused of trying to undermine Turkey’s secular order and establish an Islamic state.

 The thing to understand here is that ever since the days of Kemal Ataturk and the foundations of the modern Turkish state (that arose from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire), the army has seen itself as the guardian of the secular republic. Several times throughout Turkey's history it has taken both direct and indirect action to ensure that the foundations of the secular system are not undermined. I remember when I was there, the Turkish military issued a statement that just happened to be in almost the exact same words as a statement that had preceded a military coup. The government promptly fell and a more secular alliance took power. Of course the Turkish military has a plan to intervene if the secular republic is threatened. It's one of its primary goals!

In Rome, it was the Senate that conferred divinity upon the Emperor; for modern America, it seems to be news magazine editors. In an exchange between Chris Matthews of MSNBC (a cable news channel, at least in theory) and Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas of Newsweek (which used to be a news magazine)... Well, read it for yourself, and watch a clip if you can't believe what you're reading. Let's ignore, for now, the claim that the U.S. crossed over to the Dark Side at some point after 1984.

EVAN THOMAS: Well, we were the good guys in 1984, it felt that way. It hasn't felt that way in recent years. So Obama’s had, really, a different task. We're seen too often as the bad guys. And he – he has a very different job from – Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is ‘we are above that now.’ We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something – I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God. He’s-

MATTHEWS: Yeah.

THOMAS: He's going to bring all different sides together. It's a very different-

Transcript from Kyle Drennan of Newsbusters

I'm not sure if Rev. Wright ever found time to mention Acts Chapter 12 in any of his sermons, but Caesar Obama might want to repudiate these comments rather quickly. It wouldn't do to have the Dear Leader succumb to the fate of Herod Agrippa, after all... I mean, how would that look when it came time to write the Res Gestae Divi Obamae? (Or would "Magni Obamae" be safer?)

And please, no bad jokes from the peanut gallery using out-of-context quotations from Shakespeare about worms turning and from the Declaration of Independence about "eat[ing] out their substance." That would be inappropriate, so don't do it. Besides, I've already tried to tie those together myself, and I don't think it can be done with any sort of a funny result.

Soleiman Haim lived in Iran all his life until his death in 1970. He was a Persian Jew, and author of Persian-English/English-Persian dictionaries. So what Muslim world?

I read this today and was sicked by the sycophancy (not to mention the sibilance.)

If the President's eloquent speech in Cairo had been delivered by George Bush, it would have sounded phoney, writes Jonathan Freedland. In an ancient city, America's still-new President aimed to heal a rift that has endured for decades, if not centuries. Barack Obama stood before a crowd of 3000 in the great hall of Cairo University to deliver a speech that demonstrated not only his trademark eloquence but also the sheer ambition of his purpose - nothing less than bridging the divide between Islam and the West.

Luckily it was delivered by The One ... no, I mean THE ONE!!! How about we try that one again?

If the President's speech-writers' eloquent speech in Cairo had been delivered by George Bush, it would have been just as phoney, but journalists wouldn't have bought into it, writes [Filthy Stinking #9]... America's amateurish and unready President showed unspeakable arrogance in believing that he can heal a rift that has endured for decades, if not centuries. Barack Obama stood before a crowd... to deliver a speech that demonstrated not only his trademark use of a teleprompter but also the sheer impossible pomposity of his purpose - nothing less than bridging the divide between Islam and the West.

Hey, I just came up with a new name for THE ONE ... Obama the Unready. I think I like it.

Earlier I made a passing reference to my parents' experiences in Israel and their contacts with Palestinian Christians. I asked them for details, and here's what I got. They had three memorable contacts with Palestinian Christians during their few weeks in Israel.

The first (which I already mentioned) came about after chatting with the elderly Palestinian female shopkeeper in the YMCA in Jerusalem (which is incidentally in East Jerusalem, the part taken by Israel in the 6 Day War.) She invited them to her church, which was a Greek Orthodox church for Palestinians, and its service was in Arabic. The church itself was within the complex that is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and there were 100+ people at the service.

The second was a talk they attended delivered by the rector of an Anglican church in Nazareth. The minister and congregation of this church are all Palestinian. The rector made an interesting comment: "don't call it the Holy Land. Call it the land of the Holy One."

The third was when they went to a different Greek Orthodox church that under circumstances I don't exactly understand, had somehow come to accept and be accepted by the Vatican, but which continued using the Greek Orthodox liturgy. This church was also in Jerusalem. The service was in Arabic, the congregation was Palestinian, and there were 100+ people there.

OK, yes this was in Israel which isn't normally included under the heading "Muslim world" but their experiences were all with Palestinian Arabs. It demonstrates the point that trying to align Arabs with "the Muslim world" is hopelessly simplistic. You can be Arab and not Muslim. Once again I ask: what Muslim world?

Thanks to Snake (I heard you were dead) for directing me to this story, in which Spengler makes a similar point to mine about India (only he did it first, dammit.) Spengler even suggested that Obama should have chosen India as the venue for his speech instead of Egypt.

By addressing the "Islamic world" from Cairo, Obama lends credibility to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and other advocates of political Islam who demand that Muslims be addressed globally and on religious terms - in contradistinction to nationalists such as Mubarak. Rather than buttress a loyal ally, Obama's speech undermines him on his home ground. That is a lose-lose proposition. There is a way to rescue the situation, which I now propose to Obama in good faith: change the venue to New Delhi.