A World Apart

 

Dave Bailey over at FaithFreedom shares with us today his gradual path to the realization, that "despite oft-repeated claims to the contrary, the Koran was definitely not a book of peace".

One week before Christmas, surrounded by the lovely sights and sounds of the Advent season, Bailey's reminder of why most Muslims hate us, seems particularly far removed. But our boys and girls in Iraq face this bigoted hatred every day as they miss their families and loved ones especially badly at this time of the year. So let us 'tune-in', as it were, before we send our prayer and thoughts:

There appears to be a three-part reason for Muslim outrage against the United States, and the West in general: 

1. According to the Koran, any Insult to Islam is a blasphemy that is subject to severe punishment and even death.

2. According to Islam, the Koran is the inerrant, eternal, and ultimate word of Allah, issued by his final and greatest Prophet. This implies that Muslims, as followers of the Koran, are morally superior to the followers of any other religion. As such, Muslims alone are authorized by Allah to establish law. As the Koran says: 

[3.110] Ye are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong [through Islamic law], and believing in Allah. If only the People of the Book had faith, it were best for them: among them are some who have faith, but most of them are perverted transgressors.

3. Thus the rescue of an Islamic country’s people by a group of Infidel nations, regardless of the bloodiness of that country’s Muslim ruler, can be seen as an unwelcome exposure of Islamic weakness. Additionally, the U.S. and Coalition roles in setting up a democratic and secular form of government is, to devout Muslims, an overt usurpation of Islam’s Allah-given moral authority over mankind. To these Muslims, the “perverted transgressors,” otherwise known as “the People of the Book (Christians and Jews),” are sitting in the seat of power rightfully held by Allah, dictating terms to Allah’s people. This is the ultimate Insult to Islam, which claims to be the steward of divine laws given to Muslims by Allah himself.

More generally, Infidels insult and humiliate Muslims simply by being successful while Muslims and Islamic nations languish in poverty and chaos. Unwilling to question the usefulness of Allah’s perfect laws, the only acceptable explanation for the abject state of Muslims is that there is a vast conspiracy of Jews and Christians against them. This is the conspiracy to humiliate Muslims that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad railed against in his speech.

Our Insult to Islam is that we Infidels have not learned our proper place, in lowly submission to Muslims. Infidels are to be tolerated, the Koran says, but only on terms that the Koran sets. These terms require subservience. Any relation with an Infidel nation that does not explicitly acknowledge Islam’s superiority is, by itself, a humiliation.

Ahh, perfect time to introduce Matthew 10:34-39 [as well in part Luke 12:51-12:53 and Micah 7:6], who quotes Jesus to have said the following:

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household."

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

As David tells us, "many people have accused Jesus of inciting violence because of these verses."  So, what sets us apart? The context apart from just about everything else, of course....

The International Bible Society, or IBS, explain the main purpose of Matthew, "to prove to his Jewish readers that Jesus is their Messiah."

He does this primarily by showing how Jesus in his life and ministry fulfilled the OT Scriptures. Although all the Gospel writers quote the OT, Matthew includes nine proof texts unique to his Gospel (1:22–23; 2:15; 2:17–18; 2:23; 4:14–16; 8:17; 12:17–21; 13:35; 27:9–10) to drive home his basic theme: Jesus is the fulfillment of the OT predictions of the Messiah. Matthew even finds the history of God’s people in the OT recapitulated in some aspects of Jesus’ life (see, e.g., his quotation of Hos 11:1 in 2:15). To accomplish his purpose Matthew also emphasizes Jesus’ Davidic lineage (see Recipients, p. 1945).

And Bailey continues to put Matthew's quote into the proper context, explaining that Christians "believe that these verses describe what happens when a person accepts Christ and leaves the religion of his family".

And that is the crux of it. "Islam is not a religion as we in the United States usually define it, because Islam does not consider religion to be a private matter."

Instead, Islam claims the power of law – a very public matter. Furthermore, its laws grant legal and economic rights according to each person’s religion, and it gives Muslims political power over non-Muslims. It also gives Muslims a moral imperative to conquer all of the world’s non-Muslims and establish Islamic governance over them. Thus Islam can be better understood as a political ideology than as a religion.

Islam feels respected only when all other powers, be they religious or political, submit to it. Islam also declares that its adherents can justly exert lethal force when they believe Islam has been insulted by a lack of proper respect for its superiority.

Nowadays, when I hear someone say that Islam is a religion of peace, it reminds me of a line from Tim Burton’s disturbing comedy, Mars Attacks: “We have come in peace, please surrender the planet immediately!”

Translated in everyday terms, one needs only observe Iran's latest election for the 86-member Council of Experts; or rather clerics, who, in order to qualify, "must pass a difficult theological exam - and must be approved by the Council of Guardians, which, as with anything that really matters in Iran, is controlled by the supreme leader. The six key mullahs out of the council's 12 jurists are directly appointed by the supreme leader. So inevitably the election for the Council of Experts had to be supreme-leader-controlled."... and on and on and on.

A world apart indeed; so much so, that it should send every Liberal into a complete spin, galvanizing unwavering resolve to ensure, that the spread of such dictatorial evil shall never be allowed to exert any power over our national and international interests and those of our allies.

Wake up! Anybody listening?

Comments

[Crusader.NoRegrets.]

Zionism is Imperialism? Really? So when do I get to move the West Bank and take up farming in the "colonies"?

[Ghost Dansing]

"The murderers of Rabin are inward-looking, the murderers of Sadat claim all kinds of extra-territorial jurisdiction. The murderers of Sadat are Imperialists."

The comment about "Imperialists" is untrue unless one wants to engage in a discussion of Zionism as an artifact of European Colonial Imperialism versus the Imperialism inherent in the concept of a transnational Islamic Caliphate... I don't, and I don't think the facts support drifting there when discussing these assassinations.

Egyptian Islamic Jihad was Egyptian and the assassination was in the context of internal politics, just as the Israeli assassin and his advocates were Israeli and about Israeli internal politics.

Both are inspirations for broader ancillary political movements and causes on the Global stage, but both were acts of home-grown extremism and murder.

From various WIKI unless otherwise referenced.

Egypt

Sadat's killers in 1981 were identified as Muslim radicals, members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. They opposed Sadat's landmark peace treaty with Israel and hoped to impose Islamic rule in Egypt.

Of note: in September 1981, Sadat cracked down on intellectuals and activists of all ideological stripes, imprisoning communists, Nasserists, feminists, Islamists, Coptic Christian clergy, university professors, journalists, and members of student groups. The arrests totalled nearly 1,600, receiving worldwide condemnation for the extremity of his techniques. Meanwhile, internal support for Sadat disappeared under the pressure of an economic crisis and Sadat's suppression of dissidents.

On October 6, the month after the crackdown, Sadat was assassinated during the annual 6th October victory parade in Cairo. The assassination was carried out by army members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization. They opposed Sadat's negotiations with Israel, as well as his use of force in the September crackdown.

As a Shahid (martyr), Khalid Islambouli continues to serve as an inspirational symbol for Islamist movements throughout the world, including terrorist groups. On July 31, 2004 "The al-Islambouli Brigades of al-Qaeda" claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt on Shaukat Aziz, then a candidate for the post of Prime Minister of Pakistan. On August 24, 2004 a Chechen resistance group calling itself "The al-Islambouli Brigades" issued a statement claiming responsibility for the bombing of two Russian passenger aircraft.

Israel

On November 4, 1995, Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a right-wing Mizrachi Jewish radical who had strenuously opposed Rabin's signing of the Oslo Accords, after attending a rally promoting the Oslo process at Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square (which was renamed Yitzhak Rabin Square after his death).

The Mizrakhi (acronym for Merkaz Rukhani or "religious centre") is the name of the religious Zionist organization founded in 1902 in Vilnius at a world conference of religious Zionists called by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Reines. It operates a youth movement, Bnei Akiva, which was founded in 1929.

Mizrakhi believes that the Torah should be at the centre of Zionism and also sees Jewish nationalism as a tool for achieving religious objectives. The Mizrakhi Party was the first official religious Zionist party and founded the Ministry of Religions in Israel and pushed for laws enforcing kashrut and the observance of the sabbath. It also played a role prior to the creation of the state of Israel, building a network of religious schools that exist to this day, and took part in the 1951 elections.

Major figures in the Religious Zionist Movement include Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook who became the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine in 1924 and tried to reconcile Zionism with Orthodox Judaism.

Mizrakhi had a separate trade union wing, founded in 1921, Mizrakhi Workers, which represented religious Jews in the Histadrut and tried to attract religious Labor Zionists. It also operated as a political party in the early days of Israel's existence, becoming the fourth largest party in the 1951 elections.

In 1956, the Mizrakhi Party and the Mizrakhi Workers merged to form the National Religious Party to advance the rights of religious Jews in Israel, having fought the 1955 election together as the National Religious Front. The party was an ever-present government coalition member until 1992.

So Islambouli is an inspirational symbol to Islamic extremists... for whom is Yigal Amir an inspirational symbol... there are probably groups in Israel... but check this out:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060814/new_christian_zionism

"Imagining Amir's mindset as he prepared himself to kill Rabin, Hagee wrote, "Tonight, if God was good, an opportunity would show itself. No longer would Rabin be able to transfer Israeli lands to Palestinians. The damage he'd done in the West Bank and Gaza was enough. Israel had a divine right to the land, and to give it away was an act of treason against Israel and an abomination against God." "

"More recently, some of Hagee's allies, such as nationally syndicated evangelical radio host Janet Parshall, became ecstatic when Israel and Hezbollah commenced hostilities last month. "These are the times we've been waiting for," Parshall told her listeners in a voice brimming with joy on July 21. "This is straight out of a Sunday school lesson.""

[Crusader.NoRegrets.]

The murderers of Rabin are inward-looking, the murderers of Sadat claim all kinds of extra-territorial jurisdiction. The murderers of Sadat are Imperialists.

[Ghost Dansing]

You are correct Crusader. The "Islamic" countries should adopt a secular legal infrastructure, like Turkey, and adopt secular foreign and domestic policies, placing Sharia in an advisory and historic context rather than attempting to literally apply antiquated thinking within modern contexts. Individual freedoms, rights to free speech and the practice of various religions should be included in the secular structure.

Ten Commandments and Code of Hammurabi serve as historical context and points of reference for modern Western Liberal Democracies, but are not the "law of the land"...

The following contains an excerpt from "Reading About the World", Volume 1, edited by Paul Brians, Mary Gallwey, Douglas Hughes, Azfar Hussain, Richard Law, Michael Myers Michael Neville, Roger Schlesinger, Alice Spitzer, and Susan Swan and published by Harcourt Brace Custom Publishing. The reader was created for use in the World Civilization course at Washington State University, but material on this page may be used for educational purposes by permission of the editor-in-chief.

It provides a vignette on the etiology and issues with the question at hand... worth looking at the single page document:

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/hammurabi.html

"Of the several law codes surviving from the ancient Middle East, the most famous after the Hebrew Torah is the Code of Hammurabi, sixth king of the Amorite Dynasty of Old Babylon. It is best known from a beautifully engraved diorite stela now in the Louvre Museum which also depicts the king receiving the law from Shamash, the god of justice. This copy was made long after Hammurabi's time, and it is clear that his was a long-lasting contribution to Mesopotamian civilization. It encodes many laws which had probably evolved over a long period of time, but is interesting to the general reader because of what it tells us about the attitudes and daily lives of the ancient Babylonians. In the following selection, most of the long prologue praising Hammurabi's power and wisdom is omitted."

Instructional questions:

"What do these laws tell us about attitudes toward slavery? What indication is there that some Babylonian women engaged in business? Clearly men had more rights than women in this society; but what laws can you identify that seem aimed at protecting certain rights of women? Which laws deviate from the egalitarian standard of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?" What qualities does this text say a ruler should have to enable him to write new laws?..."

Hammurabi signed his documents:
"Hammurabi, the king of righteousness, on whom Shamash has conferred right (or law) am I. My words are well considered; my deeds are not equaled; to bring low those that were high; to humble the proud, to expel insolence."

Also interesting:

The Basic Laws of Israel are a key component of Israel's unwritten constitution.

The State of Israel has no formal constitution. Though its declaration of independence promised the constitution would be completed no later than October 1, 1948, the gap between religious and secular proved too difficult to bridge, and a full, unifying document was never produced. (Then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion discouraged the convention from completing their work on the constitution, saying Israel should wait until the bulk of Jews from around the world had moved to their homeland. Some historians claim, however, that Ben Gurion simply preferred to postpone any unnecessary checks on his power.)

Many religious Jews at the time opposed the idea of their nation having a document which the government would regard as nominally "higher" in authority than religious texts such as the Torah, Tanakh, Talmud, and Shulkhan Arukh. Indeed, as late as the early 1990s, Shas leader Aryeh Deri famously declared that even if the Ten Commandments were presented to him as Israel's draft constitution, he would refuse to sign his name to them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Laws_of_Israel

However, the murderer of Sadat and the murderer of Rabin are of the same typology... it seems the presence of murderers is equal-opportunity within all cultures and religions.

[Crusader.NoRegrets.]

Sadat the Muslim was killed precisely because he had befriended the "Occupying" Jew, a terrible crime under pretty much all Islamic Law. This does not somehow exhibit a kind of "equal opportunity jihad" side of Islam.

Most of recent Islamic history revolves around Jew-hating and Jew-baiting.

[Ghost Dansing]

"Ghost, when are you gonna figure out that when Islam is the majority and being bullied by it's internal sharia that it cannot and will NOT separate it's religion from it's politics? Even in the west when polled the muslims have high percentages of desire for sharia! Islam is a way of life in every way....and as we are seeing especially in it's political holy war!"

Liquid, I agree Islam as a religion has built within it a political dimension; however I do not think this is necessarily an indictment of Islam in particular...

Burgeoning Christendom formed the basis of a political movement and its existence was assured by the conversion of Constantine, who in turn used Christendom to breath new life into the Roman Empire... Constantine's policies to both Christianity and the Jews was shaped by Rome's poor relationship with the rebellious Jews, and the political Christianizing of the Roman Empire made possible myriad periods of violence and conquest supposedly inspired by God.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I#Constantine_and_the_Jews

Fascist and racist cult elements in the United States no full well the value of religious identity within the context of gaining rightest political converts, reinforcing exclusionary thinking and inciting violence... one such group even named itself "Christian Identity".

The assassinations of Rabin, the Jew and Sadat the Muslim can be viewed as similar acts of political violence incited by the manipulation of religious zealotry.

When religion is not viewed primarily as a pathway for personal-quest-seeking-God-in-Community, a human artifact representing human-striving-toward-God, and is used as a political demographic for manipulation, then it (religion) is subject to political perversion... a sign that this perversion has happened with any religion is when God or that religion is itself used to rationalize destruction or violence of any kind.

Human beings have great capacity for violence... I would be particularly hesitant to attribute any of it to God's will... and would wonder why any monotheistic religion (or perhaps any religion) that contains within it a sense of final judgment would suggest that is the case.

We await the Islamic world to experience the epiphany revealing the value of Church-State separation... And if some among them wish to fight, I would recommend they abandon their arrogance that it is somehow the will of God.

[Ghost Dansing]

I'm waiting on the "cliff notes" version of that issue Alexandra.

[Alexandra]

Glad you are there Mac, I am doing the best I can, but wow what a subject. I feel like I have taken on writing a thesis, which I then have to somehow shrink into a post, but I am glad you are all here holding the fort, my ever faithful readers that keep me going....

[mac Brachman]

Thanks Alexandra: one further note about Bulgaria: it had a (relatively) good record during the Holocaust (comparable to Denmark and the Serb-dominated parts of the Balkans) for shielding Jews from the worst of the Nazi death machine; it also suffered much of the worst during the cold-war years (remember Georgi Markov, the Bulgarian emigre murdered by Bulgarian and/or Soviet spies while in exile in in 1978?) Just wanted to point that out. Shalom, Mac Brachman

[Alexandra]

Juat a quick note to say I am here, I have been writing and researching a post which I thought would be quick to write but which as it turns out requires a lot of reading and is by no means simple.

The subject is 'the Holocaust denial' brigade, and it involves reading the transcripts of an important trial in order to cover the subject as thoroughly as I would like to do.

Mac Brachman was attacked on this thread @ Rolling Stone recently on this subject, which has enraged me to the point of obsession to cover it.

It had to be the week that I am running for Conservative Diva, and obviously not the ideal time to have blank days on the blog, but such is life and there are sometimes more important things that consume us for the greater good. I hope you all are not forgetting to vote (heh)

[Liquid]

Ghost, "is the religion the "cause" or simply a vulnerable point for mass social manipulations exploiting identity politics?"
--------------------

Ghost, when are you gonna figure out that when Islam is the majority and being bullied by it's internal sharia that it cannot and will NOT separate it's religion from it's politics? Even in the west when polled the muslims have high percentages of desire for sharia! Islam is a way of life in every way....and as we are seeing especially in it's political holy war!

[gringoman]

Mac Brachman;

Sorry, but even in PCLandia, at times like this one feels tempted to call a sandmonkey a sandmonkey. If that's unfair, if these Benghazi beasts are really human, after all, then let them act like it. Voila! Prove our bigotry wrong. If they do in fact go ahead and murder these 6 Bulgarian nurses (and the Palestinian doctor too), well, that old Senator, Cato the Elder, would have had just the prescription for them---and the cunning Quadaffi, while bleating about it, would secretly approve of the "Imperialist crusaders" solving the problem he's got with his own demented ragheads. BENGHAZI DELENDA EST!

I know, NATO wouldn't dare. But might humanity get redress via the U.S. and its Strategic Air Command on a quick, no-nonsense mission over Benghazi, reducing it to its rightful status as an overblown dungheap? Do most Americans even know that little Bulgaria, unlike most of the Euro-weenies, is still serving with the U.S. coalition in Iraq? Shouldn't the White House reaction to this vicious verdict be, "Libya calls this justice. We call it barbarism. If they release these innocent nurses,now, we will applaud them accordingly . If instead they murder them, Benghazi delenda est"? (This blight on the planet, Benghazi, is even in the general neighborhood of ancient Carthage, is it not?)

The U.S., of course, does not have Roman credibility---as every foe knows. Georgie Bush's spokesman, Tony Snow, simply said, "We are disappointed with the verdict."

Since Bushies are not known for historical perspective, they, like most Dhimmicrats---including, by the way, even those educated progressives over at legal lion Glenn Greenwald's--- may not even realize that Bulgaria has faced the jumping jihadis over many centuries.

The Bulgars were one people who put up a stiff resistance to the Islamic Jihad and never surrendered before it, ultimately defeating it. One reason for this could be that the Jihad was brought to the Bulgaria by people who belonged to the same ethnic stock as the Bulgars. The Bulgars, as many do not know, are of Turkish descent. And had settled in Bulgaria in the 8th century onwards. The Bulgars were late converts to Christianity, and had been adversaries of the Byzantine empire, both before and after their conversion. Modern day Bulgarians are a mix of the pre-Islamic Turks (Bulgars), the Avars, Huns and Slavs who settled in Bulgaria over the first millennium.

http://www.historyofjihad.org/bulgaria.html

[Ghost Dansing]

Sorry Crusader... I cannot find demographics that answer your question regarding young military types. The youth in Iran have long been identified as the post-revolution liberalizing force to be watched... not sure the idea applies universally and can't find stats one way or another to prove it.

The potential for exploitation of religion for political purposes is, I think, demonstrated by the encouragement and employment of international muj in Afghanistan during the Cold War... Wasn't condemning the approach... just pointing out the technique of surrogate warfare and its unintended consequences.

It is another data point suggesting factors other than pure theological structure influencing tendencies toward violence... is the religion the "cause" or simply a vulnerable point for mass social manipulations exploiting identity politics?

[Crusader.NoRegrets.]

GD

The colossal mistake the CIA made in Afghanistan was to accede to the Pakistani MilIntel's demands to pretty much control the entire construction of the Mujahideen.

The US had a "here are the weapons, good luck old boy" approach, which (a) was the right way to kick the Soviets out of Afghanistan, and many would argue ultimately precipitated the Soviet collapse, (b) the very worst way to win the "peace".

Ultimately the Jihadi menace or the Soviets. Hard to know who was worse. I'd say the Soviets were for sure capable of more mayhem.

I asked you the question re. the young military types. I don't know, hence my question to you...

[Liquid]

mac brachman, I feel your outrage and you know, recently I had a conversation with a group on 'the logic' within the islamic world, and the conclusion was that there is NO logic-- that just as muhammad himself would create justification for his evil deeds, it continues to this day inside the islamic world as many of them follow his examples! One crazy idea of this is if you were a non-muslim driving in Saudi and a car driven by a muslim hit you, the logical result of this via islamic standard is that it's the non-muslim's fault no matter what! This would be justified because basically their logic is that the incident wouldn't have happened had the non-muslim not been there and had stayed out of "their" country. Another freaky mindset is the one where women that are raped, without their 4 eyewitnesses to speak in their behalf are again victimized and sent to prison. Even the justification that she was raped because she wasn't properly dressed is nuts! So trying to understand the madness of thought and reason inside the islamic world is fruitless, because they play by "their" rules and those rules are always subject to change via interpretation to justify their deeds.

I also believe that Islam is a business ran like the mob; always a power struggle built on jealousy and greed, trying to maintain territory and profit by use of intimidation and murder. The islamic mind is a slave unto itself with very few exits to escape since the tribal code is to entice fear in the hearts of their own first to keep those born into the curse inside the fold. The political movement inside it has grown and will bully anyone that gets in it's way.

As for outsiders doing humanitarian work or whatever type of work inside muslim countries, we are reminded time and time again of how 'helping' and trying to make a difference for those in need inside these countries can certainly lead to horrible persecution with false accusations that can imprison and also lead to execution. The islamic countries are becoming less and less a destination for many. I think more and more people are hardening their views on many types of reaching out to them because of the horrible results we have seen and the risks that just being there imposes. This is most sad for those unfortunate ones that do indeed need charity and expertise, including medical skills and food. But I am hearing more and more explain that it's becoming hopeless to see the light at the end of the tunnel in these matters, for example, also when money for the victims of the tsunami were not making it to the actual victims and instead it was being used in negative ways against the poor widows. When there is a totalitarian hand involved, especially an islamist one, then the true victims will not benefit. The results of these situations, whether it be false accusations to put someone to death or robbing true victims of their charity funds, is that the hearts that want to and have in the past helped muslim countries are going to grow weaker and weaker in numbers. The islamist terrorism inside the islamic world is isolating more and more muslims from future empathies because the message is getting out there that if you try to help, it will end up hurting you or the victim you want to help in the end and even your charitable money will be used for evil and also your skilled jobs that could really make a difference can be put to better use in other parts of the world where you won't be penalized or threatened with death or prison time. The abuse of kindness and charity makes one asks, "What will become of their people after the next tsunami or the next earthquake? What will they do when the "infidel" hand stops helping them?"
These oil rich muslim countries are putting all their eggs in one basket as they depend on their future of "oil" to support them, but what will they do when that oil dries up? What will their grandchildren do when it becomes more and more common knowledge to avoid helping the islamic world because any type of help is always turned into evil by the muslims themselves? I suppose the answer to that one is that we all reap what we sow!

[mac brachman]

Sorry to break in like this, but this topic has very much upset and enraged me since I first read about it a few years back and even more so since yesterday's "verdict" in a murderous Islamic court in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, which is a region dominated by extreme Islamists (so extreme they are in opposition to Kaddafi, or however his name should be spelled these days, whom they feel is not sufficiently "Islamic". Many of you may be familiar with the case. It bears on the discussion of Iran and its "Islamic republic," where local elections were held recently. Back in 1979-80, at the dawn of the "Islamic Republic" in Iran and the hostage crisis (a violation of all forms of international law for which the Iranian regime has never been brought to account), the Economist magazine coined the term "ochlotheocracy" from the Greek route-words for "mob" (ochlo) and God ("theo". In other words, Khomeini, the supposed holy man whose every behavior indicated that he lusted after political power and domination far more than he desired spiritual enlightenment, and his thugs, including Iran's current president Ahmadinejad, built popular support by sending angry mobs into the streets of the cities to wail against real and imagined grievances.

The same is happening now in Libya, or at least in this Islamist-dominated part of it, where five Bulgarian nurses (presumably Eastern Orthodox Christian) and a Palestinian physician (presumably a Sunni Muslim) have been convicted and sentenced to death for ostensibly infecting local children with HIV in a local hospital, where the six had gone to do humanitarian work. Several independent scientific and journalistic studies, most recently in the British scientific weekly journal Nature, have demonstrated repeatedly that the charges are absurd and outrageous. Nonetheless, the braying mob of mullah-driven locals have screamed for the execution of the six, several of whom have accused the authorities of torture and sexual assault.

Bulgaria and the EU have expressed outrage at the verdict, but, the EU being the EU, I doubt if there will be any follow-up action. I think Libya should be subjected at the very least to an economic boycott, constant barrage of criticism in world forums, and threats of stronger action if any or all of the six are MURDERED (I hesitate to use the term "executed" because that implies there was something vaguely resembling a real and fair legal process in this whole kangaroo-court proceeding). I also think that we should call for the immediate suspension of any govt.-sponsored humanitarian work (including health care work) for all Muslim countries with such a preposterous way of doing things and telling the Islamist BASTARDS they can take care of their own health if they are going to arrest, imprison on trumped-up charges, and MURDER people who came to their countries to help them. I think we should also ask CAIR and similar organizations why they remain silent on this when they were so quick to defend those six mullahs who made threatening remarks and actions and were thrown off an airplane (and suffered no further punishment for doing so.

For those who think I'm only outraged when evil and/or willfully ignorant Isalmists murder Jews, I hope this puts their minds at ease; I assume the Bulgarian ladies are Orthodox Christians and the Palestinian doc is a MUSLIM. Please help me express my OUTRAGE at this despicable circumstance. Shalom, Mac Brachman

[Ghost Dansing]

"I only care about the facts on the ground. What brand of Islam are the young Muslim men of military age following?"

I'm looking for a quasi-factual document or publication that penetrates the demographic you describe Crusader, and cannot. Perhaps you could refer me to something other than another opinion blog... But I think the issue is far more complex, and even if what you say is true, not irreversible.

You see, I am sure that part of the phenomenon you describe with radicalized (gun-toting) versions of Islam spreading to the youth was in fact supported by the West within the context of the Cold War... encouraged politicization and militancy against the "atheist" Communist Soviet Union...

Take Saudi... Wahhabist... strict "fundamentalism" taught to their power elite in the school house... produced Osama bin Ladin...

What would be different if their favorite son had been raised to practice personal piety and observance of that version of Islam, but who's interests were directed toward the betterment of his people... building roads and infrastructure like his father... pursue higher education... advance philanthropy... instead of recruitment on religious basis to fight far-off jihad in the mountains of Afghanistan against Godless Communists? (Not that all this was not a good thing... simply makes my point that religion can be used as an instrument of wider political purpose, peaceful or otherwise).

The "extremism" of his religious practice would have been nearly irrelevant... a matter of personal observance, even if chauvinistic in some sense... but that radicalization to militant involvement in world affairs was carefully nurtured... not only for Osama, but for millions throughout the Muslim world.

That Jin is out of the bottle, and difficult to put back in... but still, making matters of faith instruments of peace and progress as opposed to instruments of war is an artifact of broader cultural, and even trans-cultural nuance than something inherent in the religion per se.

Protestants and Catholics fought for years in Ireland, each with religious affiliation the primary point of cultural identification... is this an indictment of Catholicism, Protestantism, or Christianity as a whole? I would say not...

At any rate, what I did find (nothing to show that the majority of Muslim youths are necessarily embracing militant versions of Islam), is a piece that sort of describes the complexity and cultural nuances that I've referred to:

Event Transcript
The Coming Religious Wars? Demographics and Conflict in Islam and Christianity
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Pew Research Center
Washington, D.C.

Here's a clip:

..."As far as the security implications, I'll talk about three. First, the relationship between diasporas and the nature of conflict. We have had diasporas for a long time, for example, the Chinese, Jewish and Armenian diasporas. However, recent advances in transportation and communications now allow people to communicate more effectively with their home countries and to go back and forth more quickly. In the case of the Muslim diasporas in Europe and elsewhere, we have to keep in mind that most of the citizens of these diasporas are perfectly law-abiding, productive citizens, in excess of probably 90 percent across Europe. But there is a small fraction, an activist or a radicalized fraction, that can take advantage of these new technologies and the diaspora settlement patterns to form what one could consider a transnational radical Muslim identity, sort of a Salafist-Wahhabist transnational identity that supercedes state boundaries. This creates ripe recruiting for organizations like al Qaeda and Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is the transnational organization based in London that is now recruiting very actively in Central Asia.

With new technologies, these diasporas can also find new ways to operate in innovative networks, which can involve NGOs, charities and medical organizations. They can lay the groundwork in Western Europe for insurgencies or terrorist acts in the Middle East or in other parts of the world by working with certain charities and NGOs. This raises the prospect of new types of conflict and new types of terrorist organizations based in these diasporas, using modern technology—again, based on a relatively small minority of these diaspora populations..."

[mac Brachman]

Off topic (just one short paragraph, I promise): Cybe! Where you been, you old YES-freakster you? I'd love to discuss '70s Brit prog rock with you, but I don't want to test Alexandra's patience; she's been too good to me and all the others of us who love this blog.

On topic: one can only hope that some day Islam will undergo the sort of reform that made most of the world's other great religions private matters; there are moderate Muslims who believe in this sort of pluralism and tolerance but they are unfortunately few and far between, and those who speak out risk death or at least shunning within their local and the world Muslim community. The day this changes, I fear, will be long after our grandchildren are dead. I hope I'm wrong. Shalom, Mac Brachman

[Crusader.NoRegrets.]

GD

I only care about the facts on the ground. What brand of Islam are the young Muslim men of military age following?

[Ghost Dansing]

Since the 19th century, Muslim progressives have produced a considerable body of liberal thought within Islam (in Arabic: الإسلام الاجتهادي or "interpretation-based Islam"; also الإسلام التقدمي or "progressive Islam" - but some consider progressive Islam and liberal Islam as two distinct movements [1]). These have in common a religious outlook which depends mainly on ijtihad or re-interpretations of scriptures. Liberal Muslims interpret the Qur'an and Hadith from their personal perspective rather than the traditional Muslim point of view. Liberals generally claim that they are returning to the principles of the early Muslim community and to the ethical and pluralistic intent of their scripture.

http://www.answers.com/topic/liberal-movements-within-islam

Please tell us were the picture came from Alexandra.

[Willed]

I too once fell for the "Islam is a religion of peace" lie. But my eyes have been opened.

2 Corinthians Chapter 11

14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Matthew Chapter 24

11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

Matthew Chapter 7

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits….

[Crusader.NoRegrets.]

The trouble with the claims of those who insist that "moderate Islam" is "spreading" is that they can't verify such a statement (no one can).

I would submit that in fact the International Jihad WAS the Islamic Reformation of our times, right in keeping with the cycles of Islam. That among the twenty-somethings (ie the ones who catually get things done in warfare) the Fascist brands of Islam are the most appealing. And the typical "palestinian" family is up to 6 or 8 kids, NONE of whom are interested in running in an election on the platform of better roads, or more efficient trash-collection... So ultimately the values of the grandparents get tossed out the window as being 'unglamorous' and 'ineffective'.

GD if you think Islam is "reforming" into something kinder and gentler, check your history. Islam goes through cycles of "uppitiness" following which its internal contradictions cause it to lose one too many wars, and it gets beaten back (by military force usually) into some more benign form for about another 200 years or so...

[Red Violin]

Thank you Alexandra. You have excavated the diseased and arrogant mind of a moslem with painstaking precision of an archeologist. You have given us the text-book materials used by the clergies to indoctrinate and hijack the minds of the moslem youths. I can honestly say, you have described microscopically and verbatim what every muslim, moderate or extremists, has been thought to think and believe. You have dissected their overarching system of beliefs. Congratulations!

Meanwhile, an ex-CIA Iran analyist, Flynt Leverette, is accusing the White House of Censorship while he really isn't saying anything new. To make matters worst, he is suggesting that giving security guarantees to the most active state sponsor of terrorism in the world, will ensure and safeguard our national and strategic interests in the region. Please email your comments to this idiocy by clicking "comments" at the end of this article. This Netzine (link below) is the most widely read website by Iranians inside Iran. Thank you.

http://www.iranian.com/Opinion/2006/December/Leverett110/index.html

Iran Article Is Blocked Amid Dispute on Cause
By Scott Shane

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/washington/19secret.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[gringoman]

Alexandra,

You may understand Islam and the muslim mind, but do you really think Americans can? In today's politically correct alternate universe? I don't mean the liberals and leftniki. We know these are idealists and puffers who watch laugh-track comedy and want to save us and the polar bears from Bushitler and the corporate fiends. What about the Other America that goes to work (sometimes un-glamorous work), drinks Budweiser, pays its taxes and fights its wars? What about its lamb-like silence when Georgie Bush, the Beltway sheikhs and the compassionates of conservatism proclaim Islam as "a religion of peace?"

[Cyberian Khatru]

Mac, I'm not sure I agree with you on the dystopic take on life [as presented by prog-rock bands and their album cover art] but I agree there was always an element of sadness and dysappointment in the music. Save for the music of YES with the possible exception of the 1974 concept piece Relayer whose album art was gray and foreboding. Other than that, YES and Roger Dean were icons of a more relaxed, transcendent and spiritized existence; possibly not of this world.
GD, you are spot-on in regard to H.R. Giger's work, especially his propensity to work cyborg elements into his art. If we add strategically placed lines and geometric shapes of primary and secondary colors to this art, we could say it came from the Hipgnosis studios, neh?

[Ghost Dansing]

Thanks mac... I thought of that Album cover for Brain Salad... I'm not sure it is H.R. Giger though... I see the genre though...except Giger tends to show macabre integration of man and mechanics... this is decidedly suggesting destruction of the human form. Maybe Alexandra did this on herself?

"For most of his career, Giger has worked predominantly in airbrush, creating strange monochromatic canvasses depicting surreal, nightmarish landscapes. His most distinctive stylistic innovation is that of a representation of human bodies and machines in a cold, interconnected relationship, described as "biomechanical"."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.R._Giger

Back on topic... (although I think commentary on Alexandra's pictures is on topic... they bloom with meaning.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suffered an embarrassing blow in local council races, according to partial election results Monday, in voting viewed as a sign of public discontent with his hard-line stance.

The balloting represented a partial comeback for opponents of Ahmadinejad, whose Islamic government's policies have fueled fights with the West and brought Iran closer to U.N. sanctions.

Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, a relative moderate, polled the most votes of any Tehran candidate to win re-election to a key assembly post.

The biggest victory was for "moderate conservatives," supporters of Iran's cleric-led power structure who are angry at Ahmadinejad, saying he has needlessly provoked the West with harsh rhetoric and has failed to fix the country's faltering economy.

[mac Brachman]

Gotta ask my sister if she or her husband have crossed paths with C. Kurzman; they live in Chapel Hill, they're Jewish (she's a lawyer and he's a research endocrinologist on UNC Med School adjunct faculty). Shalom, Mac Brachman

[mac Brachman]

GD- just a free association (what my wife calls a "brain fart") here: it looks like it could be a sketch for the sleeve art of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's 1973 album, "Brain Salad Surgery," their darkest and most death-obsessed; it shared concerns with Pink Floyd's contemporaneous album "Dark Side of the Moon": madness, mind control, the increasing dehumanization brought about by an increasingly authoritarian, mechanized governing state. Dystopia was much on the mind of artists in the early '70s: the age of Aquarius had come and gone, the brief flowering of the hippies and their dreams of a world-wide love-in had faded, leaving all sorts of casualties in their wake (case in point: Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, whose breakdown basically haunted, and inspired, all of Pink Floyd's post-Syd music). Not only on albums but also in the movies: in 1971, George Lucas released his first feature film, about a technofascist nightmare state of the near-future: THX 1138 (he followed it in 1973 with nostalgia for a more innocent time in "American Graffiti" and then abandoned earthly thoughts altogether for his drawn-out "Star Wars" saga). Sorry for the digression, Alexandra; it's just that the art is so intriguing...Shalom, Mac Brachman

[Ghost Dansing]

Mac... I don't know where this particular piece Alexandra has presented comes from.

However, it does appear the subject has sustained considerable trauma to the right hemisphere of his cerebral cortex.

Traumatic brain injury is sudden physical damage to the brain. The damage can result from a closed head injury, such as that caused by impact of the head with an object like the windshield or the dashboard of a car. The damage can also result from a penetrating brain injury, such as that caused by a bullet piercing the skull. Approximately 200,000 people die each year in the US from brain injuries, with an additional 500,000 hospitalized for treatment. About 10% of surviving individuals have continuing disabilities that may impair their ability to live independently.

The most severe cases of brain injury may result in permanent paralysis or coma. Persistent total unconsciousness, also known as persistent vegetative state, is the most serious consequence of nonfatal head injury. It results when the upper brain (the part that controls high–level mental function) is destroyed, but the thalamus and brain stem (the parts of the brain that control breathing, temperature control, heart rate, etc.) are uninjured. If the state lasts for more than a few months, it is highly unlikely that the person will ever regain consciousness.

Our friend would appear to have damage to his occipital, parietal and frontal lobes in the right hemisphere, and probably trauma to the temporal lobe as well... this would significantly affect his quality of life were he not a statue or other artistic rendering.

Of course, another way you could look at it would be the symbolic angularity and destructiveness of modernity on the delicate renderings of the human form found in ancient artifacts...

Or... it could suggest Alexandra was suffering a real bummer of a headache.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain

[Ghost Dansing]

Violent people will use whatever religion or political philosophy they choose to justify their behavior.

Was the Christianity of Saint Francis of Assisi the same Christianity that inspired the Crusades and Anti-Jewish pogroms?

Is the Islam of usama bin ladin the Islam of the Sufi Mystics?

A society can become sick. A religion can become sick... the leadership unworthy of their posts... the people following the wrong path...

"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
- Ben Kenobi, from The Return of the Jedi

http://www.liberalislam.net/

http://meria.biu.ac.il/journal/1999/issue3/jv3n3a2.html

THE TROPES OF LIBERAL ISLAM

"Liberalism in the Islamic world and liberalism in the West may share common elements, but they are not exactly the same thing. They may both support multi-religious co-existence, for example, but go about it in different ways. Within the Islamic discourse, there are three main tropes that I call:

(a) the "liberal shari`a"

(b) the "silent shari`a"

(c) the "interpreted shari`a"

Shari`a is the body of Islamic guidance and precedent that has been handed down from the time of the Prophet Muhammad in 7th-century Arabia.

The "liberal shari`a" argues that the revelations of the Qur'an and the practices of the Prophet command Muslims to follow liberal positions. For example, in the case of Ali Bula (Turkey, born 1951) quotes Sura 109, Verse 6 of the Qur'an: "To you your religion, to me my religion." He goes into great detail describing the "Medina Document," a treaty signed by the Prophet Muhammad with the Jewish tribes of Medina in the first moments of the Islamic era: "The urgent problem of the day was to end the conflicts and to find a formulation for the co-existence of all sides according to the principles of justice and righteousness. In this respect, the Document is epochal....A righteous and just, law-respecting ideal project aiming for true peace and stability among people cannot but be based on a contract among different groups (religious, legal, philosophical, political etc.).…This is a rich diversity within unity, or a real pluralism." (pages 170-174)

Chandra Muzaffar (Malaysia, born 1947) quotes Sura 49, Verse 13: "O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other, not that ye may despise each other." (page 157) Mohamed Talbi (Tunisia, born 1921) quotes Sura 5, Verse 48: "To each among you, have We prescribed a Law and an Open Way. And if God had enforced His Will, He would have made of you all one people." (page 164) Hostile and discriminatory forms of inter-religious relations, according to this trope, are un-Islamic. In the words of Subhi Mahmassani (Lebanon, born 1911): "There can be no discrimination based on religion in an Islamic system." (page 23)...

...CONCLUSION

There is a growing number of Muslims who share common concerns with Western liberalism, one of which is peaceful multi-religious co-existence. There are three Islamic approaches in this context which, while still very much minority views, seem to be growing. In the "liberal shari`a" school, Islamic scholars base their arguments on injunctions in the Qur`an and on precedents from the early years of Islam.

Using an argument that might be called the "silent shari`a," Islamic scholars argue that the shari`a does not speak about certain topics-not because the revelation is incomplete or imperfect, but because these matters have been intentionally left to human invention.

The third approach is the "interpreted shari`a," where Islamic scholars argue that the revelation is divine, but interpretation is human and fallible and inevitably plural.

These liberal approaches to multi-religious co-existence have been stimulated by three historic shifts of the past quarter century: the rise of secular higher education in the Islamic world, which has broken the monopoly of the seminaries over religious discourse; the growth of international communications, which has made educated Muslims more aware than ever of the norms and institutions of the West; and the failure of Islamic regimes to deliver an attractive alternative.

These liberal approaches face serious challenges, including accusations of treason and inauthenticity, and a Western ignorance about the existence and importance of this internal Islamic debate."

MERIA JOURNAL
Volume 3, No. 3 September 1999
LIBERAL ISLAM: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES By Charles Kurzman

Charles Kurzman teaches sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is editor of Liberal Islam: A Source-Book (Oxford University Press, 1998).

[Liquid]

What a truthful and eye opening post here today! Thank you Alexandra!!! I wish everyone would understand that until we in the west strip Islam of it's "religious" protective cloak, that we will be weakened even more, as it continues to hide behind that to do it's political undermining and academic deceptions while buying off all our universities-- along with it's overpopulating for dominance that is determined to suck all the social services that our countries provide! What people gotta wake up to is that they are smirking and laughing while they rob us of everything. We need to implement laws that forever forbid any sharia law inside our borders!

Imagine going into a household and manipulating and decieving everyone while you used every gracious option available to you within that household to destroy it from inside and out! Don't think for a minute that many muslims here in the west don't know what their agenda is. Many are lying in wait...patiently...watching every loop-hole unravel so that jihad on some scale can wiggle in the name of "civil rights" and destroy and create deciet and chaos...what is most frightening also in our midst, is that in many churches across America, there are Christians that are being decieved into the deception that Islam respects Jesus and therefore, the love of "our neighbor" law should be extended in a Christian way on 'that basis' of what Islam says is our commonality! I say to anyone out there that is being groomed into this lie, to please learn what Islam teaches about "Jesus" in their mosque and out of their koran! Islam teaches a false Christ and their reinvented "Isa" is NOT the Jesus of the gospels!

Many muslims will try to explain to you that Muhammad trumps Jesus with "the final" message but common sense will trump that thought because Muhammad never did a miracle and Jesus was born of a virgin and Muhammad wasn't! I guess the evil force that perverted the gospels and refuses to give Jesus His glory for His work on the cross just couldn't pull off a virginal divine birth for the butcher of the desert.

Everything hangs on the words and teachings of one man within Islam...and that is Muhammad! Learn the reality about him and his example and you will see where the sickness of the Islamic spirit began. If you haven't read Spencer's book, "The Truth About Muhammad" I suggest everyone check it out.

[mac brachman]

Alexandra- We hear you. We'll keep exposing what we can where we can.

GD- Artwork source? Thanks. Shalom, Mac Brachman