Close Shave

From a blogger at the English-language Pakistani news source, Dawn.com:

Latest reports claim that the Taliban are shaving off their beards to escape the operation in Swat. The Taliban have maintained that the beards are a sign of being a devoted and true Muslim...

Already listed as the modern-day barbarians, these men have now taken to shaving off their supposed ‘identity’ in order to escape without being noticed by the Pakistan military. Clever tactic but is it worth shedding off their religious beliefs for? Or do their beliefs allow them to go clean shaven if it’s about the question of their survival? If that is the case then they are no different than the society they target – double standards persist either way.

A quick fade when the heat comes down? Sorry, Achmed, no virgins for you.

Tiptoe Around the Taliban

Taliban, you say? In Pakistan?

No, we don't have Taliban in Pakistan.

Ohhh, THAT Taliban.

Well, we do have some of them, but they blow themselves up.

A creeping disaster is continuing to run its course in northwest Pakistan, in the border regions with Afghanistan. Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf is reaping the rewards for mollifying Islamist factions in his country:

Isolated politically, he is incapable of making the strategic changes necessary to meet the challenges the country faces today. Five years ago, he threw in his lot with the clerics of the MMA [Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal]. He gave them political space by driving secular parties into the wilderness. Some selective rigging saw them come to power in the NWFP [Northwest Frontier Province] and in Balochistan as a coalition partner. In exchange, the clerics used their suddenly expanded presence in the assemblies to allow him to remain army chief. Now, the same religious parties have turned against him.

And like this month's showdown at the Lal Masjid mosque, any attempt to bring the Islamists to any civil order will be messy. Just this week, a Taliban commander, Abdullah Mehsud, was discovered in a pakistani border town 350 km northwest of Quetta. When security forces found him, on a tip from some locals, he blew himself up.

Sure, you could say "well, thant's one less militant", but the bigger question is why do Taliban have such free reign in northwest Pakistan and southern Afghanistan? You can chalk it up to a combination of diverting US forces to Iraq, and political maneuvering from Musharraf. the situation is becoming intolerable.

AS bouquets and brickbats are being flung at the government following the Lal Masjid operation, the tough questions are sure to follow. Even as the corpses of the victims and the villains are being buried, most Pakistanis are already asking how events were allowed to come to such a bloody pass.

One of the hallmarks of military governments is that they all pretend to be very keen on accountability. So who will be the scapegoat for allowing the six-month old stand-off at the mosque complex to drag on? Clearly, the Ghazi brothers used this time to stock up on arms and ammunition, apart from sneaking in dozens of trained militants.

Musharraf is not long for the political scene if he cannot defuse the Islamist timebomb under his arse. His maneuvers to preserve his autocratic rule are coming home to roost, as debated in the pakistani Supreme Court last week:

In the 60 years of our tumultuous and mostly star-crossed history, nothing of greater importance has ever come before the Supreme Court. Other famous cases in the past – Tamizuddin, Dosso, Nusrat Bhutto, etc – helped legitimise one martial law after another. In doing so, the highest court in the land became a party to the twisting and distorting of our history, helping to turn Pakistan into a congenial playground for civil and military dictatorships.

In this case alone has the opportunity arisen to mend that history by putting a rein and bridle on military adventurism. For the central issue in it is not just about the person of Justice Chaudhry and the treatment he received when he defied the wishes of Army House, the source of so much of Pakistan’s many discontents.

It is about something far greater: whether Pakistan’s destiny – and this was put well by Fakhruddin Ebrahim, one of the lawyers defending the Chief Justice – is to be ruled by the power of the gun or the power of the law.

Unfortunately, Musharraf's "power of the gun" has been the only thing keeping Pakistan from completely sliding under the power of the Islamist bomb. The vaunted "power of the law" usually wilts in the face of the Islamist threat, which is why the Taliban has such haven in the northwest, and why the Lal Masjid situation mushroomed into the bloodbath that it did.

Grace Under Fire

So, the goings on in Pakistan have finally hit the fan and the headlines here in America. The al Masjid, the Red Mosque, has been a thorn in Pakistan's side for quite a while now. The students of al Masjid have been kidnapping various people and demanding implemantation of Sharia Law as the ransom. Pakistan already has an anti-blasphemy law, severely punishing anyone who blasphemes Muhammad (I'd be hanged within the hour I touched down in Karachi). The tribal areas already do Sharia, with little intervention from any real government. Women are properly oppressed. What are the students complaining about?

Well, now that the military has moved in to administer some perspective, the students have been armed and are resisting. Where's the teacher, you may ask? He went that-a-way:

MAULANA Abdul Aziz, the leader of the Lal Masjid brigade, was arrested while trying to flee in a burqa.

“After all the things he has said and all the oaths he took from his students that they should embrace martyrdom with him, look at this man,” Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem said.

Maulana Aziz was caught after a group of 50 burqa-clad women from the mosque started screaming as they were taken to a nearby school for security checks after giving themselves up, saying the procedure was un-Islamic.

“Our officers spotted his (Aziz’s) unusual demeanour. The rest of the girls looked like girls, but he was taller and had a pot-belly,” an official said.

So much for the courage of the righteous. Intending to die last, I guess he was figuring Allah would be out of virgins by the time all the students in the mosque were killed.

Pakistan is beset by a bevy of conflicts. Most people are fixated on the conflict between President Musharraf and the Chief Justice of Pakistan's supreme court, while there are Taliban in Waziristan, and rebels and natural disasters in Balochistan. The country is poised to become another Afghanistan. With nukes.

Syllogism #70622

If

The Taliban represents orthodox Islam.

And

The Taliban's fighters hide behind woman and children.

Then

Islam is the religion of bullying cowards.

Muslims Protest For Right To Rape

h/t Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

Ok, the headline is really:

Thousands Rally Over Pakistan Rape Law

Musharraf last week signed into law some amendments to the Hudood Ordinance, a 1979 law against rape that human rights activists said punished rape victims while providing legal safeguards for their attackers.

The ordinance required a rape victim to produce four witnesses in court to prove her assault claim. Under the new amendment, judges can choose whether a rape case should be tried in a criminal court where the four-witness rule does not apply or under the Islamic ordinance.

The new law also drops the death penalty for sex outside of marriage. The offense now would be punishable with five years in prison or a fine of $165.

20,000 Pakistani Muslims fill the streets to bewail the overturning of some portions of Islamic law, which previously shielded assailants, and even punished victims who filed complaints. International scrutiny has been brought to bear on this issue by Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman who was raped on the orders of her village council, imprisoned for reporting it, threatened with murder for calling attention to the issue.


Every daughter's father in this crowd should be ashamed to call himself a man, much less a father. The support of wicked legislation by these Imams would indicate that Allah is nothing more than a demon prince of murderous satyrs.

The new legislation has political ramifications as well: (click 'Read More')

Dawn commentator Ayaz Amir gives the political scoop:

WHETHER anyone designed it this way or not, the Women’s Protection Bill is the best thing to have happened in Pakistan for a long time. Not so much for what it contains but for what it has led to: the entrapment of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) leadership in the web of its own cunning and the prospects of a rapprochement between Gen Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto’s PPP.

The mullahs are trapped, that’s for sure. If they resign from the National Assembly as they have sworn to do, they lose influence without getting anything in return, least of all public sympathy, the Pakistani people tired of the religious leadership’s prowess in the most amazing gymnastics. If they don’t resign, they will become more of a laughing stock than they already are: the butt of endless jokes.

Alas, both [ruling party president] Shujaat and the mullahs miscalculated. Instead of backing down, Musharraf held his ground (perhaps the bravest thing he has done in his career) and insisted that the bill be pushed through parliament.

Musharraf is by no means a saint, but he's a cork in a cracked bottle of potential Islamic radicalism, armed with nuclear weapons.

Dawn contributor Irfan Husain speaks to the religious dimension of Islam's deficiencies in the treatment of women:

The truth is that for many Muslim women today, several Islamic provisions regarding the laws of evidence and inheritance do appear to disadvantage them. And as they give men authority over women, the former are naturally reluctant to contemplate a change in this set-up. Indeed, the entire social order is tilted in favour of men, and when one community or sex wishes to redress the power balance, an intense struggle takes place. This happened in the West over the last century, as women fought for, and won, equal rights. But although western women are equal under the law, pockets of discrimination and gender bias remain.

We need to remember that Muslim societies were not the only ones to treat women unjustly. Across the world, these attitudes have held women back for millennia. But as mankind moved from hunting-gathering to farming to industry, physical strength gave way to education and intelligence in determining an individual’s place in society. Especially in the last 50 years or so, it became clear that to unleash a society’s potential, half the population could not be locked up at home. A major reason why Muslim countries continue to lag behind the rest of the world is because their women are not being allowed to make a full contribution to progress.

And women in the West complain bitterly, yet they've never had it so good. I guess that it's all a matter of perspective.

Ahh, the World, pt. 112906

Bears cannot change stripes-

A makeover, wardrobe overhaul, and name-change doesn't change who you are. Just look at Russia. It's the same viscious Stalinist state, but stripped of a layer of bureaucracy of the Politburo and the superficial rhetoric of being "for the worker". Picture Stalin in a pin-striped suit instead of the Red-trimmed uniform. Just in recent memory:

- Poisoning an unsympathetic candidate in a neighboring country's election
- Shutting off natural gas supplies to a neighboring nation to influence policy
- Mysterious murder of a journalist investigating government malfeasance
- Radioactive poisoning of a former spy, turned critic of the government
- Sales of defensive missiles to a state that's creating banned weapons
- And a host of other diplomatic maneuvers designed to foil scrutiny at the U.N.

And our President looked deep into the soul of the Russian president, eh? Just another questionable judgment call.

Islamic Communion

The vicious sectarian violence in Iraq is enabled by the lack of a central religious authority in Islam, and by the lack of a peaceful hermeneutic to guide the discussion of the different interpretations of the Q'uran and Hadith. It's the same authority vacuum that enables Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hez'b allah to use their religion to authorise their violence against the rest of us. They claim their sacred texts are the only authority needed.

Well, you know, Gene Robinson and Fred Phelps claim to reference the same Bible. So much for authority.

Little Sympathy

For all the people who let them selves be herded through the chutes on Red Friday, and eventually sheared, why are you willing to endure or inflict injury to get a $40 DVD player? Injuries are reported in Torrance, CA, in another shopper stampede.

More Media Dhimmitude

Again, from Time magazine:

Did a Critic of Islam Go Too Far?

A teacher in France is the latest to face death threats for daring to criticize the religion and its prophet's emphasis on violence

Do critics of Christianity or Judaism ever get questioned as going "too far?" Not really, as there is no criticism of the Catholic Church that is beyond the pale, as far as the western media is concerned. What if we measure our hate group criteria against Islam, and see what we find?

Or is that going to far?

Only Time magazine can tell.

They Still Don't Get It

CNN's headline:

Possible pope link to nun's death

You cannot possibly link the nun's death to Islamic radicals in a headline, can you? @#(*&ing western journalists.

Gunmen shot and killed an Italian nun at a children's hospital in Mogadishu on Sunday in an attack that drew immediate speculation of links to Muslim anger over the pope's recent remarks on Islam.

Muslim anger. Anger is over at DailyKos. Insane rage is what these disciples of the Religion of Peace are displaying. And Somalia is a hotbed of that peace:

The assassinations were a blow to Mogadishu's new Islamist rulers' attempt to prove they have pacified one of the world's most lawless cities since chasing out warlords in June.
...
Borne out of local courts practicing strict sharia law, the Islamist movement in June seized Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords who had run it for the past 15 years.

The Islamists have brought some order to the capital, which was awash with guns and where assassinations were common. But the nun's death -- and the June killing of a Swedish cameraman -- will damage their claim Mogadishu is now safe for foreigners.

Critics of the Islamists say they harbor al Qaeda-linked extremists in their ranks. The top Islamist leader, hardline cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, is on U.S. and U.N. lists of people accused of links to terrorism.

The Islamists deny that, saying the West does not understand them and is succumbing to U.S. propaganda.

Oh no, my peaceful friends, we understand you quite well at this juncture. The problem is, now, how to deal with you and the peace that you bring to the world. At least, that's what our western journalists tell us. And if we do not understand you and your peace, it is the fault of the Pope.

Complicit Media

Headline from Time Magazine's website:

The First Casualty of the Pope's Islam Speech

Not to let the mullahs have all the fun of gun-jumping, Time's headline posits the following:

A) The Pope's speech was about Islam
B) The Pope is to blame for Islamic reactions to his talk at a university.

Now, I can excuse religious zealots in developing nations for going mad. The educational standards in those places are low, they don't have access to the entire transcript of the Pope's lecture, and their religious leaders have everything to gain by getting their people amped up and outraged.

I cannot excuse journalists in the West, as we teach reading (at least used to) and some degree of logic in our universities, we have access to everything the Pope's ever uttered in public, and we pride ourselves on being literate and civilised.

I will try to be charitable, and say that, in the interest of saving headline space, poor word choices were the result. I'd hate to think that Western journalists are actually trying to foment more Muslim outrage, as a way to tear down the Catholic Church, the advocate of a theology that is anathema to Western Liberals.

Headline

Pope 'deeply sorry' for Muslim fury

Of course, I'm thinking the headline should read:

Muslim fury at Pope sorry

Feel free to suggest your own.

If You're Tired of Islamic Hypersensitivity..

. Raise your hand.



Our Pope manages to goad reactionaries with remarks buried within a reasoned discussion. Chances are, after picking up on a perceived slight against Islam, the rest of his discussion was completely incomprehensible to the 'Arab Street'. 'Tis a pity, because the foaming masses are going to prove old Manny Paleologus' argument.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached"

of Mice and Martyrs

By now, many have chewed over the gunpoint conversion to Islam, made by hostages in Gaza. It's hard to really criticize apostasy under duress unless you've been there, and like many sage commenters out there, I'll just pray that when the time comes, I'll have the courage to proclaim Jesus as Christ and Lord. As for the timid believers out there, Peter had denied Christ three times from the same fear, and Jesus forgave him. Good luck y'all.

The Maoist Chinese gov't has released a catholic bishop they've had in prison for a decade. Now some may say" Well, Jimbob, now that the Maoists have released a bishop, are you going to continue your trade embargo with China?" Well, I'm not one to fall for feints and other gestures, as the Maoists have exhibited an insincere and contradictory policy of public releases and secret arrests and re-arrests. Where are these guys?:


Bishop Su Zhimin of the Baoding diocese, where Bishop An served, was arrested in 1997 and his current condition and location are unknown.

Bishop Han Dingsiang of Yong Nian, also in the Hebei province, was arrested in 1999 and his current condition and location are unknown.

Bshop Jian Zhiguo of Zhengding, Hebei, was arrested in June of this year; he has been arrested 9 other times in the past three years. His current status is unknown.

Bishop Shi Enxiang of Yixian, Hebei, was arrested in 2001; his current condition and location are unknown.

Bishop Yao Liang, an auxiliary of the Xiwanzi diocese in Hebei, was arrested in July of this year, and is being held in Zhangjiakou.

Bishop Zhao Zhendong of Xuanhua as arrested in December 2004; his current condition and location are unknown.

And these are just the bishops! Where are all the priests that the Chinese gov't has sent for "re-education"/ coerced apostasy? The courage of Chinese Catholics must be great, and they truly love our Lord despite the cost. Maybe the recently released Fox News crew may do well to study these Chinese Martyrs as an example.

And lastly, the courage of Lina Joy, a christian convert in Malaysia, a Muslim country. The qualities of the Religion of Peace really shines through in situations like this:

But she is now in hiding after death threats from Islamic extremists, who accuse her of being an apostate.

Now, to be fair, those were just the extremist adherants of the Religion of Peace. How about the more moderate:

In rulings in her case, civil courts said Malays could not renounce Islam because the Constitution defined Malays to be Muslims.

They also ruled that a request to change her identity card from Muslim to Christian had to be decided by the Shariah courts. There she would be considered an apostate, and if she did not repent she surely would be sentenced to several years in an Islamic center for rehabilitation.

I imagine that the muslim concept of rehabilitation is very different than what christians would come up with. Long story short, another prisoner for Christ. Pray for her, and others like her throughout the world, and pray for the strength to be as courageous when the time comes for us.

Invoking Muhammad (Lord, have mercy on us)

In almost all Islamic adherents, I’ve noticed that they immediately append a blessing when invoking the name of Muhammad, saying “Peace be upon him”. In print, the name of Muhammad is followed by (Peace be upon him), or the acronym (pbuh).

I’ve got another idea.

Muhammad’s sins grieve our Father no more than our own sins, though his may be more notorious. So, I propose a protocol of praying for God’s mercy every time Muhammad’s name is invoked, reminding us to pray for his soul, along with the conversion of those who follow in his footsteps. Immediately append a (Lord, have mercy on us), shortened to (Lhmou) subsequently, or (Kyrie, eleison), and (Ke). I’m sure a Latin Rite buff can find me something shorter than ‘Ostende nobis, Domine, miserecordiam tuam’ to use in this instance.

So the usage would be as such: I have read that Muhammad (Lord, have mercy on us) was a murderer, a thief, and a paedophile, but really, who among us is that much better. We are all sinners, and should fervently hope for the salvation of even the most egregious sinners, like Muhammad (Lhmou). In praying for his salvation, we can exhibit true Christian love toward our enemy, and show that God’s mercy is available to all. Who knows, we may be surprised to see Muhammad (Lhmou) in Heaven after his penance has been worked out. Heck, I’ll be so surprised to eventually get there myself, that I wouldn’t dare begrudge it to another sinner.

See how it works? And it serves a multitude of purposes: Reminds Christians to pray for him, reminds muslims that he is a sinner and, out of love, we are willing to pray for him. And for the spiteful out there, I’m almost sure that us praying for Muhammad (Lhmou) will drive the Islamicists insane with rage.

Kyrie Eleison

Jimbob reads the Qur'an, Pt. 1

Ok, the foks at CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, were kind enough to send me their English translation of the Qur’an. Of course, since the Qur’an was written in Arabic for arabs, any conclusions drawn from the English text are to be dismissed since it is not in Allah’s tongue of Arabic. Too bad, I’m going to read it, and measure it anyway. So there.

So, it starts off with a nice title plate with “The Message of the Qur’an” at the top, a pretty illustrated box in the middle, and then “For people who think” at the bottom. I imagine that this bit of arrogance insinuates that people who reject the “Message” are not thinking..

The book is marvelously illustrated, a delight to the eyes, and good for food..oh wait, that reminds me of another fruit in a different book. Aesthetics aside , let’s delve, shall we?

The first Surah begins:
In the name of God, The Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace:
All praise is due to God alone, the Sustainer of all the worlds, the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace, Lord of the Day of Judgment!

Ok, so the Trinitarians out there should take heed: God is boss, and there is no one else.
Thank you, Arius, for this tidbit of heresy. Otherwise, the texts are full of effluent praise of ‘God’ and all His aspects, as if all the praise were a heavy flavoring that could mask the presence of poison. Onward and upward.

Second Surah:

“Behold, as for those who are bent on denying the truth – it is all one for them whether thou warnest them or dost not warn them: they will not believe. God has sealed their hearts and their hearing, and over their eyes is a veil; and awesome suffering awaits them.”

Wow, ok, that’s standard infidel dismissal. But, who decides if your truth is The Truth? Later, we see this:

“Verily, those who have attained to faith [ in this divine writ], as well as those who follow the Jewish faith, and the Christians, and the Sabians – all who believe in God and the Last Day and do good deeds – shall have their reward with their Sustainer; and no fear they have, and neither shall they grieve.”

Ok, so now we’re lumping in Islam with the other “People of the Book”, and co-validating their faith. Well, as long as it’s practiced in accordance to what Mohammed sayeth, right? Why else treat Jews and Christians as dhimmis, unless they refuse to compromise their faith by accepting the Prophet’s testimony.

Here, it gets interesting:
"Say [O Prophet]:”Whoever is an enemy of Gabriel”- Who by God’s leave, has brought down upon thy heart this [divine writ] which confirms the truth of whatever still remains [of earlier revelations], and is a guidance and glad tiding for the Believers: “whosoever is an enemy of God and His Angels and His message-bearers, including Gabriel and Michael, [should know that,] verily, God is the enemy of all who deny the truth.”

The story is that Gabriel dictated the Qur’an to Mohammed. It’s a bit of a twist, considering that God used to communicate directly with the prophets of old. True, angels carried messages to people, but those were more of a personal nature, for specific events. Elizabeth Claire Prophet allegedly channels the spirits of ‘Ascended Masters’ and angels, preaching about many things, like chakras, kundalini, and other spiritual topics from a ‘Father-Mother God’. Prophet and her followers are still collecting guns in their Montana compound. Joseph Smith allegedly got the Book of Mormon from an angel, named Moroni (maroon?). The pseudo epigraphal ‘Book of Enoch’ details how angels came and taught men astrology, witchcraft, herb-lore, and other occult arts. More angelic deceptions?

In the second Surah, there is a lengthy section that contradicts the teachings of Jesus on divorce, as well as denial that God has a Son. More about that in the third Surah, later this week.