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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

sharia survey

Countries surveyed - The Pew Research Center


http://graphics.latimes.com/worldmap-survey-how-muslims-see-sharia/

From the LA Times


Survey: How Muslims see sharia



In Iraq, Afghanistan and many other countries, majorities of Muslims surveyed by the Pew Research Center said that sharia, or Islamic law, should be the official law of the land. Yet in many parts of the world, Muslims who want sharia to be enshrined in law also say that it should only apply to Muslims. The survey included dozens of countries with large Muslim populations.

Summary: divergent views and no surprises for Egpyt.

The article in full HERE



Weird choice of photo though, at a bombed Mosque no less! (you can see the grief and also blood on the floor)

The FULL REPORT  by the Pew Research Center.

Here's gem from the Executive Summary:

"In many countries, Muslims who pray several times a day are more likely to support making sharia official law than are Muslims who pray less frequently. In Russia, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Tunisia, for example, Muslims who pray several times a day are at least 25 percentage points more supportive of enshrining sharia than are less observant Muslims."


 http://www.pewforum.org/Muslim/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-infographic.aspx

Add caption





Denying ourselves





1.       By brushing off Islamic -related terrorism as being unrelated to jihad.

2.       Making excuses for the terrorists, e.g. it is as a result of the U.S. drone policy. 

3.       Pretending that large-scale immigration is a great asset for all European states

4.       By allowing widespread ghettoization of European cities.

5.       By blindly promoting multi-culturalism for decades & thinking that diversity is working wonderfully.

6.       By allowing certain communities to deliberately disrespect & disregards the values of other groups.

7.       By allowing the mainstream media to publish biased news on a wide range of issues.

8.       By generously subsidising refugees & immigrants with few checks made.

9.        By allowing certain groups & communities to spread contempt for the countries that they live in.

10.   By being fearful to speak up and promote freedom of expression.

some quotes

 


"They merely shared the same ideology" EUROPOL report on terrorism - section on Islamic terrorists.


"There is no moderate or immoderate Islam; Islam is Islam." response made by Erdoğan on concerns over Turkey turning into a Malaysia. 

 According to Qutb (Muslim Brotherhood), "There are two parties in all the world: the Party of Allah and the Party of Satan – the Party of Allah which stands under the banner of Allah and bears his insignia, and the Party of Satan, which includes every community, group, race, and individual that does not stand under the banner of Allah."

  “This is a war and they should be thankful that it wasn’t more.” Irish Muslim on terrorist bombings in Boston.

 The earth is flat, and anyone who disputes this claim is an atheist who deserves to be punished. [Muslim religious edict, 1993 Sheik Abdel-Aziz Ibn Baaz Supreme religious authority, Saudi Arabia]

'The normal situation is to take money from the kuffar. You work, give us the money, Allahu Akhbar (God is great).  Anjem Choudary

 At the end of his long and cantankerous life the maulana had gone against all his high principles. He had gone to a Boston hospital to look for health; he had at the very end entrusted himself to the skill and science of the civilization he had tried to shield his followers from. He had sought, as someone said to me (not all Pakistanis are fundamentalists), to reap where he had not wanted his people to sow. Of the maulana it might be said that he had gone to his well-deserved place in heaven by way of Boston; and that he went at least part of the way by Boeing. V.S. Naipaul


 I found religion equally oppressive in real life. And I realized that religious oppression and injustices are only increasing, especially in Muslim countries. The religious terrorists are everywhere. But if I criticized Muslim fundamentalists and mullahs in particular, it is because I saw them from close quarters. They took advantage of people's ignorance and oppressed them.  Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, in exile


 Fundamentalism is an ideology that diverts people from the path of natural development of consciousness and individuality, and undermines their personal rights. I find it impossible to accept fundamentalism as an alternative to secular ideas. 

My first reason is the insistence of the fundamentalists on divine justification for human laws.

Second, the insistence of fundamentalists upon the superior authority of faith, as opposed to reason.

Third, the insistence of fundamentalists that the individual does not count, that the individual is immaterial. Group loyalty over individual rights and personal achievements is a peculiar feature of fundamentalism. Fundamentalists believe in a particular way of life; they want to put everybody in their particular straightjacket and dictate what an individual should eat, what an individual should wear, how an individual should live everyday life -- everything would be determined by the fundamentalist authority.

Finally, though they proclaim themselves a moral force, their language is hatred and violence. Is it possible for a rationalist and humanist to accept this sort of terrible repression? [Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, in exile]



Tamerlan - a history lesson

Tamerlan and headless victims

One of the Boston bombers had the same name as the 14th-century Turkic Muslim conqueror, 'Tamelane', (Amir Timur-i-lang). Tamerlane had a grisly 'hobby' as he was famous for building pyramids of his victims' heads to celebrate his victories over infidels, (non-believers). 
 
A 16th century image depicting a scene in 1401 of Mongol soldiers with heads of their decapitated enemies, in front of a tower of heads in Baghdad. Notice the minaret -shape of the tower. Over 90,000 inhabitants of Baghdad slain in cold blood.Timur ordered that every soldier should return with at least two severed human heads to show him. The same happened in Delhi in 1398 and in Isfafan in 1388 , where"it is said that he built a large hill with the skulls of the dead. "
 
No doubt that Tamelane was adhering to a lot of the 109 Quranic verses that call for war with non-believers, in order to apply Islamic rule. Nor was Tamelane the only Muslim warrior to have a fondness for stacking up the heads of their victims, as part of a planned & widespread use of terror.


Lets take a trip round Europe, first stop Serbia.  There is a most unusual tower in  Niš, known as Ćele Kula, the tower of skulls.   It was built in 1809 not as a monument of celebration but as a threat by the Ottomans as a deterrent for anyone considering defying the Ottoman Empire.
 

There was an uprising in 1809 between the Ottomans amd their Serbian dhimins, led by Stevan Sinđelić.   There was a battle in Niš and the Serbs eventually lost it, but not before Sinđelić blew up the gunpower magazine, killings thousands in the process.   Following the heavy loss of life, the Ottoman commander gave the order for the heads of of just over 900 Serbian bodies to be removed and be built into a tower. Scalps of others were sent to the Sultan as war trophy.

 "Let them preserve this monument! It will teach their children in the times to come how valuable freedom was to their forefathers and will serve as a constant reminder of the price that was paid for it." French poet Alfons de Lamartin

Now over to Spain,(some 800 years prior to the Serbian battle), during the period of Al-Andalus, where in 1086, decided that after the battle of Zallaqa, he had 24,000 corpses of the defeated Castilians beheaded "and piled them up"  to make a sort of minaret for the muezzins who, standing on the piles of headless cadavers, to call out the praises of Allah.




 Photo: Image: Laurent Massoptier
Next stop- Italy, to be more precise the cathedral of Otranto, where this sight will greet you... of 800 Christians who in July 1480 refused to renounce their Catholic faith and convert to Islam, after the city fell to an Ottoman force under Gedik Ahmed Pasha.

Survivor of the assault fled into the catherdral, where Pasha ordered them to convert to Islam, the Cardinal and the survivors refused and so where put to death on the spot. 

800 survivors were later taken to a hill and beheaded as they too refused to renounce their Christian faith. The remains were taken and placed in the cathedral as a reminder of their martyrdom. Pope Francis will canonise them in May 2013.

Now to Greece, Karaiskakis, a Greek revolutionary decided to do likewise in 1826..  however this time it was the Ottomans' turn to feature on a tower, following their defeat in the battle of ...  It makes you wonder where he got the idea from?  There were many atrocities during the Greek of Independence, such as Chios, Nea Moni monastery, where all inside were slaughteredIndeed, many of their skulls and bones being displayed in a cabinet, to this day at the monastery.


In North Africa:  A tower of skulls, called the Burj-er-Roos were built following the battle of Djerba in 1590, between the Ottomans and Europeans. It apparently was still standing until the 18th century.
  
Still in North Africa, but this time in Egypt, an 1807 British expedition resulted in "a few hundred spiked British heads left rotting in the sun outside Rosetta".


Where else?  If you know of other places then please add a comment.








the Muslim Brotherhood wants Spain the Balkans and southern Italy as well


To be under Islamic rule once more.


http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100213666/the-muslim-brotherhood-wants-spain-back-can-the-christians-have-egypt-in-exchange/
 
From the Telegraph newspaper:   "The Islamic Society of North America, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, has published an article that calls Andalusia – the hottest bit of Spain – a “paradise” that will return when “the only victor is Allah.”
 The New York Times also took up the story of Islam and Spain.... huh back in 2003!
"For radical Islamists, the key note is revenge: in one of Osama bin Laden's post-9/11 broadcasts, his deputy invoked ''the tragedy of al-Andalus.'
 "The impulse to idealize runs strong. If Andalusia really had been an enlightened society that combined religious belief with humanism and artistry, then it would provide an extraordinary model, offering proof of Islamic possibilities now eclipsed, while spurring new understandings of the West."

It didn't happen that way......  though...... The rules were based on Islam and as a result, there was an 'aparthied' system in operation.

"[Islamic] Andalusian governance was also based on a religious tribal model. Christians and Jews, who shared Islam's Abrahamic past, had the status of dhimmis -- alien minorities. They rose high but remained second-class citizens; one 11th-century legal text called them members of ''the devil's party.'' They were subject to special taxes and, often, dress codes. Violence also erupted, including a massacre of thousands of Jews in Grenada in 1066 and the forced exile of many Christians in 1126."
Was the Islam Of Old Spain Truly Tolerant? by Edward Rothstein. 2003

Lets go back to the Telegraph article.  The author outlined some good points about the Islamic rule of Andalusia but also highlighted this as well:

Hassan al-Banna, the founder of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, once wrote that "Andalusia, Sicily, the Balkans, south Italy, and the Roman sea islands were all Islamic lands that have to be restored to the homeland of Islam… it is our right to restore the Islamic Empire its glory."

 Very disconcerting indeed, or to use the word in the article 'creepy'. The author finishes with this...
 
And if we’re really going to divide up the world by that logic, I’d like to make a counter offer to the Muslim Brotherhood.
 Can we Christians have North Africa back? After all, it was once a centre of Christian civilisation – some of the earliest Christian communities were found there. You want brilliant theologians – Africa gave us St Augustine. You want devotion – Africa gave us the Desert Fathers. You want beauty – Africa gave us stunning iconography. You want learning – Africa gave us the libraries and schools at Alexandria. So Andalusia for Egypt seems a fair swap. After all, those pagan pyramids can surely be of no use to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Pagan pyramids & Muslim Brotherhood, ahh...   wasn't there talk about them being idolatrous and threatened with destruction? 



 





R u kidding?

Straight from the horse's mouth....

http://news.yahoo.com/us-panel-afghans-more-religious-freedom-051508576.html

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Despite significant improvements since the hard-line Taliban ruled Afghanistan, religious freedomremains poor, especially for minorities, and Afghans still can't debate religion or question prevailing Islamic orthodoxies without fear of being punished, a U.S. commission said in a new report on Tuesday.
The  fear of punishment  is called Islamic law, aka Sharia.     It is evident that this U.S.  hasn't been brilliantly briefed on the issue, although Sharia is mentioned, but thats it.  No law can under Islamic law be contrary to Islam. It is a bit like using a certain spreadsheet and always ending up with a "circular reference ".   

There are numerous reports, findings, research, commissions, panels, you namec it.  But they just issue statements, there is never any subsequent action undertaken.  The ordinary people at the bottom of the Islamic "food" chain are always the non-believers.  They can never have religious freedoms in an Islamic society.  


The environment for exercising religious freedom remains "exceedingly poor" for dissenting members of Afghanistan's Sunni Muslim majority and for minorities, such as Shiite Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its report.

"Individuals who dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy regarding Islamic beliefs and practices are subject to legal actions that violate international standards," according to the commission, which was created in 1998 to review violations of religious freedom internationally and make policy recommendations to the U.S. government.

"The Taliban and other non-state actors continue to target individuals for activity deemed 'un-Islamic,' and the Afghanistan constitution fails explicitly to protect the individual right to freedom of religion or belief."



Monday, April 29, 2013

haunting testimony



I had witnessed the destruction, in a few short years, of a vibrant Jewish community living in Egypt for over 2,600 years and which had existed from the time of  Jeremiah the Prophet. I saw the disintegration and flight of families, dispossessed and humiliated, the destruction of their synagogues, the bombing of the Jewish quarters and the terrorizing of a peaceful population. I have personally experienced the hardships of exile, the misery of statelessness − and I wanted to get to the root cause of all this. I wanted to understand why the Jews from Arab countries, nearly a million, had shared my experience.
 Bat Ye'or


a few quotes - Allah is Greater



At the simplest level, last week in Dagestan:


“I don’t care if my youngest son is going to be killed today. I want the world to hear this. And, I don’t care if I am going to get killed too. And I will say Allahu Akbar!”  Mom of Boston bombers.

 And in Egpyt..   "In March 2011, a Muslim mob attacked a local church, south of Cairo, burning it down, even as a Muslim prayer leader (Iman) called on Muslims to “kill all the Christians.”  Afterwards, throngs of Muslims gathered around the  building where they spent some 20 hours pounding its walls down to cries of “Allahu Akbar.”

Same month, same year, but at Frankfurt airport, a Kosovar Albanian shot an US Serviceman and as he boarded the bus, he shouted "Allah-u akbar"

Over to the U.S.A , Fort Hood, 2009,  Maj. Nidal Hasan, shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire inside Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 and wounding 29. His attack was labeled “workplace violence.”

Then to Little Rock, the attacker was heard to be shouting, “Allahu akbar!”. Result one & wounded US Soldier.  Deemed not to be a terrorist attack.

2012, this time, France,  Mohammed Merah recorded himself shouting Allahu Akbar as he killed three French paratroopers. 

Meanwhile last week in Paris,  a knife-wielding maniac screaming “Allahu akbar” attacked a Rabbi and another.


Allah-u--Akbar is an expression of the Islamic faith. It is used in prayers, to show happiness, as defiance, in times of distress or even to celebrate victory or as a battle cry (historically and nowadays as well.

As you can see from the above quotes, it is frequently reported when Muslims are waging voilence against others who just happen to be non-Muslims. I'll finish with this statement:
 
Advice from an 9-11 Islamist: Shout, 'Allahu Akbar,' because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers."

 and in this hadith as well...
 
Narrated Anas: The Prophet set out for Khaibar and reached it at night. He used not to attack if he reached the people at night, till the day broke. So, when the day dawned, the Jews came out with their bags and spades. When they saw the Prophet; they said, "Muhammad and his army!" The Prophet said, Allahu--Akbar! (Allah is Greater) and Khaibar is ruined, for whenever we approach a nation (i.e. enemy to fight) then it will be a miserable morning for those who have been warned."