Reflections From a Murky Pond

As I posted earlier, General David Patraeus recently told the Wall Street Journal that he wasn’t too pleased with Rev. Terry Jones’ and his Dove World Church’s plan to burn a pile of Qur’ans on September 11, 2010.

General Petraeus’ made it clear that he believes such an act would endanger our troops stationed in the Muslim World and civilians everywhere.

As befits a career military officer, his words were succinct, blunt, and very much to the point.

It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort. It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.

While many of us differ in our priorities and in our opinions of how much weight should be placed upon the General’s warning, nobody is refuting his claims – including the Muslims. Everyone seems to be in agreement that Rev. Jones’ plan to burn 200 Qur’ans will result in widespread violence by Muslims against Westerners in general and Americans in particular.

So, if one distills or boils down General Petraeus’ admonishment and warning, one is left with a simple, profound, and disturbing statement.

Do not offend the Muslims; they will kill you!

It is utterly beyond me how anyone, especially the Muslims, can reconcile the claim that Islam is “The Religion of Peace” and the apparently freely admitted fact, proven time and time again, that offending or insulting Islam and/or its Prophet Muhammad results in a violent, murderous response.

Tags: America | Intolerance | Islam | Islamists | Islamophobia | Muslims | Petraeus | Politics | Religion | Terry Jones | War On Terror

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 9th, 2010 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Politics, Religion. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

General David Patraeus, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander of the US Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) recently told the Wall Street Journal that he wasn’t too pleased with Rev. Terry Jones’ and his Dove World Church’s plan to burn a pile of Qur’ans on September 11, 2010, the 10th anniversary of the Muslims’ terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

General Petraeus’ concerns seem to be over the probable additional risks to our troops stationed in the Muslim World the burning of the Qur’ans by the Gainesville, FL church would cause.

It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort. It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.

Firstly, let me say the General Petraeus is quite accurate in his claims that Muslims will respond violently to the burning of Qur’an and that such a violent response would explicitly increase the dangers faced by our soldiery stationed within the Muslim World, especially those serving and fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Stimulus: Burning A Qur’an

Response: Muslims Riot And Go On Violent Rampage

It’s simply a proven fact that a great number of Muslims respond to being  offended by either targeted or mass acts of violence.  Their responses to insulting cartoons of their Prophet proved that point to the world. Therefor it’s hard to blame Gen. Petraeus for being against such a public burning of Qur’an. It will, without a doubt, make his job and the jobs of the troops he commands that much harder and that much more dangerous. Simple.

Tags: 1st Amendment | Afghanistan | America | Dhimmitude | Ethics & Morality | Fear | Florida | Freedom | Intolerance | Iraq | Islam | Islamists | Islamophobia | Muslims | Petraeus | Politics | Terry Jones | The Constitution | Tyranny | US Military | US Supreme Court | War | War On Terror

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Politics, Religion. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Can you imagine the raving uproar from the Liberals if a member of the White House Press Corps had said at some Muslim group that the Arabs should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go back to Jordan and Saudi Arabia? Can you imagine how severe that response would be if the person who said it was Jewish or of Jewish roots?

Pandemonium would ensure as every Liberal media outlet in America broadcast the story and the Muslims and their shills in America raged in bloody riots across the nation.

The Muslims’ and Liberals’ calls for the person’s removal from the White House Press Corps would shake the heavens and the person in question, now branded a raging bigot and Islamophobe, would be instantly banned from President Obama’s White House.

But when Helen Thomas, an Arab born within America and the “Dean” of the White House Press Corps standing outside a White House Jewish heritage event on May 27, 2010, told Rabbi David Nesenoff her opinion of Israel was that the Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine,” and added that Palestine is a country of occupation, whose occupiers should leave the region, returning to “Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else” there was no outcry at all by the MSM.

The incident didn’t reach the American public’s attention until the Drudge Report publicized RabbiLIVE.com’s video of the filthy Arab’s antisemitic screed against America’s only sincere ally in the Mid-East.

Helen Thomas Provides Proof Arab is Always an Arab

Of course, once it was caught, Helen Thomas “apologized” and many including her employer Hearst Newspapers, seem to willing or eager to let the matter drop, though the agency that represents it, Nine Speakers, Inc., did drop it like the piece of filth that it is.

Sure; whatever it says. It’s only sorry that an American actually managed to draw enough attention to its statement that it might suffer some far more than well-deserved discomfort.

Thomas is 89 so there’s little point in her extermination, but part of me says such a curettement should be still be performed for the public health, as a matter of principle, and to send a stern message to America’s foreign and titularly domestic enemies.

Other parts of my soul remember that we Americans cannot protect the health of nation in that way due to the inviolate 1st Amendment of our Constitution. That’s probably for the best, since it would set a precedence that our enemies, both current and future, might use it to America’s detriment.

Obama’s White House, utterly unsurprisingly, seems to have no problems or issues with either Helen Thomas’ antisemitism or its fondness for Jew-baiting. It’s beyond unlikely that they’ll censure it in any way unless forced to do so by the American people, and even that seems more and more unlikely to be successful as Obama’s regime further divorces itself from we, the People.

UPDATE: Thomas has retired in disgrace, effective immediately. In the wake of Thomas’ retirement the Obama administration finally spoke out and described Thomas’ remarks as, “offensive and reprehensible.”

Tags: America | Antisemitism | Arabs | Dhimmitude | Helen Thomas | Islamophobia | Israel | Jews | Media Bias | Muslims | Obama | Palestine | Terrorism | Terrorists

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 6th, 2010 at 4:08 pm and is filed under Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

The people’s of the Civilized World have been repeated told, most often stridently, by Muslims and their dhimmi sympathizers and supporters that any and all representational or figurative depictions of the Muslims’ prophet, Muhammad are and have always been disallowed by Islam and considered highly offensive. This is, of course and unsurprisingly, quite far from the truth.

It was quite common among wealthy Muslims during the Middle Ages to have illustrated copies of the Qur’an and hadith that had within their pages pictures of Muhammad. It was especially common during the early 14th century Ilkhanid dynasty in Persia but continued to be commonplace during Persia’s Timurid dynasty of the 14th – 18th centuries, and the Ottoman Empire had many artistic depictions throughout the 14th – 16th centuries.

Between the Timurids’ Gurkani Alam and the Ottomans’ Devlet-i Aliye-yi Osmaniyye the two empires ruled essentially the whole of the Muslim World until the mid-18th century when Western powers entered and conquered Asia Minor. That perforce means that depictions of Muhammad were not always forbidden (haram) under Shari’a.

Muslim Art Depicting Muhammad

Such illustrated Qur’ans and Hadith could happen in those Muslim empires because there is no direct prohibition against representational artwork, whether it be of Muhammad or not to be found in the Qur’an. The closest that can be found is a strong prohibition against polytheism and idolatry.

God does not forgive the joining of partners with him: anything less than that he forgives to whoever he will, but anyone who joins partners with God is lying and committing a tremendous sin.

— Qur’an, Sura 4 (An-Nisa)

So their God has not forbidden representational or figurative art – even depictions of Muhammad – but does condemn those would worship such images or the subjects thereof. The problem would only arise if the disturbingly intense reverence for Muhammad  crossed over into worship, apparently something that imams have feared since the 8th century.

If, however, one reads, studies, and lends credence to the accuracy of the Muslims’ hadith, it quickly becomes clear that their prophet, Muhammad, had serious issues with representational art in any form and for any purpose at all.

Narrated Abu Talha: The Prophet said, “Angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or there are pictures.

— Sahih al-Bukhari,
Volume 7, Book 72, Number 833

~*~

Ibn ‘Umar reported Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) having said: Those who paint pictures would be punished on the Day of Resurrection and it would be said to them: Breathe soul into what you have created.

— Sahih Muslim,
Chapter 19, Book 24, Number 5268

~*~

Narrated [Muhammad’s wife] ‘Aisha: Allah’s Apostle said, ‘The painter of these pictures will be punished on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said to them, Make alive what you have created.

— Sahih al-Bukhari,
Volume 9, Book 93, Number 646

~*~

This hadith has been reported on the authority of Abu Mu’awiya though another chain of transmitters (and the words are): ‘Verily the most grievously tormented people amongst the denizens [inhabitants] of Hell on the Day of Resurrection would be the painters of pictures.

— Sahih Muslim,
Chapter 19, Book 24, Number 5271

~*~

Allah, Most High said: “And who is more unjust than those who try to create the likeness of My creation? Let them create an atom, or let them create a wheat grain, or let them create a barley grain

— Sahih al-Bukhari,
Volume 9, Book 93, Number 648

~*~

Narrated ‘Aisha: The Prophet entered upon me while there was a curtain having pictures (of animals) in the house. His face got red with anger, and then he got hold of the curtain and tore it into pieces. The Prophet said, ‘Such people as paint these pictures will receive the severest punishment on the Day of Resurrection.

— Sahih al-Bukhari,
Volume 8, Book 73, Number 130

~*~

Muhammad went to Fatimah’s house, but turned back when he saw a figured curtain.

— Sunan Abu Dawud,
Volume 3, Book 21, Number 3746

So, while there is no Qur’anic prohibition against depictions of Muhammad, there has been concern that such images by or in the hands of Muslims could lead to them committing the sin of shirk – placing something or someone as an equal or partner to Allah. Such a prohibition, of course would make no sense if applied to nonbelievers or if the images of Muhammad were “unflattering” in nature.

Yet seems that Muhammad himself was very deeply offended by representational or figurative art in general and would likely have been utterly and maddeningly outraged by representations of himself. Muhammad’s hatred of such forms of art may have a great deal to do with the Muslims’ being offended by such artwork, even on those occasions when it is not purposefully designed to be offensive.

Many Muslims seek to emulate Muhammad, often to extremity. Since they believe, based upon the Hadith, that he reviled such art, it’s hardly surprising that they choose to as well. It is much the same as their dislike of dogs and fondness, or at least tolerance for, pre-teen “brides;” Muhammad thought  that way so it must be the right way to think.

It’s odd though – or seems so to me – that the Qur’an has strict prohibitions against placing anything or anyone on par with their God, Allah, yet the Muslims’ “issues” with pictures of Muhammad is largely based on his idiosyncrasies instead of their God’s revealed will. Maybe those old imams were right to fear their flocks growing to worship Muhammad.

Tags: 1st Amendment | Art | Cartoons | Freedom | History | Intolerance | Islam | Islamists | Islamophobia | Jihad | Muhammad | Muslims | Political Correctness | Religion | Shari'a | Terrorism | Tyranny

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 5:50 am and is filed under Politics, Religion, Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Sometimes one’s enemies do things that are far more laughable than they are dangerous. The Islamists are often among the more humorous enemies of civilization – though one shouldn’t discount their desire and capacity to enact savage acts of violence and terrorism. Still, we should enjoy the humor as we can.

Death To All Juice

Quick! Lock up the OJ! Guard the grapefruit! Protect the nation’s apple supply!  The Islamist Kefir Caliphate may soon be attacking a grocery store near you. 😆

This poor, illiterate antisemite, who was protesting Israel in Manhattan on December 28th, 2008, really made a fool out of himself and what passes for his cause. Notice the look on the better dressed and presumably better educated Muslim behind him – the one trying to yank that sign away. Ouch!

The poor, benighted fool also seems to have never learned that oranges were one of Gaza’s major exports and cash crops before the interdiction.  Death To All Juice might not be the best or most appropriate slogan to brandish at a pro-Palestinian street protest.

Sometimes I wonder how these fools manage to use their weapons. Oh yeah, sometimes they don’t.

On a much more serious note – I wonder if improving the dismal literacy rates and overall education levels in many of the more problematical Islamic nations would reduce their peoples’ likelihood of joining the jihad or just make them more dangerous.

Tags: Antisemitism | Education | Humor | Islamophobia | Jews | Muslims | Politics | Society

This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 9:52 am and is filed under Politics, Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.