Saudi Fanatacism Cracking?

Saudi Arabia, home to the Salafi / Wahhabi version of Sunni Islam, is possibly the most repressive regime on this earth. It is a nation ruled solely by a strict, medieval interpretation of Sharia law. It is a nation where "witches" are regularly executed and women who venture out of doors without a male family member as excort are subject to flogging. Indeed, it was only two years ago that the 19 year old "girl from Qatif" was taken by a group of men and brutally gang raped. At trial, she was found guilty with being out of her house without a male relative escort and sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes. The sentence was commuted by King Abdullah.

When King Abdullah ascended to the throne, many expected him to try liberalize his country. And today we hear that the person he has named to the position of head of the religious police has issued a fatwa so radical that it would be the equivalent of Obama tomorrow declaring a unilateral abrogation of the Fist Amendment. This from Memri:

A dispute has broken out in Saudi Arabia after a fatwa was issued by Ahmad Qasim Al-Ghamdi, director of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice for Mecca, permitting mixing of the genders.

Al-Ghamdi also said that there are hadiths proving that a woman can shake a man's hand.

This is the largest movement I have seen yet towards liberalization in Saudi Arabia. If allowed to stand, the fatwah would work a sea change in Saudi culture and law.

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This Day In History - 2 June: The Queen, Witches, Vandals & Sadists

Photo: Queen Elizabeth II At Her Coronation, 1957

455: Geiseric, King of the Vandals, began a two week sack of Rome. The damage wrought by Geiseric's people saw the name of the Vandals enter the common tongue as a word to describe people who cause wanton destruction.

1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city. The First Crusade was called by the Pope in response to, one, Islam's massive wars of conquest waged against Christendom for 400 years, and two, the decision of the Fatimid Caliph in 1009 to destroy the holiest Church in Christendom, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The First Crusade ended three years later with the capture of Jerusalem.

1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. She is found guilty and hung several days later. She was the first of nineteen who would be hung for witchcraft. Five others died in captivity and one was crushed to death.

1763 – Pontiac's Rebellion begins at what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan. Chippewas Indians captured Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort. Once inside, they began a slaughter of most of the British inhabitants of the fort.

1774 – The Quartering Act, one of a series of laws known collectively as the Intolerable Acts and adopted in the wake of the Boston Tea Party, was enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters were not provided.

1793 – Jean-Paul Marat recites the names of 29 people to the French National Convention. Almost all of these people are guillotined, followed by 17,000 more over the course of the next year during the Reign of Terror - an appropriate event to commemorate the birth of modern socialism. Marat was famously murdered in his bathtub by a royalist woman.

1835 – P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States. As he most famously said, there is a sucker born every minute.

1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.

1925 – Lou Gehrig starts at first base for the New York Yankees, beginning a streak of 2,130 consecutive games played, topped only by the Orioles' Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995. Exactly 16 years to the day, in 1941, Gehrig passes away from Amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

1946 – Today is the birth of the Italian Republic. In a referendum, Italians decide to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After this referendum the king of Italy Umberto II di Savoia is exiled.

1953 – Elizabeth II, is crowned queen of England in a ceremony televised from Westminster Abbey, London.

1967 – Protests in West Berlin turn into riots, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death became a rallying cry for German's leftists and contributed greatly to their radicalization. Within the past week, it has come to light that the officer who killed Ohnesorg was actually an East German agent.

1979 – Pope John Paul II visits his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country. John Paul II is credited with being one of the keys to the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe.

1997 – Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

2004 – Question - On this day in 2004, he began his 74-game winning streak on the syndicated game show Jeopardy? Answer - who is Ken Jennings.

Births

926 – Murakami, the 62nd Emperor of Japan (d. 967)

1535 – Pope Leo XI was born in Italy. He would eventually be voted Pope, but only served in the position for a month before dying.

1740 – Marquis de Sade, French author whose extreme sexual proclivities gave us the word, sadism, for a person who gets sexually excited by inflicting pain on others.

1835 – Pope Pius X. He ascended to the papacy in 1903, during a period when socialism and science were posing new challenges to the Church. Pius opposed the theological school of thought known as modernism, which claimed that Catholic dogma itself should be modernized and blended with nineteenth century philosophies.

1840 – Thomas Hardy, English writer (d. 1928)


Deaths

1716 – Ogata Korin, Japanese painter (b. 1658)

1806 – William Tate, English painter (b. 1747)

1990 – Rex Harrison, English actor (b. 1908)

2005 – Melita Norwood, British spy (b. 1912)


Holidays and observances

Today is the Festa della Repubblica (Republic Day), in Italy, and the Feast of Saint Elmo

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Dear Pakistan

Dear Pakistan:

We understand that a high level delegation from your country is coming to the West to request that we "amend laws regarding freedom of expression in order to prevent offensive incidents such as the printing of blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and the production of an anti-Islam film by a Dutch legislator." We understand that you are making this plea in order to forestall Muslims reacting with justifiable homicidal mania to any perceived slight by word or picture - or in the case of Teddy Bears, naming. Indeed, you have stated that the recent suicide bombing outside the gates of the Danish Embassy was preventable if we in the West would just silence all criticism of Islam. Since you have been so kind as to take the first step and open up a dialogue on the topic, there are just a few minor things that we too find offensive and were wondering if you perhaps could do something about them.



- Do you think you could discuss your Koranic interpretations that are used to legitimize terrorism and indiscriminate murder to advance Islam. We realize that the Wahhabi, Salafi, and Deobandi sects in particular interpret the Koran to mean that they can freely murder non-Muslims or enslave them and rape them. [Update: For specific references to these doctrines being taught in a Saudi school in Virginia, read the USCIFR report here.] Perhaps you can understand why we might find that offensive. This is made all the more problematic when one realizes that those sects hold that challenging their existing Salafi Koranic interpretations are "redda (apostasy) punishable by death . . ." Thus some of us could misinterpret your reasonable request to alter our laws of free speech to criminalize the criticism of Islam as a backdoor attempt to impose your will and your religion on the West. Perhaps you can clarify that for us.



While we are on the topic of terrorism, you have allowed your country to become ever more radicalized over the past four decades by throwing open your doors to Saudi madrassas that promote incredible racism, xenephobia and violence. You knowingly allowed the A.Q. Khan network to operate as a nuclear Walmart for the most dangerous regimes around the world. You created the Taliban movement and are, today, at most doing less than nothing to combat it, and at worst, actively supporting it in its efforts to retake Afghanistan. Hopefully you will understand why we find that a trifle problematic and, in the long run, untenable. While we ponder offending you, perhaps you might ponder your role in killing us and spreading terrorism.


- Some have expressed dismay at your treatment of Muslims who decide they do not believe in Islam or that convert to another faith, such as Christianity. We take some offense at executing people for their religious beliefs. I realize that despite the threat of death, conversions to Christianity from Islam are occuring with ever greater rapidity. Are you so unsure of your religion that you can only maintain outward belief and retention by threatening death? And on a related topic, do you think you can get the Saudis to stop cutting off peoples heads for witchcraft? Not to be too judgmental, but the emphasis of your religious police on ferreting out witches and breaking spells (which accroding to the grand inquistor are to be found in the sea) seems all a trifle medieval. Perhaps it becomes understandable when one realizes that Saudi Arabia only put the flat earth theory behind them with the recent turn of the millenium. A fatwa issued by the Grand Mufti in 1993 instructed "the earth is flat. Whoever claims it is round is an atheist deserving of punishment."



- Your ideas of religious freedom seem a tad lacking to us. In your country, Pakistan, the charge of blasphemy against the Prophet is being used to steal vast tracts of land from Christians In Algeria, Christians are being jailed by kangaroo courts for practicing their religion. In Saudi Arabia, there is no freedom to practice any religion but Islam, even in the privacy of one's home. No churches can be built in Turkey. Christians are being systematically persecuted and driven from Palestinian controlled portions of the Holy Land. Christains and Jews are second class citizens in virtually all Muslim dominated countries. As long as we are discussing things that bring offense, pehaps you might consider those things.



- About this honor violence and the treatment of women thing, do you think you can work on that? It really does offend some of us in the West - though admittedly not the major feminist groups. I realize women can seem a bit threatening, but do you have to stone them to save your idea of honor? Or gang rape them? Or beat them to death? Or set them on fire? And do you really have to perform female genital mutilation?



- Most of us in the West are a might offended by pedeophilia. I realize the Prophet deflowered a nine year old girl when he was fifty-four, but times have changed over the last millenium and a half. What do you say, can you do away with arranged marriages to and sex with pre-pubescent girls in order to stop offending us?



- Some have noted that court systems applying Sharia law discriminate based on gender and religion. Is there any reason you can think of that a Muslim male's testimony should count twice that of a non-Muslim's or a woman's? We do find such systemic discrimination a bit troubling.



- Is there a reason you keep hanging gays? A substantial number of us are offended by killing or beating a person for their sexual orientation.








Lastly, there are many of us who take offense at the fact that you feel that your interpretation of your religion is above criticism - and indeed, that you act as psychopathic children at any real or imagined slight in an effort to bully the West into silence and dhimmitude. It is difficult to think of anything that would be more dangerous or counterproductive to the West than silencing criticism of Islam or freedom of speech in whatever form. Several of the major sects of your religion - Wahhabi, Salafi, Deobandi, Khomeinist - preach an interpretation of the Koran and Hadiths that are quite literally mired in the Dark Ages and aimed at imposing Muslim domination on the world by any method. They are in desperate need of their period of Enlightenment and maturation that can and will only come through critical thought and debate - or to put it in Islamic terms, ijtihad. Your request to silence free speech in the West would effectively stop that process in its tracks.

I'll tell you what, why don't you get cracking on the things that offend us, and then we'll talk some more about silencing our freedom of speech to keep you happy. Or are our concerns just more Islamophobia on our part? Well, what say you my Paki friends?

Sincerely,

GW


P.S. In countries that already have laws limiting criticism of Islam, we have seen the UK issue a warrant for the arrest of a British blogger for critizing Islam, and in Canada, Mark Steyn was charged with a human rights violation for merely quoting a Wahhabi cleric. Another blogger from Finland was recently jailed for two years for insulting Islam. What more could you ask for, really? Just remember, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered in the West.

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Interesting News & Posts - 17 February 2008

Interesting news and posts of late from across the blogosphere, all below the fold.










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From Patrick at Ankle Biting Pundits: "Eventually, the shine will come off of Sen. Obama’s vapid and puerile campaign. Eventually, someone in the press will ask him a challenging question. When that day comes, this messiah business will evanesce and left standing there will be just another liberal politician."

And RightTruth has the story on Obama’s attempt to pass some seriously costly legislation. Its Obama’s plan to feed the world with fish and loaves – and our tax dollars. The water to wine bill is still in committee.

From the Jawa Report: When the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains and seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious." Quod. Erat. Demonstrandum. I quibble with the label "liberal" as the modern left has left classical liberalism in the dust. I think it more accurate to refer to the folk described above as progressive.

And you can see the progressive mind amply demonstrated at Red Alerts in the story of Bernie Ward, liberal lion and vociferous critic of our troops.

I have been saying for years that there is nothing of "classical liberalism" in the modern "progressive"left. You only find classical liberal principles valued and upheld on the conservative side of the house these days. From the left, you get "intellectual terrorism." Some thoughts on this at Covenant Zone.

See Blonde Sagacity’s Blog Rollup. There are pics from the Berkley City Council protest, the Top Ten Economic Myths of 2007, funny chicks, and much, much more. And at Iris Elk, an eclectic roll-up, from Chavez’s favorite capybara recipe to musings upon whether a Catholic can be a Democrat.

Seraphic Secret has more on the complex operation that was the Mughnieyah hit, and a suggestion that Mughnieyah was killed to forestall future terrorist operations in Europe. And from MK, the BBC apparently cannot distinguish who the bad guys are. Here is a rule of thumb, the folks described by Crusader Rabbit who kill innocents or threaten to do so in order to get their way – they are the bad guys. And insane bad guys at that. Perhaps they might try viagra before going straight to the beheadings for witchcraft.

Over at Political Insecurity, the animals are on the loose. Muslim students in Nigeria attempt to lynch a Christian student because they were angry at the Mohammed Cartoons. They ended up rioting, killing several people and burning a police station.

And at Shield of Achilles, the animals are on the loose in Denmark. Is anybody watching? Sheik Yer Mami informs us that the problem in Denmark is actually global warming. The multiculturalists are fiddling while f*** Rome burns.

And at Lionheart, the animals are on video on the loose in Luton.

It has been apparent for years, with leak after leak finding its way onto the NYT, that our intelligence agencies are out of control and seeking to influence policy. As Michael Rubin reports, these rogue acts reached their zenith in the drafting of the NIE on Iran’s nuclear weapons program – an NIE that even our spy chief Mitch McConnell admits was inaccurate.

Multiculturalism is destroying Britain. Will it destroy America. Ask the Velvet Hammer.

Its nice to see someone on the right who finds Ann Coulter as tedious and ridiculous as I, though I admit to laughing at the "coherent tax policy" line. And while I had considered Lieberman as a running mate to McCain – and I happen to greatly respect Lieberman – I think that someone with strong economic credentials, such as Romney, might be a better choice.

Sometimes, fiction is stranger than . . . well, fiction.

All laws come with unintended consequences, though many are foreseeable. Though, I have to admit, I did not see this one: How long will it be before some enterprising American plaintiff . . . files a complaint alleging that calls for affirmative action at his or her institution have created a hostile working environment?

Painting: The above painting is "Leonidas at Thermopylae" Jacques-Louis David, 1814.

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