Isaac Schrödinger

The Meaning of Peace

The largest Muslim nation on Earth embraces intolerance at the state level:

The Indonesian government has halted all religious activities of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, handing a victory to Islamic extremists and tarnishing Indonesia's reputation as a moderate, pluralistic Muslim nation.

The decree, approved June 10 by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, falls short of an outright ban on Ahmadis, but orders them to stop practicing their faith and "return to mainstream Islam." Ahmadis now face arrest for practicing their beliefs.

Ahmadis have been openly discriminated against in Pakistan. For instance, one has to officially state that they don't prescribe to Ahmadi beliefs on passport and national ID applications. Otherwise, one gets marked for discrimination.

Now, in Indonesia it's open season on Ahmadis -- a tiny group numbering 200,000 in a nation with over 200 million people.

Muslim countries truly excel at thuggery.

Link via IBA.

Certain Death

The Scotsman via Dhimmi Watch:

A PAKISTANI family who sought asylum in Scotland because they received death threats over their religious beliefs are hoping that a last-minute appeal will stop their deportation tomorrow.

The head of the family lost his asylum case. As a result

his five-year-old daughter, Miriam, was taken from her P1 class at school, and his wife, Gull, and other two children, Abishir, two, and Nadab, three, were all put in confinement awaiting deportation on Tuesday.

We Are The Sinners

Bruce Bawer: The Times, It Ain’t a-Changin’.

Routinely, news organizations suppress, downplay, or misrepresent developments that reflect badly on Islam; they go out of their way to find stories that reflect (or that can be spun in such a way as to reflect) positively on it; and they publish professors and intellectuals and “experts” like Feldman, who share the media’s determination to obscure the central role of jihadist ideology in the current clash between Islam and Western democracy and to point the finger instead (as Feldman does) at European racism.

This is a particular Western disease that I don't fully understand. It's easy to see why vast majorities in Muslim nations blame the Jews and the West for their failures because they don't want to even remotely equate Islam with disaster. But why do so many Westerners blame themselves for being the innocent recipients of copious amounts of halaal loathing?

Jihadists in Canada

Christie Blatchford:

Mr. Heft appears to be, for lack of a better term, one of the good guys. He tried to counsel some of the accused, including the hysterical leader, and steer them away from extremism, at least on Canadian soil.

According to the CBC interview transcript, the leader once talked to him about the “martyrdom operation of Sept. 11,” so Mr. Heft said, “I was telling him that it hasn't even been proven that Sept. 11 was actually done by 19 hijackers. That was just the alleged story of the U.S. government. All I tried to explain to him is that whoever did it was wrong … And then I started to just talk to him about how we haven't even proven that the people who had actually did it were Muslims.”

Yes, that's the main difference between a bad Muslim and a good one: the bad fellow praises the 9/11 attacks, the "better" one thinks that Muslims didn't even carry out the evil deed.

Gentle Fascists

Instapundit:

When the stormtroopers wear clown shoes instead of jackboots, it's easy to forget that they're still stormtroopers.

It's sad and funny at the same time.

The Land of the Pure

Tambi Dude emailed these two links.

1. 23 students suspended:

The Punjab Medical College (PMC), Faisalabad, through a notification issued on June 6, rusticated twenty-three medical students belonging to the Ahmadi sect for distributing hate material in the college. The rustication was reported in various sections of newspapers on Friday, but a formal notice was issued later that day.

PMC Principal Asghar Ali Randhawa told Daily Times that he had rusticated the students on the report of the disciplinary committee. He said that he had formed another committee to probe into the issue, and would accommodate the Ahmadi students if the committee found them innocent.

They weren't found guilty of anything. They were told to stay away because:

Asked if the rustication was a clear message to Ahmadi students were no longer welcome in the college, he said that the students had been suspended, and the word rustication had been used to cool down the students who did not want Ahmadis in the college.

Imagine the global outrage if Muslim students at a college in the US were suspended because most of the student body didn't want to be around Muslims.

2. Pakistani cops go after dangerous criminals:

Police in Khushab district have registered a case against five Ahmadis, including two pre-teens, for subscribing to the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiya’s monthly children’s magazine Tasheezul Azhan, Daily Times has learnt.

According to the first information report, the complainant, an officer of the Intelligence Bureau, submitted to the Khushab district police officer (DPO) that the magazine is “banned literature” and contains “hate material”. A brief study of the 50-page magazine showed no obvious “hate material” against any group, and the articles were restricted to discussions about Ahmadi beliefs.

Isn't that rich? A nation-state that explicitly discriminates against Ahmadis is charging Ahmadis for supposedly distributing "hate material". Perhaps the Pakistani authorities can direct their attention at the hundreds of madrassas across the country which poison young minds with hatred for the Jews and infidels in general.

Or they can continue to go after a tiny, peaceful minority.

Hallowed Logic

Muslim Matters: What About Thy Hallowed Freedom of Speech?

Before I get too far and people wrongfully accuse me, I wish to be clear that I am indeed very much in favor of free speech and very thankful that I do not have to be afraid of what I say in this country. This though does not detract from what many people feel is an abuse of this great privilege of ours in America and elsewhere.

[Emphasis mine.]

Later on:

there were those in the non-Muslim world who defiantly proclaimed their right to depict the Prophet in any way they wished – insulting or not – as guaranteed by the freedom of speech. Again, to be fair though, a large number of other non-Muslim Westerners disagreed with this position as voiced to me by one airplane seat-mate of mine who was visiting the US from Denmark. She reported to me that on the contrary, a number of surveys in her country had shown a majority of Danes were unhappy with their government’s position and felt there was very much a difference between freedom of speech and respecting someone else’s feelings.

You are free to say or publish whatever you want as long as it doesn't hurt her feelings. How generous.

I was thus quite surprised two months ago to read about how a number of outraged Catholics in Austria succeeded in having a sacrilegious painting of the Last Supper removed from Vienna’s Roman Catholic St. Stephan’s Cathedral museum.

Why was that surprising?

Instead of invoking the almighty right of freedom of speech though, something amazing happened - the museum respectfully took down the painting at its Cardinal’s request just over a week after the ‘Religion, Flesh and Power’ exhibition had opened.

The concept of freedom of speech (and thus freedom from punishment) applies to the state -- not the Roman Catholic St. Stephan's Cathedral museum. Had the Austrian government stepped in and removed the paintings or jailed the artist, then the author would have had a point. This silly artist can continue to show his/her work elsewhere in the country and you won't see Christians all across the globe calling for his/her head and murdering over a 100 people in the process.

You know, just a small difference.

although it appears to me to be a double standard, I am very pleased to see that freedom of speech was not abused to keep such a piece of trash masquerading as art in the Cathedral museum. I also hope this will lead to further discussion and reflection in the Western world regarding a delineation between freedom of speech and “reverence for the sacred” so that we may truly become a global civilization that respects all of its members.

Awww, isn't that cute. I would have called for a big group hug but then I remembered that Muslims don't like to come in contact with, by nature dirty, infidels. So, out of "respect", I'll refrain.

What "No Compulsion" Means

Compass Direct News brings this story from Jordan:

The North Amman Sharia Court in April dissolved the marriage of Mohammad Abbad, on trial for apostasy, or leaving Islam.

Obviously, this Islamic court is misinterpreting the tolerant nature of Islam.

Abbad and his 10-year-old son were violently attacked in their home on March 23, when relatives of another convert, staying with Abbad, stormed the house. Abbad suffered injuries to his head and chest and bleeding in his right eye, according to medical reports from Jordan University Hospital.

Note this greater cruelty:

When Abbad went to the police station the same day to file a complaint he found his father there, demanding custody of Abbad’s son and 11-year-old daughter.

Abbad's father wants to take Abbad's own children away from him. This is the life of an honest apostate in an Islamic nation: the state and your own peaceful, Muslim family turn against you.

Testifying before Khreisat the next day (March 24), Abbad refused to convert back to Islam. According to court records, Khreisat ordered Abbad to be jailed in Amman’s Jweideh Prison for one week for “contempt of court.”

Due to his injuries Abbad fainted while on his way to the jail, prompting police to send him to a hospital where he spent the night handcuffed to his bed.

Can't have such a dangerous "criminal" escape.

The exact number of Muslim converts to Christianity in Jordan is unknown. Many choose to maintain a low profile in order to avoid harassment.

That's putting it mildly.

Link via Dhimmi Watch.

An Offensive Incident

Daily Times via Ezra Levant:

Pakistan will ask the European Union countries to 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, sources in the Interior Ministry told Daily Times on Saturday.

What I wrote two years ago:

It is vitally important that the West not put Islam or any other religion off-limits to critical analysis. For only in the West can a person safely write that the obliteration of a Jewish tribe, the taking of sex-slaves, and the confiscation of non-Muslim property is something not to be celebrated and emulated.

I wouldn't bet on the EU to hold.

Ezra Levant points out the asininity:

My favourite part of the story is the last two sentences. They fit together perfectly, almost like a Shakespearian rhyming couplet.

Here they are:

They said that the delegation would also tell the EU that if such acts against Islam are not controlled, more attacks on the EU diplomatic missions abroad could not be ruled out.

Sources said that the delegation would also hold discussions on inter-religious harmony during its meetings with the EU leaders.

So tastefully thuggish.

Religion of Peace, Again

Tambi Dude emailed this link:

A young blind boy has died after a teacher at his Islamic school in Pakistan hung him upside down and beat him for not learning the Koran, Agence France-Presse reported Friday.

Teacher Qari Ziauddin allegedly hung Muhammad Atif, 7, from a ceiling fan at Qari Latif Islamic school near Lahore, Pakistan, on Thursday.

Harsh beatings -- the preferred teaching method -- are a regular occurrence in Pakistani schools.

Why Do They Hate Us?

The Copenhagen Post via LFG:

Danes need look no further than their own newspapers to find the reason for the car bombing that severely damaged their embassy in Pakistan on Monday, according to Rohan Gunaranta, an international terrorism expert from Pakistan.

'There is still a lot of dissatisfaction here about the cartoons, as well as the fact that the Danish government still has not condemned them or the people that were responsible for them. As long as that hasn't happened, Denmark will be under the constant threat of militant muslims,' Gunaranta said.

Pakistan's sick ambassador gets into the act:

'It isn't just the people of Pakistan that feel they have been harassed by what your newspaper has begun,' she said. 'I'd like to know if your newspaper is satisfied with what it has done and what it has unleashed?'

The logic is impeccable; the same species of it is used when a woman is raped in Muslim lands. You see, she must not have covered herself properly. She is ultimately responsible for enticing Muslims into committing barbaric acts.

The ambassador conveniently forgets that death and carnage has been the forte of Muslims for centuries -- largely because their role model was a psychotic, cruel and deeply immoral man. The violent reaction of the umma across the globe and the Let's Blame The West mentality of "educated" Muslims shows that the cartoons weren't off the mark.

Coddling Muslims in the UK

Continuing with the theme, another link here:

A police community support officer ordered two Christian preachers to stop handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham.

Does he think that Muslims can't take the heat?

The evangelists say they were threatened with arrest for committing a "hate crime" and were told they risked being beaten up if they returned. The incident will fuel fears that "no-go areas" for Christians are emerging in British towns and cities, as the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, claimed in The Sunday Telegraph this year.

A taste of what the officer said:

"He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message. He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam and said that he was going to take us to the police station."

Lovely chap.

Link via Instapundit.

A Fixed Game

Nice title: Bishops in Chess Games.

To deal with the "baptism problem", various schemes have been tried. The missionary experts have tried "secret baptism", "delayed baptism" and "self-baptism" and found them all to be inadequate because Muslim social and family structure is such that whenever a member leaves Islam, it is perceived as a calamitous event for the entire family.

Most of the cases cited where people have resorted to violence are rooted more in disputes over family honour and reputation than in Islamic jurisprudence. In a world where reputation is crucial to the process of finding good marriage partners for siblings, being known as a family with members who have left the faith is highly damaging. This distinction, however, is lost on many Church strategists. Instead, they have consistently blamed Islamic jurisprudence for the anger that is generated and have resorted to what can only be described as an attempt to rewrite Islamic history.

It seems the author is saying that Islamic jurisprudence doesn't advocate using force against ex-Muslims.

But then the very next paragraph:

In recent years, there have been a series of attempts, posited within the interfaith framework, to get Muslim scholars here in the West to issue global verdicts rendering the "law of apostasy in traditional Islam" not only inapplicable in the current context but also historically invalid and unjustified. The purpose, of course, for seeking such a ruling is that it would facilitate the exporting of it to countries where missionaries are having difficulties at the point of baptism with family members of people who convert to Christianity.

Correct. But if that apostasy law is not the cause of harm towards ex-Muslims then why would Christian missionaries ask for it to be declared invalid?

Allah Damn It!

I've been blogging since 2004 and yet they didn't include me in the list. Really, what does a murtad have to do?

My day is totally ruined.

The CHRC Gets Heat

Ezra Levant via Small Dead Animals:

The Conservative government has introduced a motion to Parliament's Justice Committee proposing an investigation into the abusive, corrupt practises of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The motion specifically refers to public "concerns" about the CHRC's "investigative techniques" and their "interpretation and application" of the section 13 thought crimes provision.

Good.

The Nature of Islam

Jihad Watch gets a disturbing message from an Iranian ex-Muslim:

It is with great regret that I inform all freedom loving people of the world that the Mullahs' terrorist regime is about to execute one of Iran's finest thinkers, a true patriot, scholar and historian.

Dr. Foroud Fouladvand is a dedicated monarchist, a Ferdousi expert as well as expert on the history of Iran and Islam.

Recently:

In January 2007, the agents of the Mullahs' secret police arrested and smuggled these three men into Iran, where they were imprisoned and were subjected to torture.

A commenter writes:

The irony of this matter is mind-blowing: Qur'an teaches murder and hatred, man speaks out about the murder and hatred, man is then hated and murdered (as instructed by the Qur'an). It's like watching the merry-go-round from hell - that has no brakes.

The icing: Remember, Islam means peace!

It Ain't Bleeding

Gateway Pundit:

This past year Iraq has disappeared from the front pages of the nation's newspapers and from the nightly network newscasts.

Gee, I wonder why ...

A Taste of Sharia

AKI via Dhimmi Watch:

Ten Iranians who converted from Islam to Christianity in recent months have been arrested in the southern city of Shiraz.

More encouraging news:

Under the new law, anyone born to a Muslim father who decides to renounce Islam and convert to another faith, faces the death penalty.

The punishment is currently absent from the Iranian penal code even though in the past, dozens of Christian converts and followers of the Bahai faith have been hanged.

A commenter at Dhimmi Watch writes:

And Obama Hussein Barack who was born of a muslim father wants to go to Iran and talk with them.

An "Insurgency" Without Support

Daimnation:

Islamic fascism is kind of like Communism - it gets a lot of sympathy and support in some parts of the world, until it's actually implemented.

Yeah. The sharia jackboot looks so sexy until it's used to smash your face.

Everyone Loves Allah

American studios won't be picking up this sitcom anytime soon.

Personally I find it to be terribly disrespectful to Batman.

What is Darkness Like?

Saber Point:

I read a good book last week, "Why We Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak Out." It is a compilation of personal stories of both women and men apostates and why they decided to leave their religion.

Here's one chilling story:

The women who write generally speak of violence and abuse at the hands of their husbands or fathers. One woman bore a Muslim man three daughters; upset at the lack of a son, he beat her severely, causing internal injuries that required removal of her uterus. The husband visited her in the hospital to inform her that he was divorcing her since she could not now bear him a son.

The Joys of Polygamy

The Toronto Star via LFG:

"You think you know your husband. You don't know him at all," said the man, a friend of her husband's. "His car is parked outside my house right now. He is with my ex-wife. They just got married last week," the man said.

It took a minute for the news to sink in. Then she called her husband of 14 years, demanding to know if what she had just been told was true – that while she spent a year in Egypt raising their four children in a more Islamic environment, he had used it as an opportunity to marry not just one, but two other women in Toronto.

More:

He told her he was married in a small ceremony 20 days earlier, officiated by Aly Hindy, a well-known Toronto imam, at his Scarborough mosque.

That name rang bells; sure enough I wrote a post about Aly Hindy three years ago. Continuing with The Toronto Star:

"I cried for six days straight. Lost my appetite, ignored the kids, even had to start taking antidepressants," said Rigby, 35. "What I couldn't understand was how such a thing could happen in Toronto, my hometown, where polygamy is supposed to be illegal."

It was easy. He simply found an imam willing to break a Canadian law, in exchange for upholding an Islamic one.

Aly Hindy should either be deported or thrown in jail. There's no point in having a law if those who openly break it are not punished.

The Price of Freedom

Jane Novak:

Please join us and sign at this link in support of the heroic journalist, Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani.

Again, it's this link:

Renowned journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani is one of Yemen's most prominent democracy advocates - for which he has paid a steep price. His paper has been closed, his website blocked, and his children threatened. He is now due to be sentenced on May 21 for "insulting the president" and "demoralizing the military."

Child Bride

Yemen Post:

Just weeks after the country was shocked to hear about Nujood, the 8-year-old bride, who demanded the court to divorce her from her husband, today comes a much shameful case, as Arwa, a 7-year-old girl got married to a 35-year-old man in Ibb governorate.

The disapproval of such a practice and religious criticism are linked. One cannot abolish the practice without taking on the ugly legacy of Islam.

Link via Armies of Liberation.

Beyond Reform

The Manrilla Blog: The Trouble With Muslim Pundits Today.

Manji’s axe to grind with authority extends even to basic tenants of Islam such as prayer. When asked about prayer she responded that she does not need anyone to tell her how to pray - that she can devise such a way on her own. Such thinking could not be further from the pale of Islamic theology 101. But make issue with this line of thought is not that Manji wants to “find her own way” but in that she wishes to seek accommodation in the orthodoxy of the religion. Wanting to be homosexual and pray in your own way is completely a matter of personal choice but there is simply no way to justify it with the texts, traditions and methodologies in Islam.

I can't disagree with that.

Link via Umar Lee.

Just How Dumb Can One Be?

This dumb (via LFG):

Democrats are rebuking President Bush for saying in his speech to the Knesset, here, that to “negotiate with terrorists and radicals” is “appeasement.” The Democrats took it as a slap at Barack Obama. What bothers me is the continual reference to Hitler and his National Socialists, particularly the British and French accommodation at the Munich Conference of 1938.

The narrative we're given about Munich is entirely in hindsight. We know what kind of man Hitler was, and that he started World War II in Europe. From the view of 1938, what Hitler was demanding at Munich was not unreasonable, according to the prevailing idea of the nation-state.

Stefan Sharkansky:

promoting appeasement of Hamas and Iran now by saying that appeasing Hitler in 1938 was reasonable at the time, is not a very persuasive argument.

Indeed.

The Time Will Come

A quote from Boris Johnson:

When is someone going to get 18th century on Islam's mediaeval ass?

Best guess: When Westerners perceive that they have been pushed towards the edge of oblivion.

Islam has been in such a weak and decrepit state for almost a century that most paid no attention to it. But in the recent past with countless terrorist attacks and more and more contact with Muslims, the West is slowly waking up to the danger.

Not Bowing to Terror

Haaretz via Isreallycool:

Award-winning American actor Jon Voight visited Israeli victims of Palestinian rocket attacks in Sderot on Tuesday, taking pictures with children and speaking out harshly against latest truce efforts to stop the rocket barrages and Israeli reprisals in Gaza.

Voight says it like it is:

"They are barbarians," Voight said, referring to the Gaza militants. "They are relentless, looking to destroy (Israel)," the actor said. "If somebody breaks your leg, don't give another. Don't play this game."

Apostate-in-Chief

An op-ed about Senator Obama in The New York Times. [Registration required. Use Bug Me Not.] Here, the author is writing about apostasy:

it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder (which the victim’s family may choose to forgive).

With few exceptions, the jurists of all Sunni and Shiite schools prescribe execution for all adults who leave the faith not under duress; the recommended punishment is beheading at the hands of a cleric, although in recent years there have been both stonings and hangings.

This leads to a solid, and unpleasing, conclusion.

First link emailed by slickdpdx who blogs at Known Unknowns.

The Hatred of Freedom

CBC via Celestial Junk:

Police in Halifax are investigating a complaint about a political cartoon that some members of a local Islamic group claim is a hate crime.

The cartoon, published April 18 in the Chronicle Herald newspaper, depicts a woman in a burka holding a sign that reads, "I want millions," and she says, "I can put it towards my husband's next training camp."

Later on:

In an interview with the Herald before the cartoon ran, Jamal said she wanted to sue the federal government for what her family has gone through and told the reporter, "I want millions," Leger noted.

"[MacKinnon] depicted her exactly the way she looks and used her own words, and that's the genius of cartooning that you're able to do that," he said.

Why do such Muslims get upset at those who merely point out the idiocies rather than the idiot? It's almost as if they don't have a rational response to the cartoonist. Their only recourse is to silence him. This has the effect of making free speech regarding Islam a bit expensive.

A Simple Freedom

May this trend continue:

A Malaysian Islamic court allowed a Muslim convert Thursday to return to her original faith of Buddhism, setting a precedent that could ease religious minorities' worries about their legal rights.

It wouldn't be surprising to see imams across the globe, especially in the Middle East, railing against this "evil" decision.

Link via Instapundit.

Democracy = Suicide ?

Macleans:

Palestinian Arabs present a challenge to Israel that is at once more straightforward and infinitely more difficult to solve. Within one or two decades, the number of Muslim and Christian Arabs living under Israeli control (including in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel itself) will surpass the number of Israeli Jews. When that happens, if there is still no Palestinian state (and in the absence of large-scale ethnic cleansing), Israelis will be forced to choose between two futures. Their country will either be Jewish, but not democratic — in other words, a Jewish minority will control a land mostly inhabited by Palestinians — or Israel will be democratic, but not Jewish, because Arabs will form the majority in what will become a bi-national state.

Link via Elphi Delphi.

The Choice of a Jew Generation

LFG: Hamas MP: Pepsi Stands For 'Pay Every Pence to Save Israel'

Awesome! I just had one an hour ago.

(Title shamelessly stolen from Damian Penny; linked earlier here.)

Perpetually Inflamed

Sam Harris:

Wilders, like Westergaard and the other Danish cartoonists, has been widely vilified for "seeking to inflame" the Muslim community. Even if this had been his intention, this criticism represents an almost supernatural coincidence of moral blindness and political imprudence. The point is not (and will never be) that some free person spoke, or wrote, or illustrated in such a manner as to inflame the Muslim community. The point is that only the Muslim community is combustible in this way. The controversy over Fitna, like all such controversies, renders one fact about our world especially salient: Muslims appear to be far more concerned about perceived slights to their religion than about the atrocities committed daily in its name.

Indeed.

There is an uncanny irony here that many have noticed. The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we will kill you.

They can be so charming sometimes.

Link via the Intergalactic Source of Truth.

"Playing is Harmful"

Apparently being chained and getting a beating is quite harmless.

No Respect

Tambi Dude emailed this link:

A resolution calling for the enactment of an international pact to forbid religions from being defamed or insulted as well as their symbols, leaders and prophets has been voted out by the Saudi Shoura (Consultative Council).

Odd isn't it. Why wouldn't they want religion to be respected?

A total of 77 members opposed the recommendation while 33 voted in favour. Those who opposed it argued that such a pact would force people to recognise religions, which advocate idol worship, and that “would be unacceptable.”

Ah.

Talal Bakri, one of the staunch critics of the move, said “if we approve the resolution it will be make it obligatory to recognise some religions and will facilitate establishing places of worship for them in Muslim countries.”

Heaven forbid! It's always revealing to see such a contrast. Muslims can build thousands of mosques within the West but the mere thought of allowing other places of worship within Islamic societies is considered vulgar.

Not America

MikeT provides this link in the comments:

Trafficked across the border from Pakistan with her 3-year-old son, Rukhma was handed to an Afghan who raped and abused her, then beat the toddler to death as she watched helplessly.

He was jailed for 20 years for murder, but Rukhma ended up in prison too.

Rukhma, who doesn't know her age but looks younger than 20, had put up with her mistreatment for three months last summer before seeking protection and justice from authorities. Instead she was given a four-year sentence on Dec. 5 for adultery and "escaping her house" in Pakistan, even though she says she was kidnapped and raped.

More:

The chief prosecutor of eastern Nangarhar province who oversaw Rukhma's case suggested she got off lightly.

"If my wife goes to the bazaar without my permission, I will kill her. This is our culture," Abdul Qayum shouted scornfully during an interview in his office in the city of Jalalabad.

His colleagues laughed approvingly. "This is Afghanistan, not America," Qayum said.

[Emphasis mine.]

MikeT:

As we southerners sometimes say about men like him, "some people just need killin'."

Indeed.

Muhammad The Merciful

Cafe Alpha asks:

Wow. Mohammad raped a women - and took her as a slave "wife" immediately after torturing her husband to death and killing her father.

What's the source for this one?

This occurred at the end of the Battle of Khaybar in 629.

A Jewish tribe called Banu Nadir was present at Khaybar during that time. Safiyya was the daughter of the chief of Banu Nadir. She was married to the treasurer of the tribe. Muhammad had interrogated her husband but he refused to divulge any information about their precious belongings.

So, Muhammad had him tortured.

The fellow died and took the secret to his grave.

Muhammad on the same day beheaded all the adult males of the tribe. Safiyya lost her father and husband within a few hours.

Then Muhammad took her as his wife and raped consummated the marriage on the same night. Truly what a glorious example of morality!

Update
Islamic sources follow:

Sahih Bukhari: Volume 1, Book 8, Number 367. An excerpt:

Anas said, 'When Allah's Apostle invaded Khaibar, we offered the Fajr prayer there yearly in the morning) when it was still dark. The Prophet rode and Abu Talha rode too and I was riding behind Abu Talha. The Prophet passed through the lane of Khaibar quickly and my knee was touching the thigh of the Prophet . He uncovered his thigh and I saw the whiteness of the thigh of the Prophet. When he entered the town, he said, 'Allahu Akbar! Khaibar is ruined. Whenever we approach near a (hostile) nation (to fight) then evil will be the morning of those who have been warned.' He repeated this thrice. The people came out for their jobs and some of them said, 'Muhammad (has come).' (Some of our companions added, "With his army.") We conquered Khaibar, took the captives, and the booty was collected. Dihya came and said, 'O Allah's Prophet! Give me a slave girl from the captives.' The Prophet said, 'Go and take any slave girl.'

Sahih Bukhari: Volume 2, Book 14, Number 68. An excerpt:

Allah's Apostle (p.b.u.h) offered the Fajr prayer when it was still dark, then he rode and said, 'Allah Akbar! Khaibar is ruined. When we approach near to a nation, the most unfortunate is the morning of those who have been warned." The people came out into the streets saying, "Muhammad and his army." Allah's Apostle vanquished them by force and their warriors were killed; the children and women were taken as captives.

Sahih Bukhari: Volume 3, Book 34, Number 437. An excerpt:

The Prophet came to Khaibar and when Allah made him victorious and he conquered the town by breaking the enemy's defense, the beauty of Safiya bint Huyai bin Akhtab was mentioned to him and her husband had been killed while she was a bride. Allah's Apostle selected her for himself and he set out in her company till he reached Sadd-ar-Rawha' where her menses were over and he married her.

Sahih Bukhari: Volume 5, Book 59, Number 513.

Anas bin Malik said, "The Prophet took Safiya as a captive. He manumitted her and married her." Thabit asked Anas, "What did he give her as Mahr (i.e. marriage gift)?" Anas replied. "Her Mahr was herself, for he manumitted her."

How generous of him. A Muslim man gives her wife a gift. Muhammad provided Safiyya a simple one: he freed her from slavery.

Who was her owner? Muhammad.

Sahih Bukhari: Volume 5, Book 59, Number 523.

The Prophet stayed with Safiya bint Huyai for three days on the way of Khaibar where he consummated his marriage with her. Safiya was amongst those who were ordered to use a veil.

But, I thought that these women wore the veil by choice.

So Perfect

Hassan Radwan: Prophet Muhammad.

I've written quite a bit over the years about this "flawless" role model of humanity. Here's one that deals with his behavior towards the Jewish tribe Banu Quraiza.

Also, see this post where his personality is distilled down to seven words.

Another Loser of Islam

The National Post via LFG:

Naeem Muhammad Khan wants everyone to "Support Our Troops," but he's not talking about the Canadian Forces in Kandahar.

From his apartment in Toronto, Mr. Khan has been posting messages on the Internet calling Osama bin Laden a "hero" and "champion of Islam."

How patriotic.

In his online postings, Mr. Khan calls Tarek Fatah, Irshad Manji and other moderates "apostates," and says that under Islamic law, the punishment for apostasy is death. The same goes for those who insult Islam.

"Behead her!!! And make a nice video and post it on YouTube," he writes about one "Islam basher." As for "Jews who support Zionism and Israel … since they are killing Palestinians … killing them is not bad … they deserve to die."

At least he doesn't sugarcoat the teachings of his faith.

Mr. Khan said he was angry when he wrote these and did not mean anyone harm.

He's an ace at taqiyya too!

Submission: Baby Steps

The Daily Star:

About 1,500 children were due to take part in a parade to commemorate the patron saint of England on Wednesday.

But council bosses in Bradford, West Yorks, have ditched the event over concerns it could upset the Asian community, many of them Muslim.

Gateway Pundit:

The police fear for the safety of the children in the parade.

Quote of the Day

Cliff May:

Surely, if there’s one thing we should know about Islamists it’s that they generally venerate, rather than dismiss, “ancient documents.”

Hunh. Jimmy Carter continues to enhance his position as the worst American president of the 20th century.

What the West Needs to Know

Google Video: Islam: What the West Needs to Know.

Spend 98 minutes of your time and be utterly depressed.

Link via Connie in the comments.

Fatwa in 4 ... 3 ... 2 ...

You Tube: ISLAM? NO THANKS!!!

The man speaks the truth.

Praise Be to Jews

Middle East Times via Muslimah Media Watch:

An error led to the first-ever female Muslim Israeli-Arab soldier recently joining one of the Israeli Air Force elite units. But after the mistake was discovered the unit's commander was so impressed with the woman's ability and achievements that he allowed her to stay, breaking all the rules.

This has to doubly suck for Islamist terrorists: To get blown up by a Muslim woman! What sweet karma.

Dirty Infidels Not Welcome

David T:

This morning, my son asked to go swimming at 10 am. As he was going to play with a friend at 11.30, I agree to take him early. I checked the Pool Programme online at the Clissold Leisure Centre website, and the opening times. Apparently, the pool was open, and no special programmes were being run. So, off we trundled.

When I arrived at the pool, I was told that we could not swim in it until 10.45. The reason is that it was being used for "Muslim Male Swimming". This is apparently so, every Sunday morning.

Taxpayer-funded, of course.

Link via David Thompson.

Rhetoric Matters

Brian Micklethwait:

I brought prejudices acquired during the Cold War to the struggle between civilisation and Islam, but tried – and try still - to be careful to see the differences as well as the similarities between the two struggles.

In this spirit, I at first thought that whereas Soviet communism was ideologically breakable, Islam is not breakable. More than a billion souls believe in it, and however true it might be that it is evil and repulsive nonsense, saying this would accomplish very little. It would merely poke the hornet's nest with a stick. But slowly, I have been coming round to thinking almost the complete opposite.

Hmm.

Not only does denouncing Islam as evil nonsense establish the mere right, of us civilisationers, to denounce Islam - along with our right to say anything else we might want to say - true or false, nice or nasty, sensible or daft. Such talk also, I am starting to believe, strikes a dagger into the heart of the enemy camp, by spreading doubt in it about basic beliefs and hence sewing discord and confusion. I used to think that Islamists were indifferent to such ideological attacks. Now, I am starting to believe that they fear them very much. Hence all the murder threats. They sense that this is one of their weakest and potentially biggest fronts in the struggle. The biggest front of all, in fact.

[Emphasis mine.]

Exactly.

And even if only a few "apostates" materialise, they are of huge significance, for they bring with them deep knowledge of the enemy we face and how we can see the enemy off.

I agree.

Our World War

An excellent topic is discussed at Uncommon Knowledge:

Professor Bruce Thornton of Cal State Fresno describes a European civilization that after twenty-five centuries is drawing to an end. He lists the symptoms: Economies are less adaptable and competitive because of an enormous regulatory burden; social welfare entitlements are incredibly expensive; and, demographically, Europeans simply aren’t reproducing. At the source of this demise is a loss of the foundational belief system that created the West — that created Europe — in the first place.

The interview -- The Decline and Fall of Europe -- is divided into five parts. Here are the links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5.

We Can Defeat Them

Infidel Bloggers Alliance:

I have some very serious "domestic policy" differences with Newt Gingrich. I never thought I would find myself watching him speak and wishing he were our front runner candidate for president, but viewing these two superb short statements by him did just that.

Click here for the first video. Watch the second here.

The Moderate Muslim

Martin Kramer:

Professor John L. Esposito runs a slick operation at Georgetown with $20 million of funding from Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The shared agenda of these two is to make us all feel guilty for having wondered, after 9/11, about Saudis, Muslims, and the contemporary teaching of Islam. Esposito now has a new book (with co-author Dalia Mogahed, who runs something called the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies), bearing the pretentious title Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think. It's based on gleanings from the Gallup World Poll.

The core argument of the book is that only 7% of Muslims are "politically radicalized," and that "about 9 in 10 Muslims are moderate."

Kramer goes on to destroy this sugarcoated definition of "moderate".

He mentions a Pew poll from 2006:

In one of the survey's most striking findings, majorities in Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan say that they do not believe groups of Arabs carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The percentage of Turks expressing disbelief that Arabs carried out the 9/11 attacks has increased from 43% in a 2002 Gallup survey to 59% currently. And this attitude is not limited to Muslims in predominantly Muslim countries—56% of British Muslims say they do not believe Arabs carried out the terror attacks against the U.S., compared with just 17% who do.

Kramer asks:

How can a book subtitled What a Billion Muslims Really Think not make so much as a single mention of this pervasive 9/11 denial? How many hundreds of millions out of the billion think 9/11 wasn't justified, because they suspect the CIA or the Mossad did it to smear the Muslims? And how would their believing that make them "moderate"?

If I remember correctly, the Muslims who want to apply sharia in society are also considered "moderate" by Esposito. What's funny is that even with this asinine definition of moderate, we still get 70 million Muslims who want to end Western Civilization.

You know, a tiny minority.

Islam In All Its Ugliness

Robert Spencer received a tremendous email:

I am writing to tell you about a small success story in the struggle against Sharia. I am a law student at the University of Cincinnati. Last Thursday our school hosted a Sharia apologist from Saudi Arabia, Dr. Abdulkareem Hamad A. Alsaiygh. He's Dean at the Center for Contemporary Islamic Studies and Dialogue among Civilizations, Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic University.