Donald Sensing:
Since the 2004 election, I decided to avoid posting about partisan politics, that is, issues attached to candidates or holders of office. I decided to discuss issues as before, but without discussing the personalities behind those issues except, as far as possible, in a non-partisan way.
Until today.
Inshallah, I wanna have TWO sheep slaughtered and distributed as charity for my girl. I know the hadeeth, two for a boy, one for a girl. But I wanna do two. Is this okay? I just feel that only one cuz she’s female is sexist. I know there is theoretically extra rahmah and barakah for having and raising a girl, but it seems like qurbaani-ing [sacrificing] only one sheep is biased, since boys get two. Not fair. Why does it seem sometimes that for us Muslims, a lot of the benefits of being female are theoretical, when the on the ground practices are quite sexist and discriminatory?
Sometimes?
Mahmood's Den is still blocked in Bahrain.
A nice article about the most dominant opener of the modern era.
The last bit here is quite funny:
Having broken a finger in an early-season fielding mishap, Hayden visited his parents in Kingaroy, only to be attacked by the family dog when he went for a run, gashing his leg.
"I'm just waiting for something to fall out of the sky and land on me," he joked.
"Everything is going great. The kids are good. Kel's pregnant again - another productive off-season."
A photo of Matthew Hayden and his son, Josh Hayden, from last Christmas:
Islam believes in “prescribed punishments,” often called (حدود, Hudūd, literally “limits”). This means that for certain crimes, there are certain punishments. Muslims are obligated to follow the rules concerning such punishments. They cannot be overruled, set aside, changed, or otherwise avoided. To do so would be to go against God’s revelations. So Muslims do not have the luxury, as it were, to become lenient like Jews were and as Western civilization is now. (Adultery, fornication, and so on, aren’t even crimes, let alone punished.) And so Muslims are stuck with such backwards, primitive, and barbaric punishments.
Update
Black Lion provides the perfect example:
Saying things like ‘Islam needs to be reformed’ is a statement of kufr, requiring one to take shahada again.
Ditto for ruling by other than what Allah has revealed, or even calling for any of what he has revealed to be removed. An example would be calling for any of His hudood punishments to be removed categorically. Not applying a penalty in specific cases of doubt as to guilt or the Islamic applicability of the penalty is fine, as in the case of not executing the Afghan convert who was testified to be insane and hear voices.
Interesting. The Afghani apostate shouldn't be killed not because killing an apostate is wrong but because he might be insane.
Read it all. The "war is deception" bit is also illuminating.
AbbaGav misses the simple explanation: Halloween.
The only problem is that they're always dressed for the occasion.
JOHN KERRY -- a gift that keeps on giving.
Whenever John Kerry was out of the limelight in 2004, his numbers against Bush would go up. I guess he hasn't learned that important lesson.
Which is quite ironic.
I wrote a few days ago:
[...] the thing about Islamic nations [is that] rapes and physical assaults on women aren't reduced at all. They're just not reported because women have less means to do so.
Echo left a comment in a different post:
You should go to Sandmonkey.org to see a disgusting example of how "covered meat" gets treated in Egypt. Including niqabis. Including pregnant women. Your blood runs cold.
The Sandmonkey post. There is no solace in Islam.
It's Beethoven.
Just two days after Faqir Mohammed held a tribal meeting in Bajaur to express support for the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and vowed to fight the West, the Pakistani government conducted a major strike against a madrassa being used as a terror training camp.
It gets interesting:
While the Pakistanis are taking credit for this strike, the question arises as to whether this may have been conducted by Task Force 145, the U.S. special operations terrorist hunter-killer teams. Task Force 145 was responsible for the April raid in Danda Saidgai on the al-Qaeda's training camp for Osama bin Laden's Black Guard, his elite praetorian guard. Pakistan initially took credit for the Danda Saidgai strikes, but the Washington Post later revealed this was indeed a U.S. mission.
More:
Another question is what is the motivation for the strike?
Read the post to find out.
Pakistan is a messed up country: In almost sixty years, not a single democratic government has finished its term peacefully and transferred power to another popular party; currently a general is in charge; the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan has been (and likely still is) chummy with the Taliban; the ISI continues to cause trouble for India in Kashmir and had a hand in the Mumbai blasts earlier this year.
Oh, not to mention that Al Qaeda has many fans in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The Pakistani military, assuming its sincere about catching terrorists, can't function in the NWFP because many of the local military men refuse to fight against their "brothers".
Many Pakistanis consider the folks in the NWFP to be a little crazy. (Where else can you buy hashish and AK-47s within a few feet of each other?) But the Pakistanis are not really motivated in capturing, fighting or killing the Islamists since they mainly cause trouble outside the nation (Afghanistan, Kashmir, and India).
It sucks to have Pakistan as a neighbor.
A video posted at YouTube: Charlie Brown: Jihad Christmas.
In an item that manages to combine animals, crime and Brits all in one, the United Kingdom's boys in blue announce that they're having to import pooches from abroad because of a shortage of police dogs. "We're finding," remarks an officer, "that foreign dogs are often more motivated." Or, as Robson observes, in Britain even the dogs have gone to the dogs.
Hunh.
The Australian juggernaut rolls on:
The combination of India and Champions Trophy has been a nightmare for Australia twice in the past, but Ricky Ponting and co. finally ended that jinx, thrashing India by six wickets to emphatically move into the semi-finals of the tournament.
Bad news for the Asian subcontinent:
India, meanwhile, followed Sri Lanka and Pakistan in exiting the tournament, making it the first time since the 1975 World Cup that no team from the subcontinent has made it to the semi-finals of a major one-day championship.
Ouch. The next World Cup is less than six months away.
You can't possibly own them--they own you.
More on the "women are meat" imam via Tim Blair:
Taj Din al-Hilali has praised militant jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling them men of the highest order for fighting against coalition forces - which include Australian soldiers - to “liberate” their homelands.
In an interview on Arabic radio two weeks ago, the imam based at Sydney’s Lakemba mosque said he was opposed to terror attacks in Madrid, London and New York but strongly endorsed fighters in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Afghanistan.
[Emphasis mine.]
These treacherous sons of bitches say the most revolting things in their own language. The MSM ought to do more stories of this nature because the West needs to know the plain truth.
All they require is an expert translation.
The Bahraini minister of disInformation has blocked seven sites. Mahmood's Den--the best blog from Bahrain--is one of them.
A most unintended consequence: The seven special sites will become more popular than ever.
The 3rd World View provides many details.
* Violent clashes went on in Paltan Maidan, Dhaka with AL supporters, Jamaat-e-Islami supporters and police turning. Especially the down town Dhaka turned into a battle field. TV footages showed lynching two Jamaat-e-Islami activists to death while two of their activists were dead when Jamaat opened fire on them. The private TV channels provided some scenes people wished they had never had to watch.
This part I don't get:
* Dhaka city became to a standstill as shops were closed and violence spread throughout the city. Hundreds of thousands of people especially sick old men, children, pregnant women were caught in misery while trying to return home after Eid vacation, because the public transports did not run. Many remained stranded at roads, ports, rivers, trains.
Why would so many people simply stop working? Is the threat of violence that high in the entire city?
Town Hall:
Just after the epic Sullivan interview with Hugh Hewitt, humorist and columnist James Lileks was interviewed by Hugh on the weather [...]
Listen to it here.
Bonus points to Lileks for fitting in Kal-El and Mxy.
Muslims call newly converted Muslims “reverts.” Why? Because it is presumed that at the time of birth all humans are Muslims, and then their parents or societies teach them to be something else.
Ok, fine, but that means that those people who are Christians, Jews, Hindu, etc., are actually apostates — since they were Muslims (at the time of their birth), but then converted out. Now, I’m only talking about classical Islamic Law, but if they are apostates, then under classical Islamic Law, they should be killed.
Classical Islamic law!? Is there such thing as modern Islamic law which presumably doesn't prescribe death for apostates?
A commenter presented this link and asked my opinion on the matter. A fisking of R.V.C. Bodley's I Lived In The Garden Of Allah follows.
IN 1918, I turned my back on the world I had known and went to north-west Africa and lived with the Arabs in the Sahara, the Garden of Allah. I lived there seven years.
Yikes.
Those seven years which I spent with these wandering shepherds were the most peaceful and contented years of my life.
He took advice from T.E. Lawrence and went to live with the Arabs:
I am glad I did so. They taught me how to conquer worry. Like all faithful Moslems, they are fatalists.
Bodley thinks that this is a "good" thing.
They believe that every word Mohammed wrote in the Koran is the divine revelation of Allah. So when the Koran says: "God created you and all your actions," they accept it literally.
"It's not my fault that I'm a bum--Allah made me so!"
That is why they take life so calmly and never hurry or get into unnecessary tempers when things go wrong.
Well as long as one doesn't date one of "their" women...
However, that doesn't mean that in the face of disaster, they sit down and do nothing. To illustrate, let me tell you of a fierce, burning windstorm of the sirocco which I experienced when I was living in the Sahara. It howled and screamed for three days and nights. It was so strong, so fierce, that it blew sand from the Sahara hundreds of miles across the Mediterranean and sprinkled it over the Rhone Valley in France. The wind was so hot I felt as if the hair was being scorched off my head. My throat was parched. My eyes burned. My teeth were full of grit. I felt as if I were standing in front of a furnace in a glass factory. I was driven as near crazy as a man can be and retain his sanity. But the Arabs didn't complain. They shrugged their shoulders and said: "Mektoub!" ... "It is written."
One would think that they would have created some infrastructure to safeguard themselves from such natural misery. After two thousand years of living in such hell, they just meekly accept the crappy life instead of improving their lot. Somehow Bodley finds this mindset to be appealing.
But immediately after the storm was over, they sprang into action: they slaughtered all the lambs because they knew they would die anyway [...] The tribal chief said: "It is not too bad. We might have lost everything. But praise God, we have forty per cent of our sheep left to make a new start."
A 60% loss rate = Not too bad.
I remember another occasion, when we were motoring across the desert and a tyre blew out. [...] The blown-out tyre, they said, was the will of Allah and nothing could be done about it. So we started on, crawling along on the rim of a wheel. Presently the car spluttered and stopped. We were out of petrol. The chief merely remarked: "Mektoub!" and, there again, instead of shouting at the driver because he had not taken on enough petrol, everyone remained calm and we walked to our destination, singing as we went.
From all this, the obvious conclusion follows:
The seven years I spent with the Arabs convinced me that the neurotics, the insane, the drunks of America and Europe are the product of the hurried and harassed lives we live in our so-called civilisation.
Enough!
1. It is only because you lived in the "so-called civilisation" that you were able to travel to Africa and live among the Arabs. How many Arabs, at that time, had even the choice of visiting the West?
These Bedouin have lived in the same place with the same conditions for centuries. What does the next generation look forward to? More lambs, perhaps. Horses, if they're really lucky. Only recently did the Arabs get the chance to come to the West. That is because of oil--which required no skill from these fatalism-worshipping clowns.
2. Think about the mode of transportation. The Arabs don't have the initiative to build a bicycle, let alone an airplane. How would you have travelled to these "enlightened" folk without the fruits of your "so-called civilisation"?
3. What about the true representation of the Arab mind? The vicious hatred for other tribes and religions; the treatment of women; the value put on education; the punishment for theft; the hell for those who're not heterosexual; the acceptance of physical beatings for kids and wives -- all these matters form a more complete (and devastating) picture of the Arab world.
And that is why they're not mentioned in any way.
4. You witnessed the horror of war in the 1910s. You lived in a world that had underwent a lot of conflict, tension and change. It is likely that the Arabs provided you respite from the terrible turmoil.
The spectacular dynamism of the West can be too much for a fragile psyche. Such people are often attracted to the serene and calm state of the Arabs. Unfortunately, the all-encompassing mediocrity of that world is often overlooked.
This mindset will forever be among us. Decades from now when Americans build cities in a neighboring galaxy, someone will be churning out masturbatory rhetoric over a lame bunch of goat herders in Africa.
The religious police in Malaysia disturbed an American couple. Why? The cops thought the infidels might be doing something naughty.
The tourism minister is upset. You see such an incident hurts the sugar-coated image of Malaysia--which means less dollars.
On July 19, 2005, the Iranian regime executed two teenagers.
Their crime? They were homosexuals.
On October 24, 2006, we get an article in the Gay Community News:
The leading imam in Manchester, confirms that he thinks the execution of sexually active gay men is justified, the rights group Outrage reported.
He is quite clear on the matter:
"I asked him what would be the British Muslim view? He repeated that in an Islamic state these punishments were justified. They might result in the deaths of thousands but if this deterred millions from having sex, and spreading disease, then it was worthwhile to protect the wider community."
"I checked again that this was not a matter of tradition, culture or local prejudice. 'No,' he said, 'It is part of the central tenets of Islam: that sex outside marriage is forbidden; this is stated in the Koran and the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had stated that these punishments were due to such behaviours.'"
By definition, all gay sex is outside marriage. In that light, read what Muhammed said about legal killings:
"The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims."
Islamic math:
Second link via Dhimmi Watch.
Water in all its forms.
Kabobfest:
I've been meaning for some time now to weigh in on the latest controversy surrounding the veil in the United Kingdom.
It's all downhill from there. Most of it is unintentionally humorous.
Case in point:
What the West may call oppression, Islam may call an act of faith. And if the West has any faith to speak of -- free market capitalism, perhaps? -- then we ourselves are not beyond acts of oppression.
Check out the oh-so-devastating example provided at the end.
And old article about Saudi Arabia via Abu Sinan:
[...] after years of looking the other way because the subject is so sensitive in this ultraconservative society, the kingdom's public health officials, media and religious authorities are beginning to openly counsel Saudis about the risks of marrying too close to home.
Quantifying the problems is difficult and discussion is colored by Saudi Arabia's deeply held religious and social values.
Wait a minute. How is it possible that those supreme religious views and enlightened values lead to a... problem!?
[...] research at hospitals and medical centers indicates that the rates of some metabolic diseases may be as much as 20 times higher among Saudi Arabia's 14 million people than they are in populations where the gene pool is more widely mixed.
It's going to be tough to blame the Jews for this one.
Seriously, this issue will make an impact in the West. For instance, should free health care be provided to the numerous children of Muslim couples--who just happen to be cousins?
Furthermore, should Western nations even recognize such marriages? Or should we continue to respect their equal-but-sick religion / culture?
A few bits from my earlier posts:
April 06, 2005: More than half the marriages in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are between first and second cousins. I, sadly, have cousins who are married to their cousins, and know relatives who have beaten their wives.
July 31, 2005: Muslim women who refuse the orders of their elders (to marry a cousin or wear an abaya for example) bring shame upon their entire family. Most of the time threats or beatings are enough to force the women into submission.
August 17, 2005: Marriages to first and second cousins are more common than non-cousin marriages in Pakistan. I have relatives there who've married their cousins. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "all in the family."
Umar Lee writes a post with this title: "In Defense of Sheikh al-Hilali (At Least for Now)". The comments are quite interesting.
The Australian via AbbaGav Israellycool:
Despite insisting The Australian misrepresented the sermon delivered at his mosque in southwest Sydney in September, two independent translations of the Ramadan address were even more damning of the sheik.
In a clear reference to the notorious Sydney gang rapists, Sheik Hilali said in the sermon: "It is she who takes off her clothes, shortens them, flirts, puts on make-up and powder and takes to the streets, God protect us, dallying.
"It's she who shortens, raises and lowers. Then it's a look, then a smile, then a conversation, a greeting, then a conversation, then a date, then a meeting, then a crime, then Long Bay Jail," he tells his worshippers with a chuckle.
"Then you get a judge, who has no mercy and he gives you 65 years.
"But when it comes to this disaster, who started it? In his literature, scholar al-Rafihi says: 'If I came across a rape crime - kidnap and violation of honour - I would discipline the man and order that the woman be arrested and jailed for life.' Why would you do this, Rafihi? He says because if she had not left the meat uncovered, the cat wouldn't have snatched it."
Charming.
Iktimal Hage-Ali, who was the youngest woman on the Prime Minister's council, said her community was "outraged by the mufti's comments".
"We've spent so long trying to build bridges and break down these misconceptions about Islam," she said. "I really think he needs to stand down. This is not the way we view women in our community. Women are respected and they have equal rights, but who is going to believe us now, when we say that?"
Years of taqiyya down the drain. **Sob**
Update
This is one of the funniest Islamic-style Q&As I've ever read. Allah be praised! Link via Junk Yard Blog.
[...] Muslims are the victims—even when they advocate the killing of people based on sexual orientation.
Hey, makes sense to me.
Superman Returns just made two hundred million dollars in the US market. Now, a most spectacular follow-up is given the green light:
The website adds that Superman will have the "battle of his life" in the sequel while facing off with "one of the ultimate baddies" in the DC Comics universe.
Though the story for Brainiac was possibly set in motion in Superman Returns, my preference would be Darkseid... misery against hope... an alien threat vs. the immigrant savior... a battle of the gods!
I can dream.
By the way, a small suggestion for Singer and his team: Please, bring back the classic, iconic, colors; do away with the washed out, depressing, outfit.
I wouldn't want to fly a kite here.
At least 13 convicted Islamist terrorists and four suicide bombers have been students at British universities. Radical Islamist student societies make full use of university resources. They operate Web sites, hosted by university servers, which direct visitors to organizations that glorify jihad and terror. These "religious" groups are given "prayer rooms" on campus, which are also used to disseminate extremist literature and DVDs. Muslim students concerned about these developments tell me that at many of these Islamic societies terrorism is portrayed as justified acts of "resistance." A leading imam in Birmingham often preaches on British campuses that the London bombers have to be seen as "martyrs."
Gates of Vienna offers commentary.
I never thought I'd see them together: A saucy French maid and a Spartan.
It has been quite chilly lately. For some reason, this makes me feel a little warm. I'm using it as my desktop.
Armies of Liberation mentions that Yemen ranks 149 (out of 168 nations) in the 2006 Press Freedom Index.
Out of curiosity I looked up my birth country--Pakistan is gloriously placed at 157. I spent most of my life in Saudi Arabia. 161.
I feel so lucky.
The Big Pharaoh contrasts two famous Muslims. Though, it's interesting that the good one technically engages in a haram activity.
I am very disappointed in the Infidel Bloggers Alliance.
BBC News via Gateway Pundit:
Youths in the Paris suburbs have attacked two buses in separate incidents on the eve of the anniversary of rioting among immigrant communities. In Nanterre, northwestern Paris, about 10 passengers fled a bus as masked youths set it ablaze, police said.
A similar attack happened in Bagnolet, eastern Paris, where a youth held a gun to the bus driver's head while others set it on fire, officials said.
Update
Brussels Journal via Tim Blair:
The German author Henryk M. Broder recently told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant (12 October) that young Europeans who love freedom, better emigrate. Europe as we know it will no longer exist 20 years from now. Whilst sitting on a terrace in Berlin, Broder pointed to the other customers and the passers-by and said melancholically: “We are watching the world of yesterday.”
Europe is turning Muslim. As Broder is sixty years old he is not going to emigrate himself. “I am too old,” he said. However, he urged young people to get out and “move to Australia or New Zealand. That is the only option they have if they want to avoid the plagues that will turn the old continent uninhabitable.”
There's more:
Broder is convinced that the Europeans are not willing to oppose islamization. “The dominant ethos,” he told De Volkskrant, “is perfectly voiced by the stupid blonde woman author with whom I recently debated. She said that it is sometimes better to let yourself be raped than to risk serious injuries while resisting. She said it is sometimes better to avoid fighting than run the risk of death.”
Evariste comments on the Islamic bag dress for Muslim women:
[...] An implicit pact of the co-religionists against the outsiders. Muslim women who wear the veil are saying to the Muslim male: "Rape her, instead of me-you and I are alike, but she's only an infidel". It's in essence a criminal conspiracy carried out in broad daylight.
Indeed.
This photo reminds me of Batman Begins.
Done With Mirrors: You Would Weep.
The Last Amazon:
Last week, I was in the children’s section of a bookstore at lunch time and overheard a woman ask the sales clerk for help in locating a WW2 story for her daughter to read so that she could learn how the German people suffered during the war years. I had to leave the store or I might have strangled the woman.
Read the rest for the sorry news from France.
The new logo for CNN: Giving the terrorists a fair shake.
Imperial History:
Who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history? Pretty much everyone. Egyptians, Turks, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Persians, Europeans...the list goes on.
Check out this cool 90-second video.
Link via Mahmood.
This post doesn't need any commentary.
See her here.
Dhimmi Watch: A letter from the son of a woman who was stoned to death.
Gateway Pundit: CNN's Disgusting Double Standard Reaches New Low.
