Category Archives: War on basic human values

The burqa as liberating choice? not so says Chesler

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From the Chesler Chronicles/Pajamas Media.

August 31st, 2009 8:10 am

The Burqa: Ultimate Feminist Choice?

Naomi Wolf Discovers That Shrouds Are Sexy

Women in chadors are really feminist ninja warriors. Rather than allow themselves to be gawked at by male strangers, they choose to defeat the “male gaze” by hiding from it in plain view.

But don’t you worry: Beneath that chador, abaya, burqa, or veil, there is a sexy courtesan wearing “Victoria Secret, elegant fashion, and skin care lotion,” just waiting for her husband to come home for a night of wild and sensuous marital lovemaking.

Obviously, these are not my ideas. I am quoting from a piece by Naomi Wolf that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald a few days ago. Yes, Wolf is the bubbly, feminist author who once advised Vice President Al “The Climate” Gore on what colors he should wear while campaigning and who is or was friendly with Gore’s daughter. Full disclosure: I have casually known Wolf and her parents for more than a quarter-century. Continue Reading →

Toronto 18 terrorist Khalid nets fourteen years in the clink

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“Rome has to be defeated” “God is great”.

Electronic detonators, ammonium nitrate, rental trucks and cellphone-activated triggers. The Book of Jihad. The Virtues of Jihad.

” To begin with, I would like to make it clear I was not motivated by a hate of Canada, Canadians, democracy or Canadian values of freedom, civil liberties and women’s rights. I was instead motivated by issues of disagreement on Canadian foreign policy, specifically Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan and I thought I could make a difference”. Saad Khalid, convicted terrorist.

From The Ottawa Citizen.

‘Toronto 18’ terror suspect gets 14 years in prison

By Stewart Bell, National Post September 3, 2009 10:32 PM
Saad Khalid pleaded guilty to aiding the plot to detonate bombs in Toronto's bustling downtown core last May.

Saad Khalid pleaded guilty to aiding the plot to detonate bombs in Toronto’s bustling downtown core last May.

Photograph by: Reuters, np

BRAMPTON, Ont. — A man, 23, who admitted he was part of a plot to detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto to protest Canada’s military involvement in Afghanistan, was sentenced to 14 years in prison Thursday.

Justice Bruce Durno called terrorism “the most vile form of criminal conduct” and said while Saad Khalid was not the prime mover behind the bomb plot, he had nonetheless, played a significant role.

“He was not just a gopher,” the judge said, adding Khalid had bought electrical components and recruited another person into the group. “He was not someone who just sat waiting for his next assignment without providing input.”

But Khalid could be released on parole in a little more than two years, since the judge gave him seven years credit for the time he has already served since his arrest on June 2, 2006. He was banned for life from possessing firearms or explosives.

“He’s perfectly happy with the outcome,” his lawyer Russell Silverstein told reporters outside the Brampton courthouse. “It could have been a lot worse.” The Crown had been seeking a term of 18 to 20 years. Continue Reading →

What Islam Says about Music

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From Islam-Watch: Big H/T to jdamn for this.

When non-Muslims, particularly Westerners, hear the news of Islamists burning/vandalizing music stores in Pakistan, they get struck with disbelief. How could this be possibly true a religion prohibit music? Here’s what Islam truly says about music…

Islam bans, prohibits, music
Star singer Cat Steven (Yusuf Islam) gave up music
after converting to Islam, but later realized it’s hard
being pure Muslim and returned to singing.

Is music forbidden in Islam? This article will consider this question.

It is often said that music is prohibited in Islam. Upon hearing this statement most people doubt that such an absurd claim could possibly be true.

If the religion of Islam actually does forbid music, even the majority of devout Muslims would probably find this to be very strange and a cause for concern. Why in the world would a religion prohibit Music? Do any other minor or major religions prohibit music? What did Muhammad have to say about this matter? This article will also consider the many benefits of music.

Let’s examine what the Islamic texts and traditions have to say about this subject. The first two hadiths that we will consider have been selected from Sahih Bukhari, what, Muslims believe, to be canonical text of Islam. Muslims believe them to be authentic utterances of the Islamic prophet and should therefore be obeyed.

Hadith: Sahih Bukhari: Volume 7, Book 69, Number 494v:

Narrated Abu ‘Amir or Abu Malik Al-Ash’ari:
that he heard the Prophet saying, “From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, as lawful. And there will be some people who will stay near the side of a mountain and in the evening their shepherd will come to them with their sheep and ask them for something, but they will say to him, ‘Return to us tomorrow.’ Allah will destroy them during the night and will let the mountain fall on them, and He will transform the rest of them into monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Resurrection.”

Hadith: Sunan Abu-Dawud: Book 41, Number 4909:

Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas’ud:

Salam ibn Miskin, quoting an old man who witnessed AbuWa’il in a wedding feast, said: They began to play, amuse and sing. He united the support of his hand round his knees that were drawn up, and said: I heard Abdullah (ibn Mas’ud) say: I heard the apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) say: Singing produces hypocrisy in the heart.

Hadith Qudsi 19:5:

“The Prophet said that Allah commanded him to destroy all the musical instruments, idols, crosses and all the trappings of ignorance.”

Muhammad also said:

  1. “Allah Mighty and Majestic sent me as a guidance and mercy to believers and commanded me to do away with musical instruments, flutes, strings, crucifixes, and the affair of the pre-Islamic period of ignorance.”
  2. “On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will pour molten lead into the ears of whoever sits listening to a songstress.”
  3. “Song makes hypocrisy grow in the heart as water does herbage.”
  4. “This community will experience the swallowing up of some people by the earth, metamorphosis of some into animals, and being rained upon with stones.” Someone asked, “When will this be, O Messenger of Allah?” and he said, “When songstresses and musical instruments appear and wine is held to be lawful.”
  5. “There will be peoples of my Community who will hold fornication, silk, wine, and musical instruments to be lawful ….” — ‘Umdat al-Salik r40.0 Continue Reading →

Suicide bomber gets a bum rap in Saudi Arabia:

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Here is something you just don’t read ever day:

Okaz sources said the bomb was implanted in the attacker’s rectum, which could explain why he refused to drink coffee at the Prince’s Court.

H/T Fred over at Gay and right. (Now now, no jokes please.)

From The Saudi Gazzette:
Qaeda attack on Prince part of wider plot
By Abdullah Al-Orefij

RIYADH – The failed assassination attempt on Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs, Thursday night was planned by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which operates from Yemen, sources confirmed.
The suicide bomber was recruited by Yemeni Nasser Al-Wohaishi, known also by the nom de guerre Abu Baseer, the sources said.
Al-Wohaishi is the head of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which had announced in an Internet posting last January the merger of the Saudi and Yemeni branches of Al-Qaeda.
The merger was seen by analysts as an attempt to consolidate after the Saudi branch of Al-Qaeda was practically wiped out following a vigorous counter-terrorism campaign led by Prince Muhammad.
According to Okaz sources, the bomber who detonated himself only a meter away from the Prince was part of a terrorist cell formed to target oil installations and public figures.
The sources said the bomber stayed in an apartment on Sari Street, northwest of Jeddah, Thursday.
He had slipped into the Kingdom from Mareb, east of Sana’a, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Abu-Bakr Al-Qirbi told The Associated Press.
“He was in Yemen,” said Al-Qirbi. “He claimed that he was going to hand himself over to Saudi authorities and make a statement to his followers to abandon Al-Qaeda principles.”
Okaz sources said the bomb was implanted in the attacker’s rectum, which could explain why he refused to drink coffee at the Prince’s Court. Continue Reading →

Sudan, slavery, starvation and Islam.

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So hold on a second…. “We shouldn’t fight Islam because Islam is just where Christianity was a few hundred years ago so since ‘we’ did it, we really should allow ‘them’ to do it and someday ‘they’ will be ‘us’.”

I have heard variants on this preposterous bit of pseudo-reasoning for years now. There is so much wrong with it I do not have the time or patience to type it all out. I will offer two things though, 1. if it was wrong for Christians to do (whatever aspect of Islamic horror we are discussing which most likely Christians NEVER did, and certainly not in accordance with dogma) then, it is wrong for Muslims to do it now. 2. Thanks very much to KitmanTV, we see a contemporary example of Islam in Africa which frankly, any attempt to rationalize away or justify with the intellectual slight of hand of  the kind of historical relativism I illustrated above, is simply repugnant and borderline criminal. Watch this please. And send this link to anyone who gives that obscene argument or any variant of it.

Link: Slavery sudan

It wasn’t all that long ago, that Britian sent its gunboats up various African rivers and shelled the palaces of kings and leaders who would not abandon the slave trade. England has changed quite a bit since then I would say.

Clowns bad. 80 year old paedophile good. A typical Saudi day under Sharia.

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6a00e54eeb143188340115722d9c5a970b-120wi  JEDDAH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s religious police is cracking down on summer festivals that the government hopes will promote domestic tourism, in the latest battle between liberals and conservatives in the world’s biggest oil exporter.

The Saudi government is trying to promote internal tourism but restrictions on singing, dancing and mixing of unrelated men and women by the powerful religious establishment has complicated the effort.

Conservative clerics backed by some powerful members of the Saudi royal family oppose efforts to liberalize the country of 25 million, where women are also forbidden from driving.

“These acts contradict the faith and must not be done, taught, spread or encouraged,” religious police spokesman Abdullah al-Mashiti told al-Watan daily this week, referring to circus acts such as fire-eating and lying on beds of glass that he believes is a form of magic outlawed by Islamic Sharia law.

“They must be fought and those performing them must be reported and punished so as to be deterred and their evil restricted,” he said.

The religious police is one of the key instruments of clerical control in society, with powers to enforce gender segregation in most government and commercial buildings and search for drugs, alcohol or other items seen as immoral.

Jeddah’s summer film festival was canceled this year despite the support of local governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal. King Abdullah, who ascended the throne in 2005, is seen as backing the reformers but he must balance the opposing forces.

“Unfortunately such actions carried on by religious police do not adhere to the official political will and they sabotage the government efforts to improve and maintain the internal tourism industry,” said Mahmoud Sabbagh, a newspaper columnist.

This month music concerts were also banned from the Abha tourism festival, in the mountainous southwest of the kingdom.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s entertainment firm Rotana managed to stage screenings of a Saudi comedy movie last December, but religious police disrupted shows in Riyadh.

“There are no activities here, and when they do have activities they are not accessible to women,” said Samar Edrees, who travels abroad regularly to escape the restrictions.

“Here they have festivals that only target children and men, there is nothing for us to do and there are no cinemas.”

 

FOX NEWS… A Saudi Arabian father forced his 10-year-old daughter to return to her 80-year-old husband Sunday, after she was found hiding at the home of her aunt for 10 days, Arab News reported.

The young girl’s husband, who denies he is 80 despite family claims, accused the aunt of violating the terms of his marriage, allowed by Sharia Law.

“My marriage is not against Sharia. It included the elements of acceptance and response by the father of the bride,” he told a local newspaper.

A member of the National Society for Human Rights said there are no regulations in place to stop the marriage of young girls, which is seen as harmful to their wellbeing.

“Such marriages are considered a gross violation of charters on the rights of children, which the Kingdom has signed and which set the age of adulthood at 18,” Maatouq Al-Abdullah told Arab News.

Kingston court denies Shafias right to communicate with their remaining children

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From the National Post.

A Kingston court rescinded Tuesday Mohammed Shafia and his second wife Tooba  Mohammed Yayha’s previous grant to communicate with their surviving children. Their son Hamed has also been denied the privilege of communicating with his siblings. All three have been formally charged with four counts of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of their three teenage daughters, (Hamid’s sisters) and Mohammed’s first wife. The bodies of Zianab, Sahari and Geeti Shafia and Rona Amir Mohammed were pulled from a submerged car at the Kingston Locks in late June. It is suspected that the murders may be honour killings. The three surviving children are in the care of Montreal child protective services.

——–

KINGSTON, Ont. — A Montreal couple accused in the death of their three daughters and the husband’s first wife in June have been denied the right to speak to their remaining children, a judge has ruled.

Mohammad Shafia, 56, and Tooba Mohammed Yahya, 39, are charged with four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the deaths of four women.

According to the Kingston Whig-Standard, the couple was ordered to cease communication shortly after their arrest. A court order allowing the couple to communicate with their children was brought into effect three weeks ago.

The exemption was rescinded Tuesday in a Kingston, Ont., court.

The couple’s 18-year-old son, Hamid Mohammed Shafia, who is facing the same charges, was also denied the right to speak to his remaining three siblings.

The bodies of the Shafia sisters Zainab, 19; Sahari, 17; and Geeti, 13 along with the 50-year-old Rona Amir Mohammad were pulled out a car submerged in the Rideau Canal near Kingston on June 30.

The family had originally told police investigators that their eldest daughter Zainab had taken the family vehicle for a joyride the night before the bodies were found. It was later reported that the daughter had been rebellious and that the killings may have been linked to “honour.”

Montreal Gazette

Top 10 reasons why sharia law is not good for any society, anywhere

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The following article is from American Thinker. Though written in 2005, it’s message is still relevant and poignant, perhaps even more so today. It is lengthy, but well worth reading.

As I write this, England has 85 active sharia courts with more promised to come. Canada faces a lively and unapologetic sharia underground and has seen a disproportionate share of recent, suspected honour killings. Italy and France struggle with near impossible sharia demands as does Australia, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Scotland, Spain and the United States, to name a scant few. Christians world-wide are being persecuted in the name of Islamic law along with thousands of Muslims with a particular cruel bent toward women and children. Muslim gays are being tracked, tormented, ridiculed, beaten, jailed and murdered.  Anti-Semitism, anti-Western and anti-Israeli rhetoric have all increased.

James Arlandson writes a thoroughly researched and thoughtful article complete with abundant source material on whether Islam is just in it’s laws that Muhammed himself invented, practiced and introduced to the world. The article in short, says NO to the query for 10 verifiable reasons.

ten reasons why sharia is bad for all societies

By James Arlandson

Traditional Muslims who understand the Quran and the hadith believe that sharia (Islamic law) expresses the highest and best goals for all societies. It is the will of Allah.
But is Islam just in its laws that Muhammad himself practiced and invented?

This article says no for ten verifiable reasons.

Here are four points you must read, before reading this article:

First, sometimes these ten points quote the Quran or omit it; sometimes they quote the hadith (reports of Muhammad’s words and actions outside of the Quran) or omit it. This is done only to keep down the length of the article. No one should be fooled into believing that these harsh and excessive laws were invented in the fevered imagination of extremists who came long after Muhammad. These harsh and excessive laws come directly from the founder of Islam in his Quran and in his example in the hadith. Continue Reading →

Ramadan and the surge of violent jihad

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From The National Post.

Muslim world braces for Ramadan violence

Peter Goodspeed, National Post Published: Friday, August 21, 2009

Muslims in Turkey attend Friday prayers during the first day of Ramadan. The Muslim holy month often coincides with a spike in violence.

Umit Bektas/Reuters Muslims in Turkey attend Friday prayers during the first day of Ramadan.

The Muslim holy month often coincides with a spike in violence.

—————-

More than one billion Muslims mark the start of Ramadan on Friday – their holiest month of the year, devoted to prayer, fasting and charity.

But for a small minority, it is also regarded as an auspicious time to escalate violence in the name of jihad.

As a result, experts expect a surge in terrorism attacks during Ramadan, when most Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset in a spiritual exercise that teaches discipline, self-restraint and generosity.

This week, in the run-up to Ramadan, hundreds of Muslims were murdered in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Yemen and Somalia.

Seven massive car bombs exploded in Iraq on Wednesday, killing 96 people and injuring 536; yesterday four suicide bombers attacked police posts in Chechnya, just days after a bomb outside a police station in neighbouring Ingushetia killed 25 people and injured 160. Fierce fighting also exploded in Somalia on Friday, killing 22 people, as Islamist rebels launched a Ramadan offensive against African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu. Continue Reading →

Hamas defence against Al Queda termed a ‘massacre.’ Film on French TV at 11:00

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From MAANNEWS by way of The Religion of Peace. I bet French TV is lining up to buy the Al Queda version of these events. Or the Hamas version. Either way, the irony is enjoyable. Hamas now knows the sting of it’s own tactics. They are accused of collaborating with the Jews here. Hamas is the organization that hangs people if they sell land to Jews.

Eeyore

A Hamas security officer in Gaza

Hamas security personell

Bethlehem – Ma’an – Websites linked to Al-Qaeda criticized Hamas’ operation against the Salafi group Jund Ansar Allah (Soldiers for God) in the Gaza Strip on Friday, accusing the de facto government of “abdicating from Islam,” CNN Arabic reported on Wednesday night.

The unnamed websites, which the report said were closely affiliated with Al-Qaeda, urged the group’s followers to take action against Hamas. They specifically called on Osama Bin Laden and his assistant Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

A statement on the website from unnamed sources, groups expressed condolences for the death of Sheikh Abdul Latif Moussa, the leader of Jund Ansar Allah. Moussa lead hundreds of supporters to a Rafah mosque on Friday and declared the area an “Islamic emirate.” Hamas-allied fe facto government police and members of Hamas’ armed wing said they were forced to react to the group when shots were fired in a civilian area. Clashes broke out culminating in 24 dead including six government officers, six civilians including two young girls, and 12 Jund Ansar Allah gunmen.

The Al-Qaeda groups’ statement called Moussa a “martyr,” saying he was killed by “the bullets and the rockets of Hamas government.” Hamas sources said the ultra-Islamist leader detonated explosives that were strapped to his body.

The statement linked the Hamas action, termed a “massacre” against Jund Ansar Allah, with clashes that took place last summer between Hamas police and members of another radical group, the Army of Islam, in the Ash-Shyjayyiah area of Gaza City.

Hamas was further accused of working against Islamic groups and “Serving the Jews who occupy Palestine, and the Christians who fight against Iraq, Afghanistan Somalia and Chechnya.”

95 killed on Iraq’s deadliest day since U.S. handover

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These terror attacks are nothing to do with trying to grab power in Iraq. They are only to punish those who do not hold the same views as the attackers. To think that al-Qaeda members can justify and celebrate the mass slaughter of  fellow Muslims shows their evil knows no limit.

baghdad_giBAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A series of bombings rocked Iraq’s capital within one hour Wednesday, killing at least 95 people and wounding 563 others, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

The six explosions marked the country’s deadliest day since the United States pulled its combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns nearly two months ago and left security in the hands of the Iraqis.

In one attack, a truck bomb exploded outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — a blast that blew through the front of the building, sending some vehicles flying and leaving others in mangled twists of metal.

Nearby, Iraqi security forces stood with shocked expressions as ambulances screamed past.

Another truck bomb went off outside the Ministry of Finance building.

In central Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded on Kifa Street, and another bomb exploded in the Salhiya neighborhood, where on Tuesday security forces had avoided injuries by successfully defusing a truck bomb. Wednesday’s other two bombs exploded in eastern Baghdad’s Beirut Square, officials said.

“The terrorism attacks that took place today require, without a doubt, the re-evaluation of our plans and our security mechanisms to face the challenges of terrorism,” Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a written statement.

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Chris Hill and Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, issued a joint statement condemning the bombings.

“The horrific injuries and loss of life witnessed in Baghdad today are terrorist attacks that serve no legitimate purpose,” they said.

The attacks “will not deter Iraqis from continuing their efforts to build a peaceful and prosperous society and engage the international community, nor will they weaken our resolve to help them in their efforts,” they added.

Two people believed to be connected to the bombings have been arrested, an official with the Iraqi army told CNN. Continue Reading →

Child ‘Brides’ in Afghanistan

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Reasonable laws in Afghanistan as in Egypt which appear to protect women and/or Minorities, are honored more in the breach than in the observance. Put more simply, they are pure bullshit for foreign consumption.

Speech on religious killings in Pakistan

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August 10, 2009 Press Conference of Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) and others calling for the end of Pakistan blasphemy laws, the end of religious discrimination, and recognizing August 11, 2009 and “Black Day.”

Dutch university fires Islamic scholar Ramadan

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In the spirit of Taqyyia. [Lying to non Muslims for the advancement of Islam.]

The Jerusalem Post… A Dutch university fired Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan on Tuesday for hosting a show on Iran’s state television, which the school said could be seen as endorsing the regime.

Ramadan – known as a reformist who condemns terrorism, seeks to modernize sharia law and urges Muslims living in Europe to integrate – has recently been criticized in the Dutch press for allegedly voicing more conservative views for Muslim audiences than he does in the West.

Both the City of Rotterdam and Erasmus University dismissed Ramadan from his positions as “integration adviser” and professor, saying his program “Islam & Life” airing on Iran’s Press TV is “irreconcilable” with his duties in Rotterdam.

Ramadan “continued to participate in this program even after the elections in Iran, when authorities there hard-handedly stifled the freedom of expression,” Rotterdam and the university said in a joint statement.