Sunday, April 10, 2011

Westerners obsess over destruction of one book, ignore destruction of many human lives

Raymond Ibrahim, associate director of the Middle East Forum, nails it: Destroying One Koran vs. Destroying Many Christians Which is Worse?

 
The now infamous Koran burning by Florida pastor Terry Jones has created hysteria in the Muslim world. In Afghanistan alone, some twenty people, including U.N. workers, have been killed and beheaded to screams of “Allahu Akbar!” Western leaders around the globe—including Obama and members of Congress—have unequivocally condemned Jones’ actions (without bothering to point out that freedom of expression is a prized American liberty). Many are even blaming the deaths in Afghanistan directly on Jones; Bill O’Reilley says he has “blood on his hands.”
Yet, as Western leaders rush to profess their abhorrence at what one American did to one inanimate book, let’s take a quick look at what many Muslims are doing to many living and breathing Christians around the Islamic world—to virtually no media coverage or Western condemnation:
  • Afghanistan: A Muslim convert to Christianity was seized and, according to sharia’s apostasy laws, awaits execution.
  • Bangladesh: A Christian man was arrested for distributing Bibles near Muslims. Since Wednesday, thousands of Muslims have been rioting, injuring dozens—not because of Jones, but in protestation of women’s rights.
  • Egypt: A Muslim mob burned down another Coptic church and dozens of Christian homes; when Christians protested, the military opened fire on them while crying “Allahu Akbar,” killing nine. Another mob cut a Christian man’s ear off “according to sharia.”
  • Ethiopia: Muslims went on a rampage burning down nearly 70 churches, killing at least one Christian, and dislocating as many as 10,000. Christians living in Muslim majority regions are being warned to either convert to Islam, abandon their homes, or die.
  • Malaysia: Authorities detained and desecrated thousands of Bibles.
  • Pakistan: Two Christians were shot to death as they exited church; a Christian serving life in prison for “blasphemy” died in his cell under suspicions of murder.
  • Saudi Arabia: An Eritrean Christian has been arrested for sharing his faith with Muslims and is facing the death penalty; other missionaries continue to languish in Saudi prisons.
  • Somalia and Sudan: Christian girls—including a mother of four—were recently abducted, raped, and killed for embracing Christianity.
It should be borne in mind that none of these atrocities were performed in retaliation to Jones’ Koran burning; they’re just business as usual in the Muslim world. Moreover, the above list is but a quick and cursory sampling of the very latest in Christian suffering under Islam. Were one to include persecution from just a few months back, one could also mention the jihadist attack on a Baghdad church, killing 52 Christians; the New Year’s eve Coptic church explosion, killing 21; Muslim rampages that destroyed several churches in Indonesia, Nigeria, and the Philippines; Iran’s “round up” of some 70 home-worshipping Christians; and Kuwait’s—a nation that owes its very existence to U.S. war sacrifices—rejection to build a church.

Then there are the countless atrocities that never make it to any media—the stories of persistent, quiet misery that only the victims and local Christians know.

One would have thought that all this was at least equally deserving of media attention and Western condemnation as the burning of a Koran. Worse, whereas only Jones is responsible for his actions, many of the aforementioned savageries—arresting and executing Christian missionaries and Muslim apostates, destroying or outlawing churches, seizing and desecrating not one but thousands of Bibles—are carried out at the hands of Muslim authorities and governments deemed U.S. “friends-and-allies.”

Such is the surreal

Kansas Univ salon complies with sharia for a day, bans men for Muslim women

Salon Hawk to be Sharia Hawk for a day. via Salon Hawk caters to Muslim women with day of modesty | Kansan.com.

Girl talk and pampering of a day at the salon is an experience many Muslim women don’t get. Those who wear a hijab, the traditional headscarf, adhere to a code of modesty that does not allow them to show their hair in public, but Salon Hawk, located on the third floor of the Kansas Union, is sponsoring a special event to allow these women the complete salon experience.

Translated: “code of modesty” = sharia law.

A Day of Modesty will take place this Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., when Salon Hawk will black out their windows to allow the needed privacy.

Many times, Muslim women are treated in back rooms of a salons or go months between hair appointments.

Salon Hawk owner and operator Emily Willis said her experiences hearing stories from clients and friends — who would ask her for at-home haircuts — prompted her to create the event.

“Basically every experience I’ve heard from the girls has been a horror experience,” Willis said. “They can’t just go somewhere and get their hair cut because they require privacy.”

Her vision for the event is to support women whose religion and culture doesn’t fit into mainstream culture.

“Our goal being in the Union is to reach out to every student and give them every opportunity hair care-wise,” Willis said.

The opportunity is there for those who choose it. If the opportunity is only there when it complies with Islamic sharia law, then what you are supporting and enabling is Islamic sharia law.

Salon Hawk is the only provider in Lawrence that offers full privacy curtain services, Willis said. Because of the lack of privacy opportunities, women from as far away as Kansas City are scheduled to attend the event, which will benefit the Lawrence Islamic Center.

The salon always offers privacy curtains by appointment, which Willis says happens about twice per week.

A Day of Modesty will be open to all clients — though no men will be admitted during the event — Muslim or otherwise.

“We don’t care where they come from. We don’t care if they wear the scarf. We don’t care if they don’t wear the scarf,” Willis said. “We cater to the needs of all students.”

All students except men, when Muslim women are present.

By blacking out the windows to comply with Islamic sharia law and protect Muslim women from the wrath of their husbands, Salon Hawk certainly isn’t catering to the needs of all students but to Muslim women specifically. Discriminating against men in the process – clearly they don’t care about that either.

Submitting to sharia law doesn’t help Muslim women integrate into an open, secular society, it further segregates and stigmatizes them. It perpetuates certain beliefs that if they don’t behave and dress “modestly” then other Muslims won’t consider them good Muslims. When that happens it can turn deadly – particularly if the family believes they have been shamed and honor need be restored.
Creating parallel societies, be it for a day or for a buck or for some illogical sense of morality does no one any good. Particularly not Muslim women who enjoy their freedom and don’t want to be forced into a sharia-adherent lifestyle.

Saudi Minister: Oil Could Spike to $300 a Barrel

Former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Zaki Yamani says oil prices could soar to at least $200 or even to $300 a barrel if Saudi Arabia suffers serious political unrest.

Following protests last month calling for political reforms in the kingdom, Yamani told Reuters that underlying discontent remains unresolved.

“If something happens in Saudi Arabia, [oil] will go to $200 to $300,” he declared. “I don’t expect this for the time being, but who would have expected Tunisia?
“I think there are some surprises on the horizon.”

Yamani, who was responsible for Saudi oil policy from 1962 to 1986, spoke at a London conference of the Centre for Global Energy Studies, which he chairs.

In March, King Abdullah offered $93 billion in handouts to Saudis in an effort to avert the domestic turmoil seen in much of the Arab world.

But Jaafar Al Taie, managing director of Manaar Energy Consulting — which advises foreign oil firms operating in the region — said: “I don’t think that what the king is doing now is sufficient to prevent an uprising. Saudi Arabia is a time bomb, but one that is constantly being reset.”
A headline in The Daily Mail last week disclosed: “Oil prices hit all-time high in Britain,” reaching the equivalent of $121 a barrel.

Obama’s Muslim envoy: Islam is the Solution not the Problem


Obama’s envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference and advisor on Islamic “affairs” (I didn’t know bombings and beheadings were affairs) Rashad Hussain is maintaining that Islam itself is the “antidote” to Islamic extremism.
I am of the opinion that one of the strongest tools that you can use to counter radicalization and violent extremism is Islam itself, because Islam rejects violent extremism,” Hussain said during a speech in Kabul.
Islam is the religion of peace as long as we all accept Allah and Sharia. If we all become Muslims there will be peace. How hard is that? As Hussain further explains, “When it comes to the problem of violent extremism, Islam is not the problem.” Which means that it is all of us who fail to accept Islam and are too dense to see that living under Sharia law is vastly preferable to living under the Constitution.
I can’t wait to see how Obama will pitch this. No doubt all the Obama hope-a-dopes will be tingling in awe as we learn we are the problem. We all just need to be more respectful and deferential to Islam.

What Hussain nor anyone in the White House will tell you, directly from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Jihad in the Qur’an and Sunnah:
And fight in the way of Allah those who fight you… (V.2:I9O).
Then Allah (swt) revealed in Sarah Tauba (Bara ‘a) (Repentance, IX) the order to discard (all) the obligations (covenants, etc.) and commanded the Muslims to fight against all the Mushrikun as well as against the people of the Scriptures (Jews and Christians) if they do not embrace Islam, till they pay the Jizya (a tax levied on the nonMuslims who do not embrace Islam and are under the protectionofanlslamicgovernment) with willing submission and feel themselves subdued (as it is revealed in the Verse 9:29). So they (Muslims) were not permitted to abandon “the fighting” against them (Pagans, Jews and Christians) and to reconcile with them and to suspend hostilities against them for an unlimited period while they are strong and are able to fight against them (non Muslims).
As it is now obvious, at first “the fighting” was forbidden, then it was permitted and after that it was made obligatory- ( I ) against them who start “the fighting” against you (Muslims)… (2) and against all those who worship others along with Allah… as mentioned in SurahAIBaqaraSl (II), Allmran (III) and Tauba (IX)… and other Sarah (Chapters of the Qur’an). Allah (swt) made “the fighting’ (Jihad) obligatory for the Muslims and gave importance to the subjectmatter of Jihad in all the Sarah (Chapters of the Qur’an) which were revealed (at AlMadina) as in Allah’s Statement:
March forth whether you are light (being healthy, young and wealthy) or heavy (being ill, old and poor), strive [ hard with your wealth and your lives in the Cause of Allah. This is better for you if you but knew. (V.9:41).
And He (Allah) said:
Jihad (holy fighting in Allah’s Cause) is ordained for you (Muslims) though you dislike it, and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know. (V.2:216)
“The fighting”, even though by its nature is disliked by the human soul because of the liability, of being killed, orbeing taken as a captive, or being injured, with the wasting ofthe wealth, the damaging of the industries, the destruction ofthe country, the spreading of fear and awe in the souls and the (possibility) of being exiled from one’s homeland, Allah had made ready an immensely good reward that cannot be imagined by a human soul.
‘Ikrima (a religious scholar) said: At first Muslims disliked it (Jihad), but later they loved it and said: “We listen and obey.” And that is because the submission to the order to fight means hardship, but if the reward is made known it becomes to compare the hardship involved and its reward.
The Verses of the Qur’an and the Sunna (the Prophet’s legal ways, orders etc.) have exhorted greatly for Jihad and have made quite clear its rewards, and praised greatly thosewhoperform Jihad (the holy fighting in Allah’s Cause) and explained to them various kinds of honours which they will receive from their Lord (Allah swt). This is because they-Mudahidin are Allah’s troops. Allah (swt) will establish His religion (Islam), with them (Mujahidin). He will repel the might of His enemies, and with them He will protect Islam and guard the religion safely.
More on Rashad Hussain, appointed twice by Barack Hussain Obama: