American Infidel's Musts

2008-05-13T10:21:00.000-04:00

Greetings Visitors...

My apologies, but work has kept me busy & will keep me busy over the next few weeks...

As soon as I get out from under this load, I shall resume posting...

Thanks...

AI

MUST READ: HATE BEHIND THE NIQAB

2008-04-25T11:31:00.002-04:00

Symposium: Hate Behind the Niqab
By Frontpagemag.com

What impulses engender the desire to cover a woman with a full black body covering -- with only a small slit opening for the eyes? To discuss this issue with us today, Frontpage Symposium has assembled a distinguished panel.

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The word, niqaab (sing.) and nuqub (pl.) in its Arabic root means to bore, to pierce, to make a hole. The sexual nature of the root should be apparent. In Hebrew and Aramaic the same root meaning exists. In Modern Hebrew there is the word nikBA, which means ‘tunnel’ and more importantly, the very word for ‘female’, nekeVA comes from this root. Yet today there is no veiling remotely comparable to what is going on within the global umma.

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The veil is about control/domination vis-à-vis submission of the female and her subjugation. The headscarf is the beginning of the slippery slope of subjugation that slides into the burqa and/or the niqab. Because it is such a sexually repressed culture, men shroud the female to avoid being sexually aroused by her essence. When exposed they feel not only highly aroused, but threatened and vulnerable, an emotional state not to be tolerated in Islam except in the presence of Allah. (personal communication, J. Lachkar)

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When a woman is deprived of any worthiness by her religion such as the case with Islam's, she hangs on any symbols which give her respect in her society as a good woman. There is a saying in the Arabic world to a woman: "Allah Yustur Alaiki" May Allah cover your shame. Her existence as she is created by God is shameful and needs to be covered first by a veil then by a husband. The Niqab is the answer to that prayer.

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Muhammad’s first wife Khadijah was a business lady, the richest woman of Arabia. There is no evidence to suggest she wore any form of veil during her lifetime. The same is true for Muhammad’s other wives, until Muhammad forced them to be covered in niqab, ostensibly mandated by Allah in a few verses in the Koran.

So why did Muhammad inflict this form of sartorial oppression on Muslim women? To know the reason we need to read the hadiths. The chief cause of veiling of Muhammad’s wives and the Muslim women in general is ingrained in the primitive latrine facilities in the deserts of Arabia.

After the death of Khadijah, Muhammad spent most of the wealth left by Khadijah. He became so poor that he had very little money to support himself. When he migrated to Medina, he and his followers were destitute. Under this dire poverty, Muhammad had to house his wives in places with very primitive or non-existent toilet/sanitary facilities. He had no choice but to ask his wives to go to an open field nearby and answer the call of nature.

In a hadith in Sahih Bukhari (1.4.149) we read that Muhammad permitted his wives to go out in the desert, in a secluded spot under the sky, and hide under trees and shrubs to defecate, though, he restricted them to the night hours only. That is: his wives could go out to relieve themselves only at night, when no one was watching them.

In another hadith of Sahih Bukhari (6.60.203) we read that performing sexual intercourse in the open sky, in the very spot where defecation used to take place was quite common. In other words, these spots in the desert, where there were shrubs and date palm trees, were the places where many people, who had no privacy at their homes, used to relieve themselves, as well as do sexual intercourse. It had been the way of the Arab Bedouins for millennia.

Nevertheless, Umar, the second Caliph of Islam urged Muhammad to change this.

As per the instruction, Muhammad’s wives started to go to an open field only at night to answer the call of nature without any veil or proper attire. Umar used to watch these ladies and was very uncomfortable and distressful to see them answering the call of nature in the open sky without much protection to their privacy. He requested Muhammad to cover his wives with veils whenever they went out to do their business in the open field at night.

At first, Muhammad ignored Umar’s plea. But when Umar kept pestering, Muhammad turned to Allah for His suggestion (since he did not have the pecuniary means to solve this toilet problem). Allah promptly sent down the verse on veil (33:59)

The above context of the veiling and ‘niqabing’ demonstrates that there is no compelling reason to enforce such a despicable, misogynist, barbaric system on Muslim women.

Today, we note, all around the world, that seventh century Bedouin barbaric custom is back in fashion. Not being content with the Muslim women, there is also pressure on the infidel women to cover up, because, as per the Islamic rule, these infidel women who do not wear the Islamic niqab are sluts, whores and ripe for Islamic rape by Islamic men.

According to Islam, Muslims are at perpetual war with the non-Muslims. Wherever, there is even a shred of Islam (even a single Muslim) it is incumbent upon him to enforce Islam in whatever capacity. This means, as per Islamic law (Sharia), infidel women, who do not comply with the Islamic dress codes, are captives of the Muslims living in the infidel territory. In Hedaya, the Hanafi law manual, we find that a Muslim living in an infidel land is allowed to have unlimited sex with the non-Muslim women without having the need to marry them. This should explain why, many Islamic men in the infidel world are caught for raping the ‘slutty’ ‘bitchy’, ‘whores’; of the western countries. They deserve to be purified by Islamic rape, as many such Muslim will say.

The Islamic hatred for western women who do not cover their bodies with Islamic ‘tents’ knows no bound. In 2006, the Mufti of Australia, Sheikh Hilali considered these western women as the ‘cat’s’ meat, that is: these western women deserve to be eaten (sexually) by Muslim men who chance upon them. We might not like what Mufti Hilali said, but he is absolutely correct. Islam allows Muslim men to have forced sex upon non-Muslim women who do not cover their ‘meat’. Here is the proof:

In verse 33:59. Allah says: O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way). That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed. And Allah is Ever of Forgiving, Most Merciful.

The most eminent tafsir (exegesis) writer, bin Kathir comments on this verse:

Here Allah tells His Messenger to command the believing women -- especially his wives and daughters, because of their position of honour -- to draw their Jibes over their bodies, so that they will be distinct in their appearance from the women of the Jahiliyyah and from slave women. The Jilbab is a Rida', worn over the Khimar. This was the view of Ibn Mas'ud, 'Ubaydah, Qatadah, Al-Hasan Al-Basri, Sa'id bin Jubayr, Ibrahim An-Nakha'i, 'Ata' Al-Khurasani and others. It is like the Izar used today. Al-Jawhari said: "The Jilbab is the outer wrapper. 'Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn 'Abbas said that Allah commanded the believing women, when they went out of their houses for some need, to cover their faces from above their heads with the Jilbab, leaving only one eye showing. Muhammad bin Sirin said, "I asked 'Ubaydah As-Salmani about the Ayah: (to draw their Jalabib over their bodies.) He covered his face and head, with just his left eye showing.'' (That will be better that they should be known so as not to be annoyed. ) means, if they do that, it will be known that they are free, and that they are not servants or whores.

Please read the last sentence once again. It reads:

[If they do that, it will be known that they are free, and that they are not servants or whores—ibn Kathir]

The above explanation of ibn Kathir mean:

Muslim women must always keep their 'meat' covered whenever they venture out.

Infidel women who do not hide their 'meat' inside Jilbab and Hijab are either maidservants or whores.

The white Australian women who do not dress Islamically are maidservants or whores.

In Islam, Muslim men are allowed to have unlimited sexual intercourse with maidservants and/or sexual slaves. A Muslim man commits rape if and only if he has sex with a Muslim woman out of wedlock. Having forced sex with an infidel, uncovered woman does not at all constitute rape, Islamically speaking.

The natural conclusion is that Muslim men are completely free to Islamically rape these infidel women, if these whores fall in Muslim men's hands.

I quoted from the Koran and the tafsir of ibn Kathir to dispel any doubt that the non-Muslims might have about the unremitting hatred Islam has for infidel women, who do not comply with the Islamic specifications of women’s dress code.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Symposium: Hate Behind the Niqab

MUST READ: THE TWO KINDS OF DHIMMIS

2008-04-25T11:26:00.002-04:00

The Two Kinds of Dhimmis
By Jamie Glazov

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Bill Warner, the director of the Center for the Study of Political Islam (CSPI) and spokesman for PoliticalIslam.com.

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FP: I would like to discuss the issue of dhimmis today. Let's begin like this: who are the dhimmis? And what different kinds are there?

Warner: Dhimmis begin with Mohammed. He was the world’s supreme master of making others submit to his will. Mohammed had the insight into the human psyche that all human beings have a genetic disposition to submit to the will of the group and higher ranked individuals.

We like to think of ourselves as individuals who can make decisions and freely execute them. Mohammed’s insight was into the submissive side of being human. To survive as a civilization we must allow others to dictate what we do to some extent. As an example, we all submit to the idea that we stop our car at the red light. We submit to society’s rules. We are not completely free, but a member of society. If we did not have this “pack” gene, we could not survive as a species. We must be able to work together. There is no way to survive alone.

In short, all humans have a beta gene, a submissive gene, as part of our DNA. But a beta needs an alpha. Mohammed was history’s supreme alpha male.

Previous religious leaders and philosophers approached humanity with the idea of freeing the individual from fear. Mohammed did not try to free humanity, but to make humanity a slave to Allah, the god of fear. So he “revealed” the ultimate alpha—Allah. Under Allah, all humans come to their fulfillment by being Allah’s slave. But since Mohammed was the only “prophet” of Allah, to obey Allah was to obey Mohammed. Islam is submission to Allah/Mohammed.

In his early phase in Mecca, Mohammed only talked about religious slavery to Allah/Mohammed. The Koran promises the use of violence in Hell after death. The Koran of Mecca has 67% of its text devoted to how the kafirs (unbelievers) must submit to Allah/ Mohammed.

Then in Medina, Mohammed’s message became political, and he became violent without limits towards kafirs. Mohammed made all the Jews of Medina submit to him by robbery, murder, war, assassinations, rape, torture, executions, exile and enslavement.

After he had subdued all of the kafirs in Medina, Mohammed attacked the Jews of Khaybar. By now he realized that you could make more money from a live kafir than from a dead one. Kafirs can be enslaved, but the slave option has a disadvantage. Slaves have to be managed and be near at hand. So Mohammed created the dhimmi. The dhimmi agrees to live in a world that is dominated by Islam in all public areas. A dhimmi is free from Islam only in his own home. Law, customs, art, education, the media, government, speech and every thing in public space is Islamic. In addition, the dhimmi has to pay a tax to Islam called the jizya tax. In Khaybar the jizya tax was 50%.

The key psychological technique is that the dhimmi is to be humiliated in all possible ways. In effect, the dhimmi is halfway between freedom and slavery, a semi-slave.

Mohammed’s power structure was now complete. His first division of humanity was into believer/kafir. Then he refined kafir into dhimmi and slave. Humanity became divided into Muslim, kafir-slaves, kafir-dhimmis and kafirs.

As the Islamic conquest rolled over the kafirs, the dhimmi was the perfect tool of subjugation. After Islam conquered a country, for instance Egypt, the Muslims were the top dogs in the politics, but the Christians could keep their religion. However, they had to live without legal protection or civil rights. All public space was Islamic. The dhimmi could be insulted, abused and had no recourse. They had to pay the jizya tax. The dhimmi were cattle on the Islamic ranch, but could attend their church or synagogue.

FP: What happened to the dhimmis under these conditions?

Warner: The insults, humiliations and taxes wore the dhimmis down. What happened over time was that the dhimmis converted to Islam. It was easier to avoid all this pain and become a Muslim.

In the 20th century, Islam became so weak that the full dhimmi status was dropped. But if you meet and talk to Christians from the Middle East today, you will find that the centuries of dhimmitude have produced, in many cases, a personality similar to an abused wife. It is very sad to see how subjugated a personality can become.

There is another kind of dhimmi—kafirs who become apologists for Islam, fear and defer to it. So we have two types of dhimmi—the subjugated dhimmi who is under the political power of Islam and the apologist dhimmi who seeks Islamic favor.

FP: I see, so two kinds of dhimmis.

Warner: Exactly, the word dhimmi has two separate meanings—a subjugated dhimmi is persecuted and the apologist dhimmi helps the persecutor. The context determines which dhimmi we are talking about. One dhimmi is to be pitied and helped; the other dhimmi needs to be educated. But the apologist dhimmi is the key to defeating Islam.

Our civilization is under attack by political Islam. It is the intent of Islam to do this country what it has done to every country it has invaded—annihilate our civilization. This annihilation is the goal of political Islam for a simple reason. Annihilation is the process of Islamification. We must understand that Islam is a totally separate civilization from ours. The civilization of Islam is anti-everything in our civilization. As an example, our ethical system has at its core the Golden Rule and is a unitary system. We have one set of ethical rules for all possible groups. Islamic ethics are dualistic. Islam has one set of rules for Muslims and another set of rules for the kafirs.

Kafir logic is based upon Aristotelian law of non-contradiction. If two things contradict each other, then at least one of them must be false. Islamic logic is dualistic. The Koran establishes the logic of Islam. The Koran of Mecca contradicts the Koran of Medina, but since both Korans are perfect, both sides of the contradiction are true. Dualistic logic allows two contradictory “facts” to be true at the same time. Islamic logic is built on contradiction.

Allah is the god of duality and submission. Islamic civilization is based upon the principles of duality and submission. Our civilization is based upon the principles of unitary ethics and unitary logic.

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Pertinent Links:

1) The Two Kinds of Dhimmis

MUST READ: SYMPOSIUM - A NEW KORAN?

2008-04-25T11:23:00.000-04:00

Symposium: A New Koran?
By Jamie Glazov

The organization Muslims Against Sharia is creating a new Koran with the violent verses removed. How legitimate and wise is this action? There is an effort in Turkey, for instance, to also revise Islamic texts. What real hope can these acts offer to bring Islam into the modern and democratic world? To discuss this issue with us today, Frontpage Symposium has assembled a distinguished panel.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Symposium: A New Koran?

MUST READ: IRAN & TURKEY MOVE CLOSER ON COUNTER-TERRORISM COOPERATION

2008-04-24T09:49:00.001-04:00

Iran and Turkey Move Closer on Counter-Terrorism Cooperation
By Giray Sadik

There are signs that Turkey and Iran intend to increase cooperation in their mutual struggle against militant Kurdish nationalists based in northern Iraq. The Turkish Interior Ministry announced in a statement on April 17 that “ Turkish and Iranian officials have signed a memorandum of understanding expressing their willingness to develop cooperation in security issues.” According to the statement, issued after the conclusion of the 12th High Security Commission (HSC) meeting between Turkey and Iran: “The increase in some terrorist movements in the region damages both countries, and the most influential way to battle this outlawed problem is the exchange of intelligence and security cooperation” (Hurriyet, April 17). The main movements alluded to in this statement are the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which seeks autonomy for Kurds in Turkey, and the closely related Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK), whose members are militants from the heavily Kurdish northwestern provinces of Iran who carry out cross-border strikes into Iran.

Various media sources confirmed that the primary agenda of the HSC meeting was to negotiate new joint measures both countries can take in order to further their existing “active counterterrorism cooperation” (Today’s Zaman, April 15). It is important to recall the results of the previous High Security Commission meeting in February 2006, when Turkey and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding calling for the mountainous region of northern Iraq bordering Turkey and Iran to become “a peaceful land which is purified of all kinds of terror” (Sabah, April 14). On April 15 Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Abbas Mohtai told journalists prior to his departure for Turkey that “there is no difference between the PKK and PJAK. Turkey and Iran are the targets of terrorist attacks” (Hurriyet, April 15). To further explain the Iranian position and the purpose of his visit, Abbas Mohtaj emphasized that “the two countries fight against terror and cooperate with each other, and Iran looks at the PKK and the PJAK as a single terrorist organization under two different names. We want to increase cooperation with Turkey against the terrorist organizations” (Hurriyet, April, 15, 2008).

The visit of the Iranian Deputy Interior Minister was the first high profile security visit from Iran in the aftermath of late February’s Turkish cross-border ground operations and air strikes against terrorist havens in northern Iraq. Although Turkish ground units returned to their homeland a week after beginning a precise and effective operation, occasional clashes and hot pursuits around the Turkish-Iraqi border have continued to take place.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Iran and Turkey Move Closer on Counter-Terrorism Cooperation

MUST READ: PAKISTAN'S NEW GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES PEACE INITIATIVE W/ISLAMIST MILITANTS IN SWAT

2008-04-24T09:48:00.002-04:00

Pakistan’s New Government Launches Peace Initiative with Islamist Militants in Swat
By Rahimullah Yusufzai

Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the aged leader of the banned Islamic group, Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM), was released in Peshawar on April 21 after more than six years of imprisonment as part of the reconciliation efforts undertaken by the newly-elected coalition government of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) (The News International [Islamabad], April 22).

His release is part of an effort to tackle the conflict in the militancy-hit Swat district and restore order in the once peaceful valley. It coincided with the signing of an agreement between the TNSM and the government. Under the six-point agreement, the TNSM renounced the use of force in achieving its goal of enforcing Shari’a (Islamic law) in Swat and other parts of Malakand region (Dawn [Islamabad], April 22). It pledged to respect the institutions of the state and accept the government’s right to establish its writ. The TNSM also distanced itself from elements involved in attacks on security forces in Swat and elsewhere. In return, the government withdrew all pending cases against Sufi Mohammad, commuted his remaining prison term and set him free unconditionally.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Pakistan’s New Government Launches Peace Initiative with Islamist Militants in Swat

MUST READ: DOSTUM - AFGHANISTAN'S EMBATTLED WARLORD

2008-04-24T09:45:00.001-04:00

Dostum: Afghanistan’s Embattled Warlord
By Brian Glyn Williams

While the resurgence of the Taliban is the focus of interest in the Pashtun south of Afghanistan, the year started with a different story in the north that many are depicting as one of the greatest challenges to the Karzai government. Namely the surreal confrontation between General Abdul Rashid Dostum, the larger-than-life Uzbek jang salar (warlord)—who was once described as “one of the best equipped and armed warlords ever”—and one of his former aides [1].

In a move that many critics of the situation in Afghanistan saw as epitomizing the Karzai government’s cravenness in dealing with brutal warlords, the Afghan government backed away from arresting Dostum after he beat up and kidnapped a former election manager and spokesman in Kabul on February 3 (IHT, February 4). As his house was besieged by Ministry of the Interior police, Dostum appeared on the roof, defiantly waving his fist.

While many critics of President Karzai’s policy of appeasing warlords called for making an example of Dostum, Karzai limited his response to removing Dostum from his largely symbolic post of “Commander in Chief” of the Afghan Army. Karzai’s decision not to prosecute Dostum for his brazen assault in the Afghan capital was depicted as “timid and hesitant” (Asia Times, April 9; RFE/RL, February 3). Glib calls for “removing” warlords like Dostum, however, display a lack of understanding of the complex issues involved in Karzai’s delicate balancing act in a country faced with a mounting Taliban insurgency.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Dostum: Afghanistan’s Embattled Warlord

MUST READ: WHY EUROPEANS SHOULD SUPPORT ISRAEL

2008-04-24T09:23:00.001-04:00

Why Europeans Should Support Israel
by Fjordman

One of the most frustrating things to watch is the powerful anti-Israeli and sometimes outright anti-Semitic current that is prevalent in too much of Europe’s media. Bat Ye’or’s predictions about Arab anti-Semitism spreading in Europe as the continent’s Islamization and descent into Eurabia continues have so far proved depressingly accurate. This trend needs to be fought, vigorously, by all serious European anti-Jihadists. Not only because it is immoral and unfair to Israelis, which it is, but also because those who assist it are depriving Europeans of the opportunity to fully grasp the threat and understand the nature of the Jihad that is now targeting much of Europe as well.

In 2005 the Norwegian police issued a mobile security alarm to Carl I. Hagen, leader of the right-wing Progress Party. Mr. Hagen had criticized Islam and could see no similarity with the concept of morality and justice found in Christianity. During the 1990s, Mr. Hagen was one of the few politicians who protested against giving money to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as a part of the Norwegian-brokered Oslo Peace Process.

Hagen said that if Israel loses in the Middle East, Europe will succumb to Islam next. He felt that Christians should support Israel and oppose Islamic inroads into Europe. In an unprecedented step, a group of Muslim ambassadors to Norway blasted Carl I. Hagen in a letter to the newspaper Aftenposten, claiming that he had offended 1.3 billion Muslims around the world. Other Norwegian politicians quickly caved in and condemned Hagen. Maybe Norway, “the country of peace” and home to the Nobel Peace Prize, will get along just fine with Islam, “the religion of peace.”

Although some political leaders such as Mr. Carl I. Hagen have a clear understanding of what’s going on, they are unfortunately few and far between. Most European media commentators are hostile to the Jewish state of Israel, partly because they get angry with anybody defending themselves against Islamic Jihad instead of surrendering, and partly because they want to project their own feelings of guilt from the Holocaust onto Israel by recasting the Jews as villains and the Palestinians as victims.

French filmmaker Pierre Rehov made the film Suicide Killers where he interviewed the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. He warns that we are facing “a neurosis at the level of an entire civilization,” a “culture of hatred in which the uneducated are brainwashed to a level where their only solution in life becomes to kill themselves and kill others in the name of a God. I hear a mother saying ‘Thank God, my son is dead.’ Her son had became a shaheed, a martyr, which for her was a greater source of pride than if he had became an engineer, a doctor or a winner of the Nobel Prize. [...] They don’t see the innocent being killed, they only see the impure that they have to destroy.”

Rehov believes that we are dealing with “a new form of Nazism” that it is going to spread to Europe and the United States, too.

Spanish journalist Sebastian Villar Rodriguez claims that Europe died in Auschwitz: “We assassinated 6 million Jews in order to end up bringing in 20 million Muslims!” Yet in 2007, Ciempozuelos, a small Madrid suburb, refused to commemorate Holocaust Day and opted instead to commemorate the ‘Day of Palestinian Genocide.’ In Britain following Muslim pressure, the Bolton Council scrapped its Holocaust Memorial Day event. The Muslim Council of Britain asked for a Genocide Day to protest the Israeli “genocide” against the Palestinians. The secretary-general of the MCB, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, has earlier compared the situation of Muslims in Britain to Jews under Hitler.

We thus have the absurd situation where the Nazis of today are presented as Jews while the Jews are presented as Nazis.

French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut thinks that Auschwitz has become part of the foundation of the European Union, a culture based on guilt. “I can understand the feeling of remorse that is leading Europe to this, but this remorse goes too far.” It is too great a gift to present Hitler to reject every single aspect of European culture. This is said by the Jewish son of an Auschwitz prisoner.

The Holocaust was an unspeakable crime. It also did massive damage to Europe’s own identity and cultural confidence, and is one of the major causes of Europe’s seeming inability to withstand the ongoing Islamic Jihad.

As Hugh Fitzgerald notes, “Fortunately for so many, and for the Arabs, the victory of Israel in the Six-Day War promptly provided a reason to depict Jews as villains, not victims. This found an eager audience of Europeans, who were already eager for psychological reasons to find fault with Jews so as to avoid thinking unduly about the behavior of many European peoples and states during the war. [...] The damage done to the morale of Europe because of the destruction of European Jewry has been great. If Western Europe, or the West generally, were after all that has happened to permit Israel to go under, Europe would not recover.”

He warns that those who believe sacrificing Israel would in any way stop the global Jihad are very wrong. On the contrary, “The loss of Israel would fill the Arabs and Muslims with such triumphalism that their Jihad in Western Europe and elsewhere (including the Americas) would receive a gigantic boost. The duty is to make sure that Islam covers the globe; that Islam dominates, and Muslims rule.”

Europeans need to understand how closely intertwined are the fates of Israel and of Europe itself. The term “Judeo-Christian” is not a cliche. We cannot defend Western civilization without defending its Jewish component, without which modern Western culture would have been unthinkable.

The religious identity of the West has two legs: The Christian and the Jewish ones. It needs both to stand upright. Sacrificing one to save the other is like fighting a battle by chopping off one of your legs, throwing it at the feet of your enemies and shouting: “You won’t get the other one! We will never surrender!” We could always hope that our enemies will laugh themselves to death faster than we bleed to death, the Monty Python way of fighting. Maybe that works, but most likely it will leave us crippled and pathetic, if not dead.

I agree with Mr. Finkielkraut: To reduce absolutely everything about Europe to gas chambers, thereby allowing the Nazis the opportunity to expropriate everything that has been created during thousands of years, is to grant Adolf Hitler victory posthumously. We should not award him that pleasure, especially since what would replace Western civilization would be Islamic culture, the most warlike and anti-Semitic on earth, and greatly admired by Mr. Hitler for it.

We cannot change what has happened in the past. We should, however, consider it our duty to combat anti-Semitism in the here and now and make sure that the remaining Jews both in Europe and in Israel are safe. This is not just because it is our moral and historical obligation, which it is, but also because we only gain the right to defend ourselves against Islamization of we grant the same right to Israel. Likewise, we can only begin to heal our self-inflicted civilizational wounds if we embrace the Jewish component of our cultural identity.

Written by well known blogger Fjordman, you can find many of his works at: Gates of Vienna, Islam-Watch, Global Politician, JihadWatch, The Brussels Journal and his own blog @ Blogspot bearing his name Fjordman.

Pertinent Links:

1) Why Europeans Should Support Israel

MUST READ: BRITAIN - RAISING HOMEGROWN TERRORISTS

2008-04-23T07:42:00.001-04:00

Britain – Raising Homegrown Terrorists
by Adrian Morgan

Though his presence has hardly made any impact compared to the Pope, Britain's near-invisible prime minister Gordon Brown has been visiting the United States. Brown's trip to the States happens as his popularity plunges at home, and he faces a rebellion from the ranks of his Labour Party. Once again, Brown quotes Winston Churchill. At home, Brown never quotes Churchill. He would be savaged by the press for hypocrisy.

It is not the first time Brown that has resurrected the ghost of Churchill in a bland attempt to impress America. In July last year on his first visit to America as prime minister, he used words lifted from a famous speech by Churchill. To resurrect Churchill for a second time indicates either a lack of imagination on Brown's part, or he patronizingly thinks Americans are so shallow they can only relate to Churchill as an influential British politician.

In 1975, while rector of Edinburgh University, Gordon Brown wrote fawningly of Antonio Gramsci, founder of the Italian Communist party. For socialist Brown to compare himself to Churchill would make the former Tory statesman turn in his grave.

Gordon Brown was the "right-hand man" of Tony Blair until June 27, 2007, so he cannot be absolved of the messes that Labour has made since it assumed power in May 1997. Ever since July 7, 2005, there have been ample opportunities for Britain to work out a coherent strategy against homegrown terrorism. Sadly, the Labour Party is too dependent upon Muslim votes in inner cities to really produce any strategy of substance.

In the aftermath of 7/7, instead of ensuring that potential extremists were kept under control, the Labour government acted to appease the Muslim "representatives." When Tony Blair wanted to ban the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, his own advisory group, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) refused to support the move, and Hizb is still active in Britain nearly three years later. The MCB claims to be moderate but has a history of relations with Islamists. Indeed, the group was co-founded by Kemal el-Helbawy, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood member.

In 2005, Home Office minister Hazel Blears was sent on a tour of Muslim communities and came back with the anodyne statement: "What we have discussed today is the need to teach the true nature of Islam, which is about peace and love." The Muslims who killed 52 civilians in London on 7/7 were well-versed in Islam, but were hardly radiating "peace and love" for their fellow citizens when they detonated their explosive rucksacks.

The British government has attempted to deal with Muslim extremism by dishonestly pretending that extremists are not Muslims. They are. They just happen to be extreme Muslims. Such blinkered approaches continue and the current Home Secretary is either naive or dishonest when she maintains that Islamist terrorism is "anti-Islamic activity."

In 2006, the Labour government wasted tax-payers’ money by creating a Muslim website that claims to be moderate, entitled "The Radical Middle Way." Funds are being thrown at Islamic extremism, with little hope of actually doing anything. Meanwhile, the Foreign Office wastes tax-payers' money on sending groups of Muslims abroad to Muslim countries to meet other Muslims to "share their experiences."

The Foreign Office spends much time trying to "reach out" to Islamofascists. In 2005, it approved of the disastrous "Waziristan Accord," a peace deal between the Taliban and the army in northwestern Pakistan. Though that accord was broken by Islamists within days, Gordon Brown appears to approve of similar acts of appeasement. His Foreign Secretary, David Milliband, is currently in Pakistan to encourage more negotiations with terrorists.

In October 2007 the communities secretary Hazel Blears announced that £70 million would be granted to set up websites so that young Muslims in Britain can discuss their "identity." Currently, the government has increased the annual funding of such hare-brained schemes to £90 million ($180 million).

The latest half-baked attempt by the British government to defuse extremism in the Muslim community is a suggestion to import more foreign imams into Britain. These are to come mainly from Pakistan, a country with such a "moderate" approach to Islam that anyone found guilty of blaspheming against the prophet Mohammed receives a mandatory death sentence. Imams brought up in such a climate are hardly going to understand or support the "liberal" customs of Britain, where freedom of speech is meant to trump religious supremacy. Who is going to decide which of these Pakistani imams is "moderate?"

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Britain – Raising Homegrown Terrorists

2008-04-23T07:39:00.002-04:00

Britain – Highs and Lows in the War on Terrorism
by Adrian Morgan

Britain's commitment to the war on terror is certainly less strong under the unelected leadership of Gordon Brown, who became prime minister on June 27, 2007. As soon as he became the premier, Brown ordered his cabinet ministers to avoid the term "War on terror."

A sign of the current administration's lack of realism came in January this year, when Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that Islamic terrorism was "anti-Islamic activity." She said: "As so many Muslims in the UK and across the world have pointed out, there is nothing Islamic about the wish to terrorize, nothing Islamic about plotting murder, pain and grief. Indeed, if anything, these actions are anti-Islamic." Smith's Islamic scholars seem to ignore the evidence of the Hadith of Bukhari, in which Mohammed's last words included the statement: "I have been made victorious with terror."

Despite previous bland statements about terrorism, Brown and Smith are now facing rebellion from Labour party ranks for trying to be "tough" on terror suspects. On November 9, 2005 Tony Blair was defeated when he tried to extend the time that terror suspects could be detained without being charged. Blair wanted suspects detained for 90 days, but Parliament only accepted a compromise of 28 days. Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith want the time to be raised to 42 days in a bill to be discussed next month.

In 1998 the Labour Party introduced the Human Rights Act, which ensured that all of British law had to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights. Already this legislation has proved to be disastrous when dealing with terrorism. It has allowed Afghan terrorists the right to remain in Britain indefinitely.

Control orders were introduced by then-Home Secretary Charles Clarke in 2005. These measures were brought in to monitor and regulate the activities of terror suspects who could not be prosecuted, often in the form of a partial house arrest. In May 2007 it was revealed that three individuals – Cerie Bullivant, Lamine Adam and Ibrahim Adam – had escaped, despite being under "control orders."

A month later, it was revealed that another individual had escaped a control order. Zeeshan Sidique, like the Adam brothers and Bullivant, had connections with the individuals convicted in the Operation Crevice trial of trying to cause explosions in Britain. Sidique had gone to Pakistan to commit "Jihad." He had been admitted to a lunatic asylum while on a control order, but had escaped through a window in September 2006. He has not been found. His diary entries record the rantings of a disturbed individual, desperate to return to "the battlefield" of Jihad for the sake of Allah.

On December 12, 2007, Cerie Bullivant was cleared by a jury on seven counts relating to his breaching his control order. He admitted he had absconded, but claimed that the control order had made his life miserable. He was placed on another control order, but his lawyer announced that he would appeal against the original order on the grounds that it breached Bullivant's human rights.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Britain – Highs and Lows in the War on Terrorism

MUST READ: THE PLOT TO ATTACK U.S.-BOUND PLANES FROM BRITAIN

2008-04-23T07:32:00.002-04:00

The Plot to Attack US-Bound Planes from Britain
by Adrian Morgan

On Thursday, April 3, a trial began at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London. Eight men stood accused under Section 1 (1) of Britain's Criminal Law Act 1977 of conspiring to murder others. They are also accused under Section 5 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2006 of preparing acts of terrorism.

The men on trial are: Abdullah Ahmed Ali, (27), Assad Sarwar, (27), Tanvir Hussain, (27), Mohammed Gulzar, (26), Ibrahim Savant (27), Arafat Khan, (26), Waheed Zaman, (25) and Umar Islam aka Brian Young (29).

The men were among 21 who had been arrested on the morning of Thursday, August 10, 2006. The arrests had taken place after an operation that had involved intelligence shared between Britain, Pakistan and the United States. The chief of U.S. Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, announced to a press conference in Washington D.C. that: "This operation is in some respects suggestive of an al-Qaeda plot... They had accumulated and assembled the capabilities that they needed and they were in the final stages of planning for execution."

He said that the plan had been to smuggle explosives on board planes which were bound for North America. These explosives would be disguised as harmless drinks and also electronic apparatus. On board the planes these would be assembled into bombs. Secretary Chertoff said the plan was "really quite close to the execution phase."

Transatlantic flight plans were thrown into chaos as Britain and America raised their security threat levels to their highest. President George W. Bush was on vacation at Crawford, Texas. He made a press announcement, in which he said: "The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.... Travelers are going to be inconvenienced as a result of the steps we've taken. I urge their patience and ask them to be vigilant. The inconvenience is – occurs because we will take the steps necessary to protect the American people."

At British airports, the inconvenience was widespread. Flights were delayed, and several outgoing flights were cancelled. Passengers had their shoes examined before boarding planes, and limits were placed on hand luggage. Only items that could be placed in a small clear plastic bag were allowed onto planes. No cans or bottles of drinks were allowed onto flights. Mothers who had babies were asked to take a sample sip from bottles of milk they wished to take on board.

British officials made announcements to inform the public. The arrests took place at three main locations, London, High Wycombe in Buckingamshire and Birmingham. The Bank of England froze the accounts of nineteen of the arrested suspects.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) The Plot to Attack US-Bound Planes from Britain

MUST VIEW: DEBATE - PROTECTING EUROPEAN CRITICS OF ISLAM (1 OF 4)

2008-04-18T09:35:00.000-04:00

MUST VIEW: DEBATE - PROTECTING EUROPEAN CRITICS OF ISLAM (2 OF 4)

2008-04-18T09:34:00.001-04:00

MUST VIEW: DEBATE - PROTECTING EUROPEAN CRITICS OF ISLAM (3 OF 4)

2008-04-18T09:33:00.001-04:00

MUST VIEW: DEBATE - PROTECTING EUROPEAN CRITICS OF ISLAM (4 OF 4)

2008-04-18T09:32:00.000-04:00

MUST READ: IMPROVED INTELLIGENCE BEHIND TURKISH SUCCESS IN LATEST ANTI-PKK OPERATIONS

2008-04-15T09:21:00.001-04:00

Improved Intelligence Behind Turkish Success in Latest Anti-PKK Operations
By Frank Hyland

The latest operations by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) against the facilities and personnel of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and in southeastern Turkey have displayed a growing competence on the part of the TSK in the use of real-time information in directing its forces in quick-reaction operations. As a result of this heightened level of skill, the TSK gives every appearance of having markedly altered the balance of power between the TSK and the PKK guerrillas since December 2007. The terrain of southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq has long been one of the chief obstacles faced by Turkey in its ongoing battle with PKK forces since 1984. The hostile wintertime climate has only added further to Turkey’s difficulty in pinpointing and reaching PKK locations in a timely fashion to carry out effective operations. In many cases over the years, Turkish forces have found themselves in the role of being forced to react to PKK attacks rather than being able to take the offensive. In its latest actions against the PKK, Operation Sancak 2, which have included cross-border artillery fire and airstrikes and ground forces operations in southeastern Turkey, it has been the PKK that has found itself on the defensive and on the run continually.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Improved Intelligence Behind Turkish Success in Latest Anti-PKK Operations

2008-04-15T09:17:00.001-04:00

Welcome to ‘Lawfare’ - A New Type of Jihad
by Brooke Goldstein

The Islamist movement has two wings – one violent and one lawful, which can operate apart but often reinforce each other. While the violent arm attempts to silence speech by burning cars when cartoons of Mohammed are published in Denmark, the lawful arm is skillfully maneuvering within Western legal systems, both here and abroad.

Islamists with financial means have launched a “legal Jihad,” filing frivolous and malicious lawsuits with the aim of abolishing public discourse critical of Islam and with the goal of establishing principles of Sharia law (strict Islamic law dating back to the 9th Century) as the governing political and legal authority in the West.

Islamist Lawfare is often predatory, filed without a serious expectation of winning, and undertaken as a means to intimidate, demoralize and bankrupt defendants. The lawsuits range in their claims from defamation to workplace harassment and they have resulted in books being pulped and meritorious articles going unpublished.

Forum shopping, whereby Plaintiffs bring actions in jurisdictions most likely to rule in their favor, has enabled a wave of “libel tourism.” At the time of her death in 2006, noted Italian author Orianna Fallaci was being sued in France, Italy, Switzerland and other jurisdictions by groups dedicated to preventing the dissemination of her work.

Libel Tourism has also resulted in foreign judgments against American authors mandating the regulation of their speech and behavior. The litany of American anti-Islamist researchers, authors, activists, publishers, congressman, newspapers, television news stations, think tanks, NGOs, reporters, student journals and others targeted for censorship is long and merits brief mentioning here.

One of the earliest cases in the US dates back to 1937, where in Birmington, Alabama, an Arab Sheik sued the Birmington Post for libel over an article entitled “Arabian Sheik Asks Friend Here to Buy him an American Girl for Harem.” The Post reported that Sheik Fareed Iman, “who is 29 years old and fears he may reach 30 before he obtains a chief-wife for his four-wife harem, is ready to purchase a suitable girl from her parents. The lucky girl”, the article continued, “will benefit from the traditional Arabian protective treatment of women but she can’t be seen by those who are not members of the household.”

The article read more like a parody of a personal ad in the dating section of a magazine and listed a telephone number should anyone reading be interested. Nevertheless, the Alabama court of appeals refused to dismiss the suit and judged the article libelous per se, or defamatory on its face, and remanded it for jury trial, where eventually the Plaintiff lost for his failure to state a cause of action.

Within the last ten years, however, we have seen a steady increase in cases pursued by Islamic organizations and Muslim individuals attempting to use Western courts to stop the flow of certain information. They are achieving a degree of success in Europe because the judicial systems in England, France and elsewhere don’t afford their citizens, or American citizens for that matter, the same free speech protections granted in America under the U.S. Constitution. The cumulative effect of the suits abroad, and of the suits here at home even if they are not successful, and the looming threat of future suits is creating a detrimental chilling effect on dialogue concerning important matters of public concern because, naturally, people want to avoid costly litigation.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Welcome to ‘Lawfare’ - A New Type of Jihad

MUST VIEW: THE VIOLENT OPPRESSION OF WOMEN IN ISLAM - WAFA SULTAN (PART 1 OF 2)

2008-04-11T09:04:00.001-04:00

MUST VIEW: THE VIOLENT OPPRESSION OF WOMEN IN ISLAM - WAFA SULTAN (PART 2 OF 2)

2008-04-11T09:02:00.001-04:00

MUST VIEW: ROBERT SPENCER ON THE 'CAUSES OF JIHAD' ACCORDING TO THE O.I.C.

2008-04-11T08:59:00.001-04:00

JIHAD WATCH #54

MUST READ: UNDERSTANDING CHECHNYA PART I: A SHORT HISTORY

2008-04-11T08:49:00.001-04:00

Understanding Chechnya Part I: A Short History
Tom Ordeman, Jr.

Author's note: This is the first piece in a series on Chechnya. A remote and poorly understood component of the Russian Federation, Chechen history is dominated by secessionism and influenced in part by Islamism. In order to understand the global connections of international terrorism, one must understand Chechnya.

As the conflict between the West and militant Islam continues, international focus has fallen primarily on Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran. While Afghanistan and Iraq remain the primary fronts in this conflict and Iran remains the primary state sponsor of terrorism, terrorism remains a globally linked phenomenon. Terrorism and Islamist militancy have played a pivotal role in the recent history of the Russian Federation. Both phenomena have played an important role in Russian domestic and foreign policies, and terrorism within Russia is believed to have influenced terrorism globally. The region of Russia most closely tied to Islamist militancy, separatism, and terrorism is one that many of heard of, but few are truly familiar with: Chechnya.

...

Another factor, possibly more important than the issue of political cohesion, was and is Chechnya's natural resources in general, and oil in particular. Just as the Russian Federation continues to exert its influence over the energy resources of the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union, Russia was and is unwilling to sacrifice the Chechen component of its energy infrastructure. These oil fields, among others, combine with Chechen and Central Asian gas reserves to become a piece of Russia's last credible trump card in its relationship with the outside world. Russia's disputes during the last several years with Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania over energy supplies demonstrate how crucial Chechen oil is to an otherwise unstable Russian economy.

The next piece in this series will detail the two Chechen Wars and the history of Chechen terrorism.

Pertinent Links:

1) Understanding Chechnya Part I: A Short History

MUST READ: UNDERSTANDING CHECHNYA PART II: THE FIRST CHECHEN WAR

2008-04-11T08:46:00.002-04:00

Understanding Chechnya Part II: The First Chechen War
by Tom Ordeman, Jr.

Author's note: This is the second piece in a series on Chechnya. A remote and poorly understood component of the Russian Federation, Chechen history is dominated by secessionism and influenced in part by Islamism. In order to understand the global connections of international terrorism, one must understand Chechnya.

In the years directly following the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the tiny Russian republic of Chechnya became increasingly independent. Having declared their independence from Russia on several previous occasions, the Chechens prepared Grozny for the coming invasion by Russia in the hopes that they would be able to bleed Russian resolve. Meanwhile, Russia appeared to make exacting preparations for a massive assault; as the waning days of 1994 would show, Russian military leaders made numerous critical errors. The First Chechen War, as it would come to be known, became an object lesson in failed urban warfare doctrines.

...

In many ways, the siege of Grozny and the ensuing war were inevitable. The Chechens were motivated by a mix of nationalism and religious fervor, and their separatist history compelled them to once again seize the opportunity of a weak and preoccupied Russia to attempt a forced independence. Meanwhile, Moscow was motivated by economic, political, and social motivators to prevent a second secessionist domino effect from beginning. Although the invasion was likely to have been bloody and protracted no matter what, the near-total failure of the Russian military to secure a timely victory was astonishing. Had the Russian military leadership put forth a realistic and cognizant plan, the conflict may not have dragged into a two year boondoggle that ended in a bloody stalemate.

Unfortunately for both the Russians and the Chechens, this bloody stalemate was only temporary. The First Chechen War would only set the stage for subsequent conflicts in the Caucasus.

Pertinent Links:

1) Understanding Chechnya Part II: The First Chechen War

MUST READ: PAMELA, ATLAS SHRUGS INTERVIEWS BAT YE'OR - - - THE TRANSCRIPT

2008-04-10T10:26:00.003-04:00

Instead of watching/listening to the YOU TUBE video's below, you may read the complete transcript at Atlas Shrugs:

The Atlas Interview: Bat Yeor

MUST VIEW: PAMELA, ATLAS SHRUGS INTERVIEWS BAT YE'OR, PART 1

2008-04-10T09:47:00.001-04:00

MUST VIEW: PAMELA, ATLAS SHRUGS INTERVIEWS BAT YE'OR, PART 2

2008-04-10T09:46:00.000-04:00

MUST VIEW: PAMELA, ATLAS SHRUGS INTERVIEWS BAT YE'OR, PART 3

2008-04-10T09:45:00.000-04:00

MUST VIEW: PAMELA, ATLAS SHRUGS INTERVIEWS BAT YE'OR, PART 4

2008-04-10T09:44:00.000-04:00

MUST READ: THE FUNNY SIDE OF ISLAM: MUHAMMAD & THE HADITH

2008-04-10T09:25:00.003-04:00

The Funny Side of Islam: Muhammad and the Hadith
by Fjordman

First of all I’d like to remind readers that all of my essays can be republished online or translated into other languages by anybody who wants to, as long as I am credited as the author. If you like this essay, I encourage you to republish it at your website.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Iranian Islamic leader the Ayatollah Khomeini once said that “There is no fun in Islam.” I disagree. Islam can be quite funny; it just isn’t intended to be so. I have long said that Islam’s weakest point is mockery. Any enemy will reveal what he fears the most, if you listen to him closely. Muslims fear criticism or mockery of their religion more than they fear death. Well, if mockery is what they fear above all else, maybe that’s exactly what we should give them?

The good thing about Islam is that you don’t actually have to mock it, Islam mocks itself. To demonstrate the funny side of Islam, I will quote a number of authentic hadith, exclusively taken from the major collections of Bukhari and al-Muslim. These are the most important religious texts for a billion Sunni Muslims, second only to the Koran itself.

The Sunna of Muhammad, his personal example, is mainly contained in extra-Koranic sources, especially the hadith (plural: ahadith). Even the practices of prayer and pilgrimage are to a very large extent based on information from the hadith literature. One should always be careful with using Wikipedia as a source, but their entry on the five pillars of Islam is reasonably accurate:

Five Pillars of Islam is the term given to the five duties incumbent on every Muslim. These duties are:

1) Shahadah (profession of faith)
2) Salat (ritual prayer five times each day)
3) Sawm (fasting during Ramadan)
4) Zakat (Islamic tax or tithing)
5) Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca at least once during life).

These practices are essential to Sunni Islam. Shi’a Muslims subscribe to eight ritual practices which substantially overlap with the Pillars. The concept of five pillars is taken from the Hadith collections, notably those of Sahih Al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. The Qur’an does not speak of five pillars, although one can find in it scattered references to their associated practices.

The Shias have their own hadith collections. They differ from the Sunnis in some respects in terms of theology, but not by much when it comes to violence and aggression against non-Muslims. For instance, here is a speech by Khomeini from 1981:

“Why do you only read the Quranic verses of mercy and do not read the verses of killing? Quran says; kill, imprison! Why are you only clinging to the part that talks about mercy? Mercy is against God. Mehrab means the place of war, the place of fighting. Out of the mehrabs, wars should proceed, just as all the wars of Islam used to proceeded out of the mehrabs. The Prophet has [had] sword to kill people. Our [Holy] Imams were quite military men. All of them were warriors. They used to wield swords; they used to kill people. We need a Khalifa who would chop hands, cut throat, stone people in the same way that the messenger of God used to chop hands, cut throats, and stone people. In the same way that he massacred the Jews of Bani Qurayza because they were a bunch of discontent people. If the Prophet used to order to burn a house or exterminate a tribe, [then] that was justice.”

At the mainstream Sunni website IslamOnline, Dr. Khalid Alvi answers a question as to whether there is any need for hadith. According to him, the Koran contains dozens of reminders of the important position of Muhammad, and “No one remains Muslim if he does not accept the Prophet’s decisions and judgments.”

As Alvi writes, “The Qur’an, while pressing the Muslims to obey the Prophet, goes a step further when it announces that the Prophethood of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is above all the limitations of time and space. He is the Last Prophet and is a Messenger of Allah for the whole of humanity for all time to come. Hadith is nothing but a reflection of the personality of the Prophet, who is to be obeyed at every cost. Any student of the Qur’an will see that the Qur’an generally deals with the broad principles or essentials of religion, going into details in very rare cases. The details were generously supplied by the Prophet himself, either by showing in his practice how an injunction is to be carried out, or by giving an explanation in words.”

The great Hungarian orientalist Ignác Goldziher has cast doubt on the authenticity of the hadith literature, but according to other scholars, much of the same can be said about the Koran as well, which was probably completed far later, and with far more changes, than Muslims would like us to believe. Some of the Koran may even be based on pre-Islamic texts.

And as Hugh Fitzgerald of Jihad Watch asks, “who is going to red-pencil a number of the most ‘authentic’ Hadith, or perhaps throw them out altogether, and while we are at it, throw out the Sira (the biography, in the basic Muslim version, of Muhammad)? Who will declare it done? And how could it possibly be accepted? It can’t, and holding out such hope to naïve Infidels is meretricious and sinister.”

It is true that Muslim reformists do exist, though they are numerically marginal, who from time to time will argue for downplaying or ignoring the hadith and the Sunna in favor of relying on the Koran alone. I personally doubt whether they will succeed in reforming Islam in this way, as this will be viewed as heresy by people who follow the traditional interpretation of Islamic law, where heresy is punishable by death.

Sheikh Tantawi, leader of Al-Azhar in Cairo, the most important center of learning for Sunni Muslims, attacked the Sunna deniers, calling them “ignoramuses, liars, and hypocrites” and warning the public not to listen to their views. In statements delivered on November 5, 2004 at a conference organized by the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Tantawi said, “The attack on the Sunna is a means employed by the enemies of Islam for the [upcoming] attack on the Koran, because the Sunna is only a clarification of the laws appearing in the Koran… Thus, anyone who raises doubts about the prophetic Sunna as a source of legislation is acting according to a plan that is hostile to Islam… We have no life, future, or greatness among the societies except by clinging to the Koran and the Sunna. It is incumbent upon us all to stand in one rank and in one thought against anyone who attacks and denies the Sunna, because the laws [regarding matters] between man and Allah are not correct without the Sunna that explains in detail the rules and clarifies the things that are important.”

We should remember, from a theological point of view, that the Koran on quite a few occasions orders Muslims to follow the example of Muhammad, and most of his Sunna is contained in extra-Koranic sources, especially in the hadith. If you remove these, Islam will essentially collapse as a recognizable religion. Moreover, the Koran contains dozens of Jihad-verses and other verses advocating violence and intolerance against non-Muslims. Even if you ignored the entire hadith literature, a religion based on the Koran alone would still be the most aggressive major religion on earth.

In order to put the hadith into perspective, let me quote one of the most pro-Islamic writers in existence, John L. Esposito. In his book Islam: The Straight Path, Esposito says about Muhammad:

“He was revered from earliest times: Muslims remembered and recounted what he said and did. Both during his lifetime and throughout the following centuries, Muhammad has served as the ideal model for Muslim life, providing the pattern that all believers are to emulate. He is, as some Muslims say, the ‘living Quran’ — the witness whose behavior and words reveal God’s will. Thus the practices of the Prophet became a material source of Islamic law alongside the Quran. Muslims look to Muhammad’s example for guidance in all aspects of life: how to treat friends as well as enemies, what to eat and drink, how to make love and war. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the growth of Prophetic traditions.”

In Esposito’s view, “His impact on Muslim life cannot be overestimated, since he served as both religious and political head of Medina: prophet of God, ruler, military commander, chief judge, lawgiver. As a result, the practice of the Prophet, his Sunna or example, became the norm for community life. Muslims observed and remembered stories about what the Prophet said and did. These reports or traditions (hadith) were preserved and passed on in oral and written form. The corpus of hadith literature reveals the comprehensive scope of Muhammad’s example; he is the ideal religiopolitical leader as well as the exemplary husband and father. Thus when many Muslims pray five times each day or make the pilgrimage to Mecca, they seek to pray as the Prophet prayed, without adding or subtracting from the way Muhammad is reported to have worshipped. Traditions of the Prophet provide guidance for personal hygiene, dress, eating, marriage, treatment of wives, diplomacy, and warfare.”

As Turkey’s leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is reported to have said, “Islam, this absurd theology of an immoral Bedouin, is a rotting corpse which poisons our lives.” The following quotes, with links, are from authentic hadith with sayings by or about Muhammad, according to Muslims the “living Koran,” the most perfect human being who has ever lived. Until the end of time, we should all emulate the way he eats, farts, or kills his enemies for mocking him. Some of these nuggets are hysterically funny, some less so. But whatever you do, don’t laugh when reading this. That makes you a dangerous Islamophobe according to the United Nations, and Muslims across the world want you dead for insulting their prophet.

Enjoy:

Volume 1, Book 11, Number 662:
- - - - - - - - -
Narrated Anas:

The Prophet said, “Listen and obey (your chief) even if an Ethiopian whose head is like a raisin were made your chief.”

Volume 8, Book 76, Number 505:

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar:

I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “People are just like camels, out of one hundred, one can hardly find a single camel suitable to ride.”

Volume 7, Book 65, Number 356:

Narrated Sad:

Allah’s Apostle said, “He who eats seven ‘Ajwa dates every morning, will not be affected by poison or magic on the day he eats them.”

Book 028, Number 5612:

Buraida reported on the authority of his father that Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) said: He who played chess is like one who dyed his hand with the flesh and blood of swine.

Volume 7, Book 67, Number 403:

Narrated Ibn Abi Aufa:

We participated with the Prophet in six or seven Ghazawat, and we used to eat locusts with him.

Volume 7, Book 72, Number 747:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah’s Apostle said, “If you want to put on your shoes, put on the right shoe first; and if you want to take them off, take the left one first. Let the right shoe be the first to be put on and the last to be taken off.”

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 105:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “If somebody keeps a horse in Allah’s Cause motivated by his faith in Allah and his belief in His Promise, then he will be rewarded on the Day of Resurrection for what the horse has eaten or drunk and for its dung and urine.”

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 238:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “A wound which a Muslim receives in Allah’s cause will appear on the Day of Resurrection as it was at the time of infliction; blood will be flowing from the wound and its color will be that of the blood but will smell like musk.”

The Prophet said, “You will meet Allah barefooted, naked, walking on feet, and uncircumcised.”

Volume 4, Book 54, Number 537:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said “If a house fly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease.”

Volume 7, Book 65, Number 366:

Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas:

The Prophet said, ‘When you eat, do not wipe your hands till you have licked it, or had it licked by somebody else.”

Volume 7, Book 72, Number 754:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet forbade the wearing of a gold ring.

Volume 7, Book 71, Number 636:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “The effect of an evil eye is a fact.” And he prohibited tattooing

Volume 4, Book 54, Number 536:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah’s Apostle said, “Once while a prophet amongst the prophets was taking a rest underneath a tree, an ant bit him. He, therefore, ordered that his luggage be taken away from underneath that tree and then ordered that the dwelling place of the ants should be set on fire. Allah sent him a revelation:— “Wouldn’t it have been sufficient to burn a single ant? (that bit you)

Volume 7, Book 65, Number 362:

Narrated ‘Abdul ‘Aziz:

It was said to Anas “What did you hear the Prophet saying about garlic?” Anas replied, “Whoever has eaten (garlic) should not approach our mosque.”

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 210:

Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas:

Allah’s Apostle drank milk, rinsed his mouth and said, “It has fat.”

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 245:

Narrated Abu Burda:

My father said, “I came to the Prophet and saw him carrying a Siwak in his hand and cleansing his teeth, saying, ‘U’ U’,” as if he was retching while the Siwak was in his mouth.”

Volume 7, Book 65, Number 368:

Narrated Abu Umama:

Whenever the dining sheet of the Prophet was taken away (i.e., whenever he finished his meal), he used to say: “Al-hamdu lillah kathiran taiyiban mubarakan fihi ghaira makfiy wala muwada’ wala mustaghna’anhu Rabbuna.”

Volume 7, Book 69, Number 535:

Narrated Thumama bin Abdullah:

Anas used to breathe twice or thrice in the vessel (while drinking) and used to say that the Prophet; used to take three breaths while drinking.

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 143:

Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas:

The Prophet said, “If anyone of you on having sexual relations with his wife said (and he must say it before starting) ‘In the name of Allah. O Allah! Protect us from Satan and also protect what you bestow upon us (i.e. the coming offspring) from Satan, and if it is destined that they should have a child then, Satan will never be able to harm that offspring.”

Volume 8, Book 77, Number 594:

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

The Prophet said, “Allah puts an angel in charge of the uterus and the angel says, ‘O Lord, (it is) semen! O Lord, (it is now ) a clot! O Lord, (it is now) a piece of flesh.’ And then, if Allah wishes to complete its creation, the angel asks, ‘O Lord, (will it be) a male or a female? A wretched (an evil doer) or a blessed (doer of good)? How much will his provisions be? What will his age be?’ So all that is written while the creature is still in the mother’s womb.”

Volume 4, Book 54, Number 433:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “On every Friday the angels take heir stand at every gate of the mosques to write the names of the people chronologically (i.e. according to the time of their arrival for the Friday prayer and when the Imam sits (on the pulpit) they fold up their scrolls and get ready to listen to the sermon.”

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 11, Number 660:

Quote: Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “Isn’t he who raises his head before the Imam afraid that Allah may transform his head into that of a donkey or his figure (face) into that of a donkey?”

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 174:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “A man saw a dog eating mud from (the severity of) thirst. So, that man took a shoe (and filled it) with water and kept on pouring the water for the dog till it quenched its thirst. So Allah approved of his deed and made him to enter Paradise.” And narrated Hamza bin ‘Abdullah: My father said. “During the lifetime of Allah’s Apostle, the dogs used to urinate, and pass through the mosques (come and go), nevertheless they never used to sprinkle water on it (urine of the dog.)”

Volume 4, Book 54, Number 494:

Narrated Ibn Umar:

Allah’s Apostle said, “When the (upper) edge of the sun appears (in the morning), don’t perform a prayer till the sun appears in full, and when the lower edge of the sun sets, don’t perform a prayer till it sets completely. And you should not seek to pray at sunrise or sunset for the sun rises between two sides of the head of the devil (or Satan).”

Volume 7, Book 71, Number 619:

Narrated Nazi’:

Abdullah bin ‘Umar said, “The Prophet said, ‘Fever is from the heat of Hell, so put it out (cool it) with water.’ “ Nafi’ added: ‘Abdullah used to say, “O Allah! Relieve us from the punishment,” (when he suffered from fever).

Volume 9, Book 87, Number 123:

Narrated Anas:

The Prophet said, “Whoever has seen me in a dream, then no doubt, he has seen me, for Satan cannot imitate my shape.

Volume 9, Book 87, Number 124:

Narrated Abu Qatada:

The Prophet said, “A good dream is from Allah, and a bad dream is from Satan. So whoever has seen (in a dream) something he dislike, then he should spit without saliva, thrice on his left and seek refuge with Allah from Satan, for it will not harm him, and Satan cannot appear in my shape.”

Volume 4, Book 54, Number 513:

Narrated Abu Qatada:

The Prophet said, “A good dream is from Allah, and a bad or evil dream is from Satan; so if anyone of you has a bad dream of which he gets afraid, he should spit on his left side and should seek Refuge with Allah from its evil, for then it will not harm him.”

Volume 2, Book 21, Number 245:

Narrated ‘Abdullah :

A person was mentioned before the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) and he was told that he had kept on sleeping till morning and had not got up for the prayer. The Prophet said, “Satan urinated in his ears.”

Volume 4, Book 54, Number 509:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “Yawning is from Satan and if anyone of you yawns, he should check his yawning as much as possible, for if anyone of you (during the act of yawning) should say: ‘Ha’, Satan will laugh at him.”

Volume 4, Book 54, Number 516:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “If anyone of you rouses from sleep and performs the ablution, he should wash his nose by putting water in it and then blowing it out thrice, because Satan has stayed in the upper part of his nose all the night.”

Volume 1, Book 1, Number 2:

Narrated ‘Aisha:

(the mother of the faithful believers) Al-Harith bin Hisham asked Allah’s Apostle “O Allah’s Apostle! How is the Divine Inspiration revealed to you?” Allah’s Apostle replied, “Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell, this form of Inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state passes ‘ off after I have grasped what is inspired. Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me and I grasp whatever he says.” ‘Aisha added: Verily I saw the Prophet being inspired Divinely on a very cold day and noticed the Sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over).

Volume 6, Book 61, Number 558:

Narrated Aisha:

Allah’s Apostle heard a man reciting the Qur’an at night, and said, “May Allah bestow His Mercy on him, as he has reminded me of such-and-such Verses of such-and-such Suras, which I was caused to forget.”

Volume 6, Book 61, Number 550:

Narrated Abdullah:

The Prophet said, “It is a bad thing that some of you say, ‘I have forgotten such-and-such verse of the Qur’an,’ for indeed, he has been caused (by Allah) to forget it. So you must keep on reciting the Qur’an because it escapes from the hearts of men faster than camel do.”

Volume 6, Book 61, Number 552:

Narrated Abu Musa:

The Prophet said, “Keep on reciting the Qur’an, for, by Him in Whose Hand my life is, Quran runs away (is forgotten) faster than camels that are released from their tying ropes.”

Salman reported that it was said to him: Your Apostle teaches you about everything, even about excrement. He replied: Yes, he has forbidden us to face the Qibla at the time of excretion or urination, or cleansing with right hand or with less than three pebbles, or with dung or bone.

Volume 5, Book 58, Number 200:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

That once he was in the, company of the Prophet carrying a water pot for his ablution and for cleaning his private parts. While he was following him carrying it(i.e. the pot), the Prophet said, “Who is this?” He said, “I am Abu Huraira.” The Prophet said, “Bring me stones in order to clean my private parts, and do not bring any bones or animal dung.” Abu Huraira went on narrating: So I brought some stones, carrying them in the corner of my robe till I put them by his side and went away. When he finished, I walked with him and asked, “What about the bone and the animal dung?” He said, “They are of the food of Jinns. The delegate of Jinns of (the city of) Nasibin came to me—and how nice those Jinns were—and asked me for the remains of the human food. I invoked Allah for them that they would never pass by a bone or animal dung but find food on them.”

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 144:

Narrated Anas:

Whenever the Prophet went to answer the call of nature, he used to say, “Allah-umma inni a’udhu bika minal khubuthi wal khaba’ith i.e. O Allah, I seek Refuge with You from all offensive and wicked things (evil deeds and evil spirits).”

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 145:

Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas:

Once the Prophet entered a lavatory and I placed water for his ablution. He asked, “Who placed it?” He was informed accordingly and so he said, “O Allah! Make him (Ibn ‘Abbas) a learned scholar in religion (Islam).”

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 146:

Narrated Abu Aiyub Al-Ansari:

Allah’s Apostle said, “If anyone of you goes to an open space for answering the call of nature he should neither face nor turn his back towards the Qibla; he should either face the east or the west.”

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 147:

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar:

People say, “Whenever you sit for answering the call of nature, you should not face the Qibla or Bait-ul-Maqdis (Jerusalem).” I told them. “Once I went up the roof of our house and I saw Allah’s Apostle answering the call of nature while sitting on two bricks facing Bait-ul-Maqdis (Jerusalem) (but there was a screen covering him. ‘

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 152:

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

Whenever Allah’s Apostle went to answer the call of nature, I along with another boy used to accompany him with a tumbler full of water. (Hisham commented, “So that he might wash his private parts with it.)”

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 137:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah’s Apostle said, “The prayer of a person who does Hadath (passes, urine, stool or wind) is not accepted till he performs (repeats) the ablution.” A person from Hadaramout asked Abu Huraira, “What is ‘Hadath’?” Abu Huraira replied, “ ‘Hadath’ means the passing of wind from the anus.”

Volume 8, Book 82, Number 797:

Narrated Anas bin Malik: A group of people from ‘Ukl (or ‘Uraina) tribe ——but I think he said that they were from ‘Ukl came to Medina and (they became ill, so) the Prophet ordered them to go to the herd of (Milch) she-camels and told them to go out and drink the camels’ urine and milk (as a medicine). So they went and drank it, and when they became healthy, they killed the shepherd and drove away the camels. This news reached the Prophet early in the morning, so he sent (some) men in their pursuit and they were captured and brought to the Prophet before midday. He ordered to cut off their hands and legs and their eyes to be branded with heated iron pieces and they were thrown at Al-Harra, and when they asked for water to drink, they were not given water. (Abu Qilaba said, “Those were the people who committed theft and murder and reverted to disbelief after being believers (Muslims), and fought against Allah and His Apostle”).

[MY COMMENT: The idea of drinking urine remains in force today, as do other practices of Muhammad (MEMRI, June 2007): Media Uproar Following Egyptian Mufti’s Fatwa on Companions of the Prophet Muhammad Being Blessed by Drinking His Urine]

Volume 1, Book 5, Number 277:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, ‘The (people of) Bani Israel used to take bath naked (all together) looking at each other. The Prophet Moses used to take a bath alone. They said, ‘By Allah! Nothing prevents Moses from taking a bath with us except that he has a scrotal hernia.’ So once Moses went out to take a bath and put his clothes over a stone and then that stone ran away with his clothes. Moses followed that stone saying, “My clothes, O stone! My clothes, O stone! till the people of Bani Israel saw him and said, ‘By Allah, Moses has got no defect in his body. Moses took his clothes and began to beat the stone.” Abu Huraira added, “By Allah! There are still six or seven marks present on the stone from that excessive beating.”

Book 030, Number 5654:

Jabir b. Samura reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: I recognise the stone in Mecca which used to pay me salutations before my advent as a Prophet and I recognise that even now.

Volume 8, Book 82, Number 808:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, “The boy is for (the owner of) the bed and the stone is for the person who commits illegal sexual intercourse.’

Volume 5, Book 58, Number 188:

Narrated ‘Amr bin Maimun:

During the pre-Islamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were all stoning it, because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too, stoned it along with them.

Volume 7, Book 62, Number 17:

Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abdullah:

When I got married, Allah’s Apostle said to me, “What type of lady have you married?” I replied, “I have married a matron’ He said, “Why, don’t you have a liking for the virgins and for fondling them?” Jabir also said: Allah’s Apostle said, “Why didn’t you marry a young girl so that you might play with her and she with you?’

[MY COMMENT: Muhammad married Aisha when she was six years old, and consummated the marriage sexually when she was nine and he was 54. See “Aisha the Child Wife of Muhammad”: by Ali Sina]

Book 008, Number 3311:

‘A’isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) married her when she was seven years old, and he was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her dolls were with her

Volume 7, Book 62, Number 64:

Narrated ‘Aisha:

that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death).

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 229:

Narrated ‘Aisha:

I used to wash the traces of Janaba (semen) from the clothes of the Prophet and he used to go for prayers while traces of water were still on it (water spots were still visible).

Volume 1, Book 5, Number 282:

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

The Prophet used to visit all his wives in one night and he had nine wives at that time.

Volume 1, Book 4, Number 148:

Narrated ‘Aisha:

The wives of the Prophet used to go to Al-Manasi, a vast open place (near Baqia at Medina) to answer the call of nature at night. ‘Umar used to say to the Prophet “Let your wives be veiled,” but Allah’s Apostle did not do so. One night Sauda bint Zam’a the wife of the Prophet went out at ‘Isha’ time and she was a tall lady. ‘Umar addressed her and said, “I have recognized you, O Sauda.” He said so, as he desired eagerly that the verses of Al-Hijab (the observing of veils by the Muslim women) may be revealed. So Allah revealed the verses of “Al-Hijab” (A complete body cover excluding the eyes).

Volume 7, Book 62, Number 33:

Narrated Usama bin Zaid:

The Prophet said, “After me I have not left any affliction more harmful to men than women.”

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 250:

Narrated Ibn Abbas:

That he heard the Prophet saying, “It is not permissible for a man to be alone with a woman, and no lady should travel except with a Muhram (i.e. her husband or a person whom she cannot marry in any case for ever; e.g. her father, brother, etc.).”

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah’s Apostle said, “I have been sent with the shortest expressions bearing the widest meanings, and I have been made victorious with terror (cast in the hearts of the enemy).

The Koran 8,12:

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.

Book 041, Number 6983:

Abdullah b. ‘Umar reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: You and the Jews would fight against one another until a stone would say: Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 176:

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar:

Allah’s Apostle said, “You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, ‘O ‘Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.’“

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 260:

Narrated Ikrima:

Ali burnt some people and this news reached Ibn ‘Abbas, who said, “Had I been in his place I would not have burnt them, as the Prophet said, ‘Don’t punish (anybody) with Allah’s Punishment.’ No doubt, I would have killed them, for the Prophet said, ‘If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him.’ “

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 268:

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle called, “War is deceit”.

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 42:

Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas:

Allah’s Apostle said, “There is no Hijra (i.e. migration) (from Mecca to Medina) after the Conquest (of Mecca), but Jihad and good intention remain; and if you are called (by the Muslim ruler) for fighting, go forth immediately.

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 44:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

A man came to Allah’s Apostle and said, “Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward).” He replied, “I do not find such a deed.”

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 50:

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

The Prophet said, “A single endeavor (of fighting) in Allah’s Cause in the forenoon or in the afternoon is better than the world and whatever is in it.”

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 63:

Narrated Al-Bara:

A man whose face was covered with an iron mask (i.e. clad in armor) came to the Prophet and said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Shall I fight or embrace Islam first? “The Prophet said, “Embrace Islam first and then fight.” So he embraced Islam, and was martyred. Allah’s Apostle said, A Little work, but a great reward. “(He did very little (after embracing Islam), but he will be rewarded in abundance).”

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 73:

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin Abi Aufa: Allah’s Apostle said, “Know that Paradise is under the shades of swords.”

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 80i:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah’s Apostle said, “Allah welcomes two men with a smile; one of whom kills the other and both of them enter Paradise. One fights in Allah’s Cause and gets killed. Later on Allah forgives the ‘killer who also get martyred (In Allah’s Cause).”

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 195:

Narrated Anas:

The Prophet set out for Khaibar and reached it at night. He used not to attack if he reached the people at night, till the day broke. So, when the day dawned, the Jews came out with their bags and spades. When they saw the Prophet; they said, “Muhammad and his army!” The Prophet said, Allahu—Akbar! (Allah is Greater) and Khaibar is ruined, for whenever we approach a nation (i.e. enemy to fight) then it will be a miserable morning for those who have been warned.”

Volume 4, Book 52, Number 270:

Narrated Jabir bin ‘Abdullah:

The Prophet said, “Who is ready to kill Ka’b bin Al-Ashraf who has really hurt Allah and His Apostle?” Muhammad bin Maslama said, “O Allah’s Apostle! Do you like me to kill him?” He replied in the affirmative. So, Muhammad bin Maslama went to him (i.e. Ka’b) and said, “This person (i.e. the Prophet) has put us to task and asked us for charity.” Ka’b replied, “By Allah, you will get tired of him.” Muhammad said to him, “We have followed him, so we dislike to leave him till we see the end of his affair.” Muhammad bin Maslama went on talking to him in this way till he got the chance to kill him.

[MY COMMENT: Ka’b bin al-Ashraf was murdered by Muhammad’s followers for the crime of having verbally criticized Muhammad and his teachings. See: Answering Islam. Asma bint Marwan, a female poet, suffered the same fate. See: Answering Islam and Wikipedia. The murder of Theo van Gogh by the devout Muslim Mohammed Bouyeri in Amsterdam in November 2004 was based on the same principle as these murders of Islam critics almost 1400 years ago. The Sunna of Muhammad, his personal example as contained in the quotes above, is valid forever.]

Written by well known blogger Fjordman, you can find many of his works at: Gates of Vienna, Islam-Watch, Global Politician, JihadWatch, The Brussels Journal and his own blog @ Blogspot bearing his name Fjordman.

Pertinent Links:

1) The Funny Side of Islam: Muhammad and the Hadith

MUST READ: IRAQI SHI'ITE FACTIONALISM & IRAN'S ROLE IN THE BASRA FIGHTING

2008-04-10T09:22:00.001-04:00

Iraqi Shiite Factionalism and Iran’s Role in the Basra Fighting
By Reidar Visser

One week after the upsurge of violence in Basra, questions about the motives and implications of the fighting still linger. The issue of Iran’s involvement remains especially obscure. A recurrent explanation suggests that the operations were an attempt by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) leader Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim to weaken the followers of fellow Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr ahead of October’s provincial elections, and perhaps to also further Hakim’s scheme of a single Shiite federal entity, which many Sadrists have resisted. On the surface this seems plausible. This has clearly been a political operation and not a purely security-guided one: Many militia forces in Basra unaffiliated with the Sadrists were left untouched. Also, the Maliki-Hakim axis is the sole remnant of the United Iraqi Alliance; to them it would be prudent to stick together and guard against encroachments on their local power bases. As for the United States, as long as its policy remains tied to Hakim’s SIIC it perhaps makes sense to give the green light to operations against the Sadrists, even if the timing and the scale of the latest attacks may not have been of its own choosing.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Iraqi Shiite Factionalism and Iran’s Role in the Basra Fighting

MUST VIEW: RELIGION OF PEACE: WHY CHRISTIANITY IS & ISLAM ISN'T (PART 1)

2008-04-09T09:53:00.000-04:00

MUST VIEW: RELIGION OF PEACE: WHY CHRISTIANITY IS & ISLAM ISN'T (PART 2)

2008-04-09T09:51:00.000-04:00

MUST VIEW: RELIGION OF PEACE: WHY CHRISTIANITY IS & ISLAM ISN'T (PART 3)

2008-04-09T09:50:00.001-04:00

MUST VIEW: THE SPEECH THAT C.A.I.R. DIDN'T WANT YOU TO HEAR

2008-04-08T10:56:00.000-04:00

MUST READ: CREATING A EUROPEAN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT

2008-04-08T10:21:00.001-04:00

Creating a European Indigenous People’s Movement
by Fjordman

An American friend of mine has proposed that native Europeans should create a European Indigenous People's Movement. I have hesitated with supporting this because it sounded a bit too extreme. However, in more and more European cities, the native population is being pushed out of their own neighborhoods by immigrant gangs. The natives receive little or no aid from their authorities, sometimes blatant hostility, when faced with immigrant violence. In an age where the global population increases with billions of people in a few decades, it is entirely plausible, indeed likely, that the West could soon become demographically overwhelmed. Not few of our intellectuals seem to derive pleasure from this thought.

Bat Ye'or in her book about Eurabia has documented how the European Union is actively allowing Muslims to colonize European countries. The next time EU leaders complain about China's treatment of minorities, I suggest the Chinese answer the following: "Yes, we represent an anti-democratic organization dedicated to subduing the indigenous people of Tibet, but you represent an anti-democratic organization dedicated to displacing the indigenous peoples of an entire continent." There is no love lost between me and the Chinese Communist Party, an organization responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of its citizens, but even Chinese authorities do not actively seek to displace their own people with violent Muslims. European authorities do.

In decadent societies of the past, the authorities didn't open the gates to hostile nations and ban opposition to this as intolerance and barbarophobia. What we are dealing with in the modern West is not merely decadence; it's one of the greatest betrayals in history. Our so-called leaders pass laws banning the opposition to our dispossession as "racism and hate speech." To native Europeans, when listening to our media and our leaders, it's as if we don't even exist, as if it were normal for them to put the interests of other nations over their own. Despite having "democratic" governments, many Western countries have authorities that are more hostile to their own people than dictators in some developing countries. Why?

At the Daily Telegraph, Simon Heffer suggests that the mass immigration encouraged in particular by the Labour governments of Blair and Brown in Britain is not happening out of incompetence, but is part of "a doctrinally driven determination by the new Government in 1997 to destroy our national identity and to advance multiculturalism." I agree, but this policy of state-sponsored population replacement is far from limited to Britain.

Numbers discussed in 2008 showed clearly that mass immigration has had no positive effects on the economy in Britain, and I have seen similar calculations from France, Denmark and Norway, among others. On the contrary, it is a drain on the finances of the native population, and that's even if we don't count the wave of terrorism, insecurity and street violence which is sweeping Western Europe, from Sweden via Germany to the Netherlands. On top of this, the costs of destruction of national cohesion and weakened cultural legacies are incalculable, yet mass immigration continues as if nothing has happened. In April 2008, a report indicated that Spain needed over two million new foreign workers just until 2020, many of whom are likely to come from Muslim North Africa. The authors of the report would call upon the Spanish government to adopt a new law on immigration "to facilitate the legal entry, take advantage of the new arrivals and encourage integration."

I have earlier toyed with the idea of giving native Norwegians the legal status as indigenous people in Norway. A large proportion of my ancestors have lived here since the end of the last Ice Age, for as long as this country has been habitable for humans. The original settlers, who came from Central Europe (Germany and the Czech Republic), have been supplemented by other Europeans. Genetic traces from peoples of Near Eastern origins who spread agriculture to Europe are detectable, but until recently most Europeans were overwhelmingly the descendants of men and women who had lived in the region for tens of thousands of years.

Genetically speaking, native Europeans have thus lived longer on the same continent than have Native Americans. Many Southeast Asians are descendants of southern Chinese settlers who displaced or eradicated the original, dark-skinned inhabitants of the region in early historical times, just as many of the nations of sub-Saharan Africa are Bantu invaders who displaced or eradicated the indigenous Khoi-San peoples throughout much of Africa. Modern-day Japanese have lived in Japan for a shorter period of time than Europeans have lived in Europe. Yet a Scottish councillor, Sandy Aitchison, was chastised for using the term "indigenous" about native Brits. Why is it considered ridiculous or evil if Europeans assert our rights? Is it because we are white? Everybody's supposed to keep their culture, except people of European origins? Is that it? Why is colonialism bad, except when my country, which has no colonial history, gets colonized by Third World peoples?

Western Europeans have in recent years accepted more immigration in a shorter period of time than any society has ever done peacefully in human history. If we want a break we have the right to do so. What we are dealing with is not "immigration" but colonization, and in the case of Muslims, internationally organized attempts to conquer of our countries. If non-Europeans have the right to resist colonization then so do Europeans. Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and Norway hardly have any colonial history at all. The Germans had a colony in Namibia. Why should they accept millions of Turkish Muslims, who have a thousand years of brutal colonial history of their own, because of this? There are hardly any Britons in Pakistan today, so why should the Brits allow huge numbers of Pakistanis to settle in Britain? And if the Algerians can demand independence from France, why can't the French demand independence from Algerians?

I like cultural diversity and would hope this could be extended to include my culture, too. Or is Multiculturalism simply a hate ideology designed to unilaterally dismantle European culture and the peoples who created it? If people in Cameroon or Cambodia can keep their culture, why can't the peoples who produced Beethoven, Newton, Copernicus, Michelangelo and Louis Pasteur do the same? As Rabbi Aryeh Spero points out, European elites insist "on the primacy of indigenous cultures and religions when speaking of other faraway regions, yet find such insistence arrogant when it concerns the indigenous culture of its own lands."

Yes, a little immigration from compatible cultures can be absorbed, and can be beneficial on certain terms. But what we are dealing with now is not from compatible cultures, and it certainly isn't little. My nation runs a very real risk of being demographically wiped out during this century, as do the other Nordic countries. We will go from being among the most successful societies in human history to being eradicated in the space of a few generations if current levels of mass immigration continue. Do I have the right to worry about this, or is that "racist"?

The author Gore Vidal once stated: "Norway is large enough and empty enough to take in 40 to 50 million homeless Bengalis. If the Norwegians say that, all in all, they would rather not take them in, is this to be considered racism? I think not. It is simply self-preservation, the first law of species." Thomas Jefferson said that "The law of self-preservation is higher than written law," and he was right.

As I wrote two years ago: "By any standards possible, we're one of the most successful cultures in the world, our largest flaw, which could eventually bury us, probably being our naivety. So why on earth should we quietly watch while our country is subdued by the most unsuccessful cultures in the world? The most basic instinct of all living things, even down to bacteria level, is self-preservation. In 2006, you have a natural right to self-preservation if you are an amoeba, but not if you're a Scandinavian. Maybe the solution then is to argue that Scandinavians are indeed a species of amoebas, and that we need special protection by the WWF. We could showcase some of our finest specimen of Leftist intellectuals and journalists to prove our point. Shouldn't be too hard."

For simply suggesting that I would not enjoy being turned into a persecuted minority in my own country, I have been accused of being a "white nationalist," which says a great deal about how demonized people of European ancestry have become. What about Koreans or Japanese? If they were gradually being displaced by, say, Nigerians and Pakistanis and were harassed in their cities by people who moved there out of their own free will, would they be denounced as yellow nationalists if they objected to this? In fact, why do the terms yellow nationalist, brown nationalist and black nationalist hardly exist, whereas the term white nationalist does? Isn't that by itself an indication of a double standard?

I started out initially writing almost exclusively about Islam, and I still write predominantly about Islam. However, I have gradually realized that we are dealing with an entire regime of censorship that needs to be removed before we can deal with Islam. I will in any situation highlight and support the struggle of Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Baha'is, Jews, African Christians, Chinese Taoists etc. against Islamic Jihad, which is a global fight. I always have and I always will. The one thing I will not do is surrender my land, which is not mine to give. I do not see anybody else quietly accept being turned into a minority in the country where their ancestors have lived since the end of the last Ice Age, and I cannot see why I should have to do so, either. I don't care if white Westerners are "scared of being called a racist." I will not leave a ruined land behind to my descendants because I was afraid of being called bad names. If you think it is "racist" for Europeans to preserve their heritage and protect their children from abuse, then I'm not the bigot here. You are.

I hereby propose that native Europeans should create a European Indigenous People's Movement, on behalf of the traditional majority populations of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark etc., inspired by the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The European Indigenous People's Movement should support the right of Europe's indigenous peoples to preserve their self-determination, traditions, sovereignty and culture as majority peoples in their own lands.

The list of goals and objectives should include:

1.) The right to maintain our traditional majorities in our own lands, control our own sovereignty and our own self-determination. We do not wish harm or ill-feeling toward any other peoples on earth, but we assert the right to maintain our own majorities in our own lands without being accused of "racism." We reject current trends which preach that we have no right to oppose, control or lessen unlimited immigration from non-indigenous cultures.

2.) The right to teach our children our cultures, languages, historical interpretations, religious celebrations and traditions unimpeded. We reject educational trends which encourage our children to forget or despise their culture, traditions, religious practices and history in order to avoid offense to non-indigenous European residents or citizens.

3.) The right to maintain, cherish and practice our own indigenous religious holidays and celebrations. We reject out of hand current trends which preach that traditional indigenous European religious or cultural celebrations such as Christmas are somehow "racist" or "non-inclusive" and therefore must be "downgraded," "renamed" or otherwise de-emphasized or eliminated in order to avoid offending non-indigenous European residents or citizens. We reject current policies which establish that our indigenous cultures are somehow deficient and therefore are not complete until they are "enriched" by other, non-indigenous cultures.

4.) The right to maintain, cherish and display our own indigenous religious, national, ethnic and cultural symbols. We reject out of hand current trends or policies which preach that our national flags or ethnic symbols of centuries standing are somehow "racist" or "non-inclusive" in order to avoid offense to non-indigenous European residents or citizens.

5.) The right to maintain, cherish, protect and display our own indigenous cultural expressions such as music, artwork and sculptures. We reject out of hand current trends or policies which preach that indigenous European cultural expressions such as statues of boars, folkloric tales about pigs or dogs, paintings with Christian or Classical pagan themes, war memorials with a Christian theme, etc., should be removed from public view, banned, destroyed, modified or otherwise threatened in order to avoid offense to non-indigenous European residents or citizens.

6.) The right to maintain, cherish and protect indigenous burial sites, structures, buildings, churches, museums and other public works and structures from destruction, modification or other changes. We reject out of hand current trends or policies which establish that indigenous public works and structures must be changed or modified to avoid offense to non-indigenous European residents or citizens, or to "make way" for structures or public works that benefit non-European residents or citizens (i.e. digging up indigenous graves that are centuries old in order to "make room" for non-indigenous cemeteries, removing external Christian symbols and statues from churches, etc.)

Mr. Franco Frattini of the EU Commission, the unelected and unaccountable government for nearly half a billion people, has stated that Europeans should accept further tens of millions of immigrants within a generation. The British Foreign Minister Milliband stated late in 2007 that the EU should expand to include Muslim nations in North Africa and the Middle East. The French President Sarkozy and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed this early in 2008. This is part of an organized attempt to surrender Europe to Islamization that has been going on for decades. Since the European Union involves the free movement of people across borders, European leaders are opening the floodgates to tens of millions of Muslims and other non-indigenous peoples at a time when native Europeans fear for the survival of their civilization and feel like aliens in their own cities. Meanwhile, Ernst Uhrlau, the president of Germany's foreign intelligence agency, warned about the rising assertiveness of violent Jihadist organizations in North Africa.

Based on this evidence, the European Union can hardly be seen as anything other than a criminal organization dedicated to the demographic dispossession and cultural marginalization of the indigenous peoples of an entire continent. Consequently, the EU should be immediately and totally dissolved. Native Europeans should demand that we have an interim period with public de-Eurabification, where the lies propagated by pro-Islamic Multiculturalists should be removed from our history books, and a proper respect for European cultural traditions should be restored. Those officials on senior levels who have participated in the creation of Eurabia should stand trial for crimes against their civilization.

Written by well known blogger Fjordman, you can find many of his works at: Gates of Vienna, Islam-Watch, Global Politician, JihadWatch, The Brussels Journal and his own blog @ Blogspot bearing his name Fjordman.

Pertinent Links:

1) Creating a European Indigenous People’s Movement

MUST VIEW: MARK STEYN INTERVIEW ON ISLAM & THE WEST, PART 1

2008-04-08T09:50:00.002-04:00

MUST VIEW: MARK STEYN INTERVIEW ON ISLAM & THE WEST, PART 2

2008-04-08T09:50:00.001-04:00

MUST VIEW: MARK STEYN INTERVIEW ON ISLAM & THE WEST, PART 3

2008-04-08T09:49:00.000-04:00

MUST VIEW: MARK STEYN INTERVIEW ON ISLAM & THE WEST, PART 4

2008-04-08T09:48:00.000-04:00

MUST READ: AN ONLINE TERRORIST TRAINING MANUAL - PART 1: CREATING A TERRORIST CELL

2008-04-04T09:39:00.001-04:00

An Online Terrorist Training Manual - Part One: Creating a Terrorist Cell By Abdul Hameed Bakier

Jihadis continue to pursue terror training and knowledge exchange with fellow jihadis through Internet forums. Often, the jihadi forum participants post short, though significant, details pertinent to terror conduct drawn from real life experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recently, a forum participant posted six training episodes comprised of the basic knowledge needed by a novice jihadi to become a full-fledged terrorist (ek-ls.org, March 15). The episodes begin with two basics lessons on "How to set up a terrorist cell." Four more episodes followed, over a week, on sniper attacks, assassination techniques, attacking and looting government centers, and conducting massive terror strikes. Terrorism Focus will cover all six episodes of this important training manual, beginning with this issue and continuing over the next two weeks.

Posted by an Islamist forum participant nicknamed “Shamil al-Baghdadi,” the first of the training lessons is entitled, “Do you want to form a terror cell?” and is directed at setting up a terrorist cell behind enemy lines under tight security conditions. The cell, says al-Baghdadi, should commence with one, strong, monotheistic and valorous man as the nucleus. This individual should meet the following conditions:

• He must be a strong adherent of the Sunni ideology and well educated in the history of jihad.
• He should be experienced in—at the very least—light weapons such as pistols and rifles because these are available in nearly any society.
• He should be trained in secure communications through the Internet and mobile devices.
• He should be tolerant and display perseverance in religious preaching and teaching.
• He should maintain a good cover and not be on any security watch lists in order to allow free mobility.

Upon meeting these conditions, the terror cell organizer should present his proposition to friends who are trustworthy, brave and not mundane. “Don't trust anyone from the Muslim Brotherhood’s party for, even if he agrees at the beginning, he will become your biggest catastrophe," says al-Baghdadi. If all recruitment efforts fail, the jihadi must not abort the mission, but should rather continue on his own as a one-man cell. If the organizer is successful in recruiting at least two jihadis, al-Baghdadi instructs the cell to start a fitness program, preferably including the martial art of Taekwondo, followed by fundraising endeavors to procure light and semi-automatic weapons. Interestingly, al-Baghdadi warns recruits not to rob banks to secure funds because such operations need extensive planning and over 30 men. Instead, the cell must rob a small target such as the bill collection center for water and electrical utilities, or Shiite and Christian businesses, making sure the victims do not know that the robbers are Islamists. To secure big weapons for massive terror attacks, the cell must first make an assault on rural checkpoints or small security stations while avoiding killing people, since homicide cases are pursued relentlessly by the authorities, as opposed to simple felonies. Avoiding homicides makes it easier to deny the terror intentions of the cell if captured.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) An Online Terrorist Training Manual - Part One: Creating a Terrorist Cell

MUST READ: PRESENCE OF TURKISH TERRORISTS IN BELGIUM LEADS TO DISPUTE WITH ANKARA

2008-04-04T09:37:00.001-04:00

Presence of Turkish Terrorists in Belgium Leads to Dispute with Ankara
By Thomas Renard

Belgium and Turkey have a somewhat tense and delicate relationship that has lately been complicated by a dispute over counter-terrorism efforts. Ankara believes that activities by Turkish terrorist groups abroad constitute a Turkish matter. Brussels, on the other hand, attempts to resist Turkish pressure on these issues while evaluating terrorist activities in their Belgian and European context. Moreover, Brussels questions Ankara’s respect for human rights, leading to difficulties in counter-terrorist cooperation and extradition efforts. Nevertheless, both countries are tightly interrelated and are therefore compelled to maintain good relations, at least in appearance.

On March 21, during the celebration of the Kurdish New Year in the streets of Liege, Belgian police arrested Mehmet Sahin, a 33-year old member of the Kurdish terrorist organization the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The arrest occurred one month after the controversial acquittal by a Belgian court of seven members of the radical Turkish Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front/Party (DHKP/C) (AFP, February 9). The arrest of Sahin has the appearance of a make-up gift designed to placate Turkish indignation over the acquittal of figures wanted on terrorism charges in Turkey.

Mehmet Sahin is accused of having participated in various terrorist attacks in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakir between 1992 and 1997. One of those attacks against a police station killed 23 people (Today’s Zaman, March 24). Sahin illegally entered Belgium in 2000 and appealed for asylum. He was the subject of seven arrest warrants in Turkey and was named in an Interpol “Red Notice,” which requests the arrest and extradition of wanted individuals. At the moment Sahin is in the Lantin Prison in Liege, waiting to be extradited. Belgium, however, demands guarantees that he will not be sentenced to death, according to Belgium’s national policy on capital punishment (De Morgen, March 23).

Mehmet Sahin was living in the Liege area, where most of Belgium’s Kurdish population is concentrated. Members of the PKK are present mainly in Germany, but also in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Through propaganda efforts they try to gather active and passive support for their cause. Kurds are also alleged to have financed militant activities through criminal operations in Europe. Various reports have emphasized that those operations are ongoing (Spiegel Online, October 30, 2007; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, April 5, 2005). In Brussels Kurdish groups also attempt to pressure European diplomats.

It is not the first time that Belgian authorities have taken action against the PKK. In 1996, for instance, Belgian police conducted Operation Sputnik in collaboration with Scotland Yard. The operation discovered some $11 million in an account held by Med TV Broadcasting Company, accused of having ties to the PKK. Security officials tied these funds to operations related to drugs, weapons and human trafficking. The raids resulted in the closure of Med TV in 1999. In 2002, Belgian and French investigators launched Operation Sputnik II, breaking up an extensive PKK money-laundering operation [1].

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Presence of Turkish Terrorists in Belgium Leads to Dispute with Ankara

MUST READ: JORDAN'S JIHAD SCHOLAR AL-MAQDISI IS FREED FROM PRISON

2008-04-04T09:35:00.001-04:00

Jordan's Jihad Scholar al-Maqdisi is Freed from Prison
By James Brandon

On March 12, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi—born Isam Muhammad Tahir al-Barqawi in 1959—was released from a Jordanian prison after almost three years imprisonment without trial (Al-Sharq al-Awsat, March 13). Maqdisi has long played a pivotal role in defining jihadist ideology. After taking part in the Afghan jihad of the 1980s, he refined the ideology of declaring takfir against other Muslims—i.e. defining them as apostates and thus deserving of death—leading to the creation of jihadist groups in Jordan and 1995 attacks in Saudi Arabia—whose government he had denounced as un-Islamic as early as 1989. Between 1995 and 1999, Maqdisi was imprisoned in Jordan, during which time he expanded his ideas and built new radical networks with the help of his right-hand man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. From 1999, Maqdisi has spent most of his time in Jordanian prisons, reemerging briefly in 2005 before being re-imprisoned for giving an interview to al-Jazeera television in which he criticized Zarqawi's attacks on civilians while reiterating his support for a broader jihad against the West and “un-Islamic” governments. Despite his long prison terms, however, Maqdisi has written and distributed several accessible books addressing key issues such as democracy, takfir and jihadist tactics, giving him an almost unmatched influence over the evolution of jihadist theory.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Jordan's Jihad Scholar al-Maqdisi is Freed from Prison

MUST READ: TARGETING THE KHYBER PASS: THE TALIBAN'S SPRING OFFENSIVE

2008-04-04T09:32:00.001-04:00

Targeting the Khyber Pass: The Taliban’s Spring Offensive

Taliban Deputy Leader Mullah Bradar Muhammad Akhand announced “a new series of operations” under the code name “Operation Ebrat” (Lesson) on March 27. The Taliban’s spring offensive is “aimed at giving the enemy a lesson through directing powerful strikes at it, which it can never expect, until it is forced to end the occupation of Afghanistan and withdraw all the occupier soldiers… We will add to the tactics and experiences of the past years new types of operations. The operations will also be expanded to cover all locations of the country, in order for the enemy to be weighed down everywhere” (Sawt al-Jihad, March 28). There are indications that a main target of the offensive will be the Afghanistan/Pakistan frontier, in particular the strategically vital Khyber Pass. Citing an improvement in the skills and capacity of the Afghanistan National Army (ANA), Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry immediately dismissed the announcement as “a psychological campaign and not a reality which could be implemented on the ground" (AFP, March 25). In reality the situation along the border is extremely precarious and threatens the ability of Coalition forces to operate within Afghanistan.

Joint Intelligence Centers on the Border

The first in a planned series of six joint intelligence centers along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border was opened at the Afghanistan border town of Torkham on March 29. When the plan is fully implemented there will be three such centers on each side of the border at a cost of $3 million each. There are high hopes for the centers, which have been described by the U.S. commander in Afghanistan as “the cornerstone upon which future cooperative efforts will grow” (Daily Times [Lahore], March 30). According to U.S. Brigadier General Joe Votel, “The macro view is to disrupt insurgents from going back and forth, going into Afghanistan and back into Pakistan, too. This is not going to instantly stop the infiltration problem, but it’s a good step forward” (Daily Times, March 30).

The centers are designed to coordinate intelligence gathering and sharing between the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the intelligence agencies of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The project is an outgrowth of the earlier Joint Intelligence Operations Center (JIOC) established in Kabul in January 2007. This center, comprising 12 ISAF, six Afghan and six Pakistani intelligence officers, was initiated by the Military Intelligence Sharing Working Group, a subcommittee of the Tripartite Plenary Commission of military commanders that meets on a bimonthly basis (American Forces Press Service, January 30, 2007). The JIOC is designed to facilitate intelligence sharing, joint operations planning and an exchange of information on improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The working languages are English, Dari and Pashto, aided by a number of translators.

The new border centers will each be manned by 15 to 20 intelligence agents. One of the main innovations is the ability to view real-time video feeds from U.S. surveillance aircraft. The commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Major General David Rodriguez, described the centers as “a giant step forward in cooperation, communication and coordination” (The News [Karachi], March 29). Despite such glowing descriptions, there remains one hitch—Pakistan’s military has yet to make a full commitment to the project. According to Major General Athar Abbas, the director general of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations, a military information organization, “At this time this proposal is being analyzed and evaluated by the concerned officials. But Pakistan has not yet come to a decision on this matter" (The News, March 30). General Abbas and other officials have declined to discuss Pakistan’s reservations or even to commit to a deadline for a decision. It is possible that the failure to sign on as full partners in the project may have something to do with the stated intention of Pakistan’s new prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, to pursue a greater focus on negotiation than military action in dealing with the Taliban and other frontier militants. There may also be reservations on the part of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to share intelligence on their clients within the Taliban.

Actual intelligence cooperation along the border is hampered by a number of factors, not least of which is a basic inability to agree on exactly where the border lies. In the past, Pakistan has responded to complaints from Afghanistan of Taliban fighters infiltrating across the border by threatening to fence or even mine the frontier, a shocking proposal to the Pashtun clans that straddle the artificial divide. Afghanistan’s long-standing policy is simply to refuse recognition of the colonial-era Durand Line, which it claims was forced on it by British imperialists in 1893. Pakistan accepts the Durand Line, but the two nations are frequently unable to agree on exactly where the 1,500-mile line is drawn.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Targeting the Khyber Pass: The Taliban’s Spring Offensive

MUST VIEW: WHOEVER CHANGES HIS RELIGION, KILL HIM

2008-04-03T09:32:00.002-04:00

Sahih al-Bukhari: Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57:
Narrated 'Ikrima:

Some Zanadiqa (atheists) were brought to 'Ali and he burnt them. The news of this event, reached Ibn 'Abbas who said, "If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah's Apostle forbade it, saying, 'Do not punish anybody with Allah's punishment (fire).' I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah's Apostle, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'"

Volume 9, Book 84, Number 58:
Narrated Abu Burda:

Abu Musa said, "I came to the Prophet along with two men (from the tribe) of ash'ariyin, one on my right and the other on my left, while Allah's Apostle was brushing his teeth (with a Siwak), and both men asked him for some employment.
The Prophet said, 'O Abu Musa (O 'Abdullah bin Qais!).' I said, 'By Him Who sent
you with the Truth, these two men did not tell me what was in their hearts and I
did not feel (realize) that they were seeking employment.' As if I were looking now at his Siwak being drawn to a corner under his lips, and he said, 'We never (or, we do not) appoint for our affairs anyone who seeks to be employed. But O Abu Musa! (or 'Abdullah bin Qais!) Go to Yemen.'" The Prophet then sent Mu'adh bin Jabal after him and when Mu'adh reached him, he spread out a cushion for him and requested him to get down (and sit on the cushion). Behold: There was a fettered man beside Abu Muisa. Mu'adh asked, "Who is this (man)?" Abu Muisa said, "He was a Jew and became a Muslim and then reverted back to Judaism." Then Abu Muisa requested Mu'adh to sit down but Mu'adh said, "I will not sit down till he has been killed. This is the judgment of Allah and His Apostle (for such cases) and repeated it thrice. Then Abu Musa ordered that the man be killed, and he was killed. Abu Musa added, "Then we discussed the night prayers and one of us said, 'I pray and sleep, and I hope that Allah will reward me for my sleep as well as for my prayers.'"

Pertinent Links:

1) Dealing with Apostates - - - Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Book 84

MUST VIEW: "WHOEVER CHANGES HIS RELIGION, KILL HIM" - II

2008-04-03T09:21:00.002-04:00

Sahih al-Bukhari: Volume 9, Book 84, Number 57:

Narrated 'Ikrima:

Some Zanadiqa (atheists) were brought to 'Ali and he burnt them. The news of
this event, reached Ibn 'Abbas who said, "If I had been in his place, I would not have burnt them, as Allah's Apostle forbade it, saying, 'Do not punish anybody with Allah's punishment (fire).' I would have killed them according to the statement of Allah's Apostle, 'Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'"

Volume 9, Book 84, Number 58:
Narrated Abu Burda:

Abu Musa said, "I came to the Prophet along with two men (from the tribe) of ash'ariyin, one on my right and the other on my left, while Allah's Apostle was brushing his teeth (with a Siwak), and both men asked him for some employment. The Prophet said, 'O Abu Musa (O 'Abdullah bin Qais!).' I said, 'By Him Who sent you with the Truth, these two men did not tell me what was in their hearts and I did not feel (realize) that they were seeking employment.' As if I were looking now at his Siwak being drawn to a corner under his lips, and he said, 'We never (or, we do not) appoint for our affairs anyone who seeks to be employed. But O Abu Musa! (or 'Abdullah bin Qais!) Go to Yemen.'" The Prophet then sent Mu'adh bin Jabal after him and when Mu'adh reached him, he spread out a cushion for him and requested him to get down (and sit on the cushion). Behold: There was a fettered man beside Abu Muisa. Mu'adh asked, "Who is this (man)?" Abu Muisa said, "He was a Jew and became a Muslim and then reverted back to Judaism." Then Abu Muisa requested Mu'adh to sit down but Mu'adh said, "I will not sit down till he has been killed. This is the judgment of Allah and His Apostle (for such cases) and repeated it thrice. Then Abu Musa ordered that the man be killed, and he was killed. Abu Musa added, "Then we discussed the night prayers and one of us said, 'I pray and sleep, and I hope that Allah will reward me for my sleep as well as for my prayers.'"

Pertinent Links:

1) Dealing with Apostates - - - Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Book 84

MUST READ: FJORDMAN REVIEWS "FITNA"

2008-04-01T09:57:00.002-04:00

Fjordman Reviews “Fitna”
by Fjordman

I liked it. It is impressive how much they managed to squeeze into just 15 minutes. I notice several of the comments at Jihad Watch say Geert Wilders could have made it worse. Yes, he could. He left out quite a few things, but what he kept was authentic and bad enough.

We should remember that the people reading websites such as Jihad Watch or Atlas Shrugs or Gates of Vienna are perfectly aware of how bad Islam is. This movie was not made for them. It was made for all those tens of millions or hundreds of millions of people out there who don’t trust the official propaganda about Islam, but still don’t fully understand how bad it is. Being too harsh (even if what is described is true) could put some of them off.

I believe this movie struck a good balance between showing Islam for what it is and still making it possible for the average person to digest the message. It is highly effective.
- - - - - - - - -
But I agree with Hugh Fitzgerald: We want a sequel! What about “Pirates of Muhammad: At Islam’s End,” starring Johnny Depp? Yes, I know, it would be too cute, but at least people would see it. As long as Keira Knightley plays Aisha, I’m happy.

For the comments about Jews, you should read Andrew Bostom’s upcoming The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism. There is much, much more.

I especially liked the agitated gentleman waving a sword, screaming for Jihad. I thought Jihad was about inner, peaceful struggle against yourself, a bit like yoga? He didn’t seem to enjoy any inner peace, though.

And if Jihad is about better education, as I have heard from my local newspaper, why didn’t he wave a pencil?

Maybe it was a pencil sharpener?

FITNA

Written by well known blogger Fjordman, you can find many of his works at: Gates of Vienna, Islam-Watch, Global Politician, JihadWatch, The Brussels Journal and his own blog @ Blogspot bearing his name Fjordman.

Pertinent Links:

1) Fjordman Reviews “Fitna”

MUST READ: BOYCOTT THE UNITED NATIONS

2008-04-01T09:53:00.001-04:00

Boycott the United Nations!
by Fjordman

The United Nation’sSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Wilder’s movie Fitna as “offensively anti-Islamic,” and said that “There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence.” Does that mean that the UN is now going to ban the Koran, which does both? As Robert Spencer commented, “What exactly is ‘hate speech’ about quoting Qur’an verses and then showing Muslim preachers using those verses to exhort people to commit acts of violence, as well as violent acts committed by Muslims inspired by those verses and others?”

Earlier in March, the U.N. Human Rights Council, which is dominated by Muslim countries, passed a resolution saying it is deeply concerned about the defamation of religions and urging governments to prohibit it. The only religion specified is Islam. The document was put forward by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the largest voting bloc at the UN, sponsored by Saudi money.

I have been saying for a long time that trying to export “democracy” to Islamic countries is pointless. Islam can be compatible with “democracy” in the limited sense of voting rights and majority rule, but this has never automatically implied individual liberty. (See my online booklet Is Islam Compatible With Democracy?)

It’s a sick joke that American soldiers are bleeding literally and American taxpayers financially to export “democracy” to Iraq while Muslims are exporting sharia to us. Freedom is free speech, that’s the simplest, and maybe the truest, definition of it. Muslims are trying to use the UN to limit free speech across the world, which basically means putting the entire world under Islamic rule.

My view of the United Nations is quite clear: It is at best irrelevant. At best.

Increasingly, it is turning into an outright enemy, an enemy funded by us but used to attack us. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m goddam tired of sponsoring enemies, at home and abroad. I’m all for boycotting the UN and making it truly irrelevant by bleeding it dry for funds and ultimately withdrawing from it.

Even if we are in a weak phase, which we are, we are still a civilization of vastly superior resources. Muslims have lots of oil and lots of babies and lots of aggression, but that’s all they have. Otherwise, they’re a spectacular failure. We need them for very little. They need us for virtually everything. Their greatest flaw is their arrogance. Muslims are arrogant losers.

We should exploit that. We should separate ourselves from the Islamic world as much as possible. They will suffer far more from this than we will. We can start by boycotting the UN, which is now little more than a tool for global sharia, and the Arab Muslims of the West Bank and Gaza, who reinvented themselves as “Palestinians” and started whining at the UN after the Israelis kicked their collective behinds in 1967.

I notice former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad calls upon Muslims worldwide to boycott Dutch products. I’m all for boycotts of and by Muslims. The more, the merrier. In case somebody forgot, Mr. Mahathir held the notorious speech at the OIC conference in 2003, where he said that the Jews rule the world by proxy and that Muslims must unite to achieve a final victory over them. Not everybody remembers that he also boasted about the age when”Europeans had to kneel at the feet of Muslim scholars in order to access their own scholastic heritage.”

Somebody should remind him that the so-called “golden age” of Islam was a result of a still-majority or near-majority non-Muslim population. As soon as that majority declined, due to harassment and discrimination, the Islamic world never recovered. Malaysia is sometimes portrayed as an economically successful Muslim nation, but that is because it only recently became majority Muslim and still has a large Chinese, Indian and other non-Muslim minority. Since Islam is becoming more aggressive and Muslims increase discrimination of non-Muslims, infidels will leave, and Malaysia will gradually be reduced to just another failed sharia state.

We should all be happy if Muslims boycott us. When they feel so unwelcome that they stop coming to our countries, we will be making progress.

Some older posts on the subject:
- - - - - - - - -
Recommendations for the West

The best way to deal with the Islamic world is to have as little to do with it as possible. We should ban Muslim immigration. This could be done in creative and indirect ways, such as banning immigration from nations with citizens known to be engaged in terrorist activities. We should remove all Muslim non-citizens currently in the West. We should also change our laws to ensure that Muslim citizens who advocate sharia, preach Jihad, the inequality of “infidels” and of women should have their citizenship revoked and be deported back to their country of origin.

We need to create an environment where the practice of Islam is made difficult. Muslim citizens should be forced to either accept our secular ways or leave if they desire sharia. Much of this can be done in a non-discriminatory way, by simply refusing to allow special pleading to Muslims. Do not allow the Islamic public call to prayer as it is offensive to other faiths. All children, boys and girls should take part in all sporting and social activities of the school and the community. The veil should be banned in all public institutions, thus also contributing to breaking the traditional subjugation of women. Companies and public buildings should not be forced to build prayer rooms for Muslims. Enact laws to eliminate the abuse of family reunification laws. Do not permit major investments by Muslims in Western media or universities.

Right now, Muslims can enjoy the best of both worlds: Following medieval religious laws while enjoying the fruits of 21st century civilization. We need to drive home the utter failure of the Islamic model by making sure that Muslims should no longer able to count on permanent Western or infidel aid in their overpopulated, self-primitivized states, whose very unviability they are prevented from recognizing by this constant infusion of aid.

I’m advocating isolating the Islamic world, not the West. Even if we cannot allow all non-Muslims to freely settle in our lands, this does not mean that they have to be our enemies. Jihad is being waged against the entire non-Muslim world, not just the West. We should stop trying to “win the hearts and minds” of Muslims and start reaching out to non-Muslims.

For Europe, the most important thing to do right now is to dismantle the European Union in its present form, and regain national control over our borders and our legislation. The EU is so deeply flawed as an organization, and so heavily infiltrated by Eurabian and pro-Islamic thinking that it simply cannot be reformed. And let’s end the stupid support for the Palestinians that the Eurabians have encouraged, and start supporting our cultural cousin, Israel.

Why the Future May Not Belong to Islam

Seaborne believes that many people are underestimating the strength of Islam. Perhaps, but some observers, including Mark Steyn and Mr. Seaborne himself, may be overestimating it. They overlook the fact that Islam has many weaknesses, too. Don’t underestimate your enemy. Muslims should be credited for making clever use of our weaknesses, but this “we’re all doomed and have already lost” theme is overblown.

We should implement a policy of containment of the Islamic world. I’m not saying that containment is all that we will ever need to do, but it is the very minimum that is acceptable. Perhaps the spread of nuclear weapons technology, the darkest side of globalization, will trigger a large-scale war with the Islamic world at some point. The only way to avoid this is to take steps, including military ones, to deprive Muslims of such technology.

We should restrain their ability to hurt us physically. We can’t prevent it completely, but we should limit it as much as possible. Muslims try to wear us down through terrorism. They should be worn down through mockery and criticism. We should also make clear that for every Islamic terror attack we will increase these efforts, which Muslims fear more than our weapons. It’s the new balance of terror.

Dr Koenraad Elst, one of Belgium’s best orientalists, thinks “Islam is in decline, despite its impressive demographic and military surge” — which according to Dr Elst is merely a “last upheaval.” He acknowledges, however, that this decline can take some time (at least in terms of the individual human life span) and that it is possible that Islam will succeed in becoming the majority religion in Europe before collapsing.

Dalrymple is probably correct when he says that Islam is an “all or nothing” religion which cannot be secularized. The future may not belong to Islam, as Mark Steyn suggests. It is conceivable that Islam in some generations will cease to be a global force of any significance, but in the meantime it will be a constant source of danger to its neighbors, from Europe through India to Southeast Asia. The good news is that Islam may not be able to achieve the world dominance it desires. The bad news is that it may be able to achieve a world war. We can only cage it as much as possible and try to prevent this from happening.

Farewell to the United Nations?

Historian David Littman is a representative to the United Nations (Geneva) of the Association for World Education. He has spent years tracking the rise of Islamic influence at the UN. According to him, “In recent years, representatives of some Muslim states have demanded, and often received, special treatment at the United Nations.” “As a result, non-diplomatic terms such as ‘blasphemy’ and ‘defamation of Islam’ have seeped into the United Nations system, leading to a situation in which non-Muslim governments accept certain rules of conduct in conformity with Islamic law (the Shari’a) and acquiesce to a self-imposed silence regarding topics touching on Islam.”

I do not have all the answers to how such a post-UN world will be like. The most important principle at this point is to isolate and contain the Islamic world. We simply cannot allow our enemies to have direct influence over our policies, which they partly do have through the UN. Is it unrealistic to talk about the collapse of the EU and the UN? I don’t know. The UN was created in the aftermath of WW2. It survived the Cold War, but now we are rapidly entering into a new world war. My bet is that we will see huge changes in world affairs in the near future, at least as large as those which laid the foundations for the UN to begin with. Whatever usefulness the UN may have had was lost decades ago. It is today of little use to us, but of significant use to our enemies. The time has come to say farewell to the United Nations.

Written by well known blogger Fjordman, you can find many of his works at: Gates of Vienna, Islam-Watch, Global Politician, JihadWatch, The Brussels Journal and his own blog @ Blogspot bearing his name Fjordman.

Pertinent Links:

1) Boycott the United Nations!

FITNA

2008-03-27T16:06:00.002-04:00

2008-03-17T11:16:00.000-04:00

MUST VIEW: GEERT WILDERS SPEAKS: ANTI-KORAN FILM (PART 1 OF 2)

2008-03-14T09:37:00.001-05:00

MUST VIEW: GEERT WILDERS SPEAKS: MUSLIMS & TOLERANCE (PART 2 OF 2)

2008-03-14T09:36:00.001-05:00

MUST READ: WHAT IS TO BE DONE?!?

2008-03-14T09:18:00.002-05:00

What Is To Be Done?
by Hugh Fitzgerald

Is it somewhere written that the countries of the advanced West are required to admit Muslims into their lands, or to continue to endure their large-scale presence, no matter what new information may come to light, and greater understanding as a result, of the meaning and menace of Islam? It is by now quite clear, to all who are paying attention, that there is something deeply worrisome about that ever-increasing presence of Muslims in the Bilad al-kufr (Lands of the Infidels). And it is clear to those who are a bit swifter of apprehension than others that this has led to a situation that is far more unpleasant, expensive, and physically dangerous for the indigenous Infidels (and for other, non-Muslim, immigrants) than would be the case were there no such large-scale Muslim presence.

Is it impossible to halt all Muslim immigration to the West? To return Muslim non-citizens promptly to their countries of origin? To impose restrictions on money coming from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to fund those mosques and madrasas all over the Western world? To do nothing that would openly demonstrate an unwillingness to change our legal and political institutions in response to Muslim demands or a Muslim presence? To do nothing that would, instead, demonstrate the opposite, that is a steely and well-informed and public refusal, to modify our own institutions and understandings, in order to meet demands from Muslims for changes, demands that, even if not met at first, will always and everywhere continue to be made, and made by appeals both cunningly couched in whatever language is appealing (the appeal to “true diversity” for example), or if that doesn’t work, in the language of threats of violence, and of actual violence. Is it impossible to create the conditions where True Believers in Islam, with all that that implies, may have to make a choice between remaining in the Lands of the Infidels, where a "full Muslim life" will only with great difficulty be lead (and there are ways to let the "whisperings of Shaytan" become louder), and sticking with Islam by remaining in, or returning to, Muslim lands.

...

one has to make allowances for:

1) Ignorance of the real history of Muslim conquest -- as with the mass killings of tens of millions of Hindus.

2) Ignorance of the actual mechanism of conquest and then, more importantly, of the islamization over time of the conquered populations and of the arabization that frequently accompanied it.

3) Filial piety, including memories of sympathetic older relatives who were quietly pious and did not seem to wish harm to anyone -- such as the parents, for example, of Magdi Allam, who writes about them so touchingly.

4) The desire to spare oneself knowledge of certain truths that would call into question the entire value of what has been, in so many ways, central to one's sense of self, or rather of the self immersed in the umma, or collective, or community of Believers. How difficult it is for those who are essentially not in free societies, subject to the constant din of Islamic propaganda, in lands suffused with Islam, where this total belief-system offers a simple explanation of the universe, a complete regulation of life, and thus a comforting way to organize and make sense of the universe.

5) Among Arab Muslims, their ethnic identity reinforces a desire to protect, to defend, not to question, Islam -- and that can be true of non-Muslim Arabs -- the "islamochristians" -- as well.

These are explanations, not justifications. But they should give slight pause to those who insist that every Muslim everywhere surely must know exactly what the texts and tenets are all about, and should be denounced, therefore, with the same intensity as one would denounce the ideology.

...

Here is a partial list of measures that should be undertaken immediately:

1. Education of Infidels, so that they are well aware of the contents of the texts of Islam -- Qur'an, Hadith, Sira.

2. Education of Infidels, so that they understand how, over 1350 years, those texts have been received, and acted upon, by Believers.

3. Education of Infidels, so that they know a good deal about the history of Islamic conquest, and subsequent subjugation of non-Muslim peoples in the lands conquered -- a subjugation that, no matter what the land, or the kind of non-Muslims conquered, the result was always the same.

4. Education of Muslims within Infidel countries, so that they will understand that the failures of Muslim societies -- political, economic, social, intellectual, and moral -- are the direct result of Islam itself.

5. An end to all Muslim immigration to Infidel lands.

6. Imposition of tests for naturalization that require a detailed knowledge of the history and cultural achievements of the Western country in question -- see "Going Dutch" for one, admittedly exaggerated-for-effect example.

7. Inclusion, in the test for naturalization, of a loyalty oath, swearing sole allegiance to the political and legal institutions of the particular Infidel nation-state. In the case of the United States, allegiance to the Constitution would be considered adequate. Subsequent proof of perjury would, in the law, be considered valid grounds for stripping a naturalized citizen of that citizenship.

8. Making any support, direct or indirect, for Jihad -- defined as the "struggle" to remove all obstacles to the spread and dominance of Islam, including but not limited to the political and legal institutions of the host country – illegal.

9. Preventing any foreign funds from entering the country to be spent for the building or upkeep of mosques or other institutions connected to Islam, or for campaigns of Da'wa.

10. Curtailing in the prisons campaigns of Da'wa, on the grounds that the evidence shows that those who convert contain a high proportion of people who subsequently present a threat to society.

11. Refusing to bow to any Muslim demands for changes either in schools or in workplaces to accommodate Muslim rituals or Muslim ideas of what is fitting, from the hijab (where banned, as in France) or for extra time off for prayers in the middle of the work-day. This is not the sort of accommodation that Infidels, in Infidel lands, should be expected to make. In other words, the policy should be No Changes For Islam.

12. Reciprocity in the current number of mosques. Taking into account the absence, for tens of millions of non-Muslims in Muslim-ruled lands, of churches, Hindu temples, and other houses of worship, the policy should be to reduce the number of mosques in Western lands until there is a change in the Muslim lands. Reciprocity is a concept most people can understand and justify.

13. Reducing benefits so that large families (likely to be Muslim) cannot continue to be formed by those who assume they will be supported by the state. Muslim women will be expected to work in the same numbers as non-Muslim women, and will no longer be supported by the Infidel state (that is, Infidel taxpayers) to be breeding machines.

14. Enforcement of the laws against polygamy will be increased. Those practicing polygamy will be subject to being stripped of citizenship and returned to that Muslim state from which they, or their closest relatives, came. Since so many Muslims in Western Europe continue to observe, in Muslim enclaves, the mores of the countries that they, or their parents, or their grandparents, came from, the argument that they cannot "go back" can be dealt with. There is no obligation for the countries of Western Europe to live with the colossal error of their immigration policy.

15. There will be not the slightest concession made to Muslim sensibilities on the subject of aspects of Islam, including Muhammad. Those who wish to live in an environment where Islam is to be free of criticism are free to move to Muslim countries. There are many dozens of them. They control vast land areas, and vast natural resources. This is not a case of a tiny people having no place to go.

16. Efforts should be made to publicize the most celebrated defectors from Islam, to publish and distribute their books, to make much of them. This should be done both for the education of Infidels, and for the conceivable education of those who, born into Islam, may be persuaded to leave it.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) What Is To Be Done?

MUST READ: LOOKING TO THE LEVANT: INTERNATIONALIZING THE IRAQ INSURGENCY

2008-03-14T09:12:00.001-05:00

Looking to the Levant: Internationalizing the Iraqi Insurgency
By Pascale Combelles Siegel

A number of Iraqi insurgents are increasingly turning their guns outward—rhetorically at least—toward the Levant (Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon) in general and Israel in particular. It is no secret that Osama bin Laden has renewed calls for the destruction of Israel and the liberation of Palestine, and has also stepped up efforts to set up bases of operations around the Levant in its attempt to restore the Caliphate over every former territory of Islam, from Spain to Iraq. At a time when al-Qaeda is enhancing its Israeli-Palestinian agit-prop and is developing networks in Lebanon and Palestine, the rhetoric of Iraqi insurgents—whether involuntarily or by design—might play into the hands of al-Qaeda’s master plan for the region.

Iraq a Cornerstone for al-Qaeda’s Expansion Toward the Levant

Since 2003, Iraq has become the main front of al-Qaeda’s war against the West. Iraq has served as a recruiting poster for would-be jihadis from all over the world and as a training ground for thousands of foreign and Iraqi fighters. Maybe more importantly, it appears clear now that al-Qaeda has skillfully exploited the situation in Iraq to establish a base in the heart of the Middle East—something it had never accomplished before—a conveniently located stepping-stone from which to launch the liberation of Jerusalem through the infiltration of operators into the Levant and the spread of its brand of Salafist-jihadist ideology.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Looking to the Levant: Internationalizing the Iraqi Insurgency (PDF FILE)

MUST READ: SUNNI RIVALRIES IN AL-ANBAR PROVINCE THREATEN IRAQ'S SECURITY

2008-03-14T09:10:00.001-05:00

Sunni Rivalries in al-Anbar Province Threaten Iraq’s Security
By Fadhil Ali

Growing rivalries between Sunni factions in Iraq’s al-Anbar province threaten the gains made by local “Awakening Councils” working in cooperation with U.S. forces against al-Qaeda gunmen. Leading tribal shaykhs in the province have demanded the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) leave the province within days. The IIP is the largest Sunni political party and a part of the governing coalition of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. More than 95% of al-Anbar’s roughly one-million-strong population is Sunni Muslim.

Al-Anbar province was the original launching pad for the insurgency in Iraq five years ago. The fall of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime was a historic blow to the Sunni tribes that live along the Euphrates valley. In addition to smuggling goods across the borders with Syria and Jordan, the tribesmen of al-Anbar depended on the Sunni-run governments that ruled the country since its independence in 1921 for employment and investment opportunities. Many tribesmen joined the army and become officers and commanders, while others were successful in the contracting field where the central government was the primary employer.

Most of al-Anbar province—which comprises nearly one-third of Iraq’s total area—is desert except for narrow strips of fertile land along the Euphrates River. Unlike many parts of the Shiite south and the Kirkuk region in the north, no oil has been discovered in al-Anbar. Since the early days of the invasion, the Syrian border with al-Anbar was a gateway for al-Qaeda-affiliated foreign fighters. In 2006, al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) declared the existence of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) with a parade in the center of the city of al-Ramadi, capital of al-Anbar (al-Hayat, October 19, 2006; al-Ghad, October 19, 2006).

Yet it was in the same al-Anbar province where a story of success emerged. In October 2006, the late Shaykh Abdul Sattar Abu Risha—assassinated in September 2007—launched his anti-al-Qaeda “awakening” movement, known in the province as Sahwat al-Anbar. Soon Abu Risha’s armed tribesmen were collecting U.S. pay and fighting against AQI. In a few months this movement succeeded in driving al-Qaeda out of al-Anbar. This was the first major achievement of the surge and inspiration from the story of Abu Risha and his men spread throughout the Sunni areas and communities of Iraq. Tribal shaykhs in the provinces of Salah al-Din, Diyala and in the Sunni neighborhoods of Baghdad followed the example of Abu Risha, taking out the strongholds of al-Qaeda in their areas one by one.

In al-Anbar today there are three main tribal leaders—each one of them leading a movement supported by the United States and opposed to al-Qaeda:

• Shaykh Ahmad Abu Risha has succeeded his brother as the head of the Anbar Salvation Council, which has formed a political wing. Shaykh Ahmad has been following the same policy as his brother with some success in securing his area after defeating al-Qaeda. Abu Risha is part of the Albu Risha clan of the Dulaim tribe, which dominates al-Anbar.

• Ali Hatam al-Sulaiman is the head of al-Anbar Tribal Council and the Grand Shaykh of al-Dulaim. Al-Sulaiman is also called “the prince of al-Dulaim”—during the first half of the 20th century, his grandfather was the most powerful shaykh in the province, still known as al-Dulaim province at that time. Al-Sulaiman’s ambition is to revive the old glory of his family.

• Shaykh Hamid Farhan al-Hayis was expelled from the Anbar Salvation Council by Abdul Sattar Abu Risha only a few weeks before the latter’s death. After forming his own Awakening movement, he allied himself with Shaykh al-Sulaiman. Their stances have been very close ever since.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Sunni Rivalries in al-Anbar Province Threaten Iraq’s Security (PDF FILE)

MUST READ: TURKEY'S GENERALS & GOVERNMENT DENY U.S. INTERFERENCE IN OPERATION GUNES

2008-03-14T09:07:00.001-05:00

Turkey’s Generals and Government Deny U.S. Interference in Operation Gunes
By Frank Hyland

The Turkish General Staff launched Operation Gunes (Sun) on February 21 against a number of locations in northern Iraq occupied by the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Infantry, artillery, and air force units took primary roles in the operation. International reaction to the Turkish incursion was generally mild and tinged with what appeared to be an implicit understanding of what Turkey has endured for a quarter of a century in one of the longest-lasting conflicts still ongoing (New Anatolian, February 23). Internally, however, officials from Turkey’s opposition political parties raised a number of issues in response to their perception that Operation Gunes had been ended prematurely, perhaps because of pressure from Turkey’s allies (New Anatolian, March 5). Even Turkish media outlets said that the exchange “revealed a deep mistrust between the politicians and the head of the army” (Today’s Zaman, March 6).

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Turkey’s Generals and Government Deny U.S. Interference in Operation Gunes (PDF FILE)

MUST READ: THE E.U.'S TOTALITARIAN FOUNDING FATHERS

2008-03-12T08:46:00.001-05:00

The E.U.’s Totalitarian Founding Fathers
by Rodney Atkinson

Today the 800-year-old British constitution has been fatally undermined, and the British Parliament, against the wishes of the true “sovereigns” (the voters) has delegated the government of Britain to others. Britons have become “citizens” of a European Union, with duties towards and taxable by that supranational power. The British courts now interpret very little of our law, the British people have lost their exclusively British passport and the British Parliament is no longer responsible for 70% of legislation applying to the British people. This emasculation of sovereign Parliaments was recently confirmed by a German Parliamentary Committee which found that 70% of German legislation is now decided by Brussels, not Germans.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) The E.U.’s Totalitarian Founding Fathers

MUST READ: SPAIN IN THE SHADOW OF BIN LADEN

2008-03-12T08:42:00.001-05:00

Spain In The Shadow Of Bin Laden
(and the upcoming elections)
by Norman Berdichevsky (March 2008)

On the day that General Franco’s Nationalist forces entered Madrid ending the Spanish Civil War, Pope Pius XII sent him a telegram of congratulations which read “Lifting up our hearts to the Lord we rejoice with your Excellency in the victory so greatly desired of Catholic Spain”. Throughout the war, the Nationalist side portrayed their cause as the defense of the fundamentals of Christian civilization against atheistic Bolshevism yet very much like Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Mussolini and Hitler, Franco saw a tactical advantage in a military and political alliance with Muslims whom he could entice or cajole as “natural allies.”

From the time of the expulsion of the last Moors, the term “Moros” has been used in Spain and applied indiscriminately to everything connected to the Arabs and Islam. Due to Spain’s colonial involvement in Morocco, a large overseas “Army of Africa” was created in which Moslem conscripts played a large part. In the 1930’s, it was commanded by General Francisco Franco and its troops took part in the suppression of a revolt by anarchist miners in the northern province of Asturias in 1934 and then in the uprising to overthrow the Republic, that culminated in the Civil War (1936-1939).

In spite of General Franco’s frequent use of the theme of rescuing Spain’s Christian heritage from communism and barbarism, the use of Moslem troops that he brought with him from Morocco, earned a reputation of brutality among the great mass of the Spanish people. They were hated and feared by ordinary Spaniards wherever they fought.

The last Moors resident in Spain were known as Moriscos. They had “officially” converted to Catholicism, but from the time of the fall of Granada in 1492 until their final expulsion in 1608-09, many acted as a fifth column, provided aid and information to the raiding parties of Muslim pirates that frequented the Spanish coast (the same “Barbary Pirates” that provoked the Barbary Wars from 1798-1820 with the United States) and were involved in several revolts throughout Andalucía. Until the defeat of the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto (1571) in which Cervantes was wounded, the Turks had made significant inroads throughout the Balkans and Eastern Europe and were threatening to spread Islam by Holy War (Jihad) that would have included the reconquest of Spain.

A certain intellectual interest in Arab and Moslem affairs was stimulated in the last days of the monarchy due to Spain's renewed involvement in Morocco and came to be known under the label of “Africanismo Español”.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Spain In The Shadow Of Bin Laden

MUST READ: WHICH KORAN (PART II) - - - THE SIGNIFICANCE OF KORANIC VARIATION

2008-03-12T08:36:00.002-05:00

Which Koran? (Part II)

The Significance of Koranic Variation
by Ibn Warraq (March 2008)

DO VARIANTS MATTER?

The variants between Korans (as set out last month) are not trifling, and are, in fact, of great significance. The problem is to work out what significance, and this proves to be no easy matter. For a flat-footed fundamentalist like Maududi, the admittance of any variant whether in the extant printed Korans available in the Islamic world or in the manuscripts like the Samarqand Quran or those recorded in the Hadith, commentaries and grammars is, of course, devastating. Variants constitute an irrefutable, knock-down argument against his absurdly rigid position (as quoted in part I), a position not held by all Muslim scholars, however. I believe their significance lies in a wider context, in their profound implication for the sources of the rise of Islam, for the forging of Islamic identity, for the genesis of the Koran itself, for Islamic Jurisprudence, for the so-called oral tradition, and for the history of the Arabic language and orthography. I shall leave these implications for later.

Even simply on their own terms, variants do result in significant differences in meaning which in turn have consequences for Islamic practice, ritual and belief. Thus, the variants in the printed Korans are not trivial. As an example of a variant reading on the level of vocalisation though not of the underlying graphic shape (or, in Arabic, rasm), there are the last two verses of Sura LXXXV: 21-22: (21) bal huwa qur’änun majïdun; (22) fï lawhim mahfüzun or mahfuhzin. The last syllable is in doubt. The Hafs Koran has, as we saw earlier, mahfuhãin, the genitive, giving the meaning, "It is a glorious Koran on a preserved tablet." This is a reference to the fundamental Muslim doctrine of the Preserved Tablet. But the Warsh transmission has the nominative ending -un, and we get "It is a glorious Koran preserved on a tablet." Did the doctrine arise out of the reading, or did the doctrine influence the choice of the reading?

In Sura III verse 13, there is much ambiguity as the exact reference of the pronoun is not clear:

Bell: "You have already had a sign in two parties which met, one fighting in the way of Allah, another unbelieving, who saw them with their eyes twice as many as they were …."

Yusuf Ali: "There has already been for you a sign in the two armies that met (in combat): One was fighting in the cause of God, the other Resisting God; these saw with their own eyes Twice their number."

Arberry: "There has already been a sign for you in the two companies that encountered, one company fighting in the way of God and another unbelieving; they saw them twice the like of them, as the eye sees …."

This verse is a said to be a reference to the miracle of the battle of Badr, when Muslims putatively defeated forces twice their own number. However, this interpretation is much easier if we read the verb as saying "you saw them" tarawnahum, as in the Warsh reading, and not yarawnahum (they saw them) as in the Hafs reading. Warsh gives us a miracle, Hafs gives us a confusion of pronouns.

Ignaz Goldziher, one of the creators of modern Islamic Studies, showed how Hadith, Muslim Tradition, reflected "the social, political and religious ideals of transmitters themselves and of the societies or groups they served as spokesman. By Sunna was to be understood, not the inherited instruction of the Prophet, but the ius consuetudinis of a group or party, large or small. By hadith is meant the vehicle of that sunna, a report, verbal or written, conveying a description of the relevant practice, opinion or custom approved by the disseminators of the report."[1] Influenced by Goldziher’s work, Joseph Schacht elaborated a thesis that "rather than spreading out from an original centre at Medina, Islamic Law originated in the provinces. Reference of the Sunna to the Prophet was the end rather than the beginning of a process. Its purpose was to verify some local legal viewpoint. In other words, the Sunna differed and was differently defined from region to region."[2]

Of course, the conclusions of scholars like Goldziher and Schacht are equally applicable to Koranic variants, many of which are known to us through hadith, rather than extant Koranic manuscripts. In other words, the variants reflect the ideology, as Burton shows, of groups that wish to argue for their own viewpoint, to establish a ruling, to settle conflict of sources. For example the rite of Tawäf, going round the two hills of Safä and Marwa during Hajj, Pilgrimage, are considered obligatory by certain Muslim jurists despite a certain ambiguity in Surah II.158, which is interpreted by some to mean that the Tawäf was optional. Others still also regarded the Tawäf as optional but this time the view "was explicitly derived from the variant reading of II.158 transmitted in the muæùaf of `Abdullah Ibn Mas‘üd."[3]

Burton argues that when practice was at variance with the Koran, the partisans of the practice appealed to the Sunna of the Prophet, their opponents "improve the wording of the Qur’än, inserting a word and appealing to the authority of a Companion of the Prophet , from whom not merely a variant reading, but a variant Qur’än had apparently been transmitted. The alleged variant reading unmistakably proceeded from one of two rival and competing interpretations. To that extent the reading arose at a secondary stage."[4]

There is a similar exchange of argument and counter-argument concerning the penalty for breach of oaths [Surah V.89], a three days’ fast, ending as before with an appeal to a variant reading from Ibn Mas‘üd. Al-Shäfi‘ï argued that the Koran did not stipulate if the fast should be consecutive, hence Muslims were free to choose consecutive or separate days. Ùanïfs argued that the fast should be consecutive, as a variant reading of Ibn Mas‘üd indicates. The same variant reading was attributed to Ubayy.[5] Ubayy also had a very significant variant reading of Surah IV.24 concerning the Muslim Law on marriage; only with his interpolation does IV.24 "sanction the doctrine of mut’a, or temporary marriage, rejection of which was elsewhere being propounded on the basis of information from a third Companion of the Prophet as a part of the Sunna. Evidently the Qur’än, in the form of the Ubayy reading, is playing the role of a counter-sunna, rather, a counter-exegesis, the function of the Ubayy interpolation to gloss and bring out the full meaning of the root of samta`tum, mt`."[6]

As Al-Suyütï put it, "The differences in the readings indicate the differences in the legal rulings."[7] Thus we have two opposing doctrines - the invalidation of the ritual purity [wudü’] and the contrary doctrine - depending on how we read a certain word in IV.43 and V.9 as lämastum or lamastum; it is worth noting that all the printed Korans that I have listed in part I except the Flügel have the "defective" writing, with the long vowel after the letter läm indicated by a dagger alif, only the Flügel has the plene alif. Similarly, we have two opposing doctrines depending on how we read II.222 -yathurna or yattahirna -concerning the permissibility of sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman at the expiry of her period but before she has cleansed herself. [8]

Finally we have the example of V.6, as al- Suyütï says, "The verse was revealed to sanction two distinct legal doctrines: arjulakum - enjoined the washing of the feet, ajulikum -permitted the wiping of the feet."[9] Herbert Berg summarises the larger significance of these two interpretations, "Al-Tabarï adduces 47 hadiths which seek to clarify the expression wa-arjulakum ila al-ka`bayn (and your feet to the ankles) of Quran V:6. The first 27 hadiths read the passage as arjulakum (accusative); the other 20 hadiths read the passage as arjulikum (genitive)….Goldziher would see in these two sharply divided sets of hadiths the vestiges of a later debate within the Muslim community about the proper form of wudü’ (ablution) that has been projected back to the earlier generations of Muslims. Schacht might trace this ablution debate in other texts to determine the relative chronology and the provenance of the hadiths. He might also, along with Juynboll, seek a common link to help date the debate. ‘Ikrima is a candidate since he appears in five hadiths, though the isnads form more of a spider pattern. Wansbrough would abandon such use of the isnad except to note that their presence implies that the 47 hadiths reached their final form after 200 A.H.[9 Century, C.E.] Moreover, the hadiths are primarily halakhic and masoretic: they contain pronouncements from the Prophet, his Companions and their Successors and have recourse to variant readings and grammatical explanations. Their presence implies a relatively late date as well."[10]

Burton following Al- Suyütï argues that "the majority of variant readings came to be regarded as little more than exegeses that had gradually crept into the texts transmitted from the Companions."[11] While the latter observation may well explain some of the mechanism of how the Companion texts came into being, I would go further and doubt the very existence of Codices belonging to the Companions; they have been conjured up by exegetical hadiths. In other words, the question of variants leads inexorably to the questions of the authenticity of hadiths relating them.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Which Koran? (Part II) - - - The Significance of Koranic Variation

2) Which Koran? (Part I)

MUST READ: MALAYSIA'S ELECTIONS - POLITICAL TSUNAMI OR NEW WAVE?!?

2008-03-12T08:20:00.001-05:00

Malaysia’s Elections – Political Tsunami or New Wave?
by Adrian Morgan

On Friday, January 25 this year, Malaysia's prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, suggested that he would bring forward the date for national elections. His coalition parliament was not officially obligated to hold general elections until the middle of next year.

He said: "We will call for the election when I think everything is all right and at the moment I think people are ready for the election." He soon set the date for elections for Saturday March 8, 2008.

The elections took place at the weekend, but though the coalition led by Badawi's UMNO party obtained a majority, the results have nonetheless been viewed as disastrous. This coalition, called the Barisan Nasional, comprises 14 parties. UMNO (United National Malays Organization) is the largest party. The coalition has ensured that UMNO has led the country since Malaysia's independence on August 31, 1957.

At the last elections on March 21, 2004, the Barisan Nasional won 196 of the 219 parliamentary seats. Badawi knew that the coalition would not be so successful this time. Two of the Barisan Nasional parties are ethnic - the MIC, or Malaysia Indian Congress and the MCA, or Malaysian Chinese Association. Since 1996, the MCA has been the second largest party in the coalition. Despite having these partners, UMNO has promoted policies which favor Malays over Indians and Chinese in housing, jobs, and government contracts. Recently Indians have felt particularly alienated by UMNO policies, and as Indians comprise only 8% of the electorate, it seems Badawi assumed he did not need Indian support.

The results from Saturday's elections - the 12th since independence - have caused shock within Malaysia. With 222 parliamentary seats being contested this year, the Barisan Nasional won only 140 seats (63 percent of the total). UMNO itself has only 78 seats in the parliament. This was the worst election for the coalition and for UMNO since independence.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Malaysia’s Elections – Political Tsunami or New Wave?

2008-03-12T08:17:00.001-05:00

Jihad, Jihadism and the American Free Press
by Jeffrey Imm

In the war with global Jihad, words and definitions matter, and in fighting anti-freedom ideologies, the free press and media should be America's greatest ally. Yet the confused and inconsistent reporting on Islamism and Islamist terrorism is another key fault line in America's struggles with global Jihad.

Without a precise definition of the enemy by American political leadership, major segments of the American free press have made their own foreign policy decisions as to who is and is not an enemy, made their own decisions on what terms like "Islamism" and "Jihad" mean (if they use such terms at all), and provided mostly "isolated incident"-style reporting on such subjects, with the exception of the largely anti-war colored reporting on Iraq.

So instead of much of the American free press being used to largely address and confront enemy anti-freedom ideologies and their adherents, such media has been manipulated by editorial managers, publishers, and Islamist groups to focus their investigative reporting on the American government's reaction to Islamist terrorism. As much of American government actions are based on a reaction without a defined enemy, there has been plenty of source material for press critiques and for press managers to gain political points against an unpopular administration.
But as made clear last week in speeches by leaders of the Washington Post and the Associated Press, the larger issue of "Islamism" itself, its role as the root of "Islamist terrorism" (as defined in the 9/11 Commission Report), and coherent news reporting on the continuing global links between political Islamism and such Islamist terrorism is not even an objective of much of the American free press. The reactive political sniping agenda by much of the American press' reporting not only misses the larger issue, but also fails to understand that anti-freedom ideologies like Islamism are a threat to a free press itself.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Jihad, Jihadism and the American Free Press

MUST READ: TOTALITARIAN SWEDEN

2008-03-12T08:03:00.004-05:00

Totalitarian Sweden
by Fjordman

According to the news website The Local, members of the only significant (but still small) party in Sweden critical of mass immigration live under constant threat of violence. Sweden is witnessing the greatest explosion of street violence in its history, and a woman is raped every two hours. The national newspaper Aftonbladet links the massive increase in rapes to the warm weather. The state-sponsored organization Expo, which lists a dozen employees at its website and receives backing from the media and the major parties, has been campaigning against the Sweden Democrats for years. Expo’s Daniel Poohl states that it’s “not undemocratic” to deny the SD access to political influence. The writer Bruce Bawer says that “Sweden Democrats have been the targets of events that recall China’s Cultural Revolution. Staged ‘people’s protests’ by members of the ‘youth divisions’ of other parties have led to the firing of Sweden Democrats from their jobs. A few weeks ago, a junior diplomat was dismissed when it became known that he was a member of the party and had criticized his country’s immigration policy. On several occasions, thugs loyal to the ruling parties have broken up Sweden Democratic meetings and beaten up party leaders.”

The Local: Sweden Democrats under constant threat

Leaders of the far-right Sweden Democrats live under constant threat of violence, according to new report from the Swedish security service Säpo.

Säpo reports that it receives an average of 4.5 reports per month of cases of threats made to Sweden’s district and county councillors.The threats are systematic, often involve violence, and come from autonomous groups across Sweden. Media exposure and engagement in controversial issues often increase the incidence of threats, Säpo reports.“This is a democratic problem as it happens that politicians leave their posts as a result of having received threats,” said Säpo analyst Johan Olsson to news agency TT.Threats are most commonly made via email, letters and on the telephone and typically come from disgruntled citizens.

How the West Lost the Cold War

The girlfriend of a politician from the Sweden Democrats, a small party critical of mass immigration, was recently attacked at her home outside Stockholm. The young woman was found bound with duct tape in the apartment block where she lives with Martin Kinnunen, chairman of the youth wing of the SD. Three men had forced their way into the couple’s apartment and held the 19-year-old at knife point. Kinnunen tells of several threats and anonymous phone calls to the family. He blames the media for systematically portraying the SD as monsters and thus for legitimizing aggression against them, and claims that the Swedish democracy is a sham.

Antifascistisk Aktion, a group that supposedly fights against “racists,” openly brag about numerous physical attacks against persons with their full name and address published on their website. Only a week after this group harassed a Swedish judge and vandalized his house, members demonstrated alongside the Swedish police, the Swedish government and the Swedish media establishment during Pride Week, Stockholm’s annual gay celebration, in August 2007. At the very end of the Pride Parade marched a group of black-clothed and masked representatives of AFA. Adjacent to them marched a number of policemen, including members of the Swedish Gay Police organization.

[…]

According to Politikerbloggen, AFA have produced a manual about how to use violence in order to paralyze and hurt their opponents, and they encourage their members to study it closely.

The Death of Sweden

A judge who hears migration appeals had his house vandalized by left-wing extremists. Threats were sprayed on the walls, red paint was poured over the steps and an axe was left outside his home.

[…]

The group Antifascistisk Action (AFA) writes on its homepage that the attack was motivated by the situation of Iraqi asylum seekers.

[…]

AFA openly brag about numerous attacks against persons who get their full name and address published on their website. According to them, this is done in order to fight against capitalist exploitation and for a global, classless society. Their logic goes something like this: If you protest against Muslim immigration, you suffer from Islamophobia, which is almost the same as xenophobia, which is almost the same as racism. And racists are almost Fascists and Nazis, as we all know, and they shouldn’t be allowed to voice their opinions in public. Hence, if you protest against being assaulted or raped by Muslims, you are evil and need to be silenced. If a native Swede is really lucky, he or she will thus first get mugged or battered by Muslims, and then beaten up a second time by his own extreme Leftists for objecting to being beaten the first time. The state does next to nothing to prevent either.

Written by well known blogger Fjordman, you can find many of his works at: Gates of Vienna, Islam-Watch, Global Politician, JihadWatch, The Brussels Journal and his own blog @ Blogspot bearing his name Fjordman.

Pertinent Links:

1) Totalitarian Sweden

MUST READ: HARVARD: AMERICA'S "HUB" FOR SHARIA?!?

2008-03-11T08:29:00.002-05:00

Harvard: America’s “Hub” For Sharia?
by Andrew Bostom

Right on the heels of Harvard’s capitulation to Sharia mores at its Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center, the Harvard “academic” community indulged an ideologue with much grander aspirations for implementing Sharia, UCLA Professor of Law, Khaled Abou el Fadl.

My dear friend and colleague Hillel Stavis had the morbidly fascinating experience of witnessing this pseudo-academic fraud peddle his paltry wares March 5, 2008 at Harvard’s Divinity School, during a lecture entitled, non-sequitur, “Conceptualizing Islamic Theology: Sharia and Human Rights Doctrine”

Here are Hillel Stavis’ cogent first hand observations, in his own words:

Of all the evasions, obfuscations and diversions uttered by UCLA’s Professor of Law Khaled Abou el Fadl yesterday [ i.e., March 5, 2008] at the Harvard Divinity School, none was more revealing than his opening declaration that Sharia Law’s compatibility or incompatibility with human rights was wholly “vacuous” and “irrelevant”. None of the 60 or so, mostly Muslim attendees, seemed to have had a problem with this statement. The audience reaction, from both Mr. Fadl’s academic colleagues (among whom was Harvard’s Roy Mottahedeh, Gurney Professor of History, a specialist in Persian history) and students was more disturbing than the actual presentation.

Professor Mottahedeh lamented the fact that Muslims have spent too much time trying to reconcile Shari’ah with the UN Declaration of Human Rights, urging the world to supplement it with the Muslim version. Of course, the former is truly universal, the latter particularistic. And so, a Harvard tenured professor would essentially replace one with the other in a kind of perfecting process.

Nearly 5-years ago now, I warned that El Fadl’s much ballyhooed reputation as a reformer was completely unjustified. Specifically, I noted his pattern of uniformed or deliberately deceitful presentation:

Recently El Fadl elucidated his "construction" of the tolerant tradition in Islam as part of an essay collection. He focused this presentation, appropriately, on two of the most obvious challenges to any such construction, i.e. jihad, and the poll tax (jizya) levied on non-Muslims under Islamic rule. El Fadl's arguments regarding both jihad and the jizya in this essay merit close scrutiny, as these institutions are integrated into the corpus of the Shari'a, or sacred Islamic law. I believe his omissions of evidence in this essay, combined with an excessive reliance on sacralized, whitewashed historiography, refutes the prevailing notion that El Fadl is engaged in a sincere effort to instill fundamental change in Islam.

El Fadl states categorically: “..Islamic tradition does not have a notion of holy war. Jihad simply means to strive hard or struggle in pursuit of a just cause...Holy war (al-harb al-muqaddasah) is not an expression used by the Qur'anic text or Muslim theologians. In Islamic theology war is never holy; it is either justified or not...” This contention cannot be supported on either theological-juridical, or historical grounds, and in fact contradicts the conclusion of an earlier essay by El Fadl.

El Fadl's discussion of jihad is rendered meaningless by a blatant historical negationism of both Muslim and non-Muslim sources. In his analysis of the poll tax (jizya), he relies exclusively upon the sacralized early Muslim historiography of this institution. El Fadl thus attempts to uphold the "virtuous" aspects of the jizya, omitting any reference to the consistent, intentionally humiliating character of its application…El Fadl's presentation excludes discussion of how the jizya was viewed by classical Muslim jurists. There was in fact a basic consensus among the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence regarding the intimate relationship between the
institutions of jihad against the infidels, and jizya. El Fadl ignores these extensive writings, and instead asserts whimsically, "…there are various indicators that the poll tax is not a theologically mandated practice, but a functional solution that was adopted in response to a specific set of historical circumstances. Only an ahistorical reading of the text could conclude that it is an essential element in a divinely sanctioned program of subordinating the non-believer."

Another important aspect of the jizya that El Fadl ignores is the widely upheld, although not unanimous view of the classical schools of Islamic jurisprudence about the "humiliating" imposition and procurement of this tax. Here is a discussion of the ceremonial for collection of the jizya by the 13th century Shafi'i jurist an-Nawawi: "…The infidel who wishes to pay his poll tax must be treated with disdain by the collector: the collector remains seated and the infidel remains standing in front of him, his head bowed and his back bent. The infidel personally must place the money on the scales, while the collector holds him by the beard, and strikes him on both
cheeks…"

El Fadl also fails to discuss how the "contract of the jizyah", or "dhimma" encompassed other obligatory and recommended obligations for the conquered non-Muslim "dhimmi" peoples. Collectively, these "obligations" formed the discriminatory system of dhimmitude imposed upon non-Muslims- Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus, and Buddhists- subjugated by jihad. Some of the more prominent features of the system of dhimmitude include: the prohibition of arms for the vanquished non-Muslims (dhimmis), and of church bells; the restrictions concerning the building and restoration of churches and synagogues; the inequality between Muslims and non-Muslims with regard to overall taxation, and penal law; the refusal of dhimmi testimony by Muslim courts; the obligation for Jews and Christians to wear special clothes; and their overall humiliation and abasement.

And I concluded with this relevant assessment:

It should be abundantly clear that Professor El Fadl's disingenuous revisionism hardly qualifies as a sincere effort to promote a meaningful Islamic "Reformation". Intended or not, his whitewashed, "ahistorical" presentation is dangerous, and serves to justify alarming contemporary Muslim assessments of dhimmitude, and its appropriate application, even today! For example, Palestinian Authority (PA) Undersecretary for Awqaf [Religious Endowment], Sheik Yussef Salamah, representing the PA at a May 1999 "Inter-Cultural Conference," in Tehran, praised the 7th century system of Ahl Al-Dhimma (i.e, the system of dhimmitude), as the proper paradigm for relations between present day Muslims and Christians 58. Palestinian Authority employee, Sheik Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Madhi later reiterated these sentiments with regard to Jews during a Friday sermon broadcasted live on June 6, 2001 on PA TV, from the Sheik 'Ijlin Mosque in Gaza:"We welcome, as we did in the past, any Jew who wants to live in this land as a dhimmi, just as the Jews have lived in our countries, as dhimmis, and have earned appreciation, and some of them have even reached the positions of counselor or minister here and there. We welcome the Jews to live as dhimmis, but the rule in this land and in all the Muslim countries must be the rule of Allah."

One needs simply to contrast El Fadl's meager revisionist approach with the unequivocal statements of a Muslim academic such as Professor Bassam Tibi. Professor Tibi possesses the insight and courage to acknowledge that a meaningfully reformed Islam must embrace the pluralistic spirit of the Western Enlightenment:

“..In the context of religious tolerance-and I write this as a Muslim- there can be no place in Europe for Shari'a …Shari'a is at odds with the secular identity of Europe and is diametrically opposed to secular European constitutions formulated by the people… I hold out for the superiority of common sense over religious faith (i.e., absolute religious precepts); individual human rights (i.e., not collective human rights); secular democracy based on the separation of religion from politics; a universally accepted pluralism; and a mutually accepted secular tolerance. The acceptance of these values is the foundation of a civil society..”

Professor Tibi's comments underscore basic truths that apologists for the Shari'a such as El Fadl refuse to acknowledge. For example, the 1990 Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam maintains that the Shari'a has primacy over the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and includes the specific proclamation that God has made the umma (Islamic community) the best nation, whose role is to "guide" humanity. This statement captures the indelible influence of jihad ideology on the Shari'a, rendering sacred and permanent the notion of inequality between the community of Allah, and the infidels. Thus we can see clearly the differences between the Shari'a-inspired Cairo Declaration, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which does not refer to any religion or to the superiority of any group over another, while stressing the absolute equality of all human beings. Indeed a Senegalese jurist (and Muslim), Adama Dieng, (then serving as secretary-general to the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists), courageously declared in 1992 that the Cairo Declaration introduced an intolerable discrimination against non-Muslims and women.

Subsequently, Daniel Pipes elaborated on El Fadl’s so-called “anti-Wahhabism,” which is negated by his continued apologetics for jihad terrorism, and open espousal of the implementation of Sharia in non-Muslim societies, as a leading pseudo-academic, cultural jihadist. Pipes highlighted, for example the fact that Sheikh Muhammad al-Ghazali (1917-96), an important 20th century Egyptian cleric, remains one of Abou El Fadl's chief intellectual influences. However, as I have noted, the “anti-Wahhabi” al-Ghazali, then an official of Al Azhar University, supported the July 1994 vigilante murder of secular Egyptian writer Farag Foda. Testifying on behalf of Farag Foda’s murderer, al-Ghazali stated, unabashedly, “A secularist represents a danger to society and the nation that must be eliminated. It is the duty of the government to kill him.”

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Harvard: America’s “Hub” For Sharia?

MUST READ: CONCEPTS OF TRUTH, PEACE & THE ARAB AGENDA IN THE MIDDLE EAST

2008-03-11T08:26:00.002-05:00

Concepts of Truth, Peace, and the Arab Agenda in the Middle East
by Noa Bursie

I recently read an article published in the online magazine, Family Security Matters, written by Rachel Lipsky. The article examines the Yoga concepts of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Satya (truthfulness) in the context of how people perceive the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and it inspired me to comment herein.

As an educator, I endeavor to teach my students to think critically, and arrive at an informed opinion based on rigorous examination of the information available together with specific protocols for weighing and judging that data. Of the many conundrums that present themselves within this conflict, the most disturbing by far (and the one that must be answered unequivocally before any sort of peace process may begin) is: what precisely do Palestinians want? One might indulge further to add: what concrete actions are being taken by their leadership to find a just and viable solution in order to resolve the problem(s) that exist?

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Pertinent Links:

1) Concepts of Truth, Peace, and the Arab Agenda in the Middle East

MUST READ: LESSONS FOR AMERICAN MUSLIMS FROM THE CONVICTION OF ABUJIHAAD

2008-03-11T08:23:00.002-05:00

Lessons for American Muslims from the Conviction of Abujihaad
by M. Zuhdi Jasser

Wednesday's conviction of Hassan Abujihaad should serve as a warning sign to the lethality and danger to our security from political Islam (Islamism). Islamism is an ideological clear and present danger to our security. Until we figure this out and finally begin the debate within the Muslim community about how to separate religion and politics within the Islamic consciousness, there will be many more traitorous Abujihaads produced out of the political grievance mills which many American mosques and American Islamist organizations have become.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Lessons for American Muslims from the Conviction of Abujihaad

MUST VIEW: JIHAD SHEILA'S (1 OF 7)

2008-03-11T08:17:00.001-05:00

MUST VIEW: JIHAD SHEILA'S (2 OF 7)

2008-03-11T08:15:00.000-05:00

MUST VIEW: JIHAD SHEILA'S (3 OF 7)

2008-03-11T08:13:00.000-05:00

MUST VIEW: JIHAD SHEILA'S (4 OF 7)

2008-03-11T08:12:00.000-05:00

MUST VIEW: JIHAD SHEILA'S (5 OF 7)

2008-03-11T08:11:00.000-05:00

MUST VIEW: JIHAD SHEILA'S (6 OF 7)

2008-03-11T08:10:00.000-05:00

MUST VIEW: JIHAD SHEILA'S (7 OF 7)

2008-03-11T08:09:00.000-05:00

MUST VIEW/HEAR: IDIOTS GUIDE TO ISLAM: MYTH OF ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION - PART 21

2008-03-06T09:08:00.001-05:00

MUST VIEW/HEAR: IDIOTS GUIDE TO ISLAM: ISLAM & SLAVERY - PART 20

2008-03-06T08:57:00.001-05:00

MUST VIEW/HEAR: IDIOTS GUIDE TO ISLAM: THE QUR'AN AGAINST CHRISTIANS - PART 14

2008-03-06T08:55:00.001-05:00

MUST VIEW/HEAR: IDIOTS GUIDE TO ISLAM: QUR'AN AGAINST THE JEWS - PART 16

2008-03-06T08:53:00.000-05:00

MUST READ: EUROPEAN LEADERS AGREE TO CREATE EURABIA

2008-03-05T08:33:00.002-05:00

European Leaders Agree to Create Eurabia
From the desk of Fjordman

Bat Ye’or in her book about Eurabia documented how European leaders have for years been quietly planning to merge Europe with the Islamic world. This has been denounced as a “conspiracy theory.” Only a few months ago the British Foreign Minister David Miliband said openly that the European Union should expand to include the Muslim Middle East and North Africa. Now French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are saying virtually the same thing. The greatest betrayal in European history is fact, not fiction. And to think that many people supported Sarkozy because he should “halt” Islamization. Now he is speeding it up:

Merkel and Sarkozy Find ‘Club Med’ Compromise (Der Spiegel, 4 March 2008)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced jointly that they had reached a compromise regarding Sarkozy’s proposed Mediterranean Union. At a press conference held jointly with Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel added that the ensuing outcome should be called the “Mediterranean Union” and that it “should be a project of all 27 (European Union) member countries.” Merkel was referring to her position that any deal to create a union with the Mediterranean states that border the European Union should be negotiated and drafted in conjunction with all EU member states – not just those that border the sea, as Sarkozy had initially proposed.

The Eurabia Code

How was a project as big as the creation of Eurabia pulled off? I have thought a lot about this question, and come to the conclusion that it succeeded precisely because of its size. St. Augustine tells the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great. “How dare you molest the sea?” asked Alexander. “How dare you molest the whole world?” the pirate replied. “Because I do it with a little ship only, I am called a thief; you, doing it with a great navy, are called an emperor.” It’s a matter of scale. If a small group of people sideline the democratic process in one country and start imposing their own laws on the public, it’s called a coup d’état. If they do so on an entire continent, it’s called the European Union.

The European Union and the Islamization of Europe

The British Foreign Minister David Miliband in November 2007 stated that the European Union should work towards including Middle Eastern and North African countries. The EU involves the free movement of people across borders. If it expands to the Middle East, hundreds of millions of Muslims will have free access to Germany, Italy, France, Britain, Sweden and the Czech Republic. If Turkey becomes a member, it means that Greeks, Bulgarians and others who have fought against oppression by Ottoman Turks for centuries will now be flooded with Muslims from a rapidly re-Islamizing Turkey. The same goes for Poles, Hungarians, Romanians and others who fought against Muslims for centuries. Appeasement of Islam is so deeply immersed in the structural DNA of the EU that the only way to stop the Islamization of Europe is to dismantle the European Union. All of it.

Written by well known blogger Fjordman, you can find many of his works at: Gates of Vienna, Islam-Watch, Global Politician, JihadWatch, The Brussels Journal and his own blog @ Blogspot bearing his name Fjordman.

Pertinent Links:

1) European Leaders Agree to Create Eurabia

MUST READ: THE WILDERS CONTROVERSY: DO EUROPEANS STILL BELONG IN EUROPE?!?

2008-03-05T08:29:00.002-05:00

The Wilders Controversy: Do Europeans Still Belong in Europe?
From the desk of Thomas Landen

While America is focused on its elections, which might bring the first Muslim-born president in the White House, Europe is anxiously awaiting Geert Wilders’ movie on the Koran. The Dutch government fears that the release of the movie might lead to terror attacks on the Netherlands or on Dutch citizens abroad. There are rumours that the government may seek to ban the film. NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, a Dutchman, has also expressed concern about the Wilders movie. On Sunday he told Dutch television that he fears retaliations against Dutch NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Last week Wilders complained that the Dutch authorities are putting him under pressure not to release his 10-minute film. Yesterday, a poll showed that the governing Dutch Christian-Democrats of Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende are losing popularity because of their attempts to tone Wilders down. Dutch public opinion, however, tends to be very volatile. Two month ago, I wrote here that “if the Wilders movie results in (fatal) attacks on Dutch citizens and Dutch interests abroad, it might lead to an anti-Wilders backlash. The Dutch are not Danes. They have a history of swinging from one extreme to another. Like the Spanish after the Madrid bombings they might paint their hands white and surrender.”

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Pertinent Links:

1) The Wilders Controversy: Do Europeans Still Belong in Europe?

MUST READ: MUSLIM WOMAN ARRESTED FOR TERRORIST THREAT AGAINST UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

2008-03-05T08:03:00.001-05:00

Muslim Woman Arrested for Terrorist Threat against University of Illinois

by Jim Kouri, CPP

A 24-year-old Wheaton, Illinois resident was arrested for making e-mail threats against the University of Illinois-Chicago campus. Mahtab Shirani was nabbed Tuesday, February 26th, by members of the Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), according to John W. Richardson, Chief of the University Police Department.

Shirani was charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Chicago with one count of making threats through use of interstate commerce, which is a felony offense.

According to the police complaint, an individual subsequently identified as Shirani, who is a student at the University, sent an anonymous e-mail to a university administrator threatening a repeat of the shooting incident that had taken place the previous day at Northern Illinois University. The threat stated that a group of five individuals would carry out the attack sometime during the spring 2008 semester. However, the caller failed to give a reason for making the threat.

Subsequent investigation by the university's police officers determined that the threatening e-mail was sent from a computer in the campus computer laboratory. It was also determined the user ID for the computer in question was assigned to the suspect, Shirani.

Further investigation eventually led to the identification of Shirani as the suspect responsible for sending the threatening e-mail.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Muslim Woman Arrested for Terrorist Threat against University of Illinois

MUST READ: GEORGETOWN TO CONGRESSMAN: NO WORRIES ABOUT OUR SAUID PETRODOLLARS

2008-03-05T07:59:00.002-05:00

Georgetown to Congressman: No Worries about Our Saudi Petrodollars

by Steven Emerson

A $20 million gift from a Saudi Arabian prince to a Georgetown University academic center has not affected its scholarly work, Georgetown's president said in response to questions from a U.S. congressman.

Since receiving the $20 million from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in 2005, "all activities of the Center have been conducted in the most appropriate manner, and with no outside interference of any kind," Georgetown President John J. DeGioia wrote.

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), wrote to DeGioia Feb. 14th , saying he was concerned about Prince Alwaleed's gift to Georgetown's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (which was renamed in the prince's honor) and the affect it had on research. Has anyone at the Center conducted research critical of Saudi educational or human rights policies? Wolf also asked whether the money fueled any of the school's training of current and prospective U.S. Foreign Service personnel.

"[A]ll of us at Georgetown University take very seriously the importance of protecting academic freedom," DeGioia wrote. "I want to assure you that I am completely confident that the Center's work, to borrow your words, ‘maintains the impartiality and integrity' that we expect of all research conducted at Georgetown University."

The response misses the point, said Martin Kramer, former director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University and a fellow at Harvard and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The concern is not that Georgetown takes marching orders from a significant donor. It is more a question of how bold scholars choose to be in challenging institutions and governments home to deep-pocketed potential donors.

"No one at such a center could possibly specialize in contemporary Saudi policy, because to do so objectively would not sit well with the Saudi princes who make the gifts," Kramer said in an e-mail exchange. "Replicate this a hundred-fold across academe, at universities that would also like $20 million for Islamo-this-or-that, and you have killed off the critical study of Saudi Arabia in the academy. This is no small achievement: the political structure and social norms of the Kingdom are not of the sort that endear themselves to the ‘progressives' in our universities. But the academics are silent, because they hope and pray that someday, their prince will come."

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Pertinent Links:

1) Georgetown to Congressman: No Worries about Our Saudi Petrodollars

MUST READ: REVIVING THE NORTH WAZIRISTAN PEACE ACCORD MAY STABILIZE TRIBAL PAKISTAN

2008-03-05T07:55:00.001-05:00

Reviving the North Waziristan Peace Accord May Stabilize Tribal Pakistan
By Afzal Khan

A day before Pakistan’s crucial February 18 parliamentary elections, the military government renewed the September 2006 North Waziristan peace accord. The move is widely seen as part of a revived effort to restore peace and order to the region under the aegis of the new military chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, who took over the military leadership after President Musharraf retired from that post. Indeed, the agreement came two days after General Kayani visited the regional military headquarters in Miranshah and handed gallantry awards to soldiers there (Dawn [Karachi], February 18).

The move occurred in the wake of renewed militancy culminating in a CIA drone attack near Mirali on January 28 that killed Abu Laith al-Libbi, a senior al-Qaeda operative (The News [Karachi], January 29). There had been several ceasefires between the military and militants with the last one due to expire on February 17. Earlier in January, the governor of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), retired General Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai, resigned from his post after the collapse of the 2006 peace accord (Daily Times, January 27). Orakzai has been replaced by Owais Ahmad Ghani, best known for his harsh treatment of rebels as the former governor of Balochistan (The News, January 1).

There are two principal differences between the 2006 and the 2008 accords. While the 2006 accord was negotiated with so-called militant Taliban leaders, the 2008 accord involves 286 tribal elders representing all the sub-clans of the Utmanzai Wazirs and Daurs that dominate the region. In a region with nearly 400,000 inhabitants, the Utmanzai Wazirs outnumber the Daurs almost two to one. North Waziristan is spread over 1,817 square miles, with the Daurs living in the fertile Tochi River valley and around the principal towns of Miranshah and Mirali.

The 2008 accord also extends its writ over all North Waziristan, in contrast to the 2006 accord that was mostly limited to Miranshah because that was where the principal militant group leader, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, held sway. Representatives of the militant leader were also present at the jirga (tribal assembly) this time around and endorsed the decision (Dawn, February 18). The inclusion of Mirali—the tribal agency’s second largest town—in the present accord is important because of the activity of foreign militants around there, as seen in the CIA drone attack that killed al-Libbi.

The need to cobble together this accord by election day reflects the urgency of the new military leadership to distance itself from the previous failed military strategies in Waziristan. The military operation in South Waziristan against Tehrek-e-Taliban (Movement of the Taliban) leader Baitullah Mehsud—who has been blamed for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto—has also ended for the time being with a unilateral ceasefire announced by Mehsud.

...

Pertinent Links:

1) Reviving the North Waziristan Peace Accord May Stabilize Tribal Pakistan

2008-03-05T07:53:00.001-05:00

Mergers and Acquisitions within the Iraqi Insurgency
By Pascale Combelles Siegel

02/27/2008 - For the U.S. military, 2007 was the year of the surge in Iraq. The controversial troop increase—along with the rise of the Sunni Awakening councils and Moqtada al-Sadr’s truce—has combined to help tame both sectarian and insurgent violence. As for the insurgents, 2007 was a year of mergers and acquisitions, with groups consolidating into new fronts and alliances. This process of consolidation has gone remarkably unnoticed, possibly because its first order of business has been to take on al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and its Islamic State. But does this evolution bode well for the future stability of Iraq?

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Pertinent Links:

1) Mergers and Acquisitions within the Iraqi Insurgency

MUST VIEW/HEAR: IDIOTS GUIDE TO ISLAM: THE SATANIC QUR'AN

2008-03-05T07:49:00.000-05:00

MUST VIEW/HEAR: IDIOTS GUIDE TO ISLAM: THE SATANIC VERSES - PART 29

2008-03-05T07:47:00.000-05:00

MUST VIEW/HEAR: IDIOTS GUIDE TO ISLAM: 72 VIRGINS - PART 30

2008-03-05T07:45:00.001-05:00

MUST VIEW/HEAR: TAQIYAH OR ISLAMIC SUBTERFUGE - - - PART 31

2008-03-04T08:32:00.001-05:00

MUST VIEW/HEAR: FIGHT KILL SLAY IN THE QURAN - - - PART 61

2008-03-04T08:26:00.001-05:00

MUST VIEW/HEAR: NO COMPULSION IN RELIGION [ISLAM] - - - PART 63

2008-03-04T08:14:00.000-05:00

2008-03-04T08:10:00.001-05:00

British Libel Law – Suppression of Truth in the US and UK?
by Adrian Morgan

In June last year I wrote on the situation of Rachel Ehrenfeld, who was landed with a default libel judgment against her at the High Court in London. Dr. Ehrenfeld had decided not to attend the hearing for libel, pertaining to statements she had made in her book: “Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop it". The ruling against her was made by High Court judge, Mr. Justice Eady. As British lawyer Mark Stephens wrote in the London Times, her book was "unobjectionable by American libel standards."

The vast differences between British libel law and American libel law means that several authors and publishers whose work was aimed at an American market have been sued in Britain. Under UK libel law, the defendant is presumed guilty and must prove innocence, a reversal of the tired cliché that one is "innocent until proved guilty." Additionally, under UK law there is no duty to show that the defendant acted "with malice," as there is in the US.

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Pertinent Links:

1) British Libel Law – Suppression of Truth in the US and UK?

2008-03-04T08:07:00.001-05:00

Jihad, Islamism and U.S. Envoy to OIC
by Jeffrey Imm

In the global war against Jihad, America's recurring challenge is the unwillingness of its political leadership to confront the fact that political Islamism is an ideological basis for "Islamist terrorism", as defined in the 9/11 Commission Report. This week, while operational war tactics garnered most of the headlines, once again America's political leadership ignored the global challenge of political Islamism, and President Bush announced his selection of a new U.S. envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Mr. Sada Cumber of Texas.

The OIC remains the largest international Islamist organization in the world, and it is an organization that consistently leverages political Islamism to attack freedom of speech and press, to attack freedom of religion, to deny that Palestinian and Lebanese Jihadist groups are terrorists, and to promote the anti-freedom ideology of Islamism. In June 2007, when President Bush first indicated plans of such an envoy to the OIC, his plans were met with praise by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation/Hamas trial), and met with condemnation by counterterrorism expert Steven Emerson.

Since then, in December 2007, the OIC attempted to legitimize an anti-freedom Islamist approach towards "religious freedoms" by trying to put a Sharia spin on a UN Human Rights resolution that would have worded the UN resolution to suggest that individuals could rightly be denied the right to "change one's religion." In recent weeks, the OIC's Secretary General has made pronouncements that attack the Western free press in the Muhammad cartoon debate, suggesting that such cartoons will lead "towards a larger conflict... [that would make Muslims] hostages of their radicals."

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Pertinent Links:

1) Jihad, Islamism and U.S. Envoy to OIC

BUSINESS TRAVEL TODAY

2008-03-03T08:33:00.000-05:00

MUST VIEW: JIHAD IN AMERICA - - - WAKE UP AMERICA ! ! !

2008-03-02T12:22:00.001-05:00

JIHAD IN AMERICA - - - WAKE UP AMERICA ! ! !

MUST VIEW: JIHAD

2008-03-02T12:20:00.000-05:00

JIHAD

MUST VIEW: ANNAPOLIS - WAR & PEACE IN ISLAM

2008-03-02T12:18:00.001-05:00

ANNAPOLIS - WAR AND PEACE IN ISLAM

MUST VIEW: ROBERT SPENCER ON "ISLAM: WHAT THE WEST KNEEDS TO KNOW" - P1

2008-03-01T20:55:00.001-05:00

Robert Spencer on "Islam: What the West Needs to Know" - P1

MUST VIEW: ROBERT SPENCER ON "ISLAM: WHAT THE WEST NEEDS TO KNOW" - P2

2008-03-01T20:43:00.001-05:00

Robert Spencer on "Islam: What the West Needs to Know" - P2

MUST VIEW: ROBERT SPENCER ON "ISLAM: WHAT THE WEST NEEDS TO KNOW" - P3

2008-03-01T20:37:00.001-05:00

Robert Spencer on "Islam: What the West Needs to Know" - P3

MUST VIEW: ROBERT SPENCER ON "ISLAM: WHAT THE WEST NEEDS TO KNOW" - P4

2008-03-01T20:31:00.001-05:00

Robert Spencer on "Islam: What the West Needs to Know" - P4

MUST VIEW: ROBERT SPENCER ON "ISLAM: WHAT THE WEST NEEDS TO KNOW" - P5

2008-03-01T20:28:00.001-05:00

Robert Spencer on "Islam: What the West Needs to Know" - P5

MUST READ: OLD JIHAD, NEW JIHAD

2008-03-01T12:31:00.001-05:00

Excerpted from AL-AHRAM WEEKLY of EGYPT:

Old jihad, new jihad

The retractions of the old guard of Islamist militants will likely not touch the new generation of youth drawn to jihad, writes Amr Elshoubaki

The recent ideological retractions of Sayed Imam El-Sherif, founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, mark the beginning of a major departure from the theological underpinnings that governed the militant Islamist organisation's actions in the 1980s and 1990s. The ideological shift -- probably more than practical realities -- will make it extremely difficult for the organisation and those inspired by it to revert to violence and terrorism.

In Correct Guidance of the Jihad in Egypt and the World, Sheikh Imam refuted an earlier contention that rebellion was warranted against a ruler that did not apply Islamic law. Now he holds it is wrong to rise up in the name of jihad against a Muslim ruler in pursuit of the application of Sharia law. In general, he rejects ideas that lend themselves to the notion that "the ends justify the means". He writes, for example, "it is regrettable that some pursue forbidden means to obtain money, justifying their actions on the grounds that this money is needed for jihad. Thus, they kidnap innocent people in order to demand ransom, or they rob blameless persons in the course of which they might commit wrongful murder. It is a grave sin to attack the persons and property of blameless persons."

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There is a new order of terrorism at work, shaped by different motives. The above-mentioned incidents were carried out by small groups of individuals with no clear affiliation to a larger hierarchically structured jihadist organisation and with no intent of formulating an ideological project that clarifies a political end that the exercise of violence is aimed to accomplish. The bombing of the World Trade Center towers marks the transition from what we might term the era of "jihadist ideology" to the era of "jihadist action". Jihad now has a markedly individualistic quality: motives seem more immediate and emotional (revenge) and aims less idealistic and more personal (instant salvation through martyrdom). In addition, ideological formation/indoctrination is at once much easier (through some selective surfing on the Internet) and superficial -- a far cry from having to wade through the long, complex and scholarly argumentation of Sheikh Imam.

The chances are that the youths inspired by Al-Qaeda would have gone ahead with terrorist acts even if Sheikh Imam had issued his retractions five years ago. The members of the so-called London cell, which consisted of only five individuals, would never grasp what the Jihad leader wrote because they proceeded from an entirely different direction. Theirs was a reaction to a sorrowful political and social reality, a reaction that they dressed with a jihadist gloss that would turn their deaths into a gateway to paradise. Imagine the number of like-minded youths tragic conditions such as those in Iraq could create, youths ready to blow themselves up after barely two months of indoctrination.

Sheikh Imam's revisions are undoubtedly sincere and historic. But they will not influence the new terrorist generation, because they were written with the old style of jihad in mind. They, therefore, do not take into account the new youth, which is essentially an unknown quantity and which operates independently and who seldom read books exceeding 50 pages let alone voluminous philosophical or theological treatises.

Pertinent Links:

1) Old jihad, new jihad

MUST VIEW: BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S [A.K.A. BARACK BIN LYIN'] "FORKED TONGUE" ABOUT N.A.F.T.A.

2008-02-29T12:05:00.004-05:00

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA SPEAKS WITH FORKED TONGUE:

2008-02-29T11:42:00.001-05:00

Muslim “Moderates”
What's in a word?
by Bruce Thornton

The war against Islamic jihad continues to be compromised in the West by the dominant narrative that supposedly makes sense of the conflict. In this scenario, the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful moderates, while the jihadists exploit a distortion of Islam fueled by modern discontents. To the left, these discontents are created by Western neo-imperialist and neo-colonialist adventurism, oil-industry greed, a culture-destroying globalization, irrational “Islamophobia” and “Orientalism,” and continuing support for Israel’s “occupation” of Muslim territory and thwarting of Palestinian nationalist aspirations. To the right, a lack of political freedom and economic development dashes Muslim hopes for a better life and leaves them prey to jihadist propaganda. Both interpretations, however, are based on unfounded assumptions.

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Here at home, we continually trumpet our admiration for Islam and its glories; we anxiously cultivate Muslim “moderates,” many of whom are shills for jihadists; our airport security aggressively wands and probes old ladies and children so that some young Muslim male won’t be traumatized by “racial profiling”; our courts bestow Geneva Convention “rights” on captive murderers explicitly excluded from those rights by that same Convention; our intellectuals and scholars castigate the West and blame it for the dysfunctions of Islamic states; and we take into our country the sons and daughters of Muslims who tell us over and over they want to kill us. Yet despite all these appeasing beneficia bestowed on Muslims, we are still hated as the “Great Satan.”

This behavior makes sense only if one attends to Islamic doctrine: all non-Muslims are “infidels” whose destiny is to convert, die, or live under Islamic subjection. It doesn’t matter what we do––unless we convert to Islam or stop pursuing our own national interests. Our very existence is an affront to the believers and an impediment to the fulfillment of Allah’s will, and our global success is a bitter reminder of how far Islam has fallen from the glory days of its dominance, when Europe trembled at Allah’s warriors. A critical mass of Muslims know this, and that is why they support the jihadists, even at the price of freedom, security, and prosperity. Until we discard the dominant narrative and take seriously and counter the spiritual imperatives and motives driving the jihadists and their millions of supporters, our chances of success in this struggle will remain bleak.

Pertinent Links:

1) Muslim “Moderates”