Archive for August, 2015

August 27th, 2015 Related News

The Mosque: Center of religion, politics and dominance

By Claire Lopez

(GATESTONE INSTITUTE) —

Islamic-style authoritarianism is the dominant characteristic shared by both the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, theocrats and non-theocrats: one or the other must be dominant. The cannot share power. One side or the other must come out on top. Both of these conflicts, in Syria and Egypt, are, at their base, about the inseparability of Mosque and State in Islam, and the burning zeal of those believers who have no tolerance for Arab and Muslim regimes they see as allowing the two to function apart.

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News reports out of Syria are airing graphic footage of extensive interior damage to the historic Khalid Ibn Al-Walid Mosque in Homs. Syrian government troops, backed by Hizballah fighters, captured the mosque from Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces on July 27, 2013 in heavy fighting that has engulfed the northern Homs neighborhood of Khaldiyeh.

Although the mosque holds little strategic value to the Sunni rebels, it holds great symbolic status as the centuries-old mausoleum of Khalid Ibn Al-Walid, revered by Muslims as a companion of Muhammad, as well as commander of the Islamic military forces that conquered Syria after the defeat of the Christian Byzantine forces at the 636 CE Battle of Yarmouk. Syrian television footage showed the dome of the mausoleum had been knocked out in the recent fighting, causing heavy fire damage to the interior, with debris strewn across the floor. Clearly, the mosque assault by Syrian forces loyal to the Alawite regime of Bashar al-Assad, with back-up support from Shi’ite Hizballah, was intended to incite intra-Islamic sectarian rage from the Sunni rebels.

The extent to which that objective will now be met remains to be seen, but is reminiscent of the February 22, 2006 bombing of the great golden-domed Shi’ite Askaria Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, by al-Qa’eda elements, under the command of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. That carefully-calculated outrage is credited with igniting a savage multi-year civil war in Iraq, which, tragically, appears to be breaking out anew: July 2013 attacks on mosques and worshippers have killed at least 700.

Unfortunately, Iraq and Syria are but the current-day iterations of a 1,300-year-old blood feud over who has the greater legitimacy to rule over the Islamic ummah [Nation of Islam]: Shi’ites or Sunnis. After the 632 CE death of Islam’s traditional founder, the companions and bloodline descendents of Muhammad disagreed—vehemently—over whom should be granted the allegiance of his followers, with all the power the position of Caliph entailed. Then, as now, there was never any question about invoking the consent of the governed, or acknowledging the status or natural worth of the individual, to contribute to the political functioning of the Islamic state. As described so starkly by the Greek-American political scientist P.J. Vatikiotis, and cited here by Andrew Bostom, the essentially authoritarian, autocratic ethos of Islam “may be lasting, even permanent,” and shackles its adherents to an endless “No Exit” cycle of coup, counter-coup, revolution and oppression. Shi’ite and Sunni are doomed to internecine combat over the centuries because both Islamic sects are bound to an ideology based on dominance, not good faith mutual concessions or participatory collaboration. The name of this power-obsessed ideology is Islam. As a belief system, it is deeply bound up with the compellingly spiritual dimensions of Islam and cannot be separated from them, but nevertheless, as ideology, prioritizes the political dimensions.

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August 26th, 2015 Blog

Harem tales: The merry wives of Muhammad

Almost to the day he died, Muhammad continued to add women to his harem, either as wives or concubines. Most married him voluntarily, others were taken as captives and had no choice in the matter. The following account of his love life is from It’s All About Muhammad, A Biography of the World’s Most Notorious Prophet:

ACCORDING TO THE STANDARD ACCOUNTS, MUHAMMAD HAD THIRTEEN wives and concubines, beginning with Khadija, his wealthy wife of twenty-five years who died three years before he fled Mecca to Yathrib. Then came Sauda, the stout, matronly woman he married several months after Khadija’s death as a caretaker for his children; Aisha, Abu Bakr’s daughter whom he married shortly after he arrived in Yathrib when she was nine years old; Umar’s daughter Hafsa, a twenty-year-old widow when he married her; Zaynab Khuzayma, who died eight months after the marriage; Umm Salama, an early convert and widow of one of Muhammad’s first cousins; Zaynab the daughter of Jahsh, a maternal first cousin previously married to Muhammad’s adopted son Zayd; Juwayriya, the Bedouin princess taken as booty after he conquered her Mustaliq tribe; Ramlah, the daughter of Muhammad’s foremost Meccan enemy Abu Sufyan; Rayhana, a Jewish woman enslaved after the massacre of the Qurayza Jews; Safiya, a seventeen-year-old Jewish girl taken as booty during the conquest of Khaybar; Maria the Copt, given to him as a slave by the ruler of Egypt along with her sister, a mule, and a eunuch; and Maymuna, the thirty-six-year-old half-sister of Zaynab Khuzayama. Read more »

August 19th, 2015 Related News

Al Jazeera poll: 81% of Arabs support ISIS

(TRUTH REVOLT) — On online survey conducted by the Al Jazeera Arabic television channel has found that a huge majority—over 80 percent—of respondents support the Islamic State’s military campaigns.

Breitbart News provides a summary of the findings of AlJazeera’s “shock poll”

In a recent survey conducted by AlJazeera.net, the website for the Al Jazeera Arabic television channel, respondents overwhelmingly support the Islamic State terrorist group, with 81% voting “YES” on whether they approved of ISIS’s conquests in the region.

The poll, which asked in Arabic, “Do you support the organizing victories of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)?” has generated over 38,000 responses thus far, with only 19% of respondents voting “NO” to supporting ISIS.

Last week the Islamic State achieved one of its more significant victories in recent months, seizing control of the city of Ramadi from the ineffectual Iraqi forces. The fall of the strategically important city has heightened pressure on the Obama administration over what is being increasingly perceived as its failing strategy to combat the radical militant group. Meanwhile, the popularity of ISIS—not just in the region, but among sympathetic radical circles worldwide—appears to be only expanding, in part due to the group’s aggressive social media campaign.

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August 15th, 2015 News You Can Use

The Muslim Brotherhood in America: The Enemy Within

THE CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY

About the Course

Have you ever asked yourself why, despite more than ten years of efforts –involving, among other things, the loss of thousands of lives in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, well-over a trillion dollars spent, countless man-years wasted waiting in airport security lines and endless efforts to ensure that no offense is given to seemingly permanently aggrieved Muslim activists – are we no closer to victory in the so-called “war on terror” than we were on 9/11?

Thankfully, we have been able to kill some dangerous bad guys. The sad truth of the matter is that, by almost any other measure, the prospect of victory is becoming more remote by the day. And no one seems able to explain the reason.

In an effort to provide the missing answer, on April 24, the Center for Security Policy is making available via the Internet a new, free ten-part video course called “The Muslim Brotherhood in America: The Enemy Within.” This course connects the proverbial dots, drawing on a wealth of publicly available data and first-hand accounts to present a picture that has, for over a decade, been obscured, denied and suppressed:

America faces in addition to the threat of violent jihad another, even more toxic danger – a stealthy and pre-violent form of warfare aimed at destroying our constitutional form of democratic government and free society. The Muslim Brotherhood is the prime-mover behind this seditious campaign, which it calls “civilization jihad.”

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August 14th, 2015 Blog

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! MUHAMMAD STEALS THE WIFE OF HIS ADOPTED SON AND THREATENS TO KILL HIS CRITICS!

Everything Muhammad did was scandalous. He sometimes even shocked his own people, such as when he took the wife of his adopted son and added her to his ever-expanding harem. If he lived today, his behavior would be fodder for every tabloid on the planet. We’re giving it tabloid treatment as the hottest news item of the day. This story is taken from the book, It’s All About Muhammad, A Biography of the World’s Most Notorious Prophet:

NOT LONG AFTER THE EXPULSION OF THE NADIR JEWS, MUHAMMAD
shocked even true believers by marrying the wife of his adopted son Zayd, breaking an Arab taboo and giving the “hypocrites” ammunition to discredit him. The matter quieted down only after he threatened to strip his critics of the protection of the shahada and kill them. Read more »

August 14th, 2015 Breaking News

Al Qaeda leader threatens: ‘The U.S. doesn’t know what’s coming its way.’

(BROOKINGS INSTITUTE via NEWSWEEK) — After an unprecedented 11 months of silence, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the emir of Al Qaeda, this week issued a video message proclaiming his loyalty to the new head of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. The almost 10-minute long message dramatically reaffirms the alliance between Al Qaeda and the Taliban, a setback for efforts to bring the Taliban into a political process.

The video was released by Al Qaeda’s media arm As-Sahab, meaning “in the clouds” or an allusion to the jihadi symbolism that Al Qaeda operates in the mountains of the Hindu Kush.

According to the Pakistan newspaper Dawn, As-Sahab recently relocated its real ground game from Pakistan (where it has been operating since 2002) back to Afghanistan in Helmand province. The Afghan Taliban supported the move and provides safe haven for Al Qaeda, which means 14 years after Operation Enduring Freedom began, Al Qaeda is again running operations out of Afghanistan.

Al-Zawahri’s message underscores that Al Qaeda remains close to the Taliban. According to Dawn, a senior As-Sahab official, Qari Abu Bakr, said “the bond between us and our Taliban brothers is a solid ideological bond. The Taliban opted to lose their government and family members just to protect us. There is no question of us moving apart now after going through this war together.” In a warning to the United States, he says, “Our common enemy does not know what is coming its way.”

In his new message, al-Zawahri eulogizes Mullah Mohammad Omar, the founder of the Taliban, as a hero of the global jihad along with Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Mullah Omar is lauded by al-Zawahri for creating the first true Islamic emirate since the fall of the Ottoman Empire a century ago. He makes no mention of reports Mullah Omar died two years ago in a Pakistan hospital in Karachi under the protection of the Pakistani intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

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August 1st, 2015 Related News

Poll: 500,000 American Muslims want people who criticize Islam put to death

(DOWNTREND) — On the heels of the “Draw Muhammad” terrorist attack, we’re subjected to a constant barrage of politicians and Muslim leaders proclaiming that yes – despite this attack, Islam is really a religion of peace.

And while the majority of Muslims reject the most draconian tenets of Islam, it might not be as big a majority as you think.

Back in 2012, the Wentzel Strategies group conducted a poll asking American Muslims about their faith and the law.

More than half – 58 percent – believed that criticism of “Islam or Muhammad” is not permitted under the First Amendment. 45 percent believed people who criticize the religion should “face criminal charges.”

But that’s not the shocker. The poll also revealed that 11.5 percent of American Muslims – of which there are more than 5 million – either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that “Americans who criticize or parody Islam should be put to death.” The margin of error is 3.98 percentage points.

For those doing the math, that’s more than a half-million American Muslims who want death for anybody criticizing Islam.

The most radical Muslims live in the West, where 14 percent “strongly agree” in putting Americans to death, and the young are radicalized much more than older Muslims. Almost 19 percent of those under 30 strongly agree with the statement.

So while it may be comforting to some that the “vast majority” of Muslim Americans don’t want their fellow citizens executed for criticizing Mohammad, the “minority” is much larger than we may have realized.

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