Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Dogs and Statuary in Islam
Hugh Fitzgerald explains Muslim reaction to dogs on the Jihad Watch website:
A recent story in the Reading Evening Mail describes a 71-year-old blind Englishman and cancer sufferer who was asked to get off a bus because of the hysterical reaction to his seeing-eye dog by some Muslims on the bus....
The hatred of dogs is not rational. It is simply based on the slavish acceptance of Muhammad’s strictures, in a well-known Hadith, in which he is reported to have said: I will not enter a house in which there are statues and dogs.
This is a strange, and even mysterious coupling of two items deemed haram: Statues and dogs. Why, one may ask? I think I know the reason. Statues, of course, were to be found in homes of Christians, and if those statues are clearly declared to be haram, and if Muslims are told that Muhammad, the Perfect Man (al-insan al-kamil) will not enter a house with statues, then no Muslim would do so either. That would be one bright line to distinguish Muslims from the Christians whose lands they conquered, and it would be one way to impose on those Muslims the duty not to become too friendly with Christians, not to enter their houses where there might still be statuary. And if Christians, in order to allow the members of the ruling Muslim class, to enter their houses, which might for those Christians be a desirable thing (they would need to curry favor with the Muslims who now ruled over them) they might find themselves more willing to themselves do away with statues and icons of every kind.
But why the warning against dogs? It is likely...that because dogs were prized by Zoroastrians, and treated with great affection and reverence, Muslims would want especially to distance themselves from the same practice, even to hold up dogs as objects of hysterical hatred. In so doing, they would again, as with Christians and statuary, clearly distinguish the superior Muslims and their practices from those of the inferior non-Muslims, in this case represented by Zoroastrians.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
On Moderate Islam
Almost all of them are moderate or liberal not because they subscribe to a less conservative interpretation of their faith, but because they have chosen to put a certain distance between their own religious thought and practice and the strict tenets of institutional Islam.While there are such things as moderate and liberal Christianity, there is no such thing as a moderate or liberal Islam. Yes, there are millions of good-hearted individuals who identify themselves as Muslims and who have no enmity in their hearts for their non-Muslim neighbors and coworkers. Some of these Muslims are religiously observant, some are not; but their moderation is not an attribute of the brand of Islam to which they officially subscribe but is, rather, a measure of their own individual character.
As a rule, then, a moderate Muslim doesn't see extremist Muslims as getting their religion wrong in quite the same way that, say, a liberal Episcopalian might feel that a conservative Southern Baptist has gotten Christianity wrong; such a Muslim, rather, even though he deeply abhors the actions of his violent coreligionists, may well be unable to shake off the feeling that they're more dedicated to Islam than he is. The result: A profound reluctance to criticize.
The fact remains that if there are indeed millions of moderate or even liberal Muslims out there, the great majority of them tend to keep an extraordinarily low profile with regard to their moderation or liberalism; and when push comes to shove (as it has with increasing frequency in recent years), few will speak up against Muslim extremists. I am reminded of a previous post quoting Sam Harris.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Left versus Right
Young, smart left-of-center types flock to government, academia, and journalism because they sincerely believe that these professions are the best way to contribute to society. Moreover, these professions garner the greatest respect from their left-of-center peers. These individuals have what Thomas Sowell describes as an unconstrained vision of what society could become given the correct leadership and direction. And they want to be a part of it.
Young, smart right-of-center types are more likely to join the business world, particularly small business, and later entrepreneurial endeavors. Do they sincerely believe that this is the best way to contribute to society? Do they think about this question at all? It does not matter, because whatever their reasons, they join the vast productive engine of our society. That part of society that pays for everything.
And there they often disappear from public political discussion. Sure, they might join the chamber of commerce. But for the most part, they do not take an active role in politics. Unlike journalists and academics they do not make a lot of noise. They just quietly go about their business of creating wealth for our society.
Of course there are exceptions to this rule. Big business attracts left-of-center types seeking secure employment, stability, and corporate welfare. And, there are indeed talented journalists, academics, and public servants from the Right. But these career choices go against the grain, and thus, draw smaller numbers.
This is why political commentary, as delivered by journalists and academics is most often disingenuous. The Left fields its large A team, and the Right fields, well, something substantively less, both qualitatively and quantitatively. For every Charles Krauthammer, there are ten Paul Krugmans. And Doctor Krauthammer did not set out to become a pundit, but rather fell into the field some time after leaving Harvard Medical School. As a practical matter, it’s any number of smart left-of-center pundits from Krugman to Michael Kinsley versus the bombastic Rush Limbaugh. No contest.
This situation contributes, in no small part, to the leftward drift of our society. In the public discourse, there is simply no relative counterweight to the left-of-center point of view.
They win by default.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Fjordman on Muslims and Hitler
Why Muslims Like Hitler, but Not Mozart
In 2005, Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf was among the top bestsellers in Turkey, behind a book about a Turkish national hero detonating a nuclear bomb in Washington D.C. Adolf Hitler remains widely popular in many other Islamic countries, too. At the same time, Turkish PM Erdogan stressed that Islamophobia must be treated as a crime against humanity. It is banned by law to discuss the Armenian genocide in Turkey, a genocide that allegedly inspired the Nazis in their Holocaust against Jews.
Despotism comes quite natural to Islamic culture. When confronted with the European tradition, many Muslims freely prefer Adolf Hitler to Rembrandt, Michelangelo or Beethoven. Westerners don’t force them to study Mein Kampf more passionately than Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa or Goethe’s Faust; they choose to do so themselves. Millions of (non-Muslim) Asians now study Mozart’s piano pieces. Muslims, on the other hand, like Mr. Hitler more, although he represents one of the most evil ideologies that have ever existed in Europe. The fact that they usually like the Austrian Mr. Hitler more than the Austrian Mr. Mozart speaks volumes about their culture.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Voice Mail Death Watch
Voice mail is one of the most inefficient, socially awkward, and least user-friendly means of communication out there....
If the voice-mail leavers in your life are anything like those in mine, there's often no great reward for getting through your messages, either. Guess you're not there. Call me back. That message might have made sense in the days of home answering machines, when the main function of voice mail was to let someone know who you were and that you'd called—both things our phones now tell automatically. On the rare chance that you do get an important voice mail, your first move is to transfer the information to some more permanent medium—say, ink and paper. Unlike just about every other mode of electronic communication today, after all, voice mail can't be searched.
And don't spin me on how voice mail is somehow inherently warmer and more human than e-mail. Speaking into a dead phone has always seemed unnatural. That's why we stammer, ramble on, leave awkward pauses. I submit that whatever finally makes voice mail obsolete will make us all sound far more human—and a little more polished at that.
My personal issue with voice mail is the longer messages. I always think, what does the caller expect me to do, take notes? The answer of course is, yes some of them do actually expect that. Screw that, just send me an email.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Who'd Be Female Under Islamic Law?
I am a Muslim woman and, like my late mother, free, independent, sensuous, educated, liberal, contrary and confrontational when provoked, both feminine and feminist. I style and colour my hair, wear lovely things and perfumes, appear on public platforms with men who are not related to me, shake their hands, embrace some I know well, take care of my family.
I defend Muslims persecuted by their enemies and their own kith and kin. I pray, fast, give to charity and try to be a decent human being. I also drink wine and do not lie about that, unlike so many other good Muslims. I am the kind of Muslim woman who maddens reactionary Muslim men and their asinine female followers. What a badge of honour.
I am aware that my words will help confirm the pernicious prejudices that fester in the minds of those who despise Islam. Yet to conceal or excuse the violations would be to condone and encourage them. There have been enlightened times when some Muslim civilisations honoured and cherished females. This is not one of them. Across the West – for a host of reasons – millions of Muslims are embracing backward practices. In the UK young girls – some so young that they are still in push chairs – are covered up in hijabs. Disgracefully, there are always vocal Muslim women who seek to justify honour killings, forced marriages, inequality, polygamy and childhood betrothals. Why are large numbers of Muslim men so terrorised by the female body and spirit? Why do Muslim women encourage this savage paranoia?
I look out of my study at the common and see a wife fully burkaed on a sunny day. She sits still. Her children and husband run around, laughing, playing cricket. She sits still, dead, buried, a ghost. She is complicit in her own degradation, as are countless others. Their acquiescence in a free democracy is a crime against their sisters who have no such choices in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere.