More protests and saber-rattling after Friday prayers. From AP: "Thousands in Somalia rally for holy war"
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- More than 2,000 people gathered after Friday prayers for a pro-Lebanon rally organized by Mogadishu's new fundamentalist rulers, calling for holy war and chanting "Down with the enemies of Islam, wherever they are!"
Yusuf Ali Siad, one of the organizers, said the protest was sparked by the monthlong conflict between Israel and Lebanon that has killed more than 800 people, mostly in Lebanon.
"We must sympathize with our brothers in Lebanon," Siad told The Associated Press. "It is compulsory to join the holy war."
The demonstrators also shouted slogans against the United States and neighboring Ethiopia, which is Somalia's longtime enemy.
A similar protest was held in neighboring Kenya, drawing about 300 people to Nairobi's main mosque. The protesters, most of them young men, carried signs saying "Israel Stop Killing Our Brothers and Sisters" and "End America's Terrorism of Army Invasion in Iraq."
Sigh... just another Friday in the Mog.
May I be the first American to express my utter shock and dismay that the people of Somalia, a antion we once sought to help, would hate, even seek to injure kind and good hearted Americans...
/end scarcasm
We don't care about what you think anymore. Your are muslims and that carries a label of shame with it nowdays. Truly, your reputaion precedes you.
"Down with the enemies of Islam, wherever they are!"
Peek-a-boo!
I'll bet if I were to walk right up to you and tap you on the shoulder -- you wouldn't even recognize me!
Oh yes, I do get around
Ummmm..... boolahboolah much? You know, I need to just start disregarding this garbage. Any muj that wants to alter my freedom of conscience will soon find himself staring down the barrel of my uber-american ar-15 assault rifle. Death to America? No, death to you muj.
"Down with the enemies of Islam, wherever they are!"
I think that should have been translated “kill the idolaters wherever ye may find them” Sura 9:5
from above:
What kind of wimps have we become when we allow a traitor and anti-American piece of crap like Farrakhan to recruit jihadists in the Black and Mexican communities in the United States, knowing that they will be drawn to islam like flies on dog crap?
LOUIE THE LIP says:(a direct quote)
They call them terrorists, I call them freedom fighters
Louie also says:
The Jews don't like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that's a good name. Hitler was a very great man.
Louis Farrakhan
We know what the Killer-Zombies like those depicted in the above article are going to say BEFORE they say it. So please nobody listen to ANYTHING Muslims say. It's a waste of your time, believe us.
Just, somebody, PLEASE, get busy blowing the b*stards up!!!!
ISLAM is DEAD - Thank God!
Hizbullah’s recent aggressive actions against Israel, and the citizens of Lebanon, superseded the Government of Lebanon. Iran and Hizbullah continue to seek a coop against the Government of Lebanon, and a means to the elimination of the state of Israel. Multiethnic and secular gains in Lebanon are a threat to the totalitarian and militant jihad aspirations of Hizbullah. Deceptive Islamic mouthpieces continue to appease Western media, insisting Hizbullah is only a secular defense.
Hizballah’s recent aggressive actions against Israel, and the citizens of Lebanon, superseded the Government of Lebanon. Iran and Hizballah continue to seek a coup against the Government of Lebanon, and a means to the elimination of the state of Israel. Multiethnic and secular gains in Lebanon are a threat to the totalitarian and militant jihad aspirations of Hizballah. Deceptive Islamic mouthpieces continue to appease Western media, insisting Hizballah is only a secular defense.
...but as for our brothers/neighbors in Darfur...weeeellll....sorry, but as y'know, Islam compels all Muslims to honor all things Arab first (like the Arabic Quran, the Arab Muhammad, the Arabic Mecca/Medina, the Arabic assalamu alaykum, alhamdillah, bismillah, etc.)
However, should any sympathy crumbs remain, you can bet Darfur gets first dibs over any infidels.
Catherine, I appreciate your efforts but:
1. Using capitals is 'yelling' on the web.
2. Long confusing off-topic posts are difficult to read and don't really add much to the particular thread. At the very least couldn't you keep them short and warn that they are 'OT'?
What do you think? :)
"Down with the enemies of Islam"
I saw a picture of a demonstration in England by British Muslims and they were carrying a banner saying just that.
I wish the muslims would give me a good reason for not being hostile against Islam.
I have to take a plane on Monday and i just heard security measures are heightened because of the latest Muslim terrorist threats. Those include not carrying any shampoo bottle in my luggage and to be two hours earlier at the airport instead of one hour...
The fruits of islam.
Islam is a curse on the earth. No wonder it has enemies
from the above article...
"Down with the enemies of Islam, wherever they are!"
i don't know why but that is just so funny.....
of course you just hear the first bit all the time , "Down with the enemies of Islam"
yet for some reason , maybe soon to be explained , we are given a juicy encore......"wherever they are!"...
i fully imagine the islamists to believe the infidels are hiding in the wardrobe....NO!...under the bed.....WRONG AGAIN!.....just behind the kitchen table under the sink.....AAAGH!
definitely monty pythonesque.....and in somalia too......
cue image of john cleese with towel on head and riding atop a jeep with missile on shoulder....
as i said it , just strikes me as bloody funny....
Lili: I think YELLING HERE IS CALLED FOR!!!
Doesn't Islam and its murderous jihad wars just make you want to SCREAM!! In Catherine's case, I think the 'yelling' is more motivational. If you have a problem with it (or her), just bypass her postings.
I on the other hand am grateful for Catherine's (very) enthusiastic postings--if only because we may need it (and more) TO DEFEAT AND DESTROY THE ISLAMIC KILLER-ZOMBIES!
I forgot to mention one fact: all capitals is actually very hard to read. How about reducing them to the odd word for emphasis, if you must shout for joy...
Hi,
Wow! You guys really hate Muslims. Thats too bad,..I am Muslim and consider myself to be a peaceful and friendly person. :) The thing is that as a practicing Muslim the thing that motivates me to be good to my neighbors and a solid citizen is Islam.
All of you seem educated, so I urge you to think deeply about your blanket villification of 1.5 billion people. Some bad things are happening in this world,..Muslims are behind many of them. These are facts. However if you take the breadth of history's attrocities, I assure you Muslims have not committed the worst of them. Once upon a time we gave much to the world. Infact, if you go back only a few decades, it was European white Christians that were responsible for almost all violent conflicts in the world. Go back even further and Christians were responsible for some ghastly and barbaric things in the name of Christ. Would it have been fair to call Christianity a cancer?
BTW I am originally from Somalia and I agree with the assessment that we should be more worried about our brothers in Darfur right now. Arabs don't care about black people, thats a fact. However don't mistake that for Islam. The Prophet (pbuh) routinely told his followers that being white or black, arab or non-arab does not make you better or worse than each other. Each is equal in the eyes of God.
You declare that you know how to behave among fellow citizens in the West, by adhering to instruction from the Koran (and probably other so-called holy Muslim books).
The Koran was constructed by humans, and circulated in the 7th Century. All of us reading this post are alive and breathing in the flesh, in the 21st Century. By declaring that you require instruction from the 7th Century, on how to properly behave in the 21st Century, you are in effect, boasting that you have no ability to think for yourself. What a waste in homo sapien evolution, since even our primate cousins effectively make their own decisions.
Read a few of these practicable, moral, and ethical ideas below, and you will find, there is no mention of Allah.
Allah is a patriarchal god created by tribal leaders and their scribes. Adherence to the Koran was a unified and collective way for Muslim leadership to lock down internal dissent in their tribes, and send their men out to war for the valuables, land, and women, of other tribes, and thereby expand Islamic frontiers.
Think for yourself and do not worry; in the West, freedom of thought is not against the law.
Have inherent worth and dignity
Have the potential to grow and change
Have a responsibility to strive for ethical growth
Have a responsibility to treat others so as to help them realize their fullest potential
Have a responsibility to create a better world
Have a responsibility to help build a community that welcomes and involves others
We are all part of something that transcends the individual experience
We have responsibilities to each other and to the community at large
We are enriched through our interconnectedness with others
We find confirmation and validation of our own selves and beliefs through our interactions with others
We derive some of our strength through our relationships with others
Brother, I would say to you this:
Whether the Koran was in fact written by humans or by God is purely a matter of faith. You believe humans wrote it, I happen to believe that they are God's words.
I didn't say I needed instruction on how to "properly behave" in the 21st century. I think nowadays you can do anything short of verbal abuse Iand your behaviour will be deemed "proper". I'm talking about genuinely be good to neighbors and making a concsious effort to dedicate my time and money to help the community at large. It sounds simply, unfortunately nowadays there are fewer and fewer people fulfilling these basics. Faith gives man extra impetus and motivation to do these good deeds. Everyone has their own source of motivation. For some people its Jesus, for others the teachings of Buddha. Are you going to claim that neither people's "think for themselves".
You shouldn't assume that I don't think for myself and form my own rational opinions. I happen to scrutinize all pieces of information I receive before making a decision or holding an opinion.
As for your point about adherence to the Koran locking "internal dissent",...my friend, please read about the history of Arabia and Islam (from objective sources) before making such a factually incorrect statement.
The economic and social structure of Arabia prior to Islam was an environement in which dissent was crushed, a few elite ruled, and the rights of men were determined by other men, not by God. If anything the Koran made life more difficult for the Arabian leaders in that it let all men know they had inalienable rights that the leaders had no choice but to preserve these rights.
Infact, the number of insurrections and rebellions in the Islamic empire is testament to the fact that the koran didn't "lock down" internal dissent,...almost anytime a Caliph got too cavalier with the rights of his subjects rebels would appear claiming the leaders had breached their God given rights and had failed to uphold his duties. The duties a leader has according to Islam are very numerous and very tough,..so if anything the Koran gives the leaders, not the followers, the raw end.
If I can't appeal to your logic, then perhaps I can appeal to the facts. The facts are that there are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world today, we are not going anywhere. Islam is here to stay. I suggest we find ways of working together rather than insulting and ridiculing each other.
I do not understand why your motivation to help your community must come from a thrid party, Islam, and not from yourself. Leave aside the Koran, ok, now, you help your community, simply because it is a way to share and help other fellow living human beings through the struggle of life.
The meer size and reach of the hights of the Islamic empire, larger then the Greek empire, speaks volumes about uniformity and collective effort, via a third party, i.e, Allah and Muhammad.
I am not convinced that you effectively think for yourself, or fully scrutinized information as to the origin of the Koran. Maybe you are afraid to do the reasearch, because you were trained from childhood, that you may not go to paridise if you are a little curious about these matters. Bet the poetic writing style of the Koran is similair to other works writien in the same period. If god or god(s) is eternal and timeless, and the universe is billions of light years across and tens of billions of years old, why would this god of the universe only have the capacity to dictate in the writing style of 7th Century Arabia.
I know you are not the only one with ‘faith’ but I believe religious differences contribute to perpetutial human warfare.
Source: Wikipedia:
Faith transcends what can be proven scientifically and sometimes exceeds what can be objectively defined. Faith can mean believing unconditionally. It can be acceptance of something that one has been told by one who is considered trustworthy. Faith, by its very nature, requires belief outside of known fact. Faith is formed through instinct, intuition, meditation, communing with nature, prayer, or perceived usefulness of a belief system.
Please excuse all the typos; I’m at the beach, and also was not checking my work!
I have actually done research on the origins of Islam. Despite what you may think, Islam actually encourages people to question and to think for themselves. I know this may seem strange in a day and age when Muslims are threatened with execution for converting. But let me explain.
Pre-Islamic arabia was a place where almost nobody knew how to read and write. The Prophet himself (may peace be upon him) was illeterate. And we're only talking about the men, the women were effectively barred from education. The Prophet(pbuh) made it an obligation for all children (male or female) to be educated and made it compulsory for everyone to read. Part of this was because they were to understand the Koran for themselves, without the use of intermediaries. I think the fact that Islam doesn't have a priest class speaks volumes as to how Islam encourages individual thought. We don't have priests because we believe everyone must understand the religion and come to their conclusions as to what God wants of them. Compare this to the catholic church which deliberately chose to keep the believers ignorant so that they could better control their lives. They didn't even want the bible translated from latin because they wanted a monopoly over religious scholarship.
What Muslims do today by in large do not reflect the wishes of our Prophet (pbuh). For example one of the most grievous crimes in Islam is killing civilians, unfortunately this is being flouted by Muslims today.
As to my motivation for helping the community,...I didn't say religion was the only motivation, it is one of them. I believe religious motivations can be more lasting, it instills a sense of values in the person as well as their family. One is perfectly capable of doing good deeds without a religious motive, I agree. Religion brings a more rooted culture of heping out and sense of community.
Many muslims today are very reasonable people, they want to serve their communities and provide for their families. I don't think its helpful for people to tear down Islam as a religion or Muslims as people. You only make us feel that you want to destroy our religion. Many things being said on this very site infact sound like what the Nazis said about the jews in the 20s and 30s. Lets not forget history.
Daily news articles on this website suggest the Muslim community is actually not so moderate in the West. Due to the collective nature of Islam, Islam is a significant threat to non-Muslims worldwide. Islamic holy books contain writings that justify worldwide misdeeds against civilians. Moderate Muslims must speed up the process of reformation. I know some efforts were already made but they seem to have fizzled out. Anyway, think of non-Muslim peers in India, China, and the West, continually inventing new technologies independently and through networks. We do not hear about self-constructed civil and scientific achievements in Muslim countries.
freedom of worship: a citizen may believe in a chosen deity or no deity, but may not force the belief system onto another citizen
democracy and secular government: citizens choose their representatives and the citizen is sovereign, not the deity.
barriers: if citizens break down barriers to peace and create civil achievements in their society, then there is only an artificial barrier preventing them from extending the same peace to outside societies
reciprocity: a good deed by a citizen may lead to a good deed by another citizen, or a reciprocal good deed by one’s adversary
Islam's holy books justify misdeeds against civilians? No it doesn't. Islamic injunctions CLEARLY prohibit harming civilians. As to the verses of the Koran,...you have to take them in their due context. The agressive verses calling for the killing of non-believers refers specifically to the Meccan pagans who were hell bent on wiping out Islam to the man, woman and child. Early Muslims suffered unimaginable persecution under the hands of pagans. The Prophet (pbuh) tried for over a decade to practice and preach peacefully. All he got for it was persecution of himself and widespread torture and killing of his followers. Finally they escaped to start anew,...and the pagans wouldn't even allow them to do this. The Muslims endured sieges of their new home (Medina) and economic boycotts. They faced constant threat and harrassement. These meccan pagans were to the early Muslims what terrorists are to American. So naturally those verses reflect that.
You understand that Islam ruled the most powerful empire at one point, contrary to being a "threat" to the world Muslims provided scientific advancement as well as relative tolerance.
Would you like to know why the process of reformation has "fizzled"?? Because moderate muslims have been weakend by sites like this one and all the anti-Muslim rhetoric. Moderates are either lumped in with extremists or they are so turned off by the Islam bashing that they feel they need to unite with their more conservative co-religionists.
About Muslims not "inventing" things. This has nothing to do with religion,..these are economic, political, and social problems in the Islamic world. Remember that muslims invented soap, hospitals, telescopes, conducted the first eye surgeries and were pioneers in Mathematics and astronomy at a time when Christians were dying of the black plague in large swathes.
I’m a businessman, not an Islamic scholar, so I do not know what is or is not in context. I read some of the Koran, but not enough to confirm what you are claiming.
Followers of Islam may disrupt civil aviation, and use verses from the Koran -out of context?, but they are still using verses from the Koran.
The verses that encourage violence still need to be reformed, since the Mecca, Medina scenarios are not 21st Century issues, but the versus are 21st Century issues when they are used to justify the execution of civilians.
We have the killing of women and children in Iraq; the killers use Koran verses to justify their deeds.
Significant early measure systems and math came from the same lands, what are today, Islamic, but religion does hamper science, i.e., all the wasted centuries in Europe, when nobility and religion stifled scientific advancement, everything was a threat to the established hierarchy of religion and nobles.
Reform in Islam must not be hampered, since anyone, Muslim and non-Muslim, may be traveling on a plane, train, bus, or shopping, etc., when a bomb is triggered in the name of religion.