"Let your Jesus help you."
By Evelyn Yamine in The Daily Telegraph, with thanks to JE:
AN Iraqi Muslim man allegedly raped a Muslim woman as "punishment" for her reading the Bible.Campbelltown District Court in Sydney's west yesterday heard Abdul Reda Al Shawany twice sexually assaulted the woman, a practising Muslim, and then said to her: "Let your Jesus help you."
Al Shawany, 52, has plead not guilty to two counts of having sexual intercourse without consent between September 1 and 27, 2002, at a unit in Warwick Farm.
At the first day of the week-long trial yesterday, Crown prosecutor Michael O'Brien outlined the case and told how the woman allegedly kept the clothes and underwear she was wearing on the day of the alleged rape in a plastic bag for about three years.
The woman initially reported the matter to police but did not want to take it further because she felt "ashamed", Mr O'Brien said. She later changed her mind and Al Shawany, of Hillsdale, was arrested in July 2005 and the woman provided police with the clothing.
The Crown alleges swab samples from the accused had the same DNA as the semen sample taken from the woman's clothing.
"The complainant was born a Muslim and raised a Muslim and was a Muslim all her life," Mr O'Brien said.
He said when the woman came to Australia from the Middle East she began listening to Christian teachers and reading the Bible.
He said the woman - who wears the Muslim hijab - had received threats from members of her faith for reading the Bible but had not converted to Christianity....
"She was wearing a hijab. The accused grabbed the hijab, the veil, and pulled it tight across her mouth," Mr O'Brien told the court.
"She fell to the floor and she couldn't scream because she had a hijab tight across her mouth."
Al Shawany allegedly raped the woman and later allegedly said: "Let your Jesus help you."
In a police interview, Al Shawany denied having sexual intercourse with the woman or threatening her.
Al Shawany's barrister Chris Pike told the court his client was a hardworking businessman with close ties to the community who strenuously denied the charges.
"My client is not a zealot," Mr Pike said.
bet this article gave abdullah wood.
Sheer unadulterated Christianophobia.
Isn't it time these racist people were re-educated (e.g. forced to take part in Nativity plays, eating only fish on Fridays), to cure them of their hatred and prejudice?
Laughable that a Mujaheed would debase himself to such an animal act......Not ruling out an ignorant criminal may have done this. Certainly not a godly Mujaheed
Do tell, Abdullah,
What is your definition of a godly Mujaheed? Should he just have killed her instead?
"My client is not a zealot," Mr Pike said.
Then what indeed would he classify as a zealot? Would his client have to murder a Bible reading Muslim to be a zealot? Mutilate her? What exactly does this barrister consider a zealot?
I'm also guessing the story would have a whole different view if a Christian man raped and Christian woman for reading the Koran. Oh wait, that doesn't happen, because freedom is an inherent part of our Judeo-Christian society.
Another good reason to ban the hijab.
Will MCTC have ritual rape rooms ?
"My client is not a zealot," Mr Pike said.
Nope, just a moslem. Women deserve everything they get, they are after all always trying to lead men astray with their "hair-rays" and face, etc.
"My client is not a zealot," Mr Pike said.
He is a Muslim, enough said I think.
As opposed to stopping rapes, hijabs can actually be used to assist in committing rape.
Like the belief that the earth is flat, or that Satan stays in the upper part of the sinuses while we sleep, or that stones make good toilet paper, or that a pedophile/caravan-raider/rapist/kidnapper/murderer was the final prophet, another Islamic belief has been shown to be false.
"My client is not a zealot," Mr Pike said.
Of course he isn't, Mr. Pike. Your client is just a "traditional Muslim" as Mr. Dinesh D'Souza could no doubt testify. The immorality of a woman reading, let alone The Bible, simply shocked this poor soul and provoked him to punish her libertine ways. Afterall let her read The Bible today, and she will do coke with Lindsay Lohan tomorrow and party down with Brittany Spears the next day.
As a Roman Catholic woman myself, I cannot wait to make common cause with solid, common sense, traditionalists like Al Shawany so we can empty our Catholic schools of all those immoral girls learning to read!
"Al Shawany's barrister Chris Pike told the court his client was a hardworking businessman with close ties to the community..."
-- from the article above
"Hardworking businesman" -- so what?
"close ties to the [Muslim] community" -- that is relevant, but not in the way barrister Chris Pike seems to think.
this guy be castrated that way he would be really punished when not be able spread his geans or be able to enter Paradise as I believe only a whole man can and of course he would claim to be innocent because the rape of a woman in Islam is always the woman's fault regardless of what 21st-century DNA evidence says because DNA is not the Koran and hence not recognized under sharia law because it was not around in the time of their pedophile prophet
The moral of the story is that if you are a Muslim man, anything goes, anytime, anywhere, any way the wind blows. This hardworking businessman could have just as easily raped her for a) eating an ice cream cone b) reading Lady Chatterly's Lover c) breathing. This sick bastard knew he could rape with abandon and then lie about it to get off.
And then there is Abdeluded and his kind, covering for the Muslim Brotherhood. He reminds me of the guy who watches the alley while his fellow Muslims commit gang rape, eagerly awaiting his turn, and if caught he can always be counted on to lie, lie, and totally deny that those same Muslims would ever do anything as heinous as the behavior they regularly participate in. Aren't there any professionals in our world that recognize what that behavior is and what it means to the future of society? Why is it that it takes the little people like us to see the forest for the trees?
abdullah: Laughable that a Mujaheed would debase himself to such an animal act......
Hey, he's just following the examples set by Mo
For example, taking a newlywed slave woman after he's just had her father and husband killed, and making her "marry" him:
"He said the woman - who wears the Muslim hijab - had received threats from members of her faith for reading the Bible but had not converted to Christianity...."
...and the Muslims will kill people for not reading the Qur'an....
...if the mess is on the dress , you must confess....
At first glance I thought I was reading about Iraq, and then I was (very mildly) suprised to notice that this happened in Australia.
At least it was done in a non-muslim country - the perp is standing trial and will get some due punishment.
Jesus Christ Supercop-
It'll all be Iraq soon enough.
Unless the scales fall off the eyes of the West.
Jesus: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
Mohammad: "Strike at their necks!"
How the pollyanna-ish keep confounding these two thoughts is what is terrifying.
Papabear, the big 'mo' also murdered a woman who was still suckling her baby, and was a mother of some others. she wrote some poetry that satirized him so he had her killed which in our society means guilt also.
Her name was Asma bint Marwan, you can read more about her here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asma_bint_Marwan
I would say that she is a heroin in my mind. she fought with her words as we do here.
profitsbeard, the big difference between how Christ and mohammed treated women was very noticable. mohammed only looked at them as sex objects, or things to be divvied up as booty along with the children, after their slaughters of the men.
Christ stopped a stoning of a woman, and had as a close person to himself, Mary Magdalene. Some say she was an apostle - I have no idea. I personally don't care, but he gave her a new way to live by and for other than prostitution.
mohammed kidnapped women, enslaved them and had a harem of women - his favorite being Aysha - the child. Child brides were common in those days, the problem with this setup was that her father asked that mohammed not touch her until she had her menses - and mohammed couldn't wait that long and had her years before she menstruated. And another dispicable thing the big mo did was to lust after his step son's wife. He made up a sura that told people that god told him that he should have her (I forget the exact words) and so the stepson gave her to him. mohammed was power bad, and he could get whatever he wanted by saying that 'god said'.
R_not:
Please get your facts straight before you start quoting Bible stories; Mary Magdalene was NEVER a prostitute. That fabrication was begun by the Catholic church centuries ago and they just got around to refuting it a few decades ago. It was not true then and it's not true now. I think it's time we laid that particular scurrilous lie to rest.
reading the Qur'an has been known to spread AIDS..
mepeteart
Prior Catholic Christian interpretation of Mary Magdalene comes from Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:2. The interpretation is understandable, but whether she was specifically a prostitute or not is unspecified and of secondary importance is any case. The main thing for this discussion thread is the rape perpetrated agaisnt a woman who was looking for answers not offered by Islam.
Perhaps the victim wondered whether Mohammed was such a great role model for behavior, as Mohammed is believed by Moslems to be the best example for behavior, for all time. Mohammed seemed to have revelations that were suspiciously convenient, to the untrained eye, in fulfilling his desires (e.g. Bukhari 6.60.311). The rape described in the story above seems to fit that mold.
bet this article gave abdullah wood.
Posted by: leonthepigfarmer
Since when is a matchstick called "wood"?
"The main thing for this discussion thread is the rape perpetrated agaisnt a woman who was looking for answers not offered by Islam. "
....The woman may have looked around and discovered all the dead Muslims were dead because of other Muslims....
Chatillon,
Prior Catholic interpretation comes primarily from Pope Gregory the Great who gave a sermon in which he characterized Mary Magdalene as a harlot. According to an article in Catholic Update: "Does it really matter all that much which biographical details we attach to a long-ago woman? In a word, yes. In the 21st century, as in centuries before, the Church is full of sinners. We all are sinners. It's good and instructive to be convinced that Jesus loved sinners, because that's our human history and weakness.
But we also need the example of sanctity. Women especially need the encouragement of a Gospel role model who exercised bravery and leadership in challenging circumstances.
Perpetuating demeaning and unflattering stories about Mary Magdalene 'reminds women of what has been done generally in the Church and in the world,' says Elizabeth Johnson. And that has not always been honest or affirming. Why compound the challenge when Mary Magdalene can and should inspire women and men to be full, effective and dedicated witnesses to the gospel?"
One man's historical rape is no better than another man's physical rape.
It never ceases to amaze that those who subscribe to Islam, supposedly an ideological set of beliefs that promotes high morality and conservatist attitudes towards sex, defend their religion with rape. Just like the mind-bending dualities present in Islam, adultery is prohibited and punishable under Sharia, but forced "adultery" or rape is an acceptable physical outlet of protest.
Just by reading the Bible, this woman subjected herself to treatment reserved for the infidel.
Women are not humans in islam or most of the middle east. The rare place that they are treated as humans are in... Israel. There are other lands that have historically fleeting moments where women are given priviledges but that could be taken away with whomever is in charge at the time. Lebanon had freedoms, but in the last 2-3 decades the muslims have made that area into a pit, and Israel pays for it with their lives because the muslims lob bombs into Israel all the time.
muslim women born in the USA are spoiled and don't have a clue as to what muslim women under sharia law have to endure. They are practicing sharia law in pockets of our lands, and especially Europe - but once muslim women find out about such things as 'safe houses' that is where they flee to in order to get away from abuses. Clitoral circumcision, beatings, child marriages, and/or marriages to old freaks are going on in Europe and probably here too. We won't hear about it until something traumatic happens. We already found out in NYC, after some children were burned in an overcrowded house that a muslim male was married to several women with I don't remember how many children were in that house. This should tell us that they are bringing their sharia laws here into our countries. What else are they practicing besides wedding 4 wives? Did that man go to jail for bigamy? Or did he even go to jail because of the harmful environment that he lived in with all those women and children? What became of him, and also those grown women that also allowed this to happen?
When muslim women give speeches about how they are 'elevated' in islam - they are practicing taqiyya/kitman - or they are totally ignorant and don't have a clue. Either way, they should be called to answer for all the abuses of women by muslim males. The 4 witnesses required if a woman gets raped, or else she is stoned; the beatings; the 'honor killings'; the 1/2 the priviledges of a man in courts of law and elsewhere; etc. should all be answered for by anyone peddling islam as being woman-friendly. Where is the howling from the women on the left??!! I don't hear a thing. nothing, except appeasement of islam and its practices.
"One man's historical rape is no better than another man's physical rape."
Hi Mepeteart
You chastised another poster for not getting their facts straight when quoting Bible stories. One can quickly see that there is room for interpretation. I hope you found the Gospel citations helpful in this sense.
It is not clear what you mean by the term "historical rape." Are you trying to draw an equation between Pope Gregory the Great's sermon, which you find offensive, and the actions of Abdul Reda Al Shawany, described in the story above? It seems a bit of a stretch but you may have your own priorities in this matter.
The issue that was raised the earlier poster, and which seems to be at risk of being forgotten here, was one of the fundamental difference not only of what is taken as scripture but also the attitudes towards those scriptures. Abdul Reda Al Shawany's behavior is shockingly crude and cruel, but not inconsistent with the example set by Mohammed. It is hard to think of a religious leader from any other religious tradition inspiring like behavior. And that includes Pope Gregory.
That's about all I've got to say.
".......if the mess is on the dress, you must confess......."
Hey, exsgtbrown, was that hijab BLUE??
Chatillon,
My point was that the Catholic Church has done its duty in repudiating the commonly held myth that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute when she was, according to many biblical scholars, instead a trusted apostle of Jesus and was present not only at his crucifixion but also discovered that the tomb was empty and delivered that message to the other apostles. Some call her the beginning of Christianity because of this role. Mary played a pivotal role in our canonical gospels and an even greater one in the so-called lost gospels...she may have, in fact, been a church leader in the early days of Christianity. The fact that Pope Gregory chose to label her a harlot was, in my opinion, nothing more than an attempt by the church to downplay her role in the history of the church in order to further their own agenda which, I'm sure you know, did not include women to any great extent. As a result, we may have lost the tradition that she and other important women were a very vital part of Christianity in the early days and I, for one, consider that a huge travesty of justice. Especially since we, as Christians, deplore the treatment of women in the Islamic world, which this event would seem to in some ways echo. Perhaps you need to study some of the current views of biblical scholars as time and discoveries shed new light on canonical interpretation.
Wow! A Muslim perp rapes a woman because he can and this forum is used to bash the Catholic Church, yet once again, by someone who wants to do a PC whitewash on traditional and historical events because this person, for one, considers it
a huge travesty of justice.
Sorry Mepeteart, but you miss the whole point of how amazing it is that Mary Magdalene was caught in a compromising position regarding sex and that Jesus stopped her from being stoned, told her to go and sin no more, and welcomed her as one of His disciples. In the Bible Jesus was admonished by the Pharisees for associating with sinners, which makes it all the more a blessing that Mary was the first one Jesus appeared to after He rose from the dead. The message here is that she, as a woman who had a sordid past, repented and was freed from the chaos she experienced while living that life and was also freed from the stigma attached to it.
Jesus accepted her and didn't shun her because of her past. He also honored her with being the first one He appeared to after the miracle of His resurrection. Where is the travesty?
Isabellathecrusader:
You misunderstand...I am not 'bashing the Catholic church' I was just trying to set a myth straight which ALL people seem to believe! And yes, it was started by a Christian Pope, which the Catholic church later repudiated. My point, which I thought I had made clear, was that people need to understand Christian history in order to understand who we are today. Let us NOT make the same mistakes today - which have already been addressed and redressed - that early church women were non-existent and that Christianity was, from the beginning, a patriarch religion. That is what Islam seeks to do - no woman is equal to a man and has no place and no voice in society.
This is not a 'PC whitewash' of history - it is, as per current biblical study, the truth of what and who Mary Magdalene actually was. Look it up.
Mepeteart,
I know of no such repudiation. Please provide your sources.
""Does it really matter all that much which biographical details we attach to a long-ago woman?"
Posted by: mepeteart
....does it really matter all that much which biographical details Muslims attach to a long ago caravan raider?......
Isabella - In 1969, Pope John Paul 11 reinstated Mary Magdalene at the 2nd Vatican Council.
exsgtbrown - ?????????? What in the world is your point?
"exsgtbrown - ?????????? What in the world is your point?
Posted by: mepeteart "
...exactly the same as yours..
a caravan raiders bio:
"The Life of Muhammad:
An Inconvenient Truth
Origins
To understand Islam, you must understand the harsh circumstances into which the religion was born. The Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad (b.570 AD) was a barren and desolate region with a scorching sun and oppressive heat by day, and a chilling cold at night. There was little vegetative growth, and the nomadic inhabitants lived between jagged rocks and sifting sand dunes.
While Europe and much of the Middle East was transitioning from the Roman to the Byzantine Empire, with roads, irrigation canals, aqueducts, and a culture that included philosophical discourse and theater, the Arabians lived short and brutal lives in warring tribes with very little to offer the rest of the world beyond their own harsh existence.
This explains the inherent hostility in the Qur’an to music and art, which some extremists, such as the Taliban, take quite literally. The religion does not encourage the pursuit of knowledge outside of itself, and it has sometimes been referred to as “the religion which has produced nothing but religion.”
The inhospitable climate protected the peninsula from conquest and cultural influence, although the Persians did manage to impose a written language along the coastal edges of the region, which is the origin of Arabic. No foreign army felt that sheep and goats were worth taking from the desert fighters and the area was remarkably isolated. The renaissance of knowledge that the rest of the world had been experiencing since the Greek revival was largely missed out on by the Arabs, whose entire energies were devoted to daily survival against the ruthless environment and other tribes.
For these people, morality was dictated merely by necessity, and obligations did not extend beyond one’s tribe. This is a critical basis for the development of the Islamic attitude toward those outside the faith, including the moral principle that the ethics of any act are determined only by whether or not it benefits Muslims.
There were pagan traditions in Arabia, particularly among those based in the trading centers, such as Mecca and Medina. Kaaba, the cube-like structure at Mecca that houses a black rock, was worshipped by certain tribes with a circling ritual that was later borrowed by Muhammad’s followers. Likewise, Allah was the name that had been given to the moon god, many centuries before Muhammad's time.
Muhammad later created Islam based on these crude pagan practices as well as basic theological elements of Christianity and Judaism according to his own (often inaccurate) understanding. His erroneous interpretation of Christianity, for example, is often attributed to an early experience with fringe cults in the Palestinian region.
Early Life at Mecca
Muhammad was born around 570 AD in Mecca. He grew up poor and orphaned on the margins of society, which was controlled by tribal chiefs and trading merchants. He worked for his uncle as a camel herder. Although his uncle had some standing in the community, Muhammad himself did not rise above his lowly station until he was 25, when he met and married a wealthy widow who was 15 years older.
Having now attained a comfortable lifestyle and the idle time that wealth affords, Muhammad would wander off occasionally for periods of meditation and contemplation. One day, at the age of 40, he told his wife that he had been visited by the angel Gabriel. Thus began a series of revelations which lasted until his death. The Qur’an is based on the oral traditions of these revelations. The Hadith is a collection of narrations of the life and deeds of Muhammad. The Sunnah is the said to be his way of life.
With his wife’s influence and support, Muhammad began trying to convert those around him to his new religion - an amalgamation of Judeo-Christian theology and pagan tradition that grew more sophisticated over time. In the beginning, he did his best to compromise his teachings with the predominant beliefs of the community’s elders, such as combining all 300 of their idols under the name “Allah.” This wasn't enough to prevent the resentment of the influential leaders of Mecca, who mocked his humble background against pretentious claims of prophethood.
At first, Muhammad was only successful with friends and family. After thirteen years, “the street preacher” could boast only about 70 determined followers, called Muslims.
Relations with the Meccans turned particularly sour after an episode known as "the Satanic Verses," in which Muhammad agreed to recognize the local gods in addition to Allah. This delighted the Meccans, who generously extended their welcome. But Muhammad soon changed his mind after seeing his own people begin to lose faith in him. He claimed that Satan had spoken through him, and he rescinded recognition of the Meccan gods.
The locals intensified their mockery of Muslims and made life difficult for them. Although Muslims today often use the word "persecution" to describe this ordeal (justifiably, in some cases), it is important to note that no Meccan ever killed a Muslim during this period.
This fact is a source of embarrassment to Muslims, since Muhammad was the first to use deadly force... and at a later time, when it was unnecessary. As such, sympathetic narratives of the early Meccan years usually exaggerate the struggle of the Muslims with claims that they were "under constant torture." This is highly unlikely, however, since the only Muslim to die was an older woman who "fell prematurely" from stress, not physical torture (Muhammad's own daughter would die in the same fashion from harassment by Muslims soon after his death).
Modern storytellers and filmmakers (such as those behind 1976's The Message) have been known to invent fictional victims of Meccan murder, either to dramatize their own tale or to provide justification for what followed. But, in fact, the only Muslim whose life was truly in danger was that of Muhammad - after 13 years of being allowed to preach in contradiction to the prevailing religion.
Muhammad eventually fled Mecca for Medina in 622, a journey known as the hijra. His small band of followers moved with him.
Medina and the Origin of Jihad
Stinging from the rejection of his own town and tribe, it was at Medina that Muhammad's message began to become more intolerant and ruthless - particularly as he gained power.
To fund his quest for control, Muhammad directed his followers to raid Meccan caravans in the holy months, when the victims would least expect it. Revelations were conveniently provided to him, which allowed his people to murder innocent drivers and steal in his service. The people around him gradually developed a lust for things that could be taken in battle, including material comforts and captured women and children.
Often the people captured in battle would be brought before the self-proclaimed prophet, where they would plead for their lives, arguing, for example, that they would never have treated the Muslims that way. The Hadith are quite clear in portraying Muhammad as largely unmoved by their pleas, and ordering their deaths anyway, often by horrible means. In one case, he orders a man slain, telling him that “hell-fire” will take care of the poor fellow’s orphaned daughter.
The raids on caravans preceded the first major battle involving a Muslim army, the Battle of Badr. This was the spot where the Meccans had sent their own army to protect their caravans from Muslim raiders. Although, Muslims today like to claim that they only attack in self-defense, this was clearly not the case in Muhammad's time. In fact, he had to compel his reluctant warriors with promises of paradise and assurances that their religion was more important than the lives of others.
The Consolidation of Power
Muhammad defeated the Meccan army at Badr, which emboldened him to begin dividing and conquering the three local Jewish tribes at Median, which had made the mistake of accepting his presence but rejecting his claims to prophethood. These were the Banu Qaynuqa, the Banu Nadir, and the Banu Quyrayza. How each of these tribes met their fate is insightful into the Muslim mindset, which employs an inherent double standard in relations with those outside the faith.
To try and gain their favor, Muhammad briefly preached that Christians and Jews could attain salvation through their own faith. In fact, he changed his followers' direction for prayer from Mecca to Jerusalem, which prompted the Jews' tolerance of him while he worked surreptitiously for the power to dominate them. These earlier concessions and teachings were later revoked by Muhammad, since the Jews ultimately refused his religion. The rare early verses of tolerance in the Qur'an are abrogated by later verses such as 9:29.
The Qaynuqa were driven from their homes and land on the pretext that one of their own had harassed a Muslim woman. Although the offender was killed prior to this by a Muslim, the Muslim was also killed by Jews in retaliation for the first murder.
After laying siege to the entire community and defeating the tribe, Muhammad wanted to put every male member to death, but was talked out of it by an associate - something that Allah later "rebuked" him over. The Qaynuqa were forced into exile and the Muslims took their possessions and property, making it their own. Muhammad personally reserved a fifth of the ill-gotten gain for himself.
The episode helped ingrain within Islam the immature principle of group identity, whereby any member of a religion or social unit outside of Islam is just as guilty as any of their peers who insult or harm a Muslim - and just as deserving of punishment. Muhammad's punishments usually did not fit the crime.
Members of the second tribe, the Banu Nadir, were accused of plotting to kill Muhammad, even though no one lost their life. For this, Muhammad laid siege to their community, forcing the people to surrender. Like the Qaynuqa, these original inhabitants of Medina were then banished from their homes and land by the Muslim newcomers, who again took as much as they could for themselves.
The Qurayza Massacre
By the time the Banu Qurayza met their fate, Muhammad was wealthy and powerful from his defeat of the other two tribes.
The Jews of the Banu Qurayza tasted Muhammad's wrath after a portion half-heartedly sided with Meccan armies during a siege of Medina (the Battle of the Trench). More than likely, those who did were trying to preempt Muhammad's designs against them after seeing what he had done to the other Jews.
Although they later surrendered peacefully to the Muslims, Muhammad determined to have every man of the tribe executed, along with every boy that had reached the initial stages of puberty (between the ages of 12 and 14). He had a ditch dug outside of the town and had the victims brought in several groups. Each person would be forced to kneel, and their head would be cut off and then dumped along with the body into the trench.
Between 700 and 900 men and boys were slaughtered by the Muslims after their surrender.
The surviving children of the men became slaves of the Muslims, and their widows became the sex slaves of their own killers. This included the Jewish girl, Reihana, who became one of Muhammad's personal concubines the very night that her husband was killed. The prophet of Islam apparently "enjoyed her pleasures" (ie. raped her) even as the execution of her people was taking place.
Women were much like any other possession taken in battle, to be done with however their captors pleased. Muhammad ordered that a fifth be reserved for him, many of who became his sex slaves, in addition to his twelve wives. Some of these he doled out to others.
At one point following a battle, Muhammad provided instructions on how women should be raped after capture, telling his men not to worry about coitus interruptus, since "Allah has written whom he is going to create."
Following the battle against the Hunain, late in his life, Muhammad's men were reluctant to rape the captured women in front of their husbands (who were apparently still alive to witness the abomination), but Allah came to the rescue with a handy "revelation" that allowed this. (This is the origin of Sura 4:24 according to Abu Dawud 2150).
The Origin of Islamic Imperialism
The tribes around the Muslims began to convert to Islam out of self-preservation. Those that didn’t were gradually defeated in battle in a pattern that became the blueprint for the successful establishment of Islam as a world religion. Typically, the enemy’s trust would be gained by non-intrusive measures in which the Muslims would insert themselves into the foreign community while professing their respect for local traditions and political structures. As they began to gain power, however, they would divide loyalties and exercise violence to acquire local hegemony.
The excuse for military campaign began to shrink to the point that it hardly existed at all. Muhammad told his followers that Muslims were meant to rule over other people, and this seemed to be the driving force behind Jihad.
This is demonstrated most plainly by the brutal conquest of the people of Khaybar, a peaceful farming community that was not at war with the Muslims. Muhammad marched against them anyway, taking them by surprise and easily defeating them. He had many of the men killed, simply for defending their town, and enslaved the women and children.
Muhammad suspected that the town's treasurer was holding out and had his men barbarically torture the poor fellow by building a fire on his chest until he revealed the location of hidden treasure. Afterwards, the prophet of Islam beheaded the man and "married" his wife on the same day that she became a widow (she was forced to first pass through the hands of one of his lieutenants). Given that the woman's father was also killed by Muhammad, it isn't much of a stretch to say that true love had very little to do with this "marriage."
A Life of Hedonism and Narcissism
Muhammad's personal life became the picture of hedonism and excess, all justified by frequent “revelations.” According to his biographers, he became fat and lived on the enormous share of possessions taken from conquered tribes. In the span of a dozen years, he married eleven women and had access to an array of sex slaves.
When he wanted a woman, even if she were the wife of another man, his own daughter-in-law, or a child as young as 6, he was able to justify his lust and inevitable consummation with an appeal to Allah’s revealed will for his sex life - which was then preserved forever in the Qur'an, to be faithfully memorized by future generations for him whom it has no possible relevance.
(For the Muslim faithful, it must surely be a source of embarrassment that Allah evidently had more interest in Muhammad's personal sex life than he did about tolerance. There are also far more open-ended verses that advocate "fighting in the cause of Allah" than in showing love for all people. Allah encourages sex with slaves as well)
Muhammad also had personal critics executed, including poets. One of these was a mother of five children, who was stabbed to death by Muhammad's envoy after a suckling infant was removed from her breast. Other innocent people were killed merely because they were of a different religion).
The double standards of Islam that are so recognizable today were ingrained by the prophet of Islam during his lifetime. An example would be the death of Um Kirfa, a middle-aged woman who had the bad fortune to be the aunt of a tribal leader who raided one of Muhammad's caravans (in the same fashion that Muhammad raided others).
Missing the apparent irony, Muhammad did not take kindly to having done to him what he had been doing to non-Muslims. He had the woman's legs tied separately to two camels, then set the camels off in opposite directions, tearing the woman's body in two. He also killed her two young sons - presumably in gruesome fashion - as well.
Today's Muslims inherent this legacy of self-interest and disregard for those outside the faith. They may or may not agree with terrorist attacks on non-Muslims, but they are nearly united in their belief that the victims have no right to strike back, even if it is in self-defense.
The Taking of Mecca
Though many of the Arab and Jewish tribes were eliminated and absorbed through military victory and forced conversion, the city of Mecca required a different sort of strategy.
In 628, six years after fleeing, Muhammad’s followers were allowed to re-enter the city under an agreement whereby he set aside his title as “Prophet of Allah.” This was a temporary ploy that enabled him to gain a political foothold in the city through the same “fifth column” activities that are still used today by organizations such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which use their host’s language of religious tolerance to disguise an ulterior agenda that includes systematic discrimination against non-Muslims.
Many of his followers were disappointed that Muhammad had made concessions to the Meccans, not understanding how it actually fit perfectly with his ultimate agenda of domination. It was during this time that he led the campaign against the Khaybar, to assuage their lust for blood and looting.
Technically, Muhammad was the first to break the treaty with the Meccans when he violated the portion of it that restricted him from accepting members of the other tribe into his camp. Although he had no personal obligation to it himself, the prophet of Islam held the other party to the letter of the law, particularly after he amassed the power to conquer in overwhelming fashion.
The excuse that Muhammad eventually used to march his armies into Mecca was provided when a tribe allied to the Meccans conducted a raid on a tribe allied with the Medinans. Although a true man of peace would have heeded the fact that his enemy did not want war, and used non-violent means to resolve the tension while respecting sovereignty, Muhammad merely wanted power and vengeance.
This became the pattern of Islam's dramatic expanse following Muhammad's death. Muslims would conquer a region and sign "peace treaties" with new neighbors. Then, when they were confident in their military strength, the Muslims would look for an excuse to provoke a conflict and renew aggression.
Following Mecca's surrender, Muhammad put to death those who had previously insulted him. One of the persons sentenced was his former scribe, who had written revelations that Muhammad said were from Allah. The scribe had previously recommended changes to the wording that Muhammad offered (based on some of the bad grammar and ineloquent language of Allah) and the "prophet" agreed. This caused the scribe to apostatize, based on his belief that real revelations should have been immutable.
Although the scribe escaped death by "converting to Islam" at the point of a sword, others weren't so lucky. One was a slave girl who was executed on Muhammad's order because she had written songs mocking him.
In what would also become the model for future Muslim military conquests, those Meccans who would not convert to Islam were required to pay a tax (the jizya) and accept third-class status. Not surprisingly, almost the entire city - which had previously rejected his message - immediately "converted" to Islam once Muhammad came back with a sword in this hand.
To this day, people of other religions are barred even from entering Mecca, the city where Muhammad was free to preach in contradiction to the established religion. Islam is far less tolerant even than the more primitive faiths that it supplanted. A person preaching the original Arab polytheism on the streets of Mecca today would be quickly executed.
Jihad and Jizya
Tellingly, some of the most violent verses in the Qur'an were handed down following Muhammad's ascension to power, when there was no threat to the Muslim people. The 9th Sura of the Qur'an exhorts Muslims to Jihad and dominance over other religions:
"Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection." (9:29)
The verse that follows curses Christians and Jews by name and says "May Allah destroy them" (as with other sections of the Qur'an, it is unclear whether it is Allah or Muhammad speaking).
Muhammad ordered 30,000 men to march on Christian lands (which were Byzantine at the time). It is possible that he believed false rumors of an army amassed against him, but there is absolutely no evidence of such a force having been assembled. Instead, Muhammad subjugated the local people and extorted "protection" money from them - something that has come to be known as the jizya (a tax that non-Muslims pay to Muslims).
Another episode from this period that offers insight into the legacy of Muhammad is the forced conversion of the al-Harith, one of the last Arab tribes to hold out against Muslim hegemony. Muhammad gave the chief of the tribe three days to accept Islam before sending his army to destroy them.
Not surprisingly, the entire people immediately accepted the Religion of Peace!
The Legacy of Islamic Imperialism
Muhammad died of a fever at the age of 63, with his violent religion now firmly rooted in the Arab lands. Through his teachings, his followers viewed worldly life as a constant physical battle between the House of Peace (Dar al-Salaam) and the House of War (Dar al-Harb).
Over the next fourteen centuries, the bloody legacy of this extraordinary individual would be a constant challenge to those living on the borders of the religion’s hegemony. The violence that Muslim armies would visit on people across North Africa, the Middle East, Europe and into Asia as far as the Indian subcontinent is a tribute to a founder who condoned subjugation, rape, murder and forced conversion in the cause of the spread of his religion.
In Muhammad's words: "I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them..." (Bukhari 8:387)
It is certainly the basis not just for modern day terror campaigns against Western infidels (and Hindus and Buddhists) but also the broad apathy that Muslims across the world have to the violence, which is an obvious enabler.
As Indonesian cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir recently put it, "If the West wants to have peace, then they have to accept Islamic rule."
,....many thanks to "Religion of Peace"" and those who take the time to research...
exsgtbrown - sorry - operating on only one cup of coffee so far. Hard to get off the defensive so fast ;-) And thanks for the scholarship of your posts - I learn much from you.
Mepeteart,
A physical rape is no worse than "historical rape"?!
Really? One hates to overreact and give in to the kind of carping that goes on so frequently on blogs, but I must say, I don't think I've heard anything so stupid in quite a long time.
Because I'd MUCH rather be historically raped than physically raped. I mean, I'd rather be raped 100 times historically rather than one time physically.
(As Dylan said: They can talk plenty about me when I'm gone.) DO you really disagree?
As for Gregory, it is hard to divine his intentions: was he belittling women or trying to illustrate the depth of the savior's love? As modern exegete's hasten to point out, one's own interpretation of historical texts often says as much about oneself as about the texts one is examining. SO one wonders if you are revealing as much about Gregory's assumptions as you are about your own.
Consider Augustine's representation of himself as something of a 'ho.' Did he do this to show the magnitude of God's grace, or to denigrate north africans for a lack of sexual continence? It would say a lot about my own prejudices were I to claim the latter.
"Isabella - In 1969, Pope John Paul 11 reinstated Mary Magdalene at the 2nd Vatican Council."
Sorry Mepeteart, but you'll have to do better than that. Book and page if you please, because as a practicing and studying Catholic for almost half a century I've never heard that and, sorry, but I'm not going to just take your word on it, especially when you are so sensitive to the way you perceive women have been treated throughout history.
And BTW, John Paul II did a lot of things that weren't very Catholic so holding him up as the paragon of Catholic virtue while denigrating Pope St. Gregory the Great who is a Doctor of the Church and a saint smacks of self serving favoritism, don't you think? John Paul II also apologized for the Crusades, which he had absolutely no business doing since their purpose was to protect pilgrims and ransom captives from zealous Mohammadans who were blocking the way to the holy land and enslaving Christians, just like they do now.
I especially love it when Protestants tell me all about my faith, the one they so vehemently deny.
mountainecho and isabella-
Sorry, I'm done with this particular line of thought as I have better things to do with my time than argue here with a couple of touchy Catholics. As far as your imperious demand for 'book and page', might I suggest you use your Google (you do have Google, don't you?) and look it up yourself. Rather than attack me, and I might add, one of your popes, try educating yourself BEFORE you start attacking.
Oh poor little Mepeteart. Picking up your marbles and going home? Good, go. I knew you couldn't back it up with any facts.
Next time, be a little more careful before you start spouting self serving sermons. You are welcome to post here but you won't get away with dropping little bombs and having us just accept them. Many of us here didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday.
Mepeteart:
Oh dear! I was going to be quiet on this matter, but your response to Isabella is just wrong. You state:
"Isabella - In 1969, Pope John Paul 11 reinstated Mary Magdalene at the 2nd Vatican Council."
1) The 2nd Vatican Council lasted from 1962 until 1965
2) The Council was initiated by Pope John XXIII, who died before its conclusion. The Pope presiding at the conclusion of the Council was Paul VI
3) Pope John Paul II's reign didn't begin until 1978
You give the impression that you're making this up as you go.
At the risk of encouraging a further detour from the real thrust of this discussion (Abdul Reda Al Shawany's violation of a woman because of her interest int he Bible), I think that it's clear Mary Magdalene's example is one of a reformed sinner. I believe Christianity recognizes that all people come short of perfection. We're not singling Mary out for criticism but as an example of what Christian's understand as redemption.
By the way, you didn't comment on Mark (16:9) and Luke (8:2), where Mary's spiritual affliction was mentioned, much earlier than Pope Gregory's sermon.
Mepeteart:
Ooops. One last thing: what do you mean by "reinstate" anyway? Catholic Christianity has recognized Mary Magdalene as a saint long before Pope Gregory's time, a status that has never been revoked so far as I'm aware.
Chatillon, rock on, brother!
Is rape some sort of mating ritual in some parts of the world? No wonder the woman's testimony alone isn't good enough to convict - half the male population of a few countries that quickly come to mind would be awaiting entry to you know who's gardens.
Since none of you seem to care to educate yourselves I guess I'll just have to do it for you. I hope American Catholic online is a good enough source for you...there are many others. Google is truly a wonderful tool - I suggest you learn to use it.
Scholars seek to correct Christian tradition on Mary Magdalene
By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The fanciful fictions about Mary Magdalene in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code are not the only errors about the biblical saint that modern scholars are seeking to correct.
They are also trying to set straight centuries of erroneous Christian tradition regarding her that developed, especially in the West.
In A.D. 591 Pope St. Gregory the Great preached a sermon in which he identified as one person the New Testament figures of Mary Magdalene, the sinful woman who anointed Jesus' feet and washed them with her tears, and the Mary who was the sister of Lazarus and Martha of Bethany.
Although he was only reflecting a tradition that had gained some ground in the West (and was resisted by many of the church's early theologians), the sermon became a reference point for later scholarship, teaching and preaching in the West, Father Raymond F. Collins, a New Testament scholar at The Catholic University of America, said in an interview.
The Greek Fathers -- the great theologians of the early church in the East, who wrote in Greek -- consistently maintained that Mary Magdalene, the unnamed repentant sinner and Mary of Bethany were three distinct women. That remains the tradition in the Orthodox churches.
The identification of Mary Magdalene as a repentant sinful woman was solidified in the Latin Church for centuries by the use of that story, reported in the seventh chapter of Luke, as the Gospel reading for Mary Magdalene's feast, July 22. In fact, in the Roman Calendar before the Second Vatican Council, the day was called the feast of "Mary Magdalene, penitent."
Father Collins noted that this changed in 1969 with the reform of the Roman Missal and the Roman Calendar. Since then the Gospel reading for Mary Magdalene's feast has been Chapter 20, verses 1-2 and 11-18, of the Gospel of John.
The first two verses tell of her coming to Jesus' tomb early Sunday morning, finding it empty and running to tell Peter and John that someone has removed Jesus' body. The second part of the reading tells of Mary staying behind, weeping, after Peter and John leave, and the risen Jesus speaking to her and telling her to announce to the rest of his followers, "I have seen the Lord."
Sister Elizabeth A. Johnson, a theologian at Fordham University and a Sister of St. Joseph, said the version of Mary Magdalene as "the prostitute to whom Jesus forgave much and who loved him ... took on a profound Christian ideal of a sinner who repents and therefore is a model for Christians in that way. But what got lost in the process was her actual role as a leader of witnessing to the Resurrection in the early church."
Of the repentant prostitute version of the Magdalene, she said, "What a lot of us who've done some work on her say is ... it's a wrong one and in the process it's robbing us of (appreciation of) women's leadership at a crucial moment in the early church. In other words, in a way it's easier ... to deal with her as a repentant sinner than as she emerges in the Gospels in her own right."
So who is the real Mary Magdalene? Father Collins, who wrote the "Mary Magdalene" article in the Anchor Bible Dictionary, told Catholic News Service, "Luke describes Mary Magdalene as a woman from whom Jesus cast out seven demons, and that characterization of Mary Magdalene is repeated in the longer canonical ending of Mark's Gospel."
But he noted that in Jesus' time it was not uncommon to attribute physical or mental afflictions to demonic possession and this did not imply that the possessed person was sinful. "Whatever affected Mary Magdalene was considered to be the effect of demonic possession so she would not have been considered a public sinner the way the medieval legends have made her out to be," he said.
He said she is called the Magdalene because she comes from Magdala, "a fishing village up in northern Galilee."
He said one also learns from Luke "that she supported Jesus from her resources," suggesting that she was a woman of some means, and that she was one of several women from Galilee who were disciples of Jesus and followed him.
Luke's Gospel is the only one that mentions Mary Magdalene by name in the narration of Jesus' public ministry. But all four Gospel writers place her as a witness to Jesus' death on the cross, a witness to his burial and the chief witness to his resurrection, making her one of the most significant female figures in the Gospels apart from Jesus' own mother, Mary.
Sister Elizabeth said that when one looks at the Magdalene's biblical role as the one the risen Christ appears to and commissions to announce the good news to the others it has "many implications for how we tell the story of the origins of the church. There is the typical story of where Jesus chose the Twelve and put Peter in charge and the women, you know, were accessories. When you put Mary Magdalene into the picture, you can't tell the story that way so simply anymore."
When asked for her own view of what that should mean for the church today, she said, "I would draw the implication that if the risen Christ saw fit to ask a woman to go and preach the good news of his resurrection, the church should do no less nowadays."
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Mepeteart:
Thank you for the article you've posted. It is much more helpful than your earlier posting.
Fr. Collins' exegesis clarifies the various traditions surrounding Mary Magadalene, including the one traditionally adopted in Catholic Christianity from Gregory's time onwards. Mark (16:9) and Luke (8:2) refer to Mary as the one from whom "seven devils" have been cast. While Fr. Collins' interpretation states that this does not imply public sin, it seems, in my opinion, that his interpretation is offset somewhat by Matt (12:43-45), the parable in which the lodging of seven devils is clearly associated with the willful wickedness of a generation, i.e. personal sinfulness. I could see this differently, however, given a reasonable explanation.
Im sum, the issue is one of emphasis, as Sr. Elisabeth Johnson's words seem to say. Overstressing Mary's status as sinner overlooks her role as leader, a grace granted to her following her contrition.
Cheers.
Chatillon,
You are too kind. I see now that no matter what I do or what proof I give I will not convince you of my position so I propose that we agree to disagree. It has been an interesting debate, and I stand on my previous post quoting the experts.
Cordially,
mepeteart
Mary Magdalene is interesting to Christians for two reasons (and "Christians" her includes olf Greg the Great). One, she is in the New Testament, and hence is interesting to Christians for the same reason why a handful of men named Judas besides Judas Iscariot are also intersting to Christians (one book by Chayaim Maccoby down the tubes). The other is that the Gospel is all about Christ's atoning for our sins (including holding the false religion of Islam), and saving us by his grace.
Mary Magdalene's being represented as a sinful and formerly (**stress that**) demon-possessed woman should be offensive only to people who think that God owes them one for being good. However, for the rest of us, who accept that we are sinners and that Jesus Christ gave himself, the just for the unjust, on the tree, Mary Magdalene's transformation at Christ's hands is simply another example of what Jesus Christ does through his Word and Spirit with all the rest of us.
Two bits' worth from a Calvinist.
More details. The alleged rapist also tried to blackmail her and threatened to kill her. She apparently converted to Christianity after the rape but still wears the hijab for "cultural reasons" (I have no doubt that that is a possibility).
Correction: became a Christian at some time after she came to Australia. When is not made clear.
Saint: Thanks for the info on the victim's conversion. This affair is yet more evidence that Islam's only winning argument is violence. May the religion of peas sink into the murky pool seen by Iskander in the west.
Kepha,
Thanks for your thoughtful post. The bible says that Mary Magdalene was a woman of sin and all four evangelists talk about how Jesus cast out seven devils from her. If we read Anne Catherine Emmerich's account of her dealings with Our Lord a wonderful picture emerges, one that is full of redemption, friendship, love and respect. Sr. Emmerich, who was a mystic and allowed by god to see the pictures of Christ's life here on earth, talks about Mary Magdalene as indeed being from Magdala and a member of Lazarus' family. They were very well off and Mary had a lot of money. She was not a prostitute in the normal sense in that she did not perform services for money. But she was aware of her beauty and she used it and had many lovers. She was not happy with this life though and the story of her conversion is one a great struggle, painful relapses, days of tears but also Jesus' patience, encouragement and tender loving care. He never gave up on her and through His help and her persistance, she won her freedom, and Jesus honored her several places in the Gospel, in Matthew Ch. 26, vs. 13 where He says "Amen I say to you, wheresoever this gosple is preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done, shall be told for a memory of her," and in John Ch. 20, vs. 17 "Jesus saith to her: Do not touch me, for I am not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren, and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God." From this we see that Jesus thought enough of Mary Magdalene, respected her and valued her, to make her the first disciple He appeared to on that most important moment in Christian history, His Resurrection.
In contrast, we read from the article in Mepeteart's post:
'Sister Elizabeth said that when one looks at the Magdalene's biblical role as the one the risen Christ appears to and commissions to announce the good news to the others it has "many implications for how we tell the story of the origins of the church. There is the typical story of where Jesus chose the Twelve and put Peter in charge and the women, you know, were accessories. When you put Mary Magdalene into the picture, you can't tell the story that way so simply anymore."'
No one ever took her out of the picture. And it is precisely because she was a woman of sin and then repented and got her life together that Christ so honors her. It's like you said, "Mary Magdalene's being represented as a sinful and formerly (**stress that**) demon-possessed woman should be offensive only to people who think that God owes them one for being good." God owes us nothing, but because He loves us so much He is willing to give us everything, but we have a responsibility as he told the woman caught in adultery, to "go and sin no more," in order to receive the blessings that God died of love to give us.
Mary Magdalene is honored as a great saint in the Catholic Church, and always has been. Pope St. Gregory the Great did nothing wrong in pointing out what she was before her conversion. And one article from one priest and one nun, Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, who is a an eminent feminist "theologian" and also happens to believe in and teaches about the goddess Sophia, which can be found no where in church teaching or tradition, is not going to negate that fact.
The truth does hurt sometimes, but it also sets you free, and Mary Magdalene's case represents this concept beautifully.