Taliban trying to destroy Buddhist art

even this Muslim does not realize how evil his cult is to humanity. welcome to islam idoits

"Good question for Europeans to ponder."

Exactly. Lots of Europeans are sleeping, they don't realise that Mohmmedans are destroying the whole world's culture. Everything that's precious they want to destroy. They want to establish the rule of a new Nazi régime all over this planet. No room for science and art, no room for love and cross-cultural understanding.

What these concerned persons must do, rather than try to guilt-trip Europeans and others into visiting a dangerous area and spending money best spent elsewhere, is to get as much of their art and other treasures to safety, as soon as possible, by whatever means possible, with the understanding that such artefacts are to be returned once the area is deemed safe for such things to be kept there again.

And all non-Muslims must understand that it is not "intolerant" to wish to protect ancient art treasures - and cultures that value artistic expression and adornment - over an ideology that would destroy them.

Taliban = Devout Mohammedans = HATERS

This situation calls to mind the similar situation in the late 18th century when Lord Elgin was moved to save ancient treasures from the Parthenon in Athens which was under threat of attack at the time.
And who was threatening the antiquities with destruction?
Why the Ottoman Muslims, surprise surprise.

Didn't they get the memo? No multiculturalism apparently to be found there, but then I digress, there is no respect for other cultures in Islamic Countries as well. In Saudia Arabia any reference to Christianity can get you thrown in their gulag.

But of course Muslims in the West and America complain and sue at the drop of a hat if someone insults their prophet Mohammed in any way. Images of Mohammed are forbidden in Islam so apparently these misunderstanders feel the same way about Buddha outside of anything that is not Islamic.

Strangely a marble carved image of Mohammed adorns our US Supreme Court -- now there is one I would choose to remove.

"Militants are the enemies of culture,' said Abdul Nasir Khan, curator of Taxila Museum.

One assumes Abdul Nasir Khan is a Muslim of the non-"militant" variety, evidently; even of the non-fanatical flavor -- or at least not so fanatical that he cannot become a curator of a museum housing non-Islamic artifacts.

Abdul Nasir Khan is quoted as saying:

"Even in Taxila we don't feel safe. The local administration has warned us about a possible attack on this museum."

What are we to make of a Muslim like this -- a Muslim who cannot see that the god he prays to and whose 1,001 rules and regulations he follows is the very same source & cause of those other Muslims who are threatening him? Assuming that Muslims like Abdul Nasir Khan are sincere and not stealth jihadists themselves (and we really cannot be sure on a general scale), we must regard them as co-dependent enablers of the violent Muslims, helping to sustain the complex web of sociological associations, atmosphere, grapevines and networking of Islam -- as one ant doing his part in a vast ant colony -- which in turn aid and abet both the violent and the stealth Muslims in myriad concrete ways. I.e., nice decent museum curators like Abdul Nasir Khan are also our enemy, and someday -- hopefully not too late -- we will see that and act accordingly.

Destruction of Buddhas. This is surprising as I would figure the Taliban would use the relics to raise funds for Jihad. Why destroy valuable items you could ship out and get paid for? I can see the destruction of the giant stone Buddhas that were in the cliff, destroyed prior to the invasion of Afghanistan, as you couldn't ship those out. But smaller items of artistic value? To illustrate how things like this happen, see the following.

Years ago I was in the golden triangle in Thailand. This area was known for all manner of drug sales (esp Heroin, opium, etc). It was wide open, the wild wild east.

I was taken into a warehouse where there were carved wooden Buddhas were lined up wall to wall and stacked like cord wood. They were carved out of wood and gold leafed and painted. Generally standing Buddhas about 6 foot tall. But there were some sitting Buddhas. All were for sale.

Pretty much anyone that they suspected might have money, were invited to the warehouse and given a tour. It was initially hyped as a cultural and artistic deal, like going to a museum. After some questioning as to how all the Buddhas came to be in this strange place, I was informed that there were transactions between Burma and Thailand. Drugs, guns etc went up river to Burma, and the Buddha's were floated down river to Thailand where they were fished out of the river.

Since Burma was poor and lacked currency, the Buddhas were stolen from temples and shrines. They were looted and were used as currency.

We were assured that safe transport could be arranged to the US, as Thai customs had been compromised and the shipment would arrive at the destination with no need to deal with US Customs. Needless to say I didn't really need a 6 foot tall golden Buddha, nor did the transaction pass the smell test.

I would venture a guess that right now in some nondescript warehouse in Pakistan or Afghanistan there are Buddhas piled up knee deep for sale, and assurances are given that the goods can be cleared thru any customs for a small fee. They might even throw in a couple of hand knotted rugs stuffed with other consumables if you are of such a mind.

From the article:

"Taxila possesses some of the most important artefacts from the Gandhara civilisation, which peaked between the 5th century BC and the 2nd century AD.

Emerging in the wake of the conquests by Alexander the Great, the Gandhara kingdom blended Indian traditions and Hellenistic culture, with representations of the Buddha taking on human forms that resemble Greek divinities, especially the god Apollo."

And I know, from other sources, that there was a Jewish community, long-predating the arrival of Islam, in what is now 'Afghanistan'; and that Nestorian Christians had reached the region, probably after the time of Gandhara, but certainly well before Islam.

Now, let's use our imaginations. We know that the pre-Islamic peoples of 'Afghanistan' were warlike - that much is clear from the stories of Alexander's campaigns in the area. But we also know - because Gandhara tells us - that at least some of these people were much more artistic, creative, intelligent and productive than their descendants have ever been under the Long Dark Night of Islam. (The existing records of the Kalash, in the region now called Nuristan, which was inhabited by non-Muslims and called Kafiristan until the 19th century, tell us what pre-Islamic Afghan tribal peoples could be like; wild, yes, but way ahead of the Muslim variety, especially in the matter of the status of women. And the historic accounts of the Swat valley, when it was Buddhist, tell a similar story - it was a way, way better place for humans, in every way, Before Islam; indeed, the old descriptions, seemingly from Buddhist Chinese visitors, describe a kind of Shangri-La).

Imagine what that whole region might have been, and become, with all the fizzing cultural and intellectual interaction that was going on - Hellenistic with Hindu and Buddhist, and some Jews and Christians tossed into the mix as well - if it had never been invaded and poisoned and blighted by the locust-swarm that is Islam.

The existing records of the Kalash, in the region now called Nuristan, which was inhabited by non-Muslims and called Kafiristan until the 19th century, tell us what pre-Islamic Afghan tribal peoples could be like...
(from dumbledoresarmy's post, above)

Thus, Kafiristan (Land of Unbelievers), culturally rich and diverse, upon falling to Islam's predations, became Nuristan, or Land of Light...meaning the light of Islam. May Allah be praised!

"Destruction of Buddhas. This is surprising as I would figure the Taliban would use the relics to raise funds for Jihad."

Yes, they could probably raise a lot of money from Western collectors. In 1930-31, the Soviets -- desperate for hard Western currency -- sold off a large number of works from the Hermitage. Andrew Mellon paid over $6.5 million for 21 masterpieces, which he used as the nucleus of the National Gallery collection in Washington.

Thanks champ,

My Thanksgiving was special, and I hope yours was too.

I wouldn't have pegged you for one who ever had PC MC blinders, but I guess in one way or another, all of us have had them at some point. I know I did, but slowly over the years I evolved and changed.

Why should the West care about Buddhist art or even the cathedrals and masterpieces of the museums of Europe? The vanguard of 'Western art' has been trying to destroy all art, beauty and meaning (and its religious roots) for almost a hundred years and replace it with ugliness, nihilism and the grotesque. Islam is a perfect ally for the 'modernist project' of total defilement of man as the 'image of God'.

have a single one of you read the quran? the quran is not represented by the majority of muslims. most muslims are hadithist. they believe in hadith and perverted version of islam. the quran if read like it is supposed to be read is nothing like what modern islam claims. modern islam is a sick perversion of islam. the hadiths talk about the most perverse things that are not true of the true muslim faith. when people call the muslim prophet a pedophile they are going on the same faith that the new testament is written no less the 200 years after the man died. anything evil they say about mohammad is gossip nad hearsay and it from hadith and it not acceptable or historically accurate like the bible. there are 10 different qurans and all of them are so close to each other that one can say that the quran is unchanged beyond a minor grammatical error that does not alter its message. how many bibles? thousands hundreds? when people insult islam it is stupid insult hadith muslims. not all muslims are jihadi perverts. sunni,shia,sufi islam is what people are talking abotu and they are not muslims. they even pray to Muhammad and do things that are against hte quran like suicide bombings. were at war with sufis. bin ladin sufi, iraq are sufi, iran are sufis. all jihadi are sufis. nashabandi sufism is what are fighting in the usa and all over the world. the American nashabandi leader is pals with bush and the white house..

have a single one of you read the quran? the quran is not represented by the majority of muslims. most muslims are hadithist. they believe in hadith and perverted version of islam. the quran if read like it is supposed to be read is nothing like what modern islam claims. modern islam is a sick perversion of islam. the hadiths talk about the most perverse things that are not true of the true muslim faith. when people call the muslim prophet a pedophile they are going on the same faith that the new testament is written no less the 200 years after the man died. anything evil they say about mohammad is gossip nad hearsay and it from hadith and it not acceptable or historically accurate like the bible. there are 10 different qurans and all of them are so close to each other that one can say that the quran is unchanged beyond a minor grammatical error that does not alter its message. how many bibles? thousands hundreds? when people insult islam it is stupid insult hadith muslims. not all muslims are jihadi perverts. sunni,shia,sufi islam is what people are talking abotu and they are not muslims. they even pray to Muhammad and do things that are against hte quran like suicide bombings. were at war with sufis. bin ladin sufi, iraq are sufi, iran are sufis. all jihadi are sufis. nashabandi sufism is what are fighting in the usa and all over the world. the American nashabandi leader is pals with bush and the white house..