I heard at the same graduation the Somali guy who tried to blow up the shopping mall will be giving a video taped commencement speach from prison.

Posted by: proud infidel at June 17, 2004 5:58 AM

Doesn't surprise me at all. THose leftist turd brains are like moths drawn to the flames of nihilism!

Posted by: Jakester at June 17, 2004 8:40 AM

I think God has a great sense of humor. In the name of "multiculturalism" and "diversity", traditional Christian students are expected to put up with being blamed for everything wrong the West ever did (even after it proudly boasted of its emancipation from religion) and treated as half-wits on many campuses, while Orthodox Jews have been told they have to live either in co-ed dorms or off-campus (at Yale).

Now the loudest and most visible traditional religion on campus is Islam of a jihadist stripe. It serves the tenured radicals right.

Posted by: kepha at June 17, 2004 8:44 AM

I am outraged that my tax dollars are paying for this crap! What the hell is wrong with people? The Jews and Americans should all wear white and blue arm bands with a missile on it! Go IDF!

Posted by: lisa at June 17, 2004 10:31 AM

The only way to get the attention of administrators at the brand-new university, with the brand-new books and the brand-new minds (well, what is it? 35 years old?) in the land un-disinterestedly granted to the state of California by the Irvine Ranch, is by alerting, and putting pressure on, the Board of Regents and the state legislature. Money is all in the high farce of higher education; the beating heart of all private universities is the Development Office; of public ones, the legislature. So let the authorities know that the money, for faculty salaries and for their own generous emoluments, depend on how they deal, or fail to deal, with such events.

And would-be employers should be sure to take note that the young, fresh-faced, plausible, quiet, and seemingly "moderate" Muslim graduate of the University of California, or elsewhere, who has applied for that job, may well have murder in his heart -- if not now, at some point when he fully "rediscovers" Islam. In any case, why take a chance? Why do something, anything, that by making the position of Muslims in this country more economically secure, will encourage others to come rather than to leave, and remorselessly raise the demographic, economic, and political power of Muslims, to the certain detriment of non-Muslims (not just Jews and Hindus, but all non-Muslims) who, nolens-volens, are regarded as fair game not only for incessant da'wa, but for much more aggressive forms of conversion, and subversion. No civilization is obligated to commit suicide. Ours has many faults; compared to Islam, however, there is not a non-Muslim civilization in the world that does not, by comparison, radiate with human warmth and the free play of the individual intelligence. That is, one must emphasize, only "compared to Islam." To start to criticize our own civilization, with its many faults, beginning with its complete inattention to the study of history and of literature, rightly conceived, would take too much time and cyberspace.

Posted by: Hugh at June 17, 2004 10:47 AM

Any such organizations that take party in actions that condone "martyrs of death" should be have their student union rights revoked. Do universitites allow KKK or Nazi sponsored or allied/sympathetic groups on campus? If they do, I haven't heard of it.

This is just another case of how we can not police our own country with common sense. What does it take for us to wake up, folks?

Posted by: Foehammer at June 17, 2004 11:32 AM

Well, if they want to be martyrs, then we should accomodate the pigs. I pray we wake up and do as the Israelis and Serbs, for they know how to handle pig excrement like this.

Posted by: oikonomakis at June 17, 2004 11:36 AM

Hey as a silicon valley exec it is easy.
No one from UC Irvine will be interview or hire here.
If enough people do this I think the message will go out pretty fast . . .

Posted by: someone who cares at June 17, 2004 11:41 AM

No they have sent them all over the world to kill as many as they can. 30,000 went to Iraq to train for saddams army and many went to afganistain and now many are sad to say have met the death in a firey hell because what they had been taught against their own book yes that Old 5:32 in the qu-ran that says that if they kill it will be as if the kill all mankind! shame on the heads who teach this hate to the Young for your deaths will surely be not the glory you seek it will be worse then the prisons of SADDAM!!!!

Wednesday, August 14, 2002
By Jennifer Griffin

JERUSALEM — Atta Sarasara has lost everything. First his 16-year-old son, Hazem, blew himself up in Jerusalem. Then the Israeli army blew up the Palestinian man's home as a result -- to discourage future suicide bombers.
Sarasara is angry with not just the Israelis, but also with the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades for preying on impressionable teenagers and giving his son a bomb.
"They used a child. He was very kind, handsome, smart. They used him," Sarasara said.
For the first time in the current uprising, ordinary Palestinians beginning to wonder what homicide bombings against Israelis achieve, echoing a statement signed by several dozen Palestinian intellectuals two months ago.
But few people in the street will question the bombing strategy publicly for fear of being seen as admitting defeat at the hand of the Israelis.
Israel has demolished the family homes of 21 bombers in recent days. Palestinian spokesmen say this only increases the bombers' willingness to attack Israel, but in at least two cases this week, fathers prevented their sons from volunteering.
One man turned his son over to the police in Tulkarem, while another in Nablus shot his son in the leg.
Sarasara said he didn't know his son planned to be a bomber, and therefore couldn't stop him. He also questioned whether his son would have carried out the mission had he known the Israelis would retaliate by tearing down his father's house.
Asked if he would allow another one of his sons to commit a suicide bombing, Sarasara said, "I don't think so."
"[The bombing] increases the suffering of the people from both sides -- from the Israeli side and the Palestinian side," said Bethlehem resident Ayyah Saad.
Hamas, the organization behind many homicide bombings, appears to have been sensing the change in public opinion.
In the days before the Israeli military killed its military wing's leader, and 14 others, in a rocket attack in Gaza, rumors circulated in the Israeli and Palestinian media that Hamas leaders had drafted pledging to end to attacks inside the pre-1967 borders of Israel.
The offer was apparently shelved after the Gaza attack, but it appears it may be viable again. Politicians on both sides point out that soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza would still be considered fair targets.
A Hamas-sponsored summer camp in Bethlehem provides an outlet to children who've been cooped up in their homes as Israeli tanks and soldiers patrol the streets. The Islamic organization may be winning the hearts and minds of the next generation, but they may lose support from the parents if homicide bombings remain their only strategy.

Part of the American Tribe

God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and All who Fight with her give them Strength and Courage to stay the course to Victory Amen

Posted by: Catherine at June 17, 2004 12:15 PM

Well, what do you know? Cheap shots about leftists.

The pissy little shahids of UC Irvine are damn lucky I didn't go to UC Irvine. I would have shown them a side of liberalism they wouldn't have liked... and oh, god! even the ones at my alma mater are soooo lucky that I am a family man with responsibilities with no time to devote to them.

I tell all my liberal friends that we shouldn't help them, because they have never, and will never help us, or anyone else for that matter. And I have convinced a few.

Does anyone here have any good advice as to how to convince more liberals to stop apologizing for the Muslims?

I had a philosophy teacher from Greece. She and I were talking in her office one day, when I noticed the campus paper saying something about the Islamic Jihad treasurer, Sami Al-Aryan. I told her "I hope that asshole gets sent to prison for life." And she came back with all the apologies... she said that the palestinians had "their" land taken away by the Israelis.

I asked her if see really was from Greece, and she said she was. I reminded her that Greece WAS a nation, (actually a tight-knot confederation of sometimes-unfriendly city states) thousands of years ago, that disappeared. There was no nation called "Greece" until a bunch of nationalists in the grecian region of the Ottoman Empire rose up and expelled the Turks. I told her that Greece, like Israel, made "itself" out of a part of the Ottoman Empire, which had taken the land from the people that had taken the land from the people that had taken the land from (etc.) the Israelis/Greeks.

But when Israel became a nation, it didn't even belong to the Ottoman Empire, which had ceased to exist 30 years prior. It belonged to the king of England, who was allowed to do damn well what he pleased with his land, just as the king of Saudi Arabia could give land to any group he wished (like say, the "palestinians"... oh, what am I saying? That's absurd. The only thing Saudi gives is more funding for martyrs and shahids.)

I asked her about the ongoing "crisis" (a.k.a. "Turkish Occupation") in Cyprus, and reminded her that when "we" bought (what are now) the US Virgin Islands from Holland in 1917, we didn't ask the locals for permission. It just became ours. We could give the Virgin Islands to the pope, the Dali Lama, or whoever else we want. Lots of land (think roads, right-of-ways, public buildings, parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, etc.) is owned by most governments, and anything else can be taken (in a moncarchy) or taken with a payment as in "imminent domain" (in a democracy.)

So I think I enlightened her a little bit. The Muslim kids on campus appear to be a formidable presence. Here at USF, there were only 200 of them in their little club, at a time when there were 2,000 Jewish students (who never said "peep") and 800 Hindu students (just those from India, not including the maybe 1000 from Trinidad, Guyana, and those that were born/migranted to here in the USA.) Of course, the Indian students never said "peep" over what Islam did to their country, and what Pakistan and Bangladesh, with Saudi funding, continue to do.

Anyway, the Muslim kids were always "out in numbers" or so it appeared... most of them were girls, so with their conspicuous clothing, it seemed like they were "everywhere, all the time." I.e., you don't really know what someones religion is from a distance unless they are a Muslim girl.

Of course most of them don't have jobs (they weren't allowed) and so they have so much time to write letters to the editor of the campus paper, put up posters, have meetings, start new clubs, plan "Palestinian Awareness Week" and "Muslim Awareness Month", (sobriquets for "Hate Israel More Fest"), etc.

I think most of the liberal apologists for Islam are not really pro-Muslim as much as they are friendly toward anything not associated with Christianity. And I don't blame them there. But if someone doesn't like Christianity, they should REALLY HATE Islam.

There are a lot of academics from India. They know the truth about Islam but since they are Hindus, they don't do a lot of complaining. Likewise, there are lots of Jewish educators, but because they aren't red-eyed jihadis, they don't complain about much either.

I try to tell other libs to consider the treatment given to liberals, secularist, atheists, humanists, feminists, homosexuals, drug addicts, and other "misfits" in Muslim nations. It makes American conservatives look like Mother Theresa.

Like the Iranian Devolution: the clerics were all buddy-buddy with the atheists and intellectuals, who were also fighting the Shan...until the Shah was deposed. Then, the Iranian liberals, secularists, etc. were all sent straight to the gallows.

Well that's enough blather for today. Please don't write back and accuse me of the same, old litany of sins: hating America, communist, love Islam, doubting the bible, etc. Just tell me how I can convince more liberals to realize the truth about the jihad.

Friends, the Jihadis don't care who is in charge of American politics. They are going to kill and convert as fast as they can, wherever they can, no matter what. We can work together to defeat this monster, and then debate the minor points. If anyone has any advice, don't just post here, because sometimes I don't read every post. Please write me at my email address. (Which may be changing soon, so check before you mail.)

KJ

Posted by: keithjoy at June 17, 2004 1:23 PM

A classical liberal is one who believes in individual liberty and as little government intervention as possible. Todays so-called "liberals" are not liberals at all. They, like others in the progressive movement, have changed the definition of a word, and we have let them get away with it. Let's take it back.

Arab terrorist supporters in America have said, "Liberals of the world unite!". Terrorists call them liberals, but Lenin had another name for them: "useful idiots".

Posted by: lafn at June 17, 2004 3:04 PM

I am glad they are labeling themselves for FBI to track. If we could just get them all to wear these, we would be set. To identify your enemies is half the battle! Let them show their true colors, it will come back to bite them in the ass!

Posted by: western power at June 17, 2004 3:14 PM

Bill O'Reilly had this on last night and some very interesting points were made.

The word "Shehada" now in the context they are using on the arm bands means "Martyr". So, they're praising the suicide murderers.

And the president at Irvine is scared of this group.

Even before 9/11, they have been allowed to have some of the most extreme Islamic speakers come to the campus.

And it continued on afterwards.

If you want to see what this group posts in their newspapers go to : www.muslim-student.com

or , www.Khalifornia.org, www.siss.edu, www.msa-natl.org/national/

We, through our tax dollars, pay for this crap.

And to "Someone who cares", I'm from Cupertino and that whole area has become over run. I worry about who is working at Livermore, if you get my meaning.

Posted by: Susan B at June 17, 2004 3:34 PM

Susan B -

Pretty much the whole SF Bay Area (including Silicon Valley) has been overrun.

Posted by: Mike at June 17, 2004 3:52 PM

I've been in and out of College for the better part of 20 years now. I just love to learn all that I can. School is fun for me. The more I learn - the more I realize how little I know.

What I've noticed as time progresses, is that most students want to stake a claim to fame, to belong to a group, to some how fit in. There often are so many clubs at schools that it makes it impossible to decide on one (as an American). I would imagine that the youth going off to college, being away from family and friends, have a need to belong to something familiar.
I know most colleges do have rules preventing the behaviors we are starting to see. The MSU is in violation of these rules and should not be permitted on any campus.
If I was to start a club on a college campus similar to jihadwatch - I would be expelled and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the hate crimes laws.

Why does this not apply to MSU and Musilms in general?

Posted by: onesandzeroes at June 17, 2004 4:54 PM

KJ
I don't understand why every one was picking on yo today I rather liked you post![not the rants] You will learn to forget the name callers like you say there are more inportant things!

Here is some thing that might help you!

U.S. Senator Zell Miller, D-GA
Floor Statement on the Situation at Abu Ghraib prison
Remarks as Delivered on the Senate Floor
Mr. President, here we go again, here we go again.

Rushing to give aid and comfort to the enemy.

Pushing and pulling and shoving and leaping over one another to assign blame and point the finger at America the Terrible.

Lining up in long lines at the microphones to offer apologies to those poor, pitiful Iraqi prisoners.

Of course, I do not condone all the things that went on in that prison, but I for one, Mr. President, refuse to join in this national Act of Contrition over it.

Those who are wringing their hands and shouting so loudly for “heads to roll” over this seem to have conveniently overlooked the fact that someone’s head HAS rolled - that of another innocent American brutally murdered by terrorists.

Why is it? Why is it that there’s more indignation over a photo of a prisoner with underwear on his head than over the video of a young American with no head at all?

Why is it that some in this country still don’t get that we are at war? A war against terrorists who are plotting to kill us every day. Terrorists who will murder Americans at any time any place any chance they get.

And yet here we are, America on its knees, in front of our enemy, begging for their forgiveness over the mistreatment of prisoners.

Showing the enemy and the world once again how easily America can get sidetracked and how easily America can turn against it self.

Yes, some of our soldiers went too far with their interrogation tactics and clearly were not properly trained to handle such duty.

But the way to deal with this is with swift and sure punishment, and immediate and better training.

There also needs to be more careful screening of who it is we put in these kinds of sensitive situations.

And no one wants to hear this, Mr. President and I’m reluctant to say it. But there should also be some serious questioning of having male and female soldiers serving side by side in these kinds of military missions.

But instead, I worry that the HWA - the Hand-Wringers of America - will add to their membership and continue to bash our country ad nauseam. And in doing so, hand over more innocent Americans to the enemy on a silver platter.

So I stand with Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma, who stated that he’s “more outraged by the outrage” than by the treatment of those prisoners.

More outraged by the outrage. It’s a good way of putting it. That’s exactly how this Senator from Georgia feels.

Thank you Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Copy it and share it with you dems

Part of the American Tribe

God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and All who Fight with her give them Strength and Courage to stay the course to Victory Amen

Posted by: Catherine at June 17, 2004 5:10 PM

I watched O'Reilly's segment on this issue which is giving it a lot of exposure. I would hope alumni, parents and students will bring pressure to bear on the university to stop this outrageous conduct.O'Reilly also made the point that members of the MSU were afraid to come on his show. Not at all surprised about that, militant muslims are like cockroaches they run when exposed to the light.

Posted by: Linda at June 17, 2004 5:18 PM

Mike,

Maybe you'll remember this, back around 1989 there was a report that came out in the San Fransico Chronical about why the state had gone bankrupt.

As more immigrants were moving into Cali, they were given business loans in the amount of $30,000, after the first person got a loan, they in turn were sending for the rest of their families, who in turn would then apply and also get the same loans, sometimes 10 in a family.

They never had to provide proof of the business, and all filed bankruptcy within a short time of getting the money, then they would go on welfare.

The largest recipients of this was ----Arabs.

There was also at that time on a Pakistani website, instructions on how to get into the country through Canada, get to Cali and apply for the money.

I couldn't wait to get out of there and now its here. the hospitals are getting over run, the courts are full, its costing a fortune for interperters, the fire dept. is here 2 to 3 times a week because of stove fires, they don't keep the grease off or paramedics are here, because a wife got beat up.

I know all this sounds somewhat petty, but when you start adding the costs up.......that we are paying for, for people that don't assimilate and contribute nothing back, that hate everything about our culture, it makes me sick that its not stopped.

Susan B

Posted by: Susan B at June 17, 2004 5:19 PM

Catherine,

What the site shows are the web addresses that these groups are using, how they move around and how to find them.

It is a little hard to figure out on some parts of it, but I think this guy is doing a great job on tracking them and then shutting them down.

Posted by: Susan B at June 17, 2004 5:23 PM

This part of what the Chancellor had to say concerning this:

This year, we understand that some Muslim students may wear green stoles that represent UNITY and DECLARATION OF FAITH-(yea, right)

Rumors and allegations are circulating that the stoles represent support for Hamas-an organization that the U.U. State Department has listed as a designated foreign terrorist organization.

OUR MUSLIM LEADERS HAVE ASSURED US UNEQUIVOCALLY THIS IS NOT THEIR INTENT.

PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Posted by: Susan B at June 17, 2004 9:44 PM

Susan B,

Thanks for the post. Yes I remember those ridiculously generous loans. It makes me sick the way the system was played and abused. I almost don't recognize this area anymore. I'm all for opportunity and the American dream for all, but for those who really love America and WANT to be Americans (i.e. assimilate in our culture).

Glad to have you in the Bay Area. (Don't give up on Cupertino!!)

Posted by: Mike at June 17, 2004 9:45 PM

Forgot to post the site.............

www.chancellor.uciedu/from/commencement.html

for the rest of his statement, which is as ludicrous as the first part.

Posted by: Susan B at June 17, 2004 9:47 PM

Mike,

I no longer live out there. Lived in Santa Cruz for a few years, then in Cupertino.

Moved back east in 93, but I go back there all the time for work. It changes every time I'm there, and I recognize it less and less.

By the way, I MISS THE FISH MARKET!!!!

Posted by: Susan B at June 17, 2004 9:52 PM

Keithjoy, CitizenoftheWorld--Yes, we Christians believe there's a Hell for unbelievers--and the home-grown Buddhists (as opposed to the Hollywood type) believe that a woman who aborts her child will get led around the 18th Hell in a cangue by demons, while the child she aborted tugs at her. I read the Bible cover-to-cover once yearly and surely believe in a Hell, but I'm not aware of where I'm commanded to hurry anyone on his way to that place. Indeed, even if someone hates and abuses me, I'm to pray for him--which suggests that if he's now Hell-bound, my prayers may have a part to play in God turning him the other way.

By the way, since part of my family was subjected to ethnic cleansing, and I've been face to face with Pol Pot's boys on the Thai-Cambodian border, I feel that if there isn't such a thing as Hell, God is unjust--even if I also believe that there's forgiveness for ethnic cleansers and the like,too, if the Holy Spirit gets them to take it.

Posted by: Kepha (overseas Yank) at June 18, 2004 12:19 AM

In re: Islam in the Univeristy System: Many years ago when I was an undergraduate at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, I took an elective course on Islamic Civilization. It must have beem about 1981 or so. Our professor had us repeat words from the Koran "There is only one God, Allah is our god, Alla is great or what ever the rakat he was running. All of the young lemmings continued to do this. It started out very subtly, after a day or two he had us standing and ever more fervently repating this crap until I sad screamed out, NO! DON'T DO this; Don't listen to him--it's wrong. I told him to stop. It was very strange. He never tried it again. I don't even know why I never reported it or anything. I found out later if Muslims can get people to repreat these passages, it's considered missionary work, or converting poeple or what have you...Creepy now that I think about it. We were so willing to believe anything in the ivory tower. He'd nver get away with it today. Anyway, I'm glad I told him to shut up, which if I know my self like I so, I probably called him a stupid camel jockey too!!!

Posted by: Zoe at June 19, 2004 3:18 AM

OBVIOUSLY THIS IS A FORUM FOR MUSLIM BASHING SO NO MATTER WHAT I SAY YOU WILL PROBABLY BE BLINDED BY YOUR VIOLENT HATRED TOWARDS MUSLIMS AS AL QEADA IS TOWARD JEWS. I REALLY DON'T SEE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR BELIEFS AND AL QEADA'S. WHILE AL QEADA WILL NOT STOP UNTIL YOU DENOUNCE YOUR OWN WAY OF LIFE AND ADOPT THEIR WAY OF LIFE, YOU WON'T STOP UNTIL MUSLIMS DENOUNCE THEIR OWN RELIGION AND EVEN ABANDON IT AND EXPRESS THE SAME TYPE OF HATRED THAT YOU NOW DISPLAY TOWARDS ISLAMIC FAITH. IT'S LIKE ANTI-SEMITISM, WHERE HANNAH ARENDT DISCUSSES IN HER ARTICLE "THE JEW AS A PARIAH" THAT THE ONLY WAY A JEW CAN STOP SUFFERING ANTI-SEMITISM AND BE ALLOWED TO ASSIMILATE IS IF HE HIMSELF DENOUNCES HIS OWN FAITH AND WAY OF LIFE WITH THE SAME HATRED THE ANTI-SEMITE DOES. SIMILARLY, LIKE THE ANTI-SEMITE IN ARENDT'S ARTICLE FOR YOU, SATISFACTION WILL ONLY BE REACHED WITH THE DEATH OR CONVERSION OF ALL MUSLIMS AND THE ABOLISHMENT OF THEIR RELIGION. YOU DON'T WANT COEXISTENCE, TO YOU EVEN THE SITE OF MUSLIMS LEAVES YOU AT A MURDEROUS RAGE. I DON'T HATE YOU FOR HATING ME AND MY FAITH, I INSTEAD I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU, BECAUSE HATE IS A CANCER IT DESTROYS THE PERSON WHO FOSTERS IT. LOOK AT WHAT IT HAS DONE TO AL QAEDA, MANY OTHER MILITANT GROUPS, HITLER AND THROUGHOUT HISTORY TO MANY OTHERS. IT IS SAD ALSO BECAUSE SOME OF YOU GUYS SAY ARE DEVOUT CHRISTIANS AND YOU SAY YOUR RELIGION ISN'T FULL OF HATE TOWARDS OTHER RELIGIONS AS ISLAM IS. YET LIKE HYPOCRITES YOU BASH ISLAM AND MUSLIMS WITH AS MUCH PASSION AS THE SAME MILITANT GROUPS YOU SAY AMERICA MUST FIGHT.

Posted by: Amro at June 20, 2004 2:24 AM

Dear Mr. Spencer,

On June 17th you had a post titled 'Graduation Jihad' in which you quoted from an article in Front Page magazine. The article claims that:

'The Muslim Student Union (MSU) of University of California-Irvine has asked graduating Muslim students to wear green sashes bearing the word “shahada,” the Arabic word for "martyrdom.” The Muslim world refers to a suicide bomber who kills innocent civilians in Israel as a “shahid.” Pilots and their cohorts who fly airplanes into skyscrapers are also celebrated for their “martyrdom.”'

Now according to the Muslim Wakeup website (http://www.muslimwakeup.com/archives/000893.php),:

'The stole contains two Arabic phrases. On one side, it contains a Qur'anic verse: Wa qul rabbi zidni 'ilman, "And say, My Lord, advance me in knowledge." (Qur'an 20:114)

The other side is the source of the controversy. It contains the Islamic testimony of faith in Arabic: la ilaha illa'llah, muhammaddun rasulu'llah, "There is no god but the One God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of the One God." This formula is also known as the shahada, i.e. testimony.

It seems that word got out that the stole actually spells out the WORD shahada (scroll down to the 2nd news item). That's not the case.

Now, "shahada" also has other meanings in Arabic besides referring to the Islamic testimony of faith; it also means "testimony" (as in giving testimony in a court of law) and "martyrdom." This is how some people started saying that the Muslim students wanted to wear these stoles to glorify martyrdom and by extension, suicide bombing.'

The Muslim Wakeup website even has a picture of the stole, and if you can read Arabic, you can see what it says yourself. A story in today's LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucigrad20jun20,1,2757153.story) says that:

Each stole bore Arabic lettering on one side reading, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger," and on the other was a symbol meaning, "God, increase my knowledge."

Nowhere on the stole is there the word "shahada". People have now changed the argument and have started to claim that the testimony of faith somehow has links to Hamas and supports militant Islamism. Since you are a scholar of Islam, I'm sure you must be well aware of the fact that neither Hamas, nor anyone else, has any monopoly over the use of testimony of faith ("There is no god but the One God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of the One God"). It is used by every single Muslim all the time, regardless of their political views. I myself, as a Muslim against militant Islamism, use this term several times a day. I would take offence if someone were to claim that my use of the phrase is in support of Hamas, or suicide-bombers, or any other abhorrent group.

I would very much appreciate it if you post something on the website to clear up this factual error. If you are not willing to admit that the testimony of faith has nothing to do with Hamas, then please at least make it clear that the stole does NOT have the word "shahada" written anywhere. JihadWatch is a useful resource for those who are against militant Islamism, however, it is in everyone's interest that it is not used to spread factually incorrect rumours.

Many thanks.

Posted by: Chan'ad at June 20, 2004 10:10 AM