“How do you pray?” Not that this has anything to do with Islam. Remember: this is all really about a “radical interpretation of Islam” that has “nothing to do with the religion.”
“Questions Rebels Use to Tell Sunni From Shiite,” by Alissa J. Rubin, the New York Times, June 24, 2014 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
BAGHDAD — Whether a person is a Shiite or a Sunni Muslim in Iraq can now be, quite literally, a matter of life and death.
As the militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, has seized vast territories in western and northern Iraq, there have been frequent accounts of fighters’ capturing groups of people and releasing the Sunnis while the Shiites are singled out for execution.
ISIS believes that the Shiites are apostates and must die in order to forge a pure form of Islam. The two main branches of Islam diverge in their beliefs over who is the true inheritor of the mantle of the Prophet Muhammad. The Shiites believe that Islam was transmitted through the household of the Prophet Muhammad. Sunnis believe that it comes down through followers of the Prophet Muhammad who, they say, are his chosen people.
But how can ISIS tell whether a person is a Sunni or a Shiite? From accounts of people who survived encounters with the militants, it seems they often ask a list of questions. Here are some of them:
What is your name?
A quick look at an Iraqi’s national identity card or passport can be a signal. Shiites believe that the leadership of Islam was passed down through the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali and his sons Hussain (or Hussein), Hassan and Abbas, among others. While some Sunnis and members of other Islamic groups may also have those names, ISIS would most likely associate them with the Shiites.
Where do you live?
In every city and province, even majority Sunni ones, there are enclaves that are known to be Shiite. People who said they came from one of those neighborhoods would most likely be killed.
How do you pray?
Shiites and Sunnis offer prayers in slightly different ways, with Sunnis generally folding their hands or crossing their arms in front of their stomachs and Shiites leaving them extended, palms resting on their thighs.
In a chilling video that appeared to have been made more than a year ago in the Anbar Province of Iraq, ISIS fighters stopped three truck drivers in the desert and asked them whether they were Sunnis or Shiites. All three claimed to be Sunni. Then the questions got harder. They were asked how they performed each of the prayers: morning, midday and evening. The truck drivers disagreed on their methods, and all were shot.
What kind of music do you listen to?
Recordings of religious songs could also be a tipoff. Similarly, even the ringtone on a person’s telephone could be a clue because it might be from a Sunni or Shiite religious song….
jihad3tracker says
For JW readers here searching for a way to penetrate the skulls of Americans who do not understand that Sunni and Shia slaughtering each other are both WITHIN ISLAM — not two different “religions” — perhaps we can say something like this :
“Imagine Catholics and Protestants engaged in identical behavior. What would you then think about the essence of Christianity ?”
Be prepared for a shocked expression as — just maybe — a fog lifts in the brains of clueless fellow citizens, with their complete lack of interest about events elsewhere ( an especially big annoyance during the Uber-Important World Cup ).
Jay Boo says
Sunni and Shia slaughtering each other is no so much because of differences in doctrine as it is with the CORE Values inherent in Islam itself to find someone to kill in the name of Allah.
Any Muslim who does no wish to kill for Allah is not a true Muslim.
Qur’an 101
Jax Tolmen says
I know this is not going to be a popular opinion; those who are familiar with my posts on the site (rare they might be) know that I generally do not advocate violence or war. That is not to say I am a pacifist, far from it actually; when a problem can only be solved through such horrors, then I advocate it’s usage.
War, violence and genocide are terrible things that we all should strive to stop when we can. Sometimes though, in order to put an end to an atrocity we must dip into our capacity to commit similarly terrible acts for the greater good. When the Nazis began their campaign of terror, the western world intervened to put an end to the atrocities being committed in the name of racial purity. I believe we are beginning to face a similar situation.
I think a discussion needs to be held about whether intervention is a viable solution to the atrocities being committed. Yes, I understand that many of you will view this is as us intervening to stop Nazis from killing other Nazis – but it’s not so. One cardinal rule many of us tend to forget is that most Muslims are innocent, normal people just like you and me. They might be misguided, they might belong to an inherently violent religion – but not all of them are jihadists. Even if they no longer believed in Islam, they could never admit it.
What is happening right now is the formation of an extremely violent, disturbingly pious and very dangerous Caliphate. The cost of intervening might be high, but letting the Muslim world unite in another caliphate – with nuclear weapons – is far worse.
What is also happening is genocide. The western world stands because we are better than they are, and we are morally upright compared to them. Let that sink in. We cannot consciously sit by and let genocide happen; to do so would show the enemies of freedom that we are unwilling, or unable to act. If that happens, these attacks will grow even more bold – and one day we may find the armies of Islam once again ravishing the world in bloody conquest.
I’m not saying we should intervene, I’m saying we should all be open to the possibility of intervention and discuss the pros and cons accordingly. The consequences of letting this happen are impossible to predict and could be far worse than being dragged into another conflict in Iraq.
John C. Barile says
I basically agree with you, Jax.
Custos Custodum says
Sadly, the “the western world” did NOT intervene to put an end to the atrocities being committed in the name of racial purity“.
The British columnist Peter Hitchens recently discussed this issue on his blot (http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2014/06/banging-on.html):
gravenimage says
Or indeed that the rescue of Europe’s Jews ever formed part of our warlike purpose?
………………………………
More revisionist history—there is a real push in some quarters these days to characterize our heroic stand against Fascism as nothing more than “warmongering”, and posit the idea that the Nazis were really quite reasonable fellows—if only it hadn’t been for “warmongers” like Churchill, everything would have been just fine. *Ugh*.
These tend to be just the same sorts who would have us believe that groups like Hamas and the Taliban and Boko Haram and the Syrian Jihadists are really quite reasonable, and that anyone who believes we must stand against Jihad is an “Islamophobe”.
Custos Custodum says
Let’s not go overboard here. Nobody HERE is saying that “the Nazis were really quite reasonable fellows”. However, it is also a flat-out lie (based on POST-war propaganda) that World War II was started or prosecuted for the purpose of putting an end to the annihilation of Jews and others in the territories held by Nazi Germany (basically all of Continental Europe). For a start, the chronology does not fit this “narrative” (fashionable word for “lie”).
Shamefully, concern for genocide of Jews and others barely registered on the radar screens of decision-makers in the U.S., Britain and Russia.
The Jewish-owned New York Times (then as now the grande dame of mainstream media) set the tone in downplaying the holocaust while it was proceeding.
Preventing, stopping or merely slowing the Holocaust was NEVER a serious concern to Allied military and civilian authorities.
Vapourking says
No intervention, for the greater good of humanity turn our backs on Islam is the best option Islamic Countries produce nothing, everything they have comes from us weapons, tech, medicine etc. Ban Islam in the West, deport anyone wishing to continue practising, close our boarders and forget about em. They’ll realise pretty quick when they get hungry, if they wish to participate in this world it’s come with the condition of being a human being.
Sure millions will die, but let Islam continue leeching off the West and millions more will die and live miserable lives.
The only place Islam should exist is in history, filed under embarrassing beliefs of the human race.
Harsh but fair!!
Vinodgupt says
This is the nest option open to non-Muslims of the world. Give Muslims in non-Muslim countries the same rights as Muslims give to non-Muslims in truly Muslim country like Saudi Arabia — not a bit more.
dumbledoresarmy says
Jax
re. Syria and Iraq.
The *only* military intervention, by non-Muslim forces, that I would be willing to countance, would be an intervention in order to rescue the remaining indigenous *Christians*…for they truly *are* in danger of being subjected to genocide.
Call it Operation Exodus, or Operation Magic Carpet.
Go in with massive force; create guarded gateways to which the Christians could be brought and at which (with the aid of groups like Barnabas Fund who have been working with them for decades, know them well, and would be in a position to “weed out” from among them any mohammedans pretending to be what they weren’t) they would be processed, and through which they would be packed onto planes – or boats – to take them out to the West. Then, once the last of them is safely outta there: close the gateway and leave.
Vapourking says
Yep get the Christians out, then drop these pieces of shit like a hot scone.
Time these asslifters got taught a lesson on whose running this show.
Grayman11b4v says
Anytime the phrase “we should” shows up…beware. Platitudes are easy and seductive.
Frankly, I disagree. There is much to fear about Islam and it’s bent toward conversion or death.
Kevin Goshin says
100% totally agree, Jax. I couldn’t have said it better!
IslamDownpressesMankind says
Millions of innocent Germans had to die to defeat Nazism.
BTW, how do you know that “most muslims” are innocent, normal people?
If you state you’re a muslime, doesn’t that kinda imply you subscribe to its
beliefs?
Who would you support? The muslimes who persecute and murder people of other faiths as a matter of course? Or the other ones?
Jay Boo says
If your immediate survival is at stake then you must defend yourself with TACTICS of self-defense. (treating the symptom)
But we also must have a long term Strategic approach (treating the disease)beyond the immediate.
1 Border controls ect.
2 Truth about Islamic propaganda with a counter message
Islam is merely a ‘tool’ used to exploit human weaknesses.
Islam has no power unless people give it power.
If Islam did not exist than human weaknesses would find a substitute.
By exposing Islam it loses its power and we also reveal how such weaknesses take hold.
Angemon says
Face down, ass up. That’s the way muslims like to pray.
ebonystone says
Very appropriate that they present their “moon” to the moon-god.
wildjew says
What is your name?
“Shiites believe that the leadership of Islam was passed down through the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali and his sons Hussain or Hussein…..”
Hussein. That name sounds familiar.
gravenimage says
Wildjew wrote:
What is your name?
“Shiites believe that the leadership of Islam was passed down through the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali and his sons Hussain or Hussein…..”
Hussein. That name sounds familiar.
…………………………..
Sure it does. But this also shows that their homicidal little quiz is hardly foolproof—after all. Saddam Hussein was a *Sunni*.
So either they ask more questions, or else they will be slaughtering some of their fellow Sunnis.
But what do pious Jihadists care about that? After all, they hold that if some of their coreligionists are “accidentally” killed during Jihad, that they will go straight to paradise.
bernie says
It’s like the Big-Enders versus Little-Enders in “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift.
-Do you crack open an egg at the little end or the big end?
-The big end.
-You heretic!
Of course, he was referring to Catholics and Protestants at the time, but it’s applicable here too.
mortimer says
Quick. Hide this from Andreas Kreig. He would have to change his view that ISIS has ‘nothing to do with Islam’.
Jeez, Andreas! Facts are so pesky when you have such a SUPER COOL theory!
Walter Sieruk says
The Bible verse of Ecclesiastes 9:3. may very well apply to the militant members of the forces of ISIL. For it reads “The hearts of men are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they join the dead.” [NIV]
No Fear says
Sounds like that verse also applies to the madmen of the old Testament such as Joshua who killed many people.
gravenimage says
Witless moral equivalence. Even if the Biblical Joshua were as you characterize him, he lived *over 3000 years ago*, and no Jew or Christian today is ‘killing many people’ based on the Book of Joshua.
No Fear says
I was raised a Jehovahs Witness. I learned quickly that “God” is not to be trusted. In the Old Testament God orders his henchmen to kill and they feel good about that. The only “God” that has excelled the Old Testament monster is the godless god of communism and his henchmen Mao and Stalin. The only good thing about the Bible is the Jesus story. Unfortunately the Jesus story is tainted by the last chapter of the bible “Apocalypse” which seems to be a commentary on the Kabbalah written by a madman. I am familiar with Jewish Kabbalah and comparative religion. I would trade all religion for a good science text anyday.
IslamDownpressesMankind says
Um, Yeshua was at war with people who would’ve done the same thing to the ancient Hebrews.
gravenimage says
ISIL uses Islam questionnaire to tell which Iraqis to murder
……………………………
Jihadists have also done this in Kenya to separate Christians from Muslims during the Newgate Mall Massacre, and widely in Syria to target Christians, Alawites, and Shi’ites.
Only in Islam would you have the deadly “pop quiz”.
These tests are usually administered at roadblocks—sometimes on people who are trying to flee. Anyone who does not answer the “right” way is pulled out of their vehicle and killed.
And don’t think this cannot happen in the West—Muslim thugs have already set up roadblocks *in Sweden*.
“Sweden: Muslims set up homemade traffic control, stop cars, set up roadblocks, police do nothing”
http://pamelageller.com/2014/04/sweden-muslims-set-homemade-traffic-control-stop-cars-set-roadblocks-police-nothing.html/
So far, they have just been terrorizing people—but what about next time?
Samuel says
the mexican standoff photo is real ?
Richie says
And apologists and leftists will say this has nothing to do with islam
Cicero says
this tactic has been used for centuries by the adherents of the religion of peace.
when in 1947 India was being rent asunder into the states of India and Pakistan the muslim attackers would ask the male victims to show their penises. if it was circumcised the victims would be spared .
if however the unfortunate man possessed an uncircumcised one he would be immediately put to death In a manner most foul including eyes being gouged and being castrated whilst still alive. whilst the non muslim woman. Would have her nose and her breasts cut off.That is unless she was young and beautiful and the she would be taken as a sex slave or a concubine
IslamDownpressesMankind says
The same thing was done by the muslimes who committed the Istanbul pogrom of 1955 (inspecting penises [penii?] to insure they were circumcised to determine who gets killed or beaten up).
bernie says
But the small Indian Jewish community also has circumsized males…
Cicero says
even more recently in the same India when the Pakistani Muslim terrorists stormed Mumbai. They set about ascertaining which of their hostages were Muslim/non-Muslim. they asked each one if they were Muslim.If the victim said they were, they were asked to recite Islamic prayers. if they could do this they were released unharmed. if they could. Not they were mown down in a hail of bullets.
A Turkish couple caught up in the mayhem were allowed to go free since they were ableto identify themselves as Muslim by reciting the Islamic prayers.
Also a Muslim Minister in the then UK. labour government was able to identify himself. As a Muslimto the attackers and he was allowed to walk away unscathed. As his fellow hostages ( mainly Hindu and non-Muslim) we’re massacred. In his wake.
Mirren10 says
”Also a Muslim Minister in the then UK. labour government was able to identify himself. As a Muslimto the attackers and he was allowed to walk away unscathed. As his fellow hostages ( mainly Hindu and non-Muslim) we’re massacred. In his wake”
Who was this ?
Semeru says
The only muslim minister at the time was the rather nasty Shahid Malik, and I do not recall him going to India