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Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Canada’s National Post: “It’s been a tough week for Canadian Muslims”

Oct 25, 2014 3:08 pm By Robert Spencer

KarenArmstrongPost_full_600Jihad Watch reader Michael Greenspan, who sent me this link on Twitter, had the perfect analogy to show up exactly how grotesque the lead sentence really is in this National Post interview of Islamic apologist Karen Armstrong: “National Post, Nov. 28, 1963: ‘It’s been a tough week for the Oswald family.'” Like the Toronto and Ottawa police, the National Post, and all of the mainstream media, has imbibed the lesson well: after every jihad attack, Muslims are the victims, and need special reassurances. Of course, there should be no “backlash” against any innocent people and whoever vandalized the mosque should be found and prosecuted, but the murders are worse than the vandalism (no, that is not to justify or excuse the vandalism), and the focus on Muslims as victims when jihadists are murdering non-Muslims is obscene. Who is reassuring non-Muslims about keeping them safe from jihad attacks? Who is calling upon Muslim leaders in Canada or anywhere else to back up their condemnations of jihad terror with real action against it, including programs to teach young Muslims to reject that understanding of Islam?

And to add in an interview with Karen Armstrong, who has likened Muhammad to Gandhi and said that Islam came to spread compassion among the nations of the world, just adds insult to injury.

As I have said before, the mainstream media is a one-party state. Only one point of view is allowed. As soon as you see the headline “Is Islam inherently violent?,” you can be 100% certain that the article will say No, that it is not.

“Is Islam inherently violent? Quest for power — not religion — motivating jihadists, author says,” by Patricia Pearson, National Post, October 24, 2014 (thanks to Michael Greenspan):

It’s been a tough week for Canadian Muslims. After two tragic deaths attributed to homegrown Islamic terrorists – celebrated on Twitter by fellow jihadists – a predictable backlash has emerged. On Friday, for example, a mosque in Cold Lake, Alta., was vandalized, its windows smashed, its front defaced by graffiti calling for members to “go home.” But is Islam inherently more violent than any other religion? In her new book Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence, respected historian and author Karen Armstrong explores the roots of bloodthirst and prejudice – and finds it not any holy tradition but in the human quest for power and personal significance. She spoke to Patricia Pearson this week about why we so often get religion wrong.…

Q: Maybe one of the reasons is because there is a lot of illiteracy now around religion.

A: There is, indeed. And also a sort of laziness about looking at some of the other factors contributing to Islamc extremism. There is a malaise among the young, a sense of helplessness and lack of meaning in their lives that is a very serious thing that we have to take into account when we consider this vogue for converting to Islam. Two of the young men who left Birmingham, England, to go and fight in Syria had ordered a book called Islam for Dummies. There’s such a wide range of religious illiteracy involved in this. They’re certainly not inspired by Islamic ideals. They’re making it up on the plane over.

So much is made of the fact that two jihadis from the West, out of well over 1,000 who have gone to the Islamic State from the U.K., Western Europe and North America, ordered Islam for Dummies, as if this proves that the primary motivations of most of those 1,000+ people were not religious. Actually they may have ordered the book for any number of reasons — to find easy ways to explain things that they found difficult to put into words, or to send to their secularized relatives, or to give to Infidels to proselytize. And even if those two who ordered the book were indeed not well versed in Islam, this doesn’t cancel out the fact that many of those Muslims from the West who have gone to the Islamic State have explained and justified their actions by referring to the Qur’an and the example of Muhammad. Armstrong doesn’t make any reference to that, because it doesn’t fit her paradigm.

Q: So where does the idea of Jihad and those heavenly virgins come from?

A: They came from soldiers manning the frontiers of the Islamic empire, who had been away from their families and homes for years. So they developed hugely compensentory day dreams, if you like, about what awaited them in heaven to make up for all the deprivations. It was they that said that Jihad was a central pillar of Islam. This was not the case in places far from the frontier, where Muslims thought of Jihad as a struggle to create a just society, such as giving to the poor.

Arrant nonsense. The promise of Paradise to those who kill and are killed for Allah is in the Qur’an (9:111), as are the heavenly virgins (56:36, etc.). When the Qur’an speaks of jihad, it means warfare. There is an entire chapter of the Qur’an (chapter eight) entitled “The Spoils of War.” It explains how the booty should be divided up after battle. What spoils of war result from the struggle to create a just society? In saying that jihad meant “giving to the poor,” Armstrong is confusing jihad, which a manual of Islamic law certified by al-Azhar specifies is warfare against and subjugation of unbelievers (see Umdat al-Salik O9.8), with zakat, which is…giving to the poor.

Q: Tell me about Wahhabism – the Saudi-based sect of Islam that informs ISIS fighters.

A: The whole exportation of Wahhabism over the last 30 years is a huge problem. In several countries, the young have been brought up on a form of Islam in Saudi-funded schools that gives them a very narrow and restricted view of their own faith and a very limited view of all other faiths. This is entirely uncharacteristic of Islam. Before Wahhabism, which developed in the 18th century, the most popular form of Islam was Sufism, which had a very positive view of other faith traditions. It’s quite common for a Sufi to cry in ecstacy that he’s neither a Muslim nor a Christian nor a Jew because once you’ve glimpsed God these manmade distinctions fall away. And that is very much endorsed in the Koran as well. Indeed, in one passage, it says that religious pluralism is God’s will.

Yes, that’s why Sufis were leaders of the Chechen jihad for centuries, and why Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, prescribes Sufi spiritual exercises for the early Brothers.

That has all been knocked out in Wahhabism, because they call any other form of Islam “apostate.” Also, Wahhabists encouraged people to read the Koran directly, and ignore the centuries of interpretation by learned scholars. Now that sounds great and liberating, but people were then licenced to come up with many wild interpretations. In the past, no one read the Koran on its own; it was enmeshed in a wide swath of complexity that actually held radical interpretations in check. Now that check’s been lifted, and all kinds of freelancers like Bin Laden, who is no more qualified to issue a Fatwa than I am, have free reign to come up with these extraordinary interpretations….

Yes, it’s a “wild interpretation” to think “slay the polytheists wherever you find them” (9:5) means “slay the polytheists wherever you find them.”

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Filed Under: Canada, dhimmitude, journalistic bias, Useful idiots, willful ignorance Tagged With: featured


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Comments

  1. bobm says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    CBC and politicos are full stop whitewashing the outhouse… it has nuttin to do with islam…and imams by the dozen are dancing out with smiley faces pain- ted on all about how violence has nothing ta do with islam… It is so thick here in Canada.. (the deceit)… it’s very sobering.

    • terry says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 7:06 pm

      Up till just over a year ago, I couldn’t go through my day without being tuned in to CBC radio whenever I was in my car or at home.

      Their hourly news was my primary source of news about national and international affairs. Nevertheless, as both the level of cover-up, misinformation, distortion and dilution of culpability of the true cause of Jihad terrorism, here in the west and all over the world, and the incessant marketing and portrayal of Islam as a religion of peace and love, just like any other religion in the world today went literally up, vertically, I became more and more disgusted. One day I felt that, almost to the point of throwing up, literally!

      I also discovered that one of my all time favourite programs, Ideas, many episodes of which are rich in deep thought evoking ideas and exploring new horizons whether in science or spirituality, was engaged in the same behaviour as the news program, when the subject of Islam was touched on in any of its episodes!

      As I didn’t want to reach the point of throwing-up, I found my self gradually being weaned of CBC almost without any effort on my part!

      CBC radio, in my opinion, has some of the most enriching, entertaining, educating, deep thought evoking and practical programs on the planet.

      Nevertheless I feel that it is an insult to the basic intelligence of thousands of mature, well-versed-in-life, viewers and listeners who know precisely and clearly a lot about Islam and its ideology, inside-out, and hence the real cause of all the Jihad and its related terrorism all over the world today!

      Above all, It is an insult to the memory of literally millions of innocent people, slaughtered, beheaded, blown to pieces or gravely injured, over the course of the last twenty years! Including the 13 year old girl stoned to death few years ago in a stadium in Somalia, because of an alleged sexual relation, the two young women stoned to death, the video of one of which was on the internet up till recently, the several young Christian men beheaded and their videos posted to YouTube, the 80 year old Christian man in Nigeria that was beheaded simply for saying to Boko Haram fighters that Jesus will hold them accountable for all this blood shed, genocides against Christians in Iraq and Syria, and on and on………

      If CBC and mainstream media are busy defending, and unrightly so, Islam, who will defend the millions of real victims of its ideology and belief system, worldwide? Who will defend the future of humanity from the claws of this anti human culture of death wrapped up in a deceiving bright seemingly beautiful attractive varnish?

      A message to all of us, and not only the CBC: At least sometimes the route of the least resistance leads to disaster!

      For many of us, we have to start trusting our senses and working on gaining proper and profound knowledge about matters of life and death, such as this one about the true nature of Islam, and not to hand this job to the media or western leaders to do it for us!

      Above all we have to be careful not to fall sick to this epidemic of vicious cycle of doubt and confusion which are plaguing western academic establishment, media, many government agencies, elites and in some cases even the general public opinion about the subject of Islam! While this anti human ideology is moving at high speed, powered by faith; even if it is faith based upon evil ideology!

      This is the power of faith!

      • Judi says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 6:28 am

        That’s why websites such as this are so important.

      • Inka Hutz says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 10:30 am

        Thank’s for the comment.

      • Rob Porter says

        Nov 2, 2014 at 9:57 am

        Terry, very well said In all candour about 27 years ago I wrote off the CBC (and the Toronto Star in particular) as disgraceful liars. I had just left South Africa and returned to Canada – where I’d previously lived. Round that time, in south-east Angola a small South African military force of no more than 5,000 (with some help from the pro-Western UNITA) had smashed a Russian-led communist force – Cubans, Angolans with many Russian and East European advisers – of 26,000, the most mechanized army assembled in African since WWII. At the end of the battles the communist death toll was almost 4,900 (but possibly greater – they tend to lie) and 94 broken up Russian tanks lay rusting in the bush, yet evidently the CBC and Toronto Star could not stand the idea of “the apartheid” army defeating their buddies of the communist world, so Canadians were informed that South Africa had suffered it “greatest defeat in Angola”. My letters to the CBC and Star never saw the light of day. My disgust knew no bounds! And that was just the start. In time I discovered the CBC’s (and other Canadian news outlets) concealment of Indonesia’s genocide in East Timor. (We later learned that – by some coincidence – Canadians were the largest foreign investors in Indonesia’s economy! Guess the CBC didn’t want to spoil a ‘good thing’!)

        And now we have the disgraceful – dishonest and cowardly – CBC presenting to the public its sanitized version of disgusting, barbarous Islam, but God forbid the public should learn just how barbarous ISIS is while thousands of Christians, Yazidis, Kurds and other Muslims are butchered. All the CBC’s supposed ‘outrage’ over human rights abuses evaporates when Islamic savagery rears it head or imams in Canada make outrageous statements that amount to incitement of Muslims.

        Today I seldom watch the CBC, but when I do it’s primarily to see what ‘the other side’ is saying. It is often so pitifully slanted and evading of truth that I can’t watch for long. Canadians are very poorly served by their news media, in my opinion testament to the collapse in moral standards. To me truth matters and, today, it no longer matters to most of the media.

        Shortcomings and all – news coverage is limited – regarding commentary Sun TV is by far the most reliable source with Ezra Levant and Michael Coren often exceptional. Ezra is often so provocative I could fall over laughing, but last week Coren was just suburb when smashing up on Islam. Another real pleasure is the guest appearances of Mark Steyn.

    • mortimer says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 9:38 pm

      Bob, Islam is the only religion today that demands human sacrifices.

    • Inka Hutz says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 10:32 am

      It is intentional ignorance, maybe if they don’t think about it ,it will go away.

  2. Richard Sherman says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 3:25 pm

    Armstrong is clueless..Did Ghandi personally decapitate 900 unarmed Jews. I don’t think so. Muhammad was a raving sociopath….who loved personally decapitating unarmed Jews..
    Ghandi was a great man…Armstrong is totally clueless!

    • Scott says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 7:34 pm

      The woman should be publicly shamed for comparing a raving lunatic addicted to violence, rape, torture and murder with a true pacifist like Ghandi.

      I’d suggest she’s never read the Meccan Suras nor the Hadiths.

      • quotha raven says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 12:27 pm

        Let’s not go completely berserk here…Gandhi, it can be argued, is the prototype leftist, one of the earliest and historically most powerful. Pacifism is one aspect of his theology that has superficially benign emotional appeal, but one should engage the little gray cells to see where “pacifism” ala Gandhi and Bertrand Russell has led. It is a strong, if ill conceived, influence that informs the defenders of the “religion of peace” in their folly. Note that the writer with the intriguing haircut is heralding Gandhi as admirable….just like she sees Mohammed as a spiritual leader.

    • wri7913 says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 1:32 am

      Sorry to say even Ghandi was clueless about Islam

      “The sayings of Muhammad are a treasure of wisdom not only for Muslims but for all of mankind.” Mahatma Gandhi

      • Tradewinds says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 8:20 am

        Yikes, obviously Gandhi never really read the Islamic texts as Spencer has to make such a statement. Also, Gandhi opined that the Jews should not fight back against the Nazis but be willingly murdered by them. When I read that several years ago I lost all respect for Gandhi.

  3. Eunice Well says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 3:26 pm

    It REALLY is a tough week for Canadian Muslims. Look at how many more Canadians the Muslim creep could have murdered, if the Canadian police and the Security Guard hadn’t killed him. Canadian Muslims cannot get over their frustration and anger. Why won’t the world just let them rape, and murder, and torture the way their religion directs them?

    • dermott says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 5:11 pm

      A security guard did not kill him! It was the Sergeant at Arms, quite a higher level than a security guard.

  4. IQ al Rassooli says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 3:35 pm

    Karen Armstrong, by equating Muhammad to Gandhi PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt her total lack of understanding Muhammad’s Quran & Islam. PERIOD!

    She (like hundreds of so called ‘scholars of Islam’) is as delusional as most of the leaders in the Western world.

    She like them is actually an infinitely GREATER threat to the security of our peoples than the Muslims.The Muslims after all never stop informing us that the SOLE mission of Islam is to FORCE into conversion and dominate the whole of humanity to Islam while Karen and the other dim wits like her NEVER stop telling us how ‘peaceful’ Islam is.

    Never in history were Muslims VICTIMS. Muslims for 1400 years (starting with their depraved mentor Muhammad bin Abd Allah) were always the AGGRESSORS and Victimizers

    I sincerely hope that for the funeral of the murdered soldier, tens of thousands of ordinary Canadians should line the roads to show not only RESPECT for the fallen young man (shot in the BACK by a ‘BRAVE’ Muslim) but also to demonstrate to the Canadian leadership that they do NOT buy their deceptive version of Islam

    There will be MORE such attacks in Europe & America that sooner than later will arouse the anger of the PEOPLE demanding ACTION against Islam and NOT the usual verbal diarrhea

    IQ al Rassooli
    Kafir & Proud!

    • Beagle says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 4:33 pm

      Your knowledge of Islam is based in history, facts, traditional theology, and extensive personal experience, sure, but Karen Armstrong sells a pleasant fantasy.

      I appreciate what you do. Karen Armstrong is one of the West’s leading kamikaze pilots for the plane of civilization.

    • terry says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 8:07 pm

      IQ Al Rassooli,

      Very accurate and powerful argument, especially ” She like them is actually an infinitely GREATER threat to the security of our peoples than the Muslims….” part.

      • Morgan H says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 10:09 am

        the muslims carrying out attacks must want to shake people like Armstrong and say, “No, really, really, I did it because of islam, for allah – you have to believe me!”

  5. Terry says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    I don’t know why you have “useful idiots” as a tag. They are “useless idiots.”

    • terry says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 7:56 pm

      Because they are useful to Islam and its propaganda!

    • Greyhound Fancier says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 9:43 am

      “Useful idiots” were people who defended communism, making it easier for communism to spread. They were people who should have known better, but due to their strictly theoretical “knowledge” could defend Stalin and Pol Pot.

  6. OMG says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 4:09 pm

    Armstrong is yet more proof that you don’t need a long neck to be a goose. I think the only person supporting her credentials as a scholar, is herself, her haircut and head don’t create any confidence in me that she knows what’s she’s talking about and using a ghandi comparison seals the deal, this woman is a hell bent lefty moron.

  7. Don McKellar says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    Who it’s been a tough week for is Karen Armstrong and all her kind who lie and create an imaginary fantasy version of Islam that doesn’t exist to fit their leftist agenda. That’s who’s having a bumpy ride.

  8. Champ says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 4:24 pm

    What a pathetic and dangerous point of view! And Armstrong is one ‘tiny’ step away from becoming a muslima herself ..she may as well convert she’s that close; and in all honesty, she is a woman that truly needs a full face burqa–I mean look at her. But seriously, she is such a loony-leftie and *coward* that mocking her is all I’ve got, at the moment …

    • Bindon Blood says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 5:05 pm

      Why not,go for it! People like Armstrong deserve to be mocked.She puts herself up for it,let her have it.

    • Judi says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 6:31 am

      LOL

      • Judi says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 6:33 am

        This was meant for Champ’s comment

  9. Charli Main says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 4:26 pm

    There is no such thing as a Canadian, American, Australian, or British Muslim.
    Just Muslims living in those countries. Muslims who continue to demand the right to continue living and behaving as they or their ancestors did in the Muslim shit hole they ran away from.

    • quotha raven says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 12:52 pm

      Absolutely right, Charli M. You understand the difference between a theology and a religion, and you’ve got it in proper context here. Every mosque is the center of an Islamic Nation, i.e. a mini-caliphate.

  10. Beagle says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    In a sane world the emphasis would be on the child of the unarmed single father, Cirillo, brutally murdered by a jihadi. But for a single brave man, Vickers, and a bit of luck, the jihadi running past the PM, said jihadi could have decapitated (here a metaphor) the Canadian government and bagged numerous legislators.

    We do not live in a sane world of course.

    Is there any evidence a Muslim did not vandalize the mosque for propaganda purposes, as is usually the case?

    Karen Armstrong is an unfunny joke/nightmare of a so-called scholar. In the future her picture should be placed atop “The Fall of the West” articles. She’s become the go-to clueless dhimmi for Islamic supremacist mainstream media.

  11. tpellow says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 4:28 pm

    Canada.

    For Islam apologist, Ms Armstrong:-

    “Heartbreaking moment son of fallen Canadian soldier shot dead by Muslim convert bids farewell to his hero father as crowds line the streets of nation’s capital.”

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2807153/Heartbreaking-homecoming-body-fallen-Canadian-Corporal-Nathan-Cirillo-returned-hometown-Highway-Heroes.html#ixzz3H96JJABx

  12. Wellington says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 4:49 pm

    Actually, I’d like to go on record asserting that comparing someone to Gandhi should not be looked upon as a positive. Gandhi was a fool who set a revolution in motion he could not control. Millions lost their lives because of Gandhi, who was a crank of the first order.

    He thought women were superior to men because they could not experience joy in sex. He actually thought that the reason why Hindus and Muslims hated each other was because of the British presence in India. In reality, the British presence was EXACTLY what kept Muslims and Hindus from tearing each other apart, and the mass slaughter upon the British exodus from India in 1947 helps prove this point. Gandhi’s primitive ideas on agriculture and economics, if implemented, would have led to mass starvation in India. Winston Churchill despised Gandhi, not least for advising Churchill to make peace with Hitler rather than fighting the German dictator. Gandhi advised the Jews not to physically resist the Nazis in order to prove their moral superiority.

    Gandhi’s feigned poverty was a sham. As quoted by Paul Johnson in his magnificent work, Modern Times, one close to Gandhi said about his so admired penurious state, “It costs a great deal of money to keep Gandhi living in poverty” (p.471). What Gandhi really proves is the inherent decency of the British Empire. George Orwell wrote of Ganhdi the following: “…as he was always able to command publicity…..It is difficult to see how Gandhi’s methods could be applied in a country where opponents of the regime disappear in the middle of the night and are never heard of again……Is there a Gandhi in Russia at this moment?”

    Fitting that Paul Johnson refers to Gandhi as “the sorcerer’s apprentice.” Fitting too that Karen Armstrong would so admire him and, in full obsequious and oblivious mode, compare him to another disaster——Mohammed.

    • Beagle says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 5:11 pm

      Great points, Wellington. How did Gandhi spin Tamerlane, in addition to the other Muslim conquerors who killed many tens of millions, into a result of British colonialism?

      Presumably he ignored the entire history of Islamic ‘expansion’?

    • Bindon Blood says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 5:15 pm

      I ‘m so glad you have said this;I was going to say something similar but you have covered all my points splendidly. All most people know of Gandhi is the insultingly anti British film of the same name,I’m delighted that you have enlightened our readers.

    • denis says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 5:22 pm

      One thing that Ghandi said that resonates in our times is this :

      Among the many misdeed of British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.

      That is why we must fight to retain our rights to bear arms. A generation from now what will our society look like?

    • voegelinian says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 6:50 pm

      Gandhi also was a kook with dubious morals. Richard Grenier, writing in Commentary in his March of 1983 article “The Gandhi nobody knows”, wrote about how:

      …Gandhi [gave] daily enemas to all the young girls in his ashrams (his daily greeting was, “Have you had a good bowel movement this morning, sisters?”)…” and also had the girls give him his daily enema.

      And, going on about this and about the typically hagiographic Hollywood movie Gandhi (1982) (starring a person likely infinitely more ethical than Gandhi himself, Ben Kingsley), Grenier notes:

      Although Gandhi seems to have written less about home rule for India than he did about enemas, and excrement, and latrine cleaning (“The bathroom is a temple. It should be so clean and inviting that anyone would enjoy eating there”), I confess such scenes might pose problems for a Western director.”

      Another sacred cow down the drain

    • duh_Swami says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 7:19 pm

      Gandhi read Tolstoy’s book, ‘The Kingdom of God is within you’. 1894. He was so impressed that he read it twice, and started a written correspondence with Leo that lasted until Tolstoy’s death. The last letter Tolstoy wrote was to Gandhi…

    • Tradewinds says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 8:27 am

      “Gandhi advised the Jews not to physically resist the Nazis in order to prove their moral superiority.”

      Right. How disgusting. I think that “advice” must be an expression of Gandhi’s anti-Semitism. Don’t fight back against your killers – gee, thanks for the advice!

  13. Dennis says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 5:19 pm

    So why isn’t she wearing a headbag?

  14. Bosch Fawstin says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 5:29 pm

    The most substantive thing I can muster to say about this Armstrong creature is that she looks like John Malkovich in drag.

    • Champ says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 6:01 pm

      LOL! 😀

  15. Arkanthus says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 6:33 pm

    This is very weak and pathetic. Even the “moderate Muslims” (I can´t stand that hypocritical term anymore) can clearly see the weakness and self-treacherous behaviour of these western media and politicians. They understand that these so called elites have given up on their own peoples.

    • Beagle says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 11:32 pm

      That’s a very important point. Deceivers like Armstrong undercut the few, still living, gutsy real reformers in Islam. Armstrong, and the legion of dissimulators just like her, obviates the need for reform.

      Armstrong does as much to keep Islam violent and aggressive as any ten, hundred, suicide bombers. The stealth jihad of Armstrong protects the violent jihadis.

  16. Steffen Larsen says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 6:37 pm

    Does Karen Armstrong simply make things up?? It seems so to me.
    A problem with Islam is presented to her, and the little grey cells come up with something grasped out of nowhere but looking good and thoughtful. It makes everyone happier, better than a little blue pill. Very sensitive ….but made up.

  17. Wolfgang says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 6:53 pm

    Just looking at that creature…….geez…….she is uglier than my dog ! [ Trust looking a boxers face only an owner can love ] but my dog has more personality and intelligence than this woman !.

    • Champ says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 3:25 pm

      woof!! …how funny, Wolfgang! 😀

  18. Wolfgang says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 6:55 pm

    I would never recommend Burqa’s in any way…..but looking at her ugly mug I would make an exception .Pity the poor SOB that lifts the veil though !

  19. jaladhi says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 6:58 pm

    First of all Karen Armstrong is not just an Islamic apologist, she is a Muslim and practices taqiyya to defend her religion. So she is a liar and rewriting Islamic bloody history. One should ask her if Islam and Muslims are so peaceful how Muslims have murdered more than 350 million non-Muslimss world wide out of which more than 80 million were Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs in India alone in last 1400 years. Can she find such a bloody record of any other religion such as Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or Sikhism? Such a record doesn’t exist since it is only Muslims who have piled up such murderous record.

    Therefore, she is plainly a liar and a deceiver and should be discredited!!

  20. Champ says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 7:09 pm

    Canada’s National Post ought to fire this woman; but of course they won’t, I’m just sayin’ …and then she needs to fire her hairdresser and dentist.

    • Champ says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 7:13 pm

      …and I have tons of skin care products and makeup tips that I would be more than *happy* to pass along to her!

      Hey I’m just trying to make the world more beautiful, one face at a time! …lol!

      😀

  21. UnEasyOne says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 7:26 pm

    Many people I respect, like Sam Harris, Hirsi Ali and (correct me if I am wrong) I believe even Mr Spenser hint at or say that moderate muslims should conduct their own reformation and fix islam.

    The notion is absurd; iSLAM CAN NOT BE FIXED! THE END. PERIOD, FULL STOP.

    In order to do so, you would have to jump in your trusty time machine, go back to his day and smother Mohammed in his crib. Or hang around to cure his schizophrenia, bloodlust, psychopathy and pedophilia – for starters – killing him only if all else fails.

    Problem is, Mo was islam’s perfect man. who commanded his followers to imitate his behavior unless forbidden to. He ordered and led bandit raids whose only purpose was to kill and steal, torturing when necessary to force captives to reveal the location of whatever treasure they could locate. He personally chopped off the heads of helpless POW for the crime of being male and having pubic hair. He had dehumanized them, along with every other non muslim.

    HE further dehumanized half the population, women by stating their inherent flaws made them inferior to men and making them all chattels to the men. HE – except for a few restrictions, institutionalized rape.

    Forced marriage is rape. While he didn’t have intercourse with Aisha until she was 9 lunar years (8 in solar calenders.), he began “thighing her when he married her at six (5 1/2?) This is a way of using the child’s thighs to masturbate. When she got sick, he held off consumation untikl she was 8, but he made no law requiring this..

    Preteen girls die every day by being torn apart by the penis of the husband she was sold or given to. This is not to mention the slave girls and boys who literally didn’t count except as sex toys or property for sale or trade and that Mo got first pick of all loot, especially women and children. What did we do with the little boys and girls he had under his control? We know his preferences.

    Women and slaves can be abused in virtually any way the master chooses – even to the death.

    If you condemn the behavior of Mohammed, you blaspheme and are subject to death. If you don’t accept the prophet and were muslim, you are now apostate; also subject to death.

    That is just one set of many. Unless you can posthumously change the prophet, you can’t change the religion.

    • RonaldB says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 2:40 am

      “The notion is absurd; iSLAM CAN NOT BE FIXED! THE END. PERIOD, FULL STOP.”

      Be careful what you ask for.

      In fact, there is a branch of Islam which has reinterpreted, papered over, and eliminated the violent parts of the Koran and Hadith. It is the Ahmadiyya sect.

      They do everything Spencer has asked: they take the strong warlike Haddith, and made them weak. They take the weak peaceful Haddith, and make them strong. They actually make the general statements of the Koran into historical responses to situations. Or just reinterpret the passages in light of what their prophet said.
      http://www.alislam.org/

      But, they are just as crazy as mainstream Muslims, and still consider Mohammad as the perfect men and Islam the perfect religion, at least as they interpret Islam.

      Sunnis hate the Ahmadiyya as much as Sunnis hate Shi’ites. Shi’ites hate Ahmadiyyas because….well, because they’re not Shi’ites. And, oh yes, the Ahmadiyyas have a prophet who came after Muhammad. Now, the narcissistic sociopath Muhammad couldn’t stand anyone stealing his thunder, so he declared there would be no prophets coming after him. The Ahmadiyyas had a prophet who came after Muhammad, so they are marked for death as apostates.

      The real question is this: the philosophy of Islam presented by the Ahmaddiyas analogous to a weakened virus that is meant to displace the natural virus. As the Ahmadiyya maintain the Koran as is, and the veneration of Muhammad, can the weakened form of Islam carried by the Ahmadiyyas mutate back to the violent form once the social pressures are lifted?

      And just as important, is the Ahmadiyya view so consistent with traditional Islam view, that it presents a danger to our form of government, even without individual or group violence?

      • voegelinian says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 10:26 am

        In fact, there is a branch of Islam which has reinterpreted, papered over, and eliminated the violent parts of the Koran and Hadith. It is the Ahmadiyya sect.

        They do everything Spencer has asked…

        Bullshit. Spencer has repeatedly pointed out that various Ahmidiyya spokesmen and analysts tend to defend and promote Islam (the very same Islam that is oppressing them and their fellow Ahmidiyyas) while scurrilously defaming as “Islamophobes” Spencer and others who would dare to criticize Islam. UnEasyOne is absolutely correct but unfortunately rather rare on Jihad Watch comments, and I’m getting increasingly fed up with the various asymptotic tics and spasms of the Counter-Jihad Softies.

        • RonaldB says

          Oct 26, 2014 at 12:44 pm

          Please read my actual comments before jumping on them. You make yourself sound not very bright.

        • voegelinian says

          Oct 27, 2014 at 3:08 pm

          Upon a more careful reading RonaldB I see was not purveying the original bullshit I thought he was — but rather a subtler form of bullshit, one that would waste time speculating whether the Ahmadiyya strain of the Islam virus could somehow over time transform Islam into a benign form.

      • UnEasyOne says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 2:05 pm

        So what if there is an islam lite version and a couple of good muslims follow that belief?” They raise their numerous children in that peaceful belief system.

        Then their sons study the actual life of Mohammed – and suddenly the sons become “radicalized” – ie muslims. That is happening all over, especially Europe, every day.

        The Iranians just hung as apostate a guy who had promoted that or another form of peaceful islam.

        • RonaldB says

          Oct 26, 2014 at 3:11 pm

          “So what if there is an islam lite version and a couple of good muslims follow that belief?”

          I don’t disagree with you. Here is the situation:

          A large number of individual Muslims act violently, fully in accord with sharia law:

          People in the west say that the Muslims have to renounce violence.

          Muslim are under pressure, so they say “Ok, we’ll reinterpret the basic texts in such a way that the violence is left behind. So, now recognize us as a legitimate religion.” But, they still keep the koran and hold Muhammad up as the perfect man.

          So, they’ve gotten one step ahead of us. What’s our response going to be?

        • UnEasyOne says

          Oct 26, 2014 at 4:49 pm

          My response to RonaldB”

          So, they’ve gotten one step ahead of us. What’s our response going to be?”

          Denounce Mohammed. Publicly enumerate the crimes he committed; rape, murder of helpless captives, banditry, assassination of critics, forced marriage, especially to children, enslavement of the men whose heads are not chopped off and enslavement of their women and children as sex toys and chattel to be sold to the highest bidder. Denounce the subjugation (guardianship) of women, recognizing that this is simply another form of slavery. teach that CONSENT is a key element of marriage and that children cannot consent. Publicly denounce these crimes as evil, acknowledging that Mohammed was evil.

          Then you have blasphemed and are apostate, but it might be reasonably safe to let you stay in the country – unless you backslide. Then GO!

          They haven’t gotten ahead of us except as far as the propaganda is concerned. All they have done is add another layer of Taqiyya to the mix, As long as they revere Mohammed, nothing will change.

    • Tommo says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 8:45 am

      Young pregnant Muslim girls also die in trying to give birth but can’t because the baby is too big for their small birth canal. Surgeons in Medicins Sans Frontieres working in Africa say that this is common and even girls who eventually give birth are left with fistulas where their vagina is shredded and often breeches into the colon. The girls are left dripping urine continuously because they have lost control over the bladder due to the horrific damage caused by the girls being made pregnant when their bodies are still immature. The girls are usually abandoned because they can’t have sex or more children and their lives are ruined at the age of 10.

  22. Skevin says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 7:53 pm

    I’m a bit puzzled by the wall to wall coverage of events in Canada (and Queens) while two Manhattan based stories have gone ignored by JW. First, ground was broken on restoring the Greek Orthodox church at the WTC that was destroyed on 9/11. Also, there was a significant kerfuffle over the Metropolitan Opera’s staging of “Klinghoffer”. What gives? If there’s no blood, it’s unworthy of attention?

  23. unbeliever1 says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 8:05 pm

    Read the article in the National Post last week. Just want to comment on the quote,”Two of the young men who left Birmingham, England, to go and fight in Syria had ordered a book called Islam for Dummies. There’s such a wide range of religious illiteracy involved in this. They’re certainly not inspired by Islamic ideals.”
    Since they were not inspired by Islamic ideals then why would they be reading a book about Islam?

  24. No Fear says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 8:13 pm

    Australian Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is trying to encourage Christian leaders to accept gay marriage.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-25/bill-shorten-says-he-supports-same-sex-marriage/5841236

    Mr Shorten also attended the Eid celebration in Sydney. Did he also raise the gay marriage issue with the imams and ask them what should be done to gays?

    {crickets chirping}

  25. Dave J says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 8:24 pm

    It was a hard week for most Canadians, particularly the families of the murdered soldiers. Don’t talk to me about the “poor Muslims”. Where is their outrage and apologies – no where.

    Karen Armstrong is a notorious excuse maker, she is intellectually pathetic.

  26. fair_dinkum says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 8:52 pm

    who is this nutcase? her sources and ideas are dangerous.

  27. mortimer says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 9:24 pm

    Why does Karen Armstrong believe she can INVENT historical facts?

    • mortimer says

      Oct 25, 2014 at 9:30 pm

      National Post editors need to SHAKE their heads and adopt SOUND, INFORMED PRINCIPLES for writing about ISLAM!

      The editors are allowing UNINFORMED reporters to be sloshed around the floor by professional FANTASISTS like Armstrong.

      If the editors and their reporters had even a moderate knowledge of Islam, they would know Armstrong is spouting OFFENSIVELY MISLEADING INTERPRETATIONS of Islam, inventing history and suggesting there is a way to reform Islam (there isn’t), thus giving a false perspective and false hope that Islam will improve.

      Wahhabism IS authentic Islam. It is pure, puritan Islam…it is Salafism…the religion of the first three generations of Islamic PIONEERS (salaf).

      All other versions of Islam are heresy.

  28. cronk says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 9:36 pm

    Armstrong is a major league crackpot who is well known for twisting her facts like taffy to suit her purposes. In general she gets everything wrong about religion.

    The only reason she isn’t totally forgotten is because of the PC/MC mafia that runs the news media and academia.

    • mortimer says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 5:56 am

      Hasty generalization is the operating principle of Armstrong’s ‘creative writing’ exercises.

      Above, she has exposed her ‘creative’ theory that Wahhabism is not the pure religion of Mohammed’s pioneer Muslims, but an invention of later, nasty, mean caliphs, such as Abd al Malik who created Mohammed in their images. Primitive Islam was in her view a benign form of Gnosticism (presumably the religion of Armstrong herself).

  29. Northern Virginiastan says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 9:49 pm

    What’s happened to the National Post? I remember the hard-hitting post-9/11 opinion pieces by Robert Fulford.

  30. R Cole says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 10:22 pm

    Possibly when Karen Armstrong reads Koran 9:29 [Called the Verse of Jihad]- she reaches for a tissue, sneezes and somehow finds herself on the next verse. The peaceful one!

    Karen Armstrong makes the usual verbatim argument for this figment Islam.

    The fact is that we can’t have people so-called join a religion – and then go shoot up the House of Parliament and take aim at soldiers – in their own country.

    I’m still trying to process all that she said – it even appears that she is trying to lay the blame on the US for some of this.

    However to talk about the reform that Islam needs – then we must first admit there is a problem. And she in the interest of engaging in bogus dialogue with those from the world’s most repressive states – like Saudi Arabia – will swear bold face that – there are in fact no issues of significance with Islam.

    Each time – we say a few politically correct words – and literally hope – that this all goes away – and thereby justify these plastic fork statements.

    :: ::

    Wahhabism – the whipping boy of convenience?!

    In Muhammad’s day – how much could people have known about Islam – but a lot of people who did not want to join it – died – in it’s name.

    In addition – on Muhammad’s deathbed he – left clear instructions that Arabia should be free of other religions.

    With Muhammad peace – in the end – was the exception not the rule. Muslims love to show us the rare examples of Muhammad’s mercy – like the killer whale that catches the seal on the beach – throws it up in the air a few times – and maybe – since he has had his fill – lets that one go.

  31. profitsbeard says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 10:31 pm

    After the blitzkrieg bombing of Rotterdam in May of 1940 Karen Armstrong’s grandmother probably said:

    “This has been a tough week for Nazis everywhere.”

  32. joeblough says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 10:56 pm

    I think the world needs some healthy “backlash” at this point.

    The mohammedans will be perfectly comfortable watching the rest of us get killed until they feel the heat personally.

  33. pumbar says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 11:44 pm

    Looking at her makes me realise where the phrase “looks like a bulldog licking p!ss off a nettle” comes from.

  34. islamisdeath says

    Oct 25, 2014 at 11:45 pm

    It’s been a bad week for Canada’s soldiers. Butt ugly and brain dead.

  35. Eric says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 2:49 am

    [Thanks, JihadWatch. Caught the following on the web not long ago which focuses on you-know-who and would love reactions to it. Enjoy.]

    Zany Obama-Inspired Quips

    (1) Barack-coli: a vegetable or a national virus!

    (2) Obama’s favorite candy: Mecca Wafers!

    (3) Obama Coffee: grounds for impeachment!

    (4) Prov. 17:7 (NIV): “Arrogant lips are unsuited to a fool – how much worse lying lips to a ruler!”

    (5) When Obama says we’re on the cutting edge of history, he must be thinking about beheadings!

    (6) New nursery un-rhyme: Obaba Black Sheep keeps pulling the wool over our eyes!

    (7) The southwest is running out of water, but Obama is helping with his surplus of wet*****!

    (8) Prov. 19:10 (NIV): “It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury – how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!”

    (9) Obama is an expert on beheading. After lunch he tells his secretary: “I’ll be heading back to the golf course!”

    (10) The border fence isn’t high enough to keep out un-American criminals. I repeat, the White House fence isn’t high enough to keep out un-American criminals – and now they’re inside the White House!

    (11) Prov. 30:21, 22 (NIV): “the earth…cannot bear up [under] a servant who becomes king.”

    (12) We’ve gone from America’s Declaration of “unalienable rights” to Obama’s Proclamation of ALIENable rights!

    (13) The nicest words Obama could repeat while golfing: “I’m having a stroke, I’m having a stroke”!

    (14) Obama is so Islamically-correct he hosts MOSQUErade parties in the White House!

    (For more kicks Google “Michelle Obama’s Allah-day” and “The Background Obama Can’t Cover Up.”)

  36. duh_swami says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 4:39 am

    ‘The girl can’t help it’…She has been possessed by the malevolent spirit of Allah. They call that Allahphrenia in the institution. The institution does not care much what the afflicted say, but if they try to do anything about it, there are private rooms with beds with straps. The last thing you want to do in the institution is to have an Allahgasm where anyone can see it. That gets you one of those rooms and nasty entries in your chart. It’s even possible the Dr will want to ‘reason’ with you using a black electrical box. It’s probably best for Karen if she avoid institutional life as long as possible. But from the looks and sounds from her, she is right on the edge,

  37. John Kervin says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 4:46 am

    It’s been a tough week for Muslims? Poor babies – We don’t need to ask how the families of 3 Canadian Soldiers (2 murdered, one seriously injured) feel. 2 families without husband & father, but the Muslims are having the bad day?

  38. Henricus. says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 4:54 am

    We have an invertebrate media whilst our leaders behave like Judas goats.

  39. Erik says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 5:30 am

    Ten years ago on November 2, Theo Van Gogh was murdered in the streets of Amsterdam.
    The only concern of the mainstream media,was a possible backlash against the moslim population, and a whole campaign was launched to portray the muslims as the real victims because their religion had been misused.
    Even slogans as throw shall not kil were removed, and were made punishable.
    Queen Beatrix didn’t visit the vanGogh family but instead some mosqs.

  40. Demsci says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 5:33 am

    Well, I see her admitting to the possibility of many different equally valid interpretations of parts of Quran-Hadiths-Sira (QHS). Just as Reza Aslan did in his response to Bill Maher.

    They clearly contradict Erdogan’s “There is only one Islam”.

    And: Sane adult humans CHOOSE their religion and so it is justified to hold followers of religions accountable for that choice. I think.

    And so, if QHS, Islam, in controversial parts of it, is so multi-interpretable I think Muslims should not deny this, but admit it

    and take responsibility for supporting a religion that allow such violent, criminal, crazy, cruel, fascist-supremacist interpretations of some of it’s texts (mostly literal) with as much logic and validity or MORE than peaceful and nice interpretations of same texts (like symbolical, time-bound).

    While in democratic countries there may well be freedom of religion for beneficial interpretations of texts of religions but NOT for these very possible, plausible and logic BAD, anti-democratic, law-opposing, interpretations of them.

    I hope that Muslims and Islam-apologists and political leaders in future will be much more pressured to articulate clearly the differences between “good and bad interpretations of Islam” and “moderate and radical Muslims”.

    That to say “I am Muslim” is no longer enough, because the question then becomes: “What KIND of Muslim?”

    As I heard Mark Steyn explain the other day on Sun network in an interview with Brian Lilly.

  41. Sam says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 5:42 am

    Sorry, we can not afford to try to have dialogue with enemy anymore.

    The enemy is first liberalism, second ISLAM.

  42. No Fear says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 5:48 am

    The main difference that i can see between Jesus and Mohammed’s approach to redemption is that Jesus wants “bad” people to repent and be good and loving and re-enter society on a positive footing, whereas Mohammed wants “bad” people to become way “badder” and join Mo’s army and go out and wipe out non-muslims. Mo uses criminals as fighters against non-muslims….those criminals think they will gain paradise as a reward for killing non-muslims.

    • mortimer says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 6:03 am

      Indeed. Mohammed enlisted a gang of true criminals whom he called the “Ansar” (auxiliaries or ‘helpers’). They were in it for the loot. They were not ‘believers’ at all, but mercenaries motivated by greed for a quick buck.

      I think of the Ansar as a motorcycle gang riding camels.

      • islam_mact_frei says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 8:57 am

        AKA Henchmen.
        Accomplices.

  43. No Fear says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 5:52 am

    I have two books by Armstrong. I am thinking of throwing them in the trash after reading her comments about jihad. Mohammed created jihad. It is right through the Medinan Quran.

    • mortimer says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 6:00 am

      Armstrong is saying ‘real’ Islam is Gnosticism…as you point out, the Koran of Medina is not a text of Gnosticism.

      • mortimer says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 6:05 am

        Armstrong is a befuddled Gnostic.

  44. Ber says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 7:38 am

    Muslims Fear Backlash Ahead of Next Friday’s Murder/Bombing/Jihad Attack

  45. Tommo says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 8:22 am

    Who listens to the ex-nun Karen Armstrong these days – why the BBC of course. She was pushing her lies in a short news item about UK Muslims leaving to fight with ISIS and how poor and cut-off from society these poor lads were. Totally wrong. These jihadists came from well off backgrounds and were receiving university education before deciding to leave for Syria.

  46. Tradewinds says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 8:32 am

    Considering her views, I think KA must be insane. And now that I see a picture of her – As Jed Clampett would say, “Hoo doggie!”

  47. Tim says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 9:10 am

    “In several countries, the young have been brought up on a form of Islam in Saudi-funded schools that gives them a very narrow and restricted view of their own faith and a very limited view of all other faiths. This is entirely uncharacteristic of Islam. ”

    She obviously enjoys to insult the prophet of Islam. If she didn’t she would know that the Saudi-version of Islam, the Saudi-funded schools she mentions, follow what Muslims consider to be the authentic Islam. Saudi clerics often complain about the watered-down westernized version of Islam which is a false Islam.

  48. Ed in North Texas says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 9:56 am

    “Who is calling upon Muslim leaders in Canada or anywhere else to back up their condemnations of jihad terror …”

    There have been “condemnations”? I must have missed those, or were they from Canadian Muslim leaders and only read/heard in Canada? The Canadians have a reputation of being very nice people who do not wish to irritate anyone unnecessarily, so I can see their Muslim leaders issuing condemnations against violence (probably like John Kerry, condemning both attackers and the attacked).

  49. Archangel says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 10:04 am

    There are “NO” peace loving moderate followers of Islam! Islam is “NOT” a religion! Islam is an ABOMINATION!

    There are no moderate followers of Islam; they are in one way or another all Fanatics, some Speak approval of Islam by committing Atrocities in its NAME, while others Speak their Approval of Islam and of those who commit Atrocities in the name of Islam with their SILENCE!

    They are all Complicit through their Silence and they deserve “NO” sympathy or understanding!

  50. Archangel says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 10:08 am

    Don´t EVER allow yourselves to be deceived by Muslims that pretend that they are American’s or that portray themselves as being sympathetic to the countless victims of the atrocities committed by their “BARBARIC” brethren!

    Remember, “THEY ALL” danced in the Streets around the world, including right here in the streets of The United States of America, Moderate and Fanatic Muslim alike, and “CELEBRATED” the destruction of the World Trade Towers in New York that “MURDERED” over Three Thousand of our fellow AMERICAN’S!

  51. Inka Hutz says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 10:23 am

    A tough week for Muslim’s? As usual the Muslim’s are playing the victim card to divert attention from the atrocities committed by their own. The Media obliges nicely. Mean while the real victim’s, Canadian Soldiers and their family’s are forgotten.

    • Hoekom Jy My Haat says

      Oct 27, 2014 at 4:17 pm

      Shouldn’t that headline have read “Moslems make a tough week for Canadians”? Woe, Qanada!

      • Wolfgang says

        Oct 27, 2014 at 8:02 pm

        At some point, Christianity as a faith and a culture had to defend itself or be subsumed by Islam. The Crusades were that defense.

        This left wing trendy woman a vast part of why the average thinking person does not get a letter aired that disagrees with the left wing viewpoint.

        Crusaders saw themselves as pilgrims, performing acts of righteousness on their way to the Holy Sepulcher. The Crusade indulgence they received was canonically related to the pilgrimage indulgence. This goal was frequently described in feudal terms. When calling the Fifth Crusade in 1215, Innocent III wrote :

        “Consider most dear sons, consider carefully that if any temporal king was thrown out of his domain and perhaps captured, would he not, when he was restored to his pristine liberty and the time had come for dispensing justice look on his vassals as unfaithful and traitors…unless they had committed not only their property but also their persons to the task of freeing him? …And similarly will not Jesus Christ, the king of kings and lord of lords, whose servant you cannot deny being, who joined your soul to your body, who redeemed you with the Precious Blood…condemn you for the vice of ingratitude and the crime of infidelity if you neglect to help Him?”

        The reconquest of Jerusalem, therefore, was not colonialism but an act of restoration and an open declaration of one’s love of God. Medieval men knew, of course, that God had the power to restore Jerusalem Himself — indeed, He had the power to restore the whole world to His rule. Yet as St. Bernard of Clairvaux preached, His refusal to do so was a blessing to His people:

        ” Again I say, consider the Almighty’s goodness and pay heed to His plans of mercy. He puts Himself under obligation to you, or rather feigns to do so, that He can help you to satisfy your obligations toward Himself…. I call blessed the generation that can seize an opportunity of such rich indulgence as this.”

        It is often assumed that the central goal of the Crusades was forced conversion of the Muslim world. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the perspective of medieval Christians, Muslims were the ENEMIES of Christ and His Church. It was the Crusaders’ task to DEFEAT and DEFEND against them. That was all. Muslims who lived in Crusader-won territories were generally allowed to retain their property and livelihood, and always their religion. Indeed, throughout the history of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Muslim inhabitants far outnumbered the Catholics. It was not until the 13th century that the Franciscans began conversion efforts among Muslims. But these were mostly unsuccessful and finally abandoned.

        This vile woman does not read history correctly and only teaches revisionist history……no wonder the higher learning institutions are failing to produce intelligent thinkers.

      • dumbledoresarmy says

        Oct 28, 2014 at 2:41 am

        ‘Shouldn’t that headline have read “Moslems make a tough week for Canadians”.

        Good one, mate.

        Please, please: write to the wretched “National Post” and tell them precisely that. Cite the original headline, state that you find it grossly offensive, and then state that you would much rather have read an article under *your* headline – “Moslems Make a Tough Week For Canadians” – focusing on the grief of the soldiers’ families, on the fact that a jihadist mass-murder of Canadian politicians **within the halls of Parliament** was narrowly averted, and on the cowardly nature of the Muslim bushwhackings of the soldiers.

        Then you could write to the National Post’s *competitors*, stating how disgusted you were by the National Post’s headline, and stating what you’d have liked to see someone have the guts to write, under the headline you propose.

    • dumbledoresarmy says

      Oct 28, 2014 at 2:34 am

      “Mean while the real victims, Canadian Soldiers and their families, are forgotten.”

      YES.

      Well: it should be the business of ordinary Canadian jihadwatchers to ask themselves how they can make sure that those Canadian soldiers, and their families, are NOT forgotten. And that their deaths are NOT represented as some sort of tragic accident (like a car accident or being struck by lightning, wihtout any particular human agency being involved).

      They *must* be seen as soldiers on the front line, attacked by the Enemy: attacked by the Fifth Columnists of the Ummah who have embedded themselves within the Lands of the Non-Muslims.

      See what you can do via the following channels: 1/ the organisations that represent soldiers (whether currently enlisted, or returned/ veterans) and 2/ the current Defence minister.

      And there’s no reason why rallies and memorial events, at which the *truth* will be plainly told, could not be organised.

  52. T. king says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 10:38 am

    How long is the world’s governments going to cover for Islam. The fact is, it is what it is. A cult of Satanic Hate filled people and their ideology. They are not going to change. Stop allowing Muslims in our Countries unless they are Christian or any other religion. They do not want to become a part of our Societies they want to take over our Countries and then force Sharia law on the world. Read the Koran, or any of Mohammed’s teachings, they say kill the infidel, that is us, kill Christians and Jews, anyone who they deem not Islamic. They are a cancer in our world that needs wiped out. There are no moderate musiims, period, they only stay quiet until the reach about 7-8% of the population and then they start acting out their true intent which Is world domination. Our own governments are causing the death of their non-muslim citizens because they refuse to call terror what it is, Islamic jihad!

    • pongidae rex says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 2:59 pm

      The problem is not Islam. Islam has not changed in nearly 2000 years. The problem is the socio-political collapse of Western political leadership under the guise of multiculturalism that evolved from the civil rights movement.

      • Jae M says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 10:14 pm

        Well said. I wish these comments could be directly sent to Karen Armstrong and the rest of the puppets that spew out the same old lines every time a jihadist attacks. They should know we aren’t buying the bull their selling.

        • mortimer says

          Oct 27, 2014 at 6:38 am

          Armstrong does not decide what Islam is: Mohammed decides what Islam is. Islam is not a variety of Gnosticism as Armstrong suggests. Mohammed says the ‘original religion’ is conducting jihad.

          Al Azhar approves the definition of jihad as ‘warfare against disbelievers’.

          What else is fantasist Armstrong wrong about?

        • Jody Knight says

          Oct 27, 2014 at 6:28 pm

          Jae M, There’s no point in sending any comments to KA; she clearly has no idea what she’s talking about.It’s called being a useful idiot, to quote Lenin.The governments of the west are terrified of Islam and all it stands for. Unfortunately it’s too late to anything about it; there are just too many peace loving Muslims ready to riot at the slightest thing among us now. It’s called reaping what you sow.

      • James E. Horn says

        Oct 27, 2014 at 1:59 am

        Pondigae Rex: Islam was born abut 1396 years ago, not 2000 years ago.

        Islam changed about 1383 years ago when Mohammed became a baby raping war lord, and in his Koran instructed all Moslem men to emulate him in dealing with Infidels and Kafirs. that’s what is happening today.

        There may be some truth to your mutterings about social and civil rights, but the real cause of this violence is Islam.

    • Chris says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 3:39 pm

      You’ve said it 100% correct buddy. The only moderate Muslims are those who don’t follow there evil satanic cult doctrine “Koran”. These people don’t speak out against the attacks so to me there part of the problem. 1.6 billion Muslims over 600mill have radical anti western beliefs. Wake the hell up western world.

  53. Don says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 10:59 am

    It’s been a tough week for Muslims? I think it’s been a tougher week for Canadians. On the media cover up, I think it is the avoidance of building up the next world war, which is inevitable. We’ve gone too far.

  54. rdlake says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 11:30 am

    Socialist, PC, pacifist & tolerant Canada has let the Jihad virus into their country & now they don’t know how to put it back into the bottle.

    • quotha raven says

      Oct 26, 2014 at 7:37 pm

      Check out Socialist, PC, pacifist & tolerant Sweden, rdlake et al:

      http://youtu.be/Qa4LtSgOeao

      Sorry I couldn’t get the above to appear as a link; please cut and paste. It’s well worth the 7 minutes this video will take of your time. I think you’ll find it powerfully relevant.

      • quotha raven says

        Oct 26, 2014 at 7:38 pm

        Wow! There it is; it came up as a link, like magic!

  55. abad says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 12:01 pm

    I call BS.

    Muslims have NEVER been victims throughout history: indeed, they have been instigators, perpetrators, supporters of all that is evil and wicked in this world. They have been murdering non-Muslims for centuries now, beheading non-Muslims while the Muslim screams “Allah! while wielding a scimitar. The western world cannot be blamed for the existence of Islam anymore. Every single Muslim who murders a non-Muslim will one day be held accountable, their lips will confess that Jesus is Lord when they fall to their knees, that Allah does not exist, has never existed.

    Pretty soon hell will be “No Vacancy” with all the Mahometans there.

  56. kristy says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 12:09 pm

    the need to keep the peace is blinding some people to the obvious, it doesnt matter if there are “peaceful muslims” (which according to their own book there arent) the ones that are radical over shadow them, and i will use this to back up my position Before Hitler seized power (in 1933) only 850,000 out of 66 million Germans were card-carrying Nazis. After the Nazi seizure of power, there was a big surge in membership. At its peak, Party membership reached 8 million out of 80 million Germans in ‘Greater Germany’ or about ten percent of the population.

  57. Richard James says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 12:40 pm

    Re the name “Koran Harmlong”

    I would like as an Englishman who is ashamed to share the same island with this bogus “scholar” and dishonest apologist for the murder cult of Mohammedanism, suggest as an alternative name for her “Koran Arsepong”? Like the Koran itself her phoney scholarship stinks.

    “A Tough Week for Canadian Muslims”? Well, yes it sort of was – it’s always a tough week for the murderous Muz when a bit more of the truth gets out about their vile, evil religion” like it did in Ottawa this week.

  58. Joyce Willis says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 1:35 pm

    Islam by it’s inherent violent exhortations particularly attracts the criminal element and those in prison. What violent sociopath would NOT want to participate in mass killings(with no human rights laws applicable), literal enslavement of women, looting on a grand scale and absolute power over others…And whilst fulfilling all those “needs”, there is everlasting heaven awaiting with even more lusty delights to be relished.

  59. voegelinian says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    I wouldn’t disparage Karen Armstrong’s ability (and/or luck) to be influential in the Mainstream. Since 911 certainly, she has been one of the go-to pop academics (along with, increasingly, Reza Aslan, among others) for the news media to consult, and she never fails them, always providing bite-sized deceptively “organic” and “natural” junk food of empty calories with appealing packaging catering to and perfectly designed to fit the PC MC paradigm and all its needs as it twists and turns like taffy to react and respond to the metastasizing problem of Muslims putting their Islam into practice in the context of a global revival of their bloody (and stealthy) Jihad.

  60. donovan nuera says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 4:07 pm

    Sorta like “It has been a tough week for concentration camp SS guards” (May 8, 1945), “It has been a tough week for Soviet Air Force pilots” (September, 1983). “It has been a tough week for STASI Agents” (November, 1989)…..

  61. Marco says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 4:13 pm

    I have only skimmed the above article, but I thought I would make one comment right away before reading the article carefully. The author characterises the National Post (of Canada) as being of the “mainstream media”. I think most journalists working there would dispute that characterisation. The paper is in fact solidly right-wing, like Fox News or whatever. And I say this as someone who is also skeptical of the mainstream media, but from the Left. My Leftism though is open to many of the ideas about contemporary Islam on this site and from the Right in general. I certainly totally dissociate myself from the Left that fellow-travels with jihadists, who seem to be more outraged at the USA than the Bin Ladens of the world .A savage attitude which is totally incomprehensible to me. Anyways, if anyone is interested, my brand of Leftism can be seen at the site of the journal called “Dissent”, very different from The Nation and Counterpunch.

  62. gravenimage says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 6:32 pm

    Canada’s National Post: “It’s been a tough week for Canadian Muslims”
    ………………………..

    We’ve been hearing this crap at least since 9/11.

    In fact, if one did not know better, one might often think that in reading stories about 9/11 that was some sort of ‘Islamophobic’ attack on Muslims, rather than an act of murderous Jihad against Infidels that killed almost 3000 innocent people.

    But Muslims always consider themselves the “real victims”—and plenty of dhimmi tools are all too willing to go along with this false narrative of Muslim victimhood.

  63. Bull Shi'ite says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 8:19 pm

    T’would not be beyond ’em muslims to vandalize their own mosque…
    Déjà vu.

  64. Sam says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 9:24 pm

    Poor f***** Muslims!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  65. Wolfgang says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 9:37 pm

    @Champ……..

    My wife looked at her photo the other night and reminded me that there could something worse than death for all the men JW watchers on here……….

    her feminine remark was …….. ” you could wake up with her in bed next to you after a hard night out “!

    I hadn’t thought of that imagery before !

    • gp says

      Oct 27, 2014 at 1:27 am

      Please make it stop!

  66. SMG says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 11:49 pm

    Can’t we hire some deprogrammers, like the one’s used to get people out of cults, for the Islamic apologists? I cannot wrap my brain around someone like her. It’s like she’s so open-minded her brains have fallen out.

    • mortimer says

      Oct 27, 2014 at 6:44 am

      Armstrong is promoting Gnosticism.

  67. MUICHKINE says

    Oct 27, 2014 at 5:48 am

    She says: “It’s quite common for a Sufi to cry in ecstacy that he’s neither a Muslim nor a Christian nor a Jew because once you’ve glimpsed God these manmade distinctions fall away.”

    To talk about “manmade distinctions” here is precisely to adopt the muslim viewpoint. A Christian can never “glimpse God” in the first place. I do not know about Jews, but they would probably agree with Christians.

  68. Wolfgang says

    Oct 27, 2014 at 7:22 pm

    and folks the latest from that Island[s] of paradise Indonesia……..

    Top Indonesian international school hit with claims of widespread sexual abuse by staff – 9news.com.au

    http://www.9news.com.au/world/2014/10/28/06/42/top-indonesian-international-school-hit-with-claims-of-wide-spread-sexual-abuse-by-staff

    Must be in the sham sham water……….

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