“The gunmen were doing a background check on religion by asking everyone to recite from the Quran. Those who could recite a verse or two were spared. The others were tortured.” This from the jihad attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery, in Dhaka.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the English naturalist Henry Bates, a contemporary of Darwin, was studying butterflies in the Brazilian rainforest. He noticed that certain edible species mimicked the warning signals sent out by other, noxious and foul-tasting butterflies, often, but not always, involving coloration of the wings, and fooled predators would avoid the edible mimic as they did its foul-tasting model.
This form of mimicry entered the scientific literature as “Batesian mimicry.” And today, reading the accounts of the latest butchery in Bangladesh, I was put in mind of Henry Bates and his Brazilian butterflies. At the restaurant in Dhaka, where ISIS-prompted murderers held a few dozen hostages, they gave a little exam, as a way to separate the Muslims (to be spared) from the non-Muslims (to be tortured and then killed). This sort of macabre test has been given many times before by Muslim terrorists, in attacks on buses, in malls, at hotels, in India, Kenya, Mali.
Boko Haram, in West Africa, in 2013 offered an echo of the first notorious modern occurrence of this phenomenon, the Al-Shebaab jihad massacre at the Westgate Mall in East Africa. Boko Haram killed fifty students at an agricultural college. But the former were out to stop all learning outside “the Islamic sciences,” and so were willing to kill fellow Muslims who, in their view, are willing to read other texts when “Book Is Haram.” The latter, on the other hand, tried hard to identify fellow Muslims so as to spare them torture and death — the fate of non-Muslims — and to let them go unharmed, for there was no similar issue about what they were reading outside of the good old Qur’an.
Read about it, as you can, for on the Internet no boko is haram, here.
In the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, the test was the same as at the Westgate Mall: those who could recite Qur’an were spared; those who could not, were not. In strict Batesian mimicry, there are three parties: the tasty mimic, the rebarbative model, and the predator who may or may not be fooled into thinking the former is the latter. The latest variant in Dhaka consists, in essence, only of the mimic (the non-Muslim who can recite a Muslim verse), and the model (a Muslim whose knowledge of the Qur’an the mimic, to save himself, must learn to the extent necessary). For the model, you see, also happens to be the predator, ready to destroy any unsuccessful — Qur’an-less — mimics.
“The gunmen were doing a background check on religion by asking everyone to recite from the Quran. Those who could recite a verse or two were spared. The others were tortured.” The testimony of surviving non-Muslim witnesses of what Muslims feel fully entitled to do — and are taught to enjoy doing, and celebrate doing — to non-Muslims, whether those in a non-Muslim land being assailed by jihad, or of a population eking out its existence as dhimmis, does not surprise me in the least bit.
No one who remembers Beslan should be surprised by what happened at the Holey Artisan Bakery. No one who paid any attention at all to the testimony of non-Muslims emerging from the 50-year jihad against Christians and animists in South Sudan should be surprised. No one who has read anything at all about the jihad genocide of the Armenian Christians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, or the Muslim atrocities committed against the Greek and Bulgarian Christians, or the Muslim mob assaults upon the Jews in Safed and Hebron in the 19th and early 20th centuries, should be surprised.
Islam is what Churchill called it: the religion of blood and war. It is also a cult that engages in what can only be called human sacrifice: with deemed-insufficiently-subordinate females, and “uppity” dhimmis and non-Muslims of all kinds, as the preferred and Allah-ordained prey animals/sacrificial victims. And wherever it goes, it seems to unloose all the darkest and basest elements of the human psyche; the part that enjoys dominating, that revels in the dying screams and the pain of the absolutely helpless. So much so that I would not hesitate to call it not merely the Religion of War, but the Religion of Cruelty, or of Sadism.
How many of us will now prudently prepare for our next trip by stocking our minds with a Qur’anic don’t-leave-home-without-it verse or two? You thought, we all thought, that we were done with those quizzes and tests long ago, only to discover that a fatidic Pass/Fail is possible, in this scarcely believable new world we are forced to endure, anywhere and at any minute.

Expat88 says
The same was done in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia a few years ago during an attack on a compound where some foreigners lived. The gunmen would go up to individual hostages and ask if they were Muslim and then they would have to recite religious verses in Arabic and if unable to do so they were shot dead. The terrorists ended up killing mainly some Filipino Christians and weren’t able to find many Westerners around that day to harm.
Baconator says
How do you know that they were terrorists? They could have been some “moderate” Muslims just expressing their views about infidels.
the Oracle says
Boning up has taken on new meaning.
Wellington says
Demonstrative, this fine article by Fitzgerald, above all of two truths: 1) Memorize at least a few lines from the most effed-up religious work of all time if for no other reason than for pure preservation’s sake; and 2) Those currently leading the West in the political realm, academia and the media are failing the West, and by extension all of humanity, by their continued exculpation of the longest-lived and best disguised evil of all time——Islam.
Socrates says
I don’t know who you are, but you have given a brilliant encapsulation of the guilt of our political and academic elites.
panda says
“…not merely the Religion of War, but the Religion of Cruelty, or of Sadism.” Hugh, with great respect, you give it too much honor. It is an evil cult.
jamesmi says
It is very definitely part of the “culture of death” JP2 used to talk about such a lot. Its cruelty and deceitfulness show clearly enough what spirit it is of.
Adrian says
In the whole of the Quran i could not find one verse where Allah desires a believer’s LOVE… always it is about obedience and fear of detailed punishments Allah is preparing for infidels and hypocrites… The murders these true believers committed in Bangladesh was merely Allah’s will.
Shouldn’t a religion be about LOVE?
Now this maniac’s screed is being used to decide who lives or dies?
So why does the West not make the INEVITABLE DEDUCTIONS?
eduardo odraude says
It should be about love, because the experience of the sacred on which all true religions are based happens perhaps above all in and through love, at least if that word is accurately used. If one wants more than faith in God — if one wants to see “God” — the indispensable lens is love, but love of the deepest kind.
linnte says
Eduardo, that was beautifully written. Thank you!
shosh7154 says
oh but it is about luvvvv….there’s the matter of the 72 black-eyed beauties whose virginity is perpetual just like the catholic god and of course there are the young pearls (little boys) no mention of their virginity in the quran….only women have that peculiar issue in islam….the rivers of wine….what’s not to luvvvvvvvvvv ?
eduardo odraude says
Adrian,
About ten years ago, I wrote a post about love (and its lack) in the Qur’an. Here:
http://dune-rune.blogspot.com/2006/04/in-short-compass-qurans-attitude-to.html
jewdog says
One had to be Aryan to survive the killers of the Master Race, but now, one must be Muslim to survive the jihad of the Master Faith. No wonder so many people converted in the places Muslim conquered; it was too much of a risk and hassle to do otherwise.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
I would not hesitate to call it not merely the Religion of War, but the Religion of Cruelty, or of Sadism.
But by our leaders accounts it is a good religion, one of the world’s great religions, one of the three Abrahamic faiths. The pro-Moslem elites have never been asked by a reporter or historian to account for their sharp difference of opinion with the likes of the old elites, the likes of John Quincy Adams, de Toqueville, Montesquieu, Hume and more recently Churchill. Were these men wrong, or is the current crop of leaders the ones who are mistaken? The evidence seems to suggest the latter, but in these times factual reality is a matter of post constructionism, a personal view. And most persons take a kind view of Moslems.
Jaladhi says
There is only one word to describe Muslims and Islam – evil!
jewdog says
Those old guys (Adams, Churchill etc.) you mentioned are generally ignored as passe and irrelevant, as are most of the fuddy duddies that pre-date the Beatles.
Jaladhi says
The behavior of the West is totally disgusting. Instead of facing and eliminating this scourge of humanity, they work with the scourge, the Muslims, and watch the genocide of innocent people in their own country. One can’t believe that the the same people in the West faced Hitler and the Japanese to save the humanity. Now the same nations have joined hands with the murderers( I say this because they are not fighting Islam and Muslims who are committing genocide). They should be ashamed of their behavior!!
linnte says
For crimminy sake! What the heck do you think we on this blog, Robert Spencer and the many many others who are informing ourselves about Islam are DOING? You think we are just talking back and forth between ourselves, like a circle jerk? Because of people like Robert who puts his LIFE on the line every moment of every day for FREEDOM, the West is waking up to the threat of Islam. It isn’t a battle of physical strength, but a battle of wits and knowledge. These unsung heroes all have death threats to go to sleep with every night. I am really tired of your blasting of Western culture and people when clearly it is your goal to make us feel defeated. And blaming the West for the perversion of the vile and putrid Islamic ideology is a typical Muslim tactic. Well, it doesn’t work here buddy. Even this little old woman, me, has made a change in the thoughts of many people regarding Islam; where before they bought the LIES, today they don’t. And those people will influence others, and those others will also and exponentially knowledge of the true Islam will be known. So GET THEE BEHIND ME SATAN! IN JESUS NAME! amen
Angemon says
Good thing there’s all those “how to talk like a muslim” videos featuring “palestinian” children – it’s so easy a kid can do it. Just speak through your throat as if you have a hot potato in your mouth and a nasty case of catarrh, and talk about killing Jews while putting your best “I’m superior to you” face. Nothing to it, really.
TheBuffster says
So do the terrorists require that people recite in Arabic, or is one’s own language sufficient?
I imagine the shahada is expected to be said in Arabic.
bernie says
The thing is, however, that even most non-Arab Muslims (including most Bengali, Urdu, sub-Saharan African and Indonesian Muslims) are not fluent in Arabic, although they may know the Shahada and a few Qu’ranic and Hadith verses in Arabic.
maghan says
Arab cultural imperialism dictates that Arabic be the language of Muslim prayer.
Carolyne says
I guess “Allah” only speaks one language. But I have noticed that many Christians, when trying to sound holy, try to speak in the vernacular used in England during the time of James L (VI of Scotland.) “Thee” and “Thou,” as if their God only speaks like that. If there were a God, I doubt he would be limited to one language or vernacular .
Rob says
the most ironic part is that Bangladesh owes its existence to the intervention of Hindu India.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Okay, so what’s the best Quran passage for a kafir to memorize (and does it have to be in Arabic)?
bernie says
Jeepers H. Crackers! (Ned Flanders)
Seriously, it would behoove all Kuffars (especially the Coffee-Krisp kuffars) to read the Qu’ran through at least once, to familiarize themselves with it. Perhaps read the hadiths at least ocne as well.
Sure, it’s tedious, even more so than reading the Book of Mormon (which actually has a “Book of Ether”) and says, “And it came to pass….” several hundred times. According to the late Christopher Hitchens, the writer Mark Twain once referred to the Book of Mormon as “chloroform in print.” One wonders what Twain would call the Qu’ran.
eduardo odraude says
bernie,
One could also read the short versions of Qur’an and Hadith put together by physicist Bill Warner at the Center for the Study of Political Islam (can find through Google).
If you just pick up an ordinary Qur’an and start reading, it’s very difficult, in part because the chapters are not in chronological order — instead, the longer the chapter, the closer it is to the front of the book. But even if the chapters are rearranged to be in the chronological order in which they were revealed (according to Muslim scholars of Islam), they are still not self-explanatory, and often say nothing of the circumstances within which the chapter was produced, the situation it was an answer to.
Bill Warner’s presentations of the Qur’an fill in the gaps and make it understandable. He has I think three versions of the Qur’an: a version that is full-length; another version that has all the repetition removed (about half as long); and a third version that is even shorter, where Warner tries to just give the most essential parts.
eduardo odraude says
addendum to bernie:
As to Mark Twain, he seems to have said little about Islam, except this:
“Rags, wretchedness, poverty and dirt, those signs and symbols that indicate the presence of Moslem rule more certainly than the crescent flag itself…”
maghan says
He also said: [paraphrase] “Every Muhammedan is insane–in religious matters”.
Cecilia Ellis says
I did not realize until now that Mark Twain was Islamophobic . . . soon CAIR will denounce his works.
eduardo odraude says
Yes, one would probably need to be able to say it in Arabic, because Muslims almost always pray in Arabic. Maybe the first chapter, which is short, would be the one to memorize, because I gather it is a very common Muslim prayer, and a devout Muslim says it many times a day. But whatever. I’m sure one can find websites that allow one to hear any verse recited in Arabic online for free if one Googles around.
eduardo odraude says
The jihadists would probably expect one to say the verses in Arabic, because that is how Muslims all over the globe pray, even though most Muslims don’t speak Arabic and don’t know what the Arabic prayers mean, except for what imams have told them.
CrossWare says
How would someone make this the right wing or at least the straight white male’s fault? Hmmm… Some of the victims from the USA. Must be their micro- aggression was what caused the poor and helpless Muslim victims to snap. Yes that is it! Those damn evil straight white males…
Debi Brand says
Indeed. Well stated, to say the least.
John says
Here’s another idea: Buy a gun and learn how to use it. Carry it everywhere you go – illegally if you must – as it may be the ONLY defense you have. The ONLY way you will survive to see another sunrise, or enjoy the touch of a loved one.
“When seconds count, the police will be minutes away.”
Carolyne says
Or in the case of Orlando, three hours away.
Carel de Kadt says
I hope Mr Spencer will be asked by the new president to become a special advisor to the president on these matters concerning islam en islam related topics. There is no one better qualified in the U.S. to do that I think. Mr Spencer is living walking encyclopedia on the islam. President to be Mr Trump should actually already be thinking on this right now. Spencer is a fountain of information to be shure. Nobody has done more in recent years to forward the cause of caution and warning about islam then he.
Carolyne says
If Hillary Clinton is the next President, she already has her Muslim advisor, her “Bosom” buddy, Huma Abedin.
siesmann says
Off course mUllahs,and some Muslim “Scholars” insist that every science is in the Quran,and all that has been invented or will be is all there.That is why Muslims are so advanced in sciences,and produce cutting edge technology.
Noslm1 says
I would rather die than have a passage of that demon-inspired book inscribed in my head.
I’ll memorize scripture, but not a syllable of that vile text. If that means I get killed, then so be it.
sencit says
Absolutely! I feel the same way.
UriahB says
Shades of Auzswitz. Separate the undesirables. Kill. Entebbe. Separate and killl. Religion of peace.
Carolyne says
But once they’ve killed all infidels, they will kill each other. It happens all the time.
St. Patrick says
Thanks Hugh..Thanks Robert..Again!..
dnaxy says
This proves ISIS and the terrorists are not deviant offshoots of an otherwisw peaceful religion. These deviants would not ask for recitations of the fundamental documents of the orthodox religion if they were offshoots.
This would be akin to the KKK, holding some black hostages, asking them to cite passages of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution in order to be spared a whipping.