Yesterday, I was reading a "peaceful and friendly" part-Israeli blog - East Med Sea Peace- cheering the fact that the Lebanese were capable of making political humor out of their tragedy… the old arabic verse, "Like a bird dancing out of Pain" came to mind. The bird is Lebanon, a Phoenix.. Much as it dances out of joy in its better days, it dances out of pain in times of hurt... It dances to shake off the ashes.
The Phoenix bursts into fire, then rises again, do the shrieks sound like laughter? Maybe they do. Just like southern mothers who welcome their fallen children back home with a "Ululation," and hide their tears. Somehow their cries resound of pain, a different sound of joy that says: "Happy to have you back, torn, wounded, ...dead.. happy to have you back no matter what."
Only with laughter can we welcome back our Lebanon.. our precious little Lebanon.. a secret legend says that with echos of laughter we can herald in tomorrow. Legend says that the smiles in this little rock called Lubnan turn into clouds, and rain back droplets of life..
For its sake, for Lebanon's sake, we tread on our hearts, we swallow our pain, we hide our wounds, and hang our bloody clothes as cheerful banners, we dry our tears and spread the white salt and perhaps throw into air our last ration of rice to bring Lebanon back, we stand up and cry:
O Joy! O Joy! Rise Lebanon, Rise!
For its sake we shall live, and for its name we shall laugh.
The Phoenix bursts into fire, then rises again, do the shrieks sound like laughter? Maybe they do. Just like southern mothers who welcome their fallen children back home with a "Ululation," and hide their tears. Somehow their cries resound of pain, a different sound of joy that says: "Happy to have you back, torn, wounded, ...dead.. happy to have you back no matter what."
Only with laughter can we welcome back our Lebanon.. our precious little Lebanon.. a secret legend says that with echos of laughter we can herald in tomorrow. Legend says that the smiles in this little rock called Lubnan turn into clouds, and rain back droplets of life..
For its sake, for Lebanon's sake, we tread on our hearts, we swallow our pain, we hide our wounds, and hang our bloody clothes as cheerful banners, we dry our tears and spread the white salt and perhaps throw into air our last ration of rice to bring Lebanon back, we stand up and cry:
O Joy! O Joy! Rise Lebanon, Rise!
For its sake we shall live, and for its name we shall laugh.
A question: If Hizbullah is the "defender' of Lebanon as Nasrallah falsely claims, the why did he not fight the Syrian horrible occupation of Lebanon?
ReplyDeleteCan anyone explain?
Another question the Sayed claims "victory" so why does he accuse the US and Tony Blair of delaying the cease fire? He who is victorious needs a cease fire?
Nasrallah claims 'divine victory' in Lebanon
ReplyDeleteFriday, 22 September, 2006 @ 6:45 PM
By Omar Raad,
Ya Libnan Volunteer
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah emerged from hiding during Friday's rally to declare a "divine, historic and strategic victory" over Israel. His speech focused on firing up opposition to the government and resisting disarmament.
The irony of it all is the very location Nasrallah selected to host his "victory" rally. In Dahyie, the bombed out suburbs of Beirut that suffered seemingly never-ending air strikes from the ruthless Israeli Defense Force.
To claim "victory" over the graves of those murdered in Dahiye, where Hizbullah was helpless in defending against the daily F-16 bombardments, is an insult to the deceased and an insult to the intelligence of the Lebanese people.
In an attempt to rally support for the controversial attack instigated by Hezbollah, Nasrallah did a disservice to his country and dishonor to the 1,200+ killed in his war by celebrating "victory" on the very land where so many lives were needlessly taken less than 6 weeks ago. Hizbullah are viewed by many to be exploiting the deceased in the bombed out area by turning it into a tour ground.
"National Unity"
The very same man who needed Lebanon's government to negotiate an end to the conflict has come out of hiding to beat his chest and discredit the government. In a speech riddled with contradictions, Nasrallah made every attempt to present Lebanon's Prime Minister and his allies in a weak light.
"The current government cannot protect, unite and reconstruct Lebanon," Nasrallah said, adding "a strong state is built with the formation of a government of national unity."
Ironically, it is the government who should be credited for rallying world support for Lebanon. Siniora gathered $940 million at the donors conference. Siniora offered $40,000 in support to each household impacted by the war. Hizbullah initially vowed to rebuild the destroyed areas, then ran into financial issues and had to call on its big brother Iran for financial support.
Nasrallah even admitted there is a real political crisis in Lebanon and urged all Lebanese not to transform such a problem into a sectarian crisis.
However the Hizbullah chief went on to make a comment that goes against any pretense of "national unity" by posing an open threat: "I will not tolerate any insults to my people."
Nasrallah continued to boast that his group will not give up its arms in a weak Lebanese state incapable of defending itself from the threat of Israel.
Nasrallah claimed, "the resistance is the one that shielded Lebanon from civil war." Ironic as the rally itself largely divides the Lebanese people, and practically calls for the overthrow of the government.
"No army in the world can dismantle Hizbullah"
As his speech unfolded, Nasrallah's "victory" rally became more of a self-gratitude rally, patting himself and his militia on the back for all the positive they have brought upon Lebanon. Nasrallah made his first public appearance since the war started on July 12, despite risks to himself and more importantly the crowd's safety.
Nasrallah said "Hizbullah is now stronger than it was before July 12." He continued to claim that, "[Hizbullah] has more than 20,000 rockets" and that "no army in the world can dismantle Hizbullah and their arsenal."
A more appropriate locale for the "victory" rally would have been Bint Jbeil in Southern Lebanon, where Hizbullah stood it's ground against the Israeli army, where the United Nations security force stand today, along with the Lebanese Army, to protect Lebanon's southern border. That would have also placed Nasrallah and his supporters much closer to the threat of a possible Israeli assassination.
Source: Ya Libnan
Sunday, September 24, 2006
ReplyDeleteLeader of Syrian Brotherhood: Assad Tries to Sow the Seeds of Civil Strife in Lebanon
The following are excerpts from an interview with Ali Al-Bayanouni, leader
of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, which aired on Future TV on August 30,
2006.
Ali Al-Bayanouni: Is it conceivable - after the Lebanese people achieved
this victory through its steadfastness and national unity - that Bashar
Al-Assad attacks the Lebanese people and the March 14 forces, as well as the
Arab rulers, with words inappropriate for the president of a state? This is
also a speech of incitement. Not only did he try to take credit for this
victory, but he also tried to sow the seeds of civil strife among the
Lebanese, and to incite them against one another, just as he did in the
past.
[...]
In the Golan, nothing is being done, of course. Even a bird is not allowed
to fly across the Syrian border on the Golan front. Any resistance or
support for the resistance in the Golan is prevented. While Syrian air space
has been violated more than once - in Ein Al-Sahb, and even when [Israeli]
planes flew over the presidential palace - we are still waiting "to
determine the time, place, and date of the battle."
Interviewer: So should an Israeli-Syrian war be ignited?
Ali Al-Bayanouni: In my opinion, just like the Lebanese people and the
Lebanese resistance are required to complete the liberation of their lands,
the Syrians should be required to devise a plan to liberate the occupied
lands. The Golan is larger and more important than the Shaba' [Farms]. Of
course, we should strive to liberate every inch of occupied land, but the
Golan has great importance. How come the Syrian regime, to this day, has not
considered devising a national plan for the liberation of the Golan?
The Long List Of Syrian Assassinations in Lebanon
ReplyDeleteI shall not mention the "disappeared" Lebanese in Syrian jails.
May Chidiac was crippled in a Syrian assassination attempt. Here is the list of Syrian assassinations in Lebanon for those who have a short memory:
Gebrane Tueni joins the long list of anti Syrians and pro Lebanese, who are systematically murdered in Lebanon by Syrian instigation. After Rafik Hariri, Bassel Fleyhane, Samir Kassir et Georges Haoui, without forgetting the botched assassination attempts of Marwan Hamad?, ?lias Murr et May Chidiac. The assassination coincides with the publication of the Mehlis report just as the assassination attempt of Marwan Hamad? ( 1st October 2004), coincided with the adoption of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559 calling for the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, and the disarming of all armed militias, including Hizballah.
Rafik Hariri was certainly the latest most prominent victim of Syrian assassination tactics
designed to subjugate Lebanon. A bit of history:
Syria stationed its commanding supervision at the Ministry of Defense at
Yerze, while organizing its ubiquitous security and intelligence apparatus
(mukhabarat) under Colonel Ghazi Kana’an who became the personal notorious
manifestation of the occupation regime.( He had "Committed suicide" since) He was later replaced by Syrian
military intelligence headed by General Rostum Ghazala. In short order the
Syrians confirmed that, as Hannah Arendt wrote, “terror is the essence of
totalitarian domination Political assassination was its most dreadful form
attested by the murders of noted national leaders, like Kamal Junblatt, the
Druze head of the Progressive Socialist Party in 1977, Bashir Gemayel,
commander of the Lebanese Forces and president-elect of Lebanon in 1982, and
Rene Mo’awed, President of Lebanon in 1989. Religious dignitaries, such as
Father Philippe Abou-Sleimane in Aley and Sheikh Ahmed Assaf in 1982, and
Sheikh Hassan Khaled the Sunni Mufti of Lebanon in 1989, were also disposed
of. Well-known journalists like Selim Al-Lowzi in 1977 and Riyad Taha,
president of the Lebanese Press Association, in 1980 became victims of the
Syrian security hit squads. Certain sources claim that the assassination of
Dany Chamoun, son of former Lebanese president Camille Chamoun, in October
1990 was the work of the Syrians with Lebanese collaboration. The attempted
assassinations of Pierre Gemayel, founder of the Kata’ib (Phalange movement)
and father of Bashir and Amin, Raymond Edde the National Bloc leader,
Camille Chamoun former president and head of the Liberal Party, and the
Greek Catholic Patriarch Maximos V. Hakim, should be noted in this context.
Un nouveau Rideau de fer est descendu sur le monde (A new Iron curtain has descended across the world)
ReplyDeleteLe vrai visage de l'islam se dévoile lorsqu'il est appliqué intégralement...or, l'islam ne peut croître que voilé...du moins en terre à conquérir.
Le nouveau Mur de la honte n'est pas là où on croit !
Tel est le mérite de ce lumineux article d'Elizabeth Richard sur resiliencetv qui révèle à nouveau le formidable mensonge de la non contrainte EN islam ("pas de contraintes", oui, mais ... "à partir du moment où vous restez musulman"!) et le "vrai visage de l'islam" (toujours aussi guerrier, avec l'apostasie assimilée très symptomatiquement à... la haute trahison et la désertion!) ...
Et par conséquent le véritable Rideau de fer qui est en train de se mettre en place ou plutôt de se renforcer et de s'étendre à l'échelle de pays entiers mais aussi "intérieurement" dans la tête de leurs pratiquants forcés et qui permet au totalitarisme vert de continuer à maintenir en toute impunité des populations entières "derrière les barreaux du risque d’une exécution capitale s'ils revendiquent leur liberté de pensée" ...
Que penser d’une religion qui... ne maintient ses ouailles que par la coercition physique ?
Islam : " il n'y a pas de contraintes en religion "...
Oui... à partir du moment où vous restez musulman...puisque la seule religion possible est censée être celle-ci... La condamnation à mort d’Abdul Rahmane pour apostasie , suivie de sa libération pour motifs psychologiques et de sa demande d’asile acceptée par l’Italie, n’est sans doute que la première étape d’un long processus de réflexion qui touche la cohérence même de l’islam.
Elle tombe d’ailleurs en même temps que la nouvelle Loi Algérienne sur l’interdiction du prosélytisme chrétien, la possession la simple référence , l’édition d’une Bible ou d’un Evangile peut entraîner une condamnation .
On pouvait voir le 28 mars dernier , des manifestants furieux dans les rues de Kaboul, craignant une épidémie de conversions au christianisme , si la conversion devenait un passeport pour la liberté des pays Européens !!!!
Que penser d’une religion qui invoque le spirituel, mais qui ne maintient ses ouailles que par la coercition physique ? Il n’y a rien de moins spirituel que l’interdiction de penser . Certains juristes musulmans justifient cette sanction par la comparaison avec un crime de haute trahison pour désertion dans une armée de métier. Mais ils oublient que l’adhésion à cette armée est libre , ce qui n’est pas le cas pour un membre de la Oumma , puisque tout enfant né de parents musulmans est musulman par définition .
Comment gérer la coexistence pacifique de populations de différentes religions, si certaines d’entre elles sont enfermées derrière les barreaux du risque d’une exécution capitale en revendiquant leur liberté de pensée ? Les populations musulmanes sont-elles condamnées à vivre totalement refermées sur elles-mêmes pour résoudre cette contradiction ?
Comment accepter un voisinage qui vous laisserait marier votre fille au fils du voisin et qui interdirait à votre fils d’épouser leur fille ?
La réciprocité et le respect n’est-elle pas l’une des valeurs premières de l’humanité ? et comment accepter ce voisinage si les lois ne s’appliquent pas équitablement à tous ?
Comment inciter des peuples à réfléchir , à voter, à se responsabiliser et à se prendre à charge, si ils n’ont pas le droit de penser et de remettre en cause le système qui les gère ?
Comment attirer les investisseurs , les cerveaux dont ces pays ont besoin ?
Comment gérer , au sein même de l’ONU des populations qui n’ont pas les mêmes droits sur la première de leur liberté : la liberté de conscience ? Comment exiger un traitement équitable et sur quelles bases établir la notion même d’équité pour ces populations , vivant ensembles et dont certaines seraient libres et d’autres emprisonnées ?
Comment imaginer faire rentrer dans l’Union Européenne un pays comme la Turquie , dans lequel ce problème pourrait se poser à nouveau ?
Les Imams afghans qui ont exigé la peine de mort d’Abdul Rahmane n’avaient certainement pas imaginé toutes les contradictions, toutes les incohérences qui seraient mises en lumière à la suite de leurs imprécations et de leurs exigences... Ils n’avaient sans doute pas imaginé la réaction internationale qui suivrait ce jugement , et toutes les réflexions que ces contradictions ne vont pas manquer de faire surgir , au sein même de l’Islam … car s’ils en avaient seulement imaginé le quart de la moitié du tiers, ils se seraient bien abstenus de condamner cet homme...de peur que le vrai visage de l'islam se dévoile lorsqu'il est appliqué intégralement...or, l'islam ne peut croître que voilé...du moins en terre à conquérir.
Pope Benedict XVI's apologies for worldwide reaction to his remarks about Islam and his invitation today for Muslim leaders to meet with him next week are "mere diplomatic acts" and prove the pontiff does not really regret his words, a prominent Gaza Strip preacher told WND.
ReplyDeleteSheik Abu Saqer, leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic outreach movement, which seeks to make secular Muslims more religious, called for holy war against the pope.
He said Christian leaders such as Benedict are "afraid" because they realize Islam is Allah's favorite religion and they are going to hell unless they convert. The Gaza preacher declared the "green flag of Muhammad" would soon be raised over the Vatican.
"We did not need the words of the pope in order to understand that this is a Crusader war against Islam and it is our holy duty to fight all those who support the pope, who follow him and who did not condemn what this small racist had to say," said Abu Saqer, from the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.
"The day will soon come when the green flag of La Illah Illah Allah (There is no god but Allah) and Muhammad Rasul Allah (Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah) will be raised upon the Vatican and all around the world and on the fortresses of those who want to destroy Islam, because they know that this religion obliges them to face the truth that Islam is Allah's favorite religion. And until they join Islam, hell is their last station," Abu Saqer said.
The Gaza imam was responding to a speech last week in which the 79-year-old pope quoted Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, who wrote, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
The pontiff last Sunday said he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction to his comments and said Wednesday the emperor's words did not reflect how he himself felt. He said the intent of his remarks were to call for a dialogue on the role of religions in modern life.
The Vatican this morning reportedly invited ambassadors from Muslim nations to meet the pope Monday in a bid to calm anger that has spilled over into international Muslim protests.
Last weekend, Palestinians wielding guns and firebombs attacked five churches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches in the north Samaria city of Nablus and a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City. A group calling itself the "Lions of Monotheism" claimed responsibility for the church attacks, saying they were carried out to protest the pope's remarks.
Abu Saqer said he rejected the pope's stated apologies.
"He did not apologize. He said everything but an apology, which proves these are diplomatic acts and not a feeling of being sorry."
Abu Saqer claimed he did not condone violence. He blamed the pope for recent anti-Christian attacks in the Palestinian territories.
"We are deeply sorry for these acts that we condemn," he said. "But I am sorry that this little racist did not think of the consequences upon the Christians in the Arab world when he insulted our prophet. It is an open war – the Muslims against all the others."
Asked to respond directly to Paleologus' observations about Muhammad and Islam, Abu Saqer replied, "About your stupid question about our contribution to civilization, did not you read about who were the pioneers in medicine, in mathematics, in astronomy? Did not you hear about Averroes and others?
"I am not reading poetry, I am saying the truth. Islam, it is not the source of violence. Who is occupying by force and violence Iraq and Afghanistan? Who is occupying Palestine? Who occupied for years the black people and turned them into slaves while one of the first leaders of Islam was the black Bilal Ibn Rabah?"
Continued Abu Saqer: "Violence is a result of lack of faith. See the Western society and culture. See what free sex brings to your Western world and then see the family cell in Islam. Even our problems in Islam come when some parts of the Islamic population want to imitate your way of life."
The Gaza preacher said the pope and the Christian world are "panicking" because they realize "who is winning."
"See how Islam is progressing and gaining more and more members and see the moral crisis in the West. See today the support of Islam in the Arab and Muslim world and how Islam is gaining more and more adherents in Europe and even in the United States and you understand that Islam is the future and that this dwarf pope was wrong. But I can sympathize with him. He is frustrated because he understands where things are heading."
'Divine' Billboards Target Journalists
ReplyDeleteIf you're wondering why Hezbollah's "Divine Victory" billboards sprouting across Beirut are in English instead of Arabic, its because the organization's P.R. blitz is targeting Western journalists. Newsweek talked to Mohammad Kawtharani, who works at the Beirut advertising company handling Hezbollah's ad campaign:
Part of the Islamists' new strategy: a $100,000 advertising blitz called "Divine Victory," featuring more than 600 billboards around Beirut and southern Lebanon touting Hizbullah's exploits during the 34-day war. (Cleverly, the slogan is almost a literal translation of Nasrallah's last name.) The panels line the road to Beirut from the city's international airport, and the new buy includes slogans like "America and its tools have been defeated"—in English. Last week the group expanded the campaign, adding dozens more billboards, and Nasrallah himself made an appearance at a massive rally in Beirut, standing in front of one (pictured)....
One of the striking things about Hizbullah's campaign is that many of the billboards around Lebanon are in English, crafted explicitly for foreign TV cameras. Some of Hizbullah's six-man creative team, like Kawtharani himself, studied at the American University of Beirut and are fluent enough to employ a more subtly effective English idiom—the MADE IN THE U.S.A. banners, for example.
'Divine' Billboards Target Journalists
ReplyDeleteIf you're wondering why Hezbollah's "Divine Victory" billboards sprouting across Beirut are in English instead of Arabic, its because the organization's P.R. blitz is targeting Western journalists. Newsweek talked to Mohammad Kawtharani, who works at the Beirut advertising company handling Hezbollah's ad campaign:
Part of the Islamists' new strategy: a $100,000 advertising blitz called "Divine Victory," featuring more than 600 billboards around Beirut and southern Lebanon touting Hizbullah's exploits during the 34-day war. (Cleverly, the slogan is almost a literal translation of Nasrallah's last name.) The panels line the road to Beirut from the city's international airport, and the new buy includes slogans like "America and its tools have been defeated"—in English. Last week the group expanded the campaign, adding dozens more billboards, and Nasrallah himself made an appearance at a massive rally in Beirut, standing in front of one (pictured)....
One of the striking things about Hizbullah's campaign is that many of the billboards around Lebanon are in English, crafted explicitly for foreign TV cameras. Some of Hizbullah's six-man creative team, like Kawtharani himself, studied at the American University of Beirut and are fluent enough to employ a more subtly effective English idiom—the MADE IN THE U.S.A. banners, for example.
President Assad's Interview with Spanish El Pais Newspaper
ReplyDeleteSunday, October 01, 2006 - 09:05 PM
Damascus, Oct. 01 (SANA - Syrian News Agency)- President Bashar al-Assad
summarized in an interview with the Spanish best selling newspaper of El-
Pais Syria's stances over the regional and international developments,
particularly after the Israeli war on Lebanon as well as several topics
regarding internal affairs.
...On the safe return of the Spanish troops participating in the UNIFIL to
their country, President Assad said that "if Spain or the other countries
commit themselves to Spain's neutral stance, and not like the stance of the
Germans who said they have come to protect Israel. these forces should not
come to be part of the Lebanese problem.this means that if a later
resolution is issued by the UN Security Council under the 7th Article, then
these forces would become part of the problem."
...
President Assad pointed out to Syria's cooperation with the issues of the
existence of technical equipment to supervise the borders as proposed by UN
chief Kofi Annan and the Italians. He indicated that these procedures are
all "time wasting as they are an escape from the big solution."
His Excellency added that "experience in our region over the past decades
has proved that if resistance has a public support then it can get what it
wants, so time should not be wasted in small things like this subject."
The President pointed out that the countries concerned have no choice but to
have confidence in Syria "because if there is a real desire in smuggling
then neither the UN Security Council resolutions nor all technologies or
armies of the world can prevent this process..there must be a return to the
peace."
President Assad reiterated Syria's support to the resistance as long as
there is occupation to the lands, particularly that our lands are also
occupied.
...
His Excellency went on to say that "our stance in Syria over the current
situation in Lebanon is to encourage the Lebanese dialogue.but surely we
support the Lebanese national trends which don't accept foreign
intervention."
On the situation of some arrested people in Syria, President Assad pointed
out that nobody in the past intervened with the groups that continuously
criticized the State in Syria.
The President indicated that "the subject is quite different as there are
groups from Lebanon which publicly and officially called on the US to occupy
Damascus and strike Syria, and these according to the Syrian law have become
in the enemy line, and any person or state that calls for occupying your
country is an enemy.
These groups have dealt directly with these forces.and there was an official
meeting and direct coordination with them.and this according to the law
immediately leads to prison because it's a dealing with an enemy."
His Excellency pointed out that the number of those are more than 200, ten
of them who were considered as responsible were detained, and then with the
investigations six were released. "The trail proceedings are continuous as
any other trial.there are lawyers..and other persons may be released.we
don't intervene in the case as it has nothing to do with the opinion or
something like that.it's rather a case of relations with somebody who is
considered an enemy."
On the existing situation between Syria and Israel, President Assad said
"the problem is linked to two sides not one side..this situation is linked
to one thing which is peace.or maybe war if there is no peace process."
...
Ahmad F. ZAHRA / Mazen
The Philosopher and the Fatwa
ReplyDeletehttp://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=24692
By Robert Spencer
FrontPageMagazine.com | October 2, 2006
It has happened again. On the heels of global Muslim rage against Pope Benedict XVI – which led to riots and three killings of Christians – a teacher in France has gone into hiding after receiving death threats.
His offense? He published a column in the French newspaper Le Figaro in which he characterized the Muslim prophet Muhammad as “a merciless war chief, plunderer, slaughterer of Jews and a polygamist.”
Redeker said that one of the threats he received stated: “You will never feel secure on this earth. One billion, three hundred thousand Muslims are ready to kill you.”
As the death threats poured in, everyone abandoned Redeker. The teacher himself noted that France’s education ministry “has not even contacted me, has not deigned to get in touch to see if I need any help.” The senior editor of Le Figaro, Pierre Rousselin, declared on Al-Jazeera that he had been mistaken to publish Redeker’s article, and hastened to assure the Islamic world that the article did not reflect the opinion of the paper.
It was unclear what exactly those who are threatening Redeker are upset about. Were they contending that he had lied about Muhammad?
If so, they must contend with the fact that many Muslims around the world seem to agree, unapologetically, that Muhammad was “a merciless war chief, plunderer, slaughterer of Jews and a polygamist.”
As I explain in my forthcoming book The Truth About Muhammad, mujahedin throughout the world see the Prophet of Islam as the personification of the qualities they are trying to embody. They have provided abundant evidence of this in recent years:
· Merciless war chief: On September 5, 2003, Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris invoked one of Muhammad’s battles, an expedition against the Byzantine empire known as the Battle of Tabouk, when speaking of the Iraq war in a sermon broadcast by the Palestinian Authority: “If we go back in the time tunnel 1400 years, we will find that history repeats itself…. Byzantium represents America in the west…. America will collapse, as Byzantium collapsed in the west….The Prophet [Muhammad] could, by means of unbroken ranks, conquer Byzantium, the greatest power compared to today’s America -- and this without a single martyr falling from among the Muslims….The Prophet could, by means of the unity of the Muslim ranks and its awakening, defeat the America of that time….America is our No. 1 enemy, and we see it as our No. 1 enemy as long as we learn from the lessons of the Battle of Tabouk [which took place in October 630 AD]: ‘Make ready for them whatever you can of armed strength and of mounted pickets’ [Koran 8:60]. We are prepared and ready, but victory is from Allah….”[i]
On November 21, 2003, Muslims poured out of the Maiduguri Road Central Mosque after Friday prayers in the Nigerian city of Kaduna, demanding the implementation of Sharia law and distributing flyers stating: “The only solution is Jihad, the type of jihad put into practise by Prophet Muhammed and exemplified by Shehu Usman Dan Fodio and the late Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran. We Muslims should unite and embrace this concept of jihad that will undoubtedly empower us to destroy oppression and oppressors, and in its place establish Islam.”[ii]
In October 2004, Sheikh Aamer Bin Abdallah Al-Aamer wrote this in the Al-Qaeda online journal Sawt al-Jihad: “Perform the Jihad against your enemies with your [own two] hands, sacrifice your souls and your property in fighting your enemy, as an imitation of [the acts of] your Prophet [Muhammad] in the month of Ramadan [and in order to] enrage your enemies.”[iii]
Fawwaz bin Muhammad Al-Nashami, the commander of the jihad group that killed twenty-two people in a jihad attack in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, on May 29, 2004, said that he acted in accord with Muhammad’s wishes for Arabia: “We are Mujahideen, and we want the Americans. We have not come to aim a weapon at the Muslims, but to purge the Arabian Peninsula, according to the will of our Prophet Muhammad, of the infidels and the polytheists who are killing our brothers in Afghanistan and Iraq….We began to comb the site looking for infidels. We found Filipino Christians. We cut their throats and dedicated them to our brothers the Mujahideen in the Philippines. [Likewise], we found Hindu engineers and we cut their throats too, Allah be praised. That same day, we purged Muhammad’s land of many Christians and polytheists.”[iv]
In the run-up to the 2004 American presidential election, a Muslim preacher invoked Muhammad to denounce democracy: “Our Prophet did not run for office in any election….He did not win any political debate. [Instead] he won the war against the infidel.”[v]
In a January 2005 article in Arab News, columnist Adil Salahi reminded his readers that Muhammad never made war on a people without first inviting them to convert to Islam: “During the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) lifetime the Muslim community had to fight many battles, because there were several sources of danger and many opponents who were keen to suppress the rising voice of the Islamic message. The Prophet made sure that in none of these battles the Muslims would exceed the limits of what is lawful in Islam….[H]e would not launch an attack without alerting the enemy and calling on them to accept Islam and live in peace with the Muslim state.”[vi]
London Muslim leader Hani Al-Sibaai in February 2005 justified the slaughters being perpetrated by Al-Zarqawi’s mujahedin in Iraq: “Do these people base themselves on Islamic law or not? They claim that they do, and to support it, they say that slaughtering appeared in a hadith by the Prophet, which was pronounces authentic by Sheik Ahmad Shaker. The Prophet told the Quraysh tribe: ‘I have brought slaughter upon you,’ making this gesture. But these are religious issues that may be disputed….[T]he Prophet drove nails into and gouged out the eyes of people from the ‘Urayna Tribe. They were merely a group of thieves who stole from sheep herders, and the Prophet drove nails into them and threw them into the Al-Hrara area, and left them there to die. He blinded them and cut off their opposite legs and arms. This is what the Prophet did on a trifling matter – let alone in war.”[vii]
· Plunderer: On March 28, 2003, the Palestinian Sheikh Muhammad Abu Al-Hunud warned in another sermon broadcast over Palestinian Authority television against those who would attempt to “mess with Allah’s book, to Americanize the region, Americanize the religion, Americanize the Koran, Americanize Muhammad’s message….” Any doubt that he meant by this that the Qur’an and Muhammad’s message would be stripped of their violent components were dispelled when he prayed about the Americans in Iraq: “Allah, make their possessions a booty for the Muslims, Allah, annihilate them and their weapons, Allah, make their children orphans and their women widows….”[viii]
As late as November 2003, the website of the Islamic Affairs Department (IAD) of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington, D.C. contained exhortations to Muslims to wage violent jihad in emulation of Muhammad, and quoted Muhammad’s words about plunder: “Whoever of My slaves comes out to fight in My way seeking My pleasure, I guarantee him that I will compensate his suffering with reward and booty (during his lifetime) and if he dies, I would forgive him, have mercy on him and let him enter Paradise.”[ix]
· Slaughterer of Jews: A jihadist explaining that the Israeli/Palestinian struggle was more than just a nationalist conflict over land declared: “But all of these people don’t realize that our struggle with the Jews goes way back, ever since the first Islamic state was established in Madeenah with Muhammad (SAWS) the Messenger sent to all of mankind, as its leader. Allaah has related to us in the Qur’ân, the reality of the Jews’ malice and hatred for the ummah of Islaam and Tawheed, as he says: ‘You will surely find that the people with the most enmity towards the believers are the Jews and the polytheists.’ (Surah Al-Maa’idah: 82) [Qur’an 5:82].[x]
In July 2006 a writer on a British Muslim Internet forum declared: “I’m so fed up with these dirty, filthy Israeli dogs. May Allah curse them and destroy them all, and may they face the same fate as Banu Qurayzah!”[xi] This was an Arabian Jewish tribe that was massacred on Muhammad’s orders, and with his participation, after he came to believe that they had betrayed him. Muhammad’s first biographer, Ibn Ishaq, puts the number of those killed at “600 or 700 in all, though some put the figure as high as 800 or 900.”[xii]
· Polygamist. It is not disputed by anyone that Muhammad had many wives. Muslim apologetic websites do not deny the fact, but celebrate it: Islam Online says of Muhammad’s wives that “they gave advice to their husband when he needed it, went with him to battle to nurse the wounded, accompanied him on his travels. They preserved the memory of intimate details of their married life in order to educate succeeding generations in the rules of purification and relations between spouses.”
These are not the slanders of “Islamophobes.” These are the statements of people who consider themselves to be pious and knowledgeable Muslims, who wouldn’t dream of insulting Muhammad.
It is noteworthy also that at least those who spoke in televised sermons seemed to assume that their Muslim audience would also know and accept that Muhammad behaved the way they say he did.
Nor were there any protests raised against these or similar statements by other Muslims anywhere in the Islamic world.
So why is Robert Redeker in fear for his life after threats for saying, in effect, what many Muslims around the world themselves say?
It would appear that his chief crime was in saying these things as a non-Muslim, and in a disapproving way.
Those Muslims who have issued threats to Redeker seem to be attempting to extend the traditional Islamic legal tenet forbidding non-Muslims in the Islamic state to insult Allah or Muhammad to any critical discussion of Muhammad by non-Muslims.
It seems to be acceptable for non-Muslims to speak about Muhammad only if they speak as if they were believers, or with the sensibilities of believers paramount in their considerations.
Even the noted moderate Muslim spokesman Akbar Ahmed of American University recommends something like this when speaking of the rage against Pope Benedict XVI. Ahmed hedges his support for free speech with an appeal to be sensitive to the consequences of speaking out: “Although I totally support free speech and freedom of expression, and have been saying so publicly, all of us need to be sensitive to the culture and traditions of other faiths.
I am not talking of a purely academic or idealistic discussion but the possibility of people losing their lives as a result of some perceived attack on faith made across the world. I believe that the lives lost and the properties destroyed—including mosques and churches—after the Danish cartoons controversy erupted could have been avoided had there been people of greater wisdom and compassion at the start of the crisis.” (Ahmed’s “mosques and churches” statement is curious, since those who were angered by the Pope’s statement destroyed churches in Gaza, the West Bank, and Nigeria. They destroyed no mosques.)
Ahmed seems to be saying in effect that non-Muslims should tread lightly about Islamic topics simply because violence might ensue.
But if someone reacts violently to another’s words, particularly if those words would be inoffensive coming from someone else, the fault lies with the one who is reacting, not with the speaker.
The threats to Redeker, following so closely on the global outrage at the Pope, are yet another example of the jihadist attempt to frighten and intimidate the West into chastened silence.
That makes it all the more crucial, in these perilous times, for free people to speak out.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[i] Steven Stalinsky, “Palestinian Authority Sermons 2000-2003,” Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Report No. 24, December 26, 2003.
[ii] Adeyeye Joseph and Agaju Madugba, “Bomb Scare in Lagos,” This Day, November 22, 2003.
[iii] “Al-Qa’ida Internet Magazine Sawt Al-Jihad Calls to Intensify Fighting During Ramadan -- ‘the Month of Jihad,’” Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Dispatch No. 804, October 22, 2004.
[iv] “Commander of the Khobar Terrorist Squad Tells the Story of the Operation,” Middle East Media Research Institute Special Dispatch Series No. 731, June 15, 2004.
[v] Amir Taheri, “Kerry Wins The Arab Vote,” New York Post, August 18, 2004.
[vi] Adil Salahi, “No Fighting Before Explaining Islam,” Arab News, January 31, 2005.
[vii] “London Islamist Dr. Hani Al-Sibaai Justifies Slaughters in Iraq: The Prophet Muhammad Used to Slaughter As Well,” Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Clip No. 576, February 22, 2005.
[viii] Steven Stalinsky, “Palestinian Authority Sermons 2000-2003,” Middle East Media Research Institute, Special Report No. 24, December 26, 2003.
[ix] Steven Stalinsky, “The ‘Islamic Affairs Department’ of the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C.,” Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Special Dispatch No. 23, November 26, 2003.
[x] “Our Struggle with the Jews is a Struggle for Existence, Not a Struggle for Land,” Al-Asaalah Magazine, Issue 30. http://www.allaahuakbar.net/jew/our_struggle_with_the_jews_is_a_struggle_for_existence.htm.
[xi] Yaakov Lappin, “UK Islamists: Make Jihad on Israel,” YNet News, July 2, 2006.
[xii] Ibn Ishaq, 464.
A Lebanese speaks freely but in the US:
ReplyDeleteBrigitte Gabriel speach at Heritage Foundation
For the many of you who miss seeing my TV interviews here is an opportunity to see me on your computer. Thanks to YOU TUBE. The attached link is from a question and answer session I did after a presentation at The Heritage Foundation in DC last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S55o2hNIXzk
The whole speech is at this link:
http://www.heritage.org/Press/Events/ev092706a.cfm
It is about an hour long.
The interesting thing about this is that CSPAN shot the whole presentation. I am no where to be found on their schedule. I think CSPAN is scared to even show my presentation discussing my book.
Thanks to all of you who already purchased the book and wrote a review. For those of you who have not done so yet I urge you to get the book, read it and put it in someone's hand. Here is the link to Amazon.com Because they Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America
Brigitte Gabriel lost her childhood to militant Islam. In 1975 she was ten years old and living in Lebanon when militant Muslims from throughout the Middle East poured into her country and declared jihad against Lebanese Christians. Lebanon was the only Christian influenced country in the Middle East, and the Lebanese Civil War was the first front in what has become the worldwide jihad of fundamentalist Islam theology against non-Muslim peoples.
Based upon her personal experiences, Garbriel addresses the West’s lack of understanding and ignorance of the ways and thinking of the Middle East. She identifies mistakes the West has made in consistently underestimating the single-mindedness with which fundamentalist Islam has pursued its goals over the past thirty years. Through the telling of her own story, she outlines the history, social movements, and religious divisions that have led to today’s critical conflict.
A compelling and captivating personal story with a powerful lesson about threats to freedom in our time. – R. James Woolsey, Director of Central Intelligence, 1993-95
Brigitte Gabriel is a journalist and news producer who started her career as an anchor for World News, an evening Arabic news broadcast throughout the Middle East. She reported on the Israeli security zone in Lebanon and the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank as they unfolded. As a terrorism expert and the founder of the non-profit organization, American Congress for Truth, she speaks regularly on topics related to the Middle East on television and radio and lectures nationally and internationally.