Thou Shalt Not Sleep With 72 Virgins
July 21, 2005
In light of London’s recent suicide subway bombings, it’s little wonder that the ACLU is pressing the state of North Carolina to allow courtroom oaths to be sworn on a Koran. Rather than confusing the public with ten simple rules of moral conduct to live by, isn’t it much simpler to swear an oath on 77,934 words of Arabic text that promises, no matter what you do or say, if you die murdering non-Muslims you will finally get your grimy mitts on 72 virgins?
What has been so disconcerting to liberals about the Ten Commandments is its lack of confusion. In ten simple verses, the Commandments lay down a fairly clear blueprint for living a moral Judeo-Christian life. In a ghastly coincidence from which liberals will never recover, these same Ten Commandments have formed the foundation of non-secular Western law. You either should or shouldn’t do something...it really is that simple.
Conversely, the Koran leaves morality in the eye of the beholder. In a Vision of Islam, Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick clear up any confusion about the Koran’s meaning, “Muslim thinkers often quote the Prophet to the effect that every verse of the Koran has seven meanings, beginning with the literal sense, and as for the seventh and deepest meaning, God alone knows that.” What IS the meaning of IS?
To comfort the infidels a bit more, Murata and Chittick assure us that even though, “...the Koran may appear as disorderly, inaccurate, and illogical...there is enough evidence provided by Islamic civilization...to be sure that the problem lies on the side of the reader, not the book.” At last, a cognitive justification for why “A Pakistani man and some of his relatives chopped off his wife's feet after accusing her of being promiscuous.” Seven levels of interpretation give you two more feet of leeway than the single dimension of the Ten Commandments in dealing with adultery.
With such a complex moral compass as the Koran, it’s little wonder that the simple Western mind is always outraged by the canned “Dog ate my homework” explanation the Muslim community offers up after every barbaric act of Islamic terrorism against the civilized world.
Beirut's English-language Daily Star lamented "In spite of the fact that all acts of Islamic terrorism blatantly contradict Islamic teachings, such acts serve to further distort the image of Muslims and Islam." Saudi Arabia's top religious official, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz al-Sheikh, said "The explosions in London...have no basis in Islam. It is forbidden by our religion." Bashir Ahmed, 65, the uncle of suicide bomber Shehzad Tanweer, said " This is a terrible thing...It wasn't him. It must have been forces behind him."
Even Tony Blair “called for a battle of ideas against the fanatical beliefs and perversion of Islam underlying al Qaeda's evil ideology." Identical to the aftermath of 9-11, the 7-7 London bombing can leave the civilized world secure in the knowledge that Islam is a peace-loving religion and Muslims everywhere are crying crocodile tears over the infidels’ bodies shredded in the name of Mohammed.
Level of understanding #6 for the Islamic equivalent of “Thou shall not kill” translates into “Thou shall not kill unless it gets you 70 virgins in heaven with a place to have sex, covered in diamonds and pearls, where even angels couldn't see.” This is the promise made by terrorist recruiters to 18-year-old Muhammed Yusuf. When Yusuf’s father died, he turned to the religion of peace for solace and was immediately seen as a vulnerable target of opportunity by terrorist recruiters. I think a level #7 understanding of this promises the martyr 72 virgins but only Allah knows that.
Approaching the truth, a friend of suicide bomber Shehzad Tanweer hedged that while “I don't approve of what he did, but I understand it.” Another of his British-born peace-loving Muslim buddies observed that Tanweer “"...was sick of it all, all the injustice and the way the world is going about it.” So obviously, it’s understandable that a rational approach to perceived world injustice is to blow yourself up while killing or maiming over 700 innocent civilians. I hope there will be enough virgins left to pass around at this homicide rate.
Two Islamic activists living in England, Dr. Imram Waheed and Farouq Khan, say they “...are weary of...economic distress and discrimination” suffered by Muslims in England. The solution of their radical Hizb ut-Tahrir Party is “to rebuild the Caliphate - the Muslim state dissolved with the fall of the Ottoman...and to instill Islamic mores and Islamicize almost every aspect of daily life.” So I guess you end discrimination by chopping the feet off of women who displease you.
A real key to the hypocrisy of Western-based Muslims can be found in their own admissions. The NYT’s reported that “A recent poll commissioned by The Guardian found that 84 percent of Muslims surveyed were against the use of violence for political means, but only 33 percent of Muslims said they wanted more integration into mainstream British culture.” And this is the conundrum of “diversity” in Western cultures.
For all of the liberals who love to debase Judeo-Christian morality, there is a myopia that refuses to acknowledge that “living in the home of the free” is a direct extension of Judeo-Christian ethics into modern day law. You can’t have an Islamic religious state and the Bill of Rights. They are incompatible. You do, however, have a Bill of Rights in a state born from Judeo-Christian morality. It was that morality that gave the free world its...freedom.
The long-term welfare of a nation is dependent upon the citizens of that nation assimilating into that nation’s fabric. You just can’t have a collection of religious and ethnic city-states under a central government and call that a nation. That mess is called an empire and empires are the dreams of fools.
The same peace-loving Muslims who condemn the Western cultures, in which they choose to live, for offenses against Islam, seemed to be curiously deaf, dumb and blind to the atrocities sanctioned by Islamic mullahs under the reign of the Taliban. This same incognizance also applies to the slaughter and mutilation of millions of Muslims by the Muslim likes of Saddam Hussein, Mullah Muhammad Omar and Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini (who “murdered 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 -- including children as young as 13 hanged from cranes, six at a time).
If Muslims are serious about joining the civilized world, a good first start would be a succinct statement of Muslim morality...similar to the Ten Commandments. Just let the world know in less than 7 levels what Muslims believe is right and wrong. Since the New Testament and the Koran are about the same size, it shouldn’t be hard to state a brief and clear understanding of Muslim morality. You either should or shouldn’t murder.
And for all those who will scream that every time America is at war we violate the 6th Commandment...well, if you can’t differentiate between a war and a suicide bomber, you must be as confused as a liberal.
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