Islam’s ‘Public Enemy #1
Coptic priest Zakaria Botros fights fire with
fire. By Raymond Ibrahim
(National Review)
Though he is little known in the West, Coptic priest Zakaria Botros — named Islam’s “Public Enemy #1” by the Arabic newspaper, al-Insan al-Jadid — has been making waves in the Islamic world. Along with fellow missionaries — mostly Muslim converts — he appears frequently on the Arabic channel al-Hayat (i.e., “Life TV”). There, he addresses controversial topics of theological significance — free from the censorship imposed by Islamic authorities or self-imposed through fear of the zealous mobs who elminated against the infamous cartoons of Mohammed. Botros’s excurses on little-known but embarrassing aspects of Islamic law and tradition have become a thorn in the side of Islamic leaders throughout the Middle East.Botros is an unusual figure onscreen: robed, with a huge cross around his neck, he sits with both the Koran and the Bible in easy reach. Egypt’s Copts — members of one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East — have in many respects come to personify the demeaning Islamic institution of “dhimmitude” (which demands submissiveness from non-Muslims, in accordance with Koran 9:29). But the fiery Botros does not submit, and minces no words. He has famously made of Islam “ten demands,” whose radical nature he uses to highlight Islam’s own radical demands on non-Muslims.
The result? Mass conversions to Christianity — if clandestine ones. The very public conversion of high-profile Italian journalist Magdi Allam — who was baptized by Pope Benedict in Rome on Saturday — is only the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, Islamic cleric Ahmad al-Qatani stated on al-Jazeera TV a while back that some six million Muslims convert to Christianity annually, many of them persuaded by Botros’s public ministry. More recently, al-Jazeera noted Life TV’s “unprecedented evangelical raid” on the Muslim world. Several factors account for the Botros phenomenon.
First, the new media — particularly satellite TV and the Internet (the main conduits for Life TV) — have made it possible for questions about Islam to be made public without fear of reprisal. It is unprecedented to hear Muslims from around the Islamic world — even from Saudi Arabia, where imported Bibles are confiscated and burned — call into the show to argue with Botros and his colleagues, and sometimes, to accept Christ.
Secondly, Botros’s broadcasts are in Arabic — the language of some 200 million people, most of them Muslim. While several Western writers have published persuasive critiques of Islam, their arguments go largely unnoticed in the Islamic world. Botros’s mastery of classical Arabic not only allows him to reach a broader audience, it enables him to delve deeply into the voluminous Arabic literature — much of it untapped by Western writers who rely on translations — and so report to the average Muslim on the discrepancies and affronts to moral common sense found within this vast corpus.
A third reason for Botros’s success is that his polemical technique has proven irrefutable. Each of his episodes has a theme — from the pressing to the esoteric — often expressed as a question (e.g., “Is jihad an obligation for all Muslims?”; “Are women inferior to men in Islam?”; “Did Mohammed say that adulterous female monkeys should be stoned?” “Is drinking the urine of prophets salutary according to sharia?”). To answer the question, Botros meticulously quotes — always careful to give sources and reference numbers — from authoritative Islamic texts on the subject, starting from the Koran; then from the canonical sayings of the prophet — the Hadith; and finally from the words of prominent Muslim theologians past and present — the illustrious ulema.
Typically, Botros’s presentation of the Islamic material is sufficiently detailed that the controversial topic is shown to be an airtight aspect of Islam. Yet, however convincing his proofs, Botros does not flatly conclude that, say, universal jihad or female inferiority are basic tenets of Islam. He treats the question as still open — and humbly invites the ulema, the revered articulators of sharia law, to respond and show the error in his methodology. He does demand, however, that their response be based on “al-dalil we al-burhan,” — “evidence and proof,” one of his frequent refrains — not shout-downs or sophistry.
More often than not, the response from the ulema is deafening silence — which has only made Botros and Life TV more enticing to Muslim viewers. The ulema who have publicly addressed Botros’s conclusions often find themselves forced to agree with him — which has led to some amusing (and embarrassing) moments on live Arabic TV.
Botros spent three years bringing to broad public attention a scandalous — and authentic — hadith stating that women should “breastfeed” strange men with whom they must spend any amount of time. A leading hadith scholar, Abd al-Muhdi, was confronted with this issue on the live talk show of popular Arabic host Hala Sirhan. Opting to be truthful, al-Muhdi confirmed that going through the motions of breastfeeding adult males is, according to sharia, a legitimate way of making married women “forbidden” to the men with whom they are forced into contact — the logic being that, by being “breastfed,” the men become like “sons” to the women and therefore can no longer have sexual designs on them.
To make matters worse, Ezzat Atiyya, head of the Hadith department at al-Azhar University — Sunni Islam’s most authoritative institution — went so far as to issue a fatwa legitimatizing “Rida’ al-Kibir” (sharia’s term for “breastfeeding the adult”), which prompted such outrage in the Islamic world that it was subsequently recanted.
Botros played the key role in exposing this obscure and embarrassing issue and forcing the ulema to respond. Another guest on Hala Sirhan’s show, Abd al-Fatah, slyly indicated that the entire controversy was instigated by Botros: “I know you all [fellow panelists] watch that channel and that priest and that none of you [pointing at Abd al-Muhdi] can ever respond to him, since he always documents his sources!”
Incapable of rebutting Botros, the only strategy left to the ulema (aside from a rumored $5-million bounty on his head) is to ignore him. When his name is brought up, they dismiss him as a troublemaking liar who is backed by — who else? — international “Jewry.” They could easily refute his points, they insist, but will not deign to do so. That strategy may satisfy some Muslims, but others are demanding straightforward responses from the ulema.
The most dramatic example of this occurred on another famous show on the international station, Iqra. The host, Basma — a conservative Muslim woman in full hijab — asked two prominent ulema, including Sheikh Gamal Qutb, one-time grand mufti of al-Azhar University, to explain the legality of the Koranic verse (4:24) that permits men to freely copulate with captive women. She repeatedly asked: “According to sharia, is slave-sex still applicable?” The two ulema would give no clear answer — dissembling here, going off on tangents there. Basma remained adamant: Muslim youth were confused, and needed a response, since “there is a certain channel and a certain man who has discussed this issue over twenty times and has received no response from you.”
The flustered Sheikh Qutb roared, “low-life people like that must be totally ignored!” and stormed off the set. He later returned, but refused to admit that Islam indeed permits sex-slaves, spending his time attacking Botros instead. When Basma said “Ninety percent of Muslims, including myself, do not understand the issue of concubinage in Islam and are having a hard time swallowing it,” the sheikh responded, “You don’t need to understand.” As for Muslims who watch and are influenced by Botros, he barked, “Too bad for them! If my son is sick and chooses to visit a mechanic, not a doctor — that’s his problem!”
But the ultimate reason for Botros’s success is that — unlike his Western counterparts who criticize Islam from a political standpoint — his primary interest is the salvation of souls. He often begins and concludes his programs by stating that he loves all Muslims as fellow humans and wants to steer them away from falsehood to Truth. To that end, he doesn’t just expose troubling aspects of Islam. Before concluding every program, he quotes pertinent biblical verses and invites all his viewers to come to Christ.
Botros’s motive is not to incite the West against Islam, promote “Israeli interests,” or “demonize” Muslims, but to draw Muslims away from the dead legalism of sharia to the spirituality of Christianity. Many Western critics fail to appreciate that, to disempower radical Islam, something theocentric and spiritually satisfying — not secularism, democracy, capitalism, materialism, feminism, etc. — must be offered in its place. The truths of one religion can only be challenged and supplanted by the truths of another. And so Father Zakaria Botros has been fighting fire with fire.
Raymond Ibrahim is editor of The Al Qaeda Reader.— Raymond Ibrahim is the editor of The Al-Qaeda Reader, translations of religious texts and propaganda.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Islam's Public Enemy No. 1
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Proof (as if its needed) that Moonbats have no shame
Instead, they had to endure six anti-war Moonbats screaming their trite slogans and flinging fake blood everywhere. Fake blood thrown in church, during a service where christians remember the blood spilled by Jesus Christ, his suffering, death, and resurrection.
What an odd way to win the hearts and minds of the public, especially the children who had to witness this travesty.
Moonbats have no respect for anything or anybody. They have no qualms about destroying the property of others. They don’t think twice about disrupting official meetings, solemn ceremonies, religious events, or the public’s quiet enjoyment of a nice walk in the park on a spring day. Why? They have a message they want the world to hear. It matters not whether it is the appropriate forum. Nor does it matter that they deliver their message in the form of stock phrases they learned by rote, with no follow-on thought.
They are like needy three-year-olds whose wants and desires are the only thing that’s important. Trying to reason with Moonbats or attempting to engage them in a frank dialogue on issues is impossible. The response to a logical question or a salient point is loud screaming – usually punctuated by clichés backed by no substance. A frustrated Moonbat is more likely to become violent than to engage in quiet contemplation.
Come to think of it, is there any substantive difference between a Moonbat and a fundamentalist terrorist? Both espouse an ideology that includes the downfall of the United States. Both are incapable of seeing any viewpoint other than their own. Both deploy anarchic tactics. Both act totally irrationally. Nope. No difference.
Chicago Police Arrest Six Iraq War Protesters for Squirting Fake Blood on Easter Churchgoers
Sunday , March 23, 2008CHICAGO (AP)— Six Iraq war protesters disrupted an Easter Mass on Sunday, shouting and squirting fake blood on themselves and parishioners in a packed auditorium.
Three men and three women startled the crowd during Cardinal Francis George's homily, yelling "Even the Pope calls for peace" as they were removed from the Mass by security guards and ushers.
One Mass attendee, Mike Wainscott of Chicago, yelled at the anti-war protesters. "Are you happy with yourselves?" he said. "There were kids in there. You scared little kids with your selfish act. Are you happy now?"
The group, which calls itself Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War, said in a statement after the arrests that they targeted the Holy Name Cathedral on Easter to reach a large audience, including Chicago's most prominent Catholic citizens and the press, which usually covers the services.
Kevin Clark of International Solidarity Movement told the Chicago Tribune that he attended the Mass to serve as a witness for the protesters.
"If Cardinal George is a man of peace and is walking the walk and talking the talk, he should have confronted George Bush and demanded an immediate end to the war," Clark said.
Speaking after the service, George said, "We should all work for peace, but not by interrupting the worship of God."
Police charged each of the six protesters with one count of felony criminal damage to property and two counts each of misdemeanor simple battery.
The six were scheduled to appear in bond court on Monday to face the felony charge, police said. They have court date set for March 31 on the misdemeanors.
A new approach to the POW/MIA issue
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam have no real reason to cooperate and provide us with any information they have, and they have a very great incentive not to. The US government was more interested in ending the war in 1975 than it was in finding our people. Later US corporations had a financial incentive to encourage the government to sweep everything under the rug so they could start exploiting virgin markets. The Defense Department, whether deliberately or through wholesale incompetence, did not fully investigate live sighting reports or pilot distress signals. Compounding the problem is the fact that the military purposefully did not maintain accurate records of incursions into Laos or Cambodia.
Foreign “information sources” turned out to be scam artists who used age-old tricks to extract money from honest and sincere people. Jimmy Carter fulfilled a campaign promise to resolve the POW/MIA issue. He ordered the military services to make an administrative determination that all of our missing personnel were “Presumed Dead.” Several House and Senate Committees have looked at the issue. At least one was headed by two Senators of questionable reliability and motives. The list could go on, but you get the picture. That’s where we are now, so let’s look at what all this means.
Lessons Learned
1. We cannot trust any government to give us any reliable information.
2. We cannot trust foreign sources who have a financial incentive to provide false or misleading information.
3. We need reliable boots on the ground to gather intelligence.
Well, we have boots on the ground. We just haven’t used them.
The world has changed dramatically during the past thirty years. Trade barriers are falling, and as a result money and business opportunities have been flowing out of the US and the other first world countries and into the third world developing countries, including Southeast Asia. In conjunction with this movement of capital the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Export Import Bank have started a parallel flow of money into these developing countries to prop up the infrastructure. This money is funneled into the country through Non-governmental organizations, or NGOs. A non-governmental organization is a non-profit organization that often conducts humanitarian and development work around the world. NGOs are essential to poverty relief efforts. Many NGOs are affiliated with religious organizations. In essence, they are do-gooders. If you look at the individuals actually performing the work I think it safe to say we would probably not agree with their politics, but they do have a finely honed sense of justice.
With the influx of money, trade, and NGOs there has also been a huge increase in the number of religious associations and churches sending missionaries into third world countries, including those in Southeast Asia.
The important point here is that the NGOs and missionaries do not perform most of their work in the cities. They go throughout the country, into the small villages and the poorly populated areas. If there are still living POWs in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam it seems much more likely that the government would hold them in these out of the way regions, where there is less traffic, there is very little satellite surveillance, and the population is more likely to be afraid of the military and government – and less likely to report anything unusual.
I propose that we make an effort to identify the NGOs and religious missions active in these countries, find a reliable American contact within the organization, and try to identify prisons where non-asian prisoners over the age of 50 are being held, and then try to cross reference that information with the embassies, who keep track of their citizens being held by foreign countries. I will volunteer to maintain a database of the organizations. You can contact me with the information. If anyone wants to volunteer to help make contact with the organizations, or has contacts that might make this work, please contact me.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Is there a link between a gene defect, experiencing abuse as a child and PTSD?
Health Day (3/18, Gardner) reported "scientists gathered at a special news conference Tuesday" said an explosion of knowledge in genetics is poised to revolutionize medicine. The scientists "spoke at a conference to unveil results of a number of studies in the March 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a theme issue focused on genomic medicine." One of the studies "found that adults who experienced abuse during childhood and who also have variations in the FKBP5 gene were at greater risk for symptoms of PTSD as adults. The gene is related to the stress response which, in PTSD, appears unable to turn itself down after a trauma or series of traumas, explained study co-author Rebekah G. Bradley of the departments of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University School of Medicine and the Atlanta VA Medical Center."The question for active duty members as well as veterans is whether this study could be used to deny benefits for PTSD. The answer is no. The issue is whether the PTSD is service connected. Just because somebody might be more likely to happen because of a genetic anomaly is not relevant.
Time (3/18, Wallis) focused exclusively on the PTSD study, saying it "raises the question of whether soldiers going into combat or others who work in high-risk situations could some day be screened for vulnerability to PTSD. Dr. Thomas Neylan, the director "of the PTSD Program at the San Francisco VA Medical Center," points out that the research may also have implications for developing drugs to treat PTSD." Time added, "Both Neylan and Bradley say the research underscores the powerful interplay between childhood trauma, genes and mental health." Bradley added, "If we could simply reduce childhood abuse, it would have a major impact on mental health."
The AP (3/18, Tanner) added, "Groundbreaking research suggests genes help explain why some people can recover from a traumatic event while others suffer post-traumatic stress disorder." Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said the study is particularly valuable for the light it sheds on military veterans, who are known to be vulnerable to PTSD." The AP noted that Insel's agency paid for the study.
The VA could try to claim that the PTSD is caused by abuse experienced as a child, but the VA would have to have evidence of ongoing PTSD symptoms, and it would have to show that those symptoms did not increase as a result of a service-connected incident.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Why does more matter than antimatter matter?
Have you ever wondered why there is so much matter in the universe but less evidence of antimatter? In theory, for every atom of matter there should be one atom of antimatter. The trouble starts if matter and antimatter come in contact.
Dr. Egon Spengler: There's something very important I forgot to tell you.
Dr. Peter Venkman: What?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Don't cross the streams.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why?
Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad.
Dr. Peter Venkman: I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad"?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Dr Ray Stantz: Total protonic reversal.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Right. That's bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon
- Ghostbusters (1984)
Matter plus antimatter equals huge explosion, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria.
The imbalance of matter and antimatter is known in particle physics as a CP violation. CP is the product of two symmetries: C for charge conjugation, which transforms a particle into its antiparticle, and P for parity, which creates the mirror image of a physical system. Simply speaking, charge conjugation is a simple symmetry between particles and antiparticles. The idea behind parity symmetry is that the equations of particle physics don’t vary if a reverse reaction occurs. This leads to the prediction that the mirror image of a reaction (such as a chemical reaction or radioactive decay) occurs at the same rate as the original reaction. If there is one atom of matter there is a corresponding atom of antimatter. If there is a reaction that changes matter to antimatter at a certain rate, then the reverse reaction – changing antimatter to matter – should occur at the same rate.
That rule is violated if there is more matter than antimatter. (a CP violation)
An article in New Scientist examines a promising new theory on the matter-antimatter imbalance. Scientist working with the Tevatron particle accelerator at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois have been studying several properties of Bs mesons and their oscillations by picking through the debris created when protons and antiprotons collide. Particle physicists have long thought that they might find such evidence in a particle called the Bs meson, which comprises a bottom antiquark bound to a strange quark. The Bs is one of a handful of mesons that transforms into its own antiparticle and back again 3 trillion times per second before decaying into other particles (see Diagram).
These oscillations between matter and antimatter make it a good place to look for evidence that CP violation goes beyond the standard model. They noted clear evidence of CP violation, resulting in more protons than antiprotons.
Luca Silvestrini, nuclear physicist, believes that this is new physics at work in the oscillations. His group cannot yet say what kind of new physics - that will require others to test whether existing theories explain the data. "It is tantalizingly interesting at the moment," says Val Gibson, an expert on B meson physics at the University of Cambridge. "If it is true, it is earth-shattering."
Why do I think this is important? This has implications for faster than light travel. Last year physicist Richard Obousy proposed that faster than light travel - warp speed (as in Star Trek) - could be achieved by directly manipulating the extra dimensions of string theory.
Science fiction writers, particularly those who were writing for Star Trek (original series) picked up on the idea of warp drive, faster than light travel, and matter-antimatter reactions, from the work of physicists including Dr. Andrei Sakharov who were looking at baryon and antibaryon particles, gravitons, relativity, and some of the Grand Unification Theories.
The physics behind warp drive started to take shape beginning in the mid 1960s but it was not until 1994 that Dr. Miguel Alcubierre developed a plausible method to make it happen. He proposed a method of stretching space in a wave which would in theory cause the fabric of space ahead of a spacecraft to contract and the space behind it to expand. The ship would ride this wave inside a region known as a warp bubble of flat space. Anyone on the ship will perceive time as proceeding at its normal pace, while the warp bubble is being pulled forward by the contraction of spacetime in front of the bubble.
Obousy in turn suggests that superstrings wrap around the extra dimensions keeping them compact, and that manipulating the strings will cause and adjustment in the size of the extra dimension, allowing a controlled expansion and contraction of the space surrounding an interstellar craft.
The warp bubble in which the interstellar craft rides would be created by a controlled imbalance of matter-antimatter.
SCIENTISTS DISCOVER NEW ELEMENT: GOVERNMENTIUM
A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Governmentium".
Governmentium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 11 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.
Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact; a minute amount of Governmentium can cause one reaction to take over 4 days to complete which would normally take place within less than a second.
Governmentium has a normal 1/2-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.
This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as a Critical Morass.
When catalyzed with Au (gold) or Ag (silver), Governmentium becomes Administratium – an element which radiates just as much energy, since it has 1/2 as many peons but twice as many morons.
Monday, March 17, 2008
San Francisco Petition to Ban Navy Fleet Week, Blue Angels, etc.
Yesterday I wrote about the multiple personalities of the "Liberal." Less than 24 hours later we have a prime example of two personalities emerging in the same news item. Ann Garrison, hereinafter "Ms. Moonbat" wants to place a petition on the San Francisco ballot to ban Fleet Week and the Blue Angels. Why? Because, according to her, the sole reason for the Navy to be there is to "recruit our struggling immigrant and inner city youth, and anyone else whom these displays of enormous lethal force might inspire to military enthusiasm, into the U.S. Armed Services, to fight imperial wars for the natural resources of poor nations mischaracterized as 'rogue states' because they have abundant natural resources, including uranium, but no nuclear weapons."
Hmmm. I wonder how many struggling immigrants and inner city youth show up each year to watch and end up being shanghaied? I remember in February 1975 a Navy recruiter bought me a beer at Baker's Tavern in North East, MD and the next thing I knew it was 2:30 am at Recruit Training Center Great Lakes, and some idiot was banging on the side of a galvanized trash can yelling "drop your c**ks and grab your socks, reveille." I didn't know those types of things still happened.
And, I wasn't aware that a country had to have abundant natural resources to qualify as a rogue state. Kazakhstan and Canada - you are on notice. You too Sweden. It's your own fault for claiming Abba as a national resource.
According to Ms. Moonbat, taxes should be diverted instead "to sane and constructive activity like education, environmental remediation, and other positive forms of collective self-care." Kumbaya, baby. Kumbaya. Focusing on collective self-care (whatever that is) will form an impenetrable shield against the next terrorist attack. Why didn't I think of that?
But, I ask, what is the long term goal in banning Fleet Week? To promote truly renewable energy infrastructure and "end the current horrid round of wars for dirty energy fuels, and circumvent the next resource war, for water, which will surely come [after] the dirty energy wars, which so damage and deplete the world's water resources. . ." Yes, now that you put it that way, it all makes sense.
Idiot. Check out the news report. http://www.ktvu.com/video/15590046/index.html
Make Fleet Week and Blue Angels Recruitment Unwelcome in San
Francisco
by Ann Garrison
Tuesday Mar 11th, 2008
12:04 PM
I just filed paper with the San Francisco Department of Elections, so as to begin collecting signatures to put an initiative on the November ballot, in San Francisco, that would make Fleet Week and the Blue Angels Air Show, etc., which are an all forces military recruitment drive, unwelcome in and around the City and County of San Francisco. A signature gathering drive will begin tonight at the Cindy Sheehan for Congress campaign headquarters, 1260 Mission, between 7th and 8th, at 7:00
P.M.
Declaration of Policy: The voters of San Francisco declare the Blue Angels Air Shows and all other military demonstration shows, including the Canadian SnowBirds and the U.S. Army's Golden Knights Parachute Team, unwelcome in and around the City and County of San Francisco. These military demonstration teams come here every year to recruit our struggling immigrant and inner city youth, and anyone else whom these displays of enormous lethal force might inspire to military enthusiasm, into the U.S. Armed Services, to fight imperial wars for the natural resources of poor nations mischaracterized as "rogue states" because they have abundant natural resources, including uranium, but no nuclear weapons. These resource wars that the military demonstration shows recruit for are currently misharacterized as the "Global War on Terrorism." The voters of San Francisco declare that our hard-earned federal and municipal taxes, and the energies of all our young people, shall be devoted, instead, to sane and constructive activity like education, environmental remediation, and other positive forms of collective self-care. The voters of San Francisco also declare that our taxes and the energies of our youth should circumvent the need for these annual military recruitment demonstrations of enormously lethal force by building a truly renewable energy infrastructure---solar, tidal, and wind. Truly renewable clean energy infrastructure will end the current horrid round of wars for dirty energy fuels, and circumvent the next resource war, for water, which will surely come the dirty energy wars, which so damage and deplete the world's water resources, continue.
----Ann Garrison
