Sunday - February 01, 2004
Two and a Half Years Late
For the first time I am aware of, a noteworthy
Islamic cleric has condemned terrorism. What took so long? His statements were
made yesterday during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Sadly it only applies to
terrorism conducted against Muslims, but it's a start. I'm still waiting for a
Muslim cleric to be in favor of being peaceful towards Americans, but maybe I'm
expecting too much until we finish killing a lot more of those clerics and their
followers.
During the pilgrimage the
annual crushing to death of pilgrims occurred, this year 244 people were
stampeded. This is the natural result of having hundreds of thousands of people
each collecting twenty-one stones and throwing seven each at three pillars which
represent evil. Despite that it is intrinsically emotional, involves physical
exertion by hundreds of thousands trying to get within a stone's throw of these
pillars, and that every year for more than a thousand years people get
stampeded, these not-so-brilliant people don't seem to have developed very good
crowd control. I guess stampeding 244 people (which is only a little higher
than usual) is worth the silly ritual of throwing pebbles. Oh, and then they go
off and sacrifice a goat. Yeah, that's a culture that's going somewhere.
Apparently, this rite is not
officially condoned, but is very, very popular. Now back to the statements of
the Saudi Sheik.
From an AP report
found on Fox News
online:Sheik Abdul Aziz
al-Sheik said in his sermon there were those who claim to be holy warriors,
but were shedding Muslim blood and destabilizing the nation.
"Is it holy war to shed
Muslim blood? Is it holy war to shed the blood of non-Muslims given sanctuary in
Muslim lands? Is it holy war to destroy the possession of Muslims," he said,
adding that their actions gave enemies an excuse to criticize Muslim nations.
A large number of the
victims of suicide attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq and elsewhere have been
Muslims. Al-Sheik, who is
widely respected in the Arab world as the foremost cleric in the country
considered the birthplace of Islam, spoke at Namira Mosque in a televised sermon
watched by millions of Muslims in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
The mosque is close to
Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Muhammad delivered his last sermon in A.D. 632.
In speaking about
terrorists who killed fellow Muslims, al-Sheik was clearly referring to the
prophet's final sermon, which contained the line: "Know that every Muslim is a
Muslim's brother, and the Muslims are brethren. Fighting between them should be
avoided." But lest we get too hopeful
that these primitives are learning to be civilized, his sentiments do not seem
to be shared by most. In the same article, we
learnCalling America "the
greatest Satan," Egyptian pilgrim Youssef Omar threw pebbles at one pillar on
which someone had scrawled "USA."
Unfortunately, the Sheik stopped short
of criticizing acts of terror that aren't against Muslims, but instead against
Americans. He then went on to protest those who criticize Wahabbism, the exact
sect of Islam that hates the US most and does its best to foment the attitudes
of the terrorists. But perhaps his statement is an attempt to reform their evil
hatred. My rational mind thinks that this is really just a call for Muslims to
stop attacking each other and to concentrate on attacking us
instead.I think there is still only
very little hope for them. Our war must continue until these ideas and the
heads that contain them are wiped out.
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