Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Victor Davis Hanson on the Neurotic Middle East

Asymmetry is, of course, assumed. One expects to be detained for having a Bible in one’s baggage at Riyadh, whereas a Koran in a tote bag is of no importance at the Toronto airport. The Egyptian immigrant in San Francisco, or the Pakistani who moves to London, expects to be allowed to demonstrate against the freewheeling protocols of his hosts, while a Westerner protesting against life under sharia in the streets of Karachi or Gaza would earn a death sentence. What is nauseating about this is not the hypocrisy per se, but the Middle Eastern insistence that there is no such hypocrisy. We expect the immigrant from Egypt to deface public posters and call it freedom of expression; we expect Mr. Morsi, who enjoyed American freedom while he studied for his Ph.D. and then taught for three years in California, to deny it to others and trash his former host.

Read it all HERE. The Middle East will have no progress until the folks here get that there really is a double standard and that, to put it bluntly, the Middle East (excepting Israel) contributes practically nothing to the world. Ouch. I know. But true...

17 comments:

jmw said...

Mr. Daoud,

Would you mind contacting me at alivingtext at outlook dot com? I have a question or two on Islam. Thanks,

Joel

Unknown said...

Since you asked Mr. Dauod, I will respect your privacy and not contact you myself.

However,I would suggest you go to these websites:

www.onislam.net
( A website run by the Mada Media Development Association. It has had positive reviews by scholars such as Shiekh Yusuf al Qaradawi and Imam Suhaib Webb.)

www.loonwatch.com
(A non-Muslim blog which has won
the brass crescent award for consecutive years.)

www.thedeenshow.com
(website of the internationally renowned Muslim owned TV-show on Islam)

www.call-to-monotheism.com
(Website of the famous apologist Bassam Zawadi)

Also see this article from a former CIA agent:

http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/04/03/the-islamophobia-excuse/

Unknown said...

Correction

Loonwatch won the brass award for 2 YEARS.

Sorry about that!

Abu Daoud said...

Hi IJ,

Would really love to hear your own ideas in your own words, rather than other websites.

What do you disagree with in my post? Can you tell us what the Muslim Middle East has contributed to the world? I would love to know...

AD

Abu Daoud said...

IJ, Brass Crescent? Really?

This 'award' is given by Muslims to people who are nice to Muslims. Allah himself would not get this 'award' if he kept a blog unless it always said nice things about Muslims :-)

Seriously man.

Unknown said...

I will give my comments on the article in the next few posts.

The first thing I want to point out is
that the author is a military
historian

While he may be believed about some of the things he writes, we should be skeptical of things outside of
his realm of specality.

Unknown said...

In the article Prof. Hanson states:


-----We put up with such burdens because a Saudi multimillionaire, Osama bin Laden, and his unhinged band of Arab religious extremists began ramming airliners into buildings and murdering thousands----

I agree with this statement. I have gotten annoyed about this when I travel at airports.
But I think it should be important to emphasize how Muslims have suffered.

According to the one report by the
European centre on racism and xenophobia

(http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/199-Synthesis-report_en.pdfhttp://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/199-Synthesis-report_en.pdf)


----The report’s findings show that Islamic communities and other vulnerable groups have
become targets of increased hostility since 11 September. A greater sense of fear among
the general population has exacerbated already exiting prejudices and fuelled acts of
aggression and harassment in many European Member States.----

Page 5


-----the NFP stated that "women with headscarves have
increasingly been insulted" (Austria 2); Denmark where a woman wearing a hijab was
thrown out of a taxi because of her alleged responsibility for the attacks on the World
Trade Centre (Denmark 2); Germany where a number of women had had their hijabs
ripped from their heads before being spat upon (Germany 2); Ireland where the NFP
reported that there had been "an increase in verbal assaults directed at women in
Islamic dress" (Ireland 1); Italy where a bus driver deliberately shut a door upon a
woman wearing a chador (Italy 3); and in the UK, the London Times reported that
"many Muslims have been spat at and suffered verbal abuse, particularly [those]
wearing the hijab" (UK 1).-----

Page 35

Unknown said...

Also interesting is

-----In cases where the religious affiliation of terrorism casualties could be determined, Muslims suffered between 82 and 97 percent of terrorism-related fatalities over the past five years----

National counterTerrorism center's 2011 report on terrorism
page 17

http://www.nctc.gov/docs/2011_NCTC_Annual_Report_Final.pdf

Abu Daoud said...

Hi Abdul Hakeem,

Quick question: how good is your Arabic?

In response to your responses:

You are correct that Hanson is a military historian, which I think means he is very capable of discussing the rise of militant Islam. Indeed, the Sunna of the Prophet reads like a military history, does it not?

I mean, during his time in Mecca (aka Makka or Bakka) he was quite peaceful. In fact, I rather like much of his material from that period.

But after his enemies chased him away I think his personality really shifted. I mean, that experience of running away from your enemies--that must be something very deep. Anyway, he ran away from his enemies and after that his career is very military--Badr and so on. The slaughter of Nadir and Qurayza. I'm sure you know of these events and have internet links prepared that will paper over the ancient Islamic sources that reveal how bloody and terrible they were.

So my friend. Come to peace. Come to well-being. Come to true prayer. I invite you to consider the path of a man who preferred to be crucified rather than run away from his enemies. You know who I am talking about.

May our Creator guide us both into all truth.

AD

Unknown said...

-----You are correct that Hanson is a military historian, which I think means he is very capable of discussing the rise of militant Islam.---

Thanks for the comments.
You are correct, but he also talks about a lot of things which he is not qualified. THAT is what I am responding to. I will get back to that when I am finished answering you questions.

-----Indeed, the Sunna of the Prophet reads like a military history, does it not?----

Studying the Sunna is a RELIGIOUS FIELD, it covers much more than just jihad.

I dont think the professor ever studied things like this:
http://www.onislam.net/english/shariah/contemporary-issues/islamic-themes/422169.html




----Anyway, he ran away from his enemies and after that his career is very military--Badr and so on.----

Yes, doesn't every leader defends his people when threatened?

This article by Bassam Zawadi goes more into detail (citing islamic sources)

http://www.call-to-monotheism.com/did_the_muslims_instigate_the_battle_of_badr__a_rebuttal_to_david_wood

Links to the pages referenced can be
seen at

http://www.islamhouse.com/p/51776



Unknown said...

-----The slaughter of Nadir----


I admire you knowledge. Most non-Muslims have no idea of this!

Anyways,

----Banu An-Nadir conspired to kill the Prophet when he was going to talk with them.----

http://www.onislam.net/english/ask-about-islam/ethics-and-values/muslim-character/166910-was-the-prophet-unjust-to-the-jews.html


Unknown said...

----and Qurayza------

Read this article

http://www.onislam.net/english/ask-about-islam/ethics-and-values/muslim-character/166910-was-the-prophet-unjust-to-the-jews.html



------Banu Quraizhah... helped a confederate army consisting of Quraish and other Arab idolaters who came to attack Madinah....
The kind Prophet went to them and asked them to choose someone who would issue a judgment in their case. Banu Quraizhah chose Sa`d ibn Mu`adh because they knew he was their friend and would be fair with them. Sa`d chose a verdict from their own holy scriptures, the Torah: that the men were to be killed and the women and children were to be enslaved. They said

"...we will never violate the judgment of the Torah."



Some of them chose to seek
forgiveness and were exempted
from killing, but many others
chose to die to apply the Torah.
If they had chosen the merciful
Prophet, he would have forgiven
them, but arrogance took them to
their destiny.---------------------

Unknown said...

I would normally comment on you offer to become a Christian, but the topic is about Muslim Millitancy. Hopefully we can have this discussion some where like

"Muslim's main objections to Christianity"

I look forward to hearing your opinions.


Back to professor Hanson.



--------Catholics don’t assassinate movie directors or artists who treat Jesus Christ with contempt. Jewish mobs will not murder cartoonists should they ridicule the Torah.----------


See

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/328747/piss-christ-causes-bloody-riots-manhattan-charles-c-w-cooke

Unknown said...

----Asymmetry is, of course, assumed. One expects to be detained for having a Bible in one’s baggage at Riyadh.----


----Personal religious items such as a Bible or a rosary are usually permitted, but travelers should be aware that on occasion, these items have been seized at entry and not returned to the traveler----

Americans Traveling Abroad: What
You Should Know Before You Go

Page 267



----a Westerner protesting against life under sharia in the streets of Karachi or Gaza would earn a death sentence.----


One former CIA agent writes

-----There are more than 50 predominantly Muslim countries in the world, and, while most have elements of Shariah in their civil and family law, only two have it as their criminal codes. They are Saudi Arabia and Iran,

The countries that do not have Shariah as their criminal codes have modeled their laws on European and American models, some borrowing from Roman law and others from British common law.----

http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/04/03/the-islamophobia-excuse/

Unknown said...

20----What is nauseating about this is not the hypocrisy per se, but the Middle Eastern insistence that there is no such hypocrisy.----


----We are all aware of the fact that laws exist in Europe and other countries which impose curbs, for instance, on anti-Semitic speech, Holocaust denial, or racial slurs. We need to acknowledge, once and for all, that Islamophobia in particular and discrimination on the basis of religion and belief are contemporary forms of racism and must be dealt with as such. ---


http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2264847&language=en

http://www.loonwatch.com/2012/10/hate-speech-hypocrites/

Abu Daoud said...

Hi Abdul,

I disagree with you that the raids of the caravans and the battle of Badr were defensive. They were wars of aggression.

What do you personally see in Muhammad that makes him an attractive person? I just don't get it. From a human point of view he was a shrewd leader, I'll give him that. But beyond that I don't see much to appreciate in the man.

Unknown said...

With regards to the desert raids and battles.
I have already presented their historical contexts and events.

If you want to convince me to change my mind, you need to provide me some evidence.


With regards to Muhhamed (PBUH), let ME ASK YOU, what should a prophet be like?




Back to Proffesor Hanson

-----Principles or tastes do not explain why movies mock Christ and not Mohammed------

Firstly, it is Islamicly condemned for anyone to dare mock Jesus (PBUH), or any other major prophet.

Secondly,
What about Salman Rushdie's book?
What about the recent youtube video degrading the Prophet (PBUH)?

What about the article by a former CIA agent document state-sponsored Islamophobia in the US?

http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/04/03/the-islamophobia-excuse/


Doesnt sound like anyone is scared to insult Islam to me. Lies about it are already abundant.

------One could see all this in Piers Morgan’s CNN interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: The more the latter spouted his anti-Semitic and anti-Western hatred and homophobia, the more the liberal former seemed mesmerized by such surety — in a way he most surely is not by Sarah Palin’s mild conservatism.------

I challenge anyone to watch the interview again on CNN's website and point out any anti-semitic comment. If anything, HE CLEARIFIED what people misunderstood as anti-semitism.

That is assuming that CNN honestly reported the interview.
There have bad history with iran

http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2012/01/25/avoiding-a-dumb-war-with-iran/