I just spent the better part of the day reading and listening to sermons by the leaders and jihadis of the new “caliphate” in Mesopotamia, the Islamic State (formerly “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria”).
I did so in the vain hopes of learning something “new.”
But it was absolute déjà vu -- taking me back to a decade ago, when I was reading and translating the Arabic writings and speeches of al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri, as collated in The Al Qaeda Reader.
Now, as then, it’s the same Koran verses; the same hadiths of Islamic prophet Muhammad waging and praising jihad; the same threats of hellfire for the munafiqun (hypocrites or lukewarm Muslims); the same carnal rewards in the now or hereafter for those who join the “caravan” of jihad.
[A COMMENT] I've long argued that all Mosques and all Imans should be licensed and, if necessary which I think it is, controlled. It has been shown over and over again that the Muslim community cannot seem to control who run their Mosques or preach in them.
If they aren't willing to do anything about it, as seems to be the case, we will do it for them. And while we are at it we should ban 'Sharia Courts' and the burqua, which is nothing but a tool of oppression. If Muslims don't like it well they can always leave our shores and find somewhere better to live. [The Commentator] Read more
