In Need of Reform(ation)

Last night, when I started to write my commentary on the world-wide rioting and arson directed at Denmark due to the publication of the Danish cartoons depicting the Islamic Prophet Muhammad in several ways that reflect the demonstrable terrorist ideology of many of his followers—for example, Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban—I had little to no knowledge of the hypocrisy contained in the expressions of outrage that have been reported fro the past few days. Here’s how the original commentary began:

With the world-ride unrest that has followed the publication depicting a Danish cartoon image of the acknowledged prophet of the Islamic faith, Muhammad, there has been a blog storm of epic proportions (rightly) condemning the violence against Danish embassies and the call for the extermination of those who created and published the strips. But I wonder what the Danes in question expected when they decided to show the cartoon to the world.

One of the strictest taboos in the Islamic religion is that of idolatry. It’s right up there with pork-eating and alcohol-consumption. Anyone with a cursory knowledge of the faith knows this. Another thing that is well-known is that certain members of the West are engaged in a Global War on Terror; terror perpetrated by Islamo-fascists in all too many parts of the world: Bali, Kenya, the Philippines, Madrid, Iraq, London, New York, Washington and the skies over Pennsylvania, USA.

Considering the ideology and mindset of the Islamo-fascists and those Muslims over which they hold sway, the publication of the cartoons was only slightly less incendiary than violating Saudi airspace, over-flying Mecca with USAF B-2s and bombing the Ka'aba with ham hocks.

But then I discovered that images of the prophet Mohamed are nothing new. Countless times, over many centuries, Muhammad has being painted both with reverence and scorn, by Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

From Ottoman religious icons to market stalls in Iran, from the US Supreme Court building to the South Park cartoon, Muhammad has been frequently portrayed in flattering and unflattering lights.

Many painters, including William Blake, Gustave Dore, Auguste Rodin and Salvador Dali, have depicted Mohammed in illustrations of Dante's Inferno, where the Muslim prophet ends up in hell with his entrails hanging out.

Depictions of Mohammed were common during the Ottoman Empire, when the taboo on portraying him was less strong, although often his face was left blank. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has a 16th-century picture of Mohammed in a mosque, wearing long sleeves to hide his arms and hands.

A 14th-century Persian miniature shows the angel Gabriel speaking to Mohammed, whose face is shown. Medieval Islamic pictures often echoed Christian iconography. The University of California has a 14th-century Turkish painting of the newborn Mohammed in his mother's arms, like pictures of the Christ child.

The taboo is stronger in Sunni Islam than Shia -- and even today in Iran, which is mainly Shia, pictures of Mohammed can be bought illegally in markets.

So what is different now than, say, in 14th century Turkey or in the mid-twentieth century of Salvador Dali’s portrait? Two things: the obvious fact is that information is transmitted infinitely faster than ever before, even though the Danish cartoons in question were published in September of last year. Noting this 'delay in outrage' over the portrayals leads to the other obvious fact: it points to the present-day virulence of Islamo-facism.

(That it has been months since the cartoons first appeared suggests that proponents of the Islamo-fascism were waiting for a strategically-opportune time to inflame the faithful.)

Islam is in the same stage of development that Christianity was in when proponents of the latter religion were burning so-called witches and other “infidels” at the stake. I don’t know whether Islam’s adherents have always been so violent; whether they had been evolving toward a Luther-style Reformation and took a step (or many steps) backward or whether the regression into barbarity has been unswervingly linear. However, Christianity developed beyond that barbaric state, mostly due to its clerics *and* its laypersons actually having access to the Bible, actually reading it and applying its tenets to the church and everyday existence, respectively.

I won't presume to say whether Muslims will be able to search their scriptures and find 'new or deeper truths' which refute the violent reaction to those who criticize their religion in whatever manner, respectful or not. That's up to Islamic scholars and to educated and thoughtful Muslims.

In the meantime, as Muslims threaten and carry out violence to Danes all over the world, as they torch Danish embassies in Damascus and Beirut, I can only echo the sentiments of Cox & Forkum--authors of a Muhammad cartoon of their own--that a few disrespectful Danish cartoons are the least of Islam's worries when it comes to the religion's public relations issues.

And, yes, it's noticeable that all of the signs appear to be written by the same person. Apparently there's at least one jihadi with excellent command of the English language as well as very neat handwriting. I certainly hope that our intelligence services can make some use of that observation.

(Thanks to Pajamas Media, Little Green Footballs and Lucianne)

Of course there are all manner of interesting commentary out there. Here are a few.

Francis W. Poretto lambasts Islam along with the US State Department; the latter for condemning the Danish cartoons as offensive. Well, they are offensive, but not nearly as offensive as...do I have to spell it out?

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred opine on the responsibility--and avoidance of same--of people and of peoples.

Big Pharoah illustrates how obsessed many Muslims are with the Jews. Additionally, found in the comments of another post at Big Pharaoh's place is this, allegedly from a Danish newpaper:

Undskyld, fordi vi gav jer husly og hjælp.
Undskyld, fordi vi giver jer en uddannelse.
Undskyld, fordi vi hjælper jer økonomisk.
Undskyld, fordi I frit kan dyrke jeres tro i vores kristne land.
Undskyld, fordi vi sender hjælp til jeres lande.
Undskyld, fordi vi ikke kræver blodhævn for morderne på vores landsmænd begået af muslimer.
Undskyld, fordi vi ikke render rundt med sprængstoffer på kroppen, når vi føler os krænget.
Undskyld, fordi vi ikke bare gør, som jeres tro siger.

Men en undskyldning for at ytre os i vores eget land og efter vores egne love - den får I aldrig.

Big Pharoah's guest translated it as follows:

Sorry for giving you shelter and help
Sorry for giving you an education
Sorry for helping you financially
Sorry for letting you do your own religion in our [C]hristian country
Sorry for sending help to your countries
Sorry for not demand blood-revenge on the murders on our countrymen by [M]uslims
Sorry for not running around with explosives on ou[r] bodies when we feel pushed aside
Sorry for just not doing what your religion says.

but an apol[og]y for using freedom of speech in our own country with laws that says we can, THAT you'll never get

(I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the translation or of the "apology's" origin, but there you have it.)

Comments

[Tully]

The cartoons originated in September/October. The protests are just now occuring, complete to an orchestrated propaganda campaign in parts of Europe, claiming that the Danish government (and others) are organizing public burnings of the Koran, etc. The timing of press coverage from Muslim sources to the Muslim masses is impecaable. The most violent protests have been in Syria, where the Danish and Norwegian embassies have been torched, and in the former Syrian "protectorate" of Lebanon, where protestors were bussed in to attack and burn the Danish embassy. Somehow, hundreds of Danish flags are available for trampling and burning.

The Beirut protesters were spurred on by leaflets citing the chief devil responsible as (you guessed it!) Bush.

Prime conclusion: It's not in the least spontaneous, but a well-organized operation, planned for weeks, and coordinated with governmental involvement. The easy finger to point--an accurate one--is at Syria, but looming large in the background is Iran. Where, strangely, there have been no reported protests.

The protests seem to be organized by radical Islamic factions supported by the "known actors" among Middle Eastern governments, namely Iran & Syria, and to a lesser extent the Palestinians. The earlier Gaza protests were obviously Palestinian-driven. That Hamas was stirring up the foreign bogeyman at least in part to help defuse the Fatah election riots seems clear.

If correct, the next predictable move would be strenuous attempts by the "usual suspects" to get Muslims rioting in the slums of Europe.

Secondary conclusion: This seems to be (at least in part) an Iranian-sponsored move to put lean on Europe in the face of mounting Euro/UN/US pressure regarding their nuclear programs. Translation: The Mullahs are flexing their muscles.

[gus3]

I'm an amateur Latin/Germanic linguist, with very heavy emphasis on "amateur," BUT I'll vouch for the translation.

This cartoon from Filibuster Cartoons sums it all up perfectly.

It also appears that the Middle Eastern rabble are seeing cartoons that were drawn deliberately to stir them up, by Muslims in Denmark, not by the cartoonists for the Jyllands-Posten.

[JLawson]

Something else you might find interesting - care to guess which country's going to be heading the UN Security Council about the time the IAEA referral on Iran is going to get there?

Denmark.

It's an extremely interesting coincidence that all this is blowing up right now, isn't it?

J.

[Tully]

My, that IS interesting! But I gotta say that while I suspect Iran has a big hand in this, the "hard" evidence all points at Syria.

[justin]

Here's an interesting post linking the Saudis to the protest. It's on the Daily Kos, but no Bush-bashing in the post, I promise.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/5/13149/60748

[Tully]

Wahhabi involvement would not be a surprise at all. WIth a few hundred wealthy rpincelings running around, Saudi Arabia has always been a hot bed of radical Islam and financing.

[StinKerr]

Here's a Saudi blogger who also thinks that the Saudis are behind the unrest. He thinks it's to take attention away from the usual Saudi failure to prevent the annual hajj deaths by stampede.

[reading Justin's recommended Kos post]

Interesting post at Kos, Justin. The writer sort of parallels the blog that I've linked above.

I have no doubt that there are the usual "unseen hands" influencing and encouraging this unrest: Iran, Syria and Saudi, aka the "usual suspects".

As promised there's no Bush bashing in the article. The comments are another story, though. LOL They were on Rove by the 2nd comment and Bush in the 3rd. What a bunch of fun and predictable guys those Kos Kids are, eh? ;-)

I'll go read the rest of them to see if there's any substantive comments on the subject at hand.

[Tully]

One thing that could be useful is to note where the serious demonstrations are--the AQ/rad-Islam crowd is kindly providing us with a "force strength" map of their areas of influence, and we should certainly be paying attention. For all the news hype, that force does not seem to be nearly as strong as they would wish.

[Susan]

I have a rudimentary knowledge of Swedish which, in written form, is similar to Danish. It appears the translation you have is accurate.

[babylonandon]

http://www.michellemalkin.com/mt/oct05-tb.cgi/3772

http://babylonandon.blogspot.com/2006/02/beast-laban.html

The really annoying thing about this whole business is that it is being orchestrated by a couple of individuals.

There are a small group of Imams (I call them those-who-make-lovers-out-of-pigs) who shopped these cartoons around until they could find a forum where trouble could be caused.

The worst part (which many have not yet heard) is that these Imams have added a couple of images to the list which were not in the paper that originally printed the cartoons. One of the images was of a guy in a pig suit from a pig-calling contest that was photo-shopped into black and white. This is a bunch of garbage that has been instigated by a couple of troublemakers.

That still doesn't take away from the childish and shameful acts of much of the Islamic world who really need to grow up.

[babylonandon]

One of those didn't work so try these...

http://www.michellemalkin.com/mt/oct05-tb.cgi/3842

and

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/02/danish-imams-busted.html

[ipw533]

"Islam is in the same stage of development that Christianity was in when proponents of the latter religion were burning so-called witches and other “infidels” at the stake. I don’t know whether Islam’s adherents have always been so violent; whether they had been evolving toward a Luther-style Reformation and took a step (or many steps) backward or whether the regression into barbarity has been unswervingly linear. However, Christianity developed beyond that barbaric state, mostly due to its clerics *and* its laypersons actually having access to the Bible, actually reading it and applying its tenets to the church and everyday existence, respectively."

A point to consider is that Christianity, or at least Western Christendom, even then had a central "controlling authority"--the Catholic Church and the papacy(I'm deliberately leaving out the Eastern Orthodox Church for the sake of simplicity).

The Reformation came about as the result of both theological challenges to that authority, particularly its secular aspects, and a long series of incredibly vicious and bloody wars culminating in the Thirty Years War. At the end of that ordeal European Christendom had been pretty much exhausted and bled white and was ready to compromise.

Islam never had the opportunity to develop anything like the Roman Catholic papacy due to the internecine fighting over who would succeed Mohammed--something analogous to the Apostles fighting amongst themselves for the mantle of Jesus. The closest thing to a "central controlling authority" in Islam after the death of Mohammed was IMO the Caliphate represented most memorably by the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

And while the split between Sunni and Shia Islam ignited some fierce battles, it never provoked the kind of exhausting, sustained fraternal bloodshed of Europe's Wars of Religion. Historically wars end when one side or the other prevails or both become worn out enough to compromise--neither has happened yet in the Islamic world.

So, to borrow a notion from the Marxist interpretation of history, the "preconditions" for an Islamic Reformation have not yet manifested themselves. And considering the kinds of weapons either side may be able to obtain, those preconditions might never be met. Just think about the possible prospect of a nuclear Shi'ite Iran threatening the Sunni Middle East and provoking a response through a nuclear Sunni Pakistan via Riyadh. And that's just one nightmare scenario, with consequences for the rest of the world....

[baldilocks]

ipw533:

Very interesting. Thanks for dropping the knowledge...and for reminding us what is a stake.

[Linda F]

The lettering is not just the similarity you'd expect if the same PERSON were doing it - it's identical. Which basically means that it was either mass-produced or machine (computer) lettered, with an apparently crude font.

[baldilocks]

Linda: sounds plausible.