Two countries that we should ditch as putative "allies":
But Husain has his own blindness.
On a BBC current affairs item, an imam whose name I didn't get, said that Muhammad would not have supported the murder by beheading of the American James Foley. But again, that's not true, is it? Muhammad had the poetess Asma bint Marwan murdered for the "crime" of poking fun at him. And he had many others murdered for the least of disturbances to his tender ego.
Can we possibly imagine he would have spoken out against the murder of a representative of the US< the "Great Satan" which seeks to stop the advance of Islam? (At least in their eyes...).
Any reform of Islam -- tough enough --will be impossible if the key tenets of Islam and the fundamental teachings of its "prophet" -- the warlord Muhammad -- are not faced squarely, with a fierce and basilisk eye. Husain, for all the he's more honest that most Islamists, is not the man to do that.
- Qatar. The financier and supporter of terrorists. Yet given the FIFA World Cup.... "Club Med for Terrorists", by Ron Prosor, New York Times, 26th August.
- Saudi Arabia: "Saudis Must Stop Exporting Extremism", by Ed Husain, New York Times, 22nd August.
But Husain has his own blindness.
In the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the religious police beat women with sticks if they stray into male-only areas, or if their dress is considered immodest by Salafi standards. This is not an Islam that the Prophet Muhammad would recognise. [my emphasis]But this is simply not true. The Koran -- authored by Muhammad and later men (men) -- is down on women. They must be beaten if they are disobedient...
On a BBC current affairs item, an imam whose name I didn't get, said that Muhammad would not have supported the murder by beheading of the American James Foley. But again, that's not true, is it? Muhammad had the poetess Asma bint Marwan murdered for the "crime" of poking fun at him. And he had many others murdered for the least of disturbances to his tender ego.
Can we possibly imagine he would have spoken out against the murder of a representative of the US< the "Great Satan" which seeks to stop the advance of Islam? (At least in their eyes...).
Any reform of Islam -- tough enough --will be impossible if the key tenets of Islam and the fundamental teachings of its "prophet" -- the warlord Muhammad -- are not faced squarely, with a fierce and basilisk eye. Husain, for all the he's more honest that most Islamists, is not the man to do that.
