S
Special_Ed
Guest
The flower of the flock is undoubtedly Muzammil Siddiqui, president of the FCNA. Mercifully, he has confined himself to cursing America (“the wrath of God” and all that stuff).
CAIR’s credentials are not much better, says Emerson: “In the past 4 years, several CAIR officials have been convicted of or charged with various terrorism-related offenses.” The organization has championed and defended officials and leaders of Islamic terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Any prosecution of Islamic terrorists; any freezing of funds for their various front organizations; any deportation of radical Islamic clerics who preach jihad – CAIR greets with squalls of “Islamophobia” and “war against Islam.” According to CAIR, the indictment of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami al-Arian on conspiracy to murder more than 100 people was “politically motivated” and instigated by “the attack dogs of the pro-Israeli lobby.”
Speaking of “the Children of Israel,” one particular Quranic verse (5:32) quoted by the Fiqh folks in support of Islam’s humanity piqued my curiosity because of a similar sounding Talmudic saying. As the Fatwa has it, this ayah declares that, “Whoever kills a person [unjustly] … it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.”
Prompted by Dr. Daniel Pipes, I examined the context of the passage in “The Meaning of the Qur’an,” by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, only to find that the FCNA has “decontextualized” it. The Quran actually says the following:
On that account: We ordained
For the Children of Israel
That if anyone slew
A person – unless it be
For murder or for spreading
Mischief in the land –
It would be as if
He slew the whole people:
And if anyone saved a life,
It would be as if he saved
The life of the whole people.
Then although there came
To them Our Messenger
With Clear Signs, yet,
Even after that, many
Of them continued to commit
Excess in the land.
The verse apparently concerns the dread-Jew. At the very least, it’s fair to say this Quranic ayah is considerably less humanistic and universal than the Council claims. “Spreading mischief,” whatever that entails, qualifies as a reason to slay a person. Unjust killing is clearly not too circumscribed an activity. The fatwa finesses the original words – and their context.
Devoid of the killing component, the Talmudic version simply and unequivocally states that, “To save one life is like saving the world.” Contrary to the Quranic ayah, it doesn’t whittle down humanity.
The real issue here is this: Whatever ancient Jewish or church teachings may have preached, the modern nation-states dominated by Jews and Christians (believers and non-believers) follow the rule of enlightened Western law. It’s indeed possible there are sadistic Americans and Israelis who’d like to put apostates and blasphemers to death, genitally mutilate little girls, amputate the hands of thieves, beat their wives with impunity, stone women for committing adultery (the definition of which includes rape) and homosexuals for sodomy, or consider the testimony of a non-Jewish or Christian male to be worth half that of a Jewish or Christian male (women witnesses are similarly weighted in Islam). But they can’t. Or if they did, they’d be punished. Western law won’t countenance such cruelty.
Not so the law in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, or in other Muslim countries where the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (Sharia) are law. Yet the Fiqh Council assures us that the Quran embraces humanity. Even more ironic: In the process of persuasion, the Islamic community’s professed front men find the need to fib about what the Quran really says.
Ilana Mercer is the author of “Broad Sides: One Woman’s Clash With A Corrupt Culture.” She is a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, an independent, nonprofit, economic policy think tank. To learn more about her work, visit IlanaMercer.com. If you would like to comment on this column, go to Ilana’s blog.
CAIR’s credentials are not much better, says Emerson: “In the past 4 years, several CAIR officials have been convicted of or charged with various terrorism-related offenses.” The organization has championed and defended officials and leaders of Islamic terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Any prosecution of Islamic terrorists; any freezing of funds for their various front organizations; any deportation of radical Islamic clerics who preach jihad – CAIR greets with squalls of “Islamophobia” and “war against Islam.” According to CAIR, the indictment of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami al-Arian on conspiracy to murder more than 100 people was “politically motivated” and instigated by “the attack dogs of the pro-Israeli lobby.”
Speaking of “the Children of Israel,” one particular Quranic verse (5:32) quoted by the Fiqh folks in support of Islam’s humanity piqued my curiosity because of a similar sounding Talmudic saying. As the Fatwa has it, this ayah declares that, “Whoever kills a person [unjustly] … it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.”
Prompted by Dr. Daniel Pipes, I examined the context of the passage in “The Meaning of the Qur’an,” by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, only to find that the FCNA has “decontextualized” it. The Quran actually says the following:
On that account: We ordained
For the Children of Israel
That if anyone slew
A person – unless it be
For murder or for spreading
Mischief in the land –
It would be as if
He slew the whole people:
And if anyone saved a life,
It would be as if he saved
The life of the whole people.
Then although there came
To them Our Messenger
With Clear Signs, yet,
Even after that, many
Of them continued to commit
Excess in the land.
The verse apparently concerns the dread-Jew. At the very least, it’s fair to say this Quranic ayah is considerably less humanistic and universal than the Council claims. “Spreading mischief,” whatever that entails, qualifies as a reason to slay a person. Unjust killing is clearly not too circumscribed an activity. The fatwa finesses the original words – and their context.
Devoid of the killing component, the Talmudic version simply and unequivocally states that, “To save one life is like saving the world.” Contrary to the Quranic ayah, it doesn’t whittle down humanity.
The real issue here is this: Whatever ancient Jewish or church teachings may have preached, the modern nation-states dominated by Jews and Christians (believers and non-believers) follow the rule of enlightened Western law. It’s indeed possible there are sadistic Americans and Israelis who’d like to put apostates and blasphemers to death, genitally mutilate little girls, amputate the hands of thieves, beat their wives with impunity, stone women for committing adultery (the definition of which includes rape) and homosexuals for sodomy, or consider the testimony of a non-Jewish or Christian male to be worth half that of a Jewish or Christian male (women witnesses are similarly weighted in Islam). But they can’t. Or if they did, they’d be punished. Western law won’t countenance such cruelty.
Not so the law in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, or in other Muslim countries where the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet (Sharia) are law. Yet the Fiqh Council assures us that the Quran embraces humanity. Even more ironic: In the process of persuasion, the Islamic community’s professed front men find the need to fib about what the Quran really says.
Ilana Mercer is the author of “Broad Sides: One Woman’s Clash With A Corrupt Culture.” She is a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, an independent, nonprofit, economic policy think tank. To learn more about her work, visit IlanaMercer.com. If you would like to comment on this column, go to Ilana’s blog.