Althouse: "If We Don’t Stand Up As One, More Farkhundas Will Incinerate in the Inferno of Fundamentalism!"

March 24, 2015

"If We Don’t Stand Up As One, More Farkhundas Will Incinerate in the Inferno of Fundamentalism!"

"The hacking to death of Farkhunda was not an accident, but rather a product of a culture of traitor-nurturing and lionising of thugs who since decades — particularly during the last fourteen years — have ruled the country."

("[T]he victim’s father, Mohammed Nadir, said that the attack stemmed from a dispute between Farkhunda, an observant Muslim scholar, and a cleric who sold amulets at the Shah-Do Shamshera shrine in central Kabul. After the young woman criticized the selling of charms, the cleric responded by making the false accusation that she had burned the Quran, and she was brutally assaulted by men enraged by her supposed blasphemy.")

36 comments:

Twelve said...: Exposure to the dreaded stimulus is the only remedy. Korans should be burned by the bushel daily until they just get over it. We could use Mohammed cartoons as kindling.; 3/24/15, 10:07 PM
MadisonMan said...: Sunlight is a great disinfectant.; 3/24/15, 10:08 PM
Paddy O said...: Reminds me a bit of the time that one guy got mad about people selling stuff in a Temple and caused a ruckus. They crucified him. Well, more precisely they got the Italians to do it.; 3/24/15, 10:11 PM
Gahrie said...: Dare one suggest that this is an example of a real war on women?; 3/24/15, 10:19 PM
traditionalguy said...: Welcome to the fate of Jews as soon as Obama finishes passing UN Resolutions requiring a roll back of their defenses to the 1949 Truce Lines and sends UN/US boots on the ground to kill the Jews who resist Obama's Muslim allies taking over Jerusalem.

We have no choice now because the Iranians say so...the nuclear armed Iranians.; 3/24/15, 10:19 PM
Paul said...: Muslims feel that it takes several women's testimony to contradict one man.

not kidding. To them women are very very second class citizens.

http://womeninislam.ws/en/misconceptions_testimony-of-women.aspx

'Therefore, a divine precautionary measure was established to eliminate any shortcoming on a woman's part in any case of testimony. We would like to point out here one of the essential principles of the legal and judicial system in Islam, which states that the case is not valid for proceedings if a doubt arises in the case. Therefore, the strength of two female witnesses is intended to eliminate this doubt."; 3/24/15, 10:28 PM
Paul said...: I hope Israel has subs that carry nukes.

Then, if Iran gets the nuke and wants to play war, send them several nukes for every one they even TRY to use.

And do keep in mind, the only way they can be SURE their bomb works is to test one. Maybe Israel can help them there to!; 3/24/15, 10:31 PM
Gahrie said...: I hope Israel has subs that carry nukes.

They have five subs capable of launching nukes.; 3/24/15, 10:50 PM
Sebastian said...: “If We Don’t Stand Up As One, More Farkhundas Will Incinerate in the Inferno of Fundamentalism!,”

They won't stand up as one.

Under Barry, neither will we.

More Farkhundas will incinerate in that inferno.

Western Progs will sleep soundly.

After all, the Jews are worse.

So were "we," during the Crusades and all.; 3/24/15, 10:53 PM
William said...: Some people truly are The Other. There are some crimes you can't get your mind around. Some time back I read about a serial murderer in Iran. He had killed about a dozen prostitutes. He claimed to be doing the work of God. He attracted the sympathy of some religious figures who demanded clemency for him. I'm not sure if I have the story right, but I believe he was pardoned....It's difficult enough to make peace with those whose position is only a click or two different than ours. How do you find common ground with people who live in a different dimension?; 3/25/15, 12:05 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: "The hacking to death of Farkhunda was not an accident, but rather a product of a culture of traitor-nurturing and lionising of thugs who since decades — particularly during the last fourteen years — have ruled the country."

Our tax dollars at work.; 3/25/15, 12:11 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: The NY Times gets credit for printing this story. Most civilized people will feel a sense of sympathy for the victim and a sense of simpatico for the brave group of Afghans speaking out on her behalf.

The NY Times gets discredit for resisting the natural inference that Islam is a backwards religion practiced by uncivilized barbarians.; 3/25/15, 3:10 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @Unknown That is a stupid and ugly thing to believe.; 3/25/15, 6:08 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: I'm no Islamic scholar, but I'm pretty sure that amulets (with the connotation of magic as opposed to necklaces or jewelry) would be forbidden in Islam.

Therefore Farkhunda was killed by a religious charlatan for trying to uphold the true faith.

Not an unusual occurrence in any religion.; 3/25/15, 6:12 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: I would also like to point out that we are not that far from this sort of mob violence in the U.S. The victims are not beaten to death in the street, but mobs form (these days often virtual) to punish designated scapegoats all the time. And the mob always feels self-righteous about what it has done.; 3/25/15, 6:22 AM
Michael said...: Ralph Hyatt

Uncommon for religious zealots of any religion but one to kill heretics in the 20 th and 21st centuries.

I note that the adherents of the global warming religion are shunning the Koch's for being generous to science museums because the Kochs are evil and do not genuflect to climate change beliefs.; 3/25/15, 6:28 AM
jaed said...: That is a stupid and ugly thing to believe.

That's not an argument.; 3/25/15, 6:58 AM
Clyde said...: You can take some people out of the 7th Century, but you can't take the 7th Century out of the people.; 3/25/15, 7:00 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: @Michael

Farkhunda wasn't the heretic. The "cleric" selling amulets is.

And she wasn't killed for heresy. If the article is correct she was killed because the mob believed she had burnt parts of a Quran. That would seem to indicate they though her an apostate.; 3/25/15, 7:01 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: That is a stupid and ugly thing to believe.

Why?; 3/25/15, 7:15 AM
Larry J said...: I think it's high time some of those mullas and extremists get strung up in the public square.; 3/25/15, 7:39 AM
MaxedOutMama said...: Ralph Hyatt - you are wrong for some Sunnis and most Shias. Traditionally, intercessory prayer has been allowed in Islam; the "puritanical" wave that disallows it is of recent origin.

The doctrine of Saudi Arabia is strongly against it, as it is against intercessory prayer (saints). But traditional Islam is not. Wahhabism is recent (1700s).

Thus, it seems likely that this lady was asserting doctrine along Salafist lines.
http://www.al-islam.org/inquiries-about-shia-islam-sayyid-moustafa-al-qazwini/intercession-shafaah; 3/25/15, 7:52 AM
MAJMike said...: Religion of peace.; 3/25/15, 8:27 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: @MaxedOutMama

Like I said, I'm not an Islamic Scholar. I know there are two main sects (Shia and Sunni whose originally split over who should secede Mohammad) and a few smaller ones. I also know that Wahhabism is a relatively recent development and asserts things that historically Islam did not (thus the destruction of graves and archaeological sites that had remained unmolested in Islamic lands for centuries.)

But, I'm not getting the connection between intercessory prayer and an amulet.

My assumption was that wearing an amulet (presumably to ward off evil and protect from magic) would be seen as performing magic and not trusting Allah, and therefore would be haram.

Since seeing your post I looked around and found this:

http://islamawareness.net/BlackMagic/fatwa_amulets.html

Which states that whoever put up the page believes that amulets that do not have Quranic verses on them are black magic and haram and that some Muslims believe that even amulets that do have such verses are also haram.

Of course, I have no idea what school of Islamic thought the web page creator is coming from or how old that school is. My guess is that amulets were probably tolerated but were never considered Islamic.

Many Christians also have folk believes that are not actually Christian. The difference is that when someone points out that consulting a psychic or astrologer or medium is contrary to Christian scripture psychics and astrologers and mediums don't have them beaten to death for it.

From my perspective this seems to be a "high-church" vs "low-church" dispute.; 3/25/15, 8:27 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: "@Unknown That is a stupid and ugly thing to believe."

But wholly accurate.

Islam has suicide bombers. The West has suicide apologists for Islam.

Who frequently self-identify as feminists.

Which suggests a cognitive dissonance so great that it defies anything but laughter.; 3/25/15, 8:35 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: In fact, some Christians wear amulets or carry around "good-luck charms." And if their priest or pastor points out that doing so is an un-Christian practice they will smile and nod as if they agreed but actually they are thinking, "I'm doing it and I'm a Christian so of course its Christian. What a putz."; 3/25/15, 8:43 AM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: Would that killing be classified as a "Hate Crime?"

Or perhaps no crime at all.; 3/25/15, 9:10 AM
Michael K said...: "the natural inference that Islam is a backwards religion practiced by uncivilized barbarians."

The first is true, the second is partly true. There are millions who believe in Islam who don't murder infidels, usually because the infidels are better armed or aren't around.

The Quran urges this sort of behavior and those who practice it literally are barbarians

"That is a stupid and ugly thing to believe."

If this refers to the Salafist version of the Quran, it is correct. From WIKI

According to Kepel, Salafist jihadism combined "respect for the sacred texts in their most literal form, ... with an absolute commitment to jihad, whose number-one target had to be America, perceived as the greatest enemy of the faith."; 3/25/15, 10:37 AM
Dave Schumann said...: "stupid and ugly" -- remarkable. Ugly, certainly. But then, if we only believed pretty things, our worldview wouldn't be very realistic, would it?; 3/25/15, 10:42 AM
Sammy Finkelman said...: It;s not only people being punished or attacked by a mob for "blasphemy" or burning Korans.

It's also, and, after a while only!, people being punished or attacked by a mob for somebody inventing a lie that they had committed "blasphemy" or burnt one or more Korans.; 3/25/15, 11:15 AM
ron winkleheimer said...: "t's also, and, after a while only!, people being punished or attacked by a mob for somebody inventing a lie that they had committed "blasphemy" or burnt one or more Korans."

Exactly, the victim was killed because she threatened someone's income.; 3/25/15, 11:23 AM
Dave Schumann said...: "The victim was killed because she threatened someone's income"

...there are deep philosophical problems here of causation. That was certainly an element of cause. But what was the *proximate* cause?

The *proximate* cause was a mob whipped up by accusations of blasphemy and supported by a society that encourages and rewards extrajudicial punishment for any slight to Wahhabist thought. "Medieval" is far too charitable -- even then there were rough concepts of judicial process that likely would have nipped this in the bud. "Barbarism" seems more apt.; 3/25/15, 12:19 PM
ron winkleheimer said...: @Dave Schumann

While I agree with you about the cause being "a mob whipped up by accusations of blasphemy and supported by a society that encourages and rewards extrajudicial punishment" I would point out that the victim was most likely the wahhabist and the cleric whose livelihood she threatened, evidenced by his selling goods that a wahhabist would deem haram, was not.

Once again, assuming that the news report is accurate.; 3/25/15, 12:39 PM
Dave Schumann said...: @Ralph Hyatt -- surely. Barbarism isn't characterized by fine attention to detail.; 3/25/15, 1:49 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: "That is a stupid and ugly thing to believe."

Disagree. It's stupid and ugly for religious mob to murder an innocent woman.

Based on this murderous behavior, to believe that the mob was barbaric, that such barbarism is an integral part of Islam, and that the NY Times can't come to terms with this, is, well, not stupid or ugly.; 3/25/15, 6:59 PM
ron winkleheimer said...: @ Dave Schumann

"It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle."

Sun Tzu; 3/26/15, 6:26 AM