The Second Coming, the End Times, the Antichrist, Orthodoxy, Islam and an Open Thread

Tomorrow Orthodox Christian celebrate two events: the Presentation of our Lord and Meatfare Sunday also known as the Sunday of of Second Coming.  What is interesting about this day is that this is the day when during the Matins service, after the 6th Ode of the Canon, the Synxarion of the day is read.  A "synaxarion" is a short text discussing and analyzing of the person or event commemorated during that specific day.  In the case of the "Sunday of the Second Coming" it is a short summary of the teachings of the Church about the Second Coming of Christ and the events preceding it, including the appearance and actions of the Antichrist.

In modernist parishes, this reading is entirely omitted and, when it is not, then it is severely censored to avoid raising "politically incorrect" issues and questions.  I found it worthwhile to share with you the original text which was read during the many past centuries and which is still read in traditionalist Orthodox parishes and monasteries.  Here it is in full:

SUNDAY of MEATFARE

On the same day, we commemorate the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and His impartial Judgment.

Verses: When Thou, O Judge of all, shalt sit to judge the earth, Mayest Thou judge me, too, worthy to hear Thee say, “Come hither.”

Synaxarion:

The most Divine Fathers placed this parable after the first two [those of the Publican and Pharisee and of the Prodigal Son], lest anyone, learning about God’s love for mankind in those parables, should live carelessly, saying: God loves mankind, and when I cease from sinning, I shall be ready to accomplish everything. They set this fearful day here, in order to instill fear, through death and the expectation of future torments, in those who are heedless, and to bring them back to virtue, not trusting in God’s loving-kindness alone, but taking into account that He is a just Judge, Who will render unto each man according to his deeds. Moreover, since the souls of those who have died stood in our midst yesterday, it was fitting that the Judge should come today. In a certain way, the present Feast is, as it were, the consummation of all the Feasts, just as it will be the final day for all of us. We should reflect that the Fathers will assign the beginning of the world and Adam’s fall from Paradise to the following Sunday, and that the present Feast is the end of all our lives and of this world. The Fathers assigned it to the Sunday of Meatfare, so as to curb greed and gluttony through the fear aroused by this Feast, and to summon us to show compassion to our neighbors. Furthermore, since, after reaping delight, we were exiled from Eden, and came under judgment and the curse, the present Feast is placed here, and also because, on the next Sunday, on which we commemorate the fall of Adam, we are going to be figuratively cast out of Eden, until Christ comes and brings us back to Paradise.

Christ’s coming is called the Second Coming, because whereas He first came to us in bodily form, quietly and without glory, He will now come from Heaven with wonders that transcend nature, with conspicuous radiance, and corporeally, so that He may be recognized by all as being He Who first came and delivered the human race, and Who is going to judge it, to see whether it has preserved what was given to it. When His Coming will take place, no one knows; for the Lord kept this hidden even from the Apostles. But until then, at any rate, He indicated that it will be preceded by certain signs, which some of the Saints explained in greater detail. It is said that the Second Coming will occur after seven millennia have passed. Before Christ comes, the Antichrist will come. He will be born, as Saint Hippolytos of Rome says, from a harlot, who will appear to be a virgin, but will be of the Hebrew race, of the tribe of Dan, the son of Jacob; and he will supposedly live as Christ did, and will perform as many miracles as Christ, and will raise the dead. But all of these things—his birth, his flesh, and everything else—will be an illusion, as the Apostle says; and he will then be revealed as the son of perdition, with all power, with signs and deceitful wonders. However, as Saint John of Damascus says, the Devil himself will not be transformed into flesh, but a man who is the offspring of fornication will receive all the energy of Satan, and will suddenly rise up. He will appear good and gentle to all, and then there will be a mighty famine. He will supposedly satisfy the people, will study the Holy Scriptures, will practise fasting, and, compelled by men, will be proclaimed king; he will show especial love to the Hebrew race, restoring them to Jerusalem and rebuilding their temple. Before seven years have passed, as Daniel says, Enoch and Elias will come, preaching to the people that they should not accept him. He will arrest and torment them, and will then behead them. Those who choose to remain pious will flee far away into the mountains; when he finds them, through the agency of demons, he will make trial of them. Those seven years will be cut short for the sake of the elect, and there will be a mighty famine, and all the elements will be transformed, so that everyone will all but disappear.

After this, the Lord will suddenly come from Heaven like lightning, preceded by His precious Cross, and a river of boiling fire will go before Him, cleansing the entire earth of pollution. The Antichrist will immediately be seized, and he and his minions will be handed over to the eternal fire. As the Angels sound their trumpets, the entire human race will be gathered together from the ends of the earth, and from all the elements, in Jerusalem, because this is the center of the world, and there are set thrones for judgment, but with their souls and bodies all transformed into incorruption and having a single form, the elements themselves having been transformed into a superior state, and by a single word the Lord will separate the righteous from the sinners; those who have done good will depart, gaining eternal life, whereas the sinners will go to eternal punishment, and never will there be an end to their torments.

It should be known that Christ will not be looking at that time for fasting, bodily hardships, or miracles, good though these things are, but for things that are far superior, namely, almsgiving and compassion. To the righteous and the sinners He will speak of six virtues: “For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me food; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me; for inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Everyone can do these things according to his own ability. Then every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The torments which the Holy Gospel recounts are these: “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched; and cast him into the outer darkness.” Clearly accepting all these things, the Church of God believes that the abiding of the Saints with God and the perpetual effulgence of His light and their ascent to Him are the delight of Paradise and the Kingdom of Heaven, and that alienation from God and the consumption of souls by the awareness that, through carelessness and temporal pleasure, they have been deprived of Divine illumination are the torment, the darkness, and the like.

In Thine ineffable love for mankind, O Christ God, count us worthy to hear Thy desired voice, number us with those on Thy right hand, and have mercy on us. Amen

Please keep in mind that the above is an English translation of an original Greek text compiled on the basis of Patristic writings which have very specific definitions of words which are often hard to render in modern English.  Furthermore, sentences such as "their souls and bodies all transformed into incorruption and having a single form, the elements themselves having been transformed into a superior state" assume that the reader has a solid understanding of dogmatic theology (attending and carefully studying the Orthodox church services provide that kind of knowledge both in an intellectual and on a noetic (spiritual) level).  Finally, there are clearly elements of symbolism used here (such as the figures given) which should not be interpreted in a crude literalistic fashion.

Since we now live in what I call a "post-pseudo-Christian" society in which an original Orthodox synaxiarion in English has become a rarity, I though I would share this little "message form a distant past" with you.

A friend also emailed me today to let me know that Sheikh Imran Hosein (who is a supporter of this blog and with whom I are working on a rather detailed interview) has just released a lecture entitled "Muslim Alliance With Eastern Orthodox Christianity In The End Times" which I will watch tomorrow (when I will spend yet another full day on the road, alas) but which I already want to share with you today:



Here is a short bio of the Sheikh: Imran Nazar Hosein is a leading International Islamic Philosopher, Scholar and author, specialising in world politics, economy, eschatology , modern socio-economic/political issues and expert on international affairs. He is best- selling author of Jerusalem in the Qur'an. Imran Nazar Hosein was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in 1942 to parents whose ancestors had migrated from India as indentured labourers. He studied Islam, Philosophy and International Relations at several universities and institutions of higher learning. Among them are al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, the Institute of International Relations of the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, the University of Karachi in Pakistan, the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies in Karachi, Pakistan, and the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

Finally, as a sign of the times I suppose, look at this google-translated news item from yandex also sent to me by a friend:

Interesting, no?

Kind regards to all,

The Saker

Ramzan Kadyrov on Takfiri terrorism

Listen to Ramzan Kadyrov, the Muslim leader at the forefront of the struggle against the Takfiri terrorists:


Question: is this Muslim to blame for what happened in Paris? Or is his Islamic faith? Who has done more to fight Takfiri terrorism - Kadyrov or Hollande?

Very telling video (especially for Islam-haters!)

I recently learned this lesson the hard way, so let me begin with a few caveats: I don't know where this footage was taken, I don't know when it was taken, and I don't know by whom it was taken.  It is identified on YouTube as "Interview with Chechens in Donetsk".  Except for the only flag I see on the video seems to be a South Ossetian one.  And since both the Chechen and Ossetian languages are very different from Russian, I don't understand a word of what they say.  All I did see is the words "Vostok Battalion" on one of the vans written in Russian.  Now, after all these caveats,  here is what I want you all to see:

Look carefully at the woman in red at the corner of the street who is watching as each APC passes her.  Do can you see what she is doing?

She is blessing each APC with an Orthodox blessing even though she probably knows that these are mostly Muslims.



So here you have it my Islam-haters and defenders of "Christendom" against the "Islamic threat": a Russian Orthodox woman is blessing Muslim men (Chechens are Muslims and while Ossetians can be Muslim or Orthodox, but the men on the video look Muslim to be, at least judging by their beards).  Muslim men who have left their faraway country to cross Russia to defend Orthodox Russians outside Russia.  When was the last time that the so-called "Christendom" came to the defense of Russia, the Russian people or the Orthodox anywhere??  

I take no joy in that, believe me, but the historical record is clear: sadly, what is was call "Christendom" in the past (and by some today) or what is called the "West" or even the "Judeo-Christian civilization" (??) has always been against Russia and against Orthodoxy, even though even today they still deny this vehemently.

Sure, Russia did have wars against Muslim states, but with the exception of the Ottomans, these were not religious wars.  It is also true that Russia did engage in imperialistic expansion towards the south, especially in the Caucasus and Central Asia (there were no Chechen or Tadjik invasions of Russia to repel - Russia invaded them).

And, of course, there was the abomination of the two Chechen wars recently for which, I sincerely believe, both nations share the blame, responsibility and even shame.  And yet today, Chechens (including, I am sure, many former insurgents) are fighting in Novorussia.  Why?  Because on a deep level we - Russians and Muslims in or near Russia - belong to the same "civilizational realm".  Just like Central Asia or the huge Siberian expanses, the Caucasus is part of a multi-national and multi-ethnic civilization which history has forged, sometimes in peace, sometimes through wars, but which was a reality in the Russian Empire, during the Soviet Union and which today is slowly re-constituting a "Eurasian Union".  This Eurasian Union will always have a strong Islamic component to it and the Wahabis are wasting their time and money when they try to bring the local Muslims under their influence and make them agents for the AngloZionists (like they are trying today with the Crimean Tatars).  They will always get some initial results, but they are bound to fail because you cannot roll-back or ignore history.

In a paradoxical way, the AngloZionist aggression against Russia (and China on the other side of the Eurasian landmass) seems to be creating a "reactive consolidation" of the Eurasian Union.  If not for the (US sponsored) wars in Chechnia and in South Ossetia, would we ever have seen this woman blessing Muslim soldiers going to the front?  I doubt it.

One more thing: poor Ukie death squads.  I can just about imagine their horror when they will realize that instead of defenseless civilians, they are facing battle-hardened Chechen and Ossetian warriors.  Man, I wish these guys would capture Liashko, just to see how he would behave in their company...

Kind regards to all,

The Saker

PS: I think that my PayPal button issue has been fixed thanks to your help.  Can you confirm?

Joint Christian-Muslim resistance against the Empire (a quick reminder)

In a previous post entitled "Russia and Islam, part eight: working together, a basic "how-to"", I have discussed in some details the basic principles which could be applied by both Christians and Muslims to jointly take a stand against the current Empire.  I don't want to repeat it all here, especially since in that article I was discussing this issue specifically in the Russian context.  What I propose to do today is to simply post a quick reminder of the general principles I am suggesting both sides abide by.

1) Recognize irreconcilable theological disagreements

The fact that the Islamic and Christians theologies cannot be reconciled is fairly obvious and yet often deliberately ignored, sometimes out of ignorance, mostly out of a misplaced desire not to offend.  And yet, there is nothing offensive in the basic recognition of an undeniable fact.  For Muslims Christ is a prophet, for Christians He is the theanthropos, the God-man.  This is what the absolutely highest Christian theological dogma says about Him:

One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made; Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man; And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried; And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.

As far as I know - and please correct me if I am wrong - but all the segments which I have outlined in red are categorically unacceptable to Islam.  But even if I got one or two of these wrong, there is plenty enough differences here to consider that the Islamic and Christian theologies are mutually exclusive (reminder: Orthodox and Latin Christians disagree only on one word and Orthodox and Arian Christians disagree on one single letter!).  The best thing is therefore accept that as a fact and let each person decide in his/her conscience which of the two faiths - or any other, or none at all - he/she wants to adopt.  Next,

2) Recognize that Islam and Christianity have polemicized with each other:

This really flows from point #1 above, but this is worth repeating.  Because of their mutually exclusive theologies, Christians and Muslims have often polemicized with each other, sometimes resorting to name-calling.  So what?  Humans are humans and issues of religion can generate heated disagreements and disputes.  This really proves nothing.  Next,

3) Recognize that Islam and Christianity have a checkered track of coexistence:

Sometimes Christians and Muslims coexisted in peace, sometimes not.  Since religion is very often used by the worldly powers of the state to justify various policies, it is often very hard to tell whether this or that bad episode was the result of tensions between the faithful or between their secular, worldly, leaders.  But, again, does that matter?  Neither Christians nor Muslims pretend to all be sinless saints - we all know that we are sinners - so what really matters is this: Christians and Muslims can - and have - coexisted in peace.  This is possible, it happened quite often in fact.  Thus, this can be repeated.

4) Christian and Islamic ethics mostly agree with each other: 

Yes, there are some differences.  As far as I can tell, the most acute ones are the stance on the death penalty (which Islam fully favors and Christianity opposes) and the attitude towards "apostates" (which Islam executes, while Christianity only declares them cut-off from the Church).  The fact that Christianity and Islam have coexisted in peace for centuries tells me that these differences can be intelligently managed.  And since most countries have abolished the death penalty anyway, this is hardly the most pressing issue for either community.

So here is again my practical recommendation:

Having accepted our differences, having accepted that we have a checkered history of coexistence but having also accepted that we can, with good will and intelligence, coexist, let us stop dwelling on these topics ad nauseam and turn to the pressing issues at hand today.  I do not mean to say that these issues cannot be discussed here, or anywhere else, but only that this blog is probably not the best place to do so, if only because we are unlikely to change each other's beliefs.

One final point: scriptural exegesis is a very delicate science which requires a lot of very complex and sophisticated methodological and even spiritual capabilities and which cannot be reduced to "this text says this or that".  For example, Orthodox Christians believe that the only correct way to understand the Scripture is within a pious spiritual life in the Church (orthopraxis) combined with the understanding of the so-called consensus patrum (the agreement of the Church Fathers) is on any given passage or topic. My understanding is that Islam teaches that the proper understanding of a passage of the Quran can only come when seen in the context of all the rest of the Quran and the guidance from the Sunna, as interpreted by recognized spiritual leader/jurist.  In other words, this or that Sura or Ayat taken by itself cannot be understood any more than this or that verse of the Scripture.  Yet another reasons for all of us to exercise the utmost caution when quoting the scripture of a religion which is not ours.

That's it - I just wanted to submit these reminders to everybody as a way to keep our discussions focused and productive.  I hope that the above is helpful.

Many thanks and kind regards,

The Saker

Egypt being pushed into sectarian violence

by Crescent online

Saudi preacher, Muhammad al-Arifi, has issued a fatwa saying prostitution by Muslim girls to service takfiri fighters in Syria is permissible.  Has the Ummah (Muslim world) fallen so low that such filthy fatwas can be issued and Muslims remain silent? At the same time, Arifi and Sheikh al-Qaradawi have launched an anti-Shia crusade leading to the lynching of four Shias in a village outside Cairo.

Muhammad al-Arifi

The lynching of four Muslims by a Salafi mob in Egypt has aroused fears about sectarian warfare in the country that is already reeling under multiple crises. Four Muslims were dragged out of a house in the village of Abu Mussalam near Cairo in Giza Province and beaten to death because they were Shias. The house was also set on fire.

The June 23 attack occurred when Shia Muslims gathered in the house of Sheikh Hassan Shehata to participate in prayers and duas on what is considered by many Muslims as a very auspicious night: Nisfu Sha‘ban (middle of the month of Sha‘ban). Many Muslims believe that on this night, Allah (swt) determines the fate of people for the coming year, hence the special prayers and duas for forgiveness and mercy.

The Salafis do not believe in this considering it as bida‘h (innovation in Islam). While there are differing opinions among Muslims about the significance of this night, only and only the Salafis think they have the license to kill people if they participate in such prayers. Hitherto, the Salafis in Egypt that are massively funded by the obscurantist Saudis and their court ulama, had not resorted to such atrocities. Political developments in the region have spurred them to launch vicious attacks against the small Shia community in Egypt that is less than 1% of the total population.

The defeat of takfiri groups in Syria at the hands of the Syrian army in recent weeks and anti-Shia rantings by people like Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian alim residing in Qatar, have encouraged the Salafis in Egypt and elsewhere to go on the offensive. It is distressing that al-Qaradawi, instead of thinking of the larger good of the Muslim Ummah has resorted to spewing sectarian hatred. He is widely seen as a stooge of the Qataris. Interestingly, the Saudis that consider the Qataris as too uppity, are also supporting al-Qaradawi’s sectarian crusade. One Saudi preacher in particular, Mohammed al-Arifi has made a name for himself in Salafi/takfiri circles.

In recent months, he is known to have issued a fatwa for Muslim girls to join what is referred to as “Jihad al-Munakiha”. What this means is that Muslim girls should go to Syria to provide sex services to the takfiri fighters in order to boost their morale. This is described as their “jihad”. Unfortunately some gullible girls from Tunisia have fallen for this obnoxious practice and actually gone to Syria to indulge in what is essentially prostitution.

The June 23 attack in the village of AbuMussalam was captured on video. It is horrible to watch a mob beat people to death with clubs while shouting “Allahu Akbar”. One wonders what kind of demonic notions these people hold. How are they glorifying Allah by killing people that were nothing more than praying the Merciful Lord!

Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil has said the attackers have been identified and would be punished. While the perpetrators of this attack may have been identified and perhaps will also be brought to court for trial, Qandil would be deluding himself if he believes that that would end the crisis. His own government led by President Mohamed Mursi is directly responsible for this horrible crime.

Only a day earlier (June 22), Mursi had addressed a huge rally in a Cairo stadium in which he not only announced cutting off diplomatic relations with Syria because of the Syrian army’s recent successes but he also urged “Sunni Muslims” to join the jihad in Syria! Salafi/takfiris were the predominant group in the stadium attracted to attend by the presence of the likes of al-Qaradawi and Arifi. Mursi’s call was made two days after a meeting by a group of about 70 ulama led by Sheikh al-Qaradawi that indulged in wild anti-Shia rhetoric. When otherwise respected scholars resort to such rhetoric and then political leaders adopt that rhetoric as policy, the consequences are bound to be catastrophic. The mob will take the law into its hands considering the vicious rhetoric as license to kill.

Mursi is faced with many challenges but this kind of dangerous rhetoric targeting a vulnerable minority to divert attention from his other problems will have grave consequences for Egypt. Even more disappointing than Mursi’s call is the hate-filled rhetoric of people like al-Qaradawi and Arifi. The Saudis had always indulged in such rhetoric but Qaradawi’s lending his support and weight will push the Ummah into a dangerous confrontation that can only benefit the enemies of Islam and Muslims.

Whether he realizes it or not, al-Qaradawi is acting as an imperialist-zionist agent. The Saudis were always part of that criminal syndicate. May Allah have mercy on the Ummah that has people like al-Qaradawi as its scholars.
-------
Comment: this article was sent to me by a friend and I am happy to post it here as yet another proof of two extremely important facts:

a) Salafi/Takfiris hate other Muslims no less than they hate non-Muslims, and they treat them with the same brutal viciousness.
b) There are plenty of Muslims out there who are categorically against the kind of pseudo-Islam used to justify the crimes of these crazed thugs.  Please note that the author of this article speaks of "demonic notions" which, in the mouth of a religious person, is just about the strongest condemnation possible.

Most readers of this blog do understand all that, but I urge those of you who still hold to the simplistic (and factually wrong) notion that its Muslims vs non-Muslims to realize that this myth - usually spread by the Zionist media - only serves to divide those who otherwise should stand together against our common enemy: Anglo imperialism, Jewish Zionist and Takfiri/Salafi/Wahabi Satanism.

The Saker
 
PS: another crazy Salafi cleric,  Sheikh Yasir Al-Ajlawni, also recently contributed to an interesting fatwa.  In his opinion, it is legitimate to capture and rape non-Sunni (i.e. Shai, Alawi, Christian) women.  Clearly, this guy and his likes cannot be reasoned with and should be shot on site.  Which is what the Syrian Army is doing, for which they have my deepest gratitude.

Islam and Europe: An equal and opposite reaction

So goes one of the fundamental laws of physics. In the face of recent “actions” in the West -- economic crisis and rampant Islamophobia, there is an inexorable “reaction”, as the eternal values of Islam continue to manifest themselves, notes Eric Walberg 

 

Ramadan exemplifies the powerful spiritual calling of Islam. Dry fasting is more a test of the spirit, the will, proof of devotion, than just some health gimmick. And it is precisely this cultivation of mass “mind over matter” that frustrates Western secularists, so used to indulging every consumer fetish on a whim. Why are Muslims so stubborn in nurturing ancient beliefs and rituals when they fly in the face of modern capitalist society? Secular critics dismiss Islam as a harmful, even dangerous anachronism. Why disrupt one’s busy day five times to pray, slow down the whole economic order for an entire month every year, ban alcohol and interest -- the bedrock of Western society?

Yet the now rich and self-satisfied secular West, after centuries of conquest and imposition of its colonial and now neocolonial order, has found itself at a nightmarish deadend. Wars, riots, drug addiction, corruption, famine, ecological Armageddon ... There is little to cheer for and no coherent explanation for the impasse and the way forward. So the demand that the Muslim world follow in Western footsteps rings hollow.

For non-believers, there are social laws that can help to understand Islam’s continued relevance. One is Mayer Rothschild’s dictum: “Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes its laws.” The other is Carl Clausewitz’s “War is the continuation of policy by other means.” Together, they point to the underlying economic and political problems which have led to the current crisis. In a nutshell, the dominance of banks (as opposed to governments representing the popular will) in controlling economic affairs has created a world where politics serves their particular needs (interest and profit), and the politics which promotes the interests of banks is -- just look around -- war and speculation (read: pillage and theft).

This is the “logic” underlying modern Western society, especially in the past three decades, with the alternative to capitalism, the Soviet Union, now dismantled, discredited, and more or less absorbed into the Western economic order. This triumph over the “enemy” left the field open to the Rothschild-Clausewitz mechanism. Electoral democracy is vaunted, but is a threadbare facade, for while the popular will consistently rejects war and banker hegemony, no political party is able to get elected to represent this popular will.

Believers need no explanation for the why and how of Islam and the devilish deadend the West now faces. Islam advocates a social order where there are no one-sided usurers using their monopoly on money to control economics and politics, a social order where peace (Islam) is the highest attainment of society, the goal of all “policy”, to which all should submit. If presented with the choice between the current chaos and the true Islamic alternative, there is little doubt that the Islamic alternative would be the overwhelming choice of the common people, both in Europe and America, despite the fact that Muslims represent only 2-8 per cent of the population in the West.

***

Of course, this social order is the ideal. The history of Islam witnessed periods of benign and far-from-benign rule. It began with military victories and the spreading of the Caliphate from Atlantic to Pacific. The majority of conquered peoples decided to adopt this powerful religion, converting from polytheism, Buddhism, Christianity and Judaism, though, contrary to Western prejudice, not “by the sword”. Throughout the various Islamic political orders, Christians, Jews and others continued to profess their faiths, enjoying a peaceful coexistence with Muslims. There was no period of imperial conquest and genocide equivalent to the Western imperial order from the fifteenth century to today.

The westward march of Islam was stopped in Spain and on the fringes of Byzantium by Emperor Charlemagne in the ninth century. The Iberian peninsula -- Al-Andalus -- was the pearl of Islamic civilisation from 711 to 1492, as a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, and later the Caliphate of Cordoba and the Emirate of Granada.

Islamophobes portray Europe today as in danger of a new Muslim conquest, politicians and mass media egging on the likes of Norway’s Anders Breivik, who calls for the ethnic cleansing of all Muslims from Europe, much like Christian conquerors expelled Muslims and Jews following the reconquest of Spain in the fifteenth century. But consider for a moment the legacy of Moorish Spain. This period saw Muslims, Jews and Christians living in harmony, creating a prosperous, peaceful society, a highpoint in Spain’s history. Under the Caliphate of Cordoba, Al-Andalus became a beacon of learning, and the city of Cordoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean basin and the Islamic world.

As part of the Alliance of Civilisations, Spain is now rediscovering this Golden Age before the Christian re-conquest of Spain, which saw the torture, murder, forced conversion and expulsion of Muslims and Jews, and the genocide of American natives following the “discovery” of the American continent by Christopher Columbus. While Al-Andalus lasted eight centuries, the post-Islamic period of Spain has lasted only six centuries, and suffers poorly in comparison to the Islamic Golden Age that preceded it.

This was acknowledged by Spain’s current leader, Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, when he co-sponsored the Alliance of Civilisations along with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2005, as a way to “bridge the divide” between the West and Islam, through projects in youth, education, media, and migration. Forums have been held in Madrid (2008), Istanbul (2009) and Rio de Janiero (2010).

Given the current tyranny of money that characterised Western civilisation, it is not surprising that the Zapatero/ Erdogan attempt at bringing peace and understanding among the founding faiths of Spain and the Middle East is greeted with sneers and resentment by Israel and its supporters in the West. Israel-firsters such as Soeren Kern twist the positive moves to bring East and West together as a cover for “Muslim countries in the Persian Gulf and North Africa funnelling large sums of money to radical Islamic groups in towns and cities across Spain”.

But there is a more enduring dialectic at work in Europe. Despite the Israel lobby’s energetic efforts to blacken Islam, the wave of revulsion against Israeli apartheid continues to grow throughout Europe, but especially in Spain. Ilan Pappe describes how all Israeli ambassadors to Europe are more than glad to end their terms, complaining about their inability to speak in campuses and whining about the overall hostile atmosphere in Europe these days. The Israeli ambassador to Spain, Raphael Schutz, just finished his term in Madrid, and in an op-ed in Haaretz’s Hebrew edition he summarised what he termed as a very dismal stay, charging that he was the victim of local and ancient anti-Semitism, comparing the situation to the Inquisition of five centuries ago.

In “Why the Spanish hate us”, Schutz states that the people of Spain are anti-Israeli because subconsciously they are anti-Semitic and still approve of the Inquisition. He ignores the fact that the Muslims were the main victims of the Inquisition, that Jews fought and suffered side by side with their Muslim allies as the Christian invaders flood into Spain. Claiming that Spaniards who criticise Israel are racist and motivated by 500-year-old Christian bigotry rather than by Israeli’s criminal policies is just a feeble attempt at hasbara (public diplomacy) by desperate Israeli diplomats who have long ago lost the moral battle in Europe.

***

The Kerns and Schutzes are supported by Spain’s real latterday Inquisition, the National Intelligence Center (CNI), which published a report in July, warning of tens of millions of dollars coming to Spain from Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to support Muslims, and calling for close monitoring of these funds. The CNI’s report hinted that the money would be used to promote Islamic courts, remove girls from schools, and encourage forced marriages. The Spanish government’s knee-jerk response was to call for all donations from the Gulf Arab states to be channelled through a government-controlled “Islamic Commission of Spain”.

The CNI pointed to the Kuwaiti government’s funding of the construction of mosques in Catalonia, from which Islamic preachers are supposedly “spreading a religious interpretation that opposes the integration of Muslims into Spanish society and promotes the separation and hate towards non-Muslim groups.” Qatari donations are made through the Islamic League for Dialogue and Coexistence in Spain, a group the CNI says is “linked to the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria”.

While the CNI talks only of the need to monitor funds, such as Kern argue that this is all part of a conspiracy by Muslim countries to take back Spain. He points to “the UAE, together with Libya [sic] and Morocco”, which paid for the construction of the Great Mosque of Granada. Says Abdel Haqq Salaberria, a spokesman for the mosque: “It will act as a focal point for the Islamic revival in Europe. It is a symbol of a return to Islam among the Spanish people and among indigenous Europeans.” Worse yet for Islamophobes, Muslims in Cordoba are demanding that the Spanish government allow them to worship in the main cathedral, which was originally the Great Mosque of Al-Andalus and is now a World Heritage Site.

Pointing to Saudi financing of the construction of Islamic Cultural Centres and mosques in Madrid and elsewhere, Kern conjures up the Saudi Wahhabi bugaboo, arguing that most Muslim immigrants in Spain are poor, and their low standard of living and low level of education make them susceptible to Saudi propaganda, ignoring the fact that Saudi Arabia is a close ally of the US, that Wahhabism is the quietist brand of Islam, and the only real way to improve the security situation is to raise the standard of living and level of education of the poor.

Despite such cries of “Wolf!”, attempts to reintegrate Islam into the fabric of Spanish culture are proceeding. Morocco recently co-sponsored a seminar in Barcelona titled “Muslims and European Values” explaining that the construction of big mosques would be “a useful formula” to fight Islamic fundamentalism in Spain. According to Noureddine Ziani, a Barcelona-based Moroccan imam: “It is easier to disseminate fundamentalist ideas in small mosques set up in garages, than in large mosques that are open to everyone.” Using this logic, Spain should welcome more Libyan funding of Great Mosques, rather than participate in NATO’s efforts to destroy the Libyan state and create real grounds for terrorism.

Ziani also said that Islamic values are compatible with European values and that the so-called Western “Judeo-Christian” civilisation is really an “Islamo-Christian” one. The cultural construct “Judeo-Christian heritage” entered the English language only in the 1940s as a reaction to Nazism, and is used by the imperial elite in its “clash of civilizations” targeting Islam. A concept useful to a largely Christian empire where Jewish elites play a powerful role, but one which is rejected by serious scholars, both Christian and Jewish. Talmudic scholar Jacob Neusner calls it a “secular myth favoured by people who are not really believers themselves”. Not only Ziani but American scholars such as Richard Bulliet argue for the use of “Islamo-Christian” to characterise Western civilisation.

Spain suffered several terrorist bombings in the wake of 9/11, notably the 2004 11-M bombings in Madrid, but no evidence was ever presented to suggest Al-Qaeda or Muslims were the perpetrators. Many observers point to Basque and other independence movements as the culprits, or even the Spanish police themselves as part of a false-flag operation. The reality of Spain today is not the existence of any external threat from Islam, but on the contrary, domestic unrest due to the economic crisis and political paralysis.

This gloomy situation prompted concerned young people to boycott Spain’s elections in May and -- ironically -- emulate their largely Muslim Arab Spring heroes by constructing tent cities in protest at the lack of meaningful democracy. Just as Egyptian revolutionaries borrowed techniques from their Western counterparts to throw off their taskmasters, so Spaniards are emulating them in turn -- a true Alliance of Civilisations. European, US and Canadian youth are also impressed by the endurance, the resolution of Palestinians in the face of Israel and its supporters, a 21st-century Judeo-Christian Inquisition persecuting Muslims, not only in Palestine, but in so-called Eurabia and North America.

The Islamophobes turn the truth on its head, attacking the Alliance of Civilisations as a “one-way bridge” undermining European society. But the West’s relations with the Muslim world show just the opposite -- the West has invaded and continues to try to shape the Muslim world to meet capitalism’s requirements. That Muslims stubbornly hold to their beliefs and traditions is an important contribution to the search for a way forward for a crisis-ridden world.

Britain’s riots prove that Muslims are a boon to European society, being inherently peaceful and law-abiding. Muslims from the East London Mosque and the Islamic Forum Europe played an important role in helping to fight the looting and preserve public safety. Three Muslims died in Birmingham defending shops from looters, though in the media they were merely called Asians. “When accused of terrorism we are Muslims, when killed by looters, we become Asian,” a Muslim student told Al-Jazeerah bitterly.

Rather than the “clash of civilisations” advocated by Islamophobes, those who seek social and economic justice can find inspiration in the eternal truths of Islam, looking to Europe’s own Islamo-Christian heritage -- past and present -- to discover an alliance of civilisations that rejects war, theft, moral degeneration and racism. This is the lesson that Ramadan offers to the West today.

***

Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/ You can reach him at http://ericwalberg.com/ Walberg's Postmodern Imperialism is available at http://claritypress.com/Walberg.html

Will the Muslim world ever show enough courage to deal with the Chechen insurgents?

"Emir Dokku Abu Usman"

According to the BBC, the self-styled "Emir of the Caucasus Emirate" and former "President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria" Doku Umarov (aka "Emir Dokku Abu Usman") has declared in reference to the bombing of the Domodedovo airport in Moscow that ""This special operation was carried out on my orders and, God willing, special operations like it will continue to be carried out".  Fair enough - if he wants to claim credit for it, let him have it regardless of whether he and his crazed thugs are really behind it.

I wrote "if" because I simply do not believe that Putin strange statement that this blast was not linked to Chechnia was a mistake or a lie.  Putin is not Reagan, and he is fully aware of what he says.  I have no explanation for the apparent contradictions here, but that does not really matter.

What matters is that the Chechen insurgency's position on terrorism is what the French call "persist and sign" (persiste et signe) which refers to the stubborn insistence to pursuing a course of action which is clearly risky if not outright wrong.

The Chechen insurgency began in terror and barbarity, it continued in terror and barbarity, and it still proudly clings to terror and barbarity.  This, of course, will remain a problem for Russia, but most of all, it will remain a absolute disaster for the Chechen people who, if they ever want to actually achieve anything, need to "clean house" themselves because the Russians will never be able to do that for them.  But the Chechen society will apparently will not do so.

This is my big beef with the Chechens.  Not their desire for independence.  Actually, as claims for a historical right for independence go, the Chechen one was, in comparison to many others made in the former USSR, one of the most historically credible ones: unlike other peoples in the Caucasus, the Chechens have always resisted the Russian Empire, and while all the big cities in the Chechen plains were built by Russian Cossacks (including Grozny), the mountainous regions of Chechnia have always belonged to the Chechen nation.  Simply put - the Russian presence in Chechnia has no other explanation then Russian imperialism and the Chechen desire for independence can only be considered as natural and just.

No, the reason why I feel no sympathy at all for the Chechens is that from day one of their independence movement, they managed to be lead by truly evil thugs, cynical and bloodthirsty gang leaders with no sense of even basic human decency, truly the most vile and abject kind of human garbage ever produced by the Soviet society.  All the Chechen leaders, and I do mean *all* of them, were truly monsters and yet the Chechen society naively thought that it could be lead by such people and not reap the consequences.  Not only that, but for several years a very large part of the Chechen population actually enjoyed the orgy of lawlessness and violence that overtook Chechnia.  Initially the victims were mostly ethnic Russians (and especially the Cossacks which the Chechens always feared and hated).  But soon enough the lawlessness turned all of Chechnia into what can only be called a "black hole".  Eventually, of course, the Chechens reaped what they had themselves sown.

I know for a fact of  many times when Russian military commanders, when confronted by Chechen crowds complaining about the destruction of their villages by the Russian military, replied: "Look, I am from Siberia and I miss my home.  I hate this place and I would leave as soon as possible if I did not have to clean up the mess that you created.  Where were you when many thousands people were kidnapped, murdered, tortured on video and in public squares, raped, when slaves were sold on open markets in central Grozny, when hundereds of innocents were held in zindans and when bandits were running your republic?  It is because of you - the so-called 'innocent Chechens' - that I am here and that my men will have to eliminate all the thugs and murderers which you allowed to prosper and flourish in your society.  If you could not clean your own mess, then shut up and don't complain if we do it now!".

And you know what? I fully agree with that.

Yes, a lot of innocent Chechens died, and a lot of innocent Chechens lost their dwellings.  But at the core - it's their own fault.  Call it karma if you want, or call it historical justice, but a society is responsible for the consequences of letting crazed murders rule it.  This is fundamentally true of the Germans before and during WWII, and it is true for the Chechens today.

And yes, when finally in 2000 the Russian re-took Chechnia, and this time for real, they did come with deep sense of rage and repulsion for their Chechen enemies.  But what did the Chechens expect - to be softly arrested by Geneva Conventions reading Swiss cops?  More then anything else, the Russians were deeply disgusted by the Chechens and they mostly felt little or no pity for them.

Judging by the latest statement of the "Emir of the Caucasus Emirate" the Chechen insurgents have not learned a thing.  They seem to seriously believe that they can beat back the Russian kuffar with terror attacks.  They have already attacked maternity hospitals, movie theaters, aircraft, music concerts, trains, parades and now an airport.  And I predict that they will continue to do so in the future and no amount of counter-terrorist measures will be able to stop them.  But all they will achieve is an even stronger resolve on the Russian side to crush them down to the very last one if needed.  This is not about independence, not about politics and not about oil or geography.  This is about "exterminating the louse" (гниду уничтожить) as the Russian expressions goes, it's about not letting the SOBs get away with murder, literally.

As far as the current official leader of Chechnia goes, Ramzan Kadyrov, most Russians have little love for the guy.  He is a former insurgent himself whose father changed sides when he felt the wind turn.  And he is also very much a typical Chechen thug.  But as the Russians see it, let the Chechens clean as much of their own hell-hole as they can.  Russia will send them money, and will keep an eye on them.  And if the Chechens cannot take care of business - then the most battle hardened, best trained and, now, best equipped Russian military units will be back, really fast, to take care of any situation getting out of control.

I personally believe that the vast majority of Russians would be quite happy to let Chechnia go to hell, provided all the Chechens currently residing in Russia are also kicked out and a huge and impenetrable wall is built around the Russian-Chechen border so that none of these guy could never ever come back.  But Russians also know that this is a fantasy which will never happen.  So the next "least bad" solution is to let the Chechens sort out their own mess as much as possible and, if they cannot, to have an iron fist ready to strike as fast and hard as needed.

This is one of those situation where neither victory nor peace is possible.  Of course, Doku Umarov will sooner or later be killed by the FSB or the GRU (like all his predecessors and all of the original insurgency leaders).  But there are enough wannabe "Emirs of the Caucasus Emirate" left in Chechnia to have him replaced really fast.  And they will be killed too.  One after the another, for as long as it takes.  This is, of course, a bad solution, but that is the only possible strategy and tactic for Russia - the Chechens leave Russia absolutely no other choice, regardless of who is in power in the Kremlin.

Let me conclude here by saying that Russia too has a big responsibility for what happened in Chechnia.  It was Eltsin and his "democrats" who armed Dudaev and his militias to the teeth, it was Eltsin and his "democrats" who send billions of Rubles to Chechnia and it was Eltin and his democrats who sent untrained recruits to die in Grozny and who stopped the Russian military not once, but twice when it was about to crush the insurgency.  The entire clique of Jewish bankers and Russian 'democrats' who ran Russia for almost a decade played a key role in letting Chechnia become a black hole.  And the Russian society, just like the Chechen one, is morally responsible for letting itself be ruled by such immoral and incompetent oligarchs.  And the Russian society has, I believe, also paid a terrible price for its own passivity and lack of backbone.  But the Russians, at least, did clean up their own mess, and with the exception of a few die-hard pro-Western "democrats", nobody in Russia has anything but disgust and hatred for the rulers of the "democratic" regime in power between 1991-2000.  In fact, in the latest elections not a single "democratic" party got the minimum amount of votes to even be represented by even one Deputy in the Duma.

But what do the Chechens think about Dudaev, Maskhadov, Iandarbiev, Basaev, Raduev, Baraev, Udugov, Khattab and the rest of them?  Just take a look at their "official" website Kavkaz Center.  They are all honored there as "martyrs for God", as shahids (!), who died in a just and noble cause.  And the folks at Kavkaz Center are sadly not alone, a great part of the Muslim world still remains absolutely unable to think outside a reflexive, knee-jerk  "my country - wrong or right" paradigm, just transposed to religion ("my umma - right or wrong").  Add to this the narrative that Muslims are always the persecuted victims and you will have the elements of a collective blindness which will only serve to make things worse.

Ever since some Brits were decapitated by Chechen crazies, the West has toned down its criticism of Russia, at least somewhat.  Besides, NATO now needs Russia if it wants to resupply its troops in Afghanistan.  As for the Muslim countries, most of them probably start realizing - at least in private - that the Chechen insurgents are at least as bad as the worst al-Qaeda types who are more than willing to kill any Muslim who happens to disagree with them.  But as long as bloodthirsty buffoons like Doku Umarov are not completely denounced, condemned and rejected by the international Muslim umma, the situation in Chechnia will remain unchanged, unsolved and untenable.

The solution to this conflict can only come from the Muslim world.  Sadly, I do not believe that it is capable of taking on such a role.  At the very least then, I hope that it will then follow the less-than-heroic stance of the West and at least abstain from criticizing Russia which has no other option than to deal with this issue in the only manner it can.

The Saker

I wonder if Muslim-haters will notice this...

Democracy Now reports:

Muslims Act as Human Shields for Coptic Christians in Egypt

In Egypt, millions of Coptic Christians celebrated Christmas on Friday as the community continues to reel from the New Year’s Day church bombing that killed 21 people and injured dozens more. In a sign of solidarity, thousands of Muslims gathered on Thursday night to protect Egyptian Copts as they celebrated Christmas Eve. Acting as human shields, the Muslims surrounded churches in an attempt to prevent any more attacks. The Muslims organized under the slogan: “We either live together, or we die together."

Egyptian traitors train in Texas

Ha'aretz as published an article entitled "U.S. Army training Egyptians to find, destroy smuggling tunnels" which describes how Egyptian soldiers are trained by the US Army to prevent any tunnels being dug out of the open air prison of Gaza. Ha'aretz writes:

The United States Army has begun training Egyptian soldiers to locate and destroy tunnels, in an effort to improve the Egyptian army's ability to cope with arms-smuggling from Sinai to the Gaza Strip. A second, larger group of Egyptian soldiers is also due to arrive shortly for training, which is taking place at a U.S. Army base in Texas. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is teaching the Egyptian troops how to use advanced technological equipment to find and destroy the tunnels, including instruments that measure ground fluctuations and signal that a tunnel is being dug. There has already been some improvement in Egypt's anti-smuggling activity, said (Israeli) Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, who heads the Military Intelligence research division.

When I read this I wondered how these soldiers would be greeted in Egypt upon their return from this training and how they would be seen once they begin to use their newly learned skills to choke their imprisoned Palestinian brothers and sisters in Gaza.

It is customary to consider the collaborators of an invading force as traitors and collaboration is usually seen as a capital offense. These Egyptians do not even have the excuse of living under an occupation and one has to conclude that they are willing collaborators of what is a war crime and, possibly, a genocide in progress. Are they denounced as such in the Arab press? Does any Muslim religious authority denounce them as apostates? Has Hamas ever stigmatized them for being traitors?

Swindler’s List

by Gilad Atzmon (originally posted here)

It is a common trend amongst rabid Zionists and notorious Islamophobes to quote some isolated and mistranslated verses from the Qur’an for the purpose of collectively libeling Muslims and presenting Islam as a regressive and violent belief system. Needless to say, so far, such repetitive attempts have been found futile if not actually counter-effective. Not a single Western politician, Zionist campaigner or Neocon think tank has managed to establish a comprehensive case against Islam. The reason is rather simple, in spite of the clear fact that some devastating atrocities have been committed in the name of Islam and in the name of Jihad, these acts were performed by sporadic radicalized and isolated cells. As at it seems, in the eyes of the Western masses, it takes more than just a few random acts of a very few to undermine a humanist universal belief system and implicate its one billion followers.In order to incriminate Islam and to discredit its believers, a broad argument is needed, a conclusive undeniable proof that would establish a continuum between a given immoral religious text, a religious infrastructure and mass following movement of worshipers who behave immorally and accordingly. For the matter, a CIA-created mysterious character who allegedly hides in a cave for 7 years is not nearly enough. What we really want to see is a continuation between a so-called ‘Islamic satanic Verses’ and an Organic active collective set of worshipers who are tempted to follow the very verses and perform horrifically. Somehow, such a conclusive and comprehensive link is always missing in the Zionists’ and Islamophobes’ call for action.

A radical Imam in London is not enough, a deliberate mistranslation of Ahmadinejad speeches won’t do either. Even repetitive images of the twin towers being chewed by airliners would not provide the goods. Seemingly, time after time the ZioCon’s defamation campaigns backlash. Instead of incriminating Islam and Muslims, ZioCons manage to marginalise themselves revealing their genuine faces. Time after time Zionists and Neocons are exposed marching along, side-by-side, with the most radical xenophobe bigots who happen to dwell amongst us in the West. Since the collective incrimination of Muslims stands at the premise of the Neocon philosophy as well as global Zionism, and since both Zionists and their Neocon twins are doing poorly on that front, I have decided to dedicate this paper to a pedagogic cause and try to help them out. I will give here a crash course in rhetoric. I will try to enlighten our foes and show them, step by step, how to establish a case based on continuum between the Holy Scripture and merciless collective barbarism. Assuming that Zionists (both Jews and Christians) as well as Neocons are rather familiar with the Old Testament (as much as they are unfamiliar with the Qur’an), I will point at a relatively very short extract from the Torah. For that purpose I picked up a small biblical extract that will help us to explore the current ZioCon plundering culture in the light of the Judaic teaching and God’s promise. The following verses are a part of an oratory made by Moses to his people while on their way to their ‘promised land’:“Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength.” (Deuteronomy chapter six: 4-5). Considering the vast amount of beings around who are engaged in some relentless love seeking, I wouldn’t dare criticise the Judaic God for doing the same.

The Judaic God is entitled to demand the love of his chosen people. However, the Israelites’ God is at least kind enough to give something in return:“Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build, houses filled with choice things you did not accumulate, hewn out cisterns you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – and you eat your fill.” (Deuteronomy: Six 10 -11).

On the face of it, the Old Testament verses above could stand as the most simplistic yet valid and solid proof for the existence of God. As we know, at least according to the Bible, God indeed managed to live up to his promise. He clearly brought his chosen people to the land of milk and honey and made them live in cities they didn’t build and drink their water from wells they didn’t dig. Clearly, the Lord did not abandon his people. A few millenniums later, the Judaic God capitalised on his might and brought the nations on their knees so they saw the light and willingly voted for the 1947 UN partition resolution. A fatal error that made it legal (rather than moral) for the new Israelite to live in cities he didn’t build and drink from wells he didn’t dig. Indeed, if there is a question regarding the existence of the Judaic God, the above should be enough to prove his existence.

However, it is rather obvious and very embarrassing to admit that the Judaic God, as portrayed by Moses in Deuteronomy 6:10 is an immoral evil God. It is a God who leads his people to plunder, robbery and theft. Yet, there are many ways to deal with this negative image of the almighty. On the literary level one can suggest that the given verses are not more than just two isolated lines in a gigantic text that is well meaning and offers some fundamental universal thoughts. On the contextual level, one may suggest that it wasn’t actually God himself who was talking to his chosen people but rather Moses who failed to deliver the true message of God. In other words, Moses may have ‘gotten it wrong’ or even ‘made it up’. In fact, there are many other ways to save the Judaic God from being the logos behind contemporary Israeli plundering, yet, it is not that easy to save the Israelites from being presented as robbers and plunders, especially in the light of their spiritual, cultural and religious heritage. In short, it is actually impossible not to see the continuum between Deuteronomy 6:10 and the crime against the Palestinian people that is committed by the Jewish State in the name of the Jewish people. Seemingly, Moses, his contemporaries and their current Zionist followers were and are rather excited about the possibilities laid ahead for them in the Land of Milk and Honey. Israel, the Jewish State, had been following Moses’ call to the elements.

The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in 1948 makes Deuteronomy 6:10 look like a prophecy has come true. On a daily basis the Israelis rob the indigenous Palestinians of their land, cities, villages, fields, orchards and wells. In fact this robbery has never stopped for over a century. For the last sixty years, Moses’ call for theft is put into a legal praxis. The Israeli looting of Palestinian cities, homes, fields and wells found its way into the Israeli legal system. Already in 1950-51 Israel legislators approved the ‘Absentee Property Law’, a racially orientated law that is there to prevent Palestinians from returning to their lands, cities and villages. A law that is there to allow the new Israelites to live in houses and cities they didn’t build. The never-ending robbery of Palestine by Israel in the name of the Jewish people establishes a devastating spiritual, ideological, cultural and obviously, practical continuum between the Judaic bible and the Zionist project. The crux of the matter is simple yet disturbing: Israel and Zionism are both successful political systems that put into devastating practice the plunder promised by the Judaic God in the Judaic holy scriptures. It seems obvious: Zionist and Neocon repetitive failure tendency to defame Islam and Muslims is actually nothing more than a banal projection. Zionists and Neocons are well familiar with the different immoral teaching within the Judaic spiritual and religious heritage that matured into a Zionist looting. Foolishly, they try to project it on Islam and Muslims. After reading Moses’ oratory we may have to confess, the Jewish nationalist project that is supported by the vast majority of Jewish institutions around the world is an attempt aiming at robbery of the indigenous Palestinians following a cultural and religious heritage that is overwhelmingly documented in the Judaic Bible. Yet we must never forget that not all Jews follow the Bible. Some are not even aware of the biblical text or its content. Some may even suggest to us that we must never forget the Bund and its progressive, secular and cosmopolitan heritage that is currently maintained by a half a dozen enthusiast Jewish Marxists around the world.

Indeed, we have to admit that out of the very few Bundists who didn’t immigrate to Israel after the war, half a dozen do not agree with Israel, Zionism and the robbery of Palestine. This is certainly a reason to be cheerful. However, Bundists believe that instead of robbing Palestinians we should all get together and rob who is considered to be the rich, the wealthy and the strong in the name of working class revolution. Here is the Bund’s call for action taken from ‘The Vow’ the Bund’s anthem: We swear our stalwart hate persists,Of those who rob and kill the poor:The Tsar, the masters, capitalists.Our vengeance will be swift and sure.So swear together to live or die!

On the face of it, robbing the rich, confiscating their homes and grabbing their wealth is seen as an ethical act within the progressive discourse. As a young revolutionary I myself took part in some righteous parades. I was ready to grab my sword and to join the hunt for a Tsar, a capitalist or any other enemy who may cross my way. But then, the inevitable happened, I grew up. I realised that such a vengeance towards an entire class of wealthy goyim is not more than an extension of Moses’ oratory of Deuteronomy Six. Robbery cannot be the way forwards. Whether it is Palestinians, Iraqis, world banking or even the Tsar himself. Robbing involves a categorical dismissal of the other. Hence, it must be premised on some inherent self-righteousness. Robbery and plunder doesn’t live in peace with a deep understanding of the notion of human equality.

Sadly we have to admit that hate-ridden plunder of other people’s possessions made it into the Jewish political discourse both on the left and right. The Jewish nationalist would rob Palestine in the name of the right of self-determination, the Jewish progressive is there to rob the ruling class and even international capital in the name of world working class revolution. I better stay out of it. Conclusion: It must be stated that if Neocons and Zionists are really interested in defaming Islam and Muslims, all they have to do is to provide us with a similar analogous extensive reading of Islam in which an alleged satanic verse is translated into an unethical praxis performed by a substantial organised collective.

However, bearing in mind the increasing influence of the Old Testament within the American political discourse due to the rise of popularity of Christian fundamentalism in America, the notion of the plundering God may help us to understand the American current conduct in Iraq and in Afghanistan. In other words, the growing popularity of Old Testament teachings may help us to grasp the predatory philosophy encouraged by the perpetrators of the notorious ‘New American Century’. Most importantly, within such a problematic reading of the Judaic God as presented in Deuteronomy 6:10 and its total dismissal of the Other, Jesus’ call to love one’s neighbour comes into life. This is the exact ingredient some of us miss in Moses’ oratory as reflected in Jewish political discourse and praxis. It is love to one’s neighbour that we lack in contemporary Anglo-American affairs. Human brotherhood is what we miss in Jewish nationalism both right and left.

Would the Zionists be open to the notion of brotherhood, they would be empathic to the Palestinian right of return. Would the Jewish Marxists and cosmopolitans be open to the notion of Brotherhood, they would give up on their unique exclusive banners and become ordinary human beings like the rest of us.

The Shia 10th Day of Ashura and the coming war(s)

Every place is Kerbala, every day is Ashura

If there is one event which is central to the entire ethos of Shia Islam it is the martyrdom of Imam Husayn ibn Ali (a grandson of Muhammad the founder of Islam) and 72 of his followers at the hands of a 40'000-strong army of Yazid Ibn Muawiyah Ibn Abu Sufyan in 680 AD at the battle of Kerbala. Here is how these events are recounted on the website of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon:


IMAM HUSSEIN'S UPRISING:

Prophet Mohammed's grandson Hussein (peace be upon them), was martyred along with his household and companions in the land of Karbala more than 1400 years ago. Imam Hussein stressed that the reason for his uprising against Yazid son of Moawiya was to revive the noble teachings of Islam and the genuine practice of his grandfather Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his household). Muslims, whether Sunnis or Shiites, say that Yazid who wanted to force Imam Hussein to acknowledge him as Caliphate, was a corrupt and incompetent person who practiced all sorts of wrongdoings contrary to the teachings of Islam.

IMAM HUSSEIN IN MEDINA:

The martyr of Karbala, while at his grand¬father's grave in Medina got his reassurances in dreams where the Messenger of God spoke to him in words of affection and great sorrow;
"Oh Hussein my beloved, I see thee soon spattered in thy blood, slain in the spot of Karbala, the spot of karb (sorrow) and bala (calamity) by a wicked gang of my community (ummah), thirsty with no one to give thee water to drink. Will they nonetheless seek my intercession nay, may God not grant them my intercess¬ion on the Day of Judgment." The Imam confronted Yazid for his open corruption and incompetence. The issue was so important for the Imam that although he could have saved himself by compromising with the oppressive government of Yazid, he rose for the interest of Islam and Muslims and sacrificed his life and that of his near and dear ones so that humanity could have an eternal model. Thus, the movement of Imam Hussein is not confined to his times. It is for every era and every place.

IMAM REACHES KARBALA:

Imam Hussein reached the spot of Karbala on the second of Muharram 61 A.H. The father of free men (Imam Hussein) asked his companions what the place was called and they answered Naynawa. He asked again whether it was known by any other name. He was told that it was also known as al-Ghadiriyya. Is there any other name by which it was known? he asked. This time the answer came: "Karbala". He then remarked: "We are God's and to Him we return. This is the spot of Karb (sorrow) and Bala (calamity). This is the last station of our journey; this is the place wherein our blood will be shed."

THE TRAGEDY OF THE 10TH OF MUHARRAM:

So, after nine days of attempts by the Imam to move the hearts of his enemies and reproach to them for their cruelty, came Friday or Saturday, the 10th of Muharram, 61 A.H. . This was when the greatest tragedy in Islam took place. Ibn Sa'd, the chief of Yazid's army, ordered his men to prepare for battle. He himself shot an arrow in the direction of Imam Hussein's camp saying: "Bear witness for me with the Amir (Ibn Ziyad, the ruler of Kufa) that I was the first to shoot an arrow." The battle started and Imam Hussein's valor and devoted companions were martyred one after another, mostly in single combat.
The first to die of Imam Hussein's own family was his eldest son 'Ali al-Akbar. Then Abul Fadl al-Abbas, his brother seeing the suffering of the women and children from thirst made his way to the water among swords and spears, and under a barrage of arrows. He got the water for the thirsty ones, but on his way back he was attacked and killed after a desperate and courageous fight.
Imam Hussein called the enemy camp for a drink of water for his newborn son Abdullah. A man shot an arrow into the child's neck which slew him in his father's lap.

IMAM HUSSEIN ADDRESSES KUFANS:

Just before the battle, he addressed the Kufans saying:
Do therefore remember who my ancestors were and know who I am, then return to your own consciences and reprimand them. Behold whether it is lawful for you to kill me and violate my sanctity. Am I not the son of your Prophet, the son of his legate and cousin who was the first to believe in God and confirm His Apostle in what He revealed to him. Is not Hamzah the first of martyrs my father's uncle and is not Ja'far al-Tayyar of the two wings flying in Paradise my uncle? Did no good man among you relate to you the saying of the Apostle of God concerning me and my brother 'these two are the masters of the youths of the people of Paradise'? So if you believe not what I say, and it is the truth; for by God I never told a lie since I knew that God (exalted be He) loathes lying and harms by it only those who abide in it. But if you belie me, there are those among you whom you could ask . . . (here he enumerates most of the still living companions of the Prophet and then continues) they can tell you that they heard this saying from the Prophet concerning me and my brother. Is there not in this a cause to prevent you from shedding my blood?
Among the people whose hearts were indeed moved was al-Hurr al-Amili, the man first sent by Ibn Ziyad to compel Imam Hussein to surrender.

IMAM HUSSEIN THE MASTER OF ALL MARTYRS:

At the end of the day Shimr Ibn-Thee el-Jawshan urged men to kill Imam Hussein who had already received many arrows and stabs by sword and spear. The Imam lay dying on the ground spattered with his blood. It was Shimr who came forward, knelt on his chest, stabbed him many times with his sword, while the other laughed saying: "Praise God who had sent the most evil of his creatures to kill him," and then cut off his head. The head was sent with the other heads of Imam Hussein's companions first to Ibn Ziyad who dispatched them along with the women (Sabaya) including Imam Hussein's sister Sayyida Zeinab (pbuh), and children as captives to Yazid in Damascus. Only Imam Ali, Zayn al-Abidin son of Imam Hussein, then a sick boy, survived this tragedy.

BLOOD TRIUMPHS OVER SWORD

Be that as it may the martyrdom of Imam has provided food for thought and devotion for many generations up to this day. It has received countless interpretations, and every generation sees its struggle in the light of his struggle. In this sense blood triumphed over the sword and Imam Hussein peace be upon him gained victory and Yazid lost.

Now I can well imagine some of my readers, in particular the agnostics/atheists, rolling their eyes at all this wondering how all this relevant to the modern times. The answer is that it would be a huge mistake to overlook the faith and piety of others simply because one cannot understand, or does not share, them.

The Shia, who have been oppressed for many centuries, have built their entire spiritual lives on the heroic example of the martydom of Imam Husayn ibn Ali and an unbreakable resolve never to allow such an event (the murder of a pious servant of God in the indifference of everybody) to happen again.

It is hardly possible to overemphasize the importance of martyrdom for the Shia (Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord; Qur'an, 2:214). Interestingly, the Arabic word Shaheed has exactly the same meaning as the Greek word μάρτυς (martis, or martyr): it means "witness". In other words, both Islam and original (Orthodox) Christianity believe that being a martyr is being a true witness of God, in the former case through the example of Imam Ali and in the latter through the example of Christ.

The "Hollywood educated" western mind has somehow accepted the fallacy that wars are won by fancy technologies, that when the next war comes, it shall be "US stealth fighters versus old Iranian F4s" or "Israeli F16s versus Hezbollah katuishas". This is an extremely naive and ignorant view of warfare. Future wars will oppose two kind of combattants: one who believes that his fancy hardware will win the battle for him against a deeply pious opponent who, above all else, is determined not to ever allow the truth to be trampled by evil again and who views martyrdoom as the highest blessing one can ever hope for.

I should here that it would be equally wrong the believe the nonsense about the Muslim fighters as going into battle for some 72 virgins: this is a myth propagated by an ignorant western propaganda which projects its own crude fantasies upon a culture it cannot understand. Unlike some Wahabis, the Shias do not seek death in battle at all. They, in fact, will go to great lenghts to avoid it. They do so, however, with a full willingness to accept it if circumstances require it.

About two million Shia Muslims marched in Kerbala today, and another million gathered around Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut to commemorate the Ashura. These huge crowds are gathering while their leaders warn them that the risks of war are extremely high (see Hassan Nasrallah's speech posted here yesterday). The next wars can take many forms: Israel can invade Gaza, Israel can invade Lebanon, Israel can strike at Iran, the USA can strike at Iran or a combination of any or all of the above. What the leaders of the Empire should understand is that the Shia world is more than ready to taken them on. They should also remember Mark Twain's words that 'it is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog' which determines the outcome.

Do they really believe that they have more "fight in their guts" than the Shia commemorating the Ashura today?
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NB: Although I tried to understand and outline the importance of the Ashura the best I can, I am necessarily limited in my understanding of this day by the fact that I am not a Muslim myself. I therefore apologize for any mistakes or omissions I might have made in my description above, and I strongly urge any Shia Muslim reading this to add his/her commentary or criticisms here for the benefit of all. Many thanks in advance! VS