Author: Mick Hartley

Everything you always wanted to know about apostasy but were afraid to ask, in this long and learned disquisition by our friend (and Ken’s friend) Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. Topics covered include:

Facing Apostasy: The Role of Muslims:

The greatest kind of danger that faces Muslims is that which threatens their moral aspect of existence, i.e., their belief. That is why apostasy from Islam is regarded as one of the most dangerous threats to the Muslim community.

The moral aspect of their existence is their belief. That’s all.

Refuting Objection of Intellectuals:

Some contemporary writers who are not versed in religious knowledge object to the penalty of proclaimed apostasy being death by saying that this penalty is not mentioned in the Qur’an. It is only mentioned in a hadith ahad (hadith that is narrated by people whose number does not reach that of the mutawatir, which is hadith that is narrated by such a large number of people that they cannot be expected to agree upon a lie, all of them together); and hadiths ahad, according to them, are not taken as evidences for the legal punishments prescribed by Shari`ah.

But this objection is refutable in many aspects as follows. First, according to the scholarly consensus, the authentic Sunnah is a source for applied rulings in Shari`ah. Almighty Allah says, [Say: Obey Allah and obey the Messenger.] (An-Nur 24:54). He also says, [Whoso obeyeth the Messenger obeyeth Allah.] (An-Nisaa’ 4:80)

As for the hadiths specifying the death penalty for apostates, they have been proven to be authentic. Besides, they were put into effect by the Companions in the era of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.

So that settles the matter. The hadiths are authentic. That’s why apostates must be killed.

American Caroline Cox moved to London a year ago and is “shocked at the amount of abuse she receives because of her nationality”. The Beeb asks for comments:

I would agree that in general Americans are a loathsome, naive, petulant bunch, but then the fact that we in Britain allow ourselves to be so influenced by them makes us 10 times worse.
Craig Eastman, Liverpool, UK

I feel no pity for Americans working abroad – they get to see first hand what their foreign policies are doing to the rest of the world.
Ian Anderson, Aberdeen, UK

Ms Cox shouldn’t really be surprised in the current climate. More and more people are coming to realise the US administration is the biggest terrorist organisation in the world…
John Lockett, Burnley, UK

Rose Judson clearly has the right approach:

I usually defuse the situation by saying “Yes, I’m an American – and I’d like to apologise”.

An instructive analysis from Times online on the crisis in Chad (via):

What is the background to today’s attempted coup?

Today’s fighting in N’djamena is the result of the West not having successfully intervened to stop the trouble in Darfur, Sudan. The situation has been described as genocide but over the past three years it has just got worse and worse. Darfur is bandit country now with armed gangs roaming around under no control.

The Sudanese and Chadian governments have armed the rival militias and in doing so they have let the genie out the bottle. Now, even if they wanted to do so, it is unlikely they could get it back in. At the same time the Sudanese government has prevented the UN from establishing a credible force in the area.

The African Union has something like 700 troops in a province which is larger than France. It’s a totally ineffective international effort to bring stability to the region and as result the neighbouring states have been dragged in.

The east of Chad and the Darfur region of western Sudan are effectively the same place – the border between them is arbitrary and the same tribes live on both sides. They have no allegiance to either country, only to their clans.

Why is Sudan accused of backing the rebels?

The Zagawa tribe, the tribe to which Chad’s President Deby belongs, was one of the three main tribes involved in the fighting against the Sudanese Government in the early days of the Darfur conflict.

Now the Sudanese has started backing the anti-government rebels in Chad in retaliation. At best, they say that since coming to power in 1990 President Deby has turned a blind eye to anti-Sudan movements in Chad, at worst he supported them and fuelled the conflict.

The EU, meanwhile, has appealed for calm:

In a statement released in Austria, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the 25-nation bloc, the EU urged all states in the area, in particular Chad and Sudan, to “take the necessary steps to restore calm as soon as possible.”

Where would we be without the sensible voice of the EU?

If only all religious leaders shared the views of the Rabbi of Maidenhead synagogue:

It is not only teachers who are worried about the proliferation of faith schools (report, Apr 12); so too are a number of religious leaders. We do not question the integrity of such schools, but we are concerned about their unintended impact. Separating children means dividing them, and eventually producing a whole generation that is ghettoised and ill at ease with itself. Schools should build bridges, not erect barriers.

Faith schools also divide the parents and cut a large swath through society. If, as most faiths profess, we should love our neighbour as ourselves, then we have to know our neighbour properly in order to fulfil that command, not shy away from him.

Precisely because I take my faith seriously I sent my children to a school where they could sit next to a Muslim, play football with an Anglican and walk home with an atheist. My children benefit from seeing them as fellow human beings and from understanding their perspectives. Hopefully, those children also gain insights as to what it means to be Jewish.

As Britain is becoming more multifaith and multicultural, it is essential that we strive to maintain contact with each other. Schools should ensure that they handle all faiths in a comfortable way, while religious identity should come from the home and after-school activities.

I admit that there are many advantages to faith schools, but social cohesion and the long-term good of society should be a higher priority.

target worthy of its outrage, and leapt into action. That target was Israel.

The international governing body for soccer condemned the Jewish state, and announced that it was considering possible action over the Israeli air strike last week on the Gaza soccer field that had been used for terrorist training exercises. The field, which had also reportedly served as a missile launching pad, was empty at the time; the strike itself came in response to the continuing barrage of Qassam rocket attacks directed at Israeli towns and villages.

Only a couple of days earlier, one of those Qassam rockets landed on a soccer field at the Karmiya kibbutz in southern Israel, causing light injuries to one person. Several other Israeli children and adults needed to be treated for shock. The attack was claimed by the Al-Quds brigades, an armed wing of Islamic Jihad. The soccer pitch is regularly used by children and it was only a matter of luck that there were not greater injuries. (Since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza last year, several members of the kibbutz, including a ten-month-old baby, have been wounded after their homes took direct hits from Qassams. Israelis elsewhere have died after being hit by these weapons.)

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Jerome Champagne, FIFA’s deputy general secretary, who had personally condemned the attack on the Palestinian soccer pitch, refused to extend a similar condemnation to the attack on the Israeli pitch.

CND’s Bruce Kent has the answer to the current Iranian nuclear crisis:

Let the President of Iran invite the heads of all the eight states now equipped with nuclear weapons to come at once to Tehran as his guests.

There they could begin to discharge their legal obligation, as set out by the International Court of Justice in 1996, to negotiate the abolition of all nuclear weapons globally.

When a successful conclusion to these negotiations, also a legal requirement, is in prospect the President should open Iran’s nuclear facilities to international inspection on demand.

Everyone else should give up their nuclear weapons – and then Iran will start cooperating. It’s so simple! I imagine there’ll be a few tears as all the leaders start embracing each other and promising that from now on they’ll be the bestest of friends, and then Ahmadinejad and the new Israeli prime minister will hug, and Ahmadinejad will say that he didn’t mean all that stuff about wiping Israel off the map, and really he likes Jews, he’s got a whole stash of Barbra Streisand albums at home, and if only people could learn to live together in harmony and understanding….

ve to hear any more of that crap.

So – dammit – enough is enough. I’m here to assert that we in England do have something to be proud of nomenclature-wise – our village names!

Some areas are especially rich. Where are we here? Oughtershaw, Yockenthwaite, Sedbusk, Hubberholme. The Yorkshire Dales of course – just west of Low Borrowbridge, Newbiggin-on-Lune, Maulds Meaburn and Crosby Ravensworth.

Or let’s head south: Piddletrenthide, Haselbury Plucknett, Mappowder, Toller Porcorum, Fifehead Magdalen, Melcombe Bingham (just up from Bingham’s Melcombe), Dowlish Wake, Sutton Poyntz, Melbury Bubb, Sydling St Nicholas…. yes indeed, we’re in Dorset.

And not forgetting Cornwall: Muchlarnick, Propidnick, Towednack, Porthgwarra, Praze-an-Beeble, Nanquidno, Tredrizzick….

But really, anywhere’ll do. Open the atlas at random….Burstwick, Sproatley, Burton Pidsea, Skeffling, Sigglesthorne, Thorngumbald, Owstwick, Great Kelk and Little Kelk…Yorkshire again, near Hull.

I could go on. In fact I will go on. Glooston, Carlton Curlieu, Bruntingthorpe, Copston Magna, Willoughby Waterleys, Peatling Parva, Husbands Bosworth, Theddingworth, Marston Trussell…all just south of Leicester, another random choice.

I’ll spare you any more, but I hope I’ve made my point. We have our own anglo-saxon poetry – and without cheating by crossing over the Welsh border. What it is, it’s (do you hear the swelling strains of Elgar?) the rich palimpsest of our nation’s heritage, stretched out across the green sward of England. Oh yes.

Right, enough of that bollocks…all together now…”By the time I get to Bootle….”.

Worth a read: David Aaronovitch looks at the latest scare stories about the US nuking Iran, and wishes the Today programme was less obsessed with America.

More on the spread of the Darfur conflict across the border to Chad (via):

The continuing raids by Sudanese tribesmen have sent over 50,000 Chad civilians fleeing from their villages. Some of the Sudanese raiders belong to tribes with branches in Chad. Same thing with the victims. Like Sudan, Chad has tribes that consider themselves Arab, while others consider themselves just African. There has always been animosity between the two groups, although intermarriage, rape and slavery have resulted in both groups looking much alike, and sharing languages and customs.

Sudan continues to receive the support of other Arab nations, especially Egypt. The Arab nations oppose bringing in UN, and especially European, peacekeepers. This would offend the dignity of the Arab world (the way overthrowing Saddam Hussein did), thus the Arabs allow the ethnic cleansing of Darfur to continue, even though the victims are Moslem. These attacks are less painful to Arabs because the victims are black Africans, who have always been held in low esteem by Arabs, even if the Africans are Moslem. The UN, however, will not stop criticizing Sudan for its support of the violence. However, a coalition of Arab and Moslem nations, plus China (which wants to protect its business interests in Sudan), block any too aggressive operations by the UN.

Update: Juan E. Mendez, the “special adviser to the United Nations secretary-general on the prevention of genocide”, has this to say in today’s Washington Times:

Twelve years ago this month, Rwanda experienced some of the most brutal crimes in memory. Up to 1 million persons were massacred, literally butchered with machetes, for merely being ethnic Tutsis or Hutu political moderates.

As images of mutilated bodies beamed across the globe, the international community stood idle. As we reflect on the lessons of that horrific episode, we must renew our commitment to take bold, decisive measures to ensure genocide does not take place in our times. We cannot claim to have learned the lessons of the 1994 Rwandan genocide if our action in the face of genocidal violence remains half-hearted.

Action is particularly needed in Darfur, where the threat of genocide continues to loom large.

It all sounds very worthy, but really – the threat of genocide? Perhaps someone should tell him that it’s a bit more than a threat – but that’d mean admitting that the UN has failed yet again.

Here’s author Dr. Muhammad Al-‘Arifi, speaking on Saudi TV, in a show produced by the enticingly-named Ministry of Religious Endowments, educating his audience about the decadence of the West:

One of the most important things that distinguish Man from beast is the ability to control one’s desires. Allah said about some of the infidels: “They are like cattle; nay, they stray farther off the path.” If you look at them, you will see that when they want to go to sleep – they go to sleep, with complete disregard for the times of the five prayers. If he feels like committing adultery – he does. If he feels like having any type of sexual relations – he does, regardless of whether it is permitted or prohibited.

Therefore, as I said on previous shows, they have organizations for homosexuals, organizations for people who marry animals – she marries a dog, a donkey, and so on… The organizations exist, and strangely enough, they are official. They have websites, and they publish magazines with pictures. […]

According to statistics from Denmark, 54% of the births in Denmark are illegitimate. In this case, the term “illegitimate” does not mean a girl getting pregnant by her boyfriend. It refers to a woman, who gives birth in a hospital, and when the doctor asks her under whose name to register the baby – who’s the father – she says: “I don’t know. It might be the doorman… No, no, it might be the company director… It might be the clerk, or the taxi driver… I don’t know.” They end up registering the child in her own name. That’s an “illegitimate” birth. But when she says that the child is from her boyfriend, that’s fine…