I assume you are referring to the Atlantic article of (approx.) 1997/8, which described the excavation of the building in Yemen and the German archeologist’s discovery of thousands of “nontraditional” Korans.

Very valid point. Alas, how do you educate such societies that the Korans they have memorized from youth are figments of their “internal masters?”

Frankly, I am most suspicious of the fact that there is no evidence, not even in the Muzzie world, that the very word Koran existed within 200 years of the death of Mohammed.

Very, very oral tradition we are dealing with.

Indeed, we can hope.

The Koran is the immutable word of Allah…

Until the manuscript fragments found in a mosque wall in Yemen -of pre-Koranic Koran writings- become better known to Muslims.

If a chink in the dogmatic believe in the “perfect” Koran, delivered directly to Mohammad through Gibreel from Allah can be widened ….enough to make Muslims skeptical of the origins and creation of the current Koran, there may be room for a Reformation.

Muslims will have to understand that their imams have been deceiving them -for raw power- over them for centuries by promoting this mythical genesis of the Koran.

An early caliph destroyed all “earlier” Korans (why?) and left the present version as the “official” one (according to who?).

Doubt is essential for reform.

Islam needs to become wary of its internal masters.

And the cruel trick that was played on them.

If they can admit that the Koran is a humanly-transmitted document, and thus inherently flawed (as all men are flawed), the violent suras (dogmas) could be expurgated.

We can hope.

And Muslims will be grateful for finally gaining the freedom fro theocratic tyrants.

The difference, in a nutshell: In a guilt-based society, if I know that what I am doing is morally questionable, I must answer to my God or conscience about my actions or beliefs. I cannot escape what knowledge I possess within myself. However, in a shame-based society, I am accountable not to my God/conscience, but to the opinions of those around me, and if they can be fooled or placated, then I am morally at peace. The Arabs have a saying, “A sin concealed is 90% forgiven.”

So, it may be a charming idea to tell Muslims, “You shouldn’t be ashamed that you espouse an idiotic, 3rd world, stone-age mentality that threatens the lives of innocent human beings that have done you no harm at all,” but this equates to little more than telling a pedophile “Don’t feel bad about sodomizing that five-year old…you’re a sick man and you just need help.”

I applaud this guy’s change of heart, but I am nowhere near convinced that his strategies for rectifying the Muslim problem are practical.

PS: Forget any notion of an Islamic Renaissance. The Koran is the immutable word of Allah, and claims that it does not apply to contemporary society are, according to its very dictum, apostacy.

Islam must be either destroyed or at least relegated back to the desert from which it came. You are not going to revise into a benign ideology.

Lecture concluded.

Probably the single best audio on jihad I’ve ever heard.

For me too.

I love how the nice liberal interviewer was speechless at time, totally take aback by Hassan’s honesty and the depth of his knowledge. None of that religion of peace nonsense. Probably the single best audio on jihad I’ve ever heard.

al Qaeda invited to lunch families they wanted to convert to their way of thinking.
…
Al Qaeda served the boy to his family.

I do not see how this would convert the family. If anything, it should make them rabidly anti-Al Qaeda, like to the point of picking up the largest knife at the lunch and putting it to good business use.

I’d think that any such family would not blink an eye at exterminating any Al Qaeda from that point on. I wouldn’t.

Sickos. Yon – doing the (real) documentary Moore won’t do is incapable of doing.

Please put some kind of content warning for something that awful next time AP.

Blather: that is some of my mind as well, though I don’t think it has to do with the lack of. I read somewhere the question about why sexual laws in Islam on earth, when it is promised as a reward; the answer in short, was refrain in this life to receive in next.

To wit, the ultimate ’sacrifice’ is martyrdom and akin to a way to purge oneself of imbibing in this world what is reserved for the next. Hence a hating of western civ b/c they perceive it causes them to ’sin’ and so they combine penitence and violence to please allah.

Not to take away from the theological aspect of course, but I think what you brought up factors in with some considerable force.

I suggest to one of my lib friends that they should join up with one of John Edward’s peace keeping task force and go over there to help put a stop to it. After all, there really isn’t a war on terror, its just a bumper sticker remember? My lib friend knows that terrorism isn’t about poverty and all the other nonsense that Edward’s would like to believe its about. He knows that if he were to go over there without the protection of an ever vigil military force his head would be lopped off.

Lib’s, they talk a good game, and thats about it.

Al Qaeda served the boy to his family.

I know horrible things have happened over there and continue to happen to this day, but I’m stunned. How incredibly barbaric and horrible.

Oh, and I guess Al Qaeda and the Nazis DO have more in common than I realized.

Sorry if any sarcasm dripped on you.

Suicide missions are not always religiously motivated, but according to Oxford University sociologist Diego Gambetta, editor of Making Sense of Suicide Missions, when religion is involved, the attackers are always Muslim. Why? The surprising answer is that Muslim suicide bombing has nothing to do with Islam or the Quran (except for two lines). It has a lot to do with sex, or, in this case, the absence of sex.

Pretty illustrating interview.Head over to Hot Air for the audio link. Don’t forget to read the blog excerpt to remind yourselves why we need to kill our enemies….