Abrogation of "eye-for-an-eye"

The following verse in the Quran describes eye-for-an-eye.  Eye-for-an-eye was a Jewish legal concept that loosely translates to "If I kill your slave then you kill my slave.  Or I kill your wife you kill my wife."  It was a way of limiting the exacting of revenge.  It was practiced in Arabia too apparently.

It could apparently be alleviated in the Quran, by the payment of blood money:

"O you who believe! Al-Qisas (the Law of Equality in punishment) is prescribed for you in case of murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. But if the killer is forgiven by the brother (or the relatives, etc.) of the killed against blood money, then adhering to it with fairness and payment of the blood money, to the heir should be made in fairness. This is an alleviation and a mercy from your Lord. So after this whoever transgresses the limits (i.e. kills the killer after taking the blood money), he shall have a painful torment."

Sura 2:178, Muhsin Khan and Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali 

Is this a form of forgiveness?  It is not.  It is paying people off.  Jesus in the Bible expressed forgiveness when he told the woman caught in adultery to "go and sin no more".  

Taqqiya, Islamic Deceipt, and Islam

Well Taqqiya IS a thing. It exists in Islam. It is not just a crazy conspiracy theory on the Alex Jones channel. 

Taqqiya originates from Quranic verses about not making friends with unbelievers.  It is said that the Shiite Moslems started to use it when under threat by Sunni Muslims, to save themselves from death for holding the wrong Islamic beliefs.

It should be obvious that most Westernised Muslims don't actually practice taqqiya.  I personally wouldn't bother accusing a Muslim who grew up in The West of taqqiya for saying anything deceptive about Islam.  But to be clear, this does not mean that deceit about the nature of Islam isn't actually practiced. 

Taqqiya is only one type of deceit endorsed in Islamic literature, there are several, including tawriya, kitman, and muruna.

Significantly, Muhammad can be quoted as equating war with deceit (in Bukhari 52:269).  This is relevant because jihad, which literally means fighting or struggle for the cause of Islam, umbrellas physical fighting but also includes "jihad of the tongue" or creating arguments to defend Islam.  The bad news is that Jihad is obligatory in Shia Islam, and considered a duty more universally, so I guess the duty would extend to the largest group of Muslims, Sunni Muslims too!

Muhammad clearly used deceit to conquer people such as the Jews of Medina. 

The concept of deceit as a means to "defend Islam" actually made it into the Sha'afi Shariah manual 'The Reliance of the Traveller' (paragraph r8.2) that came out in the 14th century.

But I personally wouldn't accuse anyone of taqqiya unless you can show he has actually KNOWINGLY deceived you.  Unverifiable accusations are not fair and they are not polite.  I would estimate that most Westernised Muslims aren't knowingly trying to deceive you and don't know what taqqiya. 

Imams and Sheikhs however I hold to a greater level of suspicion, because they should know what taqqiya is.  I have witnessed Muslims saying lots of untrue things about Islam, and using lots of ingenious arguments.   They have to be getting these facts and arguments from somewhere.  I guess they are getting them from their teachers.

BTW, this post is a rebuke of a video made by Aymann Ismail.

Hezbollah are terrorists

In the Al Quds protests in Canada this year, that in response to the claim that Hezbollah are terrorists by Rebel Media reporters, that Hezbollah was equated by one commenter with the government. 

Al Quds day is an annual protest day against the state of Israel.  These protests are particularly famous in Iran for their chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".

Well if it is in fact true that Hezbollah are the government, they are a terrorist government!  Hezbollah are terrorists.

Black slavery and White guilt

So apparently only 400,000 slaves went to North American, out of a total 15 million that sailed West and twice that much went east to Arab slave trades.  Apparently the 7-year bonded servitude that the Irish for example had to endure was about as bad as the American slave trade, with only a 50% survival rate over the seven years.

Rebel Media interviews Jim Goad, check it out here.

Hamas breaks truce within hours

"Out of a tunnel access point or several, terrorists came out of the ground. At least one was a suicide terrorist who detonated himself. There was an exchange of fire," said Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, a military spokesman. Two of the soldiers were killed."

What is clear is that Hamas are intent on further actions to terrorise, delegetimize and attack Israel.  If Israel opens the Gaza borders, Hamas will use it as opportunity to bolster its arms and seige Israel. Israel only "blockades" the borders to stop weapons coming into Gaza. If Gaza de-militarized, there would be not need to police Gazan imports.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/10340726/Gaza-truce-over-Israel-soldier-captured

Take the Pledge: Read the Quran

Why Take This Pledge?

Because:

• Some people speak confidently about Islam without any real knowledge of it.
• Some who know a lot about Islam have an agenda and don't speak honestly about it.
• There is an Islamic principle called taqiyya that seeks to hide the true nature of Islam to us.

The only way to know for sure what's true about Islam is to read the Quran yourself.

Once enough of us read the Quran, we will know enough to vote into office representatives who understand Islam and will propose and endorse informed policy decisions.

Please join with us and take the pledge to read the Quran. And please convince everyone you know to take the pledge.

An exceptional version of the Quran is now available. It is 203 pages, written in modern English. It contains all the information in the Quran without any repetition. And it gives you enough background information to understand what each passage is about. Perhaps most importantly, it is written in chronological order (this is important because of the principle of abrogation).

(From http://www.takethepledgereadthequran.com/)

Palestinian Historical Revisionism

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/12/26/why-do-christians-tolerate-palestinian-historical-revisionism/

Just how far will left leaning Christians go to appease Palestine.   Israel existed in the region 2000 years before the Arabs.  What right does Palestine have to the land? Israel is so small, only trying to survive, and the deaths in clashes are a drop in the bucket to the religiously motivated killings that occur in the Islamic world. The  complaints of the Palestinian state is 1% truth and 99% propaganda.