Monday, February 02, 2004

What's missing from this sermon?

Read the whole story:

"The annual hajj, which began Thursday, climaxed Saturday as some 2 million Muslim pilgrims listened to Saudi Arabia's top cleric denounce terrorists, calling them an affront to Islam. However, he defended the kingdom's strict interpretation of the faith.

Sheik Abdul Aziz al-Sheik said in his sermon there were those who claim to be holy warriors, but were shedding Muslim blood and destabilizing the nation.

"Is it holy war to shed Muslim blood? Is it holy war to shed the blood of non-Muslims given sanctuary in Muslim lands? Is it holy war to destroy the possession of Muslims," he said, adding that their actions gave enemies an excuse to criticize Muslim nations."

List of those not to be killed: Muslims and dhimmis in Muslim lands.
List of those to be killed: non-Muslims everywhere and non-dhimmis in Muslim lands.

While I regret the senseless loss of life that occurred at this event -- 244 dead, and Hajj Minister Iyad Madani says: "All precautions were taken to prevent such an incident, but this is God's will. Caution isn't stronger than fate." -- I can't help noting the disconnect between Western depictions of Islam ("religion of peace") and Muslims's depiction of Islam (feel free to kill everybody who won't submit to Islam). Every time an imam preaches, the disconnect is unavoidably noticeable. Where is the preaching of peace?

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home