Motus Mentis

There’s been quite a ruction lately about comments made by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that called for Britain to adopt Islamic Sharia law as part of its legal system. This sort of supine acquiescence is the road to cultural suicide, it seems to me, and he has been roundly castigated by all, as he ought.

I’ll likely have more to say about this, but for now, Kevin Kim, in a recent post, has offered a link to a fairly harsh review of Williams and his proposal — and in the comment thread to the linked post I found a particularly pungent item, which I reproduce below in its entirety. It’s a comment from someone who goes by the name “The Mad Fiddler“:

I have watched videos emerging from Afghanistan under the Taliban, showing Islamic men whipping women in their burkhas on a public streets, for appearing in public without an accompanying male of their family as an escort-chaperone. Many other reports describe these Islamic vigilantes tossing acid in the faces of women daring to appear without veils, leaving them blind and hideously disfigured as punishment for their sins.

I’ve seen the widely-circulated video from the Kabul soccer stadium where the Taliban routinely executed condemned prisoners, showing the casual execution of a woman by an Islamic elder holding an AK-47 and what might be a copy of the Qur’an. Some reports call her an adulteress, others report she was convicted of murdering her husband, albeit after years of beatings.

I’ve seen videos from Iran of Muslim women wrapped in sheets, buried to the waist, then stoned as they writhe by crowds of chanting men, with crimson bloodstains spreading from the blows as their bodies slump.

Other videos brought out from Iran show men and women with their hands tied behind their backs surrounded by crowds of onlookers. They stand beneath the looming arm of an industrial crane, from which nooses dangle. The nooses are placed around their necks, and at a signal the crane’s arm is raised, lifting them above the heads of the crowd, where they struggle and twitch, strangling, until they go slack. I’ve seen only a handful of videos, but many score photographs of dangling bodies, and various reports out of Iran by independent observers indicate that the Islamic Revolutionary Government continues to round up and execute something on the order of ten thousand Iranian civilians each year.

Those executions are for violations of Sharia — adultery, fornication, defiance of a father’s orders, violence against a husband, apostasy (trying to leave Islam), attempting to convert a Muslim to another religion, worshipping as a Christian, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Animist, professing belief in Communism, Bahu’ullah, whatnot.

Clearly, the path of the true believer is narrow, and the enforcers of Islamic Law are not inclined to allow latitude in interpreting the words of the Prophet. They were, after all dictated syllable by syllable into the ear of Mohammed.

All the atrocities described above have been done in the name of Sharia — traditional Islamic Law, drawn directly from the pronouncements of the Prophet Mohammed.

But, WAIT! There’s More!

I have forced myself to watch the videos of Nick Berg and several other Westerners in Iraq beheaded by their Islamic captors, who shout “Allahu Akhbar” throughout. I have seen the photographs and videos of hundreds of atrocities committed by Islamic fanatics against their neighbors all around the world. For, despite the delusional squeaking of the Western Left, Islam has set itself in conflict with the rest of creation. “Dar-al-Islam” — the House of Islam; the abode of Peace — is obliged by the sacred text of the Qur’an to subjugate and convert the infidel in “dar-al-Harb” — the House of War; The Domain of Disbelief.

Around the world, we see intimidation, coercion, violence, torture, and murder being inflicted by Islamic fanatics upon their neighbors. Just consider the headlines of the last few years, which I will not list again, out of concern for the patience of fellow commenters in Wretchard’s area.

The list for any calendar year could go on for pages and pages.

The thousands of atrocities each year by Islamic fanatics are easily confirmed by scanning easily available public records. They are carried out and justified by Sharia, and the Qur’an’s call unto believers to Jihad. Of course, there are instances of violence done by followers of all faiths from time to time. There are examples of war and atrocities throughout history done in the name of, or justified by, many other faiths and philosophies. And of course, there are Muslims who are mild and live their days without committing such atrocities against anyone.

BUT…

Islam is unique among the current faiths of the world in that its founder Mohammed himself acted as a military commander of assaults against communities that opposed him; personally ordered the execution of disarmed and subdued captives and the distribution of their surviving widows and daughters to be sexual slaves for his companions; ordered the assassination of his critics and the reward and elevation of those who fulfilled such commands. It is important to note that the leadership of the new faith changed hands a number of times in just the first decades after the death of the Prophet, each time by assassination and murder. It is essential to grasp that in the FIRST CENTURY after the death of the Prophet, Islam was imposed from the Saudi Peninsula north to Syria, Southward into Egypt, West across North Africa into Europe as far as Tours, France, and Eastward into Persia, all by military assaults conducted by Islamic Armies.

The expansion of Islam has continued for fourteen centuries, so that there is hardly any part of the world that does not have some Muslim population.

In other words, Islam is uniquely based upon, preserved, and furthered by whatever violence might succeed, by the direct order of its founding Prophet.

Anyone elevated to the leadership of a nation’s church cannot be so ignorant of history and current events as to be unaware of this violence, which has lately become its distinguishing feature. The conflict between Islam and the rest of the world is a very old war, and what we are seeing now is merely the renewal of Jihad after a pause to develop new strategies.

Remember the letter sent by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President Bush, and its polite and benign invitation to embrace Islam. Take a few minutes to look up a similar letter sent by the Prophet Mohammed about the year 628 to the ruler of Persia, Khosrau II. Keep in mind that within three decades, Persia had fallen to Islamic armies.

If you agree with the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Roland Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, and welcome Sharia into your nation, be prepared to accept the status of dhimmi, and pay the jizya or expect severe consequences.