On Friday 2004-04-02 00:04, Erik Reuter wrote: > On Thu, Apr 01, 2004 at 09:08:07PM -0800, David Land wrote: > > Sorry, but I feel compelled to state that Islam didn't hang mutilated > > corpses from bridges or dance around the bridge or chant "death to > > Americans." A mob of deranged people did that. > > How do you know? I haven't seen any good evidence either way. What > motivated those people to do that? What evidence do you have? > > > Believe me, I am no "apologist for Muslim culture," I just know the > > difference between a set of beliefs and an angry mob in a famously > > violent city. > > How do you know the difference? Is it just faith, or do you have > evidence?
I know of no mainstream Islamic group or sect that condones desecration of the dead. Like Christians, medieval Muslim rulers might have put heads on pikes an so on. My impression is that at least in terms of "great tradtions" Islam is should be even more opposed to desecrating the dead than Christianity. Though I cannot find the reference, I recall a tradtion that in Medina Muhammed once rose out of respect for a Jewish funeral procession even though he was already at odds with the Jews of Medina. True, the Falujis who mutilated and displayed American bodies were certainly Muslim, but mutilating the bodies was not necessarily Islamic. Also I do not think it useful to label the mob "deranged". There was plenty of hate, rage, and violence but given the fact that the participants regard America as an ultimate enemy, hate, rage and violence should be understood as adaptive. The mutilation of American bodies was a very *intentional* insult. The desecration needs to be understood from the perspective of an honor system rather than any pure form of Islam. If you felt humilated and shamed when Falujis desecrated American dead then you got the intended message loud and clear: "We hate Americans and hold them in utter contempt. By desecrating your dead we show that our hatered is so great that even the standards of civilization and God's religion cannot contain it." (So symbolically, you must first realize that the gesture of descrating the dead is *explicitly* un-Islamic to appreciate the enormity of what happened.) _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
