Taliban Quotes

There are fundamentalist Muslim nations and subunits throughout the world, which make it a criminal offense for a women to exercise what, in the West and according to the UN International Charter of Human rights, are her legitimate rights. The punishments in some of these communities are very brutal and barbaric. Under Canadian law and policy a person who is in fear for their safety and/or life because they are exercising a fundamental right are eligible for political asylum and immigration status in Canada. Mayfield and a few other conservative Canadian legislators do not see the issue of women’s required dress as being in the same category of freedom of speech, criticism of the government, or the practice of one’s chosen religion. The same people generally favor more restrictions on immigration anyway, and they would not give Canadian asylum to women so aggrieved. Those legislators seem all to be men. The women in Parliament and the majority of the men do not agree, have maintained the right of women to seek asylum for these reasons.

Journalists and writers are among the most persecuted people in Islamic nations and even writers in non-Muslim nations have been murdered and intimidated for writing material that fundamentalist Muslims thought was heresy.

The mullahs had a great deal of power in Iraq and were among the most vocal opponents of democracy and freedom and instead argued for a Theocracy under Islamic law—Sharia which allowed almost no freedoms for the individual.

The Security Counsel was meeting it the Situation room at the White House

In September of 2005 a Danish Newspaper published some political cartoons showing the hypocrisy of some Muslims who use Islam to justify murder of innocents and terrorism. Months later, in January of 2006 many in the Middle East protested vehemently and Muslim riots broke out because the Prophet Muhammad's visage was depicted against Islamic tradition. Many Muslim nations started a boycott against Denmark. Many Muslim leaders claimed that insulting religion was an “abuse” of freedom of speech including those from nations which regularly publish material that is virulent against Christians and Jews.

In September of 2005 a Danish Newspaper published some political cartoons showing the hypocrisy of some Muslims who use Islam to justify murder of innocents and terrorism. Months later, many in the Middle East protested vehemently and Muslim riots broke out and Danish boycotts ensued because the Prophet Muhammad's visage was depicted against Islamic tradition. Many Muslim leaders claimed that insulting religion was an “abuse” of freedom of speech including those from nations which regularly publish material that is virulent against Christians and Jews. Although France had a large Muslim minority, reaction of French Muslims was much more mild than that of Middle Eastern Arabs where the governments either encouraged the rioters or refused to take action to deter them from sacking Danish property.

See {608419}, {604665} and {604664} regarding the government’s destruction of Buddist statues.

See Quadratullah Jamal {604665} and {604664}.

To examine the earlier theological history of the Muslim fundamentalist prohibition against music, see {620334}. What is fascinating is that fundamentalist Muslims differ profoundly on the propriety of music in Islamic society. For example, in Egypt, the largest Middle Eastern Islamic nation, music is not only allowed but has a thriving musical world that generates much music which is enjoyed by Egyptians but others of the Muslim and non-Muslim world. Even in fundamentalist Saudi Arabia and the Theocracy of Iran there is music and a culture of music. Even fundamentalist Islam is not monolithic.

The Chinese were lovers of kite flying and this sport spread throughout Asia and became a favorite in Afghanistan. However, it was never mentioned in the Koran, and therefore to the Taliban was not desired by God. This ultra fundamentalism not only prohibits what the Prophet forbade, but also forbids that which he did not mention.

This was a book on Islamic law—Sharia. According to Khomeini, if a Muslim kills a Muslim he should be punished for murder. However of a Muslim kills a non Muslim, he should not be punished unless he is a serial killer of non-Muslims. This is not in the context of Jihad but in the ordinary course of normal human activity where murder may be committed. This is just another way in which Christians, Jews and others who are not Muslims are second class citizens in Islamic law.

“Martyrdom” is the euphemism that fundamentalist Muslims use to denote being killed while “fighting for Islam” or on a suicide mission for same. Many believe that such people ascend directly to Paradise where they are given a bevy of virgins and other “perks.” Ironically, this was the last interview that he gave before he himself was “martyred”—he was killed by coalition troops. This mental perspective is one of the reasons that fighting fundamentalist Islamic terrorists is so difficult. They perceive victory whichever way the battle or even the war comes out.

Abdul Rahman, Afghan citizen, had converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years before. Conversion from Islam is a capital crime under Sharia Law which was the law of Afghanistan even after the Taliban had been overthrown. He was jailed and threatened with death. Statements like this and others made directly to the government persuaded the Afghan politicians to go against their mullahs who demanded the death penalty as is proscribed by Islamic Law—Sharia. The judges tried to get Rahman to recant and he would not (see {589518}). So they finally decided that he must be mentally insane and therefore could not be tried, and the problem was solved that way.

One remarkable aspect of this quote is that most Western nations have the exact same perception he claims the Islamic word does of what the West is doing. While the Western nations think the defense is necessary and desirable, the Muslim nations fundamentally believe that Christianity and Judaism should and will be supplanted by Islam. To the Islamic fundamentalist religion is a zero sum game. Every person in the world who is not a Muslim is an attack on Islam in that God wants all to follow Islam and wants the faithful to make it so.

A publicity seeking fundamentalist Christian minister in Florida had publicly burned a Koran to the moral condemnation of the President and most other government leaders, as well as clergy of all faiths. However, after the President of Afghanistan condemned the act, there were attacks on a United Nations compound in that country and a number of innocent people were killed and two beheaded. Yet most Muslim clerics were reluctant to morally condemn the murders while they were vociferous in castigating the Koran burning. Some were intimidated and feared that they would be attacked if they criticized the Islamic fundamentalism that advocated the murders and terrorism.

Her reference was to the fact that when the Russians invaded Afghanistan in the Cold War, the United States decided to arm and train Islamic fighters to oust the Russians. They did, but then the Mujahideen, as the fighters were called, formed the backbone of Al Qaeda and the Taliban who turned on us.

The Kandahar region of Afghanistan was occupied by the Persians under Gurgin Khan. The Persians at the time were Shiite Muslims while the Afghans were Sunnis. Gurgin Khan forced all the Sunnis to convert to become Shia under threat of death. Mirwais Hotak led a force of freedom fighters, and defeated the Persians, killing Gurgin Khan in the process. There were some Afghan people who by collaborating with the Persians had done very well for themselves. They were anxious about their liberator and some were thinking about sneaking away and joining up with the Persians. He then made this speech, remarkable for any time, and especially so at the early 18th century. Notice, that unlike most other peoples of the Middle East, the Afghan’s placed a high value on freedom, and were willing to fight for it. In that sense, Afghanistan was culturally and politically different from the rest of the Islamic world.