[there were] 15 cases of detainees mishandling their own Qurans. “These included using a Quran as a pillow, ripping pages out of the Quran, attempting to flush a Quran down the toilet and urinating on the Quran,” Hood’s report said. It offered no possible explanation for the detainees’ motives.
In the most recent of those 15 cases, a detainee on Feb. 18 allegedly ripped up his Quran and handed it to a guard, stating that he had given up on being a Muslim. [read the full article]
somebody call newsweek. ink and paper has been defiled, i think we’ve got a story.
[read krauthammer at gopbloggers as well as michelle malkin]
i feel a mitch quote coming on…
when asked if he would like a receipt for a donut he had purchased: “i cannot imagine a scenario where i would have to prove i bought a donut. ‘what are you talking about, man? i got the receipt right here! oh, wait, it’s at home….in the file cabinet….under “d” (for donut).’ it’s a donut. i give you the money, you give me the donut–end of transaction. there’s no need to bring ink and paper into this.“
9 Responses to “new report: quran desecration rampant among gitmo detainees; newsweek silent”
Leave a Reply
note: by commenting, you indicate that you have read and accept all-encompassingly's comment policy. please print it and keep a copy of the document in your wall safe along with your living will or advance directive.
Your point, which I think Ann Coulter also succinctly made last week, is well taken about Newsweeks strange passion for running some stories while keeping the lid on others. The supposed Qur’an desecration has only made that too clear. However, one comment in your post seems to imply a certain insignificance in the hypothetical case that Qur’ans actually were mishandled:
“Somebody call newsweek. in and paper has been defiled, i think we’ve got a story.”
Several months ago you made the following comments about the misuse of religious symbols:
“so, in essence, displaying those pictures that mix the sacred and the sinful at the doorstep of the lds church’s worldwide headquarters is ethnic intimidation. and it amounts to pissing in our holy water.”
You have rightly equated a disrespect for sacred symbols as “ethnic intimidation”.
Why should deliberate disrespect for the Qur’an not be considered a form of ethnic intimidation? It ’s not as simple as desecrating some ink and paper; Just as desecration of temple garments in not simply a desecration of cloth and a few patches of stitching. To a Muslim, the Qur’an is sacred. In fact, it is not even on a par with the Bible in Christianity as far as deferrence goes. It is more like Christ. In other words: we may not be overly concerned if someone burns a copy of the Bible. But if someone took our favorite picture of Jesus (also ink and paper) and unloaded a bodily excretion of your choice onto it, it would make your stomach turn. That is how a Muslim feels about the Qur’an. It is not words. It is the word of God (in the same sense that we say Jesus is the Word). It represents holiness and power.
So lets point out the deficiencies of Newsweek, and make manifest their dishonesty. We can even talk about the unjustified manner in which many Muslims have reacted to alleged mishandling of the Qur’an. However, lets not believe for a moment that there is not something very wrong if there actually was any mitreatment or intdimidation using the Book.
abuz, thanks for the input. i am clearly not as in touch with muslim beliefs as you are, and i think you have a point. however, characterizing the quran as “ink & paper” was really more of an inside joke meant for doug, since we both mused recently at the outrage over alleged quran desecration that, from our own perspective, seemed silly [see also: http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/05_05_29_corner-archive.asp#065097. but you have pointed that error out.
as you mentioned, main issue is clearly the media coverage. as dave kopel points out http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_3829041,00.html there is a lot of hyperbole around guantanamo bay and other hot-button political issues. for example, amnesty international’s comparing guantanamo (zero deaths) to the soviet gulags (2-30 million deaths) and my characterization of quran desecration among muslim inmates as “rampant” (15 events among 500+ prisoners) are both misleading. but, as you saw with my reference to newsweek’s silence, mine was supposed to be funny.
one final point. i think we should make a distinction between (1) an art exhibit in the mormons’ mecca-city that succeeds in offending innocent people and (2) an (alleged) act of religious intimidation in the private jail cell of terrorists who claim their religion requires them to kill us. though, i suppose both may be called “ethnic intimidation”, they are certainly not on par.
btw, the post marshall is referring to is http://www.all-encompassingly.com/pissing-in-our-holy-water/
Nice.
Yes. It would make our stomach turn. It would offend us. We would be upset.
But we wouldn’t be running to the street and rioting with such a psychotic passion that people end up dead!
On top of it, these same folks who are so “offended” at the destruction of a book are the same ones who could care less when suicide bombers kill innocent Israelis.
Worth of Jewish blood? $0, zip, zilch.
Worth of holy ink and paper? Priceless.
As Argepundit said (for those who speak Spanish):
A lot of these Islamists, and their apologists like Amnesty International, remind of the wacko animal rights advocates.
There is starvation in Africa, political prisoners are tortured by dictators like Castro, and the human slave trade continues.
All this isn’t such a big deal…but heaven forbid you eat some fried chicken! Monster! Murderer!
I get the same “Are these people mentally handicapped?” reaction when I hear the cries screams of “outrage” over a prison guard kicking a book.
Puh-lease!
Doug,
I will be the first person to say that the ultrasensitivity is definitely out of line. As I said to Travis:
“We can even talk about the unjustified manner in which many Muslims have reacted to alleged mishandling of the Qur’an”. My only argument is against making light of the Qur’an.
The following is a little problematic as well:
“On top of it, these same folks who are so “offended” at the destruction of a book are the same ones who could care less when suicide bombers kill innocent Israelis.”
The bus bombings are seen in different lights by different Muslims. First of all, there is the Palestinian national flavor. Islamism is not always the motivation behind the bombings. Many of the bombers are motivated by the national movement rather than the religion. So, How the rest of the Muslim world views these killings depends on how they view the Palestinian national movement. Many, for example, understand Palestine and Israel to be in a state of War. Their news agencies report with a slant that sympathizes with the Palestinian view, obviously. So while you and I are reading an article about a brutal bombing of a restaurant full of teenagers and families, they are hearing news reports of a “retaliation” attack triggered by the razing of a city block in Jaffah or Gaza resulting in the death of such and such amount of Palestinian children. In addition, there is an entire body of literature and poetry dramatizing the genocidal tactics of the Jews through the 1930’s and 1940’s culminating in the 1948 declaration of the Israeli state. Whether or not the stories are true (many of them probably are), they are powerful, and they have weighed on the psyche of all who identify religiously or ethnically with the Palestinians. So don’t be quick to judge their view of Israelis, and to accuse the Muslims of being “Mentally handicapped”. The history of that young state is severely shadowy and controversial, and the arguments over its validity and legitimacy are passionately partisan and emotional. Remember, when you read about an event, you are taking it in through your own set of lenses.
If you understand this you will see why there is no relationship between the Muslims’ reaction to the Qur’an flushing article and their reaction to suicide bombers in Palestine.
Notice that I am not trying to be an apologist for Islamists. The people who had the riots over the Qur’an incidence may or may not have been Islamists. But they were Muslims. I only wanted to provide some insight as to why they are offended by the mishandling of the book.
And as a final point. Doug, you may not get worked up into a frenzy when your sacred symbols are desecrated. Neither do I, nor do I condone it. But you are wrong when you say “we wouldn’t be running to the street and rioting with such a psychotic passion that people end up dead!”
There are a lot of “we’s” who do exactly that sort of thing, and sometimes worse.
Well said Abuzachary.
It’s troubling to hear these condemnations of all that is Muslim. It is somehow lost on many folks that most of these terrorist attacks are not religious in nature, but political. Al Qaida once targeted the Soviet Union, now it targets the United States - but its religious beliefs remain the same. How can that be explained, except to recognize that Al Qaida is not guided so much by religion as by politics?
Can you explain that, Doug? Who is apologizing for radical, fundamentalist, suicidical, rioting “Islamists”? Amnesty International? Source that if you please.
Here are their reports on Saudi Arabia and Syria. You can find the rest yourself, if you’re interested.
Dont even act like I didnt buy that Donut
[…] quran desecration rampant among gitmo detainees, newsweek silent — i detest newsweek. i would almost rather read “us weekly.” actually, i’d invariably rather read “us weekly” […]