IIA – Teaching Islam

CNN is reporting that al-Zarqawi has released an audio tape that justifies the killing of Muslim civilians based on the teachings of so-called Islamic scholars. Here is the intro from CNN: “A chilling, rambling audio file thought to be from the most-wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, says religious doctrine justifies the killing of innocent Muslims by insurgents. On the audio, the speaker says in Arabic: ‘The shedding of Muslim blood … is allowed in order to avoid the greater evil of disrupting jihad.’ The speaker defends suicide attacks, saying, ‘killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom operations…

I know that Friedman’s views aren’t universally popular in this forum, but I particularly enjoyed this op-ed from today’s NYTimes.

One of the favorite topics of conversation amongst my friends and I is whether certain foods are haram (forbidden, like pork) or makruh (discouraged). Our case study is usually lobster, but it seems God hates shrimp. Glad to see we’re not the only ones contending with this issue. Like I said before, we can’t see the Muslim the community in a vacuum.