US Judge rules Muslims have a right to assault people who offend them

US Judge rules Muslims have a right to assault people who offend them

People who are concerned about the spread of Muslim sharia law into American jurisprudence used to be dismissed as alarmists.  That won’t happen again for a while, thanks to a Pennsylvania judge who just dismissed assault charges against a Muslim who was videotaped attacking a man dressed as “Zombie Muhammad” during a Halloween parade. 

The judge, who is a Muslim, didn’t even care to see the videotape, because the assault was entirely justified under sharia law, so the First Amendment doesn’t apply.  In fact, the beaten Zombie Muhammad should just be thankful he wasn’t killed, because that’s what would have happened in a Muslim country.

The astonishing details, from Opposing Views:

The Pennsylvania State Director of American Atheists, Inc., Mr. Ernest Perce V., was assaulted by a Muslim while participating in a Halloween parade. Along with a Zombie Pope, Ernest was costumed as Zombie Muhammad. The assault was caught on video, the Muslim man admitted to his crime and charges were filed in what should have been an open-and-shut case. That’s not what happened, though.

The defendant is an immigrant and claims he did not know his actions were illegal, or that it was legal in this country to represent Muhammad in any form. To add insult to injury, he also testified that his 9 year old son was present, and the man said he felt he needed to show his young son that he was willing to fight for his Prophet. 

Muslim judge Mark Martin ruled in favor of the assailant… and insulted the defendant for good measure.

Martin offered the court a little lesson in Islamic theology, which he believes transcends that silly First Amendment free-speech stuff in the U.S. Constitution:

Having had the benefit of having spent over 2 and a half years in predominantly Muslim countries I think I know a little bit about the faith of Islam. In fact I have a copy of the Koran here and I challenge you sir to show me where it says in the Koran that Mohammad arose and walked among the dead. I think you misinterpreted things. Before you start mocking someone else’s religion you may want to find out a little bit more about it it makes you look like a dufus and Mr. (Defendant) is correct. In many Arabic speaking countries something like this is definitely against the law there. In their society in fact it can be punishable by death and it frequently is in their society. 

Islam is not just a religion, it’s their culture, their culture. It’s their very essence their very being. They pray five times a day towards Mecca to be a good Muslim, before you die you have to make a pilgrimage to Mecca unless you are otherwise told you can not because you are too ill too elderly, whatever but you must make the attempt. Their greetings wa-laikum as-Salâm (is answered by voice) may god be with you. Whenever, it’s very common when speaking to each other it’s very common for them to say uh this will happen it’s it they are so immersed in it. 

Since Islam is, therefore, at the very center of a Muslim’s being, speech they find objectionable – such as depicting the Prophet in any form, much less as an extra from The Walking Dead – “trashes their essence, their being,” and violence is justified, especially from a recent immigrant accustomed to living in countries properly governed by sharialaw. 

As Al Stefanelli notes at Opposing Views, the judge didn’t even pretend to understand what the First Amendment means, never mind pondering the laws against physical harassment:

The Judge neglected to address the fact that the ignorance of the law does not justify an assault and that it was the responsibility of the defendant to familiarize himself with our laws.  This is to say nothing of the judge counseling the defendant that it is also not acceptable for him to teach his children that it is acceptable to use violence in the defense of religious beliefs.  Instead, the judge gives Mr. Perce a lesson in Sharia law and drones on about the Muslim faith, inform everyone in the court room how strongly he embraces Islam, that the first amendment does not allow anyone ”to piss off other people and other cultures” and he was also insulted by Mr. Perce’s portrayal of Mohammed and the sign he carried.

Martin went on to call the plaintiff a “doofus.” 

In other news, enraged Catholics reacted to the sight of an atheist parading around as the Zombie Pope by stifling yawns. source:

As The Brotherhood Takes Office

As The Brotherhood Takes Office Can we Keep Faith with the People?

by Shoshana Bryen

An Egyptian man chants pro-democracy slogans during a rally outside the Egyptian Embassy in London to mark the one-year anniversary of the beginning of protests in Egypt, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (Photo:AP)

In London, hundreds of Egyptians stood in front of the Egyptian embassy, with some speeches calling for solidarity with the Egyptian people and other revolutions of the Arab Spring, condemning Western meddling in some Arab nations.

The Egyptian Parliament re-opened this week with the Muslim Brotherhood in charge and the Salafists in second place. Googling liberals were far behind. It is not surprising as the vast majority of Egyptians are rural, poor, and religious, but since majority rule should never be confused with democracy, the Obama administration is in a tight spot.

The U.S. wants western-style capitalism and free markets in a country that looks and acts like ours. The State Department appears to believe it is America's job to tell the Brotherhood what it wants and what it expects.

Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said Deputy Secretary of State William Burns' meeting with the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi was, "an opportunity to reinforce U.S. expectations that Egypt's new government will support human rights, women's rights and religious tolerance and support Egypt's peace treaty with Israel." CNN reported that Burns' message was, "We want to work with your government. We want a meaningful partnership that fully accepts your government and we want to work with you on your primary goal, which is economic development as long as we feel you are building a democracy that respects human rights and freedom and supports regional peace."

Mr. Burns may believe that economic development should be the Brotherhood's "primary goal," and national survival may bring it to the top of the list right now, but the Muslim Brotherhood stands for the establishment of an Islamic society based on its understanding of God's requirements for man. Mr. Burns is likely to be disappointed when those requirements don't include universalized "human rights and freedom" or "regional peace" for Israel.

In Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, and Iran, not to mention Hezbollah and Hamas, the best organized groups are in political ascendance—and they are also the ones who deeply reject American political, moral, and social standards. They believe in an international Islamist revival, and it underestimates them to assume they are closet capitalists and free-thinkers.

We cannot demand and should not expect, but the United States has had experience dealing rationally with countries whose systems of government do not include democratic norms and principles, placing ourselves on the side of the people and ensuring that both the rulers and the dissidents know where we stand.

We've done the Cold War.

After decades of ignoring Soviet depredations against their own people, and an uncomfortable experience as wartime allies, the occupation of Central Europe made it impossible to accept the Soviet system as compatible with our own. Certainly we recognized the Soviet Union, talked to it, negotiated with it, traded in some measure with it, and generally tried to avoid war with it. But we also generally did our best to defend against it, restrict it, deny it victories, and keep faith with its people.

Our diplomats knew the names of dissidents and prisoners, and they asked about them in Moscow—and Secretary of State George Shultz's 1987 Moscow Seder was an extraordinary moment for the West. We had trade restrictions, the Helsinki process, COCOM, and Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe to tell prisoners of communism the news of the West and the news of their own countries. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the dissidents said, "We knew you were there; we knew you were on our side."

That is a huge point. During the Cold War, we were good at the distinction between the people and their government. We didn't expect the Soviet government to be like us, but only to know that we were watching and their choices would cost them.

Our Western heritage—not so much electoral politics, but free speech, rule of law, free market economics, independent judiciaries, property rights, and tolerance—is, in fact, responsive to the economic and social conditions confronted by people across the Middle East and North Africa. But while the U.S. demands that Egypt and others be "democratic" and tolerant, we pay only lip service to the universal benefits of Western Civilization, primarily by supporting the winners of referendums masquerading as elections.

Victorious Islamist governments are unlikely to listen to the message of the West, but many people in the region want us and need us. If we don't see the active assertion of our values as part of our policy, future generations in the Arab world will fall farther and farther behind economically and socially.

The West is in a difficult twilight period with the Middle Eastern Arab world plus Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan; not so much a "long war" as a "cold war." There are no military answers or easy "soft" answers, but scholar and author Robert Kaplan drew up a concise set of priorities for our government to manage as we go forward:

1.     Regime type matters. Authoritarian regimes, including Russia and China, face uprisings and should not be considered stable partners. To the extent that they permit joint economic activity within the rule of law, we can work with them for the benefit of their people.

2.     Military matters. American influence in the world is proportional to our ability to protect our interests. As we plan to draw down in the Middle East and "pivot" toward Asia, we have to ensure that we have sufficient resources for defense.

3.     Europe matters. Despite their current economic problems and ours, they are the "go to" ally. China doesn't appear to want the responsibilities that go with economic clout, nor does India. Brazil and Turkey have not been helpful, and their longevity as rising economic powers is unclear, and finally,

4.   America matters. No one else is us. Unless we abdicate our leadership, we can exercise it. And we should. source:

Obama congratulates Islamists more radical than expected plans for Islamic law

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council

Libya's liberation: interim ruler unveils more radical than expected plans for Islamic law

Libya's interim leader outlined more radical plans to introduce Islamic law than expected as he declared the official liberation of the country.

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council and de fact president, had already declared that Libyan laws in future would have Sharia, the Islamic code, as its "basic source".

But that formulation can be interpreted in many ways - it was also the basis of Egypt's largely secular constitution under President Hosni Mubarak, and remains so after his fall.

Mr Abdul-Jalil went further, specifically lifting immediately, by decree, one law from Col. Gaddafi's era that he said was in conflict with Sharia - that banning polygamy.

In a blow to those who hoped to see Libya's economy integrate further into the western world, he announced that in future bank regulations would ban the charging of interest, in line with Sharia. "Interest creates disease and hatred among people," he said.

Gulf states like the United Arab Emirates, and other Muslim countries, have pioneered the development of Sharia-compliant banks which charge fees rather than interest for loans but they normally run alongside western-style banks.

In the first instance, interest on low-value loans would be waived altogether, he said.

Libya is already the most conservative state in north Africa, banning the sale of alcohol. Mr Abdul-Jalil's decision - made in advance of the introduction of any democratic process - will please the Islamists who have played a strong role in opposition to Col Gaddafi's rule and in the uprising but worry the many young liberal Libyans who, while usually observant Muslims, take their political cues from the West.

SOURCE:

Obama congratulates Islamists in Libya on victory for Sharia

Lucy Madison is reporting that Obama congratulated the people of Libya Sunday for the nation's "historic declaration of liberation," and called on its temporary governing body to "turn its attention to the political transition ahead."

In a statement, Obama heralded a "new era of promise" for the nation after the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who was killed in an ambush in Sirte last week.

"On behalf of the American people, I congratulate the people of Libya on today's historic declaration of liberation," he said. "After four decades of brutal dictatorship and eight months of deadly conflict, the Libyan people can now celebrate their freedom and the beginning of a new era of promise."

The nation's interim leaders formally declared the Libyan liberation Sunday at a ceremony in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi.

At the celebration, which was attended by thousands of Libyans, interim leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil celebrated the victory, pledged to uphold Sharia law in the nation, and outlined more radical plans to introduce Islamic law than expected as he declared the official liberation of the country.

"This revolution was looked after by God to achieve victory," he said.

And Obama smiled.

Fox News is reporting that Libya's adoption of Sharia is a surprise, yet we had the LIbyan draft constitution posted here on 8/22/2011.

The Libyan Draft Constitution contains the following in Article (1) of its General Provisions:

Libya is an independent Democratic State whering the people are the source of authorities. The city of Tripoli shall be the capital of the State. Islam is the Religion of the State and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence (Sharia).

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The "Occupy" movement is making one very powerful enemy -- the police!

We read in Nahum 3:9 that Ethiopia, as well as Egypt and Put (Libya), will be modern Nineveh’s helpers (that is, the modern Babylonian system under Assyrian or German leadership), prior to the destruction of modern Nineveh. They will help modern Nineveh to fight against Israel and Judah. Even during the time of the “day of the LORD” (a time beginning about one year prior to Christ’s return), the Ethiopians are still described as “mighty men” of war (compare Jeremiah 46:9-10).

But we also read that this particular alliance will change—as alliances change often and quickly in wars—and that the modern king of Babylon will attack and conquer Egypt and Ethiopia (Ezekiel 30:1-9; 29:10; compare also Isaiah 18:1-6). Zephaniah 2:12 tells us specifically that “You Ethiopians also, you shall be slain by the sword.” We also read in Daniel 11:42-43 that the modern king of Assyria of the Babylonian system will be ruling over the Ethiopians.

We are specifically told in Isaiah 11:11 that at the time of Christ’s return, the survivors of the modern descendants of the houses of Israel and Judah will find themselves enslaved in countries such as Assyria (Germany), Egypt, Pathros (upper Egypt), Cush (Ethiopia), Elam (Iran), Shinar (part of Babylon, Genesis 10:10), Hamath and the islands of the sea. [Regarding “Hamath,” this word designates descendants of Ham’s son Canaan—a brother of Cush (Genesis 10:18). The word has no connection to Syria or today’s city of Hama which is 200 km north of Damascus. The Syrians are descendants of Noah’s son Shem (Genesis 10:21-23; 22:20-21)—not of Noah’s son Ham or his grandson Canaan.]