A Muslim perspective on beheadings

Yesterday, I met a most helpful Muslim man at the Wigtown Book Festival.  We had both been to hear the three panelists - Clare Short, Sir Menzies Campbell and Angus Roxburgh - talking about the 'New World Disorder'.

He told me about 'umna' that means affinity to explain that although there is hatred between Muslims, there is also so much on which they agree, that draws them together in a common bond - in affinity.

 

As there is between Jews and Muslims.

He explained that beheading in public is capital punishment that is meant to show that justice is being done in an open way, as well as to be a deterrence to show what happens if the law is broken.  The Christian West also has capital punishment with a viewing gallery for those invited.  My thought is this: with fatal injection, as has been reported on Radio 4, it is often done cruelly so that many minutes of suffering elapse before the convicted person eventually loses consciousness and dies.

I felt the most important point he said to me was that Western, 'Christian' fighters vapourise their fellow humans by fire and flame that can hardly be said to be more humane than a one-on-one, 'eyeball to eyeball', public beheading to

do justice according to Shariah law 

and, to deter similar crime.  My point is this: in addition, the West kills with no fear of injury for themselves that makes killing Muslims so painless for the Christians.  I would add that the Judeo-Christian world kills many times more innocent civilians and Muslim fighters than they kill of Americans, French and British - all of whom are combatants.  My thought: non Muslim, Western, non-combatants - two American journalists and two aid workers - are civilians but were killed to teach the West a lesson and in revenge for the Christians attacking them, first."

Islamic State v Judeo-Christian States or,

Muslim fighters and civilians wiped out, versus not even a scratch on us lot.

AIR STRIKES BY NATO ON IRAQ - more cowardly asymetric warfare but so popular when we can kill foreigners without being killed ourselves.  524 in favour; 43 against on Friday 26 September 2014.

As with Israel in attacking Gaza with almost complete impunity, we are also waging our wars from the air, alone so not one of our armed forces people stand any chance whatsoever of getting killed.  Drones and war planes to bring death for Muslims from the skies but, our soldiers risking their deaths on the ground to effectively deal with Isis, is ruled out.  For me, these are immoral, unjust wars but very popular with the 'Christian' West and Israel when their own soldiers are immune from harm.

In all our wars, we end up killing mostly civilians, the non-combatants who simply want to be left alone from American, British, French and Israeli attacks from the air.    Once you start down that road, in order to win your war, you have to commit genocide and slaughter the lot, which is obviously impractical and immoral.

As we found with our wars of aggression in SE Asia over many decades of killing 'Communists', the people we are trying to kill simply melt away into 'nowhere'.  We lost every single war, too!

As we waged war on Muslims and others in the Middle East, we found with the failed War of Terrorism, that many of our weapons simply ended up in the hands of the Jihadists.  We should never have started.

As we found with our friend and ally Israel, trying to stop the noise and inconvenience of Hamas rockets by sending over their/our much more lethal missiles, it still ends with killing and injuring many more Gazan civilians than Hamas fighters who never did stop their rocket firing - until the ceasefire took effect.

If they want to have a pure, Shariah law, Islamic State let them.  We have our pure, democratic, capitalist state.  In the West, after centuries of intolerance and brutal religious persecution, we now pride ourselves on our political and religious tolerance - until recent years.  Muslims in the UK are no threat to ourselves and are not even campaigning for the imposition of Shariah Law, apart from in a few domestic/marital matters affecting Muslims, only.  In Iraq, I understood, IS gave the people the choice of converting to Islam, paying a fine or leaving.  When Christians fled to the mountain top, American humanitarian aid was dropped but, also, the bombing and missile attacks from the air began.  In retaliation, the beheadings of Western journalists and aid workers started.   Revenge is sweet for the religious and irreligious of both 'Islam' and 'Christianity'.  We all like to get our own back in some way or another.

Allan Little on the Scottish referendum

"Think of the heavy artillery that was pressed into service in defence of the Union in the last weeks of the campaign.  Almost all of the mainstream media were hostile to independence.  The Banks would move to London, the financial services industry would collapse, mortgage payments would rise, Scotland would have to get in the queue behind Kosovo for EU membership, the oil was running out, there would be no pound in your pocket and, the supermarkets would put their prices up.  We love you Scotland, London politicians said but if you vote 'Yes' we'll send armed guards to the border.  Yet, still 45% of those who voted, voted 'Yes'.  I think the three main parties at Westminster should be worried about that.  Even 15 years ago when the Scottish Parliament was established, that would have been unthinkable.  Labour should be particularly worried about that.  40% of their traditional voters crossed to the 'Yes' camp.  Glasgow and Dundee both had 'Yes' majorities. ... The 45% they have started to call themselves on social media this weekend.  I don't think that genie is going back in the bottle."

Self: With all this coercion from the political and business establishment in England that Little has outlined, could the campaign be really called a free and fair election?  In the light of all the pressure to vote 'No', I think it is astonishing that 45% of those who voted, voted 'Yes'.  And, the membership of the 'Yes' parties - SNP  and Green - has rocketed.

Equally astonishing, what independence really meant in practice was wholly dependent on the 18 mths of negotiations between Holyrood and Westminster - up to March 2016.  In other words, if voting changed anything, they would abolish it.  Yet, we sacrifice thousands of human lives to bring democracy down the barrel of a gun to nations who don't have it!

UK cannot prosper without Scotland

UK cannot prosper without Scotland it seems, so obviously, Scotland is wealthy enough to go it alone.  Such are the 'promises' being made to Scotland by the No campaign and the desperation of their leaders to get them to vote No, that that alone speaks volumes for how important Scotland is to the Westminster politicians, the UK's London power base and the English military and political establishment.

It seems that Scotland is essential for London's well being and for the UK being a major power and force for virtue and all things angelic in the world!

All three UK parties ruled out a currency union with an independent country.  Thus forcing voters to vote 'No'.

We are better together at waging war for every year for the next 100 years, as we have been doing in every year for the last one hundred years.  Better together at killing foreigners.

This is an opportunity for one part of the UK to be peaceful in its foreign policy.  To model itself on peacemaking Norway.  To disassociate itself from the UK's immoral position to use nuclear weapons and, now, with replacing Trident nuclear weapons system at a cost of £100 bn.  And, to have no more illegal, immoral and unnecessary wars.
OR, TO PUT THE ABOVE TWO PARAGRAPHS INTO ONE:

Cut the war mongering UK down to size by, at least, Scottish taxpayers no longer paying for the UK's 100 years of non-stop wars and, for paying for the immorality and illegality of replacing Trident that is intended to wipe much of humanity off the face of the earth.

That trio of leaders are so desperate for a 'No' vote that, for me, it must indicate that Scotland is more crucial for our English success and prosperity and for waging our wars than I thought.  Clearly, they are wealthy and powerful enough to go it alone without holding on to nanny's skirt tails!

Get Scotland out of the UK to get the UK out of the Middle East and its aggression there.  At least, it would mean a smaller part of the UK to be the puppet and partner of the US of Aggression in Iraq, Syria and Gaza.

Bible exhortation for a time of hatred and war!

There should never be "a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens", as the 'good' Book has it. There is always a time to hate and war for us armed Westerners - and for centuries, too and for 1700 years for the good Christian believers.  Deuteronomy 20 v 1-20 has the Rules for Waging Holy War (Jihad).  Yet, we hardly needed the Bible to encourage us!

Your country of Israel, Derek is a Jewish/Muslim nation that is part of the Christian, Western, democratic power bloc.  Yet again, my taxes have helped to horrifically kill very many more non-combatants than the Gazan armed soldiers who fire so many out of date or home made rockets that kill no-one (or even injure, it seems) anyone in Israel.  This time over 500 children out of over 2,100 Gazans wiped off the map.  Cold blooded murder by your side!  Many thousands of innocents injured and 300,000 Gazans displaced.  £4 billion to rebuild after 50 days of death and destruction on Gaza.  We all need to get a grip over our morality and what is lawful.  Is it really the armed Muslims annihilating the Jews?  Or is it the Jews and Christians annihilating the Muslims every few years in our five wars since the 7 October 2001?  Should the US/UK/Israel be above the law in this way?  Our side gets away with it time and again because we are the powerful nations, the top dogs who rule the roost in the United Nations.

Please tell me how this can be more morally upright than what the military, armed Muslims are doing in their killings.  And, this, after 100 years of the Christian, Western nations throwing their weight around in the Middle East to ensure our oil security and victory in our 20th century wars!

Our Jewish/Christian, Western over-reaction to ineffective rockets from Gaza and imposing democracy and regime change down the barrel of a gun in Afghanistan and Iraq has set an extremely bad example to Islam and the Arabs.  Unsurprisingly, they are now doing what we have been doing for 100 years and, in their region of the world, too!

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.610687

This is Desmond Tutu's opinion of things.  Mine is to follow, in due course - even longer than yours, 'cos I've been working on it over the course of Israel's latest war!

Meanwhile, from what you have just sent me, it is immoral to do what we don't like our enemies doing to us.  Please don't you descend, Derek to their bestial, barbaric and brutal behaviour, as Israel has done with Gaza.  Follow the example of Jesus Christ and not the men of violence.  Overcome evil with good, bless those who curse you and pray for your persecutors.  Treat others, Derek as you would like them to treat you!

The idea is not really to nuke Hamas off the face of the earth as I have, tongue in cheek, suggested to Israel a few weeks ago.  We are not meant to kill as many as possible before they kill us!  But, its fine, of course, to kill any old Muslim in revenge for them killing an American, a Brit or an Israeli.

The case of the missing hill walker

A very cold and windy Berwyn mountain ridge enveloped in hill fog.  On Wednesday 27 August, too!  By the cairn, a large rucsac almost empty, a map case with compass but no map and two fingerless cyclists' gloves.  Where was the owner of these items; where was the map and why such a large rucsac almost empty?

These were the questions in the mind of the walker who found them, as he looked around and wondered what to do.  Then, out of the mist emerged the owner, coming back to get them.  What had happened?  The walker had left the things while going off down the slope and into the murk and wind to answer a call of nature.  Who was the missing man?  Me!

John, MD of Authentic Adventures, was the man in a quandary over what to do.  In those bleak conditions, we quickly teamed up and agreed to walk the full length of the ridge to his holiday cottage near Llandrillo.  His wife would then bring us back to the top of the mountain pass where we had left our cars.  John also had a great GPS walking and cycling app with the Landranger map that he had downloaded onto his iPhone.  It showed a blue dot that indicated exactly where we were on the high ridge.  Very reassuring!

As we walked and talked, he made the point that Israel/Palestine - a dispute over land - is a different kettle of fish from N Ireland that was a dispute over power sharing, marches and flags.  He doubted that talks that brought eventual success there would ever bring success with Israel/Palestine.  He likened Israel to being like a swarm of wasps that when poked with a stick will react angrily, as with this latest Gazan war.  Hamas poking a great grizzly bear to wake it up with a bad headache and getting well and truly sloshed!