Closing the week 46 – Featuring Fort Hood and Nidal Hasan
Most popular on Closer this week:
- Public Anthropology – 10 years from Researchpages to Closer (1999/2000 – 2009/2010)
- Islamizing Europe – Muslim Demographics
- Geenstijl.nl & Marokko.nl
If you want to stay updated and did not subscribe yet, you can do so HERE
Featuring Fort Hood shooting and Nidal Hasan
Fort Hood Shooting Is Proof That [Insert Your Favorite Cause Here] « MediaElites
The shooting at Fort Hood yesterday should be all the evidence the [MSM/wingnuts/gun nuts/PC police] need to finally [close our borders/make tighter gun laws/end the wars/racially profile]. I have had it with [liberal elites/the NRA/Neocons] telling me this country has no problem with its [Muslims/guns/border security/mental health of our military]. It is high time [real Americans/real patriots/We The People/the few sane people left in this idiot country] take action.
Is Ft. Hood Like Columbine? By Columbine’s Dave Cullen – NurtureShock Blog – Newsweek.com
The Ft. Hood perpetrator appears pretty transparent. The “obvious” factors include:
* His religion
* His ethnicity
* The ridicule he endured for each
* His profession as a soldier
* His profession as a psychiatrist
* His exposure to guns
* Relentless exposure to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in his patients
* Opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
* Imminent deployment thereWe have heard a lot of facts related to each of those factors already. I expect that most will turn to be true. Historically, we get the what right pretty fast. But we have a terrible record on why.
The Meaning of Fort Hood – The Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com
The attempt to sort out the meaning of the murderous actions of Maj. Nidal Hasan has consumed numerous blog cycles since Thursday. Does Hasan’s rampage signal an internal jihadi threat we’re ill-equipped to thwart, or was it just another meaningless moment of American lone-gunman violence?
Ft. Hood and the Clash of Civilizations: Security vs political correctness revisited | Marc Lynch
Since the Ft Hood atrocity, I’ve seen a meme going around that it somehow exposed a contradiction between “political correctness” and “security.” The avoidance of Nidal Hassan’s religion out of fear of offending anyone, goes the argument, created the conditions which allowed him to go undetected and unsanctioned in the months and years leading up to his rampage. American security, therefore, demands dropping the “political correctness” of avoiding a confrontation with Islamist ideas and asking the “tough questions” about Islam as a religion and the loyalty of Muslim-Americans.
This framing of the issue is almost 100% wrong. There is a connection between what these critics are calling “political correctness” and national security, but it runs in the opposite direction.
It’s hard to pinpoint what’s the most shocking thing about Army Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan’s shooting rampage in Fort Hood, Texas.
I’ll start with this: There’s nothing all that groundbreaking about it.
Condemnations by Muslims
What Does Islam Have to Do with Fort Hood?
this idea that blacks/gays/Latinos/insert religious persuasion must take responsibility for whatever evil other blacks/gays/Latinos/insert religious persuasion do
My frustrations were exacerbated, both by some of the news coverage (though I have something positive to say about their initial reporting) and by the Muslim community’s reactions. In contrast to the initial reporting and punditry, I believe that Muslim community’s handling of the issue leaves much to be desired.
Clearly, condemning the killing of unarmed people in a non-combat situation is the right thing to do.However, why do we have to do it as Muslims?
This is an issue of common humanity.
Muslims in Western Armies
Indigo Jo Blogs » Hypocrisy of praising Nidal Hasan
I’ve always wondered what this guy was doing in the Army myself; I woudn’t advise any Muslim in his right mind to join the armed forces in any western country. Since the outbreak of the Bush Wars, I have even turned down jobs which have involved dealing with the military. How anyone can stomach living on base with people hostile to their religion and even race is beyond me.
Instead of pointing fingers at the imaginary Muslim fifth column, it is more relevant to discuss what would push a man to commit a treacherous act, not to justify it, but rather to prevent another serviceman from committing a similar act, perhaps a Jew or an atheist or other non-Christian, someone similarly frustrated and harassed, as Nidal allegedly was.
onwards, muslim soldiers? – City of Brass
The bottom line is that the Qur’an provides enough rationale to either permit or forbid a muslim from being in the military, depending on the interpreter’s bias (and sure enough muslim scholars in the West tend to rule muslims may serve, whereas scholars from muslim nations find the opposite). Ultimately, it falls upon the muslim’s own conscience as to whether they can serve their nation.
Kamran Pasha: A Muslim Soldier’s View from Fort Hood
Richard shared my views, and when Hasan attempted to rationalize suicide bombing in a conversation, Richard told him in no uncertain terms that suicide is forbidden in the Qur’an (4:29). An argument ensued, and then an Islamic scholar who was present told Hasan that Richard was right. Suicide cannot be defended under traditional Islamic law, regardless of efforts by some modern scholars to rationalize it. Hasan was unhappy to hear this point of view, and the men decided to change the topic.
I asked Richard whether he believed that Hasan was motivated by religious radicalism in his murderous actions. Richard, with great sadness, said that he believed this was true. He also believed that psychological factors from Hasan’s job as an army psychiatrist added to his pathos. Hasan had spent months listening to horror stories from returning soldiers about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it had hardened his position on these wars. The news that he would be deployed overseas to Iraq, to a war that he rejected, may have pushed him over the edge.
But Richard does not excuse Hasan. As a Muslim, he finds Hasan’s religious perspectives to be fundamentally misguided. And as a soldier, he finds Hasan’s actions cowardly and evil. Hasan was not being sent into combat – he would have been working in a secure office in the Green Zone far away from the life and death dangers that Richard and his fellow combat veterans face every day. For Richard, a Muslim convert and patriotic soldier, Hasan’s actions were those of a sinner and a villain, one who will be held accountable by the U.S. justice system in this world, and by Allah in the Hereafter.
Listening to Richard’s perspective, I felt many emotions. Sorrow that good men and women like him will now have to defend their patriotism from those who want to use one madman’s actions to target an entire community. Pride that Muslim soldiers like Richard continue to do their duties with honor, despite the two worlds they are forced to straddle.
Muslim Americans Must Obey U.S. Laws; Nidal Hasan Disobeyed Islamic Doctrine | loonwatch.com
There is, according to these anti-Muslim bigots, a conspiracy by Muslim Americans to overtake the country from within. The tactics to do so can be non-violent (”Stealth Jihad”) or overtly violent (such as 9/11 or the Fort Hood Massacre), but the goal is the same: to overthrow the U.S. government, rip the Constitution to shreds, and enact Sharia (Islamic law) in the West. It is for this reason, you–the average American Joe–need to fear your Muslim neighbor.
The Covenant of Security
But experts of the Islamic legal tradition say differently. The Islamic religion commands believers to obey the laws of the land they live in, even if it be one ruled by nonbelievers. Muslim jurists consider citizenship (or visa) to be a covenant (aqd) held between the citizen (or visa holder) and the state, one which guarantees safe passage/security (amaan) in exchange for certain obligations (such as obeying the laws of the land); covenants are considered sacredly binding in Islam. The Quran commands:
See also Suhaib Webb.
Muslim in the army « Peace, Bruv
The BBC have an article interviewing a Muslim who is training to join the British Army. The soldier’s comments illustrate the dilemma that Muslims will face if deciding to join the army: you’ll be accommodated, get your halal food and place to pray, as long as you’re also willing to shoot down your brethren in faith.
Support
Breaking News! Imam al-Awlaki: Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing – Islamic Awakening Forums
Nidal Hassan is a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people. This is a contradiction that many Muslims brush aside and just pretend that it doesn’t exist. Any decent Muslim cannot live, understanding properly his duties towards his Creator and his fellow Muslims, and yet serve as a US soldier. The US is leading the war against terrorism which in reality is a war against Islam. Its army is directly invading two Muslim countries and indirectly occupying the rest through its stooges.
Major Nidal Hasan M.D.
An officer and a gentleman was injured while partaking in a preemptive* attack.
Get Well Soon Major Nidal
We Love You
We do NOT denounce this officer’s actions,we do however apologize for the following acts committed by our country:
Bay of Tonkin
The East Timor Massacre by USA Supported Suharto
1902 Samar Massacre in the Philippines by the USMC
1,000,000 Dead Iraqis
Afghani & Pakistanis Killed by the USA
Starvation of Africa & Rape of it’s Resources by the USA
Support of the Brutal “Israeli” Occupation Entity
Etc. Etc.
Debating
Short Open Letter to Anwar al-Awlaki « other|matters
Shaykh, I disagree with you that Nidal Hassan is a hero. He is not anything close to being a hero.
If he had this alleged problem with being a Muslim and American soldier, he should have resigned. He should have gone AWOL. If his plan was to kill American soldiers, then he is obviously a fool for having spent so many years in the military to do what he did. Further, if his plot was to kill American soldiers, he is an even bigger fool because it will not stop any wars and — if anything — it will result in the death of more Muslims.
But, he is not a hero or a fool.
If he was harassed because of his religion, if he had an unhappy family life, if he wanted out of the military, if he had had a change of heart and did not want to serve in Afghanistan or Iraq – none of this changes the fact that what he did was criminal. He could have asked for conscientious objector status. Even if the Army was not following their own protocol and refused to let him resign his commission, he could have gone to jail rather than go overseas, or he could have gone AWOL and taken his chances – at least that would not have hurt so many others. Maj. Hasan betrayed his country, he betrayed his military oath, he betrayed his medical oath, he betrayed his religion.
Another shooting in America « Peace, Bruv
Any Muslim in the US army must at some point feel the need to reconcile between his faith, the brotherhood of Islam that his faith entails, and the fact that the institution he is serving is day in day out fighting against his brothers in faith.
If i was the head of the army, i wouldn’t take a chance on recruiting a Muslim soldier who today joins the army when he is lax with his faith, then tomorrow his mind clicks, his loyalties rearrange, and its God at the top and not Queen and country.
The Hypocrisy of Those who Support Nidal Hasan | MR’s Blog
It is shocking to see Muslims praising and calling Nidal Hasan a hero. According to to their own leaders and teachers, Nidal Hasan is a kafir. Anyone who joins the US military is no longer a Muslim. In fact Nidal Hasan is a murtad. Now all of a sudden he is a mujahid in prison. He is a hero. He is worthy of being praised.
Media
Did Nidal Malik Hasan Telegraph His Shooting Spree? « MediaElites
We should really, really keep in mind the possibility that Nidal Hasan may not be as uncommon a name as the average American might assume. Still, an interesting comment was made by a “NidalHasan” on May 20, 2009 on a document published on the document hosting service, Scribd.com. The document was titled, “Martyrdom in Islam vs. Suicide Bombing.” Regarding the content of the document, “NidalHasan” wrote the following:
There was a grenade thrown amongs a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause. Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes into ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland. You can call them crazy i you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that “IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE” and Allah (SWT) knows best.
Emphasis was added. Again, the name could have been a complete coincidence, but it’s hard to ignore at the moment, considering the psychological insight offered in the comment above and how the bolded portion raises a few hairs on the back of the neck when you consider that a Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly killed and injured a total of 43 people at Fort Hood today. If you are a different Nidal Hasan currently googling your name and freaking the fuck out and you were the guy who made this comment, let us know.
Pickled Politics » Double standards over Fort Hood attack
To recap: a deranged lone gunman at a US military base, who happened to be a soldier there and a Muslim, shot several army soldiers and wounded others. Apparently, before he started shooting he shouted ‘Allah Hu Akbar’ (God is great). But there is no proof that he was influenced by al-Qaeda or any other terrorist groups.
And yet […]
The Islamopundits
Multiculturalism kills | The Spectator
More evidence of America’s Jihad Denial Derangement Syndrome. It turns out that fellow students of the army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan who murdered 13 and wounded dozens more in a jihadi attack on Fort Hood had complained to the faculty about his anti-American propaganda – but were too afraid to file a formal complaint for fear of being accused of prejudice
Michelle Malkin » The massacre at Fort Hood and Muslim soldiers with attitude
Those of you with long memories will remember all those who came before Hasan. Here is my column from March 2003 on Muslim soldiers with attitude:
Sgt. Asan Akbar, a Muslim American soldier with the 326th Engineer Battalion, had an “attitude problem.”
According to his superiors and acquaintances, Akbar’s attitude was bitterly anti-American and staunchly pro-Muslim. So how did this devout follower of the so-called Religion of Peace work out his attitudinal problems last weekend?
Jihad at Fort Hood – by Robert Spencer | FrontPage Magazine
Major Hasan’s motive was perfectly clear — but it was one that the forces of political correctness and the Islamic advocacy groups in the United States have been working for years to obscure. So it is that now that another major jihad terror attack has taken place on American soil, authorities and the mainstream media are at a loss to explain why it happened – and the abundant evidence that it was a jihad attack is ignored.
The Muslim Brotherhood and Fort Hood – by Jamie Glazov | FrontPage Magazine
Yes. The murders by Malik Nadal Hasan at Ft. Hood, TX are not a ‘lone wolf incident’ as being described by most media organizations. Hasan had been taught the ideology that is being advocated by hundreds of Islamic scholars and Imams in the U.S. We as a country can continue to deny there are numerous Islamic leaders and their supporting organizations such as CAIR, ISNA, MSA, and MANA, to name a few, who advocate killing innocent men, women, and children whom they allege ‘oppress Islam.’
Hot Air » Blog Archive » An Army officer’s outrage over Fort Hood
Yet here we have Nidal Hasan, who explicitly “associated with” Anwar al-Aulaqi, a figure that American intelligence suspects of operational involvement in 9/11, who yelled “Allah akbar!“ as he shot more than 50 people and killed 14 of them, and who repeatedly told his colleagues that the US had declared war on his faith and that suicide bombings could be justified. Does the media connect the dots the way they attempted with conservatives who espoused such radical thinking as federalism? No.
Misc.
If I were Taliban’s Advisor | Truth Spring
Listen up Government of Pakistan. If I were a Taliban advisor, this is what I would advise them;
Somatosphere: The Berlin Wall as metaphor and diagnosis
A more thorough discussion of the anthropological literature on postsocialism–as it relates to issues of medicine, health and science will have to wait, but at the moment I’d like to highlight a couple of interesting articles which examine the Berlin Wall specifically as a construct in psychological discourse. In “The Berlin Wall on the Therapist’s Couch” and “Constructions of the Berlin Wall: How Material Culture Is Used in Psychological Theory,” sociologist of science Christine Leuenberger has written about the psychological sciences in Germany have used the Wall as a means of understanding the basis of individual distress and as a metaphor for social malaise.
Teaching Anthropology: Tell me about your mother: how Jewish is she?
Interesting article at the NY Times about the legal battle brewing in the U.K. over determinations of “Jewishness” in school admission processes: “Who is a Jew?” is the central question. And the courts have tripped over the thorny issue of the inherent discrimination in the us/them reality of some religious faiths. When does religious faith become ethnic identification? For orthodox Jews ( at least those in decision-making positions at some schools): not when your mother has converted and not when she has converted Progressively. Ethnic discrimination foul, according to the British Courts.
Op-Ed Contributor – 20 Years of Collapse – NYTimes.com
TODAY is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. During this time of reflection, it is common to emphasize the miraculous nature of the events that began that day: a dream seemed to come true, the Communist regimes collapsed like a house of cards, and the world suddenly changed in ways that had been inconceivable only a few months earlier. Who in Poland could ever have imagined free elections with Lech Walesa as president?
However, when the sublime mist of the velvet revolutions was dispelled by the new democratic-capitalist reality, people reacted with an unavoidable disappointment that manifested itself, in turn, as nostalgia for the “good old” Communist times; as rightist, nationalist populism; and as renewed, belated anti-Communist paranoia.
Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship
Neda Agha-Soltan
The College is delighted to announce that, thanks to two generous gifts, it has been able to establish a graduate scholarship in Philosophy in memory of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 27-year-old Iranian philosophy student who was killed in Tehran on 20 June during the protests over the outcome of the 2009 Iranian presidential election.
Commenting on the scholarship, the Provost, Professor Paul Madden, said, ‘Oxford is increasingly losing out to its competitors in the race to recruit top graduate students. Donations such as those that have enabled us to create the Neda Agha-Soltan Scholarship are absolutely vital for us to continue to attract and retain the best young minds.’
The scholarship provides the amount of money required to pay the College’s graduate fee. All students accepted by the College for the M.St., B.Phil. or D.Phil. in Philosophy are eligible for consideration for the Scholarship, but preference is given to those of Iranian nationality or extraction.
The first holder of the scholarship is Arianne Shahvisi, who has just joined the College and is studying for an M.St. in the Philosophy of Physics. Arianne writes that ‘It is a great honour to be the first student to receive the scholarship in the memory of Neda Agha-Soltan, which is particularly meaningful to me, being a young woman of Iranian descent, also studying philosophy. In accepting the scholarship, I extend my sincere condolences to the Agha-Soltan family, and hope that in succeeding in my studies at Oxford, I can do justice to the name of their brave and gifted daughter.’
Life sentence for killer of ‘veil martyr’ Marwa al-Sherbini – Times Online
A Russian-born German who stabbed to death an Egyptian woman in a courtroom was given Germany’s highest possible sentence for murder yesterday — 15 years’ jail with no chance of early parole.
The case enraged the Arab world, in particular Egypt, with street demonstrators and commentators blaming Germany for encouraging Islamophobia. The victim, Marwa al-Shirbini, 31, a pharmacist, has been hailed as a “veil martyr” because she stood up against the assailant, Alexander Wiens, 28. A fatwa has been pronounced on Wiens and the trial in Dresden was held under extraordinary security, with the courthouse cleared and 200 armed police encircling the room.
“We find you bear a particularly heavy burden of guilt,” said Judge Birgit Wiegand. The phrase is German legal language indicating that Wiens will not be considered for early release. Fifteen years constitutes a life sentence.
Living out her faith | StarTribune.com
In her home country of Morocco, Aicha Ech Channa has been condemned for her work. But Wednesday in Minneapolis, she received praise and the $1 million Opus Prize.
A former social worker, Ech Channa is the founder of an organization that helps unwed mothers, an effort that Islamic extremists decry.
She is the first Muslim to win the Opus award. The annual humanitarian award from the Minnetonka-based Opus Prize Foundation goes to unsung heroes for their faith-based acts of compassion.
Creationism, Without a Young Earth, Emerges in the Islamic World – NYTimes.com
Creationism is growing in the Muslim world, from Turkey to Pakistan to Indonesia, international academics said last month as they gathered here to discuss the topic.
Dutch
De Koude oorlog en de islam – Trouw
Even leek Nederland in de zorgeloze jaren negentig terecht te zijn gekomen in een wereld van vrijheid en blijheid, waarin het Nederlandse poldermodel ten voorbeeld strekte voor de wereld. Die opleving is was van korte duur geweest. De gevoelens van ongemak over globalisering en de multiculturele samenleving die al in de jaren negentig aanwezig waren, namen het afgelopen decennium sterk toe.
De polarisatie die de opkomst van de islam in Nederland teweeg heeft gebracht lijkt zo gezien een welkome nieuwe tweedeling. Met de islam is opnieuw een macht gekomen om je tegen af te zetten en je eigen identiteit tegenover te stellen. Dat gebeurde ook in Amerika, vooral onder president Bush.
De nieuwe vijand is wel minder grijpbaar en afgebakend dan de Sovjet-Unie en het communisme in de tijd van de Koude Oorlog. Nederlanders kunnen niet zo helder positie kiezen in dit nieuwe spanningsveld en dat moeten ze ook niet doen. De wereld is diffuser geworden en een scherpe tweedeling is niet zo gemakkelijk te maken als toen. Verlangen naar de Koude Oorlog is prima, maar voor de toekomst biedt het geen perspectief.
De Standaard Online – Het water is veel te diep
De sterkte van beide boeken is dat ze de intellectuele en sociale diversiteit binnen de moslimgemeenschappen laten zien, en dat ze evoluties die vaak als een bedreiging worden gezien, duiden als een normale politieke dynamiek. Een aantal kernpunten van de joods-christelijke mantra — dat de islam uniek is en kwaadaardig, dat alle vrouwen er onderdrukt worden en enkel vrij kunnen worden als ze die Koran verscheuren — worden duidelijk weerlegd, ja zelfs wat belachelijk gemaakt.
De zwakte ligt in de manier waarop er gepraat wordt over die verlichte tegenstander. Die wordt voorgesteld als machtiger, onredelijker en, o ironie, homogener dan hij is. Zoveel aandacht er is voor de verschillen tussen jihadistische en dociele salafisten, voor de nuances binnen het islamitische feminisme en de internationale context waarbinnen een en ander plaatsvindt, zo weinig is er voor de posities aan de andere kant. Cliteur, Hirsi Ali, Doornaert, Scheffer, Barnard, Wilders of Dedecker: het is allemaal één pot nat. De verschillen tussen de vrijzinnige, de conservatieve, de nationalistische, de christendemocratische of de liberale filosofieën: onbelangrijk. Provocatieve columns staan op gelijke hoogte met beleidsteksten, een wat feller verwoord citaat geldt al snel als een algemene teneur.
Opvallend is, bijvoorbeeld, dat geen van de drie boeken reageert op analyses die meer het centrum opzoeken.
De beschavingsmachine.
Epo, 168 blz., 16 .
SAMI ZEMNI
Het islamdebat,
Epo, 224 blz., 20 .
NADIA FADIL (e.a.)
Een leeuw in een kooi.
Meulenhoff/Manteau, 232 blz., 19,95 .
