In Islam ... BLASPHEMY ==> innovation

For now, here's some speculation about recent disturbances in the world of Islam.

For a bit there, I considered whether I should title this piece, sort of like so:

"what's (?) the deal with Islam!"

Well, I guess I did. Oh, well, lemme start this piece with a "heads up" for both Muslim and "jiaour" readers. I for one firmly believe that Islam blew off a "once-in-a-millennium" opportunity. If verifying the wager were now possible, I'd be betting my five doughnuts to somebody's three. The bet I have in mind might be considered rather pompously erudite.

Anyway, I'd be betting that some graduate student is contemplating a thesis that would explore the mass psychology of the Islamic world. This particular student is about to delve into the emotional connection between missing the aforementioned opportunity and the recent riots that were sparked by "blasphemous" cartoon depictions of Islam's founder.

As I remember what I saw, the cartoonist caricatured the Prophet in headgear that was fashioned from bombs. Here's what I suspect the cartoonist was trying to convey. The recent bombings by homicidal suicides, supposedly in the service of Islam, disgraced the memory and message of the Prophet.

At this point, I'd like to speculate a little about Muslims, who are supposed to know better. I mean such authorities as scholars and imams, who are supposed to be steeped in the innermost spirit of their Faith, and are therefore accorded immense prestige by their coreligionists.

I wonder. Could (?) it be possible that Islam is in such a state that its prestigious authorities are incapable of introspection. Maybe, they feel some foreboding with regard to what they might find in introspection.

Is there any Muslim in the world, who wonders what (?) could've inspired that cartoonist. Taking this speculation a tad further, one might wonder whether there is any Muslim in the world, who wonders what (?) could've validated that cartoon in the minds of those knowledgeable non-Muslims, for whose viewing that cartoon was intended.

Maybe, I'm threatening to burst the constraints of reasonable speculation. Even so, I'm wondering, here and now, whether there is any Muslim in the world, capable of introspection.

If going any further than that, means bursting those constraints, KISMET ... that is a polite way of saying kiss my noble ginny ass. I can say that, because every person of Italian extraction has noble blood. Let's face it ... when the Italian nobility went about getting around, they were, by no means, slackers.

Here's what gets me about the people of the Prophet. Among them, Jesus of Nazareth, whom they regard as both prophet and a predecessor to their prophet, is much revered and loved. What's more, they're urged in passages of their Koran to accord the highest of honors to the Messiah of the people of the Son.

In one passage of the Christian Bible, Jesus is quoted as saying,

"Why [do you behold] the mote (speck) that is in [your] brother's eye, but [perceive] (recognize) not the beam that is in [your] own eye? . . . [You] hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of [your] own eye, and then [you shall] see clearly to pull out the mote that is in [your] brother's eye " (Luke 6:41-42).

Well, while we're here, I'd like to comment on what is supposed to be the underlying humane goal of Hamas, the members of which organization are considered terrorists by Americans with very good cause. Anyway, Hamas claims their goal, after the destruction of Israel, is a state, in which Muslims and Christians and Jews can live together in peace and prosperity.

Here's the funny thing about that, Hamas is about sixty (60) years late in espousing that goal. That could've happened in a narrow window of history, after the end of the Second World War in Europe and before the United Nations' partition of Palestine.

Apropos of that missed opportunity, here's a "bon mot" in circulation among Jews, who pursue commercial success on the "island" of Manhattan ... "you snooze, you lose".

Even funnier yet, Hamas is based in a region of the world, where insults inflicted a hundred years call for reprisal sometime this afternoon. So, here's Hamas blithely ignoring the past sixty years with their call for an ideal state.

By the bye, I'm speculating that, as Hamas tries to take over the reins of power in their portion of Palestine, both they and the people they hope to govern are in a series of rude awakenings ... eYep.

toodles
....../
.he who is known as sefton

EPIMETHEAN COMMENT -

here's more funny stuff ... those imams, who are instigating riots over those "blasphemous cartoons", are efficaciously undermining that legendary islamic religiosity.

Without those riots that call attention to such stuff, it would still be virtually impossible for Muslims to even entertain the possibility of blasphemy ... oooh, that's a thought seed that's bound to sprout, and eventually yield new strange fruit ... apologies to Billie Holliday.

However either progress or regression is described, one thing's for "leadpipe cinch" certain. There's a sea change a-brewing in the world of Islam.

- - here's a follow-up to previous comment - -

If it weren't for the senseless bloodshed, a certain convocation of Iraqi imams would be hilarious. Here's what I mean. They pose for the camera clasping upraised hands in an appeal for peace among the various Muslim sects. The very next day, they're made to look like fools, as innocent people get blown to smithereens.

I'm told there's a saying that's circulating in certain Jewish circles. And it goes like so:

. . . . . hypocrites make the most odious of fools . . . .

So, that set me to wondering. How many (?) of those imams, appealing for peace, preached sermons that praised those suicide bombers, who killed and maimed Israeli civilians in the name of Islam.

I also wonder whether the Koran contains a verse like so:

. . . as ye reap, so shall ye sow . . .

oh, well, maybe, such speculation such as that is not meant for my type of guy.