Dr. Hayat Sindi is a Saudi Arabian medical scientist and a woman who has earned respect for extraordinary accomplishments in a country that denies women basic liberties. She is not only an award-winning scientist but one of the first female members of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia. Ranked by Arabian Business as the 19th most influential Arab in the world and the ninth most influential Arab woman, it is not surprising that Harvard University has brought her to the country as a visiting scholar. However, a nasty lawsuit in King County has raised deeply disturbing allegations about Sindi’s efforts against women who she accuses of hacking her emails. According to counsel for one of those women, Sindi worked to have another woman flogged for writing on Facebook that she had had an affair with her husband. On the other side is Samia El-Moslimany, a women’s activist and photographer who lives in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, who is fighting to keep Sindi from forcing the disclosure of the women, who would face medieval Sharia justice in Saudi Arabia.
All of this began when El-Moslimany posted statements on social media in 2012 alleging that Sindi had had an affair with her husband. Sindi responded with a Saudi defamation case and, according to an affidavit submitted by El-Moslimany’s lawyer, she wanted El-Moslimany flogged. The effort backfired. A Saudi judge decided last year that El-Moslimany should spend four days in jail for the public defamation while Sindi should spend two months in jail for forming an illicit relationship with El-Moslimany’s husband. Neither has served their sentences.
Sindi however has continued to try to force disclosure of the names of the women commenting on the Internet under the claim that she was hacked. A King County Superior Court judge decided Friday not to sentence a Burien woman to jail or to levy a $500 fine for each day of withholding the names in light of the danger to these women.
Judge Mariane Spearman denied Sindi’s request to hold El-Moslimany in contempt of court because Sindi’s new lawyer could not specify which Facebook comments might be a basis for investigating any of the women.
The idea of a Harvard academic fighting to have women flogged for alleged defamation is deeply troubling. The fact that Saudi Sharia law allows for medieval justice does not excuse a demand for such justice over the exercise of free speech. Even if such speech was defamatory, it should not be a criminal matter subject to flogging. Whatever the truth of the adultery, it should not be relevant to Harvard or anyone else other than those involved in these families. However, flogging for posting matters on the Internet raises significant issues of due process and free speech.
Should Harvard be involved in such dispute when one of its faculty seeks to have women flogged under Sharia law or this is simply a private matter under the laws of another country?
It appears that Inga and Po may be drinking from the same batch of kool aid mixed up by their pal, happypappies.
ALL THAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING.
EDMUND BURKE
Time to take a stand against the horrors being committed around the globe by those following the Religion of Peace.
Enough with the implying that people need or are on meds. It does not make for a productive conversation; it only creates more divisiveness.
Haha, I know! Silly, silly people!
Po, shhhhhh. They want to forget that bit of history.
That freaking president Obama:
“”We see in Islam a religion that traces its origins back to God’s call on Abraham. We share your belief in God’s justice, and your insistence on man’s moral responsibility. We thank the many Muslim nations who stand with us against terror. Nations that are often victims of terror, themselves.”
No? it wasn’t prez Obama? Who then?
George W Bush? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/ramadan/islam.html
Despicable, Inga, despicable!
To be expected though.
By the way, the article Edward linked had many issues, but lacking time to break it down, I was gonna give it a pass. There is this however, that does a better job of it than I could
Excerpt:
“In a recent article for The Atlantic, Graeme Wood takes great pains and goes to considerable lengths in explaining what the Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS), as an organization really wants. In summary, Wood’s position is that a proper understanding of ISIS needs to take into account, and in fact disregard any claims to the contrary, that the actions of ISIS’ militants and goals are primarily motivated by religious teachings about the coming of the apocalypse, which are plainly stated in Islamic texts. The article attempts to make the case that ISIS is in fact “a religious group with carefully considered beliefs.”
Although Wood does make a number of cogent points about ISIS, he does make the all too common mistake of equivocating between the Islamic source texts, i.e., the Quran and Prophetic Hadith literature, and the Islamic legal texts, which are the products of scholarship that can at times grossly misrepresent the objectives presented in the original sources. Moreover, he falls for what he accuses the majority of Muslims of: selective reading of the tradition. This has caused a great deal of confusion for many who try to put ISIS within a framework that places the group in a familiar category. Furthermore, Wood’s article and others like it can aptly be described as Islamophobic.
Wood swiftly dismisses the validity of beliefs the majority of Muslims hold with regards to Islam, disregards the official position most Muslim theologians have expressed on ISIS and violent extremism, and grants Islamic doctrinal legitimacy only to that which is being promoted by spokespersons from ISIS or their fans. The argument posed in the article is that the only group of Muslims who take their Islamic texts seriously is ISIS. Furthermore, the religion as a whole is dismissed as Wood cites the Princeton University scholar Bernard Haykel, who rejected the existence of Islam as a religion that has clear commandments and prohibitions independent of the interpretive activity exercised by Muslims.
In short, the only people who understand what Islam is really about as far as Wood is concerned are ISIS and academics who say what ISIS militants do is authentic Islam. As for the rest of over 1.6 billion Muslims and their theologians, they have what in the words of Haykel calls it, “a cotton-candy view of their own religion.”
What really gives it away that Wood and academics he cites in his article have grossly misunderstood the problem of religious fanaticism in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region is his suggestion at the end of the article: that quietist Salafism is the antidote to ISIS. In fact, if we were to ignore politics for a moment and focus on a religious contribution for radicalization, quietist Salafism, as well as state sanctioned Sufism in MENA are currently the strongest recruitment tools for ISIS.
Contrary to how it may appear, what ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi symbolizes for his militants and fans is not the revival of the caliphate or a return to Prophetic times of welfare and prosperity. Al Baghdadi represents an end to corrupt, Western-backed rulers who usurp obscene amounts of wealth at the cost of impoverishing the population, all the while stripping people of any dignity or freedom to say anything against the source of their current state of affairs. What many writers and researchers living in the West do not comprehend is that Graeme Wood could not even dream of being able to openly interview people like Musa Cerantonio, an ISIS preacher in Australia, or Anjam Choudary, a vocal defender of ISIS in London, had they all been living in MENA.”
po – I read the article from the Atlantic and was thankful that Edward had posted it. It was far from Islamophobic. For the first time I realized what ISIS was really up to and what their attraction was. I also saw how there was probably only one way to defeat them, by having other Muslim states conquer them.
Quit using the talking points from CAIR and do your own reading. You have the time, you spend enough time on here.
I again would ask Professor Turley to make it a rule not to solicit others for their emails or give out one’s personal email on these comments threads. It’s a cruel and dangerous game these people play.
Po, yup, you got it. What they’re doing to Happy is pretty despicable though. It was a couple of weeks ago that ‘he’ gave his email to Happy, to purportedly “help her”, because the bad liberals were “picking on her”. I warned her to be very careful giving out private info to a certain person or group of people. Now it appears it has come back to bite her in the derrière. The things that this “Telling” sockpuppet has said to her is far worse than anything any liberal here has said to her. I made a comment about possibly not allowing commenters to solicit other commenters for emailing, because of the sad fact that there are some pretty cruel unscrupulous people out there who would take advantage of people they considered an easy ‘mark’. I feel bad for Happy that this has happened to her, but I did warn her of the history of this bunch.
Inga – I am sure that you are disappointed that someone did not die and make you God. However, this is not your blog. You do not get to dictate how it is run.
Note that Po never addresses any of the horrors of Islam and only accuses others of being ignorant or illogical. Typical deflection method, used by the weak and the guilty.
Po
Only you, the great and mighty imam, knows anything about Islam. There will never be any any enlightenment on your part, so you are beyond a lost cause. Islam demands the death of infidels. Go ahead, deny it. Islam demands its adherents wage a holy war against infidels. Go ahead, deny it.
Now Po, make some unwarranted accusations and deflect to something else, which appears to be your m.o. on this site. Enlighten us on the religion of peace, which has become the scourge of the world through its spread of violence and mayhem. Try to deflect by naming some obscure woman, in Bangladesh, who was named to some government post. Wouldn’t we all aspire to live our lives, as a woman, in an Islamic society. . .ahhh. . .one can only dream. What with the stonings, beheadings, marriages to partners not of our choosing, floggings, and honor killings . .and that’s just before lunch. . .right. . .now tell me, oh great imam, what part was incorrect?
Something about tellihg sounds familiar… the ignorance as revealed through the talking points…the intellectual laziness as evidenced through the inability to do ABC…the arrogance of the ignorant…the satisfaction and smugness of hubris…the rudeness… a cross between Nick, Trooper and Pogo…and a little Paul thrown in.
po – since you have allied with Inga you have gotten better at ad homenim attacks and worse at actually discussing an issue. The last semi-legitimate thing I got from you was a cut and paste without the link to the source.
happy
Don’t worry. One of these days, the voices will stop. Your illiterate and illogical rants have become legendary. Can’t wait until you start to ramble about Hip Hop music, Frank Sinatra and the Iran Contra affair, all in one comment. Golly, that’s when you are at your best. Time to adjust tour tinfoil hat. Long live the Rev. John Hagee; he could probably counsel you on that Holy Spirit that you believe flows through you. He would probably suggest that you adjust the meds a bit.
tellingitlikeitis
happy
Don’t worry. One of these days, the voices will stop. Your illiterate and illogical rants have become legendary. Can’t wait until you start to ramble about Hip Hop music, Frank Sinatra and the Iran Contra affair, all in one comment. Golly, that’s when you are at your best. Time to adjust tour tinfoil hat. Long live the Rev. John Hagee; he could probably counsel you on that Holy Spirit that you believe flows through you. He would probably suggest that you adjust the meds a bit.
Is this the best you can do since you didn’t get the last word last night? Just be ugly? lol I see you aren’t laughing anymore.
Inga – this is definitely no one I talk to on line in e mails but thanks for your concern. This is someone who likes to get the last word all the time and dominate the conversation and throw bombs around and wants to control human behavior in this way.
I hope my singing and musing and voices never stop as you can never understand what is going on in my head. A disorderly hateful mind could not understand the music of the spheres being gifted by the Holy Spirit.
The Rev. Hagee is a Pig. He wants to lead in his version of his Eschatology which is something that was not even invented until the Anabaptist’s and Seventh Day Adventists and Pentecostals came on the Scene.
Roman Catholics and main stream Protestants only believe that Christ shall return and we should be ready.
Hagee rants about Blood moons and signs and all kinds of pictographic metaphors that John of Patmos used when writing to his 7 churches in his Apocalyptic styple to warn them outer influences that would influence the Church and he also thought like many did then, that Jesus was coming back right away.
Many arrogant egocentric people think that they have the power to call God Almighty right on down to do their will.
The Holy Spirit is a comforter and is about love and teaching people to get along with each other. Jesus Christ took all kinds of abuse from people to show people how to take up their cross and follow him and help others.
The cult leader, Obama, sold po and his enablers down the river. He said what many here say constantly. Time for the reportedly “good” Muslims to stand up to the jihadists. WWPD[What Would Po Do?].
Paul, woke up from your nap?
What about Janisaries? Were you making a point? Or the meds levels were low? 🙂
po – as a representative of CAIR I would like you to answer for the Janiseries, which put the lie to your blather about slavery and Islam.
Telling…
You claim to know much, but as of now you’ve done a good job showing very little of that famed knowledge.
Since you won’t ask, then tell us. Give us real insight, not the drivel gleaned from every 2 bit islamophobic website.
Darren Smith
Po,
Is there an equivalent in the Koran to the Apocrypha of the Bible? If so is it this Apocrypha that is being used to justify to unsavory actions by the extremists or those who instigate what is considered by the mainstream to be outside true Islamic teachings?
Great question, Darren.
There is no such equivalent in the Quran.
Part of the value, and the challenge of Islam, is that every bit of it is said to be the word of God as revealed to Prophet Muhamad AS by angel Gabriel. His companions memorized it as it was recited, and some scribes wrote it down. So the Arabs (known for their eloquence, verbal dexterity and memory) were the proof of the book, that is to say so many muslims know the whole of the quran by heart, every sentence, every ayat, every word and letter, that if all the written qurans were destroyed at once, it could have been reconstituted an hour later.
So anything that isn’t in the quran is not part of the quran, although some muslims have taken scholarly interpretations of the quran to hold almost as much weight as the book itself. I know of many Muslims who live their islam according to one interpretation or another, yet have never read the book, as exemplified in that article that Prairie Rose linked to.
When God says in it, let’s there be no compulsion in religion, that is sufficient for most muslims. Some scholars however would say …but. but…hold on, how about when Khalid slaughtered those people who did not convert (which is what ISIS has been using), conveniently leaving aside that when the Porphet heard about it, he raised his hands to the sky and said brokenheartedly: O Allah, be my witness that I had nothing to do with this, nothing.
There are some basic things about the Quran that used to be stressed upon when the system of learning was still traditional and relied on a teacher and guide. One of which is do no harm.
Another is that everything is relative and conditional, which means that although God allowed one to fight back, there were a great many conditions that regulated the fighting back.
So before one acted, especially in violence, one had to know whether this sura dealing with fighting was revealed in Mecca or Medina (in one no fighting allowed, in the other allowed…)
One also had to know whom was one allowed to fight (Pagan arab, other muslims, jews, christians, romans…) and why.
Because however not every circumstance is spelled out in the quran, and God Himself requires people use their reason (that urging courses the quran), scholars of all eras have broken down the quran and the sunnah to derive opinions, most of which are very conservative in their allowance for violence, and some that are very liberal. The common trait to all extremist islamic groups, is that they all are informed by those fringe opinions that, so conveniently, support their political cause.
Po,
Thank you for the extended reply. So from what I have read in your words it seems, to me at least, that one of the causes of these problems facing us is that it is in the interpretation as used by others for unsavory ends–that is there is no cushion so to say where a most literal interpretation or selective interpretation can be used by some to convince others who are not fully versed in the nuances that, essentially, they are commanded to act a certain way.
I would think a more comprehensive education of what is involved would probably help everyone.
So, we have American Muslims with this perspective:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/31/american-muslims-dont-want-shariah_n_1245303.html
And, according to Pew research, Muslims in a variety of countries (mostly countries that have a high Muslim population) have the view that Sharia is the revealed word of God and that it should be the law of the land: http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/
Happy,
LOL, it could be another you know who’s sockpuppet. The guy who gave you his email address, I warned you, didn’t I?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sTGtHuryEQk/TRg_A6H2yEI/AAAAAAAABEg/skwXTKfSXf8/s1600/IMG_7944.JPG
Did someone say pie? Really, you are disturbed. I guess your government issued meds have run out prematurely. Please, save your psychotic rants for Po and Inga. They will enjoy it. This must be free computer Thursday at the asylum. Lol!
No, somebody said your inbred hole. And you are responding. Yes, you using Hagee as a sterling example of upright Christian Fundamentalism. (God I wonder who this could be) lol