There is a truly horrific story out of Pakistan that reveals the sheer insanity that can be instilled in an entire community through religious orthodoxy. News reports indicate that Mohammad Anwar, 15, cut off his own hand after being told that he had committed blasphemy by failing to pray enough. His act was reportedly celebrated by the community as a wonderful testament to his Islamic faith.
This horror began, according to a local police chief, when an imam told a gathering at a village mosque that those who love Mohammad always say their prayers, then asked who among the crowd had stopped praying. Anwar apparently raised his hand by mistake after mishearing the question. The crowd then turned on him and denounced him of blasphemy. Anwar went home and cut off the offending hand to prove that he is a faithful Muslim. He then brought his hand to the imam on a plate to the praise of his parents and the community.
Various news reports have published this story, which was supposedly based on the account of the local police. Even with the past accounts of grotesque abuses under Sharia law, these stories continue to mystify me and I am left hoping that the story is apocryphal.
The imam bore the greatest responsibility in singling out the boy and triggering the public condemnations as a blasphemer. His name is Shabbir Ahmed and he has been reportedly arrested after the story.
Three generations of idiots are enough. He needs to cut something else off.
“Religion is the opiate of the ignorant.”
How unique jomo! I’ve seen many ignorant people use the topic of religion as their motivation for intolerance. It is ironic that your natural right to speak your intolerance is protected by our existing rule of law, which was inspired by a generation of people very religious in their beliefs.
And I’d add to that those against religion have no realization that it is thanks to religion that they are here now to speak their mind against it.Thou shall not…has been the law that guided billions of people throughout history and insured people worked harder at being fair to others.
If the billions of faithful people worldwide had no longing to please God and no fear to offend Him, you’d realize fully just how badly things can go for humanity.
Religion is the opiate of the ignorant
Well that’s one test of extremism. Anyone who praises the amputation of a child’s healthy limb is an extremist, including his parents. Clearly, since they were reported as pleased they are also responsible for brainwashing him.
It’s possible he did it to his own hand, quickly, with an axe. He or someone else applied a tourniquet, passed out, and then struggled back to the mosque to show what a good little disciple he was. Or his parents may have done it to him. It needs to be investigated.
Poor kid. It’s so hard to overcome brainwashing from birth. From the link in Professor Turley’s article, on the one hand they arrested the imam, but on the other, mob justice for blasphemy accusations are skyrocketing, and being used to enact revenge. That is also a litmus test for extremism. It’s not the definition of blasphemy that is the issue; it’s the actions taken against those who are accused of blasphemy that makes it extremist and violent. Having been raised a Catholic, I have been told I was going to hell by many Protestants, but no one physically attacked me for it.
Moral equivalence with guns? Why not with kicking puppies? Domestic abuse? Bullying? Transignorance? Why stop with the US is just as bad meme with guns?
Ataturk did the right thing, but unfortunately the imams are lying about him, saying that he was good Muslim” This is how the current dictator is trying to paint him.
Unfortunately the opportunity here will be missed. The Imam will be scolded and perhaps made to publicly apologize. The sickness will continue to fester and spread. If the government had half a brain they would lock him up for life along with the parents who obviously did the chopping. Then when anyone protests, off they go to the slammer. There will be riots and a few bombings but you have to surface and expose the cancer before you can cut it out.
Perhaps it’s time for a 1950’s Chinese Communist style re-education program, starting in Pakistan. Banning religion can be a good thing in certain situations. Ataturk had the right idea.
Fable 7:31
Ah islam, what a great religion
Matthew 5:30
Olly, And he is a very specially stupid.
No need to worry. The Flying Spaghetti Monster can easily grow new appendages for His loyal servants. Just have faith. And pray. Because it works.
Regardless of how this boy’s hand was removed, it is a step in the right direction to arrest this Imam.
It takes a special kind of stupid to equate this story to guns in the United States.
You as a presumably thinking, sentient human being aren’t vehemently Islamophobic? Why on earth not? What’s wrong with you?
Fear of Islam is rational and reasonable. It seems to drive people mad.
The scene is tragic as presented, but is it true? The boy cut off his hand (assume at the wrist), stopped his own bleeding, put the meat on a platter, walked back to the gathering and played another version of Jack Horner? He cut through ligaments, tendons, primary sensory nerves, and arteries as he separated bones and skin. Now I recently had the trapisium (near the base of the thumb) removed from my wrist. The radial nerve was nicked…my God it hurt after the anesthesia wore off.
Now also would like Jonathan to define “religious orthodoxy” and apply it to this incident.
Fanaticism? Sure.
Orthodoxy? Not so much.
This is insane and the people who support it are insane.
There are many who believe the human mind is a stable logical reasoning organ that can think its own way out of any situation.
It is shaped and molded by society and can easily be locked into a mind- set and the key thrown away.
The mind-set or zombie mode is not confined to race , intelligence, training , or age, we all have the potential to become zombies.
Julian Jaynes called it the bicameral mind. It is an obedient mind without self- awareness or judgement.
If indeed this is true…I don’t know anymore…it is insane!
Then again, this is Pakistan, feverishly fervored religious ignorance. The ironic thing is that the imam himself is a hater of the Prophet Muhamad, who would never support the blasphemy laws that exist there and cost the lives of many.
At least the right thing was done : “Police filed anti-terrorism charges against Ahmed and arrested him on Saturday, police chief Ali said.
“Such illiterate imams of mosques should not be allowed to deliver speeches. His arrest is under the National Action Plan that hate speeches inciting violence are no longer allowed in this country,” Ali said.
Speaking of condemning a culture because some of its members destroy their own lives, the US has as many suicides annually as it has murders, a very high number of both compared to other countries. Islamic cultures encourage abhorrent behaviors, but so does the US gun culture.
No cure for those who are East of Corfu or Beyond The Pale.