The primary goal of this priest is to save souls, naturally, but in taking on the absurdities of Islam -- many of which degrade women -- he manages to offer hope to those subjugated by it's widely-observed tenets. Speaking both Arabic and classical Arabic, Father Zakaria Botros has a wide audience in the Middle East and can use the Koran and writings of Koranic scholars to make his points, such as the following.
Botros spent three years bringing to broad public attention a scandalous — and authentic — hadith stating that women should “breastfeed” strange men with whom they must spend any amount of time. A leading hadith scholar, Abd al-Muhdi, was confronted with this issue on the live talk show of popular Arabic host Hala Sirhan. Opting to be truthful, al-Muhdi confirmed that going through the motions of breastfeeding adult males is, according to sharia, a legitimate way of making married women “forbidden” to the men with whom they are forced into contact — the logic being that, by being “breastfed,” the men become like “sons” to the women and therefore can no longer have sexual designs on them.
To make matters worse, Ezzat Atiyya, head of the Hadith department at al-Azhar University — Sunni Islam’s most authoritative institution — went so far as to issue a fatwa legitimatizing “Rida’ al-Kibir” (sharia’s term for “breastfeeding the adult”), which prompted such outrage in the Islamic world that it was subsequently recanted.
Er, they cannot be serious. Who makes this stuff up? When God limits conjugal relations to those validly married, that should be the end of it. What sort of religious tries to add emphasis to the commandments by forcing women to expose themselves to this indignity. What part of "no" don't they understand? Unless perverted minds are thinking up the rules. But then we find that conjugal relations aren't limited to marriage under Islam after all:
The most dramatic example of this occurred on another famous show on the international station, Iqra. The host, Basma — a conservative Muslim woman in full hijab — asked two prominent ulema, including Sheikh Gamal Qutb, one-time grand mufti of al-Azhar University, to explain the legality of the Koranic verse (4:24) that permits men to freely copulate with captive women. She repeatedly asked: “According to sharia, is slave-sex still applicable?” The two ulema would give no clear answer — dissembling here, going off on tangents there. Basma remained adamant: Muslim youth were confused, and needed a response, since “there is a certain channel and a certain man who has discussed this issue over twenty times and has received no response from you.”
The flustered Sheikh Qutb roared, “low-life people like that must be totally ignored!” and stormed off the set. He later returned, but refused to admit that Islam indeed permits sex-slaves, spending his time attacking Botros instead. When Basma said “Ninety percent of Muslims, including myself, do not understand the issue of concubinage in Islam and are having a hard time swallowing it,” the sheikh responded, “You don’t need to understand.”
No, my dear Sheikh, we understand all too well. And we salute our brother and protector, Father Botros, who knows that his faith is not only true, but the true emancipator of women. For if an angel came from heaven with another Gospel, let him be anathema. And if that "angel" claimed that women were chattel and sex toys, it's all the more evident that he is from the Dark Lord himself.
+JMJ+
Good grief! That breastfeeding bit is just too much!
I'm now feeling about the Koran what I felt about the Da Vinci Code: that I'll have to read it myself one of these days, just so I can expose it for the absolute fraud it is!
Posted by: Enbrethiliel | Sunday, 30 March 2008 at 12:43 PM