Escalating Violence Against Religious Minorities In Indonesia

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), violence against religious minorities in so-called 'moderate' Indonesia is escalating, and it's not just focused on Christians. Shia and Ahmadiyah Muslims are equally targeted by an increasingly militant cadre of  Sunni Muslim thugs.

HRW blames an impotent government- headed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono- that does nothing to protect its religious minority population. This inaction only serves to embolden the militants.

Brad Adams, the Asia director of HRW, said:

“The Indonesian government’s failure to take decisive action to protect religious minorities from threats and violence is undermining its claims to being a rights-respecting democracy." “National leadership is essential. Yudhoyono needs to insist that national laws be enforced, announce that every violent attack will be prosecuted, and map out a comprehensive strategy to combat rising religious intolerance.”

Apparently the victims are often blamed, and those responsible for the violence, more often than not, get off scott-free. The police rarely defend the victims, and in some cases join in.  Even members of the government have been complicit in inciting violence against religious minorities, with no censure from Yudhoyono.

Yudhoyono has failed to use powers at his disposal to defend religious minority communities and has not effectively disciplined cabinet members when they have encouraged abuses, Human Rights Watch said. Ali [the minister of religion, Suryadharma Ali] made discriminatory remarks about the Ahmadiyah and Shia in a March 2011 speech at a political convention, claiming: “We have to ban the Ahmadiyah. It is obvious that Ahmadiyah is against Islam.”In September 2012, he proposed that Shia convert to Sunni Islam. Ali was not sanctioned for either comment.

“The government has shown a deadly indifference to the growing plight of Indonesia’s religious minorities, who reasonably expect their government’s protection,” Adams said.

Read the rest of HRW's article on the rising persecution and violence against religious minorities.

"Aisha's In Hell" Sing Shiite Muslims in London Celebrating Her Death

Who knew that Shiites hated Mohammed's child bride Aisha. I certainly didn't until I saw the video below: Shiites in London happily celebrating her death and banishment to hell.

This site explains the reasons why she is dissed by Shia Muslims, including the fact that she was a jealous, argumentative wife who was not the favored one, as Sunni adherents believe.  Jealous? Ya think maybe it was because she was so young when old Mohammed married her?

The Shiites also believe she is a murderer, explained here.

Kuwaiti Cleric Al-Habib Claims Homosexuality Caused By Worm

Kuwaiti Yasser Al-Habib, a cleric based out of London (out of necessity, not by choice), has some interesting notions about homosexuals and whores, how they're created and how Shiites are protected from the "disease". It has to do with the devil's finger and worms.

Unbelievable, but true.

His anti-Sunni rhetoric was what made him flee Kuwait.



H/T: HalalPorkShop

Oliver Stone's Son Sean Converts To Shia Islam While In Iran

Sean/Ali Stone fondling his pendant of Zulfiqar
(the sword of Imam Ali)

Oliver Stone's 27-year-old son Sean, who also happens to be a filmmaker, has been in Iran since early February attending the 30th Fajr International  Film Festival. Back in September of last year he apparently travelled to Tehran to inquire about filming a documentary there. I guess he was so inspired by the Shia Muslim way of life he walked into the office of Ayatollah Mohammad Nasseri Dowlatabadi  and converted to Islam.

All it takes to convert is to recite the Shahada:

“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger.” To convert to Islam, one simply has to recite this while believing it in one’s heart.

No-one knows why he chose to become a Shia Muslim, but maybe he just wanted his family to represent the three major world religions since papa Oliver is Jewish and his mum is Christian.

He claims it's no big deal:

"The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with. It means I have accepted Mohammad and other prophets," he said in a brief telephone call from the central Iranian city of Isfahan, where he underwent the ceremony.

Huh?

I wonder if his parents are proud of their son who now wants to be known as Ali.

Source: Teheran Times, France 24

The Reason Iran Is So Intransigent- The Twelfth Imam

Former CIA agent Charles Faddis, who worked the Near East and South Asia region for 20 years, explains why dealing with Iran in a rational manner is futile. It's all about the Mahdi (the 12th Imam aka the Hidden Imam).

In a commentary in the Tampa Tribune, he writes:

Several years ago, prior to my retirement from the CIA, I was meeting with a senior Iranian asset in the Middle East. I had finished debriefing him on the intelligence he had to provide, and we had launched into a more expansive conversation about the overall direction of American policy toward Iran. I was trying to explain the rationale behind our sanctions regime and the thought process that had led us to conclude that we could persuade the Islamic Republic of Iran to modify its behavior.

The asset interrupted me. "You really don't have any idea who you are dealing with, do you?" he asked. I told him I was not sure I understood what he meant.

The source elaborated. We were under the illusion we were dealing with rational actors. We were not. We were under the illusion we were playing a game, which would stretch out over many years. Our adversaries in Iran shared no such belief. They expected this conflict to reach its climax in the very near future.

They also knew, to a moral certainty, that they would win.

Iran is an overwhelmingly Islamic nation, and almost all Iranians belong to the Twelver sect of the Shia branch of Islam. This sect awaits the return of the 12th Imam, or Mahdi, a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammed anointed by Allah himself. According to the Twelvers, the Mahdi has been in hiding in caves since the 9th century.

The Mahdi has been hidden for 1,200 years now, but he will return just before the Day of Judgment. According to the Hadith, his return will be preceded by three years of chaos, violence and cataclysmic events. He will rule over the world for a period of seven years, eliminate all tyranny and oppression, and usher in an era of peace. He is, in many ways, the Muslim equivalent of the Jewish Messiah or the Second Coming of Christ. He is, however, the only one of these apocalyptic figures who expressly intends violent world conquest.

Some Twelvers, including the current president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameinei, believe that they are to prepare the way for the return of the Mahdi. In order to do so, they are to bring on the state of chaos and destruction, which will precede the Madhi's return. The worse things get; the faster they win.

The source's point was not simply to remind me of the tenets of the Twelver sect, with which I was already familiar. It was to stress the literal sense in which these tenets were understood by Ahmadinejad, Khameinei and their supporters. These were not, the source stressed, metaphors or parables. Ahmadinejad did not understand the story of the Mahdi to be a reference to some end state in which the world would live in peace and harmony. He understood it in a completely literal, simplistic way. He accepted it word for word as the absolute truth.

Read the rest here.

It's fascinating, and reaffirms my belief that the reason Iran is being so intransigent about everything is that they are bucking for a major confrontation that will herald the 12th Imam.