“You may be a Redneck if….” is the way
some jokes start. They have made one American comedian very famous. People are
tickled by his gentle ribbing of what is an obvious stereotype. Mr. Foxworthy has been falsely called the
author of a new series: “You may be a Muslim if….” It’s a rerun of the 2007 jokes: “You might be
part of the Taliban if…” One of the new
quips says: “You may be a Muslim if you have nothing against women and think
every man should own at least four.”
Polygamy is only representative of about
3% of Muslim families, but it’s part of how Radical Islam has given many in the
West a slanted view of Mohammed’s teachings. Fanatics fasten onto Sura 4 vs 3:
“if you fear that you might not act equitably towards orphans, then marry from
among [other] women such as are lawful to you - [even] two, or three, or four:
but if you fear that you might not be able to treat them with equal fairness,
then [only] one - or [from among] those whom you rightfully possess.”
The last word should give you pause:
“possess.” Come with me now to a meeting of sad hearts in a hotel in Abuja,
Nigeria. Twelve of them were the parents of girls kidnapped three months ago by
militant Islamic group: Boko Haram. They were taken to provide wives, some say,
to prevent Kalalah. That’s a term in Islamic inheritance referring to someone
with an estate but no direct descendants.
A Pakistani man rose to speak at the
hotel, but after stammering a few words he broke down and sobbed. Tears flooded
throughout the room! The 90 day ordeal still holds no prospect of the kids’
safe return. The speaker, Ziauddin Yousafzai would be a name unknown to us,
were it not for the bravery of his, now just 17 year old, daughter Malala. She
came with him to that hotel meeting to express solidarity with the kidnapped
girls.
"I am going to stand up for
them," she said, adding that she thought of them as her sisters. Do you
remember why Malala is now so world-renowned that The U.N. has proclaimed July,
14, 2014 in her honor? When that
happened last year, she opened her acceptance speech with: “First of all, thank
you to God for whom we all are equal and thank you to every person who has
prayed for my fast recovery and a new life.” Recovery from what?
It started when, in a year, Militants,
seeking to impose Sharia law, destroyed 150 Pakistani schools. They want no
education for girls! Malala, then 15, wrote a diary named "Gul Makai"
for the British Broad Casting website. Later, when peace was restored in her
region, she was on TV channels and her articles and statements were published
by many newspapers. The Taliban ordered her assassination. A gunman boarded her
bus after school one day.
Back to her U.N. speech: “On the 9th of
October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my forehead. They shot my
friends too.” She survived after treatment in England. “They thought the
bullets would silence us. But they failed. The terrorists thought that they
would change our aims and stop our ambitions, but nothing changed in my life
except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage
was born.”
Last week I met a wonderful lady named
Kerry. She spoke at Rotary on behalf of her chapter of P.E.O. Look it up, you’ll be blessed by this
organization. Go Kerry! Go Malala! And “thank you to God for whom we all are (indeed)
equal.” Islam and Christianity part company here. Jesus gave men and women
equal worth.
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