Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Muslim hardliners refusing medical help may expose non-Muslims to COVID-19 for their beliefs By Radhika Singh
Thursday, March 19, 2020
Jihad Watch : The world is reeling under the threat of coronavirus, which has become a pandemic. Europe and the Middle East having suffered enormous loss of life, and others struggling to curtail its impact on their civilians. Borders have greyed out, continents have merged, and nations have put their heads together to find a cure to battle coronavirus. And then there are Islamists, who are galloping in an entirely different parallel. Although the epicenter of Islam, Saudi Arabia has responsibly suspended travel to many holy sites, to curb the spread of this epidemic, Muslim fundamentalists donāt cease to surprise us.
The Indian government has repeatedly urged citizens to stay indoors and avoid crowds and gatherings. But a gentleman, while interacting with a media personnel, proclaims his defiance and goes on to boast that majority of the Muslims in the country pay no heed to the precautionary advice broadcast by the government and health care officials.
Defying recommendations of offering namaz (Islamic prayer) within the safety of four walls, he insists on performing his routine prayers outside, along with other Muslims. He refutes the recommendations by stating that it is for the women to stay at home and offer her prayers; men canāt be caged in the house.
Another gentleman firmly believes that getting infected by COVID-19, or not, is all in the hands of Allah. If he wishes, he will protect his followers. Indifferent to using sanitizers and hand wash, he persists wriggling his hands while reciting a religious sermon.
Four Muslim youths in India have returned from Dubai and are now giving a hard time to the administration. The young men, now in Bhatkal, a remote town in the state of Karnataka in South India, have been harassing the stateās health care machinery by maintaining their āreligiousā stance and asserting that these tests are opposed to the ideals of Islam.
Given that the Middle East has reported numerous positive cases and the death count is on a constant rise, it is vital for these men to abide by the medical surveillance set by the government.
The privileged minority of India knows how to twist the arms of the authorities, and it does so by waving that minority card and āour religion does allow usā card at regular intervals.
With COVID-19 demonstrating itself to be a highly contagious viral disease, if the second largest majority refuses to cooperate with the administration, one can only imagine the havoc mankind would face should there be an outbreak in densely populated India.
While we are hopeful that most Indian Muslims will display wisdom and adopt all necessary precautions, even if the slimmest slice of this demographic group concurs with the philosophy presented above, it would contribute immensely to the disaster in the offing.
Muslim fundamentalists in other parts of the world are not sparing the world, either. 44 Muslims perished by consuming bootleg alcohol in Iran following a rumor that circulated widely, misguiding people into believing that ethanol might ward off the fatal virus.
On the other hand, a local imam in the city of Qom, Iran, shared a long list of possible cures of the disease with more than 120,000 of his followers through Telegram. One of these cures included dipping a cotton ball in violet oil and shoving it in the anus at bedtime. Another imam called the virus the wrath of Allah, a punishment of sorts. He was later tested positive for COVID-19.
While these anecdotes may tickle your funny bones, the superstitions spread by some Iranian clerics are outrageous to say the least.
A Shiāite cleric, Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, is resolute against using Israel-made vaccines to combat coronavirus. āIt is forbidden to purchase or sell the vaccine if we know for certain that the profit made by the companies [producing it] will go to the Zionists and Israel unless this is the only medicine [available] and there is no other alternative.ā He shares this with an Iranian daily, Hamdeli.
Even in the face of an unrelenting contagion, the Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, failing to cast off his intense hatred for America and look beyond the binary of āinfidelā and ābelieverā, rejects treatment offered by the US.
āTrump, you have filled the world with wars, occupations and poverty, and now you claim that you are the healer.. But this disease is spreading because of your awful policies,ā exclaims the influential Shia leader.
The Muslim ecosystem demonstrates an extended history of resisting recommended medical procedures, because: āreligionā. āItās against Islamā.
In a country exploding with people, the Indian administration finds itself constantly challenged by the Muslimsā aversion for birth-control, Polio vaccinators have even been battered by Muslim families. In Europe, Muslim parents have desisted vital vaccines for not being āhalalā enough.
The world has overlooked their deviations for the longest time, but what they are doing now doesnāt have a bearing on their lives alone. Having a global presence, they are surrounded by people of all communities, races and cultures who donāt necessarily subscribe to the Islamic school of thought and must not be smothered by orthodoxies of Islamic hardliners who are tied down by premedieval dogmas.
