Rudyard Kipling"
“When 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 soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It 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."
An Egyptian Woman's Brutal Killing Renews Hijab Debate
Friday, July 29, 2022
Naira Ashraf
Egyptian Islamists focused more on Naira Ashraf's choice not to wear a hijab than on her murder by a man she rejected.
Egyptians were shocked
last month by the brutal stabbing murder of a college student, Naira
Ashraf, in front of Mansoura University's gates. The killer was a spurned suitor who has been sentenced to death.
In
response, some Islamist clerics made little comment about the nature of
the attack, or why a man would feel that murder is an acceptable
reaction to rejection. Instead, they blamed the victim, arguing that
Ashraf was killed because she didn't wear a hijab. Islamists consider
the hijab to be a requirement for Muslim woman.
While Islamists were forced from power in 2013, the response to
Ashraf's murder shows that their values still can dominate a significant
portion of Egyptian culture. But there are signs that may be starting
to change.
"The hijab [...] aims to preserve [women's] feminine nature," read a 2017 statement from Egypt's Al Azhar, the world's most influential center on Sunni Islam. Al Azhar's former Islamic Studies dean Mabrouk Atteya reiterated that view in the wake of Ashraf's murder. He called on women to wear heavy clothes and cover themselves to avoid getting killed or raped.
"For
a girl that goes out of her house, she must be veiled and dressed
loosely, your life is precious to you, if you want to go out wear pants
and do not show your hair, fear for your life," said Atteya.
