Friday, November 19, 2004

Mosque: Pray? Read? Or Plot and Rat-a-Tat-Tat???

The government school education being what it is—blind and dedicated to mediocrity–most Americans who really believe they understand the situation regarding extremist terrorism believe that "Mosques" are moral equivalent to "Churches" or "Cathedrals" or "Chapels" or "Synagogues" or "Temples".

Well, they are not!

This subject came to mind when the ignorant "journalists", who have probably never seen the inside of ANY kind of House of Worship got all excited and critical about the Coalition forces (including Iraqi troops), "storming" a Sunni Islamic mosque in Baghdad.

Well, they DID storm the mosque, after the pro-forma obligatory prayers on Friday.

They did so after being asked by the Iraqi Government to do so.

They found enough armament and ammunition to overthrow Castro. They had to actually KILL some people using the armament against them.

I have been in several mosques, on travels and even in Texas and Florida. They do some praying there, but that is not the sole raison d'etre of the mosque.

Let me quote from the Encarta encyclopedia:

In religion-dominated Islamic societies, mosques serve social and political needs as well as religious ones. The mosque became a forum for many public functions, serving as a law court, school, assembly hall, and even as a parade ground. Adjoining chambers often house libraries, hospitals, or treasuries.
As Islam spread outside Arabia, mosque design gradually incorporated elements adapted from the architecture of conquered territories. Basilica-type mosques, such as the Great Mosque in Damascus (8th century), were based on Early Christian church design, which in turn was derived from pagan basilicas


You are welcome —as Ring Lardner used to quote Alibi Ike: "You could look it up!!!"

The Britannica goes into even more detail:


Beginning with Muhammad's own house, mosques came to be used for many public functions--military, political, social, and educational. Schools and libraries were often attached to medieval mosques (e.g., al-Azhar mosque in Cairo). The mosque also functioned as a court of justice until the introduction of secular law into many Islamic countries in modern times.

So, when the girliemen in the media wail about the nasty old Marines invading the "sanctified solitude" of a mosque be aware that they’re not like John and Charley Wesley’s Methodist Churches, nor are they akin to Maimonides’ Temple Synagogue, not even remotely in the mould of Saint Peter’s Basilica or a Buddhist Shrine.

They are often schools for slaughter and armories of evil, sad to say...Even in New Jersey, where the one-eyed mullah architect of the FIRST World Trade Center bomb attack, Yussef kept his murderous explosives.