"The Fellowship of the People of the Tradition for Preaching and Holy War"
"Boko Haram" is pretty catchy, but the translation -- above -- of that name is much more revealing about the group and its mission, writes Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the WSJ:
Far from being an aberration among Islamist terror groups, as some observers suggest, Boko Haram in its goals and methods is in fact all too representative.The kidnapping of the schoolgirls throws into bold relief a central part of what the jihadists are about: the oppression of women. Boko Haram sincerely believes that girls are better off enslaved than educated. The terrorists' mission is no different from that of the Taliban assassin who shot and nearly killed 15-year-old Pakistani Malala Yousafzai--as she rode a school bus home in 2012--because she advocated girls' education. As I know from experience, nothing is more anathema to the jihadists than equal and educated women.
How to explain this phenomenon to baffled Westerners, who these days seem more eager to smear the critics of jihadism as "Islamophobes" than to stand up for women's most basic rights? Where are the Muslim college-student organizations denouncing Boko Haram? Where is the outrage during Friday prayers? These girls' lives deserve more than a Twitter hashtag protest.
...I am often told that the average Muslim wholeheartedly rejects the use of violence and terror, does not share the radicals' belief that a degenerate and corrupt Western culture needs to be replaced with an Islamic one, and abhors the denigration of women's most basic rights. Well, it is time for those peace-loving Muslims to do more, much more, to resist those in their midst who engage in this type of proselytizing before they proceed to the phase of holy war.
It is also time for Western liberals to wake up. If they choose to regard Boko Haram as an aberration, they do so at their peril. The kidnapping of these schoolgirls is not an isolated tragedy; their fate reflects a new wave of jihadism that extends far beyond Nigeria and poses a mortal threat to the rights of women and girls. If my pointing this out offends some people more than the odious acts of Boko Haram, then so be it.
" Where are the Muslim college-student organizations denouncing Boko Haram? Where is the outrage during Friday prayers?"
This is the problem I have w/Islam in the old USA. I think that issues like this are a litmus test.
Catholics are not shy about their discontent w/the child abuse issue and do not tolerate it once known. Baptist and other churches are torn apart by changes in how to handle non-traditional lifestyles. All of this is good in the long run (just watch Footloose and you'll get it).
Do this happen in mosques ANYWHERE? In mostly Muslim neighborhoods in England? Are mosques telling Dads - DON'T KILL YOUR DAUGHTERS!?
When the above starts happening ANYWHERE I'll start to believe we can co-exist.
Until then they are to be watched and not trusted just like a big old stray dog. Might be nice but it's dangerous to ignore their capability regardless of how they dress, act, or appear otherwise.
HARSH! Nope! After all, I am only recognizing that they should go by the rules they say they follow (mostly). Ha Ha Ha
Bob in Texas at May 9, 2014 6:48 AM
The problem is that Sharia Law was handed down from Mohammed along with the Koran. So to go against either makes a Muslim an apostate and subject to death, in some of the most gruesome ways.
Essentially it is hypocrisy of the highest order.
Jim P. at May 9, 2014 2:42 PM
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