How to Behead

This is a poem about beheading a human being is featured on IslamOnline.net – a pro-Islamic website:

How to Behead

Hold him
Tie the arms behind his back
And bandage his legs together
Just by the ankles
Blindfold the punk
So that he won’t hesitate as much
For on seeing the sharp pointy knife
He’ll begin to shake
And continuously scream like an [idiot]
And jiggle like a jelly
Trust me–this will sure get you angry
It’s better to have at least two or three brothers by your side
Who can hold the fool
Because as soon as the warm sharp knife
Touches his naked flesh
He’ll come to know what’ll happen
It’s not as messy or as hard as some may think,
It’s all about the flow of the wrist.
No doubt that the punk will twitch and scream
But ignore the donkey’s ass
And continue to slice back and forth
You’ll feel the knife hit the wind and food pipe
But don’t stop
Continue with all your might.
About now you should feel the knife vibrate,
You can feel the warm heat being given off,
But this is due to the friction being caused.

Reading the poem above, what do you feel? Do you feel instigated to commit an act of terror, or do you feel disgusted?

Islam Online: How to Behead

Wonderful. It was written by Samina Malik – a muslim girl living in Britain who was recently “convicted” under the 2000 Terrorism Act. (I put “convicted” in quotes because she has a suspended sentence that amounts to no punishment.) She also stated that her interests included “helping the mujaheddin in any way which I can”, enjoyed watching beheading videos and videos “[showing] massacres of the kaffirs”, and had accumulated a library of materials useful for committing terrorism.

The Islam Online article doesn’t mention any of this (not even the name of the author) – they just put up the poem and asked for discussion.

On a similar note, Pharyngula has some commentary on a recent article in the Yemen Times entitled “There must be violence against women”. The article contains wonderful excerpts such as:

In this piece, I want to shed light on those instances where violence against women is a must.
…
Personally, I don’t think fathers or brothers would undertake such [violent] behavior unless there was a reason for it.

Fathers are responsible for their daughters’ behavior, but human rights organizations deny this too. Brothers also should take action regarding their sisters’ behavior, especially if their parents are too old or dead. If a daughter or sister makes a mistake – especially a moral one – that negatively affects the entire family and its reputation, what’s the solution by such organizations?

According to them, women should complain to the courts about any type of violence against them. Likewise, should fathers and brothers complain to police if their daughters or sisters violate moral, Islamic or social norms?

Fathers should handle their daughters via any means that suits their mistake; thus, is it better to use violence to a certain limit or complain to the police? Shall such women then complain to the police against their fathers or brothers? It’s really amazing to hear this.
…
Dear readers – especially women – don’t think that I hate or am against women; rather, I simply mean to preserve the morals and principles with which Islam has honored us.

I hope my message is clear, since it’s really quite relevant to the future of our societies, which must be protected from any kind of cultural invasion.

In essence, he condones violence against women to promote cultural and Islamic norms. There are plenty of cases where women have been killed by their brothers and fathers because they dressed wrong or started living “Western” lifestyles.

The logic in the piece reminded me of the conversation I had with a Muslim a few months ago – where he defended the practice of killing Muslim apostates. (He argued that it was an insult to the Islamic teachings and Islamic community – and the death was an appropriate punishment.) Yemen is also the country where a majority of Muslim clerics agreed with the idea that death is the proper punishment for Muslim apostates:

To kill or not to kill those who leave Islam for another faith? A survey carried out in Yemen revealed that even imams do not all share the same views on the matter, even if the majority is for the death penalty.
Link: Even Muslims debate the justice of executing apostates

But, Islam is a peaceful, tolerant religion – they’re tolerant of men beating their wives and daughters, tolerant of beheading the infidels, and tolerant of killing people who leave their religion.

Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye know not. – Sura 2:216