Monday, December 11, 2006
  Killing Children for Political Ends
The latest news out of Palestine is the drive-by shooting of three children, ages 3, 6 and 9. Their father was a supporter of Fatah, and speculation is that his children were killed because rivals in the Hamas group could not get to him. Hamas, however, has denied any involvement in the murders, and denounced the violence.

Whether Hamas was reponsible, or it was an inside job by Fatah made to look like Hamas did it so as to gain political ground in their rivalry with Hamas, or a strike carried out by Israeli black-ops agents in order to pit Palestinians against themselves (all theories curfently flying around the internet), it was a despicable act.

Children must never become pawns in political maneuvering. Murder in the name of politics is disgusting in and of itself; the murder of innocent children is twice as disgusting.

Many pundits are blaming Islam for this vicious crime. This is a huge mistake -- Islam condemns the murder of innocents, including children, at all times. Prophet Muhammad specifically forbade killing children during times of war. If it is forbidden to kill children during a battle, how much more so is it when no conflict is taking place?

Muslims need to be clear -- this hideous crime has no place in Islamic theology. We need to say this loudly and clearly -- not only to the pundits and the public, to make clear what Islamic positions are, but also to any co-religionist we might hear making excuses for such barbarism.
 
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Progressive Muslim, feminist, mom, writer, mystic, lover of the universe and Doug Schmidt, cellist, theologian and imam.


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Cane River
An interesting exploration of the gradual whiting of a family through slavery to modern days.

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English Language Islamic Fiction. We need more of it. Lots more.
Pay a Teacher's Salary in Afghanistan. The Hunger site actually has a lot of worthwhile programs. You can find them all here .
Muslims for Progressive Values. My organization. We can always use donations, of time or money!
Human Rights Campaign for the glbt community
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
The ACLU I'm a card carrying member. Hope you'll become one too.
MoveOn.org. The organization that has done the most, as far as I can tell, to pull the countries progressive side together.
Network of Spiritual Progressives. Working to reclaim religion and morality for the religious left.

Blogs Worth Reading

Wanda Campbell also known as Nochipa A very gifted poet and a gentle, compassionate soul. Nochipa and I are on the same page on sooooo many things
Writeous Sister Aminah Hernandez, she's got some excellent latino pieces and always has good writing info on her blog.
Sister Scorpion aka Leila Montour - Leila is a fount of energy, quirky humor, and bad attitude. She's also a talented poet.
Muhajabah Very interesting commentary here. I don't always agree with her, but her pieces are always thought-provoking.
Georgie Dowdell Georgie is a great writer and a good friend.
Louise Marley Another great writer. I think Louise is one of the best sf writers exploring faith themes.
Ink in My Coffee Devon Ellington (who has numerous aliases) who is also the editor of Circadian Poems. A truly inspiring woman with a seemingly endless supply of energy.
Ethnically Incorrect With a name like that, isn't a given I'm going to enjoy this writer?
Freedom from the Mundane Colin Galbraith, another excellent writer, from Scotland.
The Scruffy Dog Review This is a new e-zine with an ecclectic mix of fiction, poetry, and non-fic, some really enjoyable pieces here.
Ramblings of a Suburban Soccer Mom Lara, another gentle soul, very thoughtful.
Circadian Poems A journal of poetry, new stuff up all the time.
Ye Olde Inkwell Michelle writes romance and is one of my writing buddies.
Muhammad Michael Knight The original punk Muslim writer. Like him or love him, Mike is always coming up with the unexpected.

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