{"id":7391,"date":"2014-05-15T08:49:25","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T15:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=7391"},"modified":"2014-05-15T09:05:40","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T16:05:40","slug":"nigerian-sex-slaves-disrupt-obama-narrative-on-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/nigerian-sex-slaves-disrupt-obama-narrative-on-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian \u2018Sex-Slaves\u2019 Disrupt Obama Narrative on Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/ RaymondIbrahim.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Islamic law permits the possession of concubines, or sex slaves.\u00a0 This has been demonstrated countless times, including through\u00a0Islamic<\/a>\u00a0clerics<\/a>\u00a0quoting<\/a>\u00a0Islamic scriptures, and through ordinary Muslims,\u00a0past and present<\/a>,\u00a0acting on it<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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Photo via RaymondIbrahim.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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That said, Islamic sanctioned sex-slavery does not perturb the Western world simply because the powers-that-be\u2014specifically academia, media, and government\u2014ignore it, and all other unsavory phenomena associated with Islam, out of existence.<\/p>\n

Interesting, therefore, are the responses from the authorities\u2014comical one might even say\u2014when one of these everyday anecdotes actually does surface to the general public.<\/p>\n


\nEnter the recent abduction of nearly 300,\u00a0mostly Christian<\/a>, teenage schoolgirls in Nigeria at the hands of Boko Haram, yet another Islamic terrorist organization plaguing mankind.\u00a0 As expected, the group justified its actions in Islamic terms, with its leader\u00a0declaring<\/a>\u00a0on video, \u201cI abducted your girls. I will sell them on the market, by Allah\u2026.There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, for those in the know, none of this is surprising.\u00a0 \u00a0In March 2012, Boko Haram warned that it would do just this,\u00a0declaring<\/a>\u00a0that it was preparing to \u201cstrike fear into the Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, of all the human rights abuses I catalog in\u00a0Crucified Again: Exposing Islam\u2019s New War on Christians<\/em><\/a>\u2014and these are depressingly many\u2014Boko Haram\u2019s has resulted in\u00a0more Christians killed than in the rest of the world combined<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The group has bombed or burned hundreds of Christian churches in the last several years, most when packed for service, including on\u00a0Christmas Day<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Easter Day<\/a>, leaving countless worshippers dead or dismembered. In its bid to cleanse northern Nigeria of all Christian presence\u2014a repeatedly stated goal<\/a>\u2014it has threatened to\u00a0poison the food eaten by Christians<\/a>and stormed areas where Christians and Muslims were intermingled,\u00a0singling the Christians out<\/a>before\u00a0slitting their throats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Go to my monthly \u201cMuslim Persecution of Christians<\/a>\u201d series (currently 31 in all), and see the innumerable atrocities that Boko Haram has been responsible for in the last two-and-a-half years\u2014many of which make the recent Nigerian girls\u2019 abduction pale in comparison.<\/p>\n

The real news here is that the so-called mainstream media, which generally downplays or ignores Boko Haram\u2019s terror campaign (see here for example<\/a>), actually reported on this particular atrocity, prompting both Western and Muslim authorities\u2014who are much more accustomed to, and comfortable with, pretending these sorts of things don\u2019t exist\u2014to respond in awkward, hypocritical and, in a word, foolish, ways. Thus,<\/p>\n

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Secretary of State\u00a0John Kerry<\/a>\u00a0said the U.S. had been in touch with Nigeria \u201cfrom day one\u201d of the crisis. But repeated offers of U.S. assistance were ignored until Kerry got on the phone Tuesday with [Nigerian president] Jonathan amid growing international concern and outrage over the fate of the girls in the weeks since their abduction\u2026.\u00a0 \u201cI think now the complications that have arisen have convinced everybody that there needs to be a greater effort,\u201d Kerry said at a State Department news conference. \u201cAnd it will begin immediately. I mean, literally, immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo via RaymondIbrahim.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seconds before Boko Haram decapitate a Christian on video<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cConvinced everybody\u201d?\u00a0 Is Kerry referring to himself?\u00a0 After all, there might not have been any need for \u201cgreater effort,\u201d the need to act \u201cimmediately. I mean, literally, immediately\u201d had Kerry only let the Nigerian president and government do their job one year ago, when they were waging a particularly strong and successful offensive against Boko Haram in the very same region that the schoolgirls were recently kidnapped.<\/p>\n

Back then<\/a>, in May 2013, soon after Nigerian forces killed 30 Boko Haram members, Reuters reported that \u201cU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a strongly worded statement [to the Nigerian president] saying: \u201cWe are \u2026 deeply concerned by credible allegations that Nigerian security forces are committing gross human rights violations, which, in turn, only escalate the violence and fuel extremism\u201d from Boko Haram.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this sheds more light on why \u201crepeated offers of U.S. assistance [regarding the kidnapped girls] were ignored\u201d by Nigeria, \u201cuntil Kerry got on the phone\u201d (whatever that means).<\/p>\n

As for Kerry\u2019s predecessor, Hillary Clinton, who is now bemoaning the lot of the kidnapped girls in Nigeria\u2014saying<\/a>\u00a0it\u2019s \u201cabominable, it\u2019s criminal, it\u2019s an act of terrorism and it really merits the fullest response possible\u201d\u2014when she was Secretary of State, and in a position to help offer \u201cthe fullest response possible\u201d she repeatedly\u00a0refused<\/a>\u00a0to designate Boko Haram as a \u201cforeign terrorist organizations,\u201d despite the countless atrocities it had already committed, despite the fact that it had boasted it would \u201cstrike fear into the Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women,\u201d as it just has, and despite urging from the CIA, FBI, Justice Department, and several congressmen and senators.<\/p>\n

Her logic was once voiced by her husband, former U.S. president Bill Clinton.\u00a0 Back in February 2012, in a speech in Nigeria, Clinton declared that \u201cinequality\u201d and \u201cpoverty\u201d are \u201cwhat\u2019s fueling all this stuff<\/a>\u201d\u2014a reference to Boko Haram\u2019s terror\u2014and warned the government that \u201cIt is almost impossible to cure a problem based on violence with violence\u201d\u2014a precursor to Kerry\u2019s May 2013 condemnation of the Nigerian government\u2019s tough offensive against Boko Haram, which would supposedly \u201conly escalate the violence and fuel extremism.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, just like the Obama administration has been\u00a0a thorn in Egypt\u2019s war with the Muslim Brotherhood<\/a>, so too has it been a thorn in Nigeria\u2019s war with Boko Haram\u2014despite all its current handwringing and \u201coutrage\u201d over this latest\u2014that is,\u00a0known<\/em>\u2014atrocity.<\/p>\n

As for the \u201cIslam\u201d aspect of Boko Haram\u2019s violence and Christian persecution, needless to say the Obama administration rejects it outright.\u00a0 Thus, after the 2012 Easter Day church bombings by Boko Haram that killed dozens of worshippers, U.S. Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson was quick to insist that \u201creligion is not driving extremist violence<\/a>\u201d\u2014or, in the aforementioned words of Bill Clinton, \u201cinequality\u201d and \u201cpoverty\u201d are \u201cwhat\u2019s fueling all this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, because this latest kidnapping anecdote has received sufficient media attention, including in the Arab and Muslim worlds, some Muslim leaders have been forced out of their comfort zone to respond.<\/p>\n

Thus, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayib, the Grand Sheikh of Egypt\u2019s Al Azhar\u2014regularly touted as the Muslim world\u2019s most prestigious institution of Islamic learning\u2014was\u00a0quick to condemn<\/a>\u00a0Boko Haram\u2019s actions of kidnapping and selling \u201cinfidel\u201d women, saying, \u201cthese actions have no connection to the tolerant and noble teachings of Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Egypt\u2019s minister of endowments, Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar al-Gum\u2018a, he too\u00a0released a statement<\/a>\u00a0saying that \u201cthe terrorist deeds of Boko Haram have nothing to do with Islam, especially this latest deed of kidnapping girls.\u00a0 Instead, they are terroristic, criminal actions, and Islam is clean of them.\u201d\u00a0 He then went into White House spokesperson mode, saying that poverty, economics, and the rest were the true motivators for Boko Haram\u2019s savagery.<\/p>\n

One can sympathize with Egypt\u2019s state sheikhs\u2014after all, they are busy fighting their own brand of Islam misunderstanders, the Muslim Brotherhood and their fellow ideologues, who have been abducting\u00a0male Coptic Christians for ransom<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0females for sexual abuse, slavery, and\/or conversion to Islam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Boko Haram members stand if front of \u201cAllahu Akbar\u201d banner<\/strong> Photo via RaymondIbrahim.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Happily for these moderate clerics, few are openly challenging their assertions that Islam is clean of Boko Haram\u2019s actions.\u00a0 Based on precedent, they often have no response and can become hostile.<\/p>\n

For example, some years back, when Sheikh\u00a0Gamal Qutb, a one-time Grand Mufti of Al Azhar, was asked on live Arabic-language TV if Islam permits sex slaves,\u00a0he refused to give a direct answer<\/a>, preferring to prevaricate.\u00a0 When pressed for a clear answer by the Muslim female host, he became hostile and stormed off the set.\u00a0 He eventually returned, only to be implored again by the host, who said, \u201cNinety percent of Muslims, including myself, do not understand the issue of sex slavery in Islam and are having a hard time swallowing it,\u201d to which he gruffly responded, \u201cYou don\u2019t need to understand!\u201d<\/p>\n

And there you have it.\u00a0 From Obama administration officials who helped empower Nigeria\u2019s Islamic terrorists, only to wring their hands and feign outrage now at their behavior, to Islamic clerics who confidently dismiss accusations against Islam, only to put their heads in the sand and hope no one calls them out\u2014here is just a small example of what officialdom would have to deal with if the full totality of crimes committed in the name of Islam were to become common knowledge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/ RaymondIbrahim.com Islamic law permits the possession of concubines, or sex slaves.\u00a0 This has been demonstrated countless times, including through\u00a0Islamic\u00a0clerics\u00a0quoting\u00a0Islamic scriptures, and through ordinary Muslims,\u00a0past and present,\u00a0acting on it. That said, Islamic sanctioned sex-slavery does not perturb the Western world simply because the powers-that-be\u2014specifically academia, media, and government\u2014ignore it, and all other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[377,225,59,33,842,227,330,145,1],"tags":[379,192,1035,1055,1017,1062,1044,1075,949],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1Vd","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6338,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/walls-of-hate-anti-christian-graffiti-vandalizes-egypt\/","url_meta":{"origin":7391,"position":0},"title":"Walls of Hate: Anti-Christian Graffiti Vandalizes Egypt","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/ RaymondIbrahim.com With the ousting of Muhammad Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, the homes and churches of Egypt\u2019s Christians are seeing an unprecedented rise in anti-Christian graffiti. \u00a0The following are some of the pictures that were recently disseminated, captioned with translation of graffiti and location information. \u00a0The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.raymondibrahim.com\/_admin\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6255,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/islam-on-cows-horses-camels-and-women\/","url_meta":{"origin":7391,"position":1},"title":"Islam on Cows, Horses Camels and Women","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine One of the few positive developments following the rise of the Islamists during the \u201cArab Spring\u201d is that today many average and\/or nominal Muslims are seeing the true face of Islam and its teachings.\u00a0 And many\u2014as evinced by the June 30 Revolution of Egypt, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Islam"","block_context":{"text":"Islam","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/islam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Arab_market-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Arab_market-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Arab_market-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Arab_market-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Arab_market-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6219,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/crucified-again-venn-institute-interviews-raymond-ibrahim\/","url_meta":{"origin":7391,"position":2},"title":"Crucified Again — Venn Institute Interviews Raymond Ibrahim","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Raymond Ibrahim [Note: The following interview was conducted by the\u00a0Venn Institute\u00a0with Raymond Ibrahim] Raymond Ibrahim is a widely published author, public speaker, and Middle East and Islam expert, and author most recently of\u00a0Crucified Again: Exposing Islam\u2019s New War on Christians. 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