The Endless Plains

Infinity. It’s a difficult concept to grasp; a concept that has grown even more increasingly hard to find as mankind has spread out across continents and oceans, exploring and conquering as we go. The next frontier is outer space, but it isn’t difficult to imagine what certain areas of our own planet used to feel like to humans as they gazed across the horizon into what must have appeared to stretch on forever and ever. Oceans. Deserts. And Plains.

Not the deserts of the Sahara, and not the jungles of the Congo – the Serengeti is somewhere in between…

In the middle of Africa, there lies the endless plains. In Swahili: Serengeti. A tried and true African Safari is on every travel enthusiast’s bucket list. And there is no better place than in northern Tanzania, where prides of lions hunt in their natural habitat, and millions of terrestrial mammals migrate in a loop that takes them from the south of the country up into neighboring Kenya.

When it comes to safaris, the Serengeti is the Times Square of destinations. There are lesser parks and preserves where one might visit to feel more alone and immersed in nature. In fact, many of the travel advice websites and guides suggest other places that have maintained an authenticity that is somewhat lacking in the Serengeti. But when we visited that and a few other parks in Tanzania, the abundance of other tourists (all inside similarly painted Toyota Land Cruisers) didn’t bother us as much as the ‘theme park’ feel of the smaller areas.

Truly, when scanning the horizon line of the endless plains, we felt like we had traveled not only into the wilds of Africa, but also into the past – to a time when mankind didn’t disrupt the natural order of the planet. At 12,000 square miles, the sheer size of the place can dwarf any visitor, making us all feel insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe.

There were moments that took our breath away. Below are some photos I took that I hope will take yours away as well.

Welcome to the Endless Plains!

Asili Explorers! Asili means ‘nature’ in Swahili…

Luxury Tented Camps (inside the park) are the best way to stay!

We heard lions and hyenas outside our tent every night!

As you can see, luxury is the word for this kind of camping!

And the zebras aren’t too shy when they can’t see you!

Picnic areas are scattered around the park for guests’ convenience (toilets too)…

Oh, did I mention how many guests are here?

Sometimes, other cruisers even ruin photos…

But nothing can ruin such a beautiful African sunset!

Especially, when you can capture the wildlife with the changing colors in the sky!

These gazelles better be careful (can you see the lioness stalking them?)…

This impala posed for me between sips of water…

I think this could be a postcard!

We were able ot get really up close and personal with the giraffes!

Interdependent (or simbiotic as our guide liked to point out) relationships between species…

These little guys were playing around and I snapped the perfect shot!

No, those aren’t rocks. They’re hippos!

Almost 2 million wildebeests migrate every year!

Here they are running along the hills!

This family of hyenas had a den just outside our campsite (aren’t the cubs so cute?!)…

The cheetah is rare to spot, but this was one of the first animals we saw on day one!

Simba Kopje – the inspiration for Pride Rock in Disney’s The Lion King!

Which brings us to the lions!

We got very close to many (there are over 3,000 in the Serengeti)!

So glad to have a great lens (some people had bigger ones though…)!

Is it just me, or is she looking right at me?

A pair of males

These two were having some fun together (it was mating season)!

Look closely! The lioness is chasing a gazelle!

The warthog is perhaps the most skittish animal in Africa (they didn’t like to have their picture taken)…

Our guide let Jen get out of the car to take a picture with some (distant) lions…

Life isn’t all you find on the Endless Plains – there is much death as well…

Morning cup ‘o joe with some zebras!

The Baobab tree is one of the oldest trees in the world – this one is thousands of years old!

The local Maasai children think they’re funny setting up roadblocks to get tourists to give them food and money (but our guide wasn’t happy about it)…

These two Maasai boys are about to be circumsized (hence the face-painting and black clothing)…

Until Next Time…

Justin

Submission: Part III

Sharia laws dictate everything in the world of Islam. They tell people what they’re allowed to do and what they’re forbidden from doing. The set of rules and regulations was formulated in the 6^th and 7^th centuries in a world much different from that of today. Yet in over 1,000 years, not a single law has been questioned or changed. Additionally, Arab Muslims are encouraged to self-police each other – even between family members – handing down personal punishments when loved ones act, speak, or even dress inappropriately. The most obvious and outward symbol of sharia is the burqa.

The Most Complete and Oppressive Birka Ever! (from Afghanistan, but the ones in Saudi look similar)…

The Quran tells both genders to ‘avert’ their eyes and dress ‘modestly.’ However, it doesn’t mention the specifics behind what exactly signifies a modest wardrobe, leaving each individual Arab subculture to make it up as they go. Depending on the country, the laws regarding this modest ‘covering’ vary from requiring women to wear a simple headscarf, called a hijab, to being completely veiled from head to toe whenever outside their home. In Saudi Arabia, they have to even cover their eyes.

Jen, my wife, wore a hijab whenever she wanted to visit a mosque. She told me that she experienced an instant feeling of shame as soon as she was out on the streets. She felt her eyes being tugged toward the ground. One the one occasion, she inadvertently made eye contact with a man in a park. He subsequently harassed her for an hour, repeating the word ‘sex’ over and over. She just didn’t realize what smiling and being a friendly American would mean in this culture of women’s oppression. In hindsight, I feel like she was lucky he didn’t try to abduct or rape her. I shudder at the thought.

From country to country, even from city to city, the percentage of women who feel the need to cover changes. But if women choose to wear one (or are forced to), they always wear it. Always. They never take it off in public, even to go swimming! In Tunisia and Turkiye, for example, the larger cities are swarming with uncovered women in Western style clothing. Travel to the smaller desert villages and you won’t see any women uncovered. And in conservative nations like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Afghanistan, women aren’t allowed to be uncovered – it’s illegal and punishable by lashings and beatings.

It’s all because of sharia, a system of rules that allows for husbands to beat their wives (providing they don’t draw blood or hit them in the face, marking up their beauty).

One of the most amazing developments of Western civilization has been the separation of church and state and the idea of freedom of religion. However, in the Arab world, church and state are the same exact thing. They’re not even two different things intertwined – they’re identical. Muslims believe that the word of God passed down through the prophet Mohammad is immutable (unchanging), and therefore any progress in culture or society would be moving backwards. These Arab men want to turn back the hands of time to the days of their prophet: the dark ages of a misogynistic and patriarchal tribal lifestyle, because well, those were the good ole’ days!

Egyptian President Sis shakes hands with an Imam with Political Power…

Religious leaders, imams, and political leaders have become the same people. They instill strict adherence to the words of the Islamic texts and across the Arab world, previously European-based laws have been replaced by sharia with increasing regularity. In the Old Testament, a reader might find references to archaic corporal punishments such as crucifixion and stoning. However, Judaism and Christianity have advanced far beyond the use of those primitive and barbaric penalties. Modern day Islam still allows those punishments to exist, and what’s worse, to be carried out by civilians.

Sharia law needs to become obsolete if Islam and the Arab community expect to peacefully join the rest of the civilization in the 21^st century. Without reform of their way of life, Islam will continue to back pedal into the dark ages. There is a global conflict happening right now. The only answer for Arabs is reform. If history has taught us anything, it’s that the oppressors always lose, sooner or later. The end is inevitable – one way or another.

In much the same way that sharia has stifled the development of the Arab world, their tribal mindset has done the same thing. I find it intriguing as I’ve learned how Muslims view their societal roles, specifically (but not limited to) gender roles. Women cook and clean and raise kids. Men work (sometimes). One can see this in many non-Muslim countries and even in conservative Christian households in America. But that’s not the truly interesting part.

Muslims marry and have children for no other reason than because it’s their religious and cultural obligation to do so. I’m sure there are exceptions, and I’m not saying that Arabs don’t love their children in the ways that they understand the concept of love. But it’s not the same as it is in the West.

Arabs are taught that marriage and parenthood are synonymous – one always follows the other, and often immediately. I’ve been told that a new bride will get pregnant within the first few months of marriage. Jen has been yelled at by older women and strangers in conversation, who are confused that we’ve been married for years and have yet to conceive children. It’s unheard of in their society, and in many cases the wives are scorned with rumors of being barren.

Child Bride Caught on Camera in Lebanon…

Additionally, Muslims don’t usually marry because of love (though this is beginning to change with the younger generations – and there have always been exceptions). Men and women are so segregated in youth, that there is no commingling. Men aren’t taught to enjoy the company of women, and vice versa. They serve a specific role. Men hang out with each other. Women are the same. They simply don’t mix. Once, Jen went to an engagement party, where the women got up to dance and uncover after all the men had left the room; they wouldn’t dance at all until only females remained.

Muslims don’t appear to marry for love. They don’t appear to have children out of a love or desire to raise them and spend time together. Families don’t often spend any time together at all! Fathers are borderline negligent when it comes to child-rearing, especially with infants and toddlers. They have a role. Mothers have a role. Even sons and daughters have their own specific roles to play. I’ve spoken to working Muslim women, who after a long day at the office, are expected to return home to do all of the housework: cooking, cleaning, laundry, and child-rearing.

Malala Yousafzai

And those are the women married to the more liberally-minded Muslim men, who allow them to keep their jobs after the wedding. Some men refuse to let their women work or their daughters attend school. Education for Arab girls is typically nothing more than what a mother and grandmother can teach her about keeping a home. Have you heard of Malala? She is a young Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner that was shot in the face for standing up for her right to an education. She had the support of her father, who worked in school administration and operated his own institute. But Malala’s father is the exception and not the rule.

Under sharia law and within the confines of Arab culture, 50% of the Muslim population is denied basic human rights. When that happens, it’s impossible for a society to flourish and thrive. The Arab world needs more Malalas, and more men like her father. Few Muslim girls are as fortunate as Malala, spending their lives in oppression, isolation, and a veritable prison.

American Muslim Women need to Lead the Charge for Change!

Muslims account for 20% of earth’s population, and sure, not all women are mistreated or stuck in horrible situations. But enough are that the religion needs to begin seriously questioning itself and reevaluating its priorities. One life is far more important than a centuries old set of laws and rules. Islam needs to modernize. The Arab world is no longer tribal-based. So why continue to operate as such?

For a world plagued by terrorists and jihadists, killing in the name of Allah, change cannot come soon enough. The West and Western Muslims need to work together to change the conversation. We must challenge the archaic ideas presented in the Quran, the hadith, and sharia laws. Only then can true progress take place and peace fill the void left behind by suicide bombers.

Until Next Time…

-Justin

Submission: Part II

Women have had a rough go of it for pretty much the entire duration of human civilization. Images of Neanderthals clubbing women over the head to drag them back to their caves for the purpose of consummation have become caricatures. But most jokes are rooted in truth. The role women have been given in history is no different.

Mother, Daughter, and Baby Doll dressed in Full Birka…

Arab culture is stagnant, as I surmised in the first installment of this article. Because of that lack of progress, women’s liberation, which gradually came to the West over a period of a century and culminated in the gender equality legislation in the United States in the 1960s and 70s, is nonexistent from North Africa to the Far East. Not that America is perfect – far from it. Women in the West still have a long way to go for true equality. However, after living in the Old World for the past five years, I can confidently say that America is leading the charge and treating our women far, far better than the rest of 21^st century civilization. That isn’t as evident anywhere than it is when looking at the Arab world.

The first thing one must realize when critically observing Arab culture is that there are different branches and ways of thinking in both Islam as a religion as well as the various nations that make up Arab society. Liberal countries like Turkiye and Tunisia have given women the right to walk around without covering, the right to work and drive, and even legally divorce their husbands. It’s a much different picture in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and other more conservative Islamic nations, where women cannot drive, divorce, or even walk around in public without a male family member or husband as an escort (in Afghanistan and Pakistan, they can’t even show their faces through their full-body burqas). Not all Arabs are the same. Not all Muslims follow the rules of their religion the same way. There is a schism in Islam much the same way there is in Christianity between all the various denominations of Protestantism.

The bottom line behind the way women are treated in Arab culture has less to do with Islam as a religion though and much more to do with the primitive tribal societies that have flourished in this part of the world for over 1,000 years. Women, like livestock, are commodities to be bought, traded, sold, and ordered around at the whim of the men in their lives: husbands, fathers, brothers, and even sons. In a warring, tribal culture that values the ability to fight and defend the family unit, men are more valuable than women, whose only recognized contribution to the family is the ability to make more babies. Within that context, Mohammad created Islam; there are a few key verses in the Islamic holy book, the Quran, that literally devalue women as a gender.

“Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property. So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded.” (Quran 4:34)

“Your wives are as a tilth [cultivated land] unto you; so approach your tilth when and how ye will.” (Quran 2:223)

“And enjoin believing women to cast down their looks and guard their private parts and not reveal their adornment except that which is revealed of itself, and to draw their veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their adornment save to their husbands, or their fathers, or the fathers of their husbands, or of their own sons, or the sons of their husbands, or their brothers, or the sons of their brothers, or the sons of their sisters, or the women with whom they associate, or those that are in their bondage, or the male attendants in their service free of sexual interest, or boys that are yet unaware of illicit matters pertaining to women.” (Quran 24:31)

Men are more important than women. It says so right there. But did those words come from God? It’s more believable that the ideas found in the dark ages holy book came from the founder’s desire to appeal to his audience. He wanted the pagan tribes on the Arabian Peninsula, who were already mistreating their women – to jump on board his monotheistic bandwagon. So he tailored the message so that the majority of Arab men would fight for him in his quest for power (Constantine did much the same thing when he changed early Christianity so that the pagans in his Roman Empire would adopt the infant religion).

It’s been suggested by Western liberals that Muslim men have been misreading the Quran. I whole-heartily disagree. They aren’t misreading the words in their holy book when it comes to Sharia law and the role of women; what they are doing is taking the entire thing as literally as it can possibly be taken. It is that unwillingness to adapt and reinterpret the intention behind their prophet’s words that is keeping the Arab world in the ancient past, and giving modern day Muslims justification for continued abuse and maltreatment of women.

A Muslim Mother Waits on her Son Hand and Foot, thus Spoiling his Adult life for his Future Wife…

Sons have always been more desirable than daughters in the Arab world (similarly to India and other poor, undeveloped nations), and they’re doted upon by their mothers and grandmothers. The young men aren’t expected to do any household chores. They can’t cook or clean. They can’t take care of themselves at all from the time they’re born until they’re adults (eventually they trade their mothers and sisters for wives). Polygamy is legal in many Arab nations, allowing Muslim men to father a dozen or more children through multiple wives (preferably sons, but if they get stuck with girls, fathers will simply marry them off as young as the hadith allows).

Why would men take multiple wives? So they can have sex whenever they want with younger and prettier women. Point of fact: many (not all) Muslim men seem to be 12-year-old boys trapped in men’s bodies. It’s the worst form of arrested development.

Once, in Turkiye, a visiting neighbor tried to force me out of my own kitchen so that his wife could do our dishes instead of me. He couldn’t fathom a world where men cook and clean. And he was on the more liberal side as far as Muslims go: his wife didn’t cover, and they both drank alcohol.

Do you play cards? Of course you do. In the West, the highest value face card is the king, followed by the queen and then the jack after. However, in Tunisia and other Arab countries, the jack has a higher value than the queen. It seems trivial, but it’s illustrative of a culture that has completely devalued women.

There are horror stories as well as humorous anecdotes. Two teenage Saudi boys traveled to Egypt and while they were there, they paid a poor mother the equivalent of $15.00 USD for a couple hours with her 8-year-old daughter. The two boys repeatedly raped the young girl while she screamed her head off. READ THIS! The Saudi Arabian brand of Islam is called Wahhabism, and considers women to be slaves to men (it’s atrocious in every aspect). Those boys said the young girls are the ‘best.’ Yuck…

The Saudi royal family (among others) hires teenage girls from the Philippines and Thailand as “housekeepers” for their palaces. There are recruiting companies in these countries who knowingly bring innocent girls into the lion’s den, where – in addition to their housework – they are expected to be sexually available to every man of the palace, every single night.

Najood Ali – 10 Year Old Divorcee

The epidemic of child brides is rampant from Morocco to Indonesia, as Muslim men accept younger and younger wives (because Mohammad married a 7-year-old girl as one of his four wives – he consummated the marriage when she turned 9, it must be acceptable for the rest of the Muslim men to do it too). In Yemen, 10-year-old Najood Ali was married to a thirty-something man, who raped her every night of their marriage (some grooms are as old as 65 or 70). One day Ali took a taxi downtown and demanded a divorce. When the court asked her why, she said, “I hate the nights.”

Just so you don’t think I’m exaggerating: article 1, article 2, article 3, article 4, article 5… Disgusting!

When girls and women don’t behave the way the men in their lives deem appropriate – ideas taken from sharia law (strict adherence to a literal translation of Islam as found in the hadith and the Quran) – they can be punished in a variety of ways. There is a punishment called, “The Woman’s Room,” where a girl under suspicion of sexual misconduct (not even proven, just suspected) can be locked away in a sound-proof room without windows, and no hope of escape. She lives out the rest of her days in this prison: no friends, no bathing, no going to the bathroom (except for a hole in the floor); she can literally never leave until she dies. And the term ‘misconduct’ is vague and open to interpretation. The girl could have glanced at a man (like one girl whose mother threw acid in her face as a particularly harsh form of punishment) or chatted with a boy on social media to warrant such a heinous reaction from her family.

Muslim Woman Stoned to Death for Adultery…

And if the “Woman’s Room” weren’t punishment enough, Arab men can steal the lives of the women in their families in the form of honor killings if it’s believed that she brought shame to the family unit in some way. Girls can be stoned to death, drowned in the family pool, or stabbed or shot by younger brothers for dishonoring the men with actions or even the mere rumor of sexual activity (and this doesn’t only happen in Saudi Arabia; there are documented cases in the United States and Canada as well). Fathers and brothers feel no regret for the lives they take and admit to doing it again if a lowly female brought disgrace to their family.

I Feel Like We Could Play the Game: Count What’s Wrong with this Picture…

It’s the worst kind of repression and oppression. Men have a fear of their own sexuality, and are never taught to control their own urges and hormones; instead, Arab culture – and thus Islam – blames women for the sins, and potential sins, of the men. When a woman is raped, she is at fault, and usually punished. In some countries, rapists can get away with their crime by marrying their victims. In one case, a 16-year-old rape victim committed suicide after the courts ordered her to marry her attacker.

Just so you don’t think I’m exaggerating: article 1, article 2, article 3, article 4, article 5, article 6… There are many more.

What can be done to help these women? Islam is in desperate need of a reformation, similar to the Protestant Reformation of the 16^th century. The problems with the Arab world cannot be fought with strength of arms. It is a war of ideas. We, in the West, need to change those ideas. And we need to start with the strict interpretation of sharia law and how those laws affect the way the Muslim community treats women as well as non-Muslims across the globe.

To be Concluded…

-Justin

 

Submission: Part I

As an ESL educator, one of the most important concepts that I teach in the classroom is using context clues to determine the meaning of new and unfamiliar vocabulary. As a student when I was in school (decades ago), I loved history class; it was one of my favorite subjects. Any student of history will tell you that a true education about the past has little to do with memorizing names and dates and much more to do with understanding the framework through which historical events took place.

Context is a very important aspect of learning and comprehension. It doesn’t matter if you’re studying language or history or even culture. Figuring out the context is akin to asking the all-encompassing question: why? I have lived in two very different Muslim countries (both on the liberal side of the Muslim scale), but I can tell you that it’s difficult to determine where the split between Arab and Islamic culture occurs, the lines have blurred over the centuries. One followed the other and was created within the culture’s subjective context. Westerners don’t know enough about it to understand, and Muslims themselves don’t look critically at their past, nor do they ask provocative questions about their present and future. And that was all part of the founder’s plan.

Or was it?

Art from the “Golden Age” of Arab Culture

The religion of Islam was born over 1,000 years ago on the Arabian Peninsula in a time without order, without technology, and without real civilization. Imagine if you will a desert world with 20 or 30 different tribes in a constant state of war with one another. There were no real cities, no governments, no infrastructure. Arab tribes were comprised of family units and bloodlines; fighting to protect and secure those clans wasn’t only encouraged, it was necessary for survival.

During the same period, the European nations operated under the feudal system with kings and queens ruling over large estates of land called kingdoms. The Roman Empire had fallen and the Holy Catholic Church had taken its place, with a religious hierarchy that not only dictated the way people behaved and thought, but also maintained a substantial amount of wealth and power. Yes, in both locations a historian might use the phrase “dark ages” to describe the situations. The difference being that eventually the European dark ages came to an end while the Arab dark ages persist even to this day.

The current world issues with Islam didn’t start with the religion. Problems of violence and aggression against other Muslim factions and even non-Muslims began with Arab tribal culture of the sixth and seventh centuries. It was that world into which Islam was conceived and born. A world where men were more valuable than women. A world where you drew your sword instead of asking questions. A world where your political and religious leader was the same man. A world where you could die of starvation and thirst in a hot, desert climate if you didn’t take what others owned to ensure your own survival.

The “Noble” Quran…

It is within this context that one must first look before really understanding the culture of Islam and why there is so much violence associated with its holy text, the Quran. Islam has been called the Religion of the Sword – and for good reason. The Quran states in multiple places that believers must convert or kill disbelievers, which is very unlike Christianity and Judaism (Jesus was a pacifist, who preached love thy neighbor and turn the other cheek). There are many similarities between Christianity and Islam, though, and it’s no wonder since the Muslim prophet, Mohammad, was quite familiar with the other monotheistic religions of his day and borrowed from them as he saw fit.

Left: Mohammed bathed in Flames; Right: Jesus with a Halo

Whether or not the Quran and Mohammad were the real deal or not isn’t the purpose of this article. Suffice it to say, the man who created one of the major world religions today was a warrior and political figure. He wanted power and used his religious ideas to develop a following, form alliances, and build an army to do his bidding. He used his faith to unify the previously pagan and warring Arabic tribes into one violent mega-tribe. And it is that mega-tribe – which extends from Morocco all the way to Indonesia – that is still fighting in the 21^st century. That mega-tribe is the problem, not necessarily the religion that was used to create it.

The Arab world in our day and age has stagnated. They ceased making any kind of progress centuries ago, because they disregard and discredit those among them who think critically and ask questions about their culture and their religion. Muslims in the 21^st century live in much the same way their ancestors did in the 11^th.

Skyscrapers and Cell Phones in the Arab World (but it wasn’t their innovation that created them)…

Sure, they watch television, drive cars, and use cell phones, but they don’t value education, they don’t strive to better themselves as individuals or as a society, they don’t seem to have a decent work ethic, and the men still rule in a very misogynistic and patriarchal way of life that has been virtually dead in the West for a hundred years. Can you name any Arabs who have made substantial contributions to humanity? The Arab world is eager to use the West’s contributions to better their lives but then fight against us when convenient for their message.

Book Burning Bonfire in Nazi Germany…

The Muslims/Arabs I have met and spoken with (and of course, this isn’t true of all Arabs, but it’s the vast majority) still maintain a very primitive and archaic mentality about the role that religion plays in their lives, the roles men and women play in society, and their role in an ever-shirking global community. When viewed in the context of Mohammad’s life and experiences, Islam was his way of gaining power and influence over varying groups of people who at that time, weren’t listening to any centralized authority. And we’ve seen it since then as well. What happens when one man wants to control huge populations of people? He creates totalitarian dictatorship regimes and burns books.

Asking self-reflective questions and thinking critically about faith and life is forbidden in the Muslim holy book. Not merely discouraged or frowned upon – literally forbidden. Mohammad wanted his followers to have blind faith in whatever he said to them. He didn’t want any situations where another man or group could challenge his ultimate position as their new leader. The angel Gabriel visited the prophet and told him, “O, you who believe! Ask not about things which, if made plain to you, may cause you trouble.” (Quran 5:101)

When Mohammad died and others picked up the baton of his new monotheistic religion, they didn’t exactly know what to do with it. So they took the words in the Quran literally. Anybody throughout the history of Islam who questioned the literal interpretation of Mohammad’s ideas has been denounced or killed. To this day, Arab culture doesn’t ask questions. They don’t think critically, and they don’t analyze life, religion, or themselves. It’s blind obedience to the rules of their religion that were created in a time of strife and insecurity. But those rules are still being applied today in the name of honor killings, jihads, and forcing other cultures and peoples to submit to the will of Allah.

Quran: Men are the protectors and maintainers of women because of what Allah has preferred one with over the other and because of what they spend to support them from their wealth.

Mohammad didn’t choose the word Islam by happenstance, nor did I choose the name of this article in the same way. Both were calculated moves. The word Islam translates to submission. It’s an idea that could be beautiful, again within the right context (if we each submit to each other, then there will be peace all over the world). But Arabs, the world over, aren’t using Islam for peace. Even the ones who don’t believe in jihad (which is quite a few believe it or not) aren’t standing up for themselves and their version of their faith. They sit quietly while the more violent members of their clans justify murder in the name of Allah. At the same time, this silent majority does follow the ancient rules of their culture. They use it to subjugate and oppress half of their own population: women.

To Be Continued…

-Justin