Thursday, July 28, 2005

Fatwas for Sale. Fatwas to Buy. Fatwas to Go. Diane Feinstein wanted Muslim fatwas. You want fatwas? You want fatwas? CAIR and Ibrahim Hooper will give you fatwas, although Hooper is not known to have an appeal among the Muslims of the world, I am afraid. But it must be nice; Muslim American organizations took time of their busy schedule of propagandizing for Gulf ruling dynasties (and advocating for House of Saud's version of Islam), and of their daily ritual of condemnations of any and every act of violence by any Muslim anywhere in the world thereby only reinforcing the clouds of suspicions over every Muslim in the US, to produce a fatwa. Fatwas, fatwas, and more fatwas. And while you are at it, I want fatwas too. I want a fatwa to compel fast food restaurants to cater to vegetarians; and I want a fatwa to improve the taste of soy milk. OK? Is that too much to ask. What I find comical about the discourse about fatwas in the US (especially by members of congress including the well-known scholar of Islam, professor Diane Feinstein, the author of a definitive history of Islamic theology) is that little known about fatwas. People talk about fatwas as if they are binding on Muslims, and as if they will change the behavior of anybody, including those who issue them. Fatwas, in Islam, are only binding on those who agree with them. Do you understand the process now? It is entirely voluntary. OK. You can go now. Go and issue your own Fatwas, NOW.