The new Islamist militias ruling Mogadishu have arrested people for watching videos, shot and killed people for watching a World Cup broadcast, and broken up a non-Islamic wedding for allowing men and women to mix and for playing music. They confiscated the band's instruments, then beat the band members with electrical cables.
So when is "tolerance" of a culture too much tolerance? Sharia in itself is a violent, dark-ages system of law that allows for such lovely things as the stoning-to-death of "adulterous women", and, of course, the execution of gays. Judged, sentenced and executed by religion, not by a court of laws, not by a jury of peers, and no right to counsel in defense.
We don't "tolerate" the actions of the KKK. We'd not allow them to go on lynchings anymore. So why are some still preaching tolerance of this sort, of Sharia, instead of recognizing that the entire Wahabbist and Taliban joyless flavors of Islam (NOT all of Islam, mind you, before anyone jumps on that strawman) and Sharia law are Very Bad, violent, civilization-destroying extremist paths to destruction?
How is tolerating intolerance instead of fighting it in any way "progressive"? And if you tolerate a system of absolute, violent INtolerance...aren't you just being complicit? I think some people need to ask themselves that question.
Article from AP on the most recent abuses follows.
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Islamic militiamen who rule Somalia's capital arrested about 60 people for watching videos in several overnight raids in the capital, an Islamic court official and residents said Wednesday.
The roundup was the latest move by the militiamen to forcefully apply their strict interpretation of Islamic law, a practice that has stoked concerns that they want to remake Somalia after Afghanistan under the Taliban - including offering a haven to terrorists.
Those arrested "will be rehabilitated and then we will release them after they are told the disadvantages of watching such films and what Islam says about watching such films," said Moalin Shire, an official of the Islamic court whose jurisdiction includes one video hall that was raided.
Militiamen armed with assault rifles raided five halls in the northern Sinay neighborhood late Tuesday and arrested women and men who had paid to watch videos, said Dahir Ali Wehliye, a resident in the area.
Another resident, Yusuf Ali, said he saw 20 militiamen in a pickup truck mounted with a machine gun raid one hall.
Since it wrested Mogadishu from a secular alliance of warlords last month, the Islamic militia has cracked down on purportedly non-Islamic activities, such as a World Cup screening and a wedding with live music. It also replaced its moderate main leader with Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, whom the U.S. has linked to al-Qaida. Aweys denies the allegations.
On July 4, Islamic militia fighters shot and killed two people who were watching a World Cup soccer broadcast in central Somalia. Two of the fighters were later arrested.
Before taking control of the Somali capital, some Islamic radicals had attacked drug dealers, raided bars and destroyed video halls that showed risque films.