"A few years ago," Julia Suryakusuma writes in a Jakarta Post article, "a poster was put up by the Islamic Sharia Department in Banda, Aceh, reading as follows:
A woman whose strand of hair is seen deliberately by a man who is not her husband will be punished by 70,000 years in hell. One day in the afterlife is equivalent to 1000 years in this world. A woman who enters hell will draw in with her two of her menfolk: her father, her brothers, her husband, or her son. This is how terrible the punishment is!"
Allll righty then! Terrible indeed!
Happily, this is also recognized as terrible interpretation of the Koran through most of Indonesia. It is, as Bu Suryakusuma writes, "a mind crushingly asinine, idiotic and imbecilic fantasy based on nothing but an overly fertile, sick and twisted imagination." No surprise then that such non- and even anti-scriptural doctrines are embraced only by sick and twisted extremists. (In fact, the Koran itself says nothing whatsoever about women's hair). "The ongoing deliberate distortion and manipulation of Islam by a bunch of ignoramus radicals," Suryakusuma continues, "could be said to be Indonesia's Chernobyl. In fact, it's worse, because it's not an accident but deliberately engineered--not just by radicals but by mainstream politicians taking advantage of it to support their political agenda."
Sound familiar, America?
This sort of violent extremism, politically motivated, with the goal of suppression and coercion, is typical the world wide, no matter which religion serves as its blunt force instrument. This is "the age of jahilliyah (the age of ignorance), which thrives on hypocrisy, greed and ego, and power-driven motives. Radicals so easily point their fingers at others, accusing them of blasphemy, when in fact it is they who are committing blasphemy--of the worst kind because it is done with evil intent."
Does anyone really believe that Donald Trump and his gang of high level crooks are out to champion Christianity? Are they not merely using Christianity to champion themselves? Do the influential blowhards at the top of evangelical mega-churches really believe that embracing hypocrisy, hatred, exclusion, bigotry, walls rather than bridges, is faithful doctrine?
Woe to those who have swallowed the lie.
No, the trouble is not in the woman's lock of hair. The trouble is not with sexual orientation or color of skin or choice of religion or country of origin. The trouble is with those who believe that this is the trouble.
A woman whose strand of hair is seen deliberately by a man who is not her husband will be punished by 70,000 years in hell. One day in the afterlife is equivalent to 1000 years in this world. A woman who enters hell will draw in with her two of her menfolk: her father, her brothers, her husband, or her son. This is how terrible the punishment is!"
Allll righty then! Terrible indeed!
Happily, this is also recognized as terrible interpretation of the Koran through most of Indonesia. It is, as Bu Suryakusuma writes, "a mind crushingly asinine, idiotic and imbecilic fantasy based on nothing but an overly fertile, sick and twisted imagination." No surprise then that such non- and even anti-scriptural doctrines are embraced only by sick and twisted extremists. (In fact, the Koran itself says nothing whatsoever about women's hair). "The ongoing deliberate distortion and manipulation of Islam by a bunch of ignoramus radicals," Suryakusuma continues, "could be said to be Indonesia's Chernobyl. In fact, it's worse, because it's not an accident but deliberately engineered--not just by radicals but by mainstream politicians taking advantage of it to support their political agenda."
Sound familiar, America?
This sort of violent extremism, politically motivated, with the goal of suppression and coercion, is typical the world wide, no matter which religion serves as its blunt force instrument. This is "the age of jahilliyah (the age of ignorance), which thrives on hypocrisy, greed and ego, and power-driven motives. Radicals so easily point their fingers at others, accusing them of blasphemy, when in fact it is they who are committing blasphemy--of the worst kind because it is done with evil intent."
Does anyone really believe that Donald Trump and his gang of high level crooks are out to champion Christianity? Are they not merely using Christianity to champion themselves? Do the influential blowhards at the top of evangelical mega-churches really believe that embracing hypocrisy, hatred, exclusion, bigotry, walls rather than bridges, is faithful doctrine?
Woe to those who have swallowed the lie.
No, the trouble is not in the woman's lock of hair. The trouble is not with sexual orientation or color of skin or choice of religion or country of origin. The trouble is with those who believe that this is the trouble.
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