Contributions to Civilization in the Name of Islam

Below is an abbreviated list of the contributions to world terror committed by Muslims and/or in the name of Islam in the last six decades:

– inhumane attack on the World Trade Center killing 3000+ people, September 11, 2001

– conspiracy with Nazi Germany against the U.S. and the Allies in WW2

– American hostage crisis in Iran – 1979 – hostages were detained for 444 days

– bombing of U.S. embassies in Beirut, Kenya, Tanzania, killing hundreds.

– killing of American diplomats in cold blood

– terror attacks against European airports (Rome & Vienna)- dozens killed

– terror hijacking of civilian airplanes – most famous is Air France – Entebbe

– terror hijacking of cruise ships – most famous – Achille Lauro – in which an elderly man in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was thrown overboard

– Munich Olympics 1973 – entire Israeli Sports team brutally massacred

– Lockerbie plane – Pan Am civilian airline downed by Muslim terrorists killing hundreds on board, mostly American.

– bombing of USS Cole in Yemen

– bombing World Trade Center in NYC by Muslim terrorists – 1993

– conspiracy to bomb NYC bridges and tunnels and other NY landmarks and infrastructure; 1993

– desecration and destruction of ancient Buddhist, Hindu, and Jewish Holy sites by Muslim governments who sponsor global terrorism

– six wars waged on Israel and instigated by Arabs

– barbaric acts committed on Israeli soldiers – ripping out of their heart and intestines with bare hands and paraded in the streets of Ramallah

– barbaric acts committed on American and Israeli children: savage stoning beyond recognition of two 12-year old boys who were hiking, targeting babies in strollers by Arab snipers.

– dumping poisonous sewage from West Bank and Gaza into Israel

– burning American and Israeli flags

– incitement of their populations by Muslim clerics to kill Americans, British, and Jews the world over.

– arrest of hundreds of Christians in Syria

– attacks on U.S. soldiers in Somalia – 1993

– bombing U.S. personnel in Saudi Arabia – 1995, 1996

– bombing U.S. soldiers in Yemen – 1992

– hundreds of suicide bombings in Israel – killing and maiming civilians

– thousands of attempted suicide bombings in Israel

– synagogue bombing in Istanbul

– hijacking of Pan Am #73 in Karachi

– kidnapping and beheading of Westerners in Phillipines & Malaysia

– armed attacks on Coptic Christians in Egypt

– arrest, detention, and execution threats against Christians in Afghanistan

– execution of Hindus in Afghanistan, Hindus forced to wear I.D. tag

– murder of 58 Western tourists in Luxor, Egypt, 1997

– kidnapping and murder of journalists and foreign nationals – Algeria 1992

– planned attack against U.S. Embassy in Albania – thwarted.

– bombing of Orly Airport in Paris – 8 killed, 55 seriously wounded

– bombing of Israeli Embassy in Argentina – 1992

– bombing of Jewish Cultural Center – Buenos Aires- 1994- hundreds killed

– public floggings, mutilations, torture, beheadings, executions of inhabitants in Muslim countries.

– denial of freedom of dress, speech, press, and other basic human rights to inhabitants of Mulsim countries.

– mass murders of Afghans and Hindus by Islamic Taliban

– armed attacks on Sudanese Christians

– Sudanese slavery

– execution of civilians without proper representation (Muslim and non-Muslim)

– exclusion of women from all parts of society – mutilation, torture, honor killings. Women forced to beg in streets, not allowed to speak, or to wear make-up, go to beauty parlor, show public affection to spouses for penalty of Death.

– child soldiers in Sudan, PLO, Muslim African countries.

– establishment of Islamic states where non Muslims are unwelcome and massacred, basic freedoms denied to the inhabitants, women are excluded from society, executions, torture, beheadings, and genocide are a daily ritual – Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan among others

– homicide bombing in two Turkish synagogues while Jews were praying and celebrating a Bar Mitzvah, killing more than 20 people

The Smooth Stone team had some difficulty in coming up with positive contributions. But we did remember some word origins:

– the word hashish, and the word assassin.

At first glance, one would be hard-pressed to find a link between pleasure and the acts of assassins. Such was not the case, however, with those who gave us the word assassin. They were members of a secret Islamic order originating in the 11th century who believed it was a religious duty to harass and murder their enemies. The most important members of the order were those who actually did the killing. Having been promised paradise in return for dying in action, the killers, it is said, were made to yearn for paradise by being given a life of pleasure that included the use of hashish. From this came the name for the secret order as a whole, as “hashish users”. After passing through French or Italian, the word came into English and is recorded in 1603 with reference to the Muslim Assassins.