Friday, April 24, 2009

The Wall Street Journal:
Muhammad on the High Seas

I don't know if I agree with this article, but it certainly is worth thinking about. Here's a snippet:

According to Boston University's World Religion Database, the Somali population is 99% Muslim, and the last time the U.S. was menaced by piracy, in the late 18th century, the so-called Barbary pirates of north Africa also operated out of Muslim havens. For those who know something about Muhammad and the origins of Islam, more than coincidence is at work: Religion, it turns out, should be factored into the piracy problem. Click here for the rest

3 comments:

Radical Moderate said...

Wow i'm shocked that the Wall Street Journal or any newspaper, or media outlet would publish such a article.

Nabeel I'm curious what do you disagree with in ths article?

Michelle Qureshi said...

I'm not sure I agree that the Somalis consciously paralleled their actions with Muhammad's raids on caravans, using it as a grounds of support for their piracy. It's certainly a point of similarity, but I think there needs to be a conscious connection in the minds of the pirates if I'm going to put any blame on Islam here, and I'm just not convinced that there was.

Radical Moderate said...

Well Nabeel, I have no doubt that the main motivator for the young Somali pirates is money not releigon. Not even nessasarly greed, but a meens of employment. The young men doing the actauly pirating are at the bottom of the ladder. Most I'm sure are only recieving a few dollars for their familys to survive.


With that said, I find the corelation interesnting between what mohamed did during a Ghazu and what the pirates are doing.

While Crimne is aways risky and profitable. The greater the risk the higher the proffit. Only in islam is a moral example given, a moral justification to rob and steal that which does not belong to you.