Burn the Qur’an or Burn an Opium Field?

On March 20, 2011, an ignorant little worm of a man burned a Qur’an.  He’s not the first and will probably not be the last.  He claims to be a man of God but by his actions he showed his only leader is the devil, and whatever mad voices only he can hear that tell him what he is doing is good.  But I’m not here to talk about him.  He’s had more than his fifteen minutes of fame.  I’m here to talk about other people.  People who are just as ignorant.  People who have no sense, who must have no brains because on the day God handed out brains they thought He said trains and they took the bus instead.  Those people.

I’m talking to you, righteously indignant mob man.  You, the one with the long sunni beard and the precious Qur’an clasped tightly in your upthrust hand.  You with your face scrunched up in a rictus of hate.  You who, with those of your ilk, stampeded like a mindless herd of cows and then flung yourselves like lemmings into the abyss of murder and mutilation.  Am I mixing metaphors?  Probably.  I’m so mad I can hardly take the mixed-up mash of furious thoughts in my head and put them to paper with any semblance of order.  I want to take each and every one of you and grab you by the shoulders until you either wake up or break in two.  

What the hell were you thinking?  Murdering U.N. workers, who I daresay did not burn any Qur’ans and had no intention to do so.  Did shooting them make you feel better?  Did stomping on them and dragging their bodies out into the street make you feel like a real jihaadi?  Did cutting off their heads make you feel proud?  You showed them, didn’t you.  You showed them,  those infidels who would dare damage your precious Qur’an.  You know, that book that says that if you kill one innocent person, it’s as if you killed the whole world?  That book that enjoins us to have mercy on those who haven’t been given the message of Islam, the book that tells us to teach them, to be upstanding role models and only argue with them in the most modest and correct manner?  That book?  Oh, yeah, I forgot.  Most of you, being Afghanis who speak Farsi or Pashtun or another language of your region, don’t actually KNOW what is in the Qur’an because, while you have the ability to memorize it, apparently you don’t actually take the time to understand what it actually says.

You are so outraged by the burning of the Qur’an by one stupid little worm of a man.  Uh, excuse me, have you looked around your own country lately?  Your country supplies the majority of opium in the world, opium that is used to make heroin, which is a scourge on humanity and has caused more deaths than you can count.  I’ve seen the ravages of this drug and it’s not pretty.  I’ve seen families destroyed by your main cash crop.  Why don’t you take care of that little issue before you worry about what is going on beyond your borders.

You are so outraged by the burning of the Qur’an by one stupid little worm of a man.  But look to yourselves and see if the way you treat your women is an accurate reflection of the teachings of Islam.  Women are not to be married off against their will, as if they are an asset used to settle a debt.  Women are not to be left without medical care; women are not to be hit; women are not to be abused and treated worse than your riding animal.  Why don’t you take care of that little issue before you worry about what is going on beyond your borders.

You accuse the U.S. of being interventionist and you tell her to mind her own business, and to that I will readily agree.  We have our own problems here that I could spend days enumerating.  That’s not the issue.  Your  are the issue.  You have murdered people who are considered innocent.  Islam does not allow for such vigilante justice.  Islam does not allow ignorant mobs to rampage and murder people.  You have once again besmirched the beautiful religion that I chose over seventeen years ago.  You are the face of Islam that Ma and Pa America will see on their TVs tonight.  Congratulations, you’re famous.  

To all the other Afghanis, those who truly believe in Allah and His Messenger, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, those who are striving to eradicate the opium and better the status of men and women in that sad blasted country, you are my brothers and sisters and I love you all for the sake of Allah and I wish you much success.  I pray to Allah that the invaders will leave your country, that good people, civilians from whatever country who come with clean hearts and sincere intentions, do not suffer at the hands of the animals in your midst as they try to bring education, clean water, midwifery, alternative crops, and other bits of hope to you.  I am not indicting all Afghanis; you are my brother and sister Muslims.  But for the ignorant ones, the ones who scream and shout and attack and hit and abuse and murder and grow crops of death, I’m done with you.  I ask Allah to undo your work and deprive you of any good in this world in the next.  I’m sick of you and I’m tired of defending Islam because of what people like you do.  I wash my hands of you.