American Captives in Algeria: 1640 to Present (Andrew Bostom)

“These merciless Barbarians are taught by their religion to treat the Christian Captives with unexampled cruelty, and that in so doing they do God a service.”

Andrew Bostom reminds us of the barbaric treatment freshly captured slaves could expect from the barbarian Dey of the Algeriennes:  “now I have got you, you christian dogs, you shall eat stones.”   (thanks to the Religion of Peace)

Early Wednesday (1/16/13) jihadists seized a gas field in Amenas, eastern Algeria, near the border with Libya, taking hostage just under 200 workers, predominantly Algerians, but also some forty foreigners, among them an undisclosed number of Americans. Speaking to France 24, an unnamed hostageclaimed the prisoners were being forced to wear explosive belts. The hostageadded that their captors were heavily armed and had threatened to detonate the base should the Algerian army attempt to storm it.

The jihadist attackers, in a statement sent to ANI, a Mauritanian news agency, claimed “the operation was a response to flagrant interference of Algeria, [which] opened its airspace to the French Air Force [who] bombed areas of northern Mali,”  and demanded the “immediate halt of the aggression against our own in Mali.” Reference was also made to “the participation of Algeria in the war with France,” as “being a betrayal of the blood of the martyrs of Algerians who were killed in the fight against French colonialism.” Al Mulathameen (“The Masked Brigade”), who apparently prepared the announcement, is associated with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African affiliate of Al Qaeda. The groupinsisted it was holding more than 40 “crusaders” —a prototypical jihadist reference to non-Muslims — “including seven Americans, two French, two British as well as other citizens of various European nationalities.” Algeria’s interior minister, Daho Ould Kablia, maintained the raid was orchestrated by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s and has reportedly established his own group in the Sahara

Initial reports Thursday 1/17/13 (here, here) indicated that perhaps half of the ~ 40 foreign workers, including some of the Americans, as well as ~30 to 40 of the ~ 150 Algerians held captive may have escaped their jihadist kidnappers. An ominous AP story then reported the jihadist captors claimed 35 hostages, and 15 of their members were killed, after Algerian helicopters attacked the gas facility in a strafing run. Reuters subsequently reported thirty hostages were killed, including seven foreign hostages, along with eleven of their jihadist captors, during the Algerian military assault. Following the violent conclusion of the standoff, US Today later repeated both Algerian claims that 600 hostages in total had been freed, and the insistence by the jihadists that 35 of the hostages had been killed, purportedly including 5 Americans. But ABC News, citing unnamed  “U.S. officials,” claimed five Americans who were at the Algerian natural gas facility when it was raided by the jihadists are now safe, and believed to have left the country.

By Friday (1/18/13) morning, British Prime Minister David Cameron told lawmakers Algerian forces were “still pursuing terrorists,”  while attempting to secure a “large and complex site,” and searching for missing hostages. Cameron noted 30 Britons had been unaccounted for Thursday (1/17/13), but as of Friday morning, that number was considerably smaller. According to Fox News, an American from Texas was still missing. Senior U.S. defense officials also told Fox News that Thursday, two Americans had escaped unharmed; five other Americans who had been at the enormous Amenas facility were able to avoid being taken captive when the terrorists first attacked early Wednesday.

Wednesday (1/16/13), by sheer (if bitter) coincidence, a very apropos book I ordered because of my curiosity about the earliest American experiences ofIslam—150 years before the US became an international power (and convenient excuse for jihadist aggression)—arrived in the mail. Entitled, “A journal, of the captivity and sufferings of John Foss; several years a prisoner at Algiers,” (published 1798), the book chronicles Foss’s seizure at sea in a trading frigate, October 25, 1793 (“As we judged ourselves to be about 35 leagues [3 nautical miles] westward of Cape St. Vincent” [Portugal]), by Algerian naval jihadistswhile en route from Newburyport, Massachusetts, to Cadiz, southwestern Spain. Foss, and his fellow seamen were told by their Algerian jihadist captor Rais Hudga Mahomet Salamia,

…now you are slaves and must be treated as such, and do not think that you will be treated worse than you really deserve, for your bigotry and superstition in believing in a man who was crucified by the Jews, and disregarding the true doctrine of God’s last and greatest prophet, Mahomet 

Foss was held in captivity under abhorrent, brutal conditions and put to hard labor in Algiers and its vicinity for two years until the nascent American government ransomed him and the surviving members of his captured vessel,The Polly. Before elaborating on Foss’s plight, and telling observations of Algerian Muslim society, recounted as historian Robert C. Davis has acknowledged in a reliable, credible manner, an “…unembellished, Yankee way of laying out a tale, however horrific its details,” it must be noted that his experience as an American captive of Algerian naval jihadism was antedated by those of New Englanders dating back to 1640, during the colonial era. Abolitionist, and Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner (1811-1874), in his 1853, “White Slavery in the Barbary States,” documented the following accounts, quoting from 17^th century New England town records, and letters:

…in 1640, “one Austin a man of good estate,” returning discontented to England from Qunipiack [Qunnipiac], now New Haven [Connecticut], on his way “was taken by the Turks, and his wife and family were carried to Algiers, and sold there as slaves.”…Instances now thicken. A ship, sailing from Charlestown [Rhode Island], in 1678, was taken by a corsair [naval jihadist], and carried into Algiers, whence its passengers and crew never returned. They probably died in slavery. Among these was Dr. Daniel Mason, a graduate of Harvard College, and the earliest of that name on the list; also James Ellison, the mate. The latter, in a testamentary letter addressed to his wife, and dated at Algiers, June 30, 1679, desired her to redeem out of captivity two of his companions. At the same period William Harris, a person of consequence in the colony, one of the associates of Roger Williams in the first planting of Providence, and now in the sixty-eighth year of his age, sailing from Boston for England on public business, was also taken by a corsair, and carried into Algiers. On the 23^rd February, 1679, this veteran…together with all the crew were sold into slavery. The fate of his companions is unknown; but Mr. Harris, after remaining in this condition more than a year, obtained his freedom at the cost of $1200, called by him “the price of a good farm.”

Returning to Foss’s memoir, it opens with experiential advice, coupled to an appeal:

The importance as well as utility of having a work of this kind generally disseminated through the United States, must be apparent to every thinking person. The suffering of our fellow citizens in Algiers were great indeed! They ought not to be too easily forgotten. Every step to avoid a repetition of them will undoubtedly be pursued. But should, at any future period, from causes not seen, more Americans be doomed to wear the galling chain (God grant that period may never arrive), a knowledge of the habits, manners, and customs of the place, may not be unserviceable. From the tender and feeding soul, a perusal of the following pages, must call forth the tear of sympathy. The hardships—the sufferings—the agonizing tortures, which our fellow citizens had to endure, while groaning under all the horrors of Mahometan vassalage, of Algerine tyranny, must call into action every tender sigh and virgin drops of pity embalm the memory of those whose fate it was to sink under the weight of accumulated woes.—Alas! they’re gone.

Foss also preempts any criticism that the account might somehow have exaggerated his travails given the nature of Islamic doctrine and practice, certainly by the Muslim votaries of Algeria.

Some of my descriptions of the treatment of the Captives may appear rather wire-drawn, but then my readers ought to be informed that these merciless Barbarians are taught by their religion to treat the Christian Captives with unexampled cruelty, and that in so doing they do God a service! Hence to expect pity or commiseration from those sons of Ishmael would be as absurd, as to expect a shrubbery from the burning deserts, or cooling streams, from the parched plains of Arabia.

Upon arriving in Algiers (November 1, 1793), Foss recounts,

…we were rowed onshore, and landed amidst the shouts and huzzas of thousands of malicious barbarians. We were conducted to the Dey’s [Algerian ruler’s] palace by a guard, and as we passed through the streets, our ears were stunned with shouts, clapping of hands and other acclamations of joy from the inhabitants; thanking God for their great success and victories over so many Christian dogs and unbelievers, the appellation they generally give to all Christians.

During their brief audience before the Dey, the captives were told “he was determined never to make peace with the United States,” * and referring directly to those Americans before him he added, “now I have got you, you christian dogs, you shall eat stones.” Dispatched to the Dey’s slave pen or bagno, the enslaved prisoners were stripped naked, issued their year’s allotment of slave’s garments, and chained:

…it [the clothing allotment] contained a blanket, a capoot (which is a sort of jacket with a head) a waistcoat made something like a frock, to draw over the head, it not being open at the belly, a shirt, with neither collar nor wristbands, a pair of trowsers [trousers], made somewhat like a woman’s petticoat, (with this difference,) the bottom being sewed up, and two holes to put the legs through and a pair of slippers…[T]hey put a chain on each man’s legs, reaching up to the shoulder, and weighing about 25, or 30lb., this was our first night’s lodging in this doleful mansion of horror and despair

Robert Davis’s brief assessment of Foss’s journal has concluded, appositely, that it captures the “two iron realities” of Algerian slavery—arduous labor, and death. The high mortality was a consequence of chronic malnutrition, traumatic work accidents from the dangerous tasks imposed, and  mistreatment (i.e., beatings, including with a bastinado, or cudgel to the soles of the feet, commonly repeated 150-200 times). But Davis’s brief overview ignores Foss’s rich narrative account of the Islamically-inspired mores he witnessed during his captivity, and recorded in unapologetic, disturbing detail. These latter descriptions of Foss—consistently omitted by Davis and contemporary academics of his mindset—are redolent with an Islamic Weltanschauung that persists, all too broadly, into our era.

Blinding ourselves—or allowing academic, media, and political “elites” to obfuscate this tragic and dangerous reality for us—continues to put basic American security at unnecessary risk. Before letting John Foss’s eloquent, frank words from 1798 speak for themselves, I note with a glimmer of optimism in the face of the tragic events in Amenas, Algeria, this uncharacteristically candid (and likely painful) admission in Wednesday’s (1/16/13) New York Times coverage:

The United States is traditionally a major importer of Algerian crude, although over the last few years much of those imports have been replaced by new oil production in American shale oil fields in North Dakota and Texas.

Key extracts recording what John Foss observed during his captivity in Algeria on the conditions of Algeria’s American (and other Christian) slaves, Algerian Muslim attitudes and behaviors towards non-Muslims, and each other, and the Islamic motivations for what he witnessed, published circa 1798, follow:

[Work] At daybreak, in the morning, the prison-keeper calls all the slaves to go to work. At the door of the Bagnio, they are met by the Guardians or task-masters (who have their orders from the Guardian Bachi; he is the master of all the slaves belonging to the regency) they are then conducted to whatever place he has directed. The greatest part of their work is blowing rocks in the mountains. While some are drilling the holes, others are digging the earth from off those rocks, which are under it, and others carry away the dirt in baskets. When the rocks are blown, they take such as will answer their purpose: (Rocks less than 20 Tons weight will not serve)—Many are hauled by the slaves, two miles distance, which weigh 40 tons. They roll them to the bottom of the mountain, where is a convenient place to put them on a sled. Here they are left until Friday, (which is the Mahometan Sabbath, on which day all the Christian slaves belonging to the Regency, are driven out to haul them to the Quay [flat landing place parallel to the bank of a waterway], which is about two miles from the place where they are loaded.—In order to haul these rocks, they place them upon a sled made of large square timber, and after being sufficiently secured with ropes, they put about six or seven hundred men to each sled, who haul it with ropes about seven inches in circumference, and as all the road is paved with large flat stones, they make some progress in the business. When rising an ascent, should the number at one sled, not be able to haul it, they are assisted by the rest. By this means, they are enable to haul three, or four rocks in a day, upon each sled. From this Quay, they are taking on board a Puntoon (which is a large flat bottomed kind of vessel) and discharged at the back of the mole [a massive work formed of masonry and large stones or earth laid in the sea as a pier or breakwater], with the help of wheels. These rocks are laid there in order to break off the sea, that the mole may not wash away; which must have a continual supply, for every gale of wind that comes washes them into deep water. After a gale they have as much need of them as they had the first hour after the mole was built. So we may conclude this is work that will never be finished. On Friday when the slaves are going to work in the mountains, they pass out through the gates of the city about day break in the morning, and arrive at the bottom of the mountain, sometimes before sunrise.—On their arrival there, they are divided by the task masters into different gangs, each gang has one sled. They must haul as many in a day as the task-masters think proper, and are treated with additional rigor and severity on this day. For the drivers being anxious to have as many hauled as possible (because the number they haul must be reported to the Dey,)—they are continually beating the salves with their sticks, and goading them with its end, in which isd a small spear, not unlike an ox-goad, among our farmers. If any one chance to faint, and fall down with fatigue, they generally beat them until they are able to rise again.

[Brutal punishment of slave-workers for missing “roll call”] The roll is called every night in the prison, a few minutes before the gates are locked.—If any one neglects his call, he is immediately put into irons, hands and feet, then chained to a pillar, where he must remain until the next morning. Then the irons are taken from his feet, and he is driven before a task-master, to the marine, and the Viguilbadge (who is the minister of the marine) orders what punishment he thinks proper, which is immediately inflicted by the task-masters. He commonly orders 150, or 200 Bastinadoes. The manner of inflicting this punishment is as follows: The person is laid upon his face, with his hands in irons behind him, and his legs lashed together with a rope.—One task-master holds down his head and another his legs, while two others inflict the punishment upon his breech, with sticks some what larger than an ox-goad. After he has received one half of his punishment in this manner, they lash the ankles to a pole, and two Turks lift the pole up, and hold it in such a manner, as brings the soles of the feet upward, and the remainder of his punishment, he receives upon the soles of his feet. Then he is released from his bands, and obliged to go directly to work among the rest of his fellow-slaves.

[“Nourishment” and “Sleeping quarters”] Having related the daily labors of the slaves, I now proceed to give you an account of the provisions they are allowed to subsist on, to enable them to perform this laborious slavery…About eight o’clock in the morning they are called by one of the task-masters from their work to take breakfast. Which they receive in the following order. When they are called they all leave their work, and go near some sacks of bread. As they pass they are counted by one of the drivers, while another gives each man a loaf of bread: And to every eight man he gives a wooden bowl with about a pint of vinegar, in this manner they pass until all have received their allowance.—They then sit down upon the ground to eat, and are commonly called to work in about ten minutes, and are seldom allowed more than 12. The same ceremony is passed at 12 o’clock, when they receive the same allowance. At night when the roll is called they receive another loaf of bread, but no vinegar. This is all the provision they have allowed them from the Regency…So what bread each man has allowed him for a day, will not exceed eleven ounces, and it is so sour that a person must be almost starving before he can eat it.—The reason for its being so sour is their mixing the dough three days before it is baked…The Bagnio in which the slaves sleep, is built with several galleries, one above another; in each gallery are several small rooms, in them slaves sleep. For the use of these rooms they must pay a certain sum of money every moon to the Guardian Bachi, or sleep in the open Bagnio, where they have nothing but the firmament to cover them…[M]any are obliged to sleep every night upon the cold stones, with nothing but the heavens to cover them, for want of money to pay this tribute.

[Hazards of slave labor] In the month of May ’94 [1794], as all hands were at work, dragging those large rocks before related to the quay, one of the slaves a Neapolitan happened to fall down, being near the sled, before it could be stopped, he was entirely crushed to pieces. The task-masters apparently rejoiced at the accident, and with smiling countenances, ordered two slaves to gather the remains of his body in a basket, and bury them at the Christian burial ground, ordering the rest to go on with the rock, not giving them time to enquire what accident had happened. But telling them a Christian dog has gone to his own country. And many of them did not know what happened for some time afterwards. Another singular accident happened, about four months afterwards. As we were hauling rocks in the same manner, a Corsican slave accidentally fell down, and the sled went over his legs and knees, his legs and feet being crushed in such a manner, that it was impossible to distinguish one part from another. His father and six brothers who were also slaves, were witnesses of this dreadful accident. The father, his seven sons, and five grandsons, having been captured all together on board one vessel, about fifteen days before this accident happened. As the unfortunate Christian did not expire immediately, he was sent to the hospital, where he remained two days in the most exquisite agony. The king of terrors then put a period to his existence.

[Algerian Muslim punishments of, and attitudes/behaviors towards, non-Muslims, and each other] The punishments [of Christian slaves] for small offenses are bastinadoes… They have different punishments for capital offenses, sometimes they are burned, or rather roasted alive. At other times they are impaled. This is done by placing the criminal upon a sharp iron stake and thrusting it up the posteriors, by his back until it appears at the back of his neck. For being found in company with a Mahometan woman he is beheaded, and the woman is put into a sack and carried about a mile at sea, and thrown overboard, with a sufficient quantity of rocks, or a bomb, to sink her. For suspicion of being with one, the salve is castrated, and the woman bastinadoed. A slave for murder of another slave is immediately beheaded. But for murder of a Mahometan he is cast off from the walls of the city upon iron hooks, which are fastened into the wall about half way down.—These catch by any part of the body that happens to strike them, and sometimes they hang in this manner, in the most exquisite agonies for several days together before they expire. But should the part that catches, not be strong enough to hold them (for sometimes this is the case, and the flesh tears out) they fall to the bottom of the wall and are dashed to pieces upon sharp stones, placed for this purpose. If a slave endeavors to make his escape and is brought back, they are nailed to a gallows, by one hand and the opposite foot, and in this they expire in the most despicable torture. But this method is not always practiced for desertion, for sometimes they are only bastinadoed, at other times they are beheaded…A slave for speaking disrespectfully of the Mahometan Religion, is impaled or burnt—For striking a Turk he is executed in the same manner.

A Jew for different offenses hath various punishments; similar to those of the Christian slaves, and not with less severity. Such is the gross indignation the Mahometans bear toward the Jewish religion, that a Turk may with impunity (if he flees to a Marabout Mosque, or pay a small penalty), murder ten of them. If he kills the eleventh, he is strangled, no Mosque or penalty will execute him: Nothing will save his life, except he is pardoned by the Dey, whose word is absolute. A slave may with the same impunity, beat and abuse them in the streets as he passes. While the poor Israelites are not allowed to lift their hand in their own defense, on penalty of having it cut off. All the consolation they will have, in such cases, from the Mahometans, is encouragement for the slaves to continue their abuse. I have known fifty in one day to receive five hundred bastinadoes each for being found with a red sash about their waists. As they are not allowed to wear any color except black.

A Turk for offenses capital, is strangled in the following manner. The criminal is confined, with his back against the wall, in which are two holes, directly opposite the back of his neck, through these holes is reaved a rope, with the two ends on the opposite side, from where the criminal is, and the bite or double of the rope coming about the criminals neck. Then the two ends are knotted together, and the executioner puts a stick in between the rope and wall. Then turning the stick round (as the sea phrase is) like a Spanish windlass, which twisting the two parts of the rope together brings it tight about the criminal’s neck, and he is soon dispatched. The executioner does not see the criminal while performing his office. This is accounted the most honorable  death for persons who are executed. And beheading the most ignominious. A Turk for offenses not capital, is commonly bastinadoed. A Moor or Arab, for enormous crimes, are sometimes cast upon the hooks; and at other times, hanged or beheaded. For small crimes they are enslaved (condemned to share the fate of Christian captives) for a certain term of time. For theft, they sometimes have the right hand cut off, and hung about the neck.—Then the criminal is set upon an ass, and led through the city; with his face toward the asses tail, and hath sometimes to wear his hand, hung by a string about his neck, as he passes through the city, for several years…If any Renegado [an apostate], after embracing the Mahometan religion, deviates from its principles, the most ignominious death immediately follows.

In former days, the Christian captives when dead were not allowed to be interred, but were carried out about half a Mile to the eastward of the city, and precipitated down the banks into the sea. This manner of disposing of the dead bodies of Christians, was practiced by the Algerines until about the beginning of the seventeenth century. At this time, a Roman Catholic priest, who was taking a tour through Barbary, happened to be in Algiers, and the Plague raging very severe in the city, of course a great number of slaves died, and were cast into the sea, this dreadful spectacle, moved the heart of the humane Priest who possessing an independent fortune, purchased at an exorbitant price (90,000 dollars), about one acre of land for a burial place for Christians. The day he paid the money for this piece of ground, the plague broke out in his groin, which puts a period to his existence in seventeen hours, consequently he was the first who was interred on this piece of land, and perhaps the first Christian that had been buried in the territory of Algiers since it was inhabited by Mahometans, as they formerly cast all of this denomination into the sea, who paid the last debt of nature near the seashore. Those who died in the country, were suffered to remain above ground. The author flatters himself that a description of this piece of land will not be unacceptable to his readers, he therefore presents a short and authentic account of it to their perusal.—It lies about a half mile westward of the city, where is a piece of low land or meadow, this is dyked in with a mound to prevent the sea from washing in and destroying the produce of the land. The burial ground is between the mound and the sea, consequently, in a heavy gale of wind, the violence of the waves washes the dead bodies out of their graves, into the ocean, as the place is nothing more than a sandy beach, and the corpses are seldom buried more than one foot under the land. According to the records of the nation, upwards of 98,000 Christians ** have already been buried here, and scarcely any marks of a burial ground is to be discovered, more than the great quantities of human bones which are to be seen laying upon the beach. They keep four slaves whom age has rendered incapable of any other employment, to bury their deceased companions, as it is contrary to the religion of Mahomet, for one of that denomination, to touch the dead body of a Christian.

*The Algerian Dey’s remarks comport with comments about Islam’s timeless jihad against the non-Muslim infidel expressed candidly to then US diplomats John Adams and Thomas Jefferson during their 1786 meeting with the Tripolitan [Libyan] ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja. These future American presidents were attempting to negotiate a peace treaty which would spare the United States the ravages of jihad piracy—murder, enslavement (with ransoming for redemption), and expropriation of valuable commercial assets—emanating from the Barbary states (i.e., in addition to Algeria, modern Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya, known collectively in Arabic as the Maghrib). During their discussions, they questioned Ambassador Adja as to the source of the unprovoked animus directed at the fledgling United States republic. Jefferson and Adams, in their subsequent report to the Continental Congress, recorded the Tripolitan Ambassador’s justification:

… that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.          

** Commenting upon this figure of 98,000, Robert Davis opined,

It was a prodigious number of deaths—an average of 500 slaves per years must have died, year in, year out, for nearly 200 years. This was, moreover, probably only part of the total. Very likely, the figure left out Protestant and Orthodox Christians, who would not have been welcomed in consecrated, Catholic ground. Nor would it have included, as Foss himself observed, “Those who died in the country, [and who] were suffered to remain above ground.”

Black From Islam: African American Muslim Defectors

Thanks to Moonbattery for the pic

Black From Islam: African American Muslim Defectors (Jalila)

Thanks to Pamela

Recently a young writer and filmmaker named Layla Merritt wrote to me about work she has been doing researching and working on a documentary that is dear to her heart. While the film is in development, she created a rough cut trailer and uploaded it to YouTube — it is above. The first day it was on YouTube, she received a serious distribution inquiry from California Newsreel, the premier distributor of education films in ethnic studies films to institutions. But after that, Layla began receiving harassing emails and threats from angry Muslims around the world, who said things like “I can get to you easily, Jew.”

Her film doesn’t actually attack Islam, but it does highlight the absurd oppression and tragic challenges that American girls face in when they are kept in Islamic communities. Black From Islam also uses the girls whom Layla interviews to make case study comparisons to women in the Islamic Middle East who have been profiled by New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof. Two of Layla’s interview subjects grew up in the secretive Islamic group Jamaat al-Fuqra in American cities. A group that originated in Pakistan, Jamaat al-Fuqra is suspected of complicity with the beheading of Daniel Pearl. Layla explains her intention in making Black From Islam this way:  

Black From Islam: African American Women Defectors from Islam

Black From Islam, a film by Layla Merritt, is a one-hour, educational documentary. It features interviews with three ex-Muslim women, two experts, and an informational reference. During the heat of Black Nationalism in the 1970′s, African Americans converted in droves to Islam. Black From Islam identifies the historical routes African Americans have taken to Islam in America, rejecting the slavery-linked dogma of Christianity. It closely examines the cultural differences of how Americans live as Muslims in America, through the experiences of three American women. Communities such the Muslims Of the Americas (MOA) are highly reclusive. They live as large families on private compounds or buildings. They practice polygamy and home-school their children; they arrange their daughters marriages. This way of life, virtually foreign to most American teens, is a reality for some American girls who grow up Muslim. Black From Islam takes an intimate look at non-secular, Muslim-American communities through the triumphs and tragedies of the women who left them.

The audience for Black From Islam includes scholars, students, libraries, institutions, African Americans, women, Americans, and internationally, anyone with an interest in the movement and spread of Islam. Says Merritt: “I have been contacted by many Muslims, some who identify with the character in the film and some who are angry and make unsolicited threats. Because the stories of the MOA are so powerful and have never been told before, I expect this film to cause quite a controversy and I realize it’s dangerous for me, but I hope that in America I will have enough freedom to take the risk.”

Research and Storytelling

Historically, black Americans were drawn to Islam in rejection of oppression. Islam offered a way of life and support community that was about education, respectability, honor, etc… and many poor blacks were attracted to that. At various points during the 20th Century, there were peaks of conversions to Islam by black Americans. The first was in 1930, when an Afghan who went by the name Wallace D. Fard created the Nation of Islam. The second was the 1940′s, when Pakistani Muslims spread al-Fuqra, now known as the Muslims Of the Americas. Black From Islam‘s most powerful aspect is the interviews with former Muslim women. During the rise of Black Nationalism during the civil rights  movements of the 1960′s and 70′s, African Americans converted in droves to Islam.

The three women interviewed are daughters the converts (if possible, one of the mothers will join her daughter in an interview, but that’s not confirmed yet). The women were raised in Muslim sects as children and defected. The film closely examines cultural differences in how Americans live as Muslims in America. Communities like the Muslims Of the Americas are highly reclusive. They live as large families on private compounds or buildings. They practice polygamy and home-school their children. They arrange their daughters’ marriages. This way of life, virtually foreign to most American teens, is a reality for some American girl who grow up Muslim. The result is often difficulty co-existing as both Muslim and American, and extreme culture shock.

The story will unfold beginning with the import of African Americans to the Americas. The historical research will be accompanied by commentary from Dr. Jocelyne Cesari. The cultural expert will provide commentary on the political and cultural movements affecting African American religious demography, leading up the 1970′s and the peak of Black Nationalism. The film will examine various acts of violence from Islamic groups such as the NOI and al-Fuqra through the stories of Jalila, Yasmina, and Alia. The film will explore the positive and negative aspects of these religious sects for African Americans. It will make ties to the oppression of women in Islam, using the testimonies of the three women as case studies to compare to oppression of women and terrorist foment in Middle East, drawing on research by New York Times journalists and authors of Half the Sky, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wuddun.

Layla has recently secured interviews with the girls from al-Fuqra. This group has rarely been exposed. They are polygamists who occupy secluded land, and the girls are often molested by their stepfathers. Because the group condones and even encourages violence, many defectors are afraid to speak out, but Layla has finally found a girl who is willing to talk. She was so damaged by what she experienced with al-Fuqra that she became a porn star before obtaining her education and building the confidence to move forward.

The trailer doesn’t have any of the al-Fuqra/Muslims Of the Americas interviews in it, but that is a huge part of the documentary. Layla is the first person in the world to get insider interviews from former MOA members. It’s virtually impossible, because they are afraid of action against them. But Layla needs funds to finish this project.

Layla Merritt is a woman of courage. I am impressed by her perseverance and professionalism. And now she needs money to buy copyrighted images and pay for advanced editing expenses. Please help. Watch the trailer and you will see how worthy a project this is. And then please donate to Black From Islam by clicking the donate button below.

Saudi ‘regrets’ Indonesian maid’s mistreatment ~ beat, burnt, broke bones, stabbed and slashed with scissors

Islamization Watch

Nov. 17, 2010, Sumiati from Indonesia lies in a bed at King Fahd hospital in Medina, Saudi Arabia. She arrived in Saudi Arabia a high-spirited 23-year-old, eager to start work as a maid so she could help support her family back home. Four months later, Sumiati was Indonesia’s poster child for migrant abuse.

The real question is how many maids are going to have to be carried out of that place on a stretcher?

Kissing up:

..an official of the Indonesian consulate in Jeddah.

“(Ms) Sumiati is recovering now. She is in a good state of health … her appetite is good,” Mr Wahyudi told AFP.

“But she needs to be operated on at least once again, on her abdomen,” he added.

This is an example of how much the Indonesians don’t want to offend ~ there are two parts, people can earn a lot of money relative to what they earn in their countries. And two, the Indonesians view the Saudis as superior ~ as God’s chosen people.

These countries have classes on how to be a maid in a foreign country ~ where these girls could just as easily learn computers or some other valuable skill.
There are no laws to protect foreign workers. I’m surprised this lady was even arrested.

AN INDONESIAN maid badly beaten by her Saudi employer is recovering but faces more operations, an Indonesian diplomat said, as the Saudi labour ministry said it regretted the case.

Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa, 23, remains in hospital in Medina but faces more operations after being found two weeks ago suffering from stab wounds, burns to her scalp and other injuries from an abusive employer, said Diddi Wahyudi, an official of the Indonesian consulate in Jeddah.

“(Ms) Sumiati is recovering now. She is in a good state of health … her appetite is good,” Mr Wahyudi told AFP.

“But she needs to be operated on at least once again, on her abdomen,” he added.

The case shocked and outraged rights groups and labour activists as another example of the paucity of protection for millions of mostly Asian domestic workers, especially in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.

Her employer, a Saudi woman who has since been arrested, allegedly beat the maid, causing internal bleeding and broken bones, put a hot iron to her head and stabbed and slashed her with scissors.

Saudi Arabia’s labour ministry said in a statement it was sorry about the case, but called it an isolated incident.

Read more »

SRI Lanka is probing allegations that one of its nationals employed in Jordan was forced to swallow nails, in the third case involving alleged torture in three months.

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A housemaid identified as D M Chandima has told the Sri Lankan diplomatic mission in Amman that her employer forced her to swallow six nails, an official at the Foreign Employment Bureau of Sri Lanka said yesterday.

“We are awaiting a full report from doctors,” said the head of the bureau, Kingsley Ranawaka, adding that the authorities would decide on the next steps after looking at the medical evidence.

The report came as another Sri Lankan housemaid who had been working in Kuwait accused her employer of driving 14 wire nails into her body as punishment for failing in her work.

The woman, identified only as Lechchami, 38, underwent surgery to have the nails removed after returning home to Sri Lanka, the director of the hospital in the northwestern town of Kurunegala said on Saturday. (Herald Sun)

• Body of maid dumped in skip – reportHerald Sun, 2 hours ago
• Nail torture highlights maid abuseHerald Sun, 3 days ago
• Sri Lankan maid alleges torture in KuwaitHerald Sun, 6 days ago
• Servants need a slap, govt worker saysHerald Sun, 3 Sep 2010
• Nails extracted from Sri Lankan maidHerald Sun, 27 Aug 2010

Update:

Indonesian maids’ protection urged

Al Jizz

There are growing calls within Indonesia to stop sending migrant domestic workers to Saudi Arabia, following two cases of alleged torture by employers in the past week.

The Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTB) has already announced a moratorium on local women travelling to work in Saudi Arabia after Sumiati binti Salan Mustapa, a 23-year-old woman from the region, was hospitalised in the Saudi city of Medina.

“This moratorium is an assertion from the local administration, which also pushes for the central government to take action to stop abuse of Indonesian migrant workers, especially those from NTB,” Zainui Majdi, the governor of NTB, was quoting as saying by the news website kompas.com.

Majdi urged the central government to defend Sumiati’s rights and promised to provide her with compensation.

During her time working as a maid in Saudi Arabia, Sumiati’s employers allegedly burned her, broke her middle finger and cut her lips with scissors.

Saudi statement

Abdulrahman al-Khayyat, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Indonesia, said on Thursday that the case of Sumiati was “a very rare case”, according to The Jakarta Post newspaper.

But Anis Hidayah, the executive director of the Indonesia-based voluntary body Migrant Care, condemned al-Khayyat’s statement as “deceitful”, the daily reported.

His organisation has recorded 5,563 cases of alleged abuse of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia so far this year, including 1,090 allegations of physical abuse and 898 allegations of sexual abuse.

Sumiati, pictured, was allegedly cut with scissors and burned with an iron by her employers [AFP]

Amnesty International (AI), the London-based human-rights watchdog, said on Friday that the two cases could be just “the tip of the iceberg” concerning the “systematic abuse” of Asian women working as domestic servants in the Gulf region.

Gulf states “have to take steps to put an end to this horrific treatment of migrant domestic workers, by immediately removing the legal climate of impunity that allows employers to exploit, enslave, abuse, assault and injure their domestic workers with virtual impunity” Malcolm Smart, AI’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, said.

AI said Sumiati’s treatment symbolised the plight of foreign workers in the region.

Earlier this week, New York-based group Human Rights Watch urged Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait to do more to protect domestic workers in their countries, saying a string of allegations point to a “broader pattern of abuse”.

Indonesia has already demanded an investigation into reports that a maid was allegedly killed by her employer in Saudi Arabia and dumped in a bin – the second case of domestic worker abuse in the country to emerge this week.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia’s president, said on Friday that a team had been sent to the Saudi town of Abha to investigate reports of the murder of 36-year-old Kikim Komalasari binti Uko Marta.

Kikim was allegedly sexually and physically abused before her death.

Policy review

Muhaimin Iskandar, the Indonesian labour minister, said Komalasari’s neck had been slashed and she had severe cuts to the rest of her body.

“As ordered by the president, we will make a full review to reach a final conclusion over whether to continue or not [sending migrant workers],” he said after a cabinet meeting on the need to give greater protection to the country’s migrant workers in the Middle East – estimated to be close to one million.

Demanding justice for the “extraordinary torture“, Yudhoyono said: “We will launch an investigation this week for the two cases. It’s not only to seek justice but to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.”

Yudhoyono said he was encouraged by the Saudi government’s quick response, but said Indonesia was reviewing sending migrant workers to Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

“I’m hopeful the perpetrators will be punished according to law,” he said.

Thanks to the RoP

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

The Sowdi Barbarians  really have a way to treat their domestic servants:

(August 25, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mrs. L.T. Ariyawathi (49), a mother of three has returned from Saudi Arabia after less than five months of employment. Within a short time of her return she was hospitalized for an operation to remove 24 nails from her foot and a needle implanted by her employer. Doctors who x-rayed her at Kamburupitiya hospital have identified these items and are preparing to operate in order to remove them.

Mrs. Ariyawathie explained to the doctors about the manner in which husband and the wife of the family she went to serve as a domestic helper punished her after some house hold glass items fell from her hand. While the wife held her tightly the husband implanted the burning hot iron nails in her foot. On a separate occasion the wife implanted a needle in her forehead. (Sri Lanka Guardian)

Other links from the RoP:

• Gay Arab Kidnapped and Beaten by Family…
• Hezbollah Next to Demand ‘Peaceful’ Nuclear Power…
• Suicide Bomber Thwarted in Mauritania…
• US Citizen Slain Over Ahmadi Religion…
• Canada Finds ‘Asylum Refugees’ Vacationing Back…

Vlad Tepes Links:

• Surprise! Canadian Muslim leaders ‘shocked’ at Ottawa terror cell bust
• McDonalds doesn’t serve Mustard at Ramadan
• Two people assaulted in France for eating during Ramadam. One was not even Muslim
• Six busses shot at, in heavily Muslim, Malmo Sweden
• Greens may push to decriminalize polygamy

Warner Bros. had it all figured out in 1940

And now, the few who remember, are not allowed to say it.

Arab News

Saudi Arabia one of the largest aid donors in the world?

Saudi Arabia: “majority of housemaids treated well, its only the media”  that gives us (Islam) a bad name…

And anyway:

The Kingdom’s stand is very clear when it comes to human rights. Its gesture toward other countries is also well known; it is one of the largest aid donors in the world…. A country that maintains solid and good relations with the international community will not tolerate any kind of abuse within its borders and this is not just because Saudi Arabia follows the teachings of Islam, a great religion that denounces any kind of abuse even of animals, but because it is the natural act by any decent human being regardless of his religion.

Tortured Maid….

There is no end to the BS these goat-molesters expect us to believe. Read it and weep>>.

More:

• 79 Lashes for Gangrenous Maid Who Spoke Against Saudi Torturer
• Saudi: Indonesian maid tortured, hospital fears for her life
• The Horrid Conditions of Nepalese Maids in Saudi Arabia
• BBC NEWS | Middle East | Saudis urged to curb maid abuse

Even when maids are rescued, they are not allowed home without their employer’s permission, and the Indonesian and Filipino Consulates maintain safe houses where some maids spend years before being allowed home. Usually they have to drop all charges against their employer and renounce unpaid salary before the employer will give them the exit visa they need to leave.

Related news:

Pakistan: Christian maid burned alive to keep her from reporting rape

Another in a long line of stories of abuse of Christian workers by Muslims in Pakistan. This behavior has its roots in the doctrine that unbelievers are “vile” (Qur’an 98:6) and must be subjugated (9:29), and of the lawfulness in Islam of sex with slaves and captives (4:24). “Punjab: Christian maid burned alive to prevent her from reporting a rape,” by Fareed Khan for Asia News, via Jihad Watch

Lahore (AsiaNews) – A Christian girl was raped and burnt alive by the son of a Muslim master, for whom she worked as a maid. The girl died in hospital yesterday after two days of agony, for the burns on 80% of her body. The incident occurred in a small town in Punjab and has similar details to the sad story of Shazia Bashir, the 12 year old Christian raped and murdered by a powerful lawyer in Lahore, a crime still for which he is still unpunished.

Kiran George worked for a Muslim family in Sheikhupura, a Punjab town. The girl died yesterday at the Mayo Hospital in Lahore, where she was hospitalized on 9 March in critical condition. To unleash the murderous madness of the son of the employer the threat of a complaint of sexual assault.

Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Justice and Peace of the Catholic Church of Pakistan (NCJP), told AsiaNews that “the house of a Christian family was set on fire” as revenge because “a young man is accused of killing a Muslim.” The Catholic activist explains that the suspect, Yasir Abid, is “subject to pre-trial detention. The victim is the son of a Muslim landowner in the village of Kirtu Pandora, in the Narang Mandi”.

Mohammad Raza Ahmda raped the Christian girl who, at first, confided only with her friends for fear of losing her jobs. Her family’s conditions of extreme poverty had led the young girl to remain silent. When Kiran George threatened her tormentor of telling her story to the police, the young man blocked her escape and closing the door, he poured gasoline all over her with the help of his sister, setting her on fire.

The Muslim master, instead of bringing the girl to the hospital, called her parents telling them that her clothes caught fire while cleaning the kitchen. Kiran George was subjected to two days of slow agony, however, before dying, she told the whole story to the police who opened an investigation file on the young man.

Also in Punjab a crowd of Muslims robbed and burned the house of a Christian family. The assault happened on 10 March in Narang Mandi, a town in the district of Sheikhupura. The extremist’s anger was triggered by the alleged involvement of a Christian in the killing of the son of a local landowner. The mob also burnt some copies of the Bible.

Christian families denounced the “deliberate burning” of some copies of the Bible kept inside the home. Police started to investigate and evaluate whether to open a file of investigation for the crime of blasphemy. In this case, says Peter Jacob, the judiciary “will not act under section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, which provides for punishment up to life imprisonment for those who desecrate the Koran, but does not provide for the holy books of other religions”.

“We are against the blasphemy laws – concludes activist NCJP - and this applies regardless of the sacred text or who is guilty of the crime.” However, he hopes for “thorough investigations” and the punishment of those who “burned the house of the Christian family.”

“Not fit for the job..!”

Arab Times

Kuwait : A man in charge of a maid recruiting agency has accused a Kuwaiti citizen of raping two Eritrean maids recruited by him, reports Al-Shahid.
In a case registered at the Jahra police station, the man said the citizen had come to his office and taken the girls on a trial basis. The citizen had promised to transfer their residence if their work was good. The man said he was surprised when the citizen returned the maids the next day claiming they were not fit for the job, taking advantage of the maids’ inability to understand Arabic. After he left the two maids revealed they were raped by the Kuwaiti and his friend.
Investigations are underway to find and arrest the citizen and his friend.

Women in Islam: Zaynab and the Beast - Mumin Salih

Sri Lankan maid fractures legs in attempt to escape sponsor

To use the term “maid” is a misnomer – these women (and boys) are nothing more than modern day SLAVES. Slaves to be abused, raped, tortured, maimed, and killed.

LINK

Gulf labour laws fail to halt abuse Al Jazeera

• Maid’s Screwdriver Stabbing, Strangulation, Throat-Slitting Death Ruled Accidental…
• KUWAIT CITY, Dec 2, 2009:  An Asian housemaid died Tuesday after her sponsor allegedly detained and tortured her for two days.

Arabs were slave-hunters and traders long before Christianity and before Muhammad invented Islam…. slavery is sanctioned in the Koran and since the Koran is the word of Allah….

By Shabna Aziz/Saudi Gazette

DAMMAM – A housemaid, 48, is convalescing in Dammam Medical Complex after she jumped from the second floor of her sponsor’s home to “escape from the torturing sponsor and family”.
Rita Joseph from Sri Lanka fractured both her legs as a result of the high jump. Her backbone is also broken. (“Rita Joseph” sounds like she’s a Christian./ed)

Update: Kuwaiti gets 10 years in jail for torturing maid to death

He’ll be out in less than two. If a guy can get away with murdering his wife in an ‘honor killing’ with a few months, why would they keep him longer for killing a lowly maid servant, an infidel on top of it?

• Filipino maid hurt in bid to get away
• Sowdi Arabia: “At Least She Hasn’t got AIDS”
• Maids ‘treated as slaves’ in Saudi Arabia
• Runaway Maids in Saudi Arabia
• Spotlight on Saudi Slave Abuse of Foreign Maids…
• Foreign Female Workers Were Tortured to Death, Saudi ambassador Said “It Was Her Destiny”

The housemaid revealed her tragic story to Saudi Gazette from her hospital bed. It has been only two months since she came to Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic helper. She was offered SR650 as a monthly salary by the agency which recruited her.
Unfortunately, since the very first day of her job, she alleges that she had to undergo physical torture at the hands of her sponsor and his family. “They used to beat me for each and everything. ‘Baba’ and another man together grabbed me by the neck and hit me on the head. They pulled my hair and used to drag me by the hair,” she said with tears welling up in her eyes. “I was afraid to even sleep in fear of someone coming and beating me,” she said.
According to Joseph, the wife of the sponsor was equally abusive. She showed the bruises inflicted by the sponsor’s wife, whom she calls ‘Mama.’
“Mama always beat me if she was not satisfied with my work. Even worse is that they did not let me talk to my family back home. Whenever I tried to call Sri Lanka, they snatched the phone from me,” she said sobbing.
Rita alleged she was given hardly anything to eat. “They used to give me only the leftovers and sometimes that too was denied,” she said.
“I decided to escape when Baba and yet another man hit me when I accidentally spilled some milk. I fell down and when they continued to beat me, I begged them on my knees not to hit me further. Then they beat me on my back and the pain was so severe that I felt that I could not endure such treatment any longer. I packed a small bag with my clothes and jumped out through an opening in the wall from the second floor. After the jump, I could not walk, so I crawled outside and fell on the street. Police found me and hospitalized me,” she said.
“The sponsor and wife came here and Mama took all my belongings including my ‘Thali’ necklace,” she said. (Thali is the symbol of marriage in the subcontinent, worn by married women from the day of their marriage)
Rita said someone representing the Sri Lankan embassy came to see her in the hospital, but they never returned. All she wants now is to go back to Sri Lanka. “They did not give me a single riyal as salary, but now, all I want is to go back to my family in Sri Lanka. When I came to Saudi Arabia, I never thought I would have to endure such hardships. I don’t want to go back to my sponsor’s family, I want to go to Sri Lanka and never come back,” she added.
Saudi Gazette contacted the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh and the expatriate’s welfare wing attaché confirmed that the embassy was handling the case of Rita Joseph. He said that the embassy had received a written complaint from the maid’s relatives in Sri Lanka.
According to the attaché, embassy officials have visited her in Dammam Medical Complex based on the complaint received from Sri Lanka and have gathered detailed information. The embassy is now proceeding with all necessary formalities to send her back to Sri Lanka as soon as she was able to travel. – SG

Hospital fears for abused maid’s life

The maid was admitted to hospital on Dec. 20, 2009 after she fell from the third floor of her sponsor’s apartment building.

The maid, Sariti Haiti, told hospital authorities that she had been tortured by her sponsor. She was brought to hospital by Red Crescent officials with injuries and bruises on different parts of her body. Initial reports said the maid’s backbone and neck were broken after falling from the building. Arab News has more>>

Daily Express: MUSLIMS COULD GET OWN POLICE

Surprised? Well, they already have their own neighborhood police, just ask Omar Brooks aka Abu Izzadeen... who keep infidels out of Muslim territory…

• “Shariah safeguards stability”: Mufti Al-Sheikh

Canada: Kingston Police Call It A “Muslim Honor Killing”

Now watch the ummah howl:

At 2pm est today, on a CFRA radio press conference, it was announced that the police have finally described the deaths of four Afghan-Canadian girls and women, as a “Muslim honor killing.” If the police are right, this is the fifth known honor killing in Canada since 1999 and it brings the death toll to nine victims. I am no statistician but I have friends who are and they tell me that this is a very high number given that the Muslim and Sikh population in Canada is no more than one million.

Read the complete original version of this item from Phillis Chesler

Pamela has more, much more… EVEN MORE HONOR KILLINGS IN CANADA

• US – Israel relations on the rocks
• Obama sides with black racist PoS
• One of three Australians killed in Jakarta hotel attackse flown home

Religious Cleansing in Iran: Islam has very little  tolerance for others once it gains the upper hand.

Obama nominee: Animals can sue people

A consumer-freedom group says President Obama’s nominee for “regulatory czar” is an “animal-rights zealot” who may make life difficult for hunters and meat-eaters. More>>

Kuwaiti Gets Light Sentence for Beating, Torturing, Killing Maid…

Christian Shot Eight Times for Refusing to Pay Jizya…

Here is a stinging indictment of the historical revisionism and outright denial surrounding the treatment of black Africans under Islamic regimes. “The trouble with Black Muslims,” by Rudolf Okonkwo for the Examiner, June 28 via JW:

Even Obama cannot say it. But someone has to say it.

We cannot be talking about this season of hate without mentioning the steep decline into actionable hate by misguided black Muslims.

The first time I met a black Muslim in America was in the 90s. I had just arrived from England and this man wearing a bow tie and three-piece-suit approached me with a copy of the Final Call newspaper – the official mouthpiece of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam. He wanted me to buy the newspaper but I resisted. He told me it was the bestselling newspaper in America. I told him I was new in America but I was sure the Final Call could not be the bestselling newspaper in America.

“You’ve been brainwashed,” the man said to me.
“By whom?” I asked.
“By the blue-eyed white devils who run the world.”
“O’ yeah.”
“They don’t want you to know the truth.”
“Like what?”
“Like all the great things our forefathers did.”
“Like what?”
“Bro, you have to open your eyes. We have to get on with the program of our forefathers.” “And what is that program?”That was how we began a discussion about the world and the place of the black man in it.

*  Reparations Disclaimer on Slavery Apology Outrages Congressional Black Caucus, “More Than Just an Apology Should be Made”….

“Why are you a Muslim?” I asked him at one point.
“Because my people were Muslims before the blue-eyed white devils bought us and brought us to America as slaves and forced us to be Christians and to worship a blue-eyed Christ.”
“O’ yeah.”
“Yes!”
“But I am from Africa and my grandfather was never a Muslim nor was he a Christian.”

He was shocked when I said that.

“It is OK if you want to be a Muslim and follow Elijah Muhammed and changed your name to Muhammed, too. But don’t tell me you are trying to be like your forefathers,” I said. [...]

Some of these people are carrying their misguided and misrepresented history and anger out in the open and are even planning to act on them. It concerns me. And it should concern you, too.

First of all, I came from a country where there are Muslims. Those who have Arabic features assume superior position over those who are black. In many instances, the black Muslims are totally disregarded, treated as inconsequential.

I have asked black Muslims mad at how white people treated black slaves to ask themselves were the millions of slaves the Arab world took from Africa were? They disappeared. They were used and disposed of. If not, the Arab world would be booming with its own share of black men and women.

I have asked black Muslims mad at the “war” between the West and Islam to look at the genocide in Darfur and find out how Muslims treat their black brothers and sisters.

In Africa, the homeland of all black people, Islam came from the Middle East and Christianity came from Europe and they all exerted inordinate damage. But where Islam touched, there is no recognition of the ways of life of the people. Islam, being a way of life, swallowed all that was African in the people.

All black people must think before they jump from frying pan to fire. And before you pick up arms to fight for those Talibans dying in Afghanistan, spare a minute for two million children who die of malaria each year in Sub-Saharan Africa. Those are your people. For real!

Read it all.