False Religion ==>> False Fast.
A brief introduction to the true purpose and meaning of fasting, followed by an article on why Muslim crimes spike during Ramadan.
Many point to the great piety of Muslims, who fast for an entire month each year. Yet the fast of Ramadan is linked to the beginning of jihad to extend Islam by the sword, and is so important that in the Muslim world failing to observe Ramadan can get you arrested or killed, whether you are Muslim or not. (See here, here, here and here.)
Ramadan is also the month when we traditionally see a sharp increase in Muslim oppression of Christians and other non-Muslims, as Raymond Ibrahim has been reporting on for years. (See Raymond's book Crucified Again, as well as this 2012 article.)
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Ramadan 2014 Scorecard
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* 2014.07.03 - A Myanmar Muslim was killed by Buddhists on rumor of a rape. (A Buddhist was also killed by Muslims during the same riot).
Compiled by thereligionofpeace.com
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Orthodox Christians also fast fairly rigorously during Great Lent and the Nativity Fast (hopefully without binge eating at the end of the day!), and a little less rigorously during the Apostles Fast in June, and during the Dormition Fast in August. Yet one never hears of an increased crime rate in Orthodox Christian nations or communities during these periods, and one never hears of Orthodox Christian terrorist attacks or suicide bombings.
Could it be that there is something about Islam which fosters a culture in which can thrive violence, criminality, and the "Ramadan Rage" of which the below article speaks?
Why yes, there is. For starters, we have the sacred texts of Islam itself (the Quran, and the hadiths, sayings and deeds of Muhammad), which command violence against non-Muslims:
Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [i.e. Islam] among the people of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Quran 9:29)
Kill the mushrikun [unbelievers] wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. (Quran 9:5)
I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes. (Quran 8:12)
Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the enemies of Allah and your enemies. (Quran 8:60)
What would you say of the religion that commands fasting, but also commands one to fight, kill and subjugate the infidels?
Simply put, false religion results in a false fast. And no amount of fasting can please God or compensate for fourteen centuries of bloodshed and warfare against unbelievers.
But there is a true way of fasting, just as there is a True Faith. Consider how the Orthodox Church approaches Great Lent and the other fasting seasons of the year (from The True Nature of Fasting by Mother Mary and Bishop Kallistos Ware):
But what is meant by this word 'fast' (nisteia)? Here the utmost care is needed, so as to preserve a proper balance between the outward and the inward. On the outward level fasting involves physical abstinence from food and drink, and without such exterior abstinence a full and true fast cannot be kept; yet the rules about eating and drinking must never be treated as an end in themselves, for ascetic fasting has always an inward and unseen purpose...
The primary aim of fasting is to make us conscious of our dependence upon God. If practiced seriously, the Lenten abstinence from food - particularly in the opening days - involves a considerable measure of real hunger, and also a feeling of tiredness and physical exhaustion. The purpose of this is to lead us in turn to a sense of inward brokenness and contrition; to bring us, that is, to the point where we appreciate the full force of Christ's statement, 'Without Me you can do nothing' (John 15: 5). If we always take our fill of food and drink, we easily grow over-confident in our own abilities, acquiring a false sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency. The observance of a physical fast undermines this sinful complacency. Stripping from us the specious assurance of the Pharisee - who fasted, it is true, but not in the right spirit - Lenten abstinence gives us the saving self dissatisfaction of the Publican (Luke I 8: 10-1 3). Such is the function of the hunger and the tiredness: to make us 'poor in spirit', aware of our helplessness and of our dependence on God's aid...
During Lent there is frequently a limitation on the number of meals eaten each day, but when a meal is permitted there is no restriction on the amount of food allowed. The Fathers simply state, as a guiding principle, that we should never eat to satiety but always rise from the table feeling that we could have taken more and that we are now ready for prayer...
If it is important not to overlook the physical requirements of fasting, it is even more important not to overlook its inward significance. Fasting is not a mere matter of diet. It is moral as well as physical. True fasting is to be converted in heart and will; it is to return to God, to come home like the Prodigal to our Father's house. In the words of St. John Chrysostom, it means 'abstinence not only from food but from sins'. 'The fast', he insists, 'should be kept not by the mouth alone but also by the eye, the ear, the feet, the hands and all the members of the body': the eye must abstain from impure sights, the ear from malicious gossip, the hands from acts of injustice. It is useless to fast from food, protests St. Basil, and yet to indulge in cruel criticism and slander: 'You do not eat meat, but you devour your brother'. The same point is made in the Triodion, especially during the first week of Lent:
As we fast from food, let us abstain also from every passion... Let us observe a fast acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. True fasting is to put away all evil, To control the tongue, to forbear from anger, To abstain from lust, slander, falsehood and perjury. If we renounce these things, then is our fasting true and acceptable to God. Let us keep the Fast not only by refraining from food, But by becoming strangers to all the bodily passions.
by Jeremy Wilson, Breitbart London — July 7, 2014
The Holy Month of Ramadan is upon us. Most people know the month-long fast is a time Muslims are expected to demonstrate self-control, humility and submission to the will to Allah. What you might not know is that throughout Ramadan emergency services are overwhelmed by a spike in crime—a phenomenon known as “Ramadan rage,” which affects not just Muslim countries, but cities with high concentrations of believers, from Dearborn to Deptford.
The effects of this gruelling annual fast have been widely studied. Researchers say those taking part risk migraines, dehydration, dizziness, tachycardia, nausea, circulatory collapse... and even gout, owing to a build-up of uric acid. Indigestion caused by binge eating is also a concern—as is weight gain: Muslims often pile on the pounds during the summer months.
But aside from these medical risks, and more pertinent to the emergency services and law and order, is the primary side effect of not eating, drinking or smoking in the daytime: irritability that can spill over into violence.
Short-temperedness doesn’t just affect abstainers during the first few days of self-denial; rather, irritability increases continuously throughout the month, leading to shorter and shorter fuses as Eid al-Fitr, the blow-out party to mark the end of the fast, approaches. It is perhaps no surprise then that antisocial behaviour and domestic abuse surge throughout the Muslim world in the Holy Month.
One of the most expansive studies of this annual crime wave in Algeria revealed petty crime increased by a staggering 220 percent during Ramadan. Fights, disputes and assaults rose by 320 percent and instances of women and children being beaten at home increased by 120 percent. In addition, there was a 410 percent increase in accidents of various kinds and an 80 percent increase in deaths.
The findings of the Algerian study are widely corroborated. From Egypt to Indonesia, recorded violent crime increases by incredible percentages throughout the fast. In addition, Ramadan exacerbates other social problems and spawns specific crimes all its own: offenses not generally seen at other times of the year. Child traffickers in Yemen, for example, take advantage of the increase in food prices to purchase children from poor parents.
Non-Muslims are targeted for not observing the fast; church burnings are a given during Ramadan. But it’s not just religious minorities in Muslim countries who are attacked: it happens here, too. In 2010, a man was brutally beaten in Tower Hamlets by a gang of young Muslim men for not observing Ramadan. He was battered unconscious and left with serious injuries. No one was charged over the incident, leading to accusations that the police suppressed evidence because they feared being accused of “racism” or “islamophobia.”
In Muslim countries, governments prepare for Ramadan by boosting police patrols and carrying out public awareness campaigns about crime and the increase in accidents that is also a regular fixture of the fast. Of course, the emergency services in the U.K., hamstrung by political correctness, are more reticent to publicly acknowledge the challenges posed by Ramadan.
That’s not to say there aren’t figures available, if you dig for them: a study by the Accident and Emergency Department of St Mary’s Hospital, London in 1994 revealed a significant rise in the number of Muslims attending accident and emergency in Ramadan. This increase in road traffic accidents and other sorts of unfortunate incidents is hardly surprising, given that sustained fasting dramatically affects cognitive function.
The rigours of fasting are particularly difficult for British Muslims, who have to endure longer periods without food and water than those closer to the equator. It’s even worse for Muslims in Scandinavia: there are parts of northern Norway where the sun never sets in summer.
The NHS, of course, makes no mention of all this in their official Ramadan guidance, though it does warn that people on peritoneal dialysis shouldn't fast but “should perform fidyah,” a religious donation to the poor, instead. The guidance says that while withholding food and water for 19 hours to children under the age of seven or eight isn't “advisable,” it can be “tolerated differently, depending on the attitude of the parents.”
British police, too, are notorious for their “soft-touch” approach to policing Ramadan. The Greater Manchester Police in England have been widely criticised over the last decade for giving lip service to the problem of drunk and drugged-up Muslim gangs, who have for years descended on the Eid al-Fitr celebrations in Rusholme each year, racing their cars up and down the High Street.
Every year, the police force requests that “anyone wishing to bring or cause problems” should stay away; every year, ugly scenes return to the city. In 2012, a Muslim man taking part in the celebrations used his car as a weapon in an attempted murder.
The Manchester force’s reluctance to take a firm stance on Eid celebrations shouldn’t surprise us: they once even ordered officers not to arrest Muslims at prayer times during Ramadan, a concession not awarded to any other religion and one that was later rescinded after sustained public outrage about how blatantly the force was awarding special treatment to one faith.
Only in Bradford, England have the police admitted that the Holy Month produces an increase in crime. They have been advised by local community leaders that the increase is probably down to youths “taking advantage of the fact their parents could be occupied with observing Ramadan.”
But that doesn’t tell the whole story, because it’s grown-ups too. Last week, Asian Image, a newspaper that bills itself as “the voice of the British Asian” painted a vivid word picture of verbally abusive parents, road rage, angry smokers, zombified fasters and domestic abuse around last year’s holy festivities.
Emergency and health services don’t shy away from cracking down on bad behaviour at other times of year. Anti-drink driving messages saturate our screens at Christmas and this year Home Secretary Theresa May and the NHS warned men not to lose their temper after World Cup matches, citing rises in domestic violence around major sporting events.
But will the general public ever be adequately warned about chaotic scenes on the streets of Southall, Bradford, Leicester and Birmingham during the supposedly peaceful month of Ramadan? Don’t hold your breath.
