Allahu Akbar, roughly translated as “God is Great” is one of the most celebrated expressions in world religion. Any reasonable exploration of Islamic faith and culture will reveal the intense weight and significance given to those words. And fuck those fanatical, crackpot Jihadists who have ruined the words by shouting them just before blowing themselves up along with their victims. Apparently, they actually believe that they’ll be given 72 virgins in the afterlife. What do they think they’re gonna do with 72 virgins? Shit, I’d be delighted to have four well-seasoned 35 year olds. And they could all be grad students so that after the amazing sex we could have these great conversations.
US Navy Seal Team Six entered Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011. As Bin Laden fumbled clumsily with an AK-47, one well-placed burst from an M-4 tactical carbine ended his life. He instantly found himself in a small room crowded with 72 teen age girls. They were all chattering incessantly, texting and doing social media. Bin Laden said, “This cannot be the will of Allah.”
Let’s see your average bone head American Evangelical Christian do five rigorous prayer sessions with prostrations every day like practicing Muslims do. Following 9/11, I attended a couple of prayer sessions at Eugene’s Islamic Center with my friend Abdullah al Hemyare. The fierce devotion and passion of the Islamic faith were palpable there. La Illaha Ill Allah Hu means There is nothing that is not God. Ishq Allah Mabud Leila means God is Love, Lover and Beloved. Let us love and appreciate the Muslims among us. Let us merely hope that, like the Christian Inquisition, the nuttier trappings of the Islamic faith will soon recede into history. Allahu Akbar.