Remember how critics of the execution of Saddam Hussein expressed their outrage that the Iraqis had profaned the Eid celebrations? Recall how people argued that Muslim celebrations of this holiday are marked by a suspension of all hostilities and a focus on unity and peace? Perhaps some Muslims didn't get the memo:

Outraged in-laws slashed the nose and ears of a Pakistani college student who married a woman without the consent of her higher-caste family, and then fractured his legs with blows from an ax, police and the victim said.

Mohammed Iqbal told The Associated Press on Wednesday about 30 male relatives of his wife stormed into his mother's village home during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha, demanding vengeance for the "dishonor" the marriage had brought to their family.

"You have mixed our honor with dirt," Iqbal, 22, speaking from his hospital bed, recounted the attackers chanting as they assaulted him with a dagger and ax on Monday night. They also slit his brother's ears and shot his mother in the thigh, he said.

Police officer Manzoor Ahmed in the city of Multan, where the three victims are recuperating, said seven men suspected of involvement in the attack in Inayatpur Mahota village, Punjab province, have been arrested and police were hunting for 22 other suspects.

Once again, the cute notions of Islam as a religion of peace rather than a religion of submission show more Westomorphism rather than reality. Muslims may indeed value peace and a suspension of hostilities during Eid, but it hardly keeps them from taking care of business when necessary.

The execution of Saddam Hussein had its share of problems, and certainly some of the criticisms of it are perfectly valid. The Iraqi government should have taken its time and planned it better, and they should have ensured that it would not turn into a Moqtada al-Sadr rally. Saddam would be just as dead either way, but the Iraqi government suffered damage it didn't need to take. However, let's quit pretending that Muslims find violence in service of their agendas unacceptable during Eid, and let's stop with the political correctness that assumes Western values where they don't apply.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is