Former Muslims Need Urgent Protection from the U.S. Government

by Nonie Darwish

Hudson Institute

The US government must protect its citizens not only from the terrorism of jihad, but also from Islamic Laws condemning Muslims to death and that encourage vigilante street justice.

How can a former Muslim like Rifqa, or like myself, live in peace in America when there are neighborhood mosques reading scriptures, to their believers telling them to kill Muslims who left the religion?.

Even if 10% of Muslims in America follow Sharia as it is taught, we are in trouble. Muslim scriptures such as the Sahih hadith by Mohammad 9:50 states: “No Umma (a member of the Muslim community) should be killed for killing a Kaffir (an infidel). . . Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him.”

There is no peace for the apostate, not even in the West. The above threat is real and will increase exponentially with the growth of the Muslim population and those who demand Sharia as a religious right. No religion should give the right to its followers to kill others, period.

In spite of the clear danger to the life of Muslims who leave Islam, both the legal system and mainstream media still don’t get it. The most recent case in the US of the 17-year old girl, Rifqa Bary, is an example.

US courts need proof (even though it is clearly stated in Islamic law books) that Islamic Law condemn apostates to death and encourage any Muslim on the street, even family members, to kill them. The Western media do not seem to be interested in the topic. That is the same media that dedicates weeks of valuable air time to ridiculous claims of human rights violations.

Ms. Bary, Muslim convert to Christianity, had good instincts when she realized the great danger to her life, escaped from her home in Ohio and sought protection from the Christian community in Orlando Florida. If she had not escaped, she could have been yet another statistic of Muslims killed for leaving Islam.

The following are some laws on apostasy in mainstream Sharia books:

Apostates are to be given three days to repent and return to Islam. If s/he refuses, s/he is immediately killed. All Sharia books agree unanimously on this point. (Hanafi law in general, Shafi’i law f1.3, Hanbali law (from Al Mughni), Maliki law and Codified Islamic law).

It is obligatory for the caliph to ask him to repent and return to Islam. If he does, it is accepted from him, but if he refuses, he is immediately killed.

There is no indemnity for killing an apostate, or any expiation, as it is killing someone who deserves to die

Testimony of apostates is not admissible.

An apostate does not inherit from Muslim parents.

Marriage of an apostate is immediately dissolved if the spouse is and remains Muslim.
The above laws have kept Muslims enslaved inside the iron curtain of the Islamic State under penalty of death for 1400 years and still continues. Laws encouraging the killing of non-Mulims, especially those who left Islam, also extend to non-Muslim nations, not just individuals. According to Sharia, non-Muslim nations are invited to convert to Islam; if they refuse, a jihad war must begin.

The commandment to wage violent wars against non-Muslim countries was given a pretty name by Sharia; jihad became a sacred duty for every Muslim head of State and individual.

It is astounding how many Muslims have been desensitized to feeling of any sympathy or guilt toward murdered victims of apostasy laws and jihad. In Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and so on, the majority of the population believe that apostates must be killed and that jihad against non-Muslim countries a badge of honor. I do not wish to see the same desensitization happen in the West, but the silence of Western media is deafening.

Former Muslims need protection now from the US government and court system. We need protection from Sharia Islamic Law.

Nonie Darwish, ex-Muslim and author of the book on Sharia, Cruel and Usual Punishment

Free joomla and wp templates provider

I would like to return a link to this new site, a simple but really useful link resource if you are looking for free website templates. I found the site in the referrer list in my site statistics, and it was a nice surprise. I really like the way that the logotypes are used, and the fact that there are no ads on the site. Unfortunately, the layout breaks in IE7, but that will probably be fixed soon…

Rick Blalock of Beauty in Design will be porting a number of my designs into Joomla templates. The first port has already been released: andreas07 for Joomla. The demo looks really good, so it will be really interesting to see more Joomla versions.

I hope that OpenWebDesign.org will be added to the list as well, that would make the site even better. Go check it out!

Music on the web downloads

Just a note today, as a reaction to the fact that Swedish police is once again arresting people for "filesharing": It is in no way illegal to download music or distribute it through filesharing networks. People seem to believe so since media often mix up filesharing with music piracy. What is illegal is to spread copies of music (or other original works) without the permission from the owner or original author. But as most people realize today, there is much more free (or cheap) non-commercial music available on the net than there is commercial music in your closest record store. And if the original author allows you to download and share the music, it is not just legal – it is a great way of helping the artist to get the music heard by more people.

I don't think that this post will stop people from sending angry e-mails about "copyright infringements" to me, but I still want to make it perfectly clear: I am the author of most of these songs (and the co-author of the rest of them) and from now on I will ignore e-mails that tell me that I have been reported to the police because I have downloadable music on my site. Don't let the commercial music industry fool you. Please give yourself a chance to discover the wonderful world of non-commercial music on the web. Chances are big that you'll find many great artists, and many hours of great music – for free!

This music can be downloaded, shared, re-distributed and used in various projects without any other obligation than giving credits to the original author. The only thing you can't do is sell it, and that is simply because the music should stay free. I can't say that the music is very professional or even good, since most of it is old music made just for the fun of it, But the lagoona have been downloaded in more than 8 million copies over the years so atleast some songs could be worth listening to. Read more about Lagoona on Wikipedia if you want to learn more.

The Poetry Of Hafiz Collection

Hafiz, a Sufi poet, expressed in poetry love for the divine, and the intoxicating oneness of union with it. Hafiz, along with many Sufi masters, uses wine as the symbol for love. The intoxication that results from both is why it is such a fitting comparison. Hafiz spoke out about the hypocrisy and deceit that exists in society, and was more outspoken in pointing this out than many poets similar to him.

All the Hemispheres

Leave the familiar for a while.

Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season

Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.

Make a new water-mark on your excitement

And love.

Like a blooming night flower,

Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness

And giving

Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence

Lie beside an equator

In your heart.

Greet Yourself

In your thousand other forms

As you mount the hidden tide and travel

Back home.

All the hemispheres in heaven

Are sitting around a fire

Chatting

While stitching themselves together

Into the Great Circle inside of

You.

From: 'The Subject Tonight is Love'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

From the Large Jug, Drink

From the large jug, drink the wine of Unity,

So that from your heart you can wash away the futility of life's grief.

But like this large jug, still keep the heart expansive.

Why would you want to keep the heart captive, like an unopened bottle

of wine?

With your mouth full of wine, you are selfless

And will never boast of your own abilities again.

Be like the humble stone at your feet rather than striving to be like a

Sublime cloud: the more you mix colors of deceit, the more colorless

your ragged wet coat will get.

Connect the heart to the wine, so that it has body,

Then cut off the neck of hypocrisy and piety of this new man.

Be like Hafiz: Get up and make an effort. Don't lie around like a bum.

He who throws himself at the Beloved's feet is like a workhorse and will

be rewarded with boundless pastures and eternal rest.

From: Drunk on the Wine of the Beloved

Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

I Have Learned So Much

I

Have

Learned

So much from God

That I can no longer

Call

Myself

A Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,

a Buddhist, a Jew.

The Truth has shared so much of Itself

With me

That I can no longer call myself

A man, a woman, an angel,

Or even a pure

Soul.

Love has

Befriended Hafiz so completely

It has turned to ash

And freed

Me

Of every concept and image

my mind has ever known.

From: 'The Gift'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Let Thought Become Your

Beautiful Lover

Let thought become the beautiful Woman.

Cultivate your mind and heart to that depth

That it can give you everything

A warm body can.

Why just keep making love with God's child-- Form

When the Friend Himself is standing

Before us

So open-armed?

My dear,

Let prayer become your beautiful Lover

And become free,

Become free of this whole world

Like Hafiz.

From: 'The Gift'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

School of Truth

O fool, do something, so you won't just stand there looking dumb.

If you are not traveling and on the road, how can you call yourself a guide?

In the School of Truth, one sits at the feet of the Master of Love.

So listen, son, so that one day you may be an old father, too!

All this eating and sleeping has made you ignorant and fat;

By denying yourself food and sleep, you may still have a chance.

Know this: If God should shine His lovelight on your heart,

I promise you'll shine brighter than a dozen suns.

And I say: wash the tarnished copper of your life from your hands;

To be Love's alchemist, you should be working with gold.

Don't sit there thinking; go out and immerse yourself in God's sea.

Having only one hair wet with water will not put knowledge in that head.

For those who see only God, their vision

Is pure, and not a doubt remains.

Even if our world is turned upside down and blown over by the wind,

If you are doubtless, you won't lose a thing.

O Hafiz, if it is union with the Beloved that you seek,

Be the dust at the Wise One's door, and speak!

From: 'Drunk On the Wind of the Beloved'

Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

Laughing At the Word Two

Only

That Illumined

One

Who keeps

Seducing the formless into form

Had the charm to win my

Heart.

Only a Perfect One

Who is always

Laughing at the word

Two

Can make you know

Of

Love.

From: 'The Gift'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

I Know The Way You Can Get

I know the way you can get

When you have not had a drink of Love:

Your face hardens,

Your sweet muscles cramp.

Children become concerned

About a strange look that appears in your eyes

Which even begins to worry your own mirror

And nose.

Squirrels and birds sense your sadness

And call an important conference in a tall tree.

They decide which secret code to chant

To help your mind and soul.

Even angels fear that brand of madness

That arrays itself against the world

And throws sharp stones and spears into

The innocent

And into one's self.

O I know the way you can get

If you have not been drinking Love:

You might rip apart

Every sentence your friends and teachers say,

Looking for hidden clauses.

You might weigh every word on a scale

Like a dead fish.

You might pull out a ruler to measure

From every angle in your darkness

The beautiful dimensions of a heart you once

Trusted.

I know the way you can get

If you have not had a drink from Love's

Hands.

That is why all the Great Ones speak of

The vital need

To keep remembering God,

So you will come to know and see Him

As being so Playful

And Wanting,

Just Wanting to help.

That is why Hafiz says:

Bring your cup near me.

For all I care about

Is quenching your thirst for freedom!

All a Sane man can ever care about

Is giving Love!

From: 'I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

I've Said It Before and I'll Say It Again

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

It's not my fault that with a broken heart, I've gone this way.

In front of a mirror they have put me like a parrot,

And behind the mirror the Teacher tells me what to say.

Whether I am perceived as a thorn or a rose, it's

The Gardener who has fed and nourished me day to day.

O friends, don't blame me for this broken heart;

Inside me there is a great jewel and it's to the Jeweler's shop I go.

Even though, to pious, drinking wine is a sin,

Don't judge me; I use it as a bleach to wash the color of hypocrisy away.

All that laughing and weeping of lovers must be coming from some other place;

Here, all night I sing with my winecup and then moan for You all day.

If someone were to ask Hafiz, "Why do you spend all your time sitting in

The Winehouse door?," to this man I would say, "From there, standing,

I can see both the Path and the Way.

From: Drunk on the Wind of the Beloved

Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

The music and tv ads is online

This is a temporary solution. This page will be updated with lots of information, such as biography, discography, photos, lyrics and other related material. And of course also the free music collection. Other things that have been requested and that may be included are album art for our different album releases, downloadable live recordings, DJ mixes, remix kits, samples, acapella vocals and even old gig reports like we had on the Lagoona website back in the days. I have lots of material like that, and I will go through it all and add whatever I think is worth adding. But my entire website will need a structural update before I can add any material at all, so it will take a while to get it online.

Lagoona was an electronic music project that I founded together with Björn "Virtuos" Karlsson in September 1996. It was my main music project between 1996-2003, and though the band was put to rest several years ago, the music is still alive and finding new listeners every day thanks to the internet. The Lagoona adventures gave me lots of amazing experiences and memories, and it changed my life in many positive ways. This page is where I share both the music and the story with anyone who wants to listen…

However, the official Lagoona music collection is currently offline while I re-arrange the songs and my music pages in a better way. In the meantime, you can download some of the most popular songs from my artist page on purevolume. No registration is needed, just click the "Download" link for the song you want. You can also preview the songs before you download them, using the built-in music player on the page.

As I prepared for watching one of my favorite humor shows on Swedish TV4 earlier tonight, I got an interesting surprise. In the local ads before the show, I heard a melody that felt incredibly familiar. It was my own track "Sweet things", which was used to promote a company that I never saw the name of. While it is always fun to hear my music on TV, I can't remember that I have given any permission for commercial use of that song. Not that I mind, but I really want to know if the music is used like this, and I had no idea about it. It makes me a bit worried, as I have had my music stolen several times before. I need to check it out tomorrow.

Once the music archive comes online (I'm working on it right now!), all songs will be available for free for non-commercial use – and available for licencing for commercial use.