Word: koran
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...propaganda is aimed at young and old alike, with frightening effect. In one Palestinian video, a costumed girl no more than nine or ten shouts, "I will never, never compromise. In my right hand is a Koran, in my left hand is a knife." As the audience applauds, Chairman Arafat is seen tenderly kissing her on the cheek for her performance. Can any rational person blame the Israelis for questioning Arafat's true intentions? Although, to be sure, there are extremist elements in Israel who have caused much harm, such pervasive, state-encouraged hate simply does not exist, nor could...
...this miserable nation for so long that the prospects of its recovery, even if the Taliban were to vanish tomorrow, are distant at best. And now the Taliban have outraged world opinion with yet another bizarre and fanatic provocation. The leading Taliban mullah, Mohammed Omar, declared that since the Koran forbade the worship of idols, all idols in the country (meaning, for the most part, Buddhist sculpture made before the arrival of the Muslims in the 8th century) were to be destroyed. "The statues are no big issue," said an official, Qadratullah Jamal, from his office in the capital, Kabul...
...fact, the Koran contains no injunction to destroy the images of other faiths. It does forbid depicting the Prophet: it is not an iconic religion. But none of the teachings of Islamic faith give sanction to what the Taliban are up to. "The terrible irony," says Philippe de Montebello, director of New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, "is that Islam is essentially a tolerant faith--much more so than Christianity used to be." If there is practically no medieval art left intact in England, for instance, it is because the godly minions of Oliver Cromwell--ancestors...
...combination of Koran and Kalashnikov, however, is as toxic as that of Bible and burning stake ever was in Europe. The Taliban's mission is more absolute than some other culture crimes their decree has been compared to, such as the Nazis' famed burning of the books: works of art are singular and their destruction is irrevocable, whereas books exist in the plural and other copies may escape the fire...
...Beside a freshly dug grave a man named Irfan sits alone reading the Koran. His brother Mudasir Ahmed Rather, 19, and his friend Arif Mohammed Khan, 18, were the last militants to die before India's unilateral ceasefire took effect on Nov. 28. They were shot dead by Indian security forces on Nov. 26 soon after returning from their training camps in Pakistan, across the Line of Control, which divides Kashmir. Irfan says he tried to turn the two away from violence. His plea was rejected. "They said they wanted to become martyrs." Martyrs for Kashmir? "No," says Irfan, "martyrs...