Jihad and Stoning

Couple of articles on the President's visit to India.

Both mention his non-answer to a young woman's question on Jihad:

"...According to The Hindu newspaper, a student "invited his opinion on jihad during his town hall style meeting at Mumbai's St. Xavier's college." 

“The phrase jihad has a lot of meaning within Islam and is subject to a lot of different interpretations, but I will say that first Islam is one of the world's great religions. More than a billion people practise Islam and an overwhelming majority view their obligations to a religion that reaffirms peace, fairness, tolerance. I think all of us recognise that this great religion in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted by violence,” Mr. Obama said.

He saw isolating these “distorted notions” as the challenge before us. He stressed on practising universal principles, irrespective of one's religion or opinion of a religion.

“Whatever may be your religion we can treat each other with respect as per some of the universal principles...."  

Over at Sense of Events, they continue with this line of questioning and answers, what the president would/could not:

 "...The obvious question is, "What exactly are the 'universal principles' that will require adherents of Islam to act like liberals in love of tolerance and brotherhood regardless of religion? Those are Western principles, and a fairly late development in the West, that mainline Islam has never adopted and simply rejects today. 

So here is part one of a three-part series on what is jihad as Islam defines it, not as tolerant, live-and-let live Western politicians imagine it to be. Whatever jihad is, it does not include tolerance. What exactly is jihad and where does it fit into Muslim theology?....


You can go here to read the answers.




Over at American Spectator, they took another tac:


:...If one is to accept President Obama's argument that jihad "has a lot of meanings within Islam and is subject to different interpretations," then one must wonder what Obama thinks about its meaning and interpretation in certain parts of Indonesia. After all, Obama did spend four years of his childhood in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. As a presidential candidate, Obama made the argument that his time in Indonesia rendered him more qualified on questions of foreign policy ..."


"...So as President Obama proceeds to the country he once called home for the next leg of his South Asian tour, one wonders if anyone will ask him what he thinks of that meaning and interpretation of jihad which sanctions death by stoning against those who commit adultery. To be precise, will anyone ask him his views of the stoning law that was unanimously passed in the Indonesian province of Aceh in September 2009? Some of the other sanctions covered under the law in Aceh are public caning for activities such as non-marital sex, drinking, and gambling. Anyone caught engaging in homosexual behavior is also subject not only to caning but a minimum of eight years in prison.

Aceh's harsh sanctions against homosexuality are noteworthy when one considers what President Obama had to say about Uganda's proposed anti-homosexual laws. ..."