DC Trawler

Not All Muslims give a dude 40 lashes for drinking a 40

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Please try to be tolerant and open-minded as you read the following from AFP:

A Timbuktu man accused of drinking alcohol was given 40 lashes Monday by members of an Islamist group that has seized the north Malian city and imposed Islamic law there, witnesses said.

“A young man has just been lashed 40 times for drinking alcohol. The whipping took place in the Timbuktu market,” a resident told AFP by phone…

The Islamist group, Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith), is one of several Al-Qaeda-linked groups that seized northern Mali amid a power vacuum opened by a March 22 military coup in the south.

The groups have been imposing sharia throughout their territory, and aim to spread the strict Islamic law to the rest of Mali.

I guess there’s a reason for the phrase “all the way out in Timbuktu.” It’s a place you’ve never been and wouldn’t ever want to go.

And in case you’re wondering: I say “Not All Muslims” because, well, not all Muslims did it. This would seem obvious, and yet that’s always the countercharge: “Why are you saying this represents all Muslims?” So, I always make sure to specify that not every single Muslim on earth is responsible for story after story of violence motivated by Islam. It still doesn’t mollify liberals who instinctively defend the most reactionary conservatives imaginable, but at least I try.