Suggested Answers to the Short Quiz

[johnkarls]

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Question 1

What does the movie Braveheart have to teach us, according to our author, about tribal societies ("segmentary lineage systems") in addition to the fact that many exist in Christian areas of the world (e.g., the Scots, the Basques of Spain, etc.)?

Answer 1

After describing Braveheart’s final scene in which Mel Gibson’s character is tortured to death but refuses to compromise and shouts “Freedom!” with his final breath, our author says that tribal societies are characterized by “love of freedom, egalitarianism, a tribal lineage system defined by common ancestors and clans, a martial tradition, and a highly developed code of honor and revenge.”

Question 2

When Captain Cook became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, why did the indigenous people call the Europeans "People Without Song"? Although this incident is not mentioned by our author, what does this have to do with his concept of tribal societies?

Answer 2

An indigenous Hawaiian, upon encountering a stranger, would begin to sing about all of her/his specific ancestors and the stranger was expected to do the same. Upon reaching by song a common ancestor, the two strangers were expected to embrace and become friends.

When Captain Cook became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands, the indigenous Hawaiians began to sing about their specific ancestors but the Europeans failed to sing back about theirs.

Our author emphasizes in various places that he is discussing solely “tribal lineage systems” defined by common ancestors and clans -- which (p. 18) exclude, for example, the Tausug of the Southern Philippines because they do not trace “long genealogical lines to common ancestors.”

Question 3

Who was responsible for the idea that "Islam has bloody borders"? Was he right? Was the recent genocide in Sudan an example of this? Was the genocide in Rwanda during the Clinton Administration an example of this?

Answer 3

Long-time Harvard Political Science Professor (1950-59 and 1963-2008) Samuel Phillips Huntington was responsible for the idea that “Islam has bloody borders.”

Critics will often try mendaciously to discredit his observation by examining COUNTRY borders established by European colonial powers, rather than INTRA-COUNTRY borders between Islamic and non-Islamic areas -- whether between Muslims and Christians within the countries of North Africa and within southern Russia, between Muslims and Chinese in China’s Sinkiang Province (aka Chinese Turkestan), between Muslims and Hindus in Kashmir which straddles the Pakistani-Indian border, or between Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar (formerly Burma), etc., etc.

The recent genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan was an example of this.

However, not every post-World War II genocide can be laid at the doorstep of Islam. As we have studied in the past, the Rwanda genocide was not between two separate tribes as defined by our author. The Hutus and Tutsis were the same tribe until the arrival of Rwanda’s colonial masters, first Germany and after World War I, Belgium. The colonial masters, primarily Belgium, created from the same tribe two different classes based on whether an individual’s facial features were more European, or whether the individual had thick lips and a wide nose. Colonial favoritism between the two classes that were created produced the hatred that resulted in the genocide.

Question 4

Is Islam centralized like the Roman Catholic Church? Or is every Islamic cleric free to issue fatwas?

Answer 4

No, Islam is not centralized.
Yes, every Islamic cleric is free to issue fatwas.

Question 5

Did the British learn in trying to re-establish relations with Iran that had been broken off because of the fatwa of Iran's first "Supreme Leader" (Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) that all Moslems are obligated to try to assassinate Salmon Rushdie because of his novel, The Satanic Verses, that a fatwa can only be revoked by the Islamic Cleric who issued it? And this would no longer be possible because Ayatollah Khomeini had died in the meantime?

Answer 5

Yes. Yes.

Question 6

Does this mean that Osama bin Laden's famous fatwa to nuke 10 million Americans (about which the Founding Dean of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, Graham Allison, wrote a famous book that is still The Bible for America's War on Terror) can never be revoked?

Answer 6

Of course.

Question 7

Our author spends quite a bit of time discussing the Code of Honor that is central to tribal societies -- when we studied the biography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the famous Somali woman who became a member of the Dutch Parliament, were we convinced the Dutch were correct that it was "liberal" to permit all of its Islamic immigrants to practice their religion unfettered or that Ayaan Hirsi Ali was correct that it was NOT "liberal" for Holland to permit its Islamic immigrants to commit Honor Killings on Dutch soil?

Answer 7

We were convinced that it was NOT “liberal” for Holland to permit its Islamic immigrants to practice their religion by committing Honor Killings on Dutch soil.

Question 8

Does Islam's command that all apostates (Muslims who fall away from the faith) must be assassinated mean that Ayaan Hirsi Ali was forced to go into permanent hiding in the United States for her campaign against Honor Killings in Holland?

Answer 8

Yes.

Question 9

Is President Obama an apostate under Islamic Law?

Answer 9

Under Islamic Law, you are a Muslim if your father was a Muslim.

Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was a Muslim.

Accordingly, Barack Hussein Obama Jr. was a Muslim at birth under Islamic Law even though he maintains that he was never anything but a Christian.

And his embracing the Christian faith made him an apostate under Islamic Law.

Question 10

Is President Obama's status as an apostate under Islamic Law the reason why it is virtually impossible for him to visit any Islamic country? That every otherwise-trustworthy member of the local security forces might, in obedience to Islam's command to assassinate apostates, suddenly fire her/his weapon at President Obama?

Answer 10

Of course.
Of course.

Question 11

Does every good Moslem believe in a truly-fearsome Judgment Day on which s/he will be prosecuted by Avenging Angels?

Answer 11

Yes.

Question 12

Does our author ridicule the popular notion that Islamic martyrs will find 72 virgins waiting in Heaven?

Answer 12

Yes.

Question 13

Isn't the real problem that Islam teaches that every Islamic martyr (female or male) will, along with 72 close friends and relatives, by-pass the Judgment Day and go immediately to Heaven (rather than "moldering in the grave" for centuries awaiting the fearsome Judgment Day)?

Answer 13

Yes. This concept was developed by the early Christian church and embedded in the Koran when it was written several centuries later.

Question 14

And that this is why close friends and relatives of Islamic martyrs are often seen on newsreel footage rejoicing over, rather than mourning, the news of the martyrdom?

Answer 14

Of course.

Question 15

Is our author correct that hospitality is central to the Code of Honor of tribal societies generally? Or is it more a feature of tribal societies in desert regions -- that "we are all in this together" and survival dictates we should help each other even if we are enemies?

Answer 15

Perhaps someone else has time to “chase this rabbit”!!! Yours Truly had always thought the concept of hospitality was confined to desert tribes, so his curiosity was piqued by our author who offered no authority for his assertion.

Question 16

Does our author excuse Mullah Omar's harboring of Osama bin Laden in defiance of Pakistan's central government as required by the Code of Honor and its central tenet of hospitality?

Answer 16

Yes.

Question 17

Did President Obama multiply many-fold the use of drones begun during the Bush Administration?

Answer 17

Yes.

Question 18

Did President Obama stop trying to capture for interrogation Al Qaeda suspects? How many Al Qaeda suspects have been captured during the Obama Administration?

Answer 18

Yes, it has been asserted by many critics of President Obama’s policies (and not challenged by the Obama Administration) that he has captured only one Al Qaeda suspect during his 4.5 years in office.

The NY Times lead editorial of 6/16/2011 [the text of the editorial appears in the second section of http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org entitled “Possible Topics – August 14th Meeting” in the last “Reply” to the last topic entitled “EXPIRED – Bagram vs. Guantanamo vs. Abu Graib”] states that Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was seized by American forces in international waters and secretly held “in extralegal detention” on board a U.S. naval vessel for approximately two months.

In castigating the Obama Administration, the editorial implies that the reason for the detention on board the U.S. naval vessel in international waters was to interrogate Mr. Warsame using “enhanced interrogation methods” without suffering the embarrassment of taking him to Guantanamo in order to do so.

Question 19

The U.S. government claimed that when Osama bin Laden was assassinated, it captured his personal correspondence and other documents whose size was compared to a small college library -- accordingly, does it appear that the Obama Administration has relied on this treasure trove of information in fighting terrorism rather than capturing/interrogating suspects?

Answer 19

Yes.

Question 20

Is Al Qaeda a centralized "command and control" organization or has it always been a loose confederation of violent dissident groups? Before the end of the Irish Republican Army's terrorism against the British public, did the IRA use to train with Islamic terrorists in North Africa?

Answer 20

Al Qaeda has always been a loose confederation of violent dissident groups.

The I.R.A. used to train with Islamic terrorists in North Africa.

Question 21

Because the Obama Administration appears to have focused on some historical documents related to one individual (Osama bin Laden), is it conceivable that President Obama believes his own rhetoric that the War on Terror is over?

Answer 21

It is conceivable that President Obama believes his own rhetoric.

Question 22

Is our author right that the collateral damage caused by President Obama's drone policy has vastly increased (rather than diminished as President Obama claims) the ranks of Islamic radical terrorists (similarly to how U.S. military tactics in Vietnam increased the ranks of Vietnamese opposed to the South Vietnam government)?

Answer 22

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!

Question 23

If it is still necessary in today's world to keep a close eye on radical Islamic terrorists (please see Q&A-6), wouldn't it be a lot smarter to return to the old capture-and-interrogate-suspects policy since collateral damage could be minimized and responsibility for disappearances often avoided?

Answer 23

What do you think??? Let’s discuss!!!