Sharia In Your Mouth

From Reliance of the Traveller:  Using a toothstick (siwak)

“In Sacred Law it refers to the use of a twig or the like on the teeth and around them to remove an unpleasant change in the breath or similar, together with the intention of performing sunna.”

Sunna is any number of things, reciting the Qur’an, reading the Qur’an, performing prayers (salat), all of them considered to be sacred tasks, some requiring ablutions as well as tooth cleaning.  While I’m all for oral cleanliness, I prefer a toothbrush. 

Not all Ishmaelites use a toothstick, in the literal sense of using a twig–but some do.  I’ve looked this up.  Toothsticks made from a plant known as Salvadora Persica, said to have a taste like cress, and a warm pungent odor.  They can be ordered online.

“Using a toothstick is recommended any time, except after noon for someone who is fasting, in which case it is offensive (there’s that seemingly innocuous, yet potentially lethal concept of offense, again).  “Using toothpaste is also offensive then, and if any reaches the stomach of someone who is fasting, it is unlawful ( if the fast is obligatory, as this breaks a fast). 

The comment in bold  print was made by the translator.  Obviously, toothpaste wasn’t around, 1300 years ago.

“It is especially desirable to use the toothstick for everyday prayer,  for reading the Qur’an, hadith, or a lesson), ablution, yellowness of the teeth, waking from sleep, entering one’s house, and for any change of breath from eating something with a bad odor, or from not eating.”

Which is to say that this toothstick should be your constant companion. 

Sheikh  ‘Abd al-Wakil Durubi adds: “When there exists a demand for an act, such as using the toothstick before reading the Qur’an, and an equal demand not to, as when it is after noon on a fast-day, then the proper course is not to do it.”

The point of law being made here is that absolutely nothing is to enter an Ishmaelite’s stomach, during a fast.  No water, no medicine, no toothpaste, no particles of wood from the toothstick, nor so much as a diatom from his or her toothpaste.

But there’s more:

“Anything coarse is adequate to fulfill the sunna (of cleansing the mouth) except rough fingers, though the best is a twig from the arak (a desert shrub) that is dried (meaning previously cut from the shrub long enough to have dried) and then moistened.

“It is best to clean the teeth laterally, beginning on the right and paying particular attention to the bases of the back teeth, and to attend the sunna thereby.”

If you were to ask any Ishmaelite who invented the use of the toothstick, he or she will almost undoubtedly say it was invented by Muhammed.  Don’t take that at face value.  Examples of twigs being used to clean one’s teeth are as old as the first case of bad breath.

Sharia heads-up:  This is the month of Ramadan, a time when Mohammedans (Ishmaelites) fast by day and break their fast at night.  How does this affect you?  Good question.  This affects you because when the Mohammedan fasts, it offends him to see anyone else eat, during the hours when he is prohibited from doing so.  So please–be sensitive.  And pass me those fries.

Blogging–It’s a Weekend Kind of Thing

It’s beginning to look like my blog is going to be a weekend thing.  I just don’t have the time to do it every day.  Maybe admitting this to myself will keep me going, rather than setting up an impossible goal (like writing every day).

As much as I would like to fancy myself to be a writer, I can’t keep up with the addage that “a writer writes, always.”  Actually, I think that addage is baloney, but that could be sour grapes toward the professionals out there.

Anyway, if you’re interested in this odd little blog of mine, look for it only on the weekends, and save yourself some aggravation.

Sharia in the Household

Today’s entry is taken, as will many others be, from “The Reliance of the Traveller”, first published in 1991, written by Imam al-Nawawi, who died in 676/1277. 

The topic for today is Sharia regarding containers and utensils.  According to the “Reliance”, ritual purification can be accomplished using any container except for those made of gold or silver (the word for this is “haram”, meaning forbidden).  Nor is a vessel acceptable for use, if it contains enough of either precious metal that, if the vessel were melted, the gold or silver could be separated from the base metal.

To quote the book, verbatim: “Such containers or utensils are unlawful for men or women to use in purification, eating, drinking, or other use of any type.  It is unlawful to acquire such a container or utensil even if one does not use it.  Even a small eyeliner stick is unlawful.”  These rules apply to cups, bowls, plates, and eating utensils, as well as vessels for purification.

Note the use of the phrase: “for men or women”.  Now, I don’t know about you, Reader, but this implies to me that there are different laws for men and women, somewhere down the line…  I wouldn’t want to live in a world like that.

“Vessels soldered with gold are absolutely unlawful.”  However, the same doesn’t seem to be true of silver.  While it is offensive to use a vessel to which only a little silver has been applied for decoration, it is not unlawful.

Another note:  It can be dangerous, even lethal, to offend those who subscribe to Sharia, yet there are proponents of this set of laws who would like–nay–intend to replace all law in every land with theirs.

So, silver decoration is bad, and gold is completely prohibited. I went out on the Internet to see whether or not I could find out why.

From http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=13733&ln=eng , I learned that the overuse of precious metals for household items is considered wasteful and a wanton misuse of wealth, which would be better used for charity.  Fair enough; even noble.  Yet:  “It is permissible to use a vessel made of any precious gem, such as ruby or emerald.”

What?  Yeah, confusing, isn’t it?  I couldn’t find any “whys” for this distinction between the use of certain metals and gemstones, when it comes to vessels.  If someone out there knows why, I’d be interested to hear it.

The last quote from “Reliance” on the subject of vessels is as follows: “It is offensive to use the vessels of non-Muslims before washing them (to be certain of the purity of the vessels used, since non-Muslims are not as concerned about purity as Muslims are), or to wear their clothes, for the same reason.

Is it just me, or does this sound bigoted?  Nah–it’s not bigotry.  It’s Sharia.

Sharia, The Coming Storm

 Islam as a subject has been rendered taboo by America’s suicidal multiculturalism and the insanity  that goes with it, moral relativism.  Face it, Reader, Islam has ten-foot pole marks all over it, and one doesn’t dare to voice an opinion, unless it is the right   opinion–the one approved by the Political Correctness Gestapo.

If you fail to wait for the likes of Condi Rice, Karen Armstrong, et al to tell you what to think, and how to express it, you are placed in a box, with a permanent “Hater” “Islamophobe” “Racist” or “Bigot” label.

But, there is a storm rising.  I won’t use the “I” word, if I can avoid doing so, and really– the merits or lack of same among the followers of “The Religion of Peace” don’t interest me.  There are plenty of other blogs that deal with these things.   One of my favorites is Jihad Watch (http://jihadwatch.org).   For a better look at the influence of “The Religion of Peace” on America and the rest of the free (for now) world, I recommend Robert Spencer’s companion site, Dhimmi Watch (http://jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/)

I’ll leave the brainy stuff to Robert, and his brave band.  From me, you’ll hear something different.  I’m going to tell you about the storm.  Its name is Sharia (alternately spelled: Shari’a, Shariah). 

Sharia is the standard of Islamic jurisprudence that has been followed to greater and lesser degrees by Muslims, since the time of Mohammad.  Sharia is not a group of general laws.  Rather, it is a set of laws that govern every aspect of a “righteous” life.

I will do my best to keep my assumptions to a minimum, and draw my material from tried and true sources such as the classic “Reliance of the Traveller”, the Qur’an, the ahadith, and other works.  No source is unassailable, of course, however, I will do my best to present “Hurricane Sharia” to you to the best of my ability, and with as much honesty as WordPress will allow me to use (some of the Sharia laws deal with specific parts of the human anatomy and those words are sometimes censored by filters.)

So, get comfortable and make sure your aspirin and Rolaids are close at hand.  Never forget that these are the laws we will have to observe as our Constitutional freedoms are taken away, just a teeny bit at a time, and replaced with more “friendly” laws that will not excite the ire or inconvenience our immigrant neighbors of Middle Eastern origin.

The storm is coming.  It is not a question of “if”, but a question of “when”.