Pickpocket at Mecca's Great Mosque has hand cut off

AFP ^ | September 9, 2006

[NYer]

A Nigerian man had his right hand severed in Saudi Arabia on Saturday after he was convicted of stealing in the Great Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest shrine, the interior ministry said.

Kurba Thani Mohammad was found guilty of "committing the crime of pickpocketing inside the Great Mosque" at an unspecified date, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

Mohammad was sentenced to the amputation of his hand, and the punishment was carried out in Mecca, it said.

Saudi Arabia applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law, that provides for severing the hand for theft. The death penalty is meted out for murder, rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking.

[yhwhsman]

I was thinking about this last night and I cannot think of one single thing in history done in the name of Islam that was not barbaric

Well, in Medieval times (1100-1200) there was a lot of enlightened thinking in the Muslim nations. Knowledge and logical thinking were highly valued. Scholars in the 'Dark Ages' of Europe used to travel there in order to learn. That of course changed, now it's almost a reversal with higher learning in the non-muslim nations and the stone ages in the muslim nations.

[wagglebee]

The fact that there were Muslim scholars a thousand years ago has nothing to do with their religion. And as you noted, their learning "stopped" a long time ago.

[PreviouslyA-Lurker]

From what I have heard & read, many are taught to hate Jews in the Koran & in their schools. The hatred & calls for jihads stems from the imams in some of their "temples".

[Biggirl]

ISLAM = Violence and oppression.

[FreedomCalls]

Pictures of the results of an amputation in Afghanistan under the Taliban.

[Liberty Valance]

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

It seems to me so many of these Muslim extremists are very young, what have they learned from thier families about ISLAM? the schools?

The Israelis did a survey of terrorists, and found that the ones most likely to be terrorists were the ones least likely to know much about Islam--they didn't know the Koran except for a few verses that they'd obviously had repeated to them a zillion times or so. One thing worth noting: the "spiritual advisors" of these groups tend to use the title "Sheikh" and not "Imam." "Sheikh" is an honorific that can be self-applied; "Imam" means that the person has actually completed a university degree in theology.

[wagglebee]

Heck, if he were around today ol' Mad Mo would probably be living in his mamma's basement at 35, trolling MySpace for a new wife...

More like he'd be trolling elementary school playgrounds.

[dervish]

Giuliani also gave Arafat the boot at a 'by invitation' concert at Lincoln Center in 1995. For that the Clinton Administration called him "an embarassment."

[ViLaLuz]

"Could somebody remind me why, in a civilized world, we allow this satanic death cult to still exist?"

Because abortion is still legal, and we can legally dehydrate our spouse to death?

[Peisistratus]

"The fact that there were Muslim scholars"

The relatively few "Muslim scholars" were in reality dhimmi or apostates themselves. Islam has always been big on book burnings and the murder or poets.

[Dixie Yooper]

I like Giuliani, he's got a human side to him that few politicians let the public see. He's made some mistakes in his personal life, but he has shown us how to properly turn a city around from the garbage heap the previous mayors turned it into and how to steer it through a disaster.