Offensive

The American publication The National Review hails Ayatollah Sistani, the pre-eminent Iraqi Shi'a cleric.

Ayatollah Sistani has called the publication of the cartoons a "horrific action," not surprisingly. But he also has condemned the "misguided and oppressive" Muslims who "have exploited this . . . to spread poison and revive old hatreds with new methods." They, he continued, project "a distorted and dark image of the faith of justice, love, and brotherhood." In a better world, Sistani would have a Nobel Peace Prize. This is hereby a call for someone out there who is eligible to make a nomination — a category including congressmen and professors — to make the nomination.

Some words of wisdom from Sistani:

Taharat (cleanliness) and keeping a clean body and surroundings are very important in Islam. Everyone must refrain from eating and drinking those things which are najis; and the clothing that one wears for Salat, which is the best of actions in worshipping Allah, must be clean, and it is best that they are the most pure of clothing. Because of this, it is necessary to know what things are najis and if something is najis, the method of making them tahir.

ISSUE 13: Everything that exists is tahir except for eleven things, and those things that comes into contact with them also become najis.

ISSUE 14: The things which are najis, are the following:
1. Urine
2. Stool
3. Semen
4. Corpse
5. Blood
6. Dog
7. Pig
8. Alcohol
9. Beer (According to Ihtiyat Wajib)
10. Kafir
11. The sweat of a najis eating animal.

A Kafir is an unbeliever: a non-Muslim. Note that everything is tahir (clean) except these eleven najir (unclean) things - which include me, my mother and my children.

Just for clarification:

ISSUE 17: The urine and stool of animals whose meat is halal, like the cow and sheep, and animals whose blood does not gush out, like the snake and fish, are tahir.

So the shit of a cow is clean, but I am unclean. And further:

ISSUE 18: The urine and stool of animals whose meat is makruh to eat, like the horse and donkey, is tahir.

ISSUE 19: The urine and droppings of birds whose meat is haram, like the eagle, are tahir.

ISSUE 20: The droppings of small animals, like the mosquito and fly that do not have meat, are tahir.

So saying that the flower of our civilisation and all our people are lower than the shit of a mosquito is NOT offensive, but drawing a picture of Mohammed tending sheep is.

Just so we're clear about that. Nobel Peace Prizes all round.