Yep. The whole thing is just so ridiculous.
"Ridiculous" unless, of course, Obama Hussein really in the Islam-Manchurian candidate.
Al, I was serious about you not commenting on any other threads.
Why are you even letting him comment on that one?
I don't like to ban people, and generally folks will troll a thread and go away, and I'm willing to let them get it out of their system for the day.
teofilo:
If Obama IS the anti-Christ, you wouldn't expect him to just come out and admit it, would you?
Al, I'm asking you nicely to no longer comment here. I'll see you at Yglesias's.
As the phrase "West Coast weenie" takes on a whole new meaning.
I hesitate to bother commenting right now, but I'm curious: Are the fundamentalist Muslim schools that get called "madrassas" actually called by some other name?
I don't know what they're called over there. Teo?
I don't think so, but the point is that other kinds of school are also called "madrassa"; the word simply means "school."
12-3: okay, I was just curious if they had a special name, but it's understandable that they might not.
This article has some useful information. It points out that the word is usually used in the US for a specific type of "post-graduate Islamic school," but it doesn't make the distinction very clear. "Jami'a" is indeed the word for "university," but I don't think it's used for the Islamic schools in Pakistan that people generally mean when they talk about "madrassas."
It looks like "darul uloom" ("house of knowledge") is another term used for this kind of institution, although it may indicate a higher-level curriculum than an ordinary madrassa.
Interesting. Thanks, teo. And now: sleep.
Actually in Indonesia a madrasah is specifically an Islamic day school - as opposed to an ordinary state school (sekolah), but there is no reason to expect it to be promoting radical Islamism. It would be unusual for a non-Muslim to attend one, though I'm sure it happens, just as non-Christians can go to Christian schools etc.
Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia are called pesantren. A few have been associated with radical Islamism of the Abu Bakar Bashir variety, the vast majority have not.
But the thing is, it doesn't even look like the school in question is a madrasah.
I'm taking this thread to 100 while teo and Stanley sleep.
Indonesia's madrasahs seem to be pretty secular and modernized, much like Islam in Indonesia itself. They use the national curriculum, plus some religion, and are certified as equivalents to state-run schools. I could imagine one adding Christian classes for Christian attendees.
Obama also spent two years at a Catholic school. According to one of his books, they were both the local schools and he spent two years at one and two years at the other and pretty much ignored both.
But think, the horrors. Candidate Foreignistani also went to a university!
Obama also spent two years at a Catholic school.
And we all know a man cannot serve two masters...
It gives him a greater claim to being antichristastic.
27: He's got a decent claim, but he's still trailing Hillary Clinton and Ahmadinejad.
Now *there's* a reason to vote for Hillary.
12: A religious school in the Arab world is called a "madrasa," or "madaaris" in the plural.
But that's because any school is a madrasa, as others have noted; if you want to specify the type of school, you say "religious school" (madrasa diiniya), or primary school or secondary school or language school or whatever.
People are always on about "maadraaassaaahs" (as Angry Arab calls them to mock Americans) in relation to Pakistan; it's possible that Pakistanis borrowed the word from Arabic to refer specifically to religious schools, but I'm completely ignorant here.
What's really super-irritating is when people automatically assume that an Islamic religious school is teaching an extreme version of Islam.
30: thanks, DA. I had a follow-up quesiton on how to properly pluralize the word, but then I went to bed instead.
And I just saw that Juan Cole has addressed this issue.
...in which he points out that a religious school for children is a "maktab." I didn't realize the distinction between maktab and madrasa (or madrasa al-'uluum) was still observed.
It's a big world out there -- I wouldn't be surprised if the distinction exists some places and not others.
But Cole's got a wonderful rant going there: treat yourselves.
35: Cole's just talking about the Arab world, and he's probably right. The reason I wouldn't be aware of the distinction is that in Cairo I didn't know anyone who sent their kids to specifically religious schools, whereas I did know a fair number of young adults (mostly from Indonesia, as it happens) who were at religious schools.
I wouldn't be surprised if the distinction exists some places and not others.
Like, among the left and among the right.
28: What's the deal with labeling George W. Bush, "President of USA"? I was shocked to see his name there. Also, the suggestion that the entire EU might be the Antichrist is an interesting reading, but I think they could have developed it more.
I wouldn't be surprised if the distinction exists some places and not others.
Yeah. It's like "assault rifle" and "automatic". I'd think, to most of the US population, a madrassa is a place one learns to fly planes into buildings and files requisitions for virgins.
So, yes, if one is speaking Arabic, Barack Obama went to a "madrasah," i.e. an elementary school! So did you.
Unless you were home schooled, which of course keeps you free from the America-hating brainwashing that Our Public Schools are so busy shoving down the throats of Our Children.
But "madrassa" doesn't mean "Muslim seminary" anywhere other than in the United States. It's an Arabic word that's been borrowed by several languages, and it means, "school."
That's the brilliance of it as a slur. Obama's also a compulsive masticator, even masticating in public with children present.
And has been known to engage in entirely veracious characterizations of his political opponents.
and files requisitions for virgins
Can't that be done online now?
Somehow, that sounds like a job description for a nun's admin. "What do you do for a living?" "I file requisitions for virgins."
46: And his sister is a thespian.
You would think that the party of William Buckley wouldn't fall for this.
Yes, well, it's no longer the party of William Buckley in any meaningful way.
I'm not 100% sure on this but I very strongly suspect the place wasn't even a madrassah (ie elementary school in indonesia that teaches islam as welll as regular stuff) but a plain old sekolah in a muslim-majority area, because he said there were non-muslims attending.