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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; godfather</title>
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		<title>Ten Ways the Mafia and Islam Are Similar</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/raymond-ibrahim/ten-ways-the-mafia-and-islam-are-similar/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=ten-ways-the-mafia-and-islam-are-similar</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2014 05:18:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Raymond Ibrahim]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[godfather]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[MAFIA]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Welcome to the clan. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/GF.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-246961" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/GF-437x350.jpg" alt="GF" width="287" height="230" /></a><em>Note: The following article was published on</em><em> </em><a href="http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/12/05/10-ways-the-mafia-and-islam-are-similar/?singlepage=true"><em>PJ Media</em></a><em> </em><em>where it is supplemented with clips from various mafia-related movies like</em><em> </em><em>The Godfather <em>to help demonstrate the ten similarities.  Portions of this article were earlier serialized on</em> </em><a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/author/raymond-ibrahim/"><em>FrontPage Magazine</em></a><em>. </em></p>
<p>During <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/other-matters/ben-affleck-portrait-of-islams-clueless-apologetics/">a debate on HBO’s <em>Real Time</em></a> last October, host Bill Maher declared that Islam is “the only religion that acts like the mafia, that will f***ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book.”</p>
<p>Maher was apparently referring to Islam’s “blasphemy” laws, which ban on pain of death any “insult”—as found in a statement, a picture, a book—to Islam and especially its prophet, Muhammad.</p>
<p>While Maher has been criticized for his “Islamophobic” assertion, he and others may be surprised to learn that the similarities between Islam and the mafia far exceed punishing those who say, draw, or write “the wrong thing.”</p>
<p>In what follows, we will examine a number of these similarities.</p>
<p>We will begin by looking at the relationship between Allah, his messenger Muhammad, and the Muslims, and note several parallels with the relationship between the godfather, his underboss, and the mafia.</p>
<p>Next, we will examine the clannish nature of the mafia and compare it to Islam’s tribalism, especially in the context of the Islamic doctrine “Loyalty and Enmity.” For example, in both Islam and the mafia, members who wish to break away, to “apostatize,” are killed.</p>
<p>We will consider how the mafia and Islam have both historically profited from the “protection” racket: Islam has demanded <em>jizya</em> from non-Muslims under its authority/territory and the mafia has demanded <em>pizzo</em> from people that fall under its jurisdiction.</p>
<p>Finally, we will consider what accounts for these many similarities between Islam and the mafia, including from an historical perspective.</p>
<p><strong>1. Allah and Muhammad/Godfather and Underboss </strong></p>
<p>The <em>padrino</em> of larger mafia organizations and families—literally, the “godfather” or “boss of bosses”—has absolute control over his subordinates and is often greatly feared by them for his ruthlessness. He has an “underboss,” a right-hand man who issues his orders and enforces his will. The godfather himself is often inaccessible; mafia members need to go through the underboss or other high ranking associates.</p>
<p>Compare this with the relationship between Allah and his “messenger” Muhammad (in Arabic, Muhammad is most commonly referred to as <em>al-rasul</em>, “the messenger”). Unlike the Judeo-Christian God—a personal God, a Father, that according to Christ is to be communed with directly (Matt 6:9)—Islam’s god, Allah, is unreachable, unknowable, untouchable. Like the godfather, he is inaccessible.   His orders are revealed by his messenger, Muhammad.</p>
<p>If the Judeo-Christian God calls on the faithful to “come now, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18), Allah says “Do not ask questions about things that, if made known to you, would only pain you” (Koran 5:101). Just follow orders.</p>
<p><strong>2. A “Piece of the Action” </strong></p>
<p>The godfather and his underboss always get a “piece of the action”—a “cut”—of all spoils acquired by their subordinates.</p>
<p>So do Allah and his messenger, Muhammad. Koran 8:41 informs Muslims that “one-fifth of all war-booty you acquire goes to Allah and the messenger” (followed by Muhammad’s family and finally the needy).</p>
<p><strong>3. Assassinations </strong></p>
<p>The godfather, through his underboss, regularly sends mafia men to make “hits”—to assassinate—those deemed enemies of the family.</p>
<p>So did Allah and his messenger. One <a href="http://www.sahih-bukhari.com/Pages/Bukhari_5_59.php">example</a>:  A non-Muslim poet, <a href="http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Islam_Undressed:_Muhammad%E2%80%99s_Actions,_Speaking_Louder_than_Words#The_Murder_of_Kab_Ashraf">Ka‘b ibn Ashraf</a>, insulted Muhammad, prompting the latter to exclaim, “Who will kill this man who has hurt Allah and his messenger?” A young Muslim named Ibn Maslama volunteered on condition that to get close enough to assassinate Ka‘b he be allowed to lie to the poet.</p>
<p>Allah’s messenger <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/bukhari/bh4/bh4_274.htm">agreed</a>. Ibn Maslama traveled to Ka‘b and began to denigrate Islam and Muhammad until his disaffection became so convincing that the poet took him into his confidence. Soon thereafter, Ibn Maslama appeared with another Muslim and, while Ka‘b’s guard was down, slaughtered the poet, bringing his head to Muhammad to the usual triumphant cries of “Allahu Akbar!”</p>
<p><strong>4. Circumstance is Everything</strong></p>
<p>While the mafia adheres to a general code of conduct, the godfather issues more fluid orders according to circumstances.</p>
<p>This is reminiscent of the entire “revelation” of the Koran, where later verses/commands contradict earlier verses/commands, depending on circumstances (known in Islamic jurisprudence as <em>al-nāsikh wal-mansūkh</em>, or the <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/islamic-jihad-and-the-doctrine-of-abrogation/">doctrine of abrogation</a>).</p>
<p>Thus, whereas Allah supposedly told the prophet that “there is no compulsion in religion” (Koran 2:256), <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/how-circumstance-dictates-islamic-behavior/">once the messenger grew strong enough</a>, Allah issued new revelations calling for all-out war/jihad till Islam became supreme (Koran 8:39, 9:5, 9:29, etc.).</p>
<p>While other religions and scriptures may have contradictions, only Islam rationalizes them through abrogation—that is, by giving prominence to later verses which are seen as the “latest” decision of the deity.</p>
<p><strong>5. Clan Loyalty </strong></p>
<p>Loyalty is fundamental in the mafia. Following elaborate rituals of blood oaths, mafia members are expected to maintain absolute loyalty to the family, on pain of death.</p>
<p>Similarly, mafia members are expected always to be available for the family—“<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7086716.stm">even if your wife is about to give birth</a>,” as one of the mafia’s “ten commandments” puts it—and to defend the godfather and his honor, even if it costs their lives.</p>
<p>Compare this to the widespread violence and upheavals that occur whenever Allah or his prophet is offended—whenever non-Muslim “infidels” blaspheme them. Or, as Bill Maher put it: “Its’ the only religion that acts like the mafia, that will f***ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book.”</p>
<p>Islam’s “Loyalty and Enmity” doctrine (<a href="http://quranicverse99.tripod.com/islamicways/id15.html"><em>al-wala’ wa’l bara’</em></a>)—which calls on Muslims to be loyal to one another even if they dislike each other—is especially illustrative. Koran 9:71 declares that “The believing [Muslim] men and believing [Muslim] women are allies of one another” (see also 8:72-75). And according to <a href="http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/muslim/032.smt.html#032.6219">Muhammad</a>, “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. He neither oppresses him nor humiliates him nor looks down upon him…. All things of a Muslim are inviolable for his brother in faith: his blood, his wealth, and his honor”—precisely those three things that mafia members respect among each other.   This is why Muslims like U.S. Army Major Nidal Hassan, whose “<a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/nidal-hasan-and-fort-hood/">worst nightmare</a>” was to be deployed to fight fellow Muslims, often lash out.)</p>
<p><strong>6. Death to Traitors </strong></p>
<p>Once a fledging mafia member takes the oath of loyalty to the mafia—including the Omertà code of silence and secrecy—trying to leave the “family” is seen as a betrayal and punishable by death.   Any family member, great or small, is given authority to kill the traitor, the “turncoat.”</p>
<p>Compare this to Islam. To be born to a Muslim father immediately makes the newborn a Muslim—there are no oaths to be taken, much less any choice in the matter.   And, according to Islamic law, if born Muslims at any point in their lives choose to leave Islam, they are deemed “apostates”—traitors—and punished including by death.   Any zealous Muslim, not just the authorities, is justified in killing the apostate (hence why Muslim families that kill apostate children are rarely if ever prosecuted).</p>
<p>In the <a href="http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/084-sbt.php">words</a> of Muhammad—the messenger (“underboss”) of Allah (“godfather”): “Whoever leaves his Islamic faith, kill him.”</p>
<p><strong>7. Distrust and Dislike of “Outsiders”</strong></p>
<p>Aside from loyalty to the family, mafia members are also expected not to befriend or freely associate with “outsiders”—who by nature are not to be trusted, as they are not of the “family”—unless such a “friendship” helps advance the family’s position.</p>
<p>Similarly, the second half of the doctrine of Loyalty and Enmity—the enmity (<em>al-bara’</em>)—calls on Muslims to maintain distance from and bear enmity for all non-Muslims, or “infidels.”</p>
<p>Thus Koran 5:51 warns Muslims against “taking the Jews and Christians as friends and allies … whoever among you takes them for friends and allies, he is surely one of them.” According to the mainstream Islamic exegesis of al-Tabari, Koran 5:51 means that the Muslim who “allies with them [non-Muslims] and enables them against the believers, that same one is a member of their faith and community,” that is, a defector, an apostate, an enemy.</p>
<p>Similar scriptures include Koran 4:89, 5:54, 6:40, 9:23, and 58:22; the latter simply states that true Muslims do not befriend non-Muslims—“even if they be their fathers, sons, brothers, or kin.” Koran 60:1 declares, “O you who believe! Do not take my enemy and your enemy [non-believers] for friends: would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the truth [i.e., while they deny Islam]?” And Koran 4:144 declares “O you who believe! Do not take the infidels as allies instead of the believers. Do you wish to give Allah [“godfather”] a clear case against yourselves?”</p>
<p><strong>8. Deception and Dissimulation </strong></p>
<p>As mentioned, close relations to non-mafia individuals that prove advantageous to the family (for example, collaboration with a “crooked cop”) are permissible—as long as the mafia keeps a safe distance, keeps the outsider at arm’s length.</p>
<p>Compare this to Koran 3:28 which commands “believers not to take infidels for friends and allies instead of believers… unless you but guard yourselves against them, taking precautions.” According to the standard Koran commentary of Tabari, “taking precautions” means:</p>
<blockquote><p>If you [Muslims] are under their [non-Muslims’] authority, fearing for yourselves, behave loyally to them with your tongue while harboring inner animosity for them … [but know that] Allah has forbidden believers from being friendly or on intimate terms with the infidels rather than other believers—except when infidels are above them [in authority]. Should that be the case, let them <em>act friendly</em> towards them while preserving their religion.</p></blockquote>
<p>After interpreting Koran 3:28 as meaning that Muslims may “protect” themselves “through outward show” when under non-Muslim authority, Ibn Kathir, perhaps Islam’s most celebrated exegete, quotes Islam’s prophet (“underboss”) saying: “Truly, we smile to the faces of some people, while our hearts curse them.”</p>
<p>Similarly, a few years ago, Sheikh Muhammad Hassan—a leading Salafi cleric in Egypt—<a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/sharias-sinister-smiles/">asserted on live television</a> that, while Muslims should never smile to the faces of non-Muslims, they should smile, however insincerely, if so doing helps empower Islam, especially in the context of <em>da‘wa</em>.</p>
<p>The idea of hating “outsiders” is apparently so ingrained in Islam that another leading Salafi cleric, Dr. Yasser al-Burhami, insists that, while Muslim men may marry Christian and Jewish women, <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/the-ultimate-source-of-islamic-hate-for-infidels/">they must hate them in their heart</a>—and show them that they hate them in the hopes that they convert to the “family” of Islam.</p>
<p>(For more on the doctrine of “Loyalty and Enmity,” including references to the exegetical sources quoted above, see al-Qaeda leader Dr. Ayman Zawahiri’s comprehensive treatise by that name in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Qaeda-Reader-Essential-Organization/dp/076792262X/ref=rec_dp_0"><em>The Al Qaeda Reader</em></a>, pgs. 63-115.)</p>
<p><strong>9. “An Offer You Can’t Refuse”</strong></p>
<p>Although the novel-turned-movie, <em>The Godfather</em>, is fictitious, it also captures much of the mafia’s modus operandi. Consider, for example, that most famous of lines—“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeldwfOwuL8&amp;spfreload=10">I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse</a>”—spoken by the Godfather to one of his “godsons,” an aspiring actor and singer. After being turned down by a studio director for a role that he desperately wanted, the godson turned to his Godfather for aid.</p>
<p>As the movie progresses, it becomes clear that the offer that can’t be refused consists of nothing less than violence and death threats: after the Godfather’s messenger to the director asking that the actor be given the role is again rejected, the director awakens the next morning to find the bloodied and decapitated head of his favorite stallion in bed with him. The godson subsequently gets the movie role.</p>
<p>Throughout the context of the entire <em>Godfather</em> trilogy (which captures well the mafia’s approach to business) making someone “an offer they can’t refuse” means “do as I say or suffer the consequences,” possibly death.</p>
<p>Compare this to Islam’s threefold choice. On Muhammad’s <a href="http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/002-sbt.php#001.002.025">orders</a>, whenever Muslims conquer a territory in the name of Islam, its non-Muslim inhabitants are given three choices: 1) convert to Islam (“join the family”), 2) keep your religious identity but pay tribute (<em>jizya</em>, see below) and live as an “outsider,” a subjugated <em>dhimmi</em> or 3) execution.</p>
<p>Throughout history, converting to Islam has been an “offer” that countless non-Muslims could not refuse. In fact, this “offer” is responsible for transforming much of the Middle East and North Africa, which were Christian-majority in the 7<sup>th</sup> century when the jihad burst forth from Arabia, into the “Muslim world.”</p>
<p>And this <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/western-ignorance-of-the-conditions-of-omar/">offer is still alive and well today</a>. For example, several older and disabled Christians who were not able to join the exodus out of Islamic State controlled territories <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/muslim-persecution-of-christians/world-ignores-christian-exodus-from-islamic-world/">opted to convert to Islam rather than die</a>.</p>
<p>Like the mafia, then, Islam’s offer to conquered non-Muslims (“outsiders”) is basically “join our ‘family,’ help us and we will help you; refuse and we hurt you.”</p>
<p><strong>10. The “Protection” Racket</strong></p>
<p>Once the mafia takes over a territory, one of the primary ways it profits is by collecting “protection money” from its inhabitants. While the protection racket has several aspects, one in particular is akin to an Islamic practice: coercing people in the mafia’s territory to pay money for “protection,” ostensibly against outside elements; in fact, the protection bought is from the mafia itself—that is, extortion money, or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzo_(extortion)"><em>pizzo</em></a>.   Potential “clients” who refuse to pay for the mafia’s “protection” often have their property vandalized and are routinely threatened and harassed.</p>
<p>Compare the collection of <em>pizzo</em> with the Islamic concept of <em>jizya</em>: The word <em>jizya</em> appears in Koran 9:29: “Fight those among the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] who do not believe in Allah nor the Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and his Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth, <em>until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued</em> (emphasis added).”</p>
<p>In the <a href="http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/muslim/019-smt.php#019.4294">hadith</a>, the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad—in our analogy, the “underboss”—regularly calls on Muslims to demand <em>jizya</em> from non-Muslims:  “If they refuse to accept Islam,” said the prophet, “demand from them the <em>jizya</em>. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay <em>jizya</em>, seek Allah’s help and fight them.”</p>
<p>The root meaning of the Arabic word “jizya” is simply to “repay” or “recompense,” basically to “compensate” for something.  According to the <em>Hans Wehr Dictionary</em>, the standard Arabic-English dictionary, <em>jizya</em> is something that “takes the place” of something else, or “serves instead.”</p>
<p>Simply put, conquered non-Muslims were to <em>purchase their lives</em><em>,</em> which were otherwise forfeit to their Muslim conquerors, with money.  As one medieval jurist succinctly puts it, “their lives and their possessions are only protected by reason of payment of <em>jizya</em>” (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570258/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1621570258&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=uhurnetw-20"><em>Crucified Again</em></a>, p. 22).</p>
<p>And to top it off, just as the mafia rationalizes its collection of “protection money” by portraying it as money that buys mafia protection against “outsiders”—when, as mentioned, the money/tribute serves only to protect the client from the mafia itself—so too do <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/islamic-jizya-protection-from-whom/">Islam’s apologists portray the collection of jizya</a> as money meant to buy Muslim protection from outsiders, when in fact the money/jizya buys protection from Muslims themselves.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion: Mafia—What’s In a Word?</strong></p>
<p>What accounts for all these similarities between Islam and the mafia? One clue is found in the fact that the very word “mafia,”which means “hostility to the law, boldness,” is derived from an Arabic word, <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mafia?s=t"><em>mahya</em></a>, which in translation means “bragging, boasting, bravado, and swaggering.”</p>
<p>This etymology is a reminder that Sicily, birthplace of the mafia, was under Arab/Islamic domination for over 200 years. Aside from a borrowed etymology, could some of the mafia’s modus operandi also have been borrowed from Islam? Isolated on their island, could native Sicilians have co-opted the techniques of social controls that they had lived under and learned from their former overlords—albeit without their Islamic veneer?</p>
<p>The mafia is not the only historical example of a non-Muslim criminal organization to be influenced by Islam. For example, the Thuggees — whence we get the word “thug” — were a brotherhood of allied bandits and assassins who waylaid and savagely murdered travelers in India, often by first feigning friendship. Although they were later associated with the Hindu cult of Kali, the original Thuggees were all Muslim. As late as the 19<sup>th</sup> century, a large number of Thuggees captured and convicted by the British were Muslim.</p>
<p>The similarities are clear: Along with assassinating his opponents, including, as seen, through treachery, Muhammad also personally engaged in banditry, ransacking the caravans of enemy tribes.</p>
<p>And if the words “mafia” and “thug” have Arabic/Islamic etymologies, the words “assassinate” and “assassin” are derived from a Medieval Islamic sect: the <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/islamic-assassination-silencing-freedom-fighters/"><em>Hashashin</em></a>, who pioneered the use of political assassination—with <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/was-marco-polo-an-islamophobe/">promises of a hedonistic paradise</a> for the assassin who almost certainly died—in the name of Islam.</p>
<p>At any rate, when HBO personality Bill Maher recently proclaimed that Islam is “the only religion that acts like the mafia, that will f***ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book,” he was barely touching on the similarities between the mafia and other criminal organizations, and Islam.</p>
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		<title>Islam: More ‘Like the Mafia’ than Bill Maher Knows</title>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Oct 2014 04:50:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Raymond Ibrahim]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[allah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bill Maher]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[godfather]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MAFIA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=243246</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Allah vs. the Godfather. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/la-ol-bill-maher-ben-affleck-islam-20141008.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-243247" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/la-ol-bill-maher-ben-affleck-islam-20141008-450x310.jpg" alt="APphoto_Real Time With Bill Maher" width="302" height="208" /></a><strong>Editor&#8217;s note: The following is Part One of a three-part series examining the many parallels between Islam and the mafia. Click the following for <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/raymond-ibrahim/loyalty-and-enmity-parallels-between-islam-and-the-mafia/">Part Two</a> and <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/raymond-ibrahim/islam-and-the-mafia-making-an-offer-you-cant-refuse/">Part Three</a>. </strong></p>
<p>During a <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/other-matters/ben-affleck-portrait-of-islams-clueless-apologetics/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">recent debate on HBO’s <i>Real Time</i></span></a>, host Bill Maher declared that Islam is “the only religion that acts like the mafia, that will f***ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book.”</p>
<p>Maher was apparently referring to Islam’s “blasphemy” laws, which ban on pain of death any “insult”—as found in a statement, a picture, a book, etc.—to Islam and especially its prophet, Muhammad.</p>
<p>While Maher has been criticized for his “Islamophobic” assertion, he and others may be surprised to learn that the similarities between Islam and the mafia far exceed punishing those who say, draw, or write “the wrong thing.”</p>
<p>In the following three part article, we will examine a number of these similarities.</p>
<p>In this article, Part One, we will look at the relationship between Allah, his messenger Muhammad, and the Muslims, and note several parallels with the relationship between the godfather, his underboss, and the mafia.</p>
<p>In Part Two (forthcoming), we will examine the clannish nature of the mafia and compare it to Islam’s concept of “Loyalty and Enmity”—including how in both Islam and the mafia, those members who wish to break away, to “apostatize,” are killed.</p>
<p>In Part Three (forthcoming), we will examine how both the mafia and Islam have historically both profited from the “protection” racket.</p>
<p><b>Allah as Godfather; Muhammad as Underboss</b></p>
<p>The <i>padrino</i> of larger mafia organizations and families—literally, the godfather or “boss of bosses”—has absolute control over his subordinates and is often greatly feared by them for his ruthlessness.  He has an “underboss,” a right-hand man who issues his orders and enforces his will.  The godfather himself is often inaccessible; mafia members need to go through the underboss or other high ranking associates.</p>
<p>Compare this with the relationship between Allah and his “messenger” Muhammad (in Arabic, Muhammad is most commonly referred to as <i>al-rasul</i>, “the messenger”). Unlike the Judeo-Christian God—a personal God, a Father, that according to Christ is to be communed with directly (Matt 6:9)—Islam’s god, Allah, is unreachable, unknowable, untouchable.  Like the godfather, he is inaccessible.   His will is enforced by his messenger, Muhammad.</p>
<p>If the Judeo-Christian God calls on the faithful to “come now, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18), Allah says “Do not ask questions about things that, if made known to you, would only pain you” (Koran 5:101).  Just follow orders.</p>
<p>Though largely invisible and operating behind the scenes, the godfather and his underboss get a “piece of the action”—a “cut”—of all spoils acquired by their subordinates, the mafia.</p>
<p>So do Allah and his messenger Muhammad.  Koran 8:41 informs Muslims that “one-fifth [a “cut”] of all plunder you acquire goes to Allah and the messenger” (followed by Muhammad’s family and finally the needy).</p>
<p>The godfather, through his underboss, regularly sends his followers to make “hits”—to assassinate—those deemed enemies of the family.</p>
<p>So did Allah and his messenger.  One example:  A non-Muslim poet, Ka‘b ibn Ashraf, insulted Muhammad, prompting the latter once to exclaim, “Who will kill this man who has hurt Allah and his messenger?” A young Muslim named Muhammad ibn Maslama volunteered on condition that to get close enough to assassinate Ka‘b he be allowed to lie to the poet.</p>
<p>Muhammad <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/isl/bukhari/bh4/bh4_274.htm"><span style="color: #0433ff;">agreed</span></a>. Ibn Maslama traveled to Ka‘b and began to denigrate Islam and Muhammad until his disaffection became so convincing that Ka‘b took him into his confidence. Soon thereafter, Ibn Maslama appeared with another Muslim and, while Ka‘b’s guard was down, slaughtered the poet, bringing his head to Muhammad to the usual triumphant cries of “Allahu Akbar!” (“Allah is greater”).</p>
<p>Similarly, mafia members are expected always to be available for the family, “<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7086716.stm"><span style="color: #0433ff;">even if your wife is about to give birth</span></a>,” and to defend the godfather and his honor—even if it requires their lives.</p>
<p>Compare this to the widespread violence and upheavals that occur whenever Allah or his prophet are offended—whenever non-Muslim “infidels” blaspheme them.  Or, as Bill Maher put it: “Its’ the only religion that acts like the mafia, that will f***ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book.”</p>
<p>Finally, while the family adheres to a general set of rules, the godfather also issues more fluid orders to address situations as they evolve.</p>
<p>This is reminiscent of the entire “revelation” of the Koran, where later verses/commands contradict earlier verses/commands, depending on circumstances (known in Islamic jurisprudence as <i>al-nāsikh wal-mansūkh</i>, or the doctrine of abrogation).</p>
<p>Thus, whereas Allah supposedly told the prophet that “there is no compulsion in religion” (Koran 2:256), once the messenger grew strong enough, Allah issued new revelations calling for all-out war/jihad on the entire world till Islam became supreme (Koran 8:39, 9:5, 9:29, etc.).</p>
<p>*</p>
<p><em>Don&#8217;t miss <strong>Raymond Ibrahim</strong> on <strong>The Glazov Gang</strong> discussing</em><span id="eow-title" class="watch-title long-title " dir="ltr" title="The Glazov Gang-Raymond Ibrahim on ISIS's Islamic Inspirations."><em><strong> ISIS&#8217;s Islamic Inspirations</strong>:</em> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bFkGgNsqQ_4" width="460" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
<p><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf" target="_blank"><b>Subscribe</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <i>The Glazov Gang</i>, and </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>LIKE</b></a><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;"> it on </strong><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang" target="_blank"><b>Facebook.</b></a></p>
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		<title>How &#8216;The Sopranos&#8217; Changed America</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/ben-shapiro/how-the-sopranos-changed-america/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=how-the-sopranos-changed-america</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/ben-shapiro/how-the-sopranos-changed-america/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Jun 2013 04:16:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ben Shapiro]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[evil]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[James Gandolfini]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Tony]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Unapologetic evil becomes human.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Sopranos.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-194177" alt="Sopranos" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Sopranos-450x281.jpg" width="315" height="197" /></a>Last week, on the eve of James Gandolfini’s untimely death, the Writers Guild of America chose <i>The Sopranos</i> as the best written show in television history. Other shows (<i>LOST</i>) reached higher highs; other shows were consistently better (<i>Breaking Bad</i>). But it would be fair to call <i>The Sopranos</i> one of the most culture-changing shows of all time.</p>
<p><i>The Sopranos</i> follows Tony Soprano, a New Jersey mob leader with anxiety. Killing people isn’t his only source of anxiety; his family is out to get him, his wife is unhappy, his children are unmanageable, and his mistress is demanding. To cure that anxiety, he visits a psychiatrist. This is a look inside the life of an evil man – a man who is surprisingly human. But this show is a step beyond <i>The Godfather </i>which similarly shows evil with a human face.</p>
<p><i>The Godfather</i>, while it glorified the Corleone family, eventually made clear the consequences of a life of evil. Michael Corleone began as a clean-cut former soldier dragged kicking and screaming into the family business to protect his family. By the end of <i>The Godfather III</i>, the choices he has made have destroyed his family utterly and completely and left him an empty shell. The consequences of sin are obvious.</p>
<p><i>Breaking Bad</i> (AMC) would be the best modern example of <i>The Godfather</i>’s moral code. Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher, enters into a life of crime only after being diagnosed with cancer and realizing he has no money to leave his family. Eventually, his life of crime digs him a hole so deep he can no longer get out – and he becomes a calculating and empty man who can no longer even justify to himself why he’s in the drug business.</p>
<p><i>The Sopranos </i>is different. Tony has virtually no character arc. He begins as a self-absorbed mobster with characteristics of personal decency, and he ends the same way. The cryptic ending of the show, a smash cut to black just as it appeared Tony might be assassinated, frustrated audiences, but it was an excellent example of the show’s nihilism. It began nowhere, and it ended nowhere. It didn’t have the guts to make a moral call.</p>
<p>In fact, that was the point of the show – that nobody could make a moral call. Tony’s wife, Carmela, is confronted at one point by her psychiatrist, Dr. Krakower, who tells her that she must leave Tony if she hopes to maintain a semblance of personal morality. They have this exchange:</p>
<blockquote><p>CARMELA: He’s a good man. He’s a good father.</p>
<p>DR. KRAKOWER: You tell me he’s a depressed criminal, prone to anger, serially unfaithful. Is that your definition of a good man? You must trust your initial impulse and consider leaving him. You’ll never be able to feel good about yourself. You’ll never be able to quell the feelings of guilt and shame that you talked about, so long as you’re his accomplice …. I’m not charging you because I won’t take blood money, and you can’t, either. One thing you can never say is that you haven’t been told.</p></blockquote>
<p>She’s been told, and eventually she separates from Tony, but can’t cut the cord.</p>
<p><i>The Sopranos </i>set a new standard for nihilism on television. Now we have <i>Game of Thrones</i>, a vision of nihilism set in the romantic splendor of a magical medieval kingdom. It’s a place where incest goes unpunished, honor is treated with disdain, and treachery is the order of the day. Cruelty wins; mercy loses. That may be a realer world than the one we’re used to seeing on television, but it is also a more empty world. In a world without God – and there is no god in the world of Tony Soprano or the Lannisters – might makes right. Or at least it doesn’t make wrong.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank">Click here</a>.  </strong></p>
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		<title>Bob Tyrrell: Liberal Unfairness vs. James O&#8217;Keefe &#8211; The American Spectator</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/jlaksin/bob-tyrrell-liberal-unfairness-vs-james-okeefe-the-american-spectator/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=bob-tyrrell-liberal-unfairness-vs-james-okeefe-the-american-spectator</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:43:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jacob Laksin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[ACORN]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=48806</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[WASHINGTON &#8212; Irving Kristol, the recently deceased godfather of neoconservatism, once said to me, &#8220;Fairness is not a Liberal value.&#8221; I thought about his asseveration while observing the Liberals&#38;apos; colossal indignation over conservative activist James O&#38;apos;Keefe&#38;apos;s entry under false pretenses into the district offices of Senator Mary Landrieu D-La.. O&#38;apos;Keefe is the merry prankster who [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>WASHINGTON &#8212; Irving Kristol, the recently deceased godfather of neoconservatism, once said to me, &#8220;Fairness is not a Liberal value.&#8221; I thought about his asseveration while observing the Liberals&amp;apos; colossal indignation over conservative activist James O&amp;apos;Keefe&amp;apos;s entry under false pretenses into the district offices of Senator Mary Landrieu D-La.. O&amp;apos;Keefe is the merry prankster who entered the offices of the left-wing community action group ACORN under the false pretense of being a pimp. Repeatedly and in ACORN offices across the country the ACORNiacs counseled this faux pimp on how to be a successful sex entrepreneur. He taped them! The tapes exposed ACORN for the criminal enterprise it has become. O&amp;apos;Keefe became a hero to some conservatives but a scoundrel to all Liberals.Now O&amp;apos;Keefe is under threat of indictment for bringing a couple of fellow pranksters into Senator Landrieu&amp;apos;s office, though he has toned down his act. This time his associates claimed only to be employees of the telephone company, which I guess is understandable. One would not expect a United States senator&amp;apos;s staff to counsel young men on success in the sex trade. For that matter, I doubt that the senator&amp;apos;s staff would even counsel them on phone sex. Rather it appears that O&amp;apos;Keefe wanted surreptitiously to film Landrieu staffers working the telephones. His intent had something to do with a controversy about telephone callers not getting through to Landrieu&amp;apos;s office. At any rate, all hell has broken loose because O&amp;apos;Keefe and his faux telephone repairmen were up to something tricky on federal property.</p>
<p>via <a href="http://spectator.org/archives/2010/02/04/liberal-unfairness-vs-james-ok">The American Spectator : Liberal Unfairness vs. James O&#8217;Keefe</a>.</p>
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