:
Sa Jan 22 -

THOSE OL' DEVIL TOWERS -

*'I stoned the three jamarat in less than 15 minutes,'
Nasser AbdelFattah, a 31-year-old Egyptian,
proudly said.

'Today Satan is America and Israel and I hope
that, thanks to God, we defeat them,' he added.

Abdo Abu Zeid, a 38-year-old Syrian,
had the same opinion.

'America and Israel are the devils of our day,' he said.

'In the world, there is only a great devil, it's America,'
Sukhamat Ali, a Pakistani pilgrim, also said.*

* * *

+ I believe that Mohammed Atta thought he was "stoning the Devil" when he hit the WTC Towers with his jumbo jet missile. The inherent symbolism seems inescapable. Or was it some kind of magical thinking?

Then, too, the recent slaughter of the Egyptian family in Jersey City evokes the ritual-style slaughter of Daniel Pearl which also occurred around an Eid period, as I recall.

I suspect that a kind of syncretic sect of Islam may be developing. By "syncretic" I mean somewhat like the African belief systems with a Christian facade that resulted in Santeria and Voodoo, etc., except that this one may have a Moslem facade. But I could be
wrong, too.

:: AFP/Yahoo - final hajj ritual ::

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