Long ago, I concluded that tyrants tend to get rid of pigeons. Not only are they a primitive form of clandestine, encrypted conversation; watching at them fly above the town is exhilarating, even subversive. If birds fly free, why not me? This proscription reached its zenith, or nadir, in Kabul under the reign of the Taliban, who made it one of their 16 precepts-- y'know, no sorcery, abuse your wife, no shaving, no music, NO UN- ISLAMIC PLAYING WITH BIRDS. They killed every highflyer in Kabul in two weeks.
But ISIS or ISIL or whatever the desert plague is currently calling itself, just has to be more badass, as usual. Not content to kill the birds, they are rounding up pigeon fanciers, some under 20, burning their birds alive in sacks in front of them, and executing them.
"... Have no truck with the senseless thing/ Order the guns and kill." (Kipling) Which we may have no need to do. Right north of them is the most pigeon- mad country in the world, and nobody ever called the Turks or Kurds wimps. They may have had pigeons for 6000 years, and (Turks) claim to have brought them down the Silk Road's precursor in carts behind their horses....
4 comments:
So, does ISIS "allow" falconry? What is this prejudice towards pigeons--did I miss something ant-pigeon in the Koran when I read it awhile back? Did maybe Mohammed get shat upon eons ago and condemn the birds for all time? Or are pigeon keepers just a rebellious sort that need to be controlled?(ahem!) This just seems so bizarre--you'd think them suckers would have so much other stuff on their agenda that they'd not have time for contemplating the evil of pigeons. I wonder if I can google up more info on the whys and wherefores of this?.....L.B.
Nothing against it in the Koran, and most Moslem societies keep pigeons. There is even a legend that a pigeon spoke in Mohammed's ear. This is new nonsense-- one article states that pigeoners feed their birds first at the time of the morning prayer.
Remember, the saluki- tazi has been exempted from anti- dog provisions in the Koran even in Arabia. It took the Taliban and the Mullahs in Iran to be against THEM.
Thanks for the Kipling. Fits perfectly.
Jim Cornelius
www.frontierpartisans.com
....Yeah, no doubt I'm just overthinking this one, as if there could be any sensible reason for this! It just boils down to super-anal control, and maybe someone "in charge" simply didn't like someone who just happened to keep pigeons, and this was an excuse to get them. Like useless unfair laws made anywhere by tyrants or tyrannical groups. I had no idea the Taliban and Mullahs had condemned salukoids, too? Allah himself is gonna get real tired of them fellers if they keep this crap up........L. B.
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