What Alpini (Italian Mountain Troops) Song Was Pope Francis Referring To?

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He was an Alpini

Pope Francis, in a recent appearance in front of children--an appearance that is quickly becoming notorious for the many eyebrow raising things the Pope did and said--claimed that:

There is a lovely song that the Italian Alpine troops sing: in the art of rising up, victory does not lie in not falling, but in getting back up.

Now, the Italian mountain troops or Alpini, initially formed in 1872, are actually famed for their songs as well as their combat prowess. Many of these songs are explicitly Catholic. Mahound's Paradise does not necessarily doubt that the Pope was referring to a particular actual song. On the other hand, we wouldn't be surprised if it turned out the Pope was mixed-up or even slightly fibbing, as he often is or does in his "off-the-cuff" remarks. But the question is, what song was he referring to?

Here is perhaps the most famous Alpini song, Signore delle cime (Lord of the Peaks):

God of heaven,
Lord of the peaks,
You called our friend from the mountain.
We beseech thee, we beseech thee:
Up in heaven, up in heaven,
Let him go
Through thy mountains.

Holy Mary,
Lady of the Snow
Cover our friend, our brother
With a soft white blanket.
Up in heaven, up in heaven,
Let him go
Through thy mountains.

God of heaven,
The mountaineer has fallen
And rests in peace
In the breast of the mountains.
We beseech thee, we beseech thee:
Let an edelweiss
Fall from thy hands.

(The edelweiss is a Alpine flower, famously referred to, among other places, in a song from The Sound of Music. See end of post.)

This is a beautiful song. But there is no reference to falling down and getting up.

Here at Mahound's Paradise, we are of course fluent in 23 distinct languages and are conversant in at least 50 more. We are also highly knowledgeable about the history of music, including the Southern European folk tradition.

Nevertheless, to give others a chance, we will here offer an excerpt from Wikipedia, summing up the focus of the most well-known Alpini songs. Strip to a t-shirt, open your windows (if it's cold) or turn on a fan or the air-conditioner, to get the full effect:

• Aprite le Porte. An upbeat choral calling on people to open their doors and have a look at a column of advancing Alpini.
• Bersagliere Ha Cento Penne. This song begins by telling the difference between the single, long black feather which distinguishes the Alpini's cap from the Bersaglieri, who have a lot of smaller feathers on their cap. It goes on to tell why being an Alpino is harder than any other soldier's job, and says that the Alpini don't fear death because they die among the flowers of the Alps.
• Cosa Fai, Mio Bel Gin Gin. This song tells the story of a wife, who awaits the return of her husband, but is told by retreating Alpini, that her wait is in vain.
• Di qua, di là del Piave. A song about a beautiful girl.
• E Cadorna Manda A DireGeneral. Cadorna calls on the Alpini to advance and guard the frontier; alas they know they are on their way to guard the frontier for eternity.
• Era Una Notte Che Pioveva. A single soldier stands guard in the middle of a snowstorm on a mountain summit, dreaming of his beloved at home.
• Il Testamento Del Capitano. The Captain of a Company is mortally wounded and asks to see the rest of his Alpini a last time; they come, even though they have no shoes to walk. He asks them to cut his heart into five pieces: one for his homeland Italy, one for the battalion, one for his mother, one for his love and the last one for the mountains, which will surround it with roses and flowers.
• La Montanara. A song about the beauty of the Alps, very famous and often considered as the hymn of the Alps.
• La Si Taglia I Biondi Capelli. A young girl cut off her blonde hair to enlist in the army and thus able to follow her first love to the front on the Piave river.
• La Tradotta. “The railway that begins in Turin, doesn’t stop in Milan anymore, but goes directly to the Piave - cemetery of youth. In 29 we left home, only in 7 we returned, the other 22 all died in San Dona. Dear nun, I’m wounded, tomorrow I won’t see, my mother will not come; put a flower on my grave. A cross is in Nervesa, my brother is buried there, I wrote Ninetto on it, and so mother might find him.”
• La Valsugana. The dream of returning home.
• Lassù in montagna. A inspirational song about that even when alone in the mountains all of Italy stands besides the Alpini.
• Monte Canino. The Alpini arrive on the front after days of transport in railways wagons.
• Monte Cauriol. The wind brings the news to a family that their son has died on Mountain “Cauriol”.
• Monte Nero. The 3rd Alpini regiment is on its way to conquer Mount “Nero”, but the attacks ends in such a massacre, that the regiments Colonel sits amid his dead soldiers and weeps.
• Monte Pasubio. A long column of Alpini is on the way to Mount “Pasubio”, a column of those that will never return, that go to die on Mount “Pasubio”. But the Alpinis are not afraid; they will not return/ turn around. (In Italian the used verb has this double meaning)
• Quel Mazzolin Di Fiori. A young woman collects flowers she will bring to her love.
• Signore delle cime. A prayer for a man who died in the mountains. It prays God to let him climb the mountains of Paradise - this famous song is a recent song (1958) written by Bepi de Marzi, an italian composer who wrote many songs drawing inspiration from popular tradition.
• Stelutis Alpinis. In Friulian language. A dead soldier tells his beloved where he is buried: "up among the rocks" under a clearing full of Edelweisses. He tells her to come and pick one flower, and hold it when she prays for him, so he will still be with her.
• Sul Cappello Che Noi Portiamo. A hymn on the black feather that the Alpini carry on their hat.
• Sul Ponte Di Bassano. On the famous "Bridge of the Alpini" in Bassano del Grappa the Alpini say goodbye to their loved ones, before departing to the nearby front.
• Sul Ponte Di Perati. On the bridge of Perati a black flag of grief flies for the Alpinis of the Alpine Division Julia, who goes to war, goes under the earth.
• Ta - Pum! After 20 days on Mount Ortigara, the battalion descends and has no soldiers left; they are all in the cemetery by the river, where the battalions remaining soldiers will soon stop by too.

Well, no falling down and getting up in those songs either (unless it's hidden in the full lyrics).

There is only, well, falling down and never getting up...in the snow, and the cold, amidst the rocks and swirling wind, alone, presumably done in by an Austro-Hungarian or French sniper or whomever, while your beautiful love back home picks a mountain flower to remember you by...

I hope I'm not being too flippant. I find the Alpini to be heroic. But you have to admit most of the songs are a bit...melancholy.

So, I'm still curious. What song was the Pope referring to?

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If you read this far, you deserve a clip from the Sound of Music. Edelweiss.

NOT A PARODY: Pope Leads Children in Chant of "No Justice, No Peace," Invites Radical Do-It-Yourself Abortionist, Claims, "People Go to War to Defend Money"

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This is worse than silly.

Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI did their best to stamp out an evil and false ideology growing within the Church--liberation theology. Pope Francis is completely reversing their efforts--attempting to rehabilitate this heresy and promote the evil men behind it.

Now he's peddling the rot to schoolchildren.

From The Vatican Insider:

Today Francis met 7000 children from the “Peace Factory”... 

By Iacopo Scarmuzzi, Vatican City 

They put a bracelet round his wrist and a “peace helmet” “because you are our top peace worker”. They welcome him by singing “We are the World” and bid farewell to him with songs and embraces... 

The aim of the initiative promoted by psychologist Maria Rita Parsi, amongst others, is to mobilize institutions, media, church bodies, NGOs, workforces and political figures to build a world of peace “immediately and in the future”. Radical leader Emma Bonino was also present in the Paul VI Hall. The Pope had personally invited her over the telephone, when he called to inquire about her illness, as Bonino said herself in an interview with Radio Radicale, adding that the Pope had met her when she was still Foreign Minister of Italy.

Stop. Here is Lifesite News on Emma Bonino:

Armed with a home-made abortion device, operated by a bicycle pump, Emma Bonino, Italy’s newly appointed Foreign Minister, started her career in the early 1970s as an illegal abortionist and radical feminist.

...Bonino has boasted that she and her group committed 10,141 illegal abortions. However, she avoided prosecution for the illegal abortions by being elected to public office, thereby gaining parliamentary immunity.

Operated by a Bicycle Pump.

But this is a digression. Back to the schoolchildren:

An Egyptian child living in the suburbs of Rome...asked the Pope why “powerful people don’t help schools”: “We can ask a bigger question,” the Pope answered: “Why do so many powerful people not want peace? Because they live off war, the arms industry is a serious matter! The powerful earn a living by producing and selling arms to countries: it is the industry of death, they make money from it. You know greed is really bad for us, our desire to have more, more money: and when we see that everything revolves around money, that the economic system revolves around money and not around people, around men and women, a great deal is sacrificed and people go to war to defend money. This is why so many people do not want peace: you profit more from war and money but you lose lives, culture, education, you lose so many things...”

“Dear Pope, I am 9 years old and I constantly hear people talking about peace, what is peace?” asked a wheelchair-bound child, adding that he is going to Lourdes with UNITALSI and suggesting that Pope Francis should drive the train so he gets there on time: “You were great!” the Pope answered. “Peace means above all, no more wars but it also means joy, friendship among all, taking steps toward justice every day, taking steps to ensure there are no starving and sick who do not have the means to obtain health assistance. Doing all this is peace. Peace takes effort, it isn’t about being relaxed. We need to work in order to ensure that everyone has a solution to the problems and needs of their land, their country, their family and their society: this is how you make home-made peace.” Peace is not an industrial product, peace is a home-made product, it is created day by day with our work, our life, our love, our closeness, our care. Peace is build every day.” Francis then asked the children to say together: “Where there is no justice, there is no peace”.

This is Marxist bilge.

So, okay, the Pope is not a formal heretic (we haven't had a tribunal yet). Neither was Karl Marx. But let's drop the Marxism thing and proceed to the existentialism part:

Among the many subjects discussed, was illness in children. This is what Francis had to say to Rafael, a little Latin American boy with a heart condition: “Rafael, I was moved by what you said”. Then, answering two questions the child had put to him, the Pope added: “Is there a reason why a boy who has done nothing bad should come into the world with so many problems as he has? This is one of the hardest questions for one to answer: there is no answer. A great Russian writer, Dostoevsky, asked the same question: why do children suffer? One can only look at the sky and wait for answers that cannot be found.” 

One can only look at the sky...

So, I like Dostoevsky as much as anyone. But you know what? According to Catholic teaching, the answers can be found. To start, there's that little thing that Adam did...

Let's get to the heart of it:

Jose Maria Bergoglio: You're a real pope. A true pope. You made it. No one can take that away from you.

You're also a bad pope.

You said that you would only be pope for a few years and would abdicate before your death, following your predecessor, Benedict's example.

Do that.

Please.

The Church will be better off. And your immortal soul will be better off.

Please, Pope Francis, abdicate now. 

Christian Minister Blames Pro-Lifers for Being Born

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They don't make ministers like they used to

Whatever your position on abortion, if you're a reasonable or consistent thinker, you will find this Huffington Post piece bizarre.

I think it's insane.

It was written for Mother's Day.

The basic idea is that there are millions of "angry mothers" out there who regret that they didn't or couldn't abort their kids.

Now this claim is, I suppose, an empirical one. It could be true (although, I do not think it is).

But the weird thing is, the author, Kristine Holmgren--an ordained Presbyterian minister--thinks it's true about her own mother.

And she laments this.

She blames pro-lifers for being born.

After telling a story about advising a pregnant young woman to have an abortion (in her position as a Christian minister) and maligning the young woman's mother for recommending against it--

"Abortion is murder!" Betty shrieked. "You pile sin on sin and call yourself a pastor?" 

And so it came to pass that an unwanted child brought an unwanted baby to a cold, cold world. 

And another angry mother was spawned.

--she then claims that this was the very position of her own mother when she gave birth to the author:

...angry mothers are everywhere. 

If you were born before women had access to safe, affordable, accessible abortion, chances are your mother was an angry mother. 

I was raised by one. Sure -- my mom loved me; but she was over 40 when I was born - and I was the youngest of four children. 

My oldest brother was twenty-years-old. My nearest was only thirteen months. 

So -- I wasn't (how shall I say this?) -- planned. 

Sometimes my mom called me her "baby." Most of the time she called me, "her final mistake." 

There were no illusions of "righteous" womanhood in my childhood home. In my family, we knew the truth. Raising kids was no picnic. 

"Don't you grow up and have babies for me," my mom said. "You're a smart girl. And you got bigger fish to fry." 

My mother might have been angry, but she raised me to be educated, employed and free.

What a mom--Most of the time she called me, "her final mistake."--and what a daughter.

Now, from her biography we learn that Ms. Holmgren did in fact have two daughters (don't worry, I assume they were planned). We also learn that she published a short story in a book called The Magic of Christmas Miracles (!) and is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio's All Things Considered.  She also has written plays for small theater companies.

But in the end, her mother was right. Compared to raising children, she did have "bigger fish to fry."

She became a blogger.

Activist Nun: "Whoever Says ISIS has No Connection to Islam, He's a Liar"

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Sister Hatune Dogan comforts a young Christian girl after surgery. The girl had been repeatedly raped and her face horrifically slashed by Muslim kidnappers in Iraq

To be honest, I had never heard of Sister Hatune Dogan until an hour ago. But she seems to be fairly well-known. I will make a note to follow her.

She runs the Hatune Foundation. Here is a description in its own words:

Twenty Six Years in the Service for the Poor 

Hatune Foundation is a non-government relief organization sited in Warburg, Germany who operates through chapters or partners in more than 30 countries all over the world. Hatune Foundation is working independently from political and religious institutions. 

The foundations purpose is to help poor, vulnerable and persecuted people around the world.

The always useful Shoebat, has more on Sister Dogan here. And Gates of Vienna has an interview here where she, among other things, discusses the Armenian Genocide.

Perhaps Hollywood can make a movie about her. Is Susan Sarandon still available?

Here is recent short video report from the Christian Broadcasting Network (as cited by PJ Media), featuring an interview Sister Dogan (the actual video follows the transcript):

The Islamic terror group ISIS is leading a trail of destruction across large parts of Syria and Iraq, with a specific target in its crosshairs. Hundreds of thousands of Christians have been displaced from their homes and countries. Others have been murdered or enslaved by the Jihadist armies of ISIS with no end in sight. 

Sister Hatune Dogan has been on the ground and witnessed the devastation of these ancient Christian communities. She's listened to survivors tell how Christian and Yazidi women are being sold into sex slavery:

They choose the most beautiful one even if they have small child. And they sell these girls--these ladies--to each other. They don't sell to another religion, only--Sunni Muslim. They think that there have been twelve-thousand kidnapped at the hand of ISIS--Yazidi alone. What is going on there, what I was hearing, is the highest barbarism on earth in the history until today.

Her foundation helps the poor and persecuted in thirty-five countries, providing them with food, clothing, medicine and shelter. She travels constantly with a special focus on the Muslim world. The rise of ISIS has frequently brought her to Syria and Iraq to help the region's beleaguered Christian minority: 

I'm coming here not for a holiday. I'm coming here to bring a voice to the voiceless--so that the world can hear their voice. They don't have a voice. I am the channel for them--that is my mission.

Sister Dogan is no stranger to Islamic persecution. As a young girl, threats from local Muslims forced her family to leave their home in Turkey. They relocated to Germany where she operates her foundation and sounds the alarm about the gathering Islamic storm. 

The mission of Baghdadi, of ISIS, is to convert the world completely to the Islamic religion and bring them to Dar Al Salaam, as they call it. And Islam is not peace, please. And whoever says ISIS has no connection to Islam or something like this, he's a liar. ISIS is islam, Islam is ISIS. 

She's disappointed with what she calls a week reaction from the West. 

We know that according to the Koran, there is no democracy. Islam and democracy are opposite like black and white. And I hope America will understand--America today has the power that they can stop this disaster on the earth, with other Western countries. 

As for Sister Dogan she says she'll keep calling attention to the plight of followers of Jesus around there world, whether the West wants to hear about it or not.

 

Palestinian Muslims Lie About Murdered Child

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If you're having trouble reading the text beneath the picture, here is a transcription:

It is generally "assumed" that Israeli "defends itself" against Muslim "fundamentalists". The truth is that Israel kills Muslims and Christians indiscriminately and both Arab Muslims and Christians stand together against Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Ignoring the killing of Christians by mainstream media is convenient because this is how Islam can be easily branded as "the enemy" and Muslims can be branded as the "terrorists".

The photo and text was taken from the website of Occupied Palestine: Blogging 4 Human Rights & Liberation of Palestine! one of the premier pro-Palestinian sites on the web.  You can view it in a section of the site titled Christians in Palestine--in pictures.

Most of the pictures are of Palestinian Christians looking quite happy and, well, Christian--celebrating beautiful Masses in lovely churches, parading in quaint and colorful clothing as part of religious processions, lighting candles for Christmas and the like:

See, goes the message, in the Muslim majority West Bank, Christian Palestinians live in happiness and harmony with their fellow Muslim Palestinians.

Then there's that dead child's hand.

We live in happiness and harmony except that Israel oppresses all of us. Here's the hand of a child, still clutching her cross, killed in an Israeli air raid or some such.

The caption doesn't say that precisely, but that's what we're led to believe.

It's a lie.

The photo of the dead child's hand clutching the cross was taken in Beslan, Russia in 2004. The child was killed during the horrific school hostage siege that resulted in 385 deaths, mostly children.

The child who died clutching her cross wasn't killed by Jews. She was killed by Muslim terrorists.

This can be easily verified here, among other places. Or you can do a Google reverse image search on the picture at the end of this piece.

Now, in truth the photo has become somewhat iconic. And in a number of cases it has been used to illustrate stories having nothing to do with Beslan, though usually pertaining to the deaths or persecutions of Christians. See, for example, here, here and, somewhat grotesquely, here.

But it's rich (and pathetic) that in this case it was used to buttress an argument for how unfair it is to brand Muslims as terrorists, when in fact the photo shows a victim of Muslims as terrorists.

Sure, Christians in the West Bank live lives often filled with Christian color and joy, though their status as a shrinking minority in a hostile environment, is day-by-day becoming more untenable. We should also point out that this is an area ultimately controlled by Israel. If Israel were to relinquish general control of the West Bank or (God forbid) cease to exist, I imagine there would be many more of these sad pictures.

Lies cannot be hidden from God. All of us will receive mercy if we sincerely ask for it. But none of us can avoid His judgment.

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The above piece was prompted and inspired by a design created by the Google+ member Really? and posted in the Israel for All Google+ group. The design, along with the original photo, is below:

Muhammad: Destroy all Musical Instruments

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"Sorry"

Yesterday I wrote about the Ayatollah Khomeini's negative views about fun, joy and humor.

It's tempting to dismiss this sort of thing as a manifestation of modern-day Islamic "extremism". After all, weren't Muslims in the "golden-age" of Islam trilling flutes and strumming harps, composing love-poetry and eating sherbet, while Europeans were scrambling around in the mud bashing each other with crude clubs?

We'll discuss the Islamic view of music and musical instruments shortly, but first let's backtrack for a moment and ask: How do we know what Islam itself allows or prohibits?

Well, as all faithful Muslims would agree, first you look at the Koran to see what Allah, or through him Muhammad, commanded or said. Then you look at the Hadith--accounts of what Muhammad said or did. That's pretty much it. As far as I can tell, there's no Natural Law tradition in Islam. In other words, the commands or prohibitions don't obviously have to make sense. If God said it or Muhammad said it or did it, that's good enough.

So, with reference to Muhammad. If he treated captives in a certain way--executing some, sparing others, selling still others into slavery, etc.--then your job is to figure out the pattern and imitate it. If he had this to say about how to treat political enemies, then that's how you treat them. If he liked cats, then cats are good. If he made love in this position but not that one, then guess what? If he smoked cigarettes in a cigarette holder, then you...

Okay, sorry, that was Ayn Rand, but the point stands.

Now, the question arises as to what to do if it appears that Muhammad said or did two contradictory things. If both are verified and accepted as true, then the latter one rules. Muhammad changed his mind, or circumstances changed or whatever, and you go with the last and basically ignore the first. The first one is abrogated.

And by the way, the changing one's mind thing applies to Allah himself in the Koran. Indeed, there are so many seeming instances of this that to the skeptic it gets a bit comical. Sure enough, the Koran has more than a few things to say about the phenomenon:

If We abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten, We will replace it by a better one or one similar (2:106). 

God abrogates and confirms what He pleases. His is the Decree Eternal (13:39). 

If We pleased We could take away that which We have revealed to you (17:86). 

When We change one verse for another (God knows best what He reveals), they say: "You are an impostor" (16:101).

You got that one right, Skippy.

It is this that lies at the heart of the issue of those "peaceful" versus "warlike" parts of the Koran. The peaceful ones are all chronologically earlier. Muhammad began by attempting to spread Islam in a non-coercive manner. When that didn't work, he took up the sword. It worked better. And that's where things stood when he died, and where they have stood ever since. The sword rules.

Now in the Hadith--the gathered sayings and deeds of Muhammed--there is sometimes a bit more controversy about which sayings are "verified". There are tens of thousands of the things and multiple compilers. I think it's fair to say that there's a great deal of agreement on much of the important stuff with some arguments around the edges.

So what did Muhammad have to say about musical instruments?

Bukhari, perhaps the most accepted and respected of the Hadith compilers has the Prophet saying:

From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks, and the use of musical instruments as lawful. And (from them), there will be some who will stay near the side of a mountain, and in the evening their shepherd will come to them with their sheep and ask them for something, but they will say to him, "Return to us tomorrow." Allah will destroy them during the night and will let the mountain fall on them, and Allah will transform the rest of them into monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Resurrection (7:494).

Another compiler, Qudsi, relates:

The Prophet said that Allah commanded him to destroy all the musical instruments, idols, crosses and all the trappings of ignorance. Allah said that if a man took even a mouthful of wine, He would make him drink the same quantity of pus of the wounds of the people in Hell (19:5).

By the way, the pus thing is not unique. The Koran is filled with similar grotesque imagery.

It should be said that the Koran and Hadith are somewhat mixed when it comes to singing. On the weight of the overall evidence some have said that all singing is condemned, though this is hard to square with the preferred quasi-musical chanting of the Koran. The majority view, perhaps, is that while some singing is permitted, especially if for a religious or other serious motivation, in general, singing is frivolous and potentially dangerous.

It could lead to musical instruments.

In fairness, many Islamic scholars have interpreted the musical-instrument "prohibition" in a milder manner similar to the way singing is regarded. Some instruments in some contexts might be allowable as long as their purpose is not for frivolous enjoyment or entertainment. The scholar I just linked to even goes so far as to say that "the use of the drums are unequivocally permissible for festivals and weddings and joyous times." Take that, Ayatollah Sourpuss.

So, do people in Islamic countries use musical instruments? Even for entertainment? Do they do it even (close your eyes and cover your ears) just for fun?

Of course. Whatever the ruling ideology or government says, when it comes to fun, people are always trying. Perhaps it's evolutionary. Or if you prefer, God (the real God) has built the thirst for joy into our very spirit.

But when, say, ISIS in some new outrage, melts all the brass instruments of the Mosul Symphony Orchestra into war materiel, or bans whistling or cuts off the hands of twenty marimba players or whatever, and you hear or read people scolding, as you just know they will, that's not authentic Islam! Actually...

It is.

Don't blame me, man.

It all goes back to Muhammad.

Founder of the the Islamic State of Iran: There is No Fun in Islam

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Don't laugh

The following quotation from the late Ayatollah Khomeini is well-known to Islamophobes, but it bears repeating (the link contains the source).

We are told that just 1% (or whatever) of all Muslims are "extremists". Most Muslims are peaceful, freedom loving, baby-tickeling folks just like us. If they have extreme opinions it's in the same proportion as those Christians who believe God hates Fags, etc.

This, of course, is utter bollocks.

Do a poll and find out how many, say, Pakistanis think that apostates from Islam (or people who slander the Prophet or commit homosexual acts or frolic with Jews or whatever) should be executed. Hint: It's closer to 99% than 1%.

So here's a quote from the founder of the Islamic State of Iran--sort of the Iranian equivalent of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Ronald Reagan all rolled together...with a pointy beard:

Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious. Islam does not allow swimming in the sea and is opposed to radio and television serials. Islam, however, allows marksmanship, horseback riding and competition ...

Well, thank Allah that marksmanship is still permitted.

Now, Khomeini was a cagey one. He wrote poems about wine. No doubt that was during his Rumspringa.

But did you ever wonder why so many Muslims want to engage in suicide attacks?

What do they have to lose?