ISIS bans pigeon breeding - punishable by public flogging - because seeing birds' genitals overhead offends Islam
- Islamic extremists in Syria and Iraq have banned citizens breeding pigeons
- Claim the sight of uncovered pigeons flying overhead is offensive to God
- Also say that raising the birds wastes time that should be spent praying
- Those who break the rules will face flogging, fines and even imprisonment
- Earlier this year ISIS executed three boys they found breeding pigeons
Document: Senior ISIS issued this
diktat banning pigeon breeding as they claim the sight of the birds'
genitals as they fly overhead is offensive to Islam
Senior
clerics fighting for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq have issued a
diktat banning pigeon breeding as they claim the sight of the birds'
genitals as they fly overhead is offensive to Islam.
Jihadis
operating in the group's 'Euphrates province', which stretches from
Anbar in Iraq to Dier ez Zour in Syria, told pigeon breeders they had
one week to stop the practice or face public flogging.
The
announcement isn't the first time ISIS has targeted the apparently
blasphemous practice of pigeon breeding - a popular pastime in the
Middle East.
Earlier
this year it was claimed that 15 boys had been arrested and at least
three of them executed by ISIS militants in Iraq's eastern Diyala
governate after fighters took exception to their pigeon breeding hobby
on the grounds that it stopped them spending their time worshipping
Allah.
ISIS'
latest ban on pigeon breeding was revealed in an official document
released by senior administrators in the group's self-declared Euphrates
province.
Written
in Arabic script on paper headed with the terror group's chilling black
and white logo, the short document begins with a warning to locals who
keep pigeons on the roof of their houses.
Black flag of ISIS flies from mangled helicopter after...
500 children kidnapped by ISIS are being brainwashed into...
Now ISIS prisoners are burned alive: Video claiming to show...
Two US jihadis who made ISIS propaganda videos - including...
'All
those who keep pigeons above the roofs of their houses must stop doing
this entirely within a week of the date of the issuing of this
statement,' the militants say.
'Whosoever
violates it will be subject to consequences of reprimand including a
financial fine, imprisonment and flogging,' they add.
The war on pigeons: The latest
announcement isn't the first time ISIS has targeted the apparently
blasphemous practice of pigeon breeding - a popular pastime in the
Middle East
When
rumours of an ISIS ban on pigeons began to circulate earlier this year,
it was widely assumed that it was related to the birds being used to
either smuggle anti-ISIS messages or cigarettes.
However
the new document clears up that misunderstanding, clearly stating that
the ban is intended 'to put a stop to the greater criminal act of
harming one's Muslim and Muslim women neighbours, revealing the
[pigeon's] genitals and wasting time.'
Inevitably
ISIS calls on its network of spies and terrified informers to ensure
that those who ignore the ban suffer harsh punishments - demanding
locals report anybody who continues to reveal their pigeons' genitals to
the local religious police, known as the Hisbah.
It
is likely that those who flout the ban as a one-off will be publicly
flogged and fined a substantial sum. Repeat offenders face being jailed
in one of ISIS' notorious prison cells, however,
Top down: The Islamic State's harsh
treatment of anybody involved with pigeons is believed to come straight
from senior figures within the terror group, such as the leader Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi himself
Bizarrely the latest pigeon breeding ban isn't the first time the militants have targeted the practice.
In January the terror group rounded up 15 boys who were 'wasting time' rearing the birds, summarily executing three of them.
The
surviving boys' families were forced to pay as much as £1,200 each to
secure their release after the group were snatched from their homes
in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, close to Baghdad.
According
to eyewitnesses, the ISIS militants searched every house for the
pigeons themselves, stuffing any birds that they found into bags and
taken them away to be burned.
Abu
Abdullah, a farmer, told NBC News he had managed to get the money
together after borrowing from family. Others had handed over jewellery
to secure their sons' release.
Mr Abdullah revealed his son had been severely beaten and warned not to keep pigeons again.
Heavily armed: When rumours of an ISIS
ban on pigeons began to circulate earlier this year, it was widely
assumed that it was related to the birds being used to either smuggle
anti-ISIS messages or cigarettes
Pigeon
breeding is a popular hobby in the region, but it is said to be frowned
upon by extremist Islamist fighters because they believe it is a
distraction from worshipping Allah.
Mr Abdullah, 52, said he was standing beside his son when ISIS militants stormed the family home and kidnapped his son.
He
said: 'I asked them why and they said: 'He is not following the real
Islam, he must be punished for being a pigeon breeder. This habit is
taking him away from worshiping Allah.'
'I
begged them again to know where are they taking him, what are they
going to do to him. They said he is going to be taken to be judged
according to the Islamic Sharia.
'They pushed me, and when my son tried to stop them from pushing me they beat him. Then they put him inside the car and left.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment