The Israelite Taliban

I was astounded (and somewhat amused) to read the following old statement in an Iraqi Jewish Journal:
The move by Afghanistan’s religious leaders to destroy the idols of Buddhism is to be applauded. They offend the followers of monotheism, worshippers of the one true God, Creator and Sustainer of our universe, especially Jews and Moslems.

So who is ranged against the courageous Afghan move? It is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the fundamentalist regime of Iran, the puritan kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the supreme authority of Al Azhar Imam of Cairo. President Hosni Mubarak tells the Afghans that Egypt has not destroyed the pharaonic idols. But the followers of these idols no longer exist, whereas Buddhism is thriving. The tradition of destroying idols goes back to Abraham, ancestor of both Jews and Arabs.

What makes Afghanistan head and shoulders above the rest of Islam? It is the Jewish connection of the Afghan people. "The Afghans have a tradition that they descend from the lost Ten Tribes. They were carried away by Buktunaser. In the book (Taaqati-Nasiri) a native book, it is stated that at the time of the Shansabi Dynasty there were a people called Bani Israel who settled in Ghor, S.E. of Herat, and about the year 622 CE (the Hegra took place that year) converted the Islam by a person called Qais or Kish, who led some Afghan nobles to Arabia to embrace Islam. Mohammed greeted him as "malik" (king) as he claimed descent through 47 generations from Saul. Qais died in 662 aged 87. All the modern chiefs of Afghanisatan claim descent from him. The Afghans still call themselves Beni-Israel. Their claim to Israeli-tish descent is allowed by most Mohammedan writers. King Amanullah Khan once stated they were of the tribe of Benjamin." (Jewish Encyclopaedia).

There are a lot of powerful idols in the modern world: dollar bills, flags, tits and ass, the letter instead of the spirit of the law. But statues of the Buddha? The Buddha!? Buddhism, with its doctrine of non-attachment, is the premier iconoclastic faith of the East.

Hassid Vicious writes:
On the archetypal level, these lotus-throned colossi of the mystic bear comparison with the the Human created in the image of God in Genesis One. If the figures were shown standing and not sitting cross-legged, these could be easily mistaken for Adam Kadmon. The parallels are both precise and detailed, and the Boddhi tree of Buddha's realization is indeed the archetypal counterpart of Eden's Tree of Knowlege.

Unfortunately, Matt Johnson's message never grows old: The world is on its elbows and knees / It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds. If the Taliban are the literal and literalizing sons of Abraham, they are an abject lesson in how not to honour thy mother and father.

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