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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Ayatollahs ask Castro to convert to Islam |
| 2006-05-10 |
| Iran's religious authorities in the holy Shiite city of Qom have officially invited Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, to convert to Islam, according to Hojatolislam Mohammad Reza Hakimi, quoted by Iran's Farda news agency. "I met Castro together with the Iranian foreign minister, Saiid Salili, and gave him some sacred Islamic texts translated into Spanish," said Hakimi, who recently returned from a government visit to Cuba. "We spoke with Castro for several hours, and I think I almost managed to convince him to become a Muslim," Hakimi added. "Castro certain that Cuba is suffering from a lack of spirituality, and seems very interested in Islam, above all in the writing of Iran's revolutionary leader, Ayatallah Khomeini," Hakimi continued. Khomeini in 1989 invited Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, to renounce Communism and to convert to Islam. Gorbachev's political and economic reforms in the mid-1980s triggered the non-violent transition from authoritarian to democratic forms of government in Eastern Europe, and from state-controlled to more free-market economies. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #16 religion is the opiate of the people With Islam, it's more like PCP. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2006-05-10 22:39 |
| #15 Fidel better be very careful when he answers, a good non-commital non-answer may be his best bet. Remember the Koran's statements, "Either convert them, or kill them" |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2006-05-10 21:24 |
| #14 Theyn praying he's done usually. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-05-10 18:01 |
| #13 Islam says no to Rum Fidel. I'm not sure what they think about cigars. And they pray five times a day, from what I've heard his speaches or so long they'd have to stop at least once to pray before he was done. Non starter. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-05-10 15:25 |
| #12 Better tell them fellas about how "religion is the opiate of the people", Fidelito. Not that they'd consider that a negative... They're big on opiates, I hear. |
| Posted by: mojo 2006-05-10 12:51 |
| #11 Fidel is certainly considering his final retirement package. Those 73 virgins might be the best offer he's going to get. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2006-05-10 12:10 |
| #10 Look for Mugabe to declare Zimbabwe an Islamic country any day now. |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2006-05-10 10:56 |
| #9 Iran's religious authorities are as delusional as its president. They're probably busy translating "some sacred Islamic texts" into North Korean Juche too. Good news, Dear Reader, you won't be so ronery when Hojatolislam Mohammad Reza Hakimi comes calling in Pyongyang. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2006-05-10 10:40 |
| #8 [EvilEmperorVoice] And now your journey to the dark side is complete... [/EvilEmperorVoice] Come on Fidel - you know you want to... |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2006-05-10 09:50 |
| #7 Things are moving along nicely... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-05-10 09:50 |
| #6 Da'wa? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2006-05-10 09:45 |
| #5 Simply another example of muslims living in a fantasy world. The caliphate, world domination, supremacy, etc. All of these are delusions that nourish their societies in the absence of any real accomplishments on the world stage. And so, with the filters they have to perceive the world, they view someone who was simply being polite as being a near convert. Amazing. If not for oil, most of them would be dead. |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2006-05-10 08:47 |
| #4 Something tells me they would regret it if he did convert. Come on Fido, say it: there's no... |
| Posted by: Spot 2006-05-10 08:29 |
| #3 Castro probably was thinking he might get a few million barrels of discount petro for each hour he listened. |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-05-10 08:25 |
| #2 We spoke with Castro for several hours... Usually it's the other way around! |
| Posted by: Raj 2006-05-10 08:08 |
| #1 It was traditional for ancient kings to convert to the religion of powerful allies and then persuade (or force) their subjects to go along. I think if Castro did convert to Islam, though, he'd be overthrown. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-05-10 03:51 |