Unleashing the Beast

T HE M AHDI , I SLAM ' S M ESSIAH / 107

fruit trees and white raisins. In early times in Arabia, white raisins were considered a delicacy and were highly prized. It could be that Mohammed spoke of white raisins being in Paradise and not virgins. How disappointing this must be to a suicide bomber! AT-PLO P ORK B ULLETS While many snicker at the idea that young men would believe their martyrdom would pave the way for an eternity in Paradise with 72 virgins, another belief concerning pork could keep the bomber out of his anticipated eternal dwelling. Neither religious Jews nor Muslims are permitted to eat pork. According to Samuel E. Driben, a Jewish colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, fervent religious Muslims believe that contact with swine can kill their souls. In the Koran and in the Hadith, contact with swine products could actually deprive Muslims of Paradise: "Allah has forbidden you carrion, blood. and the flesh of swine" (Sura 2:173). During the Spanish-American War of 1898, American forces in the Philippines were attacked by the Moros, a fanatical suicide group who believed Muslims could gain entrance into Paradise by dying in a jihad against an "infidel." Documents from that period show that captured Moros were greatly afraid of any contact with pork. During the war, thousands of pork skins were obtained; and many of the captured Moros were wrapped and imprisoned in the pork skins. Many of those killed were buried in pork flesh. Eventually, word began to spread among the Moros and they began losing their desire for