Handless in Paradise

An Australian imam who has no doubt that sharia will one day rule the land 'splains the advantage of the sharia-decreed punishment of amputation:

"If chopping off the hands is the punishment given by the sharia court then we say glad tidings, because chopping off the hands -- when you understand what is sharia -- is a mercy to that person.

"Why is it a mercy getting your hands chopped off? Because it can be expiation for your sins. It is better to get punished in this life than to go underground into the grave or into the hellfire for eternity."

Hey, words to live--and die--by. And very enlightened--in a 7th Century Arabian subcontinental sort of way.