The severe Islamic law imposed by Al Qaeda forbid women from buyingcucumbers

Tag : Cucumbers
A bizarre ruling banning women from buying suggestively shapedvegetables such as cucumbers, and the brutal slaying of children,lost Al Qaeda the support of the Iraqi population, it emergedyesterday.
Al Qaeda's enforcement of a severe form of Islamic law sappedsupport among the people for its campaign against American andIraqi forces, allowing Arab tribal leaders to drive Al Qaeda out ofthe strongholds it had created.
Sheikh Hameed al-Hayyes, a Sunni tribal leader from a former AlQaeda stronghold in the west of Iraq, said: 'I saw them slaughter anine-year old boy like a sheep because his family didn't pledgeallegiance to them.'
The severe Islamic law imposed by Al Qaeda forbid women from buyingcucumbers, which were regarded as male and could only be bought bymen

Life under Al Qaeda was not only violent but also farcical.
'They even killed female goats because their private parts were notcovered and their tales were pointed upward,' Hayyes said.
'They regarded the cucumber as male and tomato as female. Womenwere not allowed to buy cucumbers, only men.'
Men would have fingers cut off for smoking, hair salons and shopsselling cosmetics were bombed, and ice-cream salesmen were killedbecause ice cream was not available during the time of Islam'sProphet Mohammad.
'Al Qaeda wanted to kill me and blow up my shop because I soldmusic CDs,' said Ahmed Yasin from Samarra, north of Baghdad.
Singing, shaving and the medical treatment of women by male doctorswere all among activities considered by Al Qaeda to be forbidden byIslam.
'Al Qaeda prohibited the shaving of beards and banned sideburns andlong hair.
'Barbers were killed because they did not obey,' said Kais Amer, abarber from Mosul in the north of Iraq.
Leaflets threatened women with kidnap or death for not wearing anall-enveloping robe.

The forced marriage of Iraqi women and girls to al Qaeda members bytribes intimidated by the group was not uncommon.
Disgusted by such acts, Sunni Arab tribal leaders - whose men onceformed the backbone of the insurgency against American and Iraqiforces - turned on Al Qaeda in late 2006, and with American backinghelped to remove Al Qaeda.
Until the overthrow of former President Saddam Hussein in 2003,Iraq was largely secular in outlook.

Iraqis of different sects and ethnicities intermarried, women woulddress in jeans and T-shirts and Baghdad was packed with bars anddiscos.
America claims that Iraqi rejection of the Al Qaeda rules is onereason behind a drop in the number of bomb attacks targetting Iraqicivilians and coalition troops.