Veiling Mannequins: New Law

ISIL has ordered shopkeepers to veil mannequins in shop windows.  From July 22, 2014 Washington Times:

Sunni radicals with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have a new rule of shopkeepers in the Iraqi city of Mosul: Mannequins must have veiled faces.

The decree by the terrorist group was made under the pretext that doing so is in line with Sharia law, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. Members of the group assert that the human form is not to be depicted in statues or artwork.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/22/isil-forces-iraqs-shopkeepers-veil-mannequins-mosu/#ixzz38JpWiKlN Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

Well, yes, that's correct: depictions of any living creatures (not just humans) are prohibited by the Koran.  While some Muslim societies (such as Moorish Spain) did not strictly follow this rule, generally they have done so.  This is the reason that abstract art has always been one of the strengths of the Muslim world.  But compared to ISIL's orders to Christians in Mosul, this is pretty minor:

There is now one less place for Iraq’s Christians to call home. Since the U.S. military-led invasion in 2003, the country’s minorities have watched as their places of worship have come under attack and the prospects for practicing their religion without persecution have become increasingly grim.

Now, the Islamic State armed group has solidified its grip on the northern city of Mosul and imposed a deadline over the weekend demanding Christians either convert, pay a tax or “face the sword.” With that ultimatum, thousands of Christians fled, leaving most of what they own behind. They made their way to Erbil in the Kurdish-controlled region in the north, as well as the Christian city of Qaraqosh, southeast of Mosul, and also under the protection of the Kurdish peshmerga.

“For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians,” said Patriarch Louis Sako, one of Iraq’s senior Chaldean Catholic clerics.