Pork-laced bullets designed to send Muslims straight ‘to hell’
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/06/21/pork-laced-bullets-designed-to-send-muslims-straight-to-hell/Tracy Simmons / Spokane Faith & Values | Jun 21, 2013 | 4 Comments
Jihawk Ammo promotional photo courtesy Jihawg Ammo
SPOKANE, Wash. (RNS) Still angry about the idea of an Islamic cultural center opening near Ground Zero, a group of Idaho gun enthusiasts decided to fight back with a new line of pork-laced bullets.
South Fork Industries, based in Dalton Gardens, Idaho, claims its ammunition, called Jihawg Ammo, is a “defensive deterrent to those who violently act in the name of Islam.”
The bullets are coated in pork-infused paint, which the company states makes the ammo “haram,” or unclean, and therefore will keep a Muslim who’s shot with one of the bullets from entering paradise.
“With Jihawg Ammo, you don’t just kill an Islamist terrorist, you also send him to hell. That should give would-be martyrs something to think about before they launch an attack. If it ever becomes necessary to defend yourself and those around you our ammo works on two levels,” the company said in a press release earlier this month.
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Remember this is a pre-made "Round" of a bullet and powder, all wrapped together in a Cloth wrapping. This was meant for a Muzzle loading rifle musket that Britain had adopted in 1853. It had been successful in the Crimea war of 1854-1856. By 1857 enough had been produced to equip the Army of the East India Company. The round was bitten by two teeth (which ended up being the minimum number of teeth one needed to enlist in the Armies of the US Civil War, which used a similar weapon), the soldier then held the cloth with his teeth while he pulled the cloth from around the round. The powder in the bottom of the round then dropped into the muzzle loader followed by the Minnie Ball, which was driver home by a ram rod.
This method had been used for over 200 years by that date, for it is how muzzle loaders military muskets had been loaded and fired since at least the 1600s. Prior to 1830, such weapons used flint locks to fire a round. Such locks had a misfire rate of one out of six. In 1830 Britain had adopted the Percussion system. In a percussion system a percussion cap replaced the old flint and when the cap was hit by a lock, it ignited and fired the weapon. Its misfire rate was one in 1000 rounds (and this was improved on over the next 30 years).
Now, the British East India Company had taken over India, but not by force of arms (it had used force and arms but these were secondary methods). The British moved in and helped the Mughal Empire collect taxes AND also helped various other Indian Kingdoms to collect taxes. The East Indian Company then slowly took over the running of these governments, once they controlled the collection of taxes. Basically the English were trusted for compared to the Natives, they were honest.
On the Military front, a European Officer was viewed as worth his weight in Gold in India, when compared to the poorly trained native officers, Thus by the mid 1700s, English officer became more and more the norm, even in Indian units (The English reputation for honesty helped them in this regard also). Thus by the early 1800s India was both a Mughal Empire, ruled by the Mughal Emperor AND run by the British East Indian Company (and The British East Indian Company also ran the parts of India NOT in the Mughal Empire). In effect you had two ruling groups, but groups that were also interconnected and intermarried.
Side note: In the late 1800s the Mughal Empire was almost destroyed by the Maratha Empire, which itself destroyed by the East Indian Company who "Restored" the Mughal Empire. That Maratha infantry was considered as good as European Infantry, but their officers (especially their Generals) just plan bad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratha_Empire#Maps_showing_the_Maratha_Empire_at_different_stages_of_history
Now as we go into the 1840s and 1850s, the intermarrying of Indians and English seems to die out as more and more English Officers of the upper class ended up in India. This lead to a separation of the Indian and English populations among the ruling class, and isolated the English from their own troops to a degree.
Another problem was the British East Indian Company had expanded since the 1700s, but not as a united whole, but as part of the Mugual Empire and then as not part of that Empire. Some units it had inherited from the Mughal Empire, others it had made up itself and still others from Indian States that had never been under Mughal rule. By the 1850s the British East Indian Company had three armies:
Bombay, Recruited men from every caste. This was along the West Coast of India. While bigger then the Madra army in the Mutiny, it was no where near in munity as the Bengal Army (it was the lost "Loyal" to the Mughal Emperor and thus the support for the Mutiny once the Mughal signed onto the Mutiny
Madras: Recruited men from every caste. This was along the South East Coast of India. Only 12 of its 84 regiments revolted. IT covered that part of Indian that had for the most part NOT been part of the Mughal Empire.
Bengal. Bengal was the largest, but also was recruited mostly from high caste Hindus (Through it did have a large number of Moslems in it). It is around Bangladesh (East Pakistan pre-1970s) from Bengal (modern Bangladesh) to Napal. Most units in the Mutiny was from the Bengal army.
Here is a map of Indian in 1909 showing the three armies (Called Presidencies) in pink and areas ruled by native princes, but still under British rule in Yellow:
It was the Bengal Army that first rose in rebellion, mostly due to fears that the British plans to ship them to Burma by Ship would make them unclean and thus lose their caste. It also was the POOREST paid of the three armies. It was the nearest to New Delhi, where the Mughal Emperor lived and technically ruled from. The grease on the bullets seems just to be the last straw, with the rumor going around that it was made from pork and beef. The Bengal army, being the army with the highest number of high caste soldiers just saw this at the first attempt to make them lose their caste (Being shipped out was a greater fear). .
Side note: The Bengal Army went into revolt over the introduction of the greased cartridges, and then proceeded to use those cartridges in the subsequent revolt. Thus it was more an excuse then the reason. The low pay, the fact the troops were from high castes and a growing tendency to cater to requirements of those caste (and fears that the British may even abolish caste) seems to have all entered into the equation that lead to the revolt. When the revolt started, it had no leader, but the troops then decided that the Mughal Emperor was their leaders and went to him for direction. The Mughal Emperor does not seems to know what to do with these mutineers, but he gave them some direction, but it was ineffective. This lack of leadership is what lead the British to suppress the revolt (along with loyal units from the other two armies, Regular British Soldiers in India AND the Sikhs who ended up supporting the British for their fear reestablishment of the Mughal Empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857
Thus it was a popular revolt, involving Caste and high Caste members belief they would lose their caste (and a preference NOT to serve overseas). After the Revolt the Bengal Army was reformed and recruited Sikhs, Gurkhas, Pushtans and other Northern tribes and quit recruiting Brahma and other high caste Hindus (and killed land reform in India, for the area where land reform had been implemented ended up being the area that supported the rebellion the most. Mostly because the peasants had received the land, but it was the higher castes, the old landlords that had been recruited into the Bengal Army prior to 1857).
