To be honest, I don’t think the the BBC should be publishing opinion pieces, but since it does, do they all have to be so crashingly predictable? Here’s the review they’ve decided to run on the Jewel of Medina, the fictional account of Muhammad’s child bride that’s caused a stir. Based on your knowledge of the BBC see if you can guess whether it’s supportive before clicking through.
If the BBC did want a piece on this that would fulfill its charter obligations, was this blogger really the obvious choice? Apart from the naked partisanship, here’s a sample of the level of intellectual honesty on show: ...parts of the media who wanted to stir things up said Muslims wanted it banned. So, in order to find out what the (manufactured) fuss was about, I found myself spending 12 dreary hours reading this cringe-worthy melodramatic prose.
The fuss hasn’t been entirely “manufactured”, though, has it?
And here she is on the thorny subject of Aisha’s age (nine): I lost count of the references to “child bride”. Even till relatively modern times, marriage for women in their early teens was completely natural and common in parts of the world, including Europe.
If the Beeb is so sure of the knuckle-dragging tendencies of its audience that the only way it thinks it can safely cover issues like this is to quite so comprehensively patronise its Muslim and non-Muslim audience it really shouldn’t bother. I wish it hadn’t.
Slightly relevant to this thread:
Did anyone catch a report by Rory Cellan Jones this morning, that Sony has withdrawn their new Playstation game because the background music had lyrics containing some phrases from the Koran? They withdrew it because Muslims would ‘take offence’, obviously.
I’m sure that’s what I heard.
But the unexpected thing was that he ended the report by reminding us that Sony had also caused offence to Christians by issuing a video game with Manchester Cathedral as the backdrop to scenes of extreme violence, adding, pointedly I thought, “But they didn’t withdraw that.”
Nice one.
Bit pot kettle black though, for R4.
I’m pretty sure Sony are just doing it to sell more units – controversy usual sells games (see GTA), but there’s an emerging market in the middle east they don’t want to permanently put-off their products.
Did anyone catch a report by Rory Cellan Jones this morning, that Sony has withdrawn their new Playstation game because the background music had lyrics containing some phrases from the Koran?
Sue | 20.10.08 – 2:52 pm |
game is called little big planet,
song is two years old and the artist is a somalian muslim i believe.
Excellent: the BBC gets only a Muslim blogger to review book about Muhammed. Or is the BBC about to start with some semblance of working democracy at the BBC by inviting scores of bloggers with quite different views to this Muslim blogger to present THEIR alternative reviews? Bloggers from ‘biased-bbc’? From ‘Jihadwatch’? Thought not.
One alternative comment on ‘The Jewel of Medina’, and some trends relating to Islam and freedom expression here:
“The saddest aspect of the whole affair — the familiar plot in controversies about books that supposedly offend Islam — is the counterproductive desire of some Muslims and Western scholars of Islam to insulate Muhammad from scrutiny, both historical and artistic. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-Dutch political activist, still requires protection because she argues that understanding Islam requires blunt examination of Muhammad’s life, including a marriage, consummated when A’isha was 9 and Muhammad 53, that today would be considered unacceptable in all civilized societies. Similarly, the scholar Efraim Karsh has been harshly criticized for detailing, in his Islamic Imperialism (Yale University Press, 2006), the violence, murder, and brigandage in Muhammad’s career. Muslim scholars possess many replies to such claims. We need to hear them, and understand the life of Muhammad better, if current tensions over Islam are ever to subside.
“A couple of years ago, all the fuss about Muhammad came from depicting him in cartoons. If writing about him also gets banned, what next? Never mentioning him? That, of course, would accord well with the Muslim practice of referring to him simply as the Prophet, adding ‘Blessed be his name.’ But it’s not likely to help non-Muslims understand that Muhammad, like everyone who ever lived, mixed good and bad, and was, in the words of the Koran itself, merely ‘mortal.'” (Carlin Romero).
http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=pbbrh8f3wd9vf5qtpgb1th1q368dtbtj
Anonymous 4:19 pm, was me.
I really worry for the poor little poppet.
She writes, innocently, of “the enormity of the changes” btought about by Mohammed.
I assume she does not know that enormity means great wickedness, rather than great importance.
Some would argue that the word has been misused so often that both meanings are okay.
But what about translation?
Imagine if someone were to translate her work into Arabic for a jihadi website and use the ‘traditional’ meaning of enormity……….
The poor dear could lose her head.
Perhaps the BBC will send Lyse Doucet to interview the family of Gayle Williams.
Did anyone catch a report by Rory Cellan Jones this morning, that Sony has withdrawn their new Playstation game because the background music had lyrics containing some phrases from the Koran? They withdrew it because Muslims would ‘take offence’, obviously.
Not that particular report, but as a person who enjoys playing videogames I was aware of it. The game is called LittleBigPlanet and it’s a Playstation 3 exclusive. I get my videogame news from gamespot.com. They had a front page article about it. The game featured (before they recalled it) music sung by an African Muslim with the phrases “Every soul shall have the taste of death” and “All that is on earth will perish” in Arabic.
Muslim gamers got hold of a demo or something, heard the music and elected to be deeply, mortally offended by it.
Most of the comments on the article were a few people saying, ‘Muslims offended again…’ the rest moral equivalence, ‘z0mg teh Christians used to murder people!!1!LOL’, ‘all relijun is teh stoopid!!1!LOL’ and a handful of Muslims telling everybody that they’re racist if they thought it wasn’t a problem to have this song in the game.
I wrote a comment along the lines of ‘Sensible, though cowardly, of Sony to remove it. Anyone who’s paying attention knows that Muslims don’t need any excuse to go off the handle and start rioting, burning, raping and murdering. And the so-called ‘moderate majority’ will either ignore it or make excuses for it.’ One of the aforementioned moral relativists to it upon his self to be outraged, flagged my comment and it was removed for ‘violating the site’s Terms and Conditions’.
So if the author gets killed, will the outcry about that be “manufactured” as well?
Gayle Williams – yet another victim of the religion of `peace and mercy!
As a Christian, I take great offence at this.
Maybe the book genuinely is mind numbing pap and hence beneath the level of intellectual thought that the BBC likes to stimulate in the British public.
In which case I’m sure they’ll be rushing to show Persepolis which has been widely critically acclaimed despite its unflattering portrayal of the Iranian Islamic revolution and subsequent state sponsored thuggery in the name of Islam (drawing the ire of the Iranian government), won’t it?
Indiana Jones and the Temple o | 20.10.08 – 4:56 pm |
I saw this mentioned on X-Play, among other outlets. I assumed that the makers added something they thought sounded cool for atmosphere, and had no idea what is really was, or that it was a big deal.
David Preiser (USA) | 20.10.08 – 5:37 pm
I assumed that the makers added something they thought sounded cool for atmosphere, and had no idea what is really was
Really David… “Every soul shall have the taste of death” and “All that is on earth will perish”…. How could they possibly not have guessed which book that came from?
Game delayed over Koran phrases
A statement on the LittleBigPlanet website said: “We’re sure that most of you have heard by now that one of the background music tracks that was licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Koran.
“We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence this may have caused.”
Speaking to the BBC LittleBigPlanet creators Media Molecule said it was alerted to the problem by a Muslim gamer who had been playing a beta, or trial, version of the game.
The music in question comes from a Grammy award-winning Somali artist and is known to have been available through online music stores for months.
In an e-mail the gamer who spotted the Koranic phrases warned that mixing music and words from Islam’s most holy text could be considered deeply offensive by Muslims. He suggested producing a software patch to remove the music.
Media Molecule said it did produce a patch but, following consultation with Sony, decided to go further.
“We decided to do a global recall to ensure that there was no possible way anyone may be offended by the music in the game,” said a Sony spokesman.
“A new version of the game without the music has been produced and will be released shortly so that anyone anywhere in the world can enjoy LittleBigPlanet,” he added.
[…]
Manzoor Moghal, of the Muslim Forum think-tank, explained that words from the Koran should not be set to music because the words are seen to have come directly from God.
He added: “We must compliment Sony for taking decisive action by withdrawing these games immediately, and releasing a version that is not offensive to Muslims.”
I am offended by the re-call.
As a punishment for Sony being so craven, I will not buy a Sony TV as I had planned to do.
I read with interest the article (more like a diatribe) on ‘The Jewel of Medina’ and noted these words from Anonymous. 4.19pm.
“is the counterproductive desire of some Muslims and Western scholars of Islam to insulate Muhammad from scrutiny,”
Please allow me shed a little more light on this subject. A light the bBC for some reason has no wish to turn on.
At the height of the Islamic empire, the powers to be were rocked by the growth of a new form of Islam.
Sufism.
(The branch of Islam which closely aligns itself with the Christian form of worship)
The rise of Sufism saw the caliphate fighting to keep its corner. Its answer which ensured that the rise of Sufism was stamped out. Saw the forbidding of intellectual growth, Saw the closing down of schools of leaning , in its place saw the rise of the Madrasah , schools where only what can be found in the Koran could be taught.
It was this action which saw the golden age of Islam sink into the gutter from which it has never ever risen. Because it bred into the faithful that they really were superior to non-Muslims.
One of rules which came out at this time was how only learned scholars could dissect the Koran, Mohhamed and all things relating to the faith. That is why Muslims get into something of a quandary whenever anybody who isn’t Muslim looks at the faith under a microscope. Because since that time, any inspection of the Koran can only be revealed to a closed shop of scholars.
That is why Muslims hold such great store to so called scholars. Because they have been brainwashed over the years that only scholars can speak for them when it comes to matters relating to Mohammed, Islam and the Koran.
That is why you so hear so often that non Muslims cannot decipher or even understand the Koran.
It’s not because its written in Arabic. (Hell as a child I was taught it by rote and I wasn’t the only one who didn’t have a Scooby what the f-k he was uttering) It’s because as a non Islamic scholar you don’t have the authority to do anything. Never mind quote from it.
OH and just for the info that so called offensive track on the Sony game. Its called Tapha Niang by muslim singer Toumani Diabate and it can be bought from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Boulevard-lIndependance-Toumani-Symmetric-Orchestra/dp/B000FVHKFW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1224520513&sr=8-1
So much for the BBC finding a Muslim who is really offended by all of this.
(Err sure it wasn’t Abu Bowen BBC)
And here is that track
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sKT-07MKblc
If anything I think it is a beautiful song and is something I would have no problem playing.
I saw this mentioned on X-Play, among other outlets. I assumed that the makers added something they thought sounded cool for atmosphere, and had no idea what is really was, or that it was a big deal.
Right. It was apparently sung in Arabic so they probably thought it sounded ‘ethnic’ (and therefore ‘cool’) without realising what was said or something.
Notice how the deeply offended insecure knuckledraggers are only getting their knickers in a twist over this game, not (as far as I can tell) with the guy who actually recorded the song. I guess it only applies to filthy Kuffar.
As a punishment for Sony being so craven, I will not buy a Sony TV as I had planned to do.
I was at my Dad’s the other night and he’s just got a 42″ Bravia 1080p jobby. It’s shit-hot. Sadly, he’s only got terrestrial TV, and when I arrived The One Show was on. Adrian Edmonson was jabbering on about how Thatcher caused Punk (even though she became Prime Minister after Punk had come about) and that he’s got a ‘mate’ who wants to dance on her grave when she buys the farm. All to much approval from the Irish lady presenter and that other one with a face like a bag of spanners.
Anyway, what I’m getting at is don’t deprive yourself a great telly because of the sniveling dhimmitude of Sony’s videogame branch.
yer but, no but, some folks objected to the Manchester Cathedral one too, but Sony took no notice! (just some soppy old, like, Christians, you know, wimps wot go ‘turn the other cheek’ an’ sh*t.
I honestly don’t condemn Mohammedans for getting upset that verses of the Koran are being sung in a video game. I would certainly condemn them for wanting to behead someone over it, or any other of their usual caveman reactions, but they have a right to ask that their holy book not be part of a secular video game.
David Preiser (USA) | Homepage | 20.10.08 – 8:07 pm
But Sony did withdraw that game. But did not withdraw the game that offended Christians.
A replica of the interior of Manchester Cathedral was used as the backdrop to all manner of violent things that video games do.
Christians objected. A cathedral is not the place for zapping. Sony took no notice.
Rory Cellan Jones mentioned that this morning. He hilighted the contrast between the way Muslim offence was taken seriously enough to postpone the release of their wretched game, while the Christian offence was ignored.
Surely that’s a first for the BBC- is all I was trying to say. Sorry to go on.
David Preiser (USA) | Homepage | 20.10.08 – 8:07 pm |
its a two year old song by a muslim
recording artist called Toumani Diabaté,who presumably gave permission for his work to be used.
Sue,
I’m sorry, but the church thing is a non-issue to me. How many movies have been made where violence takes place in a church? Where are all the complaints about that? There’s a big difference between these two issues.
David Preiser (USA) | Homepage | 20.10.08 – 9:50 pm
How many movies have been made where violence takes place in a church?
its not a movie its a video game.
ada wong. | 20.10.08 – 10:06 pm |
So? The concern is supposedly about a cathedral being used as a location for pretend violence. Why is a game different from a movie in that regard?
its not a movie its a video game.
It’s not the late eighties any more with weird loners sitting in front of a screen till the early hours in their bedrooms. Well, that still happens, of course, but videogames have strayed into the mainstream home entertainment sector; they’re very, very big business these days. A multi-billion-pound industry.
The game with Manchester Cathedral in it was Resistance: Fall of Man. Another PS3 exclusive. Of course Sony Computer Entertainment were able to just brush off any complaints about that; when was the last time a Christian did anything more than write a strongly-worded letter?
It might be worth mentioning that there is a particular resonance to Manchester Cathedral in relation to carnage though because it was close to the epicenter of the huge IRA bomb that devastated the centre of Manchester.
(BTW I don’t know a thing about video games.)
“Even till relatively modern times, marriage for women in their early teens was completely natural and common in parts of the world, including Europe.”
She was not in “her early teens”, she was nine. To me, that’s quite a difference. To a beeboid desperate to whitewash Islam with lies, no difference.
Well, it’s not the same as filming “Murder in the Cathedral”, is it?
It really depends on what these films are and what these video games are.
There is the possibility that either could be seen as disrespecting and devaluing what people regard as sacred and hold dear.
There is also the issue of showing sensitivity in one case and not another, when the other may or may not be clearly offensive, either. According to some, it isn’t. The song was taken from a singer of that religious allegiance. So it seems that there is room for argument about that case too. Even so, one was pulled and the other wasn’t.
She was not in “her early teens”, she was nine.
Actually she was six when Muhammed married her. He was 50. But he waited three years until she was nine before he…consummated the marriage. Don’t question his morals though; just like all the other heinous things he did, Allah told him to do it. At least that was his excuse.