Category Archives: Islam

Conservatives everywhere!

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A protester stands near a line of fire during clashes in Cairo
It’s come as a shock to the BBC that things are not working out the way they assumed they would in Egypt. The Arab Spring looks more and more like the Islamic uprising some of us pointed out at the time. Obviously Christianity cannot co-exist with the rampant intolerance of Islam and Egypt’s Coptic Christians know all about this, having been at the receiving end of things. So, they take to the streets to protest and that raises issues for the BBC. You see some street protest is good, but not all. This morning, I heard the BBC refer to the conflict as being between Coptic Christians and “Conservative Islamists”! Then, when it came to the street fighting in “Freedom Square” we were informed that “Conservative elements” in the Army were responsible. So, in a neat euphemistic move, Radical Islam and at a totalitarian military are erased from the crime scene whilst Conservative is moved up to the frontline. Jeremy Al Bowen was on hand to provide his famous impartial reporting on the issue so we can rest assured that the picture painted by the BBC is everything we might expect.

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TRUST ME, I AM A MUSLIM

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On Today we had ‘Thought for the Day‘ presented by Abdal Hakim Murad, a Muslim. He’s a regular, unsurprisingly. A reader writes;

“As usual with nearly all Muslims he slips in a bit of anti Christian rhetoric whilst promoting Islam. Jesus is the Son of God in Christianity, the Lord Jesus, divine himself, God on Earth. The Muslims claim he was just a man, merely a prophet.

Murad cleverly attacks the Christian theology without openly doing so…stating merely that worshipping a ‘human baby’ is idolatry….he then goes on to say that that has nothing to do with his thought for the day so anyway let’s get on….he just thought he would mention it….

I could be wrong but is his final sentiment really about Muslim terrorists betraying Britain’s trust….but Britain must still trust Muslims?”

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Everybody Draw Mohammed Day – 1st Anniversary

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What with all the noise about the US President selling Israel down the river due to a combination of naiveté, wrong-headedness, and a soupçon of anti-Israel sentiment, but apparently still not doing enough to please Hamas and Kim Ghattas, I missed out remembering that May 20 is the 1st anniversary of Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. Yes, I realize it’s officially over in the UK as I write this, but when I started there was still five minutes to go US EST. So there. The BBC is going to censor all of it because they bow to unjust demands of Islam on these things. Mark Thompson himself said that Islam gets special treatment.

I’m recognizing the day not out of any malice towards Islam itself, as I personally bear none (I’m aware that I’m in the minority here, but this blog is actually a pretty big tent). I do this in defense of individual religious freedom, something that is as relevant in the US as it is in Britain, even though my country doesn’t have an official state religion (If anyone tells me that Christianity is the official religion of the US, they’ll need to tell me which version before I start laughing).

The reason I say this is about individual religious freedom and not malice towards Islam is because I take the position that non-Muslims are not required to obey the rules of Mohammed. Why do I bother? Because of the continued pressure to avoid saying anything that offends Muslims. Except the real concern isn’t as obvious as having the freedom to burn a Koran (which is an act of malice towards the religion), but rather the freedom to do things that Muslims wouldn’t do without being told to stop because it’s offensive to their sensibilities. The vast majority of media outlets in the UK and US censored even the most innocent cartoons out of appeasement and fear. Freedom of speech was thus taken away from non-Muslims, who instead were forced to obey the law of a religion not their own.

I’m talking about things like preventing non-Muslims from having a plastic pig included with their childrens’ farm toy set, because pork is verboten in Islam. More food companies are shifting their products into halal compliance, in the US and in the UK, in spite of many non-Muslims’ objections to that particular method of butchering. It’s being forced on non-Muslim children by the school system as well. No option for both choices: only the Mohammedan option on offer, period. Then there’s telling non-Muslims they can’t eat in front of Muslims during Ramadan. Nobody’s going to ban eating a sandwich in any public sector workplace during Passover in order to avoid offending Jews who don’t eat leavened bread during that time, so there is a clear unjust double standard which cannot withstand the scrutiny of the laws of freemen. Nobody should be forced to obey the rules of a religion not their own, or even their own if they don’t want to.

Yes, the above examples are mostly a couple years old or more, but where’s the evidence that this no longer happens anywhere, all cases are solved and will never happen again?

I fully support offering halal or kosher or Klingon dietary options in an area where that’s what the majority wants, if it’s a commercial decision. If KFC or Domino’s want to have halal-only food in Mohammedan neighborhoods because that’s where the money is, it’s perfectly fine by me. But nobody should be forced by the government to obey the rules of another religion.

It’s in the spirit of continued religious freedom that I mark this first anniversary of Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. Muslims are forbidden from making graven images of people, most especially Mohammed, but non-Muslims can do whatever the hell they like in a free country. That is not an attack on Islam, but a defense of freedom against any form of fascism or oppression.

My contribution is below. Everyone is encouraged to add their own contribution or links to others. It’s not an attack on Islam, but rather a statement of individual freedom. Mohammedans are as free to make fun of me as celebrated artists are for such brave acts as dipping a crucifix in urine or producing a play featuring Jesus as a homosexual. I don’t care. Freedom, baby. Censorship is against the best interests of a free society.

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BBC MISSES THE TUNISIAN STORY….

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The BBC seems to have determined that the Tunisian narrative ended when the protesters chased the repulsive President Ben Ali. Democracy has spoken and freedom is now in the air. Except, of course, that is not the case….

But last week, faster than you could scream ‘Allahu Akbar’, hundreds of Islamists raided Abdallah Guech Street armed with Molotov cocktails and knives, torching the brothels, yelling insults at the prostitutes and declaring that Tunisia was now an Islamist state. 

As soldiers fired into the air to disperse them, the Islamists won a promise from the interim government that the brothels would be permanently closed. In other cities, brothels were targeted, too; and there have been demonstrations throughout the country — whose economy is heavily dependent on the vibrant tourism industry — against the sale of alcohol. 

Suspected Islamists otherwise preoccupied themselves with slitting the throat of a Polish Catholic priest, which, if confirmed, would be the first such sectarian murder in modern Tunisian history. And anti-Semitic slogans could be heard outside Tunisia’s main synagogue: this in a country with no history of persecution of its Jewish minority. 

When the Tunisian revolution started last month, it was hailed as a template for the rest of the Arab world. But if revolutions are judged by their outcomes rather than their intentions, then the story of post-revolution Tunisia is equally instructive. 

Why is the BBC so disinterested in what follows when the people speak in these lands? Answers on a Koran…

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BEYOND BELIEF

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Following Five Guys Named Mohammed, broadcast over 5 days at the start of the year, last night Radio 4 gave us Young, Muslim and Black:

Dotun Adebayo looks at why Islam is providing an attractive religious alternative to Christianity for Black Britons seeking answers.

Next Monday you can tune in for It’s My Story: The Imam of Peace:

Nadene Ghouri profiles the work of John Butt, an English Muslim convert who became an imam and is trying to spread a message of peace and tolerance across Pakistan and Afghanistan.

And Face the Facts on 27th Jan will be devoted to the issue of “whether sections of the British press are increasing tensions within communities by publishing negative stories about Muslims.”

Across the first four weeks of 2011, no programmes or series on BBC Radio 4 will have been wholly devoted to any of the other non-Christian religious communities of the U.K. Yes, Hindus, Jews, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists have all gone uncatered for by the allegedly diversity-loving BBC. Only Islam seems to interest the channel’s programme makers.

Though nowhere near as obsessive, even its regular religious affairs programme Beyond Belief is guilty of weighting its discussions with an excess of Muslims. Each programme has a trio of guests. There have been 27 programmes since the start of 2010. Here’s how the religious identity of the believing non-Christians breaks down in terms of number of guests:

Muslims – 15
Jews – 9
Hindus – 2
Sikhs – 2
Buddhists – 1
Jains – 1

Or
Muslims = 15
All the rest = 15

Is that fair, BBC?

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The Mohammed Divide

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Even the BBC is finding it impossible to deny that there is a link between Islam and terrorism. So they do what has to be done. In concord with the government they manufacture a distinction between ‘Good Islam’, and ‘Bad, terrorist-type Islam’, and proceed to distance one from the other, relentlessly.
This means the BBC can continue to insert Islam-related features into hundreds of programmes, the latest example being Five Guys Named Mohammed. (In doing so they had to admit what they had swept under the carpet just a few weeks ago, that Mohammed, not James or Oliver, was the UK’s commonest, most popular name for new baby boys.)

Robin Shepherd has recommended a superb article in Standpoint by the heroic Douglas Murray. “This is the sort of piece that deserves to be read far and wide. So take a look and pass it on to all your contacts.”

It’s long. I printed off all seven pages, and slipped into something more comfortable to read it; I heartily recommend that you do the same.
It relates to Cordoba House, the Mega-Mosque proposed for Ground Zero, and the controversy it has engendered. Douglas Murray has watched and participated in debates in New York, and has seen at first hand what is happening there. He fears America is about to succumb to the malady that is affecting Europe and the UK, namely mass denial of self evident and demonstrable truths about Islam, which is exactly what has already happened here. Do take time to read his article.
Here’s a taster:

In October, the debate reached one of its nastiest points with an over-booked and badly-chaired studio discussion-cum-slanging-match on ABC. Daisy Khan, the wife of the imam of the proposed mosque, Feisal Abdul Rauf, was one of those who appeared on Christiane Amanpour’s panel. The anti-building side were repeatedly defamed. Robert Spencer of the Jihad Watch blog was accused by one of the other guests of being in league with neo-Nazis and was not allowed to respond. On both sides, people who had lost family-members on 9/11 slugged it out. The effect was bitter. At one point, Daisy Khan claimed that her opponents were throwing her “into the arms of al-Qaeda”. The author and former Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali came on via video-link. “What are you complaining about?” she asked. “You are sitting here at ABC TV. You’ve got a great job. You have freedom. Nobody is throwing you anywhere. Your rights are protected. I think that it’s your perception of being a victim.” Khan glared at her: “I am not a victim, Ayaan, stop calling me that. You’re the one running around with a bodyguard.” The studio audience greeted Khan’s taunt with laughter, applause and cheers. They almost drowned out a single man in the front row shouting at Khan: “And why do you think that is?”

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Two in a Million.

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We tear our hair over the way BBC journalists misrepresent issues we care about, so maybe we should sympathise with poor old Hamza A Tzortzis who complains rather perceptively that decontextualised references aren’t fair.

He has responded to John Ware’s Panorama ‘British Schools, Islamic Rules’ with a press release. (H/T Elder of Ziyon)

“In short, the programme misrepresented established Islamic teachings on a range of issues in a manner that portrayed them as crude and insensitive whilst linking them to social unrest and violence.”

I know how he feels about being misrepresented, but I’m not so sure about the rest. He quotes from a statement by Saqib Sattar , Vice Chair of the Islamic Education and Research Academy.
“The attack on Muslim schools as an institution is both ill-informed and misguided” He praises the academic excellence of these schools, which he attributes to their being rooted in Islamic scholarly tradition, then seamlessly encompasses all faith schools in a sweeping statement which compares them with an easy target – failing secular state schools.

Hamza A Tzortzis also says that Islamic law is like ours, only better. and that before we cut the bits off we really really make sure we’ve got proof. Honest.

Elder notices that their response didn’t actually contradict the Panorama. He reproduces this quote from the iERA press release:

“The attack on mainstream Islamic speakers because they hold established theological views is making the job of community cohesion difficult, as is the constant misconstruing or lack of context with regards to their statements. The programme-makers would have been better served to look deeply into the Islamic scholarly tradition and its historical impact, and they would have found a beautiful model of community cohesion. For example it is a well known historical fact that Islam and Muslims for centuries have been offering protection to the Jewish community.

and Elder concludes:” That “beautiful model of cohesion” is that the despised Jews can be “protected” as long as they meekly accept their inferior status and pay the jizya tax to their Muslim overlords. But that is apparently in no way incompatible with schoolbooks that ask Muslim children to detail all the “reprehensible” characteristics of Jews, which seems to be an established theological view.“

A set of two whole Panoramas have flown in the face of tradition, deviated from the norm, and departed from the default position! Both Jane Corbin’s Mavi Marmara Panorama and John Ware’s ‘British Schools, Islamic Rules’ Panorama strayed from the usual BBC pattern of sanitising Islam and denigrating Israel. Whatever next?

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Wake up Call

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Blogger Hadar Sela has written an article that sends shivers down the spine. Alarm bells should be ringing in Westminster and at the BBC. It’s about the steady infiltration by organisations like the Muslim Brotherhood into British institutions and all manner of British life. It’s also a lament about the blind spot which is currently escorting us as we sleepwalk to hell.

She provides a meticulously researched “Who’s Who” of British based Islamist leaders, their affiliates, associates and useful idiots, who are working to effect a seismic shift in UK politics. It’s a bleak warning. We are being led by the hand, meekly, towards the wholesale Islamisation that is slowly but surely becoming established in Britain.

“a Muslim Brotherhood organization has influence at the highest levels of British politics and legislation.”

“There is barely an aspect of British life today in which Muslim Brotherhood and/or Hamas supporters lack influence. From the academic world, including student organizations, through politics and government, trades unions, the media, the legal system and even some Christian churches, they have succeeded in re-writing the prevailing narrative by means of the employment of the language of charity and human rights.”

“[they] manage to market themselves as the face of ‘moderate Islam’ so successfully that they are often invited to act in an advisory capacity to decision makers and are even able to secure government funding .”

With the menacing shenanigans at Tower Hamlets, and the other dodgy electoral practices that were glossed over almost as soon as they surfaced, we must demand the BBC rouses itself from its slumber.
If the coalition government is too afraid, or too complacent to act, it’s high time the BBC came to its senses and used its massive influence to influence the masses. For good this time. Last chance.

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THE YEMENI PROBLEM

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Did you catch this interview with the British Ambassador to Yemen? Listen to how the fragrant Sarah manages to get through the interview with ever once mentioning the real cause of the problems afflicting Yemen – ISLAM. Instead, the issue is presented as being one of poverty. The Ambassador, sadly, goes with this whole unemployment/poverty angle which only then further encourages the BBC in its mission to ignore the real cause of global Jihad.

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Wake up Call

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For those without the patience to plough through long posts on B-BBC, I urge you to make one special effort to read this terrific sermon brought to us by Phyllis Chesler.
Everyone, especially the appeasing BBC should read Rabbi Lewis’s words. Every single one.

Barry Rubin summed it up succinctly here:

“We ought to have called on you before, and I beg your pardon for intruding now in this informal way, but your house is on fire.”

Yes, freedom of speech stops at a boundary of shouting “fire!” in a crowded theatre. But when there actually is a fire, that’s where it must start.

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