Must Not Say “Allah”!
The following news got me so confused that I had to read it twice to make sure my English skills aren’t failing me:
Via Jerusalem Post - Christians banned from saying “Allah”
A Malaysian church and a Christian weekly newspaper are suing the government for banning them from using the word “Allah,” alleging that the prohibition is unconstitutional and against freedom of religion.
The move follows the government’s declaration that “Allah” - which means God in the Malay language - refers to the Muslim God and can only be used by Muslims.
These are the first legal challenges against the mainly Muslim government’s decision, and they come amid minority groups’ increasing concerns that their rights are being trampled upon.
One German Jew (Albert Einstein) once said,“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe”
WorldNetDaily reports:
“We cannot let other religions use it because it will confuse people,” Malaysia’s Deputy Internal Security Minister, Johari Baharum, told the DNAIndia publication.
Oh, glad that we got the record straight on that one now. It’s funny how Western publishers, journalists, bloggers, historians and politicians who even suggest to distinguish the word “Allah” from the usual Judeo-Christian conception of “God” are accused of xenophobia, hatred, racism and every other interfaith or interracial sin. But hey, normal rules don’t apply when Muslims commit an act of terrorism, racism or plain stupidity. We should be “tolerant” so that we could all “leave in peace”
So, since the Malay Christians cannot use the word “Allah”, how should they refer to the Muslim god?
Here are a few suggestions:
“The Most Terroriceouness”
” The Devourer Of Infidels”
“The Guardian of 72 Virgins”
“The Most Unmerficful”
“The Spiritual Leader of the World’s Most Famous Paedophile”
Any other suggestions?
Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto assassinated today, during the pre-election rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Sudanese Court In Action Again
Remember the Teddy Bear Muhammad story? Sudanese court continues to guard the “honor of Islam”, and sentences two Egyptian citizens two six months imprisonment for insulting Islamic religion. Who’s the particular subject of insults now? Aisha, the under-aged wife of the “prophet” Muhammad
This image, depicting Muhammad and Aisha, is taken from “Muhammad Image Archive” on Zombietime.com
A Sudanese court sentenced Abdel Fattah El-Sadany (30 years old) and Mahrous Mohammed Abdel-Azim (30 years old) to imprisonment for six months on charges of insulting the Islamic religion on the grounds that they had distributed a book about Al-Sayeda Aisha (the Prophet Mohammed’s wife) during their participation in the Khartoum International Book Fair.
The whole affair started on 11 December when the Sudanese security authorities arrested both Abdel Fattah Al-Sadany and Mahrous Mohammed Abdul Azim, who work for the Madbouly Publishing House of Egypt, on the charge of insulting Islamic religion for distributing a book entitled “The Prophet’s wife eats her children up”, by the Syrian writer Nabil Fayyad. The book includes sentiments considered critical of Al-Sayeda Aisha
So, these two guys receive 6 months in jail for insulting Aisha…and the English teacher who named a teddy bear “Muhammad” was initially supposed to receive 6 months in jail AND 40 lashes…At least they try to be consistent. After all, Aisha was the property of Muhammad, so insulting her gets you a lesser punishment than insulting the MO himself.
Islam or…Tennis?
When we speak about the clash of civilizations, this is the classic case:
Via AKI - Italy
Treviso, 21 Dec. (AKI) - Muslims in the northeastern Italian city of Treviso, risk losing a prayer area rented them by the owner of a tennis club in the city’s suburbs, La Stampa daily reports.
Bepi Zambon, former tennis champion and owner of the exclusive Tennis Club Zambon has allocated two courts for local Muslims to worship on - one for men and the other for women.
But on Wednesday, the Muslim festival of sacrifice Eid al-Adha, shortly after 300 Muslims had arrived at the tennis club for prayers, local traffic wardens and firemen showed up, as well as an anti-terror police officer.
Ooops, the authorities didn’t allow the Muslims to slaughter animals on the tennis courts, I guess…How racist, how disrespectful, how intolerant…
Zambon’s tennis courts are the only space currently available for Muslims to pray in Treviso, and Wednesday’s tennis club ‘blitz’ sparked an angry reaction from local imam, Youssef Tadil. “It is offensive. We were disrupted during an important Muslim festival,” he said, cited by La Stampa.
“We have always been respectful and would have liked to receive the same respect. What happened goes against the welcoming spirit shown us by Mr Zambon,” Tadil added.
The tennis courts are currently the only prayer area for Muslims in Treviso. They last month lost a prayer space allocated them inside a local church in the Ponzano district of Treviso after this sparked controversy, and were evicted from their mosque in Villorba in the province of Treviso.
I guess some people just cannot accept the fact that they are unwelcome, and continue to force their presence on their hosts.
And you wonder why they are unwelcome?
Treviso is a stronghold of the Northern League party, and the Veneto region has one of the largest immigrant populations in Italy. A growing backlash against Muslim and immigrants in the country, fed in large part by fears of terrorism and other crimes is especially intense in Veneto.
A Perfect Muslim Family
I often tell myself not to pay too much attention to what is going on within the Islamic society, as long as they keep it within the borders of their own countries. After all, it’s their “way of life”, whether I like it or not. And I don’t like it. In fact, I despise it. I think it contradicts almost every basic rule of decent human behavior. Hanging here, stoning there, 200 lashes and jail sentence to the victim of gang-rape…But sometimes when I come across the news like that I simply cannot look away:
QALAT, 26 December 2007 (IRIN) - Doctors at a hospital in Qalat, capital of Zabul Province in southern Afghanistan, are treating a brutally tortured woman whose husband cut off both her ears and nose, broke her teeth and shaved her head only three months after their marriage. The victim, 16-year-old Nazia, is also suffering from psychiatric distress due to her experience, according to a doctor in Qalat hospital.
From her bed in Qalat hospital Nazia told IRIN her story:
“My family wedded me to Mumtaz [a 40-year-old man] some three months ago, in Pakistan. Soon after our marriage we moved to his house in Qalat where his relatives told me he had another wife who had died a year ago. In Qalat my husband was jobless and was always complaining about economic problems. Two weeks after we moved to our new home he beat me for no obvious reason.
A 40-year-old-man…with a 16-year-old wife…But how stupid is this quote: “…only three months after their marriage” You mean, it makes it alright if he waited to stay married for a bit longer to do all that?
“One day I asked him to let me go to a party at my in-laws. He agreed and said I should return home in the afternoon. That day, although I came home early, I found him very angry. He beat me again, worse than the first time, and warned that he would kill me if I stepped outside the home again. He also told his brother and nephews not to come to our house in his absence.
And here is what he did to her:
“One night he hit me so much that I fainted. When I regained consciousness I found my head had been shaved. I cried so much, but he did not care.
“One week later he knocked me down, bound my hands, and then broke my teeth with a stone. He also poured boiling water on my feet. After this I could not walk and was in a lot of pain, but he said I was only pretending.
“No one was coming to our house so I could not tell anyone about my situation. I had nowhere else to go either. My family lives in Pakistan.
“One night I could not cook dinner for him because I could not stand on my feet. He got so upset when he found that there was nothing for him to eat. He started beating me. Again, he bound my hands with a piece of cloth. I felt a terrible pain in my left ear and then blood was flowing down my face. I thought that he wanted to kill me so I started screaming. Then I felt a similar pain in my right ear and more blood.
“I tasted a mixture of blood and tears in my mouth while my voice was fading. I felt the worst pain in my life only a few seconds later when my husband used his knife to cut off my nose. I fainted.
“Now I do not know where my husband has gone.”
This is not an isolated incident. Violent verbal and physical women abuse is wide-spread in Islam, guarded by laws from Quran which give women the status of “property of a male”.
Go ahead; tell me about the wonderful society that is built upon the faith of Islam and how we all “need to live in peace” because “we are all human”
Numbers Rock
Sometimes numbers tell the story the best way possible, and statistics ALWAYS prove to be right in the long term run.
The Ministry of Economy of UAE published the data on foreign investments in the country for the year 2006.
Foreign direct investments (FDI) in the UAE rose 10.8% to 68.63 billion dirhams ($18.69 billion) in 2006, driven by growth in finance, construction, domestic trade and
manufacturing, the Ministry of Economy said on Monday.
When I read these statistics, I was a bit surprised, because I expected it to be much higher. After all, UAE enjoys:
- High prices of Oil
- Booming tourism industry
- Political stability
- No-war situation
- No terrorism threats
- Economic ties with the entire world
I decided to look at the statistics on foreign investments in Israel for the same period - the year 2006 - and here is what turned out:
According to the Bank of Israel, foreign investment in Israel reached an all-time high of USD 21.1 billion in 2006, up from USD 9.9b in 2005 and USD 7.2 billion in 2004.
For easier comparison:
The year 2006 was probably one of the least successful years for Israel in political terms:
- Real estate lawyer and professional “grey cardinal” Ehud Olmert was elected as prime minister, “inheriting” the job from Ariel Sharon
- Amir Perez, a former Labor Union leader who hurt Israel by numerous workers’ strikes during the second intifada years, was appointed a Minister of Defense, despite the lack of very basic understanding and experience in this field. The appointment was made by Olmert out of coalition-related considerations, after Amir Perez was elected the chairman of the Labor party, topping Shimon Peres by only few dozens of votes.
- A rude awakening to those who supported the withdrawal from Gaza, after the barrages of rockets were (and still are) fired at the nearby Israeli towns and villages, and Israeli soldier – Gil’ad Shalit – was kidnapped by the terrorist organization Hamas and its smaller affiliated terrorist groups.
- Terribly mismanaged (by Olmert, Perez and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz) war in Lebanon followed the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers - Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser - by the Iranian pet-terrorist organization in Lebanon, Hizballah.
To all this you can add the lack of natural resources in Israel and constant state of war with the Arab squatters, so-called “Palestinians”, who occupy the Jewish land for almost two centuries. Throw in a looming conflict with Lebanon, Syria and Iran and you will get a complete picture of geopolitical situation the State of Israel is in.
Still, Israel outperformed UAE by far.
It’s a clear sign that foreign investors have more trust in Israeli economy AND society, driven by liberty and freedom, science and technology, than in oil-rich UAE that is living a parasitic lifestyle and benefiting (thank to our western stupidity) from turning this planet into a smoke-wrapped piece of round rock.
This performance of Israel is yet another answer, backed by numbers, to the crazed thin-bearded pokemon, acting as the President of Iran, that Israel is not going anywhere in the foreseen future.
The year 2007, just like 2008 looks no less promising for Israel. As previously posted in this blog, Israel is about to sign update: signed a major free-trade agreement with MERCOSUR (South American trade block - a market of nearly 250 million people covering most of the continent).
And meanwhile, in the dirty dwarf’s kingdom:
Tehran: The former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has attacked President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over high inflation, the latest conservative to criticize his economic policies, media reported on Sunday.
Direct foreign investment in Iran in 2006 was USD 7.7 Billion
Gotta love the numbers!
Fair Reporting?
Not when it comes to Agence France-Press.
Here is an innocent, at first sight, article about the introduction of “Gorilla tax” in Rwanda, AFP – via Yahoo!:
KIGALI (AFP) - Rwandan companies using the country’s famous mountain gorillas’ image for marketing purposes will have to pay a tax aimed at financing the endangered species protection, officials announced Monday.
“We are launching this campaign to generate income earmarked for the species’ protection,” said Fidele Ruzigandekwe, in charge of conservation at the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks.
There are an estimated 720 surviving mountain gorillas in the world. They live in national parks straddling the borders between Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Genocide-scarred Rwanda is attempting to revamp its economy and has ambitious plans to develop the tourism sector, whose main source of revenue is gorilla-watching by high-end foreign tourists.
Genocide-scarred Rwanda. Geee…That’ll be ring a whole lotta tourists. Imagine someone reading this article, getting all excited about the opportunity to go and join the latest (and blessed) eco-tourism trend, reach the beautiful and picturesque Central African country of Rwanda,”Honey, we’re going to watch these rare gorillas!!”…and then the reader gets to the “genocide-scarred” part, “Ehmmm, honey, I think we’ll just look for other destinations for now!!”
Amazing photo by David Pluth for National Geographic.The summit of
What, in the world, made someone who wrote this article bring up the “genocide-scarred” part? What does it have to do with the main issue of the article? How does that relate to the efforts of the Rwandan government to boost the country’s tourism sector? And at this very opportunity, why didn’t AFP mention that it is far more dangerous (almost suicidal) to try and watch the gorillas from the DRC’s part of the border, due to the presence of numerous armed militia groups (including Rwandan “Interahamwe” that took the most active part in that genocide in 1994) who found safe haven there, killing the gorillas and any other living creature, including human that crosses their path - for meat or for fun?
Accident? Stupidity? No malicious thought behind it?
Personally I am not a believer in conspiracy theories, I actually find most or all of them laughable, but in case of Rwanda and France (where AFP is based) I would think twice if I take into account the relations between the two countries:
France “should be charged” for Rwanda genocide
Rwanda cuts relations with France
French Army faces inquiry on genocide in Rwanda
Only recently, during the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon earlier this month, there was a talk of resuming the diplomatic relations, but looks like AFP is still far from letting the grudge go.
