Condemnation of the new edition of Charlie Hebdo was swift and often fierce Wednesday (Jan. 14) in many majority-Muslim nations after the cover featured a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad with a tear in his eye.
“You’re putting the lives of others at risk when you’re taunting bloodthirsty and mad terrorists,” said Hamad Alfarhan, 29, a Kuwaiti doctor. “I hope this doesn’t trigger more attacks. The world is already mourning the losses of many lives under the name of religion.”
Imagine the shrieks of sanctimonious outrage if, after the abortionist George Tiller was murdered, rather than limiting himself to roundly condemning the murderer, someone had had the temerity to suggest that abortionists must stop because they are inflaming “bloodthirsty and mad terrorists”. But, then, the cartoon below is so much more offensive than killing unborn babies.
Well, he used to in the nursery rhyme my parents taught me and I, in turn, my children and grandchildren. No more: the Oxford University Press has banned the use of “pig”, “pork”, “sausage” or any other word that could cause offence to Muslims and Jews. It’s as plain as a pig on a sofa that the latter category was thrown in as a decoy.
The Oxford University Press has warned its writers not to mention pigs, sausages or pork-related words in children’s books, in an apparent bid to avoid offending Jews and Muslims.
The existence of the publisher’s guidelines emerged after a radio discussion on free speech in the wake of the Paris attacks.
An Ottawa imam, Imtiaz Ahmed, has declared his support for freedom of expression but that freedom has to be “balanced”. He will supply the balance: you can’t make fun of “religious leaders” like, oh, I don’t know, let me take a wild stab – Mohammed.
He does denounce the Paris murderers for taking the “law into [their] own hand[s]” but if drawing cartoons of the founder of his religion should be illegal, what penalty would he impose? A liberal Saudi version of sharia, 1000 lashes and ten years in jail or a by the book – sorry, Book – capital punishment? He doesn’t say.
An Ottawa imam has denounced the terrorist attack on a Paris weekly newspaper that killed 12 people, but he says satirical cartoons of religious leaders should be illegal.
Imtiaz Ahmed, an imam with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said it should be against the law to publish cartoons that depict religious figures in a derogatory way.
“Of course we defend freedom of speech, but it has to be balanced. There has to be a limit. There has to be a code of conduct,” Ahmed said.
Anjem Choudary is an imam who lives in Britain; he collects £25,000 in welfare per year while despising the system and taxpayers who pay for his continuing vilification of all the West stands for.
He points out here, that the Charlie Hebdo murders were not only to be expected, they were a requirement of Islamic law. Living in a free democracy, Choudary is at liberty to say whatever he chooses, a right he would cheerfully deny those with whom he disagrees. If I were a Muslim – a common or garden moderate Muslim we keep hearing so much about – I would really, really want to shut him up. Moderate imams: convince me of your moderation by issuing a Choudary fatwa.
Contrary to popular misconception, Islam does not mean peace but rather means submission to the commands of Allah alone. Therefore, Muslims do not believe in the concept of freedom of expression, as their speech and actions are determined by divine revelation and not based on people’s desires.
Although Muslims may not agree about the idea of freedom of expression, even non-Muslims who espouse it say it comes with responsibilities. In an increasingly unstable and insecure world, the potential consequences of insulting the Messenger Muhammad are known to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
Muslims consider the honor of the Prophet Muhammad to be dearer to them than that of their parents or even themselves. To defend it is considered to be an obligation upon them. The strict punishment if found guilty of this crime under sharia (Islamic law) is capital punishment implementable by an Islamic State. This is because the Messenger Muhammad said, “Whoever insults a Prophet kill him.”
I could talk at length about whether TEC’s shift from Gaia worship to Allah worship represents a drifting away from the manic inclusion that grips the imagination of its hierarchy – but I won’t. I will simply note that, while the place was chock-a-block with people whose religion denies the deity of Jesus, the only person to be ejected was a woman who affirmed it.
In a corner of Washington National Cathedral, several hundred Muslim worshipers and other invited guests gathered Friday afternoon for a first-ever recitation of weekly Muslim prayers at the iconic Christian sanctuary and to hear leaders of both faiths call for religious unity in the face of extremist violence and hate.
[….]
the carefully scripted ceremony was marred once when one well-dressed, middle-age woman in the audience suddenly rose and began shouting that “America was founded on Christian principles. . . . Leave our church alone!” She was swiftly ushered out by security aides, and the service continued.
He has a point: for the most part, Anglican bishops have failed dismally to understand Christianity so they might as well have a shot at interpreting another religion. If God smiles on their efforts, perhaps they will do for Muslims what they have done for Christians: make them doubt everything about their faith. It could even be the tipping point for mass conversions of Muslims to Christianity.
Anglicans need a deeper understanding of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations so they can better pray and respond to interfaith situations.
Chair of the Anglican Network for Inter Faith Concerns (NIFCON) and Archbishop of Dublin the Most Rev. Michael Jackson made the comments in a letter to primates and provincial secretaries of the Anglican Communion.
Writing to promote the latest NIFCON Christian Muslim Digest he said, “As the events in Syria and Iraq, and in other countries where Muslims are in a majority, impact upon increasingly wider areas, we are reminded that within all of the provinces of the Anglican Communion we need to have a deeper knowledge of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations so that we can reach a better understanding of the issues and how they might impact upon us and other Anglicans, and will be able to pray more effectively.”
CALGARY – A unique Imam in Residence program is being launched at St. Martin’s Anglican Church in October in conjunction with the Al Madinah Calgary Islamic Assembly.
“This type of program does help us understand each others’ beliefs and traditions. There’s more misunderstanding and misinformation (out there),” says Imam Syed Soharwardy, with the Muslims Against Terrorism group and with the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, who is the Imam in Residence for the program.
“We are bringing congregations together. It’s not just the imam and pastor talking. It is the grassroots congregation coming together to have food together, to be together. It’s a very good thing that even children participate, families participate, women participate. It removes the barriers between people.”
The Imam in Residence program takes place October 17-19.
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“It was just a really enriching experience to see what we had in common and to learn things about each other – to have a chance for us in a very intentional setting to sit down and really learn about other faiths,” says Brubaker Garrison.
Friday, October 17th, 1:15 p.m. – Services at Genesis Centre of Community Wellness (gymnasium) with conversation afterward.
Saturday, October 18th, 10:00 a.m. – “Qur’an and Its Different Interpretations” & 1:00 p.m. – “Islamic Sharia and Muslims in the Western World: Issues, Limitations, and Enforcement” at Knox Presbyterian Church
Sunday, October 19th, 10:00 a.m. – Worship at St. Martin’s with the sermon offer by Imam Soharwardy
It’s hard to overlook the fact that the “learning” is all one-sided: Rev. Brubaker Garrison and her congregation seem to be hearing a lot about the Koran and Sharia law but the imam isn’t being told much at all about Jesus, his divinity, atoning death upon the cross, resurrection and the fact that he is the only way to God the Father. If Brubaker Garrison actually believed that herself, she would probably be less eager to encourage her congregation to absorb the finer points of Sharia law.
Syed Soharwardy, whose sensibilities were outraged by the Western Standard ‘s publishing of the Mohammed cartoons, filed a human rights complaint against Ezra Levant. As a result, Ezra, unlike Rev. Brubaker Garrison, doesn’t get along too well with the imam:
Given current events, this is not a particularly startling assertion. What is somewhat surprising, is that a Muslim is making it. Tarek Fatah, a Muslim, reckons that the antics of ISIS are inherent to the teaching and tradition of Islam and a continuation of the received understanding of the activities of its founder.
We Muslims need to acknowledge the beheadings by ISIS are part of Islamic tradition, text and history, not some fringe interpretation of our faith.
None other than the grandson of Prophet Mohammed was slaughtered and his head paraded through the streets of Damascus on a spike.
The ISIS jihadis are doing exactly what we Muslims are taught our Prophet did during warfare.
Here is a quote from the voluminous biography of the Prophet of Islam, Sirat Rasul Allah by Ibn Ishaq, popularly known as the Sira:
“Then they (Jews) surrendered and the apostle (Prophet Mohammed) confined them in Medina. Then the apostle went out to the market and dug trenches in it. Then he sent for them (Jews) and struck off their heads in those trenches … There were 600 or 700 in all.”
In my book, The Jew is Not My Enemy, I disputed this account of mass murder, but was assailed for having challenged what many, if not all Muslims, consider absolute truth.
Imagine the shrieks of sanctimonious outrage if, after the abortionist George Tiller was murdered, rather than limiting himself to roundly condemning the murderer, someone had had the temerity to suggest that abortionists must stop because they are inflaming “bloodthirsty and mad terrorists”. But, then, the cartoon below is so much more offensive than killing unborn babies.
CALGARY – A unique Imam in Residence program is being launched at St. Martin’s Anglican Church in October in conjunction with the Al Madinah Calgary Islamic Assembly.