The Amboy Times

Updating the List

Since I started the List of things that Offend Muslims over two years ago, it has grown exponentially. About twice a week a new story is added to the List and sometimes i have trouble keeping up with all the outrage. So here's a few that I haven't had time to include recently.

Ten terms not to use with Muslims.

The Clash of Civilizations, Secular, Assimilation, etc... What better way for the Islamists to control the dhimmis than to limit their thought process?

Bowing before elders un-Islamic, says Deoband edict

I guess Obama didn't get the memo, no wonder King Abdullah was laughing at him.

Italy: Muslims try to blow up 14-century fresco

ISLAMIC PROTEST -- Visitors to the magnificent church of St. Petronio in Bologna are now searched by Italian police before entering because in addition to protests by Muslims offended by a depiction of Mohammed in a 14th-century fresco, there have been unsuccessful attempts to blow the painting up.

Cinema and theatre contrary to Islam, says Saudi grand mufti

Cinema and theatre are “against Sharia” because they distract people from work and weaken their efforts in achieving progress, said Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Aziz Alu Al Sheikh during a conference on leisure, visual arts and literature attended by students at King Saud University.

“Theatrical performance, whether it is a cinema or a song, would generally make an impression that is against Sharia. People need only those (art forms) that are useful to them to change their way of life (in an Islamic manner),” he decreed.

Saudi men arrested for seeking female writer's autograph

Saudi Arabia's religious police detained two male novelists for questioning last week after they attempted to get the autograph of a female writer at a book fair in Riyadh, according to local media reports.

Religious police arrest famous actors, because men and women were performing together

Saudi Arabia- A blitz by the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the religious police, or muttawa), who early in the morning of March 30 raided a famous hotel in Riyadh and took away the actors and production staff for a television series.

All this in just a few weeks.

Mohammed Cartoonist Interview shelved by BBC?

Here we go with the cartoons again. The "Beeb" says they haven't reached a decision yet, but if the interview is blocked, you can bet it has nothing to do with "editorial content" and everything to do with appeasement.

The BBC has been accused of appeasement of radical Islam by the artist behind one of the infamous cartoons of Mohammed.

Kurt Westergaard claims the corporation's decision not to air a recent interview with him came because they are petrified of upsetting Muslims extremists.

Westergaard was one of the 12 cartoonists commissioned by the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper in 2005 to produce caricatures of the Muslim prophet.

Islamic tradition says no image of him should be produced or shown.

Kurt Westergaard said he was disappointed 'on behalf of freedom of speech' if the BBC did not show his interview

Muslims were particularly incensed by Westergaard's cartoon, which portrayed Mohammed with a bomb in his turban and was seen as extending the caricature of Muslims as terrorists. The images sparked protests and outrage across the globe.

Mr Westergaard, 73, gave his first-ever English interview to BBC journalist Malcolm Brabant four weeks ago.

It had been expected to go out on BBC World, the BBC News channel, across radio services and on its website. But the corporation has kept the report under wraps amid claims it is frightened that it will 'inflame' Muslims around the world.

Mr Westergaard told the Daily Mail last night: 'I am disappointed on behalf of the freedom of speech. Every time you are afraid I think you make a step backwards. That is depressing me.'

He compared the BBC's behaviour with the way countries tried to appease Hitler before the Second World War and added: 'If you have an appeasement policy towards the radical Muslims then you are on a very wrong way and you have to start marching backwards.'

A BBC spokesman said last night: 'No decision has been made yet. As and when one is, it will be based, as always, on editorial merit.'

"Muslim smokers worse than cows" says Muslim cleric

The smoking fatwa is in place, but it's none too popular even amongst Muslims.

Muslims who smoke and try to portray themselves as pious are worse than cows which defecate in the street, a top Malaysian Muslim cleric and politician said.

"...a cow which defecates in the middle of the road, (we) cannot take legal action against it because it has no brain and cannot think," said Nik Aziz who is the spiritual leader of the country's Pan-Islamic Party (PAS).

"But human beings, who have brains, for them to do something which is wrong in religion ... when they are in an attire which symbolizes Islam, they can be regarded as being more despicable than cows," he said on Friday, according to Malaysia's state news agency Bernama.

PAS is one of the three parties in Malaysia's opposition alliance led by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Nik Aziz said that smoking was forbidden by Islam.

Recently, Indonesia's top Islamic body passed a fatwa or ruling banning smoking. Malaysia's top Islamic body has also banned smoking.

Despite the ban in Malaysia, where over half the population of 27 million is Muslim, 50 percent of the male population smokes according to World Health Organization (WHO) data.

Norwegian Art Exhibit offends Muslims

Another art exhibit is sent running for dhimmitude. From Jihad Watch (emphasis not mine).

At the Telemark county library in Ulefoss, an exhibition was promptly subjected to damage and the library asked the artists to remove it. It is now being shown in Porsgrunn.

The exhibition "Det er ikke forbudt å tenke" ("It's not forbidden to think") was assembled at Porsgrunn library yesterday. In a series of 12 graphic images the artist, Ahmed Mashhouri, picked out the most controversial quotes from the Quran.

"My aim is not to insult anybody and their faith. It's to get a better understanding of the laws found in the Quran. These laws perhaps fit better in the old days, but today they just seem inhuman. I hope that my works will be a wake-up for my dear coreligionists," he says.

Mashhouri and his wife worked for human rights in Iran. They sought asylum in Norway and now live in Skien. The images were prepared in Norway and translated to Norwegian from Persian and English.

"In discussions people love to hear that such thing aren't found in the Quran. We want to show that they actually do," says Mashhouri.

When before Christmas the couple turned to the Telemark library in Ulefoss, they were invited to come.

On December 9th, the exhibit was assembled, but not many hours passed before there was a racket and two-three Muslim women attacked his images. Afterward he was contacted by the library and asked to remove the exhibition.

"I was disappointed, because I thought I was came to a country with freedom," says Mashhouri.

Library head Lillian Nilssen says that they wanted to prevent trouble. "It became quite unpleasant. They almost attacked each other," she says.

Asked if this wasn't a form of censorship, the library head replied: "No, we couldn't risk that the pictures would be destroyed and the police would perhaps have to be called in. We're a small community. Since it would just have hung for two days, we asked him to remove it a day earlier."

The exhibition isn't mostly meant for Norwegians and Mashhouri doesn't hope racist Norwegians will profit from his opinions.

"I want to show Muslims that there are negative things in the Koran too. I don't wish to hurt anybody and here and there it's necessary, temporarily, to advance. If just one begins to thinks, then it's worth it," says Mashhouri.

The images are posted on islamgraph.blogspot.com and Mashhouri wants people to have a discussion there.

Ahmed Mashhouri teaches in an introduction program for refugees in Skien. His class was invited to the exhibition in Porsgrunn and the images engendered strong feelings. A heated, but civilized, debate started up.

"I'm insulted. Is it necessary to create blasphemy and hate in this way? One must be careful with art," thinks Abdulkadir Mohammed. He responded in particular to an image of Koran verses written alongside a woman's bare breast.

Moustafa F. Jasim denies that images and quotes represent Islam.

"This was taken out of context. And the Quran was written many centuries ago. I don't like extreme Islam. We must accept each other. After the debate about hijab in the police we need peace. We are all brothers," he says.

They asked for an apology from the artist, but didn't get it. Mashhouri was happy the images caused debate.

"None of the sentences are mine. They're from the Quran. There are many different Muslims in the world, but people like Osama bin Laden use these sentences," he says.

Before the exhibition the class spoke of freedom of speech and its practice in Norway.

Source: Vardan 1, 2 (Norwegian), h/t HRS

Dubai bans nudity, dancing and holding hands

Add holding hands in public to the list of things that offend Muslims.

Playing loud music, dancing, nudity, kissing and even holding hands in public is considered inapproppriate behaviour under new guidelines laid down by the authorities of Dubai, reports say. Arabic-language daily Al Emarat Al-Youm said the Dubai Executive Council had urged residents of Dubai, where foreigners make up more than 80 per cent of the population, to respect the customs of the Muslim majority country and avoid inappropriate behaviour.

The rules, which apply to all public places, include a ban on all forms of nudity, playing music loudly and dancing, exchange of kisses between men and women -- and even on unmarried couples holding hands.

Any breach of the guidelines, by nationals or expatriates, carries a possible prison penalty, the paper said. Read on.

Egyptian Cleric: Starbucks Logo is Jewish Queen

The Starbucks logo has been the subject of much legend and controversy. I've never really understood why it was a big deal. A friend of mine told me years ago that Starbucks was the name of the first mate in the book Moby Dick and that's how the name came about. The original name was going to be "Moby's Coffee". Read about the history of the logo here.

The lady on the logo is a mermaid, keeping with the Moby Dick theme. So it seems less than coincidental that an anti-Semite would see the logo that is nearly everywhere and use it as a symbol of his own great white whale.

That is exactly what Egyptian cleric Sarwat Higazi has done.

"The Girl in the Starbucks Logo is Queen Esther... The Queen of the Jews"

Safwat Higazi: "Today, I would like to talk about the Starbucks coffee shop. Starbucks is to be found in Mecca, in Al-Madina, opposite the King Abdul Aziz Gate in Mecca, opposite the Al-Majid Gate in Al-Madina, as well as in Cairo. Starbucks is to be found everywhere, with this logo. This is the Starbucks logo.

"Has any of you ever wondered who this woman with a crown on her head is? Why do we boycott Starbucks? I will tell you, so you will know why you should boycott this company, and what this logo stands for. As I’ve already said, it is not enough to avoid entering this coffee shop. It is not enough to refrain from drinking this coffee. You must urge people never to go there, but none of you should even consider throwing a stone, breaking anything, or burning [the place] down.

[...]

"The girl in the Starbucks logo is Queen Esther. Do you know who Queen Esther was and what the crown on her head means? This is the crown of the Persian kingdom. This queen is the queen of the Jews. She is mentioned in the Torah, in the Book of Esther. The girl you see is Esther, the queen of the Jews in Persia." [...]

"The Crown You See Here [In the Starbucks Logo] is the Crown of the Kingdom of Xerxes"

"King [Xerxes] gave an order that the seven most beautiful girls in the kingdom be brought to him. So they held contests and auditions, and selected the seven most beautiful virgins, one of whom was the Jewish Esther, whose uncle, Mordechai - or actually, it was her cousin’s brother - was a villain.

"It was Mordechai who hatched this plot. Esther was one of the seven girls brought before King Xerxes in the palace. When Esther, who was very beautiful, was shown to King Xerxes, she captured his heart, and he chose her to be his queen. He placed a crown on her head, and the crown you see here [Higazi indicates the Starbucks logo] is the crown of the kingdom of Xerxes, and this is Esther, who became Queen of Persia, instead of Queen Vashti."[...]

"We Want Starbucks To Be Shut Down Throughout The Arab And Islamic World...It Is Inconceivable That In Mecca and Al-Madina, There Will Be a Picture of Queen Esther"

"Can you believe that in Mecca, Al-Madina, Cairo, Damascus, Kuwait, and all over the Islamic world there hangs the picture of beautiful Queen Esther, with a crown on her head, and we buy her products?

[...]

"We want Starbucks to be shut down throughout the Arab and Islamic world. We want it to be shut down in Mecca and in Al-Madina. I implore King Abdallah bin Abd Al-‘Aziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques: It is inconceivable that in Mecca and Al-Madina, there will be a picture of Queen Esther, the queen of the Jews."

Hatred leads to such nonsense. Higazi sees Jews everywhere, yet he can't bear to look at them.

Saudi Woman Arrested for Driving II

Yes, it is against the law for a woman to drive in Saudi Arabia. So when the woman in question happened upon a police car, she tried to make a run for it.

Hat tip, Israellycool.

A woman has been arrested in Mecca in Saudi Arabia for driving a car.

Police gave chase after she was spotted at the wheel of a 4×4 car, the English daily Arab News reported. She was arrested after hitting another car.

Women are prohibited from driving on all public roads in Saudi Arabia, a ban that has triggered several high-profile protests by women’s rights activists.

The woman’s name and nationality have not been announced. Only Muslims are permitted in the holy city of Mecca.

Police arrested the woman, in her 20s, early on Wednesday morning after the car she was driving crashed into another, said Maj Abdul Muhsin al-Mayman, spokesman for Mecca police.

He did not identify the name or nationality of the woman but said she was caught driving a Lexus.

“The woman tried to escape when she saw a police car and in the process hit another car, which was slightly damaged,” he said.

The spokesman said the woman driver was handed over to the Prosecution and Investigation Commission for investigation.

Add women drivers to the List of Things That Offend Muslims.

But not to worry, the auto industry is working a way around the problem.

Yann Lassade of General Motors GM.N in Dubai said its new Cadillac was being marketed in Saudi Arabia for the first time with female buyers in mind—but not those who drive.

 The Cadillac comes with special control mechanisms in the rear seat for everything but the steering wheel. ‘The new design is perfect for a chauffeur-driven car, with all the space and controls at the back seat,’ Lassade said.

Previous: Saudi Woman Arrested for Driving

Here's a video from last year. Wajeha Al-Huwaider, a Saudi women recorded herself driving and posted it on youtube for Woman's Day 2008.

Here's the other side of the argument. Saudi Cleric Dr. Abd Al-'Aziz Al-Fawzan Explains Why Women Should Not Be Allowed to Drive.

With a straight face and a wagging finger to boot.

BBC 4 Documentary Draws Death Threats

Hat tip, IBA.

Death threats from outraged Muslims who are offended that CH4 would air a documentary about homosexuality in Islam. I guess CH4 missed the memo from Ahmadinejad who announced with a straight face that "there are no homosexuals in Iran" A laughably outrageous statement to the Western world, at least until one considers the fate of gays in Islamic countries.

One might argue that homosexuality is forbidden in most religions, but Islam calls for capital punishment, treating it as a crime rather than a sin.

 CHANNEL 4 has come under fire from Islamic leaders over a television documentary showing how gay and lesbian Muslims suffer under their laws.

Its director has already had death threats because homosexuality is strictly forbidden by The Koran.    

Now station chiefs are bracing themselves for a backlash. Its digital channel More 4 will show A Jihad For Love tonight. (trailer) 

Watch it online.

It lifts the lid on the battle gay and lesbian Muslims face as they struggle with their faith and their sexuality.   

The documentary not only shows gay Muslims daring to kiss, holding hands and talking  about getting married, it also provides harrowing reports on the suffering they have faced under Islamic law.

And it reveals the death threats and punishments handed out to gays in countries including Egypt and Iran.     
     
Indian film maker Parvez Sharma – who spent six years making the programme – revealed: “I have had death threats on my blog after making this film. Some countries have even banned it.

“I’ve been called an apostate because Muslims think I have insulted Islam but I think it will open up a debate.”

Islamic leaders in the UK have attacked the documentary, saying it will offend, anger and shock.

An Imam from Europe’s largest mosque The Baitul Futuh based in Surrey condemned the film last night, saying: “These people should not be confessing their sins to the television cameras.

“They should be doing it in private to God and seeking forgiveness.”

Last night a Channel 4 spokesman defended the documentary.

She said: “This is a sensitively made documentary that has played to critical acclaim at film festivals internationally and is a legitimate area for a documentary film-maker to explore.”

Here's a TV interview with director Parvez Sharma.

Night Club “Mecca” Renamed after Reactions from Muslims

No name is a good name for the dhimmis in the Ukraine.

KIEV (Cihan) - A nightclub in Ukraine, which was scheduled to be opened with the name of “Mecca”, was renamed after reactions from the Muslim community in the country.

Ukraine Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Tamim said it was an insult against Islam and Muslims.

Following the office the Mufti, Ukrainian authorities intervened and the club was renamed as “Noname” just hours before its grand opening.

The Moslems of Kiev reportedly referred to the club's name Mecca as "an opened provocation."

"Giving names of Moslem holy places to hot spots shows utter contempt for Moslems of the Ukraine and the whole world. We, therefore, demand to prohibit entertainment facilities to use religious notions," the statement by followers of Islam said.

Of course, people always name their businesses after holy places just out of contempt for Muslims .  let's see there's Mecca Cosmetics, Mecca Clothing, several Bars called Mecca, and quite a few towns here in the US that bare that name.

Will they stop at nothing?

'Sex in Marriage' Book offends Muslims

Another book banning by Islamists. There are lots of examples of censorship lately, click here, here, here, here, and here to name a few.

Fierce controversy has erupted in the Emirates over a book about the secrets of sex within marriage written by Wedad Lootah, a female lawyer who works on matrimonial cases at the court in Dubai. The book which came out about a month ago, includes several chapters on marriage within Islam, Islamic law on the issues of co-habiting and sex, and possible solutions to sexual problems. Arab News reports that it is mainly men who are against the book, maintaining that issues of this nature should not be discussed publicly. Some of the detractors have even gone so far as to accuse the author of being an infidel and sinner for writing the book. Supporters however say that there is a great need for published information on the issues and that until know Arab society has not wanted to recognize problems arising from ignorance in sexual matters. Lootah, who wears the Muslim veil, does not seem too surprised by the criticisms, and maintains that she based the book on Islamic sources, stressing that it was even approved by the mufti of Dubai. The book was suggested by her own six years of experience working on divorce cases, and from the knowledge that many of these cases come about because of a lack of preparation for couples in the matter. (ANSAmed).