It's double-offended List addition Saturday!
Our first example is Muslim house music offending Muslims.
The sound of the Muslim prayer known as the Ayat-ul-Qursi had “simply appealed” to them, so they had lifted a version of it and used it as part of their new House Therapy compilation. But it wasn’t long before Lehlaka, operations manager at the popular House Therapy production house in Pretoria, was taking calls from Muslim fans furious at the apparent blatant exploitation of a sacred verse.
“There was only one person who threatened me with a bomb,” Lehlaka said, “but most people who phoned were angry. We honestly didn’t realise how serious the lyrics were, so we immediately promised to take the song off the CD, which is what we have done.”
Lehlaka has since been on community radio station Channel Islam to set the record straight, and was scheduled to go on SABC1 last night to emphasise the unbiased position of his production house to Muslim house music fans - and the Muslim community.
“We had gone to see an Islam expert and he explained that we were not supposed to use the prayer in this way,” Lehlaka said on Friday. “Now the people have been very understanding and we’ve removed all the offending lyrics.”
Not that terrorism and bomb threats pay or anything...
The Ayat al-Qursi, or Throne Verse, is Qur'an 2:255:
Allah! There is no god but He, the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).
Second, is the Knights of Malta, way too Catholic for Egypt.
A message posted on Islamist websites close to al-Qaeda is urging jihadists to carry out a terrorist attack on the embassy of the Roman Catholic Order of Malta in Cairo, adnkronos.com reported.
"Do not stint on your attacks, Egyptians, either with car or truck bombs," reads the message. It is accompanied by photos of the embassy building and entrance. "These are photos of the Order of Malta embassy in Cairo. I ask Allah to have it closed down or blown up, along with those inside it, who hate Islam and Muslims," the Internet message continued.
Truck bombs from a religion of peace? I don't believe it.
adnkronos.com said that the message urging the jihadi attack on the charitable organisation - follows the publication of an editorial in the United Arab Emirates daily al-Bayan, by Jordanian MP Jamal Muhammad Abidat entitled 'The Knights of Malta - more than a conspiracy'.
Abidat accuses the Order of Malta of being run by men who are close to US president George W. Bush and neo-conservative political circles, taking a cue from a report transmitted on the Arab network, Al-Jazeera, on 24 April this year.
"You cannot exaggerate it. The Order of Malta is a hidden government or the most mysterious government in the world," said Abidat in the editorial.
The Rome-based Order of Malta, also known as The Knights of Malta began as an organisation founded in Jerusalem in 1080, to care for poor and sick pilgrims to the Holy Land.
The Order of Malta retains its claim of sovereignty under international law and has been granted permanent observer status at the United Nations. It issues its own passports, stamps and coins and has formal diplomatic relations with 99 states.
Two examples of Muslims offended, two examples of bomb threats.
And last, but not least, Muslim woman sues San Bernardino County -- for having to remove her hijab when she was arrested.
A 29-year-old Muslim woman sued San Bernardino County and its sheriff Wednesday, alleging that deputies violated her rights by forcing her to remove the head scarf she wears because of her religious beliefs.
The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California filed the complaint on behalf of Jameelah Medina in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana -- accusing the county and the Sheriff's Department of breaching Medina's right to practice her religion as well as a 2000 federal law enhancing protections of prisoners' religious liberty. She was arrested in 2005 for carrying an invalid Metrolink pass.
Cindy Beavers, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, said she could not comment.
"I can tell you that anybody who comes in wearing any type of head covering -- they would have to remove it at the time of booking and that would be for security purposes," Beavers said.
