India's Salman Rushdie Moment

We often think of Hinduism (as opposed to Hindu Nationalists), as a peaceable religion, except where it clashes with Islam (a trait which it shares with every other religion which bumps up against Islam), so its with some surprise to find that a book written by an American scholar, Wendy Doniger, has elicited a response from Hindu's that reminds one very much of the treatment of Salman Rushdie for writing his book 'The Satanic Verses'.

Her book, 'The Hindus: An Alternative History', published by Penguin Books in India, has attracted much criticism, because according to the complainants, the book 'is insulting to Hindus', containing what they describe as "heresies".  Some of which meant that "She denounced the Hindu Gods and freedom fighters of India", as well as containing some factual errors.

The case went to court, under another of India's archaic laws, that makes it a 'criminal' rather than a 'civil offence', to publish a book that offends any Hindu .... much like the Muslim view that anything that offends them is to be condemned via a Fatwa (religious ban).

A Declaration Of 'No Free Speech'?

 
And guess what, the threat of a court case running over many years has allegedly (they haven't officially confirmed the climbdown), led to Penguin Books in India to agree with the complainants, and to recall and destroy all remaining copies of the book - an act of self censorship, which has profound implications for freedom of speech in India.

However, many Indians have been quick to realise this implication, and the decision of Penguin India to bow to religious groups pressure, and withdraw the book, has brought criticism .... Indian cabinet minister Jairam Ramesh told the Press Trust of India the decision was "atrocious", adding the book was "not blasphemous by any means". Well known Indian Historian Ramachandra Guha called the news "deeply disappointing. The answer to a book one doesn't like is another book, not a ban, or legal action, or physical intimidation," ... and that's the difference between India and its neighbour and enemy.

In India there is a fear and recognition that some religious groups are stifling free speech and artistic expression ..... nearly last word to Doniger herself  "The true villain of this piece  ... is a law that jeopardises the physical safety of any publisher, no matter how ludicrous the accusation brought against a book."

This story has escalated since I wrote this earlier in the month ..... so it may have legs.
 

Forcible Religious Conversion

A BBC story quoted a man called 'Sheikh Hassan Ghidan' (who is styled as a salafist scholar and preacher, who graduated from Cairo's influential Islamic university, al-Alzhar), as saying that he believes in changing society by teaching people at grass roots level, rather than through the violent jihad espoused by some other Salafists - but that he shares the same long term aims as them.

"The changes we seek are to apply the Islamic Sharia - the Islamic law to achieve social justice, and to establish an Islamic Caliphate, to liberate the occupied lands - lands occupied by non-Muslims, the lands which were originally Muslim."

He lists the following, as some of the lands that need to be re-taken 'Palestine, Iraq, Burma, Chechnya and Andalucia in Spain'.

This historical ignorance just makes me laugh, but doesn't surprise me .... the only land that can be said to be originally Muslim is the Saudi peninsular ... all the others were Christian or another religion, and were forcibly incorporated into an Arab Empire - there was only conversion by the sword after that - in fact its the only major religion that has gained its majority of followers by violent conquest, and its conversions almost entirely by violence (Sadly he Christians also did this in South America, but generally not elsewhere).

Islams Original Expansion and Expulsions

With the possible exception of the Sahel region of Africa and Malaya, Islam has almost never taken root via the intellectual winning of hearts and minds ever since. All the lands in this Salafist list, have either successfully repulsed an invasion, or thrown occupation out (Spain or Burma for example), and all have reasserted their native religions.  Others are an integral part of a non Muslim country such as Russia .... what's also interesting is that Iraq is now a Shia Muslim state now, and therefore to the Sunni crackpots, its also classed as non Muslim.

These Salafists are usually very violent men, with an agenda which our government should be addressing now with the Saudi's who continue to promote it ....... remember this is a major part of the Islam that the Saudi's export worldwide (including into the Balkans). One look at this map of the conquest years, shows that where the sword failed, Islam expansion stopped.

Islam is still only a force in those countries where Arab or Turkish armies suppressed the native religions .... maybe we should espouse a violent Christian creed, whose aim would be to 'liberate the occupied lands - lands occupied by non-Christians, the lands which were originally Christian' .... a list might include Bosnia, Turkey, Palestine, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt ... just a thought.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

In Afghanistan, illiterate mobs have been whipped up to rampage in the streets because the US army burnt a few terrorists Korans. So far this mob violence has probably cost upwards of twenty lives, and with many more injured. I can only point out once again that hundreds of copies of the Koran have been blown up, burnt and defiled with human blood, in the frequent bombings of mosques in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Libya and Somalia to name just a few places where this frequently happens.

How many Korans blown up in mosques?

At the same time as these protests cost lives in Afghanistan, an attack in Iraq kills 55 Muslims as both the Shia population and the police are targeted, while in Pakistan, many Sunni Muslims die as a car bomb hits Peshawar bus stop. You can't make this up ..... the apparently low value put on human life in the Muslim world is almost breathtaking.

If they put even one tenth the value that they claim they do on life and even the Korans, into efforts for peace then they would finally stop the bloodshed that rages seemingly forever across the Muslim world.

Freedom of Speech v Freedom of Religion

The petrol bombing of the French satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' in Paris, for daring to portray the creator of the self-styled 'religion of peace' (or 'religion of surrender' as it should be properly described in English), on its covers, says all you need to know about its followers.

Different Countries, Different Targets, Same Intended Result - Intimidation

The important point about this event was made by the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Stephane Charbonnier, who said Islam should not be excluded from 'freedom of the press' to comment in the West. He said: "If we can poke fun at everything in France, if we can talk about anything in France apart from Islam, or the consequences of Islamism, that is annoying."

He bravely added that "This is the first time we have been physically attacked, but we won't let it get to us". We shall wait and see .....

Allah, God, Jehovah .... All One?

The Malaysian "Allah Row" continues to rumble on as the Muslim Malays try to exert their power over the non Muslims in their 'unequal' society.

So the labelling of Indian and Chinese Malaysians as "pendatang", or 'immigrants', by a senior ruling party member, Nasir Safar should come as no surprise. The next step will be to call for their forced conversion or expulsion, even though they have been there hundreds of years.

They have introduced 'sharia' penalties for non Muslims, such as caning for a woman who drank a beer, arrest for young unmarried couples for "close proximity", and the cancellation of a concert by US singer Beyonce, all signs that Islam is now ceasing (if it ever was) to be tolerant of the non Muslims beliefs or lifestyles. The list of matters judged to be under the jurisdiction of Islamic laws has expanded over the decades, as 'Islamic Institutions' have been created.

Oddly, if they go the Malays would be bankrupt because they only get jobs because their constitution says that they simply be given certain jobs such as those in the civil service ...... all the wealth creation is done by the non Muslims.

However that won't stop the rush towards the persecution of the non Muslims. Just imagine the fuss in the Islamic world if it was non Muslims doing all this to Muslims?

They really are the mother of all hypocrites.

Christianity Under Attack In Muslim Lands

As has been mentioned in this blog in the past, some misguided Christians, casting desperately around for a 'tolerant Muslim state', fall upon Malaya as, in Tony Blairs words "“having [set] a very good example of interfaith cooperation”.

Malay Christian Herald Censored

However they are simply deluding themselves. Malaya is increasingly becoming an intolerant Muslim state as the "Allah" row has shown.

Same Old Crap As Last Year

Sadly we are barely into 2010 before Islam and its violent followers force me to examine once again the threat they pose to free thought, speech, belief and expression.

Yesterday a Somali linked to the radical Islamist al-Shabab militia was shot and wounded after unsuccessfully attempting to hack danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard to death in his home. Mr Westergaard, is famous for being one of the *cartoonists in the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten, "Mohammed" row.

While in Pakistan a suicide bomber decided to take a short cut to paradise by killing over 90 people and injuring hundreds, by blowing them and himself up at a volleyball game.

Now if anyone can explain to me what sort of 'paradise' is it, when it's packed with mass murderers, and why any good person would want to share it with them then I would be grateful, because its obvious that I and billions of non believers, are completely missing the point. And so apparently are the 'martyrs' if this report on a fundamental translation error in the Quran is true (it was written in Syriac and Aramaic before being translated into Arabic later).

A self professed 'religion of peace' (aka 'submission'), yet its killed many thousands (mostly of its own adherents) in the last couple of years (ignoring the millions over the centuries) and says the killers are welcomed by its god..... whats that all about?

I was trawling through a list of incidents (and its a very big list but by no means exhaustive) and the sheer horror of some of the attacks is almost unbelievable, when I noticed this one.

"2009.07.02: London - A 24-year-old Danish Asian man is blinded, suffers the loss of his tongue and 90% burns during an 'honor' attack in which he was forced to drink acid and had it thrown on him by angry Muslims." - he was also stabbed twice and beaten.

I didn't remember this in the news ....... so I checked it out.

First the BBC, surely such a horrific crime would be fully reported? Actually no, barely a few paragraphs on the England news web pages. Absolutely no mention that the attackers of the Danish Asian man were of Pakistani descent and performing an 'honour' attack. No follow up stories.

Well maybe some other major news group?

Err no, to get a full report on this horror event I had to go to The London Paper which gave details of this barbaric crime. With a police warning for the safety of the young woman involved after the attack about the liklihood that her own male relatives would do the same to her.

To me this lack of coverage speaks volumes.

On any level a crime of such medieval barbarism should get major coverage, but apparently either in the UK this sort of crime is so common that its not shocking or newsworthy enough, or the UK press is now in 'Dhimmitude' and refuses to report certain 'multicultural' crimes?

I guess I know which I believe to be true ...........


* Warning: These links may offend Muslims.

Arabs Yearn To Get To West

On this blog we have discussed before the hypocrisy of Arabs chanting for the deaths of Americans and Britons, while at the same time queuing for visa's to get into Europe or America. They see no irony in claiming that Islam is perfect while trying to move to "Crusader lands" because there's more freedom, opportunity etc etc

Of course all might not have been too bad if they actually appreciated the freedoms, opportunities etc etc, and supported the pluralistic, tolerant democracies that granted them this chance to escape the Islamic world, but no, as soon as they get here and find that they actually have to start at the bottom and work, they start marching on the streets and chanting "Death to America, and Death to Britain" again.

Given long enough, they could easily turn Europe into the same state as the Islamic world, where people yearn for freedom and opportunity, but there will be nowhere free left.

In this video from Fort Lauderdale in the US, an 'american' Arab Girl shouts out "You need a Big Oven!" to a Jewish group ..... is this what we want for our streets?

Malaya's Interfaith Intolerance

Tony Blair once described Malaya as an example of a moderate "Muslim" state with “having [set] a very good example of interfaith cooperation” ...... only goes to show what a gullible fool he is.

Malaya actually has a poor tolerance of anyone not a Muslim, and an in built bias against non Muslims. They knock down Hindu temples and Christian Churches with no Mosques ever knocked down.

In the latest example of the Islamification of Malaya, nine Christians mistakenly accused of trying to convert Muslim university students to Christianity are to be released from detention. Trying to convert Muslims to another religion is forbidden in Malaysia, though Muslims may proselytise against other faiths. As usual one set of laws for Muslims, another for the lesser religions.

Malaysia, has a 60% Muslim population, with Christians, Buddhists and Hindus making up most of the rest of the population, but the laws are still skewed in favour of Muslims, so much so that when two journalists wrote about hiding their Muslim identity, in order to receive Communion at a Roman Catholic church, and checking for Muslim apostates who may be attending prayers or Communion at the church (they found no evidence of this), then nothing was done. Imagine if a Catholic had tried to do the same thing at a Mosque .....

As usual in the Muslim world apostates i.e. those who convert from Islam face prison, and or death, even in this 'moderate' Muslim state.

Spanish Homosexuals locked up in Gambia

It's quite amazing the lengths to which Islamic countries will go to attack Western values or standards, and yet we say nothing. Its almost like a competition, in which they try to see how supine the West has become.

The latest is the Gambia, which I didn't even realise was "Muslim" because of its attempts to get Western Tourists to its beaches. Under the rule of President Yahya Jammeh ( another African leader with a home cure for Aids, ala President to be Zuma's 'shower cure') homosexuals have been told to leave the country or risk being beheaded.

He has backed that up by arresting two Spanish men as 'homosexuals', as well as telling Senegalese homosexuals they had 24 hrs to flee the country (they had fled Muslim Senegal after mass arrests of homosexuals following a 'gay' wedding). Just in case someone says. 'well strange behaviour by the head of state doesn't have to be 'Islamic' (there are after all many African lunatics running countries)' the country's Supreme Islamic Council, said the president had taken a "principled stand".

EU handouts are unaffected by these two countries repression of homosexuals ... and we wonder why they carry on getting more extreme in their interpretations of Islam.

The Collapse of Anglicism & Other Christian Faiths

I have recently had a bit of a 'Blog Spat' with a Reverend of the Church of England who had ‘back linked’ to a post on my blog as an example of a “Right wing Daily Mail reader” …..or worse! 

 

The Dreaded Daily Mail Reader - Despised By Fat Vicars

Mainly because of my backing of the Bishop of Rochester's stated views on the formation of Muslim 'no go' areas in inner city Bradford.