Egypt's Mufti condemns banning minarets in Switzerland

[struggle4progress]

2009-11-30 18:45:22 Print

CAIRO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's Grand Mufti Sheikh Ali Gomaa condemned Switzerland's decision to ban construction of minarets, Al Akhbar daily reported on Monday.

"We received this initiative in sorrow and it is considered as a humiliation for the Muslim community in and out of Switzerland," Gomaa said.

The Mufti expressed his concerns about the decision which he said would deepen Muslims' feeling of discrimination ... http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/30/content_12566037.htm

[struggle4progress]

1. Lebanese Shiite cleric lashes out at Swiss minaret ban

Beirut - Lebanon's leading Shiite cleric Seyyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah described Monday as 'racist' a referendum in Switzerland where voters approved a ban on the construction of mosque minarets.

'This kind of decision is aimed at inciting racism against Muslims in the West,' Fadlallah was quoted as saying by local radios.

The Shiite cleric urged Muslims in Switzerland not to resort to violence in answer to the ban.

'I call on them to act positively even with those who voted in favour of a ban on the minarets,' Fadlallah said ... http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1516188.php/Lebanese-Shiite-cleric-lashes-out-at-Swiss-minaret-ban

[imdjh]

2. Florida's Poof condemns Islamic queer jailings and murders in Egypt.

moi

[Silent3]

3. Two wrongs don't make a right

I've minarets don't violate local building codes any more than steeples, and steeples are allowed, and if calls to prayer don't disturb the peace any more than the ringing of church bells, and the bells are allowed to ring, then this is an unjust law.

[dmallind]

4. I agree - but wouldn't it be nice if all these religious leaders

also chose to criticize all restrictions on religious freedom, such as Tennessee's constitution that bans all who do not believe in a literal heaven and hell presided over by a deity from working for the state.

[Igel]

5. More concern about humiliation.

Such a sad, little man. I'd think they could do better. Perhaps I'm wrong--it wouldn't be the first time.

[csziggy]

6. And the Egyptians have such a great record of religious tolerance

I find it amusing to watch the various Judeo-Christian-Islamic sects try to wipe each other out. I wish the leaders of each group would check their own country before criticizing others.

Democracy vs the Muslim Bayonet
By Daniel Greenfield Monday, November 30, 2009

<SNIP>
Populist democracy is the only real barrier to an Islamist takeover

Going by the outrage at this ill treatment of Muslims, one might assume that Muslim countries are a haven of religious freedom. But in fact one of the codes of the Dhimmi prohibited building Synagogues and Churches taller in height than Mosques. This can be seen even in churches in Europe that were once located in Muslim ruled territories, such as the Church of Sveti Spas in Macedonia which was built mostly underground to avoid falling afoul of Muslim rules while still allowing for a high interior space. The same phenomenon can be seen in the many sunken floors of Jewish synagogues built in the Middle East.

It is ironic that all the Swiss did was pass a law that treats Muslims, much the same way that Muslims treat non-Muslims throughout the Middle East. Furthermore many of the Muslim refugees from Yugoslavia who have inflated Switzerland’s cantons and want to fill the country with minarets and the vulture shrieks of radical Imams calling the faithful to prayer, have relatives back home who are busy burning every church they can find. Naturally the same human rights activists who are terribly worked up because the Muslims of Switzerland will have to make do with only four minarets, couldn’t care less. Just as the same European elites who become agitated every time a Palestinian Arab is made to wait an extra 5 minutes at a border crossing to insure that he isn’t wearing a bomb strapped to his chest, could care less about the Muslim firebombings of churches belonging to the dwindling minority of Arab Christians in the area.

More: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/17373

Christians, Muslims, and Silence
by Andreas Unterberger

19 November 2009

Seldom have I experienced such a heavily attended event with such crowds of people, such emotion, such dismay. The evening’s topic: contemporary Christian persecution which has reached daunting dimensions and which, according to reliable sources and studies, has reached the highest levels in history, and which is ignored to an extent that can probably be only fathomed with the help of psychiatric analysis.

Only a few dry facts first: From China to South America, 230 million Christians are currently being persecuted for politically, culturally, or religiously motivated reasons. Last year, at least 500 Christians were killed in India during religious clashes. In North Korea, Christians have no legal protection at all and can be killed on the spot.

Coptic church
However, the worst situation for Christians can be found in Islamic countries. More than half of the 80,000 Iraqi Christians have fled Iraq due to countless targeted terrorist attacks. Only in the Kurdish part of Iraq can they live in relative safety. In Egypt a few media reports on the swine flu were sufficient for pogroms against the pork-eating Copts. Athanasios Heinein, the head of the exiled Coptic church in Greece calls this "cultural genocide”.

Even more harrowing are the individual reports. For example, the report about an abducted priest from Mosul for whom the parish had paid ransom, and who was still beheaded and returned mutilated. Or a report about a recent case of six male members of a Christian family who have been sentenced to death. Or another report of the abduction of Christian girls who are forcefully married and converted to Islam.

More: http://europenews.dk/en/node/27738

[struggle4progress]

7. CanadaFreePress is a rightwing site. A quick look indicates EuropeNews is too:

"EuropeNews ... offers daily updated a wide selection of articles about democracy & Islam Ideologie," and I find Daniel Pipes their USA page today

Analysis provided by such sites is vicious and useless: all the Swiss did was pass a law that treats Muslims .. the .. way that Muslims treat non-Muslims, for example, is only intended to promote and justify prejudice and stereotyping

Nobody here doubts that there are Islamic extremists, just as no one here doubts there are so-called "Christian Identity" extremists in groups such as the KKK -- and most of us dislike all such groups. There are human rights problems (including persecution for expression of religious and other beliefs) around the world, in Islamic and non-Islamic countries alike, and detailed examination of such issues occurs on these boards regularly

It should go without saying that demonizing members of a religious group because of the actions of some other members of the religious group is ugly and unacceptable

[nonationbuilding]

8. How many Christian churches are there in Saudi Arabia?

[struggle4progress]

9. The Saudis have a nasty little kingdom. I should be sorry to see anyone emulate them.

And why should that be relevant to Swiss treatment of Muslims?

[Meshuga]

10. Why should Saudi Arabia justify what is happening in Switzerland?

[snagglepuss]

11. The Saudi Wahhabi tear down historic mosques because they have issues

but where's the outrage. The silence from Muftis let alone Muslims is deafening.


snip

Wahhabi doctrine holds that raising gravestones or tombs or maintaining graveyards constitutes idolatry, known in Arabic as shirk, a grievous sin. So does preserving buildings--including religious structures such as mosques. To Wahhabis, a beloved building, the tomb of a saintly figure, or a gravestone is an idol. In Wahhabism, prayers to the Prophet are forbidden--above all because Wahhabis see in them a parallel with Christian worship of Jesus.

Thus, the Saudis followed their conquest of Mecca and Medina in the mid-1920s with an orgy of destruction. They leveled the "Jannat al-Baqi" or "Heavenly Orchard" at Medina that included graves of the Prophet Muhammad's son Ibrahim, as well as numerous of the Prophet's relatives and original companions. They also looted the Prophet's Shrine in Medina and demolished the cemetery in Mecca that included the graves of Muhammad's mother and grandfather. They completely destroyed mausoleums, mosques, and other honored sites, including Muhammad's own house. It was even said that they wished to uproot the grave of Muhammad himself and tear down the Kaaba, the stone temple at the center of Mecca. They were prevented from this last act by pressure from Muslims in India.


WAHHABI VANDALISM continues today, and its appearance is typically the first sign of aggressive Saudi penetration of Muslim lands. Saudi agents uprooted graveyards in Kosovo even before the war began there in the late 1990s, and Wahhabi missionaries have
sought to demolish Sufi tombs in Kurdistan. Late in 2002, the Saudi government tore down the historic Ottoman fortress of Ajyad in Mecca, causing outrage in many Muslim countries.

And now the Saudi authorities are at it again, according to reports from enraged Saudi subjects, who as in earlier instances have requested anonymity. The city planning authorities in Medina, known for their Wahhabi extremism, have ordered the leveling of five of seven mosques built in the city by Muhammad's daughter and four of his companions. These structures are the Mosque of Sayyida Fatima bint Rasulillah, Salman al-Farsi Mosque, Abu Bakr Mosque, Umar ibn al-Khattab Mosque, and Mosque of Ali ibn Abi Talib. The latter three were constructed by figures among the four "righteous caliphs" who immediately succeeded Muhammad in the leadership of Islam. The structures in question are unique cultural assets whose historic value is literally incalculable, to say nothing of their religious symbolism.

snip


http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000%5C000%5C004%5C194skrvx.asp