Where are the Questioning Minds?

re: Global protests over the cartoon
The protests are now truly global, attesting to the theory of Clash of Civilizations. If this is not a clash at civilizational level, then what is?
Url:http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=3&cid=1138622561626&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(The drawings - including one depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse - have caused Muslim fury worldwide. Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.

The caricatures have since been republished in several European and New Zealand newspapers as a statement on behalf of a free press.

Denmark`s Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said he disapproves of the caricatures, but insisted he cannot apologize on behalf of his country`s independent press.)
(The attack on the Danish mission in Beirut took on a sectarian dimension in this mixed Muslim-Christian nation, which suffered a 1975-90 civil war. Muslim extremists took over the streets in the Christian Ashrafieh neighborhood where the Danish mission is located, wreaking havoc on property for about three hours.)
Sridhar

re: Religion of peace?
Go to this link and u will have your own doubts about Islam as a religion of peace.
(Three girls have been beheaded and another badly injured as they walked to a Christian school in Indonesia.

They were walking through a cocoa plantation near the city of Poso in central Sulawesi province when they were attacked.

This is an area that has a long history of religious violence between Muslims and Christians.

A government-brokered truce has only partially succeeded in reducing the number of incidents in recent years.

Police say the heads were found some distance from the bodies.

It is unclear what was behind the attack, but the girls attended a private Christian school and one of the heads was left outside a church leading to speculation that it might have had a religious motive. )
How about this image:




which shows anti-semitic theme?
It is O.K for muslims to show such themes with impunity in their own local press but not so if someone exercises his freedom of speech and does the same in the West.
There is also something peculiar happening here.
Ambassadors being recalled, protests being launched at govt levels.
Smacks of ignorance about democracy.
The cartoonist who published the cartoons in the Danish newspaper did not have to seek govt approval for doing so.
Apparently the muslim nations (mostly ruled by tinpot dictators) thought the cartoon could not have been published without govt approval!
Sridhar

re: A tale of two civilizations: tolerance versus jehad
It is interesting how different the reactions had been in the West and Islamic civilizations following obscene cartoons (especially when they have a religious theme).
Apparently, the west faced a similar situation about 20 years ago when a so-called artist published the cartoon of Jesus on Cross covered with a pile of urine!
The story and the reaction that followed contrasts starkly with what we are seeing today following the publication of Prophet Mohammed`s cartoons.
This link talks about that incident and how it was dealt with by the West.
There were protests, condemnations by the Church, religious people but there were no threats to the artist`s life. NYTimes, that eternal watchdog of democracy, defended him to the hilt. That man still lives, churning out trash but, hey, that is his livelihood and he has a right to do it.
Sridhar

If Islam is a religion of peace, you`d think muslims flying planes into buildings, slitting the throats of honeymooners and blowing themselves up in subways would be a crime against Islam..nope..when those things happen, muslims point to the ``root cause`` which is code language for their pet Islamist cause..Iraq, Kashmir, Palestine etc...When theo van ghogh was killed, we had pakis saying that would teach the people a lesson..heck, the paki engr_malik even threatened us with morrocans on Jawahara Siddiqui`s blasphey thread..

When a newspaper in denmark draws ol`mo, it`s a cause for outrage..

Maybe muslims need to question the root cause of why a lot of newspapers are choosing to print the cartoons..

Check this out:

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,399263,00.html

#104Ramanujan

``I don`t mind these new ``interpretations``, as long as you tear up and destroy ALL earlier books, interpretations, and chapters from the history books that contain the ACTUAL facts``.
There is a bit of confusion in my mind as to what you are saying above.
Do you want me to tear up...books that contain the ACTUAL facts? Or do you want me tear up those that DO NOT contain actual facts?
History is more often than not written by historians with their individual bias--classic case of six million Jews gassed by Hitler/or on his order. David Ervin is a historian and he says differently! And so on!! Who is going to be the arbiter of Facts?
My criterion of a good book( or even an action) is ``that which advances the human welfare``, that is tolerance and brotherhood (with sisters included wether in the `hood` or not LOL)
My friend if you mean the later, let us join hands in stacking all such books that retard this maxim and set them ablaze. I will start with the Hadis corpus for that makes me ashmed!!
Rashid_s

Re: # 131

Inquirer,

I was

Your English comprehension leaves a lot to be desired. Only a dishonest crook without any real aim and objective would deny that the author is calling Rabia Basri a south asian...
She is also saying that the British are responsible for ``patriarchy`` while Muslims and Hindus were matriarchal before the coming of the British... this is another fallacious and specious argument ... Did the British make India a patriarchal society?

If going by chowk records was your criterion then you would not have deliberately lied about me the way you did. There is nothing in your chowk record that suggests that you are a misogynist hindu fundamentalist freak...

And why are you calling me an Islamic, when my argument is against the speciousness of the author`s claims and not her aim and objective: equal rights for women- an objective I personally have invested a lot of time and effort into?

It is a pity that an academic criticism is being colored by neo-mcarthyism of a man like you who can`t respect his wife?


And this is what you wrote about your wife:


She may not share my interests in Physics, Philososphy, and Mathematics but we both consider each other equal in love!!!

The inference here is clearly that because your wife is a woman- she can`t possibly be interested in Physics, Philosophy or Mathematics... but she is your equal in love. Well my wife is my equal in every thing... and perhaps even better in most things... This is the difference.

I was referring to post 3 when I wrote post 5.

The problem with this article is that the discussion is completely dominated by four freaks representative of freakery that has brought the progress in the Muslim world to a complete halt.

1- Maulana Urstruly (a right hand man of that Nazi Mullah Israr) He believes in stifling progress by using inane religious arguments aimed at defending all that is wrong with the Islamic world.

2- Refusenik Rawdust So blinded by his hatred for Islam and Muslims that he will deny even that which the author above affirms... he believes Islam, in exclusion of all else, is alone the cause of all evil and devastation in the world.

3- The author A typical expatriate speaking in abstraction- to her the British were cause of all evil. Her knowledge and exposition of facts is so pathetic and questionable that it is a cause of embarrassment for genuine Feminists and liberals fighting for equal rights for women in Pakistan. Her criticism of Maulana Israr is right on the money but thats the only thing that is right in the article.

4- Mahatma Inquirer Mahatma Inquirer is the typical Indian bigot looking to exploit the situation by propping up stupidity while at the same time denigrating the genuine fighters in the cause of women`s rights.


And thus we go in circles.

#124 by aisha_sarwari

[Like Gandhi, he believes women can`t excel at anything but being a housewife...So he thinks his wife can`t be his equal in Physics or Mathematics.]

Gandhi lives on! Even for his detractors, who cannot spend one day without remembering him!!

Gandhi lives on.. As does Adolf Hitler.