Why Anti Muslim Tirade Gaining Momentum

Last Updated on Thursday, 29 July 2010 21:26 Thursday, 29 July 2010 21:13

Written by Dr. Om Prakash Sudrania

I may start with Ambassador Henrietta Isom who had published a column in East Oregonian sometime in late last year. Pakistan: Supporter or Spoiler was the caption recalling off hand. In that she stated the result of an interesting study in Pakistan. They interviewed some set number of Pakistani Muslims of all hue and colour. All ages and both literate /illiterate groups. I can not recall if females were involved or not. About more than two thirds or three quarters said that first we are Muslims and than only Pakistanis.

She then went on to narrate that it has a serious implication. It makes the job of the hardline Muslim organisations easier to recruit and train the people for radical Islamic activities. This is very true and it is observed in the practice too. I have noticed it and the recent happenings in Pakistan on the religious non-muslims as well as religious muslim minorities. Hardly do we hear of any constructive or developmental activities.

President Zardari soon after his election victory did state:
(1) Kashmir can wait. Let us first start some business and other cooperation talks.

(2) The Kashmiris fighting are terrorists. They are not freedom fighters. Both these are on YouTube video clips. I have witnessed it.

This honeymoon did not last for long. I was surprised when he had changed his slogans to the old stale rhetorics of fighting war with India for hundred years. This used to be the call by his deceased father-in-law. I can not blame Zardari Saheb for it. There are anti-forces in Pakistani society who have grown so powerful that the democratically elected institutions in Pakistan can not and will not function at their will.

Recently in Kerala, after the amputation of the right hand of the Christian Professor T J Joseph, first time it has come to the notice that in each district of Kerala, there is one Sharia or Taliban style Court with two in the capital city. It is also learnt that it was one of such Sharia Court which had ordered the amputation of the right hand of Joseph. When the police went to investigate the crime, the Popular Front of India and some other Islamic organisations took out huge processions against the search operations.

Briefly the story runs as follows.

T. J. Joseph, a Professor of Malayalam language, set a question in the Malayalam semester examination paper for BCom students in March 2010.

This question was based on a short story by CPI(M) leader P. T. Kunju Muhammed about a village madcap who questions the god. The passage taken was published in a university authorized text book titled “ Thirakadayude Neethesastram” by Kerala Bhasha Institute. The 32 students of the class were asked to punctuate a passage from the story. The nameless madman in the story was referred to as Mohammed by Joseph while setting the paper.

The local edition of the Jamaat e Islami Hind newspaper ( Madhyamam Daily) carried out a prominent report, sparking off the controversy alleging blasphemy. Several Muslim organisations such as Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, National Development Front, Popular Front of India and the Socialist Democratic Party alleged blasphemy claiming that the madcap named Mohammed in the question paper was Prophet Mohammed. The Campus Front, the Popular Front of India’s student wing, launched an agitation against the Professor.^[7] Copies of the question paper was circulated in sensitive areas by various Muslim organizations. The state police registered a case against the Professor T. J. Joseph. His son was beaten up in police custody. After a couple of weeks, he was arrested under Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code (for causing communal hatred). He was later released on bail by a court in April 2010. The College Management suspended the professor and the Mahatma Gandhi University banned him for one year.

Neither the state Police nor the government or University has taken action against the Muslim author of the original text - P. T. Kunju Muhammed. The various Muslim organizations who made the controversy, however, suppressed the information that the prose was taken from his essay.

More details can be perused at the URLs:

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_hand_chopping_incident_in_Kerala

(2) http://international.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=417:muslims-in-kerala-on-rampage-after-joseph&catid=50:dr-om-prakash-sudrania&Itemid=78

(3) http://international.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=433:afzal-guru-versus-m-f-hussain-versus-t-j-joseph&catid=50:dr-om-prakash-sudrania&Itemid=78

There are problems brewing in Europe in various countries. Sometime back in a highly unprecedented move in Switzerland, there was a ban on the construction of minarets on the Mosques. This initially led to a lot of resistance from the Muslim corners, quite understandably but the ban stayed. Switzerland is one of the most moderate and liberal countries in Europe.

Now there is a proposed ban on Hijab in the public life in France. The bill has been passed in one House and waiting for approval in the other before it becomes a law. It is said that it is a matter of time only.

Then there are moves in other countries like Italy, Netherlands, Uk and Belgium.

There are groups in America active now after the Mosque approval on the Zero site in New York.

(1) Follow the URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0728/Anti-Islamic-bus-ads-appear-in-major-cities?sp_rid=NTI5OTY2OTk3MgS2&sp_mid=4521387

'Anti-Islamic' bus ads appear in major cities

A group called 'Stop Islamization of America' is promoting ads on major city public transportation that urge people to leave the Muslim faith. The anti-Islamic campaign is sparking thought about the religion's place in American society.

The group Stop Islamization of America paid for bus ads, such as this one in San Francisco, to promote its viewpoint. The ads, which read, ‘Leaving Islam?,’ are intended to be a resource for former Muslims. Muslim rights groups and others consider the ads to be anti-Islam.
(Stephanie Rice)

By Stephanie Rice, Contributor
posted July 28, 2010 at 12:13 pm EDT

San Francisco —

The growing debate over Islam's place in America, which is escalating in light of plans to build a mosque near ground zero, is increasingly playing out on city streets across the country. On the sides of buses, to be precise.

Several groups are engaging in something of a religious ad war over the merits and misconceptions of Islam, a religion that remains a mystery to many Americans.

Ads by a group calling itself Stop Islamization of America, which aims to provide refuge for former Muslims, read: "Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get answers!"

IN PICTURES: Billboards around the world

Those ads, appearing on dozens of buses in the San Francisco Bay Area, Miami, and New York, are a response to ones from a Muslim group that say, "The way of life of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Islam. Got questions? Get answers."

In New York, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community sponsored this campaign: "Muslims for Peace. Love for All – Hatred for None."

The ads are part of a larger conversation over Islam's image, which Muslim organizations say has been hurt by extremists both at home and abroad. But many conservative groups say that concern about the spread of Islam isn't alarmist, pointing to evidence of imams in this country inciting militancy and a growing number of American Muslims arrested for plotting terror attacks.

A self-described "anti-jihadist," Pamela Geller is the conservative blogger and executive director of Stop Islamization of America who conceived of the "Leaving Islam" ad campaign. Her bus posters, she says, were partly inspired by the ongoing Florida case involving a teenage girl who ran away from her Muslim parents after converting to Christianity. The girl, Rifqa Bary, made headlines last year when she claimed her father threatened to kill her for becoming a Christian.

Ms. Geller described her campaign as "a defense of religious freedom," in an e-mail response to questions. The goal, she says, is mainly "to help ex-Muslims who are in trouble" and also "to raise awareness of the threat that apostates live under even in the West."

It quotes that a Pew Research Centre in 2009 showed that 38 percent believe that Islam is more likely to incite violence than other religions.

It further added, “RefugeFromIslam.com, the website promoted on Geller's ads, contends that Muslim Americans who "long to be free" of their religion are in danger of being killed, and offers protection, including "safe houses," for those who want out. Muslim rights groups and religious leaders say there is no penalty for leaving Islam and that the Koran condemns killing as a sin.”

For full story please go to the above URL of www.csmonitor.com. The same story is repeated on: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100728/ts_csm/315975 by Yahoo! news

Most of other posts have also reported it basing on the CSMonitor coverage only.

(2) http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/29/right-anti-islamic-bus/

Right-Wing Group Launches ‘Anti-Islamic’ Bus Ads in Major Cities

In May, the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) and the Cordoba Initiative proposed plans to build a community center two blocks away from Ground Zero in New York City that would include “a mosque, performance art center, gym, swimming pool and other public spaces.” Since then, radical conservatives across the country have expressed open hostility to the construction of Muslim places of worship. Speaking about the Muslim center in New York City, right-wing radio host Michael Berry stated, “If you do build a mosque, I hope somebody blows it up.”

This blog also repeats the quote of RefugeFromIslam.com as above. More details can be seen at the above link.

(3) http://ahmadiyyatimes.blogspot.com/2010/07/usa-anti-islamic-bus-ads-appear-in.html

Thursday, July 29, 2010

USA: 'Anti-Islamic' bus ads appear in major cities

A group called 'Stop Islamization of America' is promoting ads on major city public transportation that urge people to leave the Muslim faith. The anti-Islamic campaign is sparking thought about the religion's place in American society.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source & Credit: The Christian Science Monitor
By Stephanie Rice | July 28, 2010 | San Francisco

The growing debate over Islam's place in America, which is escalating in light of plans to build a mosque near ground zero, is increasingly playing out on city streets across the country. On the sides of buses, to be precise.

Several groups are engaging in something of a religious ad war over the merits and misconceptions of Islam, a religion that remains a mystery to many Americans.

In New York, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community sponsored this campaign: "Muslims for Peace. Love for All – Hatred for None."

The ads are part of a larger conversation over Islam's image, which Muslim organizations say has been hurt by extremists both at home and abroad. But many conservative groups say that concern about the spread of Islam isn't alarmist, pointing to evidence of imams in this country inciting militancy and a growing number of American Muslims arrested for plotting terror attacks.

More on the above URL.

The same column goes to mention, “But some religious rights organizations contend that the real intent is to incite fear about a faith that, according to recent studies, remains misunderstood.”

The other side may be reverse if we consider the experiment of the Indian model of democracy where these fanatics clearly showed pamphlets recovered from the houses of some Muslim youths belonging to Popular Front of India who chopped off the hand of Prof. Joseph.

This certainly brings the question of “Taqqiya” in my mind. Then there is a clear pattern emerging out from areas where the Muslims get in majority and how their reactions change. Again this has been brutally observed in Kashmir and certain parts of Kerala where they are now seen to run parallel administration by Sharia courts. At the same time they have started to declare that Sharia/Quran does not permit democracy or any other law except Sharia.

(4) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2560655/posts

This is an interesting site with a lot of conversations and the CSMonitor story is centred for it. Here the most revered and famous Police supremo of Punjab in India who successfully quelled the Sikh militacy and is now heading the Hockey Board of India. At the same time he writes extensively on the issues of terrorism. It is some of the views presented by him at the above link. Some excerpts are as follows.

Tolerating Islamist intolerance

By KPS Gill
A great deal has been written on the 'cartoon controversy', but it is far from enough. The current storm of orchestrated violence and intimidatory protests across the world is symbolic of a deep and sustained intolerance among Muslims, and of rising levels of tolerance of Muslim intolerance, that jointly undermine the possibility of freedom in large parts of the world.

Crucially, it is precisely this tolerance of intolerance that has allowed vocal and violent radicalised Islamist minorities to silence Muslim majorities and to transform the global image of Islam into the grotesque parody of the faith that the Danish cartoons sought - perhaps indelicately - to reflect.

Famously known as KPS Gill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanwar_Pal_Singh_Gill

Kanwar Pal Gill, was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. He began his career as a police officer in the north-eastern state of Assam, quickly earning a reputation as a tough officer. He became a household name across the country as Punjab police chief in the early 1990s, when he was credited with crushing a separatist revolt in the Sikh-majority state.

These are a few selected excerpts from a vast number of links available.

The other technique of one group preaching love and peace while the other violent group keeps brewing and breeding “Jihad” and intolerably inciting chaos and murders in the first place; then calling big slogans of Human Right violation and going out to Geneva, Belgium, UN and other places. This trend has been clearly observed in Kashmir Valley uprising since 11 June 2010. It was incited and intercepted by the security forces in Kashmir. How a handler from PoK was directing and taking full minute to minute detailed informations from their slave agents in this side of the valley. SAS Geelani camp was blatantly exposed.

Such clever and sustained malicious propagandas do not help build trust. The damage seem to be getting permanent.

(Dr O. P. Sudrania is a retired senior surgeon and teacher; also engaged in research of socio-political analytical science as a part of service to humanity.)