Islam Goes Comedic
Hugh Grant ex Jemima Khan gets death threats from Islamists for supporting the Quilliam Foundation, a Muslim think tank set up by former extremist Maajid Nawaz to preach Islamic "tolerance." Dan Newling writes for The Daily Mail:
Meanwhile, comments on fundamentalist websites have condemned the 34-year-old's decision to get involved with the group....One site labels Mrs Khan a "fujiar" - an Arabic word meaning someone who unashamedly and publicly commits sin.
Posting pictures of Mrs Khan in a bikini and kissing a female friend at a nightclub, the site says: "This is the same 'socialite' Jemima who is regularly pictured in chick-mags in miniskirts and low-cut dresses hopping in and out of nightclubs - and she is going to be lecturing us on true Islam?!"
It continues: "Getting unmarried, public fujiar, clad in miniskirts and bikinis, to lecture us on true Islamic values, man what has the world come to?"
The site also criticises Mr Nawaz for engaging in "un-Islamic" behaviour, such as visiting nightclubs and being friendly with a former girlfriend.
Mrs Khan, who was married to Imran Khan, the former cricket captain of Pakistan, was accompanied by a bodyguard at the launch in London.
She said: "I can't claim to speak for Muslims. I am certainly very far from most people's image of what a good Muslim is and that makes me an easy target for those who don't want Quilliam to succeed.
"Someone has to stand up and tell the truth that there is no conflict between being British and being Muslim. Someone has to give moderate Muslims a voice and I believe that Quilliam is that organisation."
Nawaz, too, says he was threatened, by members of the extremist organization he was a former member of:
"It was in Copenhagen, in Demark. I was just walking down the street and suddenly three cars full of guys pulled up. They said they were from Hizb ut Tahrir."They accused me of supporting democracy, which is a crime for them. I felt threatened but luckily managed to get away."
On a recent blog item about the film, "What The West Needs To Know About Islam," I posted Robert Spencer's words:
"There may be peaceful and moderate Muslims but there is no peaceful and moderate Islam."
I got this comment on that blog item from "john" yesterday night:
Dear Amy. This is a documentary, and just like any other documentary, it is skewed to what the producer wants to tell people.I saw you at the Festival of Books and should have talked some sense into your white american brain.
My response:
Uh, right. You were going to tell me, what? That Islam is this sweet, gentle religion that preaches that non-Muslims should be allowed to live as they choose? And you were maybe were going to add that there aren't a great many Muslims who want to kill, convert, or dhimmi tax "the infidel" and take away our rights?As for my "white american brain" -- what's that about? I don't care what kind of silly religious bullshit people want to believe in as long as they aren't murdering a lot of other people in the name of their particular bullshit.
Feel free to enlighten all of us here with your great genius and the "truth" about Islam.
I love the ""White American Brain" part. This always make me wonder about what the world would look like if the dreaded and bigoted white brain was absent.
Of course, religious zealots don't care about fancy things the white brain brought to this world like cars, penicillin and the simple radio. They rather blame us for enjoying this material world and to forget millennias of religious barbarism.
Or maybe it's not such a bad thing to die from a benign infection or to live under the Taliban. This let me to wonder: If Islam is truly a beacon of civilization and humanity, why so many people exile temselves from those blessed lands?
Toubrouk at April 28, 2008 5:57 AM
Norman posted this on the earlier entry:
Amy Alkon at April 28, 2008 6:06 AM
Looks like john has nothing to say. Pity.
Norman at April 28, 2008 1:50 PM
I have to agree, it is a pity.
Since I am curious by nature (Maybe due to my "White American Brain"), I would had loved to know the errors of my ways. Can anyone show me the fruits of the European colonialism or the "Religious Tolerance" of Islam?
I think I will have to wait a little....
Toubrouk at April 28, 2008 3:05 PM
I don't care what kind of silly religious bullshit people want to believe in as long as they aren't murdering a lot of other people in the name of their particular bullshit.
totally. I was at the Quillim launch and I wish them all the best. If they can sort out extremist bullshit their end, we should have as robust an organisation to sort out the extremist bullshit our end. It has left a lot of Iraqi's lying down who shouldn't be.
dave bones at April 29, 2008 3:24 AM
clue packet for dave bones:
First rule of war: people die.
And if you want to get into relative death, more Iraqis would have been killed by Hussein in the same time frame had we not driven him from power.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
brian at April 29, 2008 4:42 AM
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