"Lafif Lakhdar is a Tunisian intellectual living in Paris." From "Lafif Lakhdar: A European Muslim Reformist," by Menahem Milson for MEMRI, with thanks to David Zohar:
On December 10, 2006, at an international conference on Islam in Europe held at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Prof. Menahem Milson presented the views of Arab reformist thinker Lafif Lakhdar on the issue of integration versus separate ethnic communal identity among Muslims in Europe.The following is the transcript of the lecture.
Introduction: A Short Biography
Lafif Lakhdar is a Tunisian intellectual living in Paris. The name "Lafif Lakhdar" is the French transcription of his Arabic name, "Al-'Afif Al-Akhdar." He is one of the foremost reformist intellectuals in the Arab world today. His articles are published regularly on the liberal websites Elaph and Middle East Transparent, and afterwards are taken up by dozens of other reform-oriented sites. He is an outspoken and relentless critic of Islamism and Islamist terrorism.
On October 24, 2004, the liberal Arab websites www.elaph.com and www.metransparent.com published a manifesto written by Arab liberals – among them Lafif Lakhdar – in which they petitioned the U.N. to establish an international tribunal for the prosecution of terrorists and people and institutions that incite to terrorism.
The special significance of this petition was that it not only spoke of terrorism and terrorists in general terms, but specifically mentions by name a number of leading Islamist clerics as promoters of terrorism who should be prosecuted at the tribunal – among them, the prominent and media-savvy Islamist Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, one of the leading authorities of the Muslim Brotherhood.
It is not surprising then that the banned Tunisian Islamist movement Al-Nahdha, headed by Sheikh Rashed al-Ghannushi, has declared Lafif Lakhdar an apostate, which many Islamists understand as a call for his assassination.
[...]
Lakhdar says: "A state in transition from theocracy to secularism is one whose constitution determines that the shari'a [Islamic religious law] is the first source of legislation...
"Women and non-Muslims in this state of transition are second-class citizens, and sometimes even zero-class citizens. For example, a woman is forbidden to run for the presidency or even for a lesser office, because in many Islamic countries women are still considered as lacking the intelligence needed for governing, and lacking the religious standing needed to perform religious ritual. Non-Muslim citizens are still treated as dhimmis…"
Read it all. Lakhdar has a great deal of note to say on a wide variety of topics.
What an Islamophobe!
Not just islamic countries, but islamic areas. The areas where the muslims are a majority are danger zones for infidels. sharia rules in these areas. Over here, there are several such zones. There is one in my city. The area around a mosque called "eidgah". It is a ghetto and the police have tagged it as "sensitive area". Infidels do not go inside the network of narrow streets that make up this area. And the following incident happened to an cquaintance of mine when he was visiting Old Delhi's jama masjid area. jama masjid is also a muslim ghetto, albeit a bigger one. My friend had heard about the famous mughal cuisine of a restaurant in that area and he went to sample it. While returning, when he started the car, a mob of muslim children surrounded it. He asked them to get out of the way. They asked for money. He tried to scold them, and at this point, the eldest of these kids told him "zinda jayega ya tukdon mein ?" (wanna get out alive or in pieces), and stared meaningfully at a butchershop nearby. My friend looked at the shop, where 5-6 muslim males, presumably the fathers of these kids, were chopping goats. He paid Rs. 500 and got out. He had spent Rs. 150 on the meal, and 500 to get out alive. I do know that if he had started something, he would not have come out alive from that hovel. The police would have taken at least an hour to reach there, since these hovels have very narrow roads, besides my friend did not know who they were. Anyway, I am glad he was sensible, he got out safe, and now is as anti-jihad as the best of us.
P.S. and he is off mughal cuisine, too. :)
It would be nice if there was some consistency amongst the right. They decry Muslim theocracy while doing their best to turn the US into a theocracy.
OT FRANCE and "Porc soup":
Good morning, good evening,
I've been a reader for quite some time here from Belgium, sorry the first post is OT, but I think it's worthwhile noting how dhimmitude moves forward in France:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467672774&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
France: 'Pork soup' banned from charity lines
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
A top French judge ruled that an extreme-right humanitarian group cannot serve pork soup to the needy, saying the charity was discriminating against those like Muslims and Jews who don't eat pork because of their faith.
Judge Christian Vigouroux of the Council of State - France's highest administrative body - ruled late Friday that such giveaways by far-right group Solidarite des Francais could threaten public order.
The judge upheld a decision by Paris police to refuse permits to the group, claiming such handouts could spark angry reactions from would-be beneficiaries.
this guy won't go far... from his article
"The separation of the sacred and the mundane is a consequence of modernity. The farther back we go in history, the more we see that the separation of the two is the rare exception, while the rule is that they are tied together, particularly among primitive tribes.
"The Islamists' psychological slavery to their forefathers – that is, to the Prophet, his Companions, and their followers – paralyzes their minds no less than ancestor worship [paralyzes] the mind of primitive [tribes]. The divine logic brought by the forefathers is everything, while the human logic of our minds is nothing…"
you cannot free muslims from their slavery unless they change religion.
This guy is all good intentions and nothing else.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions
Amen, StillFedUp!
On what theological grounds within islam can Lafif Lakhdar defend his position?
None.
Only western dhimmis will listen to him.
Good musl-im-beciles will continue to be just that!
It would be nice if there was some consistency amongst the right. They decry Muslim theocracy while doing their best to turn the US into a theocracy.
You know how the world had to coin the term "superpower" to describe the US and the USSR back in the day because none of the old terms fit?
Well, Muslim theocracy is a "supertheocracy" relative to anything the West has ever had, while the right (and only part of the right at that. The right in the West is a much bigger tent, running a much broader gamut of philsophico-theological positions than Islam is even capable of.) is trying to implement a plain old theocracy, Dumbo, so get your priorities in order, pick up the fight in whatever way your apparently puny brain is capable or sit on the sidelines and stop muddying the intellectual waters with your tripe.
Moral equivalence is the intellectualism of the analytically lazy.
I wonder how long until this man becomes another van Gohg?
dumbo~ your name Suits you. Shilling for nariz?
P.S. and he is off mughal cuisine, too. :)
Posted by: arjun.sevak
May I suggest he supplement his diet with a heart Alsatian Porc Soup every now and then?
I have begun to LOVE food that is considered 'haram' by the Minfidels.
Yes, make no mistake about it. THEY are the infidels - not we. So I call the minfidels.
They are the ones who don't belive in the Ten Commandments which are the basis for moral inter-human conduct world-wide. Regardless of one's faith or lack thereof.
Only the minfidels - the moslems aka mahometans - refuse to understand and act according to these immutable Laws.
Therefore they have no place among us.
I'll quote you on that ;)
Sir, are you somehow implying that a Christian theocracy is worse than an islamic sharia law theocracy? Are you aware of how much non-muslims are discriminated as dhimmis? I suggest you look up 'dhimmitude' and you might learn something.
Have a nice day.
I'll quote you on that ;)
Posted by: EliasAlucard
Cool. I am so tired of the pseudo-sophistication of those who are just too lazy to look into the details of the two things they are making morally equivalent. Then, they call us inconsistent or some other derogatory term because we do dive into the details and draw distinctions from them. It's a backwards world, sometimes.
In many Islamic countries such as Turkey, non-Muslims are treated as dhimmis and have few rights. Over the years, the Turkish government has slowly closed its grip on the dwindling Christian population.
Read a first hand account:
http://www.byzantinos.com/
"Moral equivalence is the intellectualism of the analytically lazy."
.......LOVE IT.. lets put this on bumper stickers.!!!