Pakistan's blasphemy law is an easy way for Muslims to victimize Christians with whom they have a dispute. "Woman seeks lumber, gets jailed: Nation's blasphemy law criticized for ambiguities, improper use," from WorldNetDaily.com, with thanks to all who sent this in:
A woman in Pakistan went down the road from her family's construction supply business to check on some materials that had been borrowed, and returned with a charge of blasphemy against her, according to reports.Martha Bibi, who lives in the small village of Kot Nanka Singh in Pakistan's Kasur District, was taken into custody after she went to a team of Muslims who are building a mosque and asked about the construction materials the group had borrowed.
The report comes from the international Christian human rights group International Christian Concern, as well as Assist News Service.
ICC said about six weeks ago, Martha and her husband, Butta Masih, loaned the Muslims some bamboos and logs for the project. But no one returned the equipment, or gave any notice of when that might happen.
"When Martha went to ask what had happened to the building materials, she got into a fierce argument with a shopowner near the mosque, but did not even mention religion. The woman she argued with told her husband, Mohammad Ramzan, that Martha blasphemed the prophet Muhammad," ICC said in a statement.
"Ramzan was so enraged that he gathered his neighbors and stirred them into a frenzy to march on Martha's home," the ICC continued.
Her husband reported the "large, furious mob" assembled and was marching toward his home so he and his wife fled, hiding in the home of a friendly neighbor. Accompanied and supported by police, the mob reached Butta and Martha's house late at night, and contacted Butta's parents, who had remained there.
"The fuming mob threatened my parents that our house would be gutted out if they had not handed us to them," the ICC report quoted Butta as saying.
The ICC said for hours, the mob threatened the family and searched the home, and finally dispersed so that the Butta and Martha could return.
"A relative of their neighbor Rashid came and said that the people wanted to burn Martha. He offered to speak for her innocence, but when they left to go speak to the leaders of the mob, the police accosted her and took her away in their patrol wagon," the ICC reported.
You know, this is really interesting. I think it's the lying that gets to me the most.
Recently I attended a talk given by a prominent Middle Eastern official from Pakistan. The flowery speech was all sweetness and light on Pakistan and how it gets along with it's neighbors. I was invited to this talk by a business acquaintance who told me he was a Christian. He later explained that sometime he is a Christian and sometimes a Muslim. Huh? There were many folks from the Middle East there and most of them were men. After the talk we did some networking and I met a young Muslim businessman, also from Pakistan as was the acquaintance. I thought I would play the devil's advocate and come from a feministic point of view, even though I am not a feminist. I talked to these two gentlemen about women's rights in Islam and they both tried to convince me that atrocities against women under Islam are few and far between. When I started pointing out specific instances of abuse, they told me that this sort of thing doesn't happen anymore. I continued pressing and my acquaintance went to get the car. As I spoke to the young businessman he tried to explain away what I was talking about. But when I asked him if he was a moderate, I wish you could have seen the look on his face. He looked as if I had caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. He stared at me briefly and didn't answer the question. He then went on to tell me about his sister and his efforts to help with women's rights in America and abroad. I don't care what he said, I will never forget that look on his face and that uncomfortable pause when I asked him if he was a moderate. Apparently, he is not, even though he looks and acts like a regular American, until provoked.
The other thing that happened was the acquaintance and I went to dinner and he proceeded to try and talk me into having sex with him, and I thought to myself, what the hell is going on here? I told him my stance on sex outside of marriage, celibacy and that my beliefs are precious to me. He couldn't have cared less. What made this guy think I would go against my conscience and do something like that and even more important, why did he think I would ever in a million years consider doing that with him? Here was the strange part about it: I was not sure how to get out of that restaurant where I was a minority, and safely back to where I came from. I couldn't just get up and run out. So I played it cool and this jerk continued to try and wear me down. It was a serious intellectual battle. He smiled and laughed as he tried to compromise me and I slammed it right back at him. But what got me is that this Muslim thought he was somehow entitled to have whatever he wanted from me and I started thinking about all those poor women in Islam for who it is dangerous to leave and even if they did they have no place to go. I was so furious by the time I was able to get out of that place and he knew it and backed off. He is so lucky I didn't have a gun.
The point is that I understand that sometimes men behave badly when it comes to soliciting members of the opposite sex. But this was different. It was the sense of entitlement and the absolute disregard for anything I said that made this a very chilling experience and I remember thinking, this is one of the reasons that Islam can NEVER be allowed to dominate in America.
"until provoked."
........MUSLIMS are always on a burning short fuse...provacations need little encouragement. Usually, when provoked, violent behaviour ensues...behaviours that defy common sense and test your patience...
....Islam is a mental disorder which has only one cure...Death....
....The longer one remains involved with Islam the more deranged he becomes...Muslims must seek Death, Only through Death can Peace be obtained...
In Islam, you are guilty, until charged, and then you are still guilty...What a system...
Can someone tell me why there are not sponsors in the USA willing to take persecuted Christians such as these. We allow all the garbage Mexico can throw at us to come and stay yet the ones that deserve our support get to live/die a horrible way.
Isabellathecrusader why not starting talking with your muslim attendant (what were you thinking BTW?) about their small willies and poor sex performance, not to mention sex with animals very common in pakistan?
Still Fed Up,
The acquaintance I mentioned mispresented himself to me as a Christian. He also attended a Christian event with me and a large group that I was with, and his behavior was above reproach. He had invited me to a Bible study, which I declined. He told me he was interested in my church and I thought he was sincere. He seemed to be searching and I was happy to show him a place where he could find his way.I was absolutely shocked when he started on his little mission, and I'll tell you nothing much shocks me nowadays.
I realized before I posted this that some people might ridicule me for it. But I thought it was important to let you all know of the experience because it validates what Robert and Hugh say here, about taqqiyah, about the duplicity of the Muslim mind and about what to expect when dealing with many Muslims.
I assume that you are mocking me with your admonishing me to discuss the subjects that you mention above. I realized when I was in the situation that even though I would have liked to have blasted him, slapped his face and dumped a coke on him it was much safer for me to play it the way I did until I could get out of there. Discussing the subjects you mentioned would have only thrown more gasoline on the fire. But thanks for your concern.