Fitzgerald: A shameless attempt to exploit Arabic-speaking Christians

next thing you know, all the Jews who have won Nobel Prizes will be labeled as muslims. couldn't they once come up with something original?

I remember Donna Shalala saying that she couldn't really identify with the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving. Well, maybe she couldn't understand people who heard, from their most dread sovereign James VI and I, "I will harry you from the land!" After all, Ms. Shalala's Lebanese Christian ancestors were all just hunky-dory with the Ottoman Turks, enjoying hummus and felafel together, and finding pleasant ways of ecumenical dialogue.

We have heard the excuse, among others, that minority Christians are equated with the evil "Amerika" and "The West," so are being forced to pay the price for Western sins against the poor, oppressed Muslim victims in Muslim lands. It's our fault, don't you see?

Also, the answer to that persistent question, "why do they hate us?" is the same--it's our fault.

Frank Zappa?!?

NOW THEY'VE GONE TOO FAR.

"Darrell"
-- nom de poste of a poster just above

No relation, I assume, to a political figure who presents the forme fruste of the disease analyzed in the Grand Rounds conducted in the article above, that is a certain Congressman from sunny California, one Darrell Issa.

Frank Zappa?!?

NOW THEY'VE GONE TOO FAR.

You mean the famous Sheik Yerbouti?

On a related topic, I have been reading about a group of so-called Palestinian Christians, who are anti-Israel and pro-Hamas.

Sabeel encourages US mainline Protestant churches to divest from Israel. They have hosted Bishop Tutu, who says that Israel is an aparteid state, worse that South Africa!

=================================================
http://www.adl.org/main_Interfaith/sabeel_backgrounder.htm

Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center: An ADL Backgrounder

Posted: January 24, 2007

Sabeel, a Palestinian Christian organization based in Jerusalem with support groups in the UK and North America, is a driving force behind the campaign by mainline Protestant churches to divest from Israel. Its U.S.-based affiliated group, Friends of Sabeel in North America (FOSNA), has also supported an anti-Israel students' divestment campaign.

For information on the Dhimmi organization "Friends of Sabeel -- North America", refer to the following website:
http://www.fosna.org/

This story compelled me to go into my Zappa collection and revisit 'Absolutely Free' (1968).

'The Duke of Prunes' is emblematic of the man's genius; the song's lyrics are comically absurd and sung in an unmistakably exaggerated voice with operatic overtones. And yet, the arrangement - the musical structure of the song - is very credible rock'n roll.

As for the Yellow Pages ad, this was a dhimmi production all the way...and a hopelessly ignorant one at that. No Muslim would have made such egregious errors in identification.

Woe to that "slick" producer whose knowledge of the world is so superficial that he/she knoweth not the difference between Arab and Muslim.

I wonder if someone is sitting home embarrassed tonight? Judging by the mindset capable of producing such a calamity, I seriously doubt it.

Why is it necessary for corporate entities to, in effect, LAUD a particular creed? Not ethnicity, creed. That which Muslims collectively share is their creed; not, strictly speaking, culture or origin.

What relevance does this theology have in such an aggressively secular society as is ours?

This campaign looks like WHITEWASH; sounds of INDOCTRINATION; feels of DECEPTION; tastes of POISON; and smells of HYPOCRISY.

Unfortunately there is the by-now well-known phenomenon of the Arab "islamochristian," who in order to survive in a predominately Muslim environment has internalized and convinced himself he agrees with the Islamic cause with naive Christians in the outside world. He even helps promote this cause, using his "Christian" identity to do so

No better example than Pope Shanuda who actually FORBIDS Egyptian Copts from visiting Israel.

I never listened to Frank Zappa's music, but I know he was friendly with Nicholas Slonimsky, toward the end of the latter's long life. Slonimsky was related to V. V. Vengerov, the celebrated Pushkinist, who is alluded to in Nabokov's "Ada." Other Slonimsky relatives included an Russian inventor of the telegraph, who never bothered to patent it, which gave Samuel F. B. Morse his victory by default, as well as another relative who died in the Great Patriotic War (World War II) and who was, on his non-Slonimsky side, the last descendant of Pushkin). Such information, and much more, can be found in Slonimsky's costantly amusing "Perfect Pitch." I have also inhaled, in short but intense doses, Slonimsky's anthology of damning reviews, at their first or early performances, of composers and performers, an anthology called "The Lexicon of Musical Invective." There was a particularly funny one about a Russian critic's response to Tchaikovsky, but now I've forgotten it. It's not easy being 98.

Anyway, my original point, before the deliberate decision was taken to engage in deliberate digression, was, and remains, this: that if Frank Zappa was friendly with Nicholas Slonimsky (they were brought together initially by a shared admiration for Varese) and if Zappa's life was music, he could not possibly have been a Muslim, that is one who is inculcated with the idea that music is a bad thing, not to mention the fact that to Muslims, Slonimskys are also a bad thing. The very idea is absurd.

Yes, I know what you are going to say. What about Yusuf Islam, ne Cat Stevens, ne something else more in the Aegean vein. Well, Yusuf Islam is still, after all these years, unaware of the Islamic doctrine concerning music. He's funny that way -- and alas, not only in that way.

I realize that in a posting fourteen months ago,a reply to another post, I mentioned Nicholas Slonimsky. Here is that posting:

"As for those Serapion Brothers, all such groups, even if individual members at the time or later on show talent, are always silly seeming, and embarrassing for all concerned. But especially when they have some stupid manifesto or motto, something about changing literature or art or stuff like that. If, as I suspect, the Serapion Brothers were boosters of "non-conformist art," and since so many of them turned out to be Soviet conformists when they had the misfortune to live long lives as members of the Union of Soviet Writers (meeting this month of remaining members to be held in Dom Druzhby, the former Morozov mansion, for an evening of reminiscence and vodka and zakuski) I suspect they did programmatically begin as "non-conformists," then I wouldn't touch it all with a ten-foot pole. On the other hand, Viktor Shklovsky was a member. Then there was that man named Vladimir Pozner, and remember, back in the late 1980s, when the then-Soviet now-brave-new-something journalist Vladimir Pozner was on American television? All I could think of was "Serapion Brothers, Serapion Brothers. Could he be the son, grandson? Well, I told myself, it's a common name, a name like Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov, or more likely Mikhail Levin.

Most interesting to me in the list of Serapion Brothers is the name of Mikhail Slonimsky, but only because I read a few months ago his brother Nicholas Slonimsky's "Perfect Pitch." Nicholas Slonimsky, the famous musicologist and the author of "A History of Musical Invective," was related to all kinds of people -- to the true first-in-time inventor of the telegraph, before Morse, a man who didn't bother to publicly announce his achievement, much less try to get a patent (yes, I know the Soviets, the Bolshaya Sovetyskaya Entsiklopedia, was always claiming credit for Russian inventors, but in this case the story is not merely verisimilar but convincing, and true -- la pura, sacrosancta verita), and also to Vengerov, the famous Pushkinist mentioned in "Ada," the one who compiled that useful list of documents "Pushkin v zhizni" that...oops, sorry, no that was Veresaev, forget that, and also to the Polish poet Antoni Slonimski, who was much more famous in Poland than was Mikhail Slonimsky in the Soviet Union, and who died in a ridiculous and quite unnecessary automobile accident when the car he was not driving but riding in hit a pole, or another car, or something.

What the Serapion Brothers have to do with me I haven't the faintest.

Oh, and by the way, did you know that the Bey of Algiers has a wart under his nose?"

[Posted by: Hugh at August 16, 2006 8:58 PM]

The whole thread under the article "An Hour of Complete Mindlessness" has some good moments, and a nice poem was also put up, especially for the Russian delegation:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/012714.php

And for that Russian delegation, a Musical Interlude:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMXhiTgSzIE

And for the non-Russians, the consolation prize of Silvana Mangano:

http://newenglishreview.org/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/11365

Quite a consolation.

I see that "ten' russkoi vetki" is showing up more than usual tonight "v konce tvoei stroki", Hugh.
But regardless, on Muslims and music -- as far as I know, North Indian Muslims have made serious contributions to the Hindustani musical tradition -- the "classical" (highly structured and developed, though improvised in performance) North Indian music. There's Ali Akbar Khan's school of Indian music in San Rafael, CA, there's Zakir Hussein's taking his tabla to all sorts of musical fusion, etc. These musical traditions are embedded in family lineages, in the cultural mores and so on.
How does that square with the tenets of Islam for these Muslims, do you know?

Hugh:

RE: "It can't go on for much longer, this farce of willfully ignoring what Islam is all about, and what the apostates from Islam tell us, so eloquently, it is about."

I agree completely! There are a number of hopeful examples both in the USA and Eurabia that the true nature of fundamentalist Islam ("there is only one Islam") is finally being recognized and the would-be dhimmi's are finally beginning to fight back.

I read jihadwatch/dhimmiwatch everyday, MANY thanks to you, Mr. Spencer, and the entire staff for the invaluable service you're doing for the cause of Truth and Freedom!

I travel quite a bit for my job, and have been able to take what I've learned from jihadwatch to inform the woefully uninformed average American as to the true nature of Islam as written in the Koran and Hadiths.

As many so well know now, there are literally hundred's of examples of the self-serving, shear wickedness of muhammed, and when I inform the uninformed about only a few examples (such as what happened to the completely innocent Al-Ashraf), they're literally flabbergasted. The look on their faces is as if an alien space craft had just landed on their front lawn and little green men walked out.

I also believe emphatically that every one of us who now knows the truth about muhammed has a duty and a responsibility to inform our fellow citizens of this revived threat to our freedom and very existence as a civilization.

We MUST, we WILL continue to tell the Truth about this threat that is literally at our door and growing like a cancer in our garden of freedom (CAIR, the un-indicted co-conspirators, etc).

We will NEVER submit to islamic sharia law! Never!

As for the musical Muslim query, the explanation is that those Muslim musicians in northern India, like those wedding-singers in Afghanistan shot to death by the Taliban, or those singers of Raiin Algeria shot to death by fanatics from F.I.S., were relaxed, or lapsed, in their observance, or practice, of Islam.

The doctrine concerning music in Islam is clear: music is haram, not halal. On-line one can find both the Qur'an (in four or five English versions, presented synoptically) and the Hadith from the most authoritative collections; put "music" into their respective search engines and see what comes up.

For those whose practice conforms with the doctrine, see Afghanistan, where the Taliban murdered those Afghani wedding-singers, and even killed those those who defied the ban on listening to music on radios. See what the True Believers of the F.I.S. did to singers of Rai in Algeria. See the role of music -- non-existent -- in Saudi Arabia or other Sharia-compliant states.

There is music in Muslim societies, but its appearance is despite and not because of Islam.

As to shadows of twigs possibly appearing, and then disappearing, and then re-appearing, on the marble of some statue's hands, let's remember that while some imagined hands may be made of marble, others, such as mine, are merely made of flesh and blood.

God, it's late. Here's a previous posting, put up to mark the end of another late night two years ago:

"Bessonitsa. Gomer Pyle. And Paris in her Hilton."

[Posted by: Hugh at July 19, 2005 4:34 AM]

Gomer Pyle is gone. And we'll always have Paris. But what about Bessonitsa? How do I get rid of her?

"There is music in Muslim societies, but its appearance is despite and not because of Islam."

There is outstanding talent to be found among Indonesian and Turkish musicians, in my younger years I was a professional musician touring all over Asia and Europe, and to this very day I am more than impressed with the outstanding musicianship I encountered in those places.

This ability and talent is despite and not because of Islam, that is correct. But the attitudes, the atmospherics and the resentment towards the kuffar was already there, in spite of the music, something which I found difficult to understand then, but which I totally understand now.

How do we get you started on Frank Zappa, Hugh?

How about a little 'yellow snow' or 'Camarillo Brillo' or 'Montana?'

its about time: don't miss it!

As said last week, Islam is now the sick person of the world.

A religion is deemed brittle when it must go to extremes like this one.

Just did a Google search and found this article that says in Islam music IS NOT FORBIDDEN.

http://www.submission.org/music.html

One article by a Muslim scholar on the matter of music:

A Topic of Dispute in Islam: Music
Mustafa Sabri
Beyan-ul-Haq, issue: 63, year: 2, vol: 3, 1910 (A journal which used to be issued by the Islamic Scholars Society)

Mustafa Sabri was one of the top Ottoman scholars in the 20th century. He served as a shaikhulislam (Highest religious authority) in the Ottoman State. He died in 1954 in Egypt.

This translation was prepared by Muaz Özyigit. This article appeared in our printed magazine in Turkish.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the head of the family is fond of tambourine,
It is no wonder why the whole family dances! [1]
Whether it is through natural/physiological means or instruments, or tunes, depending on the kind or the different ways, music may be forbidden or disliked or even allowed according to some Islamic religious edicts. However, it is also known that Islam avoids absolutely accepting or remaining indifferent to the issue of music. It is this latter fact, ie, a sort of position by Islam, of cautioning by not allowing music, or encouraging it without reservation. It is this position whose reason or essence we will be discussing.

It would not do justice at all to compare this position of reservation by Islam with heartsick people who are unable to appreciate the joyful effect of music which is considered by those who are fond of pleasures, as of great spiritual value. Perhaps Islam does not see right to remain indifferent to music because it knows how delightful music is to our nature and how strong it is on our feelings. Our religion has an exceptionally good view in any case, in discovering the hidden dangers which might be inherent in the sweetest and most pleasurable things. Indeed, a heavenly religion should lead to the truths which are unattainable by man himself, as this is expected in the guiding nature of the religion.

Firstly, music is a useless activity which in fact, is a state of passiveness. As we will explain in another article about gambling, the fact that such an inactivity, which is inherent in those so called professions, did not escape the attention of our religion.

Secondly, the benefit and pleasure taken from music involves a meaning of deep slavery in passion. Since Islam is the only enemy of passiveness and slavery in passion, an important duty of Islam is to search their traces in unexpected hide-outs.

Although it might be difficult for some to realize the fact that music has a sense of passiveness, those with a subtle mind would not hesitate to accept it, as it is not possible to imagine another worldly benefit of music. As for this world, it is useless as in the idiom of "no good for stomach"[2]. One should not ask hastily: how could this be claimed while there are many singers, instrument players in the West, for example, making a living or even a fortune? To make a living would not be proper unless it is done in a way which does not harm human dignity since it would not be at ease with conscience otherwise.

(One may think) that we are roaming from one bizarre opinion to another: Where on earth is the harm to human dignity in this? Again, one should not be hasty. The acts of pure entertainment are considered low-level professions in the eyes of unpolluted human nature. You should not take seriously the applause and respect and perhaps requests given to the famous of these kinds of artists. Those who pay respects and make requests do not mind doing so, since they do it, in a way, taking away a crumb of honour from the artist, by hiding this loss from him. Likewise, a lot of respect is usually paid to some ladies in order to take sexual advantage of them.

From such an entertainment point of view, it shows a quite bizarre mentality of some parents who are proud of having taught their daughters how to play an instrument. It is also bizarre to see some people wishing to marry a girl with musical training, in an attempt to imitate Western civilization which, they think, gives the utmost importance to the respect of woman. It might be said that being able to play an instrument is not a shame for a woman as it is her natural duty to make her husband happy with her company. However, such an objection is not valid because happiness and enjoying each other's company in a marriage is a mutual benefit. Then, one can imagine how bizarre and ridiculous it would be for a man to say he is lacking the qualities for marriage just because he does not know how to play an instrument!

Compared to singers and instrument players, although composers look, to some extent, free of the hidden disgrace explained above, the art of composing could not get rid of the pros and cons of singing or playing as they depend on each other. Also, while the waves of pride and dignity rise in teaching knowledge, as opposed to an atmosphere of of frivolity spreading from the classes of composers. Of course, we all appreciate the meaning of "playing music after forty years of age" [3] That is why it would be quite offensive to ask a man of high rank in a government to sing a song no matter how good it is as it would be an affront to his dignity. As opposed to this, teaching knowledge regardless of rank is considered a means of increasing honour and pride.

An attempt to cover up the problem above, by claiming that a composer can concentrate on teaching music without having to put himself in a frivolous and disgraceful position by shouting or singing before students would, in fact, mean to admit our claim, let alone being an argument against it.

All these problems we have tried to expose above are about those who make a living through music. As for those who see it as a hobby, playing only for friends, the passiveness and the waste of time for both player and listeners are pretty obvious, not needing a special attempt to expose it.

During listening to music, people would not be doing anything for the good of humanity. They would cause, instead, a lot of money to change hands. And, in return for the money, what do these people get? Nothing! Consider this: Suppose a shoemaker sells you a shoe. And you wear it and walk to your shop. Let us say you sell books in your shop. You both make a profit and help knowledge and science spread in your country. This way you would serve in a chain of benefits in the society by making other people too to benefit, such as those who print or write books, and the manufacturers of paper or the cotton farmers and on the other hand, there are the craftsmen who process leather for shoes and the farmers who raise animals to provide leather. When it comes to music, although those who manufacture instruments and those who offer their skills for your hearing appreciation, by playing them certainly benefit, this chain of benefits ceases at you!

Paying for music is not the same as hiring a horse-and-cart to go out for a picnic, because this way you could contribute more to your work of being a complementary part of the chain of human needs by benefitting your health in addition to helping the cart driver make a living. Besides, those carts are used for transportation at other times than those of picnic. In short, picnic is one thing and music is another. Of course, nothing could be said against music when it is a medical necessity for a patient like clean air being one of the most important necessities in treating patients. Nevertheless, it is not known yet that music is prescribed by physicians despite the fact that treatment with music has recently become a familiar term.

Now, let us talk about another face of musical pleasures, the one involving a deep indulgence in passion: Under what kind of influence are the feelings of those who are in an atmosphere which is full of emotional temptations caused by music? The effect of music can have various ways: with music, a lonely person feels his loneliness more, an orphan feels more the loss of his parents, a patient feels more sorrowful of his situation, and an aged person feels sorrier that the most of his life has already gone. Yet again, with music, a lucky person with wealth and a high ranking position feels happy more than he usually is. In short, music paints the reality in darker colours by increasing the sorrow of the the sorrowful and the happiness of the happy. And this way, the effect of music resembles that of alcohol, causing people to perceive the reality in a more stretched way than it really is. Above all of these, music has a tremendous effect in agitating the feelings of romance and love. That is why a banquet with music is usually accompanied with pretty women and alcoholic beverages. Therefore, the most intimate secrets of love are exposed first by poems, then, under the disguise of music, in a similar manner to some women making themselves more attractive under the disguise of the hijab. Or, the words that cannot be normally said by lovers can be uttered by means of music and poetry. That is why it is not considered rude, if a person who is too shy to say "I'm dying for her, I'm crazy for her" shouts the same words before others by music and poetry. Furthermore, I wonder how parents who would like to raise their daughters in chastity and modesty with wisdom allow them to sing the most intimate words of love, considering this a good quality for a girl at the age of marriage despite the fact that it is shameful (in our society) for girls to utter even the word of marriage which is lawful in Islam. If the opinion of some thinkers of this century, who said "if women are not kept busy, they would think of some other things do to", is to be taken, then women who are fond of playing instruments would have found even an irresistible guide to those kind of thoughts.

However, is dreaming love and romance a bad thing? What else is like love that makes man feel angelic and gives compassionate and elevated feelings? Love is so strong that it is not possible to remain indifferent to the whining of the lovelorn and suffering hearts. Yes, this is quite true. However, there is no other issue, as delicate as this, vulnerable to abuse. Indeed, it was not an exaggeration when Hoja Nasruddin (Juha), when asked if he ever had a love affair, said: Yes, I was just getting involved once, but we were surprised! [4] Although love cannot be but mutual, it seems shameful for women in particular. And a man esteems a woman who only loves him. Besides, he would not excuse other women being in love with other men. And the woman he loves has no importance attached to her by others.

Having said these considerations about music, it has become easier to express an opinion about love odes which form the most elegant kind of poetry. As for the poetry of eulogy or satire they are not usually commendable as the former is a kind of flattery and the latter is fault-finding. As for the poetry to uphold the moral values we have no objection. Islam's position can be summarized as accepting the good poetry and rejecting its bad kind, anyway.

Although poetry is perhaps the best of the literal arts, Islam's uneasiness about poetry is because it does more harm than good. Even a student's obsession of poetry is considered a sign of going astray, leaning towards laziness even by scholars of the modern times. What consists of the capital of poetry is confessed by poets themselves:

"The material of poets never runs out
No end to lies even to an end this world is brought" [5]
In ancient times when poets never made such confessions (out of their pride), the nature of their poetry was exposed by the Holy Quran:

As for poets, the erring follow them. Hast thou not seen how they stray in every valley, And how they say that which they do not? [6]
However, poetry is far more important than music as poetry sharpens the mind and can be informative.

Before we finish the topic of music, let us add that, if the effect of music on feelings must indeed be an important need for the soul, the recitation of the Quran serves that need in a much more dignified way. This is also shown by the fact that harmonious recitation of the Quran is recommended in Islam. However, it should also be noted that a musical tune accompanying the recitation is not proper. In other words, a harmonious recitation is recommended in some hadiths of the prophet (pbuh), yet the scholars are against the musical recitation of the Quran. The reason of these two seemingly conflicting opinions can be understood by making a distinction between the two concepts of music:

If music is to be applied with its rules and techniques to the recitation it would violate the rules of tajweed [7]. So, this kind of music with notes and rules, like composed pieces, is not allowed in the recitation. However, if a person recites the Quran, associated with the beauty of his natural tunes, this is commendable. This way is very reasonable considering the fact that an abuse of the Quran with music must be avoided. That is why a piece of music is listened to for appreciation of its musical value, without necessarily understanding its words, for the most part. Although the meaning of the words in some pieces of music can be realized to some extent, the composers usually have to fill the gaps with "la la"s to balance the piece of music. Obviously, such a practice in the Quranic recitation is out of the question.

Besides, nobody wants to listen to the music of a person with no talent for it. As for the talented, their natural tunes are more pleasant and impressive than their musical skills acquired through musical training. Our claim should not seem bizarre. We have witnessed the loss of purity and sweetness in the recitation of once famous Quran reciters, after being exposed to musical education. Therefore, natural music should be superior to the acquired musical skills, as the former is an extempore act while the latter consists of repeating composed and used tunes. At this point we have got one more claim: It is known that one nation may not enjoy the music of another. So it means that the effect of music is in proportion to its locality. Therefore, a person's natural music should be superior, as being his personal music, to his national music...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] In the original text, this was an Arabic poem.
[2] This is a Turkish idiom used for professions which are no good to make a living.
[3] This is a Turkish idiom implying that a person does not behave as mature as his age requires.
The reader should bear in mind the Islamic and traditional values prevailing in his time among the Ottomans, while reading this article. With Western values about dignity and music, his opinions might become quite difficult to understand.
[4] This is a famous remark attributed to the well known folk figure, Hoja Nasreddin, indicating that love affairs can reach dangerous levels very quickly, no matter how innocently they begin.
[5] This is a Turkish poem in the original text. No reference for it is given.
[6] The Holy Quran 26:224-226
[7] Tajweed: The method of proper authentic recitation of the Quran.

Another article from a Muslim site, expressing the mainstream view of music according to Islam:

Music is Haraam

References within the context of the Holy Qur`aan along with the Hadith of the Prophet confirm that music is haraam.
Interpreters of the Qur`aan have defined the term `lahwal hadith` which is mentioned in the Qur`aan as:

1) Singing and listening to songs.
2) Purchasing of male and female singers.
3) Purchase of instruments of fun and amusement.

When Sayyidana Abdullah Ibne Mas`ood , a very close companion of our Prophet was asked about the meaning of the term `lahwal hadith`, he replied

“I swear by Him besides whom there is no other God,that it refers to ghinaa (singing ).”
This statement, he repeated three times. This view is unanimously supported by the four Khalifas, the eminent Sahabaah, Tabi`een, the four Imaams and other reliable Islaamic scholars and authorities.

One hadith from the Bukhari Shareef, the most authentic Book of Hadith, further confirms unlawfulness of music and singing :

`There will be people of my Ummah who will seek to make lawful; fornication, wine-drinking and the use of ma`aazif ( musical instruments ).`
Detailed analysis of the arabic word `ma`aazif ` shows that it refers to musical instruments, the sounds of those musical instruments and singing with the accompaniment of instruments.

Closer analysis of the wordings of the Hadith establishes the prohibition of music. Firstly, the words `seek to make lawful ` shows that music is not permissible, as logically one can only seek to make lawful that which is not allowed. Secondly, if music was not prohibited, then it would not have been brought within the same context as fornication and wine-drinking.

return to contents
MUSIC - IT`S EFFECTS

Muslims are aware that nothing has been prohibited by Allah except that which is harmful to the welfare of a Muslim individual and the society as a whole. The divine attribute behind the prohibition of music can be comprehended by looking into the diverse influence music can have.

Experiments carried out by doctors and professors have confirmed that the music of today is such that it does not only affect the brain, but each and every organ of one`s body. There is a close relationship between music and bodily movements. We find that people listening to music automatically start tapping their fingers and feet, as if the music is permeating in their blood.

It is also proved that music affect`s one`s emotions, increases arousal in terms of alertness and excitement and also leads to various physiological changes in the person. In a psychology experiment, it was found that listening to moderate type of music increased one`s normal heart beat, whilst listening to rock music the heart beat increased even further, yet people claim that music has no effect.

It is a very ignorant and misguided attitude to percieve music as a form of pleasure and passing of time, since the messages of today`s music follow a general theme of love, fornication, drugs and freedom.

We find that the whole world is obsessed with the kufr idea of freedom, i.e. freedom of speech, freedom of movement, etc. In modern schools and universities, we observe independence, free expression and secular thinking being encouraged. This idea of freedom, “ It`s my life, I`ll do what I want” is a predominant, underlying theme of today`s music. It is being used as a means for drilling those modern ideologies that are totally contrary to Islamic Shariah and values, into the minds of Muslims.

One should abstain from evil audacities such as listening to music and encourage others to do the same too.

Frank Zappa? Well I guess he did give his children good Muslim names:

Moon Unit,
Dweezil,
Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, (named after the co-founder of Atlantic Records)
Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen.

Man this video sucks you can so obviously tell from names like 'George' and 'Michael' whom are they fooling?

They are just as shameless as the Afrocentric frauds, changing dead people's religion to suit their needs

Some Arab Christians like Spence Abraham see themselves as intermediaries and power brokers between Muslims and the greater American establishment- a sort of modern version of the Greek Phanariots who dominated the Ottoman diplomatic service. Thus, Spence never met a Muslim immigrant he didn't like and was a shill for the OBL - Open Borders Lobby. The more Muslim immigrants, the greater his political clout. Unfortunately that political advantage would eventually come to an end since as the numbers of Muslims increase they won't need such intercessors and thanks to guys like Abraham the rest of will bear the consequences.

Wasn't there a post once about a haram/halal game? That in and of itself would be instructive.

"wasn't there a post once about a haram/halal game? That in and of itself would be instructive."
-- from a posting above

Yes. It was an idea I had for a game, fun for all the family. It has possibilities. It requires a knowledgeable backer or two who know how to manufacture board games. I'm ready to market it myself. Publicity at a few websites, and it'll be in like Flynn.

For you, Hugh:

http://sheikyermami.com/2007/11/20/zappa-dumb-all-over-encore/

enjoy!

Hugh, sooooo good to have you on our side.

This problem stems more from pressure and intimidation in the academy (intellectualizing and peddling this sort of distorted Middle Eastern paradigm) than it is a problem of shortage of qualified MIddle East experts.

Grants, appointments, promotions, and general work atmospherics are all affected by whether or not some Middle East expert is willing or not to walk in ideological lockstep with certain exponents of certain historical perceptions and attitudes vis-à-vis the Middle East and its—“monolithic”—people. Forget about historical information! Those can be suppressed, upheld, fabricated, or dismissed based on the whims and ideological predilections of the academy’s keepers and their favored paradigms. The Middle East, they have decided, can be interpreted meaningfully and equitably without referring to narratives other than those of Muslims, Arabs, and their epigones. Who needs diversity of perspective and accuracy when one has orthodoxy? Heaven forbid should one dare advocate for Middle Eastern Jews and Christians and give airtime to their story and their epics of suffering and dispossession! They are, after all, not indigenous to the Middle East but, rather, odd surviving specimens of some odious—but praise be to Allah, failed and better be forgotten—11th century Western colonialist enterprise.

btw, I am not being sarcastic here! As recently as this morning I had a student of Palestinian Christian extraction argue with me that her Bethlehem family—the ubiquitous Khourys, a priestly patronym and a cognate of the Hebrew Cohens—were descendants, not of some venerable Semitic autochthones, but of alien Crusader intruders. The Arabist orthodoxy at the American academy, it seems, teaches no only brash self-aggrandizement—when one is of proven ‘blue-blooded’ Arab pedigree—but also pathetic self-hatred—when one’s creed is not in obvious symbiosis with that of the accepted Arab norm.

Given this sort of academic sewage, who can blame the Yellow Pages.

Hugh, you rock!!!

Hugh, sooooo good to have you on our side.

This problem stems more from pressure and intimidation in the academy (intellectualizing and peddling this sort of distorted Middle Eastern paradigm) than it is a problem of shortage of qualified MIddle East experts.

Grants, appointments, promotions, and general work atmospherics are all affected by whether or not some Middle East expert is willing or not to walk in ideological lockstep with certain exponents of certain historical perceptions and attitudes vis-à-vis the Middle East and its—“monolithic”—people. Forget about historical information! Those can be suppressed, upheld, fabricated, or dismissed based on the whims and ideological predilections of the academy’s keepers and their favored paradigms. The Middle East, they have decided, can be interpreted meaningfully and equitably without referring to narratives other than those of Muslims, Arabs, and their epigones. Who needs diversity of perspective and accuracy when one has orthodoxy? Heaven forbid should one dare advocate for Middle Eastern Jews and Christians and give airtime to their story and their epics of suffering and dispossession! They are, after all, not indigenous to the Middle East but, rather, odd surviving specimens of some odious—but praise be to Allah, failed and better be forgotten—11th century Western colonialist enterprise.

btw, I am not being sarcastic here! As recently as this morning I had a student of Palestinian Christian extraction argue with me that her Bethlehem family—the ubiquitous Khourys, a priestly patronym and a cognate of the Hebrew Cohens—were descendants, not of some venerable Semitic autochthones, but of alien Crusader intruders. The Arabist orthodoxy at the American academy, it seems, teaches no only brash self-aggrandizement—when one is of proven ‘blue-blooded’ Arab pedigree—but also pathetic self-hatred—when one’s creed is not in obvious symbiosis with that of the accepted Arab norm.

Given this sort of academic sewage, who can blame the Yellow Pages.

Hugh, you rock!!!

kuchuklambat wrote: But regardless, on Muslims and music -- as far as I know, North Indian Muslims have made serious contributions to the Hindustani musical tradition -- the "classical" (highly structured and developed, though improvised in performance) North Indian music.

About this, read the eigth chapter of K.S. Lal's "The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India" (available online at voi.org). He admits that Hindu classical music remains the common legacy of both Hindus and Muslims, but also says that many court musicians were Hindus with Muslim names, and were influenced by Hindu traditional music, since music in Islam, being forbidden, has no tradition.

It seems that most of those names are people with Arab or part Arab (in the case of Zappa it's 1/4) ancestry. They might have gotten the list from this link from Brookings. Ironically, the link aims to clarify the difference between Arab and Muslim categories with the above list clearly labeled Arab. No mention of their religion is made but it is pointed out that most Arab-Americans are Christians.

Hugh - thanks for posting that info about the traditional, classic Muslim position as regards music, both instrumental and vocal.

That alone is decisive for me. Any religion, any belief system that teaches an almost total rejection of every form of music, is insane. Anti-human. Inhuman. A sadistic deformation - mutilation - of the human spirit. Indeed, it is straight out of the Pit. Sabri's 'voice' in the first article reminded me of the way the devils talk in C S Lewis's satire, "The Screwtape Letters".

Even Nazism, Communism, Maoism did not attempt to stamp out music altogether.

Copies of those two discussions you posted, Hugh - under the heading ISLAM FORBIDS MUSIC! - should be sent to every prison chaplain in the West, so that the horrible truth (here is a belief system that has seriously tried to stamp out music) may be shared with every Black and Native American - and, here in Oz, Native Australian - prisoner who is in danger of being suckered by Islamic daawa.

bigcatgirl,

The site you show us is a heterodox one that advocates a "Quranic" Islam and rejects the Sunna.

Orthodox Islam IS extreme and anti-humanistic.