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In National Review today I participate in a Symposium, "Not Child's Play," on the Muhammad Teddy Bear Madness in the Sudan:
Robert Spencer This incident is another attempt to strong-arm the West into shying away from, and even prohibiting, any critical examination of Islam, precisely at a moment when jihad terrorists use Islamic texts and teachings to justify violence. If you can’t name a teddy bear Mohammad without calls for blood, you certainly can’t call for a critical reevaluation of the Islamic texts and doctrines that jihadists use to justify violence and make recruits among peaceful Muslims.The OIC and other Islamic entities began calling for blasphemy laws after the cartoon riots of 2006. But the prohibition of blasphemy, whether it takes the form of teddy bears, cartoons, or books about Islam and Mohammad, has no place in a free society. Freedom of speech must encompass the freedom to annoy, to ridicule, and to offend, or it is hollow. The instant any person or ideology is placed off-limits for critical examination and even ridicule, freedom of speech has been replaced by an ideological straitjacket.
Will the West acquiesce in the Islamic world’s efforts to place Islam beyond criticism, when it needs to be reexamined and reformed more than ever? Or will we stand up and defend ourselves and our societal principles of free speech and free inquiry? The teddy-bear incident, as ridiculous as it is, only underscores the urgency of these questions.
All the contributions -- by luminaries such as Bat Ye'or, Andrew McCarthy, and Daniel Pipes -- are worth reading. Read them all.
Posted by Robert at December 3, 2007 6:45 AM
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Sheikh Abdul-Jalil al-Karuri, the imam of Abu-Shahid mosque and an adviser to President el-Bashir of Sudan on cultural and religious matters, said that he had told his faithful that 15 days was an insufficient punishment for such a grave offence. “This happened on September 15 at the start of Ramadan, making it even more offensive,” he said.
How ludicrous to think that the late great religion of Islam is being undone by a Teddy Bear. You oh Sheikh Abdul-Jalil al-Karuri have made yourself and Islam the laughing stock of the world. You tried to pull off the Fools Gambit to divert attention from Dufar, and are caught, “Check Mate”! Not only have you made yourself the court Jester, you have dragged the other Islamofacist out of their holes to stand beside you. Stand tall while the world laughs at you.
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at December 3, 2007 8:05 AM
Nobody is forcing Muslims to stay here in the West , and maybe CAIR's Fibrihim Hooper should put a Kiosk at all the Aiports and warn Muslim immigrant to go back .
Hooper can tell them that the welcoming book called "To Serve Muslims" is realy a Cook Book
after they've killed you.
at December 4, 2007 3:19 AM
That is exactly the tactic in play here, criticize a muslim or Islam and they will do their best to kill someone for it. Is this not the very essence of terrorism?
Posted by: HereticInfidel at December 4, 2007 9:45 AM
This poor woman is the embodiment of what I always called a Susan..
The Susan is a peerless bastion of multicultarism and will defend it to the hilt of her Bra that she burnt in the early 70's but still needs that support in in her early 50's. with a good support bra from marks and sparks..a reference from the uk..sorry.
Aside from the easy quips and attacks she is the epitome of at least two of my friends mothers.
She is a reject from the late 60's ideology that all cultures are the same...ie cultural relatvism..which is the the pro-noun's we use now.
As Hugh says and tries to drill in to us all...
learn first..then accept.
I learnt first..then I travelled...I travelled the globe and learnt that some cultures were primitive and some were advanced..to me it was like a journey.
I suspect to our gladys gibbons it was her first journey.
She will never learn because she has a mirror..she carries that mirror with her as she does her passport.
That mirror is that we are all the same..one world..
I travelled with music and still learnt that we are not the same and we don't have the same values..
And values are important..
Posted by: ovinesongs at December 4, 2007 9:26 PM
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