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The Muhammad Teddy Bear: get yours now!
Hamza Yusuf is the prominent American moderate Muslim who once said, “There are times when you have to live like a sheep in order to live in the future like a lion.”
In "The Real Teddy Bear Tragedy" at the Newsweek/WaPo "On Faith" site, the sheeplike Hamza avows that the charge against the Muhammad Teddy Bear teacher, Gillian Gibbons, was "without merit," and that the Sudanese authorities' arrest of Gibbons left him "appalled."
That said, the leonine Hamza avers that the whole incident is the fault of the non-Muslim West:
Unfortunately, millions of Muslims all over the globe are humiliated and betrayed by the ignorance and lack of basic humanity that a small minority of Muslims too often exhibits. Should I, however, bring this up with many of my Muslim brothers and sisters a common response is: "It's true, but look at what the West is doing to Muslims; 800,000 thousand dead in Iraq. And what about Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and the rest? Why don't Western people denounce these atrocities against us and only harp about how backward we are?"
I.e., change your foreign policies, and we will stop committing terrorist acts. The burden is all on you.
A famous Iraqi poet once wrote, "If one person is harmed it is an unpardonable sin, but a whole people's destruction is something to debate."
Indeed. Let's talk about the numerous affirmations by Islamic clerics of how they want to destroy Israel and kill all Jews. "Have no mercy on the Jews, murder them everywhere...” That was broadcast on Palestinian TV on October 13, 2000. Care to denounce it, Hamza? And Hizballah's Hassan Nasrallah has said that "if they [the Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.” Similarly, a 1992 Hizballah statement vowed “open war until the elimination of Israel and until the death of the last Jew on earth.” Let's talk about that, Hamza.
Unfortunately, these Western horrors against the Muslims demand responses, but Muslims must also recognize and denounce these wrongs too often associated with our Prophet and our faith without always pointing fingers elsewhere.
Fair enough. I am giving you an opportunity to do so. But to speak about alleged Western offenses as if they somehow justify the madness of imprisoning someone over a teddy bear -- well, I can't say that I find that quite rational.
Our current world can go one of two ways at this crossroad. We can go down the path of more violence, more hatred and more alienation, or we can attempt to understand each other, recognize our real differences, and display mutual respect. True religion -- as well as the highest secular values -- demands we take the latter road.Indeed, the situation in Sudan is a medieval misunderstanding and overreaction. So are the myriad cases of torture, rape and pillaging that are now part of our daily patch of foreign, and increasingly, domestic news. Indeed, our dark medieval past seems to be having an ironic renaissance in the West and the Muslim world.
So when we see an irrational or misguided reaction of some Muslims, as we now see in Sudan, it behooves us to reflect on the deeper reality causing it.
Very well. Let's do that. Let's reflect on blasphemy laws that are so sweeping and vague, and so irrationally applied, that they victimize harmless middle-aged British schoolteachers and rouse people to call for her blood. Let's reflect on freedom of speech and freedom of inquiry, and why they are essential prerequisites for peace between people whose views differ. Would the sheeplike and/or leonine Hamza care to reflect on any of that?
Posted by Robert at December 13, 2007 11:17 AM
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Tua culpa, Hamza.
Posted by: John C![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 13, 2007 11:46 AM
800,000 dead in Iraq? I still don't buy that figure. But if it were true and given the way the US goes out of its way to avoid "collateral damage" one can only conclude that most of those deaths were caused by......
.....the followers of the Koran.
at December 13, 2007 12:00 PM
Slightly OT, but has any sharp entrepreneur begun marketing a talking version of the bear, in the fashion of the "Big Mouth Bass" found in every discount store a few years ago?
The bear could squeak: "Allah Akbear".
And where is he getting his figures? 800,000 in Iraq? No way, not even if one includes the 600,000 killed by Saddam. If one starts counting with the American invasion, the figures aren't even 1/10th that, and then at least 3/4 of them are killings by other Moslems.
at December 13, 2007 12:03 PM
"It's true, but look at what the West is doing to Muslims; 800,000 thousand dead in Iraq. And what about Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and the rest? Why don't Western people denounce these atrocities against us and only harp about how backward we are?"
Don't you love this pathetic rhetorical device, creating fake quotes roughly ascribed to others, to lend some weight to your otherwise vapid prose? This guy is yet another Moslem idiot. Is there something in their water? Are they all idiots?
Posted by: Seymour Paine at December 13, 2007 12:36 PM
"Is there something in their water? Are they all idiots?"
Its the Qur'an
Posted by: Elric66 at December 13, 2007 12:42 PM
So the chowderhead in Canada who killed his daughter because she wouldn't wear the hijab is..........
1) a victim of the Western media
2) "a medieval misunderstanding and overreaction"
3) a pious muslim
I'm thinking that in Pakistan. he would be number 3.
In the west, Hamza Yusuf, your man is a murderer and he will go to jail. The west, by it's very nature, is hostile to all times of tyranny.
Posted by: tanstaafl at December 13, 2007 12:45 PM
So the chowderhead in Canada who killed his daughter because she wouldn't wear the hijab is..........
1) a victim of the Western media
2) "a medieval misunderstanding and overreaction"
3) a pious muslim
I'm thinking that in Pakistan. he would be number 3.
In the west, Hamza Yusuf, your man is a murderer and he will go to jail. The west, by it's very nature, is hostile to all types of tyranny.
Posted by: tanstaafl at December 13, 2007 12:46 PM
From the C.A.I.R. Bear Collection
Posted by: champ at December 13, 2007 12:58 PM
"Unfortunately, millions of Muslims all over the globe are humiliated and betrayed by the ignorance and lack of basic humanity that a small minority of Muslims too often exhibits. Should I, however, bring this up with many of my Muslim brothers and sisters a common response is: "It's true, but look at what the West is doing to Muslims; 800,000 thousand dead in Iraq"
The only reason for this statement must be that he belive that all to many are ignorant and submissive to this kind of argument and, thus, he will get away with murder (pun intended).
"A small minority of muslims". Anybody heard that one before? It´s repeated so many times, in the face of so many surveys clearly stating the opposite that one is starting to experience vertigo. It holds water even less than a swiss cheese can do.
The 800.000 dead, or how many there are, is, as stated above, the fault of the muslim jihadist´s. I have never read about a war that has caused so few death´s by an occupier as this war. I think it would be hard to find one equal to the Iraq war - when, at the same time, so many local and domestic fighters seam to do their very best to kill as many people as possible at the same time.
For a good reasoning about the figures of killed in Iraq, go to the www.thereligionofpeace.com site. I haven´t been able to coroborate or falsify their way of counting, but it make sense.
Mr. Yusuf´s statements sounds more like the wimperings of and old toothless cat, than the roar of an lion.
Posted by: cAi at December 13, 2007 1:07 PM
"Unfortunately, millions of Muslims all over the globe are humiliated and betrayed by the ignorance and lack of basic humanity that a small minority of Muslims too often exhibits. Should I, however, bring this up with many of my Muslim brothers and sisters a common response is: "It's true, but look at what the West is doing to Muslims; 800,000 thousand dead in Iraq"
The only reason for this statement must be that he belive that all to many are ignorant and submissive to this kind of argument and, thus, he will get away with murder (pun intended).
"A small minority of muslims". Anybody heard that one before? It´s repeated so many times, in the face of so many surveys clearly stating the opposite that one is starting to experience vertigo. It holds water even less than a swiss cheese can do.
The 800.000 dead, or how many there are, is, as stated above, the fault of the muslim jihadist´s. I have never read about a war that has caused so few death´s by an occupier as this war. I think it would be hard to find one equal to the Iraq war - when, at the same time, so many local and domestic fighters seam to do their very best to kill as many people as possible.
For a good reasoning about the figures of killed in Iraq, go to the www.thereligionofpeace.com site. I haven´t been able to coroborate or falsify their way of counting, but it make sense.
Mr. Yusuf´s statements sounds more like the wimperings of and old toothless cat, than the roar of an lion.
Posted by: cAi at December 13, 2007 1:08 PM
Mr. Yosuf is just one more reason I don't trust so called "moderate Muslims." He repeats the same tired lie about hundreds of thousands killed by Americans and their allies in Iraq when the reality is most Iraquis killed have been killed by the brothers in the Ummah. And in Kashmir Muslims murder Hindus like crazy while the world ignores it.
The fact is they all lie and try to make the SCUmmah out to be the victims when it fact it's they who are the murderers. The only Muslims I trust are those who prefix it with "EX."
Posted by: Proud Infidel at December 13, 2007 1:18 PM
"Nothing could EVER be done wrong by Arabs. It's always the west"--
Nonie Darwish (appropriately applying a touch of irony and sarcasm) in "Obsession-Radical Islam's War Against the West."
We can see here that she has Arab Muslims lined up exactly right. This man doubtless is merely parroting what his mosque has been teaching him since childhood.
Posted by: pythagoras at December 13, 2007 1:27 PM
" millions of Muslims all over the globe are humiliated and betrayed by the ignorance and lack of basic humanity that a small minority of Muslims too often exhibits."
...a small minority of Muslims that certainly is quite large....
Ban Muslim Immigration
Posted by: exsgtbrown at December 13, 2007 1:30 PM
"Turks even prefer the contraction Mehmet to avoid using the name in common circumstances. Westerners have a hard time understanding such reverence in a markedly irreverent age."
Not at all, sir. Westerners don't have a hard time understanding such reverence in a markedly irreverent age." They just have a hard time understand a people that kill in response to something as trivial as naming a teddy bear after Mohammad.
The problem isn't a lack of Western understanding. They understand perfectly a primitive and immoral act when they see it.
The problem is with Muslims that think that there's some reverent and moral about murdering (or even flogging) someone over a teddy bear.
The Islamic world should be embarrassed over more than just this. They have mutiple reasons to be embarrassed for.
Posted by: rational
at December 13, 2007 1:41 PM
And how many Moslems saved in the former Yugoslavia? Oh and how many Iraqis and Iranians were killed by each other during their war back in the 80s? Hamza and his ilk may be idiots, but even sadder is that our elected leaders
kowtow to these idiots and even sadder is that religious leaders in the West won't stand up to these goons.
at December 13, 2007 2:09 PM
the pinhead said “There are times when you have to live like a sheep in order to live in the future like a lion.”
How true this statement is. sometimes they do let the nonmuslims in on their methods of operation to subvert nonmuslim nations. lie low, keep repeating tha t islam is peace, compromise but keep your dedication to islam secret, procreate and procreate some more, use the nation's laws for your own advantage, lull the gulible sheeples to sleep, (you know the twits like rosie o donald, oprah, etc.) and finally when you have increased your numbers where you can take over then, the sheep clothing falls off and then you can roar like lions as you finish off the sheeples.
at December 13, 2007 2:13 PM
“There are times when you have to live like a sheep in order to live in the future like a lion.”
One thing is clear: these people are so full of crap they can't even look at themselves clearly to realize just how much a bunch of losers they are.
Posted by: Seymour Paine at December 13, 2007 2:15 PM
what about Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and the rest?
So since these are the issues that upset Muslims so much, why is ANY attention paid by ANY Muslim to teddy bears, cartoons, apostates, hijab-or-no-hijab, Miss World pageants, flushed Qurans, offensive books and films, pig-shaped toys, ice cream logos, CD shops, movie cinemas, soccer balls, short skirts, girls in school, etc.? Why aren't millions in the ummah loudly protesting in the streets every day over "Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and the rest" in the same passionate way thousands did over cartoons, Miss World pageants, flushed Qurans, teddy bears, and apostates like Abdul-Rahman? Surely such daily million-Muslim marches would get the attention of the West, yes?
But since they aren't, we're left to wonder whether Muslims themselves care about "Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and the rest" as much as they say they do.
Posted by: yadayada at December 13, 2007 2:59 PM
And speaking of Iraq....why is it that whenever there's a leadership vacuum in Islamic countries, it's often filled by folks like these? And these? And these? And these?
Really, it begs the question whether Islam has anything better to offer when it needs leaders-not-attached-to-Western-puppet-strings to step up. Are there ANY moderate Muslims willing to fight and die for their more peaceful, tolerant, progressive version of Islam with the same passion as these guys?
at December 13, 2007 3:25 PM
"...800,000 thousand dead in Iraq. And what about Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and the rest? Why don't Western people denounce these atrocities against us and only harp about how backward we are?""
Wow, if there are that many that we killed then you can times that number by 100+ to get how many they killed of not only their own but our guys. And that includes the ones they hide behind and use as human shields.
Posted by: R_not at December 13, 2007 3:56 PM
Well of course it's all our fault. Hard to be a victim and blame it on your own selves or your own religion. Even the so called "moderate Muslims" think this way, we've seen it time and time again.
Whiners....
Posted by: gymgal at December 13, 2007 4:36 PM
Unfortunately, millions of Muslims all over the globe are humiliated and betrayed by the ignorance and lack of basic humanity that a small minority of Muslims too often exhibits.
"the ignorance....that a small minority of Muslims too often exhibits"
He must be blaming the children in that classroom who named the teddy bear. How is it that they didn't know that the name Muhammad was verboten? What kind of Muslims are they? They've humiliated the umma! Bad children! They've forced all 'peaceful' Muslims to go on the offensive. Almost makes me want to get a dog and name him in honor of Mo. (Muhammad Ali, of course!)
Posted by: PMK at December 13, 2007 5:11 PM
"...800,000 thousand dead in Iraq?
Pardon me, but would not 800,000 THOUSAND, be 800,000,000, or eight hundred MILLION?
at December 13, 2007 5:47 PM
”Unfortunately, millions of Muslims all over the globe are humiliated and betrayed by the ignorance and lack of basic humanity that a small minority of Muslims too often exhibits.”
Oh really? That’s not what polls say. So, are millions of Muslims all over the globe ready to claim the Koran’s 9:5 is not applicable today? Lets hear leonine Hamza and others disavow 9:29: “Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.”
No? Then why should non-Muslims of the world, whom the Koran calls the worst of creatures, believe a word of such Muslims?
at December 13, 2007 6:05 PM
How dare Hamza Yusuf, or any Muslim, place the blame on the West, whatever that number might be, for the vast majority killed in Iraq (ditto for those killed in Israel and adjacent territories). The guilt here is properly directed to those Islamically inspired barbarians who saw off heads, blow themselves up in restaurants, deliberately place themselves amidst civilian populations and who in general have done so much to thwart democracy and prosperity from taking hold in Iraq. Hamza Yusuf is a deeply deluded and even stupid man. I can have no respect for one who scapegoats so irresponsibly. Shame on him. Shame on anyone who thinks like him, which unfortunately numbers in the hundreds of millions.
Posted by: Wellington at December 13, 2007 6:54 PM
Islam compatible with Western ideals of freedom and democracy: Dr.Fai
Muslim World News:
Crock & Schlock from the Islamofascist wankfest in Istanbul
Islam compatible with Western ideals of freedom and democracy: Dr.Fai
December 14th, 2007
Muslim World News
Crock & Schlock from the Islamofascist wankfest in Istanbul
at December 13, 2007 7:26 PM
George Clooney said:
"A young woman was threatened with forty lashes and six months in jail and it was in the front page of every newspaper for a week in England and America.
"I would suggest that every single human being living in Darfur right now would happily take forty lashes and six months in jail over the treatment that they're getting," he said.
"You hope that that kind of coverage would be handed out to everyone, not just one woman who happens to be white and from a Western country."
"Clooney and Cheadle get peace award for Darfur"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071213/wl_nm/sudan_darfur_clooney_dc
at December 13, 2007 9:04 PM
Sorry, the link didn't come through. Here it is:
Posted by: sheik yer'mami at December 14, 2007 2:34 AM
'A small minority of extremists, a tiny tiny minority of extremists' is tarnishing the image of Islam, we can't paint them all with 'one big brush'- because 'Islam is not a monolith'- and all this garbage that keeps coming from the educated, oily types like the Bunglawala-wussie, but when you draw a cartoon of the pedophile profit the 1.5 gazillion Muslims come out to get you because you are guilty of who knows what...
Its time to make an end to this. Enough is enough. Islam gotta go.
http://sheikyermami.com/2007/12/14/aussies-linked-to-terror-network/
Posted by: sheik yer'mami at December 14, 2007 2:43 AM
"...800,000 thousand dead in Iraq?
Pardon me, but would not 800,000 THOUSAND, be 800,000,000, or eight hundred MILLION?
Posted by: Greycap
You've got good eyes, Greycap. Wow, 800 million! Islam -- the world's fastest shrinking religion; it loses about 2/3 of its numbers in only a few years. At that rate I calculate that Islam will disappear entirely by April, 2011. Robert and Hugh will have to find something else to write about.
at December 14, 2007 9:18 AM
Ah, yes--the "real" tragedy. Any number of pundits have chimed in, deciding that the "real" story of the Mohammed Teddy Bear jihad was not an insane, thin-skinned Muslim propensity to take offence at the most innocuous actions of non-Muslims, or using terror to cow non-Muslims, even sweet, well-meaning British teacher Gillian Gibbons, but was any number of other things.
Jon Carroll, columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, usually writes columns about the antics of his cats, or gentle self-depricating columns about his own foibles, such as his propensity for losing his car keys.
Well, he decided to tackle the Mohammed Teddy Bear flap. He did decry Ms. Gibbons treatment, and Sudan's "overreaction", in a pro forma manner. Then he went on to claim that the real issue here is racism--the West's racism.
If we weren't such big racists, we'd pay more attention to the plight of Muslims in Muslim countries, rather than Westerners in Muslim countries who run afoul of Sharia.
See? The real problem is Eurocentricism.
Posted by: gravenimage at December 14, 2007 1:37 PM
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