| FrontPageMag.com | Articles By Robert Spencer | Articles By Hugh Fitzgerald | Books | Islam 101 | Qur'an Blog | Robert Spencer Bio |  |
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
“We have freedom of religion, and we have the Constitution.” At least for now. But how many Islamic supremacists such as those who figure in this incident will be needed to change all that? And who is doing anything to stop them from coming into this country and spreading their views?
"Hindu-Muslim Family’s Choice of Cremation Arouses Anger," by Anne Barnard for the New York Times, October 3 (thanks to RG):
Friends and family remember Shafayet Reja as an affectionate young man who stayed up late to write poetry, danced exuberantly at weddings and explored the faiths of his father and mother with an openheartedness that led him to declare on his Facebook page, “I never get tired of learning the new things that life has to offer.”But within hours of his death on Sept. 10 after a car accident, his memory — in fact, his very body — had become the object of a tug-of-war over religious freedom and obligation. It began when his mother, who was raised Hindu, and his father, who is Muslim, decided to have his body cremated in the Hindu tradition, rather than burying him in a shroud, as Islam prescribes.
His parents, Mina and Farhad Reja, say a small group of Muslims who do not understand their approach to religion are trying to intimidate them over the most private of family choices. “This is America,” Mrs. Reja said. “This is a family decision.”
The couple say that people accosted them at their son’s funeral, that an angry crowd threatened to boycott a shopping center they own in Jackson Heights, Queens, and that on Sept. 13, two men they know threatened to bomb and burn down the building.
The men they accused in a complaint filed with the police — one is a doctor and the father of a close friend of Shafayet Reja, the other a Bangladeshi business leader — say that they made no threats and deny that they have called for a boycott. They say they and others simply expressed their concern about what they see as a deep violation of their religion and of the wishes of the son, who, according to some of his college friends, had recently chosen Islam as his sole religion.
The Police Department’s hate crimes unit is investigating whether the threats took place, whether they would constitute aggravated harassment, and whether they qualify as bias crimes, which carry tougher penalties, a spokesman for the department said. No charges have been filed.
What is not in doubt is that the episode is a source of consternation, from the Queens neighborhoods where Mr. Reja’s parents live and work to their native Bangladesh, one of the world’s most populous Muslim countries, where it has been national news.
The dispute has especially swept up several bustling blocks in Jackson Heights, where dozens of businesses are Bengali. It had business owners on edge during the busy shopping season before this week’s Id al-Fitr festival. The festival marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and brings throngs of shoppers to dine and to buy jewelry and sparkling traditional dresses.
The neighborhood is a place where business rivalries and family arguments often intersect with disputes over Bangladesh politics, especially in the case of Mrs. Reja, a prominent property owner and outspoken advocate of the rights of Bangladesh’s religious minorities. Her 1999 self-published book, “God on Trial,” angered some Muslims in the neighborhood with its critique of Islamic fundamentalism.
The cremation dispute goes to the heart of a debate among Muslims in America about what makes someone a Muslim — to some of the critics, the fact that Shafayet Reja listed Islam as his religion on Facebook is enough — and how to reconcile this country’s freedom of religion with what some Muslims see as a communal obligation to uphold religious observance.
But to the family, the dispute is a frightening imposition that they say violates their civil rights.
“We have freedom of religion, and we have the Constitution,” said the Rejas’ son Mishal, 19, who studies at Washington University in St. Louis. “Why would they bother us? It’s none of their business. Even if he was the most hard-core Muslim.”...
Posted by Robert at October 4, 2008 8:44 AM
Print this entry
| Email this entry
| Digg this
| del.icio.us
|
There was also a Muslim politician involved in this disgusting intimidation of these parents!
Posted by: TS![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 4, 2008 8:57 AM
From the article, regarding the Muslim politician:
"Afterward, according to complaints the Rejas made to the police, Dr. Rahman told Mishal Reja, “We will bomb your building,” and Giash Ahmed, a real estate broker and former Republican candidate for state senator, told Farhad Reja it would be burned."
Posted by: TS at October 4, 2008 9:00 AM
Muslim thuggery continues and as they worship their criminal god and emulate their mass murdering prophet these scenes will be part and parcel of the Mohammedans mod us operand.
Posted by: savsiv at October 4, 2008 9:02 AM
The two Muslims who threatened to "bomb" and to "burn" down the building owned by the Rejas were not inconsequential figures, Muslim home-boys in the 'hood, just looking for trouble. No, by their description they were Pillars of the Community -- that is, of the Muslim Community.
One was a doctor: "Dr. Rahman."
The other, Giash Ahmed, is a real estate broker and "former Republican candidate for state senator."
In other words, these The kind of people who, the dinesh-d'souzas of this world tell us, have "made it" in America, and because they have "made it," say these confuser of staying off the welfare rolls with acceptance of American legal and political instiutions ("Muslims in America have high incomes" or "Muslims in America are nothing like Muslims in Europe" or "fill in your misleading polyanna-phrase here").
Posted by: Hugh at October 4, 2008 9:12 AM
Nor is the Egyptian in the clip below a barefoot fellah, but Western-suit-and-tied (and fit to be tied):
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1862.htm
Posted by: Hugh at October 4, 2008 9:16 AM
Wow Hugh. That was just about the stupidest thing that I, nabi ZK (pbum), no further intor needed, in all my nabified days, have ever seen. So if mohamet drank camel urine would he do that too??? Probably.
nabi ZK (pbumaamb)
Posted by: zonie kafir at October 4, 2008 9:45 AM
"Hindu-Muslim Family’s Choice of Cremation Arouses Anger," by Anne Barnard for the New York Times"
Talk about your soft sell--don't reporters want to have readers, anymore? If I didn't know what I do about Muslim "anger", I would have skipped this article if I saw it in the NYT.
Many Times readers will probably do just that, and miss out on an object lesson on "Islam as Politics". It can be nothing but politics, in this situation.
What is more personal than how the family of a decedent decides to dispose of his physical body, or how they will mourn him? Who are these various Muslims, to stick their noses into a family decision?
They threaten to bomb the surviving family's property, and what we see in the headline is "Arouses Anger". Who castrated the New York Times, and when?
Muslims, as a group, are dispicable at the best of times. In times of crisis, even when it is not their crisis Muslims raise hell.
These are the "best of all peoples"? Surely God can do, and has done, better than that.
Posted by: Abscedere at October 4, 2008 10:11 AM
Interesting that Jackson Heights has been a New York hot bed for many Islamic radicals. In particular a group called the "Islamic Thinkers" have chanted anti American slogans right out on the busy streets of this upper New York City area.
Here is but one interaction among many that Robert Spencer has addressed on the Islamic thinkers June 10,2005.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/006580.php
Posted by: Mackie at October 4, 2008 10:20 AM
"Giash Ahmed (Rep) has the distinction of being the first Asian Muslim and Bangladeshi immigrant to run for the New York State Senate. He is running for the State Senate from District 13 on a Republican Party ticket, the first ever to have been awarded to an Asian Muslim."
How this turd even made it to the REPUBLICAN ticket? Aren't they suppose to check his values and not to play a diversity "first Asian Muslim" game? Embarassing.
Posted by: AlexD at October 4, 2008 10:28 AM
Hugh:
I eat with my left hand, play golf with my left hand, write with my left hand-Etc.
Should I repent and change my devilish habits before it is to late?
Posted by: Mackie at October 4, 2008 10:31 AM
My comment to the NYT:
Well, the Hindu mother should have never married a Mohammedan. That was her first mistake.
"two men they know threatened to bomb and burn down the building." --from article
You mean two Mohammedan men? Of course you do. Yep, that sentence has got "Mohammedan" and the "religion of pieces" written all over it. They esp. love burning down people's homes and businesses, embassies, too - but bombs? That's the "religion of peace's" favorite weapon. Even more so than false prophet Warlord Mohamet's beheading sword.
Sincerely,
Theo Van Gogh, murdered by a Mohammedan on the streets of Amsterdam. Uh, excuse me, I mean, Amsterdamistan.
at October 4, 2008 10:45 AM
I'm starting to think that muslims don't like people from other religions.
It's just a gut feeling though. Nothing concrete to back it up.
Posted by: Goob at October 4, 2008 11:15 AM
Damn. Adam Ghadan is still alive.
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/194310.php
at October 4, 2008 11:18 AM
I'm starting to think that muslims don't like people from other religions.
It's just a gut feeling though. Nothing concrete to back it up.
Posted by: Goob at October 4, 2008 11:15 AM
Well, Goob, I know you're being sarcastic, but the Qur'an is "concrete" as all-get-out.
Posted by: darcy at October 4, 2008 11:26 AM
Just another example of how the religion for people who refuse to grow up produces scores of followers who throw a hissy fit (replete with lethal threats) when they don't get their way. The burden which is Islam continues, including here in America.
Posted by: Wellington at October 4, 2008 11:27 AM
"I eat with my left hand, play golf with my left hand, write with my left hand-Etc.
Should I repent and change my devilish habits before it is to late?"
-- from a posting above
This fear of the left-handed would possibly have caused Leonardo da Vinci, had he been born into Islam, a great many problems -- aside from the fact that he never would have been permitted to paint La Gioconda, Ginevra de' Benci, and a hundred other works, not to mention his activities outside of painting.
And the Russian writer Leskov's mythical left-handed smithy -- Levsha, the left-handed one -- a smithy so talented he could forge footwear for a flea, would have had his problems too.
Posted by: Hugh at October 4, 2008 11:31 AM
Is it just me or does anyone wonder how the most powerful man on earth, POTUS/commander-in-chief said this to America, right after 9/11: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-11.html
Anyone?
at October 4, 2008 11:48 AM
Is it just me or does anyone wonder how the most powerful man on earth, POTUS/commander-in-chief said this to America, right after 9/11: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-11.html
Anyone?
Posted by Alert
he's a dhimmi. that's all that needs to be said. god help us.
Posted by: theygottago at October 4, 2008 12:11 PM
Anyone?
Posted by: Alert at October 4, 2008 11:48 AM
1. He was 100% ignorant about Islam. I was, too, at that time, weren't you?
2. If, however, there was a "method to his madness," it was to placate the Saudis, who, if they cut off our oil due to the President's negative comments about Islam, we'd all be up ****'s creek. It's not just gasoline - practically everything has oil or natural gas in it - such as fertilizer for crops, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, chemicals to make computers and computer chips, plastics, the coating on electrical wire, telephone wires, cable wires, automobile wires, paint - all paint comes from oil, plus varnish, fabrics of all types (not cotton or linen, of course), PAPER - oil is used to make paper. Basically everything developed in the 20th century requires oil to make it. Without oil, we go back to the 1920's in about 10 days.
Europe would fall immediately, as ALL of their oil comes from the ME. Ditto Japan, China and Korea. We, however, do get alot of oil from Canada and Venezuela.
It is vitally important we drill our own oil. Until then, the President cannot risk "offending" the Saudi's about Islam.
Also, the Saudi's have all their money here - they withdraw it, we collapse.
So, when Hugh talks about the "geographical accident" of the ME having the oil - yeah, it's an "accident" of ENORMOUS significance for everyone else.
I hope I answered your question, Alert.
at October 4, 2008 12:14 PM
Just a few of those folks that have eaten with the same hand as Satan.
Aristotle,-Benjamin Franklin,- Thomas Jefferson,-Winston Churchill,-Harry Truman, -John F.Kennedy,-Colin Powell,-General Norman Schwarzkopf,- Bill Clinton,-Gerald Ford,-Albert Einstein,-Marie Curie,--Joan of Arc,-Juluis Caesar,--Leonardo Davinci,Mohatma Ghandi,,Queen Victoria,-Oprah Winfrey, Albert Schweitzer.
And of course this famous comment on Islam from one of those devilish lefthanders.
Sir Winston Churchill "The River Wars 1899"
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2006/02/winston_churchill_wrote_it_a_c.html
Posted by: Mackie at October 4, 2008 12:20 PM
No, there is no need, and never has been, to "placate the Saudis." Their wealth, their rule, their everything, depends on the sale of their oil. They have nothing else. Oil is fungible. If the Saudis don't sell to us, they will have to sell to others. The others, in turn, will now be buying from the Saudis and not their former suppliers. Those former suppliers will have oil for sale, and will sell it to us -- perhaps directly, perhaps through middle-men. It hardly matters.
The only reason so many people continue to think that we must placate the Saudis is because this phrase, this unexamined idea, is repeated ad nauseam. It makes no sense.
But the reason it is repeated ad nauseam is that in the capitals of the West, a great many individuals make money from promoting this line, because they do business with the Saudis, or profit in some way from a Saudi connection. These may be producers of military hardware, or sellers of other goods, or providers of services, to Saudi Arabia. It may be well-connected "public servants" such as James Baker, who was always close to the Saudis, and there are so many like him. It may be the ex-Presidents who find the Saudis so generous in donations to their Ozymandias-like Presidential Libraries, or to their Global Initiatives, or whatever else it is that they are engaged in, to Their Own Greater Glory. And don't forget that there are public-relations experts working full-time for the Saudis, and other Arabs -- simply bought-and-paid-for propagandists. Of course they will insist, and repeat and repeat, how the American government "simply must placate the Saudis, must do their bidding" -- even if they pretend to deplore this, or in a spirit of "fake-realism" wearily admit that this must be done "for now" until we "can be independent of Middle Eastern oil."
This last notion is itself a misleading idea, because it is not necessary to stop using MIddle Eastern oil to recongize the true balance of forces, and of how much the Saudis and other Arabs not only need to sell that oil, but how desperate they are, in the end, for American protection that they have been allowed, for too long, to take for granted, allowed to send money into our country to promote the spread of Islam, allowed to corrupt our political system, allowed to treat our military men with contumely, allowed to do all kinds of things that keep the Saudi rulers convinced that they can rely on the continued misunderstanding of Americans as to Saudi needs, Saudi weakeness, Saudi near-total-dependence on the West, and especially on America.
Posted by: Hugh at October 4, 2008 12:29 PM
1. He was 100% ignorant about Islam. I was, too, at that time, weren't you?
Posted by: darcy at October 4, 2008 12:14 PM
darcy,
There is enough evidence that Bush Sr., on Carlyle board, was in close contact with Kuwaits, Al-Sauds and Bin Ladens, before, during and after 9/11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_qBtOGnAAo Bush Jr. practically survived on Saudi financing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXk0LFVAgHE
Right after 9/11,
- Bin Ladens and other Saudis were seen to safety while all US flights were grounded.
- Saudi references were 'deleted' from 9/11 Interim Report.
- Student's visas for Saudis were increased, repeat, increased, after 9/11.
- Bandar Bush was not only an 'ambassador' but also a Bush family friend.. infact, almost Bush family, hence 'Bandar Bush': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandar_bin_Sultan
- Saudi Arabia was an 'ally' against terror !?
Dadddy Bush was and still is deeply involved with Al-Sabah and Al-Saud families. Don't think tiey were ignorant about Islam but let's say, Bushs were. Coming from a POTUS/commander-in-chief who is also the Commander-in-chief, can this kind of ignorance be condoned?
Finally, remember the first Gulf War started when Kuwait was invaded and ended whrn Saudi Arabia was safe. Bush Sr. being the then Presient/commander-in-chief.
Just connect the dots and the picture that emerges, speaks/shows more than just ignorance. There is more but will stop here..........
at October 4, 2008 1:43 PM
For the Rezas, that's what comes of living in a ghetto community with your fellow Bangladeshis, instead of assimilating with mainsteam Americans. While the 'Hindu' mother's marriage might have caused her problems, it didn't, since the father apparently was fine with the kids growing up quasi-Hindu, quasi-Islamic. Looks like the son was pretty tolerant - I guess I might have done what he did too had I had the misfortune of having a Mohammedan parent.
But because they lived among Bangladeshis, they also - by implication - invited this sort of intrusion into their private life. Why? Because unlike in the US, where people are highly individualistic, people in Bangladesh are too closely knit. While that has its seeming pluses - sense of community and all that - it also is a license to intrude on some of the most private and personal aspects of one's life. If this family had simply broken away from the Bangladeshi community, moved to another place and done their own thing, not looking for fellow Bangladeshis, they wouldn't have been in this predicament.
That said, this is a good case for deporting at least all foreigners who after migrating are living in ghettos. Particularly Mohammedans.
Posted by: Infidel Pride at October 4, 2008 2:37 PM
"Hindu-Muslim Family’s Choice of Cremation Arouses Anger,"
Ah - more fruits from the basket of MC diversity.
at October 4, 2008 6:10 PM
Notice how muslims always insist a person was a true muslim after he's dead? "According to some of his college friends, [Reja] had recently chosen Islam as his sole religion."
Any guesses as to what "religion" his friends belong? The gall of these people! His parents are his next of kin, he is their flesh and blood, and they have the right to honour his remains any way they like.
Posted by: ImNoDhimmi at October 4, 2008 6:49 PM
It's time for the police to bust some heads for say, resisting arrest.
But our dhimmi civilian rules of engagement forbid it.
at October 5, 2008 4:05 AM
The oil thing is valid.
However, it does not affect us like it will affect Europe and Asia.
Virtually everything we touch, see and ingest is made with hydrocarbons (oil or natural gas) in some way shape or form, including chemicals used to make computer internals.
This has absolutely nothing to do with "energy" but instead feedstock to the petrochemical plants.
When we worry about a hurricane going through the Gulf of Mexico (particularly off Louisiana where 30% of hydrocarbon energy comes from within the US), just imagine what happens to the rest of the world with a week's moratorium from the Middle East.
The other thing is that not just oil these days but over the last decade virtually all of the petrochemical plants that produce the basic building block chemicals have been built in the Middle East. These are all world class facilities with technology superior to that operating the facilities in the US and Europe.
Sure it would harm their wealth in the short term. We all know that.
Just like a client of mine did a year ago when one of his customers tried to circumvent him on a deal. He bought the items which he was brokering and scrapped them along with over a million dollars. Some people still do things on the principle of it.
Saudi Arabia has more money than they know what to do with. To lose a few hundred billion or so to gain power would be no big deal to them.
Posted by: Citizen K at October 5, 2008 8:33 AM
Zonie Fafir, they actually do drink camel urine in Egypt. It's sold in supermarkets.
Also, I think W was actually kissing Musharraf's ass since we needed his airspace to conduct military activities in Afghanistan. But he does do his fair share of kissing the asses of his Saudi overlords. I also think that Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and all those other guys who spent the 80s in a Pentagon basement running the world know all about Islam, at least its political aspects.
Posted by: jdamn at October 5, 2008 1:22 PM
Our choice - religious diversity, or Islam.
Posted by: Stefcho at October 5, 2008 1:56 PM
Like stupid American girls who embrace Islam as a way to say F.U. to western mores and culture, this family has apparently been sliding along with no sense of the reality of the consequences of Islam. The dad wasn't enforcing anything...perhaps he was a salad bar Muslim, picking and choosing what he would adhere to from the old folk's religion, while enjoying all the fruits and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution in his new chosen country. Perhaps he enjoys the fruits of his wife's business savvy and would rather drive a new car every other year, live in a nice house and afford vacations rather than keep the missus in a Hefty Bag. Perhaps he is a true moderate Muslim who would rather embrace the American dream and not be bound by Sharia law and that's why he came to this country.
The son sounds like he had plenty of space and time to tiptoe through the tulips if he called himself a Muslim yet enjoyed dancing up a storm and writing poetry instead of engaging in mandatory Jihad. He sounds like he was probably a really nice kid but being insulated in America, was totally oblivious to the sinister side of Islam. Perhaps he lived in that sort of La-La-Disney-Muslim-land that so many Muslim converts live in here in America that is not a true indication of the real Islam. What a difference a twenty hour plane ride would make.
Do any of you posting here today remember a conversation a few Thanksgiving Eve's ago with a poster who called himself Jihad Love? He was an American convert who got on the thread and praised Islam with his infinite knowledge of Islam, having been a member of some mosque for about five minutes at the time. When we asked him questions and correctly surmised how he had come to Islam, that his fellow mosque attendees would probably refer to his American girlfriend as a whore (which he verified was indeed implied,) and that he should do his utmost to protect her by never taking her to the mosque and by getting as far away from it as he possibly could, he started to openly panic and asked that references to what mosque he went to be deleted from the post for his protection. We were able to help him and within a couple of hours he was ready to denounce Islam and was thanking us for helping him. That situation so reminds me of what this family is going through, except that the father must have had an inkling having been brought up in it. Little did he realize that the same America that let him and his wife in to start building their business empire would also let in the upstanding members of the Muslim community, like the doctor and the Bangladeshi business leader who felt it was their duty to tell this guy how to run his life and threaten him with death if he didn't come around to their way of thinking.
Posted by: Isabellathecrusader at October 5, 2008 3:36 PM
i would like to dream: shia regime in iran gets ticked off with wahabis in saudi. they capture mecca. after all they have dreamed of doing this only for few hundred years. saudis drop on their knees asking usa to nuke iran. iran gets real mad and nukes saudi arabia.
wow what a beautiful dream.
Posted by: swimmer at October 5, 2008 11:03 PM
(Note: The Comments section is provided in the interests of free speech only. It is mostly unmoderated, but comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, or otherwise annoying stand a chance of being deleted. The fact that any comment remains on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch, or by Robert Spencer or any other Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch writer, of any view expressed, fact alleged, or link provided in that comment.)