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It's My Jihad in an Islamic context. "Massive Cairo book fair sets religious tone," by Alain Navarro for AFP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
CAIRO (AFP) - At the Cairo Book Fair, the largest and most important event of its kind in the Arab world, religious works dominate, while literature and scientific texts are often pushed to the margins.Millions of Cairenes have been thronging to the fair giving it an air of carnival on the vast exhibition grounds covering 80,000 square meters (861,000 square feet) in northern Cairo and featuring some 1,400 stands of books and CDs.
By Sunday, when the 39th annual fair comes to a close, organisers estimate some two million people will have visited, dwarfing similar events in Beirut, Casablanca and Abu Dhabi -- though many complain that the crowds are just there to picnic and buy religious books....
Of the 700 Egyptian and Arab publishers at the fair, the vast majority stock religious books on their shelves. "Even we reserve about a quarter of our catalog for them," said publisher Ansari.
Korans of all styles, from the simple to the leather-bound, share shelf space with collections of religious sayings and fatwas as well as their more modern incarnations on cassettes and compact disks.
The collected works of late venerable preachers like Egypt's Sheikh Mohammed Shaarawi and Saudi Arabia's Abdel Aziz bin Baz were present as well, though there was stiff competition from the young "new look" television preachers like Amr Khaled.
"It's become a real business, but this fundamentalism comes from Saudi Arabia and stays with the cynical encouragement of the powers that be," said best-selling Egyptian author Aswani whose social satire the "Yacoubian Building" has achieved fame far beyond Egypt's borders....
The fair also has its darker sides, with anti-Christian polemics advocating conversion to Islam as the only solution to a flawed religion and of course plenty of editions of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" for sale.
"It makes up a big part of our success, especially among the 18 to 25 crowd," said Mahmud Abdallah of the Syrian-Egyptian Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi publishing house.
"Allowing the sale of books like 'Mein Kampf' is a total scandal," said Mohammed Arkoun, professor emeritus of Islamic history at the Sorbonne, for whom the Arab cultural production, at least as seen through the lens of the Cairo Book Fair, "reflects above all, a certain emptiness."
And worse than emptiness.
Posted by Robert at February 3, 2007 2:11 PM
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Cairo is lucky to have any kind of book fair. Literacy in the Arab world is abysmal. Very few good books are translated to Arabic because there is no market for them and probably some self imposed censorship to keep the Ummah (Mohammed's great unwashed) from being exposed to liberal Western ideas
Posted by: dennisw![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 3, 2007 2:43 PM
As if these fairs were the "cat's meaow" - or the greatest thing since pizza.
And a true comparison hasn't been made with the BOOK FAIRS of the West. NOr even the wide amounts of subjects sold in the book stores in any city outside those islamic countries.
Let's see the number comparisions. Let's see what really attracts.
LET'S SEE!
at February 3, 2007 3:21 PM
The big news the other day was that the US is supporting the terrorist state of Kosovo's independance. I doubt this will ever make it to this site. This site has lost all credibility. Reporting US sponshorship of Jihad inside of Europe does not get a peep out of the operators of this site. Yet any percieved slight against Israel will get 1000 posts. what a joke. Again I thought the purpose of this site was to show the world that we have a vested interest in putting away any differences and joining forces to fight this threat against civilization. yet it seems only Israel matters. and any muslim attacks against eastern european christians or orthodox must be supported.
Posted by: pissedoffcanadian at February 3, 2007 4:14 PM
Here are some comparisons. I have worked in Dubai and Kuwait. Bookshops? Well, they do exist, but they are mostly small. Those that stock English language books have an erratic collection of items on sale. I also remember that in Damascus I once searched with friends for books on Arabic as a foreign language and also English language novels. Lots of small shops. Haphazard collections. Eventual success. I now live in Germany. In Essen. A city of 600,000 people. I am a two minute walk from the main shopping street. There are two bookshops there, each having four floors, far larger than any bookshop I have seen in the Arab world. And I am often in London. Two weeks ago I was there. In Charing Cross Road. Foyles, Blackwells etc., etc. And on Middle East/Islam - Bernard Lewis, Edward Said, but also Daniel Pipes, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bat Ye'or... I did not look for Mein Kampf. But if you want a copy I know you can get one in Maghrudy's Bookshop, City Centre, Dubai. And then of course, in London, there are the specialist bookshops... French/German/Spanish/Italian literature... probably Arabic literature too. I don't know of a shop in London, but I'm sure there must be one. But there is one here in Germany, specialising in modern Arabic literature. It is in Bonn, about 100 km from where I live. And if you want to study Arabic literature the best place is probably the Sorbonne, even for Arabs, because there you can read authors banned in Arab countries. And then, of course, there are libraries... the British Library, the Library of Congress etc.., etc.. The only respect in which Arab countries outdo the rest world is in the number of religious books published. This was in the United Nations Arab Development Report - I'm not sure for which year.
Posted by: kevin at February 3, 2007 4:23 PM
In this case, Ignorance is bliss. Given what these pig fearing crowds (herds?) are reading, this phrase is apt.
As for pissedoffCanadian, I do not think for one second that anybody coming to this site lacks interest as to what is going on in Europe. I for one have many friends there and we talk about these issues. I think your comments are more appropo to the MSM.
Posted by: lonewolf at February 3, 2007 5:39 PM
So much interior spiritual struggling, so much exterior misery.
One pathology, two flavours.
Posted by: Dane at February 3, 2007 6:38 PM
Mr. Spencer
Are your books going to be on display? I bet D'Souza will be a big with the Traditional muslim buyer.
:)
Posted by: greatcometof1577 at February 3, 2007 8:28 PM
"Again I thought the purpose of this site was to show the world that we have a vested interest in putting away any differences and joining forces to fight this threat against civilization. yet it seems only Israel matters. and any muslim attacks against eastern european christians or orthodox must be supported."
POC, if you've got a verifiable story to contribute to this site, I'm sure Robert and Hugh would be glad to see it. Yes, Israel gets a lot of coverage here. So does Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Pakistan, India, Australia, the UK, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands Canada, France, Germany and the good ol' US of A...among others.
From what I've seen of this site (and I'm a relative newbie) any information on jihadi actions or propaganda is welcome here.
In the immortal words of Red Green: "We're all in this together."
Posted by: USBeast at February 3, 2007 8:43 PM
Nazis? Communists?
‘Help Us Uncover Deviant Group’
Posted by: ummahnewslinks at February 3, 2007 10:28 PM
"The big news the other day was that the US is supporting the terrorist state of Kosovo's independance. I doubt this will ever make it to this site. This site has lost all credibility. Reporting US sponshorship of Jihad inside of Europe does not get a peep out of the operators of this site. Yet any percieved slight against Israel will get 1000 posts. what a joke. Again I thought the purpose of this site was to show the world that we have a vested interest in putting away any differences and joining forces to fight this threat against civilization. yet it seems only Israel matters. and any muslim attacks against eastern european christians or orthodox must be supported."
-- from a posting above
The particular poster is someone whose resentments, carefully noted over time, clearly include the belief that there is something wrong with expressing what he regards as undue sympathy with Israel, a country threatened by a Lesser Jihad with its permanent exstinction, as no other country as yet is.
And in his resentment, he apparently overlooks not only the many times at this sight sympathy and understanding have been expressed for Serbia, overlooks how often the fear induced by Izetbegovic (and even memories of Jasenovac) has been adduced as explaining the temporary Serbian misrule of Milosevich, and much else. He also overlooks how often, how many hundreds of times, the Ottoman rule in the Balkans, Bulgaria, Rumania have been discussed, how often the devshirem noted. And so much else that can easily be found, in a minute, simply by searching through the archives by inserting such words as "Serbia" or, for that matter, the name of "Trifkovic." He may also be unaware of Robert Spencer's support for a Serbian group.
And then he writes, absurdly, "that any muslim attacks against eastern european christians or orthodox must be supported." It would be fascinating to find out what he could possibly have in mind. No, more than fascinating, he has now put himself in a position where he must put up or shut up right here, at this thread.
His charges are so outrageous that he is now asked, no required if he ever wishes to post again, or to have any of his former postings remain, to go through the Archives and to offeer evidence, as he puts it, that "any muslim attacks against eastern european christians or orthodox must be supported" at this site, presumably as a matter of policy.
Go ahead.
But if you don't adduce that evidence, you will not post here again. We've had it with you.
Posted by: Hugh at February 3, 2007 10:59 PM
Hugh,
It is my opinion that Serbia has lost Kosovo, mainly because of the UN, EU, US and the surrounding Balkan states, including Bulgaria - which for me, was a great disappointment.
This short item touched me. I realized soon after that I'm in the minority:
Holy Synod: Kosovo Serbia’s most precious part
Posted by: ummahnewslinks at February 3, 2007 11:28 PM
The Americans and all the Western powers pressuring Serbia are making a colossal error. Apparently the bombing campaign by NATO was not mistake enough. They never understood and still do not understand the history of the area, or what Izetbegovic intended, or why that would so worry Serbs and push some of them into supporting the intolerable Milosevich and other similarly unacceptable figures. The Western powers show an indifference to what has already happened to Serbian villages and churches, and do not know when, or why, to stop the appeasement, or when they must take Serbia's side, as it should in opposing the stripping of all of Kosovo -- not even the northern Serbian-part being allowed to remain -- from Serbian control. This is both a moral and a geopolitical mistake.
Posted by: Hugh at February 3, 2007 11:39 PM
plenty of editions of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" for sale.
"It makes up a big part of our success, especially among the 18 to 25 crowd," said Mahmud Abdallah
There's that age group again
Of British Muslims aged 16-24, 37% would prefer to live under sharia in Britain, 37% would like to send their children to Islamic state schools and — most incredibly — 36% think Muslims converting to another religion should be punished by death.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,24391-2583136,00.html
at February 4, 2007 5:05 AM
I'm of partly German Jewish descent myself, but I would not ban the sale of _Mein Kampf_. Our age is so gutless and intellectually null that it would ban rather than refute a bad book; and cower before those influenced by it when they come up from their sewers.
Still, it is telling what the combination of Islam and 20th century dictatorship produces. The whole Arab world's published output for one year doesn't even equal that of Spain.
Posted by: Kepha at February 4, 2007 8:35 AM
kosovo is the blueprint for all future islamic in roads in europe.
i predict that france will be the first one to see islamic secessionism attempts within our life time. Le Pen is too old and there is no one to replace him.
at February 4, 2007 11:05 PM
for POC's information, the Serbian ambassador to Israel spoke last week in Jerusalem before a meeting of the Root&Branch assoc. He was followed by a lecture by an Israeli born in Yugoslavia who expounded --with slides-- on the history of Yugoslavia, Serbia, Kossovo, etc. I must say that the ambassador's talk and the lecture were sympathetically received by the audience.
The ambassador was quite critical of Milosevic.
Posted by: Eliyahu at February 6, 2007 8:59 AM
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