An Australian judge recently ruled that books that teach Sharia supremacism, the subjugation of Jews and Christians, and the ultimate replacement of Australian law with Islamic law are not “hate books” and can be sold freely in Australia.
Now more such books have been found, and they raise some important questions.
From the Herald Sun, with thanks to Rosie:
ISLAMIC hate books that advocate jihad have been found in Melbourne bookstores.
The Federal Government wants to create an offence to outlaw the glorification of suicide bombing, the Sunday Herald Sun said.
Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock said the Government “did not want people encouraged to go out and think about suicide bombing on the basis that it’s going to benefit them in the afterlife”.
Will he then outlaw the Qur’an, since it promises Paradise to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111)?
The books were found at the Islamic Clothing and Book Store in Coburg and Brunswick’s Michael Street mosque.
World Arrogance, a book written by Professor Ahmad Zidan, is anti-Semitic and said Western culture bred venereal disease, broken homes, suicide and homosexuality.
Another book, Jihad in the Qu’ran [sic] and Sunnah, encouraged the use of force.
“When you meet those who disbelieve, smite at their necks `til when you have killed and wounded many of them, then take them as captives,” the book said.
“The book” said that, eh? Does Ruddock, and does the Herald Sun, believe that such expressions originate with whoever wrote Jihad in the Qur’an and Sunnah? Well, in fact, this one is in the Qur’an also: “Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them)” (47:4).
This is a nettle that Western governments sooner or later will have to grasp — that what they persist in assuming is a benign book teaching high-minded spiritual principles has been shown again and again to incite to violence. Will they ban it?
Mr Ruddock said censorship laws could allow a loophole to be closed, which would effectively ban the books.
“We may not want to prosecute publishers or book stockists for having books of this sort, if we can have matters of glorification of suicide bombing looked at in the context of whether or not a book should be allowed to be sold under the classification regime,” Mr Ruddock said.
We’ll be watching this one closely.