There are two fundamental falsehoods here (among many others): the first is that it is non-Muslims such as the SABC TV journalist in question who link Islam with terrorism, when actually Islamic jihadists routinely explain and justify their acts of terror by referring to Islamic texts and teachings. The second is that if someone is a Muslim, his crime is ascribed to Islam, even if it is an act of criminality committed by people of many other faiths and having nothing to do with his own. In reality, the connection between Islam and acts of criminality is not an incidental matter of identifying the religion of the perpetrator and then blaming his religion for what he does. On the contrary, the connection to his religion comes from the perpetrator himself, who almost invariably invokes it to show that his act was one of carrying out the commands in Islamic teachings.
“SABC TV Journalist disciplined for blaming Islam for terror attacks,” from the SABC, November 17 (thanks to Liam):
The AL JAMA-AH Political Party which has an electoral mandate from largely Muslims and a High Court order directing it to make representations on behalf Muslims with regard to the Muslim Marriages Bill will take the demand for a ban on using the terms “Islamic militarism” and “military Islam” in media reporting when a terrorism attack occurs further according to Party Leader Ganief Hendricks.
“I have been asked to be the spokesman and present the case on behalf of the formal complainant Sheikh Farook Mohammed. A tribunal notice has been given for the 2 December 2013 at 10.30 at the BCCSA Boardroom in Albary Park, Magalieszicht Avenue in Dunkeld West. The SABC will be summoned and the parties will appear before the Tribunal Head Judge Bernard Ngoepe”. Said Hendricks.
The SABC has apologised on behalf of it’s [sic] journalist who blamed Islam and “generalised any religion when terrorism is involved”. The journalist was severely disciplined. The SABC has put a ban on referring to the religion of militants when a terrorism attack is reported and ordered that the name of the alleged organization rather be cited.
The apology was accepted but the complainant and AL JAMA-AH wants the Press ombudsman ruling overturned that if the words are banned from being used like in the TV broadcast it will be an attack on Press freedom. The complainants feel that the Press Ombudsman, Mr Retief, is with respect not carrying out his mandate. His ruling will further incite further violence as the media continues to have a free hand.
Deen TV Vice President and TV talk show Host, Faizal Sayed, added that, “The matter is a delicate matter but one that must be clearly defined to ensure no further related problems in the future”. He added that “The media is there to ensure that the authenticity of a report is delivered to the public without it being tainted with the personal notions of the reporter, especially as South African media, who hail from a county which was ravaged in a bitter oppressive past, being labelled all kinds of term without justification, and only for the world to realise later that a fair level of propagation has gone into that. So clearly something we need to steer clear of”.
In Sayed’s view, the terms “Islamist” and similar terms are an ideology created by western media who create them to further the end goals of their associate organisations, who have political aims and objectives, and must be ignored by real media unless they too fall pray to the ideals of these organisations and their missions.
“It is unacceptable that if someone wears a fez or a head scarf that Islam gets the blame for a criminal attack and this then triggers Islamic Zenophobic [sic] attacks. Many Muslims have lost their lives in South Africa and other parts of the world as the Press using these terms incites reprisals” argued the AL JAMA-AH Leader Ganief Hendricks.
He further stated that South African Muslims will not condone any so called terrorism attacks in South Africa especially if civilian, children and female lives are lost. The Party got a fatwa(religious decree) in this regard. The Party goes as far as to say that such persons involved may be out of the fold of Islam.
If such attacks occur in South Africa the Party will show that it is agent provocateurs who have handlers from international intelligence agencies and their surrogates with links to America and Israel and other western and wicked countries who want to put Islam in a bad light and punish Muslims for supporting the liberation of the Al Aqsa Mosque- Islam’s holiest mosque in occupied Palestine.
The Party has a strong view that The Muslim community is the most peaceful in South Africa following the legacy of the founder of Islam in South Africa Sheikh Yusuf of Macassar who has received posthumously the Companions of Oliver Tambo medal award in gold. The Party has serious problems with academics on these sinister payrolls who feed the public that South Africa has home grown Muslim terrorists. — Al- Jama -ah