UPDATE: Newsweek has, without notice, edited its article, so that it now says “sarcastically” in the Gad Saad section. Jihad Watch reader Joe, who alerted me to this, notes that it is “hilarious because now the comment makes no sense in the context of the article. How is it a rebuke to Dawkins for Gad Saad to use sarcasm to agree with him on Twitter?”
But unfortunately for Newsweek, I took a screenshot of the original article. Here it is:
——–
“Dear Richard,” Professor Gad Saad remarked. “Arabic is my mother tongue. When properly translated, ‘Allahu Akbar’ means ‘We love all people but hold a special fondness for Jews, women, and gays.’ Don’t worry. It’s a message of love, tolerance, and liberalism.”
Gad was being sarcastic, but Newsweek’s intrepid reporter Benjamin Fearnow reports his words as if they were evidence of what he calls “the auditory affability of azaan.” Any fool could see that Gad’s statement was sarcastic, and the incongruity between the idea that “Allahu akbar” means “We love all people but hold a special fondness for Jews, women, and gays” and the many jihad mass murderers who have screamed “Allahu akbar” as they were killing people ought to have set off alarm bells in Fearnow’s “mind,” such that at very least he could have done some research or asked some questions, but Gad’s statement confirmed his Leftist biases about how Islam is benign and Muslims are always and everywhere victims, and so for today’s “journalism” that was confirmation enough.
“Richard Dawkins Accused of Bigotry Over ‘Allahu Akhbar’ Tweet, Prompting Atheist Debate on Islam,” by Benjamin Fearnow, Newsweek, July 17, 2018:
Renowned atheist author and longtime Oxford University professor Richard Dawkins was the target of “bigotry” accusations after a tweet about the phrase “Allahu Akhbar.”
Dawkins has published several perennial books mocking all religions throughout his long career, but the English evolutionary biologist is now being labeled a “racist” by some on social media for a Monday tweet showing him outside the Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire, England. His tweet compared the pleasance of hearing Christian church bells to that of the “aggressive-sounding” Muslim phrase, called the Takbir in Arabic, meaning “God is great.” The tweet immediately drew condemnation and discussions on Islamophobia.
“You can’t sit on a park bench on a sunny day without turning it into something Islamophobic?” responded Amarnath Amarasingam, a senior research fellow at the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Another Twitter user rebuked that opinion, positing, “A phobia is an ‘irrational fear of something.’ The word Islamophobia doesn’t make sense. Islamophobia is a word created to silence criticism of Islam.”…
But Dawkins’ indiscriminate rebuke of all religions was not registered by the thousands of Twitter users who focused on the auditory affability of azaan, or muezzin-led Islamic calls to worship.
“Dear Richard,” Professor Gad Saad remarked. “Arabic is my mother tongue. When properly translated, ‘Allahu Akbar’ means ‘We love all people but hold a special fondness for Jews, women, and gays.’ Don’t worry. It’s a message of love, tolerance, and liberalism.”…
Eur says
A fatwa is a religious order that orders all Muslim worshipers to hugh the one who has done or made an offense against Islam. If someone dies it is by force of Islamic hugs. Islam is all love and tolerance. Salman Rusdhie, the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo and many others live in fear for no reason.
Phil Copson says
You are exactly right – who can possibly doubt the benevolence of a system that has enabled hundreds of millions of people world-wide to meet their Maker sooner than intended ?
Jack says
It’s those “bomb hugs”, “machete hugs”, “gun hugs”, “weaponized vehicle hugs”, “knife hugs”, “acid hugs”, and “tire iron hugs” that I don’t like.
Blurb1000 says
Yes, that’s correct. They hug them so hard they will lose the breath and suffocate.
Susan B says
I am so tired of this. Why are so many people supporting the take over of civilization by a cult that is right out of the bowels of hell? So many are willing to enable and support these evil bastards.
Are all magazines, every media outlet, all education facilities, all entertainment outputs, controlled by the globalist? The shear scale of this is mind boggling. I have to admit this does frighten me even though I know that God is in control, however at what point will this start to be turned around. My fear is that we are in for so much more before the light will shine through and remove this darkness.
Sorry I tend to get dramatic about things and needed to vent.
gravenimage says
I know how you feel, Susan. It gets incredibly frustrating.
Susan B says
Should read sheer, not shear. Spelling has is not one of my strong points.
gravenimage says
I knew what you meant.
Susan B says
Thanks Gravenimage, you are always kind.
gravenimage says
🙂
Susan, I always look for your excellent comments.
Westman says
“‘Allahu Akbar’ means ‘We love all people but hold a special fondness for Jews, women, and gays.’ ”
I’ve had my belly laugh for the day!
BUMPER STICKER:
Do you suppose if we put this on bumper stickers that the jihadists would agree? That’s not a bad idea to promote discussion without appearing, “Islamophobic”.
boakai ngombu says
and there’s nothing mentioned about that special love and fondness for Kafirs all the slaves (muslims) of the allah god if islam (unknowable; the best of all deceivers) have.
Paige says
I’ve been called a racist , over criticizing Islam , in an argument one afternoon ..I said Islam wasn’t a race .. I’m not sure it qualifies as a religion seeing as it has a political agenda..
In our nation of democracy , our nation was based on the separation of church and state.. to ensure a fair shake .. for some reason all of this has been clouded .. and now we have prayer rooms in schools . Personally I feel politics should also be kept out of schools as well ,
gravenimage says
Newsweek reports sarcastic explanation of “Allahu akbar” as “a message of love” as if it were serious
…………………….
My God, what a tool.
And Fearnow obviously knows nothing about Gad Saad or his views on Islam, and hasn’t cared to find out. Saad is a Lebanese Jew whose family fled to Canada. He understands the threat of Islam.
Mark Swan says
Yes gravenimage, it is a good one alright—looking good Newsweek!
gravenimage says
🙂
Richard says
Excuse me, gravenimage, but the Muslims call those who oppose them “racists”, as if Islam was limited to a race. Are not Jews a race? Hindus are almost entirely Indians. Are not Indians a race? Where is the love the Muslims hold for them? I have yet to see anything of love in Islam, unless it is in the form of the opera, Tosca, where Tosca says of Baron Scarpia after stabbing him to death: “He’s dead. NOW I forgive him!”
mccode says
The publication should more accurately title itself NEWSPEAK in homage to its Orwellian bias.
Thomas Black says
Newsweek changed the article and added the word “sarcastically” after “remarked.” The original Newsweek article, which the above Jihad Watch article accurately quoted in its first paragraph, is at:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180717185820/https://www.newsweek.com/richard-dawkins-bigotry-allahu-akhbar-tweet-prompts-debate-atheist-islam-1028487
gravenimage says
Thanks, Thomas.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Important error:
The text in Newsweek (follow the link!) says:
==QUOTE== “Dear Richard,” Professor Gad Saad remarked sarcastically. “Arabic is my mother tongue. When properly translated, ‘Allahu Akbar’ means ‘We love all people but hold a special fondness for Jews, women, and gays.’ Don’t worry. It’s a message of love, tolerance, and liberalism.”… ==UNQUOTE==
Robert Spencer quotes this above as
==QUOTE== “Dear Richard,” Professor Gad Saad remarked. “Arabic is my mother tongue. When properly translated, ‘Allahu Akbar’ means ‘We love all people but hold a special fondness for Jews, women, and gays.’ Don’t worry. It’s a message of love, tolerance, and liberalism.”… ==UNQUOTE==
Notice a difference?
“Gad’s statement was sarcastic,” says Robert Spencer, and the Newsweek writer Benjamin Fearnow labeled it as sarcastic, but Fearnow’s adverb “sarcastically” has been dropped from the quote.
Bud says
See Thomas Black’s comment just before yours.
RS did not misquote. They corrected the original.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Bud, Thanks for this information. So a Newsweek editor is deliberately misquoting Newsweek’s own writer Benjamin Fearnow. Interesting. I see no way to contact Fearnow, but if someone can, please ask him how he feels about having has what he wrote misquoted. This misquotation of Fearnow puts him in a bad light; it makes him seem cynical, not charmingly gullible.
gravenimage says
Mark, the article was *changed*. It was not being misquoted. The reference to this being sarcastic was added later.
dan christensen says
And do not forget the eternal love that muslim men possess for little girls and goats and camels and infidels and arms dealers and explosives manufactures and welfare benefits – etc…….
Pete says
+2?
Benedict says
As Jordan Peterson has said about Justin Trudeau: “I think he runs an ideology in his head and accepts the output without question.”
The same can be said about the Newsweek reporter Benjamin Fearnow: his employer has programmed him with their PC understandIng of Islam, and that prevented him from understanding the irony of Gad Saad. Indeed it prevents him from understanding the tenor of Islam.
pfwag says
When it comes to Islam, LIBs, and atheists are so stupid.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
I don’t know why mithraist christians in the west are too ignorant about simple Islamic terminologies even though they want criticise Islam. the phrase “Allah Akbar “simply means all glory belongs to Allah. “Akbar”is derived from “kabir (big )”,but “Akbar “cannot be translated as “biggest “because it is not referring to size,it is referring to glory when connected to Allah because Allah is not physical for Him to have size. Hence ,Islamic terminology (not literal Arabic term) as “Allah is great “glorifying Allah as Almighty God. It is used in devotional activities like prayers and call to prayers. It can also be used showing sympathy or love like in condolence or showing that you love what someone does as benevolence. when Muslim fighters in jihad fighting chant “Allah Akbar (Allah is great) ” they mean they seek assistance from Allah the Most High to win the war, not that they mean muslim God is greater than other gods. Allah cannot be compared with other gods invented by unbelievers because He is the creator of all, including the satan who inspired inventions of other fake gods like idols and yahweh and his wife Ashera hero gods.
gravenimage says
The appalling Ibrahim itace muhammed wrote:
I don’t know why mithraist christians in the west are too ignorant about simple Islamic terminologies even though they want criticise Islam. the phrase “Allah Akbar “simply means all glory belongs to Allah. “Akbar”is derived from “kabir (big )”,but “Akbar “cannot be translated as “biggest “because it is not referring to size,it is referring to glory when connected to Allah because Allah is not physical for Him to have size. Hence ,Islamic terminology (not literal Arabic term) as “Allah is great “glorifying Allah as Almighty God.
……………………………..
It is a surpremacist cry. It mean “Allah is greater!” than your god. No one ever said it referred to physical size, as the mendacious Ibrahim itace muhammed pretends.
More:
It is used in devotional activities like prayers and call to prayers. It can also be used showing sympathy or love like in condolence or showing that you love what someone does as benevolence.
……………………………..
There is little love in Islam. It is primarily used by Jihadists threatening and murdering Infidels.
More:
when Muslim fighters in jihad fighting chant “Allah Akbar (Allah is great) ” they mean they seek assistance from Allah the Most High to win the war, not that they mean muslim God is greater than other gods.
……………………………..
Muslims are calling for “Allah” to help them murder unbelievers. *Ugh*.
More:
Allah cannot be compared with other gods invented by unbelievers because He is the creator of all, including the satan who inspired inventions of other fake gods like idols and yahweh and his wife Ashera hero gods.
……………………………..
Ibrahim itace muhammed continues to pretend that Jews and Christians worship an ancient pagan goddess.
Why does he do this? Because he thinks that if he can characterize Judaism and Christianity as pagan, then he and his coreligionists have the right to murder all of them.
eduardo odraude says
Even if one is an atheist and concludes that Christianity is a mere fantasy, one can still recognize that the Bible’s concept of God and of love is very different from the Qur’an’s concept of those things, and must have very different social outcomes over time.
The Bible says God is love. Christians are told to practice unconditional love in imitation of God, and to love even their enemies (which does not mean allowing enemies to invade your nation, kill your men, and enslave your women). Christians often fail to follow that teaching, but that is the teaching.
By contrast, in the Islamic paradigm, there are many types of people that, according to Allah’s alleged words in the Qur’an, Allah does not love. Among the 99 names of Allah, there is al-Wadud, which means “the loving one” or “the friendly one” — but according to the Qur’an, that excludes all the various people, notably the non-Muslims, whom Allah does not love. And it is a very different thing leading to very different social outcomes if God IS love than if God is, very conditionally, loving only to certain people.
A religion — even if that religion turns out to be a fantasy — that says God is love, and that God is our Father, and that we are God’s children and that a distinction should be maintained between the realm of Caesar and the realm of God, leads eventually to open societies. By contrast, Islam’s Allah, who loves only Muslims, and who according to the Qur’an creates human beings to be nothing more than servants or slaves of Allah, and who rejects any distinction between religion and state, leads to closed, totalitarian societies.
Axolotl says
eduardo odraude
From an atheist – thank you.
I’ve been struggling for a while to say something about the fundamental difference between Christianity and Islam and why ne’er the twain shall meet.
You’ve done a much better job than I could have.
gravenimage says
*Very true*, Eduardo.
eduardo odraude says
Axolotl and gravenimage, thanks.
I’m not an atheist, but I respect atheists, and my own notion of “God” is not what most people seem to mean by the word.
Anyway, I think Islam might win in the long run if atheists and religious people do not become allies to resist Islam. So I try to give arguments that can unite atheists and religious people in resisting.
Axolotl says
eduardo odraude
Athiests all need to wake up to the big difference between Islam and other religions that makes this our (atheists) problem too. Judeo/Christian religions and atheists can co-exist but we are the lowest of the low in the eye of Islam. We don’t even get the jizya option that the Christians and Jews get – pay the tax and live as a second class citizen – it’s the chop and a fast track to a special place in hell for us! I don’t believe in hell (I think people, not Gods, make ‘hell’) but knowing there are people willing to saw my head off bothers me…
Richard says
Gravenimage. I do not understand this because, as I understand it, the Qu’ran also speaks of Christians (and maybe Jews) as people of the Book, meaning they got the religion of Allah all wrong, which would not make them worshippers of heathen demons, but rather misled dunces whom the muslims can still rape, rob and murder if they do not pay the jizra. They seem to be trying to have it both ways. By the way, where did this guy get the crazy idea that the God of Christians and Jews has a wife? That is contrary to the teachings of mohammed about us. Is this an Islamic cult he’s in?
eduardo odraude says
Here’s what Ibrahim Itace Muhammad supports:
Muhammad affirms that those who do not follow him will be slaughtered
On page 222 (326 in the Arabic) of the earliest Muslim biography of Muhammad:
https://www.goo.gl/G78Rbj
http://www.quotingislam.blogspot.com
gravenimage says
Important citation, Eduardo.
eduardo odraude says
I haven’t been able to stand Time or Newsweek for many years. They too often couch language in the most conformist style possible: more specifically, their writers often rely on implication rather than direct statement, and they cleverly design the implication so that, whether you lean conservative or lean left, the implication seems as if it supports your views. That is the kind of thing politicians often must do, but a magazine deserves no respect whatsoever if it adopts that sort of slippery, mealy-mouthed policy. In short, for the most part, Time and Newsweek are a bunch of pc conformist cowards who before writing anything usually put their finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. Those craven BS magazines should be shunned shunned until they get real.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Eduardo, you mean Abu jahl (the father of ignorance) is your authority because Abu Jahl was a pagan like you mithraist christians who worship the satan you call Holy Spirit who also inspired Idol worships? Abu jahl never wrote any document, how do you get the authority from him ? your satan god inspired the information you have cited from the Google? Ignorant fool!!
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Eduardo, you mean Abu jahl (the father of ignorance) was your authority because Abu Jahl was a pagan like you mithraist christians who worship the satan you call Holy Spirit who also inspired Idol worships? Abu jahl never wrote any document, how do you get the authority from him ? you mean your satan god inspired the information you have cited from the Google? Ignorant fool!!
gravenimage says
What is Ibrahim itace muhammed babbling about now?
gravenimage says
OK–I found the reference, above.
Ibrahim itace muhammed is too ignorant to recognize his own texts. This is from the earliest Sira of Muhammed:
Abu jahl said to them: “Muhammad alleges that if you follow him you will be kings of the Arabs and the Persians. Then after death you will be raised to gardens like those of the Jordan. But if you do not follow him you will be slaughtered, and when you are raised from the dead you will be burned in the fire of hell.” The apostle [Muhammad] came out to them with a handful of dust saying: “I do say that.”
http://quotingislam.blogspot.com/2011/06/i-do-say-that.html
Notice that Ibrahim itace muhammed is fine with Muslims slaughtering Infidels who do not submit to Islam. But then, he has affirmed this before. *Ugh*.
eduardo odraude says
Ibrahim Itace Muhammad,
You try to deceive people here that Abu jahl, the enemy of Islam, wrote the earliest Muslim biographies of Muhammad. Those sources were written by pious Muslims! If you don’t like what the sources say, blame Muslims, not Abu Jahl!
Open your eyes and read the quotation, and you will see it quotes Muhammad himself saying “I do say that.”
On page 222 (326 in the Arabic) of the earliest Muslim biography of Muhammad:
https://www.goo.gl/G78Rbj
Do not try to deceive people here that Abu jahl, the enemy of Islam, wrote your own Muslim sources.
eduardo odraude says
To be clear, I’ll sum it up for you: that passage is from the earliest Muslim biography of Muhammad, and the Muslim writer of the passage first quotes Abu jahl and then quotes Muhammad’s response, a response that affirms that Abu jahl, in that particular statement, was indeed correct.
eduardo odraude says
Here is the link (which I already gave), that takes you to the earliest Muslim biography of Muhammad, to the very page where the statement I quoted can be found.
Click on the link below and then look at the last paragraph on the left hand page:
https://www.goo.gl/G78Rbj
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Eduardo, Ibn ishaq in his sirat Rasul mentioned the allegations made by Abu jahl that Prophet Muhammad said to his followers that if you follow him you will be the king of the Arabs and persians and if you refuse to follow him you will die, but never stated prophet actually said so as Hadith. Are saying all allegations against Prophet Muhammad by enemies of Islam like Abu jahl shall be taken as true? A fool!!
gravenimage says
Spot on. Abu Jahl is mentioned in the Sira–he didn’t write it.
eduardo odraude says
Ibrahim, the only answer to people like you, is to keep citing the core texts of Islam:
Muhammad permits a threat of beheading to force a conversion to Islam
On page 547 (814 in the Arabic) of the earliest Muslim biography of Muhammad:
pemba says
I run as soon as i hear “allahu aknat” tge bomb may explode or stabbing by knife.