February 08, 2006

Imam: Europe Must Outlaw Blasphemy or Face Consequences

Before you take away my right to blaspheme, I suggest that you had better take away my right to own a gun first. Because if you come to confiscate my computer to stop me from mocking your Prophet, you had better be armed. Heavily.

The head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research and president of the International Association of Muslim Scholars Sheikh al-Qaradhawi responds to allegedly blasphemous cartoons printed in Danish newspapers. MEMRI:

The governments must be pressured to demand that the U.N. adopt a clear resolution or law that categorically prohibits affronts to prophets - to the prophets of the Lord and His messengers, to His holy books, and to the religious holy places. This is so that nobody can cause them harm.
Al-Qaradhawi then rationalizes this by saying European countries already outlaw such things as Holocaust denial. Again, I hate to let a fascist jackass make a good point, but he has one. But the answer to that wrong is to repeal such odious laws. I'll allow Right-wing Neo-Nazis in Germany freedom to idiotically deny the Holocaust all they want in exchange for me retaining the freedom to call your Prophet Muhammed a mass-murdering pedophile.

As I have been trying to argue for some time, the problem is that Islam offers a competing vision of society which is distinct from the Western Liberal tradition. As such, it is an ideology which we are fighting. Al-Qaradhawi is not necessarily advocating that individual Muslims engage in violence against those who blaspheme the Prophet, rather, he is advocating that governments ought to punish those that blaspheme the Prophet. He is also advocating that Muslim governments ought to punish those governments which insist that freedom of speech includes the right to call Muhammed a butcher on par with Ivan the Terrible and Genghis Khan.

To those feeble governments we say: Take a courageous stand. Stand up and prove that you are Muslim, and that you protect this religion with zeal. We want our governments not to split from their peoples. The masses throughout the Islamic world have made their position clear. They have displayed their rage. The governments must not split away from these masses."
Last, threaten us with terrorism. If the West doesn't censor insults on the pedophilic Prophet Muhammed (sawt), which is a crime in even the most moderate forms of mainstream Islamic sharia, they should expect more terrorism:
"The second warning I direct at the Westerners, the Americans, and the Europeans who follow them, who claim to be fighting terrorism, and struggling against violence throughout the world.

"I say to them: Your silence over such crimes, which offend the Prophet of Islam and insult his great nation, is what begets violence, generates terrorism, and makes the terrorists say: Our governments are doing nothing, and we must avenge our Prophet ourselves. This is what creates terrorism and begets violence."

Then he warns us that if we don't punish the blasphemers, that the entire West should be boycotted.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 04:26 PM | |