|
In this mailing:
- Judith Bergman: Jihad in Denmark
- Jacobus E. Lato: Indonesia: Free
Speech vs. Treason
- A. Z. Mohamed: Will President
Trump's Visit to Saudi Arabia Tackle Terrorism and Promote
Religious Freedom?
by Judith Bergman • May 15, 2017 at
5:00 am
- Danish
Minister of Justice Søren Pape hopes to solve the issue by
prosecuting the imam. However, Danish politicians appear to miss
the critical fact that there is clearly a thirsty audience for
sermons like this.
- This
sermon is a call to violence against Jews.
- As
the Quran cannot be changed, it is crucial to make more broadly
known what is in it, so at least people can see the facts
confronting them, to help them determine what choices they might
care to make for their own future and that of their children.
Copenhagen,
Denmark. (Image source: Romina Amato/Red Bull via Getty Images)
In 2015, Omar El-Hussein listened to the imam Hajj
Saeed, at the Hizb-ut-Tahrir- linked Al-Faruq-mosque in Copenhagen,
decry interfaith dialogue as a "malignant" idea and explain
that the right way, according to Mohammed, is to wage war on the
Jews. The next day, El-Hussein went out and murdered Dan Uzan, the
volunteer Jewish guard of the Jewish community, as he was standing in
front of the Copenhagen synagogue. El-Hussein had also just murdered
Finn Nørgaard, a film director, outside a meeting about freedom of
speech.
Two years later, nothing has changed. A visiting imam
from Lebanon at the Al-Faruq mosque, Mundhir Abdallah, is preaching
to murder Jews:
by Jacobus E. Lato • May 15, 2017
at 4:30 am
- On
April 19, the campaign of Jakarta's radicals chanting, "We
want a Muslim governor!" paid off, as Ahok was defeated in
the gubernatorial election. Exit polls on election day indicated
that religion was the main factor behind the voting.
- On
May 10, Indonesia's radicals scored a second victory, when Ahok
was found guilty of blaspheming Islam and sentenced to two years
in prison.
- The
verdict came as a surprise even to the prosecutors of the case
-- they had requested only a suspended sentence for the offense
of "inciting hatred".
Indonesian
Islamists listen to a speech by an imam during a protest against
Jakarta governor Ahok, on March 31, 2017 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
(Image source: Ed Wray/Getty Images)
In the two decades since the fall of Indonesian
President Suharto's 32-year reign in 1998, the use of the accusation
of "treason" as a governmental tool to quash political
opposition gradually reemerged in the world's largest Muslim-majority
country.
Today, however, those trying to overthrow the
leadership are Islamists intent on unraveling the fabric of a
pluralistic society.
This situation has led to the debate over freedom of
speech and the separation of church and state -- or, here, mosque and
state.
Four recent rallies in the capital city of Jakarta
illustrate the nature of what has become a full-blown controversy. In
each case, protesters gathered outside mosques after Friday prayers
for what they claim are "spontaneous" demonstrations made
necessary by their clerics' lack of financial resources to plan and
stage such events. But evidence collected by Indonesian authorities
indicates otherwise.
by A. Z. Mohamed • May 15, 2017 at
4:00 am
- A
number of recently published books on the history, culture and
internal workings of Saudi Arabia cast doubt on the ability of
the kingdom to undergo the kind of change required to tackle
extremism when its chief aim is to preserve and enhance the
power of the royal family.
- The
government in Riyadh neither believes in nor permits religious
liberty and free speech for its own citizens or for Muslims
elsewhere. Indeed, the kingdom's human rights record is abysmal
at best.
- Although
Trump is right that America should not "dictate to others
how to live," he needs to consider how he can "build a
coalition of partners" whose entire way of life is
indelibly linked to the cause and spread of the very extremism,
violence and global terrorism that he aims to eradicate.
Saudi Arabia
is ruled politically by an absolute monarchy and theologically by
Wahhabism, both immensely radical. Pictured: U.S. Defense Secretary
James Mattis (left) visits Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud
(center) on April 19, 2017 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Image source:
Jonathan Ernst - Pool/Getty Images)
As part of his first official trip abroad at the end
of May, U.S. President Donald Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Israel,
Italy and Brussels, Belgium
According to a statement released by the White House,
Trump's meetings with King Salman and other key figures "will
reaffirm the strong partnership between the United States and Saudi
Arabia and allow the leaders to discuss issues of strategic concern,
including efforts to defeat terrorist groups and discredit radical
ideologies."
The goal may be commendable, but it is hardly
attainable in a country like Saudi Arabia, ruled politically by an
absolute monarchy and theologically by Wahhabism, both immensely
radical.
In testimony before the House Committee on Foreign
Affairs' Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade,
Georgetown University professor and Middle East expert Daniel Byman
explained the "paradox" this presents:
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment