Things That Offend Muslims

A) If this was a list of things that Bill Donohue and the Catholic League found offensive, and was labeled “things that offend Christians”, it would probably be as offensive to the author.
B) Is it possible for a Westerner to tell countries in Africa and Asia that their religious laws are stupid without coming off…oh, I don’t know, a little bit imperialist?

That said, sure, Sharia is a horrible thing for people who are forced to live under it. But I fail to see how creating a 21st century Cold War, this time between the “secular” West and the Muslim world, is going to cause Sharia to go extinct. And I also fail to see why picking on Islamic law is so hip in the West when we say extremely little about, say, Hindu law.

I am sick of us in the the west having to beat around the bush on things just so Muslims don’t riot. I also don’t understand why they hate Jews (I get why the Palastians don’t care for them.) Why do Muslims in general even care? I was reading the pokemon link, and I have to ask, was Darwin jewish?

And I also fail to see why picking on Islamic law is so hip in the West when we say extremely little about, say, Hindu law.

why not? Muslims shouldn’t get a free pass and I’m sick of so many of them thinking they can

Wouldn’t it be easier just to list the things that don’t offend them?

Does anyone know if the house mix by Tea and Kay with the Muslim prayer was leaked to the internet anywhere? I’d be really curious to hear it, I like that kind of music.

why not? Muslims shouldn’t get a free pass and I’m sick of so many of them thinking they can

Thank you for saying that. My feelings exactly. Everything offends Muslims and at this point, I truly don’t give a flying flip.

You mean saying there is NO god, period, doesn’t offend them? WOW! It’s not on the list, so I guess not.

Maria and Susan,

One quick question.

When you say “Muslims” you mean “religious fundamentalist Muslims who are actively promoting or in favor of Sharia”, right?

Because otherwise you’d be saying that all ~billion Muslims on the planet have the exact same opinion of the Qur’an and how it should be applied to the modern world.

And that’d be downright silly.

One of the great victories that fundamentalists in all religions have gained is that they are now presumed to speak for all members of that religion. The major reason they have gotten that victory is that the rest of the members of their religions — the vast majority actually — have handed it to them by not speaking out loudly enough against them.

QrazyQat is right. That presumption is fed by the news media which focuses on the unusual, the outrageous and the looney in any subject. Mainliners of all religions are generally ignored and so westerners’ perception of Muslims is limited to the extreme examples.
If we are to believe what little we have been shown, we would have to believe that Muslims are offended by only three things:
A. Everyone and everything that is not Muslim.
B. Other Muslims of different sub-sects.
C. Women.
While it’s tempting to make a joke of such things, I realize that it’s likely not at all fair because we are being fed highly biased information by an industry that sells news rather than tells news.

However the responsibility for this misperception also has to fall on the mainstreams of the various religions. It is continually frustrating to witness their ineffective efforts or absence of efforts to accurately represent themselves to the rest of the world.

where’s the list of things that offend, or have at some point in history offended, Christians? Oh wait, we don’t have enough storage space for that one. =)

Muslims are people, and people get offended. with nearly 7 billion of us around these days, there’s plenty of offense to record.

Where’s the list of lovely gracious things Muslims, Christians, and other people have done to help, bless, encourage, uplift, etc. etc. their fellow humans?

Where’s the list of lovely gracious things Muslims, Christians, and other people have done to help, bless, encourage, uplift, etc. etc. their fellow humans?

What a nice sentiment, benjamin. I would like to see such a list. It would do my heart good. I expect that I would see in those gracious things motives from the natural humanity humans can have for each other rather than motives specifically from religions. When people are at their best, their creeds seem to be irrelevant.

That presumption is fed by the news media which focuses on the unusual, the outrageous and the looney in any subject. Mainliners of all religions are generally ignored and so westerners’ perception of Muslims is limited to the extreme examples.

The difference is of course that the calls for respect (either from Muslims or from multiculturalists) are a lot more widespread than if they were truly single loonies not representing a tendency. When you have this twisted urge to be holier than thou, then by definition, you will be a loony until the next one attempts to over-loony you.

As for a similar blog on Christians, it should have been made ages ago.

When you say “Muslims” you mean “religious fundamentalist Muslims who are actively promoting or in favor of Sharia”, right?

yes, that is what I’m saying, but I have to wonder why so many moderate muslims are so quiet about it

One of the great victories that fundamentalists in all religions have gained is that they are now presumed to speak for all members of that religion. The major reason they have gotten that victory is that the rest of the members of their religions — the vast majority actually — have handed it to them by not speaking out loudly enough against them.

I agree

Don’t forget Doritos!

Erm, Hemant? Why are you linking to neo-conservative blogs?

[...] [via The Friendly Atheist] [...]

The difference is of course that the calls for respect (either from Muslims or from multiculturalists) are a lot more widespread than if they were truly single loonies not representing a tendency. When you have this twisted urge to be holier than thou, then by definition, you will be a loony until the next one attempts to over-loony you.

What is there to respect about the behaviours of Islamic extremists and the Religious Reich? I see nothing to respect when they kill people, either mentally or physically. Yes, people can be killed mentally and still live physically via mental abuse. The individual dies and they end up with no respect for themselves or others. I have no respect for those who oppress others, esp by means of religious dogma. These things need to go for the human race to prosper and live their lives fully.

Moderate and liberal Muslims do exist and do complain about the way in which their religion has been taken over by fundamentalists. But their voices are usually being drowned out by the Islamic fundamentalists who get a lot more press. Or they are just ignored by Western society which is becoming increasingly Islamophobic and full of people who think the solution to jihad is to make Mecca into a crater. Or …well, there’s something about repressive regimes who are willing to stone people to death that certainly does make resistance to said government a less popular option.

In much the same way that atheists should be allied with progressive Christians who want to fight and diminish the influence of Christian theocracy, we should be allied with progressive Muslims who want to free their religion from imams who preach death to the West. The difficulty there is that those imams hate the West (partially) for political dirty deeds our countries have done, which our governments will probably never apologize for, and which we as a people have little-to-no control over.

So the only way us non-politicians can make inroads into reducing the power of fundamentalist Islam is to encourage its alternative when we see it.

cautious said,

February 24, 2008 at 10:35 am

Moderate and liberal Muslims do exist and do complain about the way in which their religion has been taken over by fundamentalists.

I never said they didn’t, cautious. What I said was Islamic extremists and Religious Reich. Those are totally separate groups from the moderate and liberal groups. IF you read that as me saying they didn’t exist, then I’m afraid you read it wrong. I cannot respect such ideological dogmas. This is a totally separate issue from the other groups. With such forms of extremists, I would just love to see the Hindu monkey god pick up a mountain and drop it on the “extremists” both Islamic and Christian, but that is only something we see in cartoons and will never happen in reality. It’s only good for a laugh to release the tension that such groups bring about to those of us who do not appreciate their cruel and inhumane actions.

Knowing that I am talking about totally separate groups, even liberal and moderate Christians, as well as Liberal and moderate Muslims can laugh at this “monkey god” senerio and I’ve seen them laugh at it too. I am not criticizing any religion, but rather the behaviours of a specific group of people.

Since we have asked the Oracle about Atheists and Jesus Christ on other posts, I here ask the Oracle about Mulslims. I wonder if any of these trivia facts are offensive? Perhaps fundamentalist Muslims find random numbers associated with words offensive? Note that I dare not ask the Oracle about Muhammad for fear of being hunted down and killed.

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Muslims!

1. The ace of spades in a playing card deck symbolizes Muslims.
2. An average beaver can cut down Muslims every year!
3. When provoked, Muslims will swivel the tip of their abdomen and shoot a jet of boiling chemicals at their attacker!
4. More people are killed by Muslims each year than die in aeroplane accidents.
5. A Muslimometer is used to measure Muslims!
6. Marie Antoinette never said ‘let them eat cake’ – this is a mistranslation of ‘let them eat Muslims’.
7. A lump of Muslims the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
8. Muslims can run sixty-five kilometres an hour – that’s really fast!
9. The most dangerous form of Muslims is the bicycle.
10. The Vikings believed that the Northern lights were caused by Muslims as they rode out to collect warriors slain in battle.

mriana, I wasn’t replying to your message. It’s cool.

Oh. Sorry.

No need to be sorry, Ms. Mriana. It’s the internets, miscommunications happen more easily than Moslems being offended.

This is so true.

Muslims have a dilemma that makes moderation of their religion difficult: Islam has been inextricably bound up with politics from its inception. With politics, there is state power and control. The goodness of religion will always struggle against state power and control. Politics contains corruption, and this creeps into religion. If Islam could free itself from Sharia, or if Sharia could be made to apply only to purely religious matters and not civil matters, then peace might be possible. Perhaps the West can teach the lesson of separation or church and state to Islam.

well since everyone is talking about islam
i am muslim myself
and i am shia
but to tell you the truth
if you dont belive in something i belive in then thats not my bussinees, us muslims should start worrying about ourselves
not other people
like i cant hate anyone it just not me, i trully cannot say i hate this and that person or religion becasue its not my bussineess what you belive in it’s your life so live it the way you want to
does anyone get the point i am trying to make???