There was another Turkish sultan who accepted a German warship as a gift, but it cost him the entire Middle East.
Category: Society
Master of seduction
His lawyer says he was engaged merely in a game of seduction with the one who accused him, and that where he admits fiery relationships with other women he was not married to, it was all consensual. So rush to the defence of your beloved, lauding him for his contribution to scholarship, for his defence of your religion, for instilling in you pride and self-respect. Stand by the purveyor of religion, ignoring what your religion teaches, for you too have been seduced by this supposed bestower of self-worth. Such is the power of the master of seduction.
Those with vast followings
With influence comes responsibility. If you suddenly find yourself with a vast following, you have a responsibility to verify, as far as possible, the information that you pass on to others. Last year, we looked on as Muslim politicians and community leaders shared disturbing images from unrelated events in response to reports of atrocities in Myanmar. Earlier this year, impassioned activists shared photos from Gaza in 2014, claiming that they captured the day’s events in Syria. Daily, armed with a reverse image search, we detect similar infractions, as images are repurposed from one event to illustrate events elsewhere. Continue reading “Those with vast followings”
Copycat
Is the accusation of Islamophobia from the path trodden by those before us, a clone of the accusation of anti-semitism, as we follow them, step-by-step and inch-by-inch, even into the burrow of a fleeting reptile?
Liquidation
A wise sage, learned in both the sacred and medical sciences — and rightfully respected — tells his seventeen thousand followers on Twitter:
The French couldn’t refute/silence Professor Tariq Ramadan with ideas, so they’re literally trying to kill him and get away with it using a corrupt judicial system.
Hope
Their messengers said, “Can there be doubt about God, Creator of the heavens and earth? He invites you that He may forgive you of your sins, and He delays your death for a specified term.” — from Qur’an 14:10
Fragile masculinity
Dear crusader against the times,
We hear you loud and clear: feminism is the great scourge of our times, apparently set to undermine our faith — along with modernism, scientism, liberalism and materialism. Thus must you argue at length in every post about the dangers they pose to orthodoxy, irregardless of your simplistic reductions. Continue reading “Fragile masculinity”
Letter to nobody
Sign the petition, they insist. But nobody ever asks to whom the petition is addressed. It has been signed now by nearly 160,000 people since it was launched in early November, three months before the one they want released was even incarcerated. Is it addressed to the French judiciary? The French government? The European Court of Human Rights? No, none of them. No, it is addressed to All Free Spirits / Citizens of the world. In other words, it is a public relations exercise, designed to convince hundreds of thousands of people of the innocence of the accused. It serves no other purpose, for otherwise it would be addressed to those capable of taking action. An MP perhaps. Or a senior judge. Or the editor of the most influential newspaper in France. Or the prime minister. Yes, but not Free Spirits — as lovely as they sound — who are incapable of effecting change.
The wrong perpetrators
The Red Cross claims that dozens of people including children under the age of 10 have been killed or wounded in an air strike against a bus, carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in northern Yemen today. Our activists shrug their shoulders.
