Thursday, December 3, 2009

The Swiss Ban

P.S three people inspired me to write this post : Tarek Ramadan, Tarek Amr and Ahmed Shokier

I do not understand why the Swiss hold a poll to determine whether to have or ban the mosques minarets as according my knowledge Switzerland  does not allow the Azan and it only has four minarets in the whole country !!?? Why to have this poll in the first place.

Already there is huge misunderstanding here , Muslims do not need minarets to practice their religion , in fact  we can pray anywhere in this earth without Mosques ; this ban and any other future ban on the number of Mosques will not affect Islam or weaken it. The problem here is about the rights of the Muslim Swiss who should practice their religion freely as the rest of the citizens in this country and to show their symbols with no fear as they want . I know despite the symbolism of the ban it will not really affect Islam or Muslims despite it makes them alienated in the society

FYI Islam is the second religion in the country and Muslims citizens have contributed there a lot since 1950s when the political regimes in the Middle East forced the opponents , the rich and also the scientists to seek a safe asylum in Europe. UN , Arab League and human rights organizations worldwide have condemned the ban but what use now after the vote ; the vote that should not be there in the first place !!??

The misunderstanding here is that his campaign was not against a kind of building style , Islam and Mosque can blend so easily in to other cultures , you can visit mosques in different parts of the Islamic world and see by your own eyes how the swiss1 Islamic style blended magnificently in to the native architecture ; our old Mosques in old Cairo are different than those Morocco and different than those in Iran and Indonesia. The campaign was against Islam itself. The misunderstanding is more about the perception in the minds of the Swiss; the perception that led to fear from everything Islamic , even if this fear was illogic. When a lady wearing a black Niqab poster is hanging through out the country like a scary poster with minarets portrayed as rockets then we have to think carefully about this campaign. These posters by the way reminds me with the Nazi posters against the Jewish community. It seems that the neutral nation is losing its neutrality

We should not be surprised from this act , I once read that Jewish synagogues were very rare and unwelcomed in Switzerland before the WWII ; I do not know how accurate this is but this may indicate some kind of hidden religious radicalism !!??

I read also there is a concern from the Jews side on this increasing fear from Muslims ; after all they saw a lot  there. I understand their fear comes from the fact the radical right Christian wing is gaining power in Europe  and it dislikes Muslims as well as Jews like the BNP and Jean Marie Le-pen in France.

This poll’s results are a manifestation of Islamophobia and I fear that this manifestation will spread fear and hate more across Europe especially with the rise of the radical right wing parties in Europe specially in the north.

What makes me angry and sad is the statements of the Swiss foreign minister who said that she is alarmed on her country’s safety after the vote ; in other more clear words she fears that some radical Muslims would bomb themselves in her country !!?? Is not this more insulting !!?? She considered Muslims as crazy maniacs who will go mad after the vote ; well we are sad but we are not angry nor mad. You know I felt more insulted by her statement than the ban because according to her statements the majority of Muslims are dangerous on her country !! At least this is what I got from her statement.

For sure there are calls to boycott Swiss goods and services ; the most strongest call came from Turkey : Boycott the Swiss banks !!

Imagine if all Muslims including rich Arab Muslims decided to withdraw their money from the Swiss banks especially the secret accounts !!? I can’t imagine this because most of the rich Arab Muslims with secret accounts are dictators who are not that devoted Muslims in the first place.

This was something unexpected from a country like Switzerland with the highest levels of freedom from the top first world country.

18 comments:

  1. Well, let me say first, that I too think the ban is wrong in that it infringes on the religious freedom of muslims.

    Having said that I have to say this also:

    AFTER Christians(or anyone else) can walk around in muslim countries speaking of their faith freely, praying freely, showing their religious symbols freely(if not at some workplaces) and building places of worship freely

    THEN you could forbid them to build church-towers to do something similar to what the swiss did.

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  2. هاني سمير12/03/2009 06:37:00 AM

    http://www.coptreal.com/WShowSubject.aspx?SID=27705

    اقري يا متعصبة حرق كنيسة النهاردة, طبعا مفيش كلب جبان كالعادة هيفتح بقه في الإعلام القذر لأنكم عنصريين متعصبين حتى النخاع ,

    المسلمين في سويسرا واوروبا عايشين احسن عيشة مسمعناش عن حد مسملم اتقبض عليه وهو بيصلي في بيته زي ما بيحصل في بلدك القذرة
    http://www.shorouknews.com/ContentData.aspx?id=151974

    ولا اعتداءات فرشوط الهمجية , اقول ايه ولا ايه بس ربنا موجود
    فعلا ناس مريضة

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  3. This is all so silly, its their country & they voted & thats they want, We muslims must respect it! Plus instaed of complaining about this, what we need to complain about is the Terrorists who are committing atrocities in the name of our religion & scaring people of it, making it seem like some crazy hateful bloody religion..The Salafi Wahabi terrorist idiots who give people such a bad idea about Islam are the ones to blame 100% & they are the real enemy!!! If i wasn't a Muslim & i lived in the USA & knew nothing about Islam except what i saw on TV i would think Islam was a crazy religion, istaghfar Allah!! We must EDUCATE people about Islam & its true message & also FIGHT AGAINST THE TERRORISTS COMMITTING MURDER & PANIC in the name of our religion!!!!

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  4. @هاني سمير

    Ya alil el adab, roo7 et3alim el adab ya waty! Your putting an EL SHIROOK NEWSPAPER link you moron? Dont u know who they are? they are the ones that started the entire algerian thing ya zaky, obviousley you dont live in Egypt or know anything about it!!! 2nd the first link about the kinisa says no reason is determined yet how it burned, houses and gas pipes blow every day in Egypt, so dont go opening your big mouth before you know the truth & have proof, even your link doesn't say it was burnt on purpose!!

    AND DONT YOU EVER CALL MASR BALAD KAZIRA YA WATY, your not even EGYPTIAN, your a fanatical low life! In Egypt Muslims & Christians for the most part are ONE PEOPLE, ALL EGYPTIANS, & no one will ever seperate us because we have been like this for years, not you &your sorry ass Free Copt orgainization or the STupid Muslim Brotherhood salafi idiots either!!! Now go crawl back into whatever hole you came from!!!

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  5. @Gerarld: You must be kidding, have you even been to Egypt?! Can any one in your country convert a house into a place for praying w/o proper official documents?! That is the main issue with the churches in Egypt. Churches and masajed are not build based on the percentage of followers in each area and so we ended up having a race to build and covert houses to churches. Ive lived all my life with Christians, always saw them wearing their religious symbols, celebrating their holidays and having their own churches in our area. So, even though we do have some problems the general rule is that they are allowed their freedom to worship.
    What happened in Switzerland is a sad joke, first off presenting the miniarates as a problem bec they are a symbol of Islam's power, is a very mean trick, they serve a functional purpose and also differentiate between churches and masjeds. Also, why didnt ppl vote also on changing the way the temples of other religions are built? why only masjeds? and what will be the result of attacking the religious freedom of the 2nd religion in the country?

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  6. @Hany Samir: Rabena yeshfeek, you are full of hate as we can see and you are also one of those who traded your country for a passport and yet still pretend to care for it.
    Since enak betetkalem 3ala baladna enta malak aslan? PPL like you are a disgrace to the country and the christians of the country.

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  7. Stupid decision which won't help fighting Islamiation, just make it stronger.

    Hopefully Strasbourg will rule soon against the law.

    And Swiss foreign minister is right, it won't be the first time.

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  8. To sum up my opinion ,This is a post in my blog about the issue,followed by my response to a friend who commented on the post objecting to the ban:

    عادتنا ولا هنشتريها؟؟؟ اذا البلد سيباهم يبنوا جوامع براحتهم خلاص حبكت يعنى المأذن؟؟؟ ولا هو ربنا مش هيقبل الصلاة فى جامع بلا مئذنة؟؟؟!!!!! لو كان الهدف هو التعريف بوجود جامع هنا ما يعلقوا يافطة, او يعملوا دليل مطبوع او حتى على الانترنت بالجوامع الموجودة فى سويسرا....من غير قلق و لا مشاكل ...!!!!
    امنت بالله ...!!!!

    قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : (أعطيت خمسا لم يعطهن أحد من الأنبياء قبلي نصرت بالرعب مسيرة شهر وجعلت لي الأرض مسجدا وطهورا وأيما رجل من أمتي أدركته الصلاة فليصل وأحلت لي الغنائم وكان النبي يبعث إلى قومه خاصة وبعثت إلى الناس كافة وأعطيت الشفاعة). رواه البخاري

    The comment I wrote for my friend:

    اسمحلى انى اختلف معاك....انت شفت الصور بتاعة المظاهرات اللى قامت هناك؟؟؟ شفت اللافتات اللى كانوا رافعينها عليها صورة ست منقبة؟؟عارف انهم شايفين الاسلام مجرد راجل ارهابى ملتحى بياكل بايده و يلحس صوابعه بعد الأكل عند اى واحدة فى زوجاته الاربع المنقبات اللى ملهمش شغلانة غيره هو و رغباته؟؟؟ الكلام ده مش جاى من فراغ طبعا لأن للأسف احنا نفسنا فى منّا كتير شايفين الدين كده و الناس العاقلة اللى فاهمة الدين صح ما بتحاولش تعمل اى حاجة لتصحيح الصورة دى اللى كرستها افعال ناس محسوبين علينا قبل ما يكرسها اليهود ... ويوم ما بنحاول نعمل حاجة كبيرنا بنتشطر على هيفاء وهبى...!!! و اعتقد انك لو ربطت موضوع المساجد ده مع اجواء ما قبل و بعد مباراة الجزائر بكل دلالاتها الهمجية المخجلة هتلاقى ان احنا فعلا المسئولين اولا و اخيرا عن كل اللى بيجرالنا... للأسف..!!!

    دمت بود و الف الف شكر لمشاركتك القيمة.

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  9. I would like to remind you that Switzerland did not BAN Islam, did not BAN the constuction of Mosque. It BANNED the MINARETS. Now, how would it compare to the situation in Egypt, where building of churches is NOT permitted? How does it compare to Saudi Arabia, where non muslims are NOT AUTHORIZED to pray or have a church or a synagogue or a place of worship that is not Muslim? Come on, before criticising, let's see what happens in Muslim countries...

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  10. That's a very good article ...

    http://www.copts-united.com/article.php?I=278&A=10698

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  11. I really expected these comments comparing the situation between Switzerland and Egypt concerning the Egyptian Christians rights despite the fact here we are not speaking about Muslim Egyptians but Swiss Muslims
    With my all due respect if we are so horrible and bad not to mention radical and biased as a country why do the Swiss imitate us ??
    The idea of the vote itself was wrong from the beginning
    and if that writer believes that we should respect the decision of the Swiss voter then he should not complain from the Egyptian constitution because he knows as that the majority of the people will refuse changing the second article. Already I believe it is disrespectful to mention the death of Marwa El-Sherbany in this way
    FYI when Churches are built in Egypt ,they are built with their towers and their bells

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  12. Modern Pharao is the only one so far who has hit the point. Since it was the Muslim wolrd that linked religion to violence by invoking Holy Wars whenever it pleases any self-appointed Prophet there shouldn't be complaints now if this message is finally received and understood. Don't we even have morons who issue fatwahs against Mickey Mouse?!
    Instead of asking for more privileges and rights as our verfy own regimes are willing to provide we should rather wake/grow up and do some housekeeping.

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  13. Unfortunately islamophobism is spreading in Europe very fast. I believe that the reason is lack of knowledge about the islam itself, but also the misinformation that some medias are spreading about the political development and globalisazion in general. Of course people often fear what they don't know. Fundamentalism exists in all religions and remembering the hostilities from some powers toward muslim countries has lot to do with severing of attitudes in muslin countries in general. I see the problem of fundamentalism as a reaction of those hostilities more than the nature of religion itself.

    Even though muslims are often described in a same way that the jews in 30s-40s, I would like to remind about few "facts" conserning the Swiss vote.

    1) The percentage of participation of the vote was just a little over 50%. (It was however more than in average votes in swiss in similar cases). Only about 57% voted for. That means that 43% were against the decision. The other half that didn't even bother to vote are most likely the people who just don't give a s##t about the issue. People who voted for prohibitation were the fanatics who did everything they could for mobilising people with fear and propaganda. Also most of those people were very old, and after few years they are no more. Looking for answers from voting behavior of the youth might be crucial.

    So, situation is not propably as bad as it may look this time. Still We should keep pur heads cool and look if there are any similarities with the Italian crusifix-issue. The worst thing to do now is to start rioting and to give good propaganda asset to certain media in those countries.

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  14. Zeinobia...

    Marwa Elsherbini is a very good example of our stiffness.My best friend is veiled and she lives with her husband in NYC ,the main site of the September 11th disaster,and nevertheless she is quite happy and received a free PhD scholarship ..know why??? bec.she just covers her head with a simple scarf and wears normal casual clothes with long sleeves.She is sticking to her religious beliefs while keeping as close as possible to the spirit of the society in which she lives.The late Marwa didn't do so...!!! Whenever I see a photo of hers in the media I keep wondering how she expected not to be attacked with this flagrant cloak in these miserable times when every Muslim is considered a terrorist until prove otherwise.Taking into consideration that the Quranic verses which are taken as evidence for hijab obligation state that the main objective is (to be distinguished in order not to be harmed)
    [Surat Alahzab:verse 59]

    As for churches,lets not cheat ourselves : yes they are clearly built with towers,but wherever a new church is constructed you will immediately find a new mosque constructed just beside it...!!!!Our Friday prayers are shown live on official TV , while Christian prayers are shown only in feasts,not the regular Sunday prayers.Of course I do not agree with Hany Samir , but we have to admit that our attitude is a major cause of what we suffer...!!!

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  15. I can't read the Arabic so I must resort to calling her the purple butterfly.The butterfly is beautiful and the writer is a beautiful person. I wish that all of you could be so honest. Whatever happened to Pope Shenouda?

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  16. هاني سمير12/04/2009 04:44:00 PM

    اقري يا متعصبة مرة تانية قطر تبني اول كنيسة بدون صليب ولا مئذنة ولا اجراس
    http://www.alriyadh.com/2008/03/16/article326284.html

    طبعا التعصب عماكي لدرجة انك فاكرة ان فيه كنايس اصلا بتتبني في مصر وناسية ان اشاعة ان مكان هيتحول لكنيسة بيحصل ايه للمسيحيين الغلابة

    وباهديكي الفيديو ده منن عند وائل عباس عن احداث حصلت في عين شمس السنة اللي فاتت وبيحرقوا لافتة لا للكنسية وبيغنوا الكنيس وقعت والقسيس مات
    http://100fm6.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5786

    وبعد كدة انا اللي بتشتم من الرعاع تقولي لمين اللي اختشوا ماتوا وشبعوا موت

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  17. Misrscribe

    I think you are referring to me.Thanks for the nice compliment.

    ReplyDelete

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