A “Bingo” Moment

"I can't go around in this country suggesting that the queen of Denmark is a whore," he said. He being Ahmad Abu-Laban, one of the Islamist "clerics" from Denmark who purposely stirred up the Muslim frenzy over some cartoons published in Denmark. This is an incredibly important and revealing story from the Guardian.

The cartoons provoked a group of Danish imams to tour the Middle East. By February this year, Denmark's centre-right Liberal prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was dealing with the country's worst crisis since the second world war. Muslim mobs set fire to Danish embassies in Damascus and Beirut, burnt the Danish flag, and boycotted Danish cheese. At least 139 people died.

But one year on there is a strong sense in Denmark that the crisis might just have helped.

All European governments now seem to be grappling with the same problem: how far do they go in accommodating Muslims who do not share the same values of free speech? And as a row over the cancellation of a Mozart opera in Berlin this week - for fear of Muslim attacks - demonstrates, the issues raised by the cartoon row have not gone away.

Ahmad Abu-Laban, the fiery cleric who organised the tour, said he has few regrets - though he admitted he is suffering from rather bad ulcers. "In Denmark I'm a very bad guy," he said. "In fact I was on the bus the other day when a Danish lady came up to me and said: 'You are a very stupid man.' I said: 'Thank you, madam'."

Mr Abu-Laban is the leader of Det Islamiske Trossamfund I Denmark, a radical Islamist organisation based in the colourful Copenhagen suburb of Norrebro. Its premises are in an old warehouse. They include a mosque, library and upstairs meeting room. In the sun-filled courtyard young men unload boxes of dates. Just around the corner is Norrebrogade Street, Copenhagen's answer to Brick Lane in London. Women in headscarves stroll past halal butchers and the Baghdad sweetshop.

According to Mr Abu-Laban, the cartoons a year ago were the "final straw" - and followed a long list of "provocations" aimed at Denmark's small Muslim community. "When I saw the cartoons I said to myself: 'Oh, not again'," he said. "I had a vague feeling that something bad would happen. When we asked the cartoonists for an apology they refused. They were arrogant and unreasonable."

Cartoons

And so the imam - a short man, with a neatly cropped beard, and twinkling grin - took matters into his own hands. He put together a dossier of the 12 drawings originally published by Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper at the centre of the row. But he also included three pieces of unpublished hate mail - showing a dog sodomising a praying Muslim, Mohammad as a paedophile, and a French pig-squealing contestant.

The cleric insists that the ensuing crisis was not his fault. The caricatures were an affront to Muslim dignity, he said, and there were limits in every society to free speech. "I can't go around in this country suggesting that the queen of Denmark is a whore," he said.

But if he doesn't like Denmark why doesn't he leave? "Denmark is a nice country. It's merely that people have this kind of phobia towards Muslims."

Remember the quote at the start of this post? "I can't go around in this country suggesting that the queen of Denmark is a whore." He just did JUST THAT with complete and utter impunity. He knows with utter certainty that there will be no repercussions whatsoever for his words. He knows he is completely and utterly safe from any backlash.

But if you "insult" his beliefs - as he defines insult - he will tour the world to drum up support, instigate riots, cause murder, mayhem and destruction. He will even manufacture evidence (the "pig" picture) if that is what it takes to spark a riot.

This is what we are dealing with folks. This is not Islam. This is Islamism. Secular, temporal ambitions wearing the trappings of a religion as a shield. This man revealed more of what he is all about than he realized. This is what we are up against as a civilization.

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  By ajacksonian, Saturday, 30 September , 2006 @ 6:48 am

  And so inaugurated the infamous French Pig Party debacle, in which poorly printed and photocopied images of a French Pig Party were used to prove… that Pig Parties are a good time in Europe. The Danish commentators were outraged that the Imam slandered Denmark with a FRENCH Pig Party, and could not have used a good DANISH Pig Party winner to vituperate over… such manufactured outrage by the Imam. Whenever I see the ‘arab street’ acting like they always do, I think of the French Pig Party… manufactured rage on cue… on false pretenses.

Other Links to this Post

1. In the Bullpen » Danish Imam Who Spread the Cartoon Jihad — Monday, 2 October , 2006 @ 2:34 pm