Gag Order: The Dangers Of Free Speech In The Muslim World

I have had a few problems over the years that I have been blogging regarding free speech. I’ve had to delete posts or make certain posts with personal information private and password protected. Unfortunately due to some recent events (while I was out of town and not online), I have had to make almost all my posts password protected. The greatest threat comes from so-called “Muslim” extremists who have linked my blog with a locally based forum that I and a number of friends and acquaintances frequent. Someone with the nom de plume “Kenneth Sterling” has identified me as among “Treacherous Three: Zio-Crusaders, Modernist Muslims, and Disinformationists” and labeled me a Rand employee, “stooge Muslim”, “CIA”, and “Zionist Informant” — none of which are true. In fact, a good part of the article deals specifically with me as an educator and blogger (you can read the article here) :

“If you look closely at the statements of some of the bloggers here, you will recognize that despite their proclaimed religion, they are undoubtedly on the payroll of the Crusader governments (i.e. FBI or CIA) or on that of the Zionist RAND Corporation. For example, one of the bloggers claims to be a Muslim and claims to follow the Qur’an, yet she openly rejects the statements of the Prophet Muhammad (i.e. ahadeeth) asserting that they are man-made. She says:

“…Much of woes of Muslim women will be over if we follow Qur’an rather than these ahadith. Women lost in ahadith what they had gained through Qur’an.” http://peacefulmuslimah.wordpress.com [NOTE TO READERS: I was quoting another writer here as noted and linked to in the original post]

She also says:

“…Since that is impossible (i.e. that you understand the meaning and context of the hadith) I can only assume that you pay more attention to the Hadith (which are MAN-made, not GOD-made) than the Quran. I do not. I believe what is clearly stated by God: There is no compulsion in religion…You are free to follow men (i.e. THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD (sws)) if you like. I will do my best to follow Allah…And yes, I believe in Hadith. I do not place them above Quran, though. http://peacefulmuslimah.wordpress.com {NOTE TO READERS: I was expressing a personal opinion; obviously Muslims are not allowed to have personal opinions]
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“I truly am not convinced that covering my hair is REQUIRED.”
http://www.qatarliving.com {NOTE TO READERS: again personal opinion]

Well, according to the Qur’an itself and basic teachings of Islam, both Qur’an and hadeeth are Revelation from Allah which must be followed.

“Nor does he (Muhammad) speak of his own desire. It is only a Revelation revealed.”
(Quran, Sura An-Najm, 53:3-4)

Moreover, anyone who rejects either the Qur’an or the authentic ahadeeth is committing an act which expels him from the religion because he is rejecting Allah’s Revelation. The Qur’an specifically makes many statements strongly forbidding people from trying to make a distinction between the Qur’an and the teachings of the Messenger, and from opposing his legal verdicts and his way.

“Verily, those who disbelieve in Allah and His Messengers and wish to make distinction between Allah and His Messengers (by believing in Allah and disbelieving in His Messengers) saying, “We believe in some but reject others,” and wish to adopt a way in between. THEY ARE IN TRUTH DISBELIEVERS. And We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating torment.” (Quran, Sura An-Nisa, 4:150)

“And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad) after the right path has been shown clearly to him…We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell – what an evil destination. (Quran, Sura Nisa, 4:115)

“…And let those who oppose the Messenger’s (Muhammad’s) commandment (i.e. his Sunnah, ahadeeth) beware, lest some Fitnah (disbelief, trials, afflictions, earthuakes, killing) should befall them or a painful torment be inflicted on them.” (Quran, Sura Al-Furqan, 24:63)

This same blogger is also one of the most zealous propagators of RAND Corporations’ strategies (i.e. to go into the education system and persuade the Muslim children to abandon the Islamic Sharia’). Despite the fact that she is always claiming to believe in and follow the Qur’an, she openly declares that she rejects certain teachings in it and she calls the Muslim youth to reject it as well, under the guise of ‘critical thinking’.

For example, the Qur’an teaches that the Jews are the worst in enmity towards Muslims, and that Muslims should not take them as auliya (i.e. friends, protectors, or allies) or they will become one of them.

“Verily the ones who have the most enmity towards Muslims are the Jews and the pagans.” (Surah Al-Maida, 5:82)

“Oh you who believe do not take the Jews and Christians as auliya (allies, protectors, confidents, friends), they are but auliya of each other. And if anyone from amongst you does so, then he is from amongst them.” (Surah Al-Maida, 5:51)

““Oh you who believe if you obey a group of the People of the Book they will render you as Kafirs after you have believed.” (Surah Al Imran, 3:100)

Yet this same Muslimah condones taking Jews and Christians as professors, teachers, and friends. She says:

“Well of course there are Jewish Professors in EC! And what is wrong with that? Need I remind Muslims that we are anjoined by Allah to be respectful to the People of The Book? “
http://qatar.livejournal.com/199525.html {NOTE TO READERS: I was responding to remarks made about the religious faith of Academics in Qatar]”
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I used to think that the only real fear I faced blogging was from someone who knew my personally and didn’t like what I wrote about my personal life or the society I am living in. Now I see that the danger is potentially deeper than that and could threaten my employment or even my freedom. I get a lot of readers who find my blog when searching for issues facing Muslims; political issues in the US and/or the Arab world; or want to know what life is like in Qatar/the Arabian Gulf. I speak for no one except myself and have never claimed to do anything but express my own opinions. However, as much as it grieves me to do so, I feel I must make all these posts private through password protection so I cannot be accused of being part of a “Zio-Crusader” plot to infiltrate the education system in the Arab world.

On another note, I can no longer embrace without question this faith called Islam and whether it is for me or not. When I became a Muslim I was not taught that I would be forced to give up my rights to think for myself and express my ideas freely. Now I know differently. The sad irony is that if I had never converted, I would be granted a lot more freedom of thought and speech, as I would be considered just another kaffir who hasn’t “seen the light”.

[NOTE TO READERS: I am using the same password as I used on private posts before. I can be contacted at: peacefulmuslimah@gmail.com]

Protected: Muslim Women As Leaders (Redux)

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Old Pictures in Florence by Robert Browning

River and bridge and street and square
Lay mine, as much at my beck and call,
Through the live translucent bath of air,
As the sights in a magic crystal ball.
And of all I saw and of all I praised,
The most to praise and the best to see
Was the startling bell-tower Giotto raised:
But why did it more than startle me?

Giotto, how, with that soul of yours,
Could you play me false who loved you so?
Some slights if a certain heart endures
Yet it feels, I would have your fellows know!
I’ faith, I perceive not why I should care
To break a silence that suits them best,
But the thing grows somewhat hard to bear
When I find a Giotto join the rest….

‘Tis a life-long toil till our lump be leaven—
The better! What’s come to perfection perishes.
Things learned on earth, we shall practise in heaven:
Works done least rapidly, Art most cherishes.
Thyself shalt afford the example, Giotto!
Thy one work, not to decrease or diminish,
Done at a stroke, was just (was it not?) “O!”
Thy great Campanile is still to finish.

But at any rate I have loved the season
Of Art’s spring-birth so dim and dewy;
My sculptor is Nicolo the Pisan,
My painter—who but Cimabue?
Nor ever was man of them all indeed,
From these to Ghiberti and Ghirlandaio,
Could say that he missed my critic-meed.
So, now to my special grievance—heigh ho!

Not that I expect the great Bigordi,
Nor Sandro to hear me, chivalric, bellicose;
Nor the wronged Lippino; and not a word I
Say of a scrap of Fra Angelico’s:
But are you too fine, Taddeo Gaddi,
To grant me a taste of your intonaco,
Some Jerome that seeks the heaven with a sad eye?
Not a churlish saint, Lorenzo Monaco?

Could not the ghost with the close red cap,
My Pollaiuolo, the twice a craftsman,
Save me a sample, give me the hap
Of a muscular Christ that shows the draughtsman?
No Virgin by him the somewhat petty,
Of finical touch and tempera crumbly—
Could not Alesso Baldovinetti
Contribute so much, I ask him humbly?

No matter for these! But Giotto, you,
Have you allowed, as the town-tongues babble it,—
Oh, never! it shall not be counted true—
That a certain precious little tablet
Which Buonarroti eyed like a lover,—
Was buried so long in oblivion’s womb
And, left for another than I to discover,
Turns up at last! and to whom?—to whom?

The Campanile, the Duomo’s fit ally,
Shall soar up in gold full fifty braccia,
Completing Florence, as Florence Italy.

I’m on my way to Florence in a few hours, taking a group of students for a week. We’ll sepnd our last day in Rome at the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. I was just there in December and it was freezing; have heard it is unseasonably cold and snow is expected. But nothing can keep me from enjoying the Italian gelati!

See you when I get back! Ciao!

Protected: The Danger of Muslims Co-Mingling

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Protected: Muslim Women As Leaders (Redux)

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Protected: Why Two Women Are Required For The Testimony Of One Man: Brain Function Research In The Hands Of A Yemeni Cleric

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Protected: When Women Assume Their Role As Leaders Among The Muslims….

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Protected: And Then There Is This Rationalization:

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Protected: Al Zawaj Al-Orfi: Why Are Muslim Women Willing To Settle For So Little?

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