Saudi 'Scholars' Slam Swiss Minaret Ban

Scholars from a country that doesn't allow churches or synagogues slam Swiss minaret ban. Hypocrisy. That is, it is hypocrisy from a Western point of view. As far as these "scholars" are concerned, Islam is the truth, its truth is self-evident, and therefore the Swiss are obligated to accommodate it in a way that the Saudis are not obligated to accommodate non-Muslim religious observance.

"Saudi scholars slam Swiss minaret ban," by Abdul Rahman Shaheen for Gulf News, December 6 (thanks to James):

Riyadh: Several prominent Saudi Islamic scholars and preachers lambasted the recent Swiss referendum to impose ban on the construction of mosque minarets in the country

Speaking to Gulf News, they said that this is another evidence of the West's antagonism towards Islam and such moves detail the serious initiatives being undertaken for holding dialogue among followers of various religions in different parts of the world.

Shaikh Abdul Mohsen Al Shahri, an eminent scholar in Islamic jurisprudence, said that the Swiss referendum was part of a new hostile campaign unleashed against Islam and Muslims in the West. "This is a clear evidence of the racial and religious segregation still prevails in the West [RSNEditor note: Actually, I believe that 'the West' diligently promotes assimilation of all into their respective society, and it is the muslim who insists on being separate, segregated, unwilling to assimilate], especially in a country, which boasts of an exemplary model of democratic ideals," he said adding that this serves as a severe blow to the so called secular image of Switzerland [RSNEditor note: I must have missed it, explain again how banning a 'religious' symbol is damaging to a 'secular' image? hmmm  /scratches head and wanders off to look up the definition of 'secular' ].

On his part, Shaikh Murshid Al Motairi, a noted Saudi preacher, underlined the need for launching a massive campaign to withdraw investments of Muslim countries from Swiss banks and halt going to Switzerland for holiday making.

Now you're talkin', al-Motairi!

More hypocrisy from the chief enemy of free speech in the world today, the OIC:

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Prof. Ekmeliddin Ihsanoglu voiced disappointment and concern over the Swiss public referendum to ban building of minarets in the mosques in Switzerland.

The Secretary General of OIC, which groups 57 Muslim countries, qualified the ban as an unfortunate development that would tarnish the image of Switzerland as a country upholding respect for diversity, freedom of religion and human rights.

He described this as the latest example of growing anti-Islamic incitements in Europe by the extremist, anti-immigrant, xenophobic, racist [RSNEditor note: racist?  Just exactly what 'race' is Islam again?], scare-mongering ultra-right politicians who reign over common sense, wisdom and universal values. [RSNEditor note: Thank GOD for these :) and where can I send them a 'thank you' note?]

The Chief of OIC, which represents about 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, expressed his deep regret that at a time when the Muslim world and Muslim societies around the world have been engaged in a struggle to fight extremism [RSNEditor note: he must be talking about them fighting the extremism of those non-muslims who want to keep their heads and worship as they choose, right? THOSE extremists?], the Western societies are being hostage to extremists who exploit Islam as a scapegoat [RSNEditor note: Last time I checked the only group to 'hold Western societies hostage' and 'exploit Islam' were 'radical' Islamists, ummm so say again what you are doing to clean up those?] and a springboard to develop their own political agenda which in turn contributes to polarization and fragmentation in the societies.

He stated that this move also highlighted the need for promoting genuine dialogue at the grass-roots level to alleviate all misunderstandings and misinformation that lead to intolerance and misconceptions.

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Islam is known for denying others the very tolerance it demands  for itself.   

Switzerland recently voted to ban minaret construction, outraging local Muslims, the majority of whom are from Kosovo and Turkey.  Yet, over a hundred historic Christian churches have been destroyed in Kosovo since 2000 (including this one, in which a Muslim is urinating on it).

[Thanks to TheReligionOfPeace.com for the above photo and caption]

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