MIM: The Islamic Circle of North America Philadelphia Representative Iqbal Barqai and a member of the Majlis Al Shura Council, Imam Isa Abdulmateen fueled the protests in front of the Inquirer, emboldened by the dhimmitude of editor Amanda Bennett who came out to talk with protesters and praised them for exercising "their right to free speech" while justifying her newspaper's decision to do the same. The Inquirer editors did not see fit to mention a direct threat to their paper made by none other then the state representative of ICNA, who was quoted in the Christian Science Monitor who stated that:
"Muslims are very angry- the offices of the Inquirer could be attacked"
For his part, Imam Abdulmateen who was given space in the Inquirer whose mea culpea to Muslims included giving publicity to Islamists, made it clear that the cartoon protests were really about intimidation and having Islam determine the social agenda . He brazenly ended his piece with this exhortation : "We invite you to accept Islam and become Muslims as thousands of Europeans and Americans have already done". (see ltext below)
No response from the Inquirer editorial staff to the Muslim free speech exercise which resulted in threats to attack their paper and the demand they convert to Islam appeared in the paper.
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Muslims protest outside the offices of the Philadelphia Inquirer Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006, in Philadelphia. The protest was over the newspaper's decision to reprint a cartoon of the Prophet
Demonstration at Philadelphia Inquirer Office
Submitted by icnacom on Sat, 2006-02-11 23:26. CollegevilleDars | ISGVF | NorthPennMosque
Praise be to Allah! The demonstration in Philadelphia was successful.
500 to 600 demonstrators turned up and participated in an orderly but strong protest against reprinting of the cartoons disrespecting Prophet Mohammad Peace be upon him.
Many members of the press were interviewing the muslims.
Many brochures and flyers were distributed to the passers-by introducing them to the Prophet of Islam and his message.
Prominent speakers from the muslim organizations made speeches at the occasion explaining the position of Muslims on this issue and demanding an apology from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
MIM: PI Editor Amanda Bennett's abject dhimmitude in the wake of Muslim anger about the publication of a Mohammed cartoon has fueled the protests. Had she not gone out together with director Carl Lavin to justify the paper's right to free speech, while applauding the way they used theirs the demonstrations which began with 30 people might have dissapated. Instead, the Islamofacist thugs have been whipped up by CAIR and ICNA and their are reportedy 'hundreds of Muslims laying siege to the PI building.
The radical Imam Abdulmateen has called upon the staff of the Inquirer to convert to Islam after publishing a Mohammed cartoon. The same Abdulmateen wrote a commentary two weeks ago and falsely claimed that the police department beard policy had been written "by Christian white men" who wanted to keep Muslims, blacks and women out of the policy department. It was only MIM which called him on his comments, but the director's letter to the paper was not published.
Posted on Tue, Feb. 14, 2006
Newspaper's decisions are selective
By Imam Isa Abdul Mateen
Last week, local Muslim organizations protested The Inquirer's decision to publish one of the cartoons that has sparked rioting around the world. The cartoon was accompanied by a statement that read, in part, "We believe it is important for readers to be able to judge the content of the image for themselves." The Inquirer invited protest organizers, as well as groups not involved with the demonstrations, to submit their opinions on the controversy.
Muslims believe that there is no god except Allah and that Muhammad is the final Messenger of Allah. The God that Muslims believe in is the God of Abraham, Moses, Noah and Jesus. Jesus, to the Muslim, is a revered prophet of Allah. It is disturbing to a Muslim when God is portrayed in drawings or statues, as this leads to idolatry. Even seeing the noble prophets Jesus and Moses portrayed in movies and comics is distressing to Muslims. Not only do Muslims love all of the prophets, but to slander any of them casts one out of the fold of Islam.
We Muslims love the Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, more than ourselves and more than our parents. This is well known. Thus, we know that The Inquirer and every newspaper that published the offensive cartoons did so with the deliberate intention of reviling our beloved prophet and the religion of Islam. It was no mistake. It was no misunderstanding.
Your editors meet daily to decide which pictures to discard and censor for various reasons. If a picture is deemed pornographic by you, you won't publish it. You have restrictions on publishing names and photographs of juvenile offenders. But you chose to insult one billion Muslims under the guise of "free speech."
Free speech does not exist anywhere in the world. A woman was arrested at the State of the Union address for wearing an antiwar shirt. Judges regularly issue gag orders. Some speech is outlawed as hate speech. In Germany, it is illegal to deny the Holocaust. A better goal is responsible speech.
Instead of heaping childish insults upon Muslims, we invite you to accept Islam and become Muslims as thousands of Americans and Europeans have already done.
Imam Isa Abdul Mateen ([email protected]) is chairman of the Justice and Integrity Division of Majlis Ash Shura of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley, a consultative body of Muslim leaders in the region.
