Burning Butter!

The following is an abbreviated translation from some of the Arabic-language blogsphere. The selected posts reflect different deviations in opinions and reactions related to the infamous Danish Cartoons.

Dalya Younis of Geraldine Kingdom blog writes:

أقول.. أن أبسط شيء لم نفعله هو التعريف.. فلو أمسكت دانماركيًا يمشي في الشارع وعزمته على كوب قهوة عربية ساخنة وحدثته عن كنه محمد هذا الذي يتحدثون عنه لتغيرت أمور كثيرة.. على الأقل سيدرك أن العرب ليسوا كلهم -وأشدد على الكلمة الأخيرة..للأسف!- أهلاً للسخرية.. وأن محمدًا هذا ليس مجالاً للسخرية لأنه رجل عظيم (بغض النظر عن إيمانه بنبوته من عدمها).. وربما يدمن القهوة العربية كذلك ويطلب منك المزيد من العزايم.. والمزيد من المعرفة !
I say.. we haven't done the simplest thing; educating.. if you hold a Danish person walking down the street and invite him for a hot cup of ‘Arabian Coffee‘ and talked to him about who is Mohammed (the prophet) that everyone is talking about, a lot of things would have changed.. at least he will know that not all Arabs – emphasizing on the word ‘ALL’.. unfortunately!- should be sharp-fanged.. and that Mohammed should not be subject to sarcasm because he is a great man (regardless if one believes in his message or not).. who knows, he might get addicted to the ‘Arabian Coffee’ and ask you for more treats and more to learn!

Ahmed a Syrian-hardliner blogger writes:

و يؤسفني جدا اعتذار الحكومة السورية للسفارتين و الذي لا يعبر عن رأي الجماهير بتاتا ، أنا لا أعتذر ، و كل شعب سوريا لا يعتذر عما حدث ، بل إننا ندعوا إلى تكرارها في كل بلاد العالم .. ينبغي أن يدرك الجميع أن الخط الأحمر لا يُتجاوز …
أنا مدرك أنه ينبغي علينا التعامل بطرق سلمية بعيدة عن هتك الأرواح ، أو التهديد بهتكها ،، و قد فعلنا ، لكنني لا أفهم هذا الاصرار الوقح و البغيض من الحكومات التي بدأت بالاعتداء عندما احتضنت هذه القذارات تحت مسميات مجملة ، لذلك فيجب أن يفهموا لماذا نحرق سفاراتهم .. و لماذا نريد القصاص منهم .. و لماذا سوف نلجأ إلى خيارات غير سلمية في بعض الأحيان .. ينبغي أن يفهموا أن السبب هو هذا التجاهل و الذي لن نرضى به ، حتى لو وضع السيف في أعناقنا ، و حتى لو اضطررنا إلى نحرق الدنمرك و النرويج و من فيها !!
I feel sorry that the Syrian government apologized to the burned embassies, an apology that does not does represent the mass, and I don't feel sorry for that, nor the Syrian people feel sorry for burning the embassies. In fact we call to repeat the same all over the world.. everyone should understand that crossing the red-lines is not acceptable…
I understand that we should deal with the matter in more peaceful manners and avoid any human casualties, or threatening lives, and we did that, but I can't understand the ugly and impudent reactions of the governments which started the attack by accommodating this rubbish under different names, therefore, they should understand why we burned their embassies and why we want to revenge… and why we will use violence sometimes.. they should understand that the reason is their ignorance, which we do not accept, even if a sword is held on our necks, and even if we have to burn whole of Denmark and Norway and all what's on them!!

Raed Al Saeed from Saudi Arabia links to the live survey of MSNBC, which at the time of writing this post had 241612 responses to the question: “Are Muslims justified in staging worldwide protests over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad?”
57% said Yes, 41% said No, and 2% said I don't know.

Raed then writes, Shame on you Damascus and Beirut:

يا عيب الشوم يماً حولتم جهود الملاين من المقاطعة السلمية إلى مظاهرات همجية لتقلبوا وضع المسلمين من منتصرين إلى همجيين متخلفين لا يعرفوا الفرق بين الدنمرك وشيلي والسويد.
كانوا يبحثون عن أمثالكم لقلب انتصارنا لهزيمة ولدعم الدول والمنظمات الغير إسلامية لاعتراضنا لينقلبوا ضدنا!
بعملكم هذا دعمتم رسومهم يا من تحبون الحروب والدمار!

ماذا تركتم للقاعدة بعملكم هذا؟

يا من أشعلتوا النار في السفارات وشوهتوا الإسلام أنتم لا تمثلوننا ولا تمثلون الإسلام!

ولا تحملوا علم السعودية في مظاهراتكم

Shame on you. You turned the efforts of millions from a peaceful actions like the boycotting to this barbarism, to turn the Muslims from peaceful protestors to ignorant barbarians who do not know the difference between Denmark, Chile and Sweden.

They were looking for people like you to turn our peaceful victory to a defeat, and to lose the support of the non-Muslim countries and organization who supported us!
What you have done is nothing but support to the depicting cartoons; you warmongers!

You, who ignited the fires and burned the embassies, you do not represent us, and you do not represent Islaam.
And don't carry the Saudi Arabia flag in your protest.


Zayed Al Saidi from Oman asks:

لماذا لم يكن المسلمون هم صناع الحضارة الحديثة ؟
هل حقق العالم الاسلامي الأمن الغذائي ؟
هل نتسطيع أن نستغني عن الغرب؟
لماذا لا يستثمر العرب و المسلمين أموالهم في أوطانهم ؟
هل بالفعل يمكن أن تقوم دولة اسلامية ؟
Why Muslims were not the leaders of modern urbanization ?
Did the Islamic World reach to acceptable food security level?
Can we live sufficiently without the West?
Why Arab and Muslims do not invest their wealth at home?
Is it really possible to have an Islamic State?

Humiliation Magazine by Arabisk BlogHumiliation is the title of the bi-monthly Arabic Bloggers Magazine published by the Arabisk Blog! The PDF (Arabic) file is here.

Mohammed Alameen from Somalia writes:

إذن الإساءة موجهة لنا كأمة وليست لذات الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم ولكن الله أرادها أن تكون من خلال هذه الرسوم الشنيعة لأننا استسلمنا استسلام الخانعين فلا يحركنا شيء. ولو أن الأمة انتفضت في كل ما ينتقص من قدرها هي لانزجر المبطلون الذين يودون أذاها ولا يرقبون في ذلك إلا ولا ذمة. خذ مثلا فوز حماس في الانتخابات وتهديد الولايات المتحدة ومن ورائها الاتحاد الأوروبي وغيرها لحماس بقطع المعونات عن الشعب الفلسطيني إذا شكلت حماس الحكومة الفلسطينية. إذا تحركت الأمة كلها عن بكرة أبيها للدفاع عن حماس وعن خيار الشعب الفلسطيني الديمقراطي وقالت إنها تقاطع منتجات جميع الدول التي تقطع المساعدات عن الشعب الفلسطيني. وسارت مظاهرات في العواصم والحواضر الإسلامية تنديدا بمثل هذه المعاملة. ماذا كان سيكون رد الفعل الدولي؟ وهل الدول العربية والإسلامية عاجزة عن توفير المبلغ الذي تقدمه الولايات المتحدة والإتحاد الأوروبي للسلطة الفلسطين
So, the insult is directed to us as a nation, not to Prophet (PBUH), but God well is that this be through these ugly drawings because we surrendered, so nothing moving us. If the nation moved after any insult, no one would have dared to harm us. Take for example Hamas case after they won the elections and the following threats from U.S. and EU to stop all aid for Palestinians if Hamas form the new government. If the whole nation moved to support Hamas and Palestinians democratic selection; by boycotting all those who would stop the aid, and if protest went on streets for that, what would have been the International reaction? And is the Arab and Muslim world poor enough to not provide the aid to Palestinians instead of the U.S. and EU aid?

Finally, Eve from Lebanon says:

أشعر بالاشمئزاز من الطّريقة التي تتحوّل فيها المظاهرات في بيروت اليوم، ضدّ القنصليّة الدّانماركيّة، إلى همجيّةٍ خالصة وجهل
I feel disgusted by the way that protests in Beirut turned today to a barbarian and ignorant reactions against the Danish Consulate.

Note:

None of the above mentioned blogs or bloggers represent by any means, the country that they belong to or blog from. Each is a personal opinion, and does not necessarily talk on behalf of anyone but themselves.

29 comments

  • […] Global Voices Online has excerpts from Arabic-language blog commentary on the Mohammed cartoon fight. […]

  • Want an interesting and much needed collection of blog sentiments, especially in these trying times.

    Excellent post – this is why I love GV!

  • […] Haitham’s put up a very useful post, translating some reactions from the Arabic-language blogosphere. I’m really looking forward to a future Global Voices where we’re able to do lots more of this type of translation – it’s tremendously helpful to see what people are saying, in their own words, around the world. […]

  • Jason Newcomb

    Persuit for the truth does nt include redy to burn flags or slogans. Religious truth is also based in the currents of those who know what they fight for. You may caracture GOD to your hearts delight. What insecure GOD would not permit a perception? A glimpse? What kind of GOD would want someone to destroy the world over caraciture? How insecure and simple would GOD be by taking offence to a caricture unless it was His Mother – thats different. Never pick on a mother. But what kind of God would not even welcome, but not enjoy some caraciture? As IF God needs a press agent assigned. Um, No.You act so ignorant as in to suggest that it has never been done before, and you idolize Mohammet over GOD. He did too. A cartoon is waven in the face of what YOU are facing? Thats pretty rich. Nice try idiot mongers but this represents NOT most Muslims.

    It there is a cartoon, and it potrayes the true timing of an event, I would mark that as history.

    To spend 20 years in a jar of PISS is not as offencive as being told that you cannot protest that OR worse – That you had to pay for it. What would be worse is using a cartoon to stir up Religious issues and you picked the wrong door. God does not care. Thats the end of this FOOLISH anger. Islam failed Every test for GOD. Even the simple ones.

    In the 21st century, you make your worth. You do not manufacture your worh or use religion as a crutch or an excuse. You make your own societies better and THAT is a better work than saying you will do it.

    I watch you Nasty people use Islam as your reasoning with more Discernment every hour.

    That is all.

  • Jason Newcomb

    Oh, By the way – Why shoot so low as to caracture Mohammet (PBUH). Why not shot higher? DO IT!

  • I would like to point you to a new website that deals specifically with this issue. http://www.sorrynorwaydenmark.com/

    It begins like this: “WE ARE SORRY – In the middle of all the mayhem surrounding the Danish cartoons controversy, a group of Arab and Muslim youth have set up this website to express their honest opinion, as a small attempt to show the world that the images shown of Arab and Muslim anger around the world are not representative of the opinions of all Arabs.”

  • […] This article first appeared on Global Voices. The following is an abbreviated translation from some of the Arabic-language blogsphere. The selected posts reflect different deviations in opinions and reactions related to the infamous Danish Cartoons. […]

  • A taste of Arabic blog reactions to the issue – just what I was looking for. Thanks so much for your hard work, Haitham!

  • Robin Klingsberg

    أنتم لا تمثلوننا ولا تمثلون الإسلام

    …are not Muslims and do not belong to Islam.

    I just wanted to note that I think a better translation of this sentence in the post of Raed Al-Saeed would be “…you do not represent us [the Muslims], and you do not represent Islaam.”

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