Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Mubarak Bala arrested for blasphemy!

i know i am heading for the fire, but, really compadre cornelius, respect is one thing, compulsion is another. it makes no sense to me to punish people for mocking others--no matter who they are. there are two caveats i have here:

--if you cause real damage, it passes over to loss. for instance, i don't accept freedom of speech when the speech not only vilifies others, but results directly in damage, especially in loss of life. as for instance in the hutu nationalist attacks on tutsis in 1990-1994 that were part of the propaganda around genocide. short of that, we should be free to express our dislike or hatred or scorn of anyone, person or group. we all suffer when freedom of speech is unduly limited, and i don't see why religious figures should be exempt.

--the second caveat, similar. the infamous danish cartoons of mohammed led to riots in parts of the world. again indirectly the cartoon, like the charlie hebdo ones, would have been perfectly acceptable to me, but for the inevitable cost of people's lives.

this is the heart of the matter: what you or i believe is not sacred; people have every right to laugh at or scorn or hate it. we have every right to respond in kind.

but when threats of violence to shut people up, like the fatwas issued against rushdie, and consequently, soyinka, were made, those issuing the threats should have been punished.

i wish you could love and respect islam, as i also do, without having to accept the extremist legalistic position of people like the fundamentalists who can't defend themselves without threatening others. it is much much better to defend through expressing the loving side of the religion and not its ugly human violence.

and i'll add, that there is no real belief, in god or in god's prophets, that is "real" when its only defense is violence. the violence actually destroys whatever is good in the religion, and i am totally sure you can cite bell book and candle to support that point. i don't understand why you  wouldn't do so.

salaam aleikum;

ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

harrow@msu.edu

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <hamelbergcornelius4@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2020 5:29 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Mubarak Bala arrested for blasphemy!

 

Corrected:

Gloria in Excelsis Omega-Wali,

 Is it too much to ask that you respect what other people or faiths hold as sacred? Holy? That you respect Muhammad, salalllahu alaihi wa salaam the personal Beloved of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that you respect the people of Islam who say, " We are Muslims"? Of course, individually, we probably have different degrees of respect for others that God has created.

 The Prophet of Islam also has a right to rest in peace.

 Mallam Abba Kyari has the same right.

 If you vilified the Prophet of Islam, salallahu alaihi wa salaam, if (God forbid) you said that he was suffering from "dementia" or he was "demented" or "geriatric" or "vermin", I would not only burn you at the stake. So please, NEVER do such a despicable thing, not even in the name of ignorance, or in the name of freedom of speech or freedom of theology or freedom of philosophy

Brother Chielozona Eze and Sister Gloria Emeagwali,

 I notice that you are in the same choir, birds of the same feather, singing the same melody.

Well, let me tell you this, I'm not only happy, I'm overjoyed  that Mubarak Bala has been arrested for repeatedly, wilfully vilifying the Prophet of Islam , salalllahu alaihi wa salaam, in this holy month of Ramadan.  And he knew full well what he was doing.

 I hope that they make a statutory example of him, so that other miscreants of his ilk do not follow in his footsteps on the road to perdition…

Over here in Sweden, we had one Lars Vilks who is still in hiding and under police protection.

 Mind you, I do not consider Spinoza or  something like this to be blasphemous  - in Judaism,  you may vilify Jesus,  etc and blasphemy extends only to the Almighty. For example,  I consider what the Encyclopaedia Judaica says about Rasulullah, salallahu alaihi wa salaam to be not only offensive but blasphemous and the contents of what's said provides more than enough proof of the offence according to the Laws of blasphemy in Islam and according to all the known schools of Islamic jurisprudence.

Even if you are in doubt about this matter, I would lovingly advise you not to go and commit the same kind of offence in Saudi Arabia, Iran or Pakistan. I doubt that Amnesty International would be able to help you. 

Virus-free. www.avast.com

On Thu, 30 Apr 2020 at 21:07, Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com> wrote:

Cornelius, 

One person's blasphemy is another's eulogy.

 Freedom of expression is vital for all and that is why we love your commentary on such a wide range of ideas, from Judaism to Islam and beyond. 

So if I say that I don't believe in Judaism, Christianity or Islam,

will you, Cornelius the Wise, burn me at the stakes? Wherein lie the wisdom

and humanism?

Today  it is Bala, but  tomorrow it may be you  - burnt by The Taliban, for expressing affiliation to Judaism.


gloriaemeagwali.com

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 30, 2020, at 12:39 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <hamelbergcornelius4@gmail.com> wrote:



I am so happy:

Mubarak Bala arrested for blasphemy!

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