Volume 94, Ramadan 9, 1430Editors: Haja Mohideen and Azra HM Yusuf
Emperor’s Islamophobia: Shah Rukh Khan at US airport
By Ram Puniyani
Shah Rukh Khan, one of the best known actors from Bollywood was detained for questioning in Newark airport in US (15th August). The actor who is a global icon of sorts was grilled by the US official as his name is a Muslim one, and the legendary actor felt humiliated with the treatment meted out to him. While the star actor was being questioned in this manner the Jet Airways staff vouched for him and many of his international fans were seeking his autographs, but the US official, drunk on the Imperial arrogance and infected by anti Muslim sentiments refused to recognize Khan. That any Google search on his name would have yielded infinite entries to establish his identity, is an elementary knowledge by now.
Just a few weeks ago, India’s ex-President, the scientist of repute, APJ Abdul Kalam was treated like a commoner by the US based Airlines staff. Irrfan Khan was also meted with similar treatment. Other actors, with non Muslim names, have also been given such humiliating treatment by US officials but the logic in these cases is different, Neil Nitin Mukesh for having a skin color fairer then his Hindu name and John Abram for having Afghanistan on his passport. In addition the senior ministers from India George Fernandez and Pranab Mukherjee have also been strip searched in the past.
Most of the channels and many eminent columnists criticized Shahrukh Khan and those voicing their protest on the grounds that it is these security checks which have saved US from another terrorist attack post 9/11 2001. The desirability or other wise of these checks apart, there are two basic questions. One is that can those having diplomatic passports and those listed in India’s list of people exempt from such checks be subjected to these ordeals? Secondly why secondary checks are more for those with Muslim names? These commentators realization of the tasks of US security officials notwithstanding the questions remain the double standards of the security check system.
While the major phenomenon visible here is that of US officials have imbibed the anti Islam and anti Muslim propaganda, post 9/11 2001, the additional factor is the inherent arrogance and superiority complex of this Imperial power since US emerged as the sole super power, after the decline of Soviet block in international political arena. The treatment which US officials are giving to Indian dignitaries and celebrities is in stark contrast to the treatment which Indian administration and people are giving to the US dignitaries. The visit of Hillary Clinton just a month ago demonstrates the reality. The US Secretary of State was not only given a red carpet welcome, Indian media also went gaga about her, starting from describing her smart dresses to the details of her smile at different occasions.
.It is after 9/11 2001, the collapse of WTC, and the accompanying statements of Osama bin Laden, which gave the pretext of launching a propaganda against Islam and Muslims. It was at that time that the word Islamic Terrorism was coined and the distorted version of core words, Jihad and Kafir were strongly popularized in the popular thinking. In a way it manufactured a hatred for Muslims and Islam. While Jihad stands for fighting against injustice, it was presented as killing of non Muslims. While Kafir is a concept totally invalid in current times, it was put across as denigrating non Muslims. The net result was that in the global thinking it came to be regarded that all Muslims are not terrorists, while all terrorists are Muslims. The US officials in general and immigration officials in particular stiffened their attitude towards Muslim immigrants to US. Globally also, particularly in our country the trend began where after every blast here and there scores of Muslim youth were apprehended and tortured, and at most of the times their careers were ruined.
We in India can feel hurt, insulted and angry to what is being meted out to Indian celebrities and leaders. It is in a way the attitude of US to humiliate ‘others’, to assert its superiority and hegemony. The commentators criticizing the protest against treatment being meted out to the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and Indian dignitaries have to realize that it is not just to uphold the differential status but to protest against the highhanded attitude of United States. The time has come to revive the global democratic equations where the hegemony of one country is not acceptable and people of all countries and religions are treated with equal respect.
A student at Talbot Elementary School wore a shirt bearing the message "Islam is of the devil" on the first day of school and was sent home for violation of the school district's dress code.
Asked about a report of the dress code violation, School District spokeswoman Jackie Johnson confirmed that a student did wear a shirt with the anti-Islam message and was sent to the school office until a parent could come. Johnson said the student's parent had the option of bringing another shirt for the child to change into or taking the child home and opted to take the child home.
The Dove World Outreach Center, a church in northwest Gainesville, began to draw protesters in July after posting a sign that read "Islam is of the devil" on its property. The Dove World Outreach Center is approximately one mile from the Talbot campus. School district officials would not comment on the identity of the student, or whether the child was a member of the Dove Outreach Center congregation, because of privacy issues.
The School Board recently toughened the district's dress code. But a condition banning clothing school officials deem to be "offensive" or "disruptive" was already in the code before the revision.
Reached by phone late Monday afternoon, Stephanie Sapp, secretary at the Dove Outreach Center, declined immediate comment, saying she did not have time to discuss the matter.
School district staff attorney Tom Wittmer said the shirts violated a district ban on clothing that may "disrupt the learning process" or cause other students to be "offended or distracted."
"Students have a right of free speech, and we have allowed students to come to school wearing clothes with messages," Wittmer said. "But this message is a divisive message that is likely to offend students. Principals, I feel reasonably, have deemed that a violation of the dress code."
Wittmer said the school district allows students to express their religious beliefs but also must protect other students, such as members of the Muslim faith, from discrimination based on their religious beliefs.
He said there also has to be equal treatment of different faiths.
"The next kid might show up with a shirt saying ‘Christianity is of the Devil,'" Wittmer said.
First Amendment scholars said the school district's policy is likely legal and constitutional. Ron Collins, a scholar with the nonprofit First Amendment Center in Washington D.C., said courts give public school officials a "significant amount of latitude" in regulating student dress that could disrupt the classroom or a school function.
"Here, it's not only a religious expression," Collins said. "It's a religious expression that is hostile to other forms of religious expression."
Collins did note that student speech is afforded more protection at the college or university level.
Catherine Cameron, a faculty member at the Stetson College of Law, said the school district "likely has a good leg to stand on from a First Amendment standpoint" because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in several cases that public schools may quash speech deemed disruptive "even if it steps on the other child's free speech rights."
On their front, the T-shirts had a verse from the Gospel of John: "Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except through me," and this statement, "I stand in trust with Dove Outreach Center." The message "Islam is of the Devil" is on the back of the shirt.
On Monday, a 10-year-old fifth-grader at Talbot Elementary was sent home because of the shirt. On Tuesday, two Eastside High students and one Gainesville High student were sent home and a student at Westwood Middle had to change clothes because of the shirt, according to members of the Dove congregation.
Dove Senior Pastor Terry Jones said no local company "had the guts" to print the shirts. Dove member Wayne Sapp said he then ordered the shirts over the Internet from a company that allows individuals to design their own shirts. His daughter, Faith Sapp , 10, was the Talbot Elementary student sent home Monday. She said she was allowed to wear the shirt to school on Tuesday -- with the Gospel message on the front visible but the anti-Islam message on the back covered.
Wayne Sapp's daughter, Emily Sapp, 15, was the student sent home from Gainesville High on Tuesday. Both Faith and Emily Sapp said it was their decision, not that of their parents, to wear the shirts to school in order to promote their Christian beliefs. Emily Sapp said the "Islam is of the Devil" statement was aimed at the religion's beliefs, not its members.
"The people are fine," she said. "The people are people. They can be saved like anyone else."
Wayne Sapp said he believed the school district's dress code allowed too much room for subjectivity when principals and school administrators determine what is offensive or distracting clothing.
He added that his children decided it was time to "stand up for what they believe instead of saying the rules might not let me do it" and said that society has grown "so tolerant of being tolerant" that free speech is eroding.
Jones said that, to him, spreading the church's message was "even more important than education itself."
All of the Dove members interviewed said that, while they would not like a student wearing a shirt with an anti-Christian message on it to school, they believed students have the right to do it.
Saeed R. Khan, president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida, said the anti-Islam message should not be accepted when "schools are supposed to be teaching tolerance for others."
"It's pretty offensive, isn't it?" Khan said of the message on the back of the shirt. "Particularly in a school setting where you are trying to create an atmosphere where people are supposed to respect each other and live with each other, where we have people of every ethnicity and every religion."
Jones and Wayne Sapp said congregation members have not decided whether their children will be allowed to continue to go to school with "Islam is of the Devil" visible on their clothing because they want their children to get an education -- and that does not happen when they are sent home for violating the dress code.
Italy: Mourinho in Ramadan flap
Rome, (ANSA): Inter Milan coach Jose' Mourinho has spurred a fresh flap by suggesting that a Muslim midfielder had a poor game after drinking too little because of Ramadan.
Speaking after Sunday's lacklustre 1-1 draw with newly promoted Bari, the Portuguese coach said: ''(Sulley) Muntari had some problems related to Ramadan - perhaps with this heat it's not good for him to be doing this (fasting)''.
The suggestion did not go down well with Italy's Muslims. ''I think Mourinho should talk a bit less,'' said Mohamed Nour Dachan, head of one of the country's main Muslim associations, UCOII.
''There's no reason why a player who is religiously observant should perform less,'' said the UCOII chief, who claimed the faith of Christian, Jewish or Muslim players would boost their performances by making them more ''tranquil''.
Muntari, a Ghanaian international, was substituted after 30 minutes against Bari in a match the Italian champions were widely tipped to win.
Mourinho's theory that he might have been suffering from the Ramadan ban on daylight drinking held no water for the man who trains Muntari with the national squad, Milan university motor science professor Stefano Tirelli.
''Not all players react the same way to...Ramadan. Some have less energy in training and matches. But others have resources, in their character, emotions and genes, to put in adequate performances. Muntari is one of those''.
Tirelli said he had not heard from the player since the game but reckoned that the display against Bari was the result of ''a series of contributory factors, not a direct link to Ramadan''.
The personal trainer, who has also worked with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar national teams, said he was familiar with Mourinho from working with Muntari's countryman Michael Essien at Chelsea.
''I know Mourinho and I wouldn't be surprised if he plays him for 90 minutes next time out''. Ramadan is a religious month, which started Sunday, requiring Muslims to abstain from food, water, tobacco and sex from dawn to dusk.
Dawn is around 6.30am and sundown not until 8pm, meaning a Muslim has to fast for more than 13 hours.
Much of Italy is currently experiencing temperatures of 30-35 degrees.
“I think people have a lot of stereotypes about Islam and the community, and they don’t often really know the community that well, Mobin-Uddin said.
“I think people have a lot of stereotypes about Islam and the community, and they don’t often really know the community that well, Mobin-Uddin said.
CAIRO — Being a practicing Muslim and a professional author, Asma Mobin-Uddin is keen to share her experience in the holy fasting month of Ramadan with her American society.
“The story for me is kind of a metaphor of being Muslim in America,” Mobin-Uddin told the Press & Guide Heritage newspaper on Saturday, August 29.
“In that there’s lots of things you can’t do and can’t participate and enjoy.
“But also there are other alternatives that are very satisfying - like the faith and home and heart and family.”
The Muslim woman recalls being a child in American society, where she hardly found a book about a Muslim girl character.
“The whole time that I grew up in Ohio all the way through high school, I never once read a book with a Muslim girl character in it,” she said.
“Can you imagine, if you’re Christian, you grow up and never once read a book about Christmas?”
This motivated the American Muslim woman, a mother of three, to write books to share her experience as a Muslim woman with others.
Mobin-Uddin’s desire to share her faith with others led her to write her latest book, “A Party in Ramadan”, issued in 2009.
The book tells the story of Leena, a young girl who is very excited to be fasting for the first time with her family.
When Leena is invited to a friend’s party on Ramadan daytime, her appetite gets stirred up, watching her friends eating cake.
However, making up her mind to stay true to her fast, Leena decides not to eat.
Mobin-Uddin was granted the 2009 Parent’s Choice Award for the book.
“A Party in Ramadan” is not Mobin-Uddin’s first book as she published two books titled “My Name is Bilal”, in 2005 and “The Best Eid Ever” in 2007.
Misconceptions
The Muslim author says that her books are driven by her bittersweet story in the post-9/11 America.
“I think a lot of people don’t know about Islam and Muslims in general and, unfortunately with current events, people have kind of a negative view,” she said.
“I think people have a lot of stereotypes about Islam and the community, and they don’t often really know the community that well.”
Since the 9/11 attacks, American Muslims, estimated at between six to seven million, have become sensitized to an erosion of their civil rights.
Based on her experiences, Mobin-Uddin’s writings often include questions that were asked by other children and could make her feel different.
“I just remember some of the trauma of sitting in the lunch room during Ramadan and nobody knowing I’m fasting,” Mobin-Uddin said.
Such stories gained a rocketing fame, being published in Dearborn, home to the largest Arabic population outside of the Middle East.
It also spread swiftly targeting “the larger community because their friends and colleagues also need to know” about Ramadan.
Mobin-Uddin, a practicing pediatrician, believes that her medical profession also helps her to covey her message to children.
“I think pediatricians are kids at heart,” she said. “It’s that connection with the kid world that kind of drew me in.”
UK Author Apologizes for Qur’an Offense
IslamOnline.net & Newspapers
“I unreservedly apologize to anyone who does feel offended by comments offered in another context,” Faulks said. (Guardian photo)
CAIRO — Famed British novelist Sebastian Faulks apologized on Monday, August 24, for any offence he has caused Muslims with his remarks about the Noble Qur’an, insisting he was misquoted.
“I unreservedly apologize to anyone who does feel offended by comments offered in another context,” Faulks told The Guardian.
“[I offer] a simple but unqualified apology to my Muslim friends and readers for anything that has come out sounding crude or intolerant.”
This came a day after his interview with the Sunday Times stirred controversy after he reportedly described the Qur’an as a "depressing book".
“It’s just the rantings of a schizophrenic,” Faulks said in the interview.
“It’s very one-dimensional, and people talk about the beauty of the Arabic and so on, but the English translation I read was, from a literary point of view, very disappointing.”
Faulks, who said he read the Qur’an to help him write his latest novel which will be published next month, also claimed the Qur’an has “no ethical dimension” like the New Testament and “no new plan for life.”
But speaking to The Guardian Monday, the famed novelist insists that his answers during the Sunday Times interview were “overstated” and taken out of context “to make a silly season scandal.”
"If such an overstatement is taken out of its heavily nuanced context, then pulled out of the printed article and highlighted, it can have a badly distorting effect."
He said that after reading the Qur'an and several histories of Islam as part of his research, he "ended with a high regard for Islam, which seems to me more spiritually demanding than Judaism or Christianity.”
“People don't seem to understand the consequences of saying things like this could be quite severe,” says Masroor.
The apology came amid angry reactions from leaders of Britain’s more than to two million Muslims.
“This is a book which Muslims believe in,” Dr. Ghaysuddin Siddiqui, director of the Muslim Institute, an organization is committed to Muslims’ engagement in political, academic and public-relations arenas, told the UK Express.
He said that while Faulks is “entitled to his views” he should have taken into consideration that Qur’an is the holy book for more than 1.5 billion people.
Ajmal Masroor, an imam and spokesman for the Islamic Society of Britain, regretted increasing anti-Islam offenses by leading intellectuals in Britain.
“Attacks on Islam are nothing new.”
Just last year, Ian McEwan, one of Britain's few leading contemporary writers, launched a scathing attack on what he described as Islamism.
He made his bitter attack in defense of fellow novelist Martin Amis, who made a similar criticism late last year.
Masroor warned that said statements ran the risk of stirring religious hatred against Muslims.
“People don't seem to understand the consequences of saying things like this could be quite severe,” he said.
“History tells us it can encourage hatred.”
India: Burqa 'ban' rocks Hyderabad college
HYDERABAD, India, (Times of India): Trouble erupted in Muslim dominated Mehdipatnam after burqa-clad young girl students held a massive agitation outside Vani College (Junior and Degree) on Friday morning after the college principal, Y Annapurna, allegedly asked students not to wear burqa to class and shut the college gates on them.
The agitation soon degenerated into a stone pelting session with male students fron neigbouring colleges and parents of the girls joining in. The situation came under control only after the police - called in by the college management - resorted to a lathi charge.
The agitation came a day after a dharna by the students on Thursday protesting against what was termed by them as “the failure of the college management to react to the abduction of a girl student” from the institution earlier this week. The college management had looked the other way as they perceived that the girl had eloped with her boyfriend. In the event, the girl had returned by evening.
On Friday morning, the students charged that the principal had been berating them for wearing burqa for over a week saying that it did not comply with the uniform (salwar kameez) worn by other students. But the immediate trigger for the Friday trouble was the refusal of the principal to allow entry to late coming students, which soon degenerated into an argument about burqa, the month of Ramzaan and other matters like ‘promiscuity’ of girls.
“About 300 local youth joined the protesting girls and when police asked them to leave the place, some of them pelted stones at the police and college building,’’ deputy commissioner of police C Ravi Varma said. Eye witnesses said that male students of Gowtham Junior and Narayana Junior College who have their friends studying in Vani College joined in and started the bedlam.
“We were asked why are you wearing burqa when you are not particular about keeping our modesty. These comments are too much to bear,” a student from the college claimed. “The principal’s attitude irked us and hence we decided to take help from our parents,” a student of the college, Nadima Rahman told TOI.
The principal, Annapurna, however, told TOI, that she did not make any objectionable comment against the burqa. “The students were coming late for class and I had scolded them. They objected to this and staged a protest,” she said. The students, however, said that they were getting delayed because of the ongoing month of Ramzan and they had to offer Namaz before coming to college. They said, the college should not object to religious practices. “The college authorities blame us saying that we are spending more time in the mosque than with our books. This is objectionable,” a student said.
Analysts were amazed at the turn of events because the college has predominantly Muslims students. “I could understand such things happening in hardcore Hindu colleges and only with a few Muslim students. But not here,” said Salim Khan, a local resident. But an analyst - a Muslim—who does not want to be named said that “girls are girls, Hindu or Muslim. Their aspirations will be the same. Young girls will want to mingle with young boys, whether they wear burqa or not. Obviously, the principal is unable to appreciate this. She wants to say why are you friends with boys when you wear a burqa? This is the genesis of the trouble,” he added.
Oslo Allows “Burqini” Swimsuit
IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
Oslo City authorities have allowed Muslim women to use municipal swimming pools while wearing the burqini. (Google)
OSLO — Authorities in the Norwegian city of Oslo have allowed Muslim women to use municipal swimming pools while wearing a burqini, a swimsuit that covers most of the body.
"Some people say they need to cover up," Jan Zander, responsible for sports and recreation, told NRK radio on Friday, August 28, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Authorities said swimmers who cover their bodies for religious and cultural reasons will be allowed to municipal swimming pools.
They stipulated that swimmers to wear clean clothing designed specially for bathing.
"We think it is important that those who live in this city can bathe and use the pools," said Zander.
The burqini, derived from the words burqa (a head-to-ankle dress) and bikini, resembles a wetsuit with built-in hood.
The three-piece covers the whole body except for the feet, hands and face.
It is usually made from ultraviolet- and water-protected polyester.
The full-length lycra suit is not too figure hugging to embarrass, but is tight enough to allow its wearer to swim freely.
Hygienic Swimsuit
Zander ridiculed the claim that the burqini was necessarily unhygienic.
"Look at professional swimmers, they use all-over swimsuits,” he said.
“If the material can be used in the water, there is no problem.”
Earlier this month, a Paris swimming pool denied a Muslim woman access to the facility for wearing a burqini.
Officials cited hygiene rules, adding to tensions over Muslim dress in France and sparking a threat by the woman of a lawsuit.
The anti-immigration mayor of the northern Italian city of Varallo Sesia has also barred Muslim women from wearing the swimsuit, on pain of a fine of 500 euros (700 dollars) if spotted at swimming pools or riversides.
“The size of the costume should not be a criteria," said Zander.
Oslo is the cultural, scientific, economic and governmental centre of Norway. It is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping.
Nearly 25 percent of Oslo’s core population are immigrants, reflecting its cultural diversity.
The Muslim community in Norway is estimated at 150,000 out of the country's 4.5 million population.
The majority of Muslims are of Pakistan, Somali, Iraqi and Moroccan backgrounds.
for pix Oslo City authorities have allowed Muslim women to use municipal swimming pools while wearing the burqini. (Google)
Joint Chiefs chairman says US squandering Muslim good will
By ANNE GEARAN
"Each time we fail to live up to our values or don’t follow up on a promise, we look more and more like the arrogant Americans the enemy claims we are,” Mullen said.WASHINGTON (AP): The U.S. military is bungling its outreach to the Muslim world and squandering good will by failing to live up to its promises, the nation's highest-ranking military officer wrote Friday.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there is too much emphasis on telling the U.S. story and not enough on building trust and credibility.
"We hurt ourselves and the message we are trying to send when it appears we are doing something merely for the credit," Mullen wrote in an essay published in a military journal. "We hurt ourselves more when our words don't align with our actions."
Mullen said he dislikes the military's focus on "strategic communications," which he said has become a cottage industry where the shaping of a message eclipses what that message says.
"Most strategic communication problems are not communicatons problems at all," Mullen wrote. "They are policy and execution problems."
Efforts to reach out to the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim world is a main priority of the vast communications and public relations machinery of the Defense Department. Mullen suggested that much of the effort is wasted, or at least misdirected.
Public opinion in the Muslim world would seem to bear him out.
A survey of two dozen nations conducted this spring found that positive public attitudes toward the United States have surged in many parts of the world since President Barack Obama's election, but not in most of the Arab and Muslim world.
The poll registered continuing levels of profound distrust about U.S. influence and motives among Muslims, particularly in Turkey, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories. There, the report from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center said, animosity toward the United States "continues to run deep and unabated."
U.S. intelligence considers Pakistan, a nuclear-armed Muslim country that Mullen has made a priority with nearly a dozen visits over the past 18 months, among the most profoundly anti-American places on Earth.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates frequently remarks that the United States has let itself be "out-communicated by men living in caves," a wry reference to the skill with which al-Qaida uses the Internet to distribute its messages and capitalize on U.S. failings.
Mullen noted one of those failings, the abuse of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison, but he said the problem isn't the skill of the communicators.
"Our biggest problem isn't caves, it's credibility," Mullen wrote in the Joint Force Quarterly. "Our messages lack credibility because we haven't invested enough in building trust and relationships, and we haven't always delivered on promises."
Kashmir-based journalist nominated for ECO Award
By TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: Kashmir-based journalist, Syed Ali Safvi, has been nominated for
prestigious ECO Award for his reporting during Amarnath land row. The ECO Award is a global award given yearly by the British Columbia, Canada-based Global Community for achievements in several categories.
The only other person who has been nominated for the award for her reporting on Kashmir is the booker prize winner, Arundhati Roy.
The Award is a reward to both 'soft global activism' with relevant scientific efforts and balance journalism reporting in the different categories.
Blasphemy ban seen as return to Middle Ages
Kenyon Wallace Staff Reporter, Toronto Star
Photo by : LINDA BARNARD/TORONTO STAR
A ruined chapel sits among ancient and recent headstones in a graveyard overlooking the coast of Inishmore. While Ireland isn't the only country to invoke blasphemy laws, many western nations view their own blasphemy provisions as archaic and in contravention of freedom of speech rights.
Gosh darn it! If blasphemy comes too easily to your lips, it might be prudent to just put a sock in it before heading to Ireland this fall.
Under legislation to take effect this October, taking the Lord's name in vain could set you back a cool 25,000 euros (about $39,000).
The law – which has been approved by the Irish parliament and needs only the signature of Justice Minister Dermot Ahern – states that a person commits blasphemy if they publish or utter "matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion."
But so far, the only outrage has come from Irish worried their reputation as a pluralist liberal democracy is threatened by what they call a return to the Middle Ages.
"It's a backward and silly step," said Michael Nugent, chair of Atheist Ireland, a group that describes itself as an advocate for an ethical and secular Ireland. "The fact that there is a provision making it illegal under any circumstances to express opinions about religious beliefs is dangerous. We don't know how the courts will interpret it."
Blasphemy is punishable under Ireland's 1937 constitution. But there was no actual statute dealing with uttering or publishing religious insults so the Supreme Court said the constitution either had to be amended (forcing a national referendum) or a law could be created and passed in parliament.
While Ireland isn't the only country to invoke blasphemy laws, many western nations view their own blasphemy provisions as archaic and in contravention of freedom of speech rights. England abolished its blasphemy laws in 2008.
Canada's blasphemy laws can still be found in the Criminal Code, but are superseded by freedom of expression guarantees in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Irish controversy stems from a decade-old case in which a satirical newspaper was taken to court over an "offensive" editorial cartoon. The Supreme Court of Ireland could not make a ruling under the 1937 constitution's provision – which states blasphemy is punishable in accordance with the law – because the country had no actual law against blasphemy.
Malaysia — A Malaysian Muslim woman is calling for being caned in public for drinking alcohol, saying the punishment will deter other Muslims from serving the beverage. "I never cried when I was sentenced by the judge," Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno told Reuters."I told myself, alright then, let’s get on with it."Kartika, a 32-year-old mother of two, was arrested in a raid for drinking beer at a hotel lounge last year.She was sentenced to six lashes by a Shari`ah court in July in what was considered a warning to other Muslims to abide by religious laws.She also paid a 5,000 ringgit ($1,420) fine.The penalty has drawn fire from Amnesty International amid calls for the Malaysian government to revoke the sentence.Regretful Kartika said she does not plan to appeal the court verdict."Who am I to question the Islamic authorities’ laws? That is beyond me," she said.Islam takes an uncompromising stand in prohibiting intoxicants.The general rule in Islam is that any beverage that get people intoxicated when taken is unlawful, both in small and large quantities, whether it is alcohol, drugs, fermented raisin drink or something else.Muslim Malays form about 60 percent of the 26-million population of multiracial Malaysia.The multi-ethnic country applies Islamic Shari`ah law only to its Muslim population.Deterrent The Malaysian Muslim woman has requested to be caned in public to deter other youth from drinking alcohol."I want to respect the law," Kartika said.Malaysian authorities has rejected the woman’s request, insisting that the punishment be done in a women’s prison next week.Kartika said four close relatives, including her father and sister, have requested permission to witness her being caned in the prison.Officials have indicated that the request would be granted, she said.Kartikla will be the first Malaysian woman to be caned in a prison.Officials confirmed that they do not intend to hurt her, but she will be struck on the backside using a small thin cane and only with moderate force."Shari`ah whipping is more like caning naughty schoolboys," an unidentified "whipping officer" said."In Shari`ah the punishment is not in the force of the whipping but to bring shame."The whipping implement is supposed to be soft and supple, so as to inflict the least pain."Kartika’s father, Shukarno Abdul Muttalib, however, still insists that his daughter should be caned in public."As a Muslim, I agree with her punishment, but I don’t agree that it should be done in jail, she is not a prisoner," he told Bloomberg News."If the authorities want to use this as an example, then the caning should be done in public."
