Self-righteously fatwa-ing since 1975!
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As Ramadan approaches, a month meant to be devoted to introspection and self-discipline but often marred by fanatic hoodlums who fan out to intimidate innocent people…Convicted IslamoNazi Thug Defies Cops, Promises Routine Ramadan Mayhem .and ‘Respect for Ramadhan?’ Sectarian Louts Spit On Girl, Beat Up Her Brother! ...the MUI, that august body of Indonesian ‘scholars,’ has just arrogated to itself the right to insult others on religious grounds.
…only government-recognized Islamic organizations, such as itself, should be able to call any people or groups kafir, or infidels...: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/12/scholars-and-activists-slam-mui-kafir-edict.html
This priceless privilege has been proclaimed after what the Jakarta Post daintily describes as the MUI’s ‘Edict Commission‘ held a get-together in Tegal, a city in Central Java more usually noted as being the origin of the word ‘warteg‘ (warung Tegal) which simply means a Tegal eatery.
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- These admirable little places are ubiquitous here, and as regular readers of RRA know, I am an afficionado of their simple but cheap and tasty cuisine.
- But let’s just savour food for thought this fine sunny morning!
So these ‘scholars’ alone may confer ‘infidel’ status upon me? Who gives a monkey’s?
I get called lots of names, usually by yellow-belly pinkos, like the poofter who (pseudonymously, of course! ) urged me to die last year. It probably added ten years to my life, the amount of healthy laughter I enjoyed from sharing that little tantrum-tale with friends over beers!
However, according to the JP, the edict aka fatwa is meant to prevent individuals from easily calling others kafir, a word that is usually considered highly offensive by the people or groups so labeled.
That’s the trouble, of course, the way uptights here (and elsewhere) get so easily upset about religion, their tiresome whining about ‘hurt feelings’ that often serve as a pretext for disgraceful hooliganism or worse.
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Grown-ups, of course, don’t suffer from the ‘hurt-feelings’ syndrome, or if they do, they just get on with their daily routines, having been brought up on the ‘sticks and stones’ philosophy which characterises a civilised society.
Unfortunately, not all adults in Indonesia can handle normal life, and instead shrill and bleat when others talk without forked tongues.
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- Ahok
Our rather good Governor Ahok, here in Jakarta, is given to telling it like it is, and thus has had quite a few immature individuals waxing incandescent at his audacity in so doing.–
Fanatic Islamist Wails At Christian Governor – “HeCalls People Names!”
Salim Alatas, Jakarta FPI Gauleiter –
“He is not a Muslim and he is too arrogant, his words are rude and he calls people names!”
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But to be fair to the MUI, they claim this fatwa is meant to maintain harmony. “The edict was issued because there are tendencies in our society to underestimate the word kafir and to easily call a person or a group of people kafir.”
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MUI’s Zaitun
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So says Muhammad Zaitun, the MUI spokesman, explaining that “labeling of a kafir is a religious law that individuals or illegitimate organizations cannot do,” adding that Islamic society should refrain from easily labeling others and should take moderate stances instead.”
Fair enough, ‘moderate stances‘ sound very nice, but then labelling alternative sources of opinion as ‘illegitimate‘ sounds a tad ‘immoderate,’ if not downright insulting, does it not?
A bit like ‘Papal Infallibility,’ a doctrine which equally offends my Ulster-Scots Protestant soul.
The FPI or the MUI or the FUI or ISIS can stick as many kafir labels on me as they wish. It’s none of their business what I or anyone else believes…but hey, label away, just so long as they don’t try to prevent me worshipping or thinking or saying or doing anything else I feel like, within the law.
Those choices, after all, are what God gave us a brain for, to decide for ourselves…
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…oh, and speaking of which, ‘moderate stances,‘ that is – maybe Zaitun could have a discreet word, prior to the start of Ramadan next week, with another senior MUI figure, namely Amidhan.
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- His idea of a ‘moderate stance’ was amply exemplified not that long ago, when he infamously warned people to bow to his intolerant expectations during Ramadan –
– or else not complain if sectarian ignoramuses beat them up!
If the MUI is seriously interested in taking a ‘moderate stance,’ let them issue a fatwa telling their fans NOT to shut down other people’s entertainments during Ramadan…
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‘We Muslims should fast with respect for those not fasting.’ -A REAL Muslim scholar, the late President Gus Dur ‘
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…and, yes, declare an end to the ridiculous insistence that eateries – wartegs or burger joints or whatever – cloak their ‘sin’ behind silly little curtains, so fasters don’t get ‘tempted.’
If a faster can’t walk past somebody having lunch without succumbing, their claim to be devout is threadbare!
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