The LIE of
the Kaaba Bar is no different from the LIE that every Muslim suffers repression
at the hands of Christians, Jews and Hindus, that the whole non-Muslim world is
out to destroy Islam, and that Muslims must ‘decontaminate’ Islam and adopt a
fanatical, belligerent interpretation of its tenets if they are to
survive.
Muslims will do just fine if
they start sanitising the community of these rumour-mongers and liars. My
friend’s second email added: “Actually, we all should refrain from forwarding
such mails, until and unless we verify their authenticity. I sent that mail in
good faith, but now I realise my folly. JazakAllah.” Like him, I hope all
Muslims who fall into the trap of liars realise their folly. -- Athar
Azimabadi
Photo:
Kaaba
Bar - artistic impression
By Athar
Azimabadi
‘Plz vote against “Kaaba” Bar
(to be opened in New York)’ read the subject line of the email. It came from a
dear friend of mine, who often forwards me online petitions against some
anti-Muslim atrocity
or the other to join, which I
generally ignore. But this one piqued my interest, and I clicked on
it.
The email carried the photo of
what appeared to be a Kaaba-like structure standing on a street-side.
“Shocking?” it asked, then proceeded to add: “In the business area of MID TOWN
MAN HATTAN in New
York a new BAR is opened in the
name of APPLE MECCA which is familiar to KAABA MAKKAH. This bar will be used for
supply of Wine and Drinks. The Muslims of New York are pressurizing Government
of USA not open
this BAR.”
This was followed by a
juxtaposition of the structure and the real Kaaba in Mecca, along with a couple
of long shots of the building under construction, showing workers on hydraulic
lifts around it. The email then urged readers to sign an online petition against
the opening of the Kaaba Bar. “Please raise your voice against US Govt and Jews
of their shabbiness to Muslim world… Please do Forward this mail to as many
people as you can. We need to wake up and to stand for the dignity of our
RELIGION ISLAM!”
I have to admit I was shocked.
Yes, we know about Islamophobia spreading in the West, of minarets being banned
and burqas being snatched. But this really was taking it quite far, and appeared
a deliberate attempt to incite Muslims.
I foresaw the online protest
movement soon shifting offline, and swathes of Muslims around the world
demonstrating – perhaps violently– against a wanton, wilful affront to
Islam.
My only question was, why wasn’t
all this happening already? Surely a Kaaba Bar was more inflaming than the
Danish cartoons or The Satanic Verses.
I got my answer soon enough, in
yet another email from my dear friend. “As-salaamu-alaikum, a couple of hours
ago I forwarded you a mail on ‘Kaaba Bar’. I now realise, after being corrected
by a friend, that
the news in that mail was
(in)correct. So, please don’t sign the online petition, as requested in my
previous mail.”
The whole thing was a hoax! No
Kaaba Bar was coming up, in Manhattan or anywhere else. Some basic research had
shown that the email –floating around for a long time – was a means of inciting
Muslims
through
rumor-mongering.
The place being talked about was
a normal Apple Store, addressed 767 Fifth Ave., New York City, NY 10153. The
photos of the structure were taken when it was under construction; they showed a
temporary outer
scaffolding. The final building
is a transparent glass structure.
Shocking? Perhaps not. Not when
we see all the other ways in which Muslims are being incited to throw reason to
the wind and jump headlong into a ‘global jihad’ against ‘kafirs’. Not when we
see
decontextualised Quranic verses
and doubtful ‘Ahadees’ being bandied about to urge Muslims to kill other Muslims
(not to mention non-Muslims) in the name of Islam.
The LIE of the Kaaba Bar is no
different from the LIE that every Muslim suffers repression at the hands of
Christians, Jews and Hindus, that the whole non-Muslim world is out to destroy
Islam, and that
Muslims must ‘decontaminate’
Islam and adopt a fanatical, belligerent interpretation of its tenets if they
are to survive.
Muslims will do just fine if
they start sanitising the community of these rumour-mongers and
liars.
My friend’s second email added:
“Actually, we all should refrain from forwarding such mails, until and unless we
verify their authenticity. I sent that mail in good faith, but now I realise my
folly. Jazak Allah.”
Like him, I hope all Muslims who
fall into the trap of liars realise their folly.
Copyright: www.NewAgeIslam.com
10:38 PM
Sultan Shahin
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