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GOMAA ON COURSE FOR WASEL RECORD
Ali Gomaa, Egypt’s Super Grand Mega Mufti to the Maxx, has issued a fatwa on statues:
Intellectuals and artists argue that the decree represents a setback for art—a mainstay of the multi-billion-dollar tourist industry—and would deal a blow to the country’s fledgling sculpture business …
“We don’t rule out that someone will enter the Karnak temple in Luxor or any other pharaonic temple and blow it up on the basis of the fatwa,” Gamal al-Ghitani, editor of the literary Akhbar al-Adab magazine, told AFP.
That’d be just fine by Mufti Gomaa, who really has it in for sculptors, sculpting, and sculptures:
Gomaa had pointed to a passage from the hadith that stated: ”Sculptors would be tormented most on Judgment Day,” saying the text left no doubt that sculpting was “sinful” and using statues for decorating homes forbidden.
Pro-sculpturists reject the controversial Gomaa decree:
Novelist Ezzat al-Qamhawi said Gomaa’s ruling would “return Muslims to the dark ages.”
The notion sounds “ridiculous,” Yussef Zidan, director of the manuscript museum at the prestigious Bibliotheca Alexandrina, told AFP.
Ghitani added: “It’s time for those placing impediments between Islam and innovation to get out of our lives.”
A statue fatwa may only be the beginning for Mufti Gomaa, who seems bent on defeating the fatwa record of his predecessor, the notoriously fatwa-prone Mufti Wasel:
Wasel stirred a controversy in July 2001 for issuing a fatwa against a popular television show, the Arab version of “Who wants to be a millionaire?” that was airing on Egyptian television, saying it was forbidden by Islam …
Wasel slapped a fatwa on watching solar eclipses and another on bullfights, but refused to support rights activists in their campaign to outlaw female genital mutilation.
Fair enough. No sense issuing fatwas over just anything.
Before we entirely dismiss the ideas of the Grand Mufti - I for one would be more likely to attend Bondi’s Sculpture by the Sea if some baseball-bat-style interactivity was involved
Posted by Margos Maid on 2006 04 04 at 02:44 AM • permalinkGomaa had pointed to a passage from the hadith that stated: ”Sculptors would be tormented most on Judgment Day,” saying the text left no doubt that sculpting was “sinful” and using statues for decorating homes forbidden.
Gee, I’d be worried if I was Sheil, I mean if this is so bad imagine how much of a sin w…..ing is?
Egypt was one of the earliest civilizations, built great, awe-inspiring monuments, later hosted the most advanced Greek culture in the world, with a great library, and then hosted a Jewish centre of learning, where the Old Testament was translated into Greek.
And now it’s this? Good God, slowly but surely the Arabs have well and truly fucked it. I wonder what it’s like as a country when the only thing worth visiting you for are monuments built by a long-dead culture which you eradicated centuries ago.
Posted by Quentin George on 2006 04 04 at 02:52 AM • permalinkSlightly O/T:
A TEXTBOOK used at schools in the Indian state of Rajasthan compares housewives to donkeys, and suggests the animals make better companions as they complain less and are more loyal to their “masters”, The Times of India reported today.
“A donkey is like a housewife ... In fact, the donkey is a shade better, for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents’ home, you’ll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master,” the newspaper reported, quoting a Hindi-language primer meant for 14-year-olds.The book was approved by the state’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party Government but has sparked protests from the party’s women’s wing.
State education officials in Rajasthan, a western state known for its conservative attitude towards women, said people should not be upset by the comparison, the paper said.
“The comparison was made in good humour,” state education official AR Khan was quoted as saying.
Heee. That’s strangely poignant, dipole.
Novelist Ezzat al-Qamhawi said Gomaa’s ruling would “return Muslims to the dark ages.”Novelist Ezzat al-Qamhawi was, however, being highly charitable in using the word “return”.
Posted by zeppenwolf on 2006 04 04 at 03:02 AM • permalink#10 - Now now Mr Ness - those kinds of comments are just not PC!
Posted by Lucky Nutsacks on 2006 04 04 at 03:15 AM • permalinkThis is it. The last straw. We of the West should at once pronounce that we have had enough of the religion for morons and ban it once and for all. All those who wish to follow it should be sent, with their goat, back to the hell hole they came from.
Christ, daily I’m forced to read more stupidity from these people. How about a fatwa against people who issue stupid fatwas. Or a fatwa against suicide bombers or belting up cameramen in William St, or drive by shootings, or receiving the dole, or living in ghettos, or pissing off other citizens, or abusing girls on beaches, or driving in carloads to smash windows, or rioting for no good reason, etc, etc.
Posted by Karl Fidel Adams-Kingston on 2006 04 04 at 03:59 AM • permalink#16 - Inshalla ! Allah (sars) wills it to be so!
Posted by Lucky Nutsacks on 2006 04 04 at 04:44 AM • permalinkImagine if you lived in egypt and hated old statues. What a bummer, you could go pretty well anywhere else in the world and be less pissed off.
Bit of a pity it doesnt devellop into a fully fledged phobia. Anyone want to dress as a statue and go ‘boo” as he walks past.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2006 04 04 at 05:39 AM • permalink#22 - No, that’s Fatima. She might more readily sweat blood, or perhaps (if she is Saudi) might think about a sex change operation,out of desperation to avoid the supression endemic in her homeland.
The obsession with statues and their likely attractiveness for the allegedly faithful is matched only by the obsession with farm animals and their likely attractiveness for the allegedly faithful.#6 Quentin George:
Good call! Sorry for the “I agree” style post, but it had to be said! The modern world no longer has a place for this nonsense…Islam needs to shape up or ship out.
Posted by Mr Snuffalupagus on 2006 04 04 at 06:08 AM • permalinkBBBvBBB
ROTFL - that is a ripper handle.
hey, I wonder if the Exalted Muttfurgler Ali Gomaa has issued a fartwa against the traditional Muslim “mans” enjoyment of anal sex with donkeys? The boys on the UN watch-posts on the Golan would like SOMEONE to stop the 0730 (Post 5, IIRC) Syrian donkeybonker. Regular as clockwork, been at it for years according to the lads!
MarkL
CanberraThese MMEA, what did they inherit and what have they achieved ?
They inherited all the great middle eastern civilizations - Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia - they inherited the whole lot. So, what did they do with this inheritance over the last 2000 years ? Nothing ? No that’s wrong.
What they did was destroy the only semblance of civilisation they had. They went backwards faster than the West went forwards.
So now they are stuck in some Middle Age superstitious time warp and can only survive on Western welfare and fortuitous oil fields.
Should we pity these losers, or just nuke ‘em ?
The United States by the US Congress gives $3,000,000,000/year handout to Egypt, $30,000,000/year to the Palestinians (perhaps now to be given to NGOs and not through the Hamas government, but enough to free up bullets for the Jews), 20% of the UN budget in which the Palestinians are the only ones in the world that have a UN agency devoted to providing welfare dollars for them, etc., etc., and all this without including the chump change the EU provides the Arab welfare queens. And you’re telling me the Arabs are stupid? Hey, they’ve concocted the most spectacular con game ever, beats any pyramid (soon to be fartwaed) scheme of the West and much more lucrative. Give credit where its due.
The reason for the fartwars is quite simple.
The beardy weirdy saw the size of the pigs genitals and became consumed by homicidal jealousy.As for statues well a similar thing happened when he looked at the statue of David…
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2006 04 04 at 08:30 AM • permalinkWell it was Nasser that messed up Egypt, and anyway Cairo is full of statues of their Arab Nationalists are they going to blow them up ?
Posted by Torontosteve on 2006 04 04 at 08:49 AM • permalinkAli Gomaa and the forty fatwas read like it’s from a surreal Spike Milligan or Monty Python sketch. But this disturbing despot takes himself seriously, and many others do too. This is where humour comes in, to point out how absurd these pronouncements are. Fortunately, you don’t need to change many or any of the facts to see absurdity here.
Does anyone here have the same thoughts I do from time to time ... is this for fucking real?
Egypt was one of the earliest civilizations, built great, awe-inspiring monuments, later hosted the most advanced Greek culture in the world, with a great library, and then hosted a Jewish centre of learning, where the Old Testament was translated into Greek.
Translate that as: “Egypt was conquered by Europeans and…”
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 04 04 at 10:18 AM • permalinkI suppose a statue of the Prophet is out of the question then?
Posted by Bill Spencer on 2006 04 04 at 10:31 AM • permalink#47: I was wondering the same thing. If a statue of Big Mo was erected - say, something in the Romantic style, showing him all “sword of islam” and everything - what would the iconoclasts do? Would it be irreverent for a Muslim to take a blow torch to it? Pull it down? Blow it up? Would it be ok to hire a jew or christian to demolish it?
Novelist Ezzat al-Qamhawi said Gomaa’s ruling would “return Muslims to the dark ages.”
Kudos and thanks, Ezzat, for eliciting my first cackle of the day.
Forgive me for veering OT, but this is such an interesting continuing story juxtaposed as it is with the current uproar over illegal immigration. Looks like maybe instead of Chocolate City, NOLA could well wind up being Cafe au lait City—more appropriate really when you think about it. It will be interesting to see which population ultimately ends up being the least/most trouble. At any rate, Mayor Nagin best brush up on his Spanish: Migrants Find a Gold Rush in New Orleans (of course that should read “Illegal Aliens Find a Gold Rush in New Orleans”) via Lucianne
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 04 04 at 12:53 PM • permalink‘Fess up, you married men. How many of you really would prefer a donkey?
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 04 04 at 12:59 PM • permalinkQuentin George 6
Egypt was one of the earliest civilizations, built great, awe-inspiring monuments, later hosted the most advanced Greek culture in the world, with a great library, and then hosted a Jewish centre of learning, where the Old Testament was translated into Greek. And now it’s this? Good God, slowly but surely the Arabs have well and truly fucked it.
About that great library ... the Arabs weren’t the ones who fucked that; at least, not the Muslim Arabs. The lovely Bishop Cyril I got there ahead of them.
Stats 49
(Perhaps the 1st “Euro” was Caesar,
Or Alexander.
Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 04 04 at 01:45 PM • permalink”Sculptors would be tormented most on Judgment Day,”
As they well should be.
Posted by tree hugging sister on 2006 04 04 at 02:33 PM • permalink(Perhaps the 1st “Euro” was Caesar, but he did litle to retard or advance the Egptos”.
You forgot Alexander. Cleopatra was a descendant of the Greek conquerors, not of the native Egyptian pharoahs.
About that great library ... the Arabs weren’t the ones who fucked that; at least, not the Muslim Arabs. The lovely Bishop Cyril I got there ahead of them.
Actually, I’ve heard it blamed on the Muslims, too. Something about the conqueror of Egypt being asked what to do about the library and answering “if they contradict the Koran, they must be destroyed, and if they don’t they’re redundant and can be destroyed anyway”.
Could have been either. Heck, could have been both.
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2006 04 04 at 02:42 PM • permalinkMore books have come out of spain in one year alone than books that have come from islam in 400 years.Nothing has come from it.no economy,no inventions, no enlightenment,“sweet fuck all”.
This site wants us to know that it wasn’t always so. But to echo sparrow: What have you people done lately? Besides, that is, the obvious, none of which btw is in the least bit helpful? This persistent regressive slide isn’t leading you back to your golden age, folks, only forward to increased ignominy. Get a clue.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 04 04 at 02:55 PM • permalinkThe Library was vandalised by a Christian mob, but not under St Cyril - that was the Serapeum (where they also murdered Hypatia).
The Arabs are responsible for the final, most total destruction of the Library - where the books were used to heat the Cairo baths, I believe the story goes.
It’s probably telling that Coptic script is a direct descendent of Ancient Egyptian script, whereas Arabic is a foreign language transplated into Egypt by its conquerers.
Posted by Quentin George on 2006 04 04 at 04:38 PM • permalinkAh, yes, here we go.
The inital destruction was under order of the Emperor Theodosius and carried out by the Alexandrian Patriach Theodophilus.
Caliph Umar ordered the final destruction of the books, since many were said to contradict Islam.
Posted by Quentin George on 2006 04 04 at 04:40 PM • permalinkPS, as has been pointed out, Cleopatra wasn’t Egyptian, she, and the entire Ptolemaic dynasty, were Macedonian Greek, with some Persian and Syrian blood.
By the time of Rome, Egypt was mainly Greek speaking amongst the educated classes, that’s why Alexandria was considered the centre of Hellenistic culture.
(As I’ve said earlier, the Septaugnit was translated into Greek there).
Posted by Quentin George on 2006 04 04 at 04:43 PM • permalinkYou want stupid Fatwa’s. We’ve got your stupid Fatwa’s right here for ya pally!
It seems(via Rush Limbaugh) that tiny little Macelester College in St. Paul Minnesota is about to be the 20th college to ban Coca-Cola from its “campus”.
It seems that the “Student Labor Action Coalition” has appealed to the “Social Response-ability! Committee” to ban the product.
The Student Labor Action Coalition! Sometimes words fail me-they just do.
So laugh all you want about the idiotic Mufti people, still you might want to look at the drivel that is happening right around us.
#29 Gubbaboy,
A fatwa is a legal ruling by a member of the ulema, the scholars of Islamic law, giving a legal opinion on some subject. You might think of it as a Western judge issuing an opinion in a case. However there doesn’t seem to be much quality control among Muslims over who can issue them, since apparently Osama bin Laden can do so with no actual standing as a jurist educated in the Holy Law.On the substantive issue of the Mufti issuing a fatwa authorizing the destruction of priceless works of art from Ancient Egyptian civilization because Islamic custom frowns on them, George Bernard Shaw had a cogent comment. In one of his plays (I don’t remember which one) he has Julius Caesar say someone is a barbarian, a person who thinks that the customs of his tribe are the laws of the universe. That seems to me to sum up the attitude of Muslims, about so many things. Osama made the mistake of drawing our attention to the Middle East when we were mostly ignoring it. This was a mistake. The more we see of the Muslim world the more barbaric and dysfunctional it looks.
#57 Rob,
According to Bernard Lewis, doyen of Western scholars of Islamic history, that is a myth. It was invented several centuries later in order to justify no-nothingism by later Muslim fanatics. I expect Lewis knows what he is talking about. Incidentally, he says it was Western orientalists who proved, from historical evidence, that it was a false story.#59 Coptic is a descendent of the Ancient Egyptian language, but its script is Greek letters. Ancient Egyptian was writen in very different scripts hieroglyphs, the more cursive hieratic, and demotic during the Late Period (First Millenium).
The Greeks in Egypt were very snooty toward the natives. They considered themselves socially elevated compared to the Egyptian peasants. Then the Romans conquered the place and in the Roman view the Greeks (outside of Alexandria) became just Egyptians, no different from the peasants. That really pissed off the Greeks but there was damn all they could do about it.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 04 04 at 09:07 PM • permalink(I love this place. You learn more stuff here.)
Posted by tree hugging sister on 2006 04 05 at 12:29 AM • permalink#66 Let me know when Chief Justice Roberts delivers an opinion banning Coca Cola because some left wing loonies want him to, then we might have an analogous case.
Egypt does not use Sharia as its law code, although organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood want that. Nevertheless Islamic law is still important there for matters such as family law. This clown is the highest legal authority for such law. I noticed the local Islamists dismissed his fatwa, since he is a creature of the government they oppose. If they were ruling and somebody they liked had the job though, he’d be like the Chief Justic of the US Supreme Court, or even more influential, since there would be potentially no area of life not covered by Sharia law administered by the ulema.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 04 05 at 12:57 AM • permalink#73: The Sphinx is not part of the cultural heritage of Egypt, as well as other priceless monuments of antiquity? Pay attention to #71. We are not talking at the moment about every stupid action that some left wing looney might advocate (this blog would never end in that case) but about a chilling attitude that threatens society itself. When the day comes that the Chief Justice, or Congress declares the destruction of the Statue of Liberty and that of George Washington in Wall Street and Abraham Lincoln in Washinton and Robert E. Lee in Memphis and Andrew Jackson in Jackson Square, New Orleans and…. I’ll know my country is in severe danger.
62 Quenton & Paco
“As I’ve said earlier, the Septaugnit was translated into Greek there”
Well, uh, sure, we all knew that, didn’t we Stoop Davy?
errrrrrrr, yeah! I was just about to say that myself! “The Septa-whummy was Greekified in Alexander-town,” I was fixing to say, but got, um, distracted or something. Maybe the phone rang, yeah, that was it. Tip of my tongue, really!
Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 04 05 at 05:25 PM • permalinkThe Brotherhood are recruiting here in Australia http://www.jimball.com.au/ check out this site for more information.
Don’t give Stoop a hard time about Alexandria. Wronwright hasn’t been there yet with the Tardis, so Stoop isn’t familiar with it. I’m sure that if he tagged along on the time machine looking for a good bar he’d learn vast amounts about the place.
At any rate Wronwright’s official logs don’t show him visiting Alexandria. There appear to be some unexplained gaps in the records, however.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 04 05 at 11:29 PM • permalinkI’m certainly glad that so much of the artifacts of the ancient Egyptians were removed and are now safe in places like the British Museum, the Louvre and the Vatican.
Civilized people value artifacts from past. The fact that so many Muslims don’t tells you a lot about them.
Posted by Just Some Poor Schmuck on 2006 04 08 at 12:52 AM • permalink
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Chris Shiel gets a fatwa when ever he thinks about writing.