The Other Shoe on the Proverbial Islamic Foot

H/T to M-Cat: https://twitter.com/catstrangler101

On Islam and 'Hate Speech': Another open letter to @yasmina_reality of the #Myjihad campaign. Please RT.



Dear Yasmina



One of your favourite tactics against those who question the core assumptions behind the #Myjihad campaign is to make prodigious use of insults and ad hominem attacks.

 One of the most frequent insults employed by you is to accuse critics of being ‘haters’. Let us examine this charge for a moment. 

I do agree that hate speech and incitement can be a serious problem and that it should have no place in open and tolerant societies.

This is why hate speech is actively discouraged in most Western societies. Some Western countries have even criminalised hate speech (e.g. Canada, the Netherlands etc.)



Would you agree that if I made the following statements about Muslims I would be guilty of ‘hate speech’? (Let me just make it abundantly clear that I am using these statements in an illustrative sense and that they do not in any way reflect my personal views).


* Muslims are the worst kind of animals


* Be merciful to one another but be hard towards Muslims


* Muslims are perverse


* Strike terror into the hearts of Muslims and strike off their heads and fingertips


* Fight the Muslims who are near to you


* When Muslims make mischief against you murder and crucify them



You would have to agree that these statements fall well within any definition of ‘hate speech’ and would land me in deep legal trouble in many parts of the world.

Any prosecutor worth his salt, in a country where hate speech laws are in place, would be able to secure a conviction against me on the basis of these pronouncements. 

What about if these statements are used against non-Muslims?

Would it still be ‘hate speech’? If not, why not? 

The fact is that these exact statements can be found in the Qur’an directed against those who reject Allah and his ‘prophet’. Here they are: 



Quran (8:55) - Surely the vilest of animals in Allah's sight are those who disbelieve



Quran (48:29) - Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves



Quran (9:30) - And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah... Allah (Himself) fights against them.  (How perverse are they!

)

Quran (8:12) - I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them



Quran (9:123) - O you who believe! Fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness



Quran (5:33) - The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement



So Yasmina before you accuse anyone of being a ‘hater’ again I challenge you to explain to us why the imaginary 'hate' you accuse others of (I again challenge you to bring me any expression of ‘hate’ towards Muslims from my tweets) is worse than the very real expressions of hatred and examples of incitement to hatred that can be found in your holy book. 

I look forward to hearing from you!



Kind regards,

Peter
@petertownsend7