327,151,193 Muslims

[Gyrate]

@Jackmannii

Bet I wasn’t the only one who thought the thread title referred to the number of Muslims expected to be living in Europe before the end of the century.

And that’s just England.

Or so the BNP seem to suggest.

[jjimm]

@Jackmannii

Bet I wasn’t the only one who thought the thread title referred to the number of Muslims expected to be living in Europe before the end of the century.

You’d have been right if my username were Ryan_Liam.

[bienville]

@Gyrate

And that’s just England.

Or so the BNP seem to suggest.

@Elvis Costello

London is full of Arabs
We could be in Palestine
Overrun by a Chinese line
With the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne

[Desmostylus]

@bienville

@Elvis Costello

London is full of Arabs
We could be in Palestine
Overrun by a Chinese line
With the boys from the Mersey and the Thames and the Tyne

@The Clash

A nuclear error but I have no fear
Cos London is drowning and I live by the river
Now get this
London calling, yes I was there too
An’ you know what they said - well some of it was true!

Hope that clears up the confusion.

[Aldebaran]

@bienville

Now they’re forcing women to head their governments for them!?

The horrors of the Muslim World never cease to shock me!

You tell me about it.
And they did it by occasion already for and during centuries before we got all that commotion surrounding heads of state like Benazir Bhutto.

For those interested:
An excellent study on this subject was done by Fatima Mernissi:
Sultanes oubliées, femmes chefs d’ Etat en Islam
éditions Albin Michel S.A., Paris 1990.

I don’t know if it is available in an English translation, but most probably it is.
Salaam. A

[GorillaMan]

@Desmostylus

Hope that clears up the confusion.

@TS Eliot

The river sweats
Oil and tar
The barges drift
With the turning tide
Red sails
Wide
To leeward, swing on the heavy spar.
The barges wash
Drifting logs
Down Greenwich reach
Past the Isle of Dogs.
Weialala leia
Wallala leialala

Just in case anyone missed it.

[Ithaka]

Just to reiterate the point:

@The Kinks

Dirty old river, must you keep rolling
Flowing into the night
People so busy, makes me feel dizzy
Taxi light shines so bright
But I don’t need no friends
As long as I gaze on waterloo sunset
I am in paradise

PS I helped Ray Davies park his car last week

[jjimm]

@Ithaka

PS I helped Ray Davies park his car last week

For some reason (because of the smiley perhaps) I read that as “Ray Charles”. And I thought “they let him drive!?! And he’s dead!”

[Rune]

aw, why did ya all have and go and become all lyrical and shit?

@The Cure

“Standing on the beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the arab on the ground
I can see his open mouth
But I hear no sound

I’m alive
I’m dead
I’m the stranger
Killing an arab”

Considering the female football teams fielded by this high bastion of conservatism, Saudi Arabia, I personally think the Arab chicks have become quite emancipated.

[Desmostylus]

Paranoia rules.

@Roger Waters

So we went for a spin in the country
To feel the wind in our hair
To feel the power of my engine
To feel the thrill of desire

And then in the trees I heard a twig snap
Warning lights flashed on my map
I opened my eyes and to my surprise

There were Arabs with knives
At the foot of the bed
Right at the foot of the bed
Oh my God how did they get in here?
I thought we were safe home in England

[Gyrate]

This thread has taken a very strange turn indeed.

[yojimbo]

Well if you cunts would stop hijacking we could go back to dealing with the ragheads and their evil, women bashing , FREEDOM hating, jealous ways :dubious:

[Ryan_Liam]

@jjimm

This is the number of Muslims living under the rule of democratically elected women in the past five years.

I hope that surprises some of you.

I use these figures to illustrate that when people on these boards use the terms “the Muslim world” or “the entire Islamic community”, they don’t actually seem to know what, or where, the fuck they’re talking about.

That despite certain bad attitudes towards women in parts of “the Muslim world”, 34,123,622 more people than the entire population of the United States, have recently seen fit to vote for a female leader. And this isn’t the first time - in the 1980s, Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan was, together with Eugenia Charles of Dominica, and Margaret Thatcher of the UK, one of the first democratically elected female leaders in history.

Yet again we get an assertion, in this thread, in addition to incorrect and some inaccurate and rather racist statements (against Arabs), to the tune of:Now don’t get me wrong. I am not denying that there are dreadful, potentially threatening, and growing problems in parts of “the Muslim world”. Some of these problems - such as FGM - are cultural, and are often shared by non-Muslims in the same region. Some of them are indeed religious, such as Islamist terrorism. Some of them are down to a particular sect of Islam, such as the horrific treatment of women in Saudi Arabia.

However, I do wish people would stop pinning everything bad that ever happens (such as the inter-ethnic conflict in Darfur) amongst these 1.2 billion people around the globe, on their religion.

I have been accused of being “trendy” for defending Muslims in general (as opposed to murderous terrorist fanatics), or “PC” when I have attempted to counter ingorant, anti-Islamic prejudice, but I have no axe to grind. I have no great love for any religion whatsoever, particularly not fundamentalist or fanatical versions thereof. I am, however, thoroughly pissed off with the demonization of “the Muslim world” as a homogenous entity, and with this hopefully eye-opening fact, trying in one little way to redress the balance of the Islamophobia that is a shame to these boards.

If you’re going to condemn an entire group of people, then specify which entire group you’re condemning. If you mean “Arabs” then say “Arabs”, and let your statements stand and fall on their merits or demerits. But if you think that Bin Laden’s vile schemes deserve an apology from, or somehow tarnish, someone living quietly and peacefully in Sumatra, or Malaysia, or Brunei, then you’re fucking bonkers.

Khaleda Zia, Prime Minister, Bangladesh, 1991 - 1996, 2001-present day. Population 141,340,476 of which 83% Muslim: 117,312,595.
Megawati Sukarnoputri, President, Indonesia, 2001 until 2004. Population 238,452,952 of which 88% Muslim: 209,838,598.

Yes, in Indonesia. But the portion’s were looking at, in the Arab world, some 250 Million people deserve as much freedom as the ones in East Asia are somewhat enjoying.

[Ryan_Liam]

@jjimm

You’d have been right if my username were Ryan_Liam.

:rolleyes:

Fucktard.

[GorillaMan]

@Ryan_Liam

Yes, in Indonesia. But the portion’s were looking at, in the Arab world, some 250 Million people deserve as much freedom as the ones in East Asia are somewhat enjoying.

Does Bangladesh count as East Asia?

[yojimbo]

@Ryan_Liam

:rolleyes:

Fucktard.

Yeah you wouldn’t want people making judgements on you, would you ya little fuck?

[Ithaka]

@Ryan_Liam

Yes, in Indonesia. But the portion’s were looking at, in the Arab world, some 250 Million people deserve as much freedom as the ones in East Asia are somewhat enjoying.

Errr, isn’t that the point of the OP - pointing out that people use Muslim when they mean Arab.

[Ryan_Liam]

@yojimbo

Yeah you wouldn’t want people making judgements on you, would you ya little fuck?

No I wouldn’t fucktard

I didn’t tarnish all Muslims with the same brush

[Ryan_Liam]

@GorillaMan

Does Bangladesh count as East Asia?

of course

[yojimbo]

Luckily I don’t need any brush to tarnish you R_L you’ve done a fine job of that yourself.

Kudos.