AlahAkbar (NOT about the banning)

The BBQ Pit
#1

The reason I’ve put this in the Pit is because that particular username got banned, so I think I’m just heading off getting it moved here anyway.

The actual question I have is: Is that username offensive to Muslims? If so, how?

I see it as that poster, had he been Muslim, just saying, “God is great!” That’s pretty tame, isn’t it?

And I’m not about to accept anything Aldebaran says here as being authorative unless and until he starts attributing his assertions. So, far he’s said that the proof that the poster with the name in question wasn’t Muslim was proved by that poster using the term “friend” to refer to another Muslim. Heck, that’s assertion #2 I’d like some proof for; that one Muslim would not call another “friend!”

#2

I like the implicit assumption that muslims can’t be stupid.

#3

Where the hell did that come from, Grey? I make no assumptions one way or the other on that. Individual Muslims, just like individual Mormons or individiaul members of any other religious group can be smart, stupid, or just average in intelligence.

#4

Not a muslim, but my impression is that it is considered disrepectful by some becasue God’s name is being invoked for a frivolous purpose: i.e. a message board handle. It’d be a bit like how some Christians might get upset If started calling myself God Q. Jones. I’m sure someone else can put together a more coherent explanation.

Anecdotal comment: once I took a train from Tunis to Sfax in Tunisia. Just before the train departed, a boy came through the carriage handing out photocopied slips of paper with some Arabic writing (which I could not read) on them. Thinking it was some sort of advertising flier, I folded up the paper and placed under a can of Coke I’d bought, to serve as a sort of coaster. The person next to me, a Libyan who spoke English, looked at me in horror, and asked me if I realised I was defiling the words of the Koran. Oops.

#5

I’ll take “Links” for $300 Alex.

#6

Monty that wasn’t directed at you, sorry about that.

It was more a comment on Aldebaran. His assumption being that a Muslim would never do such a thing and that a Muslim would never address an other in the wrong manner.

#7

Gotcha, Grey. Aldebaran’s assumptions are, IMHO, worthless.

#8

God Q. Jones is a great username!

“God: Cite?”
:wink:

#9

wring:

Here you go.

Just thought of something else: What if the person’s a Christian Arab? Is such a username offensive then?

#10

BTW, isn’t there a user here with the moniker God?

#11

There is a Jehovah. Jehovah68, I think.
And don’t forget the large tentacled guy that we dread!

#12

There a whack load of tasteless user-ids. Being tasteless is hardly a capital offense though. It’s like being offended by Madonna’s use of Madonna.

#13

I think he’s called Gawd.

#14

I have no idea what Aldebaran’s take on the late and unlamented AlahAkbar, but I figured it for a non-Muslim troll early in its (brief) career.

Among other things, it misspelled its own name.
It continually spelled Qur’an as Koran–a spelling I have not seen a Muslim use for a great many years.
It always posted the harshest statements of the Qur’an (in ways that often appeared out of context) in a way to deliberately make itself look bad.

None of these “proved” my impressions as true, but they (along with a few other points) reinforced my suspicion that this was some hater of Islam who wanted to “make a point” about how bad Islam “is.”

#15

That’s besides the point, Tom. I’m curious as to if it’s really offensive generally to a great number of Muslims.

Yet another beside the point: Grey; Apparently you and I both overlooked the bit about someone decreeing who is and isn’t part of a particular faith. Maybe that’s because it’s done so often it’s just like background noise?

#16

There was, at one time, a user with the screen name God. That’s been stopped, though for reasons other than the name itself.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&username=god

#17

From the Hi Pakistan site’s Glossary of Quranic Terms:

(BOLDING MINE)
Of course, this is one comment. Just as there are Christians who will not use Jesus as a given name while that name is popular in Hispanic countries and just as their are Jews who insert hypens or underscores into even English representations of the identity of the Divine while other Jews do not seem to consider it an issue, I would not be surprised to find Muslims who take quite different approaches to the name of Allah. (I have seen busses and boats named Allah Akbar, but there may be a different approach for human (and animal?) names.)

#18

There’s a restaurant in Toronto called Buddha’s (yes, they serve buddhist cuisine) … we’ve been wondering if that’s akin to something like Jesus’s Falafel …

also, amusingly, it’s street address is 666.

#19

Monty: I believe it’s not as offensive as it is just plain silly. It’s like the old WWF character The Iron Sheik; only ignorant people could possibly believe he was rasslin’ in the name of the Ayatollah.

Since we’re sharing, how would you treat a new Doper named Brigham Young? :wink: Without the benefit of your answer, I suspect you’d be immediately dismissive, especially if he/she tried to comment on the Church of Latter Day Saints.

#20

I gave more then once the explanation as to why no Muslim would ever dream to name himself with that sentence .

It can be found on the GD .
And I’m sorry, but seen the comments of some hre, I’m far to uninterested in this topic to search for it myself and give the link here.
Salaam. A