Joy is haram


Outlook India reports (via a Times article that is pay-walled) that Islamist bullies are hassling people in Birmingham for doing things like dancing.

In an attempt to enforce an ISIS-style interpretation of Islamic law, a group of extremists are allegedly cracking down on street parties in Britain by equating it to devil worship.

The extremists are trying to bully and intimidate British Muslims against music and dance.



According to a report in ‘The Sunday Times’, hardliners waved a “No music” banner and chanted “God is great” in Birmingham to disrupt festivities to mark the end of Ramadan.

I have friends in Birmingham who are liberal Muslims and they are not at all happy about this kind of thing.

Extremists objecting to these “Chaand Raat” festivities — based on an Indian subcontinent tradition — said they intervened at three separate locations across the city.

In London, extremists recently confronted women travelling to a family festival to celebrate the Bangladeshi new year and warned them it was “haram”, or forbidden, for them to attend.

Others were told the BBC-sponsored event encouraged “sin”, “fornication” and “drug-taking”.

It’s just a pretext for bullying people. It’s one of humans’ favorite hobbies, which doesn’t speak well for humans.

“It’s very alarming that UK-based extremists are now seeking to import an Isis-style interpretation of Islam and impose it on British citizens,” said Ghaffar Hussain, the managing director of Quilliam, a counter-extremism think tank.

“Banning music and dancing is completely unacceptable in a modern democracy and goes against all British values,” he added.

Music and dancing bring people together. We can’t have that, can we.

Comments

  1. Al Dente says

    I’m reminded of an H.L. Mencken quote:

    Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

  2. Pen says

    The Birmingham Coalition of Muslim Organisations and Mosques seem to be fighting a rear-guard action against extremism of various kinds and could probably use all the support they can get. Unfortunately, as far as online presence goes, I can’t find an actual website.

  3. Omar Puhleez says

    OB: “t’s just a pretext for bullying people. It’s one of humans’ favorite hobbies, which doesn’t speak well for humans.”
    .
    It’s called dominance hierarchy. It occurs within animal species and across animal species, right through to the plants. And I’m not sure that it stops even there.
    Still, look on the bright side. It gives us all an idea of what life would be like under the Caliphate. Also what it is like in that Paradise attained by every Islamist suicide bomber.
    .
    Control freaks are a joyless lot in my experience. Their preferred humour is the kind that involves others’ expense, and they feel threatened by joy manifested by others. People having fun are out of control.
    One of the great mysteries of the Universe: God created everything, so must have created the human capacity for joy, laughter and fun. And the sense of humour. Yet he did this without manifesting the slightest bit of it himself. And from what I can gather from the scriptures, neither Jesus, Mo or any of the prophets before them were much of a nightclub act.

  4. johnthedrunkard says

    Anti-Asian racism should be noted as well. Irshad Manji mentions this in her memoir, and Ibn Warraq discusses it extensively. Even Naipaul’s ‘Among the Believers’ goes to considerable lengths to point out the deep emotional sense of Arab supremacy that permeates the Islamist movements.

    The supposed tolerance and universality of Islam is a lie.

  5. Decker says

    @7

    In the end, Islam is nothing but a vehicle for Arab imperialism. I’ve close relatives in the Mid-East. They’ve often told me that Arabs treat South Asians workers, as Muslim as those South Asian workers may be, pretty much as sub-humans.

    So your statement that Islam’s claim to universality is a lie is quite accurate.

  6. StevoR : Free West Papua, free Tibet, let the Chagossians return! says

    Fuck what’s “haram!”

    Since its all so fucking arbitrary anyway I’m gunna rule for them since I’m smarter & mor eknowledgeable than Mohammad – and far more fucken ethical seeing as I’m no murdering, thieving, child rapist desert bandit like he was – the whole notion of “haram” is full of shit.

    There ain’t no such thing.

    And that’s kosher!

  7. StevoR : Free West Papua, free Tibet, let the Chagossians return! says

    @6. Pierce R. Butler : “Have they brought in advisors from the Southern Baptists?”

    I suspect its more the other way round – the Southern Baptists brought in advisors from extremist Islam – but then toned it down a notch.

    @ 7. johnthedrunkard & # 8. Decker : Hell yes! Religion of peace? Pull the other one its got bells on it. Universal religion that insists on being Arabic as all hell – sod off! Tolerance from Islam? The religion that shoots schoolgirls and chops folks heads off and demands submission? You’ve gotta be jokin!!! Muslims gotta nerve claiming such shit with a straight face.

    @9. lorn : Its well overdue ain’t it? But reformation can’t save it. Islam needs scraping altogether. Thewold wouldbe better off – much – without it.

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