A fellow writer mentioned this site and her dismay at seeing these objects. Clicking the link I too grew outraged and you should be too.
Nationaism put behind us and talking about these pictures not a symbol of Saudi or Iraq but the WORDS that are being used.
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Words used:
MUHAMMAD
SHAHADA - LA ILLAHA ILLA LAH MUHAMMADUR RASULLULLAH, There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger(Prophet) of Allah.
The items on display are shoes, Footballs (soccer ball), T-shirts, Skateboards, Bumper Stickers, and yes, even Dog's Clothing.
All bearing the words above.
Would the same poeple buying these shoes go up to a masjid and smear mud across a sign saying Shahada!!!
Now T-shirts, come on, you might say, T-shirts are harmless! Are they now? Where do you go with a t-shirt? At somepoint after eating and drinking fluids all day you're going to have to relieve yourself in a bathroom. Unless your willing to take off your shirt and flip it inside out or fold it nicely and hide it from sight then you're going to be entering the bathroom with words of Allah and Muhammad on your clothes. All clothes: hats, shoes, shirts, pants. Even jewelry! If it says Muhammad or Allah on it, it should not enter a bathroom. It is disrespectful. Those that wear necklaces always tuck them into their shirts or hijabs so they aren't displayed. What would you do with your clothes?
Skateboards! I dont know if you've seen much skateboarding but I have. The board is repeatedly slammed across railings, steps, dirty streets, not to mention the feet always stepping on it. Here the sacred words are written to be used in such manners. And have you seen boards that have been used fo a long time? They get roughed up and worn off so imagine these boards in like 5 years from now how messed up they'd be from use. Should we tatter up the most beautiful words? NOOOO!!!!
Also with Bumper Stickers, OK if you wanna use the stickers in a proper way in your house for your kids to learn from and for decorating the hosue these would be awesome for that but what do they call them? Car Bumper Stickers! As in stick them on the front or back of your car where most cars bump (hense the name Bumper) into each other leaving the chance for it to get mangled or dirtied quite probable. What if you put it someplace safe though like a window on a car? I see stickers with Masha'Allah on them all the time on cars here reminding people not to give their cars the evil eye. But still what if something happens to your car and you're responsable for the damage of such precious words?
Moving on to dog's clothes: Yes dogs are allowed in Islam under certain conditions, but their saliva is deemed as impure. To cleanse yourself of the impurity you must wash your hands 7 times with water and the first time must contain dirt. So sticking a clothing on a dog is a bad bad idea. What if it irritates him and he turns to lick it or bite at it? What if he's playing and rolls over on it sticking the words of Allah and Muhammad onto the dirt? What if God forbids, another Dog comes over to him and pees on him? Or licks him? What if the dog licks himself and then licks his clothes?!?!?! NOOOO!!!!!!
BAD IDEAS People to buy these things. BAD IDEAS product makers. I know you're trying to be COOL and all and offer Nationalistic things for people in the region but take into consideration all the protesting done by Muslims for other offensive things and learn from it.
Go to these sites and Protest, where you can, for their removal and get the companies not to sell them.
Protect your Religion from the Disrespect ignorant poeple wish to do to it.
9 intelligent thoughts:
Yes it is outrageous. Maybe the flags etc are because of the football world cup? In any case, this can't be the first time that countries with flags that have holy words on them are involved in some kind of merchandising for a tournament. Surely they could use some other symbols or emblems of the country.
As for the other simply Islamic merchandise, there's really no excuse for that and the companies who produce those things should know better.
Even though I disagree with how it is being used I find it hard to believe that they didn't see this coming. Nationalism is nothing new and people LOVE wearing things with their home country's flag on it so this is only a natural step. Unfortunately the saudi flag has the kalimat and that is actually the problem. Maybe saudi should have another 'unofficial' flag to be used for these purposes.
Why get so agitated over something like this? By highlighting it you are stiring the pot for ignorant people who may want to "take action" against what they see as sacreligious. Remember the Danish cartoonist issue. Learn to live and let live.
giving it this kind of seriousness leads to ignorant people
NO it is NOT good to be outraged. Getting people upset about this kind of thing is irresponsible.
Are you hoping that some irate idiot will go out and stone some poor dog because his owner has poor taste? Or maybe the owner should be stoned? Come on, there are real problems in the world. Rabble rousing is not attractive and it can be dangerous, there are nuts out there lady. Save your outrage for something that matters.
http://shazrilshaedi.blogspot.com/2010/05/holocaust-progress-in-gaza-act-now.html
Before someone really slams you for it I think you might want to take down that picture of you wrapped up in an American flag. I mean what if you sneezed or something?
Anon1: Yeah probably hoping the recent tournaments will gain more sales. And sadly probably will. I dont know what Saudi itself offers from this kinda of merchendising fort heir teams but I PRAY it's not with the shahada on it that can be used in a wrong way.
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Tuttie yeah I agree in a way,but the Islamic flag IS theIslamic flag because it has shahada on it. In Jihadi wars it was the honor to save the flag and keep it upright to propel the army on to victory. Flags aren't used in such ways too much anymore.
But the saudi does have the Palm tree symbols that are often used and that is better for uses like shirts and stuff.
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Anon2
I disagree totally. I hope the danish cartoonist gets severly punished for his actionsagainst Prophet Muhammad. Thereis No live and let live for such IGNORANT AND BLANTENTLY HATEFUL ACTIONS.
Poeple cut down the rain forests and throw trash in the sea.. should we live and let live? UH NO! Protecting things that involve your faith is much more of an important issue. So I have to disagree.
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ANON 3
No it is not irresponsible for me to post something about being aware of how people are badly treating something I cherish.
As I used in the example above
are you outraged if someone pollutes in the sea or burns down rainforests disrupting ecosystems? Some people think that is frivilous to protest about.
Others put their life on the line for it.
If someone wants to do something stupid about something they hear about in mass media it is not the person that writes about it's fault. If someone murders the employees of the comany selling this stuff am I going to be put on trial!?!?!NO!
If you will read the end of my post above thelinks I clearly stated what the proper course of action againt this ill-treatment should be. I didn't call for jihad or throwing stones or murder. I said Quote:
"Go to these sites and Protest, where you can, for their removal and get the companies not to sell them."
Is that too violent for you? I dont think those words can be misconstrued for condoning violent acts or getting people to act stupidly.
This subject IS important.
Something SHOULD be done about it.
And if you think about it the extreme few that want to harm the Danish cartoonist are FEW. The other Muslims did as they could and boycotted in a peaceful protest.
It's GOOD to be outraged about certain things in life. It's called Healthy Anger by Doctors.
Weither it's forests, pedophiles, misuing sacred words they all deserve attention and something to be done about them.
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Anon4
Ha ha. Believe me I expected this argument or comment already. My picture is a PICTURE. AN ICON of my being an American Muslim. I wore it for like 5 seconds to take the picture then have never worn it since. I LIKE the pictures of the saudi T-shirts and theskateboards they do look COOL. BUUUT!!! They are pictures of thing TO BUY AND WEAR! In ways they shouldn't be. That is the problem not the picturesof them. I wouldn't be offended if someonewanted to put thepictures on the side of their blog as something cool to see and identify with but when those items are used in bad ways that is where the outrages comes in.
So don't worry no chance of actaully getting snot on the American Flag.
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You hope the Danish cartoonist is "severly punished"? Do you even still know how madd that sounds? You used to be a resonably intelligent human being but this hollier-than-thou Uber piety of yours is getting really offensive.
Those cartoons were just pictures too (like the picture of you in the flag). It wasn't the real Mohamed in the paper, it was a CARTOON Mohamed.
And let me explain that there are rules on flag etiquette and it doesn't allow for "wearing" the flag even in a picture. Yes I know many people do accesorize with dipictions of the flag pictured on clothes and pillows etc. but strictly speaking it's not really correct. However most of us realize that those people are well intentioned and only expressing their patriotism in their own way with no disrespect intended and so we don't get OUTRAGED about it. We accept it as just a different way of looking at things
And I'm sure anon above wasn't suggesting that you should be charged with a crime, I hope we all believe in freedom of speech here, I think he was just trying to tell you that you are begining to sound a bit like a fanatic and it's not attractive.
ANON
now lets see who is unatractive and fanatic and offensive..
Um did I say anything about how he should be severly punished!!?!?!?!
DID I SAY ANYTHING!?!?!
NOPE. It's not my place to punish him. I hope he realizes his error in making such an offensive cartoon. By whatever method God wants to teach him that lesson. But you seeing I'm some holierthanthouUberpious and fanatical and unattractive and offensive have decided IN YOUR MIND that I'm calling for mass violance against this guy when i said no such thing.
And thank you for the backhanded compliment that I WAS a reasonably intellient human being...which by some of the phrases you've been using makes me think you know me in real life.
OK so you think there are ettiquets to flag usage. I agree. Who made these ettiquettes? Who determined what is nice or not to do to flags? You're right i have heard of people who are offended by wearing flags. I thought about that when making that picture but i know the way I did it would not cause offense. Now Islam says using it's flag with Shahada on it should NOT be used in certain ways that disrespect the Religion of Islam. Same goes with star of david and cross, they shouldn't be used in ways that harm them. Religious artifacts and symbols as far as I know of are in fact protected by Islam.
And it's not the flag per se I'm talking about but what is ON the Flag. In the case I'm talking about it is sacred words of Islam.
And you are talking about Intention of people depicting things. In my picture it is taken "in spirit" of acceptable flag usage. Whereas the danish guy making cartoons to insite the anger of Muslims worldwide is not innocent usage. He purposly was making a political cartoon he knew would anger Muslims and that is the risk he took in publishing it.
I cannot say what I hope happens to him on blogland because my political views are for myself.
SOme with meanspirited minds might take that as I hope violence upon him. Those with kinder minds might see it as I hope Allah punishes him in Hell. Whatever you may think is YOUR opinion or slant you bring to the table not the fact of my mind. So I dont think i sounded madd, i think your reaction to my words is MADD.
I'm calling for people to have more respect for religious things.
And I never said people should be outraged in any form of violant way. Re-read the post.
I'm not holier than thou and have never claimed to be. I sin and have issues like the rest of humanity and I'm the first to admit that. But where things need to be said I will say them and hope everyone can improve for the better. Myself included if I'm doing wrong.
Perhaps you and I have different ways of looking at things too so if that is the case why are you waisting your precious time on this earth sparing with me? I know many poeple wont agree with my views on anything i write on my blogs and that is your choice. No one is tying you down, but for those that do like what I say I hope they will take action to correct wrongs on earth.
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