Norway: Sharia student continues to threaten
Mohyeldeen Mohammad (24), the Norwegian-Iranian who threatened Norway with its own 9/11 during the anti-Dagbladet demonstration last week, remained in the news this week.
On Tuesday Mohammad was interviewed in Communist newspaper Klassekampen and said gays deserved to be stoned. Then Dagbladet lodged a complaint against him for threatening to kill two of their journalists, after which the police detained and interrogated him today.
Mohammad has been studying Sharia law in Saudi Arabia since last fall. He was supposed to return to Saudi Arabia this week, but apparently decided to stay.
See also:
* Norway: 61.5% of Muslims think demonstrations are unreasonable, 44% see signs of radicalization
* Norway: Allah will decide if it's peaceful
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The Klassekampen interview:
Q: Why did you use PST's threat-estimate in your speech? Wasn't this a demonstration against Dagbladet's printing of the pig illustration?
A: I demonstrate against the authorities, Dagbladet, the media and all those who lead this crusade against Islam. The media is also part of this.
Q: You also said on Friday that Muslims should participate in 'your democracy'. But isn't that exactly what you're doing when you participate in a demonstration?
A: No, since the demonstration was a way to respond to the attack which is legal. In other countries we would have used other methods. Democracy has no place in Islam, because Islam forbids man-made laws. The only one who can come with laws is Allah.
Q: You prefer a dictatorship?
A: No, Sharia isn't a dictatorship. Those are the best and just lows. But today nobody governs by God's laws. Those who claim that they govern by Sharia, don't do that.
Q: Many Muslims disagree with you that Islam is incompatible with democracy?
A: Then they said that despite what it says in the Koran. They're either hypocrites or apostates.
Q: I saw on Facebook that you gave support to Jihadists in Afghanistan and Somalia, among others. Does that mean that you, for example, support al-Shabaab? (Al-Shaabab is considered a Somali terrorist organization by Western intelligence organizations, including PST)
A: Yes, if they are Muslims. If they do wrong, it's between Allah and them.
Q: They've stoned a person to death, among other things.
A: As far as I know that person was gay, and that is the punishment he deserves.
Q: That's an extreme standpoint?
A: That is the standpoint every Muslim has to follow by his religion
Q: Muslims in Somalia are now fleeing because of al-Shaabab?
A: We should look at the real reason that they're fleeing. It's not because of al-Shaabab, but because America supported the invasion of Somalia which ruined [it] for those who want to have Islamic rule. Then came groups like al-Shaabab to defend Islam.
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The interview received many negative responses from Muslims.
Abid Raja: "Radical Islamists like Mohammad aren't just against gays, they're also against the liberal Muslims forces which recognize the human value of gays. The same punishment he wants to give gays, he would also apply to Muslims like me - those he calls apostates. It's our task as Muslims to confront Mohammad and his like-minded people."
Raja says he thinks Wahabbists have a double moral. They say they're against democracy, but enjoy all the rights democracy gives. On Friday they participated in a demonstration, and enjoy the right to express themselves freely. They wouldn't have that possibility in Saudi Arabia.
Raja says he would like to see Mohammad try his 'Muslim' work in Saudi Arabia instead. He would either be lynched or imprisoned, because they don't have the same rights as we have here in Norway. Mohammad knows that and threfore he continues to live here so he can use the same democratic rights he's fighting against. And that's the big paradox.
Raja says Mohammad is not representative. It's just a few dozen of Norway's 120,000 Muslims. They can be compared to Norwegian Neo-Nazis. Most White Norwegians aren't Neo-Nazis, and most Norwegian Muslims have nothing to do with Mohammad and this type of statements.
Tina Shagufta Kornmo of the Equality, Integration, Diversity network (LIM), says Mohammad's statements are shocking.
"It's unbelievable that people can grow up in a democracy like Norway and think something like that. It seems like he's talking on behalf of many Muslims, something is also very problematic. The signal he sends to the Norwegian population are distressing, and many think Muslims think the same as he does."
General Secretary of the Islamic Council, Shoaib Sultan, rejects the idea that Mohammad is representative, either of the Islamic Council's member organizations or regular Muslims.
Basim Ghozlan, head of the Islamic Union says those are very serious and provocative statements, and that he knows he was angry to read them. "There are certainly some who adopted such views, but I feel very confident that the great, grat majority of Norwegian Muslims reject such viewpoints."
Ghozlan says that Mohammad is not mature and needs schooling in Islam. He should get better acquainted with Islamic customs and traditions, have contact with society around him and learn how society functions. Education, also in Sharia, can be good for him, says Ghozlan. "This is general advice for most of those have mistaken attitudes. Education helps put them on the right track.
Ghozlan says he's had contact with Mohammad and that they've had discussions about society-related questions, about view, principles and moral values.
Muslim convert Youssef Assidiq, who also spoke at the demonstration, rejects the idea that Mohammad represent the 3,000 Muslims who demonstrated in any way. "He's shooting both himself and 3,000 others in the foot with his statements. We live in Norway and then we follow Norwegian law." If he can't accept that, Assidiq says, he can always get on a plane.
Assidiq says the demonstrators gasped during Mohammad's speech, and that Mohammad had ruined the entire demonstration.
"There are crazies everywhere, and I can't rule out that he represents some Muslims. But if there's somebody who shares his view, they should come out and stand for them. I don't think there are many declarations of support, and I know no other Muslims, who stand for this type of thoughts."
--------------------
On Tuesday, Dagbladet journalists wanted to speak to Mohammad. Since he wasn't home they waited outside. When he showed up, he started threatening them, telling them that if they don't go, they'll be shot. When they repeated that they wanted to speak to him, he said "there are people on the way here to shoot you now."
On Wednesday afternoon he was detained by the Larvik police. Mohammad was detained when he came to the police station to complain that he himself was subjected to threats, both by phone and SMS, according to Magnar Pedersen of the Vestfold police. According to the police Mohammad was threatened that he would be killed and his house would be stoned.
He was interrogated and then released. Mohammed admits he made the threats, but claims he didn't realize they were journalists and was reacting to the threats he was getting.
--------------------
In other Muhammad-cartoon related news, Shuaib Hasna of the British Islamic Shariah Council told Iranian TV channel al-Alem that the 57 Muslim countries should pressure Norway and Denmark to stop such stupidity and degrading illustrations. He wants Europeans to protests against the printing of cartoons.
SMS messages circulating in the Muslim community in Norway claim that over 400 shops now refuse to sell Dagbladet. Politician Abid Q.Raja, who got those messages, says he's read of many shops in Oslo and Akershus that removed the paper from their newsstands. According to Abid Q. Raja, this includes also Norwegian shopkeepers who are responding to the printing of the cartoon.
Around 150 participated in the Dagbladet 'dialog-meeting' this evening.
Lars Helle, Dagbladet editor, said there was no intention to provoke and that it was part of a big misunderstanding and therefore important to continue with dialog.
Per Yousef Assadiq, a Muslim convert who was involved in organizing the Friday demonstration, was upset that nobody noticed the calm demonstrators, and that the media only focused on Mohyeldeen Mohammad. "I didn't become a Muslim in order to be persecuted,' he said.
Everybody on the panel agreed that freedom of speech was important in Norway, but the question was posed whether Dagbladet was aware of the attention this would get.
Sources: Aftenposten; VG 1, 2, 3; NRK; Klassekampen 1, 2 (Norwegian)
Mohyeldeen Mohammad (24), the Norwegian-Iranian who threatened Norway with its own 9/11 during the anti-Dagbladet demonstration last week, remained in the news this week.
On Tuesday Mohammad was interviewed in Communist newspaper Klassekampen and said gays deserved to be stoned. Then Dagbladet lodged a complaint against him for threatening to kill two of their journalists, after which the police detained and interrogated him today.
Mohammad has been studying Sharia law in Saudi Arabia since last fall. He was supposed to return to Saudi Arabia this week, but apparently decided to stay.
See also:
* Norway: 61.5% of Muslims think demonstrations are unreasonable, 44% see signs of radicalization
* Norway: Allah will decide if it's peaceful
--------------------
The Klassekampen interview:
Q: Why did you use PST's threat-estimate in your speech? Wasn't this a demonstration against Dagbladet's printing of the pig illustration?
A: I demonstrate against the authorities, Dagbladet, the media and all those who lead this crusade against Islam. The media is also part of this.
Q: You also said on Friday that Muslims should participate in 'your democracy'. But isn't that exactly what you're doing when you participate in a demonstration?
A: No, since the demonstration was a way to respond to the attack which is legal. In other countries we would have used other methods. Democracy has no place in Islam, because Islam forbids man-made laws. The only one who can come with laws is Allah.
Q: You prefer a dictatorship?
A: No, Sharia isn't a dictatorship. Those are the best and just lows. But today nobody governs by God's laws. Those who claim that they govern by Sharia, don't do that.
Q: Many Muslims disagree with you that Islam is incompatible with democracy?
A: Then they said that despite what it says in the Koran. They're either hypocrites or apostates.
Q: I saw on Facebook that you gave support to Jihadists in Afghanistan and Somalia, among others. Does that mean that you, for example, support al-Shabaab? (Al-Shaabab is considered a Somali terrorist organization by Western intelligence organizations, including PST)
A: Yes, if they are Muslims. If they do wrong, it's between Allah and them.
Q: They've stoned a person to death, among other things.
A: As far as I know that person was gay, and that is the punishment he deserves.
Q: That's an extreme standpoint?
A: That is the standpoint every Muslim has to follow by his religion
Q: Muslims in Somalia are now fleeing because of al-Shaabab?
A: We should look at the real reason that they're fleeing. It's not because of al-Shaabab, but because America supported the invasion of Somalia which ruined [it] for those who want to have Islamic rule. Then came groups like al-Shaabab to defend Islam.
---------------
The interview received many negative responses from Muslims.
Abid Raja: "Radical Islamists like Mohammad aren't just against gays, they're also against the liberal Muslims forces which recognize the human value of gays. The same punishment he wants to give gays, he would also apply to Muslims like me - those he calls apostates. It's our task as Muslims to confront Mohammad and his like-minded people."
Raja says he thinks Wahabbists have a double moral. They say they're against democracy, but enjoy all the rights democracy gives. On Friday they participated in a demonstration, and enjoy the right to express themselves freely. They wouldn't have that possibility in Saudi Arabia.
Raja says he would like to see Mohammad try his 'Muslim' work in Saudi Arabia instead. He would either be lynched or imprisoned, because they don't have the same rights as we have here in Norway. Mohammad knows that and threfore he continues to live here so he can use the same democratic rights he's fighting against. And that's the big paradox.
Raja says Mohammad is not representative. It's just a few dozen of Norway's 120,000 Muslims. They can be compared to Norwegian Neo-Nazis. Most White Norwegians aren't Neo-Nazis, and most Norwegian Muslims have nothing to do with Mohammad and this type of statements.
Tina Shagufta Kornmo of the Equality, Integration, Diversity network (LIM), says Mohammad's statements are shocking.
"It's unbelievable that people can grow up in a democracy like Norway and think something like that. It seems like he's talking on behalf of many Muslims, something is also very problematic. The signal he sends to the Norwegian population are distressing, and many think Muslims think the same as he does."
General Secretary of the Islamic Council, Shoaib Sultan, rejects the idea that Mohammad is representative, either of the Islamic Council's member organizations or regular Muslims.
Basim Ghozlan, head of the Islamic Union says those are very serious and provocative statements, and that he knows he was angry to read them. "There are certainly some who adopted such views, but I feel very confident that the great, grat majority of Norwegian Muslims reject such viewpoints."
Ghozlan says that Mohammad is not mature and needs schooling in Islam. He should get better acquainted with Islamic customs and traditions, have contact with society around him and learn how society functions. Education, also in Sharia, can be good for him, says Ghozlan. "This is general advice for most of those have mistaken attitudes. Education helps put them on the right track.
Ghozlan says he's had contact with Mohammad and that they've had discussions about society-related questions, about view, principles and moral values.
Muslim convert Youssef Assidiq, who also spoke at the demonstration, rejects the idea that Mohammad represent the 3,000 Muslims who demonstrated in any way. "He's shooting both himself and 3,000 others in the foot with his statements. We live in Norway and then we follow Norwegian law." If he can't accept that, Assidiq says, he can always get on a plane.
Assidiq says the demonstrators gasped during Mohammad's speech, and that Mohammad had ruined the entire demonstration.
"There are crazies everywhere, and I can't rule out that he represents some Muslims. But if there's somebody who shares his view, they should come out and stand for them. I don't think there are many declarations of support, and I know no other Muslims, who stand for this type of thoughts."
--------------------
On Tuesday, Dagbladet journalists wanted to speak to Mohammad. Since he wasn't home they waited outside. When he showed up, he started threatening them, telling them that if they don't go, they'll be shot. When they repeated that they wanted to speak to him, he said "there are people on the way here to shoot you now."
On Wednesday afternoon he was detained by the Larvik police. Mohammad was detained when he came to the police station to complain that he himself was subjected to threats, both by phone and SMS, according to Magnar Pedersen of the Vestfold police. According to the police Mohammad was threatened that he would be killed and his house would be stoned.
He was interrogated and then released. Mohammed admits he made the threats, but claims he didn't realize they were journalists and was reacting to the threats he was getting.
--------------------
In other Muhammad-cartoon related news, Shuaib Hasna of the British Islamic Shariah Council told Iranian TV channel al-Alem that the 57 Muslim countries should pressure Norway and Denmark to stop such stupidity and degrading illustrations. He wants Europeans to protests against the printing of cartoons.
SMS messages circulating in the Muslim community in Norway claim that over 400 shops now refuse to sell Dagbladet. Politician Abid Q.Raja, who got those messages, says he's read of many shops in Oslo and Akershus that removed the paper from their newsstands. According to Abid Q. Raja, this includes also Norwegian shopkeepers who are responding to the printing of the cartoon.
Around 150 participated in the Dagbladet 'dialog-meeting' this evening.
Lars Helle, Dagbladet editor, said there was no intention to provoke and that it was part of a big misunderstanding and therefore important to continue with dialog.
Per Yousef Assadiq, a Muslim convert who was involved in organizing the Friday demonstration, was upset that nobody noticed the calm demonstrators, and that the media only focused on Mohyeldeen Mohammad. "I didn't become a Muslim in order to be persecuted,' he said.
Everybody on the panel agreed that freedom of speech was important in Norway, but the question was posed whether Dagbladet was aware of the attention this would get.
Sources: Aftenposten; VG 1, 2, 3; NRK; Klassekampen 1, 2 (Norwegian)
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