Something rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark
Thursday, 23 November 2006
- It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.
Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, manager for the al-Arabiya tv channel, wrote this in the Arab newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat in september 2004, in an article where he argued the necessity of confronting radical Muslim leader figures such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
Little did al-Rashed know that he was to be used as an alibi for a thoroughly anti-Islamic view in a Danish school book for fifth-graders (10-11 year olds), “Os and kristendom” (We and Christianity). In this book for use in the classes on religion the pupils meet the second largest religion off the world in one chapter and one chapter only. That chapter is called “Terrorism”. And in that chapter, the pupils only meet Muslim terrorists. For, as they can see quoted in their schoolbook, “even if all Muslims are not terrorists, all terrorists are Muslim”. The sentence is not contradicted. The chapter does not mention the ETA, it does not say anything about Irish republican nationalists, it does not talk of extreme movements in Latin America, does not spare a word for the Red Army Fraction and says nothing on Christian separatists in Indian Nagaland.
But are all terrorists really Muslims? Not quite.
Al-Rashed is angry, and feels that his words have been taken out of context, to spread the exact opposite message of his own. He has all reason to be angry, but more people should be. There is something rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark. The chapter on terrorism in “We and Christianity” can not be described in any better way than as sneaky propaganda.
In an atmosphere where things like that can be printed in schoolbooks, it should not surprise anyone that someone places pig heads on a Muslim graveyard. It is no more a surprise than that young Palestinians grow up to be suicide bombers after reading the most horrible things about Jews in their schoolbooks. And, indeed, it should not be a surprise if – sometime soon – it shines like from crystals in the broken glass of immigrant stores in Scandinavian streets. The image of the immigrant as dangerous and threathening has already been created. The dehumanisation process is well underway. The Eternal Muslim is a violent and evil man.
The pictures from the “caricature war” flashes by: angry demonstrators, burning flags, attacks on embassies, bloggers that support freedom of speech, lying imams, murder threats, cowardly Norwegian authorities… but there is a piece missing in the jigsaw and all that is left is this nasty little image that does not seem to fit in: As far as I know, there was only one violent episode in connection with the socalled “caricature war” in Norway. I might be wrong, since this story, too, got little attention except in local media.
Just before midnight on the 4th of February a 35 year old Norwegian citizen of Palestinian background came home from work. He carried with him juice, that he was bringing home. On his way into his house he sees several young people standing outside. They’ve been to a party. One of the men takes the juice away from the 35-year old, who asks to have it back. He is then pushed towards a wall, and – when he asks his attackers to stop the nonsense – he is cut in the throat with a knife. The blood poured from an almost eight centimetres long cut.- You bastard, the guy with the knife says, – burning the Norwegian flag!
From the living room window the nine year old daughter of the Palestinian Norwegian saw what happened. But even she is seen as dangerous in much of what is written about Islam and Muslims today. Reduced to a number, even she is made into the Eternal Muslim, transformed into one of those who are bringing the downfall of Europe. There’s something rotten in many Kingdoms, and if Europe fully rediscovers its past of ethnic and religious hatred we should not forget where the smell first came from.
