Advertisement Suggesting Muslims are Savages!

The above picture is implying that the Muslim Ummah is savage. It is an advertisement on the walls of the busy subways of New York city. Not just in one location, but on display in ten New York stations.

Just when there couldn’t be more verbal and mental attacks on the Ummah in addition to the on-going physical attacks, it was decided to belittle our Ummah once more.

Imagine if the poster mentioned another word which represented another religion or race - do you think the poster would be allowed to be displayed in a public place? They use words from our religion, misquote and abuse them. In reality, it only shows their ignorance. Jihad means struggle for the sake of Allah. Our fight for the oppressed Muslims of the world is our struggle for the sake of Allah. Nobody can defeat the Muslim desire to help their oppressed brothers and sisters for the sake of their Creator. We are one Ummah and we feel pain when any part of the Ummah is in pain.

Let’s be straight, the wording on the adverts could not be further from the truth. Ask yourself which nation has started the most wars recently? Is it any Muslim country, or is it in fact the USA and their ally Israel? Many civilians have been killed due to these wars and continue to be killed. It is nothing but a very sick joke to then turn around and say ‘support Israel’ and call the enemy of Israel ‘savages’ when the Zionist State acts worse than savages. Again, I ask who is occupying who, killing their children and stealing their land? Who are the real savages?

It doesn’t take a genius to realise that this is the work of the famous Islamophobe, Pamela Geller. Geller is the co-founder of the hate group “Stop Islamisation of America”.

The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority had initially refused to put up the poster but the decision was challenged by Geller and she took it to the courts on the grounds of ‘Freedom of Speech’. US District Judge Paul Engelmayer in New York ruled in Geller’s favour and ordered city officials to publish the advertisement based on the First Amendment right of free speech.

Geller told Sky News that she will ‘fight to her death’ for the ‘right to offend people’. If any Muslim would have said this then there would be a high probability that they would be imprisoned due to a threat from an extremist. However, Geller could not possibly be an extremist as she is not a Muslim.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations, said, "Our basic position is that the first amendment means that everyone is free to be a bigot or even an idiot like Pamela Geller. We wish she wasn't provoking and inciting hatred, but in America that's her right. We encourage Muslims to exercise the same right to publicly denounce such adverts. The real danger is the spread of hatred in our society, which can lead to attacks on innocent people."

Mr Hooper’s voice was not heard by the masses as he is a Muslim and therefore will only be heard if he is accused of terrorism.

However, the story does not end there. Mona Eltahawy, the prominent Egyptian-American writer, quite rightly was outraged by this abhorrent statement against Muslims. She used her freedom of expression to paint over the posters by Geller’s team. However, she was subsequently arrested. Mona was charged with ‘criminal mischief’ and ‘graffiti’. What happened to the First Amendment that no American can go against? One rule for Muslims and another rule for the real haters it seems.

Not only were Muslims offended by these monstrous posters, Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster, of Rabbis for Human Rights — North America, stated, "As a rabbi, I find the ads deeply misguided and disturbing … The coded message makes clear who the savages are: those who support jihad, which in Geller's mind includes all Muslims. She has called Islam 'an extreme ideology, the most radical and extreme ideology on the face of the Earth. As a Jew, I know the extreme to which baseless hatred can lead. And the Jewish community has been in the past a target of hatred in the United States. Geller's message ignores the positive contributions that our Muslim friends, neighbours and colleagues make to our country every single day”.

Again no such comments from any of our Imams. Where is their freedom of speech and why are they so tongue-tied? How are we going to defend ourselves if we don’t even speak out?