55 Comments. Add your own...

• 1. Mike | November 30th, 2009 at 10:39 am

  N, this should be a topic.

  “A Jewish rabbi has issued a book giving Jews permission to murder non-Jews, including babies and children, who may pose an actual or potential threat to Jews or Israel.”

  Since Lebanon can be affected by this. We should look into it.

  “In 2006, the Rabbinic Council of Jewish Settlements in the West Bank urged the army to ignore Christian morals and exterminate the enemy in the north (Lebanon) and the south (Gaza Strip).”

  http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/39/Kill-enemy-children-Jewish-edict.html

  I believe all these radicals do not represent the religion but we should not be hypocritical in limiting the posts to be just about Muslims.

• 2. Elie.F | November 30th, 2009 at 10:51 am

  Sha3b aw2a7 min heik ana manni sheyif.

  Tomorrow they will consider themselves “MA7ROOMEEN” because they can not build their mosques in a Christian country.

  Ya 3ammi leave at least one single country without this pollution and propaganda. Give these countries that let you live under its law and order some peace the same as they gave you when they welcomed you, give them some inventions,give them some civilization, not only babies to get paid for from the government, do something to let people love you and to erase the bad idea about Islam from their head.

  There is a big difference, it’s the 600 years difference.

• 3. ja3far | November 30th, 2009 at 11:37 am

  so is that the example we should follow in lebanon N? we should start by destroing the churches or the mosques?

• 4. Reminder | November 30th, 2009 at 11:53 am

  The only thing that was banned was the minaret and not the mosque itself. Just as Churches in Kuwait UAE and Qatar have no Bell towers or bells. Actually these churches don’t look like churches at all. The ban is not as bad as you think. Besides wouldn’t having the “2aden” sounding off five times a day be a violation of the Swiss people’s right not to have a religion foced unto them? Waking them up early in the morning for example? This has not much to do with Islamophobia.

• 5. N10452 | November 30th, 2009 at 12:41 pm

  Ja3far,
  Go wash your face, then wash it again, then re-read what i said and re-read your reply and explain to me how you came up with that conclusion.

• 6. N10452 | November 30th, 2009 at 12:42 pm

  Mike,
  Stick to the topic and stop turning everything into a zionist conspiracy.

• 7. Reminder | November 30th, 2009 at 1:01 pm

  N

  There is a mistake in your post. They are allowed to build mosques but without the minarets and the speakerphones thing. They have a mosque in Rome man…. If the proposal was for banning mosques entirely it would never have passed. Pls include this in your post as it shows that there is no racism or intolereance against Muslims, but simply defending their right not to hear islamic call to prayer 5 times per day. That is a right.

  You can also add that the few churches in Kuwait , Qatar and UAE are buildings that don’t look like churhces and have no bell towers or a cross on the outside. Wherease mosques in Europe do look like an islamic building of worship.

  Ja3far, I respect muslims and am a pro-secular person ect… but in this case the swiss are right. They are obliged to hear the prayer 5 times a day, waking them up in the morning (as they do to me here). They barely want to listen to their own sermons/bells let alone another religion’s. European countries respect their guests and minorties the most. Not one country in the world does so more than the european.

• 8. Fuziyad | November 30th, 2009 at 1:23 pm

  As a swiss citizen I feel quite ashamed of the result of that vote. The issue of the minaret wasn’t an issue to start with… this vote came in as an opinion poll on Islam and Muslims… There is a mosque 100m from my place and frankly after 20 years living there I discovered this mosque had a minaret only through the debate on this law where the press often reported that until now there was only 2 in switzerland…

  Of course it has always been out of question that a muezzin calls for prayer from the top of it, even kids who cry in switzerland get fined…there was no risk whatsoever that one day the call for prayer gets done outloud.

  Only effect of this law will be to antagonize muslims further…it’s like shooting ourselves in the foot..

  The argument of not being able to build churches in KSA so why buliding mosques in europe is extremly stupid…come on is KSA the model we want to imitate? should we imitate what’s wrong? how can I be a staunch supporter of freedom of faith in the ME and be against it in Europe???

  What is even more ridiculous is the reason why people voted for this law, the most common argument I heard is “what about the swiss detained in Lybia????” wawwww that’s a clever one… for those who don’t know last year the swiss police has arrested khadafi son despite his diplomatic immunity, since then that genius khadafi arrtested and detained swiss citizens that were living in Lybia. Now of course this is unacceptable and Khadafi is a 7ayawen but how does this relate to the minaret? well it does in the brains of simple minded people. Of course I also heard other arguments that also show that this vote wasn’t about the minaret but about islam and the muslims…from people talking about burqas (knowing that the only thing that looks like a burqa in switzerland is the khaliji hijab that some very wealthy tourists wear) to other mentionning the fact that some muslim girl can’t attend the swimming courses at school not to show their bodies and other stupid clichés like that.

  Last but not leat the vote came the same weekend as adha and in europe adha is looked at as a brabarian celebration as the muslims kill a sheep…”oh le pauvre mouton!!!” this definitely didn’t help…

• 9. N10452 | November 30th, 2009 at 1:31 pm

  Reminder,
  Corrected.

• 10. paul | November 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm

  a logical answer on turkey minister president Erdogan for his speech in Berlin as he said that mosques are our barracks and marinets are our bionet .

  na3iman recip.

• 11. Fuziyad | November 30th, 2009 at 3:52 pm

  N, can you clear my post plse? still under moderation…

• 12. danny | November 30th, 2009 at 5:00 pm

  Reminder,

  I totally agree with your analysis…

  Paul,

  What the hell did you expect from the glorious “secular” Turks???

• 13. Chad | November 30th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

  When a Christian can exercise his/her right of eating during Ramadan on the streets of any Islamic country, then all Muslims have the right to attack the Swiss decision. I would suggest to those so-called moderate Muslims to focus their energy on improving themselves and their society FIRST, then you can put all the blame on others. The biggest enemy of Islam has been Muslims themselves through self-victimization. I challenge any Muslim to have the courage to write a similar article in Syria, KSA or Iran about giving Christians the same rights as Muslims. Stop using our system against us. If over-building mosques and being over-zealous about one’s religion was not flaunted in our faces and was such a peaceful act, then believe me we would be the first to embrace it. You want to impose your beliefs on us and expect us to roll with it!!! Like they say in Arabic: If the camel could see his lump, he would fall and break his neck.

• 14. Fuziyad | November 30th, 2009 at 6:02 pm

  Reminder facts are wrong and when facts are wrong the conclusion can’t be right…

• 15. ja3far | November 30th, 2009 at 6:17 pm

  reminder.. they can come up with a law to ban such callings.. i am against the calling too ; those who interested in waking up for prayer can use the alarm.. the callings are simply disturbing .. but honestly am not sure they do allow calling in europe in the first place.

  they can remove any muslim sign or even destroy all the mosques in switzerland. there country they can run it the way they want; those who feel disturbed can take reaction and bucott whatever they want; the same way you can baycott arab worlds if you feel they are not respecting your right.. your problems..

  my concern is for lebanon and the interliving between the diferent religious groups

• 16. Darwish | November 30th, 2009 at 6:18 pm

  Secularism in Europe is rising and has reached levels where young generations are rejecting any kind of religion as “brain washing”. Christianity there, is on the decline and Islam is one of the few religions that is trying to fight this secular wave…I can’t blame them for wanting to keep their religious symbols alive, it is a shame though, that europeans christians are not fighting for their traditions and culture which is deeply embedded in the christian symbols and faith! If europeans are so affraid of their countries turning into an islamic state, perhaps they ought to go back to their christian roots and re-introduce themselves with Christianity which lies at the heart of their civilization going back two thousand years! This secular stuff is OK when it comes to politics, but not when you decide to uproot it from your home and your personal life!
  At least muslims are fighting for what they believe in.

• 17. hassouna | November 30th, 2009 at 6:46 pm

  I beat my wife because the koran says so……

  I dont need a minaret to be backwards

• 18. Reminder | November 30th, 2009 at 6:54 pm

  ja3far… ma tkhef 3a lebnen..

  With all do respect to people living outside lebanon, but:

  Christians in Lebanon are far more tolerant towards Muslims than Christians in the USA are practicing Christians in Europe.
  Muslims in Lebanon are far more tolerant towards Christians than Muslims in KSA Kuwait or GCC.

  Do not compare us to the others. Even though I have many Lebanese Muslim friends whom I love (not like, love), I would most probably hate a Muslim from KSA because he will treat me differently. Despite all the tensions in Lebanon we have lived together for hundreds of years.

  Are you forgetting the Shiites of Jbeil and Kessewan? Have they been fighting Christians for hundreds of years? Are they fighting now? I personally don’t have a problem with Lebanese Muslims, but with others, because the Lebanese are far more tolerant (esp the generation that was born after the civil war late 80s) than any other. Same can be applied to Christians. I bet you ja3far will even be bothered by how some Muslim extremists act in Europe or KSA/Kuwait just as I would be bothered by how right-wing Christians act and think in the US.

  Ja3far where are you from? I am pretty sure you are from Nabatiye, Bint Jbeil or Sour, because if you lived in Haret Hreik or Baalbak or Zahle or Jezzine Jbeil and the other “mixed” regions , you wouldn’t worry so much about such incidents.

• 19. Maximus | November 30th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

  Behind the minaret, Swiss people gave a signal of their opposition of the development of a visible islam in their country. They are ready to accept the presence of muslim people who come to Siwtzerland for studying, business or medical reasons. But not the presence of massive muslim colony and not islam in its social, political and cultural aspects. How can one criticize them?
  Under what logic can you ask a people to accept that hundreds of thouthands of foreigners come sit in their country with their culture, religion and language? Is there an historic precedent of any people who accepted a colonization by others without resisting?

• 20. omar | November 30th, 2009 at 7:45 pm

  I’ll tell you why this is wrong ya N:

  Dubai, Qatar, and KSA ARE NOT COUNTRIES TO BE EMULATED. The Swiss ban is a continuation of precisely the kind of intolerance we’re trying to fight in the Arab world.

  Rather than banning Minarets in Switzerland, they should compel Gulf countries to allow Crosses and Steeples. Intolerance is wrong, whether it’s Christians banning Minarets, or Gulf-Muslims banning Crosses.

  Two wrongs don’t make a right, mahek?

• 21. avi | November 30th, 2009 at 8:24 pm

  Maximus you are correct!!!I agree 100 %

• 22. Reminder | November 30th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

  Omar, as i said earlier, only minarets have been banned not mosques. This is not intolerance. The mosques still look like mosques… the same does not apply on the churhces… yes these GCC countries are not to be followed… but why don’t muslims manifest against their governments for taking such actions, instead of manifesting against foreign governments for taking FAR FAR LESS “intolerant” actions?

  Who is fighting this intolerance in the arab world?
  You will find Lebanese who do so but not a single arab.

• 23. Darwish | November 30th, 2009 at 9:02 pm

  Maximus 19, switzerland like any other countries agreed to let these immigrants come into the country because they needed cheap skilled labor and thought that these people would fill those positions, but they never thought that they would grow to becoming a “vocal” minority asking for rights and aid as well as challenging the established norms. Now that the host country is faced with that reality, they are coming strongly against it, worse, they are using secularism as an instrument to squash islamic symbols pretty much as they have with Christianity…but these muslim immigrants are fighting for their rights and their cultural traditions which is given to them under the laws of that country…there is a sort of hypocrisy involved here.

• 24. Darwish | November 30th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

  Oops…I should have said “Switzerland like many other western european countries…” in #23.

• 25. Delta | November 30th, 2009 at 9:30 pm

  N on number 5 hahahhahahahahhahahahahaahhahahaah
  and re wash it again…. hahahhahahahahahaha

  N you are a racist :p loooooooool you can not say the truth or they will label you as racist..

• 26. paul | November 30th, 2009 at 9:54 pm

  Darwish what are you talking about.i dont know witch countries you mean but when you said cheap skilled labor i’d like to think that you have never heard about minimum wage law with exeption seasonel workers in agriculture domain and those are 99% from christian countries hwo want to make some money and go back home as soon as possible.the problem is not with the arabs but with the turks,they live in europe more than 40 years after the wwII and they still refuse to learn the language of their new country,many of their childrens refuse the integration and build their own ghetto.
  those lovely immigrants dont like to see a cross on the wall of a classroom but they want own rooms for pray,girls who dont put scarf are whores and guys who have a pearcing are gays.etc.etc.etc…etc.

• 27. readers | November 30th, 2009 at 10:16 pm

  est-ce que la swisse refusera-t-elle aux juifs de construire leurs Synagogue la ou bon leurs semble ? combien d’eglises trouve-t-on a tel abib par exemple ?
  Oui vous avez raison en Arabie Saoudite il n’y a peut etre pas d’eglises, mais est-ce que L’Arabie Saoudite est le seul pays arabes ?
  En Syrie il y a plein d’eglises, Les Chretiens sont libres de pratiquer leur religion. Meme chose en Iraq, en Iran, Au Marroc, en Algerie en Tunisie, e jordanie, en egypte et a liban

• 28. avi | November 30th, 2009 at 10:43 pm

  Readers we got lots of visible churches in Tel Aviv talk about Arab countries as much as you want don’t talk about Israel,sorry to tell you this straightly we are not a racist people and we do not believe in not tolerating other religions like in Arab countries…..Wake up readers here is the proof

  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Churches_in_Tel_Aviv-Yaffo

• 29. Maximus | November 30th, 2009 at 11:14 pm

  Europeans people are waking up. Their governments did not ask them their opinions before letting millions of muslims enter their country. Check the results of polls in Europe related to minarets after Swiss votation.

  L’EXPRESS (FRANCE)
  http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/6961/express.jpg

  DER SPIEGEL (GERMANY)
  http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2629/spiegelq.jpg

  LE SOIR (BELGIUM)
  http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3996/lesoirk.jpg

  20MINUTOS (SPAIN)
  http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/669/20minutos.jpg

• 30. Darwish | November 30th, 2009 at 11:39 pm

  In Europe there is a fear of using secularism against jewish symbols for fear of bringing back the ghost of the holocaust!

• 31. Abou Ali | December 1st, 2009 at 12:09 am

  I fully endorse the Swiss vote. Fuziyad, if you are unhappy why don’t you leave? It is about time to push the brakes. Muslims extremists in Europe have an agenda. A political agenda and the citizens of Switzerland have the right to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

• 32. Doc1559 | December 1st, 2009 at 1:35 am

  Intolerance on both sides has gotten us into this kind of hatred, and unwise decisions like this will make the sitaution go wrong.

  I can’t believe this is happening in Switzerland. I can see stupid Sarah palin pulling this kind of garbage in Alaska, but not the people of Switzerland.

  This ban violtaes article 9 of the European convention on human rights, which states,:

  “Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

  Lets wait and see ..

  Lastly, The swiss vote was based on hatred and ignorance, I thought the swiss ppl were smarter than that.

• 33. Maximus | December 1st, 2009 at 2:36 am

  There are around 2000 mosques in France and 1300 in Germany alone. In both countries, more thant 500 mosques are recognizable as mosques from their islamic architecture. Muslims are present in France and Germany since less than 50 years. Christians exist in some arab countries before islam (Egypt, Syria, Irak). In how many arab countries there is thouthands of churches build in the last 30 years? In some countries like Qatar and Emirates and others gulf countries, one or two churches have been tolerated on condition that they have no cross or bells outside. In Saudi Arabia churhces are totally forbidden. In Egypt or Algeria, old chuchs can not be restored and new chruches can not be biuild. We never heard any muslim protesting against this “violation of freedom of religion”? So after being tolerants for years, europeans are now asking reciprocity and they don’t want to see any islamic exterior sign on any mosque. Where is the scandal?

• 34. Maximus | December 1st, 2009 at 2:36 am

  Europeans people are waking up. Their governments did not ask them their opinions before letting millions of muslims enter their country. Check the results of polls in Europe related to minarets after Swiss votation.

  L’EXPRESS (FRANCE)
  http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/6961/express.jpg

  DER SPIEGEL (GERMANY)
  http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2629/spiegelq.jpg

  LE SOIR (BELGIUM)
  http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3996/lesoirk.jpg

  20MINUTOS (SPAIN)
  http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/669/20minutos.jpg

• 35. Maximus | December 1st, 2009 at 2:44 am

  N
  Polls in Europe are waiting for you…

• 36. Maximus | December 1st, 2009 at 3:29 am

  Readers 26
  The first time the Swiss applied the “popular initiative”, used concerning the ban of minarets, was in 1893. The vote concerned the ban of the jewish practice consisting of butchering animals without having dazed them beforehand and it was approved. The Swiss have the most democratic system in the world. Their obession is the preservation of their way of life and freedom. They had the same reaction towards jews before jews accepted to adapt their way of life and practice of their religion to the swiss culture.

• 37. Mike | December 1st, 2009 at 8:27 am

  Four churches of Palestine left standing does not take away the fact of having the “goyim” rip apart Christendom.

• 38. Elie.F | December 1st, 2009 at 9:18 am

  Doc

  I am sure your comment will leave a big influence on the Swiss people.

• 39. paul | December 1st, 2009 at 10:45 am

  Doc,not only switzerland, germany too.

  Der Spiegel Online poll.

  http://www.bilder-hosting.info/viewer.php?id=opt1259506956t.gif

• 40. Fuziyad | December 1st, 2009 at 12:11 pm

  Abou Ali habibé, why should I leave? this is my country and I am allowed to oppose this vote and be disapointed by the way my compatriots voted.

  And leave to go where? to lebanon? to be ruled by wafic safa?

• 41. Reminder | December 1st, 2009 at 1:35 pm

  Fuziyad where are the facts wrong? pls point that out…

• 42. Fuziyad | December 1st, 2009 at 2:37 pm

  Reminder, what you said about the muezzin is wrong, there is no muezzin on these minarets and it’s always been out of question that one day there will be one, trust me I live next to one of the 2 minarets…

• 43. Reminder | December 1st, 2009 at 3:10 pm

  there are 4 minarets… let us say that the muezzin is out of questions anyways, what about the fact that despite having these rules, european countries are still far more tolerant than not only arab countries but countries all over the world? I can’t believe that people are not crediting the Europeans for that! Try to build a mosque in the southern US! A Church in the GCC! Repair a church in Egypt!

• 44. w | December 1st, 2009 at 7:11 pm

  you guys became brain washed by 9/11 and bin laden taliban thing…

• 45. Fuziyad | December 1st, 2009 at 8:52 pm

  Reminder, it is because I consider Europe as being the most “civilized” place that am disapointed by that vote…

• 46. fad14 | December 2nd, 2009 at 5:08 am

  Honestly who cares, been once to Switzerland and not sure when to repeat it again. I think this applies to many others..

  Aden 5 times per day is annoying, as well as the bell on Sunday morning. We all know there is a God and we have our religions, keep them quite and all PDAs have prayer times these days.

• 47. Jean | December 2nd, 2009 at 10:59 am

  Fuziyad,

  I would agree with what you are saying if it was a level playing field. The moment that arab countries allow their christian population to have churches rebuilt and have viewable crucifixes on them then the more you should expect from other largely majority christian countries.

  Yesterday in Sydney, Australia, an islamic school banned the singing of the Australian national anthem. A good friend of mine that works for another islamic school has been insullted on many occasions due to her being christian and in a position of authority of muslim youth. As guests in the country, everyone needs to adapt to the hosts traditions, customs and way of life.

  What makes people so suspicious of islam is the sad reality that none of the so called moderates (wherever they are) stand up and speak against these things that are sooo profoundly wrong.

• 48. Doc1559 | December 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 am

  Elie.f

  Chu sayer ahdam min paul mbayan !!

  Paul

  Elie is about to put you out of business..

• 49. mo | December 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 pm

  1. the majority of muslims living in switz are from kosovo and turkey, not arab so evoking ksa and qatar and whatever is irrelevant

  2. there are only four minarets in all of switz so this was never a real issue its just about the rightwing being rightwing

• 50. Fuziyad | December 2nd, 2009 at 10:18 pm

  mo, note that that most who voted against the minarets don’t even know that people from kosovo are muslims, they are labelled as ex-yougolslavs and are not more hated than the serbs are

• 51. avi | December 2nd, 2009 at 11:24 pm

  Doc swizerland is not part of the European Union and has no intention of becoming a muslim country,accept when host countries say no;because you live under their rules!

• 52. paul | December 2nd, 2009 at 11:58 pm

  khayye Fuziyad ma tiz3al,lamma tije 3a libnen,nsob khayme 7ad jemi3 beirut,wdal tsabbab 3le ta tishba3

  Gruss…

• 53. Elie.F | December 3rd, 2009 at 12:32 am

  Doc

  No worries, ana w Paul ma ra7 nikhtilif 3aleik.

• 54. Doc1559 | December 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 am

  Elie

  No worries , at your best, inta w paul btit7afazu !! ma ra7 nikhtilif ma3kun, t7afazu please !!

• 55. Maximus | December 15th, 2009 at 12:38 am

  This guy criticized the swiss ban of minarets in Switzerland as a “discrimination against muslims”!
  “Islamic scholar Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi yesterday (friday) criticised the public celebrations of Christmas in Qatar, saying that such celebrations would “undermine” the country’s Islamic identity”.

  http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=331494&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56

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