Iran is again showing the world the face of religious extremism. Previously, we discussed how chess officials were under fire for cooperating in the championship in Iran, which imposes dress codes and religious restrictions on visitors (particularly women). Now Iran has barred Dorsa Derakhshani, 18, from competing at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2017, because she appeared without an Islamic head scarf. Her brother, Borna Derakhshani, 15, was the banned for playing against an Israeli opponent. This follows a horrific account of a girl beaten by religious police for simply wearing jeans with holes in them. The brother and sister were also barred from the national team for their transgressions.
The Iranian National Chess Team the siblings this week with an announcement from the head of the Iranian Chess Federation, Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh. The question is whether the international chess bodies will ignore such abuses of players.
Pahlevanzadeh denounced the sibling as harming Iran by their actions. Ominously, Pahlevanzadeh promised that “We’re considering measures that will prevent similar incidents from taking place in future tournaments.” Notably, while Borna lives in Iran, Dorse lives in Spain.
In the meantime, the religious police were also busy on the streets this week. A fourteen-year-old girl and her friends has reported that she was snatched off the street by the morality police for wearing ripped jeans. She was out celebrating her birthday at the time. They were forced into a van where male officers pulled their hair and female officers attacked them. After the beatings, the girls were set free after written pledges saying they would not wear the ripped trousers again to follow Iranian religious dress code.
Another victory for religious orthodoxy in countries like Iran.
Yes, the Muslims and Jews in Canada are getting together to sing Kumbaya an have one big love fest.
If only someone had told these Canadian Imams that non-Muslims can understand Arabic, too. A language in which they preach an entirely different message.
http://m.torontosun.com/2017/02/20/jewish-defence-league-alleges-hate-crime
“…The videos, featuring a 2016 sermon in Arabic, were initially posted online by the mosque. They were subsequently posted on YouTube by CIJnews co-founder Jonathan Halevi, a linguist who speaks several languages.
According to Halevi, the sermon included the following:
“O Allah! Give them victory over the criminal people, O Allah! Destroy anyone who killed Muslims, O Allah! Destroy anyone who displaced the sons of the Muslims, O Allah! Count their number; slay them one by one and spare not one of them, O Allah! Purify Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews!”
For clarification, the “purify Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews” refers to the famous mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.
This certainly does not seem very peaceful. It’s also unbecoming in diverse Canada which celebrates every race and religion and does not tolerate discrimination.
“It’s advocating the killing of Jews,” alleged Weinstein. “We will send a message to the police.”
And they are deciding whether to pay their own visit to the mosque Tuesday or sometime this week.
“We need to clarify what is going on at this mosque,” said Weinstein. “Is this a den of worship or a den of hate?””
Canada is screwed up in a lot of ways. Quoting this Imam is hate speech, but the Imam gets a pass. In fact, when some protesters showed up to protest this guy’s vile sermons, they may well face criminal charges. But not the Imam.
But this is what I was talking about earlier. Muslims almost always engage in these “interfaith” outreach activities with ulterior motives. They know what their sacred texts say, and the Quran is one long screed against other religions.