<b><i>Petition of Ignorance: Banning of Islam<br>
Hasan Yahya, Ph.D</i></b><br>
On February 18, 2009 at 8.15 pm, Lorenzo Bouchard sent to honorable court elected members a message under the title: BAN ISLAM ( PETITION ON GOOGLE), as it is in capital letters. He addressed : TO: THE WORLD COURT. He describes the message as phase 1, in controlling Islam. For those who are concerned "about "Slavery, especially of Women in our modern World" and asked politely the members " please read the following item." Now you know the sender and the subject matter and the receivers of the petition are: those who are interested in human values and "Universal Love" which in his belief are "THE WORLD COURT" to judge his request. The undersigned are representing International petitioners. Their request is to "ban on the organization called Islam." And requested such ban due to "criminal acts of its founder Muhammad" and the Qur'an's doctrines which he describes "presently legitimizes the criminal acts of paedophilia, assassinations" and "the oppression of women" By "suppressing their human rights" In his opinion, "the penalties of stoning, and dismemberment, the utilization of terror as a weapon on intimidation and control" The letter was written in capital letters, to give importance as he imagined. <br> My comments on the petition and the way it is provided: 1) he brings the honorable Prophet of Islam, which Bernard Shaw, the Irish philosopher described as the top of 100 historical personalities in history, found on earth as a great leader. <br> 2) The petition wanted to bring Muhammad (SAAS) the Prophet of Islam like Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, and Hitler for the Holocoust, and the Butcher of Bosnian Muslims of Checkoslovakia. Which I believe is a completely ignorant and unfounded claim. It is the same ignorance used by extremists that use religion as a means to an end. What if another petitioner, Muslim this time, came with the same idea of petition for David who slayed the Palestinian leader: Goliath, three thousand years back. Or Solomon, who was equally dealing with 700 women as wives, and 300 as concubines. Or Moses, who killed the Egyptian before he ran away with his crime, and finally Jesus to claim injustice of putting him on the Cross. All viable petitions if used under the pretence of ignorance as in Bouchard's case. <br>3) In this petition there is comment number: 16, which shows Sir Winston Churchill stated in 1899, that Muslims utilize cruel rules and practices early in his life when he was ignorant in politics and of Islam as a great religion. By generalizing his view for all Muslims. Then you have comment number: 184, for William S. Arnott, Ph.D who strongly encourages such petitions. <br> My comment: He has a Ph.D, to say the man is an authority, in fact the carrier of this Ph.D wrote: "Their [the Muslims] deterministic religion is not for the freedom of anyone but is for control of everyone." I think the use of "anyone," and "everyone" over generalizes in a situation when specificality is needed rendering his opinion out of the scientific circle by any quantitative or qualitative measurement. He has the courage as to fool himself among scientists of the world who unlike him, have a Ph.D, and master research theories and methodologies, based on valid conclusions. As scientists they know very well, rules of conduct, when it comes to validity of findings which is relative to their assumptions, sampling designs, and population for generalization. He reminds me of Phyllis Chesler, the Jewish feminist writer, who married a Muslim man from Afghanistan, she too, had a Ph.D. She discovered the cultural secrets of her husband's family, and generalized the very same secrets of one family against all Muslims all the way back to Muhammad (SAAS). <br> 4) In support of this position the petitioner cites comments from a range of contributors listed by numbers as follows: 16, 184, 536, 518, 82, 653, 655, 654, and 659. Comment number 536, which he breached as an innocent adolescent shool boy that "the muslims are a victim of islam. make no mistake about that." And calls to rescue "the helpless victims of islam" and help them to be "a free people" He then proceeds to call on Saudi Arabia to change its ways. This stikes me as somewhat odd. Someone as learned as the petioner would claim to be would undoubtly understand that Saudi Arabia is a small portion of the Muslim world, which includes over 1.5 Billion followers. Its population according to almanac 2007, was 27 million. That is less than 2% of the overall Muslim population worldwide. Thanks for the advice, I am sure Saudi Arabia appreciates it. <br> 5) Comment 518, the comment is written in French. Unfortunately, I do not speak French. I did, however, recognize some catalystic words. Words such as; Islam, Cathiliques, genocide, massacre, religions, Bouddiste, hindu, religion impose, and psychologiques, and sects, among others. My ethical resolve does not allow me to comment on something that I do not fully understand. I only wish the petitioner had such ethical standards.<br> 6) Comment number: 82. This comment includes a quote by Alexis de Tocqueville on Islam saying: "I studied the Quran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad." This is the opinion of one man. We cannot understand the context of his remarks. Did he elaborate on this or did he later do more research? While I respect this mans opinion it cannot be taken as reference on the religion as a whole. Lest we forget, Alexis was a true politician. He was admired in America as a politician from Europe, and followed the same school of thought as that of Winston Chirchill. If the political views had been different he may have said things differently. He might say that he admired the man who took a one person ideology and grew it to 1.5 billion followers in less than 1500 years. Unfortunately, we cannot follow up with Monsieur Tocqueville. <br> 7) Comment number 653. says "Islam took a Hindu/ Buddist region (formerly Afghanistan/ Pakistan/ India) and DIVIDED IT. Hindu/Buddists were tolerant religions and people." Then s/he describes the tolerance of suicide among Muslims out of fear and pride. And calls for people to Wake up from what s/he calls "fear masquerading as pride" or what s/he calls "STOCHOLM SYNDROME". I have no comment here, because to talk about how Muslims and Hindu people were united to get rid of Great Britain's occupation of their lands for many years. They came together and split the region into West Pakistan and East Pakistan [known as Bangladesh] andf India in the middle. The three are democratically accepted by the West's moral and democratic standards. Here, I would have appreciated some more facts or proper research of the area being commented on. <br> 8) Comment 655. a comment from someone; s/he says: "The use of religion to torture, kill, malign, coerce and condone maltreatment of any living creature is heinous." I agree so far. But on this statement I disagree. s/he said: "Islam does all of these things." According to whom? This is your basic stereotypical mentality and wreaks of ignorance. Many of the comments are like this, one persons account or opinion but completely unsubstantiated and lacking in real value in understanding. <br> 9) Comment 654. says:"In the interest of world peace ban islam." S/he agrees on false claim or petition to ban Islam. I wonder to myself as I am reading this comment: what level of bigotry and racist view are these? I am appalled as a sociologist to see such free acceptance of illogical statements in a petition that is to be taken seriously. This comment is written by a blind follower. You could say anything and the "yes, count me in" mentality kicks in. I could probably go around and gets quotes from random people saying that they hate football. That doesn't mean I will go forward with a petition to ban football. <br> 10) Comment 659 another female or male says: Female Oppression:(see Islam), Human rights Violation: (see Islam), Barbaric Sentences: (see Islam), Violations of International Law:(see Islam), Promotion and Financial Backing of Terrorism:(see Islam). Well at least people will see how Islam is tolerant in human principles and foundations ethically and morally. This is a good ending invitation from the petitioners. I agree, of all the words in the petion these words speak the loudest. Again, I agree, "see Islam". I would also add study Islam. I am not saying become a follower, but truly study the religion wich, as all religions, has its positives and negatives. You decide which for you. Do not let someone decide for you. <br> 11) Finally, the sponsor of the petition, his name is Lorenzo Bouchard, and his email, is
labouchard@shaw.ca <br> A final comment is what about the other numbers of comments which may be redicule the petition or call for peace and harmony in America in logical sense From the 659 or may be more comments? Just a question. Americans are not fools to accept such a racist and discriminative petition. Forty years ago, blacks compared with whites were less intillegent and some racist scientist like the one with Ph.D, the petitioner brought, claimed that in the 1980s, Today, Obama proved that blacks are not less than any person on earth if they have the chance and opportunity. For this I proudly say, long live America. And I feel sorry for this ill-guided petition to incite hatred in a healthy society like the USA. After seeing what president barrack Obama accomplished so far, few weeks ago I wrote, an article on this site articlesbase.com titled: Am I Proud to be American? May be Someday! I will change my opinion now the someday, have come. It is already in. My best regards to readers.(1713 words) <i><br>Hasan Yahya, is a professor of sociology, an Arab American Muslim, with two Ph.D degrees from Michigan State University. He wrote 20 books, and 150 plus articles on race relations, sociology, conflict management, psychology, poetry, IQ test measurement, and politics. He is a columnist at wfol.tv, Malaysia, and his creation, TINA International news Agency, Chicago, USA. www.hasanyahya.com</i><br>