Monday, February 27, 2006

Effigies of prophet Muhammed are Burned in Spain for Over a Century

Continuing the debate on this illogical outrage and violence in some of the Muslim countries over the Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), I have some other news here that will warm up the hearts of some Muslims.

For centuries, some villages in south east Spain have been celebrating popular festivals called “Moors and Christians”. These festivals celebrate the departure or the expulsion of the Moors (Muslims) who came through North Africa to occupy Spain for 800 years. The festivals take flavors according to each village, however celebrations take the form of relics to the battles and customs of each side of the troops. Almost one hundred and fifty celebrations take place all over Spain. The festivities end with the informal and comic retreats to solidiers of the Moors and Christians.

In some villages, which may be seven, effigies for prophet Muhammed are burned as part of the festival. This tradition has been taking place now for centuries and it is said that Spanish Muslims got used to the tradition of the festival that they see it as an every year routine. No one heard of Muslim torching buildings or killing others citizens over the effigies as the case of the Danish cartoons.

I found this old photo that you see on the left side of the post on one of the Spanish sites for prophet Muhammed effigy.

However, according to this site, I read today that some villages are cancelling the effigy part after they saw some Muslim nations’ reactions over the cartoons as they do not trust the sensibility of the reaction if the tradition is made international. A village of Bocairent near Valencia has decided this year to discontinue the century old tradition of burning the effigy.

This news must be a great disappointment to some of Muslims because some believe that they will bring Spain under Islam again. The dream exploded in their brains that they believe that the entire continent of Europe will have Islam as a religion. The problem that religions are not forced especially when you see people on TV blown up in trains and metro stations or innocent people beheaded in the name of allah and prophet Muhammed.

11 Comments:

At 4:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why would the decrease of the burning of effigies be a great disappointment to some Muslims? Burning a picture or statue of Mohammad does not seem to qualify as an expression of respect for a religion. Therefore it's my guess that a decease of this practice will be appreciated.

Unless you are saying that burning effigies of Mohammad actually accounts for remembering one's Muslim roots. Then again, I can think of more appreciative ways to do so.

In this line, I fail to see how a decrease of the burning of Mohammed's effigies relates to the improbability that Spain would be once more under the control of Islam again. After all, if less burnings take place, less rejection is expressed and more acceptance (not embrace) might be in the ballpark.

PBUY

 
At 10:38 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

PBUY,

You don't get it. This isn't a sign of respect, but a sign of suspicion and distrust. There has been a tectonic shift in the attitude held by the rest of the world toward Muslims, and it is not good. An awful lot of people have come to the conclusion that Muslims are bloodthirsty lunatics who riot over trivia, people to be treated with caution, and certainly unfit to participate in civilized society. All the news reports had to say was "They're rioting over cartoons".

FFE's point, the Muslmis are far better people than the lying imams and evil ME governments would have us believe, is well-taken.

Valerie

 
At 11:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Valerie,

I do get the point of the post, however FFE fails to properly substantiate the last paragraph. Besides, the post stresses the disappointment of some Muslims. I dont think the emphasis should be on this notion, after all it clouds the point of the post.

Secondly, its very inappropriate to bluntly label a person as: "you are not getting it". The fact that I am asking a question on the last paragraph does not indicate in any way that I missed something. You are jumping to conclusions.

 
At 4:03 PM, Blogger Freedom For Egyptians said...

The point is simple. There are so many ways applied in different parts of the world that are considered insulting to Islam or prophet Muhammed. However, no one knew about the Danish cartoons except when evil extremist radical Muslims living in Europe went to the Middle East and Asia to play the people there through other radical Muslim leaders. In a world where illiteracy rates are so high, it is easy to manipulate the truth.

The tradition of Spain has been running for decades and no one used it to play the people. There are so many Muslim Spaniards living in Spain who are aware of the tradition, however they do not kill each other over it as the case with the cartoons.

The final point which I believe, most important, is that when someone depicts anyone in an insulting way, the answer should not be torching buildings and terrorising civilians or diplomats. There are so many channels where humans can talk to each other than killings and burnings. The reaction should have been different, especially that there are so malicious people in our world that use Islam and the name of Prophet Muhammed to apply terrorist ideologies. I wonder why Muslims are not doing anything seriously to curb the evil of those people. Why Muslims were not so outraged by the bombing of the Golden Dome Mosque in Iraq? And it is a holy Muslim Shiite Shrine.

 
At 6:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

FFE,

Nice blog. It is great to see more and more poeple object to the ridiculous events that have occured over the past few weeks. It is about time we all "wake up" and see Islam for what it is....a "religion" whose teachings are of domination, violence, and oppression...all in the name of allah or Mo-HAM-head. I think the reason for so-called "moderate" muslims not voicing their outrage for the riots, is either fear or they truely feel the riots/killings are justified.

Why must we tolerate the intolerable? In today's society, we are so concerned with being politically correct, and not hurting anyone, but we have to realize that we are dealing with a people who still live in the dark ages. Completely brain-washed, and robbed of self-thought. There is no reasoning with the un-reasonable. Well, I have rambled long enough...

CJ-

 
At 7:10 PM, Blogger Poul Højlund said...

Hi, - interesting story, and you're definately hitting the nail.

All the best/PH

 
At 10:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

CJ
Please stop speaking out of your a--, I am sure your not exactly the brightest bolt in the family

Love the blog freedom but you do get the occasional idoitic viewpoint, and you do have your own ones somtime might I say when you rant against muslims, but all in all a good blog.

Remember, when Egyptians marched with Saad Zagloul in 1919, they marched as Egyptians, not as muslims and copts. Your blog should do the same if it wants true credibility to the title "Freedom for Egyptians".

 
At 4:17 AM, Blogger Lars said...

Such rituals are, even if ritualized, rituals to commemorate non-pluralism and non-respect of relgion. I don't see anything negative in locals thinking twice about the implications of such festivities in the wake of the outrage on the Mohammed cartoons?

 
At 9:56 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It was respectful when Muslims conquered Spain and slaughtered Christians? But it's disrespectful to celebrate retaking it from them.

 
At 11:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

1.From my point of view (that is not located in Spain) I approve of reflecting about those, let ´s say, questionable traditions.
Basically, someone burning foreign flags in the streets, at least, in my culture would be indeed regarded as a lunatic.
I allow myself to ask:
Burning effegies, even if it is just a "ritual" does place oneself on the same level with some extremists hanging western politicians in effigy somewhere in Pakistan, doesn´t it? (For example as being done to German vice chancellor who moreover haven´t made one single comment in the cartoon affair, what is grotesque)

2. Actually, I had to read twice to be able to follow what FFE was saying above that especially in the last paragraph.
As I was already used to I am being introduced once again to a an interesting and different point of view ´from the other side´.("The problem that religions are not forced especially when you see people on TV blown up in trains and metro stations or innocent people beheaded in the name of allah and prophet Muhammed")
If I still had a gleam of hope it was before the latest incidents. My current attitude is reasonably I "...have come to the conclusion that Muslims are bloodthirsty lunatics who riot over trivia, people to be treated with caution, and certainly unfit to participate in civilized society". When I heard about the cartoons for the first time i said to myself: thank you, but why were they published so tardily and not already five years ago? (Of course, the answer is the attempt being politically correct, that actually had made it worse.) And why it weren´t muslims who are suffering under terror not marginally that had the "idea" for the cartoons? Though the fact it has been done is more important than the question of "when" and "how". Well, at this point I thought we finally would face a debate in Europe. And Europeans, no matter which religion, would agree in condemning terror and would defend our values against extremists. It should be the priority of all people believing in higher "mental powers" no matter if Allah or god...
I welcomed the cartoons (at least the ones I could understand) not because I wanted to insult any one in his/her relious feelings but for the sake of discussing finally with my muslim compatriots about some
things I ask myself for years now while watching the news in the evening.
Not necessary to mention that I failed miserably in my plan.
Instead some extremists started this cartoon "war". Concerning Valeri´s comment today I read a comment in another (leftist) blog of somebody asking himself, maybe polemically maybe seriously, if it was a good decision to take the muslims side during the latest conflicts in Kosovo. I want to remark that this was the first war for Germany after 1945 and one should not- how does one say- disunderestimate how difficult that was and what a controvery it was evoking. In the end the only reason for the decision to participate in that war was to protect muslims from ethnic oppression, if u want, done by soldiers regarding themselves as christians.
I do not want any respect or gratitude. And, of course, I cannot except there are people whose impetus are not arguments but racism. But i am asking: Do arab medias also write about those backgrounds or it only about the European "Islamophobia"?
Anyway, I am reading FFE´s congenial comment above I have the feeling my alter ego sits somewhere in Egypt/US.
I agree with CJ, too. I have been educated in a quite left-liberal manner. Well, European reality shattered those kind of dreams. Besides that, there is no equidistance between Islam and enlightenment on the one side and christianity I know from here and enlightenment on the other side.

I seems that recently I have no other choice than being condescending towards Islam, what I ´ve always resisted so far. But if I learned a lesson from the cartoon war then it is we cannot really compare with each other.

[Sorry for all kind of grammatical and spelling mistakes and bad expression]

 
At 6:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

oh anonymous,

First of all, thanks for not leaving your name. This alows me to come up with my own for you...you are either a moronic bleeding heart, sandal licking, liberal, or a cowardly muslim. In either case, I am not speaking out of my ass. (btw...u couldn't even spell out "ass" what a gutless wonder) I have done some extensive research before I came to the conclusion to which I posted earlier. Maybe you should do the same...oh thats right your either a lib or a muzzie...which requires no independent thought. You are just always right?!?!? But I do have a news flash for you....we are not in 1919 anymore. The world has changed slightly since then...dont ya think?? Your words prove how much of an out of touch idiot you really are. Good luck with all that.

CJ-

 

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