Breivik blames Turkish friend´s father for his radical views

Anders Behring Breivik, 33-year-old right-wing extremist, sits in courtroom 250 at the Oslo Courthouse in Oslo on May 31, 2012. AFP Photo

Confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik has told a Norwegian court that he was slighted by Muslims on numerous occasions during his childhood, seeming to suggest that these incidents played a role in his radicalization.

Breivik says that when he was seven years old his friend´s Turkish father wrecked his bicycle and at the age of 15 he was slapped by a Pakistani subway driver for riding on the outside of a subway car.

The court was hearing witnesses for the defense Monday when Breivik, who is accused of killing 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage last summer in Norway, gave his testimony. The defendant´s mental state is a key question in the case, and psychiatrists have given differing conclusions whether Breivik is sane.

From: here

always easiest to blame others to explain why we turn out the way we do!

Turkey’s best pianist is on trial

Fazıl Say is arguably Turkey’s best pianist. The 42-year-old musician is undoubtedly great at his work. Over the years, he has emerged as a spokesman for the ultra-secularist. He has insulted those who listen to “arabesque” music, and made fun of veiled women. However, all of this is trivia these days, because Say is now about to be tried for “insulting religion” on Twitter. Back in April, he posted a few tweets which made fun of the Islamic description of heaven and likened it to a “brothel.” Soon afterwards, an Istanbul prosecutor prepared an indictment against him, asking for a prison sentence ranging from 9 months to 1.5 years. The court recently accepted the indictment, and Say’s trial will begin in October.

It personally insults me that anyone listens to what this animal has to say. The case has shown how toothless open Nordic societies are against maniacs like him.

Well... I mean, I´m not anti-religion, and I don´t think you should insult people for listening to certain music or wearing a veil. However, I do think he should be able to expres an opinion on twitter, about the Islamic view of heaven looking like a brothel. Certain men are send to a bunch of virgins? So the view of heaven is related to sex, isn´t it. Why else would a bunch of virgin women be considered a reward? And why is there no such view of heaven for women? I think this man should not be send to prison for this remark. It is his view on things, and it might insult people. You can´t live an entire life without insulting people.

In Islamic theology Paradise is described as a place whose joys no one has seen and no one can imagine. Anyway, some things have been revealed in Prophetic ahadith. And yes, there is a sophisticated erotic tone in the descriptions. So what? That is the language dwellers of earth understand.

I don´t quite agree all sweet things in the Islamic hereafter are reserved for men. According to tradition women will be extremely beautiful and wear clothes no one can ever dream of. They will never grow old and wrinkly but continue to attract forever. I think it is the same "virgin" thing said in a more feminine manner.

If someone wants to call these things a brothel it is his lack of taste.

Good question!

...I´d rather have a bunch of Christiano Ronaldo look-a-likes adoring me than a fancy dress! Jeez, talk about sexism! Give me my freaking hot men!!! I don´t give a hoot about wrinkles or dresses. To make that my reward after death makes me want to live it up on earth. And yes, saying a man´s reward after death is a bunch of women that will sleep with him and only him, makes it almost like a brothel... except that you don´t have to pay the women. Now, if that´s a heaven that men want to strive for, fine. Their choice. But for another man to make an observation that it is kinda brothel-like to possibly put into prison is not fit for a secular state. Having bad taste is not illegal in Turkey.

By the way, in my opinion the whole "virgin" thing is a mistake in the copying and interpretation of the older Qurans. So the whole discussion is pointless in my view anyway, even from a theological point.

What older Qur´ans? I didn´t know there is such a thing.

There is one first quran, religiously speaking: the one written (or transmittenly written) by the Mohammed. The qurans after that were copied from this one. Some experts (who are in hiding) state that heaven is actually filled with fruits and raisins, instead of virgins The further faith about virgins is actually established by hadiths, not the quran (as many thing in Islam). In any case this view is not held by any religious expert, since it is believed that the quran is directly a word from god, and it is not possible that some things could be copied in an incorrect way because of god´s will. My view differs, I think the quran was just written by a man, but each their own.

Prayer rooms in Turkish opera houses?

Ahmet Altan, the “chief columnist” and editor-in-chief of Taraf, a radically liberal Turkish daily which minces words for no one, recently wrote a piece titled “Prayer Room for Opera.”

His tone was not supportive but rather very critical of these “mescids” — the Islamic term for prayer rooms — that a new law by the Turkish government requires in all shopping malls, movie theaters, and other public spaces such as theaters and operas.

“Have you ever heard any conservative or religious person in this country complaining: ‘I can’t live my religion if there are no mescids in opera or ballet houses?’” Altan asked. “And has there been any discussion in the history of the Islam on whether there should be prayer rooms in operas?”

According to Altan, this new law was not only absurd, but also ill-intended. It only exposed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s triumphalism and his effort to “hide the real issues” from the public agenda.

From: here