Guantanamo Base took delivery today of their new Qu'ran Light Delivery Vehicle - Wheeled. The anxious Marines could hardly wait to drive the crap out of it.
Posted on 06/03/2005 7:02:32 PM PDT by nickcarraway
WASHINGTON, 4 June 2005 — Following accusations of mistreatment of the Qur’an in the Guantanamo prison in Cuba, and recognition of widespread ignorance about Islam’s holy book by many Americans; CAIR, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, has responded by offering free Qur’ans.
More than 6,000 Americans have already requested the free copies of Islam’s holy book since CAIR launched the “Explore the Qur’an” campaign on May 17.
“Calls are coming into our headquarters at the rate of three-to-five calls-per-minute since publication about the campaign in USA Today and the Wall Street Journal newspapers,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR.
CAIR’s telephone message mailbox becomes completely filled “at least once an hour, which reflects a desire by ordinary Americans to better understand Islam and Muslims,” Awad said, adding that many are calling to congratulate them on their initiative.
“This fact about American society needs to be told in the Muslim world. People here respect the Qur’an and would like to learn about it, and the acts of a few should not obscure the reality of the general Americans society — which is good, tolerant and accepting of others,” he said.
Those who have requested free Qur’ans include a police officer who works with the Muslim community, Christian religious leaders who wish to explain Islam to their congregations and Americans of all faiths who just wish to learn more about Islam’s revealed text, he said.
CAIR’s first shipment of 25,000 copies of Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation of the Qur’an is being sent out this week to any American who wants one.
Nihad said he has received many questions about the Qur’an. “I tell them there’s no better spokesperson than the Qur’an.”
Distribution of Islam’s holy book offers an unprecedented opportunity for Muslims to introduce Islam to their fellow Americans, said Awad, who added the response by the US media has been “very heartening.”
Awad cited an article by Kenneth Woodward in the Wall Street Journal as an example: “If for Christians, Jesus is the eternal word of God made flesh; then the Koran is the word of God made book, and every Arabic syllable in it lives as the breath of the divine.”
“People have read hundreds of books in America, but I doubt that most Americans have ever seen, or read, or even touched the Qur’an. It’s a must-read, must-learn and must understand book that changed the history of the world, and will continue to have an impact on our lives,” said the head of CAIR.
But, as a non-profit organization, CAIR cannot continue this project without the support of the Muslim community: “We need to be supported to ensure it will be successful. People can go to the website and donate or request copies of the Qur’an at www.exploretheQur’an.org. We are hoping that we have enough resources to send out 100,000 copies.”
Awad said: “Donors to the Qur’an project are encouraged to ‘give the gift of faith to your neighbor.’”
A letter explaining how Muslims are taught to handle the Qur’an with due respect will be included with each shipment.
“It will deal with how Muslims traditionally have been taught to handle the Qur’an, and will request that they put it on a proper, clean place out of respect. We hope they will take that to heart.”
He stressed Muslims need not hesitate contributing to CAIR.
“CAIR is probably the most respected US Muslim organization. It has an excellent legal standing and is very transparent, and continues to have a good rapport with the US government. We receive delegations from the Muslim world through the State Department more than once a week, and we conduct seminars on Islam for different departments of the US government in Washington and in other states.”
Thanks for the idea. I wanted some for TP, but I hadn't thought about using them for targets.
Heh. Heh. Drain. Yeah, that's the ticket.
THAT is beautiful - and soooooooooooo true!
File this under know your enemy.
Read it today by choice or tomorrow by force.
Guantanamo Base took delivery today of their new Qu'ran Light Delivery Vehicle - Wheeled. The anxious Marines could hardly wait to drive the crap out of it.
Wasn't there a copyright violation lawsuit when an early American translation was printed?
WE SHOULD TAKE EVERY COPY AWAY FROM THE PRISONERS AT QTMO!!!
'Cause we wouldn't want to mess up again now, would we??? (big smile)
Rather than having been produced by some guy named Mohammad, the Koran is a mishmash of items taken from an early missionary's kitbag, and that it can be properly read only in Syriac-Aramaic, and not Arabic!
In brief, the Koran is kind of like a Sunday School lesson book that got out of hand.
That's one krazy lookin' bookmobile!
Oh! Excellent, I can use them for some of my new artistic endeavers. Now I just need a large clear container big enough to hold it and an artsy fartsy NY gallery to display my work.
I haven't decided if I'm going to go with pig's blood or urine as the suspending medium yet.
Wonder if this will be an edited edition, you know with all the parts taken out where they call for killing Christians and Jews?
Free you say? Oh goodie! Another one for the outside john.
The purple teletubbie is gay.
You're just trying to hijack this thread.
I'm going to need a bigger toilet.
I wonder what happens when you burn a copy of the Koran... Does the smoke release a genie who grants wishes?
Sorry, couldn't resist! =D
No, no, you have it all wrong. He's the teletubbie of peace. You must be a teletubbaphobic. There ought to be a hate crime law.
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