Posted on 10/25/2005 10:08:40 AM PDT by Gengis Khan
In Surat, Muslims are joining hands to fight the ‘‘great American multinational invasion.’’ Handbills asking the community to shun American multinationals like Coke and Pepsi are being circulated outside mosques and madrasas and in Muslim-dominated areas of the city.
The handbills, in the name of Nandurbar-based Jamia Islamia Ishaatul Uloom Akkalkuwa — a renowned centre of learning, seem to have struck a chord for many are boycotting American products in the holy month of Ramzan.
The handbills, which carry an appeal to boycott American as well as Jewish products, are being circulated in Rander, Sagrampura, Zampa Bazaar, Chowk Bazaar, Hodi Bungalow and Nanpura and seem to have their own take on what the product names mean. So Pepsi translates into ‘Pay Each Penny to Save Israel,’ and Nike stands for ‘No Islamic Kingdom on Earth.’ No one has bothered to check the veracity of these claims.
The appeal, which appeared as a one-page article in the ‘Bayaan-e-Mustufa’ published by Islamic learning centre Jamia Islamia Ishaatul Uloom-Akkalkuwa, says Pepsi is a multinational company owned by Jews and that Muslims should stop drinking Pepsi, which it claims is an acronym that stands for ‘Pay Each Penny to Save Israel.’ It adds that Islamic countries have been running a massive ‘‘boycott campaign’’ but the multinational has an edge owing to its worldwide presence.
The concluding lines mention that the piece has been sourced from an Urdu book ‘Alam-e-Islam Yahudo Nasharaki Multinational Kampanioke Sikanjeme,’ which was reportedly published in Saudi Arabia.
The boycott calls are being backed by fatwas (religious edicts) from some Muslim clerics in Pakistan. ‘‘Every penny spent on Israeli and American products will turn into a bullet fired into the chests of our brethren in Palestine,’’ says one. Mufti Mohammed Saheb, a cleric of Darul Iftah in Karachi, is quoted as saying, ‘‘Muslims should not buy products of Nike, who is the Goddess of Victory according to the Oxford English Reference dictionary. But Nike’s an acronym for ‘No Islamic Kingdom on Earth.’’
Mohammed Mullah, a Muslim leader in Rander, says: ‘‘we are observing a blanket ban on use of American products. The call has been given in the latest edition of Jamia Islamia Ishaatul Uloom-Akkalkuwa’s Bayaan-e-Mustufa. Now, even handbills are doing the rounds.’’
The handbill also says that according to the CIA, 40 crore Muslims are addicted to cigarettes manufactured by Philip Morris, a Jew-owned multinational. Muslims pay approximately 800 million dollars to the cigarette company, of which 21 per cent profit is given to the Israeli government, it claims.
Uneer Marfatia, general secretary of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind (Surat), says: ‘‘the boycott on American and Jewish multinationals comes after the US-led war on Iraq and subsequent Israeli attacks on Palestine. An article in the Gujarati version of Bayyan-e-Mustufa is being circulated now.’’
And many Muslims are heeding the boycott call. Riyaz Shaikh, a shopkeeper in Rander area, says, ‘‘we are bound to follow instructions given by our religious leaders. I have stopped selling Pepsi and Coke in my shop from the last two days.’’
Rizwan Patel, office secretary of Jamia Islamia Ishaatul Uloom in Nandurbar, confirmed that the article was published in the monthly magazine of the institute and that Maulvi Uzefah had translated excerpts from the Urdu book. But he denied that the Nandurbar-based body was circulating pamphlets or handbills in Surat or elsewhere in Gujarat.
Religion of peace alert BUMP!
The collective brain power of the middle east = Anna Nicole Smith.
Pepsico and Nike should sue. And the journalist is an idiot for thinking there there is ANY possibility that is what the names mean. The author could have included a blanket statement that these were LIES by Islamonazi leaders. But no, he must leave open a little doubt.
wouldn't be wonderful, if for just once and forever,
we could tell the sand flees (a nice term verses
what i'm thinking) to eat their oil?
I meant to say wouldn't "it" be wonderful
we liberate FIFTY MILLION MUSLIMS and this is the kind of appreciation we get?
"no good deed"...well you know the rest.
The stupidity and ignorance of Muslims is monumental.
How can a huge multinational with millions of shareholders be "Jewish-owned"? There wouldn't be enough Jews to go around. They do not understand the nature of a corporation.
ISLAM is an acronym for "I-Smell-Like-A-Monkey"
Both companies and logos pre-dated the entity in question. Pepsi has been around since before WWI, but Israel didn't get incorporated until 1948. Nike has been around since at least the early 70s, but the call for an international Islamic kingdom was small and local to the middle east until after 9/11/01. They need some fact-checkers over there. This article sounds like something from the New York Times.
Anti-semitism was never part of local Islamic ethos in India. Its a foreign import. It came along with Saudi Arabian "wahabbist" religious schools. The Saudi funded madrasas now spread open hatred for Americans, Jews and Hindus.
All the more reason why India must clamp down on foreign funded religious schools.
I don't have a problem with this. Boycotts are the purest form of free speech.
If Pepsi operates there as it does everywhere else a local Muslim bottling company holds the franchise to bottle and distribute the product. So, one or more Muslim companies will shut down and Muslim employees will get pink slips. Way to go, Mufti.
Doing everything they can to drive their standard of living even farther back into the mists of time.
And, as far as NIKE goes .... I might be wrong but I believe they are manufactured in Indonesia, another Muslim country. Way to go, Mufti.
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