St. Louis CofCC Blog

NIS News Netherlands:

Children Told they are Dogs during Mosque Visit

THE HAGUE, 09/04/08 - A primary school in Amsterdam wished to provide its pupils with an understanding for other cultures. But during a visit to a mosque, the children were told they were dogs.

With a view to developing understanding and respect for other cultures among children, primary school De Horizon regularly organises outings to various religious organisations. The chairman of the El Mouchidine mosque told the children from group 7 (aged 10) and their chaperones however that non-Muslims are dogs.

In a letter to the children’s parents, the school expresses its regret at the incident: “We are shocked that during the guided tour, the mosque’s chairman told the children and chaperoning parents that non believers were dogs. We consider this statement as unacceptable since we allow our children to partake in this project to develop respect for freedom of religious choice”.

And this was more of an insult than we know. The poster “Incredible Shrinking White Man” posted this yesterday at the Forums at American Renaissance:

To understand the full significance of this story, you need to know that the Muslim opinion of dogs is EXTREMELY LOW. If you, as a Western white, would not appreciate being compared to a dog, remember that in the Islamic world the insult is just that much WORSE.

In their countries, a canine is NOT your beloved pet Poochie. In the land of sand, Fido is NOT “man’s best friend.” Arabs/Muslims HATE dogs, and do not keep them as pets. Over there, dogs are a despised “pest” animal, about on par with a skunk or rat. No “walkies” for Abdul, insh’allah. Abdul doesn’t DO “walkies.”

(I recall a case in So. Calif. a few years back, in which a Muslim immigrant had been instructed by his imam not to feed the dog his children had adopted. The advice of the “spiritual advisor” was that dogs were religiously incorrect. The family need not actually KILL the dog, quoth the imam, but they should simply “stop feeding the animal. If you stop feeding the animal, it will eventually run away and not bother you anymore.”)

Although dog-hatred seems not to derive from the mouth of Mohammed himself — rather, it’s just a long-standing local custom that has subsequently become entwined with Koranic teachings — anti-dog attitudes nevertheless remain deeply entrenched in everyday Islam.

Knowing this makes the remarks from the Dutch mosque all the more belligerent and inflammatory!

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