Tech Central Station notes that some Muslims are upset with Apple Computer:
Is Apple Computer Insulting Islam?
Last month the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported that “an Islamist website posted a message alerting Muslims to what it claims is a new insult to Islam” [MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series, No. 1315]. As reported by MEMRI, the Islamist site claims that the Apple Store, Fifth Avenue “is meant to provoke Muslims” because it is called the “Apple Mecca” and “is intended to be open 24 hours a day like the Ka’ba, and moreover, contains bars selling alcoholic beverages.”
…This “new insult to Islam” is a cube-shaped building where customers enjoy test-driving the various lines of Apple computers and peripherals in an ultramodern but cozy environment. Within the store, they can even stop by the “Genius Bar,” not for a shot of scotch but to benefit from the knowledge of an expert Apple support rep.
…While Western civilization is inventing scientific and artistic marvels, the other wings of Islamism are preoccupied with inventing provocations in the hope of mobilizing otherwise ordinary Muslims. We have seen this before: the Muhammad cartoon controversy exhibited the same faulty reasoning but unfortunately it succeeded in turning thousands of Muslims to violent protests. This latest incident is one more in a growing list of examples of Muslims over-reacting, over- and mis-interpreting, jumping to conclusions and causing controversy over something innocent or innocuous.
…Islamists have been struggling to turn any Western object that they can imagine into a so-called “insult to Islam.” As a Muslim myself, I see no insult to Islam in a computer store but I see plenty of it in Islamism itself.
We’ve certainly seen it in the months of planning required to make a few innocuous Danish cartoons a reason to kill people (see the section – Further police investigations at the preceding link), and we’ve seen it in the invented controversy over Muslim cab-drivers “distress” at Minneapolis airport, and the kerfuffle over a swirly symbol on Burger King soft ice cream containers in Britain, and the countless other provocations and violence against Muslims CAIR would have you believe have taken place in the US.
Best comment on the Apple Store controversy comes from Relapsed Catholic:
If being shaped like a cube, selling booze and having a “We Never Close” sign means your business is insulting Islam, then lots of Muslim-run corner stores in Quebec are due for a fatwa.
Dearborn too, Kathy. In Dearborn too.