NYTimes Star Black Immam Flubs It

Have you heard of Sheikh Adel Al-Kalbani?

The New York Times had.  They did a feature on him.

A Black Imam Breaks Ground in Mecca

This caption appears under a picture on the first page:

“Any qualified individual, no matter what his color, no matter where from, will have a chance to be a leader, for his good and The king is trying to tell everybody that he wants to rule this land as one nation, with no racism and no segregation.”

That was April 10.  And what follows are excerpts from interviews with Sheikhh Adel Al-Kalbani, imam of the Al-Haram Mosque in Mecca, which aired on BBC Arabic on May 5, 2009 and Al-Arabiya TV on February 27, 2009.

"Interviewer: "Where can Christians [pray]?"

Sheikh Adel Al-Kalbani: "Christians are allowed to pray in their homes. We have no problem with them praying where they live. But for the bells to be sounded in the land of the Prophet Muhammad – that [runs counter] to the Prophet's guidance. The Prophet's guidance, by which we act, dictates: 'Drive the Jews and the Christians out of the Arabian Peninsula.' Driving them out is undoubtedly the prerogative of the ruler, but they should be allowed to live here only if their presence is essential."

[...]
     
Sheikh Adel Al-Kalbani: "[The Christian] came as a visitor. He is not a citizen. If he were a citizen... watchamacallit... a Christian citizen – maybe there would be room for debate. Maybe. But in principle, he is a visitor, a guest, who stays for some time, and then leaves. He knew these were the rules before he came here. No visitor to a country can demand that it change its rules."
  
Interviewer: "Not to change the rules, but if you, as a Muslim, were to visit a country, wouldn't you hope there would be a mosque in which to pray, regardless of whether you are a citizen or not?"
  
Sheikh Adel Al-Kalbani: "I would hope so. Undoubtedly. But Allah be praised, according to the Prophet's guidance: 'The whole Earth was made a mosque and pure for me.' Therefore, a Muslim can pray anywhere."
  
[...]"

I guess we all can't be New York Times liberal.

Now, Where Did the Pope Visit on the Temple Mount?

If you go here, if you listen carefully to the Hebrew commentary of the video (if you comprehend Hebrew), you'll be able to hear that the Temple Mount has "two parts, the Jewish and the Muslim section". Well, that's where the Pope visited according to Ynet.

I am not quite sure that definition's bad.  Sometimes, in a situation like this, fifty per cent is more than you'd expect.

And if you can actually read the accompanying Hebrew text, it reads there that the Pope, on the Temple Mount, visited

áîúçí ëéôú äñìò

which translates as : "in the Dome of the Rock compound."

That's even better.  No Haram El-Sharif.

Funny how ignorant journalists can make the correct mistakes.

P.S.  No video since Israel and the Palestinian Authority broadcasting companies couldn't reach an agreement on rights to distribute.  And they still expect us to make peace?

Where Are Those 'Apartheid Roads'?

Remember the "apartheid roads" canard?

That there are "Jews only roads" in Yesha?  Part of the "occupation oppression and harrassment"?

Well, where are they?

Here are some photos I snapped Tuesday, May 5, of Arab cars, bearing Palestinian Authority license plates, on the way in to Jerusalem from Shiloh, over 30 kilometers of road:

Please, do not comment on the driving skills of the Arab drivers, or lack thereof.   A)  They are too well known;  B)  It doesn't help;  C)  Someone will call you a racist (it's enough they are calling us an "apartheid regime".

From you correspondent blogger in the field.