Angola “Bans” Islam
November 25, 2013
DANIEL S. writes:
The southern African nation of Angola has reportedly outlawed the practice of Islam within its borders, declaring it not a religion, but a subversive cult. It is also being reported that several mosques and minarets were demolished.
If this story is confirmed, it will be interesting to see what international reaction will be. Obviously the Muslim states will cynically decry this, and the usual terrorists will issue the usual death threats, which they do over even the smallest of claimed infractions. But what will Western nations do? Will they rush to punish and isolate Angola? Or will the fact that Angola is non-white spare it the usual vitriol from Western elites that is all to often aimed at Westerners who suggest measures be taken to blunt to spread of Islam in Europe and North America?
I would end with the one time slogan of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers.”
The people of Angola seem to understand this. When will the people of the West?
— Comments —
Buck writes:
All of the reports that I read are repeats of the same un-sourced report from nowhere. They have some credibility in light of Angola’s supposed law requiring registration and legalization of churches, even though Angola’s constitution, also supposedly, provides for freedom of religion. I read that an unnamed Angolan Embassy “official” denies knowledge of the specific ban on Islam. That report also makes suspect the photo of a mosque being destroyed:
A close examination of some of the initial reports about the supposed ban and dismantling of mosques reveals some suspect findings. One such discrepancy is that a Google Images search shows that a photograph published by numerous news outlets this month that purportedly depicts the minaret of an Angolan mosque being dismantled in October 2012 had been used at least as early Jan. 23, 2008, when the Housing & Land Rights Network posted it to illustrate an article about the destruction of Bedouin homes in Israel.
This sounds like a job for Snopes. So far, the unbelievable ban seems just that. I hope it’s not urban myth. But, I can find nothing to reveal what Angolans think, one way or the other. Muslims appear to make up only one-half of one percent of the Angolan population.
