I first saw the story about Burger King redesigning the covers of its ice cream cones at the Religious Policeman blog. He covered it pretty well, so I didn't have anything to add.
But now the story has run in the Emirates Today, and I am even more confused.
Burger King scraps `Allah ice cream lids'
A UAE-based Islamic scholar says muslims who forced Burger King to remove a religious-like logo from their ice cream are "over-sensitive".
The fast-food giant was forced to scrap batches of BK Cones after a UK-only design on the lid was virtually identical to the word "Allah" written in Arabic.
OK, wait. "Virtually identical?" Here are the two pictures, you tell me:
Even this is distorting the similarity. It really should be shown like this:
So, either I don't understand what virtually identical means, or the writer doesn't.
Dr Fouad Al Araji, 65, an Iraqi-born British citizen who teaches Islamic Studies at the American University in Dubai, said those who made the complaints that led to the product being scrapped were "taking it too far" and that the symbol on the product could even help promote Islam.
"So what if the name of Allah is on the lid? This is good propaganda for Muslims all over the world. Ice cream is something enjoyable that children love. If the name of Allah was used as an advertisement, that is another story. But, in this case, I see no harm in it at all." After dozens of complaints from enraged Muslims and a threats of Jihad from one Muslim, Burger King is now spending thousands of pounds to redesign the lid and to pull the offending lids off their counters.
Inyat Bunglawala, a Pakistani from the media committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said his organisation had nothing to do with the complaint.
"In our opinion, the lid does not influence many British Muslims, but we do commend BK and appreciate the speed in which action was taken to solve the issue."
What issue? I don't understand. The Muslim scholar the paper quotes says that the people who are complaining are wrong. Isn't their misunderstanding the issue? Why is Burger King supposed to accomodate them?
If it wasn't for the fact that violence was at least implied, this would almost sound like an Emily Litella skit from Saturday Night Live.
I have no doubt that Muslims in Britain face all sorts of serious problems and discrimination, especially after the bombings this summer. I'm sure that many people are unfairly suspicious of all Muslims because of the acts of a few. But it seems to me that complaining about things like this is only going to make fair-minded people regard other complaints less seriously.
5 comments:
the thing is this word is to be in a clean place .. so the thinkin that kids would luv this word of they luv ice-cream it'll also make them think its ok to through the cover into the carbage coz that wut u logically do !!
BK had spent lots of money to design this in the first place im sure they had in mind how appealing this could be .. why they didn't consider if it'll cause them to re-spend another thousands or it'll run with the flow .
bah this is stupidity. they did take it too far, they should rememebr even if they have british passports they are guests in the coutnry and a guest does not go too far.
Anon1
Getoutofit.
Not important what you and me think, but extremely important that BK design outfit puts some brains in the correct department as it is clear for any Arab speaker that the design does spell the word Allah in Arabic. (btw you have the pic in the wrong rotation)
Change the darn thing to another design and move on.
You wana sell icecream or talk about it.
this is really a silly problem i mean there are many other problems ... there are people who want to see the name of Allah everywhere , every thing resamble it in their sick mind... there are bigger problems and these people are really blind they see the silly things and don't see or move for worse phenomenon hitting islam
It is exactly fundamentalist rubbish like this that makes any religion look like a bunch of kooks. These are the same guys that create problems for folks who just want to take care of their families, & worship the way they feel lead by the creator. We have a saying here isn the U.S. " You can catch more flies with honey then viniger." If you want to spread Islam, maybe not lookin like a militant wacko would help your cause more. Just my 2 cents.
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