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Apple Computer Building Offends Muslims

brodski said:
One protest, 8 years old, and yet the brand is still going strong, even in areas with large Muslim populations.
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That's because they changed to its correct name. Some offendie woke up and realized they were spelling the city's name wrong for who knows how long. It is still spelled wrong on most maps, in books, websites and in press reports.
 
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brodski said:
8 years later.
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Not quite. Try about 7+ years ago, not 8 years later ... or about around the same time the row over the use of the name Mecca for bingo halls surfaced.

Evidence:

PUBLISHED BY: Jamiatul Ulama (KZN)

vol. 3 No. 10: Muharram 1420 - May 1999

MAKKAH - NOT "MECCA"

It is increasingly being observed with a degree of concern that all kinds of businesses are (mis-)using the name "Mecca". "Motor-Mecca", "The Mecca Group", etc.

It should be respectfully pointed out to such persons that the use of the word "Mecca" to name their businesses is regarded as offensive to Muslims. A billion and a half Muslims, the world over, hold this holy city in the highest regard and veneration. To desecrate the name of this holy city by abusing it in this fashion is not acceptable.

Protests

On an international level, Muslims are offended by this practice. Recently, The British Rank Corporation which owns a chain of gambling and entertainment shops under the name of "Mecca", removed the name from its shop fronts as a result of protests from British Muslims. Muslims of Luton in the UK had protested against the defamatory use of the name of this holy city.

It must be noted, that Saudi Arabia had officially changed the spelling of the name of this city to "Makkah" a few years ago due to the derogatory usage of the word by the Western media and Western authors.

In most cases it is done out of ignorance, not deliberately. If pointed out politely but firmly, most companies respond favourably by changing the name.

Muslims should also be encouraged to adopt the proper spelling of Makkah, rather than the old, incorrect "mecca" version. Madinah should rather be spelt as Madinah rather than being spelt as "medina". Principals and educators of educational institutions such as Madrasahs, Islamic Schools, academies, Muslim writers, authors, researchers, scholars are to be encouraged to use the correct spelling.

Muslims have a duty to be vigilant and decisive in acting against anything that may be deemed sacrilegious, blasphemous or disrespectful to Islam or Muslims all over the world. Every town, city, province, country should have a dedicated and committed group of people to fulfil this important "watch-dog" role for the sake of the Ummah and Islam.

Mufti Zubair Bayat

AL-JAMIAT VOL3 NO.10

[al-jamiat/_private/jam_navbar.html]
last modified:99/04/23
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By Abu Atiyyah, South Africa
The holiest city for the Muslims is Makkah-tul-Mukarramah. It is not "Mecca". Saudi Arabia had officially changed the spelling of the name of this city to "Makkah" a few years ago after realizing the derogatory usage of the word by the Western media and Western authors. And that is the way it should be. We do not like it if our own name is misspelled or mispronounced. How can we then allow it when the same is done to any of our most important icons?
Unfortunately many people, even some Muslims are still careless about it. It is increasingly being observed with a degree of concern that all kinds of businesses are (mis-)using the name "Mecca". "Motor-Mecca", "The Mecca Group", etc. It should be respectfully pointed out to such persons that the usage of the word "Mecca" to name their businesses is offensive. A billion and a half Muslims the world over, hold this holy city in the highest regard and veneration. To desecrate the name of this holy city by abusing it in this fashion is not acceptable.
Recently, The British Rank Corporation, which owns a chain of gambling and entertainment shops under the name of "Mecca", removed the name from its shop fronts as a result of protests from British Muslims. Muslims of Luton in the UK had protested against the defamatory use of the name of this holy city.
In most cases it is done out of ignorance, not deliberately. If pointed out politely but firmly, most companies respond favorably by changing the name.
Muslims should also be encouraged to adopt the proper spelling of Makkah, rather than the old, incorrect "mecca" version. Madinah should rather be spelled as Madinah than being spelled as "medina". Principals and educators of educational institutions such as Madrasahs, Islamic Schools, academies, Muslim writers, authors, researchers, scholars are to be encouraged to use the correct spelling.
Muslims have a duty to be vigilant and decisive in acting against anything that may be deemed sacrilegious, blasphemous or disrespectful to Islam or Muslims, all over the world. Every town, city, province, country should have a dedicated and committed group of people to fulfil this important "watch-dog" role for the sake of the Ummah and Islam.

http://www.albalagh.net/food_for_thought/Makkah.shtml

No Copyright Notice. All the material appearing on this web site can be freely distributed for non-commercial purposes. Acknowledgement will be appreciated. The audio files may be copied to tapes, etc. for your listening convenience.
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Skeptic said:
So you admit MEMRI is different?
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So do you admit that the Mufti Zubair Bayat and Abu Atyyah are trying to stir up anti-muslim sentiment by telling all muslims to publicly display and register their displeasure and offense on the use of the name Mecca?
 
Jesus tapdancing Christ...Now changing from "Mecca" to "Makkah" is more "evidence" of some New Muslim World Order. This is really, really, really stupid, even for you, Steve.

I wonder what horrifying threat we can find in India's change in the English spelling from "Bombay" to "Mumbai."
 
Cleon said:
Jesus tapdancing Christ...Now changing from "Mecca" to "Makkah" is more "evidence" of some New Muslim World Order. This is really, really, really stupid, even for you, Steve.

I wonder what horrifying threat we can find in India's change in the English spelling from "Bombay" to "Mumbai."
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Creeping Sandskritism? :confused:

DR
 
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=3&entry_id=4203

This was the article, I think I must have tried to add the link during a maintenance shutdown. LGF suggests that this is the first appearance of the story.

If so, it seems that the story started when a blogger noticed that the new Apple centre was a cube covered in black hoardings and decided to make some joke about it being a 'mecca' for apple enthusiasts.

The comments show that the joke got out of hand pretty damn quick.

To me it seems that

a) Apple didn't intend to insult Islam.
b) Muslims weren't insulted until this blog was posted.
c) The blogger is a liberal who didn't intend to insult Islam or suggest that Apple was insulting Islam.
d) However, his joke was still highly insensitive.

As such, it is a storm in a tea cup. Although it does again show that some people in the Islamic community do react innapropriately to anything that they construe as an insult to Islam.
 
The Ka'aba isn't a cube. It's 15m high, and it's sides are 10.5m and 12m.

I'm not sure that the BJP's motives for renaming Bombay are entirely benign
 
So much confusion...

However, I would rather visit the Apple "cube" store than the Makkah. (note: "makkah" is not in my spell check). Why settle for a religion, with all of its rules, when you can "worship" the best computers ever made?

I do not like religions, like Christianity and Islam, however, I love Apple Computers, and have used them for over 10 years now.

So, instead of focusing on the negative harshness of some religion's reaction, why not instead focus on the goodness of Apple's products?

Just thought I would help.
 
snooziums said:
So much confusion...

However, I would rather visit the Apple "cube" store than the Makkah. (note: "makkah" is not in my spell check). Why settle for a religion, with all of its rules, when you can "worship" the best computers ever made?

I do not like religions, like Christianity and Islam, however, I love Apple Computers, and have used them for over 10 years now.

So, instead of focusing on the negative harshness of some religion's reaction, why not instead focus on the goodness of Apple's products?

Just thought I would help.
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This reminds me of a Dilbert comic strip!

http://www.mevis.de/~meyer/MISC/dilbert/ComputerHolyWars.html
 
Foolmewunz said:
It's not being called "Mecca" by anyone at Apple. Some techie used the term about 6/8 months ago, I think. But I doubt that he/she even cared about the religious or political repercussions. Many English-speakers have used the term mecca for "hot spot", for years (as in a "mecca for tourists"). Someone picked up on it, passed it to someone else who passed to someone else and now it's proof that America and Apple don't respect Islam and equally proof that the evil Islamists are out destroy our very fiber of life.

If that sounds convoluted, good! That's life in these times.
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My anthropology prof at U-Mich got his big claim to fame by observing that the American's trip to Disney World in Florida was akin to a Muslim's trip to Mecca. The rich and the poor all board the same monorail together to enjoy the same experience, blah blah blah.

That was over 20 years ago (well, when I had heard of it anyway). I wonder if anyone would dare release such a paper today. How offensive! Like a trip to Disney world, sheesh! :jaw-dropp
 
Beerina said:
My anthropology prof at U-Mich got his big claim to fame by observing that the American's trip to Disney World in Florida was akin to a Muslim's trip to Mecca. The rich and the poor all board the same monorail together to enjoy the same experience, blah blah blah.

That was over 20 years ago (well, when I had heard of it anyway). I wonder if anyone would dare release such a paper today. How offensive! Like a trip to Disney world, sheesh! :jaw-dropp
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yeah, Disney's lawyers would be down on him like a tonne of bricks! ;)
 
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