His own muezzin: Muammar el Qaddafi is lecturing Switzerland on its minaret ban. (right, Artyom Korotayev/Epsilon/Getty Images, and Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Libya's Muammar Qaddafi is a study in contradictions. The former "Mad Dog of the Middle East" (to borrow Ronald Reagan's somewhat rabid phrase) and the 1970s leading sponsor of terrorism is now accusing Switzerland of inviting terrorism with open arms.
"Al-Qaeda militants are now saying: 'We warned you that they were our enemies... Look at what they are doing in Europe. Come and join us for a jihad (holy war) against Europe,'" Qaddafi said Saturday in a speech celebrating the 40th anniversary of his rule. "Switzerland has done the so-called Al Qaeda, or the terrorists, the biggest favor."
Qaddafi was lamenting Swiss voters' approval last week of a referendum banning the building of minarets (even though there are no more than four minarets in the entire country, which is about a shade smaller than Virginia. Fewer than 6% of its of 7.5 million people are Muslim, fewer than a fifth of those are practicing Muslims, though the vote is likely to raise that proportion a few notches.
Of course Qaddafi is being disingenuous. But he's also right. He characterized the vote as the short-sighted idiocy that it is, an invitation for Muslim countries to impose ban on the building of churches and other non-Muslim houses of worship (something Saudi Arabia already does) and to launch economic boycotts against Switzerland.
There are reports however that a move is afoot to reverse the ban through another referendum. "Club Helvetique, a group of over 20 Swiss intellectuals, will draw up an action plan to overturn the ban," Reuters reports.
See Also:
- Islamophobic Swiss Ban Minarets
- Switzerland's Far-Right War on Minarets
- Profile of Libya's Muammar el Ghaddafi
- Tariq Ramadan on the Minarets Ban
- Ayan Hirsi Ali on the Minarets Ban
- What Is a Muezzin?
Comments