End Segregation

The Stunning Intercontinental Dar Al Tawhid Hotel

For those who love to travel I would like to recommend that you visit The Dar Al Tawhid Hotel in Mecca (Saudi Arabians spell it, “Makkah”). The website for this luxurious hotel states, “The hotel is an architectural masterpiece and enjoys one of the most enviable positions in Makkah. Located in front of the Holy Mosque it has magnificent views of the Al Haram Al Sharif. All 620 luxury guest rooms and suites are tastefully decorated in an elegant and opulent style using rich fabrics and ornate furnishings.”

There is one minor detail that is not prominently displayed in their advertising. Only Muslims are allowed in the hotel and the city. The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia firmly discloses that, “Makkah and Madinah (Medina) hold special religious significance and only persons of the Islamic faith are allowed entry.”



A Modern “Jim Crow” Sign Outside of Mecca



Meanwhile in the US, activists engage in “emergency action against anti-Arab racism and war hysteria”, yet are strangely silent on issues pertaining to Islamic bigotry and violence against non-Muslims

Segregation still exists to this day, but you won’t find it in the US. The Saudi Ministry of Religious Endowments makes their position on religious tolerance clear;

“All religions other than Islam are heresy and error. Any place designated for worship other than [that of] Islam is a place of heresy and error, for it is forbidden to worship Allah in any way other than the way that Allah has prescribed in Islam.

…Thus the ‘Ulama agreed that it is forbidden to build heretical houses of worship - such as Christian churches - in a Muslim country, and that it is forbidden for there to be two directions of prayer coexisting in a Muslim country, and that there should be no symbol of unbelief, neither churches nor anything else. They agreed that it is obligatory to destroy any church or other heretical house of worship that was built after [the advent of] Islam, and it is forbidden to oppose the ruler in the matter of its destruction, and he must be obeyed.

…The Arabian Peninsula is Islam's sanctuary and its basis. It is forbidden to allow or permit unbelievers to penetrate it or to receive citizenship there or to buy property, not to speak of building churches for the worshipers of the cross. There is no place in the Arabian Peninsula for two religions, but only for one - the religion of Islam, sent by Allah through Muhammad, His Prophet and Messenger.”

According to the US Department of State;

“The country is a monarchy with a legal system based on Islamic law (Shari’a). Islam is the official religion, and the law requires that all citizens be Muslims. The Government does not provide legal protection for freedom of religion, and such protection does not exist in practice. The public practice of non-Muslim religions is prohibited. The Government recognizes the right of non-Muslims to worship in private; however, it does not always respect this right in practice and does not define this right in law.”

Not even fellow Muslims are safe, “Members of the Shi'a minority are subject to officially sanctioned political and economic discrimination”. Apostasy laws forbid Muslims to leave the Islamic faith under the penalty of death. It is dangerous to even talk about religion. Last November a Saudi teacher was sentenced to 40 months in jail and 750 lashes for discussing the Bible and praising the Jews.

The Mutawwa’in are religious policemen who enforce these oppressive laws (better known as the Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice). They are funded by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and have the authority to detain Muslims and non-Muslims for up to twenty-four hours for offenses such as indecent dress and comportment. This police force is also feared by Christians who conduct religious services in the privacy of their homes. Under Saudi Arabian law this is permitted as long as it doesn’t occur in public but in practice the authorities justify shutting them down by claiming that these services have too many participants to be considered private.

If I havent dissuaded you from following through with a trip to Mecca please be careful because there are roadblocks outside the city looking for infidels. It is ironic that while the capitol of Islam is forbidden to non-believers, Saudi funding helped build a mosque in Rome. The Islamic Cultural Center of Italy is located not too far from the Great Synagogue of Rome, the city’s largest synagogue.

An apologetic CNN article explains the need for discrimination in Mecca;

“The archway at Mecca, shaped like a large book propped open, represents Islam's Holy Scripture, the Koran. From this point on, only Muslims may enter. Many religious scholars say this “discrimination” exists because Mecca was once a city where Muslims - including the prophet Mohammed - were persecuted and driven out. When Mohammed and his followers reclaimed the city, it was declared a sanctuary ... a place where every Muslim should feel safe.”

It is insulting that Leftists continually denounce the alleged bigotry of Christians against Muslims, but rarely condemn Islamic bigotry. The rare occasions that they do are almost exclusively devoted to condemning the close relations between the Saudi and American governments. However, this ignores the fact that there is considerable friction between the two due to this problem. After all, a considerable amount of the research for this post was derived from official reports that were published by the US Dept of State to chastise Saudi Arabia.

Here in America:



(Picture thanks to Zombietime). I can’t think of a single law or policy of the US government that can be interpreted as the expression of a theocracy. Despite this fact, protesters continue to make such false accusations. Meanwhile real theocracies exist with little condemnation because they are not Christian. What does this say about the anti-Bush protesters and their willingness to distort the truth?




…To add insult to injury, there are racists who accuse the US of racism.