Slashdot Mirror
LittleBigPlanet Delayed Due To Qur'an-Sampling Audio
Several readers have pointed out that Sony's much-awaited LittleBigPlanet has hit a snag and will be delayed worldwide. The delay came after it was discovered that a song licensed for use in the soundtrack contained audio samples from the Qur'an. All advanced copies sent to retailers for the target release of October 21 in North America, 22 in PAL territories, and 24 in the UK and Ireland, have been recalled. "The post, by user 'Solid08', indicates of the specific references in the composition: 'In the 18th second: "kollo nafsin tha'iqatol mawt", literally: "Every soul shall have the taste of death' ... almost immediately after, in the 27th second: "kollo man alaiha fan", literally: "All that is on earth will perish."'"
From: http://kotaku.com/5065106/nsiders-letter-to-sony-and-media-molecule-re-quran-references
"We Muslims consider the mixing of music and words from our Holy Quran deeply offending. We hope you would remove that track from the game immediately via an online update, and make sure that all future shipments of the game disk do not contain it."
Personally, I consider censoring art "deeply offending." Sony, you're losing a customer if you cave to the demands of any religious group. Hey Muslims, don't buy the game.
It's all about calculated risk - piss off some English Catholics, you get some peeved letters in the local paper. Piss off Muslims, you get explosions, beheadings, and people living out their lives in hiding.
Well, it's not a suicide bombing... but it's a bombing:
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/37363/
Well, if that's the case, the solution is simple: Re-release the song, but instead of just sampling those two parts, sing the entire book! I smell a platinum record!
The more enthusiastic priests and ministers quite like these ones though:
"And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him."
and
"If there be found among you ... that ... hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them ... Then shalt thou ... stone them with stones, till they die."
Christians have learned all about timers:
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2719258620070428
They're also quite fond of guns:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E7DC1630F934A15757C0A962958260
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-16035695.html
... and I know a lot about Islam. I teach it to other Muslims. Yes, the religion teaches that the Quran must not recited in conjunction with music. It must be vocal only, although most of the reciters inflect their voice so that it is beautiful to hear, much like music is. The musician that Sony licensed it from should be contacted about it. I wouldn't blame Sony for it. But I can see why some Muslims might be offended by it. Grow up. It's only two phrases, not an entire passage. I personally think it is kind of cool to have it in a game, as long as it is innocuous and not used to promote an anti-Islamic agenda (other posters here have cut and pasted text for that). "Bismillah" ("in the name of God") is in The Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and I love it everytime I hear it. And then Beelzebul shortly thereafter takes me back to the D&D days...
This fact is often understated. The average Muslim is just about as religious as the average Christian. That being said we don't see rioting in the streets (all that often) because of religious differences. It's usually the leadership (and the Fundamentalist versions of Brown Shirts) that spur things on.
The post, by user 'Solid08', indicates of the specific references in the composition: "In the 18th second: "ÙfÙ ÙÙØ ØØئÙØ© ØÙÙ...ÙØ" ("kollo nafsin tha'iqatol mawt", literally: 'Every soul shall have the taste of death')... almost immediately after, in the 27th second: "ÙfÙ Ù...Ù ØÙÙSÙØ ÙØÙ" ("kollo man alaiha fan", literally: 'All that is on earth will perish')." It also comments: "I asked many of my friends online and offline and they heard the exact same thing that I heard easily when I played that part of the track. Certain Arabic hardcore gaming forums are already discussing this, so we decided to take action by emailing you before this spreads to mainstream attention. We Muslims consider the mixing of music and words from our Holy Quran deeply offending. We hope you would remove that track from the game immediately via an online patch, and make sure that all future shipments of the game disk do not contain it."
The bible says "though shall not murder" not "kill". The translation from many bible versions is wrong, and has been corrected over time. Kill != murder, there is a difference.
The prior Pope did actually explicitly apologize for the crusades, among other things.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1071456
The current Pope has also apologized for other failings of the Catholic church.
Setting a framework is good. Action is better. When was slavery actually abolished in Muslim lands, and why?
Slavery in England had been banned since at least 1215, possibly 1102, and serfdom died out by 1600; a court ruling in 1772 confirmed that no English law permitted the condition of slavery to exist in the country any way. Slavery was abolished across the whole Empire in 1807. The United States abolished slavery in 1865. Saudi Arabia abolished slavery in 1962.
the practice of slavery is now antiquated, and disgusting universally, and that includes the 1.2billion muslims in this world.
Antiquated. That's a funny way to refer to an institution that's been gone for all of 46 years.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
That's a very interesting kind of defensive war he waged there then, the one in which borders of his realm expanded manyfold...
It also okays sexual slavery and rape (and explicitly identifies it as a sole workaround for the prohibition on adultery, effectively promoting it).
Oh, it's a great book for the 7th century, no arguing. Now if only the book itself didn't say that it's the final and most authoritative source on the opinion of God on all the subjects it cover, and forbade ever changing any dogma enshrined therein...
Hi, I'm a non-homophobe muslim.
Wish I could say I was pleased to make your acquaintance you ignorant, prejudiced and ill informed person, but I'm not.
- Tempestdata
I apologize for my previous comment. It was made in anger. Apart from your prejudice showing, your post appeared to be that of a reasonable person.
How many muslim's do you know? How many countries have you known them in? How many different age groups, races, social classes have they belonged to?
You think that by talking to a handful of muslim's you have a grasp on the entirety of the beliefs of 1 billion+ people?
I am a non-homophobe muslim. My wife is highly educated and an equal partner in my marriage, she does not wear a burkha or even a scarf. I do not think Jews are evil, that America is a great Satan, or that infidels should be slaughtered en masse.
Do not presume to think that I'm a non-practicing muslim either. I've never had alcohol, or eaten meats I'm not allowed to. I fast, and I pray. I contribute to my mosque, I pay zakah, and have been for umrah several times. I hope to go for Hajj soon. Insha'allah.
The assumptions you make from a handful of individuals that you do not understand are the foundation of all types of bigotry. From relatively harmless ones like 'women are bad drivers', to dangerous ones like 'black people are dumber than whites'.
- Tempestdata
There is a deeper problem with Islam than merely a lack of education or not reading between the lines of the Qur'an.
First, the Qur'an is the direct word of Allah/God. The words came to Muhammad, who wrote it down word by word (at least, so Muslims believe). This in contrast with the old and new testament, which were written by disciples. The difference is slight, but this difference means (according to Islam) that no deviation from the Qur'an is possible. Where Judaism/Christianity are able to interpret their holy books differently, Islam specifically forbids this as theirs is the direct word of God. Changing a single word would be sacrilegious, even translating the Qur'an was considered problematic (for it is no longer the direct word of God after translation).
Thus, a true Muslim will not read between the lines of the Qur'an, for he/she is not allowed to.
A second deeper problem is that Islam is more than just the Qur'an. Scribes/imams have interpreted the Qur'an in certain ways, leading to laws for Islam (Sharia). These are the laws that (in certain regions) prescribe hangings and stoning of (in our eyes) innocents.
The Catch-22 is that (again, in certain areas) these laws are unchangeable without near-unanimous support, but that wanting to change them would lead to persecution. Why? Allah is perfect, thus he wouldn't mislead the imams into making false statements about the word of god. Thus the Sharia must be correct. Over time, the laws have snowballed into something that for a Muslim from the 7th century wouldn't even be recognized as Islam.
Over time (and unlike Judaism/Christianity) Islam has become less moderate. It was indeed quite a liberal religion in the early centuries (at the time) but these two facets of Islam, often overlooked, have lead to a religion that isn't susceptible to change.
This sig is intentionally left blank
Its funny you mention elections, because the most prosperous Muslim-majority nations are the ones that are democracies (Indonesia) or closer to it on that spectrum (Pakistan).
According to this Wikipedia article, the biggest per-capita GDP, on a PPP basis, is... Qatar (a Muslim country).
Let's see which other Muslim countries have a better rank than your Indonesia and Pakistan: Brunei (#4), Kuwait (#9), United Arab Emirates (#14), Bahrain (#24), Oman (#36), Saudi Arabia (#38), Libya (#58), Malaysia (#59),
The first Muslim country that is a democracy is Turkey, coming at #61.
So whatever your point was... it was dead wrong.
Catalin Braescu
Ofaly.com