Posted on 07/09/2010 7:12:26 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Sajid Master wants the phone calls and angry letters to stop. He wants people to quit coming into Perfume Planet in Houston to yell at his workers. He’d especially like folks to stop castigating his landlord.
Nearly a year after the Internet painted Master as an al-Qaida sympathizer, outrage toward the store at the Harwin Central Mart shows no sign of waning.
“They’ve threatened to kill me; sometimes they’re cursing when they call,” Master said Thursday in his shop.
Trouble is, all the indignation is the product of a massive misunderstanding, illustrating the awesome — and sometimes damaging — power of the Internet.
Master, who describes himself as a proud American citizen, says he isn’t a terrorist sympathizer — he’s just a shopkeeper who inadvertently touched a very raw nerve.
It started when the Muslim merchant posted a sign at his shop during Ramadan explaining the store would be closed Sept. 11 to remember the death of Imam Ali, a sacred Muslim figure.
But Master failed to explain that Ali, who’s remembered on a different date each year during Ramadan, died in AD 661 and was in no way related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Someone snapped a picture of the sign and started sending it around online, claiming Imam Ali was one of the 9-11 hijackers.
Before long the photo went viral, showing up on countless conservative Internet forums and prompting statements like this one that appeared at 2Aforum.com: “Picket, protest, and through lawful means, strangle their business.”
Soon the phone calls started, befuddling and overwhelming store manager Hasan Kolsawala, who tried to explain that no offense was intended. People also called Master’s cell phone to denounce him.
He probably could have shrugged off the incident as a temporary annoyance, but 10 months later, the consequences of that sign still reverberate.
Phone calls to Perfume Planet often come in waves as people send around new e-mail chains urging recipients to voice their anger. Workers try to explain things.
“But some people don’t want to listen,” Kolsawala said.
Then there are the people who stomp into the store holding printouts of the infamous photo and demanding explanations.
And there are the countless angry letters flooding the shop’s mailbox. Master dutifully responds to each one.
Luckily for Master, some websites, like the popular snopes.com, have taken pity on him, dedicating space to debunking the controversy.
But the parade of phone calls keeps coming, not only to the shop but to the management of Harwin Central Mart.
Myong Yi, the mall’s manager, said he’s almost at his breaking point.
“Sometimes I want to just kick him out,” he said.
This year, Perfume Planet will close to commemorate Imam Ali’s death in early September.
But the sign will be different, Kolsawala said.
“It’ll just say, ‘We’re closed today.’ " he said.
Since this one has been dead for 1350 years then he must be approaching great status. </sarcasm>
I showed the pic to my husband and asked him his initial thoughts. He said “Terrorist sympathizer.”
I can’t imagine that the shopkeeper was unaware of the signifigance of the date.
Right down the street, on Voss(B/t Westhiemer & San Felipe), a terrorist training center..or madrassa, was closed by the FBI due to links with terrorism.
Wonder how many times this POS went there??
Either way, they’re all complicit and the “school” is open again.
I know a lot of peaceful Muslims who are very happy to be American. Most of these are people, or the children of people, who fled Iran when the Ayatollah took over. America was their savior from an oppressive Muslim theocracy. Given that this guy is obviously Shia, there's a good chance this applies to him.
Every Islamist back to Muhammad (pi$$ be upon him) is responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and all other Islamic terror. They were the ones who made the rules; convert, enslave or kill anyone who opposes or declines to accept your false god.
*significance
...more coffee needed.
“I know a lot of peaceful Muslims who are very happy to be American. “
There are peaceful muslims but there are no peaceful Islamists. The silence from the muslims has been deafening these last 10 years. For the most part they are to afraid or disconnected to condemn what the radicals are doing.
BTW, Muhammed (pig feces upon him) was a radical. The Quran is full of his violence, child rape, and hate. He is the one the radicals use as their example and to justify their violence.
Too f-n bad. He has only his fellow Muslims to blame.
I have a photo of the sign and also saw it in place. I didn’t know then who Imam Ali was nor do I care now. Putting that sign up on September eleventh was either stupid or an in the face challenge. In either case the sob story about the trials of the store owner don’t impress me since he created this on his own.
When I first saw that sign (without reading any article) I thought “terrorist sympathizer, America hater”. You can’t make a 2nd 1st impression.
ROFLMAO! They declared war on September 11th and now, with the mosque in New York, they’re planting their flag.
BTW, Go do Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Eqypt, and most other muslim countries. Try to open a church, try to close your business for a Christian holiday. Try to bring a bible into the country.
As long as we have our definitions straight, we agree.
BTW, Muhammed (pig feces upon him) was a radical. The Quran is full of his violence, child rape, and hate.
Mohammed tried to improve the Arab culture, which was even more barbaric. The early writings are pretty good, but not original since they were mainly a rehash of Jewish and Christian thought. However, after he gained power the bloodthirsty megalomaniac starts to come out, and you see Mohammed's original thinking. That's why you see all the conflicting messages from the Quran, early "let's get along" quotes overshadowed by later "kill'em all" quotes. Justification for violence is usually found in the latter part.
What's worse is that even with Islam as backwards as it is, the older ways still remain, running concurrently with Islam in various cultures. This is how you get female circumcision associated with Islam in Africa and some of the harsher treatment of women that usually occurs in outlying areas under tribal control.
Bumo to the top. Got some friends who would like to see this.
It was an insensitive sign at best.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.