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Under the coconut shell....


While in Geneva, I noticed an advertisements all over the city urging people to say "no" to the building of minarets.


By the end of November, the resulting poll was that more than 50% agreed to ban the construction of minarets.... Why?



From what I read, the Swiss do not want Switzerland to become a Muslim country. That, by allowing minarets to be built, will eventually result in women being forced to where burqas, and stoned to death in the streets and subject the Swiss to shariah laws.



I enjoyed my time in Geneva, partly because it was really easy to find food I can eat. The Pizza Presto restaurant, just a few meters from the the hotel I was staying in, was run by an Arab family. On the walls were frames of Quranic verses, Allah and Muhammad. Each time I went to buy food (beef burger for 6 CHF = RM20), the place was packed and I am sure not all of them were Muslims.



I visited the Favarger Chocolate factory, and while we were browsing the beautiful packages of lovely chocolates in the chocolate shop, a white man appearing from a door that lead to their factory and greeted us with "Asalamu'laikum". He's the chef... the chocolatier.


Walking around in the city of Geneva and Lausanne, we did not attract any attention at all, when it's clear that we were tourists. And, our women wore headscarves, so everyone knows we are muslims. In shops, we received no better or worst treatment than other customers.


It was autumn, and cold weather discouraged too many outdoors activities, at least not until afternoon when the sun warmed the air a little bit. So, all in all, my visit of Geneva can summed up in two words.... blissfull and expensive...


I did not see any demonstrations, I did not feel any tension in the air.... so much so that for a while, I thought those posters were teasers to a theatrical performance... a take on equality perhaps.


Maybe I am naive..... I think the majority of us human beings just want to get on with our lives. But, there will be a small percentage that want their opinion heard. They want to tell everybody else of their fear (of Islam) and their concerns.... and this is news. The rest of the world's population, given this little window to look out from, see the demonstrations (peaceful or bloody) of barely 1% of the total population, as state of affair of the whole country...


But, having said that, I am not planning any trips to Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan or any Sub-saharan African countries....


God protect us...

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