The rumpus raised in the NWFP Assembly on Friday on the existence of an alleged liquor bar in New York said to be shaped like the Khana Kaaba is without any basis.
The protest in Peshawar derives from a report by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a Washington-based organisation, which quoted an erroneous assertion – and one that a number of Islamic websites went to town on – that Apple computers’ flagship store in New York fashionable Fifth Avenue contains a cube-shaped structure that seemed like the Kaaba.  What was more, the Islamic website claimed that the place served alcohol and was thus an insult to Islam.
| The Apple cultists also form periodic conga lines that snake around it. When the moon is full, they boot up Mac OS X and copulate. |
A NWFP Assembly session on Friday had condemned the barÂ’s design, which the MMAÂ’s Maulana Muhammad Mujahid al-Hussaini said replicated the Khana Kaaba. Maulana Mujahid criticised the NWFP government for not taking notice of Apple MeccaÂ’s design and called for strong condemnation from the provincial government.
| "Yeah! Make 'em stop! The cube's a patented Islamic design!" |
The MEMRI report said, “On October 10, an Islamist website posted a message alerting Muslims to what it claims is a new insult to Islam. According to the message, the cube-shaped building, which is being constructed in New York City, on Fifth Avenue between 58th and 59th streets in midtown Manhattan, is clearly meant to provoke Muslims.
| That's the first thing I think of, too, when I design something: How can I make whatever it is provoke Muslims? |
The fact that the building resembles the Kaaba and is called ‘Apple Mecca’, is intended to be open 24 hours a day like the Kaaba, and moreover, contains bars selling alcoholic beverages, constitutes a blatant insult to Islam. The message urges Muslims to spread this alert, in hope that ‘Muslims will be able to stop the project’.”
| First the architect has to be beheaded, of course... |
 Jason D. O’Grady, writing in the blog The Apple Core said, “I was just at the Fifth Avenue Apple store in NYC and don’t remember them serving alcohol. The report appears to have misunderstood the intent of the “Genius Bar” and the “iPod bar”. The group which “explores the Middle East through the region’s media” only appears to have two valid facts in their complaint – that the Apple store is in the shape of a cube and that it’s open 24 hours a day.
| Well. There you have it. The riots should be starting any moment now... |
A Muslim wrote, “This is ridiculous. I am Muslim and not offended in the slightest. Who says that we Muslims have trademarked the shape of a cube? It’s simply a modernly-designed building, and I think it looks cool.”
One New Yorker wrote on the Apple Core website, “I needed to buy my mom a birthday present with less than 12 hours before seeing her, and was able to go buy her an iPod at 3am rather than having to rush over in the morning! I’ll almost certainly buy my next machine there, in the middle of the night. While they may not be serving alcohol at the Genius Bar, they may be a direct beneficiary of alcohol sales in other places.” |
