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Fifth Column
"I do not like being called Islamic Rage Boy"
2007-07-23
With his clenched fists, wild eyes and gnashing teeth he has become the face of Muslim fury, protesting against the enemies of Islam. Shakeel Ahmad Bhat has been on the frontline of political activism in Srinagar, India, for more than a decade. His constant presence, captured by photographers and beamed across the world, has caught the imagination of rightwing bloggers who have dubbed him Islamic Rage Boy and turned him into an internet phenomenon.

But the 30-year-old Kashmiri activist is puzzled, not angered, by his overseas fame. In his first interview with a British newspaper, he says he is carrying out Allah's wishes. From his home in Fateh Kadal, Malik Angan, he says: "I am not happy with people joking about me or making me into a cartoon, but I have more important things to think about. My protests are for those Muslims who cannot go out onto the streets to cry out against injustice. This is my duty and I believe Allah has decided this for me."

Mr Bhat, a school dropout and former militant with a pro-Pakistan rebel group, has been arrested more than 300 times. He spends days away from his widowed mother, four brothers and his sister, travelling to protests or attending court hearings. But his family, he says, is used to it. Neighbours describe Mr Bhat as well-mannered, sincere and dedicated. He walks to a protest if it is within six miles (10 km) of his home and hitchhikes or catches a bus if it is further. Sometimes he is the only protester...Mr Bhat, unaware of the row he has fuelled, vows to carry on protesting. Undeterred by being locked away or being laughed at, he says: "I do not like being called Islamic Rage Boy, it is not nice; but why should I care what people think of me in this life? The afterlife will decide my fate, not a mousemat."
More at link, to include quotes from CAIR.
Posted by:Seafarious

#28  Actually, Menonite Rage Boy is Larry's brother Daryl.
Posted by: wxjames   2007-07-23 21:02  

#27  lack of coffee, make that "look"
Posted by: Steven   2007-07-23 17:43  

#26  Mousemat. Actually, that may be an improvement.
Posted by: KBK   2007-07-23 17:16  

#25  Broadhead6, at first I thought you misspelled 'contain' then I looked again and laughed my ass off!
Posted by: Unique Battle   2007-07-23 17:00  

#24  I'm waiting for Buddhist Rage Boy, m'self...
Posted by: mojo   2007-07-23 16:22  

#23  Mr Hooper says: "I find the term Islamic Rage Boy offensive, as would anyone who applied the term to their own faith. It's an Islamophobic product by Muslim-bashers on internet hate sites."

Well, Ibrahim, when you find Methodist Rage Boy, or Amish Rage Boy, or Presbyterian Rage Boy, you make sure to let us know.
Posted by: tu3031   2007-07-23 15:48  

#22  I will admit, when he's not being paid to rage, he sounds more coherent than Code Pink and the Sheehanistas.
Posted by: Seafarious   2007-07-23 15:34  

#21  I'll bet this all goes right to Rage Boy's head. Starts showing up at the latest Seethe fest in a limo, with a posse, with the shades and the scarf, talking to his agent on his Iphone, front page on Pakisani Tiger Beat, his private sex video on the internet, then the DUI's and the rehab...
Posted by: tu3031   2007-07-23 15:32  

#20  Mr Bhat, eat camel shit and die.

Steven the Hillary rally, to funny (and true) for words!
Posted by: Icerigger   2007-07-23 14:43  

#19  Just close your eyes, for a moment only, and envision IRB at a Hillary rally. Forget it, most of her supporters lokk like that anyway. It was just a thought.
Posted by: Steven   2007-07-23 14:29  

#18  hey man, no one said being a global icon would be easy.....if you can't take the pressure you should go cobain yourself.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2007-07-23 13:55  

#17  Now that rage boy's so well known maybe somebody will recognize him on the street and pop a cap in his ass.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-07-23 13:38  

#16  mousemat is probably a mousepad
Posted by: mhw   2007-07-23 13:19  

#15  doormat? mouse pad? douchebag?
Posted by: Thrusoling Barnsmell5860   2007-07-23 13:08  

#14  You know--those little pads for wiping your paws in front of a mouse hole!

Seriously, I think he's referring to a mat used for a computer mouse--there have been mugs, mousemats, and T-shirts with this guy's crazy face on them ("a mug on a mug").
Posted by: Dar   2007-07-23 12:40  

#13  What's a "mousemat"? (last word in the article)
Posted by: Darrell   2007-07-23 12:26  

#12  Too late, dipshit. You've gone global iconic. There is no return from such a state.
Posted by: mojo   2007-07-23 12:06  

#11  Jeez, why doesn't that surprise me?
Posted by: tu3031   2007-07-23 11:23  

#10  Jammu and Kashmir state has the lowest poverty rates in all of India, helped by generous grants from the Indian federal government and the basing of 340,000 troops.
The islamists milk the Indian taxpayer for all they're worth.

Pakistan's ISI spends several billion dollars a year to sustain the jihad in Indian Jammu and Kashmir.
The APHC jihad front organizations get millions from the ISI budget to dole out to the likes of Shakeel Bhat.

Since the Pakistan Military itself is the recipient of billions from the US, Shakeel's rage boy lifestyle is actually sustained by the taxpayers of the USA and India.

Jirzya.....
Posted by: John Frum   2007-07-23 11:17  

#9  We don't like you breathing, but you do provide comic relief. So don't do anything to piss us off otherwise you won't be needed anymore... m'kay?
Posted by: DarthVader   2007-07-23 11:12  

#8  couching coaching
Posted by: Jan    2007-07-23 11:08  

#7  Tu, funny stuff, but what's sad here is they don't need any couching
Posted by: Jan    2007-07-23 11:07  

#6  It's not well known, but IRB's a regular on the rave scene.
Posted by: lotp   2007-07-23 11:02  

#5  Can't you just picture Shakeel and his camera crew going out for a beer after a hard day's rage?
Posted by: Seafarious   2007-07-23 10:21  

#4  C'mon, Shakeel! Give me seething!! Seething!!!
click-click-click-click-click-click
Gimmee Crazy eyes! Crazy eyes!! I need 'em, Shakeel!!!
click-click-click-click-click-click
Oh, yeah! Now we're workin it! Upraised fist! Pump it, Shakeel! Pump it! Crazy eyes!!
click-click-click-click-click-click-click
Beautiful! Beautiful! Okay, let's take a break. Get Shakeel some Evian. You're beautiful, man, Beautiful!
Posted by: tu3031   2007-07-23 10:11  

#3  the wild eyes in the photos are a cartoon themselves with no manipulation!

Posted by: Jan    2007-07-23 10:07  

#2  If you don't want to be called "Islamic Rage Boy", you might go a little lighter on the Islamic rage.

(Reminds me of an article ten or twelve years ago in the Cleveland Pain Dealer high school journalism section. Some Goth girl wrote seven hundred words lamenting that people treated her as weird just because she dressed in all black, adorned herself with symbols of evil and death, and listened to emo music. If the shoe fits....)
Posted by: Mike   2007-07-23 07:06  

#1  I am not happy with people joking about me or making me into a cartoon, , but I have more important things to think about.

Like why didn't Allah put anything about trademark law or royalty payments in His Holy Qu'ran, huh? What about all the Imam's blah-blah-blah about it being an all-encompassing guide to Mooselimb life?
Posted by: Islamic Rage Boy ©   2007-07-23 01:57  

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