Pascha, a Cologne brothel touting for clients with a World Cup-themed banner, has blacked out the flags of Iran and Saudi Arabia after alleged threats from Muslims.
The giant banner on a high-rise building shows a semi-naked woman and the flags of the 32 countries in the World Cup, which kicks off in June.
The slogan on the ad reads: “The world is a guest of female friends” – a variant of the official World Cup slogan: “The world is a guest of friends”.
The Tunisian flag – bearing the Muslim crescent symbol and a star marking the five pillars of Islam – remains on the ad, however.
It seems nobody takes us Tunisians seriously as Muslims, after all why should they if we ourselves don’t take our religion seriously anymore?
Ca fait mal au coeur, notre r
@Subzero: Did you forget that we are a tolerant, moderate and open nation??!! ;):P
I think these Muslims in Germany who are upset about the portrayal of these flags would be better off concentrating on something more important.
For instance, we the U.S. are well aware of the Saudis royals’ appetite for strip clubs and prostitutes.
Maybe they should focus on preventing that sort of behavior rather than worrying about stupid symbols.
Je pense que tu est un peu dure sur ce coup subzero blue, il faut pas voir le mal partout.
se ne sont que des details, non interressant.
il faut arreter de faire les amalagmes entre pays et religion. 😉
You guys are missing the point! since when do flags represent religions?? Flags represent countries, full stop.
Besides, Islam has no symbols whatsoever. Neither the crescent nor the green colour or anything else is a symbol of Islam. They are all folklore.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have no legacy to represent Islam and should not feel offended for their flags to be featured on this picture. We do not have any legacy to represent Islam, and should not feel offended either. When people across the Muslim world will understand this, we’ll be much better off. Because (part of) the reason why muslims are lagging behind is that, precisely, they spend their time giving lessons to each other on who is more muslim than the other instead of working.
TN Star, oh well, our reputation isn’t really that bad, it’s actually pretty good, but well…
Hannibal, lol, nope I never forget that.
Me Myself, well we can’t judge a whole people by the doings of some of it’s individuals, royalty or not.
As for some people being upset by this, well I don’t think being upset of something stands in the way of them also giving importance to other issues as well.
Shay, maybe I was a bit harsh, but it’s because I fear that we’re moving towards a stage where our religion is just a forgotten line in the country’s constitution.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an extremist, nor am I a strict fundamentalist, I’m not even a fully practicing muslim, but when I say religion, I mean the religion in itself as well as the values and virtues it teaches us. That is what we’re slowly losing.
Tarek, I agree with you that flags represent countries and not a religion, very true.
I also agree that Islam in itself has no symbols, but that the symbols were created by people. And they’ve gotten to a point where they symbolize the religion like the cross for Christianity and David’s star for Judaism.
Another point I agree with you on is that no country has the right to claim that it represents Islam, and that no muslim has the right to give another a lesson on who is more muslim.
Still, individuals from a certain country can be offended by seeing their flag, the flag for a muslim country bearing a symbol they created for Islam or the name of God, on a poster advertising a brothel.
MMM>> I really wonder what Morocco would have done in this situation. Hahahaha; let
@ Manal: no worries! but how come you put a comment on Subzero’s blog :P? ( kidding)Manal your visit is greatly appreciated:)
Our reputation is not as bad as the reputation of Saudi Arabia or Iran for the moment, but it is still not that good.
By the way, have you heard about Popetown on MTV ( http://www.mtv.de/popetown/index.php , http://www.region-muenchen.de/news/1145053436popetown2.jpg )? If not, check the news. The slogan of the AD is “Lachen statt rumh
Are you kidding me? Muslim dudes go boozing and whoring like there is no tomorrow when they are in the godless west. The hypocrisy of religion is boundless. Read Voltaire and throw off the shackles of your superstitions.
The Saudu Arabian flag has words of the Quran, hardly something you would want to see on a naked woman. So some flags do matter, because in the case of Saudi Arabia, it does represent Islam.