Hawaii Lawmakers Pass Bill to Create 'Islam Day'

[vector7]

Hawaii Lawmakers Pass Bill to Create 'Islam Day'

Hawaii's state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate "Islam Day" -- over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn't want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001.

AP
Wednesday, May 06, 2009


HONOLULU -- Hawaii's state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate "Islam Day" -- over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn't want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001.

The Senate's two Republicans argued that a minority of Islamic extremists have killed many innocents in terrorist attacks.

"I recall radical Islamists around the world cheering the horrors of 9/11. That is the day all civilized people of all religions should remember," said Republican Sen. Fred Hemmings to the applause of more than 100 people gathered in the Senate to oppose a separate issue -- same-sex civil unions.

The resolution to proclaim Sept. 24, 2009, as Islam Day passed the Senate on a 22-3 vote. It had previously passed the House and now goes to Republican Gov. Linda Lingle.

The bill seeks to recognize "the rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions" that Islam and the Islamic world have made. It does not call for any spending or organized celebration of Islam Day.

"We are a state of tolerance. We understand that people have different beliefs," said Sen. Will Espero, a Democrat. "We may not all agree on every single item and issue out there, but to say and highlight the negativity of the Islamic people is an insult to the majority" of believers "who are good law-abiding citizens of the world."

But Republican Sen. Sam Slom argued that the United States has become too sympathetic toward Islamic extremists.

"I don't think there's any country in the history of the world that has been more tolerant than the United States of America, and because of that tolerance, we've looked the other way a lot of times, and many thousands of our citizens have been killed by terrorists," said Slom, a Republican.

The lone Democrat voting against the bill opposed it on church-state separation fears.

[vector7]

Hawaii “Islam Day” secretly marks September 11

By Andrew Walden :: 496 Views :: Hawaii State News, Hawaii State Politics, National News, National Politics, World News, World Politics By Andrew Walden

Islamists have just tricked the Hawaii Legislature into celebrating Islam on September 11.

Hawaii has no Christianity Day, no Judaism Day, and no Buddhism Day--but Hawaii's Democrat Legislators—with the loud public support of Ron Paul connected Rep Kym Pine (R-Ewa)—passed a resolution to create Islam Day.

By a 22-3 vote the Hawaii Senate May 7 approved House Concurrent Resolution 100 which designates September 24, 2009 as Islam Day. The State House had quietly approved the measure without dissent March 17.

Introduced March 4 as HCR100 by Reps Faye Hanohano (D-Puna), Lyla Berg (D-Hawai`i Ka`i), and Della Au Belatti (D-Makiki) HCR100 proposed Islam Day to be “November 21, 2009, marks the anniversary of the founding of Islam….” But that was soon amended to HCR100HD1 which intones, “the Prophet Mohammad left his house to migrate to Madinah and reached Quba in the vicinity of Madinah on the 12th day of Rabi ul-Awwal according to the lunar calendar, or September 24th according to the Gregorian calendar, thereby marking the birth of Islam….” (Emphasis added)

This is false. September 24th is the date of Mohammad’s arrival in Medina according to the old Julian calendar -- which is 13 daysbehind the modern Gregorian calendar. The fact that “Gregorian” is mentioned in the resolution implies that somebody was considering the two calendars.

Had the Hawaii legislature intended to mark the Julian date September 24 they would have picked the Gregorian date October 7, 2009 for Islam Day. Had they wished to mark the date celebrated each year by Muslims, that would have been the “12th day of Rabi ul-Awwal” -- March 9, 2009.

But instead they picked the modern Gregorian date September 24, 2009. This day corresponds to no holiday in the Islamic calendar. But on the Julian calendar it is September 11, 2009.



Religious scholars and historians are among the very few likely to spot the hidden September 11th date. Senator Sam Slom—one of the three who voted against the resolution—says the Religion Department of UH was unaware of the resolution. Perhaps this explains why.

Meanwhile the Islamists are laughing.