Sunday, May 14, 2006

Culinary Iconography - Tuna-ALLAH-King

So many visions and messages from so many gods! Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich, Jesus on tortillas, Allah on an eggplant and now inscriptions on a tuna!

Addition:Interesting that these gods send messages to only their faithful...an xian never finds an allah taco, and a muslim never finds a Jeebus tomato. And why don't atheists ever find any of these "messages"???

MOMBASA, Kenya (AFP) - A tuna fish caught in the Indian Ocean this week has excited Kenyan Muslims who are flocking here by the hundreds to see a Koranic verse apparently embedded in its scales.

Dubbed the "wonder fish" by locals in this port city, the 2.5-kilo (5.5-pound) tuna has attracted so much attention it has been placed in the custody of the National Fisheries Department for safekeeping, officials said.

The otherwise ordinary fish caught the attention of fishmonger Omar Mohammed Awadh who pulled it out of a catch when he noticed what seemed to be Arabic writing among the scales near its tail, they said.

Arabic scholars examined the fish and determined the writing was a Koranic verse meaning "God is the greatest of all providers," said Hassan Mohamed Hassan, an education officer with the National Museums of Kenya in Mombasa.

"This has been confirmed as a verse from the Holy Koran," said Sheikh Mombasa Dor, the secretary-general of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya.

"We believe that God brings these kinds of messages in many forms from time to time and that we should not only read the Holy Book, but practice what it says," he said.

Mombasa district commissioner Mohamed Maalim agreed.

"It is so clearly spelt," he said. "That is why we believe that Allah is sending a message to mankind."

Did anyone stop to consider that since the inscription is so clear that someone may have caught the fish, put the inscription on it and tossed it back in the water? (Someone is probably having a big laugh right now.) Or maybe they are seeing things they WANT to see in familiar patterns in the scales that are similar to writing?...nope...it's ALLLLAH ...because apparently Allah is like the xian god and gets kicks out of playing games with people by leaving riddles in food, etc. instead of just showing himself.

Hundreds of Muslims and curiosity seekers flocked to Awadh's Takaungu Fresh Fish Shop to see the tuna on Friday, prompting concerns for its safety and its removal to a refrigerated locker at the fisheries department.

In March Muslims flocked to see a pair of fish found in a pet shop in the British city of Liverpool which appeared to bear the words "Allah" and "Mohammed" (pigs be upon him) on their scales.

Isn't this going against their holy laws of worshipping idols?

8 comments:

AYDIN ÖRSTAN said...

Why would an "omnipotent" god choose a vehicle that is anything but long-lasting & that is subject to quick rotting to send his messages?

Stardust said...

AÖrstan -
excellent point!

And the people who caught the damn fish just happen to be muslim and who already believe in allah....hmmmm Something smells a little "fishy" to me.

Interesting that these gods send messages to only their faithful...an xian never finds an allah taco, and a muslim never finds a Jeebus tomato.

But that would take some questioning and rational thought.

Anonymous said...

Asalamalaykom,

Interesting take. I guess that when you are searching daily for signs of the living God your eyes are more open than others.

Just so you know, we Muslims don't say, "Peace be upon him" about God. We say that after we say the name of a prophet (including Jesus).

And to answer aorstan, who wondered why it was an object with a short shelf life: absolutely nothing in this world is going to last. Allah is the only one who never ceases to exist.

Stardust said...

HA-

Strange that gods never show themselves except in the minds of people who want to believe in them.

Anonymous said...

Could we take it a step further and guess that maybe the fisherman himself inscibed the message on the fish for his own personal gains...? Or am I being TOO sinical?

Stardust said...

Could we take it a step further and guess that maybe the fisherman himself inscibed the message on the fish for his own personal gains...? Or am I being TOO sinical?

Anonymous - That is one of the other possibilities that popped into my mind, too. It's so obvious in this case that a human inscribed the words, yet religious fanatics will believe what they want to believe instead of thinking rationally.

Unknown said...

salamz to my fellow brothers....muslim and non-muslim alike....

we muslims take all to be our brothers and we even pray for your safety and good health cozz we are commanded to in order to fulfill our religious qouta.

but yet to those you are blinded by media propaganda and lack the intellect of being free thinkers or thinkers at all...we are still regarded as terrorist...out to take over the world.

dude...too much fiction...too many movies and too much generalisation.

stop thinkers the way your fore-fathers thought and allow your mind to think abit out of the box.

allah ta`ala is trying to show you signs of his greatness in the simplest means coz we are simpletons with simple understandings.

give us a chance to be seen in the eyes of good.

do you see any muslim condemning jesus...nope...how about moses....nope...coz we respect them...coz they are part of our religion also....then why condemn us and our prophet.

the french president condemned the covering of the muslim womens face....now the whole world covers their faces coz of the swine flu...

ironic isnt it?

for the first time in your life allow yourself the freedom of thought...

think before accusing and branding.

i wish all of you well during your life...may you only get what is good for you and keep that which is bad for far-away.

shukran(thank you)

Stardust said...

MOCrazy...we could turn it around and say for you to allow yourself the freedom to think for yourself without religion. Human beings are quite intelligent. Human beings are quite imaginative. Religions attempt to brainwash individuals to think they are bad, stupid and not good enough for anything without a faith in an imaginary being that never shows himself/herself in person.

It is strange that an all-powerful god would have to show himself in words on a fish in a language much of the world does not recognize.

The point of the posts on culinary inconography is to make a point that people see familiar patters in things from the foods they eat and sometimes even to their own stool in the toilet (I am not joking about that one). Some have seen Jesus on a dog's butt. Some have seen Allah on a tomato...Many people can find familiar shapes of faces of cartoon characters in clouds of in the grain of wood panels. Human beings have quite an imagination.