Good ice cream can be a spiritual experience

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The new Brit blog Pickled Politics links to a funny story that you just have to see to believe:

The design on the lid apparently looks like the word ‘Allah’ in Arabic.

One customer told the Sun the design was “sacreligious”. BK says: “As a result of feedback our supplier is amending the design.” MCB’s Inayat Bunglawala: “We commend the sensitive and prompt action to prevent any hurt being caused to the religious sensibilities of others.”

It beggars belief that the Muslim Council of Britain keep giving credence to these stupid stories with their own quotes. For god’s sake, it only gives the impression that all Muslims are hyper-sensitive. BK should never have changed this, I haven’t seen a single campaign or email about this issue.

The Scotsman fills in the ridiculous details:

The offending lid was spotted in a branch in Park Royal last week by business development manager Rashad Akhtar, 27, of High Wycombe.

He was not satisfied by the decision to withdraw the cones and has called on Muslims to boycott Burger King. He said: “This is my jihad. How can you say it is a spinning swirl? If you spin it one way to the right you are offending Muslims.”

A Muslim Council spokesman said: “We commend the sensitive and prompt action that Burger King has taken.”

Mmmmm.  Softserve ice cream.  Obviously Akhtar has never got his swirl on otherwise he’d know that, that is in fact what a tight spiral on a softserve cone looks like.  My college dorm at UMich had a softserve ice cream machine.  Every day I’d come back from the gym and make two glasses of softserve milkshakes with dinner.  Intending no offense I ask you, is it so wrong to be reminded of God when contemplating the goodness of ice cream?

26 thoughts on “Good ice cream can be a spiritual experience”

  2. Why is this particular instance of religious offense taken so lightly and poked fun at whereas the idea of Ganesh on flipflops was taken seriously around here?

    God’s name is sacred in Islam, not meant to be on something that would be thrown away in the garbage — hence the call for the redesign. There are specific mandates in Islam as to how something with God’s name on it should be disposed of, and being tossed about as on an ice cream wrapper doesn’t quite fit those specifications.

    So, Ganesh on your feet, or God’s name on garbage – it’s the same. Be consistent.

  4. Why is this particular instance of religious offense taken so lightly and poked fun at whereas the idea of Ganesh on flipflops was taken seriously around here?

    Your absolutely wrong. I wrote the Laxmi on the thong post last week and I poked fun at it as well.

    In addition to that these are two completely different things. That (like the thongs) was entirely intentional. This is just plain stupid. It’s an ice cream swirl for crying out loud.

  5. Anorritated: The question is why on earth would Burger King do something like this? Obviously they have nothing to gain by deliberately offending millions of their customers. It’s the height of paranoia to believe that Burger King are part of some dastardly plot to insult Allah.

  6. Bullshit. Only one was done on purpose.

    Actually, Manish, you don’t go quite far enough here: one was done on purpose, the other was done not at all. I mean, just look at the two images. The most one could say is that there’s a vague resemblance. This is Our Lady of the Underpass territory only compounded with additional stupidity.

  7. I cannot believe that this swirl is anything but coincidence that it resembles the name of Allah – and in actual fact it does not look exactly like it.

    I mean, imagine the meeting in the Burger King ice cream marketing design meeting as imagined by Mr Rashad Akhtar:

    ===============

    “Hey I’ve got a great idea! Lets write the Arabic for Allah on the top of our ice cream!”

    “But why?”

    “Well, why not?”

    “These Muslims have to be taught a lesson – as Zionists we have to insult their religion and the best way to do it is subliminally – by putting the name of Allah on an ice cream so that Muslims start subliminally thinking that Allah is only equivalent to an ice cream”

    “Thats a great idea! Zionist domination shall rule the Earth!”

    ===================

    But seriously – things like this are delicate but they get blown out of proportion and end up making Asian people look paranoid and ridiculous – and all this thing is brewing up slowly and surely – there are Sikhs and Hindus ready to jump up and down and carry out a Jihad in similar ridiculous situations.

    ++++++++++++

    The thing with this though is it was a genuine coincidence.

    And Rashad Akhtar is too funny – now that we have had suicide bomb Jihad in London he is introducing his personal ice-cream Jihad – vah vah Akhtar Sahib – just what Muslims in the UK need to improve their image.

    Although I also want to say that the tabloids in the UK are waiting to pounce on anything like this to hype up anything into a major crisis themselves – they rub their hands with glee when they can get a man ready to pronounce their religious fury over anything these days – there is nothing too miniscule to make the pages of the tabloids in the UK to make Muslims seem like obscurantists and intolerant these days – and Sikhs and Hindus are at risk of this portrayal too – they want all the brown folk nailed on this one.

    I’m going to get myself a Burger King ice cream this afternoon to show solidarity with the Zionist conspiracy this afternoon though – lovely jubbly.

  8. The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the picture was:

    Whithersoever ye turn there is the countenance of God [Quran, 2:115]

    If you look hard enough, you can find the name of God everywhere (even in more “offensive” places).

  9. My local Pakistani take away where I get my masala fish and chicken kebabs has a poster on the wall called Nature and the Miracles of Allah – and there are all these photographs of the word Allah inside an aubergine and tomato and in the bark of a tree.

  10. Hello chaps and chappesses, just thought I’d leave a quick note for those of you that remember me – keep an eye on the blog that Abhi’s quoted, Pickled Politics, if for no other reason than because I’m one of the writers, hooray! Especially you Brits.

    As for BK’s Allah ice cream, who remembers the Allah tomato?

  12. The offense here – to me anyway – is that it’s Burger King “ice cream,” which is far from heavenly. I can certainly see god in a hot fudge sundae at Junior’s (Brooklyn NY), but not a mass-produced, artificially flavored, chemically textured, preservative-laden BK product.

  13. I don’t know about you guys but I see the tail of the devil in the Muslim symbol for Allah–do you think they are zapping us with evil?

  14. “What’s the common thread here?”

    Psychosis?

    I actually think the design looks like a U and W written in script, and I intend to file suit on behalf of the Univeristy of Wisconsin.

  15. RE: and there are all these photographs of the word Allah inside an aubergine and tomato and in the bark of a tree.

    That must mean we should start a jihad against aubergines and tomatoes, then.

    Give me a break.

    Squiggly lines occur everywhere. If your script looks like one, you’ll get “unintentional words” everywhere.

    If they’d written in English “Allah sucks” that’d be one thing, but this is a mountain out of a molehill.

    If you’re THAT offended by it, there are many countries in which Western items are forbidden. That’s not a “wogs go home” comment – just look at it this way – if where you are pot’s illegal and you wanna smoke it – move to Amsterdam. It’s a free planet. Get on a plane and go somewhere. Go where your people are, where you can find like minds. Don’t go around swinging your fists. I don’t fly into Saudi Arabia and demand the right to drink alcohol and demand their women walk around without a hijab on…

  16. Am I the only person who sees this thread differently after Cicatrix’s comment?

    I went back by myself when I was 18, and hung out 24/7 with two 17yr old boy cousins. When I first got my period there, by grandmother quietly told me to “tell those boys you have a headache. Don’t run around this afternoon!”
    Of course I told them, and realized how their sex-ed classes kept this part of a woman’s reproductive cycle heavily shrouded in mystery. “What! Your’ BLEEDING!” the younger one yelped..to which the older one smacked him over the head and said, “what they hell do you think they do? Squirt ice cream?!”

  19. i really dont know why only Musims ALWAYS have this kind of problems???? this is annoying,, stop this sensitivity muslims and calm down!!!

  23. this goes to GEORGE how can u say tat u see a devils tail in the muslim symbol for ALLAH and that we “muslims” are tryin to “zap” u with evil????!!!!! 1stly tats takin the whole ice-cream matter out of context and 2ndly u are stateing something totally untrue! and makin us muslims look bad in it 3rdly why in gods name would we want to use our god “Allah’s name” as a symbol to swear “you” please get your facts straight!

  24. God’s name is sacred in Islam, not meant to be on something that would be thrown away in the garbage — hence the call for the redesign. There are specific mandates in Islam as to how something with God’s name on it should be disposed of, and being tossed about as on an ice cream wrapper doesn’t quite fit those specifications. THATS CRAP it is all crap> i will offend ALL OF THESE SUPERSTITIONS> GET A LIFE WORLD> WE HAVE SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH HUNGER WE CREATED MOST OF THE PROBLEMS AND IT IS UP TO FIX THEM> IT IS ABOUT TIME WE GET BEYOND OUR SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT THE UNKOWN> GEASH DAN

  25. Where does the wanker who made the complaint live, I want to complain about him breathing as he seems to be a weazly minded fuckwit who really needs to get a life. If people carry on like this then let them go live in the middle east and they can have all the allah magic they want.