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I remember this sister from another forum
I’m sure she is sorry for what has happend and didnt mean any harm by it
May Allaah help her, prison is a horrible place
–Niqaabis
IslamicAwakening.com
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Samina Malik became the first woman convicted under Great Britain’s Terrorism Act. She wrote poetry about terrorist acts, such as how to behead. She downloaded files, such as the one called How To Win Hand-to-hand Fighting, a manual for a sniper rifle, and the (relatively useless) Mujahideen Poison Handbook by Abdel Azez. Such downloading the folks at Scotland Yard consider “a serious criminal offense.” (See Sean O’Neill’s article in The Times: Poetic shop assistant guilty of building library of terror.)
Writing is not doing. A writer needs to be able to write whatever comes to her. No matter what real terrorist activity Samina Malik may, may not, or may some day be into, her writing is not, and must not be considered terrorist activity.
Every poet, in pursuit of the creative, has to be able to explore and fail, just as people who sing most often cannot carry the tune. And we cannot be out giving poetry licenses to people before they can participate in such activity. Each one of us must have poetic license.
Samina Malik was affected by the videos of beheading that were on the web, and decided to try her hand at the horror genre. A writer needs to be able to research, and explore sensitive territory, such as the info she downloaded–even live it to some degree, vis a vis Jack Kerouac. Period. And whether she is imprisoned for it or not, the next writer will do the same, whether he is imprisoned for it or not, and then the next.
I wonder, following her notoriety, how many others have gone looking to explore that “terrorist” information–and if they are poets, how much bad poetry will come from it. I went looking to download it myself, and could not find the links, otherwise I would share them with you.
[Edited in Nov 26: al Qaeda manual. Thanks to and note: ian.]
If a link appears on my monitor, here in my home, just as if it appears on a bookshelf, here in my home, I will open it, as I should be free to do. My judgment, nobody else’s. Period. Imprison me if you want, but another good citizen will follow me in turn, and you can imprison her too, and the next.
Instead of prosecuting and imprisoning her, we should celebrate a World Samina Malik Day, when we all dress up as her, or as close to it as we can, and download the information she did, the jihad encyclopedia, the poisons handbook, the sniper and hand-to-hand combat manuals–and then write on it. She is due to be sentenced on December 6th. This should be the day. If we cannot find the material for download that she did, note both the failed beheading scene, how hand-to-hand combat is won creatively, and the impending beheading at the end of this scene in Steven Seagal’s Out for Justice (WARNING: FOUL LANGUAGE):
Out for Justice: Bar Scene (‘Anybody seen Richie?’):
Or find something that works even better for you, The Godfather maybe, some documentary, something with violence or horror.
Let’s also make her rich with a Samina Malik line of clothing. She represents the average person’s freedom on this shared Earth of ours.
Just as most every other poet who has tried his or her hand at erotica, war poetry, love poetry, and the horror genre, and has then written in support of Samina Malik, I too was affected by a killing and wrote a syllabic sonnet sequence about it. It is here: Saint Anselm and the Murder of Addie Hall in New Orleans on October 5, 2006. (Also, see Hari Kunzru’s article for The Guardian: Terror stricken. And read Noorjehan Barmania’s ‘I have much in common with Samina Malik’.)
I wish I knew more about how Wilfred Owen’s poetry was brought out at Ms. Malik’s trial, but he is a poet who was able to cast killing into poetry, a difficult thing to do. Like Malik’s, my stab at it doesn’t approach Owen’s:
.
by Wilfred Owen
Parable of the Old Men and the Young
So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretched forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son. . . .
.
Even though Malik basically failed at it, some positives are that she cast the poem onto the page with care for line breaks, and made her writing very understandable. She’s sort of an advanced beginner like many of us, and I would encourage her to continue writing. Furthermore, the matter-of-factness has her readership recall terrorist activity so much so, that she got convicted as if she really were a terrorist.
.
recast from excerpts found on the web
by Samina Malik
How to Behead
Hold him
Tie the arms behind his back
And bandage his legs together
Just by the ankles
Blindfold the punk
So that he won’t hesitate as much
For on seeing the sharp pointy knife
He’ll begin to shake
And continuously scream like an eedyat
And jiggle like a jelly
Trust me–this will sure get you angry
It’s better to have at least two or three brothers by your side
Who can hold the fool
Because as soon as the warm sharp knife
Touches his naked flesh
He’ll come to know what’ll happen
It’s not as messy or as hard as some may think,
It’s all about the flow of the wrist.
No doubt that the punk will twitch and scream
But ignore the donkey’s ass
And continue to slice back and forth
You’ll feel the knife hit the wind and food pipe
But don’t stop
Continue with all your might.
About now you should feel the knife vibrate,
You can feel the warm heat being given off,
But this is due to the friction being caused.
.
Tomorrow, let’s all go and kill someone with her poems. We’ll print them out, and drop them onto people’s heads from rooftops. We’ll roll them into balls and throw them at passersby. We’ll roll them into tubesticks and hit people we approach over the head with them. We’ll get bad breath and recite them.
There are criticisms that her writing is not really poetry, that its main purpose is to incite terrorist activity. Can we call instructions for beheading poetry at all? Here is a poem, written by Harry Mathews, published by the Boston Review, and anthologized in The Best American Poetry 2002, wherein the instructions are how to make eggs, no metaphor, no symbols, no mystic “aha” experience: Butter and Eggs.
If there can be a poem about how to make eggs, then there can be a poem about how to kill. Indeed, there are many movies and many novels out there that instruct viewers on different ways people can be brought to death. We must keep our poets free. We must not silence them, either by cutting out their tongues, by killing them, nor by capturing them for imprisonment.
There is another side to this also, and that is Samina Malik: impressionable daughter of Great Britain. It’s a little late to be raising children, exposing them to world violence and such, telling them that Bush and Blair are criminals and should be hung like Hussein, and then telling them it’s not okay to write about it when they become young adults, that they will be jailed for it.
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On November 16th, the BBC radio program, World Have Your Say, discussed Samina Malik’s situation in terms of a thought crime. That segment begins 12:17 into the show and features Baroness Mary Warnock and Gore Vidal, along with several bloggers: BBC: WHYS: Bangladesh, thought crimes, the dollar (mp3) (while available).
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Some musical terrorists:
Killing an Arab, by The Cure:
Murder by Numbers, by The Police:
Cop Killer, by Ice T & Body Count (WARNING: FOUL LANGUAGE):
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155 blog posts on Samina Malik’s conviction:
جبهة التهييس الشعبية: في قضية سمينة مالك: عاجل لخدامين السيادة
مدونه الشاعر …ترحب بكم: سميه… كتبت شعر .. تبقى إرهابيه … وتخش السجن…..وتحيا الحريه الغربيه … posted by mohammed alsha3r
Ace of Spades HQ: British Law Convicts For Mere Possession of Records posted by Gabriel Malor
AcidDrip: Freedom to offend is part of freedom of speech
AcidDrip: “Lyrical Terrorist”–Samina Malik found Guilty
Alabama-Democrat: The Brits And Freedom posted by Altoid
Ben Aldin: Britain is no longer a free society
American Blog: The Age Of Thought Crime Has Begun posted by Ken
Anglofille: i am not a terrorist, just a writer
Behemoth Conspiracy: ‘Young Muslims ‘criminalised for harbouring silly thoughts…” posted by BTB
Rosie Bell: The Terrible Lyricist
Bibliobibuli: Britain’s Thought Police posted by Sharon Bakar
Bibliobibuli: Convicted . . . For Writing Poetry? posted by Sharon Bakar
Big Brother State: Poet Found Guilty of Terrorism posted by Winston Smith
Yahya Birt: Thought Crime comes to Britain
The Book Bitches: Guilty! . . . Er, for writing poetry? posted by Harlot
Book Blog: Is Writing Bad Poetry a Terrorist Act? posted by Keir Graff
Bookninja: Poetry as terror threat posted by George
Books Inq.: We link . . . posted by Frank Wilson
C L O S E R: Poetic (in)justice? posted by Martijn
C L O S E R: Terrorize your lyrics–Suspended sentence for Samina Malik posted by Martijn
The Chalybeate: Samina Malik posted by Moses
Chesler Chronicles: The Lyrical Terrorist Insists that her Poems are Meaningless posted by Phyllis Chesler
Chihuahuas Bite: From London to Salem . . . a journey of justice posted by Warrior Dog
Church of Virus: ‘Lyrical terrorist’ sentenced over extremist poetry posted by Blunderov
Circle of 13: “the inner monologue is in peril” posted by Augustine Touloupis
Citizen Sane: “Lyrical terrorist”? More like terrible lyricist.
Hugh Cook–Cancer Patient: Fascist British state hauls cute girl creative writer into court
Counterbalance: The lit life in los angeles: A New Twist on What Your Books Say About You posted by Callie Miller
Geoff Coupe’s Blog: The Mugwump Youth
Current: ‘Lyrical Terrorist’ Spared Jail posted by richjm
Dave’s Part: The Lyrical Terrorist versus Sturmgeist89 posted by David Osler
Deborama: Victim of laws against thoughts posted by Deb
Voyou Desoeuvre: Support Samina Malik
Done With Mirrors: Sad, Vicious, and Stupid: But is it criminal? posted by Callimachus
Done With Mirrors: Terror Poet Girl posted by Callimachus
The Dragon’s List Kung Fu Community: Tried for writing poetry posted by john100
Dublin Opinion: ‘You have been in many respects a complete enigma to me.’ posted by Conor McCabe
Edshugeo The GodMoor: Guilty Of Owning Manuals?
Edshugeo The GodMoor: Happy Samina Malik Day!
EURSOC: Lyrical Terrorism: Self-censorship, Islamists and the art world
ex-lion tamer: a real life poetic terrorist?
FictionBitch: The Terrorism of Intellectual Repression posted by Elizabeth Baines
Free Samina Malik by Nawara Negm
Good Ol’ Boy: Lyrical Terrorist
GotPoetry.com News: Suspended Sentence for the ‘Lyrical Terrorist’ posted by Robert Verkaik
GotPoetry.com News: Update on The Lyrical Terrorist posted by chameleon (D.P.)
Great War Fiction: No Worse than Owen? posted by George Simmers
El Gringo Rumbero: Justice for Samina Malik!
The Guardian: Comment is free: An attack on liberty posted by Inayat Bunglawala
The Guardian: theblogbooks: Terrible poet, laughable terrorist posted by Shirley Dent
The Guardian: Comment is free: Don’t even think about it posted by Inayat Bunglawala
Herald Sun Blog: Gangsta in a hijab posted by Andrew Bolt
Heresy Corner: All the nice girls love Osama posted by Heresiarch
Heresy Corner: Why Free Speech Matters posted by Heresiarch
Helmintholog: A very quick further note on censorship posted by Andrew Brown
Hitchens Watch: With a legal system this effective, why should England tremble? posted by Christopher Hitchens
Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain: The crime of rhyme: the extraordinary case of Samina Malik post by Fahad Ansari
Hoff Limits: Talking with the lawman about poetry posted by Mike Hoffman
Hunting Monsters: Samina Malik Day: December 6th posted by ian
Hunting Monsters: Thoughtcrime or Lolcrime? posted by ian
Rupa Huq’s home on the web: Dubious Distinction
I Hate All of You: Thought Crimes posted by Hitler616
Index Research: Fox News: Guilty of Incitement to Terrorism? posted by Sarah Meyer
IndyBlogs: Minority Report: Thought crime coming to a town near you posted by Jerome Taylor
Islam in Europe: UK: ‘Young Muslims are being convicted of thought crimes’ posted by Esther
IslamicAwakening.com: 1st Sister Convicted Under Terrorism Act posted by Umm
Islamics: Gillian Gibbons and Samina Malik posted by Shukran
Islamophobia Watch: The lyrical non-terrorist posted by Martin Sullivan
Islamophobia Watch: Woman nicknamed ‘lyrical terrorist’ escapes jail sentence posted by Martin Sullivan in UK
Jangliss: “From Homer to 50 Cent, lonely and frustrated . . .” posted by John Angliss
Jdude–The Unstoppable Madman: Free speech
Late Arrival: The study of inference–Or how I learned to love the Romans posted by Daniel Snell
Lead Acetate: Potential versus kinetic ideas posted by E.M.
The Legal Satyricon: The “Lyrical Terrorist” posted by Prof. Marc J. Randazza
Liberal Review: The ‘Lyrical Terrorist’ Is Not a Terrorist posted by Rob Knight
Londonist: Bad Poetry Not a (Punishable) Offence posted by Julie PH
Look High and Low: No-one is safe posted by Mark
Clattery MacHinery on Poetry: Today is World Samina Malik Day: Terrorize your lyrics
Mac Uaid: Lyrical Terrorist and the right to be offensive posted by Liam Mac Uaid
The Mail: Free speech is for nasty people, not nice ones posted by Peter Hitchens
MakeHeadline.com: [wvns] British Muslim Found “Guilty” of Poetry posted by amirza
La Mancha: I wonder how many Italians own Nazi paraphernalia posted by Carlos
Manifesto Club campaign: Free the ‘lyrical terrorist’ post by Josie Appleton
Masopher’s Mind: There is no reason we can’t be civil, is there? post by Masochist
The memoirs of Lord Snooty: Lyrical Terrorists posted by Cheese Messiah
Dave Miller Art Blog: Lyrical Terrorist
Dave Miller Art Blog: samina malik day december 6th
Monkeyboy: Lyrical Terrorism posted by Jack
MPACUK: ‘Lyrical Terrorist’ found guilty posted by Dr Diavolo
Muslamics: Muslim Poetess Arrested for Extremist Poetry posted by Yesi King
Nation of Shopkeepers: What exactly is a terrorist document? posted by Harry Haddock
Natural yogurt: Free Samina Malik The days tick by . . . posted by Stephen Clynes
Natural yogurt: Fantasy or reality? posted by Stephen Clynes
Neil’s Site: Islamic Demonstrations
Newswatch: ‘Lyrical Terrorist’ spared jail posted by Newsjunky
November 30: When poems are against the law posted by Kathleen
Obsolete: From lyrical to physical. posted by septicisle
The Pamphleteer: On Lyrical Terrorism posted by Finnieston Crane
paxil online: Today is World Samina Malik Day: Terrorize your lyrics « Clattery MacHinery on Poetry posted by usu
PenShells: Witnessing posted by Bren101
thepeoplesvoice.org: ‘Lyrical terrorist’ convicted over hate records
www.PetitionOnline.com: Free Samina Malik
Poetry & Poets in Rags: News at Eleven (Back Page): I think I might be in trouble. posted by Rus Bowden
Poetry & Poets in Rags: News at Eleven: [Samina Malik] told the court posted by Rus Bowden
Poetry & Poets in Rags: November 20th forum announcement posted by Rus Bowden
Poetry & Poets in Rags: November 27th forum announcement posted by Rus Bowden
The Political News You Need to Know: Today is World Samina Malik Day: Terrorize your lyrics
Praxis: Thoughtcrime in the U.K.
prisonlawinsideout: ‘Lyrical terrorist’ sentenced over extremist poetry posted by John Hirst Hull
Probablyblonde: The mad woman in the bedroom
Probablyblonde: Thoughtcrime and lyrical terrorism
Rachel from north London: The Lyrical Terrorist
Ramblings of the Bearded One: Guilty of writing dodgy poetry posted by Kim Ayres
Random Comments from South London: Lyrical terrorist gets suspended sentence posted by secretlondon
readership: Lyrical Terrorist posted by Бронза
Reasonable Mahmoud: The Stench Of Hypocrisy . . . posted by Avenger
Penny Red: Thoughts on Lyrical Terrorism.
Red Pepper: Thoughtcrime and Samina Malik posted by Neruda
resak11’s weblog: Lyrical terrorist sentenced for poetry Guardian Unlimited
Rule 9: World Samina Malik Day December 6th ~9 posted by Rus Bowden
Sawtul Islam: Where are you oh Hakam?!
The Sharp Side: Lyrical terrorism posted by Ellis
The Soul of Man Under Capitalism: Thought Crimes posted by V
The Spectator: Free speech and the ‘lyrical terrorist’ posted by Ron Liddle
SportsBikes.net: Prosecutor will not charge teacher for Columbine blog posting posted by 750rider
The state we’re in: Thought crime
Strange Stuff: Lyrical Terrorism posted by Chris
Strange Stuff: Lyrical? Terrorist? posted by Chris
Subjects Are Silly: “Lyrical Terrorism” and the theory of Free Rights posted by Chelsea
sweetbands: England from the Blogosphere: World Samina Malik Day December 6th posted by Kurt Torres
Telegraph: The curious case of the lyrical terrorist posted by Ceri Radford
Ten Percent: War Crimes Vs. Thoughtcrime posted by RickB
This Guy is Teaching Abroad: Be Careful What You Read and Say posted by Guy Courchesne
Through The Scary Door: The lyrical terrorist goes down posted by Roobin
Times Online: Don’t ban the lyricist posted by Shirley Dent
Times Online: Faith Central: Lyrical terrorist defended posted by Libby Purves
Times Online: Muslims ‘criminalised for silly thoughts’ posted by Sean O’Neill: Crime and Security Editor
Jonathan Turley: British Convict “Lyrical Terrorist”–Muslim Who Merely Wrote About Beheadings
UncommonSense: British woman convicted of writing terrorist poetry
The Waters: World Samina Malik Day December 6th
Westolowski: OK. Poetry still sucks. But rap sucks worse.
ChristopherWhite.info: Crimes against literature?
Who Knows Where Thoughts Come From?: The Blair Ditch Project posted by Ian
Why Dont You Blog?: Crime, Confusion and the Littlejohn Idiocy posted by TW
Wild Poetry Forum: World Samina Malik Day December 6th
World Have Your Say (BBC): 16 Nov 07 posted by Peter
World Politics Review: World Samina Malik Day December 6th
Tim Worstall: What a Wonderful Country
Wrath of Mjolnir: Free Speech?
A Writer’s Life: Wait posted by John Siddique
WSP 400: Samina Malik posted by Jessica Posner
Your Society: The Terrible Lyricist – is She also a Lyrical Terrorist? posted by Gregers Friisberg
zidouta.com: Ready Made Terrorism posted by Herman van Iperen
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Vodpod videos no longer available.
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