I forbindelse med en bokutgivelse har osloby.no vært på spasertur i Oslo med arkitekten og skribenten Peter Butenschøn, som ikke uventet sier endel interessante ting om utviklingen av hovedstaden etterhvert som turen skrider frem.

Når de kommer til Grønland går det imidlertid litt over stokk og stein for ham. Dette er riktignok på dagtid, og han er hverken kvinne eller alene, så noen utrygghet kjenner han ikke. Litt merkeligere er det at han hverken ser forfallstegn eller reflekterer over all kriminaliteten i området.

Det de fleste andre forøvrig ville betrakte som et problem, altså at hærskarer av mennesker i sin beste alder ikke er på jobb, oppleves av arkitekten som et kjempemessig fortrinn ved bydelen:

– Se her! Dette er et byrom med upretensiøs arkitektur som funker! Klokken er 11 på en hverdag, og det er fullt av folk på kafeene og i butikkene, sier han engasjert.

– Det er interessant at folk snakker om Grønland som et sted hvor de ikke-etnisk norske bor. Det stemmer ikke. Innvandrerne bor i Groruddalen og på Holmlia, men det er de som bruker Grønland i størst grad – i hvert fall på dagtid. Her har de moskeer og kafeer som fungerer som møtesteder. Det er også innvandrerne som har lært oss noe nytt om å bo i byen. De har tatt med seg impulser fra bykulturer som er mye mer utviklet enn vår egen. Vi hadde aldri noe sånt som dette på 50- 60-tallet, før innvandrerne kom, sier Butenschøn.

En skulle nesten tro at den urbane utviklingshjelpen fra moskégjengere har reddet oss fra barbariet.

Bemerkelsesverdig nok har den ikke helt ukjente sjeik Yusuf al-Qaradawi – en person man normalt ville feste endel mindre lit til enn Butenschøn – et syn på misforholdet mellom ytelse og nytelse som setter de fulle kafeene i et mindre fordelaktig lys.

For mens tyskerne ikke fyller byrommet på samme måte fordi de er på jobb på dagtid, drikker folk i den muslimske verden kaffe fordi de ikke jobber, sier den kjente predikanten i en klassiker av et opptak – her til glede for nye seere:

We use trains and planes, but they are not our trains or planes. The (Westerners) manufacture them and export them to us. True, we can buy the most magnificent things in the world products for our homes and for ourselves. Our people can buy the most luxurious cars, Rolls-Royce or Mercedes 500 or 700, models S, M, and L with all the luxuries. We own them, but we don’t manufacture them. We don’t even produce a single nail in any of these cars. Others do this for us.

The income of the entire Arab world, including the oil-producing countries, does not reach the that of a European country, such as Spain. Spain – let alone Germany, France, Britain, or Italy. Just Spain, which is at the bottom of the list of industrial countries… The income of the entire Arab world does not reach it. How come? Because we don’t work, and if we do work, we don’t do it professionally.

They conducted a survey of the average time that a government employee spends working in a certain Arab country. The average was 27 minutes a day. 27 minutes! The rest of the time he drinks coffee, reads newspapers, and goes on errands here and there. Only a small number of people work. The rest do not.

In the mid 1970s I went to Germany. We arrived in the morning. I asked the guy who took me from the airport to the convention hall… As I was passing through the empty streets, I asked him how come the streets were not busy, like in our countries. He said: “People are at work.” After 7 p.m. he took me back to the hotel, and the streets were empty. I said to him: “What’s going on, the streets are empty again.” He said: people are back home from work, and they are exhausted. All they want is to eat their dinner, watch the news, and then go to bed, because early next morning they have to wake up for hard work. They commute more than an hour to work and back, and spend an hour at lunch. They work non-stop.

We are a nation that doesn’t work. How can we develop if we don’t work? When we do work, we don’t do it professionally. We keep saying “Don’t worry, later, later…” Islam teaches us to do things professionally. Doing things professionally is a religious duty. The Prophet said that Allah ordered to excel in everyhting. He imposed excellence and professionalism. Professionalism must be followed in everything. “If you kill, do it properly, and if you slaughter, do it properly.” Even when killing, you must do well.

Unfortunately, we do not excel in either military or civil industries. We import everything from needles to missiles. This is our nation. We still haven’t manufactured an engine in our Arab countries. We assemble parts, but have no manufacturing industries. India has manufactured a car, and even a plane, while we still go around in circles like a bull in who turns a grinding mill or a water weal until it reaches exactly where it started.

How come the Zionist gang has managed to be superior to us, despite being so few? It has become superior through knowledge, through technology, and through strength. It has become superior to us through work. We had the desert before our eyes but we didn’t do anything with it. When they took over, they turned it into a green oasis. How can a nation that does not work progress? How can it grow?

«Innvandrerne har lært oss å bo i byen»

Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: The Islamic Nation’s Problem is That Muslims Do Not Work.