A personalized license plate that reads ‘JIHAD 1’ has been allowed in the state of Missouri…. (because 'DEATH TO THE INFIDEL" was too long?)
After examining the policies for granting or denying personalized license plates, a Department of Revenue representative told local News4 that they had no legal authority to deny the word. However, as CreepingSharia.com reports, a similar personalized license plate that read ‘J1HAD’ was rejected by the state in 2009.
The state did not provide an explanation for why that particular license was rejected while this one was allowed, according to News 4.
The ‘JIHAD 1’ license plate, which was seen on a car in St Louis county, belongs to a Muslim couple who have a 14-year-old son named Jihad, whose name inspired the license plate, News 4 reported.
The family also noted that Jihad, a traditional Muslim name, has a spiritual meaning for Muslims, contrary to violence and terrorism associations with the word.
‘Jihad is very common and it doesn’t mean Holy War,’ Faizan Syed, the executive director of the St Louis Chapter Council on American Islamic Relations told News 4.
‘It means someone who is struggling, so when you name your kid Jihad, it means someone who is going to struggle to be better.’
However, he added that the word ‘has the ability to confuse’ and said since the average American thinks of Jihad as a certain thing, ‘it’s probably better for this individual not to use it.’
In Illinois, the word Jihad is banned from being used on license plates, according to the station.
Among other license plates banned over the years in both states include ‘KKK’, ‘HATERZ’ and ‘K1LLER.’
via http://ift.tt/200K6mq Tyler Durden