Why is this an important question?
For the last week or so, due to a quirky coincidence of keywords, about 15% of the traffic on this blog has been due to web searches (primarily Google) on “Bill Gates convert Islam” and similar combinations. In the last two days the frequency has been increasing.
What is going on here? A search on Snopes turns up nothing for “Bill Gates Islam”. My Google searches have been as fruitless as (I presume) those of all the new visitors to “Gates of Vienna”. All I can locate are stories about Mr. Gates’ Foundation granting money for relief efforts in Afghanistan.
Is this an urban legend? A “forward this email to everyone you know” hoax? A rumor spreading by word of mouth?
We’re dying to know. Anyone with any information is welcome to email us.
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Update: Commenter bigdaddybean says:
“It’s a total hoax and yes I found this blog from doing a google search.
“It was posted on an Islamic Arab site knowing it was a lie. They won’t get many good deeds from Allah like this.”
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Final Update (4/22/05): If you found this page directly via a search, please be aware that I know this thing is a hoax, with all the details. My later posts on the topic are here and here.
How do we know you aren’t just making this up? Are you trying to start an urban legend of your own? Ifso, whyso? It’s not a responsible thing to do! 🙁 >:
It’s a total hoax and yes I found this blog from doing a google search.
It was posted on an Islamic Arab site knowing it was a lie. They won’t get many good deeds from Allah like this.
bigdaddybean — Thank you very much — that’s exactly what I wanted to know. If you send me the URL for the Arab site, I will look at it & post an update.
Sorry to dissapoint all “believers”. But this is just First of Apirl Joke.
It was intended to be a joke for users in secularkuwait.org
http://www.secularkuwait.org/vb/showthread.php?t=2369
One of the members fabricated the the news item as a first of April joke, and of course, the members soon discovered it was just a joke.
Normally, it would just end at that, but some how, some Muslim apparently copied the faked image somewhere and the hoax started.
And Muslims WANT to believe it, so the hoax spread. They even write about it in newspapers nowadays.
Since people don’t check their references, there is no such newspaper or magazine known as “Anwar Tunis”, it was just made up. The whole thing was intended as a joke, but muslims so helpless psychologically in this time are clinging to anything to might encourage their spirits. I, for one, feel pity for them.
Over and Out.
Yes, I saw the comment in the Museum of Hoaxes. You must be “Hoax”.
I posted a final update here.