.... the recently-elected cabinet minister from the centre-left Social Democratic Party said the approval or extension of residency permits should be closely linked to the efforts immigrants make to integrate themselves.
“Compulsory schooling must be respected. Children should attend all courses and exceptions made on religious or other grounds, for example in swimming classes, should no longer be possible,” Sommaruga told the SonntagsZeitung. [swissinfo] Read more [via Islam in Europe]
ISLAMIC fanatics are mutilating themselves at a British mosque in a bloody ceremony carried out only yards from a busy high street. Shia Muslims use a five-bladed chain called a Zanjeer to whip their own backs and make cuts in their foreheads with razor blades in homage to their faith.
Bare-chested men were left bleeding heavily during the ritual known as Matam – self-flagellation – which a witness described as being “like a scene from a horror film”.
The Sunday Express found that up to 800 men performed the bloody ceremony in secret at the Imamia Mosque in Forest Gate, east London, last year. [Sunday Express] Read more [via Islamophobia Watch]
.... I met Thilo Sarrazin at his old school in Recklinghausen. He was there to promote his book, Germany Abolishes Itself. He is both reviled and admired for its controversial thesis.
Outside the school were a handful of protesters. One banner accused Mr Sarrazin of acting like the Nazis. There were many more, however, who had bought tickets to hear him. His book has sold close to a million copies.
His essential message is that Muslims are either "unwilling or unable to integrate" into Western society. "If the majority of migrants from non-Muslim countries don't have any obvious problem integrating," he told a packed hall, "then the failure to integrate on the part of migrants from Muslim countries can't be due to a fault on our side - because all are treated equally. It has to be because of a characteristic of Muslims themselves. [BBC] Read more
It's easier to say what the "mosque at Ground Zero" is not, than what it is. It's not a mosque, and it's not at Ground Zero – only nearby. It's not a "clubhouse for terrorists", as some objectors have called it, nor a work of "triumphalist stealth jihad". It does not "loom" over the "hallowed ground" of the 9/11 attacks, which cannot be seen from its site.
As to what it is, the explanation is not at first very enlightening. Park51, to use the project's proper name, is "a friendly and accessible platform" that "enriches lower Manhattan in body and spirit, with ecologically conscious design and operation".
However, its architect, Michel Abboud, makes things clearer: it is a Muslim version of the YMCA, or the many Jewish community centres in New York. That is, it will have a swimming pool, basketball court, childcare and exhibition facilities, a library, auditorium, restaurant and catering school. As with the Christian and Jewish versions, you won't have to be a believer to use these facilities.
[COMMENT] .... Like all the clerics who share his views, he claims to be a "moderate", but we know that "moderate" doesn't actually mean "moderate" in the same sense that most civilised people mean it.
The opposition to this "cultural centre" (LOL) have every right to be asking questions. Oh, and the bit about it having a swimming pool. I presume women will be free to use that facility? [guardian.co.uk] Read more
Why the Park51 debate remains unresolved .... What most New Yorkers, and most Americans, are looking for, though, is an absolutely unambiguous acknowledgment by moderate Muslim leaders, specifically Imam Rauf, stating that Muslims did, indeed, perpetrate the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in the name of Islam, even if it is a version of Islam they themselves abhor.
One may think this has already been said, but in Rauf's case, the statements on the subject are not unambiguous. This may seem like nothing more than a matter of parsing words, but words matter here; and actions even more so.
No matter where it is located, near Ground Zero or elsewhere, Park51 will never be able to realise its ambition as a place of conciliation until Imam Rauf clears up any doubt about his position regarding Islamist terrorism, affirms the Muslim identity of the 9/11 perpetrators, and takes the proper steps to address the legitimate concerns of New Yorkers. [Guardian Cif] Read more
The Austrian Institute for Youth Culture Research recently polled 400 youth (16-19 years old) in Vienna on politics, antisemitism, sexuality and ring-wing radicalism. In addition they polled 80 Turkish and Arab youth.
.... Youth researcher Bernhard Heinzlmaier says that the problem of sexist, antisemitic and radical right-wing attitudes is still widespread among Vienna youth, and there's no reason to point fingers at the immigrants, rather it's necessary to see the problem, discuss it and deal with it.
He says the reason for such views among immigrants are obvious: the youth live in an authoritarian-patriarchal environment and have fewer problems with dictatorships. [Islam in Europe] Read more
Iran finances mosques and sends imams to Norway. Here they preach hatred against the West. The aim is to prepare Norwegian Muslim ideological to carry out terror attacks, if they'll be ordered to do so one day, a source told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
Saudi Arabia is not the only one who finances the building of mosques in Norway. In the battle to win the hearts of European Muslims with a very conservative extremist version of Islam, Iran also finances mosques and sends imams here. Norwegian Muslims are being prepared for action.
"The imams here come from Iran. They interpret the Koran for us and teach people the religious rules. They also give guidance in social situations," says Ali Reza Moaddeli. [Islam in Europe] Read more
The head of the world’s largest Islamic group came down heavily on growing Islamophobia saying that while US leaders resisted it, Europeans abetted the trend for political gain.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said xenophobia directed at Muslim immigrants was taking hold, especially in Europe. Vote-seeking politicians were advancing extremist groups behind the anti-Muslim sentiment.
“This issue has become a political agenda item,” the Turkish head of the 58-member OIC said in an interview, while stressing that Islam was also a European religion.
“What worries me is that political authorities or political parties, instead of stopping this, or fighting this, some of them are using this for their political ends, to gain more popular support in elections,” he said.
“I’m afraid that we are going through a process like the beginning of the 1930s of the last century, when an anti-Semitic agenda became politically a big issue (together with) the rise of fascism and Naziism... I think now we are in the first stages of such a thing.” [AFP] Read more
.... Earlier this year the UN human rights council passed a resolution on "combating defamation of religions" with particular reference to Islam. The resolution, pushed by the OIC members, denounced anti-Muslim discrimination in the West following 9/11. It also expressed deep concerns in respect to Islam "frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violation and terrorism."
The gap between the resolution lobbied for by the OIC and the silence of its members over atrocities committed against non-Muslim minorities inside the House of Islam (dar al-Islam) illustrate the perversity of Muslim political-religious leaders.
Similar is the perversity of Muslim organizations in Canada and the West remaining silent in the face of outrageous crimes and defamation of religions by jihadis, while condemning Islamophobia where it is more or less non-existent.
The simple truth is Muslims are among the worst perpetrators of crimes against non-Muslims, and penalties based on obsolete jurisprudence of Shariah implemented in Muslim states violate the UN Charter and the Declaration of Human Rights, to which they are signatories. [The LFP] Read more [via National Secular Society]
A group of Christians has complained that Kuwait City’s Municipal Council is preventing them from getting land to build a church. "The Municipal Council is the big problem preventing us from getting land; not all of the members, just the Islamic fundamentalists," said Archimandrite Boutros Gharib, head of the local Greek Catholic Church.
Recently the municipal council blocked an attempt by the Greek Catholic Church to acquire land in Mahboula, an area in the Ahmadi governorate south of Kuwait City. The request has been pending for several years.
A new church would reduce over-crowdedness in a villa currently used for worshiping, Fr Gharib said.
According to the Greek Catholic clergyman, both the government and the country’s leader, Emir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, have given their approval and blessing to the Church to have its property built. However, the Council has not followed suit. What is more, “The council did not give us any reason,” he added. [AsiaNews/Agencies] Read more
A Paris court handed a French retiree a one-month suspended sentence Thursday for attacking a Middle Eastern woman who was wearing a face-covering Muslim veil.
The court also ordered Jeanne Ruby, a retired English teacher, to pay €800 ($1,140) in damages to the victim, a citizen of the United Arab Emirates who was on holiday in Paris when the February incident took place.
Ruby had been charged with "aggravated violence" for scratching, biting and slapping the woman and snatching her veil off. The prosecutor in the case had asked Ruby be given a two-month suspended sentence. [The Associated Press] Read more
A court has upheld Theresa May’s decision to bar controversial Muslim public speaker from the country. The Home Secretary excluded Dr Zakir Naik from the UK on 16 June this year and today the court said it upheld that decision.
Theresa May welcomed the judgement: 'I am pleased the court has upheld my decision to exclude Dr Naik.
'An individual will be excluded if their presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good. We make no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe they might seek to undermine our society.'
She continued: 'Coming to the UK is a privilege not a right and we are not willing to allow those who might not be conducive to the public good to enter the UK.''Exclusion powers are very serious and no decision is taken lightly.' The Home Office will be seeking its legal costs from the other side. [Home Office] Read more
.... anecdotally, the burka on the streets of London has become more common. Knightsbridge is home to plenty of wealthy Arab women who wear the veil in public, while in pockets of east London, some Muslim women work and travel almost unnoticed in niqabs. But does that really mean the city is becoming more “radicalised”?
Shaista Gohir, executive director of the Muslim Women's Network UK, is unconvinced: “No. The niqab, in the first place, is a minor phenomenon. Yes, Muslims are displaying their identity more overtly since 9/11 and 7/7 but they've also come under heavier political scrutiny. The veil has almost become a spiritual and physical shield.”
Gohir is one of the few Muslim women I've met who defends the right of any woman to wear what she pleases but who also admits that “the niqab is a barrier to communication, community relations and integration”. [The Evening Standard] Read more
Germany’s top Muslim group called on Thursday for an immigrant quota in public services such as the police and the bureaucracy. A quota would be an appropriate way to level the playing field, he said.
Germany’s police forces had already opened themselves up to immigrants, which had benefited the services – and could be improved with quotas – he said. “Why should the experiences of the police not be applied elsewhere?” Mazyek asked.
His remarks followed a national “integration summit” held on Wednesday and attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel, immigrant community leaders – including Mazyek – and state and municipal officials. [The Local] Read more [via Islam in Europe]
An Oklahoma Muslim filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday to block a state constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved by voters that would prohibit state courts from considering international law or Islamic law when deciding cases.
The measure, which got 70 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election, was one of several on Oklahoma's ballot that critics said pandered to conservatives and would moved the state further to the right.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City, seeks a temporary retraining order and injunction to block the election results from being certified by the state Election Board on Nov. 9. Among other things, the lawsuit alleges the ballot measure transforms Oklahoma's Constitution into "an enduring condemnation" of Islam by singling it out for special restrictions by barring Islamic law, also known as Sharia law. [The Associated Press] Read more
The Labour MP, Stephen Timms, stabbed by a young Muslim student at his constituency surgery and interviewed by the Evening Standard today, has expressed his bewilderment at her actions. “My real worry about it all is that a very bright young woman with everything to live for ... should throw it all away by attempting to kill the local MP," he said.
Many people will share those concerns, not just about the offender, Roshanara Choudhry, who is now in prison, but about many young Islamic extremists who grow up in Britain but seem remote from our values.
The immediate cause of Miss Choudhry's radicalisation has now been addressed. She had been watching and reading the aggressive Islamic rhetoric of a Yemeni cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, and it persuaded her of the necessity to take direct action against politicians such as Mr Timms, who supported the Iraq war and, in her view, thereby participated in the persecution of Muslims. [Evening Standard] Read more
So, the Finsbury Park Mosque libel action against Policy Exchange has ended in ignominious defeat for the Muslim Brotherhood aligned institution. Already embattled, as a result of the accusations of misconduct levelled at it by former Trustee and Labour MP, Khalid Mahmood, the Mosque is on the ropes.
Policy Exchange is pleased to report that the libel action brought by the North London Central Mosque (NLCM) against it over its report The Hijacking of British Islam has now ended, following the dismissal of NLCM’s appeal against the order of Mr Justice Eady. NLCM has paid a substantial contribution towards Policy Exchange’s costs. [Harry’s Place] Read more
Outgoing PM Yves Leterme (CD&V) showed understanding for the statements of German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the failure of the multicultural society.
Leterme told Franocophone radio Bel RTL: "Merkel is right, in the sense that the integration policy hadn't had the beneficial effects we've expected." The German Chancellor recently made a scathing assessment of the multicultural society.
The last legislative session has been working on reforming the fast-track naturalization law. Leterme says that the reform would put much more emphasis on the need to integrate, learn the language, and adapt to the local customs. [Islam in Europe] Read more
Chancellor Angela Merkel defended Wednesday recent comments that multiculturalism had failed, saying that diversity had made Germany stronger but that immigrants must be better integrated.
"What I mean to say is that for years, for decades, the approach was that integration was not something that needed to be addressed, that people would live side-by-side and that it would sort itself out by itself," Merkel said.
"This turned out to be false. What in fact is needed is a political effort and an effort by society as a whole to make integration happen ... Diversity in society is something that has always made our country stronger." [AFP] Read more
The self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) said in an Internet statement its action was justified by the church's refusal to indicate the status of the women it said were being held captive in monasteries, the US-based monitoring group said.
"All Christian centres, organisations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the mujahedeen (holy warriors) wherever they can reach them," said the statement.
The group which claimed the capturing of Christians in a Baghdad church that ended Sunday with the killing of 46 worshippers in a rescue drama, had said that the attack was to seek the release of the alleged converts in Egypt. [AFP] Read more
THE think-tank Policy Exchange appears to have come off better in its fight with the Islamist-controlled North London Central Mosque, which sued for libel over the think-tank’s controversial pamphlet The Hijacking of British Islam. The pamphlet found extremist literature at the mosque, but some of its evidence was later questioned amid suggestions of forgery.
As I reported last year, Mr Justice Eady dismissed the mosque’s libel action. The mosque appealed. Today, Policy Exchange said the final appeal had been dismissed.
Policy Exchange emphasises that it has not apologised to the North London Central Mosque and that the mosque has been forced to pay them substantial costs, believed to be in the region of £100,000. It says: [telegraph.co.uk] Read more
It is well known that dogs, along with pigs, are considered unclean in Islam. Strictly speaking, the theology doesn't ban their ownership, or petting; the Sunna prescribes that dogs are "pollutants", contact with them rendering believers ritually unclean.
This means that ritual cleansing is required before one is able to perform prayers. Despite this, dogs have been kept by Muslims for centuries. For example, salukis, an ancient breed of hunting dog, have historically been valued by the Bedouin, who breed them for both their beauty and their prowess in hunting. [guardian.co.uk] Read more
A new German political party, Die Freiheit (The Freedom), had its inaugural meeting on October 28 in Berlin. I was in town, so its leadership invited me to be the only non-member of the nascent party to witness and report on its founding constituent assembly.
As a reminder of how freedoms have eroded in Europe in this age of Islamist terror, a political party that resists Islamization and supports Israel cannot come into existence in broad daylight.
So, like the other 50-plus attendees, I learned of the event’s time and location only shortly before it took place. For good measure, the organizers operated undercover; the hotel management only knew of a board election for an innocuously named company. Even now, for security reasons, I cannot mention the hotel’s name. [National Review Online] Read more
South Australian Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi says he wants to stop the expansion of sharia-compliant loans and financial products in Australia.
Sharia-style banking prohibits the payment and collection of interest and deems that all parties to a financial transaction must share in the risks and rewards involved.
The national taxation board will this week start holding consultation meetings about how Islamic transactions should be taxed.
Senator Bernardi says the financial products are incompatible with the Australian way of life and is seeking support from his Coalition colleagues for his idea. [ABC] Read more
Bill Maher showed up on CNN to talk about comments he made on Real Time regarding the ‘alarming’ number of ‘baby Mohammeds’ in England. Maher told Wolf Blitzer that he felt no need to “apologize for being a proud Westerner,” or for being worried that “Muslim people in these [Western] societies are having babies” at a faster clip than non-Muslims.
He clarified: And when I say Westerner, I mean someone who believes in the values that Western people believe in that a lot of the Muslim world does not.
Like separation of church and state. Like equality of the sexes. Like respect for minorities, free elections, free speech, freedom to gather. These things are not just different from cultures that don’t have them. … It’s better. … I would like to keep those values here. [Mediaite] Read more
....The ruling from the Council of Senior Scholars explained, "It is necessary to keep away from places where men congregate. Women should look for decent work that does not make it possible for them to attract men or be attracted by men." Way to give women options!
According to my calculations, that leaves three choices: 1.) Don't work, 2.) Work from home or 3.) Work at an all-female business. As for the final option, take into consideration that men are allowed to fill gigs at even the most lady-centric of stores -- like lingerie shops (although there is a female-led protest underway against male panty purveyors). [Salon] Read more [via National Secular Society ]