Muslim Students Banned From Wearing Veils, Niqabs, For 'Safety' At Birmingham Metropolitan College

Students have been banned from wearing religious veils to college after a principal ruled pupils' faces must be visible for security reasons.

Birmingham Metropolitan College in Sutton Coldfield, has told its Muslim students they are not allowed to wear niqabs, a veil which covers everything bar the eyes, so they are "easily identifiable at all times". Muslim girls at the school, which has around 9,000 teenage students, have branded the decision "disgusting", according to the Birmingham Mail. [The Huffington Post UK] Read more

Egypt bans mosque preachers in crackdown on Islamists

Egyptian authorities will bar 55,000 unlicensed clerics from preaching in mosques in the latest move against sympathisers of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, the minister of religious endowments said on Tuesday.

Egyptian authorities have been cracking down on Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood since the army toppled him on July 3 following mass protests against his rule. [Reuters] Read more

New survey suggests growing support for Quebec secular charter

An online poll released today suggests support is growing for the charter.

The survey conducted by SOM, one of the largest survey firms in Quebec, pegs support for a secular charter that would ban religious symbols for public employees at 66 per cent.

A poll conducted two weeks ago by Léger Marketing for le Journal de Montréal found support to be 58 per cent. [CBC] Read more

Abercrombie and Fitch ‘wrongly fired’ Muslim over headscarf

Hani KhanUS clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch wrongly fired a Muslim worker for wearing a headscarf, a judge has ruled. Federal Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled the firm violated anti-discrimination laws when it sacked Hani Khan from a Hollister brand store.

Ms Khan was initially allowed to wear a scarf in the Hollister brand’s colours at the San Mateo, California store, but was later fired. The retailer had argued deviation from its “look policy” would affect sales. [Islamophobia Watch] Read more

Headscarf photo 'ruins job interview chances'

In a study due to be released in full at the end of the year, economists at the University of Linz in Austria examined whether wearing a headscarf affected women when applying for jobs at German companies.

Initial results show that German firms appeared less inclined to invite an applicant for an interview if they were wearing a headscarf in their photo. This also applied, to a lesser extent, for applicants with a non-German surname.

One woman who took part in the study was 23-year-old Sevda Yilmaz. A newly-qualified bookkeeper, she applied to 1,500 jobs with the same CV, using both her name and a German name - Tina Meyer.

She alternated attaching a photo with or without a headscarf on applications she sent under her real name. [The Local Europe] Read more

Afghan Member of Parliament: "Execute Afghan Christian converts"

Quds Online news website, affiliated with Astan Quds Razavi Foundation, reported that an Afghan news service, Ava, is saying the number of Christians is increasing in Afghanistan.

According to Mohabat News Service, Ava quoted Nazir Ahmad Hanafi, Afghan Parliament Member, as saying, "Afghani citizens continue to convert to Christianity in India. Numerous Afghans have become Christians in India. This is an offense to Islamic Laws and according to the Quran they need to be executed." [Christian Today] Read more

Do not wear headscarves; do not wear crucifixes; do not question the syllabus: France’s school rules

All pupils in French state schools will be reminded this week that they are not allowed to wear items of religious clothing such as headscarves or crucifixes, nor object to the school curriculum on religious grounds, in a 15-point written statement to be displayed on school walls.

Some critics have denounced the charte de laicité or “secularism charter” as a thinly veiled attack on Islam. Others complain that it is an inadequate response to the growing influence of intolerant strains of Islam in the multiracial suburbs of French cities. [The Independent] Read more

Polls put Wilders' PVV out on top, Labour slumps to record low

Support for the anti-immigration PVV continues to grow in the latest Maurice de Hond opinion poll, which puts Geert Wilders’ party on 32 seats – or around 21% of the vote.

This is up one seat on a week ago and more than double the party’s general election total. De Hond puts the Socialist party in second place, with 24 seats or 16% of the vote.

[A COMMENT] You can't fool all of the people all of the time. More and more Nederlanders are waking up to the fact that the politicians of the Old Gang have been giving away their birth-right for decades.

How anyone (except immigrants) can vote for any party other than the PVV is beyond me. Do they really want the Dutch to be out-numbered in their ancestral homeland by 3rd World colonists? Do they really want to be ruled by Shariah? Are they quite insane or just brainwashed? [DutchNews.nl] Read more

She did WHAT? Hiba Jamal takes off Islamic head veil on TV

She was named as one of Arabian Business's most powerful Arab women in 2012, and now journalist and TV host Hiba Jamal has done something which some feminists will for sure think is powerful and empowering.

Hiba appeared on the first episode of her new show, “Sayidaty,”minus her hijab (Islamic head veil). Fans and the media were in total shock, and Hiba was accused of removing her hijab to get the job with “Rotana Khalijia” TV. [Al Bawaba] Read more

I'm Muslim but I don't want to wear a hijab': Sudanese woman's defiance as she says she is ready to be flogged to leave her hair uncovered

A Sudanese woman says she is prepared to be flogged to defend the right to leave her hair uncovered in defiance of a 'Taliban'-like law.

Amira Osman Hamed faces a possible whipping if convicted at a trial which could come on September 19.

Under Sudanese law her hair - and that of all women - is supposed to be covered with a 'hijab' but Hamed, 35, refuses.

Her case has drawn support from civil rights activists and is the latest to highlight Sudan's series of laws governing morality which took effect after the 1989 Islamist-backed coup by President Omar al-Bashir. [Daily Mail] Read more

Four Bangladesh bloggers charged with defaming Islam

Four Bangladeshi bloggers are facing up to seven years in jail after they were charged in court Sunday with defaming Islam and the Prophet Mohammed, a prosecutor told AFP.

The four men, who deny the charges, were arrested earlier this year in the wake of nationwide protests in which Islamic groups demanded the execution of atheist online commentators.

Judge Zahirul Haque, sitting in a court in the capital Dhaka, said the bloggers were being charged under the country’s Internet laws, senior public prosecutor Shah Alam Talukdar told AFP.

“They have been indicted... with defaming Islam, the Prophet Mohammed and other religions through their Internet writings. They spread malice against all religions,” he said. [AL ARABIYA NEWS] Read more

What Are We Muslims Doing to Ourselves?

.... It was incomprehensible that they were hosting a meeting in Canada. Media inquiries received wishy-washy answers, as in, "We can't really do anything unless there is proof of violence." Further, as the HT meeting was scheduled to take place on a weekend, it was apparently of no particular interest to the media.

Were they really planning to establish a Caliphate even in the West? As a woman alone would arouse suspicion, my husband accompanied me. I pulled out the burqa I had imported from Afghanistan earlier in the year for a play. It would perhaps be the first and last time I adjusted a burqa around my body and even part of my face, with just my eyes showing – and dark glasses, and my husband in traditional Pakistani garb.

The heavily guarded community center in which the meeting was held was gender-segregated -- men and women separate. Most of the attendees were young converts, who had brought their children. When my husband sat with crossed legs, he was told that is not the Islamic way, so he immediately uncrossed them, in order not to attract attention. [Gatestone Institute] Read more

Escape from Taliban author shot dead after returning to Afghanistan

An Indian author famous for her dramatic account of escaping Taliban-ruled Afghanistan nearly two decades ago, and who later returned to the country, has been shot dead by the hardline group after being dragged from her home.

It was the latest in a string of attacks and intimidation campaigns against prominent women. One senator lost a daughter in a recent ambush, and a popular MP remains missing weeks after she was kidnapped on a main highway. [guardian.co.uk] Read more

Tory MP's ban the burqa bill reaches parliament

.... The bill states that "a person wearing a garment or other object intended by the wearer as its primary purpose to obscure the face in a public place shall be guilty of an offence."

It adds that "where members of the public are licensed to access private premises for the purposes of the giving or receiving of goods or services, it shall not be an offence for the owner...to request that a person wearing a garment or other object intended to obscure the face remove such garment or object; or to require that a person refusing a request...leave the premises." [The New Statesman] Read more

Acocks Green headteacher apologises after school feeds Muslim children bacon

A Birmingham school principal has apologised after Muslim pupils were unwittingly fed BACON by mistake in supposed halal chicken baguettes and sandwiches.

The error happened at Ninestiles School in Acocks Green, where the proportion of students from ethnic backgrounds is understood to be more than 50 per cent.

Chris Quinn, executive principal of the secondary school, this week posted an apology on its website about the blunder, which she put down to ‘human error’.

[A COMMENT] How pathetic that someone over reacts to such a small mistake.

How many catholic children have been fed meat on a Friday at school over the years and it's never made the Mail headlines.

I bet many of those children have ate something containing pork unknowingly before when eating processed foods such as pork gelatine in sweets etc that they have been given by other friends. [Birmingham Mail] Read more

Don’t surrender Islam to the Islamists

“The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers.”

This was the Islamist poem quoted by the mayor of Istanbul, Turkey, in December 1997. Charged with using inflammatory speech, he was ejected from office and sentenced to jail by the Ankara High Court.

Today, that mayor, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is prime minister of Turkey. During a decade in office, he has slowly but inexorably pushed secular Turkey, a member of NATO, toward an unabashedly Islamist future.

As a Muslim, I refuse to give up Islam to the Islamists. So should others who believe in a deeply pluralistic Islam of the sort my Indian-born grandparents taught.

[A COMMENT] Moderate Muslims may be pushing for something their basic religion is intolerant towards. That is: the concept of respectful religious diversity. Throughout Muslim history those not Muslim in Muslim countries have had to endure a second-class existence called “Dhimmitude” which seems to many to be engrained in Islam from the Koran and Islamic Traditions. [USA Today] Read more

Walmart assistant manager fired for mocking Muslim women in traditional dress on Facebook

The assistant manager of a Walmart store in New York has been fired for posting derogatory comments online about Muslim women.

Terry Earsing, 54, posted a photo on Facebook of two Muslim women wearing traditional dress who were shopping in an aisle of the Walmart in Hamburg, where he worked.

As a caption to the photo, he wrote, 'Halloween came early this year.... do they really have to f***in dress like that...your [sic] in my country ... get that f***in s*** off!!!!!'

The posting was brought to the attention of Wal-Mart executives by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and a member of the local Muslim community.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman told The Buffalo News Wednesday that Earsing was promptly fired after Wal-Mart learned of the incident. [Daily Mail] Read more

Syria's al-Qaeda freedom fighters invade Christian village

.... Under the protection of the mystical Shi'a-Alawites, Syria's ethnic and religious minorities have been relatively free to live and worship. This will not be the case under the Sunni-Wahhabis.

We know that Assad has stockpiles of chemical weapons. He may have used them, but it is by no means certain that he has. What is certain is that the 'rebels' which the US and France are about to assist are itching to get their righteous hands upon them. Syria's nuns do not want to be bombed: a group have written:

.... If the US and France assist Syria's 'rebels', Maloula's nuns and all those who shelter in its convent will eventually be gassed to death in Al-Qaeda's final solution. Their equation for salvation is simple: Christians + Sarin = Allahu Akbar.

[Archbishop Cranmer] Read more

Ambiguous religion policy backfires on Tunisia’s ruling Islamists

.... Tension seems to be increasing in the ranks as Ghannouchi, sensing probable defeat at the polls due next year, tries to steer the party to a compromise with the secular opposition and the best starting position for its next electoral campaign.

“What you could see happening, if they perform very badly in the elections, is a split in the party, into either a more radical and a more moderate political wing, or into a political and a religious wing,” said Howard.

“The liberal wing of Ennahda could be accepted by Tunisian society,” Allani said. “There is a chance it could even be a partner in the next government coalition.” [Reuters Blogs - FaithWorld] Read more

Un-Islamic' Miss World Contest Protested By Religious Hard-Liners In Indonesia

Shouting "Allah akbar" and "Go to hell Miss World", more than 200 Islamic hard-liners staged a rally in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Tuesday to protest the forthcoming Miss World pageant due to be staged on the party island of Bali this weekend.

The demonstration, organised by the Islamic Society Forum, protested outside the MNC Tower where the organisers of the pageant are based. Banners read "Reject Miss World that exploits women" and "Miss World is whore contest". [The Huffington Post UK] Read more

Indonesia’s rising intolerance

.... the situation in Indonesia has become increasingly menacing for religious minorities. On August 4, a bomb planted by unknown perpetrators exploded inside a Buddhist temple in downtown Jakarta while congregants worshipped, injuring three men. Police are investigating.

The violence comes just weeks after Indonesian Islamist militants vowed vengeance against Buddhists for attacks in Burma by members of the Buddhist majority against the local Rohingya Muslim population.

A day later, unknown perpetrators tossed Molotov cocktails into the yard of a Catholic high school in Jakarta. Staff scrambled to extinguish the flames and kept the devices from igniting by dousing them with water from a bathroom. [Human Rights Watch] Read more

Islamic TV channels fined for hatemongering

.... Noor TV says its mission is to "present a balanced, moderate and true face of Islam to both Muslims and non-Muslim communities across the globe".

On a programme called Message from Mustafa, the presenter Allama Muhammad Farooq Nizami was asked by a caller what punishment was due to anyone insulting Islam. Nizami replied:

"One has to choose one's own method. Our way is the peaceful way but when someone crosses the limits, faith-based emotions are instigated. The mission of our life is to protect the sanctity of our beloved Lord. May Allah accept us wherever there is a need to kill a blasphemer. We are ready, and should be ready at all times, to kill a blasphemer."

Several viewers immediately contacted Ofcom to complain, fearing that young people might be radicalised by the broadcast. [National Secular Society] Read more

Abbott fires up burqa debate

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has used the dying days of the campaign to reignite a national debate on the burqa, while defending the controversial Liberal candidate in the Treasurer's seat of McMahon.

In making comments about the practice of Muslim women covering their head and face, Mr Abbott said the burqa was ''a very confronting attire''.

''Frankly, it's not the sort of attire that I would like to see widespread in our streets,'' he told reporters in Rockhampton on Saturday. [The Sydney Morning Herald] Read more

Britain 'giving in to sharia councils' says Norway's anti-immigration leader

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Siv Jensen, the 44-year-old leader of the Progress party who cites Baroness Thatcher as her inspiration, said: "What I have seen that the UK has done is to give in to the claims of sharia councils, and I don't think we should give into that. In Norway we have one law, and that is the Norwegian law."

Miss Jensen, who is unmarried, said Britain was suffering the results of earlier mistakes in its immigration policy.

"I see some problems arising – You've had problems with riots, you've had problems with radical groups who aren't very fond of democratic systems and freedom of speech, and I think those are criteria that you really have to stick to in the modern world." [telegraph.co.uk] Read more

Stephen Fry hits back at accusations of Islamophobia

Stephen Fry has spoken of his frustration at being labelled an "Islamophobe" for criticising the violent acts committed by some Islamists.

In a strongly worded blog post, the actor and comedian lamented that the "squeezed liberal finds himself in the position that he cannot criticise Islamofascism because it's somehow 'racist'".

He continued: "It is a topsy-turvy smothering of debate and an Orwellian denial of free speech to declare that speaking out against violence will cause violence." [independent.co.uk] Read more