Prejudice still has a hold on German attitudes to Turkish culture

Germany is home to the biggest Turkish diaspora in the world, but when it comes to accepting and appreciating Turkish culture, many Germans still have reservations.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently suggested Germany should encourage more Turkish-language schools in Germany. His comments reignited the debate on Turkish integration in Germany, which many believe has not been entirely successful.

But integration is a two-way street and requires the indigenous population to do its share too, according to a comprehensive, pan-European study on attitudes to migrants and prejudice spearheaded by a team of university researchers based in the western German city of Bielefeld. [Deutsche Welle] Read more [via Islam in Europe]

The Prevent strategy: a textbook example of how to alienate just about everybody

.... It is a good job that the MPs heard Singh and a few others because otherwise their committee was notable for the fact that it listened to some people who can be alarmingly unhelpful. In fact, it constituted exactly the sort of people who have helped lead Britain into such a fragmenting mess.

They included a Khomeinist group, the Islamic Human Rights Commission. They included professional race-relations industry “experts”, who have done so much to deform this country in recent years. And they included groups who gave glowing endorsements to Prevent precisely because they receive huge funding from the pot [telegraph.co.uk] Read more

Anti-extremist scheme 'spies on Muslims' A key government policy on countering extremism in Britain has "stigmatised and alienated" Muslims and undermined community relations, a Commons report says today.

Many Muslims told the cross-party committee of MPs that they believed the purpose of the Prevent programme was to "spy" on Asian communities, and that the Government was using funding to engineer a moderate form of acceptable Islam.

The Communities and Local Government Committee said ministers should investigate claims the strategy had been hijacked by police and MI5 to gather intelligence on alleged radicals. [independent.co.uk] Read more

Islamic groups block shaving contest

The banned Jamaat-ut Dawah (JuD) organisation, along with other religious parties in Karachi, have prevented the holding of a promotion event organised by a leading multinational company for its shaving razors by ransacking the venue.

The competition, organised by Gillette Pakistan, was supposed to create a local record of number of people shaving at the same time. [Hindustan Times] Read more [via Jihad Watch]

Islam scholars recast jihadists' favorite fatwa

Prominent Muslim scholars have recast a famous medieval fatwa on jihad, arguing the religious edict radical Islamists often cite to justify killing cannot be used in a globalised world that respects faith and civil rights.

A conference in Mardin in southeastern Turkey declared the fatwa by 14th century scholar Ibn Taymiyya rules out militant violence and the medieval Muslim division of the world into a "house of Islam" and "house of unbelief" no longer applies. [AlArabiya.net] Read more [via The Spittoon]

Norway: Preacher defends husband's right to beat wife

Islam Net claims they correct misunderstandings about Islam. Which is why, I suppose, they invite the most radical preachers to their conferences. The preachers in this conference included: Bilal Philips, as the (secret) featured speaker, Abdurraheem Green, Ali Mohammed Salah, Yusuf Chambers and Hussain Yee. [Islam in Europe] Read more

City bans headscarves, draft law to ban burka

Belgium is set to become the first European country to impose a full ban on wearing a burkha. A parliamentary committee in Belgium has unanimously voted to ban the wearing of full face-covering veils in public, paving the way for the first clampdown of its kind in Europe. [Islam in Europe] Read more

Antwerp: Lecture shouted down by radical Muslims

Dutch author and notorious critic of Islam, Benno Barnard, gave a lecture last night titled: "The Islam Debate: Long Live God, Down with Allah!". It was part of a series of lectures about the Enlightenment, organized by the secularists in Antwerp University. Several radical Muslim organizations called beforehand via websites to come to the hall and disturb the lecture. [Islam in Europe] Read more

French PM advised against total Islamic veil ban

The wearing of full veils has been the subject of a fierce debate in France. France's top administrative body has advised the government that any total ban on face-covering Islamic veils could be unconstitutional.

The State Council also said a ban could be justified in some public places. Prime Minster Francois Fillon had asked the council for a legal opinion before drawing up a law on the subject. [BBC] Read more

Muslim leaders 'failing to tackle extremists'

Muslim leaders have been criticised by a University of Oxford academic for not doing enough to tackle extremists. At the same time a parliamentary committee has attacked a central plank of the Government’s counter-extremism programme by arguing that its “Prevent” strategy has “stigmatised and alienated” Muslims.

Nick Chatrath, a researcher at Oxford’s Faculty of Oriental Studies, claims in a paper to be published this week that in the face of growing radicalisation in Britain, Muslim leaders are ignoring extremists’ points of view and glossing over some of the more unsavoury parts of Islam’s ancient texts. [Times Online] Read more

Where the Far-Left Joins the Far-Right

.... Nominally left-wing politicians' appeasement of religious reactionaries is so routine that it takes a convulsive event to reveal the extent of liberal perfidy.

.... I had a small warning that UCL was not the centre of enlightenment thinking it seemed when I went there to interview the urbane geneticist Steve Jones a couple of years ago. At the end of a discussion of the dangers of holding an unquestioning faith in the power of genetics to deliver miracle cures, he started to worry about creationism.

I thought he would criticise the American religious Right, as all liberals were doing at the time. Instead, his urbanity cracked slightly and he began to talk about Islamist anti-Darwinism. [Standpoint] Read more

Christian nurse 'ordered to remove crucifix... at hospital where Muslims were allowed to wear headscarves'

A Christian nurse was ‘forced to choose between her job and her faith’ after being ordered to remove her crucifix at a hospital where Muslim staff wore headscarves unchallenged, a tribunal heard yesterday.

Shirley Chaplin, 54, said she had been wearing the religious symbol around her neck without complaint for 31 years before she was ordered to hide it away. But the grandmother claims that after refusing to comply and then pointing out that two women doctors were allowed to wear headscarves, she was moved to a desk job. [MailOnline] Read more

The Penalty for Apostasy

Take a look at Dr Mohammad Mukadam, chairman of the AMS-UK (Association of Muslim Schools UK). He believes in practising the shari’ah in toto. But is reticent when it comes to stating the shari’ah penalty for apostasy in a public televised debate. When pushed, he relents and speaks his mind:

“If it’s an Islamic country, then the Shari’a is very clear. Apostasy is dealt with the death penalty. But what’s the relevance between what happens in an Islamic country and Great Britain. I fail to see the connection.”

Personally, I agree that there should not even be a notional relevance between the shari’ah in an Islamic country and public law affecting muslims in Britain. [The Spittoon] Read more

The conflict of interest at ENGAGE - Islam Channel Part 3

IEngage have written a letter to Charles Farr, Director General of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, complaining about the Quilliam Foundation.

Earlier this week Quilliam released a report about the Islam Channel revealing that it sometimes gives a platform to preachers who espouse extreme and reactionary views. [Standpoint] Read more

The Dubious Claims of Mohammed Ali Harrath Mohammed Ali Harrath, the CEO of the Islam Channel, was on Hardtalk last night defending his network from the allegations made against it by Quilliam in their latest report, ‘Reprogramming British Muslims: A Study of the Islam Channel’. It really is a remarkable interview, in which Harrath dodges questions regarding his Interpol Red notice and his work with the Muslim Contact Unit. [Harry’s Place] Read more

Mohamed Ali Harrath vindicated in 'Interpol Red Notice Charge' trial in South Africa Islam Channel CEO – Mohamed Ali Harrath appeared this morning in Kempton Park Magistrates Court in Pretoria, in what was regarded as a formality following his arrest at the end of January this year, in connection with an Interpol Red Notice posted by the Tunisian authorities. [Islamophobia Watch] Read more

Hardline Muslim clerics' books still publicly available

Works by the jailed preacher Abdullah al-Faisal and the controversial Islamic leader Bilal Philips are available to borrow from the controversial Tower Hamlets council in East London.

The council leader Lutfur Rahman, has been accused of gaining power through his links with an organisation called the Islamic Forum of Europe, based at East London mosque, that secretly campaigns for an Islamic social and political order. [telegraph.co.uk] Read more

ENGAGE critique of QF report: 'Re-programming British Muslims' - Islam Channel Part 2

.... What follows is ENGAGE’s critique (not exhaustive) of the report, its many howlers, and some recommendations of our own for the Foreign Office and Home Office, the sources responsible for the QF’s financial viability. The financial and other support of these offices for the QF renders neither impervious to criticisms of complicity in this latest smear campaign. [ENGAGE] Read more

Newsnight Spoiler: Islam Channel Islamic Propagandists Shock Horror!! With support for the ludicrous occupation of Afghanistan flagging, government efforts to ramp up Islamophobia become ncreasingly febrile.

Now we have the deeply unlovely taxpayer funded Quilliam Foundation being paid by Newsnight to produce a piece exposing the Islam Channel as a biased and unbalanced source of Islamic propaganda. It will be hitting our screens sometime in the next week. [Craig Murray] Read more

Stockholm: Saudi prince to finance mosque

The 'million program' district of Tensta, is about to have Stockholm's largest mosques. A giant building (11,000 sqm) of Andalusian style is planned at the outskirts of the suburb, clearly visible from the E18. [Islam in Europe] Read more

Saudis fund Balkan Muslims spreading hate of the West

SAUDI ARABIA is pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into Islamist groups in the Balkans, some of which spread hatred of the West and recruit fighters for jihad in Afghanistan.

According to officials in Macedonia, Islamic fundamentalism threatens to destabilise the Balkans. Strict Wahhabi and Salafi factions funded by Saudi organisations are clashing with traditionally moderate local Muslim communities.

Fundamentalists have financed the construction of scores of mosques and community centres as well as handing some followers up to £225 a month. They are expected not only to grow beards but also to persuade their wives to wear the niqab, or face veil, a custom virtually unknown in the liberal Islamic tradition of the Balkans. [Times Online] Read more

MUSLIM MP quit after complaining his signature was forged on legal documents

A MUSLIM MP brought in to deradicalise the mosque used by Abu Hamza to recruit Al-Qaeda terrorists is to quit as a trustee after complaining his signature was forged on legal documents.

Khalid Mahmood has called for a Charity Commission investigation after the alleged forgery on papers prepared by the North London Central Mosque. The signature of a second trustee, Mohammad Sarwar, the Labour MP for Glasgow Central, was also allegedly forged.

Mahmood’s resignation will renew controversy at the former Finsbury Park Mosque, which was linked to Al-Qaeda terrorists including the shoebomber Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker in the 9/11 attacks. [Times Online] Read more

Lambert’s Temple In Ruins The North London Central Mosque, otherwise known as the Finsbury Park Mosque, was the former home of Al Qaeda aligned cleric, Abu Hamza. It had been linked to shoebomber Richard Reid and Zacarias Moussaoui. When Abu Hamza was expelled, the mosque was gifted, with the assistance of David Blunkett, the Charity Commission and Bob Lambert’s Muslim Contact Unit, to a motley crew of trustees. [Harry’s Place] Read more

Female Muslim doctors allowed to wear disposable sleeves for modesty: official guidance

All staff involved in caring for patients should be 'bare below the elbows' to ensure sleeves do not become contaminated and hands can be washed thoroughly to prevent infections passed around the ward.

However female Muslim staff had been concerned about the rule as exposure of their forearms is seen as immodest. Staff in several hospitals had reportedly refused to expose their arms for hand washing and 'scrubbing in' procedures before surgery. [telegraph.co.uk] Read more

Most Canadians want niqab restricted

Most Quebecers and Canadians agree that women wearing the niqab or burqa should not receive government services, hospital care or university instruction, a new Angus Reid poll shows.

Ninety-five per cent of Quebecers support a proposed provincial law barring the face veil from government offices, schools and other publicly funded institutions, says the poll, provided exclusively to The Gazette yesterday.

In the rest of Canada, three out of four people give the thumbs up to Bill 94, tabled Wednesday by the Charest government. The bill would require all public sector employees to have their faces uncovered, as well as any citizen using government services, for example, someone applying for a medicare card or paying her car registration. [The Gazette] Read more

Rally in Warsaw to protest mosque

Warsaw - Dozens of people rallied on Saturday in Warsaw to protest plans by the country's Muslim community to build a second mosque in the city.

Poland's Muslim population, though growing, is still tiny and such protests are unusual. The event offered evidence that anxieties gripping the rest of Europe are now also taking root in this former communist country, as well.

.... The anti-mosque protesters said they feared that radical Muslims would use the mosque to gain a foothold in Polish society. They were particularly disturbed by rumours that Saudi money is funding it - a claim that could not be immediately confirmed. [News24] Read more

Radical Islamic elder preaching jihad in Perth's suburbs

A RADICAL Islamic elder who praises the Taliban and preaches violent jihad to a band of keen followers is being investigated in Perth by WA and Federal police.

Sources confirmed the joint-agency investigation after The Sunday Times revealed to police that the newspaper had infiltrated a group in which the sheik described armed jihad as the "top" ideal for Muslims and likened the Taliban to "angels". [The Sunday Times] Read more [via The Iconoclast]

Following in Switzerland's Footsteps

.... The hosts are a relatively new group of German right-wing conservatives called Pro-NRW (an abbreviation of the German state North Rhine-Westphalia) and the goal of the conference is clear: to follow in Switzerland's footsteps and ban minarets across Europe. And they want to use a provision of the European Union's new Lisbon Treaty to do it.

"I don't think that minarets are part of our heritage," conference attendee Filip Dewinter, floor leader for Vlaams Belang in the Flemish parliament, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "They are symbols of radical Islam. The question is whether Islam is a religion like Protestantism and Catholicism and for me it is not. It is a political system, it is a way of life and it is one that is not compatible with ours." [Spiegal Online] Read more

Conservatives will shun the Muslim Council of Britain

The MCB has been around since 1997 and purports to represent about 800 Muslim organisations in the UK, making it the self-declared ‘most representative Muslim body in the UK’.

That David Cameron has now promised to sideline them in favour of other representative bodies is one of the most significant social policy announcements to emerge during this interminable pre-General Election period. [Archbishop Cranmer] Read more

Man banned from municipality buildings for insulting headscarf wearing employee

The Hoogezand-Sappemeer municipality in the Netherlands banned a man who treated an employee with a headscarf aggressively. A municipality spokesperson confirmed the news report which appeared in the Dagblad van het Noorden.

A week ago the man refused to be helped by a headscarf wearing employee and made that clear very loudly. He spoke to the woman with 'discrimination and contempt'. [Islam in Europe] Read more