Islamists push own agenda in Iraq’s Sunni protests against Shi’ite power

.... The discontent is real, but the protests are driven by Sunni Islamist parties bent on carving out an autonomous region akin to the Kurdish one in the north, Kurdish and Sunni sources say.

They say the Sunni Islamists scent an opportunity to escape what they see as Shi'ite domination, counting on a victory by Sunni rebels trying to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite minority has its roots in Shi'ite Islam.

Assad's eventual demise would weaken the sway of Shi'ite Iran, Syria's main regional ally and an influential player in Iraqi politics. Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have backed the Syrian leader's adversaries. [Reuters] Read more

Media urged to drop use of term "Islamist"

.... Anyway, now even the word "Islamist," although it is usually used to exonerate Islam and distance its teachings from the violence and hate propagated in its name, is unacceptable for Hamas-linked CAIR.

Clearly Hamas-linked CAIR's amiable beekeper, Honest Ibe Hooper, sees how successful he and his fellow Islamic supremacists have been in co-opting the media, government, and law enforcement in recent years, and is pressing on toward final victory: the total silencing of any resistance to the global jihad and Islamic supremacism. [Jihad Watch] Read more

Misleading, deceptive #MyJihad ads hit San Francisco

.... Jihad in Arabic does indeed mean “struggle,” and the Arabic word carries as many connotations as the English one. One may struggle to lose weight or to exercise regularly, and the same word is used for great struggles, such as those against Nazism and Communism.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has a Department of Agricultural Jihad, which has nothing to do with blowing up farm implements, but merely concerns itself with the struggle to increase crop yields.

However, the principal meaning of jihad throughout Islamic history and in Islamic law is armed struggle against unbelievers to subjugate them as inferiors under the rule of Sharia. The four schools of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence are clear about jihad: [Jihad Watch] Read more

CAIR chief claims Muslims discovered America first

Muslims discovered the Americas long before Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, the head of a D.C.-based jihad-linked Islamic lobbying group told a Saudi TV station Dec. 27.

“There are historical accounts according to which the Muslims preceded Columbus, who is said to have discovered the U.S.,” claimed Nihad Awad, the co-founder of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

“Some documents and accounts indicate that Muslim seafarers were the first to reach the U.S., [so] the bottom line is that Islam played a part in the establishment and development of the U.S.,” Awad told the Saudi interviewer, in an interview in a New York studio. [THE DAILY CALLER] Read more

Indonesia city to ban women 'straddling motorbikes'

A city in the Indonesian province of Aceh which follows Sharia has ordered female passengers not to straddle motorbikes behind male drivers.

Suaidi Yahya, mayor of Lhokseumawe, says it aims to save people's "morals and behaviours".

Leaflets have been sent out to government offices and residents to inform them about the regulation.

Aceh is the only Indonesian province that follows Sharia. [BBC] Read more

OIC Urges France to Act Against Muhammad Cartoon Magazine

The French government should take “appropriate” action against a magazine that’s publishing new caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, according to the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said the publication, which is part of a series on the life of Islam’s last prophet by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, “should abide by the provisions –- particularly those in the European Union context –- on incitement to hatred and violence,” according to a statement dated yesterday. [Bloomberg New] Read more

Is This Blasphemy?

We’ll soon find out.

The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has done it again: it has published cartoon images of the prophet Mohammed.

This time there are no jokes, unless you count those silly faces on the people and the camels as jokes. Mohammed is treated soberly, and with great respect. No lewdness. No fart jokes. No genitalia.

And no slander! Just the facts, ma’am.

Whether the Mohammed comic book will earn a fatwa remains to be seen. For those who are interested, the comic may be purchased at the online shop for Charlie Hebdo. [Gates of Vienna] Read more

Brotherhood leader: Calls to drop Constitution punishable by law

Muslim Brotherhood Secretary General Mahmoud Hussein denounced opposition calls to shelve the new constitution, warning that such calls were illegal.

"Such talk is punishable by law because the Constitution has been approved in a fair process," Hussein said.

In an interview on Al-Arabiya news channel Wednesday, Hussein rejected questions on the legitimacy of President Mohamed Morsy’s rule, hinting that authorities should take legal actions against those who raise them. [Egypt Independent] Read more

Worry taints Egyptian Coptic Christmas

Egypt's Coptic Christians are facing an uncertain future, as they prepare to celebrate Christmas on 7 January. About 10% of Egyptians are Copts, making up the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

But many are concerned about the rise of President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and the more radical Salafis. And there are fears that the newly approved constitution fails to protect the rights of Christians. [BBC] Read more

What do we mean by Islamism?

.... I once heard a leader of the Muslim Council of Britain declare that he could not condemn or call for the outright abolition of lapidation – the stoning to death of women who sleep with a man not their husband – because to do so would be to go against the teaching of the Qur’an.

I could hardly believe my ears, hearing this in London from a fluent young man often treated on Newsnight and other BBC outlets as an authority on the Muslim condition in Britain.

[A COMMENT] Therein lies the problem radical Islam is basically mandated by the Qur'an and the Hadith. Like it not there is no getting away from that and that is why spiritualists such as the Sufi strain (many of which are also violent) are nonetheless condemned as being un-Islamic by the Islamic purists. Mel Phillips and Robert Spencer may be crude in some of their arguments, they have yet to be proven incorrect however. [openDemocracy] Read more

The Islamization of France in 2012

Opinion surveys show that to voters in France -- home to an estimated 6.5 million Muslims, the largest Muslim population in the European Union -- Islam and the question of Muslim immigration have emerged in 2012 as a top-ranked public concern.

The French, it seems, are increasingly worried about the establishment of a parallel Muslim society there.

But government efforts this year to push back against the Islamization of France were halting and half-hearted and could be described as "one step forward, two steps back."

A chronological review of some of the main stories involving the rise of Islam in France during 2012 includes: [Gatestone Institute] Read more

'Women must sit side-saddle' on motorbikes: Indonesia

A CITY in Indonesia's Islamic law stronghold of Aceh will ban women passengers from straddling motorbikes, describing the position as "improper".

The move comes after leaders from the country's only province ruled under strict sharia law drafted a series of new bills, including banning women from wearing tight trousers, and allowing the stoning of adulterers and the flogging of homosexuals.

Under the new law, women in Lhokseumawe city, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, will have to sit "side-saddle" with their legs dangling off to one side.

"Women sitting on motorbikes must not sit astride because it will provoke the male driver. It's also to protect women from an undesirable condition," Mayor Suaidi Yahya told AFP on Wednesday. [AAP] Read more

In the Middle East, the Arab spring has given way to a Christian winter

.... In Egypt, large numbers of Coptic Christians have moved abroad in response to a tide of discrimination and outright oppression. Though still numbering at least 5.1 million of an 80 million-strong population (according to government estimates disputed by the Coptic church), Copts face many professional glass ceilings, and scores of their churches have been attacked by Salafist extremists.

About 600,000 Copts – more than the entire population of Manchester – have left their homeland since the early 1980s. If Mohamed Morsi's new constitution is implemented, the second-class status of Christians will be set in stone. Egypt will stagnate still further in consequence.

[A COMMENT] "Ignorant western assumptions about cultural uniformity are mirrored by Islamists bent on purging other faith groups from their lands."

Great; I was worried for a minute there that you wouldn't find a way to somehow implicate the West in this. [Guardian Cif] Read more

Saudi activists urge release of writer who 'insulted' Islam

Saudi intellectuals on Wednesday urged the kingdom's crown prince to order the release of a liberal writer accused of insulting Islam via his Twitter account.

A petition, signed by around 500 people and addressed to Salman bin Abdul Aziz, called for Turki al-Hamad's "immediate and unconditional release."

"We hope for, demand and expect a quick decision to be made to correct this grave error that has been committed against" Hamad, it said. [AFP] Read more

French magazine sparks another controversy over Mohammed cartoons

A French satire magazine has published a special issue containing cartoons on the life of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed. Similar images, which are deemed blasphemous by Muslims, have sparked international protest in the past.

Followers of Islam believe that Mohammed cannot be captured in an image by human hand, and that to attempt to do so is an insult to Allah.

But the publisher of Charlie Hebdo magazine said the 64-page issue, titled 'The Life of Mohammed,' is “halal” because it was researched and edited by Muslim scholars and historians. [TV-Novosti] Read more

Belgian Hema store wrong to sack headscarf-wearing worker

A Belgian branch of Dutch department store Hema was wrong to sack a woman worker for wearing a headscarf, a Belgian industrial tribunal ruled on Wednesday.

The woman had worked for the store in Genk for two months wearing a headscarf but was then sacked for refusing to remove it after complaints from customers. [DutchNews.nl] Read more

Iran Urges OIC to Move to Harness Insult to Islam

Iran condemned the insults leveled against the prophet of Islam in the US and European movies and magazines, and called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to compile a convention to prevent such blasphemous acts.

Speaking to reporters in his weekly press conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast deplored certain western media for promoting and supporting sacrilegious acts against divine sanctities and the prophet of Islam.

"We want those who are behind this move to go on trial and be punished and we expect the OIC to take urgent action to compile a convention to prevent such acts and don't allow these publications to create a rift among divine religions," he underlined. [Fars News Agency] Read more

Ahmadinejad slams pressure to impose Islamic values

.... "You cannot impose things by issuing decrees and directives -- a choice imposed by force has no value whatsoever," Ahmadinejad said in a speech on Sunday.

"In some universities, female students are forced to wear the chador (covering the whole body, leaving only the face exposed), but the way they are forced to wear it... it is better not worn since it becomes worthless," he said. [AFP] Read more

Is Islam compatible with democracy?

.... It appears civil law is not sufficient for this Islamist who prefers Islamic punishment, thus reflecting a mentality whose logical conclusion is cutting hands for stealing and stoning for adultery.

In addition to all this there is hardly any indication to show that what will come out of Syria once Bashar al-Assad is toppled is democracy. The opposite is more likely. In the final analysis, deeds, not words, will show if Islam is compatible with democracy. So the answer to this question has yet to come.

But the indications are not encouraging for the Arab world, and worrying as far as Turkey is concerned.

[A COMMENT] There is no literal concept of democracy or tolerance in any Abrahamic religion. These modern values came thousands of years later. In that sense Islam is no different from Christianity or Judaism.

What is different is that Islam has actually regressed, not progressed, in the era of globalization. After the fall of the Ottoman caliphate, Wahabis with their oil money filled the gap of Islamic jurisprudence. The world has greatly suffered ever since. [Hürriyet Daily News] Read more

Extremism unchecked in schools, secret briefing reveals

Michael Gove, the education secretary, was one of the key voices calling for a ban on support for non-violent extremism when it published its Prevent strategy to fight radicalisation last year.

But behind closed doors there are concerns about 118 “socially conservative” independent faith schools - the vast majority of them Muslim - where pupils may be encouraged to cut themselves off from mainstream society. [telegraph.co.uk] Read more

Women shy about lifting the niqab

For Mouna, lifting the veil that covers most of her face is akin to taking off some of her clothes in public. She has been wearing it, by her own choice, for the past 20 years and she says it has become part of her.

''It is a little like feeling naked in public,'' she told Fairfax Media about having to show her face in public for identification.

''When you wear it [niqab] for a long time it becomes a part of you.''

But Mouna, like dozens of other Muslim women who attended a recent forum with the NSW Ombudsman to discuss the issue, has no problem with the legislation that requires her to lift her face covering to be identified. [The Sydney Morning Herald] Read more

In the name of morals and Sharia, media freedoms may contract

.... In a mass protest at the beginning of December, newspapers protested media violations and four satellite channels went black the next day. Several of Egypt’s independent dailies published the same full-page image on their front pages in protest at restrictions on press freedoms in the draft constitution.

Ibrahim Nawar, head of the Egyptian Organization for Freedom of the Press, suggests that the media war is a reflection of the division between Islamists and secular currents that will continue as long as polarization in the Egyptian street continues.

The danger of this split, Nawar says, is illustrated by the inflammatory tone adopted by many religious satellite channels, which “incites audiences whose political awareness is weak.” [Egypt Independent] Read more

Muslim mob attacked Christian worshipers on Christmas Day in Islamabad

.... It was 12:00 noon, in Iqbal Town in Islamabad, on December 25, 2012, when Christian worshipers were coming out of different Churches after performing Christmas prayers, more than one hundred Muslim extremists equipped with automatic rifles, pistols and sticks attacked the Christian women, children and men.

Ashraf Masih, when running to save his life was hit with bullet in his leg, Iqbal Masih received bullet injuries in his leg and arm, Shahzad Masih was injured fell on ground and was beaten with sticks mercilessly by mob, Yousaf Masih was seriously injured while more than one dozen Christian women, men and children received injuries. [Pakistan Christian Post] Read more

Harsh Sharia punishments meted in Mali

Authorities in northern Mali are ordering severe punishments, including cutting off limbs and public whippings, under Sharia law, human rights activists say.

At least 14 people suspected of thievery have had hands, and sometimes their feet, lopped off, Human Rights Watch and other independent observers say. Dozens of other people have been flogged with whips or tree branches for minor infractions such as smoking or listening to music on the radio, they say. [UPI] Read more

Egyptian Cleric Threatens Egypt's Copts with Genocide

.... Dr. Wagdi Ghoneim — who earlier praised Allah for the death of the late Coptic Pope Shenouda, cursing him to hell and damnation on video — made another video, entitled, "A Notice and Warning to the Crusaders in Egypt," a reference to the nation's Copts, which he began by saying, "You are playing with fire in Egypt, I swear, the first people to be burned by the fire are you [Copts]."

The video was made in the context of the Tahrir protests against Morsi: Islamic leaders, such as Hegazy and Ghoneim, seek to portray the Copts as dominant elements in those protests; according to them, no real Muslim would participate. Ghoneim even went on to say that most of the people at the protests were Copts, "and we know you hid your [wrist] crosses by lowering your sleeves."

The heart of Ghoneim's message was genocidal: "The day Egyptians — and I don't even mean the Muslim Brotherhood or Salafis, regular Egyptians — feel that you are against them, you will be wiped off the face of the earth. I'm warning you now: do not play with fire!" [Gatestone Institute] Read more