Islamic officials in Indonesia are drawing up a bylaw that compels everyone to pray, or face sanctions

.... Although though the bylaw is still under deliberation, the city has already begun phasing it in for municipal employees, who are currently required to attend public Friday prayers once per month.

Mukhlis said that the city government was still deciding whether those who failed to comply would face sanctions.

Bengkulu is not the only place to experiment with prayer requirements: Nineteen untenured employees of Riau’s Rokan Hulu district government were fired in November of 2013 because they did not show up to 5 am prayers – a mandatory religious programme put in place by the local government – in what the Home Affairs Ministry’s Director General for Regional Autonomy Djohermanyah Djohan called a “strange ruling.” [The Freethinker] Read more

Allah vs atheism: ‘Leaving Islam was the hardest thing I’ve done’

Amal Farah, a 32-year-old banking executive, is laughing about a contestant singing off-key in the last series of The X Factor. For a woman who was not allowed to listen to music when she was growing up, this is a delight. After years of turmoil, she is in control of her own life.

.... In more than a dozen countries people who espouse atheism or reject the official state religion of Islam can be executed under the law, according to a recent report by the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

But there is an ongoing debate about the “Islamic” way to deal with apostates. Broadcaster Mohammed Ansar says the idea that apostates should be put to death is “not applicable” in Islam today because the act was traditionally conflated with state treason. [American Thinker] Read more

Police race-hate probe leads to Boro fan's arrest

A boro fan has been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after allegedly ripping up pages of the Qu'ran at a match.

And six people have been suspended from attending Middlesbrough Football Club matches as the probe continued.

A 25-year-old man who has been arrested is accused of tearing up pages from the holy text of Islam and throwing them during Boro’s clash against Birmingham City last month.

The fan has been bailed while police continue to investigate the incident. [The Evening Gazette] Read more

'Alternative' policing in some minority communities

Police are never called by certain minority communities because they administer their own justice even in cases as serious as murder and sexual assaults on children, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Tom Winsor has said.

He said offences including “honour” killings and violence, domestic abuse, sexual assaults on children and female genital mutilation were among those not reported to police because communities wanted to deal with them themselves.

Mr Winsor said there were some cities in the Midlands where police were never called because communities dealt with issues themselves, and he stressed these "alternative" systems were run not by criminals but by “law-abiding people”. [The Telegraph] Read more

Communities 'taking law into their own hands', says police chief inspector

.... The chief inspector of constabulary, Tom Winsor, said some ethnic minority communities are turning their backs on police and rarely, if ever, call them to deal with crimes as serious as murder and sexual assaults against children, instead dealing with them in their own way.

Winsor said police were never called to some neighbourhoods because they "administer their own form of justice", adding that this was not carried out by criminal gangs but by "law-abiding people". [The Guardian] Read more

Animal slaughter without stunning 'major animal welfare issue'

The RSPCA has renewed its call for animals slaughtered without stunning to be labelled so – and a House of Lords debate saw almost unanimous support for the measure.

Lord Trees, an independent life peer, brought the debate, and called the issue of slaughter without stunning “a major, if not the major animal welfare issue in the United Kingdom today”.

“I suggest that consumers can justifiably expect to be informed if the normal legally required form of humane slaughter has not been used,” he added. [Farmers Weekly] Read more

Muslim mayor Lutfur Rahman in line of fire over public grants in Tower Hamlets, East London

“It is going on under our noses in the heart of the capital city and no one is doing a thing about it,” says Peter Golds, the leader of the opposition in Tower Hamlets. “The authorities — the Government, the Electoral Commission — seem paralysed. This is a test for us all about whether democracy can be bought.”

In 2010, after investigations by The Sunday Telegraph, the then Tower Hamlets council leader, Lutfur Rahman, was replaced, deselected and later expelled by the Labour Party because of his close links to an extremist Muslim group, the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE), based at the radical East London Mosque.

.... Poplar Town Hall is a case in point. A large and attractive Victorian listed building, a stone’s throw from Canary Wharf and steps from a future Crossrail station, it is worth millions. But The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that in 2011 the council sold it for £875,000, little more than what a three-bedroom Victorian house in the neighbourhood would cost. Poplar Town Hall, though, is big enough for its new owners to be converting it to a 25-bedroom hotel. [The Telegraph] Read more

Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Says 'Alternative' Policing Is Being Administered In Some Parts Of Britain

Police are never called by certain minority communities because they administer their own justice even in cases as serious as murder and sexual assaults on children, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary has said.

Parts of Britain are operating their own forms of justice as some minority communities take the law into their own hands, the Tom Winsor has claimed.

.... "There are cities in the Midlands where the police never go because they are never called. They never hear of any trouble because the community deals with that on its own... They just have their own form of community justice."

Mr Winsor said some chief constables receive "close to zero" calls from some areas, and that police are not afraid to go to such areas, but that they do not know what is going on as communities do not tell them. [The Huffington Post UK] Read more

Home Affairs Minister Speaks Out Against Mandatory Prayer Bylaw

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said on Friday that he objected to a Bengkulu municipal bylaw currently under deliberation that would require all residents of the capital of southwest Sumatra’s Bengkulu Province to attend Muslim midday prayer gatherings every Friday.

“If it is only a call advising people to go to the mosque to pray, or to go to the church for the Christians, it’s fine,” he told the Jakarta Globe. “But it’s not fine if they issue a bylaw which carries sanctions. They don’t have the authority, as religious affairs are under the authority of the central government.” [Jakarta Globe] Read more

Homosexuality still haram in 2014: 11 Muslim men may be stoned to death in Nigeria for being gay

An Islamic court in Nigeria is trying 11 Muslim men, who face death by stoning for allegedly having same-sex relationships, a religious leader said.

It is illegal to have gay sex in Nigeria both under Sharia -- or Islamic -- and secular law.

President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, tightening laws against same-sex marriages, gay groups and shows of same-sex public affection earlier this month.

Under Sharia law, those convicted of homosexuality can be stoned to death.

A 12th person -- a Christian -- is being tried under secular law. [Al Bawaba] Read more

Publication of Mohamed picture triggers riots, journalist’s arrest

Reporters Without Borders condemns yesterday’s arrest of Jitendra Prasad Das, a subeditor with the regional Oriya-language daily Samaj in Cuttack, in the eastern state of Odisha, in connection with the publication of a picture of the Prophet Mohammed on 14 January.

The media freedom organization also calls for investigations into attacks on the newspaper’s offices in Cuttack and other cities in Odisha so that those responsible can be brought to justice. [Reporters sans frontières] Read more

The Islamization of Germany in 2013

.... Also in December, a discussion paper (German and English) published by the Berlin-based Gustav Stresemann Foundation—a think tank dedicated to the preservation and advancement of liberal democracy in Europe—warns that national and international Islamic organizations are increasingly putting pressure on Western politicians gradually to criminalize any critique of Islam.

The author of the report, the German political scientist Felix Strüning, provides a meticulously detailed analysis of the Islamic lobbying effort—by means of a "human rights lawsuit"—to silence Thilo Sarrazin, a prominent German banker who has criticized the refusal of Muslim immigrants to integrate into German society.

Strüning writes that German political authorities are increasingly bending to pressure from German Islamic organizations by adopting Muslim definitions of "Islamophobia" in public discourse, thus creating legal uncertainty as to "who can say what about Islam and Muslims in Germany." [Gatestone Institute] Read more

Women on cloud nine as travel notification halted

Saudi women have applauded the decision taken by authorities to suspend the electronic system to notify male guardians about the departure and arrival of their female dependents.

They said the system should have been abrogated long ago, as “it is demeaning to women and restricts their freedom.”

“The system has been suspended due to some observations and it will undergo amendment,” said Lt. Col. Ahmad Al-Laheedan, spokesperson of the Passports Department in comments published on Monday. He indicated that the system could be reintroduced, adding new options. [Arab News] Read more

Apostates: penalties and asylum

Most readers will already be aware of the plight of Raif Badawi, the Saudi blogger accused of apostasy. More recently, a Mauritanian man, Cheikh Ould Mohamed M’Kheitir, was arrested for showing a ‘lack of respect’ to Muhammad and for apostasy. This latter ‘crime’ is punishable by death in Mauritania.

[A COMMENT] The underlying logic behind the idea of apostasy (and blasphemy and honor) in the Islamic world is to protect Islam, conceived as a "social thing".

In the Islamic world, there is no concept of "individualism" as we understand it in the West. Religion is not, for the Muslim, an individual thing--but a social thing.

In order to be a Muslim, one has to live in a Muslim society. Anyone in the society who speaks against Islam, harms Islam--and thus, harms society as well. [Harry’s Place] Read more

Saudi religious cops tell women not to use swings

Saudi Arabia’s feared religious police entered a public park in the Gulf Kingdom and told women to stop using swings, an act that drew applause and criticism by viewers of a picture showing the men warning some women at the swings.

The picture went viral on social networks in Saudi Arabia before it was published by newspapers showing two men from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice warning women against using the swings. [Emirates247.com] Read more

Islamisation fears at top Pakistan university

The Pakistan studies lecturer is in mid-flow when his students stand and rush for the door -- his class interrupted yet again by the call to prayer.

"They won't come back for at least 30 minutes and some of them even decide not to return to class," Sajjad Akhtar said, gathering his notes and sitting down to wait for his students to return.

At Quaid-i-Azam University, rated the best public university in Pakistan and the best Pakistani university in Asia, this is an everyday reality across all academic departments. [AFP] Read more

Afghan atheist granted UK asylum

.... The Afghan was brought up as a Muslim and fled the conflict in his native country. He arrived in the UK in 2007, aged 16. He was initially given temporary leave to remain until 2013 but during his time in England gradually turned to atheism.

His case was taken up by Kent Law Clinic, a free service provided by students and supervised by qualified practising lawyers from the University of Kent's law school along with local solicitors and barristers.

.... He could, the lawyers argued, face a death sentence under sharia law as an apostate unless he remained discreet about his atheist beliefs. Evidence was also presented showing that because Islam permeates every aspect of daily life and culture in Afghanistan, living discreetly would be virtually impossible. [The Guardian] Read more

Hull mum raped in front of son and told by attacking boyfriend: 'I'm Muslim and you must obey me'

A MAN pinned his girlfriend down and raped her in front of their baby son, and told her she must obey him because he was a Muslim, a court was told.

The Mail has decided not to identify the rapist, who is in his early 20s, so his relationship with his victim can be revealed.

She was 16 when they met, but he began beating her three months into the relationship and raped her at her home in Hull in May last year. [Hull Daily Mail] Read more

The Islamization of Belgium and the Netherlands in 2013

Belgium and the Netherlands have some of the largest Muslim communities in the European Union, in percentage terms.

Belgium is home to an estimated 650,000 Muslims, or around 6% of the overall population, based on an average of several statistical estimates. The Netherlands is home to an estimated 925,000 Muslims, which also works out to around 6% of the overall population. Within the EU, only France (7.5%) has more Muslims in relative terms.

Belgian and Dutch cities have significant Muslim populations, comprised mostly of Turkish and Moroccan immigrants, as well as a growing number of converts to Islam.

The number of Muslims in Brussels—where roughly half of the number of Muslims in Belgium currently live—has reached 300,000, which means that the self-styled "Capital of Europe" is now one of the most Islamic cities in Europe. [Gatestone Institute] Read more

Woman to remove niqab to testify in Toronto case

More than five years and many court battles later, a sexual assault preliminary inquiry is poised to resume with the complainant complying with a court order to remove her niqab while testifying.

The landmark case pitting religious rights against fair-trial rights went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada which ruled the matter can only be decided on a case-by-case basis. [Toronto Star] Read more

Atheist Afghan man granted asylum in UK to protect him from ‘religious’ persecution

.... It goes on to explain how the man had recently made a visit to another predominantly Muslim country, to visit friends, and had been “shocked” by how his lack of belief made him stand out.

“He was shocked by how everyone talked as if life meant nothing to them,” it says.

“People said ‘this is not the only world’ and that you have to believe. People said ‘you cannot sit and eat with people who are not Muslim’.

“He noticed that to the people he met, this life meant nothing to them and all their expectations were focused on the other world, life after death.” [The Telegraph] Read more

York dean has 'regret,' but defends religious-accommodation choice

The dean who approved a York University student’s request not to meet and work with female classmates on religious grounds is defending his decision, but expressing “sincere regret” that he felt he had no other choice.

Speaking out for the first time in a letter to colleagues obtained by The Globe and Mail, Martin Singer, the dean of arts, says he ordered the student’s request be granted only after “care, consideration, and concern.”

.... The student, whose identity is protected by privacy rules, is taking an online course in sociology, but the professor, J. Paul Grayson, asked students to meet in person for a mandatory group assignment. In late September, the student wrote to Dr. Grayson that “due to my firm religious beliefs … it will not be possible for me to meet in public with a group of women.” [The Globe and Mail] Read more

Times discovers non-existent ‘rise in Muslim birthrate’

.... One of the experts whose response to this news Kennedy quotes is David Coleman. He describes the figures as “startling”, although it is difficult to believe that a man who holds the position of Professor of Demography at the University of Oxford was genuinely surprised by the statistics.

Kennedy doesn’t bother to tell his readers that Coleman is also co-founder of the right-wing campaign group Migration Watch and has a record of feeding the anti-immigrant hysteria of the right-wing press.

Even Coleman, however, is unable to deny the fact that birthrate among the UK’s Muslim community is falling – the precise opposite of the false claim made in the headline to Kennedy’s report. [Islamophobia Watch] Read more

One in ten babies in England is a Muslim: Those practising the religion 'could soon outnumber actively worshipping Christians'

One in ten children under the age of four is now Muslim in England and Wales, the latest statistics show.

In the under-fives age group there are nearly twice as many people identified as Muslim as in the general population, census data reveals.

The figures suggest a change in the UK’s younger generation of worshippers as less than 0.5 per cent of over 85s in Britain identify as Muslim. [Daily Mail] Read more

Almost a tenth of babies and toddlers in England and Wales are Muslim, census figures show

Census figures reveal a ‘startling’ shift in Britain’s demographic trend with almost a tenth of babies and toddlers born in England and Wales being Muslim.

The percentage of Muslims among the under-fives is almost twice as high as in the general population. Less than one in 200 over 85s are Muslims – an indication of the extent to which birth rate is changing the UK’s religious demographic.

The Office for National Statistics produced the breakdown of Britain’s religions and age groups. The figures, according to the Times, were extracted from data collected in the 2011 census.

One expert said it was possible that Muslims who worshipped would outnumber practising Christians. “It’s not inconceivable,” said David Voas, Professor of Population Studies at the University of Essex. [The Telegraph] Read more