French town's decision to ban pork-free school meals branded 'anti-Muslim'

A French far right mayor's decision to scrap substitute meals for students who do not eat pork has been branded “anti-Muslim”.

Julien Sanchez, the Front National mayor of Beaucaire, ditched his predecessor’s scheme on the first day of the new school term.

The move means around 150 mainly Muslim pupils have lost their “substitution meals”.

Marlene Schiappa, France’s minister for sexual equality, told BFM TV the move was a “typical example of someone brandishing secularism as an anti-Muslim political weapon, or anti-Jewish for that matter”.

Mr Sanchez insisted the introduction of pork-free meals was “anti-Republican” and a “provocation” because it introduced “religion into school”.

“We are not a four-star restaurant,” he added on Twitter. [The Independent] Read more

Iranian and Saudi Youth Try to Bury 1979

.... But today Iran and Saudi Arabia have something new in common: A majority of their populations are under age 30, young people connected through social networks and smartphones. And a growing number of them are fed up with being told how to live their lives by old, corrupt or suffocating clerics — and they want to bury 1979 and everything it brought.

.... On recent trips to Saudi Arabia I heard youth express their own version of this: I want the clerics out of my face. I want to live my life without interference and realize my full potential — a sentiment particularly voiced by Saudi women.

Youth also said: I want to be able to go to concerts, drive my car, start a business, mix with the other sex or see a movie. And I want to celebrate my national Saudi culture, cuisine and art — not just Islam. [The New York Times] Read more

Hungary’s PM: We don’t see these people as refugees, we see them as Muslim invaders

In an interview with German newspaper Bild, Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban called the migrant crisis an invasion.

He said: “We do not consider these people to be Muslim refugees, we regard them as Muslim invaders.”

“One has to cross four countries to arrive from Syria in Hungary”, Orban said. “Those people do not run for their lives but seek a better life. The refugees should have requested admission in advance, but instead they had breached the border illegally.”

According to Orban what Europe has seen was not a wave of refugees, but an invasion. He mentioned that he never understood how in a country like Germany the chaos and the illegal crossing of borders could be celebrated as something good.

The Hungarian prime minister rejected the idea that his country should accept people from Muslim-majority countries. “We believe that a large number of Muslims inevitably leads to parallel societies, because Christian and Muslim society will never unite,” he said. [Voice of Europe] Read more

MP Preet Gill condemns plans to ask Muslim schoolgirls why they wear headscarves

A Birmingham MP has demanded school inspectors Ofsted scrap plans to ask schoolgirls why they wear the Hijab.

Edgbaston MP Preet Gill wrote to Education Secretary Justine Greening to say the proposal had “caused outrage among many of my constituents”.

It follows the announcement that inspectors will question Muslim primary school pupils with headscarves such as a hijab to ask why they wear it.

Ofsted and the Department for Education have required schools to teach and reflect British values since the “Trojan horse” affair in Birmingham in 2014, when an inquiry found there was a “co-ordinated, deliberate and sustained” campaign to introduce “an intolerant and aggressive Islamic ethos into a few schools” in the city.

Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted and chief inspector of schools, said in November that encouraging primary school children to wear the hijab “could be interpreted as sexualisation of young girls”. [Birmingham Mail] Read more

Human rights activists in Britain have been subjected to intimidation by Islamists for convincing Ofsted to interview British primary school girls

Human rights activists are fearing harassment for convincing the Office for Standard Education (Ofsted) to interview British primary school girls. The reaction speaks volumes about how deep-rooted Islamist influence has already become in society at large. Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman expressed concerns after listening to activists’ claims that making little girls wear hijab ‘could be interpreted as sexualisation’.

On 17 November, Spielman held a meeting with a group of activists campaigning against the obligatory hijab in British primary schools. Islamists responded by coming together to request the names of women who met the Ofsted chief over the issue.

Those activists who participated at the meeting, however, now fear that radicals were only looking for their names to shame and harass them at their community levels. This could prove especially intimidating for activists who come from Muslim backgrounds, as they would be easy prey for extremist relatives and community members.

Yasmin Rehman, a well-known human rights activist, wrote in her article, ‘A lesson in silencing dissent’, that the controversy over veiling in schools has led to a situation in which many influential Muslim hardliners, such as Afzal Khan, MEND, and local councils of mosques in Manchester, Stockport, Bolton, Oldham, and Rochdale are trying to silence the campaigners for speaking out. She expressed concerns that the women would be alienated and accused of ‘stirring up anti-Muslim hatred’. [Conatus News] Read more

Three-quarters of Swiss back a burka ban

A nationwide ban on face-coverings – a de facto burka ban – would currently get the thumbs-up from 76% of Swiss voters, according to a poll in the SonntagsZeitung and Le Matin Dimanche. Around half also support the idea of Islam becoming an official Swiss religion.

Six out of ten respondents said they would definitely back the ban on face-coverings, put forward by the rightwing Swiss People’s Party. Some 16.5% said they were leaning towards a ban, 7% were leaning against it, 13% were definitely against it and 3% said they had yet to decide.

Almost 70% of respondents also wanted to see headscarves banned from schools.

But while the Swiss appear to be against burkas and niqabs, that is not the case for Islam as a religion: 48% backed official recognition of Islam as a state religion, like Christianity. This idea has been proposed by the leftwing Social Democratic Party, on condition that the Islamic communities adhere to a moderate form of Islam and organise themselves transparently. [swissinfo.ch] Read more

President steps in over Islamophobic abuse of Austria's New Year Baby

Austria’s president was forced to intervene yesterday after the first child to be born in the country in 2018 was subjected to a torrent of racist online abuse when it emerged the new-born's parents were Muslim.

President Alexander Van der Bellen, a 73-year-old liberal green politician, pointedly issued his congratulations to the girl, who was named Asel after being born in the early hours of New Year’s Day in Vienna.

“Welcome, Dear Asel!”, Mr Van der Bellen said in a Facebook post, before reminding those who left racist messages that “all men are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, and speaking out against “hatred and agitation”.

Asel Tamga was named "the first Viennese baby" of the year and her photo appeared in many local media outlets, with her mother wearing a hijab head-covering. [The Telegraph] Read more

Islamic dress code should be accommodated in schools

A Muslim campaign group says school uniforms should accommodate Islamic dress codes by allowing girls to wear full-length skirts, long-sleeved shirts and headscarves.

The Irish Muslim Board has also called for school uniforms which have crucifix symbols or images of saints to be made optional in the interests of creating greater inclusivity.

The recommendations are contained in the board’s submission to a Department of Education consultation process over school admission policies.

The group, chaired by Dr Ali Selim, was formed in 2016 to encourage Muslims to become more politically active.

While there are two Muslim primary schools in Dublin, the community does not have a secondary school.

In its submission, the group says Muslim children can feel alienated at school, particularly in activities that revolve around Christmas such as nativity plays and carol services. [The Irish Times] Read more

SAS headscarves policy 'not discriminatory': ombudsman

A uniform policy by Scandinavian airline SAS banning staff who deal directly with customers from wearing religious symbols like headscarves does not breach anti-discrimination laws, Sweden's Discrimination Ombudsman (DO) has judged.

The policy first made headlines in April 2017, when a woman who had gone through the interview process for a job with the company was told she would not be allowed to wear a headscarf if she took the position.

Aye Alhassani told The Local at the time that she thought it would have been better if the company told her about the policy at the start of the interview process.

"I could've then looked for other jobs and not prioritized the SAS job over others and let them go," she noted, adding that she hoped other Swedish companies would not adopt similar policies. [The Local] Read more

Muslims call on Irish people to resist blaming Islam for attacks

.... “I want to stop feeling guilty about being a Muslim every time someone with a Muslim name does something like this,” he told The Irish Times, adding that he was not surprised that some media outlets immediately concluded that the alleged attacker was a Syrian.

The majority of Muslims condemn all violence, and abhor the killing of anyone, he went on: “As soon as the police mention the words ‘terrorist attack’ people go mad. They don’t wait to establish the reasons.”

However, the “terrorist” rhetoric that has surrounded Muslims in recent years is having this effect, feared Dr Saud Bajwa, a consultant at Galway University Hospital and spokesman for the Galway Islamic Cultural Centre. [The Irish Times] Read more

Amid Islamist insurgency, Egypt tackles 'security threat' from musicians

As Saudi Arabia relaxes its rules against cinemas and women drivers, Egypt now looks set to inherit the coveted title of Arab country with the most absurd restrictions. Having made little progress in combating an Islamist insurgency, the Sisi regime has turned its attention to the "threat" posed by atheists, gay people and – increasingly – musicians.

This week brought the arrest of Laila Amer, the third female singer to face criminal charges since November. She has been imprisoned since Tuesday following a complaint from Ahmed Mahran, a vigilante lawyer who claims that her recent video performance poses a "great risk" to Egypt. Mahran also filed a criminal complaint against fans who waved rainbow flags at a Mashrou' Leila concert in Cairo last September.

Amer's song (see video above) features a housewife complaining about her mother-in-law. Some her movements are sexually suggestive and changing a single letter in the song's title, Buss Ummak ("Look at your mother"), would turn it into an obscene Arabic expression. [al-bab.com] Read more

Unstunned meat widespread in UK supermarkets, NSS research reveals

Meat from animals which have not been stunned before slaughter is widespread in UK supermarkets, National Secular Society research has found.

The NSS examined the policies of 11 supermarket chains and their online produce range, and found that the majority require all meat for their own-brand products to be pre-stunned. This is in line with animal welfare legislation requiring animals to be stunned before slaughter to minimise suffering. But several sell non-stunned meat from other brands, and only two credibly commit to selling meat only from animals that are pre-stunned.

Three supermarkets – Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco – sold halal meat from animals which were not stunned, without clear labelling to indicate this. Five of the supermarkets – Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose – sold kosher meat online. All kosher meat is from unstunned animals.

Waitrose sells unstunned meat despite a policy which misleadingly implies otherwise. Waitrose's policy says: "All the livestock that provide meat for Waitrose are pre-stunned before slaughter to ensure they are insensitive to pain before being killed". It does not make clear that this refers only to own-brand products. [National Secular Society] Read more

Iranian protesters are shunning the hijab - let's join them

The recent Iranian protests are about a whole array of issues, including the hijab, the head covering which Iranian women have been forced to wear for decades.

Some dismiss the debate on hijab, suggesting it is a lot of fuss about a mere piece of cloth. They are being evasive.

The hijab is now established as a political tool used by Islamists to restrict freedom for women. They are generally deprived of equality under the law because the hijab is usually accompanied by other oppressive prescriptions for women. It means women cannot make their own decisions.

It is a symbol of oppression, amply demonstrated in Iran’s draconian laws imposed after the Islamic revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.

But what has struck me most is what defines enlightened protest in Iran and in the West. Here in the West the left often defends the hijab, insisting we must support the right to wear it. In Iran, and presumably in some other parts of the Islamic world, they are protesting the requirement to wear it. [Toronto Sun] Read more

Dispute over hijab in Czech school ends up at Supreme Court

The closely watched dispute between a Somali girl and a Czech secondary medical school that forbade her to wear hijab will end at the Supreme Court (NS), since she filed a petition for an appellate review in reaction to the dismissal of her lawsuit by lower-level courts, CTK has found out.

In the lawsuit, the student demanded the school's apology and a compensation worth 60,000 crowns.

Her previous complaint with a district court and the municipal court in Prague was unsuccessful, and the former court obtained the girl's petition for an appellate review in late December, it ensues from the judicial database.

.... The girl, Ayan Jamaal Ahmednuur, said she left the school because the head teacher asked her at the beginning of the school year in 2013 not to wear a hijab, the scarf Muslim women wear to cover their hair, also during theoretical lessons.

Originally, they agreed on her taking her hijab off only during the students' practical lessons as nurses, the girl asserted.

The Czech ombudsman stood up for the girl, but the school insisted on its right to define the dress code. It also emphasised the secular school system principle. [Czech News Agency] Read more

U.S. hits Pakistan on ‘severe’ religious freedom violations amid worsening relations

.... Religious minorities have long faced persecution in Pakistan. The majority Sunni Muslim nation is home to a number of diverse communities, but extremists routinely target Hindus, Christians, and Shia Muslims, as well as others.

Among the country’s most persecuted members are Ahmadi Muslims, a minority group deemed non-Muslim by Pakistan’s constitution. Ahmadis are barred from identifying themselves as Muslim and are routinely targeted by politicians and religious leaders.

Other minorities also live with the constant threat of violence. Last month, two suicide bombers attacked a Methodist church in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing around 10 people and wounding at least 35 other worshippers. [ThinkProgress] Read more

Egyptian Parliament considers outlawing atheism

Shortly before New Year’s Day, the Egyptian Parliament considered enacting a law that would make it illegal to profess no belief in God. It is already against Egyptian law to “insult” or “defame” religion, and blasphemy arrests are on the rise. A conviction can bring up to five years in prison.

The new measure would criminalize the act of not believing in God — no insults or defamation of another faith required.

The legislation was proposed Dec. 24 by Amro Hamroush, head of the Parliament’s committee on religion.

“It must be criminalized and categorized as contempt of religion because atheists have no doctrine and try to insult the Abrahamic religions,” Hamroush said in announcing the proposed law.

The legislation has the support of Egypt’s highest Islamic religious organization, the Al-Azhar. Mohamed Zaki, an Al-Azhar official, called it necessary “to punish those who have been seduced into atheism.” [USA TODAY] Read more

U.S. places Pakistan on watch list for religious freedom violations

The U.S. State Department has placed Pakistan on a special watch list for “severe violations of religious freedom,” it said on Thursday, days after the White House said Islamabad would have to do more to combat terrorism to receive U.S. aid.

The State Department also said it had re-designated 10 other nations as “countries of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act for having engaged in or tolerated egregious violations of religious freedom.

The re-designated countries were China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. They were re-designated on Dec. 22.

“The protection of religious freedom is vital to peace, stability, and prosperity,” the department said in a statement. “These designations are aimed at improving the respect for religious freedom in these countries.” [Reuters] Read more

Turkish child marriage religious document sparks anger

Turkey's main opposition party has called for a parliamentary inquiry after the directorate of religious affairs said that, under Islamic law, girls as young as nine could marry.

The comments by the Diyanet prompted an outpouring of anger on social media from Turkish women's groups.

The directorate insisted it was only defining points of Islamic law.

Turkey's legal age of marriage is 18 but the practice of underage weddings in religious ceremonies is widespread.

Turkish law also allows 17-year-olds to marry with the consent of their parents or guardian, or 16-year-olds in exceptional circumstances with court approval.

The current outcry was started by a statement on adolescence posted online by the Diyanet, the state body which administers religious institutions and education.

It said that, according to Islamic law, the beginning of adolescence for boys was the age of 12 and for girls the age of nine. On the same website, it said that whoever reached the age of adolescence had the right to marry. [BBC] Read more

New estimates show U.S. Muslim population continues to grow

Recent political debates over Muslim immigration and related issues have prompted many people to ask how many Muslims actually live in the United States. But coming up with an answer is not easy, in part because the U.S. Census Bureau does not ask questions about religion, meaning there is no official government count of the U.S. Muslim population.

Still, based on our own survey and demographic research, as well as outside sources, Pew Research Center estimates that there were about 3.45 million Muslims of all ages living in the U.S. in 2017, and that Muslims made up about 1.1% of the total U.S. population.

.... By 2040, Muslims will replace Jews as the nation’s second-largest religious group after Christians. And by 2050, the U.S. Muslim population is projected to reach 8.1 million, or 2.1% of the nation’s total population — nearly twice the share of today. [Pew Research Center] Read more

Australian Islamic undertaker makes bizarre rant next to a body on a trolley - warning Muslims will end up dead in a fridge if they drink, have sex or even accept a party invite from non-believers

An Islamic undertaker from western Sydney has made a bizarre video warning Muslims about the evils of celebrating New Year's Eve - as he wheeled a dead body into a fridge.

Ahmad Hraichie, a funeral director with the Lebanese Muslim Association, spent the last day of 2017 ranting against Muslims who disobeyed their faith by drinking alcohol or having sex outside of marriage.

'This is where we are all going to spend to spend our New Year's party if we die on New Year's Eve – in a fridge, in a fridge where the brothers and sisters have now have probably got their drinks all in the fridges and their snacks,' he said. [Daily Mail Australia] Read more

Muslim women speaking up against violence are silenced. We must amplify their voices

It’s telling that many Muslim men deal with Islamophobia by policing the voices of Muslim women instead of addressing the legacy of patriarchal violence.

.... The prevalent patriarchal order dictates which forms of violence against Muslims are more urgent and demand activism on our part. Under this order, anti-Muslim racism wins many times over before patriarchal oppressions are even discussed. The system that protects male privilege and gender hierarchies goes into overdrive when the reputation at stake is that of prominent Muslim men, such as clerics.

When Muslim women speak up about this, we are accused of creating theatre. Some people add the helpful reminder that “not all Muslim men” behave like this. I grew up in a majority Muslim country; I know not all Muslim men are sexual predators but I also know that many, many men are – in cultures, communities and countries around the world. So I choose to believe women. [The Guardian] Read more

Muslim women speaking up against violence are silenced. We must amplify their voices

.... Pretending that Muslim women are somehow responsible for Islamophobia if they talk about the violence they face is not just absurd, it is also a glaringly obvious patriarchal power tactic that seeks to prioritise Muslim men and their reputations over women’s issues. When the tactic works, Muslim women and our issues are rendered disposable, and shoved to the back of the line.

Casting Muslim women activists as villains who air the dirty laundry of communities by speaking publicly against injustices speaks to this twisted hierarchy of issues that positions Islamophobia over and above the need to address patriarchal oppressions – even creating a narrative that these two are mutually exclusive struggles. The truth is, we must take all of these oppressions equally seriously if we are to address any of them.

People – especially women – who don’t follow this made-up hierarchy of issues are policed, vehemently attacked on public forums, and, many times, swiftly silenced. The system is effective. One friend told me she had to hide all Facebook posts related to a cleric, accused of sexual predation of women, from her timeline because the interrogation and abuse got too much. [Guardian Cif] Read more

The Islamization of Britain in 2017 - "I think we are heading towards disaster"

.... August 29. Sadia Malik, a 36-year-old primary school teacher from Wales, was charged with disseminating terrorist materials after she shared links to YouTube videos featuring Omar Bakri Mohammed, an Islamic extremist.

She was accused of promoting a banned hate group and encouraging Muslims to sacrifice all their money to help establish a worldwide Islamic Caliphate. Her husband, Sajid Idris, 34, had previously been charged with four counts of disseminating terrorist publications as part of the same investigation.

.... September 28. Kamran Hussain, a 40-year-old imam at a mosque in Stoke-on-Trent, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of two charges of supporting the Islamic State and six charges of encouraging terrorism.

An undercover officer secretly recorded the Pakistan-born Hussain giving a series of sermons in which he told children as young as ten that martyrdom was better than academic success. "When you don't fulfill the command of Allah, I'm coming to remove your head," he said.

.... December 22. Bradford Councilor Arshad Hussain warned that there were "many areas in this city" where people were afraid to go, depending on their ethnicity. He made the comments after "Asian" youths attacked three pubs in the city.

"These were the only white businesses in the area," he said. "No Asian businesses were attacked. They were targeted because they were white.... There are so many areas in this city where white people are scared to go into.... I think we are heading towards disaster." [Gatestone Institute] Read more

Muslim Anti-Vaxxers Partly to Blame for Indonesia’s Fatal Diphtheria Crisis

.... At least 38 people — most of them children — have died from diphtheria in the last year in Indonesia. The epidemic of non-vaccination is so bad that it caused the country to launch a immunization campaign to get vaccines to millions of children and teenagers.

How could such a thing happen? There are several contributing factors, according to Niniek Karmini of the Associated Press, but the one that sticks out to me is that some fundamentalist Muslims in the nation, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, think vaccines violate Islamic law.

The phenomenon has not gone completely unnoticed, and some onlookers say the impact of religious fundamentalism on the rise in diphtheria cases is understated. A recent report pinpoints “religious orthodoxy” as a causative factor in the continuing outbreak. [Friendly Atheist] Read more

French hospital rejects trainee doctor due to 'religious' beard

A Paris hospital’s decision to reject an Egyptian trainee doctor because of his beard has been backed by a court, which agreed that patients might have seen it as a religious symbol.

Public hospitals, like other state institutions, must remain secular under France law, and staff are banned from wearing obvious religious symbols such as headscarves.

Nawel Gafsia, a lawyer acting for the doctor, named only as Mohamed A., argued unsuccessfully that the 2-inch beard did not necessarily indicate his religious practices. “My client could have been a hipster,” Ms Gafsia said.

However, the 35-year-old doctor himself “did not deny that his physical appearance was likely to indicate conspicuously a religious conviction,” according to a written judgement by the Versailles appeals court. [The Telegraph] Read more