Muslims in Christian-Democratic parties

Many Muslims in Europe are active in Christian-democratic parties. Together they appear to work against a growing secularism. A trend?

It had never so busy by the press section. From all the corners of the world, they came to look at the swearing in of Mahinur Özdemir as regional parliament member of Brussels last month. It was a first in Europe. Never before was there a parliament member with a headscarf.

Less attention was paid to the fact that Ms. Özdemir, a practicing Muslim, represents a (traditional) Christian-democratic party, the Humanist Democratic Center (until recently the Social Christian Party). That is not a first, on the contrary. Everywhere in Europe Muslims are devoted to Christian-democratic parties. [Islam in Europe] Read more

No to multicultural society

Many Danes believe immigrants should leave their culture at the door when checking in. Many people in Denmark want immigrants to drop their own culture for traditional Danish values.

More than half of those who answered a nationwide poll say that immigrants and their offspring should adjust to Danish society and customs instead of preserving those of their native countries. [The Copenhagen Post] Read more

What do (some) Muslims (really) think?

For those with the time and patience to read it all the blog posts and their comments pointed to below reveal (sometimes unintentionally) what may or may not help make Islam compatible with secular democracy.

0724-17hrs-Harry’s Place » Mehdi Hasan Exposed. Part I – Atheists and disbelievers are “cattle” and “of no intelligence”

0727-11hrs-Pickled Politics » An attempt to smear Mehdi Hasan from New Statesman

0727-12hrs-Harry’s Place » Mehdi Hasan Unexposed

0727-16hrs-Harry’s Place » Mehdi Hasan Part II - Muslims and non Muslims

0727-21hrs-Pickled Politics » The ‘expose’ – from embarrassing to downright stupid

0728-02hrs-Harry’s Place » Pickled Polibollocks

0728-19hrs-Harry’s Place » Mehdi Hasan Part III A New Direction for the New Statesman

0728-20hrs-New Statesman - Who are you calling an Islamist

'The Myth of Eurabia'

Newsweek decided to enter the Eurabian arena by adorning the front cover of its European edition (July 20, 2009) with a white turban and a clear message for the world at home and at large: “THE MYTH OF EURABIA: THE FALSE FEARS OF A MUSLIM TAKEOVER”.

The article by William Underhill, announced under Features, rings loud and clear with its journalist message: “Why the alarmists are wrong”; and his title is even more explicit: “Why fears of a Muslim takeover are all wrong: Analyzing the forecasts of an emerging ‘Eurabia’, hostile to America and Western Values”.

My attempt to remind the Newsweek editor of a pertinent omission regarding the most serious analysis of this subject was not published. Below is my letter sent by both email and fax on July 22 and the email exchange with the associate editor. [Jihad Watch] Read more

See LibertyPhile original report on Newsweek article: Why Fears Of A Muslim Takeover Are All Wrong

Burka wearing 'marginal phenomenon', popular among converts

French newspaper Le Monde reports on two recent reports prepared by the French police intelligence agencies for the government on the topic of the burka in France. Both conclude that it's a very minor phenomenon, but the investigators point out that less than ten years ago, the burka and niqab, were unknown in France.

These documents, seen by Le Monde, come to inform the government, precisely at the moment when a parliamentary commission was set up on the topic. [Islam in Europe] Read more See Also: [Reuters.com] Read

Blasphemy Made a Crime in Ireland

.... Now I oppose this law, for the obvious reasons, which I won’t repeat here. The Irish Constitution does expressly calls for the punishment of blasphemy — “The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law” — so the absence of a blasphemy law until now (an earlier law was struck down for not defining “blasphemy”) has itself been unconstitutional.

But it seems to me that Irish legislators should have tried to amend the constitution via referendum rather than enacting this sort of ban. [International Free Press Society] Read more

DOJ gives Maine police training to learn Muslim culture

PORTLAND, Maine — Police officers planning to interview members of a Muslim household approached the door, only to spot a woman inside dashing into a back room. Was she grabbing a weapon? Warning a suspect? Fleeing out a back door?

”She did not want to answer the door without getting her head covering,” said Foria Younis, a former terrorism investigator with the FBI. In many Muslim cultures, ”if a woman doesn’t have a head scarf on, it’s almost as if she’s nude.” [Creeping Sharia] Read more

More Dutch Muslims are skipping the mosque

Churches in the Netherlands have been emptying out for some time, but a new study shows that mosque attendance too is declining. The number of Dutch Muslims who go to mosque at least once a month has dropped by 12 percent from 47 percent ten years ago to 35 percent today.

That is the conclusion of a report, Religion at the beginning of the 21st century, published on Wednesday by the Dutch statistics office CBS. The report is a follow-up to a 2001 study about religion in the Netherlands in the 20th century. It also shows that - contrary to popular belief - the number of Muslims in the Netherlands has not grown in the past few years. [NRC International] Read more

Pony takes place of guide dog for blind Muslim

Cali is the first guide animal for Ramouni, 28, a devout Muslim whose parents - Jordanian immigrants - would not accept a dog into their home. Dog saliva is considered unclean in Islamic teaching, although dogs are permitted to be used as work animals, such as guards or shepherds. [NEWS.com.au] Read more

Should Public Schools Close for Muslim Holidays?

New York City public schools have long recognized Christian and Jewish holidays. Now many Muslims want classes canceled for theirs as well. Last month the City Council agreed, passing a nonbinding resolution which urges that Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha be included.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has the final say on the matter, is not so enthusiastic. "If you close the schools for every single holiday," he argued, "there won't be any school. [Islamist Watch] "Read more See Also: [Examiner.com] Read

NYC School Holidays for Muslims Proposed by Radical Imam?

At a time when nearly every American school district has been pushed to expunge the words Christmas and Easter from the official multicultural lexicon, the New York City Council has mandated that two Islamic holidays, Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha, be observed. [Creeping Sharia] Read more

Muslims welcome police scarf move

Avon and Somerset Police is issuing head coverings to its female officers so they can enter mosques. The force says the move will help its officers respect Muslim religious customs while carrying out their job. [BBC] Read more See Also: [Archbishop Cranmer] Read See Also: [Times Online] Read

Islamic school ban sparks protest

Hundreds of people have protested against a government's decision to scrap plans to build an Islamic school in Australia's biggest city, Sydney. Parents and prospective students have said the decision was unfair and racist. Islamic groups have insisted that the Muslim community in Australia, which is comparatively young and fast-growing, needs more tailor-made education. [BBC] Read more

Practicing what they preach?

Controversy erupted last week when Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HT), the decades-old Islamic political organization dedicated to the re-establishment of the Khilafa, or Caliphate, held its first ever convention on American soil in suburban Chicago, right in my backyard.

.... One wonders why, after so many years of simply distributing leaflets and their newsletter ("Khalifornia"), they decided to have a conference in America, where they have heretofore had a minimal impact at best. This contrasts sharply with their relative success in other countries across the world, such as the U.K., Denmark, Australia, and even Indonesia, where they attracted 100,000 supporters to a rally in Jakarta.

In their American debut, they could not even attract 1,000 people. This may have to do with their identity politics: they are all about "us vs them," and this may resonate more with Muslim minority communities in Europe and elsewhere, where the Muslim minority - especially after 9/11 and with the rise of the right - has lately been under siege. [altmuslim] Read more

Netherlands: Mosques not interested in Dutch-trained imams

The cabinet wanted to stop ... "imported imams", who don't speak Dutch and who bring with them radical ideas. But the 'polder imams' who were to take their place aren't catching on. Imams trained in the Netherlands can't count on a job right now. Mosques have no money and no trust in the 'polder imam'. [Islam in Europe] Read more

Even infidels are turning to sharia law

.... This proved to be a run-of-the-mill squabble over whether the non-Muslim had been cheated out of the profits of their jointly owned car-fleet company by the Muslim. What made the case out of the ordinary is that it was the the non-Muslim who had chosen to take his grievance to a religious tribunal run by imams according to the laws of sharia — an ancient Islamic code of conduct that dates back to the time of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century.

.... The sheikh, however, does not accept that our values are too different. He countered smoothly: “We do believe in equal rights for women. One of the things we do is work with the community on the issues of forced marriages. Some of our imams are female because they have the talent and temperament to do the job.

“On gay rights, this is not a legal issue — it is a political issue. Lesbianism, sodomisation is not natural. It is not right. It is immoral.

“When people talk of husband and husband, I’m sorry: I laugh. But if a gay person comes to my tribunal, will I discriminate? No, I will not. I will deliver justice.” He criticised the British media for its obsession with beheadings and other extreme punishments. “They constitute only 10% of sharia.” [Times Online] Read more

Blasphemy provisions clash with Constitution

This is the first in a series of posts, articles and editorials I will be doing for the IFPS on the matter of the new ‘blasphemy laws’ recently passed in Ireland by an astonishingly small number of votes. We feel that this issue is an important one, and worth watching closely. It most certainly is a law vague enough to lend itself to arbitrary and selective enforcement and is unlikely to be in any way conducive to freedom of speech. [International Free Press Society] Read more

Fears of an Islamic revolt in Europe begin to fade

Five years ago bombings and riots fuelled anxiety that Europe's Muslims were on the verge of mass radicalisation. Those predictions have not been borne out..... But there is nonetheless a sense, even among Europe's counterterror strategists, that the tide of radicalisation of young Muslim men may be ebbing.....

"We estimate about 10% of our Islamic population are in a dynamic of rejection of the west and Europe, 10% are more European than the Europeans, and about 80% are in the middle, just trying to get by," said Alain Bauer, a criminologist and security adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy. [The Observer] Read more

Why it matters that honor killing has Islamic sanction

"While the practice is not confined to a specific cultural group and has no links to Islam, there is 'no question,' Mr. Oppal said, the numbers of honour killings are higher in certain communities." No links to Islam? Really?

Consider these: A manual of Islamic law certified by Al-Azhar as a reliable guide to Sunni orthodoxy says that "retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." ('Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2). [Jihad Watch] Read more

Muslim nurse fired for not wearing short sleeves

A judge dissolved the employment agreement of a nurse from Den Bosch (the Netherlands), since she refused to come to work in the Jeroen Bosch hospital with bare arms.

The 33 year old nurse has been working since 2001 in the Den Bosch hospital. In 2007 she started becoming more engrossed in her faith, according to her lawyer, Frank Vermeeren. For this reason, she started wearing long sleeves under her work uniform. [Islam in Europe] Read more

Muslims refuse to use alcohol-based hand gels over religious beliefs

Some Muslims have refused to use alcohol-based hand gels to combat the spread of swine flu because they claim it is against their religion. Some of those employed by St Albans Council in Hertfordshire have complained about the antibacterial lotion, which is considered a key strategy in containing the virus. [MailOnline] Read more See Also: [London Muslim] Read

Georgia courts to allow religious head coverings

Georgia courtrooms will allow religious headgear after last year's arrest of a Muslim woman who refused to remove her headscarf in a west Georgia courthouse. [Islamophobia Watch] Read more

Muslim headscarves to be allowed in Georgia courtrooms The Judicial Council of Georgia voted unanimously this week to allow religious and medical headgear into Georgia courtrooms. It also allows a person to request a private inspection if a security officer wants to conduct a search. [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution] Read more

Anti-Semitic, Anti-Christian Propaganda on Display at Caliphate Conference

While Hizb ut-Tahrir, a pro-jihadist group which met openly near Chicago last weekend, is surprisingly candid about its desire to re-establish an Islamic Caliphate, literature available at its conference shows the group also views Christians and Jews as untrustworthy enemies of God. [IPT News] Read more

Sharia contradicts Islam’s sacred text

.... The claim that many non-Muslims are seeking redress in Sharia courts needs to be verified by an independent audit, not by some self-serving Muslim organisation that is itself a principal instigator of this unfortunate trend in British Islam (reports, July 21).

This co-ordinated campaign by pro-Saudi traditionalists to enforce medieval Muslim jurisprudence by stealth and by increments has to be resisted. The pretext of promoting a benign and benevolent juristic code is far from the truth. In reality, this corrosive Wahhabi and Salafi drive to (initially) implement selective aspects of an anachronistic legal system is nothing but the thin edge of the wedge, a Trojan horse for the later adoption and/or grafting of Islamic law on to British jurisprudence. [Times Online] Read more

What Inayat Said

The government has announced it will be conducting a major review into ‘Prevent', one of the pillars of its overall counter-terrorism strategy known as ‘Contest'. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will be setting up a Committee to examine: [...] the effectiveness of the 'Prevent' programme to date, and its likely effectiveness in the future, with particular reference to the following questions: .... [Standpoint] Read more