UK waterpark bans bikinis and orders visitors to wear 'Islamically appropriate' clothes

WaterWorld in Stoke-on-Trent plans to black out windows and provide a prayer room during a women-only night aimed at Muslims.

Only female lifeguards will patrol the park during the event, which has triggered a flood of complaints.

Staff will also "guard" the front entrance to "make sure that no males enter the facility".

In a statement on its Facebook page, a spokesman for WaterWorld said the Sisters Only event would “attract ladies of all religions/beliefs as we invite you to visit our facility and enjoy its features whilst having the option of wearing attire that our normal operating procedures prevent”.

Conservative MP Philip Hollobone said: "I imagine there would be a lot of outrage if the boot was on the other foot and swimmers were told they had to dress appropriately in respect of Christians. I don’t see how this is different." [Daily Express] Read more

Schools watchdog with links to extremists shut down

A controversial body accused of whitewashing hardline Muslim schools is to be closed down in the latest blow for Islamist extremism in Britain.

The Bridge Schools Inspectorate, which in 2008 took over responsibility from Ofsted for inspecting many private Muslim schools, will cease operations in October after coming under strong pressure from ministers and Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools.

In a letter to the BSI last year, Sir Michael said it was failing to identify “warning signs of extremism and radicalisation in school settings” and accused it of taking schools’ assurances too much at face value.

The BSI is co-controlled by private Muslim schools’ own trade and promotional body, the Association of Muslim Schools (AMS). It uses AMS member headteachers to inspect each other’s schools.

Both the inspectorate and the AMS have close links to extremists. [The Telegraph] Read more

Headteacher bans Muslim pupils at four London schools from fasting during Ramadan

Muslim pupils at four London primary schools have been banned from fasting during Ramadan due to fears about their welfare.

The Lion Academy Trust, which runs the schools, notified parents of the move in a letter sent out this week.

The controversial move, set to affect pupils at the trust's four London schools, has been criticised by the Muslim Association of Britain.

Aaron Wright, the acting headteacher of Barclay Primary School in Leyton, wrote in the letter to parents: "We are reliably informed that in Islamic Law, children are not required to fast during Ramadan, only being required to do so when they become adults.

"Previously, we have had a number of children who became ill and children who have fainted or been unable to fully access the school curriculum in their attempts to fast. [Evening Standard] Read more

QUB Muslim students 'praying in corridors' call for dedicated room

Muslims at Queen's University have said they have to pray in corridors and other public areas because it will not provide multi-faith prayer rooms.

The students said dedicated prayer or "quiet rooms" are available in many other universities and public buildings, including airports and hospitals.

They said they have no alternative but to say their prayers in corridors, libraries, corners or wherever they can find a secluded spot within QUB.

QUB said it is reviewing its amenities.

Muslim student Nadira Nazir, who is from Malaysia, said: "If we had a room to ourselves it would be easier for us females, to be honest.

"We have to rush between classes to find any [empty classrooms] available and just go in and do our prayers. [BBC] Read more

Nursery worker banned from wearing Islamic dress because it is 'tripping hazard'

A Muslim woman has lost her legal battle to wear a style of traditional Islamic dress at a nursery as it was a "tripping hazard" for children and staff.

Tamanna Begum wanted to wear a flowing, head-to-toe jilbab gown to Barley Lane Montessori Day Nursery in Ilford, Essex.

She wore her full-length outfit at her interview, where a manager offered her an apprenticeship but asked if she could wear a slightly shorter jilbab that did not extend over her feet when she joined.

.... But the Employment Appeal Tribunal has now upheld a ruling by East London employment tribunal that the gown was "reasonably regarded as a tripping hazard" by the nursery.

Judge Daniel Serota QC noted that Ms Begum was only asked to wear a shorter version of the jilbab she sported at interview rather than being banned from wearing the religious garment at all. [The Telegraph] Read more

The ‘Islamophobia’ delusion

Many, many Muslims are victims of bigotry; but their suffering is being used by organised groups and campaigns to advance an Islamist agenda- enacted and expounded in 'their name', on 'their behalf', in universities across the UK- with the tacit support of many on the 'left'.

Bath University has again embarrassed itself by hosting a conference of crypto-Islamists, conspiracy theorists and the 'left-wing' fellow travellers of Islamism. Much of the conference was devoted to scaremongering about 'Islamophobia' and the demonization of ex-Muslims as "McCarthyites".

It shouldn't be forgotten that among the many victims of anti-'Muslim' bigotry are ex-Muslims, non-devout Muslims, or even Sikhs- and others who are mistaken for Muslims but have no connection whatsoever with Islam.

Tackle anti-Muslim bigotry, but don't try to make out 'Islamophobia' is a bigger threat than the large minorities (and often large majorities) of Muslims around the world who hold extremely, severely regressive views. The evidence shows this is false. [National Secular Society] Read more

Muslim students threaten to sue college after being suspended for complaining of Islamophobia

Three Muslim A level students are threatening to sue their sixth form college after they were suspended shortly before sitting their exams for sending an email to students and staff complaining of Islamophobia.

The trio of 19-year-olds were barred last month from the premises of the NewVIc college in Newham, east London, following a disagreement with senior staff over the cancellation of a discussion about anti-Muslim attitudes in society by a panel of invited guests.

The girls, who are still allowed to attend the college to sit their exam papers, are alleged to have flouted college rules by sending a round-robin email to hundreds of students and staff which was highly critical of the decision to cancel the talk and the principal, as well as criticising the Government’s “Prevent” counter-radicalisation strategy. [The Independent] Read more

Roma and Muslims ‘least tolerated’ minorities in Europe

.... The poll has received scant coverage in the mainstream press despite being published the day after the announcement that Tony Blair was to head a new pan-European body, the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, to tackle hate and intolerance in Europe. Blair’s announcement did receive copious coverage as did claims in an article jointly authored with ECTR president, Moshe Kantor, about the growth in anti-Semitism in Europe and the proposed work of the ECTR to counter the effects of the economic downturn on European minority groups.

The YouGov results make interesting reading and reaffirm earlier empirical studies on the prevalence of anti-Muslim prejudice in European societies and its steady growth.

The YouGov poll questioned 7,230 people in seven European countries: 1667 in the UK, 1016 in Germany, 1004 in France, 1009 in Denmark, 1010 in Sweden, 970 in Finland and 554 in Norway. [MEND] Read more

Berlin borough town hall OKs Muslim headscarf

Betül Ulusoy has been through a rollercoaster ten days. After being accepted for a traineeship with her local state authority, she was told they were reconsidering their decision and then finally told on Tuesday that she could indeed take up the place.

At the centre of the decision was the fact that as a devout Muslim she wears a headscarf.

The 26-year-old had applied for a position as a junior lawyer with the borough authorities. Last Monday the town hall told her that her application had been successful.

But when she arrived at the town hall the following day to sign her contract, her soon-to-be employers saw her headscarf and promptly announced they would have to review their decision. [The Local] Read more

Quebec tables new religious neutrality bill banning face coverings

Quebec is again taking steps aimed at barring public servants from wearing face-covering religious garments at work, and preventing members of the public from covering their faces while receiving government services.

However, Bill 62 – the neutrality bill tabled Wednesday in the National Assembly – doesn't go as far as the previous Parti Québécois government's efforts to ban all religious symbols.The province would accommodate those symbols under certain conditions.

"We don't judge people for their beliefs or absence of beliefs," said Quebec Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée.

"We are convinced the way we are approaching this is respectful and will be a plus for society." [CBC/Radio-Canada] Read more

100,000 Christian displaced from Mosul, says official

Nineveh Provincial Council member Anwar Mata announced on Wednesday, that more than 100 thousand Christians have been displaced from Mosul and Nineveh Province, while 20 thousand others have fled the country.

Mata said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “more than 120 thousand Christians displaced from Mosul and Nineveh after ISIS control on Mosul,” noting that, “about 20 thousand of them have migrated Iraq since last year.”

“The lack of interest of the federal government towards the displaced Christians pushed them to migrate outside the country,” noting that, “the psychological and moral damage was greater than the loss of their money and property as a result of ISIS occupation of Mosul.” Mata added. [IraqiNews.com] Read more

Vets urge shops to label halal meat after mass public outcry – but will Cameron act?

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) said that shoppers had a right to know whether their meat came from animals which were not stunned before being slaughtered.

Their calls came after a European Commission survey revealed that 72 per cent of people back the labelling of halal meat.

An EU directive requires animals to be stunned, but Britain was granted exemption for religious communities.

The religious slaughter of goats and sheep rose by 60 per cent between 2011 and 2013 – and some is sold into the general market.

But John Blackwell of the BVA said that not labelling halal meat "takes away the individual's right to make an informed decision". [Daily Express] Read more

Saudi lashing sentence for blogger 'medieval': Swedish FM

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom on Tuesday accused Saudi Arabia of handing a "medieval" punishment to a blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam.

"My opinion is that it's a medieval sentence. It's a medieval method that does not have its place in a society that allows a free media and allows people to express their point of view," Wallstrom told Swedish Radio in Brussels.

The minister was reiterating comments that led to a diplomatic row between Stockholm and Riyadh in March.

In January, Wallstrom also accused Riyadh of using "medieval methods" after it sentenced blogger Raif Badawi to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes. Saudi Arabia's supreme court on Sunday upheld the sentence.

In March, Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Stockholm, accusing Sweden of "flagrant interference" in its affairs after Wallstrom told parliament the oil-rich state was a "dictatorship" that violated women's rights and whipped bloggers. [France24] Read more

Public want to know if animals have not been stunned

Vets are calling for labels to signify meat from animals that have not been stunned before slaughter after a survey showed that most people wanted to know its source.

The British Veterinary Association said that shoppers should be told if the meat they were buying had come from halal or kosher abattoirs, which cut animals’ throats without first stunning them.

Almost three quarters of those questioned in a European Commission survey of 13,500 people said that they were interested in receiving information.

The number of sheep and goats killed in Britain without being stunned rose to 2.4 million in 2013, up 60 per cent in two years, largely because of an increase in demand among Muslim consumers. [The Times (£)] Read more

Inside Mosul: What's life like under Islamic State?

Exclusive footage reveals how Islamic State wields power over people's everyday lives in Iraq's second city, Mosul, a year after it was captured.

Secretly filmed videos obtained by the BBC's Ghadi Sary show mosques being blown up, abandoned schools, and women being forced to cover up their bodies.

Residents said they were living in fear of punishment according to the group's extreme interpretation of Islamic law.

They also described IS preparations for an expected government offensive.

The fall of Mosul marked the start of a lightning advance across the north that saw the army routed and hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee their homes. [BBC] Read more

The five pillars of Islamophobia

Though violent crimes against Muslims are understandably a key issue for Muslims and the anti-racist movement, it would be a mistake to think that Islamophobia is just a problem of racism by a small minority on the streets, or those on the fringes of politics. In fact it is deeply embedded in our politics and society, and a more serious problem than many writers have recognised. Moreover, while most accounts of Islamophobia suggest that anti-Muslim racism is simply a matter of prejudice, which may have social consequences, it needs to be understood as more than a problem of racist ideas.

Obviously these are a key part of Islamophobia but to be effective such ideas need to be practically developed—to be actively produced, spread and institutionalised in new policies and practices. Anti-Muslim racism is sustained by what we call the ‘five pillars’ of Islamophobia.

[TOP RATED COMMENT] Apparently, no one can talk realistically about Islam without being slurred as an Islamophobe. The reality is that Islam is a religion that endorses slavery, child marriage, arranged marriage, incestuous marital unions, divorce laws that are deeply destructive to women's rights, oppressive treatment of other religions and Arab supremacism.

Articles like this are not neutral. By protecting Islam from legitimate criticism, these authors are abetting a religious culture that violates human rights and actively subjugates unique cultures to an aggressive program of Arabization. [openDemocracy] Read more

Student’s Anti-Islam Article Retracted Due To ‘Safety’ Risk

An opinion piece written by a student at the University of California-Berkeley explaining her decision to leave Islam has been pulled from the school newspaper’s website over fears for the author’s safety.

The opinion piece, titled “On Leaving Islam,” recounted the personal story of the narrator (whose name we will withold) growing up a devout (though moderate) Muslim in Pakistan, but later abandoning the faith as she learned more about the world.

“If someone had told me six years ago that I would leave Islam and end up an atheist, I would never have believed him,” the author writes to open the piece. “But now, as a Muslim apostate and atheist, my journey couldn’t have led me any further from what I once knew to be true.”

According to the author, her departure from the faith was driven substantially by her inability to reconcile it with her increasingly liberal personal beliefs.

“I never accepted the male superiority and traditional gender roles that were part of my society,” she says. “For most of my teen years, I felt torn apart by my contradictory beliefs.

On one hand, I was a radical feminist who supported gay rights. But on the other hand, I was a practicing Muslim whose religion was clearly homophobic and placed men above women.” [The Libertarian Republic] Read more

The Dutch debate the burqa — and ban it

As America debates the role of the hijab in the workplace, Europe continues to pursue bans on Muslim face veils and similar attire. After three years and two coalition governments, the Dutch parliament is poised to approve a ban on the burqa.

Based on a proposal put forth by Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk, the Cabinet in late May approved a measure that would forbid garments that cover the face on public transportation and in hospitals, government buildings, and schools.

The ban includes balaclavas and motorcycle helmets as well as burqas and niqabs, which cover a woman’s face but not her eyes. In addition, police can require people to remove their veils or helmets for identification purposes at any time.

Those who violate the law can be fined up to €405 — significantly more than France’s fine of €150, but less threatening than Belgium’s penalty of €25 plus as much as a week in prison. [POLITICO SPRL] Read more

Former deputy joins new Bloc against Islam

Jana Volfová, a former Chamber of Deputies member for the governing Social Democrats (CSSD) who now heads the Czech Sovereignty party, is in the committee of the Bloc against Islam (BAS), established over the weekend, daily Lidové noviny (LN) writes today.

Volfová already played the anti-Islamic card before the latest election to the Chamber of Deputies in 2013, LN writes.

In a television spot as part of the campaign, she scared voters by dressing up in a burqa, it adds.

Volfová said at the meeting of the BAS she would try to have her party join the new anti-Islamic grouping, LN writes. [Czech News Agency] Read more

Raif Badawi and Saudi "Justice"

You may have seen the face of Raif Badawi, a young Saudi man, or a short article about him, or impressive efforts by The Independent, to bring attention to the cruel punishments inflicted on him by a series of deeply illiberal Saudi courts: 1000 lashes -- "very harshly," the flogging order read -- to be administered 50 at time for 20 weeks, or five months.

Raif Badawi is a 31-year old author, blogger and social activist, who gently tried to introduce just the smallest traces of enlightened thinking to the government and the religious elite of Saudi Arabia from his home in Jeddah.

He did this mainly through a website and public forum entitled, "Free Saudi Liberals." An example of what he is now to be flogged to death for goes: "My commitment is... to reject any repression in the name of religion... a goal that we will reach in a peaceful and law-abiding way." [Gatestone Institute] Read more

Pegida makes first gains in Dresden election

Germany's anti-Islam PEGIDA movement took nearly 10 percent of the vote in mayoral elections in its eastern stronghold of Dresden Sunday, a better-than-expected result for a group whose weekly demonstrations have steadily dwindled.

In what was PEGIDA's first appearance at the ballot box, candidate Tatjana Festerling came fourth in the city's polls, sparked after the conservative mayor resigned for health reasons, with 9.6 percent of the vote.

The only opinion poll published ahead of the election, by the Technical University of Dresden, had predicted she would secure between just one and two percent of votes.

The surprisingly strong showing is likely to be hailed as a success by PEGIDA, which stands for "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" and at its height brought up to 25,000 people onto the streets of Dresden, although later rallies attracted smaller crowds. [The Local] Read more

Brunei homosexuals live under threat of stoning

Brunei is an absolute monarchy on the north coast of Borneo which is soon to introduce amputation for thieves and stoning to death for homosexuals — so I shouldn’t have been surprised, when I arrived last week, that no one wanted to talk to me.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs explained that it would take at least two weeks to respond to my interview request. The country’s biggest think tank was completely unable to fit me in. I wanted to find people affected by Sharia — to know how it feels to live in a country where drinking a glass of wine in public, for example, will soon be punishable by 40 lashes. But I knew no one in Brunei, not even someone who knew someone. [The Times (£)] Read more

Ex-Muslim: My parents don't want me 'to burn in hell'

In the UK religious freedom is a human right, but leaving your family's religion can still mean isolation and loneliness.

Sara has been speaking to Newsbeat about what it was like when she told her parents two years ago that she no longer wanted to be a Muslim.

"You feel like you're betraying everyone. Because no one leaves Islam," she says.

She says they kicked her out at 17 and she's not lived with them since.

In some countries, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, leaving Islam - or "apostasy" carries the death penalty.

"Most people I talk to feel like they're the only ex-Muslim in the world," says Sara.

As she got older she realised "that Islam didn't quite fit" with her thinking but she kept it a secret - lying about praying and studying Arabic. [BBC] Read more

Adelaide Islamic College controversy worries deputy lord mayor Houssam Abiad

.... Mr Abiad conceded tensions at the school were unsurprising and reflective of a wider reality.

"Islam is not one culture and, in any migrant group, some want to integrate, some assimilate, some stand aside," he said.

"What concerns me is the status quo, the people who migrate to Australia and they refuse to take on the language and they refuse to integrate to the community."

He said the children's needs had to be put first, something college officials insisted was happening.

A parent from the inner western suburbs school also outlined his concerns about the direction the college was taking. [ABC] Read more

Saudi Arabia hosts UN-backed human rights summit 'on combating religious discrimination

Saudi Arabia has hosted an international conference on human rights, attended by the president of the UN Human Rights Council, and resolved to combat intolerance and violence based on religious belief.

The kingdom convened the fifth annual meeting of the Istanbul Process as its Supreme Court prepared to rule on the case of blogger Raif Badawi, sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam through religious channels”. It later upheld the sentence.

The UN HRC recently faced criticism over Saudi plans to head up the council from 2016, in what critics said would be the “final nail in the coffin” for the international body. [The Independent] Read more