Abu Dharr June-July 2009

Abu Dharr (Daily Terror) June-July 2009
Friday 31 July 2009 Nigerian army storms Islamist sect's base David Smith, Guardian Troops were last night on a door to door hunt for Islamist militants after government forces stormed the base of a self-styled Taliban leader and killed him and more than 100 rebels in an attempt to crush an uprising that has racked Nigeria. [Nigeria Islamist group leader killed in police custody - David Smith, guardian.co.uk] Is Boko Haram Nigeria's Taliban? Cameron Duodu, Guardian CiF Was it a case of an alleged violent criminal being deliberately executed while in police custody, or was he killed while making a genuine attempt to escape? These are the questions being asked in Nigeria about the death of 39-year-old Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the Boko Haram sect, who was killed on 30 July. His sect had exchanged fire law enforcement agencies over five days in several parts of Northern Nigeria. Google’s abuse of power to take over popular YoutubeIslam.com Faraz Omar, Saudi Gazette Google has sent shockwaves in the online Muslim community by wrestling to take over the popular Islamic video sharing website YoutubeIslam.com. The website run for over three-and-a-half years by Sheikh Yusuf Estes, a popular da’ee in America, is 100 percent child safe and visited by thousands of net surfers... News of the World in libel pay-out (Islamophobia Watch) Dudley Council loses mosque battle (Islamophobia Watch) MPACUK Press Release: Iraq Inquiry Opens (MPACUK) Edmund Standing fails to understand the BNP's Islamophobia (Engage) Wednesday 29 July 2009 What's it like being a gay Muslim? Homa Khaleeli, The Guardian Pav Akhtar is not usually a fan of soaps. But the 30-year-old local councillor and Unison worker has been paying special attention since EastEnders introduced its first gay Muslim character. Akhtar, the chair of Imaan, an organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims, advised the BBC on the storyline in the hope that the character of Syed Masood would help tackle the double discrimination of homophobia and Islamophobia that many gay Muslims face. On the origin of education (Michael Reiss, Guardian CiF) Tuesday 28 July 2009 Muslims welcome coverings for female police Press Association, Independent The force's women police officers and police community support officers are being given uniform-issue head coverings to be worn when they are on duty and entering places of worship. There are two versions of the head coverings to match the black of a police officer's uniform and the blue of the police community support officer uniforms. Both garments are embroidered with Avon and Somerset Constabulary emblem... [Very PC police force issues its WPCs with Muslim headscarves complete with badge for mosque visits - Daily Fail] Nigerian 'Taliban' offensive leaves 150 dead David Smith, guardian.co.uk A self-styled "Taliban" intent on imposing sharia law on all Nigerians widened its offensive yesterday in violence that has left 150 people dead. Boko Haram, an Islamic group opposed to western education, has launched attacks across four northern provinces over the last two days and declared its intention to fight to the death. Civilians were pulled from their cars and shot, their corpses then left scattered around the streets, witnesses told the BBC. Who are you calling an Islamist? (Mehdi Hasan) The Deeply Horrible Trevor Phillips and the NUS Monster Spawn (Craig Murray) Religion, sex and money: the hedonism of scandal (islam, Muslims and an Anthropologist) Sunny Hundal on the smearing of Mehdi Hasan (Islamophobia Watch) JC editor plugs Bruce Bawer (Islamophobia Watch) Torture – new claim of secret UK complicity (Helen Carter, Guardian - video) Sunday 26 July 2009 Fears of an Islamic revolt in Europe begin to fade Jason Burke & Ian Traynor, Observer "There is no reason why immigrants in Europe are going to have more kids than in their countries of origin," Haub told the Observer. One Dutch study has shown that birthrates among Turkish and Moroccan-born women in the Netherlands dropped from 3.2 children per mother to 1.9, and from 4.9 to 2.9 respectively between 1990 and 2005. More radical predictions, such as the claim there will be a Muslim majority in the EU in the next half century, are just "plain silly"... Muslim and Looking for Love (Channel 4) Saturday 25 July 2009 Muslims Told to Conform Brendan Abbott, Daily ~~Bollocks~~ Express A PROMINENT Muslim leader is to issue a plea to abide by the law in Britain and not press for a separate parliament. Rafiq Hayat, head of the UK branch of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, will tell more than 30,000 followers that respecting the culture of the country they live in is key to their faith. He will also urge against sending children to Islamic schools. His remarks will be welcomed by ministers as a sign that Muslims are shunning political separatism. Equality chief (Trevor Phillips) urged to quit post (BBC News Online) Friday 24 July 2009 Muslim man critical after 'honour attack' with acid Duncan Gardham, Telegraph Police have warned the woman, also a Muslim, that her life is now in danger and are discussing how best to protect her. The 24-year-old man was attacked with sulphuric acid and stabbed by four men. He was blinded in one eye, suffered severe injuries to his tongue and throat and suffered 50 per cent burns. He was also stabbed twice in the back and attacked with bricks leaving him with fractures to his face. ['Honour' acid attack: Muslim wife under threat as her 'lover' is stabbed and maimed by masked gang - Daily Fail] [Boy, 16, arrested after Muslim woman's lover is 'forced to drink acid' - Daily Fail] [Muslim woman in fear after friend 'loses tongue in acid honour attack' - Times] History used and abused in Israel Ian Black, Guardian CiF The problem with the Israel–Palestine conflict, someone once wisely observed, is that it involves too much history and not enough geography. The decision by Israel's education ministry to ban the use of the word "nakba" in textbooks for young Arab schoolchildren is one striking reminder of the clashing, if not irreconcilable historical narratives about what happened in 1948, when what Israelis call their "war of independence" became the Palestinians' "catastrophe" ("nakba" in Arabic). [1948 no catastrophe says Israel, as term nakba banned from Arab children's textbooks - Ian Black, Guardian] Western hostility to Islam is stoked by double standards and distortion Alaa Al Aswany, Guardian CiF Denny Pattyn is an American priest of a special kind. In 1996 in Arizona, he set up a programme by the name of the Silver Ring Thing with the aim of urging young Americans to refrain from sex before marriage, convincing them that it is fornication, and sinful. Pattyn regularly holds events attended by hundreds of young Americans who read the Bible with him and then pledge before the Lord to preserve their virginity for their future spouses. [Letters to Guardian: Double standards, Islam and the west] Non-Muslims turning to Sharia courts to resolve civil disputes Fiona Hamilton, Times Increasing numbers of non-Muslims are turning to Sharia courts to resolve commercial disputes and other civil matters, The Times has learnt. The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT) said that 5 per cent of its cases involved non-Muslims who were using the courts because they were less cumbersome and more informal than the English legal system. Freed Chedie, a spokesman for Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siqqiqi, a barrister who set up the tribunal, said... Scholar denies that Islamic divorce procedure is biased against women Fiona Hamilton, Times Opponents of Sharia have long complained that it involves an inherent bias against women and treats them as second-rate citizens. For visitors to the Islamic Sharia court in Leyton, East London, all it takes is a glance at the wall of the reception to shatter any remaining illusions of equality. A flow chart outlines the process of obtaining an Islamic divorce. The left side of the chart, depicting the procedure for a man, is relatively simple... Martin Bright threatens legal action against ENGAGE (Islamophobia Watch) Watch Out for Jihad Watch (Tabsir) Italy: Muslims to hold summer camp in quake hit region (Islam in Europe) Telegraph writer terms the burning of the Satanic Verses as 'Perfect instance of Islamo-fascism' (Engage) Boo hoo! Anti-Muslim social engineering rules hit white couple (Indigo Jo Blogs) Newsweek debunks the Eurabia thesis (Engage) Muslim fashion: 'Anyone can wear these clothes' (Riazat Butt and Hildegunn Soldal, guardian.co.uk - video) Martin 'The Great Koran Con Trick' Bright criticises MCB libel win (Engage) A note on the new Centre for the Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies (IMA) There really is no compulsion (Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF) Testing Times for UK Muslims (Inayat Bunglawala, Islam Online) Friday 17 July 2009 Martin Amis's Iran fantasia Abbas Barzegar, Guardian CiF Some 20-odd years ago, not out of any sense of patriotism or self-defence, young Iranians with bombs strapped to them dived under advancing Iraqi tanks. Khomeini promised them a few dozen virgins you see. Now, as Martin Amis tells us today, that evil genius's followers, hungrier than ever, are combining apocalyptic zeal with advanced nuclear engineering to usher in the Messiah, destroy western civilisation, and kill every remaining Iranian who isn't a mullah or mindless fanatic. Isa Ibrahim: converted to radical Islam online Sean O’Neill, Times Andrew Ibrahim discovered the preachings of Abu Hamza al-Masri, the hook-handed former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque more than two years after the extremist cleric had been jailed. Lost in drugs, loneliness and anger he was enticed by the message of a radical religion which seemed to condemn the world he felt isolated from and offer a warped way to solve all his problems. [Former public schoolboy Isa Ibrahim convicted of planning 'carnage' -- Times] BBC in £45,000 libel payout to Muslim Council of Britain leader Staff and agencies, guardian.co.uk The BBC today paid the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain £45,000 damages over comments made by on Question Time by the former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore. Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari had brought libel proceedings in London's high court over a broadcast in March, when Moore claimed on Question Time that the leadership of the Muslim Council of Britain condoned the kidnapping and killing of British soldiers. [MCB secures full apology and £45,000 in damages from BBC -Engage] 'Iranian Bob Dylan' sentenced to five years for singing Qur'an Sean Michaels, guardian.co.uk Mohsen Namjoo, a singer-songwriter who has been described as the "Iranian Bob Dylan", has been sentenced to five years in prison for recording music that "dishonours" passages from the Qur'an. The sentencing was in absentia, as Namjoo lives in Vienna. The musician was convicted for "his unconventional singing" of the Muslim holy book, according to the Etemad Melli newspaper. Anglican schism: Is this it? (Ruth Gledhill) 'How would liberals like it if 10,000 Muslims moved into the area?' fascist asks (Islamophobia Watch) Wednesday 15 July 2009 Why Muslim women are unemployed Andrew Brown, Guardian Why don't Muslim women work outside the home? The Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim communities in this country contain many of the poorest and least employed women in Britain. Why are they both poor and unemployed? Is it racism, or religion, or some combination of the two? A report from the Quilliam Foundation dismisses both these simple answers and suggests some complex and worrying ones. Fixing Pakistan's madrasas Mustafa Qadri, Guardian CiF For many, Pakistan conjures up images of young boys trained to wage religious war against the world. Shehzad Tanveer, one of four young men who blew themselves up in the London underground four years ago this month spent several weeks in a Pakistani madrasa. According to most security analysts internationally, Pakistan's madrasas are effectively jihadi factories spreading terrorism around the world. But at a hotel conference hall in Islamabad, I spoke to religious scholars and madrasa teachers about broadening the pedagogical scope of Pakistan's seminaries... Woman jailed for Muslim blackmail (Asian Image) CSC report fails to address BNP's anti-Muslim racism (Islamophobia Watch) 'It's a white country, not a Muslim state', BNP supporter told Asian neighbours (Islamophobia Watch) Islamophobia in Germany? Berlin wakes up after outcry over killing (Madeline Chambers, FaithWorld) Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Wearing the burqa is neither Islamic nor socially acceptable (iEngage) Archbishop of Canterbury 'regrets' TEC move to gay ordination (Ruth Gledhill) France may ban burqas, but chic abayas for export are fine (Sophie Hardach, FaithWorld) Sunday 12 July 2009 'Kill soldiers' Muslim blogger is back in job as Treasury civil servant Mail On Sunday A Muslim civil servant suspended amid claims that he used his personal website to justify the killing of British troops in Iraq has returned to work at the Treasury. Azad Ali, an IT worker and president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, was suspended on full pay for six months following comments on his blog. In one post Mr Ali quoted an interview with an Islamic militant who said: ‘If I saw an American or British man wearing a soldier’s uniform inside Iraq I would kill him because that is my obligation...' [See: Mail on Sunday replies to complaint over Azad Ali story -Islamophobia Watch 01/09] [Former Hazel Blears advisor displays anti-Muslim bigotry once again in this week's Jewish Chronicle -iEngage] Metaphysical mistake Karen Armstrong, Guardian CiF The extraordinary and eccentric emphasis on "belief" in Christianity today is an accident of history that has distorted our understanding of religious truth. We call religious people "believers", as though acceptance of a set of doctrines was their principal activity, and before undertaking the religious life many feel obliged to satisfy themselves about the metaphysical claims of the church, which cannot be proven rationally since they lie beyond the reach of empirical sense data. Know your enemy Mehdi Hasan, New Statesman Imagine, for a moment, that Neil Lewington, who is on trial at the Old Bailey for preparing for a “campaign of terrorism” using tennis-ball bombs, was a British Muslim. The story would be splashed across the front page of every newspaper in Britain, and Sky News would be rolling a loop of images of his scowling, bearded, dark face. The reality, however, is that you’ve probably never heard of Lewington (who denies all eight charges of terrorism) because he is not Muslim, or black, or of Asian origin. He is white. Church accuses Government of favouring Muslims Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Telegraph Parishes are being starved of state funds to help the poor as a result of money being diverted to other faiths, senior clergy told the General Synod, which is meeting in York. A report endorsed by Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, claimed that the Government had become "unbalanced" in its approach to faith groups. It argued that the determination of ministers to tackle Islamic extremism in the wake of the London bombings on July 7, 2005, had led to a preoccupation with Muslim communities at the expense of Christian groups. Mail on Sunday apologises to Inayat Bunglawala (Islamophobia Watch) Review of "Does God Hate Women?" (Indigo Jo Blogs) The words of God do not justify cruelty to women (Jimmy Carter The Observer) We must not forget Srebrenica (Muhammad Abdul Bari, Guardian CiF) Friday 10 July 2009 Anti-Islamic attacks are not history Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF I blogged here a couple of weeks ago about how anti-Muslim violence appears to be on the increase following a recent spate of arson attacks on mosques in the UK. Since then, there have been a number of additional worrying incidents including the torching of an Islamic charity shop last week in Glasgow following the receipt of threatening hate messages. Last week there was also an arson attack on the home of a Muslim community organiser, Noor Ramjanally, in Loughton, Essex, after he was sent a threatening letter by suspected far-right activists. A murder that Germany ignored Anja Seeliger, Guardian CiF The first news agency reports on the murder of Marwa al-Sherbini informed the German public that a defendant had murdered a witness in the district court of Dresden. The reason was a quarrel in a children's playground. No mention that the witness was a Muslim woman. No mention that the playground quarrel had culminated in the defendant shouting at the woman "Islamist", "Muslim bitch" and "terrorist". The German press reported on the case on the back page... New video from Riz MC Jerome Taylor, Independent It's a bit late because I've been out the office for most of this week but there's a great new music video from Riz MC - a Muslim rapper who is going places rather fast. Otherwise known as Rizwan Ahmed, most people will recognise him from the controversial Channel 4 drama Britz, which told the lives of a British-Pakistani brother and sister - one of whom joins MI5 to combat radicalism while the other becomes a suicide bomber. 7/7 (Islam in Britain) The witness of Soraya M. (Jennifer S. Bryson, Alt.Muslimah) Terrorists getting easy ride from media and law (Indigo Jo Blogs) BNP's Griffin: Islam is a cancer (Islamophobia Watch) Griffen on Islam (Islam in Britain) Major book from Qaradawi reviewed (Islamophobia Watch) Anti Muslim Protesters Demo In Brum (MPACUK) [See also: Paul Ray admits to BNP links] Fear of further mob violence prompts Uighurs to leave Urumqi (Tania Branigan, Guardian) Algeria also opts for “Sufi card” to fight Islamist extremism (Lamine Chikhi, FaithWorld) Debating a burqa ban with a French MP — in English (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld) Wednesday 08 July 2009 Three jailed for arson attack over Muhammad bride novel Peter Walker guardian.co.uk Three Muslim men were jailed today for an arson attack on the home of the publisher of a novel about Aisha, the child bride of the prophet Muhammad. The trio poured diesel on the front door of the house in Islington, north London, and set it on fire. The attack in September last year took place days before Martin Rynja's company, Gibson Square, was scheduled to publish The Jewel of Medina, by the American author Sherry Jones. The headscarf martyr: murder in German court sparks Egyptian fury Kate Connolly & Jack Shenker, guardian.co.uk It was while Marwa el-Sherbini was in the dock recalling how the accused had insulted her for wearing the hijab after she asked him to let her son sit on a swing last summer, that the very same man strode across the Dresden courtroom and plunged a knife into her 18 times. Her three-year-old son Mustafa was forced to watch as his mother slumped to the courtroom floor. Even her husband Elvi Ali Okaz could do nothing... Soaked in blood indeed (Indigo Jo Blogs) France begins hearings on banning the veil (Islamophobia Watch) Secret 'Sharia court' claims are rejected (Islamophobia Watch) Former Commander of UK forces in Afghanistan praises Israel's actions in Gaza (iEngage) Divan 2.0 (featuring moi) is up (Indigo Jo Blogs) Head of Islamic community group in Loughton subject to arson attack (Islamophobia Watch) The price of bigotry (and it’s for real this time) (Indigo Jo Blogs) Paul Ray admits to BNP links (Islamophobia Watch) The dos and don’ts of defending Muslim women (Fatemeh Fakhraie, Alt.Muslimah) Jameel prize seeks the next star of Islamic art (Guardian) Monday 06 July 2009 Bomb seizures spark far-right terror plot fear David Leppard, Times A network of suspected far-right extremists with access to 300 weapons and 80 bombs has been uncovered by counter-terrorism detectives. Thirty-two people have been questioned in a police operation that raises the prospect of a right-wing bombing campaign against mosques. Police are said to have recovered a British National party membership card and other right-wing literature during a raid on the home of one suspect charged under the Terrorism Act. Better sex - with help from the Qur'an Robert Worth, Observer Wedad Lootah does not look like a sexual activist. A Muslim and a native Emirati, she wears a full-length black niqab - with only her brown eyes showing through narrow slits - and sprinkles her conversation with quotes from the Qur'an. Yet she is also the author of what for the Middle East is an amazingly frank new book of erotic advice. Top Secret: Sexual Guidance for Married Couples is packed with anecdotes from Lootah's eight years as a marital counsellor in Dubai. DC Comics' superheroes join forces with characters inspired by Allah Riazat Butt, Observer They are superheroes battling injustice and fighting evil the Islamic way, and they are teaming up with some of the west's biggest comic book icons. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are among those joining forces with The 99, who personify the 99 attributes of Allah, according to Islamic tradition. What will unfold on the pages of the collaboration between DC Comics in the US and Teshkeel Comics in Kuwait is yet to be seen... Egypt funeral for stabbing victim (Islamophobia Watch) Review of Channel 4’s “Revelations: Islamic school” (Indigo Jo Blogs) Sharia across the pond (Luke W Goodrich, Guardian CiF) Putting the rock into Morocco (James Copnall, BBC News Online) China locks down western province after ethnic riots kill 140 (T. Branigan, guardian.co.uk) Father Ted creators back challenge to the blasphemy bill [Ireland] (Henry McDonald, Observer) Muslim Uighurs riot as ethnic tensions rise in western China (Tania Branigan & Jonathan Watts, guardian.co.uk) Rabat bets on better imams to counter extremist Islam (Tom Pfeiffer, FaithWorld) Islamic charity shop set on fire after repeated threats (Islamophobia Watch) World's oldest bible goes online [here] (Maev Kennedy, Guardian) Saturday 04 July 2009 Darwin's doubters Nick Spencer, Guardian CiF When the public theology think tank Theos published its study into evolution and theism in the UK earlier this year, it found that people in London were consistently more ignorant of and hostile towards Darwinism than those who lived elsewhere. Although Londoners were more likely to know that 2009 was Darwin's big anniversary, they were less likely to know what he was famous for (63% said evolution vs 70% nationally), more likely to believe that humans had been created by God at some point in the last 10,000 years (20% vs 17%), and less likely to agree that "evolution is a theory so well established that it's beyond reasonable doubt" (28% vs 37%). A lifeline for those forced to marry Rahila Gupta, Guardian CiF In 2008, the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) dealt with 420 cases, up from 300 in 2006. This increase can be attributed to a greater awareness of the issue as a result of campaigning, and the government's sympathetic response in terms of protections offered to women and girls at risk through guidance to statutory agencies, as well as the passing of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act in 2007. The FMU's comprehensive set of guidelines... To read is to travel: The rise of the Muslim woman’s memoir Tasnim Qutait, Alt.Muslimah Mohja Kahf has argued that the existing paradigm for stories about or by Muslim women relies on stereotypical images which have dominated Western representations of Muslim women since the 18th century. These clichés fall into two broad categories: victim and escapee. The story of the victim is characterized by stasis – the marginalized woman on the edges of society, the girl sequestered in her room, the concubine revamped. The escapee, on the other hand, is an agent capable of action, who breaks through a life of suppression to flee to the Western world, where she finds a secular haven. Fear and the Fourth of July [Noam Chomsky on US Identity] (Frankie Martin, Guardian CiF) Former Hazel Blears advisor displays anti-Muslim bigotry once again in this week's Jewish Chronicle (iEngage) Friday 03 July 2009 Islamic dress row dentist can carry on Paula Fentiman, Press Association/Independent A dentist who told Muslim patients he would treat them only if they wore Islamic dress will be able to continue to practise, a disciplinary panel ruled today. The panel concluded that he sought to impose a dress code on Muslim patients while working at the Unsworth Smile Clinic in Bury, Greater Manchester, between April 2005 and June 2007. Dr Butt "discriminated" against people and "did not act in the best interests of his patients", the panel found. Find God, win a trip to Mecca (or Jerusalem, or Tibet) Robert Tait, guardian.co.uk A new gameshow offers a prize arguably greater than that offered by Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Contestants will ponder whether to believe or not to believe when they pit their godless convictions against the possibilities of a new relationship with the almighty on Penitents Compete (Tovbekarlar Yarisiyor in Turkish), to be broadcast by the Kanal T station. Four spiritual guides from the different religions will seek to convert at least one of the 10 atheists in each programme to their faith. Teachers' anti-discrimination code reworded after faith groups object Polly Curtis, guardian.co.uk The General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) was today accused of watering down a new code of conduct for teachers after faith groups objected to a ruling that would force them to "promote equality and value diversity", including challenging homophobia and supporting homosexuality. A briefing document seen by the Guardian reveals substantial changes to a crucial section of the code designed to tackle discrimination in schools. Should hajj 2009 be cancelled? (Riazat Butt guardian.co.uk) Conspiracy fever: As rumours swell that the government staged 7/7, victims' relatives call for a proper inquiry (Daily Fail) Teachers, doctors and police given guidelines on forced marriage (Staff and agencies, guardian.co.uk) Tests for mosque bomb threat man (BBC News Online) Inside a Pakistani school where children are being brainwashed into terrorists (Islamophobia Watch) A setback in the struggle against the Islamification of the West (Islamophobia Watch) Take It Off, Or We’ll Make You: On Sarkozy’s Proposed Burqa Ban (Shabana Mir, Religion Dispatches) Wednesday 01July 2009 Police Give Muslims in Cells Compasses To Pray Towards Mecca Mark Reynolds, Daily Express POLICE will issue a compass to all Muslims detained in cells – so they can face Mecca when praying. To make sure they face the holy site, the Norfolk force has already painted the ceiling of some cells to point them in the right direction. Chief Inspector Roger Wiltshire, head of custody services, said either a ceiling compass would be painted or hand-held compasses would be issued to detainees. He said a basic stencil is used to paint the ceiling compasses. [More anti-Muslim nonsense from the Express - Islamophobia Watch] Sharia law and me Zeinab Huq, Guardian CiF The headlines will tell you there are at least 85 sharia courts in Britain. There are definitely more and they have little to do with gavels and wigs and more to do with upholding the cultural and tribal status quo in communities. Having been on the receiving end of sharia rulings – I must make it clear that sharia courts are often nothing of the sort and are more likely to be an imam at the end of a phone I can speak about the arbitrary and random nature of these bodies. Hajj officials confront swine flu threat Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk The elderly, young, infirm and pregnant should stay away from this year's hajj to avoid catching swine flu, Saudi health officials said today. Their recommendations followed a workshop aimed at minimising the spread of the disease during the pilgrimage season, which attracts about 4 million Muslims from around the world. Other measures include vaccinating people at least a fortnight before their arrival in the country and... Denis MacEoin misrepresents the Shari’ah again (Indigo Jo Blogs) The Woodcraft Folk are not atheists (Danny Rowe, Guardian CiF) Praying for patients: debate taking place now (Ruth Gledhill) Nun and priest 'kissing ad' banned (Ruth Gledhill) Muslims in Europe: The Scottish example [Osama Saeed] (Zahed Amanullah, Alt.Muslim) Tuesday 30 June 2009 Catholic school bars Muslim teacher who refused to remove face veil so staff could identify her James Tozer, Mail A Muslim teacher was barred from a Roman Catholic college after refusing to remove her full-face veil so staff could identify her. The woman, who works at an Islamic school, opted to leave instead and now the college could face a claim of religious discrimination. The teacher was at an open day at the sixth-form college with two female pupils, all of them wearing niqabs showing only their eyes. [Muslim pupils and teacher ordered to remove veils - Telegraph; also BBC Online, Times, etc ] Don't demonise sharia courts Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF It is not difficult to go and visit sharia courts. There was an interesting write-up by Dan Bell in the Guardian a couple of years ago about the best-known sharia council in London. He found that: "The Muslims who consult the Islamic Sharia Council are not asking for permission to stone adulterous wives, or chop off the hands of thieves, but simply for day-to-day guidance on living in accordance with their faith." Islamic Civilization in Peril (Tabsir) Monday 29 June 2009 Britain has 85 sharia courts: The astonishing spread of the Islamic justice behind closed doors Steve Doughty, Daily Fail At least 85 Islamic sharia courts are operating in Britain, a study claimed yesterday. The astonishing figure is 17 times higher than previously accepted. The tribunals, working mainly from mosques, settle financial and family disputes according to religious principles. They lay down judgments which can be given full legal status if approved in national law courts. The study by Denis MacEoin estimates there are at least 85 working tribunals. [85 sharia courts in UK, says report - Mirror] [Dozens of sharia courts are giving illegal advice, claims Civitas report - Guardian] [At least 85 sharia 'courts' operating in Britain, says Civitas report - Telegraph] [Claim 85 sharia courts 'in operation' - Asian Image] [No to sharia law in Britain - Denis MacEoin, Guardian CiF] [UK has 80 plus sharia courts - The Sun] The shocking picture of a white boy aged 11 being 'converted' to Islam by radical preacher Daily Mail Reporter, Daily Fail This is the shocking picture of a young, white schoolboy being converted to Islam by a cleric linked to a radical Muslim hate preacher. The bewildered 11-year-old, who gives his name as Sean was filmed repeating Arabic chants and swearing allegiance to Allah. The boy is prompted throughout by controversial cleric Anjem Choudary, a follower of exiled hate-preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed. Prosecutors press for action against BNP leaflets Afua Hirsch and Matthew Taylor, guardian.co.uk Senior prosecutors are calling for the laws on race hate crimes to be strengthened to counter the threat posed by the British National party. The threshold for securing a conviction is so high that far-right activists are able to evade prosecution for material that many people would consider to be threatening and racist, according to sources at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Toube demands an apology (Islamophobia Watch) Beyond the burqa (Rafia Zakaria, Alt. Muslim) Muslim Women are People too (Islamicate) A Fracture in Belief – Morden Islamic Centre (Suspect Paki) Dialectical dilemma over the burka (Letters, Guardian) Closing the week 26 (Closer) Muslims’ needs and the cause of Islam (Indigo Jo Blogs) Iran warned by EU after British embassy workers arrested (Ian Black, guardian.co.uk) Sunday 28 June 2009 The hijab debate: 'I don't want to be judged on my looks' Independent on Sunday The President of France caused a furore last week when he described the head covering worn by Muslim women as 'a sign of subservience'. But is the issue as simple as Nicolas Sarkozy thinks? Here 10 British women explain to Andrew Johnson why – to varying degrees – they choose to cover up... Doctors: 'Let us pray for patients' Daily Mirror Doctors are to demand the right to discuss religion with their patients and to pray for them.... The issue will be discussed at the British Medical Association (BMA) annual representative meeting which begins on Monday. Cancer specialist Dr Bernadette Birtwhistle, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said: "I think it is getting to the point where many of us feel we cannot talk to patients about their spiritual or religious needs or ask them about praying." [Doctors want right to talk faith - BBC News Online] Victim of British torture tells of his life of suffering Emily Dugan, Independent on Sunday Wambugu Wa Nyingi is smiling. He has survived torture, been crippled and left for dead. Now he is jubilant. "I'm happy that I'm coming to seek justice from the people who took away my life," says the 81-year-old. After a lifetime of suffering, Mr Nyingi is finally able to hope. He and four other elderly Kenyans have begun a landmark legal battle with the Government in Britain that goes to the heart of one of the dirtiest secrets of the British Empire. Leaving Kenya for the first time last week, they filed a case in the Royal Courts of Justice. Richard Dawkins backs atheist camp to give children 'godless alternative' (James Meikle guardian.co.uk) Sentencing delayed again [Neil MacGregor] (Asian Image) Saturday 27 June 2009 Veiled threats: row over Islamic dress opens bitter divisions in France Angelique Chrisafis, guardian.co.uk In the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, with its busy market, fast-food joints and bargain clothes shops, Angelica Winterstein only goes out once a week – and only if she really has to. "I feel like I'm being judged walking down the street. People tut or spit. In a smart area west of Paris, one man stopped his car and shouted: 'Why don't you go back to where you came from?' But I'm French, I couldn't be more French," said the 23-year-old... France's burka barrier Amel Boubekeur, Guardian CiF For a week now, the hundred or so French women who wear the sitar (a veil that covers the face, incorrectly referred to as the burka) or the niqab have been at the heart of the French political debate. Nicolas Sarkozy made a speech to parliament stating that the burka was not welcome in France as it was incompatible with women's rights and adding that France shouldn't be afraid to defend its values. Armed Forces Day mocks our military (Symon Hill, Guardian CiF) Are we losing the hijab or are we losing the fight? (MPACUK) Azad Ali cleared of wrongdoing by Civil Service investigation (iEngage) The third stage for Iranian totalitarianism? (Mad Mel's Blog) Church 'out of touch' on gays, says Times poll (Ruth Gledhill) MCB misrepresented (Islamophobia Watch) iKhutbah (Gary Bunt, Islam in Britain) The way he made us feel [Michael Jackson Obit.] (Zahed Amanullah, Alt. Muslim) West must respect the Muslim veil (Islamophobia Watch) Harry's Place debates the 'burka ban' (Islamophobia Watch) Monday 22 June 2009 End 'cruel' religious slaughter, say scientists Martin Hickman, Independent Religious slaughter techniques practised by Jews and Muslims are cruel and should be ended, says a scientific assessment from the Government's animal welfare advisers. The Farm Animal Welfare Council says that slitting the throats of the animals most commonly used for meat, chickens, without stunning, results in "significant pain and distress". The committee, which includes scientific, agricultural and veterinary experts, is calling for the Government to launch a debate with Muslim and Jewish communities to end the practice. Julie Burchill moves closer to Judaism Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk Writer and self-confessed Christian Zionist Julie Burchill has deepened her love affair with Judaism by becoming a regular at a Brighton synagogue. Burchill, who has expressed admiration for Jews on many occasions, has also started taking Hebrew classes at the Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue. According to Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah, the columnist has been a regular at Shabbat services for a month and has become a friend of the synagogue. She said that while membership was only for Jews, becoming a friend was open to everyone. Wilders to make second anti-Islam film (MPACUK) After scarves in schools, France mulls ban on burqas and niqabs (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld) Do animals have moral codes? Well, up to a point… (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld) Saturday 20 June 2009 In Tehran, fantasy and reality make uneasy bedfellows Robert Fisk, Independent Now for the very latest on the fantasy circuit. The cruel "Iranian" cops aren't Iranian at all. They are members of Lebanon's Hizbollah militia. I've had this one from two reporters, three phone callers (one from Lebanon) and a British politician. I've tried to talk to the cops. They cannot understand Arabic. They don't even look like Arabs, let alone Lebanese. The reality is that many of these street thugs have been brought in from Baluch areas and Zobal province... Three charged over group attack Margaret Davis, Press Association (Independent) Three people were charged with attempted murder today after violent clashes between white and Asian groups, police said. A 17-year-old boy was caught up in the violence in May last year and left with bleeding to the brain which required emergency surgery. Greater Manchester Police said a group of around 12 white men and boys were set upon by Asian attackers in Denehurst Park, Greave. 'I'm no hero' insists caretaker Asian Image A caretaker insists he is not a hero, despite saving his mosque from a suspected arson attack. Mohammad Kohelee, 62, rushed to put out the fire at the Greenwich Islamic Centre, at around 12.15am on Tuesday. He was left with burns to his left arm and the side of his face after tackling the blaze, allegedly started by vandals who cut through a chain to break into the centre’s car park. The caretaker said: “I was panicked but I wasn’t scared. Al-Muhajiroun: dangerous amateurs Nesrine Malik, Guardian CiF Al-Muhajiroun's first public outing after the Islamist group's reincarnation was supposed to take the shape of a debate between Anjem Choudary and Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, and was billed as The Great Debate: Sharia Law v British Law. I was rather surprised that Murray had agreed to the debate as it seemed to cement the view that he was the secular equivalent of Choudary but apparently he believed... An apathetic, greedy west has abandoned war-torn Congo Eve Ensler, Guardian In 1996, I was sitting with 20,000 grieving women in a stadium in Tuzla, Bosnia. The women were holding photographs of husbands, fathers, brothers, sons and boyfriends who had been disappeared a year earlier in a place called Srebrenica, a UN enclave where Bosnian refugees had turned over their protection to UN peacekeepers who stood passively by as 10,000 men were marched off to be slaughtered. Douglas Murray and Anjem Choudary – two self-publicists help each other out (Islamophobia Watch) World religious leaders hold their own G8 summit (Philip Pullella, FaithWorld) London’s Alcoholic Young Girls, Muslims (IslamOnline) Thursday 18 June 2009 Muslims angered at charge for white racist David Sapsted, The National A white supremacist will be sentenced today for threatening to blow up Scotland’s main mosque and behead Muslims. Neil MacGregor, who described himself to police as “a proud racist”, admitted at earlier court proceedings to threatening to bomb Glasgow Central Mosque and kill a Muslim a week until all the mosques in Scotland were closed. What has amazed and angered Muslims is that MacGregor’s plot has received scant mention in the Scottish press and none at all in the wider UK media. Monday 08 June 2009 Muslims have to change for themselves Abdullahi Ahmed an-Na'im, Guardian CiF To me, as a Muslim from Sudan, this dependency on external actors is part of the problem, signifying a neo-colonial state of mind among Muslims, thereby perpetuating ourselves as the subjects of empire, rather than self-determining persons and communities. I wish this was not the case, but since it is, we have to start somewhere, and Obama's speech can be a good start. (Text of Obama's speech) We wanted a world leader. We saw only a US president Ahdaf Soueif, Guardian There is a difference between believing that ultimately the interests of the inhabitants of the planet are genuinely interconnected and believing that the interests of the world can be made to seem compatible with America's. Obama has said that America should have not only the power but the moral standing to lead the world. Today we waited for him to demonstrate that moral standing and assume the leadership of the world. He did not; he remained the President of the United States. Mad Mel explains the BNP's success (Islamophobia Watch) In Memory of Ed Teague, Postman Patel (Craig Murray) Amnesty International Human Rights Report 2009 (Amnesty International) Radicalisation Series - Part I: The slippery slope of ethnic profiling (CLOSER) Muslim groups criticise helpline (BBC News Online) Monday 01 June 2009 Barack Obama extends hand of friendship to Muslim world Tim Reid, Times President Obama will seek to forge a new American relationship with the Muslim world this week during a long-awaited speech in Egypt in which he will heap praise on Islamic culture and give a personal commitment to a new era of co-operation. The address in Cairo will harness Mr Obama’s own ancestral ties to the religion as he begins the daunting task of reducing the deep mistrust of America felt by many of the world’s one billion Muslims. Let the odious al-Muhajiroun speak Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF "What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist." So argued the novelist Salman Rushdie at the height of the controversy over his book, the Satanic Verses. And – as I have admitted previously on Cif – I think he was right. Well, how strong our own commitment to freedom of expression is will shortly be put to an interesting test. Almost five years after they announced their disbandment, the controversial publicity-seeking – and frankly loathsome — Muslim group, al-Muhajiroun, have announced that they are to be relaunched. How to alienate Muslims even more Kawsar Zaman, Guardian CiF Young men say they were detained by MI5 agents simply by virtue of the fact that they were Muslim. They say they were then threatened that unless they provided intelligence for the security services they would face entirely false accusations of extremism. Over a period of 18 months they claimed to have been harassed by taunting phone calls, including one saying: "If you don't want anything to happen to your family you will co-operate." A gay Muslim in EastEnders? Big deal (Samia Rahman, Guardian CiF) God is merciful, but only if you're a man (Ophelia Benson, Observer)
index

Abu Dharr (Daily Terror) June-July 2009

Friday 31 July 2009
Nigerian army storms Islamist sect's base
David Smith, Guardian
Troops were last night on a door to door hunt for Islamist militants after government forces stormed the base of a self-styled Taliban leader and killed him and more than 100 rebels in an attempt to crush an uprising that has racked Nigeria.
[Nigeria Islamist group leader killed in police custody - David Smith, guardian.co.uk]

Is Boko Haram Nigeria's Taliban?
Cameron Duodu, Guardian CiF
Was it a case of an alleged violent criminal being deliberately executed while in police custody, or was he killed while making a genuine attempt to escape? These are the questions being asked in Nigeria about the death of 39-year-old Mohammed Yusuf, leader of the Boko Haram sect, who was killed on 30 July. His sect had exchanged fire law enforcement agencies over five days in several parts of Northern Nigeria.

Google’s abuse of power to take over popular YoutubeIslam.com
Faraz Omar, Saudi Gazette
Google has sent shockwaves in the online Muslim community by wrestling to take over the popular Islamic video sharing website YoutubeIslam.com. The website run for over three-and-a-half years by Sheikh Yusuf Estes, a popular da’ee in America, is 100 percent child safe and visited by thousands of net surfers...

News of the World in libel pay-out (Islamophobia Watch)
Dudley Council loses mosque battle (Islamophobia Watch)
MPACUK Press Release: Iraq Inquiry Opens (MPACUK)
Edmund Standing fails to understand the BNP's Islamophobia (Engage)

Wednesday 29 July 2009
What's it like being a gay Muslim?
Homa Khaleeli, The Guardian
Pav Akhtar is not usually a fan of soaps. But the 30-year-old local councillor and Unison worker has been paying special attention since EastEnders introduced its first gay Muslim character. Akhtar, the chair of Imaan, an organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims, advised the BBC on the storyline in the hope that the character of Syed Masood would help tackle the double discrimination of homophobia and Islamophobia that many gay Muslims face.

On the origin of education (Michael Reiss, Guardian CiF)

Tuesday 28 July 2009
Muslims welcome coverings for female police
Press Association, Independent
The force's women police officers and police community support officers are being given uniform-issue head coverings to be worn when they are on duty and entering places of worship. There are two versions of the head coverings to match the black of a police officer's uniform and the blue of the police community support officer uniforms. Both garments are embroidered with Avon and Somerset Constabulary emblem...
[Very PC police force issues its WPCs with Muslim headscarves complete with badge for mosque visits - Daily Fail]

Nigerian 'Taliban' offensive leaves 150 dead
David Smith, guardian.co.uk
A self-styled "Taliban" intent on imposing sharia law on all Nigerians widened its offensive yesterday in violence that has left 150 people dead. Boko Haram, an Islamic group opposed to western education, has launched attacks across four northern provinces over the last two days and declared its intention to fight to the death. Civilians were pulled from their cars and shot, their corpses then left scattered around the streets, witnesses told the BBC.

Who are you calling an Islamist? (Mehdi Hasan)
The Deeply Horrible Trevor Phillips and the NUS Monster Spawn (Craig Murray)
Religion, sex and money: the hedonism of scandal (islam, Muslims and an Anthropologist)
Sunny Hundal on the smearing of Mehdi Hasan (Islamophobia Watch)
JC editor plugs Bruce Bawer (Islamophobia Watch)
Torture – new claim of secret UK complicity (Helen Carter, Guardian - video)

Sunday 26 July 2009
Fears of an Islamic revolt in Europe begin to fade
Jason Burke & Ian Traynor, Observer
"There is no reason why immigrants in Europe are going to have more kids than in their countries of origin," Haub told the Observer. One Dutch study has shown that birthrates among Turkish and Moroccan-born women in the Netherlands dropped from 3.2 children per mother to 1.9, and from 4.9 to 2.9 respectively between 1990 and 2005. More radical predictions, such as the claim there will be a Muslim majority in the EU in the next half century, are just "plain silly"...

Muslim and Looking for Love (Channel 4)

Saturday 25 July 2009
Muslims Told to Conform
Brendan Abbott, Daily ~~Bollocks~~ Express
A PROMINENT Muslim leader is to issue a plea to abide by the law in Britain and not press for a separate parliament. Rafiq Hayat, head of the UK branch of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, will tell more than 30,000 followers that respecting the culture of the country they live in is key to their faith. He will also urge against sending children to Islamic schools. His remarks will be welcomed by ministers as a sign that Muslims are shunning political separatism.

Equality chief (Trevor Phillips) urged to quit post (BBC News Online)

Friday 24 July 2009
Muslim man critical after 'honour attack' with acid
Duncan Gardham, Telegraph
Police have warned the woman, also a Muslim, that her life is now in danger and are discussing how best to protect her. The 24-year-old man was attacked with sulphuric acid and stabbed by four men. He was blinded in one eye, suffered severe injuries to his tongue and throat and suffered 50 per cent burns. He was also stabbed twice in the back and attacked with bricks leaving him with fractures to his face.
['Honour' acid attack: Muslim wife under threat as her 'lover' is stabbed and maimed by masked gang - Daily Fail]
[Boy, 16, arrested after Muslim woman's lover is 'forced to drink acid' - Daily Fail]
[Muslim woman in fear after friend 'loses tongue in acid honour attack' - Times]

History used and abused in Israel
Ian Black, Guardian CiF
The problem with the Israel–Palestine conflict, someone once wisely observed, is that it involves too much history and not enough geography. The decision by Israel's education ministry to ban the use of the word "nakba" in textbooks for young Arab schoolchildren is one striking reminder of the clashing, if not irreconcilable historical narratives about what happened in 1948, when what Israelis call their "war of independence" became the Palestinians' "catastrophe" ("nakba" in Arabic).
[1948 no catastrophe says Israel, as term nakba banned from Arab children's textbooks - Ian Black, Guardian]

Western hostility to Islam is stoked by double standards and distortion
Alaa Al Aswany, Guardian CiF
Denny Pattyn is an American priest of a special kind. In 1996 in Arizona, he set up a programme by the name of the Silver Ring Thing with the aim of urging young Americans to refrain from sex before marriage, convincing them that it is fornication, and sinful. Pattyn regularly holds events attended by hundreds of young Americans who read the Bible with him and then pledge before the Lord to preserve their virginity for their future spouses.
[Letters to Guardian: Double standards, Islam and the west]

Non-Muslims turning to Sharia courts to resolve civil disputes
Fiona Hamilton, Times
Increasing numbers of non-Muslims are turning to Sharia courts to resolve commercial disputes and other civil matters, The Times has learnt. The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT) said that 5 per cent of its cases involved non-Muslims who were using the courts because they were less cumbersome and more informal than the English legal system. Freed Chedie, a spokesman for Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siqqiqi, a barrister who set up the tribunal, said...

Scholar denies that Islamic divorce procedure is biased against women
Fiona Hamilton, Times
Opponents of Sharia have long complained that it involves an inherent bias against women and treats them as second-rate citizens. For visitors to the Islamic Sharia court in Leyton, East London, all it takes is a glance at the wall of the reception to shatter any remaining illusions of equality. A flow chart outlines the process of obtaining an Islamic divorce. The left side of the chart, depicting the procedure for a man, is relatively simple...

Martin Bright threatens legal action against ENGAGE (Islamophobia Watch)
Watch Out for Jihad Watch (Tabsir)
Italy: Muslims to hold summer camp in quake hit region (Islam in Europe)
Telegraph writer terms the burning of the Satanic Verses as 'Perfect instance of Islamo-fascism' (Engage)
Boo hoo! Anti-Muslim social engineering rules hit white couple (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Newsweek debunks the Eurabia thesis (Engage)
Muslim fashion: 'Anyone can wear these clothes' (Riazat Butt and Hildegunn Soldal, guardian.co.uk - video)
Martin 'The Great Koran Con Trick' Bright criticises MCB libel win (Engage)
A note on the new Centre for the Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies (IMA)
There really is no compulsion (Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF)
Testing Times for UK Muslims (Inayat Bunglawala, Islam Online)

Friday 17 July 2009
Martin Amis's Iran fantasia
Abbas Barzegar, Guardian CiF
Some 20-odd years ago, not out of any sense of patriotism or self-defence, young Iranians with bombs strapped to them dived under advancing Iraqi tanks. Khomeini promised them a few dozen virgins you see. Now, as Martin Amis tells us today, that evil genius's followers, hungrier than ever, are combining apocalyptic zeal with advanced nuclear engineering to usher in the Messiah, destroy western civilisation, and kill every remaining Iranian who isn't a mullah or mindless fanatic.

Isa Ibrahim: converted to radical Islam online
Sean O’Neill, Times
Andrew Ibrahim discovered the preachings of Abu Hamza al-Masri, the hook-handed former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque more than two years after the extremist cleric had been jailed. Lost in drugs, loneliness and anger he was enticed by the message of a radical religion which seemed to condemn the world he felt isolated from and offer a warped way to solve all his problems.
[Former public schoolboy Isa Ibrahim convicted of planning 'carnage' -- Times]

BBC in £45,000 libel payout to Muslim Council of Britain leader
Staff and agencies, guardian.co.uk
The BBC today paid the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain £45,000 damages over comments made by on Question Time by the former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore. Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari had brought libel proceedings in London's high court over a broadcast in March, when Moore claimed on Question Time that the leadership of the Muslim Council of Britain condoned the kidnapping and killing of British soldiers.
[MCB secures full apology and £45,000 in damages from BBC -Engage]

'Iranian Bob Dylan' sentenced to five years for singing Qur'an
Sean Michaels, guardian.co.uk
Mohsen Namjoo, a singer-songwriter who has been described as the "Iranian Bob Dylan", has been sentenced to five years in prison for recording music that "dishonours" passages from the Qur'an. The sentencing was in absentia, as Namjoo lives in Vienna. The musician was convicted for "his unconventional singing" of the Muslim holy book, according to the Etemad Melli newspaper.

Anglican schism: Is this it? (Ruth Gledhill)
'How would liberals like it if 10,000 Muslims moved into the area?' fascist asks (Islamophobia Watch)

Wednesday 15 July 2009
Why Muslim women are unemployed
Andrew Brown, Guardian
Why don't Muslim women work outside the home? The Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim communities in this country contain many of the poorest and least employed women in Britain. Why are they both poor and unemployed? Is it racism, or religion, or some combination of the two? A report from the Quilliam Foundation dismisses both these simple answers and suggests some complex and worrying ones.

Fixing Pakistan's madrasas
Mustafa Qadri, Guardian CiF
For many, Pakistan conjures up images of young boys trained to wage religious war against the world. Shehzad Tanveer, one of four young men who blew themselves up in the London underground four years ago this month spent several weeks in a Pakistani madrasa. According to most security analysts internationally, Pakistan's madrasas are effectively jihadi factories spreading terrorism around the world. But at a hotel conference hall in Islamabad, I spoke to religious scholars and madrasa teachers about broadening the pedagogical scope of Pakistan's seminaries...

Woman jailed for Muslim blackmail (Asian Image)
CSC report fails to address BNP's anti-Muslim racism (Islamophobia Watch)
'It's a white country, not a Muslim state', BNP supporter told Asian neighbours (Islamophobia Watch)
Islamophobia in Germany? Berlin wakes up after outcry over killing (Madeline Chambers, FaithWorld)
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Wearing the burqa is neither Islamic nor socially acceptable (iEngage)
Archbishop of Canterbury 'regrets' TEC move to gay ordination (Ruth Gledhill)
France may ban burqas, but chic abayas for export are fine (Sophie Hardach, FaithWorld)

Sunday 12 July 2009
'Kill soldiers' Muslim blogger is back in job as Treasury civil servant
Mail On Sunday
A Muslim civil servant suspended amid claims that he used his personal website to justify the killing of British troops in Iraq has returned to work at the Treasury. Azad Ali, an IT worker and president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, was suspended on full pay for six months following comments on his blog. In one post Mr Ali quoted an interview with an Islamic militant who said: ‘If I saw an American or British man wearing a soldier’s uniform inside Iraq I would kill him because that is my obligation...'
[See: Mail on Sunday replies to complaint over Azad Ali story -Islamophobia Watch 01/09]
[Former Hazel Blears advisor displays anti-Muslim bigotry once again in this week's Jewish Chronicle -iEngage]

Metaphysical mistake
Karen Armstrong, Guardian CiF
The extraordinary and eccentric emphasis on "belief" in Christianity today is an accident of history that has distorted our understanding of religious truth. We call religious people "believers", as though acceptance of a set of doctrines was their principal activity, and before undertaking the religious life many feel obliged to satisfy themselves about the metaphysical claims of the church, which cannot be proven rationally since they lie beyond the reach of empirical sense data.

Know your enemy
Mehdi Hasan, New Statesman
Imagine, for a moment, that Neil Lewington, who is on trial at the Old Bailey for preparing for a “campaign of terrorism” using tennis-ball bombs, was a British Muslim. The story would be splashed across the front page of every newspaper in Britain, and Sky News would be rolling a loop of images of his scowling, bearded, dark face. The reality, however, is that you’ve probably never heard of Lewington (who denies all eight charges of terrorism) because he is not Muslim, or black, or of Asian origin. He is white.

Church accuses Government of favouring Muslims
Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Telegraph
Parishes are being starved of state funds to help the poor as a result of money being diverted to other faiths, senior clergy told the General Synod, which is meeting in York. A report endorsed by Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, claimed that the Government had become "unbalanced" in its approach to faith groups. It argued that the determination of ministers to tackle Islamic extremism in the wake of the London bombings on July 7, 2005, had led to a preoccupation with Muslim communities at the expense of Christian groups.

Mail on Sunday apologises to Inayat Bunglawala (Islamophobia Watch)
Review of "Does God Hate Women?" (Indigo Jo Blogs)
The words of God do not justify cruelty to women (Jimmy Carter The Observer)
We must not forget Srebrenica (Muhammad Abdul Bari, Guardian CiF)

Friday 10 July 2009
Anti-Islamic attacks are not history
Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF
I blogged here a couple of weeks ago about how anti-Muslim violence appears to be on the increase following a recent spate of arson attacks on mosques in the UK. Since then, there have been a number of additional worrying incidents including the torching of an Islamic charity shop last week in Glasgow following the receipt of threatening hate messages. Last week there was also an arson attack on the home of a Muslim community organiser, Noor Ramjanally, in Loughton, Essex, after he was sent a threatening letter by suspected far-right activists.

A murder that Germany ignored
Anja Seeliger, Guardian CiF
The first news agency reports on the murder of Marwa al-Sherbini informed the German public that a defendant had murdered a witness in the district court of Dresden. The reason was a quarrel in a children's playground. No mention that the witness was a Muslim woman. No mention that the playground quarrel had culminated in the defendant shouting at the woman "Islamist", "Muslim bitch" and "terrorist". The German press reported on the case on the back page...

New video from Riz MC
Jerome Taylor, Independent
It's a bit late because I've been out the office for most of this week but there's a great new music video from Riz MC - a Muslim rapper who is going places rather fast. Otherwise known as Rizwan Ahmed, most people will recognise him from the controversial Channel 4 drama Britz, which told the lives of a British-Pakistani brother and sister - one of whom joins MI5 to combat radicalism while the other becomes a suicide bomber.

7/7 (Islam in Britain)
The witness of Soraya M. (Jennifer S. Bryson, Alt.Muslimah)
Terrorists getting easy ride from media and law (Indigo Jo Blogs)
BNP's Griffin: Islam is a cancer (Islamophobia Watch)
Griffen on Islam (Islam in Britain)
Major book from Qaradawi reviewed (Islamophobia Watch)
Anti Muslim Protesters Demo In Brum (MPACUK) [See also: Paul Ray admits to BNP links]
Fear of further mob violence prompts Uighurs to leave Urumqi (Tania Branigan, Guardian)
Algeria also opts for “Sufi card” to fight Islamist extremism (Lamine Chikhi, FaithWorld)
Debating a burqa ban with a French MP — in English (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)

Wednesday 08 July 2009
Three jailed for arson attack over Muhammad bride novel
Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
Three Muslim men were jailed today for an arson attack on the home of the publisher of a novel about Aisha, the child bride of the prophet Muhammad. The trio poured diesel on the front door of the house in Islington, north London, and set it on fire. The attack in September last year took place days before Martin Rynja's company, Gibson Square, was scheduled to publish The Jewel of Medina, by the American author Sherry Jones.

The headscarf martyr: murder in German court sparks Egyptian fury
Kate Connolly & Jack Shenker, guardian.co.uk
It was while Marwa el-Sherbini was in the dock recalling how the accused had insulted her for wearing the hijab after she asked him to let her son sit on a swing last summer, that the very same man strode across the Dresden courtroom and plunged a knife into her 18 times. Her three-year-old son Mustafa was forced to watch as his mother slumped to the courtroom floor. Even her husband Elvi Ali Okaz could do nothing...

Soaked in blood indeed (Indigo Jo Blogs)
France begins hearings on banning the veil (Islamophobia Watch)
Secret 'Sharia court' claims are rejected (Islamophobia Watch)
Former Commander of UK forces in Afghanistan praises Israel's actions in Gaza (iEngage)
Divan 2.0 (featuring moi) is up (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Head of Islamic community group in Loughton subject to arson attack (Islamophobia Watch)
The price of bigotry (and it’s for real this time) (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Paul Ray admits to BNP links (Islamophobia Watch)
The dos and don’ts of defending Muslim women (Fatemeh Fakhraie, Alt.Muslimah)
Jameel prize seeks the next star of Islamic art (Guardian)

Monday 06 July 2009
Bomb seizures spark far-right terror plot fear
David Leppard, Times
A network of suspected far-right extremists with access to 300 weapons and 80 bombs has been uncovered by counter-terrorism detectives. Thirty-two people have been questioned in a police operation that raises the prospect of a right-wing bombing campaign against mosques. Police are said to have recovered a British National party membership card and other right-wing literature during a raid on the home of one suspect charged under the Terrorism Act.

Better sex - with help from the Qur'an
Robert Worth, Observer
Wedad Lootah does not look like a sexual activist. A Muslim and a native Emirati, she wears a full-length black niqab - with only her brown eyes showing through narrow slits - and sprinkles her conversation with quotes from the Qur'an. Yet she is also the author of what for the Middle East is an amazingly frank new book of erotic advice. Top Secret: Sexual Guidance for Married Couples is packed with anecdotes from Lootah's eight years as a marital counsellor in Dubai.

DC Comics' superheroes join forces with characters inspired by Allah
Riazat Butt, Observer
They are superheroes battling injustice and fighting evil the Islamic way, and they are teaming up with some of the west's biggest comic book icons. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are among those joining forces with The 99, who personify the 99 attributes of Allah, according to Islamic tradition. What will unfold on the pages of the collaboration between DC Comics in the US and Teshkeel Comics in Kuwait is yet to be seen...

Egypt funeral for stabbing victim (Islamophobia Watch)
Review of Channel 4’s “Revelations: Islamic school” (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Sharia across the pond (Luke W Goodrich, Guardian CiF)
Putting the rock into Morocco (James Copnall, BBC News Online)
China locks down western province after ethnic riots kill 140 (T. Branigan, guardian.co.uk)
Father Ted creators back challenge to the blasphemy bill [Ireland] (Henry McDonald, Observer)
Muslim Uighurs riot as ethnic tensions rise in western China (Tania Branigan & Jonathan Watts, guardian.co.uk)
Rabat bets on better imams to counter extremist Islam (Tom Pfeiffer, FaithWorld)
Islamic charity shop set on fire after repeated threats (Islamophobia Watch)
World's oldest bible goes online [here] (Maev Kennedy, Guardian)

Saturday 04 July 2009
Darwin's doubters
Nick Spencer, Guardian CiF
When the public theology think tank Theos published its study into evolution and theism in the UK earlier this year, it found that people in London were consistently more ignorant of and hostile towards Darwinism than those who lived elsewhere. Although Londoners were more likely to know that 2009 was Darwin's big anniversary, they were less likely to know what he was famous for (63% said evolution vs 70% nationally), more likely to believe that humans had been created by God at some point in the last 10,000 years (20% vs 17%), and less likely to agree that "evolution is a theory so well established that it's beyond reasonable doubt" (28% vs 37%).

A lifeline for those forced to marry
Rahila Gupta, Guardian CiF
In 2008, the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) dealt with 420 cases, up from 300 in 2006. This increase can be attributed to a greater awareness of the issue as a result of campaigning, and the government's sympathetic response in terms of protections offered to women and girls at risk through guidance to statutory agencies, as well as the passing of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act in 2007. The FMU's comprehensive set of guidelines...

To read is to travel: The rise of the Muslim woman’s memoir
Tasnim Qutait, Alt.Muslimah
Mohja Kahf has argued that the existing paradigm for stories about or by Muslim women relies on stereotypical images which have dominated Western representations of Muslim women since the 18th century. These clichés fall into two broad categories: victim and escapee. The story of the victim is characterized by stasis – the marginalized woman on the edges of society, the girl sequestered in her room, the concubine revamped. The escapee, on the other hand, is an agent capable of action, who breaks through a life of suppression to flee to the Western world, where she finds a secular haven.

Fear and the Fourth of July [Noam Chomsky on US Identity] (Frankie Martin, Guardian CiF)
Former Hazel Blears advisor displays anti-Muslim bigotry once again in this week's Jewish Chronicle (iEngage)

Friday 03 July 2009
Islamic dress row dentist can carry on
Paula Fentiman, Press Association/Independent
A dentist who told Muslim patients he would treat them only if they wore Islamic dress will be able to continue to practise, a disciplinary panel ruled today. The panel concluded that he sought to impose a dress code on Muslim patients while working at the Unsworth Smile Clinic in Bury, Greater Manchester, between April 2005 and June 2007. Dr Butt "discriminated" against people and "did not act in the best interests of his patients", the panel found.

Find God, win a trip to Mecca (or Jerusalem, or Tibet)
Robert Tait, guardian.co.uk
A new gameshow offers a prize arguably greater than that offered by Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Contestants will ponder whether to believe or not to believe when they pit their godless convictions against the possibilities of a new relationship with the almighty on Penitents Compete (Tovbekarlar Yarisiyor in Turkish), to be broadcast by the Kanal T station. Four spiritual guides from the different religions will seek to convert at least one of the 10 atheists in each programme to their faith.

Teachers' anti-discrimination code reworded after faith groups object
Polly Curtis, guardian.co.uk
The General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) was today accused of watering down a new code of conduct for teachers after faith groups objected to a ruling that would force them to "promote equality and value diversity", including challenging homophobia and supporting homosexuality. A briefing document seen by the Guardian reveals substantial changes to a crucial section of the code designed to tackle discrimination in schools.

Should hajj 2009 be cancelled? (Riazat Butt guardian.co.uk)
Conspiracy fever: As rumours swell that the government staged 7/7, victims' relatives call for a proper inquiry (Daily Fail)
Teachers, doctors and police given guidelines on forced marriage (Staff and agencies, guardian.co.uk)
Tests for mosque bomb threat man (BBC News Online)
Inside a Pakistani school where children are being brainwashed into terrorists (Islamophobia Watch)
A setback in the struggle against the Islamification of the West (Islamophobia Watch)
Take It Off, Or We’ll Make You: On Sarkozy’s Proposed Burqa Ban (Shabana Mir, Religion Dispatches)

Wednesday 01July 2009
Police Give Muslims in Cells Compasses To Pray Towards Mecca
Mark Reynolds, Daily Express
POLICE will issue a compass to all Muslims detained in cells – so they can face Mecca when praying. To make sure they face the holy site, the Norfolk force has already painted the ceiling of some cells to point them in the right direction. Chief Inspector Roger Wiltshire, head of custody services, said either a ceiling compass would be painted or hand-held compasses would be issued to detainees. He said a basic stencil is used to paint the ceiling compasses.
[More anti-Muslim nonsense from the Express - Islamophobia Watch]

Sharia law and me
Zeinab Huq, Guardian CiF
The headlines will tell you there are at least 85 sharia courts in Britain. There are definitely more and they have little to do with gavels and wigs and more to do with upholding the cultural and tribal status quo in communities. Having been on the receiving end of sharia rulings – I must make it clear that sharia courts are often nothing of the sort and are more likely to be an imam at the end of a phone I can speak about the arbitrary and random nature of these bodies.

Hajj officials confront swine flu threat
Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk
The elderly, young, infirm and pregnant should stay away from this year's hajj to avoid catching swine flu, Saudi health officials said today. Their recommendations followed a workshop aimed at minimising the spread of the disease during the pilgrimage season, which attracts about 4 million Muslims from around the world. Other measures include vaccinating people at least a fortnight before their arrival in the country and...

Denis MacEoin misrepresents the Shari’ah again (Indigo Jo Blogs)
The Woodcraft Folk are not atheists (Danny Rowe, Guardian CiF)
Praying for patients: debate taking place now (Ruth Gledhill)
Nun and priest 'kissing ad' banned (Ruth Gledhill)
Muslims in Europe: The Scottish example [Osama Saeed] (Zahed Amanullah, Alt.Muslim)

Tuesday 30 June 2009
Catholic school bars Muslim teacher who refused to remove face veil so staff could identify her
James Tozer, Mail
A Muslim teacher was barred from a Roman Catholic college after refusing to remove her full-face veil so staff could identify her. The woman, who works at an Islamic school, opted to leave instead and now the college could face a claim of religious discrimination. The teacher was at an open day at the sixth-form college with two female pupils, all of them wearing niqabs showing only their eyes.
[Muslim pupils and teacher ordered to remove veils - Telegraph; also BBC Online, Times, etc ]

Don't demonise sharia courts
Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF
It is not difficult to go and visit sharia courts. There was an interesting write-up by Dan Bell in the Guardian a couple of years ago about the best-known sharia council in London. He found that: "The Muslims who consult the Islamic Sharia Council are not asking for permission to stone adulterous wives, or chop off the hands of thieves, but simply for day-to-day guidance on living in accordance with their faith."

Islamic Civilization in Peril (Tabsir)

Monday 29 June 2009
Britain has 85 sharia courts: The astonishing spread of the Islamic justice behind closed doors
Steve Doughty, Daily Fail
At least 85 Islamic sharia courts are operating in Britain, a study claimed yesterday. The astonishing figure is 17 times higher than previously accepted. The tribunals, working mainly from mosques, settle financial and family disputes according to religious principles. They lay down judgments which can be given full legal status if approved in national law courts. The study by Denis MacEoin estimates there are at least 85 working tribunals.
[85 sharia courts in UK, says report - Mirror]
[Dozens of sharia courts are giving illegal advice, claims Civitas report - Guardian]
[At least 85 sharia 'courts' operating in Britain, says Civitas report - Telegraph]
[Claim 85 sharia courts 'in operation' - Asian Image]
[No to sharia law in Britain - Denis MacEoin, Guardian CiF]
[UK has 80 plus sharia courts - The Sun]

The shocking picture of a white boy aged 11 being 'converted' to Islam by radical preacher
Daily Mail Reporter, Daily Fail
This is the shocking picture of a young, white schoolboy being converted to Islam by a cleric linked to a radical Muslim hate preacher. The bewildered 11-year-old, who gives his name as Sean was filmed repeating Arabic chants and swearing allegiance to Allah. The boy is prompted throughout by controversial cleric Anjem Choudary, a follower of exiled hate-preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed.

Prosecutors press for action against BNP leaflets
Afua Hirsch and Matthew Taylor, guardian.co.uk
Senior prosecutors are calling for the laws on race hate crimes to be strengthened to counter the threat posed by the British National party. The threshold for securing a conviction is so high that far-right activists are able to evade prosecution for material that many people would consider to be threatening and racist, according to sources at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Toube demands an apology (Islamophobia Watch)
Beyond the burqa (Rafia Zakaria, Alt. Muslim)
Muslim Women are People too (Islamicate)
A Fracture in Belief – Morden Islamic Centre (Suspect Paki)
Dialectical dilemma over the burka (Letters, Guardian)
Closing the week 26 (Closer)
Muslims’ needs and the cause of Islam (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Iran warned by EU after British embassy workers arrested (Ian Black, guardian.co.uk)

Sunday 28 June 2009
The hijab debate: 'I don't want to be judged on my looks'
Independent on Sunday
The President of France caused a furore last week when he described the head covering worn by Muslim women as 'a sign of subservience'. But is the issue as simple as Nicolas Sarkozy thinks? Here 10 British women explain to Andrew Johnson why – to varying degrees – they choose to cover up...

Doctors: 'Let us pray for patients'
Daily Mirror
Doctors are to demand the right to discuss religion with their patients and to pray for them.... The issue will be discussed at the British Medical Association (BMA) annual representative meeting which begins on Monday. Cancer specialist Dr Bernadette Birtwhistle, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said: "I think it is getting to the point where many of us feel we cannot talk to patients about their spiritual or religious needs or ask them about praying."
[Doctors want right to talk faith - BBC News Online]

Victim of British torture tells of his life of suffering
Emily Dugan, Independent on Sunday
Wambugu Wa Nyingi is smiling. He has survived torture, been crippled and left for dead. Now he is jubilant. "I'm happy that I'm coming to seek justice from the people who took away my life," says the 81-year-old. After a lifetime of suffering, Mr Nyingi is finally able to hope. He and four other elderly Kenyans have begun a landmark legal battle with the Government in Britain that goes to the heart of one of the dirtiest secrets of the British Empire. Leaving Kenya for the first time last week, they filed a case in the Royal Courts of Justice.

Richard Dawkins backs atheist camp to give children 'godless alternative' (James Meikle guardian.co.uk)
Sentencing delayed again [Neil MacGregor] (Asian Image)

Saturday 27 June 2009
Veiled threats: row over Islamic dress opens bitter divisions in France
Angelique Chrisafis, guardian.co.uk
In the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, with its busy market, fast-food joints and bargain clothes shops, Angelica Winterstein only goes out once a week – and only if she really has to. "I feel like I'm being judged walking down the street. People tut or spit. In a smart area west of Paris, one man stopped his car and shouted: 'Why don't you go back to where you came from?' But I'm French, I couldn't be more French," said the 23-year-old...

France's burka barrier
Amel Boubekeur, Guardian CiF
For a week now, the hundred or so French women who wear the sitar (a veil that covers the face, incorrectly referred to as the burka) or the niqab have been at the heart of the French political debate. Nicolas Sarkozy made a speech to parliament stating that the burka was not welcome in France as it was incompatible with women's rights and adding that France shouldn't be afraid to defend its values.

Armed Forces Day mocks our military (Symon Hill, Guardian CiF)
Are we losing the hijab or are we losing the fight? (MPACUK)
Azad Ali cleared of wrongdoing by Civil Service investigation (iEngage)
The third stage for Iranian totalitarianism? (Mad Mel's Blog)
Church 'out of touch' on gays, says Times poll (Ruth Gledhill)
MCB misrepresented (Islamophobia Watch)
iKhutbah (Gary Bunt, Islam in Britain)
The way he made us feel [Michael Jackson Obit.] (Zahed Amanullah, Alt. Muslim)
West must respect the Muslim veil (Islamophobia Watch)
Harry's Place debates the 'burka ban' (Islamophobia Watch)

Monday 22 June 2009
End 'cruel' religious slaughter, say scientists
Martin Hickman, Independent
Religious slaughter techniques practised by Jews and Muslims are cruel and should be ended, says a scientific assessment from the Government's animal welfare advisers. The Farm Animal Welfare Council says that slitting the throats of the animals most commonly used for meat, chickens, without stunning, results in "significant pain and distress". The committee, which includes scientific, agricultural and veterinary experts, is calling for the Government to launch a debate with Muslim and Jewish communities to end the practice.

Julie Burchill moves closer to Judaism
Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk
Writer and self-confessed Christian Zionist Julie Burchill has deepened her love affair with Judaism by becoming a regular at a Brighton synagogue. Burchill, who has expressed admiration for Jews on many occasions, has also started taking Hebrew classes at the Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue. According to Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah, the columnist has been a regular at Shabbat services for a month and has become a friend of the synagogue. She said that while membership was only for Jews, becoming a friend was open to everyone.

Wilders to make second anti-Islam film (MPACUK)
After scarves in schools, France mulls ban on burqas and niqabs (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)
Do animals have moral codes? Well, up to a point… (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)

Saturday 20 June 2009
In Tehran, fantasy and reality make uneasy bedfellows
Robert Fisk, Independent
Now for the very latest on the fantasy circuit. The cruel "Iranian" cops aren't Iranian at all. They are members of Lebanon's Hizbollah militia. I've had this one from two reporters, three phone callers (one from Lebanon) and a British politician. I've tried to talk to the cops. They cannot understand Arabic. They don't even look like Arabs, let alone Lebanese. The reality is that many of these street thugs have been brought in from Baluch areas and Zobal province...

Three charged over group attack
Margaret Davis, Press Association (Independent)
Three people were charged with attempted murder today after violent clashes between white and Asian groups, police said. A 17-year-old boy was caught up in the violence in May last year and left with bleeding to the brain which required emergency surgery. Greater Manchester Police said a group of around 12 white men and boys were set upon by Asian attackers in Denehurst Park, Greave.

'I'm no hero' insists caretaker
Asian Image
A caretaker insists he is not a hero, despite saving his mosque from a suspected arson attack. Mohammad Kohelee, 62, rushed to put out the fire at the Greenwich Islamic Centre, at around 12.15am on Tuesday. He was left with burns to his left arm and the side of his face after tackling the blaze, allegedly started by vandals who cut through a chain to break into the centre’s car park. The caretaker said: “I was panicked but I wasn’t scared.

Al-Muhajiroun: dangerous amateurs
Nesrine Malik, Guardian CiF
Al-Muhajiroun's first public outing after the Islamist group's reincarnation was supposed to take the shape of a debate between Anjem Choudary and Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, and was billed as The Great Debate: Sharia Law v British Law. I was rather surprised that Murray had agreed to the debate as it seemed to cement the view that he was the secular equivalent of Choudary but apparently he believed...

An apathetic, greedy west has abandoned war-torn Congo
Eve Ensler, Guardian
In 1996, I was sitting with 20,000 grieving women in a stadium in Tuzla, Bosnia. The women were holding photographs of husbands, fathers, brothers, sons and boyfriends who had been disappeared a year earlier in a place called Srebrenica, a UN enclave where Bosnian refugees had turned over their protection to UN peacekeepers who stood passively by as 10,000 men were marched off to be slaughtered.

Douglas Murray and Anjem Choudary – two self-publicists help each other out (Islamophobia Watch)
World religious leaders hold their own G8 summit (Philip Pullella, FaithWorld)
London’s Alcoholic Young Girls, Muslims (IslamOnline)

Thursday 18 June 2009
Muslims angered at charge for white racist
David Sapsted, The National
A white supremacist will be sentenced today for threatening to blow up Scotland’s main mosque and behead Muslims. Neil MacGregor, who described himself to police as “a proud racist”, admitted at earlier court proceedings to threatening to bomb Glasgow Central Mosque and kill a Muslim a week until all the mosques in Scotland were closed. What has amazed and angered Muslims is that MacGregor’s plot has received scant mention in the Scottish press and none at all in the wider UK media.

Monday 08 June 2009
Muslims have to change for themselves
Abdullahi Ahmed an-Na'im, Guardian CiF
To me, as a Muslim from Sudan, this dependency on external actors is part of the problem, signifying a neo-colonial state of mind among Muslims, thereby perpetuating ourselves as the subjects of empire, rather than self-determining persons and communities. I wish this was not the case, but since it is, we have to start somewhere, and Obama's speech can be a good start. (Text of Obama's speech)

We wanted a world leader. We saw only a US president
Ahdaf Soueif, Guardian
There is a difference between believing that ultimately the interests of the inhabitants of the planet are genuinely interconnected and believing that the interests of the world can be made to seem compatible with America's. Obama has said that America should have not only the power but the moral standing to lead the world. Today we waited for him to demonstrate that moral standing and assume the leadership of the world. He did not; he remained the President of the United States.

Mad Mel explains the BNP's success (Islamophobia Watch)
In Memory of Ed Teague, Postman Patel (Craig Murray)
Amnesty International Human Rights Report 2009 (Amnesty International)
Radicalisation Series - Part I: The slippery slope of ethnic profiling (CLOSER)
Muslim groups criticise helpline (BBC News Online)

Monday 01 June 2009
Barack Obama extends hand of friendship to Muslim world
Tim Reid, Times
President Obama will seek to forge a new American relationship with the Muslim world this week during a long-awaited speech in Egypt in which he will heap praise on Islamic culture and give a personal commitment to a new era of co-operation. The address in Cairo will harness Mr Obama’s own ancestral ties to the religion as he begins the daunting task of reducing the deep mistrust of America felt by many of the world’s one billion Muslims.

Let the odious al-Muhajiroun speak
Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF
"What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist." So argued the novelist Salman Rushdie at the height of the controversy over his book, the Satanic Verses. And – as I have admitted previously on Cif – I think he was right. Well, how strong our own commitment to freedom of expression is will shortly be put to an interesting test. Almost five years after they announced their disbandment, the controversial publicity-seeking – and frankly loathsome — Muslim group, al-Muhajiroun, have announced that they are to be relaunched.

How to alienate Muslims even more
Kawsar Zaman, Guardian CiF
Young men say they were detained by MI5 agents simply by virtue of the fact that they were Muslim. They say they were then threatened that unless they provided intelligence for the security services they would face entirely false accusations of extremism. Over a period of 18 months they claimed to have been harassed by taunting phone calls, including one saying: "If you don't want anything to happen to your family you will co-operate."

A gay Muslim in EastEnders? Big deal (Samia Rahman, Guardian CiF)
God is merciful, but only if you're a man (Ophelia Benson, Observer)

index

daily terror
			A.D. archive June-July 2009