Abu Dharr April-May 2009

Abu Dharr (Daily Terror) April-May 2009
Friday 29 May 2009 Tutu, an archbishop for unbelievers John Harris, Guardian CiF Come Dawkinsites and Hitchenistas, militant atheists and unrelenting secularists: not that I am a believer, you understand, but if you want a sobering lesson in the fact that religion can be a thoroughly progressive force and a source of hope in otherwise desperate circumstances – to quote Karl Marx out of context, "the heart in a heartless world" – well, you really should spend an hour and a bit in the company of the former archbishop of Cape Town. Desmond Tutu spoke at the Hay festival last night... Muslims urged to vote to keep out extremist parties Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk Muslim scholars in Britain have urged the country's imams to stress the importance of local and European elections during their sermons, warning that a low turnout could lead to "openly anti-Muslim parties" gaining national and international prominence. In a joint statement issued yesterday they called for imams to discuss the need to vote with their congregations as part of their khutbahs – the sermon delivered before Friday afternoon prayers. EastEnders: Muslim character to have gay love affair Leigh Holmwood and Gareth McLean, guardian.co.uk EastEnders is to tackle one of the last taboos left in soap, with a storyline featuring a Muslim character embarking on a gay love affair. MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal that the plot, which will hit screens in mid-June, will see Syed Masood, a Muslim property developer with a girlfriend who arrived in Albert Square six weeks ago, fall for openly gay Christian Clarke. The pair will share an on-screen kiss. The BBC has billed the storyline as a "traditional love affair, albeit with a modern multicultural twist". Monday 25 May 2009 Trouble flares as Luton residents protest over Muslim extremists Home staff, Times Nine people were arrested yesterday after trouble flared during a protest march against supposed Muslim extremists. The march in Luton was said to be a protest against an earlier demonstration during the Royal Anglian Regiment’s homecoming parade when soldiers were heckled on their return from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Yesterday there were about 500 protesters, some carrying banners with slogans such as “No Sharia Law in the UK” and “Respect our Troops”. Friday 22 May 2009 Home Secretary was warned of MI5's 'blackmailing of Muslims' Robert Verkaik, Guardian The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, was warned nine months ago about MI5's alleged campaign of blackmail and intimidation against a group of young Muslim men, The Independent has learnt. Veteran Labour MP Frank Dobson wrote to Ms Smith in September about concerns raised by a north London community leader who claimed six youth workers had endured an 18-month campaign of threats and coercion in an attempt to recruit them as informants on their friends and neighbours. Wednesday 13 May 2009 Muslim to head BBC religious programmes Leigh Holmwood, The Guardian The BBC has appointed its first Muslim head of religious programming, only the second time in its 87-year history a non-Christian has taken the role. Channel 4 executive Aaqil Ahmed, who commissioned Christianity: A History, The Qur'an and the Bafta-winning Saving Africa's Witch Children while at the commercial broadcaster, is expected to take up the position this summer. The only previous non-Christian head of religious programming at the BBC was agnostic Alan Bookbinder... [Welcoming the BBC's Muslim head of religion -Sunny Hundal; see also Islamophobia Watch] Pope Benedict XVI visits holy sites (Steve Bell, Guardian) A response to “The dehijabization phenomenon” (Rifk Ebeid- AltMuslimah.com) Monday 11 May 2009 I'd be happy if the new laureate blew all her money on the horses or invested in fetish gear Germaine Greer, The Guardian Dear Carol Ann Duffy, congratulations, I think. I was surprised when you accepted the laureateship because I had you down as a republican. You're probably fed up with being hailed not only as the first woman to hold this thankless job, but the first Scot, the first bisexual, the first lesbian, the first single mum, the first Catholic and, for all I know, the first Capricorn. If you'd been black and disabled, you'd have ticked all the boxes. The Breathtaking Hypocrisy of Tory Bloggers (Craig Murray) Sunday 10 May 2009 London's Little Afghanistan Reza Mohammadi, Guardian CiF When I first moved to London, I found it intriguing that it was actually possible to speak Farsi there. I stayed in Hyde Park, and around my hotel there were numerous Iranian restaurants. Walking on London's streets, one could easily find people who spoke Farsi. In the north and west of the city, about 70% of taxi drivers are either Afghan or Iranian. So it didn't take me long to meet many fellow Afghans, and be introduced to their restaurants, eateries and associations. Fatwa advice line el-Hatef el-Islami to launch in UK Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk Next month sees the UK launch of el-Hatef el-Islami, one of the world's most popular Islamic hotlines. Dubbed dial-a-fatwa and dial-a-sheikh in its native Egypt, it will draw on the expertise of scholars from Cairo's al-Azhar University to provide perplexed believers with help and religious rulings (fatwas) on everyday dilemmas. British callers can ring in with their problems, and access the answer up to 48 hours later by punching in a pin number. The hotline will also include an email facility... Foster to ease Mecca pilgrims’ progress Chris Gourlay, Times THE mountain is to move for Muhammad. Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid are involved in plans to transform the landscape around Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, to make way for a high-rise metropolis complete with high-speed rail link for pilgrims. Architectural designs being considered by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia could see the mosque at the heart of the city expanded fivefold to hold 5m worshippers in one go. Breath Taking! (SDOACL) Prisoners in Ranby jail make bomb to blow up Muslims (Justin Penrose, Mirror) Jews, Christians and Muslims write 'open letters' to Pope (Ruth Gledhill) The Pope must have a message for the Middle East (Tariq Ramadan The Guardian) Islam's difficult road (Kishwer Falkner, Observer ) She's Israeli, he's an Arab. War has made them like mother and son (The Observer) Queen's Trinity Cross medal scrapped... because it's 'too Christian' (Daily Mail) The BNP can hurt Labour in its heartlands (Jeremy Seabrook, Guardian CiF) Sole-searching questions after Benedict visit to mosque (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld) Pope warns of misuse of religion (BBC News Online) Suspected arson attack on Islamic centre (Jo Adetunji, The Guardian) Scaremongering over Muslim demographics (Indigo Jo Blogs) Friday 08 May 2009 Extremists bring Muslims only violence Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF Monday's suspected arson attack on the al-Ghurabaa mosque in Luton follows a number of written threats received at the mosque believed to have been sent by far right groups. The mosque holds daily Arabic/Qur'anic lessons for about 90 children though fortunately the arson attack – the police say they believe an accelerant was used – took place after midnight when the mosque was empty. Tensions have been running high ever since a tiny group of al-Muhajiroun supporters... British Muslims have more faith in UK than Britons, study finds Ruth Gledhill, Times British Muslims identify with Britain far more than the general public and have more confidence in the country’s institutions, according to research published today. The results of the survey, which showed that 77 per cent of British Muslims were loyal to Britain compared with 36 per cent of the general public, challenge a perception that the community is less patriotic than the country at large. It also recorded that the community had more confidence in British courts, elections, financial bodies... [Patriotic and homophobic: a portrait of British Muslims' state of mind - Chris Green, Independent] Muslims hit back over terror raids (Mark Hesford, Manchester Evening News) Pope set for Middle East visit (al-Jazeera) Hounslow KFC goes halal (Asian Image) Thursday 07 May 2009 Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance of homosexuality, says poll Riazat Butt, Guardian Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance towards homosexuality compared to their counterparts in France and Germany, according to a survey published today. The Gallup poll features the results of telephone and face-to-face interviews with Muslims and non-Muslims in the UK, France and Germany and is designed to measure global attitudes towards people from different faith traditions. It shows that British Muslims hold more conservative opinions towards... [British, Muslim and loyal: MCB welcomes Gallup poll findings - Islamophobia Watch] Muslims: beyond the caricature Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, Guardian CiF My British glass is half empty. According to a Gallup poll released yesterday, only half of the UK population identifies itself as very strongly British. And in Germany only 32% of the general public feels that way about being German. Who then identifies most strongly with their nation, reaching a whopping 77% in the UK? Muslims. This refreshing piece of information is part of a wider picture that Gallup paints of a European Muslim population that is more tolerant and integrated, as well as more strongly identified with Europe's nations than other communities. Holocaust still an issue as Pope Benedict prepares to visit the Holy Land Rory McCarthy, Guardian Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, is housed within an angular concrete corridor that leads visitors through appalling stories of persecution, suffering and death and out eventually to a calming view over the Jerusalem forests. Halfway down the corridor in a room on the left are two black and white photographs of the wartime pope, Pius XII, with a few lines of text in English and Hebrew. It is one of hundreds of displays in the museum... US ex-soldier guilty of Iraq rape (BBC News Online) Quilliam Foundation defends Muslims shock (Islamophobia Watch) Jordan amasses evidence for claiming Jesus baptism site (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld) Wednesday 06 May 2009 Egypt's emos, the latest hate figures Jack Shenker, Guardian CiF They appeared overnight, without warning. I noticed the first one in Umm Dahab's alleyway off Mahmoud Baysuni street, an incomprehensible jumble of shapes stencilled at a jaunty angle on the floor. There was another in the next alley down by the old shoe stall, and dozens more over the road on Qasr El-Nil. On slabs of paving stone and stretches of tarmac; outside banks, mosques and travel agents – downtown Cairo had been flooded with carbon-copy street-paintings spilling out through the city. We must keep the taboo against suicide Theo Hobson, Guardian CiF My main reaction to Chris Woodhead's comment that he would rather commit suicide than suffer the full horrors of his motor neurone disease (MND) is that I think I would feel the same thing in his position. I have no idea how keenly I would cling to life in the midst of escalating pain, but I would want to know that the option for a speedy exit was there. A law that shuts off this exit seems inhumane – and the religious believers who preach against assisted suicide seem legalistic... BNP official under investigation for comments about archbishop of York Hélène Mulholland & Matthew Taylor, Guardian A City Hall investigation is under way after a senior BNP official on the devolved London government's payroll described the archbishop of York, John Sentamu, as an "ambitious African" and said his fellow Ugandans threw spears at their enemies. The Guardian understands that City Hall's chief executive, Leo Boland, decided to act following concerns raised by Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London. Wilders' plan to save the West (Islamophobia Watch) Fast food chain KFC converts eight London restaurants to halal-only menu (Daily Mail) Muslims, Islam Channel and QF: who represents who? (Indigo Jo Blogs) US teacher broke law by describing creationism as 'superstitious nonsense' (R. Butt, Guardian) Tuesday 05 May 2009 Home Office 'names and shames' 16 people banned from UK Hélène Mulholland and agencies, guardian.co.uk Hate preachers, anti-gay protesters and a far right US talk show host are among a "named and shamed" list of people banned by the Home Office from entering the UK, it was revealed today. Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, said she decided to make public the names of 16 people banned since October for fostering extremism so others could better understand the behaviour Britain was not prepared to tolerate. Islamizing Europe - Muslim Demographics (CLOSER) Talking Lebanon, Kashmir and Socks at a Muslim School (Snowblog) Hazel Blears Lies Again (Craig Murray) Arson attack on an Islamic centre (BBC News Online) Yasmin Alibi-Brain on Islam, women and justice (Indigo Jo Blogs) Monday 04 May 2009 'Best way to beat the BNP is to vote Green' Andrew Grice, Independent An anti-racism campaigner has emerged as the candidate who could stop the British National Party chairman Nick Griffin winning a seat in the European Parliament next month. Peter Cranie has been chosen by the Green Party to stand in the North-west, where the BNP's hopes of winning its first seats in a nationwide election are highest. Respect, the left-wing party headed by the Bethnal Green and Bow MP George Galloway... Sunday 03 May 2009 The mythical rise of the BNP Daniel Davies, Guardian CiF Reading Jon Cruddas and Nick Lowles's article on the campaign to prevent Nick Griffin of the BNP winning a seat in the Euro elections, backed up by Harriet Harman's warnings on the same subject, you could be forgiven for getting downhearted. It certainly looks like there's a very real threat, and they're right to take it seriously. On the other hand, if you crunch a couple of numbers, the battle looks eminently winnable. The BNP is simply not at a level that would justify any panic reaction in the form of anti-immigrant politics from the likes of Phil Woolas. Don't ignore the BNP's supporters James Ball, Guardian CiF Another election, another British National party scare. As the European elections loom, there are warnings that an electoral win will "legitimise" the BNP and grant it access to £2m of funding. There is a real danger the party will win European seats – but that's not what risks making it legitimate. The BNP is attracting votes and, unpalatable though it may be, that grants it a certain minimum standard of legitimacy. Islamic games suspended over Gulf row Robert Tait, guardian.co.uk For millennia Iran has guarded the strategic waterway dividing it from its Arab neighbours as a symbol of national greatness that should be defended in name and deed. But now its insistence that it be known only as the Persian Gulf threatens to torpedo ambitious plans for a sporting extravaganza intended to promote Islamic harmony. Iran announced it was cancelling the Islamic Solidarity Games planned for October rather than bow to Arab demands... Iain Dale and Racism (Craig Murray) Saturday 02 May 2009 Quilliam's unfair attack on the Islam Channel Mehdi Hasan, Guardian CiF This, for the non-Muslims and non-channel-surfers among you, is the Islam Channel, one of this country's most prominent and popular free-to-air, English language Muslim satellite channels. This week the channel found itself accused of allowing its various presenters and guests to promote "intolerant and bigoted interpretations of Islam" and even condone "terrorist attacks on British troops" in an "alert" issued by the Quilliam Foundation. Ed Balls puts the squeeze on faith schools Francis Davis Guardian CiF A few years ago I recall listening to a fascinating presentation by one of the architects of New Labour's health reforms: "It's not in the legislation", he said "but in the detail of the implementation that you can take out your opponents". His example was the way that Labour had freed up medical recruitment for the private hospital sector to make it increasingly impossible for NHS doctors to moonlight. These words came back to me as I completed the work on a new pamphlet... Muslims hit by trebling in stop and search Robert Verkaik, Independent Police use of anti-terror stop and search powers trebled last year, prompting fears that the policy is alienating London's Muslim communities. Officers in England and Wales used Terrorism Act powers to search 124,687 people in 2007/8, up from 41,924 in 2006/7, figures released yesterday showed. But only around 1 per cent of those searches ended in an arrest. There were 1,271 arrests in total but only 73 of those were for terror offences. Tory councillor faces disciplinary action over anti-Muslim email (Islamophobia Watch) Muslim women seek to lift the veils of prejudice (Carla Power, Times) Special courts for Gujarat riots (BBC News Online) Thursday 30 April 2009 Do sex taboos contribute to sex trafficking? Uzma Mariam Ahmed During my final year in law school, I represented a young woman from the Islamic Republic of Mauritania who was seeking asylum. She was born in Mauritania to a slave mother, separated from her family at a young age and sold and then re-sold to owners who tortured and raped her. She was ultimately forced into prostitution and then trafficked to several other African countries before entering the United States. She was Muslim. Charities forced to axe thousands of jobs Nigel Morris, Independent Charities are axeing thousands of jobs to cope with a collapse in donations as the recession deepens. After years of expansion, the voluntary sector is laying off staff, putting recruitment on hold and scaling back "non-essential" services. Earnings from investments have also fallen following cuts in interest rates. The value of major bequests has dropped because of tumbling property prices. The redundancies come as charities face greater pressure to help people who have lost their jobs... Increase in Muslims calling helpline (Asian Image) The need for constructive discussion on tariqa problems (Indigo Jo Blogs) The Muslim cleric who blames British mosques for the 7/7 bombings, says multiculturalism is a disaster and would throw Islamic fanatics out (Richard Pendlebury, Mail) Warning: This Post Contains Sexism (Craig Murray) Swine flu name is 'offensive'...WHAT?! (MPACUK) Muslim men cleared of 7/7 plot but jailed for attending terror camps (Rachel Williams, The Guardian) Wednesday 29 April 2009 Muslim radicalisation's socio-economic roots Tahir Abbas, Guardian CiF We live in interesting times, as they say. No more so than in the very immediate period with all the pressures that emanate from a depressed economy, deflated expectations, net reductions of real wealth and the view that things can only get worse. This is quite a development given that when New Labour came into power in 1997, inheriting a Conservative-orchestrated economic boom, things apparently could only get better. Sex education for five-year-olds to be made compulsory in schools Polly Curtis, Guardian The government has announced plans to make sex education compulsory for pupils aged five to 11, dividing faith groups and safer sex campaigners. Under the plans all secondary schools will have to teach teenagers about contraception, safer sex and relationships, but faith schools will also be free to preach against sex outside of marriage and condoms. Details of how personal, social and health education (PSHE) will be made compulsory, published today... [Unbiased sex education is a child's right - Andrew Copson, Guardian CiF] Durban II: Now for the legacy Agnes Callamard, Guardian CiF As hundreds of government and civil society representatives boarded flights out of Geneva at the end of last week, there were undoubtedly many conversations about the meaning and legacy of the Durban Review Conference. The second half of last week's conference was remarkably calm, despite the drama of its opening days and a rocky preparatory process. The final Outcome Document was adopted on Tuesday by participating states... BNP could get £2m EU funds, Hain warns (Patrick Wintour, The Guardian) Iqra Bookshop allegations (Gary Bunt, Islam in Britain) Show us your faces, store tells customers after raid by men wearing Muslim veils (The Scotsman) Equality Bill (Jess McCabe, The F-Word) New Labour Corruption and Quilliam (Craig Murray) If swine flu isn’t kosher in Israel, is it halal in the Muslim world? (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld) Saturday 25 April 2009 The liberal supremacists Terry Eagleton The Guardian If the test of liberalism is how it confronts its illiberal adversaries, some of the liberal intelligentsia seem to have fallen at the first hurdle. Writers such as Martin Amis and Hitchens do not just want to lock terrorists away. They also tout a brand of western cultural supremacism. Dawkins strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq, but preaches a self-satisfied, old-fashioned Whiggish rationalism that can be wielded against a benighted Islam. Friday 24 April 2009 Teachers report 'racist bullying' BBC News Online Nearly half of teachers say racist bullying is a problem in their schools, a survey has found. A Teachers TV survey of 802 teachers found two thirds said their schools had no policy on such bullying, and many worried about religious intolerance. A third of teachers said more training would help them tackle the problem. The government said all schools should have a strong anti-bullying policy, which should also include measures to tackle racist bullying. Condoleezza Rice Approved Waterboarding Torture (Craig Murray) Thursday 23 April 2009 Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent Tony Blair has said he does not regret leading Britain to war in Iraq when he was Prime Minister and has called on the world to take on and defeat Islamic extremists. He believes that, without intervention, the problem will continue to grow in countries such as Afghanistan. He called for a battle to be waged against militant Islam similar to that fought against revolutionary communism. "Our job is simple: it is to support and partner..." (Comment by Thabet on Talk Islam) School standards cannot improve by faith alone Rebecca Allen, Guardian CiF There are more faith school places (17% in secondary and 35% in primary schools) than can be filled by the 6% of the population who attend church on any particular Sunday. Professor Anna Vignoles and I looked for evidence of a relationship between the number of faith schools and the performance of pupils across all secondary schools in an area, but found no effect on GCSE achievement. Faith schools might serve a purpose of offering choice of provision, but there is no evidence that their presence raises academic standards in England. Deporting these students shames us Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF The Home Office announced last night that nine of the 12 men – mainly Pakistani students – arrested in dramatic circumstances two weeks ago following terror raids in Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire are now to be handed over to the UK Border Agency with a view to being deported. Another one of the 12 was handed over to immigration officials earlier this month. You will recall that at the time of the arrests our prime minister, Gordon Brown, informed us... SNP urged to drop 'sectarian and divisive' Muslim candidate (Angus Macleod, Times) Campaigners call for tighter regulation of Facebook racists (Jerome Taylor, Independent) Why I chased the BNP from my cathedral (Chris Liley, Guardian CiF) G20 outcome – 'a bitter pill for the world’s poor' says banned World Development Movement (WDM) Conference: Britain & the Muslim World (Gary Bunt, Islam in Britain) Guerrilla worship: Christians fight back (Theo Hobson, Guardian CiF) Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith Terror Lies Revealed (Craig Murray) I'm going to quit Scotland because people have been nasty to me, says bomb-threat racist facing jail term (Islamophobia Watch) Monday 20 April 2009 Hobbes's Leviathan, Part 3: What is selfishness? How Richard Dawkins went further than Hobbes and ended up ludicrously wrong Mary Midgley guardian.co.uk Selfish is an odd word because its meaning is almost entirely negative. It does not mean "prudent, promoting one's own interest". It means "not promoting other people's" or, as the dictionary puts it, "devoted to or concerned with one's own advantage to the exclusion of regard for others". This being usually seen as a fault, the word serves chiefly as a term of abuse. And it raises a difficulty for theorists who want to say that self-interest is, in some sense, the core of all human motivation. UN racism conference boycotted by more countries Julian Borger, Guardian An international boycott of a UN conference on racism was growing last night amid western concerns that the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and other Islamic leaders could use the meeting as a platform to attack Israel, question the reality of the Holocaust, or to try to limit the right to criticise religion. Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands have all joined the US and Israel in announcing their withdrawal from the Geneva conference. Tory MP calls for end to Sharia councils (MPACUK) Refuting Taj Hargey: hadith and McCarthyism (Indigo Jo Blogs) Tory campaign to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir continues (Islamophobia Watch) Easter School Holidays 2009 Only a few stories were posted herein during the two weeks of school holiday: Real debates about faith are drowned by the New Atheists' foghorn voices (M Bunting, Guardian - 06/04/09) Another plug for Taj Hargey (Islamophobia Watch - 06/04/09) Ian Tomlinson death: Guardian video reveals police attack on man who died at G20 protest (Paul Lewis, Guardian - 07/04/09) De Menezes taught the Met nothing (Duncan Campbell, Guardian CiF - 07/04/09) The hijab does not restrict - it liberates (Letters, Guardian - 07/04/09) Smug charlatan Hargey screws thousands out of Muslim Weekly (Indigo Jo Blogs - 09/04/09) Doctors are 'failing to spot Asperger's in girls' (Amelia Hill, The Observer - 12/04/09) To defame religion is a human right (Peter Singer, Guardian CiF - 15/04/07) Geert Wilders plans sequel to his film about 'fascist' Qur'an (Ben Child, Guardian - 17/04/09) Saturday 04 April 2009 Judges back Muslim groups in condemnation of forced marriage Frances Gibb, Times Senior family judges have joined Muslim leaders in condemning forced marriage as intolerable and a gross abuse of human rights. Sir Mark Potter, Britain’s most senior family judge, and Mr Justice Munby, a High Court judge, said the challenge was to spread the message that forced marriage was not acceptable, and pledged the courts’ backing to prevent such marriages. The judges were speaking at a seminar on forced marriages at the London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel, East London... Outcry in Pakistan after video of a 17-year-old girl's flogging by the Taliban is shown on TV Declan Walsh, Guardian The Pakistani government has ordered an inquiry into the flogging of a 17-year-old woman by Taliban militants in the troubled Swat valley, after public outrage triggered by shocking video footage of the punishment. The images, played yesterday on private television channels, show a burka-clad woman being pinned to the ground by two men while a third whips her backside 34 times. The woman is seen screaming and begging for mercy as a crowd of largely silent men look on. Muslim leader sues Blears on Gaza BBC News Online A leading member of the Muslim Council of Britain is suing cabinet minister Hazel Blears for defamation, following a row over the Israeli bombing of Gaza. Dr Daud Abdullah, who is the MCB deputy secretary-general, is seeking damages. Ms Blears said a document which Dr Abdullah signed on hostilities in Gaza had advocated attacks on UK military personnel and on Jews around the world. Ms Blears made the claim in a letter to the Guardian last week, but Dr Abdullah has vehemently denied it. Egg thrown at woman wearing hijab (BBC News Online) Niqab-wearing mother excluded from parents' evening (Islamophobia Watch) Thursday 02 April 2009 A study in scare-mongering David Shariatmadari , Guardian CiF Full disclosure: I am not a fan of the Centre for Social Cohesion. As I've said before, it's the thinktank that does exactly the opposite of what it says on the tin – it was founded in 2007 "to promote human rights, tolerance and greater cohesion among the UK's ethnic and religious communities", but has inexplicably spread poison and whipped up anti-Muslim paranoia at every turn. Odd, that. I'm also an alumnus of two of the institutions mentioned in the CSC's latest report... Quilliam Foundation links up with Harry's Place (Islamophobia Watch)
index

Abu Dharr (Daily Terror) April-May 2009

Friday 29 May 2009
Tutu, an archbishop for unbelievers
John Harris, Guardian CiF
Come Dawkinsites and Hitchenistas, militant atheists and unrelenting secularists: not that I am a believer, you understand, but if you want a sobering lesson in the fact that religion can be a thoroughly progressive force and a source of hope in otherwise desperate circumstances – to quote Karl Marx out of context, "the heart in a heartless world" – well, you really should spend an hour and a bit in the company of the former archbishop of Cape Town. Desmond Tutu spoke at the Hay festival last night...

Muslims urged to vote to keep out extremist parties
Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk
Muslim scholars in Britain have urged the country's imams to stress the importance of local and European elections during their sermons, warning that a low turnout could lead to "openly anti-Muslim parties" gaining national and international prominence. In a joint statement issued yesterday they called for imams to discuss the need to vote with their congregations as part of their khutbahs – the sermon delivered before Friday afternoon prayers.

EastEnders: Muslim character to have gay love affair
Leigh Holmwood and Gareth McLean, guardian.co.uk
EastEnders is to tackle one of the last taboos left in soap, with a storyline featuring a Muslim character embarking on a gay love affair. MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal that the plot, which will hit screens in mid-June, will see Syed Masood, a Muslim property developer with a girlfriend who arrived in Albert Square six weeks ago, fall for openly gay Christian Clarke. The pair will share an on-screen kiss. The BBC has billed the storyline as a "traditional love affair, albeit with a modern multicultural twist".

Monday 25 May 2009
Trouble flares as Luton residents protest over Muslim extremists
Home staff, Times
Nine people were arrested yesterday after trouble flared during a protest march against supposed Muslim extremists. The march in Luton was said to be a protest against an earlier demonstration during the Royal Anglian Regiment’s homecoming parade when soldiers were heckled on their return from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Yesterday there were about 500 protesters, some carrying banners with slogans such as “No Sharia Law in the UK” and “Respect our Troops”.

Friday 22 May 2009
Home Secretary was warned of MI5's 'blackmailing of Muslims'
Robert Verkaik, Guardian
The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, was warned nine months ago about MI5's alleged campaign of blackmail and intimidation against a group of young Muslim men, The Independent has learnt. Veteran Labour MP Frank Dobson wrote to Ms Smith in September about concerns raised by a north London community leader who claimed six youth workers had endured an 18-month campaign of threats and coercion in an attempt to recruit them as informants on their friends and neighbours.

Wednesday 13 May 2009
Muslim to head BBC religious programmes
Leigh Holmwood, The Guardian
The BBC has appointed its first Muslim head of religious programming, only the second time in its 87-year history a non-Christian has taken the role. Channel 4 executive Aaqil Ahmed, who commissioned Christianity: A History, The Qur'an and the Bafta-winning Saving Africa's Witch Children while at the commercial broadcaster, is expected to take up the position this summer. The only previous non-Christian head of religious programming at the BBC was agnostic Alan Bookbinder...
[Welcoming the BBC's Muslim head of religion -Sunny Hundal; see also Islamophobia Watch]

Pope Benedict XVI visits holy sites (Steve Bell, Guardian)
A response to “The dehijabization phenomenon” (Rifk Ebeid- AltMuslimah.com)

Monday 11 May 2009
I'd be happy if the new laureate blew all her money on the horses or invested in fetish gear
Germaine Greer, The Guardian
Dear Carol Ann Duffy, congratulations, I think. I was surprised when you accepted the laureateship because I had you down as a republican. You're probably fed up with being hailed not only as the first woman to hold this thankless job, but the first Scot, the first bisexual, the first lesbian, the first single mum, the first Catholic and, for all I know, the first Capricorn. If you'd been black and disabled, you'd have ticked all the boxes.

The Breathtaking Hypocrisy of Tory Bloggers (Craig Murray)

Sunday 10 May 2009
London's Little Afghanistan
Reza Mohammadi, Guardian CiF
When I first moved to London, I found it intriguing that it was actually possible to speak Farsi there. I stayed in Hyde Park, and around my hotel there were numerous Iranian restaurants. Walking on London's streets, one could easily find people who spoke Farsi. In the north and west of the city, about 70% of taxi drivers are either Afghan or Iranian. So it didn't take me long to meet many fellow Afghans, and be introduced to their restaurants, eateries and associations.

Fatwa advice line el-Hatef el-Islami to launch in UK
Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk
Next month sees the UK launch of el-Hatef el-Islami, one of the world's most popular Islamic hotlines. Dubbed dial-a-fatwa and dial-a-sheikh in its native Egypt, it will draw on the expertise of scholars from Cairo's al-Azhar University to provide perplexed believers with help and religious rulings (fatwas) on everyday dilemmas. British callers can ring in with their problems, and access the answer up to 48 hours later by punching in a pin number. The hotline will also include an email facility...

Foster to ease Mecca pilgrims’ progress
Chris Gourlay, Times
THE mountain is to move for Muhammad. Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid are involved in plans to transform the landscape around Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, to make way for a high-rise metropolis complete with high-speed rail link for pilgrims. Architectural designs being considered by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia could see the mosque at the heart of the city expanded fivefold to hold 5m worshippers in one go.

Breath Taking! (SDOACL)
Prisoners in Ranby jail make bomb to blow up Muslims (Justin Penrose, Mirror)
Jews, Christians and Muslims write 'open letters' to Pope (Ruth Gledhill)
The Pope must have a message for the Middle East (Tariq Ramadan The Guardian)
Islam's difficult road (Kishwer Falkner, Observer )
She's Israeli, he's an Arab. War has made them like mother and son (The Observer)
Queen's Trinity Cross medal scrapped... because it's 'too Christian' (Daily Mail)
The BNP can hurt Labour in its heartlands (Jeremy Seabrook, Guardian CiF)
Sole-searching questions after Benedict visit to mosque (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)
Pope warns of misuse of religion (BBC News Online)
Suspected arson attack on Islamic centre (Jo Adetunji, The Guardian)
Scaremongering over Muslim demographics (Indigo Jo Blogs)

Friday 08 May 2009
Extremists bring Muslims only violence
Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF
Monday's suspected arson attack on the al-Ghurabaa mosque in Luton follows a number of written threats received at the mosque believed to have been sent by far right groups. The mosque holds daily Arabic/Qur'anic lessons for about 90 children though fortunately the arson attack – the police say they believe an accelerant was used – took place after midnight when the mosque was empty. Tensions have been running high ever since a tiny group of al-Muhajiroun supporters...

British Muslims have more faith in UK than Britons, study finds
Ruth Gledhill, Times
British Muslims identify with Britain far more than the general public and have more confidence in the country’s institutions, according to research published today. The results of the survey, which showed that 77 per cent of British Muslims were loyal to Britain compared with 36 per cent of the general public, challenge a perception that the community is less patriotic than the country at large. It also recorded that the community had more confidence in British courts, elections, financial bodies...
[Patriotic and homophobic: a portrait of British Muslims' state of mind - Chris Green, Independent]

Muslims hit back over terror raids (Mark Hesford, Manchester Evening News)
Pope set for Middle East visit (al-Jazeera)
Hounslow KFC goes halal (Asian Image)

Thursday 07 May 2009
Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance of homosexuality, says poll
Riazat Butt, Guardian
Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance towards homosexuality compared to their counterparts in France and Germany, according to a survey published today. The Gallup poll features the results of telephone and face-to-face interviews with Muslims and non-Muslims in the UK, France and Germany and is designed to measure global attitudes towards people from different faith traditions. It shows that British Muslims hold more conservative opinions towards...
[British, Muslim and loyal: MCB welcomes Gallup poll findings - Islamophobia Watch]

Muslims: beyond the caricature
Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, Guardian CiF
My British glass is half empty. According to a Gallup poll released yesterday, only half of the UK population identifies itself as very strongly British. And in Germany only 32% of the general public feels that way about being German. Who then identifies most strongly with their nation, reaching a whopping 77% in the UK? Muslims. This refreshing piece of information is part of a wider picture that Gallup paints of a European Muslim population that is more tolerant and integrated, as well as more strongly identified with Europe's nations than other communities.

Holocaust still an issue as Pope Benedict prepares to visit the Holy Land
Rory McCarthy, Guardian
Israel's Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, is housed within an angular concrete corridor that leads visitors through appalling stories of persecution, suffering and death and out eventually to a calming view over the Jerusalem forests. Halfway down the corridor in a room on the left are two black and white photographs of the wartime pope, Pius XII, with a few lines of text in English and Hebrew. It is one of hundreds of displays in the museum...

US ex-soldier guilty of Iraq rape (BBC News Online)
Quilliam Foundation defends Muslims shock (Islamophobia Watch)
Jordan amasses evidence for claiming Jesus baptism site (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)

Wednesday 06 May 2009
Egypt's emos, the latest hate figures
Jack Shenker, Guardian CiF
They appeared overnight, without warning. I noticed the first one in Umm Dahab's alleyway off Mahmoud Baysuni street, an incomprehensible jumble of shapes stencilled at a jaunty angle on the floor. There was another in the next alley down by the old shoe stall, and dozens more over the road on Qasr El-Nil. On slabs of paving stone and stretches of tarmac; outside banks, mosques and travel agents – downtown Cairo had been flooded with carbon-copy street-paintings spilling out through the city.

We must keep the taboo against suicide
Theo Hobson, Guardian CiF
My main reaction to Chris Woodhead's comment that he would rather commit suicide than suffer the full horrors of his motor neurone disease (MND) is that I think I would feel the same thing in his position. I have no idea how keenly I would cling to life in the midst of escalating pain, but I would want to know that the option for a speedy exit was there. A law that shuts off this exit seems inhumane – and the religious believers who preach against assisted suicide seem legalistic...

BNP official under investigation for comments about archbishop of York
Hélène Mulholland & Matthew Taylor, Guardian
A City Hall investigation is under way after a senior BNP official on the devolved London government's payroll described the archbishop of York, John Sentamu, as an "ambitious African" and said his fellow Ugandans threw spears at their enemies. The Guardian understands that City Hall's chief executive, Leo Boland, decided to act following concerns raised by Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London.

Wilders' plan to save the West (Islamophobia Watch)
Fast food chain KFC converts eight London restaurants to halal-only menu (Daily Mail)
Muslims, Islam Channel and QF: who represents who? (Indigo Jo Blogs)
US teacher broke law by describing creationism as 'superstitious nonsense' (R. Butt, Guardian)

Tuesday 05 May 2009
Home Office 'names and shames' 16 people banned from UK
Hélène Mulholland and agencies, guardian.co.uk
Hate preachers, anti-gay protesters and a far right US talk show host are among a "named and shamed" list of people banned by the Home Office from entering the UK, it was revealed today. Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, said she decided to make public the names of 16 people banned since October for fostering extremism so others could better understand the behaviour Britain was not prepared to tolerate.

Islamizing Europe - Muslim Demographics (CLOSER)
Talking Lebanon, Kashmir and Socks at a Muslim School (Snowblog)
Hazel Blears Lies Again (Craig Murray)
Arson attack on an Islamic centre (BBC News Online)
Yasmin Alibi-Brain on Islam, women and justice (Indigo Jo Blogs)

Monday 04 May 2009
'Best way to beat the BNP is to vote Green'
Andrew Grice, Independent
An anti-racism campaigner has emerged as the candidate who could stop the British National Party chairman Nick Griffin winning a seat in the European Parliament next month. Peter Cranie has been chosen by the Green Party to stand in the North-west, where the BNP's hopes of winning its first seats in a nationwide election are highest. Respect, the left-wing party headed by the Bethnal Green and Bow MP George Galloway...

Sunday 03 May 2009
The mythical rise of the BNP
Daniel Davies, Guardian CiF
Reading Jon Cruddas and Nick Lowles's article on the campaign to prevent Nick Griffin of the BNP winning a seat in the Euro elections, backed up by Harriet Harman's warnings on the same subject, you could be forgiven for getting downhearted. It certainly looks like there's a very real threat, and they're right to take it seriously. On the other hand, if you crunch a couple of numbers, the battle looks eminently winnable. The BNP is simply not at a level that would justify any panic reaction in the form of anti-immigrant politics from the likes of Phil Woolas.

Don't ignore the BNP's supporters
James Ball, Guardian CiF
Another election, another British National party scare. As the European elections loom, there are warnings that an electoral win will "legitimise" the BNP and grant it access to £2m of funding. There is a real danger the party will win European seats – but that's not what risks making it legitimate. The BNP is attracting votes and, unpalatable though it may be, that grants it a certain minimum standard of legitimacy.

Islamic games suspended over Gulf row
Robert Tait, guardian.co.uk
For millennia Iran has guarded the strategic waterway dividing it from its Arab neighbours as a symbol of national greatness that should be defended in name and deed. But now its insistence that it be known only as the Persian Gulf threatens to torpedo ambitious plans for a sporting extravaganza intended to promote Islamic harmony. Iran announced it was cancelling the Islamic Solidarity Games planned for October rather than bow to Arab demands...

Iain Dale and Racism (Craig Murray)

Saturday 02 May 2009
Quilliam's unfair attack on the Islam Channel
Mehdi Hasan, Guardian CiF
This, for the non-Muslims and non-channel-surfers among you, is the Islam Channel, one of this country's most prominent and popular free-to-air, English language Muslim satellite channels. This week the channel found itself accused of allowing its various presenters and guests to promote "intolerant and bigoted interpretations of Islam" and even condone "terrorist attacks on British troops" in an "alert" issued by the Quilliam Foundation.

Ed Balls puts the squeeze on faith schools
Francis Davis Guardian CiF
A few years ago I recall listening to a fascinating presentation by one of the architects of New Labour's health reforms: "It's not in the legislation", he said "but in the detail of the implementation that you can take out your opponents". His example was the way that Labour had freed up medical recruitment for the private hospital sector to make it increasingly impossible for NHS doctors to moonlight. These words came back to me as I completed the work on a new pamphlet...

Muslims hit by trebling in stop and search
Robert Verkaik, Independent
Police use of anti-terror stop and search powers trebled last year, prompting fears that the policy is alienating London's Muslim communities. Officers in England and Wales used Terrorism Act powers to search 124,687 people in 2007/8, up from 41,924 in 2006/7, figures released yesterday showed. But only around 1 per cent of those searches ended in an arrest. There were 1,271 arrests in total but only 73 of those were for terror offences.

Tory councillor faces disciplinary action over anti-Muslim email (Islamophobia Watch)
Muslim women seek to lift the veils of prejudice (Carla Power, Times)
Special courts for Gujarat riots (BBC News Online)

Thursday 30 April 2009
Do sex taboos contribute to sex trafficking?
Uzma Mariam Ahmed
During my final year in law school, I represented a young woman from the Islamic Republic of Mauritania who was seeking asylum. She was born in Mauritania to a slave mother, separated from her family at a young age and sold and then re-sold to owners who tortured and raped her. She was ultimately forced into prostitution and then trafficked to several other African countries before entering the United States. She was Muslim.

Charities forced to axe thousands of jobs
Nigel Morris, Independent
Charities are axeing thousands of jobs to cope with a collapse in donations as the recession deepens. After years of expansion, the voluntary sector is laying off staff, putting recruitment on hold and scaling back "non-essential" services. Earnings from investments have also fallen following cuts in interest rates. The value of major bequests has dropped because of tumbling property prices. The redundancies come as charities face greater pressure to help people who have lost their jobs...

Increase in Muslims calling helpline (Asian Image)
The need for constructive discussion on tariqa problems (Indigo Jo Blogs)
The Muslim cleric who blames British mosques for the 7/7 bombings, says multiculturalism is a disaster and would throw Islamic fanatics out (Richard Pendlebury, Mail)
Warning: This Post Contains Sexism (Craig Murray)
Swine flu name is 'offensive'...WHAT?! (MPACUK)
Muslim men cleared of 7/7 plot but jailed for attending terror camps (Rachel Williams, The Guardian)

Wednesday 29 April 2009
Muslim radicalisation's socio-economic roots
Tahir Abbas, Guardian CiF
We live in interesting times, as they say. No more so than in the very immediate period with all the pressures that emanate from a depressed economy, deflated expectations, net reductions of real wealth and the view that things can only get worse. This is quite a development given that when New Labour came into power in 1997, inheriting a Conservative-orchestrated economic boom, things apparently could only get better.

Sex education for five-year-olds to be made compulsory in schools
Polly Curtis, Guardian
The government has announced plans to make sex education compulsory for pupils aged five to 11, dividing faith groups and safer sex campaigners. Under the plans all secondary schools will have to teach teenagers about contraception, safer sex and relationships, but faith schools will also be free to preach against sex outside of marriage and condoms. Details of how personal, social and health education (PSHE) will be made compulsory, published today...
[Unbiased sex education is a child's right - Andrew Copson, Guardian CiF]

Durban II: Now for the legacy
Agnes Callamard, Guardian CiF
As hundreds of government and civil society representatives boarded flights out of Geneva at the end of last week, there were undoubtedly many conversations about the meaning and legacy of the Durban Review Conference. The second half of last week's conference was remarkably calm, despite the drama of its opening days and a rocky preparatory process. The final Outcome Document was adopted on Tuesday by participating states...

BNP could get £2m EU funds, Hain warns (Patrick Wintour, The Guardian)
Iqra Bookshop allegations (Gary Bunt, Islam in Britain)
Show us your faces, store tells customers after raid by men wearing Muslim veils (The Scotsman)
Equality Bill (Jess McCabe, The F-Word)
New Labour Corruption and Quilliam (Craig Murray)
If swine flu isn’t kosher in Israel, is it halal in the Muslim world? (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)

Saturday 25 April 2009
The liberal supremacists
Terry Eagleton The Guardian
If the test of liberalism is how it confronts its illiberal adversaries, some of the liberal intelligentsia seem to have fallen at the first hurdle. Writers such as Martin Amis and Hitchens do not just want to lock terrorists away. They also tout a brand of western cultural supremacism. Dawkins strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq, but preaches a self-satisfied, old-fashioned Whiggish rationalism that can be wielded against a benighted Islam.

Friday 24 April 2009
Teachers report 'racist bullying'
BBC News Online
Nearly half of teachers say racist bullying is a problem in their schools, a survey has found. A Teachers TV survey of 802 teachers found two thirds said their schools had no policy on such bullying, and many worried about religious intolerance. A third of teachers said more training would help them tackle the problem. The government said all schools should have a strong anti-bullying policy, which should also include measures to tackle racist bullying.

Condoleezza Rice Approved Waterboarding Torture (Craig Murray)

Thursday 23 April 2009
Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
Tony Blair has said he does not regret leading Britain to war in Iraq when he was Prime Minister and has called on the world to take on and defeat Islamic extremists. He believes that, without intervention, the problem will continue to grow in countries such as Afghanistan. He called for a battle to be waged against militant Islam similar to that fought against revolutionary communism. "Our job is simple: it is to support and partner..." (Comment by Thabet on Talk Islam)

School standards cannot improve by faith alone
Rebecca Allen, Guardian CiF
There are more faith school places (17% in secondary and 35% in primary schools) than can be filled by the 6% of the population who attend church on any particular Sunday. Professor Anna Vignoles and I looked for evidence of a relationship between the number of faith schools and the performance of pupils across all secondary schools in an area, but found no effect on GCSE achievement. Faith schools might serve a purpose of offering choice of provision, but there is no evidence that their presence raises academic standards in England.

Deporting these students shames us
Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF
The Home Office announced last night that nine of the 12 men – mainly Pakistani students – arrested in dramatic circumstances two weeks ago following terror raids in Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire are now to be handed over to the UK Border Agency with a view to being deported. Another one of the 12 was handed over to immigration officials earlier this month. You will recall that at the time of the arrests our prime minister, Gordon Brown, informed us...

SNP urged to drop 'sectarian and divisive' Muslim candidate (Angus Macleod, Times)
Campaigners call for tighter regulation of Facebook racists (Jerome Taylor, Independent)
Why I chased the BNP from my cathedral (Chris Liley, Guardian CiF)
G20 outcome – 'a bitter pill for the world’s poor' says banned World Development Movement (WDM)
Conference: Britain & the Muslim World (Gary Bunt, Islam in Britain)
Guerrilla worship: Christians fight back (Theo Hobson, Guardian CiF)
Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith Terror Lies Revealed (Craig Murray)
I'm going to quit Scotland because people have been nasty to me, says bomb-threat racist facing jail term (Islamophobia Watch)

Monday 20 April 2009
Hobbes's Leviathan, Part 3: What is selfishness?
How Richard Dawkins went further than Hobbes and ended up ludicrously wrong
Mary Midgley guardian.co.uk
Selfish is an odd word because its meaning is almost entirely negative. It does not mean "prudent, promoting one's own interest". It means "not promoting other people's" or, as the dictionary puts it, "devoted to or concerned with one's own advantage to the exclusion of regard for others". This being usually seen as a fault, the word serves chiefly as a term of abuse. And it raises a difficulty for theorists who want to say that self-interest is, in some sense, the core of all human motivation.

UN racism conference boycotted by more countries
Julian Borger, Guardian
An international boycott of a UN conference on racism was growing last night amid western concerns that the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and other Islamic leaders could use the meeting as a platform to attack Israel, question the reality of the Holocaust, or to try to limit the right to criticise religion. Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands have all joined the US and Israel in announcing their withdrawal from the Geneva conference.

Tory MP calls for end to Sharia councils (MPACUK)
Refuting Taj Hargey: hadith and McCarthyism (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Tory campaign to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir continues (Islamophobia Watch)

Easter School Holidays 2009
Only a few stories were posted herein during the two weeks of school holiday:

Real debates about faith are drowned by the New Atheists' foghorn voices (M Bunting, Guardian - 06/04/09)
Another plug for Taj Hargey (Islamophobia Watch - 06/04/09)
Ian Tomlinson death: Guardian video reveals police attack on man who died at G20 protest (Paul Lewis, Guardian - 07/04/09)
De Menezes taught the Met nothing (Duncan Campbell, Guardian CiF - 07/04/09)
The hijab does not restrict - it liberates (Letters, Guardian - 07/04/09)
Smug charlatan Hargey screws thousands out of Muslim Weekly (Indigo Jo Blogs - 09/04/09)
Doctors are 'failing to spot Asperger's in girls' (Amelia Hill, The Observer - 12/04/09)
To defame religion is a human right (Peter Singer, Guardian CiF - 15/04/07)
Geert Wilders plans sequel to his film about 'fascist' Qur'an (Ben Child, Guardian - 17/04/09)

Saturday 04 April 2009
Judges back Muslim groups in condemnation of forced marriage
Frances Gibb, Times
Senior family judges have joined Muslim leaders in condemning forced marriage as intolerable and a gross abuse of human rights. Sir Mark Potter, Britain’s most senior family judge, and Mr Justice Munby, a High Court judge, said the challenge was to spread the message that forced marriage was not acceptable, and pledged the courts’ backing to prevent such marriages. The judges were speaking at a seminar on forced marriages at the London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel, East London...

Outcry in Pakistan after video of a 17-year-old girl's flogging by the Taliban is shown on TV
Declan Walsh, Guardian
The Pakistani government has ordered an inquiry into the flogging of a 17-year-old woman by Taliban militants in the troubled Swat valley, after public outrage triggered by shocking video footage of the punishment. The images, played yesterday on private television channels, show a burka-clad woman being pinned to the ground by two men while a third whips her backside 34 times. The woman is seen screaming and begging for mercy as a crowd of largely silent men look on.

Muslim leader sues Blears on Gaza
BBC News Online
A leading member of the Muslim Council of Britain is suing cabinet minister Hazel Blears for defamation, following a row over the Israeli bombing of Gaza. Dr Daud Abdullah, who is the MCB deputy secretary-general, is seeking damages. Ms Blears said a document which Dr Abdullah signed on hostilities in Gaza had advocated attacks on UK military personnel and on Jews around the world. Ms Blears made the claim in a letter to the Guardian last week, but Dr Abdullah has vehemently denied it.

Egg thrown at woman wearing hijab (BBC News Online)
Niqab-wearing mother excluded from parents' evening (Islamophobia Watch)

Thursday 02 April 2009
A study in scare-mongering
David Shariatmadari , Guardian CiF
Full disclosure: I am not a fan of the Centre for Social Cohesion. As I've said before, it's the thinktank that does exactly the opposite of what it says on the tin – it was founded in 2007 "to promote human rights, tolerance and greater cohesion among the UK's ethnic and religious communities", but has inexplicably spread poison and whipped up anti-Muslim paranoia at every turn. Odd, that. I'm also an alumnus of two of the institutions mentioned in the CSC's latest report...

Quilliam Foundation links up with Harry's Place (Islamophobia Watch)

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