Saturday December 20 2008 
Iraqi shoe-thrower was beaten by security, says judge
Ian Black, Guardian
Muntazer al-Zaidi could hardly have anticipated the extraordinary reaction when he hurled his shoes at George Bush on Sunday to protest at the invasion of Iraq. His "farewell kiss" to the US president has kept the previously unknown TV journalist in the centre of global attention - a hero across the Arab world and beyond. Zaidi, who was wrestled to the ground by security men, was beaten on the face, investigating judge Dhia al-Kinani revealed in Baghdad yesterday.

Mosque teacher jailed for seven years over sex abuse
Hilary Duncanson, Scotsman
A TEACHER at a mosque convicted of sexually abusing two young girls was jailed for seven years yesterday. Mahmood Qadri, 60, attacked the girls at Polwarth Mosque in Edinburgh over more than three years in the 1990s. He was previously found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow of two charges of behaving in a lewd, indecent and libidinous manner towards the children. Judge John Morris QC yesterday told Qadri a jail term was the only appropriate sentence...

McKellen criticises faith schools for religious teaching
Jessica Shepherd, guardian.co.uk
The actor Sir Ian McKellen has said he fears that a growing number of faith schools are preaching religious doctrines — such as teaching that homosexuality is a sin — inside the classroom, giving children a "second-class" education. The stage and screen actor has been touring UK schools this month to discuss homosexuality with pupils in the hope that it will reduce homophobia. McKellen came out as gay on BBC radio 20 years ago, aged 49.

Imams and rabbis work for peace, even if debating it can get tense (Tom Heneghan, Faith World)
Exclusive: over 60 per cent of Britain's Muslim schools have extremist links (Islamophobia Watch)

Wednesday December 17 2008 
Expressing a libel
Inayat Bunglawala, guardian.co.uk
Regular CiF readers will be aware that I am no great fan of the Daily Express and the Daily Star. Both papers, in my view, routinely incite prejudice against British Muslims and other minorities. So it is with some pleasure that I bring you news of the outcome of a libel case that I brought against them some months back, but which finally came to its conclusion earlier today with an out of court settlement. Here is a brief summary of events: You may recall that, towards the end of February 2008...

No birthday cake for little Hitler
Nico Hines, Times
Heath and Deborah Campbell were furious when their local baker in New Jersey refused to decorate a birthday cake with the name of their baby boy. But ShopRite ... ignored the parents’ pleas after concluding that “Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler” was an inappropriate use of icing sugar. Adolf Hitler Campbell turned 3 this week and celebrated at a party with his younger sisters Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie (sic – apparently in tribute to Heinrich Himmler) and JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell.

Church and state could separate in UK, says Archbishop of Canterbury
Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk
The Archbishop of Canterbury has reignited the debate over the separation of church and state by saying that "it would not be the end of the world if the established church disappeared". In an interview with this week's New Statesman, Rowan Williams argues there is a "certain integrity" to a church free from state sanctions. Williams, who was born in Swansea, grew up in the Church of Wales, a disestablished church, and spent 10 years working as one of its bishops.
[Archbishop of Canterbury: Not 'end of world' if Church disestablished - Ruth Gledhill]

EU parliament prevents screening of Wilders' Fitna (Islamophobia Watch)
With God's army [Salvation Army] (Stuart Jeffries, Guardian)
Abu Beavis does prison [having already done al-Qaida in Iraq?] (Obsolete)
Al Qaeda attack on the Hajj foiled ( Aziz Poonawalla, City of Brass)
UK: Waitress fired for not wearing revealing dress (Islam in Europe)
Young thugs attack Southend mosque (Islamophobia Watch)

Tuesday December 16 2008 
Amnesty demands limits on Taser use
Duncan Campbell, guardian.co.uk
The government has been urged to limit the use of the Taser stun gun in the light of a new report that says nearly 350 people have died in the US in the last seven years after being stunned by one. The report suggests Tasers are not as safe as the industry claims, and their use should be limited to life-threatening situations. Last month, the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, said funding was being made available for for up to 10,000 new Tasers after a successful trial in 10 police forces.

'Forced marriage' GP arrives in UK from Bangladesh
Jenny Percival and agencies, guardian.co.uk
An NHS doctor who was allegedly held captive by her parents in Bangladesh and put under pressure to marry arrived home today. Asked how it felt to be back, Dr Humayra Abedin, 33, from east London, smiled wearily and said: "I'm exhausted but very happy to be home. The flight was OK but it was long." Abedin was freed by a Bangladeshi court on Sunday after the high court in London ordered her release under the UK's Forced Marriage Act.

Iraq rally For Bush Shoe Attacker (MPACUK)
Merry WinterLight (5CC)
Blind man's guide dog barred from restaurant for offending Muslims (Islamophobia Watch)
'Terrorism adviser to Met is on wanted list' – another HP-inspired witch-hunt (Islamophobia Watch)
Parents 'would not want a Christian school and far less a Muslim one' (Islamophobia Watch)
Treating all faiths equally – right-wing Christian bigots are outraged (Islamophobia Watch)
Scum-watch: Is the paedophile still dead? (Obsolete)

Sunday December 14 2008 
Referee 'told Sikh boy to remove turban'
Henry McDonald, Observer
Football authorities in Dublin are investigating allegations that a referee tried to force a Sikh boy to take off his turban during a schoolboy match. The family of Karpreet Singh and anti-racist campaigners have contacted the Football Association of Ireland over the alleged incident at Ashbourne in Co Meath a fortnight ago, which ended with the 12-year-old refusing to play in the second half. The FAI has told Sport Against Racism Ireland and the Singh family they will meet them in the new year...

Saturday December 13 2008 
Racist who had bomb kit jailed for campaign against couple
Press Association/Guardian
A neo-Nazi who hoarded bomb making materials and waged a racist campaign against a mixed-race couple was jailed for more than seven years yesterday. A jury at Grimsby crown court took three-and-a-half hours to find Nathan Worrell, 35, guilty of possession of material for terrorist purposes and racially aggravated harassment. He was described by anti-terror police yesterday as a "dangerous individual". Judge John Reddihough sentenced him to six years in prison for the terror offence...

Equating evolution with atheism will turn Muslims against science
Salman Hameed, Guardian Science Blog
There has yet to be a serious debate in the Muslim world about the compatibility of evolution and Islam, but that will soon change. Rising education levels, access to the internet, and exposure to evolution-creation debates in the US and Europe are bringing the issue of evolution to the fore – and opinion among Muslims will solidify in the coming years. Can we avoid a mass rejection of evolution in the Muslim world?

No new coal - the calling card of the 'green Banksy' who breached fortress Kingsnorth
John Vidal, Guardian
The £12m defences of the most heavily guarded power station in Britain have been breached by a single person who, under the eyes of CCTV cameras, climbed two three-metre (10ft) razor-wired, electrified security fences, walked into the station and crashed a giant 500MW turbine before leaving a calling card reading "no new coal". He walked out the same way and hopped back over the fence. It is thought the mystery saboteur's actions reduced UK climate change emissions by 2%.

Closing Guantanamo (Suspect Paki)
The Moral Maze's response on Melanie Phillips (Bradford Muslim)
A new operating system (Ali Eteraz, Guardian CiF)
Catholic bigot backs secularist bigots (Islamophobia Watch)
Toube's latest idiocy – now MPAC are jihadists  (Islamophobia Watch)
Have any Daily Mail readers ever read the Bible? (Secret Diary of a Cub Leader)
Jean Charles de Menezes (Trinketization)

Thursday December 11 2008 
Obama aims to 'reboot US image' in the Muslim world
Suzanne Goldenberg, Guardian
Barack Obama cast his presidency as a moment to rebuild America's relations with the Muslim world yesterday, confirming that he would take the oath of office using his middle name Hussein and that he planned to set the tone with a major speech in a Muslim capital early in his presidency. "I think we've got a unique opportunity to reboot America's image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular," Obama told his hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune.

In a virtual world of their own
Linton Chiswick, Guardian
Now might not seem a good time to launch a virtual world aimed at a specific community, given the general economic woe and the decline in Second Life. However, Mohamed El-Fatatry, an Egyptian working out of Finland, reckons now is a excellent time to create a world aimed at Muslims. El-Fatary is the man behind the two-year-old Muxlim, a kind of MySpace for Muslims, visited more than 1m times a month by members in almost 200 countries.

Teachers 'beat and abuse' Muslim children in British Koran classes
Richard Kerbaj, Times
Muslim children are being beaten and abused regularly by teachers at some British madrassas - Islamic evening classes - an investigation by The Times has found. Students have been slapped, punched and had their ears twisted, according to an unpublished report by an imam based on interviews with victims in the north of England. One was “picked up by one leg and spun around” while another said a madrassa teacher was “kicking in my head - like a football”, says the report...

UK: Anti-Sharia campaign (Islam in Europe)
Charity Porn (The F-Word)
Who rioted in Aylesbury? Muslims, Asians, or no one group in particular? (5CC)
Jihadist calls for 'Facebook invasion' (AFP)
Down the wrong chimney (Dan Varisco, Tabsir)
Is this for real? (Secret Diary of a Cub Leader)

Monday December 08 2008 
Greasepaint and harmony
Josh Freedman Berthoud, Guardian CiF
I attended a school where Muslim pupils far outnumbered Jews (like myself), and I counted roughly equal numbers of Jews and Muslims as my friends, and so it took me a long time to realise just how segregated the two groups really are in London today. A recent move to Cricklewood brought this division home. A stone's throw from one another, the Jewish and Muslim – largely Arab – communities of north-west London live in almost total segregation.

Shin Bet vetoed Arab Israeli's job as mosque imam
Toni O'Loughlin, Guardian
Israel's secret police blocked a Muslim Arab citizen from being appointed to a publicly funded job, in its latest attempt to assert authority over public political debate in Israel, a case in Tel Aviv's labour court has revealed. The case emerged when the state rejected Sheikh Ahmed Abu Awaja's application to serve as the imam at a mosque in Jaffa, a neighbourhood south of Tel Aviv. He appealed to Tel Aviv's labour court after he was told that he did not get the job...

Climate activists held after Stansted runway protest
Jenny Percival and agencies, guardian.co.uk
Police at Stansted Airport have arrested 57 people this morning after climate change protesters broke into a secure area and shut down flights. The protest group Plane Stupid said the action began at 3.15am when its campaigners occupied a section of tarmac that had been closed for maintenance work. Flights resumed shortly after 8am but the protest caused the cancellation of dozens of flights. Scores of passengers left Stansted either to return home or to find hotels...

Sunday December 07 2008 
Genes reveal Spain's forced conversions
Robin McKie, The Observer
An international team of scientists has uncovered striking evidence that mass conversions to Catholicism by Sephardic Jews and Muslims took place in the 15th and 16th centuries in Spain and Portugal. The discovery shines new light on one of the bitterest episodes in the history of the Iberian Peninsula when the region entered a period of terrible religious oppression. The Moors, who at first adopted a policy of religious tolerance when they conquered Spain...

Our stake in free speech
Inayat Bunglawala Guardian CiF
We are fast approaching the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet, just this week in Tunisia, al-Sadiq Shuru, a long-time political prisoner who was released last month after serving 18 years in prison for being a member of the Islamic an-Nahda opposition movement, was once again re-arrested by the authorities. His crime? No one yet knows, though his friends suspect that the interviews he recently gave to international news channels in which he criticise...

Sydney art fuses surf with Islam
Nick Bryant, BBC News Online
An Australian artist has produced a range of Islamic surfboards in an attempt to create a greater understanding between East and West. Phillip George was inspired by his trips to the Middle East and by riots in 2005 when Lebanese Australians were targeted on a beach in Sydney. He has called the range the Inshallah - or God Willing - surfboards and has put them on exhibition in Sydney. There are 30 surfboards in all, each adorned with intricate Islamic motifs.

Saudis deny barring Gazans from Mecca (Rory McCarthy & Riazat Butt, Guardian)
Don't deny campus radicalisation (Islamophobia Watch)
EU Court Back French Hijab Ban (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies)
Here comes the non-gender specific parent of Winterval! (5CC)
Mosques are 'land grab, not a place of prayer', says Giordano (Islamophobia Watch)

Thursday December 04 2008 
A toxic legacy
Julian Borger, Guardian
Ever since January 11 2002, when the first 20 prisoners were flown in from Afghanistan in orange jumpsuits and shackles, the Guantánamo Bay detention camp has been a hefty burden around the Bush administration's neck. The defence secretary at the time, Donald Rumsfeld, picked the Cuban enclave as the "least worst place" to hold captives accused of terrorism. But the effort to run a camp outside the reach of US or international law, so that "enemy combatants"...

You couldn't make it up (5CC)
In Memoriam Elizabeth Fernea (Tabsir)

Wednesday December 03 2008 
Study challenges claims of Islamic extremism among students
Anthea Lipsett, guardian.co.uk
British universities are not hotbeds of Islamic radicalism, despite fears about the rise of "campus extremism", a new study argues. The University of Cambridge research, based partly on in-depth interviews with 26 students at UK universities, found that most young British Muslims are opposed to political Islam and are more likely to join Amnesty International than al-Qaida. This contradicts research published by the Centre for Social Cohesion earlier this year...

Life as a queer Muslim
Dervla Shannahan Hussain, Guardian CiF
I became a member of Imaan 18 months ago, when I stumbled upon their online forum almost randomly. I remember the moment so clearly, I kept pressing the back button on my browser, retracing the small steps from Google, thinking how come it took me so long, why didn't I find this before? I'd spent a lot of time in Muslim countries before that day, but had never before heard sexuality being discussed so honestly by Muslims.

Look elsewhere for the enemy within
June Edmunds, Guardian CiF
Britain and other western countries undeniably contain within their boundaries minorities engaged in terrorist activity. However, the extent of this has been unjustifiably exaggerated as the press runs scare stories about British Muslims' involvement in "madrasas" in Pakistan, (considered to be training camps for terrorists), or imams from overseas supposedly importing radicalism and infecting a suggestible cohort of disaffected youth in British mosques.

Are British universities hotbeds of Islamic radicalism?
Anthony Glees, Guardian CiF
In its press release about Dr June Edmunds's research, Cambridge University wants us to believe that it proves that British universities are not "hotbeds of Islamic radicalism". We learn that "detailed interviews" with Muslim students in Cambridge, the LSE and Bradford led her to the happy conclusion there is little evidence of "any threat". That Cambridge should issue a press release as grandiose as this, trumpeting research so flimsy and uncompelling as Edmunds's, is curious.

We get by with a little help
Ishtiaq Hussain, Guardian
Just a year ago few could have imagined the problems we are facing today. Amongst other things: high street banks have been nationalised or part nationalised, common financial products have been withdrawn and houses are being repossessed. We are quite possibly facing the worst economic crisis since the depression of the 1930s. As a Muslim, my faith teaches me to have patience through hard times and to help others in need.

When a schism has a schism of its own
Andrew Brown, Guardian CiF
Some time this summer, it became obvious that ... there is a full-scale schism under way but by that time almost everyone had got bored and started to talk about other things. So this week the story returns with a twist: will there be a second schism within the schism? In particular will the coalition that has been trying to drive the liberal churches of North America out of the Communion break up; and will the puritan evangelical faction start to break up the Church of England too?

Anthony Glees And The Bucket Of Bovine Scatology (MPACUK)
New citizenship classes for mosque schools (Asian Image)
Chief Rabbi: 'A perversion of the Abrahamic faiths' (Ruth Gledhill)
Who doesn't deserve a funeral? (Indigo Jo Blogs)

Tuesday December 02 2008 
Muslim prayer rooms should be opened in Catholic schools, say church leaders
Simon Caldwell, Mail
Muslim prayer rooms should be opened in every Roman Catholic school, church leaders have said. The Catholic bishops of England and Wales also want facilities in schools for Islamic pre-prayer washing rituals. The demands go way beyond legal requirements on catering for religious minorities. But the bishops - who acknowledge 30 per cent of pupils at their schools hold a non-Christian faith - want to answer critics who say religious schools sow division.

Police and Muslims to swap roles so officers can be more sensitive
Michael Howie, Scotsman
ANTI-TERROR police hope to participate in role-reversal sessions with Muslims in an attempt to ease concerns about the "harassment" of Scottish Asians travelling through Glasgow Airport. The away-days are designed to improve relations between police and the Muslim community and reach a common understanding about the need to question people at the airport.  The move, based on a pilot scheme south of the Border called Operation Nicole...

A late calling to account
Will Hutton, Guardian
A rare silver lining in this recession is that a veil of mystery is being lifted from the longstanding lending practices of British banks. Suddenly they are understood as not necessarily always in the best national economic interest. Mortgage and business borrowers alike are newly empowered by the £37bn bank bail-out ... Yesterday the Royal Bank of Scotland, now 58% owned by the taxpayer, promised it would give distressed homeowners six months' grace before it moved to repossess...

The world descends on Medina
Halima Ali, Guardian CiF
The old man wobbles as he stands up out of his wheelchair before the reach of his son steadies him. Carefully, he helps his father adjust the ihram – the two pieces of white sheet men are obliged to wear when performing either the hajj itself or the smaller pilgrimage called umrah – which covers his torso. Having seen to his father he moved on to his mother who is also wheelchair-bound, helping her to drink some water and pinning her hijab into place.

Iran's underground rap artists take to wearing symbol of Islamic revolution
Robert Tait, Guardian
For nearly 30 years its distinctive chequered pattern has been a sacrosanct symbol of Iran's Islamic revolution and an essential garment for its most committed adherents. But now the chafiyeh, the black-and-white scarf proudly worn by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his loyal followers, has become an unlikely fashion item for young Iranians drawn to the same western pop culture that country's leaders disdain. The scarf has become a craze among Iran's emerging crop of underground rap artists...

Nigerian city counts its dead after days of Christian-Muslim riots (Xan Rice, Guardian)
Reclaiming my Religion (Tabsir)
Madrassas 'should teach how to deal with jibes' (Shan Ross, Scotsman)
Did climate change stoke past religious persecution? (Ed Stoddard, FaithWorld)
Mixing Dall with Scottish Oats (Tabsir)
Islamic finance sector needs more sharia scholars (Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld)
Bombay revisited (Indigo Jo)
Gay Bible angers Christians (Alison Flood, guardian.co.uk)