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Friday February 29 2008
New warning to
faith charities
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
Faith charities encouraging or promoting violence or
hatred risk losing their charitable status as part of a radical overhaul
proposed by the Charity Commission. For the first time all charities - including
those advancing religion - must show that their aims are for the benefit of the
public. Draft guidance, issued today, will explain to the registered religious
charities what constitutes a public benefit and warns that "the abuse or misuse
of religious teachings" might lead to a charity being stripped of its status.
European judges thwart attempts to deport foreign terrorist suspects
Richard Ford, The Times
Britain’s efforts to deport terrorist suspects including
the radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada were dealt a serious blow by the European
Court of Human Rights yesterday. In a unanimous decision, the court in
Strasbourg ruled against an attempt by Italy to return a Tunisian to his home
country. The Italian authorities had sought to have Nassim Saadi deported on the
ground that he had played an “active role” in an organisation providing support
to fundamentalist Islamist cells in Italy and abroad.
Turkey Classifying Not Revising Hadith
Ahmad Maher, AOL
Gormez, a British trained theologian, said the re-classified Hadith will come in
multiple volumes. "It might be five or even six volumes; we are still not
decided." He shrugged off media suggestions that Turkey was re-writing the
Hadith and creating a new Islam. "They made too much fuss and took the project
out of its real context. "We are neither fashioning a new Islam nor dare to
alter the fixtures maxims of Islam," Gormez said emphatically. "The Western
media have read what are doing from a Christian perspective and understood it in
line with their Christian and Western cultures."
When
Harry Met Tali (Daily Star)
Why Would Anyone Join the
ISB - the ‘Inbred’ Society Of Britain? (MPACUK)
Capitalism, Consumerism and Materialism: The Value Crisis (The Cutting Edge)
Writer to
get EU protection (Ian Traynor, The Guardian)
Legal challenge over UK government
'subservience' to Saudi regime (Agency Reporter, Ekklesia) Thursday February 28 2008
'Undercover Mosque' makers to sue police for libel
Emily Dugan, The Independent
Channel 4 said yesterday it would pursue a libel claim
against West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service for statements
made following the broadcast of an investigative documentary on British Muslims.
The Dispatches programme, "Undercover Mosque", which was shown in January last
year, used hidden cameras to expose supposed Islamic extremism in British
mosques. It featured preachers speaking on the condemnation of non-Muslims, the
intellectual inferiority of women...
New strategy
to stem flow of terror recruits
Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
Senior police officers have drawn up a radical strategy to
stop British Muslims turning to violence which will see every area of the
country mapped for its potential to produce extremists and supporters for
al-Qaida. The 40-page document, marked restricted, was approved by a top-level
police counter-terrorism committee on Monday, and is expected to be formally
adopted within weeks. The Association of Chief Police Officers hopes it will
help to stop al-Qaida's ideas gaining hold in primary schools...
Forcing the issue
Rahila Gupta, Guardian CiF
Not to be outdone by New Labour, last week David Cameron struck a "more Labour
than thou" concern for victims of forced marriages. A future Tory government
would make it a criminal offence. Perhaps he had not noticed that this
government had carried out a consultation exercise on the same question and
found the weight of expert opinion against it. Why? Because the problem would be
driven underground. Women's groups believed that young women would be reluctant
to seek help if...
Police to implement sharia law, claims Tory MP (Islamophobia Watch)
Could Turkey create an Islam acceptable to the West? (Adrian Hamilton, The
Independent)
Headscarves, secularism and emancipation (Letters, The Guardian)
Outcry as Lebanese extremist is allowed to tour Britain to 'promote violence'
(Matthew Hickley, Daily Mail)
Court
bans deportation of terror suspect (Clare Dyer, The Guardian) Wednesday February 27 2008
'Osama bin London' guilty of terrorist training
James Macintyre, The Independent
An Islamist extremist who called himself "Osama bin
London" has been found guilty of leading his own "al-Qa'ida-style" cell which
trained terrorists, including those who attempted to carry out the "second wave"
of London bombings on 21 July 2005. From his home in east London, Mohammed
Hamid, 50, organised training camps in the New Forest, Berkshire and the Lake
District and encouraged other fanatics to murder "non-believers".
Terror remands
over 28 days will be rare, minister tells rebel MPs
Vikram Dodd & Nicholas Watt, The Guardian
The government attempted to reach out to Labour rebels
yesterday by saying there was "no compelling evidence" for a permanent extension
of the time terrorist suspects could be held without charge to beyond 28 days.
As the government prepares for a battle over its anti-terrorism bill, the Home
Office minister Tony McNulty said the new powers would only be triggered on
exceptional occasions. Last night the Conservatives accused the minister of
spinning and doing a U-turn to appease Labour rebels.
From Manchester to
London, quake shakes Britons out of bed
Thair Shaikh The Guardian
Large areas of England from London to Manchester suffered
tremors just before 1am last night as an earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter
scale rumbled through the country for several seconds. There were reports of
power cuts in some cities and of buildings shaking - in Hull students ran into
the street for fear of falling masonry - but no reports of injuries. According
to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake struck at 12.56am at a depth of 10km
(6.2 miles) with an epicentre 205 km (127 miles) north of London...
Channel 4 in libel action against police over Undercover Mosque
Tara Conlan, The Guardian
Channel 4's Dispatches editor Kevin Sutcliffe and the programme makers behind
Undercover Mosque are pursuing a libel claim against West Midlands Police and
the Crown Prosecution Service. The documentary makers were cleared last November
by media regulator Ofcom of allegations of misleadingly editing the Channel 4
programme about extreme Islamic preachers. Undercover Mosque, which took nine
months to make, aired in January last year and featured footage filmed
undercover...
Turkey
strives for 21st century form of Islam
Ian Traynor, The Guardian
Turkey is engaged in a bold and profound attempt to rewrite the basis for
Islamic sharia law while also officially reinterpreting the Qur'an for the
modern age. The exercise in reforming Islamic jurisprudence, sponsored by the
modernising and mildly Islamic government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime
minister, is being seen as an iconoclastic campaign to establish a 21st century
form of Islam, fusing Muslim beliefs and tradition with European and western
philosophical methods and principles.
Hope: Preliminary Observations (The Cutting Edge)
Anne Cryer, triangulation and the moral argument (Bradford Muslim)
Tuesday February 26 2008
Racist force rejected Sikh officer 12 times
Sean O’Neill, The Times
A Sikh policeman is set to receive a five-figure damages
award for racial discrimination after a police force rejected a dozen
applications from him to join. PC Sangram Singh-Bhacker, who comes from an
Indian family in Manchester, had been trying to join the city’s police since
1990. He had served with five other forces in England but Greater Manchester
Police (GMP) repeatedly refused to allow him to transfer to work in his home
city. In February last year Andrew Marston, its head of personnel, told him in a
letter...
Most autistic adults
'isolated'
BBC News Online
Thousands of adults with autism find themselves isolated and ignored, one of the
largest studies into people with the condition has suggested. The National
Autistic Society Scotland said more than half of an estimated 50,000 autistic
adults and their families do not get the support needed. It claimed the
government does not know exactly how many people have autism, making it
impossible to plan services. The charity spoke to 175 adults with the condition
and their families.
Muslim leaders write 'harmony' letter to Jews
Jonathan Petre, Telegraph
An international group of Muslim leaders have sent a letter to the world's
Jewish community appealing for better relationships between the faiths. The
unprecedented letter, which is being seen as a significant gesture of
reconciliation, said: "Many Jews and Muslims today stand apart from each other
due to feelings of anger, which in some parts of the world, translate into
violence. "It is our contention that we are faced today not with 'a clash of
civilizations' but with 'a clash of ill-informed misunderstandings'."
Islamic Newspeak
Brian Whitaker, Guardian CiF
A rather excited report this morning on the BBC's Today programme hailed a
development that "could signal the start of a reformation" of Islam. The
possibility of an "Islamic Reformation" of the kind that launched Protestantism
in Christianity sounds attractive - at least superficially - and it has been
promoted with enthusiasm by non-believers such as Salman Rushdie. But Muslims
who are actually involved in trying to liberalise and reform their religion
usually regard it as nonsense.
Face facts, Cardinal. Our awful rate of abortion is partly your responsibility
George Monbiot, The Guardian
Who carries the greatest responsibility for the deaths of unborn children in
this country? I accuse the leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales,
His Eminence Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. I charge that he is partly to
blame for our abnormally high abortion rate. Let me begin with a point of
agreement. "Whatever our religious creed or political conviction,"
Murphy-O'Connor writes, the level of abortion in the UK "can only be a source of
distress and profound anguish for us all". Quite so.
Top terror recruiter found
guilty (BBC News Online)
Sharia law 'would undermine British society' – Cameron (Islamophobia Watch)
Sikh
separatists 'funded from UK' (BBC News Online)
Britain sent hundreds to face torture (Islamophobia Watch)
Diversity and difference: part two (Ziauddin Sardar, Blogging the Qur'an) Monday February 25 2008
Tories strive to calm Auschwitz row
David Byers, The Times
David Cameron made an uncomfortable round of phone calls
to Jewish leaders to try to explain a memo that described visits to the
Auschwitz death camp as a “gimmick” — but continued to refuse to make a public
apology. Sources said that the Tory leader had arranged to telephone the
president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the representative lay
organisation of UK Jewry, to rebuild bridges and explain what he had meant when
he claimed, in a press release issued last Friday, that the Government’s promise
of school trips to the Nazi death camp was a stunt.
Secularists have nothing to fear from women wearing headscarves
Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian
Turkey, any day now, a female university student will mark a dramatic moment in
her country's history. After years of heated debate, culminating in street
demonstrations in recent months, she will no longer have to replace her
headscarf with a wig or hat before attending her lectures, thanks to a
constitutional amendment that received presidential consent last week. However,
she will know that her newly won right is by no means secure; university
authorities have been threatening to break the law...
Angry white men
Cath Elliot, Guardian CIF
White men probably aren't the first group that springs to
mind when thinking about those who either lack a political voice or are
under-represented in any western democracy. If you were to compile a list of the
marginalised, ethnic minorities, women, lesbians, gay men, the disabled, and
transgendered people would surely lag far behind those who have wielded the
power since time immemorial. Well, not according to one American journalist,
whose
recent column...
Creating controversy
Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF
Last Saturday's edition of The Guardian contained a small item about a talk due
to be held tomorrow on "The Collapse of Evolution Theory" organised by the
Islamic society at University College London. The speakers are from the
well-funded and extremely active Harun Yahya organisation in Turkey that I wrote
about in a CIF blog over 18 months ago. Writing under the pen name of Harun
Yahya, this outfit has since the late 1990s produced a series of very glossy
books and documentaries...
Buddhist monk 'cut into pieces' after being run over by his own lawnmower at
Milton Keynes temple
Daily Mail
A monk was cut into pieces when he was run over by his own lawnmower as he
trimmed the grass at a convent, an inquest jury has been told. Moments before
his horrific death, the 50-year-old reverend was seen running after the
driver-less machine as it set off without him in the 12-acre grounds of a peace
temple. A coroner heard that 10 years earlier, the Rev. Seiji Handa had suffered
another nasty experience with a mower, when three of his fingers were chopped
off.
9/11
victims identified from new DNA finds (James Randerson, Guardian)
More than 40 Shia
pilgrims killed in attacks (Kim Gamel, Guardian)
Dragnet
Goldsmiths (Trinketization) Sunday February 24 2008
Bishop of Rochester reasserts 'no-go' claim
Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Telegraph
In his first interview since his controversial comments,
Dr Michael Nazir-Ali vows not to be forced into silence. The Rt Rev Michael
Nazir-Ali, who received death threats for airing his views on Islamic issues,
has vowed that he will continue to speak out. His claim that Islamic extremism
has turned some parts of Britain into "no-go" areas for non-Muslims led to
fierce rows between political and religious leaders over the impact of
multiculturalism on this country.
Tug-of-war starts over Lindisfarne Gospels' future
Paul Bignell, Independent on Sunday
A row has erupted over the future of the Lindisfarne
Gospels, one of Britain's most valuable religious treasures. Amid claims of
"cultural snobbery" and political opportunism, Andy Burnham, the Secretary of
State for Culture, has been forced to step in to defuse a North-South dispute
between MPs in Northumbria and officials at the British Library. Campaigners and
MPs have been lobbying to get the priceless eighth-century manuscript released
from its present home at the British Library in London...
'No-go' Bishop defends
comments (BBC Online)
Put up or shut up, Nazir-Ali (Indigo Jo Blogs) Saturday February 23 2008
David Cameron under fire over Auschwitz gaffe
Andrew Porter, Telegraph
The Conservative leader David Cameron was criticised by
Jewish groups and MPs after he said funding to send schoolchildren to Auschwitz
was "a gimmick". The Government said his remarks were "sick and ignorant" while
Lord Janner, chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust, described them as "a
low form of politics". The uproar began when a Conservative press release
criticised 26 Government initiatives as "short-term gimmicks". The list included
a £4·6 million scheme announced by ministers...
Cameron quip over Auschwitz backfires (Daniel Bentley, The Independent)
Foster couple challenges homosexuality laws
Andrew Pierce, Telegraph
Lawyers are to seek a judicial review of a decision by social workers to ban a
Christian couple from fostering young children because they refused to sign up
to new gay equality laws. The action against Labour-controlled Derby City
Council is likely to become a test case for the Government's Sexual Orientation
Regulations. Social workers rejected an application by Eunice and Owen Johns ...
to be foster parents because they refused to agree to tell any children in their
care that homosexual lifestyles were acceptable.
Face to faith
Alex Klaushofer, The Guardian
These days I often feel caught between two fundamentalisms. On one side is the
trumpeting atheism of the liberal left that has come to be as much a part of
contemporary Britain as wet summers and late trains. It pops up all over the
place, at meetings and in pub conversations, expressed in pithy comments that
give the finger to God and assume a cosy agreement among everyone present.
"We're all atheists here," said one friend comfortably, as we sat round the
dinner table. Friday February 22 2008
Muslims shocked to learn that crisps contain alcohol
Valerie Elliott, The Times
Senior Muslim figures have said that they are shocked that a number of Walkers
snacks contain traces of alcohol and eating them is therefore against their
religion. A tiny amount of alcohol is used in some products as a chemical agent
to extract flavour. The use of alcohol was discovered by Besharat Rehman, who
owns a halal supermarket in Bradford, and reported in the Eastern Eye. Mr Rehman
said: “Our suppliers were unaware of the alcohol..."
Church gives generously to a centre for all faiths
Ruth Gledhill, The Times
A diocese of the Church of England is giving an unprecedented £250,000 towards a
multifaith building in which the largest amount of worship space will be
reserved for Muslims. The Guildford diocese is one of the wealthiest in the UK.
The Bishop of Guildford, the Right Rev Christopher Hill, gave the £250,000
cheque yesterday to the University of Surrey for the first multifaith building
of its kind in Britain. The £6.5 million building will contain separate worship
spaces for the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Sikh communities...
Bugging
of MP on prison visit did not break the rules, inquiry finds
Vikram Dodd, Guardian
Police officers knew they were covertly bugging
conversations between a terror suspect and his MP, but were not breaking any
rules when they did so, an official report said yesterday. An inquiry into
allegations that Scotland Yard bugged discussions in prison between Sadiq Khan
and his constituent Babar Ahmad found that five officers knew one person they
were recording was an MP. But senior officers never realised, despite
authorising the operation.
Why was whistleblower in bugging of Muslim MP scandal not quizzed during
inquiry?
Benedict Brogan, Daily Mail
The Home Secretary was under fire last night after it emerged that the inquiry
into the bugging of MP Sadiq Khan did not question the police whistleblower who
exposed it. Mark Kearney claimed he was put under pressure to record prison
meetings between Mr Khan and a friend who is fighting extradition to the U.S. on
terrorism charges. He has said he fears for his safety after revealing the
Special Branch operation. MPs expressed surprise that the inquiry ordered by
Jacqui Smith last month did not call Mr Kearney...
‘Most Britons belong to no religion’
Ruth Gledhill, The Times
Freedom from religion in Britain is becoming as important as freedom of
religion, according to a United Nations investigation. A 23-page report by Asma
Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, says that
the 2001 census findings that nearly 72 per cent of the population is Christian
can no longer be regarded as accurate. The report claims that two thirds of
British people do not admit to any religious affiliation. The report calls for
the disestablishment of the Church of England.
Miliband apologises over rendition flights
Gavin Cordon, PA /The Independent
Foreign Secretary David Miliband apologised to MPs today after admitting that US
"special rendition" flights had twice landed on British soil in contravention of
earlier Government assurances. Mr Miliband said in a Commons statement that on
two occasions in 2002 US flights carrying terrorist suspects stopped to refuel
at the airbase on the British Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia. He told
MPs that US officials informed the UK last week of the flights, which took place
contrary to earlier assurances...
The history of extraordinary rendition flights
Richard Edwards, Telegraph
The transfer of terror suspects on "torture flights" is a
tactic that dates back 20 years but has become a controversial focal point of
the "war on terror" since the attacks of September 11, 2001. The revelation that
at least two flights have landed on UK territory will fuel fears that British
soil and airspace have been used regularly by CIA planes taking suspects to face
interrogation in other states - so-called "extraordinary rendition". Campaigners
claim about 400 CIA torture flights have passed through British airspace...
Archbishop was 'misguided' reveals survey of top Brits
Ruth Gledhill, The Times (L)
More than a third of Britain’s most influential people think the Archbishop of
Canterbury was “misguided” to suggest that some elements of Islamic law might be
recognised in Britain. One in seven believes he should resign, according to a
survey seen by The Times. But nearly one in three welcomes his views as part of
the debate, and one in ten said he was right to speak out. The survey
comes in the wake of the most controversial intervention in public life made so
far by Dr Rowan Williams...
Democracy, allies and lies: the case of stochastic dystopia (Islam, Muslims
and an Anthropologist)
CofE pays £250,000 for interfaith centre (Ruth Gledhill)
Archbishop orders Catholic hospital board to resign in ethics dispute
(Riazat Butt, Guardian)
MPACUK Welcomes Tough
Measures Against Forced Marriages (MPACUK)
Catholic aide 'pushed lover into abortion' (Telegraph)
CIA denies holding facility at British base (Telegraph)
Muslim convert not a threat, says judge (Islamophobia Watch)
Sharia in Iran: 'Death to converts' (Ruth Gledhill)
David Cameron under fire over Auschwitz gaffe (Andrew Porter, Telegraph) Thursday February 21 2008
Islamic school 'kept copies of race-hate books'
Sophie Borland, Telegraph
An Islamic school that claimed to have destroyed all its
copies of extremist books in which Jews were described as "monkeys" and
Christians as "pigs" secretly photocopied them beforehand, a tribunal heard
yesterday. Colin Cook, a former English teacher, claimed that pupils as young as
five were exposed to literature inciting hatred at the King Fahad Academy, a
private school in Acton, west London. Mr Cook, who taught there for 18 years,
told Watford employment tribunal...
Sharia law
can be appalling, says archbishop
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
The Archbishop of Canterbury last night risked reopening
the debate on sharia law by denouncing some of its practices as "grim" and
"appalling". Rowan Williams made the remarks in the first of three public
lectures to be given in Cambridge. Addressing an audience of more than 1,200
people, he condemned the way Islamic law discriminated against women in some
Muslim countries. "In some of the ways it has been codified and practised across
the world, it has been appalling.
Afghan chief
criticises Britain
David Loyn, BBC News Online
The governor of the Kandahar province in Afghanistan has
criticised British attempts to negotiate with the Taleban. Assadullah Khalid
told the BBC that the way two European experts were trying to negotiate was a
mistake, and that is why they were expelled last year. The expulsion of experts
was one factor in the UK's worsening relationship with President Hamid Karzai.
That led President Karzai to block the appointment of Lord Paddy Ashdown to head
the UN in Kabul.
Letters: An invisible group of Muslim women suffers under sharia law (The
Independent)
4,000 company directors listed as global terror suspects and fraudsters
(Sean O’Neill, The Times)
Campaigners to protest against racist Express coverage (Islamophobia Watch)
Migrants to earn citizenship during probationary period (Alan Travis,
Guardian)
Cartoon (Steve Bell, Guardian)
Government admits bugging MP's prison visits (Robert Winnett, Telegraph -L)
Wednesday February 20 2008
MPs' vote on 42-day terror detentions 'a sham'
Christopher Hope, Telegraph
Plans to allow Parliament to decide when police can detain
terror suspects for 42 days were branded a "sham" yesterday by MPs. The
Counter-Terrorism Bill would allow Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, to increase
the limit from 28 days if police needed more time to question a suspect. MPs
would be given the chance to approve her decision within 30 days. However,
safeguards proposed by the Home Office would mean that a suspect could have been
held for 42 days before a vote.
Papers reveal how alleged war criminal escaped UK arrest
Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
Scotland Yard allowed a suspected war criminal to escape
from Britain partly because they feared an attempt to stop him would lead to a
gun battle at Heathrow airport, police documents seen by the Guardian reveal.
The former senior Israeli officer was supposed to be detained as he arrived in
London for a speaking engagement, after a British court had ordered his arrest.
But detectives looked on as he landed, then hid on the plane for two hours,
before flying off to avoid arrest.
Muslim school 'that taught pupils from race hate textbooks made photocopies
after order to shred them'
Daily Mail (L)
A London school attended by the children of notorious hate preachers, including
jailed cleric Abu Hamza, poisoned its pupils' minds with racist lessons of hate,
an ex-teacher has claimed. Colin Cook, who formerly taught English at the King
Fahad Academy in Acton, West London, told a tribunal how pupils as young as five
were taught from Arabic textbooks describing Jews as "monkeys" and Christians as
"pigs". Under public pressure, the academy agreed to destroy the books - but not
before photocopying them...
Migrants to earn their passport with 'civic work' (James Slack, Mail)
New call to restrict
control orders (Express)
Rivals close in
as Musharraf suffers Pakistan poll rout (Declan Walsh, The Guardian)
Illness forces
Castro to quit after half a century in power (Paul Harris, The Guardian)
Church told to play pipes of peace as organists get workers’ rights (Helen
Nugent, The Times)
Qataris slam British denial of visa to Qaradawi (Islamophobia Watch)
Prince Philip's experience of 'anti-Semitic frenzy' (Ruth Gledhill) Tuesday February 19, 2008
Man given life over beheading plot
Nigel Morris, The Independent
The ringleader of a plot to kidnap and decapitate a
British Muslim soldier has been jailed for life. Parviz Khan pleaded guilty to
the scheme and to supplying equipment to terrorists on the Pakistan-Afghanistan
border. He was handed a minimum 14-year sentence at Leicester Crown Court and
was told he might never be released. Four men involved in the plot were
sentenced with him. But it was Khan, who claimed to be a full-time carer for his
elderly mother, who was the prime mover in the Birmingham-based terror cell.
You do know Islam means
Peace?
MPACUK
So why is it that the tabloid newspapers have become an authority on Islam? In
fact, why is it that non-Muslims are being educated about Islam through this
medium? Yup, we also have Muslims who fall for this type of spin and the outcome
is the Muslim apologist. He doesn’t really know what the Islamic stance is and
neither can he be bothered to find out. All he knows is that it doesn’t sound
right and so out pops an apology.
'Jihad on accountants'
man jailed
BBC News (L)
A man has been jailed for two years for sending dozens of letters to mosques
around the UK urging their members to launch terror attacks on accountants.
Malcolm Hodges, 44, from Sittingbourne, Kent, bore a "festering grudge" against
professional accountancy bodies more than a decade after he failed an exam. The
Old Bailey heard he claimed in the letters, sent in November 2006, he was a
follower of Osama bin Laden. He pleaded guilty on Tuesday to recklessly
encouraging terrorism.
Cardinal's aide cast as a 'cad' in abortion row (Caroline Gammell, Telegraph)
Terror suspects ‘should be kept in check with ASBOs’ (Richard Ford, The
Times)
Cosseted terror suspects: How you pay the heating and phone bills for national
security suspects (James Slack, Daily Mail)
Protest to the BBC over coverage of the Williams row (Islamophobia Watch) Monday February 18, 2008
Bonds to fit sharia law backed by Chancellor
Katy Hastings, Telegraph
The row over sharia law was reignited on Sunday with the
emergence of plans for the Chancellor to approve "Islamic bonds" which would
raise money for public spending from the Middle East. Britain would be the first
Western nation to issue the bonds, which meet Islamic rules by avoiding interest
payments, classed as "sinful". The move could lead to wealthy Middle Eastern
businessmen and banks taking ownership of Government buildings and other British
assets.
Religious superheroes come back fighting in a Manga comic Bible
Murad Ahmed, The Times
He comes to town as a stranger, a silhouetted superhero
ready to save the world. He’s dark, he’s moody and he deals in miracles. He is
Christ. That’s the portrait of Jesus depicted by a British artist in a new,
abridged version of the Bible illustrated in the “manga” style, the Japanese
form of comic books. The Manga Bible, created by Ajin-bayo Akinsiku, known as
Siku, has earned rave reviews in the Christian community and has been endorsed
by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams...
Anti-English sentiment 'as big a threat to Scots as sectarianism'
Mark Hughes, The Independent
The leader of the Church of Scotland has criticised
anti-English sentiment north of the border saying it is just as big a threat to
the well-being of Scottish society as sectarianism. The Rt Rev Sheilagh Kesting,
the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, has also said
that the anti-English feeling is not conducive to a "healthy society" and that
"banter" between the Scots and the English during sporting events could be
harmful and lead to more sinister behaviour.
UK unable to sustain population, says study (Joanna Corrigan,
Telegraph)
BNP's website 'the most popular in politics' (Daily Mail) Sunday February 17, 2008
Darling to decide on use of 'Sharia bonds' for public spending
Bryan Brady, Independent on Sunday
Alistair Darling will announce in his Budget next month
whether Britain will press ahead with plans for so-called "Sharia bonds" to
attract money from the cash-rich Middle East, it was revealed last night.
Treasury officials confirmed that the Chancellor would decide whether to help
fund the Government's public-spending programme by borrowing funds via Islamic
law-compliant bonds, known as sukuk, within the next few weeks. Britain is set
to become the first Western nation to issue bonds approved by Muslim clerics...
Children
to attend multi-ethnic camps
Isabel Oakeshott, Deputy Political Editor
Children from ethnic minorities are to be sent on adventure holidays with white
youngsters in a scheme to break down racial and religious barriers. Ministers
want children from different backgrounds to mix at summer camps where they can
enjoy extreme sports together. The Youth Hostel Association (YHA) centres also
offer workshops in skills such as circus tricks and producing pop videos. Last
year 10,000 children attended the five-day camps at locations such as the Lake
District and national parks in North Yorkshire.
The fallacy of multiculturalism helping terrorism (Indigo Jo Blogs) Saturday February 16, 2008
Man guilty over Muslim soldier beheading plot
Duncan Gardham, Telegraph
A teaching assistant has been found guilty of helping a
terrorist who was plotting the kidnap and execution of a British Muslim soldier.
Zahoor Iqbal, 30, a Labour Party member and secondary school "achievement
mentor" was found guilty of helping Parviz Khan to run money and equipment to
terrorists in Afghanistan. Khan, from Alum Rock, Birmingham has already pleaded
guilty to plotting the kidnap and execution of a soldier, which he planned to
film and release for propaganda purposes...
Exiled
writer may stay in India - at a price
Randeep Ramesh & Richard Lea, The Guardian
An exiled Bangladeshi author accused of insulting Islam
will be allowed to stay in India, it emerged yesterday, but only if she remains
in a government flat at a secret location in Delhi, unable to receive visitors
or step outside. India's foreign ministry justified the conditions saying that
as a "guest" Taslima Nasrin, 45, should not "undertake actions that could hurt
the sentiments of the many communities that make up our multi-religious and
multi-ethnic nation". Friday February 15, 2008
Britain 'a soft touch for terrorists'
Robert Winnett Deputy, Telegraph
Britain has become a "soft touch" for home grown
terrorists because ministers have failed to tackle immigrant communities that
refuse to integrate, warns a report released today. The Royal United Services
Institute (RUSI), a body of the country's leading military and diplomatic
figures, says the loss of British values and national identity caused by "flabby
and bogus" Government thinking has made the country vulnerable to attack from
Islamic extremists.
Algerian cleared of training pilots for September 11 told he can sue
Robert Verkaik, The Independent
A man whose life was ruined after being wrongly imprisoned over allegations that
he helped to train five of the 9/11 terrorists was exonerated by the Court of
Appeal yesterday in a ruling that paves the way for a multimillion-pound
compensation claim against the Government. Lotfi Raissi, 33, an Algerian pilot
living in London, was arrested at his home in a raid authorised under the
Terrorism Act, 10 days after the 9/11 attacks.
Britain 'a soft touch for home grown terrorists' (Islamophobia Watch)
Alert on
'vulnerable' Britain (The Sun)
UK 'is soft touch' says
think-tank (The Express)
Revealed: the five men who had convictions for terrorist offences quashed
despite poring over jihadist websites (Daily Mail)
£100,000
windows smashed at Stephen Lawrence centre (James Sturcke, The Guardian)
Why is there only one Bob Lambert? (Bradford Muslim)
BBC:
Sharia - The Clear Path (Mere Islam)
Thursday February 14, 2008
Appeal
judges clear Muslims of terror charges
Vikram Dodd, The Guardian
Five young Muslim men yesterday had their terrorism
convictions quashed after judges concluded that reading Islamist material was
not illegal unless there was "direct" proof it was to be used to inspire violent
extremism. The men had been jailed in July 2006 with the trial judge saying they
had been "intoxicated" by extremism after Islamist ideological CDs and computer
downloads were found in their possession. The prosecution at their trial claimed
the men were preparing to train in Pakistan before fighting in Afghanistan. They
were prosecuted under section 57 of the Terrorism act 2000, which makes it an
offence to have books or items useful for a terrorist. Striking down the
convictions, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips said: "[Section 57] must be
interpreted in a way that requires a direct connection between the object
possessed and the act of terrorism."
We need to listen to the man from special branch
Seumas Milne The Guardian
"The government approach is increasingly to lump all Islamist groups together",
the special branch veteran says. "But Islamists can be powerful allies in the
fight against al-Qaida influence. Our experience shows they can be the levers
that help get young people away from the most dangerous positions. Issues that
are most troubling to people like the oppression of women and gays mustn't be
swept under the carpet, but they also shouldn't be treated as a block on
engagement."
Pilot cleared of 9/11 role can claim compensation (Mark Tran and agencies,
The Guardian)
Mad clergyman bashes Bish
(Islamophobia Watch)
Muslims seeking Beth Din advice
(Islamophobia Watch) Wednesday February 13, 2008
Anxiety of Queen over sharia law controversy
Andrew Pierce, Telegraph
The Queen is distressed by the row over Islamic law which
she fears threatens to undermine the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury
and damage the Church of England. According to a royal source, the Queen has not
expressed any view on whether Dr Rowan Williams was unwise to say it was
"unavoidable" that aspects of the sharia legal system could be incorporated into
English law. But as Supreme Governor of the Church of England she has been
dismayed by the controversy...
Sharia: heat but
no enlightenment (Zia Sardar, Guardian CiF)
Mayor in Muslim row quits Tories
(Islamophobia Watch)
Five students win terror appeal
(Islamophobia Watch)
Danish papers reprint Muhammad cartoon
(Islamophobia Watch)
Waltham Forest Muslims welcome Williams' lecture
(Islamophobia Watch) Tuesday February 12, 2008
Williams tries to defuse row over sharia law but refuses to apologise
Jonathan Brown, The Independent
The Archbishop of Canterbury has sought to defuse the
bitter row over what he appeared to claim was the unavoidable adoption of sharia
law in the UK by conceding that his controversial comments may have been unclear
and "clumsily deployed". Whilst taking full responsibility for his part in the
highly damaging episode, which resulted in calls for him to resign and sparked a
disagreement with Downing Street, Dr Rowan Williams fell short of offering a
full-blown apology and refused to back down.
'Sorry for any confusion but it is my right and duty to talk about religion and
the law'
Ruth Gledhill, The Times
The Archbishop of Canterbury apologised to the Church of England yesterday for
any “misleading choice of words” when he delivered his controversial speech on
Islam, but insisted that he stood by his right to tackle such issues. Remaining
bullish about an address for which he was attacked by church members, government
ministers and other faiths, Dr Rowan Williams said: “I believe quite strongly
that it is not inappropriate for a pastor of the Church of England to address
issues around..."
Revealed: Islamist extremists have penetrated the heart of Britain
Stephen Wright, The Mail
Islamist extremists have infiltrated Government and key
public utilities to pass sensitive information to terrorists, the security
services have warned. Counter-terrorism officials say "insiders" or their
associates are almost certainly working "undetected" in sensitive posts and are
actively supporting the activities of extremists. In some cases, lifelong
relationships between friends or relatives are being exploited to obtain crucial
information from those in sensitive posts.
Spy planes take on Talibrum (The Sun) Monday February 11, 2008
Breeding antagonism
David Shariatmadari, Guardian CiF
Watch what you say: good advice for anyone in public life
at the moment. Not only have the Archbishop of Canterbury's remarks on sharia
law landed him in hot water (what exactly did he say? Does it matter? Not,
apparently, to many of the columnists who have splattered the weekend papers
with their thoughts on shariagate). Now Phil Woolas, a minister at Defra, might
well have cause to regret ever talking about the level of birth defects among
Britons of Pakistani origin.
Mad Mel backs Carey (Islamophobia Watch)
Leo McKinstry – a suitable case for treatment (Islamophobia Watch)
Sunday February 10, 2008
Minister warns of ‘inbred’ Muslims
Dipesh Gadher, Christopher Morgan and Jonathan Oliver, Sunday Times
A government minister has warned that inbreeding among
immigrants is causing a surge in birth defects - comments likely to spark a new
row over the place of Muslims in British society. Phil Woolas, an environment
minister, said the culture of arranged marriages between first cousins was the
“elephant in the room”. Woolas, a former race relations minister, said: “If you
have a child with your cousin the likelihood is there’ll be a genetic problem.” Saturday February 09, 2008
Williams defiant over Islamic law speech
Will Woodward and Riazat Butt, The Guardian
The Archbishop of Canterbury last night defended his
remarks about sharia law and clarified his position amid mounting criticism,
saying he was not proposing Islamic law in Britain, nor was he recommending its
introduction as a parallel legal system. Williams, the most senior figure in the
Church of England, has faced a barrage of criticism since making the remarks,
first in a BBC interview and then in a speech at the Royal Courts of Justice,
that the adoption of sharia law in Britain seemed "unavoidable".
Misjudgement that made martyrs of others
Andrew Brown, The Guardian
The Archbishop of Canterbury, a man whose prose is as
luxuriant as his beard, might not have anything in common with the heroes of
American tough-guy novelist Elmore Leonard beyond a tendency to interrupt his
sentences with "Jesus". But it was an Elmore Leonard hero he called to mind in
his latest speech: the one in Tishomingo Blues, who earns his living by diving
from high platforms into tiny pools of water.
Friday February 08, 2008
Bishop
condemns 'shameful' sharia outcry
James Sturcke, Hélène Mulholland and agencies, Guardian Unlimited (L)
A leading bishop today condemned the furore caused by the
Archbishop of Canterbury's comments on the formalisation of sharia law in
Britain as a "shame on our nation", after the former home secretary David
Blunkett warned of catastrophic consequences. The Bishop of Hulme, the Rt Rev
Stephen Lowe, robustly defended Rowan Williams and said he was appalled at the
"kneejerk" reaction to a serious piece of academic work.
'We need a thoughtful discourse, not hysterical discord' says MCB
(Islamophobia Watch)
'Muslim laws must come to Britain' (Islamophobia Watch) Thursday February 07, 2008
Daughter, 3, raised ‘to be terrorist’s wife’
Andrew Norfolk and David Sanderson, The Times
An Islamist fanatic who plotted to kidnap and behead a British Muslim solider
was grooming his three-year-old daughter to marry a jihadi terrorist, a court
was told yesterday. Speaking to a friend at his home, which had been bugged by
the security services, Parviz Khan is said to have predicted that the child
would one day live with the Mujahidin near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
“Inshallah [God willing], she’ll marry into them and give birth to them,” he
told Zahoor Iqbal, a long-time friend.
Bakri
preacher in mosque 'rant'
Simon Hughes, The Sun
A HATE-preaching pal of Omar Bakri was filmed at a British mosque urging Muslims
to join al-Qaeda and kill non-believers, a jury heard yesterday. Abdul Saleem
allegedly told worshippers that they should be “proud” to be called terrorists.
He said of non-believers: “Let their blood run in the mountains of Afghanistan,
let their women become widows, may their children become orphans,” the court
heard. Saleem, a supporter of Bakri’s group Al Muhajiroun...
'Anti-Semitic' children's book faces ban
Harry de Quetteville, Telegraph
The German government is considering whether to ban a children's book in which
Jews are portrayed in a way likened to anti-Semitic caricatures from the Nazi
era. The book, which has been described as being Richard Dawkins's The God
Delusion for children, conducts a highly critical tour of Christianity, Islam
and Judaism. Not one of the priest, imam or rabbi emerges creditably from the
story, called How Do I Get to God, Asked the Small Piglet, by Michael
Schmidt-Salomon, with illustrations by Helge Nyncke.
Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi refused visa
Matthew Moore, Telegraph (L)
A Muslim cleric who supports the death penalty for homosexuals has been refused
entry to Britain, after a Conservative campaign to present him getting a visa.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has defended suicide attacks on Israeli civilians and is
banned from entering the United States, will now not be allowed to enter the UK
for medical treatment. The Home Office said the cleric had been refused entry
because of fears his views "could foster inter-community violence".
Wednesday February 06, 2008
Brown and Straw branded liars over bugging of Labour whip
Colin Brown, The Independent
Gordon Brown and Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, have
been accused of lying by David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, over assurances
that ministers did not know about the bugging of a private conversation between
the Labour MP Sadiq Khan and the suspected terrorist Babar Ahmad. Mr Straw came
under increasing pressure to reveal the full extent of his knowledge after
officials confirm-ed that the Justice Department was alerted to the case in
December – and that he, too, was aware of it.
MP
first probed by MI5 over 9/11
Nick Parker, Thomas Whitaker & Graeme Wilson, The Sun
BUGGING scandal MP Sadiq Khan was first probed by security
services over his association with a 9/11 terrorist, The Sun can reveal. And it
has emerged that Justice Secretary Jack Straw knew of concerns over the Muslim
MP’s visits to another jailed terror suspect TWO MONTHS ago. Security sources
told yesterday how 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui asked lawyer Mr Khan to
represent him after being accused of being the ‘20th hijacker’.
'Model immigrant' to be deported
Robert Verkaik, The Independent
A "remarkable" immigrant, honoured this week by the Church
of England for his contribution to British society, has lost his legal battle to
stay in this country. Damilola Ajagbonna, 19, whose academic record has won him
places at Cambridge and Sheffield universities, said he was bitterly
disappointed after the Court of Appeal yesterday turned down his final appeal
for the right to live here. He is expected to be ordered to return to Nigeria in
the next few weeks.
The Maharishi Maheshi Yogi
Daily Telegraph
The Maharishi Maheshi Yogi, who died on Tuesday, probably aged 91, had a
profound influence on the Beatles’ late career, and repackaged ancient Hindu
methods of transcendental meditation; TM, as it was known, was aimed at enabling
western disciples to achieve a blissful oneness with the infinite in the still
depths of the self - at the cost of minimum inconvenience. It was in 1967 that
the Beatles boarded the “Mystical Express” at Paddington station and headed off
to Bangor, north Wales...
Spokesman says Karzai has last word in Afghan blasphemy case
Tom Heneghan, Faith World (L)
Reports so far about the death penalty against journalist Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh
have said ... that the president must confirm or reject any death sentence
before it is imposed. So if this case goes down to the wire, Karzai will have to
decide one way or the other. That sounds positive for Kambakhsh, because Karzai
(no matter what he thinks about the verdict) is presumably open to pressure from
Western allies not to carry out the sentence.
'Family
values' poster ruled offensive (Mark Sweney, Guardian)
IUS members donate blood to mark Ashura (AIM)
'When religion means death' (according to Maryam Namazie) (Islamophobia
Watch)
Islamophobia: resisting prejudice (Islamophobia Watch)
Let’s be nice to Mr. Wilders (CLOSER)
Wikipedia and the prophet Muhammad (CLOSER) Tuesday February 05, 2008
Cleric Preached Jihad
Daily Mirror
An Islamic preacher who heckled former Home Secretary John Reid encouraged
followers to join insurgents fighting British troops in Iraq, a court heard
yesterday. Omar Brooks, 31, also tried to raise money to send to the Iraqi
fighters, it is claimed. He is on trial with seven other men variously accused
of funding and inciting terrorism overseas. Jonathan Laidlaw, prosecuting, told
Kingston crown court in London that five of the men "encouraged others to join
in the jihad in Iraq, to join the insurgency".
Police officer says he was forced into bugging Muslim MP
Colin Brown, Independent
A police officer last night claimed he was forced by the Metropolitan Police to
carry out the bugging of a meeting in prison between Babar Ahmed, a terrorist
suspect, and his MP, Sadiq Khan. Mark Kermey, an intelligence officer at the
Woodhill prison where the bug was placed in a table, said he was put under
"significant pressure" by the Metropolitan Police to carry out the electronic
eavesdropping on Ahmed, who was facing extradition on terrorism charges, during
a social visit by the MP for Tooting, Mr Khan.
EXCLUSIVE: Muslim MP bugged and under surveillance since 2004
James Slack, Stephen Wright & Neil Sears, Daily Mail
The Muslim Labour MP taped while talking to a terror suspect in prison was first
bugged four years ago. Scandal erupted when it was revealed that jail
conversations between Sadiq Khan and prisoner Babar Ahmad were recorded in 2005
and 2006. But the Daily Mail has established that Scotland Yard's most senior
officers first authorised the bugging of the pair as long ago as 2004. A police
officer involved in carrying out the surveillance, Detective Sergeant Mark
Kearney, raised concerns...
Government accused of failing British Hindus
Ruth Gledhill, The Times (L)
Britain's Hindu community, known for its peaceable love of sacred cows, for its
annual Diwali festival of light and its opposition to conflict, has risen up in
unprecedented anger against the Government led by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Leaders of more than 50 organisations representing the country's 800,000 Hindus
met on Sunday to draw up a unanimous resolution that "The Labour Government has
failed the British Hindu community."
Church advocates carbon fast for Lent (Jessica Aldred, Guardian)
Buddha's tree vandalized (Libby Purves)
'Don't mention Islamic extremists': Government phrasebook tries to avoid
upsetting Muslims (Daily Mail)
CIA admit
'waterboarding' al-Qaida suspects (Mark Tran and agencies, Guardian
Unlimited)
This
scandal makes it clear: for Labour, money trumps principle every time
(George Monbiot, The Guardian)
Monday February 04, 2008
Husbands with multiple wives to get extra benefits after Government gives the
green light
James Slack, Daily Mail
Husbands living in a "harem" with multiple wives have been
cleared to claim state benefits for all their different partners. A Muslim man
with four spouses - which is permitted under Islamic law - could receive £10,000
a year in income support alone. He could also be entitled to more generous
housing and council tax benefit, to reflect the fact his household needs a
bigger property. Ministers have decided that, even though bigamy is a crime in
Britain, polygamous marriages can be recognised formally by the state.
Tories claim they warned Gordon Brown that a Muslim MP was being bugged by
Scotland Yard
James Slack, Daily Mail
Labour was mired in another scandal last night after the
revelation that a senior Muslim Labour MP was bugged by anti-terrorist police.
The operation against Sadiq Khan, a Government whip, was a clear breach of
parliamentary rules. Mr Khan, a lawyer, was recorded as he spoke to a
constituent being held at Woodhill Prison in Milton Keynes. The man is wanted in
the U.S. on terrorism charges and his conversations with family members were
already being bugged.
Whitehall draws up new rules on language of terror
Alan Travis, The Guardian
A new counter-terrorism phrasebook has been drawn up within Whitehall to advise
civil servants on how to talk to Muslim communities about the nature of the
terror threat without implying they are specifically to blame. Reflecting the
government's decision to abandon the "aggressive rhetoric" of the so-called war
on terror, the guide tells civil servants not to use terms such as Islamist
extremism or jihadi-fundamentalist but instead to refer to violent extremism and
criminal murderers or thugs...
Downing Street insists Gordon Brown didn't know Muslim MP was bugged
James Lyons, Daily Mirror
Downing Street insisted last night that the Prime Minister did not know a Muslim
MP was bugged while visiting a terrorist suspect in jail. Labour MP Sadiq Khan
was snooped on twice talking to constituent Babar Ahmed, wanted in the US over
Taliban websites. Tory MP David Davis claimed he sent Gordon Brown a letter on
December 11 warning him about it. But No 10 said yesterday: "We have no record
of receiving a letter about the bugging of MPs. Consequently the Prime Minister
knows nothing about this letter."
Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'
Julie Henry and Laura Donnelly
Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop
the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.
Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to
removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when
washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam. Universities
and NHS trusts fear many more will refuse to co-operate with new Department of
Health guidance, introduced this month, which stipulates that all doctors must
be "bare below the elbow".
Asad Ahmad Vindicated
After Islamophobic Witch-hunt! (MPACUK)
Archbishop aims to save divided Church (Ruth Gledhill, Times)
Real freedom is being able to do as you please (Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The
Independent)
Belief and action (Ziauddin Sardar, Guardian blogging the Qur'an)
German family ministry slams “atheism for kids” book (Tom Heneghan, Faith
World)
Q&A: Karen Armstrong on Pakistan, Islam and secularisation (Simon
Cameron-Moore, Faith World)
Surveillance chief to head inquiry into bugging of Muslim MP (Philippe
Naughton, The Times -L)
Profiles of the five July 21 accomplices (Jenny Booth, The Times -L)
Disgruntled police officer 'blew whistle on bugging of senior Labour Muslim MP'
(Daily Mail -L)
Muslim husbands with more than one wife to get extra benefits as ministers
recognise polygamy (Daily Mail -L)
Englishman walks to India, penniless (Libby Purves, Faith Central)
Sunday February 03, 2008
Heaven knows I’m Muslim now - Morrissey lines up Iran gig
Maurice Chittenden, Sunday Times
The rock singer is planning to play a concert in Iran as
his contribution to the international healing process. The singer, whose songs
include Bigmouth Strikes Again and Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, is in talks
with the Iranian government and the Foreign Office about staging a performance
in Tehran later this year. Morrissey, 48, who has been outspoken in attacking
the allied invasion of Iraq, says he wants to link the visit to other planned
concerts on a tour of the Middle East.
Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'
Julie Henry and Laura Donnelly, Sunday Telegraph
Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules
brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is
against their religion. Women training in several hospitals in England have
raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up
their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in
Islam. Universities and NHS trusts fear many more will refuse to co-operate with
new Department of Health guidance, introduced this month...
Labour MP 'bugged by anti-terrorist police'
Robyn Powell, Sunday Telegraph (L)
A Government inquiry has been launched after a senior Labour MP was allegedly
bugged by anti-terrorist police while meeting a constituent in prison.
Government whip Sadiq Khan allegedly had his conversations recorded twice while
meeting Babar Ahmad in prison, despite laws which ban the bugging of MPs. Mr
Ahmad is in detention waiting deportation to the USA over the alleged running of
a website raising funds for Taliban and Chechen terrorists in the 1990s.
Starving in Bundelkhand: The tragedy of rural India (Adnan Alavi, Indian
Muslim) Saturday February 02, 2008
Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, faces death threats
Ruth Gledhill, The Times
The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, is under
police protection after he and his family received death threats over his claim
that parts of Britain had become “no-go areas” for non-Muslims. The Bishop is
also facing anger from the most senior members of the Church of England
hierarchy for his comments on Islam. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan
Williams, has made Islam a priority of his archiepiscopate and set up a
Muslim-Christian forum to promote relations between the faiths in 2006.
Dutch soldiers 'at risk' over anti-Koran film
Joan Clements & Bruno Waterfield, Telegraph
Dutch soldiers serving in Afghanistan will face new
threats if their country allows the broadcast of an anti-Islamic film,
Bozorgmehr Ziaran, Iran's ambassador to the Netherlands, has said. He announced
his intention to rally global Muslim opinion against plans by Geert Wilders, the
maverick Dutch MP, to show a short movie attacking the Koran. Mr Ziaran also
fuelled fears of a violent backlash by issuing a veiled threat that Dutch troops
would be regarded as "representatives of people who besmirch the Koran".
Religions collide under the dreaming spires
Nick Britten, Telegraph
From the burning of the Oxford Martyrs in 1555 to the
revolutionary Oxford Movement in 1833, the university city has long been the
scene of religious conflict. But a very modern battle of faiths is brewing amid
the ancient dreaming spires, which could result in the Islamic call to prayer
being broadcast over one of the nation's earliest and most important seats of
Christian theology. Senior members of the Oxford Central Mosque are seeking
permission to broadcast a two-minute Adhan...
Sayeeda Warsi wants to draw a veil over her religion
Alice Miles and Helen Rumbelow, Times
The baroness met us in a parliamentary canteen in jeans and an electric-pink
tank top, appropriate for the youngest member of the House of Lords. It wasn’t
only her age and her outfit that made her stand out: Sayeeda Warsi is the first
Muslim member of any Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet. As we chatted about where denim
was acceptable (the peers’ tea rooms, just about; the debating chamber, no;
campaigning on women’s rights in Punjab, definitely not) we wondered aloud:
never mind the jeans, had she worn a face veil?
More nonsense about Qaradawi (Islamophobia Watch)
Nazir-Ali complains of death threats (Indigo Jo Blogs) Friday February 01, 2008
Sense and incivility
Madeleine Bunting, Guardian CiF
The column I wrote on civility prompted an inundation of emails from people
describing their trials and tribulations on transport systems, particularly
those of London. Oh dear. I suppose it was my fault because I kicked my column
off by describing an incident on a bus; I wanted to start a broader, abstract
discussion with a very concrete vivid example. Unfortunately it seems to have
set some of the debate off into a rather different direction than I intended; I
wasn't complaining about noisy teenagers and badly behaved children.
Iraq Conflict
Has Killed A Million Iraqis: Survey
CommonDreams.org
LONDON - More than one million Iraqis have died as a
result of the conflict in their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003,
according to research conducted by one of Britain’s leading polling groups. The
survey, conducted by Opinion Research Business (ORB) with 2,414 adults in
face-to-face interviews... The last complete census in Iraq conducted in 1997
found 4.05 million households in the country, a figure ORB used to calculate
that approximately 1.03 million people had died as a result of the war...
Cameron call for ban on Qaradawi backfires (Islamophobia Watch)
Islamophobes against Ken (Islamophobia Watch)
French student imams study at Catholic university (Tom Heneghan, Faith
World)
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