Thursday January 31, 2008 
Danish library to exhibit Mohammed cartoons
Daily Telegraph
Denmark's Royal Library is risking the wrath of Muslims with plans to display controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that sparked violent protest throughout the Islamic world two years ago. The 12 caricatures of Islam's founder were published in Danish newspapers in September 2005 triggering riots and violence which claimed the lives of over 50 people. Copenhagen's Royal Library  is courting a new controversy by classifying the cartoons as “historic” objects alongside other Danish treasures...

David Cameron makes humiliating blunder over British preacher of hate
Bob Roberts, Daily Mirror
David Cameron made a humiliating blunder yesterday when he wrongly declared the Tories once banned a preacher of hate from Britain. He bragged in a row with Gordon Brown over tackling terrorism that ex-Home Secretary Michael Howard was tough on Yusuf al-Qaradawi. But Mr Howard yesterday admitted it was untrue and that he let the fanatical preacher in five times. The Tory leader may now be forced to make an embarrassing apology to the Commons for the mistake.

Muslims 'let down by race law' (Islamophobia Watch)
Afghan death sentence, latest, petitions (Libby Purves, Faith Central)
Turkish Islam and the headscarf  (Libby Purves, Faith Central)
Cameron's call to ban Qaradawi is misguided and ill-informed (Islamophobia Watch)

Wednesday January 30, 2008 
Pakistan’s “Mother Teresa” detained by U.S. immigration
Tom Heneghan, Faith Central
When U.S. immigration officers question an arriving Pakistani for eight hours and seize his passport, they presumably suspect some kind of link to Islamist terrorism. Abdul Sattar Edhi, 79, “has links” to some horrifying violence, so to speak, but it’s hard to imagine they’re the kind that immigration officers may have suspected when they detained him at New York’s Kennedy Airport on Jan. 9. Edhi and his colleagues care for — and, when necessary, bury — the victims of violence... His private Edhi Welfare Trust foundation...

The 'war on terror' licenses a new stupidity in geopolitics
Simon Jenkins, The Guardian
Nothing and nobody can stop bombs going off. No citizen, no police force, no army, no government and no global military alliance can prevent a determined suicide bomber from blowing himself up. It will happen and innocent people will die as a result, horribly, as they do on the roads, from drugs and alcohol, or from natural disasters - again without responsible authority being able to stop it. What is recent is the admission of this truism into the mainstream of government under the rubric of "terrorism".

Man admits plot to behead British Muslim soldier
Terri Judd, The Independent
A violent and extreme fanatic plotted to behead a British Muslim soldier "like a pig" and film the killing in a lock-up garage, a court was told yesterday. Parviz Khan then planned to broadcast footage of "the ghastly death" in an attempt to spread panic among the armed forces and the public. Leicester Crown Court heard how the 37-year-old unemployed charity worker was at the centre of a Birmingham terrorist cell, sending equipment to fighters operating on the Afghan border.

Cameron calls for ban on Qaradawi (Islamophobia Watch)
Rector attacks mosque call to prayer  (Islamophobia Watch)
Base instinct (Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF)
Colourblind justice (Peter Herbert, Guardian CiF)
Breeding racism? (Sara Gaines, Guardian Joe Public)

Tuesday January 29, 2008 
Four admit plan to murder soldier
Press Association on Google (L)
The leader of a terrorist cell plotted to kidnap a British Muslim soldier using cocaine as a lure before beheading him "like a pig", a jury has heard. Parviz Khan then wanted to send footage of the atrocity to a television station to instil "fear and panic" into Britain's Armed Forces, Leicester Crown Court heard. Khan, a father-of-three from Alum Rock, Birmingham, pleaded guilty on January 17 to engaging in conduct with the intention to kidnap and kill the soldier.

Islamic extremist gang 'plotted to kidnap British Muslim soldier and behead him like a pig' (Daily Mail)
Man 'plotted to cut off Muslim soldier's head' (PA, Independent)

Judge overturns control order on convert to Islam
Staff and agencies, Guardian Unlimited (L)
A control order imposed under anti-terrorist laws on a British convert to Islam is to be overturned, a high court judge announced today.
The Security Service argued that restrictions on Cerie Bullivant's movements remained necessary because of "reasonable suspicions" that he planned to travel abroad to engage in terrorist activity. Lawyers for Bullivant, 25, from Dagenham, Essex, said the accusations were "baseless", and that he was the victim of an abuse of power who suffers from severe depression...

Mick Hulme gets it wrong again (Islamophobia Watch)
Another outburst of anti-Muslim bigotry from Bruce Bawer (Islamophobia Watch)

Monday January 28, 2008 
Why is racial abuse now considered acceptable?
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The Independent
On the day my beloved son was born at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, Margaret Thatcher gave a speech on how her kith and kin felt rather "swamped" by alien cultures and peoples. My child was branded – rejected, I felt – as he took his first breath. I never forgave the Iron Lady for inciting animosity against us. This Wednesday the boy, now a barrister, turns 30. His Britain is dynamic, diverse and – in spite of old and new fissures – remarkably at ease with itself, as is he.

Proud day for spy who infiltrated mosque
Sean O’Neill, The Times
Among the new Britons taking part in citizenship ceremonies today will be one man who has already put his life on the line to protect his adopted country. Reda Hassaine will stand in Islington Town Hall, North London, to affirm allegiance to the Queen and pledge to give his “loyalty to the United Kingdom and to respect its rights and freedoms”. Mr Hassaine’s journey to this point has been long and dangerous. An Algerian who went undercover in Finsbury Park mosque to gather information on extremists...

The mysterious disappearance of an alleged terror mastermind
Ian Cobain, The Guardian
Others are not so sure, however, and suspect that Rauf may still be in custody, this time at one of the secret detention centres that the formidable Pakistani security agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is known to operate at anonymous suburban villas. "It wasn't an escape from custody," says his lawyer, Hashmat Ali Habib. "You could call it a 'mysterious disappearance' if you like, but not an escape. The Pakistanis are simply not interested in handing him over to the British. They never have been..."

Teenagers of all faiths remember Holocaust
Martin Wainwright, The Guardian
The warmth which encompassed every faith community in Liverpool yesterday embraced elderly survivors of the Holocaust and victims' relatives at a memorial concert in the city. There to welcome them were teenage Jews, Christians, Hindus and - for the first time in an official capacity - Muslims who had been on a "walk of faith" to call for tolerance, friendship, and the sanctity of individual life. "The Holocaust was not so much six million deaths as one death six million times," said the Archbishop of Canterbury...

Thousands of people go on marches worldwide in solidarity with Gaza people
Palestinian Information Centre
Thousands of Islamic, European and Arab masses have demonstrated lately all over the world in solidarity with the besieged Palestinian people in Gaza and in condemnation of the Israeli siege and aggression against Palestinians as well as the US policy biased to Israeli occupation. In Indonesia, more than 100,000 citizens flocked Sunday afternoon into Jakarta to participate in a massive march in solidarity with the Gaza people called for by the Justice and Welfare party...

Hands off our homes, vicars tell the Church (Jonathan Petre, Telegraph)
Foreign dictates? (Brian Whitaker, Guardian CiF)
Hookers for Jesus (Libby Purves)
From buses to blogs, a pathological individualism is poisoning public life (Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian)

Sunday January 27, 2008
Row over Islamist cleric's visa
Jamie Doward, The Observer
An Islamist cleric who has defended suicide bombings and the execution of homosexuals is to be allowed to enter the UK, sparking a major row between government departments. The Observer understands that senior civil servants in the Home Office and Foreign Office have recommended that ministers approve an application by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is banned from entering the United States, to come to London for medical treatment.

Friday January 25, 2008 
Muslims wary of terror law extension
Richard Ford, The Times
The assessment, published alongside the Counter Terrorism Bill yesterday, said that there was a belief among the Muslim community that it was being discriminated against and that this may continue under the new law. “Muslim community representatives expressed a concern that this may lead to increased reluctance among their communities to provide vital co-operation and assistance to the police and security services,” the equality impact assessment on the Bill said.

Home Office warns Smith on detention (Nigel Morris, The Independent)
Jacqui Smith tries to win support for terror Bill (Philip Johnston, Telegraph)

Clash of cultures: the screaming minarets of Oxford
Andy McSmith, Independent
A small metal cross in Oxford's Broad Street marks the spot where one of the worst acts of religious bigotry in English history was perpetrated: the burning of bishops Latimer and Ridley – the Oxford Martyrs – during the reign of Mary I, Bloody Mary, the last Catholic ruler of England. Four hundred and fifty years on, a row has now flared in the city which threatens to pitch Muslims and a few Christian allies against an outraged coalition of both secular and non-secular figures.

Vicar accused of spitting at churchwarden faces sack
Sam Jones, The Guardian
A vicar accused of spitting at a churchwarden and acting "like a medieval pope" faces the sack after a church court ruled he should be moved from his parish. The Rev Tom Ambrose, of St Mary and St Michael church in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, appeared before a rare ecclesiastical tribunal in September accused of causing a "pastoral breakdown". It was convened after four members of the parochial church council applied to have Ambrose removed.

Review of London lecture on French hijab politics (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Ken's Islam study (Islamophobia Watch)
From the Taliban to the Taliban: the case of Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh (Islam, Muslims and an Anthropologist)

Thursday January 24, 2008 
Afghan journalist gets death for insulting Islam
David Blair, Telegraph
The Taliban-style intimidation of Afghan newspapers came to the surface after a journalist was sentenced to death for distributing an article deemed to have "insulted Islam". Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh's crime was to have passed around a piece taken from a website questioning why Muslim women cannot have multiple husbands in the same way as their menfolk can legally take four wives. On Tuesday, a court found him guilty of "insulting Islam" and sentenced him to death.

Little Pig snub for Muslims
Laurie Hanna, Daily Mirror
A story based on the Three Little Pigs has been turned down for a government-backed award because it might offend Muslims. Three Little Cowboy Builders is an updated version of the classic story and is aimed at primary school children. But it was rejected by judges who warned that "the use of pigs raises cultural issues". The judges on the prestigious Bett Awards panel also attacked the CD-Rom for offending builders.

The political choice facing London could not be clearer
Seumas Milne, The Guardian
It's as if the last 25 years had never happened. For the past week we've been back in the days of Margaret Thatcher's war on Red Ken and the Greater London Council. Every morning, the media have brought new revelations of the horrors at City Hall and Ken Livingstone's manifest unfitness to be re-elected mayor of London. Just as in the time of the GLC, Livingstone is denounced for consorting with dangerous leftists and terrorist apologists.

Raids foiled Barcelona bomb plot, says judge
Martin Hodgson, The Guardian
A group of alleged Islamist militants arrested in Barcelona at the weekend were planning a suicide bomb attack on the city's public transport system, a Spanish judge said yesterday. Twelve Pakistani and two Indian nationals were detained in a series of raids in the city on Sunday. All of those arrested belong to Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamist party which Moreno accused of promoting the "indiscriminate" use of violence to attain political ends.

Renaming the beast
Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF
In a speech last Thursday to mark the launch of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, outlined a couple of interesting and very welcome amendments to the government's strategy for countering violent extremism. Firstly, out goes the counterproductive reference to "Islamist terrorists". Indeed, in another speech earlier this week, the education minister, Bill Rammell, pointedly referred to "al-Qaida-influenced terrorists".

UK Students Fault Extremism Guide (Emdad Rahman, IslamOnline)
How Not to Rescue Muslim Women (Shabana Mir)
Vicar faces the sack over church lavatories (Jonathan Petre, Telegraph)
Abdullah Quilliam: Britain’s First Islamist? (Yahya Birt)

Wednesday January 23, 2008 
Your mosques are more extreme than ours, says top Iraqi
Jaya Narain, Mail
Mosques in Britain are more extreme than in Iraq, according to the country's deputy prime minister. Dr Barham Salih claimed some mosques in Blackburn would be banned in Iraq for the extremist messages they preach. He made his comments during a dinner party in Baghdad attended by Tory culture spokesman Tobias Ellwood. The 41-year-old MP claimed Dr Salih said: "I am not surprised that you British are facing so many problems with extremists after what I saw in those mosques in Blackburn.

Brit mosques extreme: Iraq (Ben Ashford, The Sun)

Findings of the British Social Attitudes report
Telegraph
Prejudice: The nation is more tolerant now than 20 years ago, the survey found. However, about one in four believes their colleagues would mind if an Asian with suitable qualifications was appointed as their boss. Only nine per cent say they would mind this appointment. Three in 10 people say they are very or a little prejudiced against other races. A third of people think that equal opportunity measures for black and Asian people have gone too far. The most common prejudice relates to age.

Love and marriage don’t have to go together, say modern couples (Rosemary Bennett, The Times)
Goodbye married couples, hello alternative family arrangements (Lucy Ward and John Carvel, The Guardian)
Britain in 2008: a nation in thrall to Thatcherism (Independent)

Johnson's 'piccaninnies' apology
Owen Bowcott and Sam Jones, The Guardian
During a debate for the London mayoral contest on Monday, the Conservative candidate said he was "sad" that people had been offended but insisted the words had been taken out of context. In a column published in the Daily Telegraph six years ago, Johnson mocked Tony Blair's globetrotting: "What a relief it must be for Blair to get out of England. It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies," he wrote.

Print Revolutionaries - Anne Frank & Keffiyeh from NYC to a Dutch online shop (CLOSER)
Lies, lies, all lies - prior to the invasion of Iraq (Koonj)
Bright's fright night (Islamophobia Watch)
Did Egypt torpedo a Muslim-Jewish meeting in Rome? (Tom Heneghan, Faith World)
Mrs Brown's Indian dress (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Gaza explodes (Soumaya Ghannoushi, Guardian CiF)

Tuesday January 22, 2008
A life's journey
Jessica Shepherd, The Guardian
Nur knew that as a Bedouin - an Arab nomad - living in poverty in Israel's Negev desert, the likelihood of going to university was remote. As a woman, it was almost unheard of. Tribal norms and finances ruled it out. So the 18-year-old applied in secret to Ben-Gurion University - and was accepted. Nur (a pseudonym) knew, too, that she needed her father's permission to go and that he had denied it. Only when, one evening, a lecturer from the university visited Nur's father in their home...

Extremists turn attention to Muslim women
Graeme Paton, Telegraph
Growing numbers of young Muslim women are being "groomed" by extremists, the Government has warned. They are becoming targets for radical groups linked to al-Qa'eda that are attempting to recruit impressionable young people in Britain, it is claimed. The disclosure is made in new guidance designed to clamp down on extremism on university campuses. In a document published today, ministers warn that higher education institutions face a "serious but not widespread" threat from radical groups...

Universities join battle against terror as guidelines are agreed (Alexandra Frean, The Times)
Extremists are 'grooming' female students, security officials warn (Daily Mail)
Britain is a Christian country says minister (Islamophobia Watch)

'I can buy the law' said Sheikh Maher al-Tajir as he dismissed his gamekeeper
David Lister, The Times
A billionaire Arab sheikh said that British law worked on “money not justice”, and vowed to “stitch up” an employee who dared to challenge him, an employment tribunal was told yesterday. Sheikh Maher al-Tajir, whose family owns 24,000 acres (9,700ha) of land in Perthshire and the Highland Spring bottled water company, is alleged to have told Chris Mulqueeney that he had enough money to buy anything he wanted in Britain, including the police and the judiciary.

Church sounds death knell for ‘ash cash’
The Times
The Church of England is taking steps to ban “ash cash” payments to clergy for taking funerals at churches and crematoria. Instead, the money will go direct to dioceses. The move will stamp out the “crematoria cowboys”, clergy who supplement meagre or non-existent incomes by conducting dozens of crematorium funerals at £96 a time. At its meeting next month in Westminster, the General Synod will debate switching the “incumbent’s fee” for pastoral services to a fee payable direct to the diocesan board of finance.

Williams puts sexuality on bishops' agenda
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
About 70% of Church of England bishops worldwide have already registered for the Lambeth conference to take place in Kent this summer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said yesterday. Speaking at a press conference to launch the 10-yearly gathering of Anglican bishops, Williams said there remained a "very strong loyalty to each other and a desire to stay together" within the Anglican communion. He acknowledged the "painful controversies" the church has faced as the debate about gay priests...

Darfur: making a mockery of peace
Meera Selva, Guardian CiF
Darfur has been such a mess for so long now that different theories about the conflict are coming into play. It is now seen as a climate change war - a battle for land resources caused by desertification and changing weather patters. It is also seen in socio-economic terms as a poor country failing to evenly distribute resources. But every now and then, something happens that reminds us that the situation in Darfur became a catastrophe for one very clear reason - the government of Sudan...

Osama bin Laden's son asks 'find another way'
Tom Leonard, Telegraph (L)
The son of Osama bin Laden has called on the al-Qa'eda leader to renounce violence but doubts his father could redirect the terrorist group even if he wanted to. Omar Osama bin Laden, one of bin Laden's 19 children, said he was speaking out publicly because he wants his father to "find another way" to achieve his political goals. He told CNN: "I try and say to my father, 'Try to find another way to help or find your goal. This bomb, this weapons, it's not good to use it for anybody'."

Update on the “Common Word” call for Muslim-Christian dialogue
Tom Heneghan, Faith World (L)
Just because an issue has disappeared from the headlines doesn’t mean nothing’s happening with it. The “Common Word” appeal by 138 Muslim scholars for a dialogue with Christianity kept us busy late last year. It looked like the issue would rest until a Muslim delegation goes to visit the Vatican around March. But more comments keep coming up that add to the debate. On the Muslim side, more scholars continue to sign the appeal, bringing the total up to 221 so far.

Paul Burrell's marriage inquiry confirmed
Richard Alleyne, Telegraph (L)
A priest and his colleagues "laughed off" inquiries from the butler of Diana, Princess of Wales, Paul Burrell, about marrying a Muslim in his Catholic church, the inquest into her death has heard. Father Anthony Parsons confirmed he was approached by Mr Burrell, who claimed it was at her behest, and asked whether it was "possible" for a Muslim to marry a non-Catholic at his church. But he said the suggestion was not followed up because he and his "brothers" did not take it seriously...

Friction in context (Mazen Hashem, Alt.Muslim)
Ashura Procession 1429 in London (AIM)
Only class war on public schools can rid us of this unhinged ruling class (George Monbiot, The Guardian)

Monday January 21, 2008 
Tom Cruise compared to Joseph Goebbels
The Times
A respected German historian has compared a speech by actor Tom Cruise to the Church of Scientology with a call to war by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Guido Knopp, an expert on World War II history, told a German newspaper: "Tom Cruise's manner calls to mind Goebbels." The historian was commenting on a video recording of a rousing sermon Cruise delivered to fellow Scientology members four years ago that was leaked on the internet last week.

Gay Christian group criticises new equality commissioner
Riazat Butt, Guardian Unlimited
A gay rights group has compiled a dossier criticising the record of one of the UK's newly appointed equality commissioners, Joel Edwards. The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) said Edwards had a history of "agitating against the full inclusion of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community under equality law". The group was today printing a 10-page document on the appointment of Edwards, leader of the Evangelical Alliance, to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Is there a European Islam?
Mark Mardell, BBC News Online
This is my first visit to Albania and it is a fascinating, beautiful country: Tirana much more impressive than I had been led to believe; the run-down Durres tower blocks and shanties more in keeping with my preconceptions. I am here to report on Albania’s reaction to the looming independence of Kosovo and my report will be on Radio Four and the World Service next week and I will link to it when it is ready. But that is for another day. Today, religion.

Rev Ian Paisley puts ‘Antichrist’ days behind him to join service led by a Catholic (David Sharrock, The Times)
Don't vote for Ken says Bright (Islamophobia Watch)
Concern mounts as Netherlands readies for anti-Islam film (Tom Heneghan, Faith World)
Unknown soldiers and the double paradox of the new Afghan šuhadā (Islam, Muslims and an Anthropologist)
You should get out more, Jacqui (Dianne Abbot)
Islam-West rift widens, poll says (Islamophobia Watch)

Sunday January 20, 2008 
Muslim troops at risk after laptop theft
David Leppard, Sunday Times
CONCERNS about the safety of serving Muslim military personnel and recruits were raised yesterday after it emerged that their personal details were among those of 600,000 people held on a laptop stolen from a Royal Navy officer’s car in Birmingham. Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials fear that Muslims are particularly exposed to a potential threat following an alleged plot to kidnap and behead a serving British Muslim soldier in Birmingham last year.

Violence fear over Islam film
Jason Burke, The Observer
The Dutch government is bracing itself for violent protests following the scheduled broadcast this week of a provocative anti-Muslim film by a radical right-wing politician who has threatened to broadcast images of the Koran being torn up and otherwise desecrated. Cabinet ministers and officials, fearing a repetition of the crisis sparked by the publication of cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper two years ago, have held a series of crisis meetings and ordered counter-terrorist services to draw up security plans.

'We want to offer sharia law to Britain'
Clare Dwyer Hogg and Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Sunday Telegraph
Amnah is a modern British Muslim. She is dressed in a denim skirt and her head is covered in a hijab. Poised and self-assured, she has come to meet Dr Suhaib Hasan, a silver-bearded sheikh who sits behind his desk, surrounded by religious books. "But why would I have to observe the waiting period?" she asks him. "What are the reasons?" There is an urgency to her questions. "These reasons don't apply to me, that's what I'm very confused about..."

The making of a suicide bomber
Jason Burke, Guardian CiF
What turns a young man, apparently like any other, into a suicide bomber? How does a singe individual go from standing on a street corner to flicking a switch and blowing himself up? The question is superficially simple. The answers are not. Last year the editor of the Observer asked me to investigate this process. Today you can read my findings (part one here, part two here). Since writing my first pieces on radical Islam in the UK 15 years ago, I had amassed huge amounts of material...

New 'Black Pope' to build bridges with East
Malcolm Moore, Telegraph (L)
A little-known Spanish priest, who has spent his entire life in Asia among the poor, has been elected to lead the Jesuits, the Catholic Church’s largest religious order. Father Adolfo Nicolás was chosen by 217 electors as the new "Black Pope". The nickname derives from the power and influence he will wield, as well as from the simple black garments he will wear. His appointment came almost two weeks after the Jesuits began their 35th General Conference...

The origins and obligations of sharia law (Clare Dwyer Hogg and Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Sunday Telegraph)
Ken Livingstone’s aides ‘in secret Marxist cell’ (Jonathan Oliver, Sunday Times)
Veiled Voices (Tabsir)
Ice church (Libby Purves)
Communist China Woos Believers (IslamOnline)
Gays condemn openly-Christian leader (Ruth Gledhill)
Ken, the shaikh, the hard left and the anti-left left (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Turkey bans YouTube for second time (Yahoo News)

Saturday January 19, 2008 
Face to faith
Theo Hobson, The Guardian
This year Anglicanism will define itself with new clarity - the once-a-decade Lambeth conference will confirm the anti-liberal mood of the last five years. The humiliation of liberal Anglicanism will be complete. Its demand for equality for homosexuals has been thrown out in the most decisive possible way. I think it's time to admit that the tradition of liberal Anglicanism is finished. Those Anglicans who carry on calling for an "inclusive church" are relics of a previous era.

Livingstone facing calls for inquiry over claims of a taxpayer-funded campaign to undermine Trevor Phillips
Mail (L)
London Mayor Ken Livingstone was today facing calls for an independent inquiry into claims that his office ran a campaign to undermine equality chief Trevor Phillips using public money. Emails have been revealed reportedly showing that Mr Livingstone's controversial equality advisor Lee Jasper orchestrated the campaign to prevent Mr Phillips becoming chairman of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR).

Breaking out of the black 'gangsta' ghetto (Lee Jasper, The Observer, Sunday February 17, 2002)

Seventh Heaven (Roshan Kumar Mogali - Pune Newsline - c/o Sufi News)
Jewish and Muslim schools seek to build bridges (Ecumenical News International)

Friday January 18, 2008 
Smith vows to tackle ideology of violent extremists
Alan Travis, The Guardian
The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, yesterday promised to tackle the "ideology and ideologues of violent extremism", ahead of next week's publication of the counter-terrorism bill, which extends the limit on pre-charge detention to 42 days. Smith, in a speech in London to the first international conference on radicalisation and political violence, made clear that the government could not "arrest its way out" of the problem. She also announced a drive to tackle promotion of violent extremism that relies on the internet.

Appeal for £3m to save cathedral
Ruth Gledhill, The Times
Westminster Cathedral, left, could be forced to close within a decade if cash is not found for urgent repairs, say clergy. Deterioration in three of its domes and their supporting brick arches means that parts of the building, which opened in 1903 but has never been completed, are in danger of collapse. Announcing an appeal for £3 million, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor...

Government renames Islamic terrorism as 'anti-Islamic activity' to woo Muslims
James Slack, Mail (L)
Ministers have adopted a new language for declarations on Islamic terrorism. In future, fanatics will be referred to as pursuing "anti-Islamic activity". Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said that extremists were behaving contrary to their faith, rather than acting in the name of Islam. Security officials believe that directly linking terrorism to Islam is inflammatory, and risks alienating mainstream Muslim opinion. In her first major speech on radicalisation, Miss Smith repeatedly used the phrase "anti-Islamic".

Tories attack Islamic terrorism 'rebranding' (Telegraph - L)

Getting in a state
Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF
London's Ken v Boris (sorry, Brian!) mayoral election - due to be held this May - is discussed in this week's edition of the New Statesman, with the magazine's political editor, Martin Bright, and the self-proclaimed former extremist (it can be a lucrative profession these days, don't you know), Shiraz Maher, taking aim at the current incumbent, Ken Livingstone. Having said that, after reading Bright's 1,400+ word write up all I really learned that was new was that he had once seen Livingstone drink..

Jesuits warn against demonising Muslims
Ruth Gledhill, The Times (L)
On the eve of the election of a new so-called "Black Pope", Jesuits in London have warned against the demonisation of Muslims. In an online journal launched this evening by the British arm of the Society of Jesus, a leading Jesuit scholar says: "Let us not be misled into thinking either that Muslim-Christian conflict is the world’s greatest conflict, or even that war is the most serious threat to the human future." Father Dan Madigan SJ, founder of the Institute for the Study of Religions at the Pontifical Gregorian University...

West didn't incite Islamic extremism, Blair says (Islamophobia Watch)
Any website bans must include far right, say UK Muslim youths (Islamophobia Watch)
UK is 'slouching towards dhimmocracy' says Mad Mel  (Islamophobia Watch)
Right-wing groups launch anti-Islamisation campaign  (Islamophobia Watch)
Media criticism and blaming the victims ('Aquol)
School Assembly revamp (Libby Purves)

Thursday January 17, 2008 
US to step up security for British travellers
Philip Johnston, Telegraph
British travellers to the United States face tighter security checks because Washington increasingly regards Europe as a ''platform" for a terror attack. Michael Chertoff, the US homeland security chief, said yesterday that a threat to his country was the ease with which people can get in under the visa waiver programme. The scheme, which covers travellers from Europe, means passengers are not screened fully before they arrive in America.

Term 'war on terror' ditched by ministers
Philip Johnston, Telegraph
Ministers have dropped the term "war on terror" and will refer to jihadis as "criminals" in an attempt to stop glorifying acts of terrorism. The move is part of the Government's drive to prevent young Muslims falling under the influence of fanatics. "As you disrupt radicalisation you must be aware of how you describe it and must not do so in a way that is inadvertently inflammatory," said a Whitehall source. "We need to communicate more effectively - but we don't think we can communicate our way out of this."

UK to take terror fight online - Home Secretary
Philippe Naughton and Jonathan Richards, Times Online (L)
Internet security experts reacted with scepticism today after Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, promised to broaden the online battle against terrorism. Ms Smith told a London conference on terror that techniques developed for use against paedophile grooming could be extended to tackle those who use the web to groom young British Muslims to become terrorists. But security and police experts cautioned that criminals or terrorist recruiters had a vast range of methods at their disposal to conceal their activities...

How online extremists evade capture
Jonathan Richards, The Times (L)
As a general rule, any computer that is connected to the internet can be located because it has a unique identity, known as an IP address. The name and address of the person to whom the IP address is registered will, in turn, be known to their internet service provider (ISP). Sometimes, however, a computer owner can connect to the internet via a series of computers known as 'proxy servers' which obscure the owner's location. Only with extremely complicated - and time-consuming - investigation can the address be traced.

Tom's medal for services to Scientology
Patrick Barkham, The Guardian
'It's rough and tumble, wild and woolly" and "a blast," according to Tom Cruise. But Scientology also confers some serious bling, none shinier than the Freedom Medal of Valour. The actor and proselytiser for the Church of Scientology was awarded this gold-coloured medallion by the movement in 2004 but an edited video clip of Cruise giving an intense spiel for the award ceremony has only just emerged on YouTube.

Reconsider voting for Ken says Bright (Islamophobia Watch)
Islamophobia Watch backs Harry's Place shock (Islamophobia Watch)
Has Sarko gone too far praising God, faith and the Saudis? (Tom Heneghan, Faith World)
French Muslims becoming more observant (Tom Heneghan, Faith World)
Can a Machine Issue Islamic Fatwas? (Mona Madkour, Asharq Alawsat)

Wednesday January 16, 2008 
If you think Islam is medieval, look at Catholicism
Mark Steel, Independent
Why aren't there articles by people claiming to be feminists that start, "What Catholics have to understand, if they're going to come over here from Ireland and Poland is that they should adopt our tolerant values towards gays and abortion?" ... Christopher Hitchens has complained that Islam is incapable of going through a Reformation. But not as much as Catholicism, seeing as the whole point of the Reformation was to replace it. So why isn't he demanding that we bomb Italy?

'I was manipulated into marriage'
Catherine Marston, BBC News Online
As police, social workers and community leaders meet in Preston, Lancashire, to discuss the issue of forced marriages and so-called honour killings, one woman tells the story of her own traumatic experience. In 1983, Gina's father arranged what she believed to be a holiday for her in Pakistan. She was 16 and had no idea of what she calls "the conspiracy" in the back of her father's mind. When she arrived there her uncle gave her a ring and some clothes to wear.

British Muslim computer geek, son of diplomat, revealed as Al Qaeda's top cyber terrorist
Daily Mail (L)
A computer nerd from Shepherd's Bush, West London, became al Qaeda's top internet agent, it can be revealed today. Younes Tsouli, 23, an IT student at a London college, used his top-floor flat in W12 to help Islamist extremists wage a propaganda war against the West. Under the name Irhabi 007 — combining the James Bond reference with the Arabic for terrorist — he worked with al Qaeda leaders in Iraq and came up with a way to convert often gruesome videos into a form that could be put onto the Web.

Terror threat from Europe could lead to stricter controls on travelling to America
Daily Mail (L)
America fears a growing terror threat from Europe, says the US's head of homeland security. The continent is increasingly seen as a platform for attacks, admitted Michael Chertoff, and that may mean tougher checks for Britons travelling to the States. He explained that he had no plans to scrap the visa waiver programme but could force Britons and others to register online before travelling. Mich "One of the things we've become concerned about lately is the possibility of Europe becoming a platform..."

Fund for films to boost West-Islam understanding
Tom Heneghan, Faith World
The Alliance of Civilisations is setting up a $100 million fund to make films to promote harmony between the West and Islamic countries. Queen Noor of Jordan told a meeting of the Alliance in Madrid that the fund’s backers included Richard Branson, YouTube and the company that produced “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore. “They say ‘perception is reality’ and that ’seeing is believing’. So let us find a way to show the world something that will change their perceptions and ultimately their actions,” she said.

The web war waged from a bedroom (Steve Swann, BBC News Online)
Who and what is the Policy Exchange think tank? (Islamophobia Watch)
Mike Huckabee's Christian Shari'ah (Dunner's)
Botox is not halal (Libby Purves)
2 personalities clash on European immigration (Katrin Bennhold, International Herald Tribune)
Tom and Jerry - conspiracy version  (Libby Purves)
Segregation and apartheid ... in the UK? (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Wisdom, not intelligence (Khaled Diab, Guardian CiF)

Tuesday January 15, 2008 
'White flight' increasing, race chief says
Philip Johnston, Telegraph
But his use of the emotive term ''white flight" will fuel the controversy triggered by the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester. He said last week some Muslim enclaves were "no-go areas" for Christians and there was a need for greater integration. Mr Phillips, who chairs the Equality and Human Rights Mr Phillips, who chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the Bishop was right to raise the issue because white families were moving out of areas with high ethnic minority populations.

Foreign Office to court youth on YouTube
Julian Borger, The Guardian
The Foreign Office is to launch a public relations offensive in the spring targeted at British and foreign youth, with the help of a redesigned website and its own YouTube video channel. The Foreign Office channel has been functioning experimentally since September, broadcasting the off-the-cuff thoughts of the foreign secretary, David Miliband, observations from ambassadors and junior staffers alike and vivid travel advisories for would-be tourists.

The princess and the real love of her life: what the butler said he saw
Stephen Bates, The Guardian
Mohamed Al Fayed contends that Diana and Dodi were killed because of royal prejudice against Muslims, but while no evidence has been produced of prejudice by members of the royal family, the butler was pushed to disclose the princess's last telephone conversation with her mother. He said she called her daughter a whore, "messing with effing Muslim men: she was disgraceful and said some very nasty things". Diana never again spoke to her mother, who died in 2004.

Muslim M&S worker 'refused to touch Bible'
Nick Britten, Telegraph (L)
Marks and Spencer has launched an investigation after a customer claimed a Muslim shop assistant refused to handle a Bible she was buying. Sally Friday said she felt “humiliated” after going to the till to pay for a First Bible Stories for her young grandson. She said the woman behind the till refused to touch the book once she realised what it was, and made a reference to a fellow worker about being “unclean”. Mrs Friday, 69, said: “The young lady was absolutely fine with the other stuff I was buying..."

How wrong of Oxford to still the call to prayer (Islamophobia Watch)
Shop bans head scarves and hijabs (Islamophobia Watch)
Star Trek goes to 'Planet Atheist' (Joanna Sugden)
Blowback in the war on terror (Anita Inder Singh, Guardian CiF)

Monday January 14, 2008 
Loudspeaker plan re-ignites 'call to prayer' row
Lucy Cockcroft, Telegraph
The row over a proposal to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer through a megaphone across part of Oxford has intensified as elders disclosed that they will seek planning permission to install a loudspeaker at the mosque later this year. Residents are opposed to plans to sound the two-minute long call three times a day in the minaret of the Central Mosque. But elders from the Central Mosque, where up to 700 people gather to worship every Friday, have pledged to plough ahead with the proposal despite opposition.

Wee Frees told to 'cheer up' by own magazine
Auslan Cramb, Telegraph
...ultra-Conservative Free Church of Scotland has been caricatured as gloomy and depressive, only truly content when it is opposing Sunday ferry services or chaining up play park swings on the Sabbath. The central tenet of its faith is the fourth commandment, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy", and one minister caused outrage when he said the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 in which 226,000 people died was sent by God to punish "pleasure seekers from all over the world" who broke the Sabbath...

The violence in Kenya may be awful, but it is not senseless 'savagery'
Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian
It will be Kofi Annan's turn tomorrow to arrive in a tense Nairobi, following in the steps of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and John Kufuor, the Ghanian president and head of the African Union, last week, and US diplomats and the former Sierra Leonean president the week before. As the tourists abandon Kenya's beaches, the country has tragically become the premier destination for a new type of visitor - the international mediator.

Bishop locked out of churches over Turkish priest
Helena Smith, The Guardian
The head of the Anglican church in Europe, Dr Geoffrey Rowell, was locked out of six churches in Turkey by their congregations after his controversial decision to ordain a local convert to the priesthood. In an unprecedented step and amid fears that the ordination would endanger the lives of congregants in the mainly Muslim country, furious Christians denied the bishop access to any of his own churches to conduct the ceremony at the weekend. He was forced to carry out the ordination in a small Calvinist chapel in Istanbul.

Cheating Migrants Fingered: EXCLUSIVE Crackdown on immigrants
James Lyons, Daily Mirror
Every visitor to the UK using a visa will be fingerprinted from today, reveals Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. As a YouGov poll yesterday showed three quarters of voters want a tougher immigration system, Smith unveiled a 10-point action plan for a crackdown. Writing in the Mirror, she said: "I have listened to concerns about the need for tough, clear rules on immigration - and 2008 is the year we deliver just that." In trials, fingerprinting has already been carried out on 1.1 million people in 146 offices globally...

Al-Qaeda 'to blow up Paris'
Simon Hughes, The Sun (L)
BRITISH tourists visiting France may be targeted in a wave of TEN suicide bombings by al-Qaeda fanatics. Osama Bin Laden’s followers have singled out Disneyland Paris and the Eiffel Tower for terror atrocities, it is feared. Charles De Gaulle and Orly airports and the posh shops along the Champs-Elysees have also been earmarked. Clues were let slip by militants using an internet chatroom linked to al-Qaeda.

Bacon gift to Muslim officer costs Pc's job
By John Steele, Telegraph (L)
A police officer has been forced into resigning after he gave a Muslim colleague a pack of bacon and a bottle of wine as a joke present during a Christmas Day party. Pc Rob Murrie gave the gift to his colleague as part of a "Secret Santa" at Luton station, though the consumption of alcohol and bacon is forbidden under Islam. However, even though the Muslim officer did not complain and thought the present funny, senior officers in the Bedfordshire force were not amused.

UK Muslim Cop Defends Santa Gift (IslamOnline)

Diana's mother 'condemned her as disgrace for seeing Muslim men'
Steve Bird, Times Online (L)
Diana, Princess of Wales, was condemned by her mother as a disgraceful “whore” who was messing around with Muslim men, the inquest into her death heard today. Paul Burrell, the Princess’s former butler, told the High Court that he had been allowed to listen into a telephone call where Frances Shand Kydd rounded on her daughter for having a relationship Hasnat Khan, a Pakistani consultant cardiologist. Mr Burrell repeatedly resisted attempts by Michael Mansfield, QC...

In praise of ... the covenant service (Leader, The Guardian)
Blog 4: The Opening - my explanation (Ziauddin Sardar, Guardian CiF)
Answers to questions  (Ziauddin Sardar, Guardian CiF)
Britney Spears may convert to Islam: reports (Al-Arabiya)
Mel snubs Muslim Jesus movie (Libby Purves)

Sunday January 13, 2008 
Muslim Britain is becoming one big no-go area
Shiraz Maher, Sunday Times
Perhaps it had to be someone like Michael Nazir-Ali, the first Asian bishop in the Church of England, who would break with convention and finally point out the elephant in the room. His comments last week about the growing stranglehold of Muslim extremists in some communities revived debate about the future of multiculturalism and provoked a flurry of condemnation. Members of all three political parties immediately clamoured to dismiss him.

Muslim fury at top Tory's 'bigotry'
Caroline Davies & Jamie Doward, The Observer
There were calls last night for a Tory mayor to resign after he accused Muslims of causing 'mayhem with explosives'. Robert Bennett, the Conservative mayor of Mirfield, near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, was branded a 'bigot' and unfit to hold office after sending an email in which he made a series of disparaging remarks about Muslims. Meanwhile, just under 20 miles away, another councillor is engulfed in a similar race row. Elwyn Watkins, a Liberal Democrat councillor in Rochdale...

Secret email that freed the mole at the Foreign Office
Peter Beaumont, The Observer
The bundle of documents delivered to the Crown Prosecution Service by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 6 December last year should have contained few nasty surprises. The files told the alarming story of Derek Pasquill, a civil servant in a hitherto obscure new unit set up to improve relations with the Islamic world, who had broken one of the golden rules of a Crown servant. Pasquill, 48, had handed over confidential documents to an Observer journalist...

I'm one of 'them'
Juliana Farha, Guardian CiF
As Brown put it in last week's prime minister's questions: "I suggest the whole of the country supports ID cards for foreign nationals." According to the ID cards website, this means that when I fork out another 500 quid to extend the "temporary leave to remain" I was granted when I married an Englishman, I'll be "eligible" to apply for an ID card, which I will be compelled to acquire. (Fans of Orwell will find more gobbledygook on the website.)

Baptism - a big deal (Libby Purves)
Ed Husain on Nazir-Ali's "no-go" nonsense (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Why do they enjoy doing their porridge? (Islam, Muslims and an Anthropologist)
Muslims must do more to integrate, says poll (Islamophobia Watch)
'I feel like an alien in my home town' (Islamophobia Watch)

Saturday January 12, 2008 
Girl who feared arranged marriage was 'murdered'
Mark Hughes, The Independent
A Muslim girl found dead on a riverbank after apparently fleeing an arranged marriage was the victim of a "very vile murder", a coroner said yesterday. The badly decomposed body of Shafilea Ahmed, 17, was found near the river Kent at Sedgwick, Cumbria, in February 2004, five months after she disappeared from her home in Warrington. Recording a death of unlawful killing at the end of a four-day inquest in Kendal, the South Cumbria coroner, Ian Smith, said...

Shafilea Ahmed was murdered (Nick Britten, Telegraph)
Action Alert ! BBC News Aggravating Islamophobia (MPACUK)

Oxford bishop backs Islamic call to prayer
Laura Clout, Telegraph
The Bishop of Oxford has supported plans to broadcast the Islamic call to prayer over part of the historic city. Welcoming proposals from Oxford's Central Mosque to sound the call three times a day over East Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard said those opposed to the plan should "relax" and "enjoy community diversity". The bishop also rejected claims by the Anglican Church's only Asian bishop that sounding the call in Britain represented an attempt to "impose an Islamic character" on some areas.

Terror plot to blow up Eiffel Tower uncovered
Ian Sparks, Daily Mail
A plot by Islamic terrorists to blow up the Eiffel Tower has been uncovered. A scrambled short-wave radio conversation exposing the planned attack on the world's most visited monument was picked up by Portuguese air traffic controllers and passed on to French spy chiefs. The 1,060ft high tower has more than six million visitors a year - an average of more than 16,000 a day. A successful strike on the 7,500 ton iron tower, which was looked down on Paris since 1889, would be a French 9/11...

Padilla Sues Former US Lawyer Over Detention (Sufistication)

Friday January 11, 2008 
Balls steps back from faith schools plan
Aislinn Simpson, Telegraph
The spread of faith schools across the country has been shelved because ministers fear they could help create a new generation of Muslim extremists, it was claimed last night. A favourite project of Tony Blair, the schools have previously been seen as a success, with good academic results and satisfied parents. But in a Commons committee on Wednesday, Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, appeared to take a step back from plans to create more.

First Euro Muslims Charter
IslamOnline
CAIRO — Crowning years of painstaking efforts, more than 400 Muslim groups from 28 countries from Russia to Spain signed Thursday, January 10, at the European parliament the first charter on relations between Muslims in Europe and their societies. "The aim of this initiative was to elaborate a common basic position on Islam in Europe, more precisely the contribution of Islam to modern Europe," the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), the initiative sponsor, said in a statement.

The Charter

Guantánamo: how much longer?
Moazzam Begg, Guardian CiF
On January 11 2008 the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay enters the seventh year since the first men captured during the "war on terror" were brought there shackled, hooded, masked and ear-muffed. Much has happened over the past few years that should have sufficed in bringing about the demise and closure of the world's most notorious prison: The 2004 US supreme court ruling in Rasul (2004) passed in favour of the right of detainees to apply for habeas corpus...

'It's time for Muslims to denounce extremists' says right-wing novelist (Islamophobia Watch)
Bishop backs Muslim prayer call (Islamophobia Watch)

Coroner says 'arranged marriage' girl was 'vilely murdered'. But will anyone EVER stand trial?
Jaya Narain and James Tozer, Daily Mail (L)
A muslim girl violently opposed to an arranged marriage in Pakistan was the victim of a "vile murder", a coroner has declared. Ian Smith said he was "convinced" that 17-year-old Shafilea Ahmed had been unlawfully killed. Her decomposed body was discovered five months after her disappearance, beside a river in Cumbria. Police launched a murder inquiry and arrested her parents, Iftikhar and Farzana, on suspicion of kidnapping the teenager but both were released without charge. Shafilea had claimed her parents...

Palestinians: Bush visit meant to liquidate the Palestinian issue
Palestinian Information Center
The anti-Gaza siege bureau that comprises the Islamic Movement, the National Coalition Democratic Party, the Abna'a Al-balad Movement, the National Progress Coalition, and the Arab Democratic Party, all based in the 1948-occupied Palestinian lands issued a joint statement with the theme "Bush go home", describing Bush as "a failed president, who, at the end of his term in office, wants to achieve something at the expense of the Palestinian people".

Jilted John Kufuor (Meera Selva, Guardian CiF)
Familicide presented as honour killing (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Debunking “Honour” Killings (AE)

Thursday January 10, 2008 
Muslim girl's parents 'beat her, took money'
Nick Britten, Telegraph
A Muslim girl who was killed and dumped in a river after she refused an arranged marriage had complained that she was regularly beaten by her parents, an inquest was told. Shafilea Ahmed, 17, said one parent would hold her down while the other hit her. She said they also took £2,000 savings from her bank account. Eventually, she ran away from home, telling a housing officer that she was fleeing the escalating domestic violence and plans to force her into an arranged marriage.

Buddhism forced to turn trendy to attract a new generation in Japan
Justin McCurry, The Guardian
Dressed in dark cotton robes, a bracelet of prayer beads hanging from his wrist, Gugan Taguchi certainly looks the part. But as he kneels to chant a sutra before an altar in the corner of the room, the people around him continue to chat, and his rhythmic prayers can only just be heard above a Blue Note jazz track. Minutes later Taguchi is back in his seat, glass in hand. A bottle of rum sits on the bar in front of him, next to a half-filled ashtray as his tobacco smoke mingles with the aroma of incense.

Church 'accepts end of blasphemy law'
James Kirkup, Telegraph
The Church of England has signalled that it is prepared to see the abolition of blasphemy offences after the Government announced a review of the ancient law. The moves follow a cross-party move by MPs to sweep away legal protections for the Anglican faith, first disclosed in The Daily Telegraph this week. The attempt, led by Liberal Democrat Evan Harris, has been backed by Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Harries, a former Bishop of Oxford.

Ministerial compromise averts backbench revolt over repeal of blasphemy offence (Alan Travis, The Guardian)
Guardian leader: An offensive law

Vatican to make Cardinal Newman a saint
Malcolm Moore, Telegraph
Cardinal John Henry Newman, the most famous British convert to Catholicism, could be beatified this year, the Vatican has said, setting him on a path to become the first British saint for 40 years. "Cardinal Newman was a relevant intellectual, an emblematic figure of conversion from Anglicanism to Catholicism and personally I wish his beatification to happen very soon," said Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Cause of the Saints.

666 church motion doomed
Independent, PA (L)
A motion calling for the disestablishment of the Church of England appeared on the House of Commons order paper today - bizarrely numbered 666, the number associated with the Antichrist. Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester, one of the signatories, said: "It is is incredible that a motion like this should have, by chance, acquired this significant number. "This number is supposed to be the mark of the Devil. It looks as though God or the Devil have been moving in mysterious ways.

'Mayor's a burka' says Sun columnist (Islamophobia Watch)
Inayat's letter to Telegraph – so far unpublished (Islamophobia Watch)
Mobile Phone Exorcism Imam Newcastle tribunal payout (Libby Purves)
Faith school U-turn - and the junior God team (Libby Purves)

Wednesday January 09, 2008 
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali stands by his views
Jonathan Petre, Telegraph
The Church of England bishop who provoked a storm by claiming Islamic extremists were making some areas "no-go" zones for non-Muslims has said he stood by his comments. The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, faced calls for his resignation after his article in The Sunday Telegraph. conference, the bishop claimed successive governments had failed to foster an "integrating vision" for Britain. He said he was echoing concerns voiced by Trevor Phillips...

We don't have no-go areas, says Brown (Islamophobia Watch)

College denies theological vendetta
Lee Glendinning, The Guardian
The Oxford theological college Wycliffe Hall yesterday "strongly refuted" claims that BBC Radio 4 contributor Dr Elaine Storkey was sacked from her research post because of her beliefs. Storkey was dismissed last year and has since issued legal proceedings against the training college, part of Oxford University, claiming that she was bullied out of her job and citing religious discrimination. The Thought for the Day presenter claimed that conditions worsened after the appointment of Dr Richard Turnbull...

'Hypocrite' Straw reprimands magistrate who walked out of court due to veiled Muslim defendant
Daily Mail
Jack Straw was accused of hypocrisy yesterday after censuring a magistrate who refused to deal with a case in which a Muslim woman wore a face veil. The Justice Secretary issued a formal reprimand to Ian Murray even though Mr Straw himself famously asks women to remove their veils in his constituency office. Mr Straw said in October 2006 that veils were "a statement of separation and difference". Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said: "He is a complete hypocrite..."

Magistrate reprimanded over Muslim walk-out (Telegraph)
Magistrate reprimanded over veil (Frances Gibb, The Times)
Islamophobia in the British Courts (Radical Muslim)

Girl scared of forced marriage 'was strangled'
Nick Britten, Telegraph
A Muslim teenager who was killed and her body found dumped on a riverbank was terrified of being forced into an arranged marriage, an inquest has heard. Shafilea Ahmed, 17, told friends she was subject to domestic abuse, that she had drunk bleach and self harmed as she became depressed about being forced to marry. Police launched a murder investigation when her body was found five months after she disappeared in September 2003.

Girl who fled arranged marriage 'was smothered or strangled'  (Mark Hughes, The Independent)
Girl found dead in river 'had feared a forced marriage' (Helen Carter, The Guardian)

The dentist terrorist: British Muslim who planned to murder UK troops jailed
Charlotte Gill, Daily Mail
When he was stopped at Heathrow, dentist Sohail Qureshi claimed he was flying to Pakistan to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid with his family. The haul of weapons, cash and terror handbooks he was carrying however told a much more sinister story. An Islamic extremist, the 30-year-old was in fact on his way to fight for the Taliban against British troops. In an email to a contact before he left Qureshi wrote: "Pray that I kill many, brother. Revenge, revenge, revenge."

Friend of ‘Lyrical Terrorist’ caught at airport with military equipment (Sean O'Neill, The Times)
Fanatic's Lyrical Terrorist link Simon Hughes, The Sun (L)

BA woman loses crucifix battle
Sophie Borland, Telegraph
A British Airways check-in worker who was banned from wearing a Christian cross around her neck has lost her claim of religious discrimination. Nadia Eweida, 56, took her employer to court after she was told she could not wear the small crucifix necklace as it did not conform to uniform regulations. Her case prompted outrage, with some supporters threatening to boycott the airline, while clergymen and several politicians, including Vince Cable, the Lib Dem MP, condemned the policy.

BA worker loses discrimination case over cross (Lee Glendinning, The Guardian)
BA worker 'speechless' after losing cross case (Times Online)

Funding Israeli Terror (Radical Muslim)

Nature and style of the Qur'an
Ziauddin Sardar, Guardian CiF
Expectations tend to condition our reactions. Think of the hype in cinema adverts: they string together some of the best bits of a film and we expect fireworks throughout. But the edited highlights bear little relation to the whole, which can turn out to be a damp squib. The result is not just disappointment but a sense of being cheated of our justified expectations. So, as I start these blogs, I begin with some words of caution by way of conditioning your expectations.

Blogging the Qur'an: Index (Guardian CiF)

Parents say no to halal school dinners
Joanna Sugden, The Times (L)
A primary school which opted to serve only halal meat at lunch time has been accused of concealing the decision to provide Islamic compliant food from parents. The Oxford primary school introduced halal meat to the school dinner menu in September last year as part of their inclusion policy, but failed to inform parents of the move until December. Parents at the school are now petitioning for an end to halal only meals. In a letter to parents at the end of term Sue Mortimer, headmistress of Rose Hill Primary...

Halal school food row (Libby Purves)

Tuesday January 08, 2008 
Jewish board to appoint Muslim adviser
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
The Board of Deputies of British Jews is planning to recruit a Muslim adviser as part of a scheme to link schools dominated by a single faith. The adviser will help develop religious and culturally sensitive programmes that will appeal to Jewish and Muslim schools taking part in its Shared Futures project, which fosters respect between pupils from the two faith communities. The Board of Deputies is the first religious organisation in the UK to launch such a scheme...

No-go Zone for Muslim Fanatics
Fergus Shanahan, The Sun
As The Sun said after 9/11, Islam is not an evil religion. Muslims are mostly decent people devoted to their own religion. But it is not the historic religion of this nation. Islamic leaders who leaped on Bishop Nazir-Ali would do better to recognise the harm their own intolerance is doing to Britain. The bishop’s enemies say he has asked people to hate Muslims, but he hasn’t done anything of the kind. He has simply pointed out what we all know: If radical Muslim enclaves make no attempt to integrate with the rest of us...

Torygraph leaders back Nazir-Ali (continued) (Islamophobia Watch)
More right-wing support for Nazir-Ali (Islamophobia Watch)
Why the silence? (Symon Hill, Guardian CiF)

Christian broadcaster Dr Elaine Storkey sues church college
Fran Yeoman, The Times
A BBC Radio 4 contributor is suing one of the Church of England’s most distinguished training colleges for religious discrimination, claiming that she was bullied out of her job. Dr Elaine Storkey, who regularly features in the Today programme’s “Thought for the Day” slot, was dismissed from her post at Wycliffe Hall, part of Oxford University, last year. She claims that conditions there worsened after the appointment of a new principal, Dr Richard Turnbull...

Fury over new gay hate laws which 'threaten free speech'
Simon Caldwell, Daily Mail
A coalition of MPs is hoping to halt a gay hate law which will stop Christians pronouncing their beliefs about marriage and family life. The Tory, Labour and Lib-Dem MPs are demanding an amendment be introduced to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill to make sure religious leaders are not prosecuted for criticising homosexual lifestyles. They are threatening to force a vote on an issue which has split Gordon Brown's Cabinet.

Thanks for the comments and questions
Ziauddin Sardar, Guardian CiF
Ordinary Muslims often defer to religious scholars for interpretation thus allowing them to maintain a monopoly on the exegesis of the Qur'an. The Qur'an itself, however, places responsibility on each individual: it is the duty of every Muslim to discover for himself or herself what it is saying and wrestle with its meaning. That means all Muslims, religious scholars or not, have the responsibility to equip themselves with the required knowledge to engage with the Qur'an. This responsibility cannot be left to others.

Blogging the Qur'an: Index (Guardian CiF)

Asserting ourselves
Rajnaara Akhtar, Guardian CiF
Hazel Blears has announced a grandiose new measure for combating terrorism by training Muslim women in assertiveness and leadership. My initial response was exasperation at yet another half-baked, harebrained government scheme which will achieve few of its objectives while creating yet another group of terrorist "suspects" in Britain's Muslim communities - better watch out for those dodgy downtrodden housewife types, you never know what they are fomenting behind those closed doors.

Veil row magistrate reprimanded (Islamophobia Watch)

Monday January 07, 2008 
Muslim anger at bishop's 'ghettoes' attack
Jerome Taylor, Independent
The Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Church of England's only Asian-born bishop, sparked anger after writing in an article that in many predominantly Muslims areas of Britain's cities people of a different faith face "hostility" from the Muslim community who create "no-go" areas. Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, accused Dr Nazir-Ali of scaremongering.

Muslims call for 'no-go' CoE bishop to resign
Caroline Gammell, Telegraph
The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali wrote in The Sunday Telegraph that fundamentalism had made some communities hostile to Christians and those from other faiths. But Mohammed Shafiq, from the Ramadhan Foundation, said: "Mr Nazir-Ali is promoting hatred towards Muslims and should resign." Ajmal Masroor, of the Islamic Society of Great Britain, said: "It's a distortion of reality. Our communities are far more integrated than they were 10 years ago.

Bishop under fire for attack on Muslim 'no-go areas' (Helen Pidd, The Guardian)
Reverend Dr Michael Nazir-Ali… please shut up (Radical Muslim)
Fanatical Christian Leader Must Prove No-Go Areas Exist (MPACUK)
Islamic extremism creating 'no-go' areas for non-Muslims in Britain, says Bishop of Rochester (Daily Mail)
Muslims undermine 'the very fabric of the nation' claims Torygraph columnist (Islamophobia Watch)
'At last a trumpet blast against the creeping Islamification of Britain' (Islamophobia Watch)
Don't go there (Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF)
No-go areas that are all in the bishop's mind (Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Independent)
Christian Peoples Alliance defends bishop over Islam comments (Islamophobia Watch)
Mayor in 'Muslims cause mayhem with explosives' row (Islamophobia Watch)
Nazir Ali no-go backlash (Libby Purves)

Muslim women recruited to stop extremists
Robert Winnett, Telegraph
Muslim women are to be targeted by the Government and invited to attend leadership courses in an attempt to prevent the spread of Islamic extremism. Ministers believe this will form a part of the beleaguered counter-terrorism strategy. Intelligence has revealed that extremists are putting "greater focus" on targeting young people through "sleek and seductive messages" using the internet and new media. The plans come as the Church of England's only Asian bishop warned that extremists have created "no-go areas"...

British imams ‘failing young Muslims’
Justin Gest and Andrew Norfolk, The Times
Attempts to reform British mosques and win back a “lost generation” of young Muslims are being undermined by the poor quality of home-trained imams, a leading Islamic scholar says. Musharraf Hussain, a government adviser on mosques, said that most of the country’s Islamic seminaries were producing “unemployable” graduates who were incapable of challenging the sense of alienation that led some Muslims towards violent extremism.

Lessons behind closed doors matter to us all (Andrew Norfolk, The Times)

Are We ‘Eding in the Right Direction? (Yahya Birt)
 

Pope calls for continuous prayer to rid priesthood of paedophilia
Richard Owen, The Times (Global)
Pope Benedict XVI has instructed Roman Catholics to pray “in perpetuity” to cleanse the Church of paedophile clergy. All dioceses, parishes, monasteries, convents and seminaries will be expected to organise continuous daily prayers to express penitence and to purify the clergy. Vatican officials said that every parish or institution should designate a person or group each day to conduct continuous prayers for the Church to rid itself of the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy.

Sunday January 06, 2008
Bishop warns of no-go zones for non-Muslims
Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Sunday Telegraph
Islamic extremists have created "no-go" areas across Britain where it is too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter, one of the Church of England's most senior bishops warns today. The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by a strict Muslim ideology. Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, he compares the threat to the use of intimidation by the far-Right...

Extremism flourished as UK lost Christianity (Michael Nazir-Ali, Sunday Telegraph)
More dangerous nonsense from Bishop of Rochester (Islamophobia Watch)
Michael Nazir-Ali's "no go" areas (Rolled-up Trousers)
Why Rochester is not a no-go area for Michael Nazir-Ali (Indigo Jo Blogs)

Muslim women to curb terror
Marie Woolf, Sunday Times
MUSLIM women are to be sent on leadership and assertiveness courses to help to prevent Islamic extremism. In an attempt to stop young Muslims being seduced by Al-Qaeda, women will be sent on training courses designed for FTSE 100 managers to give them the skills and confidence to confront fanatics. Amid fears that extremists are becoming more sophisticated in their recruitment, Hazel Blears, the communities secretary, has concluded that a key way to stop extremist ideas...

Brown: my vision for 'dangerous' year ahead
Nicholas Watt, The Observer
Asked about Ed Husain, the young Muslim who wrote a book about how he supported and then abandoned the hardline Hizb ut Tahrir organisation, Brown says: 'When you read Ed Husain there was a ferment of activity around colleges and around certain mosques and institutions. And it's hardly surprising that lots of young people are drawn into that, not just because of the excitement, because of the pressures that are upon them.'

Saturday January 05, 2008 
The SWP takes a step backwards
Salma Yaqoob, Fourth International
What I propose to do here is to address three aspects of this debate. Firstly, the SWP’s echoing of attacks once the preserve of those more known for pandering to Islamophobia than challenging it. Secondly, the SWP’s crass understanding of the dynamic of race and class inside the Muslim community, and the conclusions they draw from it. And thirdly, how best to protect the political integrity of the newly emerging Respect as an entity rooted in opposition to war, neo-liberalism and racism...

In the name of God... (Libby Purves)
Rights and wrongs (Brian Whitaker, Guardian CiF)

Friday January 04, 2008 
Racism at immigration centres revealed in report
Tania Branigan, The Guardian
Staff training at immigration detention centres must be improved, says an official report which recorded a catalogue of racist behaviour in the system. The race relations audit, published yesterday, found that officers at several centres had taunted detainees - describing them as "black bastards" in one case - and found a "tense" and "turbulent" atmosphere in some units. It ranked the largest centre, Harmondsworth - run by private operator Kaylx, as the worst performer of the 10.

A change in Muslims’ attitudes is inevitable
Inayat Bunglawala, The Times
Helping your children to find good marriage partners and to settle down and build stable family units is regarded in Islam as one of the most important duties of Muslim parents, and indeed all parents. In recent years, though, there have been a number of cases where young women say that they have been coerced to marry someone when they did not wish to do so. Often it is seen by some family members as a mechanism by which additional members of an extended family can be brought into the UK.

The left that I want
Soumaya Ghannoushi, Guardian CiF
My recent article on the dominant discourse of Muslim women's liberation generated a heated debate in which a number of commentators and scores of posters took part on issues ranging from moral responsibility towards victims of oppression, to the universality of human rights and the left's role in strategies of liberation. Ali Eteraz's response represents a sample of a current trend among liberals and the left.

Teachers could get power to stop forced marriages
Richard Ford, The Times
Teachers, social workers, women’s rights groups and local councils may be given the power to stop forced marriages, under government plans to protect vulnerable teenagers. Ministers are preparing a list of third parties who would have the authority to go to court to try to prevent families from forcing children into marriage in Britain and abroad. Eighty-five per cent of victims of forced marriages are women, most are aged 15-24, 90 per cent are Muslim and 90 per cent are of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage.

Sikh schoolgirl fights ban on bracelet
Nicola Woolcock, The Times (L)
A Sikh teenager has filed a High Court challenge against her school’s refusal to allow her to wear a religious bangle. Sarika Singh, 14, has been excluded from Aberdare Girls’ School in South Wales for two months after spending the same amount of time being taught in isolation. The challenge has been filed on her behalf by Liberty, the human rights group. It argues that the school has breached race relations and human rights laws.

Macho society under scrutiny as despair drives young men to ‘honourable death’
Murad Ahmed, The Times (L)
Orhan Kaya and Can Onel were the first to kill themselves. The two friends, aged 24 and 19, hanged themselves at the same spot in the same church graveyard in Hackney, within weeks of each other in the summer. Since then, seven more have followed suit. The latest is Murat Yaldir, 23, found hanged last week by the owner of the takeaway he worked for. Almost all the suicides have taken place in the heart of Britain’s Turkish community in North and East London.

The grinch who stole Eid ul-Adha (Andrea Useem)
Evangelical leaders condemned for 'pledging common cause with Islam' (Islamophobia Watch)
Cultural Chameleons (Muslimmatters)
Extreme pilgrim (Joanna Sugden)

Thursday January 03, 2008 
Muslim leaders back Livingstone as mayor
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
Prominent Muslim organisations and individuals have pledged to back Ken Livingstone as mayor of London, saying it is in the "best interest" of Muslims to vote for him in this year's elections on May 1. A statement, published today in full on the Guardian's website, praises Livingstone for his continued support of a multicultural society and for protecting Muslim communities against racism and Islamophobia. The 63 signatories include Mohammed Ali, the chief executive of the Islam Channel...

Study: forgiveness is good for your health (Joanna Sugden)
Resurrecting Empire in Iraq (Tabsir)

Wednesday January 02, 2008 
Anglican rift on gay clergy leads to breakaway summit
Riazat Butt, The Guardian
Conservative Anglican leaders have revealed plans for a breakaway summit for the hundreds of bishops who are expected to defy the Archbishop of Canterbury by boycotting the Lambeth Conference. Up to a third of the Anglican church's 900 bishops could boycott the conference in protest at the perceived fudging by the archbishop, Rowan Williams, over the US Episcopal church's attitude to gay clergy. Organisers of the Global Anglican Future Conference say their meeting, to be held in Jerusalem...

Bishops 'must face gay clergy debate' (Jonathan Petre, Telegraph)

MPs to voice concerns over faith schools
Anthea Lipsett and agencies, EducationGuardian.co.uk
MPs will next week raise serious concerns about the government's faith schools programme. The Commons children, schools and families select committee will grill the schools secretary, Ed Balls, at a meeting on January 9 about the government's plans to allow local authorities to open as many faith schools as they want. Members are concerned the plans will damage social cohesion and widen existing divisions. The committee's chairman, Barry Sheerman, said: "Faith schools are an important area of concern..."

The Brotherhood opens up
Ibrahim El Houdaiby, Guardian CiF
The Muslim Brotherhood, like other opposition groups in Egypt, is going through a period of repression. It is repressed more than any other organisation to the widespread popularity it enjoys. Hundreds of its members have been detained over the past few months and a severe media distortion campaign is run by state-owned press and TV channels, while security threats restrict independent media outlets from reporting an objective and balanced image of the group.

Terror fears over shop pics'
The Sun (L)
TWO grandparents have spoken of their shock at being branded a “terrorist threat” for taking a photograph in a shopping centre. Kim and Trevor Sparshott said they were asked to leave Fareham Shopping Centre after they took snaps of their grandchildren while doing their Christmas shopping. The ex-pats, who live in Malaga, Spain, were visiting their family in Gosport, Hampshire, when the incident happened last week. Mrs Sparshott, 51, told a local paper: “I couldn’t believe it. I was so shocked..."

Sacked for sheep sex prank
Thomas Whitaker, The Sun (L)
TWO British oil workers have been sacked after simulating sex with sheep due to be slaughtered for a Muslim festival. The animals were being killed for 30 foreign workers to celebrate Eid Al Adhha in the Algerian oil town Hassi Messaoud. The men, who have not been named, were reported by stunned restaurant workers and guards — then sacked by their employer, US industrial giant Schlumberger. They were accused of “sheep violation”.

The straw men of Herouxville (Indigo Jo Blogs)
A History of Rai Music (Gabriele Marranci, Tabsir)
Weird defense rumour (sorry, rumor) (Libby Purves)

Tuesday January 01, 2008 
Barclaycard chief quits over Muslims remark
Richard Alleyne, Telegraph
A leading bank executive has been forced to quit after making an insulting remark about Muslims. Marc Howells, who was one of Barclaycard's leading figures, left his £200,000-a-year job after making the quip during a staff meeting as he discussed quarterly figures. Colleagues were stunned when he said: "The results were like Muslims - some were good, some were Shi'ite." Offended members of staff complained to senior bosses about the "wholly inappropriate" comment.

Conservative Anglicans plan rebel summit
Riazat Butt, Guardian Unlimited
Conservative Anglican leaders have revealed plans for a breakaway summit for the hundreds of bishops expected to defy the Archbishop of Canterbury by boycotting the Lambeth conference. Organisers of the Global Anglican Future Conference, to be held in Jerusalem, say it will not be a rival to Lambeth, held every 10 years in Canterbury, but "will provide opportunities for fellowship and care for those who have decided not to attend Lambeth".

How Britain became party to a crime that may have killed a million people
George Monbiot, The Guardian
If you doubt Britain needs a written constitution, listen to the strangely unbalanced discussion broadcast by the BBC last Friday. The Today programme asked Lord Guthrie, formerly chief of the defence staff, and Sir Kevin Tebbit, until recently the senior civil servant at the Ministry of Defence, if parliament should decide whether or not the country goes to war. The discussion was a terrifying exposure of the privileges of unaccountable power. It explained as well as anything I have heard how Britain became party to a crime that may have killed a million people.

hidden holocaust--civilizational crisis, Part 3: THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT? (The Cutting Edge)
Call to prayer? (Libby Purves)
 

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