1st August/31 July
Social cohesion – excluding Muslims
Inayat Bunglawala, Guardian CiF
Several UK newspapers on Sunday and Monday published alarmist stories based upon a new report entitled Islam on Campus by the Centre for Social Cohesion and a YouGov poll also commissioned by the CfSC. The website of the CfSC explains its purpose as trying to generate: "new thinking that can help bring Britain's ethnic and religious communities closer together while strengthening British traditions of openness, tolerance and democracy."

Religion and the ethics of science
Letters, Guardian
Christian opinion on the moral status of the embryo is not all as restrictive as Jim Al-Khalili implies (While our scientists struggle with ethics, the Islamic world forges ahead, July 31). The majority in the Church of England's general synod take a gradualist view and our submission to the human fertilisation and embryo consultation drew on this to argue that, up to the 14-day point of implantation which Al-Khalili describes, some embryo research is ethically acceptable.

Only broadband will do for monks with an internet habit
Chris Green, Independent
Choose to be a monk and you accept that your life will be a spartan existence dominated by prayer, chastity and reflective solitude, far from the hustle and bustle of the modern world. But such a traditional perception of monastic life is being challenged by a community of Catholic monks who live in a century-old abbey on Caldey Island, off Pembrokeshire in south-west Wales. Sick of being hindered by the limitations of their ancient dial-up internet connection...

Lost property, naked bishops, and the mark of the beast (Riazat Butt, The Guardian)
Condemn homosexuality, Vatican official tells Lambeth conference (Riazat Butt, The Guardian)
Lambeth Diary: 'When did you last beat your wife, Bishop?' (Ruth Gledhill)
Israeli war crimes and traffic offences (Jews sans frontieres)
Finland: Considering legalizing male circumcision (Islam in Europe)
Who are the real "New Jews"? (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Anthony Glees and Centre For Social Cohesion at it again (MPACUK)
The Episcopalian superiority complex (R Butt, Guardian CiF)

Thursday July 31 2008 
Webcast for Common Word final news conf. on Thursday
Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld
An announcement about the Common Word conference we’ve been following here (and will cover on Thursday): FYI Yale Divinity School tells us there will be a live web stream of the final news conference of its Muslim-Christian dialogue conference on Thursday, July 31, at 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. EST/1530 - 1700 GMT. The stream will be available at the conference web site at: http://www.yale.edu/divinity/commonwor d/index.shtml.

Turkey steps back from brink as court rules against ruling party ban
Nicholas Birch, Independent
Turkey's highest court pulled the country back from the brink when it narrowly rejected calls for the ruling party to be shut down and its leaders banned from politics for allegedly undermining the secular state. After 30 hours of debate, six judges voted in favour of banning the party, four voted for financial penalties and one rejected the case. Seven judges would have had to vote in favour of the ban for it to pass. Instead of that nuclear option, the court contented itself with censuring the AK party (AKP)...

While our scientists struggle with ethics, the Islamic world forges ahead
Jim Al-Khalili, Guardian CiF
In recent days I have been asked on three separate occasions whether I think physicists are going to destroy the world the moment they switch on the Large Hadron Collider - the huge underground particle accelerator in Geneva - later this year. They ask if, as has been reported, the energies it will produce when beams of near light-speed subatomic particles are smashed together will create mini black holes that will swallow up the whole planet.

Uniform freedom in our schools (Letters, Guardian)
Burning joss sticks 'as deadly as traffic fumes or cigarette smoke' (Ian MacKinnon, Guardian)
Joint statement: divisive study for divisive ends (Islamophobia Watch)
Muslim students: joint statement issued (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Single, Muslim, and female: a gendered forecast of the American Muslim community (Koonj)
Conference believes that the opening of new faith schools could be divisive not inclusive [Motion Lost] (Voice)

Wednesday July 30 2008 
Kids Now Defy Heads to Wear Burka
Emma Wall
A Sikh girl’s court victory yesterday means Muslim teens are now free to cover up with the burkha at school. Sarika Watkins-Singh, 14, won the right to wear a Kara bracelet after being excluded for defying a schools ban on jewellery. A judge’s ruling that she had been the victim of unlawful discrimination could start a stampede of kids wearing religious clobber in class. Lawyer Caroline Newman said: “A time is coming where Muslim girls will be allowed to wear a full burka as part of their uniform, though it might have to be in a colour to match."
['Proud to be Welsh and a Sikh'. Schoolgirl wins court battle to wear religious bangle -Audrey Gillan, Guardian]

Muslim faith schools cause segregation, say teachers
Daily Mail
'Hell will freeze over' before Muslim schools give children a liberal education, teachers were told today. Faith schools threaten to cause religious segregation and must not be expanded, said Wesley Paxton from teachers' union Voice. He suggested divisions like those seen in Northern Ireland between Protestant and Catholic communities could arise in England if more Islamic groups take over schools. His remarks follow government moves to give religious groups a greater role in education...

A mixed up view of Islam
Nadeem Kazmi, Guardian CiF
Yesterday's letter from leading British Shia Muslims to Channel 4 is a significant example of Muslims doing what they are often accused of not doing – making effective use of complaints procedures available to them when the media is seen to attack their religious beliefs. The Channel 4 documentary, The Qur'an, was indeed frustrating to watch for anyone with even a general knowledge of Islam. Shia Muslims were rightly annoyed, not because of sensationalist portrait of their beliefs...
[Shia scholars demand new C4 film on their faith -Islamophobia Watch]

Succeed or Suffocate? (MPACUK)
Sham wedding powers ruled illegal (BBC News Online)

Tuesday July 29 2008 
Public school-educated Muslim hired to run Queen's stockbroker
Christopher Hope and Philip Aldrick, Telegraph
Naguib Kheraj, the former finance director of Barclays, has been appointed chief executive of investment bank JP Morgan Cazenove, one of the City's oldest firms. Mr Kheraj, 44, is the City's best known Muslim banker who was paid £600,000-a-month as an adviser to Barclays for eight months last year. Mr Kheraj, who is also a senior adviser to the Aga Khan, known in Britain for his horse racing interests, will take up his new role at Cazenove on October 6.

4's celebration of Islam
The Guardian
Your article (Misleading and defamatory: Channel 4 accused over documentary on Qur'an, July 28) is unfair to Channel 4. Antony Thomas's acclaimed film was clearly labelled as a documentary about the Qur'an; not about Islamic belief. As such, Thomas set out to interpret issues affecting the modern world from a Qur'anic perspective. He naturally focused on the big issues of the day and assembled an unrivalled cast of experts, academics and theologians to debate the points raised...

Sir Salman Rushdie criticises Britain's 'air of appeasement' toward extremists
Laura Clout, Telegraph
The Booker Prize-winning author, whose novel the Satan Verses incensed the Islamic world, told BBC's Newsnight: "There's no such thing as a perfect culture. I think sometimes there's an air of appeasement in this country which I don't like." In an interview to promote his latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence, Sir Salman said Iran 'might well be' trying to make a nuclear bomb. The writer also spoke of how 'soft power' including the internet and websites such as YouTube can defeat global tyranny...

“Something in the air” in Christian-Muslim dialogue
Tom Heneghan, FaithWorld
Meetings of theologians don’t usually make news. But trends can make news. A series of meetings can start to show some direction the participants’ thinking is going in. If it’s a new direction, and one with potentially positive results, then we journalists on the Godbeat take notice. The “Common Word” conference now underway at Yale Divinity School in the United States is at the heart of a trend towards increasingly frequent and detailed discussions among Christian and Muslim scholars and leaders.

Bitterness threatens Indian tolerance (Randeep Ramesh, Guardian CiF)
How to create your own Islamophobia (Between the Lines)
UK: Another Sharia compliant insurance company (Islam in Europe)

Monday July 28 2008 
The hijab goes high-fashion
Homa Khaleeli, Guardian
Autumn trends are already appearing on the pages of glossy magazines, but for some fashionistas an important question remains unanswered. What will be autumn's key hijab look? Muslim women anxious to keep their style cutting-edge are turning to an ever-expanding number of blogs, Facebook groups and YouTube videos to discover the hottest way to tie their headscarves.  Jana Kossaibati, whose blog, Hijab Style, claims to be the UK's first style guide for Muslim women...

Misleading and defamatory: Channel 4 accused over documentary on Qur'an
Riazat Butt, Guardian
It was described as an "exemplary piece of programme making" by an award winning film-maker which launched a week of television coverage of Islam. But a Channel 4 documentary on the Qur'an has angered a group of leading Shia Muslim scholars, who have criticised it for making "seriously inaccurate statements" about their branch of the faith. In a letter to Channel 4, they said that the depiction of Shia beliefs in The Qur'an, broadcast earlier this month, was "disappointing, misleading..."
[Extracts from the letter -The Guardian]

Killing in the name of Islam is acceptable... the view of one third of British Muslim students
Daily Mail
Nearly one third of Muslim students believe it can be acceptable to kill in the name of religion, according to a survey published yesterday. It also found that 40 per cent want to see the introduction of Islamic sharia law in Britain, 40 per cent think it wrong for Muslim men and women to mix freely together, and 33 per cent want to see a worldwide Islamic government based on sharia law. The findings were described by researchers at the Centre for Social Cohesion think tank...
[UK Students Slam Muslim Killing Report -IslamOnline; A third of Muslim students back killings'  -Islamophobia Watch]

Dissident Northern Ireland republican threat 'higher than from Islamic extremists' (Aislinn Simpson, Telegraph)
Islam: Secularists raise tension as Turkish court prepares landmark judgment on ruling AKP (Robert Tait, Guardian)
Explainer: Islam in Turkey (Robert Tait, Guardian)
Gay sex is a sin, say four in five Protestants (Ruth Gledhill, Times)
Citizenship and extremism among Muslim youth (Between the Lines)
Dinner over two hours multiplied by 2 million Muslims (Between the Lines)
City holds an Asian celebration (BBC News Online)
Milking the Camel (Tabsir)
Islam in Europe Weekly Review (Islam in Europe)
Dialogue for the masses (Jude Townend, Alt.Muslim)
Lambeth Diary: Nigerian gay Christian activist granted asylum (Ruth Gledhill)

Sunday July 27 2008 
Third of Muslim students back killings
Abul Taher, Times
ALMOST a third of British Muslim students believe killing in the name of Islam can be justified, according to a poll. The study also found that two in five Muslims at university support the incorporation of Islamic sharia codes into British law. The YouGov poll for the Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) will raise concerns about the extent of campus radicalism. “Significant numbers appear to hold beliefs which contravene democratic values,” said Han-nah Stuart, one of the report’s authors. Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, condemned the study. “This disgusting report is a reflection of the biases and prejudices of a right-wing think tank – not the views of Muslim students across Britain,” he said. “Only 632 Muslim students were asked vague and misleading questions, and their answers were wilfully misinterpreted.”
[Radical Islam gains ground in campuses -Jamie Doward, Observer]

Olympics threatened by Islamic separatists
Tania Branigan, Observer
A Muslim separatist group yesterday claimed responsibility for a series of fatal explosions in several Chinese cities and threatened to target the Olympic Games, due to begin on 8 August. Chinese officials dismissed video statements by spokesmen claiming to represent the little-known Turkestan Islamic Party, who warned that they would attack next month's Games and said they were to blame for the previous blasts. A US terrorism-monitoring firm published a transcript ...

Democracy trumps fears of Islamism
Editorial, The Observer
Tomorrow, Turkey's constitutional court will hear a case that could plunge the country into a political crisis with grave consequences for Europe and the Middle East. The governing AK party and its leading members are charged with violating the secular principles of the country's post-Ottoman founding father Mustapha Kemal Ataturk. The AK is a moderate Islamist organisation that has, in government, overseen a period of rare economic growth and stability.

Disabled youngsters forced into marriage to provide passports (Nina Lakhani, Independent on Sunday)
UK: Marketers' survey of Muslim women (Islam in Europe)
What is Nick Cohen playing at? (Islamophobia Watch)
Anti-Islamic movement hits the rocks (Islamophobia Watch)

Saturday July 26 2008 
Brits Told: Be Nicer to Muslims
Cameron Millar, Daily Star
Brits have been ordered to be nicer to Muslims – despite having one of the most tolerant attitudes to Islam in the world. A United Nations committee said it was concerned that “negative public attitudes towards Muslim members of society” were developing in the UK. The committee also voiced its concern over Government plans to extend the detention of terror suspects. But a source said: “Funnily enough, they didn’t seem to mention the treatment of non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Iran.”
[Treat Muslims better, Britain told by UN -MPACUK]

Queen Rania goes online to challenge stereotypes
Carolynne Wheeler, Telegraph
Her YouTube channel, where videos featuring Arab comics, singers and the Queen herself are posted weekly, has drawn more than a million viewers since it was launched in the spring, surprising the Jordanian royal court with the reaction. "I've been surprised by some of the questions that I've been asked about the Arab world and Middle East", the Queen tells viewers in one clip. "Do all Arabs hate Americans? Can Arab women work? Are there any YouTubers in Jordan?"

The Blears Fallacy
Soumaya Ghannoushi, Guardian CiF
One of the most frequent criticisms of Islam is that it institutes no distinction between the secular and the sacred. "State and religion should never be mixed," Muslims are often reprimanded. "You need only look at the Arab region, with its miserable breed of religion-manipulating despots to see that." So, when you hear that Hazel Blears is creating a made-to-measure committee of Islamic theologians, a sort of church for Muslims, the irony becomes too striking for words.

British opposition leader eyes 'Sharia law for bike theft'
AFP
LONDON (AFP) — The man who could become Britain's next prime minister joked Thursday that he was thinking about bringing in Sharia law for bicycle thieves after having his own bike stolen outside a London supermarket. "I'm contemplating introducing Sharia law for bicycle theft," said the leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, David Cameron, referring to the Islamic law code, after thieves took his bike as he stopped to pick up groceries near his west London home.
[Hug a hoodie? Or kill a bike thief?? -Sam Leith, Telegraph]

Mel P: Is it Islam or Islamism? (Bradford Muslim)
Ed stifling debate again (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Muslim schools fuel segregation, say teachers (well, one right-wing teacher) (Islamophobia Watch)
France: Interviews with woman who was refused citizenship (Islam in Europe)
Two Muslim women file suit, say McDonald's banned headscarves (Islamophobia Watch)
Little Solace for Srebrenica Muslims (IslamOnline.net & Newspapers)
Revenge (Jonathan Freedland, Guardian)

Friday July 25 2008 
Berlin falls for all-conquering Obama as he calls for 'walls between Christians, Muslims and Jews to come down'
Alan Hall, Mail
The man the German media has dubbed the 'Black JFK' stuck to English - but his welcome in Berlin last night stood comparison with the rapturous reception given to John F. Kennedy's famous 1963 'Ich bin ein Berliner' address at the height of the Cold War. Mr Obama opened his speech at the Victory Column in the capital's Tiergarten park with the words: 'I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before, although tonight I speak to you..."

Escape – or betrayal?
Nesrine Malik, Guardian CiF
Whenever another honour killing hits the headlines or another Muslim female is vaporised into a forced marriage, the question I get asked more than any other is: "Why don't these women just leave?" Even though the sense of intimidation and menace these women are subject to may be palpable, the answer to this question is not a simple one. There are many reasons why women who live in non-Muslim societies in the west and have the ability to leave their families...

Brown presses bishops over development goals
Allegra Stratton, Guardian
Gordon Brown issued a warning yesterday that the UN millennium development goals will be missed unless international resolve hardens. Speaking at the international gathering of bishops in Lambeth, south London, Brown sought to enlist their help in meeting the development goals, which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/Aids and providing universal primary education, by 2015.

Gordon Brown hails bishops in march against world poverty (Martin Beckford, Telegraph)
Bishop accuses church of manipulating summit over 'tolerance guide' to gay clergy (R Butt, Guardian)
Cardinal Ivan Dias: Anglican Church suffering spiritual Alzheimer's (Ruth Gledhill, Times)
Lambeth diary: Rival strategies unveiled (Ruth Gledhill)
Grandmother charged with racism after telling off gang (Richard Alleyne, Telegraph)
Runaway girl, 16, reveals plans to marry her RE teacher, 50... after he divorces his third wife (Daily Mail)
'It's crude, it’s rude, and it’s lewd' but not necessarily offensive (Asian Image)
Former priest jailed over theft (BBC News Online)
Trainee teachers 'degrees better' (BBC News Online)

Thursday July 24 2008 
A pilgrimage to the end of the Northern line
Jerome Taylor
Jesus survived the crucifixion, went to find the lost tribes of Israel in Kashmir and died incognito at the age of 120. At least that's what followers of the Ahmadi Muslim sect believe. And this week representatives of the 70-million strong, pacifist global community are gathering at their global headquarters – the Baitul Futuh mosque in Morden, south-west London. Since its construction five years ago the so-called "House of Victories", a flamboyantly converted dairy factory...

Pictured: The TV rabbit preaching hatred and telling young Muslims to 'kill and eat Jews'
Daily Mail
An Islamic TV station using a Bugs Bunny lookalike to preach hatred to children has been slammed by religious leaders in the UK who fear it could brainwash vulnerable British children. Assud the rabbit, who vows to 'kill and eat Jews' and glorifies the maiming of 'infidels' appears on Palestinian children's show, Tomorrow's Pioneers. The rabbit is a number of characters who is punished by viewer's vote when he breaches Sharia law.

Unfair restrictions on new marriage proposals
Syed Nahas Pasha, Times
There has been a lot of confusion in the British mainstream between forced marriages, which are wrong, and arranged marriages, which are more of a cultural issue. People in the Asian community will welcome any measures against forced marriages. However, there are other points in the Government’s proposals where the real agenda is not tackling forced marriage, but instead applying stricter immigration controls to Asians from the sub-continent.

Police quizzed over stop-and-search procedures (Asian Image)
Netherlands: Tax authorities reject halal mortgage deduction (Islam in Europe)
Feminise the face of Islam (Helen Wilkinson, Guardian CiF)
Hacked police website is back up (BBC News Online)
Hamza loses extradition plea (The Scotsman)

Wednesday July 23 2008 
Met chief in race storm gave advice on 7/7 film 'off record'
Daily Mail
The director of a controversial film about a Muslim police officer who faces racism at Scotland Yard today told how he was helped by a senior officer involved in a real-life race battle with the Met. Shoot On Sight, set in the aftermath of the 7/7 attacks, tells the story of Tariq Ali - a senior officer who is discriminated against by his colleagues in the Met after an innocent Muslim man is killed by police on the London Underground.

Mary Magdalene's modern legacy
Tracy Quan, Guardian CiF
Today, on Mary Magdalene's feast day, worshipers march through the French town of St-Maximin-la-Ste-Baume paying homage to her relics. How did her skull end up in Provence? After sailing to Marseilles and preaching the gospel here, Mary spent her final days in a mountaintop cave, according to legend. Despite the medieval origins of her cult, there's something about Mary, patron saint of fallen women, that makes her profoundly relevant today.

Call at Lambeth for gay bishop to resign post
Riazat Butt, Guardian
Hostilities over the Rt Rev Gene Robinson resumed yesterday in Canterbury, as an African primate urged the gay bishop of New Hampshire to resign and save the Anglican Communion. The Rt Rev Daniel Deng, Archbishop of Sudan, and African colleagues accused the US Episcopal church of exposing Anglicans to ridicule, and issued a rejection of homosexual practice. "This has not only caused deep divisions within the communion, but it has seriously harmed the church's witness in Africa..."

“Islamic thinkers”: does the BNP have a point…??? (Walls Come Tumbling Down)
Headmistress clamps down on fake tan (Aislinn Simpson, Telegraph)
Arrest of Radovan Karadžic a major step towards justice (Amnesty International)
The only 'proper' Muslim is a non-political one (Islamophobia Watch)
Islamophobe joins team Boris (Islamophobia Watch)

Tuesday July 22 2008 
Maajid Nawaz: 'We have cross-party support'
Riazat Butt, Guardian Podcast
Maajid Nawaz, director of the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism thinktank, tells Riazat Butt his organisation has wide support.

Sexual abuse victims groups criticise Pope's 'cynical' meeting
Lee Glendinning guardian.co.uk
Pope Benedict met victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy in the last hours of his nine-day visit to Australia, underlining his earlier public apology for the pain they have suffered. But his efforts have been criticised by victim support groups, who accused the church of stage managing the meeting, choosing people who would not speak out. The Pope held a private mass in a chapel at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney and then spoke privately with four representatives of abuse victims...

Going to hell in a maths chart
Marc Abrahams The Guardian
In the early 1990s, the Southern Baptist Church of Alabama produced the first mathematics-driven estimates of how many people are going to hell. The estimates were a practical tool, a guide for where to concentrate the church's evangelical efforts and where not to bother. Any well-run modern business does this. A company that sells insurance or cereal or cars likes to let its sales force know how many dependable customers are in each region, how many potential new customers...

Mel P on the Moral Maze (Bradford Muslim)
Channel 4 - Faith and belief - Seven Wonders of the Muslim World (CLOSER)
Islam in Europe Weekly Overview (Islam in Europe)
Lambeth diary: Saying sorry (BBC News Online)
Church is not wounded and bleeding, says Williams Riazat Butt, The Guardian
To do or not to do Religion, that is the Question (Walls Come Tumbling Down)
The folly of engagement (Between the Lines)

Monday July 21 2008 
Hazel Blears to call for religious groups to work together on social projects
Martin Beckford, Telegraph
Christians and Muslims should work together on social projects as a way of learning more about each other, ministers are likely to recommend. Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, is to launch an "interfaith framework" on Monday which will set out how the Government wants to deal with different religious groups. She is expected to say that believers from different faiths in Britain, such as Muslims and Christians or Jews and Sikhs, should get involved in the same social projects...

Archbishop of Canterbury says: 'Now we must work out what is really important'
Ruth Gledhill, Times
Anglicans stand in the middle of “one of the most severe challenges” to have faced the Church in history, the Archbishop of Canterbury said last night. Dr Rowan Williams, addressing 650 bishops at the ten-yearly Lambeth Conference, at the University of Kent in Canterbury, set out his vision for the Church. He said that there had never been a golden age for Anglicans and the Church because its very foundation was divided by dispute.

Brown will evoke memory of Holocaust to warn Iran against threats to Israel
Benedict Brogan, Mail
Gordon Brown will today pledge to support Israel in the face of Iran's 'totally abhorrent' threat to wipe the Jewish state off the map. He will deliver a blunt message to Tehran by insisting that the radical regime must abandon its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. And in a landmark speech to the Israeli parliament - the first by a British Prime Minister - Mr Brown will offer unequivocal support for Israel's right to exist.

Christian policeman 'victimised' over opposition to gay pride event (David Thomas, Telegraph)
Immigrants raise fears of limited prospects among the British (Christopher Hope, Telegraph)

Sunday July 20 2008 
Islamists Launch PR 'War' Against Western Values
Kirsty Buchanan, Express
RADICAL Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir has launched a campaign to stop young Muslims being corrupted by Western “liberal values”. The organisation, which Tony Blair wanted to ban in Britain, has planned a summer PR campaign against Western “attacks” on the religion. The move comes as Hizb ut-Tahrir’s British arm slammed Government plans to combat Islamic extremism and to take on the preachers of hate.

Church of England unrest threatens to harm links with Vatican
Riazat Butt, guardian.co.uk
One of the highest ranking officials in the Vatican has warned that problems plaguing the Anglican Communion pose a 'further and grave challenge for full and visible' unity with Rome. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of state and second in command at the Holy See, made the comments in a previously unpublished letter that was issued yesterday to delegates attending the Lambeth conference, a once-a-decade summit of the world's Anglican bishops.

South Korea: Moonies leader hurt in helicopter crash
Associated Press, The Observer
The Reverend Sun Myung Moon, 88, founder of the Unification Church, and 13 others were injured yesterday when their helicopter crashed into a mountain in South Korea. Moon was slightly injured, a hospital official said. Members of his family, including his wife, were also hurt, and one person suffered a serious back injury. The Seoul-based Unification Church was founded in the 1950s and now owns hundreds of companies. Church members are known as Moonies.

Move Over, You Tube (Tabsir)
Douglas Murray on opportunism (Bradford Muslim)
Lambeth Diary: Gay Africans tell their stories (Ruth Gledhill)
Osama bin Laden, Bard of Terror (Bernard Haykel, Guardian)
UK MPs Urge Probe Into Muslims Torture (IslamOnline)
BBC investigates 'anti-Muslim bias' - on its own Asian network (James Tapper, Mail)

Friday July 18 2008 
Stop being greedy, Pope tells world's youth
Barbara McMahon, Guardian

Degree awards 'close to farce'
Richard Garner, Independent
The university degree classification system is "descending into farce", the chairman of the Commons Select Committee on Universities has said. Phil Willis was speaking as MPs questioned Peter Williams, the chief executive of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), the higher education watchdog, on degree standards. "An individual institution can award as many firsts as it wants, provided it satisfies its own criteria on what is a first," Mr Willis said.

SATs: Exam meltdown
Richard Garner, Independent
The head of the Government's exams watchdog could not have put the dilemma more succinctly. There are 40,000 English teachers in secondary schools, said Ken Boston, the chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) – the Government's regulatory body for national curriculum assessments and tests. Between them, they have to mark GCSE papers taken by 600,000 pupils, A-levels by 250,000, AS-level papers from 250,000 and national curriculum tests for 14-year-olds by a further 550,000.

Jewish example shows there is plenty of room for sharia in English law (Islamophobia Watch)
'You're having a mosque whether you want one or not' (Islamophobia Watch)
Theology takes centuries to evolve (Asim Siddiqui, Guardian CiF)
Young Muslims to get citizenship lessons in bid to combat extremism (Lee Glendinning, guardian.co.uk)
Al-Azhar’s modern twist on book burning (Aziz El-Kaissouni, FaithWorld)
'Islamic' bomb hoaxer Nicholas Roddis jailed (Duncan Gardham, Telegraph)

Thursday July 17 2008 
Promotion of clients and stooges will get us nowhere
Seumas Milne The Guardian
The political knives are out for Shahid Malik, Britain's first Muslim minister. For years poor Malik has bent over backwards to toe the New Labour line and be the epitome of an acceptable, moderate Muslim. But Malik also knows his own community and, when a ministerial edict went out to boycott the largest Islamic cultural and political event ever staged in Britain, he balked. By any reckoning, he argued, the IslamExpo extravaganza, which attracted 50,000 people over the weekend...

Culture: Louvre draws a veil over artistic neglect with bold new Islamic wing
Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian
It is known as the Veil and is described by its architects as a giant glass Muslim headscarf in the heart of Paris. The former French president Jacques Chirac saw it as one way to avert a clash of civilisations in the run-up to the Iraq war. President Nicolas Sarkozy calls it the symbol of France's friendship with the Arab world. The Louvre's bold new Islamic art wing had its first stone laid by Sarkozy yesterday , launching the museum's most daring project since...

Hajj summit takes place
Asian Image
A conference to tackle problems faced by British Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage to Makkah is being hosted by the Government. Travel operators, community groups and consumer organisations will discuss with the Government how to protect people from rogue travel agents. Consumer Minister Gareth Thomas said: "Unfortunately, for some pilgrims what should be the occasion of a lifetime is turning into a nightmare."

Researchers have no 'right' to study terrorist materials
Melanie Newman, THES
Academics have no "right" to research terrorist materials and they risk being prosecuted for doing so, the vice-chancellor of the University of Nottingham has told his staff. In a statement issued to the university last week, Sir Colin Campbell says: "There is no 'right' to access and research terrorist materials. Those who do so run the risk of being investigated and prosecuted on terrorism charges. Equally, there is no 'prohibition' on accessing terrorist materials for the purpose of research. Those who do so are likely to be able to offer a defence to charges (although they may be held in custody for some time while the matter is investigated). This is the law and applies to all universities."

How to win the war within Islam
Economist Leader
AMERICA’S “global war on terrorism”, now in its seventh year, has gone on longer than the second world war. Will it ever end? Optimists believe some kind of victory is in sight: Iraq is improving; al-Qaeda has been unable to stage a big attack in the West in three years; and terrorists have shown little sign of using weapons of mass destruction. Jihadists face an ideological backlash, even from radical “brothers” who support jihad but disagree with killing Muslims.

Archbishop 'has lost the plot' (Express)
A word on Samir Kuntar (Jews sans frontieres)
Government agrees to £18m mosque (BBC News Online)
Minority Report: The sporty hijab (Jerome Taylor, Indyblogs)
Blears justifies IslamExpo boycott (Islamophobia Watch)
Christian Registrar Who Refused Gay Marriage Had Child Out Of Wedlock (Anorak News)
Plebiscite for Filipino Muslim Homeland (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies)
Archbishop of Canterbury: Lambeth Conference won't solve church's problems (Martin Beckford, Telegraph)
Beat Primer, part 2: Burroughs (Lenin's Tomb)

Wednesday July 16 2008 
Christian doctrine offensive to Muslims, says Archbishop of Canterbury
Ben Farmer, Telegraph
Key elements of Christian doctrine are offensive to Muslims, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said in a letter to Islamic scholars. Dr Rowan Williams also spoke critically of the violent past of both religions and Christianity's abandonment of its peaceful origins. His comments came in a published letter to Islamic leaders, intended to promote closer dialogue and understanding between the two faiths.
[Rowan Williams welcomes A Common Word -Islamophobia Watch]

Man assaulted outside mosque
Asian Image reporter, Asian Image
A man was treated in hospital after being assaulted outside an Oldham mosque. At around 5pm on Monday 14 July 2008, a 39-year-old man entered the Jamia Masid Mosque on Werneth Hall Road. He was involved in a brief altercation with a young man he believed had assaulted his son earlier in the evening. The man then left the mosque shortly afterwards and was approached by a man who led him to a nearby alleyway behind it. The man was then assaulted by two men.

What is the Lambeth Conference?
BBC News Online
About 650 senior members of the Anglican clergy from around the world are gathering in Canterbury for the Lambeth Conference. The conference is pivotal in helping unify the largest Protestant Church grouping in the world, but this year it comes at a time of rifts over key issues affecting the Anglican Communion. Archbishops and bishops from 160 countries will be attending the conference, but no delegates from Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda are coming.

Pensioner rips veil from Muslim woman's face (Islamophobia Watch)
Camel Fodder on Facebook (Mark Allen Peterson, CyberOrient)
Bishop Gene Robinson reflects on ever present threats (Paul Majendie, FaithWorld)
Reprieve for 'model' student who was sent back to Nigeria (Robert Verkaik, Independent)
Exclusive: Pope rides to Rowan's rescue (James Macintyre, Independent)
Mosque hope divides Brentwood (Islamophobia Watch)
French minister denounces burqa (BBC News Online)
Archbishop of Canterbury 'should be trying to convert Muslims' (Martin Beckford, Telegraph)
Express-watch: Distorting a government report? Surely not? (Obsolete)
Lambeth Diary: Welcome to the Circus (Ruth Gledhill)
The frontiers of faith and knowledge (Mark Vernon, Guardian CiF)

Tuesday July 15 2008 
IslamExpo has gained the moral high ground
Seumas Milne, guardian.co.uk (14/07)
You might imagine that a four-day festival organised by British Muslim activists to showcase Islamic culture and engage in political debate with Muslims and non-Muslims alike would be welcomed by anyone who cares about the future of community relations in Britain. IslamExpo, which has been running in London's Olympia for the past three days, has certainly lived up to its billing: more than 40,000 people have already attended an extraordinary celebration of the diversity of Muslim art and culture...

Do Muslim women need liberating?
Nesrine Malik, guardian.co.uk (14/07)
I attended a session at IslamExpo at the weekend on a topic that keeps coming up: "Do Muslim women need liberating?" I expected that there would be the usual preoccupation with defending the faith and restating that Islam does not oppress women. But I was pleasantly surprised to listen to open criticism of indigenous culture in the Muslim world and a more profound examination of the role Muslim women themselves play in their own oppression.

Church of England: Beset by liberals, hounded by conservatives, Williams needs a miracle to keep church intact
Stephen Bates, The Guardian
When Rowan Williams was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury almost exactly six years ago, one Church of England bishop is said to have rolled his eyes heavenwards and murmured: "God save us from a holy bishop." That was not the general view at the time. Williams's appointment as the 104th archbishop since St Augustine was broadly welcomed, both within the church and even from the massed choir of leader-writers and commentators, as an inspirational one.
[Preaching to the converted -Stephen Bates, Simon Hoggart, Lyn Gardner and Gareth McClean, Guardian]

Action Alert - Thank Channel 4 for documentary: The Qur'an (MPACUK)
Muslim Concert Goers (Between the Lines)
Strikes to disrupt schools and rubbish collections (Jill Sherman, Times)
So what is this threat Martin? Do tell us (Islamophobia Watch)

Monday July 14 2008 
Minister told to stay away from Islam event by Labour officials
Owen Bowcott, The Guardian
Britain's first Muslim minister has been prevented from addressing an Islamic conference after an interdepartmental row over the alleged political affiliations of an organiser of the London event. Shahid Malik, the international development minister, had been due to speak at the opening ceremony of Islam Expo on Friday evening, alongside the Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes and Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London.

Islamic preachers to give moderate advice
Duncan Gardham, Telegraph
A panel of Islamic scholars to give advice on modern living is to be introduced as part of a Government scheme to counter extremism. The Muslim clerics will give advice, particularly to women and young people, on how the Koran should be interpreted for life in the 21st century. The board is bound to be controversial among young Muslims partly because of its state backing but also because only certain scholars are qualified to give Islamic rulings...

“The people of Iran have chosen the path of reform”
Wajahat Ali, Alt.Muslim
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi fiercely retains her identity and remains proudly “Iranian” and “Muslim” suggesting the proper interpretation and application of Islam is compatible with human rights, and that the Iranian people, unlike some notable personalities in the government, are yearning for progressive reform and enlightened change. In this exclusive interview, we discuss her most recent work with refugees in Iran, her reaction to hostile rhetoric against Iran by the United States...

Don't portray Muslims as victims. We've moved on (Yasmin Alihbai-Brown, Independent)
Repent! Biker's blast at bishop (Stephen Bates, Guardian)
If they did it over transubstantiation, they can find a way over gay priests (Madeleine Bunting, Guardian)
Summer babies face a lifelong penalty that begins at school (Alexandra Frean, Times)
TV ignores Muslim extremism (it says here) (Islamophobia Watch)
The gospel on being gay: what does the Bible really say about homosexuality? (Ed Marriott The Observer)

Saturday July 12 2008 
France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam
Angelique Chrisafis, Guardian
France has denied citizenship to a Moroccan woman who wears a burqa on the grounds that her "radical" practice of Islam is incompatible with basic French values such as equality of the sexes. The case yesterday reopened the debate about Islam in France, and how the secular republic reconciles itself with the freedom of religion guaranteed by the French constitution. The woman, known as Faiza M, is 32, married to a French national and lives east of Paris.
[Veiled Muslim woman denied French citizenship amid concerns over her 'radical' religious views -- Daily Mail]

Face to faith
Gene Robinson The Guardian
I believe in the living God. Now, that may not seem like a surprising statement for a bishop of the church to make - but as we approach the Lambeth conference of bishops, it may be a crucial belief to reaffirm. The debate raging in the Anglican communion over the place of women and gays in the life and ministry of the church, and the name-calling about who does and does not accept the authority of scripture, belies a much deeper question...

More pupils go private, despite soaring fees
Fiona Macleod, Scotsman
INDEPENDENT school fees are rising higher than inflation, yet more parents than ever are choosing the option for their children. Fees rose by 5 per cent in Scotland in the past year, according to figures from the Bank of Scotland, despite the official rate of inflation being 3.3 per cent. But yesterday financial experts warned that the credit crunch would be causing parents to feel the pinch and some may struggle to find the necessary funds in the future...

Fiancee of July 21 suicide attack plotter jailed for helping him to escape in a burka (Duncan Gardham, Telegraph)
Anglican Communion: More than one in four bishops to boycott Lambeth Conference (Martin Beckford, Telegraph)

Friday July 11 2008 
Followers flock to see spiritual leader open £2m mosque
Tanya O'Rourke, Asian Image
A new mosque, built at a cost of £2 million, has been officially opened in Bradford by the Shia Islam sub-sect's 97-year-old spiritual leader. The Dawoodi Borha community welcomed Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin yesterday to open Europe's second-only purpose-built Borha mosque in Syedna Way, formerly Plumpton Street, Girlington. Syedna Way was renamed after Dawoodi Borha community members campaigned for the change three years ago to honour their leader...

Saying 'Islamic threat' over and over doesn't make it real
Soumaya Ghannoushi, The Guardian
Pick up any newspaper today in Britain or elsewhere in Europe, switch on the TV or tune in to any radio station, and you're very likely to get the impression that "our societies" - if not western civilisation in its entirety - face an imminent Islamic threat, on a par with the old dangers of fascism. Since the terrorist bombings of New York, Madrid and London, the "fundamentalist peril" has become part of the air we breathe.

China takes action against Olympic 'terrorists'
Jonathan Watts, guardian.co.uk
Chinese security forces claimed today to have foiled five "terrorist" plots against the Olympics amid an intensifying pre-games crackdown that has seen police kill five Uighur Muslim suspects and deport a British-Tibetan woman in the past two days. Human rights groups expressed scepticism about the claims, saying the authorities were using the Olympic threat to crack down on innocent victims and peaceful critics of Chinese communist rule.

'Pitiful'
Exclusive By Asian Image reporter
Of £20,000 raised to help ship old school furniture to Pakistan only £600 has been donated by members of the Asian community. The figure has been described as 'pitiful' by one volunteer who has helped with the fundraising. It is also embarrassing to learn that the furniture is going to villages and towns where a large majority of British Pakistanis in the North West hail from. While many people are more than willing to donate thousands towards building more mosques...

Victory for Christian registrar who refused to carry out gay ‘weddings’
Fran Yeoman, Times
A Christian registrar who was harassed and discriminated against after she refused to carry out same-sex civil partnership ceremonies has won a key legal battle. Lillian Ladele, 47, said that she was treated like a pariah by colleagues at Islington council in North London after she said that she could not carry out the ceremonies as a matter of religious conscience. An employment tribunal found that the council showed no respect for Ms Ladele’s rights “by virtue of her orthodox Christian beliefs”.

Met chief hits back at senior Asian officer's race bias claims (Vikram Dodd, The Guardian)
Muslim leader found guilty of sexually abusing girls (Gordon Currie, Scotsman)
Italy: do not ask for a mosque but rather smoke your daily weed (Islam, Muslims and an Anthropologist)
Projecting British Muslims (Dina Rabie, IslamOnline)
Jon Gaunt in police are politically correct shocker (Obsolete)

Thursday July 10 2008 
IOL Virtual School in Second Life
Mohammad Yahia, IOL Staff, IslamOnline
CAIRO — There is nothing traditional about this school; there are no desks, chairs or blackboards, and your classmate could be hundreds of miles away from you. Welcome to IslamOnline.net's educational program in the virtual universe of Second Life. "I'm very excited to be part of this," says Nergiz Kern, the instructor teaching English in IOL'S Second Life school. IslamOnline.net (IOL) launched on Wednesday, July 9, its educational program in Second Life's virtual world.

Fears for Maysoon - Fury Over Wild Ways
Emma Wall, Star
BIG Brother is facing a massive backlash over the raunchy behaviour of Muslim model Maysoon Shaladi. The brunette babe has “appalled” parts of the Islamic community with her wild ways. Now it’s feared the fun-loving contestant will be in hot water when she leaves. Even Maysoon’s Muslim family are furious. They already plan to BAN the glamour model from stripping off for sexy photoshoots when she leaves the house.

Why arrogant Brits abroad won't play by Dubai's rules ... and end up rotting in prison
Daily Mail
Ten years ago, Dubai was a simple Arab port where - if you were British - you could put your hand to almost any kind of work, be well paid for it and have a nice, if restricted life. It attracted particular kinds of expat: oil workers and executives on three-year contracts with multi-national companies. Today, however, there is a very different kind of Brit here who doesn't play by the old rules. But with such numbers came trouble. There are gangsters and fraudsters...

Shabir Hussain: 'golden circle' of white Met officers held me back
Adam Fresco, Times
Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, will come face to face today with a senior officer who has accused him of holding back black and Asian detectives in favour of a “golden circle” of white officers. Commander Shabir Hussain has accused the embattled police leader of passing him over for promotion because “my face did not fit and did not fit because I am not white”. Sir Ian is expected to face tough questioning in a crowded, stuffy room at the employment tribunal in Stratford...

£800,000 home, a life on benefits, no wonder Al Qaeda ambassador Abu Qatada's smiling (David Williams, Mail)
Pope to launch Bible-reading marathon on TV (John Hooper, The Guardian)

Wednesday July 09 2008 
Islamophobia: Swiss far right seeks vote on minarets ban
Ian Traynor, Guardian
Switzerland braced itself for a troubled campaign of Islamophobia yesterday after the far right drummed up enough support to force a national vote to ban minarets. In a country that is home to more than 300,000 Muslims but boasts only three minarets, a series of court cases and votes in regional parliaments has recently dismissed attempts to have minarets outlawed. But a campaign, led by the rightwing populists of the Swiss People's party, to enshrine a ban on minarets in the Swiss constitution...

Most Muslim coverage 'negative'
BBC News Online
Researchers looking at the way British Muslims are represented by the media say they have found that most coverage is negative in tone. A Cardiff University team behind the study looked at nearly 1,000 newspaper articles from the past eight years. Two-thirds focused on terrorism or cultural differences, and much of it used words such as militancy, radicalism and fundamentalist. The research was commissioned by Channel Four's Dispatches.

Wife-beating? That's fine – unless you're a Muslim
Mark Steel, Independent
The Sun newspaper has come over a bit modest. Following a Channel 4 documentary about media reporting of Muslims, the paper accepts some of its stories were "distorted". But they're not doing themselves justice. They weren't distorted – they were entirely made up. For example, a story about a Muslim bus driver who ordered his passengers off the bus so he could pray was pure fabrication. But if reporters are allowed to make up what they like, that one should be disciplined for displaying a shocking lack of imagination.

Student group welcomes investigation
Asian Image
The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) in the UK and Eire has welcomed the need for more balanced media coverage in the UK. It followed the Dispatches documentary aired on Channel 4 by the reporter Peter Oborne. Faisal Hanjra, president of FOSIS, said today, "It has always been clear, and the airing of tonight's programme further reiterated, the need for sensible reporting on issues related to Islam.

This country to so pro-Muslim it is giving succour to the extremists who would destroy us (mad Mel, The Mail)
Teacher suspended over 'prayers to Allah' punishment (Asian Image)
Church divided: Women bishops an obstacle to unity, Vatican warns (R Butt, Guardian)
Entrepreneurship higher amongst ethnic minorities (Telegraph)
Investigation into 'hate campaign' against female councillor (Nazia Parveen, Asian Image)
It Shouldn’t Happen to a Muslim (Walls Come Tumbling Down)
Kavanagh ducks the questions (Indigo Jo Blogs)
Does the White House think India is a Hindu nation? (Jonathan Allen, FaithWorld)
Asian people more likely to be stopped and searched (Asian Image)
Calls for 'Love Guru' ban (Asian Image)

Tuesday July 08 2008 
Church of England votes to ordain women bishops
Ruth Gledhill, Times
The Church of England decided last night to consecrate women bishops, with minimum concessions to opponents and despite the threat of a mass exodus of traditionalist clergy. After one of the most contentious debates faced by the Church’s General Synod, its members voted to allow the consecration of women bishops but rejected compromise proposals for new “super bishops”, who would have catered for the objectors.

Hashim Amla: "If someone apologizes, you forgive them... this is the basis of Islam"
South African batsman Hashim Amla on dealing with prejudice and on the events surrounding Australian commentator Dean Jones's remark that he was a "terrorist"
Donald McRae , guardian.co.uk, MP3

Rising number of primary pupils unable to speak in sentences
Polly Curtis, The Guardian
The number of children who arrive at primary school unable to speak in full sentences is rising, according to a government review which today reveals that 7% of children now have a serious communication problem. A rise in "home-related" speech problems, shown by children who are not encouraged by their parents to speak from an early age, is fuelling the increase, according to the Tory MP John Bercow, who has carried out a review for the government.

In Morocco, a festival where tolerance is traditional and Jews pray together with Muslims (The Associated Press)
No it shouldn’t happen to us (Between the Lines)
The Pearsonian mystique (Lenin's Tomb)

Monday July 07 2008 
Bootees for Sniffer Dogs are Not Necessary, Says Imam
Martin Evans, Express
POLICE sniffer dogs could be forced to wear bootees when searching the homes of Muslims to avoid causing offence, it emerged last night. But a leading British imam says the move is unnecessary and has accused police of failing to carry out proper research into the issue. Dogs are considered unclean in Islamic culture and many Muslims avoid direct contact with the animals. But imam Ibrahim Mogra said: “In Islamic law the dog is not regarded as impure, only its saliva is..."
[UK Muslims and Dogs... What's the Fuss? -Emdad Rahman, IOL]

Misreporting Muslims
Mehdi Hasan, Guardian CiF
Imagine if you picked up a newspaper to discover the following headline, "Gay sickos' Maddie kidnap shock". What would your response be? Or perhaps if you read, "Christmas is banned: it offends Jews". Or even, "Black people tell us how to run our schools". You would probably be offended and outraged in equal measure – and rightly so. In modern Britain, it is no longer acceptable for the media to engage in such egregiously inaccurate or recklessly bigoted coverage of minority groups.

Church of England clashes with Boris Johnson over Ray Lewis
Fiona Hamilton and Sam Coates, Times
Senior church figures expressed disappointment over the cancellation of the independent inquiry, which was to explore allegations of inappropriate conduct and financial irregularities. The Church accused the Mayor of London of wasting an opportunity to bring all the issues into the open. The allegations, which range from the borrowing of large sums of money from parishioners to sexual misconduct, date from when Mr Lewis was a vicar in East London in the late 1990s.

Day of reckoning for Anglicans amid split over women bishops
Ruth Gledhill, Times
The Church of England will today be plunged into one of the fiercest debates in its 400-year history as traditionalists go head-to-head with liberals over women bishops. Church leaders will attempt to avert new splits with a compromise plan for “super bishops” to minister to traditionalists who oppose women bishops. Liberals will fiercely resist the plan, which is being seen as an attempt to appease traditionalists in order to get women bishops consecrated.

True lies (John Sutherland, EducationGuardian.co.uk)
Degrees of religion (Kia Abdullah, Guardian CiF)
Responding to accusations of Islamophobia with Islamophobia (Obsolete)
Is Trevor Kavanagh an Islamophobe? (Lenin's Tomb)
Watch 'Dispatches' tonight on Channel 4 urges Respect (Islamophobia Watch)
'Please can I have some money Boris?' – Ed Husain marks 7/7 (Islamophobia Watch)
BNP leader Nick Griffin pays respect to killed activist (Islamophobia Watch)
The shameful Islamophobia at the heart of Britain's press (Islamophobia Watch)
Letters from today's press (Islamophobia Watch)

Sunday July 06 2008 
It's true, we Muslims keep our heads down
Huma Qureshi The Observer
Tomorrow night, on the eve of the third anniversary of the 7/7 bombings, Channel 4's Dispatches returns to one of its favourite subjects - Muslims. The programme, called It Shouldn't Happen to a Muslim, looks at how life has changed for Muslim families in the UK since 9/11. It recounts vicious stories of horrific, racist brutality against Muslims, not the extremist ones, but the ordinary, law-abiding ones; stories that are rarely reported in the press.

Sniffer dogs to wear ‘Muslim’ bootees
Stuart MacDonald, Times
Police sniffer dogs will have to wear bootees when searching the homes of Muslims so as not to cause offence. Guidelines being drawn up by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) urge awareness of religious sensitivities when using dogs to search for drugs and explosives. The guidelines, to be published this year, were designed to cover mosques but have been extended to include other buildings.

Church schism widens over women bishops
Emily Dugan, Times
Divisions appeared to widen yesterday between senior Church of England clergy on opposite sides of the debate over the consecration of women bishops, as the issue dominated the agenda at the General Synod. The Synod has already agreed to the principle of women bishops, but has yet to decide what should be done to appease the 1,300 clergy who are threatening to leave the Anglican Church over the issue.

Some thoughts from the latest AlKauthar course (Peace, Bruv)
Wedding 'ruined' after vicar asks for noisy toddler to leave (Tracy McVeigh The Observer)
Here's the Thing (Paul Kingsnorth, Guardian CiF)

Saturday July 05 2008 
Schoolboys punished with detention for refusing to kneel in class and pray to Allah
Daily Mail Reporter
Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson. Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped. They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent - which included wearing Muslim headgear - was a breach of their human rights.

Sharia will 'inevitably' become part of British law, says barrister
Christopher Hope, Telegraph
Islamic law will "inevitably" become part of the British legal system and work should start immediately on specific changes, according to a leading barrister. The news comes after Lord Phillips, the most senior judge in England and Wales, said Islamic or sharia could play a role in some parts of the legal system, such as family mediation. Stephen Hockman QC, a former chairman of the Bar Council, said: "It is vital and inevitable that sharia will become part of British law in some shape or form..." 

Minister: Muslims like Jews
James Lyons, Mirror
A minister provoked controversy yesterday by saying some British Muslims felt "like the Jews of Europe". Shahid Malik said many are being targeted because of fears over terrorism. The International Development minister revealed: "If you ask Muslims what they feel like, they feel like the Jews of Europe. "I don't mean to equate that with the Holocaust but in the way it was legitimate almost - and still is in some parts - to target Jews, many Muslims would say that we feel the exact same way."

‘They do not include forced marriage or the repression of women’. (Between the Lines)
Church in the lurch (Paul Vallely, Independent)
Test results late for 1.2 million pupils as private marking firm fails to deliver (Alexandra Frean, Times)
The education boom has proved a curse for the poor (Polly Toynbee, Guardian)
'Is cosying up to Muslim extremists the best way to defeat terrorism?' (Islamophobia Watch)

Friday July 04 2008 
Sharia law could have UK role, says lord chief justice
Patrick Wintour and Riazat Butt, The Guardian
Britain's most senior judge reopened one of the most highly charged debates in Britain last night when he said he was willing to see sharia law operate in the country, so long as it did not conflict with the laws of England and Wales, or lead to the imposition of severe physical punishments. The remarks by the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, in a speech to the London Muslim Council yesterday, had a conscious echo of the comments made by the archbishop of Canterbury...
[Muslims in Britain should be able to live under Sharia law, says top judge -Christopher Hope and James Kirkup, Telegraph; Sharia law backed by top judge -Tom Whitehead, Express; Judge backs sharia law in UK - Clodagh Hartley, The Sun; Sharia law SHOULD be used in Britain, says UK's top judge -Steve Doughty, Mail; Our top judge backs Sharia - Steve Hughes, Star]

The enemy within? Fear of Islam: Britain's new disease
Peter Oborne, Independent
Three years ago, four young suicide bombers caused carnage in London. Their aim was not just to kill and maim. There was also a long-term strategic purpose: to sow suspicion and divide Britain between Muslims and the rest. They are succeeding. In Britain today, there is a deepening distrust between mainstream society and ever more isolated Muslim communities. A culture of contempt and violence is emerging on our streets.

Muslims feel like 'Jews of Europe'
Cahal Milmo, Independent
Britain's first Muslim minister has attacked the growing culture of hostility against Muslims in the United Kingdom, saying that many feel targeted like "the Jews of Europe". Shahid Malik, who was appointed as a minister in the Department for International Development (Dfid) by Gordon Brown last summer, said it has become legitimate to target Muslims in the media and society at large in a way that would be unacceptable for any other minority.
['We Muslims are the new Jews' says MP who has been victim of a hit-and-run and a firebomb attack -Steve Doughty, Mail]

Britain gives Pakistan £1bn to fight extremism (Zahid Hussain, Times)

Thursday July 03 2008 
Q and A: Mahmud Sarwar Rathor
Scotsman
Mahmud Sarwar Rathor is trustee of the Scottish Islamic and Cultural Centre and Dundee's Dura Street mosque. He believes criticism from some in Dundee's Muslim community over Tayside Police's use of a puppy in an advertising campaign will harm Scots-Islam relations. "Why do you think some members of the Muslim community, as Councillor Mohammed Asif claims, might find the image of a puppy offensive?" I don't believe anyone apart from Mr Asif finds the picture offensive.

Lessons for the godless
Zoe Williams, Guardian CiF
The Gordon Brown era, as shortlived as it appears to be, has people suspecting that he'll trample on faith schools to woo old Labour. Cristina Odone has written a paper for the Centre for Policy Studies, a rightwing thinktank, in a pre-emptive move against the anticipated savaging from an interim report by schools adjudicator Philip Hunter. She makes some compelling points, which I don't have the brass neck to precis in full, so I'll just sketch my favourite...

Muslim councillor Hasina Khan: I will not let male bigots win
Marcus Leroux, Times
A female Muslim councillor has been subjected to a hate campaign by Muslim men in her ward, leaving her unable to visit some of the streets that she represents. Hasina Khan, 38, the only Muslim councillor in Chorley, Lancashire, said that she had suffered a barrage of threatening phone calls, verbal abuse and insulting graffiti because the men objected her public role. Mrs Khan, a mother of three, said: “I've had to totally change the way I go about my job..."

Crusading is not the answer, but nor is pulling up the drawbridge (Timothy Garton Ash, Guardian)
Anglican Church told 'unite or risk war' over gay Christians (Ruth Gledhill, Times)
The dog, the hat, the police and Muslims in Dundee (Islam, Muslims and an Anthropologist)
Jill Saward: wrong then, wrong now (Indigo Job Blogs)

Wednesday July 02 2008 
Puppy Ad Cop Says Sorry to Muslims
Tom Savage, Daily Star
A police force apologised to Muslims yesterday over ads featuring a German shepherd puppy. The cute photo of force pup Rebel was used on posters promoting a new phone number for non-emergency calls. Rebel has become famed worldwide after “writing” a blog on his force’s website as he trains to be a police dog. But when officers tried to capitalise on his fame by using his photo on the postcard adverts, Muslim leaders claimed they were getting ruff treatment.
[Apology on the cards as police pup picture sparks warning over offence to Muslims - Martin McLaughlin, Scotsman]

Family in 11th-hour reprieve
Scotsman
A PAKISTANI family due to be deported from the UK were yesterday given a last-minute reprieve as a judicial review was granted, church leaders said. Asad and Gullrukh Gul and their three young children were due to be deported last night. The family, who worshipped at Carnwadric Church and were members of Glasgow's Asian Christian Fellowship, fled Lahore because of persecution from Islamist extremists. A Church of Scotland spokesman said...

The Quilliam take on Islam: fascinating but flawed
David Shariatmadari, Guardian CiF
Moral clarity. You get the feeling that's what the folks down at Civitas want, and what they believe would exist if only the politically correct brigade stopped muddying the waters with its relativism and its harping on about the need to understand the causes of things. It's only a lack of moral clarity that's preventing the west facing down the scourge of Islamism, which is the greatest threat to our way of life (with the possible exception of the EU). Moral clarity means calling a spade a spade, and then shouting "spade, spade!" to anyone who'll listen, or in this case, "Islamist, Islamist!"

“In Bad Faith”…??? Or merely faith schools through bad rose-tinted glasses…??? (Walls Come Tumbling Down)
Snobbery? On my internets? [Majid Ahmed] (Obsolete)
Evangelical Christians sign up to a 'Church within a Church' (Ruth Gledhill, Times)
Why Muslims don't pig out (Khaled Diab, Guardian CiF)
How Sunday school shaped Britain (BBC News Online)

Tuesday July 01 2008 
Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman's hat
By Daily Mail Reporter
A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman's hat advertising a Scottish police force's new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims. Tayside Police's new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community. The choice of image on the Tayside Police cards - a black dog sitting in a police officer's hat - has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.

0.7% is not enough
Jamie Bartlett, Guardian CiF
When the inquiry into the Metropolitan Police's handling of the investigation into Stephen Lawrence's murder reported in 1999, it rocked the force to the core. The Met was not just found to have been incompetent, but was guilty of institutional racism. In response, the then home secretary, Jack Straw, pledged to create a force which fully reflected the diversity of the communities it served, and increase ethnic minority recruiting and retention.

Terrorism: Cargo planes are security risk, says former Met police chief
Nicholas Watt, Guardian
Cargo planes present a major threat to Britain's security, according to the former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens, who warns today that terrorists could use them to transport hazardous materials or simply blow them up. In a report on Britain's borders, in which he accuses the government of failing to draw up a clear border security strategy, Stevens says the world's air cargo system is now vulnerable to terrorists.

Radical convert, Nicholas Roddis, planted hoax bomb on a bus' (Andrew Norfolk , Times)
Turkey's slow-motion coup (Bulent Kenes, Guardian CiF)
Nine held in ID card demo (Scotsman)
George Galloway, Islamophobia and Black Hawk Down (Mere Islam)
Inayat Bunglawala v Harun Yahya (Guardian CiF)
Church of England: Archbishop confronts Anglican rebels (Riazat Butt,  Guardian)
Official: some A-level subjects are harder than others (Richard Garner, Independent)
Quit threats over women bishops (BBC News Online)
 

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