Pig's walkabout on planned mosque site sparks protests in Italy

AKI - Adnkronos international Italy: Pig's walkabout on planned mosque site sparks protests

Muslims and non-Muslims have slammed the attempted 'descrecation' of a plot of land earmarked for a mosque in the northern city of Padua by members of the anti-immigrant Northern League party who paraded a pig on the site over the weekend.

"We believe in God not in superstition," said local imam Kahlhil Boussuni, quoted by La Repubblica on Monday. "And we intend to build our place of prayer and worship where only the faithful will be permitted to enter."

"Our objective was to attack the left-wing local council which gives immigrants privileged treatment compared to Italians, and to underline the principle of reciprocity: how many Christian churches are there in Saudi Arabia?" said the secretary of Padua's Northern League branch, Maurizio Conte.

Northern League senator and former minister Roberto Calderoli, in October proposed a regular "pig day" in which he threatened to take his pet pig on land where fast-growing Muslim immigrant communities were planning new mosques.

A growing backlash against Muslim and immigrants in Italy, fed in large part by fears of terrorism and other crimes is especially intense in Veneto.

The region has attracted the largest share of Italy's immigrants because of abundant work in factories and farms. At least 10 percent of Padua's 200,000 residents are immigrants.

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Afgans demand death penalty for translating the Koran

Pat Dollard | Young Americans | Blog Archive » Afghans Demand Death Penalty For Arrested Publisher Of New Koran

More than 1,000 angry Muslims demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan Sunday to demand the death penalty for an official accused of insulting the Koran, police and witnesses said.

The attorney general’s spokesman, former journalist Mohammad Ghaws Zalmai, was arrested at the Pakistan border a week ago trying to flee after being accused of misinterpreting the Muslim holy book in a new translation.

“Death to Ghaws Zalmai!” shouted the angry mob in the eastern town of Jalalabad, an AFP reporter in the crowd said. “We want him hanged!”

“He has insulted our religion and must be killed,” the group said.

The demonstrators blocked a main road linking the eastern town to the capital, Kabul, for several hours. Dozens of police officers were on hand to prevent violence.

The conservative parliament last week banned Zalmai from leaving the country days after the distribution of about 6,000 copies of his Dari-language translation, called “Koran-i-Pak” or “clean Koran”.

A commission of clerics and prosecutors is examining the text, which does not include the original Arab verses and is said to differ on several issues, including homosexuality and adultery.

Zalmai is meanwhile being interrogated and police are searching for a cleric who approved his version, said Abdul Rauf Arab, an official in the attorney general’s office.

The Afghan branch of the International Federation of Journalists has said its information was that Zalmai, president of a media union, was accused of not having his version of the holy book certified by an authorised scholar.

hattip to avideditoria.com

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D.C. imam declares Muslim takeover-plan

WorldNetDaily: D.C. imam declares Muslim takeover-plan

A Washington, D.C., imam states explicitly on the website for his organization that he is part of a movement working toward replacement of the U.S. government with "the Islamic State of North America" by 2050.

With branches in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Philadelphia, the group As-Sabiqun – or the Vanguard – is under the leadership of Abdul Alim Musa in the nation's capital.

Musa's declaration of his intention to help lead a takeover of America was highlighted by noted Islam observer Robert Spencer on his website Jihad Watch.

Spencer told WND that figures such as Musa should not be ignored, "Not because they have the power to succeed, but because they may commit acts of violence to achieve their purpose."

Musa's website declares: "Those who engage in this great effort require a high level of commitment and determination. We are sending out a call to the believers: Join with us in this great struggle to change the world!"

"The paramount goal of the movement is the establishment of Islam as a complete way of life in America," the group declares. "This ultimate goal is predicated on the belief – shared by many Muslims worldwide – that Islam is fully capable of producing a working and just social, political, economic order."

The groups says it does not "advocate participation in the American political process as an ideal method for advancing Islamic issues in the U.S.; instead, it believes in a strong and active outreach to the people of the U.S."

Spencer told WND he does not know of any direct influence Musa has on prominent Muslim leaders or on U.S. policymakers, but he says it's "unclear how much 'mainstream' Muslim leaders harbor similar hopes – because no one dares question them about it."

The group says it has a six-point plan of action which is implemented at each location where a branch of the movement is established.

* Establishing a mosque "as a place to worship Allah in congregation and as a center of spiritual and moral training."

* "Calling the general society" to embrace Islam.

* Establishing a full-time school "that raises children with a strong Islamic identity so they can, as future Islamic leaders, effectively meet and deal with the challenges of growing up in the West."

* Establishing businesses to "make the movement financially stable and independent."

* Establishing "geographical integrity by encouraging Muslims of the community to live in close proximity" to the mosque.

* Establishing "social welfare institutions to respond to the need for spiritual and material assistance within the community as well as the general society."

In addition to daily classes, each mosque in the movement "also provides youth mentorship, marriage counseling, a prison outreach program, and employment assistance for ex-convicts."

As-Sabiqun says its branch in Los Angeles "was instrumental in creating a free health clinic in cooperation with other Islamic groups. The headquarters branch in D.C. has developed scout programs for young members of the community."

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'Radical Islam' should jolt voters, evangelicals say

'Radical Islam' should jolt voters, evangelicals say - USATODAY.com

Following last month's Values Voter Summit in Washington, conservative Christian power-broker Gary Bauer sent an e-mail to supporters.

He ticked off the issues dear to activists in attendance. Opposition to "abortion-on-demand" and preservation of traditional marriage led the way.

Then the one-time presidential hopeful turned his attention to a different threat, one social conservative leaders hope will shake their constituents from their apathy about the 2008 presidential race.

"The war against Islamofascism is in many respects a 'values issue,"' Bauer wrote. "That may seem like an odd statement at first glance, but, as I have often said, losing Western Civilization to this vicious enemy would be immoral."

"It's the ultimate life issue," said Rick Scarborough, president of the Texas-based conservative Christian group Vision America. "If radical Islam succeeds in its ultimate goals, Christianity ceases to exist."

That might sound alarmist, but Scarborough's words illustrate how many conservative Christian leaders view matters of national security as a battle between good and evil — nothing short of a clash of civilizations.

With America at war in Iraq and continued aftershocks from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, national security is an issue for all the campaigns. But disagreement exists about how to frame the threat, with Republicans more likely to blame radical Islam and Democrats speaking more generally about terrorism.

The use of "Islamofascism" is another flashpoint. Proponents of the term argue that Islamic radicals who embrace totalitarian methods evoke European fascist movements of the early 20th century. Critics call it manufactured propaganda, a 21st-century scare tactic that fails to capture the complex causes of terrorism.

Tensions between evangelical Christianity and Islam are long-standing, too. Aside from major theological differences, the two traditions work tirelessly to win new believers and often compete. Evangelical missionary groups have long protested restrictions on access to predominantly Muslim nations in Africa and the Middle East.

The Sept. 11 attacks, carried out by Muslims who cited their religion as a motivating factor, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have further inflamed evangelical anxiety.

"These Christian right activists are very concerned with order," said John Green, a senior fellow with the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "And radical Islam, in the same way that radical Communism was, is a threat that would interfere with families, with good government, and also the church and the spreading of the Gospel."

So what kind of solutions do Christian conservative leaders propose for battling what they see as a real threat?

One is staying in Iraq. More than 40 conservative leaders, most of them social conservatives, signed a declaration in September warning against the "catastrophic" consequences of withdrawing from Iraq. The statement said the war "must be seen in the broader context of Islamo-fascism's war on America and Western Civilization."

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Los Angeles police plan to map Muslims

Los Angeles police plan to map Muslims - Yahoo! News

Civil rights advocates criticized plans by the Los Angeles Police Department to map the city's Muslim communities, calling it racial profiling.
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The LAPD's counterterrorism bureau plans to identify Muslim enclaves in order to determine which might be likely to become isolated and susceptible to "violent, ideologically based extremism," said Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing on Thursday.

"We want to know where the Pakistanis, Iranians and Chechens are so we can reach out to those communities," said Downing, who heads the counterterrorism bureau.

Downing said the plan is still in its early stages, but the LAPD wants to work with a Muslim partner and intends to have the data assembled by the University of Southern California's Center for Risk and Economic Analysis.

Downing testified about the plan before a U.S. Senate committee on Oct. 30.

In his testimony, Downing said his bureau wanted to "take a deeper look at the history, demographics, language, culture, ethnic breakdown, socioeconomic status and social interactions" of the city's Muslim communities.

There are an estimated 500,000 Muslims in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties.

...the Muslim Public Affairs Council, is considering working with the LAPD on the project.

"We will work with the LAPD and give them input, while at the same time making sure that people's civil liberties are protected," said Salam al-Marayati, the council's executive director.

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Muslim Rivalry Hits New York Prisons

The rivalry and violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims isn't just limited to Iraq. It is increasingly found in one place presumed shut off from the influence of faraway sectarian politics: New York's state prisons.

In the last two decades, the state's Muslim inmates, who number 7,987, have been increasingly identifying as either Sunni or Shiite, a phenomenon that prison chaplains elsewhere say is most pronounced in New York. Shiite inmates, who make up less than 4% of the Muslims incarcerated here, have long reported religious persecution by the Sunni-dominated Muslim chaplaincy employed by the state. The Sunni-Shiite divide has played a role in at least one stabbing between inmates in 2004, e-mails by prison officials show.

Shiite inmates have long demanded their own chaplains and a separate place to pray on Fridays, apart from other Muslim inmates. A little-noticed federal court ruling improves the prospects that Shiite inmates will see their demands met.

The plaintiffs say the more than 40 Muslim chaplains employed by the state are predominately Sunni and influenced by the Saudi Arabian movement of Wahhabism.

"In the places where it's been most tense, a lot of times the chaplains have been at fault," a Muslim chaplain who retired in 2006 from the prison system after 18 years, Dawoud Adeyola, said. He is not connected to the lawsuit.

The Muslim prison chaplaincy has been under scrutiny since a 2003 Wall Street Journal article disclosed that after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, two New York chaplains spoke in support of the attacks.

The state prison system has reached out to Shiite leaders in the city for help in hiring Shiite chaplains for inmates, but those efforts have run into difficulties. An early candidate to be the prison's first Shiite chaplain was terminated during a try-out period after he was found trying to bring a knife into the Sing Sing Correctional Facility, one source said. The only Shiite prison imam, Muhammad Abdulmubdi, currently employed by the state is in an unusual position: He is barred from entering any prison pending the outcome of an internal investigation into whether he broke an undisclosed regulation, a source said. Mr. Kriss, the spokesman would not comment, and further details were not available.

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Terror leaders describe America bound by Islam

"Once Islam dominates, anyone living inside the Islamic state must abide by our rules. There is no choice. You will abide or face the punishment," said Muhammad Abdel-El, the spokesman and a senior leader of the Popular Resistance Committees terror organization.

Sheik Abu Saqer, a prominent Gaza-based preacher, a founder of the Sword of Islam terror group and a subscriber to the ideology of al-Qaida, explained if Islam controls the U.S., all American women, whether Muslim or not, must cover their hair.

"This is the demand of our religion. Being and walking naked doesn't mean that you are enjoying more freedom; it means that you are going against Allah's laws and you are serving the enemies of Islam who want to empty our Islamic society from its values. Uncovered heads is a form of nudity."

Yasser Hamad, a cleric and a Hamas leader in the northern West Bank, explained in "Schmoozing" Islamic law enforcers would at first try to persuade American woman to cover their heads, but eventually females would be forced. Those women who refuse may be stoned.

Asked by Klein whether stoning was too harsh a punishment, Hamad replied: "If you don't respect the local law in America, if you don't pay taxes, if you drive on a red light, aren't there sanctions used against you by your government? Of course there are and it's okay with you. Why is there a problem when it comes to the Islamic state that wants to impose its rules?"

Hamad and other terror leaders stated all Jews and Christians living in the U.S. once Islam takes over would need to pay the jizya – a special protection tax – and other special taxes for non-Muslims, including one for the right to cultivate land. Non-Muslims cannot own land themselves.

Saqer said no new synagogues or churches can be built in the Islamic state. Existing houses of worship may remain, but services cannot be conducted loudly or in any public fashion. The ringing of church bells or blowing of the ceremonial Jewish shofar would be forbidden, the terror leaders said.

Asked about crime and punishment, Hamad explained, "For every sin and crime there is a sanction: "Prostitution: one hundred whippings; if the prostitute was married, he or she will be stoned until death; for a thief, his hand will be cut. But before enjoying the primitive nature of Islam and before you express how much you are shocked by our rules, I must say that these are not immediate sanctions, but they are used only if the person was warned."

Hamad explained prostitution doesn't mean selling sex; he said the Islamic definition applies the term to all extramarital sexual relations. But he boasted Islam's allowing men to marry many women was a perfect remedy for prostitution.

"In order to prevent prostitution and before reaching the sanctions of stoning or whipping, we will marry all our unmarried young. By the way, Islam allows the man to marry four women, so if he or she keeps practicing sex outside marriage and prostitution, in this case the sanctions mentioned in Quran will be used."

The terror leaders all said alcohol would be banned and American movies and television would be shut down.

"American culture is very cheap and very corrupting. Your American culture is based on capitalism, on democracy, sex, and other principles that go against the nature of human beings as Allah created. We will fight all that this culture represents and promotes," said sheik Saleh Faraj, one of the main leaders of the Islamic Liberation Party in the West Bank.

What about freedom of the press in the American Islamic state? The terrorists said once Islam rules us, American media outlets that don't conform to disseminating Islamic messages will be closed. They said the NY Times, CNN, the Washington Post would all be banned.

"The media will be closed not because there will be no freedom but because what is the logic of allowing the activity of media that can endanger the political and social stability of our state?" said Nasser Abu Aziz, no. 2 of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group in the northern West Bank.

Asked about American pop music icons, multiple terror leaders had never heard of many top singers but Klein said they were all familiar with Madonna and Britney Spears.

"Unfortunately, I heard the names of Madonna and Spears on [Arab] television when parents complain that their children neglect their studies and their values because they are influenced by your cheap American music that you call culture," said Saqer.

Hamas's Abu Abdullah said, "At the beginning, we will try to convince Madonna and Britney Spears to follow Allah's way. But I honestly don't think they will follow. If they persist with their whoring music, we will prevent them by force. I don't think that I can be in the same place with these singers. They might be killed if they do not respect our laws."

The Committee's Abdel-El, whose group previously bombed Americans, said, "Their music video clips will be forbidden and these whores Madonna and Spears will be thrown in jail until they admit they made sins and return to the moral way. If they don't, they will be stoned to death or eighty times hit with a belt."

Abdel-El said even before Islam takes over America, he would personally kill Madonna and Spears if he ran into them.

"If I meet these whores I will have the honor – I repeat, I will have the honor – to be the first one to cut the heads of Madonna and Britney Spears."

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The Crisis of Values in Islam

Since its inception nearly 1,400 years ago, Islam has viewed itself as a perfect and true religion and the only legitimate one. The Koran says of the Muslims: "You are the finest nation issued from mankind." Muslims sprung up around the world in order to spread their message, subduing the declining Persian and Byzantine Empires and reaching Spain to the West, Indonesia to the East, Vienna to the North and Africa to the South. They Islamicized the pagans, allowing Jews and Christians to live under their rule under restrictive conditions. They translated foreign literature on various subjects, including medicine, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy and botany, and they produced many world-famous scholars. But the Muslim golden age dimmed over time and for nearly 800 years they have been in a period they call "the era of standstill and inferiority," which is characterized by tyrannical rule, political division, foreign conquests, religious paralysis and a freeze on scientific creativity.

The civic ideas that constitute the foundations of European political thought are diametrically opposed to Islam, because the separation of church and state effectively uproots Islam's power to dictate codes of conduct to the individual and to the general public. The division of authority into three independent powers is opposed to the spirit of Islam because the Creator is a legislator and a judge and He directs the path of men and therefore He should be the executive force, yet Western nations divide the legislative, the judicial and executive processes between independent branches that do not derive their power from the Creator or from a single religious personage who represents His writ on earth? This is the profound underlying cultural reason that explains why to this very day there is no genuine democracy in countries with an Islamic majority.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which began in Egypt 75 years ago, strove to restore the principles of Islam and its laws to the public domain, working to ensure the law in any state that formed after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire would be Islamic law, which would control all political, social and private processes, yet the movement was a colossal failure.

The Taliban rule in Afghanistan prohibited introducing television, radio and newspapers into the country to prevent the population from being exposed to Western culture, and many media outlets in the West emphasized this point because it was intended to leave these means of information outside the public domain and more importantly, the private domain. After this regime was liquidated in such brutal fashion by the United States there is almost no regime in Islamic countries that prohibits or enforces a prohibition on introducing a satellite dish; even in Iran they are in wide use. This phenomenon greatly troubles many Islamic zealots, who are seeking a solution to save Islam from destructive Western influences. Some turn to education, which is seeking modern methods for instilling youth with values, and some are attempting to take power in order to impose upon the population laws that would allow them to act against Western influence. Some seek to strike directly at what they consider to be the source of the evil, under various names such as Al Qaeda ("The Foundation") or the International Jihad Organization. The motivation to strike America first and foremost is not because it conquered Palestine but because it penetrated the Islamic home, won the hearts of many Muslims, and even worse, captured the hearts of Muslim women, in Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and throughout the Islamic world.

Therefore Israel, according to Iranian rhetoric, is the "Little Satan" because it poses a threat to its immediate environs, whereas the US is the "Great Satan" due to the threat to the entire Islamic world, its customs, communities, sons and primarily its daughters. This is a source of the vast adulation of Bin Laden in many Islamic societies, where many feel he found the correct path and efficient methods to fight against the destructive influence Western culture has on the world of Islamic values. Hence the difficulty in fighting this organization, whose members find refuge and support in various Islamic societies in Arab, African, and East Asian countries, and even in Europe among Muslim immigrants.

hat tip to avideditoria.com
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Egyptian Mufti: polygamy permitted in all religions except Christianity, so what's the problem?

FrontPage Magazine

Interviewer: "Is a man permitted to have four wives?"

Ali Gum'a: "This is permitted in all religions."

Interviewer: "No, not in all religions..."

Ali Gum'a: "This is permitted in all religions except Christianity."

Interviewer: "In Judaism, a man is permitted to have four wives?"

Ali Gum'a: "Of course! Moses has four wives, and so did Abraham…"

Interviewer: "But today, it is not permitted."

Ali Gum'a: "Today, yesterday…what's the difference? To this day, Judaism permits polygamy. The Hindus permit polygamy. The Buddhists permit polygamy. There is not a single religion on the face of the earth that bans polygamy, but all religions agree that women are not allowed to have more than one husband. Christianity is the only religion that does not permit more than one wife. The rest - six billion people on Earth - permit polygamy."

[...]

Interviewer: "Do you have daughters?"

Ali Gum'a: "I have three."

Interviewer: "Would you allow them to marry a man with other wives?"

The Woman Benefits From Polygamy Because "A... Mistress Remains in the Shadows"

Ali Gum'a: "They are free to do what they want. A Muslim girl can decide to agree, or else, she can decide to file for a divorce from her husband if she does not like the new situation, and he too is free to choose. But in Islam, Allah permits us - just like in all religions - to marry several wives, and have things done out in the open.

"For whose benefit is all this? For the benefit of the woman, because a woman who is taken as a mistress remains in the shadows, and loses all her rights. The man does not owe her anything. But since [Allah] permits marrying another wife, she gains respect, status, and rights. Therefore, becoming a second wife reinforces the status of a woman, because she does not become a mistress or a girlfriend who remains in the darkness, and the man does not do things of which he is ashamed."[...]

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Two Emirati men are accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old French teen

2 Men Accused of Kidnapping, Sexually Assaulting French Teen in United Arab Emirates

Two Emirati men are accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old French teen, a case that has raised questions about the protection of foreigners and the fairness of a legal system where male rape does not exist as a crime.

The defendants — aged 35 and 18 — briefly appeared in court Wednesday where one was appointed a new lawyer. The other defendant's attorney did not appear in court for the hearing, which lasted a few minutes.

The two are accused of kidnapping two French teens and sexually assaulting one of them in July. A third defendant, also accused of taking part in the assault and also Emirati, is being tried in a juvenile court where the proceedings are closed to the public.

Last week, the two adult defendants pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping with deceit and illicit sexual intercourse.

According to court documents, the 35-year-old defendant has been identified as HIV positive.

The charges against the two adult defendants carry the death penalty if convicted. It was not immediately clear what sentence the third defendant would face if convicted in juvenile court.

Dubai remains largely hostile to homosexuality. The UAE legal system does not recognize rape of men as a crime, only rape of women, although prosecutors can bring other charges in the case of a sexual assault against a man, as they have in the French teenager's case.

The teenager and his family have told French newspapers and Web sites that Dubai authorities tried to discourage them from pressing charges in the case, and also failed to tell them that one defendant had tested HIV positive.

The French newspaper Liberation quoted the victim's family as saying police also tried to force the teen to say he was a homosexual, immediately after the attack. He now lives in Switzerland.

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Sudanese President: "Western nations have no ethics or morals and we will export it to them"

SudanTribune article : Sudan president says will export ethics and morals to Western countries

The Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir lashed out at Western countries and accused them of “lacking ethics and morals”. “Western nations have no ethics or morals and we will export it to them. These countries have the political, military and economic strength. We are strong with our values and we are waiting on Allah’s promise to obliterate them” Al-Bashir said while addressing crowds at the White Nile state capital.

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Saudi Arabian government sponsored hate lit found in UK Mosques

Publications

An authoritative new report by Policy Exchange, the UK's leading centre-right thinktank, entitled The Hijacking of British Islam: How extremist literature is subverting Britain's mosques, reveals the worrying extent of extremist penetration of mosques and other key institutions of the British Muslim community. The report is the most comprehensive academic survey of its kind ever produced in the UK and is based on a year-long investigation by several teams of specialist researchers into the availability of extremist literature and covers more than a hundred mosques and Islamic centres throughout the UK.

Among the reports findings are:

* Most of the extremist literature is published and distributed by agencies linked to the Saudi Arabian government.

* Some of the most high-profile and prestigious mosques in Britain are among the worst offenders; in many of them, it is openly available.

* Separatist literature is distributed at the East London Mosque - which is closely associated with the Muslim Council of Britain (which purports to be the main body representing British Muslims).

Shocking statements

Pamphlets, books and leaflets obtained from mosques and Islamic centres contain an assortment of shocking statements including:

* "Jihad against a tyrant, oppressors, people of bid'ah [Muslim innovators], or wrongdoers. This type of jihad is best done through force if possible."

* "The Jews and the Christians are the enemies of the Muslim."

* "Whoever changes his religion, kill him."

Although some of the hate literature is in English, a proportion is written in Arabic. The translations commissioned by Policy Exchange have been independently verified.

Many of the publications encourage British Muslims to segregate themselves from non-Muslims. So-called unbelievers are to be treated as second-class and avoided wherever possible.

There are also repeated calls for gays to be thrown from mountains and tall buildings and for women to be subjugated.

Among the literature available are extracts from the notorious anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (published by the Saudi Ministry of Education), and other publications peddling bizarre conspiracy theories alleging that birth control is a plot against Muslims and Arabs, and that pornography is spread as part of a Jewish plot to corrupt Muslims.

The report has been authored by Dr Denis MacEoin, the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newcastle University who received his doctorate in Persian (Islamic) Studies from Cambridge University and has taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at Durham, Newcastle and Fez universities.

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Getting our girl on in Quebec.

Family Security Matters

The greater discussion on religion in Quebec began in March, when the Bouchard-Taylor Commission set out to tour the province. The Commission will host a series of town hall chats through November, and has planned a number of provincial consultation forums to determine once and for all the accommodations, minority traditions, and celestial mandates Quebeckers are prepared to accept.

Both this clamor and the Commission result from the ruckus that erupted in January, when André Drouin and a handful of counselors from the parish municipality of Hérouxville published a Code of Living Standards for newcomer residents.

They share thoughts expressed by Northwestern University sociology professor emeritus Bernard Beck, who remarked to the Chicago Tribune: “America has been trying to get along on the basis of a bargain, saying, ‘We’re all basically the same.’ But more recently, the message is, ‘We’re not all the same. Not all religions have the same message.’” The Hérouxville counselors agreed, and decided that equality between the sexes was as good a place as any to begin the discussion.

Quebec Prime Minister Jean Charest agrees that one should not barter off the rights of women in the name of “respect for traditions.” And he emerged from a caucus meeting on October 8th to announce: “There is an issue that concerns me greatly: equality between the sexes. The position paper drafted by the Quebec Council for the Status of Women makes an important recommendation, and we’d like to act on this promptly.”

The position paper (avis) in question, published September 27th, proposes that the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms be amended to guarantee, in no uncertain terms, that “the right to equality between the sexes… be respected in every instance, and [that] one… never infringe upon on this right, be it for reason of religious freedom.” Women’s Council president Christiane Pelchat later remarked that “the avis also seeks to prove that… boundaries to religious freedom must set, as a matter of course.”

“Islam” does not appear in either Drouin’s or the Women’s Council documents, but each has made clear that radical Islam is driving the agenda. Pelchat writes: “The niqab… sends a message of the submission of a woman.” “It is only women who are covered,” she continues, and asks: “Are there Muslim men who are covered up?”

Quebeckers largely agree: A survey conducted by Montreal’s La Presse and Le Soleil revealed that 92% of those surveyed oppose exceptions for “veiled voting,” endorsed by Elections Canada in September. (Quebec province ruled against the practice in March.) And two-thirds surveyed would disallow the headscarf from school grounds and sports fields.

Quebec will not soon convince one and all to “accommodate” the Women’s Council, or Mr. Drouin’s “Way of Life in Quebec.” But it is now clear that Quebeckers do not fear to impose “equality” on their own terms – and would just as soon trample conviction’s toes to get it.

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The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam

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Four women killed in Pali Territories

Maan News Agency

Qalqiliya - Ma'an – Four women were killed in the Palestinian territories this week in an apparent series of feminicides.

A young Palestinian man from the West Bank city of Qalqiliya was accused of killing his two sisters on Thursday. The bodies of Sima and Iyman Al-Adil were found in the family's home Thursday afternoon.

Eyewitnesses said the two women appeared to have been shot. The motive behind the killings is unclear.

The Palestinian General Intelligence Service announced the suspected murderer admitted to killing his sisters after he was arrested. The suspect said his motivation was to protect so-called "family dignity."

Separately, Palestinian medical officials in Gaza City discovered the body of a female university student near Salah Addin Street Thursday.

The officials said the woman, the daughter of a university professor, had disappeared three days ago. They said the woman had been shot several times.

Iyhab Al-Ghussain, a spokesperson for the de facto Interior Ministry in the Gaza Strip, said the security forces are investigating the apparent killing.

Also on Thursday Palestinian security forces in Qalqiliya announced the arrest of suspects in the apparent killing of a twenty-nine-year-old woman named Wafa Wahdan, who was found dead on Monday near a landfill.

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Hirsi Ali: "The Trouble is the West"

Reason Magazine - 'The Trouble Is the West'

Reason: But do you feel at all uncomfortable with that heavy emphasis on religion in American public life?

Hirsi Ali: Yes. And the good thing is—and that’s what I’ve tried to tell all my European friends—I’m allowed to say so.
....
I accept that there are multitudes seeking God, seeking meaning, and so on, but if they reject atheism, I would rather they became modern-day Catholics or Jews than that they became Muslims. Because my Catholic and Jewish colleagues are fine. The concept of God in Jewish orthodoxy is one where you’re having constant quarrels with God. Where I come from, in Islam, the only concept of God is you submit to Him and you obey His commands, no quarreling allowed. Quarreling or even asking questions means you raise yourself to the same level as Him, and in Islam that’s the worst sin you can commit. Jews should be proselytizing about a God that you can quarrel with. Catholics should be proselytizing about a God who is love, who represents a hereafter where there’s no hell, who wants you to lead a life where you can confess your sins and feel much better afterwards. Those are lovely concepts of God. They can’t compare to the fire-breathing Allah who inspires jihadism and totalitarianism.

Reason: Should we acknowledge that organized religion has sometimes sparked precisely the kinds of emancipation movements that could lift Islam into modern times? Slavery in the United States ended in part because of opposition by prominent church members and the communities they galvanized. The Polish Catholic Church helped defeat the Jaruzelski puppet regime. Do you think Islam could bring about similar social and political changes?

Hirsi Ali: Only if Islam is defeated. Because right now, the political side of Islam, the power-hungry expansionist side of Islam, has become superior to the Sufis and the Ismailis and the peace-seeking Muslims.

Reason: Don’t you mean defeating radical Islam?

Hirsi Ali: No. Islam, period. Once it’s defeated, it can mutate into something peaceful. It’s very difficult to even talk about peace now. They’re not interested in peace.

Reason: We have to crush the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims under our boot? In concrete terms, what does that mean, “defeat Islam”?

Hirsi Ali: I think that we are at war with Islam. And there’s no middle ground in wars. Islam can be defeated in many ways. For starters, you stop the spread of the ideology itself; at present, there are native Westerners converting to Islam, and they’re the most fanatical sometimes. There is infiltration of Islam in the schools and universities of the West. You stop that. You stop the symbol burning and the effigy burning, and you look them in the eye and flex your muscles and you say, “This is a warning. We won’t accept this anymore.” There comes a moment when you crush your enemy.

Reason: Militarily?

Hirsi Ali: In all forms, and if you don’t do that, then you have to live with the consequence of being crushed.

Reason: Are we really heading toward anything so ominous?

Hirsi Ali: I think that’s where we’re heading. We’re heading there because the West has been in denial for a long time. It did not respond to the signals that were smaller and easier to take care of. Now we have some choices to make. This is a dilemma: Western civilization is a celebration of life—everybody’s life, even your enemy’s life. So how can you be true to that morality and at the same time defend yourself against a very powerful enemy that seeks to destroy you?

Reason: George Bush, not the most conciliatory person in the world, has said on plenty of occasions that we are not at war with Islam.

Hirsi Ali: If the most powerful man in the West talks like that, then, without intending to, he’s making radical Muslims think they’ve already won. There is no moderate Islam. There are Muslims who are passive, who don’t all follow the rules of Islam, but there’s really only one Islam, defined as submission to the will of God. There’s nothing moderate about it.
...
Reason: I want my government to protest the Rushdie fatwa. I’m not so sure they ought to diplomatically engage some idiots burning a piece of cloth or a straw figure in the streets of Islamabad. Isn’t there a huge difference between the two?

Hirsi Ali: It’s not just a piece of cloth. It’s a symbol. In a tribal mind-set, if I’m allowed to take something and get away with it, I’ll come back and take some more. In fact, I’ll come and take the whole place, especially since it’s my holy obligation to spread Islam to the outskirts of the earth and I know I’ll be rewarded in heaven. At that point, I’ve only done my religious obligation while you’re still sitting there rationalizing that your own flag is a piece of cloth.

We have to get serious about this. The Egyptian dictatorship would not allow many radical imams to preach in Cairo, but they’re free to preach in giant mosques in London. Why do we allow it?

Reason: You’re in favor of civil liberties, but applied selectively?

Hirsi Ali: No. Asking whether radical preachers ought to be allowed to operate is not hostile to the idea of civil liberties; it’s an attempt to save civil liberties. A nation like this one is based on civil liberties, and we shouldn’t allow any serious threat to them. So Muslim schools in the West, some of which are institutions of fascism that teach innocent kids that Jews are pigs and monkeys—I would say in order to preserve civil liberties, don’t allow such schools.

Reason: Having lived in the United States for about a year now, do you find that Muslims in the United States have by and large integrated better here than they have in Europe?

Hirsi Ali: Since I moved here, I’ve spent most of my time in airports, in airplanes, in waiting rooms, in hotels, doing promotion for Infidel all over the world, so the amount of time I’ve actually lived in the U.S. is very small. But yes, I have the impression that Muslims in the United States are far more integrated than Muslims in Europe. Of course, being assimilated doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t be a jihadist, but the likelihood of Muslims turning radical here seems lower than in Europe.

For one thing, America doesn’t really have a welfare system. Mohammed Bouyeri had all day long to plot the murder of Theo van Gogh. American Muslims have to get a job. What pushes people who come to America to assimilate is that it’s expected of them. And people are not mollycoddled by the government.

There’s a lot of white guilt in America, but it’s directed toward black Americans and native Indians, not toward Muslims and other immigrants. People come from China, Vietnam, and all kinds of Muslim countries. To the average American, they’re all fellow immigrants.

The white guilt in Germany and Holland and the U.K. is very different. It has to do with colonialism. It has to do with Dutch emigrants having spread apartheid in South Africa. It has to do with the Holocaust. So the mind-set toward immigrants in Europe is far more complex than here. Europeans are more reticent about saying no to immigrants.

And by and large, Muslim immigrants in Europe do not come with the intention to assimilate. They come with the intention to work, earn some money, and go back. That’s how the first wave of immigrants in the Netherlands was perceived: They would just come to work and then they’d go away. The newer generations that have followed are coming not so much to work and more to reap the benefits of the welfare state. Again, assimilation is not really on their minds.
...
Without passing any moral judgment, those are the differences between the two places.

Reason: Tolerance is probably the most powerful word there is in the Netherlands. No other word encapsulates better what the Dutch believe really defines them. That makes it very easy for people to say that when they’re being criticized, they’re not being tolerated—and from there it’s only a small step to saying they’re being discriminated against or they’re the victims of Islamophobia or racism or what have you.

Hirsi Ali: We have to revert to the original meaning of the term tolerance. It meant you agreed to disagree without violence. It meant critical self-reflection. It meant not tolerating the intolerant. It also came to mean a very high level of personal freedom.

Then the Muslims arrived, and they hadn’t grown up with that understanding of tolerance. In short order, tolerance was now defined by multiculturalism, the idea that all cultures and religions are equal. Expectations were created among the Muslim population. They were told they could preserve their own culture, their own religion. The vocabulary was quickly established that if you criticize someone of color, you’re a racist, and if you criticize Islam, you’re an Islamophobe.

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Oklahoma lawmakers rejecting copies of Koran.

Tulsa World : More lawmakers reject copy of Quran

Sixteen state lawmakers have joined Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, in refusing a gift copy of the Quran.

The holy book of the Muslim religion was offered as a centennial gift by the Governor's Ethnic American Advisory Council, made up of American Muslims from Middle East countries.

Duncan refused, saying, "Most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology."

Duncan reiterated Tuesday that the council's spokeswoman had stated in an e-mail to elected officials that "the Holy Quran is the record of the exact words revealed by God through the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad."

Referring to a point he said (funny the reporters didn't do a quick Google search, isn't it? - 1rt) was emphasized in the Quran, Duncan said it talks about seizing and killing those who turn their back on Islam.

Moore said this portion of the Quran was stating that Muslims should
not rely on the Christian and Jewish people to solve their own problems. (Right. See below for the verses stating this. - 1rt)

Legislators refusing Qurans


Sen. Cliff Branan, R-Oklahoma City
Sen. Randy Brogdon, R-Owasso
Sen. Bill Brown, R-Broken Arrow
Sen. Todd Lamb, R-Edmond
Sen. David Myers,R-Ponca City
Sen. Nancy Riley, D-Tulsa
Sen. Mike Schulz, R-Altus
Rep. Gary Banz, R-Midwest City
Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove
Rep. David Derby, R-Owasso
Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs
Rep. George Faught, R-Muskogee
Rep. Guy Liebmann, R-Oklahoma City
Rep. Scott Martin, R-Norman
Rep. Mark McCullough, R-Sapulpa
Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City
Rep. Susan Winchester, R-Chickasha

Islamic Quotes - Fighting

Qur'an:9:5 "Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war."

Qur'an:9:29 "Fight those who do not believe until they all surrender, paying the protective tax in submission."

Qur'an:9:14 "Fight them and Allah will punish them by your hands, lay them low, and cover them with shame. He will help you over them."

Qur'an:61:11 "Believers, shall I lead you to a bargain or trade that will save you from a painful torment? That you believe in Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), and that you strive and fight in Allah's Cause with your property and your lives: That will be best for you!"

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President Bush is wrong to announce all religions worship the same God.

The same God? Cal Thomas

In an official transcript released by the White House, the president said, "I believe in an almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God." Later in the interview, the president repeated his statement: "I believe there is a universal God. I believe the God that the Muslim prays to is the same God that I pray to. After all, we all came from Abraham. I believe in that universality."

To paraphrase a remark often attributed to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, everyone is entitled to his or her own faith, but everyone is not entitled to define the central doctrines of that faith. The doctrines of what is called Christianity not only stand in stark contrast to Islam, they also teach something contrary to what the president says he believes.

f we all worship the same God, the president should answer the call of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Osama bin Laden, convert to Islam and no longer be a target of their wrath. What difference would it make if we all worship the same God?

The central doctrine of the Christian faith is that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for sinners and that by repenting of sin and accepting Christ as Savior, one is "saved" and is guaranteed a home in Heaven. Muslims do not believe God had a Son and, therefore, no atonement for sin is necessary. Muslims believe simply telling God one is sorry and repenting of sin is enough, if one also lives up to the five "pillars" of Islam. Furthermore, according to Muslims, Jesus did not die on a cross (as Christians believe); instead, God allowed Judas to look like Jesus and Judas was crucified.

Evangelical Christians believe the Bible is God's Word and is without error in the original manuscripts. Muslims respect the word of the prophets but claim the Bible has been corrupted (mostly by Jews) and is only correct insofar as it agrees with the Koran.

How can the president say we all worship the same God when Muslims deny the divinity of Jesus, whom the president accepts as the One through whom all must pass for salvation? Do both political parties have the same beliefs? Are all baseball teams equal (clearly not, because only two will go to the World Series)?

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Muslim doctor in Chicago leaves Jew to die.

Older news, but still noteworthy.

Debbie Schlussel

Sometimes--so many times--diversity is not what it's cracked up to be.

Just ask Joseph Applebaum. Well, you could ask him. But you won't get an answer. He's dead. And he's dead because he was a Jew, and his doctor is a Muslim and grad of "Ayman Al-Zawahiri" Medical School.

But Applebaum wasn't denied treatment for being a Jew in Egypt. Or elsewhere in the Muslim world. It happened right here on U.S. soil. In Chicago.

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