A continuous survey of the causes of “Islamophobia” covering the many things Islam and Muslims do and say that puzzle or repulse people of other religions or beliefs. ISIS is covered because it such an outstanding example of Islamic rule, otherwise conflicts in Muslim countries and terrorism are excluded. See here for explanation of survey.
November 2015
“British Sharia councils are leaving women open to abuse”
Islamic Sharia councils are discouraging women from going to the police in cases of domestic violence, a barrister has told the BBC.
Lebanese comic fights for survival after free-speech sanctions
The abandonment of science
The OIC countries, home to 25pc of the world’s population, produce less than 2pc of the world’s patents, only 6pc of the world’s research publications and make up only 2.4pc of the world’s research expenditure.
Iranian actress who posted photos online not wearing a hijab forced to flee country
Afghan woman was stoned to death after ‘attempting to flee a forced marriage
Afghan woman accused of adultery is stoned to death
Sharia law is blight on UK
DIVORCE, multiple relationships and domestic violence occur in many communities but the way in which sharia law may condone them is causing great suffering for many Muslim women in Britain. According to sharia law a man may divorce his wife just by saying “I divorce you” three times.
October 2015
Publisher of Secular Books Killed, 3 Wounded in Bangladesh
A publisher of secular books was hacked to death and three other people wounded in fresh attacks in Bangladesh’s capital that were claimed by Muslim radicals, and a human rights group called on the government to urgently protect freedom of expression.
Norway: Muslim Cleric Sentenced
…. The Oslo City Court also found the cleric, Najmaddin Faraj Ahmad, known as Mullah Krekar, guilty of urging others to kill a Kurdish immigrant in Norway in an interview with NRK, a Norwegian broadcaster. “Whoever offends our religion and our honor must understand that this is a conflict about life and death,” Mr. Ahmad told NRK
Isis shuts down women’s clinics in Raqqa to prevent male gynaecologists treating female patients
Iranian Actress Banned From Acting For Posting Online Pics Without Hijab
Islamic State critic found beheaded in Turkey
Controversial ads for atheist author who was in famous TV row with Ben Affleck over Islam are BANNED for ‘discrimination’ – because they said it should be OK to flush the Koran down the toilet
A series of billboards mocking communion biscuits and arguing it should be fine to flush to Koran down the toilet without fear of violence have been banned because they ‘discriminate or vilify’.
In Indonesia, minorities under threat from Muslim hardliners
When a mob of Muslims swooped on a little church deep in rural Aceh in Indonesia this month, the local police were nowhere to be seen, although they had received warnings of a possible attack.
Poets latest to be snared in Iranian hard-liners’ crackdown
Two Iranian poets jailed for their work and sentenced to 99 lashes apiece for shaking hands with members of the opposite sex are the latest targets in a crackdown that analysts say pits hard-liners against those offering new glimpses of life in the Islamic Republic.
Rotherham Muslim group refuses to co-operate with South Yorkshire Police
So let’s get this straight; the Muslim community is fed up being demonised, ostricised, and isolated. But, if anyone of Muslim faith should need to turn to South Yorkshire Police for help, they will be cut off from their network of friends, family and associates? The naivety and hypocrisy of this is dumbfounding.
Raif Badawi: Flogging of jailed Saudi blogger ‘to resume soon’
Park View banned girls from mixed sports because it made ‘male staff uncomfortable’, hearing told
Female pupils were banned from mixed sports at a Birmingham school because male teachers “did not want girls to be seen with their bits jumping up and down,” a hearing was told.
Melbourne school invites Muslim students to step out during national anthem
Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School said Shia Muslim students were allowed to skip the anthem because during the month of Muharram taking part in joyous events such as singing and listening to music is frowned upon as it is a time of mourning, the Herald Sun reports.
Saudi court upholds death sentence for Shi’ite cleric
Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal against the death sentence passed this year on Shi’ite Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr who had called for pro-democracy demonstrations and whose arrest in 2012 spurred protests in which three died.
Kuwaiti actor held for ‘indecency’
A popular Kuwaiti actor has been arrested by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) for allegedly mixing with women in a mall and taking pictures with them.
Muslim men having ’20 children each’ because of polygamy, peer claims
Muslim men in some communities are having up to 20 children each because of polygomy and the rise of “religiously sanctioned gender discrimination” under Sharia Law, peers have warned.
Gay Muslim LBC Phone In Leaves Presenter Iain Dale ‘Disgusted’ At Homophobic Caller
“My religion is very clear about what happens to gay people. You know what happens to gay people,” Zainab said “Yes we know what happens to gay people in Iran,” presenter Dale responded, “They are thrown off buildings and killed.” “Yes,” the 22-year-old said.
EEOC wins discrimination case for Muslims fired for not delivering beer
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission won $240,000 in damages for two Muslim truck drivers after it sued their former employer for religious discrimination for firing the drivers for refusing to make beer deliveries.
Christmas cancelled’ at Trojan Horse school, tribunal told
Sharia in Britain
According to the Lawyers Secular Society, there is evidence of Muslim arbitration tribunals “purporting to conduct binding arbitrations on family law issues” and making decisions in areas like inheritance that are “inconsistent with UK law or public policy”. In addition, sharia councils have often been found describing themselves as courts and referring to the presiding imams as judges.
Saudi Arabia: Activist Professor Gets 10-Year Sentence
He was considered among the most vocal critics of religious extremism and militancy. He had posted videos online giving religious lectures in support of women’s rights and coexistence.
Public has no right ‘not to be offended’ over religious matters
Freedom of expression cannot be secured if society supports a right not to be offended …. Baroness O’Neill said speech believed to be offensive to a belief or religion should only be prohibited if it transgressed other laws, such as defamation or incitement to hatred.
Every fourth Danish Muslim wants the law to be based on the Koran
Some 40 percent of Denmark’s 250,000 Muslims believe that Danish law, at least to some extent, should be based on the words of the Koran, according to a new Wilke survey carried out for Jyllands-Posten newspaper.
‘Trojan Horse’ Park View pupils ‘told wives must obey men’
Pupils at a school embroiled in the so-called “Trojan Horse” scandal were handed leaflets saying Muslim women must obey men, a misconduct panel has heard.
Ministers order probe into ‘unacceptable’ Sharia law courts operating in BRITAIN
Safety fears prompted hijab ban, says Gatineau go-kart track
Top Karting on Edmonton Street says it turned away the Barrhaven teenager on Oct. 9 because she refused to comply with a safety policy that required her to remove her hijab, a veil worn by some Muslim women over the head and chest.
Latvia An Islamic State In 50 Years, Boast Muslim Community Leaders, ‘Integration Will Not Take Place
Islam will replace Christianity in Europe just as Christianity replaced Paganism centuries ago, and it will conquer by womb rather than the sword to make Latvia an Islamic State, claim Muslim community leaders in the Baltic country.
Trojan horse teachers ‘gave pupils handout saying wives cannot refuse sex’
A former teacher at Park View school in Birmingham told the hearing she was “absolutely horrified” when she was made aware of the document.
The social right to see each other’s faces
…. My opponents (outside of Quebec) balk when I describe the obligation of my teacher or postmistress or nurse to show her face as my “social right.” They contend there is no such thing. But the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) agrees with me.
Pork or nothing: how school dinners are dividing France
After years of French controversies over headscarves, pork has become the new battleground in the nation’s uneasy debate over national identity and the place of Islam.
Burqas in Malta: Minister says people should not cover their face
Equality minister Helena Dalli has hinted that the government may ban the wearing of burqas in public after she argued that the law which prohibits individuals from covering their face in public should be clarified to avoid any misinterpretation.
Zunera Ishaq, who challenged ban on niqab, takes citizenship oath wearing it
Saudi Arabia protests over Czech ‘Satanic Verses’ 27 years after uproar
Saudi Arabia summoned the Czech ambassador to protest against a new translation of Salman Rushdie’s book “Satanic Verses”, Saudi state media said on Friday, 27 years after the novel triggered mass demonstrations and a death threat against the author.
Islamic extremists’ ideology enjoys support of many Muslims
“There are millions of schoolchildren every day in countries round the world – not just in the Middle East – who are taught a view of the world and of their religion which is narrow-minded, prejudicial and therefore, in the context of a globalised world, dangerous.”
Iran protests Rushdie invite to Frankfurt Book Fair
Blair Delivers Speech At 9/11 Memorial, Warns Ideology That Drives Jihadis Enjoys ‘Significant’ Muslim Support
“The conspiracy theories which illuminate much of the jihadi writings have significant support even amongst parts of the mainstream population of some Muslim countries,” Blair said ….
Police Chief: Delinquent Muslim Migrants Don’t Integrate, Generally Disrespect Western Cultures
Don’t microwave sausage rolls – it’ll upset other faiths! New guidelines on communal kitchen etiquette for the workplace are suggested
…. Similarly, it would also be advisable to avoid keeping bacon rolls in a fridge shared with people whose religious beliefs prohibit them from eating pork.
How brave Muslims are being silenced
In academia, speakers at Bath University, surely the most malign higher education institution in Britain, call ex-Muslims “native informants”, as if the decision of free men and women to decide for themselves what they should believe is the equivalent of collaborating with a colonial oppressor.
Muslim children could miss out on a free flu vaccine scheme due to it containing pig gelatin
Syria: child soldiers of the caliphate
An exclusive film reveals how Isis in Syria and Iraq systematically recruits children as young as eight to become soldiers and suicide bombers, and exacts brutal punishment on those who defy them.
September 2015
Ten reasons to ban the niqab — in the public service
…. Yet there is nothing “straightforward” about face covering in a supposedly open society. It is corrosive to the social reciprocity on which neighbourhoods depend for spontaneous camaraderie.
Saudi Arabia insists UN keeps LGBT rights out of its development goals
‘Refugees don’t leave their conflicts behind’
Following reports of aggressive incidents in German refugee shelters, authorities are looking for ways to calm the situation. Suggestions include separate housing for Muslim and Christian asylum-seekers.
Christian and Muslim refugees should be housed separately, says German police chief
Christian and Muslim refugees should be housed separately in Germany to minimise tensions following growing levels of violence at asylum seeker shelters, a police chief has urged.
The ex-Muslim Britons who are persecuted for being atheists
…. among some of Britain’s urban Muslims – nearly half of whom were born in the UK and are under 24 – there’s a belief that leaving Islam is a sin and can even be punished by death.
An investigation for the BBC has found evidence of young people suffering threats, intimidation, being ostracised by their communities and, in some cases, encountering serious physical abuse when they told their families they were no longer Muslims.
Warwick University Student Union incites hatred by banning criticism of Islam
…. And so, once again, we see academic freedom censored essentially on ‘Health & Safety’ grounds: no-one who is critical of Islamism / Islamo-fascism may speak at a British university for fear of their criticising Islam and causing offence (‘hatred’) to Muslims.
Poll ordered by Harper found strong support for niqab ban at citizenship ceremonies
Militant group publishes global hitlist of bloggers, activists and writers
An Islamic militant group in Bangladesh has issued a hitlist of secular bloggers, writers and activists around the world, saying they will be killed if its demands are not met.
Meet three people targeted for being ‘atheists’, and a Muslim leader condemning their beliefs
…. She and her husband were attacked together in February. Bonya lost fingers and was scarred, but lived. Her husband was hacked to death with machetes in a manner that followed the same gruesome pattern of later killings.
Sacrifice festival – Around 600 Muslims demonstrate in favour of ritual slaughter
Westminster university Islamic students’ society dominated by ultra-conservative Muslims
The Islamic students’ society at the London university attended by the militant known as Jihadi John is dominated by hardline, ultra-conservative believers who refuse to speak with female Muslim staff members, according to an independent report into inclusion among students at the institution.
Anger after Saudi Arabia ‘chosen to head key UN human rights panel’ – Wife of imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi says move amounts to “a green light to flog him”
The United Nations is coming under fire for handing Saudi Arabia a key human rights role even though the Kingdom has “arguably the worst record in the world” on freedoms for women, minorities and dissidents.
Abuse going unreported in Britain’s south Asian communities – study
…. “Rape for women was if their father-in-law or brother-in-law or someone in the extended family was the perpetrator. Nor had the Imams we spoke too ever heard of marital rape; they weren’t aware it was against British law,” said Harrison.
Iranian Soccer Star’s Husband Denies Her Permission To Play Abroad
The Arab States and the Refugees
While the European Union and its member states totter under an overwhelming influx of refugees from Syria and other collapsing countries in the Middle East, the vastly wealthy Arab nations of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States are sitting back and watching as Europe takes the toll.
Iranian women fined £170 for not wearing Muslim headscarves ‘properly’
Muslim woman sues NYPD for allegedly forcing her to take hijab off for mug shot
Ban niqab, burka in all public places
As a Muslim mother who never saw a niqab when I was growing up in Karachi, Pakistan, I am astonished to see Canada’s judiciary caving in to Islamists who have nothing but contempt for Canada’s values of gender equality.
We Need to Talk About Islam’s Jihadism Problem
Harris: Maajid, it seems to me that you have a problem. You need to convince the world—especially the Muslim world—that Islam is a religion of peace that has been hijacked by extremists. But the problem is that Islam isn’t a religion of peace, and the so-called extremists are seeking to implement what is arguably the most honest reading of the faith’s actual doctrine.
Al Qaeda chief urges lone wolf attacks, militant unity
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on young Muslim men in the United States and other Western countries to carry out attacks inside there and urged greater unity between militants.
Nothing has changed in 25 years to ease my concerns about Islam
Significant numbers of Muslims see a faith-run, faith-defined state as the ultimate goal in this life.
School teacher ‘brainwashing primary kids to write jihadis supportive letters’
The letters – which are written in childish handwriting – are addressed to fighters in the war-torn country and are believed to have been written in an afternoon class.
Fatwa issued against AR Rahman for film on Prophet Muhammad
A Mumbai-based Sunni Muslim group has accused Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman and Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi of blasphemy for their upcoming film Muhammad: Messenger of God.
Atheist bloggers flee Bangladesh
Despite the fact that the country’s constitution guarantees freedom of speech, these writers fear that they too will be the next targets for Islamists. Four bloggers have been murdered so far this year.
“Brutal” Islamic school teachers who beat boy with stick for not reading Koran properly jailed
Female cartoonist could have 12 year prison term extended for shaking her lawyer’s hand
Could a sports hijab boost number of Muslim women playing sport?
…. Qamar Musaad, a 16-year-old from Manchester, admits it sometimes feels uncomfortable wearing a normal hijab when playing basketball. …. Amina Ismail, a 23-year-old from London, says she is not sporty but would get “so hot” when wearing a headscarf during PE lessons at school.
Muslim flight attendant claims she was suspended for refusing to serve alcohol
Saudi Arabia Bans National Geographic Issue Featuring Pope Francis “For Cultural Reasons”
Muslim Countries Refuse to Take A Single Syrian Refugee, Cite Risk of Exposure to Terrorism
Five of the wealthiest Muslim countries have taken no Syrian refugees in at all, arguing that doing so would open them up to the risk of terrorism. Although the oil rich countries have handed over aid money, Britain has donated more than Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar combined.
Jailed Muslim extremists should be segregated in their own prison wings, say experts
…. They believe segregation is needed to prevent non-jihadi inmates among Britain’s growing Muslim prisoner population from becoming radicalised.
The Arab world’s wealthiest nations are doing next to nothing for Syria’s refugees
Quebec’s Bill 59 panders to Islamists
Kowtowing to religious extremism is the worst kind of politics. But that is precisely what Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard has done by introducing Bill 59, which would quash criticism of just about any aspect or interpretation of Islam in that province.
Egyptian belly dancers jailed for ‘inciting debauchery’
‘Satanic Islam’ Belfast preacher says he will go to jail to protect free speech
A born-again Christian pastor from Belfast, who denounced Islam as “satanic”, has said he is prepared to go to jail to defend free speech. Pastor James McConnell told supporters outside a Belfast court hearing on Thursday morning that “either they try me and put me in prison or I am free to preach the gospel”.
Islamist vigilantes face trial for ‘Sharia police’
Lau, 34, is accused – with nine others – of infractions against the law on freedom of assembly over the group of high-vis-vest-wearing Islamists who declared that they would patrol the streets to police morals last September.
Shoppers threaten to boycott Asda Barking over halal meat
“We do not have a problem with the store supplying halal meat, we understand there is a demand, but to not offer non-halal meat takes away our choice as consumers.”
Group says coworker objected to Muslim flight attendant (who objects to serving alcohol)
Forced to kneel, a woman receives 100 lashes for adultery in Afghanistan as men watch on
August 2015
Christian couple lynched for blasphemy: the police accused of negligence
The Supreme Court of Pakistan criticized the inaction of the police in front of the lynching of the Christian couple Shahzad and Shama Masih, accused of blasphemy and killed in Kot Radha Kishan, Punjab, on 4 November 2014.
‘I was a hate preacher who radicalised at least one Brit jihadi but I’ve changed after coming out’
A student hate preacher who radicalised at least one British jihadi in Syria and seriously considered mounting a suicide bomb attack in London has renounced extremist Islamism – and come out as gay. Sohail Ahmed said he grew up hating the West after being indoctrinated by strict Muslim parents and sent to a hardline madrassa in east London.
First female voters register in Saudi Arabia – Strict rules will keep the sexes apart
…. the length of time it has taken to reach this point raises doubts about the kingdom’s ability to implement reform on the scale that will be needed to avoid an eventual collapse of the system. And the price of granting electoral rights to women is a further entrenchment of gender apartheid.
Tolerant and multicultural, Palmyra stood for everything Isis hates
Quebec law would stifle free speech
…. Bill 59 will permit Muslims to make complaints to the Quebec Human Rights Commission (QHRC) against anyone critiquing Islam or Islamism, triggering lawsuits for hate speech.
Toronto man denied subsidized housing for not being Muslim
A disabled Toronto man had his name removed from the waiting list of a subsidized city apartment because he does not meet the main criteria for living there: being Muslim.
Muslim Drag Queens watched by more than 1 million on Channel 4
The documentary featured Asif Quaraishi, an activist who performs in clubs as Asifa Lahore, who put police on alert for fear of reprisal following its broadcast after receiving death threats last year.
This Darwin was crazy in the head
Some students have addressed questions to me. The first question: “I am a Muslim, but I read books by Darwin. A friend of mine brings me these books. What’s your advice?” First of all you must stay away from this friend. What would you do if you had a friend who uses drugs? Your friend is a Communist who brings you Communist books. This Darwin was crazy in the head.
Muslim model defies insults over Miss Italy bid
Her provocative photographs featuring her in scantily clad bikinis and lingerie have provoked a barrage of insults and threats against her on social media for dishonouring Islam.
Groomed as a jihadi bride by her OWN parents: Judge puts girl, 16, in care to save her from a family home filled with ISIS propaganda
…. Mr Justice Hayden said her ‘deceitful’ mother and father had done as much harm to her as child molesters. She was suffering ‘psychological and emotional harm’ through exposure to extremism and had even tried to travel to Syria to become a jihadi bride.
My madrassa classmate hated politics. Then he joined the Islamic State
…. I don’t doubt Rashid’s sincere intention to live a pious life any more than I did when we studied together. But he was able to embrace the Islamic State as its lodestar only because Islamic orthodoxy has not offered a humane alternative.
Germany refugee riot over torn Koran leaves 17 hurt
An argument over a Koran that erupted at a shelter in central Germany has led to violence in which 11 refugees and six police were injured. Twenty people tried to lynch an Afghan man of 25 after he tore pages from the Koran and threw them in a toilet, according to reports in the town of Suhl.
London majority-Muslim school scraps sex segregation – despite angry parents’ complaints
The principal of a majority-Muslim school in northeast London has said he will not allow a “militant minority” of parents to derail his plans to abolish gender segregation. The Crest Academies school was formed by the merger of adjacent two single-sex schools last year, and prior to the arrival of new principal Mohsen Ojja had a “wall of segregation” down the middle of the campus to ensure that boys and girls couldn’t interact, even outside the classroom.
Beheaded Syrian scholar refused to lead Isis to hidden Palmyra antiquities
‘Draw Mohammed’ UK Exhibition Cancelled After Security Service Pressure…
Shia hatred is a real and dangerous issue in the UK
In an article entitled, ‘Sectarian Hatred at the Heart of British Muslim community,’ The Times recently highlighted issues of sectarianism that have been bubbling in the UK for some time. These issues have been crystallised after the Syrian conflict which brought matters to a head.
Sectarian hatred at the heart of British Muslim community
An investigation by The Times has found a sharp but largely hidden rise in sectarian tensions between the minority Shia community and the dominant Sunni groups, driven by the long, bitter war in Syria. Ill-feeling is being stoked by vitriolic preachers on both sides of the divide — including some who lecture at British universities — and incidents such as assaults, attacks on buildings and intimidation online.
Sadiq Khan’s Team Attack LBC Poll On Londoners Being Uncomfortable With A Muslim Mayor
Bid to keep pork substitutes on French school menus rebuffed
A leader of France’s top Muslim organization is criticizing a court decision that could jeopardize a decades-old policy in which public schools offer substitutes to pork when the meat turns up on lunch menus.
ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape
Claiming the Quran’s support, the Islamic State codifies sex slavery in conquered regions of Iraq and Syria and uses the practice as a recruiting tool.
Some Londoners don’t want a Muslim Mayor. Maybe London isn’t so different after all
According to YouGov, nearly a third (31 per cent) of Londoners would be uncomfortable if the next London Mayor was Muslim. The company, which surveyed 1,153 adults for LBC, found that Londoners were more uneasy about the idea of Muslim mayor than they were about one who was female (only 4 per cent expressed discomfort), gay (16 per cent), or from an ethnic minority (13 per cent).
The truth about ‘patriarchal’ mosques and their women problem
Bana Gora, chief executive of the Muslim Women’s Council, has spent years hearing horror stories from Muslim women about their experiences at mosques in the UK. A recent audit she commissioned of prayer facilities in Bradford showed similar results. “We found the majority of mosques follow a patriarchal model with poor access for women, and women’s representation on mosques’ governing structures was non-existent,” she tells me.
Khalid Khan and the East London Mosque
Consider London preacher Khalid Khan. …. Apostates and married adulterers too must be killed, like homosexuals. Those who disrupt Muslim “unity” may be killed too. Thieves will lose hands. Even wine drinkers must be lashed eighty times. …. So, are people rushing to distance themselves from Khalid Khan as David Cameron “gets tough”? Not a bit of it. Mr Khan will be welcomed at the East London Mosque this Saturday. The mosque’s imam Abdul Qayum will speak alongside him.
India’s Muslim women fight to end triple talaq law that yields instant divorce
Hussain finds this divide most frustrating when she is defending divorced women who come to her office near the overcrowded ironmonger’s bazaar in Jaipur. These women have experienced triple talaq, under which a Muslim man can repeat the word “talaq” three times and his wife stands divorced. No questions, no reasons. All objections overruled.
UAE enacts stealth blasphemy law
Bangladesh blogger killed by machete gang had asked for police protection
As a former extremist who knew Anjem Choudary, I fear for the mentality of British Muslims
Like 33 per cent of British Muslims do, I once supported the idea of a caliphate based upon sharia law. But the debate has now become polarised and poisonous.
Bangladesh blogger Niloy Neel hacked to death in Dhaka
Persecution lurks for converts from Islam in Egypt
…. He has been maltreated; time and again hit in the face. When he asked to receive communion, his request was denied. So too was his wish to keep a Bible. The story of Bishoy Armeya, the first Egyptian to seek official recognition of conversion to a religion other than Islam, is that of a one-man revolt against state oppression.
Pastor James McConnell in court over online ‘satanic Islam’ sermon
Former Islamic radical claims ‘talk of jihad’ common at Queen Mary University Friday prayer
‘Satanic Islam’ sermon preacher: Prosecution is a waste of money
Pastor James McConnell also said he “loved” Muslims but was prepared to go to jail rather than retract the remarks made during a firebrand sermon last year. …. The fundamentalist preacher, who retired last year, sparked a public outcry when he said Islam was “heathen” and had been “spawned in hell”. The controversial speech was streamed online in May 2014.
‘We hate Westerners – we are ISIS’ – chilling words of Irish Muslim teens to cleric
The Imam of the Al-Mustafa mosque in Blanchardstown also claims that there are now up to 100 extremists in Ireland. …. he said that in one mosque, the religious leaders never denounce atrocities carried out in the name of the terror group Isil.
Ukip peer says Islam is not a peaceful religion
…. He is preparing to launch an initiative called “Shall we talk about Islam” because, he said, “you may have noticed we are not allowed to talk about it”. Those that do are “branded islamophobic racists or accused of stirring up religious hatred”.
Saudi ministry: ‘Free expression is an abuse of religious rights’
Saudi Arabia has reiterated its call for a global blasphemy law, claiming that free speech leads to violations of “religious and ideological rights.”
July 2015
Why I disagree with having a women-run mosque in Bradford
…. Some women have experienced exclusion from male-run mosques, and so on the surface this seems a reasonable way forward. Many Muslims in Bradford would agree that we need to work towards greater involvement and inclusion of women in the life of the Muslim community.
Halal committee receives hundreds of views
…. The majority voiced opposition to the existing system, with many raising the question of whether the money ends up in the pockets of overseas organisations. “I have no desire to eat halal blessed food and resent having to pay for the process,” one said.
Report: Hundreds of Islamist Extremists Speaking On British Campuses
Isis killer’s former university hosts 25 radical preachers
The London university attended by the Islamic State murderer Mohamed Emwazi has hosted the highest number of extremist or intolerant speakers over the past three years, a report claims.
Islamic identity crisis at the core of radicalisation
…. the overwhelming claim by Muslim community leaders that “research” suggests socio-economic and political issues drive radicalisation is not only erroneous but reveals a primitive understanding of the debate on the subject.
Defending obscurantism – Saudi call for worldwide laws against blasphemy
…. The situation, he said, “requires everyone to intensify efforts to criminalise insulting heavenly religions, prophets, holy books, religious symbols and places of worship”.
Muslims who held anti-terrorism Dublin rally faced resistance from some Muslims
Banned staff revealed to be teaching at Trojan horse school
At least two teachers accused of involvement in the Trojan Horse plot to “Islamise” Birmingham schools have been reinstated by the academy at the heart of the scandal, despite being banned from the teaching profession.
Faith School Bans Pupils From Meeting ‘Outsiders’
A Muslim boarding school has been rated “good” by Ofsted, despite threatening to expel students if they mix with other children. …. The school has no website, but Sky News obtained copies of documents given to parents which state that students “socialising with outsiders… will be expelled if there is no improvement after cautioning.”
Religious Persecution On the Rise: Minorities Under Threat in the Middle East
…. majority Muslim nations almost uniformly persecute. The only question is how virulent the repression. Believers are mistreated everywhere, but Christians most suffer in the birthplace of Christianity.
Government Steps In To Replace Leadership Of ‘Extremist’ Mosque
The Masjid and Madrasah Al-Tawhid Trust, a charity which funds and controls the Salafist ideology Masjid al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton, East London, has been under investigation by the charity commission since 2012 over allegations it had links to terrorist and extremist groups.
Why has scientific progress stalled in many Islamic countries?
In his essay, Dr Zou’bi writes that in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf are many “multi-billion dollar educational and scientific projects”. All, however, are “totally dependent on expatriates” and “exist in a culture that is indifferent to science at best, or aggressively anti-science at worst”, as exemplified by a YouTube video of a Saudi theologian in Sharjah telling a large audience that the Sun revolves around a stationary Earth.
Why my own father would have let IS kill me
The group that calls itself Islamic State (IS or Isis) has a special punishment for gay people – it kills them by throwing them off high buildings. Taim, a 24-year-old medical student, tells the story of how he only escaped this fate by fleeing from Iraq to Lebanon.
Only Muslim 7/7 bomb survivor Sajda Mughal reveals mums are oblivious to extremism in Islam
…. “Quite recently, I gave a talk at a hall packed with Muslim mothers and honestly, only about 4% of them knew about Islamic extremism. They are just not aware – I think it’s because there is a lack of education.
Malaysian activists question role of Muslim ‘fashion police
Women in Malaysia, long seen as a moderate Islamic nation, have been denied entry to government buildings on the grounds their skirts were too revealing, fanning fears of growing conservatism in a country with large non-Muslim minorities.
Muslim charity should have done more to prevent extreme material appearing on its website, regulator says
An Islamic charity found to have material on its website that sought to legitimise the killing of gay people and encouraged the killing of Muslims in certain circumstances should have done more to prevent the material appearing, a Charity Commission inquiry has concluded.
Cameron’s extremism speech gets mixed response from Birmingham Muslims
Saudi woman films harassment by religious police in shopping centre ‘for wearing eye make up’
Birmingham Trojan Horse letter ‘no hoax’
A letter outlining a plot by some Muslims to take over schools in Birmingham was “no hoax”, according to the city’s education commissioner Sir Mike Tomlinson. …. Sir Mike said he believed many details in the letter “were happening [in schools], without a shadow of doubt”.
Raped, beaten and sold: Yazidi women tell of IS abuse
Outrage as nine Sudanese women face 40 lashes for wearing trousers
Muslim who praised IS drove case against ‘Satanic Islam’ sermon Belfast pastor McConnell
In legal documents seen exclusively by the Belfast Telegraph, Dr Raied Al-Wazzan of the Belfast Islamic Centre is named as the chief witness in the prosecution case against Pastor James McConnell. In January Dr Al-Wazzan himself was embroiled in controversy when he said that Islamic State, which has carried out mass executions and forced millions of people to flee their homes, had been a positive force in Mosul, his home city in Iraq.
Sharia marriage: beyond the law’s reach
…. Sharia councils are inconsistent in how they operate and apply principles. “Some are more moderate, flexible, familiarised with the Western concept of families and civil life but some geographically are in this country, but ideologically elsewhere.”
Report reveals young Leeds Muslims blame government for ‘serious failures’ on counter-extremism
…. Some mosques in Leeds were – according to young people questioned – still stuck in “time warps” and were “intimidating spaces instead of places of sanctuary”. Young Muslim people had nowhere to turn to discuss issues like sex, drugs and lifestyle choices. There was a “culture of silence in mosques surrounding political violence”, and claims that “whenever we have a terrorist attack, the mosques brush it under the carpet – they don’t talk about it and the kids are left to get answers on the street”.
2 Christian pastors may face death penalty in Sudan for openly practising their faith
More Britons believe that multiculturalism makes the country worse – not better, says poll
Sorry, but you can’t take the Islam out of Islamic State
The unpalatable truth is that they believe what they are doing is theologically right — and a sizeable proportion of the Islamic world would concur.
UK’s Female Sharia Judge Says Muslims Cannot Be Asked to Obey the Law
…. Amra Bone – the UK’s only female sharia ‘judge’ – has stated that Muslims “cannot” be asked to have only one wife. In other words, the law of the land should not apply to Muslims.
7/7 Bombings Anniversary Poll Shows More Than Half Of Britons See Muslims As A Threat
Rise in Sharia marriages prompts polygamy fears
The UK has seen a surge in sharia marriages with many of them involving polygamy. A lawyer dealing with cases claims there are now up to 100,000 such marriages mostly involving young Muslim men – which are not recognised under UK law and leave women without full legal rights.
Afghanistan Said to Overturn Death Sentences in Woman’s Lynching
An Afghan court has overturned the death sentences of four men convicted in the lynching of a woman who had been falsely accused of burning the Quran, a lawyer connected to the case and a politician said on Thursday.
Primary school teacher struck off for praising Isil murder of Alan Henning
Isis militants destroy 2,000-year-old statue of lion at Palmyra
Christians targeted by Islamic terror groups across the globe
THE MIDDLE East’s population of 12 million Christians will be halved by 2020, if current demographic trends continue, writs World Review expert, Lord Alton. Christians made up a quarter of the Middle East’s population 100 years ago, now they are less than five per cent.
June 2015
Muslim woman sues Dearborn Police over headscarf removal
The officer …. took her to the police station and ordered her to remove her headscarf, known as hijab, for her booking photo, the lawsuit said.
Isis militants behead two Syrian women for witchcraft
France says 40 imams deported for hate speech
The minister vowed to clamp down on mosques and preachers inciting hatred after a suspected Islamist beheaded his boss during an attack on a gas factory last week.
It’s pure myth that Islam is ‘a religion of peace’
…. After the Tunisia atrocity, however, Mr Cameron regrettably regressed to claiming once again that this was “not in the name of Islam” which was “a religion of peace”. This is utterly ludicrous. Islam has a history of violent conquest.
Bowing to ulema, Constitutional Court approves “forced” marriages with minors
According to human rights activist Nursjahbani Katjasungkana, the supreme courts have created a dangerous precedent that could give the green light to the practice of “forced marriage” even for minors. It would appear that the Supreme Court decision gave into pressure from the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), a so-called “observer” of morals and morality on the Muslim archipelago. The Islamist movement has long campaigned for marriage of girls under 18 years.
Ramadan ding-dong – Foreign conflicts stoke sectarian squabbles among British Muslims
BY THE bloody standards of Middle Eastern sectarianism, it is a slight affair. On the fourth day of Ramadan, dawn worshippers in Bradford found the wall of their husseiniya, or Shia mosque, daubed with the word “KAFIR” (infidel). But flare-ups, once rare, between Britain’s 400,000-odd Shias and 2.3m Sunnis are on the rise.
The author of the ‘counter terrorism curriculum’ advocates murder for blasphemy
Isis destroys Palmyra shrines in Syria
Isis ‘crucifies children for not fasting during Ramadan’ in Syria
…. residents reported the boys’ bodies were “suspended from a crossbar” near the so-called Islamic State’s religious police headquarters.
Uproar as Muslim store brings in ‘men only’ days
If you’re a woman and it’s a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday, you’re not welcome at the De L’Orient à L’Occidental grocery store in Bordeaux.
Probe into “undue spiritual influence” in Birmingham election
It is about undue spiritual influence installing fear in the minds of the voter that if they don’t vote the party endorsed by the spiritual leader, punishment awaits them in the afterlife. It is about the illegal practice of segregation of men and women at political rally in contravention of the Equality Act 2010.
Austere brand of Islam on rise in Europe, stirring concerns
…. its tenets demand strict separation of sexes — and some of its most radical adherents are heeding the call of jihad. Salafism, an Islamic movement based on a literal reading of the Quran, is on the rise in France, Germany and Britain, security officials say, with Salafis sharply increasing their influence in mosques and on the streets.
Muslim students at Jihadi John’s former university ‘harass and intimidate women’
…. One student wept as she gave evidence to an independent panel about the intimidation she allegedly suffered at the hands of the group.
Bloody Hell: Does Religion Punish Women for Menstruating
For or against, no one wants to see ‘Satanic Islam’ sermon pastor James McConnell end up in jail
The majority of people who spoke to the Belfast Telegraph in north Belfast said the pastor should be free to say what he wants and should not be disciplined just because he spoke his own mind.
Female Iran VP scolds hardliners over volleyball ban
One of Iran’s female vice presidents launched a furious attack Saturday on “sanctimonious” groups whose threats of violent confrontation at a volleyball match ultimately triggered a clampdown on women spectators.
David Cameron ‘wrong and counter-productive’, says Muslim Council of Britain
The Muslim Council of Britain has attacked David Cameron as “erroneous, wrong and counter-productive” for suggesting that Muslim communities have given credence to extremist ideology.
‘Satanic Islam’ sermon Belfast pastor James McConnell says he faces six months in jail
Afghan clerics protest nomination of first woman to Supreme Court
Muslim gymnast criticised for ‘revealing’ leotard as she wins double-gold
You will fast … or else
…. Gulf states tend to be the most strict in enforcing Ramadan. The typical penalty is a one-month jail sentence and/or a fine, and the law applies to everyone regardless of religion – on the grounds that seeing someone break their fast is offensive to Muslims even if the fast-breaker is not actually Muslim.
Britain must ban sharia ‘kangaroo courts’, say activists
Britain’s new government must abolish Islamic sharia courts, campaigners said on Monday, describing them as “kangaroo courts” that deliver second-rate justice and trample over the rights of women and children.
UK waterpark bans bikinis and orders visitors to wear ‘Islamically appropriate’ clothes
Schools watchdog with links to extremists shut down
Nursery worker banned from wearing Islamic dress because it is ‘tripping hazard’
She wore her full-length outfit at her interview, where a manager offered her an apprenticeship but asked if she could wear a slightly shorter jilbab that did not extend over her feet when she joined. …. But the Employment Appeal Tribunal has now upheld a ruling by East London employment tribunal that the gown was “reasonably regarded as a tripping hazard” by the nursery.
100,000 Christian displaced from Mosul, says official
Public want to know if animals have not been stunned
Student’s Anti-Islam Article Retracted Due To ‘Safety’ Risk
An opinion piece written by a student at the University of California-Berkeley explaining her decision to leave Islam has been pulled from the school newspaper’s website over fears for the author’s safety.
Brunei homosexuals live under threat of stoning
Ex-Muslim: My parents don’t want me ‘to burn in hell
In the UK religious freedom is a human right, but leaving your family’s religion can still mean isolation and loneliness.
Sara has been speaking to Newsbeat about what it was like when she told her parents two years ago that she no longer wanted to be a Muslim.
Saudi court upholds blogger’s 10 years and 1,000 lashes
Hizb ut-Tahrir leader says woman suing for sexual discrimination does not understand Islam
Islamist groups urge Muslim Danes to boycott election, saying democracy ‘incompatible’ with Islam
Six things you need to know about women and ISIS
…. more than 3,500 Yazidi women were abducted and subjected to torture, rape and other sexual atrocities, as documented by Amnesty International.
Bangladesh academics get death threats from militant Islamist group
Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani sentenced to 12 years
JAILED: Father racially abused teachers and assaulted headteacher in religious row over beards
Furious Muslim man demands £5,000 payout – because he was ‘served PORK’
Egyptian TV presenter sentenced to prison for ‘contempt of religion
‘Jeans-wearing women’ cause earthquakes, says cleric
Five-year blasphemy sentence in Egypt – TV presenter questioned “religious certainties”
May
May 2015
Morning prayer held before Hagia Sophia to demand re-conversion into mosque
Women barred from voting in parts of Pakistan
Iran hardliners crack down on freedom of speech
It was the fact that the event was open to men and women, and that female musicians would be performing in his backing band. Although both of these things are allowed in Iran, and the concert organisers had the necessary official permission, the imam said the event would undermine Islamic values.
Muslim woman files lawsuit for being forced to remove hijab after arrest
Muslim boys high school soccer team refuses to play against team with 2 girls
Muslim bosses spark halal row over new Blackburn Nando’s restaurant
Twelve things women in Saudi Arabia can’t do
He argued that the shopper looked “indecent” and should put on gloves or go home, Gulf News reports. The incident occurred in the northern city of Ha’il and a recording of the altercation has since gone viral, sparking a mixed response within the deeply conservative Muslim nation.
ISIS warns of more ‘black days’ after Saudi mosque attack
Rallies after student threatened over Charlie Hebdo tribute
Teachers and students at a French school rallied Thursday in support of a pupil who received death threats for publishing an edition of the school newspaper in support of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
UWS segregation of men and women seen at Islamic event will never happen again
Losing their religion: the hidden crisis of faith among Britain’s young Muslims
“If someone found out where I lived,” he explains, “they could burn my house down.” …. six years ago he decided to declare that he no longer accepted the fundamental tenets of Islam. He stopped being a believing Muslim and became instead an apostate. It sounds quaintly anachronistic, but it’s not a term to be lightly adopted.
MP warns of “religions intimidation” of Muslim voters
The Labour MP for Slough has hit out against voter intimidation, after some Muslim voters were told that they were not ‘true Muslims’ unless they voted against her.
Croatia festival cancels Houellebecq play on security concerns
The Dubrovnik Summer Festival has canceled a planned premiere of a play by French author Michel Houellebecq, known for stirring controversy with his views of Islam, after police said it would present a security concern.
Third atheist blogger killed in Bangladesh knife attack
Woman with guide dog refused service at Toronto restaurant
Islamists jailed for chopping of teacher’s hand ‘because exam paper insulted Prophet Mohamed’
Trojan Horse: Police support head teacher who received death threat over gay teaching
Extremists order east London Muslims to boycott election vote in Tower Hamlets
Promiscuous women cause earthquakes, claims Iranian cleric
Monash hospital agrees to female-only doctor requests after complaint
Headteachers ‘receiving threats’ when teaching values against homophobia
Malaysia: Islamic leader warns comedians not to make people laugh
April 2015
Fear of religious coercion as Muslims are told holy man endorses Labour
Student ‘in hiding’ after father threatens to kill her because of “Westernised behaviour”
Politicians face religious bullying ban to stop another Tower Hamlets
Laws banning politicians from using religion to bully voters will be toughened in a bid to prevent another scandal like Tower Hamlets, it emerged today.
Ex-President: Germans right to fear Islam
Two Birmingham teachers accused of beating boy for ‘wrongly reciting Koran
Top judge’s veil views clarified
…. A spokesman for the Supreme Court said today: “Following various media reports based on a lecture he gave last week, Lord Neuberger would like to emphasise that he did not say that Muslim women should be allowed to wear a full-face veil while giving evidence in court.
Jakim tries to censor jokes, songs and music on stage
Islamic authorities have set new rules on the kind of personality, dress, music, lyrics and jokes allowed for stage shows and music concerts by foreign personalities, it was reported today.
Men and women are now not allowed to interact on stage. The rules were relased by Jakim, the federal Islamic affairs department, which has religious authority in the Federal Territories.
Pray to Allah or drown, Muslims ordered Christians
Allah flyers put up in Cardiff tell Muslims not to vote
A Golden Age
Jane Corbin’s documentary, Kill the Christians, aired on BBC2 last night. It was a predictably grim catalogue of Islamist violence against the dwindling Christian minority in the Arab Middle East.
Man charged with ‘insulting Islam’ in Dubai over Facebook post on Isis violence in Iraq
Morrisons is first supermarket to stock halal pick and mix sweets
Maajid Nawaz sent death threats by ISIS and installs panic alarm at home because of lap dance CCTV
Extremists are setting up anti-British schools, report claims
MI5 and police partly to blame for radicalisation – say four in 10 British Muslims
Two Turkish journalists face jail terms for Charlie Hebdo cover
UK: Sharia Courts Abusing Muslim Women
Islam vs liberalism: the classroom’s silent Culture War
A report published in the aftermath of the race-related disturbances in Bradford in 2001 found that ‘some teachers in Bradford consider the Holocaust to be a difficult subject to approach with Muslim pupils’.
Iran Eases Ban On Women Attending Sports Matches
Iran has partially lifted a ban on women attending men’s sports matches, the deputy sports minister said on Saturday, days after a court pardoned an Iranian-British woman who had been jailed for protesting against the law.
Shocking Survey Results From Australia
Three quarters of Australian Muslims think counter-terrorism policing and laws unfairly target their community according to a new study funded by the Australian Research Council. Muslims in Australia feel under siege. This has generated a community backlash.
Malaysian Islamic leader calls furore over sharia law misguided
…. Hadi Awang’s party has passed a law in its northern stronghold permitting amputation for thieves and stoning for adulterers, heightening fears about growing Islamisation in the moderate-Muslim country and threatening to break apart a successful three-party opposition coalition.
Sydney father convicted of arranging for his daughter to have sex with man
A Sydney father has been found guilty of “procuring” his 12-year-old daughter for sex with a 27-year-old man after arranging for them to be married in an Islamic ceremony.
March 2015
Islam and “British values” – do Brits believe them to be compatible
…. only 22% said they felt “Islam is generally compatible with the values of British society”. Fifty five percent of people agreed with the statement “There is a fundamental clash between Islam and the values of British society”.
Portsmouth school’s mistaken ‘halal’ note sparks parents’ fury
A PRIMARY school said a note sent to parents saying it will stop serving pork to children was sent out by mistake.
A Parallel World Confronting the abuse of many Muslim women in Britain today
…. there must be equality for all British citizens under a single law of the land. However, evidence suggests that the increasing influence of Sharia law in Britain today is undermining this basic principle.
The majority of voters doubt that Islam is compatible with British values
Second blogger hacked to death this year in Bangladesh
The perils of speaking out against Islamic law in Malaysia
Jordan proposes ban on “insults to religions” at next Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting
Thousands protest woman’s mob killing in Afghanistan capital
Baroness Cox: How discriminatory Sharia law principles affect Muslim women in Britain today
Muslim students sue medical univ. over male/female physical exams
South African writer hit in the face with a brick after praising Salman Rushdie
Activist pulls out of Trinity College talk due to ‘restrictions’ aimed at not ‘antagonising’ Muslims
Islam, The Murder Of Fakhunda, And What Helena Malikyar Cannot Say
…. it acccurately describes the mob as consisting not of rude rustics but of seemingly advanced urban Afghanis, who as soon as the charge of Qur’an-desecration was made, immediately went into action.
Turkey’s top religious body says that IVF should be banned because it is like adultery
Afghan cleric and others defend lynching of woman in Kabul
…. It was unclear whether she had actually burned a Koran, but during Friday prayers at a mosque in a smart area of Kabul, a cleric’s sermon broadcast by loudspeaker told devotees that the crowd had a right to defend their Muslim beliefs at all costs.
‘Sorry, I don’t talk to women’
Most Canadians say faces shouldn’t be covered at citizenship ceremonies: poll
…. wearing the niqab is “rooted in a culture that is anti-women” and that it is “offensive” for someone to keep their face shrouded during the citizenship ceremony.
The poll indicated that 88 per cent of Canadians strongly or somewhat support the “requirement that people show their faces during Canadian citizenship ceremonies.”
Quest for “French Islam” goes to the classroom
…. A French focus is key, given that only 25-30 percent of practicing imams in France are French nationals, with hundreds of others dispatched on assignments by Turkey, Algeria and Morocco, according to a government study published in July.
Pakistan church bombing protests escalate, 10 more Christians killed
Baby-making machines
…. Iran has proposed a raft of draconian new laws that critics fear would force women to stay at home and turn them into “baby-making machines”.
The laws, part of a broader drive to curb women’s rights, would restrict birth control and access to jobs for those without children after a call by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, to boost the population from 77m to 150m within 50 years.
Deadly blasts hit Pakistan churches in Lahore
Two bomb blasts have killed at least 14 people near two churches in a Christian neighbourhood of the Pakistani city of Lahore, local officials say.
Brutal Murder in Bangladesh Highlights Growing Religious Intolerance
The brutal, cowardly murder of freethinker Avijit Roy on the streets of Dhaka is a reflection of embedded intolerance in many Muslim societies. Bangladesh, despite its secular credentials, is no exception.
Teacher sparks backlash after telling students they ‘deserve rape’
…. According to the private Dogan news agency, the teacher was angered by students’ failure to remain silent despite her pleas and said: “You don’t cover your heads either. You deserve rape, you deserve cruelty.”
Iran aims to ban vasectomies and cut access to contraceptives to boost births
A new low: Charlie Hebdo’s murdered staff receive an ‘Islamophobe of the Year’ award
Trojan Horse-linked Small Heath School plunged into special measures after damning Ofsted report
…. ‘‘tensions’’ between a leadership team headed by new Muslim headteacher Shanaz Khan and longer-serving staff members were ‘‘damaging the school’s progress and capacity to improve.”
Turkish court ‘blocks access to country’s first official atheist website’
AFP reports that the website was deemed an “insult to religious values” in the ruling.
The Saudi king gave a prize to an Islamic scholar who says 9/11 was an ‘inside job’
Is life getting worse for women in Erdogan’s Turkey?
…. Human rights groups say there has been a dramatic rise in violence against women during the rule of the current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Be Careful With Mohammed”: Muslim Action Forum launches “legal strategy” to stop publication of insults to Mohammed
The Muslim Action Forum (MAF), which staged a protest outside Downing Street against Charlie Hebdo in February, has launched a “legal strategy” to stop insults against Mohammed. The organisation is also asking supporters to “lobby your MP” to make “Islamophobia” a criminal offence.
Saudi Arabia: Education Minister says No to sports for girls
February 2015
How liberal Britain is betraying ex-Muslims
…. Most ex-Muslims are in the closet because they live with the fear of violence. If you want to go to one of their meetings, they will vet you first to see if you are a spy who will denounce them to their violent enemies.
‘Jihadi John,’ a graduate of my radical university
…. these ideas were deeply ingrained at Westminster, allowing individuals to feel comfortable advocating dangerous and discriminatory beliefs.
I recall a seminar discussion about Immanuel Kant’s “democratic peace theory,” in which a student wearing a niqab opposed the idea on the grounds that “as a Muslim, I don’t believe in democracy.”
Blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh capital
…. Roy had founded a popular Bengali-language blog – Mukto-mona, or Free Mind – in which articles on scientific reasoning and religious extremism featured prominently.
BBC defends reporting of Muslims survey
The BBC has defended its coverage of a survey that showed that more than a quarter of British Muslims have some sympathy for the motives behind last month’s Islamic extremist murders in Paris.
Islamic State ‘destroys ancient Iraq statues in Mosul’
Haitham Haddad – No apostates will escape death
ISIS burns Mosul library: Why terrorists target books
Saudi Arabia court gives death penalty to man who renounced his Muslim faith
Activists warn of end of Christian presence in Middle East as Isis seizes 90 Assyrians
Bradford Muslims ‘duped by charities backing terror’
Saudi men detained for dancing at birthday party
Terror Strikes Copenhagen – “It Is the Danes’ Fault”
Saudi female TV presenters urged to dress more modestly
The kingdom’s advisory body, the Shura Council, is considering a proposal put forward by the country’s media authorities which would require all female television presenters to adopt a more conservative dress code, which includes covering their head and wearing the traditional black abaya cloak.
Religious extremism in Islamic charity is exposed by ITV documentary
…. The worker was recorded praising hate preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, the now-dead jihadi propagandist and al-Qaeda recruiter.
The worker said that al-Awlaki was “a scholar, and basically he was imprisoned, and after he came out of prison he started to incite hatred and telling the western Muslims to bomb. He incited bombings, basically. Bruv, he was a brilliant guy though.”
Another atheist sentenced in Egypt
University reported disbelieving student to the authorities. A 22-year-old Egyptian atheist was sentenced to a year in jail for “contempt of religion” at a court hearing on Monday.
After years of silence, Turkey’s women are going into battle against oppression
…. President Erdogan slammed the women who protested against domestic violence and sexual harassment in Turkey for singing songs and dancing together.
In the pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak, some columnists have said that rape also happens in America and therefore people should shut up about it. Another columnist argued “keep quiet and go to a doctor”.
Copenhagen shootings: Blasphemy debate attack is setback for ‘jihad rehab’ approach
Copenhagen shooting: One dead in deadly seminar attack
…. Cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has faced death threats over his caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, was unhurt. He told the Associated Press news agency that he believed he was the intended target of the attack.
Luton Rabia School ‘undermining British values’ in treatment of girls
An Islamic school is “undermining British values” and “limits girls to knitting and sewing” in technology classes, Ofsted inspectors say. …. Ofsted said the school practised “unequal treatment of girls and boys” and teaching quality was “inadequate”.
Islington Council scraps pork from menus in all primary schools
Pork has been taken off menus at primary schools in a north London borough because it costs too much to monitor which children are allowed to eat it, a council has said.
Islington Council has ruled that it is too expensive to check whether pupils in its primary schools can eat sausages, bacon and pork chops due to their religious beliefs.
Iran: Hassan Rouhani government will not permit women to sing, minister says
ISIS crimes are based on Islamic sources
…. when the people of ISIS perpetrate slaughter, murder, rape, immolation, and all those barbaric crimes, they say that they are relying on the sharia. They say that this is based on a certain hadith, on a certain Quranic chapter, on a certain saying of Ibn Taymiyyah, or on some historical event. To tell the truth, everything that ISIS says is correct.
Teacher quits French school over ‘insidious Islamism’
“The reality is that Averroès Lycée is a Muslim territory that is being funded by the state,” he wrote. “It promotes a vision of Islam that is nothing other than Islamism.
Troubled Islamic school runs up debts of £3 million An Islamic school whose public funds were allegedly sent to Pakistan has run up debts of almost £3 million, it has emerged.
Pupils at the troubled Al-Hijrah School in Birmingham were forced to eat their meals on the floor after the school failed to provide basic facilities, appoint enough teachers or introduce a new national curriculum.
It was alleged last year that public funding earmarked for dining tables and chairs was instead sent to Pakistan.
Limerick school apologises for upset over Charlie Hebdo
THE MANAGEMENT of a Limerick school has apologised to a Muslim pupil, who took offence when a copy of the controversial French newspaper Charlie Hebdo was produced in his classroom.
Girls can marry aged nine, says new Islamic State guide for women
Family of Asia Bibi appeal for help over blasphemy charge
Asia Bibi, a poor, illiterate woman from Pakistan’s rural Punjab, has been on death row for almost five years after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, a charge she vehemently denies. In a rare interview, her husband has appealed for help from the international community.
Halal slaughter: Outcry after undercover film exposes brutality of industry
‘Wives can’t refuse sex’, imam tells Berlin mosque
“A woman must turn her home into a flourishing garden for her husband, so that he does not flee from her like a leper or a lion,” Sheik Abdel Moez al-Eila told the congregation at the Al-Nur mosque.
January 2015
Charlie Hebdo attack: Teachers tell of classroom struggle
…. Then I faced my class of 14 to 15-year-olds, with whom I have a wonderful relationship. I asked how they felt about the events of the previous day, without giving my own reaction.
Their response hit me in the guts: “Miss, the journalists got what was coming to them”; “You should not mock the Prophet.” Only the Muslim pupils spoke – about a third of the class. The others did not say a word. When they saw the tear on my face, they held back: they did not want to upset me.
More recently, a boy mimicked the killings in a corridor, firing an imaginary Kalashnikov and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great, in Arabic).
German carnival drops Charlie Hebdo-inspired float after Paris attack,br />A German carnival has dropped plans to build a “Charlie Hebdo” float with a cartoonist forcing a pencil into the barrel of a terrorist’s gun, after receiving messages from locals worried about safety if the float went on show.
Sharp rise in halal abattoirs slaughtering animals without stunning them first
Facebook censors images of Prophet Mohammed
Facebook has agreed to block pages showing images of the Prophet Mohammed after a Turkish court ruling, despite its chief executive giving his support to freedom of speech proclaiming “Je Suis Charlie”.
Teacher suspended for defending Paris attacks
The man, who teaches at a school for ten to 14-year-olds, reportedly told his students that it is acceptable to hurt somebody if they have offended Allah.
Egyptian poet goes on trial accused of contempt of Islam
How the legal punishments handed out in Saudi Arabia compare to those of Isis
For many, the Saudi justice system sounds not unlike that of Isis, the extremist Islamist group also known as Islamic State, which has struck fear in much of the Middle East.
This week, Middle East Eye, a website that focuses on news from the region and is frequently critical of Saudi Arabia, contrasted a set of legal punishments recently announced by Isis with the corresponding punishments in Saudi Arabia.
Muslim scholars urge UN to outlaw ‘contempt’ of religions
UK plea to imams to fight extremism draws charge of Islamophobia
In a letter to over 1,000 imams last Friday, Eric Pickles, the minister for local government and communities, asked them to explain to Muslims how Islam can be “part of British identity”, arguing they had a duty to do more to fight extremism and root out anyone preaching hatred. Muslim groups said the letter unfairly singled them out.
Aldi withdraws soap brand ‘insulting to Muslims’
The packaging, which Aldi said was intended to evoke the exotic Orient, depicted a Turkish-style mosque with dome and minarets, together with a lantern and a set of prayer beads.
The row began when Muslim customers posted complaints about the design on Aldi’s Facebook page.
Islam, a religion of peace — and Kalashnikovs
…. This was not an “un-Islamic” attack by a bunch of thugs — the perpetrators could be heard shouting that they were avenging the prophet Muhammad. Nor was it spontaneous.
If there is a lesson to be drawn from such a grisly episode, it is that what we believe about Islam truly doesn’t matter. This type of violence, jihad, is what they, the Islamists, believe.
In Wake Of Paris Attacks, Turkey’s President Erdogan Warns Of A ‘Clash Of Civilizations’
…. “We are following with great concern the attacks against Islam hidden behind the attack on the satirical magazine in France,” said Erdogan, who has become an increasingly vocal critic of what he sees as mounting Islamophobia in the West.
No, we haven’t banned books on pigs – but sensitivity is key in global publishing
…. It’s about ensuring the educational value of our publishing is able to navigate the maze of cultural norms for the benefit of students around the world.
…. So, for example, a definition of a pig would not be excluded from a dictionary, and we wouldn’t dream of editing out a “pig” character from an historical work of fiction.
Coffee shop owner faces death threats over ‘Je suis Charlie’ sign outside Brick Lane cafe
Egyptian student jailed for proclaiming that he is an atheist
It is lazy to say Paris terror attacks have nothing to do with Islam, Sajid Javid says
…. He told the Murnaghan programme on Sky News: “All communities can do more to try and help and deal with terrorists, try and help track them down, but I think it is absolutely fair to say that there is a special burden on Muslim communities, because whether we like it or not, these terrorists call themselves Muslims.
“What do you expect if you insult Islam?” British hate preacher BACKS the Paris massacres and tells his followers “Britain is the enemy of Islam”
A British hate preacher backed the Paris massacres just hours after the bloody events unfolded and told his followers ‘Britain is the enemy of Islam’.
Cleric Mizanur Rahman, of Palmers Green, north London, defended the brutal murder of 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo offices, saying ‘insulting Islam…they can’t expect a different result.’
Satirical religious cartoons should be illegal, says Ottawa imam
An Ottawa imam has denounced the terrorist attack on a Paris weekly newspaper that killed 12 people, but he says satirical cartoons of religious leaders should be illegal.
Saudi blogger Badawi ‘flogged for Islam insult’
Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail, was flogged 50 times. The flogging will be carried out weekly, campaigners say. Mr Badawi, the co-founder of a now banned website called the Liberal Saudi Network, was arrested in 2012.
Islamic scholar threatens Irish publications with legal action if they publish offending cartoon
Dr Ali Selim of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland threatened legal action against Irish journalists who post pictures of the page to their Twitter accounts and warned media not to reproduce it. The page contained a picture of Muhammad kissing another man, with the line “love is stronger than hate”.
Four Killed In Anti-Charlie Hebdo Protests
At least four people have died in Niger in violent protests over the Charlie Hebdo magazine’s publication of a new cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.
Islam forbids men from becoming homemakers, says religious research centre
…. Siti Fatimah Abdul Rahman, consultation and exercise unit leader in Ikim’s centre for economic and social studies, said the Quran mandates the husband, not the wife, to provide for the household, the Sunday edition of local daily New Straits Times reported today.
For Muslim apostates, giving up their faith can be terrifying, alienating and dangerous
In many Muslim-majority countries, renouncing Islam is a crime punishable by death. But even in the liberal West, some ex-Muslims continue to fear leaving their faith. …. they hide their disbelief or risk being ostracized by their families and the wider ummah (community) of believers.
Mothers’ only career should be motherhood, Turkish health minister says
December 2014
Ahmadi man gunned down in Gujranwala
Gunmen in a Punjab village shot dead a member of the Ahmadi religious minority on Saturday, five days after a Muslim leader denounced Ahmadis on a popular television show.
Morocco says Exodus film ‘represents God’ and is forbidden in Islam
Egyptian writer to face trial for “insulting Islam”
Muslims reject vaccine for children in Kirklees
Thousands of children missed out on protection from flu this winter because the nasal spray vaccine is not halal. This year’s only vaccine – Fluenz – contains pork gelatine.
Islamic State: Yazidi women tell of sex-slavery trauma
Saudi Arabia Grand Mufti says no opposition to underage marriage
The Muslim Council of Britain on the Peshawar Massacre This is a passage from the Koran which even many non-Muslims will recognize. The MCB version goes:
“Whosoever kills a human being, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whosoever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.”
…. The relevant point is that the MCB has cynically removed the middle clause knowing full well that it more or less negates the surrounding clauses.
Death threats for Saudi cleric after wife shows face on TV
Islamist call for Algerian author’s death stirs outrage
Pakistan’s sickening massacre isn’t about religion – it’s about intimidation
Of course its about religion and one religion’s desire to dominate and exert its will with extreme violence. Denying it is akin to burying your head in the sand.
Saudi Arabia: 10,000 Twitter accounts closed and users arrested over ‘religious violations’
New ‘Islamic doll’ launched in Britain has no facial features
The ‘Deeni Doll’ has no eyes, nose or mouth whatsoever in a bid to comply with Islamic rules governing the depiction of faces.
Girl disguised as man caught in Saudi stadium
Women are banned from entering sport stadiums in Saudi Arabia but there have been reports about plans to allow them into separate places assigned only for females.
House of Lords debates FGM and Sharia Law in the UK
…. “several Muslim women have told me that men in their communities may each have up to 20 children,” adding that this leads to children growing up in “dysfunctional families.” Citing information from the report, Lady Cox said: “Two-thirds of those who are married are in polygamous marriages.
How Pakistan’s women are punished for love
….The following day in a busy street in Karachi, Pakistan’s most populous city, her male family members surrounded the newlyweds and, at gunpoint, dragged Arifa away.
Indonesia’s Jakarta Post rejects blasphemy claim over IS cartoon
Muslim ‘wives’ discover that they have no marriage rights
New report on UK sharia ‘marriages’ exposes “tip of the iceberg”
The report finds that the widespread practice of polygamy has left Muslim women without legal rights upon ‘divorce’, entirely dependent on their ‘husbands’ for financial support, and often unable to leave sham ‘marriages’ for fear of social ostracism or bringing “shame” to their family.
Mass polygamy in UK Muslim community – claim
Persecution of Pakistan’s religious minorities intensifies, says report
Trojan Horse school former head: “I was pushed out for teaching kids British values”
Why does Islam beget violence?
Islamic groups claimed nothing in their faith licensed this ghastly attack and Monis’s former lawyer, Manny Conditsis, summed up this deep evasion in an interview with the ABC: “Yes, he said he was of the Islam faith but he could have been any other damaged individual that did what he did.”
Except, of course, we rarely get damaged individuals killing people in chocolate shops in the name of Buddha. We don’t get damaged individuals beheading a British soldier in the name of Christ.
A Sikh Principal, Too English for a Largely Muslim School
Women driving takes a new turn: Activists advised to undergo counseling
…. Chief of the Hadhlul clan, Abdul Rahman Al-Hadhlul, deputy chairman of the Riyadh Charity Society for the Memorization of the Holy Qur’an, said the women’s driving campaign is part of a Western anti-Saudi initiative. …. He said he supports counseling for women driving activists so that they change their attitude.
Gunmen target Pakistan lawyer defending blasphemy accused
Iran moves forward with death penalty over Facebook posts
A 30-year-old blogger and photographer has been sentenced to death in Iran for “insulting the prophet of Islam” on Facebook, drawing renewed attention to the country’s notorious human rights record.
Religious leaders unite to end modern slavery – with one Islamic amendment
No sign of pardon for Iran blogger sentenced to death
Trojan Horse: six more suspensions at Park View Educational Trust
The teachers were both reportedly part of a WhatsApp group which suggested the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby and the bombing of the Boston Marathon were faked.
Birmingham trust ‘set up Pakistan school with public cash’
Veena Malik denies blasphemy charges
A leading actress has been caught up in a blasphemy row in Pakistan – after being sentenced to 26 years in prison, following an appearance on a TV show.
…. The show caused outrage amongst some Pakistanis because it showed people dancing to a religious song about the wedding of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad’s daughter.
Inspectors ‘failing to spot signs of extremism’ at private Muslim schools
November 2014
Pope and patriarch condemn expulsion of Christians from Middle East
‘Terror link’ charities get British millions in Gift Aid
Charities accused of supporting jihad in Syria and other forms of terrorism have been paid millions of pounds by British taxpayers.
Muslim duo’s refusal to stand is ‘a slur on court’
TWO Muslims have refused to stand for a District Court judge, with one claiming they are not “at the behest of any authority other than Islam”.
Islamic women’s groups welcome call for imams to denounce domestic violence
If they’re serious then they should start by denouncing the old Surah 4:34. You know the one, when God says it’s ok to beat disobedient women. Can’t see it happening though.
Iran Upholds Death Sentence for Photographer Who Insulted Prophet on Facebook
Real Madrid remove cross from crest to appease Abu Dhabi bank
Peer faces formal complaint after calling on Muslims to “address the violence in the Qur’an”
Speaking in the House of Lords, Pearson, the former UKIP leader, said: “My lords, are the government aware that Fusilier Rigby’s murderers quoted 22 verses of the Qur’an to justify their atrocity?
Indonesia’s growing religious intolerance
The Disturbing Heroes of Dutch Muslim Youth
…. for hundreds of thousands of Dutch youth, the heroes of the day are neither film stars nor comedians: they are the jihadists of the Islamic State.
Islamic State destroys historic church in Mosul
Egypt: The forbidden love of interfaith romances
They can’t marry in Egypt because Milad is a Christian, while Aya is a Muslim woman. Under Egyptian law, Milad would have to convert Islam, even though a Christian woman can marry a Muslim man without having to convert.
Turkey president Erdogan: Women are not equal to men
HRW calls on Indonesia to scrap ‘virginity tests’ for female police
In a report published on November 18, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses the Indonesian government of subjecting women applying for Indonesia’s National Police to discriminatory virginity tests.
Friend of Alan Henning says Muslim hate crime surge is fault of media and politicians
Kenya bus attack: Al-Shabaab militants kill 28 non-Muslims who failed to recite Koran
‘Radicalisation risk’ at six Muslim private schools, says Ofsted
Two cab drivers guilty of refusing to pick up blind man and guide dog
Schools accused of failing to protect children from extremism
Slavery in Islam
THE holy book is clear about what to do when you capture a city: “Put to the sword all the men in it”. As for the women and children, “You may take these as plunder for yourselves.”
Bangladesh professor ‘hacked to death’ by suspected militants
Muslims found Americas before Columbus says Turkey’s Erdogan
Al-Arabiya Chief: No Evidence Islam is Compatible w/Democracy
Saudi school ‘teaching anti-Semitism’
Mehdi Hasan: sanctions for ‘dishonest, demonising press coverage’ of Muslims
The school that says Osama Bin Laden was a hero
East Lancs Muslims’ shock at flu ‘pig vaccine’
Thousands of East Lancashire youngsters, aged between 11 and 13, are being offered the new nasal spray, which is made with gelatine derived from pigs, as part of a pilot scheme.
But the decision not to offer an alternative has been branded ‘outrageous’ by community leaders, who said some Muslims would consider the spray to be ‘Haram’, or sinful.
Anger over university’s decision to cancel Islamic extremism report launch
Iran stripped of world championship volleyball tournament after jailing female spectator
An Allegation of Blasphemy Spells Death in Pakistan
Let Muslim primary school teachers wear full-face veil in class – Rowan Williams
Pakistani police officer axes man to death over blasphemy
Acid attacks in Iran sharpen row over Islamic dress and vigilantism
The attacks – there have been at least four in the busy city in central Iran in recent weeks – appear aimed at terrorizing women who dare to test the boundaries of the Islamic dress code.
Unstunned meat ‘should be labelled’
Meat sold in British shops should be labelled to say whether the animal it came from was stunned at slaughter as many killed in accordance with religious rites are not.
Christians beaten to death for allegedly desecrating Qur’an in Pakistan
ISIS Snuffs Out Ancient Christianity – Muslim Persecution of Christians
October 2014
Feminist activist detained in Saudi Arabia over ‘calls for women’s liberation’
One in four Australians has negative attitude towards Muslims
Inside Sharia law: SBS reporter Patrick Abboud reveals life under the morality police in Aceh
Abboud said one woman was caned publicly for selling food during Ramadan, and as these pictures show her punishment is far from light.
For others it is even worse. One policewoman told Abboud: “Women who wear tight clothes are inviting bad things to happen to them, such as rape. Actually, crime happens because we invite it.
Ottawa shooting: Canadian Muslims denounce attacks – Muslim groups respond to the Ottawa shooting
Twitter ‘source of all evil’ says Saudi Arabia cleric
Revealed, the private academy set up by teachers barred over Trojan Horse plot
Pakistani Christian loses appeal against death sentence for blasphemy
Outrage over swim class for Muslim women
Islamic State Have A Magazine Out, And It Justifies Sex Slavery
Qatar and Saudi Arabia ‘have ignited time bomb by funding global spread of radical Islam’
Sudan’s ‘morality’ laws used to punish women, report finds
September 2014
KFC say ban on hand wipes at a Leicester outlet was a ‘misunderstanding’
Fast food giant KFC has admitted that a ban on alcohol-based hand wipes in a Leicester branch was a ‘misunderstanding’.
Asian Games: Qatar women’s team pull out over hijab ban
Women’s Rights Activist Executed by ISIS in Iraq
An Iraqi lawyer known for her work promoting women’s rights has been killed by Islamic State fighters, the head of the United Nations human rights office said on Thursday, continuing a pattern of attacks on professional women.
The Men with Many Wives: the British Muslims who practise polygamy
It is estimated that as many as 20,000 polygamous Muslim marriages exist in the UK. In a Channel 4 documentary this week, director Masood Khan will delve into the community of British Muslim polygamists to find out “what makes these people tick” and how a religious group is able to put its own practices above UK law.
Dr Muhammad Shakeel Auj: Islamic scholar murdered in Pakistan due to his liberal views
Mother claims a niqab-wearing school bus driver poses a safety risk
Coming Soon in Aceh: Shariah Law for Non-Muslims
Women’s groups slam ‘discriminatory’ UK advice on sharia wills
In an open letter published on Thursday campaigners said the guidance, “a source of immense concern,” encourages legal services “to accommodate highly gender discriminatory religious laws that are being increasingly defined by religious fundamentalists in our society”.
Iranians behind Tehran version of ‘Happy’ sentenced to six months in prison and 91 lashes
Liberal professor of Islam shot dead in Pakistan
Death Sentence for “Insulting the Prophet” on Facebook
Saudi human rights activist fined for driving herself to the hospital
Saudi anti-Christian sweep prompts calls for US involvement
Thousands of Muslim marriages conducted in UK are not legal
Germany won’t tolerate ‘Sharia police’
Inside Jobs and Israeli Stooges: Why Is the Muslim World in Thrall to Conspiracy Theories?
Did you know that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis, was trained by Mossad and the CIA? Were you aware that his real name isn’t Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai but Simon Elliot? Or that he’s a Jewish actor who was recruited by the Israelis to play the part of the world’s most wanted terrorist?
Muslim leader calls for Islamic beliefs to be accepted in Irish schools
…. He also writes that there is “a clash of values” when it comes to the “traditional ways of teaching PE [Physical Education/Gym class]” in Ireland. Selim explains that in some Irish schools “under the guise of health and safety, Muslim girls are obliged to take off their headscarves for PE classes, which is not acceptable to them.”
Danish mosque declares support for Isis
“An Islamic state will always be what Muslims long for, therefore we cannot help but to support the Islamic State. Even if it makes mistakes, we will just have to wait and see,” mosque spokesman Fadi Abdallah told the online news source Den Korte Avis.
Egypt fatwa bans online chats between sexes
Extremist video shown in Trojan school, MPs told
British man beaten by ‘religious police’ in Saudi Arabia for using women-only queue
The Plot to Islamise Birmingham’s Schools
Too many of Britain’s Muslims are failing to integrate. We need to find out why
August 2014
Rotherham: politics ‘imported from Pakistan’ fuelled sex abuse cover-up – MP
Outraged Muslims throw Somali Christian convert off 4th floor balcony
Grand Ayatollah Issues Fatwa Stating High Speed Internet is against Sharia
Mohammed is most popular name in Oslo
Multiculturalism has brought us honour killings and Sharia law, says Archbishop
As long as Obama spouts the fallacy that the Islamic State “speaks for no religion”, we will never kill the root
…. He appears not to grasp the Islamist worldview, which is as theological as it is political; as historic as it is present. Allah is not merely a “just God”: he is perfect justice, and his prophet did no wrong.
The Caliphate Delusion: the political construct that bears no relevance in the modern world
The term was a reference to a global Muslim empire that would have a single ruler for life, referred to as Caliph, and implement a single interpretation of shariah. This empire would also be expansionist and seek to aggressively stretch its borders through warfare until the entire world fell under its domain.
Lutfur Rahman ‘secured Tower Hamlets election win with curry house threats and bribes’
John Lewis to sell the hijab as school uniform – but not in Bath and other West Country stores
Iraq crisis: Yazidi villagers ‘massacred’ by IS
Saudi men in jail for celebrating alone with women
Vatican calls on Muslim leaders to condemn Christian persecution in Iraq
BVA ramps up pressure on government on non-stun slaughter
The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has written to party leaders in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as part of its campaign to end non-stun slaughter.
Women Stoned To Death By ISIS Fighters In Syria For Adultery
Iraq Christian leader: People are being slaughtered
The UN Security Council has held an emergency meeting on Iraq, after the largest Christian town was seized by Islamic State militants.
Islam ‘does not belong in German society’ – poll
Italy expels imam for preaching hatred against Jews
July 2014
Malaysian Muslims facing fascist indoctrination, former minister says
Persecution of Ahmaddiya Muslims in Pakistan Is a Continuing Stain on the Country
The plight of Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan or the Middle East reveals blight within mainstream Islam, whether Sunni or Shia – that others who do not agree with their very specific chronology and theology are apostates, infidels, kuffars.
Trojan Horse plot: we must not excuse bigots on the grounds that they are Muslim
It’s time for Muslims to revise their incoherent message. They could start by revising the Koran. After all what civilised people would promote a ‘holy book’ that instructs its followers to kill or subjugate anyone who disagrees with them?
‘Women should not laugh in public,’ says Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister in morality speech
Ahmadi woman and children killed after Pakistani mob torches homes
Commonwealth Games Scottie dogs ‘disrespectful to Muslims’
Malaysian politicians and religious leaders have attacked the use of Scottie dogs during the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, claiming it was disrespectful to Muslims.
Christianity in Iraq – “the end is very near”
Extremist Muslim bullies forced out headteacher
He said the governors sought to control his inner-city school, including bringing in Islamic worship each morning. When he objected he claims they conspired to force him out and replace him with a Muslim head.
ISIS Purge Christians In Iraq: ‘Bishop Of Baghdad’, Andrew White Says ‘The End Is Very Near’
Iraq: Isis warns women to wear full veil or face punishment
A country where liberal journalists risk death
The life of a liberal journalist in Pakistan is not an easy one. Write about someone fighting a blasphemy case, or someone whose faith is considered heresy, and you may very soon find yourself in deep trouble.
Harassment of Christians escalates in Islamist-run Sudan
‘Trojan Horse’ Teachers Claimed Lee Rigby Murder Was A Hoax And Gay People Were Satanic
“There is also an undercurrent of anti-Western sentiment, explicit antagonism towards the British military, a sceptical reaction to news of terrorist attacks (Lee Rigby and the Boston bombings), and numerous links posted to extremist speakers.”
Teachers at Muslim Trojan Horse school sent WhatsApp messages claiming Lee Rigby’s murder and Boston bombing were HOAXES, inquiry reveals
…. Mr Hussain’s brother, Maz Hussain, was head of science, and Miss Paul claims he once handed out a worksheet stating that women ‘must obey their husbands,’ and told Year 10 boys that wives were not allowed to refuse their husbands sex.
She added: ‘I was ridiculed by the kids. In one class I can remember them all shouting at me “You’re going to burn in hell, Miss”, just because they knew I’m not Muslim.’
Undercover report reveals school governor was racist bigot
School chief Shahid Akmal told an undercover reporter from Birmingham Mail sister paper the Mirror, that “white women have the least amount of morals”, white children were “lazy” and that British people have “colonial blood”.
Akmal claimed that women were “emotionally weaker” than men and that their role was to look after children and the home.
Anti-West rants of Trojan Horse teachers
Trojan Horse Report Finds ‘Aggressive Islamic Ethos’ In Birmingham Schools
Ban on New Christian Churches Has Watchdogs Worried
Sudan has been in the headlines of late over its persecution of a Christian woman who was arrested and condemned to death for refusing to recant her faith, but it’s the nation’s recent decision to ban the construction of new churches that is raising additional concern among watchdogs.
‘Gender Segregation Is Discrimination’ – So Why Does the EHRC Allow for Exemptions?
Seven months after the controversy surrounding the publication of Universities UK’s guidelines legitimising gender segregation, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has now ruled that gender segregation is – generally – unlawful. The verdict of the commission could not be clearer:
Iraqi Christians are raped, murdered and driven from their homes – and the West is silent
Convert, pay tax, or die, Islamic State warns Christians
Birmingham council a ‘disastrous failure’ over Islamism in schools
Christians lie and wives must have sex or go to hell, Trojan Horse pupils told
Children were taught that all Christians are liars and attempts were made to introduce Sharia law in classrooms as part of an alleged ‘Trojan Horse’ takeover plot of Birmingham schools, an inquiry has found.
The inquiry commissioned by Birmingham City Council found evidence of religious extremism in 13 schools as school governors and teachers tried to promote and enforce radical Islamic values.
Why is the Law Society promoting Islamic rules and legal services?
Trojan horse inquiry: ‘A coordinated agenda to impose hardline Sunni Islam’
Muslim worker refuses to sell ham and wine to customer in Tesco in Neasden
Does sharia allow a man to beat his wife? – video
Sharia court judge Shaykh Haitham Al Haddad is no stranger to controversy. Here, Fatima Manji challenges him over whether or not he thinks it is legitimate for a man to beat his wife.
Iran sentences eight Facebook activists to total of 127 years in prison for ‘criticising government’
There is no place in Britain for Sharia law, says archbishop
Iranian journalist sentenced to two years and 50 lashes
Disgust at Halal meat in school meals
Rome will be conquered next, says leader of ‘Islamic State’
Concerns about Islamic Extremism on the Rise in Middle East
June 2014
When eating becomes a crime
In a blog post on Saturday I wrote about efforts by some of the Arab states to criminalise anyone – non-Muslims included – who is seen eating, drinking or smoking during the daylight hours of Ramadan.
Pakistan: Rampant Killings of Shia by Extremists
Islamic extremism concerns at Tower Hamlets school
Church Bells Fall Silent in Mosul as Iraq’s Christians Flee
Radio presenter Michael Smith dumped after comments about the Prophet Mohammed
Sydney talkback radio host Michael Smith has been told he will no longer be filling in on 2GB after making controversial comments about the Prophet Mohammed. The former 2UE presenter made the comments on Thursday during his regular guest spot with 2GB host Ben Fordham. …. Smith said the founder of Islam was “a man who promoted the idea that it was OK to marry a six-year-old and consummate the marriage when the little girl was nine”.
Perth Muslim praises extremists
Mosque hardliners gave extremist lectures at school
…. The sessions, entitled “Reminding Cathays High”, included teaching pupils that music and “free-mixing”, contact between boys and girls, were “not permitted in Islam”. In a separate lecture at the mosque, Mr Hammuda described music as a “sickness”.
South Yorkshire mum’s anger over school burger mix-up
An angry mum is demanding an investigation after her son was mistakenly served a non-halal burger for his school lunch. …. “As Muslims we are simply not allowed to eat non-halal meats and for someone to say sorry to Hassan just doesn’t cut it,” she said.
Non-Muslim Expats Who ‘Disrespect’ Ramadan Threatened With Expulsion From Saudi Arabia
Ultra-conservative branch of Islam growing in popularity in Wales
…. Up to six Welsh mosques are now part of the Islamic movement known as Salafism, including Cardiff’s Al-Manar centre, where Nasser Muthana, 20, younger brother Aseel Muthana, 17, and Reyaad Khan, 20, are said to have worshipped. Nasser and Reyaad appeared in the video by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which now controls huge swathes of territory in the two countries.
Egyptian Christian Sentenced to Six Years for Blasphemy
Christian Heathrow Worker Nohad Halawi, ‘Harassed’ By Muslim Colleagues, Takes Duty Free Employer To Court
Nohad Halawi is suing for unfair dismissal and unlawful discrimination, saying that she and other Christian staff were victims of systematic harassment, with one friend reduced to tears for wearing a cross.
Nigerian man is locked up after saying he is an atheist
World Cup 2014: Iran Arrests Three Over ‘Vulgar’ Music Video
The video shows young people, including women not wearing mandatory headscarves, singing and dancing in support of the national team, who are currently taking part in the World Cup.
Did this preacher groom the jihadi Britons? Notorious cleric visited mosque where terror brothers worshipped
A notorious Saudi cleric preached at a mosque accused of radicalising three young Britons fighting in Syria
British mosques aren’t that moderate after all
As the Muslim population became more established, one might have assumed that a westernised form of Islam would have come to dominate Britain’s mosques. According to a database of British Islam, however, only two out of 1,700 mosques in Britain follow modernist interpretations of the Koran.
The Inconvenient truth about Islamic immigration
That truth — and it has been a concern of governments for some time — is that with Britain’s rapidly increasing Muslim population, the teaching of any culturally conservative interpretation of Islam (the bare minimum that any serious Muslim would insist on) is entirely incompatible with the secular, liberal and pluralistic values that define British society, and even perhaps incompatible with the long-term political stability of the country.
Yes, the West has fought the Muslim world for centuries. But Islam must accept much of the blame for today’s bloody chaos
…. Their desire to promote a new caliphate, ruled by sharia law, reflects a rejection of the West rooted in a pitiful inability to compete with the West in any constructive fashion. Glorious death represents their highest aspiration.
Iranian Child Bride Razieh Ebrahimi Set To Be Executed For Murder Of Husband
An Iranian child bride, forced to marry at the age of 14, is to be hanged in Iran after killing her husband.
New rules ‘could bar conservative Muslims from being school trustees’
…. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) told the Guardian that the new rule would make it very difficult to become a school governor if conservative Muslim beliefs were deemed to be incompatible with “British values”, and that it put too much power in the secretary of state’s hands to define those values.
Saudi preacher under fire for saying face veil is not mandatory
…. “If you enjoy looking at other Muslim women then it means something is wrong with you! And you are the one who needs advice,” commented @k_almassad. Another user, @m_MesOo, described the preacher’s Twitter comment as “Liberals’ heresies.”
Noted Convert in Egypt, Formerly Known as Hegazy, Sentenced to Five Years in Prison
Sisi’s Egypt to ‘eliminate’ atheism
Following Saudi Arabia’s absurd decision to outlaw “calling for atheist thought” on the grounds that it is a form of terrorism, Egypt is trying a different approach. Labelling Egyptian atheists as terrorists might be just a bit too confusing because the Sisi regime has already allocated the Muslim Brotherhood to the terrorism slot. Instead, the government is preparing to launch “a national plan to confront the phenomenon of atheism”.
Politicians blast Islamic Council’s anti-gay comments
Al Maimouni, who earlier in the week lamented that the limited number of politicians taking part in the mosque opening celebration would compromise integration, said that homosexuality was wrong and should be considered an illness.
Meaty row over halal-only KFC
…. A customer was angered when she tried to order four KFC “Quadwraps” — chicken and bacon in a tortilla — at the chain’s Centre Retail Park, Royton, branch – only to be told it no longer sold them becvause it was one of 100 branches selling halal-prepared meat only
Religious Persecution in Pakistan
… In Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government continues to both perpetrate and tolerate the persecution of Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus, and Shiites. The government’s enforcement of repressive blasphemy laws — under which 40 Pakistanis are currently jailed — and anti-Ahmadi laws also constitute serious religious-freedom abuses and open the door to religious extremists.
Egyptian Christian teacher sentenced for blasphemy
…. Egypt’s state news agency MENA said the appellate court in Luxor ruled that elementary school teacher Dimyana Abdel-Nour had insulted Islam in front of her pupils.
The Koran and Child Marriage
…. Is it praiseworthy to make a false statement about a religion’s teachings in order to incite its followers to behave well? Whatever the answer to this question may be, this strategy is bound to fail, because anyone who is better informed about the religion will simply reject advice based upon ignorance.
In America, most mosques profess to teach a version of Islam adapted to the modern world. That’s not what I’ve found here…
The introduction of a madrassa curriculum at a secular state school in Birmingham and talk of Christian pupils at risk of ‘cultural isolation’ seem to have come as a revelation to non-Muslim Britain. They should not have. Islam in Britain is dominated by a very specific, and rather illiberal, version of the faith — one that, if anything, seems to be becoming more conservative over time.
Was the 1980s Bradford headteacher who criticised multiculturalism right?
…. Ofsted’s report finds that in Park View school, the sexes are segregated inside the classroom, their sports events are scheduled for different days and that a “madrasa curriculum” denies evolutionary theory and omits reproduction from biology classes.
The rules in ISIS’ new state: Amputations for stealing and women to stay indoors
Muslim school inspector employed by Ofsted refuses to shake women’s hands
A Muslim schools inspector employed by Ofsted in London refused to shake hands with women teachers, the education watchdog admitted today.
The British values that need to be taught in school
I HAVE tried and failed to think of another country where it would be considered in any way controversial to propose that schools be required to build their education around that nation’s values. Can you imagine the US senate descending into mealy mouthed argument as to whether promoting American values in the classroom might upset some minority or other?
Trojan Horse debate: We were wrong, all cultures are not equal
…. The crisis in Birmingham made me look up Ray Honeyford. The headmaster of a school in Bradford, Honeyford published an article highly critical of multiculturalism around the same time that I was wondering why Muslim girls in west London weren’t allowed to learn how to swim.
Islamist Pressure Forces Closure of Churches in Indonesia
Saudi minister says beheading, lashings ‘cannot be changed’
Saudi Arabia’s Justice Minister has defended tough Sharia punishments such as beheading, cutting off hands and lashing, claiming they “cannot be changed” because they are enshrined in Islamic law.
Bradford school governors ‘promoted Islamic agenda’
Moderate Muslim preacher shot dead in Kenya
A Muslim preacher who condemned radical interpretations of Islam was shot dead near a mosque on Kenya’s coast on Tuesday, a regional official said.
Books ‘promoting stoning’ found at Olive Tree Primary School
Islamic Olive Tree Primary School Found To Have Books Promoting Stoning, Lashing And Execution
An Islamic primary school has been deemed failing by the education watchdog after it was found with books promoting stoning, lashing and execution. Ofsted rated Olive Tree Primary School in Luton, Bedfordshire, as inadequate after inspectors found “pupils’ contact in school with people from different cultures, faiths and traditions is too limited to promote tolerance and respect for the views, lifestyles and customs of other people”
Trojan Horse Schools ‘Covered Up Activities’, Put On Christianity Lessons To Fool Inspectors
Muslim driver fights US city’s taxi wardrobe rules
He says his religious beliefs require him to wear a traditional head covering known as a kufi, a billowy shirt called a kurta and loose-fitting pants rather than the Metropolitan Taxicab Commission’s mandated uniform of black slacks and a white, button-down shirt.
The Luton Islamic Centre on Stoning and the Kuffar
…. the Luton Islamic Centre’s guidance on “Greeting The Kuffaar On Their Festivals”: “It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross, or even worse than that. It is as great a sin as congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone, or having illicit sexual relations, and so on. Many of those who have no respect for their religion fall into this error; they do not realize the offensiveness of their actions.
In their own words, the disturbing views of teachers at the heart of the row over extremism in schools
…. Oldknow’s deputy principal, Mazhar Hussain Al Maazari, used Facebook to post an unforgiving comment calling for Muslims to disown those who leave the faith: ‘Do not love the one who does not love Allah,’ it read. ‘If they can leave Allah, they will leave you.’
“Stop faith-based killings” in Pakistan – UN Urges
Mob torches Christian shops in Egypt ahead trial
What the Meriam Ibrahim case can tell us about the state of Islam
The tragic story of Meriam Ibrahim, a 27-year-old woman sentenced to death for apostasy in Khartoum, where she is being held with her 20-month-old son, has shocked and saddened millions of rational, moral and empathic people around the world.
Meriam Ibrahim: Apostasy Sudanese woman sentenced to hang ‘may not be freed’, her lawyers warn
Damning reports will show state schools in Birmingham are imposing Islamic practices
The reports are due to be published by the education watchdog Ofsted next week, after inspectors carried out emergency checks in 21 schools in Birmingham following complaints of homophobia, the segregation of boys and girls in some lessons, refusal to teach sex education, bullying and invitations to extremists to speak at assemblies.
May 2014
‘Stolen election’ in the heart of London
…. Mr Miah’s count had finished. He was top in his ward with 2,270 votes, 149 more than his nearest Rahman-supporting rival. But then things started to go wrong. “The returning officer was about to announce the result,” said Mr Miah. “Then the mayor in person came down and said you must recount”.
Death for Apostasy
…. There seems to be a problem with many “modernist and liberal” Muslims out there who would like to “sugarcoat” the religion of Islam by distorting what it really teaches. There are those that go at length to deny that Islam teaches that apostates must be killed. They either deny the explicit hadith that speak about this or reinterpret it to only refer to those apostates that would fight the Muslims.
Cameron denounces ‘barbaric’ Sudan death sentence
Turkey sentences Twitter user to jail for blasphemy
Apostasy woman in Sudan sentenced to death forced to give birth ‘with her legs chained’
Support Tower Hamlets mayor or risk riots, says advisor
A senior adviser to Lutfur Rahman, the extremist-linked mayor of Tower Hamlets, has said there will be street violence unless people stop questioning the manner of his re-election.
Briton among eight jailed in Iran for web insults
Sudanese woman sentenced to death for apostasy gives birth in prison
Malaysian Muslim groups call for jihad on Cadbury after pork traces found in chocolate
Local Muslim families push for halal food on school lunch menus
Auction houses fear offending Middle Eastern art collectors with nude paintings
“Secularism and pluralism are incompatible with Islam”
It is not I who says that secularism and pluralism are incompatible with Islam. It comes from a qualified source. Namely from a well-known Islamic theologian and commentator who writes for the pro-government Yeni Safak. I will give extensive excerpts from what Professor Hayrettin Karaman wrote in his column on May 25.
Birmingham’s al-Hijrah School Governing Body – All Sacked
I renounced Islam, so my family think I should die
If Amal Farah were not living in Britain, she believes she might well be dead. For the 33-year-old financial manager had carried out an act so heinous, her family felt she deserved to die. Her crime? She had renounced her Islamic faith – “and within my community, that’s a capital offence,” she said. “They believe you deserve to die.”
Who, What, Why: What can you be flogged for in Iran?
A campaign has begun in Iran to get an actress flogged after she was seen being kissed at the Cannes Festival. Flogging is common in Iran – but what offences in Iranian law are punished with the lash, asks Tom de Castella.
Iranian actress Leila Hatami faces public flogging
A red carpet peck on the cheek by Leila Hatami, the Iranian actress at the Cannes Film Festival has been reported to the country’s courts by activists who are seeking a public flogging as punishment for violating Islamic laws.
Arrests over the Happy dance video in Iran reflect hardliners’ frustration
It is not the first time the question of Iran’s social mores has hit the headlines. Six young Tehranis got into trouble after their contribution to an internet phenomenon – a lip-synched dance to an innocent pop song, Happy – went viral on YouTube.
Scathing report could shut Muslim school for promoting Salafi beliefs
In their unpublished draft report, the inspectors said the school – the Olive Tree primary school in Luton – fails to prepare its pupils “for life in modern Britain, as opposed to life in a Muslim state”, and that its library contains books that are “abhorrent to British society” in their depiction of punishments under sharia law.
Lutfur Rahman: 30 things you need to know about the extremist-linked mayor of Tower Hamlets
Tomorrow thousands of real voters – plus, if past Tower Hamlets elections are any guide, quite a few fake ones – will deliver their verdicts on the borough’s extremist-linked executive mayor, Lutfur Rahman. Rahman’s council is currently under investigation by both the police and an official inquiry ordered by the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles
UK: “The Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets”
Lutfur Rahman, the Bangladesh-born Muslim elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, East London, was accused by BBC’s Panorama of doubling public funding to Bangladeshi and Somali Muslim groups from £1.3 million ($2.9m) to £3.6 million ($6m) at the recommendation of council officers.
Bishop of Salisbury says he will not intervene after Sherborne vicar’s views on “invasion of halal meat” prompt complaint
He said the “invasion of halal meat” in the UK was worse than he thought and that “although I would defend to the hilt the right of any community to follow their own rules relating to food and other products, I do not believe that the rest of us should have halal meat foisted on us by stealth.”
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey calls on British Muslim leaders to back the right to convert from Islam
The peer said it was “accepted doctrine” that Muslim converts should face the death penalty. He also said there were examples of ex-Muslims in Britain who had been forced to “almost go underground”. “Isn’t there something fundamentally wrong with Islam at its core that it cannot allow people to change their religion?” he told The Sunday Times.
Sudan woman faces death for apostasy
A Sudanese court has sentenced a woman to hang for apostasy – the abandonment of her religious faith – after she married a Christian man. Amnesty International condemned the sentence, handed down by a judge in Khartoum, as “appalling and abhorrent”.
Court sentences founder of popular online forum for blasphemy
A Turkish court has given Sedat Kapanoglu, the founder of one of Turkey’s most popular online forums, Eksi Sözlük (Sour Dictionary), a 10 month suspended sentence for blasphemy.
Germany: Islamists Infiltrating Schools in Hamburg
Muslim radicals are imposing Islamic norms and values in primary and secondary public schools in Hamburg, the second-largest city in Germany, say school officials, who are asking for stepped-up monitoring of the Salafist groups thought to be behind the Islamization efforts.
Halal meat labelling plan rejected by MPs
Conservative Philip Davies, who proposed the Commons debate, said there was a “huge public demand” to know more about where food came from.
Pakistani lawyers accused of blasphemy after protesting against police
Pakistani police have registered a case of blasphemy against 68 lawyers who took part in a protest after a police officer detained one of their colleagues, officials say, the latest in a wave of such accusations flooding the country.
Channel 4 to examine polygamy among British Muslims in new documentary
…. The Men with Many Wives will be broadcast later this summer, examining the estimation that as many as 20,000 such marriages exist among British Muslims, despite it being illegal in the UK.
Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco all sell halal meat from ‘live kill’ animals that have not been stunned
Two Muslim school inspectorates face axe
TWO Muslim school inspectorates face being closed down as Michael Gove, the education secretary, expands his investigation into alleged efforts by Islamists to take over secular schools.
We should hail the celebrity boycott of the Dorchester over the sultan and sharia law
To Stun or Not to Stun: That Should Be the Question
There is irrefutable scientific evidence that animals slaughtered without stunning suffer extreme pain, distress and anxiety. The European Food Safety Authority has said that: “due to the serious animal welfare concerns associated with slaughter without stunning, pre-cut stunning should always be performed”.
Islam’s Role in Boko Haram’s Kidnapping of Schoolgirls
Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, is considered by his followers to be a religious scholar, and he certainly would not be selling girls in the marketplace and marrying them off unless he considered this was permitted by his religion.
‘Halal Hysteria’: Religious Exemptions From Animal Welfare Law Are The Real Issue
The National Secular Society has long argued for an end to this exemption. But as long as exemptions are granted, it is essential that meat from non-stun slaughter should be appropriately labelled, enabling consumers to avoid meat from animals not slaughtered humanely, if that’s their choice.
Turkey: Hagia Sofia to become half mosque and half museum
…. The government would thus like to turn what is today seen as a symbol of Christianity back into a place of worship for Muslims, as it was after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
Isma: Hudud should be enforced on non-Muslims as well
Venice pool bans men to integrate Muslims
For the next three Sundays, the pool at Polisportiva Bissuola di Mestre will be open only to women and their children between 9am and 10.30am, the Veneto edition of Corriere reported on Thursday.
Boko Haram and the Kidnapped Schoolgirls
…. It is also time for Western liberals to wake up. If they choose to regard Boko Haram as an aberration, they do so at their peril. The kidnapping of these schoolgirls is not an isolated tragedy; their fate reflects a new wave of jihadism that extends far beyond Nigeria and poses a mortal threat to the rights of women and girls. If my pointing this out offends some people more than the odious acts of Boko Haram, then so be it.
Governors ‘undermined leaders’ at Bradford school linked to Islam plot
The challenge of Islam
A beheading in Woolwich, a suicide bomb in Beijing, a blown-up marathon in Boston, a shooting in the head of a young Pakistani girl seeking education, a destroyed shopping mall in Nairobi – and so it continues, in the name of Islam, from south London to Timbuktu. It is time to take stock, especially on the left, since these things are part of the world’s daily round.
“Saudi Liberals” website founder sentenced to 10 years in jail, 1,000 lashes
Pakistan ‘blasphemy lawyer’ shot dead in Multan office
Pizza Express will review halal policy on menus after campaigners say clearer labelling needed
A thousand lashes and 10 years in prison for online Saudi Arabian activist
Rights advocate Rashid Rehman Khan gunned down in Multan
Martin Parsons: The Trojan horse – Islamism is a strategy, not an abberation by individuals
…. related to this is an assumption that Islamism is something that is followed by a few misguided individuals. It is not: it is a strategy that is being pursued by Islamists not just in Britain, but in many other countries around the world.
This is our religion
Uproar in the Tunisian parliament as MP Ibrahim Kassas speaks his mind: Tunisian society has become effeminised. It’s better for a woman to wait for her husband at home, and raise her children… Don’t interrupt me! A good woman washes her husband’s feet with warm water when he comes home. The last thing we need..
Embrace of Atheism Put an Indonesian in Prison
…. Parts of the law also apply to non-Muslims. In February, Sharia law experts from the Ministry of Religious Affairs announced that non-Muslims could be punished for wearing indecent clothing that ‘disgraces Islam’.
Head teachers raise ‘serious concerns’ over Islamic school take-over
Celebs, Human Rights Groups Boycott Beverly Hills Hotel
The small East Asian country Brunei may be more than 8,000 miles from Hollywood. But celebrities upset by a set of laws recently passed there that include the death penalty for consensual gay sex and adultery have a target nearby to point their concerns.
Taliban targets schoolgirls in Pakistan
During the two years the armed group ruled the northern region, more than 400 schools were destroyed.Three primary schools have been blown up in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. No one was in the buildings at the time of the explosions early on Thursday. When the Taliban ruled Pakistan’s northern Swat valley it targeted schools.
Subway succumbs to sharia
…. But such freedom of choice is apparently no longer available in 185 Subway outlets in ‘Muslim areas’ (probably Bradford, Oldham, Birmingham, Leicester, Slough and parts of London), where ham and bacon are banned and all meat is halal. Non-Muslim customers are somewhat limited in their selection of sandwich filling because, Subway say, of a “strong demand” from Muslims.
April 2014
International outcry as Brunei introduces sharia law and takes country back to the dark ages
Many of the laws, which include the dismemberment of limbs and stoning to death, will apply to both Muslims and non-Muslims.
Euro candidate Paul Weston arrested over Islam remarks
A candidate in the South East European elections has been arrested after making a speech quoting from a book by Winston Churchill about Islam.
Medical association disrespected Muslims over amputations under hudud, says group
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has disrespected Muslims and Muslim doctors by threatening to axe doctors who perform amputations under hudud, according to Muslim medical practitioners’ group i-Medik.
Teacher admits campaign to install Muslim staff at schools
Nearly 20 schools in the city are currently being investigated over claims that male and female pupils were segregated, sex education banned and extremist clerics praised in assemblies.
Liberty, human rights are godless and faithless ideologies, says Isma chief
Speaking at ISMA’ s convention for Muslim women, its president Abdullah Zaik Abdul Rahman also said civil society groups are proxies of a Zionist-Christian agenda that seeks to confuse Muslims with ideologies which are unIslamic.
Private school chief linked to Islam Trojan Horse plot says: Stone all adulterers to death
State schools isolate non-Muslims
Schools in Birmingham are illegally segregating pupils, discriminating against non-Muslim students and restricting the GCSE syllabus to “comply with conservative Islamic teaching”, an official report leaked to The Telegraph discloses.
When Muslims renounce their faith
Fearing ostracism by their family, or even death, many former Muslims keep their disbelief secret. A German organization offers support to people who leave Islam for another religion, or for none. …. Later, back in her apartment, she apologizes and explains that she does not feel safe when she uses her name or the term “ex-Muslims” in public – even in Germany. She believes this fear is justified: Ahadi continues to receive anonymous letters threatening to shoot her, or warning she will die in a car accident.
Abdullah Al Dawood, Saudi Islamic Cleric, Claims PE Classes For Girls Is First Step To Prostitution
Saudi Arabia is getting closer to adding physical education classes for girls to public schools, but some conservative Islamic clerics are slamming the move as a “Western innovation,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
25 schools probed over alleged takeover plot
An investigation into an alleged hard-line Islamist takeover plot of Birmingham schools has widened, with 25 schools now under the spotlight.
Pakistan Appeals Court May Uphold Christian Woman’s Death Sentence
Brandeis students nix Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali. What a pity
…. In an online petition, Brandeis senior Sarah Fahmy wrote that Hirsi Ali’s invitation to speak at the school and receive an honorary social justice degree was a “shock to the community due to her extreme Islamophobic beliefs.”
UN concerned at broad application of death penalty in Brunei’s revised penal code
The United Nations human rights office today voiced deep concern about the revised penal code in Brunei Darussalam which stipulates the death penalty for numerous offences, including robbery, adultery, and insult or defamation of the Prophet Mohammed, and introduces stoning to death as the specific method of execution for crimes of a sexual nature.
Iraq Wants To Legalize Child Marriage
A new law would approve marriage to girls as young as nine in a bid to appease the nation’s conservatives ahead of parliamentary elections.
The case of Ayaan Hirsi Ali: cowardly Brandeis University capitulates to Islamist pressure
Brandeis withdraws honorary degree for Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Iraq ready to legalise childhood marriage
‘Tell Mama’ did exaggerate anti-Muslim attacks: PCC rejects all Fiyaz Mughal’s complaints against us
Pakistani Christian appeals death penalty for blasphemy
A Pakistani Christian who has been convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death is launching an appeal to the Lahore High Court.
“How to beat your wife”, according to Islam
Bid to bring forward GCSEs so Muslim pupils aren’t fasting for Ramadan while they take their exams
Muslim parent: Radical school is brainwashing our children
Children at one of the state schools taken over by hardline Muslims are being “programmed” and have been “drilled” by their teachers to lie to Ofsted inspectors investigating the plot, according to a parent.
Couple gets death over ‘blasphemous’ text message
A court in eastern Pakistan has sentenced a Christian couple to death for sending a blasphemous text message insulting to Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), their lawyer said Saturday.
Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse’ plot ‘started 20 years ago’
British Woman Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht Held In Iran For ‘Insulting Islam’ On Facebook
Muslim couple claim they were victimised by Morrisons after they were refused holiday during Ramadan
Saudi Arabia declares atheists terrorists under new laws targeting citizens who ‘call for secular thought in any form’
Saudi Arabia has officially identified atheists as terrorists in sweeping new laws that threaten up to 20 years in prison for almost any criticism of the government or Islam.
March 2014
Saudi Arabia Doubles Down on Atheism; New Laws Declares It Equivalent to Terrorism
Women Who Don’t Cover Hair Are ‘Sluts,’ Jordan Court Rules
Pakistani Christian gets death penalty for blasphemy
Sharia Law just means less human rights especially for women
Clothing store bosses fined over headscarf sacking
Helsinki District court has fined managers at a Helsinki clothing retailer for discriminating against an employee on the basis of religion. They received 20 day-fines for sacking a Muslim worker who was told she should not wear a headscarf.
How “progressive” is Jordan now? New court ruling on veiled women may suggest otherwise….
The Jordanian Women’s Union, along with lawyers across the Hashemite Kingdom, expressed shock last week after a ruling discriminating against women who do not wear the Islamic hijab was issued by the Amman Sharia Court of Appeal, according to Al Medanah News.
“There is no political will for reforms in Islamic law”
…. A more crucial question is whether there is a serious political will for moderation and containing extremism. My experience is that there is no political will for reforms in Islamic law. Islamic modernism as a school of thought has lost its relevance today.
Islamic democracy: Corrupt and undemocratic
Islamic death threats force online Bangladeshi bookstore to stop sales of books by Avijit Roy
Homosexuality Is Like Murder, Birmingham Mosque Chairman Says After BBC3 Gay Muslim Debate Row
Pakistani Islam students set Hindu temple ablaze over blasphemy rumour
Angry crowd burns Hindu community centre in Pakistan over alleged Qur’an desecration
BBC drops homosexuality debate from ‘Free Speech’ show after objections from mosque
Laws prohibiting underage marriage un-Islamic
The Council of Islamic Ideology on Tuesday ruled that Pakistani laws prohibiting marriage of underage children are un-Islamic. At the end of its two-day session on Tuesday, the CII said there is no minimum age of marriage according to Islam.
Court upholds writer’s five-year prison sentence for insulting religion
The Beba Misdemeanour Court in Beni Sueif upheld on Tuesday a court verdict handing author Karam Saber five years in prison for insulting religion. Saber is accused of contempt of religion for a book he wrote in 2010 entitled “Where is Allah”. He received his jail sentence in June 2013 in absentia; the author challenged the verdict.
Women protest against proposed Iraq law that would allow marriage of nine-year-old girls
Islamic boys’ school bars women from applying for job as science teacher
The Department for Education brought the issue to the attention of Leicester City Council and the advert for Madani Boys’ School in Evington, Leics, was axed.
Parents fury as pork sausages are banned from the school menu and replaced with halal meat
Parents have condemned a school’s decision to ban all pork products from the menu and replace other meats with halal versions. Pupils aged between three and 11 at Brinsworth Manor Infant and Junior Schools in Rotherham – which Ofsted identifies as having only a small number of pupils from minority ethnic groups – will no longer be able to enjoy sausages, bacon or ham.
Afghanistan still one of the worst places to be a woman, says EU ambassador
Sultan of Brunei Threatens Critics of Sharia Law
Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah warned online critics of the country’s Sharia Law that they could face prosecution once the new penal code takes effect next month:
Mainstream charities have donated thousands to Islamic group fronted by terror suspect
February 2014
Turkish PM Erdogan calls protesters atheists, leftists, terrorists
Woman did not show face at Heathrow Airport
Passport control officials have been criticised by Tory MPs for “waving through” a woman without asking her to remove her full-faced veil.
Katy Perry Dark Horse video edited
More than 65,000 people signed a petition which stated the clip – featuring a pendant with the Arabic word for God on it being reduced to sand – was offensive.
Militant Islamist group in Syria orders Christians to pay tax for their protection
Muslim boys’ school bans women from applying for job as science teacher
Multiculturalism’s Child Brides
Recent reports of under-age marriages in Australia are evidence that the authorities need to do more to enforce marriage laws in Western nations, and in particular to restrict the practice of unregistered ‘clandestine’ religious marriages, particularly Islamic marriages.
Katy Perry ‘Dark Horse’ video causes offence after featuring burning ‘Allah’ pendant
…. Shazad Iqbal of Bradford, West Yorkshire, who started the Change.org petition, said the burning of the pendant with the Arabic word for God was “blasphemous” and “distasteful”.
Halal authority forbids machine-killed poultry
Czech Muslims call for ban on book by apostate
Muslims in the Czech Republic are trying to have the book Islam and Islamism by Lukáš Lhoan, a former Muslim, now an apostate from Islam, banned.
19 Islamic words banned for non-Muslims in Brunei
The Brunei government will ban the use of 19 Islamic words, including “Allah” and “masjid”, by non-Muslims, according to the Brunei Times today.
Denmark set to lose millions following halal slaughter ban
Denmark is likely to lose millions of dollars in trade and tourism revenues following its ban Monday on slaughtering animals in accordance with Islamic standards.
Court prefers political correctness rather than justice in case of a Muslim solicitor and a parking fine
Khan, a Muslim who was accused of helping her father dodge a speeding fine, had claimed that for ‘cultural reasons’ she could not speak freely in front of the Press – and, incredibly, Judge Peter Hughes agreed. …. It was only after the intervention of this newspaper that the judge accepted he had made a mistake and reversed what risked setting a terrible precedent.
Muslim groups demand apology from Daily Mail over Littlejohn article
His article concerned the hiring of the Legoland theme park in Windsor by an extremist Muslim cleric, Haitham al-Haddad, for a “family fun day” next month.
2% of Italy is Muslim, 35% of Italian Prisoners are Muslim
At least 35% of Italian prison inmates come from Muslim-majority countries, and one in four prisons has a prayer area set aside for them, a government report obtained by ANSAmed showed Monday
A Saudi woman is threatened after tweeting about beards
On January 18th, Souad al-Shammary, a liberal activist with more than a hundred thousand Twitter followers, tweeted her thoughts about the idea, popular among devout Saudis, that Muslim men should grow long beards in order to differentiate themselves from unbelievers. The notion was “silly,” Shammary wrote, pointing out that “Jews, priests, Communists and Marxists” have also been known to wear beards.
Mixing religion with politics is Muslim world’s problem, says Al Murr
Federal National Council (FNC) Speaker Mohammed Ahmed Al Murr has said the problem of Muslim world lies in mixing up the religion with politics, adding that the problems of many Muslim countries were attributed to this phenomenon.
Anger as extremist cleric is given a podium to preach at London university… despite history of hate speech against Jews and gays
An extremist Muslim who has claimed Jews are descended from ‘apes and pigs’, called gays ‘criminals’ and has made controversial comments about domestic violence has given a talk at a London university. Haitham al-Haddad spoke to students on Islamic finance at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He has outraged moderate Muslims who are critical of him for teaching young Muslims that men and women should be segregated.
Mohammad Asghar case: Act now to save Briton on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy
Preacher Haitham Al-Haddad, Who Supports FGM, Speaks At SOAS University
French Islamists seek to use blasphemy law to silence critics
French Islamists are suing the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for blasphemy after it published a front cover carrying the slogan “The Koran is crap, it doesn’t stop bullets”.
Insult Islam at your peril. Saudis will ‘deal decisively’ with ‘offensive’ online media and websites
Pregnant teenager alleging gang-rape charged with adultery in Sudan
Baroness Warsi ‘saddened’ by rise in Islamic sectarianism
In a speech during a trip to the Middle East, Baroness Warsi said that differences between branches of Islam were being used by extremists to cause “tension, turmoil and terrorism”. She warned that such preaching was stripping the “soulfulness and kindness of spirit” from the heart of the religion and called on Islamic leaders to “reclaim the true meaning of the religion”.
Christians in Pakistan
…. All could agree that more needs to be done for members of religious minorities suffering as a result of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and other discriminatory measures. Rev. Khan warned that ‘it is not bullets that will kill us but the silence of our friends’, and he emphasized how important it is for those with any influence, such as members of the Pakistani diaspora, to speak out against repression.
Valentine’s Day Celebrations Lead To Alcoholism, Abortion & Fraud, Warns Malaysian Islamic Watchdog
Embrace Islam or die!
The Pakistani Taliban have announced an “armed struggle” against an indigenous tribe and Ismaili Muslims in the picturesque northern Chitral Valley, calling on Sunnis to support their cause in a video.
Islamic fundamentalists destroy archeological treasures in Syria
Saudi cleric chides women for going alone to doctor
Imam charged in Australia over child marriage
A Muslim cleric was on Tuesday charged in Australia with conducting an illegal marriage between a 26-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl. It follows the arrest of a Lebanese national – the “husband” – last week on child sex offences.
Religious Minorities In Islamic Pakistan Struggle But Survive Amid Increasing Persecution
Handshake refusal leads to fine
…. The man, an external examiner who sat in on exams in the Jutland town of Herning, said his Muslim beliefs kept him from making physical contact with unknown women.
Rein In the Saudi Religious Police
…. Her response highlighted the perception that the commission is an intrusive body that seeks to impose a narrow vision of religion on Saudi women. Equally noteworthy was her rejection of the officer’s definition of appropriate veiling practice.
Rein In the Saudi Religious Police
Saudi Arabia: buses for women? – Travel problems hamper female employment
…. Since women are not allowed to drive, they often end up spending large amounts of their wages on taxis or private male drivers. This has led to renewed calls for a bus system that women can use.
Islamic preachers: the pied pipers of sexual apartheid?
Child bride’s marriage was permitted by father, say police
The father of 12-year-old girl gave his blessing for her to be ”married” to a Lebanese university student in the Hunter region earlier this year, police will allege.
Islamists hate free speech
As Turkey’s Islamist government enforces new internet restrictions and persecutes journalists, prosecutors, freedom protesters, and even police, Islamists accuse Digital Journal of hate speech for reporting the truth.
Indonesia: Aceh Province Enforces Sharia for non-Muslims
Muslim Free School In Derby To Be Permanently Closed, Department For Education Announced
A beleaguered Muslim free school which had been accused of enforcing hardline religious practice is to be closed amid concerns over the quality of teaching and curriculum, the Department for Education has announced.
EU calls on Saudi Arabia to allow public worship for all faiths
Saudi female student dies after male ambulance crew denied access
…. Amna Bawazeer, a Master’s student at the College of Social Studies at King Saud University in the capital Riyadh, suffered the heart attack at 11 am at the women’s college where she was finalising her course timetable for the second semester. However, when the ambulance arrived, the medics were not allowed to enter the college for two hours.
Threats to Britain’s Open Society
The Darul Uloom madrassa in the village of Chislehurst, modelled after India’s Darul Uloom Deoband, seeks to produce “an Islamic elite who will rule the Muslim world” — as reported by British Indian journalist Edna Fernandes, who also reported that music, drama and modern foreign languages are deemed un-Islamic and Shakespeare is seen as evil for dealing with subjects like love and revenge.
Satirical Turkish site on trial for insulting religion
New Afghanistan law to silence victims of violence against women
Eminent Saudi Cleric: Female Genital Mutilation a ‘Noble Act’
‘Frantic Crackdown’ on Media in Turkey
More horrifying death threats against Maajid Nawaz
How British the justice system lost out to Islamic extremism
…. Earlier this week fanatical Muslim convert Rebekah Dawson made legal history in this country. Up in court on charges of witness intimidation Dawson – who wears the full Islamic face covering – simply refused to show her face.
‘Don’t stop serving pork for Muslims’: Minister
…. “Our members feel that many public institutions, nurseries and municipal catering departments often opt out of pork in the interests of a small minority,” he said.
January 2014
Second British pensioner faces blasphemy charges in Pakistan for reading from Koran in public
Illegal mosque finally shut down
…. Southend Council has received hundreds of complaints about noise, parking and rubbish since the group began using the bungalow as a place of worship without planning permission in 2010.
Pakistan’s rulers are too afraid of Islamist extremists to pardon the ‘blaspheming’ Briton
Censoring ‘Jesus and Mo’ establishes UK sharia blasphemy code
…. The fact that both BBC Newsnight and Channel 4 News are censoring images of Mohammed establishes a narrow Sunni-sharia compliance: it is, effectively, a blasphemy code adopted by the state broadcasters.
Censorship on Channel 4 News: an open letter to the editor
…. We were surprised and extremely disappointed to see that Channel 4 News took the decision to cover up the image of Mohammed when showing the Jesus & Mo cartoon, and we are thus keen to elicit the rationale behind that particular editorial decision.
Blasphemy law used against minorities in Pakistan
34% of women say men are justified in hitting wives if they argue back: Pakistan survey
Why the great Sunni-Shia conflict is getting ever closer to the surface
…. The way in which what is going on in the Middle East has become a religious war has long been obvious. Just take this radio exchange, caught at the ground level earlier this month, between two foreign fighters in Syria, the first from al-Qa’eda’s Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS], the second from the Free Syrian army [FSA]. ‘You apostate infidels,’ says the first. ‘We’ve declared you to be “apostates”, you heretics. You don’t know Allah or His Prophet, you creature. What kind of Islam do you follow?’
Pakistani court condemns mentally ill Briton to death for blasphemy
The world’s most ancient Christian communities are being destroyed
Muslim Activists Round On Lib Dem Candidate Maajid Nawaz
The Muslim director of a think-tank credited with Tommy Robinson’s departure from the EDL has received “credible” death threats after tweeting a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammed. …. The row has spiralled since last week when Nawaz tweeted a cartoon from ‘Jesus and Mo’ series, with the caption: “This is not offensive & I’m sure God is greater than to feel threatened by it.”
Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists impose Islamic rules, ban music, shisha in Syrian province
An Al-Qaeda-linked group has issued new decrees restricting the personal freedoms of the Syrians in the areas under its control in Raqqa province. New laws prohibit music and smoking cigarettes and shisha. Violators will be “punished by sharia law.”
Petition to deselect LibDem candidate Maajid Nawaz for tweeting Jesus and Mo cartoon
UK Islamic group condemns website featuring cartoons of Prophet Mohamed and Jesus
Allah vs atheism: ‘Leaving Islam was the hardest thing I’ve done’
…. In more than a dozen countries people who espouse atheism or reject the official state religion of Islam can be executed under the law, according to a recent report by the International Humanist and Ethical Union.
Animal slaughter without stunning ‘major animal welfare issue’
Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Says ‘Alternative’ Policing Is Being Administered In Some Parts Of Britain
Police are never called by certain minority communities because they administer their own justice even in cases as serious as murder and sexual assaults on children, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary has said. Parts of Britain are operating their own forms of justice as some minority communities take the law into their own hands, the Tom Winsor has claimed.
Homosexuality still haram in 2014: 11 Muslim men may be stoned to death in Nigeria for being gay
Publication of Mohamed picture triggers riots, journalist’s arrest
Saudi religious cops tell women not to use swings
Atheist Afghan man granted asylum in UK to protect him from ‘religious’ persecution
Canada: York University Gender Segregation Allows No Group Work
Professor Grayson has my every sympathy and support in denying a request from a student to be excused from group work so that he would not mix with female students, on non specified religious grounds.
Nine of the Ten Countries Ranked Most Oppressive Towards Christians are Muslim Countries
Mauritania court convicts young man of apostasy
A young Muslim man in Mauritania is facing a possible death sentence after being convicted of apostasy and jailed for having written an article criticising the prophet Mohammed (PBUH), a judicial source said Monday.
Saudi survey shows men blame women for rising cases of molestation
Cambridge student submits legal note against gender segregation to Universities UK
Lebanon Library Torched, 78,000 Books Burned By Islamists
Ancient books in a historic library in the Lebanese city of Tripoli have been torched by Islamist, after a pamphlet purportedly insulting religion was found inside one of the books.
Primary school gives children a two-week October half-term so pupils can go to Asia
More than 300 Bibles are confiscated in Malaysia
Malaysia’s Islamic authorities seize Bibles as Allah row deepens
December 2013
Marks & Spencer has apologised after a Muslim member of staff refused to serve a customer trying to buy alcohol.
M&S apology over Muslim alcohol refusal
Christianity beginning ‘to disappear’ in its birthplace, warns Prince of Wales
Female students banned from speaking at Islam seminar …. at leading London university
Female students were banned from speaking at a ‘degrading’ university seminar at a top London university, it has emerged. Women attending the class at Queen Mary University were also forced to walk through a ‘sisters only’ entrance before taking their seats at the event which was held by the university’s Islamic society.
Universities UK withdraws advice on gender segregation in lectures
The body that represents Britain’s universities has withdrawn guidance on the gender segregation of audiences in lectures and debates after an intervention from David Cameron. Universities UK (UUK) said on Friday that the controversial policy which allowed the voluntary separation of men and women at events such as lectures on Islam by visiting speakers was being dropped pending a review.
Official watchdog says university sex segregation plans ‘not permissible’
Official guidelines which endorse sex segregation at British universities have been declared potentially unlawful by Britain’s equality watchdog, The Telegraph can disclose.
‘Atheists face death in 13 Muslim countries’
In 13 countries around the world, all of them Muslim, people who openly espouse atheism or reject the official state religion of Islam face execution under the law, according to a detailed study issued on Tuesday. And beyond the Islamic nations, even some of the West’s apparently most democratic governments at best discriminate against citizens who have no belief in a god and at worst can jail them for offences dubbed blasphemy, it said.
Mufti slams advocates of free mixing of sexes
The advocates of intermingling between men and women at the workplace want decadence and immoral behavior to spread among Muslims, said Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Alsheikh. Giving his Friday sermon at Imam Turki Bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh, he said such mixing poses a great danger to society and women in particular.
Keighley Muslims dispute use of ‘halal’ nasal spray
…. “As the nasal spray contains a form of pork gelatine, it would not be permissible for Muslims to administer,” he said. “Therefore, Muslim children should be offered the injection as an alternative.”
How a creationist fatwa proved a shocking example of Wahhabi Islam’s influence
Usama Hasan was the imam of a mosque in Leyton until he was driven from the post by death threats. This is perhaps the most extreme reaction there has ever been to an article on Comment is free: the death threats were the response of a section of his congregation to a piece he wrote here defending the truth of evolution.
November 2013
The grand mufti of Saudi Arabia said a ban on women driving in the conservative Gulf state protects society from “evil”, in remarks published in the press on Thursday.
Saudi cleric says ‘women driver ban guards against evil’
Political and Legal Status of Apostates in Islam
…. Twenty-seven (27) countries consider apostasy from Islam illegal and a prosecutable offence. Depending on the influence of Islamism and Sharia law, in places like Malaysia, Morocco, Jordan and Oman punishments vary from fines, imprisonment, flogging and exclusion from civil or family rights. In eleven (11) countries (namely Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Somalia, Afghanistan, Qatar, Yemen and Mauritania), apostasy is punishable by the death penalty.
Segregating men and women at university events won’t lead to equality
…. Segregation perpetuates discriminatory social norms and practices, shaping male attitudes about women and restricting the decisions and choices of women. By allowing gender segregation, Universities UK are complicit in the gender inequality being perpetuated by Isocs
‘Allowing university speakers to segregate genders is outrageous’
Halal body to withdraw poultry approval if EU’s new stunning rule is enforced
British Muslims Should Stand Up and Say It: There Is Nothing Islamic About Child Marriage
…. Child, or underage, marriage is very much a part of British society. And the inconvenient truth is that it is Muslims – not Christians, Jews or Hindus – who are responsible for much of it. There is no point pretending otherwise.
Bolton Council apologises after pork product is served to Muslim youngsters in school dessert
Protests as ‘child marriage’ imam back at Birmingham mosque
An imam caught agreeing to marry off a 14-year-old girl has been welcomed back to his mosque job, despite protests from worshippers. He was caught on film agreeing to arrange the wedding ceremony by undercover TV reporters posing as the mother and brother of the schoolgirl.
Young Christian charged with blasphemy living on a knife-edge
A young Christian pastor, in hiding after being accused of blaspheming against Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), has surrendered to police due to serious threats to his life reportedly from extremists belonging to a banned religious organisation, his lawyer told Pakistan Today
Meet ‘cultural norm’, he kills girls: The tragedy of child brides
This week a court in Birmingham heard the case of a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant after she was taken to Pakistan against her will and forced to marry a 24-year-old man.
Ban the veil in courts, say barristers
…. Some 90 per cent were in favour of the veil, or niqab, being banned when a defendant gives evidence. The support for a ban comes in a poll by the Bar Council for The Times, to be released today at the annual Bar Conference.
October 2013
Muslim taxi driver penalised for refusing to carry disabled woman’s assistance dog
A Muslim taxi driver in East Sussex has been given 12 penalty points after he refused to carry a disabled woman in his cab because she had an assistance dog with her. He claimed it was because of religious objections to the dog that he told the woman to find another taxi.
Muslim taxi driver refused to give disabled woman’s dog lift during Ramadan
A MUSLIM taxi driver refused to give a lift to a disabled woman’s dog – because he thought it broke the rules of Ramadan. The cabbie told the woman to use the cab parked behind his as he thought he was barred from carrying the dog for religious reasons.
Four Christians sentenced to 80 lashes for drinking communion wine in Iran
Libya’s Grand Mufti: Teachers Must Veil
Last week the country’s Grand Mufti, Libya’s top religious authority, issued a fatwa directing women teachers at schools and universities to veil themselves when instructing boys who have reached puberty or are even approaching it.
More than half of Brits want full face veil banned – 81% support ban in schools, courts or hospitals
Muslims at Norway Conference Support Sharia Punishments
…. The “Peace Conference Scandinavia 2013,” was attended by 4,000 Muslims and featured nine speakers. One of the speakers explained that every one of the speakers – as well as the audience – would be labeled “extremists” by the media for believing in sharia punishments such as stoning of adulterers and homosexuals and believing that these practices should be implemented worldwide.
Islamic University Dean Supports Stoning
The rector of the Islamic University of Rotterdam (IUR) values stoning as an appropriate punishment, NRC Handelsblad newspaper reported Thursday. The Lower House is demanding clarification from Integration Minister Lodewijk Asscher.
Britain’s Underage Muslim Marriage Epidemic
More than a dozen Muslim clerics at some of the biggest mosques in Britain have been caught on camera agreeing to marry off girls as young as 14.
Female teachers must cover face says Grand Mufti
The Grand Mufti, Sheikh Sadik Al-Ghariani, has issued a fatwa saying that female teachers in schools and colleges must cover their faces if they are teaching males who have reached puberty.
In An Ideal World Gays Must Be Executed says Abdul Qadeer Baksh
Abdul Qadeer Baksh, Chairman of the Islamic Centre in Luton, states gays would be executed in an ideal world – an Islamic state. He defends holding this view because this, sharia, would only happen if all the British people wanted (consented) to it.
Taliban warn shops against selling Malala’s book
Iran: Woman who converted to Christianity jailed
A court in Tehran has sentenced to four years in prison an Iranian woman who converted to Christianity, the Iranpressnews website reported on Friday.
If you make her willing, she will be willing: ITV’s Exposure on underage marriage
…. Several statements from mosques distancing themselves from the actions of various Imams were included in the programme. These became cumulatively unconvincing (though of course some of them at least may be sincere). …. One Imam, Shahid Akhtar from Birmingham, explained that no formal record would be made and said ‘I’ve spoken to everyone, what happens, and that’s how they do it’, implying that these unofficial marriages are not so uncommon.
Koran ‘filled with threats to unbelievers’
Unbelievers are hated by Allah and the Koran is packed full of threats of hell against them. Unbelievers are like “apes and pigs” (5:60), they are “the vilest of creatures in the eyes of Allah” (8:55) and Muslims must not make friends with them.
UK Imams agree to perform underage marriages
…. Two undercover reporters called 56 mosques for Exposure to ask whether they would perform the marriage of a 14-year-old girl. Two-thirds of those contacted refused to perform the marriage, and many of them made clear they found the request abhorrent. But 18 of the respondents spoken to agreed.
Turkish TV presenter fired over low-cut dress after criticism from AKP spokesman
Jesus and Mohammed T-shirts banned: victory for the ‘sanctimonious little prigs’ of LSE’s student union
…. The pair were told by student union apparatchiks they would have to leave the university’s societies fair unless they covered up the t-shirts, which carried a cartoon from the website Jesus and Mo, because they were “provocative”.
Bangladeshi Christians Told to Close Church, Convert to Islam
Muslim parents’ concern over gelatine delays flu vaccine in schools
A programme to vaccinate schoolchildren against flu has been delayed in Glasgow after concerns from Muslim parents that it contains products derived from pork.
September 2013
Ministry warns students against mocking Islam
The Ministry of Education [Saudi Arabia] has warned that it would expel any student found mocking Islam or spreading illicit ideas at school. Penalties for violating the code of behavior include preventing a student from pursuing studies for one academic year. The ministry would notify all education departments of its decision without naming the accused.
Driving affects ovaries and pelvis, Saudi sheikh warns women
Teacher ‘forced out of school’ for failure to wear Muslim hijab
The 50-year-old claimed she left the Al-Madinah School in Derby after being “hassled” by senior managers about her choice of clothes. She claimed that the school had issued staff with a handbook that told female staff to cover their entire body — with the exception of hands, face and feet — and not to wear “symbols of other faiths”.
Jack Straw: Muslim Face Veils Should Not Be Worn By Defendants In Court
London schools forcing pupils to wear burkas, with ‘appropriate punishments for incorrect uniform’
Two London schools were today revealed to be enforcing strict dress codes that force pupils to wear burkas. The Madani Girls School in Whitechapel and the Ayesha Siddiqa Girls School in Southall require all students to dress in Islamic clothing.
August 2013
The Price Paid for Criticising Islam
…. As someone who has also received threats for my criticisms of Islam, and had my complaints dismissed — “what did you expect?” — I am fully aware of the prevalence of such responses. …. The police in this case gave a strong message to Nahla, and to anyone else who might be tempted to commit the heinous offence of criticising or dismissing the religion of Islam: you’ll be punished, we won’t help, and you probably deserve it anyway.
Stoning is good for your soul, says Canadian cleric
…. The sheikh explained that a Muslim who is sentenced to death by stoning under Sharia law actually benefits from this gruesome punishment as her soul is being purified even as the stones rain down on her sinful head.
Britain: Muslim TV Hate Preachers “Inciting Murder”
…. Ofcom stated that some of the scholar’s comments could be seen as “a generic call to all Muslims encouraging or inciting them to criminal action or disorder, by unambiguously stating that they had a duty to kill anyone who criticizes or insults the Prophet Mohammed and apostates.”
UK Church reports over 100 attacks on Christian properties in Egypt
The Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK has received reports of over a hundred attacks on churches and other Christian buildings in Egypt since the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi.
Turkish government promoting Islamic schools at the expense of secular education
The Turkish government is restricting access to secular schools to the benefit of Hatips Imam, Islamic schools that focus on Qur’anic studies
Iranian jailed for distributing Bibles
An Iranian Christian convert has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for distributing Bibles in his home country, the Vatican missionary news agency Fides reported on Wednesday.
Coptic churches burn amid violence in Egypt
Christians are being slaughtered by Wahhabi Islamists all over the world
The Times continued: ‘The Pope recently condemned Islamic persecution of Christians in Sudan and will travel to Tunisia next weekend to plead for Islamic tolerance and Islamic-Christian dialogue.’ Nothing has really changed in almost 20 years. Indeed, the situation for Christians in these regions has actually become an awful lot worse.
Danish Muslim leader regrets role in cartoon rage
A Danish Muslim leader who seven years ago traveled the Muslim world fueling the uproar over newspaper caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad is back in the headlines in Denmark after doing an about-face on the issue. Once a leading critic of the Danish cartoons, which sparked fiery protests in Muslim countries, Lebanese-born Ahmad Akkari now says the Jyllands-Posten newspaper had the right to print them.
‘Iran Christian Sentenced To 10 Years Jail For Evangelical Activities’
An Iranian Christian convert has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on what his supporters say are false charges linked to his evangelical church activities, local activist said.
Islam Surveyed 