Esther's shared items in Google Reader

Scotland sets up Muslim Council to challenge “Islamophobia” - National Secular Society

2009-11-20T14:40:45Z

Scotland sets up Muslim Council to challenge “Islamophobia”
National Secular Society
The Scottish Government has set up close links with the Muslim Council of Scotland to work towards challenging “Islamophobia” and breaking down barriers ...

and more »

Just say no to sharia law - guardian.co.uk

2009-11-19T21:00:34Z

Forbes

Just say no to sharia law
guardian.co.uk
Millions of people are suffering at the hands of clerical regimes, especially our Muslim brothers and sisters in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran. ...
Muslims In 21st Century America: Political Correctness DeadlyRight Side News
Nidal Hasan: An American or a Muslim?Asharq Alawsat
Muslim women are still not taken seriously: Farida KhanamTwoCircles.net
ASU Herald -TIME -Forbes
all 47 news articles »

Top Sunni Cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi: We Will Never Have Interfaith Dialogue With Christians Until The Vatican Apologizes For The Crusades....

2009-11-20T18:05:03Z

Trust me, the feeling mutual. In fact, the Vatican has already said theological exchange with Muslims will never happen....

Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi: "We halted this Islamic-Christian dialogue. We were preparing for the third summit, when the new pope came into office and delivered his famous speech, affronting Islam, the Prophet of Islam, the Koran, the Islamic nation, and the history of Islam, without justification and without any preliminaries. He alleged that the Prophet Muhammad did not make any contribution other than spreading Islam by the sword. This is an utter lie.
"Therefore, we, in the International Union of Muslim Scholars, demanded, on more than one occasion, that he apologize, in one way or another, or else we would halt the dialogue with the Vatican. Indeed, I'm sad to say, the man did not utter a word of apology. Even if some Muslims tried to say it's enough if he says I-don't-know-what... He did not say anything straightforwardly.
"The Vatican apologized to the Jews, who said that Christ was a liar, that he was the son of a prostitute, that his mother was not a virgin, and that he was fathered by Joseph the carpenter. They absolved the Jews, who organized and took part in his killing. They exonerated the Jews of the spilling of the blood of Christ.
"No pope has ever apologized to the Muslims for what happened to them in the Crusader wars, which were hostile wars. They came to our countries from Europe, and did what they did in the nine Crusades. Therefore, we have halted our dialogue with these people, with the Vatican."

The left loves to push Qardawi as a "moderate" Islamist the West can work with, he's also the theological consultantfor the new movie on the "prophet" Mohammed's life being produced by the makers of the Lord of the Rings and Matrix films...

ZIP

Thors: Refugee Benefits to be Reviewed

2009-11-21T15:58:22Z

Finland plans to review benefits granted to asylum seekers, says Astrid Thors, Minister for Migration and European Affairs. The Minister’s comments come in the wake of a report issued by the Interior Ministry.

Sweden Rightists Fuel Muslim Fears

2009-11-22T01:35:50Z

Copying the anti-Muslim rhetoric from European far-right parties, Sweden’s far-rightists are launching a fierce campaign against the Muslim minority in the Scandinavian country to make political gains....

W.Sahara activist refuses Madrid offer of refugee status

2009-11-22T00:00:00Z

Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar has declined an offer by Madrid to grant her refugee status following her expulsion from the territory by Morocco, a representative said Saturday.

UK Muslim Schools Face Closure

2009-11-21T01:47:37Z

LONDON — After knocking down giant firms and causing massive layoffs, the global economic downturn is pushing almost all British Muslim schools towards closure..

Czech Senate bans appearance by controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders

2009-11-20T15:37:43Z

The Czech Senate on Thursday banned an appearance by the controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders on its premises. Mr Wilders was going to screen his anti-Islamic film, Fitna, and address a conference held by Czech anti-Islamists and Euro-sceptics.

German-born criminal to be deported to Turkey

2009-11-21T10:04:00Z

A German-born Turkish man with a string of criminal convictions can be deported to Turkey, even though he has never lived there and only speaks broken Turkish, a court has ruled.

Rally Against Sharia in Central London

2009-11-21T13:25:44Z

This afternoon there will be a “rally against Sharia Law” in central London, as part of the “One Law for All” campaign. Here’s the call:

SHOW YOUR OPPOSITION TO SHARIA LAW AND ALL RELIGIOUS-BASED TRIBUNALS IN BRITAIN, IRAN, IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, SOMALIA AND ELSEWHERE

DEMAND AN END TO CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND RACISM

DEMAND ONE SECULAR LAW AND UNIVERSAL RIGHTS

DEFEND THE RIGHT TO ASYLUM FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FLED SHARIA

The organisers are secular-minded progressives who want no truck with groups such as the English Defence League; Peter Tatchell (whom I greatly respect) gives some background at Comment is Free:

While other faiths are also often oppressive, sharia law is especially oppressive. Its interpretations stipulate the execution of Muslims who commit adultery, renounce their faith (apostates) or have same-sex relationships. Sharia methods of execution, such as stoning, are particularly brutal and cruel – witness the stoning to death this week in Somalia of a 20-year-old woman divorcee who was accused of adultery. This is the fourth stoning of an adulterer in Somalia in the last year.

…The key point of the protest is to show support for the many courageous, inspiring Muslims who are campaigning against the inequalities and inhumanities of sharia law, often at great risk to their liberty and life. Contrary to the way our critics are trying to misrepresent our campaign, this is not an attack on Muslims or Islam. Nor are we uniquely condemning sharia law. We reject all religious laws and courts, including those inspired by Judaist and Christian fundamentalism.

This is a subject I’ve blogged on: five years ago I noted how local Muslims in Nigeria were protesting against Sharia-based laws as a foreign, Saudi, imposition, and, later, how state enforcement at the hands of a religious police force in Kano was causing problems. The situation in Indonesia is similarly alarming and depressing.

Nevertheless, I have a couple of reservations about the rally. First, talk of “religious-based tribunals in Britain, … Somalia and elsewhere” is a crude polemical conflation of several different problems: (i) draconian and barbaric criminal penalties that shouldn’t be imposed on anyone no matter what they’ve done; (ii) the banning of activities that should be allowed in a free society; and (iii) a gender bias in judgements that discriminates against women. All of these should of course be opposed, but only the third point risks being indulged by British law; this is because unofficial sharia courts can take advantage of the 1996 Arbitration Act, which allows for a range of mediators to make judgements on civil disputes that can then be upheld by the county courts. And as I’ve noted previously, reports of the courts’ activities are certainly unencouraging: inheritances doled out unequally between male and female relatives, and women “persuaded” to drop complaints to the police about domestic violence. The obvious – and reasonable - fear is that some women are agreeing to be bound by the courts’ decisions as a result of community and family pressure rather than giving true consent. It certaintly seems to me that the 1996 act ought to be amended so that civil courts will not enforce decisions where there is evidence of gender bias.

Second, these problems do not encompass full complexity of sharia in its various schools and interpretations – it would be unhelpful if ”sharia” were to become simply a synonym for ”legally-sanctioned religious oppression”, the way “fatwa” has come to be understood as meaning ”death sentence”. In the US, unremarkable niche financial products for Muslim customers who wish to arrange their finances in accordance with sharia principles have provoked ridiculous howls of outrage, and there is an effort underway to paint any Muslim who does not repudiate his or her religion’s legal traditions in toto as an extremist (see here and here).

Tatchell complains that

Sadly, the turn out in Hyde Park will probably be quite small. This is odd. Most liberals and leftwingers would protest loud and strong if these persecutions were perpetrated by a western regime or by Christian fundamentalists. But they get squeamish when it comes to challenging human rights abuses committed in the name of Islam. They fear being denouned as Islamophobic. They confuse protests against fundamentalist, political Islam, which seeks to establish a religious dictatorship, with an attack on Muslim people and the Muslim faith. These are two very different things. Saturday’s protest is in defence of Muslim people – and all people everywhere – who are victims of any form of religious tyranny.

That’s a noble sentiment. However, although I accept I may have a jaundiced view from looking at too many right-wing American websites, I’m not entirely convinced that the organisers want to be clear that they are not protesting against “the Muslim faith”.

Posted in Uncategorized

2000 call for release of 'terror' arrest man - The Bolton News

2009-11-20T08:46:47Z

2000 call for release of 'terror' arrest man
The Bolton News
PETITIONS demanding the release of a 62-year-old Muslim preacher arrested and detained by anti-terror police have been signed by almost 2000 people. ...
Concern at 'social champion' arrestMorning Star Online

all 10 news articles »

Teen girls convicted for harassing refugees

2009-11-19T15:39:00Z

Two teenage girls have been convicted for their role in terrorizing refugees in Vännäs in northern Sweden last May in what was described at the time as a "lynch mob".

No Residence for Controversial Egyptians

2009-11-19T16:26:00Z

The Swedish government has refused to give permission to stay in this country to two Egyptians who were handed over to the CIA in 2001, and reportedly tortured. The two were picked up at Stockholm’s Bromma airport as part of the CIA’s controversial program of extraordinary rendition and flown to Egypt, where they were imprisoned and where they say they were tortured. The Swedish action has been widely criticised by both United Nations and human rights organisations.

First female Muslim peer Baroness Uddin claimed £100000: MPs' expenses

2009-11-18T16:50:04Z

Baroness Uddin the first female Muslim peer claimed £100000 in parliamentary allowances by registering as her main home a property that she allegedly barely occupied.

Terror suspect points to case flaws

2009-11-19T10:52:18Z

A 22-year-old woman who was arrested last week on suspicion of being a member of the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire urban guerrilla group was released from custody yesterday after mounting a vigorous defense. It was revealed in court that Antigone Heliot... ...

Islam: First 'official' copy of Koran in Italian to be printed in Medina

2009-11-18T14:50:31Z

Islam: First 'official' copy of Koran in Italian to be printed in Medina

(18/11/2009 - 15:04:49)

Japan's native Ainu fight for cultural survival

2009-11-19T06:05:37Z

Japan's native people, the Ainu, once hunted bears and fished for salmon in the wild forests of the country's far north, but today they are an ethnic minority fighting for their cultural survival.

Like indigenous peoples elsewhere, the Ainu suffered through an era of forced assimilation which took a heavy toll on their customs, language and way of life, leaving them a disadvantaged minority in modern Japan.

Speech by Kent Ekeroth, Sweden, Oct 18 2009 Islam and Europe.

2009-11-18T17:09:59Z

A speech by Kent Ekeroth on Islam, Sweden and Europe by the Sweden Democrats, a political party in Sweden. Kent Ekeroth is their international secretary. Translation by Henrik W.

Right-wing Finnish councillor, fined for calling Big Mo a kiddy-fiddler, is to appeal

2009-11-17T15:06:00Z

JUSSI Halla-aho, an independent member of the Helsinki City Council elected to the council on the True Finns ticket, plans to appeal against his recent conviction of violating the sanctity of religion.

The Helsinki District Court fined him 330 Euros. The right-wing politician who runs a popular blog insists that he did not intend to hurt anyone, and said: The indictment is wrong. Violating the sanctity of religion requires an intent to hurt. [The Freethinker] Read more

Italy: Burqa and 'Indian' Barbie dolls go under the hammer - AKI - Adnkronos International

2009-11-18T17:03:57Z

AKI - Adnkronos International

Italy: Burqa and 'Indian' Barbie dolls go under the hammer
AKI - Adnkronos International
(AKI) - Barbie dolls wearing the Muslim burqa, the Indian sari and the Japanese kimono are among a collection due to go under the hammer in the central ...