Islam Today Oregon Presents: This Is Islam

Attempted jihad on a plane; passengers take charge and subdue the miscreant

2012-02-22T23:23:00.001-08:00

The passenger refused a flight attendants request, and began shouting Allah is great (Allahu Akbar) before being subdued by the passengers. It is nice to know that our fellow passengers are ready and willing to stand and put their lives on the line. I hope I would do the same thing if the time came.

This episode will be ignored, and we will go back to our somnambulent ways, never really understanding why this happened. Go back to sleep, nothing to see here...

From KHOU Feb 21 by Nakia Cooper

1 passenger detained after disturbance on Continental flight headed to Houston

HOUSTON— Passengers aboard a Continental Airlines flight bound for Houston Tuesday sprang into action to help a flight attendant having trouble with an unruly passenger. Twenty minutes after the plane departed Portland, pilots returned to the city where the FBI was waiting.

Passengers said the unruly man was a problem from the beginning. After boarding Flight 1113, the man became upset because he was not seated next to his friend.

Then after the flight took off, he ignored the “No Smoking” sign and tried to light an electronic cigarette.

A flight attendant asked the passenger to turn off the cigarette, but he refused. The Middle Eastern man started screaming at the smaller woman.

“He was screaming, ‘Allah is great, Allah is great,’” said Nancy Haywood, passenger. “And it kind of worries you when that happens, but believe me, there were enough men to hold him down.”

And they did. Men on the plane jumped up and ran to assist the flight attendant.

“Every guy that was in my area was ready to go,” said Mark Foster, passenger. “It was not even a thought. You can tell buckles were off and people were already leaning toward the aisles.”

The men subdued the unruly passenger while the flight attendant ran to the back and retrieved plastic handcuffs and ankle cuffs.

They have hand and ankle cuffs on the planes now? Cool!

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"Palestinian" cleric who called for Muslims to murder Jews to speak in Amsterdam

2012-02-22T22:56:00.004-08:00

As long as you present yourself as a Muslim who wants "dialogue" there will be people who want to hear you speak. Haitham al-Haddad has a history of making statements that are anti-Jew and pro-Islam, see here some of his outrageous, but perfectly in line with Islamic doctrine statements.

He is speaking in the Netherlands, at the invitation of the student association at De Balie, a private school and quite exclusive. They teach culture and politics, and now they can say they also teach hatred of Jews and Islamic hegemony.

From the Jerusalem Post Feb 22 by Cnaan Lipshiz

UK-based Palestinian extremist speaks at Amsterdam venue
AMSTERDAM – A Palestinian cleric who called on Muslims to kill Jewish “enemies of Allah” spoke last week about Islam in Europe at one of Amsterdam’s foremost forums for political debate.

Haitham al-Haddad appeared there on Thursday night at the invitation of a student association of a major Dutch university.

“Islam became part of the landscape of Europe. Non-Muslims cannot dictate what Islam is,” Haddad – a Saudi-born Palestinian based in London – told the crowd at De Balie, a privately owned cultural and political institution in central Amsterdam.

“We’re very happy that you’ve agreed to talk to us in a setting like this with all the press present,” the director of De Balie, Youri Albrecht, told Haddad.

“You’ve had a long day, so a warm welcome, I would say, to Mr. Haddad.”

De Balie, situated at what used to be Amsterdam’s district court, often hosts public readings and debates with dignitaries and official guests of the Dutch Foreign Ministry. In November the ministry hosted Dr. Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian human rights activist and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, at De Balie.

“The best role for women to play is to be good mothers, supporting the family and supporting society through this. We are suffering from women who are abandoning their children or women who are following media,” Haddad also said at De Balie.

His address was part of a debate with Tofik Dibi, a member of parliament for the Green Left party, and Kustaw Bessems, a Dutch journalist for the freely distributed newspaper De Pers. Bessems arranged the event together with the Islamic student association of the Free University.

Haddad was scheduled to speak on campus, but the university canceled the talk after protest by the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, the Netherlands’ watchdog on anti-Semitism.

CIDI obtained a copy of an Arabiclanguage op-ed from 2002 carrying Haddad’s name that praises suicide bombers, describes “peace with the Jews” as “betrayal” and calls Jews and Christians “the enemies of Allah.”

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"A 16-year-old girl who refused to marry an al-Shabaab commander who was three times her age was killed by his men and beheaded. Her head was brought back to the school as a warning to others."

2012-02-22T22:31:00.002-08:00

This is Islam.

From the Telegraph Feb 23

Al-Shabaab militia abducting teenage girls to marry fighters

Gunmen from the Islamist al-Shabaab militia have routinely abducted teenage girls to work as servants on the frontline and forced them to marry fighters, according to a new report documenting the abuse of children in Somalia's civil war.

The report by Human Rights Watch also found that as fighting has intensified over the past two years, al-Shabaab has increasingly targeted boys as young as 10 for action on the frontline to join its dwindling ranks. Whole classrooms have been forced at gunpoint to leave school and fight.

Researchers found that after several weeks of harsh training child recruits are sent for action where they often serve as "cannon fodder" to protect adult fighters.

"It is a new, disturbing pattern using children as human shields," said Laetitia Bader, one of the principal authors and researchers of the report.

Boys who escaped camps were either mown down or faced long and terrifying journeys to sanctuary elsewhere in Somalia or across the border in Kenya.

Girls who resisted capture can face the most appalling consequences, Human Rights Watch found. A 16-year-old girl who refused to marry an al-Shabaab commander who was three times her age was killed by his men and beheaded. Her head was brought back to the school as a warning to others.

"They assembled all of the girls and said 'this is an example of what will happen if you misbehave'," a teacher at the school told Human Rights Watch, which conducted more than 160 interviews with Somali refugees for the report, No Place for Children.

A 19-year-old student from the Bakara district of the capital Mogadishu described how girls were taken from his school.

"Girls were taken at gunpoint. One girl said she could not go and al-Shabaab shot her in the forehead in front of my class. They said that she was a spy for the government. She was 19 years old," he said.

The forced marriage campaign by the al-Qaeda affiliate is part of its effort to impose its harsh version of Sharia on every aspect of the personal lives of women and girls, according to Human Rights Watch.

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He didn't burn a Qur'an, but Muslims want him to burn anyway

2012-02-22T21:55:00.001-08:00

Well, maybe sunny-side up. Lars Vilks drew the cartoons of Muhammad that caused mass riots across the Islamic world in the late 2000's. He has been the object of Muslim ire ever since. This last public outing had Muslims launching eggs at Vilks, no injuries were reported.

Omlettes were served after the talk.

From DAWN Feb 22

Prophet Mohammad cartoonist attacked during lecture

Lars Vilks Photo-AP

STOCKHOLM: The Swedish artist who created a blasphemous sketch of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) has been pelted with eggs by a group of people during a university lecture on the limits of the freedom of expression.

According to a police statement, Lars Vilks was unharmed in the attack that occurred at Karlstad University in southwestern Sweden late Tuesday evening.

No one has yet been arrested for the assault, but police say they are investigating the incident.

The 65-year old artist has faced a string of threats over his 2007 sketch, which rekindled a debate over free speech and Islam that had raged a year earlier after a Danish newspaper printed 12 cartoons of Mohammad (PBUH).

Afghanistan: Protests over Qur'an burning continue,compound housing foreigners attacked

2012-02-22T21:40:00.001-08:00

No other religion reacts this way when their God or prophet is offended. Even something like the "Piss Christ" display garnered no more than strong condemnation from those believing in Jesus. Only Muslims physically attack due to a perceived affront, and they do so with obscene regularity.

It is the "religion of the perpetually insulted."

From the Guardian Feb 22 by Emma Graham-Harrison

Qur'an protesters attack Kabul compound housing foreigners

Afghan protesters armed with stones and molotov cocktails have attacked a military base and a compound housing foreign workers in Kabul, in a second day of violence over the burning of copies of the Qur'an by foreign forces.

At least 16 demonstrators and one police officer were injured as enraged crowds took to the streets in central and eastern Afghanistan, shouting "Death to America" and "Death to Obama".

Police in Kabul used water cannon and fired guns into the air to deter the demonstrators, who were attacking shops and smashing car windows. Security guards in the compound that came under attack also opened fire with automatic rifles.

Destroy what little wealth there is that is your neighbors, that'll show 'em!

A military base was attacked on the outskirts of the capital.

Eleven men were treated for gunshot wounds in Kabul, said Kabir Amiri, spokesman for the city's hospitals. Another five people were injured in eastern Jalalabad, said Ahmad Zia Ahmadzai, spokesman for the provincial governor.

The demonstrations began in the early hours of Tuesday morning, afterAfghan workers at the sprawling Bagram airbase spotted copies of the Qur'an among waste paper sent for incineration.

They extinguished the flames and left the base with some of the damaged books, which had been taken from prisoners in a detention centre at Bagram.

A military official, who asked not to be named, said the books had been removed from the jail library because some had added inscriptions that appeared to be in use to "facilitate extremist communications" or were extremist "in and of themselves".

Nato-led forces rushed to apologise for the burning, which the commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, described as "not intentional".

Why would we "rush to apologize" if we had already thrown the Qur'ans in the trash, to be burned anyway? And as for the claim that some of the writings were "extremist in and of themselves," could they have been talking about the Qur'an itself?

But damage to the Qur'an is a highly sensitive issue in Afghanistan and protests began almost immediately.

"When the Americans insult us to this degree, we will join the insurgents," said Ajmal, an 18-year-old protester in Kabul told Reuters.

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Qur'ans torched at Bagram air base had "extremist inscriptions" written in them, says military

2012-02-21T22:49:00.005-08:00

You won't hear this by the MSM. That is why it is vitally important to get as much information as you can,from sources other than the ones you usually turn to. Funny how this is on CNN, yet no one knows.

The fact that these books, including Qur'ans had what amounted to jihadist exhortations makes them fair game for destruction. The uproar over this is far overblown, but as Muslims are the new victim class it makes sense that we would apologize to the Afghan people form"insulting" them.

Islam, the religion of the perpetually insulted.

From CNN Feb 21

Official: Burned Islamic religious material had 'extremist inscriptions'

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Religious materials -- including Qurans that were burned at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, sparking Afghan protests -- were removed from the library of a detainee center "because of extremist inscriptions" on them, a military official said Tuesday.

There was "an appearance that these documents were being used to facilitate extremist communications," a military official said.

"Additionally, some of the documents were extremist in and of themselves, apparently originating from outside of Afghanistan," the official said.

The official said the material was burned, but authorities are attempting to determine how much.

The uproar prompted Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, to issue a directive "that all coalition forces in Afghanistan will complete training in the proper handling of religious materials no later than March 3," the NATO-led force said..

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More child bombers found, rescued

2012-02-21T22:37:00.001-08:00

41this time, and it makes one wonder about the morals of the religion of peace. As if we needed another reason to wonder about Islam.

Here is another recent example of child bombers and how they are told they will not die when they push the detonator.

From News24 Feb 20

Afghans rescue 41 child suicide bombers

Kabul - The Afghan government said on Monday that police had rescued 41 children from becoming suicide bombers as they were about to be smuggled across the mountains into Pakistan.

Interior ministry spokesperson Sediq Sediqqi told a news conference that the children aged six to 11 had been released on February 15 from the clutches of four insurgents in eastern Kunar province.

He told AFP their families "were fooled by terrorists", who promised to send them to seminaries in Pakistan where they would be "brainwashed" and "prepared for suicide bombings against Afghan and international troops in Afghanistan".

Police arrested the four suspects and the children were returned to their families, the spokesperson said.

The Afghan government has accused madrassas in Pakistan of teaching violent extremism and sponsoring Islamist violence, a legacy of Afghanistan's 1979-89 US and Pakistani-sponsored mujahideen uprising against Soviet troops.

On February 12, Afghan authorities announced the arrest of two 10-year-old would-be suicide bombers allegedly planning to attack Afghan and international forces in the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace.

They had been reportedly released last August, along with 18 other children, after receiving a pardon from Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The Taliban, which is leading a 10-year insurgency against Karzai's government and 130 000 US-led foreign troops, have reportedly used children and teenagers to conduct attacks on security forces.

Grocery jihad

2012-02-21T22:30:00.003-08:00

The latest attempt at imposing sharia across Nigeria.

From Daily News Feb 21

30 killed in Nigeria market attack

Kano - Suspected Nigerian Islamists opened fire and set off bombs at a market in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri on Monday, killing at least 30 people, a medic and a witness said.

Gunmen believed to be members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram stormed the fish section of Baga market and sprayed stallholders and vendors with bullets, traders said, reporting that women and children were among the dead.

"The number of dead could not be less than 30," a Maiduguri hospital nurse said.

The military confirmed the assault on the market but denied any civilian deaths, saying security forces had killed eight assailants and safely detonated bombs planted by the attackers.

"At about 1.30pm (1230 GMT) this afternoon at Baga market of Maiduguri metropolis some gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram attacked and shot civilians at the market," Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Mohammed, spokesman of a special military unit in the city, said.

He said several people had been wounded but that there was "no civilian death at this time".

The military "immediately came to the rescue of the situation and safely detonated three bombs planted by members of the sect and shot and killed eight members of the sect," Mohammed said.

However, one trader who have his name as Mairami, said six gunmen stormed the food and commodities market and "opened fire indiscriminately. At least 30 people including women and children were killed."

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Pakistan: Muslims demand holy war, or jihad while chanting death to America

2012-02-21T22:15:00.001-08:00

And these are our friends. Nothing says tolerance and love of the other than demanding their death.

From Yahoo Feb 20 by Sajjad Tarakzai

Thousands shout 'death to America' in Islamabad

Pakistanis poured onto Islamabad's streets Monday, chanting "death to America" and demanding holy war at a rally whipped up by right-wing, religious and banned organisations linked to Al-Qaeda.

It was the latest show of support for Defence of Pakistan, a coalition of around 40 parties chaired by a cleric dubbed the father of the Taliban that include organisations blacklisted at home and abroad as terror groups.

Allah Buksh, a senior police official, said 2,500 attended the demonstration as it got underway, but witnesses estimated the crowd at 3,500 as hundreds of riot police, armed with batons and wearing bullet-proof jackets stood guard.

"Today, we have gathered here to raise a voice of protest against US intervention in Pakistan," chairman Maulana Sami ul-Haq, who runs an extremist madrassa that educated several Taliban leaders, told AFP.

Also present was member Hamid Gul, who headed Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency during the 1980s US and Pakistani-sponsored war against Soviet troops in Afghanistan.

His membership has helped fuel suspicions that Pakistan's security establishment is backing the coalition as a means of exerting pressure on the weak government and whipping up rhetoric against the unpopular US alliance.

"Our protest is against the possible resumption of NATO supplies, US and Indian occupation and to strengthen the country's defence," Haq told AFP.

"America wants to break Pakistan into pieces," he added in reference to a resolution sponsored by three US lawmakers calling for self-determination in Pakistan's insurgency-torn southwestern province of Baluchistan.

The alliance, which uses Twitter and Facebook to promote its message, was set up after US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border in late November, which saw Pakistan shut its Afghan border to NATO supplies.

"Death to America" and "America deserves one treatment: jihad, jihad" shouted the crowd in a bustling commercial area, an AFP reporter said.

If I say that, I am a Islamophobe. Why do the raving jihadists get a pass, but I do not?

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Muslims stone Christians at Temple Mount

2012-02-20T18:58:00.000-08:00

Using real stones, a group of about 50 Muslims, deciding that non-Muslims should be punished for daring to desecrate the third holiest site in Islam, attacked with a vengence. Never mind that the Temple Mount is the first holiest site for both Jews and Christians, the fact that the site is administered by Islam, and it is they who decide the rules on behavior means that no one can worship there with impunity, as their faith dictates. Muslims control the Temple Mount, and Jews as well as Christians are only able to visit when Muslims decide they can.

Disgusting.

From Israel Today Feb 19

Muslims stone Christians on Temple Mount

A mob of some 50 Palestinian Muslims stoned a group of Christian tourists atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount on Sunday morning. Three of the Israeli police officers who acted to protect the Christian group were wounded by the stone-throwers.

Police arrested 11 Palestinians, several of them minors, for their role in the attack.

The attack is believed to have been instigated by the former Muslim mufti of Jerusalem, Ekrama Sabri, who told Palestinian media over the weekend that Jewish groups were planning to break into the mosques that occupy the holy compound and desecrate them.

Sabri urged all local Muslims to protect the mosques from "the Israeli conspiracy against the city and its holy places."

Muslim religious figures regularly claim that Israel is plotting to destroy the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque to pave the way for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple, which the Muslims now insist never previously existed.

Because of the constant threat of Muslim violence, and despite the fact that the Temple Mount is the most holy place on earth to Jews and many Christians, the Israeli police comply with Muslim demands for harsh restrictions on non-Muslim visitors to the site. For instance, Jews and Christians are forbidden to carry Bibles atop the Temple Mount or to utter even silent prayers within its walls. Jews and Christians are regularly detained for violating these conditions.

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"...demand the complete closure of shops selling alcohol, which are contrary to the Prophet's religious teaching."

2012-02-20T18:37:00.000-08:00

Algeria, like Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Nigeria, Egypt and other Arab countries is in process of becoming sharia-compliant, and one of the first items on the list of things against Islam is alcohol. Target those who sell, distribute and make it, and you pave the way for more sharia, and the strict enforcement thereof.

From Magharebia Feb 15 by Nazim Fethi

Attacks on bars multiply in Algeria

Nearly 2,000 pubs and other alcoholic drink outlets have been closed in Algeria in the past three years, particularly in the Algiers area, according to a source from the alcoholic beverage producers' association.

In Tizi Ouzou, ten orders to shut down pubs were enforced by the police in September alone. In the capital, the authorities unleashed a real war on bars and pubs. The official reasons cited have been hygiene concerns and failure to comply with regulations governing the trade.

Algiers wali Mohamed Kebir Addou insisted the closures were normal and not evidence of the authorities overstepping their powers. He also downplayed the significance of Islamist influence on the government's decision.

"There has never been any suggestion from within the administration that we are giving in to blackmail to close an establishment if the owner is abiding by the current laws, especially if the reason behind it is some kind of engineered religious consideration," he said.

But Algerian Association of Drinks Producers (APAB) chief Ali Hamani suggested that the decision to crack down on alcohol sales had been "driven by public campaigners".

Algerian Islamists have recently redoubled their morality campaigning efforts, buoyed by their counterparts' successes in the region.

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Harvard to host Jew-hating conference

2012-02-20T18:14:00.000-08:00

It is plainly a conference against Israel and Jews, hosted by one of the most honored universities ever created.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Organizers of the event include Students for Justice in Palestine and the Arab Caucus, and the thrust of the conference is to position a "one-state solution" to the current crisis. The organizers see Israel as the problem, throwing around the usual "ethnic cleansing" and "occupation" canards, and along with speakers like Ilan Pape and Ali Abunimah call for the destruction of Israel through the one state proposition and the "right of return" of millions of refugees which, when the dust clears will have resulted in the elimination of Israel as a country and the establishment of a false and created 'Palestine" with no Jews at all.

If the powers that be at Harvard know about the history of the organizers and participants, and still give their blessings for the event, they should be held accountable and forced to present an opposing viewpoint. If they are truly blind to the realities of the who and what, they should be kicked off of whatever board they are on at Harvard, and taught how to ask if fries would be added to the order. The continued demonization of Israel and Jews by the bastions of open dialogue and fairness is spreading, and colleges across the world are experiencing a new surge of anti-semitism. Harvard is but a symptom of the disease called "kick the Jew."

From Israel National News Feb 19 by Rachel Hirshfeld

Harvard to Host Conference of Hate

Harvard University is going to be hosting a conference entitled “One State Conference: Israel/Palestine and the One State Solution,” scheduled to take place March 3-4.

According to the “Vision and Goals” of the conference, as outlined by its website:

“To date, the only Israel/Palestine solution that has received a fair rehearsal in mainstream forums has been the two-state solution. Our conference will help to expand the range of academic debate on this issue. Thus, our main goal is to educate ourselves and others about the possible contours of a one-state solution and the challenges that stand in the way of its realization.”

The conference was organized by a number of student groups including, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Palestine Caucus, the Arab Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, and the Association for Justice in the Middle East, all of which perpetrate an ideology based on the belief that Israel is an “apartheid state,” responsible for the “ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population.”

Speakers include, Ali Abunimah, the Executive Director of the Electronic Intifada; Dalit Baum, of the BDS organization Coalition of Women for Peace; Ilan Pappe, radical left Israeli academic and fervent supporter of the BDS movement; Marc Ellis, Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University, who compares Zionism to colonialism and Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to the Nazi treatment of Jews; as well as a number of other academics and scholars who advocate similar beliefs.

“Most of the speakers are heavily involved in anti-Israel advocacy. The conference program features an activist workshop, in contrast to an academic or research framework in which different perspectives are presented… Such events represent the antithesis of constructive academic dialogue and peaceful coexistence,” the NGO Monitor claimed.

“Those who promote a one-state ‘solution’ advocate creating an entity which would, through its merger with the Palestinian Arab population of the West Bank and Gaza and an influx of Palestinians from neighboring states, lose its Jewish majority and its Jewish character. In effect, Jewish self-determination would be nullified,” the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) reported. The forum is clearly focused, therefore, on “dismantling the Jewish State of Israel.”

“According to the working definition of anti-Semitism developed by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), and recognized by the United States Department of State, the One State Conference, in implicitly 'denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination,' is an exercise in anti-Semitism,” CAMERA explained.

In a conversation recorded on February 9, 2012 at Imperial College in London, Norman Finkelstein, who describes himself as having devoted his life to the “Palestinian cause” told his interviewer, “You know and I know exactly what we're talking about because if we end the occupation, and we bring back 6 million Palestinians, and we have equal rights for Arabs and Jews, there's no Israel. That's what it's really about.”

So there it is, in black and white, yet no one will call him on it, or challenge the claim that this whole thing is about the destruction of Israel and the scattering of the Jews to the four winds.

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Kuwait: parliament member wants church construction banned

2012-02-20T16:53:00.001-08:00

MP Osama Al-Munawer is poised to introduce legislation which would ban all church building in the Kingdom. His plan is not outrageous or unheard of, there is precedent for this behavior. Called the Pact of Umar, it is a guide...well, more like definitive rules on how Jews were to act while living in a Muslim country. One of the major rules in the Pact is the restriction on the building, repairing or renovating of any church. So in reality, Munawer is just following his prophet on how to deal with non-Muslims.

The religion of peace and tolerance strikes again.

From ArabianBusiness Feb 19 by Shane McGinley

Kuwaiti MPs call for ban on construction of churches

Kuwait parliament in session Photo-AFP/Getty

A Kuwaiti parliamentarian is set to submit a draft law banning the construction of churches and non-Islamic places of worship in the Gulf state, it was reported at the weekend.

Kuwaiti Member of Parliament (MP) Osama Al-Munawer announced on Twitter he plans to submit a draft law calling for the removal of all churches in the country. However, he later clarified that existing churches should remain but the construction of new non-Islamic places of worship should be banned.

Fellow MP, Mohammad Hayef supported the draft law. “Kuwait already has an excessive number of churches compared to the country’s Christian minority”, he was quoted as saying by the Kuwait Times newspaper.

The country’s Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs recently granted a licence for the construction of a new church, which Hayef described as “an error”.

Kuwait: Salafis call for ban on all holidays, except Muslim ones

2012-02-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

The country we "liberated" in the early 90's from Saddam Hussein was never a secular Muslim country, they were just more relaxed in their enforcement of sharia because they wanted the Western money from tourism. Now that Salafis are moving in to the neighborhood, the demands for imposition of sharia have begun, and will increase as their power grows. This demand for a ban on Western holidays is just the beginning.

From Gulf News Feb 19 by Habib Toumi

Kuwait centre calls for ban on national celebrations

Manama: A Kuwaiti Salafi centre has called for a ban on the country's national celebrations, claiming they violated religious ethics.

Kuwait this week celebrates its National Day and Liberation Day and employees have been given four days off, including the weekend, to mark the occasion.

"The so-called festivities and the accompanying concerts, dances and waste of thousands of dinars are against our religion," Fuad Al Rifai, the head of Wathakker centre, said. "Muslims celebrate only two feasts, at the end of Ramadan and the Sacrifice during the pilgrimage season. Any other festivity is totally alien and should not be upheld by Muslims," he said.

Muslims do not have to mark national occasion to show they love their country or have a high sense of patriotism, he said.

"There is no doubt about the love citizens have for their country, but the focus should be on complying with the values and ethics of the religion," Al Rifai said.

The call is likely to wade into controversy as Kuwaitis are getting ready for a long weekend of celebrations.

2012 Olympics: Saudi Arabia bans women from participating

2012-02-20T15:52:00.000-08:00

Oh the tolerance and freedoms you will see in the land of two holy places. There is one, that's right, one woman athlete good enough to compete in the Olympics, but Saudi authorities prohibit her from the games. She might have sex if she goes, and that just cannot stand. Remember, in an Islamic country women are not allowed to mingle with unrelated males, else they will have sex. A woman driving by herself means she will have sex. Women not wearing the burqa are looking for sex. It is all about sex, and the woman's responsibility to maintain her purity and not do anything that would inflame the male passions. With Saudi Arabia denying a woman a place on the team, they forfeit their right to play. We may not see Saudi Arabia in this years Olympics, due to their adherence to the tenets of Islam.

And these are our "friends" we cling so closely to, paying the jizya in the form of oil dollars.

From BikyaMasr Feb 17 by Joseph Mayton

Saudi Arabia says no to women Olympians

CAIRO: Less than three months after Saudi Arabia said it would permit women to participate in the London 2012 Olympic Games, it has reportedly reneged on their agreement, barring women from entering the Games.

The move will also threaten the country’s overall participation in the Olympics, with the International Olympic Committee saying that all countries must field female athletes as part of their teams.

The decision has been roundly criticized by human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), which said in a press release that the move is counter to the Olympic Charter, which says, “The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit.”

HRW said it shouldn’t be too surprising, however, as state-run schools offer no physical education for girls and only men belong to sports clubs in the country.

“In fact, government restrictions on women essentially bar them from sports,” a new report says, HRW reported.

The IOC Women’s Chair Anita DeFrantz warned the country in 2010 that if female athletes are not allowed to participate, the country could face being banned from the global competition.

Dalma Rushdi Malhas, an 18-year-old Saudi woman, was the likely choice for the competition. She won a bronze medal at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics and has the ability to compete at the highest level.

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Imposition vs Assimilation

2012-02-19T23:28:00.001-08:00

Rather than teaching the people in their community about the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and overly fat foods, the local Muslims are agitating against their coreligionists and demanding they ban these products, as the sale of them goes against the tenets of Islam. Tobacco and alcohol I understand, many communities are fighting to have severe restrictions placed on their sale and use. Banning pork, that is another realm entirely. Including pork in their demands, they show themselves to be more than just concerned citizens of their community. They are imposing Islamic values (sharia) on those who do not want them imposed; non-Muslims who live close and shop at those stores. In Muslim countries one must bow to Muslim norms, and when in a non-Muslim country one must also bow to Muslim norms. That is the way Islam gains a stronger redoubt in a non-Muslim country; by imposition of one-way rules and regulations. What is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander when it comes to followers of Muhammad.

To impose the will of Allah is the primary goal of Islam, and Muslims who refuse to tow the line suffer as "not Muslim enough."

From the Delaware County Daily Times Feb 16

Muslim group asks stores to remove alcohol, tobacco

CHESTER — A group of Islamic leaders is urging Muslim business owners to stop selling alcohol, tobacco and drug paraphernalia, which are prohibited in the Quran because they contribute to the destruction of humanity.

The United Muslim Coalition for Chester Citizens Against Violence and Crime mailed out a letter detailing the request to 16 Muslim-owned businesses last month.

The coalition wants the businesses to stop selling such products because they run counter to Islam and also contribute to the drug and violence problem plaguing Chester. The coalition claims the business owners are ignoring passages in the Quran that call for Muslims to protect others from harm.

“They’re preying on the addictions that plague our community,” Imam Haneef Mahdi said. “We’re trying to eradicate from the root those things that are hurting our community.”

Imam Farid W. Rasool said many people buy blunts from these stores strictly to lace the wraps with marijuana, cocaine or embalming fluid. The latter is known as “wet” on the streets.

Rasool said many of Chester’s youth engaged in drugs and violence identify with the Muslim faith. Coalition leaders said they are tired of seeing these youth — and others who don’t identify with Islam — dying on the streets.

“We have a right to request that you stop contributing to the death of your community,” Keith Muhammad said. “We are asking as a community for you to stop. That should be respected. Certainly, out of the law of Islam, you should be moved.”

Coalition leaders said they are just one cog in a broader effort to improve Chester. They said they simply are asking their fellow Muslims to adhere to their faith and stop taking actions detrimental to the community.

If the business owners do not cease selling forbidden products, the coalition said it will ask the public to stop supporting those businesses.

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A gradual caliphate, but a caliphate nonetheless

2012-02-19T23:08:00.000-08:00

The secular and moderate Muslim Brotherhood, democratic and non-violent, has as its long view the establishment of a world-wide caliphate.

Gradually, gradually...

From IPT Feb 17

MB Spokesman Describes Caliphate "Dream"

Having swept into majorities in Egypt's parliament, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman is making it clear the group has ambitions far beyond Cairo.

"Concerning the Islamic caliphate, this is our dream, and we hope to achieve it, even after centuries," Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghuzlan told Egypt's Ahram news outlet in an interview Sunday. "It is the right of the Brotherhood that this is one of the pillars of its strategy. We are not concerned about the renaissance of the group only. Rather our first goal is the renaissance of Egypt, then the Arab world and then the Islamic world. This will come gradually."

Ghuzlan's statement echoes comments Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie made during a speech in late December. In it, Badie explained Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna's original agenda remains intact. "It begins with the reform of the individual and then to start building the family and society, then the government; then the rightly guided caliphate, then instructing the world; instructing guidance, wisdom, truth and justice."

Neither Badie's comments nor Ghuzlan's interview have been picked up by American news media.

They should be, because if Ghuzlan speaks for his organization, then the incoming Egyptian government opposes American policy when it comes to peace efforts in the region and in trying to block Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. While the Brotherhood has issues with Iran, he said, it supports the Islamic Republic when they are in agreement, "such as its standing up against America and the West who are trying to abort its nuclear program."

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NYPD monitoring Muslims in the MSA; Muslims and the MSA angry over profiling

2012-02-19T23:03:00.001-08:00

Not all Muslims are jihadists, but virtually all jihadists are Muslim. Where does that leave the NYPD? How do they find the jihadists if not by looking at where they are? I imagine the MSA, CAIR and a few others would prefer the monitoring to be done to those pesky Mennonites or that dangerous group of Carmalite nuns living in that big house on the corner.

When they start blowing themselves up in the name of God, and invoking passages from the Bible as their justification, then I say monitor them as well. Until then, keep an eye on the group most likely to spontaneously explode.

From Boston.com Feb 18 by Chris Hawley

NYPD monitored Muslim students all over Northeast

NEW YORK—The New York Police Department monitored Muslim college students far more broadly than previously known, at schools far beyond the city limits, including the Ivy League colleges of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, The Associated Press has learned.

Police talked with local authorities about professors 300 miles away in Buffalo and even sent an undercover agent on a whitewater rafting trip, where he recorded students' names and noted in police intelligence files how many times they prayed.

Detectives trawled Muslim student websites every day and, although professors and students had not been accused of any wrongdoing, their names were recorded in reports prepared for Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

Asked about the monitoring, police spokesman Paul Browne provided a list of 12 people arrested or convicted on terrorism charges in the United States and abroad who had once been members of Muslim student associations, which the NYPD referred to as MSAs. Jesse Morton, who this month pleaded guilty to posting online threats against the creators of "South Park," had once tried to recruit followers at Stony Brook University on Long Island, Browne said.

"As a result, the NYPD deemed it prudent to get a better handle on what was occurring at MSAs," Browne said in an email. He said police monitored student websites and collected publicly available information, but did so only between 2006 and 2007.

"I see a violation of civil rights here," said Tanweer Haq, chaplain of the Muslim Student Association at Syracuse. "Nobody wants to be on the list of the FBI or the NYPD or whatever. Muslim students want to have their own lives, their own privacy and enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities that everybody else has."

In recent months, the AP has revealed secret programs the NYPD, built with help from the CIA, to monitor Muslims at the places where they eat, shop and worship. The AP also published details about how police placed undercover officers at Muslim student associations in colleges within the city limits; this revelation has outraged faculty and student groups.

Though the NYPD says it follows the same rules as the FBI, some of the NYPD's activities go beyond what the FBI is allowed to do.

Kelly and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg repeatedly have said that the police only follow legitimate leads about suspected criminal activity.

But the latest documents mention no wrongdoing by any students.

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Five wounded by bomb blast outside church in Nigeria

2012-02-19T22:38:00.000-08:00

Another day in the emerging Islamic Republic of Nigeria.

From the Seattle Times Feb 19 by Bashir Adi gun and Jon Gambrell

Bomb near car explodes in Nigeria, wounding 5

SULEJA, Nigeria —

A bomb planted by an abandoned car exploded outside a church in the middle of a worship service Sunday near Nigeria's capital, wounding five people amid a continuing wave of violence by a radical Islamist sect, authorities and witnesses said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast outside the Christ Embassy church in Suleja, a city near the nation's capital Abuja. However, the area has been targeted in the past by the sect known as Boko Haram - including the Christmas Day car bombing of a Catholic church nearby that killed at least 44 people.

The explosion happened just after 10 a.m. as the church began its service, Pastor Uyi Idugboe told journalists. Security guards at the church had noticed something suspicious by the abandoned car, prompting the pastor to call everyone inside the church before the service began, he said.

The bomb also apparently had been wrapped with a motorcycle chain, which sent metal shrapnel flying everywhere when the explosive detonated, witnesses said. The explosion tore away the engine compartment of the abandoned car and damaged four other vehicles nearby.

One person was seriously injured in the blast and taken to a local hospital, local police spokesman Richard Oguche said. Another four people suffered minor injuries, said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency.

Authorities began to put up roadblocks Sunday afternoon to keep onlookers away and traffic snarled around the city.

While police continued to investigate, suspicion for the blast immediately fell on Boko Haram, a group that has been waging increasingly bloody attacks against Nigeria's weak central government.

Members of the sect have been blamed for killing at least 289 people this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. The group's leader says its campaign of violence also is aimed at avenging Muslim deaths and pushing for strict Shariah law...

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Democratic protesters in Syria now compromised by Al-Qaeda

2012-02-18T21:05:00.000-08:00

If true, it bodes ill for a soon to be reconstructed Syria. The last thing Syria needs is Al-Qaeda influence.

From The Washington Post Feb 16

Al-Qaeda infiltrating Syrian opposition, U.S. officials say

Members of al-Qaeda have infiltrated Syrian opposition groups, and likely executed recent bombings in the nation’s capital and largest city, the United States’ top intelligence official said Thursday.

The remarks by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper are the most definitive to date from a senior Obama administration official on al-Qaeda’s efforts to insert itself into the Syrian uprising.

Two bombings in Damascus in December, as well as deadly attacks on security and intelligence buildings in Aleppo last week, “had all the earmarks of an al-Qaeda-like attack,” Clapper said, adding that the network’s affiliate in Iraq “is extending its reach into Syria.”

But Clapper suggested that al-Qaeda has so far not sought to call attention to its presence, and that its operatives may have slipped into groups of fighters opposed to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Qaeda extremists “have infiltrated” opposition groups that “in many cases may not be aware they are there,” Clapper said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee.

U.S. intelligence agencies have not detected an influx of fighters from neighboring countries into Syria, where opposition forces are fragmented and often feuding, with little indication that a leader will soon emerge, officials said.

So far there has been no “clarion call to outsiders coming in,” said Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. “We haven’t seen much of that up to this time, so basically the team that’s on the ground is playing with what it has.”

Burgess’s comments came just days after al-Qaeda leader Aymen al-Zawahiri released a video message urging fighters in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon to mobilize against Assad.

Al-Qaeda has largely been relegated to the sidelines in a series of uprisings across the Arab world over the past year, and itsaffiliate in Iraq has struggled to regroup after being hunted to near extinction by Shiite militias aligned with the American military “surge.”

U.S. officials for several weeks have been saying that the bombings in Syria bore certain characteristics of previous al-Qaeda operations, but that no definitive evidence had surfaced to establish that link.

Clapper seemed to go a step farther, describing al-Qaeda’s presence among militant groups as “another disturbing phenomenon that we’ve seen.”

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Pakistan: dozens dead in Sunni/Shia bloodshed

2012-02-18T20:46:00.000-08:00

If one side sees the other side as "not Muslim enough" the carnage begins. The intra-tribal fighting between Sunni and Shia has been ongoing for 1400 years, there is no reason to think it will end this weekend.

The rivers of blood continue, courtesy the religion of peace.

From The Washington Post Feb 17

Toll from Pakistan suicide blast in Shiite Muslim region reaches 32

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A local official says the death toll from a suicide attack in a majority-Shiite Pakistan town close to the Afghan border has reached 32.

Wajid Ali, who is an administrator in the town of Parachinar in the Kurram region, said Saturday that nine people had died in hospitals since the Friday blast, which was initially reported to have killed 23.

Another 67 were injured when on a motorcyclist detonated his explosives in the Parachinar’s market.

Ali said security forces later shot and killed four people who took to the streets to protest.

Violence by Sunni extremists against Shiites is common in Sunni-dominated Pakistan.

The Kurram region has seen outbreaks of sectarian bloodshed in recent years.

Turkey denies NATO intelligence to Israel

2012-02-18T20:41:00.000-08:00

Turkey has a NATO intelligence gathering base in its Southern desert, mainly for listening and monitoring conversations across Islamic lands. It gathers a lot of information, some of which has been used recently by the US and Israel jointly. Turkey claims that the system is for the use of NATO members only, Israel is not a NATO member. The US is a member of NATO, and the sharing of info by the US to Israel is in America's interest as well as the interest of Israel. Turkey has taken this stance because they do not like Israel, and recent events between the two countries have hardened Turkey even more against the Israeli state.

This action by Turkey is just another indication that they do not want to stay friends with Israel.

The Islamization of Turkey continues apace, thanks to Erdogan and his jihadist henchmen.

From Breitbart.com Feb 17

Turkey will not allow NATO to share intelligence with Israel

Turkey will never allow any third country, particularly Israel, to use intelligence obtained by a NATO radar system, its foreign minister said on Friday.

"We will never allow any third country to use any NATO facility. Our position will be even more clear if it is particularly Israel," Davutoglu told a joint news conference with visiting NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Ankara.

His remarks came after some media outlets reported that the United States and Israel have carried out a joint missile test by using intelligence gathered by a NATO radar system based in eastern Turkey.

Last year Ankara decided to host in a military facility base near Malatya in the southeast an early warning radar as part of NATO's defense architecture.

"It is a NATO system and we appreciate that Turkey has agreed to host one of the facilities," said Rasmussen.

"Data are shared within our alliance among the allies. It is a defence system to protect the populations of NATO allies," he added without mentioning Israel, which is not a NATO member.

Turkey's relations with one-time regional ally Israel plunged into deep crisis in 2010 when Israeli forces killed nine Turks in a raid on a Turkish ferry, part of an activist flotilla seeking to breach Israel's naval blockade of Gaza.

In 2011, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and axed military ties and defence trade after Israel's refusal to apologise and compensate the flotilla victims.

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Florida: CAIR insists on indoctrinating schoolkids, parents say no way, school board supports CAIR

2012-02-18T19:38:00.000-08:00

This will be a fight to the finish. Hamas-linked CAIR has been speaking to high school students as part of the Advanced Placement World History and World Religions classes taught each term. Parents have been fuming over this, and are fighting to have it stopped. The school board, effectively PC blind, are backing Hamas-linked CAIR against the wishes of the parents and some of the kids themselves.

This is an ongoing battle where the victor will, hopefully be the parents and students.

From WND Feb 16 by Jack Minor

PARENTS WON'T QUIT FIGHT OVER CAIR INDOCTRINATION

Parents in a Florida school district say their fight is not ending over district officials’ decision to openly promote a representative from the local Council on American-Islamic Relations group, whose national organization has ties to terrorism, to speak to their students and then refuse to listen to parental concerns.

It was this week during a meeting of the Tampa school board that several members appeared dismissive of citizens’ concerns. Member Doretha Edgecomb said she didn’t even want to look at the concerns.

“It’s Islam today and the NAACP tomorrow,” she said.

A motion at the meeting to schedule a workshop on the issue failed, getting only two of the four votes it needed.

But Terry Kemple, president of the Community Issues Council, told WND the board is mistaken if members think a vote will make the concerns vanish.

“Each meeting has had more [concerns raised] than the one before. We are going to continue to make people aware of this and pack out every public meeting until the board listens to the concerns of parents in this district,” Kemple said.

He went on to say that if the board does not listen to residents, they will ultimately be replaced with board members who will.

He and other residents and parents had gone to a meeting of the Hillsborough County school board in Tampa after learning that the district had allowed Hassan Shibley, executive director for CAIR-Tampa, to speak at more than a dozen Advanced Placement World History and World Religions classes last fall. The meeting was the second one in a row where residents have attempted to have their concerns addressed.

Shibley said the topics discussed at Steinbrenner High School included basic Muslim beliefs, Islamic history, Islam and human rights, religious tolerance and diversity, and popular misconceptions about Islam. He also talked to the student about “Islamophobia.”

I wonder if, in this vast array of Islamic teachings, anything was said about the sanctioning of beating the wife, or of a Muslim man legally taking up to four wives, or the command for Muslims to convert, subjugate or go to war with non-Muslims, or the concept of taqiyya, or any of the other uncomfortable aspects of Islam?

Shibley is a local imam and said although he had joined CAIR last June, he had been speaking about Islam at the school for years including when he was a student in the district. In December, upon learning the district was allowing a member of CAIR to speak to students, area residents became concerned.

Kemple told the board that members of the community had no objection to teaching about Islam, however their issue had to do with allowing a member of a terrorist-affiliated organization talk about any subject in area schools. The group even recommended other Muslim speakers that would be qualified to speak on the Muslim history and other topics.

“We made it plain from the beginning the issue had nothing to do with Islam or even the subject matter that was taught,” Kemple said. “We just don’t believe the district should allow a group with ties to terrorism to speak to our children.”

Kemple is referring to the Holy Land Foundation case, the largest terrorism funding trial in American history. CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America and other Muslim organizations were named as unindicted co-conspirators in the case.

That fact alone should have been enough for the school to say no. But in this day of rampant PC, there was not a chance the school would deny the opportunity to show their tolerance and diversity.

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FBI mulls partnering with Muslim Brotherhood connected groups for their input on training manuals

2012-02-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

Let's understand this correctly; the FBI, in order to have the best training materials on Islam, asks those who are determined to make Islam the religion of the world to write the material agents will be trained with. Of the five in this group, two are most worrying. The Islamic Society of North America (ICNA) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) are Muslim Brotherhood front groups, and they operate under the grand umbrella of the MB which says, " The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions..." You can read more about the ISNA here, and MPAC here.

We are doomed if an agency charged with the protection of US citizens decides to let those enemies dictate how, what and when we learn. The FBI is effectively abdicating their responsibility to understand the threat and act accordingly. Imagine if, during WWII we decided to let the Nazis decide what we learned about them. Amazing stupidity at work here, I don't know if we will recover from this stunning act of treason.

This is an update on the original article found here.

From The Washington Post Feb 16 by Omar Sacirbey

FBI, Muslims report progress over training materials

FBI officials say they are willing to consider a proposal from a coalition of Muslim and interfaith groups to establish a committee of experts to review materials used in FBI anti-terrorism training.

The coalition raised the idea during a Feb 8 meeting with FBI Director Robert Mueller, who met with the groups to discuss pamphlets, videos and other anti-terrorism training materials that critics say are either Islamophobic or factually incorrect.

“We’re open to the idea, but they need to submit a proposal first,” said Christopher Allen, an FBI spokesman who was in the meeting.

Groups at the meeting included the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Interfaith Alliance, and the Shoulder-to-Shoulder campaign.

The FBI is satisfied with the job that its own experts had done in reviewing and purging “problematic” materials, Allen said, and the agency is also “developing guidelines so it won’t happen again in the future.”

Mueller told representatives of the groups that FBI experts had reviewed almost all of the agency’s training materials, including 160,000 pages of documents. More than 700 documents and 300 presentations were subsequently pulled from the agency’s training materials.

Materials that were pulled contained incorrect or imprecise information, were stereotypical, or “in poor taste,” the FBI said.

While the groups praised Mueller for the review and for listening to their concerns, they also say trust between Muslims, Sikhs and the FBI had been damaged by the episode.

“It is a travesty that the Muslim-American community has lost trust with an agency that is here to protect us,” said Salam Al-Marayati, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a Los Angeles-based advocacy group.

In a statement, the groups urged the FBI to acknowledge “the negative impact of these training materials on the Muslim-American community.”

Allen said he didn’t know whether such a statement would be forthcoming, but said Mueller had already spoken several times about his regret over the episode and his appreciation for the Muslim community’s cooperation with the FBI in thwarting terrorist attacks.

“The FBI views the Muslim community as a useful partner in stopping terrorism, and we appreciate the cooperation they’ve given us,” Allen said.

'scuse me while I laugh out loud.

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"I don’t want to come across as a bigot or a racist, but I really don’t feel it is appropriate for students in a public high school to be singing an Islamic worship song”

2012-02-17T22:31:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately James Harper will suffer the name-calling and accusations, that is part of standing up to Islamic supremacism. His choice will have consequences, I hope young Mr. Harper will stand firm and not bow to PC pressure. I doubt he will give in, he seems level-headed and knowledgable and with solid principles. Let's hope other students will take his example to heart and stand tall in the face of creeping Islamic hegemony.

Bravo James Harper, we are with you.

From FOXNews Feb 15

Colorado student quits high school choir over Islamic song praising 'Allah'

A Colorado high school student says he quit the school choir after an Islamic song containing the lyric "there is no truth except Allah" made it into the repertoire.

James Harper, a senior at Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, put his objection to singing "Zikr," a song written by Indian composer A.R. Rahman, in an email to Mesa County School District 51 officials. When the school stood by choir director Marcia Wieland's selection, Harper said, he quit.

"I don’t want to come across as a bigot or a racist, but I really don’t feel it is appropriate for students in a public high school to be singing an Islamic worship song,” Harper told KREX-TV. "This is worshipping another God, and even worshipping another prophet ... I think there would be a lot of outrage if we made a Muslim choir say Jesus Christ is the only truth."

Ya think?

But district spokesman Jeff Kirtland defended the decision to include the song.

"Choral music is often devoted to religious themes. ... This is not a case where the school is endorsing or promoting any particular religion or other non-educational agenda. The song was chosen because its rhythms and other qualities would provide an opportunity to exhibit the musical talent and skills of the group in competition, not because of its religious message or lyrics," Kirtland told FoxNews.com in an email while noting that the choir "is a voluntary, after-school activity."

(...)The song is written in Urdu, but one verse translates to "There is no truth except Allah" and "Allah is the only eternal and immortal." Although the choir sang the original version, Wieland distributed translated lyrics.

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