The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society
A Pew Research Center survey of Muslims around the globe (2013)
By James Lewis
Are Radical Imams Going to Redefine Freedom of Speech?
By Alan M. Dershowitz
Hitchens & Ramadan @ 92Y
Mosab Hassan Yousef: "The biggest terrorist is the God of the Koran."
Bill Maher on Islam
Bill Maher: "Western Values are better."
Bill Maher presents a Burka fashion show.
Bill Maher talks with Brigitte Gabriel about an American Muslim who beheaded his wife.
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Islam in Europe
Muslims Demand Reciprocity from Spain Over Citizenship for Jews
By Soeren Kern
Jews no longer safe in Denmark
By Elliott Abrams
"It seems ... that a Jew could more safely walk the streets of Denmark's capital ... in 1942 than today, 70 years later. Shameful, and tragic." read more
Islam: Fastest-Growing Religion in Britain
By Soeren Kern
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Islam in the US
Public Schools in Texax are Promoting Islam?
By Bob Kellogg
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Sharia
What is Sharia, where does it come from, and why does it matter so much?
By Hans Jansen
Discussing Islam - A losing battle?
By Gadi Adelman
Egyptian court sentences Christian family to 15 years for converting from Islam
By Benjamin Weinthal
Bahraini cleric Abdullah Aal Mahmud gives instructions on how to beat your wife according to sharia law.
Egyptian equivalent of The View on how to legally kill your wife.
At which age is it acceptable to have sex with a girl?
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Jihad
Death toll counter @ The Religion of Peace
List of Islamic Terror Attacks @ The Religion of Peace
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JANUARY 2017
A music video featuring skateboarding women
has Saudi Arabia entranced
Since it premiered online last month, the music video “Hwages” has been viewed more than 2 million times and has become the subject of widespread debate in Saudi Arabia — as well as considerable celebration.
Take a look for yourself and it is clear why.
Not only is the song catchy, the accompanying video, created by director Majed al-Esa of the Saudi production company 8ies Studios, features a group of charismatic women skateboarding, playing basketball, driving bumper cars and much more. At the same time, they wear brightly colored sneakers and fashionable dresses under their traditional black niqabs.
The song seems lighthearted, but its lyrics make a sharp point. “Hwages” — which roughly translates as “concerns” — is based on an older folk song, which features lyrics such as “may all men sink into oblivion.” In 2014, a video of niqab-wearing women dancing in a silly manner to the song went viral in the Arab world.
The new video, however, takes the political message a step further.
Perhaps the most obvious reference comes at the start of the video, when the women pile into the back of an SUV while a young boy takes the wheel. In Saudi Arabia, of course, women are largely prohibited from driving and are unable to obtain driving licenses. Although some women, especially members of Bedouin communities and those in the southern provinces, do drive anyway, the issue has become a touchstone for women's rights in the country.
Read more @ The Washington Post
DECEMBER 2016
Islamists Won: Charlie Hebdo Disappears
Charlie Hebdo, after Islamist terrorists murdered much of its staff in 2015, announced it would "no longer draw Mohammed." Instead, the magazine now focuses on attacking critics of Islamism, and mocking the Judeo-Christian God.
Over twenty years, fear has already devoured important pieces of Western culture and journalism. They all disappeared in a ghastly act of self-censorship: the cartoons of a Danish newspaper, a "South Park" episode, paintings in London's Tate Gallery, a book published by the Yale University Press; Mozart's Idomeneo, the Dutch film "Submission", the name and face of the US cartoonist Molly Norris, a book cover by Art Spiegelman and Sherry Jones's novel, "Jewel of Medina", to name just a few. Most of them have become ghosts living in hiding, hidden in some country house, or retired to private life, victims of an understandable but tragic self-censorship.
Only the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was missing from this sad, long list. Until now.
The disappointment with what Charlie Hebdo has become is reflected in the words of the French journalist, Marika Bret: "From Italy we receive many threats." The reference is not to some Italian jihadist cell, but to a September Charlie Hebdo cover that mocked victims of the earthquake in Italy. It seems that the satirical weekly, almost destroyed by French Islamists two years ago, has been "normalized".
Take Charlie's recent covers. Against terrorists? No. Against those who called them "racists"? No. It was against Éric Zemmour, the brave French journalist at Le Figaro who has led a public debate about French identity. "Islam is incompatible with secularism, incompatible with democracy, and incompatible with republican government," Zemmour wrote.
Laurent Sourisseau, aka "Riss," now the publishing director and majority owner of Charlie, was shot during the 2015 attack on the magazine, and lives under police protection. He depicted Zemmour on the cover with an explosive vest, effectively comparing him to a terrorist.
Charlie Hebdo also recently satirized Nadine Morano, a critic of Islam, depicting her as a baby with Down Syndrome.
Read more @ Gatestone
NOVEMBER 2016
Turkey Converts Hagia Sophia to Mosque
Image source: Antoine Taveneaux/Wikimedia Commons
The process of converting the historic Hagia Sophia church-then-museum in Istanbul into a mosque, in the works for the past three years, now seems to have been finalized.
In 2013, the deputy prime minister of Turkey Bulent Arinc at the time, while speaking to reporters, signaled that Hagia Sophia Museum would be used as a mosque.
"We currently stand next to the Hagia Sophia Mosque ... we are looking at a sad Hagia Sophia, but hopefully we will see it smiling again soon," Arinc said during the opening ceremony of a new Carpet Museum, located next to the ancient Hagia Sophia, the Turkish newspaperHurriyet had reported.
The pro-government Turkish newspaper Sabah ran a story on June 1, 2016 entitled, "Historic Moments at Hagia Sophia. The longing is about to be over!... The mosque of Hagia Sophia will witness historic moments in the month of Ramadan..."
Read more @ Gatestone
Images source: The Sun video screenshots
Europe is currently seeing the reintroduction of blasphemy laws through both the front and back doors. In Britain, the gymnast Louis Smith has just been suspended for two months by British Gymnastics. This 27-year old sportsman's career has been put on hold, and potentially ruined, not because of anything to do with athletics but because of something to do with Islam.
Read more @ Gatestone
OCTOBER 2016
Chairs, shoes go flying in Egyptian TV brawl
A brawl broke out on an Egyptian talk show last week, as two guests who disagreed on questions of Islamic religious law attacked each other with their chairs and shoes during a live broadcast.
During a fierce dispute over the headscarf, Sheikh Mustafa Rashed threw his chair at Islamist Egyptian lawyer Nabih Al-Wahsh who proceeded to beat him with his shoe on Egypt’s LTC TV.
Read more @ The Times of Israel
JUNE 2016
ISIS destroys Temple of Nabu at Nimrud,
Nergal Gate at Nineveh
Yesterday, ISIS sources released two videos showcasing the destruction of archaeological sites at Nineveh and Nimrud. There is significant overlap between the videos, but put together they show the destruction of several items not noted in yesterday’s post about the destruction of the gates of Nineveh and the Southwest Palace.
Some of the footage shows a bulldozer destroying the Mashki Gate in Nineveh. This was already depictedin a photo essay released by ISIS and the video footage is nearly identical.
Read more @ Gates of Nineveh
FEBRUARY 2016
“There Is No ‘Radical Islam’
and There Is Also No ‘Moderate Islam’”
The two expressions were coined by those who think that the real Islam is the moderate one and that the radicals hijacked it.
Beginning more or less with 9/11, the expression "radical Islam" became the accepted way for the media, politicians and public to define the religious and ideological foundations of Islam-based violence when referring to what the world calls "terror." This expression was meant to be contrasted with "moderate Islam" which presents Muslims as ordinary people who wish to live in peace with all of mankind - Christians, Jews, Buddhists, unbelievers and the rest of us. The world created the image of two Islams, one radical and impossible to live with, and one moderate and "just like us."
This differentiation between "radical" and "moderate" Islam is what gave rise to the claim that Islam had been "hijacked" by the radicals, implying that the real and original Islam is the moderate version, not the false, radical one.
This is what allows today's Europe to relate positively to the wave of mostly-Muslim illegal immigrants washing up on its shores – they represent "moderate Islam" and all they want is to live in peace and harmony with their European neighbors.
Permit me to raise some doubts concerning the psychological mindset that claims the existence of two types of Islam. In order to do this, let us clarify an important point: Islam is a text-based framework of ideas and behaviors, covering religion, culture, strictures, politics, law and economics. It is an all-embracing way of life. The most basic text is the Qu'ran, followed by the Hadith (oral tradition) and the Sira – biography – of Muhammad. The Sharia, Muslim law, is a system of binding laws and injunctions that Muslims are obliged to obey.
There are no two Islams, no moderate one and no radical one, there is just one Qu'ran that includes everything: verses on Jihad and all out war against unbelievers along with verses that speak of recognizing the "other" and living beside him.
Read more @ Arutz Sheva
Mordechai Kedar: “I think that we should correct the vocabulary that we use, and call a spade a spade. It is all about Jihad, the Islamic effort to spread Islam globally”:
Terrorist attack – should be called Military Jihad.
Incitement – Media Jihad.
Al-Jazeera – Media Jihad Channel.
Imposing Sharia law – Judicial Jihad or Legislative Jihad.
Boycotting Israel (BDS) – Economic Jihad.
Emigration to EU and US – Emigration Jihad / Hijra Jihad.
Building mosques, Islamic education institutions – Cultural Jihad.
Halal food – Dietary Jihad.
Hijab or Niqab – Clothing Jihad.
Activity of MSA – Academic Jihad.
Activity of CAIR – Political Jihad / Public Jihad.
Collecting money for Islamic “charities” – Financial Jihad.
Political correctness – Submission to Jihad.
Read more @ Facebook
JANUARY 2016
Colonel Gaddafi warned Tony Blair of Islamist attacks on Europe, phone conversations reveal
Transcripts of two telephone conversations between the two leaders which took place on February 25, 2011, are made public
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi issued a “prophetic” warning to Tony Blair that jihadists would attack Europe if his regime was allowed to collapse, phone conversations reveal.
Gaddafi's dire prediction was made in two desperate telephone calls with Mr Blair on February 25, 2011 - as civil war was engulfing Libya.
In the first call at 11.15am, Gaddafi said: “They [jihadists] want to control the Mediterranean and then they will attack Europe.”
Read more @ The Telegraph
NOVEMBER 2015
Sweden: on the Verge of Collapse — on The Glazov Gan
This new special edition of The Glazov Gang was joined by Ingrid Carlqvist, a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
Ingrid came on the show to discuss Sweden: On the Verge of Collapse, unveiling the cliff that Sweden is speeding toward — as the mass wave of Muslim “refugees” overwhelms the country. [See also Ingrid on The Glazov Gang special: Islam’s Rape of Sweden].
Read more @ Jamie Glazov
OCTOBER 2015
Full Official Record: What the Mufti Said to Hitler
The Arabs were Germany’s natural friends, Haj Amin al-Husseini told the Nazi leader in 1941, because they had the same enemies — namely the English, the Jews and the Communists.
he following is an official German record of the meeting between Adolf Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, on November 28, 1941, at the Reich Chancellory in Berlin. (Source: Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945, Series D, Vol XIII, London, 1964.)
GRAND MUFTI:
The Grand Mufti began by thanking the Fuhrer for the great honor he had bestowed by receiving him. He wished to seize the opportunity to convey to the Fuhrer of the Greater German Reich, admired by the entire Arab world, his thanks of the sympathy which he had always shown for the Arab and especially the Palestinian cause, and to which he had given clear expression in his public speeches.
The Arab countries were firmly convinced that Germany would win the war and that the Arab cause would then prosper. The Arabs were Germany’s natural friends because they had the same enemies as had Germany, namely the English, the Jews and the Communists. Therefore they were prepared to cooperate with Germany with all their hearts and stood ready to participate in the war, not only negatively by the commission of acts of sabotage and the instigation of revolutions, but also positively by the formation of an Arab Legion.
The Arabs could be more useful to Germany as allies than might be apparent at first glance, both for geographical reasons and because of the suffering inflicted upon them by the English and the Jews. Furthermore, they had had close relations with all Muslim nations, of which they could make use in behalf of the common cause. The Arab Legion would be quite easy to raise. An appeal by the Mufti to the Arab countries and the prisoners of Arab, Algerian, Tunisian and Moroccan nationality in Germany would produce a great number of volunteers eager to fight. Of Germany’s victory the Arab world was firmly convinced, not only because the Reich possessed a large army, brave soldiers and military leaders of genius, but also because the Almighty could never award the victory to an unjust cause.
Read more @ The Times of Israel
Germany's Sharia Refugee Shelters
“Bulk of Migrants Cannot Be Integrate”
In the past two months alone, dozens of violent brawls and riots between different groups of migrants have erupted in Germany's refugee shelters.
Muslim asylum seekers are enforcing Islamic Sharia law in German refugee shelters, according to police, who warn that Christians, Kurds and Yazidis in the shelters are being attacked by Muslims with increasing frequency and ferocity.
Muslim migrants from different sects, clans, ethnicities and nationalities are also attacking each other. Violent brawls — sometimes involving hundreds of migrants — are now a daily occurrence.
Police say the shelters, where thousands of migrants are housed together in cramped spaces for months at a time, are seething cauldrons ready to explode. The police are urgently calling for migrants of different faiths to be housed in separate facilities.
Some politicians counter that such segregation would go against Germany's multicultural values, while others say that separating hundreds of thousands of migrants by religion and nationality would be a logistical impossibility.
As the consequences of unrestrained migration become apparent, the tide of public opinion is turning against the government's open-door policy. Observers say that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the so-called most powerful woman in the world, may have met her Waterloo.
Read more @ Gatestone Institute
Isil Murders Scholar Who Hid Treasures of Palmyra
Jihadists from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have murdered a renowned archaeologist in the Syrian city of Palmyra after he refused to give up the secrets of its ancient treasures.
Khaled al-Asaad, the 82-year-old long-time director of the Palmyra site, was beheaded in a local square before his body was hung on public display, family members and a colleague said yesterday.
In a photograph purporting to show his body, a handwritten sign accused him of representing Syria in conferences abroad with “infidels” and of being director of Palmyra’s “idols.
Read more @ The Telegraph
SEPTEMBER 2015
Egypt's War on Terrorism Bears Fruit
Seawater covers parts of the ground where Egypt has been pumping water into smuggling tunnels along the border with Gaza. (Image source: Al Jazeera video screenshot)
- Egyptian President Sisi's war against the smuggling tunnels will undoubtedly weaken Hamas and other radical groups in the Gaza Strip. Sisi should be commended, rather than criticized, for his courageous actions against Islamist terrorists, both in the Gaza Strip and in Sinai.
- Sisi's actions will benefit not only Egyptians, but also many Palestinians who are opposed to Hamas and radical Islamist groups.
- When the Egyptians destroy a Hamas tunnel, that is called "war on terrorism." But when Israel destroys a tunnel, that is condemned as an "act of aggression." This moral slithering is why it is important for the international community to stand behind Sisi's relentless war on radical Islam.
- Without such backing, Islamists will continue to pose a major threat not only to Israel, but to many Arabs and Muslims who oppose Hamas, Islamic State and Islamic Jihad.
- The environment of the Gaza Strip is the last thing that Hamas cares about. Hamas did not think about damage to the environment or to agricultural fields when it used those fields, as well as populated areas, as launching pads for attacking Israel.
Read more @ Gatestone Institute
AUGUST 2015
How Qatar Propels Muslim Gangs Into Europe
Joost Niemöller’s latest essay takes a look behind the scenes in the “migration” crisis, paying particular attention to the role played by Qatar in expediting the movement of Muslims from North Africa and the Middle East into Europe.
On the Al Jazeera website we found a comment about the illegal immigrants flooding Europe[1]. According to AJ, we are not allowed to speak about “immigrants”, because they are “refugees”:
So far this year, nearly 340,000 people[2] in these circumstances have crossed Europe’s borders. A large number, for sure, but still only 0.045 percent of Europe’s total population of 740 million.
Contrast that[3] with Turkey, which hosts 1.8 million refugees from Syria alone. Lebanon, in which there are more than one million Syrians. Even Iraq, struggling with a war of its own, is home to more than 200,000 people who have fled its neighbour.
Al Jazeera is the state-funded broadcaster in Qatar. Qatar itself takes in ZERO “refugees”, just like the other filthy rich Gulf countries, according to Amnesty.[4].
The six Gulf countries — Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain — have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees.
Nevertheless Qatar wants to teach us a politically correct lesson.
In reality, there is a plan behind the recent movements of these hordes.
The main origin of the panic in the Middle East is ISIS, whose sophisticated and professional PR apparatus has made it abundantly clear that the mass movement of people towards Europe is part of their strategy.
ISIS plays with the “refugees”[5], shooing them away.
In the face of ISIS’ professionalism stands the distinctly amateurish treatment of terrorists by countries such as Turkey.
Read more @ Gates of Vienna
JUNE 2015
Why Can’t Muslims Laugh at Mohammed?
by David Goldman
In Mel Brooks’ comedy “History of the World Part I,” Moses is shown descending from Mount Sinai with three stone tablets in hand. As he declares, “I give you the Fifteen Commandments,” one falls and breaks, and Moses corrects himself, “er, Ten Commandments.” Jews, including the observant, find this funny rather than offensive. As we learned once again in Garland, Texas, Muslims do not laugh at jokes about Mohammed, the purported author of the Koran (as Moses is the author of the Torah). Two wannabe Jihadists with assault rifles and body armor were no match for an off-duty Texas traffic cop with a sidearm, but the incident might have turned into a massacre worse than the murder of the Charlie Hebdo staff in January.
Why do Jews as well as Christians–but not Muslims–laugh at jokes about the founders of their faiths?
Read more @ Yonkers Tribune
APRIL 2015
First Quran recitation in Hagia Sophia in 85 years
The historic Istanbul cathedral and museum, Hagia Sophia, witnessed its first Quran recitation under its roof after 85 years Saturday.
The Religious Affairs Directorate launched the exhibition "Love of Prophet," as part of commemorations of the birth of Islamic Prophet Muhammad.
Read more @ Anadolu Agency
Assessing the Damage at Hatra
Last month reports swept through the global media that ISIS had used bulldozers to level the ancient city of Hatra. ISIS has already destroyed a number of irreplaceable sculptures from Hatra in the Mosul Museum, lending immediate credibility to reports from Iraqi antiquities officials that ISIS fighters had destroyed Hatra itself as well.
However, no videos or other confirmation surfaced for a month afterwards and there was no way to assess the extent of the damage. The story gradually faded from the media. Given the massive size of Hatra, and its location in the middle of the desert, in a region of no strategic significance, over fifty kilometers from inhabited areas, some grew skeptical that ISIS had mounted a major operation to demolish Hatra.
MARCH 2015
Damage around Tikrit, Destruction in Mosul
Over Over the past two weeks a large number of media reports have appeared suggesting ISIS has destroyed many historical sites in Iraq as well as a number of mosques and churches in Mosul.
Read more @ Gates of Nineveh
Assessing the Damage at the Mosul Museum
ISIS released yet another propaganda video, this time showing what has been feared since the fall of Mosul last summer: the destruction of ancient artifacts of the Mosul Museum. By now most of the world has seen this video, which has been featured in all the world’s major newsagencies. Gates at Nineveh will attempt to identify what has been lost and assess the damage.
Read more @ Gates of Nineveh
DECEMBER 2014
Lebanon: Popular Children's MagazineTouts Martyrdom
Hezbollah children's magazine, with 30K issue per month circulation, provides practical terror tips, how to dodge land mines.
NOVEMBER 2014
The last free person in Britain, if there is one, might as well turn out the lights. If this becomes law, Britain is finished as a free society. As the law would also forbid opposition to gay marriage, it would be interesting to see what would happen if a proponent of Sharia protested against gay marriage — but Muslim groups are largely for it, since it opens the door to the legalization of polygamy.
Read more @ JihadWatch
Read more @ The Telegraph
SEPTEMBER 2014
Islamic State Makes Millions from Stolen Antiquities
The Islamic State (IS) has been generating significant revenues from the plunder of historical artifacts in Syria and Iraq. The organization encourages digs at archaeological sites and takes a share from the sales. All artifacts are said to be passing through Turkey on their way to buyers across the world.
The plunder of history has reached an unbelievable level, with the warring parties’ indifference to historical heritage coupled with international traffickers taking advantage of authority vacuums in many areas. Millennia-old historical sites have been systematically looted. While state authorities and opposition forces exchange recriminations over the plunder and destruction, IS, the dark power of the region, has been reckless on this issue, too. IS has made the plunder of historical artifacts in Syria a systematic action, turning it into a source of revenue for itself. Concerns are rife that it will pillage Iraq in a similar way.
Read more @ Al-Monitor
Just a Bit More Beheading than We Are Used To
Who is surprised? That is one question I have most wanted to know since the video was released of the murder of American journalist James Foley. The politicians keep expressing it. And interviewers have kept asking people whether they feel it. But who can honestly say that he was surprised to learn that the murderer of the American journalist turned out to be a "British" man?Did anyone really still think that a British Islamist would not be capable of doing this? Why wouldn't he do it in Iraq or Syria if his allies had already done it in London? After all, it was only last year that two other Islamists beheaded one of our own soldiers – Drummer Lee Rigby – in broad daylight in London. And it is only twelve years since another Londoner – Omar Sheikh – arranged the abduction and decapitation of another American journalist, Daniel Pearl.
Read more @ Gatestone
Mosul Cultural Heritage Under Threat: News Roundup
Mosul is a significant cultural and archaeological center. The capture of the city gives ISIS control of a wide swath of contiguous territory in both Iraq and Syria. In previous cities that have come under the control of ISIS, their fighters deliberately destroyed ancient monuments. Two eighth century BC portal lions from the neo-Hittite city of Hadatu (modern Arslantaş) which had been put on display in a park in Ar-Raqqa were smashed by earthmovers when ISIS took control of that city.
At Tell Ajaja (ancient Saddikanni), looters uncovered several large Assyrian sculptures which were then confiscated and pulverized with sledgehammers.
The above two cases received the most publicity, but in 2014 ISIS fighters have also blown up a sixth-century Byzantine mosaic in Ar-Raqqa, smashed reliefs in the Roman cemetery at Shash Hamdan, and defaced reliefs on cliffs surrounding Aleppo.
Read more @ Gates of Nineveh
AUGUST 2014
Are “Integrated Muslims” Integrated?
The Gaza War has had disturbing fallout in Europe. The Gaza War has produced flagrantly anti-Semitic protests, attacks on Jews and the burning down of Jewish buildings. Those protests have come as a surprise to parts of the European public – nowhere more so than in Germany, where a hatred thought to have been disgraced for all time has found its way back onto European streets under a new guise.
As well as being a time for outrage, this also ought to be a time for re-thinking. And some of that rethinking will have to be done by those who assumed they best understood these outbursts. Certainly calls to "kill the Jews" in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy are a part of the problem, but these, as well as the outbreaks of violence against Jews across Europe, are condemned by politicians and journalists alike. To some extent it is too easy for them to do so. There is not yet any real political or other price to pay for saying that you think people should beat up rabbis in the street, send "Jews to the gas" or call openly for genocide. What is harder for people to do is address the lies that feed this violence, and the underlying hatred that the Gaza War revealed. These need attention.
Read more @ Gatestone
UK: HSBC Shuts Down Islamist Bank Accounts
Anas Altikriti
In late July, HSBC, a British multinational bank, closed the bank accounts of Anas Al-Tikriti, a prominent British Islamist activist, and his family. HSBC also closed down the bank accounts of the Cordoba Foundation, of which Tikriti is the Director, and the Finsbury Park Mosque.
In response to enquiries, the bank simply stated that to continue providing services would be outside the bank's "risk appetite."
This latest round of bank account closures has come as a surprise to counter-terrorism experts and much of the media, who note that the Cordoba Foundation and the Finsbury Park Mosque have enjoyed strong political support in the past.
Read more @ Gatestone
JULY 2014
British Jihadists, Sharia Finance
and “There is No Life Without Jihad”
Islam and Islam-related issues were omnipresent in Britain during the month of June 2014. They can be categorized into three broad themes: 1) The British government's growing concern over Islamic extremism and the domestic security implications of British jihadists in Syria; 2) The continuing spread of Islamic Sharia law in all aspects of British daily life; and 3) Ongoing questions of Muslim integration into British society.
Read more @ Gatestone
MAY 2014
Professor Jansen: “Zero Points”
Recently (05/13/14), a national Dutch news broadcast paid for by the government, Nieuwsuur (News Hour), reported that several political parties have put so called "light weight" candidates on the ballot for the upcoming EU election. The TV show argues that these candidates do not possess the skills to function properly as members of the European Parliament. These remarks were presented as scientific facts, based on research conducted by Leiden University. The politicians were given an official "score," according to their supposed abilities. Professor Hans Jansen (a friend of ICWV), number four on the list for the PVV of Geert Wilders, for example, was given a score of "zero points." This in spite of the fact that he is an internationally renowned scholar and famous opinion maker, author of a dozen books in Dutch and English. He writes a popular weekly column for the influential blog GeenStijl. This incident is a stunning example of biased reporting, though sadly not unusual in the Netherlands.
APRIL 2014
Brandeis University accused of double standard after pulling honor of Islam critic and “friend” of ICWV Hirsi Ali
After facing growing pressure from faculty members, students, and an outside Muslim advocacy group, Brandeis University said Tuesday that it is rescinding its decision to award an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a women’s rights activist and critic of Islam, over her “past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values.”
Read more @ JNS
Taqiyya Doctrine Accepted
On 8 April at Birmingham Magistrates' Court, District Judge Ian Strongman heard a trial of racially aggravated harassment against Tim Burton, 61, a computing consultant from Birmingham and the Radio Officer of the British party Liberty GB.
The reason for the charge was three tweets he sent over a period of a month from early June to early July 2013 to Tell Mama UK, a helpline organisation for victims of anti-Muslim attacks that also serves to monitor and collect data on them, whose director is prominent Muslim Fiyaz Mughal.
Read more @ enzaferreri.blogspot
Is Islam a Race? Birmingham Trial Will Tell
On Tuesday 8 April at 10am Tim Burton's trial at Birmingham Magistrates' Court will settle the question of whether the defendant, by calling Muslim Fiyaz Mujhal "a mendacious grievance-mongering taqiyya-artist" on Twitter, committed racially aggravated harassment, as he is accused of having done by the West Midlands Police.
Read more @ liberttygb.org
Sharia law to be enshrined in British legal system
John Bingham reports in The Telegraph that Sharia law is to be enshrined in the legal system of England and Wales for the first time under guidelines for solicitors on drawing up “Sharia compliant” wills.
This isn't coming from agitating Muslims or Sharia-friendly legislators, but from the 200-year-old Law Society – the professional association that represents and governs the solicitors' profession and provides services and support to solicitors as well as serving as a sounding board for law reform. That the Law Society should issue guidance to its members which effectively creates a parallel legal system to that which has evolved over centuries is, as some lawyers have said, “astonishing.”
Read more @ Cranmer
John Bingham in The Telegraph
New Islamic textbooks in Austrian public schools
Austria is in the process of introducing new taxpayer-funded textbooks for the formal teaching if Islam in all public elementary schools across the country.... This is the first time Islam is being taught to Austrian students in the German language.
Read more @ Gatestone Institute