30 November 2015

Children told that art is 'unislamic', teacher disciplinary panel hears

Pupils were ordered not to take part in art classes at a school implicated in the ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal because it was ‘unislamic’ a hearing was told.

Pupils at Golden Hillock, a school in Sparkbrook implicated in the ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal , were also allegedly made to call out “Allah Akbar”, a professional conduct panel has heard.

Frank Bruce, vice principal of the school since September 2012, alleged at the National College for Teaching & Leadership hearing in Coventry that acting principal Monzoor Hussain called out ‘Takbir’ at the end of a prayer session after which pupils would respond saying “Allah Akbar” three times. [Birmingham Mail] Read more

Bavarian conservatives want national burqa ban

The conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), ruling party in Bavaria, want to pass a new law making it illegal for anyone to wear a burqa in Germany.

“The law [on a burqa ban] should be quickly passed by the government,” Ilse Aigner, finance minister in Bavaria told Die Welt.

“It is first and foremost about showing one’s face. It’s about living together as a society and seeing one another,” said Aigner. “It doesn’t fit to our society to hide oneself, and it contradicts our idea of sexual equality.”

The CSU politician said that the law would also apply to tourists coming to Germany.

“When I went to Iran I followed the instructions of the country and wore a headscarf. Likewise I expect women from the Arab world that they don’t cover their faces when they come here. Such laws don’t just apply to people with German passports.” [The Local] Read more

Woman condemned to public stoning in Saudi Arabia; her lover gets 100 lashes

A Sharia court sentenced a 45-year-old married Sri Lankan woman to death by stoning after she admitted to committing adultery. Her lover, who was single, was sentenced to receive 100 lashes, a considerably lesser punishment for the crime.

A woman was sentenced to death by stoning in Saudi Arabia last August for committing adultery.

Both parties were Sri Lankan migrant workers in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. The woman had been working as a maid in the capital since 2013.

Officials from the Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau issued a request to pardon the woman. Lawyers are working on an appeal, reports India TV News Nov. 30. “The woman has accepted her crime four times in the courts,” said Upul Deshapriya, a spokesperson for the Bureau. Both the woman and her lover were convicted last August. [Examiner.com] Read more

MP says 'tyranny of political correctness' stops debate on Islam and extremism

The “tyranny of political correctness” is preventing a frank conversation about the role of Islam in extremism, Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly has said, as conservative members of the Coalition strengthen their rhetoric on anti-radicalisation.

Kelly was speaking to a motion put by LNP backbencher George Christensen, which called for action against radical Islam in Australia.

“These terror plots that have recently been in our country have all had one thread in common, and they have been undertaken in the name and a radical interpretation of Islam,” Kelly told the House of Representatives on Monday. “If we are to have this debate … we must do it without it being bogged down and censored by the tyranny of political correctness.” [The Guardian] Read more

Sydney Muslims feel at home despite very high racism exposure, survey finds

Muslims in Sydney are three to five times more likely to experience “very high rates of exposure to racism” compared with Australians in general, a study shows.

But about 97% of the nearly 600 Muslims surveyed said relations between them and non-Muslims were friendly and that they felt “a very strong sense of belonging”, the report’s key author, professor Kevin Dunn, said.

The research, which revealed the workplace to be the most frequent site of anti-Muslim bigotry, was released to coincide with a conference in Sydney examining the links between Islamophobia and violent extremism.

Its keynote speaker, professor John Esposito of Georgetown University in Washington DC, said on Monday prejudice against Muslims played into the hands of extremists. [The Guardian] Read more

29 November 2015

France calls for 'enlightened Islam' against jihadist ideology

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve urged French Muslim leaders on Sunday to develop an "enlightened Islam" to confront what he called the obscurantist views of Islamic State that lead young Muslims into violence.

At their first meeting since the Nov. 13 killings of 130 people, he told about 400 Muslim leaders, imams and activists that France would do everything it could to track criminals, but only they could win the battle of ideas within Islam.

The unusual meeting of 10 Muslim federations and five grand mosques was arranged to "cry loud and clear our condemnation of these acts," Anouar Kbibech, head of France's Muslim Council (CFCM), said of the massacre in Paris by mostly French and Belgian recruits to the Syrian-based Islamic State movement.

It swore allegiance to France and ended with the French national anthem, La Marseillaise. France's five-million-strong Muslim minority, Europe's largest, makes up about 8 percent of the population. Two-thirds of them are French citizens. [Reuters] Read more

Muslims must better handle 'vicious' media

Australian Muslims must be far more united in handling a media "onslaught" against Islam, a leading scholar and religious leader says.

Shaykh Mohamad Abdalla told the second annual Sydney Muslim Conference on Sunday the nation's media could be "vicious" about Islam.

Dr Abdalla said the Muslim community must address the piecemeal approach to speaking publicly if it was to counteract Islamophobia.

"We do respond to media in different ways and shapes and often our response is fragmented," he said.

"The media is vicious in this regard, there is an onslaught against Islam and Muslims, whether for the right reasons or wrong reasons."

Author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah told the conference the Grand Mufti had been slammed in the wake of the Paris terror attacks for straying from a script prescribed to Muslim leaders. [7News] Read more

Crackdown on hate preachers at university

MINISTERS will issue an ultimatum to universities tomorrow to crack down on hate preachers and other extremists or face legal sanctions.

Jo Johnson, the universities minister, will issue a new framework requiring universities to reveal what measures they are taking to combat extremism following the massacre in Paris.

University chiefs will be ordered to hand over a counter-radicalisation risk assessment, an action plan and policies for dealing with hate preachers by January 22. Those who fail to comply will be subject to “serious sanctions”. They will be told to disclose details of how many students are at risk of radicalisation on their campus and demonstrate how they plan to help them.

They will also have to tell the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) how many events they have held with speakers where they have had to deploy extra security or where a preacher has been made to sign an agreement to abide by equality and diversity rules. The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 means that higher-education providers must have robust policies and procedures in place to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. [The Sunday Times (£)] Read more

New head at 'Trojan Horse' school says pupils felt they had to choose between being British or Muslim

The new headteacher of a school linked to the so-called Trojan Horse scandal claimed "confused" pupils felt they had to "choose between being British and being a Muslim".

Fuzel Choudhury is the new principal of the former Park View School in Brimingham.

It was one of the five schools plunged into special measures last year amid allegations of a plot by hardline Muslims to take control of governing bodies, oust teachers and Islamise the curriculum.

A number of senior leaders were axed and currently face disciplinary action by the National College for Teaching & Leadership - including former executive headteacher Lindsey Clarke and acting principal Monzoor Hussain.

Its chair of governors, Tahir Alam, also became the first governor in Britain to be banned from any involvement in schools over allegations that he had put pupils "at risk of vulnerability to radicalisation". [Daily Mirror] Read more

Is NOMS’ Muslim Advisor Ahtsham Ali an Entryist Islamist?

.... I personally attended an annual gathering Ali arranged for Muslim chaplains (at tax payers expense) a few years ago and at this event literature by Islamist extremists such as Mawdudi was distributed to chaplains.

Ali also made it clear that he favoured hard-line interpretations of Islam and expected all chaplains to do the same. No wonder extremism is flourishing in British prisons and Islamist prisoners are forcing non-Muslims to pay infidel (Jizya) tax as was reported in the press recently.

It’s about time that government departments stopped relying on Islamist advisors, who represent extremist political agendas which oppose our values, and started taking their responsibilities to tackle extremism seriously.

We hope NOMS and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) will now take the appropriate action to address the concerns raised in this article. In the meantime, to ensure this happens, we will be escalating our concerns further. Watch this space! [Harry’s Place] Read more

27 November 2015

The regulation of UK Madrassas is long overdue, but Muslim parents won’t like to admit that

Madrassas will face new regulations under government plans published this week. And many Muslim parents, while not publicly say, will welcome the proposals.

Under the plans, any out-of-school setting providing intensive education would be required to register and be open to inspection.

Consultations on the plans is set to run until 11 January which aims to gather more information on the number and variety of out-of-school settings.

The majority of Muslim children attend their local mosque at least two hours a day to learn Arabic and the Quran.

Whilst some mosques have now modernised, many have stuck to specific teaching methods. [Asian Image] Read more

26 November 2015

Sharia law ‘exists in Austria and Germany’

A Pakistani-Austrian author who converted from Islam to Catholicism has said that Muslims who refuse to integrate should not be able to live in Europe, and that Sharia law is being openly practised in Austria and Germany.

In an interview with the Kronen Zeitung newspaper Sabatina James (not her real name) said that the teachings of the prophet Muhammad encourage violence. “He called for women to be beaten and for adulteresses to be stoned, for apostates to be executed… if all this violence has nothing to do with Islam, then Mohammed has nothing to do with Islam.”

She added that “there are democratic Muslims, no question - they are not the problem… but the established theology of Islam must deal with the problem of violence against women. But it lacks critical debate.” [The Local] Read more

Madrassas to face tougher regulation amid Government plans for clampdown

Madrassas are set to face tougher regulation and inspection in England under new Government plans.

Under the shake up, any after-school setting providing intensive education would have to register and be subject to official scrutiny.

.... The announcement follows warnings from David Cameron last month over extremist teaching.

Speaking in Manchester, Mr Cameron told delegates at the Conservative Party Conference:? "Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with children learning about their faith, whether it's at madrassas, Sunday schools or Jewish yeshivas.

"But in some madrassas, we've got children being taught that they shouldn't mix with people of other religions; being beaten; swallowing conspiracy theories about Jewish people.

"These children should be having their minds opened, their horizons broadened, not having their heads filled with poison and their hearts filled with hate." [The Telegraph] Read more

Senior leaders pushed for non-faith 'Trojan Horse' linked schools to be Islamised, hearing told

Four senior leaders at Birmingham schools linked to the so-called Trojan Horse plot "were pushing for them to become increasingly Islamic", it has been claimed.

Former chair of governors Tahir Alam, principals Monzoor Hussain and Hardeep Saini, and executive headteacher Lindsey Clarke led the drive to Islamise the three non-faith schools run by the Park View Educational Trust, claimed its former HR manager Gurpreet Ghillion.

Her claims came as part of her evidence against five former PVET senior leaders in a disciplinary hearing by the National College for Teaching & Leadership, in which Mr Hussain, Ms Clarke, Arshad Hussain, Razwan Faraz and Mr Saini are all accused of professional misconduct. [Birmingham Mail] Read more

In Saudi Arabia, artist Ashraf Fayadh sentenced to death for atheism

When Palestinian artist Ashraf Fayadh? was tried last year on blasphemy-related charges, the Saudi judges overseeing the case rejected the prosecution's request for a death sentence for apostasy. Instead, he was sentenced to 800 lashes and four years in prison over a book of poetry he wrote and for allegedly having illicit relations with women.

An appeal was filed and the case was sent back to the lower court, but this time around judges threw out defence witness testimony, refused to accept Mr Fayadh's repentance and on November 17 sentenced him to execution for apostasy.

His friends are now asking how the case could draw such different verdicts, especially when, according to US-based Human Rights Watch, two of the three judges in the original case also served in the retrial. [The Sydney Morning Herald] Read more

25 November 2015

Muslim school’s female governor forced out of sight

A female governor at a Muslim school was forced to sit in a separate room during meetings and had to talk through an open doorway, Ofsted revealed yesterday.

Another school’s library contained literature with extremist and sexist views, including a book that said that women made unreliable witnesses, the regulator said.

It castigated a number of independent faith schools — some Christian — for failing to promote British values or to teach a broad curriculum.

All had previously been inspected by the Bridge Schools Inspectorate (BSI), an agency abolished two months ago, which had been responsible for monitoring some independent Christian and Muslim schools. It was accused of failing to identify “warning signs of extremism and radicalisation in school settings”. [127 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 86 votes] "At a meeting with inspectors, the only female governor sat “out of sight of the male governors in an adjacent room [and] could only contribute through a doorway”. The governors said that this was their usual arrangement."

What on earth is this? How is this happening in the UK? If this is the attitude amongst the Governors how segregated the kids must feel in the classroom?

[2ND 74] "The Cornerstone School, a Christian school in Surrey, did not teach pupils about different cultures and perspectives, the inspectors said."

How PC can it get. At least the Christian school was not teaching their pupils to disrespect other religions or treat women like chattels. So what if the students at this Christian school are not taught about other religions. It seems that this school has been picked purely to appease the Muslim cry babies.

[3RD 50] Tolerance has become a one way street. Some religions are more equal than others and it is a fact which sooner or later has to be recognised by all of us without charges of discrimination being bandied about.

[4TH 47] This "school" should be taken over and run as a secular, community school - today. It has forfeited any right to continue to be a faith school.

Whatever else "British values" may be about, they are about treating women with dignity and respect, as equals. If they can't do that for their own governors, what are they teaching the children? [The Times (£)] Read more

Islamophobia plays right into the hands of Isis

.... We do know that 115 anti-Muslim attacks were reported in the seven days after the Paris atrocity – a threefold increase. As with the optician, the victims tended to be women, singled out because they were wearing hijabs. In Fife, a man and a woman were violently assaulted by more than a dozen people outside their takeaway shop, their assailants berating them over the Paris atrocities. In a more heartening incident, passengers turned on a bigot yelling abuse at a 23-year-old Muslim woman on a train in Newcastle.

These are not just terrible examples of bigotry, of hatred directed at people having the audacity to get on with their lives. Those responsible are not just bigots, but recruiting sergeants for Islamic State. When Isis executes its attacks, it has a script. It knows that Muslims will be blamed en masse in the aftermath. One of its key aims, after all, is to separate western societies and their Muslim communities: if Muslims are left feeling rejected, besieged and hated, Isis believes, then the recruitment potential will only multiply. [Owen Jones, 1232 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 505 votes] Islam is a set of ideas. Ideas are not protected from criticism in this society.

[2ND 342] Shia Iran has just sentenced two poets to 11 years imprisonment and 99 lashes for 'shaking hands with the opposite sex'.

Sunni Arabia has just sentenced a poet to death for writing 'atheistic poems'.

This is Islam in 2015

[3RD 340] exactly

"Islamophobia" is a lazy term and is hurting the argument

Always be free to crticise ideas

[4TH 317] Ignorant hand wringing liberals like Owen who blame everything on the west and ignore all the hatred,bigotry and backwardness of islam play into the hands of isis.

[5TH 315] ANOTHER COMMENT SAID: ".... then criticise the ideas of islam by all means, but don't throw abuse at muslims."

That's not going to work when they all take criticism of Islam as a personal attack on their collective. The offended turn criticism of Islam into abuse.

[6TH 290] The answer is for a group of muslims Christians Jews and Yazidis lead by Owen to make a visit to Mecca and preach multifaith peace and love to all in the Middle East.

[7TH 283] Daesh atrocities play right into the hands of daft fuckers looking to blame Western values.

[8TH 282] Islamophobia is a ridiculous word.

If you mean anti-muslim then use that term. Islamophobia is an attempt to conflate criticism of Islam with racist bigotry.

[9TH 278] "What needs emphasising is the distance that exists between Isis and the quarter of the world’s population that is Muslim"

What also needs emphasising is the distance that exists between Muslims and liberal, secular democracy respecting the rights of women, other faiths and atheists, LGBT etc. [Guardian Cif] Read more

Call to force imams to give sermons in French

Imams in France's mosques should deliver all their sermons in French to help stop the spread of extremism, politicians on both sides of the French political spectrum argue.

With France in shock after the November 13th terror attacks in Paris, politicians on both the left and right are calling for Imams in the country’s mosques to preach their sermons in French only.

With some mosques considered to be breeding grounds for extremism, those politicians in favour of the move want the centres of worship brought under closer control.

Among the supporters of such a change is the Socialist politician Julien Dray, a former spokesperson for French President François Hollande and co-founder of the group SOS Racism.

“You have to be careful with the sermons of imams,” Dray, a councillor in the Île-de-France region since 1998, told French radio network RTL. “The fact that prayers are in Arabic is understandable, but it’s important the sermons are in French,” he said.

“In the Jewish religion, the sermons are in French and the prayers are in Hebrew. The sermon – that’s where the message is delivered. It has to be in French,” he added. [The Local] Read more

How the twisted ideology of Islamic State came to dominate British universities

Why would Muslims born, raised and educated in the West gravitate towards extremism? This question seems to puzzle many onlookers, and the actions of these nationals seem beyond any rational explanation. What is overlooked is that the Isil propaganda machine cleverly and effectively taps into an already existing theological world view within young Muslim minds.

For the last twenty years I’ve witnessed the spreading of two toxic elements running amok in the West. One is Wahhabism, heavily pushed by Saudi Arabia via its preachers, sponsorship programs, mosque funding and book stores.

Running parallel is a broader ideology of Islamism, a politicised Islam seeking to impose one version of Sharia on its citizens. This was first pushed by Hizb ut-Tahrir and then al-Muhaijiroun and its many different manifestations.

Hatred for "decadent" Western society, which is diametrically opposed to their version of Islamic values, and yearning for an Islamic state enabling one to practice an unadulterated pure Islam, has been the stock in trade of those who currently dominate the activist space. [The Telegraph] Read more

UK Imam: Extremists Have 'Hijacked' Islam

A British imam has countered claims that Islam is incompatible with values in the UK, saying that embracing "difference and pluralism" is "what makes us British".

In this exclusive statement to Sky News, Qari Asim, imam of the Makkah Masjid mosque in Leeds, issued the following call for acceptance and tolerance following a rise in attacks against Muslims in the wake of the Paris attacks.

He says:

The dreadful atrocities committed in Paris have been categorically condemned by Muslim leaders in Britain.

Ordinary British Muslims have also been at pains to emphasise the huge chasm between the true Islam, which teaches peace and tolerance, and the barbaric actions of those who have hijacked the faith to further their own geo-political aims. [Sky News] Read more

Cultural figures and rights groups call for release of poet facing execution

Leading international cultural figures have joined human rights campaigners in calling for the release of Ashraf Fayadh, the Palestinian poet and artist facing execution in Saudi Arabia.

Chris Dercon, the director of Tate Modern, British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, historian Simon Schama, playwright David Hare, and Egyptian novelist and commentator Ahdaf Soueif are among the those calling for the death sentence imposed on Fayadh by a Saudi court last week to be overturned.

More than a dozen organisations for artists, writers, musicians and freedom of expression from the UK, North America and Africa – including Index on Censorship, literary association PEN International and the International Association of Art Critics – have also signed a joint statement condemning Fayadh’s conviction for renouncing Islam, a charge which he denies. [The Guardian] Read more

24 November 2015

Why it's wrong to demand that Muslims condemn Isis

There is an insistent call for Muslims to condemn Isis. (I’ll come back to that groupist description in a moment).

The Sun’s leading article a week ago (17 November) began: “Here is a simple way for Muslims to denounce the monsters of IS: march through London in massive numbers with placards saying ‘not in our name.’”

It argued that Muslims had “done too little in public to express solidarity with the victims in Paris and the civilised, tolerant democracies in which they live and which IS want to destroy.”

A day later, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) took out an advert in the national press, backed by 300 affiliate organisations, which “unreservedly” condemned the Paris attacks. [1358 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 186 votes] Remarkably daft. The Guardian sometimes gives space to some utterly stupid ideas.

Absolutely EVERYBODY should condemn ISIS. Why on earth leave Muslims out if it!

[2ND 161] Not too long ago I read an article on this site in which a number of British Muslims were interviewed. One, Jack Khan, said something which stuck in my mind.

'Until the west apologises for making a mess of the Middle East, don't expect Muslims to apologise for jihadists'.

I found that worrying.

[3RD 108] Typical lefty apologia. All members of our community will want to condemn the Paris attacks, muslims are not exempt form this given that they are part of our community. In addition the attackers claim their muslim faith as the source of legitimacy for their attacks. These folk can and do hide in muslim predominant communities across Europe. Therefore, this faith group has a particular responsibility to speak out.

[4TH 99] The Guardian has no problem printing articles that insist that white people condemn white people, and people in the West condemning the West.

Usually under the disguise of "call out" but the message that those who don't join in the call outs are on the wrong side is quite clear.

[5TH 81] You can't force Muslims to condemn ISIL, but it would help to see Muslims explain why the violence in the Koran used by these extremists to justify their actions is wrong, and that these violent verses are simply a reflection of the 7th century and have no relevance today.

But then Muslims cannot reinterpret the Koran as many believe it is the pure word of God.... and therein lies the problem.... [The Guardian] Read more

Are Islamist terrorists pious conservatives or drug-taking hedonists?

Which is the true face of suicidal jihadist terrorists? Are they ultra-conservative, pious devout Muslims who pray five times a day, eschew music and all contact with the opposite sex, reject alcohol, cigarettes and drugs of all kind, while trying to be charitable and forgiving? Or are they hedonistic partygoers who take drugs, frequent strip clubs and are given to sexual promiscuity, both heterosexual and homosexual?

Based on 30 years’ experience as an imam within British Muslim communities, and as a former Islamist who knew and met several people who went on to become convicted terrorists, the simple answer in my view is: both of the above pictures are true, except that all terrorists forget the core Islamic teachings of compassion, forgiveness and humanity that would preclude any act of terrorism.

.... Other young Muslims are so guilt-ridden by hedonistic lifestyles that they will do anything to redeem themselves, thus becoming vulnerable to terrorist recruitment: rather than killing and being killed in a final act of explosive, selfish rage, what is needed is the traditional religious approach of a lifetime of selfless service to others. Stopping the anger and rage of would-be suicidal terrorists, then channelling and transforming it into charitable virtue, is one of the most difficult tasks we face. [Usama Hasan, 727 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 251 votes] "all terrorists forget the core Islamic teachings of compassion, forgiveness and humanity that would preclude any act of terrorism."

But they pay close attention to the other core Islamic teachings of subjugating infidels, waging violent Jihad and treating women as second class citizens. As an Imam, you'll be fully aware that these things are fully justified in Islamic teaching – so why condescend us all?

[2ND 161] They are people who can't reconcile the supremacist message at the heart of islam with the world they see.

It's therefore everyone else's fault that their view of the world doesn't prevail.

[3RD 124] "Other young Muslims are so guilt-ridden by hedonistic lifestyles that they will do anything to redeem themselves, thus becoming vulnerable to terrorist recruitment: rather than killing and being killed in a final act of explosive, selfish rage, what is needed is the traditional religious approach of a lifetime of selfless service to others"

No, what is needed is to let young people be young people. They're guilt ridden because they've been brainwashed into thinking that a) there's a God watching you and b) he cares about your sexual habits. The remedy for that is not to become a monk – it's to live and let live.

[4TH 117] "...except that all terrorists forget the core Islamic teachings of compassion, forgiveness and humanity that would preclude any act of terrorism."

Strange how this forgetfulness only happens to Muslims. You'd think there'd be a proportional number of Christian, Hindu or Buddhist terrorists misunderstanding their religious texts too.

Pity you don't share with readers how the Islamic teachings of compassion, forgiveness and humanity are meant for Muslims only. So much so that it is widely accepted among Islamic scholars that a Muslim should never wish 'peace' upon greeting a non-Muslim. Mohammed said: “Do not initiate the greeting of salaam to a Jew or a Christian…” (Narrated by Muslim, 2167).

We non-Muslims are second class people in the world of Islam and always have been. [Guardian Cif] Read more

Actress Frances Barber Claims 'Sharia' Uber Driver Told Her She Was 'Disgustingly Dressed' After Awards

Actress Frances Barber claims she was accosted by a "sharia" Uber driver who told her she was "disgustingly dressed" while dropping her home from an awards ceremony in London.

Barber, who plays a barrister in BBC1 legal drama Silk, said she was returning from the Evening Standard Theatre Awards on Sunday at the Old Vic when her driver remarked that she was "disgustingly dressed" and that "women should not be out at night". At the time Barber was wearing a demure black ensemble with a high-necked top and floor-length skirt.

The 58-year-old tweeted about the incident telling her 28,000 followers: "Just had a sharia Uber driver, first time in London. Shocked. Reported." [The Huffington Post UK] Read more

President of Iceland fears Saudi Arabian funding of Reykjavík Mosque will fuel Muslim extremism in Iceland

The president of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, fears that Saudi Arabian financing of a Reykjavík mosque will fuel radical Islam in Iceland.

The president told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service that he was shocked to the point of paralysis when he learned last March, in a meeting with Saudi Arabian Ambassador, that the government of Saudi Arabia had decided to interfere in Icelandic religious life by donating one million US Dollars to the planned mosque. The president did not speak up about these concerns until after the terrorists attacks in Paris.

The president claimed Saudi Arabia has not only fostered religious extremism but also forces which have attacked the West and western values. [Iceland Magazine] Read more

MPs in Swiss canton of Ticino back burqa ban

.... The Ticino government had wanted the ban on burqas and niqabs (face veil) to also apply to other forms of head covering that hide the face, such as masks, worn by demonstrators and balaclavas.

But MPs voted for a law that applies only to the wearing of Muslim veils to avoid putting that on the same level as hooligans and masked demonstrators.

The minimum fine is 100 francs running up to the maximum of 10,000 francs.

The law makes no exceptions for tourists.

People visiting Ticino will be informed at airports and by customs at the Italian border that is unlawful in the canton to hide your face.

Around 40,000 visitors from the Middle East traveled to Ticino last year, a tourism market that is growing. [The Local] Read more

Record complaints for Sun UK Muslim 'jihadi sympathy' story

The new press regulator has received a record number of complaints about a Sun story which claimed nearly one in five UK Muslims has "sympathy for jihadis".

The Independent Press Standards Organisation said more than 1,200 people made contact over the front page piece, based on a poll by Survation.

.... The Sun's story, based on a survey carried out after the Paris terrorist attacks, was published on Monday. It said figures have emerged showing nearly one in five British Muslims had sympathy for those who had fled the UK to fight for the Islamic State group in Syria.

But the Muslim Council of Britain, which represents mosques, schools and other associations in Britain, said the question posed had been about foreign fighters generally, "not the murderous death cult of Daesh or ISIS specifically, or indeed 'Jihadis' in general".

The MCB accused The Sun of "sensationalising" the poll's findings, adding: "As we know, foreign fighters belong to various backgrounds, fighting the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad and some are supported by the UK." [BBC] Read more

Sun criticised by pollster behind controversial 'jihadi sympathy' story

.... The tabloid has been accused of misrepresenting the results of the poll, which showed that 5% of respondents agreed with the statement: “I have a lot of sympathy with young Muslims who leave the UK to join fighters in Syria” and that 14.5% said they had “some sympathy”.

Critics argued that the use of the term “sympathy” was ambiguous and that it was not clear who was meant by “fighters in Syria”.

Ben Page, the chief executive of Ipsos Mori, said: “The main issue with this poll is the reporting, which made it appear that one in five of those sampled supported Isis, when in fact they were expressing sympathy with people going to fight in Syria, as I understand it, which could of course include British ex-servicemen fighting against Isis with the Kurds, or anti-Assad Muslim forces who are also fighting against Isis.” [The Guardian] Read more

French Muslim body calls for imams to require 'licence to preach'

France's leading Muslim body called Tuesday for imams to require a permit to preach in a bid to root out extremists, and for a new religious body to fight back against jihadist propaganda.

Anouar Kbibech, president of the French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM), said the country's imams should be given a certificate -- "like a driving licence" -- that ensured they promoted a "tolerant and open Islam".

The CFCM said it would hand out the permits by testing theological knowledge and adherence to French principles, and make them sign an "imams' charter" in which they agreed to "respect the laws of the Republic".

Kbibech did not say whether he thought the process should be obligatory for all imams. [AFP] Read more

23 November 2015

Muslim scholar who posted YouTube speech condemning Paris atrocities reveals he has received death threats from British-born children who support ISIS

The Muslim scholar who made an impassioned speech condemning the Paris attacks on YouTube has received death threats from ISIS' online supporters.

In the three minute video, which has been seen by tens of thousands of people, Mufassil Islam, 49, said: 'If you don't like this country, why the f*** did you come?'

He has now told MailOnline that he is being threatened by British youngsters.

Mr Islam said: 'I am getting death threats from British kids... British Bangladeshi kids, or Asian kids, they are born and bred here. They support ISIS.'

The lawyer turned academic, who has lived in Britain on and off for more than 22 years, spoke out after the terrorist attacks in Paris left 130 people dead, and says he will continue to do so despite threats on his life.

The father of two from Belfast, who is a devout Muslim, was praised after speaking out against extremism and the radicalisation he believes is creeping into mosques and communities across Britain.

He told MailOnline that unless something is done soon, it may be too late to save young Muslims from the path to extremism. [645 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 8498 votes] It was inevitable he would be targeted after speaking out, the fact they are British born is no surprise either. Suggest buying them air tickets so that they can leave.

[2ND 6149] Well said Mufassil, I applaud you.

[3RD 5544] I'm with you sir. This evil has no religion and no heart.

[4TH 5283] I think we all saw that coming!

[5TH 4388] Death threats, that is all they are good for. I found your broadcast absolutely brilliant and you have spoken for millions in this country by saying the words we all would like to have said, your a breath of fresh air. [Daily Mail] Read more

Why the Sun’s ‘jihadi’ poll is dubious – and its headline dangerous

"1 in 5 Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis" was the irresponsible, dangerous and grossly misleading front-page headline of Monday’s edition of the Sun – a tabloid whose circulation is the highest among the national press in the UK. This front page was published on the day we heard that hate crime against Muslims has soared by 300% since the horrific attacks in Paris, according to figures from a report to the government’s working group on anti-Muslim hatred.

Many Muslims across the country are not only sick and tired of scaremongering from our newspapers, but are also worried that such outrageous reporting will further inflame tensions across the country. Either the Sun is being dangerously irresponsible in order to sell papers, or it is intentionally playing dumb. Because any expert will warn of the fallacy of making such misleading inferences from this type of poll.

.... We do need a free press, able to report stories without fear, but can such a wilfully negligent and irresponsible front page, in the face of a record rise in hate crime against Muslims, really be acceptable in our society? The answer may not be regulation, but my hope is that it is improved religious literacy and basic decency. [Miqdaad Versi, Muslim Council of Britain, 762 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 281 votes] Im sure this is going to be heavily moderated so I will say this.

1989, Salman Rushdie.

That is all.

[2ND 239] Something about a third supporting the fatwa and the open incitement to murder him in the streets.

[8TH 175] In other words a third of young British Muslims feel that religious sponsored murder is OK

And of course they didn't all independently reach that view. It's spelled out in the religious texts that every Muslim, to some degree, is required to accept as the ultimate truth.

[3RD 237] I hope most people would understand that being Muslim doesn't automatically equate to being a terrorist. And The Sun are grossly offensive to everyone, not just Muslims.

All that said, there plainly is a connection between the beliefs that all Muslims hold (for one, that the Hadith is a template for how to live) and the beliefs that ISIS have taken to their murderous (but logically consistent) conclusion.

There's also many polls that suggest a huge number of Muslims are (quietly) offended by a picture of the Prophet. It's not hard to see the connection between that sentiment, and the actions of the Hebdo killers.

[4TH 207] "Regulation may not be the answer, but my hope is that improved religious literacy and basic decency is."

What the flying fuck is "improved religious literacy?" I would prefer if the parables of ancient desert peoples were finally put in the bin quite frankly.

[5TH 206] "thus I consider it unislamic."

So perhaps you should get together with the peaceful majority and start a campaign to change the verses and the Hadith to remove the problem passages?

Thats if not your not murdered for 'blasphemy' of course.

[6TH= 190] This poll is far less dubious that the Guardian wants the herd to think. It is however an important that we ask these question and find the truth, even if it hurts some very delicate sensibilities i.e. the Guardian.

However lets be honest the reason anyone is decrying this poll is because the want to stifle debate.

[6TH= 190] You can't help but wonder if The Sun wrote the headline first then looked round for some evidence. However there are some worrying issues. A report Living Apart Together by Munira Mirza, Abi Senthilkumaran and Zein Ja'far found that 36% of 16 to 24-year-old British Muslims believe if a Muslim converts to another religion they should be punished by death, compared with 19% of over-55s. In other words a third of young British Muslims feel that religious sponsored murder is OK. I find that shocking and totally unacceptable.

[9TH 164] Only the other day in the Guardian was a statistic in an article pointing out that 28% of muslims want sharia law in this country. That alone sort of supports this poll. While sympathy isn't active physical support, it does provide more support.

[10TH 135] Quran (8:12) - "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them"

What does this instruction mean?

The fact that anyone allows themselves to be dictated to by this nonsense is worrying in itself.

'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"

[11TH 125] The polls are not technically incorrect though are they.

If 20% have 'sympathy' for the terrorists motives and feelings, then they should be fucking ashamed of that.

[12TH 115] Interestingly the more I read of the Koran (I assume this is what is meant by improved religious literacy) the more worrying I find it. Religious education, if carried out properly and not just used as a tool for indoctrination more often than not leads to condemnation of religion.

I'm not sure what profound revelations the author is hoping we'll find in this endeavor.

[13TH 104] Guardian readers shell shocked, reeling and in total disarray after Paris.... multicultural model failing before their eyes ... none of the old, trusted liberal paradigms make sense. What to do?

.....Obvious, really! Attack the Sun! [Guardian Cif] Read more

Pollsters for Sun's jihadi sympathy story called list of 'Muslim names'

A poll purporting to show that one in five British Muslims had “sympathy for jihadis” was constructed by calling people with “Muslim surnames” in an effort to complete an affordable survey of opinion in the week after the Paris terror attacks.

Survation – the polling company used by the Sun – said it had picked out likely respondents using the help of an academic expert on naming, a method that rival polling companies said did not necessarily amount to a representative sample of the British Muslim population.

The controversial methodology was used to underpin a front-page story in Monday’s edition of the Sun – headlined 1 in 5 Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis – after 19.5% of those surveyed said that they had either a lot or some sympathy with young Muslims who leave the UK to join fighters in Syria. [The Guardian] Read more

1 in 5 Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis

NEARLY one in five British Muslims has some sympathy with those who have fled the UK to fight for IS in Syria.

The number among young Muslims aged 18-34 is even higher at one in four.

The figures emerged in our exclusive poll conducted after the Paris atrocities led by French and Belgian jihadis returning from the war zone.

Prominent Muslims said the poll was a wake-up call.

Labour London Mayor hopeful Sadiq Khan tells The Sun today: “It is clear that Britain needs to take its head out of the sand and act to tackle extremism and radicalisation at home.

“Tackling extremism is a challenge for everyone but I believe British Muslims have a special role to play.”

The survey’s findings show a clear majority of the 2.7million Brits who follow Islam are moderate.

Some 38 per cent of those polled say Muslims should not have to condemn terror acts carried out by IS. [The Sun] Read more

Poll: 1 In 5 British Muslims Has Sympathy With Jihadis

One in five British Muslims has at least some sympathy with those who have travelled to Syria to fight with Islamic State, a poll reveals.

The Survation poll of British Muslims for The Sun newspaper found that support was even higher among younger Muslims, with nearly one in four 18 to 34 year olds feeling some sympathy.

Support was also high Greater Manchester, where one in 10 Muslims said they had a “lot of sympathy” with their coreligionists who join the terror group.

Responding to the poll, the Labour Party’s London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan said: “It is clear that Britain needs to take its head out of the sand and act to tackle extremism and radicalisation at home.

“Tackling extremism is a challenge for everyone but I believe British Muslims have a special role to play.”

Meanwhile 38 per cent of UK Muslims blame ISIS terror attacks on “Western foreign policy, such as the invasion of Iraq”, while the same number think Muslims should not have to condemn terrorist acts carried out in the name of Islam. [Breitbart London] Read more

22 November 2015

Progressive liberalism is the enemy of tolerance

Multicultural liberals are always trying to police debate. A tolerant society does not abandon the freedom to argue.

.... Against traditional liberalism stands multicultural liberalism, which the majority of people who call themselves “progressives” believe. An unimprovable example of how it turns old certainties on their heads came two days before the Paris massacres. The Muslim Council of Britain demanded a blasphemy law because “Muslim communities need to be able to respond to accusations [against] Muslims, or against the Prophet, in a more effective way”.

.... Fear has driven multicultural liberalism, too, and that fear will be back with a vengeance after Paris, along with the double standards and demands for new authoritarian laws that always accompany it.

Progressives condemn “clash of civilisations” rhetoric and deplore the racism of Marine Le Pen and Donald Trump. But their attempts at appeasement show that they are not so different. They also treat Muslims as “the other” rather than fellow citizens and insist that different rules must apply to them in case they turn violent.

I have no idea whether traditional liberal principles will help slow the wave of religious violence. For now, it seems as if nothing will. But I do know that if we don’t stick by them we will end up with an even more unjust society than we already have. [The Observer] Read more

Muslim communities are 'not solution to extremism alone'

.... Azim Ahmed said British Muslims should not be seen as "the solution to extremism and terrorism alone".

But former UK government counter-terrorism minister Kim Howells said Muslim communities should do more to condemn attacks by Islamic terrorists.

The pair were speaking to Sunday Politics Wales.

Mr Ahmed told the programme that politicians "should really start talking differently about British Muslims".

"Not as a suspect community, not as someone who has to start taking care of extremism when no-one else has," he said.

"But really just part of the British public, part of the wider British fabric of society, and not simply look at British Muslims as somehow the solution to extremism and terrorism alone

However, Mr Howells said that there had not been "a huge response" from Muslim communities. [BBC] Read more

21 November 2015

Mob torches factory in Pakistan following blasphemy accusation

An angry mob in Pakistan's Punjab province torched a factory after one of its employees was accused of committing blasphemy, police officials said on Saturday.

Hundreds of people surrounded a chipboard factory in Jehlum city on Friday night and set the facility ablaze after reports surfaced that one employee had allegedly desecrated the Koran.

"The incident took place after we arrested the head of security at the factory, Qamar Ahmed Tahir, for complaints that he ordered the burning of Korans," Adnan Malik, a senior police official in the area, told AFP.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, an Islamic republic of some 200 million, where even unproven allegations frequently stir mob violence and lynchings.[AFP] Read more

France’s civil war — and the struggle facing Europe

France has the largest percentage of Muslims in its population of anywhere in western Europe. The bare truth is that this has created its problems

In the wake of the massacre in Paris, President François Hollande said that France was ‘at war’ — and that it must be fought both inside his country and outside in the Middle East. As the French air force began dropping bombs on Raqqa in Syria, another operation was under way in towns and cities across France: 168 raids in two days. A battle on two fronts has begun.

Chartres cathedral is one of the great monuments of western civilisation, but Chartres was also home to one of the Bataclan theatre suicide bombers. A man from the same area died last summer in Syria, fighting for Isis. In Lyon, theraids turned up a rocket launcher. On Tuesday night, a large-scale counter-terror assault was launched in St Denis in Paris. After heavy gunfire, a woman blew herself up by detonating a suicide belt, according to the police.

That the French police know where to look is heartening. That there are so many places to look is not. Long before this week’s slaughter, the French have known that large parts of France are effectively not French. [The Spectator] Read more

20 November 2015

Voters to Obama: Yes, We Are at War with Radical Islam

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the United States is at war with radical Islamic terrorism. Just 24% share the president’s position and disagree. Sixteen percent (16%) are undecided.

Even 56% of Democrats believe America is at war with radical Islamic terrorism, a view shared by 70% of Republicans and 54% of voters not affiliated with either major party.

A staggering 92% of all voters now regard radical Islamic terrorism as a serious threat to the United States. This includes 73% who say it is a Very Serious one, up 23 points from 50% in October of last year.

.... Sizable majorities across most demographic categories consider radical Islamic terrorism a Very Serious threat to the United States. The majority of voters in nearly all categories also believe the United States is at war with radical Islamic terrorism.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of Democrats agree with the president, though, that ISIS does not represent the true beliefs of Islam. Just 27% of Republicans and 44% of unaffiliated voters share that view.

The older the voter, the more likely he or she is to disagree with the president’s assessment of what ISIS stands for. [Rasmussen Reports] Read more

'Muslims feel oppressed' after Paris attacks

The President of Austria’s Islamic Religious Community has spoken about the consequences of the Paris terror attacks for Muslims and how frustrated he feels that Muslims have to constantly distance themselves from terrorists.

In an interview with Die Presse newspaper Fuat Sanaç was asked why Muslims are not taking to the streets en masse to distance themselves from the violent Islamic State (Isis) terrorist group. “Muslims feel so oppressed that they are afraid to take to the streets,” he answered.

“We have said thousands of times that these lunatics have nothing to do with Islam, but we have to constantly defend and justify ourselves - it’s exhausting and infuriating,” he added.

He went on to say that Muslims holding demonstrations against Isis would do nothing to solve the threat posed by the terrorists, which was a direct result of wars and dictatorships in the Middle East. [The Local] Read more

Saudi court sentences poet to death for renouncing Islam

A Palestinian poet and leading member of Saudi Arabia’s nascent contemporary art scene has been sentenced to death for renouncing Islam.

A Saudi court on Tuesday ordered the execution of Ashraf Fayadh, who has curated art shows in Jeddah and at the Venice Biennale. The poet, who said he did not have legal representation, was given 30 days to appeal against the ruling.

Fayadh, 35, a key member of the British-Saudi art organisation Edge of Arabia, was originally sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes by the general court in Abha, a city in the south-west of the ultraconservative kingdom, in May 2014.

But after his appeal was dismissed he was retried last month and a new panel of judges ruled that his repentance did not prevent his execution.

“I was really shocked but it was expected, though I didn’t do anything that deserves death,” Fayadh told the Guardian. [The Guardian] Read more

Saudi court sentences Palestinian poet to death for apostasy: HRW

A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a Palestinian poet to death for apostasy, abandoning his Muslim faith, according to trial documents seen by Human Rights Watch, its Middle East researcher Adam Coogle said on Friday.

Ashraf Fayadh was detained by the country's religious police in 2013 in Abha, in southwest Saudi Arabia, and then rearrested and tried in early 2014.

The verdict of that court sentenced him to four years in prison and 800 lashes but after appeal another judge passed a death sentence on Fayadh three days ago, said Coogle.

"I have read the trial documents from the lower court verdict in 2014 and another one from 17 November. It is very clear he has been sentenced to death for apostasy," Coogle said.

Saudi Arabia's justice system is based on Sharia Islamic law and its judges are clerics from the kingdom's ultra conservative Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam. In the Wahhabi interpretation of Sharia, religious crimes including blasphemy and apostasy incur the death penalty. [Reuters] Read more

Terror attacks have everything to do with Islam

.... Muslim reformers who understand Islam has a major problem are now courageously speaking up for a religious reformation. It is crucial to support such people. Which is why the “nothing to do with Islam” mantra is so damaging. For if that were true, there would be no need for Islamic reform.

Radical Islam must be identified, confronted and defeated. That means treating as pariahs all those promoting it — the OIC, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran, the Palestinians — unless they stop their incitement to hatred and mass murder and

their backing for holy war. Instead, the free world treats these people as regular statesmen and members of the world community to be negotiated with, traded with and appeased.

Unless the West finally tears off these blinkers, all the bombs it may rain down on Isis will not defeat this scourge. [The Times (£)] Read more

19 November 2015

ISIS Is Just One of a Full-Blown Global Jihadist Insurgency

.... Our political leaders have been restricting the definition of this problem to whichever jihadist group is causing them the biggest headache at the present time, while ignoring the fact that they are all borne of the same Islamist ideology.

Before ISIS emerged, the U.S. State Department strangely took to naming the problem “al Qaeda-inspired extremism,” even though it was not al Qaeda that inspired the radicalism. Rather, Islamist extremism inspired al Qaeda. And in turn, ISIS did not radicalize those 6,000 European Muslims who have traveled to join them, nor the thousands of supporters the French now say they are monitoring.

This did not happened overnight and could not have emerged from a vacuum. ISIS propaganda is good, but not that good. No, decades of Islamist propaganda in communities had already primed these young Muslims to yearn for a theocratic caliphate.

When surveyed, 33 percent of British Muslims expressed a desire to resurrect a caliphate. ISIS simply plucked the low-hanging fruit, which had been seeded long ago by various Islamist groups, and it will now require decades of community resilience to push back. But we cannot even begin to do so until we recognize the problem for what it is. Welcome to the full-blown global jihadist insurgency. [The Daily Beast] Read more

Pakistanis’ views on ISIS showcase worrying trend

In a recently released research by the Pew Research Center, out of 11 Muslim majority countries, Pakistan seems to be the only one where a majority offered no definite opinion of ISIS.

In 11 Muslim majority countries including Jordan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Lebanon, the majority held strong opinions against ISIS with a very small minority in some cases showing support for ISIS and similarly small numbers expressing no opinion about the militant group. However, in Pakistan, 62% of the individuals revealed that they did not hold a definite opinion about ISIS while 9% even showed support for the group.

There has been growing concern over the presence of ISIS in Pakistan, which has been aggravated by instances of locals showing support for the militant organization. Graffiti supporting ISIS has been seen in numerous cities of the country since the emergence of the group. [The Nation] Read more

62% Pakistanis lack definite opinion about IS: report

As disappointing as it may sound, majority of Pakistanis do not care to hold opinion about atrocities by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), claims a survey by Pew Research Centre.

A survey conducted by the research centre shows that nine percent of Pakistanis think positive about the extremist group while 62 percent do not have a definite opinion over the self-proclaimed Islam endorsers. Among Muslim countries, Pakistan has the highest ‘confused’ ratio when it comes to IS.

The group that is responsible for some of the worst terror attacks in different parts of the world and takes pride in beheadings and innocent executions has only pushed opinions in Pakistan to as far as ‘unsure.’

The research was conducted in May and April as Pew research Centre’s annual global poll. [The Nation] Read more

Call for Islam to rid itself of obsolete dogmas

.... Nor do we have the luxury of time. Islamic reformation, like the Christian reformation, says Hasan, needs centuries to accomplish. I fear that not much of Islam will be left, in the next few decades, if the Wahhabis, Salafis and the death cults continue on their present course.

What we need to do is evident. We need to reformulate the Sharia according to its original objectives of justice, egalitarianism, human rights and freedom. This can be done reasonably quickly — as we saw in Morocco, where the personal aspects of the Sharia, the “New Mudawwanah” code, was updated within a decade.

We need to ditch dangerously obsolete and manufactured dogmas about gender relations, “Islamic state”, apostasy, and other similar issues. We should bring back the rationalist school of Islamic theology, which has been suppressed by the traditionalists for centuries.

The real hurdle is traditionalist Islam, represented today largely by Saudi Arabia and its supporters, East and West. Let’s begin by declaring Islamic orthodoxy null and void; and Saudi Arabia a deathly gruesome rogue state. [The Times (£)] Read more

Sadiq Khan: UK Muslims must do more to root out cancer of extremism

Sadiq Khan today called on his fellow Muslims not to “bury our heads in the sand” over the scale of extremism in the UK — and to do more to root out radicalisation.

Labour’s mayoral candidate said his community’s involvement was key, not because it was responsible for devastating attacks like in Paris but because it was uniquely placed to tackle the threat. In a highly personal intervention, he revealed his own “painful” experiences of extremism during his professional and political career, in his neighbourhood and the impact on his family.

“Extremism isn’t a theoretical risk,” he said. “Most British Muslims have come across someone with extremist views at some point.” It came as Muslim mothers in Britain were urged by a government minister to save their daughters from being lured into joining Islamic State. Baroness Sandip Verma said mothers must be “encouraged to understand and prevent extremism at home” to protect their children. [Evening Standard] Read more

Moment dad is attacked with pickaxe ‘for converting from Islam to Christianity’

A dad-of-six believes he was the subject of a brutal, unprovoked attack because he converted from Islam to Christianity.

The assault, which saw Bradford man Nissar Hussain repeatedly beaten with a pickaxe handle by hooded thugs, was caught on camera.

Hussain, 49, who suffered a shattered knee cap and a broken hand, is currently recovering in hospital.

His attackers were both wearing hooded tops and tracksuit bottoms and only stopped attacking him when neighbours heard the commotion and chased them off.

Trained nurse Hussain says he’s been living in fear for years, and thinks he was the victim of a calculated religious hate crime.

It’s not the first time Hussain and his family have been targeted. They have been attacked in the street, had eggs thrown at their house and had their car windows smashed. [Metro.co.uk] Read more

Islam is still rooted in the values of the dark ages – and until we accept that, we will never get rid of radicalism

.... Mr Khan, a Muslim born in London to Pakistani immigrants, is one of the very few politicians in mainstream politics who is brave enough to speak the truth about the ever growing issues facing Britain’s Muslim population.

.... As Mr Khan said: “Too many British Muslims grow up without really knowing anyone from a different background. We’ve protected people’s right to live their cultural life at the expense of creating a common life.”

Huge numbers of British Muslims are concentrated in distinct neighbourhoods, often living with, going to school with, working with, befriending and marrying only other Muslims. “This,” as Mr Khan so rightly pointed out, “creates the conditions for extremism and radicalisation to take hold.”

.... Islam, though, has never been through an enlightenment or a reformation and is still rooted in the values of the dark ages. That is why Islamic extremism has boomed at a time when the rest of the world is embracing the liberal, democratic values of the 21st century.

Sadiq Khan should be applauded for his courage in speaking the truth about segregation and radicalisation.

But until we all accept the truth about the roots of Islamic extremism, we won’t win the battle for hearts and minds – let alone the bloody war that awaits. [The Telegraph] Read more

Sadiq Khan: Muslims are growing up in this country without ever 'knowing anyone from a different background'

Mr Khan said: "Too many British Muslims grow up without really knowing anyone from a different background. Without understanding or empathising with the lives and beliefs of others."

The Tooting MP also said that too many British people have "never befriended a Muslim and as a result too many people have formed a single identity "too often based around their religion or ethnicity."

Speaking at a lunch for journalists, Labour's former shadow justice secretary said he believed British Muslims could be more effective at tackling extremism "than anyone else".

He said was British Muslims "role" to challenge extremist views and to insist that British values and Muslim values "are one and the same."

Adding: "To give the next generation of Muslim leaders the confidence to own the debate and defeat the extremists." [The Telegraph] Read more

We Muslims can’t wait for the next bomb before we speak out

.... There is no point in talking of human rights when it’s just your own human rights which concern you; there is no depth in talking of piety when your only concern is wearing the hijab; there is no traction in saying Islam is a religion of peace when the evidence for it is shrinking daily.

This dilemma cannot be resolved by politicians and policies; they have tried and failed. If anything the fact that we hear multiple terrorist plots have been foiled is not a sign of success but rather shows that the problem of violence is growing. Many will turn to their imams for guidance and many will cry out: “This is not my problem.” But it is. And to deny that is to be dishonest both to your country and to your faith. We cannot wait for the next bomb before we speak out. [628 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 70 votes] I'm fed up with having to be PC about Muslims. their inability to integrate. I hate the way they wear hijabs or completely cover up showing just their eyes. I hate the way their women are treated. I hate the fact they do not take part and look inwards not outwards! I'm offended by Muslims and Islam! There I said it!

[2ND 43] I'm sick and tired of moderate Moslems. At least with the jihadists you know where they stand. The moderates however wriggle all over show, never telling us which bits of Islam they deplore. Thus they shake their head and tut tut this or that attack, but they never say how they're different? Gays, bikinis, Jews, Israel, Mohammad, etc etc, how do they stand when it comes to such? I don't trust them. [The Telegraph] Read more

The battle is on for Muslim hearts and minds

.... I had been invited to address a conference at the School of Oriental and African Studies on the question of Muslim integration. I was talking on the subject of free expression.

At one level it was a brave attempt by lay Muslims to get people of different beliefs to debate with Islamic scholars and academics. But, comparing notes with other guest speakers as well as my own experience, I soon realised that the secondary agenda, intended or not, was an attack on the whole idea of deradicalisation. It was apparently just another aspect of western prejudice against Muslims — the true cause of terrorism.

So Professor Christopher Bagley, a Muslim convert, said that calls for integration represented “a strong undercurrent of racism and xenophobia regarding religious minorities”. Dr Rizwaan Sabir, a lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, attacked the moderate Muslim Qulliam Foundation which was being “used as a strategic asset by the British state to undermine political Islam at home and abroad”. [David Aaronovitch, 246 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 129 votes] Most Muslims interviewed or expressing opinions seem to be in denial. In most cases they say of ISIS (or Al Qaeda, or Boko Harem, or ...) that they are not Muslims and therefore nothing to do with them. If they were to accept that these are bad Muslims then maybe they would start to take responsibility for fixing what is wrong within their religion.

Of course their response is exactly the same as Sunni Muslims say of Shia Muslims and vice versa. It is also the same as ISIS say about any Muslims who do not accept their interpretation of the Quran. In every case they justify their actions, or inaction, by claiming that other Muslims groups are "not Muslims" and of course identifying themselves as victims.

Until Muslims accept that Islam is a large part of the problem, they will never be part of the solution.

[2ND 101] Oh how I agree with this! Our wonderful liberal and intellectual approach to ideas and thinking is, with great subtlety, being abused. The Quilliam foundation has done an excellent job thus far in trying to deconstruct the process of Radicalisation.

It is trying to come up with constructive ideas, and is it repaid by the public voices in the Uk Muslim Community in a negative way. Maajid Mawaz has "sold out" is the common reaction you will hear in the Uk Muslim public forum. I once asked a friend of mine - a Muslim of Pakistani heritage who has bought up 4 kids here, and is a pretty regular kind of Uk Muslim Guy. A typical Dad trying to do a good job of raising his family. I asked him - why don't you say something at the mosque?

Express your worries about what is happening - how the more Political and Militant voices are being allowed to take an increasing role in Uk MUslim Identity. His reply utterly surprised me as I have known him for years, and know his unease about all that is going on at the moment.

He looked at me as if I was completely mad - and said he would not expose his Family to the 'hounding' in the Community that would come to them if he dared to 'put his head above the parapet' and question the path that the teachings of Islam were going down ( ie - a more Salafist orthodoxy).

After that I just knew that Government - or others such as the Quilliam foundation - would have to play a more decisive and leading role into what we allow to be debated or taught in the UK. Because if the moderate (for want of a better word) are too hesitate to step up to the plate in their Communities - there is no hope. Someone else has to do it.

[3RD 81] So, for Muslim women, says Dr Brown, 'their real problems were “discrimination, poverty and Islamophobia' (presumably all from non-Muslims )... and these then are worse than the difficulties presented by: segregation from men; not being allowed to work or be fully educated or follow certain careers; forced or arranged marriages and not being allowed to marry for love; FGM, often instigated or encouraged by older Muslim women; unequal treatment when it comes to divorce, custody and property issues; not to mention their enforced dress code, often very inappropriate and/or unhealthy attire for this country - all of course originating from within Islam, not outside it.

'Their real problems'?

[4TH 79] This stuff sends shivers down my spine. The right-thinking academics are a much worse problem than the Muslims. In the Cold War they were allies with the Soviet Union, now their allies are Islamist extremists: if the aim is not to bring down western, liberal society then I don't know what it is.

[5TH 77] The SOAS conference that you describe highlights a serious problem. It seems that Islamism enjoys the services of a body of apologists which is much larger than Fascism could ever assemble and possibly even larger than that enjoyed by Communism in its heyday. In one way, then, Islamism may be a bigger problem than earlier totalitarian ideologies. [The Times (£)] Read more

18 November 2015

Students Ban Liberal Muslim, Host CAGE Islamist On SAME DAY

An outspoken Muslim journalist who advocates a “sexual revolution” in the Islamic world has reportedly been “no platformed” by a Student Union (SU). The students deny this, claiming officers were “tired” and preferred “dialogue” to allowing her to speak alone.

Despite allegedly banning journalists Mona Eltahawy, London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is proudly hosting Asim Qureshi of the Salafist ‘human rights’ group CAGE tonight at an event called “Islamophobia and British values”.

.... The SU’s version of events was further undermined when “Co-President of Welfare and Campaigns” Tom King, tweeted: “Through this current situation, I absolutely defend our right to decline to invite people into our spaces.”

Many were less than convinced. The government’s extremism adviser Maajid Nawaz tweeted: “My alma-mater SOAS bans Mona Eltahawy who campaigns for Arab sexual revolution, yet allows pro-jihadists CAGE… Shameful ‘safe-space’ culture running rampant.” [Breitbart London] Read more

Muslim Council of Britain takes out advert condemning terrorists

The Muslim Council of Britain has taken out an advert in a national newspaper to condemn the Paris attacks – and reaffirm that terrorists do not represent in Islam.

The council, which represents more than 500 mosques and community groups across the nation, used a full-page ad in the Telegraph on Thursday to denounce so-called Islamic State and the “barbaric” attacks in the French capital which killed 129 people.

The group also sought to reiterate its commitment to “the values of pluralism and tolerance” and insist that the terrorists must not succeed in turning communities against each other. [Evening Standard] Read more

17 November 2015

Islamism, the Left and a plea to Labour MPs

Much of the Left has been eaten alive by Islamism. This truly regressive and oppressive political philosophy has all but destroyed a movement that once desired nothing less than the emancipation of the human race.

The campaigns for equality that were right and good and brave in the 1960s have been exploited to within an inch of their lives, and actually probably far beyond that, by a political movement that hates everything those campaigns were fighting for. Women’s rights, children’s rights, gay rights, free speech, rejection of religious power over our lives, integration, free expression, music, art, freedom, love: the defence of every one of them given up bit by bit by a Left which has ceased to be worthy of the name. [Nora Mulready] Read more

Mohammed Amin: It is not enough for Muslim organisations simply to condemn terrorism

.... What are you doing to:

Encourage British Muslims to join the police, the armed forces and the security services?

Teach young Muslims to treat Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists etc as full equal members of society entitled to exactly the same level of respect as given to fellow Muslims?

Teach young Muslims that religious practice is a matter between the individual and God, and no Muslim has the right to denounce another for being “insufficiently Muslim” or worse still to contend that someone who self-describes as a Muslim is outside the religion? (This is known as “takfir”, is widely practised by ISIL and provides their religious justification for killing other people who self-describe as Muslims.) [ConservativeHome] Read more

'If you don't like this country, why the f*** did you come here?' Muslim man's impassioned speech decrying ISIS for trying to impose Sharia law on the West takes social media by storm

Video has emerged of an impassioned speech by a Muslim decrying ISIS terrorists for trying to impose Sharia law on the West.

The man launches in to a three-minute tirade and lashes out at violent extremists saying: 'If you don't like this country, why the f*** did you come?'.

The video has been widely shared online after gunmen murdered 129 people in Paris in a wave of terror attacks in Paris.

The unnamed man, believed to live in the UK, tells the camera: 'The question is, do you have the right to kill? F*** you, you don't.

'If you don't like this country, why the f*** do you come? If you do not have respect for this country, why the f*** do you come?

'You came, you know why, because you believed the judiciary here gives you protection, because the laws here give you protection, because the economy here makes you flourish. Why the f*** did you come otherwise? [1384 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 19605 votes] Brilliant. But we need more Muslims to openly condemn these atrocities .

[2ND 12740] Bravo that man!

[3RD 10122] Good to see and hear, some common sense.

[4TH 9401] Respect to him. He has hit the nail right on the head.

[5TH 5823] We need much much more of this, it's called the truth. Although PC idiots don't let us say it. [Daily Mail] Read more

The Guardian view on defeating Isis: winning hearts and minds

Like all jihadi terror movements, Isis seeks to foment division, to sort the world into supporters and the rest. This is a violent campaign of disruption intended to destroy multiculturalism wherever it exists. With fear and terror Isis intends to sow mistrust and hatred between communities.

.... To call Islam “a religion of peace” can appear to be a crude attempt to manipulate both audiences at once. Similarly, the attempt to preach “British values”: schools should of course teach tolerance and open-mindedness, but this is done by example and by culture, not with slogans. And the people to show that Islam can enrich British values are Muslims themselves, in their ordinary lives.

They won’t do so because they are hectored to but because they identify the peace and charity that they actually practise both with Britain and with Islam. Without compromising core values of human rights and equality, there needs to be a better-recognised space for faith communities in secular society. This year, a handful of primary schools in east London banned fasting during Ramadan, inappropriate and unnecessary since young children are not expected to fast.

Finally, most problematic is the need to recognise that some foreign policy decisions – whether of omission or commission – shape Muslim opinion. That does not necessarily mean making different decisions, but it does mean greater awareness. It means recognising that the best weapon against the jihadis, the one they fear the most, is solidarity. [299 comments]

[TOP RATED COMMENT 192 votes] More of the usual about Muslim feelings of alienation and lack of inclusion.

Why don't the Sikh, Hindu or Chinese communities in the West complain about underachievement at schools, lack of jobs, or not having a voice in government?

Why do we not have to deal with such extremism in those communities?

Pigheaded western policies in the Muslin world make the problem much worse than it would otherwise be, but that doesn't distract from the fact that there is currently an extreme rot eating away at the heart of Islam itself.

Perhaps part of the solution would be to recognize the cancer emanating from Saudi Arabia, and start treating that vile nation as the horror that it is?

[2ND 161] "fomenting division"

And the biggest part of that is religion. Yet faith schools are not only allowed, but positively welcomed.

Weirdly enough, I remember when there was some effort to get all kids in Northern Ireland to at least go to the same schools as one another, regardless of sect.

So, how about rule 1: NO religious education in ANY school? ALL kids, regardless of religion of their parents, to go to a state, secular school?

[3RD 156] "But it also means recognising that Muslim communities are both the poorest and the least participant in public life."

But I thought Jaywick near Clacton was the most deprived area in the UK; and there are certainly ex-mining towns in the Welsh valleys that I know of that are poor and deprived with very little participation in public life.

‘Too often to be a Muslim means underachievement at school, difficulty in finding a job, a struggle for promotion...’

And I thought it was white boys that were lagging behind in school these days.

Think again, Guardian.

[4TH 123] We are so bad in the west towards Muslim youth that we force them to go to Syria where they glorify in the killing of their fellow Muslims and raping Yazidi children. Where they seek to destroy cultures and ethic groups that have been in existence for thousands of years.

Total liberal lefty crap.

Would the Guardian write a similar editorial about the Waffen SS? On second thoughts they probably would.

[5TH 116] Wow - just when you thought the Guardian's obsession with identity politics couldn't make it get things more wrong regarding radical Islam, along comes this article.

To highlight one of its many, many failings: calling for a greater emphasis on faith communities?? Just incredible...

[6TH 112] No surprise that the guardians solution to terrorism is more multi culturalism and more refugees.

I love different cultures and races but even the bloody Germans admit that multi culturalism has been a massive failure that has caused massive problems (not least the ones in Paris).

This spits in the face of Guardian orthodoxy but the most disadvantaged people in this country are poor, white and male. (you will never hear anything from the Guardian about concern for them).

If this is about disaffected youth why are the poor white people not opening up on night clubs with automatic weapons?

If this is about cultural differences why are there no Polish / Sikh / Hindu terrorists in the UK?

The problem is medieval religions and the fucked up beliefs and people that it attracts.

We can start by eliminating state supported faith schools.

[7TH 109] You are talking to the wrong audience, Guardian.

You ought to have been shouting about solidarity in mosques, in madrassas, in Muslim community centres from decades ago.

Instead you chose to promote multiculturalism. All that has done has given (some) Muslims the perfect excuse to back away from wider society, to self-segregate.

And look what the result has been. Mini versions of the cultures they left behind.

Could things have gone any more wrong?

[8TH 105] A well meaning article. Unfortunately misguided and contradictory.

Premise of the author - Muslims feel disenfranchised because they underachieve school and subsequently the job market.

Apart from contradicting this papers view that we should welcome Islamic immigration (why would you want underachievers even if their culture didn't promote mysoginy, homophobia and the values of a 7th century warlord) it actually reinforces the view that Islamic culture is not compatible with learning and economic advancement ( unlike that of other "alien" cultures like Chinese, Hindus, Sikhs or even Africans.

If it were just underachievement at school and in the workplace Muslims would be like Roma.

At worst an inconvenience, and at best a worthy cause to transform into functioning Europeans.

[9TH 105] Typical guardian tripe. Stating primary schools banning fasting was unnecessary as children arent expected to fast. Its exactly because muslims were forcing their children to fast that schools banned it. Probably the same 25% of families who sympathise with the charlie hebdo attacks. [Guardian Cif] Read more

Paris attacks: The integration of immigrants through education is paramount

.... In these dark days following Friday’s attack it is hard to start examining how such brutal atrocities could take place at the hands of French citizens. There can surely be no simple answer. Yet for those with knowledge of the banlieues, the OECD’s data will add fuel to the notion that communities in some French cities are horribly fractured, tempting hopeless men to a life of religious extremism.

Efforts here to encourage integration might offer lessons to the French government in the years ahead. But it is vital, too, that political leaders in the UK remain committed to policies that promote cohesion. This week we may all be French, but next week we will all be British again. It is vital that everyone living in this country feels like they belong.

[TOP RATED COMMENT] Written as someone who has never taken a bus up the Edgware road and looked out of the window.

Muslims don't integrate. It wouldn't matter if we threw a street party for them every bloody weekend - they still wouldn't come.

What a tasteless article coming so soon after the slaughter of so many innocents in Paris. It's always the fault of the countries who welcomed these people, gave them opportunities they did not have in their own countries and which other immigrants have grabbed with open arms and made better lives for themselves.

It's never the fault of the insular, supremacist religio-tribal ideology that frowns on mixing with the infidels and taking up their ways that throws up a maladjusted generation who are then convinced that their short-comings are because of discrimination by the larger society and indulge in the kind of slaughter and mayhem that is unfathomable to everyone else. Give it a break.

[ANOTHER] Good luck with that one - these people (Islamists) don't do integration - it against their religion - the Indy's editorial staff need to read the Qur'an! It's insufficient to accept Imams and Clerics quoting certain verses of their Book to paint Islamists in a favourable light - when there are 109 verses calling for the destruction of the very people you propose they integrate with?

[ANOTHER] 'The integration of immigrants through education is paramount'. Trouble is that many UK universities are a hot bed for radicalisation. The 'academic left' has an awful lot to answer for.

[ANOTHER] You mean like the thoroughly integrated and educated Bilal Abdullah, British born, qualified doctor and still he attempted to kill and maim when he rammed Glasgow airport.

Sorry but the one thing that links these attacks is not the attackers education, wealth or social position.

It is their faith which glorifies violence.

[ANOTHER] The other is Anjem Choudary - a fully qualified lawyer minted from the English legal institution and anow a radical Islamic preacher of dissent.

No, how successful has integration of the last 30 years been?

Its foolish to ignore cultural faultlines and be taken by politicians that speak for votes. You need to have tough enforceable laws to deal with deviants in society which would include removal and deportation.

[ANOTHER] Ban all Deobandi and Salafist Madrassas and mosques. Islamic fundamentalism has no place in our society. [The Independent] Read more

Iran arrests cartoonist as crackdown on free expression goes on

Iranian authorities have arrested a cartoonist and sent him to prison to complete a suspended jail sentence, his lawyer said on Tuesday, joining a growing list of journalists, artists and activists detained on security charges.

Hadi Heidari, a cartoonist at the Shahrvand newspaper, was arrested on Monday and sent to Tehran’s Evin prison, his lawyer told Reuters in a telephone interview from Tehran.

“He was convicted two years ago for his cartoons and was sentenced to one year in jail. The authorities had a different interpretation of his cartoons than he had,” the lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said. Heidari had served about a month of the original sentence, Nikbakht said. [Reuters] Read more

16 November 2015

Paris attacks were not 'nihilism' but sacred strategy

.... ISIS does not subscribe to the Geneva Convention. Its actions and strategies are based upon medieval Islamic laws of jihad, which make no use of the modern Western concept of 'civilian’.

They do, however, refer to the category of disbelievers (mushrik or kafir).

ISIS believes that killing disbelievers is a moral act, in accordance, for example, with Sura 9:5 of the Qur’an, which states :‘Fight and kill the idolators (mushrik) wherever you find them'.

.... The point of these statements is that Muslims are willing to fight to the death, while their infidel enemies will turn back in battle. This is not about reverence for life, but about who has the will to win.

This has nothing to do with nihilism, which is a belief that there are no values, nothing to be loyal to, and no purpose in living. In fact ISIS fighters have strong and clear loyalties and values, alien though they may be to those of Europe. [Lapido Media] Read more

Teachers become first in Britain to face lifetime classroom ban for trying to impose too much Islam on education

Two teachers have become the first in the country to face a lifetime classroom ban for trying to impose too much Islam on pupils’ education, leaving them at risk of exploitation.

A panel has found former Park View Academy teachers Akeel Ahmed, 41, of Wolverhampton, and Inamulhaq Anwar, 34, of Bordesley Green, guilty of professional misconduct at a hearing of the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL).

The pair both agreed with others to the “inclusion of an undue amount of religious influence in the education of the pupils” at Park View in Alum Rock before March 31 last year, ruled the panel.

Mr Anwar was also found guilty of the same allegation in relation to the education of pupils at Nansen Primary, where he was on the governing body. The school is sited opposite Park View and was run by the same academy chain Park View Educational Trust at the time. [Birmingham Mail] Read more

Labour MP Keith Vaz would have “no problem” with reintroduction of UK blasphemy laws

Labour MP Keith Vaz has expressed his support for the reintroduction of UK blasphemy laws – provided they "apply equally to everybody."

His comments were reportedly made at an event organised by the Muslim Council of Britain to explore responses to terrorism and extremism, held in London on 12 November.

During discussions on how to respond to 'slurs' and "grossly irresponsible" coverage of Muslim issues in the media, attendees called for Britain's Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) to use its powers to pursue complaints of discrimination against groups of people, such as those of Muslim faith, even if no individual is specified in an offending article. [National Secular Society] Read more

After Paris: the myth of Islamophobia

.... And yet the backlash, Islam’s night and no doubt day of broken glass, never arrives. There never is an anti-Muslim pogrom. There never is a mass eruption of spitting, niqab-renting hatred. Some nasty graffiti and unpleasant tweets, yes; perhaps, lamentably, a fire at a mosque; and even the odd, isolated physical attack on a Muslim for no other reason than the fact he or she is a Muslim.

But the actual anti-Muslim backlash, the actual fulfilment of Islamophobia proponents’ wet nightmares, the actual mass assault on each and every Muslim… it continues to lack reality.

.... Islamophobia, this pre-emptive diagnosis of an anti-Muslim pathology afflicting the masses, not only speaks of the authorities’ fear of the masses; it disciplines the masses, too. It is a prohibition, a ban on a certain way of thinking. It says: do not judge the Islamist worldview; do not criticise another’s faith.

As Brendan O’Neill has argued, Islamophobia, this ‘multicultural conceit’, acts as a ban on judgement, a ban on criticising one set of beliefs and values, and asserting the superiority of another set. It prevents people, unless they want to be charged with being an Islamophobe, a perpetrator of a hate crime, from questioning, interrogating and judging the beliefs and values of those who kill in the name, yes, of Islam. [spiked] Read more

Muslim women take on clergy, demand ban on triple talaq, polygamy

Asma from Jaipur left her family and converted to Islam to marry the man she loved. But instead of providing her a home, he pronounced triple talaq and tried to grab her house.

Farida’s husband gave her triple talaq because she wore spectacles.

There are also instances of Muslim men divorcing their wives through letters, on telephone, Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media. Women are opposing this as well as other practices like polygamy, denial of alimony, inheritance rights etc.

But now women like Asma and Farida are no longer content to be wallflowers. Instead they are fighting for their rights and questioning an orthodox clergy.

Muslim women activists say the clergy has done little to improve the lot of women instead perpetuating a patriarchal interpretation of Quranic law. [Hindustan Times] Read more

California school district bans depiction of all religious figures after complaint on Muhammad drawing assignment

A school district in California has decided to ban the drawing of all religious figures after one parent complained about an assignment that asked students to depict the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

Seventh Grade students at High Desert School under the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District were given worksheets in history class on "Vocabulary Pictures: The Rise of Islam," by a teacher and asked to draw photos of Quran, Mecca and Muhammad, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

After consulting with an expert on Islam, Superintendent Brent Woodard announced Wednesday that he has ordered all school staff to stop giving assignments on the depiction of any religious leader. [Christian Today] Read more

Radical panellists at 'Quiz a Muslim' event demanded establishment of an Islamic State in Britain as jihadists went on bloody rampage through Paris

As jihadists rampaged through Paris on Friday night, radical panellists at a Muslim debate in Britain reportedly told of the duty to establish an Islamic state.

Speakers at the Quiz A Muslim event in Bedford included Taji Mustafah, of radical Islamic organisation Hizb-ut Tahrir, and Moazzem Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay inmate and founder of campaign group Cage, whose director called Jihadi John a ‘beautiful young man’.

The panellists said that there is an ‘Islamic’ duty to ‘struggle’ for an ‘Islamic state’, as 132 were executed in shootings and suicide bombings.

They suggested that Muslims should be able to determine UK law according to Shariah and the Qu’ran. Panellists backed the proposition that ‘God's law’ should always be ‘superior’ to ‘man-made law’. [Daily Mail] Read more