The ‘Useful Idiots’ of Militant Islam
Self-delusion reaches new heights when clueless Westerners defend Sharia, the "moderate" Muslim Brotherhood, and "mild" Islamism.
by Youssef M. Ibrahim
Somewhere during Lawrence of Arabia’s blockbuster career, his bosses wondered if he was becoming “more Arab” in the desert to which they sent him to lead a revolt against the Ottoman Empire. In an endearing cue to imperial haughtiness, Field Marshal Lord Allenby asks if his man had “gone native.”
Indeed the spymaster and legendary British officer became quickly enmeshed in the tangled web he weaved back at the turn of the last century.
Likewise, when communism dawned in the 1920s, Vladimir Lenin ordered a strategy of nurturing “useful idiots” — by which he meant a contingent of communist Lawrences in the West. It worked, spawning hundreds of thousands of enamored scholars, intellectuals, experts, and dreamy romantics waving the red flags of Bolsheviks over the 70 years of the Cold War.
Today’s Islamist Lawrences are being cultivated among a broad swath of political analysts, scholars, anthropologists, pundits, missionaries, and even spies dissecting militant Islam and Islamofascism. While most carry out illuminating and necessary work, the fish they bait ends up ensnaring many.
A few recent catches: the archbishop of Canterbury urging the introduction of Sharia law in Britain; Harvard University, a bastion of secular scholarship, shutting its gym to men to accommodate Muslim women; authorities at Minneapolis’s international airport negotiating for months with 700 Somali Muslim taxi drivers who refused to pick up passengers carrying liquor or depending on guide dogs.
Then there was President George Bush launching his Muslim initiative last June from the Islamic Center of Washington, a Saudi institution distributing educational material instructing Muslims to segregate themselves from other Americans.
Among other things, the Saudi-funded publications admonish Muslims in America “to dissociate from infidels, hate them for their religion, never to rely on them for support, and always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law.” The question: how was it that among the estimated five million Muslim Americans with hugely varied institutions, the president’s advisors picked a Saudi Islamofascist ghetto as a venue?
This cluelessness is spreading into the academy and the arts too.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) The ‘Useful Idiots’ of Militant Islam
Showing posts with label islamo-leftist alliance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label islamo-leftist alliance. Show all posts
Friday, April 18, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
DAR AL HARB-U.S.A.: WILLFUL BLINDNESS
Wartime Malpractice
Criminal frontline.
...
Lopez: Who most damningly has been Willfully Blind?
McCarthy: Well, it’d be easy to say, “Why, the government, of course.” But government is heavily influenced by the media and the commentariat, and those elites will not abide the notion that there just might be a connection between Islam and Islamic terrorism. I think most people are more sensible than that. The more extensive government gets, though, and the more dependent on it we all become, the less will the public has to demand a governmental course correction. Absent some hair-raising event like 9/11, we go along.
...
Lopez: What’s the most devastating lesson from 15 years ago we still haven’t learned?
McCarthy: That the primary cause of Islamic terrorism is Muslim doctrine, and that we are not fighting a tiny, rag-tag collection of fringe lunatics who have somehow “hijacked” the “true Islam.”
Mark Steyn reminds us of Toynbee’s observation that civilizations die from suicide rather than murder, and our mulish refusal to look at what we’re up against is case in point. It’s really a frightful commentary on the low regard we have for ourselves: that we don’t think we are capable of soberly assessing the Islamic challenge without smearing all Muslims as terrorists — as if, in the scheme of things, it’s more important to shield the tender sensibilities of Muslims than fulfill our duty to protect American lives.
The stubborn fact is: Islamic doctrine is supremacist, chauvinist, and rife with calls to violence against non-Muslims. That doesn’t mean that these are the only elements of Islam. Nor does it mean that all Muslims, or even most, have any interest in acting on those elements. But moderate Muslims, no matter how great a majority of the faithful they may be, do not make Islam moderate. Islam is the font from which springs what we call fundamentalist Islam, radical Islam, militant Islam, political Islam, Islamo-fascism, or whatever we are calling it this week to avoid any hint that Islam has anything to do with the problem.
There are many different interpretations of Islam, of course. The one that truly threatens us — let’s call it fundamentalist Islam, since I think that’s closest to accurate — is not a fringe ideology. It is a comprehensive social system, with political, legal, and theological prescriptions. It is 14 centuries old; has in its history won the fealty of rich and poor, educated and illiterate, etc.; cuts across divides like Sunni-versus-Shiite; and today boasts hundreds of millions of adherents — not a majority of the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims, but an influential, dynamic minority.
...
In any event, the forcible tendencies of fundamentalist Islam may be exacerbated or rationalized by poverty, resentment, lack of democracy, etc. But they are not caused by such pretexts. The violence is commanded by scripture.
...
Note here that when Islamic terrorists and their apologists talk about Islam being under siege, this has to be understood in the context of their hegemonic goals. Any regime that is not governing in accordance with sharia, or Islamic law, is implicitly attacking Islam since Allah commands that all the world be called to Islam and the establishment of sharia is deemed a necessary precondition to that divine injunction.
...
Lopez: How is Islam like fire?
McCarthy: Fire is a useful but very dangerous thing. For those who are careful with it and rigorously harness its explosive potential, it can be very beneficial. That’s why most Muslims lead productive, dignified, honorable lives. But Islam always has that explosive potential, many of its most influential figures, like Sheikh Abdel Rahman, believe that potential is meant to be unleashed to vanquish non-Muslims. There are far too many Muslims who internalize that message.
Lopez: “Militant Islam may actually pose an existential threat to the United States…” you write. What must be done?
McCarthy: The first step is to recognize the threat and its source. If, as I contend, the doctrine is the source, then security policy has to direct itself to the doctrine. We can’t change the doctrine ourselves. But we can protect ourselves, and increase the pressure for reform, by refusing to tolerate terrorist safe-havens; punishing regimes that facilitate jihadist organizations, particularly by giving them safe-haven; imposing restrictions on business with and immigration from Islamic countries unless they reform; punishing regimes that promote the exportation of Wahhabist and Salafist interpretations of Islam; dealing only with authentic Muslim reformers while shunning groups like CAIR; and making clear that, until Islam actually reforms — until Muslims and Islamic regimes systematically reject and crack down on jihadism in a convincing way — we are not going to pretend that a person’s adherence to Islam is irrelevant to whether we should regard him with suspicion. That doesn’t mean we investigate people solely because of their religion. Yet, as long as we are under siege from Islamic terror groups, we can’t take the position that it is irrelevant whether a person who is here, or wants to come here, is an Islamic fundamentalist who believes sharia should be installed and jihad is the legitimate means toward that end.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Wartime Malpractice
Criminal frontline.
...
Lopez: Who most damningly has been Willfully Blind?
McCarthy: Well, it’d be easy to say, “Why, the government, of course.” But government is heavily influenced by the media and the commentariat, and those elites will not abide the notion that there just might be a connection between Islam and Islamic terrorism. I think most people are more sensible than that. The more extensive government gets, though, and the more dependent on it we all become, the less will the public has to demand a governmental course correction. Absent some hair-raising event like 9/11, we go along.
...
Lopez: What’s the most devastating lesson from 15 years ago we still haven’t learned?
McCarthy: That the primary cause of Islamic terrorism is Muslim doctrine, and that we are not fighting a tiny, rag-tag collection of fringe lunatics who have somehow “hijacked” the “true Islam.”
Mark Steyn reminds us of Toynbee’s observation that civilizations die from suicide rather than murder, and our mulish refusal to look at what we’re up against is case in point. It’s really a frightful commentary on the low regard we have for ourselves: that we don’t think we are capable of soberly assessing the Islamic challenge without smearing all Muslims as terrorists — as if, in the scheme of things, it’s more important to shield the tender sensibilities of Muslims than fulfill our duty to protect American lives.
The stubborn fact is: Islamic doctrine is supremacist, chauvinist, and rife with calls to violence against non-Muslims. That doesn’t mean that these are the only elements of Islam. Nor does it mean that all Muslims, or even most, have any interest in acting on those elements. But moderate Muslims, no matter how great a majority of the faithful they may be, do not make Islam moderate. Islam is the font from which springs what we call fundamentalist Islam, radical Islam, militant Islam, political Islam, Islamo-fascism, or whatever we are calling it this week to avoid any hint that Islam has anything to do with the problem.
There are many different interpretations of Islam, of course. The one that truly threatens us — let’s call it fundamentalist Islam, since I think that’s closest to accurate — is not a fringe ideology. It is a comprehensive social system, with political, legal, and theological prescriptions. It is 14 centuries old; has in its history won the fealty of rich and poor, educated and illiterate, etc.; cuts across divides like Sunni-versus-Shiite; and today boasts hundreds of millions of adherents — not a majority of the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims, but an influential, dynamic minority.
...
In any event, the forcible tendencies of fundamentalist Islam may be exacerbated or rationalized by poverty, resentment, lack of democracy, etc. But they are not caused by such pretexts. The violence is commanded by scripture.
...
Note here that when Islamic terrorists and their apologists talk about Islam being under siege, this has to be understood in the context of their hegemonic goals. Any regime that is not governing in accordance with sharia, or Islamic law, is implicitly attacking Islam since Allah commands that all the world be called to Islam and the establishment of sharia is deemed a necessary precondition to that divine injunction.
...
Lopez: How is Islam like fire?
McCarthy: Fire is a useful but very dangerous thing. For those who are careful with it and rigorously harness its explosive potential, it can be very beneficial. That’s why most Muslims lead productive, dignified, honorable lives. But Islam always has that explosive potential, many of its most influential figures, like Sheikh Abdel Rahman, believe that potential is meant to be unleashed to vanquish non-Muslims. There are far too many Muslims who internalize that message.
Lopez: “Militant Islam may actually pose an existential threat to the United States…” you write. What must be done?
McCarthy: The first step is to recognize the threat and its source. If, as I contend, the doctrine is the source, then security policy has to direct itself to the doctrine. We can’t change the doctrine ourselves. But we can protect ourselves, and increase the pressure for reform, by refusing to tolerate terrorist safe-havens; punishing regimes that facilitate jihadist organizations, particularly by giving them safe-haven; imposing restrictions on business with and immigration from Islamic countries unless they reform; punishing regimes that promote the exportation of Wahhabist and Salafist interpretations of Islam; dealing only with authentic Muslim reformers while shunning groups like CAIR; and making clear that, until Islam actually reforms — until Muslims and Islamic regimes systematically reject and crack down on jihadism in a convincing way — we are not going to pretend that a person’s adherence to Islam is irrelevant to whether we should regard him with suspicion. That doesn’t mean we investigate people solely because of their religion. Yet, as long as we are under siege from Islamic terror groups, we can’t take the position that it is irrelevant whether a person who is here, or wants to come here, is an Islamic fundamentalist who believes sharia should be installed and jihad is the legitimate means toward that end.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Wartime Malpractice
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM: ECONOMIC JIHAD GAINS STEAM
Islamic insurance set for strong growth
Written by Adrie van der Luijt
Takaful growth has outpaced that in conventional insurance in most countries of the Middle East.
Takaful is an Islamic insurance concept which is grounded in Islamic muamalat (banking transactions), observing the rules and regulations of Islamic law.
Gulf cooperative countries (GCC) represented over 50 per cent of the value of global Takaful contributions of $2 billion in 2006.
Ernst & Young’s inaugural World Takaful Report 2008, launched at the Annual World Takaful Conference 2008, shows that 59 of the 133 Takaful operators worldwide are within the GCC countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The report also forecasts that accepted contributions globally would rise to more than $4.3 billion in 2010 and that the 20 per cent annual growth rate of the industry would be maintained for the foreseeable future.
General Takaful, which includes Property & Miscellaneous Accident Takaful, currently accounts for approximately 50 per cent of written business globally and in the region.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Islamic insurance set for strong growth
Written by Adrie van der Luijt
Takaful growth has outpaced that in conventional insurance in most countries of the Middle East.
Takaful is an Islamic insurance concept which is grounded in Islamic muamalat (banking transactions), observing the rules and regulations of Islamic law.
Gulf cooperative countries (GCC) represented over 50 per cent of the value of global Takaful contributions of $2 billion in 2006.
Ernst & Young’s inaugural World Takaful Report 2008, launched at the Annual World Takaful Conference 2008, shows that 59 of the 133 Takaful operators worldwide are within the GCC countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The report also forecasts that accepted contributions globally would rise to more than $4.3 billion in 2010 and that the 20 per cent annual growth rate of the industry would be maintained for the foreseeable future.
General Takaful, which includes Property & Miscellaneous Accident Takaful, currently accounts for approximately 50 per cent of written business globally and in the region.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Islamic insurance set for strong growth
Thursday, April 10, 2008
DAR AL HARB-U.S.A.-ILLINOIS: DE PAUL TEACHES COURSE ON SHARI'AH COMPLIANT MARKET FINANCE
DePaul buys into growth of Islamic banking
Classes are teaching financing methods that conform to holy laws as field expands into a global industry
By Deborah Horan
Amir Davoodi had read about the meteoric rise of Islamic banking, but the senior finance major at DePaul University didn't realize how intrigued he would become with the idea of mixing Islam and market finance until he took a course on the subject last fall.
Now Davoodi has accepted an internship with a local Islamic real estate company, Sunrise Equities, and might pursue the banking niche after graduation.
"Right now it's booming," Davoodi said. "They're saying there's a market out there for it. I know I can learn a lot and it will help with my career."
Driven by rising oil prices and an increasing desire by Middle Eastern and Asian investors to keep their cash in the region, Islamic finance has boomed into a $500 billion to $600 billion global industry, experts in the field said.
The growth prompted DePaul last fall to join a tiny vanguard of U.S. colleges offering classes or lectures on the subject. On Thursday, the university will sponsor a conference on Islamic banking methods including home financing, private equity, bonds, even derivatives and hedge funds.
"There is a significant demand clicking up for people who understand the field and can design products that are Islamic and can answer the needs of the community," said Ali Fatemi, chair of DePaul's finance department, who was instrumental in bringing the Islamic banking course to campus.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) DePaul buys into growth of Islamic banking
Classes are teaching financing methods that conform to holy laws as field expands into a global industry
By Deborah Horan
Amir Davoodi had read about the meteoric rise of Islamic banking, but the senior finance major at DePaul University didn't realize how intrigued he would become with the idea of mixing Islam and market finance until he took a course on the subject last fall.
Now Davoodi has accepted an internship with a local Islamic real estate company, Sunrise Equities, and might pursue the banking niche after graduation.
"Right now it's booming," Davoodi said. "They're saying there's a market out there for it. I know I can learn a lot and it will help with my career."
Driven by rising oil prices and an increasing desire by Middle Eastern and Asian investors to keep their cash in the region, Islamic finance has boomed into a $500 billion to $600 billion global industry, experts in the field said.
The growth prompted DePaul last fall to join a tiny vanguard of U.S. colleges offering classes or lectures on the subject. On Thursday, the university will sponsor a conference on Islamic banking methods including home financing, private equity, bonds, even derivatives and hedge funds.
"There is a significant demand clicking up for people who understand the field and can design products that are Islamic and can answer the needs of the community," said Ali Fatemi, chair of DePaul's finance department, who was instrumental in bringing the Islamic banking course to campus.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) DePaul buys into growth of Islamic banking
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
DAR AL HARB-DENMARK: HEADSCARVES FOR MOSLEM DANISH MP'S
Green light for headscarves in parliament
In a victory for Muslims in Denmark, the parliament's board of governors has ruled women MPs may wear the traditional Islamic headscarf inside the building.
But the board said the MPs must be recognisable, ruling out the wearing in parliament of the burka - which covers a women's body from head to toe, including her face.
The board's decision was greeted with satisfaction by the leftist Red-Green Alliance party's parliamentary candidate, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, a Danish immigrant born in the United Arab Emirates to Palestinian parents.
"It's the decision I expected. Anything else would have been a blow against democracy and in conflict with the constitution,' she said.
The board's ruling on Tuesday came as a blow to the far-right Danish People's Party. The party waged a drawn-out battle against the headscarf and had sought to ban it in parliament.
Danish People's Party board member Soeren Espersen was the only one who voted against allowing the headscarf in parliament.
'I'm saddened by the decision. It's a blow to the oppression the headscarf symbolises,' said Espersen, cited by the Copenhagen Post.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Green light for headscarves in parliament
In a victory for Muslims in Denmark, the parliament's board of governors has ruled women MPs may wear the traditional Islamic headscarf inside the building.
But the board said the MPs must be recognisable, ruling out the wearing in parliament of the burka - which covers a women's body from head to toe, including her face.
The board's decision was greeted with satisfaction by the leftist Red-Green Alliance party's parliamentary candidate, Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, a Danish immigrant born in the United Arab Emirates to Palestinian parents.
"It's the decision I expected. Anything else would have been a blow against democracy and in conflict with the constitution,' she said.
The board's ruling on Tuesday came as a blow to the far-right Danish People's Party. The party waged a drawn-out battle against the headscarf and had sought to ban it in parliament.
Danish People's Party board member Soeren Espersen was the only one who voted against allowing the headscarf in parliament.
'I'm saddened by the decision. It's a blow to the oppression the headscarf symbolises,' said Espersen, cited by the Copenhagen Post.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Green light for headscarves in parliament
DAR AL HARB-U.S.A.-COLORADO: DA'WA, TAQIYYA & KITMAN AT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
BEFORE YOU READ THE ARTICLE FROM C.S.U., HERE IS AN F.Y.I.:
M.S.A. = MUSLIM STUDENTS ASSOCIATION = FRONT GROUP OF MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD (ALONG WITH C.A.I.R.)
The Muslim Students Association and the Jihad Network
By FrontPage Magazine
The following essay, adapted from the Introduction to this booklet, shows how, as early as the 1980s, operatives from the Muslim Brotherhood, parent group for al Qaeda and Hamas, formulated a blueprint for a "jihadist process" that would ultimately sabotage the "miserable house" of the United States. These Muslim Brotherhood operatives saw that the work of undermining the U.S. could be best accomplished by the use of front groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Students Association. But while CAIR was designed to work in the legal-cultural realm, posturing as another of the minority rights groups functioning in the public square, the MSA's role was to be restricted to college campuses, where it would advance the cause of radical Islam and lead the effort to stigmatize Israel.
Over the next several days, Front Page will publish profiles of individual chapters of the MSA on a variety of campuses around the country, showing how specifically they achieve the broad goals of the organization.
– The Editors...
Read the whole thing...
MSA dispels Islamic stereotypes
by Kayla Huddleston
The Muslim Student Association set up an information table in the Lory Student Center Tuesday to give students a forum to ask questions about the female Islamic experience, which MSA leaders say is largely misrepresented in the media.
...
the public doesn't understand Islamic women and "don't go deeper into the circumstances of where she is living or the culture she's living in," Mateen said. "The truth is women are encouraged to earn and own their own property."
The MSA conducted surveys to learn about stereotypes and beliefs the CSU community has on the war and the Muslim faith.
"[We want] to learn what people think about our religion, what they are confused or fearful about are the stereotypes and common misconceptions people harbor," said Zaki Safar, the president of MSA. "[We want] to use it to dispel any stereotypes and combat misconceptions."
...
Final efforts this semester include a free showing of the animated movie "Muhammad," which will take place in the LSC Theater on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
The film is being shown in response to the Dutch movie "Fitna", a film portraying Islam in a negative light when it was shown in Holland theatres.
"It goes to paint a false picture of the Islamic faith," Safar said. "The movie is supposed to cover the correct image about Prophet Muhammad."
Through the booths and the film, Safar and the MSA hope to encourage diversity at CSU and in the Fort Collins community.
"We have been trying to demolish barriers people create between themselves and what they lack knowledge about," Safar said.
The movie FITNA was NOT SHOWN IN THEATRRS because DHIMMIS AROUND THE WORLD, WERE TO SCARED THEY MAY BE BEHEADED...
Pertinent Links:
1) MSA dispels Islamic stereotypes
2) The Muslim Students Association & The Jihad Network
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
DAR AL HARB-U.S.A.: CARNEGIE CORPORATION DOES ITS PART, LIKE A GOOD DHIMMI, TO ISLAMIZE THE UNITED STATES
Carnegie Corporation Contributes to Deeper Understanding of Islam, Muslim Societies; $10 Million Initial Investment Part of Comprehensive Strategy to Enrich Public Dialogue
Carnegie Corporation of New York today announced an initial $10 million investment to enrich the quality of America's public dialogue on Islam and Muslim societies. Many of the foundation's long-term programmatic priorities - from international security and immigrant integration to journalism and support for individual scholars - have integrated a focus on Islam into their grantmaking. The Corporation's comprehensive strategy focuses on increasing public knowledge about the diversity of thought, cultures and history of Islam and Muslim communities, including those in the U.S.
Grants and allocations announced today, as well as investments made over the past six months, constitute the largest commitment by a U.S. foundation toward the development of a more complex understanding among Americans about Muslim communities here and throughout the world - revealing Islam's rich diversity.
"There is a disconnection between many of our public conversations about Islam and our knowledge of it," said Carnegie Corporation President Vartan Gregorian. "Carnegie Corporation has worked to help remedy this disconnect by contributing to a more fundamental comprehension about a religion of diverse expressions and cultures with 1.3 billion practitioners worldwide. We hope that our work will better equip Americans to make informed decisions about, and engage with, various Muslim communities in our midst as well as those abroad."
Gregorian continued, "Our Islam-related grantmaking is, in part, a response to an increased demand since September 11, 2001 by cultural institutions, thinks tanks, elected officials, policymakers and journalists for more and better information about Islam as a religion, about Islamic civilizations, and about Muslim states and societies."
Gregorian added that Carnegie Corporation's thoroughly integrated program structure - which prioritizes the sharing of knowledge and experiences across disciplines - has helped to maximize the impact of the Islam work.
"Understanding both Islam as a world religion and Islamic civilizations is one facet of the Corporation's integrated grantmaking, but so is gaining greater understanding of the role of Muslim communities in America's national life: today, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are approximately 2.5 million Muslims living in the United Sates, and those numbers are on the rise. Muslims comprise new streams in the multiplicity of ethnic, racial, linguistic and religious groups that for more than two centuries have come to the United States and contributed to the rich cultural and social tapestry that is our nation. And like others before them, they too must be integrated into our society and engage positively with our democracy and our democratic institutions."
Carnegie Corporation will support innovative, publicly accessible research by individual scholars; assist media to address the entire spectrum of Islamic religious and political thought; and outreach efforts by universities to connect their research to the broader public. The Corporation is also supporting efforts to inform specific audiences, including members of Congress, about the complex, diverse and rapidly changing landscape of contemporary Islam.
...
And the breadth & scope of the islamization initiative can be seen within the following list of grants (ed. A.I.):
Specific grants awarded today to expand the American public's understanding of Islam and Muslim societies originate from many of the Corporation's program areas and include:
- The Carnegie Scholars program is supporting 20 scholars, analysts and writers to pursue original projects oriented toward catalyzing intellectual discourse as well as guiding more focused and pragmatic policy discussions on Islam and Muslim societies. The 2008 awardees are the fourth consecutive annual class to focus on Islam, bringing to 91 the number of Carnegie Scholars devoted to the topic since the program began in 2000. The Corporation has also allocated funds for a fifth class in 2009. ($4,000,000)
- The Educational Broadcasting Corporation will produce, promote and distribute a series of 12 one-hour episodes with the working title of "Charlie Rose: Conversations in Islam," presenting an array of viewpoints on contemporary Islam from political and religious leaders, scholars and cultural figures. ($1,000,000)
- The Aspen Institute will produce a series of seminars on contemporary Islam for members of the United States Congress. ($800,000)
- The America University in Cairo will convene an intensive training program for students from journalism schools supported by the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education focusing on the history and societies of the Middle East. ($199,800)
- TheNewshour on PBS will expand the activities of the program's Overseas Reporting Unit to address the complexity and diversity of Islam in the context of global peace and security. ($500,000)
- National Public Radio will report on the state of Islam in the U.S. and internationally, including profiles of prominent Muslim leaders and experts on Islam. ($400,000)
- The International Center for Journalists will link American journalists with journalists from the Muslim world to improve coverage of the diversity of Muslim-majority states. ($228,200)
- The University of Southern California will help strengthen emerging leaders in the Muslim American community with the goal of increasing civic and political engagement. ($50,000)
- American University of Beirut will convene a series of seminars in the Middle East addressing contemporary political Islam and intended for journalists from small-to-medium-sized U.S. media markets ($50,000)
- The Religion News Writers Association will create online resources to help facilitate accurate and insightful reporting on Islam and a training seminar for journalists. ($50,000)
- InterNews will produce a series of radio programs for broadcast in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region aimed at raising the voices of ordinary citizens against violence and conflict. ($50,000)
- Johns Hopkins University will provide training to U.S. news editors on issues facing Turkey, including the role of political Islam. ($50,000)
- The Glocal Forum will bring best practices in interfaith dialogue and mediation to its international network of cities ($50,000)
- The Washington National Cathedral is convening an international meeting of religious leaders to facilitate dialogue and reconciliation. ($50,000)
- The Institute for Advanced Study will convene top scholars on the topic of Islamic texts and thinkers that played a role in the European Enlightenment. ($50,000)
- The American Society for Muslim Advancement will increase its communication and media outreach capacity, including the provision of training to diverse, emerging voices and leaders in the many Muslim communities across the U.S. ($300,000)
- The ADC Research Institute will disseminate information on civil rights and civil liberties violations affecting Arab and Muslim Americans post-September 11, 2001. ($50,000)
Over the past six months Carnegie Corporation made an initial set of investments leading to today's grants:
- The Social Science Research Council is supporting outreach to connect the wealth of university-based knowledge on the history and culture of Islam to students, media, the business community and the broader public. ($2,000,000)
- Harvard University is creating an interactive, web-based tool to access a spectrum of scholarly and religious debates and viewpoints in contemporary Islamic thought. ($200,000)
- The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has examined and disseminated a report on the civic integration of American Muslims. ($150,000)
- Women's eNews is producing a series of news stories examining American Muslim women challenging the stereotypes associated with them and Islam in general. ($48,000)
- The Women's Foreign Policy Group in conjunction with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars will convene a conference for policymakers and diplomats in which Carnegie Scholars and other experts will engage in a dialogue on Islam in a cultural, historic, and political context. ($45,000)
- The Interfaith Youth Core is promoting religious tolerance on college campuses. ($50,000)
- The Aspen Institute is educating the public about Muslim American philanthropy. ($50,000)
- The Aspen Institute held a seminar of specialists on the radicalization process ($50,000)
- The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is producing a seminar series on Islam. ($25,000)
- New York University is producing a series of public conferences on Western and Islamic theories of law. ($49,100)
- The Consensus Building Institute is building dialogue among Americans on the subject of constructive interaction with Muslim states. ($50,000)
- The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is sharing best practices in government-Muslim community relationships among the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. ($49,000)
Pertinent Links:
1) Carnegie Corporation Contributes to Deeper Understanding of Islam, Muslim Societies; $10 Million Initial Investment Part of Comprehensive Strategy to Enrich Public Dialogue
Carnegie Corporation of New York today announced an initial $10 million investment to enrich the quality of America's public dialogue on Islam and Muslim societies. Many of the foundation's long-term programmatic priorities - from international security and immigrant integration to journalism and support for individual scholars - have integrated a focus on Islam into their grantmaking. The Corporation's comprehensive strategy focuses on increasing public knowledge about the diversity of thought, cultures and history of Islam and Muslim communities, including those in the U.S.
Grants and allocations announced today, as well as investments made over the past six months, constitute the largest commitment by a U.S. foundation toward the development of a more complex understanding among Americans about Muslim communities here and throughout the world - revealing Islam's rich diversity.
"There is a disconnection between many of our public conversations about Islam and our knowledge of it," said Carnegie Corporation President Vartan Gregorian. "Carnegie Corporation has worked to help remedy this disconnect by contributing to a more fundamental comprehension about a religion of diverse expressions and cultures with 1.3 billion practitioners worldwide. We hope that our work will better equip Americans to make informed decisions about, and engage with, various Muslim communities in our midst as well as those abroad."
Gregorian continued, "Our Islam-related grantmaking is, in part, a response to an increased demand since September 11, 2001 by cultural institutions, thinks tanks, elected officials, policymakers and journalists for more and better information about Islam as a religion, about Islamic civilizations, and about Muslim states and societies."
Gregorian added that Carnegie Corporation's thoroughly integrated program structure - which prioritizes the sharing of knowledge and experiences across disciplines - has helped to maximize the impact of the Islam work.
"Understanding both Islam as a world religion and Islamic civilizations is one facet of the Corporation's integrated grantmaking, but so is gaining greater understanding of the role of Muslim communities in America's national life: today, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are approximately 2.5 million Muslims living in the United Sates, and those numbers are on the rise. Muslims comprise new streams in the multiplicity of ethnic, racial, linguistic and religious groups that for more than two centuries have come to the United States and contributed to the rich cultural and social tapestry that is our nation. And like others before them, they too must be integrated into our society and engage positively with our democracy and our democratic institutions."
Carnegie Corporation will support innovative, publicly accessible research by individual scholars; assist media to address the entire spectrum of Islamic religious and political thought; and outreach efforts by universities to connect their research to the broader public. The Corporation is also supporting efforts to inform specific audiences, including members of Congress, about the complex, diverse and rapidly changing landscape of contemporary Islam.
...
And the breadth & scope of the islamization initiative can be seen within the following list of grants (ed. A.I.):
Specific grants awarded today to expand the American public's understanding of Islam and Muslim societies originate from many of the Corporation's program areas and include:
- The Carnegie Scholars program is supporting 20 scholars, analysts and writers to pursue original projects oriented toward catalyzing intellectual discourse as well as guiding more focused and pragmatic policy discussions on Islam and Muslim societies. The 2008 awardees are the fourth consecutive annual class to focus on Islam, bringing to 91 the number of Carnegie Scholars devoted to the topic since the program began in 2000. The Corporation has also allocated funds for a fifth class in 2009. ($4,000,000)
- The Educational Broadcasting Corporation will produce, promote and distribute a series of 12 one-hour episodes with the working title of "Charlie Rose: Conversations in Islam," presenting an array of viewpoints on contemporary Islam from political and religious leaders, scholars and cultural figures. ($1,000,000)
- The Aspen Institute will produce a series of seminars on contemporary Islam for members of the United States Congress. ($800,000)
- The America University in Cairo will convene an intensive training program for students from journalism schools supported by the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education focusing on the history and societies of the Middle East. ($199,800)
- TheNewshour on PBS will expand the activities of the program's Overseas Reporting Unit to address the complexity and diversity of Islam in the context of global peace and security. ($500,000)
- National Public Radio will report on the state of Islam in the U.S. and internationally, including profiles of prominent Muslim leaders and experts on Islam. ($400,000)
- The International Center for Journalists will link American journalists with journalists from the Muslim world to improve coverage of the diversity of Muslim-majority states. ($228,200)
- The University of Southern California will help strengthen emerging leaders in the Muslim American community with the goal of increasing civic and political engagement. ($50,000)
- American University of Beirut will convene a series of seminars in the Middle East addressing contemporary political Islam and intended for journalists from small-to-medium-sized U.S. media markets ($50,000)
- The Religion News Writers Association will create online resources to help facilitate accurate and insightful reporting on Islam and a training seminar for journalists. ($50,000)
- InterNews will produce a series of radio programs for broadcast in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region aimed at raising the voices of ordinary citizens against violence and conflict. ($50,000)
- Johns Hopkins University will provide training to U.S. news editors on issues facing Turkey, including the role of political Islam. ($50,000)
- The Glocal Forum will bring best practices in interfaith dialogue and mediation to its international network of cities ($50,000)
- The Washington National Cathedral is convening an international meeting of religious leaders to facilitate dialogue and reconciliation. ($50,000)
- The Institute for Advanced Study will convene top scholars on the topic of Islamic texts and thinkers that played a role in the European Enlightenment. ($50,000)
- The American Society for Muslim Advancement will increase its communication and media outreach capacity, including the provision of training to diverse, emerging voices and leaders in the many Muslim communities across the U.S. ($300,000)
- The ADC Research Institute will disseminate information on civil rights and civil liberties violations affecting Arab and Muslim Americans post-September 11, 2001. ($50,000)
Over the past six months Carnegie Corporation made an initial set of investments leading to today's grants:
- The Social Science Research Council is supporting outreach to connect the wealth of university-based knowledge on the history and culture of Islam to students, media, the business community and the broader public. ($2,000,000)
- Harvard University is creating an interactive, web-based tool to access a spectrum of scholarly and religious debates and viewpoints in contemporary Islamic thought. ($200,000)
- The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has examined and disseminated a report on the civic integration of American Muslims. ($150,000)
- Women's eNews is producing a series of news stories examining American Muslim women challenging the stereotypes associated with them and Islam in general. ($48,000)
- The Women's Foreign Policy Group in conjunction with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars will convene a conference for policymakers and diplomats in which Carnegie Scholars and other experts will engage in a dialogue on Islam in a cultural, historic, and political context. ($45,000)
- The Interfaith Youth Core is promoting religious tolerance on college campuses. ($50,000)
- The Aspen Institute is educating the public about Muslim American philanthropy. ($50,000)
- The Aspen Institute held a seminar of specialists on the radicalization process ($50,000)
- The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is producing a seminar series on Islam. ($25,000)
- New York University is producing a series of public conferences on Western and Islamic theories of law. ($49,100)
- The Consensus Building Institute is building dialogue among Americans on the subject of constructive interaction with Muslim states. ($50,000)
- The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is sharing best practices in government-Muslim community relationships among the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. ($49,000)
Pertinent Links:
1) Carnegie Corporation Contributes to Deeper Understanding of Islam, Muslim Societies; $10 Million Initial Investment Part of Comprehensive Strategy to Enrich Public Dialogue
DAR AL HARB-U.S.A.: THE A.C.L.U. TO PROVIDE TOP LEGAL TALENT TO JIHADISTS VACATION AT GITMO
ACLU taps top legal talent to defend accused 9-11 plotters
By Carol Rosenberg
The American Civil Liberties Union, which for years has scorned Pentagon military commissions as "kangaroo courts,'' announced Friday that it will try to provide top civilian defense attorneys for alleged terrorists facing trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — including the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Former Attorney General Janet Reno is among top lawyers who've endorsed the $8.5 million effort, which will help coordinate and defray the expenses of civilian defense attorneys working on the terrorism cases. Under the military commissions scheme, the Pentagon won't reimburse volunteer civilian attorneys for their expenses.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said a major thrust of the effort will be to defend Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who military officials say has confessed to masterminding the 9-11 attacks and several other terrorist acts, including the beheading in Pakistan of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl.
The ACLU chose to focus on Mohammed's defense, Romero said, because he appears to be "the government's top priority in the prosecution. And whether or not they are able to convict Khalid Sheik Mohammed under these rules may well determine the fate of the almost 300 other men who are detained at Guantanamo.''
Mohammed was held in secret CIA custody until September 2006, and the CIA has admitted subjecting him to waterboarding while he was being questioned. Waterboarding is simulated drowning and is considered torture by many rights advocates.
Mohammed's case "is likely to raise the most significant issues of torture, hearsay evidence and access to counsel,'' Romero said.
At the Pentagon, a war court spokesman said the Office of Military Commissions hadn't received details about the ACLU program.
...
Where is the A.C.L.U. getting the $$$$ to pay for this defense?!?!?!?!?
Pertinent Links:
1) ACLU taps top legal talent to defend accused 9-11 plotters
By Carol Rosenberg
The American Civil Liberties Union, which for years has scorned Pentagon military commissions as "kangaroo courts,'' announced Friday that it will try to provide top civilian defense attorneys for alleged terrorists facing trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — including the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Former Attorney General Janet Reno is among top lawyers who've endorsed the $8.5 million effort, which will help coordinate and defray the expenses of civilian defense attorneys working on the terrorism cases. Under the military commissions scheme, the Pentagon won't reimburse volunteer civilian attorneys for their expenses.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said a major thrust of the effort will be to defend Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who military officials say has confessed to masterminding the 9-11 attacks and several other terrorist acts, including the beheading in Pakistan of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl.
The ACLU chose to focus on Mohammed's defense, Romero said, because he appears to be "the government's top priority in the prosecution. And whether or not they are able to convict Khalid Sheik Mohammed under these rules may well determine the fate of the almost 300 other men who are detained at Guantanamo.''
Mohammed was held in secret CIA custody until September 2006, and the CIA has admitted subjecting him to waterboarding while he was being questioned. Waterboarding is simulated drowning and is considered torture by many rights advocates.
Mohammed's case "is likely to raise the most significant issues of torture, hearsay evidence and access to counsel,'' Romero said.
At the Pentagon, a war court spokesman said the Office of Military Commissions hadn't received details about the ACLU program.
...
Where is the A.C.L.U. getting the $$$$ to pay for this defense?!?!?!?!?
Pertinent Links:
1) ACLU taps top legal talent to defend accused 9-11 plotters
Friday, April 04, 2008
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM: ISLAM, CHINA, RUSSIA, CUBA, ETC. SUCCEED IN KILLING "THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS"
Vote on freedom of expression marks the end of Universal Human Rights
For the past eleven years the organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), representing the 57 Islamic States, has been tightening its grip on the throat of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yesterday, 28 March 2008, they finally killed it.
With the support of their allies including China, Russia and Cuba (none well-known for their defence of human rights) the Islamic States succeeded in forcing through an amendment to a resolution on Freedom of Expression that has turned the entire concept on its head. The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression will now be required to report on the “abuse” of this most cherished freedom by anyone who, for example, dares speak out against Sharia laws that require women to be stoned to death for adultery or young men to be hanged for being gay, or against the marriage of girls as young as nine, as in Iran.
...
There has been a seismic shift in the balance of power in the UN system. For over a decade the Islamic States have been flexing their muscles. Yesterday they struck. There can no longer be any pretence that the Human Rights Council can defend human rights. The moral leadership of the UN system has moved from the States who created the UN in the aftermath of the Second World War, committed to the concepts of equality, individual freedom and the rule of law, to the Islamic States, whose allegiance is to a narrow, medieval worldview defined exclusively in terms of man’s duties towards Allah, and to their fellow-travellers, the States who see their future economic and political interests as being best served by their alliances with the Islamic States.
Yesterday’s attack by the Islamists, led by Pakistan, had the subtlety of a thin-bladed knife slipped silently under the ribs of the Human Rights Council. At first reading the amendment to the resolution to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression might seem reasonable. It requires the Special Rapporteur:
...
In other words: Don’t exercise your right to freedom of expression because your opponents may become violent. For the first time in the 60 year history of UN Human Rights bodies, a fundamental human right has been limited simply because of the possible violent reaction by the enemies of human rights.
The violence we have seen played out in reaction to the Danish cartoons is thus excused by the Council – it was the cartoonists whose freedom of expression needed to be regulated. And Theo van Gogh can be deemed responsible for his own death.
Freedom of expression is that right which – uniquely – enables us to expose, communicate and condemn abuse of all our other rights. Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press we give the green light to tyranny and make it impossible to expose corruption, incompetence, injustice and oppression.
...
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights died yesterday. Who knows when, or if, it can ever be revived.
I used to wonder what States who felt it necessary to kill people because they change their religion thought they were doing in the Human Rights Council. Now I know.
The wafer-thin sham of an international consensus on the promotion and protection of human rights has finally been exposed for what it was – a sham. The fragmentation of human rights now appears inevitable. The proposed Islamic Charter on Human Rights (read “Duties towards Allah”) will certainly go ahead, as will the creation of a parallel Islamic Council on Human Rights. But the OIC will nevertheless continue to attend and dominate the UN Human Rights Council, thereby ensuring its continuing emasculation and descent into total irrelevance.
Just five months before he and more than 20 of his colleagues were killed by a terrorist bomb in Baghdad, the then High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, wrote:
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Vote on freedom of expression marks the end of Universal Human Rights
For the past eleven years the organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), representing the 57 Islamic States, has been tightening its grip on the throat of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yesterday, 28 March 2008, they finally killed it.
With the support of their allies including China, Russia and Cuba (none well-known for their defence of human rights) the Islamic States succeeded in forcing through an amendment to a resolution on Freedom of Expression that has turned the entire concept on its head. The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression will now be required to report on the “abuse” of this most cherished freedom by anyone who, for example, dares speak out against Sharia laws that require women to be stoned to death for adultery or young men to be hanged for being gay, or against the marriage of girls as young as nine, as in Iran.
...
There has been a seismic shift in the balance of power in the UN system. For over a decade the Islamic States have been flexing their muscles. Yesterday they struck. There can no longer be any pretence that the Human Rights Council can defend human rights. The moral leadership of the UN system has moved from the States who created the UN in the aftermath of the Second World War, committed to the concepts of equality, individual freedom and the rule of law, to the Islamic States, whose allegiance is to a narrow, medieval worldview defined exclusively in terms of man’s duties towards Allah, and to their fellow-travellers, the States who see their future economic and political interests as being best served by their alliances with the Islamic States.
Yesterday’s attack by the Islamists, led by Pakistan, had the subtlety of a thin-bladed knife slipped silently under the ribs of the Human Rights Council. At first reading the amendment to the resolution to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression might seem reasonable. It requires the Special Rapporteur:
“To report on instances in which the abuse of the right of freedom of expression constitutes an act of racial or religious discrimination …”
...
“.. if we regulate certain things ‘minimally’ we may be able to prevent them from being enacted violently on the streets of our towns and cities.”
In other words: Don’t exercise your right to freedom of expression because your opponents may become violent. For the first time in the 60 year history of UN Human Rights bodies, a fundamental human right has been limited simply because of the possible violent reaction by the enemies of human rights.
The violence we have seen played out in reaction to the Danish cartoons is thus excused by the Council – it was the cartoonists whose freedom of expression needed to be regulated. And Theo van Gogh can be deemed responsible for his own death.
Freedom of expression is that right which – uniquely – enables us to expose, communicate and condemn abuse of all our other rights. Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press we give the green light to tyranny and make it impossible to expose corruption, incompetence, injustice and oppression.
...
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights died yesterday. Who knows when, or if, it can ever be revived.
I used to wonder what States who felt it necessary to kill people because they change their religion thought they were doing in the Human Rights Council. Now I know.
The wafer-thin sham of an international consensus on the promotion and protection of human rights has finally been exposed for what it was – a sham. The fragmentation of human rights now appears inevitable. The proposed Islamic Charter on Human Rights (read “Duties towards Allah”) will certainly go ahead, as will the creation of a parallel Islamic Council on Human Rights. But the OIC will nevertheless continue to attend and dominate the UN Human Rights Council, thereby ensuring its continuing emasculation and descent into total irrelevance.
Just five months before he and more than 20 of his colleagues were killed by a terrorist bomb in Baghdad, the then High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, wrote:
“Membership of the Commission on Human Rights must carry responsibilities. I therefore wonder whether the time has not come for the Commission itself to develop a code of guidelines for access to membership of the Commission and a code of conduct for members while they serve on the Commission. After all the Commission on Human Rights has a duty to humanity and the members of the
Commission must themselves set the example of adherence to the international human rights norms – in practice as well as in law…”
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Vote on freedom of expression marks the end of Universal Human Rights
DAR AL HARB-U.S.A.-WYOMING: THE A.C.L.U. SUING TO ISLAMIZE WYOMING PRISONS
Wyo. Lawsuit Alleges Prison Mealtime Violates Muslim Inmates' Freedom of Religion
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming that a Wyoming State Penitentiary policy restricting prisoners' mealtimes violates the constitutional rights of two Muslim inmates.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of Joseph Miller and Hurie Purdiman Jr., two inmates serving time at the penitentiary in Rawlins.
At issue is an alleged "20-minute rule" requiring inmates to eat their meals within 20 minutes after the food is delivered to a cell or common dining area, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit seeks for the inmates to be exempted from the rule because it forces them to choose between eating and practicing their religion.
Miller and Purdiman claim that meals have arrived at the same time of day that they're practicing prayers according to their Muslim faith. On other occasions, meals arrived during a period of religious fasting and then were confiscated before the fast ended at sunset.
"If someone has started their prayer, unless they're willing to interrupt their prayer and leave at that moment, they forgo their meal because (the guards) won't go back and open their cell doors," said Jennifer Horvath, staff attorney for Wyoming Chapter of the ACLU. "It's not unreasonable to ask for some extra time to finish their meals. They have a right to practice their religion, and the prison has been treating it as a privilege."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Wyo. Lawsuit Alleges Prison Mealtime Violates Muslim Inmates' Freedom of Religion
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming that a Wyoming State Penitentiary policy restricting prisoners' mealtimes violates the constitutional rights of two Muslim inmates.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on behalf of Joseph Miller and Hurie Purdiman Jr., two inmates serving time at the penitentiary in Rawlins.
At issue is an alleged "20-minute rule" requiring inmates to eat their meals within 20 minutes after the food is delivered to a cell or common dining area, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit seeks for the inmates to be exempted from the rule because it forces them to choose between eating and practicing their religion.
Miller and Purdiman claim that meals have arrived at the same time of day that they're practicing prayers according to their Muslim faith. On other occasions, meals arrived during a period of religious fasting and then were confiscated before the fast ended at sunset.
"If someone has started their prayer, unless they're willing to interrupt their prayer and leave at that moment, they forgo their meal because (the guards) won't go back and open their cell doors," said Jennifer Horvath, staff attorney for Wyoming Chapter of the ACLU. "It's not unreasonable to ask for some extra time to finish their meals. They have a right to practice their religion, and the prison has been treating it as a privilege."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Wyo. Lawsuit Alleges Prison Mealtime Violates Muslim Inmates' Freedom of Religion
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM: SHARI'AH COMPLIANT FINANCING
Sharia-compliant financing must stop
By DEROY MURDOCK, Scripps Howard News Service
Turn your clock back 70 years. Imagine that Wall Street banks and brokerages sold Nuremberg-compliant bonds and stock funds in 1938. American Nazi sympathizers bought financial instruments certified by Berlin-based advisors as free of "Jewish profits" from, say, Salomon Brothers and Bloomingdale's.
In turn, a percentage of such funds' gains underwrote pro-Nazi charities, like the German-American Bund, and similar organizations in the Fatherland, like the Hitler Youth.
Seventy years hence, an analogous outrage grows on Wall Street, only this time for real.
Sharia-compliant finance (SCF) is expanding among banks and securities houses eager to absorb the hundreds of billions of petrodollars cascading into the Middle East, thanks to $100-per-barrel oil. To lure this cash, financial companies increasingly offer vehicles that neither pay interest nor benefit from gambling, entertainment, alcohol, pork or anything considered "haram" or "un-kosher" in Islam. Bahrain's International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) counts $97 billion in Islamic bonds in circulation with another $66 billion forecast through 2008 -- and SCF is not limited to the bond market.
...
Turn your clock back 1,300 years. According to the Koran, sharia means that, with disobedient women, men should "admonish them, and send them to their beds and beat them" (Koran 4:34). For those having sex outside marriage: "The fornicatress and the fornicator, flog each of them with a hundred stripes" (24:2). "Cut off the hands of thieves, whether they are male or female, as punishment for what they have done" (5:38). Instead of celebrating gay sex with parades and rainbow flags, "kill the one who does it, and the one to whom it is done" ("Reliance of the Traveler" -- Abu Dawud 4447). How do you handle an adulteress? "Khalid Walid came forward with a stone which he threw at her head, and when the blood spurted on his face, he cursed her" ("Reliance" -- Muslim 4206).
Western financiers have no business complying with this.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Sharia-compliant financing must stop
By DEROY MURDOCK, Scripps Howard News Service
Turn your clock back 70 years. Imagine that Wall Street banks and brokerages sold Nuremberg-compliant bonds and stock funds in 1938. American Nazi sympathizers bought financial instruments certified by Berlin-based advisors as free of "Jewish profits" from, say, Salomon Brothers and Bloomingdale's.
In turn, a percentage of such funds' gains underwrote pro-Nazi charities, like the German-American Bund, and similar organizations in the Fatherland, like the Hitler Youth.
Seventy years hence, an analogous outrage grows on Wall Street, only this time for real.
Sharia-compliant finance (SCF) is expanding among banks and securities houses eager to absorb the hundreds of billions of petrodollars cascading into the Middle East, thanks to $100-per-barrel oil. To lure this cash, financial companies increasingly offer vehicles that neither pay interest nor benefit from gambling, entertainment, alcohol, pork or anything considered "haram" or "un-kosher" in Islam. Bahrain's International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) counts $97 billion in Islamic bonds in circulation with another $66 billion forecast through 2008 -- and SCF is not limited to the bond market.
...
Turn your clock back 1,300 years. According to the Koran, sharia means that, with disobedient women, men should "admonish them, and send them to their beds and beat them" (Koran 4:34). For those having sex outside marriage: "The fornicatress and the fornicator, flog each of them with a hundred stripes" (24:2). "Cut off the hands of thieves, whether they are male or female, as punishment for what they have done" (5:38). Instead of celebrating gay sex with parades and rainbow flags, "kill the one who does it, and the one to whom it is done" ("Reliance of the Traveler" -- Abu Dawud 4447). How do you handle an adulteress? "Khalid Walid came forward with a stone which he threw at her head, and when the blood spurted on his face, he cursed her" ("Reliance" -- Muslim 4206).
Western financiers have no business complying with this.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Sharia-compliant financing must stop
Thursday, April 03, 2008
DAR AL HARB-U.S.A.-TENNESSEE: DA'WA AT MTSU BY M.S.A. (FOUNDED BY THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
F.Y.I.:
M.S.A. = MUSLIM STUDENTS ASSOCIATION = FRONT GROUP OF MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD (ALONG WITH C.A.I.R.)
The Muslim Students Association and the Jihad Network
By FrontPage Magazine
The following essay, adapted from the Introduction to this booklet, shows how, as early as the 1980s, operatives from the Muslim Brotherhood, parent group for al Qaeda and Hamas, formulated a blueprint for a "jihadist process" that would ultimately sabotage the "miserable house" of the United States. These Muslim Brotherhood operatives saw that the work of undermining the U.S. could be best accomplished by the use of front groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Students Association. But while CAIR was designed to work in the legal-cultural realm, posturing as another of the minority rights groups functioning in the public square, the MSA's role was to be restricted to college campuses, where it would advance the cause of radical Islam and lead the effort to stigmatize Israel.
Over the next several days, Front Page will publish profiles of individual chapters of the MSA on a variety of campuses around the country, showing how specifically they achieve the broad goals of the organization. – The Editors
...
Read the whole thing...
Muslim students at MTSU to observe Islamic Awareness Week
The Muslim Students Association (MSA) at MTSU is turning part of its celebration of Islamic Awareness Week (April 7-10) into a tribute to a cherished friend whose life’s work embodied the group’s philosophy of interfaith cooperation and understanding.
...
Campus leftists, assorted dhimmis & moslem apologists are swooning with delight...
Pertinent Links:
1) The Muslim Students Association and the Jihad Network
2) Muslim students at MTSU to observe Islamic Awareness Week
M.S.A. = MUSLIM STUDENTS ASSOCIATION = FRONT GROUP OF MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD (ALONG WITH C.A.I.R.)
The Muslim Students Association and the Jihad Network
By FrontPage Magazine
The following essay, adapted from the Introduction to this booklet, shows how, as early as the 1980s, operatives from the Muslim Brotherhood, parent group for al Qaeda and Hamas, formulated a blueprint for a "jihadist process" that would ultimately sabotage the "miserable house" of the United States. These Muslim Brotherhood operatives saw that the work of undermining the U.S. could be best accomplished by the use of front groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Students Association. But while CAIR was designed to work in the legal-cultural realm, posturing as another of the minority rights groups functioning in the public square, the MSA's role was to be restricted to college campuses, where it would advance the cause of radical Islam and lead the effort to stigmatize Israel.
Over the next several days, Front Page will publish profiles of individual chapters of the MSA on a variety of campuses around the country, showing how specifically they achieve the broad goals of the organization. – The Editors
...
Read the whole thing...
Muslim students at MTSU to observe Islamic Awareness Week
The Muslim Students Association (MSA) at MTSU is turning part of its celebration of Islamic Awareness Week (April 7-10) into a tribute to a cherished friend whose life’s work embodied the group’s philosophy of interfaith cooperation and understanding.
...
Campus leftists, assorted dhimmis & moslem apologists are swooning with delight...
Pertinent Links:
1) The Muslim Students Association and the Jihad Network
2) Muslim students at MTSU to observe Islamic Awareness Week
Friday, February 29, 2008
DAR AL HARB-U.K.: "THEY [HIZ B'ALLAH] APPRECIATE EVERYTHING YOU DID & SAY - YOU ARE PARTNERS IN VICTORY ! ! ! "
Hizballah Boosted by Anti-War Westerners, Meeting Told
By Kevin McCandless
London (CNSNews.com) - Hundreds of anti-war activists attending a meeting here on Thursday night were told that their activism was appreciated by the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hizballah.
With the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq fast approaching, the British Stop the War Coalition is preparing for a massive demonstration in London on March 15.
As part of the run-up, the coalition sponsored an evening with various speakers, including Ibrahim Moussawi, the editor of Al Intiqad, a Lebanese newspaper linked to Hizballah.
In a short speech occasionally interrupted by applause and cheers, Moussawi told his audience that it was the support of the anti-war movement that kept Hizballah going during its brief war against Israel in 2006.
"They [HIZ B'ALLAH...ed. A.I.] appreciate everything you did and say you are partners in victory," he said.
Politicians from the opposition Conservative Party complained this week about Moussawi being allowed into Britain. Moussawi said it is simply part of a propaganda campaign against Hizballah.
...
"It's not that I want to see people killed, no matter what nationality they have," Moussawi said. "It's that I want justice to take place."
Moussawi, who will speak elsewhere in Britain over the next few days, was recently banned from speaking in Ireland.
Earlier in the evening, Ben Griffin, a former soldier with British special forces, accused his country's military of routinely handing over detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan to the American army.
Based on what his officers in Iraq and his fellow soldiers had told him, he said, hundreds of these detainees were later sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba or to other holding centers under the process known as extraordinary rendition.
Griffin said the British government was violating the Geneva convention and other instruments of international law.
Griffin, who first made his allegations publicly earlier this week, told Thursday night's audience that the British government was seeking a gag order against him.
Another speaker, Hassan Juma'a, head of the Iraqi Oil Workers Federation, said the war had brought nothing but death and destruction to his country.
Speaking through a translator, the union leader charged that U.S. forces were as brutally repressive as the regime of the ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
A controversial bill now stalled in the Iraqi parliament aims to open up the country's oil industry to outside investment. Juma'a said this would only lead to exploitation by the West.
Lindsey German, one of the chief organizers of the coalition, defended her group's decision to bring Moussawi to Britain, saying it supported anyone who stood against American "imperialism."
...
"They're trying to silence them because we have been incredibly effective," she said. "We have made this a major political issue and we will not go away."
Pertinent Links:
1) Hizballah Boosted by Anti-War Westerners, Meeting Told
By Kevin McCandless
London (CNSNews.com) - Hundreds of anti-war activists attending a meeting here on Thursday night were told that their activism was appreciated by the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hizballah.
With the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq fast approaching, the British Stop the War Coalition is preparing for a massive demonstration in London on March 15.
As part of the run-up, the coalition sponsored an evening with various speakers, including Ibrahim Moussawi, the editor of Al Intiqad, a Lebanese newspaper linked to Hizballah.
In a short speech occasionally interrupted by applause and cheers, Moussawi told his audience that it was the support of the anti-war movement that kept Hizballah going during its brief war against Israel in 2006.
"They [HIZ B'ALLAH...ed. A.I.] appreciate everything you did and say you are partners in victory," he said.
Politicians from the opposition Conservative Party complained this week about Moussawi being allowed into Britain. Moussawi said it is simply part of a propaganda campaign against Hizballah.
...
"It's not that I want to see people killed, no matter what nationality they have," Moussawi said. "It's that I want justice to take place."
Moussawi, who will speak elsewhere in Britain over the next few days, was recently banned from speaking in Ireland.
Earlier in the evening, Ben Griffin, a former soldier with British special forces, accused his country's military of routinely handing over detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan to the American army.
Based on what his officers in Iraq and his fellow soldiers had told him, he said, hundreds of these detainees were later sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba or to other holding centers under the process known as extraordinary rendition.
Griffin said the British government was violating the Geneva convention and other instruments of international law.
Griffin, who first made his allegations publicly earlier this week, told Thursday night's audience that the British government was seeking a gag order against him.
Another speaker, Hassan Juma'a, head of the Iraqi Oil Workers Federation, said the war had brought nothing but death and destruction to his country.
Speaking through a translator, the union leader charged that U.S. forces were as brutally repressive as the regime of the ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
A controversial bill now stalled in the Iraqi parliament aims to open up the country's oil industry to outside investment. Juma'a said this would only lead to exploitation by the West.
Lindsey German, one of the chief organizers of the coalition, defended her group's decision to bring Moussawi to Britain, saying it supported anyone who stood against American "imperialism."
...
"They're trying to silence them because we have been incredibly effective," she said. "We have made this a major political issue and we will not go away."
Pertinent Links:
1) Hizballah Boosted by Anti-War Westerners, Meeting Told
Thursday, February 28, 2008
DAR AL HARB-U.K.: THE DAILY EXPRESS IS UNDER ASSAULT BY MOSLEMS & LEFTARDS
Protest against Daily Express' attacks on Muslims
By IRR News Team
Protestors gathered outside the London offices of the Daily Express today to demand an end to anti-Muslim articles.
In recent years, the Daily Express newspaper has frequently published inflammatory articles on asylum seekers, migrants and Muslims. The newspaper regularly carries front page headlines such as 'Christmas is banned; it offends Muslims', 'Now Muslims get their own laws in Britain' and 'Muslims tell us how to run our schools'.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) chapel at the Daily Express has opposed such articles. Earlier in 2004, the NUJ objected to pressure on journalists at the paper to 'write anti-Gypsy articles'. An edition of the newspaper had stated that millions of Gypsies were 'heading to Britain to leech on us'.
Around thirty people attended today's protest, which was organised by the Stop the War Coalition, together with Media Workers Against the War, the Stop the War Muslim Activists Network and the British Muslim Initiative.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Protest against Daily Express' attacks on Muslims
By IRR News Team
Protestors gathered outside the London offices of the Daily Express today to demand an end to anti-Muslim articles.
In recent years, the Daily Express newspaper has frequently published inflammatory articles on asylum seekers, migrants and Muslims. The newspaper regularly carries front page headlines such as 'Christmas is banned; it offends Muslims', 'Now Muslims get their own laws in Britain' and 'Muslims tell us how to run our schools'.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) chapel at the Daily Express has opposed such articles. Earlier in 2004, the NUJ objected to pressure on journalists at the paper to 'write anti-Gypsy articles'. An edition of the newspaper had stated that millions of Gypsies were 'heading to Britain to leech on us'.
Around thirty people attended today's protest, which was organised by the Stop the War Coalition, together with Media Workers Against the War, the Stop the War Muslim Activists Network and the British Muslim Initiative.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Protest against Daily Express' attacks on Muslims
Thursday, July 19, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM: SANCTIONS OR WAR - - - WESTERN DHIMMIS WORKING HARD TO MAKE SURE THERE IS NO WAR
A bright spring or a nuclear dawn?
Jonathan Freedland's assessment (Comment, July 18) that the "threat" posed by Iran will be resolved within the next year either through sanctions or war should give us cause for concern.
It is essential, first of all, to temper his apocalyptic vision with some facts. There is absolutely no evidence that Iran currently has a nuclear weapons programme. Not only has Iran met its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty but, until its referral to the UN security council last year, was a signatory to the additional protocol allowing intrusive inspections of its enrichment facilities. The IAEA has repeatedly stated that there is no proof whatsoever that Iran's uranium enrichment is for anything other than its civilian nuclear programme.
David Miliband's refusal to rule out military action against Iran in the way that Jack Straw did (before he was hastily reshuffled) is a worrying indication that Gordon Brown may be just as in thrall to the neo-con agenda as his predecessor.Stefan SimanowitzCampaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran
Jonathan Freedland writes that Hamas has been "shoved to one side" in Palestine. In reality, what has happened in Palestine is another "regime change" in the Middle East engineered by Washington and London. Prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of a party which won 74 out of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006, has been replaced by Salam Fayyad, the leader of a party with two out of the 132 seats, without the approval of the Palestinian legislative council, as required by Article 79(4) of the Palestinian Basic Law, which says: "The prime minister and any of the ministers shall not assume the duties of their positions until they obtain the confidence of the legislative council." You can see what George Bush means by bringing democracy to the Middle East.David MorrisonBelfast
Jonathan Freedland says that "surging Islamism is thoroughly repressed" in Saudi Arabia. How strange, then, that our media almost daily attacks the Saudi government for encouraging Islamist terrorists and pursuing medieval Islamic social policies.
The truth, which Freedland belatedly recognises, is that the Saudi government is far more liberal than the Saudi street and that if western democracy were introduced precipitately, Saudi Arabia would become more, not less, antiquated, and more, not less, hostile to western ideas. The Saudi government is committed to moderate reform but wisely wants to go at its own pace.
We who resent outsiders' interference in our affairs should leave the Saudi government to decide what is best for its own country. We have tried imposing our system on Iraq and the result has been disastrous.James CraigStandlake, Oxon
Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal is variously estimated at between 60 and 150 warheads. Yet Jonathan Freedland assures us that Israel views the prospect of an Iranian nuclear bomb, in numbers unspecified, as an "existential threat".
So Israel shares at least one view with us peace campaigners of the 1980s, that nuclear deterrence is unstable and unreliable, especially in "limited" theatres. For with an arsenal large enough to destroy Iran, Israel can't plead that a deterrent stance is beyond its powers.
If so, would it attack (either "preemptively" or aggressively) a not-yet nuclear nation, or a nuclear nation not yet capable of a missile response to attack on its own weapons? If so, would Israel honestly anticipate acquiescence in this without retribution from the rest of the world, even if it had the support of (a currently discredited) America? And does it anyway doubt that this would spark the mother of regional nuclear arms races?Nigel BlakeByfleet, Surrey
Ghada Karmi (A historic anomaly, July 17) does not surprise me but saddens me. The overall message is clear: the problems of the Palestinians are the fault of the British, the Jews, the Americans, but never, at any serious level, the Palestinians or the Arabs. She mentions how "the British appointed a Husseini as head of the supreme Muslim council", but leaves the full truth unsaid: Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini went on to become a notorious war criminal, with close links to Hitler and Himmler. He had many imitators, among them today's Hamas, whose goose-step and Nazi salute match perfectly the call for genocide that stains their charter. It is this visceral hatred that prevents the Palestinians having a successful state of their own. "No compromise" - the Hamas secret of success - is a certain formula for disaster.Dr Denis MacEoinNewcastle upon Tyne
...
Pertinent Links:
1) A bright spring or a nuclear dawn?
Jonathan Freedland's assessment (Comment, July 18) that the "threat" posed by Iran will be resolved within the next year either through sanctions or war should give us cause for concern.
It is essential, first of all, to temper his apocalyptic vision with some facts. There is absolutely no evidence that Iran currently has a nuclear weapons programme. Not only has Iran met its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty but, until its referral to the UN security council last year, was a signatory to the additional protocol allowing intrusive inspections of its enrichment facilities. The IAEA has repeatedly stated that there is no proof whatsoever that Iran's uranium enrichment is for anything other than its civilian nuclear programme.
David Miliband's refusal to rule out military action against Iran in the way that Jack Straw did (before he was hastily reshuffled) is a worrying indication that Gordon Brown may be just as in thrall to the neo-con agenda as his predecessor.Stefan SimanowitzCampaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran
Jonathan Freedland writes that Hamas has been "shoved to one side" in Palestine. In reality, what has happened in Palestine is another "regime change" in the Middle East engineered by Washington and London. Prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of a party which won 74 out of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006, has been replaced by Salam Fayyad, the leader of a party with two out of the 132 seats, without the approval of the Palestinian legislative council, as required by Article 79(4) of the Palestinian Basic Law, which says: "The prime minister and any of the ministers shall not assume the duties of their positions until they obtain the confidence of the legislative council." You can see what George Bush means by bringing democracy to the Middle East.David MorrisonBelfast
Jonathan Freedland says that "surging Islamism is thoroughly repressed" in Saudi Arabia. How strange, then, that our media almost daily attacks the Saudi government for encouraging Islamist terrorists and pursuing medieval Islamic social policies.
The truth, which Freedland belatedly recognises, is that the Saudi government is far more liberal than the Saudi street and that if western democracy were introduced precipitately, Saudi Arabia would become more, not less, antiquated, and more, not less, hostile to western ideas. The Saudi government is committed to moderate reform but wisely wants to go at its own pace.
We who resent outsiders' interference in our affairs should leave the Saudi government to decide what is best for its own country. We have tried imposing our system on Iraq and the result has been disastrous.James CraigStandlake, Oxon
Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal is variously estimated at between 60 and 150 warheads. Yet Jonathan Freedland assures us that Israel views the prospect of an Iranian nuclear bomb, in numbers unspecified, as an "existential threat".
So Israel shares at least one view with us peace campaigners of the 1980s, that nuclear deterrence is unstable and unreliable, especially in "limited" theatres. For with an arsenal large enough to destroy Iran, Israel can't plead that a deterrent stance is beyond its powers.
If so, would it attack (either "preemptively" or aggressively) a not-yet nuclear nation, or a nuclear nation not yet capable of a missile response to attack on its own weapons? If so, would Israel honestly anticipate acquiescence in this without retribution from the rest of the world, even if it had the support of (a currently discredited) America? And does it anyway doubt that this would spark the mother of regional nuclear arms races?Nigel BlakeByfleet, Surrey
Ghada Karmi (A historic anomaly, July 17) does not surprise me but saddens me. The overall message is clear: the problems of the Palestinians are the fault of the British, the Jews, the Americans, but never, at any serious level, the Palestinians or the Arabs. She mentions how "the British appointed a Husseini as head of the supreme Muslim council", but leaves the full truth unsaid: Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini went on to become a notorious war criminal, with close links to Hitler and Himmler. He had many imitators, among them today's Hamas, whose goose-step and Nazi salute match perfectly the call for genocide that stains their charter. It is this visceral hatred that prevents the Palestinians having a successful state of their own. "No compromise" - the Hamas secret of success - is a certain formula for disaster.Dr Denis MacEoinNewcastle upon Tyne
...
Pertinent Links:
1) A bright spring or a nuclear dawn?
Friday, July 13, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIASTAN: THE BATTLE HEATS UP - - - THE ISLAMIZATION OFAMERICA'S SCHOOL CHILDREN - - - WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?!?
Public schools grapple with Muslim prayer
A San Diego school adjusts its schedule to accommodate Muslim worship.
By Randy Dotinga
San Diego - When afternoon recess comes at an elementary school on the outskirts of San Diego, some students rush out for a quick game of hopscotch, while others gather in a room for Muslim worship. Like a growing number of school districts around the country, San Diego's is changing its ways to meet the needs of its Islamic students. Here, a controversy with constitutional overtones erupted: In accommodating Muslim students, is the school unfairly promoting religion?
The school's policy "presumes that Christians are less religious and less inspired to worship and praise the Lord and come together," says Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute. He is asking the school district to set up special rooms where Christians can pray, too.
This outcry, and others like it from conservative commentators and attorneys, suggest that the whole matter may land in court. Potentially at issue is to what extent actions taken by a public school to accommodate special religious needs of some students might require similar allowances for other students.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Public schools grapple with Muslim prayer
A San Diego school adjusts its schedule to accommodate Muslim worship.
By Randy Dotinga
San Diego - When afternoon recess comes at an elementary school on the outskirts of San Diego, some students rush out for a quick game of hopscotch, while others gather in a room for Muslim worship. Like a growing number of school districts around the country, San Diego's is changing its ways to meet the needs of its Islamic students. Here, a controversy with constitutional overtones erupted: In accommodating Muslim students, is the school unfairly promoting religion?
The school's policy "presumes that Christians are less religious and less inspired to worship and praise the Lord and come together," says Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute. He is asking the school district to set up special rooms where Christians can pray, too.
This outcry, and others like it from conservative commentators and attorneys, suggest that the whole matter may land in court. Potentially at issue is to what extent actions taken by a public school to accommodate special religious needs of some students might require similar allowances for other students.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Public schools grapple with Muslim prayer
Thursday, June 28, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - PENNSYLVANIA: FLIGHT UNITED 93 MEMORIAL = WORLD'S LARGEST OPEN AIR MOSQUE
Book claims Flight 93 Memorial would be world’s largest mosque
Los Angeles, CA (June 28, 2007) -- The passengers of United 93 sacrificed their lives to prevent Islamo-fascist hijackers from crashing the plane into Washington DC. But a grateful nation’s desire to commemorate their heroism with a memorial at the Pennsylvania crash site has taken an unexpected turn. The tentative plans for the Flight 93 Memorial instead commemorate the hijackers’ religion by constructing a memorial that would effectively be the world’s largest outdoor mosque. This is the shocking claim of a forthcoming book entitled "Crescent of Betrayal:
Dishonoring the Heroes of Flight 93" (ISBN 9780974670126, World Ahead, August 2007).
When the plans for the memorial were first unveiled in 2005, observers noted that its centerpiece was a giant crescent, the symbol for Islam. Public protests forced the Memorial Project to make a few cosmetic changes, and the story soon fell out of the news. But it shouldn’t have.
“Nothing meaningful was changed,” says "Crescent of Betrayal" author Alec Rawls, a noted blogger who started researching the Crescent of Embrace design when it was first unveiled in September 2005. “The original giant crescent remains fully intact in the redesign.” That’s important, says Rawls, because the giant crescent is oriented on Mecca. “A crescent that Muslims face into to face Mecca is called a mihrab. It is the central feature around which every mosque is built.”
"Crescent of Betrayal" shows in damning detail how virtually every design element of the memorial is a typical mosque feature, built on epic scale. The minaret-like “Tower of Voices,” for instance, turns out to be a huge Islamic prayer-time sundial. “Put it next to a traditional Islamic sundial,” says Rawls, "and except for the size, you can’t tell the difference.”
“I was shocked when I first read Alec Rawls’s research,” says Eric M. Jackson, president of World Ahead Media. “Whether the design was motivated by a politically correct desire to portray Islam as a ‘religion of peace’ or for some other reason, the fact remains that the plans for the Flight 93 Memorial resemble a giant mosque facing Mecca. After consulting experts on Islam to confirm Rawls’s findings, I knew we had to get the word out—this book was too important not to publish.”
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Book claims Flight 93 Memorial would be world’s largest mosque
Los Angeles, CA (June 28, 2007) -- The passengers of United 93 sacrificed their lives to prevent Islamo-fascist hijackers from crashing the plane into Washington DC. But a grateful nation’s desire to commemorate their heroism with a memorial at the Pennsylvania crash site has taken an unexpected turn. The tentative plans for the Flight 93 Memorial instead commemorate the hijackers’ religion by constructing a memorial that would effectively be the world’s largest outdoor mosque. This is the shocking claim of a forthcoming book entitled "Crescent of Betrayal:
Dishonoring the Heroes of Flight 93" (ISBN 9780974670126, World Ahead, August 2007).
When the plans for the memorial were first unveiled in 2005, observers noted that its centerpiece was a giant crescent, the symbol for Islam. Public protests forced the Memorial Project to make a few cosmetic changes, and the story soon fell out of the news. But it shouldn’t have.
“Nothing meaningful was changed,” says "Crescent of Betrayal" author Alec Rawls, a noted blogger who started researching the Crescent of Embrace design when it was first unveiled in September 2005. “The original giant crescent remains fully intact in the redesign.” That’s important, says Rawls, because the giant crescent is oriented on Mecca. “A crescent that Muslims face into to face Mecca is called a mihrab. It is the central feature around which every mosque is built.”
"Crescent of Betrayal" shows in damning detail how virtually every design element of the memorial is a typical mosque feature, built on epic scale. The minaret-like “Tower of Voices,” for instance, turns out to be a huge Islamic prayer-time sundial. “Put it next to a traditional Islamic sundial,” says Rawls, "and except for the size, you can’t tell the difference.”
“I was shocked when I first read Alec Rawls’s research,” says Eric M. Jackson, president of World Ahead Media. “Whether the design was motivated by a politically correct desire to portray Islam as a ‘religion of peace’ or for some other reason, the fact remains that the plans for the Flight 93 Memorial resemble a giant mosque facing Mecca. After consulting experts on Islam to confirm Rawls’s findings, I knew we had to get the word out—this book was too important not to publish.”
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Book claims Flight 93 Memorial would be world’s largest mosque
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
DAR AL HARB - GERMANY: 70% OF GERMANS ARE ISLAMOPHOBIC, BUT A CHRISTIAN-MOSLEM ALLIANCE SHALL WORK IN COMBINING SHARI'AH & GERMAN LAW REGARDLESS
Inter-faith group accuses Germans of anti-Islamic attitudes
Frankfurt - An inter-faith group which works to integrate Muslims into German life complained in Frankfurt Tuesday that up to 70 per cent of Germans were still hostile to Islam. Christians and Muslims established the German Forum on Islam five years ago and drafted a detailed code on how to combine the dictates of the Sharia system of rules with the German legal system.
Juergen Micksch, one of the foundation members, said Muslims and long-established Germans usually got on very well with one another, but in the abstract, the Germans were often Islamophobic.
He attributed this paradox to international tension over terrorism, which Germans perceived as coming from Islamic nations.
Yasar Bilgin of the Council of Germans of Turkish Origin pointed to popular resistance in Cologne and some towns to construction of mosques. It was understandable that some Germans reacted this way, but Muslims had a right to worship under the German constitution.
"The Germans will eventually get used to it," forecast Bilgin, who is a doctor of medicine.
Micksch said it was common for opposition to arise when the building plans for mosques were announced.
"Once the mosque is built, the conflict usually goes away," he said.
The Forum, which also includes government officials, is distinct from the German Islam Conference, a round of negotiations which began last year between the federal government and leading figures from the Muslim community.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Inter-faith group accuses Germans of anti-Islamic attitudes
Frankfurt - An inter-faith group which works to integrate Muslims into German life complained in Frankfurt Tuesday that up to 70 per cent of Germans were still hostile to Islam. Christians and Muslims established the German Forum on Islam five years ago and drafted a detailed code on how to combine the dictates of the Sharia system of rules with the German legal system.
Juergen Micksch, one of the foundation members, said Muslims and long-established Germans usually got on very well with one another, but in the abstract, the Germans were often Islamophobic.
He attributed this paradox to international tension over terrorism, which Germans perceived as coming from Islamic nations.
Yasar Bilgin of the Council of Germans of Turkish Origin pointed to popular resistance in Cologne and some towns to construction of mosques. It was understandable that some Germans reacted this way, but Muslims had a right to worship under the German constitution.
"The Germans will eventually get used to it," forecast Bilgin, who is a doctor of medicine.
Micksch said it was common for opposition to arise when the building plans for mosques were announced.
"Once the mosque is built, the conflict usually goes away," he said.
The Forum, which also includes government officials, is distinct from the German Islam Conference, a round of negotiations which began last year between the federal government and leading figures from the Muslim community.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Inter-faith group accuses Germans of anti-Islamic attitudes
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A.: MOSLEMS SHOULD BECOME MORE INTEGRATED, READ THAT AS: INFIDELS NEED TO BE ISLAMIZED FURTHER
A new report says U.S. Muslims need public voice
A report published by an independent, nonpartisan group says the United States would benefit from a better integrated Muslim population.
The report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs says greater US Muslim involvement in the public square is crucial to the nation's security and well-being. It also says Muslims are largely responsible for finding ways to make themselves heard.
The report was developed by a 32-member nationwide task force that included representatives from academia, politics and the business and nonprofit worlds.
Task force co-chair Lynn Martin, a former Republican congresswoman, says the report suggests ways to get Muslim Americans involved in the "civil discourse of politics."
They include expanding counterterrorism partnerships between Muslim Americans and law enforcement, and developing a leadership network of prominent Muslim Americans to work with youth.
and
Report: Muslim Integration Crucial to US
By ERIC GORSKI
A better-integrated Muslim population would better serve the United States as it navigates critical domestic and foreign-policy challenges involving Muslim populations, a new report argues.
Sponsored by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the report released Tuesday says that greater U.S. Muslim involvement in the public square is crucial to the nation's security and well-being, and that Muslims are largely responsible for finding ways to make themselves heard.
The report by a 32-member nationwide task force culled from academia, politics and the business and nonprofit worlds largely avoids sensitive questions about attitudes toward U.S. foreign and security policy.
"This is a group that is half-Muslim, half non-Muslim that came together because we believe that America is losing by not having the appropriate involvement of Muslim Americans in the civil discourse of politics," said task force co-chair Lynn Martin, a former Republican congresswoman and secretary of labor in the George H.W. Bush administration. "This is not whiny. This is not about what's wrong. What it says is, here are some potential solutions."
Among them:
One of the American Muslim community's defining characteristics _ its diversity _ poses a challenge when identifying potential leaders and organizing, said Farooq Kathwari, another task force co-chair. Kathwari is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc., one of the nation's largest furniture companies.
"It is not an easy situation for Muslim Americans because they are not one, they are not monolithic," he said. "The only reason now they're getting together _ like African-Americans got together _ is for civil rights."
The report maintains that a good foundation exists because most Muslims see no contradiction between their faith and American values _ and also makes clear the consequences of failure when tensions remain high over terrorism.
"The gathering climate of suspicion and mutual mistrust, exacerbated by the lack of engagement and dialogue, threatens to marginalize and alienate some Muslim Americans to the point where the danger of radicalization of a small minority could become a real possibility," the report says.
"It would take only a single, significant act of terrorism in the United States involving Muslim Americans to cement the impression that rampant radicalism has taken root within the community."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) A new report says U.S. Muslims need public voice
2) Report: Muslim Integration Crucial to US
3) The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
A report published by an independent, nonpartisan group says the United States would benefit from a better integrated Muslim population.
The report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs says greater US Muslim involvement in the public square is crucial to the nation's security and well-being. It also says Muslims are largely responsible for finding ways to make themselves heard.
The report was developed by a 32-member nationwide task force that included representatives from academia, politics and the business and nonprofit worlds.
Task force co-chair Lynn Martin, a former Republican congresswoman, says the report suggests ways to get Muslim Americans involved in the "civil discourse of politics."
They include expanding counterterrorism partnerships between Muslim Americans and law enforcement, and developing a leadership network of prominent Muslim Americans to work with youth.
and
Report: Muslim Integration Crucial to US
By ERIC GORSKI
A better-integrated Muslim population would better serve the United States as it navigates critical domestic and foreign-policy challenges involving Muslim populations, a new report argues.
Sponsored by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the report released Tuesday says that greater U.S. Muslim involvement in the public square is crucial to the nation's security and well-being, and that Muslims are largely responsible for finding ways to make themselves heard.
The report by a 32-member nationwide task force culled from academia, politics and the business and nonprofit worlds largely avoids sensitive questions about attitudes toward U.S. foreign and security policy.
"This is a group that is half-Muslim, half non-Muslim that came together because we believe that America is losing by not having the appropriate involvement of Muslim Americans in the civil discourse of politics," said task force co-chair Lynn Martin, a former Republican congresswoman and secretary of labor in the George H.W. Bush administration. "This is not whiny. This is not about what's wrong. What it says is, here are some potential solutions."
Among them:
- -expanded counterterrorism partnerships between Muslim Americans and law enforcement,
- -development of a leadership network of prominent Muslim Americans to work with youth and serve as "community ambassadors,"
- -building stronger Muslim American institutions and
- -working with coalitions on common concerns like immigration and health care.
One of the American Muslim community's defining characteristics _ its diversity _ poses a challenge when identifying potential leaders and organizing, said Farooq Kathwari, another task force co-chair. Kathwari is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc., one of the nation's largest furniture companies.
"It is not an easy situation for Muslim Americans because they are not one, they are not monolithic," he said. "The only reason now they're getting together _ like African-Americans got together _ is for civil rights."
The report maintains that a good foundation exists because most Muslims see no contradiction between their faith and American values _ and also makes clear the consequences of failure when tensions remain high over terrorism.
"The gathering climate of suspicion and mutual mistrust, exacerbated by the lack of engagement and dialogue, threatens to marginalize and alienate some Muslim Americans to the point where the danger of radicalization of a small minority could become a real possibility," the report says.
"It would take only a single, significant act of terrorism in the United States involving Muslim Americans to cement the impression that rampant radicalism has taken root within the community."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) A new report says U.S. Muslims need public voice
2) Report: Muslim Integration Crucial to US
3) The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - ALABAMA: ANOTHER SATELLITE TERROR OFFICE IS IN THE PLANNING STAGES
Will American's be able to prevent them from being built?!?
Doubtful...
Crowd opposes Hoover Muslim center plan
MIKE CASONNews staff writer
About 150 people filled the lunchroom Monday night at Gwin Elementary School at a meeting organized by opponents of a Muslim worship center in Hoover.
Residents from several neighborhoods near the 4.7-acre site at the intersection of Sulphur Springs and Al Seier roads said they oppose the project because of the traffic it would bring.
Lee Strickland, who lives in the Village at Highland Crest, said hundreds of new houses already planned in the area will cause traffic congestion that a worship center would make worse.
"You've got a traffic problem you can't resolve if you just keep adding to it," Strickland said.
No one at the hour-long meeting spoke in favor of the worship center.
On Friday, the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission postponed until Aug. 13 its consideration of the project. The commission, which meets the second Monday each month, had been scheduled to consider the proposal on July 9.
Georgia developer Lou Passarella wants to build the worship center for an Ismaili Muslim congregation that has met in a rented facility in Hoover since 1999. Passarella said he would work with the city to minimize traffic concerns.
Passarella, who has a contract to buy the land from Alfa Properties, said he received notice of the postponement Monday.
Passarella, who did not attend Monday night's meeting, said he did not know the reason for the postponement.
Hoover City Executive Director Allen Pate, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, referred questions about the postponement to city consultant Bob House, who could not be reached for comment.
It was the second delay of Passarella's request.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Crowd opposes Hoover Muslim center plan
Doubtful...
Crowd opposes Hoover Muslim center plan
MIKE CASONNews staff writer
About 150 people filled the lunchroom Monday night at Gwin Elementary School at a meeting organized by opponents of a Muslim worship center in Hoover.
Residents from several neighborhoods near the 4.7-acre site at the intersection of Sulphur Springs and Al Seier roads said they oppose the project because of the traffic it would bring.
Lee Strickland, who lives in the Village at Highland Crest, said hundreds of new houses already planned in the area will cause traffic congestion that a worship center would make worse.
"You've got a traffic problem you can't resolve if you just keep adding to it," Strickland said.
No one at the hour-long meeting spoke in favor of the worship center.
On Friday, the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission postponed until Aug. 13 its consideration of the project. The commission, which meets the second Monday each month, had been scheduled to consider the proposal on July 9.
Georgia developer Lou Passarella wants to build the worship center for an Ismaili Muslim congregation that has met in a rented facility in Hoover since 1999. Passarella said he would work with the city to minimize traffic concerns.
Passarella, who has a contract to buy the land from Alfa Properties, said he received notice of the postponement Monday.
Passarella, who did not attend Monday night's meeting, said he did not know the reason for the postponement.
Hoover City Executive Director Allen Pate, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, referred questions about the postponement to city consultant Bob House, who could not be reached for comment.
It was the second delay of Passarella's request.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Crowd opposes Hoover Muslim center plan
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