Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Religious leaders join in support of Detroit mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Detroit mosque vandalisedIn a show of unity, religious leaders linked arms Thursday in front of a Detroit mosque that was vandalized this week with graffiti that read “Go Home 9-11 Murderers.”

Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Arab leaders joined together at the old Islamic Center of America to condemn the attack, the latest in a string of crimes directed against Islamic houses of worship in metro Detroit. The attack on the center is “unacceptable to people of faith,” said Rabbi Josh Bennett, of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.

The gathering was organized by the Detroit-based Interfaith Partners program of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion. The attacks are “an expression of ignorance,” said the Rev. Dan Appleyard, of Christ Episcopal Church in Dearborn. Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said Thursday’s event “was an example of America at its best.”

Detroit Free Press, 26 January 2007

Criminal attorney warns against building of Europe’s biggest mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Invisible Invasion“For former practicing criminal attorney turned author, W.G. Van Dorian, the news of plans to build Europe’s biggest mosque beside the London 2012 Olympic Park confirmed what he has feared all along – the intent of radical Islamists to gain a majority and ultimately control of the world’s powers.”

ClickPress, 24 January 2007

Why is a former Dutch lawyer currently resident in South Africa interfering over the issue of a proposed Islamic Centre in Newham? Drumming up publicity in preparation for the publication of his next novel perhaps? Van Dorian’s first book, The Invisible Invasion, would appear to be a paranoid fantasy about the Islamist takeover of Europe (see here). According to his publishers, as a defence lawyer for Muslims in the Netherlands, Van Dorian:

“… had access to shocking information, things not normally revealed to outsiders. He states, ‘I’ve heard a couple of times from them when I gained their trust that they were simply waiting for a majority through immigration and forced conversion in Europe to take over, violently if need be’. Van Dorian witnessed the power of this force in Europe as the extremists ultimately knocked down resistance from ‘ordinary citizens’ and obtained what they wanted…. one of the most terrifying comments that Van Dorian heard was: ‘Just wait until there are enough of us and we’ll be the boss around here’.”

Daniels in the lions’ den

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daniel Johnson applauds Daniel Pipes’ contribution to last weekend’s Clash of Civilisations debate in London:

“In essence, Mr. Pipes had a warning for Londoners: Thanks to the multicultural policies of politicians like Mayor Livingstone, ‘your city is a threat to the rest of the world’. He listed 15 countries in which Islamists from Britain had carried out terrorist attacks, ranging from Pakistan to America. Since last weekend he could have added a 16th – Somalia.

“Britain, he said, was now regarded by some experts as the biggest threat to American security. British audiences aren’t usually told this. They aren’t told that ‘the Islamists have declared war on us’, let alone have the war aim stated clearly: victory. They need to hear the likes of Daniel Pipes much more often.”

New York Sun, 25 January 2007

Jihad Watch joins right-wing applause for Dispatches programme

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Robert Spencer Undercover Mosque

Robert Spencer joins Little Green Footballs and the British National Party in enthusiastically endorsing “the Dispatches documentary that recently uncovered Islamic supremacism being preached in mosques that had been considered moderate. This underscores the necessity of doing what so few dare to do: discuss the elements of Islam that are fueling the jihad.”

Jihad Watch, 25 January 2007

Police need to stop their leaks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Osama Saeed comments on the media furore over the reported request by a Muslim WPC that she should not be forced to shake the hands of male colleagues, including Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair:

“Despite her superiors being informed well in advance of the issue, you would think given the media coverage that she was standing in a row of people having their hands shaken and when her turn with Sir Ian came she whipped her hand back, put her thumb on her nose and wiggled her fingers about while blowing a raspberry.”

Osama points out that this is just the latest in a series of leaks from within the police force that have been used by the right-wing press to stoke up Islamophobia.

Rolled Up Trousers, 23 January 2007

Readers may like to compare Osama’s reasoned and informed analysis with the ignorant dogmatism of Brett Lock’s recent post at Harry’s Place.

Mosque disputes Dispatches claim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Masjid-al-TawhidLeaders of a Leyton mosque have criticised a television documentary associating them with international Islamic extremism.

The Masjid-al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton High Road appeared in Undercover Mosque, a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary screened last week. The programme focused on extremist preachers encouraging congregations to practise violence against women, homosexuals and non-Muslims.

Among those featured was Shaykh Suhaib Hassan, senior Imam at Masjid-al-Tawhid. He was quoted predicting the establishment of an Islamic state under Sharia law and detailing some of the extreme punishments, such as flogging of drunkards, that would be carried out in such a state.

Shaykh Hassan says, however, that his remarks were taken out of context, and that he has never said Sharia law would be appropriate for Britain. “Britain is a democracy, and I have said many times that Muslims should participate in elections. It is a good system,” he said. “Why blame a western country for not implementing Sharia law when Muslim states like Pakistan do not?”

Shaykh Hassan is also unhappy at being associated with more extreme imams who preach brutality and violent jihad. “It was a gross misrepresentation. We don’t say kill the Jews, kill the Christians, it’s nonsense,” he told the Guardian.

Masjid-al-Tawhid was also featured in The War Within, another documentary screened by CNN during the weekend, which also tackled the subject of Islamic extremism in Britain. But CNN held up Masjid-al-Tawhid as an example of a mosque able to practise a traditional form of Islam without withdrawing from the wider community.

East London and West Essex Guardian, 23 January 2007

Police rethink use of ‘stop and search’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police are holding a review of much-criticised “stop and search” powers over concerns the tactic used to target possible terrorists was causing more harm than good by alienating the Muslim community.

Senior officers are warming to “new thinking” about the powers which would see people only stopped on the basis of prior intelligence and not their appearance, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).

“I think we need to move from the concept of stopping on appearance and ethnicity,” Richard Gargini, ACPO’s national coordinator for community engagement, told Reuters at a conference to discuss Islamophobia. “I sense an atmosphere among police leaders that it’s time to reflect upon where we go with stop and search. Is it having an adverse impact on police and community relations?”

Under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, officers have the power to stop and search people in an area seen as being at risk from terrorism even if they are not suspected of any breach of the law.

Many Muslim groups have argued the powers have been abused by police, particularly after the bomb attacks on July 7, 2005 when four British Islamists killed 52 people on London’s transport system.

Figures show that use of the power against those of Asian appearance has rocketed since the September 11, 2001 attacks, and Muslim community leaders have warned it has helped alienate Britain’s Muslims, so helping the cause of extremists. “We know the levels of trust and confidence that the community has in the police has gone down,” Azad Ali, chairman of the Muslim Safety Forum, which advises police on Islamic issues, told Reuters.

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Detroit mosque vandalized

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Detroit mosque vandalisedA Detroit mosque was vandalized this week with anti-Muslim graffiti that reads in large capital letters: “Go Home 911 Murderers.”

The original Islamic Center of America, on the corner of Joy and Greenfield roads, was struck sometime early Monday or late Sunday, said local Muslims. The mosque moved in 2005 to a new building on Ford Road in Dearborn, but the old one still stands.

On the front of the vandalized mosque, under its name, someone spray-painted in green “You Idol Worship” and then the comment that appeared to blame them for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “It’s painful,” said Nabil Zbib, 36, of Dearborn, who spotted the graffiti on Monday and reported it to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Last week, the Shi’ite mosque hosted a news conference at its location in Dearborn, criticizing Northwest Airlines for what it said was biased treatment against a group of Muslims who were not allowed to board a connecting flight in Germany to Detroit. The mosque and the council received hate e-mail after the news conference, but it’s unclear whether this vandalism is related to that.

“This is hurtful for the entire Muslim community, to see such enmity directed towards Muslims,” said Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Other Shi’ite mosques in Dearborn and Detroit have been vandalized in recent weeks, but it’s unclear whether those cases are connected to this latest incident.

WZZM, 23 January 2007

Posted in USA

CAIR calls for probe into New Jersey mosque fire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A national Muslim civil rights group wants authorities to investigate a weekend fire that damaged a mosque as a potential bias crime.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations on Tuesday asked authorities to launch a hate crimes investigation into the fire that damaged a rear porch and wall at the National Islamic Association mosque in Newark on Sunday.

The first worshippers arriving at the mosque before 6 a.m. prayers found the back porch and part of a wall ablaze, said Ashraf Latif, the mosque’s president. “They ran and got some mats and started beating the fire, and someone else got some water and they put it out before the fire department got there,” he said.

Latif said the fire appeared to have begun in some coils of rope that someone put on the back deck. An investigator with the fire department who came said he smelled some accelerant on the ropes,” Latif said.

John Brown, a spokesman for the Newark Fire Department, said the cause of the fire will not be determined until Thursday at the earliest. He could not comment on Latif’s assertions that a flammable substance was detected.

Latif said the mosque has received some anti-Islamic mailings in recent years, but nothing that caused its members undue concern. There have been no overt threats recently, he said.

“Historically, there has been no anti-Islam sentiment in Newark,” he said. “This is a great place. We just want a full investigation to determine if this was set by someone outside the community for whatever reason, or if it was some bum trying to get warm.”

The mosque, which has 140 registered families who worship there, was not seriously damaged by the fire, Latif said.

Associated Press, 23 January 2007

Pickled Politics on Clash conference

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Qaradawi and MayorSunny Hundal offer his take on last Saturday’s Clash of Civilisations conference in London. It’s a reasonable and quite balanced account (certainly in comparison with right-wing pieces like this). But Sunny spoils it with an ignorant attack on Yusuf al-Qaradawi, writing: “Qaradawi certainly isn’t likely to lead a call for Muslim women to be given more rights in the Middle East.”

Pickled Politics, 23 January 2007

Which shows how much Sunny knows. As one writer has pointed out: “Barbara Stowasser, author of the book Women in the Qur’an and a leading academic expert on Islam, argues that Qaradawi’s [Al Jazeera] broadcasts have been crucial in overturning the conservative Islamic view that women should be restricted to domestic duties and play no part in politics and public life generally. She applauds his ‘vision of a new, more gender-equal Islamic society’ and stresses ‘his role as both exponent and catalyst of a new groundswell of Muslim public opinion in favour of women’s Islamic political rights’.”

Labour Left Briefing, November 2004

I looked up the source for this and it would appear to be Barbara Stowasser’s article “Old Shaykhs, Young Women, and the Internet: The Rewriting of Women’s Political Rights in Islam”, published in the journal The Muslim World in 2001. Perhaps Sunny could check it out.