A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of the niqab and the burqa. Why have the Continent’s political leaders, confronted by economic and social malaise, declared war on a piece of cloth?
Mehdi Hasan writes in the New Statesman, 28 May 2010
Author Archives: Bob Pitt
Sunday Mercury witch-hunts Islamic Dawah Centre International, assisted by Roger Godsiff
An MP has called for an inquiry into a Midland charity which invited a radical Muslim preacher to speak to crowds in Birmingham. A Sunday Mercuryinvestigation has also revealed that Islamic Dawah Centre International (IDCI), is selling books by Muslim extremists through its website.
The Alum Rock-based group had invited Dr Zakir Naik to speak to 13,000 people at the LG Arena this weekend – despite him publicly backing Osama Bin Laden in the past. But Home Secretary Theresa May denied the Indian-born cleric a visa to enter the UK after it emerged that he had branded the US a “terrorist state” and said that “every Muslim should be a terrorist”.
Now, the Sunday Mercury has learned that IDCI is selling books by Dr Naik, as well as Islamic texts by other controversial clerics. The books also include works by Sayyid Qutb, a fundamentalist Egyptian Imam who is is said to have inspired Osama Bin Laden to establish Al Qaeda. An extract from his seminal work, Milestones, is available from IDCI for less than £1.
An edition of the book is understood to have had an influence on the Saudi terror chief who plotted the 9/11 terror attacks on New York’s Twin Towers. Bin Laden’s second in command, Ayman Al Zawahiri, also studied under Qutb’s brother at university in Egypt and has vowed to put the radical cleric’s vision of an Islmaic army fighting for a global Muslim state into action. One Islamic expert told the Sunday Mercury: “Sayyid Qutb is one of the key ideological ancestors of Al Qaeda. The theme of his work is the use of violence to create a ‘proper’ Islamic state.”
The IDCI website also stocks Dr Naik’s Islam and Terrorism? and Towards Understanding Islam by Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi, a founder of extremist Islamist faction Jamaat-e-Islami. The Pakistani fundamentalist group aims to replace the government of the sub-continental state with a radical Muslim ruling party and impose strict Sharia law. Mawdudi writes: “Islam requires the Earth – not just a portion, but the whole planet.”
Birmingham MP Roger Godsiff said: “If this registered charity has invited this man to speak, and if there is also concern about them selling this sort of literature then the Charity Commission is duty-bound to investigate, and I hope they do so.”
A spokeswoman for the Charity Commission said: “Concerns have been raised with the Charity Commission regarding the Islamic Dawah Centre International. We are currently assessing these concerns in order to establish what, if any, regulatory role the Commission may have.”
Sayyid Qutb’s Milestones is of course readily available from a number of mainstream outlets including this one. Does that mean Godsiff and the Sunday Mercury will be calling for an investigation into Amazon on the grounds that it is promoting the ideology of Al Qaeda? Admittedly, Mawdudi’s Towards Understanding Islam is currently listed as “out of stock” at Amazon. So I suppose it would be unreasonable to accuse Amazon of supporting a fundamentalist takeover of the whole planet.
Tariq Ramadan sues Rotterdam city council for wrongful dismissal
Academic Tariq Ramadan, sacked by Rotterdam city council last year, is asking for €75,000 compensation for wrongful dismissal.
Ramadan lost his job as city integration adviser after officials discovered he presented a tv show for a broadcast company financed by Iran. The city said this could not be combined with his other roles. Erasmus University also ended his contract as a visiting professor.
Court hearings over the compensation claim began on Monday. Ramadan claims the sacking damaged his reputation as an Islamic scholar.
Residents rally to show support for Islamic Center of Murfreesboro
A Murfreesboro mosque opened its doors to the community in the hopes of opening minds about a new 52,000 square foot worship center in the works.
Muslims, Baptists, Catholics, Jews, Agnostics and others checked their religious difference along with their shoes at the door of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.
“We feel like the reason for opposition is because maybe they are misinformed; or its something they don’t know about,” Mosque spokeswoman Camie Ayash said. “So what we decided to do was open the doors and allow them to come in and get to know us.”
Around 100 people mingled and ate traditional Muslim foods inside the current worship center on Middle Tennessee Boulevard. 250 families currently worship at the center.
Liz Sodergren wore a blue pin Mosque members gave out to visitors. It said Freedom of Religion for Everyone. “I really love this button because it really summarizes what I believe as an American is important,” she said.
See also The Tennessean, 27 June 2010
Another Spanish town bans the veil
A small town in southern Spain on Monday became the latest municipality in the country to ban the use of the face-covering Islamic veil in public buildings.
The municipal council in Coin, a town of some 21,000 inhabitants in the Andalucia region near the city of Malaga, approved the measure by a large majority. The ban will be imposed in all public buildings, including schools and sports centres, but not in the rest of the town.
In recent weeks several municipalities in the northeastern region of Catalonia, including the city of Barcelona, have announced bans on the use of face-covering Islamic veils in public or are considering doing so.
Spain’s upper house of parliament last week also approved a motion calling on Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s socialist government to ban the use of the Islamic veil in public.
Earlier this month Justice Minister Francisco Caamano said the government planned to restrict the use of veils in public places under a proposed new law on religious freedom.
What kind of America is this? Hate-filled rally to stop mosque
Angry Sheepshead Bay residents came out in a show of force on Sunday to protest a planned mosque and Muslim community center in their neighborhood.
“If they build a mosque there, I’m going to bomb the mosque,” said one outraged resident who lives across the street from the proposed house of worship between East 28th and East 29th streets on Voorhies Avenue. The resident, who refused to give his name, identified himself as a former Israeli soldier who had lived on Voorhies Avenue for eight years. “I will give them a lot of trouble,” he added. “They’re not going to stay here alive.”
Such comments were certainly the most violent, though intolerance was common at the rally, which was organized by the group Bay People. Political correctness was shoved aside as members of the group put out its agenda: We don’t want a mosque here.
City of Stockholm pays compensation to woman thrown off training course for wearing headscarf
The City of Stockholm is to pay 35,000 kronor ($4,500) in compensation to a woman who was forced to leave a municipal training course for wearing a long headscarf.
The course was aimed at helping people secure jobs in the cleaning business. But when the woman arrived at class the first day she was told that prospective employers would not accept the way she dressed. As a result, the woman’s name was struck off the list of course participants.
The incident, which occurred in April 2008, was reported to the Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen – DO). The ombudsman elected to sue the city on grounds of discrimination but on Thursday the two sides were able to reach an out of court settlement.
“Ethnic and religious diversity are part of today’s Swedish labour market. Employers are bound by law to prevent religious discrimination and unions have a key role to play in driving this issue,” said ombudsman Katri Linna in a statement announcing the compensation agreement
Oklahoma: anti-Muslim signs opposing new residents
Via CAIR
Islamophobia no longer even questioned
“The rabid Islamophobia displayed by individuals like Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, and many individuals who have made alarming statements about Islam and Muslims is filtering down through American society.”
Over at The American Muslim Sheila Musaji expresses concerns about the mainstreaming of anti-Muslim bigotry in the US.
BBC boss told Muslim head of religious broadcasting not to discuss his faith
Mark Thompson, the director-general of the BBC, told Aaqil Ahmed, the head of religious broadcasting, to “stop talking about this Muslim thing”.
When Aaqil Ahmed became the first Muslim to be the BBC’s head of religious broadcasting, he probably anticipated the controversy that it would cause among some Christians. What he did not expect, however, was that his faith would be an issue with the director-general of the corporation, Mark Thompson.
Ahmed has, though, let it be known that he was told not to discuss his religion by his boss. “Mark Thompson said to me, ‘you must stop talking about this Muslim thing’,” Ahmed disclosed. “I said: ‘You may have noticed, Mark, I’ve never raised it; everybody else raises it.”