Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Does doll deliver Islamic message?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Talking dollParents are outraged about the messages they’re hearing from a doll. It’s Fisher-Price’s “Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle and Coo” doll. Some people claim they can hear it mumble “Satan is king” in one track; then clearly speak “Islam is the light” in another.

Gary Rofkahr of Owasso was at his office, when a man brought the doll in to show his co-workers. “There’s no markings on the box to indicate there’s anything Islamic about this doll,” Rofkahr said.

Rofkahr said he found several versions of the doll at Wal-Mart and Target in Owasso. Those stores have since pulled the dolls from the shelves.

The dolls are sold nationwide. A Target spokesperson said their company has no plans to pull the doll from all of its shelves.

KJRH.com, 10 October 2008

Pair who forced their Muslim colleague to eat bacon lose appeal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Kingstanding man who subjected his “vulnerable” Muslim colleague to a 10-month bullying campaign saw his appeal against a jail sentence for racially aggravated harassment thrown out by the Appeal Court this week.

Sean Martin Melaney, 29, of Streatham Grove, along with two other road maintenance workers, admitted to harassing colleague Amjid Mehmood. All four worked for a road maintenance firm in Walsall. The three were each sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court in April to three-years imprisonment.

The workmates had bullied Mr Mehmood by:

 ■ Pulling his trousers down and exposing him to passing motorists while working on the M6.

■ Force-feeding Mr Mehmood bacon, which it is against his religious beliefs to eat.

■ Dropping him off in Lozells at the time of the Asian/Afro-Carribean race riots in 2005 and then driving off, telling him the residents would come and get him.

■ Tied Mr Mehmood to railings with duct tape, stripping him and dousing his clothing in dirty water.

Despite the Crown Court’s findings Melaney and Lee Paul McDermott, 31, of Blue Stone Walk, Rowley Regis, appealed the three-year jail term.

Mr Justice Pitchford, sitting in the criminal appeal court with Lady Justice Hallett and Judge Nicholas Cooke QC, said the conduct of the pair had been “appalling”.

Refusing the appeal he said Mr Mehmood was: “A man who was vulnerable in his workplace, by virtue of his personal qualities, his minority race and in the troubled times in which he was living. We have considered the matter of these men’s conduct, its persistence over a prolonged period and its traumatic effect on their victim. We conclude that the sentences were both principled and appropriate.”

Sutton Coldfield Observer, 10 October 2008

Robert Spencer’s 10 points of obfuscation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Why is it that Islamophobes continue to come up with ‘tests’ that American Muslims must pass in order to be considered moderate, or for that matter to be considered real Americans. Daniel Pipes has a test and I’m proud to say, that I like Hamza Yusuf would fail. David Horowitz has a petition for Muslim students to sign to prove their ‘moderation’ as part of his recent ‘Islamo Fascism Awareness Week’ whose four key principals any Muslim could agree with, but which would require any Muslim signing the petition to agree with the mischaracterization of terrorists and extremists as ‘Islamo Fascists’ thus blaming the religion of Islam for their criminal acts.

“But Hugh Fitzgerald’s suggestion that ‘Sheila Musaji needs to read Ali Sina, Ibn Warraq, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wafa Sultan. They were all born into Islam. They were all raised in Muslim milieus. They have all testified as to what Muslims say in front of Infidels, and what they say when they think they are among only fellow Muslims’ really shows up what they are after – the bottom line for these folks is that in order to be a ‘good Muslim’ or a ‘moderate Muslim’ you must be an ex-Muslim. If that is what it takes to be a ‘moderate’ then count me out.

“Now Robert Spencer comes up with his own ten question test which he asks me personally to reply to, and to which I will respond only because the voices of the Islamophobes are getting a wide audience in the United States at the moment, and when they are not countered it gives their readers the impression that it is because their arguments have some merit. I will respond, but have no real hope that the response will be seriously considered. At least it is out there for history to judge, and for any whose minds are not closed by blind hatred to at least consider.”

Sheila Musaji replies to Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch.

The American Muslim, 10 October 2008

Statement of Concerned Scholars about Islamophobia in the 2008 US Election Campaign

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Not since the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 has the religious faith of a U.S. presidential candidate generated so much distortion as the false claims generated by extremist critics that Senator Barack Obama, the candidate of the Democratic Party, is a stealth Muslim. This is part of an Islamophobic hate campaign that fuels prejudice against Americans who practice their Islamic faith and Muslims worldwide. As scholars of Islam and Muslim societies and concerned citizens for a fair and honest electoral process, we wish to set the record straight.”

Read the full statement at Tabsir.

Footballers support DVD campaign to combat Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ShowRacismRedCardShow Racism the Red Card will be launching their brand new DVD and education pack “Islamophobia” at Newcastle United FC grounds. The launch will take place on Monday at St James’ Park with over 100 teachers, head teachers, council officials and voluntary sector workers who are interested in educating against Islamophobia.

The video has been produced by Autonomi in conjunction with Show Racism the Red Card and features professional footballers and managers including Thierry Henry, Mido, Ryan Giggs, Frederic Kanoute, Gareth Southgate and Niall Quinn speaking out on the issue alongside the personal experiences of young people.

The National Union of Teachers, Northern Rock Foundation, and Newcastle City Council Unity Programme have sponsored the work which will also include a programme of workshops on the subject delivered by Show Racism the Red Card into local secondary schools.

Throughout the day there will be key speeches from funders and experts; during the morning there will be a carousel of workshops which will educate about the resources, provide an opportunity to ask members of the Islamic Diversity Centre in Newcastle questions about Islam and hear the experiences of some local young people.

During the afternoon the film will be screened and there will be an opportunity to ask questions about the resource.

Asian News, 10 October 2008

France bans immigrants wearing burqas in state language classes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In secular France, it is illegal for hotel owners to turn away women wearing Muslim headscarves but OK to ban those wearing head-to-toe burqas from state-sponsored French language classes.

Two recent decisions have demonstrated how tough and touchy it is to legislate religious expression in a country that has a long-standing separation between church and state – and an increasingly multicultural society with a growing Muslim population.

“Religious freedom is not absolute,” the head of France’s government anti-discrimination agency, Louis Schweitzer, said in an interview with the Catholic daily La Croix, published Thursday. He said authorities are trying to find “the most reasonable compromise.”

His agency ruled last month that it was acceptable to ban women wearing the burqa and niqab – billowing clothes that cover the body and face worn by pious Muslim women – from state-sponsored French language classes for immigrants.

Earlier this year, a national agency responsible for dealing with new immigrants complained that the presence of the veiled women “hinders the proper functioning” of the language classes and asked the anti-discimination agency, known as Halde, to examine the matter.

In its Sept. 15 decision, Halde called the burqa a symbol of “female submission that goes beyond its religious meaning” and said it is “not unreasonable, for public security requirements … or the protection of civil liberties” to bar it from the publicly funded language classrooms.

USA Today, 9 October 2008

Via Islam in Europe

‘Teenage Trotsky is Cabinet’s new adviser on radical Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A teenage Muslim enlisted to advise ministers on combating extremism is herself a member of a Trotskyist revolutionary party. Sabiha Iqbal, 18, the privately educated daughter of a civil servant, belongs to the Socialist Workers Party, which is dedicated to the overthrow of parliament, the state and capitalism.

The appointment of the law student from Bradford to the Young Muslim Advisory Group was greeted with incredulity by intelligence experts yesterday. Miss Iqbal herself described the decision to bring her in as a consultant to Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Families Secretary Ed Balls as “very odd”. But Mrs Blears said: “If you don’t want to change the world at 17, that’s a shame.”

Miss Iqbal insisted yesterday that she was not an extremist, saying “I am Left-wing about some things and Right-wing about others. I agree with the equality ideas of socialism.”

Professor Anthony Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, said: “Ministers should be picking democratic leaders and people with experience, not people they think will bring in the ‘yoof’ vote. To go for somebody like Miss Iqbal is appalling.”

Daily Mail, 9 October 2008

Tories’ assault on multiculturalism gathers pace

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sayeeda Warsi and CameronThe creation of a group of young Muslims to advise ministers on extremism and discrimination has been condemned as divisive and patronising by a leading Muslim peer.

Baroness Warsi, the shadow minister for community cohesion, claimed the move was another example of Labour’s discredited policy of state multiculturalism and would just drive communities in Britain further apart. She pointed out that Muslims face the same issues as young people from other backgrounds, and said it is wrong to chose advisory groups purely on the basis of faith.

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DCLG announces PVE funding

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Department of Communities and Local Government has published a list of organisations that will receive financial support from the Community Leadership Fund, under DCLG’s Preventing Violent Extremism initiative. No funding for the Muslim Council of Britain, of course, but £125,000 over the next two years for much smaller and far less representative British Muslim Forum. Which only serves to underline the accuracy of Salma Yaqoob’s criticisms of PVE.

Vicar could be disciplined for blog slurs against gays and Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Peter MullenA Church of England vicar could face disciplinary action for saying gay men should have “sodomy” warnings tattooed on their bodies. The Rev Peter Mullen, who is a parish priest and rector in the City of London, made the remarks on his blog, which has since been removed from the web under an agreement with diocesan officials.

Mullen, 66, wrote it was time for religious believers to recommend the discouragement of homosexual practices in the style of cigarette packet warnings. “Let us make it obligatory for homosexuals to have their backsides tattooed with the slogan sodomy can seriously damage your health and their chins with fellatio kills.”

In a previous posting Mullen anticipated an “agreeable carnage” at the start of the annual Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. “They usually manage to stampede and slaughter quite a few hundred of their co-religionists. Just imagine for a moment what a field day the BBC and the leftwing press in England would have if anything even remotely as bad as that happened in Vatican Square at Christmas or Easter.”

Mullen criticised the lack of jokes about Islam in the media, remarking that adherents “certainly lend themselves to ridicule: sticking their arses in the air five times a day. How about a few little choruses, ‘Randy Muslims when they die/Find 70 virgins in the sky’?”

Guardian, 6 October 2008