Author Archives: Bob Pitt

How wrong of Oxford to still the call to prayer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Central Mosque OxfordPhilip Hensher on the campaign against Oxford Central Mosque’s proposal to broadcast an amplified call to prayer:

“Of course, Oxford has quite a lot of calls to prayer already in the form of church bells, but this suggestion has raised the ire of local residents. Some claimed it was a matter of ‘community cohesion’ – rather a dubious notion if it leads to recommendations that minorities keep quiet, all in all.

“An academic told the paper ‘What an utter cheek to inflict this on a non-Muslim area of Oxford. Christian churches ring bells, but they are just a signal. The Muslim call is a theological statement.’ (In Arabic, I feel I should point out, so it’s not all that likely that the non-Muslim area of Oxford will be roused to technical disagreement with the muezzin.)

“Though I can’t claim any enthusiasm for the forces of organised religion, and don’t care for anything which increases the general noisiness of modern life, one does wonder why people are objecting so virulently. I very much doubt that the Oxford central mosque is a hotbed of anti-western hatred, and they themselves sound genuinely puzzled why such objection to one of their central traditions is so violent. Personally, not caring about or indeed understanding what the muezzin is saying, I find the sound one of the most romantic and wonderful in the world.”

Independent, 15 January 2008

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Phillips backs Bish

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The flight of the white middle classes from the inner cities is accelerating, the Government’s race relations chief has said. Trevor Phillips said so-called ”white flight” – an American phenomenon now increasingly seen here – was deepening racial segregation.

Mr Phillips has warned in the past of the growing polarisation of the country along ethnic lines. But his use of the emotive term ”white flight” will fuel the controversy triggered by the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester.

He said last week some Muslim enclaves were “no-go areas” for Christians and there was a need for greater integration. Mr Phillips, who chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the Bishop was right to raise the issue because white families were moving out of areas with high ethnic minority populations.

Sir Andrew Green, the chairman of Migrationwatch, praised Mr Phillips for confronting the evidence of “white flight”. “This is another courageous contribution from Trevor Phillips, who is clearly prepared to face the facts about the current strains in our society,” he said. “We would add – although he does not – that massive levels of immigration are a significant factor in this.”

Daily Telegraph, 15 January 2007

Oslo mosque boosts security after pig’s head and a Nazi flag left inside entrance

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The World Islamic Mission’s mosque in Oslo has boosted security measures after somone left a pig’s head and a Nazi flag inside the mosque’s entrance during Friday prayer services.

“It’s clear that someone has done this to provoke us,” the chairman of World Islamic Mission, Jehangir Bahadur, told newspaper Aften on Monday. He called the act “offensive” and “a clear threat” against the mosque. “Pork is strictly forbidden in Islam, and that makes the incident very serious,” he said.

Bahadur said the mosque has also received racist e-mail that it hadn’t been taking very seriously, but that’s changed now. World Islamic Officials reported the unwelcome delivery of the pig’s head and Nazi flag, which occurred just before Christmas, to Oslo police.

Tom Gulliksen of the Grønland Police Station, nearest the mosque, said a police investigation was suspended for lack of evidence, but it will be taken up again if new leads emerge. A surveillance camera picked up an image of the person making the delivery, but it was too grainy to reveal any identity.

Both the flag and the pig’s head were sent to the police crime lab. Since Nazi items were involved, Norway’s criminal intelligence unit PST was notified as well. “I think that the person who did this is either unbalanced, or was mounting a PR stunt,” Gulliksen said.

Aftenposten, 14 January 2008

Shop bans head scarves and hijabs

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Whitegate Wines noticeShoppers wearing head scarves have been banned from a shop because the owner said they cannot be properly identified.

The ruling at Whitegate Wines off-licence and Convenience Store, Padiham Road, Padiham, includes those wearing the hijab – the traditional Muslim head wear. A sign on the door states: “Due to CCTV coverage all headwear must be removed before entering the shop.”

One customer complained after he sent his 13-year-old daughter in to buy a soft drink and crisps on her way back from school. He said: “She returned empty-handed. I then went in with my wife and she was told she would not get served. First we tried to explain that unlike a hoodie or a hat Muslim women wear the hijab for religious reasons. Then we tried to explain that if a bank accepts customers wearing a headscarf then shouldn’t that mean this shop should too? But the staff were having none of it.”

Owner Tom White said security was the overriding concern. “The police told us that a person is more identifiable if all the headgear is removed. So we have decided to implement the policy across the board so as not to favour anyone. I have also been told I am perfectly within my rights to do this. As you may understand shops such as ours are targeted by shoplifters and security is therefore a major concern for us. The policy has been in place for about a year and a half. In that that time shoplifting has gone down.”

When asked if any Hijab wearing women had committed any shoplifting in the past Mr White said, “No”.

Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 15 January 2008

And note the readers’ comments on the report. For example: “About bloody time someone has the guts to stand up to these people. You cannot walk into a bank with a crash helmet on or pay for petrol, so why should they be allowed to wear these Hijab. Am not a racist but if people want to live in our country then they should abide by our rules. When me and the wife go on holiday to places like Dubai we have to abide by their rules, ie no drinking alchohol. Lets get control of this country. Well done again Tom White.”

Another dubious tale of cultural ‘surrender’ to Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Daily Express carries a report that a Muslim shop assistant at a Marks & Spencer store in Reading refused to serve a customer buying a children’s book on Christianity on the grounds that it was “unclean”. Except that, even by the Express‘s own account, this story is disputed. A “source close to the shop assistant” is reported to have said that there has been a misunderstanding. “I think there was some confusion over what the customer heard”, she is quoted as saying.

Not that this leads the Express to question the accuracy of its report, of course. An editorial, headed “Surrender to minority is a parable for our times“, states:

“That a Muslim shop assistant working for Marks & Spencer should feel entitled to refuse to serve a customer buying a book of Bible stories says a lot about what is wrong with Britain today. The absurd culture of political correctness does not only hold the public sector in its grip but is now increasingly dominant among large private sector companies, too…. The incident hints at a workplace culture in which the unreasonable demands of a minority group routinely hold sway…. Every time our institutions surrender to the unreasonable demands of minorities to be excused tasks which the majority are expected to perform, they hammer another nail into the coffin of harmonious race relations.”

And the Express is of course well known for its consistent promotion of harmonious race relations.

Meanwhile the Daily Star opines: “So, here’s the latest news from the frontline of multicultural Britain. A Muslim working as a Marks & Spencer checkout operator refused to sell an ‘unclean’ book of Bible stories. It’s a pity she wasn’t sacked on the spot.”

Update:  The Daily Telegraph reports: “Shop sources said the assistant may have been referring to her hands which were dirty and she did not want to touch the book for fear of marking it. A Marks and Spencer spokesman said: “We are surprised by the allegation and are investigating it thoroughly. It appears there has been a misunderstanding over what was said.”

Austrian authorities investigate Islam-bashing by rightist lawmaker

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Susanne WinterVIENNA –  Remarks by a right-wing politician denouncing Islam and accusing the Prophet Mohammed of having been a paedophile provoked widespread outrage in Austria on Monday, with authorities investigating whether they constituted hate speech.

Susanne Winter, a candidate for the Freedom Party in local elections in Graz in south-eastern Austria, said on Sunday that Mohammed’s marriage to a 6-year-old girl would make the prophet a “paedophile in today’s system”. Speaking at a rally, Winter demanded that Islam should be “thrown back where it came from, beyond the Mediterranean Sea”.

Winter later justified her attacks. “There is widespread child abuse by Muslim men,” she was quoted as saying by the newspaper Oesterreich. “Why can’t I say this? That has nothing to do with hate speech.”

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 14 January 2008

See also Al Arabiya  and Spiegel Online

Diana’s mother ‘condemned her as disgrace for seeing Muslim men’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Diana, Princess of Wales, was condemned by her mother as a disgraceful “whore” who was messing around with Muslim men, the inquest into her death heard today.

Paul Burrell, the Princess’s former butler, told the High Court that he had been allowed to listen into a telephone call where Frances Shand Kydd rounded on her daughter for having a relationship with Hasnat Khan, a Pakistani consultant cardiologist.

Mr Burrell said: “Well she called the Princess a whore and she said that she was messing around with f****** Muslim men and she was disgraceful and said some very nasty things.” It was this telephone conversation, Mr Burrell admitted, that prompted the Princess to sever links with her mother, who has since died.

Times Online, 14 January 2008

‘Al-Qaeda’s white army of terror’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Hundreds of British non-Muslims have been recruited by al-Qaeda to wage war against the West, senior security sources warned last night. As many as 1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam for the purpose of funding, planning and carrying out surprise terror attacks inside the UK, according to one MI5 source…. Security experts say the growing secret army of white terrorists poses a particularly serious threat as they are far less likely to be detected than members of the Asian community.”

Scotland on Sunday, 13 January 2008

Paranoid nonsense, you might think, but let’s be fair –  it does provide a strong argument against racial profiling.

Pastor received call as part of alleged campaign against mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

First Baptist ChurchSeveral days before a hearing in which a zoning board denied a request to build a mosque here, a Bellbrook pastor and her husband received a phone call from a woman urging local residents to show up at the board meeting and oppose the mosque, the husband said.

The caller said the mosque should be blocked “because of what it says in the Quran, and these are bad people,” said Brooks Heck, whose wife Terry is pastor of Bellbrook United Methodist Church. Brooks Heck is pastor of South Park United Methodist Church in Dayton. The caller identified herself as a member of First Baptist Church of Kettering, now located in Sugarcreek Twp., Brooks Heck said.

About 300 people showed up for the Thursday night meeting when the board of zoning appeals voted 5-0 to deny a variance request that would have permitted the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton to build a mosque for up to 975 people and a family center for up to 400 on 15 acres it owns on South Alpha-Bellbrook Road. The board denied the request because of the adverse impact on neighborhood traffic and property values.

Barry Jude, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Kettering, said he didn’t know of a calling campaign prior to the board meeting, but he said there have been announcements at his church urging Sugarcreek Twp. and Bellbrook residents to oppose the zoning. “We promote and propagate Christianity first and foremost,” he said.

Karen Dabdoud of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Cincinnati said she was surprised by the zoning denial. During a public hearing in October, township officials “told us this was a pretty simple and straightforward application and they didn’t see any problems with it,” she said.

“This kind of thing is unfortunately very common across the country,” Dabdoud said. “It’s usually framed in terms of traffic and property values, but underneath it is a situation of religious tension.”

Dayton Daily News, 13 January 2008