When Muslims are charged with something the word Islam or Muslim is attached to whatever crime they are accused of, and the story makes the front page headlines, when they are found not guilty or innocent, that goes somewhere on the back pages in small print.
Sheila Musaji lists some examples.
Help! It appears that “the very cultural stability of the Queen’s country is at stake, as the cries for Sharia ring louder and broader than ever” – according to Marc Sheppard, writing at The American Thinker, 2 March 2007
When the Bush administration shut down the nation’s largest Muslim charity five years ago, officials of the Dallas-based foundation denied allegations it was linked to terrorists and insisted that a number of accusations were fabricated by the government. Now, attorneys for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development say the government’s own documents provide evidence of that claim.
In recent court filings, defense lawyers disclosed striking discrepancies between an official summary and the verbatim transcripts of an FBI-wiretapped conversation in 1996 involving Holy Land officials. The summary attributes inflammatory, anti-Semitic comments to Holy Land officials that are not found in a 13-page transcript of the recorded conversation. It recently was turned over to the defense by the government in an exchange of evidence.
Those who think that Muslim countries and pro-terrorist attitudes go hand-in-hand might be shocked by new polling research: Americans are more approving of terrorist attacks against civilians than any major Muslim country except for Nigeria.
The survey, conducted in December 2006 by the University of Maryland’s prestigious Program on International Public Attitudes, shows that only 46 percent of Americans think that “bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians” are “never justified,” while 24 percent believe these attacks are “often or sometimes justified.”
Contrast those numbers with 2006 polling results from the world’s most-populous Muslim countries – Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Terror Free Tomorrow, the organization I lead, found that 74 percent of respondents in Indonesia agreed that terrorist attacks are “never justified”; in Pakistan, that figure was 86 percent; in Bangladesh, 81 percent.
Kenneth Ballen in the Christian Science Monitor, 23 February 2007
Robert Spencer is outraged: Jihad Watch, 25 February 2007
Video evidence of the rise in Islamophobia in the US.
“I saw something eerie this week. It wasn’t an apparition exactly, but rather a head-spinning blur of headlines about global jihad that, rather incredibly, began to take on the unmistakable shape of a British old school tie.
“How? Maybe I should start by explaining it was the old school tie that came to mind first in the form of a new publication on British education: namely, a 72-page manifesto (sorry, ‘guidance’) from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) on how British state schools might better accommodate children from the Muslim community, which, according to the 2001 census, makes up 2.7 percent of the British population.
“Did I say ‘better’ accommodate their Muslim pupils? I mean, much, much better accommodate them. In fact, if the British were to adopt half of the MCB’s recommendations for making British schooling Muslim-friendly, they might as well re-issue the 19th-century boy’s school classic as Abdullah Brown’s School Days. At the crux of the Muslim council’s document is a call for special treatment for Britain’s Muslim students that is so special as to reorient the entire British system according to Islamic law….
“And what does all of this have to do with that blur of jihad stories mentioned at the top of the column? First, consider the headlines. In Pakistan, a liberal-minded minister (and wife and mother of two) was assassinated for not wearing a veil. (The shooter reportedly said, ‘I have no regrets. I just obeyed Allah’s commandment’.) Also in Pakistan, barbers received threatening letters warning them against continuing their ‘anti-sharia work’ cutting customers’ beards. (One barber told the Associated Press that two dozen barbers have responded by asking customers not to request shaves.) In London, a Muslim father killed his wife and four daughters (ages 16, 13, 10, and 3) because, according to the Telegraph, ‘he could not bear them adopting a more westernised lifestyle’.
“What is quite eerie about these horrific crimes is the striking fact that the perpetrators, who acted to avenge various infractions of Islamic law, would likely feel right at home in a British state school that had adopted the Muslim Council of Britain’s recommendations. In other words, the outlaws and the advocacy group are working in their different ways to enact Islamic law. Which should teach us all a lesson – if we bothered to learn it.”
Diana West in the Washington Times, 23 February 2007
For further comment on the MCB report, see Rolled Up Trousers and Indigo Jo Blogs.
“It’s nice to see everyone raising their voices to protest the sentencing of Egyptian blogger Abdel Karim Nabeel to four years in prison. International criticism of escalating Egyptian repression can only be good, whether the criticism is official or NGO or public. I add my voice to those who call for a revisiting of the verdict and for his release from prison.
“At the same time, I can’t help but note that Nabeel is far from the only political activist in Egyptian jails right now. The Egyptian regime is engaging in an unprecedented crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. Hundreds of its members have been arrested and referred to the notorious state security courts, their businesses closed down and their bank accounts frozen, without even a trace of due process. Some Muslim Brothers are even bloggers, if that’s what it takes to get people to care. Because not many people seem to.
“This selective outrage, where Westerners care about one anti-Islamist blogger but can’t be bothered about equally arbitrary and illiberal repression of hundreds of Islamists, only reinforces general skepticism that this isn’t really about freedom, human rights, or democracy.”
Marc Lynch at Abu Aardvark, 22 February 2007
“Is Islamic jihad just a harmless form of spiritual struggle – as is often argued by Western apologists for radical Islam? Is Jihadi violence simply a twisted, hijacked version of Islam, rejected by traditional Muslims? The David Horowitz Freedom Center’s new Terrorism Awareness Project, which seeks to educate Americans, and especially college students about jihad, confronts questions such as these. It has produced a powerful new flash video, What Every American Needs to Know About Jihad. This video is adapted from a new pamphlet by Robert Spencer, which puts the threat of jihadist ideology into historical perspective. As Spencer makes clear, the religious imperatives of jihad demand the subjugation or killing of infidels and form the poisoned logic of Islamists’ expansionist war against America and the West.”
“England is known for its impressive churches. However, they have become increasingly void of worshippers. At the same time, Muslims with mosques have moved in. Some Methodist churches are now inhabited by Muslims due to Methodist parishioners declining in number …. A move-in by Muslims is frightening. However, if Christians slacken, sow their convictions to the winds, as Jesus stated, an empty house will be housed by demons seven times over. That is exactly what appears to be occurring in England, for example. No doubt a European sweep of things forecasts the same spiritual tragedy. All the more that America must remain vigilant in guarding its Judeo-Christian heritage.”
The Reverend Grant Swank at The Conservative Voice, 20 February 2007
A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called for disciplinary action against a public high school teacher in North Carolina who reportedly allowed the distribution of Islamophobic literature in his class.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says a Muslim parent whose daughter attends the Raleigh, N.C., high school reported that the teacher invited a guest speaker who handed out literature in his ninth-grade social sciences class that compared the teachings of Jesus with false accusations against Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. (Muslims in fact view Jesus as a Prophet of God equal to the Prophet Muhammad.)
Anti-Islam materials, including a pamphlet called “Jesus Not Muhammad,” were handed out in the class by a representative of a North Carolina-based Christian missionary group. The pamphlet labeled the Prophet Muhammad “A criminal,” “Demon Possessed,” and “Inspired by Satan.”
Another document given to the students was titled “Do Not Marry a Muslim Man.” The document stated: “His [Muhammad’s] militant commands and pagan beliefs are contained in the Koran, the book of Islam…. The Koran is the book of Islam that Muhammad claimed was revealed to him by Allah, the moon god of Arabs.”
CAIR press release, 21 February 2007
Update: See “Teen’s dad says ‘anti-Muslim’ literature handed out in class isn’t freedom of speech”, Fox News, 23 February 2007
Update 2: See “ACLU of North Carolina to investigate reports of anti-Muslim proselytizing to high school students”, ACLU press release, 27 February 2007