Racist attacker tried to rip veil off Muslim woman

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An attacker tried to rip off the veil of a Muslim woman while racially abusing her, police said today. The 37-year-old woman was crossing a busy park near Solent University in Southampton on Thursday when a white man aged in his 20s approached her. He started shouting racial abuse and told her to remove her veil. Police said the attacker then attempted to take the veil off, but failed as the woman managed to push him and walk away.

Pc Leigh Walker said: “This attack was particularly degrading for the victim who has strong religious beliefs that don’t allow her to remove her veil in public with men around. We need to put a stop to this kind of behaviour by someone who is ignorant to the diverse society that we live in. We will not stand for any type of racial or religious abuse and will deal with anyone who does abuse or assault people like this robustly. There were plenty of people in the area as it was daytime and plenty at the nearby bus stops, so lots of people must have seen what happened.”

Daily Echo, 13 January 2007

Birmingham mosque leader critical of hate speech

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The leader of a Muslim society whose Birmingham Mosque supplied a platform for a preacher of hate said the address damaged good work there.

Sparkbrook mosque, run by UK Islamic Mission, hosted a meeting led by controversial Muslim militant, Dr Ijaz Mian, in June. In a TV investigation preachers were seen praising the Taliban, and saying of a British Muslim soldier who died in Afghanistan: “The hero of Islam is the one who separated his head from his shoulders.” Dr Mian was one of dozens of speakers and groups to hire out rooms at the UKIM complex on Anderton Road in Sparkbrook, which boasts a mosque and community centre.

Wolverhampton-based Mohammed Akhtar, Secretary General of UKIM, said UKIM was a moderate group which had never espoused extremist views, although it did disagree with Government policy. It has run an Islamic centre for more than 20 years and regularly stages inter-faith dialogues.

“We do disagree with a lot of policies by Government and the decision-making bodies but there are ways to address them, and we try to work alongside them through dialogue and peaceful protest,” said Mr Akhtar. “Something like this comes and destroys all the good work our group does. Islam teaches us to live in a non-Islamic environment as good neighbours. Multi-culturalism is part of Islam.”

Birmingham Post, 12 January 2007

Misbah’s father denies school bid

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The father of runaway schoolgirl Misbah Rana has denied reports that she is to study Islam at a controversial religious school in Islamabad. He said: “It’s totally untrue. She is not enrolled in any madrasa. She made a statement saying she was interested in doing some Islamic studies and was looking at different schools. There are plenty of schools in Lahore – why would she go to Islamabad? She only went there to meet friends.”

BBC News, 13 January 2007

German politician lectures Muslims on Enlightenment values

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The German interior minister came out strongly against the burka Thursday, saying the body-covering garment worn by some religious Muslims impeded communication and obstructed integration. Calling on German and European Muslims to embrace European laws and norms, the minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, said he generally accepted the rights of Muslims to wear the head covering of their choice but that the burka was a step too far.

“Politicians should not deal with headgear of men and women. But the burka is different,” he said in outlining Germany’s agenda for its European Union presidency. “You can’t see the eyes of someone, and that is the opposite of what we believe communication should be like. Integration requires communication, and we don’t want to isolate each other.”

Schäuble, a leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center right Christian Democratic Union, added that he wanted to make Muslim integration a key issue of the six-month EU presidency, which began this month. Alluding to the recent terrorist plots in Britain, Denmark and Germany – which are alleged to have been perpetrated by second-generation home-grown radicals – he said it was essential to prevent the entrenchment of “parallel communities” where Muslims lived on the fringes of European society.

Pointing to a values gap apparent in some elements of Islam, he noted that Christianity had undergone an Enlightenment after the excesses of the Crusades, while parts of the Islamic world had not experienced it. He added that Muslims in Germany needed to accept universal human rights, including the equal treatment of men and women.

New York Times, 11 January 2007

See also “Islam urged to accept Enlightenment”, Boston Globe, 12 January 2007

Muslim Council of Britain responds to Dispatches documentary

Posted on by Bob Pitt

From the latest transcript it is clear that Monday’s heavily hyped ‘Dispatches’ is an attempt to forment sectarian divisions among British Muslims and misrepresent some leading UK Muslim institutions, including the Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, the London Islamic Cultural Centre and the UK Islamic Mission.

“Islam commands Muslims to deal positively and peacefully with those around us. These transcripts show that the programme makers have mischievously tried to prove that key Muslim institutions are teaching the exact opposite by resorting to the dishonest tactic of selectively quoting from some recorded speeches for the purpose of misrepresentation. Their aim is to attach guilt by association. This continuing demonisation of British Muslims and the risible attempt at promoting sectarianism among British Muslims will be firmly rejected,” said Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain.

At the same time, the Muslim Council of Britain urges all Muslim institutions to be vigilant and ensure that their premises are not allowed to be abused by those who are intent on pursuing divisive agendas. Unacceptable and inflammatory language can never be accepted from Muslim speakers either during talks or on recorded DVDs. It is vital that the sanctity of mosques and Islamic centres is maintained at all times and an Islamic code of conduct upheld.

MCB press release, 12 January 2007

LINKS
MCB letter to affiliates & press release, 15th January 2007 (2MB pdf file, 15th Jan 2007)

Response from the UK Islamic Mission
Response from the Islamic Cultural Centre, London
Response from the Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-hadith UK

‘Molly Campell’ joins Taliban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Having had to abandon their initial lies about Misbah Rana – that she had been kidnapped by her Pakistani father, that she was being subjected to a forced marriage – the media have now come up with a new angle. Mishbah (or Molly Campbell, as they still insist on calling her) has been recruited by a group of al-Qaida sympathisers. She has joined a madrassah in Islamabad where one of the teachers even holds the outrageous view that when Muslim countries are attacked by the US they should resist.

Times, 11 January 2007 and Daily Mail, 11 January 2007

See also Abdiel, 12 January 2007

Update:  See “Misbah’s father denies school bid”, BBC News, 13 January 2007

Guantánamo protest at US embassy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Guantanamo protestA British boy whose father has been detained at the Guantanamo Bay camp delivered a letter to Downing St, ahead of a protest outside the US Embassy.

Anas el-Banna, 10, handed in his fourth letter to Tony Blair, reflecting the years his father had been held. He was accompanied by MP Sarah Teather, as campaigners marked the fifth anniversary of the camp’s opening.

The demonstration was one of a number organised around the world by human rights group Amnesty International. A petition was also handed in.

More than 300 protesters gathered outside the US embassy for the hour-long demonstration. They were dressed in orange boiler-suits, as worn by prisoners in the early stages of the camp, as well as blindfolds, goggles and face-masks.

BBC News, 11 January 2007

Boy charged over fire bomb attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Medina DairyA teenager has been charged with arson in connection with a fire bomb attack on a dairy owned by a Muslim family.

The Medina Dairy in Dedworth, Berkshire, was the scene of several nights of violence in October last year. Police arrested at least eight over the disorder and put a dispersal order in place around the dairy.

The 16-year-old boy from Windsor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged over an incident on 4 October. A police spokesman said: “The charge relates to an incident at the dairy in Vale Road on the evening of 4 October 2006, where a bottle containing accelerant was allegedly thrown at the property’s front door.”

The boy has been bailed to attend Maidenhead Youth Court on Tuesday 16 January.

BBC News, 10 January 2007