Irfan al-Alawi and Stephen Schwartz of the so-called Center for Islamic Pluralism continue the witch-hunt of Tablighi Jamaat over the proposed new mosque – or “Ken’s mega-mosque” as they now dub it – at Abbey Mills in East London. The article contains the welcome news that Asif Shakoor and the Sunni Friends of Newham, who were co-operating with Irfan al-Alawi in the campaign against the mosque, “now profess indifference about the project”.
‘New Muslim congressman avoids loyalty questions’
“When the first Muslim congressman in U.S. history, Keith Ellison (Hakim-Mohammed) of Minnesota, won the 2006 election and was making the regular thank-you-to-my-supporters speech, he allowed his fans to shout, ‘Allahu Akbar!’, the same phrase allegedly used by the 9/11 suicide pilots.
“Since November he’s addressed various different Islamic groups and organizations, and he’s used the Quran to be sworn into office. He’s also been linked to Islamic organizations with questionable agendas. What he hasn’t done is respond to requests from WND to confirm that he will, in fact, base his decisions on the laws of the United States on the U.S. Constitution, not the Quran.”
World Net Daily, 5 January 2007
If similar accusations of “dual loyalty” were levelled at a US Congressman who was Jewish it’s not difficult to predict what WND’s response would be.
‘Radical Islam and British universities’
“It is fairly common knowledge that insofar as terrorism is concerned, what happens in England will most certainly, eventually, happen in America. FSM Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan, in this utterly shocking and carefully documented expose, informs us of our future. When you read this, you will not be able to sleep until you are certain that we can stop such infiltration in our own homeland.”
Family Security Matters, 4 January and 5 January 2007
Makes Anthony Glees appear almost reasoned and objective by comparison.
Islamophobes mislead US senator
“Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) recently rescinded an award to Basim Elkarra, the executive director of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). This disturbing news was met with a flurry of rhetorical high-fives by anti-Muslim extremists in the blogosphere. After Boxer’s decision to rescind the award was made public, Elkarra received an e-mailed death threat. That threat is being investigated by the FBI.”
Parvez Ahmed in The American Muslim, 6 January 2007
No foreign finance for Italian mosques
ROME: Italy’s interior minister said the threat of terrorism remains a reality in Italy, and vowed to take a close look at who is financing Italy’s many mosques and who is teaching at Islamic schools.
Giuliano Amato proposed following France’s example of creating a foundation to manage money destined for religious groups, in remarks published Friday in Italy’s leading dailies and confirmed by his office.
“The spread of mosques in Italy that are built with money from foreign states is unacceptable,” Amato told Italian reporters. “There’s something about that that I don’t like. I want to know who is financing what in my country.”
Last year, France created a new foundation to handle financing for France’s Muslim community, for building and renovating mosques and other projects. The foundation has representatives on the board and allows France’s government to play a role in the issue, without breaking its 1905 rule that forbids the government from financing religions.
“The idea is to at least have foundations so we can have some transparency,” said Amato’s spokesman, Fabrizio Forquet. In Italy “mosques are set up by whomever and are financed by such foreign countries as Saudi Arabia,” Forquet added. “So what are these mosques? Are they a religious site or centers for propaganda?”
Hamza Roberto Piccardo, secretary of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy, an umbrella group for Italy’s Muslims that has a reputation for radicalism, dismissed the idea.
“Free church in a free country, that’s all I’m going to say,” Piccardo said. “The constitution says religious communities set themselves up according to their own statutes, and a secular state only needs to worry that everything is done legally.”
Associated Press, 5 January 2007
See also “Italy to monitor mosque funding”, BBC News, 5 January 2007
A bipartisan wave of Islamophobia
Members of Congress are stoking racism against Muslims and Arabs. And it isn’t only right-wing Republicans – one of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate stands guilty of promoting Islamophobia.
The ‘demonization’ of Muslims and the battle for oil
“Throughout history, vilification of the enemy has been applied time and again. The Crusades consisted in demonizing the Turks as infidels and heretics, with a view to justifying military action. Demonization serves geopolitical and economic objectives. Likewise, the campaign against ‘Islamic terrorism’ … supports the conquest of oil wealth. The term ‘Islamo-fascism’, serves to degrade the policies, institutions, values and social fabric of Muslim countries, while also upholding the tenets of ‘Western democracy’ and the ‘free market’ as the only alternative for these countries….
“Demonization is applied to an enemy, which possesses three quarters of the world’s oil reserves. ‘Axis of evil’, ‘rogue States’, ‘failed nations’, ‘Islamic terrorists’: demonization and vilification are the ideological pillars of America’s ‘war on terror’. They serve as a casus belli for waging the battle for oil….
“Vilification of the enemy is part and parcel of Eurasia energy geopolitics. It is a direct function of the geographic distribution of the World’s oil and gas reserves. If the oil were in countries occupied predominantly by Buddhists or Hindus, one would expect that US foreign policy would be directed against Buddhists and Hindus, who would also be the object of vilification.”
Michel Chossudovsky in Global Research, 4 January 2007
Spanish bishops fear rebirth of Islamic kingdom
Spain’s bishops are alarmed by ambitious plans to recreate the city of Cordoba – once the heart of the ancient Islamic kingdom of al-Andalus – as a pilgrimage site for Muslims throughout Europe.
Plans include the construction of a half-size replica of Cordoba’s eighth century great mosque, according to the head of Cordoba’s Muslim Association. Funds for the project are being sought from the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, and Muslim organisations in Morocco and Egypt.Other big mosques are reportedly planned for Medina Azahara near Cordoba, Seville and Granada.
The bishops of those cities are alarmed at the construction of ostentatious mosques, fearing that the church’s waning influence may be further eclipsed by resurgent Islam financed from abroad.
Parish at war over ‘anti-Islam’ booklet written by local doctor
The community of the most northerly parish on the Shetland mainland has been left bitterly divided over the suspension of a local doctor who distributed a controversial religious pamphlet to his patients which critics claim is highly offensive to Muslims.
Dr Mick Russon, who has been an associate GP at the Hillswick health centre since 2004, was suspended by the Shetland Health Board after he sent out a 46-page booklet, entitled Proclamation, to more than 200 people in the parish of Northmavine. The health authority took the disciplinary action after receiving a complaint from a member of the public. His case has now been referred to the General Medical Council.
The pamphlet makes no direct reference to the Islamic faith, but critics claim that Dr Russon’s repeated references to a “Babylonian Moon God” and Satan are a thinly veiled attack on Allah and that he is asserting that Islam is Satanic.
Dr Russon states in the pamphlet: “Satan is the Babylonian Moon God; a cult that has become probably the most oppressive of women throughout time. There are probably more people worshipping the Moon God at this moment in time than at any previous time in the history of mankind; it is probable that most who follow him do so out of fear and not reverence.
“As each successive world empire has reached its height, it is largely the conflict between politics and finance that brings it down. We have seen this only too well in recent days, when the buildings that represented the centre of global trade were destroyed by those who carry the symbols of the Babylonian Moon God. I of course refer to the events now universally referred to as 9/11.”
FBI: we saw shock Guantánamo abuse
FBI agents have blown the whistle on sickening abuse of prisoners at the notorious Guantánamo Bay camp in Cuba.
A dossier compiled by agency bosses on guards’ conduct has been released in full for the first time. It tells how prisoners suspected of being al-Qaeda sympathisers and held without charge were subjected to horrifying physical and psychological torture.
Some guards allegedly dressed as priests to “baptise” Muslim prisoners. A detainee was subjected to a degrading lap dance by a topless female guard and others had their prayers interrupted by guards splashing fluid on their faces and telling them it was menstrual blood.
An inmate was badly beaten after revealing he had recently had abdominal surgery. And several were placed in unheated, darkened cells and interrogated for 24 hours non-stop. One FBI witness reported being told that then US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld had approved this technique.
Glasgow Daily Record, 4 January 2007
The Pentagon plans no action as a result of a newly released FBI report on detainee abuse at the Guantánamo Bay military prison, a spokesman said Wednesday, asserting there is nothing new in the report.