Parents and pupils in one of Britain’s largest Muslim communities have clashed with their council after the introduction of a ban on girls wearing strict Islamic dress to school. At least three girls are staying away from classes in protest at the ban in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. Others face possible expulsion by continuing to wear the clothing in defiance of the restriction.
‘Another murder committed by political Islam’
“Yesterday Theo van Gogh, a journalist and a filmmaker, was brutally murdered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He was murdered because he cared and dared to expose the inherent misogynism in and the brutal nature of Islam. An act, which sadly, nowadays calls for great courage …”
Azar Majedi of the Worker Communist Party of Iran solidarises with the anti-Muslim racist Theo van Gogh.
Organisation for Women’s Liberation-Iran statement, 3 November 2004
A response to CAIR’s findings on anti-Muslim sentiment
The Council on American Islamic Relations released a poll in October, concluding that nearly one-third of Americans hold negative stereotypes of Muslims, such as: Islam encourages oppression of women; Islam teaches violence and hatred; Muslims value life less than other people, and Muslims teach their children to hate unbelievers.
Steven Stalinsky of the Middle East Media Research Institute says Americans are quite correct.
Students’ demand for Ramadan’s withdrawal fails
Angry cries from several far-left and Jewish student groups demanded Tariq Ramadan’s removal from the European Social Forum (ESF), which was held two weeks ago in London.
In an emergency motion put forth by the National Union of Students (NUS), the renowned European Islamic scholar was deemed a threat to student interests because of his support of Shari’ah (Islamic Law), which the resolution states “denies basic human rights for women and homosexuals.”
The move enraged Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS), the umbrella federation group of student Islamic societies in Britain, who said it was passed without any sound proof or consultation with a Muslim organisation. “They provided no evidence whatsoever,” said Jamal El-Shayyal, an executive member of FOSIS.
“If any of these people were to read one chapter of Ramadan’s [book] To Be a European Muslim they would see that any of the accusations levelled against him are not only false but ludicrous. Particularly seeing as he has recently been promoted by the Foreign Office as a model for integration and positive participation in Western societies.”
“If you’re going to call Ramadan an extremist then who’s next?” he added.
Study reveals prevalent anti-Muslim stereotypes
A new study reveals one in four Americans still hold stereotypes of Muslims.
The study, sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, found many Americans still believe Muslims teach their children to hate and that they value life less than others.
“We have mixed feelings [about the poll]. On the one hand it’s disappointing to see there is such a high number of Americans holding negative views. It explains the animosity there is against Muslims both by the government and fellow Americans,” Director of the CAIR Chicago chapter Yaser Tabbara said.
Muslims number around 150 in the Bloomington-Normal area with about seven million across the United States. Since 9-11, the Muslim community has taken center stage in politics and the news.
“The media is the main source of these stereotypes. The news is sensational and a lot of people don’t have anything else to compare it to, so they are only getting that side of the story,” Tabbara said.
“Muslims are the new immigrant group and they have stereotypes against them like all other new immigrant groups did before us,” Tabbara added.
Salma Yaqoob: hijab – a woman’s right to choose
Addressing the European Social Forum in London on 16 October, Salma Yaqoob gave a brilliant speech in defence of the democratic right to wear the hijab. A transcript can be read here on the website of the National Assembly Against Racism.
Tariq Ramadan under vile press campaign in France
Swiss Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan is at the center of a vile campaign by rightist French magazines and newspapers, which accuse him of spearheading what they called the political Islam drive in Europe.
Seeking to blemish his reputation after he had been catapulted into the limelight as a paradigm for moderate Muslims, L’Express magazine ran a front-page photo of Ramadan titled, “The man who wants to establish Islamism in France”.
The ferocious attack came hard on the heels of Ramadan’s success in grabbing the attention of the third round of the European Social Forum, which concluded on October 17. Ramadan took part in three fringe symposiums, calling on Muslims in Europe to fully integrate into their societies, stop casting in the victim mould and get rid of the minority complex.
L’Express further published excerpts from Ramadan’s lectures and seminars recorded on audio tapes, branding them as an outspoken call for Islamizing French society.
It also quoted Ramadan as encouraging Muslims to respect European constitutions so long as they were in line with Islam. “It means that Ramadan has no respect for European constitutions,” the magazine said.
MEMRI reports reaction to Qaradawi’s non-existent fatwa
“At a convention on the subject of ‘Pluralism in Islam’ which took place in late August, 2004 at the Egyptian Journalists’ Union in Cairo, Sheikh Dr Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and one of the most important religious authorities in Islamist circles, issued a religious legal opinion permitting the abduction and killing of American civilians in Iraq in order to pressure the American army to evacuate its forces.”
For MEMRI Special Dispatch No.794, “Reactions to Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi’s Fatwa Calling for the Abduction and Killing of American Civilians in Iraq”, see here.
For an article by Egyptian journalist Fahmi Hawaydi exposing the falsity of the charge against Qaradawi, see here.
Tariq Ramadan speaks out on reform, moderation and faith
Interview with Tariq Ramadan in Egypt Today, October 2004
Minutes of NUS NEC
The 5 October 2004 meeting of the National Union of Students executive adopted a resolution calling for Tariq Ramadan’s invitation to speak at the European Social Forum to be withdrawn. It’s worth noting that Alan Clarke of the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty, who moved the motion, justified his call for a ban by citing the fact that Professor Ramadan’s US visa had been withdrawn. This was of course due to an intervention by the Department of Homeland Security – an organisation created by George W. Bush as part of the “war on terror”. Sometimes you think the AWL can’t possibly sink any lower – only for them to prove you utterly wrong.