The right sort of Muslim – Yedioth Ahronoth profiles Kasim Hafeez

Kasim Hafeez Stand With UsAs a child, Kasim Hafeez often heard his father praising Adolf Hitler, lamenting only the Nazi tyrant’s failure to kill even more Jews during World War II.

A son to a British family of Pakistani origin, he grew up in a fundamentalist Muslim community that called for the destruction of all Jews and taught him to believe that that Israel is a terror state.

But after years of taking part in anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic activity, Hafeez’s beliefs took an unexpected 180-degree turn. The man who now calls himself “a proud Muslim Zionist” has arrived in Israel for a four-day visit on Saturday as part of his effort to battle misinformation about the Jewish state.

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Church shows support for Murfreesboro Islamic Center

Christian and Muslim leaders came together to support the Murfreesboro Islamic community and imam Ossama Bahloul Sunday afternoon at The Village Church in East Nashville. “We just really wanted to reach out to him and to let him know that we cared about his community and him and that we would be praying with them,” said Dr. Andrew Anyabwile, Village Church pastor.

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Wilders’ war against Islam

By the end of Marked for Death, we see what Wilders is leading up to – a horrifying vision of a fortress Europe, defending “freedom” through the deployment of totalitarian state powers to expunge Islam from the continent. His recommendations are reminiscent of the discriminatory social control measures taken against Jews and other minorities under Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Wilders, of course, is careful to disavow violence and reiterate he hates Islam, not Muslims. But it is difficult to deny the implicitly violent subtext of his sweeping proposals, including a halt to all Muslim immigration, payments to settled immigrants to leave, cessation of building of mosques, and taxation of Muslim religious practices such as the headscarf. Most disturbing is his endorsement of Israeli-style “administrative detention” (indefinite internment without trial on security grounds) in Europe as part of criminal operations in Muslim communities; not to mention the forcible deportation of tens of millions of Muslims from Europe for “thinking” about “crime” or “Shari’ah”.

Yasmin Qureshi and Nafeez Ahmed examine the political programme presented in Geert Wilders’ Marked for Death: Islam’s War Against the West and Me.

Independent, 4 June 2012

Germany: how far-right Islamophobes hijacked political debate

Freiheit statt IslamGermany’s Salafist Muslims are back in the spotlight. Since early May, hardly a week has gone by without another regional or national politician in the country proposing new ways to counter the group’s extremist version of Islam or a major German newspaper publishing yet another exposé on the group’s insular isolation from the mainstream. Just on Friday, interior ministers from Germany’s 16 states, at a regularly scheduled conference with federal Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, resolved to be increasingly firm in their dealings with the Salafists.

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Businessman launched bigoted rant against Muslim airport worker … after reading article in Daily Mail

Anthony HoltA high-flying businessman was hauled before the court for a tirade of religious abuse at a Muslim immigration official waiting to check his passport.

Anthony Holt, 65, had become wound up after reading an article in the Daily Mail about the “victimisation of Christianity” on a flight into Manchester. When he landed, the retired consultant refused to go through a desk where Sayima Mohammed was on duty.

He astonished witnesses by pointing at her and saying: “I don’t want to be seen by that. I don’t want to be seen by any Muslim in a position of authority. I want to be seen by someone who’s English. This is England. This is my country. I’m not into all this Islam.”

As Ms Mohammed burst into tears, her colleagues refused to check Mr Holt’s documents and ordered him to calm down. When police arrived, Holt turned his attention to a cop, saying: “That’s Islam. I’m not going to that. This is my country.” The 15-minute row only ended when he was arrested.

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Braintree: Bus company investigates racism claim

A Muslim woman claims she was not allowed on to a bus because she was wearing a head scarf.

Mel Walker, 31, alleges she was prevented from boarding the number 70 bus from Braintree High Street at 1.30pm on Friday, despite arriving in plenty of time for the service and seats being available.

It was the first time Ms Walker of Brickbarns in Great Leighs had worn a headscarf in public and believes she was the victim of a racist incident.

First Bus say they are aware of the incident and have launched a full investigation.

Braintree & Witham Times, 2 June 2012

German president sparks debate with Islam comments

President Joachim Gauck has said in a newspaper interview that Muslims living in Germany are more definitively a part of the country than the religion of Islam, a slight change from the stance of his predecessor.

When asked about a quote from the previous president, Christian Wulff – who had said that “Islam is now also a part of Germany” – Gauck told the newspaper Die Zeit that he would not have used this particular sentence, adding “but I do welcome the intent behind it.”

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