Fifth columns - _Romancing the Jihad
_Romancing the Jihad by Clifford D. May on National Review Online_
(http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODRhNTNiOTYzZDAxYmYzZTZjMDg5ZGQ1Yjk
wM2MyYzE=)
April 16, 2009 12:00 AM
Romancing the Jihad
Why are so many on the Left enamored with Islamism?
By Clifford D. May
Ask those on the Left what values they champion, and they will say
equality, tolerance, women’s rights, gay rights, workers’ rights,
and human rights. Militant Islamists oppose all that, not infrequently
through the application of lethal force. So how does one explain the
burgeoning Left-Islamist alliance?
I know: There are principled individuals on the Left who do not condone
terrorism or minimize the Islamist threat. The author Paul Berman,
unambiguously and unashamedly a man of the Left, has been more incisive
on these issues than just about anyone else. Left-of-center
publications such as The New Republic have not been apologists for
radical jihadists.
But The Nation has been soft on Islamism for decades. Back in 1979,
editorial-board member Richard Falk welcomed the Iranian revolution,
saying it “ may yet provide us with a desperately-needed model of
humane governance for a third-world country.” Immediately after Sept.
11, 2001, longtime Nation contributor Robert Fisk complained that
“terrorism” is a “racist” term.
It is no exaggeration to call groups such as MoveOn.org
pro-appeasement. Further left on the political spectrum, the
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition sympathizes with both Islamists and the
Stalinist regime in North Korea — which is in league with Islamist
Iran and its client state, Syria. Meanwhile, Hugo Chávez, the
Bolivarian-socialist Venezuelan strongman, is developing a strategic
alliance with Iran’s ruling mullahs and with Hezbollah, Iran’s
terrorist proxy.
In a new book, _United in Hate: The Left’s Romance with Tyranny and
Terror_ (http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=1935071602) ,
Jamie Glazov takes a hard look at this unholy alliance. A historian by
training, Glazov is the son of dissidents who fled the Soviet Union
only to find that, on American campuses, they were not welcomed by the
liberal/Left lumpen professoriate.
Glazov’s book indicts artists and intellectuals of the Left — e.g.
George Bernard Shaw, Bertolt Brecht, and Susan Sontag — for having
“venerated mass murderers such as Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, and Ho
Chi Minh, habitually excusing their atrocities while blaming Americans
and even the victims for their crimes.”
Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Left spent several years
wandering in the wilderness. Many of them, Glazov suggests, looked upon
the terrorist attacks of 9/11 less as an atrocity than as an
opportunity to revive a moribund revolutionary movement.
Jimmy Carter, Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Ramsey Clark, Lynne Stewart,
and Stanley Cohen are among the luminaries of the Left Glazov accuses
of having found common ground with Islamists.
He notes that the novelist Norman Mailer called the 9/11 hijackers “
brilliant” and their terrorism “understandable” because
“everything wrong with America led to the point where the country
built that tower of Babel which consequently had to be destroyed.”
Dario Fo, the Italian Marxist who won the 1997 Nobel Prize for
literature,
said that Wall Street speculators “wallow in an economy that every
year kills tens of millions of people with poverty, so what is twenty
thousand dead in New York?” Similarly, media mogul Ted Turner called
the 9/11 terrorists “brave,” adding that “the reason that the
World Trade Center got hit is because there are a lot of people living
in poverty out there who don’t have any hope for a better life.” The
German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen called 9/11 “the greatest work
of art for the whole cosmos.”
And then there is Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal,
who in 2003, from his prison cell, published a book called
Revolutionary Islam that urged “all revolutionaries, including those
of the left, even atheists,”
to accept the leadership of militant jihadists, Osama bin Laden key
among
them. His reasoning: “Only a coalition of Marxists and Islamists can
destroy the United States.”
page
Glazov quotes the British lawmaker, George Galloway, elaborating on
the rationale for this coalition. “Not only do I think [a
Muslim-leftist alliance is] possible, but I think it is vitally
necessary and I think it is happening already,” Galloway said.
“It is possible because the progressive movement around the world and
the Muslims have the same enemies. Their enemies are the Zionist
occupation, American occupation, British occupation of poor countries,
mainly Muslim countries. They have the same interest in opposing savage
capitalist globalization, which is intent upon homogenizing the entire
world, turning us basically into factory chickens which can be
force-fed the American diet of everything from food to Coca-Cola to
movies and TV culture and whose only role in life is to consume the
things produced endlessly by the multinational corporations.”
#ad#There also is an older tradition to build on. In the 1970s, the Red
Army Faction — West German Marxist terrorists also known as the
Baader-Meinhof gang — went to Jordan to train with the Palestine
Liberation Organization. And in 1979, the success of the Islamist
Revolution in Iran depended, in large measure, on the support given by
the Iranian Left to the Ayatollah Khomeini. Once firmly in power, the
clerical regime repaid its leftist enablers with executions,
assassinations, and prison sentences. Evidently, no lessons were
learned.
Glazov concludes that the Left’s “romance with Islamism is just a
logical
continuation of the long leftist tradition of worshipping America’s
foes. . . . The Left clearly continues to be inspired by its undying
Marxist conviction that capitalism is evil and that forces of
revolution are rising to overthrow it — and must be supported.” On
that basis, militant Islamism is regarded as a “valiant form of
‘resistance’ against American imperialism and oppression.”
If such values as equality, tolerance, and human rights are crushed in
the process, that’s a price many on the Left are willing to pay.
Those on the
Left who disagree should perhaps speak up more loudly and more often.
— Clifford D. May, a former New York Times foreign correspondent, is
the president of the _Foundation for Defense of Democracies_
(http://defenddemocracy.org/) , a policy institute focusing on
terrorism.
© Scripps Howard News Service
MUSLIM COUNCIL of BRITAIN
Press Release
MCB Supports Multi-Faith Call for Migrant Amnesty
17 April 2009
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is supporting a multi-faith call for
migrant amnesty and called upon thousands of its supporters and
affiliates to join the 4th May rally in London. The rally will be
calling for large numbers of refused asylum seekers and visa overstayers
to be made citizens. The Strangers into Citizens Day of Action and
Celebration is expected to be one of the largest ever public acts by
Britain's faith communities, and the biggest pro-immigrant crowd ever
assembled.
Muslims will be meeting in designated mosques and community centres
across London before heading to Trafalgar Square where they will join
with churches, associations and trade unions to argue for a one-off
amnesty. Some 3,000 Muslims are expected to meet at 11:30 am at Tothill
Street, SW1, before marching on to Trafalgar Square where they merge
with thousands waving Union Jack flags arriving for the Strangers into
Citizens rally at midday in Trafalgar Square, at which 20,000 are
expected. Among those speaking in the square will be Dr. Abdul Bari,
Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain.
Dr Bari said: "This is a humanitarian issue. There are many immigrants
who have more or less settled in this country, some with their families.
Many have come from various countries for different reasons. Now that
they are here, and as long as they are undocumented, they cannot
contribute economically, even though they contribute to the fabric of
society. They are not recognised and it is important that they and their
contribution be recognised, so the whole country can benefit".
The Strangers into Citizens Day of Action and Celebration will bring
together Muslims, Christians, Chinese, Latin-Americans and other
communities an exuberant day of diversity and performances. The Muslim
Council of Britain, a consortium of 500 mosques, charities and community
groups has been working with other charities, NGOs and faith groups to
fight for the common causes that affect the lives of ordinary Britons.
_Wilders: Sequel for 'Fitna' in the works | International | Jerusalem
Post_
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A Dutch lawmaker is planning to make a sequel to the anti-Islamic film
that sparked protests among Muslims around the world.
Dutch right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders.
Photo: Courtesy
SLIDESHOW: _Israel & Region _
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Geert Wilders said in an interview published Thursday in a Dutch
newspaper that the film will likely come out next year. He said it will
not be a copy of "Fitna," the film he released on the Internet last
year that coupled images of terror attacks with verses from the Koran.
"This is the next phase," Wilders said in the interview printed in De
Telegraaf. Wilders leads the Freedom Party, which has nine lawmakers in
the 120-seat Dutch Parliament. He did not immediately answer messages
seeking comment. He was banned from visiting Britain in February because
the government deemed him a threat to "community harmony and therefore
public security." He also is being prosecuted in the Netherlands on a
hate-speech charge for comments insulting Muslims. Wilders told the
Telegraaf he has "offers from people in New York and Hollywood" to help
make the film but provided no specifics. Ahmed Aboutaleb, the
Moroccan-born mayor of Rotterdam, played down Wilders' new film plans.
"I hope he finds a good director because the first one wasn't much of a
success," he said.
Daily telegraph
MoD investigating British Taliban bomber claims
The MoD is investigating claims that a UK-born bombmaker is killing
British soldiers in Afghanistan.
By Ben Leach
Last Updated: 11:10AM BST 15 Apr 2009
The man was identified after his DNA was found on an unexploded roadside
device defused by disposal experts in Afghanistan's Helmand province,
according to The Sun. The newspaper reported that the trace was sent to
the UK for analysis and fed into a database of criminals and terror
suspects.
It proved an exact match for a known Muslim extremist naturalised in
England after arriving from Pakistan. It is believed that he became
radicalised in the UK before leaving for Afghanistan two years ago. The
DNA find is the first physical proof of the existence of British Taliban
soldiers. Surveillance operations from the warzone have previously
picked up voices talking with West Midlands and Yorkshire accents,
according to official briefing documents. Christine Bonner, whose
31-year-old son Darren died in the conflict two years ago, told The Sun:
"This man has double-crossed us all." The 52-year-old added: "Our
soldiers are out there trying to help people get a decent life. To think
people like Darren get attacked by their own countrymen is sickening."
More than 50 British personnel have been killed and more than 200
seriously wounded in Helmand by a Taliban bombing campaign launched 18
months ago. The Ministry of Defence refused to comment on the
allegations. But a spokeswoman said: "Improvised explosive devices pose
a significant threat to the safety of our forces."
Daily telegraph
Muslim group Tony Blair promised to ban calls for 'jihad' at London
rally A leader of a radical Muslim group which Tony Blair promised to
ban four years ago has called on followers to support "jihad" against
Israel at a rally in London.
By John Bingham and Tom Whitehead
Last Updated: 8:47PM BST 17 Apr 2009
Dr Imran Waheed, told followers of Hizb ut-Tahrir that there could be
"no peace" with Israel and urged them to "fight in the way of Allah". A
leaflet distributed by the international wing of the organisation also
called for Muslim countries to "eliminate the state of the Jews".
Airport face scanners 'cannot tell the difference between Osama bin
Laden and Winona Ryder' The remarks increased pressure on Jacqui Smith,
the Home Secretary, to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir. Patrick Mercer, the Tory
chairman of the Commons Counter-Terrorism Subcommittee, said Dr Waheed's
comments appeared to represent "incitement to violence" and accused the
Government of performing a U-turn on an earlier commitment to ban it.
Speaking in Downing Street in August 2005, just a month after the London
bombings, Mr Blair announced a wider crackdown on extremism, adding: "We
will proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir and the successor organisation of Al
Mujahiroun." The group, advocates the setting up of an Islamic
"caliphate" or nation and describes itself as "unashamedly anti-Israel".
But it insists that it is exclusively non-violent and denies accusations
of anti-Semitism. Critics say that the group, which has thrived on
university campuses, is a gateway to more extremist groups, something
which it also vehemently denies. Addressing a rally at Marble Arch in
January following the Israeli military action in Gaza, Dr Waheed – the
group's media adviser in Britain who was banned from entering Indonesia
in 2007 – said that there was "no need for conferences, no need for
treaties, no need for negotiations". In the speech, highlighted by the
think tank the Centre for Social Cohesion, he added: "There will be no
peace and no negotiations with the illegitimate entity of Israel." He
went on: "There is only one solution to the occupation of Muslim lands,
one solution to the cries of the widows and the orphans, one solution to
avenge the death of the elderly and the children ... fight in the way of
Allah those who fight you. Al-Jihad." A leaflet available on the group's
international website, dated Jan 19 2009, criticises the governments of
Muslim countries which have attended peace summits as "shameful".
"Instead, it was their duty to eliminate the state of Jews that has
usurped Palestine," it added. A spokesman for the Home Office said that
the group's status was being reassessed in light of the latest remarks
but said that the decision to proscribe an organisation must be
"proportionate". But Mr Mercer, said: "These comments strike me as
inciting violence which is illegal. "The Home Secretary must make up her
mind as to whether the organisation is to be proscribed or not and if
she is not going to proscribe it she has got to explain why the last
Prime Minister said that it would be." He added: "There is no doubt that
Hizb ut-Tahrir is a clever organisation but so far they have always just
managed to keep within the limits of legality. "I believe that the
Government ought to be absolutely certain that they haven't crossed the
line this time." The group said in a statement: "Hizb ut-Tahrir is a
non-violent political organisation that never works outside of its
political and intellectual methodology anywhere in the world. "This is
well known and to portray anything to the contrary would be clearly seen
to be a lie." It added that Dr Waheed had been calling for the armies of
Muslim countries to withdraw support from their own governments and
support an Islamic caliphate rather than advocating violent revolution
in the Middle East. A Home Office spokesman said: "Hizb ut-Tahrir, along
with other organisations which cause us concern, is kept under
continuous review. "As and when new material comes to light it is
considered and the organisation reassessed as part of that process."
Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, of the CSC, said: "Although we must
recognise the vast differences between HT and al-Qaeda, we should be
careful not to dismiss the threat posed by this group, especially as a
gateway organisation to more violent jihadist movements." ???
daily telegraph
A Christian world under Islam's rule
Christopher Howse is surprised to discover that for 400 years, a half of
the world's professing Christians lived under Muslim rule.
By Christopher Howse
Last Updated: 7:50PM BST 17 Apr 2009
Comments 13 | Comment on this article
A striking fact has changed my view of Islam: that for 400 years,
between the Islamic victories of the seventh century until the end of
the 11th century, a half of the world's professing Christians lived
under Muslim rule.
Those were the centuries of St Bede and St Dunstan in England, of the
foundations of the congregation of Cluny and the order of Chartreuse in
France. The life of the other half of the body of Christians is quite
unknown to those of us who do not read Arabic or Syriac. At best we have
heard of St John of Damascus (died 749), who worked as a top civil
servant in the Umayyad caliphate.
In place of knowledge a series of myths has grown. One is of a cultural
golden age in Islamic Spain, with Muslims, Christians and Jews living in
harmony. Yet Americo Castro, who coined the word convivencia to describe
the life of the three faiths in the caliphate of Cordoba, wrote, in his
book The Structure of Spanish History: "Each of the three peoples of the
peninsula saw itself forced to live for eight centuries together with
the other two at the same time as it passionately desired their
extermination."
The tension was resolved in the reconquest of Spain by Christian forces
and the later terrible expulsion of Jews and Muslims. Spain was the only
territory long under an Islamic rule where Christians did not (from the
pressure of taxation, law and periodic massacre) eventually dwindle into
a helpless minority.
To be sure, philosophy and religious discussion flourished for a time in
Baghdad under the Abbasid caliphate, established in ad 750. How this
struck more hardline Muslims is shown in an account by a visitor from
Spain, Abu Umar Ahamad ibn Muhammad ibn Sadi. "I witnessed a meeting
which included every kind of of group: Sunni Muslims and heretics, and
all kinds of infidels: Majus, materialists, atheists, Jews and
Christians. Each group had a leader who would speak on its doctrine and
debate about it," he recorded with a shudder. "I never went back." This
snippet comes in a fascinating survey I mentioned two weeks ago, Sidney
Griffith's The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque (Princeton, 2008). He
gives a vivid picture of how Christians contributed to intellectual life
under the Abbasids, and how they developed their theology in response to
the stimulus of Islam. Theirs was a rich and unsuspected world. It is
well known that the West rediscovered ancient philosophy, notably
Aristotle, via Arabic translations. I had not realised that the majority
of the translators of Greek texts into Arabic in the lively early
Abbasid translation movement were Christians. One translator was
Patriarch Timothy I of the Church of the East. He lived in the
generation after John of Damascus, and he transferred his see from
ancient Ctesiphon in Persia to the new centre, Baghdad. Patriarch
Timothy, who ruled his church for 43 years, translated Aristotle's
Topics for the caliph al-Mahdi, in whose court he conversed with other
Aristotelian philosophers on knowledge and the doctrine of God. Such
discussions were not to endure. A straw in the wind was the
anti-Christian policy of al-Mutawakkil (who reigned as caliph from 847
to 861). It was he who squashed the philosophically rich speculation
within Islam exercised by the Mutazilite movement. In our own day,
praise of the great Islamic philosophers Ibn Sina (Avicenna), al-Farabi
or Ibn Rushd (Averroes) will win you few friends in orthodox Islamic
circles. The numbers of Christians in the territories of Islam declined
with the 13th?century Mongol invasions, followed by a rigorously hostile
interpretation of proper Islamic relations with Christians, advocated by
the permanently influential Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328). Christians who
still speak Syriac, Arabic and Coptic, who have survived the centuries,
deserve our understanding and help. ???Muslim Council of Britain
Press Release
MCB Condoles Demise of Lord George
20 April 2009
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) condoles the sad loss of Lord
‘Eddie’ George, the former governor of the Bank of England.
Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General, said "Muslims across the UK owe
a perpetual debt to Lord George. Apart from his outstanding career as a
public servant, we particularly remember his personal concern about the
exclusion of many Muslims from the financial system due to their
religious beliefs, and his pioneering work to remove the impediments to
Islamic finance in the UK. Without his involvement, the UK would not be
the leader of Islamic finance in the Western world. Our prayers are with
his family
Sentamu urges St George's holiday
The archbishop said the England flag was now a unifying symbol The
Archbishop of York has said that making St George's Day a public holiday
would promote unity in England. Dr John Sentamu asked an audience in
Oxford: "Has the time come to make the Feast of St George, the Patron
Saint of England, a public holiday?" He said people needed to be more
confident about their Englishness or risk extremists filling the vacuum.
"The truth is an all-embracing England, confident and hopeful in its own
identity, is something to celebrate." Addressing the Sunday Times
Literary Festival, he linked a lack of cohesive national identity with
political extremism. He said: "Previously an icon of extreme
nationalists, a sign of exclusion tinged with racism, the flag of St
George instead became a unifying symbol for a country caught up in the
hopes of 11 men kicking a ball around a field." The archbishop warned
that lack of cultural identity could lead to a "twisted vision" being
created by those dissatisfied with their heritage.
The archbishop said extremists would fill any vacuum in national
identity "Where there is no awareness of identity, there is a vacuum to
be filled," he said. "Dissatisfaction with one's heritage creates an
opening for extremist ideologies. "Whether it be the terror of
salafi-jihadism or the insidious institutional racism of the British
National Party, there are those who stand ready to fill the vacuum with
a sanitised identity and twisted vision if the silent majority are
reticent in holding back from forging a new identity." He emphasised his
speech was not intended as a criticism of multi-culturalism, but rather
a call for different communities and religious groups to "embrace"
England, and to add new elements to England's "fabric". "Englishness is
not diminished by newcomers who each bring with them a new strand to
England's fabric, rather Englishness is emboldened to grow anew," he
said. "Let us acknowledge and enjoy what we are."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/7983429.stm
daily telegraph
Schools to close on Muslim holidays in order to cut absence rates
Schools will be allowed to close for Islamic holidays in order to
improve attendance rates, under new plans.
By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent Last Updated:
5:27PM BST 20 Apr 2009
A child is seen among Muslims attending prayers during Eid al-Fitr,
which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan Photo: REUTERS Many
Muslim children are currently taken out of lessons to celebrate
religious festivals such as Eid. In an attempt to lower levels of
classroom absences, Manchester City Council is considering allowing
schools attended by large numbers of non-Christians to close on these
holy days.
ducation departments in some parts of east London, where the majority of
pupils are Muslim, already tell schools to close on two days for Eid.
But critics point out that Christianity remains the state religion in
England, and claim that communities risk becoming more segregated if
different groups are allowed to change the school calendar. Douglas
Murray, director of the Centre for Social Cohesion think tank, said:
“Either people are British and go to British schools and have a
particular holiday system, or we decide to carve the country up into
areas that are Muslim and non-Muslim, and I think that’s what this
does. “To have a quota above which schools are designated as Muslims
seems to be, putting it at its mildest, an unhelpful way to bring
cohesion to Britain. “I don’t see why, under pressure, education
departments should alter the way in which schools are run.” English
schools currently close for the main Christian festivals of Christmas
and Easter, but parents are allowed to take children out of lessons to
celebrate other religious festivals. This means that teachers can be
faced with half-empty classrooms in areas with high proportions of
non-Christian children, adding to official absence rates. Manchester has
the third worst school attendance rates in the country with a total of
8.2 per cent of lesson time lost. Almost one in 10 of all missed days in
the city’s schools is put down to religious observance. In an attempt
to improve the figures, it has been suggested that schools where more
than 40 per cent of pupils are likely to take a day off for religious
reasons should be allowed to consider closing. Headteachers will be
encouraged to hold teacher training days on the three days permitted for
non-Christian festivals, while the traditional school holidays will
remain unchanged. John Edwards, the council’s deputy director of
children’s services, told the Manchester Evening News: “We encourage
schools to work with local faith groups to develop guidance and
co-ordinate the times taken for religious observance. “It is about
asking schools to plan ahead and to try not to put themselves in the
position where they could be asked to allow additional absence.” Some
schools in London where the majority of pupils are Hindu or Sikh already
close on significant days in the calendars of those faiths, while
Bradford and Tower Hamlets recommends that its schools close on the
Islamic feasts of Eid al-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha, and hold teacher training
days instead. The local authority states: “Tower Hamlets policy is
that schools should close for Eid (these dates have been advised by the
East London Mosque). “It is important to ensure that all Muslim pupils
and staff can participate in religious observance without being absent
from school. This is consistent with the council’s attendance policy
that “every day matters”. “In 2005/6 the overall attendance
figures for Tower Hamlets were adversely affected by 0.5 per cent by
schools that remained open for Eid.” ???daily telegraph
Terror raids: Government accused of 'dishonourable behaviour' by Muslim
Council The Muslim Council of Britain has accused the Government of
'dishonourable' behaviour after nine men arrested in Easter terror raids
were released without charge.
Last Updated: 9:48AM BST 22 Apr 2009
The Government said it would not be prosecuting the nine but still
wanted to deport them, following their apprehension in Greater
Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire earlier this month. But the move
was criticised by the Muslim Council of Britain.
Spokesman Inayat Bunglawala told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "When
these arrests took place, in very dramatic circumstances with students
being pulled from universities and thrown to the floor, we were told by
the Prime Minister no less that this was part of a very big terrorist
plot. Clearly there just has not been the evidence produced to
substantiate such a plot. "We would hope that senior ministers and the
Prime Minister will understand that it is completely unfair to make
prejudicial and premature remarks in cases like this. He went on: "It is
perfectly understandable that not every arrest the police make will
result in charges being brought...that is the nature of this sort of
police work. "What is unacceptable though is for the Government to make
prejudicial remarks right at the outset. "And now, now that we learn
that actual evidence cannot be gathered to substantiate any terror plot,
instead of releasing them with good grace and making clear a mistake has
been made, the Government is seeking to deport them citing a very vague
national security threat. "That is a very dishonourable way of
proceeding." The move was also condemend by a lawyer acting for three of
the nine who claimed the arrests and detention were a "very serious
breach of their human rights". Mohammed Ayub of Chambers Solicitors,
Bradford, said deporting the men would only add "insult to injury" and
vowed fight the Government. In a statement, he said: "Our clients have
no criminal history, they were here lawfully on student visas and all
were pursuing their studies and working part-time. Our clients are
neither extremists nor terrorists. "Their arrest and detention has been
a very serious breach of their human rights." The operation on April 8
was brought forward after an embarrassing security breach by a senior
officer. Then Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick was photographed carrying
documents clearly marked "secret" with details of an ongoing police
investigation into Downing Street. His gaffe meant the raids were staged
earlier than planned, and he resigned the next day. The nine men, aged
between 22 and 38, were released last night by Greater Manchester Police
into the custody of the UK Borders Agency (UKBA). A Home Office
spokesman said: "We are seeking to remove these individuals on grounds
of national security. "The Government's highest priority is to protect
public safety. Where a foreign national poses a threat to this country
we will seek to exclude or to deport, where this is appropriate." But Mr
Ayub insisted his clients should be allowed to "complete the studies
they came here for" and said he intended to challenge the deportation
orders. He added: "As a minimum our clients are entitled to an
unreserved apology and no further action should be taken against them."
Counter terrorist teams arrested 12 men in the apparently rushed raids,
including 11 Pakistani nationals and one Briton. Ten of the suspects
held student visas. Two of the men remain in custody while the 12th man,
aged 18, had already been handed to the UKBA on April 11. A Greater
Manchester Police spokeswoman (GMP) said searches were continuing at a
property in Galsworthy Avenue, Cheetham Hill, Manchester. She said:
"Protecting the public is the main focus of the police. These arrests
were carried out after a number of UK agencies gathered information that
indicated a potential risk to public safety. "Officers are continuing to
review a large amount of information gathered as part of this
investigation. "Investigations of this nature are extremely complex. We
remain grateful to the support and co-operation of the communities
affected." The nine men have the right to contest deportation through
the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. It can overturn decisions by
the Secretary of State to deport people from the UK on national security
grounds. The panel granted bail to Dr Mohammed Asha, who was cleared of
involvement in a car bomb plot in London and Glasgow, in January this
year, despite Government claims that he was a risk. The Jordanian was
allowed to return to work and will go to a full deportation hearing
later in the year. The raids in the north-west raised questions over
security checks on foreign students, which shadow Home Secretary Chris
Grayling declared were a "major loophole" in immigration rules. He said:
"The Government admits that student visas are a major loophole in our
border controls. "Given these latest revelations we need to urgently
step up monitoring of applications from parts of the world where we face
terror issues." Government figures showed 42,292 student visas were
issued to Pakistani students between April 2004 and April 2008. ???
MUSLIM COUNCIL of BRITAIN
Press Release
European Parliament Elections: Muslims Urged to Register before May 19
Deadline
22 April 2009
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is urging British Muslims to
register to vote for the forthcoming European elections on Thursday 4
June 2009. The deadline for registration is Tuesday 19 May 2009 and
details are available on the website www.aboutmyvote.co.uk
"The directives of the European Parliament do eventually influence
national policies and the MCB now seeks follow-up action to the many
studies that have been commissioned on the issues of tackling xenophobia
and racism in Europe. In electing our MEPs, we need to ensure that they
are committed to issues of social justice and civil liberties", said the
MCB Secretary General Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari.
In countering the extreme right wing danger, the MCB is partnering with
many like-minded organisations and individuals to form a broad
coalition. We call upon all voters to play their part and make informed
choices on polling day.
From Cross to Crescent
Why Latinos are Increasingly Converting to Islam
By Anthony Chiorazzi
BustedHalo.com
May 14, 2007
As a girl in Catholic school, Khadijah Rivera dreamed of becoming a nun
despite the fact she feared Jesus. She was frightened by her church’s
bloodied statue of Christ nailed to the cross and was plagued with fear
when receiving communion. "When I used to put the host in my mouth," she
says, "I never bit it. I let it melt because I was afraid to bite the
body and blood of Christ." Years later, as an adult, she says she has
now gotten over these fears and learned to love Jesus more. The reason
for her change of heart? Rivera converted to Islam.
According to Rivera, who founded PIEDAD, a Latino Muslim organization
based in Tampa, Florida, with over 300 members nationwide, Latino
Muslims are on the rise. In America, they are close to 100,000 and
growing, more than doubling their numbers in less than a decade.
Rivera says reading the Koran played a role in her conversion. "Here’s a
book that explained to me in a logical matter why we’re on earth," she
says. "What we’re suppose to do and where we go afterward. All the
questions you could ask are answered in the Koran."
Now, as a Muslim who wears the hijab, or headscarf, Rivera, 56, says she
doesn’t fear Jesus because she understands him. "I don’t see him as God,
but as a man who was a messenger of God and a special prophet."
A Supportive Forum
Latino Muslims can be found in sizable numbers in metropolitan centers
where large populations of both Latinos and Muslims reside, including
Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Miami.
LALMA (Los Angeles Latino Muslim Association) is one of the several
Latino Muslim organizations in California. The organization began eight
years ago with five members and now has over eight times that amount and
still growing. LALMA offers not only Spanish speaking educational
classes on Islam but also a supportive forum for Latino Muslims.
Marta Felicitas Ramirez, the leader of LALMA, says that she came to
Islam through much soul-searching, study and by privately reciting the
shahada ("There is no God but God and Muhammad is God’s messenger") and
witnessing immediate answers to her problems.
The 9/11 Factor
According to the Harvard University Pluralism Project, statistics show
that there has been an increase in conversions to Islam in the US since
9/11. Many Latino Muslims attribute this to the media focus on Islam in
the wake of events like 9/11 and the Iraq war. They believe that due to
the extensive media coverage, people grow curious about Islam, check it
out and often find truth in it.
Ramirez contends that for many of these traditionally Catholic Latinos,
their conversion is eased by the fact that they don’t have to abandon
their love of Jesus and Mary because both are highly regarded in Islam.
The Koran dedicates an entire chapter to Mary.
Jesus, Mary and Islam
Jihad Turk, Director of Religious Affairs at the Islamic Center of
Southern California, says that there is more written in the Koran about
Mary or Jesus than Muhammad. Turk says it’s also important to remember,
"Muhammad came with the final brick for a beautiful building."
In short, Turk says that Muslims believe that Jesus was born from a
virgin birth, performed miracles—including healing the sick and raising
the dead—and was the Messiah (a man chosen by God to lead the Jewish
people back to God’s ways).
However, there are major differences. Unlike Christians, Muslims don’t
consider Jesus divine or believe he rose from the dead. They also don’t
believe in the idea of inherited Original Sin and that a divine
atonement had to be made by a God-Man to bridge man’s eternal separation
from God. According to Islam, Jesus was one of many prophets sent by God
to turn mankind back to the ways of the Almighty. Muslims believe that
Muhammad was God’s last prophet.
Leaving the Faith
Some believe that the conversions of Latinos from the faith of their
ancestors isn’t motivated by theological issues. "The reason why some
Latinos are leaving the Church for Islam is they never really understood
Catholicism," argues Fr. Lawrence Seyer at the University of Southern
California’s Catholic Center. "They have a very cursory understanding of
it, but what excites them about Islam is the discipline—no alcohol, a
more structured prayer program and great sense of community."
Nevertheless, Seyer adds that if these converts are seeking the truth
and can find it better in their new group than in a dysfunctional
Catholic group that they left, then maybe in the end, they will be
better off. "But what we might at least hope for," says Seyer, "is that
they will explore this new faith, learn from it and then realize the
wisdom they always had in the Catholic Church and come back home."
Fr. Bill Delaney, senior priest of St. Agnes Church in South Los
Angeles, which sits only a few blocks down from where LALMA often meets,
says the reason why some leave is because they are not involved enough
with their own parish. "It’s all about getting people connected," says
Delaney.
At St. Agnes—which is over 90 percent Latino—that connection is made
through a 300-member charismatic prayer group that meets once a week.
Delaney says that any Catholic who experiences one of their high-charged
services will see another side of Catholicism that will draw them closer
to their faith and Catholic community.
Trouble with the Trinity
In the two years that Turk has been Director of Religious Affairs at the
Islamic Center, he has seen over 100 converts to Islam and a majority of
them have been Latino Catholics.
His experience suggests there may be more of a theological basis to
these conversions than some might think. According to Turk, when
Christians—Catholics in particular—were asked why they wanted to convert
to Islam, without exception they said they had always believed in God
but never could make sense of the Trinity and felt that Islam just made
more sense. "There is no leap of faith in Islam," says Turk.
"I always felt that ‘God the Father’ in the Trinity was the real boss
and whenever I prayed, that’s who I had in mind," says Ricardo Pena, a
Latino convert to Islam living in Chicago. Pena says that as a devout
Catholic, he never believed that Jesus was God. The Islamic idea that
God is absolutely one—with no parts—and that Jesus is not God but a
prophet just made more sense to him.
Pena was further attracted to Islam when he learned that it embraced
Moses, Abraham, Adam, Eve and other biblical figures. "After hearing
that, I was completely blown away," says Pena. "How is it that they
believe in ‘our’ prophets? I thought Islam had nothing to do with
Christianity or Judaism." Pena wanted to learn more.
After studying Islam for seven months, Pena, along with his brother,
became a Muslim in 1995. But when Pena told his parents, they didn’t
take it too well. "We broke the news to them at about 8:30 or 9 PM one
night and didn’t conclude the dramatic fallout until four in the
morning."
Today his family is much more accepting. In fact, his older sister and
her husband have since converted to Islam as well. "We are still hoping
for our parents, though," says Pena.
Islamic prayers mingled with the bustling sounds of traffic as he
prostrated himself in prayer in a little mosque in Havana, Cuba, recalls
Diego Santos, a Cuban-American who traveled to the communist state not
long ago to visit his family.
A recent convert to Islam and a writer who prefers not to use his real
name, Santos says that Islam in Cuba—like in America—is becoming more
visible and that during his stay he found no attempt to repress it. In
fact, after jum’a, Friday prayers, Santos talked openly in Spanish about
Islam with fellow Muslims while strolling down the crowded streets of
old Havana, even passing the government offices of the Cuban Community
for the Defense of the Revolution, which has a notorious reputation for
being the snitch center for Cuban rule breakers. "Nobody was hiding
their Islam in Havana," says Santos.
Back in Los Angeles, Santos attends meetings of the Los Angeles Latino
Muslim Association (LALMA), an organization working to help inform the
Latino community about Islam. Santos says as a Cuban-American that he
has been well embraced by the Muslim community in America because his
conversion confirms Islam as a universal religion. Santos hopes that
more people will understand that Islam is for everyone whether they live
in Europe, America or even Cuba.
Spanish Roots
And for many Latino Muslims living in America, Islam has brought them
closer to a community they’ve long felt estranged from—Muslim Spain.
Ramirez, leader of LALMA, says that the Catholicism brought to the
indigenous people of the New World by the Spanish was not voluntary. It
was forced, brutal and genocidal.
On the other hand, Ramirez says, Islam represents a religious tradition
brought to Latin America via Muslim slaves that was much more accepted
and self-sustained, despite continuous efforts by the colonial powers to
viciously stomp it out.
"I think my learning about Islamic Spain gave me an impetus for learning
more about Islam, and may have played a role in my conversion," says
Juan Alvarado, a spokesperson for the Latino American Dawah Organization
(LADO), a national organization based in New York that promotes Islam
among Latinos. Alvarado lives in a rural part of Pennsylvania with no
Muslims and has to travel an hour to the nearest mosque.
Muslim Renaissance
A great source of pride for Latino Muslims is the understanding that
many major advances in the areas of science, medicine, mathematics and
philosophy have Arab and Muslim origins. In fact, John L. Esposito,
Islamic scholar and author, says, "Many of the great medieval Christian
philosophers and theologians—Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, Roger
Bacon—acknowledged their debt to their Muslim predecessors."
The Latino-Arab connection is also evident in other areas. According to
Alvarado, many common Hispanic surnames have Arabic origins. For
example, Garcia comes from the Arabic word Gharsiyya; Medina from
Madina; Padilla from Abdillah and Ventura from Ben Tura. Latino Muslims
say that up to 4,000 words in Spanish are Arabic in origin.
Converts and Challenges
Despite the historical nexus between Muslim and Latino traditions, there
still remain cultural challenges and stereotypes for Latino Muslims to
overcome. Jurlio Moreno, 58, who lives in Los Angeles and is a member of
LALMA, says that when he converted to Islam his wife asked him if he was
a terrorist. Moreno responded: "You have known me my whole life. You
know I’m no terrorist."
After 9/11, the headscarf-wearing Khadijah Rivera, founder of the
Florida-based PIEDAD, says someone spat in her face and others shouted
obscenities at her. "I could have taken off my hijab (head scarf) or
spoken out," says Rivera. Rivera chose to speak out and went on the
popular Christina talk show and said that you can’t blame Islam for 9/11
any more than you can blame Christianity for what Timothy McVeigh did in
Oklahoma.
As Latino Muslims, Pena says they share in the same persecution that
other Muslims face in America. The only difference, says Pena, is that
Latino Muslims can remain concealed if they choose. "Because my name is
Ricardo Pena and not Osama Al-something, people generally assume that I
am anything else but Muslim."
Pena adds, "I always joke that people react to us as though they had
just seen a Leprechaun. ‘Look honey! It’s a real live Latino Muslim.’"
Keeping the Culture
Dawud Khalil-ullah Abdullah, 54, a Muslim educator in Los Angeles, says
that Allah did not send Islam to destroy any culture, but to purify it.
"You’re free to stay in whatever culture you were born into," says
Abdullah. "You can be a Mexican and keep eating burritos and tacos, and
you don’t have to change what you eat or how you dress as long as it
fits within Islamic perimeters. You can’t eat menudo with pork in it,
but you can eat menudo without the pork."
Khadijah Rivera says that there are still challenges for Latinos
Muslims, but some things don’t change. "I may have converted to Islam,"
she says. "But I haven’t lost my salsa, my zest for life."
http://hispanicmuslims.com/
daily telegraph
Muslims and Jews to be allowed to have different post-mortems Muslims
and Jews will be able to stop traditional post-mortem examinations being
carried out on the bodies of dead relatives under Government plans.
By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 9:29PM
BST 21 Apr 2009
Followers of the religions object to current standard inquest procedures
as they involve corpses being cut open, and can take place several days
after death. Both Islam and Judaism teach that bodies should be buried
as soon as possible after death, and must not be defiled.
Third post-mortem for G20 protest victim Ian Tomlinson confirmed In an
attempt to accommodate their beliefs, the Government is to allow the
devout to opt for alternative examinations of their loved ones by
pathologists, which will not delay burial or involve invasive
procedures. Following the success of pilot projects in Salford and
Bolton, those who object to post-mortems on religious grounds will be
allowed to ask for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan of the bodies
to be carried out instead. However coroners will be able to overrule
their request if they believe the cause of death could not be
ascertained through an MRI scan, commonly used to look for cancerous
tumours in patients.
Currently families who ask for these scans, carried out out-of-hours by
hospital radiographers, must pay £500 for them but funding has not been
decided for the nationwide scheme, which will be open to people of all
faiths.
The proposals are included in the Coroners and Justice Bill, which will
also aim to ensure that coroners can be contacted around the clock so
Muslims and Jews can bury their dead as soon as possible, especially at
weekends and Bank Holidays.
The Justice Minister, Bridget Prentice, visited Rochdale Infirmary,
whose MRI scanner is used to carry out non-invasive post-mortems by the
Bolton coroner. She said: "The loss of a loved one is extremely
difficult for any family to deal with. For some individuals and members
of faith groups, the thought of an invasive post-mortem can compound the
grief and distress, particularly when the procedure is against the
tenets of the individual's faith. "We have listened carefully to
bereaved families and are pleased to propose these reforms which will
allow coroners to consider the wishes of the family and faith issues and
where possible conduct an MRI scan in place of an invasive post-mortem."
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said: "We are pleased that our
concerns, particularly in relation to expediting the death certification
process and non-invasive post-mortem examinations, have been taken into
account." Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the former general secretary of the Muslim
Council of Britain who has advised the Government on Islamic burial
requirements, said: "This announcement will certainly be welcomed in the
Muslim community. It has always been an issue of some concern." ???
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