Michael Totten, one of the others who go to Azerbaijan to speak at the conference on Azerbaijani - American relations, sent me a link to this article at Slate about Wahabbism in this country. It seems that Wahabbis, who support the radical Saudi-version of Islam, are trying to make converts by taking over mosques. Most such mosques have been closed down by the Azerbaijani government, which logically fears Wahabbis, but one remains open. (more…)

Tahmena Bokhari is a remarkable young lady. PoliGazette had the pleasure to talk to her. Below follows the interview. (more…)

This op-ed over at Al Jazeera reminds me of an awful lot of communist and fascist writings as published in Europe in the first (and communist / socialist; also second half) of the 20th century; radical idealism hiding behind a mask of intellectualism. (more…)

Nu.nl, a Dutch news website, reports that several Serbs have been found guilty of involvement in the genocide against Muslim Bosnians in Srebrenica. Back in 1995, Serbs - Christians - forced the Dutch UN peacekeepers to hand Srebrenica over to them - or the Dutch simply surrendered without fighting because they lacked courage; whatever interpretation suits you. Shortly afterwards many Muslim men were killed by the Serbian forces. (more…)

Islamists have threatened a Christian Bishop in the Philippines… (H/T: UP Pompeii)

Philippine bishop reports receiving threat to convert to Islam

MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — A bishop in the southern Philippines reported receiving a letter threatening him with harm if he does not convert to Islam or pay “Islamic taxes.”

Such brazenness in a country where over 86% of the population is Christian, 9% is Muslim and the remaining 5% is divided among various groups such as: Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, animists and non-believers.

Even if those who sent these letters are no more than common criminals who use religion as a mere tool, the fact that they chose to represent themselves as Muslims is in itself significant. But Muslim brazenness does not stop there, unfortunately, this one is far from an isolated case! Remember the kidnapped and murdered Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Mgr Faraj Rahho? What about the plight of Assyrian Christians in Iraq? What about the Sabian Mandaeans? Or the plight of Christians girls kidnapped in Nigeria by practitioners of the Religion of Peace? What about the treatment of Christian Copts in Egypt? Ot the threats against Western politicians like Geert Wilders or Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi? The list, gentle reader, goes on and on ad nauseum…

You may read the rest at: Freedom’s Cost

This report at Bloomberg makes crystal clear why it is that increasingly more Muslims are complaining about Barack Obama. They are, they rightfully argue, purposefully ignored by the Senator from Illinois and presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency, because he fears that associating with Muslims may give American Christian voters the impression that he is Muslim, not Christian. (more…)

Three years ago on this day, in London and within 50 seconds of each other, there were bombings at three subway stations and an hour later, at 9:47am, there was a fourth one on a bus in Tavistock Square. Fifty two innocent people died that day while 700 were injured. Has Britain learned any lessons?

Last year there was a failed terrorist plot by Muslim doctors, also in Britain, has their government learned any lessons? Rather than putting restrictions on the preachings of extremist Imams, rather than kick them out of the country, they are allowed to freely continue preaching their hatred… all in the spirit of free speech and… multiculturalism. Freedom of Speech is one of the cardinal principles of a free society, it is in fact what keeps that society free. However, another - and at least - as important a principle also says that the right to move one’s fist stops where the other’s cheek starts. What does that mean? It means that when freedom of speech is abused by preaching violence against any other segment of society it must proscribed!

Read the rest of this post at: Freedom’s Cost

The Jewish website Forward has a highly interesting article up about Baha’is in Iran. Baha’is are members of the Baha’i religion; an offshoot of Islam. They believe that Buddha was a prophet, Moses (and the other old testament prophets) as well, same goes for Jesus and, of course, Mohammed. As a friend told me recently, the Baha’i relationship with Islam is similar to that of Christianity with Judaism; first there was Judaism, then Christianity developed as a separate - but connected - religion. (more…)

The German newspaper the Spiegel reports that ‘[t]wo short films have appeared on the Internet featuring the German Islamist Eric B. in which he calls his “brothers” to join the jihad. The authorities have been hunting him for weeks, fearful that he could be preparing a terrorist attack in Kabul. The video messages are fanning those fears.’ (more…)

It seems that French prisons are filled with Muslims. Although Muslims only form 12% or so of France’s total population, they form 60 to 70% of the country’s prison population. 70%. Although, according to researchers, criminologists and Muslim leaders ‘immigrants and the children of immigrants are disproportionately represented in almost every prison system’ on the European continent, France is overdoing it a tad bit. (more…)

Via Memeorandum comes the news that “Afghanistan’s lower house of Parliament passed a resolution Monday seeking to bar television programs from showing dancing and other practices deemed un-Islamic.” (more…)

O no, I’m pretty sure that Palestinians don’t hate Jews but Zionists. Look, for instance, at this: “Jews are a people who cannot be trusted,” Imam Yousif al-Zahar of Hamas told the faithful. “They have been traitors to all agreements — go back to history. Their fate is their vanishing. Look what they are doing to us.” (more…)

The Anti-Wahhabi, a Muslim living in the United States, calls on fellow Muslims to stop ignoring the persecution and oppression of Christians (and Jews) in Muslim countries. “God knows we tend to cry bloody murder when Muslims are being persecuted by tyrants (unless they are Islamic, cue the silence of the Taliban for example), yet what about the minorities in Muslim lands?” he wonders. (more…)

Via the German newspaper the Spiegel comes the news that a new study has found that “the practice of forced marriage among immigrants in Britain is much more common than previously assumed.” Many thousands young girls and boys “have gone missing, many of whom might have been abducted by their own parents.” This, obviously, greatly worries the British government. (more…)

Hallelujah; finally a person who takes the New Atheists to task, and criticizes them for what they are. Extremists. Fundamentalists in their own right. Intolerant. Dangerous. Chris Hedges does, mostly, a superb job explaining what’s wrong with the New Atheism school and why people like Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens are, when push comes to shove, dangerous. (more…)

The German newspaper the Spiegel published a fairly good article about the latest controversy surrounding Dutch MP Geert Wilders. As you all will know by now, Wilders has produced an anti-Islam movie called “Fitna.” Shortly after word came out that he would make such a movie, all hell broke loose. People - even governments and government officials - asked or demanded Wilders not to go ahead with the plan. Fundamentalist Muslims in foreign countries found out about the plan, and started threatening the Dutch government and people. But Wilders refused to bow to the pressure. (more…)

My, my, it looks like Germany has its very own ’shaheed’ or ‘martyr’: “A young German-born Turk could possibly have carried out an attack in Afghanistan that killed two US soldiers. The Islamic Jihad Union claims 28-year-old Cüneyt C. from Bavaria was responsible for the March 3 attack, now the German authorities are desperately trying to find out the bomber’s identity.” (more…)

Today, leaders of dozens of Muslim countries gathered in Senegal for a two-day summit. The goal of the summit is “to study ways to improve Islam’s image in the West and spur economic development in some of the Muslim world’s poorest members.” (more…)

Both John McCain and Barack Obama are being criticized because of their association with bigoted pastors. (more…)

One of the major battles in the War on Terrorism, is “the war of minds.” Both sides in this conflict try to win the sympathy of the masses, and then especially of the Muslim masses. Al Qaeda has used every propaganda technique known to mankind to spread it’s radical message and to influence the way Muslims in the Middle East think. The West has done the same. As it is, it seems that the West is - slowly but surely - winning this battle. (more…)

Although I understand that Charles Johnson objects to Philip Bennett, the Washington Post’s managing editor’s latest plan, I have to say that I think that Bennett is on to something. He says that many people have misconceptions about Islam, and that one of the main reasons for this is that there are almost no Muslim journalists. Therefore, newspapers should hire more Muslim journalists. (more…)

A recently conducted poll shows that 66% of Dutch want to see Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam movie. A solid majority also wants the film to be broadcasted. This even though 40% of Dutch people are afraid for the consequences of this already controversial movie. (more…)

We all know that Britain has a very serious radical Muslim problem, but I bet that most people outside of Britain - such as myself -knew it’s as bad as this:

Islamic extremists have created “no-go” areas across Britain where it is too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter, one of the Church of England’s most senior bishops warns today. (more…)

A reader e-mailed me the following fascinating article at the Jerusalem Post. The subject of the article is the treatment of Jews throughout Islamic history and how Muslim attitudes towards Jews have changed in the 20th century.

The overall point is that for a long time, Jews were treated much better in the Islamic world than they were in Christian Europe. Yes, Jews and Christians were second class citizens, and yes, they had to recognize the authority of Islam, but they were a ‘protected people’ “who enjoyed security of life and property, religious freedom, freedom from forced conversion, communal autonomy, and equality in the marketplace.” (more…)

My God:

John Deady, Co-Chair for New Hampshire’s Veterans for Rudy:

…(Rudy Giuliani has) the knowledge and judgment to attack one of the most difficult problems in current history. And that is the rise of the Muslims. And make no mistake about it, this hasn’t happened for a thousand years. (more…)

The NY Post reported a very cool story today:

Brooklyn man whose “Happy Hanukkah” greeting landed him in the hospital said he was saved from a gang of Jew-bashing goons aboard a packed Q train by a total stranger - a modest Muslim from Bangladesh.

Walter Adler was touched that Hassan Askari jumped to his aid while a group of thugs allegedly pummeled and taunted him and his three friends.

(more…)

Shiites in Bahrein “marched through the streets of the capital Manama Wednesday night in protest over the bombings at Iraq’s Golden Mosque.”

The pro-peace and anti-terrorism protestors shouted: “No to Terrorism”. Sadly, their second favorite slogan was “Death to America.”

One can of course only wonder how they hope to accomplish the second without using the first, but doing so would be arguing about semantics I am sure.

H/t Robert Spencer.

Aaron Hanscom wrote a very interesting, albeit negative, article for Pajamas Media about American Freedom Alliance’s June 10th conference titled “The Collapse of Europe?” (Some of) the speakers were Mark Steyn, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Leon de Winter, Philippe Karsenty, Gregory M. Davis and Daniel Pipes.

According to Steyn, it is a simple fact that Europe will become more Muslim because of massive immigration and the divergent demographic trends of Muslims and native Europeans. Malmo, Rotterdam, and cities in Britain already have proven that the future is determined by those you outsource your future to. How can Europeans hope to share their land with an implacable and intolerant minority? Steyn expressed frustration with State Department officials who complain that Iraq is an artificial state but who overlook the unsustainable situation in Europe. Honor killings and Sharia law are incompatible with pre-marital sex and gay marriage. As Steyn put it, if Kurdistan can’t be part of Iraq then “Pornostan” can’t be in the Netherlands.

Steyn was the moderator of the first panel session titled “What has been the role of Islam and the EU bureaucracy in fostering collapse?” Introducing Hirsi Ali, the former member of the Dutch parliament who now works for American Enterprise Institute, Steyn said, “Europe’s loss is America’s gain.” Hirsi Ali explained that for jihad to succeed, a sense of victimization is necessary. Muslims have mastered the art of creating enemies and conspiracy theories which results in group solidarity at the expense of assimilation. Meanwhile, EU bureaucrats make it all too easy for Islamists to fulfill their political projects. It surely made Islamists smile last year when former Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner said, “If two thirds of all Netherlanders tomorrow would want to introduce Sharia, then this possibility must exist.”
[…]
Philippe Karsenty, a French journalist and media critic, opened his remarks by apologizing for the leading role France has played in the collapse of Europe. He said that in Paris if you quote Bat’Yeor (the author of Eurabia) people will look at you crazy and ask if you also believe in the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Their unwillingness to believe in that anti-Semitic forgery doesn’t mean the French are big fans of the Jews. In fact, Karsenty referred to his compatriots as “Paristinians.” While they’re quite willing to send money to the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel, most of them completely avoid the Arabs who actually live in France…

It is good to see a conference like this taking place in America, but it would have been better if it would have organized in Europe. After all, we’re talking about Europe here. It seems to me that European should be interested in… wait for it… the collapse of Europe.

Is that all there is? Only bad news? No, there are those who are more positive:

The conference was not devoid of disagreement. During the panel discussion “Eurabia: Is Muslim domination of Europe inevitable?” Dutch writer Leon de Winter said there is a sea change taking place in Europe: people are becoming fed up with radical Muslims. He described as ludicrous the idea that the Netherlands is in the process of being taken over by Muslims. While he acknowledged that there are no-go zones for Jews in his country, he said that the general public is as Calvinist as ever. He also took comfort in the fact that most Muslims in the Netherlands don’t worship in mosques.

Lastly, Mark Steyn reflected on multiculturalism (something I quite strongly oppose as well):

Mark Steyn reappeared at an afternoon panel on “Multiculturalism and its impact on democratic society.” He called multiculturalism an elusive enemy because one of its very tenets is that there is no point in ever having an argument. The quest to never be culturally insensitive has led to some pretty horrible things. In Britain, for example, many honor killings now go uninvestigated. He could have added that last year a German judge cited the Koran when he rejected a woman’s request for a quick divorce because her husband beat her. Steyn pointed out that multiculturalism is a unicultural phenomenon: only Western countries have signed up for the project. As he once explained to a caller on a radio show, there are very few free Muslims countries. Steyn got plenty of laughs when he said that after he presented the caller with objective statistics showing the lack of freedom in the Muslim world, the man responded, “Well, that’s just your opinion.”

That sums it up, doesn’t it? Facts are “a matter of opinion” in the extreme moral relavist’s world.

CAIR membership has dropped by 90% since 9/11/01. Mark Steyn responds: “I’m thinking of forming my own Muslim lobby group.”

CAIR - of course - is well known for its ties with fundamentalist Muslims, and even radical Muslims. Glad to see that the far, far majority of American Muslims do not want to be associated with such an organization.

Hilarious:

First came the breast-feeding fatwa. It declared that the Islamic restriction on unmarried men and women being together could be lifted at work if the woman breast-fed her male colleagues five times, to establish family ties. Then came the urine fatwa. It said that drinking the urine of the Prophet Muhammad was deemed a blessing.

For the past few weeks, the breast-feeding and urine fatwas have proved a source of national embarrassment in Egypt, not least because they were issued by representatives of the highest religious authorities in the land.

“We were very angered when we heard about the Danish cartoons concerning our prophet; however, these two fatwas are harming our Islamic religion and our prophet more than the cartoons,” Galal Amin, a professor of economics at the American University in Cairo, wrote in Al Masry Al Yom, a daily newspaper here.

You’d think? Personally I am all in favor of it: quite handy. This way, suddenly, a woman who has just become a mother becomes an asset to the company she works for. That’s new. “Yo, I’m thirsty. Gimme some milk my dear colleague. I want to establish ‘family ties’.”

The drinking of urine is of course plainly disgusting.

But the milk? I likey.

Anyway, it seems that - for some strange reason - people aren’t too happy with all these recently issued fatwas:

For many Muslims, fatwas, or religious edicts, are the bridge between the principles of their faith and modern life. They are supposed to be issued by religious scholars who look to the Koran and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad for guidance. While the more sensational pronouncements grab attention, the bulk of the fatwas involve the routine of daily life. In Egypt alone, thousands are issued every month.

The controversy in Cairo has been more than just embarrassing. It comes at a time when religious and political leaders say that there is a crisis in Islam because too many fatwas are being issued, and that many of them rely on ideology more than learning.

Only thousands of fatwas per month? What are they complaining about? Certain women who will remain nameless tell me what to do a thousand times a day.

At least, that is what it feels like.