Author Archives: Guest

Goodbye Pakistan?

This is a cross-post by Terry Glavin


The Sound of Pennies Dropping:

1. Pakistan’s main spy agency says homegrown Islamist militants have overtaken the Indian army as the greatest threat to national security, a finding with potential ramifications for relations between the two rival South Asian nations and for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. A recent internal assessment of security by the Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan’s powerful military spy agency, determined that for the first time in 63 years, it expects a majority of threats to come from Islamist militants, according to a senior ISI officer.

2. Much now depends on the ability of the government and its foreign allies to bring relief to flood victims. Tens of thousands of Pakistani troops and virtually the army’s entire helicopter fleet are now involved in the effort. But its resources are way overstretched, and for months to come the army is unlikely to be in a position to even hold the areas along the Afghan border that it has recently won back from the militants, let alone initiate any new campaigns against the Taliban. That means the war in Afghanistan is about to become even more bloody.

Posted in International Affairs, Islamism | 1 Comment

Veiled Values

This is a cross-post by Kenan Malik


In his bestselling book America Alone, the Canadian writer Mark Steyn fantasises about the state of Europe in 2020. The Islamists have stormed to power right across the continent. No English pub can sell alcohol. Holland’s gay clubs have been relocated to San Francisco. And every French woman is forced to be veiled.

The fashion police, at least, have already arrived, a decade early and without any help from Islamists. But rather than forcing women to wear the burqa or niqab, their job is to force them not to. Earlier this month Italian police in the northern city of Novara fined a Tunisian immigrant, Amel Marmouri, €500 for being veiled in a post office. Belgian police are likely to be doing the same after the Brussels parliament outlawed the burqa. France expects to pass a similar law by the autumn. Holland could follow suit. The Spanish city of Lleida has forbidden the burqa in public buildings; the Minister of Labour and Immigration Celestino Corbacho has hinted at a national ban. In Canada, the Quebec government has drafted an anti-burqa law. Australian politicians are demanding one too.

Posted in Anti Muslim bigotry, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom of Religion, Human Rights, Identity Politics, Islamism, Moral relativism, Multiculturalism, Secularism | 15 Comments

Can Muslims be loyal citizens of non-Muslim countries?

This is a cross-post by Usama Hasan


Bismillah. This is by Rashad Ali (edited by myself), in response to a discussion about whether or not Muslims can be loyal citizens of non-Muslim countries whilst remaining part of the fellowship of the people of God (which is what the Qur’anic term “ummah” means, eg in Surah al-Anbiya’ or The Prophets). It is reproduced here to stimulate discussion of this vital topic.

Ummah is not a simplistic Muslim political bloc in the Qur’an & Hadith. It is used at times to mean the faithful, as in the verse, “You are the best nation” (Al-Imran or the Family of Imran), although even Umar was said to have held the view that this referred primarily to the Companions. Sometimes in the political sense it does not imply folk of one religion only, but rather society as a whole, composed of different religions – as in the Sunnah description of the Jews and Muslims of Madinah as one Ummah (nation), separate from all other nations (ref: the Mithaq or Covenant of Madinah).

Posted in Hermeneutics | 33 Comments

A reduction of reality at the Guardian?

This is a cross-post by Shiraz Maher from the StandPoint blog


Oh dear, it really hasn’t been a good week for the Guardian.

On Monday Comment is Free invited Gerry Adams to pontificate about – would you believe it – the killing of civilians. Yes, really. Since when did the Guardian recognise Gerry Adams as the moral arbiter on informers and leaks?

On Tuesday they published an outrageous piece which – even by their standards – plumbs new depths. Norman Geras noted the ‘miserable evasion’ of Priyamvada Gopal who trivialises the ordeal suffered by Aisha, the Afghan woman featured on the front cover of Time magazine. After fleeing an abusive marriage the Taliban tracked her down and ordered that her ears and nose were cut off as punishment. It is a haunting image; the mania of millenarianism.

Posted in Your View | Leave a comment

Date Hate

This is a cross-post by habibi from Harry’s Place


Here’s a report in The Guardian about the latest antics of Ismail Patel’s “Friends of al Aqsa”.

British Muslims are being urged to boycott Israeli dates when breaking their fast during Ramadan in protest at the continued occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Campaign organisers Friends of Al Aqsa hope the boycott will dwarf previous attempts to hit Israel in the pocket, capitalising on the attention afforded to the plight of Palestinians by the deadly Israeli attack on a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza at the end of May.

The focus is on dates because of their symbolic importance to Muslims, who traditionally consume them at sunset during the holy month – due to begin on Wednesday next week – to break the daylight fast.

Posted in Antisemitism, Islamism, Israel/Palestine | 2 Comments

A Depressing Little Story in the Sunday Times

This is a cross-post by Lucy Lips of Harry’s Place


The Sunday Times today (behind a paywall) breaks the news that Home Office adviser, Sabin Khan, has been suspended.

You will remember that the Home Secretary, Theresa May, excluded the Indian hate preacher, Zakir Naik, from the United Kingdom in May. This is what happened behind the scenes:

Papers he is filing in the High Court allege that Khan told Naik’s team that she and Farr — who view the preacher as a moderate — both opposed the ban. She purportedly said they would do “all they could to enable and encourage Dr Naik’s entry to the UK”.

Farr asked the preacher to provide a rebuttal to claims that he had said “every Muslim should be a terrorist” and that Osama Bin Laden was not behind the 9/11 attacks. In an email, Farr described the reply as “a good strong statement”.

Posted in Anti Muslim bigotry, Democracy, Islamism | 13 Comments

Let’s Think Again

This is a guest-post by Chris Blackburn


With the current impetuous on finding some sort of anti-thesis to war in Afghanistan and elsewhere. There has been a whole host of buzzwords and maxims coming from the media and international community of talking heads.

We all agree that since 9/11 there has been one strategic blunder after the other: from the war in Iraq to illegal renditions of terrorist suspects to Guantanamo Bay. It is clear that war is failing to help meet our strategic objectives, people are growing disillusioned, but there is an alternative answer to what is becoming the fashionable in-phrase within the conflict averse diplomatic community and apologists of radical Islamism which is less war war, more jaw jaw.

Posted in Your View | 1 Comment

White Liberals and Politically Correct Racism

This is a cross-post by Edmund Standing


The white liberal is an unhealthy type of creature that you will undoubtedly have encountered, if not in real life, certainly via the media. By ‘liberal’, I do not mean simply someone who has a generally liberal outlook, in the sense of a ‘live and let live’ philosophy, nor do I mean liberals in the sense of the classical liberals of the conservative tradition. By ‘white liberal’, I mean a white Western individual who is likely to come from a middle class background and have a university education, considers him or herself to be both ‘left-wing’ and socially ‘liberal’, and almost certainly reads The Guardian or The Independent. White liberals espouse an artificial and pretentious form of ‘egalitarianism’, a patronising and hypocritical approach to ethnic minorities and non-Western cultures, and – in a re-hash of the notion of the ‘white man’s burden’ – devote themselves to a delusional Messianism in which they seek to ‘save the world’ through protesting against war (in real terms, protesting against non-white people having a chance at freedom and democracy), Israel (the one truly liberal society in the Middle East), globalisation (thereby opposing the one great vehicle by which poorer nations can develop), and so on, while making themselves feel and look ‘good’ by flaunting their pious support for campaigns to end poverty in the Third World (which will do no such thing, as Dambisa Moyo, Stephen Pollard, Marian L. Tupy, and others rightly point out ), and boasting about how ‘progressive’ they are by showing ‘solidarity’ with genocidal Islamists in Gaza.

Posted in Anti Muslim bigotry, Moral relativism, Racism, The Regressive Left | 8 Comments

Jamaat Leaders Arrested For Genocide

This is a cross-post by Tendance Coatesy


Bangladesh 1971: One of the Worst Genocides of the 20th Century

The International Crimes Tribunal yesterday issued arrest warrants against already detained four Jamaat-e-Islami leaders on charges of committing genocide and crimes against humanity and peace during the Liberation War.

“Warrants of arrest should be issued against these four people to ensure effective and proper investigation,” Tribunal Chairman Justice Nizamul Huq said allowing the prosecution prayer after submission of Chief Prosecutor Golam Arif Tipu.

The four Jamaat leaders are Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mojahid and senior assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla.

More Here. Hat-Tip to Enty.

Jamaat Leaders Arrested for War Crimes

By Faheem Haider

Posted in Human Rights, Islamism | 51 Comments

The EDL in Bradford

This is a message by Nick Lowles from Hope Not Hate
****

Day by day the violent and racist English Defence League are becoming more dangerous. This shocking video exposes the truth behind this self professed “peaceful” group. Watch this video and then share it with everyone you know:

The EDL exists for one simple reason: they want to spread fear and hatred throughout the UK – and it’s only going to get worse.

In a few weeks the EDL will be invading Bradford for what they’re calling “The Big One.” Once again they plan on attacking the Muslim population.

We’ve been down this route before – the riots in Bradford in Oldham were sparked by small groups of violent racists attacking the local community.

Posted in Activism, Anti Muslim bigotry, Racism | Leave a comment
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