Egypt Cleric’s Fatwa Against the Niqab

By Faisal | Published: October 5, 2009

The dean of al-Azhar University has issued a fatwa stating that the full-faced veil, or niqab, is a “custom that has nothing to do with Islam”.

The BBC reports:

Egypt’s highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a religious edict against the growing trend for full women’s veils, known as the niqab.

Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university, called full-face veiling a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith.

Although most Muslim women in Egypt wear the Islamic headscarf, increasing numbers are adopting the niqab as well.

The practice is widely associated with more radical trends of Islam.

The niqab question reportedly arose when Sheikh Tantawi was visiting a girls’ school in Cairo at the weekend and asked one of the students to remove her niqab.

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Posted in Sharia | 31 Comments

Times Exposes Jack Straw Links With Blackburn Radicals

By Guest | Published: October 5, 2009

This is cross-post from the Standpoint blog Focus on Islamism by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens

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Jack Straw is well known to be a fan of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), and today the Times has revealed the extent of his dealings with them.

According to today’s report:

A secret MI5 report on Islamic extremism in Blackburn has raised “potential concerns” about some radical Muslim factions known to Jack Straw, the local MP and justice secretary.

A senior security figure who has seen the report said it underlined concern among cabinet colleagues that Straw could be “too close” to the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), a prominent Muslim umbrella group. The government formally severed links with the group after a blazing row over extremism earlier this year.

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Posted in Islamism, UK Politics | Tagged , | 17 Comments

Why aren’t judges protecting us from terrorists?

By Guest | Published: October 5, 2009

This is a guest post by Shiraz Maher from the Standpoint blog, Focus on Islamism

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Blogging about the law is not really my remit – not least because my fellow blogger here at Standpoint, Joshua Rozenberg, is the resident expert. That said, I couldn’t help but comment on the news from yesterday’s Sunday Times that about thirty ‘high risk’ terrorist suspects are due for release soon. I’ve long been opposed to our sentencing guidelines which, it seems to me, impose only the weakest of tariffs for some quite horrendous crimes – but that’s a different topic for a different day.

For now, the issue must be why we’re releasing terrorists who adopt an ideological hatred of our country and its people. These are not individuals engaged in crimes of opportunity where they just happened to chance upon an open door. These are men who believe they have divine sanction to launch terrorist attacks against this country.

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Posted in Your View | 2 Comments

The Stoning

By Faisal | Published: October 4, 2009

Some Sunday night levity for you: the stoning scene from The Life of Brian, as performed by a bunch of blaspheming kuffaar English comedians.

Posted in Misc | 4 Comments

A year in jail and 100 lashes – for being raped

By Yossarian | Published: October 4, 2009

The Saudi Gazette reports:

JEDDAH – A 23-year-old unmarried woman was awarded one-year prison term and 100 lashes for committing adultery and trying to abort the resultant fetus.

The District Court in Jeddah pronounced the verdict on Saturday after the girl confessed that she had a forced sexual intercourse with a man who had offered her a ride. The man, the girl confessed, took her to a rest house, east of Jeddah, where he and four of friends assaulted her all night long.

The girl claimed that she became pregnant soon after and went to King Fahd Hospital for Armed Forces in an attempt to carry out an abortion. She was eight weeks’ pregnant then, the hospital confirmed.

According to the ruling, the woman will be sent to a jail outside Jeddah to spend her time and will be lashed after delivery of her baby who will take the mother’s last name.

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Posted in International Affairs | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Amnesty UK’s Blind Spot

By Faisal | Published: October 4, 2009

We at the Spittoon are opposed to detention without due process and we firmly believe that the need to put an end to it is non-negotiable and opposition to it is imperative within any free society. It makes no difference whether the extra-judicial detainment happens to take place in Sudan, Iran, Pakistan or Guantanamo.

So we support, in principle, initiatives like the Guantanamo Bay Rally held yesterday, organised by Amnesty UK. It boasted quite a high-profile line up of speakers and backing organisations.

Speakers;
Louise Christian from Christian Khan Solicitors
Imran Khan from Imran Khan Solicitors
Kevin Laue from Redress
Amnesty Representative
Sunny Hundal from Pickled Politics
Representative from Reprieve
Helen Bamber from Helen Bamber Foundation
Andy Worthington journalist and author of ‘The Guantanamo Files’

Organisations in support include;
Redress
London Guantanamo Campaign
Cage prisoners
Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers

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Posted in Human Rights, Islamism | Tagged | 22 Comments

Fox Presenter Rants/Bear is Catholic in Woods

By Yossarian | Published: October 4, 2009

Posted in International Affairs, Secularism | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

No such thing as Islamism?

By Yossarian | Published: October 3, 2009

We are often told (by Islamists here in Britain) that there is no such thing as Islamism. It is just “politically active sincere Muslims”. Right, tell that to your Islamist buddies overseas.

The Moroccan security services also say Belliraj was the author of six assassinations in Belgium between 1986 and 1989, cases which the Belgian police failed to solve.

“I lived in Belgium for more than 40 years and no policeman came knocking at my door to accuse me of trafficking weapons or killing anyone,” Belliraj said during the trial. “I am an Islamist, but I have no plan to overthrow the regime.”

And:

Sarsur told journalists at a press conference recently that, “From an ideological perspective, we believe that government on earth, at least on Muslim and Arab lands, needs to be an Islamist government led by a Khalif (heir of Muhammad).”

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Posted in Islamism | 39 Comments

Charles Farr on Countering Extremism

By Yossarian | Published: October 3, 2009

The Guardian yesterday reported on Charles Farr (director-general of the Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism) and a briefing he gave on 26th February this year to MPs on the topic of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy. It appears to have been online for a while but only recently to have been picked up on by the media.

The transcript of his briefing (at least a redacted and approved version thereof) is available online and it’s well worth a read. Here are some highlights (with emphasis added by me):

On RICU (the Research, Information and Communications Unit):

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Posted in PVE, Terrorism | Tagged | Leave a comment

Anti-Muslim Bigotry in Manchester

By Yossarian | Published: October 3, 2009

Anti-Muslim bigotry is a serious problem in this country and it seems only to be getting worse. The BBC reports:

Muslim graves smashed by vandals

Up to 20 Muslim graves have been targeted and vandalised at a cemetery in south Manchester.

The vandals struck at the Southern Cemetery on Barlow Moor Road overnight on Thursday.

Staff found the Muslim section of the cemetery littered with broken headstones on Friday morning.

Det Con Rob Southern said: “Sadly, we are treating this as a hate crime. This sort of mindless, racist behaviour must be utterly condemned.”

Police appealed to anyone who has information to come forward.

‘Atrocious acts’

Det Con Southern added: “This is the worst sort of vandalism imaginable.

“The graves of your loved ones should be a place where they can rest peacefully and that is absolutely sacrosanct.

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Posted in Anti Muslim bigotry | 1 Comment