MUSLIMS' NEWS

US AUTHORIZES KILLING OF RADICAL MUSLIM CLERIC

2011-05-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

From the Islamtribune.com
07 April 2010

(Anwar al-Awlaki, a former US resident living in Yemen. President Barack Obama's administration has authorized the targeted killing of the American citizen, the New York Times reported, citing US officials.)

President Barack Obama's administration has authorized the targeted killing of an American citizen, radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the New York Times reported Wednesday, citing US officials.
The rare, if not unprecedented, authorization was given earlier this year in the belief that Awlaki had gone from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them, the Times said.
Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico but is now based in Yemen, has come under intense scrutiny since being linked to Major Nidal Hassan, a US army psychiatrist who killed 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas in November.
He also has been linked to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who was arrested on charges of trying to bring down a US airliner with explosives as it was approaching to land at Detroit on Christmas Day.
"The danger Awlaki poses to this country is no longer confined to words," the Times quoted a US official as saying. "He's gotten involved in plots."
"The United States works, exactly as the American people expect, to overcome threats to their security, and this individual -- through his own actions -- has becomes one," said official, who spoke on condition of anomymity.
"Awlaki knows what he's done, and he knows he won't be met with handshakes and flowers. None of this should surprise anyone," the official was quoted as saying.
US officials assert that international law permits the use of lethal force against individuals and groups who pose an imminent threat, the Times said.

An article of AFP

Yours,
M.Shameena

The Islamification of Britain: record numbers embrace Muslim faith

2011-03-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

From the greeks rethinks

The number of Britons choosing to become Muslims has nearly doubled in the past decade, according to one of the most comprehensive attempts to estimate how many people have embraced Islam.

Following the global spread of violent Islamism, British Muslims have faced more scrutiny, criticism and analysis than any other religious community. Yet, despite the often negative portrayal of Islam, thousands of Britons are adopting the religion every year.

Estimating the number of converts living in Britain has always been difficult because census data does not differentiate between whether a religious person has adopted a new faith or was born into it. Previous estimates have placed the number of Muslim converts in the UK at between 14,000 and 25,000.

But a new study by the inter-faith think-tank Faith Matters suggests the real figure could be as high as 100,000, with as many as 5,000 new conversions nationwide each year.

By using data from the Scottish 2001 census – the only survey to ask respondents what their religion was at birth as well as at the time of the survey – researchers broke down what proportion of Muslim converts there were by ethnicity and then extrapolated the figures for Britain as a whole.

In all they estimated that there were 60,699 converts living in Britain in 2001. With no new census planned until next year, researchers polled mosques in London to try to calculate how many conversions take place a year. The results gave a figure of 1,400 conversions in the capital in the past 12 months which, when extrapolated nationwide, would mean approximately 5,200 people adopting Islam every year. The figures are comparable with studies in Germany and France which found that there were around 4,000 conversions a year.

Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters, admitted that coming up with a reliable estimate of the number of converts to Islam was notoriously difficult. “This report is the best intellectual ‘guestimate’ using census numbers, local authority data and polling from mosques,” he said. “Either way few people doubt that the number adopting Islam in the UK has risen dramatically in the past 10 years.”

Asked why people were converting in such large numbers he replied: “I think there is definitely a relationship between conversions being on the increase and the prominence of Islam in the public domain. People are interested in finding out what Islam is all about and when they do that they go in different directions. Most shrug their shoulders and return to their lives but some will inevitably end up liking what they discover and will convert.”

Batool al-Toma, an Irish born convert to Islam of 25 years who works at the Islamic Foundation and runs the New Muslims Project, one of the earliest groups set up specifically to help converts, said she believed the new figures were “a little on the high side”.

“My guess would be the real figure is somewhere in between previous estimates, which were too low, and this latest one,” she said. “I definitely think there has been a noticeable increase in the number of converts in recent years. The media often tries to pinpoint specifics but the reasons are as varied as the converts themselves.”

Inayat Bunglawala, founder of Muslims4UK, which promotes active Muslim engagement in British society, said the figures were “not implausible”.

“It would mean that around one in 600 Britons is a convert to the faith,” he said. “Islam is a missionary religion and many Muslim organisations and particularly university students’ Islamic societies have active outreach programmes designed to remove popular misconceptions about the faith.”

The report by Faith Matters also studied the way converts were portrayed by the media and found that while 32 per cent of articles on Islam published since 2001 were linked to terrorism or extremism, the figure jumped to 62 per cent with converts.

Earlier this month, for example, it was reported that two converts to Islam who used the noms de guerre Abu Bakr and Mansoor Ahmed were killed in a CIA drone strike in an area of Pakistan with a strong al-Qa’ida presence.

“Converts who become extremists or terrorists are, of course, a legitimate story,” said Mr Mughal. “But my worry is that the saturation of such stories risks equating all Muslim converts with being some sort of problem when the vast majority are not”. Catherine Heseltine, a 31-year-old convert to Islam, made history earlier this year when she became the first female convert to be elected the head of a British Muslim organisation – the Muslim Public Affairs Committee. “Among certain sections of society, there is a deep mistrust of converts,” she said. “There’s a feeling that the one thing worse than a Muslim is a convert because they’re perceived as going over the other side. Overall, though, I think conversions arouse more curiosity than hostility.”

How to become a Muslim

Islam is one of the easiest religions to convert to. Technically, all a person needs to do is recite the Shahada, the formal declaration of faith, which states: “There is no God but Allah and Mohamed is his Prophet.” A single honest recitation is all that is needed to become a Muslim, but most converts choose to do so in front of at least two witnesses, one being an imam.

Converts to Islam

Hana Tajima, 23, fashion designer

Hana Tajima converted to Islam when she was 17. Frustrated by the lack of variety in Islamic clothing for converts she founded Maysaa, a fashion house that designs western-inspired clothing that conforms to hijab.

“It’s true that I never decided to convert to Islam, nor was there a defining moment where I realised I wanted to be Muslim. My family aren’t particularly religious. I was interested in religion, but very disinterested in how it related to my life. I grew up in rural Devon where my Japanese father was the ethnic diversity of the village. It wasn’t until I studied at college that I met people who weren’t of the exact same background, into Jeff Buckley, underground hip-hop, drinking, and getting high. I met and became friends with a few Muslims in college, and was slightly affronted and curious at their lack of wanting to go out to clubs or socialise in that sense. I think it was just the shock of it, like, how can you not want to go out, in this day and age.

“It was at about that time that I started to study philosophy, and without sounding too much like I dyed my hair black and wore my fringe in front of my face, I began to get confused about my life. I was pretty popular, had good friends, boyfriends, I had everything I was supposed to have, but still I felt like ‘is that it?’ So these things all happened simultaneously, I read more about religion, learned more about friends of other backgrounds, had a quarter life crisis. There were things that drew me to Islam in particular, it wasn’t like I was reaching for whatever was there. The fact that the Qur’an is the same now as it ever was means there’s always a reference point. The issues of women’s rights were shockingly contemporary. The more I read, the more I found myself agreeing with the ideas behind it and I could see why Islam coloured the lives of my Muslim friends. It made sense, really, I didn’t and still don’t want to be Muslim, but there came a point where I couldn’t say that I wasn’t Muslim.

“Telling my family was the easy part. I knew they’d be happy as long as I was happy, and they could see that it was an incredibly positive thing. My friends went one of two ways, met with a lack of any reaction and lost to the social scene, or interested and supportive. More the former, less the latter.”

Denise Horsley, 26, dance teacher

Denise Horsley lives in North London. She converted to Islam last year and is planning to marry her Muslim boyfriend next year.

“I was introduced to Islam by my boyfriend Naushad. A lot of people ask whether I converted because of him but actually he had nothing to do with it. I was interested in his faith but I went on my own journey to discover more about religion.

“I bought loads of books on all the different religions but I kept coming back to Islam – there was something about it that just made sense, it seemed to answer all the questions I had.

“I would spend hours in the library at Regents Park Mosque reading up on everything from women’s rights to food. Before I went to prayers for the first time I remember sitting in my car frantically looking up how to pray on my Blackberry. I was so sure people would know straight away that I wasn’t a Muslim but if they did no-one seemed to care.

“During Ramadan I’d sit and listen to the Qur’anic recitations and would be filled with such happiness and warmth. One day I decided there and then to take my shahada. I walked down to the reception and said I was ready to convert, it was as simple as that.

“My friends and family were rather shocked, I think they expected there would be some sort of huge baptism ceremony but they were very supportive of my decision. I think they were just pleased to see me happy and caring about something so passionately.

“I grew up Christian and went to a Catholic school. Islam to me seemed to be a natural extension of Christianity. The Qur’an is filled with information about Jesus, Mary, the angels and the Torah. It’s part of a natural transition.

“I do now wear a headscarf but it wasn’t something I adopted straightaway. Hijab is such an important concept in Islam but it’s not just about clothing. It’s about being modest in everything you do. I started dressing more modestly – forgoing low cut tops and short skirts – but before I donned a headscarf I had to make sure I was comfortable on the inside before turning my attention to the outside. Now I feel completely protected in my headscarf. People treat you with a new level of respect, they judge you by your words and your deeds, not how you look. It’s the kind of respect every dad wants for their daughter.

“There have been some problems. Immediately after converting I isolated myself a bit, which I now recognise was a mistake and not what Islam teaches. I remember a lady on a bus who got really angry and abusive when she found out I had converted. I also noticed quite a few friends stopped calling. I think they just got tired of hearing me say no – no to going clubbing, no to going down the pub.

“But my good friends embraced it. They simply found other things to do when I was around. Ultimately I’m still exactly the same person apart from the fact that I don’t drink, don’t eat pork and pray five times a day. Other than that I’m still Denise.”

Dawud Beale, 23

Dawud Beale was a self-confirmed “racist” two years ago who knew nothing about Islam and supported the BNP. Now a Muslim, he describes himself as a Salafi – the deeply socially conservative and ultra-orthodox sect of Islam whose followers try to live exactly like the Prophet did.

“I was very ignorant to Islam for most of my life and then I went on holiday to Morocco, which was the first time I was exposed to Muslims. I was literally a racist before Morocco and by the time I was flying home on the plane a week later, I had already decided to become a Muslim.”

“I realised Islam is not a foreign religion, but had a lot of similarities with what I already believed. When I came back home to Somerset, I spent three months trying to find local Muslims, but there wasn’t even a mosque in my town. I eventually met Sufi Muslims who took me to Cyprus to convert.

“When I came back, I was finding out a lot of what they were saying was contradictory to what it said in the Qur’an. I wasn’t finding them very authentic, to be honest. I went to London and became involved with Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the political group who call for the establishment of an Islamic state.

”But while I believe in the benefits of Sharia law, I left this group as well. The problem was it was too into politics and not as concerned with practicing the religion. For me, it is about keeping an Islamic appearance and studying hard. I think we do need an Islamic state, but the way to achieve it is not through political activism or fighting. Allah doesn’t change the situation of people until they see what’s within themselves.

“I have a big dislike for culture in Islamic communities, when it means bringing new things into the religion, such as polytheism or encouraging music and dance. There is something pure about Salafi Muslims; we take every word of the Qur’an for truth. I have definitely found the right path. I also met my wife through the community and we are expecting our first child next year.”

Paul Martin, 27

Paul Martin was just a student when he decided to convert to Islam in an ice-cream shop in Manchester four years ago. Bored of what he saw as the hedonistic lifestyle of many of his friends at university and attracted to what he calls “Islam’s emphasis on seeking knowledge,” he says a one-off meeting with an older Muslim changed his life.

“I liked the way the Muslims students I knew conducted themselves. It’s nice to think about people having one partner for life and not doing anything harmful to their body. I just preferred the Islamic lifestyle and from there I looked into the Qur’an. I was amazed to see Islam’s big emphasis on science.

“Then I was introduced by a Muslim friend to a doctor who was a few years older than me. We went for a coffee and then a few weeks later for an ice cream. It was there that I said I would like to be a Muslim. I made my shahada right there, in the ice cream shop. I know some people like to be all formal and do it in a mosque, but for me religion is not a physical thing, it is what is in your heart.

“I hadn’t been to a mosque before I became a Muslim. Sometimes it can be bit daunting, I mean I don’t really fit into this criteria of a Muslim person. But there is nothing to say you can’t be a British Muslim who wears jeans and a shirt and a jacket. Now in my mosque in Leeds, many different languages are spoken and there are lots of converts.

“With my family, it was gradual. I didn’t just come home and say I was a Muslim. There was a long process before I converted where I wouldn’t eat pork and I wouldn’t drink. Now, we still have Sunday dinner together, we just buy a joint of lamb that is halal.

“If someone at college had said to me ‘You are going to be a Muslim’, I would not in a million years have believed it. It would have been too far-fetched. But now I have just come back from Hajj – the pilgrimage Muslims make to Mecca.”

Stuart Mee, 46

Stuart Mee is a divorced civil servant who describes himself as a “middle-of-the-road Muslim.” Having converted to Islam last year after talking with Muslim colleagues at work, he says Islam offers him a sense of community he feels is missing in much of Britain today.

“Everything is so consumer-driven here, there are always adverts pushing you to buy the next thing. I knew there must be something longer term and always admired the sense of contentment within my colleagues’ lives, their sense of peace and calmness. It was just one of those things that happened – we talked, I read books and I related to it.

“I emailed the Imam at London Central Mosque and effectively had a 15 minute interview with him. It was about making sure that this was the right thing for me, that I was doing it at the right time. He wanted to make sure I was committed. It is a life changing decision.

“It is surprisingly easy, the process of converting. You do your shahada, which is the declaration of your faith. You say that in front of two witnesses and then you think, ‘What do I do next?’ I went to an Islamic bookstore and bought a child’s book on how to pray. I followed that because, in Islamic terms, I was basically one month old.

“I went to a local mosque in Reading and expected someone to stop me say, ‘Are you a Muslim?’ but it didn’t happen. It was just automatic acceptance. You can have all the trappings of being a Muslim – the beard and the bits and pieces that go with it, but Islam spreads over such a wide area and people have different styles, clothes and approaches to life.

“Provided I am working within Islamic values, I see no need in changing my name and I don’t have any intention of doing it. Islam has bought peace, stability, and comfort to my life. It has helped me identify just what is important to me. That can only be a good thing.”

Khadijah Roebuck, 48

Khadijah Roebuck was born Tracey Roebuck into a Christian family. She was married for twenty five years and attended church with her children every week while they lived at home. Now, divorced and having practiced Islam for the last six months, she says she is still not sure what motivated her to make such a big change to her life.

“I know it sounds odd, but one day I was Tracey the Christian and the next day I was Khadijah the Muslim, it just seemed right. The only thing I knew about Muslims before was that they didn’t drink alcohol and they didn’t eat pork.

“I remember the first time I drove up to the mosque. It was so funny; I was in my sports car and had the music blaring. I wasn’t sure if I was even allowed to go in but I asked to speak to the man in charge, I didn’t even know he was called an Imam. Now I wear a hijab and pray five times a day.

“My son at first was horrified, he just couldn’t believe it. It’s been especially hard for my mum, who is Roman Catholic and doesn’t accept it at all. But the main thing I feel is a sense of peace, which I never found with the Church, which is interesting. Through Ramadan, I absolutely loved every second. On the last day, I even cried.

“It is interesting because people sometimes confuse cultures with Islam. Each Muslim brings their different culture to the mosque and different takes on the religion. There are Saudi Arabians, Egyptians and Pakistanis and then of course there is me. I slot in everywhere. A lot of the other sisters say to me, ‘That is why we love you, Khadijah, you are just yourself.’”

An article of K.Iman

Yours,
M.Shameena

Anti-Muslim US preacher Terry Jones could be banned from UK

2011-01-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

From guardian.co.uk

The American preacher who planned a mass burning of the Qur'an on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks could be banned from entering Britain under incitement and national security laws.

Terry Jones, a pentecostal preacher, is to address the far-right group, the English Defence League (EDL), about "the evils of Islam" at a rally in Luton in February.

Theresa May, the home secretary, is under intense pressure to ban Jones and said she was "actively looking" at the case. She said Jones had "been on her radar for a few months" and, as home secretary, she could ban his entry if he was a threat to national security.

A statement on Jones's website said: "During the protest, Dr Terry Jones will speak against the evils and destructiveness of Islam in support of the continued fight against the Islamification of England and Europe." The EDL said it was "proud to announce" that Jones would be attending its "biggest demonstration to date".

The anti-racism movement Hope Not Hate launched a petition to ban Jones as "a preacher of hate". Nick Lowles, editor of Searchlight magazine, and the campaign's co-ordinator, said: "[His] presence in Luton will be incendiary and highly dangerous. He will attract and encourage thousands of English Defence League supporters to take to the streets of Luton.

"Like the EDL, Pastor Jones indiscriminately targets all Muslims and their actions can only lead to increased tensions and racism in our communities." During its last march in Luton, 250 EDL supporters rampaged through an Asian area, attacking people and damaging property. On Saturday, 500 marched in Peterborough, leading to 11 arrests. "The EDL march in February has the potential to be far worse," Lowles said. "Only extremists will benefit from his visit and, as we know, extremism breeds hatred and hatred breeds violence. Pastor Jones, a preacher of hate, must be stopped from entering the UK."

Jones's stunt – he called it international burn-a-Qur'an day, on 11 September – caused widespread alarm as he enacted a countdown. He then issued a two-hour deadline, on television, to Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam linked to the proposal to build an Islamic cultural centre nearGround Zero, the site of the 9/11 attacks.

Barack Obama warned Jones that his actions would boost al-Qaida and put US citizens and soldiers at risk. The president's intervention is believed to have persuaded the head of the Dove World Outreach Centre church in Gainesville, Florida, to call off the stunt with just a day to spare.

Jones was also denounced by leaders of the Christian Community of Cologne, a church he founded in Germany in the 1980s and which subsequently dismissed him from the board after allegations he mistreated followers.

The home secretary has the power to exclude or deport Jones if his presence in the UK could threaten national security, public order or the safety of citizens, or if she believes his views glorify terrorism, promote violence or encourage other serious crime.

In June she banned Zakir Naik – a preacher who claimed that "every Muslim should be a terrorist" – from entering the UK.

However, any eventual decision by May could be reversed. Last year, the ban imposed by the Home Office on the Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders was overturned at an immigration tribunal.

By Jo ADETUNJI,

Published : December 12, 2010

Yours,

M.Shameena

Pastor Terry JONES

2011-01-02T09:53:00.000-08:00

From THE NEW YORK TIMES
Pastor Terry Jones plans to burn multiple copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — If building an Islamic center near ground zero amounts to the epitome of Muslim insensitivity, as critics of the project have claimed, what should the world make of Terry Jones, the evangelical pastor here who plans to memorialize the Sept. 11 attacks with a bonfire of Korans?

Mr. Jones, 58, a former hotel manager with a red face and a white handlebar mustache, argues that as an American Christian he has a right to burn Islam’s sacred book because “it’s full of lies.” And in another era, he might have been easily ignored, as he was last year when he posted a sign at his church declaring “Islam is of the devil.”

But now the global spotlight has shifted. With the debate in New York putting religious tensions front and center, Mr. Jones has suddenly attracted thousands of fans and critics on Facebook, while around the world he is being presented as a symbol of American anti-Islamic sentiment.

Muslim leaders in several countries, including Egypt and Indonesia, have formally condemned him and his church, the Dove World Outreach Center.

An Islamic group in England has also incorporated his efforts into a YouTube video that encourages Muslims to “rise up and act,” widening a concern that Mr. Jones — though clearly a fringe figure with only 50 members in his church — could spark riots or terrorism.

“Can you imagine what this will do to our image around the world?” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington. “And the additional danger it will add whenever there is an American presence in Iraq or Afghanistan?”

Mr. Jones, in a lengthy interview at his church, said he sincerely hoped that his planned Koran-burning would not lead to violence. He dismissed the idea that it could put American troops at greater risk, and — echoing his sermons — he said that his church was being persecuted.

He said his bank recently demanded immediate repayment of the $140,000 balance on the church mortgage; that his property insurance had been canceled since he announced in late July that he intended to burn copies of the Qur'an; and that death threats now come in regularly.

“We have to be careful,” he said. He tapped a holster on the right hip of his jean shorts; it held a .40-caliber pistol, which he said he was licensed to carry. “The overall response,” he added, “has been much greater than we expected.”

Mr. Jones who seems to spend much of his time inside a dank, dark office with a poster from the movie “Braveheart” and a picture of former President George W. Bush, appears to be largely oblivious to the potential consequences of his plans. Speaking in short sentences with a matter-of-fact drawl, he said that he could not understand why other Christians, including the nation’s largest evangelical association, had called for him to cancel “International Burn a Koran Day.”

He acknowledged that it had brought in at least $1,000 in donations. But he said that the interviews he had done with around 150 news outlets all over the world were useful mainly because they had helped him “send a message to Islam and the pushers of Shariah law: that it is not what we want.”

Mr. Jones said that nothing in particular had set him off. Asked about his knowledge of the Koran, he said plainly: “I have no experience with it whatsoever. I only know what the Bible says.”

Nonetheless, his position and variations on his tactics have become more common, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Florida in particular has had a rise in anti-Islamic activity. In May, an arsonist set off a pipe bomb at a mosque in Jacksonville in what authorities called an act of domestic terrorism. A mosque and Islamic school south of Miami was vandalized twice last year, the first time with a spray of 51 bullets.

Just as disturbing to Florida’s Muslims, and to many Christians and Jews, is that anti-Islamic rhetoric has begun to enter the mainstream through Republican political candidates.

Some of the opposition predated the controversy about the proposed Islamic center near ground zero. In March, for example, Allen West, a retired Army officer running for Congress in Broward County, told a group of supporters that “Islam is not a religion” but rather “a vicious enemy” that was “infiltrating” the United States. (A campaign spokesman said last week that Mr. West meant to refer to radical Islam, not Islam generally.)

Ron McNeil, a candidate for Congress in the Florida Panhandle, told a group of high school and middle school students last week that Islam’s plan “is to destroy our way of life.” He added: “It’s our place as Christians to stand up for the word of God and what the Bible says.”

Similar sentiments now flow daily into the e-mail inbox of the Dove World Outreach Center. Mr. Jones said that the negative e-mails outnumbered the positive by about 3 to 1, but that strangers had sent 20 copies of the Koran and a church worker produced hundreds of supportive e-mails that had come in over the past three weeks.

A dozen of those messages revealed a wide range of motivations. For a few people — a Christian in Afghanistan, an Iraqi in Massachusetts, a Jew who called his co-religionists in the United States “soft in the head” — direct experience with Islamic extremists seemed to have darkened their views. Others seemed motivated by little more than hate, arguing that Korans should be barbecued with pork, which is banned by Islam.

Mr. Jones’s plan faced a new hurdle last week when the Gainesville Fire Department rejected his request for a burning permit. Mr. Jones said he would go ahead anyway (“it’s just politics”), and he predicted a quite a scene.

Some of his neighbors, like Shirley Turner, a retiree who shivered with disgust when Mr. Jones’s name came up in conversation, are already planning to protest with signs calling for unity. More than a dozen houses of worship, of various faiths, also intend to respond collectively on the weekend of Sept. 11 by “affirming the validity of all sacred books,” said Larry Reimer, pastor of the United Church of Christ.

Some pastors even plan to read from the Koran in their services.

For local Muslims like Saeed Khan, who came here in the 1970s to study for a Ph.D. in biology at the University of Florida, the collective rejection of Mr. Jones represents the America they want to believe in. In an interview at an Islamic center that used to be a Brown Derby restaurant, Dr. Khan said that “Mr. Jones is hijacking Christianity” just as “Al Qaeda hijacked Islam.”

What saddens him most, he said, is the lasting effect on Muslim youth. He now has three grandchildren under age 3 growing up in Gainesville, and he shook his head at the story of a friend’s daughter who woke up in the middle of the night and asked her mother, “Why don’t they like us?”

Still, like many others, he rejected the moment’s swirl of anger. Even if Muslims outside the United States respond to the planned Koran burning with protests, or worse, Mr. Khan said he would spend his Sept. 11 doing the same thing he did last year. He will be downtown, a few miles from Mr. Jones, feeding the homeless.

By DAMIEN CAVE,

Published : August 25, 2010

Yours,

M.Shameena

Marine LE PEN under fire for Muslim remark

2010-12-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

From Israel news, Wednesday 14th December 2010 :
Daughter of French far-right leader condemned for comparing Muslims praying on streets outside overcrowded mosques to Nazi occupation

(Marine LE PEN and his father, on the poster"NON TO ISLAMISME, CENSORED)

The daughter of French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen was under fire Sunday for comparing Muslims praying in the streets outside overcrowded mosques in France to the Nazi occupation.

Marine Le Pen said Friday at a rally of the anti-immigrant National Front that there were "ten to fifteen" places in France where Muslims worshipped in the streets outside mosques when these were full.

"For those who want to talk a lot about World War II, if it's about occupation, then we could also talk about it (Muslim prayers in the streets), because that is occupation of territory," she said at the gathering in Lyon.

"It is an occupation of sections of the territory, of districts in which religious laws apply. It's an occupation," she said at the rally that was part of her bid to take the party leadership when her father steps down in January.

"There are of course no tanks, there are no soldiers but it is nevertheless an occupation and it weighs heavily on local residents," the 42-year-old noted.

The comments sparked condemnation from politicians from President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling UMP party and from the opposition Socialists and the Greens.

"This is the true face of the far right which has not changed in the slightest, and Marine Le Pen is just as dangerous as Jean-Marie Le Pen," Socialist Party spokesman Benoit Hamon said Saturday.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who has several convictions for racism and anti-Semitism, shocked Europe in 2002 by coming in second in the French presidential elections.

The French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) said Saturday that Marine Le Pen's comments were "insulting towards the Muslims of France" and were an "incitement to hatred and violence against them."

On Sunday, an anti-racist group said it planned to file a civil lawsuit against her.

"Comparing Muslims to an army of occupation is humiliating. To be treated like invaders, like fascists, that is just not possible," said Mouloud Aounit, head of the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP).

"Most Muslims feel threatened"

Paris' Goutte d'Or district, where mosques are so full on Fridays that many believers end up praying on the streets outside, is one of the ares that Le Pen was referring to in her Lyon speech.

Police in June banned a "pork sausage and wine" street party planned by extremist groups to combat what they saw as the "Islamisation" of the neighbourhood.

The plan sparked outrage from politicians and anti-racism groups who said it was blatantly racist and could lead to violence on the streets.

That controversy came after a government-sponsored debate on national identity spotlighted anxieties about the integration of France's five to six million Muslims.

On Sunday locals in the Goutte d'Or district said they were well used to comments like Le Pen's.

"Most Muslims feel threatened. They won't leave us alone," said a grocery store worker who gave his name as Hakim.

With the cold and the dirt, we'd love to have a clean hall to pray in but we don't have the choice," said Walid Ben, who works in a fabric shop in the area.

"I understand that it bothers people (if Muslims pray in the streets) but what solution is Marine Le Pen proposing?" he asked.

What is your reaction ?!

Yours,

M.Shameena

Judge orders that runaway Christian-convert teen remain in Florida

2010-12-22T08:46:00.000-08:00

FOX NEWS

(Fathima with the bible in her hand)

August 13th 2009 : Mohamed Bary, right, his wife Aysha, center, and their son Rilvan answer questions about their daughter Rifqa in Columbus, Ohio.

(Fathima's mother is crying)

It is certainly good news for now. During the video tape of Rifqa Barry - she mentions that if she goes back to the community - as well as her family - her life could be in danger.

It used to be the policy in the UK to send these distressed Muslim girls home - as no one wanted to offend the community - but at times the results were tragic. They thought it was better to work it out with the family - which is in part totally logical.

The mum - doesn't look like she wields very much power within this family - it appears that the dad has all the control.

ORLANDO -- Rifqa Bary is staying in Florida.

At least for now.

Judge Daniel P. Dawson ordered Friday afternoon in a hearing that she be kept in Florida and scheduled an arraignment for a dependency proceeding for Sept. 3.

He also ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to take the next two weeks to investigate allegations of abuse she’s made against her parents.

He ordered, too, that the family get together in mediation starting after the arraignment to try to work out an agreement without having to keep moving toward a custody trial.

Bary is the 17-year-old girl from near Columbus, Ohio, who fled to Florida on a bus last month because she believes her Muslim family must murder her in an “honor killing” due to her conversion to Christianity.

Rifqa Bary, a Christian convert whose parents are Muslim immigrants from Sri Lanka, says she fears for her life.

She stayed for nearly three weeks with evangelical pastor Blake Lorenz from the Global Revolution Church before he put her on local TV on Aug. 10 to tell her story.

She’s been in temporary foster care ever since.
In the hearing, attorneys for Rifqa and the state Department of Children and Families argued that she should be kept in Florida, citing threats to her safety if she was ordered back to Ohio.

Rifqa also spoke in the hearing.

“I just want to say I love my family, I love them so much,” she said, “but I’m still in fear for my life.”

The scene in and around the courthouse here in the hours leading up to the anticipated afternoon hearing in the Rifqa Bary case was not raucous but did include pointed words from people hoping to sway the judge’s decision.

Rifqa’s parents, who deny the allegations that they’re intent on killing their daughter, already had signed papers in Ohio saying they would be okay if she came back to the state and was placed in a foster home there for at least 30 days.

Earlier in the afternoon, in a news conference in front of the courthouse, Tom Trento, the executive director of the Florida Security Council, an organization that says its aim is “securing Florida against terror,” called the Bary case was “a watershed event.”

He called on Gov. Charlie Crist to do what he could to keep Bary in Florida, saying Bary, a cheerleader and an honor student at New Albany High School, “a dead girl walking” if she’s sent home.

“I understand this sounds like some B movie,” Trento said, “but we don’t play at this.”

Elsewhere outside the courthouse, a husband and wife had signs and a megaphone, talking about “Islamic creep” and the faith’s “global revolutionary agenda.”

“This case,” said Ed Warmoth, 50, of Oviedo, “is just a slice of all this.”

Others mulling around the courthouse and inside the lobby said they were praying for the judge to keep her away from her parents.

Usama Dakdok was one of them. He came from an organization in Venice that tries to get Muslims to convert to Christianity.

“We have people all over the country praying for this,” he said in the parking lot.

Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, Adam Hasner, House Majority Leader, issued a statement on the case.

“Rifqa Bary’s life must be safeguarded,” he said. “No one should have to fear for their lives because of their religious choices. I urge the court to reject the motion to relinquish custody to Ohio …”

The Bary family is originally from Sri Lanka. They came to this country to seek medical help after Rifqa was blinded in her right eye in an accident with a toy.

“We love her, we want her back, she is free to practice her religion,” Mohamed Bary, 47, a jeweler, told the Associated Press last week.

“Whatever she believes in, that’s okay,” he said. “She is still my daughter.”

What do you think about this orders ?!

Yours,

M.Shameena

Court expected to send runaway Teen home despite Muslim honor killing fears

2010-12-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

FOX NEWS

If she is sent home - could the family take the girl back to Sri Lanka - where literally anything could happen.

I firmly believe that the father - told her he would kill her - and that her mother said - the child was dead to her - it sounds like the prelude to an honor killing.

So serious is this taken in the UK that within the next year all London police officers will be trained in how to deal with honor crime. It seems though that the US judiciary doesn't have a clue. The problem is that at first sight - it all seems unbelievable.

A 17-year-old girl who fled to Florida after converting from Islam to Christianity will almost certainly be forced to return home to Ohio, experts say, despite her fears that she will become the victim of an honor killing for abandoning her parents' faith.

Rifqa Bary, who hitchhiked to an Ohio bus station earlier this month and took a charter bus to Orlando, remains in protective custody with Florida's Department of Children and Families. A judge is expected to rule Friday on the jurisdiction of the case, but several legal experts contacted by FOXNews.com say the girl is bound to be sent back to Ohio.

"She'll be returned to the original jurisdiction," said Katherine Hunt Federle, professor of law and director of the Justice for Children Project at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.

"She probably doesn't have a lot of options other than to return home."

Bary, a native of Sri Lanka who turned 17 earlier this month, is neither a U.S. citizen nor a resident of Florida, so if her parents want her returned to their home in New Albany, Ohio, that likely will occur, experts said.

"She's living and residing in Ohio," Federle said. "Typically, what happens is, if a child runs away and goes to another jurisdiction, she'll be returned to the original jurisdiction."

If she is sent back to Ohio, Bary will not be allowed to live on her own, since the state does not have an emancipation statute.

Florida has such a statute, but it requires parental consent, according to Fred Silberberg, a family law expert based in California who is familiar with the case.

Given that legal hurdle, Bary likely will be returned to Ohio, where authorities could intervene if they believe there is a threat or a basis to act, Silberberg said.

Rifqa fled to Florida after her parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, learned that she was baptized earlier this year without their knowledge. The parents reported her missing to Columbus Police on July 19. Weeks later, using cell phone and computer records, police tracked the girl to the Rev. Blake Lorenz, pastor of the Orlando-based Global Revolution Church. FOXNews.com's calls to Lorenz were not returned.

In an emotional six-minute interview with WFTV in Florida, Rifqa, who met Lorenz through an online Facebook group, said she expects to be killed if she is forced to return to Ohio.

"If I had stayed in Ohio, I wouldn't be alive," she said. "In 150 generations in family, no one has known Jesus. I am the first — imagine the honor in killing me.

"There is great honor in that, because if they love Allah more than me, they have to do it. It's in the Koran," said in the interview, which has been posted on YouTube.

Rifqa, who is seen wearing a large diamond cross during the interview, said she had to hide her Bible "for years," and she repeatedly "snuck out" to attend Christian prayer meetings. She referred to previous victims of so-called honor killings, in which young Muslim women were murdered for bringing dishonor to their families.

"They love God more than me, they have to do this," Bary told WFTV. "I'm fighting for my life. You guys don't understand. … I want to worship Jesus freely, that's what I want. I don't want to die."

Contacted by FOXNews.com, Mohamed Bary said he has no intentions of harming his daughter.

"I love my daughter and I want her to come back to the family," he said, declining further comment.

The Barys reportedly emigrated from Sri Lanka in 2000 to seek medical treatment for Rifqa, who lost the sight in her right eye following an accident at home.

Barbra Joyner, Mohamed Bary's lawyer, declined to comment on Rifqa's interview with WFTV but said transferring the case back to Ohio will be in the "best interest" of the girl.

Craig McCarthy, an attorney for Aysha Bary, agreed that the case should be moved back to Ohio and added that the girl's mother is afraid for her safety.

"[Aysha Bary] has shifted to downright frightened, scared of what might confront her publicly on Friday," McCarthy told FOXNews.com. "She is scared for her family, of losing her daughter, of never knowing the truth of what happened and for her own safety."

McCarthy said Rifqa's account of how she traveled to Florida has "holes in it," but declined to elaborate. He also declined to respond to allegations that Bary's father abused the girl when he learned of her conversion to Christianity.

Dr. Phyllis Chesler, an author and professor of psychology at the Richmond College of the City University of New York, said she believes Bary will be in danger if she is sent back to her parents.

"Anyone who converts from Islam is considered an apostate, and apostasy is a capital crime," Chesler wrote FOXNews.com. "If she is returned to her family, if she is lucky, they will isolate her, beat her, threaten her, and if she is not 'persuaded' to return to Islam, they will kill her. They have no choice."

Chesler, who wrote "Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence?" for Middle East Quarterly, said the tradition of such slayings is not fully understood by most Americans, including those in law enforcement.

"She escaped from her family's brutal tyranny and shamed her family further through public exposure," Chesler said. "Muslim girls and women are killed for far less."

What do you think about this ?!

Yours,

M.Shameena

Muslim family :"Problems began with laptop gift"

2010-12-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

August 30, 2009|By Rene Stutzman, Sentinel Staff Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio

Mohamed Bary is a doting Muslim father, intent on giving his daughter the best education he can. But he says he made a terrible mistake last October: He bought her a laptop computer.

Because of that laptop and access to the Internet, he says he lost his daughter to Christian extremists.

(Fathima Rifqa Bary's parents)

Fathima Rifqa Bary, 17, is 800 miles away, living with a Christian foster family in the Orlando area. She is a runaway who has become a cause cM-ilM-hbre among evangelical Christians. She fled Ohio last month, saying her father had threatened to kill her because she had converted to Christianity.

Not true, Mohamed Bary said.

"I still cannot believe she would think that," he said.

But somebody planted that idea in her head, and he is convinced it was someone she met on the Internet.

Facebook, an online social network in which users select "friends" from anywhere and everywhere, is where Rifqa met Blake and Beverly Lorenz, the Orlando husband-and-wife minister team who took her in after she ran away.

In the weeks before she fled, her parents noticed she would sleep all day and stay up all night exploring the Internet.

Until this spring, Rifqa was a model student, an obedient daughter. She earned good grades, worked part-time at a Chinese restaurant and called home even if she were running just 10 minutes late.

But about the time school ended in May, she began all-night Facebook sessions. She started withdrawing from family members and longtime friends, her parents said.

Many of her chats were with evangelical Christians, her father said. They turned her against him, he said.

Friends back family

People who know the Barys say Rifqa's allegations are crazy.

"There is no way this man would hurt his daughter," said Neil Javery, 52, a Hindu and family friend in Westerville, the Columbus suburb where the Barys live.

Mohamed Bary, 47, is a kind, gentle man who loves his daughter, takes great pride in Rifqa's school accomplishments.

He sells jewelry and Amway products, friends say.

Aysha Bary is a stay-at-home mom who speaks little English but breaks into tears over what has happened.

"My heart goes out to them," said Holly Easton of Plain City, Ohio, who owns a wedding gown business and pays Rifqa's mother to stitch beads onto gowns. "It's horrible. . . . I hope they're able to reconcile, and she comes home and they can be a family again."

The Barys are not radical Muslims, friends and associates say. Their household is as normal as any other.

"It's just typical," Easton said. "Kid comes in, looks at parents, rolls her eyes and goes upstairs."

It became atypical on July 19. That's the day Rifqa, a popular high-school cheerleader, sneaked away and fled to Orlando on a Greyhound bus.

(Fathima Rifqa Bary)

Two weeks later, the Florida Department of Children and Families placed her in a foster home. Her parents, through a pair of court-appointed attorneys, are fighting to have her returned to Ohio, where they've agreed to let her live with a foster family for at least 30 days.

John Stemberger, a conservative Christian activist and leader of the Florida Family Policy Council, has taken on Rifqa as a client and cause. He told Circuit Judge Daniel Dawson at an Aug. 21 hearing in Orlando that until she turns 18 next August, she wants to stay with her Florida foster family and be free to worship Jesus.

Rifqa told the judge she'd been a Christian for four years. Her parents learned of her conversion a year ago -- and that she had kept her new faith a secret from them. She proclaimed herself a Christian on her Facebook page in 2007.

Away from home, though, Rifqa was open about her faith. She gathered with other students for "See you at the Pole," an annual prayer service held at schools around the country. Until about three months ago, she attended a youth group at the tiny Korean United Methodist Church in Columbus.

She carried a Bible to class. That upset her parents, who told her they were afraid -- not that she had converted to another faith but that she'd get in trouble for violating the separation of church and state.

Her father said when he discovered her reading a Bible months ago, "We didn't go crazy and nuts."

He encouraged her to learn more about Islam, he said, and once she'd done that, she would be free to worship as she chose.

Her love for Jesus is heartfelt, he said, but he remains baffled at how that got twisted into her fear that he would kill her.

"It's so sad," he said. "After everything she has said about us, she's still our daughter, and we want her back."

(Fathima Rifqa Bary)

Born in Sri Lanka

When Rifqa was born, her family was wealthy and lived in Galle, Sri Lanka. They owned a large house and enjoyed the benefits of a driver, a cook and a maid.

Rifqa was a tiny newborn, just 5 pounds, and very quiet, Aysha Bary said. When Rifqa was 5, she fell onto a toy airplane. It left her blind in the right eye.

Her father insisted she get medical care in the United States. He feared her care would mean a long separation from his wife and son, so he moved the family to Queens, N.Y., in 2000.

In 2004, he moved them to the Columbus area because of its excellent public schools.

By the time the Barys moved here, though, they were no longer wealthy. Two months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Mohamed Bary was on a business trip, flying with a bag of gems, as he often did. This time, the airline ordered him to check the bag. It was lost. It contained nearly $400,000 worth of jewels, said David Leung, 48, of Worthington, Ohio, a close family friend. Financially, the family has not recovered, he said.

The Barys live in a small, two-bedroom apartment and own one car, an 11-year-old Honda station wagon that has 225,000 miles on it.

A week ago, Rifqa's parents and brothers, ages 5 and 18, climbed into that car and drove 16 hours to Orlando for a court hearing. They had hoped the judge would order Rifqa back to Ohio.

But by then thousands of people had seen Rifqa on YouTube, crying and saying that her father, because he is a Muslim, has no option but to kill her for abandoning Islam. Gov. Charlie Crist's office received hundreds of e-mails -- much of it anti-Muslim -- urging him block her return to Ohio.

He did not, but he sent his general counsel, Rob Wheeler, and DCF Secretary George Sheldon to the Aug. 21 hearing. While they sat watching, a DCF lawyer asked the judge to put off a decision on returning Rifqa to Ohio until Sept. 3. He did.

DCF also asked the judge to let the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigate whether Rifqa's father and other Muslims in Columbus are a threat to her. The judge said yes to that, as well.

FDLE agents and child welfare workers inspected the family's home and questioned Rifqa's parents last week.

"I'm happy they came," her father said. "We have nothing to hide."

He and his wife are modern Muslims, he said. Now, during the holy month of Ramadan, a time of prayer, they eat nothing between sunrise and sunset. Until this year Rifqa fasted with them.

Their prayers this year, her father said, are that Rifqa will come back to them.

"We want our daughter back home," he said. "She can practice whatever religion she wants."

What do you think about this ?!

Yours,

M.Shameena

Assalamualeykum !!

2010-12-22T08:07:00.000-08:00

Assalamualeykum dear brothers and sisters,
In this blog i will share some news, wich can shocked you, impressed you or etc...

Have a nice reading !!

Yours,
M.Shameena