Islamic law forbids Muslims to kill fellow Muslims intentionally. This is based on a Qur’anic verse: “If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein forever” (Sura 4:93). But unbelievers have no such protection. This from Reuters: A young Islamic militant accused of involvement in last year’s bombing of a […]
Archives for January 2004
Texas coast eyed by terrorists
A strange episode in Texas: a Middle Eastern man was photographing a chemical site. When confronted by a guard, he pulled a gun and fired. While FBI, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs, the U.S. Coast Guard, state police and local law enforcement sources are publicly downplaying terrorism fears in the shooting of a guard […]
Pakistan’s unkept promise: The untamed madrasas
More in the International Herald Tribune about how Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan has failed to stop Islamic radicalism in the Muslim schools. (Thanks to “Allah.”) Addressing a joint session of the Pakistan Parliament this month, President Pervez Musharraf appealed to the Pakistani people to “wage a jihad against extremism” and said his government “would ensure […]
Canadian terror suspect confirmed dead in Pakistan
International jihad news: a Canadian citizen who went to Afghanistan to wage jihad has been confirmed dead. This from AP, with thanks to Jean-Luc: Pakistani authorities have confirmed that Egyptian-born Canadian citizen Ahmed Said Khadr was killed during a raid last year against suspected terrorists in the country’s tense border region, officials said today. Khadr […]
Dhimmitude in San Antonio
Sarwat Husain of the San Antonio chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) insists that “Islam is compatible with tolerance, democracy, personal rights and equality before the law.” Characteristically for CAIR, she intolerantly tars courageous and decent men such as Daniel Pipes and Steven Emerson as bigots — but she never acknowledges that […]
Is France on the way to becoming an Islamic state?
Barbara Amiel in the Telegraph frames the hijab debate in France in the same way that I framed it here last week: “The question is not whether French and Muslims can co-exist with each other so long as Muslim schoolgirls are bareheaded. Rather, it is the fundamental question of whether Muslim groups will become part […]
Islamisation, Extremism and the Christians of Pakistan
A World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis from WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal. Thanks to FreedomNow News: QUID PRO QUO On 6 June 2003, the WEA RLC produced a News & Analysis posting entitled “Pakistan: Islamisation or dictatorship or both?” That posting examined the relationship between Pakistan’s President Musharraf and […]
In Europe, is it a matter of fear, or loathing?
Robin Shepherd in the Washington Post contributes a useful summation of the Kilroy-Silk affair in Britain, which he sees as heralding “tectonic shifts” that are underway in Europe. (Thanks to Ruth King.) It’s the biggest political correctness flap Britain has seen in years. It has pitted one man against the BBC — Britain’s highbrow, purportedly […]
Nigeria: Muslim fundamentalist uprising raises fears of terrorism
A report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the upsurge of Islamic radicalism in Nigeria. When a student-led Islamic sect launched an armed uprising last month with the aim of setting up a Taliban-style Muslim state in northern Nigeria, the authorities were swift to quell the insurrection. However, political analysts […]
Iraqi Christians targeted for working with Americans
A chilling story from the Washington Post on how Christians in Iraq who work with American forces there are being targeted for murder. The article says nothing about the larger-scale targeting of Iraqi Christians whether they are working for Americans or not, but it is refreshing to see the major media take any notice of […]
Osama: “One of the world’s largest heroin dealers”
In Islam Unveiled I discuss how the Taliban’s involvement in drug trafficking was consistent with the group’s theology: in line with the sharp distinction in the Qur’an and Islamic tradition between believers and unbelievers, since the buyers were non-Muslims they had no problem selling the product. Now, because of the success of American efforts to […]
“My life as a modern-day slave”
Mende Nazer, former slave Slavery is taken for granted in the Qur’an, and is still practiced in the Islamic world — most notoriously in Sudan, from which this report comes. It is of interest to those who are concerned about the equality of rights of all people in Islamic societies as an example of the […]
Islamic scholar: women driving cars is a sinful thing
Al-Qarni More Wahhabi follies: a Saudi cleric is under fire for giving people the impression that he was in favor of allowing women to drive cars. This rarified silliness is only worthy of note because Saudi Wahhabism has been spread all over the world via Saudi oil billions. It is a significant presence among Muslims […]
More Buddhist monks killed in Thailand
A few days ago I posted a story from Thailand about the murder of a Buddhist monk. Now two more have been killed, evidently as part of a larger jihadist effort. Note that these “tensions between Buddhists and Muslims” seem to be coming from just one side. Killing policemen would be somewhat expected from a […]
Terror summit in Tehran
Amir Taheri writes in the Jerusalem Post (thanks to Joel) about a forthcoming meeting in Tehran that he says is drawing Islamic radicals from 40 countries, including members of top Shi’ite and Sunni jihad groups. Taheri adds some important considerations about the nature of the Iranian regime today: Militants from some 40 countries across the […]
Female genital mutilation in Italy
Female genital mutilation is not strictly speaking an Islamic practice. It is not found in the Qur’an or in generally accepted ahadith. However, it is widespread in some Muslim countries (most notably Egypt), and is often justified on Islamic grounds — as I demonstrate in Islam Unveiled. Now it has come, in a supposedly modified […]
US wants major Islamic charity group to be branded terrorist
Several Islamic charities in the U.S. have already been closed for terrorist links. Charities collect obligatory zakat donations from Muslims, which are then distributed to radical groups — apparently unbeknownst to many of the donors. Now the Saudis, anxious to improve their anti-terror credentials, have joined the U.S. to go after another. This from the […]
British MP fired for suicide bomber sympathy
British MP Jenny Tonge was also the Liberal Democrats’ spokeswoman for children, until she was removed for suggesting that if she lived in the PA, she’d become a suicide bomber too. It is refreshing that this astounding example of moral confusion was not met with supine dhimmitude from Liberal Democratic officials. The report is from […]
Dawah and jihad in Chechnya?
Traditional Islam teaches that Muslims must call people to accept the faith or at least submit to the Islamic social order — that is dawah. If they refuse, Muslims must fight them — jihad. This is based on numerous passages of the Qur’an and Islamic tradition, including this one. Says the Prophet Muhammad: Fight in […]
Berlin mosque linked to Islamic radicals
While France focuses on the hijab, Germany has found bigger fish to fry. This article reveals that the Muslim Brotherhood is alive and well and still inextricably bound to Islamic radicalism, despite widespread assumptions that it is either moribund or a straitlaced shadow of its former self. This from Expatica, with thanks to Nicolei: Federal […]