Since Carl Ernst refuses to debate Robert Spencer, instead of a debate, why not a specific question that deserves to be answered? A few years ago, entering freshman at the University of North Carolina were required to read Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations by Michael Sells. This bowdlerized version of the Qur’an, turning it […]
Archives for August 2006
Salman Rushdie discovers the bloomin’ obvious
Some pearls of wisdom from the Poster Boy for Death Fatwas in Spiegel Online, with thanks to all who sent this in: Yes. Terror is glamour — not only, but also. I am firmly convinced that there’s something like a fascination with death among suicide bombers. Many are influenced by the misdirected image of a […]
Malaysia’s secular vision vs. ‘writing on the wall’
More on the Lina Joy case, and other examples of the “creeping Islamicization” of Malaysia. Sharia Alert, and an Islamic Tolerance Alert, from the International Herald Tribune: “Letter from Malaysia: Nation’s secular vision vs. ‘writing on the wall’” KUALA LUMPUR – The idea of a secular state is dead in Malaysia,” says Farish Noor, a […]
Saudi clerics want to restrict women praying at Mecca
From Reuters: RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi clerics want to impose restrictions on women praying at Islam’s holiest shrine in Mecca, one of the few places where male and female worshippers can intermingle. But women activists in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of the religion where a strict version of Islam is state orthodoxy, say the idea […]
Ahmadinejad defiant, challenges Bush to TV debate
I’m not the only one asking for debates and being rebuffed these days. August 1939 Alert from the Hizballah News Agency, aka Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist: TEHRAN (Reuters) – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced defiance on Tuesday as a deadline neared for Iran to halt work the West fears is a step toward […]
Pakistan: Pols accused of blasphemy for tearing up bill containing Qur’an quotes
More evidence of the oppressive nature of Pakistan’s Sharia-based blasphemy law. “Radical Islamic politicians accused of blasphemy,” from Asia News, with thanks to DFS: Islamabad (AsiaNews) — Ashfaq Chaudhry, head of the Islamabad’s chapter of the Pakistan People’s Movement, has accused members of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA, a political alliance of six radical Islamic organisations), […]
Muslim athletes accuse New Mexico State football coach of religious discrimination
An Albuquerque law firm found nothing to the allegations. That, of course, wasn’t good enough for the ACLU. The upshot of this will be politicized “diversity” training at NMSU, spreading CAIR/ACLU propaganda to the unsuspecting dhimmis. From AP, with thanks to Doc Washburn: LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Three former New Mexico State University football players […]
Britain ‘is now biggest security threat to US’
And not because of soccer yobs. From The Telegraph, with thanks to Roseanne: Britain now presents a greater security threat to the United States than Iran or Iraq, an American magazine said yesterday. In an article on Islamists headlined “Kashmir on the Thames”, the New Republic painted Britain’s Muslim communities as a breeding ground for […]
Philippine security forces foil jihad attack
A planned attack in Manila foiled. “Philippines: Security Forces Foiled Terror Attack,” from AKI, with thanks to Cindy: Cotabato City, 28 August (AKI) – Security forces in the Philippines have foiled a major terror attack as three suspected members of the home grown terrorist group, Abu Sayyaf, were arrested while boarding a Super Ferry in […]
A reply from Carl Ernst
My invitation to debate Islamic scholar Carl Ernst can be found here. He now joins Omid Safi, Ahmed Afzaal, Mark LeVine, and other scholars of Islam in declining my invitation to debate, preferring instead to shy bricks from their ivory tower. (Actually, LeVine and I agreed to debate, but he never got back to me […]
Text of Ahmadinejad letter to Merkel
In contrast with his letter to George W. Bush, Ahmadinejad takes a gentler approach this time: See? We’re just like you, victimized by the Allies who won in World War II. And hey, we all want the same thing. Peace, prosperity, the return of the Mahdi — wait, never mind that last one. From Fars […]
Ahmadinejad says Holocaust ‘made up to embarrass Germany’
UPDATE: Fars News Agency has released the text, posted above. Ahmadinejad’s letter to Merkel from last month has not yet been released in its entirety by Germany or Iran, though the New York Daily News recently reported that Reuters has obtained a copy. It would be nice to see it. Meanwhile, details continue to emerge. […]
‘Withdraw Or Be Ready for-Full Scale War’ – Somali Islamic Courts chief to Ethiopia
Somali Jihad Update from The Ethiopian Reporter: “Somalia: ‘Withdraw Or Be Ready for-Full Scale War’ – Aweys to Ethiopia” “We call on Ethiopia to withdraw its forces from Somalia, otherwise be ready for full-scale war,” Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) of Somalia, warned on Thursday. Ethiopia, despite numerous […]
Muslim students deny airline mutiny was a set-up
Sohail Ashraf and Khurram Zeb were removed from a flight from Malaga to Manchester recently when other passengers refused to fly with them. In the full version of this story, they deny that they were staging their odd behavior in order to provoke the passengers’ reaction. But there are plenty of unanswered questions about their […]
Tom and Huck make the hajj
Remember Shakespeare’s Macbeth, when Macbeth slays Duncan and proclaims an Islamic republic in Dunsinane? No, that one is a parody, but it’s not too far off from the Turkish versions of Western books circulating now. The good news is that Turkish secularists are taking some Islamic publishers to court for Islamizing Western classics in translation. […]
Fitzgerald: It is the arrival, not the journey, that matters
“With this centrality in mind, our goals in the Middle East should change from, in effect, promoting sharia-democracy to preventing the export of sharia and terrorism to advance sharia.” — Diana West, in her proposed speech for President Bush Diana West’s speech would be a considerable improvement on what is coming from Washington today. But […]
Iraq bomb attacks, shootings kill dozens
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki still insists there’s no civil war, and none looming in the future, either. From AP: BAGHDAD, Iraq – A wave of bomb attacks and shootings swept Iraq Sunday, killing dozens of people despite a massive security operation in the capital and appeals from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for an end […]
America’s Muslims Aren’t as Assimilated as You Think
This item by Geneive Abdo accurately notes the proverbial “circling of the wagons” that has taken place in Muslim communities in America since September 11, 2001, and the consequent revival of interest in Islamic traditions; it is unsurprising, but nonetheless helpful to have documented again the fact that Muslims favor their identity as Muslims over […]
Hamza henchman defies law to praise 7/7 bombers
More jihadist venom from Abu Abdullah. Will the British dhimmis do nothing? From the TimesOnline, with thanks to all who sent this in: AN associate of Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric, has defied Tony Blair’s ban on glorifying terrorism by praising the July 7 bombers and describing how he would “love” to kill British troops […]
Nasrallah sheds crocodile tears
I think it actually is likely that he didn’t expect Israel to make any serious response. “Nasrallah sorry for scale of war,” from the BBC, with thanks to all who sent this in: Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has said he would not have ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known […]