Recently in Moderate Islam Category

Muslim leader fears backlash over Liberal views

The new president of the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) says she is feeling the wrath of Islamic fundamentalists because of her stance on such issues as terrorism, homosexuality and religious law.

Now, Mississauga's Farzana Hassan Shahid is calling on Queen's Park to intervene. She wants Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant to incorporate the kind of threats made by various radical groups against her and other members of the MCC into the framework of existing hate crime laws.

"There is an underlying fear all the time...that uneasy feeling is part of my daily life," Hassan Shahid told The News. "I have been declared an apostate (a person who forsakes their religion) twice, for opposing the Sharia (a form of Islamic law). We have asked Michael Bryant to include or acknowledge accusation of blasphemy and apostasy into the existing hate laws so the public and legal frame work is sensitized to this issue."

Hassan Shahid said she and other members of her organization receive threatening e-mails and are subjected to other acts of hatred from radical Muslim groups. One strongly worded hate-mail accused her of being the, "younger sister of Satan."

Freedom of thought = apostasy?
Is that all there is to be while these freaks are about?

No doubt there are those who would say that pointing out that freedom of thought is apostasy is to increase the power of radical Islam by enraging the salafist and khomeinist freaks...to me that would be like saying to expose David Duke is to spread the influence of the KKK.

British Muslim leaders meeting with government representatives to discuss ways of combating extremism are calling for the establishment of Islamic law (shari'a) to govern Muslims' family life.

Too funny for words.

"We told her if you give us religious rights, we will be in a better position to convince [Muslim] young people that they are being treated equally along with other citizens," said Syed Aziz Pasha, secretary general of the Union of Muslim Organizations of the U.K. and Ireland.

Pasha was among some 30 Muslim leaders, described as moderates, who met with Ruth Kelly, the minister responsible for communities, amid raging debate in the country over what to do about the terror threat.

The government is appealing to Muslim figures to work harder to prevent extremist views from taking root in their communities, particularly among young people.

The campaign was accelerated after the July 2005 London bombings, and given new urgency in recent days after police discovered what they said was a conspiracy to blow up U.S.-bound aircraft, killing thousands of air passengers and crew.

As of Tuesday, police were holding 24 suspects, all reported to be Muslims.

'If you give the means to erode your culture, then we won't have to convince our young people not to blow the &%#$ out of you, old chap, which we all know won't work at any rate, right?'

Bosnian Jews up in arms about new restitution law

Jewish groups are troubled by a new property restitution law in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina that officially discriminates in favor of the country's Muslims.

A law passed earlier this month allows people living in state-owned apartments that were nationalized under the former Yugoslavia's socialist regime to purchase the dwellings. But the law - backed by lawmakers from the country's Muslim majority - provides that any apartment previously owned by the Muslim community cannot be purchased if the community objects to the sale.

"Holders of tenant's tenure for apartments whose formal owners are wakfs can not buy up those apartments without previous written approval of the apartment's owner," the law states, using the Arabic word for a Muslim community endowment.

The Jewish community, as well as the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, was not given the same veto power.

A protest letter to the government and various international authorities from The Inter-Religious Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina states, "One of the fundamental principles of justice, equity and of the democracy in which we would like to believe is equality before the law. Unfortunately, this law definitely violates this principle."

A group of ethnic Croatian lawmakers has challenged the law in the Constitutional Court, which should rule on it shortly, according to Bosnia-based diplomats.

The law has generated concern over the future of private-property return in Bosnia and Herzegovina at a time when the government is still formulating its approach to restitution.

The law would mean that Holocaust survivors or their heirs wouldn't obtain fair compensation for their former property, according to Jakub Finci, chairman of the country's small Jewish community.

"I think it's another injustice done not only to Jews but all other former owners who waited 50 years to get back their property," Finci said.

The Inter-Religious Council, which includes Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox representatives, says the legislation would leave people whose apartments were nationalized with little possibility of regaining their property.

Council members object to any legislation that prevents the return of private property to its pre-World War II owners, and point out that the law contravenes the rules of the Council of Europe, the European Convention on Universal Human Rights and other European norms that Bosnia and Herzegovina has agreed to uphold.

A human rights experts at a Western embassy who would speak only on background said he expected the constitutional court to strike down the legislation, "as it is so blatantly discriminatory."

With parliamentary elections looming in October, legislators who backed the apartment law were seeking to gain votes from the vast number of people who still live in state-owned apartments, Finci said.

From MEMRI:

Dr. Bassam Tahhan, a Syrian-born French professor of Arabic literature, teaches at the prestigious Henri IV secondary school in Paris and is an expert on the Koran. In his numerous lectures and interviews, he advocates "Protestant Islam," which he defines as Islam that allows freedom of thought and permits questioning the Sunna, abrogating hadiths not grounded in the Koran, and reinterpreting the Koran in light of modern values. Tahhan recently attended a UNESCO conference on human rights in Morocco, where he gave the following interview to the independent French-language Moroccan daily Telquel: [1]

"To Be a Rationalist is to Acknowledge That the Orthodox Approach is Fundamentally Wrong"

Telquel: "You characterize yourself as one who interprets the Koran rationally. What do you mean by that?"

Tahhan: "To read the Koran rationally is to accept that the Koran is open [to interpretation] and has many meanings. The tradition regards the Koran as one-dimensional and fixed. This approach is not rationalist. To be a rationalist is to accept that each era, with its [particular] methods and discoveries, presents its own reading of the Koran, and this is the way it will be until the end of days. To be a rationalist is to acknowledge that the orthodox approach is fundamentally wrong since it does not accept the multiplicity of readings."

Telquel: "You are one of a handful of experts around the world on the different versions of the Koran. How did you come to have a passion for this topic?"

Tahhan: "Let me remind you of a historical fact that is accepted by all. In the year 901 - an unfortunate year for Muslims - a Muslim qadi named Ibn Mujahid canonized [one version of] the Koran. Before that, there were many different versions of the Koran, and this did not upset the good Muslims!"

Examining the Different Versions of the Koran Reveals "Its WideRange of Possible Meanings"

Tahhan: "Today, Muslim thought evolves within a very rigid framework, namely the framework of the Shari'a. I, on the other hand, refer to the sacred scriptures. Specifically, I allow myself to draw upon the various [versions of the] 'sacred scriptures,' since there are many of them. This is a fact. In order to see this, one must merely read the chapter Kutub Al-Masahif ('The Books of the Koran') in Ibn Nadim's book Al-Fihrist. Ibn Nadim enumerates several versions of the Koran which were not recognized by the Caliphs. He explicitly refers to mushaf al-rasul (the Prophet's Koran)! Remember that, ever since the Koran was canonized, we have been referring to Mushaf 'Uthman ['Uthman's version of the Koran].

"The German orientalist Theodor Noeldeke wrote several volumes on the history of the various Korans. Today the Arabic translation of his book is being circulated in secret. Jews and Christians readily accept the different versions of their sacred scriptures. Why shouldn't we? When you examine the different versions from different perspectives - sociological, philosophical, juridical and linguistic - you reveal the Koran's wide range of possible meanings. This breathes new life into [the Koran], instead of petrifying it for all time!"

Via Liberty and Justice we learn ....

Ayaan Not Dutch; According To Dutch Minister

NOS Journaal reports:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali received her Dutch passport on false grounds. This wrote minister Verdonk in a letter to the VVD-MP.
[...]
The definitive results (re: of the investigation) will come later, but on the basis of the broadcast of the tv-show Zembla and the "now known facts", Hirsi Ali is "considered as not having reveived the Dutch nationality" according to Verdonk.
[...]
Not having a Dutch passport will mean that Hirsi Ali is falsely a member of Parliament. Hirsi Ali has six weeks to (go in) appeal to the letter from Verdonk.

I don't know what to say about this. I feared this would happen, but thought that there was only a slim chance that Verdonk would take away Ayaan's Dutch nationality (not having received the Dutch nationality means she has her passport illegally; right now, she is not considered Dutch.

This will have a huge impact on Ayaan. If this will turn out to be the definitive decision from Verdonk, she will also have big difficulties moving to the U.S.

To my major disappointment:
The Dutch population does not seem to regret her leaving the Netherlands either. Almost 3/4 of the Dutch does not consider her leaving (re: the Netherlands) Dutch politics as a loss.

My God.

Women clerics challenge influence of Al Qaida, Wahabis

MUST READ !!!

Morocco - (SUB Needed Bill Gertz' private site)

King Mohammed has embarked on what has never taken place in the 1,300-year history of Islam. He has established a network for the training and employment of Islamic women clerics in an effort to fight Al Qaida philosophy, based on the Wahabi sect of Islam sponsored by Saudi Arabia.

The program has graduated its first class of women clerics.

Officials said they hope women clerics will introduce Islamic preaching to support women's rights and promote kindness. This would be in contrast to the Wahabi philosophy that preaches hate against those who are not part of the sect.

"This is a rare experiment in the Muslim world," said Mohammed Mahfoud, director of the center that trained the first class of women.

The center is affiliated with the Islamic Affairs Ministry. So far, 50 women have graduated from a course to prepare them to become preachers in mosques and other places.

Mohammed understood the need for a dramatic change in Islamic teaching after Morocco was rocked by a massive Al Qaida strike in May 2003. At least 10 Al Qaida-aligned suicide bombers struck Casablanca, killing 33 people and injuring scores of others.

Mohammed was not surprised by the attacks. He knew Al Qaida had long targeted Morocco for its liberal and pro-Western approach and tolerance of religions other than Islam. Mohammed, who succeeded his father King Hassan in 1999, preached reconciliation and peace and approved the establishment of a commission to examine the abuse of the former regime.

MALAYSIA'S de facto law minister has threatened to jail or fine non-Muslims who insult Islam, amid concern over recent articles perceived as attacking the religion. Mohamad Nazri Abdul Aziz said the country's sedition act could be used on non-Muslims who make comments construed as belittling Islam.

"We will not think twice about using this law against anybody who incites," Mohamad Nazri, a minister in the prime minister's department, was quoted as saying in the Star newspaper today.

The minister said he was concerned over recent articles written about Islam by non-Muslims, and warned there was a limit to what could be said in the Muslim-majority country.

"I want to remind non-Muslims to refrain from making statements on something they do not understand," he said.


You mean like Freedom of Speech or Religion?


"We do not want to take away your rights religion is an important matter, especially to the Muslims."

Maylasia has been heralded as a moderate muslim state (despite the incredible racist Mahathir)
Y'know, what really bothers me is not whether this is 'moderate' or not. It clearly is not. It's the morons in the west who claim that Maylasia is some beacon of moderation( as Qaradawi has also been called) because of what...they actually HAVE an economy? No one got their hand lopped off this week?By claiming these people are moderate, the mere application of objective fact to who they are and what they do makes it appear as if there is NONE and can never be any.

The conscience of the multitude of muslims makes a reckoning inevitable. The question is, will there a be world here by the time this occurs? Delenda est Salafi jihadism

Among the most moving scenes in film history occurs in "To Kill a Mockingbird," in which the little girl, Scout, who has been watching her lawyer/father plead for the life of a falsely accused black man in the old South, is exhorted by an elderly black spectator in the gallery to rise to her feet. "Your father is passing," he explains.

I thought of that after viewing video of a woman who must be one of the bravest souls on earth.

The woman continues to slay the dragon.

Courage is among the rarest of virtues. Most people will not risk even the displeasure of their boss, far less their very lives, for something they believe in. Sultan doubtless speaks for millions of Muslims who similarly deplore the barbarism that has come to dominate large segments of the Muslim world. But without leadership like hers, they must feel besieged and beleaguered. Her heroic stand deserves our awe and deep respect. Stand up: Ms. Sultan is passing.