In dealing with the Islamic ideology ~ there are some of the issues that we are going to have to face ~ there is the fact that from its inception Islam has been foisted on those who then became its followers, and from this ~ you can say permission has been granted or the idea is that a similar force or terror ~ should be used to bring people under the rule of Islam again.
There was an interesting conversation where a British Indian [non-Muslim] journalist, who was interviewing British [likely] Pakistani radical Islamist ~ and she asked him ~ when the Muslims sought to convert India ~ a lot of people died. And he answered ~ but when they took the sword out ~ we had Islam. A clear acknowledgement of the violence ~ needed or used to spread Islam. The idea being ~ that once the violence is over then they would appreciate these new Islamic controls.
The phrase those outside of Islam are 'ignorant'.
Conversely is also the understanding that if violence or terror is not used ~ then people will not follow it.
Its the belief is that any country or peoples would be grateful to have Islam ~ thereby justifying its enforcement ~ as a result there is likely no religion on earth ~ ever to have killed more in the name of religion ~ than Islam. And a lot of people who may not be willing to take part in the violence ~ are willing to get out of the way ~ and allow what happened to them ~ happen to another group of people. Blinded by Islam [Obviously some hope that people would come to submit to Islamic rule willingly.. and if they don't what is the belief?]
What is happening in the UK and likely across Europe with the radicalization ~ is first we have seen the control of women ~ a sudden shift from cultural or regional dress to a uniformity ~ in line with the Gulf Arab states.
It started with more headscarves ~ worn a specific way [outside of the traditional form] ~ then it moved to all black and then the burqa. So then we have to look to the men. First they control the women ~ then they look outside to control the area ~ to bring uniformity into the immediate area [which is where some areas are now] ~ logically next is wider society.
Some people think that they can negotiate with it ~ where sillily the determining factor is whether you are deemed to be 'racist' or not. But to do this you must both be holding the same set of cards.
Yes there are many shades ~ but the shade that really matters is Islam and its laws. And a society which wants to remain free ~ must understand its goals and its methods.
If anything at all it should not be funded by the public purse.
Money from the Government's £63m-a-year anti-radicalisation budget has been given to the very extremist organisations it should have been confronting.
The Prevent strategy was launched four years ago to counter home-grown terrorism, but the Government now admits it failed on many fronts.
Announcing sweeping changes to its tactics and remit, Home Secretary Theresa May said the programme had not lived up to expectations.
In a statement to the House of Commons, she said Prevent had "failed to tackle the extremist ideology that not only undermines the cohesion of our society, but also inspires would-be terrorists to seek to bring death and destruction to our towns and cities".
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Eulogy: Bin Laden's No. 2: Muslims will destroy America
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| Ayman al-Zawahiri was Al-Qaeda's second in command before the death of its leader Osama bin Laden |
"We promise him obedience... in jihad for Allah and to set up sharia (Islamic) law," he added.
Perhaps we should check the other houses around the Pakistani military acedemy ~ might find the Al Qaeda No. 2!!
DUBAI (AFP/ AP)— Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda's long-time number two, has vowed in a video eulogy to Osama bin Laden that he will pursue his late leader's jihad against the West, SITE Intelligence Group reported on Wednesday.
"Today, praise God, America is not facing an individual, a group or a faction," he said, wearing a white robe and turban with an assault rifle leaned on a wall behind him. "It is facing a nation than is in revolt, having risen from its lethargy to a renaissance of jihad."
"He went to his God as a martyr, the man who terrified American while alive and terrifies it in death, so much so that they trembled at the idea of his having tomb" he said.
Al-Zawahri — who referenced the toppling of rulers in Tunisia and Egypt and continued uprisings in Libya, Yemen and Syria — tried to cast recent developments as in line with his group's longtime goal: to destroy America and its allies. He said America now faces the international Muslim community.
"Our brothers who are working in Islam in all places, I tell you that our hands are extended to you and our hearts are open to you, so that we can work together to make Allah's word the highest and to make Islamic law in Muslim lands the ruler, not the ruled," he said in a video released on militant websites.
"We will pursue the jihad until we expel the invaders from Muslim lands," he was quoted as saying in the eulogy to bin Laden who was killed in a US raid in Pakistan on May 2.
"The man who terrified America in his life will continue to terrify it after his death," he added in the video message titled "The Noble Knight Dismounted," which SITE said was posted on jihadist online forums on Wednesday.
"You will continue to be troubled by his famous vow: You shall not dream of security until we enjoy it and until you depart the Muslims' lands," added the Egyptian militant, who was in white garb and a turban with a machinegun behind him.
He vowed to make sacrifices needed to "deprive America of security."
Security officials say armed tribesmen control parts of Yemen’s second-largest city
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| Armed Yemeni tribesmen stand on the back of a vehicle in Taiz, Yemen, Wednesday, June 8, 2011 |
SANAA, YEMEN [AP]— Hundreds of armed tribespeople have taken control of part of Yemen’s second-largest city, Taiz, security officials said Wednesday.
The advance on Taiz showed the government’s already tenuous control over the country has slipped further since President Ali Abdullah Saleh was wounded in a rocket attack on his compound in the capital Sanaa on Friday and left for medical care in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Saleh left as Yemen was edging closer to civil war.
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| A Yemeni boy looks inside a car which was burnt in recent clashes between security forces and tribesman, loyal to Sheik Sadeq al-Ahmar, the head of the powerful Hashid tribe, in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, June 8, 2011. |
Security officials said Taiz, a city of about a million located 250 kilometres south of Sanaa, was quiet Wednesday after two days of fighting during which troops loyal to the regime fought rival tribesmen trying to storm the presidential palace there. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
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| Members of the Yemeni security forces take up positions inside the Ministry of Industry and Trade, during clashes with tribesmen, loyal to Sheik Sadeq al-Ahmar, the head of the powerful Hashid tribe, in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, June 8, 2011. |
The Interior Ministry has denied that armed men are controlling Taiz, according to Yemen state TV.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Spanish journalist threaten by members of the band called 'Islam' ~ Its the same old song!!
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| Pilar Rahola The song's chorus "I'll kill Pilar Rahola" |
Journalist and author Pilar Rahola is under police protection after a death-threat clip recorded by a band named "Islam" was posted to YouTube. The song repeats "I'll kill Pilar Rahola", and the clip is accompanied by a woman wearing a burka. Rahola lodged a complaint about the clip, and the Spanish authorities had turned to the US Authorities to remove the video in question. [ed: the video was already removed]
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| Islam - the Band |
Pilar Rahola is known for her denunciations of Islamic and Arab dictatorships, as well as for defending the rights of women in Islamic societies. She recently published a book titled "The Islamic republic of Spain". IN the past she got death threats and was designated an 'enemy of Islam' by Spanish Muslim organizations for her positions favoring Israel and opposing Palestinian terrorist organizations.
Islam in Europe, Periodista Digital
Hijab Ban Dashes Iran Women's Olympics Dreams - 'Headscarf is an obligatory code of dress in Islam'
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| Eskimos dress modestly ~ why don't we see more Eskimo dress on Muslim women?? They are controlled to the hilt! |
Iranian officials said that the FIFA ruling has thrown a killer stone for women sports in the Islamic Republic. "Headscarves are simply what we wear in Iran,” said Mozafar.
The killer stone?? Who's talking about stoning women!!
To go without a headscarf in Iran is a crime. It is not 'simply what they wear' it is simply what they are forced to wear.
But the rules for the Olympics are that no religious or political items can be displayed.
Possibly they seek to come to the games as being above human!! Look at our supreme Muslim women. All very Hitleresque!!
Most of the women from the Islamic world are forbidden to take part in the games anyway!
In Iran woman are not allowed to attend men's football games ~ to look at men playing ball is forbidden.
CAIRO – Dashing Iran's hopes of playing in the 2012 London Olympics, football's governing body has ruled that the footballers' Islamic dress code broke FIFA rules, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, June 6.
“This ruling means that women soccer in Iran is over,” said Shahrzad Mozafar, the team’s former head coach.
FIFA ruled on Monday that the Islamic dress of the Iranian women football team broke its rules, which ban the manifestation of religious symbols.
In April 2010, FIFA announced that it was planning to ban hijab and other religious outings during the 2012 Olympics.
"Players and officials shall not display political, religious, commercial or personal messages or slogans in any language or form on their playing or team kits," the rules say.
Muslim group furious that UK government will no longer fund their Islamic Caliphate ambitions
Hizb ut-Tahrir's manifesto is bunkers ~ if you do leave Islam you must keep it to yourself ~ or else. A list of madness. Why should any free state fund this. Naturally in this Caliphate dreamworld ~ Muslims will be superior ~ and everyone else will be inferior under the law ~ unless you convert [and become superior!]
Taji Mustafa, media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain, rejects coalition's 'colonial' approach:
"This policy has nothing to do with security. It is about forcing a set of values on a community simply because their beliefs do not conform to secular liberal norms, and is proof that liberals can be supremacist.
"After bombing Afghanistan and Pakistan, does Mr Cameron still expect people to believe in the Blairite delusion that it is Islamic beliefs that are the cause of security threats to the UK? Most serious observers have abandoned this discredited world view, which continues to be propagated by some politicians, and self-serving think tanks and academics whose funding relies on such nonsense.
"This Conservative-Liberal government has decided to display an open hostility to Islam - threatening to cut funding to some groups - in order to impose Cameron's definition of 'British' values, and coercing Muslims to leave any Islamic values that the government labels 'extremist'.
"It is worth recalling that the Blair-Brown government's definition of 'extremism' included a belief in the Islamic Caliphate system of governance in the Muslim world; Islamic values in relation to intimate relations between men and women; and views on resistance to Western occupation in the Muslim world.
Terrorism works: Convert & Islamic preacher told students at UK University
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| a.k.a - Abdur Raheem Green found 'peace' in Islamic terrorism |
Now we are seeing the same coercive measures taken against non-Muslims in the west.
Islam was brought to them through the sword and they are governed via the sword. The aim of today's terrorism is to bring the whole world under this same order. The idea has failed repeatedly, once the people start to relax and be normal again, the idea would be to increase the penalties for not following Islam ~ its logical conclusion is 7th century Arabia.
Green is not PC convert to Islam!!
London, June 7: An Islamic preacher told his students that it was difficult to argue with the views of Osama bin Laden and said “terrorism works” during a speech at a university in London.
Abdur Raheem Green, a Muslim convert and former public schoolboy, said that a “permanent state of war exists between the people of Islam and the people who opposed Islam,” while addressing students at University College London (UCL).
He gave the speech to the university’s Islamic society while Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab, the Detroit bomber, was a student there in 2005, the Telegraph reports.
US designates Gaza based 'Army of Islam' as terrorist organization
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| The Army of Islam with the armed wing of the governing Hamas movement and the Popular Resistance Committees, captured Israeli soldier 19-year-old Gilad Shalit. This is not them, this is the Popular Resistance Committee!! |
The United States has designated the Army of Islam, or AOI, as a terrorist organization. The terrorist designation bans Americans from doing business with the group and freezes any assets it might have in the United States.
AOI was founded in 2005 and is based in the Gaza Strip. It has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks against Israel and Egypt, as well as American, British and New Zealand citizens. These actions include a number of rocket attacks on Israel, the 2006 kidnapping of two Fox News journalists in Gaza, and the 2007 kidnapping of a British citizen, journalist Alan Johnston, in Gaza. The Army of Islam is also responsible for attacks on Egyptian civilians in Cairo and Heliopolis in 2009.
The group is led by Mumtaz Dughmush and operates primarily in the Palestinian territories. It subscribes to a Salafist ideology of global jihad and supports armed Palestinian resistance. The Army of Islam has previously worked with Hamas and is attempting to develop closer ties with al Qaida.
On May 7th, AOI released a eulogy for Osama bin Laden via its Al Nur Media Foundation.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Malaysia: "Obedient Wife Club" urge Muslim women to be 'whores in the bed'
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| It is like Malaysia is hoping for a different result from doing the same Islamic things again and again! Almost a creepy approach to Islam. Like they are trying too hard. Malaysian Muslims divorce rates are at an all time high ~ one every 15 mins ~ beating out all other groups. |
Islamic group Global Ikhwan held the club's inaugural meeting in Kuala Lumpur, giving women tips on how to keep their men satisfied and prevent them straying.
"A good wife is perceived to be prim and proper -- you just take care of the children -- but not much is emphasised on fulfilling sexual needs of the husband. If he needs sex, obey him," Rohaya Mohamad, the club's vice-president told AFP.
Rohaya said 30 percent of the club members were in polygamous marriages while the rest were in monogamous relationships and that the club was open to non-Muslims.
"You must satisfy your husband. A good wife should be a whore in bed," said 46-year-old doctor, whose husband has three other wives.
She said the club boasted 800 Malaysian members so far with another 200 from across the Middle East.
Over 1,000 guests and supporters turned up for the launch in a leafy suburb, held in conjunction with a mass wedding of ten couples, with the brides all members of the new club.
"If the wife is obedient, then the husband feels good and is entertained and this builds a closer relationship and greater love and no one strays," said groom Mohamad Shurahbil Amran, 23.
His bride Umuhani Lokman Hakim, 19, dressed in a golden white Arabic wedding gown, was unforthcoming when asked why she joined the club and would only say: "It is the right thing to do to keep the family together."
Egypt’s Christians Fear Violence as Changes Embolden Islamists - They Want Equal Rights With Muslims
A slight bit more honesty coming for the New York Times in this article.
Human Rights Watch to their credit did a report on the treatment of converts from Islam in Egypt ~ which is an illegal act. Some choose not to register the birth of their babies, and live in hiding, so they can emerge in the next generation as documented Christians.
Calling the conflicts between Muslim and Christian in Egypt 'sectarian' is inaccurate ~ because it seems to imply that the Christians are responsible for starting an equal portion of these conflicts ~ when nearly 100% start with a Muslim mob ~ openly attacking ~ Christian places of worship, shops and businesses and property ~ with the military or police at times taking part ~ but rarely if ever there to halt these actions.
The 'legal framework that treats Muslims and Christians differently' are the Islamic Sharia dhimmi laws ~ which are in operation to varying extents in every Islamic nation. And are based on the idea of Islamic or Muslim supremacy.
The common ground is our common humanity ~ which Shari'a law acknowledges only for Muslims. There need be no search.
ElBaradei presidential hopeful
Here's an ElBaradei spokesperson ~ says that Egypt needs a bill of rights. They need a proper civil law with no clause II ~ which stipulates laws cannot contradict the Shari'a.
Its a sad dhimmi-ing around ~ because if you are poor in the Muslim world ~ you can think at least I am better than my non-Muslim neighbor ~ as a way to bolster one's self-esteem. But after a thousand years of dhimmitude for non-Muslims ~ someone has to be thinking ~ what has it brought them.
The arrogant ideas pre-revolution, that were coming out of Egypt was that the west needed to learn from the Egyptian example ~ and that western democracy needed Shari'a ~ would hardly be given an ear now. We have laws which establish equality for a reason ~ and across the western/free world has benefited enormously from them.
CAIRO — The headline screamed from a venerable liberal newspaper: Coptic Christians had abducted a young Muslim and tattooed her with a cross. “Copts kidnap Raghada!”
“They tied me up with ropes, beat me with shoes, shaved my hair,” Raghada Salem Abdel Fattah, 19, declared, “and forced me to read Christian psalms!”
Like many similar stories proliferating here since the revolution, Ms. Abdel Fattah’s kidnapping could not be confirmed. But for members of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, the sensational headline — from a respected publisher, no less — served to validate their fear that the Egyptian revolution had made their country less tolerant and more dangerous for religious minorities. The Arab Spring initially appeared to open a welcoming door to the dwindling number of Christian Arabs who, after years of feeling marginalized, eagerly joined the call for democracy and rule of law. But now many Christians here say they fear that the fall of the police state has allowed long-simmering tensions to explode, potentially threatening the character of Egypt, and the region.
“Will Christians have equal rights and full citizenship or not?” asked Sarkis Naoum, a Christian commentator in Beirut, Lebanon. A surge of sectarian violence in Cairo — 24 dead, more than 200 wounded and three churches in flames since President Hosni Mubarak’s downfall — has turned Christian-Muslim tensions into one of the gravest threats to the revolution’s stability. But it is also a pivotal test of Egypt’s tolerance, pluralism and the rule of law. The revolution has empowered the majority but also opened new questions about the protection of minority rights like freedom of religion or expression as Islamist groups step forward to lay out their agendas and test their political might.
Around the region, Christians are also closely watching events in Syria, where as in Egypt Christians and other minorities received the protection of a secular dictator, Bashar al-Assad, now facing his own popular uprising.
“The Copts are the crucial test case,” said Heba Morayef, a researcher with Human Rights Watch here, adding that facing off against “societal pressures” may in some ways be ever harder than criticizing a dictator. “It is the next big battle.”
But so far, there is little encouragement in the debate over how to address the sectarian strife. Instead of searching for common ground, all sides are pointing fingers of blame while almost no one is addressing the underlying reasons for the strife, including a legal framework that treats Muslims and Christians differently.
Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the 80 million Egyptians, say the revolution has plunged them into uncharted territory. Suppressed or marginalized for six decades here, Islamists entering politics have rushed to defend an article of the Egyptian Constitution that declares Egypt a Muslim country that derives its laws from Islam. Christians and liberals say privately they abhor the provision, which was first added as a populist gesture by President Anwar el-Sadat. But the article is so popular among Muslims — and the meaning so vague — that even many liberals and Christians entering politics are reluctant to speak out against it, asking at most for slight modifications.
“Our position is that it should stay, but a clause should be added so that in personal issues non-Muslims are subject to the rules of their own religion,” said Naguib Sawiris, a secular-minded Christian tycoon who has started his own liberal party.
He would prefer to remove religion from the laws entirely the way Western separation of church and state does, he said, but that idea could not prevail in Egypt. “Islam doesn’t separate them,” he said.
The most common sparks for sectarian violence, however, come from Egyptian laws dating from the end of the colonial era. One imposes stricter regulations on building churches than on mosques. Christians often look to get around the restrictions by constructing “community centers” with altars and steeples — sometimes provoking Muslim accusations of deceit and Christian charges of discrimination.
Often, Christians who want to divorce convert to Islam — and try, after the divorce, to convert back. The law has spawned many rumors of sectarian “kidnappings” to abet or prevent such a conversion for some Coptic women. The rumors ignite most outbreaks of Muslim-Christian violence, including at least three riots since the revolution, and many other controversies. In Ms. Abdel Fattah’s case, the Cairo police said the account was fabricated, while Ms. Abdel Fattah’s mother said her daughter was too traumatized to speak to reporters.
But despite widespread recognition of the law’s role as a catalyst of sectarian violence, the idea that civic law should enforce religious morals is so deeply embedded here that almost no one is proposing to alter the rule.
“It is explosive,” said Hossam Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, one of the few groups that advocate changing the law to at least allow the choice of a civil, nonreligious marriage.
When Copts held a weeklong sit-in to demand equal legal treatment, many who attended nonetheless insisted on the preservation of separate, binding laws on Christian marriages. “So no one will be able to get around the religion,” said Yusef George, a 30-year-old businessman. A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest Islamist group, said it, too, supported the rule.
Some blame their own church for depending too much on Mr. Mubarak. In a pattern common to Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, Coptic leaders cultivated the patronage of Egypt’s secular dictator, with Coptic Pope Shenouda III trading political support for favors and protection. As in Iraq, with the leader deposed, the Christians felt exposed.
“Coptic rights were reserved to be discussed between Mubarak and the pope,” said Mona Makram Ebeid, a Coptic scholar and former lawmaker who suspended her membership in the liberal Wafd party because its newspaper published the headline about Ms. Abdel Fattah, “and the Copts were left out of it completely.”
Church leaders, in turn, blame Islamic fundamentalists they say the revolution has emboldened. “They don’t want any Copts present in Egypt,” said Father Armia Adly, a spokesman for the church.
The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, has named a Christian as deputy leader of its new political party. “We are calling for a civil state,” said Essam el-Erian, a prominent leader of the Brotherhood, adding that the group hoped to promote laws derived from the elements of Islamic law common to other great religions, like “freedom of worship and faith, equality between people, and human rights and human dignity.”
Still, many liberals argue the sectarian conflicts prove Egypt should establish a permanent “bill of rights” to protect religious and personal freedoms before holding elections that could give power to an Islamist majority. It would “remove the sense of angst that exists today in Egypt,” said a spokeswoman for Mohamed ElBaradei, a liberal presidential contender.
New York Times
“The Copts are the crucial test case,” said Heba Morayef, a researcher with Human Rights Watch here, adding that facing off against “societal pressures” may in some ways be ever harder than criticizing a dictator. “It is the next big battle.”
Human Rights Watch to their credit did a report on the treatment of converts from Islam in Egypt ~ which is an illegal act. Some choose not to register the birth of their babies, and live in hiding, so they can emerge in the next generation as documented Christians.
But so far, there is little encouragement in the debate over how to address the sectarian strife. Instead of searching for common ground, all sides are pointing fingers of blame while almost no one is addressing the underlying reasons for the strife, including a legal framework that treats Muslims and Christians differently.
Calling the conflicts between Muslim and Christian in Egypt 'sectarian' is inaccurate ~ because it seems to imply that the Christians are responsible for starting an equal portion of these conflicts ~ when nearly 100% start with a Muslim mob ~ openly attacking ~ Christian places of worship, shops and businesses and property ~ with the military or police at times taking part ~ but rarely if ever there to halt these actions.
The 'legal framework that treats Muslims and Christians differently' are the Islamic Sharia dhimmi laws ~ which are in operation to varying extents in every Islamic nation. And are based on the idea of Islamic or Muslim supremacy.
The common ground is our common humanity ~ which Shari'a law acknowledges only for Muslims. There need be no search.
ElBaradei presidential hopeful
Here's an ElBaradei spokesperson ~ says that Egypt needs a bill of rights. They need a proper civil law with no clause II ~ which stipulates laws cannot contradict the Shari'a.
Still, many liberals argue the sectarian conflicts prove Egypt should establish a permanent “bill of rights” to protect religious and personal freedoms before holding elections that could give power to an Islamist majority. It would “remove the sense of angst that exists today in Egypt,” said a spokeswoman for Mohamed ElBaradei, a liberal presidential contender.
Its a sad dhimmi-ing around ~ because if you are poor in the Muslim world ~ you can think at least I am better than my non-Muslim neighbor ~ as a way to bolster one's self-esteem. But after a thousand years of dhimmitude for non-Muslims ~ someone has to be thinking ~ what has it brought them.
The arrogant ideas pre-revolution, that were coming out of Egypt was that the west needed to learn from the Egyptian example ~ and that western democracy needed Shari'a ~ would hardly be given an ear now. We have laws which establish equality for a reason ~ and across the western/free world has benefited enormously from them.
CAIRO — The headline screamed from a venerable liberal newspaper: Coptic Christians had abducted a young Muslim and tattooed her with a cross. “Copts kidnap Raghada!”
“They tied me up with ropes, beat me with shoes, shaved my hair,” Raghada Salem Abdel Fattah, 19, declared, “and forced me to read Christian psalms!”
Like many similar stories proliferating here since the revolution, Ms. Abdel Fattah’s kidnapping could not be confirmed. But for members of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, the sensational headline — from a respected publisher, no less — served to validate their fear that the Egyptian revolution had made their country less tolerant and more dangerous for religious minorities. The Arab Spring initially appeared to open a welcoming door to the dwindling number of Christian Arabs who, after years of feeling marginalized, eagerly joined the call for democracy and rule of law. But now many Christians here say they fear that the fall of the police state has allowed long-simmering tensions to explode, potentially threatening the character of Egypt, and the region.
“Will Christians have equal rights and full citizenship or not?” asked Sarkis Naoum, a Christian commentator in Beirut, Lebanon. A surge of sectarian violence in Cairo — 24 dead, more than 200 wounded and three churches in flames since President Hosni Mubarak’s downfall — has turned Christian-Muslim tensions into one of the gravest threats to the revolution’s stability. But it is also a pivotal test of Egypt’s tolerance, pluralism and the rule of law. The revolution has empowered the majority but also opened new questions about the protection of minority rights like freedom of religion or expression as Islamist groups step forward to lay out their agendas and test their political might.
Around the region, Christians are also closely watching events in Syria, where as in Egypt Christians and other minorities received the protection of a secular dictator, Bashar al-Assad, now facing his own popular uprising.
“The Copts are the crucial test case,” said Heba Morayef, a researcher with Human Rights Watch here, adding that facing off against “societal pressures” may in some ways be ever harder than criticizing a dictator. “It is the next big battle.”
But so far, there is little encouragement in the debate over how to address the sectarian strife. Instead of searching for common ground, all sides are pointing fingers of blame while almost no one is addressing the underlying reasons for the strife, including a legal framework that treats Muslims and Christians differently.
Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the 80 million Egyptians, say the revolution has plunged them into uncharted territory. Suppressed or marginalized for six decades here, Islamists entering politics have rushed to defend an article of the Egyptian Constitution that declares Egypt a Muslim country that derives its laws from Islam. Christians and liberals say privately they abhor the provision, which was first added as a populist gesture by President Anwar el-Sadat. But the article is so popular among Muslims — and the meaning so vague — that even many liberals and Christians entering politics are reluctant to speak out against it, asking at most for slight modifications.
“Our position is that it should stay, but a clause should be added so that in personal issues non-Muslims are subject to the rules of their own religion,” said Naguib Sawiris, a secular-minded Christian tycoon who has started his own liberal party.
He would prefer to remove religion from the laws entirely the way Western separation of church and state does, he said, but that idea could not prevail in Egypt. “Islam doesn’t separate them,” he said.
The most common sparks for sectarian violence, however, come from Egyptian laws dating from the end of the colonial era. One imposes stricter regulations on building churches than on mosques. Christians often look to get around the restrictions by constructing “community centers” with altars and steeples — sometimes provoking Muslim accusations of deceit and Christian charges of discrimination.
Often, Christians who want to divorce convert to Islam — and try, after the divorce, to convert back. The law has spawned many rumors of sectarian “kidnappings” to abet or prevent such a conversion for some Coptic women. The rumors ignite most outbreaks of Muslim-Christian violence, including at least three riots since the revolution, and many other controversies. In Ms. Abdel Fattah’s case, the Cairo police said the account was fabricated, while Ms. Abdel Fattah’s mother said her daughter was too traumatized to speak to reporters.
But despite widespread recognition of the law’s role as a catalyst of sectarian violence, the idea that civic law should enforce religious morals is so deeply embedded here that almost no one is proposing to alter the rule.
“It is explosive,” said Hossam Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, one of the few groups that advocate changing the law to at least allow the choice of a civil, nonreligious marriage.
When Copts held a weeklong sit-in to demand equal legal treatment, many who attended nonetheless insisted on the preservation of separate, binding laws on Christian marriages. “So no one will be able to get around the religion,” said Yusef George, a 30-year-old businessman. A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest Islamist group, said it, too, supported the rule.
Some blame their own church for depending too much on Mr. Mubarak. In a pattern common to Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, Coptic leaders cultivated the patronage of Egypt’s secular dictator, with Coptic Pope Shenouda III trading political support for favors and protection. As in Iraq, with the leader deposed, the Christians felt exposed.
“Coptic rights were reserved to be discussed between Mubarak and the pope,” said Mona Makram Ebeid, a Coptic scholar and former lawmaker who suspended her membership in the liberal Wafd party because its newspaper published the headline about Ms. Abdel Fattah, “and the Copts were left out of it completely.”
Church leaders, in turn, blame Islamic fundamentalists they say the revolution has emboldened. “They don’t want any Copts present in Egypt,” said Father Armia Adly, a spokesman for the church.
The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, has named a Christian as deputy leader of its new political party. “We are calling for a civil state,” said Essam el-Erian, a prominent leader of the Brotherhood, adding that the group hoped to promote laws derived from the elements of Islamic law common to other great religions, like “freedom of worship and faith, equality between people, and human rights and human dignity.”
Still, many liberals argue the sectarian conflicts prove Egypt should establish a permanent “bill of rights” to protect religious and personal freedoms before holding elections that could give power to an Islamist majority. It would “remove the sense of angst that exists today in Egypt,” said a spokeswoman for Mohamed ElBaradei, a liberal presidential contender.
New York Times
Keep the Persecution of Egypt's Christians in Correct Perspective
The Catholic press tries to address some of the downplaying of the media reports of attacks on Coptic Christians ~ offering a bit of history. And it focuses on the contents of a Reuters article.
Imagine this lot outside of your church/place of worship!!
Christians arrested from praying outside of a church [in a house] without a permit, when churches are not allowed to be built!
KNOXVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - On May 26, 2011, Reuters published an article, "Christians Worry Egypt Being Hijacked by Islamists." The article begins by informing us about Coptic fears of rising Islamist fundamentalism since Mubarak stepped down as President of Egypt in February of this year, but then it seems to downplay those fears. Consequently, I am reminded how important it is for us keep the harsh reality which the Copts are experiencing in proper perspective. With this thought in mind, I will review four points mentioned in the Reuters article.
First, the article seems to associate the Copts' fear of rising Islamist fundamentalism with a group called the Salafists. Of course, such fears have other roots too, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, but the Salafists appear to be responsible for much of the increased violence and tensions in Egypt of late.
The Salafis are followers of a movement that models itself on Islam's patristic [early] period. The Salafis believe that this time period, which lasted for the first three generations, reflects the pure and authoritative teaching and practice of Islam. Contemporary Salafism is seen as a literal and puritanical approach to Islam, and a minority of Salafis espouse violent jihad against the civilian population. Members of this violent minority are referred to as Salafists.
The article mentions a few. For instance, Copts are severely restricted when it comes to employment opportunities for government jobs. They want equal opportunity. The history of the Copts is not included in school textbooks, and they want it included in the curriculum. In addition, Copts are not allowed to build or repair their churches unless they get special permits which are not required for mosques, so they want these restrictions eased.
Although this list is far from complete, it gives us some idea how restricted the Copts are in present-day Egyptian society.
Imagine this lot outside of your church/place of worship!!
Christians arrested from praying outside of a church [in a house] without a permit, when churches are not allowed to be built!
KNOXVILLE, TN (Catholic Online) - On May 26, 2011, Reuters published an article, "Christians Worry Egypt Being Hijacked by Islamists." The article begins by informing us about Coptic fears of rising Islamist fundamentalism since Mubarak stepped down as President of Egypt in February of this year, but then it seems to downplay those fears. Consequently, I am reminded how important it is for us keep the harsh reality which the Copts are experiencing in proper perspective. With this thought in mind, I will review four points mentioned in the Reuters article.
First, the article seems to associate the Copts' fear of rising Islamist fundamentalism with a group called the Salafists. Of course, such fears have other roots too, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, but the Salafists appear to be responsible for much of the increased violence and tensions in Egypt of late.
The Salafis are followers of a movement that models itself on Islam's patristic [early] period. The Salafis believe that this time period, which lasted for the first three generations, reflects the pure and authoritative teaching and practice of Islam. Contemporary Salafism is seen as a literal and puritanical approach to Islam, and a minority of Salafis espouse violent jihad against the civilian population. Members of this violent minority are referred to as Salafists.
Egyptian Military Court Prosecutes Only Christians in Muslim Church Attacks
| Islamic day out ~ Attack a Church Day!! |
Whenever Muslims attack in Egypt ~ Christians are jailed ~ if it happens otherwise ~ there would be true surprise.
On the morning of May 19 two Coptic priests went to St. Mary and St. Abraham Church in Ain Shams and opened it together with some of the Coptic residents, but later in the day thousands of Muslims surrounded the church to protest its opening, hurled stones at the church building and the Copts, who responded by throwing stones. The army and the police stood there watching and did not intervene (video).
Here is an account from one of the jailed Copts:
Emad Ayyad said he was looking down the street from his balcony and saw his son Ayad Emad Ayad arguing with an officer, so he went down to see his son. The officer took him together with his son and shoved them in the police armored car along with a black handbag which belonged to the officer, as evidence to use against them. The police did not say how the weapons were confiscated from them. According to forensics no shots were fired from the weapons.
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| Egyptian Coptic Christians demonstrate in Cairo in March |
Copts, who held a sit-in earlier this month after Muslim mobs attacked to churches elsewhere in Cairo, said the government had promised to reopen closed churches, including the one in Ain Shams. [+]
The thing you want to know is that you never want to live in an Islamic country as a native non-Muslim. Its hell on earth. Here they are just trying to reopen a church. Its the same in Pakistan ~ in both places there has to be sufficient international attention for authorities to act on the behalf of the Christians ~ even when people are killed.
(AINA) -- A Military court in Egypt has sentenced three Christian Copts to 5-years imprisonment on charges of possession of firearms and pocket knives. The Court released all other Muslims and Copts arrested following clashes on May 19 over the re-opening of St. Mary and St. Abraham churches in Ain Shams West (AINA 5-24-2011). Copts Emad Ayyad and Ayman Youssef Halim were convicted of carrying firearms. Emad Ayyam's son, Ayad Emad Ayad, was convicted of carrying a pocket knife.
Eight Copts, mostly students, were arrested in Ain Shams West and charged with rioting, violence and causing injury to citizens. Three of the Copts were also charged with possession of firearms and knives. Police arrested three under-age Muslims on charges of throwing stones at the army.
Defense lawyer Abraham Edward said "This is a very unjust, severe and cruel verdict." He said that as lawyers they are unable to fathom what is going on. "Today's case is very strange, a case where there is not one shred of evidence to indict them. If this case went in front of the International Court of Justice they would all be set free." He criticized the five-year prison sentence handed down to Ayad Emad Ayad for carrying a pocket knife. According to the law this is punishable by a six months suspended sentence.
Fear of power vacuum as Yemeni president flees to Saudi Arabia
These ultra religious countries scare people off ~ tourism, no industry ~ tourists suffer from jihadist attack and kidnap. The country becomes hostile and unwelcoming. Diplomats have been attacked from the UK as well as South Korea. It is not clear how this country will emerge from this situation. Its like Muslims want friends, but they want them at the North Pole.
Fears are growing of a power vacuum in Yemen that could be exploited by terrorists, after the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and several senior government ministers fled to Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
The president, prime minister, speakers of both houses of parliament, and several senior officials, were wounded in an attack on the presidential place on Friday, but how seriously is not known.
Abdo al-Janadi, the deputy information minister, told Al Jazeera television that Mr. Saleh’s powers had devolved to the vice-president, Abdo Rabu Mansur Hadi, “until the president returns.”
“The state has its institutions that can deal with these kinds of circumstances,” Mr al-Janadi said. “Constitutional procedures will be followed.”
Protesters in the central city of Taiz launched fireworks and sang songs throughout the night in Freedom Square, a week after it was burnt and bulldozed by the army.
“The reaction to Saleh departure was spontaneous as huge marches went out in the city and people fired fireworks to celebrate the event,” said activist Bushra al-Maqtari from Taiz. “Everyone is happy for the departure of the president.”
But although predictions of a rapid escalation of Yemen’s violence into an all-out civil war following Friday’s attack, Saturday have proved unfounded so far, western governments fear extremists such as al-Qaidia in the Arabian Peninsula will take advantage of the chaos.
President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, held talks with ken with Mr Hadi about events in Yemen on Saturday, the White Hose said.
Fears are growing of a power vacuum in Yemen that could be exploited by terrorists, after the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and several senior government ministers fled to Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
The president, prime minister, speakers of both houses of parliament, and several senior officials, were wounded in an attack on the presidential place on Friday, but how seriously is not known.
Abdo al-Janadi, the deputy information minister, told Al Jazeera television that Mr. Saleh’s powers had devolved to the vice-president, Abdo Rabu Mansur Hadi, “until the president returns.”
“The state has its institutions that can deal with these kinds of circumstances,” Mr al-Janadi said. “Constitutional procedures will be followed.”
Protesters in the central city of Taiz launched fireworks and sang songs throughout the night in Freedom Square, a week after it was burnt and bulldozed by the army.
“The reaction to Saleh departure was spontaneous as huge marches went out in the city and people fired fireworks to celebrate the event,” said activist Bushra al-Maqtari from Taiz. “Everyone is happy for the departure of the president.”
But although predictions of a rapid escalation of Yemen’s violence into an all-out civil war following Friday’s attack, Saturday have proved unfounded so far, western governments fear extremists such as al-Qaidia in the Arabian Peninsula will take advantage of the chaos.
President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, held talks with ken with Mr Hadi about events in Yemen on Saturday, the White Hose said.
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