Re: Islamic Pan Uber Cult
Posted by:
Vera City
()
Date: January 04, 2014 08:30PM
shakti Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...it's this simple: if
> Scientology had a billion followers and controlled
> much of the world's gas and oil reserves, they
> would be considered "one of the world's core
> faiths", and the UN would be discussing banning
> criticism of them.
>
> Also, unlike Scientology, some of those billions
> are directed right into academic programs in the
> U.S. at our major universities to whitewash
> various unpleasant aspects of Islam....
SPOT ON Shakti!
I'm doing some research on the 'Arab Spring' that is quite astounding and surprising. Will post as I gather more info.
Here is a recent article that reveals the tactics of the Muslim Brotherhood and why the "West" can't seem to understand their true agenda. Yes, it's been well funded for decades.
The Muslim Brotherhood: Wolf not even in sheep’s clothing
The West continues to fail to understand the nature of Muslim Brotherhood: to impose Shari’a by all means, if necessary by violence.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s avowed goal since the creation of the movement in 1928 has been to impose Shari’a, Islamic law, first on Egypt, then, the rest of the world, turning it into a Muslim- ruled caliphate.
Eighty years later, the fall of Hosni Mubarak paved the way for the dream to come true; the Brotherhood won both parliamentary and presidential elections and formed the government of Egypt. Barely a year after the election, president Mohamed Morsi was arrested and the government toppled by the people, aided and abetted by the army.
The Brotherhood refused to accept their defeat and launched a series of violent protests with their Salafi allies, followed by terror operations that have already caused the death of 350 members of the police and military forces. The interim regime first banned their activities and when that did not help, declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
Interestingly, the West – and the Western press – put their own spin on what they saw as a military coup against the legitimate government of a movement they persist in calling “moderate” or “pragmatic,” insisting that the Brotherhood acted in nonviolent ways.
History tells otherwise. The Brotherhood has been banned before; president Gamal Abdel Nasser tried to eliminate it after being the target of a failed assassination attempt. He threw 60,000 members – 60,000! – in detention camps and had their leaders executed, including Sayyid Qutb, considered the father of modern fundamentalism and the man who advocated imposing Shari’a by force. A few years earlier, in 1949, King Farouk had Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the movement, executed after the “secret organization” he had created assassinated the prime minister and a number of judges.
The Brotherhood created sister branches in Arab countries in the ’40s; starting in the ’60s it launched so-called cultural centers and mosques in Western Europe and the US to propagate its brand of Islam. The world organization of the Muslim Brotherhood has members in Great Britain, Switzerland, Turkey, Qatar and elsewhere, coordinating and aiding local branches, though these branches are largely autonomous.
With the influx of immigrants from Muslim countries into Europe in the ’80s, more specialized organizations were created to deal with different sectors: students, women, culture, professional unions and more. There are now thousands and thousands of such front organizations affiliated with the Brotherhood in the EU and the States.
Documents seized in Europe and the US expose the strategy of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West; they demonstrate that the movement intends to undermine the regimes from within by using democratic values and freedom of speech.
When Anwar Sadat became president in 1970, he thought he would need the Brotherhood to get rid of what was left of the pro-Soviet supporters of his predecessor, Nasser; he set its members free upon their solemn promise not to go back to violence.
Yet some of the newly released Brothers set up jihadist organizations like Takfir wal-Hijra and al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, which immediately launched terror operations against the regime, such as the bloody attack against the military academy in 1974, the assassination of a former endowments minister in 1977. Sadat himself was their next victim.
These movements advocated Qutb’s goal of imposing Islam on the world by persuasion or force, and reviving the caliphate. Al-Qaida and other Salafi movements were created by former Brothers and are at work today in Iraq, Syria, Sinai and North Africa, as well as in the rest of Africa and Asia.
They continue to launch terror attacks in the West, from Spain to England to the US, and their spiritual leaders preach that not only non-Muslims but even Muslims may be killed to achieve their supreme goal.
As for the Brotherhood, its activities were forbidden under the Mubarak regime, but the movement has tried to advance through nonviolent means. It seized its chance when the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which ruled after the fall of that regime, let it act openly. Its parliamentary and presidential candidates were elected by millions of Egyptians, who put their trust in Islam and believed that the movement, which had been persecuted for so long, would usher in a new era of economic progress and freedom without infringing on the Islamic nature of the country.
This did not happen. Instead of dealing with Egypt’s pressing economic and social problems, the Brotherhood made an all-out effort to turn the country into a religious dictatorship. Morsi betrayed the Salafi parties which had helped him achieve power – such as al-Nour – and did not hesitate to use extreme force to quell the rising swell of opposition, including opening fire on the demonstrators.
In fact, this is one of the crimes he is accused of today.
However, such was the disenchantment of the masses that they protested in ever greater numbers until, with the help of the army, they managed to stop the Brotherhood – just in time to prevent it from taking over the security apparatus.
What the millions of Egyptians who rebelled against the Brotherhood wanted was to put the revolution back on track, in the hope that a new regime would fulfill their expectations.
The West, sticking to a narrow definition of democracy, protested the ousting of a “democratically elected president” and condemned what it saw as a military coup. This led some to comment that had the people of Germany, with the help of the army, ousted democratically elected leader Adolf Hitler from power in the ‘30s, 50 million people would not have died and the world would be a different place today.
With the Brotherhood and their supporters turning more violent, staging deadly attacks against the army and security forces as well as civilian targets, the interim regime had no choice but to ban the movement – as King Farouk, Nasser and Mubarak had done in their time – and declare it a terror organization.
But the West is not ready to follow suit. The US and the EU, representing the so-called enlightened world, are turning their back on Egypt, though it is fighting their common enemy, radical Islam – thus tacitly encouraging the Brotherhood to keep up their fight.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2014 08:45PM by Vera City.
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...it's this simple: if
> Scientology had a billion followers and controlled
> much of the world's gas and oil reserves, they
> would be considered "one of the world's core
> faiths", and the UN would be discussing banning
> criticism of them.
>
> Also, unlike Scientology, some of those billions
> are directed right into academic programs in the
> U.S. at our major universities to whitewash
> various unpleasant aspects of Islam....
SPOT ON Shakti!
I'm doing some research on the 'Arab Spring' that is quite astounding and surprising. Will post as I gather more info.
Here is a recent article that reveals the tactics of the Muslim Brotherhood and why the "West" can't seem to understand their true agenda. Yes, it's been well funded for decades.
The Muslim Brotherhood: Wolf not even in sheep’s clothing
The West continues to fail to understand the nature of Muslim Brotherhood: to impose Shari’a by all means, if necessary by violence.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s avowed goal since the creation of the movement in 1928 has been to impose Shari’a, Islamic law, first on Egypt, then, the rest of the world, turning it into a Muslim- ruled caliphate.
Eighty years later, the fall of Hosni Mubarak paved the way for the dream to come true; the Brotherhood won both parliamentary and presidential elections and formed the government of Egypt. Barely a year after the election, president Mohamed Morsi was arrested and the government toppled by the people, aided and abetted by the army.
The Brotherhood refused to accept their defeat and launched a series of violent protests with their Salafi allies, followed by terror operations that have already caused the death of 350 members of the police and military forces. The interim regime first banned their activities and when that did not help, declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
Interestingly, the West – and the Western press – put their own spin on what they saw as a military coup against the legitimate government of a movement they persist in calling “moderate” or “pragmatic,” insisting that the Brotherhood acted in nonviolent ways.
History tells otherwise. The Brotherhood has been banned before; president Gamal Abdel Nasser tried to eliminate it after being the target of a failed assassination attempt. He threw 60,000 members – 60,000! – in detention camps and had their leaders executed, including Sayyid Qutb, considered the father of modern fundamentalism and the man who advocated imposing Shari’a by force. A few years earlier, in 1949, King Farouk had Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the movement, executed after the “secret organization” he had created assassinated the prime minister and a number of judges.
The Brotherhood created sister branches in Arab countries in the ’40s; starting in the ’60s it launched so-called cultural centers and mosques in Western Europe and the US to propagate its brand of Islam. The world organization of the Muslim Brotherhood has members in Great Britain, Switzerland, Turkey, Qatar and elsewhere, coordinating and aiding local branches, though these branches are largely autonomous.
With the influx of immigrants from Muslim countries into Europe in the ’80s, more specialized organizations were created to deal with different sectors: students, women, culture, professional unions and more. There are now thousands and thousands of such front organizations affiliated with the Brotherhood in the EU and the States.
Documents seized in Europe and the US expose the strategy of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West; they demonstrate that the movement intends to undermine the regimes from within by using democratic values and freedom of speech.
When Anwar Sadat became president in 1970, he thought he would need the Brotherhood to get rid of what was left of the pro-Soviet supporters of his predecessor, Nasser; he set its members free upon their solemn promise not to go back to violence.
Yet some of the newly released Brothers set up jihadist organizations like Takfir wal-Hijra and al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, which immediately launched terror operations against the regime, such as the bloody attack against the military academy in 1974, the assassination of a former endowments minister in 1977. Sadat himself was their next victim.
These movements advocated Qutb’s goal of imposing Islam on the world by persuasion or force, and reviving the caliphate. Al-Qaida and other Salafi movements were created by former Brothers and are at work today in Iraq, Syria, Sinai and North Africa, as well as in the rest of Africa and Asia.
They continue to launch terror attacks in the West, from Spain to England to the US, and their spiritual leaders preach that not only non-Muslims but even Muslims may be killed to achieve their supreme goal.
As for the Brotherhood, its activities were forbidden under the Mubarak regime, but the movement has tried to advance through nonviolent means. It seized its chance when the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which ruled after the fall of that regime, let it act openly. Its parliamentary and presidential candidates were elected by millions of Egyptians, who put their trust in Islam and believed that the movement, which had been persecuted for so long, would usher in a new era of economic progress and freedom without infringing on the Islamic nature of the country.
This did not happen. Instead of dealing with Egypt’s pressing economic and social problems, the Brotherhood made an all-out effort to turn the country into a religious dictatorship. Morsi betrayed the Salafi parties which had helped him achieve power – such as al-Nour – and did not hesitate to use extreme force to quell the rising swell of opposition, including opening fire on the demonstrators.
In fact, this is one of the crimes he is accused of today.
However, such was the disenchantment of the masses that they protested in ever greater numbers until, with the help of the army, they managed to stop the Brotherhood – just in time to prevent it from taking over the security apparatus.
What the millions of Egyptians who rebelled against the Brotherhood wanted was to put the revolution back on track, in the hope that a new regime would fulfill their expectations.
The West, sticking to a narrow definition of democracy, protested the ousting of a “democratically elected president” and condemned what it saw as a military coup. This led some to comment that had the people of Germany, with the help of the army, ousted democratically elected leader Adolf Hitler from power in the ‘30s, 50 million people would not have died and the world would be a different place today.
With the Brotherhood and their supporters turning more violent, staging deadly attacks against the army and security forces as well as civilian targets, the interim regime had no choice but to ban the movement – as King Farouk, Nasser and Mubarak had done in their time – and declare it a terror organization.
But the West is not ready to follow suit. The US and the EU, representing the so-called enlightened world, are turning their back on Egypt, though it is fighting their common enemy, radical Islam – thus tacitly encouraging the Brotherhood to keep up their fight.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2014 08:45PM by Vera City.
Never give religious ideologues a political blank cheque
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: January 05, 2014 12:12AM
And if the Salafis establish sharia, there is no peace.
Muslims who disagree would be persecuted. One Muslim contingent on the Salafi hate list are Sufis Muslims.
An Iranian interviewed by VS Naipual in Beyond Belief, said, sadly, that he and others trusted the promise of Khomaini's revolutionaries that after they overthrew the Shah, open elections and democracy ('like in India) would be the outcome.
Nope.
Western nations with long traditions of open, secular society have not yet come to understand how to deal with groups that speak the language of democracy and interfaith dialog, with long term goals of creating a society that will be closed, be non secular, in which interfaith dialog is suppressed.
Robert Irwin, referring to Saudi Arabia, a nation in which sharia is the law, notes this:
"Englishness and pride in being English were downgraded in favor of 'cultural diversity'. (But this has proved to be a one-way transaction. There is no cultural diversity in Saudi Arabia).
[books.google.com]
And in his book, Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents, Robert Irwin traces the history of Arabic studies. (Fascinating, readable, full of background information)
In his chapter on Edward Said, author of Orientalism, which has since become part of the required reading at many universities, Irwin gives his view of what the long term consequences have been.
In an overview of Arabic studies today, Robert Irwin, who is British, notes that many of the best British scholars have been drawn to better paying academic positions abroad.
Then he offers this suggestion:
"...Other factors count against the Arabists. One is the current government's extremely narrow view of the economic value of university education. Another factor is the malign influence of (Edward) Said's "Orientalism", which has been suprisingly effective in discrediting and demoralizing an entire tradition of scholarship. Another dismal consequence of polemics like "Orientalism" is that some university departments of Arabic or Middle Eastern history appear to have an unavowed policy of excluding Jews from serious consideration as candidates for jobs in those departments."
Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and It's Discontents by Robert Irwin, page 276.
Earlier, Robert Irwin, who had Bernard Lewis "as his academic mentor, writes this:
"In "The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961)" Lewis praised the Turks for having shed their decayed imperial past and moved toward nationhood and democracy, thanks in large part to the quality shown by the Turk --'a quality of calm self-reliance, of responsibility, above all of civic courage.' What was unusual at the time it was published was that Lewis had made more use of Turkish sources than of those produced by Western observers. (Dangerous Knowledge, p 260)
"(Lewis) next book, "The Assassins(1967) presented this medieval offshoot of the Isam'ilis, with their penchant for political murder, as a precursor for modern terrorist organizations. (Ibid 260)
"Lewis was one of the main targets of (Edward Said's) Orientalism and later publications by Said, though Said has tended to concentrate on Lewis' later essays of popularization and failed to engage with Lewis' early major works. In some ways, Said's criticism are suprisingly obtuse. He failed to notice how much Lewis in his early works owed to Massignon (whom Said admired) and how he sympathized with the revolutionary and the underdog.
"On the other hand, Said and Lewis share quite a lot of common ground and Said may have taken more from Lewis than he realized. Lewis has placed great stress on the French expedition to Egypt as a pivotal moment in the history of the Arab world and as the harbinger of the Triumph of the West. Lewis, like Said, stresses the lamentable lack of a civil society in the Islamic world. Lewis, like Said, regards Orientalism as important.
Irwin then contends
"(Bernard)Lewis was not really attacked by Said for being a bad scholar (which he is not) but for being a supporter of Zionism (which he is)
(Dangerous Knowledge 262-263)
Muslims who disagree would be persecuted. One Muslim contingent on the Salafi hate list are Sufis Muslims.
An Iranian interviewed by VS Naipual in Beyond Belief, said, sadly, that he and others trusted the promise of Khomaini's revolutionaries that after they overthrew the Shah, open elections and democracy ('like in India) would be the outcome.
Nope.
Western nations with long traditions of open, secular society have not yet come to understand how to deal with groups that speak the language of democracy and interfaith dialog, with long term goals of creating a society that will be closed, be non secular, in which interfaith dialog is suppressed.
Robert Irwin, referring to Saudi Arabia, a nation in which sharia is the law, notes this:
"Englishness and pride in being English were downgraded in favor of 'cultural diversity'. (But this has proved to be a one-way transaction. There is no cultural diversity in Saudi Arabia).
[books.google.com]
And in his book, Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents, Robert Irwin traces the history of Arabic studies. (Fascinating, readable, full of background information)
In his chapter on Edward Said, author of Orientalism, which has since become part of the required reading at many universities, Irwin gives his view of what the long term consequences have been.
In an overview of Arabic studies today, Robert Irwin, who is British, notes that many of the best British scholars have been drawn to better paying academic positions abroad.
Then he offers this suggestion:
"...Other factors count against the Arabists. One is the current government's extremely narrow view of the economic value of university education. Another factor is the malign influence of (Edward) Said's "Orientalism", which has been suprisingly effective in discrediting and demoralizing an entire tradition of scholarship. Another dismal consequence of polemics like "Orientalism" is that some university departments of Arabic or Middle Eastern history appear to have an unavowed policy of excluding Jews from serious consideration as candidates for jobs in those departments."
Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and It's Discontents by Robert Irwin, page 276.
Earlier, Robert Irwin, who had Bernard Lewis "as his academic mentor, writes this:
"In "The Emergence of Modern Turkey (1961)" Lewis praised the Turks for having shed their decayed imperial past and moved toward nationhood and democracy, thanks in large part to the quality shown by the Turk --'a quality of calm self-reliance, of responsibility, above all of civic courage.' What was unusual at the time it was published was that Lewis had made more use of Turkish sources than of those produced by Western observers. (Dangerous Knowledge, p 260)
"(Lewis) next book, "The Assassins(1967) presented this medieval offshoot of the Isam'ilis, with their penchant for political murder, as a precursor for modern terrorist organizations. (Ibid 260)
"Lewis was one of the main targets of (Edward Said's) Orientalism and later publications by Said, though Said has tended to concentrate on Lewis' later essays of popularization and failed to engage with Lewis' early major works. In some ways, Said's criticism are suprisingly obtuse. He failed to notice how much Lewis in his early works owed to Massignon (whom Said admired) and how he sympathized with the revolutionary and the underdog.
"On the other hand, Said and Lewis share quite a lot of common ground and Said may have taken more from Lewis than he realized. Lewis has placed great stress on the French expedition to Egypt as a pivotal moment in the history of the Arab world and as the harbinger of the Triumph of the West. Lewis, like Said, stresses the lamentable lack of a civil society in the Islamic world. Lewis, like Said, regards Orientalism as important.
Irwin then contends
"(Bernard)Lewis was not really attacked by Said for being a bad scholar (which he is not) but for being a supporter of Zionism (which he is)
(Dangerous Knowledge 262-263)
Re: Islamic Pan Uber Cult
Posted by:
Vera City
()
Date: January 05, 2014 10:16PM
25 LASHES FOR FAILING TO PRAY IN SYRIA
Rebels’ Islamic court punishes two men who did not take part in Friday prayers at the mosque.
By Dalit Halevy
Syria is undergoing an accelerated process of Islamization, which is led by extremist Islamist rebel groups that follow sharia courts, and who operate a morality police force that enforces law and order Islam-style.
In Haleb, two men were convicted of failing to take part in the Friday prayers, and were sentenced to 25 lashes each, to be delivered publicly.
The two convicted men were brought to the city square, where they were flogged on their bare backs. The crowd that had gathered watched the scene quietly.
This is not the first time that the Ahrar al-Sham Islamist organization carried out flogging sentences in public. The Islamic organizations’ religious court has even meted out sentences of capital punishment in the past.
THE ISLAMIZATION OF BRITAIN
In May, new census data published by the British government showed that Islam is set to become the dominant religion in Britain within the next generation.
On being informed that the girl did not want to get married, Mohammed Shahid Akhtar, Imam of Birmingham's Central Jamia Masjid Ghamkol Sharif Mosque, said, "She's 14. By Sharia, grace of Allah, she's legal to get married."
The Muslim population of Britain topped 3.3 million by the end of 2013 to become around 5.2% of the overall population of 63 million, according to figures extrapolated from a recent study on the growth of the Muslim population in Europe.
At the same time, opinion surveys consistently show that voters in Britain view Islam and the question of Muslim immigration as a top-ranked public concern. The British public, it seems, is increasingly worried about the establishment of a parallel Muslim society there.
But government efforts to push back against the Islamization of Britain have been halting and half-hearted.
What follows is a chronological review of some of the main stories involving the rise of Islam in Britain during 2013.
In January, Muslim gangs were filmed loitering on streets in London and demanding that passersby conform to Islamic Sharia law. In a series of videos, the self-proclaimed vigilantes—who call themselves Muslim London Patrol—are seen abusing non-Muslim pedestrians and repeatedly shouting "this is a Muslim area."
One video records the men shouting: "Allah is the greatest! Islam is here, whether you like it or not. We are here! We are here! What we need is Islam! What we need is Sharia!"
The video continues: "We are the Muslim Patrol. We are in north London, we are in south London, in east London and west London. We command good and forbid evil. Islam is here in London. [Prime Minister] David Cameron, Mr. Police Officer, whether you like it or not, we will command good and forbid evil. You will never get us. You can go to hell! This is not a Christian country. To hell with Christianity. Isa [Jesus] was a messenger of Allah. Muslim Patrol will never die. Allah is great! Allah is great! We are coming!"
In a January 23 interview with the online newspaper International Business Times, Anjem Choudary, a radical preacher who has long called for Sharia law to be implemented in Britain and other European countries, defended the gang, saying: "This is a wake-up call for society to ask, 'where are we headed?' There is a clash between Islam and liberal democracy in hotspot areas of London."
Choudary has previously led a campaign, known as the Islamic Emirates Project, to turn twelve British cities—including what he calls "Londonistan"—into independent Islamic states. The so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves, ruled by Sharia law and governed entirely outside British jurisprudence.
In February, Choudary was filmed urging his followers to quit their jobs and claim unemployment benefits so they have more time to plan holy war against non-Muslims.
Excerpts of the speech, published by the London-based newspaper The Sun on February 17, drew renewed attention to the growing problem of Muslims in Britain and elsewhere who are exploiting European welfare systems.
In the video, Choudary is recorded as saying that Muslims are justified in taking money from non-Muslims, whom he mocks for working in nine-to-five jobs their whole lives. He says: "You find people are busy working the whole of their life. They wake up at 7 o'clock. They go to work at 9 o'clock. They work for eight, nine hours a day. They come home at 7 o'clock, watch EastEnders [a British soap opera], sleep, and they do that for 40 years of their life. That is called slavery. ... What kind of life is that? That is the life of the kuffar [a non-Muslim]."
Choudary urges fellow Muslims to learn from revered figures in Islamic history who only worked one or two days a year. "The rest of the year they were busy with jihad [holy war] and things like that," he says. "People will say, 'Ah, but you are not working.' But the normal situation is for you to take money from the kuffar. So we take Jihad Seeker's Allowance."
Also in February, a judge in London acquitted two brothers from Pakistan who swapped houses in an effort to defraud British taxpayers out of £315,000 ($520,000). The Pakistani couples, who have 11 children between them, submitted bogus tenancy agreements for 16 years so that the women could pretend to be tenants and claim housing benefits.
Judge Neil Sanders ruled: "The two men dishonestly represented through their wives to the London Borough of Redbridge that this was a genuine rental arrangement." Nevertheless, Sanders allowed the men to walk free. "You have both worked hard in terms of making a life for yourselves and in many ways the greatest punishment is the loss of your good name," Sanders said.
In March, the London-based newspaper The Independent reported that at least 100 British Muslims are currently active as jihadists fighting in Syria, which has replaced Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia as the main destination for militant Islamists seeking to obtain immediate combat experience with little or no official scrutiny.
Also in March, St. John's Episcopal Church in Aberdeen, Scotland, became the first church in the United Kingdom to share its premises with Muslim worshippers. Church officials now welcome hundreds of Muslims praying five times a day in their building because the nearby mosque is filled to overcapacity and Muslim worshippers are forced to pray outside.
According to the rector of St. John's, Isaac Poobalan, "Praying is never wrong. My job is to encourage people to pray. The mosque was so full at times, there would be people outside in the wind and rain praying. I knew I couldn't just let this happen, because I would be abandoning what the Bible teaches us about how we should treat our neighbors."
The bishop of Aberdeen, Robert Gillies, says that by handing over sections of the church to the mosque, the church has accomplished "something of global significance on a local scale."
In April, a documentary secretly filmed inside several of the 85 Islamic Sharia Law courts operating in Britain exposed the systematic discrimination that many women are suffering at the hands of Muslim jurists.
The documentary, Secrets of Britain's Sharia Courts, was filmed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and was first aired on BBC Panorama, a long-running current affairs program, on April 8.
The undercover investigation proves what has long been suspected: namely, that Sharia courts, which operate in mosques and houses across Britain, routinely issue rulings on domestic and marital issues according to Islamic Sharia law that are at odds with British law. Although Sharia rulings are not legally binding, those subject to the rulings often feel obliged to obey them as a matter of religious belief, or because of pressure from family and community members to do so.
The documentary contends that the Sharia courts, run by Muslim judges known as qadi, are putting women at risk of violence from abusive husbands by pressuring them to stay in abusive marriages.
The documentary was partially filmed at the Leyton Sharia Council, which openly states on its website that it is preparing for the full recognition of Islamic Sharia law in Britain.
Also in April, British authorities promised to redouble their fight against the spiraling problem of female genital mutilation (FGM) after a weekly primetime television show broadcast by the BBC forced the previously "taboo" subject into mainstream debate.
BBC One's Casualty, a popular emergency medical drama series, became the first mainstream drama on British television to feature a story about FGM. Scriptwriters on the series worked with FGM pressure groups and young girls to produce the two-part drama, which aired on April 6 and 13.
Britain has the highest levels of FGM in Europe. According to a government-funded study published in 2007, at least 66,000 women and girls in Britain have had the procedure performed on them, and more than 20,000 girls under the age of 15 are currently at risk.
These figures, however, may be only the tip of the iceberg. A 2011 Department of Health policy paper warns that "it is possible that, due to population growth and immigration from practicing countries…FGM is significantly more prevalent than these figures suggest."
On April 29, Scotland Yard [London Police] appealed for information to identify the perpetrators of FGM amid growing indications that girls in the capital are being "cut."
But the government's commitment to fighting FGM remains to be seen. A major reason for Britain's dismal record at bringing perpetrators to justice is tolerance of FGM due to political correctness and concerns over "cultural sensitivity," according to many analysts.
Although the mainstream media in Britain and elsewhere routinely take pains to avoid any insinuation that FGM has anything to do with Islam, doctrinally, historically, geographically and juridically, the practice is intrinsically linked to Islam. Critics of FGM say there is a reluctance to tackle the problem because doing so is perceived as attacking Islam.
In May, new census data published by the British government showed that Islam is set to become the dominant religion in Britain within the next generation.
The report, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on May 16, shows that although Christianity is still the main religion in Britain—over 50% of the population describe themselves as such—nearly half of all Christians in Britain are over the age of 50, and, for the first time ever, fewer than half under the age of 25 describe themselves as Christian.
By contrast, the number of people under 25 who describe themselves as Muslim has doubled over the past ten years: one in ten under the age of 25 are Muslim, up from one in 20 in 2001.
If current trends continue—a Muslim population boom, combined with an aging Christian demographic and the increasing secularization of British natives—Islam is set to overtake Christianity in Britain within the next 20 years, according to demographers.
Also in May, a BBC documentary called "Married for a Minute" reported that an increasing number of Muslims in Britain are reviving the Islamic practice of temporary marriage.
Temporary marriage—a euphemism for religiously sanctioned prostitution—is an Islamic custom that unites a man and an unmarried woman as "husband and wife" for a limited period of time (sometimes for less than half an hour).
The proliferation of temporary marriages—combined with the spike in polygamous marriages— shows how Muslims in Britain are using Islamic Sharia law with impunity to establish parallel forms of "marriage" that are otherwise illegal for non-Muslims in the country.
Because of the informal nature of temporary marriage, there are no official statistics to show how many of these unions there are in Britain. But Islamic scholars interviewed by the BBC say the practice is widespread, and anecdotal evidence suggests it is especially popular among the younger generation of Muslims in England and Wales.
In June, the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales (aka the Old Bailey) sentenced seven members of a Muslim child grooming gang based in Oxford to at least 95 years in prison for raping, torturing and trafficking British girls as young as 11.
The high-profile trial, which ended on June 27, was the latest in a rapidly growing list of grooming cases that are forcing politically correct Britons to confront the previously taboo subject of endemic sexual abuse of children by predatory Muslim paedophile gangs.
The 18-week trial drew unwelcome attention to the sordid reality that police, social workers, teachers, neighbors, politicians and the media have for decades downplayed the severity of the crimes perpetrated against British children because they were afraid of being accused of "Islamophobia" or racism.
According to government estimates that are believed to be "just the tip of the iceberg," at least 2,500 British children have so far been confirmed to be victims of grooming gangs, and another 20,000 children are at risk of sexual exploitation. At least 27 police forces are currently investigating 54 alleged child grooming gangs across England and Wales.
Also in June, a Muslim cab driver named Mohamed Hacene-Chaouch was jailed for seven years and three months after being found guilty of raping a female passenger in his unlicensed taxi. Hacene-Chaouch—an Algerian married father of five—assaulted the woman after she got lost in Soho, central London.
The case drew public attention to a wave of sex crimes involving predatory Muslim taxi drivers who are raping female passengers. The number of so-called taxi rapes is snowballing to such an extent that a British judge has issued a warning that no woman can expect to be safe while traveling in a cab.
Reliable statistics on taxi rapes nationwide are difficult to obtain, and Freedom of Information requests seeking accurate data on cab-related sexual assaults are routinely denied (here and here).
However, a much acclaimed report produced by the London Metropolitan Police Service estimates that on average there are a total of 1,125 sexual assaults, including rapes, each year involving taxi drivers just in London; this works out to approximately 22 sexual assaults against women by taxi drivers each week in the capital city of England alone.
Meanwhile, Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller—two well-known counter-jihad activists who are opposed to the spread of Sharia law in the West—were banned from Britain under the so-called Unacceptable Behavior policy, following a personal intervention from Home Secretary Theresa May.
In a letter posted on the Internet, May writes: "The Home Secretary will seek to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good. We condemn all those whose behaviors and views run counter to our shared values and will not stand for extremism in any form."
It later emerged that the main reason why Spencer and Geller were banned from Britain was because of their strong support for Israel.
At the same time, the British government had no problems with allowing the Saudi Sheikh Adel al-Kalbani—who says all Jews and Christians should be removed from the Arabian Peninsula—to embark upon a speaking tour of Britain.
Britain also allowed into the country another Saudi hate preacher, Mohammed al-Arefe, who has said: "Devotion to jihad for the sake of Allah, and the desire to shed blood, to smash skulls, and to sever limbs for the sake of Allah and in defense of His religion, is, undoubtedly, an honor for the believer. Allah said that if a man fights the infidels, the infidels will be unable to prepare to fight."
In July, a House of Commons research report entitled "Prison Population Statistics" showed that the number of Muslim inmates in England and Wales jumped to 11,248 in 2012, up from 3,681 in 1997. It was the first time that the number of Muslim convicts in British prisons has surpassed the 11,000 mark. Stated another way, the number of Muslims in British prisons has jumped by more than 200% over the past 15 years.
The rate of increase of Muslim inmates in British prisons is eight times faster than that of the overall prison population, and the numbers show a clear overrepresentation of Muslim convicts: Muslims, who make up roughly 5% of the British population as a whole, now make up 13% of the British prison population (compared to just 6% in 1997).
The growth in the number of Muslim inmates has fueled fears that British prisons are becoming hotbeds for Islamic radicalization.
Although most of the Muslims in British prisons are immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, an increasing number of Muslim inmates are converts to Islam.
Writing in the July 2013 issue of the prisoner's magazine, Inside Time, a "long serving prisoner" at the Long Lartin Prison in Worcestershire has this to say: "We are able to cook our own food here but if we attempt to cook pork in the communal kitchen it is deemed dangerous, even a threat to your life. The kitchen is usually occupied by 90% Muslims and we have been told if we cook pork we will be stabbed. There have been incidents here where people have been targeted and pressured and bullied into converting to Islam."
He adds: "I am writing to inform people of these radical extremists views in this prison where I see no official steps being taken to combat them. Young Muslim men are being radicalized in here and one day they may commit acts of terrorism in this country. There seems to be nothing being done here to stop it and people are scared to speak out. I hope we get some feedback from this; it needs to be sorted out."
In August, an Islamic television channel based in Birmingham was hit with a hefty fine after a Muslim hate preacher told viewers—live on air—that it was the duty of all Muslims to murder anyone who shows disrespect for the Prophet Mohammed.
Noor TV, a Satellite Television Channel that broadcasts programs about Islam throughout Europe, was fined £85,000 ($115,000) by the British broadcasting regulator known as Ofcom for inciting people to commit murder.
Ofcom said the fine imposed on August 21 was so large due to "the serious nature of the breaches of the Broadcasting Code." It said young Muslims watching Noor TV could become "radicalized" and take "violent and criminal action as a result of watching videos of Muslims with extreme views."
In a separate case, Ofcom ordered DM Digital Television to pay a fine of £85,000 ($115,000) after it broadcast a speech by an Islamic scholar who said Muslims had "a duty to kill" anyone who insulted the Prophet Mohammed.
The Manchester-based channel—which claims it has a worldwide audience of 30 million—describes itself as bringing "Asian and English cultures closer" by integrating its people, the cultural diversity, communities and the economy.
In its ruling, Ofcom cited a program called Rehmatul Lil Alameen [Mercy unto the Worlds] which featured a live lecture it said was "likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or to lead to disorder."
Ofcom stated that some of the comments on the program could be seen as "a generic call to all Muslims encouraging or inciting them to criminal action or disorder, by unambiguously stating that they had a duty to kill anyone who criticizes or insults the Prophet Mohammed and apostates."
In September, the Birmingham Metropolitan College reversed a ban on Islamic veils after furious Muslim students complained of discrimination, and launched an online petition drive that gathered more than 8,000 signatures in just two days.
The college backed away from its ban on September 12, just hours before a mass demonstration by hundreds of Muslim students threatened to disrupt the normal functioning of the college.
Local high school students visit the engineering department of Birmingham Metropolitan College.
The controversy began on September 9, the first day of the autumn term, when the college announced that students and employees would be ordered to remove any face coverings so that individuals are "easily identifiable at all times."
The college's ban on face-covering niqabs or the body-covering burqas—as well as caps, hoodies and other types of head covering—was billed as a security measure.
Tory MP for Kettering Philip Hollobone told the British newspaper The Independent that the college's reversal was a shameful disgrace and argued for the urgent need for legislation to ban the niqab in all public spaces.
"People are frightened of standing up and speaking out in this discussion because of political correctness and the intolerant reaction from Muslim groups who jump up and down with fury whenever anyone says that it makes sense for people to go around with their faces perfectly visible to everyone else, which is the way human beings were created in the first place," Hollobone said.
Hollobone presented a bill in the British Parliament on September 6 that would make it illegal to wear clothing obscuring the face in public; the bill will be considered on February 28, 2014.
In a live debate entitled "Should Britain Ban the Veil?" and aired on BBC Radio 5 on September 6, Hollobone said, "Society can't function if people go around with facial coverings. If we all covered our faces the world would be a very different place. Imagine Parliament where everyone had their face covered. It makes it very difficult for the police to identify troublemakers. I am sad that legislation may be necessary to address this problem. It's basic common sense to most people. It would ultimately lead to the breakdown of our society."
Hollobone denied that his proposal amounted to an attack on Islam: "We have to be quite clear—the burka isn't religious clothing. It's a choice."
Also in September, a taxpayer-funded Muslim school in England inflamed public anger after it emerged that the institution was operating according to Islamic Sharia law.
Islamic fundamentalists running the Al-Madinah School in Derby, an industrial city in central England, had ordered all female teachers—including those who are not Muslim—to cover their heads and shoulders with a hijab, an Islamic scarf.
In addition to the strict dress code, pupils were banned from singing songs, playing musical instruments, or reading fairy tales, activities deemed to be "un-Islamic," according to non-Muslim staff members at the school.
Critics say the school—which originally marketed itself as an "inter-faith" school in order to qualify for taxpayer monies—promised that at least 50% of its students would be non-Muslim. But after it obtained £1.4 million (€1.7 million; $2.25 million) in government financing, the administrators of Al-Madinah were accused of switching gears by operating the school according to Islamic law, apparently to ensure that the school will eventually be 100% Muslim.
Also in September, the British Department of Education revealed that it is recruiting former agents of the British secret service (MI5) to investigate the alleged infiltration of British schools by Islamic extremists.
The agents will form part of a new counter-extremism unit, established to investigate schools in which radical activity has been suspected. Speaking to the Sunday Times on September 29, Education Secretary Michael Gove said some schools are being "taken over" by Muslim hardliners in the hope of radicalizing pupils and staff. He also said he was determined to "weed out" schools whose practices do not conform to British values.
A survey published by the BBC on September 25 revealed that more than a quarter of young British people distrust Muslims and feel Britain would be better off if there were fewer of them in the country. Of the 1,000 young people questioned in the survey conducted by ComRes, a leading market research agency, 27% of 18-to-24-year-olds said they did not trust Muslims, while 28% said Britain would be better off with fewer Muslims. It also emerged that 60% thought the British public had a negative image of Muslims, and 44% said Muslims do not have the same values as the rest of the population.
A separate survey published by Lord Ashcroft Polls on September 1, showed that six in ten Britons thought immigration had produced more disadvantages than advantages for their country; only 17% thought the pros outweighed the cons. The biggest concerns were about migrants claiming benefits or using public services without having contributed in return.
In London, a judge on September 16 ordered a Muslim defendant to take off her full-face veil to give evidence in court. But—in a case that made legal history—he said the woman could retain the veil for all other parts of her trial.
Judge Peter Murphy said the court should recognize "freedom of religious expression," but that allowing her to retain the niqab during her evidence, as she wanted, would "drive a coach and horses through justice administered in England and Wales for centuries." Murphy said he hoped that "Parliament or a higher court will provide a definite answer to the issue soon" to avoid "judicial anarchy."
Also in September, the British Ministry of Justice confirmed that a total of 186 Muslim inmates at three different prisons are suing the British government, claiming their human rights were violated after tests confirmed that halal food being served to them contained pork meat.
The legal cases are being brought by the prisoners under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which affords the right to the freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
In October, more than a dozen Muslim clerics at some of the biggest mosques in Britain were caught on camera agreeing to marry off girls as young as 14.
Undercover reporters filming a documentary about the prevalence of forced and underage marriage in Britain for the television program ITV Exposure secretly recorded 18 Muslim imams agreeing to perform an Islamic marriage, known as a nikah, between a 14-year-old girl and an older man.
Although the legal age for marriage in Britain is 16, according to Sharia law girls can marry once they reach puberty. The imams who agreed to marry the girl openly mocked the legitimacy of British law, reflecting the rise of a parallel Islamic legal system in Britain.
One of the Muslim clerics who agreed to perform the underage marriage is Mohammed Shahid Akhtar, the imam of the Central Jamia Masjid Ghamkol Sharif Mosque in Birmingham, the second-largest mosque in Britain with a capacity of more than 5,000 worshippers.
On being informed that the girl did not want to get married, Akhtar replied: "She's 14. By Sharia, grace of Allah, she's legal to get married. Obviously Islam has made it easy for us. There is nothing against that. We're doing it because it's okay through Islam."
The documentary also shows Akhtar expressing his contempt for British marriage laws: "You've got the kuffars [non-believers], the law, the English people that ... you know, you can't get married twice but, by the grace of Allah, we can get married four times."
Meanwhile, British taxpayers were left to pay a legal bill of £350,000 (€410,000; $566,000) after Muslim parents went to court to win the right to shave the pubic hair of their disabled daughter.
The mother and father of the young woman, who is referred to as "ED" in court documents, said their daughter's pubic hair should be removed according to Islamic tradition. But their local council, which has cared for the disabled woman since 2008, questioned whether she had the mental capacity to consent to her hair being removed.
After more than two years of legal fights, the Muslim couple abruptly dropped the case on October 22, after a "cultural expert" concluded that "whilst there was a duty to remove pubic hair, both for religious and cultural reasons, there is an exemption for those incapacitated such as ED."
The local authority involved had incurred costs of £138,000, the couple of £82,000 and the official attorney, appearing for ED, of £130,000, with taxpayers footing the entire bill.
"This is an astonishing sum of money," a judge at London's High Court, Justice Roderic Wood, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "I thus remain utterly baffled by the course this litigation has taken, and perplexed by this lack of clarity in their case. Obtaining a 10-day slot of a High Court Judge's time is not easy, for there are many competing cases of equal if not greater urgency than this one."
In lead up a final hearing, which had been scheduled for late October, "a great morass" of evidence was prepared, including 740 pages of witness statements, 300 pages of expert evidence as well as other documents, the judge said.
Also in October, the London Stock Exchange said it would be launching a new Islamic bond index in an effort to establish the City of London as one of the world's leading centers of Islamic finance.
Britain also plans to become the first non-Muslim country to issue sovereign Islamic bonds, known as sukuk, beginning as early as 2014.
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the plans during a keynote speech at the ninth World Islamic Economic Forum, which was held in London from October 29-31, the first time the event has ever been held outside the Muslim world.
"Already London is the biggest center for Islamic finance outside the Islamic world," Cameron told the audience of more than 1,800 international political and business leaders from over 115 countries.
"And today our ambition is to go further still. Because I don't just want London to be a great capital of Islamic finance in the Western world, I want London to stand alongside Dubai and Kuala Lumpur as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world."
The plans are all part of the British government's strategy to acquire as big a slice as possible of the fast-growing global market of Islamic finance, which operates according to Islamic Sharia law and is growing 50% faster than the conventional banking sector.
In Scotland, meanwhile, the largest-ever immunization program was halted on October 2 after Muslim parents complained that the so-called Fluenz vaccine contained pork gelatin. The roll-out of the flu vaccine in Glasgow was postponed after parents at Glendale Primary in Pollokshields—which has a large number of Muslim pupils who cannot consume pig products for religious reasons—became aware of the ingredients and complained.
The National Health Service of Greater Glasgow and Clyde, an area that contains the overwhelming majority of the Muslims in Scotland, said that 100 Islamic scholars had agreed that pork gelatin was permissible within a vaccine, but it had postponed the vaccinations anyway "following concerns raised by a small number of parents."
A similar vaccination program in Leicestershire, England, was halted in September after the same flu vaccine was deemed to be "insensitive" to Muslims.
In November it emerged that Choukri Ellekhlifi, a British man who was killed fighting alongside al Qaeda-linked extremists in Syria, funded his trip by mugging people in an affluent area of London.
Ellekhlifi threatened victims with a Taser-style high-voltage stun gun and forced them to hand over valuables including designer watches and mobile phones.
He lived in London until a year ago when he skipped bail and travelled to Syria to join a group of Islamic extremists waging war on the Assad regime. He was one of three British men killed as their group attacked pro-government forces near the city of Aleppo on August 11. The trio were part of a group of ten British jihadists who joined up with 20 other Britons to fight with the Al-Nusra Front, allied to Al-Qaeda.
Separately, Ifthekar Jaman, a 23-year-old jihadist from Southsea, Hampshire, told Richard Watson—the host of the BBC's flagship daily news and current affairs program called Newsnight—that he traveled to Syria to fight with the Al-Qaida-linked ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). Jaman said he supported the principle of jihad before he left Britain. He told the BBC:
I was already a jihadi [while in the UK] I understood I was on the jihadi path. Where it all began? It began from the book [the Koran]. And I read this and in there you see what jihad is about. I used to be scared of the word jihad. I once went to my sister when I was young I said to her, I saw it in the book and it said fighting. And my sister said to me jihad means what you have in your heart, what you did in your heart. This is what I was taught. It wasn't taught to me that Islam is peace and there's no fighting. It is peace but it requires fighting. The duty of a Muslim is to love jihad. One of the sayings of the prophet peace be upon him whoever does not go jihad or doesn't even talk about it dies with the characteristic of hypocrisy. I am actually a Muslim following the way I should be.
Also in November, the head of MI5 (British domestic intelligence), Andrew Parker, told the British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee that there are thousands of people living in Britain today who support al Qaida; and the head of MI6 (British foreign intelligence), Sir John Sawers, warned that the threat of terrorist attacks against Britain is increasing. Parker said that British intelligence had foiled 34 terrorist plots since the July 7 London bombings in 2005.
In December, two Islamists, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, were found guilty of the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby outside the Woolwich Barracks in southeast London on May 22, 2013. The crime shocked the country and has drawn nationwide attention to the rise of radical Islam in Britain.
Adebolajo, 28, and Adebowale, 22, were each accused of attacking the 25-year-old Rigby by running him over from behind with a car and then attempting to decapitate his motionless body with a meat cleaver and kitchen knives.
Both men were born in Britain and raised as Christians before converting to Islam as teenagers.
During the trial, Adebolajo said there was an ongoing "war between the Muslims and the British people" and that he was a "soldier of Allah."
Assistant London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, the most senior counter-terrorism officer in Britain, told the newspaper The Telegraph that British soldiers are at risk from "thousands" of lone-wolf terrorists who hold to a "perverted ideology" like the home-grown fanatics who murdered Rigby. She said the threat could never be eliminated.
Meanwhile, three Muslim men were sentenced at the Old Bailey on December 6 for confronting and abusing non-Muslims in London in January 2013. The three—who called themselves the Muslim Patrol—confronted, physically assaulted, and verbally abused members of the public whose behavior was in violation of Sharia law. They then posted the videos of their actions on YouTube.
Also in December, Marks & Spencer, the biggest clothing retailer in Britain, backed down after facing a boycott from thousands of angry customers who were furious at the store's decision to allow Muslim staff to refuse to serve customers buying alcohol or pork products during the Christmas shopping season.
The policy was revealed after customers trying to buy pork or alcohol from a Muslim cashier at an M&S store in central London were told that because of her religion, they would have to use another checkout lane.
Critics of M&S's policy of accommodation said it was just another example of how British law and practice is giving way to Islamic Sharia law and practice.
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Rebels’ Islamic court punishes two men who did not take part in Friday prayers at the mosque.
By Dalit Halevy
Syria is undergoing an accelerated process of Islamization, which is led by extremist Islamist rebel groups that follow sharia courts, and who operate a morality police force that enforces law and order Islam-style.
In Haleb, two men were convicted of failing to take part in the Friday prayers, and were sentenced to 25 lashes each, to be delivered publicly.
The two convicted men were brought to the city square, where they were flogged on their bare backs. The crowd that had gathered watched the scene quietly.
This is not the first time that the Ahrar al-Sham Islamist organization carried out flogging sentences in public. The Islamic organizations’ religious court has even meted out sentences of capital punishment in the past.
THE ISLAMIZATION OF BRITAIN
In May, new census data published by the British government showed that Islam is set to become the dominant religion in Britain within the next generation.
On being informed that the girl did not want to get married, Mohammed Shahid Akhtar, Imam of Birmingham's Central Jamia Masjid Ghamkol Sharif Mosque, said, "She's 14. By Sharia, grace of Allah, she's legal to get married."
The Muslim population of Britain topped 3.3 million by the end of 2013 to become around 5.2% of the overall population of 63 million, according to figures extrapolated from a recent study on the growth of the Muslim population in Europe.
At the same time, opinion surveys consistently show that voters in Britain view Islam and the question of Muslim immigration as a top-ranked public concern. The British public, it seems, is increasingly worried about the establishment of a parallel Muslim society there.
But government efforts to push back against the Islamization of Britain have been halting and half-hearted.
What follows is a chronological review of some of the main stories involving the rise of Islam in Britain during 2013.
In January, Muslim gangs were filmed loitering on streets in London and demanding that passersby conform to Islamic Sharia law. In a series of videos, the self-proclaimed vigilantes—who call themselves Muslim London Patrol—are seen abusing non-Muslim pedestrians and repeatedly shouting "this is a Muslim area."
One video records the men shouting: "Allah is the greatest! Islam is here, whether you like it or not. We are here! We are here! What we need is Islam! What we need is Sharia!"
The video continues: "We are the Muslim Patrol. We are in north London, we are in south London, in east London and west London. We command good and forbid evil. Islam is here in London. [Prime Minister] David Cameron, Mr. Police Officer, whether you like it or not, we will command good and forbid evil. You will never get us. You can go to hell! This is not a Christian country. To hell with Christianity. Isa [Jesus] was a messenger of Allah. Muslim Patrol will never die. Allah is great! Allah is great! We are coming!"
In a January 23 interview with the online newspaper International Business Times, Anjem Choudary, a radical preacher who has long called for Sharia law to be implemented in Britain and other European countries, defended the gang, saying: "This is a wake-up call for society to ask, 'where are we headed?' There is a clash between Islam and liberal democracy in hotspot areas of London."
Choudary has previously led a campaign, known as the Islamic Emirates Project, to turn twelve British cities—including what he calls "Londonistan"—into independent Islamic states. The so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves, ruled by Sharia law and governed entirely outside British jurisprudence.
In February, Choudary was filmed urging his followers to quit their jobs and claim unemployment benefits so they have more time to plan holy war against non-Muslims.
Excerpts of the speech, published by the London-based newspaper The Sun on February 17, drew renewed attention to the growing problem of Muslims in Britain and elsewhere who are exploiting European welfare systems.
In the video, Choudary is recorded as saying that Muslims are justified in taking money from non-Muslims, whom he mocks for working in nine-to-five jobs their whole lives. He says: "You find people are busy working the whole of their life. They wake up at 7 o'clock. They go to work at 9 o'clock. They work for eight, nine hours a day. They come home at 7 o'clock, watch EastEnders [a British soap opera], sleep, and they do that for 40 years of their life. That is called slavery. ... What kind of life is that? That is the life of the kuffar [a non-Muslim]."
Choudary urges fellow Muslims to learn from revered figures in Islamic history who only worked one or two days a year. "The rest of the year they were busy with jihad [holy war] and things like that," he says. "People will say, 'Ah, but you are not working.' But the normal situation is for you to take money from the kuffar. So we take Jihad Seeker's Allowance."
Also in February, a judge in London acquitted two brothers from Pakistan who swapped houses in an effort to defraud British taxpayers out of £315,000 ($520,000). The Pakistani couples, who have 11 children between them, submitted bogus tenancy agreements for 16 years so that the women could pretend to be tenants and claim housing benefits.
Judge Neil Sanders ruled: "The two men dishonestly represented through their wives to the London Borough of Redbridge that this was a genuine rental arrangement." Nevertheless, Sanders allowed the men to walk free. "You have both worked hard in terms of making a life for yourselves and in many ways the greatest punishment is the loss of your good name," Sanders said.
In March, the London-based newspaper The Independent reported that at least 100 British Muslims are currently active as jihadists fighting in Syria, which has replaced Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia as the main destination for militant Islamists seeking to obtain immediate combat experience with little or no official scrutiny.
Also in March, St. John's Episcopal Church in Aberdeen, Scotland, became the first church in the United Kingdom to share its premises with Muslim worshippers. Church officials now welcome hundreds of Muslims praying five times a day in their building because the nearby mosque is filled to overcapacity and Muslim worshippers are forced to pray outside.
According to the rector of St. John's, Isaac Poobalan, "Praying is never wrong. My job is to encourage people to pray. The mosque was so full at times, there would be people outside in the wind and rain praying. I knew I couldn't just let this happen, because I would be abandoning what the Bible teaches us about how we should treat our neighbors."
The bishop of Aberdeen, Robert Gillies, says that by handing over sections of the church to the mosque, the church has accomplished "something of global significance on a local scale."
In April, a documentary secretly filmed inside several of the 85 Islamic Sharia Law courts operating in Britain exposed the systematic discrimination that many women are suffering at the hands of Muslim jurists.
The documentary, Secrets of Britain's Sharia Courts, was filmed by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and was first aired on BBC Panorama, a long-running current affairs program, on April 8.
The undercover investigation proves what has long been suspected: namely, that Sharia courts, which operate in mosques and houses across Britain, routinely issue rulings on domestic and marital issues according to Islamic Sharia law that are at odds with British law. Although Sharia rulings are not legally binding, those subject to the rulings often feel obliged to obey them as a matter of religious belief, or because of pressure from family and community members to do so.
The documentary contends that the Sharia courts, run by Muslim judges known as qadi, are putting women at risk of violence from abusive husbands by pressuring them to stay in abusive marriages.
The documentary was partially filmed at the Leyton Sharia Council, which openly states on its website that it is preparing for the full recognition of Islamic Sharia law in Britain.
Also in April, British authorities promised to redouble their fight against the spiraling problem of female genital mutilation (FGM) after a weekly primetime television show broadcast by the BBC forced the previously "taboo" subject into mainstream debate.
BBC One's Casualty, a popular emergency medical drama series, became the first mainstream drama on British television to feature a story about FGM. Scriptwriters on the series worked with FGM pressure groups and young girls to produce the two-part drama, which aired on April 6 and 13.
Britain has the highest levels of FGM in Europe. According to a government-funded study published in 2007, at least 66,000 women and girls in Britain have had the procedure performed on them, and more than 20,000 girls under the age of 15 are currently at risk.
These figures, however, may be only the tip of the iceberg. A 2011 Department of Health policy paper warns that "it is possible that, due to population growth and immigration from practicing countries…FGM is significantly more prevalent than these figures suggest."
On April 29, Scotland Yard [London Police] appealed for information to identify the perpetrators of FGM amid growing indications that girls in the capital are being "cut."
But the government's commitment to fighting FGM remains to be seen. A major reason for Britain's dismal record at bringing perpetrators to justice is tolerance of FGM due to political correctness and concerns over "cultural sensitivity," according to many analysts.
Although the mainstream media in Britain and elsewhere routinely take pains to avoid any insinuation that FGM has anything to do with Islam, doctrinally, historically, geographically and juridically, the practice is intrinsically linked to Islam. Critics of FGM say there is a reluctance to tackle the problem because doing so is perceived as attacking Islam.
In May, new census data published by the British government showed that Islam is set to become the dominant religion in Britain within the next generation.
The report, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on May 16, shows that although Christianity is still the main religion in Britain—over 50% of the population describe themselves as such—nearly half of all Christians in Britain are over the age of 50, and, for the first time ever, fewer than half under the age of 25 describe themselves as Christian.
By contrast, the number of people under 25 who describe themselves as Muslim has doubled over the past ten years: one in ten under the age of 25 are Muslim, up from one in 20 in 2001.
If current trends continue—a Muslim population boom, combined with an aging Christian demographic and the increasing secularization of British natives—Islam is set to overtake Christianity in Britain within the next 20 years, according to demographers.
Also in May, a BBC documentary called "Married for a Minute" reported that an increasing number of Muslims in Britain are reviving the Islamic practice of temporary marriage.
Temporary marriage—a euphemism for religiously sanctioned prostitution—is an Islamic custom that unites a man and an unmarried woman as "husband and wife" for a limited period of time (sometimes for less than half an hour).
The proliferation of temporary marriages—combined with the spike in polygamous marriages— shows how Muslims in Britain are using Islamic Sharia law with impunity to establish parallel forms of "marriage" that are otherwise illegal for non-Muslims in the country.
Because of the informal nature of temporary marriage, there are no official statistics to show how many of these unions there are in Britain. But Islamic scholars interviewed by the BBC say the practice is widespread, and anecdotal evidence suggests it is especially popular among the younger generation of Muslims in England and Wales.
In June, the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales (aka the Old Bailey) sentenced seven members of a Muslim child grooming gang based in Oxford to at least 95 years in prison for raping, torturing and trafficking British girls as young as 11.
The high-profile trial, which ended on June 27, was the latest in a rapidly growing list of grooming cases that are forcing politically correct Britons to confront the previously taboo subject of endemic sexual abuse of children by predatory Muslim paedophile gangs.
The 18-week trial drew unwelcome attention to the sordid reality that police, social workers, teachers, neighbors, politicians and the media have for decades downplayed the severity of the crimes perpetrated against British children because they were afraid of being accused of "Islamophobia" or racism.
According to government estimates that are believed to be "just the tip of the iceberg," at least 2,500 British children have so far been confirmed to be victims of grooming gangs, and another 20,000 children are at risk of sexual exploitation. At least 27 police forces are currently investigating 54 alleged child grooming gangs across England and Wales.
Also in June, a Muslim cab driver named Mohamed Hacene-Chaouch was jailed for seven years and three months after being found guilty of raping a female passenger in his unlicensed taxi. Hacene-Chaouch—an Algerian married father of five—assaulted the woman after she got lost in Soho, central London.
The case drew public attention to a wave of sex crimes involving predatory Muslim taxi drivers who are raping female passengers. The number of so-called taxi rapes is snowballing to such an extent that a British judge has issued a warning that no woman can expect to be safe while traveling in a cab.
Reliable statistics on taxi rapes nationwide are difficult to obtain, and Freedom of Information requests seeking accurate data on cab-related sexual assaults are routinely denied (here and here).
However, a much acclaimed report produced by the London Metropolitan Police Service estimates that on average there are a total of 1,125 sexual assaults, including rapes, each year involving taxi drivers just in London; this works out to approximately 22 sexual assaults against women by taxi drivers each week in the capital city of England alone.
Meanwhile, Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller—two well-known counter-jihad activists who are opposed to the spread of Sharia law in the West—were banned from Britain under the so-called Unacceptable Behavior policy, following a personal intervention from Home Secretary Theresa May.
In a letter posted on the Internet, May writes: "The Home Secretary will seek to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good. We condemn all those whose behaviors and views run counter to our shared values and will not stand for extremism in any form."
It later emerged that the main reason why Spencer and Geller were banned from Britain was because of their strong support for Israel.
At the same time, the British government had no problems with allowing the Saudi Sheikh Adel al-Kalbani—who says all Jews and Christians should be removed from the Arabian Peninsula—to embark upon a speaking tour of Britain.
Britain also allowed into the country another Saudi hate preacher, Mohammed al-Arefe, who has said: "Devotion to jihad for the sake of Allah, and the desire to shed blood, to smash skulls, and to sever limbs for the sake of Allah and in defense of His religion, is, undoubtedly, an honor for the believer. Allah said that if a man fights the infidels, the infidels will be unable to prepare to fight."
In July, a House of Commons research report entitled "Prison Population Statistics" showed that the number of Muslim inmates in England and Wales jumped to 11,248 in 2012, up from 3,681 in 1997. It was the first time that the number of Muslim convicts in British prisons has surpassed the 11,000 mark. Stated another way, the number of Muslims in British prisons has jumped by more than 200% over the past 15 years.
The rate of increase of Muslim inmates in British prisons is eight times faster than that of the overall prison population, and the numbers show a clear overrepresentation of Muslim convicts: Muslims, who make up roughly 5% of the British population as a whole, now make up 13% of the British prison population (compared to just 6% in 1997).
The growth in the number of Muslim inmates has fueled fears that British prisons are becoming hotbeds for Islamic radicalization.
Although most of the Muslims in British prisons are immigrants from Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, an increasing number of Muslim inmates are converts to Islam.
Writing in the July 2013 issue of the prisoner's magazine, Inside Time, a "long serving prisoner" at the Long Lartin Prison in Worcestershire has this to say: "We are able to cook our own food here but if we attempt to cook pork in the communal kitchen it is deemed dangerous, even a threat to your life. The kitchen is usually occupied by 90% Muslims and we have been told if we cook pork we will be stabbed. There have been incidents here where people have been targeted and pressured and bullied into converting to Islam."
He adds: "I am writing to inform people of these radical extremists views in this prison where I see no official steps being taken to combat them. Young Muslim men are being radicalized in here and one day they may commit acts of terrorism in this country. There seems to be nothing being done here to stop it and people are scared to speak out. I hope we get some feedback from this; it needs to be sorted out."
In August, an Islamic television channel based in Birmingham was hit with a hefty fine after a Muslim hate preacher told viewers—live on air—that it was the duty of all Muslims to murder anyone who shows disrespect for the Prophet Mohammed.
Noor TV, a Satellite Television Channel that broadcasts programs about Islam throughout Europe, was fined £85,000 ($115,000) by the British broadcasting regulator known as Ofcom for inciting people to commit murder.
Ofcom said the fine imposed on August 21 was so large due to "the serious nature of the breaches of the Broadcasting Code." It said young Muslims watching Noor TV could become "radicalized" and take "violent and criminal action as a result of watching videos of Muslims with extreme views."
In a separate case, Ofcom ordered DM Digital Television to pay a fine of £85,000 ($115,000) after it broadcast a speech by an Islamic scholar who said Muslims had "a duty to kill" anyone who insulted the Prophet Mohammed.
The Manchester-based channel—which claims it has a worldwide audience of 30 million—describes itself as bringing "Asian and English cultures closer" by integrating its people, the cultural diversity, communities and the economy.
In its ruling, Ofcom cited a program called Rehmatul Lil Alameen [Mercy unto the Worlds] which featured a live lecture it said was "likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or to lead to disorder."
Ofcom stated that some of the comments on the program could be seen as "a generic call to all Muslims encouraging or inciting them to criminal action or disorder, by unambiguously stating that they had a duty to kill anyone who criticizes or insults the Prophet Mohammed and apostates."
In September, the Birmingham Metropolitan College reversed a ban on Islamic veils after furious Muslim students complained of discrimination, and launched an online petition drive that gathered more than 8,000 signatures in just two days.
The college backed away from its ban on September 12, just hours before a mass demonstration by hundreds of Muslim students threatened to disrupt the normal functioning of the college.
Local high school students visit the engineering department of Birmingham Metropolitan College.
The controversy began on September 9, the first day of the autumn term, when the college announced that students and employees would be ordered to remove any face coverings so that individuals are "easily identifiable at all times."
The college's ban on face-covering niqabs or the body-covering burqas—as well as caps, hoodies and other types of head covering—was billed as a security measure.
Tory MP for Kettering Philip Hollobone told the British newspaper The Independent that the college's reversal was a shameful disgrace and argued for the urgent need for legislation to ban the niqab in all public spaces.
"People are frightened of standing up and speaking out in this discussion because of political correctness and the intolerant reaction from Muslim groups who jump up and down with fury whenever anyone says that it makes sense for people to go around with their faces perfectly visible to everyone else, which is the way human beings were created in the first place," Hollobone said.
Hollobone presented a bill in the British Parliament on September 6 that would make it illegal to wear clothing obscuring the face in public; the bill will be considered on February 28, 2014.
In a live debate entitled "Should Britain Ban the Veil?" and aired on BBC Radio 5 on September 6, Hollobone said, "Society can't function if people go around with facial coverings. If we all covered our faces the world would be a very different place. Imagine Parliament where everyone had their face covered. It makes it very difficult for the police to identify troublemakers. I am sad that legislation may be necessary to address this problem. It's basic common sense to most people. It would ultimately lead to the breakdown of our society."
Hollobone denied that his proposal amounted to an attack on Islam: "We have to be quite clear—the burka isn't religious clothing. It's a choice."
Also in September, a taxpayer-funded Muslim school in England inflamed public anger after it emerged that the institution was operating according to Islamic Sharia law.
Islamic fundamentalists running the Al-Madinah School in Derby, an industrial city in central England, had ordered all female teachers—including those who are not Muslim—to cover their heads and shoulders with a hijab, an Islamic scarf.
In addition to the strict dress code, pupils were banned from singing songs, playing musical instruments, or reading fairy tales, activities deemed to be "un-Islamic," according to non-Muslim staff members at the school.
Critics say the school—which originally marketed itself as an "inter-faith" school in order to qualify for taxpayer monies—promised that at least 50% of its students would be non-Muslim. But after it obtained £1.4 million (€1.7 million; $2.25 million) in government financing, the administrators of Al-Madinah were accused of switching gears by operating the school according to Islamic law, apparently to ensure that the school will eventually be 100% Muslim.
Also in September, the British Department of Education revealed that it is recruiting former agents of the British secret service (MI5) to investigate the alleged infiltration of British schools by Islamic extremists.
The agents will form part of a new counter-extremism unit, established to investigate schools in which radical activity has been suspected. Speaking to the Sunday Times on September 29, Education Secretary Michael Gove said some schools are being "taken over" by Muslim hardliners in the hope of radicalizing pupils and staff. He also said he was determined to "weed out" schools whose practices do not conform to British values.
A survey published by the BBC on September 25 revealed that more than a quarter of young British people distrust Muslims and feel Britain would be better off if there were fewer of them in the country. Of the 1,000 young people questioned in the survey conducted by ComRes, a leading market research agency, 27% of 18-to-24-year-olds said they did not trust Muslims, while 28% said Britain would be better off with fewer Muslims. It also emerged that 60% thought the British public had a negative image of Muslims, and 44% said Muslims do not have the same values as the rest of the population.
A separate survey published by Lord Ashcroft Polls on September 1, showed that six in ten Britons thought immigration had produced more disadvantages than advantages for their country; only 17% thought the pros outweighed the cons. The biggest concerns were about migrants claiming benefits or using public services without having contributed in return.
In London, a judge on September 16 ordered a Muslim defendant to take off her full-face veil to give evidence in court. But—in a case that made legal history—he said the woman could retain the veil for all other parts of her trial.
Judge Peter Murphy said the court should recognize "freedom of religious expression," but that allowing her to retain the niqab during her evidence, as she wanted, would "drive a coach and horses through justice administered in England and Wales for centuries." Murphy said he hoped that "Parliament or a higher court will provide a definite answer to the issue soon" to avoid "judicial anarchy."
Also in September, the British Ministry of Justice confirmed that a total of 186 Muslim inmates at three different prisons are suing the British government, claiming their human rights were violated after tests confirmed that halal food being served to them contained pork meat.
The legal cases are being brought by the prisoners under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which affords the right to the freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
In October, more than a dozen Muslim clerics at some of the biggest mosques in Britain were caught on camera agreeing to marry off girls as young as 14.
Undercover reporters filming a documentary about the prevalence of forced and underage marriage in Britain for the television program ITV Exposure secretly recorded 18 Muslim imams agreeing to perform an Islamic marriage, known as a nikah, between a 14-year-old girl and an older man.
Although the legal age for marriage in Britain is 16, according to Sharia law girls can marry once they reach puberty. The imams who agreed to marry the girl openly mocked the legitimacy of British law, reflecting the rise of a parallel Islamic legal system in Britain.
One of the Muslim clerics who agreed to perform the underage marriage is Mohammed Shahid Akhtar, the imam of the Central Jamia Masjid Ghamkol Sharif Mosque in Birmingham, the second-largest mosque in Britain with a capacity of more than 5,000 worshippers.
On being informed that the girl did not want to get married, Akhtar replied: "She's 14. By Sharia, grace of Allah, she's legal to get married. Obviously Islam has made it easy for us. There is nothing against that. We're doing it because it's okay through Islam."
The documentary also shows Akhtar expressing his contempt for British marriage laws: "You've got the kuffars [non-believers], the law, the English people that ... you know, you can't get married twice but, by the grace of Allah, we can get married four times."
Meanwhile, British taxpayers were left to pay a legal bill of £350,000 (€410,000; $566,000) after Muslim parents went to court to win the right to shave the pubic hair of their disabled daughter.
The mother and father of the young woman, who is referred to as "ED" in court documents, said their daughter's pubic hair should be removed according to Islamic tradition. But their local council, which has cared for the disabled woman since 2008, questioned whether she had the mental capacity to consent to her hair being removed.
After more than two years of legal fights, the Muslim couple abruptly dropped the case on October 22, after a "cultural expert" concluded that "whilst there was a duty to remove pubic hair, both for religious and cultural reasons, there is an exemption for those incapacitated such as ED."
The local authority involved had incurred costs of £138,000, the couple of £82,000 and the official attorney, appearing for ED, of £130,000, with taxpayers footing the entire bill.
"This is an astonishing sum of money," a judge at London's High Court, Justice Roderic Wood, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "I thus remain utterly baffled by the course this litigation has taken, and perplexed by this lack of clarity in their case. Obtaining a 10-day slot of a High Court Judge's time is not easy, for there are many competing cases of equal if not greater urgency than this one."
In lead up a final hearing, which had been scheduled for late October, "a great morass" of evidence was prepared, including 740 pages of witness statements, 300 pages of expert evidence as well as other documents, the judge said.
Also in October, the London Stock Exchange said it would be launching a new Islamic bond index in an effort to establish the City of London as one of the world's leading centers of Islamic finance.
Britain also plans to become the first non-Muslim country to issue sovereign Islamic bonds, known as sukuk, beginning as early as 2014.
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the plans during a keynote speech at the ninth World Islamic Economic Forum, which was held in London from October 29-31, the first time the event has ever been held outside the Muslim world.
"Already London is the biggest center for Islamic finance outside the Islamic world," Cameron told the audience of more than 1,800 international political and business leaders from over 115 countries.
"And today our ambition is to go further still. Because I don't just want London to be a great capital of Islamic finance in the Western world, I want London to stand alongside Dubai and Kuala Lumpur as one of the great capitals of Islamic finance anywhere in the world."
The plans are all part of the British government's strategy to acquire as big a slice as possible of the fast-growing global market of Islamic finance, which operates according to Islamic Sharia law and is growing 50% faster than the conventional banking sector.
In Scotland, meanwhile, the largest-ever immunization program was halted on October 2 after Muslim parents complained that the so-called Fluenz vaccine contained pork gelatin. The roll-out of the flu vaccine in Glasgow was postponed after parents at Glendale Primary in Pollokshields—which has a large number of Muslim pupils who cannot consume pig products for religious reasons—became aware of the ingredients and complained.
The National Health Service of Greater Glasgow and Clyde, an area that contains the overwhelming majority of the Muslims in Scotland, said that 100 Islamic scholars had agreed that pork gelatin was permissible within a vaccine, but it had postponed the vaccinations anyway "following concerns raised by a small number of parents."
A similar vaccination program in Leicestershire, England, was halted in September after the same flu vaccine was deemed to be "insensitive" to Muslims.
In November it emerged that Choukri Ellekhlifi, a British man who was killed fighting alongside al Qaeda-linked extremists in Syria, funded his trip by mugging people in an affluent area of London.
Ellekhlifi threatened victims with a Taser-style high-voltage stun gun and forced them to hand over valuables including designer watches and mobile phones.
He lived in London until a year ago when he skipped bail and travelled to Syria to join a group of Islamic extremists waging war on the Assad regime. He was one of three British men killed as their group attacked pro-government forces near the city of Aleppo on August 11. The trio were part of a group of ten British jihadists who joined up with 20 other Britons to fight with the Al-Nusra Front, allied to Al-Qaeda.
Separately, Ifthekar Jaman, a 23-year-old jihadist from Southsea, Hampshire, told Richard Watson—the host of the BBC's flagship daily news and current affairs program called Newsnight—that he traveled to Syria to fight with the Al-Qaida-linked ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). Jaman said he supported the principle of jihad before he left Britain. He told the BBC:
I was already a jihadi [while in the UK] I understood I was on the jihadi path. Where it all began? It began from the book [the Koran]. And I read this and in there you see what jihad is about. I used to be scared of the word jihad. I once went to my sister when I was young I said to her, I saw it in the book and it said fighting. And my sister said to me jihad means what you have in your heart, what you did in your heart. This is what I was taught. It wasn't taught to me that Islam is peace and there's no fighting. It is peace but it requires fighting. The duty of a Muslim is to love jihad. One of the sayings of the prophet peace be upon him whoever does not go jihad or doesn't even talk about it dies with the characteristic of hypocrisy. I am actually a Muslim following the way I should be.
Also in November, the head of MI5 (British domestic intelligence), Andrew Parker, told the British Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee that there are thousands of people living in Britain today who support al Qaida; and the head of MI6 (British foreign intelligence), Sir John Sawers, warned that the threat of terrorist attacks against Britain is increasing. Parker said that British intelligence had foiled 34 terrorist plots since the July 7 London bombings in 2005.
In December, two Islamists, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, were found guilty of the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby outside the Woolwich Barracks in southeast London on May 22, 2013. The crime shocked the country and has drawn nationwide attention to the rise of radical Islam in Britain.
Adebolajo, 28, and Adebowale, 22, were each accused of attacking the 25-year-old Rigby by running him over from behind with a car and then attempting to decapitate his motionless body with a meat cleaver and kitchen knives.
Both men were born in Britain and raised as Christians before converting to Islam as teenagers.
During the trial, Adebolajo said there was an ongoing "war between the Muslims and the British people" and that he was a "soldier of Allah."
Assistant London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, the most senior counter-terrorism officer in Britain, told the newspaper The Telegraph that British soldiers are at risk from "thousands" of lone-wolf terrorists who hold to a "perverted ideology" like the home-grown fanatics who murdered Rigby. She said the threat could never be eliminated.
Meanwhile, three Muslim men were sentenced at the Old Bailey on December 6 for confronting and abusing non-Muslims in London in January 2013. The three—who called themselves the Muslim Patrol—confronted, physically assaulted, and verbally abused members of the public whose behavior was in violation of Sharia law. They then posted the videos of their actions on YouTube.
Also in December, Marks & Spencer, the biggest clothing retailer in Britain, backed down after facing a boycott from thousands of angry customers who were furious at the store's decision to allow Muslim staff to refuse to serve customers buying alcohol or pork products during the Christmas shopping season.
The policy was revealed after customers trying to buy pork or alcohol from a Muslim cashier at an M&S store in central London were told that because of her religion, they would have to use another checkout lane.
Critics of M&S's policy of accommodation said it was just another example of how British law and practice is giving way to Islamic Sharia law and practice.
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Re: Islamic Pan Uber Cult
Posted by:
Vera City
()
Date: January 05, 2014 10:19PM
But there is some good news...
TO 12 MODERATE MUSLIM MOMENTS IN 2013
This year was a decisive year in the struggle against Islamism, with Muslims rising en masse against those governing in the name of their faith.
One of the most common questions we are asked is, “Where are the anti-Islamist Muslim voices?” The
Clarion Project has tried to magnify these voices with our articles, interviews and list of progressive Muslim organizations.
The booming megaphones of the American Islamist and pro-Muslim Brotherhood groups are daunting, but they are not undefeatable. Here are a dozen encouraging examples of when Muslims stood up against the Islamists this year:
12. The Clarion Project’s Webinar: “Boston Bombing: Moderate Muslims Take on the Islamists”
In April, our webinar featured a lengthy discussion with two brave Muslim activists: Salim Mansur, vice president of Muslims Facing Tomorrow and political science professor at the University of Western Ontario and C. Holland Taylor, founder and CEO of the LibForAll Foundation.
The two provided an in-depth look at the radicalization process and how Muslims and non-Muslims can counter the narratives that fuel it.
11. Muslim Helps Bring Attention to Extremism of Islamic Society of Boston
After it was learned that the Boston Marathon bombers attended the Islamic Society of Boston, the mosque condemned the attacks and went to work advertising its supposed moderation.
While non-Muslim critics of the mosque could be slandered as “Islamophobes,” one Muslim with first-hand knowledge of its extremism spoke out: Dr. Ahmed Mansour, president of the International Quranic Center.
He talked to the press about his unsettling experience when he visited the mosque. He said, “Their writings and teachings were fanatical. I left and refused to go back to pray. I left Egypt to escape the Muslim Brotherhood, but I had found it there."
He granted an interview to the Clarion Project, where he further discussed his visit to the mosque and explained his organization’s work. Their website has over 5,000 articles written by 200 Muslim reformers and his group wants the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to replace Sharia as the main source of legislation in Muslim countries.
10. Progressive Muslim Coalition Launches in Canada
On November 21, eight Muslim groups in Canada united to form the Coalition of Progressive Canadian Muslim Organizations. None of them have links to the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e-Islami or other extremist organizations and they stand strong against the Islamist ideology.
9. American Islamic Congress Endures CAIR Slander
In May, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity, lashed out at the American Islamic Congress, an organization that does not share its Islamist agenda but it mostly non-political. CAIR attacked the group as a component of an “Islamophobia Network,” essentially calling it an apostate and traitor to the community.
The most remarkable thing about CAIR’s offensive was that the American Islamic Congress did absolutely nothing to warrant it. Other Muslim activists directly challenge CAIR and its allies, inviting the confrontation.
The American Islamic Congress did not. It did not condemn CAIR or take a visible stand on controversial policy matters that contradict CAIR’s view. It is transparent that CAIR’s motivation was simply power.
8. Bangladeshis Protest ICNA
On December 22, about 30 Bangladeshis protested against the Islamic Circle of North America in New York and demanded that one of its former leaders be deported to Bangladesh to stand trial for committing war crimes.
ICNA is linked to the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and is a derivative of an Islamist group named Jamaat-e-Islami. One of ICNA’s former leaders, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, is being tried in absentia for being an “executioner” during Bangladesh’s war for independence from Pakistan.
7. Muslim Activists Stand Against Islamist Slur of “Islamophobe”
Islamists, especially those based in the West, often characterize any rival as an anti-Muslim bigot and “Islamophobe.” In September, several Muslim activists said enough is enough.
A Clarion Project article featured statements from Dr. Qanta Ahmed, Dr. Bassam Tibi, Tahir Gora and Walid al-Kubaisi about the tactic. It also featured the testimony of Abdur-Rahman Mohammed, a former member of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood network, who recalls being at a meeting in the 1990s where the Islamists decide to use the term “Islamophobia” as a political weapon.
In another Clarion article published in July, Muslim activists responded negatively to the United Kingdom’s banning of anti-Islam activists Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller. The speakers’ criticism of Islam was equated with hate speech.
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, Raheel Raza and Tarek Fatah acknowledged that they disagree with Spencer and Geller, but saved their harshest criticism for the British government for limiting free speech and caving to Islamist pressure.
6. Somali Activist Calls CAIR Out
Shortly after Al-Shabaab carried out its horrific massacre at the shopping mall in Kenya, Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center director Abdirizak Bihi publicly blasted CAIR for impeding FBI investigations into Al-Shabaab recruiting in Minnesota.
“They say that I am a bad person, that I am anti-Muslim, and that I don’t represent a hundred percent the Somali community,” Bihi said.
In June 2009, Bihi and 50 others protested CAIR for telling Muslims not to talk to the FBI. CAIR has attacked other Muslims who have stood up to warn about Al-Shabaab’s network in America.
5. Muslim Leaders Praise NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly; CAIR Retaliates
On December 9, the NYPD Muslim Advisory Council honored Commissioner Kelly for his hard work in embracing New York City’s Muslim community. This happened shortly after it released a report praising the NYPD for creating a “model of cooperation.”
It’s important to point out that these Muslim advisors do not automatically support everything the NYPD does. They are not puppets. Many of them vocally oppose NYPD practices like its controversial intelligence-gathering operations but, unlike CAIR, they can see past that disagreement and appreciate the NYPD and Kelly as a whole.
CAIR immediately criticized them and called it a “cheap public relations stunt.”
4. Tunisians Protests Force Ruling Party to Agree to Step Down
Disappointment with Islamist governance and outrage over violence against anti-Islamists prompted mass protests across Tunisia, the country where the “Arab Spring” began. It was here that the Islamists’ scored their first electoral victory when the Ennahda Party was voted into power.
The Ennahda Party negotiated with its opponents but refused to step down before scheduled elections. Then, in September, it had to come to terms with reality as a critical mass of pressure formed. Ennahda agreed to cede power. The transition to a caretaker government is set to happen by January 14.
3. Anti-Islamist Uprising in Bangladesh
In February, an amazing display of anti-Islamist fervor swept Bangladesh. After a Jamaat-e-Islami leader escaped the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison, he beamed as he flashed the victory sign with his hand. It was an unforeseen spark that lit a match.
What followed was described by Muslim activist Tarek Fatah as “the first time ever in the Muslim world there has been a popular uprising against the fascism of Islamist parties.” Jamaat-e-Islami was later banned from politics.
Bangladesh is 90% Muslim, but its current government is led by a progressive Muslim woman named Sheikh Hasina. She won in a landslide over the Islamists in 2008.
2. Turks Stand Up to Erdogan
Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey and his Islamist Justice and Development Party has not been toppled, but the popular protests against his rule are tremendously significant because of where Erdogan once stood.
He and his party were elected into power in 2002 and, unlike most Islamists, actually increased their popularity. In March, I dubbed him the "king of the Islamists" because of how he won the admiration of the Muslim world. Last year, he was rated the second most influential Muslim in the world. He seemed to have perfected the doctrine of gradualism.
Then June 2013 came. Turkey erupted as the government tried to redevelop Gezi Park in Taksim Square, a location that honors the secular ideology of Ataturk. The subsequent crackdown collapsed Erdogan’s popularity, yet he continues to support the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
And now, he faces a corruption scandal that has reignited protests and threatens his rule.
1. Egypt Topples the Muslim Brotherhood
The moment that the Muslim Brotherhood strived for since 1928 arrived in June 2012 when its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, won the Egyptian presidency. It took only one year for it to be all lost.
The protests that toppled Mubarak and ushered the Brotherhood into power were eclipsed by even larger demonstrations demanding that the military remove Morsi from power. When the Brotherhood protested in the streets, 71% of Egyptians opposed them. Only 20% supported them.
In September, almost 70% of Egyptians favored banning the Brotherhood as a political party. A mere six percent disagreed. Zogby found that only 34% of Egyptians have confidence in the Brotherhood, while the military maintains a 70% confidence level.
2013 had no shortage of depressing testaments to the threat of radical Islam, from the Boston Marathon bombings to the Syrian civil war to the daily terrorist attacks and human rights abuses around the world—but the Islamists have much more reason to be discouraged. Their quick ascendancy has been reversed by an even sharper descent.
These examples show the ability of brave Muslims to stand up to Islamic extremists who sought to forcibly implement their own harsh version of Islam.
TO 12 MODERATE MUSLIM MOMENTS IN 2013
This year was a decisive year in the struggle against Islamism, with Muslims rising en masse against those governing in the name of their faith.
One of the most common questions we are asked is, “Where are the anti-Islamist Muslim voices?” The
Clarion Project has tried to magnify these voices with our articles, interviews and list of progressive Muslim organizations.
The booming megaphones of the American Islamist and pro-Muslim Brotherhood groups are daunting, but they are not undefeatable. Here are a dozen encouraging examples of when Muslims stood up against the Islamists this year:
12. The Clarion Project’s Webinar: “Boston Bombing: Moderate Muslims Take on the Islamists”
In April, our webinar featured a lengthy discussion with two brave Muslim activists: Salim Mansur, vice president of Muslims Facing Tomorrow and political science professor at the University of Western Ontario and C. Holland Taylor, founder and CEO of the LibForAll Foundation.
The two provided an in-depth look at the radicalization process and how Muslims and non-Muslims can counter the narratives that fuel it.
11. Muslim Helps Bring Attention to Extremism of Islamic Society of Boston
After it was learned that the Boston Marathon bombers attended the Islamic Society of Boston, the mosque condemned the attacks and went to work advertising its supposed moderation.
While non-Muslim critics of the mosque could be slandered as “Islamophobes,” one Muslim with first-hand knowledge of its extremism spoke out: Dr. Ahmed Mansour, president of the International Quranic Center.
He talked to the press about his unsettling experience when he visited the mosque. He said, “Their writings and teachings were fanatical. I left and refused to go back to pray. I left Egypt to escape the Muslim Brotherhood, but I had found it there."
He granted an interview to the Clarion Project, where he further discussed his visit to the mosque and explained his organization’s work. Their website has over 5,000 articles written by 200 Muslim reformers and his group wants the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to replace Sharia as the main source of legislation in Muslim countries.
10. Progressive Muslim Coalition Launches in Canada
On November 21, eight Muslim groups in Canada united to form the Coalition of Progressive Canadian Muslim Organizations. None of them have links to the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e-Islami or other extremist organizations and they stand strong against the Islamist ideology.
9. American Islamic Congress Endures CAIR Slander
In May, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity, lashed out at the American Islamic Congress, an organization that does not share its Islamist agenda but it mostly non-political. CAIR attacked the group as a component of an “Islamophobia Network,” essentially calling it an apostate and traitor to the community.
The most remarkable thing about CAIR’s offensive was that the American Islamic Congress did absolutely nothing to warrant it. Other Muslim activists directly challenge CAIR and its allies, inviting the confrontation.
The American Islamic Congress did not. It did not condemn CAIR or take a visible stand on controversial policy matters that contradict CAIR’s view. It is transparent that CAIR’s motivation was simply power.
8. Bangladeshis Protest ICNA
On December 22, about 30 Bangladeshis protested against the Islamic Circle of North America in New York and demanded that one of its former leaders be deported to Bangladesh to stand trial for committing war crimes.
ICNA is linked to the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and is a derivative of an Islamist group named Jamaat-e-Islami. One of ICNA’s former leaders, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, is being tried in absentia for being an “executioner” during Bangladesh’s war for independence from Pakistan.
7. Muslim Activists Stand Against Islamist Slur of “Islamophobe”
Islamists, especially those based in the West, often characterize any rival as an anti-Muslim bigot and “Islamophobe.” In September, several Muslim activists said enough is enough.
A Clarion Project article featured statements from Dr. Qanta Ahmed, Dr. Bassam Tibi, Tahir Gora and Walid al-Kubaisi about the tactic. It also featured the testimony of Abdur-Rahman Mohammed, a former member of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood network, who recalls being at a meeting in the 1990s where the Islamists decide to use the term “Islamophobia” as a political weapon.
In another Clarion article published in July, Muslim activists responded negatively to the United Kingdom’s banning of anti-Islam activists Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller. The speakers’ criticism of Islam was equated with hate speech.
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, Raheel Raza and Tarek Fatah acknowledged that they disagree with Spencer and Geller, but saved their harshest criticism for the British government for limiting free speech and caving to Islamist pressure.
6. Somali Activist Calls CAIR Out
Shortly after Al-Shabaab carried out its horrific massacre at the shopping mall in Kenya, Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center director Abdirizak Bihi publicly blasted CAIR for impeding FBI investigations into Al-Shabaab recruiting in Minnesota.
“They say that I am a bad person, that I am anti-Muslim, and that I don’t represent a hundred percent the Somali community,” Bihi said.
In June 2009, Bihi and 50 others protested CAIR for telling Muslims not to talk to the FBI. CAIR has attacked other Muslims who have stood up to warn about Al-Shabaab’s network in America.
5. Muslim Leaders Praise NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly; CAIR Retaliates
On December 9, the NYPD Muslim Advisory Council honored Commissioner Kelly for his hard work in embracing New York City’s Muslim community. This happened shortly after it released a report praising the NYPD for creating a “model of cooperation.”
It’s important to point out that these Muslim advisors do not automatically support everything the NYPD does. They are not puppets. Many of them vocally oppose NYPD practices like its controversial intelligence-gathering operations but, unlike CAIR, they can see past that disagreement and appreciate the NYPD and Kelly as a whole.
CAIR immediately criticized them and called it a “cheap public relations stunt.”
4. Tunisians Protests Force Ruling Party to Agree to Step Down
Disappointment with Islamist governance and outrage over violence against anti-Islamists prompted mass protests across Tunisia, the country where the “Arab Spring” began. It was here that the Islamists’ scored their first electoral victory when the Ennahda Party was voted into power.
The Ennahda Party negotiated with its opponents but refused to step down before scheduled elections. Then, in September, it had to come to terms with reality as a critical mass of pressure formed. Ennahda agreed to cede power. The transition to a caretaker government is set to happen by January 14.
3. Anti-Islamist Uprising in Bangladesh
In February, an amazing display of anti-Islamist fervor swept Bangladesh. After a Jamaat-e-Islami leader escaped the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison, he beamed as he flashed the victory sign with his hand. It was an unforeseen spark that lit a match.
What followed was described by Muslim activist Tarek Fatah as “the first time ever in the Muslim world there has been a popular uprising against the fascism of Islamist parties.” Jamaat-e-Islami was later banned from politics.
Bangladesh is 90% Muslim, but its current government is led by a progressive Muslim woman named Sheikh Hasina. She won in a landslide over the Islamists in 2008.
2. Turks Stand Up to Erdogan
Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey and his Islamist Justice and Development Party has not been toppled, but the popular protests against his rule are tremendously significant because of where Erdogan once stood.
He and his party were elected into power in 2002 and, unlike most Islamists, actually increased their popularity. In March, I dubbed him the "king of the Islamists" because of how he won the admiration of the Muslim world. Last year, he was rated the second most influential Muslim in the world. He seemed to have perfected the doctrine of gradualism.
Then June 2013 came. Turkey erupted as the government tried to redevelop Gezi Park in Taksim Square, a location that honors the secular ideology of Ataturk. The subsequent crackdown collapsed Erdogan’s popularity, yet he continues to support the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
And now, he faces a corruption scandal that has reignited protests and threatens his rule.
1. Egypt Topples the Muslim Brotherhood
The moment that the Muslim Brotherhood strived for since 1928 arrived in June 2012 when its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, won the Egyptian presidency. It took only one year for it to be all lost.
The protests that toppled Mubarak and ushered the Brotherhood into power were eclipsed by even larger demonstrations demanding that the military remove Morsi from power. When the Brotherhood protested in the streets, 71% of Egyptians opposed them. Only 20% supported them.
In September, almost 70% of Egyptians favored banning the Brotherhood as a political party. A mere six percent disagreed. Zogby found that only 34% of Egyptians have confidence in the Brotherhood, while the military maintains a 70% confidence level.
2013 had no shortage of depressing testaments to the threat of radical Islam, from the Boston Marathon bombings to the Syrian civil war to the daily terrorist attacks and human rights abuses around the world—but the Islamists have much more reason to be discouraged. Their quick ascendancy has been reversed by an even sharper descent.
These examples show the ability of brave Muslims to stand up to Islamic extremists who sought to forcibly implement their own harsh version of Islam.
Re: Islamic Pan Uber Cult
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: January 06, 2014 06:52AM
Look up Jihad gifts and merchandise on google and see what comes up.
The most toxic belief system in the world
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: January 06, 2014 07:30AM
"I regard it as trivially obvious that the "honor" mentality exists for a reason and makes perfect sense to the people that adhere to it. I don't doubt it for a moment.
I merely claim that these values debilitate the societies that hold them.
Smoking makes perfect sense to a nicotine addict, but it can nevertheless kill him"
Quoted from "The Most Toxic Value System in the World by Steve Dutch (link below)
A partial excerpt. Must mention
"
The thar mentality hinders technological progress in a host of ways. Most obviously, it hinders people from moving into new occupations. You can't become an engineer if the family demands that you go into shoemaking like all your ancestors did. It also blocks progress by causing people to shun necessary but low-status tasks or occupations. Some examples:
When Western firms first started doing business in Saudi Arabia, they encountered a cultural roadblock. Men would eagerly learn how to do technical tasks, but at first refused to clean things - parts, tools, work areas - because cleaning things was "womens' work."
After my civil affairs unit had been in Kuwait a month in 1991, we began to sense that something was wrong: the recovery was far too slow. Kuwait was not that badly damaged in the Gulf War, apart from the burning oil wells. It was certainly not as badly damaged as an American city would have been by an earthquake or hurricane.
The prevailing attitude everywhere was "where can we hire people to clean up?
This attitude, that local people are managers and the actual hands-on work is done by hired help, is pervasive in the Persian Gulf and is very similar to the attitude of ancient Rome. In ancient Rome the attitude was that if citizens needed technical help, they could always buy an educated slave.
In many societies, the low-status jobs are first taken by foreigners who either don't share their neighbors' disdain for the jobs, or who are more interested in profit than status. However, when the low-status jobs turn out to be critical, often the locals find that they have been bypassed on the ladder to success.
Worse yet, the rungs above them are occupied. In many African nations, shopkeeping and clerical jobs were left to Asian immigrants because they were considered too lowly for the warrior and herding classes. As time went by and it became obvious that trade and government were the routes to prosperity, that there really weren't all that many jobs for traditional warriors and that killing lions with a spear was not a skill in high demand, the immigrants who took the former low-status jobs found themselves targets of resentment.
In Idi Amin's Uganda in the late 1960's, Asian shopkeepers were simply expelled, but at least they were spared the agony of living in the society that Amin proceeded to create.
Immigrant families from thar-dominated societies to the United States often strongly resisted public education because it was seen as a threat to the authority of the family.
It's very common to read accounts of entrepreneurs in Third World countries who could easily achieve even greater success but deliberately refrain because if they did, they would be inundated by extended family members. Could there be a more effective mechanism for keeping a society poor?
For sheer, bottom-of-the-barrel depravity, it's hard to top this. A recent newspaper account of the plight of AIDS orphans in Africa described how they would often be left utterly destitute because their parents' relatives would swoop in and take all their property. No doubt these are the same relatives who would expect the orphans to support them if they became successful.
The most pervasive block to technical progress in thar-dominated societies is more subtle.
It is summed up in a Middle Eastern proverb: "it is not enough for me to succeed - others must also fail."
This attitude is related to a concept called "absolute scarcity" in the social science literature - the notion that all human needs are in finite supply and there is not enough to go around. Obviously such an attitude will lead to resentment of success by others. A thar-dominated society will never achieve equality, regardless how prosperous it becomes, because prosperity for the masses is a direct affront to the status of the elite"
"
The rest of Professor Dutch's article can be read here. (His website is full of excellent material on a wide range of subjects. )
[www.uwgb.edu]
Corboy note: In his books on Sindh, in what is now Southern Pakistan, Richard Francis Burton described how Hindus, who were literate and understood accountancy, rapidly gained economic advantages despite being subjected to bigotry. Hindus became merchants, and saved their money, rather than spending it in largesse and entertainment as most of the Sindhi Moslems did when experiencing financial good fortune.
The richest landowning nobles preferred to maintain much of their land as hunting sanctuaries, which meant the landowners had to spend extra money for the expense of mainstaining all the luxuries needed for hunting (horses, dogs, weapons, servants), but the disruption of the hunts repeatedly disrupted the work of the farmers--who were feudal, bound to the land and could not dare complain.
The Kalhora and Talpur Emirs lacked the skills in accountancy and literacy needed to administer and tax their domains, and so were obliged to hire Hindus to function as bureaucrats. In his book, Sindh The Unhappy Valley. Burton remarked that one Talpur prince proudly stated that he did not know how to read or write but had a Munshi (secretary) who could do all these tasks for him.
Despite being hated and persecuted, the Sindhi Hindus were, on the average, better educated and financially better off than their Muslim neighbors. Burton noted that the Hindus took every opportunity to go to the new British run schools set up after General Napier conquered Sindh and added it to the British dominions. By contrast, in most cases, the Sindhi Moslems refused and kept to themselves quoting a proverb, "The ruler is the mirror of his people".
Somber)
It may be that what Islamist terrorists desire is a return to closed, honor bound societies, what Professor Dutch terms Thar societies.
These societies do *not* believe in cultural diversity.
The World's Most Toxic Value System
Nov 19, 2001 ... Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of ... It is, in my view, the
most toxic value system on the planet. .... Until I find a more accurate term, I will use the Arabic word thar, .... The price of competitiveness is the courage to be uncertain--not an absence of belief, but a synthetic capability that ...
www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/pseudosc/toxicval.htm - 34k - Cached - Similar pages
But now it has become easy any unhappy frustrated person to radicalize him (more rarely her) into lethal fanaticism via various websites, the way the older Tsarnaev brother did.
What is remarkable about such websites is how a lonely person can, through, logging on and correspondance, come to feel part of something greater.
So many of us will at some time of our lives (or if unlucky, for much of our lives) feel thwarted, frustrated.
There is a special terror when one is in ones teens and young adulthood of never finding a way to access and express one's full potential. When I was in my teens, some friends and I used to fear that we would die before being able to find out who and what we were.
A feeling of having something to offer, not knowing what that something was, and terror that no one would ever see or appreciate us. Or understand us.
And, we were the lucky ones. We had no worries about college or finding jobs (this was over 40 years ago....sigh).
So it is seductive when one's frustration is validated and given religious and political dignity--even at the expense of other people's dignity, even at the expense of other people's lives. Even at the expense of destroying the open society one comes to regard as the cause of all the problems.
As food for thought, Professor Steve Dutch has an essay on honour cultures, what he terms the Thar cultures. He dares to suggest that certain attitudes make for poverty. And he may have a point.
Note: honor cultures do not exist only in the Islamic world. In Nikos Kazantzakis' novel, Zorba the Greek, set on the island of Crete, it is the ugly honor sytem that leads the village leader to murder a beautiful woman who spurned the advances of his son, after which the boy killed himself. The father considered the woman to be to blame, and to salvage the family honor, kills her.
Crete had remained a Turkish ruled province until the 1890s, when, after a war of liberation, the island joined Greece. Honor system continued in the remote areas of Greece, not only in Crete, but on the Albanian border. Nicholas Gage, in his two books, Eleni, and A Place for Us, describes how the honor system worked, and in minute detail.
The so called honor system is not irrational. It has its own logic. But..it is not a social arrangement that can support social progress and it cannot recognize the inherant dignity of the human person apart from his or her clan.
But those of us who want to live in secular, open societies and who do not want to live under thar/honor systems (such as shari'a) -- we have every right to judge for ourselves whether it is right or wrong when thar cultures refuse to stay on their own turf and try to subvert open societies so as to turn them into closed societies.
I merely claim that these values debilitate the societies that hold them.
Smoking makes perfect sense to a nicotine addict, but it can nevertheless kill him"
Quoted from "The Most Toxic Value System in the World by Steve Dutch (link below)
A partial excerpt. Must mention
"
The thar mentality hinders technological progress in a host of ways. Most obviously, it hinders people from moving into new occupations. You can't become an engineer if the family demands that you go into shoemaking like all your ancestors did. It also blocks progress by causing people to shun necessary but low-status tasks or occupations. Some examples:
When Western firms first started doing business in Saudi Arabia, they encountered a cultural roadblock. Men would eagerly learn how to do technical tasks, but at first refused to clean things - parts, tools, work areas - because cleaning things was "womens' work."
After my civil affairs unit had been in Kuwait a month in 1991, we began to sense that something was wrong: the recovery was far too slow. Kuwait was not that badly damaged in the Gulf War, apart from the burning oil wells. It was certainly not as badly damaged as an American city would have been by an earthquake or hurricane.
The prevailing attitude everywhere was "where can we hire people to clean up?
This attitude, that local people are managers and the actual hands-on work is done by hired help, is pervasive in the Persian Gulf and is very similar to the attitude of ancient Rome. In ancient Rome the attitude was that if citizens needed technical help, they could always buy an educated slave.
In many societies, the low-status jobs are first taken by foreigners who either don't share their neighbors' disdain for the jobs, or who are more interested in profit than status. However, when the low-status jobs turn out to be critical, often the locals find that they have been bypassed on the ladder to success.
Worse yet, the rungs above them are occupied. In many African nations, shopkeeping and clerical jobs were left to Asian immigrants because they were considered too lowly for the warrior and herding classes. As time went by and it became obvious that trade and government were the routes to prosperity, that there really weren't all that many jobs for traditional warriors and that killing lions with a spear was not a skill in high demand, the immigrants who took the former low-status jobs found themselves targets of resentment.
In Idi Amin's Uganda in the late 1960's, Asian shopkeepers were simply expelled, but at least they were spared the agony of living in the society that Amin proceeded to create.
Immigrant families from thar-dominated societies to the United States often strongly resisted public education because it was seen as a threat to the authority of the family.
It's very common to read accounts of entrepreneurs in Third World countries who could easily achieve even greater success but deliberately refrain because if they did, they would be inundated by extended family members. Could there be a more effective mechanism for keeping a society poor?
For sheer, bottom-of-the-barrel depravity, it's hard to top this. A recent newspaper account of the plight of AIDS orphans in Africa described how they would often be left utterly destitute because their parents' relatives would swoop in and take all their property. No doubt these are the same relatives who would expect the orphans to support them if they became successful.
The most pervasive block to technical progress in thar-dominated societies is more subtle.
It is summed up in a Middle Eastern proverb: "it is not enough for me to succeed - others must also fail."
This attitude is related to a concept called "absolute scarcity" in the social science literature - the notion that all human needs are in finite supply and there is not enough to go around. Obviously such an attitude will lead to resentment of success by others. A thar-dominated society will never achieve equality, regardless how prosperous it becomes, because prosperity for the masses is a direct affront to the status of the elite"
"
The rest of Professor Dutch's article can be read here. (His website is full of excellent material on a wide range of subjects. )
[www.uwgb.edu]
Corboy note: In his books on Sindh, in what is now Southern Pakistan, Richard Francis Burton described how Hindus, who were literate and understood accountancy, rapidly gained economic advantages despite being subjected to bigotry. Hindus became merchants, and saved their money, rather than spending it in largesse and entertainment as most of the Sindhi Moslems did when experiencing financial good fortune.
The richest landowning nobles preferred to maintain much of their land as hunting sanctuaries, which meant the landowners had to spend extra money for the expense of mainstaining all the luxuries needed for hunting (horses, dogs, weapons, servants), but the disruption of the hunts repeatedly disrupted the work of the farmers--who were feudal, bound to the land and could not dare complain.
The Kalhora and Talpur Emirs lacked the skills in accountancy and literacy needed to administer and tax their domains, and so were obliged to hire Hindus to function as bureaucrats. In his book, Sindh The Unhappy Valley. Burton remarked that one Talpur prince proudly stated that he did not know how to read or write but had a Munshi (secretary) who could do all these tasks for him.
Despite being hated and persecuted, the Sindhi Hindus were, on the average, better educated and financially better off than their Muslim neighbors. Burton noted that the Hindus took every opportunity to go to the new British run schools set up after General Napier conquered Sindh and added it to the British dominions. By contrast, in most cases, the Sindhi Moslems refused and kept to themselves quoting a proverb, "The ruler is the mirror of his people".
Somber)
It may be that what Islamist terrorists desire is a return to closed, honor bound societies, what Professor Dutch terms Thar societies.
These societies do *not* believe in cultural diversity.
The World's Most Toxic Value System
Nov 19, 2001 ... Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of ... It is, in my view, the
most toxic value system on the planet. .... Until I find a more accurate term, I will use the Arabic word thar, .... The price of competitiveness is the courage to be uncertain--not an absence of belief, but a synthetic capability that ...
www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/pseudosc/toxicval.htm - 34k - Cached - Similar pages
But now it has become easy any unhappy frustrated person to radicalize him (more rarely her) into lethal fanaticism via various websites, the way the older Tsarnaev brother did.
What is remarkable about such websites is how a lonely person can, through, logging on and correspondance, come to feel part of something greater.
So many of us will at some time of our lives (or if unlucky, for much of our lives) feel thwarted, frustrated.
There is a special terror when one is in ones teens and young adulthood of never finding a way to access and express one's full potential. When I was in my teens, some friends and I used to fear that we would die before being able to find out who and what we were.
A feeling of having something to offer, not knowing what that something was, and terror that no one would ever see or appreciate us. Or understand us.
And, we were the lucky ones. We had no worries about college or finding jobs (this was over 40 years ago....sigh).
So it is seductive when one's frustration is validated and given religious and political dignity--even at the expense of other people's dignity, even at the expense of other people's lives. Even at the expense of destroying the open society one comes to regard as the cause of all the problems.
As food for thought, Professor Steve Dutch has an essay on honour cultures, what he terms the Thar cultures. He dares to suggest that certain attitudes make for poverty. And he may have a point.
Note: honor cultures do not exist only in the Islamic world. In Nikos Kazantzakis' novel, Zorba the Greek, set on the island of Crete, it is the ugly honor sytem that leads the village leader to murder a beautiful woman who spurned the advances of his son, after which the boy killed himself. The father considered the woman to be to blame, and to salvage the family honor, kills her.
Crete had remained a Turkish ruled province until the 1890s, when, after a war of liberation, the island joined Greece. Honor system continued in the remote areas of Greece, not only in Crete, but on the Albanian border. Nicholas Gage, in his two books, Eleni, and A Place for Us, describes how the honor system worked, and in minute detail.
The so called honor system is not irrational. It has its own logic. But..it is not a social arrangement that can support social progress and it cannot recognize the inherant dignity of the human person apart from his or her clan.
But those of us who want to live in secular, open societies and who do not want to live under thar/honor systems (such as shari'a) -- we have every right to judge for ourselves whether it is right or wrong when thar cultures refuse to stay on their own turf and try to subvert open societies so as to turn them into closed societies.
Re: Islamic Pan Uber Cult
Posted by:
Vera City
()
Date: January 06, 2014 09:46PM
thanks corboy
The article you referenced The World's Most Toxic Value System is very important because the idea of pluralism, multiculturalism, and the generous acceptance of other cultures into a functional society can be very dangerous. This very statement grates my own sensibilities and values, and yet it is unfortunately true. It is virtually impossible to see a "thar" society and understand it's effects when you put the template of Western Civilization over it.
The west's weakness is in not having the ability to discriminate between a dangerous influence vs an enriching one. It is like inviting any bacteria into your body just because they are a "bacteria". Some will benefit your digestion while others will kill you. But no matter, you decided to lick any old petri dish.
These "thar" cultures, such as the Islamic cult sweeping the world know and exploit our naivete very well.
The article you referenced The World's Most Toxic Value System is very important because the idea of pluralism, multiculturalism, and the generous acceptance of other cultures into a functional society can be very dangerous. This very statement grates my own sensibilities and values, and yet it is unfortunately true. It is virtually impossible to see a "thar" society and understand it's effects when you put the template of Western Civilization over it.
The west's weakness is in not having the ability to discriminate between a dangerous influence vs an enriching one. It is like inviting any bacteria into your body just because they are a "bacteria". Some will benefit your digestion while others will kill you. But no matter, you decided to lick any old petri dish.
Quote
From The World's Most Toxic Value System by Steven Dutch
The thar mentality can be said to include these features. They vary in degree from person to person and place to place but if we find all or most of them in a society we can justly apply the label thar.
• Extreme importance of personal status and sensitivity to insult
• Acceptance of personal revenge including retaliatory killing
• Obsessive male dominance
• Paranoia over female sexual infidelity
• Primacy of family rights over individual rights
Nothing better illustrates the thar mentality better than the fury directed by Islamic militants against Danish and Norwegian cartoons of Mohammed. Sacrilegious art in other cultures can offend and get people angry but the lunatic response of radical Islamists is in a class by itself. It's the shrieking, out of control petulance of a three-year old throwing a tantrum. People infected with this attitude will be utterly incapable of recognizing wrongdoing by their own society, utterly incapable of taking criticism or recognizing the need for correction.
These "thar" cultures, such as the Islamic cult sweeping the world know and exploit our naivete very well.
Extreme importance of status and sensitivity to personal insult
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: January 06, 2014 11:16PM
Professor Dutch lists 'extreme importance of status and sensitivity to personal insult.
Here is an illustration of how this worked in Muslim society in Sindh in the 1840s. Burton is giving advice to Europeans who want to go undercover and adopt the manners and customs of the area.
Scinde Or The Unhappy Valley - Richard F Burton
[books.google.com]
and how to respond if someone of equal status insults you.
[books.google.com]
[books.google.com]
Little has changed.
For a soul searing description of modern conditions (1998 - 2001) get and read "Dancing Girls of Lahore Selling Love and Saving Dreams in Pakistan's Pleasure District" by Louise Brown - it contains numerous illustrations of how women in Pakistan are under pressure to maintain izzat - honor.
Even in the red-light district, there is pressure to maintain honor. One must stay veiled. One must not allow one's clothes to become frayed or dirty. One must spend more money than one can afford to entertain guests and maintain good appearances.
If one is pressured by honor/thar to spend money on appearances, it will be difficult to budget for the future, or create funds for investment.
If a trouble prone friend or relative commits crimes, one is honor bound to protect the person, at the expense of those victimized.
Here is an illustration of how this worked in Muslim society in Sindh in the 1840s. Burton is giving advice to Europeans who want to go undercover and adopt the manners and customs of the area.
Scinde Or The Unhappy Valley - Richard F Burton
[books.google.com]
and how to respond if someone of equal status insults you.
[books.google.com]
[books.google.com]
Little has changed.
For a soul searing description of modern conditions (1998 - 2001) get and read "Dancing Girls of Lahore Selling Love and Saving Dreams in Pakistan's Pleasure District" by Louise Brown - it contains numerous illustrations of how women in Pakistan are under pressure to maintain izzat - honor.
Even in the red-light district, there is pressure to maintain honor. One must stay veiled. One must not allow one's clothes to become frayed or dirty. One must spend more money than one can afford to entertain guests and maintain good appearances.
If one is pressured by honor/thar to spend money on appearances, it will be difficult to budget for the future, or create funds for investment.
If a trouble prone friend or relative commits crimes, one is honor bound to protect the person, at the expense of those victimized.
February 4, 2002 New Yorker article on Sayyid Qutb
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: January 07, 2014 11:10PM
Quoted here are some excerpts. The full article is well worth reading.
It appeared shortly after 9-11 and I added it to my collection.
Raban offers an interesting way to retain a relationship with one's younger self, and bring both ones younger self and one's adult self to the task of reading and evaluating texts.
Personal History My Holy War What do a vicar’s son and a suicide bomber have in common? by Jonathan Raban
February 4, 2002
[www.newyorker.com]
Raban, son of an Anglican priest, wrote of his father
(quote)Ministering to the alienated and the displaced, my father wore his beliefs thin to the point of transparency. The idea that alienation and displacement might themselves constitute the basis of a religious awakening would have been repellent to him. Broad Church Anglicanism was about reaching out to the margins to reclaim people for the center: born in political compromise, the Church of England had little appetite for protest and none for rage.(unquote)
(quote)Many of the key texts of Islamic revolution were written in exile, in hiding, or in a prison cell. A consciousness forged in conditions of tyranny is often liable to find tyranny wherever in the world it settles—in Haldon Street, Lakemba, or in Gloucester Road, London S.W.7. Islamism—which by no means signifies Islam at large—needs oppression. A powerful sense of kufr helps the believer to live in Western exile in the necessary state of chronic persecution, from which his theology was born, and on which its survival depends.
It also confers a heroic glamour on the everyday alienation felt by the immigrant—especially the male immigrant—who struggles to keep his head up in a foreign culture. The American who condescends to you because she doesn’t understand your funny accent is not simply being bad-mannered; she’s evil—an agent of the Shaytan. Your corrosive solitude is the measure of your invincible superiority to the kuffar, in their hellbound ignorance and corruption. You are not as they are. You make a point of not shaking hands with the female examiner of your thesis. When the next-door neighbors toss a ball that happens to roll across your path, you walk on without looking up. At Shuckum’s Raw Bar and Grill, you loudly put down the barmaid in a row over the forty-eight-dollar tab. At Huffman Aviation, you grab the seat cushion belonging to another student, and refuse to give it back. These are not displays of sullen adolescent aggression; they’re moral gestures, designed to put the kuffar in their rightful place. It’s what certain angry, frustrated young men have always secretly dreamed of—a theology of rebellion, rooted in hostility and contempt.
(unquote)
(quote)The essential charter of the jihad movement—its “Mein Kampf”—is Sayyid Qutb’s “Milestones” (1964). Before Qutb toured the United States, between 1948 and 1950, he was best known as an Egyptian novelist, poet, and critic. After his time here, he became famous as an Islamic ideologue and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Cairo-based think tank and home of theocratic revolution. He achieved martyrdom in 1966, when he was executed by Gamal Abdel Nasser. His book lives on. It can be found, in whole or in part, on many of the Internet sites created by Muslim students.
(unquote)
(quote)Qutb didn’t join the Muslim Brotherhood until 1952—three years after the assassination of the movement’s founder, Hassan al-Banna, and two years after Qutb’s spell of expatriation in the United States. Firsthand experience of Western jahiliyyah seems to have transformed Qutb from a devout but orthodox believer into the architect of worldwide jihad.
His American writing (fragments of it were translated and published by John Calvert last year in the journal Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations) shows him as a lonely naïf, adrift in a world of lewd temptations. Although Qutb was forty-two when he sailed from Alexandria for New York in 1948 (the Farouk regime was paying him to study American education methods), his voice sounds painfully young. On the voyage out, a “drunken, semi-naked” woman showed up at the door to his cabin, an American government agent, dispatched by Langley expressly to corrupt him—or so he told his Egyptian biographer years later. Qutb’s sense of extreme moral precariousness comes to the fore in every encounter. Few men past the age of forty can ever have felt their immortal souls to be in such danger at a church hop as Qutb did when he attended one in Greeley, Colorado. The pastor, doubling as disk jockey, lowered the lights to impart “a romantic, dreamy effect,” and put on a record of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (presumably the Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban version, from the soundtrack of the 1949 hit movie “Neptune’s Daughter”). “The dancing intensified. . . . The hall swarmed with legs. . . . Arms circled arms, lips met lips, chests met chests, and the atmosphere was full of love.” We’re in the psychodrama of temptation here—the language tumescent with arousal, even as it affects a tone of detachment and disdain.
In his Koranic commentary, “In the Shade of the Qur’an,” Qutb suggested that the believer’s brief sojourn on earth should be spent “purifying the filthy marsh of this world.” Rich, sexy, Truman-era America gave him a taste of this world at its filthiest and marshiest. His American letters show him wading fastidiously, a lone pilgrim, through “the life of jahiliyyah, hollow and full of contradictions, defects and evils.”
(unquote)
Jonathan Raban became an anti nuclear activist and had rows with his father.
Remembering the rousing songs sung at CND marches, Raban recalls"
(quote)I can still feel the intense warming glow of unearned righteousness that accompanied the singing of these words. Midway between Bracknell and Windsor, standing shoulder to shoulder with the world’s oppressed, voicing our hatred of the belligerent power of the United States and its puppet nations in the NATO alliance, we were bathed in personal glory.
(unquote)
(Quote)Back at the vicarage, my father blew a gust of St. Bruno pipe smoke over the remains of breakfast, and said, “So you think Mr. Macmillan needs to take moral guidance from a bunch of spotty teen-agers, do you?”
Nothing like a traitor’s sneer to harden belief into the steel of true zealotry: I finished him off with a single round from my thought-murder gun.
Lately, I’ve been keeping that angry boy on hand, to read the literature of jihad on my behalf. As skeptical as I am, he nevertheless reports with a scowl that he can connect with it pretty well.
And, perhaps, he should. He was an unwitting participant in the fervor.
It was his father who was the less deceived. The Vicar of Pennington, later Rural Dean of Southampton, went to his grave a rationalist, a stoic, a rueful humanist in a world ablaze with passionate supernatural convictions.
(Unquote)
Reflections by Corboy
What is so difficult is that many frustrated people keep to themselves or to small coteries and refuse to communicate with a society that they consider not only to have thwarted them, but that is itself, satanic.
After the battle of Valmy, in which a monarchist army had been defeated by the French revolutionary army, Goethe reportedly said, "On this day and in this place begins a new age in the history of the world." The appearance and victory of an army of citizen soldiers, loyal neither to sovereign nor priest, but to a shared ideology of social change, of revolution.
But now we face a new kind of army, armies of one person, or just a handful, persons who benefit as resident aliens in citizen societies, or who are citizens.
Backed up by ideologies which forbid them to dialogue with us because we and our understanding of citizenship are considered to be unholy.
It appeared shortly after 9-11 and I added it to my collection.
Raban offers an interesting way to retain a relationship with one's younger self, and bring both ones younger self and one's adult self to the task of reading and evaluating texts.
Personal History My Holy War What do a vicar’s son and a suicide bomber have in common? by Jonathan Raban
February 4, 2002
[www.newyorker.com]
Raban, son of an Anglican priest, wrote of his father
(quote)Ministering to the alienated and the displaced, my father wore his beliefs thin to the point of transparency. The idea that alienation and displacement might themselves constitute the basis of a religious awakening would have been repellent to him. Broad Church Anglicanism was about reaching out to the margins to reclaim people for the center: born in political compromise, the Church of England had little appetite for protest and none for rage.(unquote)
(quote)Many of the key texts of Islamic revolution were written in exile, in hiding, or in a prison cell. A consciousness forged in conditions of tyranny is often liable to find tyranny wherever in the world it settles—in Haldon Street, Lakemba, or in Gloucester Road, London S.W.7. Islamism—which by no means signifies Islam at large—needs oppression. A powerful sense of kufr helps the believer to live in Western exile in the necessary state of chronic persecution, from which his theology was born, and on which its survival depends.
It also confers a heroic glamour on the everyday alienation felt by the immigrant—especially the male immigrant—who struggles to keep his head up in a foreign culture. The American who condescends to you because she doesn’t understand your funny accent is not simply being bad-mannered; she’s evil—an agent of the Shaytan. Your corrosive solitude is the measure of your invincible superiority to the kuffar, in their hellbound ignorance and corruption. You are not as they are. You make a point of not shaking hands with the female examiner of your thesis. When the next-door neighbors toss a ball that happens to roll across your path, you walk on without looking up. At Shuckum’s Raw Bar and Grill, you loudly put down the barmaid in a row over the forty-eight-dollar tab. At Huffman Aviation, you grab the seat cushion belonging to another student, and refuse to give it back. These are not displays of sullen adolescent aggression; they’re moral gestures, designed to put the kuffar in their rightful place. It’s what certain angry, frustrated young men have always secretly dreamed of—a theology of rebellion, rooted in hostility and contempt.
(unquote)
(quote)The essential charter of the jihad movement—its “Mein Kampf”—is Sayyid Qutb’s “Milestones” (1964). Before Qutb toured the United States, between 1948 and 1950, he was best known as an Egyptian novelist, poet, and critic. After his time here, he became famous as an Islamic ideologue and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Cairo-based think tank and home of theocratic revolution. He achieved martyrdom in 1966, when he was executed by Gamal Abdel Nasser. His book lives on. It can be found, in whole or in part, on many of the Internet sites created by Muslim students.
(unquote)
(quote)Qutb didn’t join the Muslim Brotherhood until 1952—three years after the assassination of the movement’s founder, Hassan al-Banna, and two years after Qutb’s spell of expatriation in the United States. Firsthand experience of Western jahiliyyah seems to have transformed Qutb from a devout but orthodox believer into the architect of worldwide jihad.
His American writing (fragments of it were translated and published by John Calvert last year in the journal Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations) shows him as a lonely naïf, adrift in a world of lewd temptations. Although Qutb was forty-two when he sailed from Alexandria for New York in 1948 (the Farouk regime was paying him to study American education methods), his voice sounds painfully young. On the voyage out, a “drunken, semi-naked” woman showed up at the door to his cabin, an American government agent, dispatched by Langley expressly to corrupt him—or so he told his Egyptian biographer years later. Qutb’s sense of extreme moral precariousness comes to the fore in every encounter. Few men past the age of forty can ever have felt their immortal souls to be in such danger at a church hop as Qutb did when he attended one in Greeley, Colorado. The pastor, doubling as disk jockey, lowered the lights to impart “a romantic, dreamy effect,” and put on a record of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (presumably the Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban version, from the soundtrack of the 1949 hit movie “Neptune’s Daughter”). “The dancing intensified. . . . The hall swarmed with legs. . . . Arms circled arms, lips met lips, chests met chests, and the atmosphere was full of love.” We’re in the psychodrama of temptation here—the language tumescent with arousal, even as it affects a tone of detachment and disdain.
In his Koranic commentary, “In the Shade of the Qur’an,” Qutb suggested that the believer’s brief sojourn on earth should be spent “purifying the filthy marsh of this world.” Rich, sexy, Truman-era America gave him a taste of this world at its filthiest and marshiest. His American letters show him wading fastidiously, a lone pilgrim, through “the life of jahiliyyah, hollow and full of contradictions, defects and evils.”
(unquote)
Jonathan Raban became an anti nuclear activist and had rows with his father.
Remembering the rousing songs sung at CND marches, Raban recalls"
(quote)I can still feel the intense warming glow of unearned righteousness that accompanied the singing of these words. Midway between Bracknell and Windsor, standing shoulder to shoulder with the world’s oppressed, voicing our hatred of the belligerent power of the United States and its puppet nations in the NATO alliance, we were bathed in personal glory.
(unquote)
(Quote)Back at the vicarage, my father blew a gust of St. Bruno pipe smoke over the remains of breakfast, and said, “So you think Mr. Macmillan needs to take moral guidance from a bunch of spotty teen-agers, do you?”
Nothing like a traitor’s sneer to harden belief into the steel of true zealotry: I finished him off with a single round from my thought-murder gun.
Lately, I’ve been keeping that angry boy on hand, to read the literature of jihad on my behalf. As skeptical as I am, he nevertheless reports with a scowl that he can connect with it pretty well.
And, perhaps, he should. He was an unwitting participant in the fervor.
It was his father who was the less deceived. The Vicar of Pennington, later Rural Dean of Southampton, went to his grave a rationalist, a stoic, a rueful humanist in a world ablaze with passionate supernatural convictions.
(Unquote)
Reflections by Corboy
What is so difficult is that many frustrated people keep to themselves or to small coteries and refuse to communicate with a society that they consider not only to have thwarted them, but that is itself, satanic.
After the battle of Valmy, in which a monarchist army had been defeated by the French revolutionary army, Goethe reportedly said, "On this day and in this place begins a new age in the history of the world." The appearance and victory of an army of citizen soldiers, loyal neither to sovereign nor priest, but to a shared ideology of social change, of revolution.
But now we face a new kind of army, armies of one person, or just a handful, persons who benefit as resident aliens in citizen societies, or who are citizens.
Backed up by ideologies which forbid them to dialogue with us because we and our understanding of citizenship are considered to be unholy.
News from the Front Lines of Pan Uber Cultdom
Posted by:
Vera City
()
Date: January 08, 2014 04:21PM
News from the Front Lines of Pan Uber Cultdom
THE ISLAMIZATION OF FRANCE
THE ISLAMIZATION OF FRANCE
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"Who has the right to say that France in thirty or forty years will not be a Muslim country? Who has the right in this country to deprive us of it?" — Marwan Muhammed, spokesman, Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF), Paris...
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...Meanwhile, jihadists in France and elsewhere debated how to respond to a comic book biography of the Prophet Mohammed published on January 2 by the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo.
According to the inestimable Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which translated the Arabic twitter posts of several jihadists, the suggestions included: "killing France's ambassadors, just as the 'manly' Libyan fighters killed the U.S. ambassador in Benghazi; carrying out operations similar to 9/11, London's July 7, 2005 bombings, and Madrid's March 11, 2004 bombings, because only attacks of this kind would deter and defeat the 'crusaders'; carrying out assassinations; conducting suicide bombings outside the French Information Ministry building; and holding demonstrations outside French embassies, especially in Egypt, because it has [allegedly] been proven that the Egyptian public can sway the entire Arab public."
It was also suggested that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) kill the hostages it is holding, and that anyone who can kill a French national do so without hesitation.
The Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo were destroyed in an arson attack in November 2011 after the magazine featured a cartoon of Mohammed on its cover. The attack marked a serious escalation of a long-running Islamic war on free speech and expression in Europe...
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...Islamists held a demonstration outside the French Embassy in London to protest against the military campaign in Mali. In a video posted on YouTube on January 20, a British Islamist was filmed saying:
"Look to your own doorstep in France. Your own French women are abandoning their Christianity and donning the hijab and the burqa…Our eyes are on Paris…We will not stop, as Muslims, until the whole world is governed by Islam."
"So French government, let that be a warning, or a piece of advice, to you. Take it the way you want, because you will never stop the army of the Muslims. You will never stop Muslims, because this nation is far too large to be stopped. This [Muslim] nation is like a tidal wave. When it starts, it doesn't stop. It will conquer the east of the East and the west of the West, because that is the prophecy of our Prophet Mohammed."
"What we are saying to [French President] François Hollande is that the Muslims throughout the world will not rest until Islam dominates France, until Islam dominates the entire world. Islam will not dominate only Mali, Afghanistan, and Africa, but also France, Paris, and England. François Hollande, you must understand a few facts of life: You are a son of Pharaoh. The blood of Pharaoh courses through your veins."
"The Islamic movement will become a system of life under your nose. Your wife, French women, the people of France, will live under the Islamic movement, even if you don't like it. Most of the residents of Paris are Muslims. Allah willing, most of the French system will be according to Islamic Sharia law. Most of the residents of France will be Muslims, Allah willing."...
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...In May, police arrested Alexandre Dhaussy, a 22-year-old French convert to Islam, who allegedly stabbed French soldier Cédric Cordiez in the neck while he was on patrol at the La Défense transport hub in Paris on May 25. Cordiez survived the attack, which police say was inspired by the brutal killing of British soldier Lee Rigby in London on May 22.
Prosecutor François Molins said that Dhaussy—who was filmed praying just moments before the stabbing—"wanted to attack a representative of the state" and "acted in the name of his religious ideology." Since his detention, Dhaussy has repeatedly invoked the name of Allah...
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...During a political rally in the French city of Lyon in December 2010, Le Pen said: "For those who want to talk a lot about World War II, if it is about occupation, then we could also talk about it [Muslim prayers in the streets], because that is occupation of territory. It is an occupation of sections of the territory, of districts in which religious laws apply. It is an occupation. There are of course no tanks, there are no soldiers but it is nevertheless an occupation and it weighs heavily on local residents."
The French government banned street prayers in 2011 after thousands of Muslims from Paris to Marseille and elsewhere closed off streets and sidewalks (by doing so, they closed down local businesses and trapped non-Muslim residents in their homes and offices) to accommodate overflowing crowds for midday prayers...
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...According to the French philosopher and essayist Alain Finkielkraut, multiculturalism and runaway Muslim immigration are responsible for the destruction of French national identity.
In a politically incorrect interview with the Germany newsmagazine Der Spiegel on December 6 to discuss his latest book—"L'identite Malheureuse" [The Unhappy Identity]—Finkielkraut says European elites have consistently misrepresented multiculturalism as the model for the future. Instead, he says, "mistrust prevails, communitarianism is rampant—parallel societies are forming that continuously distance themselves from each other."
According to Finkielkraut:
"Immigration used to go hand-in-hand with integration into French culture. That was the rule of the game. Many of the new arrivals no longer want to play by that rule. If the immigrants are in the majority in their neighborhoods, how can we integrate them? … Many Muslims in Europe are re-Islamizing themselves. … The left does not want to accept that there is a clash of civilizations."
Finkielkraut sums it up this way: "I am of the opinion that our generation's task is not to recreate the world, but to prevent its decline. ... I become sad and feel a growing sense of anxiety. Optimism would seem a bit ridiculous these days. I wish the politicians were able to speak the truth and look reality in the face. Then, I believe, France would be capable of a true awakening—of contemplating a policy of civilization."
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