Denis MacShane is Labour MP for Rotherham and worked at the Foreign Office as PPS and minister, 1997-2005
At long last, the debate on Islamism as politics, not Islam as religion, is out in the open. Two weeks ago, Jack Straw might have felt he was taking a risk when publishing his now notorious article on the Muslim veil.
Silence has been the notable response from the bishops of the Church of England to the decision by British Airways to forbid employees from visibly wearing even a tiny cross on a necklace.
Suddenly, Britain seems to be developing into a cultural and religious battleground.
Hard on the heels of Jack Straw's criticism of the Muslim full-face veil, local government minister Phil Woolas has said that Aishah Azmi, the Dewsbury teaching assistant who insists on wearing such a veil in her primary school classroom, should be sacked.
Five Years Later: The Terrorists' 2001 Victory Over "Infidels." By Sally Bishai (09/11/2006)
Most people past the age of 13 can probably remember where they were and what they were doing on September 11th, 2001. And if people remember the tragedies as they occurred (as well as their own reactions), they might also remember the inconveniences that began soon after the acts of Twin Terror:
June 19th marked the first day of the Fourth International Coptic Conference. The event was attended by many great thinkers and writers, both "Middle Eastern" and American, both "Coptic" and not.
In fact, one of the discussions swirling about during the coffee breaks was “What is a Copt, anyway?”
The decision by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s government to try two senior judges for blowing the whistle on vote rigging in last autumn’s parliamentary elections has rocked the country. Massive crowds have gathered to support the judges – and have caught Mubarak’s regime completely unaware.
Complacency is a CRIME By Sally Bishai (06/12/2006)
Having grown up in the States, I have more than a passing familiarity with the Law and Order-brand legal jargon that has broken and entered into American pop culture and committed assault and battery on the English language. I could probably arrest, book, and try a murder suspect (as well as prove—beyond a shadow of a doubt—guilt, via forensic something-or-other), despite the fact that I’ve never actually had even three seconds of real-life criminology training (or been arrested). But today’s lesson is nothing to do with The Practice or Jerry Orbach.
The Conservatives today accuse Muslim leaders of encouraging "voluntary apartheid" in Britain by shutting themselves away in closed societies and demanding protection from criticism.
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, says that Britain risks social and religious
In a July 9, 2006 article on the liberal website Elaph.com, Egyptian Coptic intellectual Magdi Khalil discusses the attitude of Dr. Muhammad Salim Al-'Awa, a prominent figure in political Islam in the Arab world, towards Egypt's Copts. In his article, Khalil refers to Al-'Awa's recent book, Religion and Homeland - Chapters in Muslim Attitudes Towards Non-Muslims, that was published in March 2006. [1]
by Saad Eddin Ibrahim The Daily Star, LebanonDecember 21, 2004
Ten years ago the Cairo-based Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies (ICDS) organized a conference on "Minorities in the Arab World." As soon as invitations to the conference were issued, a storm of objections broke out.
In an article titled "Al Qaeda finds new partner: Salafist group finds limited success in native Algeria" (The Washington Post, October 5, 2006) by Craig Whitlock, Western sources, including French and American, assert that the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (originally a local Algerian group) has become global by joining with al Qaeda.
It was a simple but telling story from "multicultural" Britain. A Muslim minicab driver refused to carry a blind passenger in London because her guide dog was "unclean" according to his religious beliefs.
The driver, Abdul Rashhed Majekodumni, ended up in court on Friday and was fined £1,400 because UK law requires all licensed cab drivers to carry guide dogs. The cabbie, however, remains unrepentant, and says he will continue to refuse to carry guide dogs.
Islamic Fascism 101 On all they’ve done to earn the name. by Victor Davis Hanson
Make no apologies for the use of “Islamic fascism.” It is the perfect nomenclature for the agenda of radical Islam, for a variety of historical and scholarly reasons. That such usage also causes extreme embarrassment to both the Islamists themselves and their leftist “anti-fascist” appeasers in the West is just too bad.
The first Western Enlightenment of the Greek fifth-century B.C. sought to explain natural phenomena through reason rather than superstition alone. Ethics were to be discussed in the realm of logic as well as religion. Much of what Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and the Sophists thought may today seem self-evident, if not at times nonsensical. But that century was the beginning of the uniquely Western attempt to bring to the human experience empiricism, self-criticism, irony, and tolerance in thinking.
In a critique of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, reformist Egyptian intellectual Dr. Sayyed Al-Qimni explained why he does not believe that the movement has changed its ways and has decided to integrate into civil society. He argued that the movement assumes many guises and forms many conflicting alliances in order to further its own interests. Al-Qimni further claimed that its aim is not to serve Islam but to come to power. [1]
By, Dr. Abdulkhaliq Hussein,FRCS; a Muslim Iraqi writer
Translation from Arabic by Abdullah Al Araby
Yes, it is not my purpose here to defend Pope Benedict XVI, as he certainly does not need my defense.He has over one billion Catholic followers who revere him and many non-Catholics who have rallied to defend him.
The head of the U.S. National Council of Churches (NCC) has a burden on his heart for prison inmates...if they are former al-Qaeda or Taliban operatives at GuantanamoBay.
AUSTRALIA has come well through the week that followed Pope Benedict's passing reference to Mohammed in his university address on the role of reason in religion.I never expected violence in Australia, and fully expected Moslem leaders and commentators to have their say. This is their right.
The Term ''''Islamic Fascist'''' Is Accurate, Even If Not Popular Steve Huntley
The new president of the Islamic Society of North America admonishes President Bush and the rest of us not to use terms such as Islamic fascists in describing terrorists responsible for killing Americans and plots to do so.
Source Daily Mail
Most people past the age of 13 can probably remember where they were and what they were doing on September 11th, 2001. And if people remember the tragedies as they occurred (as well as their own reactions), they might also remember the inconveniences that began soon after the acts of Twin Terror:
T
by Walid Phares, Ph.D.
