In the news - muslims......

[nChrist]

Al-Qaeda deputy calls for attacks

An audio message attributed to al-Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman Zawahiri, has called for attacks on American and Israeli interests.

The voice, not confirmed as Zawahiri's, urged retaliation for Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip.

The speaker said Muslims should support Palestinians by focusing on armed struggle, not just demonstrating.

The message was posted on an Islamist website and follows two audio speeches purportedly from Osama Bin Laden.

The graphic accompanying the audio carried the logo of al-Qaeda's media arm, al-Sahab.

"Strike the interests of the Jews, the Americans and all those who participated in the attack on Muslims," the message said.

"Monitor the targets, collect the money, prepare the equipment, plan accurately and then attack."

No specific targets are mentioned, but the voice accuses Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan for forming a "satanic alliance" with Israel and the US to blockade the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Israel has launched frequent raids on Gaza in an effort to stop frequent rocket attacks launched from the territory.

The messages attributed to Bin Laden last week urged Muslims to fight in Iraq and threatened European countries over the reprint of one of the Muhammad cartoons.

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[Shammu]

Lebanon boycotts Syria Arab summit
Wed, 26 Mar 2008 02:21:01

Lebanon has decided to boycott the upcoming Arab summit in Syria to protest a political deadlock that has left Beirut without a president.

"It is a regrettable precedent that was imposed on us ... for the first time in the history of Arab summits,'' said Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, reading from a Cabinet statement following a four-hour meeting of the group Tuesday.

Aridi said Lebanon viewed the boycott as necessary to protect Lebanon's sovereignty and fight against interference in its internal affairs.

There "will be no attendance at any level,'' said Lebanon's minister of telecommunications, Marwan Hamadeh.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt had reportedly considered boycotting the summit unless a new Lebanese president was elected by the time of the meeting.

However, Palestinian Minister of Information Riyadh al-Malki said on Monday that Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas would head the Palestinian delegation to the Summit.

Lebanon boycotts Syria Arab summit

[Shammu]

Saudis lead boycott of Syrian summit
Khaled Abu Toameh
THE JERUSALEM POST
Mar. 25, 2008

Syria's hopes of hosting an Arab summit in Damascus next week suffered a major setback Monday with Saudi Arabia's announcement that King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz would boycott the gathering.

Arab diplomats in Cairo and Amman said several Arab heads of state were expected to follow suit and stay away from the summit. "If the Saudi monarch isn't going, that means that many other leaders won't go," one diplomat told The Jerusalem Post.

Another diplomat said he would not be surprised if the Syrians decided in the last minute to call off the summit to avoid embarrassment.

Noting that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King Abdullah II and the leaders of the Gulf states were also considering boycotting, the diplomat said, "Syria is facing increased isolation in the Arab world because of its alliance with Iran and its meddling in Lebanon's internal affairs."

He added that Washington's allies in the Arab world were also worried by Syria's continued support for Hamas, Hizbullah and other radical groups in the Middle East.

"Together with his friends in Teheran, Bashar al-Assad is trying to become a major player in the region," he said. "They want to undermine Washington's allies not only in Lebanon, but also in the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf."

Many Arabs hold Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responsible for the ongoing deadlock surrounding the election of a new president in Lebanon. Lebanon has been without a president since November 24, 2007, when the term of President Emile Lahoud expired.

Under pressure and threats from Damascus, the Lebanese parliament has since been forced to delay the elections for a new president 16 times.

The Syrians are also accused of standing behind a string of assassinations targeting numerous anti-Syrian political figures in Lebanon, including former prime minister Rafik Hariri, over the past few years.

The Lebanese Prime Minister is also set to boycott the summit, according to reports in a number of Beirut-based newspapers.

The reports said that Prime Minister Fuad Signora, who is not on good terms with Syria, was offended by the manner in which the Syrians chose to invite him to the summit. The invitation was sent to Signora through his pro-Syrian Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh.

"This step shows that the Syrians don't have good intentions toward Lebanon," a senior government official in Beirut told the daily Al-Balad newspaper.

Another daily, An-Nahar, said that the "ambiguous invitation" will likely reinforce the Lebanese government's decision to boycott the summit.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit was quoted earlier this week as saying that if no Lebanese president is elected before the summit, as is likely, participation will be weak.

"I'm afraid that the Lebanese issue will reflect negatively on this summit," he said.

Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the Arab League said he will represent his country at the upcoming summit.

"I will represent King Abdullah, and Saudi Arabia will abide by decisions" taken at the summit, Ahmed Kattan told reporters in Damascus, where he is attending preparatory meetings for the March 29-30 summit.

"I hope that the strain between Damascus and Riyadh will end," he said. "We hope that the ice will melt between Syria and Saudi Arabia."

The majority of the Arab governments have decided against a complete boycott of the summit because they can't afford not to have some kind of presence at such an important gathering. "Their major concern is that a total boycott would only escalate the crisis [in Lebanon] and push Bashar al-Assad closer to Teheran," said a Cairo-based political analyst.

"In any case, Assad is about to suffer a blow to his standing because it appears that he will be sitting with low- level officials and not Arab monarchs and presidents."

Lebanese opposition parliamentarian Wael Faour called on the Arabs not to be lenient with Syria because of its negative role in Lebanon.

"If the Arabs overlook the Syrian regime's obstructionist policies in Lebanon, they will loose this country," he said. "We and the Syrian people are victims of the same regime. The day will come when the battle of the Lebanese and Syrian people will be united against this regime in Damascus."

Saudis lead boycott of Syrian summit

[Shammu]

Muslims 'to outnumber traditional churchgoers'
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:05am GMT 25/03/2008

The increasing influence of Islam on British culture is disclosed in research today that shows the number of Muslims worshipping at mosques in England and Wales will outstrip the numbers of Roman Catholics going to church in little more than a decade.

Projections to be published next month estimate that, if trends continue, the number of Catholic worshippers at Sunday Mass will fall to 679,000 by 2020.

By that time, statisticians predict, the number of Muslims praying in mosques on Fridays will have increased to 683,000.

The Christian Research figures also suggest that, over the same period, the number of Muslims at mosques will overtake Church of England members at Sunday services.

Church spokesmen point out, however, that a growing number of Anglicans worship at other times of the week.

The projections show that, if the Churches do not reverse their historical decline, there will be more active Muslims than Christians in Sunday services across Britain before the middle of the century.

The figures, based on Government and academic sources and the latest edition of Christian Research's Religious Trends, come amid growing tensions over the place of Muslims in British society.

They follow fierce rows over the extent to which Islamic law should be recognised and over claims that "no-go" areas for non-Muslims are emerging in parts of the country.

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, provoked criticism by saying the introduction of some aspects of sharia into British society was "unavoidable".

The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, faced death threats after writing in The Sunday Telegraph that Islamic extremism was turning some communities into "no-go" areas "where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of acceptability".

Peter Brierley, a former Government statistician who edited the latest Religious Trends, said that the continuing growth of the Muslim population since the 2001 census would have significant implications for society.

Muslims 'to outnumber traditional churchgoers'

[Shammu]

UK FURY OVER PLAN TO TEACH KORAN IN SCHOOLS
Tuesday March 25,2008
By Gabriel Milland Political Correspondent

STATE schools should be forced to open their doors to Islamic preachers teaching the Koran, the largest classroom union demanded yesterday.

The National Union of Teachers’ conference also said existing religious schools – almost all of them Christian – should have to admit pupils from other faiths.

The union’s general secretary Steve Sinnott said that allowing Muslim imams to preach in schools would be a way to reunite divided communities.

But the proposals prompted immediate outrage. Conservative Party backbencher Mark Pritchard said: “This is just further appeasement for Muslim militants.

“We should just follow the existing laws on religious education, which state that it should be of a predominantly Christian character. All this will do is further divide many communities that are already split on religious lines.”

Speaking as delegates met at the hard-Left-dominated union’s annual conference, Mr Sinnott admitted that his plan would amount to religious indoctrination inside taxpayer-backed schools rather than simple teaching of what different religions believe.

He said: “This is more than simple religious education, it’s religious instruction.”

The proposals include providing private Muslim prayer facilities in schools. But Mr Sinnott stressed that no pupils would be forced to have any religious instruction.

The union, however, also called for all daily religious assemblies, which by law are supposed to have a Christian character, to be abandoned.

It also said local authorities should take control of all state school admissions, removing the right of faith schools to choose which pupils they take.

Shadow Childrens’ Secretary Michael Gove condemned the call. He said: “Faith schools provide children with an excellent education because their distinctive ethos helps to instil good values and respect for
others.”

John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, warned that extremists could seize control of schools, using religion to mask their real agenda. He asked: “How would you have any control over what was being taught in your school?”

The Church of England also denounced the proposals. A spokesman said: “It is for religions to teach their faith to people, it is for schools to teach about religion.”

The Church was even joined by its long-time foe, the National Secular Society. A spokesman said: “If it is allowed, it will be the zealots imposing their will on everyone else.”

About 7,000 state schools in England are faith schools – roughly one in three of the total – educating 1.7million pupils. Most are either Church of England or Roman Catholic.

FURY OVER PLAN TO TEACH KORAN IN SCHOOLS

[nChrist]

UK FURY OVER PLAN TO TEACH KORAN IN SCHOOLS
Tuesday March 25,2008
By Gabriel Milland Political Correspondent

STATE schools should be forced to open their doors to Islamic preachers teaching the Koran, the largest classroom union demanded yesterday.

To be fair, I think those wanting this should be allowed to leave immediately to the Muslim country of their choice and not return. They should even be given assistance in their departure to avoid delays. In fact, it wouldn't even be right to allow continued immigration.

[Soldier4Christ]

Islamic call to prayer played from clock tower

Muslims students at the University of Miami have organized for the Islamic call to prayer, broadcasted each Friday afternoon this month from Richter Library's clock tower in commemoration of Islamic Awareness Month.

The call to prayer, or Adhan, is spoken in Arabic and is meant to resonate throughout the area.

"It serves as constant reminder of when we have to pray, because prayer itself is a reminder of our religion and how we practice it," said Selima Jumarali, the vice president of the organization.

According to the teachings of Islam, Muslims are to pray five times a day. In Muslim-majority countries, the call is usually performed live by an individual and is heard before every prayer.

Friday afternoon was chosen as the time to play the call because "it revolves around the day of congregational prayer," Jumarali said. Like Saturday for Jews or Sunday for Christians, Friday "holds strong significance for Muslims," she said.

Outside the library last Friday, students listened during the three-minute recording.

Kaleena Salgueiro said that although she could not understand the words in Arabic, the call was "pretty" and "very melodic." She said it reminded her of chanting in a monastery.

Razan Alif, who is Muslim, was also sitting outside and heard the prayer call.

"You always hear church bells ringing, but you never feel the existence of the Muslim community on campus," she said.

When asked whether they thought the Friday prayer call should be continued even after the month, many replied "why not?"

Regardless, Jumarali expressed her gratitude toward the administrators for allowing this expression to be displayed.

"It brings true variety to the university and open appreciation to diversity, especially in these times when people have misunderstandings of Muslims and who we are," she said.

[Soldier4Christ]

I don't need an Awareness Month to tell me that islam is well on their way to implement their ideologies on the U.S. Yes, there are indeed here and they will not stop at just peaceful means to get their way.

[nChrist]

UM? - This is a tax subsidized university, so WHERE IS THE ACLU TO STOP THIS? What would they do if this was a Christian Prayer, AND HOW ABOUT CHRISTIANS AT LEAST GETTING EQUAL TIME ON THOSE LOUD SPEAKERS?

Should we hold our breath in waiting for any sign of FAIRNESS in this situation?

[Soldier4Christ]

Should we hold our breath in waiting for any sign of FAIRNESS in this situation?[/b]

Blue is just a small example of what would happen.

[nChrist]

Hello Pastor Roger,

Brother, I have to bite my tongue on things like this. It really bothers me to watch the devil steam-rolling parts of the country, seemingly unopposed. Where are the Christians and what are they doing? Are they at least objecting? This is a Christian Nation, and our rights have been removed and are being given to Islam. What's wrong with this picture? YET, the people have not legally changed the Constitution, and our RIGHTS can't be taken away without a LEGAL CHANGE of the Constitution. THIS IS MUCH LIKE US BEING IMPRISONED WITHOUT DUE PROCESS OF LAW!

[Soldier4Christ]

There are a number of reasons but the biggest one that comprises the most is that people just don't want to be bothered enough to do something for God or other people.

[nChrist]

On the opposite side of the coin, here's a bit of news:

Dutch MP posts Islam film on web

Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders has posted a controversial film critical of Islam's holy book, the Koran, on the internet.

The opening scenes show a copy of the Koran, followed by footage of the attacks on the US on 11 September 2001.

The 17-minute film was posted on video-sharing website LiveLeak.

Its planned release had sparked angry protests in Muslim countries. Dutch PM Jan Peter Balkenende said the film wrongly equated Islam with violence.

"We believe it serves no purpose other than to offend," he said in a statement.

"But feeling offended must never be used as an excuse for aggression and threats."

The film is called "Fitna", a Koranic term sometimes translated as "strife".

Dutch broadcasters have declined to show the production by 44-year-old Freedom Party (PVV) leader Mr Wilders, who lives under police protection because of earlier death threats.

'Spiteful'

Graphic images from the bomb attacks on London in July 2005 and Madrid in March 2004 are shown.

Pictures of a woman being stoned, scenes from a beheading and images of the Dutch director Theo van Gogh, who was murdered by a radical Islamist in 2004, are also included.

And pictures appearing to show Muslim demonstrators holding up placards saying "God bless Hitler" and "Freedom go to hell" also feature.

The film shows a young girl in a headscarf making derogatory comments about Jewish people.

It also displays a graph showing how the number of Muslims in the Netherlands and Europe has grown.

The film ends with someone turning pages of a Koran, followed by a tearing sound.

A text that appears on the screen says: "The sound you heard was from a page (being torn from a) phone book.

"It is not up to me, but up to the Muslims themselves to tear the spiteful verses from the Koran."

The film concludes: "Stop Islamisation. Defend our freedom."

Two years ago the publication in Denmark of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad sparked protests across the Muslim world.

But Brahim Bourzik, a spokesman for a Dutch Moroccan group, told Reuters news agency he did not believe Mr Wilders' film would spark fury from Muslims in Holland.

"It is not a film, it is propaganda," he said. "All the elements have been seen before, there is nothing new in it."

The UK-based website which allowed the film to be posted online defended its decision on Thursday.

"LiveLeak.com has a strict stance on remaining unbiased and allowing freedom of speech so far as the law and our rules allow," it said in a statement posted online.

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[nChrist]

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Study Indicates that Britain’s Muslims Will Outnumber Roman Catholics in Just Over a Decade

By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

LONDON (ANS) -- The increasing influence of Islam on British culture is disclosed in upcoming research.

Jonathan Petre in a story published in Britain's Telegraph newspaper reported that the study shows the number of Muslims worshiping at mosques in England and Wales will overtake the numbers of Roman Catholics going to church in just over a decade.

The Telegraph reported that the projections, to be published next month, estimate that if those trends continue, the number of Catholics attending Sunday Mass will fall to 679,000 by 2020.

By that time, statisticians predict, the number of Muslims praying in mosques on Fridays will have increased to 683,000.

Church spokesmen noted, the Telegraph reported, that an increasing number of Anglicans worship at other times of the week.

The Telegraph said that the figures, based on British government and academic sources and the latest edition of Christian Research's Religious Trends, come amid growing tensions over the place of Muslims in British society.

They follow heated debate over the extent to which Islamic law should be recognized, and claims that “no-go” areas for non-Muslims are emerging in parts of the country.

The Telegraph reported that Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, provoked criticism by saying the introduction of some aspects of sharia (Islamic law) into British society was “unavoidable.”

The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, faced death threats after writing in The Sunday Telegraph that Islamic extremism was turning some communities into “no-go” areas, “where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of acceptability.”

Peter Brierley, a former Government statistician who edited the latest Religious Trends, said that the continuing growth of the Muslim population since the 2001 census would have significant implications for society.

A story by Cyril Dixon in Britain’s Daily Express newspaper said that the report’s findings are bound to cause additional concerns about the spread of Islam.

The Daily Express recently revealed controversial plans to let Islamic imams (ministers) teach the Koran nationwide in state schools across Britain.

The Express reported that the man who compiled the latest figures, Peter Brierley, a former government statistician, said the trends were bound to have “massive implications” for society.

Nicola Bourque, professor of religious studies at Glasgow University, told the Express, “Attendance at Catholic churches is declining. Many people are Catholic but don’t go to church.

These days, mosques act as a community center in a way that churches don’t.”

The National Union of Teachers – Britain’s biggest teaching union – is behind calls to teach the Koran.

The Express reported that Steve Sinnott, the general secretary, said it would “reunite” divided communities, and also demanded that Christian schools admit pupils from other faiths.

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[Shammu]

Tibetan Protesters Scale Walls of U.N. Compound in Nepal, Muslim Quarter Closed in Lhasa

Friday , March 28, 2008

AP
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KATMANDU, Nepal —
A group of about 20 protesting Tibetan exiles scaled the walls of the United Nations compound in Katmandu on Friday, while about 100 others protested outside.

Police arrested 60 of the protesters outside the compound, dragging them away to waiting vehicles. The others dispersed.

Nepal has been under criticism for not allowing the Tibetans to peacefully protest a crackdown on Tibetans in neighboring China. Nepal's border with China in the Himalayas is a key route for Tibetans fleeing Chinese rule in the region.

The protesters who made it inside the U.N. compound were not immediately detained. They were waiting in a conference room inside the building, said a U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to reporters.

Police at the scene also refused to comment.

Reporters and photographers were not allowed inside the compound, but saw the protesters waving flags and banners while being taken to the conference room by U.N. officials.

Nepalese police surrounded the compound. One police official went inside and asked for the protesters to be handed over, but U.N. officials refused.

Thousands of Tibetan refugees live with relatives in Nepal or in camps funded by aid groups. Most of the refugees eventually move to India, where Tibet's government-in-exile and its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, are based.

Meanwhile in China's Tibetan capital of Lhasa police closed off the Muslim quarter on Friday, two weeks after Tibetan rioters burned down the city's mosque amid the largest anti-Chinese protests in nearly two decades.

Officers blockaded streets into the area, allowing in only residents and worshippers observing the Muslim day of prayer. A heavy security presence lingered in other parts of Lhasa's old city as cleanup crews waded through the destruction inflicted when days of initially peaceful protests turned deadly on March 14.

Tibetans torched hundreds of buildings and attacked members of China's dominant Han ethnic group and Chinese Muslims known as Hui, who have dominated commerce in the city.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, raised concerns Friday that China's portrayal of the protests in Lhasa was fanning the flames of ethnic conflict.

"The state media's portrayal of the recent events in Tibet, using deceit and distorted images, could sow the seeds of racial tension with unpredictable long-term consequences. This is of grave concern to me," he said in a statement from his headquarters in northern India.

The protests were the longest and most-sustained challenge to China's rule in the Himalayan region since 1989. The ensuing crackdown by Chinese authorities has focused international attention on China's human rights record in the run-up to the Olympic Games.

President Bush and Australia's new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, urged China's leaders to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

"It is absolutely clear that there are human rights abuses in Tibet. It's clear-cut; we need to be upfront and absolutely straight about what's going on," Rudd told reporters after he met with Bush at the White House.

Urging restraint, Bush said he told Chinese President Hu Jintao this week that "it's in his country's interest" that top Chinese leaders meet with representatives of the Dalai Lama.

Foreign ministers from the European Union's 27 countries met in Slovenia to debate an EU response amid suggestions they consider boycotting the Olympics' opening ceremony to protest Beijing's crackdown in Tibet.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who drew China's ire for her recent visit with the Dalai Lama, said Friday it would be wrong to boycott the Beijing Olympics.

While the Chinese government has failed to live up to its commitment to improve human rights conditions in China and Tibet, "I believe a boycott of the Beijing Olympics would unfairly harm our athletes who have worked so hard to prepare for the competition," she said in a statement.

Apparently in response to the international pressure, China is allowing a group of foreign diplomats to visit Lhasa on Friday and Saturday. A U.S. diplomat will be on that trip, said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson. She had no other details.

A small group of foreign journalists, including an Associated Press reporter, was taken to Lhasa on a three-day government-organized trip that ends Friday.

The otherwise tightly scripted visit was disrupted when 30 red-robed monks pushed into a government briefing at the Jokhang Temple Thursday, complaining of a lack of religious freedom and denouncing official claims the Dalai Lama orchestrated the March 14 violence.

"What the government is saying is not true," one monk shouted.

"They killed many people. They killed many people," another monk said, referring to Chinese security forces.

The outburst by the monks lasted for about 15 minutes before government officials ended it and told the journalists it was "time to go."

China has strenuously argued that the widespread arson and looting were criminal acts orchestrated by separatists, while refusing to discuss the root causes of the anger and alienation blamed for sparking the violence.

A vice governor of Tibet, Baima Chilin, later told reporters the monks would not be punished.

However, Tibet activists on Friday voiced concern over possible Chinese government retaliation against the monks.

"There are serious fears for the welfare and whereabouts" of the monks, the International Campaign for Tibet said in a statement.

"The monks' peaceful protest shattered the authorities' plans to convey an image that the situation in Lhasa was under control after recent demonstrations and rioting," it said.

Other than the incident at the Jokhang, one of Tibetan Buddhism's holiest shrines, most of the second day of the tour went according to plan, with officials sticking to the government line that the most violent anti-Chinese protests in nearly two decades were plotted by supporters of the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama has denied the accusations and threatened to resign as head of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile if the violence continued.

The government says at least 22 people have died in Lhasa; Tibetan rights groups say nearly 140 Tibetans were killed, including 19 in Gansu province.

Tibetan Protesters Scale Walls of U.N. Compound in Nepal, Muslim Quarter Closed in Lhasa