News & Events 2008 — Muhammadanism.org

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March

03-31-2008 W.PALM BEACH, FL (News Max) Jihad Against West Well-Entrenched, Author Says. Radical Muslims engaged in holy war -- jihadis -- are waging a worldwide campaign to advance their goals, particularly in moderate Arab states, in Russia, and in the liberal democracies of the West, according to Walid Phares, author of "The Confrontation: Winning the War Against Future Jihad."

03-31-2008 NEW YORK, NY (GP) Leftist-Atheist-Islamist alliance. Globally in recent years, Communists (leftists), atheists and Islamists are getting close and closer in forming anti West and anti American platform, which is gradually becoming a potential threat to international peace and stability.

03-31-2008 ANKARA, Turkey (BBC) Turkish leaders face court case. Turkey's constitutional court has decided unanimously that it can hear a case aimed at closing down the country's governing AK Party.

03-28-2008 THE HAGUE, Holland (CNN) Film critical of Islam dropped from Web site. A London-based Web site has dropped a Dutch lawmaker's film that features disturbing images of terrorist acts juxtaposed with verses from the Quran to paint Islam as a threat to Western society, citing threats to its staff.

03-27-2008 GENEVA, Switzerland (IHT) UN rights council passes Islamic resolution on religious defamation. The top U.N. rights body on Thursday passed a resolution proposed by Islamic countries saying it is deeply concerned about the defamation of religions and urging governments to prohibit it.

03-26-2008 LODI, CA (Gadsden Times) Many Muslims Turn to Home Schooling. Like dozens of other Pakistani-American girls here, Hajra Bibi stopped attending the local public school when she reached puberty, and began studying at home.

03-26-2008 WASHINGTON, DC (WT) Appeasing the Islamists. The Nazis bullied the democratically elected governments in these countries to censor everything that resembled what today might be called "Naziphobia" — criticism of Nazism.

03-25-2008 THE VATICAN (IHT) Muslim involved in Vatican talks slams pope's baptism of convert from Islam. A Muslim scholar who participated in recent Vatican talks to improve Catholic-Muslim relations on Tuesday slammed Pope Benedict XVI's baptism of a prominent convert from Islam as a "provocative" act.

03-25-2008 LONDON, England (Guardian, UK) Union calls for end to single-faith schools. Headteachers would bring in imams, rabbis and priests to instruct religious pupils as part of the curriculum in an attempt to satisfy parental demand for religion in schools and prevent the establishment of more single-faith schools.

03-21-2008 Saudi Arabia (CNSNews) Saudi Politicians Refuse to Act Against Defamation of Religions. An Islamic initiative to establish an international convention against the "defamation" of religions ran into an unexpected hurdle this week in Saudi Arabia, where members of a government advisory body argued that the move could force Muslims to recognize pagan beliefs.

03-21-2008 CAMBRIDGE, MA (IHT) Muslim traditions stir debate at Harvard University. A small controversy over how Harvard practices tolerance has been sparked by two issues relating to Muslim belief - whether the call to prayer should ring out across Harvard Yard and whether women should be granted separate gym hours.

03-20-2008 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (ADN Kronos) Saudi Arabia: No churches unless prophet Mohammed recognised, says expert. No churches should be permitted in Saudi Arabia, unless Pope Benedict XVI recognised the prophet Mohammed, according to a Middle East expert.

03-20-2008 KAMPALA, Uganda (CRI) Libyan Leader Opens Uganda's Largest Mosque. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi opened Uganda's largest mosque on Wednesday at a colorful ceremony witnessed by six visiting African presidents and over 3, 500 foreign delegates.

03-20-2008 KAMPALA, Uganda (All Africa) Libya: Bible a Forgery, Says Col. Gadaffi. COLONEL Muammar Gadaffi yesterday celebrated the anniversary of the birth of Prophet Muhammad with a two-hour speech in which he attacked the Scandinavian countries for besmirching the Prophet, the Arabs for monopolising the Kaaba and signed off by describing the Bible as a forgery.

03-19-2008 CAIRO, Egypt (AP) Bin Laden criticizes Europe for publication of prophet drawings, vows strong reaction. Osama bin Laden criticized the publication of drawings insulting to the Prophet Muhammad in a new audio message posted late Wednesday and warned Europeans of a strong reaction to come.

03-14-2008 BONN, Germany (Spiegel) German Schools Introduce Muslim Classes. German-language Islam instruction for Muslim schoolchildren helps with integration and the development of language skills.

03-14-2008 BAGHDAD, Iraq (WP) Kidnapped Archbishop Found Dead in Iraq. The body of a senior Christian cleric was found Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, two weeks after gunmen abducted him there and killed three of his associates.

03-14-2008 BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) 'Signs of torture' you can't imagine. "They took my husband away in front of me. I found his body in the morgue a few days later. He had multiple bullet wounds and his eyes had been gouged out," one woman tells me, forcefully twisting a tissue in her hands as if it somehow could ease her agony and erase the chilling memory.

03-14-2008 TEHRAN, Iran (CBS) Iranians Vote In Elections; Many Reformers Barred. Iran's reformist movement, which seeks democratic changes at home and better ties with the West, has largely been sidelined in the race after most of its candidates were barred from running by Iran's clerical leadership.

03-13-2008 BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) U.S. is sent severed fingers of Iraq kidnap victims. The U.S. military in Iraq recently received the severed fingers of five men kidnapped in Iraq more than a year ago, a law enforcement source told CNN.

03-13-2008 KREMLIS, Iraq (AFP) Weeping Christians bury Iraqi archbishop. The patriarch of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic church, Emmanuel III Delly, tearfully urged Christians on Friday not to seek revenge for the death of the archbishop of Mosul, whose body was found in a shallow grave two weeks after being kidnapped.

03-10-2008 DALLAS, TX (CC) Jihad Comes to Dallas. The Female Relatives of the Honor Murderered Teenagers Speak Out. “I have been warned to shut up. But when Yasser Abdul Said killed those girls he did not just spill Muslim blood on American soil. He shed my blood.

03-10-2008 NEW YORK, NY (CSM) Iraq War Cost Estimates Run Into The Trillions. In a book published last month, she and Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist from Columbia University, New York, estimated the total long-run cost at $3 trillion in 2007 valued dollars.

03-06-2008 BARTELLA, Iraq (CSM) Iraqi Christians Cling To Last, Waning Refuges. Christian churches in Baghdad, Kirkuk, and Mosul have been bombed throughout the war. Now, priests and others in Nineveh Plain say they pay large sums of money to Al Qaeda-linked militants in Mosul, the provincial capital, in exchange for protection for themselves and their churches.

03-06-2008 AMSTERDAM, Holland (ABC) Dutch up threat level as brace for Koran film: ANP. The Netherlands is to raise its national risk level of a terrorist attack to "substantial," partly due to a new film made by a politician that is expected to be critical of the Koran, media reported on Thursday.

03-05-2008 DARFUR, Sudan (BBC) Slave rescue bid resumes in Sudan. At least seven South Sudanese have been freed from their Arab abductors after the resumption of an operation to rescue them, the BBC has learnt.

03-04-2008 BAGHDAD, Iraq (NYT) Violence Leaves Young Iraqis Doubting Clerics. After almost five years of war, many young people in Iraq, exhausted by constant firsthand exposure to the violence of religious extremism, say they have grown disillusioned with religious leaders and skeptical of the faith that they preach.

03-03-2008 WASHINGTON, DC (DP) Media to blame for Islamic misconceptions. The managing editor of one of the country’s biggest newspapers thinks news organizations ought to hire more Muslim reporters.

03-03-2008 AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) Dutch cabinet may seek ban for Koran film: paper. Government lawyers are looking into whether there are legal grounds to ban the film by anti-immigration lawmaker Geert Wilders, who has likened the Koran to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, the Telegraaf reported, citing sources close to the cabinet.

03-02-2008 SULEIA, Sudan (IHT) Arab militias, backed by the government, return in Darfur. The janjaweed are back.

03-02-2008 DHAKA, Bangladesh (IHT) Surviving torture in Bangladesh. I was threatened at gun-point while my wife, holding my six-month-old son, watched. I was pushed into a car, blindfolded and handcuffed.

03-02-2008 CAIRO, Egypt (Fox News) Al Qaeda Deputy Leader Al Zawahiri Pens Book Condemning Militants Who Rejected Violence. Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader wrote a book published Sunday on militant Islamic Web sites in which he slams radical militants who have disavowed armed struggle and turned their backs on violence.

February

02-29-2008 MOSUL, Iraq (BBC) Iraqi Chaldean archbishop seized. Gunmen have kidnapped the archbishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and killed three of his aides, his church says.

02-29-2008 BERLIN, Germany (NineMSN) Danish art show shut after Muslim threat. Authorities in Berlin have closed down an exhibition of works by the Danish art group Surrend after protests by Muslims, organisers said.

02-28-2008 TEHRAN, Iran (Spiegel) Iran to Punish Apostasy with Death. Apostasy — or the formal renunciation of religion — is already punishable in Iran with death. But now, Iran wants to make the death penalty for apostasy part of the penal code. The European Union is concerned and has asked Iran to reconsider.

02-28-2008 FALLS CHURCH, VA (Spiegel) Imam From Va. Mosque Now Thought to Have Aided Al-Qaeda Even before the 2001 terrorist attacks, American-born imam Anwar al-Aulaqi drew the attention of federal authorities because of his possible connections to al-Qaeda.

02-28-2008 MECCA, Saudi Arabia (Times, UK) Saudi professor faces lashes for having coffee with female 'student'. A university professor allegedly caught in a Saudi-style honey trap has been sentenced to 180 lashes and eight months in jail — for having coffee with a girl.

02-27-2008 LIVERPOOL, England (Daily Mail) Muslim medics refuse to roll up their sleeves in hygiene crackdown - because it's against their religion. Women medical students at Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool objected to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands and removing arm coverings in theatre, claiming it is regarded as immodest.

02-27-2008 LAHORE, Pakistan (Hindu News) Top militant linked to assassination of Benazir Bhutto arrested. Pakistani authorities have arrested a top militant leader blamed by slain former premier Benazir Bhutto for plotting a suicide attack on her in the port city of Karachi in October last year.

02-26-2008 ANKARA, Turkey (BBC) Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts. The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.

02-20-2008 BAGHDAD, Iraq (IHT) 2 women bombers in Iraq had severe mental problems, U.S. says. Psychiatric case files of two female suicide bombers who killed nearly 100 people in Baghdad this month indicate that they suffered from depression and schizophrenia but do not contain information suggesting they had Down Syndrome, U.S. officials said.

02-15-2008 GAZA (WND) Muslims destroy YMCA, Christian books: 'We don't need any of these missionary institutions'. In the latest attack on Christians in Gaza, 16 Palestinians forced their way into the YMCA library, stole everything but Christian books and then burned down the building.

02-13-2008 BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) U.S. probes hospital link to bombings. Gen. Abboud Qanbar, the head of the Baghdad security plan, said the women most likely had Down's syndrome.

02-12-2008 COPENHAGEN, Denmark (Daily Mail, UK) Islamic terror suspects seized over plot to murder 'Mohammad' cartoonist. One of the three was a Dane of Moroccan descent, and two were Tunisian.

02-12-2008 LONDON, England (Spiegel) A Bishop Pleads for Islamic Law. With his plea for recognition of the Muslim legal system in Britain, the archbishop of Canterbury has outraged his people.

02-12-2008 PARIS, France (FT) Call for EU fund to protect victims of extremism. The French government will press the European Union to create a fund to protect individuals such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the controversial Dutch former MP, who are threatened by extremists.

02-12-2008 PARIS, France (AN) Former Dutch MP seeks French refuge. Former Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the target of death threats over criticism of radical Islam, said yesterday she had asked France to grant her citizenship because she could not be assured of protection at home.

02-12-2008 COPENHAGEN, Denmark (Jyllands-Posten) Murder plot against Danish cartoonist. Early Tuesday morning, Danish police arrested three men with a Muslim background suspected of conspiring to kill Kurt Westergaard, a Danish cartoonist with Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten.

02-12-2008 BANGKOK, Thailand (CA) New Thai govt to consider self-rule for Muslim south. Thailand's new government will consider granting some degree of self-rule to Muslim-majority provinces hit by bloody separatist unrest, Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung said on Tuesday.

02-12-2008 COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CNN) 'Terror plot' to kill Mohammed cartoonist. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service said police arrested a 40-year-old Dane of Moroccan origin and two Tunisians.

02-12-2008 WASHINGTON,DC (Catholic) Archbishop of Canterbury Recommending Islamic Law? This time he allegedly affirmed the adoption of certain aspects of Islamic Law, or Sharia, for Britain, saying adoption was “unavoidable.”

02-11-2008 OXFORD, England (Reuters) Will Muslim call to prayer ring out over Oxford? A battle of faiths is being waged in the ancient English city of Oxford, where some people are bitterly opposed to Muslim plans to broadcast the call to prayer over the fabled dreaming spires.

02-11-2008 LONDON, England (Belfast Telegraph) Rowan Williams has shown us one thing – why multiculturalism must be abandoned. For five days now, the Archbishop of Canterbury has been chorusing: how do you solve a problem like Sharia? Ever since he suggested it is " unavoidable" – and desirable – for Britain to have Islamic courts ruling on Muslim family affairs, bashing the bishop has become a national sport.

02-10-2008 LONDON, England (Times, UK) Minister warns of ‘inbred’ Muslims. Medical research suggests that while British Pakistanis are responsible for 3% of all births, they account for one in three British children born with genetic illnesses.

02-10-2008 ANKARA, Turkey (GDN) Turkey lifts ban. Turkey's parliament yesterday lifted a ban on female students wearing headscarves at university, a landmark decision that some Turks fear will undermine the foundations of their secular state.

02-10-2008 LONDON, England (Telegraph, UK) Sharia law may result in 'legal apartheid'. Senior religious leaders attack multiculturalism and sharia law today, warning that they are "disastrous", socially divisive and are destroying Britain's culture and values.

02-09-2008 WASHINGTON,DC (Globalist) European Islam and Tariq Ramadan. Some in the West have voiced high hopes for the emergence of a European Islam, a version of the religion that would take into account European traditions and values.

02-08-2008 LONDON, England (Times, UK) Archbishop of Canterbury argues for Islamic law in Britain. The Archbishop of Canterbury came under fierce attack last night from the Government, his own Church and other religions after he advocated the adoption of parts of Sharia, or Islamic law, in Britain.

02-08-2008 TEHRAN, Iran (RI) Iran introduces law that imposes death penalty on converts. LEGISLATION has been brought by the government of President Mahmoud Amadinejad before the Iranian Majlis that would mandate the death penalty for apostates from Islam.

02-08-2008 COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (MMDN) Muslim Student Threatens Former Terrorist's Life at Air Force Academy. During the event a Jordanian college student, identified as Omar Khalifa of Metro International, approached Kamal Saleem and spoke to him in Arabic, "you are an enemy of Islam and you must die." The incident was reported to Military Police, who investigated Khalifa's threat.

02-08-2008 COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (Military) Muslims Protest Air Force Academy Guests. Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani are scheduled to speak Wednesday at the 50th Annual Academy Assembly in Colorado Springs, where the topic of the four-day event is "Dismantling Terrorism."

02-07-2008 RIYADH, SA (Times, UK) Religious police in Saudi Arabia arrest mother for sitting with a man. Yara, who does not want her last name published for fear of retribution, was bruised and crying when she was freed from a day in prison after she was strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the Kingdom's “Mutaween” police.

02-05-2008 MANCHESTER, England (Express, UK) Worker Sacked For Stopping Muslim ‘Insult’ To The Cross. A HOSPITAL porter was “devastated” last night after he was sacked following a row with a Muslim doctor over a crucifix.

02-04-2008 OTTAWA, Canada (Star) MPs denounce death sentence for Afghan journalist. The House of Commons has unanimously condemned a death sentence handed to an Afghan journalist and appealed for a halt to all legal proceedings against him.

January

01-30-2008 KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) Afghan lawmakers back reporter's death sentence. The journalist, 23-year-old Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, was sentenced to death last week by a three-judge panel in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif for distributing a report he printed off the Internet to journalism students at Balkh University.

01-30-2008 BIRMINGHAM, England (Daily Mail, UK) Islamic extremist gang 'plotted to kidnap British Muslim soldier and behead him like a pig'. An Islamist fanatic plotted to snatch a British Muslim soldier from the streets and film him being beheaded "like a pig" in a lock-up garage, a court heard.

01-26-2008 NEW YORK, NY (Dinar Standard) Questioning "Shari'ah Conversion Technology": Yusuf Talal Delorenzo. He recently delivered a paper questioning the validity of a proposed structure whose purpose is to “wrap a non-Shari’ah compliant underlying into a Shari’ah compliant structure.”

01-24-2008 THE HAGUE, Holland (Telegraph, UK) Holland 'governed by fear of Islam'. A politician has warned that a "fear of Islam" is governing Holland after he delayed the release of a short film attacking the Koran.

01-24-2008 KABUL, Afghanistan (Telegraph, UK) Afghan journalist gets death for insulting Islam. The Taliban-style intimidation of Afghan newspapers came to the surface after a journalist was sentenced to death for distributing an article deemed to have "insulted Islam".

01-24-2008 MUMBAI, India (FoxNews) Muslim Cleric Issues Fatwa Against Bollywood Star for Wax Figure. Bollywood star Salman Khan had a fatwa issued against him for allowing Madame Tussauds in London to make his image in wax, the Daily Mail reported.

01-23-2008 LONDON, England (BBC) Three Little Pigs 'too offensive'. A story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale has been turned down by a government agency's awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims.

01-16-2008 WASHINGTON,DC (CNS) Congressmen Seek Answers about Terror Expert's Firing. Members of Congress are seeking more information regarding the firing of a top terrorism expert at the Pentagon following reports that he was dismissed for being too critical of Islamic law.

01-15-2008 YALA, Thailand (IHT) Suspected Thai Muslim rebels bomb market following deadly ambush of soldiers. The insurgency in mostly Buddhist Thailand's Muslim-majority deep south has taken the lives of more than 2,800 people since flaring up in January 2004.

01-10-2008 LONDON, England (FPM) Beheading in the Name of Islam Online. This month, Islam Online, a website that has mass popularity throughout the Muslim world, published a gruesome poem detailing how to behead a human being.

01-09-2008 FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA (WP) Critics of Saudi Academy Say Textbooks Promote Intolerance. Some textbooks used by an Islamic school in Fairfax County contain language intolerant of Jews and other groups as well as passages that could be construed as advocating violence, according to two reviews of the materials.

01-09-2008 WARRINGTON, England (Metro.co.uk) Muslim girl found dead in river 'beaten by parents'. A Muslim teenager found dead in a river after fleeing an arranged marriage had suffered years of beatings from her parents, an inquest heard today.

01-09-2008 MANCHESTER, England (Daily Express) Reprimanded, The Jp Who Asked Muslim To Remove Veil. Hussain made a formal complaint and yesterday Mr Murray, a JP for 12 years, was handed a formal reprimand by Justice Minister Jack Straw and the Lord Chief Justice.

01-08-2008 MIRFIELD, UK (BBC) Mayor apology over Muslim remarks. Robert Bennett also spoke of Muslim women wearing "black sack-like clothing" and said that Muslims wanted homosexuals to be shot.

01-08-2008 LEWISVILLE, TX (ABC News) 'Honor Killing' Motive for Slain Sisters?. ... the father's motive may have been some sort of an "honor killing" in the Muslim tradition. Specifically, the reported Westernized behavior of the teens, including the boys they dated, may have brought shame to a father said to be strict and religious, prompting the killings.

01-07-2008 LONDON, England (Telegraph, UK) Multiculturalism is breeding intolerance. However, few politicians have been willing to do what Michael Nazir-Ali has done, which is to question the impact of a growing Muslim population upon the very fabric of the nation

01-07-2008 PARIS, France (IHT) A Union of the West? Balladur says it's time. Here's his notion: The United States and Europe soon risk being overtaken by the rest of the world. To hold on to their place and value system, they ought to form an organic alliance, a Union of the West.

01-07-2008 BAGHDAD, Iraq (Compass) Iraq: coordinated blasts rock churches. Four Iraqi churches and three convents were damaged in coordinated bomb blasts in the morning of January 6, the day many Iraqi Christians celebrate either Epiphany or Christmas Eve according to some Eastern liturgical calendars. At least six people were injured, one seriously.

01-07-2008 ROCHESTER, England (Daily Mail) Islamic extremism creating 'no-go' areas for non-Muslims in Britain, says Bishop of Rochester. He warned against the acceptance in this country of Sharia laws based on the Koran and added that amplified calls to prayer from mosques are imposing an Islamic character on surrounding areas.

01-07-2008 WASHINGTON, DC (CP) Evangelicals Rebuke NAE Leaders over Islam Letter. The critical leaders include Dr. Albert Mohler, Gary Bauer, and Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo who voiced opposition to the apology in the letter for the sins of Christians during the Crusades and for “excesses” of the global war on terror, without mentioning Muslim acts of violence.

01-07-2008 KUALA, LUMPUR, Malaysia (AS) No Allah After All for Malaysian Christians. The Malaysian cabinet’s decision late last week to reinstitute the cancellation of a Roman Catholic newspaper’s publishing license for using the word “Allah” interchangeably with “God” in its Malay-language section has little to do with theology and a lot to do with Malay fears that Christians may be secretly converting members of the Islamic faith.

01-06-2008 OTTAWA, Canada (Reuters) Muslims test press freedom limits in Canadian case. The Canadian Islamic Congress, one of Canada's largest Muslim groups, says Maclean's, a popular Canadian weekly news magazine, subjected Muslims to hate speech with an article in October 2006 by best-selling author Mark Steyn that said a high Muslim birthrate, combined with Muslims "hot for jihad," could conquer a West that is unwilling to stand up for its civilization.

01-06-2008 NEW YORK, NY (NYT) Blind Faiths. Several authors have published books on radical Islam’s threat to the West since that shocking morning in September six years ago. With “The Suicide of Reason,” Lee Harris joins their ranks. But he distinguishes himself by going further than most of his counterparts: he considers the very worst possibility — the destruction of the West by radical Islam.

01-06-2008 LEWISVILLE, TX (AP) Slain sisters mourned at Christian, Muslim services. Some have speculated that the deaths may have been "honor killings," a practice in which a man kills a female relative who he believes has somehow shamed the family.

01-05-2008 KABUL, Afghanistan (Yahoo) Afghan clerics warn Karzai against missionaries. Afghanistan's Islamic council has told President Hamid Karzai to stop foreign aid groups from converting locals to Christianity and also demanded the reintroduction of public executions.

01-05-2008 BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Christians from Iraq fear for homeland. Will current migration wave mark end of the Assyrian heritage?

01-04-2008 WASHINGTON, DC (AP) Coughlin sacked. Stephen Coughlin, the Pentagon specialist on Islamic law and Islamist extremism, has been fired from his position on the military's Joint Staff. The action followed a report in this space last week revealing opposition to his work for the military by pro-Muslim officials within the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.

Global Islamic News 2008