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old loonie threatens the uk

“Osama bin Laden's deputy warned Gordon Brown yesterday that Britain would be hit with "a very precise response" in retaliation for the knighthood given to the novelist Salman Rushdie.”

What can he mean?

“Zawahiri, deliverer of most recent al-Qaida messages, accused Britain of defying the Muslim world by honouring the author of The Satanic Verses, who was deemed to have insulted Islam.”

How dare Britain defy the Muslim rulers!

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fundi0607.php#loonie_threat_100707

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“what the islamists have learned”

Michael Novak writes:

“If I were an Islamist, a terrorist, a sworn foe of democracy, here is what I think I would have learned from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is what I would write down in my hard-earned manual of instruction.”
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“What we have discovered in Iraq is the weakest link in the ability of the United States to sustain military operations overseas. That link is the U.S. media. They are Islamists' best friends.”
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“The aim of our terror is to induce surrender before the great battles are even fought. This is the true meaning of "asymmetric" warfare. The weaker side in military strength may demonstrate conclusively that it has a stronger stomach for relentless, unstoppable acts of terror.

“Besides, brothers, there seems to be a psychological tic in the minds of American journalists, which prevents them from understanding that our terror is ultimately aimed at them. Today, yes, they think it is aimed at their government, and will cripple their political opponents within that government. Without qualm or fear, therefore, they do our bidding day after day. Willingly, gleefully, with much self-congratulation, they pump our storyline into the bloodstream of the Western public.”
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“Those elites among them who do have the stomach to fight back, inexorably, day after day, are being undermined by their own media.

“Now and in the future, the media will do our work. All we need are martyrs sufficient in number to keep a steady stream of orange flames and black smoke before their cameras, and to dump before them bodies that are stone-cold dead, and bear all over them the unmistakable blue marks of power drills and other disfigurements.”

Lead from James Hammerton.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fundi0607.php#islamist_lessons_041206

not all iranian ayatollahs are mad jihadists - the auroran sunset

“Several hundred supporters of an outspoken cleric in Tehran, Ayatollah Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, gathered today in the streets around his house to protest what they described as violation of "freedom of religion."

“Protesters told Radio Farda that they were trying to prevent the arrest of Boroujerdi by security forces. Boroujerdi advocates the separation of religion from politics.

“One of his supporters told Radio Farda that during the past two months there have been several attempts to arrest the ayatollah.

“ "[Security forces] took away his daughter and 38 others two months ago, they've freed them but they came this morning to take away [Boroujerdi] but the neighbors didn't give in," the man said. "They came again later to arrest him but his supporters have gathered here and will resist. Thank God, we're many, about 2,000 to 3,000." ”

Update: Boroujerdi has now been arrested along with ~200 of those supporters, following serious police violence. Some are claiming a massacre also, but this seems unlikely at the moment. More background/history here.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fundi0607.php#ayatollahs_081006

polio returning to parts of india, thanks to mullahs - Xavier

“India seemed to be on the verge of eliminating polio last year, when it reported just 66 cases of the disease, down from 1600 in 2002. This year, however, things have gone horribly wrong with India's polio elimination campaign; 325 cases have been reported already, and at least 23 of them have been fatal. What's caught people's attention is that 70% of those infected with polio this year are Muslim, even though Muslims account for only 13% of India's population.What's even stranger, and frightening, is the reason: some Muslims believe that the polio drops are part of a conspiracy to sterilize their children, and are refusing to let them be vaccinated.

“This year's polio outbreak has been concentrated in India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, home to over 170 million people. It is here, say health workers, that a few ultraconservative Muslim clerics have spread a myth that the polio vaccine is part of an underhanded campaign to sterilize Muslim children and lower the Muslim birth rate. Dr Hamid Jafari, the regional advisor for the World Health Organization (WHO) on polio eradication, says that the majority of Uttar Pradesh's Muslims have got their children vaccinated, but, "in certain places, fatwas have been issued against the vaccine." In those places, Muslims have stopped state health workers from entering their houses and administering the polio vaccine, which is administered orally, to their children.”
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“India [...] will [...] make a special effort to reach out to India's Muslims. "We are going to have a special program to enlighten them," India's health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, told the press recently, adding he would be meeting Islamic leaders in Uttar Pradesh to figure out how he could dispel Muslim anxieties about the polio vaccine. ”

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fundi0607.php#polio_041006

popular saudi arabian satire program targets the jihadis - the auroran sunset

Apparently Ramadan is a sort of “sweeps week” for Arabic television, because nobody has the energy to do anything but stuff their faces and veg out in front of the television after a hard day of fasting. This article has a detailed description of a sketch from the Ramadan episode of Tash Ma Tash. Here is the first few paragraphs (much more at the link):

“In Wednesday night's installment, a man was shown going to a police station in search of his missing nephew, only to be told that the youth had joined a terror organization. The uncle leaves shocked and tearful.

“The scene then shifts to a fundamentalist academy where gullible young men are being trained. The nephew is shown learning how to disguise himself in women's robes and adapt feminine mannerisms, despite a burgeoning mustache.

“Later, he chats with a peer who says he has used a suicide belt nine times - and reassures the gullible nephew that he didn't feel much pain when it exploded.”

Despite some signs of coming reform, Saudi Arabia remains a highly oppressive Shari’a dictatorship with considerable censorship, intimidation of free expression and use of the state religious ‘morality’ police. The above Tash Ma Tash program is produced in Arabic in Saudi Arabia and broadcast from Saudi Arabia. Clearly the program has state approval or tolerance, despite the death threats from jihadis to the producers and imams issuing fatwas to the effect that watching the program is “sinful”.

Tash Matash apparently means something like “either you get it or you don’t”. The program has been running on Saudi state television since 1993.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fundi0607.php#saudi_satire_021006

australian “multicultural spokesman” lays out the west’s position before an imam conference - the auroran sunset

The Australian government seem to understand that having a multicultural society does not mean tolerance of violence, incitement or threats. Here's hoping the imams take Andrew Robb’s advice:

“We live in a world of global terrorism where evil acts are being regularly perpetrated in the name of your faith.”
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“And, because it is your faith that is being invoked as justification for these evil acts, it is your problem.

“You can't wish it away, or ignore it just because it has been caused by others.”
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“Instead, speak up and condemn terrorism, defend your role in the way of life that we all share here in Australia. Some of your leaders do this, but too many are silent, or simply protest that they are being branded unfairly.

“Fostering a victim mentality works against taking responsibility, it works against tackling real issues, it saps the confidence and resolve of Australian Muslims.”
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“As Imams and spiritual leaders I believe you also have a very special responsibility to correct the terrorists' false use of the Koran to justify their evil acts.

“As I am advised, various passages from the Koran, such as Surat Al Mumtahinah Aya 1 (Chapter 60 The Examined One, verse 1), Surah At-Tahrem, Aya 9 (Chapter 66 The Banning, verse 9), Surat Al- Ankabut Aya 69 (Chapter 29 The Spider, verse 69), Surat Al- Furqan, Aya 52 (Chapter 25 The Criterion verse 52);Surat Al Hujurat Aya 15 (Chapter 49 The Dwelling, verse 15), are presented by extremists as justification for the killing of innocent people, including the killing of other Muslims.

“Preaching in your Mosque a strong denunciation and correction of these extremist misrepresentations of the Koran would appear to be one of your fundamental responsibilities.”

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/fundi0607.php#andrew_robb_180906

the abuse of islam in political rhetoric : a deconstruction
on misusing words to avoid criticism, while critising the critics

This article has been moved to its own page in abelard.org’s deconstruction section.

uk foreign office allegedly wishes taxpayers to fund islamist medievalists

“Angus McKee, of the FO's Middle East and North Africa desk, thinks this gruesome record should be rewarded with large amounts of British taxpayers' money.'Given that Islamist groups are often less corrupt than the generality of the societies in which they operate,' he wrote, 'consideration might be given to channelling aid resources through them, so long as sufficient transparency is achievable.'

“And since January 2006, the FO has been engaging with the Muslim Brotherhood abroad while providing free passes for its clerics at home.

“Mockbul Ali, its Islamic issues adviser, whom Labour ministers treat with excessive deference, recommends that the brotherhood's favourite theologian, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, should be admitted to Britain, despite his sympathy for the judicial murder of homosexuals and free-thinkers. When Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, an MP in Bangladesh who preaches violent hatred against the West and Hindus, wanted to come to talk to British Muslims, Ali described him as a 'mainstream' figure.”

And more!

interesting article on the history of islam

Recommended scan.

“An exhaustive examination of all available evidence and sources leads Crone to conclude that Mohammed's career took place not in Mecca and Medina or in southwest Arabia at all, but in northwest Arabia [...]. ”

“However, no copies exist of Ibn Ishaq's work. We know of it only through quotations of it in the History of al-Tabari, who lived over two hundred years after Ibn Ishaq (al-Tabari died in 992). Thus the earliest biography of Mohammed of which copies still exist was written some 350 years after Mohammed lived.”
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“Al-Rawandi concludes that the Sira, the life of Mohammed in Mecca and Medina is a myth, a "baseless fiction." This is the conclusion of a substantial number of serious academic historians working on Islamic Studies today[...]. ”
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“The Moslem Terrorists who committed The Atrocity have put all of their fellow Moslems on the defensive. We see full-page ads in newspapers taken out by Moslem governments and Moslem organizations, expressing their sympathy and condolences. These are welcomed and their sincerity need not be questioned. But words are not enough. Actions are what count. What is required of Arab-Americans is not words, but for them to locate the several thousand agents of Bin Laden and the Moslem Terrorist Network reputed to be in this country, and turn them in to the FBI. What is required of Moslem communities the world over is the same: identify, locate, and turn advocates of terrorism in to the appropriate authorities.

“Yet much more is now required of the adherents of Islam: the reinvention of their religion. No longer can the words of the Koran be considered inerrant, infallible, and those of Allah himself . The words must be read thoughtfully and critically, and the wisdom they contain extracted with reflection, not reflexively. Christianity emerged from its Dark Ages when its sacred texts were considered infallible and criticism condemned (often to death) as heresy, to subject itself to historical examination and rational discussion[...]. ”

related material
islamic authoritarianism

muslim loyalties in the uk and elsewhere - the auroran sunset

There are approximately 1.6 million Muslims in the UK. It seems that well over 100,000 of those consider themselves at war with the British people.

“13% of British Muslims think that the four men who carried out the London Tube and bus bombings of July 7, 2005, should be regarded as 'martyrs'” [Quoted from timesonline.co.uk]

That’s approximately 213,000 people.

“7% agree that suicide attacks on civilians in the UK can be justified in some circumstances, rising to 16 per cent for a military target ”

That’s approximately 115,000 for the first and approximately 260,000 for the second.

“16% of British Muslims say that while the attacks may have been wrong, the cause was right”

That’s approximately 260,000.

“2% would be proud if a family member decided to join al-Qaeda. Sixteen per cent would be ‘indifferent’ ”

Approximately 33,000 and approximately 260,000.

This is the sea in which the Jihadis thrive.

Not all Muslims are our avowed enemies, however:

“56% of British Muslims believe that the Government is not doing enough to fight extremism, more than the 49 per cent of the whole population who agree
“50% think the intelligence services have the right to infiltrate Muslim organisations to gather information about their activities and the way they obtain funding
“65% of British Muslims say that their community needs to do more to integrate properly with British society
“35% say that they would feel proud if a close family member joined the police"”

An interview with a powerful and reasonable Muslim:

“Ali Muhammad, Director of the Suleimaniya bureau of the KIU, Iraqi Kurdistan's third largest (and growing) political party [...]”
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“In Islam we have stable things and changeable things," he said. "80 percent of Islam is changeable things. [...]”
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“We don't force people to wear the hijab," he said. "There are two types of Islamic rules: personal and general. Individual matters are advised, not required. Advisements by Islam should not be imposed. Islam prohibits only things that harm an entire society.”

related material
michael totten goes to iraq & turkey