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Iraq: Jihadist group sends threat letters to Mosul churches over plan to establish an Assyrian-Christian police force

Dhimmis are forbidden to bear arms. "Iraq: Islamist group threatens churches in Mosul," from Adnkronos International, July 2:

Mosul, 2 July (AKI) - An Islamist group has sent threatening letters to Assyrian churches in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, asking them not to cooperate with US forces.

The letter sent by The Batallion of Just Punishment, Jihad Base in Mesopotamia, also opposes the establishment of a sectarian Assyrian-Christian police force, reported the Assyrian International News Agency on Wednesday.

"We caution and warn anyone who tries to rob us through dealings with the Americans or through the spreading of American forces and/or police to protect the Holy Shrines in the Islamic Republic of Iraq, that these shrines would remain target of the freedom fighters," the letter said.

"We remind the dhimmi people [Jews and Christians] that Iraq is for the noble Iraqis and not for how you are now."

The Islamist group also refers to Assyrian Christians as 'Dhimmi', or a non-Muslim subject of the state governed by Islamic Sharia law.

Of course, that includes paying jizya, which has been extracted under brutal threats.

"I suspect this letter may have actually come from Ansar Al-Islam," said an unnamed Assyrian community leader, referring to the Kurdish Islamist group affiliated with al-Qaeda.

"The Kurds don't want us to have our own police force."

Assyrians are an ethnic group in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. Nearly all Assyrians converted to Christianity during the first century A.D.

Most of the Christians in Iraq belong to the Assyrian and Chaldean Catholic denominations. Others groups include Syrian Orthodox or protestants....

Iranian parliament considers death penalty for encouraging apostasy from Islam and other means of “harming mental security in society” over the Internet

Now there's a cringe-worthy turn of phrase. "Iran mulls death penalty for Internet crimes," from Agence France-Presse, July 2:

TEHERAN - Iran's parliament is set to debate a draft bill which could see the death penalty used for those deemed to promote corruption, prostitution and apostasy on the Internet, reports said on Wednesday.

MPs on Wednesday voted to discuss as a priority the draft bill which seeks to "toughen punishment for harming mental security in society," the ISNA news agency said.

The text lists a wide range of crimes such rape and armed robbery for which the death penalty is already applicable. The crime of apostasy (the act of leaving a religion, in this case Islam) is also already punishable by death.

However, the draft bill also includes "establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy", which is a new addition to crimes punishable by death.

Those convicted of these crimes "should be punished as "mohareb' (enemy of God) and "corrupt on the earth'," the text says.

Under Iranian law the standard punishments for these two crimes are "hanging, amputation of the right hand and then the left foot as well as exile."

As prescribed by Qur'an 5:33.

The bill -- which is yet to be debated by lawmakers -- also stipulates that the punishment handed out in these cases "cannot be commuted, suspended or changed".

Internet is widely used in Iran despite restrictions on access and the blocking of thousands of websites with a sexual content or deemed as insulting religious sanctities and promoting political dissent.

Blogging is also very popular among cyber-savvy young Iranians, some openly discussing their private lives or criticising the system.

Human rights groups have accused Iran of making excessive use of the death penalty but Teheran insists it is an effective deterrent that is carried out only after an exhaustive judicial process.

The judicial process is of far less use in assuring justice is done when the laws being applied are unjust in the first place.

The number of executions soared last year to 317 amid a campaign which the authorities said was aimed at improving security in society, and was sharply up on 2006 figures when Amnesty International recorded 177 executions.

All legislation in Iran has to be rubber-stamped by a conservative clerical watchdog before it is written into law. The Guardians Council vets bills to see if they are in line with the constitution and Islamic law.

Scotland: Muslims offended by picture of puppy on police postcard

Offensive.

And the department apologized. "Muslims outraged at police advert featuring cute puppy sitting in policeman's hat," from the Daily Mail, July 1:

A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman's hat advertising a Scottish police force's new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims.

Tayside Police's new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community.

The choice of image on the Tayside Police cards - a black dog sitting in a police officer's hat - has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.

The advert has upset Muslims because dogs are considered ritually unclean and has sparked such anger that some shopkeepers in Dundee have refused to display the advert.

Dundee councillor Mohammed Asif said: 'My concern was that it's not welcomed by all communities, with the dog on the cards.

'It was probably a waste of resources going to these communities.

'They (the police) should have understood. Since then, the police have explained that it was an oversight on their part, and that if they'd seen it was going to cause upset they wouldn't have done it.'

Councillor Asif, who is a member of the Tayside Joint Police Board, said that the force had a diversity adviser and was generally very aware of such issues.

He raised the matter with Mr Vine at a meeting of the board.

The chief constable said he was unaware of the concerns and that the force had not sought to cause any upset but added he would look into the matter.

Councillor Asif said: 'People who have shops just won't put up the postcard. But the police have said to me that it was simply an oversight and they did not seek to offend or upset.'

Cards featuring police dog-in-training Rebel have been distributed to communities throughout the area to advertise the single number point of contact for non-emergency calls to the police.

Rebel has proved a popular recruit for Tayside Police after coming through the very first Lothian and Borders Police dog-breeding programme in February.

One of seven German Shepherd pups born in early December, he has now completed his course of inoculations, and is free to venture out onto the streets of Tayside.

Vaccinations aside: "Abu Dharr reported: The Messenger of 'Allah (may peace be upon him) said: When any one of you stands for prayer and there is a thing before him equal to the back of the saddle that covers him and in case there is not before him (a thing) equal to the back of the saddle, his prayer would be cut off by (passing of an) ass, woman, and black Dog. I said: O Abu Dharr, what feature is there in a black dog which distinguish it from the red dog and the yellow dog? He said: O, son of my brother, I asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) as you are asking me, and he said: The black dog is a devil." - Sahih Muslim 4.1032

A spokesman for Tayside Police said: 'Trainee police dog Rebel has proved extremely popular with children and adults since being introduced to the public, aged six weeks old, as Tayside Police's newest canine recruit.

'His incredible world-wide popularity - he has attracted record visitor numbers to our website - led us to believe Rebel could play a starring role in the promotion of our non-emergency number.

'We did not seek advice from the force's diversity adviser prior to publishing and distributing the postcards. That was an oversight and we apologise for any offence caused.'

India reverses decision on land transfer to Kashmir Hindu shrine after days of Muslim riots, 4 deaths

Rewarding violence, in an update on this story. "Indian Kashmir revokes decision to hand over land to Hindus," from Agence France-Presse, July 1:

SRINAGAR, India - Indian Kashmir formally revoked Tuesday a decision to hand over land to Hindu pilgrims after days of violent protests that left four dead and nearly 350 injured in the Muslim region.

The decision was taken by the state cabinet which met in Srinagar, summer capital of the scenic Himalayan state where a bloody revolt has raged against Indian rule for nearly two decades.

The government order "is hereby cancelled," an official statement said.

The statement said the state government had taken charge of logistics for a major annual Hindu pilgrimage to a mountain grotto, scrapping a move to allocate land to a religious trust so it could build accommodation.

That decision provoked the riots in and around Srinagar.

Revocation of the order came as top separatists were placed under house arrest by police in a bid to avert more protests and a strike shut shops, schools, banks and post offices for a ninth day here.

The entire separatist political leadership was under house arrest, except for hardliner Syed Ali Geelani who managed to evade police, police officer Pervez Ahmed said.

Among those detained were the region's leading cleric Umar Farooq, Shabir Shah, known as Kashmir's Nelson Mandela for the years he has spent in Indian jails and Yasin Malik.

Sloppy journalism and/or bias: By whom is Shah "known as Kashmir's Nelson Mandela?"

The protests had continued despite a weekend promise by Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad that his cabinet would scrap the plan to allow a Hindu trust to build accommodation for visitors to a Hindu shrine. [...]

The government's move last month to provide land to the Hindu trust, the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, prompted huge protests and violent clashes across the Kashmir valley.

The protests have evoked memories of the widespread anti-India protests that swept the region after a separatist insurgency broke out in 1989.

Separatists charge the land transfer was a ploy to settle Indian Hindus in Kashmir. But officials dismiss the allegations, saying New Delhi has never tried to encourage Hindu migration to the Himalayan region.

But the government's decision to revoke the decision to give land to the trust has angered Hindus concentrated in the southern part of the region.

There were angry clashes on Tuesday between police and demonstrators in the winter capital Jammu where protesters also burnt down a police post.

Australia: Muslim leaders split on allowing polygamy

At the center of the polygamy issue is this question: Will Muslims in Australia and other non-Islamic countries obey the laws of the lands they live in, or Sharia law? And if they choose the latter, will authorities have the spine to enforce laws that go against Sharia?

"Muslim leaders split on polygamy," by Natalie O'Brien for The Australian, July 1:

Polygamy has split the Australian Islamic community, pitting senior Muslim leaders against each other over the religious teachings on the issue.

A statement from the National Imams Council saying polygamy was banned in Australia and that calls for its legalisation were unwarranted was criticised by other senior community leaders as well as its own members.

Outspoken Muslim cleric and Sydney imam Taj Din al-Hilali attacked the imams council for putting out a statement that "contradicts the wisdom and teachings of God".

Yes, him again.

Sheik Hilali "reminded those imams" that compromise through watering down religious teaching was wrong.

The chairman of the Jemiat Ulama of Australia (Muslim Council of Theologians), Adbul Quddoos, said the imams council was not telling people the correct thing.

Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad, who sparked the debate on polygamy last week, wrote to the council saying it had "no right to conceal the solutions that our faith offers to social problems".

"If they followed the comments correctly, they would see we are not asking for anything, all we are doing is offering solutions to social problems," Mr Trad said yesterday.

In The Australian last Thursday, Mr Trad admitted that he had once considered the idea of marrying another woman, backing calls by another senior member of the Islamic community, Khalil Chami, for polygamous relationships to be recognised.

Sheikh Chami of the Islamic Welfare Centre said last week there was nothing wrong with having a number of marriages: 'You allow the lesbians, you allow the gays - why not these people? What's wrong with it?"

Even those relationships are limited to two people, so Chami's citing them in order to argue for polygynous plural marriages falls short, unless he's prepared to endorse same-sex plural marriage and, while we're at it, polyandry. But no, this is strictly about advancing Sharia.

Sheikh Chami has said polygamous marriages, although illegal, existed in Australia and he had been asked almost weekly to conduct polygamous religious ceremonies. But while he has refused, other imams did not.

Yesterday, Sheik Chami refused to comment further on the issue.

In response to the media furore, the imams council last Thursday released a statement, saying that as "Australian Muslims we recognise that the Marriage Act 1961 prohibits polygamy and we are not proposing any changes to this law".

In the first public statement since its inception more than a year ago, the imams council said calling for legalising polygamy in Australia was unwarranted in the current Australian context.

"In our experience, relationships outside the legally recognised marriages among the Muslim community in Australia are neither a significant nor a widespread practice," it said.

"The priority of the imams of Australia is to focus on strengthening existing marriages and encouraging harmony within the family unit. It is also our sincere wish to focus on issues that unify rather than those that create division and dispute within the Australian community."

Backpedaling:

Sheik Hilali said yesterday that the norm in marriage was one man and one woman and Islam did not call for polygamy. He said it was provided only as a solution for certain situations and must follow stringent rules.

But is one of those rules not engaging in polygamy where non-Islamic legislation has made it illegal?

Somali jihadists open fire on dance, injuring two

"The band singers were entertaining guests at the wedding party was told by the gunmen it was performing 'satanic' music contrary to the Quran."

"Somalia: Country Islamists Raid Traditional Dance Overnight Injured Two," from Shabelle Media Network, June 30:

Mogadishu - Armed Islamic courts union fighters have assaulted at cultural boogie in El-Ghelle village north of Balad district 30km north of Mogadishu on Sunday night according to the residents.

There are a few issues of translation in this article. Or maybe it was a really hip party.

The fighters were reported to have opened fire on the site that was going on drum's beating and songs with traditional jazz. The attack happened following the Islamic fighters nearby the site heard the noise of music equipments being beaten and the noise of the songs the participants were chanting.

Dozens of men and women were taking part the dance. The wounded people were man and women struck by the bullets were opened on them. Some of the participants barefooted fled to bush area those are still missing. Its yet unknown the motive behind the attack was beleaguered on the dance location by the UIC fighters. In their six months rule era the have banned the music ceremonies. Islamic courts union fighters raided a wedding ceremony in Somali capital Mogadishu Twenty heavily armed men fired shots in the air and took musical instruments from the band performing in a home in Somalia's capital city.

The band singers were entertaining guests at the wedding party was told by the gunmen it was performing "satanic" music contrary to the Quran. We were ordered to stop the music and empty the house which we all complied with immediately," said Hayir Ali Roble, one of the musicians performing at the party. "We followed their orders and kept our musical instruments in a room but they forcefully entered the house and took the instruments, and in the process broke some of them."

"From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, as lawful. " - Muhammad, Sahih Bukhari 7.69.494v.

Roble said he did not know why the militiamen struck one of the women at the party with sticks. The Islamic court confirmed the raid but denied that women were beaten. Khadijo Weheliye, who organized the wedding party for her son, said she had sought and received permission from the Islamic court to have music at the celebration.

"We didn't know what their aim was because we had asked the Islamic court for permission to hold the party," she said. "They gave us a permission letter this morning, but attacked our home in the afternoon."

Kuwait’s Sharia Issues Commission decides female ministers don’t have to wear veils, but…

"... Islamic law (Sharia) only requires women candidates and MPs to wear the veil, not female ministers..."

An update on this story. "Kuwait: MPs support unveiled women ministers," from Adnkronos International, June 30:

Kuwait, 30 June (AKI) - Members of the Kuwaiti Parliament 's Sharia Issues Commission have backed a request by the country's two female ministers to appear in Parliament without the Islamic veil, Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah reports.

Commission members on Sunday agreed that Islamic law (Sharia) only requires women candidates and MPs to wear the veil, not female ministers, according to Al-Seyassah.

On 2 June, both female ministers, Education Minister Nouria al-Sabahi and her colleague Moutha al-Mahmoud appeared bare-headed in the Parliament.

Islamist MPs in the Parliament stormed out of the building in protest.

Half of the MPs elected to the new Kuwaiti Parliament in last month's elections are Islamists.

Women gained the vote in Kuwait in 2005. Female candidates ran but failed to win a single seat in the 2006 and 2008 parliamentary polls....

Kuwait’s Sharia Issues Commission decides female cabinet ministers don’t have to wear veils, but…

"... Islamic law (Sharia) only requires women candidates and MPs to wear the veil, not female ministers..."

An update on this story. "Kuwait: MPs support unveiled women ministers," from Adnkronos International, June 30:

Kuwait, 30 June (AKI) - Members of the Kuwaiti Parliament 's Sharia Issues Commission have backed a request by the country's two female ministers to appear in Parliament without the Islamic veil, Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah reports.

Commission members on Sunday agreed that Islamic law (Sharia) only requires women candidates and MPs to wear the veil, not female ministers, according to Al-Seyassah.

On 2 June, both female ministers, Education Minister Nouria al-Sabahi and her colleague Moutha al-Mahmoud appeared bare-headed in the Parliament.

Islamist MPs in the Parliament stormed out of the building in protest.

Half of the MPs elected to the new Kuwaiti Parliament in last month's elections are Islamists.

Women gained the vote in Kuwait in 2005. Female candidates ran but failed to win a single seat in the 2006 and 2008 parliamentary polls....

Canadian Thought Police dismiss complaint against Maclean’s mag

However, in British Columbia the ugly little circus continues. "Rights panel rejects action against Maclean's," by Jamie Komarnicki for the Globe and Mail, June 27 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has dismissed a complaint against Maclean's magazine over a controversial article on the future of Islam, magazine officials said yesterday.

Meanwhile, a decision from the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal over the same issue isn't expected for several months.

The Canadian Islamic Congress launched the dual complaints over an article by Maclean's journalist Mark Steyn. The article, The Future Belongs to Islam, came under fire by Muslim critics who claimed it spreads Islamophobia....

When the truth spreads "Islamophobia," maybe it's time for a bit of introspection.

India: Christian pilgrims want concessions govt gives Muslims for Hajj

The Indian government subsidizes the Hajj. Can't Christians get comparable consideration? Or do Muslims have the privileged status in India that they are trying to win in the West?

"Christians seek Haj-like sops," from The Hindu, June 27 (thanks to Twostellas):

THANJAVUR: Christians Vazhvurimai Iyakkam of Thanjavur Diocese has appealed to the Tamil Nadu Government to provide Haj-like concessions to Christian pilgrims who visit Jerusalem, the birth place of Jesus Christ.

In a resolution adopted at a meeting held here recently, the Iyakkam said that concessions were given to Christians in Andhra Pradesh. The Iyakkam also appealed to the Government to give the concessions and privileges given to SCs and STs to SC and ST Christians also.

Tajikistan’s only synagogue demolished to make way for presidential palace

An update on this story. "Tajikistan's Jews despair as only synagogue razed," from Reuters, June 25:

Tajikistan has knocked down its only synagogue to make way for a new presidential palace, casting the Jewish community into despair, community members said on Wednesday.

The 19th century building is due to be replaced by a park adjoining the new palace for President Imomali Rakhmon, who has ruled the impoverished, mainly Muslim nation since 1992.

Community leaders said the weekend demolition of their synagogue - a wooden, one-story house adorned with stars of David - put their 350-strong community under threat.

"It's painful to lose something very dear, something that cannot be valued in money terms," Rabbi Mikhail Abdurakhmanov said after the building was bulldozed.

"At the moment the existence of Tajikistan's only Jewish community is under threat. It's also a threat to elderly people who came here for help," he told Reuters.

The Jewish community in Tajikistan - descendants of Persian-speaking Bukhara Jews who have lived in Central Asia for centuries - has dwindled since the country's independence from Soviet rule with many leaving for Israel.

The mayor's office of the capital Dushanbe declined to comment but the government has previously promised to allocate a new plot of land for the synagogue .

Abdurakhmanov said he had yet to hear from the city authorities about its fate.

It will be interesting to see when, where, or if that materializes.

The building technically belonged to the state because Soviet officials nationalized it in 1951 while allowing Jews to continue to worship there.

Before its demolition, the synagogue ran a daily canteen for the poor and allocated humanitarian aid to its mainly elderly community members with an average monthly income of about $20.

Lev Leviev, head of the world Bukhara Jews congress and an Israeli businessman, said he had discussed the synagogue's reconstruction with Tajikistan's president.

But, addressing reporters after talks with Rakhmon, Leviev declined to give further details, saying it was a "subtle and delicate issue."

Pakistan: 25 Christians kidnapped

By "unidentified militants," but it seems very likely that they regarded these Christians as infidels at war with the true religion.

"25 Christians kidnapped in Peshawar," from the Daily Times, June 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

PESHAWAR: Unidentified militants kidnapped 25 Christians from Academy Town in Peshawar, sources told Daily Times on Saturday.

The sources said militants kidnapped them from the Banarasabad area of Academy Town from the house of Yousaf Masih. Superintendent of Police (SP) Cantonment Imran Shahid confirmed that armed militants driving in five or six vehicles kidnapped eight to nine people on gunpoint and moved them to an undisclosed location at around 8pm. He said however that the kidnapped did not number 25, and that militants have probably moved them to the Tribal Areas....

Saudi-led “interfaith” meeting to be held in… Spain

There are several angles to the choice of Spain for the site of this "dialogue": One, obviously, is that it would be rather awkward to invite a large contingent of religious leaders to a place where they are forbidden from carrying bibles and other sacred texts, and from displaying religious symbols. And, of course, they certainly couldn't hold the meeting in Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, since no non-Muslims are allowed there. That might lead to uncomfortable questions when one considers that Rome, Jerusalem, and other cities are open to all visitors.

But beyond that is Spain's history as an Islamic posession and the trumped-up myth the nearly utopian, Islamic Andalusia of yore; the idea of going back to those "good old days" will surely be a source for much of the propaganda that will come out of this Saudi-led venture.

What won't happen is any meaningful, critical engagement of Islamic intolerance and the unequality of believers and unbelievers, and of men and women under Islamic law. In fact, the most likely result of this occasion will be a joint statement asserting that all major religions are peaceful and condemn the killing of "innocents" (a term always left undefined so that the uninitiated will assume the best), and that Islam "respects" other religions, so the rest of the world should straighten up, fly right, and respect Islam, too, and stop identifying it with oppression and terrorist acts. Thus, one can hardly call the event a dialogue; a more accuriate term is "interfaith monologue."

"Saudi-sponsored interfaith meet to be held in Spain," from Reuters, June 21:

Saudi Arabia and Spain have agreed to hold an interfaith dialogue of Muslims, Christians and Jews in Madrid in July, Saudi media reported on Saturday. The dialogue will be held on July 16-18 by the Saudi-based World Muslim League.

"Prominent figures among followers of the divine messages will take part in dialogue concerning life in human societies, international cooperation, human rights, and issues of security, peace and living together in the world," said a statement carried by the agency.

Welcome to Germany

Photo courtesy Jihad Watch reader Ben.

“For me, wearing pants is the same as being naked”

Stealth jihad update from Minnesota. "On the job, their way," by Chris Serres in the Star Tribune, June 15 (thanks to Paul):

Fatuma Hassan has just enough rice in her near-empty cupboards to make it through the month. The anger she felt when she lost her job in May has given way to a dull, nagging hunger.

Yet this soft-spoken 22-year-old became an unlikely hero within the Somali community when she and five of her Muslim co-workers were dismissed last month from the Mission Foods tortilla factory in New Brighton for refusing to wear a new company uniform -- a shirt and pants -- they consider a violation of their Islamic beliefs.

"For me, wearing pants is the same as being naked," Hassan said, noting the prophet Mohammed taught that men and women should not dress alike. "My culture, my religious beliefs, are more important than a uniform."

Then get another job -- but of course that wouldn't solve the problem, because that is not the point of this exercise. The objective here is to force American companies to accommodate Muslim sensibilities.

Over the past century, Minnesota has seen waves of immigrants from Germany, Sweden, Norway and Laos, among other nations, and each group managed to move up the ladder of prosperity despite some initial doubts about their ability to integrate.

Yet nearly two decades after a violent civil war brought thousands of Somali refugees to the Twin Cities, their integration in the U.S. workplace is becoming more contentious.

Their insistence on maintaining Muslim traditions, including prayer times and modest clothing, have led to firings at several manufacturers across the state and a sharp increase in religious discrimination complaints.

The well-publicized clashes also have sparked legal and ethical debates on whether efficiency-hungry workplaces are doing enough or defiant workers are accommodating too little.

"For the average Minnesotan, this is entirely new," said Bruce Corrie, an economist at Concordia University in St. Paul who specializes in immigration research. "The Somali community is highly assertive and politically engaged. ... It's part of who they are as a people."

But of course it has nothing to do with religion. Have you ever noticed that it never does? It is, as ever, all about economics. If we give them money, they will assimilate. Good luck with that:

But the root cause of the persistent tension is more about economics than culture or religion, say some immigration experts.

Unlike their counterparts from other parts of the Muslim world, a disproportionate percentage of recent Somali immigrants have taken lower-level assembly line jobs where accommodations for religious practices are seen as an impediment to productivity.

Did you catch that? It's not about religion, but the difference between the Somalis and other Muslim immigrants is not that others don't demand accommodation for Islamic religious practices -- it's just that they work in jobs where such accommodations are harder to get.

Twenty-three percent of Somali workers in Minnesota work in manufacturing jobs, well above the 16 percent for the population as a whole, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. And one-quarter of Somalis in the state over the age of 25 have less than a ninth-grade education, a rate five times higher than the overall population, according to census data.

"We have a saying in Somalia that 'he who approaches the lion does not know what a lion is,'" said Abdi Sheikhosman, a professor of Islamic law at the University of Minnesota. "Many Somalis arrive here not knowing the history of racial divide in this country. They don't know the lion they are up against."

Abdi Sheikhosman is purveying rancid nonsense. This is about race? So is Abdi Sheikhosman expecting me to believe that white employees at the Mission Foods tortilla factory in New Brighton were excused from wearing the new company uniform, while the black Somalis were not? I highly doubt that was the case.

Bias complaints rising

Of course, the melting pot that is the United States has always had immigration clashes. "In places that have successions of immigrant groups, the latest one is always seen as the worst of all," said Roger Daniels, a history professor at the University of Cincinnati and author of several books on American immigration policy and history. "There were 'argumentative Jews' and 'noisy Italians.' ... The newcomers are never like the ones that we've learned how to accommodate." [...]

Indeed. The immigrant Muslims are not just "argumentative" or "noisy." No immigrant group has ever come with a ready-made system of laws and mores that they believed superior to the system they encountered here. And no immigrant group was ever so unwilling -- since they believe their system to come from the one true God -- to assimilate. But no one can face those facts, or face up to the consequent necessity to restrict immigration of Muslims -- if, that is, we want to preserve our own society and laws.

The Somali experience is closest to that of Orthodox Jews at the turn of the century, said Donna Gabaccia, director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota. Jews also had distinctive food taboos ("kosher" only), clothing (women wore wigs to cover their hair) and their own schedule of religious holidays.

Yes. But they didn't have a political and social agenda, or a supremacist imperative.

Religious discrimination complaints nationally have nearly doubled since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- a reflection, some argue, of the heightened state of anxiety and fear concerning Muslims. In Minnesota, Muslims filed 45 religious discrimination cases with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2007, up from just eight in 2004. The EEOC does not break down this data by ethnicity.

This is a consequence of an assertiveness that is being fueled by the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that provoked the Sharia cab controversy.

And many of the more publicized disputes in the area -- including Target cashiers who declined to scan pork and cabdrivers refusing to transport passengers with alcohol -- never made it to an EEOC filing.

"After 9/11, there was a growing sense among Muslims that they had to stand together, at least to oppose unjustified actions," said Thomas Berg, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas.

For Abdisalam Adam, director of the Dar Al-Hijrah Cultural Center in Minneapolis and an imam at an area mosque, the issue goes beyond 9/11 to cultural differences. "You would think this would have been more of an issue in 1993 or 1994," when Somalis started arriving in the Twin Cities in large numbers, he said. "But now, Somalis and employers have gotten to know each other, and the situation is only getting worse."

Many Somalis come from tribes that move with their herds every six months in a constant search for safe grazing land, Sheikhosman said. Many of these nomads are fiercely independent and equate freedom with being left alone, he said.

Sheikhosman said that each time he returns to Somalia to visit his relatives, he is struck by "the general chaos of the place," he said. At a Somali airport counter, he said, the only way to be served is to yell and push one's way through a crowd.

"Imagine that a person comes coming from that environment is suddenly subjected to all these regulations and rules" in the workplace, he said. "He may think these are an intrusion to the freedom that he had at home. He's not afraid to take a stand."

Combined with this nomadic sense of independence is a belief that faith and life are interconnected, and that religious practices should not be confined to a particular hour or day of the week, said Adam of the Dar Al-Hijrah Cultural Center.

Many of the religious discrimination complaints revolve around the Islamic prayer schedule. Praying five times a day is one of the essential pillars of Islam, but prayer times vary daily, based on the times of sunrise and sunset. In July, the difference between the afternoon and sunset prayers can be four hours apart; in December, it's just two hours.

The changing prayer times can be disruptive to assembly-line manufacturers that maintain assigned break schedules and can't afford to have their workers leave their work stations at unscheduled times. Many Somalis argue that their prayers take no longer than a bathroom break, yet bathroom breaks aren't prohibited.

In 2005, 16 workers at Celestica's circuit-board manufacturing plant in Arden Hills were fired or suspended for taking unauthorized breaks at sunset. The changing Islamic prayer schedule was a key reason.

Faysal Haliye, 43, a Somali refugee and former Celestica employee, said he was heading to the company's prayer room -- a room where each day for two years he dutifully prayed toward Mecca -- when a manager stood near the entrance and ordered him to return to his post as a machine operator.

"I had been praying my whole life and wanted to continue praying my whole life," he said. "No one had ever told me not to [pray] before."

Haliye and 22 other workers have since filed a class action lawsuit against Celestica, accusing the company of religious discrimination. The suit is pending.

The Mission Foods clash has also led to a lawsuit. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group, filed a religious discrimination complaint on behalf of the women with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

CAIR's involvement is no surprise, and underlines the stealth jihad aspect of all this.

Mission Foods had implemented the new dress code for all factory workers and told its Muslim workers that their traditional clothing was too loose-fitting and posed a safety hazard near machines.

Horror of horrors! Racism!

The cleric-driven aspect of all this shows up here:

Strength in numbers

Muslim religious leaders, or imams, play a significant leadership role in the Somali immigrant community and are often sought out for advice on how to behave in the workplace. Imams were vocal supporters of the Somali taxi drivers who, last year, attracted nationwide controversy for refusing to transport alcohol-toting customers from the airport.

And Hassan had to cut short an interview to meet an imam to discuss the situation, along with the five other workers from the Mission plant....

About 300 of Marsden's 1,600 employees in the Twin Cities are immigrants from East Africa nations such as Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Yet after more than two decades of employing Somalis, Marsden can count the number of disputes on one hand.

On a few occasions, Somali male workers complained about having to take orders from female managers. And once, as violence in Somalia intensified, a fight broke out on a job site between members of separate warring clans. The company held a training session on how to get along in the workplace, and the fighting stopped.

Marsden's biggest concern was how clients would react when they came upon Muslim janitors kneeling for prayer -- particularly in the heightened climate of anxiety after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. To prevent surprises, Marsden has assigned prayer spaces at many of its work sites.

"They are very loyal workers," Marsden said. "We wouldn't employ them unless it made good business sense."

That good business sense could be the epitaph of American Constitutional government -- unless at some point officials wake up to the ultimate goal of Sharia accommodation, and call a halt.

Saudi wife arrested for…driving

And I store my face veils right here

Women in Saudi Arabia cannot drive, but they can own cars. What for?

"Saudi wife arrested after going for an illegal drive," from the Daily Mail, June 16 (thanks to Twostellas):

A woman has been arrested for breaking Saudi Arabia's ban on female drivers.

She was stopped by a police patrol after driving six miles to collect her husband near their home in the town of Buraida.

As her 'legal guardian' he had to sign a declaration that he would not let his wife drive again.

It is not yet known if she has been released or if she faces legal action.

Saudi Arabia is the only country that forbids women from driving.

The ban is based on religious rulings from clerics who say it is un-Islamic.

Civil rights activists in the country have begun lobbying the government to lift the ban.

Iranian police “questioning women and men [about] where they bought their clothes or had their hair done, then targeting the shops”

Iranian Fashion Police Update. "Iran police shut clothes shops, hairdressers," from the Associated Press, June 16:

Police closed 32 clothes shops and hairdressers and stopped cars and pedestrians in the street in an intensified crackdown on women who do not abide by Iran's strict Islamic dress code and on men who take up fashions seen as too Western, Iranian media reported Monday.

Operation Hefty, Hefty, Hefty; Wimpy, Wimpy, Wimpy:

The sweep, which was launched Saturday in some neighborhoods of Teheran, is part of an annual campaign aimed at enforcing dress codes, which require women to wear long loose robes or coats and cover their hair in public. Many women, particularly in Teheran, push the boundaries of the code, wearing short, colorful coats that show the shape of the body and letting their headscarves slip to show much of their hair.

In past years, the government of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has launched the sweeps at the start of summer, when warmer temperatures bring more people into the streets of the capital and women dress lighter. During the crackdown, police stop women in the streets, issuing them warnings or even arresting them if their garb is deemed unsuitable. Men are also targeted for having long hair and other styles deemed too Western.

But the shutting of shops appeared to be a new step, aimed at stopping the selling of shorter coats and lighter headscarves. The pro-reform daily Kargozaran reported Monday that police were questioning women and men where they bought their clothes or had their hair done, then targeting the shops.

Islamic clerics draft laws restricting women’s rights in Kuwait

"The law will include enforcing the veil, Islamic dress for women, and restrictions on women's travel without approval from father or husband." With more Sharia to come later, if they succeed.

"Kuwaiti Salafists Prepare Draft Law," from MEMRI, June 16 (thanks to Morgaan Sinclair):

A draft law prepared by prominent Islamist clerics is to be submitted by Kuwaiti Salafist MPs to Kuwait's National Assembly, a source close to the Islamic Salafist Alliance said.

The law will include enforcing the veil, Islamic dress for women, and restrictions on women's travel without approval from father or husband.

A special committee will be formed to examine whether women need to travel at all.

The law also plans to adopt some Islamic laws to regulate financial companies and banks, to curb media freedom, and to introduce gender segregation at universities, colleges, ministries, and private institutions.

The source added that if the draft law is passed, then more Islamic laws will be introduced later.

Source: Kuwait Times, June 15, 2008

“Minnesota education officials need both the backbone and the oversight tools necessary to prevent the blurring of lines between Islam and the public schools”

Katherine Kersten recaps in Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy controversy in "Charter Schools Shouldn't Promote Islam" in the Wall Street Journal, June 14 (thanks to all who sent this in):

[...] After my columns appeared, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union began an investigation, which is still underway. The Minnesota Department of Education also investigated. Its report, released last month, concluded that the school is breaking the law by holding Friday religious services on school grounds; that it should stop Muslim teachers' practice of praying with students at that service; and that it must provide bus transportation home before Islamic Studies classes let out.

But the report was flawed in important respects. Most significantly, it was silent about the school's close entanglement with the religious organization with which it is affiliated.

It's a safe bet that if the school in question here were essentially a Catholic school, this wouldn't be a debate. Imagine a public charter located in the headquarters building of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Its principal is a priest and its board chairman is the archbishop. Catholic students there "are comfortable asking questions about their own religion." Latin is required, and the cafeteria serves fish during Lent. Students break for prayer and attend Mass during the school day, and buses leave only when after-school Catholic Catechism classes are over. Such a school would never open.

But with Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy we have something different. It's held up as a model, "religiously sensitive" public school. It is justified in terms of culture and "religious accommodation."

Minnesota education officials need both the backbone and the oversight tools necessary to prevent the blurring of lines between Islam and the public schools. If they continue their tepid response, a separate system of taxpayer-financed education for Muslims may take root here. Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy could be the first of many.

BBC fantasy world: Christian beheads Muslim

No one will take much notice of this. Imagine the outcry, however, if they had dared to depict a Muslim beheading a Christian -- despite the fact that that is much, much more likely to happen than this sick and suicidal Beeb fantasy.

"BBC defends Muslim beheading," from Teletext (thanks to Joel):

Exclusive by Derek Robins - BBC bosses have defended the grisly beheading of a Muslim by a Christian zealot in new drama Bonekickers.

In the bloody scene, ex-EastEnder Paul Nicholls plays a fundamentalist who decapitates a Muslim with a sword.

Producer Rhonda Smith said: "It's not meant to be shocking or to cause offence and it comes very much from the storyline."

Of course!