Category: Islamic Terror

Apologists (including David Cameron) try their best to avoid pinning religious massacres on Islam

by The Age of Blasphemy, posted in Islamic Terror, Violence in Islam

Even though England is more secular than the U.S., British Prime Ministers seem even keener than American Presidents to coddle religion—especially Islam—and to ascribe  the malevolence of extreme Islamists to anything but religion.  After last week’s horrific massacre in the Nairobi shopping mall, P.M. David Cameron said this:

‘These appalling terrorist attacks that take place where the perpetrators claim they do it in the name of a religion – they don’t.

Related articles

Islamic Fanatics’ War on Freedom of Speech | Salman Rushdie

by The Age of Blasphemy, posted in Islamic Anti-Science, Islamic Assassinations, Islamic Censorship, Islamic Fascism, Islamic Fundamentalism, Islamic Imperialism, Islamic Insanity, Islamic Kooks, Islamic Loons, Islamic Power, Islamic Religious Right, Islamic Sadism, Islamic Terror, Islamic Theocracy, Islamist Fundamentalists, Islamist Terror, Islamofascism, Salman Rushdie

Islamic fanatics’ war on freedom of speech: Salman  Rushdie

Author Salman Rushdie’s latest book,
Photo: Salman Rushdie talks to students  about his life and writings
Michael Johnson

PARIS — Twenty-three years after an  Iranian fatwa authorized his murder, Salman Rushdie is alive and well  but still on the radar of fanatical Muslims.

The price on his head has reached $3.3 million and the faithful are being  urged again to take up arms. Rushdie is trying to dismiss this latest threat as  a nuisance, not a new fatwa. He may be overly optimistic.

His crime was a book he dared to publish in 1988, “The Satanic Verses,” which  included imaginary scenes of Muhammad’s life. Although the original  fatwa was lifted in 1998, the worst of the would-be killers remained  incensed. A semi-official Iranian group upped its bounty by $500,000 in  September and hopes to re-ignite the old Rushdie affair.

“Joseph Anton” Is Rushdie’s Memoir 

This disturbing development rather spoils the happy ending of Rushdie’s new  book, “Joseph Anton,” a gripping account of his nine years on the run from the  hot-heads. The book concludes as he steps onto a Notting Hill street in London  and hails a taxi – his first free act in Britain since the Ayatollah Khomeini  condemned him to death.

Khomeini wanted more than Rushdie’s blood. “All those involved in its [“The  Satanic Verses”] publication are sentenced to death. I ask all Muslims to  execute them wherever they find them,” the text reads.

Rushdie, never quite losing his cool, quotes a BBC journalist as telling him  early in the affair not to worry too much: “Khomeini sentences the president of  the United States to death every Friday afternoon.”

Protestors against Rushdie, September 2012   AP

The Salman Rushdie story bears retelling, not only for its personal cruelties  but also as a reminder that bloodthirsty, intolerant forces are abroad in the  land and quite willing to kill those who disagree with them.

In an interview last month, a self-effacing Rushdie told the New York  Times he felt he had been caught up in a “world historical event…the  battle against radical Islam, of which this was one skirmish.”

In response to the original death sentence in 1989, a rash of book burnings,  fire-bombings and mass marches broke out in Britain, where he was a naturalized  citizen, and throughout the Islamic world. In Teheran, excited marchers carried  posters of him with his eyes dug out and signs such as “Kill the dog.”

Murders on the margins of the affair were actually carried out or attempted.  His Japanese translator was killed, his Italian translator was stabbed in the  neck but survived and his Norwegian publishing house was bombed. The killers  never got near him, thanks mainly to the efficiency of the British police  spiriting him from house to house at the slightest sign of trouble.

Protestors Took to the Streets Against Rushdie

In London, where I was living during this saga, I found the atmosphere deeply  unsettling for such a peaceful capital. Thousands of bearded fanatics, most of  them Pakistanis and other Middle East immigrants, protested against Rushdie by  marching down Park Lane under police protection, shouting, chanting and shaking  their fists — exercising their right to free expression. The irony of the  situation was lost on them. No one was prosecuted for incitement to  violence.

During his years in hiding, Rushdie tells of how the tables were turned and  he became the villain. A large majority of the British public told pollsters  that they wanted him to apologize for writing the book. And he came under attack  from the best of Britain’s intellectual coterie.

I had forgotten that he was bashed by such luminaries as George Steiner, John  Le Carre, Germaine Greer, Auberon Waugh, Gerald Kaufman, Richard Ingrams,  Geoffrey Howe, Douglas Hurd, and even John Major. To his eternal credit, Rushdie  stood fast on his right to free speech.

Caricature of Salman Rushdie by Michael  Johnson

To this day, he seems perplexed by the craven attitudes around him and the  eagerness of prominent figures to appease the fanatics merely to maintain their  cozy lives. Very few chose to focus on the larger issue at stake, the freedom of  expression that is at the basis of Western values.

Rushdie Credits U.S. Commitment to Freedom

He wrote his latest book in third person, using his police code name as the  protagonist. The officers guarding him agreed to call him “Joseph Anton” from  the Christian names of his favorite writers, Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov. He  became known to the police as “Joe.” He decided to write this book in the third  person to avoid using the more egotistical “I“ and “me” throughout.

For me, the heart of the book is not the detail of his scuttling from house  to house to confuse the hit squads, fascinating as that is, but the over-arching  issue of freedom to speak and write one’s opinions without fear of getting  stabbed or shot by paid assassins.

He maintains he did nothing wrong. “When did it become irrational to dislike  religion, any religion, and to dislike it vehemently?” Rushdie asks. “When did  reason get re-described as unreason?”

In the past two decades, militants in Europe have been emboldened by the lack  of resistance to their actions. Rushdie has been keeping track. “There were  Islamist attacks on socialists and unionists, cartoonists and journalists,  prostitutes and homosexuals, women in skirts and beardless men, and also,  surreally, on such evils as frozen chickens and samosas,” he writes.

Tracing the rise of violence, he cites extremist ideologies including  Wahhabi, Salafi, Khomeiniite, Deobandi, and Islamic schools funded by Saudi oil  as producing “generations of narrow-eyed men with hairy chins and easily  clenched fists,” taking Islam far from its origins while claiming to be  returning to its roots.

This book is something of a diary in narrative form with many unexpected  digressions. He describes his life as a writer before and during his death  sentence, even detailing how he came to write The Satanic Verses and other books  that have brought him acclaim. He says his first major book, “Midnight’s  Children,” was the result of 13 years of rumination during which he made many  false starts and wrote “enormous” quantities of “garbage.

He never quite loses his sense of humor. The police allowed him to take a  short stroll in public one day if he agreed to wear a wig. He acquiesced and on  the street overheard a passerby say, “There goes that bastard Salman Rushdie in  a wig.” He recalls one joke making the rounds in London during his invisible  years: “Who is tall, blond, has big tits and is living in Tasmania? Salman  Rushdie.” Despite all, he seemed to relish the lighter side.

He credits the U.S. commitment to freedom as his salvation during the darkest  days of British ambivalence. Police protection might have been withdrawn but for  a hero’s welcome in Washington when he managed a secret flight into the country.  “America had made it impossible for the British to walk away from (my) defense,”  he writes.

Salman Rushdie continues his prolific output, of which this book is a  valuable example. He has exorcized his demons that remained from his traumatic  years on the run but has given us a stark reminder that his case was a mere  skirmish in a much longer and deeper conflict between rational forces in the  West and the fanatical wing of a badly distorted religion.

Related articles

ISLAMIC SUNNIS AGAINST EXTREMISM | “The extremist fanatics are doomed”

by The Age of Blasphemy, posted in Islam, Islamic, Islamic Anti-Science, Islamic Assassinations, Islamic Censorship, Islamic Conspiracies, Islamic cruelty, Islamic Fascism, Islamic Fundamentalism, Islamic Imperialism, Islamic Insanity, Islamic Kooks, Islamic Loons, Islamic Power, Islamic Religious Right, Islamic Sadism, Islamic Terror, Islamic Theocracy, Islamist Fundamentalists, Islamist Terror, Islamofascism, Islamophobes, Islamophobia, Islamophobia Industry, Islamophobic Conspiracies, Islamophobic Paranoia

SUNNIS AGAINST EXTREMISM Print E-mail
About the author

Darulfatwa is an endeavour of a group of committed and highly educated Muslims who collaborated with diverse community officials to establish what is the final frontier to bridge the gap between the needs of Muslims and their productive co-existence in the wider Australian community. Darulfatwa is a non-partisan and independent institution, lobbying for the right of all Muslims to a better living standard without prejudice and discrimination and defending the civil liberties and privileges of those at risk. It set forth in its endeavor to produce this text to empower the reader with knowledge to discriminate between moderation and extremism and expel the latter.

Preface

Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said: “The extremist fanatics are doomed.” Although extremism is not a new phenomenon, the rebel exacerbations witnessed today requires prompt action and a strong resolve. The global extremist movement driving this form of anarchy is manifested in groups known by a multitude of names hiding behind Islam to roam among the Islamic communities without drawing suspicion. Extremism does exist. Admitting this and recognising it as a dangerous force we can better plan to weed it from society. Islamic practice is a true following of the rules of Islam and extremism is a perverted view that deviates from the meanings of the merciful and moderate Islamic shari`ah. This elucidation is presented along this backdrop.

 

Abstract

This elucidation explores the type of extremism and terrorism practiced under the pretext of Islam. It draws on the Quran, the sayings of Prophet Muhammad and the sayings of Muslim scholars to expose the roots of extremism and assert the just position of Islam. It also discloses revealing statements of deviant men/groups to add to the case against them. First the historical place of Islam in society is explored, then how deviations from orthodox Islam occurred and lead to the emergence of extremist ideologies manifesting historically in groups like the khawarij (dissenters) and in modern times in groups including the named al-Jama`ah al-Islamiyyah, the Wahhabis and Hizbut-Tahrir. Their actions and methodology are identified. Today, extremist movements have killed many people in Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Saudi, Iraq and other places. Based on misleading reasoning, they have killed innocents. Daring to masquerade as Muslims, these extremists have attempted to destroy the reputation of Islam and Muslims. To refute them we quote a series of statements from moderate Sunni scholars; clarifying the Sunni stand against terrorism and extremism. Finally, this paper delivers solutions and warnings including, a need for Islamic scholars, Sheikhs and Islamic religious workers to remain at the forefront of the line of defence against extremists and prevent access to the extremist books. It is recognised that this work requires qualified and diligent individuals trained in deflating the calls of the named terrorist groups and activists of today.

The Beginnings of Extremism

Historically, many people embraced Islam freeing their hearts from the odious practices of ignorance and tribalism. Those true Muslims whose hearts pacified to the call of the Prophet were a people of middle ground, fairness and justice.

Others, whose hearts did not pacify with peace of mind, had ulterior motives and emerged to spread envious gossip by attempting to split the line. They constitute the fringe sects of destruction and diseased ideologies who had to conceal themselves with the cloak of Islam to spread their evil, disrupting the harmony of Islam.

The khawarij (dissenters) are among those who appeared in the first century on the Islamic calendar and whom the Prophet peace be upon him warned against in his hadith: “There will be those that come after me who will read the Qur’an but it does not go past their throats. They leave Islam like a spear leaves a prey, and they never return to it. They are the worst of the creations.”

Extremism in Modern Times

The majority of Muslims do not subscribe to extremist ideologies and theological perversions, which is why extremists find themselves constantly challenged, striving in every era to increase their small number and expand on their fringe positioning. Consequently, extremists have always tended to overtly gather to protect and pass their distorted views to the next generation built on youth. Today the khawarij still exist despite appearing under different names. Like their elders, they pass group-blasphemy to all those outside their sects. They continue to assault, to shed blood and to extort the properties of all those who defy them, the same way their elders did with the sons of the companions of the Prophet. Except today their threat is greater especially when they are not being faced with a unified and prompt ideological counter-offensive.

The khawarij of today follow the same concepts of their elders resulting in copycat acts of terror shedding the blood of the rulers; peoples of states; Imams; contractors; journalists; ambassadors; engineers; doctors; farmers; craftsman, and old and young males and females. They call upon peoples to dissent against the leaders by way of revolutionary coup d’états and armed revolts, to hit at the infrastructure of governments and to kill its soldiers and police officers. If people refuse their calls, they apostatize them and shed their blood and extort their properties; leading to the bombing of civilian buses and to planting explosives at airports, trains, public roads. Previously they have even destroyed mosque minarets with the praise of some locals. One of their speakers here in Sydney said on a local radio station about such killing that includes the likes of people in the police force: “It’s as permissible to us as drinking water”. Let us not forget the killing and slaughtering of the kids in East Jordan on the hands of these extremists. Their activist was caught saying: “Do not prevent us from its blessing”, implying he too wanted to contribute to the cowardice slaughtering. Clearly, these and the killing of the innocent are attempts to destroy the reputation of Islam and Muslims.

The extremists have killed many people in Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Saudi, Iraq and other places thinking that their killing of those who oppose them is a means of seeking reward from God. Amongst those they’ve killed are: • Sheikh Muhammad ash-Shami:  the Mufti of a village near Aleppo called `Ifrin, • Sheikh Dr. Hussayn adh-Dhahabi: the Minister for Islamic Endowments and an academic at an Islamic College in Egypt. • Sheikh Nizar al-Halabi: the chairman of the Islamic Charity Projects Association in Lebanon.

To plainly discover their deviant ideology and unjust reasoning underpinning their acts of terror, one needs only to observe extremists’ books.

 

Quotes from extremists’ books:

• In their book fi dhilal al-Qur’an (In the Shades of the Qur’an) [vol. 3/G8/p.1198] they say: “He who obeys a human in a secular law even if it were partial obedience then this person is a mushrik (idolater) and a blasphemer no matter how emphatically he utters the testifications of faith”.

• In the same book [vol. 2/G7/p.1057]: “All humankind in the East and the West inclusive of those who repeat the testifications of faith on the minarets with no indicator or factual happening are deeper in sin and worse in punishment on the Day of Judgment because they have blasphemed for the worship of creations”.

• In the same book [vol 3/p.1449] is written: “It is required upon those who are called the Jama`ah al-Islamiyya or the brotherhood group to snatch the reigns of power from the rulers and to destroy their systems and to revolt against them by way of coups throughout the states”.

However, historic and contemporary Islamic literature abounds with refutations against deviant sects. Islamic scholars fought and debated them including the great Prophetic companion `Abdullah Ibn `Abbas and the fourth Khalif (successor) Master `Aliy Ibn Abi Talib, followed by the four Sunni schools of thought and their orthodox followers. The four Sunni schools of thought are the highest authority for the Sunnis in refuting this global extremist movement and its aligned groups who falsely claim to be part of the Sunni populace.

 

Quotes from the four Sunni schools:

• The Mufti of the Hanbalis in Mecca Sheikh Muhammad bin `Abdullah bin Hamid (d. 1295 H.) said in his book as-suhub al-wabilah (The Downpouring Clouds) page 276 about the leader of the extremist Wahhabi movement: “If he was contested and refuted and could not overtly kill his contester, he sends a hit man to murder him on his bed or at night in the market place, because he believed in the blasphemy of those who opposed him and the shedding of their blood”.

• The Mufti of the Shafi`is in Mecca Sheikh Ahmad Zayni Dahlan (d. 1304 H.) wrote in his book ad-durar as-sunniyyah (The Sunni Gems) about the leader of the extremist Wahhabi movement that he used to say: “And all that is under the seven skies is a mushrik (idolater) fully, and he who kills a mushrik is rewarded with Paradise”.

• He (Mufti) also relayed about the Wahhabi leader his statement: “He who enters our way shares our rights and obligations, and he who doesn’t is a blasphemer whose blood is shed and wealth is squandered”.

• He also mentioned in his book ‘umara’ al-balad al-haram (The Princes of the Holy Land) that when the Wahhabis entered at-Ta’if they killed the people en mass including the elderly and the children, the honourables, the princes and the layman. They even slaughtered the suckling infants by their mothers’ breasts. They also assaulted the pilgrims to Mecca through extortion and murder.

• The Maliki Sheikh Ahmad as-Sawi (d. 1241 H.) mentioned in his commentary on al-Jalalayn [vol.3 p.307-308] about the khawarij who misinterpret the true meanings of the Qur’an and the Prophetic traditions shedding in that the blood of the Muslims as is witnessed today in their localities. They are a sect in the Hijaz region (East Arabia) who are called the Wahhabis, they think they have a legitimate authority but in deed they are the liars who have been deceived by the devil who has made them forget the remembrance of their Lord. Those are the evil satanic sect; in fact the sect of Satan is defeated.”.

• Dr Muhammad al-Ghazali (d. 1996) and who was a disciple of Sheikh Hasan al-Banna may Allah have mercy on him mentioned in his book min ma`alim al-haqq (From the Characteristics of Truth) [p.264]: “Those underground youth were later on a major threat to the group, as they started turning against each other in assassinations until they became a destructive tool for terror in the hands of those who had no true knowledge of Islam and could not be relied upon for the common interest of society”. Hasan al-Banna also said about them before he died that they were not brothers and they were not Muslims.

Today, the threat of extremists is escalating and reaching new fronts beyond New York, Madrid, Bali, London and Sharm El-sheikh. They kill unjustly on one hand and call themselves ‘the Salafy Group’ on the other hand. But, no two concepts can be more polarised. They hide behind the banner of Jihad and martyrdom and under the veil of Islam. The fact of the matter remains that Islam is against them and against their evil acts. Refuting them is an Islamic obligation and diffusing them should be a way of life for the true Muslim.

 

Remedies and Solutions

The war against extremism is a systematic war which has to be accompanied with preventative measures which include: • Satisfying the need for Islamic scholars, Sheikhs and Islamic religious workers who remain at the forefront of the line of defence against them. • To continue training new religious workers and Sheikhs with the know hows and the rebuttal documents enabling them to expose extremism and its proponents. • To expose those in the public arena so that they cannot continue to find access to the general public. • To maintain a media, broadcast and print, that supports rebutting and curtailing extremist acts and undressing their disguise and motives • To encourage Islamic leaders of today to speak out against the modern version of the khawarij in order to prevent them from teaching their ideology through pulpits, mosques, radio stations, satellite channels, schools, public lectures. • To protect the Muslim youth from their danger by preventing access to the extremist books

Curtailing extremism should not be limited to security measures, which sometimes defeats the aim. Security measures may sometimes bloat the motives of extremists who act upon a recursive chain of actions and reactions in order to expand their sphere of conflict from one generation to another. Alone it could also attract the attention of some oblivious youth who might grant their sympathy to these extremist groups. Some people have even put a spin on hypocrisy, disguising it as public relation and promotion; thus luring the passive. Such deviant people compete for air time and coverage, while concealing their true identity and motives behind void utterances of peace and moderation. Their private sessions contain the same rants that they distribute in their bookstores claiming to advise the youth towards the right path for salvation. It is also behind doors that they accuse those calling against extremism to be mere agents or informers. It was only recently, when one of them was extolling extremists by saying that if it weren’t for them “Allah would have sunk the Earth from underneath us” and he called those carrying out suicidal attacks “martyrs”. Consequently, continued learning about Islam and application becomes a necessity for differentiation.

 

The conclusion is framed in what the trustworthy Prophet peace be upon him said: “Allah rewards for gentleness what He does not reward for violence” [related by Muslim and others]. Clearly, the onus is upon all Muslims to resolve this phenomenon, each through his informed area of expertise and with as much capacity as one could bear. Muslims in Australia and abroad following the orthodox teachings of Islam condemn all forms of terrorism, extremism and social destruction. Thus, it is essential to conquer terrorism and its kin, that governments, nations and the media differentiate between Muslims and terrorists and to further promote that there is no relation between Islam, terrorism and extremism. To execute this objective Muslims throughout the world and particularly in Australia should assert their moderate stand loudly, empowered by textual and logical proofs. They must restate that they are not the ones who exchange conviction for positions, and are not those who disregard the true Islamic fatwa for any agenda or program. Counselling against extremists cannot be achieved only by statements and words, but has to be accompanied with a continuous effort in order to eradicate this social dilemma and save nations and its peoples from its danger. This work requires qualified and diligent individuals trained in deflating the calls of the named al-Jama`ah al-Islamiyyah, the Wahhabis and Hizbut-Tahrir.
Related articles

British Al-Qaeda Gang Planned ‘Another 9/11′ in UK Led By Muslim Terrorists Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali

by The Age of Blasphemy, posted in Islamic Fascism, Islamic Fundamentalism, Islamic Kooks, Islamic Religious Right, Islamic Terror, Islamist Fundamentalists, Islamist Terror

British Al-Qaeda Gang Planned ‘Another 9/11′ in UK Led By Muslim Terrorists Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali.
Via:- pibillwarnerGo to full article

Jihadist group, from Birmingham UK, were to target crowded areas to cause “mass death” in a terror plot that was set to be even more devastating than the 7/7 London bombings, Woolwich Crown Court was told.  Two of the alleged ringleaders had received terror training in Pakistan and made martyrdom videos to be released after they had “blown themselves up”.

They were taught in bomb-making, how to use weapons and poisons before returning to the UK to recruit others for their plot. That included arranging for others to be sent to Pakistan for training as well. They planned to detonate homemade bombs in up to eight rucksacks and may also have blown others up with bombs on timers.

A total of 11 men and one woman were arrested by police on various terrorism charges last September. The details emerged as the trial began today of the three central plotters. Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, all unemployed from Birmingham, all deny a number of terror charges including planning a bombing campaign, recruiting others for terrorism and terrorism fundraising.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the court: “In September 2011, and after, officers of the West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit arrested a number of young men from the Birmingham area, who are resident in this country.  “With it the police successfully disrupted a plan to commit an act or acts of terrorism on a scale potentially greater than the London bombings in July 2005, if it had been allowed to runs its course.  READ THE WHOLE THING CLICK HERE.

USA TODAY REPORTS ….Dirtbags Irfan Naseer, Irfan Khalid, and Ashik Aliallegedly inspired by the anti-Western sermons of U.S.-born Islamist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in Yemen in September 2011. Altman said Naseer and Khalid traveled to Pakistan for terror training, where they learned details of poisons, bombmaking and weapons use and made “martyrdom videos” justifying their planned attacks.

On their return in July 2011, he said, they began to recruit others to the plot and to raise money by posing as fundraisers for Muslim charities. Altman accused the men of “despicably stealing from their own community” to fund their plot.They also began experimenting with chemicals ”to make an explosive mixture for use in an improvised explosive device,” the prosecutor said, aided by Naseer’s academic background — he has a degree in pharmacy.

Many of the group’s plans soon went awry, however. Four other young men dispatched by the plotters to Pakistan for terrorist training were sent home within days when the family of one man found out, Altman said. They have pleaded guilty to terrorism-related offenses.

Rahin Ahmed, an alleged co-conspirator described in court as the cell’s “chief financier,” attempted to increase the group’s budget by trading the money it had made through bogus charity fundraising on the currency-exchange market.He lost the bulk of the terror cell’s money through his “unwise and incompetent” commodities trading, the prosecutor said, READ THE WHOLE THING CLICK HERE.

Related articles

The Silence of Feminists as Islamic Women Suffer and Die

by The Age of Blasphemy, posted in Islamic Anti-Science, Islamic Assassinations, Islamic cruelty, Islamic Fundamentalism, Islamic Imperialism, Islamic Power, Islamic Religious Right, Islamic Sadism, Islamic Terror, Islamic Theocracy, Islamist Fundamentalists, Islamist Terror, Islamofascism

Feminists dally as Islamic women die
  • by: Ida Lichter

LAST Wednesday, Afghan girl Mah Gulwas beheaded on the instruction of family because she rejected prostitution. Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai, was shot in the head by Pakistani Taliban gunmen in the Swat Valley because she campaigned for women’s secular education. Absence of outrage by Muslim leaders is shameful but why are so many Western feminists silent?

In Swat, the Pakistani Taliban systematically restricted girls’ education. During 2008, they destroyed about 150 private schools and converted others into madrassas, or religious seminaries. Government schools were closed down, teachers murdered, acid was thrown on to the faces of schoolgirls, and several officials were beheaded.

A local Islamist leader explained: “Female education is against Islamic teachings and spreads vulgarity in society.”

The attack on Malala and two companions on a school bus has shocked Pakistan, especially in view of the bloody war in Swat fought by the army in 2009 to unseat the Taliban and enforce national law. In Pakistan, more than half the adult population is illiterate and in rural Sindh and Balochistan, female literacy rates are less than 2 per cent. Honour killings, bartering of women for land and animals, domestic violence and rape are endemic.

Female politicians have not always supported women’s rights. When prime minister, Benazir Bhutto appointed women to the High Court but made no significant changes to discriminatory laws and assisted the Taliban. In Afghanistan, women have made great strides over the past 10 years; education was established, and three million girls now attend school. International women’s rights groups helped expose Afghan Taliban abuse and develop the new constitution for the transitional Afghan government; but the mainstream movement, with some exceptions such as the Feminist Majority Foundation, has not fought consistently for the rights of Afghan women.

Many intellectual feminists value cultural practice but as Afghan women’s rights activist Sima Samar asserted, this respect does not apply to traditions that oppress women and violate human rights. Some feminists have joined an unholy alliance with political Islam, disregarding the oppression of women and homosexuals in favour of overarching aims to rid the world of colonialism, neo-colonialism and capitalism.

Today, support of the international feminist movement is particularly urgent. In Tunisia, a woman who was allegedly raped is facing an “immorality” charge and possible prison sentence.

Salafist leaders in Egypt are calling for changes to the draft constitution, so that Article 2 will affirm Islamic sharia as the main source of legislation rather than the principle of state law. Moreover, article 36 prescribes gender equality only if it does not contravene sharia. Egyptian women activists are campaigning for removal of sharia references in the draft constitution, as well as extreme demands from Salafists.

Pressing for basic women’s rights in Pakistan and Afghanistan is part of a regional challenge and should be a priority for Western feminists. Instead, many tolerate sexist violence in the area and subjugation of women through customary law and religious legislation mandated by the state. While they continue to ignore Islamist misogyny, feminists are dallying while their Muslim sisters burn.

Ida Lichter is the author of Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression

Related articles

Conservative Islamist Fanatic Seeks Death of Crippled Girl

by The Age of Blasphemy, posted in Islamic Censorship, Islamic Fascism, Islamic Fundamentalism, Islamic Imperialism, Islamic Insanity, Islamic Kooks, Islamic Power, Islamic Religious Right, Islamic Sadism, Islamic Terror, Islamic Theocracy, Islamist Fundamentalists, Islamist Terror, Islamofascism

Rao Abdur Raheem: The Militant Lawyer Who Wants Disabled Christian Girl Dead
‎Via:-| Richard BartholomewGo to full article

From the Guardian:

A lawyer representing the man who accused a Pakistani Christian girl of blasphemy has said that if she is not convicted, Muslims could “take the law into their own hands”.

Rao Abdur Raheem cited the example of Mumtaz Qadri, the man who last year shot dead a politician who had called for reform of the much-abused blasphemy law.

…Raheem said he had taken on the case for free because he was convinced that Masih should be punished. “This girl is guilty. If the state overrides the court, then God will get a person to do the job,” he said.

I’ve written about Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, and their baleful consequences, previously. The current case, however, is particularly egregious; the accused girl, Rimsha Masih, reportedly has a learning disability. Raheem, however, is unconcerned about this: her medical assessement, he claims, was “illegal” and should not be taken into consideration.

In December 2010, Raheem created a self-described “lawyers’ forum”, called the Movement to Protect the Dignity of the Prophet; according to the New York Times, the group produced a petition in support of Qadri which was signed by a 1,000 lawyers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Members of the group also reportedly ”greeted Mr. Qadri’s… court appearances by throwing rose petals”. The NY Times noted:

…The lawyers’ stance is perhaps just the most glaring expression of what has become a deep generational divide tearing at the fabric of Pakistani society, and of the broad influence of religious conservatism — and even militancy — that now exists among the educated middle class.

They are often described as the Zia generation: Pakistanis who have come of age since the 1980s, when the military dictator, Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, began to promote Islam in public education and to use it as a political tool to unify this young and insecure nation.

Raheem has also turned his attention to the internet and the US embassy; the Express Tribune reported in May that:

Margalla police station registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Facebook and three other websites under sections 295-A and 298-A of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on the directions of Additional Sessions Judge Kamran Basharat Mufti. The application had been submitted by the Namoos-e-Risalat Lawyers Forum (NRLF).

One of the complainants, Advocate Rao Abdur Rahim, told The Express Tribune that they had been informed in July 2011 that Facebook and a few other websites had been posting ‘blasphemous’ posts on their websites and the material was being uploaded from inside Pakistan.

…”We gave three applications: one against Payam TV for telecasting a movie ‘Yousaf’, one against Facebook and three other websites and one against the US embassy in Islamabad for organising a gathering of gays and lesbians,” the petitioner said.

Yousaf is actually an Urdu television serial, telling the Koranic version of the story of the Biblical Joseph. Episodes can be found on YouTube.

Raheem has a Facebook page, consisting for the most part of jpegs of urdu documents. His group also has a Facebook page, under the spelling “Namos E Risalat Lawyers“, where a booklet in support of Pakistan’s blasphemy law has been posted. Hypocritically, both pages carry material condemning the violence of militant Buddhist monks in Burma (a subject I looked at here).

There’s also a YouTube channel related to the group, under the name “nrlfp50″ (The booklet on the group’s Facebook page includes a reference to a website, “nrlfp.com”, which is currently defunct). One of the videos posted is footage of a rally in support of the murderer Qadri:

UPDATE (2 September): Rimsha had been handed over to the police by a local imam; the AFP reported on 24 August:

Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, the imam of the mosque in the Islamabad suburb of Mehrabad, insisted he had saved the girl, Rimsha, from mob violence by handing her to police but said the incident arose because Muslims had not stopped local Christians’ “anti-Islam activities” earlier.

Yesterday, it was reported that Chishti “has called for the law to be followed to its conclusion, even if that means the girl is executed”. However, his enthusiasm for having alleged blasphemers executed may perhaps now have cooled somewhat:

Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti appeared in court on Sunday after witnesses claimed to have seen him adding pages of the Qur’an to a bag of ashes Rimsha Masih had been carrying away for disposal last month in order to strengthen the case against her.

…Tahir Naveed Chaudhry from the All Pakistan Minority Committee said it had always maintained that evidence was planted on her.

“And now it is proved that the whole story was only designed to dislocate the Christian people,” he said. “He must be prosecuted under the blasphemy law as it will set a precedent against anyone else who tries to misuse that law.”

Rao’s bloodlust, though, remains undiminished:

“Our case is totally separate from the case against Chishti,” he said. “The man who accused him of adding pages from the Qur’an also confirmed that Rimsha burned a book containing verses from the Qur’an.”

Related articles

Islamic Terror In Nigeria

by The Age of Blasphemy, posted in Islamic Terror, Religious barbarity, Religious Fundamentalism, Religious Terror, Sectarianism

Nigeria’s descent into holy war

A wave of terrorist violence across Nigeria has raised fears of an alliance   between the Islamist Boko Haram movement and al-Qaeda‘s franchise in the   Sahara. Colin Freeman reports from the Boko Haram stronghold of   Maiduguri.

Cars allegedly destroyed in army reprisals against residents of Maiduguri for failing to alert them to Boko Haram attacks

Cars allegedly destroyed in army reprisals against residents of Maiduguri for failing to alert them to Boko Haram attacks Photo: TOM SAATER/DEMOTIX
Colin Freeman

By , Maiduguri

7:30AM GMT 08 Jan 2012

Like many other Christian outposts in the spiritual homeland of Nigeria‘s   “Taliban”, the Victory Baptist Church in the northern desert city   of Maiduguri no longer just relies on God for protection.

A modest whitewashed spire in a skyline dominated by mosques, for the last   month it has had a military guard to defend it from Boko Haram, the militant   local Islamist sect blamed for a string of terror attacks nationwide in   recent weeks.

The soldiers in the sandbagged machinegun nest outside the church, though,   were unable save three members of the flock last week.

On Wednesday evening, three days after Boko Haram ordered all Christians to   leave Muslim-dominated northern Nigeria for good, Ousman Adurkwa, a   65-year-old local trader, answered the door of his home near the church to   what he thought was an after-hours customer. Instead it was two masked   gunmen.

“They shot my father dead, and then came for the rest of the family,”   Mr Adurkwa’s other son Hyeladi, 25, told The Sunday Telegraph the   following day. “One chased my brother Moussa and killed him, and the   other shot at me, but my mother took the bullet in the stomach instead.”

Hyeladi spoke as weeping parishioners gathered for an impromptu memorial   service in the Adurkwa family compound, where the parlour carpet was still   stained with blood from the gunshot wound suffered by Mrs Aduwurka, 50, who   now lies in hospital.

But while the sermon from the local pastor, Brother Balani, urged “prayers   for those who God has taken away, and comfort for those who remain”, it   diplomatically avoided the more earthly question of who actually did it.

For one thing, no-one can be sure the killing was not simply the result of a   private feud. And for another, Boko Haram, whose name means “Western   education is sinful”, and which wants hardline Sharia law across the   whole of Nigeria, has a track record of killing anyone who points the finger   at them publicly.

Yet some of the Adurkwa family’s neighbouring Christian households have   already made up their mind, fleeing the district for fear they might be next.

“We are going through a very difficult time because of Boko Haram,”   said Joseph Adams, 30, who lives nextdoor to the Aduwurkas. “Two weeks   ago a nearby church was also burned down, and nine other Christians have   been killed. Now all the houses around me are emptying.”

Whether such killings really do herald the start of a pogrom of Christians   remains in dispute. The Nigerian government, which is facing criticism for   failing to curb Boko Haram’s reign of terror, insists last week’s threats   were simply bluster, despite the deaths of some 23 Christians in two further   attacks elsewhere in northern Nigeria on Thursday and Friday.

What is less in doubt is the alarming evolution of the sect, which has   progressed from using machetes and poisoned arrows in its infancy to   sophisticated carbombs and Mumbai-style mass gun attacks today.

Started as a religious study group in Maiduguri more than 15 years ago, it   first took up arms under the leadership of a firebrand former civil servant,   Mohammed Yusuf, and focused its wrath mainly against the Nigerian   government, which it accused of neglecting the dirt-poor Muslim north.

Today, however, it is believed to be morphing into a new pan-African jihadist   franchise, forging links with both al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb, which   operates in the vast Sahara region north of Nigeria, and al-Shebab in   Somalia.

Last August, in what diplomats fear may signal a campaign against Western   interests in oil-rich Nigeria, it killed 24 people with a car bombing of the   United Nations building in the capital, Abuja.

But what is causing even more worry is its parallel lurch into more sectarian   violence, aggravating historic tensions between the Christian south and the   Muslim north, and potentially destabilising West Africa’s biggest and most   powerful nation.

That new agenda was spelt out with a brutal sense of occasion on Christmas   Day, when a car bomb killed 42 worshippers at morning mass at St Theresa’s   Catholic Church in Madalla, just outside Abuja.

Among the bereaved was Steady Esiri, who rushed to the scene to find a charred   corpse wearing the distinctive Sunday best dress of his pregnant wife Uche,   26. Her eight-month old foetus had been torn from her womb.

“We were supposed to attend Mass together, but I was busy and planned to   go the evening service instead,” he said. “Then I heard a huge   explosion, and when I rushed here I recognised her dress. She was a   wonderful woman, a perfect housewife, now I will have to start my life   again. What kind of people do this for political ends?”

For the Reverend Isaac Achi, who feared his 3,500 strong congregation might   carry out reprisals against local Muslims, it was cause for a heartfelt   sermon the following day reminding them of the Christian virtue of   forgiveness.

“I told them revenge would just increase the number of souls dying on   both sides,” he said last week, looking out over church’s wrecked   facade, where Christmas decorations still hung lopsidedly. “But if the   government cannot stop this kind of thing, I will be worried about the   future of Nigeria.”

For some Christian leaders, however, the time for meekness is over. In   comments that angered Muslim leaders, the president of the Christian   Association of Nigeria, the Reverend Ayo Oritsejafor, branded the attacks a “declaration   of war” against Christians, and warned that they would “have no   choice but to respond appropriately ” if the authorities failed to stop   them.

Responding to the crisis last weekend, Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan,   declared a state of emergency throughout selected northern areas, including   Maiduguri, a dusty frontier town near the border with Chad.

Troops, tanks and pick-up trucks of menacing-looking plain clothes police have   flooded the city’s sandy, unpaved boulevards, where motorbikes – long the   favourite method for Boko Haram’s hit and run attacks – have long been   banned. Nevertheless, an air of menace remains, with the 6pm curfew enforced   not just by the soldiers, as by the knowledge that the sect generally mounts   attacks from late afternoon onwards. When The Sunday Telegraph   visited last week, explosions and gunfire were heard during the hours of   darkness.

Pacifying the city has been made harder by the local hostility to the security   forces, whose heavy-handed approach has won few hearts and minds over the   years.

In 2009, more than 700 people were killed when troops fought a five day battle   against Boko Haram followers which culminated in the capture of their   leader, Mr Yusuf. But the government’s victory was marred by reports that he   was summarily executed in police custody, a move that galvanised Yusuf   supporters to regroup, and put some locals off cooperating with the   authorities.

Last week, The Sunday Telegraph saw one street littered with burned out   cars – allegedly set fire to by soldiers after locals failed to warn them of   a bomb attack.

“They were angry because we did not give them any information,” said   one man, afraid to give his name. “But if we do, the sect will come   after us. We’re stuck in the middle.”

Maiduguri, however, is not the only flashpoint city in the region, and nor do   Muslim extremists have a monopoly on aggression. In the religiously mixed   city of Jos, north of Abuja, Christians are held equally to blame for   clashes that have claimed several thousand lives in the last decade alone.

The city, said to be an acronym for “Jesus Our Saviour”, sits atop a   balmy plateau that provides prime farming land and was once a favoured   retreat for British colonials escaping the humid malarial climes of coastal   Lagos. But it is jealously regarded as a historic fiefdom by the Christian   Berom tribe, who still view the Muslim Hausas who came here a century ago as   interlopers, despite having sold them much of their land.

On a walk through Jos’s Bukuru district, scene of Muslim-Christian clashes   which claimed 150 lives two years ago, the conflicting visions become clear.   While the two groups still live side by side in dense shanty towns, patches   of no-go-areas abound for each, and no two accounts of how 2010’s bloodshed   arose are alike.

“It is the Berom who cause the problems, trying to get their land back,”   said Mohamed Yakuba, 32, gesturing to a row of burned-out houses where his   father and eight other relatives died during the clashes.

True, he is still on good terms with his Berom neighbour John Jang, who also   lost his home. But when asked for his version of events, Mr Jang insists: “The   Birom were simply retaliating for attacks that the Hausa started.”

Yet while most Berom and Hausa still muddle along together in every day life –   urged on by street posters saying “Stop this wickedness” – some of   the Jos’s politicians have a less compromising view. None more so than Toma   Davou, 73, the Scripture-quoting leader of the Berom parliamentary forum,   who greets foreign visitors to Jos by saying “Welcome to Beromland”.

“The Hausas want to push us out, and although it is about land   occupation, they say it is religious so that they can get the sympathy of   Saudi Arabia and al-Qaeda,” said Mr Davou. “Christians should arm   to the teeth to meet this threat from them and Boko Haram.”

Mr Davou is now campaigning for Nigeria to divide into separate Muslim and   Christian states, a move that for many would evoke memories of the Biafran   civil war of the 1960s.

The Nigerian government dismisses such talk, pointing out that the vast   majority of its 150 million citizens get on with one another peaceably, but   there is less clarity on the remedy for Boko Haram and al Qaeda, its new   ally.

Some Nigerian officials even question whether the sect really exists, saying   much of the havoc in Maiduguri is the work of criminal gangs who use its   name to frighten people.

But others are convinced that Boko Haram’s relationship is indeed having a   fledgling relationship with al-Qaeda – not least Robert Fowler, a Canadian   diplomat kidnapped by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb while serving with the   UN in Niger in 2008.

The gang who held him in the Sahara for 130 days repeatedly told him of their   aim to destroy governments across central Africa as a precursor to   establishing a pan-African caliphate. And among their number, they also   included a Nigerian.

“It would be an obvious partnership to form, even if there isn’t any hard   evidence yet,” Mr Fowler said. “The world should be worried,   because Nigeria is a huge country, and if it implodes it will take the rest   of West Africa with it.”

https://theageofblasphemy.wordpress.com/ Related articles

When Christians Themselves Become Victims of Blasphemy Laws

by The Age of Blasphemy, posted in Catholic Censorship, Catholic Fascisim, Catholic Fascist, Catholic Terror, Human Liberty, Islamic Terror

As Catholic theocon fascists ally with Xtian and Jewish extremists to instigate oppressive neo-blasphemy laws throughout the world, with cruel and karmic irony, the same religionists have become victims of blasphemy laws themselves!

This, demonstrated by the woeful tale of a Roman Catholic woman Aasia Bibi, sentenced to death on the mere whiff of so-called blasphemy, languishing in prison and targeted for assassination by insane, religious zombies.

Dumb as mud, ignorant, illiterate fanatics claiming to be the workers and conscience of a supreme mind.

Security risk: ‘Jailed blasphemy accused under threat’

Militants planning to launch suicide attack at Aasia Bibi’s prison, intelligence reports say.

LAHORE: A group of militants is planning to launch a suicide attack at the prison where Christian blasphemy convict Aasia Bibi is being held, according to an intelligence report issued last week, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Aasia Bibi is being kept in the Sheikhupura district Jail, where the Punjab police and jail authorities have beefed up security following this report and the murder of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. The terrorist group, according to the intelligence report, calls itself “Moaviya group”.

According to official figures, 131 people are being held in jails across Punjab on blasphemy charges. Eleven of them have been sentenced to death, including Aasia Bibi.

As many as 35 people, who were accused of committing blasphemy or defending them, have been killed between 1990 and 2011, including Taseer. They were all killed in either extra judicial killings or found dead in prison under dubious circumstances.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6th, 2011.