<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Here's a hint to the west. Catch the Iranians on one of their Shia-j-hadi terrorism or hostage-taking or whatever. Not on their justified defense of the sovereignty of their borders or their taking action to teach the non-innocent transgessors not to do it again. Grief. No one gets my sympathies by tresspassing and then whining that they got caught for it and did a little (possibly scary?) time.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
USA is already doing. They had caught couple of Iranian so-called workers or terrorist handlers in Northern Iraq. I think they had made a deal by releasing Iranian diplomat whom they had caught last month. It seems Bush blinked to save Tony.
I was reading Iranian blogs, they are not happy with Iranian stand and they don't believe fake confession on TV. Either President Ahmadinejad after losing local election is trying to gain local support or it was just a ploy to get their diplomat back or nuclear blackmail.
Whatever, UK and US blinked, same happened in case of China when Bush said "Sorry".
Note: later I will move iraq/iran related post, will merge with Iraq thread.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE, APRIL 3, 2007
COMMENTARY
<b>The Trouble With Islam </b>
By TAWFIK HAMID
April 3, 2007; Page A15 <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
article posted by Kaushal is causing lot of heart burn in so called "secular" muslim camp. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Now they are showing their real color.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Western appeasement of their Muslim communities has exacerbated the problem. During the four-month period after the publication of the Muhammad cartoons in a Danish magazine, there were comparatively few violent demonstrations by Muslims. Within a few days of the Danish magazineâs formal apology, riots erupted throughout the world. The apology had been perceived by Islamists as weakness and concession.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
we can see this is happening in India.
Another example of barbaric religion. <b>Malaysia's Islamic officials seize baby from mother who sought a Hindu life</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Revathi, 29, was born to Indian Muslim parents who gave her a Muslim name, Siti Fatimah. However, Revathi claims she was raised as a Hindu by her grandmother and changed her name in 2001, said Chong Eng, an opposition member of Parliament.
Revathi married Suresh Veerappan in 2004 according to Hindu rites. The marriage has not been legally registered because Suresh would have had to convert to Islam first.
Revathi's official identification documents state she is Muslim because Malaysians who are born as Muslims cannot legally convert.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
04-07-2007, 04:30 AM (This post was last modified: 04-07-2007, 04:33 AM by Husky.)
Malaysia really is a nightmare country (aka dar-ul-islam). It's even horrible to <i>muslim</i> women, so it's little surprise that it treats kafir Hindus in such a manner.
Much of Sharia is also implemented in neighbouring Indonesia. The following image is from that Wall Street Journal article 'The Trouble With Islam' that Kaushal pasted above in #159 (that article requires login at WSJ, but is reproduced here).
<img src='http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/040307caning.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Caption: A sharia official canes an Indonesian woman for "unlawful contact with an unmarried man."
Praise be to islam which brings equality of men and women, and promotes PEACE and harmony and mutual respect and happiness... What further proof is necessary?
(Also look at the 'sharia official' in the image - he's dressed a little reminiscent of a medieval christian executioner.)
WitSSel et al, after reading the article Mudy posted above in #164 titled 'Malaysia's Islamic officials seize baby from mother who sought a Hindu life' are cheering for how well it makes their point: 'told you those Hindootvadis were evil... look at how the Hindoo was trying to raise her legally-muslim baby as a kafir! How dare she!!!!!!'
And after seeing the image in the Wall Street Journal article of the poor muslimah woman getting caned, WitSSel and his possy felt they had scored another point: 'Look, we <i>did</i> say that islam was a great religion and isn't at all intolerant or repressive. See how well it treats its women. This is why we proudly joined FOSA, our Paki comrades of equally impeccable islamic character.'
Police arrested 7 muslims in Alwar, Rajasthan for forcibly trying to convert a Hindu labourer's family who worked on their farms. The farm owner and Maulvi are on the run.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>RSS man killed in Tirur, CPM-NDF clashes NDF attacks police station</b>
By S. Chandrasekhar
Unprecedented in the post-emergency history of Kerala, terrorist NDF men, numbering 500, attacked the Kottakkal Police Station in Malappuram district trying to forcibly release NDF leaders T. Abdurahiman Baqavi and A. Sayeed kept in preventive custody. In the early seventies, during the height of Naxalism, there had been a police station attack in Kayanna which was led by Ajitha, Varghese, Philip M. Prasad etc.
Tirur in Malappuram district has, of late, been witnessing clashes between RSS and NDF. Two months back swayamsevak Revi was hacked to death by two pillion-riding NDF extremists. Later an NDF man was killed. On March 16, two pillion-riding terrorists hacked and killed swayamsevak Lakshmanan (47) as he was coming out of his shop at Othukungal, near Kottakkal at 6.30 pm. After the first murder, Chief Minister V.S. Atchudanandan visited Reviâs house and at the all-party meet RSS-BJP agreed to maintain restraint, despite the gravest provocations by NDF. The NDF has purchased, with Pak ISI money, several estates having hundreds of acres of land and is giving weapons training to its cadres. NDF men have been provided with latest bikes and cell phones. Now after the murder of Lakshmanan, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan visited his house and shared grief with his family members. Police were given instructions to arrest the trouble-makers and several NDF big-wigs including its president T. Abdurahiman Baqavi and former president A. Sayeed were arrested and kept in Kottakkal Police Station.
<b>In the early hours of 22nd, around 2 am, around 500 NDF men in 48 cars and hundreds of bikes stormed the Kottakkal Police Station and started attacking the policemen on duty. Glass panes, furniture and official documents were destroyed. Police jeeps in the compound were set on fire. The Circle Inspector Mohanachandran Nair and three M.S.P. constables were seriously injured.</b> The private car of the Dy. S.P. Varghese was also destroyed. The NDF men were armed with swords, iron-rods etc. many of which were ornately decorated and imported.
Based on SOS through police wireless, reinforcements arrived from police camps and they resorted to lathi-charge and tear-gas shells to disperse the mob. Around 28 extremists were rounded up and remanded. The weapons and the vehicles used by the terrorists have been seized.
Tirur is also witnessing clashes between the CPM and IUML. The peculiarity of the situation is that the cadres of the NDF are drawn from all parties i.e. CPM, Congress and Muslim League. Following the Tirur violence, 150 IUML cadres were arrested by the police. In protest IUML laid siege on Tirur Police Station. Several CPM and IUML workers have been attacked in continuing clashes and houses destroyed. Moreover the Hindu cadres of CPM, seeing its pro-Muslim stance, are allying with RSS to take on the IUML-CPM-NDF gang-up.
In order to please the Muslim fringe outfits, which it befriended, prior to polls, the CPMâs Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan ordered raids on several karyalayas of RSS especially in Palakkad, Kozhikode and Malappuram. Several leading citizens who are officiating as Sanghachalaks, Pracharaks and Karyakartas were taken to police stations and kept under preventive custody. Midnight knocks and raids, reminiscent of the emergency days were enacted. The RSS and Parivar organisations marched to Kozhikode Police Commissionerâs Office and S.P. Offices in other districts to protest the raids. Sah-Prant Karyavah Gopalankutty Master addressed the march in Kozhikode. In a related incident BJYM marchers led by state president K. Surendran, who were protesting taking of ADB loans were beaten blue and black, even by women police in Kozhikode!
The NDF has tied up with Karnataka for Dignity (KDF) and Manitha Neethi Pasarai (MNP) of Tamil Nadu to form Popular Front of India (PFI). Its âEmpower Indiaâ Conference at Bangalore, recently, wanted Muslim bodies in the North to emulate NDF, which has been successfully challenging RSS and CPM in Kerala, and instilling confidence into Muslims.
The BJP state president P.K. Krishnadas has called for a special task force to crush the terrorists in Kerala. He said despite warnings of Defence Minister A.K. Antony, NSA M.K. Narayanan, Army, Navy, Air Force, coast guard, RAW, IB etc. political outfits, both LDF and UDF are pampering anti-nationals for vote banks.
04-12-2007, 07:07 AM (This post was last modified: 04-12-2007, 07:11 AM by Bodhi.)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->MUMBAI/BHOPAL: In an unusual development, Bombay High Court and MP High Court came to the rescue of a Muslim-Hindu couple, Mohammed Umer and Priyanka Wadhwani, who were facing death threats allegedly from Bajrang Dal after their marriage.
On April 2 Priyanka and Umer left Bhopal for Mumbai. The next day Umer underwent shuddhikaran (purification ceremony) and converted to Hinduism after changing his name to Umesh. The same day they got married in a traditional Hindu ceremony.
...
In Bhopal, Bajrang Dal activists took to the streets, clashing with a large contingent of police, including RAF and SAF personnel, deployed in old city for protection of the minority community.
The saffrong outfit has called for Bhopal bandh on Thursday. Bajrang Dal has also announced formation of a Hindu Kanya Raksha Samiti for the protection of Hindu girls following two recent cases of inter-communal elopement.
Incidentally, Umer's family is not ready to accept him as a Hindu. His father, Shafiq Pathan, said, "Since he has converted, let him live with his wife wherever he wants to. Let him not come here and disrupt our lives." Two of Pathan's sons are married to Hindu girls who converted to Islam.
"His first son, Akeel, had eloped with the daughter of an ex-Dgp. The officer left town and didn't return. His second son Shakeel eloped with a judge's daughter. If two Hindu girls can convert to Islam and live in his house, why can't he accept Umar as a Hindu?" asked a Bajrang Dal man. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/In...094,curpg-2.cms
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
and here is the complete news. Reason why Bajrang Dal is raising the issue is because there are repeated frequent incidents of this nature. So why are Hindu girls so interested in marrying a non-Hindu? And the conversion of the groom to Hindu is genuine? If yes, then acceptable?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->दà¥à¤µà¥à¤à¤¦à¥à¤° रावत, पà¥à¤°à¥à¤µ à¤à¤¿à¤²à¤¾ सà¤à¤¯à¥à¤à¤ बà¤à¤°à¤à¤ दल : यह मामला पà¥à¤°à¥à¤® विवाह à¤à¤¾ नहà¥à¤ धरà¥à¤® परिवरà¥à¤¤à¤¨ à¤à¤¾ हà¥à¥¤ वॠमधà¥à¤¯à¤ªà¥à¤°à¤¦à¥à¤¶ मà¥à¤ बनॠधरà¥à¤®à¤¾à¤¤à¤°à¤£ à¤à¤¾à¤¨à¥à¤¨ à¤à¥ तहत पहलॠधरà¥à¤® परिवरà¥à¤¤à¤¨ à¤à¤°à¥à¤ à¤à¤° यह यà¤à¥à¤¨ दिलाà¤à¤ à¤à¤¿ विवाह à¤à¥ बाद à¤à¥ वॠहिà¤à¤¦à¥ बनà¥à¤ रहà¥à¤à¤à¥à¥¤ सिरà¥à¤« शादॠà¤à¥ लालठमà¥à¤ धरà¥à¤® परिवरà¥à¤¤à¤¨ à¤à¤°à¤¨à¤¾ ढà¥à¤à¤ हà¥, à¤à¤¿à¤¸à¥ à¤à¥à¤ à¤à¥ सà¥à¤µà¥à¤à¤¾à¤° नहà¥à¤ à¤à¤°à¥à¤à¤¾à¥¤
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Bajrang Dal city convenor Devendra Ravat says the opposition is not to love marriage, but to conversion. Will someone believe that a Muslim can renounce Islam for sake of marrying a Hindu girl? This is hard to believe open fraud which cannot be accepted. The Muslims must first convert as per the MP Religious Conversion Act, live like a Hindu, convince Hindus, then marry.
Second insident in Bhopal within a few days. Both cases girls are from rich Hindu families.
So, it is because of convenience that they convert to Hindu and marry in Arya Samaj. If girl has to convert to Islam, it takes more than a month and in the meanwhile the family gets an upper hand. However in Arya Samaj, it is a matter of minutes. Then they will go back and live like Muslims. Who is there to stop? This fellow's two elder brothers have married Hindu girls, from affluent families.
Hindu organizations to protest in Bhopal. But what use? First change your life style, give your children values of sanatan dharma, stop feeding them westernized psec education.
Not sure whether Arya Samaj give certificate. But I think before marriage he must have changed religion.
Now he had to follow Hindu marriage act. He can't have 2 wives, unless and until he join politics.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"His first son, Akeel, had eloped with the daughter of an ex-Dgp. The officer left town and didn't return. His second son Shakeel eloped with a judge's daughter.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->After the court order in favour of Umar left little scope for arm-twisting, Bajrang Dal convener Devendra Yadav targeted Hindu priests who solemnised such marriages.
He said <b>Umar and Rehanâs conversion was âincompleteâ as they had not given a monthâs notice,</b> mandatory under Madhya Pradeshâs anti-conversion law. Apparently, <b>priests are also expected to give a 15-day notice</b>.
....
Left with few options, love-struck Muslim boys have now started changing their faith. But Syed Yusuf Zai, an influential leader of the Jamait-e-Ulema, doesnât see this trend as a healthy one. âAny conversion that is driven by a motive other than love for God is improper.â
04-13-2007, 04:09 PM (This post was last modified: 04-13-2007, 04:18 PM by Husky.)
And the next round:
(My many and wordy comments in purple.)
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070111/2/121be.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Friday April 13, 10:12 AM
<b>Sheik says he's more Aussie than the PM</b>
Controversial Muslim cleric Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali has declared himself more Australian than Prime Minister John Howard.
Speaking to The Australian newspaper from Istanbul, the mufti also vowed to return to Sydney next week to weed out the "foxes" who had accused him of using donations raised by Australians to support proscribed terror groups in Lebanon, such as Hezbollah.
The Australian Federal Police is investigating $70,000 raised by the Sydney-based Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) and handed out in Lebanon by Sheik Alhilali.
LMA president Tom Zreika has said allegations have been made in the Muslim community that Sheik Alhilali gave some of the money to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
"When I get back to Sydney, I will be asking how this money was accounted for," Sheik Alhilali told the newspaper.
"I get accused in the media of spending the money, but at the end of the day I don't know how the money was spent.
"I was just writing down the names on a piece of paper."
(And the Lame Excuse award goes to...)
<b>Sheik Alhilali said his widely criticised remarks supporting the hardline Iranian regime were meant to encourage world peace.</b>
Both the government and opposition called for the sheik to be sacked and to leave the country after he called on Australian Muslims to back Iran's hardline regime.
Sheik Alhilali told the newspaper he had <b>spent 50 years promoting peace</b> and accused the prime minister of running a dictatorship.
(Who writes Hilaly's public addresses anyway - Indian communists? It's so full of double-speak... Islamics in the west are really playing the liberals using the much-appreciated vocabulary of friendly words. All the right and proper words. But they're just words - the faithful are allowed to lie for allah's grand purpose.)
"It's a disgrace for the leader of a democratic country to be picking on religious people, especially one who is practicing a form of dictatorship that could almost be Saddam Hussein-like," Sheik Alhilali said.
(Cut the drama, queen Hilaly.)
<b>"I respect Australian values more than he does.</b>Â <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
"Australian people like peace and they like humanitarian welfare and they are attracted to just causes."
(And again, he's playing the Australians like a fiddle, talking down their natural fears through liberal use of placating words. Western people like to think everyone in the world just wants 'peace' and 'love' and to 'get along'. And his soothing statements seem to confirm that. How lovely, how reaffirming.
But just 'cause you want everyone to, doesn't mean others want to as well. Sometimes, people just need to face the facts: some ideologies want you either assimilated or dead. The dream is pretty and reality is not. But waking up to reality might just save you from a really ugly nightmare that can only end in death.)
<b>The sheik's comments saw Labor leader Kevin Rudd mount an uncharacteristic defence of the prime minister.
Mr Rudd blasted the controversial Islamic cleric, saying: "As you know, I'm not a natural supporter of the prime minister, but Mr Howard is as Australian as I am".</b>
"The sheik is out there, I think, just seeking crazy publicity, as he seems to do on a daily basis."
<b>Earlier this week, Iranian media quoted the mufti as urging Australian Muslims "to stand in the trenches with the Islamic Republic of Iran which possesses the might and the power".</b> <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Mr Rudd said the comments bordered on violating Australia's counter-terrorism laws because Iran supports the "global terrorist organisation" Hezbollah.
(Which Hilaly just donated money to.)
Both Mr Rudd and federal Industrial Relations Minister Joe Hockey called on Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock to review the mufti's Australian citizenship.
"My call to Mr Ruddock is to formally review whether or not Australia's counter-terrorism laws are in any way violated by these sorts of statements by the sheik," said Mr Rudd.
Mr Hockey said the mufti was using his position to turn Australian Muslims against the non-Muslim community.
"Yet again, he's trying to make a headline by saying something outrageous," he said.
<b>"But, of course, he's trying to elevate his position to create an 'us-versus-them mentality' in the Islamic community.
"That won't work.
"The great bulk of members of the Islamic community want to get rid of him.</b>
(The Ostrich Reflex. Why do western people think they know islam and its ummah better than sheikh Alhilaly and other muftis? Let's just forget the exhortions to j-had that mullahs keep making shall we, and forget the large gathering of islamic supporters. Australians know better.
It's only misguided westerners who say: 'muslims don't really want fundamentalism. They don't want sharia. They don't want hezbullah/AQ. They just want peace and love and to get along'. Meanwhile islamics make their position rather clear I thought by carrying placards reading 'allah will help us destroy america/uk/some other country'. True, some islamics after having been chastised for previous islamic outbursts learn their lesson and, like Hilaly, mouth Words of Peace afterwards just to throw people off guard.
The west needs to wake up. Or else I might actually be witnessing history in the making. Act 3: the end of the west, being acted out before my eyes.)
"I'm absolutely confident that Philip Ruddock will be looking at every comment made by the mufti," said Mr Hockey.
<b>Meanwhile, Sheik Alhilali's spokesman Keysar Trad has said the mufti's comments were born of frustration.</b>
(Not the famed apologist again. Is Trad getting paid enough for repeatedly bailing his islamic holy men out of the ditch they keep flinging themselves into?)
"To make these comments about John Howard, I think, indicates nothing more than the <b>frustration that many people in the (Muslim) community are feeling about the way we were regularly placed in the spotlight</b>," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
(Oh, it's 'cause of <i>frustration</i>! That explains it. Then it's okay; okay to support hezbollah, AQ, hitler, stalin - well, Indian reds already proudly support stalin without recourse to lame excuses like frustration/constipation/indigestion.
'Boohoo', goes the Australian ummah. 'Boohoo, we've been victimised.'
It couldn't <i>possibly</i> be because of something they said or did.)<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Is it a comedy or a tragedy. I think it may be the latter by the time the curtain falls.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Islam's enemy within
KPS Gill
Islam is in danger' has long been the call of Muslim charlatans and tricksters who seek political power through communal paranoia, and there have been many grey eminences in the sub-continent who have exploited this slogan and their community for petty political gains. The greatest of these, of course, was the atheist Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the architect of the sub-continent's worst bloodbath in the name of his ludicrous 'two-nation theory' and Muslim isolationism.
The purported danger to Islam is once again widely proclaimed by those who practice or set out to justify contemporary Islamist terrorism under the guise of a 'resistance' against the alleged global machinations of 'crusaders, Jews and Hindus'. With this fragile justification, a small group of extremists has declared a jihad against, it would appear, everything and everyone with whom they have the slightest disagreement, and these lunatics derive an illusion of great power from acts of wanton slaughter which can and will achieve nothing beyond a transient sense of shock in the victim communities.
There is, however, a very real sense in which Islam is, in fact, in grave - possibly existential - danger. Indeed, Islam may already long have succumbed to this danger; and what is being propagated today, particularly by the most vocal of Islamists, is no more than a parody of the teachings of the Prophet. Islamist fundamentalism and extremism are, today, above all, a war within and against Islam, though they may thrive on an anti-Western or (in the South Asian context) anti-Hindu rhetoric. A new 'priesthood' - essentially self-appointed, but immensely powerful - has now appropriated the 'right' to interpret Islam for the entire community, seeking to impose its will on all the 'faithful', and to punish all whom they label 'apostates', deviationists, sinners or unbelievers, with the use of extreme and arbitrary force.
This arrogation of the right to interpret Islam for all its adherents is, simply put, a violation of the most fundamental tenets of the Quranic creed. The 'priesthood' of Mullahs and Muftis and Ayotollahs is an un-Islamic and unlawful 'innovation' - a bida'at - that militates directly against the Prophet's teachings. The Prophet Mohammed was, in fact, a revolutionary who fought against the fundamentalist priesthood of his age and categorically rejected the very possibility of priestly intercession in the interpretation of the Faith. Jinnah - after he had exploited Islamist polarisation and the mullahs to the hilt - articulated the Islamic ideal: "Every person will be his own priest for there is no priesthood in Islam. There is no theocracy in Islam."
And yet, almost every Muslim majority country in the world is, today, veering towards theocracy. This is not surprising. Through history, priests have conspired with tyrants to perpetuate oppression - and contemporary Islamists are no different in their conspiracy to hold the large mass of Muslims in thraldom, where possible, directly, and otherwise, in collusion with a range of odious authoritarian regimes that secure their power overwhelmingly through the use of excessive and lawless force.
The rise of the Taliban and of various fundamentalist-extremist-terrorist formations such as the Jamaat-ud-Daawa / Lashkar-e-Tayyeba or the Khuddam-ul-Islam / Jaish-e-Mohammed, with the support of a succession of military dictatorships and pseudo-democratic regimes in the militarised state of Pakistan are obvious examples, and the disastrous consequences of this fundamentalist-authoritarian conspiracy in that ill-fated country are manifest. The hatred between Sunnis and Shias, between Deobandis and Barelvis and the multitude of other schools and sects within Islam, as well as against the entire 'other' world of the kafirs, is tearing the Muslim world apart, dragging it into a new 'dark age'.
I am no scholar of Islam, but I have read the Quran with interest. I also often watch the Quran Channel, as well as religious programmes on Pakistan TV - the cadences of the recitations from the Quran are most agreeable. But I am almost uniformly appalled by advisory programmes in which a mullah - and sometimes three mullahs - sit and declaim on the problems of the Faithful who write in to them, prescribing rituals and magical remedies to rid the unfortunate of the effects of 'jadu' or for diseases, and deriving some of the most absurd 'solutions' for social and psychological problems from doubtful 'traditions', most of which reflect nothing beyond prejudice, superstition and a range of values derived from the local culture, and that have little to do with the teachings of the Prophet. As with all priesthoods, submission is the one value that is emphasised above everything else - submission to patriarchal institutions, to an authoritarian state, and, above all, to religious authority - all, of course, cast into the language of 'submission to the will of Allah'.
For 400 years after the Prophet, Islam experienced a tremendous efflorescence, producing some of the great intellectual and scientific advances of human history. In the centuries thereafter, it has been in relentless decline. The ferment we witness today is not a sign of revival or reinvigoration, but a violent culmination of this long process of decline. It is the manifestation of a great faith fallen into sterility and self-destruction. It is the failure of the contemporary Muslim world to produce anything of great worth that feeds into its aggression and sense of 'victimhood', and these are compounded by the perversity of education and the general backwardness of the community. Islamist terrorism is not a war against America, against 'Western hegemony' or against 'Hindu expansionism', it is an act of suicide - much akin to the suicide bombers who have come to represent, in the popular mind, the worst of contemporary Islamism. This is a mad rush towards the abyss, the tragic denouement of a great religion being destroyed by the bigotry and petty-mindedness of its leaders and its priesthood. Despite the horror of individual deaths that terrorism naturally evokes, this should not frighten the world; it should, rather, evoke sympathy, if not pity, in us.
The traditions of the Prophet emphasised knowledge, above all else. "Worship, without knowledge," it is said, "has no goodness in it, and knowledge without understanding has no goodness in it." And further, "Acquire knowledge: It enables its possessor to distinguish right from the wrong, it lights the way to heaven; it is our friend in the desert, our society in solitude, our companion when friendless - it guides us to happiness; it sustains us in misery; it is an ornament among friends and an armour against enemies." These - and not the tyranny of the mullahs - were the values that produced Islam's golden age in history. Unless contemporary Islam rediscovers these essentials of the faith and is reformed at the most fundamental level, its decline will continue to its logical, inevitable and unfortunate conclusion.
Photo : REUTERSÂ
ANKARA (Reuters) - More than 300,000 Turks marched on Saturday to try to stop the ruling AK Party from picking Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as their presidential candidate next week because of his Islamist roots.
The AK Party has its background in political Islam, and a possible presidency headed by Erdogan has split this secular but predominantly Muslim country seeking European Union membership.
"Turkey is secular and will remain secular," shouted protesters as they waved national flags and banners of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, revered founder of the republic which separated religion and state.
Tens of thousands of people were bussed into the capital Ankara from across the country to attend the rally in Tandogan square, one of the biggest gatherings in recent years.
A police official told Reuters the figure of more than 300,000 protesters was being circulated on police radio. Some 10,000 police were on duty, but crowds were calm.
Many of the speeches attacked the United States and the EU, calling on Turks to defend their country -- echoing a rise in nationalism over the past year.
Tens of thousands of people waving flags and clutching portraits of Ataturk later gathered at his mausoleum, a place where Turks seek solace in times of tension.
Turkey's secular elite, which includes army generals, judges and university rectors, fear Erdogan as president would try to undermine Turkey's strictly secular state.
The AK Party has a big enough majority in parliament to elect Erdogan, or anybody else it chooses, to the seven-year post as head of state. The party's executive will meet to decide on their candidate on April 18, but senior AK Party member Egemen Bagis said he did not expect a final decision until around April 23. Parliament is due to vote in May.
"We're warning the deputies in parliament. We're worried that the secular character of Turkey will be removed if Erdogan or Bulent Arinc (AK Party member and parliament speaker) is elected president," said Huseyin Ozen, a retired teacher.
Erdogan denies any Islamist agenda and says he has broken with his past and is now a conservative democrat. Erdogan, who has presided over strong economic growth and the launch of EU entry talks, has not confirmed whether he will run.
While he is Turkey's most popular and charismatic politician, opinion polls suggest a majority of people in the country do not want him to become president.
LAST STAND
"We're here to defend the republic. We're here to defend the women's rights which Ataturk gave to us ... I hope Erdogan will not become president," said 28-year-old shop owner Sanem Erdem.
Bagis, lawmaker and advisor to Erdogan, said the march was proof of democracy and freedom of expression in Turkey but it did not reflect the opinion of most Turks.
"Opinion polls today say the AK Party would get more votes than in the last election in 2002," Bagis told Reuters.
Outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said on Friday the country's secular system of government faced its gravest danger since the founding of the republic in 1923, in comments seen as a direct attack against the AK Party.
The stark warning from Sezer, ahead of polls that could give Turkey its first head of state with Islamist roots, came on the heels of similar remarks by the powerful army chief on Thursday.
The army -- the most respected institution in Turkey according to opinion polls -- has ousted four governments from office in the past 50 years, most recently in 1997. It views itself as the ultimate protector of Turkey's secular identity.
Analysts say the rally will be the last chance to pressure the AK Party to pick a compromise candidate for head of state, a seat which carries great symbolic weight in Turkey.
The AK Party stress they are faithful believers in secularism, which combines a strict separation of state and religion but also carries heavy undertones of nationalism.
Critics say efforts by the AK Party to remove a ban on Islamic-style headscarves, to expand religious Islamic teachings, appoint religiously minded members to top positions in Turkey's bureaucracy point to the contrary.
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Posting all three news reports in full, since Yahoo Aus keeps changing the news each day, so links become obsolete real fast.
Islamic fire trail has spread to Berber Nation <b>Morocco</b>. Now it's starting to catch fire? Whole islamic world is destabilising fast.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070414/19/p/133u9.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Saturday April 14, 10:12 PM
<b>Two suicide bombers target US cultural centre in Morocco</b>
Photo : AFPÂ
CASABLANCA, Morocco (AFP) - Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a US cultural centre in Casablanca on Saturday, just days after similar attacks in the Moroccan port city.
The blasts came at the end of a week that suicide bombers also targeted neighbouring Algeria, including one attack on the prime minister's office in Algiers that had experts warning of a resurgence in militant activity in the region.
Saturday's attacks also coincided with a warning from the US embassy in Algiers that militants were planning further explosions at key locations including Algerian state television and the capital's central post office.
Moroccan security forces said Saturday's blasts occurred shortly after two men approached a policeman manning a checkpoint 100 meters (yards) from the Dar America cultural centre in Casablanca.
One asked for access to the building, but when asked for a reason, he and the other bomber set off their explosives, security officials said.
A woman passer-by was also injured in the blasts.
Other witnesses said that one of the men approached the US consulate, the other the cultural centre and blew themselves up one minute apart. Police are reportedly seeking a third man who was with the two suicide bombers.
On Wednesday, Moroccan police said they were hunting for some 10 possible suicide bombers, a day after three blew themselves up in Casablanca as they were pursued by police.
A police official said Saturday's incident was "a desperate act in response to the successful crackdown in recent weeks by the police and security services to dismantle terrorist cells".
One of the trio who killed themselves on Tuesday was the brother of a man who died in a March 11 explosion at a Casablanca Internet cafe that sparked the latest police operation.
<b>Saturday's blasts follow suicide bomb attacks at two locations in the capital of Algeria on Wednesday, killing 33 people and injuring more than 220. </b>
The attacks were claimed by a group calling itself Al-Qaeda's North Africa branch. One of the blasts tore the facade off the prime ministers' office in the city centre in what was seen as a defiant message to the government.
International terrorist expert Magnus Ranstorp, at the Swedish National Defence College, said earlier this week that the attacks in Algeria and Morocco were likely a backlash against a crackdown in the two countries on militants.
He said that after the authorities in Morocco and Algeria seemed to have "broken the back of the Islamist terrorist networks" these "two fronts have been re-energised, revitalised."
Part of the explanation could be, he said, "the severity of the crackdowns. That is what we are seeing today essentially: a sort of reaction to these offensives."
The US embassy warning on Saturday said that militants may be planning more attacks in the centre of Algiers.
"According to unconfirmed information, there may be attacks in Algiers planned for April 14, 2007 in areas that may include the Algiers Central Post Office ... and Algerian State Television Headquarters, ENTV.., among others," an embassy statement said.
<b>Casablanca was hit by suicide attacks in May 2003, which killed 45 people including the 12 bombers.</b>
In the 1990s Algeria was torn apart by violence as a result of a vicious civil conflit between Islamic militants and the military that was sparked after the authorities annulled an election that won by an Islamist group.
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Photo : AFPÂ
PARIS (AFP) - French authorities were on Saturday analysing a video obtained by a Canadian television network showing two French nationals taken hostage in Afghanistan, France's foreign minister said.
"We remain completely mobilised in Paris and in Afghanistan to obtain the release of the members of the group," minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said in a statement. "More than ever, our objective is to bring them back safe and sound."
Douste-Blazy confirmed the two kidnapped French nationals appear in the video, as well as three Afghans who were abducted with them. Paris says it has not received any demands from the kidnappers.
CBC public television reported late Friday that it had obtained a video of two French aid workers taken hostage in Afghanistan, in which they say they fear their lives may soon end.
It did not explain how it obtained the video, which gives the first glimpse of the kidnap victims since their abduction more than a week ago.
According to the network, the pictures show a young woman saying in a weak voice that she was a French volunteer worker kidnapped by the Taliban 10 days ago. The images then show a man who says his name is Eric.
Both the man and the woman make appeals for saving their lives, the report said.
The video also shows three Afghan men, blindfolded and shackled, who were the translators and driver with the French pair when they were taken.
At the end of the video, a glimpse can be seen of the heavily armed Taliban kidnappers.
The French aid workers, from the non-governmental organisation Terre d'Enfance (A World for Our Children), went missing on April 3 in the southwestern province of Nimroz.
(Truly secular, or missionary?)
The Islamist Taliban militia say they are holding the pair, along with three of their Afghan colleagues.
Concerns over the safety of the hostages mounted since the Taliban said on Sunday that they had beheaded an Afghan reporter whom they kidnapped with an Italian journalist a month ago in the southern province of Helmand.
The Taliban said it executed Ajmal Naqshbandi because the government failed to meet their demand to free rebel prisoners. However, Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo was freed in a hostage deal that saw five militants released from Afghan jails.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was criticised both within and outside Afghanistan for his controversial deal and has said that his government will not repeat the hostage trade with the Taliban.
French President Jacques Chirac has called Karzai to demand his support for efforts to free the French aid workers.
The rebels have also been holding five Afghan medics since kidnapping them in southern Kandahar province on March 27. The rebels on Monday threatened to kill at least one of the doctors unless the government enters talks.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> http://au.news.yahoo.com/070414/15/133um.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Saturday April 14, 09:47 PM
<b>Suicide bomber kills 8 in eastern Afghanistan</b>
KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up outside an Afghan police headquarters in the east of the country on Saturday, killing at least eight people, officials said.
Seven of those killed in the attack in Khost were border police and the eighth was a civilian, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Six police officers were also wounded.
<b>Taliban commander Mullah Hayatullah Khan told Reuters by phone</b> his insurgents had carried out the attack.
The Taliban have vowed to step up suicide bombings as fighting against U.S-led forces intensifies after the traditional winter lull.
Last year was the bloodiest since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 and many expect this year to be even more violent.
Several hundred civilians, scores of Taliban, dozens of Afghan forces, some aid workers and more than 30 U.S.-led troops have died so far this year.
The Taliban have also kidnapped three foreigners and several Afghans this year in a bid to press the government to release comrades from jail and to begin peace talks.
Taliban guerrillas said they had issued a video of two kidnapped French aid workers -- a man and a woman -- appealing to the Paris authorities to heed their captors' demands. They were abducted in an area of southwestern Nimroz province.
Civilian casualties are also mounting, some of them victims of NATO and U.S.-led fighting as well as of the Taliban and other insurgents through suicide bombings and executions.
On Saturday, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission issued a report saying U.S. marines who killed several civilians in apparently indiscriminate shooting after a bomb blast had acted illegally.
U.S. military authorities are still investigating, but the unit involved was called home early soon after the incident.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
04-15-2007, 02:11 PM (This post was last modified: 04-16-2007, 07:24 AM by Husky.)
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070415/2/1340p.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sunday April 15, 05:49 PM
<b>Pro-terror films banned within two weeks</b>
The federal government hopes it will be able to ban pro-terrorism films within a fortnight, following the classification of <b>a race hate DVD urging children to martyr themselves.
The film, which calls for the murder of infidels and describes Jews as "pigs", received a PG rating from the Office of Film and Literature Classification, making it suitable to be bought and watched by children.</b>
News of the classification brought swift condemnation from the federal opposition, the NSW government and the Jewish community, as well as by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.
The film is contained in a package of DVDs prepared by Australian-born Islamic cleric Sheik Feiz Mohammed, who is currently in exile in Lebanon, but reported to be<b> still preaching jihad to his Australian followers by telephone.</b>
<b>His film calls for the murder of non-believers in Islam's war on the west,</b> News Limited reported on Sunday.
Mr Ruddock said he had instructed his officials to seek agreement from the states within two weeks to urgently change censorship laws so that hate films praising terrorists could be banned.
He said Sheik Feiz's film "clearly advocates terrorism acts" but the classification authority suggested "the law did not give them sufficient capacity to refuse classification of this particular product".
(Existing laws aren't allowing for terrorist subversion and are turning Australia into Dhimmistan. They need to expand laws to deal with evil ideologies.)
The current test of whether a publication promoted, incited or instructed people to perform a criminal act was inadequate and material which advocated terrorism should be refused classification, he added.
Mr Ruddock said the states had agreed to toughen laws for material that praised terrorism following passage of federal terrorism legislation in 2005, but that there should be no further delays in the states enacting the changes.
If the states and territories continued to resist, as they had done for more than a year, then he might be forced to go it alone and make the relevant change to the Commonwealth's Classification Act, he said.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff said it was an "outrage" that such material could be allowed into the country.
"One has to seriously question the guidelines which allow such offensive material to be allowed into our country and be distributed," Mr Alhadeff said.
"For even one person to see this is one person too many because of the race hate that it preaches and the damage that can flow from that."
Mr Alhadeff said the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies would meet soon to consider making a formal complaint.
Acting NSW Premier John Watkins called on Prime Minister John Howard to take action to ensure the film could not be seen by children.
"It's disgusting and I advise any parent to ask their child not to go and see the film," he said.
Federal opposition legal affairs spokesman Senator Joe Ludwig said the PG rating was "completely unacceptable".
<b>"Mr Ruddock must explain how a Jihad video by Sheik Feiz Mohammed was given the same rating as The Neverending Story and Back to the Future parts 1, 2 and 3," Senator Ludwig said in a statement.</b>
(Islam's j-hadis know very well how to circumvent the system of host nations. It's their specialty.)
He said Mr Ruddock was one of only four people with authority to seek a review - the others being the publisher, the person who applied for classification and a person who has been seriously aggrieved by the material.
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<b>Police gaffe makes Muslims pray in wrong direction </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch police station trying to help Muslim detainees face Mecca for their prayers painted arrows in cells pointing in the wrong direction.
The Segbroek police station in The Hague borrowed the idea of putting compass marks on ceilings from an Amsterdam hotel, the Dutch daily De Telegraaf reported on Friday.
Muslims pray five times a day, facing east in the direction of Mecca. But the arrows in Segbroek pointed west.
"This is a really gigantic, stupid blunder," a police spokesman told the De Telegraaf.
<b>"The faulty compass marks have been immediately corrected. It is a mystery for us how this could have possibly happened."</b>
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Now Muslims had to do Namaj again <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Now they are showing their real color.
