Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG

Muslim gunman shouts 'Allahu Akbar' before 13 shot dead

Reports coming out of America suggest that soldiers who witnessed Major Nidal Malik Hasan gun down fellow soldiers in his crazed rampage at Fort Hood heard the him shout 'Allahu Akbar!', Arabic for God is great, before opening fire.

Chief Rabbi: fundamentalism heading our way 'with force of hurricane'

At Theos this week, the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks of Aldgate, took on the neo-Darwinists in a typically challenging and amusing lecture with many points for debate and interest. The lecture is now available as a podcast at TimesOnline.

The final question, on which my story in the paper was based, was asked by the BBC's Christopher Landau. He has a knack for asking good questions. Long-time readers here will remember that it was Christopher Landau who asked the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams about the introduction of Sharia into Britain on BBC Radio 4's World at One, and we all know what happened then!

Mohammed the Movie without Mohammed

As IMD reports, a $150 million movie about the Prophet Mohammed is underway. But because some influential parts of Islam forbid figurative representation, especially of the Prophet, the movie will not actually show the Prophet. Behind the project is Barrie Osborne who made one of my favourite movies of all time, The Matrix.

Tony Blair, change-maker

'Each was made to feel an outsider. Each stood out against the conventional teaching of the time. Each believed in the universal appeal of God to humanity. Each was a change-maker.'

Who is Tony Blair talking about here?

Answer below.

New primate warns of Muslim 'mass production' in Africa

The new primate of Nigeria Archbishop Nicholas Okoh has warned that Muslims are mass-producing children to take over Africa and are set on domination of the continent. 

To eat or not to eat during Ramadan

Ramadan can be a time of great spiritual renewal for Muslims. Non-Muslims can also have a 'taste' of fasting if they follow the recommendation of London mayor Boris Johnson, as I did last Friday, for this report. But pity the poor souls in Egypt, arrested last week for allegedly eating, drinking or smoking. In London last Friday it was pretty warm and whereas not eating was fine, not drinking for a whole day was pretty grim. Imagine what it must be like in Egypt where temperatures at this time of year top 40. 

Malay Muslims in cow's head protest face trial

This video shows a group of Muslim protesters threatening bloodshed and parading a severed cow's head through the streets unless the state government of Malaysia stops the construction of a Hindu Temple.

When segregation equals prejudice: a Muslim woman writes

Britain's Muslim community is in the news again, for all the wrong reasons. Richard Kerbaj wrote eloquently for The Times how Birmingham's top Muslim leader urged his followers to "vent their feelings" against anti-Islamic protestors at a rally that ended in violence and arrests. Sean O'Neill reports on the front today the story of the three British Muslims convicted of plotting to blow up seven transatlantic airliners. And inside the paper, Fiona Hamilton reports on fears of more clashes between Muslims and protestors as the anniversary of 9/11 approaches. I did a nice story on Saturday about Boris Johnson and his harmless suggestion that we all fast for a day during Ramadan, but a couple of weeks ago, the community was unjustly served when MP Jim Fitzpatrick walked out of a Muslim wedding because men and women were expected to sit separately. Would Fitzpatrick dare to do the same at a service at an orthodox synagogue, I wonder, where women and men sit separately? Has he no understanding whatsoever of the boundaries of respect that mark every religion, in particular in religious ceremonies such as weddings?

Non-Muslims should fast during Ramadan says Boris

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has said non-Muslims should fast and even go to mosque during Ramadan to enhance understanding of their Muslim neighbour. Boris, on a visit this morning to the East London Mosque, said: 'Whether it’s in theatre, comedy, sports, music or politics, Muslims are challenging the traditional stereotypes and showing that they are, and want to be, a part of the mainstream community. That’s why I urge people, particularly during Ramadan, to find out more about Islam, increase your understanding and learning, even fast for a day with your Muslim neighbour and break your fast at the local mosque. I would be very surprised if you didn’t find that you share more in common than you thought.'

Persecution Index 20: Pakistan

Simply horrendous suffering by the minority Christian community in Pakistan as shown on this video recorded in Gojra where five members of one family were burnt alive, including a child of seven.

To donate or venerate: blood and religious faith

 

Guest blog  by Anna-Marie Julyan 

Blood has symbolic meaning in many faiths, whether represented by wine as part of the Eucharist or avoided in food, while others regard it as sacred. The pressing need for blood donors was highlighted by World Blood Donor Day on Sunday, but how does it equate with religious belief?

International humanitarian organisation United Sikhs launched a campaign to get “the Sikh community to pledge their share of blood” in the UK, Canada and the USA.

Muslim appointed head of religion at BBC

Aaqil Ahmed, the innovative and interesting programmer responsible for Channel 4's recent Christianity: A History series, has been appointed the first Muslim head of religion at the BBC, as we report today.

British Muslims '100 per cent' against gay acts

The new Gallup Coexist Foundation poll out today on Muslim integration shows the huge gulf of understanding that exists in the UK between Muslims and non-Muslims. This seems to have little to do with religiosity, however, and to be more culturally based. Read our news report here.

'Mutual respect' is what the report called for, it says, but makes no recommendations on addressing, for example, the apparently universal abhorrence for homosexuality among British Muslims in particular.  

But more worrying is where it reveals the extent to which Britain's Muslims are not 'thriving'.

Girl aged 8 gets divorce from 50-year-old man

In Saudi Arabia, a girl of eight whose father gave her to a friend in settlement of a debt has been given a divorce at the third attempt.

As we report today, the case has reopened the debate in Saudi Arabia on whether a minimum age for marriage should be introduced. 'After the first two petitions failed, the Saudi newspaper columnist Amal al-Zahid wrote: “The trafficking of child brides — a most reactionary practice that takes us back to the days of concubines [and] slave girls” should be outlawed. She added that the country was incurring “behavioural abnormalities and problems of which only Allah knows”.'

This picture is not of the Saudi girl, who remains anonymous, but of a Yemeni girl, Nojoud Nasser, also married off at eight and now successfully divorced. Read on for her story.

Swine flu faith guide: 'You may need to suspend public worship'

Update: The revised Government guidelines for faith communities in the event of a flu pandemic are now available and the Church of England has published special prayers for swine flu. The Methodists have also issued guidelines.

What do you think this woman is doing, praying or blowing her nose, or perhaps multitasking and doing both at the same time?

Over the last 48 hours I've been receiving a few calls and emails from clergy and laity wondering where the guidance is for faith communities on swine flu, or perhaps that should be Mexican flu. In  the UK there are thousands of ministers of religion preparing for services this weekend, wondering what they should do. One can only assume the leaders of the established church are praying about it, for that would explain their silence. It does strike me as bizarre though that a national newspaper religion correspondent should be contacted by clergy seeking advice on what their leaders are thinking.

These are some of the questions I'm being asked: For Christians, should they suspend communion altogether, or suspend sharing of the communion cup? What about the hands of the minister if he has caught the infection, blessing and handing out the bread? In synagogues, where services are often followed by celebrations over food, should these go ahead?

No-one knows, and people everywhere seem to be in the dark about how seriously they should take this possible pandemic.

So in the spirit of Christian charity, I've done my best to help. Read on.

Deconstructing the Bible

Scholar and author Irene Lancaster this week launched in Prestwich the paperback of her authoritative book on the eleventh century Spanish Jewish thinker and Islam expert, Abraham ibn Ezra. Irene will be familiar to many readers of this blog. As Irene wrote in her introduction to a seminar on Ezra at Haifa university, Abraham ibn Ezra is regarded as one of the two or three greatest Jewish biblical exegetes: 'His oeuvre forms part of the ‘canon’ of religious Biblical scholarship. However, he was also a poet, philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, grammarian, mystic and seer, who felt it his mission to transmit his Spanish Sephardi culture to the ‘ignorant’ Ashkenazi Jews of northern Europe. In 1139-40, he left Spain for Rome and continued to Lucca, Verona, Mantua and other places in northern Italy. He then travelled through Provence and northern France, and finally reached England, where he is reputed to have been killed in an attack by ‘anarchic English hordes’ on his way up north from London.' 

Does any reader here happen to know where he might be buried?

UK Muslim scholar: 'Why women should be imams.'

This video shows Dr Taj Hargey talking to me at the offices of his lawyers in Fleet Street, the day after winning his libel action against The Muslim Weekly.  Read our news story in The Times. In the video, South African-born Dr Hargey explains why he believes women should be allowed to become imams. He is currently raising £2 million to build Britain's first progressive mosque, in Oxford, where he hopes to have a woman imam leading prayers for mixed congregations. In Friday's Times, Dr Hargey has a strongly-worded commentary attacking 'McCarthyism' in the Muslim community.

Persecution Index 19: Afghanistan

Sharia for Shias: 'Legalised rape'.

Tom Coghlan, reporting for The Times in Kabul, has been leaked the full text of  new laws in Afghanistan, under which a woman from the minority Shia community will not be able to leave the house without her husband's permission and cannot refuse him his marital rights. 'The wife is bound to preen for her husband, as and when he desires,' the law says. Catherine Philp reported on the oppression women face in Afghanistan back in 2004 and it seems to be getting worse, not better. A few days ago, Human Rights Watch called on President Obama to make protecting human rights a priority in his revised policy towards Afghanistan. Any US pressure on this doesn't seem to be working. According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women, the new law legalises the rape of a woman by her husband.

See also  Jeremy Page's report on what is happening with Sharia in Swat in northern Pakistan, where the government reached a truce with the Taleban in February. The video with the report shows a young girl crying in agony as she is beaten. She was accused of adultery but sources suggest her crime was to refuse to marry the military commander.

Muslims honour minister who stopped service to let them pray

Master musician and composer Ahmed Mukhtar, filmed here playing his oud and being interviewed in Rome, tonight won the Alhambra award for excellence in arts at the Muslim News awards dinner in London, where the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was the guest of honour. Of equal interest though was the award to the minister at St Giles cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh, who was honoured tonight for his outreach to Scotland's Muslims, and in particular for stopping a service after the Gulf War of 1991 to let Muslims pray in the cathedral.

Baroness Warsi: Britain's most powerful Muslim woman

Baroness Warsi, a Conservative shadow minister in the Lords, was last night named Britain's most powerful Muslim woman. There are two reports in The Times, in the paper and online, with the latter having more detail about a new Ipsos Mori poll on the attitudes, hopes and fears of Muslim women in Britain. Baroness Warsi was awarded the honour at a celebration dinner in Manchester for the first Muslim Women Power List, an initiative of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission in partnership with The Times and Emel, the Muslim lifestyle magazine. Riazat Butt, my colleague on The Guardian, was on the shortlist. As well as news reports she does a popular blog, Islamophonic, that always generates a stream of interesting comments. Her latest is on people who convert to Islam in Wales. 'I am told that people don't actually convert - that's what happens with lofts,' she writes.

Government could cut ties with Muslim Council of Britain over Hamas

As we report, the Government is threatening to sever its links with the Muslim Council of Britain because its deputy leader, Dr Daud Abdullah, is alleged to be a supporter of Hamas and was one of 90 signatories to a document last month backing Hamas and calling for 'jihad' against any, including presumably our own Royal Navy, who attempts to stop smuggling of arms into Gaza. Harry's Place has an excellent analysis of and background to this story. 'The exposure of one faux-moderate as an extremist creates a domino effect. You just watch for the statements of outrage, and of support for the poor maligned nutter, and you uncover their constituency,' writes David T. Irene Lancaster and The Frozen North have both picked up the story.

'They do not represent us,' say Muslims over Luton protests

The extraordinary protests by British Muslims in Luton against The Royal Anglian 2nd Battallion after the return of the troops from Iraq have led to widespread protests. Quite a few from religious ministers and groups have come in today. There could be a crackdown on the banned extremist group, al Muhajiroun, which sadly is probably what they were trying to provoke, giving them an 'excuse' for more extreme activities. What would Geert Wilders have to say about it? Maybe we will never know, as we won't let him into the country, for fear he stirs up civil unrest.

Hundreds expected at anti-sharia demo in London

One Law for All, the group that campaigns against the adoption of Islamic law or sharia in the UK, is planning a mass demonstration in the centre of London tomorrow, Saturday. 'We know we have a huge fight ahead and can only win if we do this together. We must mobilise a mass anti-racist movement that defends people's rights and lives and gives them precedence over culture and religion,' says organiser Maryam Namazie. The protest is timed to coincide with International Women's Day.

Appease the 'shame' of rape: 'Blow yourself up.'

This story in The Times today describes the woman suicide bomber recruiter Samira Jassim. Deborah Haynes in Iraq writes:

'A middle-aged woman suspected of recruiting more than 80 female suicide bombers has been arrested by Iraqi forces, a senior officer said today.

'Samira Ahmed Jassim, 51, confessed to dispatching 28 of the women to carry out attacks, said Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi, a Baghdad security spokesman. She was captured at an undisclosed location a fortnight ago.

'He played a video of the apparent confession at a news conference.

'Jassim, dressed in traditional, black Islamic robes, is shown appearing to confess to recruiting and training women to become human bombs.'

'Conspiracy' against Muhammad

The Times reported in 2007 that Muhammad was the second most popular name for new-born boys in Britain, beaten only by Jack. We prophesied that Muhammad in all its various spelling incarnations would soon hit the top spot. Just a year or so later, and as The Times now reports, Jack is still the most popular name, but Muhammad has dropped off the list completely. Archbishop Cranmer, to whom I offer thanks for this illustration and most of the comments below, suspects a conspiracy,

President of Iran delivers Channel 4 Christmas Message

Should we all suddenly be rather afraid? Channel 4 has invited the President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to deliver its alternative Christmas message. Our news story on this is now up. My first response was astonished incredulity that they could have done this. But on reading the message, it is clear there are even more serious concerns than the dangerous cupidity of Channel 4. The president's message could be read as nothing less than an invitation. Islam demands that an enemy be offered the chance to convert before being attacked. Am I reading too much into it? Please tell me that I am. Irene Lancaster has posted on this with some good links as to why we should be worried. The full message is below, after some of the reactions starting to come in.

Death in the streets as Christians flee

Horrific stories of ruthless killings on the streets of Jos in northern Nigeria are emerging. At least one church pastor was shot dead, along with three members of his household and an Augustinian monastery attacked, the abbot narrowly escaping death after a molotov cocktail was thrown into his room. The Church Times and The Economist have reports, with the latter reporting that mosques were also burned down. On Thursday I spoke to the Bishop of Jos, Dr Benjamin Kwashi. According to his eyewitness report, the violence was directed solely against Christians, with some Muslims shot by armed forces only when they broke curfew. Estimates vary, but it seems about 400 people might have been killed. While not lessening the horror of that atrocity, this is about twice the number killed in Mumbai.

Chief Rabbi: 'A perversion of the Abrahamic faiths'

The Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks has warned that hate is contagious and called for the love of God to be invoked to defeat those behind the Mumbai attacks. Speaking to me shortly before a memorial service in north London hosted by the United Synagogue and Chabad-Lubavitch UK to honour those killed in Mumbai, he said that if there was any religious motive behind the attacks, it represented the 'ultimate perversion' of the Abrahamic roots of the three faiths of Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Muslim country chooses Jewish ambassador

This is Huda Ezra Ibrahim Nunu, one of just 37 Jewish people living in Bahrain, who has been selected as that country's Ambassador to the United States.

Islam-Christian peace talks in Rome

As Richard Owen reports, senior Muslim and Christian scholars are meeting in Rome this week for a pioneering conference on the recent Common Word document in an attempt to build bridges between Christians and Muslims. On the eve of the conference, which began today with closed workshops and ends with a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI and public press conference on Thursday, I spoke to a senior member of the Muslim delegation, Ibrahim Kalin, about his hopes of what would emerge.

Photo of Prof Kalin by Plinio Lepri for AP.

Persecution Index 16: Somalia

Under Sharia law, a female has been stoned to death for adultery in Somalia. She was aged 13. The BBC's account this morning of her stoning, of her struggles as she was buried up to her neck in a crowded open air auditorium by 50 armed Islamists, was terrible. Many had risked their lives to bring this report to the West, via Amnesty International. But arms continue to flood into Somalia, where men in charge know with absolute certainty that they will never be held to account for their actions. This girl was alleged to have been married once and then married again, a course of action that even if it had actually happened in this case, is permitted only to men under Islam. (A state of affairs sanctioned in Britain by the benefits system, incidentally.) According to this girl's father,  however, she was too young and had never known a man or been married. She had been raped. She died, her face covered in blood, protesting her innocence. People in the crowds were heard shouting against the assassination. 'This is not good for Sharia,' they said. In their attempts at crowd control, the armed guards also shot and killed a young boy who was trying to see what was going on.

Murdered aid worker - new plans to help

The Woolf Institute in Cambridge is to hold a seminar in December to draw up guidelines for overseas aid workers where their charity represents a minority faith.

Sony's shameful surrender to Islam

Sony have given in to Islam. There had been barely a murmur of protest, but because the soundtrack to its new game LittleBigPlanet contained to Koran verses - including the line 'Every soul shall have the taste of death' - the manufacturers have withdrawn the game and are going to change the soundtrack. Frightened of the words being taken literally perhaps. ElderofZiyon has the details. This stinks, it really does. Regular readers of this blog will remember the story we broke about Sony's shoot-em-up game that showed a lethal gun fight in the nave of Manchester Cathedral. Manchester is a centre of gun crime and campaigning against this is a central plank of the cathedral's mission. Despite requests and protests from Christian groups, Sony refused to withdraw the game. Why so craven when it comes to Islam, so contemptuous when it comes to Christianity? My advice? Stick with Nintendo.

Nazir-Ali: there must be development in terms of doctrine

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, has just delivered a strong address to Gafcon where he managed to shift the focus of the conference from defensiveness one of a positive and combative engagement with 'militant secularism'. He was surprisingly moderate in talking about how doctrine should develop in terms of the local culture. Gafcon, he said, was a miracle. 'And if you are anything gathered here together, you are the beginnings, the miraculous beginnings we can even say, of an ecclesial movement for the sake of the Gospel and for the renewal of Christ's church.' He did not speak from a text. Gafcon say the transcript will be available shortly but meanwhile, here are some extracts from my own recording. Our news story is also now online.

Seven in ten marriages 'forced'

More than seven in ten marriages involving an English citizen and a spouse born in Asia could have an element of  'force or coercion' about them, according to document published today that contains some of the strongest language used by community leaders to date. The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal claims that forced marriages reflect a 'crisis that has loomed within the Muslim community without being noticed or dealt with for the past two decades.' The tribunal, founded last year and based in Nuneaton near Coventry, says the official figures of 300 forced marriages a yar represent the tip of the iceberg. Muslim lawyers on the tribunal council based their figures on decades of experience within the community, and from observing their own friends and families.

West 'held hostage' by Islam says Rome

As Richard Owen reports, the Vatican is today warning that interfaith dialogue in the West must not allow itself to be held hostage by Islam. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue pictured here, has this week discussed new guidelines for interfaith dialogue and he said the Church 'has to have regard for all religions,' not just one. 'What was interesting about our discussions was that we did not concentrate on Islam because in a way we are being held hostage by Islam a little bit,' he told the Catholic website Terrasanta.net. 'Islam is very important, but there are also other great Asiatic religious traditions. Islam is one religion.' The Catholics are organising a Christian-Muslim summit in Rome in October, it being their response to the Common Word document published to mark the anniversary of the Regensberg address. The document was addressed to the Catholics and 'the other churches' too, and on their behalf the Archbishop of Canterbury earlier this month hosted a gathering of Christian leaders to discuss  present relations with Islam. (Read Tauran's London lecture on this on the Jesuit site ThinkingFaith.)

Faithbook on Facebook

'Faithbook, a new social networking facility for people of different faiths on Facebook, goes live tomorrow,' said the press release yesterday. I'm sorry to say I didn't get too exercised. Surely this was just one more of many thousands of groups on Facebook, my own included.  But in fact it is much more than that, as our news story shows. Senior members of the nine main faiths, including Judaism, Islam and Buddhism, have signed up and are contributing to discussions. The group, set up by the Movement for Reform Judaism with the help of Simon Cohen of Global Tolerance, is also taking the scriptures of each faith seriously,  with illustrations and plans for analysis of the common ground between the faiths as found in the scriptures. See Dave Walker's interesting take on it in The Church Times.

 

Persecution Index 10: Iran

Sinister turn of affairs in Iran where the plight of the unfortunate Baha'is, persecuted there for a century and a half, worsens. Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli and Vahid Tizfahm, all prominent members of the faith, have been arrested. In addition, Mahvash Sabet has been held in custody since 5 March this year after she was summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence to answer questions, ostensibly about the burial of an individual in the Baha'i cemetery in that city.

Persecution Index 10: Pakistan

Some extremists in Pakistan are calling for a Christian doctor to be hanged publicly for blasphemy, according to a news story on Persecution.org. Dr Robin Sarder was charged ten days ago with violating Pakistan's blasphemy laws. A Muslim who he had been friends with for many years, but who according to the story became jealous of his professional success, told police he had made derogatory comments about the Prophet Mohammed's beard and about the Koran. After the complaint was lodged against him, a crowd of 200 Muslims wearing green turbans, a sign of orthodoxy, attacked his clinic and home. Observers say that if the police hat not intervened, he would have been killed. He is currently being held in jail. The Roman Catholic Church, through its organisation the National Commission for Justice and Peace, has taken up his case. You can email the embassy here on his behalf. Fifteen people have been accused of blasphemy in Pakistan so far this year. Dr Sardar is the only Christian to be so accused. In 1998, Bishop John Joseph , the Catholic bishop of Faisalabad, committed suicide in a protest against Pakistan's draconian blasphemy laws, introduced in 1986. The pic here comes from a BBC report of Christians demonstrating against the laws.

Teenage female suicide bomber kills Iraqi captain

Reports coming out of Iraq this afternoon suggest that a teenage suicide bomber has killed an Iraqi captain and injured four soldiers south of Baghdad. Apparently the attack happened today as the teenager, a young woman or girl, approached the Iraqi commander in Youssifiyah, one of the areas in Iraq being targeted by Al Qaeda as the US 'surge' in Baghdad proves increasingly successful. The bomb was detonated by remote control, killing Captain Wassem al-Maamouri and injuring four soldiers. American troops are searching for those responsible.

Of course female suicide bombers are not unprecedented.

Persecution Index 9: United Kingdom

Update: The PMOI won their case, the British government lost. Bartholomew's blog has more details.

Opposed to the regime in Iran is an organisation called the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran. This is a resistance operation that has the support of a number of organisations. But in the United Kingdom, this organisation, one of the few Islamic organisations that campaigns with a feminist agenda and is wholly committed to women's rights, is proscribed by the British Government. The EU is among the organisations and states that has designated it a terrorist organisation, although the European Court of Justice overturned this. The group officially renounced violence in 2001. Its political arm, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has helped provide intelligence on Iran's nuclear activities. Iran has also denounced the organisation as un-Islamic.Why am I writing this now? Because after legal action by no fewer than 35 MPs, the UK's Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission ordered that these people be removed from the proscribed list, a list that influences directly the EU designation.  The Home Secretary has gone to the Court of Appeal to get this ruling overturned. The British Government remains convinced that these people are terrorists. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we get the result from the panel of three judges chaired by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips.

Persecution Index 8: United States

It appears that the pig is being persecuted in the United States. Please don't laugh. A regular reader of this blog has sent me the following from Front Page Magazine: 'The practice of political correctness may soon be tallying another casualty: the pig. Increasingly, as America and the rest of the Western world continue accommodating Muslim religious demands, pork food products are being singled out for removal from dining tables and pig-related trinkets banished from the desks of office workers.'

Read the rest here.

Meanwhile, some blogs have picked up the AP report that leaders of Ireland’s main Christian churches were barred from praying at Jerusalem’s Western Wall yesterday because they refused to remove the crosses they were wearing. 'Roman Catholic Cardinal Sean Brady, Church of Ireland Archbishop Alan Harper and Presbyterian and Methodist Moderators John Finlay and Roy Cooper arrived at the wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, without giving prior notice to Israeli authorities, Brady told the Irish broadcast network RTE.'

I look forward to hearing how they got on when they tried entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque without taking their shoes off.

 

Suicide bombing 'un-Islamic' says top Muslim peer

A very good speech from interfaith expert Lord Hameed in the House of Lords tonight, on why suicide bombing is un-Islamic and how inadequate leadership in Britain's Muslim community is fomenting radicalism among its youth. I've posted the full text below. Lord Hameed was recently awarded the Interfaith Gold Medallion by the Sternberg Foundation.

Persecution Index 7: Saudi

A divorced Saudi woman from Saudi Arabia cannot board a plane without her son's permission, Tom Gross reports on his website.

Tom writes: 'The Gulf's largest and most important Arab state continues to practice severe discrimination against many minorities and against its female half of the population.

'Over the years, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch has been much criticized by many people (including myself) for obsessively condemning the U.S. and Israel while all but ignoring far worse human rights offenders around the world, including those in Arab countries. I am glad to say that HRW has this month finally produced a comprehensive report critical of Saudi Arabia'

Comment of the Day 29 April

Welcome to Comment of the Day, a new feature in which each day I will highlight the best comment from that day. First up, our regular Irene Lancaster:

'Calling Pakistanis 'jewish bastard' was par for the course in schools I taught in in the Rochdale and Oldham areas of Greater Manchester (also near to Bradford).

On one occasion, I was called in to teach RE to the mainly white class. There was one Pakistani Muslim in the class. In order to taunt him to the extreme, his class-mates called him 'you bloody Jew'. There were no Jews in the school. The nearest the class had come to meeting a Jew was a visit to the Jewish Museum in Cheetham Hill, North Manchester.'

Read it all here.

Persecution Index 6: United Kingdom

Today, Christian Solidarity Worldwide is publishing an important report that examines the consequences of apostasy in Islam around the world. You can read the full report hereand pretty grim reading it makes. Yesterday's paper carried a report. One case involved British convert Nissar Hussein, 43, born and raised in the United Kingdom but who converted from Islam to Christianity with his wife, Qubra, in 1996. The report says: 'Relationships with both their families were severed following conversion and Nissar has not heard from his parents or siblings since. What makes the story of Nissar and Qubra so unpleasant is how the Pakistani community in Bradford, where Nissar grew up, reacted to his conversion. Nissar and Qubra stated in an interview with Christian Solidarity that the initial response to their conversion was that their
friends severed relationships and asked them never to visit or talk to them again. As news of their
conversion spread, people on the streets, in shops and at their children’s school began to ignore them, or to insult them, and on one occasion, Nissar was called a 'Jewish bastard' 'by strangers.

Persecution Index 5: Singapore

From the Becket Fund: 'Two Singaporeans, Dorothy Chan Hien Leng and Ong Kian Cheong, have been charged under the Sedition Act and the Undesirable Publications Act after giving an Evangelical Christian publication to two people last year, Agence France-Presse reported on April 16.  Specific details of the publication are unknown, though it allegedly contained a negative portrayal of the Prophet Mohammed.  Singapore is known to take severe action against anyone who is thought to have increased tensions in the community, previously jailing two men for anti-Muslim blogs and warning another for posting cartoons online which mocked Jesus Christ.'

Persecution Index 4: South Africa, Pakistan

Muslim parents have taken over the school governing body of a Christian-majority high school in Kwazulu-Natal, SoutMuslimh Africa, the Barnabas Fund reports. By law meetings must be held to elect members of the governing body. 'Apathy among the Christian parents meant that hardly any Christians showed up at an electoral meeting, allowing the Muslim parents to seize control of the governing body by winning six of the seven elected positions. In South Africa the curriculum of the school is set by the government, but almost all other management issues relating to the school are decided upon by the governors. This includes decisions on the headmaster, staff, sport, culture and ethos.

Persecution Index 3: Jordan

According to Middle East Concern, a convert to Christianity has fled Jordan after being charged with apostasy and threatened with the loss of his children. Muhammad Abbad Abd al-Qader Abbad, a 40 year old Jordanian who converted to Christianity 15 years ago, left Jordan on Friday March 28 after being charged with apostasy before the North Amman Shari'a Court. Muhammad and his wife Muna al-Habash, have two children: Joy, age 11, and Salam, age 9. On Sunday 23 March, Muhammad and Muna were attacked and beaten by several brothers-in-law of another convert to Christianity who had sought sanctuary in Muhammad's home. Muhammad's son, Salam, was also hit several times as he tried to protect his father. After the beatings Muhammad's father reported his son to the police and asked for custody of the couple's two children.

Persecution Index 2: Saudi

The Becket Fund reports today: 'Officials in Saudi Arabia have sentenced a Turkish citizen to death for blasphemy, after the man was accused of using 'obscene language' to refer to God Today's Zaman reported on April 19.  Sabri Boğday, a Turk who has resided in the Saudi Arabian province of Jeddah for the past ten years, allegedly used the offending terms in the course of an argument with his neighbor. Turkish officials fear that Boğday has been falsely accused, according to Today's Zaman, and worry that because he is a foreigner, he will be dealt with in a particularly harsh manner. Immigrants are said to be at greater risk for convictions in Saudi Arabia; in the last year alone, 76 foreigners were executed in the country.'