Free Republic

The request for halal food is perfectly reasonable: if Hollande is going to invite Rouhani to lunch, he shouldn’t serve him food that his guest cannot eat for religious reasons. But the request that there be no wine on the table is inherently supremacist and absolutely unjustifiable. Rouhani would not be forced to drink wine, but that’s not enough: if he is not going to drink wine, then no one else can drink it either, including the non-Muslims present. This demand is in line with the old axiom: in Muslim countries, one must conform one’s behavior to Muslim sensibilities. And...

According to the Saudis, the designs that appear all around the base, where the figure stomps its foot, is really the name “Muhammed” written several times in circles. Saudi Arabians are angry at a McDonald’s toy which they say mocks their prophet Muhammad. According to a report appearing today (5/27/12) on the Arabic news website, Kermalkom.com, the McDonald’s fast food restaurant “abused the Prophet Muhammad by placing his name at the base of a toy that is being distributed as part of the Happy Meal, a toy which steps on the name ‘Muhammad.’” The toy consists of a blue...

QALQILIYA, West Bank -A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down. The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority — and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence. Residents of Qalqiliya say they had no idea that Walid Husayin — the...

Two days ago we learned that our so called “ally” Pakistan, had banned Facebook because it was allowing “insulting” drawings of Mohammad. Here are some videos of the protests. Of course, they had to burn our flag. To view the short videos...

The postmaster who refused to serve customers who could not speak English has been transferred to another branch following complaints from local Muslims. Sri Lankan-born Deva Kumarasiri introduced a ban on non-English speakers last week after claiming they frustrated other customers and made his job more difficult. Mr Kumarasiri, who moved to Britain 18 years ago, said he believed that new immigrants should learn the language and take pride in their new culture. But he turned up to work yesterday to find his managers at the agency which runs the Sneinton Boulevard post office in Carlton, Nottingham, for the Post...

At least 20 people, including one policeman, have been killed in riots in the Nigerian city of Jos after local elections, aid workers say. A local journalist told the BBC that Muslim opposition supporters had gone on the rampage when they heard their candidate to head the council had lost. This sparked unrest in the religiously divided city, with Christians burning mosques and Muslims burning churches. A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been imposed and the army sent to restore order. In 2001, more than 1,000 people died in religious clashes in the city. An unnamed Red Cross worker told Reuters news...

A Pakistani man accused of killing his daughter five days after she filed for divorce to end her arranged marriage wept in court Tuesday, telling a Clayton County magistrate he is innocent. "I have done nothing wrong," Chaudhry Rashid told Chief Magistrate Daphne Walker through interpreter Younis Farhat. Farhat said Rashid speaks primarily Urdu and Punjabi. But police say Rashid, 54, used a bungee cord to strangle Sandeela Kanwal, 25, early Sunday morning in the family's Utah Drive home in Jonesboro. Rashid, who is being held without bond, told the judge he wanted to observe his Muslim beliefs in the...

Contract Canceled for High School Teacher Who Called Student's Muslim Father a Terrorist Wednesday, May 14, 2008 AP MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — A high school teacher accused of calling the Muslim father of one of his students a terrorist will not be back next school year. The Michigan City Area Schools Board voted unanimously Tuesday to cancel the contract of John Scheimann, who has taught in the district for 19 years. The action was included in several personnel recommendations by Superintendent Michael Harding. There was no discussion. Scheimann could not be reached for comment Wednesday by The Associated Press because...

Muslim leaders in Britain are outraged about a new game that calls for camouflaged players to shoot BBs at "enemy" players dressed in traditional Arab headdresses, or shemaghs. The game's creators, however, say using the shemaghs is the "easiest way to tell who the enemy are," according to a report in the London Daily Mail. "Any sort of game that associates guns and violence with a particular culture is clearly wrong," said Mokhtar Badri, executive member of the Muslim Association of Britain. "They could use any other type of color or dress to tell between teams which would not cause...

How Muslims are perceived in 21st Century Abid Ullah Jan Exactly four years ago, I came to the conclusion that Muslims are fast becoming 21st Century Jews. The initial thoughts were published in an article on January 7, 2004. The argument was backed up by an attempt to monitor the status of Muslims and attacks on Islam as a religion from around the world. It has been observed that the perception of Muslims as terrorist and extremists kept consolidating with the passage of time. In 2006, the theme was expanded and turned it into a chapter in After Fascism. Two...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A group of Afghans protested on Monday against what they called the desecration of the Koran by British forces, the district governor said, although he and a British spokesman denied any desecration took place. Numerous people describing themselves as demonstrators and residents also telephoned a Reuters reporter in the southern city of Kandahar to say some 600 people took part in the protest in Girishk district of neighbouring Helmand province. Abdul Manaf, Girishk's district governor, said 150 people had demonstrated in the town, but that there had been no desecration of the holy book and Taliban...

A director of Barclaycard has left the company in disgrace after making a joke deemed offensive to Muslims. Marc Howells, 42, who earned £200,000 a year, was addressing senior executives about the credit card company's quarterly figures when he tried to make them laugh with the quip. Mr Howells said: "The results were like Muslims - some were good, some were Shi'ite." Some outraged colleagues forced embarrassed laughs while others were stunned into silence, but Mr Howells seemed unaware of causing any offence. His pun was later reported to senior management, however, and after some discussion he left the company...

KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) -- A British teacher arrested in Sudan after allowing her class to name a teddy bear "Mohammed" has been charged by authorities with offending religion, British officials say. Gillian Gibbons, 54, is being held by police in the capital Khartoum after she asked her class of seven-year-olds to come up with a name for the toy as part of a school project, Robert Boulos, the head of Unity High School told CNN. It is expected that she will appear in court Thursday, Sudan state media reported. A British Foreign Office spokeswoman said Gibbons had been charged under...

Two years after France’s immigrant suburbs exploded in rage, the rituals and acts of resentment have reappeared with an eerie sameness: roving gangs clashing with riot police forces, the government appealing for calm, residents complaining that they are ignored. And while the scale of the unrest of the past few days does not yet compare with the three-week convulsion in hundreds of suburbs and towns in 2005, a chilling new factor makes it, in some sense, more menacing. The onetime rock throwers and car burners have taken up hunting shotguns and turned them on the police. More than 100 officers...

PARIS, France (AP) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that rioters who shot at police would be brought to justice and called the violence that rocked Paris suburbs "absolutely unacceptable." Armed masked police patrol the streets of Villiers-le-Bel Tuesday night. 1 of 2 It was the first time Sarkozy, who had just returned from China, entered the fray since the rioting broke out Sunday night. The violence ebbed Tuesday night after police were deployed in force and quickly rounded up youths lobbing Molotov cocktails and setting cars ablaze. The violence has drawn comparisons with riots that raged through suburbs...

Cartoon upsets Muslims Anton Ferreira Zapiro’s dig at a Sunday newspaper’s zero tolerance for Satanism upsets some readers. Cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro — better known as Zapiro — has riled Muslims with a cartoon that portrays Allah, but he is unrepentant. “I do these things because I believe in freedom of expression,” Shapiro said, acknowledging that his cartoon in the Cape Times yesterday had landed him in hot water. He said he understood the cartoon had provoked a flood of angry SMS messages from the Muslim community. It was drawn in support of columnist Deon Maas, who was fired by Rapport...

ROCHESTER - There is a new debate in Monroe County related to Governor Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The debate has worked its way into the county legislature races. It has to do with a campaign mailing sent out by the Republican Party. It is not so much what it says but what it shows that has members of the Islamic community upset. The flyer suggests that county legislature democrats want to license potential terrorists and the literature contains images intended to depict terrorists. "Seeing these things are very wrong for me to see it in...

Michael Savage tells Muslims 'take your religion and shove it up your behind' WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called on radio listeners of all faiths to contact companies that advertise on Michael Savage's nationally-syndicated radio program to express their concerns about the host's recent anti-Muslim tirade. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Savage, whose "The Savage Nation" airs on more than 300 radio stations nationwide, screamed attacks on Muslims, Islam and the Quran, Islam's revealed text, during his October 29, 2007, program. A number of concerned listeners contacted...

SAN DIEGO – The takeoff of an American Airlines flight out of Lindbergh Field was canceled in August because the crew was suspicious of several Middle Eastern passengers, an investigative report said. The crew notified the captain, who canceled the flight. At the time, the airline said it was a woman traveling with her two small children who raised the alarm. According to the airline's account of the incident, the woman said the men made her so nervous she asked to be let off the plane, and the ensuing delay pushed the Aug. 28 flight to Chicago past the 11:30...

The shockwaves continue from a small protest this month against a Muslim Family Day at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. A court hearing is set for today on a request for a preliminary injunction against the Florida man who organized the protest. And appointment of another of the protesters to a Carrollton board has ruffled feathers in that city. Khalil Meek, board president of the Muslim Legal Fund of America, said the Muslim groups support the protesters' right to voice their opinions. What they object to, he said, is their allegation that the Muslim organizations, and therefore Six Flags,...