Free Republic

As shocking as the declaration of the slavery of Jesus to Allah may come, the Islamic State is basing its “claim” that Jesus was a “slave to Allah” on Islamic scripture. Qur’an 19:30 states of Jesus’ words: “Lo! I am the slave” of Allah, in the Pickthall translation. Other translations state that Jesus declared himself a “servant” of Allah. The Pickthall translation is the work of Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, who was a British convert to Islam Islamic scholar noted for this English translation of the Qur’an. (The Qur’an also says (at 4:157) that Jesus was not crucified.) What far too...

The influential Muslim cleric lives quietly on a gated 26-acre compound in the Pocono Mountains, where he prays, works, meets admirers and watches from afar as terrorism accusations that have landed him on Turkey’s most-wanted list unfold in court. Rarely seen in public, Fethullah Gulen has long been one of Turkey’s most important scholars, with multitudes of followers in his native country and around the world. More recently, Turkey’s increasingly autocratic president, Recip Erdogan, has accused Gulen of plotting to overthrow the officially secular government from his Pennsylvania idyll some 5,000 miles away. Gulen’s supporters call the charge baseless and,...

Islamic Scholar Issues Anti-Terrorism Fatwa A prominent Islamic scholar will use a speech in London to issue a 600-page religious edict, denouncing terrorists and suicide bombers as "unbelievers". .... "The reality is that whatever these terrorists are doing it is not martyrdom. All these activities are taking them to hellfire." --Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has lifted a U.S. ban on a planned visit by a leading European Muslim critic of the Iraq war, in a move rights groups hailed as a victory for civil liberties. Clinton signed orders which ended the ban on Professor Tariq Ramadan of Oxford University, who was barred due to alleged terrorism ties which he denies, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Wednesday.

MIDEAST: TARIQ RAMADAN, 'MUSLIMS WANT RESPECT AND HUMIILITY' (ANSAmed) - ROME, JUNE 3 - According to the controversial Swiss intellectual and Islam scholar, Tariq Ramadan, a "change in attitude" and "effective and necessary action", a "real and profound message of respect" but above all "humility" are what the Muslim world expects in the keynote speech that USA President Barack Obama will be making tomorrow in Cairo. In a statement sent to the press via email, Ramadan underlines how Obama has found himself having to "reverse the legacy" left by George W. Bush and his administration, who did not show "respect...

<p>BLANTYRE, Malawi  — Five men suspected of running charities that funneled money to Al Qaeda have been arrested in Malawi and were to be deported from the southern African nation, intelligence officials said Monday.</p> <p>The men, all foreigners, were arrested Sunday night in the southern city of Blantyre in a joint operation involving the CIA and Malawi's National Intelligence Bureau, the intelligence officials said.</p>

Police in the Malawi city of Blantyre have fired tear gas at Muslims protesting against the arrest and deportation of five suspected al-Qaeda members. The al-Qaeda suspects are now in US custody The Muslims, coming from Jumm'ah, or obligatory Friday prayers, chanted slogans against the government and their own association, the Muslim Association of Malawi (Mam). They accused the government of losing sovereignty by secretly handing the suspects over to American CIA agents, despite a High Court ruling ordering the government to charge or release the men. They also accused their association of failing to protect fellow Muslims, despite the...