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Yesterday, an Army psychiatrist opened fire in a medical office at a U.S. Army base in Texas, killing 12 people and wounding 30. The soldier, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, is a Muslim who was reportedly angered by the American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and also upset at his impending deployment there. Media reports say that he defended Islamic terrorist attacks in Internet postings and public comments. It might seem counter-intuitive that a doctor (of any kind) could turn so murderous — and especially surprising that a psychiatrist could commit acts usually motivated by internal angst. But Theodore Dalrymple says,...

A 36-year-old Richfield man charged with making terroristic threats during an argument with another man in Wright County has been arrested at O'Hare Airport after skipping out before his trial was to begin this month, authorities in Minnesota said today. Ismail Alqawasmi remains in custody after his arrest at 8 p.m. Thursday, the Wright County Sheriff's Office said. The Chicago-Sun Times reported that Alqawasmi flew into the United States from Amman, Jordan, on Royal Jordanian airlines and a customs official conducting a name check found the warrant on a law enforcement data base, according to police. Alqawasmi was searched and...

BOSTON — A Massachusetts man and two friends tried and failed to get into terrorist training camps and then plotted to kill two prominent U.S. politicians and randomly shoot people at American shopping malls, authorities said Wednesday. Tarek Mehanna, who recently taught at a Muslim school in Worcester, was arrested early Wednesday at his parents' suburban Boston home. Mehanna was charged with conspiring with two other men — an American now in Syria and another man who is cooperating with authorities — to provide support to terrorists. Ultimately, the trio never came close to pulling off an attack. Authorities say...

An Orlando, Florida, attorney has filed court documents to support his contention that a Columbus, Ohio-area mosque has ties to terrorist groups and would present a clear and present danger to a 17-year-old Christian convert from Islam who fled to Florida in fear of her life. OneNewsNow reported on Monday, Rifqa Bary fled from her parents after she claims her father threatened to kill her when he learned from members of his mosque, the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Columbus, Ohio, that Rifqa converted from Islam to Christianity. Rifqa is staying with a Christian foster family in Orlando pending a...

South Florida must do more to battle hate Two young men not old enough to vote have been charged with vandalizing the Islamic School of Miami in West Kendall. The charges include criminal mischief and evidencing prejudice while committing a crime. But this type of misbehavior goes much deeper than slashing tires and smashing windows at the mosque, which has been defaced, shot at and vandalized at least six times since 2005. It's a sign of how much more this community needs to do to respect religious freedom and to not stereotype an entire group of people based on religious...

9 women, 4 children injured by rampage Muslims apparently angered because a Christian man driving a tractor reportedly tried to pass a Muslim on a motorcycle have rampaged in one village in Pakistan, destroying Christians' homes and throwing acid on women and children as they fled, according to a new report from Barnabas Aid. The ministry reported that the violence this week happened in the village of Bahmani Walla in Punjab state in Pakistan, which is dominated by Islamic influences.

“Last week, four Southern Baptists were arrested for plotting to blow up St Patrick’s Cathedral. The men, who became born-again Christians in prison, wanted to kill and terrorize Catholics.” If that was the opening paragraph in a newspaper story you were reading, your gut reaction would be – huh? Baptists don’t do things like that in the name of their faith. Neither do Catholics, Presbyterians, Seventh Day Adventists or Mormons. But when we read the headline in a May 21st New York Times’ story -- “4 Accused of Bombing Plot at Bronx Synagogues” -- it was ho-hum stuff. It wasn’t...

According to a new national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 11 percent of Americans still believe President Barack Obama is a Muslim. Seven percent of Democrats believe it. And nearly 20 percent of evangelicals do. What I find fascinating is that the same study shows only 55 percent of Democrats know or believe Obama is a Christian, even after Obama spent nearly two years on the presidential campaign trail spouting his views and beliefs on everything under the sun. Moreover, about 1 in 3 people don't have any idea what his religious convictions...

Christians and Muslims have been kept apart for over 1,300 years, because they were taught that irreconcilable differences exist between their religious beliefs. This has resulted in mutual distrust, persecution, and even wars. I was motivated to read the Qur’an by the events of September 11th, 2001. I wanted to know the teachings in the Qur’an that could convince Muslims to be willing to sacrifice their lives, in order to kill persons who did not appear to be associated with Islam or their conflict. My Christian tradition was the source of some anxiety, since I had been taught that “the...

A YEMENI was killed today in clashes with police as workers at a gas export terminal in southern Yemen protested at a French engineer's alleged desecration of the Koran, a local official said. "One worker was killed and others were arrested following clashes with police who intervened" to contain the protest at the terminal being built by the French company Total in Balhaf port, he said, requesting anonymity. "After a fight between a French engineer and another who is Yemeni, the Frenchman - to enrage the Yemeni - threw a Koran on the floor in an offensive way," the official...

WASHINGTON (Reuters)- When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly. The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be "off his rocker." The second congratulated him and added: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us." Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Six Muslim imams on Monday were removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and questioned by police for several hours before being released, a leader of the group said. The six were among passengers who boarded Flight 300, bound for Phoenix, around 6:30 p.m., airport spokesman Pat Hogan said. A passenger initially raised concerns about the group through a note passed to a flight attendant, according to Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for US Airways. She said police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked the men to leave the plane and...

Washington, Oct 19 (ZEENEWS.COM) Describing the US as a land of many faiths "enriched" by its Muslim population, President George W Bush has said several Islamic nations are helping in the war on terror and that many of its victims were "innocent" Muslims. Bush made these comments at an Iftar dinner hosted in the White House yesterday, an event attended by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Iman Eid from the Islamic Institute of boston as well as ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps. The US President also took the opportunity to praise a Pakistani American Farooq Muhammad who was...

JERUSALEM – Pope Benedict XVI's apologies for worldwide reaction to his remarks about Islam and his invitation today for Muslim leaders to meet with him next week are "mere diplomatic acts" and prove the pontiff does not really regret his words, a prominent Gaza Strip preacher told WND. Sheik Abu Saqer, leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic outreach movement, which seeks to make secular Muslims more religious, called for holy war against the pope. He said Christian leaders such as Benedict are "afraid" because they realize Islam is Allah's favorite religion and they are going to hell unless they convert....

See for example this thread first. While on a flight out of Shanghai A Muslim raised a hue and cry: "I'm not defraudin-- I know bin Laden!" (Got handcuffed, 'fore more stuff, he could try!)

As the war on terror heads into its sixth year, a new racial stereotype is emerging in America. Brown-skinned men with beards and women with head scarves are seen as "Muslims" -- regardless of their actual faith or nationality. Law enforcement measures, politicians, religious leaders and the media have contributed to stereotyping Muslims as a race -- echoing the painful history of another faith.

The recent terror attempt in Britian reminded me of Annie Jacobsen's account about flight 327 on Northwest Airlines that she believes was a "dry run" for terrorists. So one asks, how much of this has been going on? What other plots are in motion? Is it time to keep all foreigners off planes or subject to extreme scrutiny?

Has you attitude toward the Muslim world changed as a result of the alleged terror plot unveiled on Thursday? Yes, for the worse Yes, for the better No, it's still the same

POMPANO BEACH -- Dozens of black residents, joined by some whites and Hispanics, rallied Tuesday in front of City Hall to protest plans to move a mosque into the predominantly black northwest area. More than 60 people responded to a call by a group of ministers for the protest, demanding that the City Commission rescind the permission it gave the Islamic Center of South Florida to move into the neighborhood. The mosque plans to build a 29,000-square-foot center on a 4.8-acre site where residents want to see affordable homes.... Led by the Rev. O'Neal Dozier of the Worldwide Christian Center,...

A recent article in the UK Telegraph offered insights into the many ways that Islamists in Baghdad are making life, by increments, miserable for citizens of the city. Ice producers, crucial in helping people survive in Iraq’s 115 degree summer heat, have recently suffered several murders from their ranks. The reason: Their product was not available during the time of Mohammed. Street venders who sell the popular Middle Eastern food falafel have also lost two of their own in the past few weeks, with other venders now closing their stalls. The same reason is offered by the Islamists, namely, that...

The NYT has assigned Neil MacFarquhar to cover a new national beat: Islam. The TimesWatch topic index on MacFarquhar turns up instances in which MacFarquhar refused to label groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad as terrorist outfits, writing instead that the groups have been "'labeled' so by Israel and the U.S.," or calling individual members "Palestinian opponent[s] to [Israeli] occupation." MacFarquhar tells the San Francisco Chronicle: It's a new beat for the Times: an immigration story, with a lot of immigrants from Muslim countries; a ... story about the difficulties they have integrating in the U.S.; a civil rights story, with a...

"I BELIEVE there is no European Islam," said Mustafa Ceric, a Bosnian imam, at a meeting of Islamic clerics and advisers in Vienna. Yet two months ago, his supreme Islamic department of Bosnia said that "Muslims who live in Europe have the right-no, the duty-to develop their own European culture of Islam." Such contradictions are part of a broad debate over the role and character of Islam in Europe, which could have profound implications, and not only because Muslims are the continent's largest minority. It might affect the wider Islamic world if it shows that Muslims can adapt to modern,...

ROME - They're high around the waist, wide around the leg and have lots of pockets for holding watches, bracelets, glasses and other knickknacks. A new line of jeans designed by a small company in northern Italy caters to Muslims seeking to stay comfortable while they pray. "As far as we know we're the first, at least in Italy," said Luca Corradi, who designed Al Quds jeans. The bagginess is to ensure the wearer avoids stiffness while bending down repeatedly during prayers. The pockets are for holding all the accessories Muslims have to take off while they worship. And the...

Fox has just been covering student rioting in Paris over a new job measure. If anyone has more details, please post.

The much-desired yet ever-elusive creature known as the Moderate Muslim appeared at Cornell February 23 to give a speech entitled, “Islam in America: An Enemy in Our Midst.” For anyone curious, apparently the answer was supposed to be “no.” Ahmed Younis, member of the US-Muslim World Advisory Committee, argued that the current War on Terror was being manipulated by “Islamophobes” to portray it as a war against Islam, a clash of civilizations. Younis repeatedly stated that how Islam is portrayed in the Western media is, in fact, a perversion of the real Islam. Ah yes, the so-called religion of peace....

   Americans Can’t Be Pussies February 23, 2006 The war against terrorism would be a helluva lot easier to win if somebody would just be more specific about who we are fighting and what we are fighting for...and so would the war against crime. It’s amazing how similar the two battles are and, how similarly our leaders are half-ass-backwards on both fronts.   America battles terrorists and criminals to the benefit of government, not the benefit of the American people.  If protecting political ambition is the goal, then let loose the dogs of war.  Otherwise, it’s time to rethink how we fight...

The West — specifically, the European West — stands aghast at Islam’s violent reaction to its comedic caricature of the Prophet and ponders: Shall we who enshrine our sacred rights to human expression suffer these cultural indignities and blatant intimidations designed to ultimately extinguish “our rights?” This is outrageous and morally repugnant to cower before a medieval culture that treats women, religious minorities and all things “civilized” with intolerance. Alas! Let us speak out in vehement solidarity against this “Scourge of Green” which seeks to smother some 500-years of Enlightenment! Reaction to the West’s Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, and social revolutions...

DOUBLE standards? Of course. Whatever western countries may say about freedom of speech, such a thing as unlimited freedom of speech exists nowhere in the world. You won’t find much of it in the American media when it comes to Israel. Try pointing out Israeli atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories and you’ll attract strange glances and be hounded or ostracized if you are in the media or the exalted world of academe. The American media didn’t distinguish itself for any conspicuous freedom of alternate opinion when the Bush administration was priming its guns for the invasion of Iraq. All...

The lesson of the Muhammad cartoon controversy is: Multiculturalism between nations is inevitable, but multiculturalism within nations is disastrous. Protests, many of them violent, have erupted across the world - including Europe, Australia and New Zealand - after the appearance of cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad in unflattering ways. It's time for all of us to recognize that different cultures have different values. For the West, broadly speaking, the highest value is freedom, including freedom of religious expression. But for the Muslim world, the highest value seems to be Islamic piety. To draw such a distinction between West and...

A Muslim protester who sparked outrage by dressing as a suicide bomber is a convicted drug dealer who was recently released from prison, it was disclosed last night. Omar Khayam, 22, was reportedly jailed for five and a half years in 2002 for dealing in Class A drugs, thought to include cocaine. Omar Khayam in the outfit that caused offense Khayam, who wore the bomber's outfit during the demonstration in London on Saturday over the cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed, served around half of his sentence before being released on licence last year. The building student is serving the remainder...

"We Say to This West... By Allah, You Will Be defeated" Khaled Mash'al: "We apologize to our Prophet Muhammad, but we say to him: Oh Prophet of Allah, do not be saddened, your nation will be victorious. "We say to this West, which does not act reasonably, and does not learn its lessons: By Allah, you will be defeated. You will be defeated in Palestine, and your defeat there has already begun. True, it is Israel that is being defeated there, but when Israel is defeated, its path is defeated, those who call to support it are defeated, and the...

Rome - Religious and political figures in several Muslim countries have called on European leaders to use blasphemy laws against newspapers that publish cartoons containing representations of the Prophet Muhammad. In Bangladesh, minister for industry Matiur Rahman Nizami was quoted in the press as telling the European Union that if Christianity and Jesus Christ were protected by blasphemy laws, then there was no justification for those laws not being used to protect the rights of Muslims. And in Lebanon Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the radical Hezbollah movement, on Friday called on European parliaments to pass laws "prohibiting the...

Best-selling author and Muslim dissident Ibn Warraq argues that freedom of expression is our western heritage and we must defend it against attacks from totalitarian societies. If the west does not stand in solidarity with the Danish, he argues, then the Islamization of Europe will have begun in earnest. The great British philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote in On Liberty, "Strange it is, that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free discussion, but object to their being 'pushed to an extreme'; not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good...

I was watching bits and pieces of the televised National Dialogue Forum that concluded last week. The intent of the forum when it started was clear: Through a collective input of regional voices, we were to minimize our ideological differences with others. In this case, non-Saudis. There’s no question that such dialogues are opening up people in parts of this country to different views from their own. And from what I observed, the range of comments brought up went from one extreme to the other. This quickly led to the realization that before we adopt a uniform approach in our...

A MASSIVE mosque that will hold 40,000 worshippers is being proposed beside the Olympic complex in London to be opened in time for the 2012 Games. The project’s backers hope the mosque and its surrounding buildings would hold a total of 70,000 people, only 10,000 fewer than the Olympic stadium. Its futuristic design features wind turbines instead of the traditional minarets, while a translucent latticed roof would replace the domes seen on most mosques. The complex is designed to become the “Muslim quarter” for the Games, acting as a hub for Islamic competitors and spectators. “It will be something never...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Afghan villagers sheltered a U.S. Navy SEAL wounded in a battle last month with the Taliban until they could get word to American forces to rescue him, a military official said Monday. The SEAL was part of a four-man reconnaissance team that went missing June 28 after calling for help during a firefight in the mountains near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The other three members of the team died in the fighting, and a MH-47 helicopter crashed as it brought reinforcements, killing all 16 people on board. The military said it believes insurgents shot down the chopper. Military...

A U.S. Muslim civil rights group last year received its largest number of complaints that Muslims were being harassed at work, in school and in their communities, a new report found. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it received 1,019 claims of physical and verbal attacks on Muslims; on-the-job discrimination; and racial profiling by law enforcement. In 2002, the organization received 602 such complaints. The report cautioned that the jump partly reflected an increase in the number of regional offices opened by the Washington-based advocacy group, which allowed more cases to be documented. The council blamed continued fear among Americans...