Free Republic

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia A week ago yesterday I was supposed to appear at the Sahafa police station to receive 75 lashes on my back. I had been sentenced by a religious court because of articles I had written calling for freedom of speech and criticizing Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia's official religious doctrine. At the last minute, I decided not to go to the police station and undergo this most humiliating punishment. With the nation at a virtual standstill for the holiday Id al-Fitr, the sentence remains pending. I will leave this matter to fate. Even before the attacks on foreign housing...

NEW YORK: Since September 11, 2001 attacks, the Americans Muslims have been under intense security from terrorism fighters, but they have also been getting some more welcome attention from US businesses. They have become a hot new niche market. This year, Hallmark Cards introduced greeting cards celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr. The new cards quickly sold out. In 2002, the US Postal Service printed 35 million Eid stamps as part of its holiday celebrations series. This year, it expects to sell 44 million of the royal blue stamps, which feature the Arabic phrase, "Eid Mubarik" (Blessed be your Holiday) Form-hiding gowns for Muslim...

November 24, 2003 Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, November 14, 2003 The ongoing campaign for so-called Reparations rests upon the allegation that that the European civilization in general—and its trans-Atlantic heirs, the founding fathers of the United States in particular—should be taken to task for the fact that they practiced slavery. That is somewhat ironic since the Western civilization is in fact the only civilization in history to have created from within itself a successful movement to condemn and abolish slavery. It is a matter of historical record that other civilizations, and most notably Islamic civilization, have not achieved...

Disbelief and anger greet arrest of devout Muslim Matthew Taylor Saturday November 29, 2003 The Guardian The image of Sajid Badat as an Islamist terrorist was met with disbelief and anger in his home town of Gloucester yesterday. Since the arrest on Thursday morning the authorities have described the man who was arrested as a potential suicide bomber with links to al-Qaida. According to some reports he was planning to blow himself up at a football match or target the royal family or the government's listening centre GCHQ, in Cheltenham. But as forensic specialists continued to scour the house in...

The pro-Saddam Hussein European manifestations of February 15th that brought millions into the streets of European capitals are the culmination of Charles de Gaulle’s political vision of a European destiny led by France. During World War II de Gaulle was the leader of French resistance against the Nazis, but his post-war anti-Americanism rallied many of his previous enemies. Hostility to America and antisemitism were strong in various French circles: the communists, the left, and particularly among the numerous politicians, civil servants, intellectuals and businessmen, who had willingly collaborated with the Germans. Those political currents had important links with the Arab-Muslim...

LAGOS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Islamic militants burned to the ground thirteen churches and several houses in a remote northern Nigerian town after a Christian student was accused of blasphemy, police said on Thursday. Irate youths torched churches, houses and shops late on Tuesday in Kazaure, some 80 km (50 miles) north of Kano, a northern provincial capital where hundreds have died in religious clashes in the past three years. The dispute began when a Christian student was accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammad and a group of Muslims were not satisfied with the response of school authorities. Abubakar Sale,...