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A BLIND Muslim cleric was murdered moments after morning prayers yesterday. Sheik Maymoun Zarzour, 39, was killed after an unknown man walked up to him and asked to talk...He died at the scene and the man was arrested on suspicion of murder. ... Sheik Zarzour was a member of Lebanon’s Sunni Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya group, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood

A couple weeks ago we showed you the shocking video of an Egyptian Muslim cleric advocating jihad and saying financial problems could be solved by selling captives “like groceries.” Now, that same cleric is back, and he’s supposedly claiming his words were taken out of context. But the way he’s defending himself is curious, especially when you consider it involves him justifying buying “sex slaves.” The website Translating Jihad, which first published the earlier video, explains that in the follow-up video (which consists of a 20-minute phone interview), Egyptian Shaykh Abu-Ishaq al-Huwayni contends “that his words in that clip were...

Evil words in Islamic Republic: A senior Iranian cleric, who is known as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor, urged followers to continue suicide attacks against Israelis, including children. Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah, considered one of the Islamic Republic's most radical clerics, issued a religious edict on his website whereby suicide attacks are not only legitimate but are a must for every Muslim. The senior cleric was responding to a question from a follower regarding the difference between "martyr's death" and "suicide." The man, who wrote anonymously, noted that "some people say that martyrdom acts are considered suicide and are forbidden

Surely, Islamic apologists in the West will get right on the line to this guy and explain that, no, Aisha was 16, 18, didn't know how old she was, was only "nine" in Galapagos tortoise-years, or whatever other excuse they might cook up. The problem? Islamic texts and traditions say otherwise, and Muslims follow them. Indeed, the heart of the problem is this: Muhammad did it. The example of Muhammad, "a beautiful pattern of conduct" according to Qur'an 33:21, cannot be set aside, or standards he set "updated," lest one imply Muhammad made a mistake. That would not only insult...

American officials expressed concern about the statement of the cleric, Abdul Majid al-Zindani, a onetime mentor of Osama bin Laden, which introduced a new Islamist element to the turmoil in a country where Al Qaeda is viewed as a grave threat. The protests that toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and that now have spread to Libya, Bahrain and Oman have been largely secular in nature. Mr. Zindani spoke on an open-air stage before several thousand antigovernment protesters, guarded by 10 men carrying AK-47s and shielded from the scorching sun by two umbrellas wielded by aides. “An Islamic state is...

The Vatican's top cleric in the heart of Muslim Arabia tends to a flock of 2 million Christians spread around six desert nations. But he has to do it quietly: Most of them must still pray in secret and are forbidden to display crosses and other symbols of their faith. n this image taken Tuesday... From his base in the emirate of Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf, Archbishop Paul Hinder travels the Arabian Peninsula, even slipping in and out of Saudi Arabia - the birthplace of Islam, where restrictions on Christians are the toughest.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Pakistani police on Sunday arrested pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Muhammad, who brokered a peace deal between the government and militants in the Swat Valley that has since faltered. Muhammad negotiated a truce with the government in February that imposed Shariah, or Islamic, law in Swat in exchange for an end to two years of fighting. But it was widely seen as an acquiescence to Taliban control of the valley. The deal collapsed in April when the Taliban advanced into neighboring districts, triggering a military offensive that prompted a spree of retaliatory attacks by militants in the northwest and...

A top Iranian cleric says some of the detained Iranian staffers of the British Embassy in Tehran will be put on trial. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who is close to Iran’s supreme leader, has made the announcement in a Friday prayer sermon. He says the detained staffers “made confessions.” Jannati does not say how many staffers will be tried or on what charges. Earlier Iranian officials said all but one of the eight embassy personnel arrested on June 27 had been released, but European Union officials said they believed more than one was still being held. Jannati is the head of...

A hardline Iranian cleric called on Friday for the execution of leading rioters to teach a lesson to the thousands who have protested against the June 12 presidential election result. I want the judiciary to ... punish leading rioters firmly and without showing any mercy to teach everyone a lesson, Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Tehran University. Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts, said the judiciary should charge the leading rioters as being mohareb or one who wages war against God. They should be punished ruthlessly and savagely, he said. Under Iran's Islamic law, punishment for people convicted...

(IsraelNN.com) Extremist Moslems have not dropped their allegations that Pepsi Cola is essentially the code name for a Zionist plot. MEMRI has released an English transcript of an address given by a Muslim religious leader in Egypt this past February, in which he explains that PEPSI is actually an acronym for "Pay Every Penny to Save Israel."

MEMRI: Special Dispatch | No. 2234 | February 8, 2009 Egypt/Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Al-Zughbi Draws Lessons from the Battles of Early Islam, Prays for the Annihilation of U.S., European Leaders Following are excerpts from an address by Egyptian cleric Muhammad Al-Zughbi, which aired on Al-Rahma TV on January 12, 2009: To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2012.htm. TO VIEW THIS CLIP AND OTHERS, YOU MUST LOG IN/REGISTER FOR MEMRI TV, AT http://subscriptions.memri.org/content/en/member_registr_tv.htm. REGISTRATION IS FREE OF CHARGE "The Accursed Europe Stood By The Accused Jews... The Pulverized United States - I Pray That Allah Destroys It...

NAJAF, Iraq – Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Iraqi resistance Wednesday to stage "revenge operations" against American forces to protest Israel's Gaza offensive. The statement issued by his office in the Shiite holy city of Najaf came as criticism is mounting over civilian deaths in Gaza. The State Department dismissed al-Sadr's calls, describing them as "outrageous."

Muslims should take advantage of the global financial crisis to build an economic system compatible with Islamic principles, influential Sunni cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi said on Sunday. "The collapse of the capitalist system based on usury and paper and not on goods traded on the market is proof that it is in crisis and shows that Islamic economic philosophy is holding up," said the Egyptian-born, Qatar-based cleric. "The Western system has collapsed and we have a complete economic philosophy as well as spiritual strength," he said at Sunday's opening of a conference on Jerusalem. "All riches are ours... the Islamic...

The 27-year-old daughter of radical Islamic cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed has admitted to pole dancing in London bars in defiance of her family's strict Muslim beliefs, the Daily Mail reported Friday. Yasmin Fostok left Bakri’s home four years ago because she did not share her father’s opinions. "I don't get on with my dad. I don't agree with his views,” Fostok told the Daily Mail. “I just get on with my life and that is it.” She currently lives with her 3-year-old son in South East London, whom she had with her ex-husband after their arranged marriage. Fostok performs a...

A entity called Group XP placed a video of comedian Bill Maher making fun of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and his advice to the Shiite faithful, as well as posting messages on the site.

A Moslem cleric, Sheikh Salih al-Fawzan, a senior Islamic preacher, has said that all TV fortune-tellers (which the BBC Monitoring service translates as “sorcerers”) should be executed. Sheikh Salih al-Fawzan is quoted as saying that if these people appearing on many Arabic TV channels prove to be sorcerers, “they will be committing a sin and violating the Holy Book, the Sunnah and the consensus of Muslims”.

Mickey Mouse is a corrupting influence and must die, a Muslim cleric has declared. Sheikh Muhammad Munajid claimed the mouse is "one of Satan's soldiers" and makes everything it touches impure. But he warned that depictions of the creature in cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, and Disney's Mickey Mouse, had taught children that it was in fact loveable. The cleric, a former diplomat at the Saudi embassy in Washington DC, said that under Sharia, both household mice and their cartoon counterparts must be killed.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia ordered shops to close in some Baghdad neighborhoods on Monday in what they said was the start of a "civil disobedience campaign." The show of force by the feared militia, which the U.S. military once called the greatest threat to peace in Iraq, alarmed residents, but leaders of Sadr's political bloc in parliament stressed that it was a peaceful protest. The militia has kept a low profile since Sadr called a ceasefire last August and extended it last month, a move U.S. commanders say has helped to sharply reduce...

RIYADH, March 15 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's most revered cleric said in a rare fatwa this week that two writers should be tried for apostasy for their "heretical articles" and put to death if they do not repent. Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak was responding to recent articles in al-Riyadh newspaper that questioned the Sunni Muslim view in Saudi Arabia that adherents of other faiths should be considered unbelievers. "Anyone who claims this has refuted Islam and should be tried in order to take it back. If not, he should be killed as an apostate from the religion of Islam," said the...

Iranian clerics face a backlash over good life By Kay Biouki in Teheran and Gethin Chamberlain Last Updated: 2:05am GMT 24/02/2008 The Ayatollah Khomenei brought millions on to the streets of Iran to overthrow the decadence of the Shah. Now the late leader's grandsons and other Iranian clerics face a backlash over their families' fondness for fast cars, big houses and hot tubs. A website linked to radical elements of Iran's regime last week attacked the lifestyle of Ayatollah Khomenei's grandson, Hassan. " Driving a $100,000 BMW and relaxing in his uptown villa in north Teheran, is Hassan Khomenei actually...