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A reliable source has informed me that Condoleeza Rice has approved a new lexicon for State Department usage, absolutely forbidding the use of the terms "jihad" and "jihadist" by any State Department official. The argument, of course, is the old Streusand/Guirard claim that by using the word jihad, we're validating the jihadist claim to be waging jihad. Of course, it's ridiculous to think that the U.S. State Department carries any validating authority within the Islamic world to determine what is Islam and what isn't. This would be the first time that unbelievers have set the meaning of Islamic theology for...

Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth. ...SNIP... The meeting also reviewed what has been described as a Mecca watch, the brainchild of a French Muslim.br>

There's an impression that Muslims suffer disproportionately from the rule of dictators, tyrants, unelected presidents, kings, emirs, and various other strongmen - and it's accurate. A careful analysis by Frederic L. Pryor of Swarthmore College in the Middle East Quarterly ("Are Muslim Countries Less Democratic?") concludes that "In all but the poorest countries, Islam is associated with fewer political rights." The fact that majority-Muslim countries are less democratic makes it tempting to conclude that the religion of Islam, their common factor, is itself incompatible with democracy. I disagree with that conclusion. Today's Muslim predicament, rather, reflects historical circumstances more than...

"A woman reacts after hundreds of policemen threw a tight security ring around the courthouse and chased away the families of the defendants during a trial session of the Muslim Brotherhood leading members at a military court in Cairo, Egypt Tuesday, April 15, 2008. A security official at Egypt's military trial of 40 top members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood group says that 25 of the Islamists on trial have been sentenced to up to 10 years in jail.""A veiled woman holds a sign reading in Arabic 'Freedom for the hostages of reform' after hundreds of policemen threw a tight...

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday disagreed with former President Jimmy Carter's overtures toward Hamas, saying he would not talk to the Islamist group until it recognized Israel and renounced terrorism. The Illinois senator, campaigning in Pennsylvania which holds the next presidential voting contest on Tuesday, told a group of Jewish leaders he has an "unshakable commitment" to help protect Israel from its "bitter enemies." "That's why I have a fundamental difference with President Carter and disagree with his decision to meet with Hamas," Obama said. "We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent...

Recently I spent several days in Ubud, Bali, attending a conference on the theme of "Islam in Multicultural Asia" organized by the New York-based Asia Society. Bali is a lush tropical island of immense beauty at the centre of the Indonesian archipelago, and its people are mostly Hindu in a country with the world's largest Muslim population. The setting for a conference on Islam in Indonesia was a bold idea. Islam in Asia...is distinctly different... to the Middle Eastern version of Islam with which the West is mostly acquainted and predominantly concerned since 9/11. Americans supporting Democrats who have persuaded...

Muhammad Al-Munajid: Some of these heretics say: "Islam is not the private property of anyone." So what do they want? They say: "No sect has a monopoly on Islam." So what do they want? They say: "We want to issue rulings." Someone who is ignorant, who does not know any Arabic, or who has no knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence wants to issue rulings?! They say: "We reinterpret the texts." There is a very dangerous conspiracy against the religion of Islam in newspapers and in what these people say. A journalist, or one of those lowlifes, wants to... These people are...

Counter Protest against Islamist Day-May 16th.. Be There!!! On Friday, May 16,in New York Ciy The group Act for America founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese immigrant who came to the United States after losing her country of birth to militant Muslim fundamentalists during the Lebanese Civil War. anti Islamist Watch Dog group will be counter protesting several coordinated groups of supporters of terrorists groups like Hamas and Fatah and Hizbollah (et al) will be holding a huge demonstration at Dag Hammerskjold Plaza (adjacent U.N.) in Manhattan. There will be extensive media coverage, as there is every year. It is...

NOVI PAZAR -- A 9th century Serb Orthodox Church in Novi Pazar was last night sprayed with offensive graffiti. The priests at the St. Peter church reported this to the police and then informed the media. It is unclear from Beta news agency's report if ethnic or religious intolerance was behind the incident. The church walls were sprayed with offensive and vulgar messages, the priests said, and asked the police to urgently apprehend the perpetrator or perpetrators, which remain unknown. Meantime the Riaset, the seat of the Islamic Community of Serbia, led by Adem Zilkić, condemned this incident in the...

The journey to Mecca, formally known as the Hajj, is a dream for Muslims all over the world, who believe they should make the pilgrimage once during their lifetimes. Unfortunately, this dream is not always attainable -- so the Muslim Student Association decided to bring Mecca to Charlottesville.

A report posted on Islam Watch, a site run by Muslims who oppose intolerant teachings and hatred for unbelievers, exposes a prominent Islamic cleric and lawyer who support extreme punishment for non-Muslims — including killing and rape. A question-and-answer session with Imam Abdul Makin in an East London mosque asks why Allah would tell Muslims to kill and rape innocent non-Muslims, including their wives and daughters, according to Islam Watch. "Because non-Muslims are never innocent, they are guilty of denying Allah and his prophet," the Imam says, according to the report. "If you don't believe me, here is the legal...

MORE ISLAMIC THAN IRAGI, HE SAYS Al-Sadr emphasizes the religious character of his movement. Of course, Western analysts will continue to dismiss him as a Misunderstander of Islam.

Religion's evolution tests tolerance Europe's largest mosque was built in Rome – right in the wheelhouse of Christendom. If the Vatican looked askance at this religious arriviste three kilometres from St. Peter's Basilica, it made no comment. That sumptuous mosque, opened in 1995, cost $50 million to build, a cost borne by 23 Muslim donor nations, though the bulk of funding – $35 million – was contributed by Saudi Arabia. A country which, by the way, allows no Christian churches on its soil, even with an ever-expanding influx of Christian migrant workers from such places as the Philippines and Indonesia....

An "open letter" posted online from a peace-loving mujahad to Geert Wilders. To Geert, Verily, our religion will stay the same till the Day of Judgment. We are happy that there are people like you to expose themselves to the wrath of Allah. We are also happy because it makes us comfortable knowing that there are true enemies of Islaam as Allah has mentioned in the Qur’aan. We are not interested in condemning this or condemning that, but we are interested in letting you know that Islaam will dominate all of Europe, including your hometown, and the Jizyah will be...

This is the ONLY photo from the film in the wire coverage I see on Yahoo, everything else is of Geert Wilders or the protesters: A demonstrator holds a banner with a photo of Geert Wilders during a demonstration in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008. Wilders released a film criticizing Islam and its holy book the Quran on Thursday, March 27, posting it on a Web site. The Dutch government had warned Wilders that a film offensive to Muslims could spark violent protests in Islamic countries, like those two years ago after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet...

Law enforcement officials and security experts are warning against the threat of homegrown terrorism as several cases involving alleged American jihadists enter the courts. "The public is getting complacent," New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly tells FOX News. Full article

No churches should be permitted in Saudi Arabia, unless Pope Benedict XVI recognised the prophet Mohammed... "It would be possible to launch official negotiations to construct a church in Saudi Arabia only after the Pope and all the Christian churches recognise the prophet Mohammed." "If they don't recognise him as a prophet, how can we have a church in the Saudi kingdom?" Ashiqi's comments came after a declaration launched by the papal nuncio of the Persian Gulf, the archbishop Mounged El-Hachem, at the opening of the first Catholic church in Qatar last week. El-Hachem estimated three to four million Christians...

AMMAN (Reuters) - Vowing "Revenge against Crusaders who attack the symbol of Islam," dozens of Jordanian Islamists burned the Danish flag on Monday to protest the reprinting of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers. The Islamic Action Front, Jordan's main licensed opposition party and the political offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, demanded the government expel the Danish envoy until his government offered an official apology. "Oh government, expel the Danish ambassador: Oh Dane... listen the Prophet is the symbol of our Islam. We will die for his sake and eradicate anyone who humiliates him," chanted angry protesters in...

February 24, 2008Universal Islamic 'Blasphemy' Law ? By Andrew G. Bostom Almost two weeks ago, "three men with a Muslim background" were arrested by Danish police on anti-terrorism charges, suspected of having plotted to murder Kurt Westergaard, a cartoonist for Jyllands-Posten. Westergaard is one of the 12 cartoonists who on September 30, 2005 published cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad to protest the tacit enforcement in Danish society of Islam's taboo on depictions of Muhammad, no matter how banal, or inoffensive, through intimidation -- a clear violation of Western freedom of expression. Upon learning of the arrests, Westergaard (noted for...

A senior Iranian lawmaker warned the Netherlands on Monday not to allow the screening of what it called an anti-Islamic film produced by Dutch politician, claiming it "reflects insulting views about the Holy Koran." Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, promised widespread protests and a review of Iran's relationship with the Netherlands if Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders' work is shown. "If Holland will allow the broadcast of this movie, the Iranian parliament will request to reconsider our relationship with it," Boroujerdi said, according to IRNA, the official Iranian news agency. "In Iran, insulting Islam...