Free Republic

When President Obama came into office, we were assured that our relationship with Islamic nations would improve. Islam is really a religion of peace. He said the following in his remarks to the Muslim world, delivered on June 4, 2009 in Egypt. “I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress;...

MOGADISHU — A hardline Somali Islamist group issued a 10-day ultimatum Saturday to Mogadishu-based radio stations to stop playing all kinds of music or face unspecified penalties, an Islamist leader said. The Hezb al-Islam group, which controls patches of the war-riven Somali capital, said playing music on radio stations was evil. "We call on the local radio stations to stop broadcasting the songs and all music as well. We give them a 10-day deadline and any radio station found not complying with the orders... will face sharia action," said Moalim Hashi Mohamed Farah, a senior Hezb al-Islam official, referring to...

8 "Freedom." Unfortunately, "freedom," as expressed in American foreign policy, does not always seek to engage how the local community and culture understands it. Absent such an understanding, freedom can imply an unbound licentiousness. The balance between the freedom to something (liberty) and the freedom from something (security) is best understood in a conversation with the local context and, in particular, with the Muslims who live there. "Freedom" is best framed in the context of how they understand such things as peace, justice, honor, mercy, and compassion. 9. "Religious Freedom." Sadly, this term too often conveys the perception that American...

The recession gripping the nation has taken less of a toll on American Muslims who follow age-old Islamic laws against paying – or charging – interest. They've also been shielded by socially responsible retirement plans because Shariah– Islamic law – forbids investments in banks and mortgages as well as tobacco, alcohol, gambling, pornography or weapons. "If everybody was Shariah-compliant, there would be no recession," said Farouk Fakira, a Yemeni immigrant who moderated a discussion on Islamic finance at Sacramento's Masjid Annur last week.

Europe is already lost to a Muslim takeover and America has started down that same path. That’s the proposition persuasively made by Mark Steyn in his book "America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It." Mr. Steyn notes that America and Australia “grew the institutions of their democracy with relatively homogeneous populations and then evolved into successful ‘multicultural’ societies. But the continent isn’t multicultural so much as bicultural. You have hitherto homogeneous Scandinavian societies whose cities have become 40 percent Muslim in the space of a generation. Imagine colonial New England when it was still the Mayflower...

The award-winning feminist writer Taslima Nasreen, who is under death-threat from Islamist extremists, is to be housed in an artist's studio paid for by the city of Paris, more than a decade after she was forced into exile from her native Bangladesh. Nasreen's outspoken stance on what she calls the inherent misogyny of conservative Muslim society in Bangladesh has sparked protests, riots and warrants for her arrest as well as a cash reward for her decapitation by religious fundamentalists. In 1994, the former doctor was accused of blasphemy over her novel Lajja (Shame), which described the life of a Hindu...

A British couple working as Christian missionaries in Gambia have been jailed for one year with hard labour for sending emails that were critical of the Muslim state. David Fulton, 60, a former Army major, and his wife, Fiona, 46, pleaded guilty to making seditious comments "with intent to bring hatred or contempt against the president or the government". Their sentence, in a country which has one of west Africa's worst human rights records, sparked concern after reports that other prisoners on similar charges have been poisoned while in jail. The couple, originally from Torquay in Devon, have spent 12...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Arabs across the ideological spectrum, from secular-minded liberals to Muslim hard-liners, are denouncing a top Saudi cleric's edict that it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV stations that show "immoral" content. Many expressed worry the recent comments by Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan — chief of the kingdom's highest tribunal, the Supreme Judiciary Council — would fuel terrorism, encouraging attacks on station employees and owners.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia's Islamic opposition party has urged the government to cancel a concert by Avril Lavigne, saying the Canadian singer's on-stage moves are "too sexy," an official said Monday. Lavigne, a Grammy-nominated rock singer who burst to fame with her 2002 debut album "Let's Go," plans to start her monthlong Asia tour with a performance in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 29. The youth wing of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party said Lavigne's concert would promote wrong values ahead of Malaysia's Aug. 31 independence day. "It is considered too sexy for us. ... It's not good for viewers in...

It seems that 'Media matters' is OK with murder in its name August 15, 2008 'Media matters' is basically a radical group that poses as "fighting inaccuracy", in it's fanatical goal it even cows to Islamic militants' actvists such as "CAIR" and those that dare criticize militant Islamic terrorism against the entire world in the name of Islam and its attempts of conquest (otherwise known as Islamo-fascism) as "islamophobes" their "charge" against Michael Savage (for speaking out against this danger) who just (15 August, 2008) stopped his valid case against CAIR for defamation.. only because of advisors advising him that CAIR's tactics might...

...the company has decided not to publish Sherry Jones’ historical novel “The Jewel of Medina” about Mohammed’s child bride Aisha. The book was part of a $100,000 two-book contract with the author. Shame on Random House! This act of abject cowardice and de facto censorship is one of the most disgraceful incidents I can think of in the history of American publishing. As Asra Q. Nomani writes in the WSJ: Random House feared the book would become a new “Satanic Verses,” the Salman Rushdie novel of 1988 that led to death threats, riots and the murder of the book’s Japanese...

(AP) A U.S. group that monitors extremist Web sites says that a Chinese Islamic group has posted a new video that shows a burning Olympics logo and an explosion over a venue for the Beijing Games.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Police evacuated the Christian Theological Arastamar Institute (STT SETIA) which is located in an eastern district of the Indonesian capital after it suffered damages during clashes between Christians and Muslims over the week-end. At least 1,500 students were moved to nearby police headquarters and a local Christian-based political party. The situation remains critical and further violence between opposite factions cannot be ruled out.

The survey found that extreme Islamist ideology has a profound influence on a significant minority of Muslims on campuses across the country. The findings will concern police chiefs, the security services and ministers, who are struggling with radicalisation among Muslim communities. The YouGov poll was conducted for the Right-wing think tank, the Centre for Social Cohesion, at 12 universities, including Imperial College and Kings College London. It also found: * 40 per cent support the introduction of sharia into British law for Muslims * a third back the notion of a worldwide Islamic caliphate (state) based on sharia law *...

Hey, at least he got the shot, right? Isn't that all that matters? I mean come on, he's a photo-journalist for goodness sake. He can't inject himself into the story. That would be a breach of journalistic ethics. A real credit to his profession, this guy. Photos, but no video.

"...During a question-and-answer session following the mostly lighthearted talk, he added that reaching out to other religions is the best way to combat violent religious extremism. "Sometimes in the West, [there is] some impression that Islam is something militant. Totally wrong," he said. "Since [the] Sept. 11 event, I try to reach out to Muslim brothers and sisters. ...They are wonderful -- Islamic people. Very warm-hearted. Very sensible," he said, adding that some Christians, Buddhists and Hindus are also extremists. "These few mischievous people cannot represent whole traditions," said the Dalai Lama, who will continue lecturing at Lehigh through Tuesday...

When I came to this country, I took off my hijab. It wasn't an easy decision. I worried at night that God would punish me for it. That's what I had been taught would happen, and it filled me with fear. I was 27, coming from my home country of Iraq to study in California. I hoped that by taking off the hijab I had been wearing for eight years, I would be able to maintain a low profile. In Baghdad, you keep a low profile to stay alive. But in the United States, I merely wanted not to be...

MG: Are you under any illusions as to what will will happen to you, if the Iranian regime discovers your identity? Will they accuse you of blasphemy and hang you from that giant crane? Rotten Gods: I wish. I mean I wish Iran was a democratic country and I was free to express my opinion without fear of terror, sudden death, or death penalty in public. In blasphemy cases, sharia law strictly orders to hang, behead, or throw convicted from height e.g. mountain.

1. Investigate all military chaplains endorsed by Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was imprisoned for funding a terrorist organization. 2. Investigate all prison chaplains endorsed by Alamoudi. 3. Investigate the selection process of Arabic translators working for the Pentagon and the FBI. 4. Examine the non-profit status of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. 5. Make it an act of sedition or solicitation of treason to preach or publish materials that call for the deaths of Americans. 6. Audit sovereign wealth funds in the United States. 7. Cancel scholarship student visa program with Saudi Arabia until they reform their text books, which she...

John McCain knows a lot less about foreign policy than he'd have us believe.This, anyway, is the impression that's been growing in recent weeks, not least because of much-discussed New York Times story published recently that painted a growing divide in his campaign between "pragmatists" and "neoconservatives." The candidate reportedly lacks firm ideological convictions, so battle for "McCain's soul" may be in the offing. And it's true: Despite his decades of supposed national security experience, it's difficult to stick an "-ism" on the tail of McCain's approach to world affairs. He's been one of the president's most fervent backers on...