Author Archives: Oracle

Closer ties to Israel upsets India’s Muslims

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From People of Shambhala.
India has been working hard to cement its relationship with Israel lately, consequently upsetting many of the southeast Asian nation’s Muslim organizations. On a recent visit to Israel India’s External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna described the two nation states as natural allies, and as facing international terrorism.

During the visit, it was agreed that Israel would be allowed to open an embassy in Bangalore.

Mr. E. Aboobacker, national president of the Social Democratic Party of India, (SDPI) said in a statement on Friday, January 13, that “India seeking to forge a joint strategy with Israel to deal with the scourge of terrorism is a big joke as the latter over nine decades has been massacring unarmed Palestinians, including women and children, with impunity.”

“it is pertinent to note,” the Mr. Aboobacker said, “that increasing cooperation between New Delhi and Tel Aviv makes India’s stand on Palestine imbroglio a farce,” adding that the closer cooperation contradicted India’s position on the Palestinian issue.

Prof. Basir Ahmed Khan of the Indian Union Muslim League described the visit as a “travesty of justice” adding that “what Israel was facing is an struggle of Palestinians to free their own country from the illegal occupation of Israel; this cannot be equated with terrorism.”

E. M. Abdul Rahiman, Chairman of Popular Front of India, also described the diplomatic visit as… read more.

Malaysian woman challenges forced conversion to Islam at age of seven

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The Penang High Court, Malaysia is currently hearing the case of a woman who claims she was forced to convert to Islam at the age of seven. Siti Hasnah Vangarama Abdullah, now 38, was given to the Ramakrishna Orphanage at the age of five, and was living there when the alleged incident took place.

A former Muslim Welfare Organisation named Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Perkim officer Raimi Abdullah, and the Penang Islamic Religious Council have been named as defendants in the case.

Siti Hasnah says she was taken by Mr. Mohamad and Mr. Abdullah from the orphanage to the Kadi Municipal Council, where a conversion ceremony was carried out.

She says that, as a seven year-old, she did not understand the “Sijil Akuan Masuk Islam” document which she was forced to read, recite and… read more.

Muslims and Christians condemn mass yoga session

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From People of Shambhala.
The Government of India’s central province, Madhya Pradesh, had been planning a mass yoga session on Swami Vivekanand’s birthday, today, in hopes of creating a new world record.

The province’s school education department encouraged students to participate in the event in the hopes that it would be able to get into the Guinness Book of Records. Students were not forced to attend, however.

But, guess what? Not everyone was happy. Muslim leaders in the… read more.

Iran continues its persecution of Baha’i

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The execution of Bahá’í, from the Persian magazine, Ima’mat, circa 1911.

It was Iranian Baha’i Youth Day when security forces raided the home of Bakhtiar Rasekhi in Kerman Province. According to the Human Rights House of Iran, in “an illegal and offensive encounter” the security forces “film[ed] and photograph[ed] the young people gathered in the house,” before conducting a search of the property.

Mr. Rasekhi, his wife Farahnaz Naimi and their daughter Farin Rasekhi were then…

Indian politicians woo Muslim vote

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From People of Shambhala.

Digvijaya Singh says Islamist terrorist incident was "fake."

Political parties in Uttar Pradesh are wooing the Muslim vote as the northern Indian state heads to the polls.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh “raked up” the arrest of Islamist terrorists in the Balta House incident of 2008, according to IBN.

Two of the suspected terrorists were killed in an exchange of gunfire during the encounter with police, two others were arrested, and one escaped. However, Singh maintains that the event was “fake.”

Uma Bharti, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, accused Congress of trying to divide India by introducing… read more.

Indonesia celebrated for diversity, as minority faiths discriminated against

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From People of Shambhala.

Soldiers file past a burned out Ahmadiyah mosque in Java, Indonesia.

Indonesia is often heralded for its pluralism by Western leaders as a nation showing other Muslim-majority states how to do moderate Islam. It is, we are told, a land of peace and pluralism. One pundit, in today’s Jakarta Globe says otherwise.

Calvin Michel Sidjaja, a researcher for HD Asia Advisory in Jakarta, calls Indonesia’s pluralism “questionable.”

Sidjaja alleges that religious violence has increased due to bias at Government levels. The Religious Affairs Ministry, he says, “has been traditionally slanted to favor Muslims. The Religious Affairs Minister openly stated his preference for disbanding Ahmadiyah in August 2010.”The Jakarta Post reported in 2011 that at least 26 regencies and municipalities had “passed bylaws restricting or banning the… read more.

Hundreds of Muslims protest Buddhist school

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From People of Shambhala.
Class at a Buddhist school (file photo)Hundreds of Muslims have protested outside a Buddhist school in Bangkok, Thailand. The organization named Muslims for Peace is upset at Wat Nonjok secondary school for its refusal to allow a Muslim student to wear the hijab.

The Muslim organization claims that several teachers have refused to teach the 18 year-old student or to allow her to enter the school building, because of hijab.

Muslims for Peace have called on Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to intervene.

A number of the organization’s members have also erected a… read more.

Canadian professors highlight Iran’s campaign to deny Baha’i minority an education

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From People of Shambhala.

Sara Mahoubi, a Baha'i student detained in 2010 for education rights activities.

Allan Rock (president of the University of Ottawa) and Lloyd Axworthy (president of the University of Winnipeg) have an article in the Huffington Post today in support of the Baha’is in Iran, who have long suffered persecution under the regime.

Professors Rock and Axworthy suggest that, with attention shifting to Egypt and other countries (due to the Arab Spring and the Islamist Winter), we should not forget about Iran’s human rights abuses. “Prominent among Iranian victims of hidden but unrelenting persecution,” they note, “are members of the Baha’i faith, Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority.”

As they note, “Hundreds more have been thrown into prison solely because of their beliefs. Baha’i businesses have been routinely shut down. Their cemeteries have been desecrated.”

Only the most recent event, The Human Rights House of Iran is currently reporting that at 6 AM on 19 December, officers from the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, conducted simultaneous raids of Baha’I homes in Sanandaj. After “massive search of these houses, [the officers] went on to… read more.

US Gov. Commission: Freedom of religious minorities a security issue

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From People of Shambhala.

Yezidis attacked in Sinjar province, Iraq, August 2007.

Persecution of, or discrimination against, religious minorities is a security issue for the USA, says the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

The USCIRF has just published a report by Leonard A. Leo is (Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom) and Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou (Vice Chair of the USCIRF and an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University) called Protecting Religious Freedom Abroad. The highlights the oppression of religious minorities around the world (from Yezidis to Ahmadi Muslims), especially in the Middle East and Asia.

While this is welcome in itself, more interesting, perhaps, the authors of the report conclude that allowing minority religions to be oppressed poses a long term… read more.

You go, girls: Egyptian women beat up “morality police”

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From Peole of Shambhala.
Egypt’s self-appointed morality police was chased off by a group of women yesterday. Modelled after Saudi-Arabia’s morality police, and reportedly financed by the Nour Salafi Party, the “Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” was established in Egypt in December 2011 with the intention of imposing Islamic law (sharia) on Egypt’s women in particular.

According to Egyptian media, the vigilante group has been harassing shoppers and shop owners. Barbers were ordered not to cut men’s beards and shop owners were ordered not to sell “indecent” clothing, and threatened with punishment. The vigilantes also said they would… read more.

Two Tibetans self-immolate in protest against Chinese occupation

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From People of Shambhala.
Free Tibet, the British-based Tibetan rights organization, has reported that two Tibetan nationals self immolated in Ngaba Town. An eye witness to one of the acts of self-immolation said that a layperson set him or herself on fire near Kirti Monastery in Ngaba Town at around 2.50pm (local time). A second person reportedly died at the scene.

In a press release Free Tibet Director Stephanie Brigden said:

“These latest self-immolations confirm that what we are currently witnessing in Tibet is a sustained and profound rejection of the Chinese occupation. It is a damning indictment of the international community that 14 people, in different parts of Tibet, have now chosen to set themselves on fire and the international community has failed to… read more.

Canadian Hindus accuse newspaper of sacrilege over photos of nude deity

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A close-up of the naked statue image of the Hindu goddess Durga published by the Toronto Star in August 2011.

We hear a lot about the importance of respecting different faiths these days. Remember how few newspapers carried the drawings of Mohammed after Muslims rioted across the globe, burned down a Swedish embassy and murdered a Christian nun? That was because of respect, remember? The Left-wing Toronto Star was one of those newspapers sensitive to religion. But, just one.

In 2003, the Star published a photograph of a statue of Durga, the Hindu goddess that provoked demonstrations by 300 Hindus. Statues of Durga are always elaborately clothed. The Toronto Star‘s photograph upset devout Hindus because she was shown naked, in the workshop of a sculptor.

The demonstrators gave the newspaper a letter that complained about its”entirely inaccurate and misleading depiction of the goddess.” A number of Sikhs also joined the demonstration in support of the Hindus who chanted “give respect, get respect” and “we want an apology.”

Fast forward to 2011. In a move that was certain to upset the Hindu community of Canada, in August and September the same newspaper again published photos of the goddess Durga naked. Continue Reading →

Luxury vacation destination caves in to sharia

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From People of Shambhala.
As a destination for the rich and famous, the Indian Ocean’s Maldives islands depend almost entirely on tourism, which generates one billion dollars a year. That is now in jeopardy. Although the islands have traditionally practiced a more moderate form of Islam, in recent months, extreme Islam has been on the ascendent.

Now, on the back of protests calling for the enforcement of sharia as state law,and criticizing the Government for not being Islamic enough, it has ruled that spas and massage parlors must close. An essential aspect of luxury resorts, these are crucial to the… read more.

Hindu girls abducted, forced to convert to Islam — a growing trend in Pakistan

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From People of Shambhala.
Bharti, A 15 year-old, is the 18th Hindu girl to have been reportedly abducted, forced to convert to Islam, and forced to marry a Muslim man, in the Lyari area of Karachi, a city in the south of Pakistan, the Express Tribune of India reported yesterday. The real number is probably much higher. In 2009, in the province of Sindh 18 Hindu girls had also been kidnapped.   

The family of the teenage girl filed a complaint with Bhagdadi police station, and a court hearing has begun. On the first day of the hearing Bharti — who has been renamed Ayesha, apparently after the favorite wife of Islam’s prophet Mohammed — appeared “clad in a black ‘abaya’ ” and hardly acknowledged her parent’s presence.

According to The Times of India, her father “[Narain] Das brought a copy of the National Database and Registration Authority’s record, which states that his daughter is 15 years old. However, certificates of her conversion to Islam and her marriage claim she is… read more. 

Egyptian blogger gets death threats for nude protest

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From European Son
Porn and religious fundamentalism just don’t mix. Or do they? Well, it appears so.

Take the case of Aliaa Magda al-Mahdy, 20. In protest against Egypt’s illiberalism and religious fundamentalism, in December, she and a male friend posted nude photos of themselves on their blogs. The Muslim-majority state exploded with shock, furor, debate, and assertions of medieval values.

Aliaa continued her protest against the oppression that she, and millions of women in the state experience on a daily basis. The twenty-year old blogger called for women to remove the hijab for freedom, and to send her two photographs to post on her blog, one veiled and one unveiled.

Enter the pious, the moral, and the self-righteous.

Aliaa has been threatened several times with rape and death for her self-expression, challenging Egypt’s oppressive conventions. But, as… read more.