Category Archives: Irrational religious authority

Honour killings and Canada

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It seems that Canada had yet another attempt at a Muslim honour killing of a daughter. The good news is Canada’s clear, unmitigated, non-politically-corrected, not-culturally-relativist (even if the good minister for women’s affairs cannot pronounce that word properly) policy making it perfectly clear that killing people is unacceptable and being a matter of culture or religion does not make it OK.

And below, the statement from the good minister for women’s affairs. As usual for these times, it takes a conservative to set truly liberal policies.

Barbara Kay: Action on Honour Killings.

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From The National Post

Barbara Kay: Action on honour killings

July 12, 2010 – 4:20 pm

Muhammad Shan Parvez and Waqas Parvez

Nathan Denette / National Post

Muhammad Shan Parvez, left, and Waqas Parvez — brothers of murderer teenager Aqsa Parvez — leave a Brampton, Ont., courthouse on Dec. 14, 2007.

The Minister for Status of Women, Rona Ambrose, gave a press conference today on “culturally-driven violence and so-called ‘honour crimes.’ ” The occasion prompting her remarks was the official release of a position paper on the growing problem of culturally driven violence in Canada’s immigrant communities by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, the subject of my July 7th column.

The report, Culturally-Driven Violence Against Women: A growing problem in Canada’s immigrant communities, was written by Aruna Papp, a counsellor to immigrant men and women caught up in domestic conflicts. Ms Papp, an immigrant from India who herself suffered a great deal of culturally-related abuse, has emerged as an expert on South Asian cultural gender roles and honour/shame-related behaviours. Ms Papp has written about the subject of culturally-driven violence in the National Post.

Reflecting opinions expressed in the report, the minister endorsed Ms Papp’s most important points, emphasizing, with regard to honour killings, “These heinous acts cannot be justified by cultural relativism or excused under the guise of political correctness.” Continue Reading →

Gay people and Muslims have minor conflict in England… Minor this time.

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H/t to Vlad reader AJ and story lifted from The Derby Patriot

Today was the 3rd Derby Gay Pride festival and according to gaypedia it is a street festival followed by a street parade of gays and lesbians, the theme being ‘Pride not Prejudice’.

Derby has a large muslim community and up to 2,000 people attend Friday prayers at the Jamia Mosque on Normanton road.

Posters advertising a protest against the festival were seen in the Normanton Road area of Derby earlier on in the week. The posters urged muslims to demonstrate against the Derby Gay Pride festival as ‘gays are un-islamic’.

Around a dozen muslims gathered outside St Peters Church, some with megaphones and ‘chanting in a foreign language’ according to my source who was in the area.

A woman stood in front of them waving a placard that said ‘Live and let live’ and trying to argue her point along with a couple of men. The muslims just drowned them out with megaphones.

A group of 30-40 shoppers stood around trying to see what was happening before walking off in disgust, either shaking their heads or calling the muslim group scum.

Police took photos of the group of muslims and eventually escorted them off towards the spot.

Hat tip t

Finnish TV does show on Cartoons and Muslims. Interesting half hour.

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Here is a 27 minute Finnish TV documentary where the reporter interviews the main imam of Finland about what offends Muslims about drawings and why, and she also takes his explanation to three cartoonists, Kurt Westergaard, who drew the famous bomb-turban Mohamed drawing, and Lars Vilks of Mohamed roundabout dog-Mohamed drawing fame.

She then asks them to do a drawing as an answer to the imam and takes it back to him for his comment. He does what Muslims always do. Demand that Islamic rules be followed by all in the name of tolerance etc.

Iran’s grotesque abuse of human rights.

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From The Guardian U.K.

Iranians still facing death by stoning despite ‘reprieve’

Fifteen could still die in horrific sentence after being allegedly convicted of adultery

An Iranian woman at a protest in Brussels highlights the barbarity of death by stoning An Iranian woman at a protest in Brussels highlights the barbarity of death by stoning, in which women are buried up to their necks in front of a crowd of volunteers. Photograph: Thierry Roge/Reuters

Twelve Iranian women and three men are on death row awaiting execution by stoning despite an apparent last-minute reprieve for a mother of two who had been facing the horrific sentence after being convicted of adultery.

Human rights groups and activists welcomed a wave of international publicity and protests over the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, who was awaiting execution in the western Iranian town of Tabriz after what her lawyer called an unjust trial and a sham conviction.

The Iranian embassy in London said in a statement that “according to information from the relevant judicial authorities” the stoning would not go ahead. If confirmed it would be an victory for a brief but intense campaign that was first highlighted by the Guardian last week.

However, there are still concerns over her plight. In a previous case a prisoner who was to be stoned was instead executed by hanging. Continue Reading →

Female Genital Mutilation Performed at Cornell University

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Female Genital Mutilation Performed at Cornell University

by Pema Levy June 23, 2010 12:26 PM (PT) Topics: Girls Rights, Women’s Health

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has appeared in the form of “corrective surgery” at a premier American hospital. While we lambaste the practice abroad, some doctors are justifying its use and performing FGM in the United States.

In 1997, it was estimated that 168,000 women and girls had been or were at risk of undergoing FGM. This isn’t just immigrants bringing their cultural practice to the U.S.; as it turns out, FGM is being performed at an Ivy League university. This story demonstrates how our image-obsessed culture is encouraging the mutilation of young girls.

Dr. Dix P. Poppas, head of pediatric urology department at Cornell University’s New York Presbyterian Hospital, one of the premier hospitals in the nation, has been performing clitoral reductions — a.k.a. female genital mutilation — on young girls. The abhorrent practice, according to the good doctor, is humane because it spares girls from the humiliation of having an “oversized” clitoris. He claims the practice is “nerve-sparing” and that he runs tests by prodding and using a vibrator on the young girls after the surgery.

Surgeries, especially ones as delicate as this, can easily go awry, injuring young girls permanently, impeding their sexual lives, reproduction, relationships, and possibly other health complications. And prodding a six-year-old with a vibrator probably won’t tell you whether or not the thousands of nerves in the clitoris that lead to orgasms have really been spared. Not to mention that these follow-up “tests” sound a lot like traumatizing molestation to me.

For the rest of this stunning, important and horrifying revelation please visit Womens Rights Change.Org

A dip in the dark: Muslims demand swimming pool windows be covered to protect modesty

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From The DailyMail U.K.

Swimmers plunged into dark after council covers swimming pool windows ‘to protect Muslim women’s modesty’

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:04 PM on 5th July 2010

A council has sparked anger after officials blacked out windows on a glass-panelled swimming pool to protect the modesty of Muslim women.

Darlaston Leisure Centre in the West Midlands’ town of Walsall, was hailed for its ‘ultra-modern’ design when it opened ten years ago.

But now council staff have covered 250 windows with dark-tinted film following complaints from Muslim swimmers.

Darlaston swimming poolDispute:The swimming pool in Darlaston, near Wolverhampton, West Midlands, where some users are unhappy by the council’s decision to cover windows with an opaque film

Muslim swimmers Darlaston swimming pool No looking please: The clear glass panes towards the bottom of the pool’s outer wall have been covered in a frosted film to prevent people outside looking in

But other users say the move has plunged the pool into almost permanent darkness and branded it ‘political correctness gone stark-raving mad’.

Pauline Poole, 65, a retired legal secretary from Walsall, said: ‘I returned to swimming after having a cataracts operation some months ago and was looking forward to looking out on some lovely trees while swimming.

‘What I found was a situation that reminded me of how it felt like before my operation, like looking at a horrible cloudy view.

‘If it was done for a minority of people, then why was there no vote on it?’

Retired building surveyor John Ewart, 63, from Walsall, added: ‘I cannot believe this council has agreed to something so loony.

‘The whole thing smacks of political correctness gone stark raving mad.

‘A lot of the people who swim are elderly or retired and they now have to swim in the gloom.’

A worker at the pool, who did not want to be named, said: ‘The windows were covered up and it’s probably cost a few hundred pounds.

‘Several customers complained it made the pool dark and dingy but we didn’t have a choice.’

The council initially refused to replace the windows with frosted glass because it was too expensive.

Today, the council defended the decision, saying they had ‘listened to the concerns of users’.

Councillor Anthony Harris said: ‘I’m pleased that we’ve been able to make these modifications because not only does it show we’re listening to the views and concerns of our users but also because it enhances the privacy of swimmers.’

A spokeswoman for Walsall Council said the complaints had predominantly come from the Muslim community but that non-Muslim women had also objected.

She said: ‘We received a request from the Muslim Community to protect the modesty of swimmers.

‘There were also requests made by some non-Muslim users as well.’

Iran’s Modesty and Veil Festival to launch sharia compliant men’s hair-do’s

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From The Telegraph U.K.

Iran government issues style guide for men’s hair

Ponytails are out but side-partings and Elvis quiffs are in. Not the latest fashion advice from a celebrity magazine, but a list of acceptable male hairstyles issued by the Iranian government.

By Anita Singh
Published: 8:09PM BST 05 Jul 2010

Iran government issues style guide for men's hair: An official describes appropriate hairstyles for men at an official hairstyle show in Tehran

An official describes appropriate hairstyles for men at an official hairstyle show in Tehran Photo: REUTERS

In an attempt to rid the country of “decadent Western cuts”, Iran’s culture ministry has produced a catalogue of haircuts that meet government approval.

The list of banned styles includes ponytails, mullets and elaborate spikes. However,quiffs appear to be acceptable, as are fashioning one’s hair in the style of Simon Cowell or cultivating a 1980s-style floppy fringe.

Most of the models are clean-shaven although one picture features a man with a goatee beard, previously frowned upon by Iran’s conservative clerics. Using hair gel is also within the law, albeit in modest quantities.

The “journal of Iranian hairstyles approved by the ministry of [culture and Islamic] guidance” was previewed at a government-approved hairdressing show in Tehran.

The pictures were reminiscent of those gracing barber shop windows across Britain.

“The proposed styles are inspired by Iranians’ complexion, culture and religion, and Islamic law,” said Jaleh Khodayar, who is in charge of a Modesty and Veil Festival later this month at which the guide will be promoted.

“We are happy that the Islamic republic of Iran’s government has backed us in designing these hairstyles.”

Several barber shops have reportedly been shut down and penalised in recent years for offering Western-style haircuts.

Iranian police carry out regular morality checks, arresting women in short coats and flimsy headscarves as well as men sporting spiky hair and tight, low-slung jeans. Ties are also viewed with suspicion as a symbol of Western decadence.

Conservative clerics have called for firmer action against un-Islamic dressers and criticised President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last month for expressing opposition to a tough police crackdown on immodest attire.

Earlier this year, an Iranian cleric claimed women who wear revealing clothes cause natural disasters. Hojjat ol-eslam Kazem Sediqi, a prayer leader in Tehran, said: “Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes.”

Sharia Law For Non-Muslims

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Sharia Law For Non-Muslims  From Bill Warner’s Political Islam

CHAPTER 4 – FAMILY LAW

ISLAMIC SCHOLARS CLAIM: The perfect Islamic family law is sacred law since it is based upon the words of Allah in the glorious Koran and the Sunna of Mohammed. All other laws are man-made and must submit to the will of Allah; therefore, only Sharia law is suitable for Muslims. For Muslims to be ruled by Kafir laws is an abomination.

THE SHARIA:

m3.13 Guardians are of two types, those who may compel their female charges to marry someone, and those who may not.
m6.10 It is unlawful for a free man to marry more than four women.
m8.2 A guardian may not marry his prepubes­cent daughter to someone for less than the amount typically received as marriage payment by similar brides

ADULTERY

[Bukhari 3,38,508] Mohammed said, “Unais, confront this man’s wife and if she admits committing adultery have her stoned to death.”

[Bukhari 8,82,803] Ali had a woman stoned to death on a Friday and said, “I have punished her as Mohammed would have.”

ml0.4 The husband may forbid his wife to leave the home. But if one of her relatives dies, it is preferable to let her leave to visit them.
m5.0 conjugal rights, the wife’s marital obligations
m5.1 It is obligatory for a woman to let her hus­band have sex with her immediately when:
(a) he asks her
(b) at home
(c) and she can physically endure it

[Abu Dawud 11, 2138; 2139] Muawiyah said: Apostle of Allah, how should we approach our wives and how should we leave them? He replied: Approach your tilth (tilth is a plowed field, a term for the vagina) when or how you will, …

The most important thing that a woman brings to the marriage is her vagina.

[Bukhari 7,62,81] Mohammed said, “The marriage vow most rightly expected to be obeyed is the husband’s right to enjoy the wife’s vagina.”

Allah curses the woman who resists sex.

[Bukhari 7,62,121] Mohammed: “If a woman refuses her husband’s request for sex, the angels will curse her through the night.”

From the Sira, we have some more about a husband’s rights:

Ishaq 957 Mohammed sent Muadh to Yemen to proselytize. While he was there he was asked what rights a husband has over the wife. He replied to the woman who asked, “If you went home and found your husband’s nose running with pus and blood and you sucked it until it was cleaned, you still would not have fulfilled your husband’s rights.”

CHILD BRIDES
Mohammed, age 51, proposed marriage to Aisha when she was six years old. Marriage to a child is Sunna.

[Bukhari 7,62,18] When Mohammed asked Abu Bakr for Aisha’s hand in marriage, Abu replied, “But I am your brother.” Mohammed said, “You are only my brother in Allah’s religion and His Book, so it is lawful for me to marry her.”

Publication notice: this book is now available to buy on our website HERE.
You can see the entire book on pdf HERE.

Bill Warner, Center for the Study of Political Islam
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Kerala, hand severed of Christian Professor accused of blasphemy

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by Nirmala Carvalho from ASIA NEWS (More from the Times of India)

The victim is a college professor who “insulted Muhammad” in an exam questionnaire. Islamic extremism is growing in Kerala: many schools face pressures on the use of the veil. The condemnation of national Muslim organizations. Sajan K. George: Sharia is not law in India.

Ernakulam (AsiaNews) – A group of unknown assailants severed the hand and the right arm of a university professor accused of defaming Mohammed months ago. The execution took place yesterday morning in Muvattupuzha, Ernakulam district (Kerala). Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians condemns this “barbaric act” and recalls that “Sharia is not the law of India.”

According to the police, Prof. TJ Joseph, was returning with his family from Sunday service when a group of people in a Maruti Omni van drew up beside him stopping him close to home. After forcing Joseph to get out of his car, they attacked him with knives and swords, then cut off his hand and right arm throwing them away after about 200 meters.

The professor was immediately transported to a hospital in Muvattupuzha and then to another specialized in surgery, where doctors are trying to mend his severed hand. The professor has also suffered deep wounds to his body and is in need of plastic surgery.

Joseph, Kerala, a professor at Newman’s College, Thodupuzha, is free on bail. Last March he had prepared a questionnaire for examinations in the private college and according to the Muslims had included questions offensive to Muhammad.

Due to a series of protests by Islamic groups, he was suspended from school. Later, Joseph publicly apologized for his “unintentional error”. Joseph’s mother said that in recent months her son continued to receive threats.

Meanwhile, the police found the van of the attackers, empty, and “the vehicle registration number is false,” said police inspector P.P. Shams. Some of the detained are activists of the Popular Front of India, a right wing Muslim group, formerly called the National Development Front, which is very strong in Kerala.

Joseph’s sister, Mary Stella, says that “the assailants destroyed the window of our car and pulled out my brother to execute him. My poor mother, who was in the car with us, witnessed the crime”.

The Minister of Education, M.A. Baby has condemned the incident, expressing his displeasure because some have turned the issue of the exam questionnaire into a matter of religious conflict.

Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of India (Gcoi), condemned the “barbaric act” and demands that “the attackers are brought to justice soon. I hope that – as usually happens – the complaint will not disappear in police records because of threats from Islamic militants in Kerala. ”

Sajan K. George gives voice to the whole civil society which “expresses sorrow for these attacks by Muslims against Christians in Kerala. It should be noted that Islamic law is not the law of our country”.According to the Gcoi president Kerala is witnessing a growth of Islamic extremism: “Christian schools are often targeted on the headscarf issue or another issue and unfortunately many schools succumb under pressure. The design of these militants is to provoke peaceful Christian communities and provoke a civil war. The rapid growth of the Muslim population and their influence in elections is increasing safety concerns for Christians throughout the country”.

The attack against Joseph has been condemned by several Muslim organizations, including the Indian Union Muslim League (Iuml) and the Jama’at-e-Islami, which calls for a significant response against the culprits. Panakad Hyderali Shiyab Thangal, supreme leader of Iuml, has asked that the perpetrators be prosecuted harshly. And referring to the questionnaire compiled by Joseph, said: “An error can not be corrected by another mistake”.

The indicted questionnaire however did not include anything that could be construed as against the Muslim religion. The authorities of Newman College, told AsiaNews that in the test, Prof. Joseph tells the story of a fishmonger who, despite hard work, becomes increasingly poor. The monger’s name is Mohammad In his desperation, he spoke to God and also asked his brother why his fortunes were dwindling. His brother told Mohammed:”Why are you calling God, God, God….” Students were asked to specify the punctuation of the narrative.

Apostates from Islam in Germany

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Today and in the past couple of days both on Vlad’s youtube channel as well as here on the blog, a few Muslims have made the claim that Islam is not at all how it is represented here, and that there is indeed freedom of conscience etc. ad nauseum. In that spirit I offer this morsel from German TV. An account of a family who converted from Islam to Christianity

As usual this was a group project. Thank you Baron for the edit and JLH for the translation and many others in this process, not to mention of course the German TV station that actually filmed it.

Here is some supplementary info from Former Muslims United, Noni Darwish’s excellent org:

Maher El Gohary and his daughter, Dina, who converted to Christianity, have been denied by the Egyptian government permission to change their identity cards identifiying them as Christians. The Goharys live clandestinely in Cairo. They daily face the threat of possible extra judicial punishment, including death. Dina, the Gohary daughter wrote President Obama following his Cairo speech at al Azhar University in June 2009 drawing attention to their plight. In her letter to President Obama, Dina Gohary noted:

“Mr. President Obama, we are a minority in Egypt. We are treated very badly. You said that the Muslim minority in America are treated very well, so why are we not treated here likewise? We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the Government has set for us a new prison, we are imprisoned in our own country.” The Egyptian girl asked President Obama to mediate with the Egyptian government on their behalf.

Maher El Gohary had filed a legal acton in Egyptian courts. His petition was rejected: Gohary said:

“If the Egyptian nationality is the cause of my imprisonment within my home and being unable to move, then I do not want it,” he said. El-Gohary said he’d rather hold any other nationality than stay in Egypt where he said he and his daughter are “suffering imprisonment within the walls of my apartment and without any freedom.”

The quandary of the apostate Hegazy family is compounded by the refusal of Egyptian government to permit registration of their children as Christians. Note this application made on behalf of the Hegazys to the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights by the European Centre for Law and Justice, an affiliate of the American Center for Law and Justice:
“[Mohammed Bishoy] Hegazy and his family members are Christians converted from Islam. Furthermore, Mariam, their two year old daughter,was born of two Christian parents, and her birth certificate must state the correct information related to her faith.”
Their lives and home has been threatened .

Jussuf al Badri, the Egyptian Islamic jurist states that under Sharia, “God has commanded us to kill those who leave islam”. Such is the fragile and tragic plight of apostates in Muslim countries who daily face the threat of vigilantism and death. And Islam promotes the fiction that it is the religion of peace? Not the case as exemplified by the Gohary and Hegazy cases and millions of other silent apostates whose very existence is daily threatened with death under Sharia fatwas in Muslim lands.

Transcript below:

Continue Reading →

Canada: ‘Peace and harmony’ at the Journey of Peace Conference with disclaimers, of course.

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From The National Post

Conference disclaimers highlight Islamic differences

Adrian Humphreys, National Post · Saturday, Jul. 3, 2010

Canadian-born Yahya Abu Sumayyah, who converted to Islam after reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, speaks during the Journey of Faith Islamic conference yesterday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre

Peter J. Thompson/National Post

Canadian-born Yahya Abu Sumayyah, who converted to Islam after reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, speaks during the Journey of Faith Islamic conference yesterday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Toronto — At the continent’s largest Islamic conference, the disclaimers in the Journey of Faith program, given out to the thousands of attendees, highlights the difficulty of portraying the modern face of an old religion.

Organizers, it says, “are not responsible for materials or opinions expressing views contrary to Canadian and international laws.”

Likewise, “promotion of any materials deemed illegal by Canadian federal and provincial laws is strictly prohibited,” and those caught doing so are on their own.

The warnings suggest that not everyone who might come here is in complete agreement with the conference theme of peaceful coexistence.

“Whatever lifestyle you chose in this country is your choice,” said Said Rageah, conference chairman, in an interview.

“Whether you chose to wear the burka or walk the street in a bikini, it is your choice,” he said, adding he fled repression in Somalia to seek freedom in Canada, where he is raising his six Canadian-born children.

“I’m telling the Canadian public that we can both coexist, both live together in peace.

“We’re not radicalizing anyone, and we are not abandoning Islam. We are here to correct, not to corrupt.”

The conference, which opened on Friday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, is billed as North America’s largest Islamic gathering with an expected attendance of 10,000.

It has already grabbed headlines over apparently incongruent views.

Dr. Zakir Naik, a 44-year-old Indian televangelist scheduled to deliver the keynote address on Sunday, was recently barred from entering Britain after highlights of past speeches drew attention to disparaging remarks about women, gays, Jews and non-Muslims and apparent support for Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader.

Mr. Rageah says it is a case of cutting and pasting excerpts of past speeches to portray an inaccurate picture.

Because of the British ban, Dr. Naik and his entire production crew with Peace TV are not travelling to Canada, on suggestions he would receive similar treatment by the Canadian government. He has cancelled the trip “due to the uncertainty of his admission to Canada.”

“Last year he came to speak and he had a visa for five years,” said Mr. Rageah. There were no problems, he said. “If a person like that is so dangerous then why was he given a five-year visa?”

Dr. Naik will still be heard on Sunday, but via a live video feed.

on Friday, the 2,000 early registered attendees heard beautifully rhythmic recitations of the Koran in Arabic, lectures on forgiveness and the importance of following the message of the Koran.

An ethnically diverse crowd of men and women, almost all of whom wore hijabs or face-covering niqabs, sat in different sections of the huge hall, where seating for several thousand was set up.

The first speaker, Abdulkadir Ali Cambe, from Britain, drew upon a story in the Koran for his message, saying: “We must be kind to our brothers and sisters in Islam. We must be kind to our brothers and sisters in humanity.”

Canadian-born Yahya Abu Sumayyah, who converted to Islam after reading the autobiography of American radical Malcolm X, implored Muslims to not compromise their religion for the sake of the pleasure, money or love.

National Post

What’s in a name? Why the mosque at Ground Zero is called the Cordoba House

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The Cordoba Initiative, the group that has long campaigned for and spear-headed the building of a mega-mosque near the ruins of Ground Zero in New York City, has yet to acknowledge this place a mosque, instead referring it as a ‘cultural centre’. It boasts according to it’s web site, that the centre (to be guided by Islamic values in their truest form”) will play host to restaurants, a swimming pool, a conference area, art exhibition spaces and a ‘spiritual place’ all attempting to bridge the great divide between Muslims and non-Muslims. Living harmoniously with each other in the name of freedom will be brought about by such an effort and Cordoba House will be perfect testimony to the Islamic ideals of bridge-building, tolerance and dialogue. Muslims have a voice! they proclaim, and what better way of improving relations than to build an “inter-faith” centre at Ground Zero, the very place where “a few of the misguided who hijacked Islam” smashed planes into the Twin Towers on the morning of September 11, 2001. Of course they did not speak for true Islam…..

This is a project intent upon setting the record straight according to the CI, to address the many ‘misconceptions’ non-Muslims have of Islam. It is set to represent the ideal of working together, Imam Feisal AbdulRauf of the Cordoba Initiative says, much in the same way I suspect that his group’s Sharia Index Project will work together to deliver to American Muslims a ‘peaceful parallel to American civil law’. As such, the initiative can successfully claim:

“After two years of work, ‘the Sharia Index Project’s working team of Sunni and Shi’a legal scholars from Morocco to Indonesia achieved consensus on a final structure on philosophy, methodology, and approach to providing the general public, opinion leaders, and state officials in both the Muslim and Western worlds with an Islamic legal benchmark for measuring the “Islamicity” of a state’. Continue Reading →