Category Archives: United Kingdom

The Chinese are desperate to live abroad, just not in England if possible

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By Malcom Moore, The Telegraph

Given China’s turbulent modern history and the fact it continues to be largely a poor country, there have always been lots of people happy to trade in their Chinese citizenship for a life elsewhere.

Traditionally, the United States has been the destination of choice and has benefited enormously from the legions of smart Chinese immigrants it has welcomed. By some accounts, as many as 70 per cent of the Chinese who study in the US end up living there.

In recent years, Canada has also emerged as a popular destination, and a poll in the Canadian Globe & Mail newspaper shows that 77 per cent of Chinese, when given the choice, would choose to move to Canada over staying in China.

(Over half the Brits they polled also said they would be keen to jump ship) Continue Reading →

The UK: ‘Conservative Muslim Forum’ has some explaining to do

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Douglas Murray, The Telegraph

This week Theresa May announced that she was keeping extremist cleric Zakir Naik out of Britain. But something interesting has come to my attention. One of the charities which was planning to host Naik at a“peace convention” is Al-Khair. They were hosting it with Peace TV and IQRA TV.

Interestingly, here is a photo of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum, the Conservative party’s Muslim group, at an event last year where they handed over a cheque for £5,000 to Al-Khair and praised the foundation’s work. They did this at the launch of IQRA TV, another of the hosts of the now-banned Naik.

So, do the Conservative Muslim Forum approve of the decision of the Home Secretary? Or do they think the invitation to this now-banned extremist from a charity they praised and financed should have gone ahead? If there is to be agreement within the Conservative Party I think we should probably be told.

And isn’t this yet another reminder that groups like the Conservative Muslim Forum within political parties are not merely an embarassment, but a liability?

Muslims rally for Sharia law in UK, prompting protests

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From Russia Today

Muslim protestors gathered in London on Sunday calling for aspects of Sharia law to be introduced in Britain. The rally turned into chaos, sparking a counter-demonstration by English right-wing nationalists [the EDL].

“We find many of these people who call for human rights and one law,” said Asad Ullah, member of the Muslims against the Crusades group. “They come and they say that they want equality. But what equality do you get when one man legislates over another? Is he not more superior than you? You are worshipping him by submitting to and obeying his laws… We will get oppression like this until we all submit to one law, and that is the law of God.” Continue Reading →

Schools of thought: 26 Darul Ulooms in Britain prepping boys to lead the world to Islam

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From The Daily Mail U.K.

Inside the Muslim Eton: 20 hour days starting at 3.45am with the aim of producing Muslim elite of leaders

By Edna Fernandes
Last updated at 10:53 AM on 20th June 2010

The clock strikes 11am and boys spill out of classrooms into the corridor to move on to their next lesson.

There is no noise and no jostling. Instead they walk in an orderly manner, heads bowed respectfully and eyes downcast to avoid my gaze. The boys, all aged between 13 and 19, are dressed in ankle-length white salwar kameez and white skullcaps.

Their feet are bare. For this is no ordinary school. This is Darul Uloom, a Muslim madrassa or religious school, set in the pretty Kent village of Chislehurst. It is one of 166 Muslim schools in Britain today.

Muslim EtonSchool of thought: Writer Edna Fernandes outside madrassa

Of those, 26 are Darul Ulooms, religious seminaries rooted in the Islamic orthodoxy of sharia. According to an ICM poll, almost half of British Muslims wish to send their children to Muslim-only schools.

‘Our parents represent the cross-section of British Muslim society,’ the mufti – an Islamic scholar – of one leading school in northern England told me. These parents include teachers, doctors and shopkeepers.

Secretive and protective, Darul Uloom schools have been operating in Britain for 25 years. But since 9/11 they have faced closer scrutiny by police who fear they may be academies of radicalism – something the headmasters deny.

Now, for the first time, a Darul Uloom has opened its doors to a British newspaper and allowed The Mail on Sunday exclusive access. Most Britons may have never heard of such schools. But their significance in the Islamic world is paramount and it is shaping young Muslims in Britain today.

Islamic experts regard Darul Uloom as the second most important Islamic academic institution in the world after Cairo’s Al Azhar university. The schools aim to create new leaders of the Islamic world.

In terms of its significance, Darul Uloom is no less than the Eton of Islam. The first Darul Uloom or ‘House of Knowledge’ was set up in Deoband, northern India, in 1866.

‘No iPods or Facebook… we’re here to teach the boys morality’

Nine years after the Indian Mutiny, when Muslims and Hindus lost their first battle for independence against British rulers, a group of Islamic leaders retreated to the Indian village to build a school that would eventually become a global movement in the Muslim world.

A haven of Islamic purity where they could live unpolluted by other faiths. Today Darul Uloom is more than just a school. It is a global school of thought based on Deobandi Sunni Islam.

Its purpose is to see a return to the ways of the Prophet Mohammed, to when Islam was born in the 7th Century AD. Continue Reading →

British home secretary bans Dr.Naik from entering U.K., has Muslims in an uproar

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From The HarrowTimes, U.K.

H/T Don’t Bend Over For Allah

Dr Zakir Naik banned from UK ahead of Wembley Arena peace conference

12:42pm Friday 18th June 2010

THE keynote speaker at a Muslim conference set to be the focus of protests in Wembley has been banned from the UK.

Dr Zakir Naik, an Indian preacher who was once quoted saying “every Muslim should be a terrorist”, has been denied entry to the country by Home Secretary Theresa May.

Dr Naik was due to speak to the Al-Khair Peace Conference at Wembley Arena on Saturday, June 26, an appearance which has sparked a protest from the English Defence League (EDL).

Mrs May said in a statement today: “I have today excluded Dr Naik from the UK. Numerous comments made by Dr Naik are evidence to me of his unacceptable behaviour.

“Coming to the UK is a privilege not a right and I am not willing to allow those who might not be conducive to the public good to enter the UK.

“Exclusion powers are very serious and no decision is taken lightly or as a method of stopping open debate on issues.”

The EDL told the Harrow Times today that the organisation, which has labeled the conference as a vehicle for “preachers of hate”, will proceed with its demonstration despite the news.

A spokesman, who would not give him name, said: “People going to this conference support his ideology, there are other speakers still going, and these people obviously condone his behaviour.

“The fact they are saying it is a peace conference and that they are a charity is rubbish. The fact that the Home Secretary has banned him speaks for itself.”

The spokesman also took a swipe at Unite Against Fascism (UAF) who have vowed to hold a counter-protest in Wembley on the same day.

He said UAF have a track record of violence and being arrested at protest, and insisted the EDL is a peaceful protest group trying to exercise its right to demonstrate.

End.

——–

How does Dr. Naik feel about his obvious exclusion from the country? ‘Disappointed’ of course. In fact, he’s so disappointed he’s seeking to see if he can have the home secretary’s decision legally overturned. And his buddies at the Muslim Council of Britain? They’re upset too:

“The Home Secretary’s action serves to demonise the very voices within the world ready for debate and discussion. “The tour would have been a golden opportunity for young Muslims who are eager to hear the true messages of Islam which promote understanding between communities.”

UK government ‘warms to idea of sovereign sukuk’

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From The Nation

The UK’s new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government is set to revisit plans to issue the country’s first sovereign Islamic bond, or sukuk, according to a banker advising British leaders on the issue.

Humphrey Percy, the chief executive of the Kuwaiti-backed Bank of London and Middle East, said Mark Hoban, the new UK financial secretary to the treasury, was “prepared to look at it positively” after the Labour government rejected the sukuk idea.

“The previous government concluded that they did not want to do it because there were still uncertainties around the benefits to the government issuing sukuk,” Mr Percy said on the sidelines of the World Islamic Economic Forum. “Things have changed.” Continue Reading →

UK: William Hague wins European backing for Israeli raid inquiry

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From The Times

William Hague condemned Iran’s plan to send aid boats to Gaza yesterday, warning that the move would deliberately aggravate an already tense situation.

“It is not helpful, and probably it is not designed to be helpful,” the British Foreign Secretary said after meeting Franco Frattini, his Italian counterpart.

He and Mr Frattini agreed that Europe wanted an international presence in any Israeli inquiry into the deadly storming of the boats. Such an inquiry must be “transparent, honest and complete,” Mr Frattini said.

When asked what form the international component could take because of Israeli opposition to a role by the United Nations, Mr Hague said: “The UN is not the only option, there are other organisations.”

He said that European co-operation on the Middle East and the question of UN sanctions against Iran were “part of using Europe’s collective weight in the world”.

Earlier, Mr Hague held talks in Paris with Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister. They agreed that an international inquiry was necessary to resolve the dispute over Israel’s raid on the Gaza aid flotilla.

France also proposed that the EU could help to defuse the situation by checking cargo on ships in the region.

UK to give 19 million pounds to Gaza

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From The Sydney Morning Herald

Britain has announced it is giving 19 million pounds Sterling (approximately 25 million US dollars) for refugees in Gaza and repeated calls for Israel to lift its blockade of the territory.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is both unacceptable and unsustainable,” International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said announcing the funds on Sunday, which will help support schools and health clinics for Gazan refugees.

The money is part of a five-year, 100 million pound agreement signed with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in 2006.

Proof that the new UK Government is grovelling to Islamists

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From Douglas Murray, The Telegraph

I have just been forwarded an email from the UK government which suggests that the new administration does not merely feel blackmailed by Islamists but is also actively trying to placate them.

The Research Information and Communications Unit (RICU) is jointly funded and run by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Home Office and the department of Communities and Local Government. Founded in 2007, it officially forms part of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism. It is the main conduit for Government in dealing with the disparate mass that it thinks of as “the Muslim community”.
Late yesterday the RICU sent out this message to its email list:

Dear all,

Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary made statements in the House of Commons today regarding the Israeli Navy’s interception of the Aid Flotilla to Gaza, and the subsequent deaths of a number of passengers. The attached factsheet provides details of these statements and further background and facts surrounding this incident. Continue Reading →

The UK and Islamist Terror: Conservatives Putting the Nation at Risk?

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By A. Millar, The Brussels Journal

Nearly a month into Britain’s new coalition government and perhaps the defining image of Prime Minister David Cameron shows him strolling casually along Westminster, without security, mingling with the crowd. At other times he has eschewed his motorcade, and sent away his police motorbike escort. We – and perhaps more especially those who despise Britain – are supposed to believe that he is a man of the people. He is like us, and we are like him. In the cold light of day, however, Cameron’s actions reveal only that he is disconnected from reality:

Lest we forget, Cameron is the leader of a wartime nation – a nation fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, and facing terrorism at home.

Islamist terrorists have often stepped up their activity during the first twelve months of a new government, and there has already been some activity since the May 6 election. In what is now being treated as a terrorist attack, the Labour MP for East Ham, Stephen Timms, was stabbed by a Muslim woman, who had been “radicalized.” Since then, the names of four other MPs have been discovered on a terrorist hit list, and security for all MPs has been put under review. Continue Reading →

Zakir Naik on British speaking tour.

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” Every Muslim should be a terrorist”. ” Western women are easy targets for rape.” ” If you eat pigs then you behave like pigs”. So says Peace TV’s cleric Zakir Naik.

From The Daily Mail U.K.

Muslim hate preacher is let into Britain despite Tories’ pledge to keep out radicals


By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:00 PM on 30th May 2010

Home Secretary Theresa May faces outrage after her officials allowed an Islamic hate-preacher to enter Britain.

Zakir Naik, who has said ‘every Muslim should be a terrorist’ and claimed Western women are easy rape targets because of their revealing clothes, is to speak in a tour of the country.

But his arrival appears to fly in the face of earlier Tory pledges to oppose radical Islam and attempts to keep extremists out of the UK.

Extremist: Zakir Naik is to tour Britain
Theresa May

Test: Extremist Zakir Naik was allowed into the UK by Theresa May’s  officials

When the Indian last came to Britain in 2006, David Davies – the Conservative MP for Monmouth – described him as a ‘hate-monger’.

But the Home Office, however, indicated that they are not planning to ban Naik, a doctor who preaches on the satellite channel Peace TV.

So the Prime Minister David Cameron and Mrs May now face a political test over how tough their stance will remain now they are in government.

Naik, who will appear at London’s Wembley Arena and in Sheffield,  has been described by some moderate Muslims as a ‘truth-twister’.

In a recent lecture, he said he was ‘with’ Osama Bin Laden over the attacks on ‘terrorist America’, adding that the 9/11 hijackings were an inside job by President George W Bush, the Sunday Times reports.

‘I don’t know what he’s doing’ he said about Bin Laden. I’m not in touch with him. I don’t know him personally. If he is terrorising the terrorists, if he is terrorising America the terrorist … I am with him. Every Muslim should be a terrorist,’ said Naik about the US President.

The rancorous Naik is a doctor by profession and can recite long passages from the Quran by rote, his distinguished educational background and knowledge set him apart from the usual ‘mad mullah’ category.

However, he has called for all Muslims who change their faith to be executed.

The resident of Mumbai reserves the harshest criticism for Americans.

‘In America, most people consume pork. Many times after dance parties, they have swapping of wives. Many say, ‘You sleep with my wife and I will sleep with your wife’. If you eat pigs then you behave like pigs,’ he said describing the American way of life.

The uproar over his visit follows on the heels of a similar incident involving controversial preacher, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian radical.

The Tories were then in the Opposition and had vehemently campaigned for a ban on entry into Britain for al-Qaradawi.

One well-placed insider told the paper: ‘Zakir Naik is a nasty man who makes al-Qaradawi look like a participant at a teddy bears’ picnic. He shouldn’t be allowed into the country to stir up hatred.’

The UK Border Agency, a Home Office department, said: ‘Each case is considered on its own merits.

‘When assessing a visa application, we will consider the previous conduct of the individual and we will ensure the UK does not provide a platform for the promotion of violent extremism.’

British family gunned down in honour murder massacre

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From The Daily Mail U.K.

Secret love-child ‘sparked honour killing massacre’ of British family in Pakistan

Last updated at 12:42 PM on 30th May 2010

Natalie SnowdenNatalie Snowden is believed to have had a child with Kamar Mahmood

An Asian man whose marriage breakdown allegedly led to the murders of his parents and sister may have split up with his wife because he had a love-child with a secret girlfriend.

Kamar Mahmood separated from his wife Nabeela after being married for nine years.

It is understood that the shame of the couple’s split – and the news that Mr Mahmood had allegedly cheated on his wife with a white, blonde girl – outraged Nabeela’s family so much that they decided to take revenge.

Nabeela’s three brothers and two other men are accused of shooting dead Mr Mahmood’s father Moham-mad Yusaf, 51, his mother Pervaze, 49, and sister Tania, 22, who were in Pakistan for the marriage of their youngest son, Asad, 24.

The victims were sprayed with bullets as they prayed at a relative’s graveside in a village in Gujrat province. Continue Reading →

UK Conservatives: The scandal of the 1922 Committee putsch

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By Norman Tebbit, The Telegraph

So we have entered the era of the Big Society, New Politics, consensus, decentralisation and power to the people. Everywhere, that is, except in the Conservative Party.

The 1922 Committee has a long and important history. Its rules have been clear. It is not for Ministers. The Prime Minister was not a member of the original 1922 Committee. Nor were other Ministers, or Whips. It was a forum for the backbenchers.

Mr Cameron did not like that arrangement. He was perfectly entitled to take the view that it should be changed. I think that he was wrong to do so, but then I have not been a Member of the Commons for nearly 20 years, and much has changed since that time. What has not changed, however, are the rules of natural justice. Continue Reading →

Britain: Catholic schoolgirls told to dress like Muslims for mosque visit or face truancy

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From The Daily Mail U.K.

Parents’ outrage as children told ‘dress as a Muslim for mosque trip – or you will be branded a truant’

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:19 AM on 12th May 2010

A Catholic schoolgirl has been branded a ‘truant’ by her teachers after she refused to dress as a Muslim for a school field trip to a mosque.

Staff had ordered 14-year-old Amy Owen and her classmates to dress in headscarf, wear trousers or leggings and keep her arms covered for the compulsory visit to the mosque after it was arranged to promote ‘community cohesion.’

Parents at the 1,100 pupil Ellesmere Port Catholic High School in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire were also told they were each required to make a £3 contribution towards the trip for all Year Nine students.

Michelle Davies' daughter Amy Owen was ordered to wear a headscarf and trousers or leggings for a school trip to a mosqueMichelle Davies’ daughter Amy Owen was ordered to wear a headscarf and trousers or leggings for a school trip to a mosque

But when Amy refused to dress in Muslim attire for the visit to Al Rahma Mosque in Toxteth, Liverpool, staff warned her about rules and said refusal would mean non attendance which would then be marked down as an ‘unauthorised absence.’

In a stern letter to her family with words in block capitals and underlined, the school’s headmaster Peter Lee said the visit was ‘as compulsory as a geography field trip.’ Continue Reading →

Islamists are crushed in Tower Hamlets

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By Andrew Gilligan, The Telegraph

Lutfur Rahman, the Labour leader of Tower Hamlets council backed by radical Islamists, has lost his job. At last night’s Labour group meeting, he was replaced as leader by another Labour councillor, Helal Abbas. Abbas is the man who protested last year that Tower Hamlets council was controlled by the fundamentalist Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE), based at the hardline East London Mosque. Continue Reading →