Free Republic

ISLAMABAD: The menace of terrorism faced by the Muslim world is not only challenging the state writ but also brining a bad name to Islam, said Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani on Saturday. “Terrorism is taking human lives and hurting the ongoing development process, and the situation in Pakistan is being further aggravated further by a low literacy rate and rampant poverty,” said Durrani. He was addressing the concluding ceremony of a seven-day training course organised for journalists from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA) here at the Information Service Academy...

Authorities say the men planned to kill in the name of God. But the Palmyra mosque where they worshiped maintains it taught them only about peace. Now the Islamic Center of South Jersey, and many other Muslim institutions in the state, are trying to convince people that their religious teachings didn't play a role in an alleged plot to massacre soldiers at Fort Dix. Last night, the mosque held a special meeting at which more than 100 people heard a message of peace and tolerance from the Islamic Center's leaders, as well as U.S. Rep. Robert E. Andrews (D., N.J.),...

Support for the Saudi plan to resolve the conflict with Israel, safeguarding Lebanon’s sovereignty, Iran’s right to access nuclear technology for peaceful use, no to Muslim peacekeepers in Iraq, and self determination for Kashmir. Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Lebanese sovereignty, peace in Palestine, self-determination for Kashmir and a nuclear Iran, solutions to the conflict in Sudan and the occupation of Iraq, through dialogue and strong condemnation of Islamaphobia. Great and sweeping declarations of principal are carried in the final document of the 34th conference of foreign ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Conferences, which closet yesterday in Islamabad. The summit however...

BETHLEHEM – Al-Qaida training videos and literature were recently distributed to Palestinians in Bethlehem, according to local sources speaking to WND. The information prompted some leaders there to express deep concern about the growing trend of what they said was Islamic extremism and Christian intimidation in one of the holiest cities for Christianity. According to local sources, the al-Qaida materials were mass produced and were provided to young Muslim men in Bethlehem. The sources didn't know where the materials originated. Among the materials distributed was an al-Qaida video – screened by WND – in which the global jihad group teaches...

The Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR) today applauded efforts by federal law enforcement authorities that apparently thwarted a planned attack on Fort Dix in New Jersey. In a statement, the Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group said: "Based on the information gathered in this case, it seems clear that a potentially deadly attack has been averted. We applaud the FBI for its efforts and repeat the American Muslim community's condemnation and repudiation of all those who would plan or carry out acts of terror while falsely claiming their actions have religious justification. "We continue to urge American Muslims...

"We have new (military) plans. ...

Ayman al-Zawahiri Says Al Qaeda Wants to Spill More U.S. Blood Before America Leaves In a new video posted today on the Internet, al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al Zawahiri, mocks the bill passed by Congress setting a timetable for the pullout of U.S. troops in Iraq. "This bill will deprive us of the opportunity to destroy the American forces which we have caught in a historic trap," Zawahiri says in answer to a question posed to him an interviewer. Continuing in the same tone, Zawahiri says, "We ask Allah that they only get out of it after losing...

TEHERAN - Iran has arrested the editor of a student paper after the publication of material deemed insulting to Islam in four reformist papers at a prestigious Teheran university, press reports said on Saturday. “Ahmad Ghassaban the editor of Sahar (Dawn), a student paper in Amir Kabir University, was arrested on Thursday,” the reformist Etemad daily said. His arrest came after caricatures and articles deemed insulting to Islam appeared on campus in papers bearing the insignia of Sahar and three other student publications. It was not clear exactly what the reportedly offensive material contained. Ghassaban and other editors belonging to...

This week has been another terrible one for those of us who want a society in which all races, religions and cultures mix to their mutual advantage and enrichment. On Tuesday, five men were sentenced to life in prison for plotting to use a huge fertiliser bomb in what would have been the UK's largest mass murder. Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood, Salahuddin Amin, Anthony Garcia and Jawad Akbar - first and second generation immigrants - responded to the tolerance of the British people by trying to kill as many of them as possible. Is it absurd to hope that the...

A horrifying video showing a 17-year-old Kurdish girl being stoned to death for having a relationship with a Sunni Muslim boy has made its way onto the Web, drawing outrage and condemnation from international human rights groups. The graphic video, posted on YouTube, shows Du’a Khalil Aswad, a member of a minority Kurdish religious group called Yezidi, being stoned and kicked in the streets of Bashika, a predominantly Kurdish town near the norther capital of Mosul. The stoning happened last month but only came to light Thursday when the video was posted on YouTube.

A bus company in Edinburgh has sparked anger over rules requiring drivers to ask Muslim women wearing the veil to show their faces. Religious groups and unions said the rules introduced by Lothian Buses to catch potential fare cheats were unnecessary. Passengers have been told to lift their veils or produce a passport or driving licence when boarding.

The Khalil Gibran International Academy was conceived as a public embrace of New York City’s growing Arab population and of internationalism, the first public school dedicated to the study of the Arabic language and culture and open to students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. But nearly three months after plans for the middle school were first announced, a beleaguered Department of Education is fending off attacks from two angry camps: parents from Public School 282, the elementary school in Park Slope, Brooklyn, that was assigned to share building space with the Khalil Gibran school, and a handful of columnists...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A Muslim woman denounced and ridiculed by nationalists for wearing an Islamic head scarf announced Friday she was running for Parliament — a move bound to rekindle heated debate about Islam in Denmark. The next election is not expected until 2009, but the mere thought of Asama Abdol-Hamid entering the legislature has revived fears of clashing cultures that emerged last year when Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad sparked riots in Muslim countries. Even mainstream politicians and party colleagues in the left-wing Red-Green Alliance have questioned whether Abdol-Hamid, who moved to Denmark at age 6 with her...

THE HAGUE – Freedom Party PVV faction leader Geert Wilders is arguing that all Islamic schools in the Netherlands should be shut down immediately. He says this measure is necessary in order to "protect children against the spread of Islamic doctrine." Wilders writes this in a column that appeared today on the website Nieuwnieuws.nl. "Islam is rapidly pushing our Western civilisation close to the edge of the abyss. We have too much Islam in the Netherlands. Islam is more a violent political ideology than a religion," the MP writes. He admits that he has taken a strong position in the...

MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia Dec 28, 2006 (AP)— In his tent in the desert outside the holy city of Mecca, Suleiman Ibrahim still couldn't believe his luck. His wife, sitting nearby, broke down in tears of joy Thursday as he recounted the day they learned they would perform Islam's hajj pilgrimage. "The whole family started singing and congratulating me," said Ibrahim, a furniture maker from the southern Egyptian city of Sohag who was one of tens of thousands of Egyptians picked in a government lottery to make the pilgrimage. "Hamdiya cried then, too," the 45-year-old said, nodding to his wife....

WASHINGTON (Reuters)- When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly. The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be "off his rocker." The second congratulated him and added: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us." Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth...

Dutch government officials responsible for security announced that the government may close mosques if it considers them a threat to order. More money was requested for the security services to monitor suspicious persons and to protect endangered persons and property. Johan Remkes minister of internal affairs, Piet Hein Donner minister of justice and Rita Verdonk immigration minister presented their proposals at the Parliament Thursday following the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by moslem extremists, and the wave of racial and religious violence which followed. Dual citizenship holders considered dangerous are to be stripped of their Dutch citizenship, and radical...