Free Republic

The New York Police Department has faced criticism for its surveillance of the Muslim community, but one prominent Muslim journalist defended the department in an interview with Fox News. “We use religion as a cover,” said Asra Nomani, a 46-year-old journalist whose work has been published by the Wall Street Journal and The Daily Beast. Nomani, a native of India, says radical ideology is very real -- and damaging to all Muslims. "We're saying that you can't go into our mosques, you can't look at our Muslim organizations, you can't even look at Muslims because that's to target us," she...

OnIslam, the Islamic news portal associated with Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi, is reporting on a new educational campaign on Shari’ah (Islamic Law) by the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). According to the report: March 2012 11:55 WASHINGTON – A leading US Muslim group has launched a campaign to educate Americans about Islamic Shari`ah long affected by post-9/11 politics as well as campaigns led by Republican presidential candidates. ”ICNA is making an honest attempt to reach out and connect to our fellow Americans and introduce them to our Islamic faith,” Naeem Baig, the Islamic Circle of North America’s...

There is a fierce battle under way for the soul of our nation. Many of us feel helpless because of the massive, unrelenting onslaught by the evil forces that are beating at our country’s Judeo-Christian foundation from every direction. In this terrible, ancient fight which dates all the way back to the Garden of Eden, there are modern-day warriors who understand that this fight is a spiritual one. Yes, we have earthly, physical enemies, but ultimately the real enemies are the spiritual forces of evil that are the motivators behind our enemies in the physical world. Without understanding the nature...

BRUSSELS -- An ax-wielding arsonist burst into a Shiite Belgian mosque Monday, killing the imam and destroying much of the building in an attack local Muslims tipped as the work of Sunni extremists. Police said the man, detained after mosque personnel trapped him inside the building, apparently used fuel to set fire to the Rida mosque near Brussels' international rail hub, killing 46-year-old father-of-four Abdallah Dadou. The victim, who died of smoke inhalation, was described by worshipper Abdel Adouzeyneb, a 39-year-old real estate agent, as "a person who was loved by everybody -- he was open, well integrated, smiling and...

From the Middle East Media Research Institute comes a recent video of Egyptian presidential candidate Bassem Khafagi on Al-Nas TV promising to “complete the implementation of Islamic law in Egypt” (HT: Zip). From the MEMRI transcript: (VIDEO AT LINK) Bassem Khafaji: Let me tell you, in all honesty, that as a Muslim Egyptian, I am convinced of [the need to] complete the implementation of Islamic law in Egypt. I do not hide this truth in any way, because it is in keeping with the inclination of the Egyptian people. We Egyptians – both Muslims and non-Muslims – refer to the...

A women’s conference organized by the dominant Islamist bloc in the Egyptian parliament has called for a council for families to replace the existing National Council for Women, a state-owned daily reported on Friday. The conference, held Thursday on International Women’s Day, also condemned the 1978 U.N. convention against gender discrimination saying it was “incompatible with the values of Islamic sharia” law, the Al-Ahram newspaper reported.The Freedom and Justice Party conference called for the formation of a national council for the family to “truly express the complementary roles of men and women,” the newspaper said. The Freedom and Justice Party,...

Intolerance seems to be part of the message sent to student-athletes on the sporting fields of Texas. Only under legal pressure and public criticism did the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, which organizes competitions for more than 200 schools, recently agree to accommodate an Orthodox Jewish school and reschedule a basketball game that would have violated the Sabbath. The association’s ignorance and bigotry toward Islamic schools is more stunning. As reported in The Times, one Islamic high school that sought to join the association, known as Tapps, in 2010 got a questionnaire that asked the school: “It is...

President Barack Obama on Sunday condemned the alleged slaughter of 16 Afghan civilians by an American soldier as "tragic and shocking" and assured Afghan President Hamid Karzai by telephone that the United States will "hold fully accountable anyone responsible" as the bloody incident plunged already deteriorating ties into a fresh crisis. Obama called Karzai, who denounced the reported shooting rampage as an unforgivable "assassination," to make clear "his Administration's commitment to establish the facts as quickly as possible and to hold fully accountable anyone responsible," the White House said in a statement. Obama expressed "his shock and sadness" to Karzai...

Mormons like Glenn Beck and Senator Orrin Hatch have long given a high profile to this American-grown faith. And with Mitt Romney in the running for the Republican nomination, the question of exactly how to categorize Mormonism has become news. An Evangelical pastor who supports Rick Perry told reporters he thought Mormonism is “a cult”, prompting a denial of the opinion by the Perry campagn, and a characterization of it as “bigotry” by former member of the Reagan cabinet, Bill Bennett, speaking in support of Romney. Mormons, meanwhile, very openly express the hope that having a Mormon running in the...

New Study Shows Polygamy Leads to Higher Levels of Crime, Violence, Poverty, and Gender Inequality Interesting. Islam institutionalized polygamous marriage. Researchers have determined that polygamous marriage in a culture leads to higher levels of crime, violence, poverty, and gender inequality. Hence, Islam institutionalized a practice that led to the problems we now see in Muslim societies: rampant violence, poverty, and gender inequality. Shouldn't Allah have known better? For those unfamiliar with Islamic teachings, here's a quick review. According to the Qur'an, Muslim men are allowed to marry up to four women: Qur'an 4:3—And if you fear that you shall not...

An initial investigation into the case of five U.S. soldiers caught burning Qur’ans in Afghanistan found it to be nothing more than a mistake—that the servicemen unwittingly added the books into their routine trash pickup. Nonetheless, in retaliation, Afghan security forces turned on U.S. troops, killing six. And still, Barack Obama issued a diplomatic apology. This is widely known, courtesy of the media. But, as the latest developments percolate without nearly the same level of attention, Constitutionalist attorney Gary Kreep, President of the United States Justice Foundation (USJF), is working to sound the alarm in his own way. In spite...

"We will hold sacred the beliefs held sacred by others.” That’s the concluding rally cry of the U.S. Department of Defense’s newly issued guidance on the “Proper Handling and Disposal of Islamic Religious Materials — Service Members/Civilian Training.” Here’s how it works: Mainstream Muslims throughout the Middle East believe, based on the Koran and other “Islamic Religious Materials,” that if an infidel force invades a Muslim territory, its members must be killed until the force has been driven out. They further believe that if non-Muslims commit some act — even an inadvertent one — that Muslims perceive as insulting to...

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says that “it may be necessary for us to roll back the freedoms and privileges we extended to women if we want to persuade the Taliban to come to terms with us.” Karzai characterized the freedoms granted to women over the last decade as “an experiment that is not working. Allowing women to go out in public uncovered and unaccompanied is a Western imposition that is out of step with our fundamental traditions. We will never have peace if we attempt to persist with such offensive alien ideas. Bringing women back under the discipline of sharia...

At least 90 Iraqi teenagers with “emo” appearances have been stoned to death by religious extremists in Baghdad in the past month after an inflammatory interior ministry statement dubbed it “devil worshiping”, activists said. Iraq’s Moral Police released a chilling statement on the interior ministry’s website condemning the “emo phenomenon” among Iraqi youth, disturbingly declaring its intent to “eliminate” the trend. “The ‘Emo phenomenon’ or devil worshiping is being followed by the Moral Police who have the approval to eliminate [the phenomenon] as soon as possible since it’s detrimentally affecting the society and becoming a danger,” the statement read. “They...

In the recent destruction of Commonwealth war graves in Benghazi, Libya (YouTube Video), you can see not just the desecration of graves, but attacks on crosses. The radical Muslims who are kicking over and smashing headstones marked with crosses (and one with a Star of David), also took pains to demolish a tall "Cross of Sacrifice" standing at the edge of the cemetery. This was no "furious mob" on a "rampage," as a Daily Mail report put it. Nor was there any evidence in what they were saying that they were angry or reacting to Koran burning by the US...

Much depends on who capitalizes on the thirst for change. As daily protests wane, the hard work of political organizing must begin. In this regard, the liberal, or “right,” forces (as they are known) need to address the Russian people’s concrete economic and social concerns. Too often movements have rallied around a strong personality with minimal connection to the population’s aspirations. This time the liberals have a ready-made constituency in the rising middle class and its youthful vanguard. They cannot waste this opportunity. Otherwise, the standard-bearers of change could be radical nationalists, even warmed-over communists who might well tap into...

Iraqi activists sounded the bell over the killing of dozens of teenagers by religious police for having “emo” haircuts. Activists told the Cairo-based al-Akhbar daily that at least 90 Iraqi teenagers with “emo” appearances have been stoned to death by the Moral Police in the country in the past month. The violent crackdown against “emo” Iraqi teenagers came after the Iraqi interior ministry declared them as “devil worshippers.” “The ‘Emo phenomenon’ or devil worshiping is being probed by the Moral Police who have the approval to eliminate it as soon as possible since it’s detrimentally affecting the society and becoming...

In what has become a recurring pattern, American Islamist groups again have turned a blind eye to the misdeeds of the brutal Iranian regime, further calling into question their inconsistent positions on civil rights violators and their tacit support of the radical Iranian government. Amnesty International released a new report Feb. 28 documenting the growing campaign of repression orchestrated by the regime in Tehran against dissenters in advance of new parliamentary elections. "The net of repression is widening in Iran," Amnesty's description said. "The authorities are arresting filmmakers, bloggers, human rights defenders, women's rights activists, lawyers, students, journalists, political activists,...

"It is Seldom That Any Kind of liberty is lost all at once," wrote David Hume. To warn that the erosion of economic freedom by interventionist measures would lead to the erosion of political and intellectual freedom, Friedrich Hayek placed this quote on the front page of The Road to Serfdom. It perfectly illustrates the threat to the destruction of freedom in Europe after World War II. Although seven decades have passed, the warning has not been heeded. Economic freedom in Europe has been largely abolished as month after month, regulations emanating from the unelected, self-appointed, technocratic Brussels Commission continue...

Jihad Watch Grover Norquist aiding Iranian regime through group linked to NIAC Grover Norquist's numerous unsavory ties to jihadists and Islamic supremacists are abundantly documented in Pamela Geller's expose here. And on the House floor in October, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) said of Norquist, "Documentation shows that he has deep ties to supporters of Hamas and other terrorist organizations that are sworn enemies of the United States and our ally Israel.”  He pointed out that “around the years 2000 and 2001, Mr. Norquist’s firm represented Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was convicted two years later for his role in a terrorist...