Free Republic

During the recent Tyson Chicken controversy, I published an article at FrontPage in which I argued that Tyson and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) should not have agreed to make Eid al-Fitr a paid day off for employees at the Tyson plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee, on the grounds that it set a bad precedent for accommodation of Islamic practices at a time when the Muslim Brotherhood is pressing forward a stealth jihad agenda of trying to impose Islamic Sharia law bit by bit and make American businesses and individuals grow used to the idea that Muslims must...

Press Release Labor Day Reinstated as Paid Holiday at Shelbyville, TN, Plant; Tyson Foods Requested Change from Union Springdale, Arkansas – August 8, 2008 - Tyson Foods, Inc. announced today it has reached a new agreement with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), an American union, reinstating Labor Day as one of the designated paid holidays under the contract for covered employees in the Shelbyville, Tennessee, plant. Tyson made this request on behalf of its Shelbyville plant employees, some of whom had expressed concern about the new contract provisions relative to paid holidays. In an effort to be...

Manzur Mahmud used to hide when he prayed. He'd duck down in his cubicle at Dallas' Texas Instruments or scramble to a friend's office to conduct two of his five daily Muslim prayers. Now the Bangladeshi engineer walks down the corridor and enters a small prayer room. North Texas companies are increasingly making space for quiet rooms as Muslim employees play a larger role in the U.S. workplace and feel more secure about verbalizing their faith. Meanwhile, businesses nationwide are seeing a rise in the number of religious discrimination charges. The changing nature of the workplace is forcing organizations to...

Two Muslim women at Barack Obama's rally in Detroit Monday were barred from sitting behind the podium by campaign volunteers seeking to prevent the women's headscarves from appearing in photographs or on television with the candidate. The campaign has apologized to the women, all Obama supporters who said they felt betrayed by their treatment at the rally. "This is of course not the policy of the campaign. It is offensive and counter to Obama's commitment to bring Americans together and simply not the kind of campaign we run," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton, who added that the volunteers were acting...

A Baltimore couple has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Islamic investment bank that owns the Church's Chicken fast-food chain, alleging their franchise failed because the bank's strict adherence to the religious code of Shari'ah prohibited the couple from selling pork. Marcus and Denise Beasley, who are black, claimed they were treated differently by the bank, now known as Atlanta-based Arcapita Inc., than non-black franchisees who were allowed to continue serving breakfast dishes containing pork after the chain was acquired by the bank in December 2004. The couple did not benefit from the grandfather policy allowing the sale...

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. A jury on Monday convicted a millionaire couple of enslaving two Indonesian women they brought to their mansion to work as housekeepers. Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, and his wife, Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 45, were each convicted of all charges in a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude, and harboring aliens. Prosecutors said the women were subjected to repeated psychological and physical abuse and were forced to work 18 hours or more a day. The Sabhnanis, who have four children and operate a worldwide perfume business out of their Muttontown home on Long Island's...

NEW YORK The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today the centerpiece of its "Beyond Stereotypes" campaign will be distribution of the newly-published "American Muslims: A Journalist's Guide to Understanding Islam and Muslims" to some 40,000 media professionals nationwide. CAIR's guide offers journalists the tools needed to gain a better understanding of Islam and to write accurate and balanced stories about Muslims. The guide offers background information on issues related to Islam and Muslims, best practices for reporting on the American Muslim community and definitions of terminology often used in news stories or editorials. The guide provides an Islamic perspective...

(CNSNews.com) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is pressing advertisers to withdraw their sponsorship of Michael Savage's nationally syndicated radio program because of Savage's alleged "anti-Muslim bigotry." Savage, on his Web site, is fighting back, urging his listeners to protect freedom of speech: "Email your representative; investigate CAIR for manipulating the U.S. media," his Web site says. On Nov. 1, CAIR urged "radio listeners of all faiths" to contact companies that advertise on "The Savage Nation" to complain about an "anti-Muslim tirade" on Savage's Oct. 29 program. (CAIR periodically issues "incitement alerts," urging its members to contact various media...

Maryland town wary of plans for mosque : Religion : Boulder Daily,p> ...Worries about everything from Islam to traffic divide town ... "Muslims are a whole different culture from us," said the mayor, Ralph Whitmore, ... www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/oct/19/maryland-town-wary-of-plans-for-mosque/

Musician Dawud Wharnsby believes everyone has their own way of making a difference in the world. "Some people are able to donate their money to good causes; some people are able to donate their time," he said. "For me, music and expression through song has always been the tool that I use." The French Canadian singer-songwriter, who converted to Islam in 1993, on Thursday brought his musical message of peace to the cafetorium at Columbus Manor Elementary School in Oak Lawn, performing guitar and percussion-based songs for the schoolchildren. "Music has been a crucial part of who I am and...

TuesdayÂ’s Metro section of The Washington Post covered a controversy at D.C.Â’s George Washington University, where posted appeared on campus blaring "HATE MUSLIMS? SO DO WE!!" Post reporter Susan Kinzie mentioned that the GWU chapter of the conservative Young AmericaÂ’s Foundation denied the posters were theirs, and Kinzie noted that it was probably a prank, since the fine print at the bottom had the words "'Brought to you by Students for Conservativo-Fascism Awareness' -- and a postscript recommending a BBC video on the politics of fear." But while WednesdayÂ’s article in Metro confirmed that it was a prank "produced by...

  Who's Behind the Censorship of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week?   By Ben JohnsonFrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, October 10, 2007 CALL IT THE LEFT’S VERSION OF PREEMPTIVE WAR. The three co-equal branches of the Unholy Alliance – Islamic radicals, far-Left activists, and academics – have returned to their usual level of discourse – intimidation, slander, ad hominem attacks – in an attempt to ban Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week from college campuses before it ever occurs. National “Muslim and Arab rights” organizations are pressuring college administrators to prevent students from holding the peaceful, educational seminars. Conservative students have been accused of “hate speech”...

TORONTO - A Toronto mosque is telling Muslims not to say "Happy Thanksgiving" or invite friends into their homes for turkey dinner on the holiday weekend. The Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque says to "avoid participating" in dinners, parties or greetings on Thanksgiving because it is a kuffaar, or non-Muslim, celebration. A two-part article on the mosque Web site says Muslims should also "stay completely away" from "Halloween trick-and treat nonsense," Christmas, New Year's, anniversaries, birthdays and Earth Day. "How can we bring ourselves to congratulate or wish people well for their disobedience to Allah? Thus expressions such as:Happy Thanksgiving, Happy...

During his visit to New York this week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacked every basic assumption upon which Western civilization is predicated. Ahmadinejad offered up his attacks while extolling his vision of Islamic global domination. Refusing to note his existential challenge to the Free World, the Western media concentrated their coverage of his trip on his statements regarding specific Western policy goals. His rejection of the UN Security Council's authority to take action against Iran's illicit nuclear weapons program; his championing of the Palestinian cause and Israel's destruction; his denials of Iranian support for terrorism, and his attacks against the...

Sterling Heights police Detective Sgt. Paul Jesperson said three separate complaints were filed by residents Tuesday who found the fliers on their windshields. He said the flier said: "Kill Jews and Christians if they don't believe in Allah and Mohammad." It further advises people to "Fight those who do not believe." "I really don't know what it means other than suggesting violence to Jews and Christians," Jesperson said. "We certainly have no intentions of stifling someone's religious beliefs but it is most certainly a violation of the law if you're condoning violence with this hate literature." Jesperson said police received...

Homeland Security: When dealing with Muslim leaders, Washington should borrow a page from Ronald Reagan's Soviet playbook: Trust, but verify. Many aim to deceive us, court evidence shows. It's now believed that several leaders of the Muslim establishment in America last decade conspired to infiltrate the U.S. political system, change Middle East policy and gradually Islamize America. At the same time, they hatched a plot to fund overseas terrorists. Of course, they couldn't do this out in the open. So they set up benign-sounding nonprofits and charities to "camouflage" their traitorous activities, say U.S. prosecutors who cite wiretap transcripts and...

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Muslim immigrants were seen as a potential threat in the United States. They have since become model citizens -- and now they want a greater say in politics. Why shouldn't we wear head scarves? It is almost 1 p.m., time for noon prayers, and Abdul Malik Mujahid, 55, is in his office on the second floor of Chicago's Downtown Islamic Center, preparing for his sermon. On his desk are a Koran, a pad of paper and a Blackberry. A telephone rings in the next room as people hurry through the corridors. Soon Mujahid...

Faisal, a taxicab driver who works at O'Hare Airport, wants to be a good cabbie while staying true to his Muslim faith. But Muslim cabdrivers are finding the latter difficult lately, as they've been hit with a rash of tickets for parking in access lanes leading to the airport terminals near where the city helped set up a prayer trailer for them. "For most of us who need to pray, that's part of our religious duty," said Faisal, a 13-year-cab veteran who declined to give his last name. "It doesn't do us any favors if you write us a ticket...

OAKLAND - Alameda County has agreed to pay $188,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by three women who said the late leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery, Yusuf Bey, sexually assaulted them and abused them as minors after the county placed them in his home. The three women, identified in the lawsuit only as Jane Doe 1, 2 and 3, were foster children or wards of the court from 1978 to 1994 and were placed in Bey's home by county social service workers. Bey routinely raped them, defecated on them, forced them to drink his urine and semen and threatened...

As schools citywide open their doors today, a group critical of a new Arabic-language public school is stepping up its opposition efforts, broadening its campaign to target national school curricula.The group, a coalition of community members, parents, and organizations called Citizens for American Values in Public Education, is seeking to stop the national use of textbooks that address Middle Eastern studies in ways the group says are too narrowly focused on Islamic culture. The coalition is an outgrowth of the group Stop the Madrassa, which has strongly opposed the creation of an Arabic-language school in Brooklyn, the Khalil Gibran International...

This has gotten way out of hand, especially as it becomes clearer as to what this "Islamic perspective" actually is: Imams taunting airline passengers and personnel, antisocial taxicab drivers and furor over foot baths - and this is just for starters, believe me. “The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit 501(c)(4), grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. CAIR is America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, with regional offices nationwide and in Canada. The national headquarters is located on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam...

They're called the Latino American Dawah Organization, or LADO for short.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Muslims are steadily improving their position in U.S. society, contrary to the image of a community besieged by suspicions of links to militants, a leading U.S. Muslim cleric said yesterday. Yahya Hendi, a prayer leader who teaches at Georgetown University, said the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities spurred Americans to learn more about Islam and Muslims to affirm their U.S. identity. "I think the future is bright, because of our wisdom in dealing with the reality," Mr. Hendi, a Palestinian by birth, said at a gathering of Saudi academics on a visit to Saudi...

Two Muslim women had the right to continue wearing their head scarves when sitting for a driver's license photo, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles said. Clerks at separate bureau offices in southwest Ohio were wrong to insist that the women remove the scarves, also known as hijabs, which are expressions of faith and modesty, said Tom Hunter, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the motor vehicles bureau. The bureau's offices in Loveland and Mason retook the photos for free. “It was just a misunderstanding on the part of BMV employees as to what the policy was,”...

CAIR Ibrihim Hooper will be on Laura Ingraham radio show shortly

Any country would be lucky to have as president someone with Obama's sensitivity and his sort of reflective leadership. Here is my unsolicited advice to him for keeping the spark alive: Remember that you're called Barack Obama; that your father was a Muslim. Do not turn your back on this heritage; instead use it as the spark that might push your campaign ahead. In this growing world war between Islam and the West, you should be proud of your Muslim legacy. Make it a central plank of your campaign to become world leader. There is no contradiction between this and...

Political Correctness: Seems the ACLU couldn't care less that a San Diego public school has set aside 15 minutes of classroom instruction time for Muslim students to pray, while non-Muslims twiddle their thumbs. Right now it has no plans to legally challenge the budding madrassa as endorsement of a religion by government. Apparently the establishment clause only applies to the practice of Judeo-Christian rituals in public places. The special accommodations for Carver Elementary's nearly 100 Somali Muslims don't stop with organized prayer. The school cafeteria has banned pork and other foods that conflict with the Islamic diet.

"I will grow my hair again." That was the vow yesterday of a Sikh teen whose hair was forcibly cut by other students in a high-school bathroom, in what's been deemed a religiously motivated hate crime.

According to former Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Eddie Green, Kifah Jayyousi is “a great guy, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.” While Green was superintendent, Jayyousi oversaw the Detroit school district’s capital improvement program, which had a $1.5 billion budget. Jayyousi is now charged, according to the Detroit Free Press , with “conspiring to kidnap, maim and murder by providing money, recruits and equipment for Islamic struggles in Bosnia , Kosovo and Chechnya from 1993 to 2001.” He could get life in prison. Christopher Paul, a martial arts instructor at a mosque in Columbus , Ohio , is...

Advertisers in the U.S. are starting to "reach out" to Muslims and "focusing on ways to use the cultural aspects of the Muslim religion to help sell their products," according to The New York Times: Companies in the Detroit area, where there is a dense population of Muslims, are leading the change. A McDonald’s there serves halal Chicken McNuggets; Walgreens has Arabic signs in its aisles. And now, Ikea, which recently opened a store in the suburb of Canton, Mich., that has had trouble attracting as many Muslim customers as it had hoped, has been touring local homes and talking...

The Kansas City International Airport has added several foot-washing basins in restrooms to accommodate a growing number of Muslim taxicab drivers who requested the facilities to prepare for daily Islamic prayer, WND has learned. The move concerns airport police who worry about Middle Eastern men loitering inside the building. After 9/11, the airport beefed up its police force to help prevent terrorist attacks. "Why are we constructing places of worship for them inside our airports?" said an airport official who requested anonymity. "Why are we catering to their rituals? We don't do it for any other religion." Other major airports...

A thoughtless adolescent joke is being investigated by local police as a hate crime. If you need proof that hate crimes and state-run schools are two government projects that should never mix, look no further than Lewiston, Maine. According to the Maine Sun Journal, "On April 11, a white student placed a ham steak in a bag on a lunch table where Somali students were eating." The Somali students were Muslim and believe pork to be unclean. The offender, who is now being investigated as the perpetrator of a hate crime — albeit a calloused and thoughtless one — was...

Baltimore County public school officials have said that adding Muslim holidays to the school calendars is unlawful and "irresponsible," marking another setback in attempts across the region to add the holidays. Muslim supporters wanted schools to close for Eid al-Adha, which marks the end of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, and Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. A few dozen members of the county's chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee asked for the change at a school board meeting Tuesday night. School officials, however, stood firm by a state law that disallows public schools from endorsing...

Dear questioner, thank you very much for having confidence in us, and we hope our efforts, which are purely for Allah's Sake, meet your expectations. Islam encourages Muslims to have a positive and interactive role in their communities, especially in non-Muslim countries where people need to know about Islam and its tolerant teachings in today’s world. Refraining from voting is nothing more than a defeat for Muslims, who are not supposed to isolate themselves. Rather, they should rise to the situation and come out from their cocoons.

Homeland Security: New York City plans to give Brooklyn Arabs and Muslims their own public school where they can speak Arabic. The idea is to promote cultural harmony. But it's Pollyannaish, and potentially dangerous. With this culture, tolerance is not mutual. Putting aside the issue of American taxpayers supporting a school dedicated to the study of a foreign culture hostile to our own, the move raises serious security questions. Will the school, located not far from Ground Zero, condone or encourage jihad? Will it act like a madrassa? How will authorities know any better, if classes are taught in Arabic?...

The first public US college in the nation has now earnestly begun the Islamization of its campus. We presume this is only the first of many other colleges and universities that will now follow suit. Minneapolis Community & Technical College announced in March that it will renovate its bathrooms, in order to install ritual foot-washing basins for Muslims’ who are preparing for their prayers. Although the Star Tribune’s Katherine Kersten reports that the college’s Director of Legal Affairs Dianna Cusick stated that it is unconstitutional to promote any religion and “the Constitution prevents us from doing this in any form”,...

CHICAGO - Two Chicago-area cousins were arrested Wednesday on federal charges out of Cleveland accusing them of conspiring to wage holy war against Americans overseas, including U.S. military forces in Iraq. Zubair A. Ahmed, 27, of suburban North Chicago, and Khaleel Ahmed, 26, of Chicago, were accused along with three other men from the Toledo, Ohio, area who already had been under indictment on charges of plotting acts of terrorism against Americans overseas. The fresh indictment returned by a grand jury in Cleveland added the two Chicago-area men to the roster of defendants and brought additional charges against the three...

This new PBS series looks promising, especially the "Jihad" and "Warriors" segments. You can go to the site to read about all 11 films.AMERICA AT A CROSSROADSThis series of 11 documentaries, hosted by journalist Robert MacNeil, explores the challenges confronting the world post 9/11 — including the war on terrorism; the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan; the experience of American troops; the struggle for balance within the Islamic world and Muslim life in America; and perspectives on America’s role in the world. Additional films will air as specials following the premiere. An extensive media and outreach campaign in more than...

PARMA, Ohio (AP) - The former imam of Ohio's largest mosque became a man without a country after being convicted of concealing his ties to terrorist groups. Fawaz Damra was rejected by 72 countries and left with no choice but to be deported to his native West Bank, leading to his arrest by Israeli authorities on Jan. 4. The arrest has angered Muslim leaders in Ohio, some of whom complained that he was double-crossed by U.S. immigration officials and delivered up to the Israelis. Damra, 46, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Nablus, was the spiritual leader of...

California Muslim Arrested after Threat to "Kill All Jews" http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/81967.aspx PALM SPRINGS a 35-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly made terrorist threats inside a Palm Springs bar, police said

ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland's first Muslim lawmaker took office yesterday, saying he was proud to make history but was not interested in being known only for his religion. Delegate Saqib Ali, Montgomery Democrat, encountered few problems during his campaign, but a protester stood outside his house in August with an anti-Muslim poster and a T-shirt that read: "This mind is an Allah-free zone." Mr. Ali defeated incumbent Delegate Joan F. Stern in the Democratic primary.

SPEAKING AT the State Department in 1999, Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, a Sufi sheik and leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, sounded an alarm about Muslim houses of worship in the United States. "The most dangerous thing that is going on now in these mosques . . . is the extremists' ideology," he said. "Because they are very active, they took over the mosques; . . . they took over more than 80 percent of the mosques that have been established in the US." He warned ominously that "a danger might suddenly come that you are not looking for...

Muslim Taxi Showdown In Twin Cities The showdown between Muslim taxi-drivers and their passengers gets more out-of-state attention this morning from the New York Sun's Youssef Ibrahim. The refusal of a large number of Islamic cabbies to transport passengers with alcohol in their luggage or service dogs for the blind and handicapped, and the local fatwa on which they rely for their position, has led to a showdown with the Metropolitan Airport Commission: At a meeting Wednesday of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), airport staff members asked the commission to give the go-ahead for public hearings on a tougher policy...

It’s the Sunni Head Choppers vs Shiite Head Cutters. The epic battle of Bad Muslim vs Bad Muslim has made it’s way to the good ole U S of A! While Nancy Pelosi's Democratic Party's Chief of Intelligence is still trying to figure out the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims are in the wide world of Islamic Fundemtalism/Terrorism, the sectarian violence that has haunted the Bush administrations plans for peace in Iraq, have finally found their way to our own backyard in my home state of Michigan in Jihad central itself, Dearborn or as we have come to know...

The newly appointed CIA Director Porter Goss, believes that terrorists may bring urban warfare techniques learned in Iraq to our homeland. If he is right, we could have a whole new war on our hands. The prospect is indeed scary. The idea of terrorist cells operating clandestinely in the United States, quietly amassing handguns and assault rifles, and planning suicide shooting rampages in our malls, is right out of Tom Clancy’s most recent novel. If not for the fact that the 9/11 attacks were also foreshadowed in a Clancy novel, I would have given the idea no further thought. However,...

The executive director of the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said he believes a death threat against him was fueled by Senator Barbara Boxer’s actions. Boxer had commended Basim Elkarra’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations for the group’s efforts to improve relations between Christians, Jews, minority groups and the FBI. Her officer later rescinded the award after investigating an on-line report that accused Elkarra’s group of terrorist sympathies. While investigating the accusations, Boxer learned two former CAIR members were sentenced to prison for crimes related to terrorist groups, according to her communications director, Natalie Ravaitz....

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport wants to crack down on Muslim taxi drivers who refuse to carry alcohol or service dogs in their cabs. At a meeting Wednesday of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, airport staff asked the commission to give the go-ahead for public hearings on a tougher policy that would suspend the licenses of drivers who refuse service for any reason other than safety concerns. Drivers who refuse to accept passengers transporting alcohol or service dogs would have their airport licenses suspended 30 days for the first offense and two years for the second offense, according to a revised taxi...

The Somali jihad is over for now, but it still has supporters worldwide – including within the United States. The southern Somali city of Kismayo has fallen to a combined force of Ethiopian and Somali troops. The Somali Supreme Islamic Courts Council regime ruled Mogadishu for only a few months, instituting a particularly draconian version of Sharia. Now its leaders have fled, and the remnants of their forces are now trapped between the sea and Somalia’s border with Kenya. “Nobody expected the Islamists to show this little political resilience. They were the first movement to pacify southern Somalia for 16...

Here we go. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, has yet to take office, and already the ugliness begins. Mr. Ellison plans to bring his Koran with him on Jan. 4 when he takes the oath of office. The Koran is the Muslim holy book. If Christians and Jews can bring their Bibles, why shouldn’t Mr. Ellison be able to bring his Koran? The answer given this week by Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode was simple enough: Because Mr. Goode doesn’t believe in the Koran, Mr. Ellison doesn’t have any right to either. I kid you not. What could...

A Republican congressman has told constituents that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims" will be elected and follow the lead of a recently elected lawmaker who plans to use the Quran at his ceremonial swearing-in. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., made the comments in a letter sent earlier this month to hundreds of constituents who had written to him about Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat and the first Muslim elected to Congress. Goode's letter triggered angry responses from a New Jersey congressman and an Islamic civil rights group. In the letter, Goode wrote, "The Muslim representative from Minnesota was...