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The couple chose an idyllic resort in the Maldives as the perfect place to renew their marriage vows and pledge everlasting love. But their happiness has turned to humiliation after the wedding video was posted on YouTube and subtitles disclosed that their "Islamic blessing", which was conducted by a hotel employee in the native Dhivehi language, was in fact a stream of insults. "You are swine. The children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine. Your marriage is not a valid one," he intoned as the couple held up their hands in prayer, blissfully unaware of...

(AP) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Maldives has ordered hundreds of luxury resorts to close their spas after protesters demanded a halt to "anti-Islamic" activities. The Indian Ocean archipelago with 1,192 tiny coral islands is known for its exquisite resorts. A statement from the president's office said the government decided to close massage parlors and spas in the Maldives after an opposition-led religious protest last week called for their closure. Thousands at the protest called on the government to halt what they called "anti-Islamic" activities. Sunni Islam is the official religion in the Maldives and

As I noted here, Dean Obeidallah is making a film about the trumped-up concept of "Islamophobia," and he would really like to interview me for it. So after I wrote this yesterday, we had another exchange, and I thought there might be an opportunity for some honest dialogue. So I asked Obeidallah to answer these questions, and told him I'd be interviewed for his film if he did so: 1. True or false: No comedy show, no matter how clever or winning, is going to eradicate the suspicion that many Americans have of Muslims. This is because Americans are concerned...

The other day the New York Times invited a few contributors to answer the question “Is America’s religious freedom under threat?” The answer provided by Salam Al-Marayati, head of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), in an essay entitled “A Campaign Against Patriotic Muslims,” was a resounding yes – at least, that is, where his co-religionists are concerned. Among Al-Marayati’s assertions: “religious freedom for the Muslim American is under threat….Today’s anti-Muslim rhetoric is eerily similar to the pre-Nazi rhetoric against Jews….Hate against Muslim children in elementary and secondary schools is on the rise.” There is, insisted Al-Marayati, “an inquisition mentality...

“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” Sir Winston Churchill When Historians will look back to these times in the History of Contemporary America, they will certainly wonder, how come the Superpower of the World was conquered without a drop of blood running in the streets... Another major Muslim conquest, the one that took place in Spain between 711 and 718, entered History marked by bloody battles in different cities where revolts and resistance opposed the invasion and takeover by the Islamic invaders. They did not take it over smoothly as they are...

Paul Marshall of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom Washington D.C., Dec 6, 2011 / 02:51 pm (CNA).- A religious liberty expert is concerned that the U.S. State Department appears to be collaborating with a group that has worked to outlaw criticism of Islam around the world.“The U.S. government should not be getting into the business of trying to shape what people say about religion,” said Paul Marshall, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom.Marshall made his remarks to CNA on Dec. 5, after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited the Saudi Arabia-based Organization of...

True democracy can no more take hold in Islamic soil than a rose can grow in a glass vase ... no matter how much water it contains. This is a true statement and many Islamists know that this is a true statement. Tell that to the politically correct segment of our society. This segment, whether it is the mainstream media or foreign policy makers, is afflicted with "opposite disorder ' or better described as "Islamophilia." "What is Islamophilia?," you ask. It is the irrational and self-destructive desire to show how enlightened and morally superior you are by bending over backwards...

Revolutions are known to devour their children, and popular uprisings driven by the promise of change for the better have been notorious for turning into nightmares. The so-called Arab Spring is another dark night unfolding across the Middle East. This was predictable, and inevitable. The Tunisian fruit-seller who sparked this Arab Spring by self-immolating was a man driven to despair by the very culture into which he was born, and from which he knew there was no escape. The act of self-immolation was a terrible display of despair of a desperate man. And so is the political drama in Arab...

A parliamentary group to tackle Islamophobia has been re-launched at Westminster, with the support of MPs from across the political divide. The group originally sparked controversy after it was revealed that an anti-Zionist organisation was to act as its secretariat. The newly reformed All-Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia was set up last week and will begin work immediately on an inquiry into the extent of anti-Muslim prejudice in Britain today. The APPG will be co-chaired by Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes; Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Perry Barr, Birmingham; and Stuart Andrew, Conservative MP for Pudsey, Leeds. MPs voted...

"In this scene from "Islamophobia," Tommy Robinson of the English Defence League takes "Vanguard" correspondent on a tour of the neighborhood where he grew up, which he says has been taken over by radical Islamists. The drive quickly turns into a heated argument with a Muslim man passing by who recognizes Tommy." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ae5_1320786379

There’s a longstanding joke, around since young people first started dabbling in New Age spirituality, that the “faith” of rebellious youth who call themselves “spiritual but not religious” is A.B.C. — Anything But Christianity. It’s hard not to see that concept underlying most mainstream discussions of religious issues these days, most notably in recent public discussions of Islam. Richard Landes writes in London’s Telegraph (Aug. 24) about an “elite that controls much of the discussion in the public sphere (journalists, academics, talking heads, mainstream politicians) and who fear being called Islamo­phobes and racists more than they fear Islamist racists.” This...

Islamic bigotry is a term that has been used to describe radical Islam, Islamic intolerance.Already used, at least as early as 1895, to describe the 1453 Turkish-Islamic massacre of Christians.[1].In 1924, an Islamic magazine defined it to differentiate it from moderate Islam.[2]It was used (in a 1967 book) vis-a-vis Pakistani Islamic motivated bigotry against the Ahmadiya, since at least 1953.[3] In 1971 on anti-Indian Islamic bigotry.[4] In a 1979 book on Iran, on anti-Bahai bigotry.[5] In a 2002 book on Pakistan anti-Christian rampage, Afghanistan and Indonesia.[6] In 1997, on Islamic bigotry being "progressive movement of history."[7] In 1998 author used...

From a purely academic point of view, this translation is superior to anything produced by orientalists in the way of translations of major Islamic works.” Taha Jabir al-Alwani was writing about Reliance of the Traveller, the English version of Umdat al-Salik, the classic manual of sharia (“Islamic Sacred Law,” as the cover of Reliance puts it). Alwani is no lightweight in these matters. His specialty is fiqh — Islamic jurisprudence. In fact, he has been a member of the Islamic Fiqh Academy in Saudi Arabia and is renowned among orientalist scholars in the West as president of the Fiqh Council...

<p>The workers drive the company's rental cars to and from the airport for cleaning and refueling. They are among 34 Hertz employees suspended Sept. 30 for failing to clock out before breaks.</p> <p>The Seattle Times reports that Hertz says nine of the 34 signed the agreement and have returned to their jobs.</p>

The recently released report "Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America," from the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress (CAP), purports to expose a sinister network of American "Islamophobes" funded by a "flood of cash" who manufacture conspiracy theories about Islam, spread hate and bigotry against all Muslim-Americans, and inspire violence toward them, all for financial and political gain. But in fact, the very concept of Islamophobia is manufactured propaganda used by the subversive Muslim Brotherhood and their leftist support network to demonize and silence critics of Islamic fundamentalism. The authors of "Fear, Inc." are counting on...

Iran’s Khomeinist news agency, Press TV – long recognized for its Jihadist-supporting broadcasts – has published what is being referred to as a veritable “hit piece” against many leading U.S. media companies, commentators, antiterrorism experts, legislators, and at least one presidential candidate – calling several by name – in what the news agency considers to be “The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America.” And what observers fear may reveal a more sinister motive.

It has been just about a decade since Islamophobia exploded in this country. That was of moment that the World Trade Center and Pentagon were hit by al Qaeda terrorists. It existed prior to 9/11, but the losses that day and the general terror it inflicted upon this country made many, many Americans much more wary of Arabs and, fairly quickly, fearful of the religion the terrorists professed. The first sign that 9/11 would be exploited to advance various agendas came from Binyamin Netanyahu, who was quoted in the New York Times as saying the attacks would be good for...

As I have mentioned previously, one of major goals of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is to stop “Islamophobia”, which is its preferred term for the criticism of or opposition to Islam by non-Muslims. The word “Islamophobia” is of relatively recent coinage. I never encountered it until after 9-11, and it was subjected to widespread ridicule, at least among non-Muslims and non-leftists, when it first became widely known. However, after the OIC and the UN harped on it for a few years, and the progressive media solemnly repeated the Muslim party line, “Islamophobia” gained general currency as a serious,...

Moving rapidly to criminalize telling the truth about how Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to encourage violence and supremacism. Free Speech Death Watch Alert, and an update on this story: "OIC/Islamophobia: OIC Observatory warned since 2009 against the growth of the extreme right in Europe, Washington plans to host a meeting on resolution opposing defamation of religions," from the International Islamic News Agency, August 1 (thanks to all who sent this in): JEDDAH, Ramadan 1/Aug 1 (IINA)-During the next few months, Washington plans to host a coordination meeting to discuss with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) uses Press TV, the biased English-language channel run by the Iranian government, as a platform to peddle its favored meme of "Islamophobia" in the U.S. One clip spotlighted last month by the Investigative Project (IPT) features CAIR communications director Ibrahim Hooper lamenting "a cottage industry of Muslim bashers," "Islamophobic groups," and "right-wing politicians and commentators pushing anti-Muslim sentiment in our society." However, this is just the tip of the iceberg.