Free Republic

President Obama continued his outreach to the world's Muslims today, sending greetings to pilgrims to Mecca. .... "Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to all those performing Hajj this year, and to Muslims in America and around the world who are celebrating Eid-ul-Adha. The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world’s major religions," Obama said in a statement. "During Hajj, the world’s largest and most diverse gathering, three million Muslims from all walks of life – including thousands of American Muslims – will stand...

(IsraelNN.com) U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Saudi Arabia next Sunday, one day before his scheduled appearance in Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, according to the president’s spokesman. The addition of Saudi Arabia to the Middle East tour indicates added determination by President Obama to forge a regional peace in the face of hardening positions by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

... [L]ast week, Salahuddin Mustafa Muhammad found himself an accidental actor of sorts in the latest case of what the authorities call a homegrown terror plot, one in which four ex-convicts were accused of trying to blow up two Bronx synagogues and attack military aircraft. The plot, the authorities say, began when one of the men met a government informant at Mr. Muhammad’s mosque roughly a year ago. With at least two of the men appearing to be prison converts to Islam, the case has in certain circles evoked an old debate about the role prison might play as an...

The Death of Common Sense The Birth of The WHY Initiative Dean Haskins Exactly when did common sense die in this country? Obviously, it has been on life support for some time; but now that our collective national synapses have stopped firing, we aren’t even in an era of philosophical “gray.” What is presently being foisted upon us is the notion that black is white and white is black. And, don’t even think about reducing that statement to race. Political correctness is only political; there is nothing correct about it. Think about it. We’re being told that the way to...

The deputy to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that Iran was a friend of Israel, Iranian news agencies reported. "Iran wants no war with any country, and today Iran is friend of the United States and even Israel.... Our achievements belong to the whole world and should be used for expanding love and peace," said Iranian Vice President Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, who is also head of the Cultural Heritage Organization. The Cultural Heritage Organization news agency quoted him as saying that even during the eight-year war against Iraq, Iran just defended itself against the military invasion by former Iraqi dictator...

There is already a widespread consensus that Barack Obama will say whatever he has to say to get elected. His own pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said that he understood why Obama had to distance himself from him to avoid unfavorable attention. Obama also put on an American flag pin (perhaps for the first time) along with an Israel flag pin to talk to AIPAC, but he would probably wear a Palestinian flag pin if he spoke to the International Solidarity Movement. We also recall Yassir Arafat’s technique of saying in English what he wanted the West to believe while using Arabic...

Jailed Fatah leader writes letter to Peace Now activists reading, 'We are ready for reconciliation that will grant ours and your own children a life devoid of the threats of war and bloodshed' Attila Somfalvi Published: 04.08.08, 01:08 / Israel News "The vast majority of the Palestinian people, myself included, are ready for a historic reconciliation based on international resolutions that will result in the establishment of two states, a Palestinian and an Israeli one, that will exist side by side in peace and security," jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti said in a letter addressed to Peace Now activists on...

Cambridge University has been given £8 million by a Saudi Arabian prince to establish an Islamic studies centre. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, ranked in the top 20 richest men in the world, with a fortune of about £10 billion, has donated the cash to the university to fund a centre in his name for the study of the role of Islam in the Middle East and globally. The gift has been recommended by the university's general board and is expected to be announced in June. advertisement The grandson of King Ibn Saud and nephew of King Abudllah, the prince counts...

The world's Muslim countries warned Wednesday that an "alarming" rise in anti-Islamic insults and attacks in the West has become a threat to international security. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) called on Europe and America to take stronger measures against 'Islamophobia' in a report prepared for a summit of the group's 57 members in Dakar on Thursday and Friday. The report by a special OIC monitoring group said the organisation was struggling to get the West to understand that Islamophobia "has dangerous implications on global peace and security" and to convince western powers to do more. Islamic leaders...

‘60 Minutes’ resident liberal Scott Pelley wasn’t able to get Ahmadinejad to give a straight answer on whether he will build a nuclear bomb. Ahmadinejad also wouldn’t admit that Iran has been responsible for many military deaths in Iraq. After pressed on another topic, the Iranian leader said that he is a Muslim and can not lie. Bwhaha.

Judaism, Islam more closely connected than may appear at first Leila Hanafi Published: 11.22.06, 18:01 It would seem today that many view the great divisions among humankind and the dominating sources of conflict as being religious. This isn’t true, but as more and more is made of the potential for a clash of civilizations, the possibility could become real. There is already more than a little distrust and lack of accommodation between Western and Muslim societies, and these divisions are increasing in importance. Radicalism, even though few of its objections to the status quo are valid or semi-valid, has a...

At closed meetings in hotel suites in Beirut and Damascus, Hamas has been developing a new charter that is designed to showcase a more moderate and non anti-Semitic face, one of those advising on its content has told The Jerusalem Post. Yet this new document, acknowledged Dr. Azzam Tamimi, 51, the Hebron-born director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought in London, would still call for an end to the Jewish state and the creation of a Palestinian state on all of mandatory Palestine. It would, he said, provide for the possibility of a long-term hudna (cease-fire accommodation) with an...

The political leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas has said the group is willing to take a serious step towards peace if Israel does the same.

As Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees and Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades announced an end to their self-declared truce of January 2005, under which they pledged to refrain from attacking Israeli targets, an annual summary of terror activities for 2005 released by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) on Sunday revealed that a total of 2,990 attacks were launched against Israeli targets. The attacks occurred after the truce was announced the report stated. According to the report, motivation among all the terror groups to attack Israel remains high with the number of monthly terror alerts averaging 57. There was a...

Muslim retreat sparks threats A retreat for young Muslims was to be held at a Presbyterian camp, until a blogger alleged a speaker was linked to al-Qaida. By S.I. ROSENBAUM Published December 31, 2005 LITHIA - Death threats have closed a church camp where a Muslim youth retreat was planned this weekend, after an Internet blogger alleged that a scheduled speaker was linked to al-Qaida. Mohamed Moharram, president of the Muslim American Society of Tampa, said the three-day event at Presbyterian Cedarkirk Camp and Conference Center was supposed to teach young Muslims leadership skills as well as the core tenets...

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) threatened Sunday, in an English language interview program, to renew terrorism if the PLO’s demands are not met. Abu Mazen’s interview on ABC’s This Week program focused on his call for the Hamas terror group to renounce violence, going so far as to say the era of suicide bombings is “over”. The PLO chairman’s language, however, highlighted the fact that he sees such a move as desirable on a tactical level at the present time and not reflective of a rejection of terrorism as a negotiating tool. "The climate right now is ready...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview aired on Sunday that the era of suicide bombings may be over. "We have started to deal with the culture of violence," he said. "We stopped the culture of violence and the Palestinian people have started looking at it as something that should be condemned and it should stop." Asked on ABC whether the suicide bombing era had ended, he said: "I believe it is over." But he warned that if progress toward a peace agreement was not achieved in meetings with Sharon next month, "despair and loss of hope will...

Hamas Political Head: Calming Down is Just a Trick Within the Resistance Plan; Hamas Does Not Object to the '67 Borders as an Interim Solution A convention held by the Egyptian newspaper "Al-Ahram," which was attended by writers and experts on Palestinian affairs following the Palestinian Cairo agreement on calming down the situation [ Tahdiah ], also hosted the head of the Hamas political bureau, Khaled Mash'al. Speaking at the convention, Mash'al stated that the Tahdiah was a trick and that the resistance will continue as long as the occupation exists. Mash'al also expressed concern about the PA and Fatah...