Showing posts with label Islamic fundamentalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islamic fundamentalism. Show all posts
Saturday, December 05, 2015
Marine Le Pen Interview: 'The New Anti-Semitism Is Linked to Islamic Fundamentalism' (2012)
Monday, January 26, 2015
’More Muslims Should Denounce Fundamentalism’
Recently elected ‘Swiss of the year’ by the readers of the Sunday newspaper SonntagsZeitung for his “fight for the cohabitation” of communities, Memeti advocates a liberal Islam that adopts western values without concession.
“I’m afraid that the climate of suspicion and fear will again become more generalised in the times to come,” says Memeti, who hails from Serbia, almost a week after the attacks by Islamic fundamentalists in Paris.
At the forefront of Memeti’s plans is training Muslim preachers in Switzerland and exercising state control over the mosques as a means of fighting radicalisation. In a voice torn with emotion, he espouses with conviction his proposals for Islam in Switzerland. » | Samuel Jaberg | Monday, January 26, 2015
Friday, January 09, 2015
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Fundamentalist Islam and the Roots of Terrorism
Most of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims pray in Arabic, but they do not speak Arabic as their mother tongue; that includes most Iranians. Yet the problem isn't in the translation, rather the problem rests with bad ideology.
Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudi Arabian, two more were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt, and one from Lebanon. They were all from Arabic-speaking countries, and presumably the terrorists read Islamic scripture in the original Arabic. Muslim scholars did not unite to protest this act of terrorism. Instead, many celebrated a victory, because the Quran permits violence to expand Islam.
Most so-called Muslims are peace-loving, because they do not follow the rules. They practice Islam à la carte, a new religion. » | Janet Tavakoli * | Tuesday, November 11, 2014
* Janet Tavakoli is the author of Unveiled Threat: A Personal Experience of Fundamentalist Islam and the Roots of Terrorism, a newly-released non-fiction book about the current negative implications of Islamic fundamentalism for the United States.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Salman Rushdie Condemns 'Hate-filled Rhetoric' of Islamic Fanaticism
Accusations of 'Islamophobia' are being levelled at anyone who dares to speak out against the "hate-filled rhetoric" of Islamic fanaticism, Salman Rushdie has claimed in a speech condemning Isil and "this new age of religious mayhem".
Rushdie voiced his fears that the language of "jihadi-cool" is seducing young British Muslims, many via Twitter and YouTube, into joining the "decapitating barbarianism" of Isil, the group also referred to as Islamic State or Isis.
In his PEN/Pinter Prize Lecture, the author said all religions have their extremists but "the overwhelming weight of the problem lies in the world of Islam". » | Anita Singh, Arts and Entertainment Editor | Thursday, October 09, 2014
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Attorney General: Rise of Fundamentalism Is 'Damaging' Christianity
Christians are increasingly reluctant to express their religious views because they are being “turned off” by the “disturbing” and “very damaging” rise of religious fundamentalism, the Attorney General has said.
Dominic Grieve said that atheists who claim that Britain is no longer a Christian nation are “deluding themselves” and must accept that faith has shaped this country’s laws and ethics.
He said that 1,500 years of Christian values are “not going to disappear overnight” and said that many people remain believers even if they choose not to go to Church.
However, he warned people are being discouraged from openly declaring their beliefs because of the “deep intolerance” of religious extremists of all faiths, including Islam and Christianity.
He told The Telegraph: “I do think that there has been a rise of an assertiveness of religious groups across the spectrum. That is why those with softer religious views find it disturbing and say they don’t want anything to do with it.” » | Steven Swinford, and John Bingham | Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Monday, December 16, 2013
Europe: Islamic Fundamentalism Is Widespread
In a commentary on the study, the German newspaper Die Welt says the findings cast serious doubt on the unbridled optimism of European multiculturalists, who argue that Muslim citizens will eventually internalize the mindset of Western democracies.
The majority of Muslims in Europe believe Islamic Sharia law should take precedence over the secular constitutions and laws of their European host countries, according to a new study, which warns that Islamic fundamentalism is widespread and rising sharply in Western Europe.
The "Six Country Immigrant Integration Comparative Survey"—a five-year study of Moroccan and Turkish immigrants in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and Sweden—was published on December 11 by the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, one of the largest social science research institutes in Europe.
According to the study (German and English), which was funded by the German government, two thirds (65%) of the Muslims interviewed say Islamic Sharia law is more important to them than the laws of the country in which they live.
Three quarters (75%) of the respondents hold the opinion that there is only one legitimate interpretation of the Koran, which should apply to all Muslims, and nearly 60% of Muslims believe their community should return to "Islamic roots."
The survey shows that 44% of the Moroccans and Turks interviewed agree with all three of the above statements, which makes them "consistent fundamentalists," and fundamentalist attitudes are just as widespread among younger Muslims as they are among older Muslims.
According to the study, Islamic fundamentalism is most pronounced in Austria, where 73% of Muslims interviewed say Sharia law is more important than the secular laws of the state; 79% say there is only one correct interpretation of the Koran that should apply to all, and 65% believe Muslims should return to their Islamic roots. In Austria, 55% of the Muslims surveyed say they agree with all three of the above statements. » | Soeren Kern | Monday, December 16, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Police in Gaza have arrested at least 41 men on charges of immodesty this April, writes Phoebe Greenwood. And now the city is gripped with fear that Hamas is driving the population towards militant Islamic fundamentalism.
It's three weeks since his arrest but Ismail Halou still has streaks of purple bruising on the soles of his feet. The 22 year-old was filling cars at his family's petrol station in Gaza City at 5pm on April 4th when a black jeep pulled into the forecourt, plain-clothed police stepped out and ordered him into the car. He was blindfolded and driven to the nearest police station.
"I could hear the screams of people being beaten in the rooms next to me. Two men held my legs down and tied them together on a wooden board then they beat the soles of my feet with a plastic rod. They beat me for at least five minutes. I was crying and screaming with agony. It was the worst pain I've ever felt," Mr Halou recalls.
It was only after the beating that police officers set to work trying to shave off the one-inch fin of gelled hair that was the cause of his arrest.
"At no point did they tell me why they had arrested me. I found out from neighbours when I got home that it was because of my hair," Mr Halou explains, running a hand over the fuzzy re[-]growth on his head. He could not walk for three days after his release.
Police in Gaza, a Palestinian coastal enclave run by Islamist faction Hamas, have arrested at least 41 men on charges of immodesty this April. » | Phoebe Greenwood, Gaza City | Monday, April 29, 2013
Thursday, February 07, 2013
THENEWS.pl: Rev. Guy Liagre, Secretary-General of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, said in Warsaw on Wednesday that Islam in Europe is becoming more fundamentalist and radical.
“So far, Islam has been tolerant [in Europe]. But now it is changing into being much more conservative. [...] You can see the fundamentalist tendencies,” Rev. Dr Guy Liagre said at the end of the three-day Conference of European Churches.
A press release issued at the end of the meeting, chaired by Poland's Archbishop Jozef Michalik, said that there was particular concern at the conference about “the situation of those migrants coming to Europe who do not feel at home in the mainline European Churches and take refuge in new religious movements of one kind or another. » | Source: IAR | Thursday, February 07, 2013
Friday, December 30, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Maldives government has ordered all spas in resorts to be closed after protests by an Islamist party which claimed they were being used as a front for prostitution.
The tourism ministry told all resort hotels across the islands to shut their spas and health centres with immediate effect.
"An Islamic party has been agitating against spas hoping to embarrass the government," a senior government figure told the AFP news agency.
Last week the opposition Adhaalath party, a conservative religious movement, staged a protest in the capital Male against such spas, arguing that they were being used as brothels. The party's website features an article criticising "lustful music".
Tourism is crucial for the economy of the Maldives, and the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry said the ban would harm the economy.
Popular with honeymooning couples and celebrities, luxury rooms in resorts on the islands can cost up to $12,000 (£7,748) a day. » | Barney Henderson | Friday, December 30, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
The counter-intelligence advisers, who worked for many years at the Home Office, have the most detailed knowledge of terror networks around the globe and their affiliates in the UK. They will work with a new Government unit to prevent extremism and will hunt down Muslim radicals hijacking learning and grooming school pupils from primary level onwards to create the terrorists of the future.
Intelligence sources have become aware that extremists are increasingly using schools and after-school clubs to brainwash children against the West.
Mr Gove said: “The due diligence unit will monitor applications for new schools and arrangements in existing schools so there’s no risk of extremism taking hold.
“We want to help local authorities and others deal either with governors trying to hijack a school or extremists setting up free schools. Whether it’s religious extremism or political extremism, that power will be there.” » | Hilary Douglas | Sunday, June 12, 2011
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Theresa May’s message to our vice-chancellors, in her comments to this newspaper yesterday, was crystal clear: it’s time for them – at long, long last – to get a grip on student extremism. The shameful record of complacency towards Islamist radicalisation on Britain’s campuses will no longer wash. But are our universities listening, let alone getting ready to act? I fear not.
For one thing, politicians have said this before. In his first major speech on security and radicalisation, in February this year, David Cameron underscored the dismal truth that many of those found guilty of terrorist offences have been British graduates. “We must stop extremists recruiting in publicly[-]funded institutions like universities,” he said. Two months ago, he made the same point, when he said that not enough was being done to “deradicalise” our universities.
In the same month, Baroness Neville-Jones, the recently departed security minister, said much the same thing. Britain, she confirmed, still faces a serious security threat from Islamist radicalisation – and universities are one of the main recruiting grounds. In fact, she said, they are a greater source of danger than radical mosques.
So here are the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and the then security minister all speaking with one voice – along with the previous government, and indeed the widely respected all-party Homeland Security Group. But there are none so deaf as those who refuse to hear. Just a few days ago, Nicola Dandridge, the head of Universities UK, told The Daily Telegraph that there was “no evidence” to link student radicals with violent extremism. She even claims that MI5 and the police back up her assertions.
No evidence? Within a couple of years of leaving Leeds Metropolitan University, Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the group responsible for the July 7 bombings, began training for terror. Since then, virtually every major British terrorist attack has been led by students or graduates. The list of universities they came from makes horrifying reading: Leicester, Luton, Brighton, Glasgow Metropolitan, UCL, the LSE, the University of Westminster, Brunel and others. » | Anthony Glees * | Monday, June 06, 2011
• Professor Anthony Glees is director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham.
Universities are seats of higher learning. Their purpose is to disseminate learning, erudition, and enlightenment. They are supposed to bring people out of darkness, not let them fall into it. Any university, however grand, however prestigious, is not worthy of its name if it allows its students to become, or remain, benighted. – © Mark
Related »
Monday, June 06, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Home Secretary has criticised universities for their “complacency” in tackling Muslim extremism as she prepares to publish the Government’s updated strategy for countering Islamic radicalism.
Theresa May told The Daily Telegraph that universities were not taking the issue of radicalisation seriously enough and that it was too easy for Muslim extremists to form groups on campuses “without anyone knowing”.
She also said the Government would cut funding to any Islamic group that espoused extremist views, and set out the “key British values” to which those seeking support must subscribe. It is understood that about 20 groups are already losing their funding.
Mrs May made her comments ahead of the publication this week of the updated version of the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy.
“I think for too long there’s been complacency around universities,” she said. “I don’t think they have been sufficiently willing to recognise what can be happening on their campuses and the radicalisation that can take place. I think there is more that universities can do.”
Mrs May said universities had to “send very clear messages” and “ask themselves some questions about what happens on their campuses”. » | Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | Sunday, June 05, 2011
Universities are seats of higher learning. Their purpose is to disseminate learning, erudition, and enlightenment. They are supposed to bring people out of darkness, not let them fall into it. Any university, however grand, however prestigious, is not worthy of its name if it allows its students to become, or remain, benighted. – © Mark
Friday, May 27, 2011
In February, a group of masked gunmen stopped a minibus carrying skiers in the internal republic of Kabardino-Balkaria and shot dead three tourists from Moscow in cold blood. A ski lift was bombed soon afterwards and police later defused a series of car bombs in the area.
The terrorists, who are fighting to establish an Islamist Caliphate across southern Russia, openly said they viewed tourists as a legitimate target. For them, the entire North Caucasus area is a war zone and ethnic Russians are an occupying force that they hope to drive out.
The Kremlin's response to the murders was typically robust. Special Forces were sent into the mountainous region to hunt the gunmen and were reported to have shot dead at least some of the group. » | Andrew Osborn, Moscow | Friday, May 27, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: France to help Russia build ski resorts in North Caucases: France will help Russia with its ambitious plan to create a constellation of ski resorts in the North Caucasus, a poor region plagued by insurgent violence. » | Friday, May 27, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: For any Russian worth his caviar there is only one place to be seen in winter.
Alpine resorts such as Courchevel are a magnet for fur-hatted men and women in Chanel ski suits, its pistes signposted in Cyrillic script and its boutiques offering wealthy oligarchs must-have diamond-encrusted skis.
But now an ambitious consortium of developers is hoping to lure Russian and European skiers to a new winter playground – far from the softly twinkling lights of traditional Alpine villages.
They are to construct a cluster of five ski resorts in the war-torn North Caucasus, stretching across southern Russia from the Black Sea in the west to the Caspian Sea in the east, and challenging the widely-held belief that the area is dangerous and out of bounds. The planners also want to upgrade Mineralnye Vody airport for international flights, putting it within four hours' flying time of Britain.
The five resorts – Lagonaki, Arkhyz, Mount Elbrus, Mamison and Matlas – will be strung out across a mountain range which has seen fierce fighting with Georgia, given refuge to Islamic militants, and been plagued by regular kidnappings, bombings and murders.
Yet this week in the picture-postcard Swiss ski resort of Davos, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will formally unveil the plan for the network of ski resorts, named Peak 5642 after Mt Elbrus, the highest mountain in the Caucasus at 18,442ft (5,642 metres) – some 2,660 higher than Alps' Mont Blanc. » | Harriet Alexander | Sunday, January 23, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Gary Smith, 38, was beaten as he walked to Central Foundation Girls' School in Bow, east London, last July.
The gang left him unconscious after attacking him with a metal rod and a brick, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
The four all pleaded guilty to GBH with intent and given an indeterminate jail sentence with a minimum of five years.
Simon Alam, 19, of Whitechapel, Azad Hussain, 26, of Wapping, Sheikh Rashid, 27, of Shadwell, and Akmol Hussein, 26, of Bethnal Green, all in east London, were all jailed on Thursday.
Judge John Hand QC said he believed the four remained a danger to the public because of their extreme religious beliefs.
Addressing the defendants one by one, he said: "Your belief is that you carried out a duty to your God and you did so with no mercy.
"If you think that people around you in society present an insult or threat to God then you will not hesitate in attacking again in the way that you have acted." » | Thursday, May 26, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Islamic fundamentalism is being allowed to flourish at universities, endangering national security, MPs and peers say.
Islamic fundamentalism is being allowed to flourish at universities, endangering national security, MPs and peers said yesterday.
Academics are turning a blind eye to radicals because they do not want to spy on students, a report claimed.
Despite "damning evidence" of a serious problem, little progress had been made in tackling the unsustainable situation, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Homeland Security said.
They urged the Government to tackle the issue on campuses with "utmost urgency".
Such extremism "endangers our security at home and has international implications that are serious enough to threaten our alliance relationships", said the group, which includes the former home secretary Lord Reid.
Secret files obtained by The Daily Telegraph and WikiLeaks disclosed this week that at least 35 terrorists held at Guantánamo Bay were indoctrinated by extremists in Britain.
The leaked documents, written by senior US military commanders, illustrated how Britain effectively became a crucible of terrorism over the course of two decades. » | Duncan Gardham | Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
THE ECONOMIST: Muslim fundamentalism is on the rise in the north Caucasus. To stop it, Russian policy must changeTHE world is fearful of Islam’s rising influence in Afghanistan, Pakistan and across the newly restive Arab world. But it has barely noticed what is happening in Russia’s troubled north Caucasus. After two decades of political and military failure in this violent part of the world, the government in Moscow is losing its legitimacy there, and fundamentalist Islam, which had no purchase in Soviet days, has taken hold.
The north Caucasus may take up only a small space on the map, but it looms large for Russia. The region has often decisively influenced the course of Russia’s own development. Boris Yeltsin’s decision to send in troops to stop Chechnya’s march towards independence helped to weaken Russia’s fledgling democracy in the mid-1990s. Vladimir Putin’s vow to rub out Chechen rebels “in the shithouse” helped to propel him into the presidency. Eleven years on, the north Caucasus is still one of Russia’s biggest headaches. Terrorist attacks, like the bombing at Domodedovo airport in January, have become almost commonplace. In its largely unreported fighting in the north Caucasus, Russia is suffering as many losses every year as Britain has lost in ten years in Afghanistan. » | Leaders | Thursday, April 07, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Islamic fundamentalists attempted a show of force in Tunis on Friday by burning down a street of brothels.
Dozens of Islamists calling for Tunisia's brothels to be closed had rallied outside the interior ministry following Friday prayers before marching to Abdallah Guech Street.
At least three people were injured when security forces fired in the air to disperse the crowd.
The incident was the latest sign of Islamists organising in the North African state, the only Arab country with legal prostitution, after an uprising toppled President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali last month.
"Almost 500 Islamists, many wearing beards, were demonstrating in Old Medina to demand the closure of a brothel," said Mourad Barhoumi, a Tunis resident who witnessed the demonstration. >>> | Saturday, February 19, 2011
LE MONDE: Tunisie : un prêtre égorgé, des islamistes attaquent un lieu de prostitution – L'insécurité et le risque de poussée intégriste en Tunisie ont été illustrés, vendredi 18 février, par le meurtre d'un prêtre polonais retrouvé égorgé "par des extrémistes", aux dires des autorités, et l'attaque d'une rue fréquentée par des prostituées par des islamistes qui voulaient incendier une maison close. >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | Vendredi 18 Février 2011
Sunday, February 06, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Egypt's influential Muslim Brotherhood agreed to join talks with President Hosni Mubarak's embattled regime Sunday, a historic turning point in relations between the state and the banned group.
The army stepped up pressure overnight on the protesters who have occupied central Cairo's Tahrir Square, tightening a cordon around the area, but on the political front new avenues of dialogue opened up.
Protesters celebrated a mass in the square - the epicentre and symbol of the revolt against the regime to remember the estimated 300 people who have been killed since demonstrations against Mubarak began.
"God bless the dead. God bless the dead," recited a Coptic priest wearing a crucifix. By his side, a Muslim sheikh stood holding a Koran, as the faithful chanted "A single hand. A single hand" in inter-faith solidarity. Senior Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mursi said the group is sticking to the protesters' main condition that President Hosni Mubarak step down.
These would be the first known discussions between the government and the Brotherhood, suggesting the banned fundamentalist group could be allowed an open political role in the post-Mubarak era. >>> Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Sunday, February 06, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)