Hardline Muslim Clerics' Books Still Publicly Available
THE TELEGRAPH: Books written by hardline Muslim clerics are still available in public libraries it can be disclosed, three years after they were first exposed.

Works by the jailed preacher Abdullah al-Faisal and the controversial Islamic leader Bilal Philips are available to borrow from the controversial Tower Hamlets council in East London.

The council leader Lutfur Rahman, has been accused of gaining power through his links with an organisation called the Islamic Forum of Europe, based at East London mosque, that secretly campaigns for an Islamic social and political order.

The Prime Minister announced in 2007 that the Government would consult with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) after extremist literature was found on lending lists across the country, but particularly in Tower Hamlets.

However a recent visit by the Daily Telegraph revealed that many of the books are still on the shelves.

The council said in a statement that it was committed to tackling extremism but added: "As far as we are aware these materials have not yet been banned or judged to be illegal in the UK. If this were the case they would not have been on our shelves."

In one of the books, Natural Instincts, Faisal, writes: "The societies of Europe and America are the new Sodom and Gomorra of today. The kafirs [non-believers] are the henchmen of the devil...The only language the kafirs respect is jihad [holy war]."

Faisal says Christian clergymen who practice celibacy are prone to paedophilia: "Priests, monks, popes and nuns who abstain from sex...will inevitably be led to child abuse."

He adds that non-Muslim charity workers will go to hell: "The Red Cross or any other infidelic organisation should not expect to receive any reward from Allah in the hereafter for their so-called humanitarian works. The infidels who die in their disbelief will be in the hellfire forever."

In another chapter, the book says: "Of all the people in the world, the Jews are the greediest...Everyone of them wishes that he could be given a life of 1,000 years. But the grant of such life will not save him even a little from due punishment." >>> Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | Monday, March 29, 2010

Queen Rania of Jordan Takes on Hardliners over Honour Killings
THE TELEGRAPH: Queen Rania of Jordan is challenging Islamic hardliners by supporting tougher sentences for men who commit 'honour killings'.

Queen Rania of Jordan is challenging Islamic hardliners by supporting tougher sentences for men who commit 'honour killings'. Photograph: The Telegraph
On one side is the fashionably dressed Queen Rania of Jordan, an elegant symbol of progressive values for Arab women. On the other are her country's conservative social and religious leaders.

At stake is a political test case for reform in the Middle East, one that pits demands for greater democracy against the need to end the scandal of so-called honour killings of women.

Queen Rania, who regularly appears without head-scarf, let alone hijab [sic?], has given her quiet support to women's rights groups who want to change laws amounting to legal impunity for men involved in honour killings.

But standing against is are another symbol of the country's attempts to show a progressive face. Jordan's MPs, who have been given more power to hold the government and royal family to account than in other Arab countries, have shown little enthusiasm for the moves.

"This whole issue is being exaggerated, and the reason behind it is not innocent," said Sheikh Hamza Mansour, leader of the parliament's Islamic Action Front. His coalition of Islamist and tribal representatives has so far blocked an attempt to introduce tougher sentences for men who have killed their sisters and daughters for bringing "shame" on their families.

"It's as if the government is giving up our personality to turn us into a Westernised society," he said.

The practice of honour killing is more often associated with impoverished and remote areas of countries like Pakistan than cities like Amman, Jordan's sophisticated and Westernised capital.

But it was in Amman's outskirts that Abu Ishmael and his three brothers recently picked up their sister after a call from her husband, took her home, and stabbed her to death. >>> Richard Spencer in al-Baq'a | Sunday, December 06, 2009

Model Who Drank Beer to Be First Woman Caned in Malaysia
THE TELEGRAPH: Muslim model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno has become the first woman in Malaysia to be sentenced to a caning after being caught drinking beer in a beach resort.

The 32-year-old will receive six lashes at a woman's prison next week in what is being viewed as an example of the growing influence of Islamic hardliners on the country.

The mother-of-two who lives in Singapore with her husband, paid a fine of £860, but declined to lodge an appeal so she could get the punishment over with and put the episode behind her.

The harsh sentence has provoked anger among women's rights groups who fear it is another sign of the creeping influence of conservative Islam on Malaysian society.

In the northern backwater state of Kalentan ruled by the hardline Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, authorities have decreed that supermarkets must have separate checkout queues for men and women and beaches be segregated.

Young couples caught sitting too close together on park benches in the state capital, Kota Baru, are hunted down by the city's moral enforcers and fined up to £285 in Sharia courts.

The Islamic alcohol prohibition laws in Malaysia's eastern Pahang state date back more than two decades. But Malaysian-born Kartika, who now has Singaporean citizenship, is the first woman to fall foul of them.

She was arrested in July last year in a hotel nightclub in the beach resort of Cherating during a raid by the state's religious department and admitted drinking beer.

An Islamic court fined her and ordered her to be caned at Kajang women's prison next week, but spared her a jail term of up to three years.

She received word of the sentence from her father and said she would be returning to Malaysia from Singapore.

"I accept the punishment," she said. "I am not afraid because I was ready to be punished from day one. [The authorities] hope to use my case as a way to educate Muslims. So go ahead. I want to move on with my life." >>> Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok | Wednesday, August 19, 2009