Al-Qaradawi Speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat
ASHARQ AL-AWSAT: Mecca - A few yards from the Grant [sic] Mosque in Mecca, Asharq Al-Awsat sat down for an exclusive interview with Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi in which he attacked the Shiite expansion and Iranian ambitions and dreams. He stressed that "Iran is a country of dreams and ambition, a country of the old Persian Empire and emperors, and the issue is a mixture of Persian, sectarian Shiite tendencies and fanaticism." Sheikh al-Qaradawi insisted that his views regarding Shiite expansion remain unchanged and that many states that were purely Sunni now have some Shia. He stated that "Egypt, that I know very well and I know that 20 years ago did not have one single Shiite since the days of Salah al-Din, has now been infiltrated. They now have in Egypt, people who write in the press and write books and people listen to them. It is the same also in Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and other non-Arab countries such Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Senegal."

The following is the full text of the interview: Al-Qaradawi Speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat >>> By Majid al Kinani | September 29, 2008

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Islamic Banks Join Race for Africa
Turning towards Mecca >>>
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Harvard Study Says “Haj Promotes Tolerance”: Fact or Dhimmitude?
ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH — A study of Hajis by Harvard Kennedy School in the US has found that the Haj promotes tolerance among pilgrims and does not lead to an increase in negative attitudes toward the West.

The study — entitled “Estimating the Impact of the Haj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering” — said that the annual pilgrimage develops a tolerant attitude among Hajis toward other religions and cultures.

Researchers, David Clingingsmith, Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Michael Kremer, based their findings, which were published last month, on data collected from a 2006 survey of more than 1,600 Pakistani pilgrims.

“Evidence suggests that the Haj increases tolerance, which seems to apply not just within the Islamic world but also beyond it,” they reported, adding, that increased unity does not lead to antipathy toward non-Muslims.

They also found that the Haj plays a significant role in the survival of Islam as a unified world religion. “Over time, religions with far-flung adherents tend to evolve separate strands which may eventually break away into different religions. Our analysis suggests that the Haj reduces dissent and splits in Islam by moving Hajis toward a common set of practices, making them more tolerant of differences among Muslims,” they said.

Pilgrims selected for the survey were also more likely to state that various Pakistani ethnic and sectarian groups are equal and that it is possible for such groups to live in harmony.

Major findings include that the Haj reduces support for political Islam, reduces superstitious beliefs and encourages Muslims to adopt a more favorable attitude toward women, including greater acceptance of women education and employment. “For example, they (Hajis) are six percentage points more likely to think women are spiritually better than men, an increase of over 50 percent. They also express greater concern about women’s quality of life in Pakistan relative to other countries and about crimes against women in Pakistan,” the report stated. Haj Promotes Tolerance, Confirms Harvard Study >>> By P K Abdul Ghafour | May 6, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
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'Makkah Mean Time' Should Replace 'Greenwich Mean Time', Say Muslim Scientists and Clerics!
Photo of the Ka’aba in Makkah (Mecca) courtesy of Google Images
BBC: Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth.

Mecca is the direction all Muslims face when they perform their daily prayers.

The call was issued at a conference held in the Gulf state of Qatar under the title: Mecca, the Centre of the Earth, Theory and Practice.

One geologist argued that unlike other longitudes, Mecca's was in perfect alignment to magnetic north.

He said the English had imposed GMT on the rest of the world by force when Britain was a big colonial power, and it was about time that changed.

Mecca watch

A prominent cleric, Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawy, said modern science had at last provided evidence that Mecca was the true centre of the Earth; proof, he said, of the greatness of the Muslim "qibla" - the Arabic word for the direction Muslims turn to when they pray.

The meeting also reviewed what has been described as a Mecca watch, the brainchild of a French Muslim.

The watch is said to rotate anti-clockwise and is supposed to help Muslims determine the direction of Mecca from any point on Earth.

The meeting in Qatar is part of a popular trend in some Muslim societies of seeking to find Koranic precedents for modern science.

It is called "Ijaz al-Koran", which roughly translates as the "miraculous nature of the holy text".

The underlying belief is that scientific truths were also revealed in the Muslim holy book, and it is the work of scholars to unearth and publicise the textual evidence.

But the movement is not without its critics, who say that the notion that modern science was revealed in the Koran confuses spiritual truth, which is constant, and empirical truth, which depends on the state of science at any given point in time. [Source: Muslim Call to Adopt Mecca Time]

Greenwich Mean Time

FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS:
And Now Muslims Want ‘Mecca Mean Time’ >>> By Adrian Morgan | April 25, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Saudi University Professor Sentenced to 180 Lashes and Eight Months in Prison for Being in a State of Khulwa with an Unrelated Woman
Photo courtesy of Reuters and The Times
TIMESONLINE: A university professor allegedly caught in a Saudi-style honey trap has been sentenced to 180 lashes and eight months in jail – for having coffee with a girl.

The man, a prominent and well-respected Saudi teacher of psychology at Umm al-Qra University in the holy city of Mecca, was framed by the religious police after he angered some of their members at a training course, his lawyer said.

The academic has not been named by the local media, which have given his case wide coverage, but one senior Saudi journalist told The Times he was Dr Abu Ruzaiz, a married man in his late 50s with children.

“He is highly respected and above-board. Nobody believes the religious police’s version of what happened. The whole of Jeddah (the main city near Mecca) is in uproar about this. Everyone believes he is innocent and was set up,” the journalist said.

Contact between unrelated men and women is strictly prohibited in the austere desert Kingdom where religious police, commonly known as mutaween, patrol public places in teams to enforce the Kingdom’s brand of ultra-conservative Islam.

Usually bearded and often wielding canes, they ensure women are not harassed, sexes do not mix and shops close for prayers. They are under the command of the Kingdom’s Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Abdullah Al-Sanousi, the academic’s lawyer, told local newspapers that his client had drawn the ire of some of the Commission’s staffers for speaking at length during a training session about how important it was for them to be polite to the public. Some of the trainees also wanted revenge because they had failed the course while others were not happy with their examination results.

Mr Ruzaiz is said to have received a call from a girl purporting to be one of his students who asked to meet to discuss a problem that she did not want to talk about over the phone. The professor agreed to meet at a family café provided she brought along her brother as a chaperone.

When he arrived, he was surprised to find the girl alone, and was promptly surrounded by religious policemen who handcuffed him and hauled him into custody. He was accused of being in a state of khulwa – seclusion – with an unrelated woman. Saudi professor faces lashes for having coffee with female 'student': Psychology academic says he was framed by religious police who had grudge against him >>> By Michael Theodoulou

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Saudi Men Arrested for ‘Flirting’
BBC: Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia have begun investigating 57 young men who were arrested on Thursday for flirting with girls at shopping centres in Mecca.

The men are accused of wearing indecent clothes, playing loud music and dancing in order to attract the attention of girls, the Saudi Gazette reported.

They were arrested following a request of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The mutaween enforce Saudi Arabia's conservative brand of Islam, Wahhabism. Saudi men arrested for 'flirting' >>>

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How Much More Bloody Nonsense Must We Read About? Now the Sick Have to Face Makkah!
DAILY MAIL: The job of the nurse used to [be] one of caring for the sick and needy.

But not - it would seem - in today's politically-correct Britain.

Now, nurses are being encouraged to spend valuable time turning around the beds of Muslim patients up to five times a day - so they can face Mecca.

In a bid to promote cultural understanding, they are also expected to provide patients with running water so they can wash before prayer.

And then, of course, they are required to turn the beds back around to return the wards to normality. The measures are being pursued by Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust to ensure Muslim patients have a "more comfortable stay in hospital".

Hundreds of staff have attended tax-payer-funded workshops with Muslim GPs and ethnic-minority support groups on how best to help patients.

During these meetings, nurses have been told that if a patient asks for water to bathe in, or for their bed to be turned to face Mecca, then this should be considered.

If the measure is deemed "practically possible" and does not impinge on other patients, then it should be carried out.

And if it is not practical, nurses are encouraged to find them a bed that faces Mecca permanently. Hospital staff told to make sure Muslim patients' beds face Mecca five times a day >>> By Gwyneth Rees

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Nuke Makkah and Medina in the Event of a Nuclear Attack on the US, Says Tancredo
IOWAPOLITICS.COM: OSCEOLA -- Followers of radical Islam must be deterred from committing a nuclear attack on U.S. soil, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo said Tuesday morning, saying that as president he would take drastic measures to prevent such attacks.

"If it is up to me, we are going to explain that an attack on this homeland of that nature would be followed by an attack on the holy sites in Mecca and Medina," the GOP presidential candidate said. "That is the only thing I can think of that might deter somebody from doing what they would otherwise do. If I am wrong fine, tell me, and I would be happy to do something else. But you had better find a deterrent or you will find an attack. There is no other way around it. There have to be negative consequences for the actions they take. That's the most negative I can think of."

The harsh approach is vital in order to prevent a worldwide collapse, Tancredo told nearly 30 people Tuesday morning at the Family Table restaurant.

"Beyond the loss of human life and devastation, it would cause a worldwide economic collapse," Tancredo said of a nuclear attack on U.S soil. "If all of a sudden we are not a consuming engine of the world, the producing nations will collapse also. That is what they want, that is what they are looking for, to end Western civilization as we know it."

Tancredo said there was no such deterrent in place right now.

LISTEN TO TANCREDO:
Tancredo Discusses His Plan

FOXNEWS:
Tancredo: If They Nuke Us, Bomb Mecca

CNN:
Tancredo: Threaten to bomb Muslim holy sites in retaliation

WELTONLINE:
Kandidat Tancredo droht mit Bomben auf Mekka

Mark Alexander