Sunday, January 29, 2012
The Qur'an, lent by the British Library, will be part of the exhibition, "Hajj: Journey To The Heart Of Islam:, the first-ever major collection dedicated to the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca in what is today Saudi Arabia.
The copy of the Qur'an is thought to date from the 8th century AD, according to the British Library.
Known as the Ma'il Qur'an, it was probably copied in Mecca or Madinah. The script is known as Ma’il, meaning sloping, on account of the pronounced slant to the right, and it is one of a number of scripts developed in the early Islamic period for the copying of the Qur'an. » | Islam Today/Agencies | Saturday, January 14, 2012
Neeson, 59, recently said he was inspired by the Islamic call to prayer while filming in Istanbul.
"There are 4000 mosques in the city (Istanbul) - some are just stunning, and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim," he said.
"The call to prayer happens five times a day, and for the first week, it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit, and it's the most beautiful thing." Neeson, a Roman Catholic, said he had always been religious and was always questioning the meaning of life.
Australian New Muslims Association president Said Kanawati said celebrity converts to Islam were welcome. He said having celebrities accept Islam would help challenge the way people saw the religion. » | Tom Bowden | The Advertiser | Monday, January 30, 2012
Related »
ISLAM TODAY: Adelaide Australia Opens its Mosques to All Australians for Family Day Events » | Oslam Today/Agencies | Friday, January 27, 2012
Disclosure of the staggering figure amounts to political dynamite as the Prime Minister fought off suggestions that he should veto the near-£1m bonus, announced last week, for the boss of the taxpayer-owned RBS.
The extra bonus of £3.3m, revealed yesterday, would be on top of the £35.54m total remuneration package Mr Hester has received since joining RBS in 2008.
As the political storm surrounding executive pay at RBS grew, Ed Miliband called on David Cameron to intervene and urged RBS shareholders to block the £963,000 bonus at its AGM in April.
The Labour leader will call for Mr Cameron or George Osborne, the Chancellor, to make an urgent statement to the Commons tomorrow on the affair at a time when the Government is capping benefits for the poorest in society. It will cast doubt on the vow by the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, to tackle executive pay.
In a further ratcheting-up of pressure on Mr Hester, it also emerged that the RBS chairman, Sir Philip Hampton, has decided to waive his £1.4m shares bonus.
But the Prime Minister, who earlier this year made great play of calling for Sir Fred Goodwin to be stripped of his knighthood for presiding over failure at RBS, yesterday refused to bow to political pressure.
Apparently uncomfortable at being asked by journalists about the bonus following talks with the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, at Chequers yesterday, Mr Cameron insisted that Mr Hester's bonus was "a matter for him" and that installing a new top team at the failed bank, which is 82 per cent owned by the taxpayer, would be even "more expensive" than it is now. » | Jane Merrick, Brian Brady, Mark Leftly, Emily Dugan | Sunday, January 29, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The ideas the President outlined in the State of the Union are based on the very model that is causing the EU to implode.
Well, so much for that. Barack Obama is now putting the United States squarely a decade behind Britain. Listening to the President’s State of the Union message last week was like a surreal visit to our own recent past: there were, almost word for word, all those interminable Gordon Brown Budgets that preached “fairness” while listing endless new ways in which central government would intervene in every form of economic activity.
Later, in a television interview, Mr Obama described his programme of using higher taxes on the wealthy to bankroll new government spending as “a recipe for a fair, sound approach to deficit reduction and rebuilding this country”. To which we who come from the future can only shout, “No o-o, go back! Don’t come down this road!”
As we try desperately to extricate ourselves from the consequences of that philosophy, which sounds so eminently reasonable (“giving everybody a fair share”, the President called it), we could tell America a thing or two – if it would only listen. Human beings are so much more complicated than this childlike conception of fairness assumes. When government takes away an ever larger proportion of the wealth which entrepreneurial activity creates and attempts to distribute it “fairly” (that is to say, evenly) throughout society in the form of welfare programmes and public spending projects, the effects are much, much more complex and perverse than a simple financial equation would suggest.
It is probably obvious that the people from whom the wealth is taken will become less willing to incur the risks that entrepreneurial investment involves – and so will produce less wealth, and thus less tax revenue. But more surprising, perhaps, are the damaging changes that take place in the beneficiaries of this “fairness” and the permanent effect this has on the balance of power between government and the people. Read on and comment » | Janet Daley | Saturday, January 28, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: French voters are seeing a side to Nicolas Sarkozy that they have never seen before, as he faces up to likely defeat in presidential elections.
They are not qualities normally associated with Nicolas Sarkozy: humility, self-awareness, contrition. Then again, the French leader is less than three months from a presidential election in which he is on track, according to all the opinion polls, to be beaten by his Socialist rival.
The unexpected mea culpa expressed by the normally hyper confident president, in which he admitted personal and political mistakes, and vowed to quit politics altogether if defeated, was as shocking as it appeared stage-managed.
The surprising 'je regrette beaucoup', which focused on the style rather than the substance of his five years in office, came during an official visit last week to the overseas territory of French Guyana to present the traditional new year greetings.
Mr Sarkozy then took the unprecedented step of inviting 20 journalists to an "off the record" briefing.
For the next three hours, during which he repeated several times that his remarks were not for public consumption, he made what may see as a last ditch attempt to transform his image: Super Sarko the Omnipresident had become Nicolas the Penitent. The message from the president of France, said Le Monde newspaper, was "I am not the man you think I am". » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Saturday, January 28, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Leading church figures including the former Archbishop of Canterbury have sparked controversy by championing a psychotherapist who believes gay men can be 'cured' of their homosexuality.
Her patient turned out to be a gay rights journalist, who had secretly recorded the sessions and then reported her to her professional body. Mrs Pilkington, a committed Christian, was subsequently found guilty of professional misconduct.
The therapy practised by Mrs Pilkington had been described as "absurd" by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and roundly condemned by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
But ahead of her appeal against the BACP ruling, Mrs Pilkington has received backing from the Rt Rev Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
In a letter to her professional body, Lord Carey – along with a number of senior figures – suggests Mrs Pilkington is herself a victim of entrapment whose therapy should be supported.
His comments – in a letter co-signed by, among others, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester and the Rt Rev Wallace Benn, the Bishop of Lewes – will cause controversy in the gay community and beyond. » | Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter | Saturday, January 28, 2012
My comment:
Lord Carey and Michael Nazir-Ali are talking through their backsides. Clearly, they know nothing about sexuality, so they should shut up. That these people hold – or in the case of Michael Nazir-Ali has held – such elevated position(s) in the Church of England is astounding. Lord Carey should retire from public life forthwith. Michael Nazir-Ali should just plain shut-up and stick to what he knows best: theology. – © Mark
THE GUARDIAN: Republican hopeful's support for Middle Eastern state is an attempt to court the evangelical Christian audience
The Republican Jewish audience lapped it up. But Gingrich, as grateful as he is for all the support he can get in Tuesday's primary election in Florida, was also courting a very different audience - one that is not Jewish and which worries many who are.
Florida has a relatively large Jewish population, accounting for more than 6% of the state's electorate given that nine out of ten are registered to vote. A few hundred turned out to see Gingrich address the Republican Jewish Coalition in Boca Raton on Friday afternoon.
Many were enthusiasts, including Rick Roth, a farmer.
"He actually has a well thought out policy on the economy. He's not talking in sound bites," he said. "I vote for who is the best candidate, not the one who can win. This electability issue is hogwash."
Roth also liked what he heard from Gingrich about Israel. The Republican candidate said the Palestinians are entitled to self-government - making no mention of a state or independence - only when they recognise Israel's right to exist, abandon a right of return to what is now Israel for Palestinian refugees and abandon hate speech against Jews.
Gingrich warned that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon it could lead to a second Holocaust, and he chided Obama for not confronting Tehran sufficiently strongly. He also said that the Arab spring is turning into an "Arab nightmare" which is only strengthening the threat from "radical Islam".
The Jewish voters in the room seemed happy enough to hear it but Roth said Gingrich's Israel policy made little difference to his decision to support him. Others agreed. They can hear much the same thing from any of the candidates with the exception of Ron Paul, who would cut off all foreign aid - including to the Jewish state. » | Chris McGreal in Boca Raton, Florida | Saturday, January 28, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: Spokesman for Islamist group says it will not stop deadly attacks until country is ruled according to dictates of Allah
The Islamist group Boko Haram, which has killed almost 1,000 people in Nigeria, will continue its campaign of violence until the country is ruled by sharia law, a senior member has told the Guardian.
"We will consider negotiation only when we have brought the government to their knees," the spokesman, Abu Qaqa, said in the group's first major interview with a western newspaper. "Once we see that things are being done according to the dictates of Allah, and our members are released [from prison], we will only put aside our arms – but we will not lay them down. You don't put down your arms in Islam, you only put them aside."
Qaqa, whose name is a pseudonym, said the group's members were spiritual followers of al-Qaida, and claimed they had met senior figures in the network founded by Osama bin Laden during visits to Saudia Arabia.
The interview comes a week after Boko Haram claimed responsibility for Nigeria's single deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 186 people in the northern city of Kano.
In an audio message posted on YouTube on Friday, the group's current leader, Abubakar Shekau, threatened to bomb schools and kidnap family members of government officials.
"If [security forces] are going to places of worship and destroying them, like mosques and Quranic schools, you have primary schools as well, you have secondary schools and universities, and we will start bombing them." » | Monica Mark in Abuja | Friday, January 27, 2012
Pakistan Knew Where Bin Laden Was All Along »
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: If Newt Gingrich were to win the Republican nomination he would owe around ten million favours to Sheldon Adelson – one for each of the dollars the flamboyant billionaire has pumped into his presidential bid.
Mr Adelson, America's eighth-richest man, is responsible for almost single-handedly keeping the Gingrich campaign alive with what is thought to be the biggest donation in US political history.
The $10 million he has given so far to Winning Our Future – a pro-Gingrich Super-Pac – propelled the former Speaker to victory in South Carolina. » | Raf Sanchez, Washington | Friday, January 27, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: Secrets of the billionaire bankrolling Gingrich's shot at the White House: Sheldon Adelson is not running for office – but his cash could swing Tuesday's Florida primary ¶ Abraham Foxman, the amiably chatty director of the Jewish civil rights group, the Anti-Defamation League, has a story to tell about his friend, the 78-year-old multi-billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. ¶ Adelson, who is America's eighth richest man and has given millions of dollars in support of Newt Gingrich's presidential bid, was having dinner with Foxman in Las Vegas several years ago. Foxman let slip that he was having to miss an invitation to the White House from the then president, George W. Bush. Foxman explained it was impossible to get a commercial flight. Adelson replied: "If the president of the United Statesasks you to go, you go." Then he gave Foxman the use of his private plane. ¶ Foxman asked Adelson if any condition was attached to the spontaneous act of generosity. "The condition is that you tell President Bush that is how you got there," said Adelson. Foxman made it in time to meet the president. ¶ It is a classic vignette to describe the power and style of Adelson, a man who has given scores of millions of dollars to Republican and Jewish causes over the years but who only now – by backing Gingrich – is becoming known to the wider public. It shows the reach of great wealth and how it mixes with the most powerful people on earth. It also shows Adelson's willingness to use that wealth for causes and people he believes in. » | Paul Harris | Saturday, January 28, 2012
Gingrich’s Backer under Federal Investigation »
Goldilocks »
THE WEEKLY STANDARD: The liberals’ dirty little secret.
On January 1, 2012, Maine became the first state to ban smoking in all low-income public housing. Twelve thousand poor people faced their New Year’s Day hangover without the solace of a Marlboro to accompany their aspirin and coffee.
This, of course, was good. Just ask the high-minded, right-thinking progressive elites who, it’s safe to say, run Maine’s public housing authority. Progressive elites like to run things. They’d run the government, the media, and the entire U.S. economy if they could. Failing that, public housing authorities will do. The Detroit, San Antonio, and Portland, Oregon, housing authorities already ban smoking. Boston’s housing authority will do so in September. Los Angeles is expected to follow. And it’s no mystery what that highest-minded, most right-thinking, way-progressive elitist Mayor Bloomberg has in mind for New Yorkers.
Smoking is wrong. Progressive elites may be confused about the existence of right and wrong when it comes to wars against genocidal fanatics, market freedom, and the death penalty for mass murderers. But not when it comes to smoking.
Smoking kills smokers, which is about what they deserve for engaging in such lowbrow, wrong-headed, retarded, vulgarian activity, except they get sick first and that drives up the cost of a single-payer national health care system, plus their second-hand smoke is worse yet because it is a, yuck, inhalation hand-me-down from uncouth people who probably haven’t flossed, and it kills progressive elites who don’t even know anyone who smokes while also releasing greenhouse gases and stinking up the cheery curtains that elites hang in public housing group activity areas to brighten the lives of the underprivileged who are confined to concrete tower blocks with six-by-eight-foot living rooms, seven-foot ceilings, plexiglass windows, and sheet-metal doors with a dozen locks on them. Smoking is wrong.
But poor people don’t have a lot of pleasures. Sure, they have more sex than progressive elites. But somehow, for poor people, the sex always ends up in illegitimate children or HIV or some bum of a boyfriend instead of leading to, as it does for elites, a Reichian release of primordial cosmic energy or the wonderful self-fulfillment and midlife reawakening of a new divorce. And, yes, the poor have drugs and alcohol, but these bring them nothing but grief. They’re not at all like the subtle and refined delights of a 300-bottle wine cellar or the therapeutic relief from Zoloft, Lexapro, Elavil, Ambien, Halcion, Xanax, beta blockers, Levitra, and Cialis. » | P. J. O’Rourke | Monday, January 30, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Marriage must remain a union between a man and a woman, says the Archbishop of York, and David Cameron will be acting like a “dictator” if he allows homosexual couples to wed.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Dr John Sentamu, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, tells ministers they should not overrule the Bible and tradition by allowing same-sex marriage.
The Government will open a consultation on the issue in March and the Prime Minister has indicated that he wants it to be a defining part of his premiership. But the Archbishop says it is not the role of the state to redefine marriage, threatening a new row between the Church and state just days after bishops in the House of Lords led a successful rebellion over plans to cap benefits.
“Marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman,” says Dr Sentamu. “I don’t think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is. It is set in tradition and history and you can’t just [change it] overnight, no matter how powerful you are.
“We’ve seen dictators do it in different contexts and I don’t want to redefine very clear social structures that have been in existence for a long time and then overnight the state believes it could go in a particular way.
“It’s almost like somebody telling you that the Church, whose job is to worship God [will be] an arm of the Armed Forces. They must take arms and fight. You’re completely changing tradition.” » | Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Editor, in Kingston, Jamaica | Friday, January 27, 2012
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