'20 % of Europe will be Muslim by 2050, but not radical': Report

Islamic World News

10 Aug 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com

'20 % of Europe will be Muslim by 2050, but not radical': Report

Lessons in 'true' Islam to stop youth turning to terrorism Iranian Nobel Laureate Seeks to Vindicate Islam Pakistan Blasphemy laws once again in the limelight Afghan Plane Turned Back by MICHAEL WINES High school students report on Islam Don't blame all Muslims, but don't blame all men either by Paul Nathanson Islam's Dr. Ruth and her campaign for good sex by Jessica Hume UK's Afghan mission may last 40 yrs Susie Measure: Why is the sisterhood silent on Sudan? Muslims to educate Christians on Islamic courts by LUCAS BARASA AIMMM condemns demolition of 140 year old mosque As Algeria grows more Islamic, nightlife suffers Hassan Ali – between cigarette and alcohol Religious tradition: Children in the Masjid by Um Walid Elite squad guns down Bali bomb mastermind Charges against Saudi sex braggart prepared, prosecutors say America won't wait long for Iran to return to N-talks Israeli air strike on Gaza: Palestine Compiled by Syed Asadullah UR of this page: http://newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1624 ------------   '20% of EU will be Muslim by 2050, but not radical' By JPOST.COM STAFF, Aug 9, 2009 Twenty percent of the European Union will be Muslim by 2050, according to forecasts cited in a Telegraph report Sunday. The current figure, according to the article, sits at five percent, and will be pushed up due to immigration, and low birth rates among native Europeans. The article noted that the UK, Spain and Holland would hit the 20% mark faster. According to the London-based newspaper, experts have criticized lawmakers' failure to address this "demographic time-bomb." They called for a discussion on how these demographic changes would affect "areas of life from education and housing to foreign policy and pensions." The article cited polls, however, which showed that the Muslim community in EU countries was not radicalizing. ------ Iranian Nobel Laureate Seeks to Vindicate Islam AUGUST 10, 2009 "Before I start this interview, I need to check what happened in the 14 hours I was in flight." Lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, 62, the first Iranian and Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, arrived in Seoul Saturday to accept the Manhae Peace Prize at the invitation of the Asia Journalist Association. As soon as she arrived at her hotel, Ebadi sought a computer. She looked serious and nervous as she checked the political situation in Iran. "Many people are taking to the streets to protest the results of the Iranian presidential election. Nearly a million people staged demonstrations on the first day. After the government began attacking people, many died or suffered injuries and journalists, lawyers and professors were arrested," she said. More than 2,000 people have been arrested in demonstrations in Iran since the June 12 election. Among them, 250 remain in custody and more than 30 have reportedly died due to the violent crackdown on demonstrators. Full Report at: http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=040000&biid=2009081014088 ------- Pakistan Blasphemy laws once again in the limelight August 10, 2009 HRCP co-chairman says blasphemy laws have been badly misused and should be abolished Religious affairs minister says major amendments in blasphemy laws will benefit Taliban KARACHI: The controversial blasphemy laws should be abolished immediately after the killing of seven Christians to prevent copycat riots from opening a new front of religious unrest, activists say. Blasphemy carries the death penalty and although no one has been sent to the gallows for the crime, the legislation is too arbitrary analysts say, and is often exploited for personal enmity and encourages extremism. When an angry mob of Muslims torched 40 houses and a church in the town of Gojra, two children, their parents and 75-year-old grandfather were burnt to death. Full Report at: http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\08\10\story_10-8-2009_pg1_9 --------- Lessons in 'true' Islam to stop youth turning to terrorism By Caroline Wilson New project aims to wipe out radicalism after claims that 90% of jihadists have no religious understanding A BLUEPRINT for the teaching of Islam, which aims to prevent young Muslims in Scotland from becoming radicalized, is being launched by a millionaire businessman. Azeem Ibrahim, a Glasgow-born entrepreneur who has advised the UK government on its counter-terrorism strategy, has set up the Solas Foundation in the city's west end. He argues that extremist actions such as the attack on Glasgow Airport two years ago have been fuelled by so-called "DIY Islam", where young people searching for answers resort to drastic actions under the influence of preachers who are unqualified in Islamic law and theology. Prominent academics have argued that almost 90% of violent jihadists, including most of the al-Qaeda leadership, have had no religious education. Full Report at: http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2524586.0.lessons_in_true_islam_to_stop_youth_turning_to_terrorism.php ---- Afghan Plane to Xinjiang Turned Back By MICHAEL WINES, NYt August 10, 2009 BEIJING (AP) — An Afghan plane bound for the restive western Chinese region of Xinjiang was sent back to Afghanistan after a bomb threat, Chinese news media said Sunday. The airline, Kam Air, said the plane left Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, and was crossing Kyrgyzstan on its way to Urumqi, Xinjiang, when it was told to turn back. The Xinhua News Agency said that there had been a bomb threat and that the Urumqi airport authorities had been told not to let the plane land. The deputy chief of Kam Air, Feda Mohammad Fedawi, said there had been no bomb threat. He said that Kyrgyz authorities told the crew that China would not allow the plane into its airspace, and that the plane, with 160 passengers aboard, was diverted to Kandahar. There was no immediate way to explain the differing accounts. ------ High school students report on Islam By Anas Alahmed and David Stewart 9 Aug, 2009 Students attending the IU High School Journalism Institute Summer Workshop this summer had the opportunity to hear a lecture by and interview Faiz Rahman, president of Bloomington's Islamic Centre. The students wrote stories and editorials about the experiences. More than 480 high school students from around the United States learned about Islam during the IU High School Journalism Institute Summer Workshop in July. Zakariah D. Love, a member of the Bloomington Islamic Centre, called it "a good opportunity for the students to create the knowledge about Islam interactively, rather than to receive it from the media." The Summer Workshop challenges students' viewpoints and enables them to have the chance to meet a variety of people from different perspectives and to approach and interview them, said Institute Director Teresa A. White, a full-time lecturer at the IU School of Journalism. "We want to instruct and improve journalistic and publication staff skills and give our students the opportunity to be more knowledgeable, professional and open-minded." To help achieve this goal on the topic of Islam, students wrote feature stories, straight news stories or editorials about a lecture presented by IU professor Faiz Rahman, president of the Islamic Centre in Bloomington. They also interviewed members of the Bloomington Islamic Centre. Full Report at: http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/node/10078 ----- Don't blame all Muslims, but don't blame all men either By Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young, Canadians have been debating the topic of "honour killings" ever since the arrest last month by Kingston police of an Afghan man, his wife and son, charged with murdering four female family members. Two explanations for the phenomenon have predominated from the beginning. One explanation is defensive. It originates in the need of local Muslims to distance their community from honour killings, because most Canadians, including most immigrants from Islamic countries, classify these killings as murders -- and with good reason. In a recent op-ed piece for the Montreal Gazette, Dolores Chew and Farha Najah Hussain of the South Asian Women's Community Centre worry that this event will trigger a Canadian backlash against immigrants from some parts of the world. "If a white man kills his partner and/or children, he is seen as a murderer and a 'bad apple.' But when non-whites and non-Christians kill, the crime is often called an 'honour killing,' and entire communities and cultures are labeled as 'backward.' " That happens sometimes, to be sure, but not always. Apart from anything else, many Canadians would be embarrassed to expose their own prejudices -- and even that is better than trying to legitimate their prejudices. Full Report at: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/blame+Muslims+blame+either/1868847/story.html ----- Islam's Dr. Ruth and her campaign for good sex Aug 09, 2009 Jessica Hume Can this marriage be saved? Yes, says a Dubai counsellor, if husband attends to his wife's needs Wedad Lootah is fighting for women's sexual rights from behind the full niqab. A marriage counsellor in the family guidance department of Dubai Courts, Lootah sees couples who are considering divorce or want to revive their relationship. She is also the author of the shocking, for the United Arab Emirates, Top Secret: Sexual Guidance for Married Couples, a book published in January. And much of the advice she dispenses involves teaching husbands that their wives deserve sexual pleasure too. The idea of anyone, let alone a female, practicing sex therapy may seem at odds with the ethos of the U.A.E. – a country in which hand-holding and other displays of public affection can result in prison terms, where premarital sex among Western expats is a deportable offence. But Lootah is able to get away with talking about this taboo subject because she bases her advice firmly on the teachings of the Qur'an, which is decidedly more forthcoming about sex than the Bible. Full Report at: http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/678410 ------- UK's Afghan mission may last 40 yrs London, 8 Aug: Amid surge in the level of insurgency fuelled by the Taliban against the US-led NATO forces, a top British commander today warned that the UK's mission in Afghanistan could last up to 40 years. General David Richards, who becomes Chief of the General Staff on 28 August, said it was a "mistake" to abandon the region after the Russians pulled out in the late 1980s. "The Army's role will evolve, but the whole process might take as long as 30 to 40 years," General Richards was quoted as saying by The Times newspaper. "I believe that the UK will be committed to Afghanistan in some manner development, governance, security sector reform for the next 30 to 40 years," he said. He stressed on the need "to focus on the expansion of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police". "Just as in Iraq, it is our route out militarily, but the Afghan people and our opponents need to know that this does not mean our abandoning the region. We made this mistake once. Our opponents are banking on us doing it again, and we must prove them wrong," the top commander underlined. Full Report at: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=8&theme=&usrsess=1&id=263914 ------ Susie Measure: Why is the sisterhood silent on Sudan? 9 Aug, 2009 The trial of Lubna Hussein for wearing trousers has failed to outrage women concerned with pettier issues As a feminist cause célèbre, the case of Lubna Hussein, is hard to top. She is the Sudanese journalist facing a public flogging and unlimited fine if a Khartoum court finds her guilty of wearing a pair of trousers. Light green ones, to be precise. Hardly an anarchist's uniform, unless you live in Sudan, where wearing trousers constitutes "indecent clothing". If you're a woman. Sudan's public order police swooped on Hussein, right, and 12 other women similarly clad in a Khartoum café, charging them with violating public decency. Ten of the women accepted their lot – 10 lashes and a fine of about £65. But Hussein, a 30-something widow, who faces 40 lashes if convicted, is so outraged at the affront on her personal freedom that she is fighting her case. The trial was last week adjourned until next month. To do so, she has resigned her job as a United Nations press officer, because that would have given her immunity from prosecution and ruined her chance of "defending the women of Sudan". Full Report at: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/susie-mesure-why-is-the-sisterhood-silent-on-sudan-1769569.html ------- Muslims to educate Christians on Islamic courts By LUCAS BARASA, 8 August, 2009 Muslims have started countrywide civic education targeting Christians to explain the work of Kadhis courts and "how it does not affect them." Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims secretary general Adan Wachu said all its branches had been instructed to make Christians understand what the courts were all about. "We have instructed all our branches to allow sobriety during this time of tribulations. We want to remind them that the courts have been in constitution since independence and that all we want is its retention," Mr Wachu said. Some religious leaders have vehemently opposed the inclusion of the courts in new constitution saying it would amount to favouring one religion and turn the country into a religious state. But in an interview with the Nation in Nairobi on Saturday, Mr. Wachu said the courts had been misunderstood and that they were not knew as they have been in constitution for the last 46 years. Full Report at: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/636572/-/ullwc3/-/ ------- As Algeria grows more Islamic, nightlife suffers By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU 9 August, 2009 ALGIERS, Algeria —All through the 1990s, when Islamic militants waged a ferocious war on the Algerian state and nightlife died in the city that once called itself "The Paris of Africa," the Hanani bar and restaurant stayed open. It was "an act of resistance," says owner Anchor Ait Oussaid. Yet today, at a time when the bloodshed has ebbed, local authorities have shuttered the hole-in-the-wall bar. "This same state has done what the Islamists never managed to do," Ait Oussaid said, standing amid abandoned tables and empty shelves gathering dust. At least 40 bars, restaurants and nightclubs have been closed in the past year around Algiers alone, according to local media. The government insists that the closures are strictly a matter of safety and hygiene, but suspicion is widespread that Muslim conservative pressure is to blame. Ait Oussaid, a Muslim like almost all of Algeria's 32 million people, contends that officials caved in to a petition circulated in his seaside neighbourhood of La Perouse demanding that the Muslim prohibition of alcohol be enforced. Many see this as one of a series of measures the government is taking in Algiers and other cities to soothe Muslim sensitivities and isolate the militants who still carry out bombings and assassinations. Full Report at: http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/as-algeria-grows-more-111591.html -------- Hassan Ali – between cigarette and alcohol 9 Aug, 2009 It has been nearly two months since I went to Ulu Langat to visit my small fruits orchard. In Pekan Batu 14, I saw a big cloth banner near the mosque where it says "PAS menyokong tindakan MBSA" or in English "PAS supports MBSA Action" I supposed it has something to do with Hassan Ali latest caricature act where it attack Ronnie Liu action of interfering in MBSA action in confiscating some beer from some shops. 2. There are several sides of the issue that should be examined. Firstly, in my mind Hassan Ali action has embarrassed us Muslims with his shallow and narrow way of doing things. 3. Indirectly he had portrays that the Muslims are in this country are weak and has poor religious and health knowledge when it comes to alcohol consumption. His actions implied that Muslims especially in Shah Alam has no brains and cannot think for themselves and the only solution left is that to implement open banning. 4. Hassan Ali wanted alcohol to be banned in Muslim majority areas. How do we define a Muslim majority area and its boundaries? As a whole, on average 55% of the population are Muslims by birth. If we go by electoral boundaries or by geographical boundaries in Selangor, all areas are Malay (indirectly Muslims) dominated areas. But then many Malays are not strict and pious Muslims, hence I suspect there are not many Muslims dominated areas. Full Report at: http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/25437/84/ ------- Religious tradition: Children in the Masjid By Um Walid Nowadays, it is unfortunate that in many masjids both brothers and sisters are annoyed at the presence of children. A cry from a baby or a roaming toddler can sometimes illicit a rude comment. As always, our best example is the prophet (saws). These hadith illustrate the prophet (saws) attitude at the presence of children in the masjid. The Messenger of Allah (saws) came out to us for one of the two later prayers (dhuhr or asr), carrying Hasan or Hussein. The Prophet (saws) then came to the front and put him down (next to his right foot) said takbir for the prayer and commenced praying. During the prayer, he performed a very long prostration, so I raised my head and there was the child, on the back of the Messenger of Allah (saws), who was in prostration. I then returned to my prostration. When the Messenger of Allah (saws) had offered the prayer, the people said: 'O Messenger of Allah! in the middle of your prayer, you performed prostration and lengthened it so much that we thought either something had happened or that you were receiving revelation!' He said: 'Neither was the case. Actually, my son made me his mount, and I did not want to hurry him until he had satisfied his wish.'" (Reported by Nasaa'i, Ibn Asaakir, and Haakim) Full Report at: http://www.impactnews.mu/News_View.asp?NID=6912 -------- Elite squad guns down Bali bomb mastermind 9 Aug, 2009 AN ELITE Indonesian police squad has killed a man believed to be the most wanted Islamic militant in Southeast Asia, Noordin Mohammad Top, who was linked to bombings in Jakarta and on the island of Bali. Officers of Detachment 88 stormed a house amid green rice paddies in central Java yesterday morning, using robot cameras to find their target as they blasted from room to room with grenades. The man made a last stand inside the bathroom as walls shattered around him, screaming out the name, "Noordin Top", before black-clad marksmen fired volleys of shots into the room, witnesses said. It was the climax to a 17-hour siege that followed a swoop on militants in the town of Temanggung, 250 miles southeast of Jakarta. Undercover officers had earlier seized two of Top's bodyguards in the town's market and then made their way to his refuge, which was cordoned off and surrounded on Friday. After several exchanges of gunfire, there was a lull overnight. Shortly before 8am yesterday, heavy firing and explosions could be heard. It was almost two hours before the shooting stopped. ------- Charges against sex braggart prepared, prosecutors say JEDDAH: Three of the four men who have been arrested in connection to the Mazen Abdul Jawad incident, where a Saudi man bragged about his sexual escapades on an LBC program last month, have had the charges against them outlined. However, the Investigation and Prosecution Commission (IPC) has not yet disclosed the charges. A source inside the IPC told Arab News on Sunday that prosecutors have completed investigating the three men, including Abdul Jawad. "The accusation against the prime suspect (Mazen Abdul Jawad) has been determined and included in the list of charges," the source said. The fourth man, who was arrested at the airport in Jeddah last week has not yet been fully investigated. The names of the three men who appeared on the program with Abdul Jawad have not been disclosed. The three men whose files have been prepared are scheduled to go before a judicial panel this week. The case is expected to go to trial soon. Full Report at: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=125305&d=10&m=8&y=2009 -------------- America won't wait long for Iran to return to N-talks August 10, 2009 US hopes to lure Tehran away from N-programme through economic enticements James Jones urges Iran to release 3 US hikers WASHINGTON: The United States has no illusions that Iran will accept overtures to return to negotiations about its nuclear programme and will not wait much longer for Tehran to respond, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Sunday. "We were under no illusions… that we can get the kind of engagement we are seeking," Clinton said in an interview with CNN's GPS weekly show. "The (US) president has also said, look, we need to take stock of this in September. If there is a response, it needs to be on a fast track. We're not going to keep the window open forever," she said. Both Clinton and National Security Adviser James Jones said in interviews aired on Sunday that Washington had little choice but to deal with the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Full Report at: http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\08\10\story_10-8-2009_pg7_1 ------ Israeli air strike on Gaza: Palestine AFP 10 August 2009 GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes struck the Gaza Strip early on Monday near the southern city of Rafah, Palestinian security officials said, hours after at least three mortar rounds were fired into Israel. In the first air strike against the Gaza Strip since June 14, Israeli warplanes targeted an area where contraband tunnels are known to run under the border to Egypt. The mortar attacks Sunday targeted the Karni and Erez border crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel, and caused no casualties or damage. According to the army more than 200 rockets and shells have been fired from Gaza since Israel's 22-day offensive against the Hamas rulers of the territory in December and January. Operation "Cast Lead", which led to more than 1,400 Palestinian deaths including hundreds of civilians and which devastated swathes of the coastal strip, was officially aimed at ending the firing of rockets from Gaza. ------  UR of this page: http://newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1624