King Abdullah slaps down Saudi cleric critical of Co-ed University, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

King Abdullah slaps down Saudi cleric critical of Co-ed University

Last week, a senior Saudi Islamic cleric criticised the country’s first mixed-gender university, the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), and suggested an Islamic committee to make sure it followed Islamic principled and didn’t teach “alien ideologies” such as evolution.

Late on Sunday, the state news agency SPA reported that King Abdullah had removed Sheikh Saad Al-Shithri from a top council of religious scholars.

okazAl-Shithri’s comments sparked angry reactions from liberals who saw the new university as a beacon for research that will eventually produce Saudi scientists, spearheading modernity in the conservative Islamic State. For those of you who read Arabic, here’s a sample of several op-ed pieces that ran in the daily Okaz.

“This is a strategy for the conservatives to control the university. Or at least to have a major say in it. This is the old trick for them to have the upper hand to sabotage reforms,” said Jamal Khashoggi, editor-in-chief of Alwatan daily newspaper, about the clerics comments on the university.

Saudi Arabia follows an austere version of Islam and religious police patrol the streets ensuring that the country’s strict segregation laws are implemented. Clerics like Al-Shitri have a major influence on school curricula as well as the judicial system and some have issued fatwas against co-education (here in Arabic).

Since coming to power in 2005, King Abdullah has reshuffled the cabinet, replacing some hardline clerics with more moderate ones, and promised the overhaul of the education system with an aim of focusing more on sciences rather than religion. He has also pledge to reform the judicial system.

abdullah“This university has become a reality, and it is for the good of the nation as the King had wanted it to be. It is not a cake that the two ideological streams [liberals and conservatives] can compete over,” wrote columnist Khaled Alsulaiman in Okaz after the controversial statements placed KAUST in the centre of the battle between liberals and conservatives.

http://newageislam.com/king-abdullah-slaps-down-saudi-cleric-critical-of-co-ed-university/islamic-world-news/d/1852

Muslims Not 'Free of Being Mocked,' Danish Cartoonist Says, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

Muslims Not 'Free of Being Mocked,' Danish Cartoonist Says

By Joshua Rhett Miller

October 01, 2009

Muslims need to develop a sense of humour and an appreciation of satire — and they need to understand that they are not "free of being mocked or being offended," says the Danish caricaturist whose cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad incited rage throughout the Muslim world four years ago.

Kurt Westergaard told roughly a dozen listeners Wednesday night that he will "always" be ready to defend an individual's right to religious freedom.

"As the Danish tradition is for satire, we say you can speak freely, you can vote, you can speak out anytime, but there's only one thing you can't do — you can't be free of being mocked or being offended," Westergaard said. "That's the conditions in Denmark and so many countries."

Westergaard spoke at a private residence in midtown Manhattan in conjunction with the Hudson New York Briefing Council. It was just his second appearance in the U.S. since the 2005 publication of his notorious cartoon, which depicted Muhammad wearing a turban resembling a lit bomb. In Islam, any depiction of Muhammad is forbidden and considered blasphemy.

Westergaard's controversial cartoon was one of 12 that appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 and led to widespread violent protests throughout the Middle East, Asia, Denmark and Africa.

http://newageislam.com/muslims-not--free-of-being-mocked,--danish-cartoonist-says/islamic-society/d/1860

Muntadhar al-Zeidi, Iraqi shoe thrower who attacked Bush, released, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Muntadhar al-Zeidi, Iraqi shoe thrower who attacked Bush, released

The Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at then-President George W. Bush was released from prison Tuesday, saying he was tortured in jail and fears for his life.

"I was tortured with electric shocks, beaten with cables," Muntazer al-Zaidi told reporters shortly after his release.

He also said he endured water boarding, the controversial simulated-drowning technique some interrogators used on terror suspects.

"I will name later those involved in torturing me, among them high ranking officials in the government and the Army," Zaidi said.

Zaidi, 30, added that he fears American intelligence agencies would like to see him dead.

Zaidi had been behind bars since he shouted, "It is the farewell kiss, you dog," at Bush last Dec. 14, before throwing his size 10s.

Bush ducked the flying footwear and laughed off the attack. The incident caused massive embarrassment to both him and the Iraqi prime minister, who were at a press conference in Baghdad on what was Bush's farewell visit to Iraq prior to Barack Obama taking office.

Many viewers applauded Zaidi's bravery, and he was heralded as a cult hero in the Middle East. Venezuela's anti-American President Hugo Chavez called him courageous. Arab fathers have offered Muntazer their daughters as brides.

Zaidi was sentenced to three years for the attack, but his sentence was reduced to one year for good behavior.

http://newageislam.com/muntadhar-al-zeidi,-iraqi-shoe-thrower-who-attacked-bush,-released/islamic-world-news/d/1751

Muslim cops lose trust of community, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Muslim cops lose trust of community

Prashant Dayal, TNN

29 Jul 2008

The cop died soon after, but the words of the dying man still haunt his colleague and other Muslim officers in Gujarat Police, who were part of an elaborate anti-terror operation that went awry over the years, leading to fake encounters and harassment of innocents.

In the serial bomb blasts that took place on Saturday, more than 50 local people were believed to have been involved in providing logistics. But the police didn't get a whiff of it. Three days after the blasts, the police are still at sea, given the deep mistrust in the police force and the minority community.

"Police earlier had a good grassroots-level informers' network that helped uncover underworld and terrorist activities. That trust has completely broken down and even Muslim police officers are of no help today," says a senior police official.

It began with a controversial encounter of a history-sheeter. The crime branch had sent a Muslim head constable to the gangster's father to persuade him to hand his son over, promising no harm will be done. "I am a Muslim who prays five times a day. You can trust me," the cop told the man.

http://newageislam.com/muslim-cops-lose-trust-of-community/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/453