The Educated Muslim Terrorist

East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet. ––Rudyard Kipling

Nidal Hasan, Abdulmutallab and Humam al-Balawi are jihadists who were educated and came from privileged middle- and upper-class backgrounds. Hasan was an American-trained U. S. Army doctor, Abdulmutallab was a London engineering student and the son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, and double-agent Dr. Humam al-Balawi was a member of the Jordanian professional class.

Many Westerners are confused by the willingness of university-educated middle-class Muslims to perpetrate barbarous acts of terrorism. It appears to be a reversal of the usual process: typically college students raised in religious households become more secularized by exposure to the humanities and sciences, and the rationalist values of the European Enlightenment.

Yet when embryonic jihadists attend Western universities they graduate with their faith intact: 9/11 terrorists Mohammed Atta and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were both beneficiaries of Western university educations.

These men, who sought to advance themselves with Western training and technical skills, ultimately turned against, and attempted to destroy, the very society that provided them with the means to that advancement. Instead of employing their newly acquired learning and knowledge to improve the lot of their fellow countrymen and co-religionists, they turned this very learning and knowledge against their Western benefactors.

This phenomenon begs the question: How do jihadists reconcile such hypocrisy and ingratitude in their own minds?

As the 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie proved, the list of Jihad’s grievances against the West is subtle and inventive. The exquisite sensitivities of the faithful guarantee the manufacture of injury and insult without end, providing inspiration for Islam’s perennial street theater; for no sooner does the Arab street grow tired of one threadbare grievance, e.g. Israel, than it discovers another in an irreverent Danish cartoon.

The familiar explanations for the fierce hatred of Muslim extremists for the West—the presence of Western military forces in sacred Arab lands, that holy war against infidels is a duty sanctioned by the Koran, or the millennial fantasy that a supreme caliphate is destined to rule the world—are as irrational as they are implausible.

For example, before 9/11, America’s military deployment in Islamic countries, in Bosnia, Kosovo and in Kuwait, had been in the defense of Islam itself; but for the timely intervention of American forces in these three places, tens of thousands of Bosnian and Albanian Muslims would have perished in an orgy ‘ethnic cleansing,’ and Kuwait (and eventually Saudi Arabia) would have become provinces of Iraq.

(The only other time Muslims were likely to encounter the U.S. military was when a Navy relief task force arrived with aid for victims of a natural disaster in an Islamic state like Bangladesh.) And though some imams, mullahs and ayatollahs may harbor utopian dreams of world domination and of heavenly rewards for martyrdom, it is hard to believe such apocalyptic visions could motivate educated Muslims.

There is evidently something else at play here.

Genetic biologists tell us that the principle stages of man’s evolution, from the fish to primate, can be discerned in time-lapse photography of the human embryo.

The evolution of the educated Muslim terrorist is one of those mysteries that, like human evolution, resides in the terms of the problem itself and is only waiting to be made explicit, i.e. the very fact of the terrorist’s contact with the West.

The common strand running through the backgrounds of middle-class jihadists is prolonged and close interaction with Western society, a clue in plain sight that is too often overlooked in the search for esoteric causation, such as religion and culture. Indeed, according to British historian Arnold Toynbee, contact with the dominant universal society is always the first step in the radicalization of Third World revolutionaries and terrorists.

Here is the critical path.....

Read it all at FPM

William Fankboner is the author of The Triumph of Political Correctness and A Hypertext Field Guide to Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media. He runs a web site at: http://home.roadrunner.com/~lifetime. His e-mail address is: williefank@aol.com.

Not All Muslims Are Suicide Killers–But All Suicide Killers Are Muslims

Earlier today, I was lying on my gynecologist’s table in a highly exposed position when suddenly she said: “You’re probably going to think this is very politically incorrect but isn’t it crazy not to profile? I mean, isn’t it clear who’s doing what?”

I immediately shot straight up and engaged this worthy liberal in a very politically incorrect conversation. (No, she had absolutely no idea what I’ve been writing about).

So: Some things are becoming clear and can no longer be denied. Not even by some liberals.

Jihadic terrorists tend to be Muslims. Atheists are not blowing themselves up nor are Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Ba’haii or Zoroastrians.

Not all Muslims are terrorists; but these days, all terrorists seem to be Muslims.

Terrorists and their handlers are not all motivated by poverty and suffering. Many are often wealthy and educated men.

For example, according to the Wall Street Journal, Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi, the Jordanian double agent who recently blew himself up along with seven American CIA operatives in Afghanistan, was a 32 year-old physician. A physician—not a madrassa trained slum dweller. He is now being linked to Al Qaeda in Pakistan. On video, he said: “ We will never forget the blood of our emir, Baitullah Mehsud. We will always demand revenge for him inside America and outside.” (Al-Balawi was shown meeting with the Pakistani Taliban/Al Qaeda and vowing revenge for the death of their leader).

Our own homegrown jihadic terrorist, Major Nidal Malik Hassan, (a Palestinian-American), is also a physician, a psychiatrist in fact. He had money, independence, prestige. His massacre at Fort Hood was not motivated by illiteracy, poverty, or war-related trauma.

Many Westerners find it difficult to accept that a religious war has been declared against the West; that jihadists are ready to die, wave after wave of them, in order to ensure that our way of life is destroyed.

Their ideal is Islamic supremacy (only Muslims will rule because they are “superior”) and they want to return to a seventh century way of life, albeit one with cellphones, the internet, and nuclear weaponry.

Moderate, peaceful Muslims certainly exist—but how many are willing to stand up to the jihadists?

For example, according to the AP, only 50 Muslims showed up for a “Muslims Against Terrorism” rally outside the federal courthouse in Detroit where the Christmas Day crotch-bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was being arraigned. Although the local Detroit press estimated that there were 150 protestors there—this is still a very small showing given that Detroit and its suburbs are also known as “Dearbornistan” and boast the largest Muslim community in the United States.

How many European-Muslim leaders protested the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the murder of Theo Von Gogh, the character assassination of Geert Wilders and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, ore the recently attempted murder of Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist?

How many Muslim religious leaders in Egypt protested the Orthodox Christmas Day shooting of Coptic Christians as they left church? Or protested the abductions, forced conversions, and the hastily arranged marriages of Coptic Christian female children to Muslim adult males?

How many Muslim religious leaders have issued fatwas against the Islamic regime of Iran for its heart stopping persecution of Iranian dissidents?

Too few, if any.

The danger of not standing up early enough is that we condemn ourselves to a higher body count. If we refuse to (behavior) profile now—we must accept that more airports and airplanes will be blown up, more cities held hostage, Mumbai-style.

And, those of us who travel frequently will all have to spend a good part of the rest of our lives standing on line at the airport. And, eventually, at the boat dock, or at the train or bus station.

Phyllis Chesler

Iran Funding Universities and Professors in U.S.

From CAN:

The New York Post reported that the Alavi Foundation, which recently had its assets seized by the government for acting as a front for the Iranian government, donated large sums of money to universities and professors acting in Iran’s interest.

The report says that the Alavi Foundation donated $100,000 to Columbia University after the school agreed to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a speaker in 2007.

The Foundation also donated $351,600 to the Rutgers Persian Language Program between 2005 and 2007.

The New York Post notes that a Rutgers professor who also used to serve as the head of Rutgers’ Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Hooshang Amirahmadi, “unabashedly has touted Hezbollah and Hamas as legitimate organizations and not terrorists.”

The report also listed two other professorships that received Iranian funding via the Alavi Foundation: Gary Sick of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian studies and comparative literature at Columbia University.

The latter was quoted in the report as comparing the heroes of the movie, “300″ to “those resisting this [U.S.] empire: They are the Iraqi resistance, the Palestinians, Hezbollah.”

World Threats

Rebutting the Saudi Smear Campaign Against Wafa Sultan

With the release of Wafa Sultan's book, A God Who Hates, the various Saudi front organizations have sprung into action doing their best to smear her reputation.

It is of course completely unsurprising that the agents of a kingdom that despises women and treats them like cattle would be furious at criticism of Islam coming from... a woman.

Ever since Wafa Sultan first came to the public's attention by defiantly challenging a male cleric and demanding her right to speak, she has been the target of repeated death threats and slander.

So it is also completely unsurprising that those same Saudi front groups would then use transparent lies and smears to attack her now. But their smear campaign reveals more about them than it does about Wafa Sultan.


First up is the claim that Wafa Sultan lied about ever being a Muslim, because she was an Alawi Muslim. This is a bizarre claim that only fanatical Sunni Wahhabi groups could make with a straight face. To argue that Sultan did not grow up as a Muslim because she grew up as an Alawi Muslim, is akin to a Catholic arguing that a Protestant is not a Christian and vice versa.

The other half of this claim is the argument that since she does not currently believe in Islam and the Koran, she is somehow unqualified to talk about what is wrong with Islam.

A position that would disqualify every Scientology critic on the planet and every dissident who escapes from an oppressive regime. Wafa Sultan's qualifications to talk about what is wrong with Islam come from growing and living as a Muslim under Islam. As well as her study of what is wrong with Islam from a cultural, religious and psychological standpoint.

A corollary to this is the claim that Syria was secular and therefore Wafa Sultan did not grow up living in an Islamic society. While Syria under Assad was more secular than say Saudi Arabia, it was still a Muslim country, in the same way that the similarly Baathist Iraq was Muslim.

Aside from small minorities, virtually every Syrian is Muslim and mosque attendance is normative. The state funds mosques and Islamic education is part of the regular curriculum. Islamic norms are thoroughly integrated within the national culture.

For a snapshot of that, here's an excerpt from an academic paper on Syria's educational system

Islamic education in Syrian schools is traditional, rigid, and Sunni. The Ministry of Education makes no attempt to inculcate notions of tolerance or respect for religious traditions other than Sunni Islam. Christianity is the one exception to this rule. Indeed, all religious groups other than Christians are seen to be enemies of Islam, who must be converted or fought against. The Syrian government teaches school children that over half of the world’s six billion inhabitants will go to hell and must be actively fought by Muslims...

The government is to be an Islamic State without separation of church and state. The student is constantly reminded that the Islamic state is a divine order whose wisdom, justice, and laws are imposed by God. The chapter of the twelfth grade text entitled, “The System of Government in Islam,” concludes with the following sentences:

There's your "secular" Syria right there. That's the "secular" Syria that Wafa Sultan grew up in.


Secondly, there's the claim that Wafa Sultan is a "turncoat" who has deliberately sought fame in order to get rich. As In Focus, a CAIR front magazine writes;

"As for the Sultans’ financial troubles, Halabi told InFocus that ever since Dr. Sultan gained notoriety those troubles are a thing of the past. "She bought a house for herself and bought another for her son," ... When asked about the source of her material well-being, Halabi was unsure.

As to the reasons that may have pushed Sultan to be so outspoken and vocal against Islam in a post-9/11 world, Halabi sympathetically remarked, "Poverty. It drives people to sell their soul."

The "mysterious source" of their material well-being is that Wafa Sultan was able to become a practicing doctor in the United States. Doctors in the United States tend to have not particularly mysterious sources of material well-being. And whatever money she has made from her speaking fees is hardly anything compared to the security costs of regularly dealing with death threats from Muslim.


Thirdly, let's discuss the In Focus magazine hit piece, Wafa Sultan Reformist or opportunist? that is the source of many of the smears aimed at Wafa Sultan.

More at Sultan Knish

Saudi Arabia plans to build 3,200 new schools

The Saudi Ministry of Educations plans to build 3,200 new schools for some 1.7 million children.

Under the King Abdullah Project for the Development of General Education, $5.3 billion will be spent raising the country's education system to international standards.

"At the moment a vast majority of the schools are housed in unsuitable buildings," a Saudi businessman told The Media Line on the condition of anonymity. "They are not purpose-built schools."

"They [Ministry of Education] have been renting buildings from private individuals and turning them into schools," he said. "It has been a longstanding problem and is something the government is anxious to rectify. This is the most comprehensive initiative yet, though the estimation is that they need some 4,000-5,000 new schools."

In addition to the schools' construction, the Ministry of Education will be in charge of their management and maintenance.

The school curriculum has also undergone a major overhaul over the last couple of years, as the Ministry of Education develops a curriculum to tackle deficiencies in computer technology, engineering and the sciences.

Under the purview of the religious establishment, the curriculum has traditionally had a strong focus on religious studies.

According to some estimates about 30% of the annual budget is spent on education.

A recent United Nations study on education in the Arab World found that despite 20% of national budgets going towards education over the past 40 years, literacy levels remain very low. The report found 60 million Arabs to be illiterate, two-thirds of them women.

The Saudi government currently sponsors some 60,000 scholarships for studies at colleges and universities abroad despite the number of universities in Saudi Arabia having grown from 9 to 25 over the last few years.

Inaugurated two months ago, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is the latest addition. Built with an endowment of $10 billion, KAUST is one of the wealthiest universities in the world.

JPost

UK Muslims to challenge compulsory sex education

David Sapsted, Foreign Correspondent

LONDON: The British government’s plan to make at least one year’s sex education compulsory for all schoolchildren is facing a legal challenge from the country’s largest Muslim organisation.

Roman Catholics, too, are considering a high court challenge to government proposals to introduce a new, national curriculum course for all children aged between five and 16 in two years’ time.

Under the new plans, the lessons would be compulsory for all 15-year-olds, meaning that each child would have at least one year of sex education, including detailed instruction on contraception and about homosexuality.

At present, parents can choose to have their children opt out of all sex education lessons throughout their primary and secondary school education.

But, under the new plans, parents would be treated as encouraging truancy and liable to heavy fines if they took their child out of sex education classes between the ages of 15 and 19. The earliest a child can leave school in the UK is 16, with the majority leaving at 18.

Additionally, the new national curriculum – starting at the age of five, when children will be taught the differences between boys and girls – replaces the much more lax current rule that only requires each school to have its own policy on sex education.

Until now, many schools, including most faith schools, have chosen that policy to be not to have sex education at all. The only current legal requirement is for children to be taught the biological facts of reproduction, which is normally done in science classes.

Read more here,,,,

Source: The National

Bangladesh's madrassas enrol girls

Bangladesh claims to possess the second largest religious school system in the world.

Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque reports from Dhaka, the capital, where over the past few years the government has been implementing a series of reforms to include more secular subjects in the curriculum and increase the numbers of female students.

The authorities have been offering incentives - providing cash to cover 80 per cent of scholastic costs - to see their reforms through.

This is proving to be hugely successful, bringing most madrassas under state supervision; religious schools that are largely funded by the government now follow both the state and religious curricula.

Zainul Abedine, the headmaster of the country's largest Islamic school, says: "In order to access government funds, many madrassas have opened their syllabus to other subjects like teaching languages such as English or Bengali. The number of madrassas have multiplied and so have the [numbers of] students".

With more then six million students currently enrolled, the madrassa system in Bangladesh is the second-largest in the world and is likely to get even larger as religious institutions open their doors to female students for the first time.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a senior Islamic scholar, has welcomed the move to educate girls in madrassas.

"Girls are thriving – they tend to perform better than male students," he said.

A recent study by Nazmul Chaudhury, of the World Bank, found that young people's attitudes were interlinked with that of their teachers and that the presence of female instructors leads to increased openness in both female and male students.

In stark contrast to the allegations that madrassas cultivate intolerance, this study found that in Bangladesh "modernised religious education is associated with attitudes that are conducive to democracy".

Read more here,,,,

Source: Al Jazeera (English)

Afghan women still struggle, 8 years on

Afghan women have seen their status rise and fall repeatedly over the past three decades, attaining a measure of equality in the early 1990s before the strictly Islamic Taliban muscled their way to power and forced women to again wear the burqa and stay out of school.

The U.S. bombardment of Afghanistan in 2001 drove the Taliban from the halls of power, again lifting women to a better place.

But now, a leading female member of the Afghan parliament says, those hard-won gains are retreating.

"After 2001, I call it like a golden opportunity for woman in the first five -- three, four, five -- five years," Fawzia Koofi, one of 68 female members of the parliament, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.

"However, like you had women in the parliament, you have several movements of women. You have girls going back to school. You have female doctors in the hospitals. You have female teachers who are going to school. With all this, I think the past three years, the situation of women is getting worse."

The problem, she said, lies in political attitudes.

"Unfortunately, there are certain elements within the government, outside the government, nowadays mainly within the government, who don't believe in women's progress, because they think, if women becomes stronger, they will lose the power," Koofi said.

"I think there is need for a strong political government and a civil government that actually is committed to equal rights and opportunities and to the rule of law," she said. "Everybody, according to the Constitution, is equal before the law."

"This is first. Rule of law is the key for progress of women."

Read more here,,,,

Source: CNN

Iran's women are not afraid

by Shirin Ebadi

The post-election crackdown has not quelled our spirit: democracy will help us achieve equality.

Iran today is a country where women are more educated than their male compatriots; more than 60% of university students are female, as are many university professors.

Iranian women obtained the right to vote and become members of parliament half a century ago – earlier than women in Switzerland, who achieved this right in 1971. Since that time at least a small number have been present in Iran's parliament.

Even the present parliament, which is monopolised by hardliners, has 13 women members. In governments, women have often held senior positions.

Even the health minister in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet is a woman. All this is proof that women have managed to rise within the ranks of the fundamentalists.

And yet despite the cultural, social and historical heritage of Iranian women, the Islamic Republic has imposed discriminatory regulations against them.

A man may marry up to four wives and divorce them whenever he desires. But mere will is not enough for a woman to divorce her husband.

Similarly, according to Iranian law, the life of women is worth half of the man's life in terms of blood money. When drawing up compensation after an accident, women receive half the amount allocated to men. During a trial, a declaration by a man is worth twice that of a woman. Women also require their husband's permission to work, travel or leave the country.

These laws run counter to the role of women within Iranian society. Should the health minister wish to attend a meeting of the World Health Organisation, she must receive her husband's assent. It remains unclear what would happen if her husband refused – Iran's seat at the WHO might remain vacant.

The laws imposed on Iranian women are incompatible with their status and, consequently, the equality movement is very strong. Although lacking a leader, headquarters, or branches, the movement is located in the home of any Iranian who believes in equal rights for men and women.

Read more here,,,,

Source: The Guardian

King Abdullah: Science and Faith Are Only Adversaries in Sick Minds

By Ali Sharaya and Amal Baqzi

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz said that throughout history, power has attached itself (after God) to science and the Muslim Ummah is well aware that it will not be powerful unless it depends (after God) upon science.

The King also stressed that science and faith are only adversaries in sick minds, and God has graced us with our minds so that we can understand and recognize God’s laws of nature.

King Abdullah made these comments during his speech at the opening ceremony for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology [KAUST] in Thawal in western Saudi Arabia.

The opening ceremony, which coincided with the celebration of Saudi Arabia's 79th National Day, was attended by a number of leaders and representatives from Arab and Islamic countries.

King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz said, “The University that we are opening today is not starting from scratch [rather] it is the continuation of what distinguished our civilization in its age of prosperity.”

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques added, “Humanity has been the target of vicious attacks from extremists who fear dialogue, pursue destruction and speak the language of hatred.

We cannot fight them unless we establish coexistence without conflict, with love instead of hatred, friendship instead of confrontation. Undoubtedly scientific centres that embrace all peoples are the first line of defence against extremists.

And today this university will become a “house of wisdom”…and a beacon of tolerance. This is the third meaning of the university.”

Read more here,,,,,

Source: Asharq Alawsat

The Fruit of Islam

By Bill Warner

The fruit never falls far from the tree. What are the practical results of Islam’s political and cultural ideology?

What is the fruit on the tree? Islam is a complete civilization that rejects every aspect of kafir civilization as being inferior.

Islam’s Golden Age claim is an assertion that Islam is the superior civilization.

The Koran says that Muslims are the best of nations. [1] How does the best of nations compare at the level of politics, economics, and culture?

Islam claims that the Koran is the perfect book with the perfect political and social doctrine that will make Muslims intellectually superior to kafirs. Remember that the Koran is the perfect recording of the mind of infinitely intelligent god, Allah, so Muslims should be the absolute leader in knowledge and ideas. Islam is the finest, most perfect idea that can exist.

Knowledge

First, a personal question: what Muslim author have you read lately? That is a personal approach and since this book is about objective reasoning, we need objective data.

The United Nations has put together a series of four books that measure Arab society. Now Arabs are a minority of Muslims, but there is little data about Islam as an entire civilization and so the Arabs have to represent all of Islam.

The Arabs are the oldest Muslims and Saudi Arabia can make a claim to being the most perfect Islamic nation. Mohammed was from there, and the Koran makes special claims about the Quraysh tribe and Arabs in general. So the Arabs are not a perfect measure but they are the best measure.

The most popular way to move information today is the Internet. England has about 48% of its population connected to the Internet; while Saudi Arabia has 2% of its population connected to the Internet [2] . High-income nations have 380 computers per thousand people. Arab nations have 20 computers per thousand people. The world as a whole has 80 per thousand.

But there is not as much need for a Muslim to explore the information on the Internet. “Starting in early childhood, the [Arab] child becomes accustomed to suppressing her or his inquisitive and exploratory tendencies.” [3]

The education curricula “seem to encourage submission, obedience, subordination and compliance, rather than free critical thinking.” [4] This lack of critical thinking can be seen in patents.

Over a 20-year period, Saudi Arabia got 171 patents, while South Korea to 16,328 patents. [5] This is a natural result from the research and development funding.

Sweden spends 3.1% of its GNP on research, while the Arab states spend 0.2%. [6] Switzerland has 79.9 frequently cited scientific papers per million of citizens. Saudi Arabia has 0.07 frequently cited papers per million of citizens. [7] What that means is that Saudi Arabia published 1 paper that was frequently cited by others.

The thirst for knowledge can be seen in that in the five-year period from 1970-75 only 330 books were translated per year.

There have been only 1000 books translated into Arabic in the last 1200 years. [8] That is less than one book per year over the centuries.

As a comparison, Spain translates 10,000 books per year into Spanish. In scientific publications the industrialized nations generate about 6 publications per ten million citizens, while the Arab countries create about 0.1 per ten million citizens. [9]

Read more here,,,,

Source: Western Front America

Both sides of Britain's Muslim problem!

Hang on to your hats and put on your seat belts folks, we have a two-parter today!

(1.)

I would like to give you a quote from a publication called "Religious News Blog;"

Islamophobia
The term Islamophobia was launched in 1996 by a self-proclaimed “Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia.” The word literally means “undue fear of Islam” but it is used to mean “prejudice against Muslims” and joins over 500 other phobias spanning virtually every aspect of life. … The term presents several problems, however. First, what exactly constitutes an “undue fear of Islam” when Muslims acting in the name of Islam today make up the premier source of worldwide aggression, both verbal and physical, versus non-Muslims and Muslims alike? What, one wonders, is the proper amount of fear? - Islamophobia?

For some reason England seems to be at the forefront of problems with Islam and some of the situations they are facing could help us here in North America to prepare for the eventuality of seeing the same conflicts over here.

First of all, there is an inquiry to check independent faith schools because of government concerns that some do not teach children how to fit in with British society.

The review will examine the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils at small religious schools. It will look at whether children are learning to distinguish right from wrong, and are being taught to respect the law.

The anouncement by Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, yesterday is thought to be a response to recent criticism of some Muslim schools, or madrassas.

A report from the right-wing think-tank Civitas claimed last month that some Muslim children were being prepared to live in Muslim enclaves, distinct from the rest of society.

This follows a campaign by two Muslim governors to give Islam a greater presence in a state school played a key part in forcing a successful Headmistress from her job, the High Court found yesterday.

Erica Connor, 57, the former head teacher of the New Monument primary school in Woking, Surrey, was forced to leave the school because of stress after she was accused of Islamophobia.

The court was told that over two years, two governors campaigned to make the school more Islamic and that their behaviour had torn apart the school's governing board.

Ms. Connor was hounded out of her job and was awarded more than £400,000 in compensation.

The Daily Mail revealed that the school’s troubles started when a local mosque decided to pack the governing body with Muslims.

Paul Martin - a Muslim convert - and Mumtaz Saleem began monopolising meetings with the aim of turning New Monument in Woking into an Islamic faith school.

Mr Martin, a businessman, yesterday confirmed there had been a ‘conscious effort’ to increase the number of Muslims on the board.

But when Mrs Connor resisted the new governors’ plans - such as the introduction of Islamic worship into the school - she became the target of a smear campaign.

An anonymous petition was circulated among parents, stating that those signing ‘no longer have confidence in Erica Connor to educate our children in a way that respects and values our faith, culture and heritage’.

An accompanying document accused the headmistress of ‘racism and Islamophobia’.

She eventually retired from the 300-pupil school because of illhealth in December 2006.

(Ed. note; I am not going to comment on this story but I thought it important for you to know about it.)

Forewarned is forearmed!

(2.)

I have an announcement to make folks!

We publish a lot of stuff on this blog and a fair bit of it is about politics and religion with a bit of humor thrown in to relieve the tension.

However, information I get about a certain issue is always subjective according to my view or the view of the person who I got the info from.

This means that what you read here is not always the bold, unvarnished, naked truth, but rather some variation of the truth depending on the objectivity of the writer!

As an example of this, I just received a reply to my article about Muslim schools in Great Britain that showed I presented one side of the argument but not necessarily the correct one.

Or the answer lies somewhere in between.

I don't know!

That's what make blogs so interesting........ it all depends on your point of view!

I am going to reproduce the letter here in its entirety and let you decide where the middle ground is!

-Allan; IftikharA has left a new comment on your post "Are Islamic faith schools teaching right from wrong?"

Muslim parents teach their children to respect their teachers. From a very young age, we are taught that Islam teaches us that after our parents, our teachers are most deserving of respect. Also, western politicians put a huge blame on parents for neglecting their children’s upbringing nowadays. Parents are blamed for allowing their children to grow up as uncouth, disrespectful, promiscuous and antisocial members of society.

So it must be an extremely confusing time for the Muslim parent in Leytonstone, London. For up to 30 parents may face prosecution for withdrawing their children from school, disobeying the teachers in the school, simply to secure a decent moral upbringing for their children. The school had decided to have a week of lessons about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. Part of this was a special adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet retitled Romeo and Julian as well as fairytales and stories changed to show men falling in love with men.

The Muslim parents have been told that local council officials may 'take action' against them for 'unauthorised absences' from school. Last year the Guardian reported statistics published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families showing that a record numbers of pupils persistently played truant in 2006-07, with around 272,950 pupils persistently absent in 2007, missing more than 20% of school. We rarely see councils prosecute the parents of these persistent truants. Yet, the parents who removed their children as a one-off to protect their morality may be prosecuted!

If the local council does decide to go through with a prosecution, it would be in line with the government's approach to the Muslim community. Last month Communities Secretary Hazel Blears confirmed what had been leaked in the newspapers, that Muslims who believe homosexuality was a sin against the law of Allah (swt) would be labelled as extremists. Liberal totalitarianism is a growing phenomenon in Britain and the west in general but many people will be shocked that the school can override a parent's view of what's appropriate or inappropriate to teach their children.

This latest episode should be a wakeup call for Muslim parents. Teachers are paid to teach our children. They are certainly not paid to impose their liberal values on our children. Muslim parents MUST explain our moral standards to schools and be prepared to take steps to protect our children’s morals and values from a growing agenda to impose liberal values upon them.

The solution of all the problems facing Muslim children is state funded Muslim schools with Muslim teachers. Those state schools where Muslim children are in majority may be designated as Muslim community schools. Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods.

“O you who believe. Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men and stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe, who disobey not, (from executing) the commands they receive from Allah, but do that which they are commanded.” [TMQ At-Tahrim 66:6]

There ya have it bunky. Things are not always as black and white as they seem.

Your humble author;
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know......!) and is available as an E-Book H E R E ! and as a paperback H E R E !

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://allans-perspective.blogspot.com

Catholic Church slams new code of conduct forcing teachers to promote Islam

By Simon Caldwell

The Roman Catholic Church has severely criticised a proposed new code of conduct for teachers which it says will force Christian schools to actively promote Islam and gay rights.

The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has warned the General Teaching Council, by the professional regulatory body, that many teachers will quit the profession because they will not be able to accept the revised code of conduct in good conscience.

It would not be possible for a person of faith to promote another faith: Oonagh Stannard with Education Secretary Ed Balls

Their advisers say the code would also seriously undermine the religious character of church schools by imposing on them a hostile form of secular morality.

The legally-binding code would discriminate against Christian teachers in recruitment and in the classroom, they say.

Principle 4 of the code demands that teachers ‘proactively challenge discrimination’ and ‘promote equality and value diversity in all their professional relationships and interactions’ before they can be registered.

It means that campaigners can complain if teachers fail to observe the new demands and that teachers and schools can be punished if a complaint is upheld.

Oona Stannard, head of the Catholic Education Service, an agency of the bishops’ conference, told the GTC in a written submission that ‘there was an understandable fear that the call to “proactively challenge discrimination” could be used to oppose faith schools per se, and the rights that they have in law, for example, to select leaders who are of the faith’.

‘This anxiety extends similarly to the direction to “promote equality”,’ Miss Stannard said.

‘It would be unacceptable to expect anyone to be required to promote something contrary to their own faith beliefs and, indeed, it would not be possible for a person of faith to promote another faith – this is a matter of conscience.’

Miss Stannard added that there were grave concerns in the Church over the question of whether Catholic teachers would in good conscience feel able to register under the new code.

This means they would either quit the profession or would be dissuaded from entering in the first place, heightening the recruitment crisis already afflicting many schools.

The code proposed by the GTC would be binding on all schools, including the 2,300 primary and secondary schools run by the Catholic Church and the 4,660 run by the Church of England.

The GTC is insisting that all teachers will have to sign up to the new code before they can practice.

The code will then be used by the GTC to assess cases of serious misconduct by teachers and trainee teachers.

However, it will also be used by school governing bodies and local authorities in recruitment and disciplining of teachers; universities in assessing candidates for teacher training and by employment tribunals assessing claims of unfair dismissal.

Many Christians already fear that equality and diversity rules are being used against them.

Caroline Petrie, a nurse, was suspended by North Somerset Primary Care Trust, for failing to ‘demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity’ after telling a patients she would pray for her, while marriage registrar Lillian Ladelle, disciplined for refusing to preside over same-sex civil partnerships, lost her case at the Employment Appeal Tribunal after the panel ruled in favour of the Islington Council’s ‘commitment to equality’.

Brighton Council also withdrew funding from Pilgrim Homes, a Christian care home, after staff refused to quiz elderly residents over the sexual orientation in keeping with ‘fair access and diversity’ policies.

The Christian Institute, a non-denominational charity, says that the GTC code means that universities might ask applicants about their willingness to promote gay rights and Islam.

If a teacher was asked at interview if he or she was willing to use materials designed by gay rights groups, the teacher could be rejected for declining because he or she would be in breach of Principle 4.

If a pupil asked an RE teacher if Jesus Christ was the only means to salvation and the teacher replied yes, a non-Christian parent could complain to the GTC over a breach of Principle 4.

Ofsted inspectors would also be able to criticise schools for promoting the Christian vision of marriage, while teachers who say they will pray for troubled pupils could be suspended for failing to ‘value diversity’.

Colin Hart, Christian Institute director, said: ‘Respect for people as people is not the same as respecting or valuing every religious belief or sexual lifestyle.

‘Forcing this on Christian teachers is to force them to go against their conscience,’ he said.

‘Teachers are there to teach not to be diversity officers.’

The GTC consultation on the new code closed last Friday.

H/T: Women Against Sharia

Pak textbooks build hate culture against India

27 Dec 2008, ARIF MOHAMMED KHAN

The empowerment of terror in Pakistan has not happened overnight. This is the logical culmination of the politics and policies pursued by

Pakistan for years now.

Terrorism in Pakistan has its roots in the culture of hate and the ethos of inequality on the ground of religious faith, leading to their being deeply ingrained in the Pakistani psyche and mindset.

One factor that has played a crucial role in creating this culture of hate is the educational policy of the government of Pakistan pursued since 1977. The officially prescribed textbooks, especially for school students, are full of references that promote hate against India in general, and Hinduin particular.

A cursory glance at Pakistani school textbooks - especially the compulsory subjects like Pakistan studies and social studies - gives an idea of how history has been distorted and a garbled version prescribed to build this mindset and attitude.

The objective of Pakistan's education policy has been defined thus in the preface to a Class 6 book: "Social studies have been given special importance in educational policy so that Pakistan's basic ideology assumes the shape of a way of life, its practical enforcement is assured, the concept of social uniformity adopts a practical form and the whole personality of the individual is developed." This statement leaves no doubt that "social uniformity", not national unity, is a part of Pakistan's basic ideology.

The Class 5 book has this original discovery about Hindu help to bring British rule to India: "The British had the objective to take over India and to achieve this, they made Hindus join them and Hindus were very glad to side with the British. After capturing the subcontinent, the British began on the one hand the loot of all things produced in this area, and on the other, in conjunction with Hindus, to greatly suppress the Muslims."

The Std VIII book says, "Their (Muslim saints) teachings dispelled many superstitions of the Hindus and reformed their bad practices. Thereby Hindu religion of the olden times came to an end."

On Indo-Pak wars, the books give detailed descriptions and openly eulogize ‘jihad' and ‘shahadat' and urge students to become 'mujahids' and martyrs and leave no room for future friendship and cordial relations with India.

According to a Class 5 book, "In 1965, the Pakistani army conquered several areas of India, and when India was on the point of being defeated, she requested the United Nations to arrange a ceasefire. After 1965, India, with the help of Hindus living in East Pakistan, instigated the people living there against the people of West Pakistan, and finally invaded East Pakistan in December 1971. The conspiracy resulted in the separation of East Pakistan from us. All of us should receive military training and be prepared to fight the enemy."

The book prescribed for higher secondary students makes no mention of the uprising in East Pakistan in 1971 or the surrender by more than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers. Instead, it claims, "In the 1971 India-Pakistan war, the Pakistan armed forces created new records of bravery and the Indian forces were defeated everywhere."

The students of Class 3 are taught that "Muhammad Ali (Jinnah) felt that Hindus wanted to make Muslims their slaves and since he hated slavery, he left the Congress". At another place it says, "The Congress was actually a party of Hindus. Muslims felt that after getting freedom, Hindus would make them their slaves."

And this great historic discovery is taught to Std V students, "Previously, India was part of Pakistan."

Commenting on this literature that spreads hate, leading Pakistani educationist Tariq Rahman wrote, "It is a fact that the textbooks cannot mention Hindus without calling them cunning, scheming, deceptive or something equally insulting. Students are taught and made to believe that Pakistan needs strong and aggressive policies against India or else Pakistan will be annihilated by it."

Source: Times of India
H/T: JihadWatch

Average Arab reads 4 pages a year - UN survey

DAMASCUS, November 11 (RIA Novosti) - The average person in the Arab world reads no more than four pages a year, the Syrian newspaper Tishreen said on Tuesday, referring to a UN survey.

The survey said Americans read an average of 11 books a year, while the average Briton gets through eight books.

Conclusions made by the Arab Thought Foundation, which reports on cultural development in Arab countries, are also far from inspiring.

Calculations showed that the number of readers in the Arab world was no higher than 4% of readers in Britain.

Khalid Al Faisal, the president of the foundation, said just above 8% of people in Arab countries aspired to get an education, against 91% in South Korea and 72% in Australia.

The survey testifies to the scarcity of book printing in Arab countries, with one new title published each year for every 12,000 people, against one per 500 in Britain and one per 900 in Germany.

Source: RIA Novosti

Sarkozy: “Arabic Is the Language of the Future”

From the desk of Tiberge on Tue, 2008-10-14 11:14

The French government is strongly advocating the teaching of Arabic language and civilization in French schools. Not surprising, considering the number of Arabs and Muslims in France, and the unctuous deference with which they are treated by officials, beginning notably with Nicolas Sarkozy, who cannot praise enough the splendor of Arabic contributions to the world.

The French National Assembly was the scene of a meeting earlier this month of the first Conference on the Teaching of Arabic Language and Culture, attended by a variety of interested parties. There was much wearisome blather about the need for "dialogue."

In his message to the participants, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Arabic the "language of the future, of science and of modernity," and expressed the hope that "more French people share in the language that expresses great civilizational and spiritual values."

"We must invest in the Arabic language (because) to teach it symbolizes a moment of exchange, of openness and of tolerance, (and it) brings with it one of the oldest and most prestigious civilizations of the world. It is in France that we have the greatest number of persons of Arabic and Muslim origin. Islam is the second religion of France," Sarkozy reminded his listeners.

He proceeded to enumerate the various "advances in terms of diversity," the increase in Muslim sections of cemeteries, the training of imams and chaplains and the appointments of ministers of diverse backgrounds.

"France is a friend of Arabic countries. We are not seeking a clash between the East and West," he affirmed, emphasizing the strong presence of Arab leaders at the founding summit of the Union for the Mediterranean, last July 13. "The Mediterranean is where our common hopes were founded. Our common sea is where the principal challenges come together: durable development, security, education and peace," added the French president.

Source: Brussels Journal

Public Schools Teach the ABCs of Islam

By Erick Stakelbeck

Several recent studies have shown that American students are alarmingly ignorant about U.S. history and world events.

Experts have contributed the problem to everything from failing schools to substandard teachers.

But what about content?

For instance, did you know that Muslims discovered America? Or that Jerusalem is an Arab city? That's just some of the "history" that students in America's K-12 classrooms have been taught in recent years--with the help of taxpayer money.

A new report by the non-profit Institute for Jewish and Community Research finds that American high school and elementary textbooks contain countless inaccuracies about Christianity, Judaism, Israel and the Middle East.

The Institute examined 28 of the most widely-used history, geography and social studies textbooks in America. It found at least 500 errors.

One book ignored the Jewish roots of Christianity, saying the faith was founded by a "young Palestinian" named Jesus. Read more, watch video

Source: CBN News

Most Imams in Germany Lack Academic Qualifications

A mosque in Cologne, Germany:
A study on imams in the country has found only a fifth have an academic education.

Muslim immigrants looking for advice on integrating into mainstream society in Germany, won't find much help in their mosques. According to a new study, the majority of imams in Germany are ill-prepared for their own stay in Germany and most lack any academic training.

A study on Islamic preachers in Germany has found that most imams are unable to help Muslim immigrants integrate into mainstream German society because they are insufficiently prepared for their stay in Germany.

According to the study "Imams in Germany," up to 20 percent of preachers belong to the more conservative, fundamentalist strand of Islam. The study also discovered that only one fifth of imam's possess academic qualifications. Read more ...

Source: Spiegel

Islamic school on fraud charges

Alana Buckley-Carr | June 28, 2008

ONE of Australia's best-known Islamic schools has been accused of defrauding the commonwealth and West Australian governments of more than $3million by claiming it had hundreds more students on its books than it did.

Australian Islamic College director Abdallah Magar, 69, and school principals Mark Debowski, 50, and Aziz Magdi, 53, are due to appear in a Perth court on Wednesday over charges that they obtained a financial advantage by deception for another person and gained a benefit by fraud.

They were released on $100,000 bail yesterday. Police are expected to ask the men to forfeit their passports.

After being released from custody yesterday, Mr Magar said he would defend the charges.

The men are accused of inflating their student numbers by claiming money for students who were not attending the school.

Police said the school could claim $1300 to $2000 for each child from the West Australian Government, while the funding rate under the commonwealth ranged from $4000 to $6000, depending on the child's age.

Inspector Arno Albrecht, of the Major Fraud squad, claimed: "The defrauding of the government agencies was simply putting forward false numbers of students and, as a result of that, they obtained the subsidised funding. There was some checking but nowhere near what you would think would be required for giving out such large amounts of funding."

He said that although some of the funding was used for school purposes, the men were paid high salaries, with Mr Magar earning about $200,000 a year.

Inspector Albrecht said the charges related to funding received in 2005 and 2006 but other funding years had not been investigated because of resourcing and public interest limitations. In total, it was alleged the men fraudulently gained $3.16 million from the state and federal governments.

About $2.5 million of the funds came from the commonwealth, with the balance provided by the West Australian Government.

"They're not claiming the same amount of student subsidies now, so whether they can maintain the operations of those (campuses) based on not receiving those funds is something I couldn't tell you about," Inspector Albrecht said. "(But) we're aware that (their claims) have been dramatically reduced."

He said that although there was a risk the schools could close as a result of the charges, it would be up to the relevant government departments.

The charges were laid 18 months after Major Fraud officers raided the school, seizing 200 boxes of documents, 12 filing cabinets and 15 computers.

State Education Minister Mark McGowan yesterday moved quickly to ensure parents the schools' three campuses would remain open.

"The Department of Education Services is working closely with the college campuses to ensure the needs of students are not affected by the arrest," Mr McGowan said. "The campuses have been inspected in the past and have met the requirements for registration as non-government schools."

A spokeswoman for federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said the department was working with its state counterpart to clarify the management structure of the three schools.

Source: The Australian

Taliban seize girls' school"The Western system of education is not good for girls"

Khar - Pakistani Taliban militants seized a government-run girls school and re-named it after an Islamabad madrassa destroyed in a bloody siege last year, residents and officials said Wednesday.

The hardliners hoisted their flag atop the school in Pusht, a town in the lawless Bajaur tribal district and named it Jamia Hafsa after the girls' seminary connected to the Red Mosque in the capital, they said.

More than 100 people died in a week-long siege and subsequent operation to clear Al-Qaeda-linked militants from the Red Mosque and Jamia Hafsa in July 2007. The school was badly damaged and later bulldozed.

"We are trying to convince them through local elders to vacate the building," local administration official Iqbal Khan said.

Residents said armed men led by local Taliban leader Qari Naimatullah forcibly took control of the school on Tuesday and warned that other female schools in the area would be seized to be used for religious education. Read more ...

Source: News 24