Makeup is against Islam

There Is No Fun In Islam* Alert: "Makeup? It's against Islam, Iran women told," from AFP, December 3

TEHRAN: Women appearing in television programmes will not be allowed to wear make-up because it is against Islamic law, or sharia, media today Twitter Facebook Share Email Print Save Comment quoted the head of state television as saying.

"Make-up by women during television programmes is illegal and against Islamic sharia law ...

There should not be a single case" of a woman wearing make-up during a programme, Ezatollah Zarghami was quoted as saying by the reformist Etemad newspaper.

Zarghami, a former member of the elite Revolutionary Guards who was re-appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, also ordered that women guests should "preferably" be hosted by women.

Speaking at a conference of network directors, he also call-ed for cutting down on music during programmes and urged his staff to take a cue from Western movies, which have "excellent and calm music."

"I do not mean that we should become like them, but we should use positive points. Therefore we (should) put on the agenda the reduction and refining of music," he said. "As of today, you in the production department should launch new supervisory methods... I do not want to tell you to filter, but you should be vigilant that nothing inappropriate happens," Zarghami said.

Zarghami told directors they should also prohibit "repulsive jokes" between men and women on TV or radio, Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

* The Ayatollah Khomeini said that.

With thanks to JihadWatch

All the rage

A career in rock ’n’ roll might not be a conventional – or easy – choice for young Pakistanis, but despite the militant insurgency and social difficulties, aspiring musicians are finding ways to keep an alternative music scene alive.

Even with accelerating Taliban violence, Pakistan’s underground music-makers are rocking on.

“Our students have started forming bands; the youngest group consists of three seven-year-old boys. All play astonishingly well, and are fast improving every day”, says Abid Khan, one of the founders and teachers of Lahore’s Guitar School, which opened recently on the back of growing interest in contemporary music, stimulated by satellite television and the increasingly free and diverse broadcast media.

This has given Pakistani rock a contemporary foothold from which many bands have moved on to establish their own methods of promotion through social networking sites, putting their work on MySpace and Facebook.

Radio stations across the country are increasingly playing tracks by rising Pakistani bands and now musicians and teachers are encouraging youth participation.

At Lahore’s Guitar School, for example, almost 50 students attend classes given by established rock ’n’ rollers, most often in guitar. Khan says the school, in the city’s Defence district, was established in the face of declining demand for musicians in Pakistan, but on the back of popular interest in Pakistani rock.

“All we were focusing on in the beginning was to make money to get by, as work for musicians and opportunities in general were depleting. Teaching and sharing our skills with others was the most logical thing that came to mind,” he explains.

The school, which also teaches music theory and keeps a library of independent records, quickly became not just a financial venture, but a social and artistic one.

Khan adds: “Now that the school is up and running, we are realising the huge potential that music has for creating a healthy change in society.”

Read more at the National

Islamic Militants in Somalia Crack Down on Deceptive Bras

A Somalian Islamic group reportedly has started whipping women in public for wearing bras that violate Islam, the Daily Mail reports.

Residents claim insurgent group Al Shabaab sent gunmen into the streets to round up women who appeared to have a firm bust.

The women are inspected to see if their suspected firmness is natural or from a bra. Officials reportedly make the women shake their breasts after removing their bras.

"Al Shabaab forced us to wear their type of full veil and now they order us to shake our breasts," a resident, Halima, told Reuters, adding that her daughters had been whipped on Thursday.

The new bra rule adds to the long list of religious restrictions in Somalia, including a ban on movies, musical cell phone ring tones, dancing at weddings and playing soccer.

Source: FoxNews

Muslim extremists hijack radio station's website 'because they hate Cliff Richard'

The shocked owner of a radio station whose website has been hijacked by Muslim extremists believes it was targeted because they played a song by Cliff Richard.

Hackers removed the station’s home page and replaced it with haunting images and a message said to be on behalf of Ahmed Al-Qahtani - a suspect in the 9/11 attacks.

Radio Basingstoke owner and DJ Astrid Haigh-Smith was horrified to find her website pictured a spooky pair of green eyes above a woman on an altar.

The message, which was written in green on a black background, called on God to bless Muslim fighters, or Moujahidines, and warned the West not to insult Islam.

But Ms Haigh-Smith, 53, says she will not allow the fanatics to intimidate her and insists she will not change the station’s playlist.

The station, whose website had 140,000 hits last month, expressed their support for British troops over Christmas and played Cliff Richard’s version of Hallelujah.

The ageing popstar is famous for being a Christian and the Leonard Cohen song was Christmas number one for X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke.

Ms Haigh-Smith said: ‘When I realised what had happened, I was quite frightened and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

‘I couldn’t understand why we had been targeted.

‘I just thought maybe it was because we had commented that we hoped our troops would be safe over Christmas.

‘We’ve also played the Cliff Richard version of Hallelujah, but we would never dream of running down any religions.

‘I’m not going to change what songs we play. If we start doing things like that then the terrorists will have won.’

The site was compromised on Monday morning and again on Wednesday.

The hijacker used the name ‘Soldier of Allah’ and ‘M03sl3m H4ck3rs’ - or Muslim Hackers written with numbers.

The message warned: ‘Whoever thinks of insulting Islam or Muslims will suffer the same fate.

‘We are the nightmare of western websites in the cyber war.’

The hackers claim they are defending Islam from harassment by America, Israel and Denmark.

Ms Haigh-Smith who launched the online-station last year, runs the website from her home. It streams music online 24/7.

Police told her not to make any changes to the website until they had collected printouts.

Ms Haigh-Smith said: ‘The officer came round on Monday morning but was very tight-lipped.

‘He phoned Special Branch to read them the contents of the messages.

‘The only thing they would say was a few websites had been hacked into since the Israel attacks.’ Hampshire Police spokesman Peter Edney said: ‘We are investigating the matter but cannot comment on what lines of inquiry we are looking into.’ Computer security magazine SC Magazine reports that more than 10,000 websites worldwide have been hijacked by extremists since Israel attacked Gaza last week.

It says a hacker named ‘Cold Z3ro’ runs an Arabic hacking school on the internet and is claiming responsibility for thousands of defacements.

The defaced Radio Basingstoke pages have now been replaced.

Source: Mail Online
H/T: WeaselZippers/JihadWatch