 It's too bad, isn't it, that all the self-righteous self-proclaimed Muslim moderates who spend so much time trying to show that what this site says about Islam is wrong don't spend any time at all trying to convince Muslims who somehow get the crazy idea that Islam teaches violence and supremacism that they're getting their peaceful religion all wrong, wrong wrong.
"Briton guilty of plotting 'deadly terror attack,'" from the BBC, December 9
A British Muslim has been convicted of conspiring to murder civilians in a "deadly terrorist attack". Adam Khatib, 22, a factory worker from Walthamstow, east London, was part of a terror cell run from Pakistan. The cell was led by Abdullah Ahmed Ali convicted of plotting to blow up transatlantic passenger airliners. Co-defendant Nabeel Hussain was found guilty of engaging in preparing terror acts and Shamin Uddin was convicted of possessing terror items, namely a CD.... Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said: "Khatib may not have been informed of the ultimate target, namely passenger aircraft... all that was required of him was an agreement to play his part in bringing about the murder of others." The court heard that Khatib had became fascinated by radical Islam as a teenager. Signing one of his school assignments "Adam Osama Bin Laden," Khatib became a cause for concern to teachers worried about his increasingly extreme views, including anti-Semitic outbursts in the classroom.... Though it is not known what the two did during their time in Pakistan, Mr Wright told Woolwich Crown Court: "They may have been home-grown but the direction of these young men came from Pakistan." Maybe. But it certainly came from the Qur'an and Sunnah. Of course, Mr. Wright would never wish to say anything about that: it could get him charges of "Islamophobia." With thanks to JihadWatch 
 DenmarkFired for racist remarks - Diana Brälye (34), a police agent, was fired for writing racist posts on her blog. She referred to Pakistanis as "Fucking Perkers" (Perker = derogatory term for Pakistanis) in a post in February, 2008, when schools all over the country were being set on fire. She intends to appeal the decision. ( DA) More violent men getting treatment - In recent years more and more men of immigrant or refugee background have been getting treatment for domestic violence says the national Dialog Mod Vold (Dialog against Violence) organization. According to its director, about 15% of the 499 men getting treatment are of non-Danish background, and the numbers are going up. this is the result of close cooperation between the organization and the police. In the psychological counseling organization Alternativ til Vold (Alternative to Violence) in Roskilde, on the other hand, less than 1% of the 40 men they treat are from ethnic minorities. The reason, they say, is that it's a big taboo to seek help. About half of the women in women's shelters were born abroad. 80% came to Denmark as part of family reunification, refugees, immigrants or asylum seekers. ( DA) SpainMosque desecrated - a mosque in the Melilla enclave was desecrated on Constitution Day (Dec 6) with graffiti saying "Viva Franco", "No Moors" and "One, Great and Free" (Franco motto) etc. This is the first time in years that a religious building has been attacked in Mellila. ( ES) Mosques too small - The mosques of Valencia are too small to accommodate the worshipers. In the past four years the number of Muslims doubled, and the current mosques are too small. Expansion plans have been frozen due to the crisis, the donations from the worshipers don't even cover ongoing expenses. In addition they face resistance from local municipalities. ( ES) SwedenCatholic church to mosque - The Sundsvall Islamic association rented the former Catholic church and will be making it into a mosque beginning next year. The current mosque is a 'cellar mosque' and does not have room for the faithful, which during holidays can get up to 700 people. ( SV) Saddam's helper - An update to this story. The man is Muhamed Kemal Abed (57). He says he was offered asylum in the US, but declined because he thought it unthinkable to live in a country that "occupied and ruined Iraq". ( SV) NetherlandsMetro attack - Herbert Raat, an Amstelveen local councillor (VVD), had a fight in the metro last week by three Moroccan girls. On his blog he says he saw a older man cursed and attacked by several girls of around 16. When the man got up and tried to ward them off, one of them began to shout that they're Moroccan and 'don't give a damn about this country'. When he tried to intervene, he was pushed and spitted on. On his blog he says that it's inconceivable that he had to fight in the metro with three girls. ( NL) Brochures on Islam - The Islam contact group of the Council of Churches prepared two brochures to help municipal councillors better understand Islam. One is about the Islamic perspective of evil which was created after the creation of the world. It is based on a 'Koran circle' and it suggests making more such meetings. The second is about the Christians and Muslims reading the Bible and the Koran together. The brochures were presented in the Rotterdam Islamic University. The day was opened by prof. dr. Ahmed Akgunduz who said that all believers - Muslims, Christians and Jews, should unite against the increasing secularization of the Netherlands ( NL). Moroccans complaining about Moroccans - Moroccan mothers asked the mayor of Culemborg to do something about the trouble caused by Moroccan youth. They say several older youth make it impossible for the younger children to play in the local schoolyard. According to the mayor this shows the diversity of Moroccans, "People always speak about 'the' Moroccan community, but it doesn't exist at all." Following tensions between the Moroccan and Moluccan communities, the municipality started talks with people from both groups. The mayor says that when he speaks in a Turkish mosque, he knows he reaches most of the Turkish community, but when he speaks in a Moroccan mosque, he knows that he doesn't reach most of the group. The mosque is also tired of the negative image of trouble-causing youth, on which they have no control. ( NL) United KingdomCharity organizes Muslim festival - JAN Trust, a Haringey women’s charity, organized a festival to celebrate "the diversity of British Islam". ( EN)
 From CAN: A moderate Muslim organization in the United Kingdom called the Quilliam Foundation has published a report warning about the infiltration of radical Islam into the country’s corrections system, BBC News reports. “Prominent pro al-Qaeda ideologues such as Abu Qatada have been able to smuggle messages out of prison to their supporters,” the report states. “Other convicted extremists have issued pro-jihadist statements from prison while others have appeared on Islamic TV stations from within prison.” The report also warns that radical Muslims have been allowed to lead prayer services in prisons and acted as liaisons between the prison authorities and Muslim inmates. Some are even allowed to act as religious teachers to other inmates.
An increase in Muslim prison gang activity and the presence of extremist texts in Islamic libraries for prisoners is also warned about. It also concludes that it takes 5-7 years after a prisoner is indoctrinated into extremism for him to partake in acts of violence. “This means that prisoners leaving prison today may ‘graduate’ into terrorism around 2015,” Quilliam’s press release states. The website of the Quilliam Foundation describes the organization as “the world’s first counter-extremism think tank.” It is led by former members of Hizb ut-Tharir, a radical Islamic group that seeks to resurrect the Caliphate and establish Sharia Law. The organization says it opposes such efforts to establish Islamic doctrine as a form of governance and is staunchly against terrorism and extremism. World Threats
 Colin Randall, Foreign Correspondent LONDON:Flanked by Islamic bookshops in one of the shabbier corners of London, the modest facade of the Masjid Tawhid bears no resemblance to the solemn grandeur of the Royal Courts of Justice in the centre of the capital.
But tucked away inside a building that also offers ample accommodation for prayers, classes and social functions is a tiny room where justice is dispensed with no less seriousness than in the official courts. Here in Leyton High Road, in London’s East End, and in nearby premises previously used by the Islamic Sharia Council of the UK, some 10,000 cases have been dealt with during the past 27 years. The workload is increasing and senior Muslim scholars who administer the system believe it is only a matter of time before Sharia is formally accepted within the framework of British law.
But this growth has generated fierce criticism in some quarters. A report by the think-tank Civitas earlier this year claimed 85 Sharia courts were operating in the UK, sometimes giving the Muslims who turn to them illegal advice on matrimonial and divorce issues. Its allegations are firmly challenged by the council, but Britain’s Conservative opposition is expected to impose restrictions if it takes power next year. For Sheikh Haitham al Haddad, one of the council’s most senior members, the work of such tribunals can be “complementary to the civil courts” and in certain cases find solutions that would be beyond the established legal system.
He suspects the hostility of some non-Muslims is based on confusion with such punishments as the stoning of adulteresses, amputation of thieves’ hands and flogging for drinking alcohol.
British public concern has been heightened by demonstrations in which militants have demanded the full application of Sharia. As a devout Muslim, Sheikh Haddad, born in Saudi Arabia to Palestinian parents, considers physical punishment consistent with Islamic teaching, but points out that this is a philosophical issue that has nothing to with the council, which deals purely with civil disputes.
“We are not asking for the flogging of people for drinking or stoning for adultery,” he said. “These things simply have no place in our discussions.” More at the National
 New documents have come to light as a result of the investigation in the United Kingdom into the war in Iraq. Not surprisingly, the papers show some level of deceit by the British government regarding the preparations to attack Iraq and make the planning and execution of the war look frighteningly bad. They show there was significant tension between the civilian administrators and the military commanders who wanted more resources, and that there was little planning for the post-Saddam situation. In fact, the unit set up for post-war planning was only created in February 2003. Other documents show friction between the British and American military commands, particularly over the British forces’ refusal to take action against Shiite militias under the leadership of Moqtada al-Sadr in the south and the decision to engage in dialogue with them instead.
Regardless of your feelings on the decision to invade, we should all be dismayed regarding how the war was prosecuted. On the bright side, understanding such mistakes allows us to really appreciate how stunning the turn-around in Iraq is, and apply such lessons for future conflicts.
World Threats
 The Chief Rabbi has called on Muslims to get used to living as a minority in Britain and to learn to separate religion from power.
Lord Sacks said that neither Muslims nor Christians had yet learnt the lessons inflicted on the Jewish people by the Babylonian exile.
“One of the great advantages of being Jewish is you know how to sing in the minor key,” he said. “We have had 26 centuries of experience ever since the Babylonian exile of living as a minority in the midst of a culture that does not share our views. Christianity and Islam have not had that experience.”
He said that Christianity had learnt toleration but only after 100 years of “knocking the hell out of each other all over Europe”.
He said: “So Christianity went through its experience, Judaism has been through it a long, long time ago and Islam has not yet had that experience.
“I have no doubt that Islam will work its way through to the essential situation that Judaism arrived at and Christianity, namely the substantive separation of religion from power. But there’s no quick way of getting there. It is quite a difficult and painful process within religion.
“Only Muslims can do it. Nobody can tell them from the outside. That would be taken as an affront and I would regard it as morally unacceptable. I do see some wonderful Muslims in this country and elsewhere, in Iraq and even in Iran, going through that process.
"I think some of the Muslim thinkers today are some of the most courageous thinkers I have come across and it is very striking how many of them are women.
It is very interesting. So Islam will get there. But I would hope that one of the ways they would get there is just coming to understand how things work in Britain.”
The Chief Rabbi was delivering the annual lecture to the think-tank Theos in London to an audience of politicians, journalists, academics, businessmen and faith representatives.
He warned that Europe’s loss of a tolerant religious culture made it vulnerable to the advance of fundamentalism.
Tolerant religion was “the only strong enough defence with some of the religiosity that is coming our way with the force of a hurricane,” the Chief Rabbi said.
“Let me be blunt. Either we win or the fundamentalists win and that is the challenge. If the fundamentalists win, I wouldn’t hang around too long.”
(more)
Source: The Times, h/t London Muslim With thanks to Islam in Europe
 The UK government has denied that the release of Adbelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, had any connection to trade ties with Libya. A report in The Sunday Times, a British newspaper, alleged that an oil deal had influenced the decision to transfer al-Megrahi from prison in Scotland to his home in Libya last week. The newspaper said that it had ascertained leaked letters written by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, in 2007 in which he said that it was "in the overwhelming interest of the United Kingdom" not to exclude al-Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya. Straw had written to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who made the formal decision to release al-Megrahi. Six weeks after the letter was written an oil deal between Libya and BP, a UK oil firm, was formalised. Following The Sunday Times' article Straw said that the prisoner transfer agreement was part of an attempt to end Libya's international isolation following Tripoli's abandonment of a nuclear weapons programme. "What is totally untrue is that any part of these negotiations with the Libyans was that at some stage Mr Megrahi would be released," Straw said. He said that the Scottish government maintained veto power over any prisoner transfer and had rejected such a move for al-Megrahi, rather choosing a compassionate release. "The implication that, somehow or other, we have done some backdoor deal in order to release Mr Megrahi is simply nonsense," Straw said. Al-Megrahi was convicted of bombing a Pan Am flight over the Scotish town of Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people. He was freed on compassionate grounds, as he is said to be suffering from terminal cancer. Al-Megrahi was admitted to a Tripoli hospital on Sunday after his condition deteriorated rapidly. Read more here,,,, Source: Al Jazeera (English)
Wednesday December 17, 2008
A 29-year-old Iraqi doctor has been found guilty by a London court of trying to murder hundreds of people in failed attacks on a London nightclub and Glasgow airport last year.
Bilal Abdulla was also found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions while his co-defendant Mohammed Asha, 28-year-old Jordanian neurologist was found not guilty of both offences.
Police discovered two Mercedes-Benz cars loaded with gas cylinders petrol and nails outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub off London's Piccadilly Circus on June 29 last year.
The next day a Jeep carrying a similar deadly cargo was crashed into the front of the main terminal at Glasgow airport in Scotland in an apparent suicide attack.
The failed attacks in the UK led to Mohammed Haneef a 27-year-old Indian doctor being arrested at Brisbane airport about to fly to India and a controversial case that finally collapsed and saw the doctor released. Source: SkyNews Online
 By Jack Fairweather
Why have many Muslims in the UK resisted full integration into British society?
The British government has been trying to address this issue for the last decade, mostly by using the discourse of "multiculturalism." According to that line of thinking, solutions to alienation among Muslims include community outreach and empowerment programs, funding for youth groups and social networking sites, and large inter-faith conferences.
British Muslim leaders have largely supported these initiatives and helped generate the impression, at least in government circles, that everyone is working together to separate rogue extremists from the religious establishment. But Monday night, the Dispatches documentary series revealed a very different picture of what goes on in some of the UK's flagship Muslim institutions.
The filmmakers went undercover at the London Central Mosque in Regent's Park, one of the most prestigious in the country, to show the discord between what imams preached outwardly to the public and what they preached to their faithful in private. Many exalted interfaith dialogue to the government and mainstream media, but turned to teaching radical and isolationist doctrines once behind closed doors. Source: Washington PostH/T: Shariah Finance Watch
 August 19, 2008
A MAN convicted yesterday of amassing a library of extremist material was aged just 15 when he began studying jihad alongside his GCSE exams, making him Britain's youngest terrorist.
Hammaad Munshi, now 18, was part of a cell of cyber-groomers that set out to brainwash the vulnerable to kill "non-believers".
He was convicted of possessing articles for a purpose connected with terrorism and making records of information likely to be useful in terrorism.
Munshi, whose grandfather is one of Britain's most revered Muslim scholars, was arrested in June 2006 on his way home from Westborough High School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, north east England.
He was on bail during his trial, but was remanded in custody after being found guilty and told by Judge Timothy Pontius at Blackfriars Crown Court in London that he faces a custodial sentence.
The court was told that for almost a year Munshi led a double life, spending hours on the internet acquiring instructions on how to make napalm, discussing airport security weaknesses and making preparations to fight and die in holy war.
Under his bed at his parents' home in Dewsbury, police found a note in his writing that stated: "I don't want to be deprived of the huge amounts or lessons Allah has prepared for the believers in the hereafter."
Convicted with him was Aabid Khan, 23, from Bradford, northern England, who was said to be a prolific cyber-terrorist, spreading al-Qaeda propaganda and radicalising recruits on the internet.
Khan's arrest, as a result of a routine security check at Manchester airport when he returned from Pakistan, showed an extensive web of jihadi contacts. His luggage contained the largest electronically stored "encyclopaedia" of articles promoting terrorism yet seized.
It included personal information and the addresses of 15 members of the Royal Family, among them the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of York, the Princess Royal, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex. Also on the list were Princess Alexandra, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke and Duchess of Kent.
Khan had in his possession a library of extremist material, including practical guides to weapons and explosives, and was thought to have been returning from a terror training camp.
Also convicted was Khan's cousin, Sultan Muhammed, 23. A step-by-step guide to making an explosives vest for a suicide bomber was found at his home.
Munshi was one of Khan's internet pupils and was wooed away from the influence of his strict religious family. His grandfather, Sheikh Yakub Munshi, founded the Shariah Council and was one of the founders of the large Markazi mosque in Dewsbury.
Harendra de Silva, QC, defending Munshi, appealed to the jury to consider him as a naive teenager who had fallen under Khan's spell.
Simon Denison, prosecuting, said that Munshi, Khan and Muhammed demonstrated "deep commitment to and involvement in violent jihad by promoting it, inciting others to take part in it and arranging for himself and others to attend military training in Pakistan in preparation for going to fight and, inevitably, to kill".
There was, he added, "detailed, practical information on making and using weapons, explosives and poisons, and carrying out ... murder on potential terrorist targets in the UK and abroad".
Khan and Muhammed will be sentenced today. Munshi will be dealt with next month.
Source: The Australian (from the Times)
By Sophie Borland
02nd August 2008 British Muslims are fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan, a former commander of UK forces has warned. Brigadier Ed Butler, who spent six months leading servicemen in the Helmand province, said he has seen evidence that Muslims born in the UK are aiding Taliban and Al Qaeda attacks on coalition troops. 'There are British passport holders who live in the UK who are being found in places like Kandahar,' said the brigadier, Commander of Joint Force Operations. Terror groups in southern Afghanistan are also plotting with British extremists to carry out attacks in the UK, he added. 'There is a link between Kandahar and urban conurbations in the UK. This is something the military understands but the British public does not.'
The warning from the brigadier, 46, supports evidence earlier this year that RAF Nimrod spyplanes monitoring Taliban radio signals in Afghanistan had heard militants speaking with Yorkshire and Midlands accents.
They spoke mainly in Afghan Persian or Pashto, but occasionally lapsed into English.
In 2006, Brigadier Butler warned the Government of the possibility British soldiers would end up killing British Muslims fighting with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. He told The Daily Telegraph that British forces had been surprised at the strength of the Taliban.
The Army knew they 'would be up for a fight, but we were surprised at how ferocious that fight turned out to be'.
Brigadier Butler, who is married with two children, believes that the presence of extremist British Muslims in southern Afghanistan is one of the reasons-British forces must remain there.
'If we do not win against the protagonists of the September 11 attacks, then those who are against us will take great succour from it.'
It is vital for British troops to remain in Afghanistan 'for as long as it takes', to prevent a repeat of the July 7 bombings in London, in 2005, he added.
Brigadier Butler commanded the British forces in Helmand when they were first deployed.
He described the operation as the 'most challenging mission I have ever done in my career'. The brigadier is the grandson of Richard 'Rab' Butler, the former Conservative minister. A former head of the SAS, he has received awards including Distinguished Service Order and a CBE. But he is to retire from the Army next year, in part because of the impact his career was having on his family life. Last year, his son, 14, developed complications from appendicitis and was, for a time, very ill. 'It was one of those wake-up calls you get where you think, "have I got the right balance between work and family?"' When his son told him, 'I don't want you to be a part-time dad', he 'reached the conclusion that I did not want to leave my family any more for an extended period. Life is too short.' He also spoke of the burden that modern combat operations place on officers. 'I buried eight of my soldiers when I was a commanding officer, and I have no pride in saying that. 'When you have sat down in the front rooms of eight families to console them on their loss, it is an exhausting process.' Source: Daily Mail UK
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Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
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It's too bad, isn't it, that all the self-righteous self-proclaimed Muslim moderates who spend so much time trying to show that what this site says about Islam is wrong don't spend any time at all trying to convince Muslims who somehow get the crazy idea that Islam teaches violence and supremacism that they're getting their peaceful religion all wrong, wrong wrong.
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