 Following similar requests in Germany and Belgium, a Swedish mosque is now talking about broadcasting a call to prayer. There are already mosques in Europe with a muezzin call: most only for Friday afternoon prayers, though some do have a muezzin call five times a day. Though the sudden flurry of stories about mosques making such requests might be due to increased media attention, it does seem like it's a trend, a sort of Muslim response to the minaret ban referendum. In Switzerland, in any case, as part of the push against the referendum, President Hans-Rudolf Merz promised that the muezzin call will not sound in Switzerland. While various polls show that some European countries support the right of Muslims to minarets, I doubt the same holds true for the muezzin. According to the news report, the mosque is starting by requesting permission for a Friday call to prayer, but hopes that in the future they'll be able to have one every day. The mosque Fittja near Stockholm wants to introduce a call to prayer outdoors before the Friday prayers. This is the first time in Sweden that an Islamic association is asking for such permission. Today the call to prayer before every prayer is done inside the mosque. But in the future the Islamic association of Botkyrka wants the Friday prayers to start with a call to prayer from the minaret of the mosque. "For us Muslims it's important to call to prayer, it's a big part of our culture," says Ismail Okur, chairman of the Islamic association of Botkyrka. In Albysjön in Fittja there is one of several mosques in the Stockholm area. When the ABC show visited the mosque during midday prayers, there were about 30 people there who came to pray. But on Fridays, up to 1,000 people come to Friday prayers. Nusret Bucic, a worshipper at the mosque, says that if they won't get permission, they'll accept it. "We can't complain about people, but must comply with the Swedish rules. But naturally it would be good with a proper call to prayer."In a recent Sifo survey conducted for SVT, 51% of the people in the Stockholm area said they thought minarets should be allowed. 23% thought they should be banned, and 25% had no opinion. "I think they should adapt to the culture to which they come, and therefore I don't think a call to prayer outside is very good," says Birgit Lorvik, a local resident. Once the request is formally submitted it would be dealt with by the municipality, a process which could take a long time. Source: SVT (Swedish)
 The alderman college of Beringen (Belgium) will decide this week on the issue of loudspeakers for the Fatih mosque.The Fatih mosque asked the city to allow them to call the faithful to prayer. They want to hang loudspeakers outside the mosque so that the muezzin - which calls the faithful to prayer - will also be heard out in the streets. The Fatih mosque in Beringen is one of the few Belgian mosques with a minaret. Mosque chairman Yilmaz Centurk would only confirm yesterday that the request was made. Selahattin Koçak (SP.A), alderman in Beringen: "I hope that we can make a collegial decision with a full alderman college already this week. Until then I will make no comment, although I think that you can guess my point of view." Beringen's mayro Marcel Mondelaers (CD&V) was not available for comment yesterday, but according to party member Anne Cuypers, second alderman of Beringen, the CD&V hasn't yet taken a stand. "We're first asking the advice of all instances, such as the environmental service and the police regulations relating to sound pollution, and should also look at how often they want to do the call'. According to Cuypers the Muslim association is not part of the request to call to prayer five times a day. "A loudspeaker? that's just too far," says Open VLD councillor Jan Vanhamel. "I suspect that the Muslim community is looking for sensation and simply wants to see with this proposal how the politicians would respond." His colleague from Vlaams Belang, Bert Schoofs, says the request is a sign of radicalization. "If the Turkish community wants to promote the faith in this way, they'll get yet even more isolated. It's a provocation and if the city executive approves this, I'll provoke back by demanding the demolition of the minarets." Despite the fuss in Beringen, the Fatih mosque request is not a first. In Genk the muezzin has been calling in public for prayer for much longer. "They are naturally subject to the same laws about noise levels as church bells," says mayor Jef Gabriëls (CD&V). "The mosques call to prayer five times a day, but in the morning they do it very quietly. That is really only symbolic. In cooperation with the city the Muslims are thinking about an SMS call." At the CGKR (Center for Equal Opportunities and the Fight Against Racism) they hope that Beringen will approve the request. "The tolling of bells is the same expression of religion and the constitution says that there's freedom of religion," says chairman Jozef De Witte. "I hope that the city council will think twice, because a ban on a muezzin also means that we curtail our own freedoms. The Union of Mosques did not join on the request. "The call is part of the prayer, but is usually done in Flanders in side. It's certainly not on the agenda to sound it high on the minaret. That would wake people up and is certainly not a priority. I think that the news about Beringen is causing so much commotion due to the Swiss minaret ban. Because the Muslims are themselves aware of the annoyance that this could cause." Source: De Standaard (Dutch)
 Various responses to the Swiss decision to ban minarets.Italy"Switzerland is sending us a clear signal: yes to church towers, no to minarets," says Italian minister Roberto Calderoli of Lega Nord. "In the popular referendum the Swiss balanced respect for freedom of religion with the need to stop the politics and propaganda linked to Islam." Riccardo De Corato of the PdL party says that the minaret ban should be a lesson for Italy's Left. NetherlandsGeert Wilders congratulated Switzerland and said: What is possible in Switzerland should be possible here too." He says his party will call on the cabinet to make such a referendum possible in the Netherlands, and if not, the PVV will propose such a law. BelgiumFilip Dewinter of the Belgian Vlaams Belang says: Just like Wilhelm Tell, the Swiss are a symbol for the resistance of many Europeans against foreign domination. The Islam, with its minarets and mosques, doesn't belong in Europe. "Common sense has again gained on politically correct thinking. Despite decades of multicultural indoctrination the tenability of the Swiss hasn't been broken yet (..) Islam indeed doesn't belong in Europe. In contrast to the political authorities which embrace Islam and collaborate with it, a majority of Europeans wants to call a sound stop to the advancing Islam." He will propose a bill in the Flemish parliament to stop the building of mosques and minarets in Flanders. GermanyHead of the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD) Kenan Kolat told Berlin daily Berliner Zeitung that the decision was "very regrettable," adding that basic rights such as religious freedom should not be allowed to come to popular vote.
"A minaret belongs to a mosque," Kolat said.
But Wolfgang Bosbach, a conservative Christian Democrat heading the parliamentary committee on interior policy, said that the vote should be taken seriously. He told daily Hamburger Abendblatt on Monday that the vote reflects a widely held fear of Islam within German society – though he said German laws provided enough solutions for practical decisions about minaret construction.
"But there are spectacular plans for large structures, such as in Cologne's Ehrenfeld district or in Duisburg-Marxloh, for which there is a lot of resistance simply because of the size," he told the paper.
Bosbach added that is "possible that some of these large buildings were planned to signal how strong Islam has become in Germany."
DenmarkPia Kjærsgaard of the Danish People's Party proposed in parliament to bring up the issue as a popular referendum. A third of the parliament members can decide to send a bill to a decision by popular referendum. Karsten Lauritzen of the Liberal Party rejects the idea: "We don't legislate in parliament on particular buildings. And then there are some who will think it's limiting freedom of religion. I don't say that it is, but that it's an element in the issue." Lauritzen also said that this isn't an issue for a popular referendum. Denmark has a democracy with politician to make decision and if the people are unsatisfied with the decisions, they can vote for different politicians. SwedenSweden has criticised the outcome of a Swiss referendum approving the ban of minarets in the country. Speaking to Swedish Radio news, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt called the vote an evidence of prejudices among the Swiss population.
The clear no to the building of further minarets in Switzerland could indicate some kind of fear towards Muslims, Bildt added. But the vote is likely to send negative signals on all levels, the Foreign Minister predicted.
Sources: Aftenbladet (Norwegian); SR, The Local (English); Berlingske (Danish); AD, HLN (Dutch)
 The Center for Equal Opportunities and the Fight against Racism (CGKR) wants to take the edge of the headscarf debate. Therefore the Center will from now speak about the 'external expression of convictions' instead of the 'external expression of religious, philosophical and political convictions'. Furthermore the Center wants a ban on the external expression of convictions in elementary schools. The question of wearing external expression of convictions is found mainly in three essential sectors, according to the Center: employments, public services and education. CGKR is therefore launching a site ( www.diversiteit.be/veruiterlijkingen) where it formulates recommendations for those three sectors. The freedom to express one's convictions in a peaceful manner should be the starting point, says Jozef De Witter, director of CGKR. "Naturally no single freedom, even a basic one, absolute. Evantuall limits should however be carefully justified. A ban should, in other words, be an exception and not the general rule," according to De Witte. In education the Center thinks that the current system has reached its limits. De Witte says there should be a legal arrangement, but that they want a calm debate involving everybody concerned. The individual freedom of the student should remain a fundamental principle, but it could be limited in order to deal with missionary zeal and in the name of security. The Center wants a ban on external expression of convictions in elementary education. As for secondary education, the communities should start a process to think it over. Individual freedom should remain in higher education. Source: HLN (Dutch)
 For two days, women veiled from head to toe, are protesting in front of the Palace of Justice in Brussels.
The Palace of Justice is synonymous with law and legality. All people who break the law are likely to appear there.
Yet, at the steps of the palace is a group of protesters who deliberately disobey the law. To be precise, the general police regulation which stipulates that 'it is prohibited to hide one's face or to be disguised, made up or impersonating on the streets or in places accessible to the public .. unless authorized, the wearing of masks is prohibited'.
Yesterday, however, the face of a dozen women are hidden behind their niqab, this veil covering the entire face with the exception of the eyes.
This group, women on one side, men on the other, are protesting against the extradition of Nizar Trabelsi [to the US], who is unjustly imprisoned, according to them? It's an awkward question.
Not easy to explain that a certain law can't be applied while others, like junk on the streets or putting out garbage the day before, are.
Looking on the internet, we see as well that the Muslim community asks itself what is legal and what isn't. Fatima, responding to Barkha who asked to know where to buy a niqab in Brussels, warned her: 'They allow to wear it in Belgium? With the fines and everything, it will be hot in any case, Allah help her." Surprised, Barkha responded: "I didn't think Belgium was also restrictive". Source: DHnetH/T: Islam in Europe
 By Bart Debie In Brussels, several neighborhoods have turned into no-go zones for police officers. Neighborhoods where they can hardly patrol without being pelted with rocks, without being attacked, or without their police vehicles being wrecked. Unsurprisingly, 80% of the people who live in these neighborhoods are of Islamic origin. More often than not, the aggressors are underage. Police inspectors claim that in several neighborhoods two patrol cars are needed for every intervention. One to carry out the assignment, and another one to prevent the first patrol car from being wrecked. Many police officers avoid these notorious immigrant neighborhoods. Last week a young immigrant was arrested after he stole a car, ran it into multiple police vehicles and tried to run over a female police officer. He admitted the facts and even acknowledged that he tried to kill the police officer. The Belgian court let him go. The female officer suffered severe injuries and will be out for months. Read more ...Source: Gates of ViennaBrussels City Government
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
A mosque in southern Belgium has named a female Muslim professor to the post of imam, the first such a move in the northwestern European country. "Hawaria Fattah has been granted the rank of imam," Abdel-Jalel Al-Hajaji, the curator of Al-Sahaba Mosque in the southern city of Verviers, told IslamOnline.net on Saturday, October 25. "It is the first move of its kind in Belgium and Europe." Chosen along with two male imams, Fattah, a mother of three, will supervise the preaching activities for women at the mosque. "But she will not deliver the sermon of the Friday prayers or lead the prayers," stressed Hajaji. "Her role will focus on supervising the preaching and guidance activities for women at the mosque." Read more ...Source: Islam Online H/T: Islam in Europe
 By ELAINE SCIOLINO and SOUAD MEKHENNET BRUSSELS - Malika El Aroud, a 48-year-old Belgian, calls herself a female warrior for Al Qaeda. In a movement that gives women little power, Ms. El Aroud has distinguished herself on the Internet. Writing in French under the name "Oum Obeyda," she has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe. She insists that she does not disseminate instructions on bomb-making and has no intention of taking up arms herself. Rather, she bullies Muslim men to go and fight and rallies women to join the cause. “It’s not my role to set off bombs - that’s ridiculous," she said in a rare interview. “I have a weapon. It’s to write. It’s to speak out. That’s my jihad. You can do many things with words. Writing is also a bomb." Ms. El Aroud is well known to intelligence officials throughout Europe as simply “Malika" - an Islamist who is at the forefront of the movement by women to take a larger role in the male-dominated global jihad. Read more ...Source: Korea TimesMalika El Aroud
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
The NEFA Foundation recently published a new report: The Muslim Brotherhood in Belgium. According to this report Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have a base in Verviers, through the Al Aqsa charity organization. This organization had been banned in both Germany and the Netherlands on suspicion of supporting Hamas. Read more ...Source: Islam in Europe
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