Islamophobia Watch

Chantal Carnes didn't recognize herself. A friend had e-mailed her a blogger's article. It described Carnes as a supporter of terrorists, a fan of suicide bombing. Her friend thought the article was a joke. "No, dude," Carnes said. "This is really serious."

Carnes, a Chicago resident who converted to Islam 11 years ago, was scheduled to speak at a spiritual retreat for Tampa Muslims this weekend. But after bloggers alleged that the event was a thinly veiled terrorist indoctrination, anonymous callers bombarded the Muslim American Society of Tampa with death threats and curses. The director of the Lithia church camp that was to host the event decided to close the camp for the weekend after she, too, received threats.

On Dec. 27, blogger Joe Kaufman began writing about an event he called "a jihad retreat for children." Over the course of the week, he wrote that Carnes was "well known in the radical Islamist American community." He wrote that the retreat's other speaker, Mazen Mokhtar of New Jersey, was linked to al-Qaida. Other bloggers quickly picked up the theme. "You gotta start your kids on the road to martyrdom early, or there'll be no one left to murder," a blogger known as "Ace of Trump" wrote about the retreat.

St Petersburg Times, 1 January 2006

For Kaufman's attack, see Front Page Magazine, 28 December 2005 and Americans Against Hate

See also Ace of Trump, 29 December 2005

Thanks to K. Mason 

Muslims intent on becoming German citizens will have to undergo a rigorous cultural test to gauge their views on subjects ranging from bigamy to homosexuality. Believed to be the first test of its kind in Europe, the southern state of Baden-Württemberg has created the two-hour oral exam to test the loyalty of Muslims towards Germany.

Brigitte Lösch, a leading member of the Green party in the Baden-Wurttemberg parliament, called for the oral exam to be dropped, arguing that it inferred from the outset that all Muslims were "violent per se" and unable to abide by German law. "This list of questions is only to be used for applicants from Islamic countries. It is an unbelievable form of discrimination," she said. "If Germans were asked some of the questions, they would find it difficult to answer them."

The European Assembly of Turkish Academics rejected the questionnaire as "strongly discriminatory and racist" against Germany's three million-strong Muslim population, most of whom are Turkish. Kerim Arpad, an assembly spokesman, said: "The test is shaped by stereotypes and damages integration."

Daily Telegraph, 31 December 2005

See also Islam Online, 31 December 2005

"The Extreme Right has finally found a clever way to arrest America's march towards asserting its foundational principles of equality, religious freedom, and the rule of law. Their strategy is to transform the war on terror into a war against Islam and use security needs to subvert constitutional protection."

Louay Safi on the threat posed by the Islamophobic Right in the US. He continues: "Robert Spencer, a prolific anti-Islam writer and a leading Islamophobe who is bent on distorting Islam and demonizing Muslims, has persistently argued that violence and terrorism employed by Muslim extremists is rooted in the Quran and its message. Spencer calls the Quran, a book sacred to Muslim, 'the jihadists' Mein Kampf', in reference to Hitler's memoir. He openly blames the Quran for giving impetus to the terrorist open war against the West."

Media Monitors Network, 29 December 2005

A good article, but I rather doubt that the Bush administration pays much attention to the ravings of Jihad Watch. If they found Daniel Pipes a political embarrassment, what must they make of Robert Spencer? Spencer's role is rather to whip up anti-Muslim bigotry among the general populace in order to prime public opinion to accept Bush's imperialist warmongering abroad and suppression of civil liberties at home as a necessary defence against the Islamic hordes.

More on the "Islam won" story (see here). The statement was originally attributed to Omar Alghabra after he was selected as a Liberal Party candidate in Canada. When that account was shown to be a fraud, the accusation was shifted to another Muslim politician, Khalid Usman.

"It's an allegation Mr. Usman vehemently denies. 'I know for a fact I never said Islam won. It was nothing about Islam taking over something,' he said. 'There is no way in the world. I never would have said it.' Mr. Usman said he was out of the room for much of the meeting and, when he came in, was invited to the stage to make a few comments. He allows he may have uttered a traditional praise to Allah, but not with the intention of bringing religion into politics. If a Christian politician were to shout 'hallelujah' after a victory, would there be a controversy?"

Yorkregion.com, 29 December 2005

Human rights campaigners demanded a full inquiry yesterday into mounting evidence that MI6 agents were involved in the abduction and torture of terror suspects in Greece. The Ministry of Justice in Athens has launched its own inquiry into allegations that 28 Pakistanis were held and mistreated in the wake of the July 7 London bombings.

Greek lawyer Frangiskos Ragoussis has filed a criminal complaint against eight Greek agents and one British agent – Athens MI6 station chief Nicholas Langman – for the alleged abuses. If formal charges are filed, Mr Ragoussis said that he will seek Mr Langman's extradition.

The controversy deepened after British newspapers colluded with a voluntary government "D-notice" to prevent them from naming Mr Langman, although Greek Sunday newspaper Proto Thema – with the biggest circulation in the country – had already revealed his identity, adding that he had plotted the operation on Greek soil.

Ann Douglas reports in the Morning Star, 30 December 2005

For further details on this issue, and also on the Foreign Office's attempts to suppress Craig Murray's revelations about British complicity with the Uzbek regime in obtaining information from alleged terrorists under torture, see Lenin's Tomb

Tunisia's religious affairs minister has criticized Muslim women's practice of wearing head scarves, saying it does not fit with the North African country's cultural heritage. Aboubaker Akhzouri said the government of the moderate Muslim country also rejects Muslim tunics like those worn in Persian Gulf states and the practice of men wearing long beards.

"It's regrettable that we don't respect our specificity," he was quoted as saying in Assabah newspaper on Wednesday. He said the head scarf is "foreign" and "an intrusion," and recommended a traditional Tunisian Islamic tunic known as the jebbah.

Under a 1981 government order, Muslim head scarves are banned in Tunisian government offices and public schools, though the rule is not always applied rigorously. Some non-governmental groups have criticized the rule as a violation of Tunisians' civil rights.

Boston Globe, 29 December 2005

See also Indigo Jo Blogs, 30 December 2005

Yusuf Smith draws our attention to the fact that nominations have been opened for the second annual Brass Crescent awards, for the best blogs either by, or of interest to, Muslims. Categories are: Best Mid-Eastern or Asian blogger, Best Group Blog, Most Deserving of Wider Recognition, Best Thinker, Best Female Blog, Best Post or Series, Best Non-Muslim Blog and overall Best Blog.

I note that Islamophobia Watch has received a couple of nominations in the Best Non-Muslim Blog category, including one from Yusuf himself, for which many thanks, though I rather suspect we'll lose out to Juan Cole.

Indigo Jo Blogs, 29 December 2005

For details, see City of Brass, 23 December 2005

Britain's top Jewish body has apologised for branding a Muslim charity a "terrorist organisation". In an out-of-court settlement, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it should not have described Interpal in these terms. London-based Interpal, which raises millions for Palestinian causes, had launched a libel action against the Board, due in the High Court next year. The board has now published a retraction and apology on its website.

BBC News, 29 December 2005

See also Interpal press release, 22 December 2005 and press releases by MAB and IHRC

For the BoD's retraction, see here

(Thanks to Nasser and K. Mason.)

The folks at Jihad Watch are not happy with the outcome: "Chalk up another victory for lawsuit-happy terrorist organizations." Dhimmi Watch, 29 December 2005

"As legend has it, the Grim Reaper moves among us, unseen and unstoppable. His ugly, skeletal face is obscured by a black hood and no one knows he is near until his touch claims your life. Only in death is his face revealed. It is troubling that after America was attacked on her own soil not so long ago, that so many Americans still do not realize the danger of the insidious and relentless enemy that we face. Just as no living thing can escape death, Americans cannot escape the final showdown with Islam. It is unfortunate that so many will die because they are afraid to lift the black hood off and see the face of the enemy. Islam has declared war on America and our culture. Islam brought the battle right to our shores and still, many do not believe."

Barbara J. Stock at ChronWatch, 26 December 2005

Illustration courtesy of Lenin's Tomb

"In the interest of preserving freedom in the U.S. while advancing it globally, it is time to recognize the Muslim Brotherhood and its splinter organizations for what they are and designate them as terrorist organizations."

Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen offer a thoughtful contribution to the struggle for democracy.

Front Page Magazine, 27 December 2005