VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH
Volume 184, May 22, 2011
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful

(www.xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)

Editorial:

In this issue, as in the recent previous issues, we have put the spotlight on Islam in Europe, building interfaith relationships, extremism raising its ugly head and Islam in North America.

Part A

ISLAM IN EUROPE

ITALY

Italy First Halal Firm To Supply Restaurants And Canteens

www.adnkronos.com

Bologna, 20 May (AKI)

Italy's first-ever 'halal' supplier has opened for business in Italy's northern city of Bologna, selling meals prepared according to Islamic principles to restaurants and canteens in Italy and abroad.

Annunci Google

"Integration is also being able to eat as one should and to be at peace with God," Hamza Piccardo, told Adnkronos International (AKI).

Piccardo, an Italian convert to Islam, is the director of the 'Tre Alfieri Halal', which is based in Bologna, a renowned gastronomic centre.

"Our new company wants to be a triumph of integration: to combine Italy's great cuisine and Islam's rules without losing the flavours of the former and the spiritual rigour of the latter," he said.

Piccardo believes the company's 'halal' meals, which already include a range of pasta dishes and risottos, will appeal to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Besides restaurants and canteens 'Tre Alfieri Halal' will also supply caterers .

"This is a genuine alternative to fast food, which compromises quality and flavour, and to elitist and costly 'slow food', which is hard to reconcile with the pace of modern living," Piccardo said.

Sweden:

Hundreds Demonstrate For and Against Building of a Mosque in Sweden

The Associated Press – May 21, 2011

GOTEBORG, Sweden

Hundreds of proponents and opponents held rallies in Sweden's second-largest city Goteborg on Saturday to voice their opinions over the building of a mosque there.

Heavy police presence kept the two groups apart and a spokesman for the force said only one person had been arrested for violent behavior toward an officer. It was the biggest police effort in the city since the EU Summit in 2001, when several thousand people gathered to protest against U.S. President George W. Bush, the EU and globalization.

Mosque opponents claim the construction will ruin a nearby park and that the area is not suitable, while supporters say the opposition is racist.

The mosque — which will be the city's second — is due to be completed in mid-June.

Part B

BUILDING INTERFAITH RELATIONS:

(ED NOTE:

In the 21st century global community, we Muslims should do our part to contribute to world peace, harmony and justice. Israel's injustice to Palestinians should not dictate our injustice to Jews across the globe. TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE IT RIGHT. We appreciate below Jewish leader's calls for more tolerance towards Muslims and call for the Global Ummah to aggressively reach out to combat antisemitism.

Let both the Muslims and Jews worldwide work together not only to eliminate the injustice of antisemitism but also work to pressure Israel to eliminate its injustice against Palestinians and inshallah one day, Palestinians will proudly be a nation in the global community of nations.

Given the events around the globe, it is clear that Israel's clock has already started ticking in terms of duration of which it can continue to suppress by force the will and aspirations of the Palestinian people. On the other hand, Hamas must do its part to accept the existence of Israel and genuinely work towards peace and harmony and not be a stumbling block for a permanent middle east peace.)

Germany: Jewish Leader Wants More Tolerance Towards Muslims, Action Against Islamic Antisemitism

www.islamineurope.blogspot.com

16 May 2011

Via News.de (German) and Katholiek Nieuwsblad (Dutch):

Dieter Graumann, chairman of the Central Council of Jews, called for more religious tolerance towards Muslims in Germany. In an interview to magazine Christ & Welt he said it was wrong to suspect all Muslims, as most of them live in Germany peacefully and get along well with people of other religions.

Graumann said that Muslims have a right to build mosques and to practice their beliefs, just like every other citizen.

He said that Germans should let go of the idea that there should be a church in the center of the village, that there can be a mosque there or anywhere else.

Graumann also blamed the Muslim organizations of not doing enough against the increasing antisemitism in the Muslim community. Friendly smiles on TV are simply not enough, he said.

Hatred and prejudices against Jews are increasing, in particular among young Muslim men, and this trend can be seen in football fields and playgrounds. Graumann demanded the Muslim organizations take concrete initiatives.

Part C

EXTREMISM RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN

GREECE:

Wave of Horrific Islamophobia in Athens

18 May 2011

Athens at this point sounds like Geert Wilders idea of heaven. (hat tip: Elizrael)

by Sara (via. her website: Neocolonialism and its Discontents)

I just got back from a study trip to Athens, Greece, and it was definitely an interesting experience. Although my specialization is gender, the trip ended up being more about migration and race-relations in Greece.

Before we went there, we had no idea that Greece is having a huge immigration problem. Some things we found out while we were there:

–Mosques are not allowed to be built in Athens, which means that there are only informal mosques in basements.

–Over the past few years, right-wing Greek people have trapped Muslims inside these informal mosques and then thrown petrol bombs inside, killing everyone.

–The second day we were there, a Greek man was robbed and then killed by 3 “dark-looking people” who were assumed to be immigrants. Later that night, neo-Nazi TV channels (yes) and blogs called for Greek people to go out and attack and beat immigrants.

–The next day over 17 immigrants ended up in the hospital after being stabbed.

–There was also a clash between the left-wing and the police, who are overwhelmingly right-wing (surprise, surprise).

–There is a huge back-log in terms of applications for legal status as a migrant, and some have to wait up to 20 years. Thus they can be arrested at any time, and they are kept in 2-by-2 cells with no toilets, little food, and no dignity.

–There are reportedly 2 million undocumented migrants in Athens, who are now at risk of being attacked.

While Athens is certainly extreme, these discourses can be found all over Europe now, including the Netherlands. Anti-Islam rhetoric has become so widespread and acceptable, it is no surprise that in some countries, like Greece, it has led to violence.

Some feminists criticize porn because they say it leads to violence against women, since it objectifies and dehumanizes them. The same can be said about discourses on Islam in Europe today. By dehumanizing, stigmatizing, and insulting Muslims, violence is only a few steps away.

And why exactly is Greece allowed to have a neo-Nazi channel if it is a member of the EU? Honestly, the EU needs to stop criticizing other countries when it has members who:

1) have neo-Nazi media outlets, and

2) do not allow Muslims to build places of worship.

France:

Mosque desecrated with graffiti

The El-Hijna mosque in Champagnole (Jura) was covered with racist graffiti Saturday night. Slogans included "Death to the Arabs", "France to the French" and Nazi symbols.

BULGARIA

Bulgarian Nationalists Assault Muslims in Front of Mosque
www.novinite.com
May 20, 2011

As one of the protesters tried to remove a prayer rug from the space in front of the mosque, tension escalated and a fight started between the two groups. Photo by BGNES

Supporters of the Bulgarian far right Ataka (Attack) party started a brawl in downtown Sofia, assaulting Muslims during their Friday prayer.

The nationalists staged a rally in front of the Sofia's Banya Bashi mosque, protesting the fact it has loudspeakers that sound Muslim prayers in the entire area around it.

As one of the protesters tried to remove a prayer rug from the space in front of the mosque, tension escalated and a fight started between the two groups, the BGNES news agency says. At least one of the Muslims has been injured.

Ataka supporters were reported shouting "Bulgaria" and "Turks, get out", as well as throwing eggs at the praying.

The nationalist party is the only parliamentary ally of Bulgaria's ruling centrist-right GERB party, which formed a minority government in 2009.

The Banya Bashi mosque in downtown Sofia is a part of the city's unique "triangle of tolerance", encompassing also the St Nedelya Church, and the Sofia Synagogue are located within metres of each other in the very centre of the city.

MOLDOVA

(ED NOTE:

It appears that Moldova is still in the dark ages, as far as freedom of religion is concerned. Of particular note in below article is that when a Muslim and his wife applied for Moldovan passport and wanted to write MUSLIM as their religion, they could NOT do so:

"They said they can't write in 'Muslim,' that they register everyone as Christian, and that's all there is to it."

Probably Moldova is the only country in the world, where when Muslims go to Friday prayers, police officers at the entrance would inquire who went in and who went out and they compile a list and hand them over to the intelligence service. It was really ludicrous that the Muslim leader himself was personally charged by prosecutors with "PRACTICING A RELIGION THAT IS BANNED IN MOLDOVA" while in paper, the Moldovan constitution guarantees FREEDOM OF RELIGION TO EVERYBODY. By doing so, the Moldavians are making a mockery of their own constitution.

Conservatives Angered By Moldova's Recognition Of Muslims

www.rferl.org
May 17, 2011

By Mircea Ticudean
(condensed version)

One Muslim in Moldova says that plans for building Moldova's first mosque, let alone a minaret, will have to wait.

An unexpected new fault line has opened up on Moldova's divided political landscape and the country's tiny Muslim community is finding itself caught in the middle.

The controversy began last month when the Justice Ministry officially registered the Islamic League, an NGO representing Moldova's Muslims. The group had been seeking government recognition since 2008.

Ismail Abdel Wahab is a Jordanian-born Muslim living in the capital, Chisinau. He says the Western-leaning government's move is a welcome change in his community.

"We practiced Islam before they registered us, but it was a strange feeling to pray without the approval of the state," Wahab says. "But now we are registered and we can gather together and hold our prayers. We can celebrate together freely. We can feel as if we have all the rights of any Moldovan citizen without outside interference."

Representatives of the Orthodox Church were outraged at the government's decision. The head of the church, Metropolitan Vladimir, called the move "a humiliation" for the country's Christian majority, while other church officials said the Muslim association would "cause trouble" in Moldova.

The leader of the Communist Party, former President Vladimir Voronin, pointed out that Moldova resisted the construction of mosques when it was part of the Ottoman Empire and must continue to do so today.



Vladimir Voronin's Communists remain Moldova's biggest party, but without a majority in parliament. "To register [this group] two weeks before Easter, which is our biggest Orthodox holiday, to register a faith that is the exact opposite of our own Orthodox religion -- this is more than strange," Voronin said. "I don't have words to describe it."



Islamic League head Segiu Sochirca has said he is disappointed with the reaction. He says that the country's Muslims have faced harassment and discrimination for many years.

"Every time we gathered for Friday Prayers, there were police officers at the entrance to our cultural center. They wanted to know exactly who went in and who went out," he tells RFE/RL's Moldovan Service.

"They compiled lists that made no sense to us and handed them over to the intelligence service. I was personally charged by prosecutors with practicing a religion that is banned in Moldova."

Islamic League leader Sergiu Sochirca says that the country's Muslims have faced harassment and discrimination for many years.

"Islam is not a sect. It is one of the world's three major religions. There is no country in the world that does not recognize the rights of Muslims," Tanase says. "Our own constitution guarantees freedom of religion to everybody. And the people who applied for registration by the Justice Ministry have fulfilled all the legal requirements."

Because of past repression, even the size of Moldova's Muslim community is not known. There are some 2,000 officially registered Muslims among the country's approximately 3.4 million people. But Islamic League head Sochirca says the real figure is closer to 17,000.

"When my wife and I applied for new passports and wanted to write 'Muslim' in the 'religion' space, we saw that it had already been filled in as 'Christian.' I told the police officers we were Muslim, and they ignored me," Sochirca said. "They said they can't write in 'Muslim,' that they register everyone as Christian, and that's all there is to it."

For now, Ismail Wahab is pleased that the government has finally recognized the Islamic League and that Muslims in Chisinau can worship freely. Someday, he dreams, they might even be able to build a mosque.

"Now we have a prayer room and for us this is our mosque. As for building a mosque in accordance with Islamic norms, with a minaret and all, maybe it is not the right time now, not now," Wahab says.

"I think that will be for Muslims who are ethnically Moldovan to decide. Maybe in the future. That is a matter for the future."

with contributions from RFE/RL's Moldova Service and RFE/RL correspondent Robert Coalson

Catalonia: Political ad warns of Islamic Catalonia in 2015
20 May 2011

Via the Scotsman (h/t Islamophobia Watch):

IT'S a blunt campaign message - a video shows three attractive young women in miniskirts skipping with a rope in the Spanish city of Igualada, to the accompaniment of a traditional Catalan folk song. Suddenly, the image changes to "Igualada 2015" and shows three women dressed in burkas skipping to the rhythm of an Arab song.

"You can avoid this nightmare becoming reality. In Igualada, vote Plataforma per Catalunya," the video concludes.

Plataforma per Catalunya is a far-right party created nine years ago by former supporters of General Francisco Franco in the north-eastern industrial province of Catalonia, and running in Sunday's regional elections in Spain.

Last year the party gained almost 3 per cent of the vote in the regional elections and now expects to increase its local vote five-fold, going from 17 to more than 100 council members across Catalonia and possibly winning control of some cities.

Plataforma per Catalunya is riding a growing wave of anti-immigration sentiment, where many blame foreigners - 12 per cent of the Spanish population - for rising crime and a lack of jobs, in a country with 20 per cent official unemployment.

"We didn't have much money so I did this video to create an impact, but I never imagined the huge reaction it would provoke," Roberto Hernando, the party's number two candidate and director of the video, told The Scotsman yesterday.

"We keep getting e-mails and letters from people across Spain begging us to expand nationally.

"With this crisis we shouldn't allow more immigrants into the country, especially Muslims who want to impose their culture upon others."

Evolutionary Psychologist Says Black Women are Scientifically Ugly, Advocates Muslim Holocaust

www.loonwatch.com
(condensed version)
18 May 2011

The internet is abuzz with this recent controversy: Dr. Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics, recently published an article on Psychology Today entitled “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?”

In this racist pseudo-scientific piece, Kanazawa tries to explain why black women are, on average, scientifically uglier than women of other races.

Public outrage forced Psychology Today to remove the article from its website.

(Never does it cross Kanazawa’s mind that perhaps people often tend to be more attracted to people of their own ethnicity, and that therefore if one uses majority white men to rank women that this may influence the outcome?)

This is the same Kanazawa who earlier published articles against Muslims. In an article entitled “What’s Wrong with Muslims” the crazy psychologist claims that there are “about 120 million ready suicide bombers worldwide”, or about 30% of the world’s Muslim population.

Is it not strange that this comment did not receive even close to the outrage that the “black women are ugly” claim?

He is effectively saying that 3 out of 10 Muslims you meet in your day to day life are soon-to-be suicide bombers. (See Update I below for issues with the math).

Imagine if someone said that 3 out of 10 black men are criminals, murderers, or rapists. Surely, being a suicide terrorist bomber is worse than any of these.

It is strange that a “scientist” like Kanazawa would routinely rely on his own bigoted opinions as opposed to facts. His writings are full of wild presumptions, devoid of any scientific method. Even when he states objective “facts”, they are nothing but falsities.

For example, in the same article Kanazawa stupidly says that “most Muslims speak the same language – Arabic – but not all.”

This laughable claim exudes profound ignorance, and places his awareness of Islam and the Muslim world to less than the level of an eighth grader. After all, isn’t it in junior high or high school that students study world history and find out that “only about 12 percent of Muslims worldwide are Arabs.”

With blatant errors like this, one wonders what sort of standards Psychology Today has?

Not only is Dr. Satoshi Kanazawa a racist and bigot: he is a genocidal maniac. In an article urging Americans to hate Muslims (“the enemy”), Kanazawa argues that it is justified to target civilians including women and children because our enemies are not nation-states:

We have always hated our enemies purely and intensely. They were “Japs,” they were “Krauts,” they were “Gooks.” And we didn’t think twice about dropping bombs on them, to kill them and their wives and children. (As many commentators have pointed out, the distinction between combatants and civilians does not make sense in World War III, and the Geneva Convention — an agreement among nations — is no longer applicable, because our enemies are not nation states.)

(Maybe you didn’t know but we’re actually in World War III already.)

Kanazawa then approves of nuking 35 Muslim countries and killing women and children:

Here’s a little thought experiment. Imagine that, on September 11, 2001, when the Twin Towers came down, the President of the United States was not George W. Bush, but Ann Coulter. What would have happened then? On September 12, President Coulter would have ordered the US military forces to drop 35 nuclear bombs throughout the Middle East, killing all of our actual and potential enemy combatants, and their wives and children. On September 13, the war would have been over and won, without a single American life lost.

Yes, we need a woman in the White House, but not the one who’s running.

(That’s the last sentence in the entire article, in case you are wondering if I took that out of context.)

Naturally, Ann Coulter would want to nuke the most well-known cities in the Islamic world, so we could estimate about 10 million per city. So, Kanazawa is approving of killing 350,000,000 Muslim men, women, and children–almost sixty times as many Jews that died in the Holocaust. He is advocating for a Muslim Holocaust.

Public pressure forced Psychology Today to remove the “black women are ugly” article from its website, but to this day the articles labeling 3 out of 10 Muslims as “terrorists”–and advocating nuclear annihilation of Muslim cities–continue to grace their website with hardly a peep from the internet world.

Can one imagine the reaction if some prominent Muslim had advocated nuking 35 Israeli cities? It would be social and career suicide to say such things against Jews (rightfully so) and against black people (again, rightfully so), yet one can say almost anything against Muslims with almost no repercussions. Muslims are at the absolute bottom of the totem pole of social hierarchy.

Wasn’t it after all Bill O’Reilly who said many years ago that the most attractive women in the world are from Norway and Thailand and the least attractive are women in Muslim countries? His career did not take any hit from this comment, unlike Kanazawi who is now considered an absolute clown. Saying black women are ugly is unacceptable, but saying the same for Muslim women is perfectly fine–at least, it is worthy of serious discussion by Serious Pundits.

I’d absolutely hate to be a black woman who is Muslim. Then I couldn’t attract the stunningly beautiful specimens, those gifts to womankind and Adonis incarnates: Bill O’Reilly and Satoshi Kanazawa.

Update I:

Readers have pointed out some problems with the math above: after rereading Kanazawa’s article, it seems that he meant 30% of 50% of the Muslim population (i.e. the men only)–not 30% of the total Muslim population (as I originally thought he was saying)–are suicide bombers. So, let me reword what I wrote above: Kanazawa is saying that 3 out of 10 Muslim men are suicide bombers, not Muslims overall. This hardly mitigates the atrociousness of his claim.

Additionally, he uses an incorrectly low estimate for the total number of Muslims in the world, something that Islamophobes tend to do.

Part D

NORTH AMERICA:
USA

Muslim Immigrant Seeks Stay of Execution for His Attacker, a Convicted Anti-Muslim Murderer
(www.loonwatch.com)

17 May 2011

Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, said: “Show mercy so that you may be shown mercy, forgive people so that you will be forgiven by God.” (Musnad Ahmad)

And he also said: “The merciful will be given mercy by the Most Merciful. Have mercy on those on earth and the One in the heavens will have mercy upon you.” (Sunan Abu Dawud)

Immigrant in Texas seeks stay for attacker

DALLAS, Texas

Rais Bhuiyan saw Mark Stroman and his gun in the reflection of the window.

Then came the question a robber wouldn’t ask, Bhuiyan thought. “Where are you from?”

“Excuse me?”

Within seconds, Bhuiyan, a store clerk, fell to the floor of the convenience store on Buckner Boulevard, bleeding profusely from a head wound from the gun blast. It blinded his right eye but miraculously didn’t damage his brain.

Stroman, a white supremacist, would later confess he was out for revenge against those of Middle Eastern descent in Mesquite and Dallas days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Already, Stroman had killed one Pakistani immigrant; two weeks later, he’d kill an Indian immigrant.

Now, Bhuiyan wants to forgive.

He’ll be asking for a stay of the July 20 evening scheduled execution of Stroman, and a stop to the “cycle of violence,” as he calls it.

“Sometimes, we human beings make mistakes out of anger,” said Bhuiyan, 37, in an interview Monday with The Dallas Morning News. Stroman, a former stonecutter, was convicted of the Oct. 4 killing of Vasudev Patel, an Indian of the Hindu faith who owned a gas station and convenience store in Mesquite.

Stroman also confessed to the Sept. 15 Dallas killing of Waqar Hasan, an immigrant from Pakistan and a Muslim, in what is believed to be the first hate crime in the U.S. after the attacks. He was charged in the shooting of Bhuiyan, a Bangledesh immigrant, on Sept. 21.

Bhuiyan said his Islamic faith led him to realize “hate doesn’t bring any good solution to people. At some point we have to break the cycle of violence. It brings more disaster.”

Bhuiyan shows little sign of the shooting. A slim man with thinning hair and large, wide-set brown eyes, he can only see from his left one. He carries about 38 pellet fragments on the right side of his face, he said.

Bhuiyan said the event changed him and he now celebrates Sept. 21 as his new birthday because it was then he got his life back. Bhuiyan has a full-time job in information technology but wants to return to college. Last fall, he contacted Dr. Rick Halperin, the director of the human rights education program at Southern Methodist University.

It was a coincidence that Halperin already knew many details of Bhuiyan’s story. Stroman had been corresponding with the professor, an anti-death-penalty activist, for two years.

Bhuiyan explained how the event had shaped his life, how he grew introspective about his faith and how he found answers to why he lived and others died.

The events, Halperin said, “raise questions about compassion and healing and the nature of justice.”

As for Bhuiyan, Halperin said, “I am amazed at the calm with which some can forgive the unforgivable.”

Hadi Jawad of the Dallas Peace Center said Bhuiyan’s actions serve as a lesson for others at a critical time for the nation and the world.

“With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 coming up, we need a narrative of compassion and healing. The world has gone through so much darkness,” Jawad said.

Halperin said that a stay of execution in favor of a lifetime sentence for Stroman will be difficult, but they are committed to trying. Stroman is scheduled to die by injection at about 6 p.m. in Huntsville, said a public information officer for the Texas Department of Corrections.

Within six months of Sept. 11, there were 1,717 incidents of harassment, violence or discriminatory acts against Muslims, or those perceived to be Muslims, according to the D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Bhuiyan said he still has fears he’ll be attacked again, particularly when he sees men with tattoos. Stroman had many. “I try to ignore them (fears), but I am a human being,” he said.

Bhuiyan is one of eight children, but he has no siblings or relatives in the United States. He and his former fiancée in Bangladesh went separate ways as he coped with his physical and psychological wounds. His parents wanted him to return home, but he “wanted to give it a fight.” And last November, he deepened his roots here by becoming a U.S. citizen.

He has prepared a petition drive for the stay of execution and is about to launch a website.

“You may not like me because of my skin color or because of my accent . . . but don’t hate me. We can educate people.”

COUNCIL OF AMERICAN ISLAMIC RELATIONS-CALIFORNIA:

MUSLIMS REPORT UNWARRANTED SURVEILLANCE, HARASSMENT

Ali Winston,
KALW, 5/19/11

Amidst complaints from Bay Area Muslim, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern residents of unwarranted surveillance, harassment at San Francisco International Airport and federal agents offering fast-track immigration status in exchange for information, the participation of the San Francisco Police Department in the local Joint Terrorism Task Force came under review at last night's joint hearing of the Police and Human Rights Commissions.

Last night also saw the introduction of a proposal from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Asian Law Caucus to alter SFPD's participation in the JTTF to give more local control over city police officers participating in the anti-terrorism team.

THE END