TCS: Tech Central Station – Four Years After September 11th: The Media Failure

Posted on September 12th, 2005 by .
Categories: Internal Debates, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

An article by Stephen Schwartz on ‘takfir’: Four Years After September 11th: The Media Failure

We have reached the fourth anniversary of the terrible attacks of September 11, 2001. I am sorry to say that, in my view, the U.S. and Western media have completely failed to meet the challenge of reporting on Islam, in the four succeeding years since then, or in reaction to the atrocities that followed, including the extremist violence in Iraq, which I would not dignify with the titles “insurgency” or “resistance,” the Madrid metro and London underground bombings, and the terror assaults in Indonesia, Morocco, Turkey, and elsewhere.

Islamic shari’a is quite clear on what constitutes a state policy that contradicts Islam: it is one that silences the call to prayer (adhan), and prevents the teaching and preaching of the religion. Serbia, Croatia (in Bosnia-Hercegovina), Macedonia, and Russia may be said to have done so in recent times, although indigenous and legitimate clerics did not judge it to be so. Thus, regardless of conflicts over land, Israel does not interfere with the peaceful activity of Muslim teachers and faithful. Nor, most certainly, does the United States. So one could just as quickly describe the U.S. constitution as a document that does not conflict with Islam, as to so label the Iraqi constitution. Is there reason to be concerned about the U.S. constitution as an Islamic theocratic document? I think not.

The failure to grasp the nature of the new Iraqi constitution extends to the document itself. Much noise has been made about Article Two, in which it is stated that “Islam is the official religion of the state and is a basic source of legislation,” and some praise has been issued for Article 14, which proclaims equality of gender, ethnic groups, religion, opinion, social and economic status, etc. But little has been said about one of the most remarkable and significant elements of the new Iraqi charter: The ban in Article Seven on “Entities or trends that justify or propagate racism, terrorism, ‘takfir,’ sectarian expulsions,” as well as the Saddamist Ba’ath party.

The ban on takfir, which means excommunication or expulsion of one’s opponents from Islam, is exceptionally important, but I can say with considerable certainty that most Western journalists do not have the slightest idea about it. I have found no Western media commentaries on the issue of takfir as treated in the Iraqi constitution, but many that seek to associate tribal customs in the treatment of women, which have no basis whatever in Islamic tradition or law, with the future Iraqi legal system.

(more…)

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Muslims & Katrina

Posted on September 12th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Two different reactions among Muslims about ‘Katrina:

Houston Muslims Feed Katrina Victims

Recognizing Katrina as “the biggest calamity” in the history of the US, Qadeer wondered: “How can we not help out?”

The massive effort was the work of the Houston Muslim Relief Group, a coalition of 20 mosques and local Islamic organizations formed after Katrina to provide help.

It took place in coordination with the Second Baptist Church of Houston and Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston (IMGH).

Al-Zarqawi: Katrina an answer to prayers

In the recording, al-Zarqawi said, “I believe the devastating hurricane that hit the United States occurred because people in Iraq or Afghanistan — maybe a mother who had lost her son or a son whose parents were killed or a woman who was raped — were praying for God and God accepted their prayers.”

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Muslims & Katrina

Posted on September 12th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Two different reactions among Muslims about ‘Katrina:

Houston Muslims Feed Katrina Victims

Recognizing Katrina as “the biggest calamity” in the history of the US, Qadeer wondered: “How can we not help out?”

The massive effort was the work of the Houston Muslim Relief Group, a coalition of 20 mosques and local Islamic organizations formed after Katrina to provide help.

It took place in coordination with the Second Baptist Church of Houston and Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston (IMGH).

Al-Zarqawi: Katrina an answer to prayers

In the recording, al-Zarqawi said, “I believe the devastating hurricane that hit the United States occurred because people in Iraq or Afghanistan — maybe a mother who had lost her son or a son whose parents were killed or a woman who was raped — were praying for God and God accepted their prayers.”

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Protected: Mijn kop thee – Water maakt geen verschil, de mens wel

Posted on September 11th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Protected: AD.nl – Allochtonen moeten politiek in

Posted on September 9th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Gouda Issues.

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Protected: AD.nl – Hirsi Ali Diss komt uit Gouda

Posted on September 9th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Gouda Issues, Youth culture (as a practice).

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Gedwongen Huwelijk

Posted on September 8th, 2005 by .
Categories: [Online] Publications, Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues.

Vorig jaar heb ik met studenten Inge de Jong, Danielle Koning, Siela Jethoe, Warsha Mangre en antropologe Sharita Rampertap een onderzoek uitgevoerd voor de ACVZ naar gedwongen huwelijken onder Turkse, Marokkaanse en Hindostaanse Nederlanders.

Vandaag is dit gepubliceerd als onderdeel van het advies over gedwongen huwelijken dat is gepresenteerd aan mevrouw Verdonk.

Nieuws.nl – Binnenland

Over huwelijksdwang is in Nederland nog weinig bekend.

Over de omvang van gedwongen huwelijken geven de onderzoeken geen duidelijkheid. Probleemgevallen komen volgens secretaris Hans van Miert van de ACVZ ‘alleen boven water als het vreselijk fout gaat’. Hij kan daarom geen cijfers geven. Het college meent op basis van de rapporten en ‘de signalen uit bepaalde groepen en belangenorganisaties’ echter dat het om een ‘serieus maatschappelijk probleem’ gaat.

Het uiteindelijk advies omvat een juridische voorstudie en mijn onderzoek. Dat overigens vermeld wordt als ‘De Koning’. Erg aardig van hen, maar als mede-auteur moet er bij staan dr. E. Bartels van de VU.

De conclusie van het advies luidt dat gedwongen huwelijken strafbaar gesteld moeten worden. In het onderzoek dat wij gedaan hebben, geven we daar geen advies over maar we maken wel duidelijk dat dat erg lastig is, onvoldoende (als er alleen een verbod komt) en waarschijnlijk ineffectief.

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Protected: Trouw| De ergste nachtmerrie van Jason W.’s vader

Posted on September 8th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Young Muslims.

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Protected: Trouw| De ergste nachtmerrie van Jason W.’s vader

Posted on September 8th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Young Muslims.

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Protected: Reporter Profiel: Jason & Jermaine

Posted on September 7th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Young Muslims.

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Isim Review: Youth

Posted on September 6th, 2005 by .
Categories: Important Publications.

The latest issue of the ISIM Review (formerly known as ISIM Newsletter) is out now!

It is a very interesting issue again with ‘youth’ as the main theme. Contributions of Miriam Gazzah (Maroc-Hop: Music and Youth Identities), Pierre Hecker (Heavy Metal in a Muslim Context), Saeid Golkar (Black Crow to Barbie: Changing Student Norms in Iran) and Amel Boubekeur (Cool and Competitive: Muslim Culture in the West) make this theme very worthwile.

Other interesting articles are Queer Jihad: a View from South Africa (from Scott Kugle) and Salafis, Jihad and Drama (about the Laskar Jihad Movement by Noorhaidi Hasan).

You can read it online here (*.pdf)

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Islamic Trojan

Posted on September 6th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.


An Islamic Trojan! A trojan horse? The wellknown fifth column? No a computer virus that tries to disrupt visits the pornographic websites by displaying messages from the Qur�an.

The low-risk Yusufali-A Trojan horse monitors the websites Windows users are visiting. If the malware sees one of a set of trigger words (such as “teen� or “sex”) in the url it minimises the window so the user cannot see its content and displays a message from the Qur�an instead. The message, partly written in Arabic, contains the following English text:

Know, therefore, that there is no god but Allah, and ask forgiveness for they fault, and for the men and women who believe: for Allah knows how ye move about and how ye dwell in your homes.

“Unlike other malware, it appears this Trojan horse isn’t trying to steal money or confidential information, but acting as a moral guardian instead – blocking the viewing of websites it determines are unsavoury,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

Nothing new but certainly kind of funny. Other examples are:

Malware featuring an Islamic theme is rare but not unprecedented. Previous examples have include the Mawanella worm which highlighted the friction between Muslims and Buddhists in Sri Lanka and the Cycle worm which contained a message about life in Iran.

For my Dutch speaking readers, see also Nu.nl: Pornosurfer geconfronteerd met koranteksten

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Fatwa Crackdown

Posted on September 6th, 2005 by .
Categories: Internal Debates.

Issuing misleading fatwas should be punished by Sharia law, says the Grand Mufti.
Fatwa Crackdown:

Whoever intends to make a mockery of the edicts mocks the faith and scholars. Such a person deserves to be punished in accordance with the Sharia rules in order to deter others from giving misleading edicts usually transmitted on the Internet

Saudi Grand Mufti for action against ‘unofficial’ fatwas

The trustworthy ancestors used not to rush in giving an edict not because of any shortcoming in themselves but just teach and enlighten others about the position of the rulings in Islam so that unqualified people may refrain from involving themselves in matters that they ignorant about

Nothing wrong with teaching and enlighten others instead of rushing into giving an edict of course. Several interesting issues are touched upon here. Referring to the internet: this means a decline of traditional religious authority and the rise of new authorities who are difficult to control. Also of course the increase of educational levels among young people create a situation in which they do not rely anymore on those traditional authorities but interpret islam by themselves and search for their own authorities (who do not ‘sell out’ to the west).

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Protected: de Volkskrant – Vrouwen rond Hofstadgroep worstelen met verhoor

Posted on September 5th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

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Protected: Imams en het Hofstadnetwerk

Posted on September 5th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

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Protected: Moskee en radicalisering

Posted on September 5th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

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"De Kerk wordt marginaal"

Posted on September 3rd, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Religion Other.

De hoogste verdieping, Blaise Pascal Instituut Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Mijn VU-collega Anton van Harskamp gaf 23 augustus een interview [pdf] over nieuwe religieuze bewegingen in het Belgische dagblad De Standaard en zal 18 september optreden in het tv-programma De Zevende Dag.

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“De Kerk wordt marginaal”

Posted on September 3rd, 2005 by .
Categories: Religion Other.

De hoogste verdieping, Blaise Pascal Instituut Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Mijn VU-collega Anton van Harskamp gaf 23 augustus een interview [pdf] over nieuwe religieuze bewegingen in het Belgische dagblad De Standaard en zal 18 september optreden in het tv-programma De Zevende Dag.

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Trouw- AIVD onderschatte internet

Posted on September 1st, 2005 by .
Categories: International Terrorism, Murder on theo Van Gogh and related issues.

In Trouw een interview met Albert Benschop, netsocioloog, die een zeer uitgebreide website heeft over Mohammed B. cs op internet:

Trouw, deVerdieping| dossiers – AIVD onderschatte internet

Ben het niet helemaal met hem eens. Ik denk wel dat de AIVD internet enigszins heeft onderschat (op de wijze die Benschop aangeeft), maar er waren talloze bedreigingen tegen personen in het voorjaar en de zomer van 2004. Uit de stukken van Mohammed B. (in mijn bezit) is niet te lezen dat Theo van Gogh het uiteindelijke doel is; wel dat hij een mogelijk doel is.

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