background preloader

Politics & Society: Radical Islam

Facebook Twitter

Blind, bovine hope will get us nowhere - it's time to change our response to Islamic extremism | Coffee House. Why the French favour secularism over appeasement in the fight to defeat Islamic extremism | Coffee House. The Cold War was about how to live; our new enemies care only how to die. It's not Personal, It's Islam. Editor's note: Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's Liberal–National Coalition won the most seats in July 2 legislative elections, a result expected to return him to office.Originally published under the title "Guess Who's Coming to Iftar? " A widely-publicised Iftar dinner, intended to show that Malcolm Turnbull gets what it means to be inclusive, ended badly after he was advised that one of his guests, Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman, had taught that Islam prescribes death for adulterers, and homosexuals spread diseases.

No rogue maverick, Australian-born Alsuleiman is the elected national president of the Australian National Imams Council. Although insisting that "mutual respect is absolutely critical," Turnbull subjected this prominent Muslim leader to public humiliation. He regretted inviting him to dinner and counselled the sheikh "to reflect on what he has said and recant. " Well, Mr. Many Australian Muslims will be disappointed at the treatment meted out to Sheikh Alsuleiman. Free Speech and Islam: In Defense of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. True progressives really should get around to constructing a Doric-columned Hall of Shame to memorialize, for all to revile, the imbecilities, curios of casual hypocrisy, and artifacts of outright intellectual and moral treason the benighted diehards of the regressive left choose to display as a matter of pride these days when the subject is Islam and former Muslims, especially former female Muslims.

The contrast between the lofty liberal ideals espoused by such leftists and their sordid output should concern us all, though, of whatever political persuasion. They have largely succeeded in squelching forthright, reasoned discourse about Islam and Islamist terrorism, which jeopardizes national security and the lives of some of some of the most vulnerable, including women who have left the faith, or who, rightfully or wrongfully, are accused of disrespecting it. Some are working to reform it, though. Now onwards to the Hall of Shame proper.

About the Brandeis scandal. Doctor hacked to death by machete in suspected Islamist attack in Bangladesh  ISIS has claimed responsibility for hacking to death a village doctor with a machete as he walked to work at a charity centre in western Bangladesh. Local police chiefMohammad Sahabuddin Chowdhury confirmed that Mir Sanaur Rahman, 55, was killedon the spot by the blows, as a wave of similar attacks hit the nation. The homeopathic doctor and his companion, identified as Saifuzzaman, 45, suffered serious wounds. Police found a bloody machete at the scene near Dhaka. Scroll down for video Bangladeshi protesters and former Rajshahi University students demonstrate against the killing of a university professor in Dhaka last month Professor's bloodied body discovered after machete attack Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% MinimizeExpandClose The attackers rode a motorcycle, which they used to block a motorcycle ridden by their victims in the western district of Kushtia, 150 miles from Dhaka. 'We suspect Islamist militants are behind the attack,'police chief Chowdhury said.

Fatal Speech. Niladry Chattopadhya was in his apartment in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, around noon on Friday, Aug. 7, when there was an unexpected knock on his door. Chattopadhya was a blogger and general secretary of the Bangladesh Science and Rationalist Association (BSRA), a group of about a thousand like-minded young men and women who used a Dhaka shop as their office and library. Inside, members often met to read and discuss books by writers such as Richard Dawkins, the British evolutionary biologist and atheist, and Taslima Nasreen, the Bangladeshi physician turned author who was forced to flee the country in 1994 for her anti­religious views. An atheist himself, Chattopadhya wrote against religious fundamentalism and was a staunch advocate for a secular Bangladesh, a small, riverine South Asian nation tucked in the far eastern corner of the Indian subcontinent. Moni asked Chattopadhya to intervene. The story begins in 1947, as the colonial British departed India.

Secular Publisher Killed in Latest Bangladesh Attack. A Bangladeshi publisher who worked with the slain writer and blogger Avijit Roy has been murdered in the country’s capital Dhaka, hours after an attack by machete-wielding assailants left another one of Roy’s publishers in critical condition. Roy, a Bangladeshi-American writer known for his criticism of religion and fundamentalist violence, was hacked to death in Dhaka in February in what was the first of a series of attacks on secular writers and bloggers in the Muslim-majority country this year. Faisal Arefin Dipan was one of Roy’s local publishers. On Oct. 31, his father Abul Kashem Fazlul Haq discovered his body when he rushed to his son’s office after hearing about an attack earlier in the day on Ahmedur Rashid Tutul, one of Roy’s other publishers. “I rushed to his office… and broke the padlock,”Haq told the AFP news agency. “And I saw him lying upside down in a massive pool of blood.

They slaughtered his neck. He is dead. Fourth secular blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh. © Provided by AFP A Bangladeshi activist pays his respects to slain blogger Avijit Roy, who was killed on February 26 A gang armed with machetes hacked a secular blogger to death at his home in Dhaka on Friday in the fourth such murder in Bangladesh since the start of the year, an activist group and police said. Niloy Chakrabarti, who used the pen-name Niloy Neel, was killed after the gang broke into his apartment, according to the Bangladesh Blogger and Activist Network, which was alerted to the attack by a witness. "They entered his room in the fifth floor and shoved his friend aside and then hacked him to death.

He was a listed target of the Islamist militants," the network's head, Imran H. Police confirmed Chakrabarti had been murdered by a group of half a dozen people in the capital's Goran neighbourhood, although they had no details on his background or the motive for the killing. "Two of them then took him to a room and then slaughtered him there," Islam added. - Bloggers in hiding - ISIS executioners kill 25 Syrian regime soldiers in front of crowds at Palmyra ruin. ISIS has released a video of a mass slaughter of regime soldiers in PalmyraThe condemned men are lined up on their knees on the amphitheatre stageChild executioners, with pistols in hand, stand behind the condemned menA giant ISIS flag hangs in the background in the ancient monument A baying crowd of men and boys gathered in the amphitheatre to watch By Imogen Calderwood For Mailonline Published: 16:45 GMT, 4 July 2015 | Updated: 18:18 GMT, 4 July 2015 ISIS has released a significant new execution video from the historic city of Palmyra, in the Syrian desert.

Child executioners are shown in the video being forced to brutally slaughter a group of more than 25 regime soldiers. The video shows the soldiers lined up on their knees on the stage of the Roman amphitheatre, which had formerly been used for an annual festival in the city. A baying crowd of men and boys gathered in the restored ruin waiting for the slaughter, many wearing military uniforms and headscarves. Scroll down for video. Isis, a year of the caliphate: Six things Google still can't tell us about the group - Middle East - World - The Independent. Despite Isis’ rapid expansion across the Middle East in the past year and its finely-tuned propaganda machine boasting of victories and brutal assaults, there is still a lot we cannot know for sure about the terror group.

A simple Google search on a variety of questions about the jihadist movement will come back with a raft of answers - the majority of which contradict each other. Here are the questions we don't really have a definitive answer to (but maybe we can make a guess): How many Isis fighters are there? In September 2014 the a CIA told CNN that it was estimated Isis could “muster” between 20,000 to 31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria, superseding previous estimates by up to 20,000. However, Al Jazeera reported that the the British-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the figure much higher, estimating 80,000 to 100,000 fighters in total (50,000 in Syria and 30,000 in Iraq) In August last year.

Where does Isis’s money come from? Reuse content. Religious teaching that drives Isis to threaten the ancient ruins of Palmyra. Amid the horrors that Islamic State has unleashed across the Middle East, many observers are holding their breath as they contemplate the fate of one of the world’s most cherished cultural sites. The clock is ticking for the Roman world heritage site at Palmyra, in central Syria. After Isis obliterated the historical Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq last month, many fear a similar fate awaits the ruins after the group seized Palmyra from the Assad regime. The city was once a Silk Road hub and one of the cultural centres of the ancient world. It has mythological status in Syria and is home to some of the most beautiful and well-preserved ruins of antiquity, including the Temple of Bel, built in the first century.

The Observer’s architecture critic, Rowan Moore, says the ancient Roman site is “exceeded by very few others: those in Rome itself, Pompeii, possibly Petra in Jordan. So what is the logic behind such destruction? Blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death in Bangladesh by Muslim extremists. Ananta Bijoy Das 'hacked to death by four men riding rickshaw to work'Das was a long-time contributor to blog Mukto-Mona which criticised IslamComes months after blog's founder, Avijit Roy, also hacked to deathMilitants previously claimed to have hit list of bloggers they were targeting By Chris Pleasance for MailOnline Published: 08:24 GMT, 12 May 2015 | Updated: 15:49 GMT, 12 May 2015 Ananta Bijoy Das, a blogger for secular website Mukto-Mona has been hacked to death just three months after the site's founder was killed A Bangladeshi blogger who spoke out against religious extremism has been hacked to death in the northeastern city of Sylhet, the third victim of such attacks in three months.

Ananta Bijoy Das had left his home and was riding to town in a rickshaw when four men armed with machetes jumped on him and hacked him to death, according to police. The attack took place at around 8.30am local time, and is believed to be linked to secular blog Mukto-Mona, which Das wrote for. Islamists chopped off professor's hand because of exam question about Mohammed character. Professor T J Joseph maimed because he used name Mohammed in examAssailants ambushed him, slashed his hand off as he returned from churchThe 13 attackers have now all been jailed for the assault and fined by court By Callum Paton For Mailonline Published: 12:38 GMT, 9 May 2015 | Updated: 15:04 GMT, 9 May 2015 Members of an extremist Islamist group chopped off a Christian professor’s hand because he set a grammar question which involved a character named Mohammed.

Professor T J Joseph from Kerala, India was brutally maimed by 13 members of the Islamic Group ‘The Popular Front’ because he used the name Mohammed in a grammar exam. After giving the paper to his students Joseph was ambushed on his way home from church in 2010. Professor T J Joseph from Kerala, India was brutally maimed by 13 members of the Islamic Group ‘The Popular Front’ He was taken to a specialists' hospital in Ernakulam where his hand was reattached through a complicated procedure.

The Troubling Phrase “Moderate Muslims” Only Empowers Islamophobes. Last week’s Heritage Foundation panel on the 2012 attacks in Benghazi was bound to be an ugly affair, what with the presence of panelist Brigitte Gabriel, a self-described “terrorism analyst” with a laundry list of offensive statements about Islam and Arabs. Sure enough, when attendee Saba Ahmed, an American University law school student, explained that not all Muslims are terrorists, Gabriel retorted that “the peaceful majority were irrelevant” in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the way that peaceful Germans were irrelevant during the Holocaust.

That prompted much hand-wringing, primarily on cable news, about the supposed silence of “moderate Muslims” in this supposed age of Islamist extremism. What no one on either side of the debate questioned, though, was the legitimacy of the phrase "moderate Muslims" itself. In the years that I’ve spent writing about and studying the phenomenon of Islamophobia, that phrase has always troubled me. To be fair, it’s not just the wackos. How Islamic Is the Islamic State? | The New Republic. It is difficult to forget the names, or the images, of James Foley, Steven Sotloff, David Haines, Alan Henning and Peter Kassig. The barbaric beheadings between August and November 2014, in cold blood and on camera, of these five jumpsuit-clad western hostages by the self-styled Islamic State, or ISIS, provoked widespread outrage and condemnation.

However, we should also remember the name of Didier François, a French journalist who was held by ISIS in Syria for ten months before being released in April 2014. François has since given us a rare insight into life inside what the Atlantic’s Graeme Wood, in a recent report for the magazine, has called the “hermit kingdom” of ISIS, where “few have gone . . . and returned.”

And it is an insight that threatens to turn the conventional wisdom about the world’s most fearsome terrorist organisation on its head. According to François, “It was more hammering what they were believing than teaching us about the Quran. The Analyst The Spy The Theologian. Why does ISIS destroy antiquities? - CNN Video. Why does ISIS destroy antiquities? Source: CNN Added on 9:55 AM ET, Tue March 17, 2015 Why does ISIS destroy antiquities? Replay More Videos ... CNN's Ben Wedeman explains why the terror group is ruining Iraq's cultural history. ISIS Power and Terror (16) ISIS tries to gain foothold in Afganistan ISIS and the power of terror ISIS escalates cultural annihilation ISIS throws gay men off buildings How ISIS rose to power Why do women join jihad? FBI investigating possible ISIS plot in U.S. ISIS' surprisingly advanced bureaucracy Why does ISIS destroy antiquities? Why is ISIS so wealthy? The name ISIS hates to be called ISIS targets U.S. consulate in bomb attack ISIS claims responsibility for Irbil blast CNN crew forced to run amid ISIS rocket fire Australian model dies fighting for ISIS Family recounts horrors of ISIS captivity.

Why Al-Shabaab is a growing threat - CNN Video. Why Al-Shabaab is a growing threat Source: CNN Added on 6:48 PM ET, Tue April 14, 2015 Why Al-Shabaab is a growing threat Replay More Videos ... CNN's Jim Sciutto explains how the terrorist group Al-Shabaab began and why it's becoming more of an international threat. Behind the News (36) Drought decimates California snowpack The secret to productivity Traffic gets blocked for mating toads Little girl to Michelle Obama: You're too young for 51! 43 fossilized dinosaur eggs found in China What is listeria? Newly discovered frog looks like Kermit Sunni versus Shia explained Meet the woman who almost made Hillary Clinton cry This is why George Lucas is at odds with neighbors Jury to decide if Tsarnaev lives or dies Should Girl Scouts stop selling cookies? When can police shoot? See pop culture's memorable pot moments The quick hit history of medical marijuana Rhino receives armed guards U.S.

NASA probe sends back first color image of Pluto Why Al-Shabaab is a growing threat NASA's new car can drive sideways. ISIS' surprisingly advanced bureaucracy - CNN Video. Islamic State bulldozers 'erasing history' in Nimrud, Iraq. Isis fighters destroy ancient artefacts at Mosul museum. Isis destroys thousands of books and manuscripts in Mosul libraries. Mosul residents describe ‘hell’ of Isis occupation as Kurdish fighters close in. Jordanian pilot burned alive, ISIS claims in video. Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Al-Qaeda in Iraq) Mayor of Rotterdam Ahmed Aboutaleb tells fellow Muslims who do not appreciate the 'freedoms' of living in the West to 'd f*** off'

40,000 Germans take to the streets after Charlie Hebdo massacre. What sort of God? Student is given jail sentence for declaring himself an atheist on Facebook in Egypt. Boko Haram Terrorism Nigeria Boko Haram Just Pulled Off One Of The Deadliest Terrorist Attacks In History. Dispatches: What Really Happened in Baga, Nigeria? Boko Haram slaughter up to 2,000 people in north-east Nigeria. Nigeria: Boko Haram torches 16 towns leaving 'many dead bodies on the ground' Hate preacher backs massacres and says 'Britain is the enemy of Islam' Boko Haram is now a mini-Islamic State, with its own territory - Telegraph.

Charlie Hebdo Massacre 7/1/2015

Charlie Hebdo Paris massacre: New Fascism reflected in France shootings. Paris massacre: People who kill in name of Islam 'can only be stopped with counter ideology' Egypt’s Al-Sisi Wants An Islamic ‘Revolution’ – The Good Kind. Iraq Crisis: Who are Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, World's Richest Terror Group? The Sharia Conundrum - Hasan Mahmud :: Official Site. Boko Haram, Isis and Islam: Radical Free Village Movement Busts Myth that 'Sharia Law is Allah's Law' Five Countries Where Sharia Law Has Led to Violence. Super-rich Sultan of Brunei bans Christmas. The Deadly Mission of Boko Haram.

Islamotopia: The Muslim Brotherhood's Idea of Democracy. A terrorist storm is heading for the West, and the brutal ISIS is behind it. Isis beheads 4 Christian children in Iraq for refusing to convert to Islam claims 'Vicar of Baghdad' Raqqa: Isis bans education and threatens jail for girls who show flesh. Inside the Isis prison state: The brutal Islamic State penal code explained. Isis Insurgents Tweet Picture of Beheaded Man: 'This is our ball. It's made of skin #WorldCup' Muslims set fire to temples and homes in Bangladesh in protest at Buddhist man insulting their religion. Radical Islam :: Writings by The Middle East Forum. The psychology of the Muslim rioter. Islamic extremists shoot dead 29 students and a teacher at a boarding school in Nigeria. Islam's sanguinary scenes. Mehdi Hasan's suicidal solution to Islamic extremism.

Westerners who fuel the Muslim world's grievance culture. Police shave the heads of young men with long hair and tight trousers in Hamas-ruled Gaza crackdown. The anti-Islam film and blaming the Jews. Innocence of Muslims: A Review. MEMRI - The Middle East Media Research Institute. Commentary. The Muslim Brotherhood’s rank hypocrisy. Charles Krauthammer: The Islamist ascendancy. Mehdi Hasan: Not In My Name: Islam, Pakistan and the Blasphemy Laws. The Attacks on U.S. Embassies: 5 Key Lessons. Newsweek. On the Freedom to Offend an Imaginary God. Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the Islamists’ Final Stand - Newsweek and The Daily Beast.