Today, a Christian pastor will hold the second service in a series bashing the planned Muslim community center in downtown New York City in a sign of increasing vocal anti-Islam rhetoric ahead of the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
"When they decided to build a mosque and decided to preach what I consider a 1,400-year-old lie from Hell, I decided that somebody should be down there preaching the truth of God's word," Florida pastor Bill Keller said over the weekend.
Although his first service was sparsely attended, Keller is not alone.
Another preacher, Terry Jones from the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida, is planning what he called "Burn a Koran Day" which encourages people to set fire to the Islamic holy book "in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam," according to a Facebook page dedicated to the event.
Critics said such rhetoric is fueling anti-Islam violence. Late last month a Manhattan cab driver was allegedly stabbed by a passenger who reportedly asked him immediately before the attack if he was Muslim. Days later, a fire tore through the construction site of a planned Mosque in Tennessee. Investigators announced last week the cause of the fire was arson.
In response, leaders of Mosques from around the world are reaching out to other faiths for help.
"We are asking people to take into account security concerns... given the almost hysterical atmosphere we're in right now," said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Muslim groups are also running television advertisements designed to improve the image of the faith.
"I don't want to take over the country," one ad states.
Adding to the concern is a fluke in the calendar. This year the 9/11 anniversary coincides with the Muslim day of celebration for the Festival of Eid. Many worry pictures of Muslims celebrating will be misconstrued.
One Muslim advocacy group in Los Angeles was so concerned they contacted law enforcement and the Justice Department to warn them of the overlap.
"The issue I can sense brewing on hate sites on the Internet is, 'These Muslims are celebrating on September 11,'" Hooper told The Associated Press. "It's getting really scary out there."
ABC News
]]>The crowd in Kabul, numbering as many as 500, chanted "Long live Islam" and "Death to America" as they listened to fiery speeches from members of parliament, provincial council deputies, and Islamic clerics who criticized the U.S. and demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. Some threw rocks when a U.S. military convoy passed, but speakers shouted at them to stop and told police to arrest anyone who disobeyed.
The Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center announced plans to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but has been denied a permit to set a bonfire. The church, which made headlines last year after distributing T-shirts that said "Islam is of the Devil," has vowed to proceed with the burning.
"We know this is not just the decision of a church. It is the decision of the president and the entire United States," said Abdul Shakoor, an 18-year-old high school student who said he joined the protest after hearing neighborhood gossip about the Quran burning.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a statement condemning Dove World Outreach Center's plans, saying Washington was "deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend members of religious or ethnic groups."
Protesters, who gathered in front of western Kabul's Milad ul-Nabi mosque, raised placards and flags emblazoned with slogans calling for the death of Obama, while police looked on. They also held up a cardboard effigy of Dove World Outreach Center's pastor Terry Jones.
Muslims consider the Quran to be the word of God and demand that it, along with any printed material containing its verses or the name of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad, be treated with the utmost respect. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the Quran is considered deeply offensive.
In 2005, 15 people died and scores were wounded in riots in Afghanistan sparked by a story in Newsweek magazine alleging that interrogators at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay placed copies of the Quran in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk. Newsweek later retracted the story.
Also Monday, NATO said an American service member was killed in fighting in the country's turbulent east on Sunday.
No other details were given in accordance with standard procedure. The death was the fifth among U.S. troops in Afghanistan in September, following the deaths of more than 220 American troops over the past three months.
This year is already the bloodiest for American forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, with at least 321 killed so far.
Violence is increasing with the infusion of 30,000 additional U.S. troops that brings the total number of foreign forces in Afghanistan to more than 140,000. Stepped-up operations ahead of next week's parliamentary elections and an ongoing campaign to drive the Taliban from its southern strongholds are also boosting the numbers of dead and wounded.
Taliban insurgents on Sunday vowed to attack polling places during the Sept. 18 vote and warned Afghans not to participate in what it called a sham election. The insurgency aims to topple the government in Kabul and drive foreign troops from the country, and has boycotted or tried to sabotage all aspects of the political process.
Taliban threats and intimidation drove down voter turnout in last year's fraud-marred presidential election, especially in rural areas where security is harder to ensure, and many Afghans this time say they won't vote for fear of attacks.
AP News
]]>Nik Aziz who is also the Kelantan Menteri Besar said those who were questioning his statement were actually trying to turn it into a political issue.
"Why is the issue of allowing non-Muslims into mosques being made a big issue. Why are they nor questioning the construction of mosques by non-Muslims?," he asked after handing out Hari Raya Aidilfitri dresses to the poor donated by Pusat Pakaian Hari-Hari in Kubang Kerian, near here Monday.
In his statement, Nik Aziz had defended DAP Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching's recent visit to the Al-Huda surau in Kajang Sentral that was deemed not proper by some, sparking a major controversy.
Nik Aziz said that her actions did not contravene Islamic law and was the best way to get to know Muslims better.
He added that the people of Kelantan, including non-Muslims had contributed material like iron and cement to build Bara'ah Mosque in Pasar Siti Khadijah.
"The shows that the people of Kelantan, including non-Muslims understand Islam and will not be influenced by the issue," he said.
-- BERNAMA
]]>The Zakat House is a unique beacon of charity and highlights the civilization of Kuwait, Al-Bader said in telephone statement to KUNA.
He added that Zakat House serves 17 mosques in the city of Ho Chi Minh with a number of 5,400 Muslims present and total number of Muslims in Vietnam is 72, 000.
Kuwait News Agency
]]>Joerg Ziercke, head of the BKA Federal Crime Office, was also quoted as saying that curbs on storing telecoms data were hurting efforts to track militant suspects.
More than 400 Islamists were living in Germany, some of whom had trained in camps, including a hard core with combat experience in Afghanistan, he told Tagespiegel newspaper.
Police had spotted a rise in German residents moving to and from the camps, he said in extracts of an interview to be published in Monday's edition.
"Since the beginning of 2009 we have registered an increase in travel and attempted travel from members of violence-prone Islamist circles," he said.
"In Germany we now classify 131 as potential instigators. These are people we assume could perpetrate politically motivated criminal acts of a considerable magnitude."
"We even have concrete proof 70 individuals completed paramilitary training in terror camps. Forty people have combat experience from battles in Afghanistan," he added.
Ziercke argued that a ruling in March by Germany's highest court to limit archiving of telephone and internet data was hindering investigations.
"That makes it considerably difficult when we have to clarify how perpetrators organize before a terrorist act, and determine who has communicated with whom," he said.
Saturday, Der Spiegel news weekly reported that a German Islamist held by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and interrogated since July had revealed details of planned attacks on targets in Germany and Europe.
A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry would not confirm details of the report, saying only that the government was trying to contact a citizen held by U.S. forces. German media have said he came from the northern city of Hamburg.
Last month, German police shut down the Taiba Mosque in Hamburg, previously known as the Al-Quds Mosque, which was frequented by Mohammed Atta -- the leader of the group that carried out the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Police said the mosque had links with armed Islamist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Reuters/Sowetan Live).*
]]>The developer leading the project confirmed Friday that Hisham Elzanaty, 51, is among the members of a real-estate partnership that paid $4.8 million last year for the vacant clothing store that is to be torn down and replaced by a cultural center and mosque.
The partnership's general manager, Sharif El-Gamal, confirmed Elzanaty's role.
"All of these investors are committed, as I am, not to receive funding from any organization that supports terrorism or is hostile to America," El-Gamal said in a statement.
Reached by telephone, Elzanaty said Friday he may have something to say later.
El-Gamal has declined to reveal the names of his other financial backers, but has said the eight-member group is diverse and includes Jews and Christians.
Those involved with the Islamic-center proposal have come under intense scrutiny from groups opposed to the project, and critics point to a donation Elzanaty made to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development a decade ago as evidence that its backers secretly harbor extremist views.
Tax records show that Elzanaty gave $6,050 to the foundation in 1999. At the time, it was the largest Islamic charity in the United States. It raised millions of dollars from Americans in the 1990s, telling donors the money would pay for schools, orphanages and social-welfare programs.
Two years after Elzanaty made the donation, the U.S. government froze the foundation's assets and accused it of acting as a fundraiser for Hamas, which was labeled a terrorist organization by President Clinton in 1995.
The foundation and some of its leaders were indicted in 2004 on charges of supporting Hamas. Five were convicted.
A New York television station, Fox affiliate WNYW, was the first to report Elzanaty's investment in the Islamic center project and his donation to the Holy Land Foundation.
Elzanaty's lawyer said in a report broadcast Thursday night that his client had no knowledge of the group's involvement with Hamas when he donated the money and had intended the cash to go to an orphanage.
Other people and companies who donated money, equipment or services to the foundation the year Elzanaty gave included NBA star Hakeem Olajuwon, Microsoft and a medical-equipment company owned by General Electric, according to tax records.
When the foundation's leaders were indicted, Attorney General John Ashcroft said the case was not "a reflection on the well-meaning people who may have donated funds to the foundation."
Elzanaty has made no secret of his past philanthropy involving the Palestinians. In a 2002 interview with Newsday, he spoke of a hesitation to donate to Middle Eastern charities because of concerns it could unwittingly land him in a terrorism investigation.
"When you see people surrounded by tanks and F-16s, you ask how can we help?" he told the paper. "But you don't want years later to have a knock on the door and someone asking why did you donate money?"
The Seattle Times
]]>In all more than a million worshippers were in the mosque and surrounding areas, Said al Mansoori, a spokesman for the commission governing Makkah and Madina told AFP.
The two cities have swollen with worshippers from Saudi Arabia and around the world undertaking the umrah which peaks during Ramadan.
The Muslim fasting month ends on September 9 with the holiday of Eid al Fitr.
The month's last Friday, the Muslim holy day, is considered especially blessed.
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz was in Makkah on Friday to inaugurate a $187 million expansion of the Zamzam waterworks which serves up to worshippers the celebrated holy water from a spring beneath the city.
The new system can filter up to five million litres (1.3 million gallons) of Zamzam water per day.
Many overseas pilgrims take large jugs of the holy Zamzam water back home from Makkah.
]]>Raihana said initially it was her relatives who had objected her not wearing the purdah, a customery dress normally worn by the muslim women while moving out in public places.
The 22-year old Raihana said that rumours were spread that she had married to one Jose and had converted to christian religion.
'I am a true muslim girl and believe in islam religion. I do prayers daily. I have not committed any mistakes till now', she said.
One of the letter had warned that she would be done to death by August 26 after she publically refused to wear purdah.
Raihana said she had approached the Kerala high court and she was provided with police protection.
Raihana said many of her friends from first standard to 12th standard had expressed their support. They are not openly coming out against wearing purdah because of fear, she said.
Coming to Raihanas support, All India Lawyers Union's Kerala Unit had recently said a person has full freedom to wear any dress material acceptable to the society and anyone enforcing dress code on caste and religious consideration should be isolated.
Deccan Herald
An Islamic cleric notorious for his hate sermons has urged Muslims in the Netherlands to behead Dutch anti-Islamist politician Geert Wilders, De Telegraaf reported Friday.
The daily posted a link with an audio recording of the call made by Lebanese-Australian cleric Feiz Muhammed, 40, in which he accused Wilders of insulting the prophet Mohammed and so should die.
The recording was taken from an internet conference call Muhammed's backers in the Netherlands, De Telegraaf said. 'Those who ridicule our teachings, who laugh about Islam and humiliate it must be killed,' Muhammed is heard as saying, according to De Telegraaf. 'Behead him, chop his head off.'
In a reaction to the report, the right-wing politiican Wilders said he was shocked and was taking the murder threat seriously. He was now in touch with the Dutch anti-terrorism authority NCTB.
The Dutch secret service AIVD also has a copy of the recording, with Wilders asking the agency whay he was only finding out about the death threat through the newspaper report.
Wilders, head of the right-wing Freedom Party (PVV), has for years been kept under the protection of the state security apparatus.
The death threat triggered bad memories in the Netherlands from the murder of film director Theo van Gogh in broad daylight in November 2004. Then, a Muslim fanatic shot van Gogh, who was a vehement critic of Islam, and then slit his throat in front of shocked bystanders.
Wilders has raised controversy and angered Muslims with his attacks on Islam. His internet video Fitna in 2008 accused Islam of being an ideology of terrorism and fascism, while describing the prophet Mohammed as a 'barbarian, mass murderer and paedophile.'
In a recent Australian TV interview Wilders repeated his attacks and said Western nations should stop the immigration of Muslims.
Muhammed is popular among young radical Muslims around the world with his extremist views and insulting comments about Jews. Among others, he argues that women who wore mini-skirts or tight jeans were themselves to be blamed if they were raped.
But Muhammed has so far not been known to call for the murder of Islam's opponents.
