Copyright 2008 Islamist Watch Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:45:44 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog webmaster@islamist-watch.org en-us David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/07/british-security-going-to-the-dogs.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/07/british-security-going-to-the-dogs.html Tue, 1 Jul 2008 11:19:00 EST Due to their ability to detect explosives and illegal drugs, specially trained dogs provide essential services to a range of security and law enforcement agencies. Moreover, canines could not care less about a person's race or religion, thus limiting claims of bias against the organizations that employ them. But what if a religious group objects to the use of dogs on the grounds that they are unclean animals? Must the whole of society be placed at risk in deference to the customs of a few? The David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/virginity-restoration-on-the-european.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/virginity-restoration-on-the-european.html Sat, 28 Jun 2008 11:33:00 EST "The summer months are a big time for new hymens," notes a recent story from Denmark, one of many European countries that see more Muslims undergoing "virginity restoration" prior to marriage. A French woman of Moroccan descent illuminates the typical motive: "In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt." Take, for example, a controversial annulment ruling that has gripped French society: The case … involved an engineer in his 30s, named as Mr. X, who married Ms. Y, a student nurse in her David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/the-non-handshake-that-shook-ireland.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/the-non-handshake-that-shook-ireland.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:58:00 EST Shaking hands is a centuries-old custom that conveys greetings and respect. For this reason, refusing an extended hand will likely be interpreted as an insult. Such was the case when a Muslim asylum seeker set to receive an award for volunteer work in Ireland informed the committee that he would not shake hands with the woman presenting it. As a result, they gave the certificate to someone else: Alinoor Ahmed Sheikh, a Somali based in an asylum hostel in Tralee, was to have been honored for David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/salon-owner-stunned-by-hair-raising.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/salon-owner-stunned-by-hair-raising.html Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EST When Bushra Noah interviewed for a job as a hair stylist at Wedge, a trendy salon in central London, owner Sarah Desrosiers quickly determined that she was not right for the post. Wedge specializes in "funky, urban" cuts, which Desrosiers expects her employees to sport as a kind of walking advertisement. However, Noah wears a headscarf and insisted that she would not be removing it, at work or otherwise. Soon after being turned down, Noah sued Desrosiers for discrimination. Noah testified that David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/television-viewers-tuning-in-to-more-islam.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/television-viewers-tuning-in-to-more-islam.html Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:56:00 EST If television programming reflects the society that produces and consumes it, then Islam's increased presence on the small screen underscores the growing impact of — and fascination with — Muslims in the West. Three news items highlight this trend. A Danish public television channel recently held a fashion competition to find Miss Headscarf 2008, a title eventually claimed by Iraqi-born 18-year-old Huda Falah, who noted that she had entered the contest to counter stereotypes and promote David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/a-dutch-muslim-anonymously-appeals-for.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/a-dutch-muslim-anonymously-appeals-for.html Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:08:00 EST On June 10 the newspaper de Volkskrant published an intriguing essay (translation here) by a "highly educated Dutch Muslim woman" writing under the name Samira al-Onal. She challenges Muslims in the Netherlands to stop demanding special treatment, to reject religiously inspired violence, and to let go of "superiority, sanctimoniousness, and ignorance." The broadsheet agreed to run the piece pseudonymously due to the author's fear of reprisals for sharing views such as these: "We find it David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/virginias-islamic-saudi-academy-offers.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/virginias-islamic-saudi-academy-offers.html Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:19:00 EST Nelson Mandela has called education "the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." But such change need not be positive. Textbooks employed by the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA), a K-12 school near Washington, DC, illustrate how Wahhabi educators seek to change the world — and it is certainly not for the better: Textbooks at a private Islamic school in northern Virginia teach students that it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam, according to a David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/ontario-in-denial-over-polygamy-culture.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/ontario-in-denial-over-polygamy-culture.html Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:03:00 EST On the lengthy register of Western accommodations to Shari'a law, none is more striking than the de facto acceptance of polygamy. A story from Toronto vividly demonstrates the human cost of this practice, the brazen efforts to transplant it to the West, and the limp-wristed response of government officials. Two years ago Safa Rigby and her four children were enjoying an extended stay in Egypt when a phone call shattered her once-happy life with Hossny Ismail: "You think you know your husband. David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/the-inquisition-of-mark-steyn-and.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/the-inquisition-of-mark-steyn-and.html Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:18:00 EST Two years ago Maclean's, the oldest newsweekly in Canada, published an excerpt of Mark Steyn's book America Alone, which sharply critiques the ascendancy of Islam in a Western world suffering from "civilizational exhaustion." Activists led by Canadian Islamic Congress president Mohamed Elmasry filed complaints against both Steyn and Maclean's in multiple human rights courts last December, charging that the magazine "subjects Canadian Muslims to hatred and contempt." From June 2 to 6, the David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/cairs-islam-101-assembly-earns-a-failing.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/cairs-islam-101-assembly-earns-a-failing.html Fri, 6 Jun 2008 11:12:00 EST Students at Friendswood Junior High, a public school near Houston, TX, were recently subjected to a forty-minute assembly led by members of a controversial Islamist pressure group. Ensuing outrage over the "Islam 101" event — which pupils attended without the prior consent of either parents or the administration — has cost the principal her post: The news drew relief from some who were incensed by the May 22 presentation and concern from others who considered the assembly a good way for David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/christians-warned-not-to-evangelize-british.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/christians-warned-not-to-evangelize-british.html Tue, 3 Jun 2008 11:17:00 EST Earlier this year Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali sparked a controversy when he declared that Islamism is filling the void left by Britain's abandonment of its Christian roots, to the point that some parts of the UK are now "no-go areas" for non-Muslims. Recent events vividly underscore his message. Last February a pair of Baptist missionaries distributing leaflets in Birmingham, England, encountered an apparent no-go area firsthand — with police serving as its enforcers: Two Christian David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/uk-prison-service-shackled-by.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/06/uk-prison-service-shackled-by.html Sun, 1 Jun 2008 11:50:00 EST A leaked internal review paints a disturbing portrait of life at Whitemoor Prison, a high-security jail in Cambridgeshire, England. The report details an "ongoing theme of fear" among staff members, who believe that radicalized Muslim inmates are taking control of the facility and that a "serious incident is imminent." How did prison officials allow the situation to get out of hand? Political correctness: "Staff appeared reluctant to challenge inappropriate behavior, in particular among BME David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/minnesota-tortilla-maker-says-no-ms-to.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/minnesota-tortilla-maker-says-no-ms-to.html Fri, 30 May 2008 11:33:00 EST Minneapolis-St. Paul has seen more than its share of conflict over Islam in the workplace. Muslim taxi drivers were recently involved in a protracted row after refusing to serve passengers with alcohol or seeing-eye dogs. Last year it was reported that a local Target has exempted employees from handling haram pork products. And in 2005, the Celestica electronics firm terminated or suspended numerous Muslim workers for violating rules that govern prayer times. Fittingly, a Twin Cities-area food David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/gender-segregation-at-thirty-thousand-feet.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/gender-segregation-at-thirty-thousand-feet.html Tue, 27 May 2008 11:44:00 EST Calling for the separation of men and women is an increasingly common tactic of lawful Islamists. Earlier this year, Muslim students succeeded in persuading a popular Harvard gym to set aside female-only hours. Their counterparts on Australian campuses have requested gender-segregated eating and recreational facilities. Municipal swimming pools are often the target of similar demands. A passenger on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines came face to face with this trend during a trip home from Turkey: David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/prominent-catholic-priest-ready-for-sharia-1.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/prominent-catholic-priest-ready-for-sharia-1.html Thu, 22 May 2008 12:47:00 EST Pope Benedict XVI exhibits a keen awareness of the challenges posed by Islam in Europe and regularly speaks out in defense of Western values. It was thus no surprise that the Catholic Church reacted quite negatively when Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, asserted that the acceptance of some elements of Shari'a law in the UK "seems unavoidable." At the time, the Vatican's point man for relations with Islam called Williams' comments a David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/sharia-chic-struts-its-stuff-on-virginia.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/sharia-chic-struts-its-stuff-on-virginia.html Mon, 19 May 2008 11:16:00 EST The oppression of women under Shari'a law has no clearer embodiment than the apparel that renders them formless, if not faceless, in public. When the Western fashion sector embraces such attire, it sets a poor precedent for society as a whole. Examples abound. In December 2006, Marie Claire featured photos of glamorous women frolicking about Dubai in head and face coverings. A few months later, London Fashion Week premiered several outfits — obviously inspired by Islamic dress — that obscure David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/cartoon-chaos.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/cartoon-chaos.html Thu, 15 May 2008 13:01:06 EST Islamists can be rather sensitive about cartoons. In early 2006, worldwide riots erupted in response to caricatures of Mohammed that had been published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten several months prior. Recent cases in Canada and the U.S. demonstrate that lawful Islamists have taken up the burden of enforcing doodle dhimmitude. At the behest of a local Muslim group, police in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have opened a hate crime investigation over a cartoon that mocks a couple demanding David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/uk-firms-place-a-premium-on-sharia-compliant.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/uk-firms-place-a-premium-on-sharia-compliant.html Mon, 12 May 2008 09:26:01 EST Two years ago Gordon Brown outlined a plan to make Britain a world center of Islamic trade and finance. While his government maneuvers to become the first in the West to issue a Shari'a bond, the UK's private sector is already cashing in on the Muslim market. The advent of Islamic-oriented insurance policies represents the latest example: Britain's first independent Islamic insurance company has received authorization by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Principle Insurance will provide R. John Matthies http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/divorce-me-once-shame-on-you.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/divorce-me-once-shame-on-you.html Fri, 9 May 2008 16:39:55 EST The big news out of Maryland this week concerns a 21-page opinion on Islamic divorce, decided unanimously by the state Court of Appeals. And herein lies the rub: The justices have refused to recognize the talaq break-up, which requires that the husband address "I divorce thee," three times in succession, to his wife. The Baltimore Sun reports: Yesterday, the Court of Appeals rejected a Pakistani man's argument that his invocation of the Islamic talaq, under which a marriage is dissolved simply David J. Rusin http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/netherlands-trying-to-ban-burqas-yet-again.html http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2008/05/netherlands-trying-to-ban-burqas-yet-again.html Thu, 8 May 2008 13:41:40 EST The Dutch cabinet has moved to prohibit women in public sector jobs from donning the most extreme Islamic-inspired garments — the niqab, which covers one's face except for the eyes, and the burqa, which covers the entirety of one's body and head: The cabinet proposal to ban face-covering clothing for government functionaries in education and in public transport is supported by the Lower House. But the Christian Democrats (CDA) and Labour (PvdA) disagree over a ban in the health sector. The CDA