Moscow: High-ranking Interior Ministry officials suspected of extortion from Muslim community Via Interfax : Federal Security Service officials have submitted to the Prosecutor General’s Office materials stating that several high-ranking officials from the Interior Ministry’s Main Department for the Prevention of Extremism extorted a large amount of money from a Moscow Muslim community, Kommersant daily reports. “The Federal Security Service officers obtained information that a major extortion incident had occurred in the Moscow Lefortovsky market before the New year holidays. According to that information, a group of police officers went to the market under the pretext of an inspection, suspended the market’s operation and demanded 1 million rubles from traders for permission to resume work,” Kommersant writes

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Norway: Lawyer calls to stop ‘Islam’s incursion into Europe’ Via Nordlys (Norwegian): Prominent lawyer Brynjar Østgård wants to stop Islam in Norway and thinks Islam threatens Norwegian culture and social order. “It’s difficult to find a Muslim-dominated country with the same social order we have

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Belgium: Muslim executive ‘under control of foreign countries’ Via HLN (Dutch): “Belgian Muslim bodies are definitively under the control of foreign countries. The Muslim Executive will now be led only by people who will prioritze the interests of their land of origin over those of Belgian Muslims,” says the AMDB (Democaratic Alternative of Belgian Muslims), who say they unite ‘all components of the Muslim community’ in Belgium.

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Netherlands: PM says headscarves are not a symbol of oppression Via RNW : In a weekly meeting with the press, Prime Minister Mark Rutte has backed remarks made yesterday by Queen Beatrix that it is “nonsense” to say the Islamic headscarf is a symbol of women’s oppression. (…) Today, he added the queen’s comments were “completely right”. He said Mr Wilders’ comments on headscarves being a symbol of oppression were much too general, “There are lots of women who wear headscarves, they are not all oppressed.” ( source )

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Sweden: Teachers free to ban Islamic veils Via the Local : Teachers in Swedish schools can, in certain situations, prohibit students from wearing Islamic veils that reveal only their eyes, the country’s school’s agency has ruled. The ban covers clothing that could hinder interaction between students and teachers or which could pose a specific risk, such as in a laboratory. However, a general ban on headscarves isn’t possible

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By Camilla Morrison In the early days of Islam, a few companions of the Prophet were fleeing persecution in Mecca and sought refuge in Abyssinia.

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Vienna: Racist youth check causes controversy Via Austrian Times : A sociologist has questioned the results of a disputed study on Austrian teens’ attitudes. Newspaper commentators, integration experts and radio talk show hosts engaged in a heated debate about the outcome of the latest examination by the Austrian Institute for Youth Culture Research.

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Today’s post is a giveaway and review in one…Hijab Style is giving you the chance to win a Tribal Treasures Silk Satin Jalabiya from Wahat Aljalabiya . To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is click here to visit the giveaway page, and enter your email address and a description of the Tribal

Christmas and Muslims: Tradition vs. Religion I’ve been running behind with various stories, and so only now I’ve gotten around to some of the Christmas stories. While I was summarizing them up, I realized they all revolve around the same motif: Is Christmas a religious holiday or a traditional national-cultural holiday

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Malmö: Jews march against antisemitism Via Världen Idag (Swedish, h/t JIHAD I MALMÖ ): A small group of Jews marched in Malmö last Saturday against antisemitism.

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