Is Europe setting up clash between Muslims and the West?

Via CNN:

Europe and the Muslim world seem to be on a collision course that could have major political, economic and ideological ramifications. January 23, 2012, may well come to be remembered as the crucial date when Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” thesis, which many of us believed discredited beyond repair, was reaffirmed.

Political scientist Huntington wrote in 1993 that cultural divisions preclude a defining global civilization, and the West and the Muslim world would never share the same values.

Last month, Europe took two different actions that nonetheless sent the same message to the Muslim world: You are not our equals and are doomed to be judged by standards different from those by which we judge ourselves. Future historians might call January 23 the day when Europe irreversibly alienated not one, but both, pivotal powers — Iran and Turkey — that in all probability will dominate the political landscape of the Middle East for several decades.

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Bishr Hafi was from among the great saints. However, initially he used to be intoxicated with wine. Once he found a piece of paper on the road on which bismillah was written. He picked it up with love, placed it on his eyes, respectfully applied perfume to it and kept it away with reverence. Then he drank some wine and slept away.

In the meantime Hasan Basri was inspired that he should give glad tidings to Bishr Hafi and bring him out of the tavern.

With the command of Allah, Hasan Basri went to the tavern. The people looked at him astounded and asked him what the mater was. Why did he come to the tavern? He replied, “You people are correct but I have not come here on my own. Allah has sent me to fetch Bishr Hafi. Therefore tell me where he is”

The people pointed out Bishr Hafi who was lying down in a stupor. Hasan Basri went to him and saw that he was in a state of negligence and intoxication. He somehow managed to revive him and take him away.

When he has completely recovered, he conveyed the glad tidings of Allah to him. A sound from the unseen was heard, “O Bishr, you respected My name. Therefore I increased your honour. You purified My name and applied fragrance to it. I have purified you of sins as a result and applied My fragrance to you.”

In this manner, in a few moments he changed from alcoholic to a perfect Wali. Glory be to Allah! What mercy He has. By respecting the name of Allah, He granted him admission to the group of the Auliya.

The mercy of Allah does not require any excuse
while the power of Allah requires an excuse.

This was in reality the favour of Allah otherwise what power does man have?

Source: The virtues of Bismillah by Mufti Shafi Sahib rahmatullah alayhi via Sufi Zikr

Related posts:

1. Bishr and the People

London: Muslim women to get self-defence training

Via Islington Tribune:

A TAEKWONDO champion is teaching Muslim women how to defend themselves, after a series of vicious street attacks.

Theresa Thomas, 52, has been snapped up by the One True Voice women’s charity to run classes for women wearing the hijab, who have become targets for muggers.

“I first heard about this when I was running an Asian women’s self-defence group in East London,” she said. “Then when I came to work in Finsbury Park, after One True Voice asked me, many of the women told me that muggers had been deliberately targeting them, taking the pin from their hijab and stabbing them in the head with it.”

She said the women found it hard to defend themselves because they were often carrying shopping bags or had children with them.

(source)

EU: Syrian embassies attacked by protestors

The Syrian embassy in London was attacked Saturday by a small group of angry protestors. Similar scenes played out in the past couple of days in Athens and Berlin.

EU: ‘Being too Western’ reason for 71% of ‘honour’ killings

Via the Irish Independent:

Yes, it’s a cultural rather than a religious thing, stemming from some nasty tribal customs of South Asia and the Middle East, but though Hindus, Sikhs and the odd Christian might be perpetrators, the blunt truth is that honour killings are mainly Muslim-on-Muslim (91 per cent worldwide, 84 per cent North America, 96 per cent Europe).

Worldwide, two-thirds of victims (93 per cent women) were killed by their families of origin: 49 per cent in North America, 66 per cent in Europe and 72 per cent in Muslim countries. More than half the victims died in agony, having been either gang-raped or burned or stoned or beheaded or stabbed many times.

Being ‘too Western’ did for 58 per cent: this includes being insufficiently subservient, rejecting Islamic dress, wanting a career, having non-Muslim friends or boyfriends, rejecting an arranged marriage or leaving an abusive husband. This criterion covers 91 per cent of North American murders, 71 per cent of European and 43 per cent in the Muslim world. Offences against sexual propriety (eg being raped or accused of adultery) were the justification for the other murders.

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France: Not all civilisations equal, minister says

Via AFP:

French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, who also holds the immigration portfolio, caused political uproar by claiming that not all civilisations are equal, with some more advanced than others.

“Contrary to what the left’s relativist ideology says, for us all civilisations are not of equal value,” Gueant on Saturday told a conference in the French parliament building, but closed to the media.

“Those which defend humanity seem to us to be more advanced than those that do not,” he argued in his speech at a meeting organised by a right-wing students group.

“Those which defend liberty, equality and fraternity, seem to us superior to those which accept tyranny, the subservience of women, social and ethnic hatred,” he went on his speech, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

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France: Not all civilisations equal, minister says

Via AFP:

French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, who also holds the immigration portfolio, caused political uproar by claiming that not all civilisations are equal, with some more advanced than others.

“Contrary to what the left’s relativist ideology says, for us all civilisations are not of equal value,” Gueant on Saturday told a conference in the French parliament building, but closed to the media.

“Those which defend humanity seem to us to be more advanced than those that do not,” he argued in his speech at a meeting organised by a right-wing students group.

“Those which defend liberty, equality and fraternity, seem to us superior to those which accept tyranny, the subservience of women, social and ethnic hatred,” he went on his speech, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

(source)

Germany: Politician Blasted for Support of Islamic Law

Via Spiegel:

Most politicians in Germany have gotten the message: The quickest way to spark a career-damaging controversy is to make a facile comment about Nazis or the Holocaust. Media critics and political opponents are quick to pounce.

But that isn’t the only way to attract unwanted attention, as Jochen Hartloff, the interior minister of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, found out this week. In an interview with the Berlin tabloid BZ, Hartloff said that Sharia law, in a “modern form,” would be acceptable in Germany. In comments published on Friday in the center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, he added that Islamic moral code “is certainly conceivable when it comes to questions pertaining to civil law.”

Hartloff, a politician from the center-left Social Democrats, made clear that he was referring specifically to family law issues such as divorce settlements and alimony, but also certain instances of contract law in which devout Muslims seek to avoid paying interest. Applying Sharia rules, he said, could help avoid hostility in such cases.

(source)

Germany: Politician Blasted for Support of Islamic Law

Via Spiegel:

Most politicians in Germany have gotten the message: The quickest way to spark a career-damaging controversy is to make a facile comment about Nazis or the Holocaust. Media critics and political opponents are quick to pounce.

But that isn’t the only way to attract unwanted attention, as Jochen Hartloff, the interior minister of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, found out this week. In an interview with the Berlin tabloid BZ, Hartloff said that Sharia law, in a “modern form,” would be acceptable in Germany. In comments published on Friday in the center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, he added that Islamic moral code “is certainly conceivable when it comes to questions pertaining to civil law.”

Hartloff, a politician from the center-left Social Democrats, made clear that he was referring specifically to family law issues such as divorce settlements and alimony, but also certain instances of contract law in which devout Muslims seek to avoid paying interest. Applying Sharia rules, he said, could help avoid hostility in such cases.

(source)

Russia: Islamist chief orders halt to civilian attacks

Via Expatica:

The leader of Russia’s Islamist rebels ordered a halt to attacks on civilians, saying mass opposition protests showed the public no longer supported Vladimir Putin, according to a video posted Friday.

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“I order all special groups that are carrying out or plan to carry out special operations in Russia to put a halt to these operations that could hurt the peaceful population,” Doku Umarov said in a video address posted on the rebel mouthpiece kavkazcenter.com.

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