Belgium: Halal training for prison guards, doctors Prisons According to our sources, the Federal Public Service (SPF) of Justice will soon launch a pilot project to train personnel in prisons about the problematics of halal. Apparently, though it is difficult to obtain exact figures on the percentage of Muslims in Belgian prisons. observers agree that there are many religious Muslims there
UK: British Pakistanis raise flood aid through grassroots activism Via The Guardian : More than £3,000 has been put into the collection box at Mohammed Asif’s Gloucestershire shop. Those proceeds will be spent 4,000 miles away, in the north-western province of Pakistan, where the businessman’s extended family has constructed a soup kitchen for hundreds of flood victims. The aid supply chain linking Asif’s Oriental Food Store in Cheltenham to refugees flooding into the Pakistani city of Nushera is one of hundreds of ad-hoc relief efforts that British Pakistanis have begun organising while Pakistan’s government struggles to cope with the disaster.
UK: Young women ‘targeted by extremists’ Via BBC (h/t LibertyPhile ): A growing number of young Muslim women are being radicalised by extremists while studying at UK universities, according to a Muslim women’s group.
Scotland: Integration easier for Muslims than in England Via BBC : Integration is easier for Muslims in Scotland than in England, new research has suggested. The poll, for the British Council Scotland, also found six out of 10 Scots believed Muslims were integrated into everyday Scottish life. However, it also found that Scots have a less favourable opinion of Muslims than other religious groups.
The Guardian’s interest in Muslim fashion continues in an article published yesterday. I was recently contacted by a girl who was preparing a portfolio about British Muslim fashion. This was part of a project whereby girls from different Islamic schools in London took part in fashion workshops, and then had to create a portfolio in order to enter a competition and win a place at a 3-day course at the London School of Fashion! You can read more about it below.
Book Review: The Future of Islam LibertyPhile posted a review of The Future of Islam by John L.
EU: Seeking to combat homegrown terrorism Five years after the London bombings, in which 52 people died, homegrown terror remains a concern across Europe. More dialogue and a coordinated strategy is how EU countries hope to tackle the problem.
UK: Terrorism mostly homegrown Most terrorism in Britain is homegrown, according to the most comprehensive survey of those convicted of offences over the last 10 years. The Centre for Social Cohesion has compiled profiles of 124 individuals convicted of Islamic terrorism offences since 1999. It found that 69 per cent of offences were perpetrated by individuals holding British nationality
London: Gay nightclub owner slammed for Muslim boycott Community leaders have slammed XXL club owner Mark Ames today after he vowed to boycott British Muslims. The London nightclub entrepreneur promised to snub Muslim-owned businesses in response to racial unrest in East London. He also tried to justify his decision by reference to the death toll of British troops in Afghanistan, which has risen above 300
UK: Tory MP bids to ‘ban the burka’ A Tory MP has launched an effort to pass a law banning Muslim women from wearing the burka. Philip Hollobone will attempt to steer legislation through the Commons to regulate the wearing of “certain facial coverings”. The Kettering MP said his Bill would make it illegal for people to cover their faces in public “which would obviously have a big impact for those who wear full-face Islamic veils”.