“Diapers cost a lot,” said my friend, when we met on her visit to her home country five months after she had her first baby. She looked into my eyes, searching for acquiescence,”….right?” As our children lay playing around us, I nodded, and stopped myself in time from insensitively blurting out, “But this is just the beginning”. I knew how inappropriate that would sound to a new mother who was assessing the extra expenses related to her baby for the first time in her life. Understandably, she was going through the initial adjustment phase of becoming a new parent, and needed only encouragement from her experienced friends.

We all have our expenses: the bills, the monthly payments, and the extra expenditures that crop up out of nowhere, especially for those of us who have families to support, viz. parents and siblings, or spouses and children.

Shortly after we pass the two-decade milestone in our lives, we wake up to real life, and realize that it is not all eat, drink, and be merry. For some, this wakeup call comes much earlier due to straitened circumstances. For others, it might come a bit late – when they finally start shouldering more responsibility.

Either way, one inevitably realizes sooner or later in life that money is the life-blood we need to be able to keep bringing food to our tables, and that this money is earned through hard work. We should neither waste it on frivolities, nor should we withhold it from ourselves or others out of miserliness.

Additionally, we should never undermine the relationships we have with our families, because these bonds were created by Allah, and He records and rewards even the small, seemingly insignificant bits of good we do to them – even what we see as trivial, of the things we give them, that are included in their rights upon us.

Recently, I came across a hadith that really opened my eyes to how we should all look at our family-related expenses and liabilities. It also reminded me of the importance of one’s intention whilst doing mundane, everyday tasks that we really don’t view as acts of worship, such as buying one’s child a small toy, or going out for the weekly grocery run.

[أخرجه أحمد، والبخاري ، ومسلم]

It is narrated from Abu Mas’ud al-Badri [رضى الله عنه] that the Messenger of Allah [صلى الله عليه و سلم] said,

“Without a doubt, when a Muslim spends money on his family while considering (the action as worship), it is an act of charity”.

[Reported by Imams Ahmad, Bukhari and Muslim]

This short but profound narration gives us tremendous consolation: if we renew and rectify our intentions regarding spending on our family, to do so for the sake of Allah as an act of sadaqah (charity), Allah will count these expenditures as such, insha’ Allah.

The key words in the hadith are وَهُوَ يَحْتَسِبُهَا - meaning that the spender, whilst spending on his or her family should, in his heart, intend or consider that spending as a sadaqah. The words احتَسَبَ يَحْتَسِبُ اِحْتِسَابٌ imply to reckon something, to seek reward from Allah for something, to count something as eligible for  reward. In a verse of Surah at-Talaq, Allah mentions:

وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ

“And He (Allah) will provide for him (the believer) from where he does not expect/reckon; (from whence does not occur to his mind).” [65:3]

In the above verse, the same word is used to imply that the believer doesn’t “reckon” from where Allah will provide for him.

Therefore, we can conclude from the above hadith that we should “count” or “reckon” our spending (نفقة) on our families (اهل) as charity (صدقة) when we spend on them in any way, whether big or small.

We find ourselves inundated by extra expenses during some months of the year. This is especially so around vacation season, with the costly Islamic summer camp, the plane tickets required for importing parent(s) for the summer, or the shiny new workbooks to keep the children constructively occupied. We dread receiving the doctor’s bill and having to fill costly medicine prescription, upon taking a sick dependent to the doctor’s clinic. And we anticipate with some foreboding, magnanimous four-figure bills, as our children grow older and prepare for college.

Graduation parties, Eid dinners, transatlantic flights to reinstate biological ties and bring smiles across elderly faces. School fees, fuel and rent charges, furniture and electronics costs. Clothes and accessories, a mini van, a bigger home for growing broods. The list is endless. Sometimes, when we see no end to the costs in sight, yet almost always come face-to-face with the rock-bottom of our monthly/weekly budget, we do tend to get a bit down in the dumps.  That is the time when we need positive reminders that our spending, depending on our intention, will be counted as a charity, even through we’ve seen it as an “expense”.

There is absolutely no way that we can guarantee provisions for the ones whom Allah has brought into this world, as He is the Provider. However, He has entrusted us with fulfilling our responsibilities towards them, and these duties are their rights upon us.

We should keep reminding ourselves of the intention behind each and every thing we do. This will enable us to renew this intention, and hence ensure that our book of deeds records all our actions, even those that appear to the world as “expenses” or “liabilities”, as deeds truly done to please our Creator (with full اِحْتِسَاب).

Essen: German students bullied by Muslims

Often they’re ridiculed, often they’re even beaten. In class barely anybody speaks to them, they keep back, rarely voice their opinion – in short, they’re not integrated in school. But these are not immigrant children in a German school, but German children in a secondary school (5th-9th grades) in Essen.

German TV channel Das Erste reports.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

“They’re not threatened with a knife every day. but the children of immigration background clearly have their way here,” says the school principal. The female teachers have to deal with students saying “don’t speak to her, she’s just a German slut.”

“When it’s Ramadan, there’s a state of emergency. The last time it went so far, that they spit in our food,” says the home-economics teacher. “People always say that foreigners are discriminated, but here it’s precisely the other way around.” A Lebanese Arabic teacher says that the German way of living is very clearly being rejected by his students, the attitude is almost chic.

The German children respond with aggression or by over-adapting their behavior. In the playground you find them in the corners. Sebastian, an ethnic German 16 year old, feels bullied by the Muslim students, and is often involved in fights. Juli is a friend of the devout Saleh from Palestine. She calls herself a Muslims, which means: no parties, no alcohol, no sex.

The teachers try to respond t the situation with clarity and by upholding German laws and regulations, but also by mother-tongue classes and understanding for the Lebanese.

Source: Het Vrije Volk (Dutch), translated from Das Erste (German), h/t NRP

Denmark: Immigrants moving their children to Danish-majority schools

Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten reports that immigrant families are moving their children away from schools which have many bilingual children and to places where Danes are in the majority.

According to the Kolding municipality, 39% of the city’s immigrant children will start the school year in a school outside their own district. This is three times as many as by Danish children and an increase from last year’s 34%.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

Ib Hansen, the city’s children and education director says he’s happy that the bilinguals are spreading themselves out voluntarily.

In contrast, in Aarhus, bilingual students who do poorly on the language test, are bused from, for example, Gellerup park to the city’s Dane-dominated wealthy areas.

In Esbjerg, Odense, Copenhagen and Aalborg immigrant parents move their children away from school witha high ratio of bilinguals.

Klaus Majgaard of the Odense municipality says that they’re probably not that different all other parents who also want their children to go to a good, mixed school.

School registration to the Tornhøj school in Aalborg, which has many bilingual students, shows that just half of the district’s potential kindergarten students chose the local school.

Several people point out that it’s the children from the resource-rich immigrant families who are spreading themselves voluntarily. This means some schools might be further marginalizes, because they’ve already lost the Danish students and now they’ll lose the children from the most well-functioning immigrant families.

Ikram Sarwar (S), deputy chairman of the integration committee in Copenhagen says that now all the parents have the resources to freely choose their school and what is best for the child’s education, and that the schools risk losing the resource-strong children.

Source: JP (Danish)

Germany: Extensive report on immigrants

People sometimes focus on Muslim demographics in Europe. However, as this report shows, Muslims make up just a quarter (25%) of immigrants in Germany. Why the focus then? One reason is that Muslims are a very large group (either a majority or plurality) among the non-Western immigrants.

Still, Muslims make up such a small minority, why do people feel so threatened? There are several reasons, but the fact that is usually ignored in this debate is that while Muslims might make up 4-6% of the Muslim population in Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland and Germany, immigrants make up 20% of the population in those countries, and a majority or near majority in the larger cities, and this certainly affects the way the ‘locals’ see their culture and identity.

—————

How do migrants live in Germany? What jobs do they do? What sort of educational qualifications do they have? Are they active in sports clubs? And how long does it take them to find jobs? The report seeks to answer these questions by documenting the actual living conditions of Germany’s immigrant population on over 600 pages — from the cradle to pensioner’s housing.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

The paper reveals breakdowns in parenting and at schools, as well as in integration policies. For instance, migrants are not any more inclined to criminality than Germans if they have a residence permit. But the government has yet to come up with long term-rules on rights of residence. Above all it is in the field of education that the position of immigrants remains, now as it was before, appalling. The number of school dropouts has risen among immigrants, and they are almost twice as likely to be unemployed.

But other results are more encouraging, like the fact that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than previously and that they are increasingly becoming self-employed and starting their businesses.

“Germany must become a country of climbers — in all areas of society,” Böhmer said at the presentation of the report. But, she added: “We should not be satisfied yet,” concluding that there cannot be talk of equal opportunities for migrants having been achieved in Germany yet.

SPIEGEL ONLINE has outlined some of the report’s most-important results.

* Population: In 2008, Germany had 82 million inhabitants of which 15.6 million were from migrant families. That is 19 percent of the total population. Additionally, 7.3 million of these were foreigners. More than a third of all children under five years of age had a migrant background. In larger cities this was much higher. In Frankfurt, more than 65 percent of children under six come from an immigrant family. The most popular religion among immigrants is Islam, with around 4 million Muslims. Of these, 45 percent have a German passport.

* Nurseries and Kindergartens: More immigrants are sending their children to a nursury schools. Nonetheless, the average number of children with migrant backgrounds using these services nationwide is still 9 percent less than children with an ethnic German background using them. In 2008 in what were formerly the states of West Germany (excluding Berlin), 84 percent of immigrant children between the ages of three and six went to kindergarten. In 2007, it was only 73.5 percent. As for children under three with a migrant background, only around 9 percent went to a nursery school in 2008. For children whose parents were born in Germany, that figure was twice as high.

* Schools: The good news is that immigrant students are slowly catching up when it comes to school graduation. More children from migrant families are achieving higher school leaving qualifications, of an intermediate or advanced level. But 43 percent of migrants were leaving school with lower qualifications, such as a general certificate of secondary education, compared to 31 percent of those with German backgrounds. More devastating is the fact that in 2008, 13.3 percent of immigrants aged between the ages of 15 and 19 dropped out of school without graduating — a dropout rate twice as high as that of students with a caucasian German ethnic background. And the number of migrants dropping out of school has risen: In 2007, it was only 10 percent.

(more)

Source: Spiegel (English)

Oslo: Debate on swimming classes after brothers drown

Two Somali-Norwegian brothers drowned to death last Wednesday in Svarttjern, Romsås (Oslo). The two were playing football when the little brother (9) jumped into the waters and started drowning. His brother (12) tried to save him. Neither could swim.

The boys’ mother and older sister were there. When the police arrived, 15 people were there, and many of the witnesses said they couldn’t swim.

The accident occurred next to a school and a play area.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

Islamic Council: Exempt children from mixed swimming classes

In a commentary in Aftenposten’s paper edition, Mala-Wan-Naveen writes that many children in Oslo school seek exemptions from swimming classes. According to Naveen this is because the parents don’t want their children to swim or do sports in mixed classes.

Shoaib Mohammad Sultan of the Islamic Council of Norway emphasizes that they think it’s extremely important that all children learn to swim.

“Islam has basic rules on covering next to members of the opposite sex, which means that some parents will think mixed-sex swimming classes are problematic. In such situation it would be most appropriate to have dialog between the school and parents, to find practical solutions that take core of both the religious consideration, as well as the need for all students to learn to swim,” says

Sultan says a possible solution for to avoid the mixing some Muslims are responding to is for students to get exemptions from the regular swimming classes. They would then be obligated to go to acceptable private lessons.

“I think it’s fully possible to do this if you have the good will,” says president Per Rune Eknes of Norway’s Swimming Federation.

Eknes says that a study done last year showed that 50% of 10 year old in Oslo couldn’t swim. Among ten year old of immigrant background that increased to 70%. Eknes thinks the most important thing is for children to learn to swim, not how they learn.

“Children of an immigrant background have a different culture, tradition and religion than we do, and therefore different codes for how to act next to others. Many ethnic Norwegians also have help from the parents with swimming skills, while the ratio is smaller among the multicultural,” says Eknes.

Eknes supports the Islamic Council of Norway, who think it can be appropriate to take children out of ordinary swimming classes for religious reasons.

“It’s not so important how it’s done, as long as the youth learn to swim,” Eknes says.

Eknes thinks that regardless, it’s the school’s responsibility to ensure that swimming training is satisfactorily completed.

Minority researcher at NOVA, Ada Engebrigtsen, told VG Nett that geography is also a factor in why children of immigrant background look poorly in swimming research.

“Many immigrant parents grew up in other places, with a different geography and a completely different attitude to water. Their experiences with swimming are therefore not as good,” says Engebrigtsen.

She says it’s serious that many children in Norway can’t swim. According to the Norwegian curriculum, Norwegian schoolchildren should be comfortable in the water during 4th grade.

“The fact that many children don’t have the same basis for learning to swim is a problem should should be taken seriously. They should get a good [training] offering,” says Ingebrigtsen.

Gran School in Groruddalen teaches swimming in 4th, 7th and 10th grade. They also have an afternoon option and their own course for girls. Principal Anne Myhrvold says that swimming classes are obligatory and that they’ve adapted what they offer to meet the challenges.

“Those who want to swim with clothes that completely cover the body are allowed to do so. Additionally, we’ve introduced our own bathing suit with a hijab,” she says.

The principal at Mortensrud school, Leif Arne Eggen, says he would like to offer more swimming classes to his students.

“But again it’s a question of resources. If anything goes in, something must come out. Swimming can’t come at the expense of writing or reading,” he told VG.

The president of Norway’s Swimming Federation completely disagrees.

“You don’t die by not being able to read or write, but you do actually die by not being able to swim. As the last days have shown,” says Per Rune Eknes.

————–

Frp: “It’s apartheid”

Mazyar Keshvari of the Oslo Frp (Progress Party) thinks the Islamic Council of Norway proposal is objectionable. He thinks it’s wrong to divide children based on religion.

“The plan of the swimming federation and the Islamic Council of Norway resemble a type of apartheid. If Muslim children can’t swim with others, what will be next? That they won’t have gym together? You can’t separate children based on religion,” he told VG Nett.

Keshvari says that children should both play and swim together, regardless of religion and background. He doesn’t understand Muslim parents who deny their children this.

“I don’t have respect for such wishes, and I think the parents should being to act more civilized. I don’t want to take their religion from them, but in 2010 you should look differently at this. It’s more important that the children learn to swim, so that they don’t risk getting drowned, then that they swim in mixed classes.”

The Frp politician is supported by the head of the Oslo’s Liberal Party, Ola Elvestuen. He says swimming classes are mandatory and must apply to all students.

“Muslim students can swim with body-covering clothes if necessary. Additional regulations can also be considered by the individual schools, but you can’t give students exemptions from classes based on religious affiliation.”

Elvestuen thinks there should be additional resources so that all students know how to swim.

“The schools and parents should have a closer and better dialog about the importance of swimming. Secondly we should strengthen the students’ swimming skills,” he says.

Keshvari is committed to increasing the focus on swimming – especially after the drowning accident where two bothers died in Romsås, Oslo, Wednesday.

“This can also be done by introducing swimming tests, just like the tests carried out in other subjects. Students who don’t pass the tests, we’ll put in extra resources. In this way you’ll lift the weak students.”

————–

Mothers learning to swim

Nine women from India, Kurdistan, Ethiopia, Iraq and Somalia try hard to keep their body afloat in the swimming pool in Lambertseter Pool in Oslo. They are on a week long water-acquaintance course.

“I’m in this course for the first time. I’m here because I’m afraid of landing in a dangerous situation where I can’t swim,” says Amina Abdullah (37) from Kurdistan.

The accident where two bothers drowned made the immigrant mothers in the swimming course very concerned.

Many minority children have parents who can’t swim. The women think culture and religion are the reasons why neither they nor their children can swim well.

“Thirty years ago when I grew up in India, girls weren’t allowed to learn to swim. The couldn’t show their body in a bathing suit with men. Today the situation changed,” says Karmjit Kaur (41).

Iranian Nagah Imran (47) is a believing Muslim and mother to four teenage girls. All four go every week to a swimming course for girls.

“Islam doesn’t allow girls to swim together with boys,” says Imran.

The statement makes Indian Deepak Mahal (33) see red.

“Religion is not more important than saving lives. Life should always come first.”

Mahal wants even more swimming classes in the curriculum.

“My children had swimming classes just seven times during the school year. It’s not enough,” she despairs.

Source: VG 1, 2, 3, 4 (Norwegian)

See also:
* Norway: Swimming classes for Muslim girls pose dilemma
* Oslo: Debate about segregated swimming classes
* Norway: ‘there is no sneak Islamization here’
* Norway: County to adapt swimming classes for Muslim girls

Norway: ‘We want a Taliban-free Norway’

Norwegian Muslim Mohyeldeen Mohammad of Larvik praised Allah for the death of four Norwegian soldiers in Afghanistan Sunday. The statement caused Frp politician Jan Fredrik Vogt of Sande to demand a Taliban-free Vestfold and Norway and to call to deny the Muslim from returning to the county, be it as a ‘guest, resident or traveling through’.

Minutes after Norwegian media announced that four Norwegian were killed in Faryab province in Afghanistan, Mohyeldeen Mohammad posted the following on his Facebook page: “Allah Akbar! Norwegian terrorists killed in Afghanistan! Alhamdulillah, praised be Allah, this will be celebrated!”

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

Arfan Bhatti, who’d been acquitted on terrorism charges, agrees. “Norwegian soldiers are terrorists. They should take into account they will be killed,” Bhatti told VG Nett.

“It should be allowed to say what he does, but it should also be allowed to object. That’s what I’m doing. I was greatly provoked when I read what he had said after it was announced that four Norwegian soldiers were killed by a car bomb in Afghanistan,” Vogt told Nettavisen.

Q: When you urge people not to offer Mohyeldeen Mohammad housing, aren’t you trying to gag his statements?

“No, as stated he can express himself as he does, but it should be allowed to say that such elements are unwanted, as we do for example, in connection to establishing criminal motorcycle gangs. I will also draw a comparison to the time Brumunddal turned their backs on Arne Myrdal. The Vestfold community should also do the same to Mohyeldeen Mohammad.”

Vogt says that Mohyeldeen Mohammad take freedom of speech in Norway as a matter of course, while he attacks those who try to prepare the ground for democratic values in Afghanistan.

“I think that’s a big paradox. It’s even worse when he exults over the fact that Norwegian soldiers who participate in this mission are killed,” he said.

Q: But do you understand that it’s a different view of the US and NATO’s war in Afghanistan?

“Yes, it’s a different view, and Mohyeldeen Mohammad advocates a Taliban view. It’s important to remember that we aren’t there against the wishes of the Afghanis, but maybe against the wishes of the Taliban and some warlords.”

Vogt says he thinks Norway should participate in the mission in Afghanistan as long as it’s needed.

“If we pull out too early, the confidence in us from those who want freedom will be crushed. It will all be wasted.”

On his blog Vogt wrote as follows:

“I also want to urge not to exalt Mohyeldeen Mohammad’s statements as representative of Norwegian or ‘all’ Muslims. Neither he nor his yes-man, the hyper-criminal Arfhan Bhatti, deserve it. I would actually prefer that they both take a long walk off a short pier!”

Q: What are you trying to imply here?

“It was intended with a little humor. I want to say that those two need to cool down a little,” says Vogt.

Vogt’s party colleague in Larvik, the head of the local chapter Knut Anvik, doesn’t support Vogt’s call for a boycott.

“We didn’t discuss this in the local chapter, but my position is that people like Mohyeldeen Mohammad should instead be hushed up. He should be allowed to think what he does, but it’s sad to note that he has such opinions,” says Anvik.

Nettavisen tried to contact Mohyeldeen Mohammad by phone, so far without success.

One of the soldiers who was killed, Lieutenant Commander Trond André Bolle (41), had been involved in kidnapping the children of Norwegian-Moroccan Khalid Skah from Morocco. Last July the two children escaped their father and fled to the Norwegian embassy. Together with two friends from the Norwegian special forces, Trond André Bolle helped them get to their mother in Norway, Anne Cecilie Hopstock. The soldiers were off-duty and weren’t paid for the job. The case led to tensions between Morocco and Norway.

Sources: Nettavisen, VG 1, 2 (Norwegian)

For more on this story see:

* Norway: Mohyeldeen Mohammad is a security risk

* Norway: Sharia student continues to threaten
* Norway: 61.5% of Muslims think demonstrations are unreasonable, 44% see signs of radicalization
* Norway: Allah will decide if it’s peaceful

Netherlands: Misconception about the first Moroccan guest-workers

They weren’t all illiterate farmers from the Rif Mountains. The common image of the first guest-workers from Morocco was shattered in a conference in Rabat about 40 years of Moroccan immigration to the Netherlands.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

One morning, when he was at the market selling his meat, 30 year old Mohammed Gribi from Kenitra, a small city just north of Raban, heard that they needed butchers in the Netherlands. He immediately left his work and reported to the local employment agency. There he was met by two representatives of the then flourishing grocery chain De Gruiter, measured (1.72m) and subjected to a test to see if he could read and write.

“I had to write my name, my first name and birthday. After that I had to draw a cow, rabbit or sheep. I drew a tree and under it grass with a rabbit. They looked at it and said: “That is good, excellent!” More tests followed, to decide whether Gribi was healthy, handy with a knife and knew the anatomy of a cow. A short time later, he started walking in the Hague.

Mohammed Gribi’s testimony is just one of the fifty which were record by Annemarie Cottaar and Nadia Bouras in the book “Marokkanen in Nederland, de pioniers vertellen” (Moroccans in the Netherlands, the pioneers talk), which will be published this week. The authors, employed by the University of Leiden, were in Rabat for the past two days, at the invitation of the Dutch Institute in Morocco (NIMAR), which had organized a conference on the subject “forty years of Moroccan migration”. Exactly four decades ago, on May 14, 1969, the Netherlands and Morocco signed the so called employment agreement, which enabled Dutch companies to bring workers from Morocco.

At the conference in Rabat Cottaar explain that the testimonies of the ‘pioneers’ bring out a completely different picture than the one which is currently generally accepted about this first generation: that they were all illiterate farmers from the most backwards areas of the Rif, victims of unscrupulous companies, recruited to carry out the dirtiest work in the Netherlands. But, according to Cottar, the pioneers didn’t see themselves that way. They saw themselves rather as sturdy young men, who went to find adventure, who took a brave step in order to give their children a better future. They worked hard, certainly, but also enjoyed life in the free Netherlands. “Boy, we were wild,” says one of the pioneers in the book.

Moreover, many companies looked for educated employees, people like the butcher Mohammed Gribi. In the Limburg mine area, they also needed experienced workers.

A persistent misconception is that the first migrants were all recruited in the Rif, because Morocco wanted to get rid of their troublesome Rif people. Cottaar and Bouras’s figures show the opposite. Most workers were recruited in Agadir (mostly by the Dutch state mines) , in Fes (Bamshoeve) and in Marrakesh (by the state mines).

The fact that of the estimated 340,000 Dutch Moroccans today, 75% have origins in the Rif, is for different reasons. Many Moroccans came from the Rif to the Netherlands on their own. Many Rif residents who already worked in France or Belgium moved to the Netherlands since the working conditions were much better.

Source: Trouw (Dutch)

France: Riding the countryside in the Jewish-Muslim friendship bus

On a hot afternoon in early June, an unusual looking bus is parked in the central square of this historic city in eastern France.

Passers-by cast sidelong glances at the brightly colored portraits on its side accompanied by such slogans as “Jews and Muslims say no to discrimination” and “We are more alike than you think.”

It is the friendship bus, a project of the French Jewish-Muslim Friendship group, known by the acronym AJMF.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

Led by a rabbi and imam, the bus and its team spend five weeks every summer traveling through the French countryside hosting panel discussions, chatting with pedestrians, promoting dialogue, and holding out the hope of mutual respect and cooperation between two communities more often found at odds.

“This is our sixth summer touring France,” said Rabbi Michel Serfaty, AJMF’s founder and co-leader of the bus project with Imam Mohamed Azizi. “We fight discrimination and stereotypes, and try to break down the walls between our young people.”

Tensions run high between France’s estimated 6 million Muslims and 600,000 Jews. In addition to reverberations from the Israeli-Arab conflict, the relationship between the two communities in France has been exacerbated by a rise in religious extremism among its Muslims and their poor economic status. Many French Muslims, particularly the young people, are unemployed or working menial jobs. They are living in crowded suburbs like the one where a 23-year-old French Jew, Ilan Halimi, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by a gang of young Muslims in 2006.

“We have done a bad job teaching our children the importance of getting along with each other while maintaining their own identities,” said Morgi Madini, a Muslim and linguistics professor in Besancon who showed up for an AJMF discussion of Jewish and Muslim dietary practices. “We need this kind of rapprochement; we need to listen to each other.”

Few such initiatives exist in France; none besides this one is led by a rabbi and imam. Their partnering, and the fact that the work takes place on the streets and in schools, gives the AJMF project great access to France’s Muslim population, say Serfaty and Azizi. AJMF works with the Grand Mosque of Paris and the CRIF, the French Jewish umbrella organization.

Most Jews and Muslims in France have roots in the same region: the former French colonies of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. They share a similar culture and history, and many speak the same language, Arabic. That helps launch the dialogue, although it does not guarantee accord.

“There is a rupture between the third and fourth generations,” said Serfaty, who grew up in pre-independence Morocco speaking French and Arabic and interacting with his Muslim neighbors — something few young Jews and Muslims in France do today. “Jews have left the suburbs, and this young generation of Muslims doesn’t know any Jews. They have forgotten that their grandparents used to live together.”

“We do this work because no one else dares,” said Algerian-born Marc Dahan, a professor of applied mechanics and volunteer director of the AJMF branch in Besancon.

(…)

After three summers, Serfaty and Azizi decided to limit the summer tour to adults while continuing to work with troubled Parisian youths the rest of the year. The boys, Serfaty said, were a bit “unpredictable” on the road.

Serfaty says his goal is to create a cadre of young Muslim activists committed to peaceful relations who are not afraid to reach out to the AJMF when problems arise.

That has already happened.

Last November in Evry, a volatile Paris suburb, a Muslim activist who runs an afterschool program for underachieving Muslim children invited Serfaty to speak to her charges.

“She told me, ‘These children stink of Jew hatred,’ ” Serfaty said. “I told her that’s true everywhere, but I was glad to work with her.”

A Muslim community center in another Paris suburb invited him to talk to a group of Muslim women who wanted a Jewish perspective on the violence in Gaza.

“I went because this is what we want, the Muslim base reaching out to us,” Serfaty said. “It’s not the mayor calling us in.”

But it’s slow going. Elia Ktourza, AMJF’s program director, says some French towns don’t want to work with them.

“They’re afraid, they’d rather hide their problems,” she said.

(more)

Source: JTA (English)

Noway: Krekar press conference tapes published

Last week Mullah Krekar held a press conference for the foreign press in Norway. The foreign press were expected to ask their questions in Norwegian while Krekar answered in Arabic via translator.

Norwegian broadcaster NRK and Aftenposten both published a translation/summary of Krekar’s statements. NRK’s is an independent translation. The Norwegian security service is meanwhile working on getting a full transcript.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

The press conference was divided into several segments, which were posted online. The following is based on both summaries, and is probably a bit out of order. I might update the post as more quotes are published.

———

Part 1: Krekar feels unjustly treated

Krekar arrives at the pres conference and thanks those who are there for their interest in his case.

He say that he doesn’t wish to have contact with the Norwegian media because he thinks that he didn’t receive any sympathy from them.

Krekar also tells of how he feels unjustly treated by the Norwegian state and deprived of his rights, that he’s been attacked six times, but was never convicted though he’d been charged more than 40 times.

Part 2: Krekar tells of his Norwegian enemies and threatens Erna Solberg

Here Krekar tells of the three enemies he has in Norway: the political right wing, the intelligence service and the media. He also says who he thinks was behind the shooting at his apartment. Krekar thinks it was the Kurds, though nobody was suspected or arrested after the shooting.

He then threatens Erna Solberg. To the question of what he thinks might be the consequences if he’s deported from Norway, Krekar answers:

“My death will cost Norwegian society. Erna Solberg says Mullah Krekar should be deported from Norway and thrown to his death. Then she must pay a high price. Whoever takes her life, I don’t know. It can be Ansar al-Islam, al-Qaeda, my children or relatives. But she will pay the price regardless.”

To a direct question on whether the threat means that somebody will come to Norway and kill the person or persons responsible, Krekar answers:

“I say this with full awareness: if I die, the person who’s the cause of it will suffer the same.”

Q: You mean that somebody will be sent from Norway or abroad to kill?

“I don’t know how. I don’t have a plan for this, but my supporters won’t let this pass so easily.”

He ends by saying that his life isn’t hopeless.

“Had it been, then I would have carried out a suicide attack myself,” says Krekar.

Part 3: Krekar tells of the attack on the apartment, and his own backgrund – his wife has both the man’s and woman’s role at home

He explains why he thinks it wasn’t Arabs or Westerners, but rather Kurds, who were behind the shooting.

Krekar also boasts of the police efforts in the initial part of the investigation after the attack against him.

Krekar also speaks of his background, education, work, his interest in languages and books, that he’d read over 4,000 books and wrote over 40 books.

Also also says that he headed a party which was bigger than the Conservative Party, then he tells of how his wife has both the man’s and woman’s roles at home, since he doesn’t work and earn money.

In this clip he also tells of how he wanted to move to Cuba and become a communist and why he praises Osama bin Laden.

“People praise sports stars, the Jews praise Sharon, why shouldn’t we Muslims get to praise bin Laden?” Krekar asked rhetorically.

“One of the good things with Islam is that we describe things as they are. My description of Osama bin Laden is based on who Osama bin Laden is, a good, brave, Muslim and just man.”

“The West pesters us with Palestine, hijab and the cartoons, so we can get even by speaking about bin Laden, to give them a lesson and pester them a bit.”

After the hour and a half long meeting with the foriegn press in Norway, Krekar also defende his right to praise bin Laden.

“It’s not to provoke. It’s also not to provoke when Norway gives Obama the peace prize. You say your opinion, we say our opinion.”

Part 4: Krekar wished to go on the ship which were going to Gaza with aid

Here Krekar answers why he as a Muslim wanted to participate in the convoy with relief items which was supposed to go to Gaza.

Krekar says he wanted to participated in fighting against the Jews with his own teeth.

He tells also of why he went back to North-Iraq several times in the past few years, the same area he escaped from.

Part 5: Krekar talks about living in Norway and about his family. He says that Norwegian soldiers can be killed, but he doesn’t support terror attacks against civilians.

Here Krekar speaks again about the attack against his apartment.

“I think that the first attempt was well planned. It it will be repeated, it will be more difficult, because out opponents know that we’re watching out better than before.”

Krekar that those who attacked failed, and that nobody will succeed in getting him as long as the Norwegian state is not part of the planning. [ed: this means that Norway is now officially on notice as being responsible for his life, since if he dies, it must be Norway's fault]

Q: But a Palestinian in Norway was killed by the Mossad without the Norwegian state being involved?

“Everything is possible. I think the relationship between Norway and Israel is different than teh relationship between Norway and the PUK.”

Q: Are you afraid they will succeed?

“I am not afraid, but am more careful now.”

Krekar got questions on how he would have reacted if one of his children said they wanted to marry a Western non-Muslim.

“(laughter) I have four children. Two of them are married, so I hope I’ll avoid getting into this situation. For boys it’s not a problem marrying non-Muslims, but we try to maintain our traditions, our culture and our religion.”

“My children will get to like like youth here, as I’ve lived as a youth in my country. I will not interfere in their way of life, they’re good in school and make their own choices.”

“Two of my children are studying to be doctors, one is studying Arabic and media and the youngest was born here in Norway and says “Pappa, I want to be like Ronaldo”. I feel most sorry for him. He was seven when my case came up in court and he had fellow students coming with a newspaper to school with a picture of me and called me a terrorist.”

Q: What happens with you when you become sick, as you don’t have social security?

“I must be patient, as I was when I was in Kurdistan. I had a toothache for over two months before I found somebody I could trust to help me. Therefore I’ve become better at watching what I eat.”

Q: Have you tried making contact with Norwegian politicians to tell them of the situation you’re in?

“I think my case is well known. My laws tried to get to several solutions without success.

Q: What do you do during the day, since you can’t work?

“I know several languages and teach in Arabic and Kurdish. Many want to learn it. I like to read and am on the internet a lot.

Q: The Norwegian government wants Krekar deported, what did they take away his passport?

“(Laughter) It’s a joke. You give me the passport, I can travel out again and be killed in Mosul or wherever. But this isn’t just a case for Norway, it’s become a European case. They deport me, all of Europe will react. But what’s strange is that while I sit here Norwegian women are giving out Bibles in Afghanistan.”

Q: What do you think of the American government that wants you extradited?

“They’re lying, they have a document that shows that Krekar isn’t a problem in the US. I’m not wanted there, give me a visa and I’ll go there voluntarily. But because of my beard they will arrest me and take me to the US as a prisoner and not as a free man.”

Q: Are you still on the UN’s terror list?

“Yes I am. Two days after I was acquitted in Norway, I was blacklisted. They tried to pressure Norway, but they didn’t have enough to get me imprisoned. The legal system understood that it was a political game.”

Q: Are you thankful to be in Norway?

“Naturally I am grateful for getting to come to Norway”

Krekar was then asked what he thinks should happen to Norwegian soldiers in Iraq.

“Today it’s not Norwegians in Iraq, but anybody who contributed to occupying Iraq you can kill. If you were a Norwegian soldier and you went abroad it’s naturally right that you can be killed. Every day when I speak with people on the phone I answer “you have a right to kill the Americans. You don’t have a weapon, then throw your shoe at them and at all those who support the occupation in Iraq.”

As for Afghanistan:

“And naturally, if you are a Norwegian in Meymaneh or Faryab where the Norwegian soldiers are, it’s obviously proper to kill you.”

Q: Do you support terror attacks in the US?

“I don’t support any actions that kill civilians. It’s only allowed to kill in a war zone.”

Q: Do you know of Islam Net and their recruiting?

“No, I don’t know of them. I don’t have contact with mosques or Muslim organizations in Norway.”

Krekar was asked whether he regrets anything he said or did in Norway.

To that Krekar answered that he doesn’t regret anything, because he thinks he didn’t wrong anyone.

Krekar was also asked why he came to Norway as a refugee if it’s so bad here.

“I didn’t choose to come to Norway,” says Krekar and points out he was registered by the UN and that they were the one who decided to send him to Norway.

Sources: NRK, Aftenposten 1, 2 (Norwegian)

Germany: ‘Immigrants making Germany dumber’

A controversial board member of Bundesbank has come under fire for claiming immigrants are making Germany ‘dumber in a simple way’.

Thilo Sarrazin told a business group in Frankfurt that people arriving in the country from Turkey, the Middle East and Africa are less educated than those from other nations.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

The 65-year-old added: ‘There’s a difference in the reproduction of population groups with varying intelligence.’

In his speech this week, Mr Sarrazin, a former finance minister, cited what he called ‘ample statistics’ for proof.

He said the fact that immigrants tend to have more children than Germans – who have the lowest birthrate in Europe – meant this caused ‘a different propagation of population groups with different intelligence because parents pass their intelligence on to their children’.

Susanne Kreutzer, a spokesman for Bundesbank, said the comments are ‘the personal views of Mr. Sarrazin’ and declined to comment further.

But there is speculation now that his views may make his position on the bank‘s board untenable.

(…)

Mr Sarrazin has made no moves to say sorry for his latest remarks.

A spokesman for a Muslim group in Berlin said; ‘He is a tired old white Christian male full of prejudice and few ideas.’

(more)

Source: Daily Mail

* Berlin: Former minister calls to stop Muslim immigration

* Germany: Police investigate ‘Turks are conquering Germany’ comment