London: Youth jail inmates converting to Islam for protection, easier lifestyle

Via the Daily Mail:

A third of inmates at one of Britain’s most notorious youth jails are Muslims and the religion is attracting a large number of converts.

(…)

‘The popularity of the faith has surprised people. We are seeing a large number of inmates converting to Islam.’

He added: ‘There is a difference between mainstream believers and extremists, but the fear is that some in the jail are being radicalised.

‘Others convert for protection or to have what they believe is an easier lifestyle.’

(source)

Germany: Muslim car-pool service

Via TAZ (German, h/t Snaphanen)

Selim Reid (24) is the founder of MuslimTAXI, a Muslim ride-sharing service. The service is free, and is ad-supported. He says he thought of the idea because of complaints he heard that regular carpools don’t implement gender discrimination.

Reid immigrated from Iraq to Germany with his parents in 1996. He studied automotive and aircraft technology in Hamburg. He says he once organized a ride for his parents from Hamburg to Berlin, but when he brought his parents to the meeting point, it was clear that the driver did not like foreigners. The driver assumed the parents couldn’t understand German and since they couldn’t get off in the middle of nowhere, they had to listen to his rants the whole way.

Reid says his service is no different from how some Christian communities organize to help their members. He says non-Muslims are also invited to join.

His site allows people to choose the gender of the driver and passengers. He says until now it was difficult for Muslim women to use regular carpool services unaccompanied. He also says he’s heard of many affairs that started in such cars and that destroyed marriages.

He says the best thing about it is that it encourages Dawa. Since the Muslims who meet on his rides have only one thing in common – Islam. And this way other faiths get introduced to Islam. He goes on to say that Islam unites all religions and that there is only one true God.

Asked whether gender segregation isn’t a thing of the past, Reid answered that more and more people are converting to Islam, many of them women, and they adopt the headscarf of their own free will. Islam is unchanging and its principles are lasting, and so women will want to keep the headscarf even 1000 years from now. Islam is the true religion and since God is flawless, so is the religion he gave.

Reid says he already got 2,000 sign-ups, as well as thank-you calls and emails. He was also criticized, but he says that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

Oslo: Muslims call to boycott Islamic demonstration

Via Views and News from Norway:

Muslims themselves were urged to boycott a planned demonstration in front of the Norwegian Parliament on Friday by an Islamic group considered to be extremist. One local Muslim leader in Oslo claimed the group’s attitudes, actions and slogans actually violate Islamic principles.

Dr Usman Rana, the former leader of Muslimsk Studentsamfunn (the Muslim students’ society) and now a practicing physician, urged fellow Muslims to stay away from the demonstration that was organized to protest Norway’s presence in Afghanistan.

(source)

UK: Imams must reach out to youth, says cleric

Via ENInews:

Imams at British mosques have let down a generation of young Muslims by failing to reach young people who sometimes end up in prison, Ibrahim Mogra, chair of the mosque and community affairs committee of the Muslim Council of Britain, said.

Following the publication of a report showing that the number of Muslims in British prisons has rocketed over the last 20 years, Mogra told ENInews in an interview on 11 January that most Muslim clergy and mosques have finally realized that in houses of worship they are preaching only to the converted.

“They are now taking their message out to the youth,” he said, “and this is excellent. The cocktail of issues facing young people today — broken homes, difficulties with arranged marriages, drugs, the absence of male role models — requires a unified effort. I am convinced that more and more imams and mosques will rise up and join that effort.”

(source)

Bosnia: Muslims want RS Day declared “genocide day”

Via B92:

Islamic organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina demanded, in completely identical statements, that the Republic of Srpska (RS) Day be declared the genocide day.

The RS celebrates its national day on January 9.

Citing rulings of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, they said the entire month of January should be declared “the day of truth” because of the genocide committed by RS institutions against the Bosniaks in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

(source)

Bosnia: Muslims urged to “boycott New Year”

Via B92 (h/t Jihad Watch):

The Islamic Community in Bosnia-Herzegovina has called on Muslims in that country to boycott the upcoming New Year celebrations.

By taking part, said the organization, they would “violate Allah’s boundaries, and do something their master hates and despises”.

The Islamic Community statement on Wednesday quoted from a book by Almir Dumica, entitled, “Pearls of the Sunnah in the Mosaic of Time”:

“On that night, turn off the lights early and let everyone see you’re boycotting everything happening on that night. Do not fear anyone’s objections. Don’t you have a right to choose? Do not say, ‘how can I do that, I will change nothing, most people do it… I will be declared a black sheep’.”

(source)

Bosnia: Serb leader criticized for spreading “hate against Muslims”

Via AKI:

Spiritual leader of Bosnian Muslims Reiss Ul-Ulema Mustafa Ceric on Tuesday accused Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik of “spreading intolerance and hate against Muslims and Islamic values”.

In a letter to the ambassador of several Islamic countries to Sarajevo, Ceric demanded that Dodik “and his protectors and mentors in Belgrade” be proclaimed “persona non grata” in their countries.

Dodik, president of Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska, has criticized in his recent statements Bosnian Muslim leaders for allegedly trying to subjugate the other two ethnic groups, Serbs and Croats.

(source)

Belgium: Sharia4Belgium calls on Muslims to turn Belgium into Sharia state

Full clip here, via MEMRI.

Norway: Muslims not the reason for dropping school Christmas celebration

A couple of days ago I posted about a school in the Norwegian city of Drammen that decided to drop Christmas from its Christmas celebration. This started off a major debate, with commentators blaming Humanists and Muslims for this step. However, according to the school principal, this had nothing to do with Muslims or students of a foreign cultural background.

Via Drammens Tidende (Norwegian):

Principal Tove Fredriksen says this measure was taken to protect students from Norwegian religious minorities who do not celebrate Christmas. Despite the impression people got, it was not done out of consideration of Muslim students.

“The decision to have a neutral Christmas celebration without Christmas hats and other traditional items and elements was made with the best of intentions.”

“The goal was to be able to include everybody and specifically in this case, also students from Norwegian religious minorities. Since this involves children, I don’t want to go further into which minorities these were,” says Fredriksen.

Scotland: Muslims join Evangelicals in fighting same-sex marriage bill

Via TNT Magazine:

Religious groups in Scotland are mounting a campaign to block the Scottish government’s proposals to introduce same-sex marriage.

(…)

Scottish Muslims have also threatened a withdrawal of support for the Scottish National Party (SNP) should the definition of marriage be redefined to include gay couples.

Salah Beltagui, of the Muslim Council of Scotland, said: “Generally, support for the SNP [among Scotland’s Muslim Community] has been strong, but if this goes on, it might change things.

“If you go back a few years, Labour was getting the majority of the vote and after Iraq it eroded very strongly, so it takes one issue like that to change things.”

Beltagui added: “Our community as a whole are all of the opinion that the family should not be changed in definition. A family is a man and a woman and children.”

(source)