Discuss Islam

Biblical prophecies reveal the Antichrist is going be a Muslim from the Middle East, Christ will ride on the clouds into Egypt, Turkey will invade Israel and the United States will be victorious in the fight against the Antichrist, Walid Shoebat told a crowd of about 120 Friday.

The self-described former terrorist and Islam-to-Christianity convert spoke in Lubbock at a special insight rally hosted by Insight USA.

Insight USA, according to its president and CEO Faye Hardin, is dedicated to praying for and working against what she believes is the collusion of environmentalists and some U.S. government officials to take Americans’ land in the name of environmentalism.

Hardin invited Shoebat, she said, “because Walid Shoebat teaches (and) confirms with the Scriptures that God is going to judge the Middle East, and America is going to be saved. Our oil is going to gush. Our gas is going to gush. He is going to remove people who have the control, and we’ll be the largest oil and gas producers in the world — based on what the Bible says.”

Questionable points

“(Shoebat) was misleading people about Islam and Muslims and putting fear in people’s hearts,” said Samer Altabaa, imam of the Islamic Center of the South Plains.

Altabaa attended the 1.5-hour morning session of Shoebat’s Friday talk — Altabaa had to leave midday for prayers — and took issue with a number of Shoebat’s statements about Islam and Christianity.

“I would say that this guy looks like he came from extreme Islam to extreme Christianity,” Altabaa said. “It looks like he loves extremism.”

Shoebat said he was born of a Christian American mother and a Muslim Palestinian father, raised in Bethlehem and was born with and retains U.S. citizenship.

His claims about his terroristic past have been called into question by several news organizations, including CNN, regarding his claims about his time spent in an Israeli jail, his participation in the bombing of an Israeli bank and his active involvement in terrorism.

Shoebat, in turn, raises questions about the validity of the news sources themselves and their information-gathering.

For example, he said, his jail time would have been filed under his former name, which he refuses to release for fear of his own security.

He appears on television and in speaking engagements. when he does so, he often speaks of what he views as Islam’s extremism.

Extreme Islam

Altabaa denies Shoebat’s accusations of Islam’s inherent extremism.

He points to many American mosques’ dedication to interfaith dialogue and Quranic verses disallowing Muslims to commit violent acts if they have not been personally, violently attacked.

“If he is right about his history,” Altabaa said, “he was raised among some extremists, so this (is) what he knows about Islam — some extremist thoughts that he learned from the environment where he used to work — because he said he used to work with the terrorist people.”

In his talk Friday, Shoebat led listeners through a whirlwind study of the Christian old Testament, using Scriptures in Amos, Joel, Daniel, Isaiah and Ezekiel to support his interpretation of end-time prophecies and current events.

One of his missions, he said in an interview before the event, is to tell Americans the United States is not doomed, as some prophecy-interpreters hold.

In addition, he wants to warn of what he sees as the desire in North Africa and the Middle East to unify the region under a single caliphate, or Islamic rule.

Shoebat seemed to see himself in the tradition of biblical prophets, saying during his talk, “I’m trying to lose my job” and “Ask Noah if he liked his job. ask Moses.”

The norms

Shoebat also spoke at length on Islam, quoting Arabic terms he said allow adherents to act stealthily, make assimilative concessions and lie to further jihad.

Altabaa said the terms Shoebat described as intrinsic to Islam are not mentioned in the Quran. Rather, the terms are cultural norms practiced by some, but not all, Muslims. still, the norms were not as nefarious as Shoebat portrayed them, Altabaa said. One, for example, stated it is permissible to lie when in danger — for example telling robbers you don’t have money when they demand it.

The book of Hadith — a non-Quranic book not agreed upon as canonic by all Muslims — states lying is permissible in certain wartime circumstances or to bring about peace between individuals, Altabaa noted in an interview Thursday.

“I never came to a verse (in the Quran) where it says it’s OK to lie — to Muslims or to non-Muslims or to anyone.

But I have come to many verses where it says the curse of God on those who lie,” as he noted the Quran states in chapter 3, verse 61.

As Shoebat spoke of the United States’ role in biblical prophecies, his audience frequently greeted his remarks with enthusiastic applause.

Attendee Deanne Clark said she enjoyed Shoebat’s words and hoped to listen to a recording of the talk to better absorb his interpretations.

The talk, though, Clark said, was a bit opaque.

A MUM accused of murdering her seven-year-old son told police he was reciting from the Koran as he collapsed, a court has heard.

In one of a number of differing dramatic statements she made after city schoolboy Yaseen Ali Ege died, Sara Ege described him standing on their red dining room carpet just hours before firefighters carried his body from their burning home.

Cardiff Crown Court heard Ege told police: “He had been reading his books and I went in to listen to him and sat in the dining room.

“He said, ‘Mum, my legs are shaking’ and suddenly he fell down.

“his legs were shaking and he fell straight down.

“He was still reciting the Koran and I was trying to wake him up.

“He was saying, ‘Yes mum…yes mum’ so he was still listening but he wouldn’t get up – he was just reciting.”

University graduate Ege, 31, who denies murder and perverting the course of justice by starting a fire with barbecue gel, said what happened next was like a dream.

She said she carried her child upstairs and went back down to clean up because he had soiled himself as he collapsed from what were later found to be severe abdominal injuries.

She added that when she returned to his bedroom, he was lying on a rug on the floor and she heard noises coming from him.

“This stuff was coming out of his nose and it was, like, he was gone,” she said.

“I tried to wake him but his heart wasn’t beating.

“I was lifting him up saying, ‘No! Yaseen!’”

Ege – who later withdrew these comments, blaming her husband and another relative – said she caught sight of herself in a mirror and was distressed. she described how she started pulling at her own hair, panicking, and thinking “What happens now?”

In the July 12 interview, she said she remembered a swelling on her son’s side and back from where she had hit him with a stick before Easter.

“I never thought anything,” she told a police officer in answer to questions.

“I just went downstairs got that and did that!”

She was then asked: “At what point did you decide to get barbecue gel and a lighter?”

“Straight away” she replied.

“I ran to the kitchen and got it. This happened and it just came into my mind.

“I can’t explain what was the thought.

“I opened under the sink unit and took the two things out.”

She was asked: “What were you thinking of doing?”

“Burning Yaseen,” she said, quietly.

“I wasn’t thinking, I just went very nervous. It is the same thing over and over again.

“When I used the stick, it wasn’t my intention.

“I can’t explain – I loved my son so much – he was so good.

“I just blame my tablets for it – I blame my anger and my loss of control.

“I can’t put it all together. It was never my intention to harm my son.”

She was asked to describe how the fire at the “well appointed” family home in Severn Road, Canton, started.

Ege said: “I put most of the barbecue liquid on the rug where he was lying and I lit it.

“It was all dark in the room and I dragged him to the doorway and put more on the carpet then I lit the carpet on two or three stairs.

“I think I pulled him to the fire.”

She also told the police how she had been trying to stop herself hitting Yaseen and she had definitely not struck him for four days before his death but could not be sure about that day.

She said: “It comes to me in the night – I wake up.

“I keep on thinking, did I do something that day – did I beat him that day – but nothing is coming back to me. I’m trying to recall but I can’t remember.”

Some sections of her long police video interviews are being read to the court while others are being played on screens for the jury.

Both Ege and her husband Yousef Ali Ege, 36 – who is charged with failing to protect their son – wept in the dock as the video was being shown.

Yousef Ege, who at the time had two jobs as a taxi driver and postman, denies the charge.

At first it was thought Yaseen, who firefighters fought to save, had been a victim of the blaze.

But he was later found to have been dead before it started, said prosecutor Ian Murphy QC.

Doctors found he had previously suffered bone fractures and had died from the injuries to his abdomen which led to organ failure.

Further interviews are due to be put before the jury on Thursday.

But they said, "those are things that we can live with. what we can’t live with is the general disrespect shown to us as Iraqis and to our country." that they’re so dismissive of Iraqi capabilities, of their ability to run the country, their ability to do anything.

The Afghans who have been quoted about the Koran burnings say some of that too, that they don't respect our country. [Along those lines, the Times recently quoted a shopkeeper named Wali Aziz, who said, "they are careless with our holy things, and they are careless with our country."]

The larger context of the Koran burnings is what actually drives people’s responses. In some sense it’s about power, that the U.S. has the power to do this.

Did [U.S. Marine Corps Gen.] John Allen say the right things in his apology? how well do you think they handled it?

I was surprised in a good way. he was obviously taken totally by surprise. There’s no reason a person in charge of a base should even know about the disposal of a bunch of stuff. I thought the U.S. response has actually been quite genuine and concerned. they really are trying to win hearts and minds.

But I think the larger thing to keep in mind is that it is about the U.S. occupation of these countries. It’s not about Muslims. It’s not about the Koran. These are the triggers. But the reason these things happen [the massive protests] is because the U.S. is the most powerful force in Afghanistan.

That seems like such a broad problem — that people resent the power dynamic. is there any way around that problem?

It is, in a sense, the fundamental conundrum in which people are put when there’s a military occupation. But I think it goes back to a larger problem, when the Bush administration conceived of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Both of those things were conceived of as temporary, targeted missions. the military was asked to go in, attack Al Qaeda and unseat the Taliban, get rid of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Then the U.S. military was tasked with this idea of nation-building, which has to be one of the most offensive terms they could use. To build a nation implies that you have to create a nation. Iraq was a nation. To turn around and call it rebuilding the Iraqi nation, it rubs people the wrong way.

Did the people you interviewed actually bring up that term -– “nation building”?

The term wasn't used in Arabic. But people were aware that that’s what was happening — the building of Iraq without hiring Iraqis to do most of the work.

What kind of training does the U.S. military get about Islam and Muslim cultures?

They usually get very basic information about the five pillars of Islam and about Ramadan, that Ramadan is a holy month. (Pauses.) I’m struggling because there’s not much more than that.

They get more cultural information about languages and people, what languages different groups speak, in the case of Afghanistan. In the first couple of years they were essentially given pamphlets or shown PowerPoints  – now it's much more interactive. they send people to mock villages. some people use those occasions to talk to the people playing Afghan villagers about what they should be doing.

There are also some computer-based trainings where they have to make decisions about how to approach — if they choose Scenario a, one thing happens, if they choose Scenario B, another thing happens. the change has been good because we don’t learn culture by reading things about each other. We learn by experiencing it.  

But the military is really there to do a job, and that job does not include respecting religion. they would say, "We’re being shot at, we’re being blown up." {Former Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and his whole crew bear a lot of the blame for this. very early on in Iraq they worked very hard to keep the State Department and all of the civilian corps out of anything in Iraq. they wanted it to be a largely military thing.

I'm not blaming the military. they were handed a task that they were utterly unprepared for. They’re not out there to be shaking hands and kissing babies.  They’ve of course had to do it, because they don’t get to say no.

You have done many, many interviews with Iraqi refugees and U.S. servicemen and women about these issues. what other things have people said upset them?

A U.S. Marine told me he was working with an Iraqi general. they were on the U.S. base and the U.S. serviceman invited the Iraqi general over to the store on the base and he wanted to buy him a soft drink, a soda pop or something, because Iraqis are always serving the Americans tea and he wanted to reciprocate.

They get to the store and there are two Ugandan guards at the door and they won’t let the Iraqi in because he’s an Iraqi national. And the Marine is mortified. the Iraqi general is livid. he says, "this is my country and your system won’t even allow me to go into the store on the base?" These things come up over and over again in people’s lives.

Have you seen any success stories?

There are tons of them on the individual level. one of the reasons the situation isn’t worse is because of many good individuals, Americans, Iraqis and Afghans who try to get beyond these kind of issues.

I think they are taking culture much more into consideration because they realize they have to keep going back to a particular village and they have to do it right to make it easier in the long run.

I’ve been talking to some of the bomb squad guys, who said that before, they’d blow into some place, get everybody out and dismantle the bomb. the guy I interviewed recently said, "when we know there’s an IED somewhere, we go to whoever's land it's on and we sit down and talk to them and tell them what we’re going to do and tell them we’re going to try to protect their property and thank them. because we know we’re going to have to go back."

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Alleged Koran burning: Afghan anger, contrite U.S. apology

Second day of protests in Afghanistan over mistaken Koran burning

After alleged Koran burnings, Afghanistan forces to get new training

– Emily Alpert in Los Angeles

Photo: Afghans shout slogans during an anti-U.S. demonstration in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Wednesday. the banners in Arabic read, "God is great, there is no God but Allah, Muhammad is his messenger." Credit: Rahmat Gul / associated Press

LAWRENCE — in a suite of the 300,000-square-foot mill building, boys and girls are learning their ABCs, math and science, as well as Arabic and the Koran. This is Knowledge Academy, a Muslim school where 65 American-born children whose parents come from Libya, Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Iraq, Bangladesh, Somalia, Uganda, Colombia, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Palestine are learning about their heritage. “as a parent, I wanted a place where they get nurtured,” said Muhammad Abuzar of Salem, N.H., chairman of the school board. “here, they are getting a balance of Western and Eastern education and are getting closer to the culture.” Knowledge Academy is a non-profit private school founded in Andover by Oya Bozkurt of Lawrence two years ago. it moved to Heritage Place last year when it outgrew the original facility. She said there was a need to open the school. “here, they are in an Islamic environment where they learn Arabic and Islam along with other classes that can supplement that,” Bozkurt said. “it helps them with their identity, so after they leave here, they can adjust to society.” when you enter the school, there is a display with the phrases from the Koran, “God is one,” “God is great” and “may God protect us,” written in Arabic. Female students wear the hijab, the Islamic women’s headdress, with their burgundy and navy uniform. Boys don burgundy shirts and navy blue pants. the school has 10 teachers who follow the Massachusetts state standards. Areas of instruction include the Koran, Arabic, math, reading, language arts, dhuhr prayer, daily afternoon prayer, Islamic studies, science and social studies. Claudia Juta of Methuen, who has three daughters at the school, is happy with the progress they are making. She said Sabreen, 3, can spell her name; Yasmine, 6, can read at a third-grade level; and Vanessa, 13, is more than ready for high school. “It’s amazing how much they are learning. the education is phenomenal. I wouldn’t change it for anything,” said Juta, who is from Colombia and is married to Zakaria, who was born in Morocco. Students in preschool to eighth grade come from Lawrence, Methuen, Salem and Pelham, N.H., and as far as Acton, Ayer, Burlington and Boston. Abuzar, chairman of the board, said the students’ diverse backgrounds are an asset to the school. That was evident on Friday when the school hosted an international night featuring displays from countries where parents originate from and projects completed by the students. Children in preschool and kindergarten sang and others spoke a few words in their native language. Boys and girls paraded in traditional costumes from Uganda, India, Syria and Turkey. and a sampling of food was offered, from grape leaves to ceviche, a Spanish fish soup. “It’s important to show others where you’re from,” said Fatma Mohed of North Andover as she explained the items she had on display representing Libya. Bozkurt said the diversity is a welcome addition to the school. “the cultural diversity helps students learn from each other. everyone is a Muslim, but they see that others do things a little different and that makes it interesting,” Bozkurt said.   Huod Mpaliga, who has two children at Knowledge Academy, agreed. “They’re growing up in an environment with different religions, and as parents, we want them to learn how to worship and have a good relationship with others.” ??? Join the discussion. to comment on stories and see what others are saying, log on to eagletribune.com.

 In the entire Quran,Pawn jewelry online, there is No foreigner woman or the stranger woman.

She (the foreigner women) is forsaking the guide of her youth, and she forgot the covenant of her God.  For her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. None going in unto her neither turn back, nor do they reach the paths of life.

American Standard Version

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According to the Islamic teachings (Quran and Hadith), all human beings are created by Allah; and the best of them is the one (he or she) who believe in his Creator and obey his Law irrespective of his or her race, color, location etc.

1But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites,chaussure de foot pas cher, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians,The Attributes of an Experienced Mesothelioma Lawy, and Hittites:

Proverbs 2:16-19 (American Standard Version)

In language, the foreigner woman or the stranger woman is the alien woman or the exotic woman or the outsider woman. However, as determined by the Bible (e.g. 1 Kings 11:1 and Ezra 10:2), the foreigner woman or the stranger woman is the non-Israelite woman.

18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead;

Subsequently, any non-Israelite woman is foreigner or stranger women.

Does this mean that the Lord God authorizes racial discrimination among the women on the earth?

…strange wives of the people of the land… (King James Version)

17 That forsaketh the friend of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God:

Herein, the Quran does not determine the race, the color, the location, the tribe etc. of such male or such female.  Unlike the Bible, the Quran does show any racial interest.

Are the Scholars truthful when they claim that the Quran quoted from the Bible?

This indicates that the women in the Bible are but one of two categories; they are either Legitimate or Foreigner.

…foreign women from the peoples around us… (New International Version)

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1 now King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites;

…foreign women of the peoples of the land… (American Standard Version)

“But whosoever does good works of righteousness, whether they be a believing male or female,Divorce and the Scorched Earth Theory, shall enter paradise, and not be wronged a pit mark of a date stone”.

Also, there is No foreigner man or stranger man

Whoever does any righteous deeds whether of male or female while being a believer who is genuine in his or her faith, (such will enter Paradise and they will not be wronged the dint in a date stone) their rewards will not be diminished even if it be by the size of the dint in a date stone.

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner that flattereth with her words;

These Biblical verses morally insult and put down all the non-Israelite women, the Foreigner ones.   

The Foreigner woman in Bible versus Quran (1)

19 None that go unto her return again, neither do they attain unto the paths of life:

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The Quran (Verse 4:124) says:

Back to my question to the smart and interested reader:

According to the inspired word of God (Proverbs 2:16-19), the Bible says that the Wisdom will save you from the foreigner women, from the strange (women) who has made smooth her sayings with seductive words,

From the first intelligence surveillance to the final shootout, France’s clumsy handling of its spate of Islamic terrorism in March was a case study in how not to deal with a jihadist. With the largest Muslim community in Europe–nearly 10 percent of the population–and thousands of young Frenchmen going to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Yemen on the pretext of studying the Koran, it does not bode well for the country’s domestic tranquility. neither does the fact that officials have long been in denial, minimizing the threat for fear of alarming the public and antagonizing an increasingly restive ethnic-Arab minority. Thus tranquillized, the French public shrugs and says pas de probl?me: a recent poll shows only 53 percent think the terrorist threat is dangerous, the lowest level of concern since 2001.

Mohamed Merah, the 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent who shot three French soldiers point blank in the South of France, then slaughtered a teacher, his two young sons, and an 8-year-old girl at a Jewish school in Toulouse, said loud and clear that he was acting for al Qaeda. His coolly professional assassinations, intended to “bring France to its knees”–President Nicolas Sarkozy compared them to the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.–bore the jihadist imprint right down to filming them and ensuring he died a martyr’s death seen on the world’s television screens. He signed his social network account “Mohamed Merah-Forsane Alizza,” meaning “Knights of Pride,” an outlawed France-based jihadist outfit.

Yet the government energetically pooh-poohed the idea that France was seriously threatened by Islamic fundamentalists. “These crimes were the work of a fanatic and a monster,” Nicolas Sarkozy insisted. “To look for an explanation?would be a moral fault.” He instructed the French not to blame the attacks on “our Muslim compatriots [who] had nothing to do with the crazy motivation of a terrorist.” most of the obedient French media went along with the politically correct whitewash.

Despite his claims to the contrary, Merah was officially described as a loner with no assistance from any al Qaeda affiliate. indeed, the favorite theory of the chattering class was that he must be a right-wing neo-Nazi. or failing that, just your typical underprivileged, disaffected guy who had had a miserable childhood in the slums. The left-leaning Le Monde reported that he had “an angelic face, a fascinating beauty.” His 15 arrests and doing time for everything from stoning buses to violent theft and fighting with rivals? Liberals outdid themselves to show he was the psychologically disturbed victim of an unjust society. “A pathetic young man?the victim of a social order that had already doomed him, and millions of others like him, to a marginal existence, and to the non-recognition of his status as a citizen equal in rights and opportunities,” explained the Muslim apologist Tariq Ramadan, who was denied a U.S. visa for providing material support to a terrorist organization before the ACLU persuaded Hillary Clinton to lift the ban.

The failure of the French domestic intelligence agency, the DCRI, to spot Merah as a serious threat, and its subsequent efforts at self-justification, would have been comic were we not dealing with tragedy. Its chief called him a self-radicalized young man with a split personality, a lone wolf who operated below the radar. Besides, he pleaded, Merah had not followed the usual path taken by Islamist extremists. He wasn’t visibly part of any network. He even went to nightclubs instead of mosques, for heaven’s sake, so how could we know he was a jihadist? “We had absolutely no reason to believe he was commissioned by al Qaeda to carry out these attacks.” No doubt it would have helped to have a copy of his marching orders on an al Qaeda letterhead.

The DCRI chief and other officials tried to make light of a 2010 trip Merah made to Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, spiritual home of the Taliban. But as information leaked out, it became clear that this poor kid, who lived on welfare payments of about $600 a month, had left tracks all over the Middle East, with somebody else obviously paying the bills. Besides Afghanistan, he later visited Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel in the space of two years. Strangely, he was reportedly arrested by Afghan police on his first trip and handed over to American forces there, who returned him to France. The FBI’s counterterrorism department put him on the no-fly list, barring entry to the U.S. The French ignored this, either through sheer sloppiness or to avoid any appearance of profiling.

They did, however, put him under loose surveillance. nearly a year after his first trip to Afghanistan, a DCRI agent in Toulouse finally called his cell number to ask him to come in for a talk. He didn’t bat an eye when Mohamed answered and said sorry, he couldn’t–he was busy in Pakistan at the time. When he finally did drop in months later, these Keystone Kops approvingly looked over the photos he brought along as proof he was there as a tourist, said something like tr?s bien, mon ami, and let him go. (This casual relationship and other aspects of the case led to speculation that Merah was perhaps a double agent, an informer for the DCRI who was turned by al Qaeda; a lawyer hired by his father claims to have video proof that he was “manipulated” and “liquidated” by the police.)

The official French version that Merah was a lone wolf inspired by his solitary reading of the Koran looked even more foolish when it became known that he had trained for two months in North Waziristan on the Af-Pak border, likely with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella group of Pakistani factions. He would have been anything but alone. Pakistani intelligence officials told the associated Press that dozens of French Muslim militants, many with dual French-North African nationality, are training there:

The Frenchmen operate under the name Jihad-e-Islami and are being trained to use explosives and other weapons at camps near the town of Miran Shah and in the Datta Khel area, the officials said. They are led by a French commander who goes by the name Abu Tarek.

When they return to France, all it will take to waken these sleeping agents will be a call from Kandahar.

Merah certainly learned about firearms. somehow, right under the noses of French surveillance and with financial assistance from guess who, he amassed a stash of guns, including several Colt .45 automatics with extra magazines, an automatic Sten pistol, a Colt Python revolver, a pump-action shotgun, and an Uzi submachine gun, along with ingredients for Molotov cocktails. With this arsenal he was able to intimidate and toy with a 15-man French SWAT team for all of 32 hours, wounding five and repeatedly forcing them to retreat when they tried to enter his small, three-room apartment in Toulouse.

Actually the effort to take Merah down was as amateurish as the earlier intelligence failures. When the SWAT team finally did succeed in blowing off the door and entering, they riddled him with bullets instead of taking him alive for interrogation as they were ordered to do. much of France wondered along with Christian Prouteau, the retired chief of the gendarmerie’s elite GIGN commando unit (the SWAT team were police, not better-trained paramilitary gendarmes), who asked, “How can a top police unit botch the capture of a lone gunman? If they had pumped his apartment with tear gas, he wouldn’t have lasted five minutes.” some Israeli security experts were even harsher. Alec Ron, a former head of the Israel police commando unit, told Israeli public radio the operation was marked by “utter confusion and unprofessionalism.? It was an absolute disgrace.”

One reason for this foul-up was that Sarkozy ordered the merger of two domestic intel agencies three years ago, a fusion that has yet to gel. Another might have been political interference, in an election year, with police work. But the main problem is that France is ill equipped, psychologically and politically, to deal with a huge, unassimilated Muslim population increasingly tempted by radicalism. France poses as a beacon of human rights and ?galit?, which to the Gallic mind rules out affirmative action (that would be unequal) or even accepting the reality of ethnic diversity. With impeccable logic, it officially has no minorities–everyone is by definition French and therefore equal; the law prohibits statistics based on race or religion. There’s no yardstick even to begin to measure the problem.

This in turn has meant that the government, ever so careful about treading on anybody’s toes, tries to avoid any appearance of cracking down on Muslim activism that could lead to radical Islamicism. If, as Mao wrote, the guerrilla must swim in the people as a fish swims in the sea, jihadist guerrillas must find good swimming in French Muslim waters. It might get even easier for them to disappear from police view if Socialist Fran?ois Hollande becomes president. He has made the ultimate politically correct campaign promise: if elected he would ask parliament to remove the word “race” from the constitution.

Whatever the outcome of this month’s election, the slaughter of the innocents in Toulouse is a wake-up call that France ignores at its considerable peril. As an adviser to Sarkozy said, sotto voce, “This is going to raise questions about our system of integration, our approach to fundamentalism, and our tolerance of certain practices here.” For sure. meanwhile, no one knows when or where the French Islamist powder keg will blow next.

TEN youths were chosen to compete in the semi-finals of the National Level Youth Musabaqah Tilawatil Quran competition at the Brunei-Muara district level.

The winners were officially announced yesterday afternoon at the Riadah Hall of the Youth Centre in the capital, where only ten youths were chosen out of 59 participants.

According to Ustaz Hj Rosli Hj Batang, the chairman of the panel judge, the first place qari was won by Hazwan Hj Salim from Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA) with a score of 87.5 per cent.

While second and third place was nabbed by Hj Ahmad Faez Hj Daim from Tahfiz Al-Quran Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Institute and Abdul Qaiyum Hj Metussin from Seri Begawan Religious Teachers University College (KUPU SB) respectively.

Meanwhile the qariah champion was Maizatun Nadzeerah Hj Md Daud from Brunei Shell Petroleum with a score of 87.5 per cent.

The second and third place was won by Dk Siti Ummi Syazana Pg Hj Marjuki from Duli Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah College and Yumni Haziqah Mohammad respectively.

In her opening speech, the Head of the Youth and Sports branch (Brunei-Muara district) Shahrinah Hj Abd Rahman reiterated that the objective of the musabaqah this year was the same as every other year: “to increase the level of awareness towards the holiness of Islam through the Al-Quran”.

Shahrinah reminded those present that Al-Quran’s role is to correct one’s faith and shape one’s personality to fulfill the requirements according to Islam.

She also explained the reason why the musabaqah was held. “It is in preparation for the selection of youths that can represent the country at the Southeast Asian competition level organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports,” she said.

According to the programme booklet of the event, the national Quran reading competition for youth is held as preparation for selection of participants to the Musabaqah Tilawatil Quran Belia Asia Tenggara (Quran reading competition for youth of Southeast Asia).

Among other aims, the competition was held in response to the titah of his Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam delivered in October 13, 1996 at the National Quran Reading Competition for adults.

In the titah, his Majesty said, “We will be proud with youth who are pious.”

The national Quran reading competition for youth was open to locals and permanent residents between the ages of 17 and 22 years-old and have never entered the finals of the national Quran reading competition for adults at regional or international level.

The event was organised by Youth and Sports Department (JBS) under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS).

"the Crusaders once again repeated their crime by insulting the holy Koran, and once again mocked the messenger of Allah," Mr Zawahiri said in a SITE English-language translation.

In February, thousands of Afghan protesters attacked the biggest US military base in their country, at Bagram near Kabul, reacting to reports that troops inside had burned copies of the Koran.

Around 40 people were killed in several days of violent protests.

American officials say the Korans had been confiscated from prisoners as they used them to communicate between each other.

The incident led US President Barack Obama to apologise for what he described as an error.

In today's video which the US-based SITE said was posted on extremist forums, Mr Zawahiri criticised Obama's apology.

"After each of their crimes, they pretend to be sorry, and they claim they will investigate what happened, which is a silly farce that Obama and his secretary repeated this time also," said the chief of the terror network.

"the American Crusaders and their allies showed over and over again their hatred and envy of Islam, the book of Islam, the prophet (of) Islam," Mr Zawahiri said.

He urged Muslim across the world to "fight the enemies of Allah and the enemies of his Messenger."

Mr Zawahiri delivered a similar message in March, urging Afghans to rise up against "Crusader pigs" after US Marines were shown in an Internet video urinating on the corpses of Taliban militants.

A fresh scandal has rocked the alliance between the United States and the Afghan government every month this year in their joint efforts against Taliban insurgents.

A US soldier in March went on the rampage and murdered 17 Afghan villagers in their homes.

• Keywords: ?
• Ayman al-Zawahiri,?
• al qaeda,?
• koran

Students walk into the school near the shrine of 15th-century Sufi scholar Abdel Salam al-Asmar in Zlitan city, about 160 km (90 miles) west of Tripoli March 13, 2012. In early March, word reached the keepers of the shrine, the most important of its kind in Libya, that ultra-conservative Salafis were on their way to destroy it as part of a campaign to wipe out any symbols they see as idolatrous. the attack never came. Students from all over Libya come to study Islamic law and to memorize the Islamic holy book, the Koran, at the university and school built around the shrine. Now, numbers are down as parents are afraid the Salafis will attack, according to a teacher. the struggle over the shrine is the story of Libya as it struggles to re-shape itself after Muammar Gaddafi’s rule. Picture taken March 13, 2012. to match Feature LIBYA-RELIGION/SHRINES REUTERS/Anis Mili (LIBYA – Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST RELIGION EDUCATION)

Published date: 05/16/2012

WASHINGTON, DC, May 16, 2012 – Two battles on the English Channel, one in England and the other in France, forever altered the course of history.  The first was the Battle of Hastings in the year 1066.  The other was the D-Day invasion of Normandy in June of 1944.

There have been two other conflicts during the past 1,500 years, though largely unknown, that have had a significant impact on just about everyone who is alive today.

In the year 622, the Prophet Muhammad left his home city of Mecca with a small group of Muslim followers and established his base in Medina.  The event is known as the Hijra, which is designated as the beginning of the religion of Islam.

Though Muhammad lived mostly in harmony with Jews and Christians during his time in Mecca, he was not regarded as a favorite son, a fact which greatly affected his beliefs for the remainder of his life after moving to Medina.

When Muhammad learned that a trade caravan was heading toward Mecca from Syria carrying a large amount of gold in March of 624, he decided to march against the traders.  during their escape from Mecca, the Muslims left their all of their possessions behind, and Muhammad was determined to recapture his lost wealth. 

Some of his Muslims followers were reluctant to attack because they did not want a war.  In Sura 66, verse 9 of the Koran, Muhammad calls his peaceful followers “hypocrites” and condemns them to Hell.  he also demands that they be harshly treated by true Muslims.

In an effort to avoid the conflict, Abu Sufyan, the leader of the caravan changed his course and moved to the east.  he also sent a messenger to Mecca to request reinforcements for his small group.  Mecca responded and dispatched approximately 900 men to aid the caravan.

Muhammad’s soldiers were outnumbered by three to one, but he relentlessly pursued the Meccans and eventually forced them into battle by deliberately choking off the wells that supplied their water.  The Prophet’s army only had two horses and 70 camels.  Most of his men were old, starving or sick and possessed little more than swords and spears to counter the Meccan attack.

Eventually, at the wells of Badr, the battle erupted, though it was little more than a skirmish by today’s standards.  despite overwhelming odds, Muhammad’s forces prevailed.  In the aftermath, he had the severed heads of his enemies delivered to him and then walked among the dead Meccan bodies on the battlefield and chided them.

The Battle of Badr is one of the few battles that is specifically mentioned in the Koran, and it is regarded as the defining moment in the early days of Islam; the Muslim equivalent of D-Day.  it was the turning point for Muhammad’s authority as a prophet, which he claimed was the direct result of divine intervention.

In the 8th Sura, verse 9, Muhammad states, “Remember ye implored the assistance of your Lord, and he answered you: ‘I will assist you with a thousand of the angels, ranks on ranks.’”

Only Muhammad actually saw the angels as stated in Sura 8, verse 50, “if thou couldst see, when the angels take the souls of the Unbelievers (at death), (How) they smite their faces and their backs, (saying), ‘Taste the penalty of the blazing fire –‘”

Now convinced that his victory was divinely ordained, Muhammad continued his warring ways for the rest of his life.  had the Battle of Badr resulted in the Prophet’s defeat, it is very likely that Islam would not have survived.

More than a thousand years later, in the year 1683, another important battle took place in Vienna.  Some historians believe the siege of Vienna was the turning point in the 300-year struggle between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

A second theory is that the battle represents the final chapter in the steady decline of the Ottoman dynasty which marked the end of Muslim expansion to the west. 

Either way, the outcome established the political power of the Hapsburg dynasty throughout the Holy Roman Empire and central Europe. 

Strangely enough, more than 300-years later, there are lasting ramifications to this conflict that linger in the hearts and souls of people today, for we have all felt its significance.  for fourteen centuries, the clash of religions has witnessed an on-going ebb.  A major turning point in that confrontation came at the gates of Vienna in 1683 when the Islamic defeat ended a thousand year effort to conquer Europe.    

Unlike the Battle of Badr, the siege of Vienna was a full-fledged military operation involving hundreds of thousands of combatants.  it began in mid-July when the Ottoman army of about 150,000 men attacked an alliance of the Holy Roman Empire and the Polish/Lithuanian Commonwealth. after prolonged fighting that lasted two months, the Austrian/German/Polish garrison was in dire straits from the constant bombardment by its Turkish enemy.

At the 11th hour, under the leadership of King Jan III Sobieski of Poland, reinforcements of 40,000 men arrived at a hill outside Vienna.  In just three hours the decisive battle was over when Sobieski punched a hole in the Muslim lines enabling his forces to march toward the city and strike them from behind.

It would take two more centuries for the Ottoman Empire to totally decline beginning with a withdrawal in the Balkans, Greece and Asia Minor.  In the minds of the Islamic forces, the defeat was not only devastating but never forgotten. 

And the date when that decisive battle began….September 11, 1683.

Coincidence?  perhaps, but not likely.

Osama bin Laden had a long memory and so do his followers.  There is no end to the hatred, only lulls during dormant periods of when Islam is no longer in control or it is out of power. 

Muhammad was a warrior.  during the last ten years of his life, either he, or his armies, were involved in more than 80 battles.  Even today, the conflicts in his name continue on a regular basis.

The Battle of Badr and the siege of Vienna may be little known events in the cyclorama of history, but their impact has had, and will continue to have, major significance for generations to come.

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