UK Use of ‘Anti-Social Behaviour Orders – ASBO’ in case of Muslim Extremist

2014/02/18 1 Comment

One application of quasi-anti-hate speech measures, the case of a Muslim extremist calling his neighbourhood a ‘sharia controlled zone’ with vigilante patrols etc:

The Met said: “Waltham Forest is one of London’s most culturally diverse boroughs with almost half of its 235,000 residents being of a minority ethnic origin and from a multitude of religious backgrounds.

“Discrimination and persecution based on a person’s cultural or religious background is something the police or council will not tolerate.

Chief Superintendent Mark Collins – Waltham Forest borough’s commander – said: “The granting of an asbo against Jordan Horner sends a clear message that extremist behaviour will not be tolerated on our streets.”

The asbo will run for five years and be in effect throughout London.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/15/sharia-law-campaign-muslim-groundbreaking-asbo

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Barbara Kay: Huron College should open up its Islam course, or shut it down | National Post

2014/02/13 Leave a comment

More on the Huron College Islamic preaching course (Ontario university defends decision to kick non-Muslim out of course that teaches Islamic preaching | National Post).

If seminaries have an exemption from a faith test, does an individual course fall into that category? And if some of the courses on Christian preaching at Huron are open to students of other or no faith, why shouldn’t the one on Islamic preaching. And how do other universities with seminaries or theological colleges handle this?

Nobody, including Watson, has a problem with a course in public speaking about Islam being offered at a college if it is inclusive. He also has no problem with it being exclusive, but offered in a venue such as a mosque or a community centre or a seminary that is not tax-funded. It’s really quite a simple issue. Open up the course or shut it down.

On the other hand, it may be better to have training for Islamic preachers in Canada, rather than relying on imported Imams, less familiar and open to an openly diverse and multi faith society.

Barbara Kay: Huron College should open up its Islam course, or shut it down | National Post.

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UK – Islamic preachers: the pied pipers of sexual apartheid? – Telegraph

2014/02/12 1 Comment

More on the ongoing controversy, and ongoing activities, of fundamentalist preachers and the requirement for gender segregation at UK universities:

The speaker this time was Ustadh Alomgir Ali, a lecturer from Haddad’s Muslim Research and Development Foundation. His audience comprised men at the front and women – the majority of whom waited outside in the rain before the lecture began while the men gathered inside – at the back. Although there were no signs enforcing segregation, he spoke at length in favour of gender division and of a “crisis in society”, with the relationship between men and women in need of correction.

“In Islam, we have laid down certain prohibitions because it leads on to other sins,” he told his audience. “The first important point you must learn at university is lowering the gaze.”

His lecture concluded with some advice. “Brothers and sisters, the important thing is to learn etiquette of modesty, lowering your gaze, avoiding touching the opposite gender and avoiding unnecessary socialising with the opposite gender.”

Islamic preachers: the pied pipers of sexual apartheid? – Telegraph.

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Ontario university defends decision to kick non-Muslim out of course that teaches Islamic preaching | National Post

2014/02/11 Leave a comment

Interesting story about an accountant who wished to sign up for an Islamic preaching course to test whether a non-Muslim could apply but who is opposed to public universities providing such training:

James Turk, the executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, said his group opposes faith tests. The exception, however, is seminaries. It’s reasonable, Mr. Turk said, to require students who are training to be leaders within their religious communities to adhere to those beliefs.

Mr. Watson believes a course on how to preach is better suited for a mosque or community centre than it is for a publicly funded university. The student believes he should have the right to see what Ms. Mattson is teaching, particularly in light of what he believes is a growing strain of Islamic extremism in the community.

Ms. Mattson encouraged Mr. Watson to take one of her alternative courses on Islam and politics instead.

“I don’t know to what extent he has a genuine interest or to what extent he has an ideological commitment to a certain world view of Muslims,” she said. “There are people who have genuine concerns and there are ways for them to engage in discussions with Muslims, or with me, about these issues. I would think the Islam and politics class would have been much more suited to his interests.”

Ontario university defends decision to kick non-Muslim out of course that teaches Islamic preaching | National Post.

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Religious extremism growing at a rapid pace: Marmur

2014/02/10 Leave a comment

Good piece on the struggle between the moderate middle and the radical extremists by Dow Marmur of Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple:

It has led to a polarization between indifferent secularists and radical extremists. The latter have much more fire in their bellies and are frequently bent on using the democratic system they despise to their advantage.

In Israel, for example, there have been cases of segregated public transport with women sitting at the rear to accommodate ultra-Orthodox men. In Saudi Arabia, women aren’t even allowed to drive a car. Perhaps this has influenced the York student.

The polarization brought about by fanatics plays into the hands of atheists who have a need to point to religion in its most bizarre manifestations as proof of its depravity. There’s thus a perhaps unintended unholy alliance between radicals at both ends of the spectrum that’s further weakening the moderate centre.

The incident at York is a mild, characteristically Canadian version of a worldwide phenomenon. Mainstream churches and synagogues are hemorrhaging throughout the West while radical groups are thriving. Fringe views are allowed to take centre stage.

Optimists believe that this is only a temporary phase. They’re seeing signs of new ways of affirming God that go beyond both liberalism and fanaticism, and espouse values many of us hold dear. I hope that this is more than wishful thinking.

Religious extremism growing at a rapid pace: Marmur | Toronto Star.

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Ethan Cox: More Islamophobia in Quebec | National Post

2014/02/05 Leave a comment

Valid commentary on the tragic case of a women who died when her scarf became caught up in a Montreal metro escalator:

In the case of such a human tragedy, should we not put aside the petty political point-scoring, and the scarcely-veiled racism, for long enough to acknowledge that a woman died, a fact equally tragic no matter what religion she practiced? Ultimately, the responsibility was on the Journal’s editors to exercise restraint, rather than reach for the most inflammatory headline available to them. Instead, they emptied a jerry-can of gasoline all over the tinderbox that is Quebec today, and lit a match. (For those who’d suggest that a complaint to the Quebec Press Council may be in order, no such luck — Quebecor withdrew from that voluntary oversight mechanism several years ago.)

Comments on social media, such as one which celebrated the death and expressed hope it would lead Muslims to learn their lesson about not wearing the hijab in Quebec, are indicative of the prejudice stirred up by this case. Another said simply enough “one less terrorist in Quebec.”

It’s time to take a stand against the creeping scourge of Islamophobia, which is a problem not only in Quebec, where the odious tone of the debate regarding the so-called Charter of Values has put it under a spotlight, but across the country. Because at the end of the day, a scarf is just a scarf, and how it was worn should matter as little as its colour in responding to a tragic accident.

Ethan Cox: More Islamophobia in Quebec | National Post.

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Op-Ed: The Muslim convert’s path

2014/02/03 Leave a comment

An interesting account of the conversion process by Stephane Pressault a student at St. Paul’s University. Fairly high level and philosophical; not sure how real world it is but worth reading.

When I meet a new convert, I always make sure to ask them where their ancestors are from. This questions often throws people back as if being Canadian contradicts being Muslim. I seek to change that. Becoming Muslim, for a Canadian convert, means understanding how Islam will shape one’s Canadian identity. Only institutionalized tarbiyah, through traditional scholarship that trains culturally relevant leaders and through artisanship and craftsmanship, that revives excellency in work can a convert embody excellence in their Islam.

Op-Ed: The convert’s path.

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Study dispels stereotypes about Ontario women who wear niqabs

2014/02/01 2 Comments

Interesting. I would also be interested in knowing how many were converts versus born Muslim:

A majority of the women who participated said they began wearing the veil after turning 18, and most foreign-born respondents said they only began wearing the niqab after arriving in Canada.

The study suggests concerns expressed by pundits that niqab wearers will use the concealing nature of the garb to avoid being photographed for identification or security purposes, such as boarding a flight at an airport, are unfounded.

“All those interviewed said they understood there were instances where they would be required to show their faces,” the authors wrote. Many interviewees indicated strongly that they would never refuse to reveal their face in an instance requiring they be identified.

The study indicates most women who wear the niqab made the decision based on a personal belief, rather than pressure from spouses or relatives.

“We thought it would be political, but it was more for them an expression of their spirituality or their journey, which we did not think we would hear,” Hogben said.

In fact, several respondents indicated they had been pressured by spouses to stop wearing the veil.

There is an ongoing debate among Muslim scholars as to whether the niqab is obligatory in Islam. The study chose to avoid the “religious or theological basis for the practice itself.”

Study dispels stereotypes about Ontario women who wear niqabs.

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Chris Selley: Canada’s secret ‘values’ debate | National Post

2014/01/31 Leave a comment

Chris Selley of the National Post on treatment of evangelicals versus other religions. While some of his points are valid, he may be going to far in stressing expression of religious freedom compared to other rights. My general test is to substitute other religions, race, or orientation and see how it lands, remembering that the effect on others is where the balance of rights question arises.

But I agree with him that open discussion is better than hiding things. Far better that Professor Grayson of York U went public over the accommodation issue to help society discuss the “reasonable” in reasonable accommodation:

Yet in the Rest of Canada, politicians aren’t advocating legal changes. They seem to have started simply proclaiming certain opinions unpresentable, or even un-Canadian — ”This is Canada, pure and simple,” a scandalized Liberal MP Judy Sgro said of York’s position — while ignoring the obvious ramifications of their positions were they consistently applied. Worse, they’re not consistently applying them and they show no signs of starting. As ever, many on the Canadian centre-left seem to be indulging a paranoid obsession with evangelicals, and it’s just as discreditable as Quebec politicians’ paranoid obsession with Muslims. Ugly as it is, at least Quebec’s “values” debate is playing out in the light of day.

Chris Selley: Canada’s secret ‘values’ debate | National Post.

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New Saudi writers offer form of Islamic liberation theology – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

2014/01/30 Leave a comment

An interesting piece about Saudi Arabia and how some of the new generation of thinkers are questioning Saudi Salafism, a mini-reformation so to speak:

These writers and many others long for a new liberation theology that frees people from political oppression that is deeply rooted in religion. They represent a new generation of Saudi intellectuals who are prepared to challenge Salafist dogma, especially those aspects that have allowed absolute government to pacify society, criminalize civil and political activism and isolate people from the decision-making process. They challenge the meaning of concepts used by official Saudi religious scholars to “domesticate” the population and ensure its acquiescence in showing obedience to rulers and avoiding dissent and chaos.

These Saudis have not abandoned Islam but are searching in its history and interpretations for ways to challenge Saudi Arabia’s political stagnation and religious dogma. They all cherish the freedom to discuss and debate openly and reach out to audiences beyond the limited circles of the educated and intellectuals. Yet, they are denied this opportunity as a result of traditional Salafist resistance and the government’s fear of the new discourse they are attempting to propagate. The Saudi government is frightened by these revisionist approaches to religion and their potential consequences, especially if they empower a young generation tired of rehearsing old religious ideas.

If real political change needs an intellectual framework, then this new generation of writers is definitely contributing to the debate that may in the future lead Saudis to endorse a revisionist liberation theology. All they need at this juncture is a group of dedicated activists who can put their ideas into action.

New Saudi writers offer form of Islamic liberation theology – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

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