'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love!'

I have been thinking long and hard about this article and have finally decided that it should be printed although I have a few things to say at the end which should put some of it into "Perspective!"

Two weeks ago in England, a newspaper, (The Observer) revealed how 17-year-old student Rand Abdel-Qader was beaten to death by her father after becoming infatuated with a British soldier in Basra.

In this remarkable interview, Abdel-Qader Ali explains why he is unrepentant - and how police backed his actions.

(Afif Sarhan in Basra and Caroline Davies report.)

For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. 'If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her,' he said with no trace of remorse.

Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British soldier in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant.

Sitting in the front garden of his well-kept home in the city's Al-Fursi district, he remains a free man, despite having stamped on, suffocated and then stabbed his student daughter to death.

Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested but released after two hours. Astonishingly, he said, police congratulated him on what he had done.

'They are men and know what honour is,' he said.

Rand, who was studying English at Basra University, was deemed to have brought shame on her family after becoming infatuated with a British soldier, 22, known only as Paul.

She died a virgin, according to her closest friend Zeinab.

Indeed, her 'relationship' with Paul, which began when she worked as a volunteer helping displaced families and he was distributing water, appears to have consisted of snatched conversations over less than four months.

But the young, impressionable Rand fell in love with him, confiding her feelings and daydreams to Zeinab, 19.

It was her first youthful infatuation and it would be her last.

She died on 16 March after her father discovered she had been seen in public talking to Paul, considered to be the enemy, the invader and a Christian.

Though her horrified mother, Leila Hussein, called Rand's two brothers, Hassan, 23, and Haydar, 21, to restrain Abdel-Qader as he choked her with his foot on her throat, they joined in.

Her shrouded corpse was then tossed into a makeshift grave without ceremony as her uncles spat on it in disgust.

'Death was the least she deserved,' said Abdel-Qader. 'I don't regret it. I had the support of all my friends who are fathers, like me, and know what she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his religion,' he said.

Sitting on a chair by his front door and surrounded by the gerberas and white daisies he had planted in the family garden, Abel-Qader attempted to justify his actions.

'I don't have a daughter now, and I prefer to say that I never had one.

That girl humiliated me in front of my family and friends. Speaking with a foreign solider, she lost what is the most precious thing for any woman.

'People from western countries might be shocked, but our girls are not like their daughters that can sleep with any man they want and sometimes even get pregnant without marrying. Our girls should respect their religion, their family and their bodies.

'I have only two boys from now on. That girl was a mistake in my life. I know God is blessing me for what I did,' he said, his voice swelling with pride. 'My sons are by my side, and they were men enough to help me finish the life of someone who just brought shame to ours.'

Abdel-Qader, a Shia, says he was released from the police station 'because everyone knows that honour killings sometimes are impossible not to commit'.

Chillingly, he said: 'The officers were by my side during all the time I was there, congratulating me on what I had done.'

It's a statement that, if true, provides an insight into how vast the gulf remains between cultures in Iraq and between the Basra police the British army that trains them.

Sources have indicated that Abdel-Qader, who works in the health department, has been asked to leave because of the bad publicity, yet he will continue to draw a salary.

And it has been alleged by one senior unnamed official in the Basra governorate that he has received financial support by a local politician to enable him to 'disappear' to Jordan for a few weeks, 'until the story has been forgotten' - the usual practice in the 30-plus cases of 'honour' killings that have been registered since January alone.

Such treatment seems common in Basra, where militias have partial control, especially in the districts on the outskirts where Abdel-Qader lives.

While government security forces and British troops have control over the centre, around the fringes militants can still be seen everywhere on the streets or at the checkpoints they have erected. And they have imposed strict laws of behaviour for all the local people, including what clothing should be worn and what religious practices should be observed.

There are reports of men having their hands cut off for looting and women being killed for prostitution.

Homosexuality is punishable by death, a sentence Abdel-Qader approves of with a passion. 'I have alerted my two sons. They will have the same end [as Rand] if they become contaminated with any gay relationship. These crimes deserve death - death in the name of God,' he said.

He said his daughter's 'bad genes were passed on from her mother'. Rand's mother, 41, remains in hiding after divorcing her husband in the immediate aftermath of the killing, living in fear of retribution from his family.

She also still bears the scars of the severe beating he inflicted on her, breaking her arm in the process, when she told him she was going.

'They cannot accept me leaving him. When I first left I went to a cousin's home, but every day they were delivering notes to my door saying I was a prostitute and deserved the same death as Rand,' she said.

'She was killed by animals. Every night when go to bed I remember the face of Rand calling for help while her father and brothers ended her life,' she said, tears streaming down her face.

She was nervous, clearly terrified of being found, and her eyes constantly turned towards the window as she spoke. 'Rand told me about the soldier, but she swore it was just a friendship.

'She said she spoke with him because she was the only English speaker. I raised her in a religious manner and she never went out alone until she joined the university and then later when she was doing aid work.

'Even now, I cannot believe my ex-husband was able to kill our daughter. He wasn't a bad person. During our 24 years of marriage, he was never aggressive. But on that day, he was a different person.'

The mother is now trying to raise enough money to escape abroad. 'I miss my two boys,' she said. 'But they have sent a message saying that I am wrong for defending Rand and that I should go back home and live like a blessed Muslim woman,' said Leila, who is now volunteering with a local organisation campaigning for better protection for women in Basra.

One of those running the organisation, who did not want to be identified, said that Rand's case was similar to so many reported in Basra, with the only difference being she was in love with a foreigner, rather than an Iraqi.

'There isn't too much to say. Rand is dead. It is a tragedy and will be a tragedy for many other families in Iraq in the days to come.

'According to information we have been given, some from Rand's colleague, we have doubts that her love was reciprocated. We have the impression that Rand was in love, but the English soldier wasn't.

But, for a girl to be paid nice compliments about her beauty and her intelligence, it was enough for her to think she was in love.

'She isn't here any more for her mother to ask any of the questions she would like to. Rand's case had repercussions because she fell in love with a foreigner. But what about the other girls murdered through "honour" killings because they fell in love with some of a different sect, or lost their virginity, or were forced to become prostitutes?'

Rand's mother used to call her 'Rose.' 'That was my nickname for her because when she was born she was so beautiful,' she said.

'Now, my lovely Rose is in her grave. But, God will make her father pay, either in this world ... or in the world after.

A shocking and sad story but one that teaches us a valuable lesson on the Middle-East!

This is not only a religious problem, no sir! It's also cultural!

In spite some of the more progressive teachings of Islam and advancement in the rest of the world, a lot of Arab males still remain stuck in the twelfth century and there is nothing but time and education that will change the situation.

Arab civilization used to be the envy of the world and they brought culture, learning and sophistication (comparatively speaking) to the world!!!

Then, for whatever reason, (although I suspect that the Crusades and imposition of European culture caused a lot of it...) the Land of a 1001 Nights got stuck in a time warp and certain aspects of the culture and mindset of the population did not keep up with the rest of the world!

Just as the Catholic Church is responsible for the "Dark Ages" that kept Europe form developing for almost a thousand years, so to the Arabs and Islam's refusal to change with the times left them culturally behind on the world stage.

This does no mean that Islam was blameless in this whole mess since it was used as the the principal weapon against modernization and advancement, but more, rather than less of the problem can be put right on the doorstep of the Arab population's refusal to change with the times.

Yes, I realize that it was the conquering and colonization by Europeans that is partly to blame for the Arab woes, but it is more a case of a subjugated population (Much like the North American Indians) loosing that spark which kept their community alive.

Refusal to change is at the heart of every population that has been decimated and destroyed by outsiders and until this "Raison d' Etre" (Reason to be!) and ""Raison d'État"" (A coutries/populations/cultures goals and ambitions) is acknowledged and better defined, they will remain as second class citizens on the world stage.

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://Allans-Perspective.blogspot.com

Allah is Our God....... not yours!

It seems Muslims are digging themselves deeper into the hole that seperates them from all other religions and faiths.

We constantly refer to a Supreme Being as "GOD" or "FATHER" or "JEHOVAH" or "ALMIGHTY" or "LORD" or "THE CREATOR" or "ELOHIM" or "YAHWEH" but we can't call God "Allah" anymore! No sir!

We get this note from Malaysia:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A Roman Catholic newspaper cleared its first legal hurdle Monday in its fight against a Malaysian government ban on Christians using the word “Allah” as a synonym for “God.”

The Herald is seeking to reverse a government order that prohibits the paper from using the word “Allah” in its Malay-language section.

The government says the word refers only to the Muslim God and its use by Christians might confuse Muslims.

It has threatened to revoke the paper’s publishing license if it defies the order.

The Herald also wants a court declaration that “Allah” is not for exclusive use by Muslims.

“The court agreed that the church’s application is not frivolous nor vexatious nor an abuse of process. It deserves to be heard,” said Derek Fernandez, a lawyer for the newspaper.

The court will set a trial date later, Fernandez told reporters.

The Herald — which publishes in the English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil languages — insists that “Allah” is an Arabic word that predates Islam and has been used for centuries to mean “God” in Malay.

The case is an example of Malaysian religious minorities’ increasing complaints that their rights have been undermined by government efforts to bolster the status of Islam, Malaysia’s official religion.

(Ethnic Malays, virtually all of them Muslims, make up nearly 60 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million people. The main minorities are ethnic Chinese and Indians, and most of them are Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.)

Dissatisfaction with court rulings over Muslims’ legal right to leave Islam — along with other religious issues like state authorities’ demolition of Hindu temples, contributed to the ruling government coalition’s poor performance in March elections — when it lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament.

In a separate case in Malaysia, the Sabah Evangelical Church of Borneo has also filed a lawsuit in an effort to be allowed to use “Allah” after officials last year banned the import of books containing the word.

Hearings in that case were still in the preliminary stages but I gues that it all boils down to the fact that Islam is trying to seperate itself from other mainstream religions and thereby drive a wedge between them.

To announce that your God cannot be refered to by none muslims suggests that Islam is either superior or that other religions are inferior and not worthy of consideration.

A very dangerous mind-set no matter how you look at it!

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://Allans-Perspective.blogspot.com

Muslims Assimilated By The Borg

After months of investigation and at great cost and personal danger the "Perspective" research department has uncovered these amazing photos from Mecca.

Since no one but a Muslim can visit the holiest sites of Islam the secret has been kept for quite a few years but is finally coming to light.

It seems the Borg have infiltrated Islam and are now worshipped by Muslims around the world.

As these photos show, Muslims are now making their pilgrimage to this Borg Cube!

Can Christians be next?

Remember, you heard it here first!

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://Allans-Perspective.blogspot.com

Want to know how screwed-up society is????

I put up an article here and on a few other blogs about some pictures a woman in England had taken of some Muslims in a demonstration in London.

The protesters were carrying all sorts of posters demanding non-Muslims be killed or the Western world be taken over etc. etc.

Pretty nasty stuff...............!

Now, here it comes. Put on your seat belt!

I get a couple of letters since then ACCUSING ME OF HATE PROPAGANDA AGAINST MUSLIMS!

Is this world fucked up or what?

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://Allans-Perspective.blogspot.com

FREEDOM!

Well kids, the bleeding heart, politically correct, don't spank your kids, let other religions celebrate their holidays but put a stop to Christian activities in case you insult someone LEFT is out in force again.

The latest outcry is about "Fitna: Freedom of expression or freedom to insult?"

If you haven't seen this film yet it is further down the page in this blog but to save you the trouble I will explain it.

The movie shows verses from the Koran that advocate terrorism, killing infidels, (non-believers) chopping the hands from thieves, warfare and general mayhem accompanied by pictures of what radical Muslims and terrorists have been doing this past little while.

And these assholes ask if we are doing it just to insult the Muslims.

Listen bunky, I don't see any Lutheran (Me) terrorists, or any Buddhist suicide bombers, or Baptist fathers killing their daughters because they slept with someone, or any Mormon's stoning people who leave the faith, or Jehovah's Witnesses subjugating their women, or Protestants and Catholics who wage a holy war on.................. Oh, wait a minute....... I forgot about Northern Ireland!

Oh well, five out of six ain't bad!

Back to my point.

This is not about insulting someones religion bunky.

The Muslims have brought it on themselves by the actions of the Radical Islamist and the complacency of the mainstream Muslim community.

Sure our freedoms end at the point of swinging your arms..... at someone else's nose, and you can't yell fire in a crowded theatre, but it would be blasphemous for us to let other people and religions tell us how to live our lives.

If Islamic radicals tell us that we are going to convert to Islam no matter what they have to do, then that is a declaration of war and I'm not too concerned about who I insult!

End of story!

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

42 1/2 Virgins

Due to the recession and cutbacks in Paradise the availability of Virgins for the Islamic Martyrs has been reduced from 72 down to 42 1/2.

That works out to 42 regular Virgins and one midget!

As if that weren't bad enough, the pisser is that the Virgins are all "Retired Nuns!"

I don't know how this whole "Virgins for Martyrs" thing started but the very idea shows just how misogynistic and full of themselves the average Islamic Fundamentalist really is!

Sure, it's a good line to feed to some 16 or 17 year old country bumpkin, but the fact that somebody could dream this up and then actually have these kids believe them is beyond imagination.

And how did they get 72? I think some old guy just pulled a number out of his hat or made it up on the fly and "Lo and Behold" it stuck!!! What's even worse is the poor kids that actually believe this shit.

I don't profess to know what the afterlife is like, or even IF there is an afterlife, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that there won't be no 72 Virgins waiting for me!

As a matter of fact, with my luck, it might just be my ex-wife!

Whatever the case, the Afterlife won't be anything like we imagine it, so if these kids do get to Paradise all these poor, misguided suicide bombers are in for one hell of a letdown.

Or just plain Hell!



Your humble servant;
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Get with the program or get out!

There is an article here that I think bears repeating in full and to a larger audience than just San Francisco. If you can take the time to read the whole thing I would like to make a comment at the end.

Guest Post by Cinnamon Stillwell; San Francisco Chronicle.

Throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, young Muslim women are being targeted for violence. Lest it be thought hate crimes are to blame, it is, in fact, their own relatives who are the perpetrators. So-called honor killings, whereby a Muslim male family member, typically the father, murders his daughter in order to defend the family’s honor, is a growing problem.

While statistics are notoriously hard to come by due to the private nature of such crimes and the fact that very few are reported, the United Nations Population Fund approximates that as many as 5,000 women are murdered in this manner each year worldwide.

Undoubtedly that’s a low estimate, as reports from Turkey, Jordan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories, among other locales, are filtering in at an alarming rate. Add to the list Germany, Sweden, other parts of Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, and it’s clear that young Muslim women in the West are becoming increasingly vulnerable.

While fathers are commonly responsible for honor killings, they often act in concert with their daughters’ brothers, uncles, and even female relatives. For infringements upon a Muslim daughter’s “honor” constitute the greatest humiliation possible to the religious and tribal tradition from which many such immigrant families emerged.

Acts that demand “punishment” include refusing to wear a hijab (or headscarf), having non-Muslim boyfriends or male friends of any origin, being sexually active, rejecting arranged marriages, aggressively seeking employment and education, and, more than anything else, attempting to assimilate into Western culture.

Trying to balance a tightrope between the demands of competing and in some cases incompatible cultures, young Muslim women in the West are caught between two worlds. And all too often they pay the ultimate price. Indeed, two such cases have rocked the United States and Canada in recent months, bringing the specter of honor killings much closer to home.

On New Year’s Day, residents of Lewisville, Texas were shocked to hear about the brutal murder of teenage sisters Sarah and Amina Said. The two were found shot to death in a taxi after having made a last phone call to a police dispatcher asking for help. The police immediately issued an arrest warrant for the girls’ father, Egyptian-born cab driver Yaser Abdel Said, who remains at large to this day.

A Muslim married to a Christian woman, the elder Said had a history of physical and sexual abuse toward his daughters. This past Christmas, his wife, Patricia, finally fled the state with the girls and set up residence in Tulsa, Okla., under an assumed name.

Said’s violent and domineering behavior was apparently motivated by his concern that, as the Dallas Morning News describes it, “Western culture was corrupting the chastity of his daughters.”

Honor students and athletes at Lewisville High School, Sarah and Amina were the quintessential American teenagers. Amina had been awarded a $20,000 college scholarship and Sarah planned to study medicine. Photos of the two young women demonstrate a vibrancy and attractiveness that undoubtedly induced fear in their controlling father.

The emergence of non-Muslim boyfriends was the final straw.

Although the girls’ mother denied that Said was motivated by religion or culture and their brother, Islam, claimed it was not an honor killing, all evidence points to the contrary.

While, reportedly, the family was not terribly observant, Said, as described by the Dallas Morning News, “often espoused his version of traditional Middle Eastern values,” including marrying his then 15-year-old wife when he was 30, threatening to take one of his daughters “back to Egypt and have her killed,” where, as he put it, “it’s OK to do that … if you dishonor your family,” trying to break up one of his daughters and her non-Muslim boyfriend, and threatening to kill both his daughters on multiple occasions over disputes surrounding their social lives.

Summing it all up, the sisters’ great-aunt Gail Gartrell stated unequivocally, “This was an honor killing.”

The slayings of Sarah and Amina Said came on the heels of another apparent honor killing, that of 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez in Mississauga, Ontario, last December. Aqsa was a vivacious and popular young woman whose attempts at a normal, Western teenage social life angered her Pakistani father, Muhammad Parvez.

Aqsa, who was opposed to wearing a hijab and sometimes changed her outfit once she got to school, often clashed with her father and had left the family home a week before the attack out of fear. But she eventually returned, only to be met with strangulation at the hands of her own father. She died later in the hospital and the elder Parvez, who initially called the police, was charged with her murder. Aqsa’s 26-year-old brother, Waqas, was charged with obstructing police.

Like the Said sisters, Aqsa had long suffered abuse at the hands of her father, reports of which were never adequately pursued by Canadian authorities. But Aqsa’s friends saw trouble brewing and, according to the National Post, noted that “she had been threatened by her strictly religious family before.” According to one of them, Ebonie Mitchell, Aqsa held conflicting opinions with her family on wearing a hijab.

As she put it, Aqsa “just wanted to dress like we do. Last year, she wore like the Islamic stuff and everything, the hijab, and this year she’s all western. She just wanted to look like everyone else.”

As another friend, Krista Garbhet, noted, “She just wanted to be herself; honestly, she just wanted to show her beauty.” However, as Aqsa was to discover, the latter desire can have dangerous consequences for young Muslim women in the West.

In the wake of Parvez’s murder, one would hope for moral clarity from the Canadian Muslim community. But with a few exceptions, the usual suspects issued the usual apologetics.

Following Parvez’s funeral, an anti-violence vigil was held at the Mississauga Civic Centre and organized by the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Unfortunately, CAIR-CAN, like its American counterpart and the Cadaian Islamic Congress,(CIC) is part of the problem, not the solution.

Working to further acceptance of Sharia (or Islamic) law in the United States and Canada and trying to silence — either through accusations of “Islamophobia,” libel lawsuits or boycotts — voices of criticism and reform, CAIR’s agenda would seem to be working against the advancement of Muslim women’s rights.

Accordingly, representatives of other allegedly mainstream Muslim groups, instead of taking the opportunity to address the scourge of honor killings, downplayed the religious and cultural angle.

Shahina Siddiqui, president of the Islamic Social Services Association, claimed that “The strangulation death of Ms. Parvez was the result of domestic violence, a problem that cuts across Canadian society and is blind to color or creed,” while Sheikh Alaa El-Sayyed, imam of the Islamic Society of North America in Mississauga, came to the following conclusion: “The bottom line is, it’s a domestic violence issue.”

In contrast, Canadian Muslim reformer Irshad Manji, in addressing Aqsa Parvez’s murder, put it like so:

Moderate Muslims have warned that we shouldn’t leap to conclusions. Who knows what other dynamics infected her family, spout hijab-hooded mouthpieces on Canadian TV.

Not once have I heard these upstanding Muslims say that whatever the ‘family dynamics,’ killing is not a solution. Ever. How’s that for basic morality?

Similarly, Tarek Fatah, founder of the Canadian Muslim Congress, (CMC) labeled Parvez’s murder “a blight on Islam.” “In my mind,” he added, “this was an honor killing.”

Until this kind of self-reflection and self-criticism become the norm in the Muslim community, much-needed reform will remain elusive.

This includes addressing the root causes of honor killings and sanctioned violence against Muslim women.

Although the Koran does not authorize honor killings, Quran 4:34 instructs men to beat disobedient wives and send them to sleep in separate beds.

Then there are tribal leaders such as Jordanian Tarrad Fayiz, who tells followers that “A woman is like an olive tree. When its branch catches woodworm, it has to be chopped off so that society stays clean and pure.” Op-eds such as the one in the Yemen Times earlier this month recommending violence against women and clerics delivering sermons and speeches doing the same further muddy the waters.

Also at question are the vagaries of the Arab honor/shame culture, in which men’s “shame” (or that of the family or tribe) at the prospect of women’s sullied “honor” (or chastity) must be avoided at all costs.

Honor killings are not, as the apologists would have us believe, simple acts of domestic violence akin to those that take place in all communities. They are specific to Muslim religion and culture and must be addressed as such if ever honest debate about the matter is to ensue.

Regrettably, silence is the more typical reaction to these crimes. Fearful of giving offense or being branded with the ubiquitous “Islamophobia” label, law enforcement, journalists, social workers, government officials and, most of all, Western feminists are allowing a grave threat to women’s rights go unaddressed.

The misguided purveyors of multiculturalism — an ideology that holds that all cultures or religions are equivalent and none (save for the dominant, or Western, culture) worthy of condemnation — have rendered the West incapable of addressing evils where Third World cultures are to blame.

But the truth is Western culture offers the greatest boon to women’s rights and must therefore be vigorously defended, even if that means stepping into the realm of the politically incorrect.

Feminist groups such as the National Organization for Women, which put out an occasional press release decrying honor killings, need to make combating this practice as high a priority as defending choice and railing against “glass ceilings.” Instead, it is a precious few who are telling it like it is when it comes to the oppression of women in Muslim culture.

Ironically, many of them are on the right side of the political spectrum or, like author, blogger and activist Phyllis Chesler, have been cast out of the leftist-dominated feminist movement for speaking the uncomfortable truth.

As I have noted previously, the challenges posed by the Muslim world are the next frontier for women’s rights and all those interested in advancing such goals will have the occasion. It is up to every one of us to speak out where, not only women’s, but human rights are in question. Young women’s lives are at stake.

Now here is the point I would like to make, ladies and gentlemen; Let's start with this quote from the article...... Acts that demand “punishment” include refusing to wear a hijab (or headscarf), having non-Muslim boyfriends or male friends of any origin, being sexually active, rejecting arranged marriages, aggressively seeking employment and education, and, more than anything else, attempting to assimilate into Western culture.

If "Honor Killings" are a part of this problem it doesn't matter whether it's from religious reasons, cultural reasons, domestic violence, anger management, mental health issues, (nuts!) or tribal leaders such as Jordanian Tarrad Fayiz, who tells followers that “A woman is like an olive tree. When its branch catches woodworm, it has to be chopped off so that society stays clean and pure.” No, my friends, it doesn't matter at all who or what is at fault, what matters is "Attempting to assimilate into Western culture!"

So.....my point? Plain and simple! If you don't want to assimilate into Western culture, WHY THE HELL DID YOU COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!

In North America there is a strong tradition of immigrants comming over from far away lands and they have all assimilated, conformed and settled in to make us what we are today. The Ukrainians, the Brits, the Irish, the Scotish, the French, (sort of!) the Italians, the Spanish, the Africans, the Jamaicans, the Spanish, the Russians the Orientals and anyone else you might want to name.

They have all become part of the North American mosaic with a "minimum" of trouble and adjustment because they might come from different cultures but still lived in the modern world.

This is a lesson that people who are staunch Muslims should heed! Bringing seventh century religion and customs into twenty first century countries ain't gonna work baby, no way!

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Think Twice!

A word of warning to Muslim extremists who would wage a war against the Christian Infidels!


From this map, I would say that they have you surrounded!

But then again, logic never was your strong point, was it!

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Multi-culturalism running wild!

In a follow-up to the article below teachers at a primary school in Britain have been ordered to dress up as Muslims to promote multi-culturalism.

The West Midlands school is belatedly celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid and told its pupils and teachers to don traditional Muslim dress for the day.

All 257 pupils, most of whom are Christians, and 41 teachers - two of whom are Muslims - dressed up.

Teachers were told to dress as Muslims to promote diversity at a primary school

A morning assembly was held to mark the event and an afternoon party was strictly for women only, because Muslim husbands object to wives mixing with other men.

Sally Bloomer, head of Rufford primary school in Lye, West Midlands, told The Sun: “I have not heard of any complaints. It’s all part of a diversity project to promote multi-culturalism.”

But a relative of one of the staff reportedly said: “Who would put their job on the line? They have been told they have to embrace the day to show their diversity.

But they are not all happy.”

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

A cry of sanity in the Islamic wasteland.

People in the Midlle-East are starting to get worried enough about the big picture there, and throughout the rest of the world, that voices are starting to get heard.
And it's about time!

Saudi Cleric Salman Al-Odeh slams his "Brother" Osama bin Laden.

He warns Him He'll Be Responsible for the Deaths of Millions.

Reminds Him He Must Face Allah!

The following are excerpts from a religious show featuring Saudi cleric Salman Al-Odeh, which aired on MBC TV on September 14, 2007.

To view this clip, visit: http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1557.htm.

Salman Al-Odeh: "I say to my brother Osama [bin Laden]: How much blood has been shed, and how many innocent people, children, elderly, and women have been killed, displaced, or banished in the name of Al-Qaeda? Would you be pleased to meet Allah while you bear responsibility for hundreds or even millions of people?"

"The Prophet Muhammad said that anyone who killed even a bird unjustly would meet Allah on Judgment Day, and the bird would say to Allah: 'Ask so-and-do why he killed me unjustly.' This religion protects the sanctity of the blood of even birds and animals.

The Prophet Muhammad said about a prophet who burned an anthill: 'Just because one ant bit you, you burned an entire colony of ants that were praising Allah?'

This is all the more true when it comes to human beings."

"My brother Osama bin Laden, the image of Islam is not at its best today. People all over the world say that Islam kills anyone who is not of this religion, and that Salafism kills any Muslim who does not believe in it - whereas the Prophet Muhammad refrained from killing even the hypocrites, about whom Allah said they would dwell in the lowest level of hell.

The Prophet Muhammad said that the reason was so that people would not say that Muhammad kills his friends." "Is The Difference Not Clear Between One Who Kills And One Who Gives Life?"

"My brother Osama, what happened on 9/11 was the killing of several thousands, maybe less than 3,000, who died aboard the planes and in those towers, whereas there are unknown preachers, through whom Allah has guided hundreds of thousands of people, who have been enlightened by the light of Islam, and whose hearts have been filled with the love of Allah. Is the difference not clear between one who kills and one who gives life?"

"My brother Osama, the annihilation of an entire people, like what is happening in Afghanistan, through destruction and through hunger... This people has lost its entire infrastructure... Or the destruction of another people, like what is happening in Iraq... There are more than three million refugees in Jordan and Syria alone, apart from those who went to other countries in the East or West.

The specter of civil war, which hovers over Afghanistan and Iraq, is not something about which Muslims are happy.

The Prophet Muhammad heard about a man called Harb ("war") and changed his name, because he loathed war.

Our God said: 'Fighting is ordained for you, even though you hate it.' This is a hateful thing to which people resort only when it is necessary, and when there is no other choice.

"Are [You] Determined to Come to Power, Even If it is Over the Bodies of Thousands and Hundreds of Thousands[?]"

"Who benefits from the attempts to change countries like Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, or any other country into countries governed by fear, where people feel unsafe? Should coming to power be the goal? Is it the solution?

Are [you] determined to come to power, even if it is over the bodies of thousands and hundreds of thousands of policemen, soldiers, ordinary Muslims, or innocent people who are sometimes killed - and then you say that they will be resurrected according to their intentions.

Indeed they will, but the question is how we shall be resurrected, and how we shall appear when we meet our God, when so much blood has been shed under our patronage, whether we like it or not."

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at http://www.god-101.com/ and the blog "Perspective" at http://god-101.blogspot.com/

Go back to where you came from.

This article was sent to me by my brother-in-law in Glasgow. Apparently it's a true story so I thought I would pass it on!

A Muslim woman dressed in a Burkha (A black gown & face mask) was
standing with her shopping in a queue at the checkout.

When it was her turn to be served, and as she reached the cashier,
she made a loud remark about the English Flag lapel pin, which the female
cashier was wearing on her blouse.

The cashier reached up and touched the pin and said, "Yes, I always
wear it proudly. My son serves abroad with the forces and I wear it for him".

The Muslim woman then asked the cashier when she was going to stop
bombing and killing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi.

At that point, a Gentleman standing in the queue stepped forward, and
interrupted with a calm and gentle voice, and said to the Iraqi woman.

"Excuse me, but hundreds of thousands of men and women, just like this
ladies son have fought and sacrificed their lives so that people just
like YOU can stand here, in England, which is MY country and allow you
to blatantly accuse an innocent check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen".

"It is my belief that if you were allowed to be as outspoken as that in
Iraq, which you claim to be YOUR country, then we wouldn't need to be
fighting there today".

"However - now that you have learned how to speak out and criticize the
English people who have afforded you the protection of MY country, I
will gladly pay the cost of a ticket to help you pay your way back to Iraq".

"When you get there, and if you manage to survive for being as
outspoken as what you are here in England, then you should be able to
help straighten out the mess which YOUR Iraqi countrymen have got you
into in the first place, which appears to be the reason that you have
come to MY country to avoid."

Apparently the queue (lineup, for you Americans) cheered and applauded.

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com

The Middle East Media Research Institute!

The Middle East Media Research Institute (M.E.M.R.I. - http://memri.org) is an organization that analyzes Middle Eastern media sites such as newspapers, radio and T.V. stations and Internet sites to report what is being said about Political events in the Muslim world.

In a briefing on Capitol Hill hosted by Rep. Gary Ackerman and Rep. Mike Pence, MEMRI's president Yigal Carmon spoke about Islamist/Jihadi websites.

The briefing was based on a study prepared by MEMRI which highlighted the fact that all Islamist/Jihadi websites are hosted directly or through subservers by Western - primarily American - Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

The study discussed the question of what can be done about ISPs that do not know what is in the content of the websites they are hosting. This due to the language gap, since most of these websites are in Arabic.

During the briefing, MEMRI announced that it is taking upon itself a public service by offering ISPs that want to know about the content of the sites they are hosting, information regarding those sites within 7-10 days. This is so they can make an informed decision on whether they want to continue hosting these sites.

ISPs can now access the MEMRI Public Service Guide through a dedicated webpage, www.MEMRIPSG.org and submit their questions.

The briefing included a video of material posted on these Islamist/Jihadi websites.

The following is some of the text of the presentation:

Introduction;

Extremist Islam makes extensive use of the Internet. One can hardly imagine the growth of radical Islam and its jihadi organizations in recent years without the immense reach, impact and capabilities of the Internet.

The threat posed by Islamist websites has recently been demonstrated by three cases: the case of the New Jersey group that planned a terrorist attack on Fort Dix; the planned terrorist attack on JFK; and the attempted car bombings in the UK. According to media reports, the terrorists in all three cases were inspired by jihadist websites.

There were also two recent court cases in Britain and Switzerland in which terrorists were convicted of using Internet sites to promote terrorist activities.

The National Intelligence Estimate recently published by the U.S. National Intelligence Council stressed the following, "We assess that the spread of radical - especially Salafi - Internet sites, increasingly aggressive anti-US rhetoric and actions, and the growing number of radical, self-generating cells in Western countries indicate that the radical and violent segment of the West’s Muslim population is expanding, including in the United States.

The arrest and prosecution by US law enforcement of a small number of violent Islamic extremists inside the United States - who are becoming more connected ideologically, virtually, and/or in a physical sense to the global extremist movement - points to the possibility that others may become sufficiently radicalized that they will view the use of violence here as legitimate..."

The jihadist terrorist organizations utilize the Internet for two main purposes: for operational needs, and for indoctrination and da'wa. (propagation of Islam).

1. Operational Purposes.

The Internet serves as a tool in the military training of jihad fighters by circulating military guidebooks on weaponry, battle tactics, explosives manufacture, and other topics.

An example is Al-Qaeda's online military magazine Mu'askar Al-Battar (The Al-Battar Training Camp), published by the Military Committee of the Mujahideen in the Arabian Peninsula.

2. Indoctrination and Da'wa Needs

The main use of the Internet by Islamist/Jihadi organizations is in the field of indoctrination and da'wa(propagation of Islam).

The organizations attach great significance to this Internet activity, as evident from the considerable efforts they invest in it.

Al-Qaeda, for example, has an "information department" and a very active production company, Al-Sahab.

Likewise, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) - which is an umbrella organization founded by Al-Qaeda, incorporating several terrorist groups in Iraq - has an "information ministry" and two media companies, Al-Furqan and Al-Fajr.

In addition, there are independent media companies serving the Islamist organizations, such as the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), which denies having ties with Al-Qaeda but has posted Al-Qaeda statements taking responsibility for terrorist acts. The GIMF has also established the Media Jihad Brigade (Katibat Al-Jihad Al-I'lami).

The online indoctrination and da'wa activities are regarded by the organizations as an integral part of jihad, and as another front of jihad in addition to its military, economic, and political fronts.

In fact, they characterize online media or informational activity as a type of jihad that can be carried out by those who cannot participate in the fighting on the battlefield. They call this kind of jihad "the media jihad" (al-jihad al-i'lami) or "the da'wa jihad." (al-jihad al-da'awi)

3. What Can Be Done?

The prevalent view in the West, even among officials in charge of counterterrorism, is that the primary way to fight the jihadist websites is to spread an alternative message, or a "counter-narrative," which is opposed to that of the Islamists.

Indeed, Islamist ideology should and can be countered by alternative messages and it is indeed increasingly challenged by reformists in the Arab and Muslim world.

However, such an ideological campaign is, by its very nature, a long-term effort with no immediate results.

More effective and immediate ways to fight the phenomenon are, firstly, to expose the extremist sites via the media, and thus to inform ISPs and the public at large of their content, and secondly, to bring legal measures against ISPs that continue to host extremist websites and forums.

Exposure.

Experience teaches that exposure is, in itself an effective measure against extremist sites.

In 2004, MEMRI published a comprehensive two-part review of Islamist websites and their hosts. Within a week of the publication of this review, most of the sites exposed in it were closed down by the ISPs that hosted them.

This suggests that an effective measure against the extremists' online activities would be to establish a database - governmental or non-governmental - which would regularly publish information about Islamist/Jihadi sites, and/or provide it to ISPs upon request.

This database would provide a service similar to that of government bodies that inform the public at large on various kinds of threats to its safety such as bodies that provide weather alerts and travel advisories; the Better Business Bureau, which provides businessmen with information about individuals and companies convicted of fraud; or the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control that provides information to banks, which are bound by the regulation of "know your customer."

It should also be stressed that the ISPs themselves have a legal authority to remove sites that violate the law (e.g. the copyright laws) or sites that abuse their own regulations as laid down by the ISPs.

Thus, with information on extremist sites at their disposal, the ISPs should have both the ability and the obligation to remove such sites from their servers.

AND ABOVE ALL ELSE REMEMBER THIS ONE VERY IMPORTANT FACT! EVEN THOUGH THESE GROUPS MIGHT HAVE STARTED OUT BEING "REACTIVE" AGAINST SITUATIONS IMPOSED ON THEM, THEY HAVE NOW TURNED TO BEING "PROACTIVE" AND THEREFORE INVITE ANY RETALIATION DEEMED NECESSARY!

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com

It's my party and I'll terrorise who I want to!

Dozens of veiled women gathered outside the Old Bailey last weekend to protest against the jail sentences given to four Muslim men for encouraging terrorism.

Mizanur Rahman, 24, Umran Javed, 27, and Abdul Muhid, 25, were each jailed for six years for inciting murder and racial hatred during a demonstration against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. A fourth man, 32-year-old Abdul Saleem, was cleared of soliciting murder but convicted of inciting racial hatred. He was jailed for four years.

Rahman had called for British soldiers to come home from Iraq in body bags, and Muhid chanted: “Bomb, bomb the UK.”

Outside the court, around 40 demonstrators - most hiding their faces - chanted and held placards. Among them were a gaggle of women in burkas, who held up a sign which read: “British police go to hell.”

Police officers stood by as the group were kept behind barriers across the road.

Judge Brian Barker, the Common Sergeant of London, told the four men their words had been designed to encourage murder and terrorism. He said: “No one is entitled to make perverted use of ideology to propagate destruction and death.”

The judge said the protest in February 2006 had been “threatening, hateful and uncompromising” and the four men had “whipped up a frenzy” and gone far beyond what was “acceptable and legal.”

The four were arrested after 300 protesters marched to the Danish Embassy in central London over a cartoon which they said was offensive to Islam.

The drawing, which depicted the Prophet Mohammed wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, was one of several printed in a Danish newspaper.

It caused outrage in the Islamic world where images of Mohammed are forbidden.

Rahman, 24, of Palmers Green, North London, chanted to the crowd: “Oh Allah, we want to see another 9/11 in Iraq, another 9/11 in Denmark, another 9/11 in Spain, in France, all over Europe.”

Javed, from Birmingham, was recorded on video by the police shouting: “Bomb, bomb Denmark. Bomb, bomb U.S.A.” Muhid, of Whitechapel, East London, led a crowd in chanting “Bomb, bomb the UK.”

Saleem, of Poplar, East London, was heard to chant: “UK you will pay, 7/7 on its way” and “Europe you will pay with your blood.”

Judge Barker told the defendants they had subjected London’s multi-national citizens to a “barrage of hatred and intolerance, just months after the July 7 outrage.”

He added: “Freedoms of speech and assembly have long been jealously guarded by our laws. With freedom comes respect and responsibility - none of which was demonstrated by you. What you were part of was the complete opposite of peaceful protest.”

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 at www.God-101.com

Islamic Reformation!

It's always darkest before the dawn is true in more ways than one. We have Islamist terrorists on one hand and guys like this on the other.

A very inspirational piece that bears repeating here!

GUEST POST: Losing My Jihadism, Opinion - Mansour al-Nogaidan
The Washington Post:

Islam needs a Reformation. It needs someone with the courage of Martin Luther.

This is the belief I’ve arrived at after a long and painful spiritual journey. It’s
not a popular conviction — it has attracted angry criticism, including death threats, from many sides. But it was reinforced by Sept. 11, 2001, and in the years since, I’ve only become more convinced that it is critical to Islam’s future.

Muslims are too rigid in our adherence to old, literal interpretations of the Koran.

It’s time for many verses — especially those having to do with relations between Islam and other religions — to be reinterpreted in favor of a more modern Islam.

Daniel Shayesteh talks about his former life as a member of the Islamic Fundamentalist Revolutionary Movement, Teacher of Islam and his new life now as a Christian.

Research resources on Islam. It’s time to accept that God loves the faithful of all religions.

It’s time for Muslims to question our leaders and their strict teachings, to reach our own understanding of the prophet’s words and to call for a bold renewal of our faith as a faith of goodwill, of peace and of light.

I didn’t always think this way. Once, I was one of the extremists who clung to literal interpretations of Islam and tried to force them on others. I was a jihadist.

I grew up in Saudi Arabia. When I was 16, I found myself assailed by doubts about the existence of God. I prayed to God to give me the strength to overcome them.

I made a deal with Him: I would give up everything, devote myself to Him and live the way the prophet Muhammad and his companions had lived 1,400 years ago if He would rid me of my doubts.

I joined a hard-line Salafi group. I abandoned modern life and lived in a mud hut, apart from my family. Viewing modern education as corrupt and immoral, I joined a circle of scholars who taught the Islamic sciences in the classical way, just as they had been taught 1,200 years ago.

My involvement with this group led me to violence, and landed me in prison. In 1991, I took part in firebombing video stores in Riyadh and a women’s center in my home town of Buraidah, seeing them as symbols of sin in a society that was marching rapidly toward modernization.

Yet all the while, my doubts remained. Was the Koran really the word of God? Had it really been revealed to Muhammad, or did he create it himself? But I never shared these doubts with anyone, because doubting Islam or the prophet is not tolerated in the Muslim society of my country.

By the time I turned 26, much of the turmoil in me had abated, and I made my peace with God. At the same time, my eyes were opened to the hypocrisy of so many who held themselves out as Muslim role models.

I saw Islamic judges ignoring the marks of torture borne by my prison comrades. I learned of Islamic teachers who molested their students. I heard devout Muslims who never missed the five daily prayers lying with ease to people who did not share their extremist beliefs.

In 1999, when I was working as an imam at a Riyadh mosque, I happened upon two books that had a profound influence on me.

One, written by a Palestinian scholar, was about the struggle between those who deal pragmatically with the Koran and those who take it and the hadith literally.

The other was a book by a Moroccan philosopher about the formation of the Arab Muslim way of thinking.

The books inspired me to write an article for a Saudi newspaper arguing that Muslims have the right to question and criticize our religious leaders and not to take everything they tell us for granted. We owe it to ourselves, I wrote, to think pragmatically if our religion is to survive and thrive.

That article landed me in the center of a storm. Some men in my mosque refused to greet me. Others would no longer pray behind me. Under this pressure, I left the mosque.

I moved to the southern city of Abha, where I took a job as a writer and editor with a newly established newspaper.

I went back to leading prayers at the paper’s small mosque and to writing about my evolving philosophy. After I wrote articles stressing our right as Muslims to question our Saudi clerics and their interpretations and to come up with our own, officials from the kingdom’s powerful religious establishment complained, and I was banned from writing.

The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, gave new life to what I had been saying.

I went back to criticizing the rote manner in which we Muslims are fed our religion.

I criticized al-Qaeda’s school of thought, which considers everyone who isn’t a Salafi Muslim the enemy.

I pointed to examples from Islamic history that stressed the need to get along with other religions. I tried to give a new interpretation to the verses that call for enmity between Muslims and Christians and Jews.

I wrote that they do not apply to us today and that Islam calls for friendship among all religions.

I lost a lot of friends after that. My old companions from the jihad felt obliged to declare themselves either with me or against me.

Some preferred to cut their links to me silently, but others fought me publicly, issuing statements filled with curses and lies. Once again, the paper came under great pressure to ban my writing.

I became a favorite target on the Internet, where my writings were lambasted and labeled blasphemous.

Eventually I was fired. But by then, I had started to develop a different relationship with God. I felt that He was moving me toward another kind of belief, where all that matters is that we pray to God from the heart.

I continued to pray, but I started to avoid the verses that contain violence or enmity and only used the ones that speak of God’s mercy and grace and greatness.

I remembered an incident when the prophet told a Bedouin who didn’t know how to pray to let go of the verses and simply to think of God and get closer to Him by repeating, “God is good, God is great.” Don’t sweat the details, the prophet said.

I felt at peace, and no longer doubted the existence of God.

In December 2002, in a Web site interview, I criticized al-Qaeda and declared that some of the Friday sermons were loathsome because of their attacks against non-Muslims.

Within days, a fatwa was posted online, calling me an infidel and saying that I should be killed. Once again, I felt despair at the ways of the Muslim world.

Two years later, I told al-Arabiya television that I thought God loves all faithful people of different religions. That earned me a fatwa from the mufti of Saudi Arabia declaring my infidelity.

But one evening not long after that, I heard a radio broadcast of the verse of light.

Even though I had memorized the Koran at 15, I felt as though I was hearing this verse for the first time. God is light, it says, the universe is illuminated by His light. I felt the verse was speaking directly to me, sending me a message.

This God of light, I thought, how could He be against any human? The God of light would not be happy to see people suffer, even if they had sinned and made mistakes along the way.

I had found my Islam. And I believe that others can find it, too. But first we need a Reformation similar to the Protestant Reformation that Martin Luther led against the Roman Catholic Church.

In the late 14th century, Islam had its own sort of Martin Luther. Ibn Taymiyya was an Islamic scholar from a hard-line Salafi sect who went through a spiritual crisis and came to believe that in time, God would close the gates of hell and grant all humans, regardless of their religion, entry to his everlasting paradise.

Unlike Luther, however, Ibn Taymiyya never openly declared this revolutionary belief; he shared it only with a small, trusted circle of students.

Nevertheless, I find myself inspired by Luther’s courageous uprising. I see what Islam needs — a strong, charismatic personality who will lead us toward reform, and scholars who can convince Islamic communities of the need for a bold new interpretation of Islamic texts, to reconcile us with the wider world.

Mansour al-Nogaidan writes for the Bahraini newspaper Al-Waqt.

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 at www.God-101.com

ASSHOLES OF THE WEEK!

I think we could safely make the Taliban assholes of the week first, and then Al-Qaeda the next week and then just keep switching back and forth.

Just read a rather detailed report on Islamist militant groups this week and it seems their main purpose, (other than fighting amongst themselves) is to drive a wedge between Muslims and Non-Muslims.

I would have to say they are doing a fairly good job of it.

The real shame in all this would be the relationship with the vast majority of Muslims (not Islamists) that is suffering because they refuse to speak up about injustices carried out by these assholes.

The latest example of this is that the two Germans kidnapped near Kabul in Afghanistan this week have been killed, a spokesman for the Taliban has said.

The spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said the Taliban's demand that Germany withdraw its 3,000 troops in Afghanistan had been ignored.

Local police said the Germans, whose identity has not been revealed, were seized with six Afghan colleagues on Wednesday in Wardak province where they had been working on a dam project.

On an even more serious note there a about 20 South Korean women who were kidnapped as well and the ferocious, manly, righteous, favourites of God have threatened to put them in the town square and stone them to death.

These guys take people who volunteer to go to Afghanistan to help re-build the country, and try to drive them out so that they can impose their own brand of Islamic extremism on the population again.

These half-assed measures the West is taking are nothing more than a joke. There are only two possibilities to be followed in the Middle-East.

The first would be a real and concerted effort by all neighbouring powers to go in "en-masse" and clean things up in the Middle East or just cut and run and get the hell out of there.

Of course, everyone is too "chicken-shit" to really get the job done properly so it's too bad they have all that oil, otherwise the U.S. would just let the bastards sort themselves out!

If that's possible.

Your faithful scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 at www.God-101.com

Asshole of the Week!

We are going to give our "Asshole of the Week" award, and a loud fart, to the second woman to win it in the last few weeks!

A young woman (Bouchra El Hor) encouraged her husband to become a Muslim martyr, the Old Bailey Court in London heard. In a letter, she urged him to fight against non-believers and vowed that their baby son would follow in his footsteps.

The letter was read out to the jury trying El Hor, 24, for failing to disclose information on terrorism. Her husband Yassin Nassari, 28, is charged with having documents and data on terrorism. (Note: I find it hilarious that her name is El Hor!)

The couple, who had a five-month old son when they were detained in May, last year, deny the charges. Bouchra El Hor allegedly said in her letter: 'I am so proud of my husband. I am happy that Allah has granted you the chance to be a martyr.

'I am writing to let you know that you have my support and to remind you to be strong and do not let Satan influence you... to remind you that jihad is now compulsory and we are now obligated to protect Islam, to help our brothers and sisters to fight the kuffar [non-believer].

'Maybe one day I can follow you. If I can't, I will send our son to you so he can follow his father's footsteps.'

The letter was photocopied by police at Luton Airport when the couple's luggage was searched as they returned to Britain from Holland, jurors heard.

Aftab Jafferjee, prosecuting, said its true significance was recognised only after police analysed the hard drive of a computer seized at Nassari's home in Ealing, West London.

It was found to have instructions on how to make missiles and handle explosives.

He added: 'His wife was not only aware of his intention, but positively encouraged it – despite the fact that his actions would almost certainly result in his death in some form of combat, and would also result in their son being without a father.'

Yep, the award was well given this week, can't think of anyone that deserves it more!

Your "pass the ammunition" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) at www.God-101.com

Salman Rushdie is not the problem. Muslims are!

In a battle between flaming fundamentalists and mute moderates, who do you think is going to win?

GUEST POST by Irshad Manji. (Times Online)

Growing up in Vancouver, I attended an Islamic school every Saturday.

There, I learned that Jews cannot be trusted because they worship “moolah, not Allah,” meaning money, not God.

According to my teacher, every last Jew is consumed with business.

But looking around my neighbourhood, I noticed that most of the new business signs featured Asian languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Punjabi and plenty of Urdu. Not Hebrew. Urdu, which is spoken throughout Pakistan.

That reality check made me ask: What if my religious school is not educating me? What if it is indoctrinating me?

I am reminded of this question thanks to the news that Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses and ten other works of fiction, will be knighted by the Queen of England.

On Monday, Pakistan’s religious affairs minister said that in light of how Rushdie has blasphemed Islam with provocative literature, it is understandable why angry Muslims would commit suicide bombings over his knighthood.

Members of Parliament, as well as the Pakistani government, amplified the condemnation of Britain, feeding cries of offense to Muslim sensibilities from Europe to Asia.

As a Muslim, you better believe I am offended – by these absurd reactions.

I am offended that it is not the first time honours from the West have met with vitriol and violence.

In 1979, Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam became the first Muslim to win the Nobel Prize in science. He began his acceptance speech with a verse from the Quran.

Salam’s country ought to have celebrated him.

Instead, rioters tried to prevent him from re-entering the country. Parliament even declared him a “non-Muslim” because he belonged to a religious minority.

His name continues to be controversial, invoked by state authorities in hushed tones.

I am offended that every year, there are more women killed in Pakistan for allegedly violating their family’s honour than there are detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Muslims have rightly denounced the mistreatment of Guantanamo prisoners.

But where is our outrage over the murder of many more Muslims at the hands of our own?

I am offended that in April, mullahs at an extreme mosque in Pakistan issued a fatwa against hugging.

The country’s female tourism minister had embraced – or, depending on the account you follow, accepted a congratulatory pat from – her skydiving instructor after she successfully jumped in a French fundraiser for the victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

Clerics announced her act of touching another man to be “a great sin.” They demanded she be fired.

I am offended by their fatwa proclaiming that women should stay at home and remain covered at all times.

I am offended that they have bullied music store owners and video vendors into closing shop.

I am offended that the government tiptoes around their craziness because these clerics threaten suicide attacks if confronted.

I am offended that on Sunday, at least 35 Muslims in Kabul were blown to bits by other Muslims and on Tuesday, 87 more in Baghdad by Islamic “insurgents”, with no official statement from Pakistan to deplore these assaults on fellow believers.

I am offended that amid the internecine carnage, a professed atheist named Salman Rushdie tops the to-do list.

Above all, I am offended that so many other Muslims are not offended enough to demonstrate widely against God’s self-appointed ambassadors.

We complain to the world that Islam is being exploited by fundamentalists, yet when reckoning with the opportunity to resist their clamour en masse, we fall curiously silent.

In a battle between flaming fundamentalists and mute moderates, who do you think is going to win?

I am not saying that standing up to intimidation is easy.

This past spring, the Muslim world made it that much more difficult. A 56-member council of Islamic countries pushed the UN Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution against the “defamation of religion”. Pakistan led the charge.

Focused on Islam rather than on faith in general, the resolution allows repressive regimes to squelch freedom of conscience further – and to do so in the guise of international law.

On occasion, though, the people of Pakistan show that they do not have to be muzzled by clerics and politicians.

Last year, civil society groups vocally challenged a set of anti-female laws, three decades old and supposedly based on the Quran.

Their religiously respectful approach prompted even mullahs to hint that these laws are man-made, not God-given.

This month, too, Pakistanis forced their government to lift restrictions on the press.

No wonder my own book, translated into Urdu and posted on my website, is being downloaded in droves.

Religious authorities will not let it be sold in the markets. But they cannot stop Pakistanis – or other Muslims – from satiating a genuine hunger for ideas.

In that spirit, it is high time to “ban” hypocrisy under the banner of Islam.

Salman Rushdie is not the problem. Muslims are!

After all, the very first bounty on Rushdie's head was worth £1 million. It increased to £1.25 million; then higher.

The chief benefactor, Iran's government, claimed to have profitably invested the principal. Hence the rising value of the reward.

Looks like Jews are not the only people handy at business.

A Senior Fellow with the European Foundation for Democracy, Irshad Manji is creator of the new documentary Faith Without Fear and author of The Trouble with Islam Today: A Wake-Up Call for Honesty and Change

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) www.God-101.com

New group for those who renounce Islam!

A new organisation, representing former Muslims who fear for their lives because they have renounced their faith, is to be launched at England tomorrow.

The Council of ex-Muslims of Britain plans to speak out against Islamic states that still punish Muslim apostates with death under Sharia law.

It also aims to become the voice of non-religious ex-Muslims who do not want to be represented by “regressive” umbrella groups such as the Muslim Council of Britain.

The group states that Islam has all the characteristics of a Cult.

One characteristic of destructive cults is that they make it difficult or impossible for people to leave the group. Those who do leave are subjected to false claims, hate- and harassment activities, or even death.

The council is being headed by Maryam Namazie, an outspoken human rights activist, following the formation of similar branches across Europe. Miss Namazie, a Left-wing feminist who was awarded the title of “Secularist of the Year” in 2005, has herself faced death threats.

In Islam, apostasy is called ridda (turning back) and it is considered by Muslims to be a profound insult to God, which deserves harsh punishment.

The nature of the punishment, however, provokes passionate debate between scholars, with most believing that it should attract the death penalty for men and life imprisonment for women.

Apostasy is punishable by death in a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan.

In other parts of the world they can be shunned by family and friends.

Last year Abdul Rahman, an Afghan convert from Islam to Christianity, attracted international attention after prosecutors called for his death.

However, under heavy pressure from foreign governments, the Afghan authorities declared him unfit to stand trial and released him.

Miss Namazie, who was forced to flee her native Iran, said: “We are establishing the alternative to the likes of the Muslim Council of Britain because we don’t think people should be pigeonholed as Muslims or deemed to be represented by regressive organisations like the MCB.

She added: ‘’We are quite certain we represent a majority in Europe and a vast secular and humanist protest movement in countries like Iran.”

She said the new Council, the launch of which is being sponsored by the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society, will start with a membership of 25 British ex-Muslims who are prepared to be named and pictured publicly.

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) www.God-101.com

They're just wild about Harry!

Rumours are spreading that Al-Quaeda has put a multi-million dollar price on the head of Britain's Prince Harry.

When he starts soldiering in the middle of May Muslim fighters are urged to either kill him or kidnap him to extract concessions and ransom from the British government.

Authorities, meanwhile, have said that Harry is not expected to be put in any situation where that would be possible.

If they were smart they would send him to guard the Falklands, or some such thing, rather than take a chance with an "all too tempting" target that would put Britain in a very difficult position.

Your "news from the front" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Let's not overdo it! Or, everything in moderation!

Modern Muslim's have no idea how lucky they are!

I just found out that Muhammad originally wanted people to pray 12 times a day, but, after much debate, his followers finally talked him out of it and he settled on five times a day!

Good thing too, otherwise you poor people wouldn't have time to do anything else during the day except pray!

Your "pious" scribe;
Allan W Janssen

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God-101 (what the church doesn't want you to know!) www.God-101.com