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The best place to get acquainted with the Koran and
the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad.
Headlines
News analysis you will not find anywhere else (P = Personal or Off-topic)
Iran’s supreme leader breaks silence on protests, blames U.S... Meanwhile, Sharif University of Technology in Tehran announced that only doctoral students would be allowed on campus until further notice following hours of turmoil Sunday. The student association said plainclothes officers surrounded the school from all sides as protests roiled the campus after nightfall and detained at least 300 students. Globe and Mail, Oct 3, 2022
Abbas was detained when President Ebrahim Raisi was in charge of putting down unrest under Khomeini. He remembers it as one of the the worst nights of his life. He was one of hundreds of young people, mostly students, who had been corralled at a protest and herded into a large room at a nearby detention facility.
Throughout the night, revolutionary guards would enter the room and choose people at random to accompany them; moments later, you heard the sound of gunshots. It was not the sound of people being killed that bothered him the most, but the sound of grown men, realizing what was happening, crying and calling for their mothers.
When the sun rose, the doors were opened and those who had survived the night were told they could leave. As they were being marshaled out past a pile of corpses stacked against a wall, they were encouraged to remember what had happened here and to tell their friends.
How do you fight people who would commit something like that, and how brave are those who do?
Sex workers challenging criminal laws in court, citing Charter violation But advocacy groups maintain the laws that were later put in place by the Harper government have failed to make things better for sex workers. Globe and Mail, Oct 3, 2022
What would make things better for sex workers would be for the government to licence and establish standards for brothels, not unlike those followed by such an establishment in Ottawa.
After showing up at the front desk and paid for the service requested and the girl (or girls) who will be providing the service (or services) you are given the key to a locker where you are told to put your clothes while you shower, and then return to the front desk afterwards in your skivvies only.
After being given the once over to ensure no weapons and no visible signs that would indicate a health problem you are buzzed into the section where the girl (or girls) you have selected will be waiting, along with a sort of master of ceremony with a few last-minute instructions about treating your service worker the way she wants to be treated. Both clients and service providers, I am told, are happy with the arrangement, especially the cleanliness part.
My first time with a working girl was with a young Muslim woman from West Africa who came to Canada to escape a marriage in the Islamic tradition, that she once described as “God-sanctioned rage.” Remembering Uzza is dedicated to that young woman I met one snowy night almost twenty year ago who inspired me to go on a voyage of discovery of a religion like no other.
Iranian security forces arrest a woman for eating at restaurant in public without her hijab, family says CNN, Sept 30, 2022
Donya Rad, was arrested and taken to Evin prison after a photograph of her eating at a restaurant with no headscarf was posted on the internet. “Tehran’s Evin Prison is a notoriously brutal facility managed by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry.” Evin prison is where Iranian-Canadian freelance photographer Zahra Kazemi was raped, suffered a fractured skull, a broken nose, among other signs of torture, from which she eventually died. Another Iranian-Canadian who spent time at Evin and survived to tell the tale was my friend Sohrab (Abbas).
Young Iranian Woman Who Became Symbol of Protests After Viral Video Killed. The blonde hair of [Hadis] Najafi appeared uncovered in a clip that went viral on social media, showing the young woman facing Iranian police without wearing a veil, something which is forbidden by law in Iran. Newsweek, Sept 25, 2022
The 20-year-old was shot [six times] in the chest, face and neck by trigger happy security forces, reports on social media claim. The Sun (UK)
Remember Neda.
Protests in Iran over Mahsa Amini’s death shine spotlight on morality police Globe and Mail, Sept 24, 2022
The morality police are just the most visible sign of an immoral regime. Read Mary from Love, Sex and Islam which contains a discussion about temporary marriages arranged by imams to understand why.
Tax rule changes would level the field for first-time Muslim homebuyers Globe and Mail, Sept 19, 2022
If God considers this a subterfuge to get around His prohibition against paying interest, a Muslim who takes advantage of this Islam specific tax code modification will burn in Hell. Better to openly pay the interest on a mortgage knowing Allah will be displeased, but not enough to condemn the mortgagor to an eternity on fire. Also, your intent is not to increase the wealth of anyone, but to own a home of your own.
30:39 And what you give in usury, so as to multiply people’s wealth, will not multiply in Allah’s Sight; but what you give in alms, desiring thereby Allah’s Face. Such are the real multipliers.
A Muslim who facilitates this deception, by accepting any payment from the would-be homeowner, could be in for an eternity of hurt. Don’t be misled by God’s use of the term ‘usury’. For the Almighty, a penny of interest is usury.
2:278 O believers, fear Allah and forgo what is still due from usury, if you are [true] believers.
2:279 But if you fail to do that, take note of a war [waged] by Allah and His Messenger. But if you repent you will have your capital, neither wronging (sic) nor being wronged.
Muslim homebuyers flock to halal financing options as new companies emerge to serve market Globe and Mail, Sept 18, 2022
Wishful thinking! Sharia is based on the Koran and the sayings and example of the Prophet Muhammad. Allah is unequivocal about earning or charging interest. For his part, Muhammad warned against subterfuges to get around God's prohibition.
Trudeau declines to say whether CSIS informant has been granted asylum in Canada. Globe and Mail, Sept 18, 2022
The only way we may get to the bottom of this is for the parents, whose sons and daughters were trafficked to ISIS by CSIS’s double-agent (see August 30 headline), to sue the government in search of the truth, not in anticipation of a massive payout to drop their lawsuit.
Two Iranians sentenced to death, including LGBTQ activist... for “corruption on earth.” CNN Sept 7, 2022
Like journalist Rouhollah Zam, both will be hanged.
Dissident Iranian journalist Rouhollah Zam was hanged in Iran on Saturday morning, according to state television IRIB.
Zam was found guilty of "corruption on earth," a charge that does not specify a crime but is sometimes used by the Iranian government for alleged attempts to overthrow it.
Zam ran the online opposition news site Amad News.
CNN, December 12, 2020
God suggests both a harsher and a lesser punishment for those found guilty of “corruption on earth,” i.e, "corrupting the land."
5:33 Indeed, the punishment of those who fight Allah and His Messenger and go around corrupting the land is to be killed, crucified, have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, or to be banished from the land. That is a disgrace for them in this life, and in the life to come theirs will be a terrible punishment
Anyone who challenges those who rule in Allah's name such as the Ayatollahs, or who would try to make things better, the so-called Reformers, are guilty of "corrupting the land."
(P) The coming confrontation over government intervention in the media The Liberals have lately sought to extend state funding to the newspaper industry as well, with the enthusiastic support of many publishers. The first tranche of aid was provided in 2019 through a five-year, $595-million suite of tax credits known colloquially, and accurately, as the newspaper bailout. Globe and Mail, Sept 2, 2022
Were the subsidies responsible for influential Canadian newspapers refusing Boreal Books' paid advertising for a book about widespread fraud at the powerful Department of Global Affairs? I don't think so. The only two to decline were those mentioned in the book. The Toronto Star and The Hill Times had no problems with our ad. A full-page in the Times and a less wordy ad in the Star due to cost.
Shamima Begum: Spy for Canada smuggled schoolgirl to Syria Ms Begum was 15 when she and two other east London schoolgirls - Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-old Amira Abase - travelled to Syria to join the IS group in 2015. At the main Istanbul bus station, the girls met Mohammed Al Rasheed, who would facilitate their journey to IS-controlled Syria...
Mr Akunjee said it was "shocking" that a Canadian intelligence asset was a key part of the smuggling operation - "someone who is supposed to be an ally, protecting our people, rather than trafficking British children into a war zone". "Intelligence-gathering looks to have been prioritised over the lives of children," he said...
A Canadian Security Intelligence Service spokesman said he could not "publicly comment on or confirm or deny the specifics of CSIS investigations, operational interests, methodologies or activities".
BBC August 30, 2022
Trudeau defends CSIS after U.K. author claims agency informant smuggled girls into Syria. Two of the girls — Sultana and Abase — are now dead. CBC August 31, 2022.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) promised Rasheed Canadian citizenship in return for information on ISIS. If he was involved in the smuggling in 2015 of two teenaged girls from Montréal to Syria and into the hands of ruthless faith-driven men, it would make CSIS complicit in the trafficking, not only of British citizens, but Canadians as well, to The Islamic State.
The girls from Montréal,
like Begum, "are believed to have slipped out of the country on a flight to Turkey,"
(Toronto Star, Feb 27, 2015). "Rasheed was in charge of the Turkish
side of the [smuggling] network" (BBC). As their informant, CSIS would know if Rasheed was involved in the trafficking of
vulnerable Canadians
like Shayma Senouci (pictured right). Refusing to "comment on or confirm or deny the specifics" of this extraordinary
operation should not be an option.
Following the girls' flight to The Islamic State I posted What Every Prospective Jihadi Bride Should Know, a dissuading article for teenagers enamored with the idea of becoming the bride of a holy warrior believing they will find fulfillment and purpose in the bed of the ultimate bad boy.
Flames’ Nazem Kadri brings Stanley Cup to hometown for special celebration Kadri has faced his share of racism and Islamophobia, especially in this past post-season. Globe and Mail, August 29, 2022
Islamophobia is a rational fear of the irrational. The most visible manifestation of this fear inducing irrationality is the believer who seeks martyrdom in suicidal attacks because of what is allegedly written in a book in Paradise whose contents were revealed by a man who claimed to be an intimate of the Author.
I doubt very much that whatever opinions were expressed in post season about Kadri were out of fear that he was about to commit an irrational act of faith.
(P) Tenacious activist lobbied for the victims of Canada’s tainted blood tragedy. Janet Conners died of lung cancer on Aug. 20. She was 66. Globe and Mail, August 26, 2022
Turkish singer Gulsen arrested over religious schools joke Turkish singer Gulsen has been arrested and accused of inciting hatred over a joke she made about religious schools. In April, the singer joked a member of her band's "perversion" was due to him having attended one... Erdogan and many members of his Islam-based ruling party are graduates of religious schools. BBC August 26, 2022
Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali, ex-Muslim, former member of the Dutch parliament, friend and collaborator of the regretted Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, author of Infidel and The Caged Virgin argues that if the West is to have a chance of defeating Islamic fundamentalism it must outlaw madrassas. I don’t necessarily agree.
It is not madrassas that are the problem (Erdogan’s education notwithstanding), but the book that is at the core of a madrassa’s curriculum. It is a book that should not be taught to children until they are old enough to think for themselves. Of course, limiting the Koran’s reach would severely impact a madrassa’s vocation; confining it to teaching adults and perhaps college level students, but I think that it would be a good thing.
Teach Your Children Well | Children and the Koran
(P) Wendy’s mascot goes grey, joining chorus of support for Lisa LaFlamme... LaFlamme is NOT a victim. She was a 35 year employee: $350,000 a year in salary, two years severance and a pension. (comment). Globe and Mail, August 25, 2022
Not even a pension, that could have allowed her to die at home, did I get. That sunny day in May when the guards came for me remains seared in my memory. I am sure Ms. LaFlamme was allowed a more dignified exit.
Acadie Nouvelle cartoon sparks backlash over depiction of Muslims CBC August 23, 2022
In response to a news story about the Taliban’s treatment of women, l’Acadie Nouvelle, New Brunswick's largest French-language newspaperman published two cartoons, one showing a caveman dragging a woman by the hair and below it, a man wearing a turban and carrying a gun using a leash to drag a woman wearing a burqa. The implication that the Taliban is behaving like stone age barbarians in the way it treats women could not be any clearer.
Yet, rather than amplify the unambiguous intent of l’Acadie Nouvelle and take the Taliban to task for its treatment of women, activists are accusing the paper of promoting Islamophobia. This is nuts and has to stop!
(P) BlackBerry: Canadian film starring Jay Baruchel to chronicle rise and fall of Research In Motion Globe and Mail, August 23, 2022
A more compelling story would be the demise of Corel and the lesser known but even more important ZIM. Bad management decisions doomed the Blackberry not so for Corel and ZIM which Michael Cowpland could have saved were it not for American interference and a complicit Federal Government.
(P) Trudeau appoints Ontario judge Michelle O’Bonsawin as first Indigenous person to sit on Supreme Court of Canada Globe and Mail, August 19, 2022
"Trudeau appointed the first Muslim to the Supreme Court of Canada and now the first aboriginal. I would like to believe that either appointment, unlike the late Chief Justice Brian Dickson, would not have dismissed my appeal with a curt 'not a question of national interest'. I was a nobody, unlike the thieves and their shameless lawyers." Bernard Payeur
Linguistic diversity on the rise in Canada, census data show The Canadian Press, August 17, 2022
This is not a good thing, and Muslims know better.
Author Salman Rushdie attacked, stabbed on lecture stage in New York, The Associated Press, August 12, 2022
Assassination of critics. e.g., Charlie Hebdo, even when criticism was not intended as was the case with Rushdie and his book The Satanic Verses, which were key to getting Mecca to surrender without a fight, have been a fixture of Islam from the beginning.
Iran and Russia’s friendship is more complicated than it seems... The White House said that Iran is expected to supply Russia with “hundreds” of drones – including weapons-capable drones — for use in the war in Ukraine and that Iran is preparing to begin training Russian forces on how to operate them as soon as this month. CNN July 20, 2022
Khamenei will burn in Hell. "Helping the oppressors" is the 30th of the fifty grave sins, sins where the sinner is guaranteed to spend eternity on fire.
Islamic veil: Why fewer women in North Africa are wearing it Young Moroccan women have spoken to local media about the social pressure, even harassment, they have to endure when they take off the hijab. But that has apparently not deterred them... Merely criticising the hijab in Western democracies has also become almost synonymous with "Islamophobia" or attacks on minority rights. But in Muslim-majority societies it [criticising the hijab] is still regarded as part of a legitimate campaign for the liberation of women from stifling tradition. BBC, July 19, 2022
In Canada, except for the Province of Québec, the hijab is welcomed everywhere even in places you least expect as is the niqab which Québec has partially banned and the Federal Government wholeheartedly endorsed in spite of opposition from Muslims who argued that new citizens taking the oath of citizenship incognito was a niqab too far.
India state on alert after Prophet Muhammad row beheading. The victim, a tailor named Kanhaiya Lal, was killed in Udaipur district on Tuesday by two Muslim men, who filmed the act and posted it online. They claimed the act was in retaliation for the victim's support for controversial remarks made by a politician on the Prophet Muhammad. BBC June 29, 2022
Why the tailor had to to die:
The controversy began with comments made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokeswoman Nupur Sharma on the TV station Times Now on May 27. Sharma was commenting on the Gyanvapi mosque controversy. The mosque in northeast India was built on the site of an earlier Hindu shrine. Some Islamists have reportedly claimed that there actually was no shrine at the site.
During the TV segment, Sharma rhetorically asked if she should "mock" some parts of the Muslim holy book, the Quran. She specifically mentioned "flying horses," a likely reference to the buraq creature. She also brought up the Prophet Muhammad's marriage to Aisha, describing her as 9 years old at the time the marriage was consummated, according to local media.
After Sharma’s comments, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s spokesman for the Delhi region Naveen Kumar Jindal accused Muhammad of rape in a tweet.
Al-Monitor, Explainer: India BJP Party spokesperson's comments on prophet spark backlash, June 6, 2022
Al-Burak is the winged horse that Muhammad rode to Paradise for a meeting with God during which the five daily prayers were negotiated. This is an article of faith. It should not have caused offence. The same for Aisha’s marriage; details of which Islam would like to keep under wraps, which the Western media has been more than happy to oblige, refusing to report on what was said and whether it was factual.
What Aisha and others had to say about the blessed event!
What about the rape accusation? In Love, Sex and Islam I speculate as to how it all went down in reminiscing about Jasmine. You be the judge.
Sharma also "specifically mentioned" that, in the Koran, the Earth is flat. The less said about that the better.
Supreme Court further erodes separation between church and state in case of praying football coach… The court said coach Joe Kennedy’s prayers amounted to private speech, protected by the First Amendment, and could not be restricted by the school district. The decision lowers the bar between church and state in an opinion that will allow more religious expression in public spaces. CNN June 27, 2022
Islam is the big winner from this Supreme Court decision which further blurs the line between Church and State. Islam is all about the public demonstration of your faith, starting with the five daily prayers (Sunni) that must be performed at a specific time no matter where you are being the most conspicuous. It all begins with the call to prayer which this decision will make impossible to deny. Islam, with its unabashed, in your space (not a typo), proselytizing will have the Christian’s lunch, and the law will be on their side.
Mark Lilla, professor of the humanities at Columbia University is wrong; it is not the Muslims who will be responsible for the demise of the fragile exception, but Christians.
After centuries of strife, the West has learned to separate religion and politics – to establish the legitimacy of its leaders without referring to divine command. There is little reason to expect the rest of the world – the Islamic world in particular – will follow.
We in the West find it incomprehensible that theological ideas still inflame the minds of men, stirring up messianic passions that can leave societies in ruin. We had assumed that this was no longer possible, that human beings had learned to separate religious questions from political ones, that political theology died in 16th-century Europe. We were wrong. It's we who are the fragile exception.
Abortion bans trample on the religious freedom of Muslims, too. There is not just one sharia rule on abortion. There are many. As Islamic law expert Abed Awad and Imam Omar Suleiman have pointed out, different Islamic schools of thought have different rules on whether and when one can have an abortion. Among them are: abortion is permissible through the first 120 days of pregnancy... an exception exists in every Islamic legal school (if the life or health of the mother is at risk,) regardless of the timing. Asifa Quraishi-Landes, San Francisco Chronicle June 23, 2022
The school that allows abortions "through the first 120 days of pregnancy" is the Hanafi. It has the most adherents, an estimated one third of Muslims worldwide. The Maliki, the second largest of the four mainstream schools of Islamic jurisprudence with an estimated 25% following, does not permit abortion at any stage after fertilization, except if the mother's life is at risk.
Shia Iran allows abortion "before 16 weeks of gestation under limited circumstances, including medical conditions related to fetal and maternal health." National Library of Medicine
The Koran has nothing to say about aborting a fetus. Schools of Islamic Law that allow abortion after fertilization, such as the 120 days quoted, rely on what the Prophet said about when a fetus is ensouled.
Narrated Abdullah:
Allah's Apostle, the truthful and truly-inspired, said, "Each one of you collected in the womb of his mother for forty days, and then turns into a clot for an equal period (of forty days) and turns into a piece of flesh for a similar period (of forty days) and then Allah sends an angel and orders him to write four things, i.e. his provision, his age, and whether he will be of the wretched or the blessed (in the Hereafter). Then the soul is breathed into him."
Bukhari 77.593
Buzz Lightyear film featuring same-sex couple will not play in 14 countries In the film, Buzz's close friend is a female space ranger who marries another woman. A scene showing milestones in the couple's relationship includes a brief kiss. CBC June 14, 2022
There might be some wiggle room for some countries where the Koran is the guide as the Book has nothing to say about female same-sex relationships, and when it comes to condemning illicit sex it is always full blown intercourse.
And in the hadiths where Muhammad orders a man to be stoned for illegal intercourse he goes to great lengths to confirm that there was actual penetration.
RCMP forms task force to create national hate crimes policing standards... Mohammed Hashim the executive director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation [and advocate for Canada’s Muslim communities] will co-chair the task force. Globe and Mail, Mar 22, 2022
Islam is not a race but a religion. That distinction is increasingly being blurred by Islamists who see it to their advantage to label criticism of Islam as being racially motivated therefore subject to official scrutiny and prosecution. I trust the RCMP will appreciate the difference should recommendations be made that have more to do with protecting Islam from criticism than improve policing of race related offences.
Grenoble: topless bathing and burkini authorised in municipal pools. The Mayor, May 17, 2022
Women of Grenoble will now be able to bathe in the city's public pools fully dressed or with nothing on except for a bikini bottom in a controversial decision that avoided making the issue about religion but about a women's right to show as much or as little skin as she wants when bathing in public. Barring your breasts in public was something Arab women used to do before Islam.
Bob: WOW! Arab women showing their boobs in public.
Uzza: Arab women, before Islam, were not the dominated prudes you see today. Before Islam, Arab women were very much spirited partners of the men they married.
Gerry: What a modern outlook.
Uzza: The Arab men and women of what Islam calls the Age of Ignorance, before Allah sent the Book to Muhammad, were modern before modern became a dirty word.
Archie: From women who bared their breasts in defiance, to women who won't bare their nose to sneeze.
Excerpt from Remembering Uzza: Overkill Becomes the Norm
The pros and cons of swimming fully clothed.
ZARQA tells the story of a Muslim divorcee looking for revenge. Little Mosque on the Prairie creator is back with a web series many can relate to. CBC May 13, 2022
Little Mosque was both an insider joke and a polished piece of propaganda. Expect no less from Zarqa. Before watching Zarqa I would recommend you read Remembering Uzza - If Islam Was Explained To Me in A Pub, a play about a dystopian future where a young Muslim woman goes to a bar to reflect on her impending arranged marriage and ends up explaining what Islam is all about to patrons and a no-nonsense bartender (all based on real people) so that you will know when you are the butt of a joke.
Taliban to force Afghan women to wear face veil Any woman who refuses to comply and ignores official warnings to male members of her family could see a male guardian jailed for three days. BBC May 7, 2022
The women of Afghanistan are not only to become invisible but also TO BE BRUTALIZED LIKE NEVER BEFORE. Their guardian (husband, father, brother, uncle), to avoid jail, will beat them into submission, as is their God-given right.
4:34 Men are in charge of women, because Allah has made some of them excel the others, and because they spend some of their wealth. Hence righteous women are obedient, guarding the unseen which Allah has guarded. And those of them that you fear might rebel, admonish them and abandon them in their beds and beat them. Should they obey you, do not seek a way of harming them; for Allah is Sublime and Great!
The head covering, e.g., hijab may be about piety but the face-covering veil means nothing of the kind. It was decreed by Muhammad to conceal a woman's identity when she had to answer the call of nature in a common area of Medina frequented by both men and women.
Dozens arrested at Sweden riots sparked by planned Quran burnings Saudi Arabia has condemned what it called the "deliberate abuse of the holy Quran by some extremists in Sweden, and provocation and incitement against Muslims". BBC April 18, 2022
People in Canada have never burnt, to my knowledge, the Koran but have trampled its pages in protest at what is contained in the Saudi sponsored translation of the Koran.
Maamoul: A sweet celebration for Christians and Muslims. Maamoul is made at the end of both Lent and Ramadan, leading up to Easter and Eid al Fitr. But this year, the biscuit is extra sweet as both religions celebrate it at the same time. BBC, April 14, 2022
If Muslims cannot enjoy a nice glass of white wine with their maamoul, don't blame Muhammad, blame Umar.
National Muslim charity launching legal challenge of CRA audit [of its operations], calling it Islamophobic The Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) plans to serve the government with its formal legal challenge today. CBC April 13, 2022
Islamophobia: an accusation for all occasions.
Chelsea teacher reassigned due to her hijab overwhelmed by public support Ottawa Citizen, Dec 9, 2021
It's about teaching your children well | What is happening in English Canada
More in Topics: Women's Wear
"Not wearing the hijab does not make the woman a renegade, but simply a woman who disobeyed God." Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb
Muslim mothers and daughters celebrating Canada Day while remaining in God's good graces.
A Willful Ignorance
My everyman's writings on the Koran, Muhammad and Islam are part of what, with Lucette's passing, has become a solitary campaign against the willful ignorance that will be our undoing.
Why the Pessimism? | Stopping the Draining of the Light
