No wonder so many young Iranians are leaving the country: A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes. Iran is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, and the cleric’s unusual explanation for why the earth shakes follows a prediction by the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,…
Showing all posts tagged Islam
How the media lies about Muslims and terror
A useful reminder that the tabloid media (in fact, most corporate press since 9/11) like to smear “terrorists” first and ask questions later: Express Newspapers apologised in the high court today and agreed to pay substantial damages to four trustees of a UK charity after falsely claiming it had links to an al-Qaida commander. The…
Muslims allowed to throw shoes in protest (and Jews want to throw something, too)
This story may need no introduction (except to say that I wonder what, say, Jews, Christians and Hindus would like to throw, just to make things fair, of course): Scotland Yard has bowed to Islamic sensitivities and accepted that Muslims are entitled to throw shoes in ritual protest — which could have the unintended consequence…
Maybe Israelis aren’t really ready for a Muslim Jew
Who is really afraid of screening this film? Israeli film distributors have snubbed a controversial British comedy about a Muslim man who finds out he was born a Jew. The Infidel, which was written by Jewish-born comedian David Baddiel and is having its UK premier tonight, is an irreverent culture clash comedy about a devoted…
A love letter to an anti-Zionist
I regularly receive charming emails from individuals who like to explain how much I hate myself, Jews, Israel and the civilised world. Here’s the latest: Hi Antony! Keep up the great work demonizing Israel and promoting as much hate towards Israel as possible on a regular basis, and sticking up for people who want to…
Of course the Israeli occupation of Palestine brings anti-Western anger
Thomas Hegghammer in Foreign Policy reminds us that ignoring Palestine, or suggesting that leaving the conflict unresolved doesn’t bring hatred towards the West, is deluding themselves: In recent weeks, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus and others have made headlines by suggesting that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict increases anti-Americanism in the Muslim world. The Wall Street Journal’s Bret…
Yes, a US official sits and talks with Hamas (that’s news, apparently)
Al-Jazeera reports on a story that shows the rather pathetic fear that accompanies even meeting an Islamist organisation. Better watch out, you may catch the resistance bug: I could not believe my eyes this morning at the Al Jazeera Centre for Strategic Studies conference on Political Islam.… Perusing the programme I noticed a panel that…
Why is a Muslim man being locked up indefinitely in the US?
America, land of the incarcerated: Today in New York City, the U.S. is torturing a Muslim detainee with no prior criminal record who has not even gone to trial. For the last almost three years, Syed Fahad Hashmi has been kept in total pre-trial isolation inside in a small cell under 24 hour video and…
Does the British government know the difference between Islam and Islamist?
Another example of a Western government (this time the British) seemingly incapable of understanding the nuance and shade in the non-Anglo world. How comforting to know that writing about Islam and being critical of the “war on terror” makes one a potential target for government intrusion: The UK Home Office last week released a study…